Search results for: decision of return migration

Authors: Evangelia-Chrysanthi Kouklari, Evdokia Tagkouli, Vassiliki Ntre, Artemios Pehlivanidis, Stella Tsermentseli, Gerasimos Kolaitis, Katerina Papanikolaou

Abstract:

Executive Function (EF) is a set of goal-directed cognitive skills essentially needed in problem-solving and social behavior. Developmental EF research has indicated that EF emerges early in life and marks dramatic changes before the age of 5. Research evidence has suggested that it may continue to develop up to adolescence as well, following the development of the prefrontal cortex. Over the last decade, research evidence has suggested distinguished domains of cool and hot EF, but traditionally the development of EF in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been examined mainly with tasks that address the “cool” cognitive aspects of EF. Thus, very little is known about the development of “hot” affective EF processes and whether the cross-sectional developmental pathways of cool and hot EF present similarities in ASD. Cool EF has also been proven to have a strong correlation with Theory of Mind (ToM) in young and middle childhood in typical development and in ASD, but information about the relationship of hot EF to ToM skills is minimal. The present study’s objective was to explore the age-related changes of cool and hot EF in ASD participants from middle childhood to adolescence, as well as their relationship to ToM. This study employed an approach of cross-sectional developmental trajectories to investigate patterns of cool and hot EF relative to chronological age within ASD. Eighty-two participants between 7 and 16 years of age were recruited to undertake measures that assessed cool EF (working memory, cognitive flexibility, planning & inhibition), hot EF (affective decision making & delay discounting) and ToM (false belief and mental state/emotion recognition). Results demonstrated that trajectories of all cool EF presented age-related changes in ASD (improvements with age). With regards to hot EF, affective decision-making presented age-related changes, but for delay discounting, there were no statistically significant changes found across younger and older ASD participants. ToM was correlated only to cool EF. Theoretical implications are discussed as the investigation of the cross-sectional developmental trajectories of the broader EF (cool and hot domains) may contribute to better defining cognitive phenotypes in ASD. These findings highlight the need to examine developmental trajectories of both hot and cool EF in research and clinical practice as they may aid in enhancing diagnosis or better-informed intervention programs.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, developmental trajectories, executive function, theory of mind

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Anna Paola Micheli, Anna Maria Calce, Loris Di Nallo

Abstract:

Sustainable finance identifies the process that leads, in the adoption of investment decisions, to take into account environmental and social factors, with the aim of orienting investments towards sustainable and long-term activities. Considering that the topic is at the center of the interest of national agendas, long-term investments will no longer be analyzed only by looking at financial data, but environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors will be increasingly important and will play a fundamental role in determining the risk and return of an investment. Although this perspective does not deny the orientation to profit, ESG mutual funds represent sustainable finance applied to the world of mutual funds. So the goal of this paper is to verify this attitude, in particular in the energy sector. The choice of the sector is not casual: ESG is the acronym for environmental, social, and governance, and energy companies are strictly related to the environmental theme. The methodology adopted leads to a comparison between a sample of ESG funds and a sample of ESG funds with similar characteristics, using the most important indicators of literature: yield, standard deviation, and Sharpe index. The analysis is focused on equity funds. Results that are partial, due to the lack of historicity, show a good performance of ESG funds, testifying how a sustainable approach does not necessarily mean lower profits. It is clear that these first findings do not involve an absolute preference for ESG funds in terms of performance because the persistence of results is requested. Furthermore, these findings are to be verified in other sectors and in bond funds.

Keywords: mutual funds, ESG, performance, energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Mohammad Mahbub Alam Talukder, Shahnewaz, Hasanat-E-Rabbi, Mohammed Nazrul Islam

Abstract:

Road traffic accident is a global problem which is severe in the developing countries like Bangladesh. In consequence, in developing countries road trauma has now been recognized as an increasing public health hazards and economic burning issue. And after road traffic accidents the lack of management and economic costs related with health seeking behavior have a disproportionate impact on lower income groups, thus contributing to the persistence of poverty in conjunction with disability. This cross sectional study, carried out during July 2012 to June 2013, aimed to explore health seeking decision and culture of handling the road traffic accident related victims, as taken from experiences of the poor disabled people of slum dwellers of Dhaka city. The present study has been designed based on qualitative techniques such as in-depth interview and case studies. Additionally, a survey questionnaire was used to collect the demographic characteristics of the study population (n=150) and to select participants purposely for in-depth interview (n=50) and case study (n=30). Content analysis of qualitative data was done through theme coding and matrix analysis of case study was done to use relevant verbatim. Most of the time the health seeking decision totally depended on the surrounded people of the accidental place, their knowledge, awareness and remaining facility and capacity regarding proper management of the victims. However, most of the cases the victims did not get any early treatment and it took 2-12 hours to get even the first aid because of distance, shortage of money, lack of availability of getting the aid, lack of mass awareness etc. Under the reality of discriminated and unaffordable health service provision better treatment could not turn out due to economic inability of the poor victims. To avoid the severe trauma, treatment delay must be reduced by providing first aid within very short time and to do so, mass awareness campaign is necessary for handing the victims. Moreover, necessary measures should be taken to ensure cost free health service provision to treat the chronic disabled condition of the road traffic accident related poor victims.

Keywords: accident, injury, disabled, qualitative, slum

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: S. M. Amin Hosseini, Oriol Pons, Carmen Mendoza Arroyo, Albert de la Fuente

Abstract:

In the aftermath of a natural disaster, the major challenge most cities and societies face, regardless of their diverse level of prosperity, is to provide temporary housing (TH) for the displaced population (DP). However, the features of TH, which have been applied in previous recovery programs, greatly varied from case to case. This situation demonstrates that providing temporary accommodation for DP in a short period time and usually in great numbers is complicated in terms of satisfying all the beneficiaries’ needs, regardless of the societies’ welfare levels. Furthermore, when previously used strategies are applied to different areas, the chosen strategies are most likely destined to fail, unless the strategies are context and culturally based. Therefore, as the population of disaster-prone cities are increasing, decision-makers need a platform to help to determine all the factors, which caused the outcomes of the prior programs. To this end, this paper aims to assess the problems, requirements, limitations, potential responses, chosen strategies, and their outcomes, in order to determine the main elements that have influenced the TH process. In this regard, and in order to determine a customizable strategy, this study analyses the TH programs of five different cases as: Marmara earthquake, 1999; Bam earthquake, 2003; Aceh earthquake and tsunami, 2004; Hurricane Katrina, 2005; and, L’Aquila earthquake, 2009. The research results demonstrate that the main vertexes of TH are: (1) local characteristics, including local potential and affected population features, (2) TH properties, which needs to be considered in four phases: planning, provision/construction, operation, and second life, and (3) natural hazards impacts, which embraces intensity and type. Accordingly, this study offers decision-makers the opportunity to discover the main vertexes, their subsets, interactions, and the relation between strategies and outcomes based on the local conditions of each case. Consequently, authorities may acquire the capability to design a customizable method in the face of complicated post-disaster housing in the wake of future natural disasters.

Keywords: post-disaster temporary accommodation, urban resilience, natural disaster, local characteristic

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Shirin Jalili, Ramin Ghasemi

Abstract:

Lumbar microdiscectomy is the most commonly performed spinal surgery strategy; it is regularly performed to lighten the indications and signs of sciatica within the lower back and leg caused by a lumbar disc herniation. This surgery aims to progress leg pain, reestablish function, and enable a return to ordinary day-by-day exercises. Rates of lumbar disc surgery show critical geographic varieties recommending changing treatment criteria among working specialists. Few population-based considers have investigated the hazard of reoperation after disc surgery, and regional or inter specialty varieties within the reoperations are obscure. The conventional approach to recouping from lumbar microdiscectomy has been to restrain bending, lifting, or turning for a least 6 weeks in arrange to anticipate the disc from herniating once more. Traditionally, patients were exhorted to limit post-operative action, which was accepted to decrease the hazard of disc herniation and progressive insecurity. In modern hone, numerous specialists don't limit understanding of postoperative action due to the discernment this practice is pointless. There's a need of thinks about highlighting the result by distinctive scores or parameters after surgery for repetitive circle herniations of the lumbar spine at the starting herniation location. This study will evaluate the quality of life after surgical treatment of recurrent herniations with distinctive standardized approved result instruments.

Keywords: post-operative activity, disc, quality of life, treatment, movements

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Dong-ping Yuan, Lin Gu, Jun Long, Jie Chen, Ni Jie, Ying-Li Shi

Abstract:

Endometriosis is a common disease in women of reproductive age, whose classic characteristic is mononuclear cell infiltration into lesions. Shikonin is an anti-inflammatory phytocompound from Lithospermum erythrorhizon, whose potential therapeutic effects for the endometriosis remain unclear. The working hypothesis was that shikonin can inhibit the development of endometriosis by the inhibition of chemotactic effect. Shikonin significantly inhibited the growth of human endometrial tissue implanted into mice (P<0.05). No observable adverse effects were found. The mouse regulated upon activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted (mRANTES) level in peritoneal fluid of animal endometriosis model was higher than that in normal SCID mice (P<0.05), and decreased dramatically after shikonin treatment in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). Peritoneal fluid from NOD/SCID mice treated with shikonin inhibited monocytes chemotaxis, which could be abolished by mRANTES antibody. In vitro, shikonin significantly inhibited RANTES expression of U937 cells cultured alone or co-cultured with human methothelail cells and endometrial stromal cells, and inhibited RANTES-induced chemotaxis of U937 cells (P<0.05). The present results suggest that shikonin can inhibit the development of endometriosis by mechanisms that at least include the inhibition of RANTES expression and decreased migration of mononuclear cells to lesions. Shikonin may be a useful and safe new approach for treating endometriosis.

Keywords: endometriosis, shikonin, RANTES chemotaxis

Procedia PDF Downloads 392

Authors: Pei-Hsiu Chiang, Ling Hong Huang, Hsin-I Chang

Abstract:

In this research, we used UVA irradiation, which can penetrate into dermis and fibroblasts, the most abundant cells in dermis, to investigate the effect of UV light on dermis, such as inflammation, ECM degradation and elasticity loss. Moreover, this research is focused on the influence of hyaluronic acid (HA) on UVA treated dermal fibroblasts. We aim to establish whether HA can effectively relief ECM degradation, and restore the elasticity of UVA-damaged fibroblasts. Prolonged exposure to UVA radiation can damage fibroblasts and led variation in cell morphology and reduction in cell viability. Besides, UVA radiation can induce IL-1β expression on fibroblasts and then promote MMP-1 and MMP-3 expression, which can accelerate ECM degradation. On the other hand, prolonged exposure to UVA radiation reduced collagen and elastin synthesis on fibroblasts. Due to the acceleration of ECM degradation and the reduction of ECM synthesis, Atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to analyze the elasticity reduction on UVA-damaged fibroblasts. UVA irradiation causes photoaging on fibroblasts. UVA damaged fibroblasts with HA treatment can down-regulate the gene expression of MMP-1, MMP-3, and then slow down ECM degradation. On the other hand, HA may restore elastin and collagen synthesis in UV-damaged fibroblasts. Based on the slowdown of ECM degradation, UVA-damaged fibroblast elasticity can be effectively restored by HA treatment. In summary, HA can relief the photoaging conditions on fibroblasts, but may not be able to return fibroblasts to normal, healthy state. Although HA cannot fully recover UVA-damaged fibroblasts, HA is still potential for repairing photoaging skin.

Keywords: atomic force microscope, hyaluronic acid, UVA radiation, dermal fibroblasts

Procedia PDF Downloads 388

Authors: Marwa M. Abu-Serie, Marwa M. Eltarahony

Abstract:

The search for reliable, effective, and safe nanoparticles (NPs) as a treatment for cancer is a pressing priority. In this study, Cu-NPs were fabricated by Streptomyces cyaneofuscatus through simultaneous bioreduction strategy of copper nitrate salt. The as-prepared Cu-NPs subjected to structural analysis; energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, elemental mapping, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and ζ-potential. These biological synthesized Cu-NPs were mixed with disulfiram (DS), forming a nanocomplex of Cu-DS with a size of ~135 nm. The prepared nanocomplex (nanoCu-DS) exhibited higher anticancer activity than that of free complex of DS-Cu, Cu-NPs, and DS alone. This was illustrated by the lowest IC50 of nanoCu-DS (< 4 µM) against human breast and liver cancer cell lines comparing with DS-Cu, Cu-NPs, and DS (~8, 22.98-33.51 and 11.95-14.86, respectively). Moreover, flow cytometric analysis confirmed that higher apoptosis percentage range of nanoCu-DS-treated in MDA-MB 231, MCF-7, Huh-7, and HepG-2 cells (51.24-65.28%) than free complex of Cu-DS ( < 4.5%). Regarding inhibition potency of liver and breast cancer cell migration, no significant difference was recorded between free and nanocomplex. Furthermore, nanoCu-DS suppressed gene expression of β-catenine, Akt, and NF-κB and upregulated p53 expression (> 3, >15, > 5 and ≥ 3 folds, respectively) more efficiently than free complex (all ~ 1 fold) in MDA-MB 231 and Huh-7 cells. Our finding proved this prepared nano complex has a powerful anticancer activity relative to free complex, thereby offering a promising cancer treatment.

Keywords: biologically prepared Cu-NPs, breast cancer cell lines, liver cancer cell lines, nanoCu- disulfiram

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Siddhartha Paul, Debabrata Das

Abstract:

Closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) management focuses on integrating forward and reverse flow of material as well as information to maximize value creation over the entire life-cycle of a product. Bullwhip effect in supply chain management refers to the phenomenon where a small variation in customers’ demand results in larger variation of orders at the upstream levels of supply chain. Since the quality and quantity of products returned to the collection centers (as a part of reverse logistics process) are uncertain, bullwhip effect is inevitable in CLSC. Therefore, in the present study, first, through an extensive literature survey, we identify all the important factors related to forward as well as reverse supply chain which causes bullwhip effect in CLSC. Second, we develop a system dynamics model to study the interrelationship among the factors and their effect on the performance of overall CLSC. Finally, the results of the simulation study suggest that demand forecasting, lead times, information sharing, inventory and work in progress adjustment rate, supply shortages, batch ordering, price variations, erratic human behavior, parameter correcting, delivery time delays, return rate of used products, manufacturing and remanufacturing capacity constraints are the important factors which have a significant influence on system’s performance, specifically on bullwhip effect in a CLSC.

Keywords: bullwhip effect, closed-loop supply chain, system dynamics, variance ratio

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Kim Jin-OK, Lee Jin-Eui, Han Seung-Hoon, Kim Nam-Jo

Abstract:

This study aimed to analyze the effect of the motivation of Chinese tourists to visit North Korea on their decision making process. Chinese tourists account for a considerable portion of foreign tourists in the world, while North Korea is the favorite tourist attraction of Chinese tourists. The motivation to visit North Korea was divided into three factors: the redness, which is the modern cultural heritage of Communism based on the red tourism accounting for the significant portion of domestic tourism, the novelty of the special environment of North Korean society, and the convenience of tour to North Korea in terms of geographical distance and policy of China. Red tourism refers to visiting the places of revolutionary events, monuments, artifacts and the residences of previous communist leaders, and other places related to the past Chinese Communist Party. As a revolutionary tourism, red tourism has recently been taking place in the old communist countries to recall their memories on the revolutionary places in China, as well as in North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia, Bulgaria, Cuba, etc. In order to examine the effect of the segmented motivations on the revisit intention of Chinese tourists who have experienced a tour to North Korea, this study employed the model of goal-directed behavior, a model developed by adding a variable of emotion to the theory of planned behavior, which has a strong explanatory power on the decision making process of people in social science. For achieving the aim of the study, the data was collected through the survey in Dandong, China against Chinese tourists who have visited North Korea. The results of this study found that not only the novelty of North Korea, but also the redness, which accounts for the largest proportion in the domestic tourism, are significantly affecting overseas tour of Chinese tourists at this time point where overseas tour of Chinese tourists continue to increase. The results, therefore, suggest that the old communist countries, including those in Asia, need an emotional promotion strategy that stimulates nostalgia by focusing on the redness of the modern cultural heritage of Communism to attract Chinese tourists.

Keywords: model of goal-directed behavior, modern cultural heritage, North Korea, red tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 306

Authors: Pooja Booluck

Abstract:

This project seeks to translate a chapter in Le Silence des Chagos by Shenaz Patel a Mauritian author whose work has never been translated before. The chapter discusses the attempt of the protagonist to return to her home country Diego Garcia after her deportation. The English translation will offer an historical account to the target audience of the deportation of Chagossians to Mauritius during the 1970s. The target audience comprises of English-speaking translation scholars translation students and African literature scholars. In light of making the cultural elements of Mauritian culture accessible the translation will maintain the cultural items such as food and oral discourses in Creole so as to preserve the authenticity of the source culture. In order to better comprehend the cultural elements mentioned the target reader will be provided with detailed footnotes explaining the cultural and historical references. This translation will also address the importance of folkloric songs in Mauritius and its intergenerational function in Mauritian communities which will also remain in Creole. While such an approach will help to preserve the meaning of the source text the borrowing technique and the foreignizing method will be employed which will in turn help the reader in becoming more familiar with the Mauritian community. Translating a text from French to English while maintaining certain words or discourses in a minority language such as Creole bears certain challenges: How does the translator ensure the comprehensibility of the reader? Are there any translation losses? What are the choices of the translator?

Keywords: Chagos archipelagos in Exile, English translation, Le Silence des Chagos, Mauritian culture and history

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: Christian Neunzig, Simon Fahle, Jürgen Schulz, Matthias Möller, Bernd Kuhlenkötter

Abstract:

Due to increasing cost pressure in global markets, artificial intelligence is becoming a technology that is decisive for competition. Predictive quality enables machinery and plant manufacturers to ensure product quality by using data-driven forecasts via machine learning models as a decision-making basis for test results. The use of cross-process Bosch production data along the value chain of hydraulic valves is a promising approach to classifying the quality characteristics of workpieces.

Keywords: predictive quality, hydraulics, machine learning, classification, supervised learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Mohammad Daud Ali

Abstract:

For the past decade, marketing ethics has been a central point for academic researchers and practitioners. In particular, the development of frameworks and models to help in the analysis of marketing decisions are the focus of research. The current study aims at finding whether ethical decisions (honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect) affect organizational marketing decisions. A selection of 250 respondents was purposely made from the telecommunication industry of Pakistan, out of which 204 responses were induced at an acceptable rate of 81.6%. A five-point Likert Scale, itemized with 12 items, was adopted from Taylor-Dunlop & Lester (2000) and used to draw responses regarding ethics.

Keywords: marketing, ethics, decisions making, telecommunication, Pakistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Cachanda K. Orellana

Abstract:

This study examined preservice teachers’ perceptions of their role in digital citizenship education. Data was gathered via surveys and coursework from the preservice teachers’ instructional technology course. Pre-service teachers were asked about their role in digital citizenship education during a unit on digital dilemmas. Findings suggest that teacher education programs should consider digital citizenship education as more than the acquisition of a set of skills and behaviors and prepare preservice teachers to support students’ ability to engage in ethical decision-making in digital spaces.

Keywords: digital citizenship, digital dilemmas, pre-service teachers, teacher education

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: A. A. Balkhi, G. M. Mir, Javid A. Sheikh

Abstract:

To cater the demands of increasing traffic with new applications the cellular mobile networks face new changes in deployment in infrastructure for making cellular networks heterogeneous. To reduce overhead processing the densely deployed cells require smart behavior with self-organizing capabilities with high adaptation to the neighborhood. We propose self-organization of unused resources usually excessive unused channels of neighbouring cells with densely populated cells to reduce handover failure rates. The neighboring cells share unused channels after fulfilling some conditional candidature criterion using threshold values so that they are not suffered themselves for starvation of channels in case of any abrupt change in traffic pattern. The cells are classified as ‘red’, ‘yellow’, or ‘green’, as per the available channels in cell which is governed by traffic pattern and thresholds. To combat the deficiency of channels in red cell, migration of unused channels from under-loaded cells, hierarchically from the qualified candidate neighboring cells is explored. The resources are returned back when the congested cell is capable of self-contained traffic management. In either of the cases conditional sharing of resources is executed for enhanced traffic management so that User Equipment (UE) is provided uninterrupted services with high Quality of Service (QoS). The fuzzy logic-based simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is efficiently in coincidence with improved successful handoffs.

Keywords: candidate cell, channel sharing, fuzzy logic, handover, small cells

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Ziyun Li, Jiudi Zhong, June Zhang

Abstract:

Background: The diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer lead to varying degrees of psychological and social maladjustment among patients with lung cancer. Understanding psychosocial adjustment (PA) and its influencing factors in young and middle-aged lung cancer patients is essential to help them return to society and lead a normal life. Objectives: This study aims to examine the mediating role of resilience in the association between stigma and psychosocial adjustment among young and middle-aged patients with lung cancer. Methods: A total of 235 patients with lung cancer were recruited from a tertiary grade A cancer center in southern China and investigated using a self-designed general information questionnaire, Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale Self-Report, Social Impact Scale, and Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale. Results: The mean score of PA was (32.61±14.75), and its influencing factors included treatment modalities, stigma, and resilience. The total effect of stigma on PA was significant (total effect=0.418, SE=0.045, 95%CI [0.310-0.497]), and a positive indirect effect was identified for stigma on PA via resilience (indirect effect=0.143, SE=0.041, 95% CI [0.075-0.236]). Conclusion: Stigma and resilience are significantly associated with PA, and resilience is also a mediating variable between stigma and PA. This study suggests that individualized interventions can be made to improve the PA by alleviating their stigma, or by enhancing their resilience in young and middle-aged lung cancer patients.

Keywords: psychosocial adjustment, lung cancer, cancer caring, nursing, young and middle-aged

Procedia PDF Downloads 84

Authors: Soottawat Benjakul, Phakawat Tongnuanchan, Thummanoon Prodpran

Abstract:

Edible pouches made from fish gelatin film incorporated without and with palm oil (PO), basil essential oil (BEO) or oil mixture (M) were prepared and used to store chicken powder and chicken skin oil in comparison with nylon/low-density polyethylene (Nylon/LDPE) pouch during storage of 15 days. The moisture content of chicken powder packaged in pouches from fish gelatin films incorporated without and with various oils increased during 15 days of storage (p > 0.05). However, there was a non-significant change in moisture content of sample packaged in Nylon/LDPE pouch (p > 0.05). Samples packaged in pouches from fish gelatin films incorporated with oils had lower moisture content than those stored in pouch from gelatin film without oil added throughout the storage (p < 0.05). This coincided with the higher increases in darkness and yellowness for the latter. All samples packaged in pouches made from all films had the slight increase in PV, whereas a drastic increase in TBARS was observed for all samples during 15 days of storage. During 15 days of storage, chicken skin oil packaged in Nylon/LDPE pouch had higher TBARS and p-anisidine value than those stored in pouches made from fish gelatin, regardless of oil incorporated (p< 0.05). Therefore, pouches from gelatin film incorporated with oils could lower water migration and lipid oxidation in fat containing foods and oils.

Keywords: edible pouch, fish gelatin, quality changes, storage stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Ahmed Boutejdar, Bishoy I. Halim, Soumia El Hani, Larbi Bellarbi, Amal Afyf

Abstract:

In this paper, a planar monopole antenna for multi band applications is proposed. The antenna structure operates at three operating frequencies at 3.7, 6.2, and 13.5 GHz which cover different communication frequency ranges. The antenna consists of a quasi-modified rectangular radiating patch with a partial ground plane and two parasitic elements (open-loop-ring resonators) to serve as coupling-bridges. A stepped cut at lower corners of the radiating patch and the partial ground plane are used, to achieve the multiband features. The proposed antenna is manufactured on the FR4 substrate and is simulated and optimized using High Frequency Simulation System (HFSS). The antenna topology possesses an area of 30.5 x 30 x 1.6 mm³. The measured results demonstrate that the candidate antenna has impedance bandwidths for 10 dB return loss and operates from 3.80 – 3.90 GHz, 4.10 – 5.20 GHz, 11.2 – 11.5 GHz and from 12.5 – 14.0 GHz, which meet the requirements of the wireless local area network (WLAN), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), C- (Uplink) and Ku- (Uplink) band applications. Acceptable agreement is obtained between measurement and simulation results. Experimental results show that the antenna is successfully simulated and measured, and the tri-band antenna can be achieved by adjusting the lengths of the three elements and it gives good gains across all the operation bands.

Keywords: planar monopole antenna, FR4 substrate, HFSS, WLAN, WiMAX, C and Ku

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Mine Koyaz, M. Cem Altun

Abstract:

Selection of the materials satisfying the expected performances is significantly important for any design. Today, with the constantly evolving and developing technologies, the material options are so wide that the necessity of the use of some support tools in the selection process is arising. Therefore, as a sub process of building element design, a systematic material selection tool is developed, that defines four main steps of the material selection; definition, research, comparison and decision. The main purpose of the tool is being an educational instrument that would show a methodic way of material selection in architectural detailing for the use of architecture students. The tool predefines the possible uses of various material databases and other sources of information on material properties. Hence, it is to be used as a guidance for designers, especially with a limited material knowledge and experience. The material selection tool not only embraces technical properties of materials related with building elements’ functional requirements, but also its sensual properties related with the identity of design and its environmental impacts with respect to the sustainability of the design. The method followed in the development of the tool has two main sections; first the examination and application of the existing methods and second the development of trial versions and their applications. Within the scope of the existing methods; design support tools, methodic approaches for the building element design and material selection process, material properties, material databases, methodic approaches for the decision making process are examined. The existing methods are applied by architecture students and newly graduate architects through different design problems. With respect to the results of these applications, strong and weak sides of the existing material selection tools are presented. A main flow chart of the material selection tool has been developed with the objective to apply the strong aspects of the existing methods and develop their weak sides. Through different stages, a different aspect of the material selection process is investigated and the tool took its final form. Systematic material selection tool, within the building element design process, guides the users with a minimum background information, to practically and accurately determine the ideal material that is to be chosen, satisfying the needs of their design. The tool has a flexible structure that answers different needs of different designs and designers. The trial version issued in this paper shows one of the paths that could be followed and illustrates its application over a design problem.

Keywords: architectural education, building element design, material selection tool, systematic approach

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Zahid Ahmad, Samia Yousaf

Abstract:

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate and assess the financial position, operating performance, and recent outlook of the companies. This study investigates the impact of capital structure, dividend policy and sustainability on the value of firms of textile spinning sector of Pakistan which is listed on Pakistan stock exchange. The panel data technique has been applied to this group of textile sector which is textile spinning. This study covers the last ten years of time period. All the data related to the variables have been collected from the annual reports and financial statements of the textile sector firms. There are differently related determinants to measure the capital structure which are fixed assets turnover ratio, debt ratio, equity ratio, debt to equity ratio, assets tangibility, and shareholder’s equity. Dividend policy is being measured by two determinants which are earning per share (EPS) and dividend payout ratio. Sustainability is being measured by three suitable factors which are sales growth, gross profit margin ratio and firm size. These are three independent variables and their determinants of this study. Value of firm is measured through the return on asset (ROA). Capital structure is at the top of the list among all the three variables. According to the results of this research work, somewhere all the three variables generates positive and significant effect on the firm’s performance and its growth.

Keywords: capital structure, dividend policy, panel data, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 228

Authors: Benzerara Mohammed, Redjel Bachir, Kebaili Bachir

Abstract:

The cracking of the concrete is a more crucial problem with the development of the complex structures related to technological progress. The projections in the knowledge of the breaking process make it possible today for better prevention of the risk of the fracture. The breaking strength brutal of a quasi-fragile material like the concrete called Toughness, is measured by a breaking value of the factor of intensity of the constraints K1C for which the crack is propagated, it is an intrinsic property of material. Many studies reported in the literature treating of the concrete were carried out on specimens which are in fact inadequate compared to the intrinsic characteristic to identify. We started from this established fact, in order to compare the evolution of the parameter of toughness K1C measured by calling upon ordinary concrete specimens of three prismatics geometries different (10*10*84) cm³ and (5*20*120) cm³ &(12*20*120) cm³ containing from the side notches various depths simulating of the cracks was set up. The notches are carried out using triangular pyramidal plates into manufactured out of sheet coated placed at the centre of the specimens at the time of the casting, then withdrawn to leave the trace of a crack. The tests are carried out in 3 points bending test in mode 1 of fracture, by using the techniques of mechanical fracture. The evolution of the parameter of toughness K1C measured with the three geometries specimens gives almost the same results. They are acceptable and return in the beach of the results determined by various researchers (toughness of the ordinary concrete turns to the turn of the 1 MPa √m). These results inform us about the presence of an economy on the level of the geometrie specimen (5*20*120) cm³, therefore to use plates specimens later if one wants to master the toughness of this material complexes, astonishing but always essential that is the concrete.

Keywords: elementary representative volume, concrete, fissure, toughness

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Ayushi Mishra

Abstract:

Migrant construction workers or construction labors are one of the majority of the working population in our urban and rural areas. Even after being the majority, their involvement in the upbringing of the economy is hardly ever documented or recognized. Non-permanent or migrant workers face loads of exploitations and susceptibilities than other informal sector workers in India which in turn has affected the productivity of the labors. The relation of their employment and migration and the links of these dynamics to their housing and other basic needs in the city are mostly unstated. Even the urban planning and housing policies do not make thoughtful provision for them, they forcing them to live in extremely wretched conditions. And even if the policies are made, it frequently happens that they are not implemented. As the issue is very much prevalent in today’s time in India with so many large-scale and labor extensive projects going on, this study focuses on the assessment of the gap between the existing government policies and the current scenario of the construction workers in ongoing projects of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. A few of the policies for construction workers conditions a lot of things, out of which only a few are functional which makes this study to assess the reason behind the unorganized living condition and poor physical, the social and mental health of construction workers of Vijayawada. In present, the dignity of construction labors is compromised every day on construction sites, in terms of work and basic rights which leads to many other problems in future. So to work for the betterment of this community, knowledge on the differences is very much required and hence this study is a little effort to replenish the difference and compare the policies with the existing conditions of construction labors in Vijayawada.

Keywords: construction, labours, policy, productivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Satish Kumar, Nisha Goyal

Abstract:

In the stock market, individual investors exhibit different kinds of behaviour. Traditional finance is built on the notion of 'homo economics', which states that humans always make perfectly rational choices to maximize their wealth and minimize risk. That is, traditional finance has concern for how investors should behave rather than how actual investors are behaving. Behavioural finance provides the explanation for this phenomenon. Although finance has been studied for thousands of years, behavioural finance is an emerging field that combines the behavioural or psychological aspects with conventional economic and financial theories to provide explanations on how emotions and cognitive factors influence investors’ behaviours. These emotions and cognitive factors are known as behavioural biases. Because of these biases, investors make irrational investment decisions. Besides, the emotional and cognitive factors, the social influence of media as well as friends, relatives and colleagues also affect investment decisions. Psychological factors influence individual investors’ investment decision making, but few studies have used qualitative methods to understand these factors. The aim of this study is to explore the behavioural factors or biases that affect individuals’ investment decision making. For the purpose of this exploratory study, an in-depth interview method was used because it provides much more exhaustive information and a relaxed atmosphere in which people feel more comfortable to provide information. Twenty investment advisors having a minimum 5 years’ experience in securities firms were interviewed. In this study, thematic content analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts. Thematic content analysis process involves analysis of transcripts, coding and identification of themes from data. Based on the analysis we categorized the statements of advisors into various themes. Past market returns and volatility; preference for safe returns; tendency to believe they are better than others; tendency to divide their money into different accounts/assets; tendency to hold on to loss-making assets; preference to invest in familiar securities; tendency to believe that past events were predictable; tendency to rely on the reference point; tendency to rely on other sources of information; tendency to have regret for making past decisions; tendency to have more sensitivity towards losses than gains; tendency to rely on own skills; tendency to buy rising stocks with the expectation that this rise will continue etc. are some of the major concerns showed by experts about investors. The findings of the study revealed 13 biases such as overconfidence bias, disposition effect, familiarity bias, framing effect, anchoring bias, availability bias, self-attribution bias, representativeness, mental accounting, hindsight bias, regret aversion, loss aversion and herding bias/media biases present in Indian investors. These biases have a negative connotation because they produce a distortion in the calculation of an outcome. These biases are classified under three categories such as cognitive errors, emotional biases and social interaction. The findings of this study may assist both financial service providers and researchers to understand the various psychological biases of individual investors in investment decision making. Additionally, individual investors will also be aware of the behavioural biases that will aid them to make sensible and efficient investment decisions.

Keywords: financial advisors, individual investors, investment decisions, psychological biases, qualitative thematic content analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 164

Authors: Rawan Hakawati, Beatrice Smyth, David Rooney, Geoffrey McCullough

Abstract:

Targets have been set in the EU to increase the share of renewable energy consumption to 20% by 2020, but developments have not occurred evenly across the member states. Northern Ireland is almost 90% dependent on imported fossil fuels. With such high energy dependency, Northern Ireland is particularly susceptible to the security of supply issues. Linked to fossil fuels are greenhouse gas emissions, and the EU plans to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020. The use of indigenously produced biomass could reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and external energy dependence. With a wide range of both crop and waste feedstock potentially available in Northern Ireland, anaerobic digestion has been put forward as a possible solution for renewable energy production, waste management, and greenhouse gas reduction. Not all feedstock, however, is the same, and an understanding of feedstock suitability is important for both plant operators and policy makers. The aim of this paper is to investigate biomass suitability for anaerobic digestion in Northern Ireland. It is also important that decisions are based on solid scientific evidence. For this reason, the methodology used is multi-criteria decision matrix analysis which takes multiple criteria into account simultaneously and ranks alternatives accordingly. The model uses the weighted sum method (which follows the Entropy Method to measure uncertainty using probability theory) to decide on weights. The Topsis method is utilized to carry out the mathematical analysis to provide the final scores. Feedstock that is currently available in Northern Ireland was classified into two categories: wastes (manure, sewage sludge and food waste) and energy crops, specifically grass silage. To select the most suitable feedstock, methane yield, feedstock availability, feedstock production cost, biogas production, calorific value, produced kilowatt-hours, dry matter content, and carbon to nitrogen ratio were assessed. The highest weight (0.249) corresponded to production cost reflecting a variation of £41 gate fee to 22£/tonne cost. The weights calculated found that grass silage was the most suitable feedstock. A sensitivity analysis was then conducted to investigate the impact of weights. The analysis used the Pugh Matrix Method which relies upon The Analytical Hierarchy Process and pairwise comparisons to determine a weighting for each criterion. The results showed that the highest weight (0.193) corresponded to biogas production indicating that grass silage and manure are the most suitable feedstock. Introducing co-digestion of two or more substrates can boost the biogas yield due to a synergistic effect induced by the feedstock to favor positive biological interactions. A further benefit of co-digesting manure is that the anaerobic digestion process also acts as a waste management strategy. From the research, it was concluded that energy from agricultural biomass is highly advantageous in Northern Ireland because it would increase the country's production of renewable energy, manage waste production, and would limit the production of greenhouse gases (current contribution from agriculture sector is 26%). Decision-making methods based on scientific evidence aid policy makers in classifying multiple criteria in a logical mathematical manner in order to reach a resolution.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biomass as feedstock, decision matrix, renewable energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 454

Authors: Gete Umbrey, Saifur Rahman

Abstract:

Graphs are found to be most capable in computing, and its abstract structures have been applied in some specific computations and algorithms like in phase encoding controller, processor microcontroller, and synthesis of a CMOS switching network, etc. Being motivated by these works, we develop an independent approach to study semiring structures and various properties by defining the binary operations which in fact, seems analogous to an existing definition in some sense but with a different approach. This work emphasizes specifically on the construction of semigroup and semiring structures on the set of undirected graphs, and their properties are investigated therein. It is expected that the investigation done here may have some interesting applications in theoretical computer science, networking and decision making, and also on joining of two network systems.

Keywords: graphs, join and union of graphs, semiring, weighted graphs

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Sanja Obradovic, Vladimir Stojanovic

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes of residents toward sustainable tourism development in the Bačko Podunavlje Biosphere Reserve (BPBR) in northwestern Serbia. BPBR is a part of 'the European Amazon', world's first five-country Transboundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve 'Mura-Drava-Danube'. Sustainable tourism development requires the engagement of local residents. Within the initial stage of tourism development, it is important to address residents' attitudes from the early beginning, thus further involve the local community through all phases of development, which in return will largely influence overall success. Data were collected through in-person (face-to-face) questionnaire. The research also addresses the quality of the sustainable tourism attitude scale (SUS-TAS), perceived as an instrument to measure local communities' attitudes towards sustainable tourism development. SUS-TAS has seven variables, which are named as environmental sustainability, perceived social cost, long-term planning, perceived economic benefit, community center economy, ensuring visitor satisfaction, and maximizing community participation. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Findings indicate that residents have a positive attitude toward the development of sustainable tourism in the BPBR. They also recognized the importance of environmental sustainability and preservation for future generations. The study shows that BPBR has a very good community to support sustainable tourism activities in each area considered.

Keywords: biosphere reserve, local resident's attitude, sustainable tourism attitude scale, SUS-TAS, sustainable tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Prajwal Eachempati, Laurent Muzellec, Ashish Kumar Jha

Abstract:

We use Facebook as a case study to investigate the complex relationship between the firm’s public discourse (and actions) surrounding data privacy and the performance of a business model based on monetizing user’s data. We do so by looking at the evolution of public discourse over time (2004–2021) and relate topics to revenue and stock market evolution Drawing from archival sources like Zuckerberg We use LDA topic modelling algorithm to reveal 19 topics regrouped in 6 major themes. We first show how, by using persuasive and convincing language that promises better protection of consumer data usage, but also emphasizes greater user control over their own data, the privacy issue is being reframed as one of greater user control and responsibility. Second, we aim to understand and put a value on the extent to which privacy disclosures have a potential impact on the financial performance of social media firms. There we found significant relationship between the topics pertaining to privacy and social media/technology, sentiment score and stock market prices. Revenue is found to be impacted by topics pertaining to politics and new product and service innovations while number of active users is not impacted by the topics unless moderated by external control variables like Return on Assets and Brand Equity.

Keywords: public discourses, data protection, social media, privacy, topic modeling, business models, financial performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Chien-Yeh Hsu, Yuan-Ching Chiang, Zi-Jie Chien, Sih-Li Chen

Abstract:

In this study, a field experiment and performance analysis of air-tunnel heat exchanger integrated with water-filled raft foundation of residential building were performed. In order to obtain better performance, conventional applications of air-tunnel inevitably have high initial cost or issues about insufficient installation space. To improve the feasibility of air tunnel heat exchanger in high-density housing, an integrated system consisting of air pipes immersed in the water-filled raft foundation was presented, taking advantage of immense amount of water and relatively stable temperature in raft foundation of building. The foundation-integrated air tunnel was applied to a residential building located in Yilan, Taiwan, and its thermal performance was measured in the field experiment. The results indicated that the cooling potential of integrated system was close to the potential of soil-based EAHE at 2 m depth or deeper. An analytical model based on thermal resistance method was validated by measurement results, and was used to carry out the dimensioning of foundation-integrated air tunnel. The discrepancies between calculated value and measured data were less than 2.7%. In addition, the return-on-investment with regard to thermal performance and economics of the application was evaluated. Because the installation for air tunnel is scheduled in the building foundation construction, the utilization of integrated system spends less construction cost compare to the conventional earth-air tunnel.

Keywords: air tunnel, ground heat exchanger, raft foundation, residential building

Procedia PDF Downloads 323

Authors: Maulana Ayoub Ali

Abstract:

“Both Socialist as well as the capitalist in the economic systems have proven their failure to ensure economic justice that serves to benefit all in the society, both the rich and the poor. In particular, capitalism is currently causing a terrifying scenario by making the rich richer and the poor poorer” . In this paper, the author looks at the level of exploitation which is taking place to small and middle entrepreneurs (SME’s), government and private employees as well as large investors in East African countries who depends on interest-based loans which undermines their lives every day due to heavy monthly returns. Numbers of families have been evicted from their family premises and SME’s properties have been attached in the courts due to failure to return their loans timely. In fact, there are a lot of issues which have taken place on the ground which badly affected number of families socially and most importantly economically due to engagement in interest-based loans offered by commercial banks in East Africa. This paper looks on the alternative ways of eliminating interest-based loans to better lives of devastated Africans who are almost “dying” of heavy debts generated through higher interest loans. Reaching to that particular root the author has visited various literatures in a bid to deeply investigate and find out the best alternative mode of enabling African SME’s, businessmen and employees to benefit from the interest-free loans. The question is whether interest-free loans can be a long term solution towards poverty alleviation in East Africa generally and Tanzania in particular.

Keywords: interest-free loans, SME’s, financial institutions, poverty, east Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Susanta Kumar Gachhayat, S. K. Dash

Abstract:

Multi objective non-convex economic dispatch problems of a thermal power plant are of grave concern for deciding the cost of generation and reduction of emission level for diminishing the global warming level for improving green-house effect. This paper deals with ramp rate constraints for achieving better inequality constraints so as to incorporate valve point loading for cost of generation in thermal power plant through ramp rate biogeography based optimization involving mutation and migration. Through 50 out of 100 trials, the cost function and emission objective function were found to have outperformed other classical methods such as lambda iteration method, quadratic programming method and many heuristic methods like particle swarm optimization method, weight improved particle swarm optimization method, constriction factor based particle swarm optimization method, moderate random particle swarm optimization method etc. Ramp rate biogeography based optimization applications prove quite advantageous in solving non convex multi objective economic dispatch problems subjected to nonlinear loads that pollute the source giving rise to third harmonic distortions and other such disturbances.

Keywords: economic load dispatch, ELD, biogeography-based optimization, BBO, ramp rate biogeography-based optimization, RRBBO, valve-point loading, VPL

Procedia PDF Downloads 374