Search results for: design method

Authors: Yasuyuki Takahashi, Hayato Ishimura, Masao Miyagawa, Teruhito Mochizuki

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Quantitative measurement of myocardium perfusion is possible with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using a semiconductor detector. However, accumulation of ^99mTc-tetrofosmin in the liver may make it difficult to assess that accurately in the inferior myocardium. Our idea is to reduce the high accumulation in the liver by using dynamic SPECT imaging and a technique called time subtraction. We evaluated the performance of a new SPECT system with a cadmium-zinc-telluride solid-state semi- conductor detector (Discovery NM 530c; GE Healthcare). Our system acquired list-mode raw data over 10 minutes for a typical patient. From the data, ten SPECT images were reconstructed, one for every minute of acquired data. Reconstruction with the semiconductor detector was based on an implementation of a 3-D iterative Bayesian reconstruction algorithm. We studied 20 patients with coronary artery disease (mean age 75.4 ± 12.1 years; range 42-86; 16 males and 4 females). In each subject, 259 MBq of ^99mTc-tetrofosmin was injected intravenously. We performed both a phantom and a clinical study using dynamic SPECT. An approximation to a liver-only image is obtained by reconstructing an image from the early projections during which time the liver accumulation dominates (0.5~2.5 minutes SPECT image-5~10 minutes SPECT image). The extracted liver-only image is then subtracted from a later SPECT image that shows both the liver and the myocardial uptake (5~10 minutes SPECT image-liver-only image). The time subtraction of liver was possible in both a phantom and the clinical study. The visualization of the inferior myocardium was improved. In past reports, higher accumulation in the myocardium due to the overlap of the liver is un-diagnosable. Using our time subtraction method, the image quality of the ^99mTc-tetorofosmin myocardial SPECT image is considerably improved.

Keywords: 99mTc-tetrofosmin, dynamic SPECT, time subtraction, semiconductor detector

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: Sevilay Çankaya

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The detection of deception in children’s interviews is essential for statement veracity. The widely used method for deception detection is building cognitive load, which is the logic of the cognitive interview (CI), and its effectiveness for adults is approved. This meta-analysis delves into the effectiveness of inducing cognitive load as a means of enhancing veracity detection during interviews with children. Additionally, the effectiveness of cognitive load on children's total number of events recalled is assessed as a second part of the analysis. The current meta-analysis includes ten effect sizes from search using databases. For the effect size calculation, Hedge’s g was used with a random effect model by using CMA version 2. Heterogeneity analysis was conducted to detect potential moderators. The overall result indicated that cognitive load had no significant effect on veracity outcomes (g =0.052, 95% CI [-.006,1.25]). However, a high level of heterogeneity was found (I² = 92%). Age, participants’ characteristics, interview setting, and characteristics of the interviewer were coded as possible moderators to explain variance. Age was significant moderator (β = .021; p = .03, R2 = 75%) but the analysis did not reveal statistically significant effects for other potential moderators: participants’ characteristics (Q = 0.106, df = 1, p = .744), interview setting (Q = 2.04, df = 1, p = .154), and characteristics of interviewer (Q = 2.96, df = 1, p = .086). For the second outcome, the total number of events recalled, the overall effect was significant (g =4.121, 95% CI [2.256,5.985]). The cognitive load was effective in total recalled events when interviewing with children. All in all, while age plays a crucial role in determining the impact of cognitive load on veracity, the surrounding context, interviewer attributes, and inherent participant traits may not significantly alter the relationship. These findings throw light on the need for more focused, age-specific methods when using cognitive load measures. It may be possible to improve the precision and dependability of deceit detection in children's interviews with the help of more studies in this field.

Keywords: deceit detection, cognitive load, memory recall, children interviews, meta-analysis

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Authors: Mahmood Naghizadeh, Maryam Memarian, Hourshad Irvash

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Following the rise in the world population and the upward growth of urbanization, the design, planning, and management of the site scenery for the purpose of presentation and expansion of sustainable site scenery has turned to be the greatest concern to experts. Since the fundamental principles of the site scenery change more and less haphazardly over time, sustainable site scenery can be viewed as an ideal goal because both sustainability and dynamism come into view in urban site scenery and it wouldn’t be designed according to a set of pre-determined principles. Sustainable site scenery, as the ongoing interaction between idealism and pragmatism with sustainability factors, is a dynamic phenomenon created by bringing cultural, historical, social and natural scenery together. Such an interaction is not to subdue other factors but to reinforce the aforementioned factors. The sustainable site scenery is a persistently occurring event not only has attenuated over time but has gained strength. The sustainability of a site scenery or an event over time depends on its site identity which grows out of its continuous association with the past. The sustainability of a site scene or an event in a time frame intertwined with the identity of the place from past to present. This past history supports the present and future of the scene. The result of such a supportive role is the sustainability of site scenery. Isfahan Naqsh-e-Jahan Square is one of the most outstanding squares in the world and the best embodiment of Iranian site scenery architecture. This square is an arena that brings people together and a dynamic city center comprising various urban and religious complexes, spaces and facilities and is considered as one of the most favorable traditional urban space of Iran. Such a place can illustrate many factors related to sustainable site scenery. One the other hand, there are still no specific principles concerning sustainability in the architecture of site scenery. Meanwhile, sustainability is recognized as a rather modern view in architecture. The purpose of this research is to identify factors involved in sustainability in general and to examine their effects on site scenery architecture in particular. Finally, these factors will be studied with taking Naqsh-e-Jahan Square into account. This research adopts an analytic-descriptive approach that has benefited from the review of literature available in library studies and the documents related to sustainability and site scenery architecture. The statistical population used for the purpose of this research includes square constructed during the Safavid dynasty and Naqsh-e-Jahan Square was picked out as the case study. The purpose of this paper is to come up with a rough definition of sustainable site scenery and demonstrate this concept by analyzing it and recognizing the social, economic and ecological aspects of this project.

Keywords: Naqsh-e-Jahan Square, site scenery architecture, sustainability, sustainable site scenery

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Authors: Masahiro Suzuki, Nobuyuki Okura

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The crosswind effect on ground transportations has been extensively investigated for decades. The effect of tornado, however, has been hardly studied in spite of the fact that even heavy ground vehicles, namely, trains were overturned by tornadoes with casualties in the past. Therefore, aerodynamic effects of the tornado on the train were studied by several approaches in this study. First, an experimental facility was developed to clarify aerodynamic forces acting on a vehicle running through a tornado. Our experimental set-up consists of two apparatus. One is a tornado simulator, and the other is a moving model rig. PIV measurements showed that the tornado simulator can generate a swirling-flow field similar to those of the natural tornadoes. The flow field has the maximum tangential velocity of 7.4 m/s and the vortex core radius of 96 mm. The moving model rig makes a 1/40 scale model train of single-car/three-car unit run thorough the swirling flow with the maximum speed of 4.3 m/s. The model car has 72 pressure ports on its surface to estimate the aerodynamic forces. The experimental results show that the aerodynamic forces vary its magnitude and direction depends on the location of the vehicle in the flow field. Second, the aerodynamic forces on the train were estimated by using Rankin vortex model. The Rankin vortex model is a simple tornado model which widely used in the field of civil engineering. The estimated aerodynamic forces on the middle car were fairly good agreement with the experimental results. Effects of the vortex core radius and the path of the train on the aerodynamic forces were investigated using the Rankin vortex model. The results shows that the side and lift forces increases as the vortex core radius increases, while the yawing moment is maximum when the core radius is 0.3875 times of the car length. Third, a computational simulation was conducted to clarify the flow field around the train. The simulated results qualitatively agreed with the experimental ones.

Keywords: aerodynamic force, experimental method, tornado, train

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Kamil Dydek, Anna Boczkowska, Paulina Latko-Duralek, Rafal Kozera, Michal Salacinski

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In recent years there has been increasing interest in many industries, such as the aviation, automotive, and military industries, in Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP). This is because of the excellent properties of CFRP, which are characterized by very high strength and stiffness in relation to their mass, low density (almost twice as low as aluminum and more than five times as low as steel), and corrosion resistance. However, they do not have sufficient electrical conductivity, which is required in some applications. Therefore, work is underway to improve their electrical conductivity, for example, by incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the CFRP structure. CNTs possess excellent properties, such as high electrical conductivity, high aspect ratio, high Young’s modulus, and high tensile strength. An idea developed by our team is a modification of CFRP by the use of thermoplastic nonwovens containing CNTs. Nanocomposite fibers were made from three different masterbatches differing in the content of multi-wall carbon nanotubes, and then nonwovens that differed in areal weight were produced using a thermo-press. The out of autoclave method was used to fabricate the laminates from commercial carbon-epoxy prepreg dedicated to aviation applications - one without the nonwovens (reference) and five containing nonwovens placed between each prepreg layer. The volume of electrical conductivity of the manufactured laminates was measured in three directions. In order to investigate the adhesion between carbon fibers and nonwovens, the microstructure of the produced laminates was observed. The mechanical properties of the CFRP composites were measured in a short-beam shear test. In addition, the influence of thermoplastic nonwovens on the thermos-mechanical properties of laminates was analyzed by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis. The studies were carried out within grant no. DOB-1-3/1/PS/2014 financed by the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland.

Keywords: CFRP, thermoplastic nonwovens, carbon nanotubes, electrical conductivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Jung Ae Park, Jooyong Park

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Writing is an important learning activity that cultivates higher level thinking. Effective and immediate feedback is necessary to help improve students' writing skills. Peer assessment can be an effective method in writing tasks because it makes it possible for students not only to receive quick feedback on their writing but also to get a chance to examine different perspectives on the same topic. Peer assessment can be practiced frequently and has the advantage of immediate feedback. However, there is controversy about the accuracy of peer assessment. In this study, we tried to demonstrate experimentally how the accuracy of peer assessment could be improved. Participants (n=76) were randomly assigned to groups of 4 members. All the participant graded two sets of 4 essays on the same topic. They graded the first set twice, and the second set or the posttest once. After the first grading of the first set, each group in the experimental condition 1 (discussion group), were asked to discuss the results of the peer assessment and then to grade the essays again. Each group in the experimental condition 2 (reading group), were asked to read the assessment on each essay by an expert and then to grade the essays again. In the control group, the participants were asked to grade the 4 essays twice in different orders. Afterwards, all the participants graded the second set of 4 essays. The mean score from 4 participants was calculated for each essay. The accuracy of the peer assessment was measured by Pearson correlation with the scores of the expert. The results were analyzed by two-way repeated measure ANOVA. The main effect of grading was observed: Grading accuracy got better as the number of grading experience increased. Analysis of posttest accuracy revealed that the score variations within a group of 4 participants decreased in both discussion and reading conditions but not in the control condition. These results suggest that having students discuss their grading together can be an efficient means to improve peer assessment accuracy. By discussing, students can learn from others about what to consider in grading and whether their grading is too strict or lenient. Further research is needed to examine the exact cause of the grading accuracy.

Keywords: peer assessment, evaluation accuracy, discussion, score variations

Procedia PDF Downloads 271

Authors: Kateriina Rannula, Elle Sõrmus, Siret Piirsalu

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Mixed generation classroom is a phenomenon that current higher education establishments are faced with daily trying to meet the needs of modern labor market with its emphasis on lifelong learning and retraining. Representatives of mainly X and Y generations in one classroom acquiring higher education is a challenge to lecturers considering all the characteristics that differ one generation from another. The importance of outlining different strategies and considering the needs of the students lies in the necessity for everyone to acquire the maximum of the provided knowledge as well as to understand each other to study together in one classroom and successfully cooperate in future workplaces. In addition to different generations, there are also learners with different native languages which have an impact on reading and understanding texts in third languages, including possible translation. Current research aims to investigate, describe and compare reading strategies among the representatives of generation X and Y. Hypotheses were formulated - representatives of generation X and Y use different reading strategies which is also different among first and third year students of the before mentioned generations. Current study is an empirical, qualitative study. To achieve the aim of the research, relevant literature was analyzed and a semi-structured questionnaire conducted among the first and third year students of Tallinn Health Care College. Questionnaire consisted of 25 statements on the text reading strategies, 3 multiple choice questions on preferences considering the design and medium of the text, and three open questions on the translation process when working with a text in student’s third language. The results of the questionnaire were categorized, analyzed and compared. Both, generation X and Y described their reading strategies to be 'scanning' and 'surfing'. Compared to generation X, first year generation Y learners valued interactivity and nonlinear texts. Students frequently used strategies of skimming, scanning, translating and highlighting together with relevant-thinking and assistance-seeking. Meanwhile, the third-year generation Y students no longer frequently used translating, resourcing and highlighting while Generation X learners still incorporated these strategies. Knowing about different needs of the generations currently inside the classrooms and on the labor market enables us with tools to provide sustainable education and grants the society a work force that is more flexible and able to move between professions. Future research should be conducted in order to investigate the amount of learning and strategy- adoption between generations. As for reading, main suggestions arising from the research are as follows: make a variety of materials available to students; allow them to select what they want to read and try to make those materials visually attractive, relevant, and appropriately challenging for learners considering the differences of generations.

Keywords: generation X, generation Y, learning strategies, reading strategies

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Authors: Anna Stoutenburg

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With the rise of the so-called 'new left' within the United States, marked by social democratic figures such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, significant questions have been raised in response to those who would identify with the term 'socialist'. These queries typically revolve around the negatively perceived legacy of past and present countries that share the term in question, with the stark conclusion that not only is socialism a structure that does not work economically, but that it also tends to inflict more harm on those living under it that would be endured in a country functioning under capitalism. In order to examine these claims, the goal of this paper is to examine the legacy of anti-communist historiography in a western context, with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, and modern Venezuela used as case studies for how this phenomenon operates. Not only will key portions of each nation’s history be re-examined, but there will also be a critical analysis of source cultivation and usage among western historians. The intent of this paper is not merely to deride previous attempts at historicizing and reporting on the events of the nations, but rather to attempt to glean a clearer picture that is free from anti-communist sentiments. Theoretical works that will be consulted in order to define this project are 'The Historiography of Communism' by Michael Brown, as well as 'Beyond Philosophy: Ethics, History, Marxism, and Liberation Theology' by Enrique Dussel. The latter will provide insights concerning why these questions are relevant in a larger context, namely by articulating how the means of liberation understood through an analectic method can be achieved structurally. For a majority of leftists, this question is integral, and by using history as a tool, the ways that political organizing can be used can be better understood, bridging the gap between the common assumption that the communist legacy is a dire one and the idea that it is something which needs to be completely lauded.

Keywords: anti-communism, history, ideology, Marxism

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Authors: Muhammad Muzamal, Anders Rasmuson

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Wood material is extensively considered as a raw material for the production of bio-polymers, bio-fuels and value-added chemicals. However, the shortcoming in using wood as raw material is that the enzymatic hydrolysis of wood material is difficult because the accessibility of enzymes to hemicelluloses and cellulose is hindered by complex chemical and physical structure of the wood. The steam explosion (SE) pre-treatment improves the digestion of wood material by creating both chemical and physical modifications in wood. In this process, first, wood chips are treated with steam at high pressure and temperature for a certain time in a steam treatment vessel. During this time, the chemical linkages between lignin and polysaccharides are cleaved and stiffness of material decreases. Then the steam discharge valve is rapidly opened and the steam and wood chips exit the vessel at very high speed. These fast moving wood chips collide with each other and with walls of the equipment and disintegrate to small pieces. More damaged and disintegrated wood have larger surface area and increased accessibility to hemicelluloses and cellulose. The energy required for an increase in specific surface area by same value is 70 % more in conventional mechanical technique, i.e. attrition mill as compared to steam explosion process. The mechanism of wood disintegration during the SE pre-treatment is very little studied. In this study, we have simulated collision and impact of wood chips (dimension 20 mm x 20 mm x 4 mm) with each other and with walls of the vessel. The wood chips are simulated as a 3D orthotropic material. Damage and fracture in the wood material have been modelled using 3D Hashin’s damage model. This has been accomplished by developing a user-defined subroutine and implementing it in the FE software ABAQUS. The elastic and strength properties used for simulation are of spruce wood at 12% and 30 % moisture content and at 20 and 160 OC because the impacted wood chips are pre-treated with steam at high temperature and pressure. We have simulated several cases to study the effects of elastic and strength properties of wood, velocity of moving chip and orientation of wood chip at the time of impact on the damage in the wood chips. The disintegration patterns captured by simulations are very similar to those observed in experimentally obtained steam exploded wood. Simulation results show that the wood chips moving with higher velocity disintegrate more. Moisture contents and temperature decreases elastic properties and increases damage. Impact and collision in specific directions cause easy disintegration. This model can be used to efficiently design the steam explosion equipment.

Keywords: dynamic simulation, disintegration of wood, impact, steam explosion pretreatment

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Authors: Nessa-Amie T. Peñaflor, Antonio Cinto

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This is a descriptive research on the level of math anxiety and mathematics misconceptions in algebra. This research is composed of four parts: (1) analysis of the level of anxiety of the respondents; (2) analysis of the common mathematical misconceptions in algebra; (3) relationship of socio-demographic profile in math anxiety and mathematical misconceptions and (4) analysis of the relationship of math anxiety and misconceptions in algebra. Through the demographic profile questionnaire it was found out that most of the respondents were female. Majority had ages that ranged from 13-15. Most of them had parents who finished secondary education. The biggest portion of Grade Seven students where from families with annual family income ranging from PhP 100, 000 to PhP 299, 999. Most of them came from public school. Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Secondary and Senior Secondary School Students (MAS) and set of 10 open-ended algebraic expressions and polynomials were also administered to determine the anxiety level and the common misconceptions in algebra. Data analysis revealed that respondents had high anxiety in mathematics. Likewise, the common mathematical misconceptions of the Grade Seven students were: combining unlike terms; multiplying the base and exponents; regarding the variable x as 0; squaring the first and second terms only in product of two binomials; wrong meaning attached to brackets; writing the terms next to each other but not simplifying in using the FOIL Method; writing the literal coefficient even if the numerical coefficient is 0; and dividing the denominator by the numerator when the numerical coefficient in the numerator is smaller than the numerical coefficient of the denominator. Results of the study show that the socio-demographic characteristics were not related to mathematics anxiety and misconceptions. Furthermore, students from higher section had high anxiety than those students on the lower section. Thus, belonging to higher or lower section may affect the mathematical misconceptions of the respondents.

Keywords: algebra, grade 7 math, math anxiety, math misconceptions

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Authors: Aamir Hasan, Subhash Mishra

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The purpose of the study was to determine the key drivers which influence the shopping behavior of the customers in the retail store. In today‟s competitive world with increasing number of retail stores, the retailers need to be more customer oriented. Retail has changed and expanded in all lines of business, be it apparel,jewelry, footwear, groceries etc. The modern consumer is posing a challenging task for the Indian retailer. More aware, more confident and much more demanding, therefore the retailers are looking for ways to deliver better consumer value and to increase consumer purchase intention. Retailers tend to differentiate themselves by making their service easier to consumers. The study aims to study the key drivers that can influence shopping behavior in retail store. A survey (store intercept) method was employed to elicit primary information from 300 shoppers in different retail stores of Lucknow. The findings reveal the factors that play a greater role in influencing the shopping behavior of customers in retail store. As such, a survey of retail store customers‟ attitude towards reduced price, sales promotion, quality of the products, proximity to the home, customer service, store atmospherics were analyzed to identify the key drivers influencing shopping behavior in retail store. A questionnaire based on a five-item Likert scale, as well as random sampling, was employed for data collection. Data analysis was accomplished using SPSS software. The paper has found shopping experience, store image and value for money as three important variable out of which shopping experience emerged as a dominant factor which influences the consumer's shopping behavior in the retail store. Since the research has established empirical evidences in determining the key drivers which influences the shopping behavior of the customers in the retail store, it serves as a foundation for a deeper probe into the shopping behavior of the customers in the retail store research domain in the Indian context.

Keywords: retail, shopping, customers, questionnaire

Procedia PDF Downloads 425

Authors: Mohammad R. Jalali

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Movement of liquid with a free surface in a container is known as slosh. For instance, slosh occurs when water in a closed tank is set in motion by a free surface displacement, or when liquid natural gas in a container is vibrated by an external driving force, such as an earthquake or movement induced by transport. Slosh is also derived from resonant switching of a natural basin. During sloshing, different types of motion are produced by energy exchange between the liquid and its container. In present study, a numerical model is developed to simulate the nonlinear even harmonic oscillations of free surface sloshing of an initial disturbance to the free surface of a liquid in a closed square basin. The response of the liquid free surface is affected by amplitude and motion frequencies of its container; therefore, sloshing involves complex fluid-structure interactions. In the present study, nonlinear interaction of free surface sloshing of an initial Gaussian hump with its uneven container is predicted numerically. For this purpose, Green-Naghdi (GN) equations are applied as governing equation of fluid field to produce nonlinear second-order and higher-order wave interactions. These equations reduce the dimensions from three to two, yielding equations that can be solved efficiently. The GN approach assumes a particular flow kinematic structure in the vertical direction for shallow and deep-water problems. The fluid velocity profile is finite sum of coefficients depending on space and time multiplied by a weighting function. It should be noted that in GN theory, the flow is rotational. In this study, GN numerical simulations of initial Gaussian hump are compared with Fourier series semi-analytical solutions of the linearized shallow water equations. The comparison reveals that satisfactory agreement exists between the numerical simulation and the analytical solution of the overall free surface sloshing patterns. The resonant free surface motions driven by an initial Gaussian disturbance are obtained by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the free surface elevation time history components. Numerically predicted velocity vectors and magnitude contours for the free surface patterns indicate that interaction of Gaussian hump with its container has localized effect. The result of this sloshing is applicable to the design of stable liquefied oil containers in tankers and offshore platforms.

Keywords: fluid-structure interactions, free surface sloshing, Gaussian hump, Green-Naghdi equations, numerical predictions

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Authors: Fernandez liporace, Mercedes Uriel Fabiana

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Academic achievement in high school and college students is currently a matter of concern. National and international assessments show high schoolers as low achievers, and local statistics indicate alarming dropout percentages in this educational level. Even so, 80% of those students intend attending higher education. On the other hand, applications to Public National Universities are free and non-selective by examination procedures. Though initial registrations are massive (307.894 students), only 50% of freshmen pass their first year classes, and 23% achieves a degree. Low performances use to be a common problem. Hence, freshmen adaptation, their adjustment, dropout and low academic achievement arise as topics of agenda. Besides, the hinge between high school and college must be examined in depth, in order to get an integrated and successful path from one educational stratum to the other. Psychology aims at developing two main research lines to analyse the situation. One regarding psychometric scales, designing and/or adapting tests, examining their technical properties and their theoretical validity (e.g., academic motivation, learning strategies, learning styles, coping, perceived social support, parenting styles and parental consistency, paradoxical personality as correlated to creative skills, psychopathological symptomatology). The second research line emphasizes relationships within the variables measured by the former scales, facing the formulation and testing of predictive models of academic achievement, establishing differences by sex, age, educational level (high school vs college), and career. Pursuing these goals, several studies were carried out in recent years, reporting findings and producing assessment technology useful to detect students academically at risk as well as good achievers. Multiple samples were analysed totalizing more than 3500 participants (2500 from college and 1000 from high school), including descriptive, correlational, group differences and explicative designs. A brief on the most relevant results is presented. Providing information to design specific interventions according to every learner’s features and his/her educational environment comes up as a mid-term accomplishment. Furthermore, that information might be helpful to adapt curricula by career, as well as for implementing special didactic strategies differentiated by sex and personal characteristics.

Keywords: academic achievement, higher education, high school, psychological assessment

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Authors: Zi-Yan Chao

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With the rapid development of urbanization and increasing demand for efficient transportation systems, the interaction between land use diversity and transportation resource allocation has become a critical issue in urban planning. Achieving a balance of land use types, such as residential, commercial, and industrial areas, is crucial role in ensuring social equity and sustainable urban development. Simultaneously, optimizing multimodal transportation networks, including bus, subway, and car routes, is essential for minimizing total travel time and costs, while ensuring fairness for all social groups, particularly in meeting the transportation needs of low-income populations. This study develops a bilevel programming model to address these challenges, with land use diversity as the foundation for measuring equity. The upper-level model maximizes land use diversity for balanced land distribution across regions. The lower-level model optimizes multimodal transportation networks to minimize travel time and costs while maintaining user equilibrium. The model also incorporates constraints to ensure fair resource allocation, such as balancing transportation accessibility and cost differences across various social groups. A solution approach is developed to solve the bilevel optimization problem, ensuring efficient exploration of the solution space for land use and transportation resource allocation. This study maximizes social equity by maximizing land use diversity and achieving user equilibrium with optimal transportation resource distribution. The proposed method provides a robust framework for addressing urban planning challenges, contributing to sustainable and equitable urban development.

Keywords: bilevel programming model, genetic algorithms, land use diversity, multimodal transportation optimization, social equity

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Authors: Tekle Olbamo, Tegegn Tesfaye, Dikaso Unbushe, Belete Jorga

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Bovine trypanosomosis is a haemoprotozoan parasitic disease, mostly transmitted by the tsetse fly (Glossina species) and poses significant losses to the livestock industry in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas. Therefore, the current study was aimed to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis and its vectorial density in some selected tsetse suppression and non-tsetse suppression areas of South Omo Zonefrom December 2018- November 2019. Dark phase contrast buffy coat, hematocrit techniques, and thin blood smear method were used for determination of prevalence and packed cell volume of trypanosomosis infection, respectively. For entomological investigation, 96 NGU traps were deployed (64 traps in tsetse suppression areas, 32 traps in tsetse non-suppression areas) in vector breeding areas. The overall prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis was 11.05% (142/1284), and overall seasonal prevalence of disease was 14.33% (92/642) and 7.78% (50/642) for dry and wet seasons, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference (P <0.05) in disease prevalence between the two seasons. Trypanosomacongolensewas the dominant parasite species; 80% and 71.64%, followed by Trypanosomavivax. Overall mean packed cell volume indicated parasitaemic animals (23.57±3.13) had significantly lower PCV than aparasitaemic animals (27.80±4.95), and animals examined during dry season (26.22±4.37) had lower mean PCV than animals examined during wet season with the significant association. Entomological study result revealed a total of 2.64 F/T/D and 2.03 F/T/D respectively from tsetse suppression areas and tsetse non-suppression areas during dry season and 0.42 F/T/D and 0.56 F/T/D during the wet season. Glossinapallidipes was the only cyclical vectors collected and identified from current study areas along with numerous mechanical vectors of genus Tabanus, Stomoxys, and Haematopota. Therefore integrated and safe control and prevention effort should be engaged to uphold cattle production and productivity in the area.

Keywords: bovine trypanosomiasis, South Omo, tsetse fly density, epidemiological study

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Authors: K. X. Cheng, A. L. Goh, K. T. Ooi

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The effectiveness of microchannels in enhancing heat transfer has been demonstrated in the semiconductor industry. In order to tap the microscale heat transfer effects into macro geometries, overcoming the cost and technological constraints, microscale passages were created in macro geometries machined using conventional fabrication methods. A cylindrical insert was placed within a pipe, and geometrical profiles were created on the outer surface of the insert to enhance heat transfer under steady-state single-phase liquid flow conditions. However, while heat transfer coefficient values of above 10 kW/m2·K were achieved, the heat transfer enhancement was accompanied by undesirable pressure drop increment. Therefore, this study aims to address the high pressure drop issue using Constructal theory, a universal design law for both animate and inanimate systems. Two designs based on Constructal theory were developed to study the effectiveness of Constructal features in reducing the pressure drop increment as compared to parallel channels, which are commonly found in microchannel fabrication. The hydrodynamic and heat transfer performance for the Tree insert and Constructal fin (Cfin) insert were studied using experimental methods, and the underlying mechanisms were substantiated by numerical results. In technical terms, the objective is to achieve at least comparable increment in both heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop, if not higher increment in the former parameter. Results show that the Tree insert improved the heat transfer performance by more than 16 percent at low flow rates, as compared to the Tree-parallel insert. However, the heat transfer enhancement reduced to less than 5 percent at high Reynolds numbers. On the other hand, the pressure drop increment stayed almost constant at 20 percent. This suggests that the Tree insert has better heat transfer performance in the low Reynolds number region. More importantly, the Cfin insert displayed improved heat transfer performance along with favourable hydrodynamic performance, as compared to Cfinparallel insert, at all flow rates in this study. At 2 L/min, the enhancement of heat transfer was more than 30 percent, with 20 percent pressure drop increment, as compared to Cfin-parallel insert. Furthermore, comparable increment in both heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop was observed at 8 L/min. In other words, the Cfin insert successfully achieved the objective of this study. Analysis of the results suggests that bifurcation of flows is effective in reducing the increment in pressure drop relative to heat transfer enhancement. Optimising the geometries of the Constructal fins is therefore the potential future study in achieving a bigger stride in energy efficiency at much lower costs.

Keywords: constructal theory, enhanced heat transfer, microchannel, pressure drop

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Authors: Yu. Mateyshina, A. Ulihin, N. Uvarov

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Supercapacitors are one of the most promising devices for energy storage applications as they can provide higher power density than batteries and higher energy density than conventional dielectric capacitors. Carbon materials with various microtextures are considered as main candidates for supercapacitors in terms of high surface area, interconnected pore structure, controlled pore size, high electrical conductivity and environmental friendliness. The specific capacitance (C) of the electrode material of the Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC) is known to depend on the specific surface area (Ss) and the pore structure. Activated carbons are most commonly used in supercapacitors because of their high surface area (Ss ≥ 1000 m2/g), good adhesion to electrolytes and low cost. In this work, electrochemical properties of new microporous and mesoporous carbon electrode materials were studied. The aim of the work was to investigate the relationship between the specific capacitance and specific surface area in a series of materials prepared from different organic precursors.. As supporting matrixes different carbon samples with Ss = 100-2000 m2/g were used. The materials were modified by treatment in acids (H2SO4, HNO3, acetic acid) in order to enable surface hydrophilicity. Then nanoparticles of transition metal oxides (for example NiO) were deposited on the carbon surfaces using methods of salts impregnation, mechanical treatment in ball mills and the precursors decomposition. The electrochemical characteristics of electrode hybrid materials were investigated in a symmetrical two-electrode cell using an impedance spectroscopy, voltammetry in both potentiodynamic and galvanostatic modes. It was shown that the value of C for the materials under study strongly depended on the preparation method of the electrode and the type of electrolyte (1 M H2SO4, 6 M KOH, 1 M LiClO4 in acetonitryl). Specific capacity may be increased by the introduction of nanoparticles from 50-100 F/g for initial carbon materials to 150-300 F/g for nanocomposites which may be used in supercapacitors. The work is supported by the по SC-14.604.21.0013.

Keywords: supercapacitors, carbon electrode, mesoporous carbon, electrochemistry

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Authors: M. Rahou, A. J. Andrews, G. Rosengarten

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One of the main challenges in high-temperature solar thermal applications transfer concentrated solar radiation to the load with minimum energy loss and maximum overall efficiency. The use of a solar concentrator in conjunction with bundled optical fibres has potential advantages in terms of transmission energy efficiency, technical feasibility and cost-effectiveness compared to a conventional heat transfer system employing heat exchangers and a heat transfer fluid. In this paper, a theoretical and computer simulation method is described to estimate the net solar radiation transmission from a solar concentrator into and through optical fibres to a thermal application at the end of the fibres over distances of up to 100 m. A key input to the simulation is the angular distribution of radiation intensity at each point across the aperture plane of the optical fibre. This distribution depends on the optical properties of the solar concentrator, in this case, a parabolic mirror with a small secondary mirror with a common focal point and a point-focus Fresnel lens to give a collimated beam that pass into the optical fibre bundle. Since solar radiation comprises a broad band of wavelengths with very limited spatial coherence over the full range of spectrum only ray tracing models absorption within the fibre and reflections at the interface between core and cladding is employed, assuming no interference between rays. The intensity of the radiation across the exit plane of the fibre is found by integrating across all directions and wavelengths. Results of applying the simulation model to a parabolic concentrator and point-focus Fresnel lens with typical optical fibre bundle will be reported, to show how the energy transmission varies with the length of fibre.

Keywords: concentrated radiation, fibre bundle, parabolic dish, fresnel lens, transmission

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Authors: Gurbanova Lamiya

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The Republic of Azerbaijan is considered a region with limited water resources, as up to 70% of surface water is formed outside the country's borders, and most of its territory is an arid (dry) climate zone. It is located at the lower limit of transboundary flows, which is the weakest source of natural water resources in the South Caucasus. It is essential to correctly assess the quality of natural, collector-drainage and groundwater of the area and their suitability for irrigation in order to properly carry out land reclamation measures, provide the normal water-salt regime, and prevent repeated salinization. Through the 141-km-long main Mil-Mugan collector, groundwater, household waste, and floodwaters generated during floods and landslides are poured into the Caspian Sea. The hydrochemical composition of the samples taken from the Sabir irrigation canal passing through the center of the Kura-Araz plain, the Main Mil-Mugan Collector, and the groundwater of the region, which we chose as our research object, were studied and the obtained results were compared by periods. A model is proposed that allows for a complete visualization of the primary materials collected for the study area. The practical use of the established digital model provides all possibilities. The practical use of the established digital model provides all possibilities. An extensive database was created with the ArcGis 10.8 package, using publicly available LandSat satellite images as primary data in addition to ground surveys to build the model. The principles of the construction of the geographic information system of modern GIS technology were developed, the boundary and initial condition of the research area were evaluated, and forecasts and recommendations were given.

Keywords: irrigation channel, groundwater, collector, meliorative measures

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Authors: H. Shahid

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Due to Ozone layer depletion on earth, the incoming ultraviolet (UV) radiation is recorded at its high index levels such as 25 in South Peru (13.5° S, 3360 m a.s.l.) Also, the planning of human inhabitation on Mars is under discussion where UV radiations are quite high. The exposure to UV is health hazardous and is avoided by UV filters. On the other hand, artificial UV sources are in use for water thermolysis to generate Hydrogen and Oxygen, which are later used as fuels. This paper presents the utility of employing UVA (315-400nm) and UVB (280-315nm) electromagnetic radiation from the solar spectrum to design and implement an optically active, Hydrogen and Oxygen generation system via thermolysis of desalinated seawater. The proposed system finds its utility on earth and can be deployed in the future on Mars (UVB). In this system, by using Fresnel lens arrays as an optical filter and via active tracking, the ultraviolet light from the sun is concentrated and then allowed to fall on two sub-systems of the proposed system. The first sub-system generates electrical energy by using UV based tandem photovoltaic cells such as GaAs/GaInP/GaInAs/GaInAsP and the second elevates temperature of water to lower the electric potential required to electrolyze the water. An empirical analysis is performed at 30 atm and an electrical potential is observed to be the main controlling factor for the rate of production of Hydrogen and Oxygen and hence the operating point (Q-Point) of the proposed system. The hydrogen production rate in the case of the commercial system in static mode (650ᵒC, 0.6V) is taken as a reference. The silicon oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) is used in the proposed (UV) system for the Hydrogen and Oxygen production. To achieve the same amount of Hydrogen as in the case of the reference system, with minimum chamber operating temperature of 850ᵒC in static mode, the corresponding required electrical potential is calculated as 0.3V. However, practically, the Hydrogen production rate is observed to be low in comparison to the reference system at 850ᵒC at 0.3V. However, it has been shown empirically that the Hydrogen production can be enhanced and by raising the electrical potential to 0.45V. It increases the production rate to the same level as is of the reference system. Therefore, 850ᵒC and 0.45V are assigned as the Q-point of the proposed system which is actively stabilized via proportional integral derivative controllers which adjust the axial position of the lens arrays for both subsystems. The functionality of the controllers is based on maintaining the chamber fixed at 850ᵒC (minimum operating temperature) and 0.45V; Q-Point to realize the same Hydrogen production rate as-is for the reference system.

Keywords: hydrogen, oxygen, thermolysis, ultraviolet

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Authors: Li Yin, Xiaoqin Wang

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Background and purpose: Cancer diagnosis is part of a complex stochastic process, in which patients' personal and social characteristics influence the choice of diagnosing methods, diagnosing methods, in turn, influence the initial assessment of cancer stage, the initial assessment, in turn, influences the choice of treating methods, and treating methods in turn influence cancer outcomes such as cancer survival. To evaluate diagnosing methods, one needs to estimate and test the causal effect of a regime of cancer diagnosis and treatments. Recently, Wang and Yin (Annals of statistics, 2020) derived a new general formula, which expresses these causal effects in terms of the point effects of treatments in single-point causal inference. As a result, it is possible to estimate and test these causal effects via point effects. The purpose of the work is to estimate and test causal effects under various regimes of cancer diagnosis and treatments via point effects. Challenges and solutions: The cancer stage has influences from earlier diagnosis as well as on subsequent treatments. As a consequence, it is highly difficult to estimate and test the causal effects via standard parameters, that is, the conditional survival given all stationary covariates, diagnosing methods, cancer stage and prognosis factors, treating methods. Instead of standard parameters, we use the point effects of cancer diagnosis and treatments to estimate and test causal effects under various regimes of cancer diagnosis and treatments. We are able to use familiar methods in the framework of single-point causal inference to accomplish the task. Achievements: we have applied this method to stomach cancer survival from a clinical study in Sweden. We have studied causal effects under various regimes, including the optimal regime of diagnosis and treatments and the effect moderation of the causal effect by age and gender.

Keywords: cancer diagnosis, causal effect, point effect, G-formula, sequential causal effect

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Authors: P. Muñiz, R. Del Pino-García , M.D. Rivero-Pérez, J. García-Lomillo, M. L. González-SanJosé

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Grape, wine and wine pomace could improve the antioxidant status in the vasculature in terms of plasma antioxidant capacity and oxidation biomarkers, partly due to their high content in polyphenols. The current study aimed to evaluate the protection of a powdered product obtained from wine pomace (WPP) against oxidative damage associated to diabetes. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic (STZ) male Wistar rats and non-diabetic control (C) rats initially weighting 300±10 mg were supplemented with 100 mg of WPP or vehicle for 4 weeks. Blood glucose levels and body weight (BW) were measured weekly. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assessed using the ABTS method, and F2α-Isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs) quantified by GC-MS were measured in plasma collected at the end of this experiment. Blood glucose levels tended to increase in the STZ group along the study. Supplementation maintained relatively stable during the whole experiment the blood glucose values in STZ+WPP rats. A weight loss of BW in STZ rats respect to C rats was observed after 4 weeks, whereas the decrease in BW of STZ+WPP group showed a tendency to improve at the end of the study. TAC values significantly decreased around 11% only in plasma of STZ rats. The rest of groups showed plasma TAC values about 8 mM Trolox. Increased levels of F2-IsoPs (around 25%) were also observed in plasma of STZ rats compared to the supplemented rats, revealing a protective effect of WPP against lipid peroxidation. In conclusion, 4-week supplementation with a product derived from winery by-products improved weight loss, plasma TAC, and lipid oxidation biomarkers in Type I diabetic rats.

Keywords: blood glucose, grape polyphenols, F2α-isoprostanes, type I diabetes, oxidative stress

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Authors: Rebecca Haythorne

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Background: Agendas continuously emphasise the need to increase work based training and opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities. However research and statistics suggest that there is still significant stigma and stereotypes as to what they can contribute, or gain from being part of the working environment. Method: To tackles some of these prejudices an Occupational Therapy based intervention was developed for learning disability service users working at a social enterprise farm. The intervention aimed to increase positive public perception around individual capabilities and encourage individuals with learning disabilities to take ownership and be proud of their individual personhood and citizenship. This was achieved by using components of the Model of Human Occupation to tailor the intervention to individual values, skills and working contributions. The final project involved making creative wall art for public viewing, focusing on 'who works there and what they do'. This was accompanied by a visitor information guide, allowing individuals to tell visitors about themselves, the work they do and why it is meaningful to them. Outcomes: The intervention has helped to increased metal well-being and confidence of learning disability service users “people will know I work here now” and “I now have something to show my family about the work I do at the farm”. The intervention has also increased positive public perception and community awareness “you can really see the effort that’s gone into doing this” and “it’s a really visual experience to see people you don’t expect to see doing this type of work”. Resources left behind have further supported individuals to take ownership in creating more wall art to be sold at the farm shop. Conclusion: the intervention developed has helped to improve mental well-being of both service users and staff and improve community awareness. Due to this, the farm has decided to roll out the intervention to other areas of the social enterprise and is considering having more Occupational Therapy involvement in the future.

Keywords: citizenship, intervention, occupational therapy, personhood

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Authors: Ali Raouli, Amin Chegenizadeh, Hamid Nikraz

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The Perth metropolitan area and its surrounding regions have been expanding rapidly in recent decades and it is expected that this growth will continue in the years to come. With this rapid growth and the resulting increase in population, consideration should be given to strategic planning and modelling for the future expansion of Perth. The accurate estimation of projected traffic volumes has always been a major concern for the transport modelers and planners. Development of a reliable strategic transport model depends significantly on the inputs data into the model and the calibrated parameters of the model to reflect the existing situation. Trip distribution is the second step in four-step modelling (FSM) which is complex due to its behavioral nature. Gravity model is the most common method for trip distribution. The spatial separation between the Origin and Destination (OD) zones will be reflected in gravity model by applying deterrence functions which provide an opportunity to include people’s behavior in choosing their destinations based on distance, time and cost of their journeys. Deterrence functions play an important role for distribution of the trips within a study area and would simulate the trip distances and therefore should be calibrated for any particular strategic transport model to correctly reflect the trip behavior within the modelling area. This paper aims to review the most common deterrence functions and propose a calibrated deterrence function for work trips within the Perth Metropolitan Area based on the information obtained from the latest available Household data and Perth and Region Travel Survey (PARTS) data. As part of this study, a four-step transport model using EMME software has been developed for Perth Metropolitan Area to assist with the analysis and findings.

Keywords: deterrence function, four-step modelling, origin destination, transport model

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Authors: Ali Kassem, Aly Taha, Abeer Hassan, Kazuhide Higuchi

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Introduction: Trans arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is usually followed by hepatic dysfunction that limits its efficacy. L-carnitine is recently studied as hepatoprotective agent. Our aim is to evaluate the L-carnitine effects against the deterioration of liver functions after TACE. Method: 53 patients with intermediate stage HCC were assigned into two groups; L-carnitine group (26 patients) who received L-carnitine 300 mg tablet twice daily from 2 weeks before to 12 weeks after TACE and control group (27 patients) without L-carnitine therapy. 28 of studied patients received branched chain amino acids granules. Results: There were significant differences between L-carnitine Vs. control group in mean serum albumin change from baseline to 1 week and 4 weeks after TACE (p < 0.05). L-Carnitine maintained Child-Pugh score at 1 week after TACE and exhibited improvement at 4 weeks after TACE (p < 0.01 Vs 1 week after TACE). Control group has significant Child-Pugh score deterioration from baseline to 1 week after TACE (p < 0.05) and 12 weeks after TACE (p < 0.05). There were significant differences between L-carnitine and control groups in mean Child-Pugh score change from baseline to 4 weeks (p < 0.05) and 12 weeks after TACE (p < 0.05). L-carnitine displayed improvement in (PT) from baseline to 1 week, 4 w (p < 0.05) and 12 weeks after TACE. PT in control group declined less than baseline along all follow up intervals. Total bilirubin in L-carnitine group decreased at 1 week post TACE while in control group, it significantly increased at 1 week (p = 0.01). ALT and C-reactive protein elevation were suppressed at 1 week after TACE in Lcarnitine group. The hepatoprotective effects of L-carnitine were enhanced by concomitant use of branched chain amino acids. Conclusion: L-carnitine and BCAA combination therapy offer a novel supportive strategy after TACE in HCC patients.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, L-carnitine, liver functions , trans-arterial embolization

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Authors: Ivan Ashif Ardhana, Intan Mahanani

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Chemistry education tends to change from triplet representation among macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic to tetrahedron shape. This change set the aspect of human element on the top of learning. Meaning that students are expected to solve the problems involving the ethic, morality, and humanity through the class. Ability to solve the problems connecting either theories or applications is called scientific literacy which have been implemented in curriculum 2013 implicitly. Scientific literacy has an aspect of nature science and critical thinking. Both can be integrated to learning using scientific approach and scientific inquiry. Unfortunately, students’ ability of scientific literacy in Indonesia is far from expectation. A survey from PISA had proven it. Scientific literacy of Indonesian students is always at bottom five position from 2002 till 2012. Improving a scientific literacy needs many efforts against them. Developing an instructional material based on scientific approach is one kind of that efforts. Instructional material contains both aspect of nature of science and critical thinking which is instructed explicitly to improve the students’ understanding about science. Developing goal is to produce a prototype and an instructional material using scientific approach whose chapter is chemical bonding and intermolecular forces for high school students grade ten. As usual, the material is subjected to get either quantitative mark or suggestion through validation process using validation sheet instrument. Development model is adapted from 4D model containing four steps. They are define, design, develop, and disseminate. Nevertheless, development of instructional material had only done until third step. The final step wasn’t done because of time, cost, and energy limitations. Developed instructional material had been validated by four validators. They are coming from chemistry lecture and high school’s teacher which two at each. The result of this development research shown the average of quantitative mark of students’ book is 92.75% with very proper in criteria. Given at same validation process, teacher’s guiding book got the average mark by 96.98%, similar criteria with students’ book. Qualitative mark including both comments and suggestions resulted from validation process were used as consideration for the revision. The result concluded us how the instructional materials using scientific approach to explicit nature of science and critical thinking on the topic of chemical bonding and intermolecular forces are very proper if they are used at learning activity.

Keywords: critical thinking, instructional material, nature of science, scientific literacy

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Authors: E. Von Cheong, Carol Sinnott, Darren Dahly, Patricia M. Kearney

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Introduction and Aim: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are all too common and have been linked to poorer health and wellbeing across the life course. While the prevention of ACEs is a worthy goal, it is important that we also try to lessen the impact of ACEs for those who do experience them. This study aims to investigate associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and later-life depressive symptoms; and to explore whether perceived social support (PSS) moderates these. Method: We analysed baseline data from the Mitchelstown (Ireland) 2010-11 cohort involving 2047 men and women aged 50–69 years. Self-reported assessments included ACEs (Centre for Disease Control ACE questionnaire), PSS (Oslo Social Support Scale), and depressive symptoms (CES-D). The primary exposure was self-report of at least one ACE. We also investigated the effects of ACE exposure by the subtypes abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Associations between each of these exposures and depressive symptoms were estimated using logistic regression, adjusted for socio-demographic factors that were selected using the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) approach. We also tested whether the estimated associations varied across levels of PSS (poor, moderate, and good). Results: 23.7% of participants reported at least one ACE (95% CI: 21.9% to 25.6%). ACE exposures (overall or subtype) were associated with a higher odds of depressive symptoms, but only among individuals with poor PSS. For example, exposure to any ACE (vs. none) was associated with 3 times the odds of depressive symptoms (Adjusted OR 2.97; 95% CI 1.63 to 5.40) among individuals reporting poor PSS, while among those reporting moderate PSS, the adjusted OR was 1.18 (95% CI 0.72 to 1.94). Discussion: ACEs are common among older adults in Ireland and are associated with higher odds of later-life depressive symptoms among those also reporting poor PSS. Interventions that enhance perception of social support following ACE exposure may help reduce the burden of depression in older populations.

Keywords: adverse childhood experiences, depression, later-life, perceived social support

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Authors: Izabel Cristina Zattar, Gilberto Passos Lima, Guilherme Schünemann de Oliveira

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In Brazil, there are several institutions committed to the development of new businesses based on product innovation. Among them are business incubators, universities and science institutes. Business incubators can be defined as nurseries for new companies, which may be in the technology segment, discussed in this article. Business incubators provide services related to infrastructure, such as physical space and meeting rooms. Besides these services, incubators also offer assistance in the form of information and communication, access to finance, relationship networks and business monitoring and mentoring processes. Business incubators support not all technology companies. One of the business incubators tasks is to assess the nature and feasibility of new business proposals. To assist this goal, this paper proposes a methodology for evaluating new business using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This paper presents the concepts used in the assessing methodology application for new business, concepts that have been tested with positive results in practice. This study counts on three main steps: first, a hierarchy was built, based on new business manuals used by the business incubators. These books and manuals relate business selection requirements, such as the innovation status and other technological aspects. Then, a questionnaire was generated, in order to guide incubator experts in the parity comparisons at all hierarchy levels. The weights of each requirement are calculated from information obtained from the questionnaire responses. Finally, the proposed method was applied to evaluate five new business proposals, which were applying to be part of a company incubator. The main result is the classification of these new businesses, which helped the incubator experts to decide what companies were more eligible to work with. This classification may also be helpful to the decision-making process of business incubators in future selection processes.

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Brazilian companies incubators, technology companies, incubator

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Authors: Dharshini S.

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India is currently experiencing a shift in wage discrimination from gender, caste and religion to different age groups in both formal and informal sectors. In this milieu, this study examines wage discrimination in the informal labour market between young people (15-29 years) and middle-aged people (30-59 years) among regular and casual employees in the Indian informal sector. The data was collected using periodic labour force (PLFS), and the original data was extracted from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), Government of India. The OLS regression model explores the determinants of wages for both regular and casual employees. Moreover, the Blinder Oaxaca decomposition method is used to explore the explained and unexplained components of this wage discrimination. The younger people (regular and casual employees) get lower wages as compared to middle-aged employees in the informal sector. The regression result follows the human capital theory, where education, job experience and higher occupation help to raise the wage rate of middle-aged people more than young-aged people in regular work. Furthermore, we found the rising trend of wage discrimination between the above groups over the years from 2017-18 to 2022-23. Unexplained factors (discrimination effects) contribute more to the wage differentiation between the young and middle age groups. It indicates that wage discrimination persists among regular and casual employees in the informal labour market, which is not a good sign for the economy. For the betterment of workers who face discrimination for age, the policies and programs should be implemented like other countries such as the U.S.A to stop age discrimination due to stereotypes in India.

Keywords: wage discrimination, young workers, middle workers, Informal sector, blinder oaxaca decomposition, PLFS.

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Authors: Matjaž Šraml, Marko Renčelj, Tomaž Tollazzi, Chiara Gruden

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Road safety is a worldwide issue with numerous and heterogeneous factors influencing it. On the side, driver state – comprising distraction/inattention, fatigue, drowsiness, extreme emotions, and socio-cultural factors highly affect road safety. On the other side, the vehicle state has an important role in mitigating (or not) the road risk. Finally, the road environment is still one of the main determinants of road safety, defining driving task complexity. At the same time, thanks to technological development, a lot of detailed data is easily available, creating opportunities for the detection of driver state, vehicle characteristics and road conditions and, consequently, for the design of ad hoc interventions aimed at improving driver performance, increase awareness and mitigate road risks. This is the challenge faced by the i-DREAMS project. i-DREAMS, which stands for a smart Driver and Road Environment Assessment and Monitoring System, is a 3-year project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. It aims to set up a platform to define, develop, test and validate a ‘Safety Tolerance Zone’ to prevent drivers from getting too close to the boundaries of unsafe operation by mitigating risks in real-time and after the trip. After the definition and development of the Safety Tolerance Zone concept and the concretization of the same in an Advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) platform, the system was tested firstly for 2 months in a driving simulator environment in 5 different countries. After that, naturalistic driving studies started for a 10-month period (comprising a 1-month pilot study, 3-month baseline study and 6 months study implementing interventions). Currently, the project team has approved a common evaluation approach, and it is developing the assessment of the usage and outcomes of the i-DREAMS system, which is turning positive insights. The i-DREAMS consortium consists of 13 partners, 7 engineering universities and research groups, 4 industry partners and 2 partners (European Transport Safety Council - ETSC - and POLIS cities and regions for transport innovation) closely linked to transport safety stakeholders, covering 8 different countries altogether.

Keywords: advanced driver assistant systems, driving simulator, safety tolerance zone, traffic safety

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