Search results for: efficient SCADA based monitoring system

Authors: Ge Cui, Mei Fang Chien, Chihiro Inoue

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In this research, enrichment culture using an inorganic liquid medium collected soil contaminated with 1,2-dichlorobenzene (1,2-DCB) in Sendai, Japan, was added 1,2-DCB as the sole carbon source to create a stable consortium. The purpose of this research is to analysis dominant microorganisms in the stable consortium and enzyme system which play a role in the degradation of DCBs. The consortium is now at 30 generation and is still being cultured. By the result of PCR-DGGE and clone library, two bacteria are dominant. The bacteria named sk1 was isolated. 40mg/l of 1,2-DCB and 40mg/l of 1,4-DCB were completely degraded after 32 hours and 50 hours, respectively, but no degradation occurred in the case of 1,3-DCB. By PCR, tecA1 (α-subunit of DCB dioxygenase) gene which plays a role degrading DCB to DCB dihydrodiol, and tecB (dehydrogenase) gene which plays a role degrading DCB dihydrodiol to dichlorocatechol were amplified from strain sk1. Bacteria named sk100 was also isolated. 40mg/l of 1,2-DCB was completely degraded after 32 hours, but no degradation occurred in case of 1,3-DCB and 1,4-DCB. By the result of the catalytic core region of dioxygenase amplified by PCR, gene played a role degrading DCB was analyzed. The results of this study concluded that the isolated strains which have not been reported are able to degrade 1,2-DCB stably, and the characterization of degradation and the genomic analysis which is now in progress is helpful to have an overall view of this microbial degradation.

Keywords: DCB, 1, 2-DCB degrading strains, DCB dioxygenase, enrichment culture

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Authors: Nyaris Pambudiyatno, Asto Buditjahjanto, Eppy Yundra, Arie Wardhono, Eko Hariadi

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Vocational education is part of the national education system that is prepared to produce graduates who have the skills and knowledge according to the needs and requirements required by the job. Vocational Education is a secondary education that prepares students to work in a particular field. The purpose of this study was to analyze and find out the effect of industrial work practice experience and career information on work readiness through work motivation. This type of research is causal research with a quantitative approach. The population in this study was 359 cadets of Aviation Polytechnic Surabaya. While the number of samples calculates using slovin calculations obtained by 189 cadets of Surabaya Aviation Polytechnic. The type of data used is quantitative data with the primary data source. Data collection techniques are by distributing questionnaires. Analysis of this study is with Lisrel. The findings prove that: (1) Industrial Work Experience experience has a positive and significant effect on work motivation; (2) Industrial Work Experience has a positive and significant impact on work readiness; (3) Career information has a positive and significant effect on job readiness; (4) Career information has a positive and significant impact on job readiness; Dan (5) Work motivation has a positive and significant effect on work readiness.

Keywords: career information, increase work readiness, industrial work experience, work motivation

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Authors: Nieto Bernal Wilson, Carmona Suarez Edgar

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The organizations have structured and unstructured information in different formats, sources, and systems. Part of these come from ERP under OLTP processing that support the information system, however these organizations in OLAP processing level, presented some deficiencies, part of this problematic lies in that does not exist interesting into extract knowledge from their data sources, as also the absence of operational capabilities to tackle with these kind of projects.  Data Warehouse and its applications are considered as non-proprietary tools, which are of great interest to business intelligence, since they are repositories basis for creating models or patterns (behavior of customers, suppliers, products, social networks and genomics) and facilitate corporate decision making and research. The following paper present a structured methodology, simple, inspired from the agile development models as Scrum, XP and AUP. Also the models object relational, spatial data models, and the base line of data modeling under UML and Big data, from this way sought to deliver an agile methodology for the developing of data warehouses, simple and of easy application. The methodology naturally take into account the application of process for the respectively information analysis, visualization and data mining, particularly for patterns generation and derived models from the objects facts structured.

Keywords: data warehouse, model data, big data, object fact, object relational fact, process developed data warehouse

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Authors: Ravi Kumar

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Agricultural wastes are the non-product outcomes of agricultural processing whose monetary value is less as compared to its collection cost, transportation, and processing. When such agricultural waste is not properly disposed of, it may damage the natural environment and cause detrimental pollution in the atmosphere. Agricultural development and intensive farming methods usually result in wastes that remarkably affect the rural environments in particular and the global environment in general. Agricultural waste has toxicity latent to human beings, animals, and plants through various indirect and direct outlets. The present paper explores the various activities that result in agricultural waste and the routes that can utilize the agricultural waste in a manageable manner to reduce its adverse impact on the environment. Presently, the agricultural waste management system for ecological agriculture and sustainable development has emerged as a crucial issue for policymakers. There is an urgent need to consider agricultural wastes as prospective resources rather than undesirable in order to avoid the transmission and contamination of water, land, and air resources. Waste management includes the disposal and treatment of waste with a view to eliminate threats of waste by modifying the waste to condense the microbial load. The study concludes that proper waste utilization and management will facilitate the purification and development of the ecosystem and provide feasible biofuel resources. This proper utilization and management of these wastes for agricultural production may reduce their accumulation and further reduce environmental pollution by improving environmental health.

Keywords: agricultural waste, utilization, management, environment, health

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Authors: Franklin Nakpodia, Femi Olan

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A blend of internal factors (firm performance, internal stakeholders) and external pressures (globalisation, technology, corporate scandals) have intensified calls for corporate governance reforms. While several countries and their governments have responded to these calls, the effect of such reforms on corporate governance systems across countries remains mixed. In particular, the literature reports that the effectiveness of corporate governance interventions in many developing economies is limited. Relying on the corporate governance system in Africa’s largest economy (Nigeria), this research addresses two issues. First, this study explores why previous corporate governance reforms have failed and second, the article investigates what reforms could improve corporate governance practices in the country. In addressing the above objectives, this study adopts a qualitative approach that permits data collection via semi-structured interviews with 21 corporate executives. The data supports the articulation of two sequential levels of reforms (i.e., the upstream and downstream reforms). The upstream reforms focus on two crucial but often overlooked areas that undermine reform effectiveness, i.e., the extent of government commitment and an enabling environment. The downstream reforms combine awareness and regulatory elements to proffer a path to robust corporate governance in the country. Furthermore, findings from this study stress the need to consider the use of a bottom-up approach to corporate governance practice and policymaking in place of the dominant top-down strategy.

Keywords: bottom-up approach, corporate governance, reforms, regulation

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Authors: Emmanuel Sachikumba, Micheal Msoni, Westone Mafuleka

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Zambia has a good climate with favourable rainfall pattern; this provides sufficient recharge for the surface and groundwater resources. In spite of the sufficient surface and ground water resources, accessibility to water at household levels is problematic both in quality and quantity. The study examined water accessibility as well as water quality at the household level. The research looked at the sources of water for the households and considered the complications of accessibility to water and the available opportunities therein. The investigation involved fifty households and the data was collected by the use of questionnaires (to assess accessibility) and laboratory tests (for ascertaining water quality). In addition to this, government departments such as the health, agriculture, forestry and education as well as the municipal council were interviewed on the topic under study. The study was descriptive in nature where clustered sampling procedures using simple random methods were utilised to select the households which were to participate in the study. The key findings were that; accessibility to water household levels is still a challenge in the settlement as most of the point sources (shallow wells, the stream and the river) were found to be contaminated. In addition to this, it was found that there was no direct relationship between the economic performance of a household and the accessibility to water. The study also observed that there were opportunities for the people in the settlement as they were increasingly getting into the education system, and adult literacy was being encouraged in the settlement. Furthermore, the settlement has groundwater resources which indicate that there can be sufficient water provision for the settlers.

Keywords: accessibility, household, water, settlement

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Authors: João Boaventura Branco De Matos

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Currently, in Brazil, there is a considerable collection of publications on the supplementary health sector, but the vast majority is limited to retrospective examination of the sector. The present contribution starts from the diagnosis of an overwhelming change in the role of the State and its institutions, as well as an accelerated and no less forceful change in the way of producing goods and services, resulting in a clash between these different waves (state and market). This shock produces unique energy, capable of imposing major changes in the most varied sectors. Based on this diagnosis, there was an opportunity to offer the perspective and propositional study of regulatory measures relevant to the best conduct and performance of this sector in the future.

Keywords: private health regulation, state and market, forecasts in Brazilian regulation, political economy

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Authors: Hannah O'Sullivan, Esther Quinn

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Purpose: The Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry has historically struggled to adapt to change. Although the ability to innovate and successfully implement organizational change has been demonstrated to be critical in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in the industry, many AEC organizations continue to struggle when affecting organizational change. One prominent area of organizational change that presents many challenges in the industry is the adoption of new forms of technology, for example, Building Information Modelling (BIM). Certain Organisational Change Management (OCM) practices have been proven to be effective in supporting organizations to adopt change, but little research has been carried out on diverging employee attitudes to change relative to their roles within the organization. The purpose of this research study is to examine how OCM practices influence employee attitudes to change when adopting new forms of technology and to analyze the diverging employee perspectives within an organization on the importance of different OCM strategies. Methodology: Adopting an interview-based approach, a case study was carried out on a large-sized, prominent Irish construction organization who are currently adopting a new technology platform for its projects. Qualitative methods were used to gain insight into differing perspectives on the utilization of various OCM practices and their efficacy when adopting a new form of technology on projects. Change agents implementing the organizational change gave insight into their intentions with the technology rollout strategy, while other employees were interviewed to understand how this rollout strategy was received and the challenges that were encountered. Findings: The results of this research study are currently being finalized. However, it is expected that employees in different roles will value different OCM practices above others. Findings and conclusions will be determined within the coming weeks. Value: This study will contribute to the body of knowledge relating to the introduction of new technologies, including BIM, to AEC organizations. It will also contribute to the field of organizational change management, providing insight into methods of introducing change that will be most effective for different employees based on their roles and levels of experience within the industry. The focus of this study steers away from traditional studies of the barriers to adopting BIM in its first instance at an organizational level and centers on the direct effect on employees when a company changes the technology platform being used.

Keywords: architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, Building Information Modelling, case study, challenges, employee perspectives, organisational change management.

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Authors: Milene Magalhães Pinto, Irlen Antônio Gonçalves

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This paper is within the area of History of Education in Brazil, having a descriptive and exploratory nature. It has been built on the belief that professional education is organized under political guidelines and solidifies through institutionalized discourses, allowing to know its mission concerning the society in which it operates by studying these speeches. Our purpose is to analyze how the Republican political culture yielded changes in public education through reforms to professional education in the First Republic, based on seven procedures of law that occurred in the Legislature of State of Minas Gerais. The Republican effort to reform the teaching was the result of a conception of society that aspired to advance the country by way of the national worker.

Keywords: professional education, republican political culture, education reforms, Brazil

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Authors: Mohammad A. U. Khan, Omar A. Kittaneh, M. Akbar, Tariq M. Khan, Husam A. Bayoud

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The Shannon Entropy measure has been widely used for measuring uncertainty. However, in partial settings, the histogram is used to estimate the underlying distribution. The histogram is dependent on the number of bins used. In this paper, a modification is proposed that makes the Shannon entropy based on histogram consistent. For providing the benefits, two application are picked in medical image processing applications. The simulations are carried out to show the superiority of this modified measure for image segmentation problem. The improvement may be contributed to robustness shown to uneven background in images.

Keywords: Shannon entropy, medical image processing, image segmentation, modification

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Authors: M. Kamil, Rahber Husain Khan

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In the present study, the Interaction of anionic polymer, sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC), with cationic gemini surfactants 2,2[(oxybis(ethane-1,2-diyl))bis(oxy)]bis(N-hexadecyl1-N,N-[di(E2)/tri(E3)]methyl1-2-oxoethanaminium)chloride (16-E2-16 and 16-E3-16) and conventional surfactant (CTAC) in aqueous solutions have been studied by surface tension measurement of binary mixtures (0.0- 0.5 wt% NaCMC and 1 mM gemini surfactant/10 mM CTAC solution). Surface tension measurements were used to determine critical aggregation concentration (CAC) and critical micelle concentration (CMC). The maximum surface excess concentration (Ґmax) at the air-water interface was evaluated by the Gibbs adsorption equation. The minimum area per surfactant molecule was evaluated, which indicates the surfactant-polymer Interaction in a mixed system. The effect of changing surfactant chain length on CAC and CMC values of mixed polymer-surfactant systems was examined. From the results, it was found that the gemini surfactant interacts strongly with NaCMC as compared to its corresponding monomeric counterpart CTAC. In these systems, electrostatic interactions predominate. The lowering of surface tension with an increase in the concentration of surfactants is higher in the case of gemini surfactants almost 10-15 times. The measurements indicated that the Interaction between NaCMC-CTAC resulted in complex formation. The volume of coacervate increases with an increase in CTAC concentration; however, above 0.1 wt. % concentration coacervate vanishes.

Keywords: anionic polymer, gemni surfactants, tensiometer, CMC, interaction

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Authors: J. Omer, H. Haroglu

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Base enlargement in piles was invented to enhance pile resistance in downward loading, but the contribution of an enlarged base to the lateral load resistance of a pile has not been fully exploited or understood. This paper presents a laboratory investigation of the lateral capacity and deformation response of small-scale steel piles with enlarged bases installed in dry sand. Static loading tests were performed on 24 model piles having different base-to-shaft diameter ratios. The piles were installed in a box filled with dry sand, and lateral loads were applied to the pile tops using a pulley system. The test piles had shaft diameters of 20 mm, 16 mm, and 10 mm; base diameters of 900 mm, 700 mm, and 500 mm. As a control, a pile without base enlargement was tested to allow comparisons with the enlarged base piles. Incremental maintained loads were applied until pile failure approached while recording pile head deflections with high-precision dial gauges. The results showed that the lateral capacity increased with an increase in base diameter, albeit by different percentages depending on the shaft diameters and embedment length in the sand. There was always an increase in lateral capacity with increasing embedment length. Also, it was observed that an enlarged pile base had deflected less at a given load when compared to the control pile. Therefore, the research demonstrated the benefits of lateral capacity and stability of enlarging a pile base.

Keywords: pile foundations, enlarged base, lateral loading

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Authors: Bhavini Patel, Aslihan Ugun-Klusek, Ellen Billet

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The two main contributing factors to familial and idiopathic form of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are oxidative stress and altered proteolysis. Monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A) plays a significant role in redox homeostasis by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) via deamination of for example, dopamine. The ROS generated induces chemical modification of proteins resulting in altered biological function. The ubiquitin-proteasome system, which consists of three different types or proteolytic activity, namely “chymotrypsin-like” activity (CLA), “trypsin-like” activity (TLA) and “post acidic-like” activity (PLA), is responsible for the degradation of ubiquitinated proteins. Defects in UPS are known to be strongly correlated to PD. Herein, the effect of ROS generated by MAO-A on proteasome activity and the effects of proteasome inhibition on MAO-A protein levels in WT, mock and MAO-A overexpressed (MAO-A+) SHSY5Y neuroblastoma cell lines were investigated. The data in this study report increased proteolytic activity when MAO-A protein levels are significantly increased, in particular CLA and PLA. Additionally, 20S proteasome inhibition induced a decrease in MAO-A levels in WT and mock cells in comparison to MAO-A+ cells in which 20S proteasome inhibition induced increased MAO-A levels to be further increased at 48 hours of inhibition. This study supports the fact that MAO-A could be a potential pharmaceutical target for neuronal protection as data suggests that endogenous MAO-A levels may be essential for modulating cell death and survival.

Keywords: monoamine oxidase, neurodegeneration, Parkinson's disease, proteasome

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Authors: Lawrence Akande

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Despite the efforts of African countries' governments and the foreign countries' governments, there are cautions between the people of Africa and the people of other countries. The cautions are based on the ideology of misconception, which comes from the narratives about Africa and African people and narratives about other people also. The film is a medium of educating people about people from foreign countries they have never been to. Negative or misconceived narratives about a people will affect the relations between the peoples, despite the efforts of the government. Using pop-culture medium of film as a diplomatic tool will promote mutual understanding and respect.

Keywords: film diplomacy, international relations, narratives, Nollywood, partnership

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Authors: Minjung Park, Sangmi Chai, Myoung Jun Lee

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Since there are growing concerns on online privacy, enterprises could involve various personal privacy infringements cases resulting legal causations. For companies that are involving online business, it is important for them to pay extra attentions to protect users’ privacy. If firms can aware consequences from possible online privacy invasion cases, they can more actively prevent future online privacy infringements. This study attempts to predict the probability of ruling types caused by various invasion cases under U.S Personal Privacy Act. More specifically, this research explores online privacy invasion cases which was sentenced guilty to identify types of criminal punishments such as penalty, imprisonment, probation as well as compensation in civil cases. Based on the 853 U.S judicial cases ranged from January, 2000 to May, 2016, which related on data privacy, this research examines the relationship between personal information infringements cases and adjudications. Upon analysis results of 41,724 words extracted from 853 regal cases, this study examined online users’ privacy invasion cases to predict the probability of conviction for a firm as an offender in both of criminal and civil law. This research specifically examines that a cause of privacy infringements and a judgment type, whether it leads a civil or criminal liability, from U.S court. This study applies network text analysis (NTA) for data analysis, which is regarded as a useful method to discover embedded social trends within texts. According to our research results, certain online privacy infringement cases caused by online spamming and adware have a high possibility that firms are liable in the case. Our research results provide meaningful insights to academia as well as industry. First, our study is providing a new insight by applying Big Data analytics to legal cases so that it can predict the cause of invasions and legal consequences. Since there are few researches applying big data analytics in the domain of law, specifically in online privacy, this study suggests new area that future studies can explore. Secondly, this study reflects social influences, such as a development of privacy invasion technologies and changes of users’ level of awareness of online privacy on judicial cases analysis by adopting NTA method. Our research results indicate that firms need to improve technical and managerial systems to protect users’ online privacy to avoid negative legal consequences.

Keywords: network text analysis, online privacy invasions, personal information infringements, predicting judgements

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Authors: Michele M. Mahr

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The purpose of this study is to educate, inform, and facilitate scholarly conversation and discussion regarding the implementation of mindfulness techniques when working with individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) or addictive behaviors in mental health. Mindfulness can be recognized as the present moment, non-judgmental awareness, initiated by concentrated attention that is non-reactive and as openheartedly as possible. Individuals with SUD or addiction typically are challenged with triggers, environmental situations, cravings, or social pressures which may deter them from remaining abstinent from their drug of choice or addictive behavior. Also, mindfulness is recognized as one of the cognitive and behavioral treatment approaches and is both a physical and mental practice that encompasses individuals to become aware of internal situations and experiences with undivided attention. That said, mindfulness may be an effective strategy for individuals to employ during these experiences. This study will reveal how mental health practitioners and addiction counselors may find mindfulness to be an essential component of increasing wellness when working with individuals seeking mental health treatment. To this end, mindfulness is simply the ability individuals have to know what is actually happening as it is occurring and what they are experiencing at the moment. In the context of substance abuse and addiction, individuals may employ breathing techniques, meditation, and cognitive restructuring of the mind to become aware of present moment experiences. Furthermore, the notion of mindfulness has been directly connected to the development of neuropathways. The creation of the neural pathways then leads to creating thoughts which leads to developing new coping strategies and adaptive behaviors. Mindfulness strategies can assist individuals in connecting the mind with the body, allowing the individual to remain centered and focused. All of these mentioned above are vital components to recovery during substance abuse and addiction treatment. There are a variety of therapeutic modalities applying the key components of mindfulness, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for depression (MBCT). This study will provide an overview of both MBSR and MBCT in relation to treating individuals with substance abuse and addiction. The author will also provide strategies for readers to employ when working with clients. Lastly, the author will create and foster a safe space for discussion and engaging conversation among participants to ask questions, share perspectives, and be educated on the numerous benefits of mindfulness within wellness.

Keywords: mindfulness, wellness, substance abuse, mental health

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Authors: Athanasios Karasimos, Vasiliki Makri

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This research focuses on the design and development of the first text Corpus based on Board Game Rulebooks (BGRC) with direct application on the morphological analysis of neologisms and tendencies in word-formation processes. Corpus linguistics is a dynamic field that examines language through the lens of vast collections of texts. These corpora consist of diverse written and spoken materials, ranging from literature and newspapers to transcripts of everyday conversations. By morphologically analyzing these extensive datasets, morphologists can gain valuable insights into how language functions and evolves, as these extensive datasets can reflect the byproducts of inflection, derivation, blending, clipping, compounding, and neology. This entails scrutinizing how words are created, modified, and combined to convey meaning in a corpus of challenging, creative, and straightforward texts that include rules, examples, tutorials, and tips. Board games teach players how to strategize, consider alternatives, and think flexibly, which are critical elements in language learning. Their rulebooks reflect not only their weight (complexity) but also the language properties of each genre and subgenre of these games. Board games are a captivating realm where strategy, competition, and creativity converge. Beyond the excitement of gameplay, board games also spark the art of word creation. Word games, like Scrabble, Codenames, Bananagrams, Wordcraft, Alice in the Wordland, Once uUpona Time, challenge players to construct words from a pool of letters, thus encouraging linguistic ingenuity and vocabulary expansion. These games foster a love for language, motivating players to unearth obscure words and devise clever combinations. On the other hand, the designers and creators produce rulebooks, where they include their joy of discovering the hidden potential of language, igniting the imagination, and playing with the beauty of words, making these games a delightful fusion of linguistic exploration and leisurely amusement. In this research, more than 150 rulebooks in English from all types of modern board games, either language-independent or language-dependent, are used to create the BGRC. A representative sample of each genre (family, party, worker placement, deckbuilding, dice, and chance games, strategy, eurogames, thematic, role-playing, among others) was selected based on the score from BoardGameGeek, the size of the texts and the level of complexity (weight) of the game. A morphological model with morphological networks, multi-word expressions, and word-creation mechanics based on the complexity of the textual structure, difficulty, and board game category will be presented. In enabling the identification of patterns, trends, and variations in word formation and other morphological processes, this research aspires to make avail of this creative yet strict text genre so as to (a) give invaluable insight into morphological creativity and innovation that (re)shape the lexicon of the English language and (b) test morphological theories. Overall, it is shown that corpus linguistics empowers us to explore the intricate tapestry of language, and morphology in particular, revealing its richness, flexibility, and adaptability in the ever-evolving landscape of human expression.

Keywords: board game rulebooks, corpus design, morphological innovations, neologisms, word-formation processes

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Authors: Simon J. Wilde, David M. Herold, Michael J. Bryant

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Social media networks have become the hotbed for advertising activities due mainly to their increasing consumer/user base and, secondly, owing to the ability of marketers to accurately measure ad exposure and consumer-based insights on such networks. More than half of the world’s population (4.8 billion) now uses social media (60%), with 150 million new users having come online within the last 12 months (to June 2022). As the use of social media networks by users grows, key business strategies used for interacting with these potential customers have matured, especially social media advertising. Unlike other traditional media outlets, social media advertising is highly interactive and digital channel specific. Social media advertisements are clearly targetable, providing marketers with an extremely powerful marketing tool. Yet despite the measurable benefits afforded to businesses engaged in social media advertising, recent controversies (such as the relationship between Facebook and Cambridge Analytica in 2018) have only heightened the role trust and privacy play within these social media networks. Using a web-based quantitative survey instrument, survey participants were recruited via a reputable online panel survey site. Respondents to the survey represented social media users from all states and territories within Australia. Completed responses were received from a total of 258 social media users. Survey respondents represented all core age demographic groupings, including Gen Z/Millennials (18-45 years = 60.5% of respondents) and Gen X/Boomers (46-66+ years = 39.5% of respondents). An adapted ADTRUST scale, using a 20 item 7-point Likert scale, measured trust in social media advertising. The ADTRUST scale has been shown to be a valid measure of trust in advertising within traditional media, such as broadcast media and print media, and, more recently, the Internet (as a broader platform). The adapted scale was validated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), resulting in a three-factor solution. These three factors were named reliability, usefulness and affect, and the willingness to rely on. Factor scores (weighted measures) were then calculated for these factors. Factor scores are estimates of the scores survey participants would have received on each of the factors had they been measured directly, with the following results recorded (Reliability = 4.68/7; Usefulness and Affect = 4.53/7; and Willingness to Rely On = 3.94/7). Further statistical analysis (independent samples t-test) determined the difference in factor scores between the factors when age (Gen Z/Millennials vs. Gen X/Boomers) was utilized as the independent, categorical variable. The results showed the difference in mean scores across all three factors to be statistically significant (p<0.05) for these two core age groupings: (1) Gen Z/Millennials Reliability = 4.90/7 vs. Gen X/Boomers Reliability = 4.34/7; (2) Gen Z/Millennials Usefulness and Affect = 4.85/7 vs Gen X/Boomers Usefulness and Affect = 4.05/7; and (3) Gen Z/Millennials Willingness to Rely On = 4.53/7 vs Gen X/Boomers Willingness to Rely On = 3.03/7. The results clearly indicate that older social media users lack trust in the quality of information conveyed in social media ads when compared to younger, more social media-savvy consumers. This is especially evident with respect to Factor 3 (Willingness to Rely On), whose underlying variables reflect one’s behavioral intent to act based on the information conveyed in advertising. These findings can be useful to marketers, advertisers, and brand managers in that the results highlight a critical need to design ‘authentic’ advertisements on social media sites to better connect with these older users in an attempt to foster positive behavioral responses from within this large demographic group – whose engagement with social media sites continues to increase year on year.

Keywords: social media advertising, trust, older consumers, internet studies

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Authors: Vicente Espinola, Luis Torres, Christhian Gonzalez

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Entrepreneurship is a topic of current interest in Mexico and the World, which has been fostered through public policies with great impact on its generation. The strategies used in Mexico have not been successful, being motivational strategies aimed at the masses with the intention that someone in the process generates a venture. The strategies used for its development have been "picking of winners" favoring those who have already overcome the initial stages of undertaking without effective support. This situation shows a disarticulation that appears even more in social entrepreneurship; due to this, it is relevant to research on those elements that could develop them and thus integrate a model of entrepreneurship and social innovation for Mexico. Social entrepreneurship should be generating social innovation, which is translated into business models in order to make the benefits reach the population. These models are proposed putting the social impact before the economic impact, without forgetting its sustainability in the medium and long term. In this work, we present a simple model of innovation and social entrepreneurship for Guanajuato, Mexico. This algorithm was based on how social innovation could be generated in a systemic way for Mexico through different institutions that promote innovation. In this case, the technological parks of the state of Guanajuato were studied because these are considered one of the areas of Mexico where its main objectives are to make technology transfer to companies but overlooking the social sector and entrepreneurs. An experimental design of n = 60 was carried out with potential entrepreneurs to identify their perception of the social approach that the enterprises should have, the skills they consider required to create a venture, as well as their interest in generating ventures that solve social problems. This experiment had a 2K design, the value of k = 3 and the computational simulation was performed in R statistical language. A simple model of interconnected variables is proposed, which allows us to identify where it is necessary to increase efforts for the generation of social enterprises. The 96.67% of potential entrepreneurs expressed interest in ventures that solve social problems. In the analysis of the variables interaction, it was identified that the isolated development of entrepreneurial skills would only replicate the generation of traditional ventures. The variable of social approach presented positive interactions, which may influence the generation of social entrepreneurship if this variable was strengthened and permeated in the processes of training and development of entrepreneurs. In the future, it will be necessary to analyze the institutional actors that are present in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, in order to analyze the interaction necessary to strengt the innovation and social entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Keywords: social innovation, model, entrepreneurship, technological parks

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Authors: Jayanta Bora, Sukhvinder Kaur, Ashok Agarwal, Sangeeta Kaul

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Background: It is important for targeted interventions to consider vulnerabilities of female sex workers (FSWs) such as poverty, work-related mobility and literacy for effective human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention. This paper examines the association between vulnerability and behavioural outcomes among FSWs in Thane district, Maharashtra under USAID PHFI-PIPPSE project. Methods: Data were used from the Behavioural Tracking Survey, a cross-sectional behavioural study conducted in 2015 with 503 FSWs randomly selected from 12 TI-NGOs which were functioning and providing services to FSWs in Thane district prior to April 2014 in Thane district of Maharashtra. We have created the “vulnerability index”, a composite index of literacy, factors of dependence (alternative livelihood options, current debt), and aspects of sex work (mobility and duration in sex work) as a dependent variable. The key independent measures used were program exposure to intervention, service uptake, self-confidence, and self-identity. Bi-variate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine the study objectives. Results: A higher proportion of FSWs who were in the age-group 18–25 years from brothel/street /home/ lodge-based were categorized as highly vulnerable to HIV risk as compared to bar-based sex worker (74.1% versus 59.8%, P,0.002); regression analysis highlighted lower odds of vulnerability among FSWs who were aware of services and visited NGO clinic for medical check-up and counselling for STI [AOR= 0.092, 95% CI 0.018-0.460; P,0.004], However, lower odds of vulnerability on confident in supporting fellow sex worker in crisis [AOR= 0.601, 95% CI 0.476-0.758; P, 0.000] and were able to turn away clients when they refused to use a condom during sex [AOR= 0.524, 95% CI 0.342-0.802; P, 0.003]. Conclusion: The results highlight that FSWs associated with TIs and getting services are less vulnerable and highly empowered. As a result of behavioural change communication and other services provided by TIs, FSWs were able to successfully negotiate about condom use with their clients and manage solidarity in the crisis situation for fellow FSWs. Therefore, it is evident from study paper that TI prevention programs may transform the lives of masses considerably and may open a window of opportunity to infuse the information and awareness about HIV risk.

Keywords: female sex worker, HIV prevention, HIV service uptake, vulnerability

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Authors: Tina Melkoshvili

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Drastic development of information and communication technologies in Georgia has led to the necessity of launching conceptually new, effective, flexible, transparent and society oriented form of government that is e-government. Through applying information technologies, the electronic system enables to raise the efficacy of state governance and increase citizens’ participation in the process. Focusing on the topic of e-government allows us to analyze success stories, attributed benefits and, at the same time, observes challenges hampering the government development process. There are number of methodologies elaborated to study the conditions in the field of electronic governance. They enable us to find out if the government is ready to apply broad opportunities of information and communication technologies and if the government is apt to improve the accessibility and quality of delivering mainly social services. This article seeks to provide comparative analysis of widely spread methodologies used for Electronic government projects’ assessment. It has been concluded that applying current methods of assessment in Georgia is related to difficulties due to inaccessible data and the necessity of involving number of experts. The article presents new indicators for e-government development assessment that reflect efficacy of e-government conception realization in the regions of Georgia and enables to provide quantitative evaluation of regional e-government projects including all significant aspects of development.

Keywords: development methodology, e-government in Georgia, information and communication technologies, regional government

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Authors: Berat Krasniqi, Shpëtim Thaçi, Miribane Dërmaku-Sopjani, Sokol Abazi, Mentor Sopjani

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The Mediterranean native plant, Sideritis raeseri Boiss. & Heldr. (Lamiaceae), also known as "mountain tea," has a long history of use in traditional medicine. The effects of an ethanol extract of Sideritis raeseri (SR) on uterus smooth muscle activity are evaluated in this study, and the underlying mechanism is identified. S. raeseri extract (SRE) was made from air-dried components of the SR shoot system. At 37°C, the SRE (0.5-2 mg/mL) was tested on isolated rabbit uterus rings that were suspended in a Krebs solution-filled organ bath and bubbled with a mixture of 95% O₂ and 5% CO₂. The SRE alone relaxed the muscle contraction in a concentration-dependent manner in uterine rings in in vitro tests. SRE also decreased Ca²⁺-induced contractions in the uterus by a large amount when the uterus was depolarized with carbachol (CCh, 1µM), K⁺ (80 mM), or contracted by oxytocin (5 nM). The potential involvement of NO-dependent or independent cGMP mechanisms in the uterine actions of SR was investigated. For this purpose, L-NAME (NO synthase inhibitor, 100 M) or bradykinin (NO synthase stimulator, 100 nM), or indomethacin (cyclooxygenase inhibitor, 10µM) decreased the impact of SRE. These results suggest that NO-dependent signaling is involved in SRE's mediated uterine relaxant effect. Data suggests that SRE could be a powerful tocolytic agent that reduces uterine activity and could be used to treat a number of uterine conditions.

Keywords: Sideritis raeseri, uterus, alternative medicine, intracellular mechanisms

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Authors: Maria Campos, Alain Massart, Hugo Sarmento

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The Meter Matters Erasmus Sport European Project (ID: 101050372) explores the field of social inclusion in and through sports with the aim of a) proposing appropriate criteria for co-funding sports programs involving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and other more vulnerable people, primarily in mainstream sports organizations and b) proposing a model for co-funding social inclusion in and through sports at the national level. This European project (2022-2024) involves 6 partners from 3 countries: Univerza V Ljubljani – coordinator and Drustvo Specialna Olimpiada Slovenije (Slovenia); Magyar Specialis Olimpia Szovetseg and Magyar Testnevelesi Es Sporttudomanyi Egyetem (Hungary) and APPDA Coimbra - Associação Portuguesa para as Perturbações do Desenvolvimento e Autismo and Universidade De Coimbra, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education (Portugal). Equal involvement of all people in sports activities is, in terms of national and international guidelines, enshrined in some conventions and strategies in the field of sports, as well as human rights, social security, physical and mental health, architecture, environment and public administration. However, there is a gap between the practice and EU guidelines in terms of sustainable support for socially inclusive sports programs in the form of co-funding by state and local (municipal) resources. We observe considerable opacity in the regulation of the field. Given that there are both relevant programs and inclusive legislation and policies, we believe that the reason for the missing article is reflected in the undeveloped criteria for measuring social inclusion in sports. Major sports programs are usually co-funded based on crowds (number of involved athletes) and performance (sports score). In the field of social inclusion in sports, the criteria cannot be the same, as it is a smaller population. Therefore, the goals of inclusion in sports should not be the focused on competitive results but on opening equal opportunities for all, regardless of their psychophysical abilities. In the Meter Matters program, we are searching for criteria for co-funding social inclusion in sports through focus groups with coaches, social workers, psychologists and others professionals involved in inclusive sports programs in regular sports clubs and with athletes and their parents or guardians. Moreover, experts in the field of social inclusion in sports were also interviewed. Based on the proposals for measuring social inclusion in sports, we developed a model for co-funding socially inclusive sports programs.

Keywords: European project, meter matters, inclusion, sport

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Authors: Elizabeth Grier, Meg Gemmill, Mary Martin, Leora Reiter, Herman Tang, Alexandra Donaldson, Isis Lunsky, Mia Wu

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Background: Individuals with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and/or IDD face numerous physical and mental health challenges, including difficulty accessing effective palliative care. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and comfort of healthcare providers in providing community-based palliative care for patients with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and severe to profound Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Methods: This study includes a mixed methods approach obtaining both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data from palliative care practitioners was obtained through an online survey assessing comfort in symptom management, grief assessment, and goals of care discussion. This survey was distributed to physicians and allied health practitioners across Canada through the College of Family Physicians of Canada Member Interest Groups for Palliative Care and for IDD. Survey results guided the development of a semi-structured interview template, which was used to conduct a focus group on the same topic. Participants were four palliative care providers (3 physicians and one spiritual care practitioner). The focus group transcript is currently undergoing thematic analysis using NVivo 12 software. Results: 57 palliative care practitioners completed the survey. 87% of participants indicated they have provided palliative care services for persons with CP and/or IDD. Findings suggest practitioners are somewhat confident in identifying specific physical symptoms (dyspnea, pressure ulcers) but less confident in identifying physical/emotional pain, addressing grief, and prognosticating life expectancy in this population. 54% of responses indicated they had little/no training on palliating those with CP or IDD, and 45% somewhat or strongly disagree members of their profession can manage symptoms for this population. Focus group analysis is underway, and results will be available at the time of the poster presentation. Conclusion: Persons with CP and IDD are more likely to experience severe health inequities when accessing palliative care. Results of this study suggest further education is needed for palliative care professionals to address the barriers and challenges in providing palliative care to this patient population.

Keywords: palliative care, symptom management, health equity, community healthcare, intellectual and developmental disabilities

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Authors: A. B. Bolkhir, A. Elshafie, T. K. Yousif

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This paper highlights the methods of error estimation in finite element analysis (FEA) results. It indicates that the modeling error could be eliminated by performing finite element analysis with successively finer meshes or by extrapolating response predictions from an orderly sequence of relatively low degree of freedom analysis results. In addition, the paper eliminates the round-off error by running the code at a higher precision. The paper provides application in finite element analysis results. It draws a conclusion based on results of application of methods of error estimation.

Keywords: finite element analysis (FEA), discretization error, round-off error, mesh refinement, richardson extrapolation, monotonic convergence

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Authors: S. Chandrasekaran, P. A. Kiran

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Increasing demand for large-sized Floating, Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs) for oil and gas industries led to the development of novel geometric form of Buoyant Leg Storage and Regasification Platform (BLSRP). BLSRP consists of a circular deck supported by six buoyant legs placed symmetrically with respect to wave direction. Circular deck is connected to buoyant legs using hinged joints, which restrain transfer of rotational response from the legs to deck and vice-versa. Buoyant legs are connected to seabed using taut moored system with high initial pretension, enabling rigid body motion in vertical plane. Encountered environmental loads induce dynamic tether tension variations, which in turn affect stability of the platform. The present study investigates Mathieu stability of BLSRP under the postulated tether pullout cases by inducing additional tension in the tethers. From the numerical studies carried out, it is seen that postulated tether pullout on any one of the buoyant legs does not result in Mathieu type instability even under excessive tether tension. This is due to the presence of hinged joints, which are capable of dissipating the unbalanced loads to other legs. However, under tether pullout of consecutive buoyant legs, Mathieu-type instability is observed.

Keywords: offshore platforms, stability, postulated failure, dynamic tether tension

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Authors: Pauline E. Ngo-Henha

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Existing turnover intention theories are reviewed in this paper. This review was conducted with the help of the search keyword “turnover intention theories” in Google Scholar during the month of July 2017. These theories include: The Theory of Organizational Equilibrium (TOE), Social Exchange Theory, Job Embeddedness Theory, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, the Resource-Based View, Equity Theory, Human Capital Theory, and the Expectancy Theory. One of the limitations of this review paper is that data were only collected from Google Scholar where many papers were sometimes not freely accessible. However, this paper attempts to contribute to the research in clarifying the distinction between theories and models in the context of turnover intention.

Keywords: Literature Review, Theory, Turnover, Turnover intention

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Authors: Dheyaa Wajid Abbood, Ali Mohammed Tawfeeq Baqer, Eitizaz Awad Jasim

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The aim of this investigation is to confirm the activity of a sludge recycling process in trickling filter filled with limestone as an alternative biological process over conventional high-cost treatment process with regard to toxic matter reduction from marginal water. The combination system of stepped cascade weir with limestone trickling filter has been designed and constructed in the Environmental Hydraulic Laboratory, Al-Mustansiriya University, College of Engineering. A set of experiments has been conducted during the period from August 2013 to July 2014. Seven days of continuous operation with different continuous flow rates (0.4m3/hr, 0.5 m3/hr, 0.6 m3/hr, 0.7m3/hr,0.8 m3/hr, 0.9 m3/hr, and 1m3/hr) after ten days of acclimatization experiments were carried out. Results indicate that the concentrations of toxic matter were decreasing with increasing of operation time, sludge recirculation ratio, and flow rate. The toxic matter measured includes (Mineral oils, Petroleum products, Phenols, Biocides, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and Surfactants) which are used in these experiments were ranged between (0.074 nm-0.156 nm). Results indicated that the overall reduction efficiency after 4, 28, 52, 76, 100, 124, and 148 hours of operation were (55%, 48%, 42%, 50%, 59%, 61%, and 64%) when the combination of stepped cascade weir with limestone trickling filter is used.

Keywords: Marginal water , Toxic matter, Stepped Cascade weir, limestone trickling filter

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Shahid Iqbal, Haroon Z. Khan, Muhammad Arif

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A sustainable agricultural system involving the improvement in soil properties and crop performance cannot be developed without organic fertilizer use. The effects of poultry manure compost (PMC) and pressmud compost (PrMC) at different levels on improving the soil properties and maize performance has not been yet described by any study comprehensively. Thus, field experiments (2011 and 2012) were conducted at Agronomy Research Area, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (31°26'5" N and 73°4'6" E) in sandy loam soil to determine the improvement in soil properties and maize performance due to application of PMC and PrMC each at five different levels (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 t ha-1). A control (unamended) treatment was also included for comparison. The results indicated that performance of PMC levels was superior to PrMC levels. Increasing both composts levels improved soil properties, maize growth, and stover yield. Results showed that during both years’ highest rates of PMC i.e. 10 and 8 t ha-1 improved the soil properties: ECe, pH, inorganic N, OM, and WHC higher than other treatments. While, 10 and 8 t PMC ha-1 also significantly increased leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR), and stover yield. Similarly, 10 and 8 t PMC ha-1 also improved the grain protein content, but contrarily, grain oil was lowest for 10 and 8 t ha-1 PMC during both years. Moreover, in both years highest gross and net income, and benefit cost ratio was also achieved by 10 and 8 t ha-1 PMC. It is concluded that PMC at rate of 10 and 8 t ha-1 sustainably improved soil properties and maize performance.

Keywords: compost, soil, maize, growth, yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Daniel Y. Fiaveh, Chimaraoke O. Izugbara

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Based on the narratives of 20 women and 16 men, the paper explores how knowing more about the factors that trigger sex positions decisions advance knowledge of male and female sexuality, and how these translate into higher levels of female sexual negotiations in Ghana. Findings demonstrated that the willingness to perform sex positions or not were gendered and derive, at least in part, from differences in demographic profiles (such as age, gender, and marriage), beliefs associated with sexual practices (such as anal sex), the desire to maximize sexual pleasure, and sexual myths and misconceptions e.g. fear of infecundity. The women were not passive to sex positions decisions and engaged in a dialogical sexual encounter with men including threats of sexual refusal in negotiating sex.

Keywords: sexual positions, sexual pleasure, masculinity, femininity, Ghana

Procedia PDF Downloads 474