Search results for: Akaike Information Criteria

Authors: Zikra Faiz, Zaheer Asghar, Nisar Abid

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) includes computers, the Internet, and electronic delivery systems such as televisions, radios, multimedia, and overhead projectors etc. In the modern world, ICTs is considered as an essential element of the teaching-learning process. The study was aimed to discover the usage of ICTs in Special Education Institutions for Visually Impaired students, Lahore, Pakistan. Objectives of the study were to explore the problems faced by teachers while using ICT in the classroom. The study was phenomenology in nature; a qualitative survey method was used through a semi-structured interview protocol developed by the researchers. The sample comprised of eighty faculty members selected through a purposive sampling technique. Data were analyzed through thematic analysis technique with the help of open coding. The study findings revealed that multimedia, projectors, computers, laptops and LEDs are used in special education institutes to enhance the teaching-learning process. Teachers believed that ICTs could enhance the knowledge of visually impaired students and every student should use these technologies in the classroom. It was concluded that multimedia, projectors and laptops are used in classroom by teachers and students. ICTs can promote effectively through the training of teachers and students. It was suggested that the government should take steps to enhance ICTs in teacher training and other institutions by pre-service and in-service training of teachers.

Keywords: information and communication technologies, in-services teachers, special education institutions

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Authors: Ahmad Saadiq, Neeraj Sahu

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Sediment, which comprises of solid particles of mineral and organic material are transported by water. In river systems, the amount of sediment transported is controlled by both the transport capacity of the flow and the supply of sediment. The transport of sediment in rivers is important with respect to pollution, channel navigability, reservoir ageing, hydroelectric equipment longevity, fish habitat, river aesthetics and scientific interests. The sediment load transported in a river is a very complex hydrological phenomenon. Hence, sediment transport has attracted the attention of engineers from various aspects, and different methods have been used for its estimation. So, several experimental equations have been submitted by experts. Though the results of these methods have considerable differences with each other and with experimental observations, because the sediment measures have some limits, these equations can be used in estimating sediment load. In this present study, two black box models namely, an SRC (Sediment Rating Curve) and ANN (Artificial Neural Network) are used in the simulation of the suspended sediment load. The study is carried out for Seonath subbasin. Seonath is the biggest tributary of Mahanadi river, and it carries a vast amount of sediment. The data is collected for Jondhra hydrological observation station from India-WRIS (Water Resources Information System) and IMD (Indian Meteorological Department). These data include the discharge, sediment concentration and rainfall for 10 years. In this study, sediment load is estimated from the input parameters (discharge, rainfall, and past sediment) in various combination of simulations. A sediment rating curve used the water discharge to estimate the sediment concentration. This estimated sediment concentration is converted to sediment load. Likewise, for the application of these data in ANN, they are normalised first and then fed in various combinations to yield the sediment load. RMSE (root mean square error) and R² (coefficient of determination) between the observed load and the estimated load are used as evaluating criteria. For an ideal model, RMSE is zero and R² is 1. However, as the models used in this study are black box models, they don’t carry the exact representation of the factors which causes sedimentation. Hence, a model which gives the lowest RMSE and highest R² is the best model in this study. The lowest values of RMSE (based on normalised data) for sediment rating curve, feed forward back propagation, cascade forward back propagation and neural network fitting are 0.043425, 0.00679781, 0.0050089 and 0.0043727 respectively. The corresponding values of R² are 0.8258, 0.9941, 0.9968 and 0.9976. This implies that a neural network fitting model is superior to the other models used in this study. However, a drawback of neural network fitting is that it produces few negative estimates, which is not at all tolerable in the field of estimation of sediment load, and hence this model can’t be crowned as the best model among others, based on this study. A cascade forward back propagation produces results much closer to a neural network model and hence this model is the best model based on the present study.

Keywords: artificial neural network, Root mean squared error, sediment, sediment rating curve

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Authors: Sandip Mitra

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Studies on Governance and Accountability has often stressed the need to release Data in public domain to increase transparency ,which otherwise act as an evidence of performance. However, inefficient handling, lack of capacity and the dynamics of transfers (especially fund transfers) are important issues which need appropriate attention. E-Governance alone can not serve as a measure of transparency as long as a comprehensive planning is instituted. Studies on Governance and public exposure has often triggered public opinion in favour or against any government. The root of the problem (especially in local governments) lies in the management of the governance. The participation of the people in the local government functioning, the networks within and outside the locality, synergy with various layers of Government are crucial in understanding the activities of any government. Unfortunately, data on such issues are not released in the public domain .If they are at all released , the extraction of information is often hindered for complicated designs. A Study has been undertaken with a few local Governments in India. The data has been analysed to substantiate the views.

Keywords: accountability, e-governance, transparency, local government

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Authors: Kaaryn M. Cater

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Students with sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), Meares-Irlen Syndrome (MIS) and dyslexia can become overwhelmed and struggle to thrive in traditional tertiary learning environments. An estimated 50% of tertiary students who disclose learning related issues are dyslexic. This study explores the relationship between SPS, MIS and dyslexia. Baseline measures will be analysed to establish any correlation between these three minority methods of information processing. SPS is an innate sensitivity trait found in 15-20% of the population and has been identified in over 100 species of animals. Humans with SPS are referred to as Highly Sensitive People (HSP) and the measure of HSP is a 27 point self-test known as the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS). A 2016 study conducted by the author established base-line data for HSP students in a tertiary institution in New Zealand. The results of the study showed that all participating HSP students believed the knowledge of SPS to be life-changing and useful in managing life and study, in addition, they believed that all tutors and in-coming students should be given information on SPS. MIS is a visual processing and perception disorder that is found in approximately 10% of the population and has a variety of symptoms including visual fatigue, headaches and nausea. One way to ease some of these symptoms is through the use of colored lenses or overlays. Dyslexia is a complex phonological based information processing variation present in approximately 10% of the population. An estimated 50% of dyslexics are thought to have MIS. The study exploring possible correlations between these minority forms of information processing is due to begin in February 2017. An invitation will be extended to all first year students enrolled in degree programmes across all faculties and schools within the institution. An estimated 900 students will be eligible to participate in the study. Participants will be asked to complete a battery of on-line questionnaires including the Highly Sensitive Person Scale, the International Dyslexia Association adult self-assessment and the adapted Irlen indicator. All three scales have been used extensively in literature and have been validated among many populations. All participants whose score on any (or some) of the three questionnaires suggest a minority method of information processing will receive an invitation to meet with a learning advisor, and given access to counselling services if they choose. Meeting with a learning advisor is not mandatory, and some participants may choose not to receive help. Data will be collected using the Question Pro platform and base-line data will be analysed using correlation and regression analysis to identify relationships and predictors between SPS, MIS and dyslexia. This study forms part of a larger three year longitudinal study and participants will be required to complete questionnaires at annual intervals in subsequent years of the study until completion of (or withdrawal from) their degree. At these data collection points, participants will be questioned on any additional support received relating to their minority method(s) of information processing. Data from this study will be available by April 2017.

Keywords: dyslexia, highly sensitive person (HSP), Meares-Irlen Syndrome (MIS), minority forms of information processing, sensory processing sensitivity (SPS)

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Authors: Lorena Mihelac, Janez Povh

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In 2017, we conducted a research study using data consisting of 160 musical excerpts from different musical styles, to analyze the impact of entropy of the harmony on the acceptability of music. In measuring the entropy of harmony, we were interested in unigrams (individual chords in the harmonic progression) and bigrams (the connection of two adjacent chords). In this study, it has been found that 53 musical excerpts out from 160 were evaluated by participants as very complex, although the entropy of the harmonic progression (unigrams and bigrams) was calculated as low. We have explained this by particularities of chord progression, which impact the listener's feeling of complexity and acceptability. We have evaluated the same data twice with new participants in 2018 and with the same participants for the third time in 2019. These three evaluations have shown that the same 53 musical excerpts, found to be difficult and complex in the study conducted in 2017, are exhibiting a high feeling of complexity again. It was proposed that the content of these musical excerpts, defined as “irregular,” is not meeting the listener's expectancy and the basic perceptual principles, creating a higher feeling of difficulty and complexity. As the “irregularities” in these 53 musical excerpts seem to be perceived by the participants without being aware of it, affecting the pleasantness and the feeling of complexity, they have been defined as “subliminal irregularities” and the 53 musical excerpts as “irregular.” In our recent study (2019) of the same data (used in previous research works), we have proposed a new measure of the complexity of harmony, “regularity,” based on the irregularities in the harmonic progression and other plausible particularities in the musical structure found in previous studies. We have in this study also proposed a list of 10 different particularities for which we were assuming that they are impacting the participant’s perception of complexity in harmony. These ten particularities have been tested in this paper, by extending the analysis in our 53 irregular musical excerpts from harmony to melody. In the examining of melody, we have used the computational model “Information Dynamics of Music” (IDyOM) and two information-theoretic measures: entropy - the uncertainty of the prediction before the next event is heard, and information content - the unexpectedness of an event in a sequence. In order to describe the features of melody in these musical examples, we have used four different viewpoints: pitch, interval, duration, scale degree. The results have shown that the texture of melody (e.g., multiple voices, homorhythmic structure) and structure of melody (e.g., huge interval leaps, syncopated rhythm, implied harmony in compound melodies) in these musical excerpts are impacting the participant’s perception of complexity. High information content values were found in compound melodies in which implied harmonies seem to have suggested additional harmonies, affecting the participant’s perception of the chord progression in harmony by creating a sense of an ambiguous musical structure.

Keywords: entropy and information content, harmony, subliminal (ir)regularity, IDyOM

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Authors: T. Iakovleva

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Present paper suggests a theoretical model that describes the process of the development of responsible innovations on the firm level in health and welfare sectors. There is a need to develop new firm strategies in these sectors. This paper suggests to look on the concept of responsible innovation that was originally developed on the social level and to apply this new concept to the new area of firm strategy. The rapid global diffusion of information and communication technologies has greatly improved access to knowledge. At the same time, communication is cheap, information is a commodity, and global trade increases technological diffusion. As a result, firms and users, including those outside of industrialized nations, get early exposure to the latest technologies and information. General-purpose technologies such as mobile phones and 3D printers enable individuals to solve local needs and customize products. The combined effect of these changes is having a profound impact on the innovation landscape. Meanwhile, the healthcare sector is facing unprecedented challenges, which are magnified by budgetary constraints, an aging population and the desire to provide care for all. On the other hand, patients themselves are changing. They are savvier about their diseases, they expect their relation with the healthcare professionals to be open and interactive, but above all they want to be part of the decision process. All of this is a reflection of what is already happening in other industries where customers have access to large amount of information and became educated buyers. This article addresses the question of how ICT research and innovation may contribute to developing solutions to grand societal challenges in a responsible way. A broad definition of the concept of responsibility in the context of innovation is adopted in this paper. Responsibility is thus seen as a collective, uncertain and future-oriented activity. This opens the questions of how responsibilities are perceived and distributed and how innovation and science can be governed and stewarded towards socially desirable and acceptable ends. This article addresses a central question confronting politicians, business leaders, and regional planners.

Keywords: responsible innovation, ICT, healthcare, welfare sector

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Berkay Buluş, Aytekin İşman, Kübra Yüzüncüyıl

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Developments in media and communication technologies have changed the way we use media. The importance of convergence culture has been increasing day by day within the framework of these developments. With new media, it is possible to say that social networks are the most powerful platforms that are integrated to this digitalization process. Although social networks seem like the place that people can socialize, they can also be utilized as places of production. On the other hand, audience has become users within the framework of transformation from national to global broadcasting. User generated contents make conventional media and new media collide. In this study, these communication platforms will be examined not as platforms that replace one another but mediums that unify each other. In the light of this information, information that is produced by users regarding new media platforms and all new media use practices are called convergence culture. In other words, convergence culture means intersections of conventional and new media. In this study, examples of convergence culture will be analyzed in detail.

Keywords: new media, convergence culture, convergence, use of new media, user generated content

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Authors: Aref M. A. Soliman, Mahmoud A. Hassan

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In all vehicle suspension, there is a dry friction. One of the various active suspensions, which have been shown to have considerable practical potential, is a switchable damper suspension system. In this paper, vehicle ride comfort for the passive and switchable damper suspension systems as affected by the value of frictional force generated in springs is discussed. A mathematical model of a quarter vehicle model for two setting switchable damper suspension system with dry friction force is developed to evaluate vehicle ride comfort in terms of suspension performance criteria. The vehicle itself is treated as a rigid body undergoing vertical motions. Comparisons between passive and switchable damper suspensions systems with dry friction force in terms of ride performance are also discussed. The results showed that the ride comfort for the passive and switchable damper suspension systems was deteriorated due to dry friction occurring in the suspensions. The two setting switchable damper with and without dry friction force gives better ride improvements compared with the passive suspension system. Also, the obtained results show an optimum value of damping ratio of the passive suspension system.

Keywords: ride comfort, dry friction, switchable damper, passive suspension

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Authors: Bashir Muhammad

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The present research contains the definition of the internet, the inter-relationship between and globalization as well as the divergent views of scholars on internet net-work. Additionally, both the positive and the negative impacts of the internet on Muslim communities were elucidated. As an example, it is part of the positive effect that the internet constitutes a vital source of vast information and data acquisition in various academic sciences in general and Islamic Studies in particular. The most recent and current facts and scientific discoveries by specialists of various ramifications could be fund as fast as possible. Many other exciting points were also cited. And on the negative side of the internet, among many other points, it releases uncontrolled promiscuous pictures and sometimes misguiding information about Islam, which could gradually and easily destroy the sound moral up bring of our young Muslim generation and pollute their positive thinking and reasoning. Another problem is that, Muslims in most cases pertaining to internet services are passive consumers, having no power to control it and manipulate it for their welfare and well being. Due to that, they have to pay the price for that, directly or indirectly.

Keywords: internet, muslim, challenges, communities

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Authors: Amira D. Ali

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Action research studies in education often address learners’ needs and empower practitioner-researcher to effectively change instructional practices and school communities. A systematic review of action research (AR) studies undertaken in EFL/ESL settings was conducted in this paper to systematically analyze empirical studies on action research published within a ten-year period (between 2010 and 2019). The review also aimed at investigating the focal strategies in teaching the language skills at school level and evaluating the overall quality of AR studies concerning focus, purpose, methodology and contribution. Inclusion criteria were established and 41 studies that fit were finally selected for the systematic review. Garrard’s (2007) Matrix Method was used to structure and synthesize the literature. Results showed a significant diversity in teaching strategies and implementation of the AR model. Almost a quarter of the studies focused on improving writing skills at elementary school level. In addition, findings revealed that (44%) of the studies used a mixed approach followed by qualitative method approach (41%), whereas only (15%) employed quantitative methodology. Research gaps for future action research in developing language skills were pointed out, and recommendations were offered.

Keywords: action research, EFL/ESL context, language skills, systematic review

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Authors: Justin Pargeter, Metin Eren

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Lithic miniaturization, the systematic production and use of small tools from small cores, was a consequential development in Pleistocene lithic technology. The bipolar reduction is an important, but often overlooked and misidentified, strategy for lithic miniaturization. This experiment addresses the role of axial bipolar reduction in processes of lithic miniaturization. The experiments answer two questions: what benefits does axial bipolar reduction provide, and can we distinguish axial bipolar reduction from freehand reduction? Our experiments demonstrate the numerous advantages of bipolar reduction in contexts of lithic miniaturization. Bipolar reduction produces more cutting edge per gram and is more economical than freehand reduction. Our cutting edge to mass values exceeds even those obtained with pressure blade production on high-quality obsidian. The experimental results show that bipolar reduction produces cutting edge quicker and is more efficient than freehand reduction. We show that bipolar reduction can be distinguished from freehand reduction with a high degree of confidence using the quantitative criteria in these experiments. These observations overturn long-held perceptions about bipolar reduction. We conclude by discussing the role of bipolar reduction in lithic miniaturization and Stone Age economics more broadly.

Keywords: lithic miniaturization, bipolar reduction, late Pleistocene, Southern Africa

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Authors: Rebecca Oakes

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In the New Zealand public health system, work has been taking place to use electronic systems to convey data from the ‘floor to the board’ that makes patient needs, and therefore nursing work, visible. For nurses, these developments in health information technology puts us in a very new and exciting position of being able to articulate the work of nursing through a language understood at all levels of an organisation, the language of acuity. Nurses increasingly have a considerable stake-hold in patient acuity data. Patient acuity systems, when used well, can assist greatly in demonstrating how much work is required, the type of work, and when it will be required. The New Zealand Safe Staffing Unit is supporting New Zealand nurses to create a culture of shared governance, where nursing data is informing policies, staffing methodologies and forecasting within their organisations. Assisting organisations to understand their acuity data, strengthening user confidence in using electronic patient acuity systems, and ensuring nursing and midwifery workload is accurately reflected is critical to the success of the safe staffing programme. Nurses and midwives have the capacity via an acuity tool to become key informers of organisational planning. Quality patient care, best use of health resources and a quality work environment are essential components of a safe, resilient and well resourced organisation. Nurses are the key informers of this information. In New Zealand a national level approach is paving the way for significant changes to the understanding and use of patient acuity and nursing workload information.

Keywords: nursing workload, patient acuity, safe staffing, New Zealand

Procedia PDF Downloads 365

Authors: Mesfin Getu Woldetensay

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Representatives and commercially viable natural gas liquids (NGLs) recovery processes were studied under various feed conditions that are classified as lean and rich. The conventional turbo- expander process scheme (ISS) was taken as a base case. The performance of this scheme was compared against with the gas sub-cooled process (GSP), cold residue-gas (CRR) and recycle split-vapor (RSV), enhanced NGL recovery process (IPSI-1) and enhanced NGL recovery process with internal refrigeration (IPSI-2). The development made for the GSP, CRR and RSV are at the top section of the demethanizer column whereas the IPSI-1 and IPSI-2 improvement focus in the lower section. HYSYS process flowsheet was initially developed for all the processes including the ISS under a common criteria that could help to demonstrate the performance comparison. Accordingly, a number of simulation runs were made for the selected eight types of feed. Results show that the reboiler duty requirement using rich feeds for GSP, CRR and RSV is quite high compared to IPSI-1 and IPSI-2. The latter shows relatively lower duty due to the presence of self-refrigeration system that allows the inlet feed to be used for achieving cooling without the need to use propane refrigerant. The energy consumption for lean feed is much lower than that of the rich feed in all process schemes.

Keywords: composition, lean, rich, duty

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Authors: Peri Harish Kumar, Rafique Umer Harvitkar

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Background: The emergency department mandates maximum efficacy in the utilization of the available resources. Non-urgent patient visits pose a serious concern to the treatment, patient triage, and resources available. Aims and Objectives: We conducted a retrospective case-control study of the emergency department patient list from October 2019 to November 2022. A total of 839 patients formed part of the study. Somatic complaints, vital signs, diagnostic test results, admission to the hospital, etc., were some of the criteria used for the categorization of patients. Results: The proportion of non-urgent visits varied from 7.2% to 43%, with a median of 21%. Somatic complaints were the least associated with further hospital admissions (n=28%), while diagnostic test results were the most significant indicator of further hospital admissions (n=74%). Effective triage helped minimize emergency department admissions by 36%. Conclusion: Our study shows that effective triaging, patient counselling, and round-the-clock consumable monitoring helped in the effective management of patients admitted and also significantly helped provide treatment to the patients most in need.

Keywords: urgent visits, non-urgent visits, traiging, emergency department admissions

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Authors: Dovile Petkeviciute-Barysiene

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Legal technologies not only create new ways for accessing and providing legal services but also transform the role of legal practitioners. Both lawyers and users of legal services expect automated solutions to outperform people with objectivity and impartiality. Although fairness of the automated decisions is crucial, research on assessing various characteristics of automated processes related to the perceived fairness has only begun. One of the major obstacles to this research is the lack of comprehensive understanding of what legal actions are automated and could be meaningfully automated, and to what extent. Neither public nor legal practitioners oftentimes cannot envision technological input due to the lack of general without illustrative examples. The aim of this study is to map decision making stages and automation levels which are and/or could be achieved in legal actions related to pre-trial and trial processes. Major legal decisions and judgments are identified during the consultations with legal practitioners. The dual-process model of information processing is used to describe cognitive processes taking place while making legal decisions and judgments during pre-trial and trial action. Some of the existing legal technologies are incorporated into the analysis as well. Several published automation level taxonomies are considered because none of them fit well into the legal context, as they were all created for avionics, teleoperation, unmanned aerial vehicles, etc. From the information processing perspective, analysis of the legal decisions and judgments expose situations that are most sensitive to cognitive bias, among others, also help to identify areas that would benefit from the automation the most. Automation level analysis, in turn, provides a systematic approach to interaction and cooperation between humans and algorithms. Moreover, an integrated map of legal decisions and judgments, information processing characteristics, and automation levels all together provide some groundwork for the research of legal technology perceived fairness and acceptance. Acknowledgment: This project has received funding from European Social Fund (project No 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-19-0116) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT).

Keywords: automation levels, information processing, legal judgment and decision making, legal technology

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Authors: Kalliopi Kanaki, Michael Kalogiannakis

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Nowadays, in the digital era, the early acquisition of basic programming skills and knowledge is encouraged, as it facilitates students’ exposure to computational thinking and empowers their creativity, problem-solving skills, and cognitive development. More and more researchers and educators investigate the introduction of computational thinking in K-12 since it is expected to be a fundamental skill for everyone by the middle of the 21st century, just like reading, writing and arithmetic are at the moment. In this paper, a doctoral research in the process is presented, which investigates the infusion of computational thinking into science curriculum in early childhood education. The whole attempt aims to develop young children’s computational thinking by introducing them to the fundamental concepts of object-oriented programming in an enjoyable, yet educational framework. The backbone of the research is the digital environment PhysGramming (an abbreviation of Physical Science Programming), which provides children the opportunity to create their own digital games, turning them from passive consumers to active creators of technology. PhysGramming deploys an innovative hybrid schema of visual and text-based programming techniques, with emphasis on object-orientation. Through PhysGramming, young students are familiarized with basic object-oriented programming concepts, such as classes, objects, and attributes, while, at the same time, get a view of object-oriented programming syntax. Nevertheless, the most noteworthy feature of PhysGramming is that children create their own digital games within the context of physical science courses, in a way that provides familiarization with the basic principles of object-oriented programming and computational thinking, even though no specific reference is made to these principles. Attuned to the ethical guidelines of educational research, interventions were conducted in two classes of second grade. The interventions were designed with respect to the thematic units of the curriculum of physical science courses, as a part of the learning activities of the class. PhysGramming was integrated into the classroom, after short introductory sessions. During the interventions, 6-7 years old children worked in pairs on computers and created their own digital games (group games, matching games, and puzzles). The authors participated in these interventions as observers in order to achieve a realistic evaluation of the proposed educational framework concerning its applicability in the classroom and its educational and pedagogical perspectives. To better examine if the objectives of the research are met, the investigation was focused on six criteria; the educational value of PhysGramming, its engaging and enjoyable characteristics, its child-friendliness, its appropriateness for the purpose that is proposed, its ability to monitor the user’s progress and its individualizing features. In this paper, the functionality of PhysGramming and the philosophy of its integration in the classroom are both described in detail. Information about the implemented interventions and the results obtained is also provided. Finally, several limitations of the research conducted that deserve attention are denoted.

Keywords: computational thinking, early childhood education, object-oriented programming, physical science courses

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Authors: Hossein Gitinavard, Mohammad Hossein Fazel Zarandi

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In the last decades, concerns about the environmental issues lead to professional and academic efforts on green supplier selection problems. In this sake, one of the main issues in evaluating the green supplier selection problems, which could increase the uncertainty, is the preferences of the experts' judgments about the candidate green suppliers. Therefore, preparing an expert system to evaluate the problem based on the historical data and the experts' knowledge can be sensible. This study provides an expert evaluation system to assess the candidate green suppliers under selected criteria in a multi-period approach. In addition, a ranking approach under interval-valued hesitant fuzzy set (IVHFS) environment is proposed to select the most appropriate green supplier in planning horizon. In the proposed ranking approach, the IVHFS and the last aggregation approach are considered to margin the errors and to prevent data loss, respectively. Hence, a comparative analysis is provided based on an illustrative example to show the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Keywords: green supplier selection, expert system, ranking approach, interval-valued hesitant fuzzy setting

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Authors: M. Madigoe, R. Modiba

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High alloyed beta (β) phase-stabilized titanium alloys are known to have a low elastic modulus comparable to that of the human bone (≈30 GPa). The β phase in titanium alloys exhibits an elastic Young’s modulus of about 60-80 GPa, which is nearly half that of α-phase (100-120 GPa). In this work, a theoretical investigation of structural stability and thermodynamic stability, as well as the elastic properties of a quaternary Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr alloy, will be presented with an attempt to lower Young’s modulus. The structural stability and elastic properties of the alloy were evaluated using the first-principles approach within the density functional theory (DFT) framework implemented in the CASTEP code. The elastic properties include bulk modulus B, elastic Young’s modulus E, shear modulus cʹ and Poisson’s ratio v. Thermodynamic stability, as well as the fraction of β phase in the alloy, was evaluated using the Thermo-Calc software package. Thermodynamic properties such as Gibbs free energy (Δ?⁰?) and enthalpy of formation will be presented in addition to phase proportion diagrams. The stoichiometric compositions of the alloy is Ti-Nbx-Ta5-Zr5 (x = 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 at.%). An optimum alloy composition must satisfy the Born stability criteria and also possess low elastic Young’s modulus. In addition, the alloy must be thermodynamically stable, i.e., Δ?⁰? < 0.

Keywords: elastic modulus, phase proportion diagram, thermo-calc, titanium alloys

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Authors: Sarah Müller-Sägebrecht

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Today’s volatile environment challenges executives to make the right strategic decisions to gain sustainable success. Entrepreneurship scholars postulate mainly positive effects of environmental changes on entrepreneurship behavior, such as developing new business opportunities, promoting ingenuity, and the satisfaction of resource voids. A strategic solution approach to overcome threatening environmental changes and catch new business opportunities is business model innovation (BMI). Although this research stream has gained further importance in the last decade, BMI research is still insufficient. Especially BMI barriers, such as inefficient strategic decision-making processes, need to be identified. Strategic decisions strongly impact organizational future and are, therefore, usually made in groups. Although groups draw on a more extensive information base than single individuals, group-interaction effects can influence the decision-making process - in a favorable but also unfavorable way. Decisions are characterized by uncertainty and risk, whereby their intensity is perceived individually differently. Individual risk-willingness influences which option humans choose. The special nature of strategic decisions, such as in BMI processes, is that these decisions are not made individually but in groups due to their high organizational scope. These groups consist of different personalities whose individual risk-willingness can vary considerably. It is known from group decision theory that these individuals influence each other, observable in different group-interaction effects. The following research questions arise: i) Which impact has the individual risk-willingness on BMI decisions? And ii) how do group interaction effects impact BMI decisions? After conducting 26 in-depth interviews with executives from the manufacturing industry, the applied Gioia methodology reveals the following results: i) Risk-averse decision-makers have an increased need to be guided by facts. The more information available to them, the lower they perceive uncertainty and the more willing they are to pursue a specific decision option. However, the results also show that social interaction does not change the individual risk-willingness in the decision-making process. ii) Generally, it could be observed that during BMI decisions, group interaction is primarily beneficial to increase the group’s information base for making good decisions, less than for social interaction. Further, decision-makers mainly focus on information available to all decision-makers in the team but less on personal knowledge. This work contributes to strategic decision-making literature twofold. First, it gives insights into how group-interaction effects influence an organization’s strategic BMI decision-making. Second, it enriches risk-management research by highlighting how individual risk-willingness impacts organizational strategic decision-making. To date, it was known in BMI research that risk aversion would be an internal BMI barrier. However, with this study, it becomes clear that it is not risk aversion that inhibits BMI. Instead, the lack of information prevents risk-averse decision-makers from choosing a riskier option. Simultaneously, results show that risk-averse decision-makers are not easily carried away by the higher risk-willingness of their team members. Instead, they use social interaction to gather missing information. Therefore, executives need to provide sufficient information to all decision-makers to catch promising business opportunities.

Keywords: business model innovation, decision-making, group biases, group decisions, group-interaction effects, risk-willingness

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Authors: Mustopa, Nadya R. Susilo, Rhizal D. Nuva

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This study aims to determine the application of animal welfare in Garut sheep fighting contest at West Java. This study conducted by survey and discussion methods with 5 Garut sheep owners in the contest. The animal welfare is going to be proved by observing the condition of the cage, the cleanliness of it, the health of the sheep, feeding and water, also owner treatments for their sheep that will be served as a fighter. Observations made using stable conditions ACRES form with assessment scores ranged from 1 = very poor, 2 = poor, 3 = regular, 4 = good and 5 = very good, animal welfare conditions seen by conducting observations and interviews with garut sheep owners. The result shows that the Garut sheep fighting contest has fulfilled the criteria of animal welfare application. Application of animal welfare principle by the owner of Garut sheep terms of ACRES (Animal Concerns Research and Education Society) below standard, the average score obtained was 1.76 which is mean in a very bad ratings. Besides considering the animal welfare application, sheep owners also do special treatments for their Garut sheep with the purpose to produce fighters that are healthy and strong. So, if the sheep wins in Garut sheep fight contest, it will purchase a high-value prices.

Keywords: animal welfare, contest, garut sheep, sheep fighting

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Authors: Hassan Abo Salem, Guo Feng, Xiaolin Huang

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The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of mirror therapy on motor recovery and functional abilities after stroke. The following databases were searched from inception to May 2014: Cochrane Stroke, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsycINFO, and PEDro. Two reviewers independently screened and selected all randomized controlled trials that evaluate the effect of mirror therapy in stroke rehabilitation.12 randomized controlled trials studies met the inclusion criteria; 10 studies utilized the effect of mirror therapy for the upper limb and 2 studies for the lower limb. Mirror therapy had a positive effect on motor recover and function; however, we found no consistent influence on activity of daily living, Spasticity and balance. This meta-analysis suggests that, Mirror therapy has additional effect on motor recovery but has a small positive effect on functional abilities after stroke. Further high-quality studies with greater statistical power are required in order to accurately determine the effectiveness of mirror therapy following stroke.

Keywords: mirror therapy, motor recovery, stroke, balance

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Authors: Diego Saldo Alves, Marcelo Paveck Ayub

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The quality of accounting information is very important for the decision-making of managers, investors government and other information users. The opinion of the independent audit has a significant influence on the decision-making, especially the investors. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the reasons that companies listed on Brazilian Stock Exchange B3, if they received qualified opinion and disclaimer of opinion of the independent auditors. We analyzed the reports of the independent auditors of 23 Brazilian companies listed in B3 that received qualified opinion and disclaimer of opinion between the years 2012 and 2017. The findings show that the companies do not comply the International Financial Reporting Standard, IFRS, also they did not provide documentation to prove the operations performed, did not account expenses, problems in corporate governance and internal controls.

Keywords: audit, disclaimer of opinion, independent auditors, qualified opinion

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Authors: Faiza Hussain, Usman Qamar

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Synonym-based searching is recognized to be a complicated problem as text mining from unstructured data of web is challenging. Finding useful information which matches user need from bulk of web pages is a cumbersome task. In this paper, a novel and practical synonym retrieval technique is proposed for addressing this problem. For replacement of semantics, user intent is taken into consideration to realize the technique. Parts-of-Speech tagging is applied for pattern generation of the query and a thesaurus for this experiment was formed and used. Comparison with Non-Context Based Searching, Context Based searching proved to be a more efficient approach while dealing with linguistic semantics. This approach is very beneficial in doing intent based searching. Finally, results and future dimensions are presented.

Keywords: natural language processing, text mining, information retrieval, parts-of-speech tagging, grammar, semantics

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Authors: A. Ashraff

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The increasing importance of the web as a medium for electronic and business transactions has served as a catalyst or rather a driving force for the introduction and implementation of recommender systems. Recommender Systems play a major role in processing and analyzing thousands of data rows or reviews and help humans make a purchase decision of a product or service. It also has the ability to predict whether a particular user would rate a product or service based on the user’s profile behavioral pattern. At present, Recommender Systems are being used extensively in every domain known to us. They are said to be ubiquitous. However, in the field of recruitment, it’s not being utilized exclusively. Recent statistics show an increase in staff turnover, which has negatively impacted the organization as well as the employee. The reasons being company culture, working flexibility (work from home opportunity), no learning advancements, and pay scale. Further investigations revealed that there are lacking guidance or support, which helps a job seeker find the company that will suit him best, and though there’s information available about companies, job seekers can’t read all the reviews by themselves and get an analytical decision. In this paper, we propose an approach to study the available review data on IT companies (score their reviews based on user review sentiments) and gather information on job seekers, which includes their Psychometric evaluations. Then presents the job seeker with useful information or rather outputs on which company is most suitable for the job seeker. The theoretical approach, Algorithmic approach and the importance of such a system will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: psychometric tests, recommender systems, sentiment analysis, hybrid recommender systems

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Authors: Jaehyung An, Sungjoo Lee

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Patent documents constitute an up-to-date and reliable source of knowledge for reflecting technological advance, so patent analysis has been widely used for identification of technological trends and formulation of technology strategies. But, identifying technological information from patent data entails some limitations such as, high cost, complexity, and inconsistency because it rely on the expert’ knowledge. To overcome these limitations, researchers have applied to a quantitative analysis based on the keyword technique. By using this method, you can include a technological implication, particularly patent documents, or extract a keyword that indicates the important contents. However, it only uses the simple-counting method by keyword frequency, so it cannot take into account the sematic relationship with the keywords and sematic information such as, how the technologies are used in their technology area and how the technologies affect the other technologies. To automatically analyze unstructured technological information in patents to extract the semantic information, it should be transformed into an abstracted form that includes the technological key concepts. Specific sentence structure ‘SAO’ (subject, action, object) is newly emerged by representing ‘key concepts’ and can be extracted by NLP (Natural language processor). An SAO structure can be organized in a problem-solution format if the action-object (AO) states that the problem and subject (S) form the solution. In this paper, we propose the new methodology that can extract the SAO structure through technical elements extracting rules. Although sentence structures in the patents text have a unique format, prior studies have depended on general NLP (Natural language processor) applied to the common documents such as newspaper, research paper, and twitter mentions, so it cannot take into account the specific sentence structure types of the patent documents. To overcome this limitation, we identified a unique form of the patent sentences and defined the SAO structures in the patents text data. There are four types of technical elements that consist of technology adoption purpose, application area, tool for technology, and technical components. These four types of sentence structures from patents have their own specific word structure by location or sequence of the part of speech at each sentence. Finally, we developed algorithms for extracting SAOs and this result offer insight for the technology innovation process by providing different perspectives of technology.

Keywords: NLP, patent analysis, SAO, semantic-analysis

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Authors: Derick Shi-Chen Ou, Liang-Yu Chen

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Background: Acupuncture, a potential alternative, and complementary therapy revealed insufficient evidence in depression treatment. The efficacy of acupuncture treatment was still uncertainty. To evaluate the effect of acupuncture in treating depression, the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were examined. Methods: RCTs of the acupuncture therapy in treating major depression were searched from MEDLINE from 2007 to 2017. Keywords used for searching strategy included acupuncture, acupoint, and major depressive disorder. Results: Among the nine RCTs, four studies demonstrated great improvement in acupuncture treatment and five studies revealed the effectiveness of acupuncture intervention in medication. General trends suggest that acupuncture treatment is as effective as antidepressants with minimal side effects. Conclusion: Despite the promising results from the RCTs, there are still a variety of limitations, including small sample size, imprecise enrollment criteria, difficulties with blinding, randomization, short duration of study and lack of longitudinal follow-up. Therefore, the evidence that acupuncture as an alternative therapy for depression is inconclusive. More rigorously designed RCTs should be conducted in the future.

Keywords: acupuncture, major depressive disorders, randomized clinical trials, antidepressants

Procedia PDF Downloads 223

Authors: Mbida Mohamed, Ezzati Abdellah

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A strong challenge in the wireless sensor networks (WSN) is to save the energy and have a long life time in the network without having a high rate of loss information. However, topology control (TC) protocols are designed in a way that the network is divided and having a standard system of exchange packets between nodes. In this article, we will propose a clustering based and centralized routing table protocol of TC (CBCRT) which delegates a leader node that will encapsulate a single routing table in every cluster nodes. Hence, if a node wants to send packets to the sink, it requests the information's routing table of the current cluster from the node leader in order to root the packet.

Keywords: mobile wireless sensor networks, routing, topology of control, protocols

Procedia PDF Downloads 250

Authors: Shu Tao

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Based on a global fuel consumption data product (PKU-FUEL-2007) compiled recently and a series of databases for emission factors of various sources, global emission inventories of a number of greenhouse gases and air pollutants, including CO2, CO, SO2, NOx, primary particulate matter (total, PM 10, and PM 2.5), black carbon, organic carbon, mercury, volatile organic carbons, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, from combustion sources have been developed. The inventories feather high spatial and sectorial resolutions. The spatial resolution of the inventories are 0.1 by 0.1 degree, based on a sub-national disaggregation approach to reduce spatial bias due to uneven distribution of per person fuel consumption within countries. The finely resolved inventories provide critical information for chemical transport modeling and exposure modeling. Emissions from more than 60 sources in energy, industry, agriculture, residential, transportation, and wildfire sectors were quantified in this study. With the detailed sectorial information, the inventories become an important tool for policy makers. For residential sector, a set of models were developed to simulate temporal variation of fuel consumption, consequently pollutant emissions. The models can be used to characterize seasonal as well as inter-annual variations in the emissions in history and to predict future changes. The models can even be used to quantify net change of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions due to climate change. The inventories has been used for model ambient air quality, population exposure, and even health effects. A few examples of the applications are discussed.

Keywords: air pollutants, combustion, emission inventory, sectorial information

Procedia PDF Downloads 358

Authors: Dawid Sołoducha, Tomasz Borowski, Marian Kordas, Rafał Rakoczy

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The magnetic field in the past few years became an important part of many studies. Magnetic field (MF) may be used to affect the process in many ways; for example, it can be used as a factor to stabilize the system. We can use MF to steer the operation, to activate or inhibit the process, or even to affect the vital activity of microorganisms. Using various types of magnetic field generators is always connected with the delivery of some heat to the system. Heat transfer is a very important phenomenon; it can influence the process positively and negatively, so it’s necessary to measure heat stream transferred from the place of generation and prevent negative influence on the operation. The aim of the presented work was to apply various types of magnetic fields and to measure heat transfer phenomena. The results were obtained by continuous measurement at several measuring points with temperature probes. Results were compilated in the form of temperature profiles. The study investigated the undetermined heat transfer in a custom system equipped with a magnetic field generator. Experimental investigations are provided for the explanation of the influence of the various type of magnetic fields on the heat transfer process. The tested processes are described by means of the criteria which defined heat transfer intensification under the action of magnetic field.

Keywords: heat transfer, magnetic field, undetermined heat transfer, temperature profile

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Authors: Abdul Ghani Rajput

Abstract:

Although monitoring and evaluation concept adopted by Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) organization to track the progress over the continuous interval of time based on planned interventions and subsequently, evaluating it for the impact, quality assurance and sustainability. In digital world, TVET providers are giving preference to have real time information to do monitoring of training activities. Identifying the benefits and challenges of digitized monitoring & evaluation real time information system has not been sufficiently tackled in this date. This research paper looks at the impact of digitized M&E in TVET sector by analyzing two case studies and describe the benefits and challenges of using digitized M&E system. Finally, digitized M&E have been identified as carriers for high potential of TVET sector.

Keywords: digitized M&E, innovation, quality assurance, TVET

Procedia PDF Downloads 209