Search results for: network identification

Authors: Marcella De Filippo, Delio Colangelo, Luca Farnia

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In recent decades, the hyper-competition of tourism scenario has implicated the maturity of many businesses, attributing a central role to innovative processes and their dissemination in the economy of company management. At the same time, it has defined the need for monitoring the application of innovations, in order to govern and improve the performance of companies and destinations. The study aims to analyze and define the innovation in the tourism sector. The research actions have concerned, on the one hand, some in-depth interviews with experts, identifying innovation in terms of process and product, digitalization, sustainability policies and, on the other hand, to evaluate the interaction between these factors, in terms of substitutability and complementarity in management scenarios, in order to identify which one is essential to be competitive in the global scenario. Fuzzy measures and Choquet integral were used to elicit Experts’ preferences. This method allows not only to evaluate the relative importance of each pillar, but also and more interestingly, the level of interaction, ranging from complementarity to substitutability, between pairs of factors. The results of the survey are the following: in terms of Shapley values, Experts assert that Innovation is the most important factor (32.32), followed by digitalization (31.86), Network (20.57) and Sustainability (15.25). In terms of Interaction indices, given the low degree of consensus among experts, the interaction between couples of criteria on average could be ignored; however, it is worth to note that the factors innovations and digitalization are those in which experts express the highest degree of interaction. However for some of them, these factors have a moderate level of complementarity (with a pick of 57.14), and others consider them moderately substitutes (with a pick of -39.58). Another example, although outlier is the interaction between network and digitalization, in which an expert consider them markedly substitutes (-77.08).

Keywords: innovation, business model, tourism, fuzzy

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Authors: Tim Steinhaus, Christian Beidl

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Urban air quality and climate protection are two major challenges for future mobility systems. Despite the steady reduction of pollutant emissions from vehicles over past decades, local immission load within cities partially still reaches heights, which are considered hazardous to human health. Although traffic-related emissions account for a major part of the overall urban pollution, modeling the exact interaction remains challenging. In this paper, a novel approach for the determination of the emission-immission interaction on the basis of neural network modeling for traffic induced NO2-immission load within a near-traffic hot-spot scenario is presented. In a detailed sensitivity analysis, the significance of relevant influencing variables on the prevailing NO2 concentration is initially analyzed. Based on this, the generation process of the model is described, in which not only environmental influences but also the vehicle fleet composition including its associated segment- and certification-specific real driving emission factors are derived and used as input quantities. The validity of this approach, which has been presented in the past, is re-examined in this paper using updated data on vehicle emissions and recent immission measurement data. Within the framework of a final scenario analysis, the future development of the immission load is forecast for different developments in the vehicle fleet composition. It is shown that immission levels of less than half of today’s yearly average limit values are technically feasible in hot-spot situations.

Keywords: air quality, emission, emission-immission-interaction, immission, NO2, zero impact

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Authors: Sa'ad Ali

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This study explores wasta as an example of a social network and how it impacts business practice in the Arab Middle East, drawing links with social network impact in different regions of the world. In doing so, particular attention will be paid to the socio-economic and cultural influences on business practice. In exploring relationships in business, concepts such as social network analysis, social capital and group identity are used to explore the different forms of social networks and how they influence business decisions and practices in the regions and countries where they prevail. The use of social networks to achieve objectives is known as guanxi in China, wasta in the Arab Middle East and blat in ex-Soviet countries. Wasta can be defined as favouritism based on tribal and family affiliation and is a widespread practice that has a substantial impact on political, social and business interactions in the Arab Middle East. Within the business context, it is used in several ways, such as to secure a job or promotion or to cut through bureaucracy in government interactions. The little research available is fragmented, and most studies reveal a negative attitude towards its usage in business. Paradoxically, while wasta is widely practised, people from the Arab Middle East often deny its influence. Moreover, despite the regular exhibition of a negative opinion on the practice of wasta, it can also be a source of great pride. This paper addresses this paradox by conducting a positional literature review, exploring the current literature on wasta and identifying how the identified paradox can be explained. The findings highlight how wasta, to a large extent, has been treated as an umbrella concept, whilst it is a highly complex practice which has evolved from intermediary wasta to intercessory wasta and therefore from bonding social capital relationships to more bridging social capital relationships. In addition, the research found that Islam, as the predominant religion in the region and the main source of ethical guidance for the majority of people from the region, plays a substantial role in this paradox. Specifically, it is submitted that wasta can be viewed positively in Islam when it is practised to aid others without breaking Islamic ethical guidelines, whilst it can be viewed negatively when it is used in contradiction with the teachings of Islam. As such, the unique contribution to knowledge of this study is that it ties together the fragmented literature on wasta, highlighting and helping us understand its complexity. In addition, it sheds light on the role of Islam in wasta practices, aiding our understanding of the paradoxical nature of the practice.

Keywords: Islamic ethics, social capital, social networks, Wasta

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Authors: T. Botelho de Sousa, F. Raphael Cabral Furtado, O. Eduardo da Silva Ferri, A. Batista, W. Augusto Varella, C. Eduardo Pinto, J. Mimar Santa Cruz Yabarrena, S. Gibran Ruwer, F. Müller Guerrini, L. Adalberto Philippsen Júnior

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Lean Supply Chain Management (LSCM) is an emerging research field in Operations Management (OM). As a strategic model that focuses on reduced cost and waste with fulfilling the needs of customers, LSCM attracts great interest among researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of Lean Supply Chains literature, based on bibliometric analysis through 57 papers published in indexed journals by SCOPUS and/or Web of Science databases. The results indicate that the last three years (2015, 2016, and 2017) were the most productive on LSCM discussion, especially in Supply Chain Management and International Journal of Lean Six Sigma journals. India, USA, and UK are the most productive countries; nevertheless, cross-country studies by collaboration among researchers were detected, by social network analysis, as a research practice, appearing to play a more important role on LSCM studies. Despite existing limitation, such as limited indexed journal database, bibliometric analysis helps to enlighten ongoing efforts on LSCM researches, including most used technical procedures and collaboration network, showing important research gaps, especially, for development countries researchers.

Keywords: Lean Supply Chains, Bibliometric Study, SCOPUS, Web of Science

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Authors: Paweł Konieczka, Lech Raczyński, Wojciech Wiślicki, Oleksandr Fedoruk, Konrad Klimaszewski, Przemysław Kopka, Wojciech Krzemień, Roman Shopa, Jakub Baran, Aurélien Coussat, Neha Chug, Catalina Curceanu, Eryk Czerwiński, Meysam Dadgar, Kamil Dulski, Aleksander Gajos, Beatrix C. Hiesmayr, Krzysztof Kacprzak, łukasz Kapłon, Grzegorz Korcyl, Tomasz Kozik, Deepak Kumar, Szymon Niedźwiecki, Dominik Panek, Szymon Parzych, Elena Pérez Del Río, Sushil Sharma, Shivani Shivani, Magdalena Skurzok, Ewa łucja Stępień, Faranak Tayefi, Paweł Moskal

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This paper develops the transformation of non-image data into 2-dimensional matrices, as a preparation stage for classification based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). In positron emission tomography (PET) studies, CNN may be applied directly to the reconstructed distribution of radioactive tracers injected into the patient's body, as a pattern recognition tool. Nonetheless, much PET data still exists in non-image format and this fact opens a question on whether they can be used for training CNN. In this contribution, the main focus of this paper is the problem of processing vectors with a small number of features in comparison to the number of pixels in the output images. The proposed methodology was applied to the classification of PET coincidence events.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, kernel principal component analysis, medical imaging, positron emission tomography

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Authors: V. Vishu, R. Manimegalai

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A combination of Intelligence and Radio frequency identification to bring an enhanced authentication method for the improvement of visually challenged people. The main goal is to provide an improved authentication by combining Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm and Intelligence. Here the encryption key will be generated as a combination of intelligent information from sensors and tag values. The main challenges are security, privacy and cost. Besides, the method was created to evaluate the amount of interaction between sensors and significant influence on the level of visually challenged people’s mental and physical states. The proposal is to apply various ideas on independent living or to assist them for a good life.

Keywords: AES, encryption, intelligence, smart key

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Authors: Begüm Terzi, Özlem Ateş Sönmezoğlu, Kerime Özkay, Ahmet Yıldırım

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In plant biotechnology, electrophoresis is used to detect nucleic acids. Ethidium bromide (EtBr) is used as an intercalator dye to stain DNA in agarose gel electrophoresis, but this dye is mutagenic and carcinogenic. In this study, a visible, reliable and organic Ruthenium-based dye (N-719) for staining plant DNA in comparison to EtBr. When prestaining and post-staining for gel electrophoresis, N-719 stained both DNA and PCR product bands with the same clarity as EtBr. The organic dye N-719 stained DNA bands as sensitively and as clearly as EtBr. The organic dye was found to have staining activity suitable for the identification of DNA.Consequently, N-719 organic dye can be used to stain and visualize DNA during gel electrophoresis as alternatives to EtBr in plant biotechnology studies.

Keywords: agarose gel, DNA staining, organic dye, N-719

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Authors: Sang Ho Lee, Yountaik Leem

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This paper reviews Korean cases of smart cities through the analysis framework of strategic foci, characteristics and effects. Firstly, national strategies including c(cyber), e(electronic), u(ubiquitous) and s(smart) Korea strategies were considered from strategic angles. Secondly, the characteristics of smart cities in Korea were looked through the smart cities examples such as Seoul, Busan, Songdo and Sejong cities etc. from the views on the by STIM (Service, Technology, Infrastructure and Management) analysis. Finally, the effects of smart cities on socio-economies were investigated from industrial perspective using the input-output model and structural path analysis. Korean smart city strategies revealed that there were different kinds of strategic foci. c-Korea strategy focused on information and communications network building and user IT literacy. e-Korea strategy encouraged e-government and e-business through utilizing high-speed information and communications network. u-Korea strategy made ubiquitous service as well as integrated information and communication operations center. s-Korea strategy is propelling 4th industrial platform. Smart cities in Korea showed their own features and trends such as eco-intelligence, high efficiency and low cost oriented IoT, citizen sensored city, big data city. Smart city progress made new production chains fostering ICTs (Information Communication Technologies) and knowledge intermediate inputs to industries.

Keywords: Korean smart cities, Korean smart city strategies, STIM, smart service, infrastructure, technologies, management, effect of smart city

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Authors: Jameela Ali, Hamid A. Jalab, Loay E. George, Abdul Rahim Ahmad, Azizah Suliman, Karim Al-Jashamy

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Red blood cells (RBC) are the most common types of blood cells and are the most intensively studied in cell biology. The lack of RBCs is a condition in which the amount of hemoglobin level is lower than normal and is referred to as “anemia”. Abnormalities in RBCs will affect the exchange of oxygen. This paper presents a comparative study for various techniques for classifyig the red blood cells as normal, or abnormal (anemic) using WEKA. WEKA is an open source consists of different machine learning algorithms for data mining applications. The algorithm tested are Radial Basis Function neural network, Support vector machine, and K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm. Two sets of combined features were utilized for classification of blood cells images. The first set, exclusively consist of geometrical features, was used to identify whether the tested blood cell has a spherical shape or non-spherical cells. While the second set, consist mainly of textural features was used to recognize the types of the spherical cells. We have provided an evaluation based on applying these classification methods to our RBCs image dataset which were obtained from Serdang Hospital-Malaysia, and measuring the accuracy of test results. The best achieved classification rates are 97%, 98%, and 79% for Support vector machines, Radial Basis Function neural network, and K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm respectively

Keywords: red blood cells, classification, radial basis function neural networks, suport vector machine, k-nearest neighbors algorithm

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Authors: M. Ibrahim Ali, M. El Dawi, M. A. Mohamed Ali

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In this study, the use of magnetic gradient survey, and the geoelectrical ground methods used together to explore archaeological features in Nuri’s pyramids area. Research methods used and the procedures and methodologies have taken full right during the study. The magnetic survey method was used to search for archaeological features using (Geoscan Fluxgate Gradiometer (FM36)). The study area was divided into a number of squares (networks) exactly equal (20 * 20 meters). These squares were collected at the end of the study to give a major network for each region. Networks also divided to take the sample using nets typically equal to (0.25 * 0.50 meter), in order to give a more specific archaeological features with some small bipolar anomalies that caused by buildings built from fired bricks. This definition is important to monitor many of the archaeological features such as rooms and others. This main network gives us an integrated map displayed for easy presentation, and it also allows for all the operations required using (Geoscan Geoplot software). The parallel traverse is the main way to take readings of the magnetic survey, to get out the high-quality data. The study area is very rich in old buildings that vary from small to very large. According to the proportion of the sand dunes and the loose soil, most of these buildings are not visible from the surface. Because of the proportion of the sandy dry soil, there is no connection between the ground surface and the electrodes. We tried to get electrical readings by adding salty water to the soil, but, unfortunately, we failed to confirm the magnetic readings with electrical readings as previously planned.

Keywords: archaeological features, independent grids, magnetic gradient, Nuri pyramid

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Authors: Ang Chia Hong, Julian Khoo Xubin, Burra Venkata Durga Kumar

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Distributed systems offer many benefits to the healthcare industry. From big data analysis to business intelligence, the increased computational power and efficiency from distributed systems serve as an invaluable resource in the healthcare sector to utilize. However, as the usage of these distributed systems increases, many issues arise. The main focus of this paper will be on security issues. Many security issues stem from distributed systems in the healthcare industry, particularly information security. The data of people is especially sensitive in the healthcare industry. If important information gets leaked (Eg. IC, credit card number, address, etc.), a person’s identity, financial status, and safety might get compromised. This results in the responsible organization losing a lot of money in compensating these people and even more resources expended trying to fix the fault. Therefore, a framework for a blockchain-based healthcare data management system for healthcare was proposed. In this framework, the usage of a blockchain network is explored to store the encryption key of the patient’s data. As for the actual data, it is encrypted and its encrypted data, called ciphertext, is stored in a cloud storage platform. Furthermore, there are some issues that have to be emphasized and tackled for future improvements, such as a multi-user scheme that could be proposed, authentication issues that have to be tackled or migrating the backend processes into the blockchain network. Due to the nature of blockchain technology, the data will be tamper-proof, and its read-only function can only be accessed by authorized users such as doctors and nurses. This guarantees the confidentiality and immutability of the patient’s data.

Keywords: distributed, healthcare, efficiency, security, blockchain, confidentiality and immutability

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Authors: Omaima A. Sharaf, Tarek A. Moussa, Said M. Badr El-Din, H. Moawad

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Background: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pose great environmental and human health concerns for their widespread occurrence, persistence, and carcinogenic properties. PAHs releases due to anthropogenic activities to the wider environment have led to higher concentrations of these contaminants than would be expected from natural processes alone. This may result in a wide range of environmental problems that can accumulate in agricultural ecosystems, which threatened to become a negative impact on sustainable agricultural development. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the physico-chemical, and microbial properties of the compost leachate (CL) to assess its role as nutrient and microbial source (biostimulation/bioaugmentation) for developing a cost-effective bioremediation technology for PAHs contaminated sites. Material and Methods: PAHs-degrading bacteria were isolated from CL that was collected from a composting site located in central Scotland, UK. Isolation was carried out by enrichment using phenanthrene (PHR), pyrene (PYR) and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) as the sole source of carbon and energy. The isolates were characterized using a variety of phenotypic and molecular properties. Six different isolates were identified based on the difference in morphological and biochemical tests. The efficiency of these isolates in PAHs utilization was assessed. Further analysis was performed to define taxonomical status and phylogenic relation between the most potent PAHs-utilizing bacterial strains and other standard strains, using molecular approach by partial 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. Results indicated that the 16S rDNA sequence analysis confirmed the results of biochemical identification, as both of biochemical and molecular identification of the isolates assigned them to Bacillus licheniformis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Alcaligenes faecalis, Serratia marcescens, Enterobacter cloacae and Providenicia which were identified as the prominent PAHs-utilizers isolated from CL. Conclusion: This study indicates that the CL samples contain a diverse population of PAHs-degrading bacteria and the use of CL may have a potential for bioremediation of PAHs contaminated sites.

Keywords: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, physico-chemical analyses, compost leachate, microbial and biochemical analyses, phylogenic relations, 16S rDNA sequence analysis

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Authors: Mohamed A. Saleem

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Using mostly seismic data, this study intends to show some examples of igneous intrusions found in some areas of the Sirt Basin and explore the period of their emplacement as well as the interrelationships between these sills. The study area is located in the south of the Zallah Trough, south-west Sirt basin, Libya. It is precisely between the longitudes 18.35ᵒ E and 19.35ᵒ E, and the latitudes 27.8ᵒ N and 28.0ᵒ N. Based on a variety of criteria that are usually used as marks on the igneous intrusions, twelve igneous intrusions (Sills), have been detected and analysed using 3D seismic data. One or more of the following were used as identification criteria: the high amplitude reflectors paired with abrupt reflector terminations, vertical offsets, or what is described as a dike-like connection, the violation, the saucer form, and the roughness. Because of their laying between the hosting layers, the majority of these intrusions are classified as sills. Another distinguishing feature is the intersection geometry link between some of these sills. Every single sill has given a name just to distinguish the sills from each other such as S-1, S-2, and …S-12. To avoid the repetition of description, the common characteristics and some statistics of these sills are shown in summary tables, while the specific characters that are not common and have been noticed for each sill are shown individually. The sills, S-1, S-2, and S-3, are approximately parallel to one other, with the shape of these sills being governed by the syncline structure of their host layers. The faults that dominated the strata (pre-upper Cretaceous strata) have a significant impact on the sills; they caused their discontinuity, while the upper layers have a shape of anticlines. S-1 and S-10 are the group's deepest and highest sills, respectively, with S-1 seated near the basement's top and S-10 extending into the sequence of the upper cretaceous. The dramatic escalation of sill S-4 can be seen in N-S profiles. The majority of the interpreted sills are influenced and impacted by a large number of normal faults that strike in various directions and propagate vertically from the surface to the basement's top. This indicates that the sediment sequences were existed before the sill’s intrusion, were deposited, and that the younger faults occurred more recently. The pre-upper cretaceous unit is the current geological depth for the Sills S-1, S-2 … S-9, while Sills S-10, S-11, and S-12 are hosted by the Cretaceous unit. Over the sills S-1, S-2, and S-3, which are the deepest sills, the pre-upper cretaceous surface has a slightly forced folding, these forced folding is also noticed above the right and left tips of sill S-8 and S-6, respectively, while the absence of these marks on the above sequences of layers supports the idea that the aforementioned sills were emplaced during the early upper cretaceous period.

Keywords: Sirt Basin, Zallah Trough, igneous intrusions, seismic data

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Authors: Hosein I. Hosein, Ragab Azzam, Ahmed M. S. Menshawy, Sherin Rouby, Khaled Hendy, Ayman Mahrous, Hany Hussien

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Brucellosis is a highly contagious bacterial zoonotic disease of a worldwide spread and has different names; Infectious or enzootic abortion and Bang's disease in animals; and Mediterranean or Malta fever, Undulant Fever and Rock fever in humans. It is caused by the different species of genus Brucella which is a Gram-negative, aerobic, non-spore forming, facultative intracellular bacterium. Brucella affects a wide range of mammals including bovines, small ruminants, pigs, equines, rodents, marine mammals as well as human resulting in serious economic losses in animal populations. In human, Brucella causes a severe illness representing a great public health problem. The disease was reported in Egypt for the first time in 1939; since then the disease remained endemic at high levels among cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat and is still representing a public health hazard. The annual economic losses due to brucellosis were estimated to be about 60 million Egyptian pounds yearly, but actual estimates are still missing despite almost 30 years of implementation of the Egyptian control programme. Despite being the gold standard, bacterial isolation has been reported to show poor sensitivity for samples with low-level of Brucella and is impractical for regular screening of large populations. Thus, serological tests still remain the corner stone for routine diagnosis of brucellosis, especially in developing countries. In the present study, a total of 1533 cows (256 from Beni-Suef Governorate, 445 from Al-Fayoum Governorate and 832 from Damietta Governorate), were employed for estimation of relative sensitivity, relative specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of buffered acidified plate antigen test (BPAT), rose bengal test (RBT) and complement fixation test (CFT). The overall seroprevalence of brucellosis revealed (19.63%). Relative sensitivity, relative specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of BPAT,RBT and CFT were estimated as, (96.27 %, 96.76 %, 87.65 % and 99.10 %), (93.42 %, 96.27 %, 90.16 % and 98.35%) and (89.30 %, 98.60 %, 94.35 %and 97.24 %) respectively. BPAT showed the highest sensitivity among the three employed serological tests. RBT was less specific than BPAT. CFT showed the least sensitivity 89.30 % among the three employed serological tests but showed the highest specificity. Different tissues specimens of 22 seropositive cows (spleen, retropharyngeal udder, and supra-mammary lymph nodes) were subjected for bacteriological studies for isolation and identification of Brucella organisms. Brucella melitensis biovar 3 could be recovered from 12 (54.55%) cows. Bacteriological examinations failed to classify 10 cases (45.45%) and were culture negative. Bruce-ladder PCR was carried out for molecular identification of the 12 Brucella isolates at the species level. Three fragments of 587 bp, 1071 bp and 1682 bp sizes were amplified indicating Brucella melitensis. The results indicated the importance of using several procedures to overcome the problem of escaping of some infected animals from diagnosis.Bruce-ladder PCR is an important tool for diagnosis and epidemiologic studies, providing relevant information for identification of Brucella spp.

Keywords: brucellosis, relative sensitivity, relative specificity, Bruce-ladder, Egypt

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Authors: Farhad Salek, Shahaboddin Resalati

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The production of electric vehicles (EVs) featuring lithium-ion battery technology has substantially escalated over the past decade, demonstrating a steady and persistent upward trajectory. The imminent retirement of electric vehicle (EV) batteries after approximately eight years underscores the critical need for their redirection towards recycling, a task complicated by the current inadequacy of recycling infrastructures globally. A potential solution for such concerns involves extending the operational lifespan of electric vehicle (EV) batteries through their utilization in stationary energy storage systems during secondary applications. Such adoptions, however, require addressing the safety concerns associated with batteries’ knee points and thermal runaways. This paper develops an accurate mathematical model representative of the second-life battery packs from a cell-to-pack scale using an equivalent circuit model (ECM) methodology. Neural network algorithms are employed to forecast the degradation parameters based on the EV batteries' aging history to develop a degradation model. The degradation model is integrated with the ECM to reflect the impacts of the cycle aging mechanism on battery parameters during operation. The developed model is tested under real-life load profiles to evaluate the life span of the batteries in various operating conditions. The methodology and the algorithms introduced in this paper can be considered the basis for Battery Management System (BMS) design and techno-economic analysis of such technologies.

Keywords: second life battery, electric vehicles, degradation, neural network

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Authors: Kaito Sugane, Mitsuhiro Shibata

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Self-healing polymers have attracted attention because their physical damage and cracks can be effectively repaired, thereby extending the lifetime of the materials. Self-healing polymers using host-guest interaction have the advantage that they are quickly repaired under mild temperature conditions when compared with self-healing polymer using dynamic covalent bonds such as Diels-Alder (DA)/retro-DA and disulfide metathesis reactions. Especially, it is known that hydrogels utilizing the host-guest interaction between cyclodextrin and various guest molecules are repeatedly self-repaired at room temperature. However, most of the works deal with hydrogels, and little attention has been paid for thermosetting resins as polyurethane, epoxy and unsaturated polyester resins. In this study, polyetherurethane networks (PUN-CD-Ads) incorporating cyclodextrin and adamantane moieties were prepared by the crosslinking reactions of β-cyclodextrin (CD), 1-adamantanol (AdOH), glycerol ethoxylate (GCE) and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), and thermal, mechanical and self-healing properties of the polymer network films were investigated. Our attention was focused on the influences of molar ratio of CD/AdOH, GCE/CD and OH/NCO on the properties. The FT-IR, and gel fraction analysis revealed that the urethanization reaction smoothly progress to form polyurethane networks. When two cut pieces of the films were contacted at the cross-section at room temperature for 30 seconds, the two pieces adhered to produce a self-healed film. Especially, the PUN-CD-Ad prepared at GCE/CD = 5/1, CD/AdOH = 1/1, and OH/NCO = 1/1 film exhibited the highest healing efficiency for tensile strength. Most of the PUN-CD-Ads were successfully self-healed at room temperature.

Keywords: host-guest interaction, network polymer, polyurethane, self-healing

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Authors: Gertrude I Hewapathirana, Mohamed M. Moustafa, Michel G. Zaitouni

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The purposes of this research are: (a) to provide an epistemological and ontological understanding of the WLB theory, practice, and research to illuminate how the WLB evolved between 2000 to 2020 and (b) to analyze peer-reviewed research to identify the gaps, hotspots, underlying dynamics, theoretical and thematic trends, influential authors, research collaborations, geographic networks, and the multidisciplinary nature of the WLB theory to guide future researchers. The research used four-step bibliometric network analysis to explore five research questions. Using keywords such as WLB and associated variants, 1190 peer-reviewed articles were extracted from the Scopus database and transformed to a plain text format for filtering. The analysis was conducted using the R version 4.1 software (R Development Core Team, 2021) and several libraries such as bibliometrics, word cloud, and ggplot2. We used the VOSviewer software (van Eck & Waltman, 2019) for network visualization. The WLB theory has grown into a multifaceted, multidisciplinary field of research. There is a paucity of research between 2000 to 2005 and an exponential growth from 2006 to 2015. The rapid increase of WLB research in the USA, UK, and Australia reflects the increasing workplace stresses due to hyper competitive workplaces, inflexible work systems, and increasing diversity and the emergence of WLB support mechanisms, legal and constitutional mandates to enhance employee and family wellbeing at multilevel social systems. A severe knowledge gap exists due to inadequate publications disseminating the "core" WLB research. "Locally-centralized-globally-discrete" collaboration among researchers indicates a "North-South" divide between developed and developing nations. A shortage in WLB research in developing nations and a lack of research collaboration hinder a global understanding of the WLB as a universal phenomenon. Policymakers and practitioners can use the findings to initiate supporting policies, and innovative work systems. The boundary expansion of the WLB concepts, categories, relations, and properties would facilitate researchers/theoreticians to test a variety of new dimensions. This is the most comprehensive WLB landscape analysis that reveals emerging trends, concepts, networks, underlying dynamics, gaps, and growing theoretical and disciplinary boundaries. It portrays the WLB as a universal theory.

Keywords: work-life balance, co-citation networks; keyword co-occurrence network, bibliometric analysis

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Authors: J. G. Batista, T. S. Santiago, E. A. Ribeiro, G. A. P. Thé

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This work deals with parameter identification of permanent magnet motors, a class of ac motor which is particularly important in industrial automation due to characteristics like applications high performance, are very attractive for applications with limited space and reducing the need to eliminate because they have reduced size and volume and can operate in a wide speed range, without independent ventilation. By using experimental data and genetic algorithm we have been able to extract values for both the motor inductance and the electromechanical coupling constant, which are then compared to measure and/or expected values.

Keywords: modeling, AC servomotor, permanent magnet synchronous motor-PMSM, genetic algorithm, vector control, robotic manipulator, control

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Authors: Arianna Nativio, Zoran Kapelan, Jan Peter van der Hoek

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Bio-composite materials are becoming increasingly popular in various applications, such as the automotive industry. Usually, bio-composite materials are made from natural resources recovered from plants, now, a new type of bio-composite material has begun to be produced in the Netherlands. This material is made from resources recovered from drinking water treatments (calcite), wastewater treatment (cellulose), and material from surface water management (aquatic plants). Surface water, raw drinking water, and wastewater can be contaminated with pathogens and chemical compounds. Therefore, it would be valuable to develop a framework to assess, monitor, and control the potential risks. Indeed, the goal is to define the major risks in terms of human health, quality of materials, and environment associated with the production and application of these new materials. This study describes the general risk assessment framework, starting with a qualitative risk assessment. The qualitative risk analysis was carried out by using the HAZOP methodology for the hazard identification phase. The HAZOP methodology is logical and structured and able to identify the hazards in the first stage of the design when hazards and associated risks are not well known. The identified hazards were analyzed to define the potential associated risks, and then these were evaluated by using the qualitative Event Tree Analysis. ETA is a logical methodology used to define the consequences for a specific hazardous incidents, evaluating the failure modes of safety barriers and dangerous intermediate events that lead to the final scenario (risk). This paper shows the effectiveness of combining of HAZOP and qualitative ETA methodologies for hazard identification and risk mapping. Then, key risks were identified, and a quantitative framework was developed based on the type of risks identified, such as QMRA and QCRA. These two models were applied to assess human health risks due to the presence of pathogens and chemical compounds such as heavy metals into the bio-composite materials. Thus, due to these contaminations, the bio-composite product, during its application, might release toxic substances into the environment leading to a negative environmental impact. Therefore, leaching tests are going to be planned to simulate the application of these materials into the environment and evaluate the potential leaching of inorganic substances, assessing environmental risk.

Keywords: bio-composite, risk assessment, water reuse, resource recovery

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Authors: Mojtaba Mahmoodian, Joshua Phelan, Mehdi Shahparvari

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With a large percentage of countries’ total infrastructure expenditure attributed to water network maintenance, it is essential to optimise maintenance strategies to rehabilitate or replace underground pipes before failure occurs. The aim of this paper is to provide water utility managers with a maintenance management approach for underground water pipes, subject to external loading and material corrosion, to give the lowest life cycle cost over a predetermined time period. This reliability-based maintenance management methodology details the optimal years for intervention, the ideal number of maintenance activities to perform before replacement and specifies feasible renewal options and intervention prioritisation to minimise the life cycle cost. The study was then extended to include feasible renewal methods by determining the structural condition index and potential for soil loss, then obtaining the failure impact rating to assist in prioritising pipe replacement. A case study on optimisation of maintenance plans for the Melbourne water pipe network is considered in this paper to evaluate the practicality of the proposed methodology. The results confirm that the suggested methodology can provide water utility managers with a reliable systematic approach to determining optimum maintenance plans for pipe networks.

Keywords: water pipe networks, maintenance management, reliability analysis, optimum maintenance plan

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Authors: Juliana C. Alencar, Monica Ferreira do Amaral Porto

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The blue-green infrastructure in recent years has been pointed out as a possibility to increase the environmental quality of watersheds. The regulation ecosystem services brought by these areas are many, such as the improvement of the air quality of the air, water, soil, microclimate, besides helping to control the peak flows and to promote the quality of life of the population. This study proposes a blue-green infrastructure scenario for the Jaguaré watershed, located in the western zone of the São Paulo city in Brazil. Based on the proposed scenario, it was verified the impact of the adoption of the blue and green infrastructure in the control of the peak flow of the basin, the benefits for the avifauna that are also reflected in the flora and finally, the quantification of the regulation ecosystem services brought by the adoption of the scenario proposed. A survey of existing green areas and potential areas for expansion and connection of these areas to form a network in the watershed was carried out. Based on this proposed new network of green areas, the peak flow for the proposed scenario was calculated with the help of software, ABC6. Finally, a survey of the ecosystem services contemplated in the proposed scenario was made. It was possible to conclude that the blue and green infrastructure would provide several regulation ecosystem services for the watershed, such as the control of the peak flow, the connection frame between the forest fragments that promoted the environmental enrichment of these fragments, improvement of the microclimate and the provision of leisure areas for the population.

Keywords: green and blue infrastructure, sustainable drainage, urban waters, ecosystem services

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Authors: Iva Zdrilić, Petra Došenović Bonča, Darija Aleksić

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Since the boundaryless career, with its emphasis on cross-employer movements, was introduced as a new paradigm of career development, inter-organizational employee mobility has been increasing. Although this phenomenon may have positive implications for individual careers and destination organizations, the consequences for the source organizations losing workers are less clear. The aim of this paper is thus to develop a comprehensive typology of possible inter-organizational employee mobility determinants. Since the most common classification differentiates between mobility determinants at different levels (i.e., economic, organizational, and individual), this paper focuses on building a comprehensive multi-level typology of inter-organizational mobility determinants across diverse sectors and industries. By using a structured literature review approach and bibliometric analysis, the paper reveals both intricate relationships between different mobility determinants and the complexity of inter-organizational networks and social ties. The latter appears as both a mobility determinant (at the organizational and individual level) and a mobility effect. Indeed, inter-organizational employee mobility leads to the formation of networks between source and destination organizations. These networks are practically based on the social ties between mobile employees and their colleagues and, in this way, they close the "inter-organizational employee mobility - inter-organizational network/ties" circle. The paper contributes to the career development literature by uncovering hitherto underexplored diverse determinants of intra- and inter-sectoral mobility as well as the conflicting results of the existing studies on some factors (e.g., inter-organizational networks and/or social ties) that appear both as a mobility determinant and a mobility effect.

Keywords: inter-organizational mobility, social ties, inter-organizational network, knowledge transfer

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Authors: Mehrdad Abkenari, Mehmet Kunt, Mahdi Nourollahi

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Evaluating the environmental risk factors is a combination of analysis of transportation effects. Various definitions for risk can be found in different scientific sources. Each definition depends on a specific and particular perspective or dimension. The effects of potential risks present along the new proposed routes and existing infrastructures of large transportation projects like railways should be studied under comprehensive engineering frameworks. Despite various definitions provided for ‘risk’, all include a uniform concept. Two obvious aspects, loss and unreliability, have always been pointed in all definitions of this term. But, selection as the third aspect is usually implied and means how one notices it. Currently, conducting engineering studies on the environmental effects of railway projects have become obligatory according to the Environmental Assessment Act in developing countries. Considering the longitudinal nature of these projects and probable passage of railways through various ecosystems, scientific research on the environmental risk of these projects have become of great interest. Although many areas of expertise such as road construction in developing countries have not seriously committed to these studies yet, attention to these subjects in establishment or implementation of different systems have become an inseparable part of this wave of research. The present study used environmental risks identified and existing in previous studies and stations to use in next step. The second step proposes a new hybrid approach of analytical network process (ANP) and DEMATEL in fuzzy conditions for assessment of determined risks. Since evaluation of identified risks was not an easy touch, mesh structure was an appropriate approach for analyzing complex systems which were accordingly employed for problem description and modeling. Researchers faced the shortage of real space data and also due to the ambiguity of experts’ opinions and judgments, they were declared in language variables instead of numerical ones. Since fuzzy logic is appropriate for ambiguity and uncertainty, formulation of experts’ opinions in the form of fuzzy numbers seemed an appropriate approach. Fuzzy DEMATEL method was used to extract the relations between major and minor risk factors. Considering the internal relations of risk major factors and its sub-factors in the analysis of fuzzy network, the weight of risk’s main factors and sub-factors were determined. In general, findings of the present study, in which effective railway environmental risk indicators were theoretically identified and rated through the first usage of combined model of DEMATEL and fuzzy network analysis, indicate that environmental risks can be evaluated more accurately and also employed in railway projects.

Keywords: DEMATEL, ANP, fuzzy, risk

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Authors: Nazaket Gazieva

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Voice biometric data associated with physiological, psychological and other factors are widely used in forensic phonoscopy. There are various methods for identifying and verifying a person by voice. This article explores the minimum speech signal data as individual parameters of a speech signal. Monozygotic twins are believed to be genetically identical. Using the minimum data of the speech signal, we came to the conclusion that the voice imprint of monozygotic twins is individual. According to the conclusion of the experiment, we can conclude that the minimum indicators of the speech signal are more stable and reliable for phonoscopic examinations.

Keywords: phonogram, speech signal, temporal characteristics, fundamental frequency, biometric fingerprints

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Authors: Hrvoje Simovic

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Paper analyses the key problems of fiscal sustainability in Croatia. To point out key challenges of fiscal sustainability, the public debt sustainability is analyzed using standard indicators of fiscal stability, accompanied with the identification of regime changes approach in the public debt trajectory using switching regression approach. The analysis is conducted for the period from 2001 to 2016. Results show huge vulnerability in recession period (2009-14), so key challenges in current fiscal policy and public debt management are recognized in maturity prolongation, interest rates trends, and credit rating expectations.

Keywords: fiscal sustainability, public debt, Croatia, budget deficit

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Authors: Shramana Mondal

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As a city is growing in population, sprawl, and complexity, use of public spaces increases variably and thus ensuring safety for the people becomes an utmost priority. While active monitoring measures may be necessary in some places, urban design can play a major role in devising self-policing and encourage active public life. This paper aims to explore the various spatial and psychological reasons for the occurrence of crime and the role of ‘urban design’ to address this issue. In this research, the principles of urban design are examined, as well as projected on actual site by addressing the issue with urban design principles. In this review the sociological, psychological, typological and morphological factors are addressed which affect the safety of a space and the possible framing guidelines, controls and urban design strategies are explored to address a safe neighborhood. On the basis of statistical survey, the residential and street network of Malviya Nagar in Delhi is chosen as the area of demonstration. The programs inhibit a safe neighborhood and a movement network that are addressed based on the four principles of natural surveillance, territoriality, community building, and connectivity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the urban design as an effective tool by creating an intense active zone with mixed use feature to ensure throughout activity and also ensuring safe pedestrian zone by introducing sense of community feeling and territoriality thus achieving active, useful and public friendly space.

Keywords: crime, public life, safety, urban design

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Authors: Raya Sulaiman

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Critical discourse analysis investigates how discourse is used to abuse power relationships. Political debates constitute discourses which mirror aspects of ideologies. The Arab world has been one of the most unsettled zones in the world and has dominated global politics due to the Arab revolutions which started in 2010. This study aimed at uncovering the ideological intentions in the formulation and circulation of hegemonic political ideology in the TV political debates of the 2011 to 2012 Yemen revolution, how ideology was used as a tool of hegemony. The study specifically examined the ideologies associated with the use of protesters as a social actor. Data of the study consisted of four debates (17350 words) from four live debate programs: The Opposite Direction, In Depth, Behind the News and the Revolution Talk that were staged at Al Jazeera TV channel between 2011 and 2012. Data was readily transcribed by Al Jazeera online. Al Jazeera was selected for the study because it is the most popular TV network in the Arab world and has a strong presence, especially during the Arab revolutions. Al Jazeera has also been accused of inciting protests across the Arab region. Two debate sites were identified in the data: government and anti-government. The government side represented the president Ali Abdullah Saleh and his regime while the anti-government side represented the gathering squares who demanded the president to ‘step down’. The study analysed verbal discourse aspects of the debates using critical discourse analysis: aspects from the Social Actor Network model of van Leeuwen. This framework provides a step-by-step analysis model, and analyses discourse from specific grammatical processes into broader semantic issues. It also provides representative findings since it considers discourse as representative and reconstructed in social practice. Study findings indicated that Al Jazeera and the anti-government had similarities in terms of the ideological intentions related to the protesters. Al Jazeera victimized and incited the protesters which were similar to the anti-government. Al Jazeera used assimilation, nominalization, and active role allocation as the linguistic aspects in order to reach its ideological intentions related to the protesters. Government speakers did not share the same ideological intentions with Al Jazeera. Study findings indicated that Al Jazeera had excluded the government from its debates causing a violation to its slogan, the opinion, and the other opinion. This study implies the powerful role of discourse in shaping ideological media intentions and influencing the media audience.

Keywords: Al Jazeera network, critical discourse analysis, ideology, Yemeni revolution

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Authors: Hanaa M. Abu El Einin, Ahmed T. Sharaf El- Din

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Biomphalaria snails play an integral role in the transmission of Schistosoma mansoni, the causative agent for human schistosomiasis. Two species of Biomphalaria were reported from Egypt, Biomphalaria alexandrina and Biomphalaria glabrata, and later on a hybrid of B. alexandrina and B. glabrata was reported in streams at Nile Delta. All were known to be excellent hosts of S. mansoni. Host-parasite relationship can be viewed in terms of snail susceptibility and parasite infectivity. The objective of this study will highlight the progress that has been made in using molecular approaches to describe the correct identification of snail species that participating in transmission of schistosomiasis, rapid diagnose of infection in addition to susceptibility and resistance type. Snails were identified using of molecular methods involving Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Polymerase Chain Reaction, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) and Species - specific- PCR. Molecular approaches to diagnose parasite in snails from Egypt: Nested PCR assay and small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene. Also RAPD PCR for study susceptible and resistance phenotype. The results showed that RAPD- PCR, PCR-RFLP and species-specific-PCR techniques were confirmed that: no evidence for the presence of B. glabrata in Egypt, All Biomphalaria snails collected identified as B. alexandrina snail i-e B alexandrinia is a common and no evidence for hybridization with B. glabrata. The adopted specific nested PCR assay revealed much higher sensitivity which enables the detection of S. mansoni infected snails down to 3 days post infection. Nested PCR method for detection of infected snails using S. mansoni fructose -1,6- bisphosphate aldolase (SMALDO) primer, these primers are specific only for S. mansoni and not cross reactive with other schistosomes or molluscan aldolases Nested PCR for such gene is sensitive enough to detect one cercariae. Genetic variations between B. alexandrina strains that are susceptible and resistant to Schistosoma infec¬tion using a RAPD-PCR showed that 39.8% of the examined snails collected from the field were resistant, while 60.2% of these snails showed high infection rates. In conclusion the genetics of the intermediate host plays a more important role in the epidemiological control of schistosomiasis.

Keywords: biomphalaria, molecular differentiation, parasite detection, schistosomiasis

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Authors: Yenisleidy Martinez Martinez, Yannay Casas-Ledon, Jo Dewulf

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The ecosystem services (ES) concept has contributed to draw attention to the benefits ecosystems generate for people and how necessary natural resources are for human well-being. The identification and prioritization of the ES constitute the first steps to undertake conservation and valuation initiatives on behalf of people. Additionally, mapping the supply of ES is a powerful tool to support decision making regarding the sustainable management of landscape and natural resources. In this context, the present study aimed to identify, prioritize and map the primary ES in Biobio and Nuble regions using a methodology that combines expert judgment, multi-attribute evaluation methods, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Firstly, scores about the capacity of different land use/cover types to supply ES and the importance attributed to each service were obtained from experts and stakeholders via an online survey. Afterward, the ES assessment matrix was constructed, and the weighted linear combination (WLC) method was applied to mapping the overall capacity of supply of provisioning, regulating and maintenance, and cultural services. Finally, prioritized ES for the study area were selected and mapped. The results suggest that native forests, wetlands, and water bodies have the highest supply capacities of ES, while urban and industrial areas and bare areas have a very low supply of services. On the other hand, fourteen out of twenty-nine services were selected by experts and stakeholders as the most relevant for the regions. The spatial distribution of ES has shown that the Andean Range and part of the Coastal Range have the highest ES supply capacity, mostly regulation and maintenance and cultural ES. This performance is related to the presence of native forests, water bodies, and wetlands in those zones. This study provides specific information about the most relevant ES in Biobio and Nuble according to the opinion of local stakeholders and the spatial identification of areas with a high capacity to provide services. These findings could be helpful as a reference by planners and policymakers to develop landscape management strategies oriented to preserve the supply of services in both regions.

Keywords: ecosystem services, expert judgment, mapping, multi-criteria decision making, prioritization

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Authors: Teresita Lopez Joy, Jose A. Acevedo Suarez, Martha I. Gomez Acosta, Ana Julia Acevedo Urquiaga

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Current trends in business competitiveness indicate the need to manage businesses as supply chains and not in isolation. The use of strategies aimed at maximum satisfaction of customers in a network and based on inter-company cooperation; contribute to obtaining successful joint results. In the Cuban economic context, the development of productive linkages to achieve integrated management of supply chains is considering a key aspect. In order to achieve this jump, it is necessary to develop acting capabilities in the entities that make up the chains through a systematic procedure that allows arriving at a management model in consonance with the environment. The objective of the research focuses on: designing a model and procedure for the development of integrated management of supply chains in economic entities. The results obtained are: the Model and the Procedure for the Development of the Supply Chains Integrated Management (MP-SCIM). The Model is based on the development of logistics in the network actors, the joint work between companies, collaborative planning and the monitoring of a main indicator according to the end customers. The application Procedure starts from the well-founded need for development in a supply chain and focuses on training entrepreneurs as doers. The characterization and diagnosis is done to later define the design of the network and the relationships between the companies. It takes into account the feedback as a method of updating the conditions and way to focus the objectives according to the final customers. The MP-SCIM is the result of systematic work with a supply chain approach in companies that have consolidated as coordinators of their network. The cases of the edible oil chain and explosives for construction sector reflect results of more remarkable advances since they have applied this approach for more than 5 years and maintain it as a general strategy of successful development. The edible oil trading company experienced a jump in sales. In 2006, the company started the analysis in order to define the supply chain, apply diagnosis techniques, define problems and implement solutions. The involvement of the management and the progressive formation of performance capacities in the personnel allowed the application of tools according to the context. The company that coordinates the explosives chain for construction sector shows adequate training with independence and opportunity in the face of different situations and variations of their business environment. The appropriation of tools and techniques for the analysis and implementation of proposals is a characteristic feature of this case. The coordinating entity applies integrated supply chain management to its decisions based on the timely training of the necessary action capabilities for each situation. Other cases of study and application that validate these tools are also detailed in this paper, and they highlight the results of generalization in the quantitative and qualitative improvement according to the final clients. These cases are: teaching literature in universities, agricultural products of local scope and medicine supply chains.

Keywords: integrated management, logistic system, supply chain management, tactical-operative planning

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