Search results for: improve knowledge

Authors: Geetanjali Sharma

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There are always provincial variations which deserve more detailed treatment. Before the arrival of modern era, geography and cultural homogeneity were determining factors of human habitat and migration. Boundaries as if we see them, did not exist earlier. The connectivity of the world was also different as of now. The reinforcement of the old silk route will improve economic cooperation and connectivity between Asian, European and African countries, but obviously, it is designed to improve China’s geopolitical and geostrategic position in the world. The paper is based on the secondary sources of data. Analytical and historical approach has been used to clarify the ties between the old silk routes and new One-Belt-One-Road initiative China. The paper begins with an explanation of the historical background of the old Silk Route, its origin and development, trailed by an analysis of latest declarations by the Chinese leaders to revive it. It also discusses the impacts of this initiative on India’s economy and cultural exchange between associated regions. Lastly, the paper sums up the findings and suggestions for keeping a balance between the security and economic relationship between the countries. It concludes that the silk route is an effort in commencing a ‘grand strategy’ for global trade and cooperation with hidden objectives of China to increase the investment of China in other continents as well. The revival of silk route may prove to be a very helpful in reinforcing cooperation and raising it to a new level of economic establishments. However, China has yet to promote the much-needed political and strategic trust.

Keywords: OBOR (One-Belt-One-Road), geopolitics, economic relation, security concerns

Procedia PDF Downloads 283

Authors: Dogan Cetin, Omar Hamdi Jasim

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Using some additives is very common method to improve the soil properties such as shear strength, bearing capacity; and to reduce the settlement and lateral deformation. Soil reinforcement with natural materials is an attractive method to improve the soil properties because of their low cost. However, the studies conducted by using natural additive are very limited. This paper presents the results of an investigation on the immediate and long-term effects of the sawdust on the shear strength behavior of a clayey silt soil obtained in Arnavutkoy in Istanbul with sawdust. Firstly, compaction tests were conducted to be able to optimum moisture content for every percentage of sawdust. The samples were obtained from compacted soil at optimum moisture content. UU Triaxial Tests were conducted to evaluate the response of randomly distributed sawdust on the strength of low plasticity clayey silt soil. The specimens were tested with 1%, 2% and 3% content of sawdust. It was found that the undrained shear strength of clay soil with 1%, 2% and 3% sawdust were increased respectively 4.65%, 27.9% and 39.5% higher than the soil without additive. At 5%, shear strength of clay soil decreased by 3.8%. After 90 days cure period, the shear strength of the soil with 1%, 2%, 3% and %5 increased respectively 251%, 302%, 260% and 153%. It can be said that the effect of the sawdust usage has a remarkable effect on the undrained shear strength of the soil. Besides the increasing undrained shear strength, it was also found that the sawdust decreases the liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index by 5.5%, 2.9 and 10.9% respectively.

Keywords: compaction test, sawdust, shear strength, UU Triaxial Test

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Authors: Elachouri Mostafa, Fakchich Jamila, Lazaar Jamila, Elmadmad Mohammed, Marhom Mostafa

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Of course, there has been a great growth in scientific information about medicinal plants in recent decades, but in many ways this has proved poor compensation, because such information is accessible, in practice, only to a very few people and anyway, rather little of it is relevant to problems of management and utilization, as encountered in the field. Active compounds are used in most traditional medicines and play an important role in advancing sustainable rural livelihoods through their conservation, cultivation, propagation, marketing and commercialization. Medicinal herbs are great resources for various pharmaceutical compounds and urgent measures are required to protect these plant species from their natural destruction and disappearance. Indeed, there is a real danger of indigenous Arab medicinal practices and knowledge disappearing altogether, further weakening traditional Arab culture and creating more insecurity, as well as forsaking a resource of inestimable economic and health care importance. As scientific approach, the ethnopharmacological investigation remains the principal way to improve, evaluate, and increase the odds of finding of biologically active compounds derived from medicinal plants. As developing country, belonging to the Mediterranean basin, Morocco country is endowed with resources of medicinal and aromatic plants. These plants have been used over the millennia for human welfare, even today. Besides, Morocco has a large plant biodiversity, in fact, its medicinal flora account more than 4200 species growing on various bioclimatic zones from subhumide to arid and Saharan. Nevertheless, the human and animal pressure resulting from the increase of rural population needs has led to degradation of this patrimony. In this paper, we focus our attention on ethnopharmacological studies carried out in Morocco. The goal of this work is to clarify the importance of herbs as platform for drugs discovery and further development, to highlight the importance of ethnopharmacological study as approach on discovery of natural products in the health care field, and to discuss the limit of ethnopharmacological investigation of drug discovery in Morocco.

Keywords: Morocco, medicinal plants, ethnopharmacology, natural products, drug-discovery

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Authors: Jianan Li, Lusen Shi, Haiqiao Du, Wei Chen, Qian Wang, Shuoshuo Kang, Shiming Yang

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Background: Follow-up of cochlear implant effectiveness is mainly focused on 3 years postoperatively, and studies with more than 5 years of observation are rare, especially for local Chinese brands. Objectives: Nurotron (Chinese domestic cochlear implant brand) CI recipients who participated in the clinical trial in 2009 were followed-up for 10 years prospectively, providing data to guide doctors and patients. Material and Methods: From December 2009 to April 2010, 57 subjects underwent Nurotron Venus CI surgery at multiple centers and were continued to be followed up and assessed at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 years after switching on. Results: All recipients were successfully implanted with CIs with no difficulty in subsequent use, with one reported case of re-implantation 9 years after implantation. The aided hearing thresholds were significantly improved one month after switching on (p<0.0001) and remained stable afterward for 10 years. Speech recognition scores were significantly higher than pre-operative results (p<0.05) and continued to improve till 3 years after switching on. At 10 years of post-operation, most subjects had improved QOL scores in most sub-items. Conclusions and Significance: Nurotron Venus CI System provides long-term, stable results in hearing speech assistance capabilities and can improve the quality of life of CI recipients.

Keywords: cochlear implantation, hearing loss, post lingual, follow up

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Authors: Burcu Uçan

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The certification approach differs in civil and military projects in aviation. Sets of criteria and standards created by airworthiness authorities for the determination of certification basis are distinct. While the civil standards are more understandable and clear because of not only include detailed specifications but also the help of guidance materials such as Advisory Circular, military criteria do not provide this level of guidance. Therefore, specifications that are more negotiable and sometimes more difficult to reconcile arise for the certification basis of a military aircraft. This study investigates a method of how to develop a military specification set by taking advantage of civil standards, regarding the European Military Airworthiness Criteria (EMACC) that establishes the airworthiness criteria for aircraft systems. Airworthiness Certification Criteria (MIL-HDBK-516C) is a handbook published for guidance that contains qualitative evaluation for military aircrafts meanwhile Certification Specifications (CS-29) is published for civil aircrafts by European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). This method intends to compare and contrast specifications that MIL-HDBK-516C and CS-29 contain within the scope of Human Factors. Human Factors supports human performance and aims to improve system performance by encompassing knowledge from a range of scientific disciplines. Human Factors focuses on how people perform their tasks and reduce the risk of an accident occurring due to human physical and cognitive limitations. Hence, regardless of whether the project is civil or military, the specifications must be guided at a certain level by taking into account human limits. This study presents an advisory method for this purpose. The method in this study develops a solution for the military certification process by identifying the CS requirement corresponding to the criteria in the MIL-HDBK-516C by means of EMACC. Thus, it eases understanding the expectations of the criteria and establishing derived requirements. As a result of this method, it may not always be preferred to derive new requirements. Instead, it is possible to add remarks to make the expectancy of the criteria and required verification methods more comprehensible for all stakeholders. This study contributes to creating a certification basis for military aircraft, which is difficult and takes plenty of time for stakeholders to agree due to gray areas in the certification process for military aircrafts.

Keywords: human factors, certification, aerospace, requirement

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Authors: Chante Van Tonder, Bart Bossink, Chris Schachtebeck, Cecile Nieuwenhuizen

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Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in national economies around the world, being contributors to economic and social well-being. Due to this, the success, growth and competitiveness of SMEs are critical. However, there are many factors that undermine this, such as resource constraints, poor information communication infrastructure (ICT), skills shortages and poor management. The Fourth Industrial Revolution offers new tools and opportunities such as digital transformation and business model innovation (BMI) to the SME sector to enhance its competitiveness. Adopting and leveraging digital technologies such as cloud, mobile technologies, big data and analytics can significantly improve business efficiencies, value proposition and customer experiences. Digital transformation can contribute to the growth and competitiveness of SMEs. However, SMEs are lagging behind in the participation of digital transformation. Extant research lacks conceptual and empirical research on how digital transformation drives BMI and the impact it has on the growth and competitiveness of SMEs. The purpose of the study is, therefore, to close this gap by developing and empirically validating a conceptual model to determine if SMEs are achieving BMI through digital transformation and how this is impacting the growth, competitiveness and overall business performance. An empirical study is being conducted on 300 SMEs, consisting of 150 South-African and 150 Dutch SMEs, to achieve this purpose. Structural equation modeling is used, since it is a multivariate statistical analysis technique that is used to analyse structural relationships and is a suitable research method to test the hypotheses in the model. Empirical research is needed to gather more insight into how and if SMEs are digitally transformed and how BMI can be driven through digital transformation. The findings of this study can be used by SME business owners, managers and employees at all levels. The findings will indicate if digital transformation can indeed impact the growth, competitiveness and overall performance of an SME, reiterating the importance and potential benefits of adopting digital technologies. In addition, the findings will also exhibit how BMI can be achieved in light of digital transformation. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in a highly relevant and important topic in management studies by analysing the impact of digital transformation on BMI on a large number of SMEs that are distinctly different in economic and cultural factors

Keywords: business models, business model innovation, digital transformation, SMEs

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Authors: Sharadha G., Suresh Kanakkanavar

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Background: Placenta previa is a condition characterized by partial or complete implantation of the placenta in the lower uterine segment. It is one of the main causes of vaginal bleeding in the third trimester and a significant cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Materials and Methods: This is an observational study involving 130 patients diagnosed with placenta previa and satisfying inclusion criteria. The demographic data, clinical, surgical, and treatment, along with maternal and neonatal outcome parameters, were noted in proforma. Results: The incidence of placenta previa among scarred uterus was 1.32%, and in unscarred uterus was 0.67%. The mean age of the study population was 27.12±4.426years. High parity, high abortion rate, multigravida status, and less gestational age at delivery were commonly seen in scarred uterus compared to unscarred uterus. Complete placenta previa, anterior placental position, and adherent placenta were significantly associated with a scarred uterus compared to an unscarred uterus. The rate of caesarean hysterectomy was higher in the scarred uterus, along with statistical association to previous lower-segment caesarean sections. Intraoperative procedures like uterine artery ligation, bakri balloon insertion, and iliac artery ligation were higher in the scarred group. The maternal intensive care unit admission rate was higher in the scarred group and also showed its statistical association with previous lower segment caesarean section. Neonatal outcomes in terms of pre-term birth, still birth, neonatal intensive care unit admission, and neonatal death, though higher in the scarred group, did not differ statistically among the groups. Conclusion: Advancing maternal age, multiparity, prior uterine surgeries, and abortions are independent risk factors for placenta previa. Maternal morbidity is higher in the scarred uterus group compared to the unscarred group. Neonatal outcomes did not differ statistically among the groups. This knowledge would help the obstetricians to take measures to reduce the incidence of placenta previa and scarred uterus which would improve the fetomaternal outcome of placenta previa.

Keywords: placenta previa, scarred uterus, unscarred uterus, adherent placenta

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Authors: A. Ghanami, M.Heydari

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Heat pipe is simple heat transfer device which combines the conduction and phase change phenomena to control the heat transfer without any need for external power source. At hot surface of heat pipe, the liquid phase absorbs heat and changes to vapor phase. The vapor phase flows to condenser region and with the loss of heat changes to liquid phase. Due to gravitational force the liquid phase flows to evaporator section. In HVAC systems the working fluid is chosen based on the operating temperature. The heat pipe has significant capability to reduce the humidity in HVAC systems. Each HVAC system which uses heater, humidifier or dryer is a suitable nominate for the utilization of heat pipes. Generally heat pipes have three main sections: condenser, adiabatic region and evaporator. Performance investigation and optimization of heat pipes operation in order to increase their efficiency is crucial. In present article, a parametric study is performed to improve the heat pipe performance. Therefore, the heat capacity of heat pipe with respect to geometrical and confining parameters is investigated. For the better observation of heat pipe operation in HVAC systems, a CFD simulation in Eulerian- Eulerian multiphase approach is also performed. The results show that heat pipe heat transfer capacity is higher for water as working fluid with the operating temperature of 340 K. It is also showed that the vertical orientation of heat pipe enhances it’s heat transfer capacity.used in the abstract.

Keywords: Heat pipe, HVAC system, Grooved Heat pipe, Heat pipe limits.

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Authors: Alex Hughes

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Patients with advanced heart failure develop specific palliative care needs due to the progressive symptom burden and unpredictable disease trajectory. NICE guidance advises that palliative care should be provided to patients with both cancer and non-cancer conditions as and when required. However, there is some way to go before this guidance is consistently and effectively implemented nationwide in conditions such as heart failure. The Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: A national framework for local action in England provides a set of foundations and ambitions which outline a vision for what high-quality palliative and end-of-life care look like in England. This poster aims to critically consider how to improve access to palliative care for heart failure patients in England by analysing the foundations taken from this framework to generate specific recommendations using Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). The eight foundations analysed are: ‘Personalised care planning’, ‘Shared records’, ‘Evidence and information’, ‘Involving, supporting and caring for those important to the dying Person’, ‘Education and training’, ‘24/7 access’, ‘Co-design’ and ‘Leadership.’ A number of specific recommendations have been generated which highlight a need to close the evidence-policy gap and implement policy with sufficient evidence. These recommendations, alongside the creation of an evidence-based national strategy for palliative care and heart failure, should improve access to palliative care for heart failure patients in England. Once implemented, it will be necessary to evaluate the effect of these proposals to understand if access to palliative care for heart failure patients actually improves.

Keywords: access, health systems, heart failure, palliative care

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Authors: Mehdi Khakzand, Flora Fakourian

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It has been seen in recent years that architects are using virtual modeling to help them visualize their projects. Research has indicated that virtual media, particularly virtual reality, enhances architects' comprehension of design and spatial perception. Creating a communal experience for active learning is an essential component of the design process in architecture pedagogy. It has been particularly challenging to replicate design principles as a critical teaching function, and this is a complex issue that demands comprehension. Nonetheless, the usage of simulation should be studied and limited as appropriate. In conjunction with extensive technology, 3D geometric illustration can bridge the gap between the real and virtual worlds. This research intends to deliver a pedagogical experience in the architecture basics course to improve the architectural design process utilizing virtual reality tools. This tool seeks to tackle current challenges in current ways of architectural illustration by offering building geometry illustration, building information (data from the building information model), and simulation results. These tools were tested over three days in a design workshop with 12 architectural students. This article provided an architectural VR-based course and explored its application in boosting students' active experiences. According to the research, this technology can improve students' cognitive skills from challenging simulations by boosting visual understanding.

Keywords: active experience, architecture pedagogy, virtual reality, spatial perception

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Authors: Gulcin Satir, Ahmet Yildirim

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Globally, including Turkey, health problems associated with malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies in childhood will remain major public health problems in future. Nutrition is a major environmental influence on physical and mental growth and development in early life. Many studies support the fact that nutritional knowledge makes contribution to wellbeing of children and their school performance. The purpose of this study was to examine nutritional knowledge and eating habits of primary school children and to investigate differences in these variables by socioeconomic status. A quasi-experimental one group pretest/posttest design study was conducted in five primary schools totaling 200 children aging 9-10 years in grade 4 to determine the effect of nutritional awareness programme on eating habits of primary school children. The schools were chosen according to parents’ social and demographic characteristics. The implemented nutritional awareness education programme focused on healthy lifestyle such as beneficial foods, eating habits, personal hygiene, physical activity and the programme consisted of eight lessons. The teaching approaches used included interactive teaching, role-playing, demonstration, small group discussions, questioning, and feedback. The lessons were given twice a week for four weeks totaling eight lessons. All lessons lasted 45-60 minutes and first 5 minutes of this was pre-assessment and last 5 minutes post assessment evaluation. The obtained data were analyzed for normality, and the distribution of the variables was tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Paired t-test was used to evaluate the effectiveness of education programme and to compare the above-mentioned variables in each school separately before and after the lessons. The result of the paired t-test conducted separately for each school showed that on average after eight lessons, there was a 25-32% increase in nutritional knowledge of students regardless of the school they attend to and this rate was significant (P < 0.01). This shows that increase in nutritional awareness in these five schools having different socio-economic status was similar to each other. This study suggests that having children involved directly in lessons help to achieve nutritional awareness leading to healthy eating habits. It is concluded that nutritional awareness is a valuable tool to change eating habits. Study findings will provide information for developing nutrition education programmes for the healthy life and obesity prevention in children.

Keywords: children, nutritional awareness, obesity, socioeconomic status

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Authors: Rattanamanee Chomchan, Sunisa Siripongvutikorn, Panupong Puttarak

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Ricegrass or young rice sprouts can be introduced as one of functional product since cereal sprouts have been much interested in this era due to their high nutritive values. Bio-fortification of selenium is one strategy to improve plant bioactive compounds. However, the level of selenium used are varied among species of plants, hence, the proper level need to be investigated. In this current study, influence of selenium bio-fortification hydroponically in the form of sodium selenite following the range 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg Se/L on growth characteristics, selenium content, total extractable phenolic content (TPC) accumulation, lipid peroxidation and anti-oxidative properties of ricegrass were investigated. Results revealed that selenium bio-fortified exogenously increased the accumulation of selenium in ricegrass by 5.3 fold at 40 mg Se/L treatment without significant changes in leaves biomass at harvesting day while root part weight were slightly decreased when increased selenium level, respectively. Selenium at low concentration (10 and 20 mg Se/L) can stimulate the production of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities in young ricegrass as measured by DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assay. Conversely, higher level of selenium fortification reduced the accumulation of phenolics in ricegrass afterward by acting as pro-oxidant. Moreover, highest significant reduction in oxidative stress, measured as malondialdehyde content was also observed at 20 mg Se/L treatment which in correlation to high TPC and antioxidant activities. In conclusion, selenium bio-fortification can be used as a technique to improve precious to ricegrass.

Keywords: antioxidant activities, bio-fortification, ricegrass, selenium

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Authors: Kalina Alina Aidarovna, Khayrullina Yulia Sergeevna

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The question of forming quality housing and living environment remains a vexed problem in the current situation of high-rise apartment building in big cities of Russia. At this start up stage of the modern so-called "mass housing" market it needs to identify key quality characteristics on a different scale from apartments to the district. This paper describes the methodology of qualitative assessment of modern mass housing construction, made on the basis of the ITMO university in cooperation with the institute of spatial planning "Urbanika," based on the case study of St. Petersburg’s residential mass housing built in 2011-2014. The methodology of the study of housing and living environment goes back to the native and foreign urbanists of 60s - 80s, such Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, Oscar Newman, Krasheninnikov, as well as Sommer, Stools, Kohnen and Sherrod, Krasilnikova, Sychev, Zhdanov, Tinyaeva considering spatial features of living environment in a wide range of its characteristics (environmental control, territorial and personalization, privacy, etc.). Assessment is carrying out on the proposed system of criteria developed for each residential environment scale-district, quarter, courtyard, building surrounding grounds, houses, and flats. Thus the objects of study are planning unit of residential development areas (residential area, neighborhood, quarter) residential units areas (living artist, a house), and households (apartments) consisting of residential units. As a product of identified methodology, after the results of case studies of more than 700 residential complexes in St. Petersburg, we intend the creation of affordable online resource that would allow conducting a detailed qualitative evaluation or comparative characteristics of residential complexes for all participants of the construction market-developers, designers, realtors and buyers. Thereby the main objective of the rating may be achieved to improve knowledge, requirements, and demand for quality housing and living environment among the major stakeholders of the construction market.

Keywords: methodology of living environment, qualitative assessment of mass housing, scale-district, vexed problem

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Authors: Doug Specht

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This research project sought to explore the links between digital media, PGIS and social movement organisations in Tolima, Colombia. The primary aim of the research was to examine how knowledge is created and disseminated through digital media and GIS in the region, and whether there exists the infrastructure to allow for this. The second strand was to ascertain if this has had a significant impact on the way grassroots movements work and produce collective actions. The third element is a hypothesis about how digital media and PGIS could play a larger role in activist activities, particularly in reference to the extractive industries. Three theoretical strands have been brought together to provide a basis for this research, namely (a) the politics of knowledge, (b) spatial management and inclusion, and (c) digital media and political engagement. Quantitative data relating to digital media and mobile internet use was collated alongside qualitative data relating to the likelihood of using digital media in activist campaigns, with particular attention being given to grassroots movements working against extractive industries in the Tolima region of Colombia. Through interviews, surveys and GIS analysis it has been possible to build a picture of online activism and the role of PPGIS within protest movement in the region of Tolima, Colombia. Results show a gap between the desires of social movements to use digital media and the skills and finances required to implement programs that utilise it. Maps and GIS are generally reserved for legal cases rather than for informing the lay person. However, it became apparent that the combination of digital/social media and PPGIS could play a significant role in supporting the work of grassroots movements.

Keywords: PGIS, GIS, social media, digital media, mining, colombia, social movements, protest

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Authors: Amin Moradi, Maryam Moeini

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It is a widely held view that Ghiyath al-Din Jamshid-e-Kashani, also known as al-Kashi (1380-1429 CE), was the first who played a significant role in the interaction between mathematicians and architects by introducing theoretical knowledge in Islamic architecture. In academic discourses, geometric rules extracted from his splendid volume titled as Key of Arithmetic has uncritically believed by historians of architecture to contemplate the whole process of arch design all throughout the Islamic buildings. His theories tried to solve the fundamental problem of structural design and to understand what makes an Islamic structure safe or unsafe. As a result, al-Kashi arrived at the conclusion that a safe state of equilibrium is achieved through a specific geometry as a rule. This paper reassesses the stability of al-Kashi's systematized principal forms to evaluate the logic of his hypothesis with a special focus on large spans. Besides the empirical experiences of the author in masonry constructions, the finite element approach was proposed considering the current standards in order to get a better understanding of the validity of geometric rules proposed by al-Kashi for the equilibrium conditions of Islamic masonry arches and vaults. The state of damage of his reference arches under loading condition confirms beyond any doubt that his conclusion of the geometrical configuration measured through his treaties present some serious operational limits and do not go further than some individualized mathematical hypothesis. Therefore, the nature of his mathematical studies regarding Islamic arches is in complete contradiction with the practical knowledge of construction methodology.

Keywords: Jamshid al-Kashani, Islamic architecture, Islamic geometry, construction equilibrium, collapse mechanism

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Authors: Gabriela Kloudova, Miloslav Stehlik, Peter Sos

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The quality of sleep can affect combat performance where the vigilance, accuracy and reaction time are a decisive factor. In the present study, airborne and special units are measured on duty using actigraphy fingerprint scoring algorithm and QEEG (quantitative EEG). Actigraphic variables of interest will be: mean nightly sleep duration, mean napping duration, mean 24-h sleep duration, mean sleep latency, mean sleep maintenance efficiency, mean sleep fragmentation index, mean sleep onset time, mean sleep offset time and mean midpoint time. In an attempt to determine the individual somnotype of each subject, the data like sleep pattern, chronotype (morning and evening lateness), biological need for sleep (daytime and anytime sleepability) and trototype (daytime and anytime wakeability) will be extracted. Subsequently, a series of recommendations will be included in the training plan based on daily routine, timing of the day and night activities, duration of sleep and the number of sleeping blocks in a defined time. The aim of these modifications in the training plan is to reduce day-time sleepiness, improve vigilance, attention, accuracy, speed of the conducted tasks and to optimize energy supplies. Regular improvement of the training supposed to have long-term neurobiological consequences including neuronal activity changes measured by QEEG. Subsequently, that should enhance cognitive functioning in subjects assessed by the digital cognitive test batteries and improve their overall performance.

Keywords: sleep quality, combat performance, actigraph, somnotype

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Authors: Jareeluk Ratanaphan

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The purposed of this research were; 1. To survey the teacher’s needs on knowledge about special education management for special needs student 2. Development of distance training packages for teacher on special education management for special needs student 3. to study the effects of using the packages on trainee’s achievement 4. to study the effects of using the packages on trainee’s opinion on the distance training packages. The design of the experiment was research and development. The research sample for survey were 86 teachers, and 22 teachers for study the effects of using the packages on achievement and opinion. The research instrument comprised: 1) training packages on special education management for special needs student 2) achievement test 3) questionnaire. Mean, percentage, standard deviation, t-test and content analysis were used for data analysis. The findings of the research were as follows: 1. The teacher’s needs on knowledge about teaching for a learner with learning disability, mental retardation, autism, physical and health impairment and research in special education. 2. The package composed of special education management for special needs student document and manual of distance training packages. The document consisted by the name of packages, the explanation for the educator, content’s structure, concept, objectives, content and activities. Manual of distance training packages consisted by the explanation about a document, objectives, explanation about using the package, training schedule, and evaluation. The efficiency of packages was established at 79.50/81.35. 3. The results of using the packages were the posttest average scores of trainee’s achievement were higher than the pretest. 4. The trainee’s opinion on the package was at the highest level.

Keywords: distance training package, teacher, learner with special needs

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Authors: Gaurav Kumar Sinha

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The oil and gas industry, characterized by its complex and global supply chains, faces significant challenges in ensuring security, transparency, and efficiency. Blockchain technology, with its decentralized and immutable ledger, offers a transformative solution to these issues. This paper explores the application of blockchain technology in the oil and gas supply chain, highlighting its potential to enhance data security, improve transparency, and streamline operations. By leveraging smart contracts, blockchain can automate and secure transactions, reducing the risk of fraud and errors. Additionally, the integration of blockchain with IoT devices enables real-time tracking and monitoring of assets, ensuring data accuracy and integrity throughout the supply chain. Case studies and pilot projects within the industry demonstrate the practical benefits and challenges of implementing blockchain solutions. The findings suggest that blockchain technology can significantly improve trust and collaboration among supply chain participants, ultimately leading to more efficient and resilient operations. This study provides valuable insights for industry stakeholders considering the adoption of blockchain technology to address their supply chain management challenges.

Keywords: blockchain technology, oil and gas supply chain, data security, transparency, smart contracts, IoT integration, real-time tracking, asset monitoring, fraud reduction, supply chain efficiency, data integrity, case studies, industry implementation, trust, collaboration.

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Authors: Ramune Kasperaviciene, Jurgita Motiejuniene, Dalia Venckiene

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Familiarising students with strategies for transferring cultural meanings (intertextual units, culture-specific idioms, culture-specific items, etc.) should be part of a comprehensive translator training programme. The present paper focuses on strategies for transferring such meanings into other languages and explores possibilities for introducing these methods and practice to translation students. The authors (university translation teachers) analyse the means of transferring cultural meanings from English into Lithuanian in a specific travel book, attribute these means to theoretically grounded strategies, and make calculations related to the frequency of adoption of specific strategies; translation students are familiarised with concepts and methods related to transferring cultural meanings and asked to put their theoretical knowledge into practice, i.e. interpret and translate certain culture-specific items from the same source text, and ground their decisions on theory; the comparison of the strategies employed by the professional translator of the source text (as identified by the authors of this study) and by the students is made. As a result, both students and teachers gain valuable experience, and new practices of conducting translation classes for a specific purpose evolve. Conclusions highlight the differences and similarities of non-professional and professional choices, summarise the possibilities for introducing methods of transferring cultural meanings to students, and round up with specific considerations of the impact of theoretical knowledge and the degree of experience on decisions made in the translation process.

Keywords: cultural meanings, culture-specific items, strategies for transferring cultural meanings, translator training

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Authors: Yael Livneh, Shay Tzafrir, Ilan Meshoulam

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Technological startup companies have been recognized as bearing tremendous potential for business and economic success. However, many entrepreneurs who produce promising innovative ideas fail to implement them as successful businesses. A key argument for such failure is the entrepreneurs' lack of competence in adaptation of the relevant level of formality of human resource management (HRM). The purpose of the present research was to examine multiple antecedents and consequences of HRM formality in growing startup companies. A review of the research literature identified two central components of HRM formality: HR control and professionalism. The effect of three contextual predictors was examined. The first was an intra-organizational factor: the development level of the organization. We based on a differentiation between knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation. At a given time, the organization chooses to focus on a specific mix of these orientations, a choice which requires an appropriate level of HRM formality, in order to efficiently overcome the challenges. It was hypothesized that the mix of orientations of knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation would predict HRM formality. The second predictor was the personal characteristics the organization's leader. According the idea of blueprint effect of CEO's on HRM, it was hypothesized that the CEO's cognitive style would predict HRM formality. The third contextual predictor was an external organizational factor: the level of investor involvement. By using the agency theory, and based on Transaction Cost Economy, it was hypothesized that the level of investor involvement in general management and HRM would be positively related to the HRM formality. The effect of formality on trust was examined directly and indirectly by the mediation role of procedural justice. The research method included a time-lagged field study. In the first study, data was obtained using three questionnaires, each directed to a different source: CEO, HR position-holder and employees. 43 companies participated in this study. The second study was conducted approximately a year later. Data was recollected using three questionnaires by reapplying the same sample. 41 companies participated in the second study. The organizations samples included technological startup companies. Both studies included 884 respondents. The results indicated consistency between the two studies. HRM formality was predicted by the intra-organizational factor as well as the personal characteristics of the CEO, but not at all by the external organizational context. Specifically, the organizational orientations was the greatest contributor to both components of HRM formality. The cognitive style predicted formality to a lesser extent. The investor's involvement was found not to have any predictive effect on the HRM formality. The results indicated a positive contribution to trust in HRM, mainly via the mediation of procedural justice. This study contributed a new concept for technological startup company development by a mixture of organizational orientation. Practical implications indicated that the level of HRM formality should be matched to that of the company's development. This match should be challenged and adjusted periodically by referring to the organization orientation, relevant HR practices, and HR function characteristics. A relevant matching could enhance further trust and business success.

Keywords: control, formality, human resource management, organizational development, professionalism, technological startup company

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Authors: Min-Hae Park, Ju-Na Hwang, Cheong-won Seo, Ji-Ho Kim, Kee-Joe Lim

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Polymeric insulators are high hardness, corrosion resistant, lightweight and also good dielectric strength in electric equipment. For such reasons, the amount of polymeric insulators is increased consistently abroad. The current outdoor insulators are replaced by polymeric insulators. Silicone rubber of polymeric insulators is widely used in insulation materials for outdoor application since it has excellent electrical characteristics and high surface hydrophobic. However, it can be evade exposure to pollutant on surface using at outdoor. It also improve the pollution for dust and smoke due to the large are increasing, because most of the industrial area in which the electric power loads are concentrated are located at the coastal area with salt attack. Thus it is important to detect the main cause of the deterioration for outdoor insulation materials. But there has no standards for valuation to apply reliably and determine accurately deterioration under DC, still lacks DC characteristic researches in proportion to AC. In addition, a lot of ATH was added to improve tracking resistivity of silicone rubber, although the problem has been brought up about falling sharply mechanical properties. Therefore, we might compare surface resistivities of silicone rubber compounding of three kinds of filler. In this paper, specimens of silicone rubber composite usable as outdoor insulators were prepared. Micro-silica (SiO2), nano- alumina (Al2O3) and nano-ATH (Al(OH)3) were used in additives. The study aims to investigate properties of DC surface insulation on silicone rubber composite which were filled with various fillers from surface resistivity measurement and salt-fog test.

Keywords: composite, silicone rubber, surface insulation, HVDC

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Authors: Emilie Vandevelde, Ellen Claes

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This study aims to develop a comprehensive model for the civic socialization process of teachers. Citizenship has become one of the main objectives for the European education systems. It is expected that teachers are well prepared and equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to also engage students in democratic citizenship. While a lot is known about young peoples’ civic competence development and how schools and teachers (don’t) support this process, less is known about how teachers themselves engage with (the teaching of) civics. Other than the civic socialization process of young adolescents that focuses on personal competence development, the civic socialization process of teachers includes the development of professional, civic competences. These professional competences make that they are able to prepare pupils to carry out their civic responsibilities in thoughtful ways. Existing models for the civic socialization process of young adolescents do not take this dual purpose into account. Based on these observations, this paper will investigate (1)What personal and professional civic competences teachers need to effectively teach civic education and (2) how teachers acquire these personal and professional civic competences. To answer the first research question, a systematic review of literature of existing civic education frameworks was carried out and linked to literature on teacher training. The second research question was addressed by adapting the Octagon model, developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), to the context of teachers. This was done by carrying out a systematic review of the recent literature linking three theoretical topics involved in teachers’ civic competence development: theories about the civic socialization process of young adolescents, Schulmans (1987) theoretical assumptions on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and Nogueira & Moreira’s (2012) framework for civic education teachers’ knowledge and literature on teachers’ professional development. This resulted in a comprehensive conceptual framework describing the personal and professional civic competences of civic education teachers. In addition, this framework is linked to the OctagonT model: a model that describes the processes through which teachers acquire these personal and professional civic competences. This model recognizes that teachers’ civic socialization process is influenced by interconnected variables located at different levels in a multi-level structure (the individual teacher (e.g., civic beliefs), everyday contacts (e.g., teacher educators, the intended, informal and hidden curriculum of the teacher training program, internship contacts, participation opportunities in teacher training, etc.) and the influence of the national educational context (e.g., vision on civic education)). Furthermore, implications for teacher education programs are described.

Keywords: civic education, civic competences, civic socialization, octagon model, teacher training

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Authors: S. Abd Rahim, F. A. Rahman, E. M. Nasir, N. A. Ramle

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Co-crystal is believed to improve the solubility and dissolution rates and thus, enhanced the bioavailability of poor water soluble drugs particularly during the oral route of administration. With the existing of poorly soluble drugs in pharmaceutical industry, the screening of co-crystal formation using carbamazepine (CBZ) as a model drug compound with dicarboxylic acids co-crystal formers (CCF) namely fumaric (FA) and succinic (SA) acids in ethanol has been studied. The co-crystal formations were studied by varying the mol ratio values of CCF to CBZ to access the effect of CCF concentration on the formation of the co-crystal. Solvent evaporation, slurry, and cooling crystallisations which representing the solution based method co-crystal screening were used. The product crystal from the screening was characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). The XRPD pattern profile analysis has shown that the CBZ co-crystals with FA and SA were successfully formed for all ratios studied. The findings revealed that CBZ-FA co-crystal were formed in two different polymorphs. It was found that CBZ-FA form A and form B were formed from evaporation and slurry crystallisation methods respectively. On the other hand, in cooling crystallisation method, CBZ-FA form A was formed at lower mol ratio of CCF to CBZ and vice versa. This study disclosed that different methods and mol ratios during the co-crystal screening can affect the outcome of co-crystal produced such as polymorphic forms of co-crystal and thereof. Thus, it was suggested that careful attentions is needed during the screening since the co-crystal formation is currently one of the promising approach to be considered in research and development for pharmaceutical industry to improve the poorly soluble drugs.

Keywords: co-crystal, dicarboxylic acid, carbamazepine, industry

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Authors: J. Gonzalez, P. Jimenez, C. Isaza

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Palms have different characteristics that make them vulnerable; that is the case of the Chamaedorea linearis, with the presence of solitary stems of small diameter and medium leaves, culturally harvested, and in religious festivities used. Additionally, they present a weak apical meristem as the only emergency point, slow development and growth, and an affectation due to the high rate of deforestation in Colombia. Propagation of this species can improve the pressure on wild populations and help their survival in the environment. In this study was used in 177 plants biosolids humus from the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), located at the UMNG Campus Cajica (Cundinamarca, Colombia). The experiment used a control and two treatments with 10% and 20% of humus. During the process, the variables evaluated were number of leaves, percentage of chlorophyll, stem length, and estimated leaf area. The data set were taking during 14 weeks before the reproductive maturity, evidencing that the most representative development of the palms was in the treatment of 20%, plants in this treatment presented major number of leaves, larger stems, a high quantity of chlorophyll, and was a first treatment that present pinnate leaves them represent an important point in maturity process. The research gives an opportunity to improve times of growth in another species of palms and plants (Product result from INV ING 2986 UMNG).

Keywords: biosolids, humus, growth, palms, wastewater treatment plant, WWTP

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Authors: Valentina Marutyan

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Healthcare data mining is a rapidly developing field at the intersection of technology and medicine that has the potential to change our understanding and approach to providing healthcare. Healthcare and data mining is the process of examining huge amounts of data to extract useful information that can be applied in order to improve patient care, treatment effectiveness, and overall healthcare delivery. This field looks for patterns, trends, and correlations in a variety of healthcare datasets, such as electronic health records (EHRs), medical imaging, patient demographics, and treatment histories. To accomplish this, it uses advanced analytical approaches. Predictive analysis using historical patient data is a major area of interest in healthcare data mining. This enables doctors to get involved early to prevent problems or improve results for patients. It also assists in early disease detection and customized treatment planning for every person. Doctors can customize a patient's care by looking at their medical history, genetic profile, current and previous therapies. In this way, treatments can be more effective and have fewer negative consequences. Moreover, helping patients, it improves the efficiency of hospitals. It helps them determine the number of beds or doctors they require in regard to the number of patients they expect. In this project are used models like logistic regression, random forests, and neural networks for predicting diseases and analyzing medical images. Patients were helped by algorithms such as k-means, and connections between treatments and patient responses were identified by association rule mining. Time series techniques helped in resource management by predicting patient admissions. These methods improved healthcare decision-making and personalized treatment. Also, healthcare data mining must deal with difficulties such as bad data quality, privacy challenges, managing large and complicated datasets, ensuring the reliability of models, managing biases, limited data sharing, and regulatory compliance. Finally, secret code of data mining in healthcare helps medical professionals and hospitals make better decisions, treat patients more efficiently, and work more efficiently. It ultimately comes down to using data to improve treatment, make better choices, and simplify hospital operations for all patients.

Keywords: data mining, healthcare, big data, large amounts of data

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Authors: K. Almi, S.Lakel, A. Benchabane, A. Kriker

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The fiber–matrix compatibility can be improved if suitable enforcements are chosen. Whenever the reinforcements have more thermal stability, they can resist to the main processes for wood–thermoplastic composites. This paper is an investigation of effect of different treatment process on the mechanical proprieties and on the thermal stability of date palm leaflets fibers with a view to improve the date palm fiber proprieties used as reinforcement of thermoplastic materials which main processes require extrusion, hot press. To compare the effect of alkali and acid treatment on the date palm leaflets fiber properties, different treatment were used such as Sodium hydroxide NaOH solution, aluminium chloride AlCl3 and acid treatment with HCL solution. All treatments were performed at 70°C for 4h and 48 h. The mechanical performance (tensile strength and elongation) is affected by immersion time in alkaline and acid solutions. The reduction of the tensile strength and elongation of fibers at 48h was higher in acid treatment than in alkali treatment at high concentration. No significant differences were observed in mechanical and thermal proprieties of raw fibers and fibers submerged in AlCl3 at low concentration 1% for 48h. Fibers treated by NaOH at 6% for 4h showed significant increase in the mechanical proprieties and thermal stability of date palm leaflets fibers. Hence, soda treatment is necessary to improve the fibers proprieties and consequently optimize the composite performance.

Keywords: date palm fibers, surface treatments, thermoplastic composites, thermal analysis

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Authors: Prasanti Widyasih Sarli, Prayatni Soewondo

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Greater access to sanitation in developing countries is urgent. However even though sanitation is crucial, overall budget for sanitation is limited. With this budget limitation, it is important to (1) allocate resources strategically to maximize impact and (2) take into account communal agency to potentially be a source for sanitation improvements. The Jodipan and Kesatrian Project in Malang, Indonesia is an interesting alternative for solving the sanitation problem in which resources were allocated strategically and communal agency was also observed. Although the projects initial goal was only to improve visually the situation in the slums, it became a new tourist destination, and the economic benefit that came with it had an effect also on the change of behavior of the residents and the government towards sanitation. It also grew from only including the Kesatrian Village to expanding to the Jodipan Village in the course of less than a year. To investigate the success of this project, in this paper a descriptive model will be used and data will be drawn from intensive interviews with the initiators of the project, residents affected by the project and government officials. In this research it is argued that three points mark the success of the project: (1) the strategic initial impact due to choice of location, (2) the influx of tourists that triggered behavioral change among residents and, (3) the direct economic impact which ensured its sustainability and growth by gaining government officials support and attention for more public spending in the area for slum development and sanitation improvement.

Keywords: behaviour change, sanitation, slum, strategic thinking

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Authors: Ebrahim Panah, Muhammad Yasir Babar

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Thanks to the development of online technology and social networks, people are able to communicate as well as learn. WhatsApp is a popular social network which is growingly gaining popularity. This app can be used for communication as well as education. It can be used for instructor-learner, learner-learner, and learner-content interactions; however, very little knowledge is available on these potentials of WhatsApp. The current study was undertaken to investigate university students’ perceptions of WhatsApp used as a tool for instructor-learner dialogue, learner-content dialogue, and learner-learner dialogue. The study adopted a survey approach and distributed the questionnaire developed by Google Forms to 54 (11 males and 43 females) university students. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The result of data analysis indicates that students have positive attitudes towards WhatsApp as a tool for Instructor-Learner Dialogue: it easy to reach the lecturer (4.07), the instructor gives me valuable feedback on my assignment (4.02), the instructor is supportive during course discussion and offers continuous support with the class (4.00). Learner-Content Dialogue: WhatsApp allows me to academically engage with lecturers anytime, anywhere (4.00), it helps to send graphics such as pictures or charts directly to the students (3.98), it also provides out of class, extra learning materials and homework (3.96), and Learner-Learner Dialogue: WhatsApp is a good tool for sharing knowledge with others (4.09), WhatsApp allows me to academically engage with peers anytime, anywhere (4.07), and we can interact with others through the use of group discussion (4.02). It was also found that there are significant positive correlations between students’ perceptions of Instructor-Learner Dialogue (ILD), Learner-Content Dialogue (LCD), Learner-Learner Dialogue (LLD) and WhatsApp Application in classroom. The findings of the study have implications for lectures, policy makers and curriculum developers.

Keywords: instructor-learner dialogue, learners-contents dialogue, learner-learner dialogue, whatsapp application

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Authors: A. M. Prasad

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Knowledge of variations of nerves of gluteal region is important for clinicians administering intramuscular injections, for orthopedic surgeons dealing with the hip surgeries, possibly for physiotherapists managing the painful conditions and paralysis of this region. Herein, we report multiple variations of the nerves of gluteal region. In the current case, the sciatic nerve was absent. The common peroneal and tibial nerves arose from sacral plexus and reached the gluteal region through greater sciatic foramen above and below piriformis respectively. The common peroneal nerve gave a muscular branch to the gluteus maximus. The inferior gluteal nerve and posterior cutaneous nerve of the thigh arose from a common trunk. The common trunk was formed by three roots. Upper and middle roots arose from sacral plexus and entered gluteal region through greater sciatic foramen respectively above and below piriformis. The lower root arose from the pudendal nerve and joined the common trunk. These variations were seen in the right gluteal region of an adult male cadaver aged approximately 70 years. Innervation of gluteus maximus by common peroneal nerve and presence of a common trunk of inferior gluteal nerve and posterior cutaneous nerve of the thigh make this case unique. The variant nerves may be subjected to iatrogenic injuries during surgical approach to the hip. They may also get compressed if there is a hypertrophy of the piriformis syndrome. Hence, the knowledge of these variations is of importance to clinicians, orthopedic surgeons and possibly for physiotherapists.

Keywords: gluteal region, multiple variations, nerve injury, sciatic nerve

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Authors: Chieh-Ning Lan, Tzu-Shin Lin, Kun-Hao Lin

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Chinese handwriting skill is one of the basic skills of school-age children in Taiwan, which helps them to learn most academic subjects. Differ from the alphabetic language system, Chinese written language is a logographic script with a complicated 2-dimensional character structure as a morpheme. Visuospatial ability places a great role in Chinese handwriting to maintain good proportion and alignment of these interwoven strokes. In Taiwan, school-age students faced the challenge to recognize and write down Chinese characters, especially in children with written expression difficulties (CWWDs). In this study, we developed an instructional app to help CWWDs practice Chinese handwriting skills, and we aimed to apply the mobile assisted language learning (MALL) system in clinical writing strategies. To understand the feasibility and satisfaction of this auxiliary instructional writing app, we investigated the perceive and value both from school-age students and the clinic therapists, who were the target users and the experts. A group of 8 elementary school children, as well as 8 clinic therapists, were recruited. The school-age students were asked to go through a paper-based instruction and were asked to score the visual expression based on their graphic preference; the clinic therapists were asked to watch an introductive video of this instructional app and complete the online formative questionnaire. In the results of our study, from the perspective of user interface design, school-age students were more attracted to cartoon-liked pictures rather than line drawings or vivid photos. Moreover, compared to text, pictures which have higher semantic transparency were more commonly chosen by children. In terms of the quantitative survey from clinic therapists, they were highly satisfied with this auxiliary instructional writing app, including the concepts such as visual design, teaching contents, and positive reinforcement system. Furthermore, the qualitative results also suggested comprehensive positive feedbacks on the teaching contents and the feasibility of integrating the app into clinical treatments. Interestingly, we found that clinic therapists showed high agreement in approving CWWDs’ writing ability with using orthographic knowledge; however, in the qualitative section, clinic therapists pointed out that CWWDs usually have relative insufficient background knowledge in Chinese character orthographic rules, which because it is not a key-point in conventional handwriting instruction. Also, previous studies indicated that conventional Chinese reading and writing instructions were lacked of utilizing visual-spatial arrangement strategies. Based on the sharing experiences from all participants, we concluded several interesting topics that are worth to dedicate to in the future. In this undergoing app system, improvement and revision will be applied into the system design, and will establish a better and more useful instructional system for CWWDs within their treatments; enlightened by the opinions related to learning content, the importance of orthographic knowledge in Chinese character recognition should be well discussed and involved in CWWDs’ intervention in the future.

Keywords: auxiliary instructional app, children with writing difficulties, Chinese handwriting, orthographic knowledge

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