Search results for: cognitive ability

Authors: Anat Yaron Antar, Tomer Einat

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This study explores the effects of the imprisonment of women together with females with mental disorders on the well-being of the former both during imprisonment and after their release from prison. Based on in-depth interviews with 22 women ex-prisoners who had been imprisoned for a period of at least two years in the single Israeli female correctional facility, Neve Tirza Prison, and released one to three months before the initiation of the study to a community-based agency managed by the Israeli Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority, and based on a qualitative, constructive strategy. We found that: (i) mentally ill prisoners’ conduct creates severe feelings of stress and discomfort among many of the prisoners without a mental disorder prisoners; (ii) The intimate and often long-term encounters with prisoners with a mental illness lead to increased feelings of distress, helplessness, fear, and frustration among many of the women prisoners; (iii) the damaging encounters between women prisoners and mentally-ill prisoners harmed the reintegration of the formers into society after release, and (iv) The women ex-prisoners lacked the basic mental, cognitive, and social tools necessary for dealing with female inmates with a mental illness and had received no psychological or emotional support from the prison personnel. Consequently, they suffered – and still suffer – from traumatic and upsetting memories Our findings led us to conclude that women prisoners should be imprisoned separately from female prisoners with mental disorders or be offered a wide range of psychological and emotional coping tools as well as various rehabilitative treatment programs.

Keywords: women, prisoners, mentally ill, health

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Vanessa Cho, Janet Hsiao, Nigel King, Robert Anthonappa

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Background: The personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements for health care workers (HCWs) have changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aim: To ascertain, using eye-tracking technology, what children notice the most when seeing HCWs in various PPE. Design: A Tobii nano pro-eye-tracking camera tracked 156 children's visual attention while they viewed photographs of HCWs in various PPEs. Eye Movement analysis with Hidden Markov Models (EMHMM) was employed to analyse 624 recordings using two approaches, namely (i) data-driven where children's fixation determined the regions of interest (ROIs), and (ii) fixed ROIs where the investigators predefined the ROIs. Results: Two significant eye movement patterns, namely distributed(85.2%) and selective(14.7%), were identified(P<0.05). Most children fixated primarily on the face regardless of the different PPEs. Children fixated equally on all PPE images in the distributed pattern, while a strong preference for unmasked faces was evident in the selective pattern (P<0.01). Conclusion: Children as young as 2.5 years used a top-down visual search behaviour and demonstrated their face processing ability. Most children did not show a strong visual preference for a specific PPE, while a minority preferred PPE with distinct facial features, namely without masks and loupes.

Keywords: COVID-19, PPE, dentistry, pediatric

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Authors: C. Labate, M. P. De Santo, G. Lombardo, R. Barberi, M. Lombardo, N. M. Ziebarth

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In the past decades, the importance of corneal biomechanics in the normal and pathological functions of the eye has gained its credibility. In fact, the mechanical properties of biological tissues are essential to their physiological function. We are convinced that an improved understanding of the nanomechanics of corneal tissue is important to understand the basic molecular interactions between collagen fibrils. Ultimately, this information will help in the development of new techniques to cure ocular diseases and in the development of biomimetic materials. Therefore, nanotechnology techniques are powerful tools and, in particular, Atomic Force Microscopy has demonstrated its ability to reliably characterize the biomechanics of biological tissues either at the micro- or nano-level. In the last years, we have investigated the mechanical anisotropy of the human corneal stroma at both the tissue and molecular levels. In particular, we have focused on corneal cross-linking, an established procedure aimed at slowing down or halting the progression of the disease known as keratoconus. We have obtained the first evidence that riboflavin/UV-A corneal cross-linking induces both an increase of the elastic response and a decrease of the viscous response of the most anterior stroma at the scale of stromal molecular interactions.

Keywords: atomic force spectroscopy, corneal stroma, cross-linking, viscoelasticity

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Authors: Shyamlal Kumawat

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Cloud computing is shifting the approach IT capital are utilized. Cloud computing dynamically delivers convenient, on-demand access to shared pools of software resources, platform and hardware as a service through internet. The cloud computing model—made promising by sophisticated automation, provisioning and virtualization technologies. Users want the ability to access these services including infrastructure resources, how and when they choose. To accommodate this shift in the consumption model technology has to deal with the security, compatibility and trust issues associated with delivering that convenience to application business owners, developers and users. Absent of these issues, trust has attracted extensive attention in Cloud computing as a solution to enhance the security. This paper proposes a trusted computing technology through Standard Resource parameter Based Trust Model in Cloud Computing to select the appropriate cloud service providers. The direct trust of cloud entities is computed on basis of the interaction evidences in past and sustained on its present performances. Various SLA parameters between consumer and provider are considered in trust computation and compliance process. The simulations are performed using CloudSim framework and experimental results show that the proposed model is effective and extensible.

Keywords: cloud, Iaas, Saas, Paas

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: Metinee Kawsomboon, Thanchanok Tulaphol, Manit Nithitanakul, Jitima Preechawong

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PolyHIPE is a porous polymeric material from polymerization of high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) which contains 74% of internal phase (disperse phase) and 26 % of external phase (continues phase). Typically, polyHIPE was prepared from styrene (S) and divinylbenzene (DVB) and they were used in various kind of applications such as catalyst support, gas adsorption, separation membranes, and tissue engineering scaffolds due to high specific surface areas, high porousity, ability to adsorb large quantities of liquid. In this research, cellulose from water hyacinth (Eichornia Crassipes), an aquatic plant that grows and spread rapidly in rivers and waterways in Thailand was added into polyHIPE to increase mechanical property of polyHIPE. Addition of unmodified and modified cellulose to poly(S/DVB)HIPE resulting in a decrease in the surface area and thermal stability of the resulting materials. Mechanical properties of the resulting polyHIPEs filled with both unmodified and modified cellulose exhibited higher compressive strength and Young’s modulus by 146.3% and 162.5% respectively, compared to unfilled polyHIPEs. The water adsorption capacity of filled polyHIPE was also improved.

Keywords: porous polymer, PolyHIPE, cellulose, surface modification, water hyacinth

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Authors: Joseph Wolff, Jeffrey Eilbott

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a spectrum of social disorders characterized by deficits in social communication, verbal ability, and interaction that can vary in severity. In recent years, researchers have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to help detect how neural patterns in individuals with ASD differ from those of neurotypical (NT) controls for classification purposes. This study analyzed the classification of ASD within males and females using functional MRI data. Functional connectivity (FC) correlations among brain regions were used as feature inputs for machine learning algorithms. Analysis was performed on 558 cases from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) I dataset. When trained specifically on females, the algorithm underperformed in classifying the ASD subset of our testing population. Although the subject size was relatively smaller in the female group, the manual matching of both male and female training groups helps explain the algorithm’s bias, indicating the altered sex abnormalities in functional brain networks compared to typically developing peers. These results highlight the importance of taking sex into account when considering how generalizations of findings on males with ASD apply to females.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, machine learning, neuroimaging, sex differences

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Authors: Khaled Darwish, Islam El Madahh, Hoda Mohamed, Hadia El Hennawy

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Cloud computing has been one of the fastest growing parts in IT industry mainly in the context of the future of the web where computing, communication, and storage services are main services provided for Internet users. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is gaining stream which can be used to extend cloud computing functions, services and results to the world of future mobile applications and enables delivery of a large variety of cloud application to billions of smartphones and wearable devices. This paper describes reliability for MCC by determining the ability of a system or component to function correctly under stated conditions for a specified period of time to be able to deal with the estimation and management of high levels of lifetime engineering uncertainty and risks of failure. The assessment procedures consists of determine Mean Time between Failures (MTBF), Mean Time to Failure (MTTF), and availability percentages for main components in both cloud computing and MCC structures applied on single node OpenStack installation to analyze its performance with different settings governing the behavior of participants. Additionally, we presented several factors have a significant impact on rates of change overall cloud system reliability should be taken into account in order to deliver highly available cloud computing services for mobile consumers.

Keywords: cloud computing, mobile cloud computing, reliability, availability, OpenStack

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Authors: Meziani Samir, Moussi Abderrahmane, Chaouchi Sofiane, Guendouzi Awatif, Djema Oussama

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Laser doping has a large potential for integration into silicon solar cell technologies. The ability to process local, heavily diffused regions in a self-aligned manner can greatly simplify processing sequences for the fabrication of selective emitter. The choice of laser parameters for a laser doping process with 532nm is investigated. Solid state lasers with different power and speed were used for laser doping. In this work, the aim is the formation of selective emitter solar cells with a reduced number of technological steps. In order to have a highly doped localized emitter region, we used a 532 nm laser doping. Note that this region will receive the metallization of the Ag grid by screen printing. For this, we use SOLIDWORKS software to design a single type of pattern for square silicon cells. Sheet resistances, phosphorus doping concentration and silicon bulk lifetimes of irradiated samples are presented. Additionally, secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) profiles of the laser processed samples were acquired. Scanning electron microscope and optical microscope images of laser processed surfaces at different parameters are shown and compared.

Keywords: laser doping, selective emitter, silicon, solar cells

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Authors: Bidyadhar Dehury, Sanjay Kumar Mohanty

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According to the Right to Education Act of India, education is the fundamental right of all children of age group 6-14 year irrespective of their status. Using the unit level data from India Human Development Survey (IHDS), we tried to understand the inter-relationship between the level of poverty and the academic performance of the children aged 8-11 years. The level of multidimensional poverty is measured using five dimensions and 10 indicators using Alkire-Foster approach. The weighted deprivation score was obtained by giving equal weight to each dimension and indicators within the dimension. The weighted deprivation score varies from 0 to 1 and grouped into four categories as non-poor, vulnerable, multidimensional poor and sever multidimensional poor. The academic performance index was measured using three variables reading skills, math skills and writing skills using PCA. The bivariate and multivariate analysis was used in the analysis. The outcome variable was ordinal. So the predicted probabilities were calculated using the ordinal logistic regression. The predicted probabilities of good academic performance index was 0.202 if the child was sever multidimensional poor, 0.235 if the child was multidimensional poor, 0.264 if the child was vulnerable, and 0.316 if the child was non-poor. Hence, if the level of poverty among the children decreases from sever multidimensional poor to non-poor, the probability of good academic performance increases.

Keywords: multidimensional poverty, academic performance index, reading skills, math skills, writing skills, India

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Authors: Lyne Chantal Boudreau, Claudine Auger, Arline Laforest

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In order to meet the challenges of learning in a minority Francophone environment, three organizers created a space where a group of stakeholders from the school system and from the post-secondary and community sectors could contribute to reflections on specific educational topics by sharing winning practices. The success of this provincial congress rest on shared leadership which was intuitively used by the organizers who planned and conducted both editions. This leadership style requires leaders to transition from a hierarchical to a horizontal approach, that is, to an approach where each individual is at the same level. In this exploratory research, it has been demonstrated that this shared leadership’s success depends on the capacity of the leaders to free themselves from conformists who are found at all levels of the education system. This ability best fosters the mobilization of all education stakeholders in advancing in-depth knowledge in a particular field while simultaneously creating a sense of collective efficacy among these partners and developing the learners’ full potential. This session will present ways in which it is possible to be freed from conformists through knowing how to recognize conformism, through taking risks and through opening genuine discussions. Shared leadership revolves around a collective power derived from the leadership of each and everyone in a space where all are rallied to promote the ultimate advancement of society.

Keywords: conformists, education, minority context, shared leadership

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Authors: A. Moualdia, D. J. Boudana, O. Bouchhida, A. Medjber

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Wind energy has many advantages, it does not pollute and it is an inexhaustible source. However, the cost of this energy is still too high to compete with traditional fossil fuels, especially on sites less windy. The performance of a wind turbine depends on three parameters: the power of wind, the power curve of the turbine and the generator's ability to respond to wind fluctuations. This paper presents a control chain conversion based on a double-fed asynchronous machine and flow-oriented. The supply system comprises of two identical converters, one connected to the rotor and the other one connected to the network via a filter. The architecture of the device is up by three commands are necessary for the operation of the turbine control extraction of maximum power of the wind to control itself (MPPT) control of the rotor side converter controlling the electromagnetic torque and stator reactive power and control of the grid side converter by controlling the DC bus voltage and active power and reactive power exchanged with the network. The proposed control has been validated in both modes of operation of the three-bladed wind 7.5 kW, using Matlab/Simulink. The results of simulation control technology study provide good dynamic performance and static.

Keywords: D.F.I.G, variable wind speed, hypersynchrone, energy quality, hyposynchrone

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Authors: Abhipsa Mohanty, Harit Jha

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The world's energy demands are continuing to rise, resulting in a worldwide energy crisis and environmental pollution. Because of finite, declining supply and environmental damage, reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable. As a result, experts are concentrating on alternative, renewable, and carbon-free energy sources. Energy sources that are both environmentally and economically sustainable are required. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have recently received a lot of attention due to their low operating temperatures and ability to use a variety of biodegradable substrates as fuel. There are single-chamber MFCs as well as traditional MFCs with anode and cathode compartments. Bioelectricity is produced when microorganisms actively catabolize substrate. MFCs can be used as a power source in small devices like biosensors. Understanding of its components, microbiological processes, limiting variables, and construction designs in MFC systems must be simplified, and large-scale systems must be developed for them to be cost-effective as well as increase electricity production. The purpose of this research was to review current microbiology knowledge in the field of electricity. The manufacturing process, the materials, and procedures utilized to construct the technology, as well as the applications of MFC technology, are all covered.

Keywords: bio-electricity, exoelectrogenic bacteria, microbial fuel cells, soil microorganisms

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Authors: Kazuo Kiguchi, Kouta Ikegami

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In the case of physically weak persons, not only motor abilities, but also sensory abilities are sometimes deteriorated. The concept of perception-assist has been proposed to assist the sensory ability of the physically weak persons with a power-assist robot. Since upper-limb motion is very important in daily living, perception-assist for upper-limb motion has been proposed to assist upper-limb motion in daily living. A virtual tunnel was applied to modify the user’s upper-limb motion if it was necessary. In this paper, effective shape of the virtual tunnel which is applied in the perception-assist for upper-limb motion is proposed. Not only the position of the grasped tool but also the angle of the grasped tool are modified if it is necessary. Therefore, the upper-limb motion in daily living can be effectively modified to realize certain proper daily motion. The effectiveness of the proposed virtual tunnel was evaluated by performing the experiments.

Keywords: motion modification, power-assist robots, perception-assist, upper-limb motion

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Authors: Pauline Nyssen, Ange Mouithys-Mickalad, Maryse Hoebeke

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Inflammation is a complex physiological phenomenon involving chemical and enzymatic mechanisms. Polymorphonuclear neutrophil leukocytes (PMNs) play an important role by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and releasing myeloperoxidase (MPO), a pro-oxidant enzyme. Released both in the phagolysosome and the extracellular medium, MPO produces during its peroxidase and halogenation cycles oxidant species, including hypochlorous acid, involved in the destruction of pathogen agents, like bacteria or viruses. Inflammatory pathologies, like rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis induce an excessive stimulation of the PMNs and, therefore, an uncontrolled release of ROS and MPO in the extracellular medium, causing severe damages to the surrounding tissues and biomolecules such as proteins, lipids, and DNA. The treatment of chronic inflammatory pathologies remains a challenge. For many years, MPO has been used as a target for the development of effective treatments. Numerous studies have been focused on the design of new drugs presenting more efficient MPO inhibitory properties. However, some designed inhibitors can be toxic. An alternative consists of assessing the potential inhibitory action of clinically-known molecules, having antioxidant activity. Propofol, 2,6-diisopropyl phenol, which is used as an intravenous anesthetic agent, meets these requirements. Besides its anesthetic action employed to induce a sedative state during surgery or in intensive care units, propofol and its injectable form Diprivan indeed present antioxidant properties and act as ROS and free radical scavengers. A study has also evidenced the ability of propofol to inhibit the formation of the neutrophil extracellular traps fibers, which are important to trap pathogen microorganisms during the inflammation process. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential inhibitory action mechanism of propofol and Diprivan on MPO activity. To go into the anti-inflammatory action of propofol in-depth, two of its oxidative derivatives, 2,6-diisopropyl-1,4-p-benzoquinone (PPFQ) and 3,5,3’,5’-tetra isopropyl-(4,4’)-diphenoquinone (PPFDQ), were studied regarding their inhibitory action. Specific immunological extraction followed by enzyme detection (SIEFED) and molecular modeling have evidenced the low anti-catalytic action of propofol. Stopped-flow absorption spectroscopy and direct MPO activity analysis have proved that propofol acts as a reversible MPO inhibitor by interacting as a reductive substrate in the peroxidase cycle and promoting the accumulation of redox compound II. Overall, Diprivan exhibited a weaker inhibitory action than the active molecule propofol. In contrast, PPFQ seemed to bind and obstruct the enzyme active site, preventing the trigger of the MPO oxidant cycles. PPFQ induced a better chlorination cycle inhibition at basic and neutral pH in comparison to propofol. PPFDQ did not show any MPO inhibition activity. The three interest molecules have also demonstrated their inhibition ability on an important step of the inflammation pathway, the PMNs superoxide anions production, thanks to EPR spectroscopy and chemiluminescence. In conclusion, propofol presents an interesting immunomodulatory activity by acting as a reductive substrate in the peroxidase cycle of MPO, slowing down its activity, whereas PPFQ acts more as an anti-catalytic substrate. Although PPFDQ has no impact on MPO, it can act on the inflammation process by inhibiting the superoxide anions production by PMNs.

Keywords: Diprivan, inhibitor, myeloperoxidase, propofol, spectroscopy

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Authors: Antonella D'Alessandro, Filippo Ubertini, Annibale Luigi Materazzi

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The progress of nanotechnology resulted in the development of new instruments in the field of civil engineering. In particular, the introduction of carbon nanofillers into construction materials can enhance their mechanical and electrical properties. In construction, concrete is among the most used materials. Due to the characteristics of its components and its structure, concrete is suitable for modification, at the nanometer level too. Moreover, to guarantee structural safety, it is desirable to achieve a widespread monitoring of structures. The ideal thing would be to realize structures able to identify their behavior modifications, states of incipient damage or conditions of possible risk for people. This paper presents a research work about novel cementitious composites with conductive carbon nanoinclusions able of monitoring their state of deformation, with particular attention to concrete. The self-sensing ability is achieved through the correlation between the variation of stress or strain and that of electrical resistance. Carbon nanofillers appear particularly suitable for such applications. Nanomodified concretes with different carbon nanofillers has been tested. The samples have been subjected to cyclic and dynamic loads. The experimental campaign shows the potentialities of this new type of sensors made of nanomodified concrete for diffuse Structural Health Monitoring.

Keywords: carbon nanofillers, cementitious nanocomposites, smart sensors, structural health monitoring.

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Authors: O. Zimbili, W. Salim, M. Ndambuki

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Construction and Demolition (C&D) wastes contribute the highest percentage of wastes worldwide (75%). Furthermore, ceramic materials contribute the highest percentage of wastes within the C&D wastes (54%). The current option for disposal of ceramic wastes is landfill. This is due to unavailability of standards, avoidance of risk, lack of knowledge and experience in using ceramic wastes in construction. The ability of ceramic wastes to act as a pozzolanic material in the production of cement has been effectively explored. The results proved that temperatures used in the manufacturing of these tiles (about 900 ⁰C) are sufficient to activate pozzolanic properties of clay. They also showed that, after optimization (11-14% substitution), the cement blend performs better, with no morphological differences between the cement blended with ceramic waste, and that blended with other pozzolanic materials. Sanitary ware and electrical insulator porcelain wastes are some wastes investigated for usage as aggregates in concrete production. When optimized, both produced good results, better than when natural aggregates are used. However, the research on ceramic wastes as partial substitute for fine aggregates or cement has not been overly exploited as the other areas. This review has been concluded with focus on investigating whether ceramic wall tile wastes used as partial substitute for cement and fine aggregates could prove to be beneficial since the two materials are the most high-priced during concrete production.

Keywords: blended, morphological, pozzolanic, waste

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Authors: Juan Pablo Botero Torres, Alba Avila, Luis Felipe Giraldo

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Independent navigation and mobility through unknown spaces pose a challenge for the autonomy of visually impaired people (VIP), who have relied on the use of traditional assistive tools like the white cane and trained dogs. However, emerging visually assistive technologies (VAT) have proposed several human-machine interfaces (HMIs) that could improve VIP’s ability for self-guidance. Hereby, we introduce the design and implementation of a visually assistive device, Anajaa – Visual Substitution System (AVSS). This system integrates ultrasonic sensors with custom electronics, and computer vision models (convolutional neural networks), in order to achieve a robust system that acquires information of the surrounding space and transmits it to the user in an intuitive and efficient manner. AVSS consists of two modules: the sensing and the actuation module, which are fitted to a chest mount and belt that communicate via Bluetooth. The sensing module was designed for the acquisition and processing of proximity signals provided by an array of ultrasonic sensors. The distribution of these within the chest mount allows an accurate representation of the surrounding space, discretized in three different levels of proximity, ranging from 0 to 6 meters. Additionally, this module is fitted with an RGB-D camera used to detect potentially threatening obstacles, like staircases, using a convolutional neural network specifically trained for this purpose. Posteriorly, the depth data is used to estimate the distance between the stairs and the user. The information gathered from this module is then sent to the actuation module that creates an HMI, by the means of a 3x2 array of vibration motors that make up the tactile display and allow the system to deliver haptic feedback. The actuation module uses vibrational messages (tactones); changing both in amplitude and frequency to deliver different awareness levels according to the proximity of the obstacle. This enables the system to deliver an intuitive interface. Both modules were tested under lab conditions, and the HMI was additionally tested with a focal group of VIP. The lab testing was conducted in order to establish the processing speed of the computer vision algorithms. This experimentation determined that the model can process 0.59 frames per second (FPS); this is considered as an adequate processing speed taking into account that the walking speed of VIP is 1.439 m/s. In order to test the HMI, we conducted a focal group composed of two females and two males between the ages of 35-65 years. The subject selection was aided by the Colombian Cooperative of Work and Services for the Sightless (COOTRASIN). We analyzed the learning process of the haptic messages throughout five experimentation sessions using two metrics: message discrimination and localization success. These correspond to the ability of the subjects to recognize different tactones and locate them within the tactile display. Both were calculated as the mean across all subjects. Results show that the focal group achieved message discrimination of 70% and a localization success of 80%, demonstrating how the proposed HMI leads to the appropriation and understanding of the feedback messages, enabling the user’s awareness of its surrounding space.

Keywords: computer vision on embedded systems, electronic trave aids, human-machine interface, haptic feedback, visual assistive technologies, vision substitution systems

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Authors: Marzieh Eshaghi Koupaei

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By cultivating mealworm, we reduce greenhouse gases and avoid the use of transgenic products such as soybeans, and we provide food resources rich in protein, amino acids, minerals, etc. for humans and animals, and it has created employment and entrepreneurship. We serve the environment by producing oil from mealworm in the cosmetic industry, using its waste as organic fertilizer and its powder in bodybuilding, and by breaking down plastic by mealworm. The production and breeding of mealworm requires very little infrastructure and does not require much trouble, and requires very little food, and reproduces easily and quickly, and a mealworm production workshop is noiseless, odorless, and pollution-free And the costs are very low. It is possible to use third grade fruits and unsalable fruits of farmers to feed the mealworms, which is completely economical and cost-effective. Mealworms can break down plastic in their intestines and turn it into carbon dioxide. . This process was done in only 16 days, which is a very short time compared to several centuries for plastic to decompose. By producing mealworm, we have helped to preserve the environment and provided the source of protein needed by humans and animals. This industrial insect has the ability and value of commercialization and creates employment and helps the economy of the society.

Keywords: breeding, production of insects, mealworms, research, animal feed, human feed

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Authors: Tibor Koltay

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Among varied new literacies, information literacy is not only the best-known one but displays numerous models and frameworks. Nonetheless, there is still a lack of its complex theoretical model that could be applied to information literacy education in public (K12) education, which often makes use of constructivist approaches. This paper aims to present the main features of such a model. To develop a complex model, the literature and practice of phenomenographic and sociocultural theories, as well as discourse analytical approaches to information literacy, have been reviewed. Besides these constructivist and expressive based educational approaches, the new model is intended to include the innovation of coupling them with a cognitive model that takes developing informational and operational knowledge into account. The convergences between different literacies (information literacy, media literacy, media and information literacy, and data literacy) were taken into account, as well. The model will also make use of a three-country survey that examined secondary school teachers’ attitudes to information literacy. The results of this survey show that only a part of the respondents feel properly prepared to teach information literacy courses, and think that they can teach information literacy skills by themselves, while they see a librarian as an expert in educating information literacy. The use of the resulting model is not restricted to enhancing theory. It is meant to raise the level of awareness about information literacy and related literacies, and the next phase of the model’s development will be a pilot study that verifies the usefulness of the methodology for practical information literacy education in selected Hungarian secondary schools.

Keywords: communication, data literacy, discourse analysis, information literacy education, media and information literacy media literacy, phenomenography, public education, sociocultural theory

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Authors: Marla Wendy Spergel

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The purpose of this qualitative study is to showcase graduated high school students’ to voice on the impact past teachers had on their motivation to learn, and if this impact has affected their post-high-school lives. Through a focus group strategy, 21 graduated high school alumni participated in three separate focus groups. Participants discussed their former teacher’s emotional intelligence skills, which influenced their motivation to learn or not. A focused review of the literature revealed that teachers are a major factor in a student’s motivation to learn. This research was guided by Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory of Motivation and constructs related to learning and motivation from Carl Rogers’ Humanistic Views of Personality, and from Brain-Based Learning perspectives with a major focus on the area of Emotional Intelligence. Findings revealed that the majority of participants identified teachers who most motivated them to learn and demonstrated skills associated with emotional intelligence. An important and disturbing finding relates to the saliency of negative experiences. Further work is recommended to expand this line of study in Higher Education, perform a long-term study to better gain insight into long-term benefits attributable to experiencing positive teachers, study the negative impact teachers have on students’ motivation to learn, specifically focusing on student anxiety and acquired helplessness.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, learning, motivation, pedagogy

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Authors: Ng Ziyi Zoe, Yow Wei Quin

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Humor plays a pivotal role in our interaction with people. According to the age-related positivity effect, older adults (OA) demonstrate more positive emotions and are better able to modulate negative emotional states than younger adults (YA), suggesting an increase in humor appreciation with age. However, different types of humor might show different patterns of change in appreciation with age (e.g., incongruity-resolution humor, aggressive humor, self-vs.-other-deprecating humor). Thus, we aim to explore age-related effects in the perception of different types of humor in a single study, including the impact of local slang in humor appreciation. Twenty OA aged 60-and-above and 24 YA aged 13-20 were watched four short videos (i.e., benign, violent, satire+local slang, and others-deprecating humor) and rated how funny the videos were (from a scale of 1-not funny-at-all to 5-very funny). Participants were also asked to rank the videos in the order of most- to least-entertaining. Repeated measures of ANOVA found significant main effects of age, F(3,39)=12,88, p < .001, where OA gave higher ratings than YA (M=3.20 vs. 2.63), and humor type, F(3,123)=19.66, p < .001. Post-hoc analyses revealed a significant linear contrast where benign and violent humor had the lowest ratings while others-deprecating humor had the highest ratings. No significant interaction effect was found. The distribution of ranking ratings also differed between OA and YA (e.g., preferred satire+local slang and others-deprecating humor vs. overwhelmingly preferred other-deprecating humor, respectively). Overall, OA displayed a greater appreciation across various types of humor than YA. Humor perception will be discussed in the larger context of cognitive, societal, and cultural implications.

Keywords: humor, older adults, perception, age differences

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Authors: Yating Yang, Xue Zhang, Chengli Zhao

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Technology capability refers to the comprehensive ability that influences all factors of technological development. Among them, researchers’ resources serve as the foundation and driving force for technology capability, representing a significant manifestation of a country/region's technological capability. Therefore, the cross-border transfer behavior of researchers to some extent reflects changes in technological capability between countries/regions, providing a unique research perspective for technological capability assessment. This paper proposes a technological capability assessment model based on personnel transfer networks, which consists of a researchers' transfer network model and a country/region role evolution model. It evaluates the changes in a country/region's technological capability roles from the perspective of researcher transfers and conducts an analysis using artificial intelligence as a case study based on literature data. The study reveals that the United States, China, and the European Union are core nodes, and identifies the role evolution characteristics of several major countries/regions.

Keywords: transfer network, technological capability assessment, central-peripheral structure, role evolution

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Authors: Shi Yu Wang, Qian Wei Zhang, He Li, Hao Han He, Yun Bo Li

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The spatial controls of electromagnetic (EM) waves have always been a research hot spot in recent years. And the rapid development of metasurface-based technologies has provided more freedoms for manipulating the EM waves. Here we propose the design of reconfigurable and non-reciprocal metasurface with independent controls of transmission gain, attenuation and phase. The proposed meta-atom mainly consists of the cascaded textures including the receiving antenna, the middle layer in which the power amplifiers (PAs), programmable attenuator and phase shifter locate, and the transmitting antenna. The programmable attenuator and phase shifter can realize the dynamic controls of transmission amplitude and phase independently, and the PA devices in the meta-atom can actualize the performance of non-reciprocal transmission. The proposed meta-atom is analyzed applying field-circuit co-simulation and a sample of the meta-atom is fabricated and measured under using two standard waveguides. The measured results verify the ability of the independent manipulation for transmission amplitude and phase of the proposed the meta-atom and the design method has been verified very well correspondingly.

Keywords: active circuits, independent controls of multiple electromagnetic features, non-reciprocal electromagnetic transmission, reconfigurable and programmable

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Authors: Feng Wang, Shencheng Ni, Shuying Han, Shanhong You

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With the development of optical communication, optical performance monitoring (OPM) has received more and more attentions. Since optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) is directly related to bit error rate (BER), it is one of the important parameters in optical networks. Recently, artificial neural network (ANN) has been greatly developed. ANN has strong learning and generalization ability. In this paper, a method of OSNR monitoring based on delay-tap sampling (DTS) and ANN has been proposed. DTS technique is used to extract the eigenvalues of the signal. Then, the eigenvalues are input into the ANN to realize the OSNR monitoring. The experiments of 10 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) on–off keying (OOK), 20 Gb/s pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) and 20 Gb/s return-to-zero (RZ) differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) systems are demonstrated for the OSNR monitoring based on the proposed method. The experimental results show that the range of OSNR monitoring is from 15 to 30 dB and the root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) for 10 Gb/s NRZ-OOK, 20 Gb/s PAM4 and 20 Gb/s RZ-DPSK systems are 0.36 dB, 0.45 dB and 0.48 dB respectively. The impact of chromatic dispersion (CD) on the accuracy of OSNR monitoring is also investigated in the three experimental systems mentioned above.

Keywords: artificial neural network (ANN), chromatic dispersion (CD), delay-tap sampling (DTS), optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR)

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Authors: M. Tomaschko

Abstract:

The integration of technology in educational settings has gained a lot of interest. Especially the use of mobile devices and accompanying mobile applications can offer great potentials to complement traditional education with new technologies and enrich students’ learning in various ways. Nevertheless, the usability of the deployed mathematics application is an indicative factor to exploit the full potential of technology enhanced learning because directing cognitive load toward using an application will likely inhibit effective learning. For this reason, the purpose of this research study is the identification of possible usability issues of the mobile GeoGebra Graphing Calculator application. Therefore, eye tracking in combination with task scenarios, think aloud method, and a SUS questionnaire were used. Based on the revealed usability issues, the mobile application was iteratively redesigned and assessed in order to verify the success of the usability improvements. In this paper, the identified usability issues are presented, and recommendations on how to overcome these concerns are provided. The main findings relate to the conception of a mathematics keyboard and the interaction design in relation to an equation editor, as well as the representation of geometrical construction tools. In total, 12 recommendations were formed to improve the usability of a mobile graphing calculator application. The benefit to be gained from this research study is not only the improvement of the usability of the existing GeoGebra Graphing Calculator application but also to provide helpful hints that could be considered from designers and developers of mobile math applications.

Keywords: GeoGebra, graphing calculator, math education, smartphone, usability

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Authors: Benmoussa Rachid, Deguio Roland, Dubois Sebastien, Rasovska Ivana

Abstract:

Implementation of LARG (Lean, Agile, Resilient, Green) practices in the supply chain management is a complex task mainly because ecological, economical and operational goals are usually in conflict. To implement these LARG practices successfully, companies’ need relevant decision making tools allowing processes performance control and improvement strategies visibility. To contribute to this issue, this work tries to answer the following research question: How to master performance and anticipate problems in supply chain LARG practices implementation? To answer this question, a risk management approach (RMA) is adopted. Indeed, the proposed RMA aims basically to assess the ability of a supply chain, guided by “Lean, Green and Achievement” performance goals, to face “agility and resilience risk” factors. To proof its relevance, a logistics academic case study based on simulation is used to illustrate all its stages. It shows particularly how to build the “LARG risk map” which is the main output of this approach.

Keywords: agile supply chain, lean supply chain, green supply chain, resilient supply chain, risk approach

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Authors: Martin Doran, Roy Sterritt, George Wilkie

Abstract:

The majority of today’s mobile robots are very dependent on battery power. Mobile robots can operate untethered for a number of hours but eventually they will need to recharge their batteries in-order to continue to function. While computer processing and sensors have become cheaper and more powerful each year, battery development has progress very little. They are slow to re-charge, inefficient and lagging behind in the general progression of robotic development we see today. However, batteries are relatively cheap and when fully charged, can supply high power output necessary for operating heavy mobile robots. As there are no cheap alternatives to batteries, we need to find efficient ways to manage the power that batteries provide during their operational lifetime. This paper proposes the use of autonomic principles of self-adaption to address the behavioral changes a battery experiences as it gets older. In life, as we get older, we cannot perform tasks in the same way as we did in our youth; these tasks generally take longer to perform and require more of our energy to complete. Batteries also suffer from a form of degradation. As a battery gets older, it loses the ability to retain the same charge capacity it would have when brand new. This paper investigates how we can adapt the current state of a battery charge and cycle count, to the requirements of a mobile robot to perform its tasks.

Keywords: autonomic, self-adaptive, self-optimising, degradation

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Authors: Rashmi Gupta

Abstract:

Rewarding stimuli capture attention involuntarily as a result of an association process that develops quickly during value learning, referred to as the reward or value-driven attentional capture. It is essential to compare reward with punishment processing to get a full picture of value-based modulation in visual attention processing. Hence, the present study manipulated both valence/value (reward as well as punishment) and motivational salience (probability of an outcome: high vs. low) together. Series of experiments were conducted, and there were two phases in each experiment. In phase 1, participants were required to learn to associate specific face stimuli with a high or low probability of winning or losing points. In the second phase, these conditioned stimuli then served as a distractor or prime in a speeded letter search task. Faces with high versus low outcome probability, regardless of valence, slowed the search for targets (specifically the left visual field target) and suggesting that the costs to performance on non-emotional cognitive tasks were only driven by motivational salience (high vs. loss) associated with the stimuli rather than the valence (gain vs. loss). It also suggests that the processing of motivationally salient stimuli is right-hemisphere biased. Together, results of these studies strengthen the notion that our visual attention system is more sensitive to affected by motivational saliency rather than valence, which termed here as motivational-driven attentional capture.

Keywords: attention, distractors, motivational salience, valence

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Authors: Forhana Rahman Noor, Shafia Jannat Khanam

Abstract:

The image of old age in Bangladesh is associated with graying of hair, wrinkling of skin, with poor physical health, and decreased ability to work. The common expression “bura hoechi”, to be aged, means to be limited in terms of performing economically productive activities, known as ‘work’. For ‘old-old’ age, there is a saying, “uthan akhon onek dure”, which literally means “even the courtyard is like a very distant place (for an old person).” Traditionally, Bengali society had a structure caring the life of older people. It was common in the joint families of Bangladeshi culture. The situation has been changing. Complexities of the societies with growing rapid urbanization are influencing the traditional respects and caring structure of the elderly persons and facing social challenges. Bangladesh is projected to have 10 percent of its population of age 60 years and above in the year 2025. The ageing process is expected to accelerate in the next century, mainly because the large cohorts born in 1950s and 1960s respectively will be joining the ranks of 60 years and over during this period. The decline in mortality, particularly at young ages, also means that a higher proportion of the large cohorts will survive to old age. The country does not have enough policy or strategy to face this upcoming challenge for the aged persons which needs immediate attention.

Keywords: ageing, gender, dimension, elderly population, Bangladesh

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Authors: Tomoaki Hashimoto

Abstract:

Recently, feedback control systems using random dither quantizers have been proposed for linear discrete-time systems. However, the constraints imposed on state and control variables have not yet been taken into account for the design of feedback control systems with random dither quantization. Model predictive control is a kind of optimal feedback control in which control performance over a finite future is optimized with a performance index that has a moving initial and terminal time. An important advantage of model predictive control is its ability to handle constraints imposed on state and control variables. Based on the model predictive control approach, the objective of this paper is to present a control method that satisfies probabilistic state constraints for linear discrete-time feedback control systems with random dither quantization. In other words, this paper provides a method for solving the optimal control problems subject to probabilistic state constraints for linear discrete-time feedback control systems with random dither quantization.

Keywords: optimal control, stochastic systems, random dither, quantization

Procedia PDF Downloads 437