Search results for: goal question metrics

Authors: Ofra Walter Btel Liran Hazan

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This study’s goal was to clarify whether psychological capital (PsyCap) mediated the relations between social support and subjective well-being among post-secondary students during the Covid-19 pandemic and to assess whether students diagnosed with a learning disability (LD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differed from others in their reliance on social support and their level of PsyCap and subjective wellbeing. Participants were257 students, 152 diagnosed with LD/ADHD and the rest neurotypical. The study used four questionnaires: demographic and academic information; Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ); Subjective Well-Being Index; social support questionnaire. The results indicated PsyCapmediated relations between social support and subjective wellbeing. Students diagnosed with LD/ADHD differed from neurotypicals in their PsyCap and subjective wellbeing levels but not in their social support. In addition, the relations between PsyCap and social support were stronger among students diagnosed with LD/ADHD. PsyCap was an important resource for all participants and was related to social support and subjective wellbeing, making it especially valuable for LD/ADHD students facing new and threatening situations, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords: LD/ADHD post-secondary students, subjective wellbeing, social support, PsyCap, covid-19

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Authors: Elia Caldini, Cláudia N. Battlehner, Marcelo A. Ferreira, Rolf Gemperli, Nivaldo Alonso, Luiz P. Vana

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The advent of dermal regenerate templates has fostered major advances in the treatment of acute burns and their sequelae, in the last two decades. Both data on morphological aspects of the newly-formed tissue, and clinical trials comparing different templates, are still lacking. The goal of this study was to prospectively analyze the outcome of patients treated with two of the existing templates, followed by thin skin autograft. They are both made of bovine collagen, one includes a superficial silicone layer. Surgery was performed on patients with impaired mobility resulting from burn sequelae (n = 12 per template). Negative pressure therapy was applied post-surgically; patients were monitored for 12 months. Data on scar skin quality (Vancouver and POSAS evaluation scales), rate of joint mobility recovery, and graft contraction were recorded. Improvement in mobility and skin quality were demonstrated along with graft contraction, in all patients. The silicone-coupled template showed the best performance in all aspects.

Keywords: dermal regeneration template, artificial skin, skin quality, scar contracture

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Authors: Victor Romanov, Daria Efimenko

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The focus on innovation in modern economy is the main factor in surviving business in a competitive environment. The innovations are based on the search and use of knowledge in a global context. Nowadays consumers and market demand are the main innovation drivers. This leads to build a business as a system with feedback, promptly restructuring production and innovation implementation in response to market demands. In modern knowledge economy, because of speed of technical progress, the product's lifecycle became much shorter, what makes more stringent requirements for innovation implementation on the enterprises of and therefore the possibility for enterprise for receiving extra income is decreasing. This circumstance imposes additional requirements for the replacement of obsolete products and the prompt release of innovative products to the market. The development of information technologies has led to the fact that only in the conditions of partnership and knowledge sharing with partners it is possible to update products quickly for innovative products. Many companies pay attention to updating innovations through the search for new partners, but the task of finding new partners presents some difficulties. The search for a suitable one includes several stages such as: determining the moment of innovation-critical, introducing a search, identifying search criteria, justifying and deciding on the choice of a partner. No less important is the question of how to manage an innovative product in response to a changing market. The article considers the problems of information support for the search for the source of innovation and partnership to decrease the time for implementation of novelty products.

Keywords: partnership, novelty, market feedback, alliance

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Authors: Dustin Dill

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The physical movement of crossing over water points to both developing narrative tropes and innovative cinematography in World Cinema today. Two prime examples, Alamar (2009) by Pedro González-Rubio and Kaili Blues (2015) by Bi Gan, demonstrate how contemporary storytelling in a film not only rests upon these water shots but also emerges from them. The range of symbolism that these episodes in the story provoke goes hand in hand with the diverse filming sequences found in the respective productions. While González-Rubio decides to cut the scene into long and longer shots, Gan uses a single take. The differing angles depict equally unique directors and film projects: Alamar runs parallel to many definitions of the essay film, and Kaili Blues resonates much more with mystery and art film. Nonetheless, the crossing of water scenes influence the narratives’ subjects despite the generic consequences, and it is within the essay, mystery, and art film genres which allows for a better understanding of World Cinema. Tiago de Luca explains World Cinema’s prerogative of giving form to a certain type of spectator does not always line up. Given the immense number of interpretations of crossing water —the escape from suffering to find nirvana, rebirth, and colonization— underline the difficulty of categorizing it. If before this type of cross-genre was a trait that defined World Cinema in its beginning, this study observes that González-Rubio and Gan question the all-encompassing genre with their experimental shots of a universal narrative trope, the crossing of water.

Keywords: cinematography, genre, narrative, world cinema

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Authors: Aleksandra Ibragimow, Moritz Albrecht, Eerika Albrecht

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Close international cooperation between all countries within a river basin has become one of the key aspects of sustainable cross-border water management. This is due to the fact that water does not stop at administrative or political boundaries. Therefore, the preferred mode to protect and manage transnational water bodies is close cooperation between all countries and stakeholders within the natural hydrological unit of the river basin. However, past practices have demonstrated that combining interests of different countries and stakeholders with differing political systems and management approaches to environmental issues upstream as well as downstream can be challenging. The study focuses on particular problems and challenges of water management in international river basin districts by the example of the International Oder River Basin District. The Oder River is one of the largest cross-border rivers of the Baltic Sea basin passing through Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Attention is directed towards the activities and the actions that were carried out during the Districts' first management cycle of transnational river basin management (2009-2015). The results show that actions of individual countries have been focused on the National Water Management Plans while a common appointment about identified supra-regional water management problems has not been solved, and conducted actions can be considered as preliminary and merely a basis for future management. This present state raises the question whether the achievement of main objectives of Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) can be a realistic task.

Keywords: International River Basin Districts, water management, water frameworkdirective, water management plans

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Authors: Alireza Taghdiri, Sara Ghanbarzade Ghomi

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With gravity load reduction in the structural and non-structural components, the lightweight construction will be achieved as well as the improvement of efficiency and functional specifications. The advantages of lightweight construction can be examined in two levels. The first is the mass reduction of load bearing structure which results in increasing internal useful space and the other one is the mass reduction of building which decreases the effects of seismic load as a result. In order to achieve this goal, the essential building materials specifications and also optimum load bearing geometry of structural systems and elements have to be considered, so lightweight materials selection particularly with lightweight aggregate for building components will be the first step of lightweight construction. In the next step, in addition to selecting the prominent samples of Iran's traditional architecture, the process of these works improvement is analyzed through the viewpoints of structural efficiency and lightweighting and also the practical methods of lightweight construction have been extracted. The optimum design of load bearing geometry of structural system has to be considered not only in the structural system elements, but also in their composition and the selection of dimensions, proportions, forms and optimum orientations, can lead to get a maximum materials efficiency for loads and stresses bearing.

Keywords: gravity load, lightweighting structural system, load bearing geometry, seismic behavior

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Authors: Ali Bakari Mohammed

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Transitioning is a continuous process of radical change in a society which involves co-evolution of institutional, technological, socio-cultural, and ecological developments at different scales and levels. Transition management model is a methodology that influences structural change of complex systems over a period (0-30 years) by experimenting and implementing new techniques. A transition management in the context of groundwater is a radical change from the current operate and control system to a next generation integrated and sustainable system that takes into account quality protection and sustained supply into the future. This study evaluates the transition management model in adopting it as a viable tool for the attainment of sustainable groundwater management. The outcome of the evaluation shows that there are three levels (strategic, tactical and operational) of operating the transition management model. At the strategic level, long-term goals for sustainable groundwater management are formulated, at the tactical level activities such as inter institutional networking, negotiation, planning and financing are carried out, and at the operational level, transition experiments and strategic niche management are carried out at the societal level. Overall, different actors and set of activities are required to partake at each management level. The outcome of this paper will provide basis for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 in Nigeria.

Keywords: transition management, groundwater, sustainable management, tool, Nigeria

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Authors: Christos Chaschatzis, Chrysoula Karaiskou, Pantelis Angelidis, Sotirios K. Goudos, Igor Kotsiuba, Panagiotis Sarigiannidis

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Over the past few decades, the rapid growth of the global population has led to the need to increase agricultural production and improve the quality of agricultural goods. There is a growing focus on environmentally eco-friendly solutions, sustainable production, and biologically minimally fertilized products in contemporary society. Precision agriculture has the potential to incorporate a wide range of innovative solutions with the development of machine learning algorithms. YOLOv5 and YOLOv8 are two of the most advanced object detection algorithms capable of accurately recognizing objects in real time. Detecting tree diseases is crucial for improving the food production rate and ensuring sustainability. This research aims to evaluate the efficacy of YOLOv5 and YOLOv8 in detecting the symptoms of Armillaria spp. in sweet cherry trees and determining their health status, with the goal of enhancing the robustness of precision agriculture. Additionally, this study will explore Computer Vision (CV) techniques with machine learning algorithms to improve the detection process’s efficiency.

Keywords: Armillaria spp., machine learning, precision agriculture, smart farming, sweet cherries trees, YOLOv5, YOLOv8

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Authors: Jingwei Wang, Anthony G. Fane, Jia Wei Chew

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The use of fluidized Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) as a means of mitigation membrane fouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) has received much attention in recent years, especially in anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactors (AFMBRs). It has been affirmed that the unsteady-state tangential shear conferred by GAC fluidization on membrane surface suppressed the extent of membrane fouling with energy consumption much lower than that of bubbling (i.e., air sparging). In a previous work, the hydrodynamics of the fluidized GAC particles were correlated with membrane fouling mitigation effectiveness. Results verified that the momentum transfer from particle to membrane held a key in fouling mitigation. The goal of the current work is to understand the effect of fluidized GAC on membrane critical flux. Membrane critical flux values were measured by a vertical Direct Observation Through the Membrane (DOTM) setup. The polystyrene particles (known as latex particles) with the particle size of 5 µm were used as model foulant thus to give the number of the foulant on the membrane surface. Our results shed light on the positive effect of fluidized GAC enhancing the critical membrane flux by an order-of-magnitude as compared to that of liquid shear alone. Membrane fouling mitigation was benefitted by the increasing of power input.

Keywords: membrane fouling mitigation, liquid-solid fluidization, critical flux, energy input

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Authors: Adriano Mortada

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Human history is rife with conflict, and the question of refugee status determination and their rehabilitation has been up for debate since. Refugee Status Determination is the administrative or legal process by which UNHCR or governments determine whether a person seeking international protection or asylum can be identified as a refugee under international, regional, or national law. Refugee Status Determination is considered to be a vital process in aiding refugees’ realization of their rights under international law. One of the major reasons why the refugee status determination is considered an “issue”, and is one that is much debated upon annually, is the fact that the national bureaucratic systems are rigid and unbending. This is particularly concerning in the 21st century despite human advancement in policy and diplomacy, working in tandem with the United Nations and their charters and resolutions on human rights and dignity. The paper seeks to criticize the European member states' response to the refugee crisis and their inflexible and prejudiced bureaucratic systems when it comes to refugee status determination. The paper looks at multiple case studies as primary evidence and the alternate case studies where the system helped refugees, like those in Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Lebanon. The main concern of the paper is to highlight the bias in the selected European systems, which do not stem from the Human Rights Charter but rather on the basis of geographical backgrounds, cultural and religious affiliations of those seeking refugee status or asylum in their respective countries. The paper hopes to not only create awareness about this issue but also provide a research background to advocacy programs to bring a change in the systems.

Keywords: refugee status determination, human rights, bureaucracy, United Nations, European Union

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Authors: L. Freeborn

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Recent years have seen an increasing number of neuroimaging studies related to language learning as imaging techniques such as fMRI and EEG have become more widely accessible to researchers. By using a variety of structural and functional neuroimaging techniques, these studies have already made considerable progress in terms of our understanding of neural networks and processing related to first and second language acquisition. However, the methodological designs employed in neuroimaging studies to test language learning have been questioned by applied linguists working within the field of second language acquisition (SLA). One of the major criticisms is that tasks designed to measure language learning gains rarely have a communicative function, and seldom assess learners’ ability to use the language in authentic situations. This brings the validity of many neuroimaging tasks into question. The fundamental reason why people learn a language is to communicate, and it is well-known that both first and second language proficiency are developed through meaningful social interaction. With this in mind, the SLA field is in agreement that second language acquisition and proficiency should be measured through learners’ ability to communicate in authentic real-life situations. Whilst authenticity is not always possible to achieve in a classroom environment, the importance of task authenticity should be reflected in the design of language assessments, teaching materials, and curricula. Tasks that bear little relation to how language is used in real-life situations can be considered to lack construct validity. This paper first describes the typical tasks used in neuroimaging studies to measure language gains and proficiency, then analyses to what extent these tasks can validly assess these constructs.

Keywords: neuroimaging studies, research design, second language acquisition, task validity

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Authors: Michaela Dušková, Kateřina Šimůnková, Martin Hill, Hana Hruškovičová, Hana Pospíšilová, Eva Králíková, Luboslav Stárka

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Smoking represents the most widespread substance dependence in the world. Several studies show the nicotine's ability to alter women hormonal homeostasis. Women smokers have higher testosterone and lower estradiol levels throughout life compared to non-smoker women. We monitored the effect of smoking discontinuation on steroid spectrum with 40 premenopausal and 60 postmenopausal women smokers. These women had been examined before they discontinued smoking and also after 6, 12, 24, and 48 weeks of abstinence. At each examination, blood was collected to determine steroid spectrum (measured by GC-MS), LH, FSH, and SHBG (measured by IRMA). Repeated measures ANOVA model was used for evaluation of the data. The study has been approved by the local Ethics Committee. Given the small number of premenopausal women who endured not to smoke, only the first 6 week period data could be analyzed. A slight increase in androgens after the smoking discontinuation occurred. In postmenopausal women, an increase in testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and other androgens occurred, too. Nicotine replacement therapy, weight changes, and age does not play any role in the androgen level increase. The higher androgens levels correlated with failure in smoking cessation. Women smokers have higher androgen levels, which might play a role in smoking dependence development. Women successful in smoking cessation, compared to the non-successful ones, have lower androgen levels initially and also after smoking discontinuation. The question is what androgen levels women have before they start smoking.

Keywords: addiction, smoking, cessation, androgens

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Authors: Rita Fofai

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The aim of the study is to help peacebuilding by analyzing the symbolical level of fights in the war. Despite the sufferings, war heroism still represents such a noble value in war narratives (especially in literature and films, whether it is high- or popular culture) which can make warfare attractive for every age-group. The questions of the study will revolve around the events when heroism is not a necessary and unselfish act for a greater good, but when the primary aim is to express strength in order to build self-mythology. Since war is a scene where the mythological level can meet reality, and even modern narratives use the elements of rituals and sacral references in even secular contexts, understanding the connection between rites and modern battles will ground this study, and the analysis will follow the logic of the violent rites. From this aspect, war is not merely the fight for different countries and ideas, but the fight of mankind with superhuman and natural or supernatural phenomena, as well. In this context, enemy symbolizes the threat of the world which is unpredictable for mankind, and the fight becomes a ritual combat; therefore the winner’s symbolic reward is to redefine himself or herself not only in the human environment but in the context of the whole world. The analysis of the study reveals that this kind of violence does not represents real heroism and rarely results in recruitment, on the contrary, conserves fear and the feeling of weakness, which is the root cause of this kind of act. The result of this study is a way to reshape the attitude toward so-called heroic war violence which is often a part of war narratives even nowadays. Since stepping out of the war tradition is mainly a cultural question, redefining the connection between society and narratives which has an effect on mentality and emotions, giving a clear guide to making difference between heroism and useless violence is very important in peacebuilding.

Keywords: war, ritual, heroism, violence, narratives, culture

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Authors: Raheel Shakoor Siddiqui, Calvin Mathias, Manikandar Srinivas Cheruvu, Bobin Varghese

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A 58 year old gentleman presented to accident and emergency at the district general hospital with worsening shortness of breath and a non-productive cough over a period of five days. He was initially admitted under the medical team for suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pneumonitis. Subsequently, upon deterioration of observations and a positive COVID-19 PCR, he was taken to intensive care for invasive mechanical ventilation. He required frequent proning, inotropic support and was intubated for thirty-three days. After successful extubation, he developed myopathy with a limited range of motion to his right knee and right shoulder. Plain film imaging of these limbs demonstrated an unusual formation of heterotopic ossification without any precipitating trauma or surgery. Current literature demonstrates limited case series portraying heterotopic ossification post-COVID-19. There has been negligible evidence of heterotopic ossification in the ipsilateral knee and shoulder post-prolonged immobility secondary to a critical illness. Physiotherapy and rehabilitation are post-intensive care can be prolonged due to the formation of heterotopic ossification around joints. Prolonged hospital stays may lead to a higher risk of developing infections of the chest, urine and pressure sores. This raises the question of whether a severe systemic inflammatory immune response from the SARS-CoV-2 virus results in histopathological processes leading to the formation of heterotopic ossification not previously seen, requiring prolonged physiotherapy.

Keywords: orthopaedics, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, heterotopic ossification, COVID-19

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Authors: Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi, Vahid Haghighatdoost

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Spatial databases have been an active area of research over years. In this paper, we study how to answer the General Time-Dependent Sequenced Route queries. Given the origin and destination of a user over a time-dependent road network graph, an ordered list of categories of interests and a departure time interval, our goal is to find the minimum travel time path along with the best departure time that minimizes the total travel time from the source location to the given destination passing through a sequence of points of interests belonging to each of the specified categories of interest. The challenge of this problem is the added complexity to the optimal sequenced route queries, where we assume that first the road network is time dependent, and secondly the user defines a departure time interval instead of one single departure time instance. For processing general time-dependent sequenced route queries, we propose two solutions as Discrete-Time and Continuous-Time Sequenced Route approaches, finding approximate and exact solutions, respectively. Our proposed approaches traverse the road network based on A*-search paradigm equipped with an efficient heuristic function, for shrinking the search space. Extensive experiments are conducted to verify the efficiency of our proposed approaches.

Keywords: trip planning, time dependent, sequenced route query, road networks

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Authors: Chung-Hao Wu, Tung-Dju Lin, Ming-Chin Ho, Minehiro Nishiyama

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This paper discusses reported fire tests of concrete beams and columns, future fire tests of beam/column frames, and an innovative concept for designing a beam/column furnace. The proposed furnace could be designed to maximize the efficiency of fire test procedures and minimize the cost of furnace construction and fuel consumption. ASTM E119 and ISO 834 standards were drafted based on prescriptive codes and have several weaknesses. The first involves a provision allowing the support regions of a test element to be protected from fire exposure. The second deals with the L/30 deflection end point instead of the structural end point (collapse) in order to protect the hydraulic rams from fire damage. Furthermore, designers commonly use the measured fire endurances of interior columns to assess fire ratings of edge and corner columns of the same building. The validity of such an engineering practice is theoretically unsound. Performance-Based Codes (PBC) require verification tests of structural frames including the beam/column joints to overcome these weaknesses but allow the use of element test data as reference only. In the last 30 years, PBC have gained global popularity because the innovative design and flexibility in achieving an ultimate performance goal.

Keywords: fire resistance, concrete structure, beam/column frame, fire tests

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Authors: Adetunji Abiola Olaoye

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The study examined the students’ self-concepts and mathematics achievement viz-a-viz the existing three theoretical models: Humanist self-concept (M1), Contemporary self-concept (M2) and Skills development self-concept (M3). As a qualitative research study, it comprised of one research question, which was transformed into hypothesis viz-a-viz the existing theoretical models. Sample to the study comprised of twelve public secondary schools from which twenty-five mathematics teachers, twelve counselling officers and one thousand students of Upper Basic II were selected based on intact class as school administrations and system did not allow for randomization. Two instruments namely 10 items ‘Achievement test in Mathematics’ (r1=0.81) and 10 items Student’s self-concept questionnaire (r2=0.75) were adapted, validated and used for the study. Data were analysed through descriptive, one way ANOVA, t-test and correlation statistics at 5% level of significance. Finding revealed mean and standard deviation of pre-achievement test scores of (51.322, 16.10), (54.461, 17.85) and (56.451, 18.22) for the Humanist Self-Concept, Contemporary Self-Concept and Skill Development Self-Concept respectively. Apart from that study showed that there was significant different in the academic performance of students along the existing models (F-cal>F-value, df = (2,997); P<0.05). Furthermore, study revealed students’ achievement in mathematics and self-concept questionnaire with the mean and standard deviation of (57.4, 11.35) and (81.6, 16.49) respectively. Result confirmed an affirmative relationship with the Contemporary Self-Concept model that expressed an individual subject and specific self-concept as the primary determinants of higher academic achievement in the subject as there is a statistical correlation between students’ self-concept and mathematics achievement viz-a-viz the existing three theoretical models of Contemporary (M2) with -Z_cal<-Z_val, df=998: P<0.05*. The implication of the study was discussed with recommendations and suggestion for further studies proffered.

Keywords: contemporary, humanists, self-concepts, skill development

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Authors: Roman Asatryan

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The decision-making processes in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among firms in general and airlines in particular have to do with the benefits that accrue through those investments. The crux of the matter is not whether to invest in CSR or not, but rather, how firms can quantify the benefits derived from such investments. This paper analyzes the cost benefit adjustment strategies for firms in the airline industry in their CSR strategy adoption and implementation. The adjustment strategies identified will enable firms in the airline industry to have a basis for determining the worth of such CSR investments. This paper discusses the cost and benefit analysis model in order to understand the ways airlines can reduce costs and increase returns on CSR, or balance the cost and benefits. The analysis from this study points to the fact that economic concepts especially the CBA are useful, though they are not without challenges. The challenge arises when it is problematic to express the real impact of the externality in monetary terms. The use of rational maximization of the gains may seem to be a rather optimistic goal mainly because of environmental variability, perceptual uncertainty, and imperfect knowledge about the potential externality. This paper concludes that the CBA model gives a basic understanding of the motivations for investing in intangible assets like CSR. Consequently, it sets the tone for formulating relevant hypothesis in empirical studies in investment in CSR in particular and other intangible assets in business operations.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis, corporate social responsibility, airline industry

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Authors: Lara F. Horani, Shurong Tong

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Identification of customer requirements and their preferences are the starting points in the process of product design. Most of design methodologies focus on traditional requirements. But in the previous decade, the green products and the environment requirements have increasingly attracted the attention with the constant increase in the level of consumer awareness towards environmental problems (such as green-house effect, global warming, pollution and energy crisis, and waste management). Determining the importance weights for the customer requirements is an essential and crucial process. This paper used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach to evaluate and rate the customer requirements for green products. With respect to the ultimate goal of customer satisfaction, surveys are conducted using a five-point scale analysis. With the help of this scale, one can derive the weight vectors. This approach can improve the imprecise ranking of customer requirements inherited from studies based on the conventional AHP. Furthermore, the AHP with extent analysis is simple and easy to implement to prioritize customer requirements. The research is based on collected data through a questionnaire survey conducted over a sample of 160 people belonging to different age, marital status, education and income groups in order to identify the customer preferences for green product requirements.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process (AHP), green product, customer requirements for green design, importance weights for the customer requirements

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Authors: Cian O'Shea, Ross O'Halloran, Peter Haigh

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices. They are becoming widely adopted in many industries, including health care, building energy management, and conditional monitoring. As the scale of WSN deployments increases, the cost and complexity of battery replacement and disposal become more significant and in time may become a barrier to adoption. Harvesting ambient energies provide a pathway to reducing dependence on batteries and in the future may lead to autonomously powered sensors. This work describes a simulation tool that enables the user to predict the battery life of a wireless sensor that utilizes energy harvesting to supplement the battery power. To create this simulator, all aspects of a typical WSN edge device were modelled including, sensors, transceiver, and microcontroller as well as the energy source components (batteries, solar cells, thermoelectric generators (TEG), supercapacitors and DC/DC converters). The tool allows the user to plug and play different pre characterized devices as well as add user-defined devices. The goal of this simulation tool is to predict the lifetime of a device and scope for extension using ambient energy sources.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Network, IoT, edge device, simulation, solar cells, TEG, supercapacitor, energy harvesting

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Authors: Muhammad Munir, Moazzam, Attia Saddique, Muhammad Waheed

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This study examines the complex interactions between entertainment, interaction, and authenticity aspects in the context of live streaming tourism e-commerce and how they affect tourists' intent to purchase. In the context of e-commerce live streaming, the goal of this study is to offer a thorough understanding of how these factors work together to influence consumers' intents to make purchases related to tourism. A sample of 250 respondents' information was gathered, and it was analyzed through Smart PLS 4. To ensure reliable measurement constructs, convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated. Discriminant validity was evaluated using the HTMT ratio approach, and the structural model was evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping. Results showed that entertainment had a strong beneficial impact on social presence, highlighting the value of compelling content in raising users' sense of presence on live streaming platforms for tourism-related e-commerce. The lack of a direct relationship between Interactivity and Authenticity and Social Presence emphasizes the need for more research into certain characteristics of these dimensions that appeal to consumers in this situation.

Keywords: entertainment, interactivity, authenticity, tourism consumer’s purchase intention, social presence

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Authors: Krzysztof Malczewski

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PET is widely applied scanning procedure in medical imaging based research. It delivers measurements of functioning in distinct areas of the human brain while the patient is comfortable, conscious and alert. This article presents the new compression sensing based super-resolution algorithm for improving the image resolution in clinical Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners. The issue of motion artifacts is well known in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) studies as its side effect. The PET images are being acquired over a limited period of time. As the patients cannot hold breath during the PET data gathering, spatial blurring and motion artefacts are the usual result. These may lead to wrong diagnosis. It is shown that the presented approach improves PET spatial resolution in cases when Compressed Sensing (CS) sequences are used. Compressed Sensing (CS) aims at signal and images reconstructing from significantly fewer measurements than were traditionally thought necessary. The application of CS to PET has the potential for significant scan time reductions, with visible benefits for patients and health care economics. In this study the goal is to combine super-resolution image enhancement algorithm with CS framework to achieve high resolution PET output. Both methods emphasize on maximizing image sparsity on known sparse transform domain and minimizing fidelity.

Keywords: PET, super-resolution, image reconstruction, pattern recognition

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Authors: Nasurullah Qureshi

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Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi Mujadid Alif Thani (1564-1624) and his philosophy had influenced sub-continent as the whole; its rulers and nation. In his reign, he convinced the rulers toward Islamic way of life and succeed in his goal. After his death in 1624, his family consecutively produced prominent scholars to present. Some of them moved to Afghanistan and Pakistan's cities i.e., Jalalabad, Qandhar, Peshawar, Queta, Shikarpur, Hyderabad, and Sehwan. They played a vital role in their areas and transmitted spiritual and legal Islamic teachings to people. This research is aimed to elaborate efforts of the family's Sindh settled branch from 1898-present in fields of politics and Islamic education. Their link with Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi will be provided in the introduction. After that, the work will explain their scholarly published work briefly in different fields of Islamic studies such as Quran exegeses and its translation in Sindhi language, Hadith and its sciences, Islamic Jurisprudence, Sufism and etc. In addition, their political role will be briefly discussed in the research throughout the period, especially their noticeable role in the separate homeland for Muslims in the subcontinent. Furthermore, the impact of their scholarly work, political influence and spirituality will be enlightened. Lastly, the research will present the critical viewpoint on their struggle.

Keywords: Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, Sirhindi scholars, Sindh, Sufism

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Authors: Sylvia Villarreal, Edna Bravo

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Knowledge management focuses on coordinating technologies, people, processes, and structures to generate a competitive advantage and considering that networks are perceived as mechanisms for knowledge creation and transfer, this research presents the stages and practices related to the creation of knowledge networks. The methodology started with a literature review adapted from the systematic literature review (SLR). The descriptive analysis includes variables such as approach (conceptual or practical), industry, knowledge management processes and mythologies (qualitative or quantitative), etc. The content analysis includes identification of reference cases. These cases were characterized based on variables as scope, creation goal, years, network approach, actors and creation methodology. It was possible to do a comparative analysis to determinate similarities and differences in these cases documented in knowledge network scientific literature. Consequently, it was shown that even the need and impact of knowledge networks in organizations, the initial guidelines for their creation are not documented, so there is not a guide of good practices and lessons learned. The reference cases are from industries as energy, education, creative, automotive and textile. Their common points are the human approach; it is oriented to interactions to facilitate the appropriation of knowledge, explicit and tacit. The stages of every case are analyzed to propose the main successful elements.

Keywords: creation, knowledge management, network, stages

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Authors: Alhaji M. H. Conteh, Xiangbin Yan, Alfred V. Gborie

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The goal of this study was to increase the awareness of the description and assessments of rice acreage response and to offer mechanisms for agricultural policy scrutiny. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique was utilized to determine the coefficients of acreage response models for the rice varieties. The magnitudes of the coefficients (λ) of both the ROK lagged and NERICA lagged acreages were found positive and highly significant, which indicates that farmers’ adjustment rate was very low. Regarding lagged actual price for both the ROK and NERICE rice varieties, the short-run price elasticities were lower than long-run, which is suggesting a long-term adjustment of the acreage, is under the crop. However, the apparent recommendations for policy transformation are to open farm gate prices and to decrease government’s involvement in agricultural sector especially in the acquisition of agricultural inputs. Impending research have to be centred on how this might be better realized. Necessary conditions should be made available to the private sector by means of minimizing price volatility. In accordance with structural reforms, it is necessary to convey output prices to farmers with minimum distortion. There is a need to eradicate price subsidies and control, which generate distortion in the market in addition to huge financial costs.

Keywords: acreage response, rate of adjustment, rice varieties, Sierra Leone

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Authors: Zahra Alikhani Koopaei

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In the fifth lesson of the third-grade mathematics book, students are introduced to the concept of multiplication. However, some students showed a lack of interest in learning this topic. To address this, a simple electronic multiplication table was designed with the aim of making the concept of multiplication entertaining and engaging for students. It provides them with moments of excitement during the learning process. To achieve this goal, a device was created that produced a bell sound when two wire ends were connected. Each wire end was connected to a specific number in the multiplication table, and the other end was linked to the corresponding answer. Consequently, if the answer is correct, the bell will ring. This study employs interactive and engaging methods to teach mathematics, particularly to students who have previously shown little interest in the subject. By integrating game-based learning and critical thinking, we observed an increase in understanding and interest in learning multiplication compared to before using this method. This further motivated the students. As a result, the intelligent multiplication table was successfully designed. Students, under the instructor's supervision, could easily construct the device during the lesson. Through the implementation of these operations, the concept of multiplication was firmly established in the students' minds. Engaging multiple intelligences in each student enhances a more stable and improved understanding of the concept of multiplication.

Keywords: intelligent multiplication table, design, construction, education, increased interest, students

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Authors: Shafiullah Soomro

Abstract:

Active contour is one of the image segmentation techniques and its goal is to capture required object boundaries within an image. In this paper, we propose a novel image segmentation method by using an active contour method based on anisotropic diffusion feature enhancement technique. The traditional active contour methods use only pixel information to perform segmentation, which produces inaccurate results when an image has some noise or complex background. We use Perona and Malik diffusion scheme for feature enhancement, which sharpens the object boundaries and blurs the background variations. Our main contribution is the formulation of a new SPF (signed pressure force) function, which uses global intensity information across the regions. By minimizing an energy function using partial differential framework the proposed method captures semantically meaningful boundaries instead of catching uninterested regions. Finally, we use a Gaussian kernel which eliminates the problem of reinitialization in level set function. We use several synthetic and real images from different modalities to validate the performance of the proposed method. In the experimental section, we have found the proposed method performance is better qualitatively and quantitatively and yield results with higher accuracy compared to other state-of-the-art methods.

Keywords: active contours, anisotropic diffusion, level-set, partial differential equations

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Authors: Muhamad Azuddin Hassan, Siti Shafura Karim, Ambri Mohamed, Iskandar Yahya

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Human serum albumin plays a significant part in the physiological functions of the human body system (HSA).HSA level monitoring is critical for early detection of HSA-related illnesses. The goal of this study is to show that a field effect transistor (FET)-based immunosensor can assess HSA using high aspect ratio carbon nanotubes network (CNT) as a transducer. The CNT network were deposited using air brush technique, and the FET device was made using a shadow mask process. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and a current-voltage measurement system were used to examine the morphology and electrical properties of the CNT network, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to confirm the surface alteration of the CNT. The detection process is based on covalent binding interactions between an antibody and an HSA target, which resulted in a change in the manufactured biosensor's drain current (Id).In a linear range between 1 ng/ml and 10zg/ml, the biosensor has a high sensitivity of 0.826 mA (g/ml)-1 and a LOD value of 1.9zg/ml.HSA was also identified in a genuine serum despite interference from other biomolecules, demonstrating the CNT-FET immunosensor's ability to quantify HSA in a complex biological environment.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes network, biosensor, human serum albumin

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Authors: Dara Kutsyk, Olga Bondarenko, Mariya Sorochka

Abstract:

In 21-century type 2 diabetes (T2D) has become a global health and social problem in the whole world. The goal of treatment for patients with T2D is to prevent complications of diabetes - macrovascular diseases (heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease) and microvascular diseases (retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy). Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in maintaining vascular homeostasis. Loss of NO function is one of the earliest indicators of disease and its progression especially in patients with T2D. Aim: To compare NO level between patients with well and bad controlled glycemia in T2D. Methods: The study included 32 patients with T2D. The diagnosis of T2D was confirmed due to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria 2015. Patients were divided into two groups: with well controlled glycaemia (HbA1c < 7%) and bad controlled glycaemia (HbA1c > 7%). The control group consists of 15 healthy subjects. Results: NO level in patients with T2D is significantly higher (27,2 ±3,1 µmol), compared to controls (18,86±0,9 µmol; p < 0,001). A significant difference in NO level was found between patients with bad controlled glycaemia (25,9±2,2 µmol) and well controlled glycaemia (28,7 ± 3,0 µmol; p<0,01). The study showed a moderate negative correlation between NO level and HbA1c (-0,399; р< 0,05). Conclusions: Production of NO is impaired in patients with T2D, especially with badly controlled glycaemia. With the increase in HbAc serum NO decreases. This can be the main target for prevention vascular complication in T2D.

Keywords: type 2 diabetes, glycated hemoglobin, nitric oxide, Diabetes mellitus

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Authors: Marwen Ghouil, Jamel Eddine Mkadmi

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Banking performance is the pillar and goal of all banking activity and its impact on economic policy. First, researchers defined the principles for assessing and modeling bank performance, and then theories and models explaining bank performance were developed. The importance of credit as a means of financing businesses in most developing countries has led to questions about the effects of financial liberalisation on increased banking competition. In Tunisia, as in many other countries, the liberalization of financial services in general and of banks' activities has not ceased to evolve. The objective of this paper is to examine the determinants of banking performance for 8 Tunisian banks and their impact on economic policy during the Arab Spring. We used cointegration analysis and the ARDL Panel model, explaining using total assets, bank credits, guarantees, and bank size as performance drivers. The correlation analysis shows that there is a positive correlation relationship between total assets, bank credits, guarantees, and bank size and bank performance. Long-term empirical results show that bank loans, guarantees, bank size, and total assets have a positive and significant impact on bank performance. This means that bank credits, guarantees, bank size, and total assets are very important determinants of bank performance in Tunisia.

Keywords: bank performance, economic policy, finance, economic

Procedia PDF Downloads 134