Search results for: Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM)

Authors: A. A. Betah

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This research was performed to evaluate the attitudes of rural women towards education, health and work outside the home. The study was based on a random sample of 147 rural women, Kafr-Rahmaniyah village was chosen for the study because its life expectancy at birth for females, education and percentage of females in the labor force, were the highest in the district. The study data were collected from rural female respondents, using a face-to-face questionnaire. In addition, the study estimated several factors like age, main occupation, family size, monthly household income, geographic cosmopolites, and degree of social participation for rural women respondents. Using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), data were analyzed by non-parametric statistical methods. The main finding in this study was a significant relationship between each of the previous variables and each of rural women’s attitudes toward education, health, and work outside home. The study concluded with some recommendations. The most important element is ensuring attention to rural women’s needs, requirements and rights via raising their health awareness, education and their contributions in their society.

Keywords: attitudes, education, health, rural women, work outside home

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Authors: Dani Karmakar

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In India, the journey of street theatre was started with Indian peoples Theatre Association (IPTA) as a tool for anti-establishment that was categorized as by the people and for the people. It has expressed common people’s feelings, problems, day to day life. It has brought a social change that is downtrodden. By its nature, it is based on communist ideology. Street theatre is a theatre of protest. In India, many folk theatres translate directly ‘Street Theatre’, those are Veedhi Natakam in Andhra Pradesh and Therukoothu in Tamil Nadu. But they do not covey to common definition of street theatre. There are different folk theatres of different regions in India. All folk theatres have individual characteristic, criteria, taste and flavor that can render distinctive each others. In festivals or special occasions, whole communities come together to enjoy collectively and express their feelings. The Veedhi Natakam means 'street theatre'. Theru koothu is a traditional street theatre in the northern districts of Tamilnadu. Folk theatre has potential to deliver strong messages. It has a socially significant role. At Veedhi Natakam, Vidhushaka takes part for social criticism. Gambhira is also a socio-political folk drama presentation in West Bengal.

Keywords: folk theatre, Gambhira, politics, street theatre

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Authors: Malgorzata Bartoszewicz, Grzegorz Krzysko

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Chemistry students plan a career path based on their interests, predispositions, and preferences. This study aims to determine what percentage of all chemistry students selected teaching as a career. There is a lack of science teachers (especially physics and chemistry) in Poland, and there is limited research on students' choices and professional preferences. At the Faculty of Chemistry of the Adam Mickiewicz University in the academic year 2019/2020, changes were introduced to the study program resulting from legal regulations and as part of the funds raised from the project "Teacher - competent practitioner, supervisor, expert", No. POWR.03.01.00-00-KN40/18. The aim of the study was to determine how many first-cycle and second-cycle studies students declare the teaching profession as a career. In the case of first-cycle studies students, 9.5% of respondents choose the teaching profession and 9.2% of second-cycle studies students. It was found that the number of students who chose the teacher preparation programme at Faculty of Chemistry of the Adam Mickiewicz University has decreased since 5 years.

Keywords: faculty of chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University, professional ambitions, students, teacher

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Authors: S. Mahdavi, S.R. Allahkaram

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Electrodeposition is a simple and economic technique for precision coating of different shaped substrates with pure metal, alloy or composite films. Dc electrodeposition was used to produce Cr, Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 nano-composite coatings from Cr(III) based electrolytes onto 316L SS substrates. The effects of TiO2 nano-particles concentration on co-deposition of these particles along with Cr content and microhardness of the coatings were investigated. Morphology of the Cr, Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 coatings besides their tribological behavior were studied. The results showed that increment of TiO2 nano-particles concentration from 0 to 30 g L-1 in the bath increased their co-deposition and Cr content of the coatings from 0 to 3.5 wt.% and from 23.7 to 31.2 wt.%, respectively. Microhardness of Cr coating was about 920 Hv which was higher than Co-Cr and even Co-Cr/TiO2 films. Microhardness of Co-Cr and Co-Cr/TiO2 coatings were improved by increasing their Cr and TiO2 content. All the coatings had nodular morphology and contained microcracks. Nodules sizes and the number of microcracks in the alloy and composite coatings were lower than the Cr film. Wear results revealed that the Co-Cr/TiO2 coating had the lowest wear loss between all the samples, while the Cr film had the worst wear resistance.

Keywords: Co-Cr alloy, electrodeposition, nano-composite, tribological behavior, trivalent chromium

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Authors: Mahesh Mitra

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Introduction and Purpose: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome [PFPS] is characterized by pain or discomfort seemingly originating from the contact of posterior surface of Patella with Femur. Given the multifactorial causes and high prevalence there is a need of proper management technique. Also a more comprehensive and best possible Physiotherapy treatment approach has to be devised to enhance the performance of the individual with PFPS. Purpose of the study was to: - Prevalence of PFPS in various sports - To determine if there exists any relationship between the Body Mass Index[BMI] and Pain Intensity in the person playing a sport. - To evaluate the effect of conventional Physiotherapy program, Mobilization and Taping with Proprioceptive training on PFPS. Hypothesis 1. Prevalence is not the same with different sporting activities 2. There is a relationship between BMI and Pain intensity. 3. There is no significant difference in the improvement with the different treatment approaches. Methodology: A sample of 200 sports men were tested for the prevalence of PFPS and their anthropometric measurements were obtained to check for the correlation between BMI vs Pain intensity. Out of which 80 diagnosed cases of PFPS were allotted into three treatment groups and evaluated for Pain at rest and at activity and KUJALA scale. Group I were treated with conventional Physiotherapy that included TENS application and Exercises, Group II were treated with compression mobilization along with exercises, Group III were treated with Taping and Proprioceptive exercises. The variables Pain on rest, activity and KUJALA score were measured initially, at 1 week and at the end of 2 weeks after respective treatment. Data Analysis - Prevalence percentage of PFPS in each sport - Pearsons Correlation coefficient to find the relationship between BMI and Pain during activity. - Repeated measures analysis of variance [ANOVA] to find out the significance during Pre, Mid and Post-test difference among - Newman Kuel Post hoc Test - ANCOVA for the difference amongst group I, II and III. Results and conclusion It was concluded that PFPS was more prevalent in volley ball players [80%] followed by football and basketball [66%] players, then in hand ball and cricket players [46.6%] and 40% in tennis players. There was no relationship between BMI of the individual and Pain intensity. All the three treatment approaches were effective whereas mobilization and taping were more effective than Conventional Physiotherapy program.

Keywords: PFPS, KUJALA score, mobilization, proprioceptive training

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Authors: Rajesh Bhatt, Dilip Kumar Maiti

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The incompressible shear flow past a square cylinder placed parallel to a plane wall of side length A in presence of upstream rectangular cylinder of height 0.5A and width 0.25A in an inline tandem arrangement are numerically investigated using finite volume method. The discretized equations are solved by an implicit, time-marching, pressure correction based SIMPLE algorithm. This study provides the qualitative insight in to the dependency of basic structure (i.e. vortex shedding or suppression) of flow over the downstream square cylinder and the upstream rectangular cylinder (and hence the aerodynamic characteristics) on inter-cylinder spacing (S) and Reynolds number (Re). The spacing between the cylinders is varied systematically from S = 0.5A to S = 7.0A so the sensitivity of the flow structure between the cylinders can be inspected. A sudden jump in strouhal number is observed, which shows the transition of flow pattern in the wake of the cylinders. The results are presented at Re = 100 and 200 in term of Strouhal number, RMS and mean of lift and drag coefficients and contour plots for different spacing.

Keywords: square cylinder, vortex shedding, isolated, tandem arrangement, spacing distance

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Authors: Elena Valeryevna Pozhidaeva

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This linguistic case study is based on an interaction between the social position and foodways. In every culture there is a social hierarchical system in which there can be means to express and to identify the social status of a person. Food serves as a class indicator. The British being a verbal nation use the words as a preferred medium for signalling and recognising the social status. The linguistic analysis reflects a symbolic hierarchy determined by social groups in the UK. The linguistic class indicators of a British hierarchical system are detectable directly – in speech acts. They are articulated in every aspect of a national identity’s life from preferences of the food and the choice to call it to the names of the meals. The linguistic class indicators can as well be detected indirectly – through symbolic meaning or via the choice of the mealtime, its class (e.g the classes of tea or marmalade), the place to buy food (the class of the supermarket) and consume it (the places for eating out and the frequency of such practices). Under analysis of this study are not only food items and their names but also such categories as cutlery as a class indicator and the act of eating together as a practice of social significance and a class indicator. Current social changes and economic developments are considered and their influence on the class indicators appearance and transformation.

Keywords: linguistic, class, social indicator, English, food class

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Authors: Zhanat Shomanova, Ruslan Safarov, Yuri Nosenko, Zheneta Tashmuchambetova, Alima Zharmagambetova

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An effective way of utilization of ferroalloy production wastes is preparing hydrocarbon refining catalysts from them. It is possible due to accordable transition metals containing in the wastes. In the work, we are presenting the results on elemental analysis of sludge samples from Aksu ferroalloy plant (Aksu, Kazakhstan), method of catalysts preparing, results of physical-chemical analysis of obtained catalysts (X-ray analysis, electron microscopy, the BET method etc.), results of using the catalysts in some hydrocarbons refining processes such as hydrocracking of rubber waste, cracking of gasoil, oxidation of cyclohexane. The main results of catalytic activity research are: a) In hydrocracking of rubber waste 64.9% of liquid products were fuel fractions; b) In cracking of gasoil conversion was 51% and selectivity by liquid products was 99%; c) In oxidation of cyclohexane the maximal product yield 87.9% and selectivity by cyclohexanol 93.0% were achieved.

Keywords: catalyst, cyclohexane oxidation, ferroalloy production waste, gasoil cracking

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Authors: Abla A. Ali, Heba A. Abd El Razik, Nadia A. Kotb, Amany A. Bayoumi, Laila A. Rashed

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The detection of human skin through mRNA-based profiling is a very useful tool for forensic investigations. The aim of this study was definitive identification of human skin at different time intervals using an mRNA marker late cornified envelope gene 1C. Ten middle-aged healthy volunteers of both sexes were recruited for this study. Skin samples controlled with blood samples were taken from the candidates to test for the presence of our targeted mRNA marker. Samples were kept at dry dark conditions to be tested at different time intervals (24 hours, one week, three weeks and four weeks) for detection and relative quantification of the targeted marker by RT PCR. The targeted marker could not be detected in blood samples. The targeted marker showed the highest mean value after 24 hours (11.90 ± 2.42) and the lowest mean value (7.56 ± 2.56) after three weeks. No marker could be detected at four weeks. This study verified the high specificity and sensitivity of mRNA marker in the skin at different storage times up to three weeks under the study conditions.

Keywords: human skin, late cornified envelope gene 1C, mRNA marker, time intervals

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Authors: Eva Tsouparopoulou, Maria Symeonaki

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The internationally documented declining survey response rates of the last two decades are mainly attributed to refusals. In fieldwork, a refusal may be obtained not only from the respondent himself/herself, but from other sources on the respondent’s behalf, such as other household members, apartment building residents or administrator(s), and neighborhood residents. In this paper, we investigate how the composition of the demographic profile of survey refusals changes when different classifications are implemented and the classification issues arising from that. The analysis is based on the 2002-2018 European Social Survey (ESS) datasets for Belgium, Germany, and United Kingdom. For these three countries, the size of selected sample units coded as a type of refusal for all nine under investigation rounds was large enough to meet the purposes of the analysis. The results indicate the existence of four different possible classifications that can be implemented and the significance of choosing the one that strengthens the contrasts of the different types of respondents' demographic profiles. Since the foundation of social quantitative research lies in the triptych of definition, classification, and measurement, this study aims to identify the multiplicity of the definition of survey refusals as a methodological tool for the continually growing research on non-response.

Keywords: non-response, refusals, European social survey, classification

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Authors: Ho-Won Jung, Donghun Lee, Hyung-Jin Kim

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Predictive analytics (data analysis) uses a subset of measurements (the features, predictor, or independent variable) to predict another measurement (the outcome, target, or dependent variable) on a single person or unit. It applies empirical methods in statistics, operations research, and machine learning to predict the future, or otherwise unknown events or outcome on a single or person or unit, based on patterns in data. Most analyses of metabolic syndrome are not predictive analytics but statistical explanatory studies that build a proposed model (theory building) and then validate metabolic syndrome predictors hypothesized (theory testing). A proposed theoretical model forms with causal hypotheses that specify how and why certain empirical phenomena occur. Predictive analytics and explanatory modeling have their own territories in analysis. However, predictive analytics can perform vital roles in explanatory studies, i.e., scientific activities such as theory building, theory testing, and relevance assessment. In the context, this study is to demonstrate how to use our predictive analytics to support theory building (i.e., hypothesis generation). For the purpose, this study utilized a big data predictive analytics platform TM based on a co-occurrence graph. The co-occurrence graph is depicted with nodes (e.g., items in a basket) and arcs (direct connections between two nodes), where items in a basket are fully connected. A cluster is a collection of fully connected items, where the specific group of items has co-occurred in several rows in a data set. Clusters can be ranked using importance metrics, such as node size (number of items), frequency, surprise (observed frequency vs. expected), among others. The size of a graph can be represented by the numbers of nodes and arcs. Since the size of a co-occurrence graph does not depend directly on the number of observations (transactions), huge amounts of transactions can be represented and processed efficiently. For a demonstration, a total of 13,254 metabolic syndrome training data is plugged into the analytics platform to generate rules (potential hypotheses). Each observation includes 31 predictors, for example, associated with sociodemographic, habits, and activities. Some are intentionally included to get predictive analytics insights on variable selection such as cancer examination, house type, and vaccination. The platform automatically generates plausible hypotheses (rules) without statistical modeling. Then the rules are validated with an external testing dataset including 4,090 observations. Results as a kind of inductive reasoning show potential hypotheses extracted as a set of association rules. Most statistical models generate just one estimated equation. On the other hand, a set of rules (many estimated equations from a statistical perspective) in this study may imply heterogeneity in a population (i.e., different subpopulations with unique features are aggregated). Next step of theory development, i.e., theory testing, statistically tests whether a proposed theoretical model is a plausible explanation of a phenomenon interested in. If hypotheses generated are tested statistically with several thousand observations, most of the variables will become significant as the p-values approach zero. Thus, theory validation needs statistical methods utilizing a part of observations such as bootstrap resampling with an appropriate sample size.

Keywords: explanatory modeling, metabolic syndrome, predictive analytics, theory building

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Authors: Hossain A, Hossain S.

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Introduction: In a small cohort, we sought to assess the magnetic resonance spectroscopy's (MRS) ability to predict the presence of metastatic lesions. Method: A Popular Diagnostic Centre Limited enrolled patients with neuroepithelial tumors. The 1H CSI MRS of the brain allows us to detect changes in the concentration of specific metabolites caused by metastatic lesions. Among these metabolites are N-acetyl-aspartate (NNA), creatine (Cr), and choline (Cho). For Cho, NAA, Cr, and Cr₂, the metabolic ratio was calculated using the division method. Results: The NAA values were 0.63 and 5.65 for tumor cells, 1.86 and 5.66 for normal cells, and 1.86 and 5.66 for normal cells 2. NAA values for normal cells 1 were 1.84, 10.6, and 1.86 for normal cells 2, respectively. Cho levels were as low as 0.8 and 10.53 in the tumor cell, compared to 1.12 and 2.7 in the normal cell 1 and 1.24 and 6.36 in the normal cell 2. Cho/Cr₂ barely distinguished itself from the other ratios in terms of significance. For tumor cells, the ratios of Cho/NAA, Cho/Cr₂, NAA/Cho, and NAA/Cr₂ were significant. Normal cell 1 had significant Cho/NAA, Cho/Cr, NAA/Cho, and NAA/Cr ratios. Conclusion: The clinical result can be improved by using 1H-MRSI to guide the size of resection for metastatic lesions. Even though it is non-invasive and doesn't present any difficulties during the procedure, MRS has been shown to predict the detection of metastatic lesions.

Keywords: metabolite ratio, MRI images, metastatic lesion, MR spectroscopy, N-acetyl-aspartate

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Authors: Soukaina Boutaky, Abdelhak Sahibeddine

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A study was carried out among students who have especially a scientific and technical educational background and who had opportunities to benefit from a program entrepreneurship course of 50 hours; at Higher School of Technology Khenifra, Morocco. This article has as a goal to explain the relationship between entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial intention. The authors chose Bandura’s theory of social cognition as a theoretical framework. The modeling methods equation is adopted to analyze the hypotheses by SMART PLS for 188 students. The results show a strong positive relationship between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial passion. They also reveal that entrepreneurship education affects entrepreneurial intention through the effect of entrepreneurial passion, particularly among women than men. In addition, this study contributes in a theoretical way to the level of the relationship between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial passion, and these results provide educators and public decision-makers with advice on the importance of entrepreneurship training based on emotional traits such as passion; which constitutes a key and essential element to encourage young graduates to choose an entrepreneurial career as an alternative option or to develop entrepreneurial passion among the business leaders of tomorrow.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial passion, entrepreneurial intention, equation modeling methods

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Authors: D. Madhushanka, Y. Liu, H. C. Fernando

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Fires are one of the foremost factors of land surface disturbance in diverse ecosystems, causing soil erosion and land-cover changes and atmospheric effects affecting people's lives and properties. Generally, the severity of the fire is calculated as the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) index. This is performed manually by comparing two images obtained afterward. Then by using the bitemporal difference of the preprocessed satellite images, the dNBR is calculated. The burnt area is then classified as either unburnt (dNBR<0.1) or burnt (dNBR>= 0.1). Furthermore, Wildfire Severity Assessment (WSA) classifies burnt areas and unburnt areas using classification levels proposed by USGS and comprises seven classes. This procedure generates a burn severity report for the area chosen by the user manually. This study is carried out with the objective of producing an automated tool for the above-mentioned process, namely the World Wildfire Severity Assessment Tool (WWSAT). It is implemented in Google Earth Engine (GEE), which is a free cloud-computing platform for satellite data processing, with several data catalogs at different resolutions (notably Landsat, Sentinel-2, and MODIS) and planetary-scale analysis capabilities. Sentinel-2 MSI is chosen to obtain regular processes related to burnt area severity mapping using a medium spatial resolution sensor (15m). This tool uses machine learning classification techniques to identify burnt areas using NBR and to classify their severity over the user-selected extent and period automatically. Cloud coverage is one of the biggest concerns when fire severity mapping is performed. In WWSAT based on GEE, we present a fully automatic workflow to aggregate cloud-free Sentinel-2 images for both pre-fire and post-fire image compositing. The parallel processing capabilities and preloaded geospatial datasets of GEE facilitated the production of this tool. This tool consists of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to make it user-friendly. The advantage of this tool is the ability to obtain burn area severity over a large extent and more extended temporal periods. Two case studies were carried out to demonstrate the performance of this tool. The Blue Mountain national park forest affected by the Australian fire season between 2019 and 2020 is used to describe the workflow of the WWSAT. This site detected more than 7809 km2, using Sentinel-2 data, giving an error below 6.5% when compared with the area detected on the field. Furthermore, 86.77% of the detected area was recognized as fully burnt out, of which high severity (17.29%), moderate-high severity (19.63%), moderate-low severity (22.35%), and low severity (27.51%). The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest Park, California, the USA, which is affected by the Cameron peak fire in 2020, is chosen for the second case study. It was found that around 983 km2 had burned out, of which high severity (2.73%), moderate-high severity (1.57%), moderate-low severity (1.18%), and low severity (5.45%). These spots also can be detected through the visual inspection made possible by cloud-free images generated by WWSAT. This tool is cost-effective in calculating the burnt area since satellite images are free and the cost of field surveys is avoided.

Keywords: burnt area, burnt severity, fires, google earth engine (GEE), sentinel-2

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Authors: Gon Park

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Seoul in South Korea established the 2030 Seoul City Master Plan that contains green-link projects to connect critical green areas within the city. However, the plan does not have detailed analyses for green infrastructure to incorporate land-cover information to many structural classes. This study maps green infrastructure networks of Seoul for complementing their green plans with identifying and raking green areas. Hubs and links of main elements of green infrastructure have been identified from incorporating cadastral data of 967,502 parcels to 135 of land use maps using geographic information system. Network analyses were used to rank hubs and links of a green infrastructure map with applying a force-directed algorithm, weighted values, and binary relationships that has metrics of density, distance, and centrality. The results indicate that network analyses using cadastral parcel data can be used as the framework to identify and rank hubs, links, and networks for the green infrastructure planning under a variable scenarios of green areas in cities.

Keywords: cadastral data, green Infrastructure, network analysis, parcel data

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Authors: K. Thiagarajan, K. Saranya, A. Veeraiah, B. Sudha

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This paper presents a novel algorithm for secure, reliable and flexible transmission of big data in two hop wireless networks using cooperative jamming scheme. Two hop wireless networks consist of source, relay and destination nodes. Big data has to transmit from source to relay and from relay to destination by deploying security in physical layer. Cooperative jamming scheme determines transmission of big data in more secure manner by protecting it from eavesdroppers and malicious nodes of unknown location. The novel algorithm that ensures secure and energy balance transmission of big data, includes selection of data transmitting region, segmenting the selected region, determining probability ratio for each node (capture node, non-capture and eavesdropper node) in every segment, evaluating the probability using binary based evaluation. If it is secure transmission resume with the two- hop transmission of big data, otherwise prevent the attackers by cooperative jamming scheme and transmit the data in two-hop transmission.

Keywords: big data, two-hop transmission, physical layer wireless security, cooperative jamming, energy balance

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Authors: Venkataramana Sovenahalli Badigar, B. M. Suryakanth, Akshar Prasanna, Karthik Veeramalai, Vishwak Ram Vishwak Ram

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Technological advances have led to widespread autonomy in vehicles. Empowering these autonomous with the intelligence to cooperate amongst themselves leads to a more efficient use of the resources available to them. This paper proposes a demonstration of a swarm algorithm implemented on a group of autonomous vehicles. The demonstration involves two ground bots and an aerial drone which cooperate amongst them to locate an object of interest. The object of interest is modelled using a high-intensity light source which acts as a beacon. The ground bots are light sensitive and move towards the beacon. The ground bots and the drone traverse in random paths and jointly locate the beacon. This finds application in various scenarios in where human interference is difficult such as search and rescue during natural disasters, delivering crucial packages in perilous situations, etc. Experimental results show that the modified swarm algorithm implemented in this system has better performance compared to fully random based moving algorithm for object localization and tracking.

Keywords: swarm algorithm, object localization, ground bots, drone, beacon

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Authors: Rizqi W. Romadhon, Nur Arifan

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Halal Tourism is a part of tourism industry which is based on Islamic Principle and addressed to the Muslim tourist. The potency of halal tourism is very broad to be developed, because the growth of Muslim populations is rapidly increasing. Indonesia is one of the biggest countries with Majority of its population is Muslim, therefore human resources and natural resources have very good potential to be part of the Halal tourism industry. But the fact is Indonesia can not optimize the potential of human resources and natural resources as well as neighboring countries carried out. This paper will discuss the reasons of the importance of developing Halal tourism, and the factors influencing the success of developing halal tourism in Indonesia, and also the optimization strategies which can be adopted by the government so that the Halal tourism industry in Indonesia has a sustainable competitive advantage. The existence of this research is expected to government, tourism agents and others can optimize the potency of Indonesia’s Human resources and natural resources for developing Halal tourism industry in Indonesia.

Keywords: halal tourism, Islamic principle, optimization, sustainable competitive advantage

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Authors: Mukesh Singh Boori, Vít Voženílek

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Olomouc is a unique and complex landmark with widespread forestation and land use. This research work was conducted to assess important and complex land use change trajectories in Olomouc region. Multi-temporal satellite data from 1991, 2001 and 2013 were used to extract land use/cover types by object oriented classification method. To achieve the objectives, three different aspects were used: (1) Calculate the quantity of each transition; (2) Allocate location based landscape pattern (3) Compare land use/cover evaluation procedure. Land cover change trajectories shows that 16.69% agriculture, 54.33% forest and 21.98% other areas (settlement, pasture and water-body) were stable in all three decade. Approximately 30% of the study area maintained as a same land cove type from 1991 to 2013. Here broad scale of political and socio-economic factors was also affect the rate and direction of landscape changes. Distance from the settlements was the most important predictor of land cover change trajectories. This showed that most of landscape trajectories were caused by socio-economic activities and mainly led to virtuous change on the ecological environment.

Keywords: remote sensing, land use/cover, change trajectories, image classification

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Authors: Queen Suraajini Rajendran, Sai Hung Cheung

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Statistical down scaling models are required to connect the global climate model outputs and the local weather variables for climate change impact prediction. For reliable climate change impact studies, the uncertainty associated with the model including natural variability, uncertainty in the climate model(s), down scaling model, model inadequacy and in the predicted results should be quantified appropriately. In this work, a new approach is developed by the authors for statistical classification, statistical down scaling and uncertainty assessment and is applied to Singapore rainfall. It is a robust Bayesian uncertainty analysis methodology and tools based on coupling dependent modeling error with classification and statistical down scaling models in a way that the dependency among modeling errors will impact the results of both classification and statistical down scaling model calibration and uncertainty analysis for future prediction. Singapore data are considered here and the uncertainty and prediction results are obtained. From the results obtained, directions of research for improvement are briefly presented.

Keywords: statistical downscaling, global climate model, climate change, uncertainty

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Authors: A. Drong, K. S. Kerkhoff

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Migration affects women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. This paper reports on the social constructs of gender, and livelihood pursuits as beauty parlours workers amongst the young Garo women in Bangladesh, and studies changes in their accessibility to the healthcare services due to migration and livelihood. The paper is based on in-depth interviews and participant-led group discussions with 30 women working in various beauty parlours across the city. The data indicate that social perceptions of ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘respectable’ determine the expression of sexuality, and often dictates sexual and reproductive practices for these women. This study also reveals that unregulated work conditions, and the current cost of local healthcare services, have a strong impact on the women’s accessibility to the healthcare services; thus often limiting their choices to only customary and/or unqualified practitioners for abortions and child-births. Development programmes on migrant indigenous women’s health must, therefore, take the contextual gender norms and livelihood choices into account.

Keywords: gender, indigenous women, reproductive rights, sexual rights, Garo, migration, livelihood, healthcare

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Authors: Ming-Yue Zhai

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Due to the multipath and pulse noise nature, power line communications(PLC) channel can be modelled as a memory one with the finite states Markov model(FSMC). As the most important parameter modelling a Markov channel,the memory order in an FSMC is not solved in PLC systems yet. In the paper, the mutual information is used as a measure of the dependence between the different symbols, treated as the received SNA or amplitude of the current channel symbol or that of previous symbols. The joint distribution probabilities of the envelopes in PLC systems are computed based on the multi-path channel model, which is commonly used in PLC. we confirm that given the information of the symbol immediately preceding the current one, any other previous symbol is independent of the current one in PLC systems, which means the PLC channels is a Markov chain with the first-order. The field test is also performed to model the received OFDM signals with the help of AR model. The results show that the first-order AR model is enough to model the fading channel in PLC systems, which means the amount of uncertainty remaining in the current symbol should be negligible, given the information corresponding to the immediately preceding one.

Keywords: power line communication, channel model, markovian, information theory, first-order

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Authors: Cui Long (Allen)

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The role of the Arctic in world politics and international relations has increased significantly over the past decades. With its large natural resources, the Arctic region has important geopolitical, strategic, and economic significance. All this determines the interest in it not only of the Arctic states but also of states located far from the Arctic. One of these states is the People's Republic of China. Relations between China and Russia in recent decades have been built on the basis of strategic partnership. Joint projects in the Arctic have become the most important priority area of this partnership. These are projects in the transport and energy fields. A large number of works by Russian scientists are devoted to the Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation. Most authors consider cooperation as a guarantee of stability for China and Russia in a globalized world. However, there are authors who believe that there are separate contradictions in the relations between the Arctic and non-Arctic countries. In their opinion, China sometimes acts as a competitor, and its activities become expansionist. In general, according to the Russian authors, Sino-Russian cooperation is mutually beneficial and is under development. China and Russia have a long way to go in the issue of sustainable development of the Arctic.

Keywords: People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, Arctic, historiography

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Authors: C. Bunsanit

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This paper presents the refinement method for two beams formation of wideband smart antenna. The refinement method for weighting coefficients is based on Fully Spatial Signal Processing by taking Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT), and its simulation results are presented using MATLAB. The radiation pattern is created by multiplying the incoming signal with real weights and then summing them together. These real weighting coefficients are computed by IDFT method; however, the range of weight values is relatively wide. Therefore, for reducing this range, the refinement method is used. The radiation pattern concerns with five input parameters to control. These parameters are maximum weighting coefficient, wideband signal, direction of mainbeam, beamwidth, and maximum of minor lobe level. Comparison of the obtained simulation results between using refinement method and taking only IDFT shows that the refinement method works well for wideband two beams formation.

Keywords: fully spatial signal processing, beam forming, refinement method, smart antenna, weighting coefficient, wideband

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Authors: Rasha Elsawy

Abstract:

Aside from the rapid growth of global information technology and the Internet, another key trend is the swift proliferation of wearable technologies. The future of wearable technologies is very bright as an emerging revolution in this technological world. Beyond this, individual continuance intention toward IT is an important area that drew academics' and practitioners' attention. The literature review exhibits that continuance usage is an important concern that needs to be addressed for any technology to be advantageous and for consumers to succeed. However, consumers noticeably abandon their wearable devices soon after purchase, losing all subsequent benefits that can only be achieved through continued usage. Purpose-This thesis aims to develop an integrated model designed to explain and predict consumers' behavioural intention(BI) and continued use (CU) of wearable fitness technology (WFT) to identify the determinants of the CU of technology. Because of this, the question arises as to whether there are differences between technology adoption and post-adoption (CU) factors. Design/methodology/approach- The study employs the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology2 (UTAUT2), which has the best explanatory power, as an underpinning framework—extending it with further factors, along with user-specific personal characteristics as moderators. All items will be adapted from previous literature and slightly modified according to the WFT/SW context. A longitudinal investigation will be carried out to examine the research model, wherein a survey will include these constructs involved in the conceptual model. A quantitative approach based on a questionnaire survey will collect data from existing wearable technology users. Data will be analysed using the structural equation modelling (SEM) method based on IBM SPSS statistics and AMOS 28.0. Findings- The research findings will provide unique perspectives on user behaviour, intention, and actual continuance usage when accepting WFT. Originality/value- Unlike previous works, the current thesis comprehensively explores factors that affect consumers' decisions to continue using wearable technology. That is influenced by technological/utilitarian, affective, emotional, psychological, and social factors, along with the role of proposed moderators. That novel research framework is proposed by extending the UTAUT2 model with additional contextual variables classified into Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence (societal pressure regarding body image), Facilitating Conditions, Hedonic Motivation (to be split up into two concepts: perceived enjoyment and perceived device annoyance), Price value, and Habit-forming techniques; adding technology upgradability as determinants of consumers' behavioural intention and continuance usage of Information Technology (IT). Further, using personality traits theory and proposing relevant user-specific personal characteristics (openness to technological innovativeness, conscientiousness in health, extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness) to moderate the research model. Thus, the present thesis obtains a more convincing explanation expected to provide theoretical foundations for future emerging IT (such as wearable fitness devices) research from a behavioural perspective.

Keywords: wearable technology, wearable fitness devices/smartwatches, continuance use, behavioural intention, upgradability, longitudinal study

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Authors: Enes Furkan Erkan, Özer Uygun, Halil Ibrahim Demir, Zeynep Demir

Abstract:

Companies require increase in quality perception level of their products due to competitive conditions. As a result, the tendency to quality and researches to develop the quality are increasing day by day. Cost and time constraints are the biggest problems that companies face in their quality improvement efforts. In this study, factors that affect the porosity of ceramic products are determined and analyzed in a factory producing ceramic tiles. Then, Taguchi method is used in the design phase in order to decrease the number of tests to be performed by means of orthogonal sequences. The most important factors affecting the porosity of ceramic tiles are determined using Taguchi and ANOVA analysis. Based on the analyses, the most affecting factors are determined to be used in the fuzzy implementation stage. Then, the fuzzy rules were established with the factors affecting porosity by the experts’ opinion. Thus, porosity result could be obtained not only for the specified factor levels but also for intermediate values. In this way, it has been provided convenience to the factory in terms of cost and quality improvement.

Keywords: fuzzy, porosity, Taguchi Method, Taguchi-Fuzzy

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Authors: Majed Zobairy, Fardin Kalvandi, Kamal Azizbaigi

Abstract:

This research was carried out for evaluation of elastic, plyometric and resistance training on selected anaerobic factors in men volleyball players. For these reason 30 elite volleyball players of Sanandaj city randomly divided into 3 groups as follow: elastic training, plyometric training and resistance training. Pre-exercise tests which include vertical jumping, 50 yard speed running and scat test were done and data were recorded. Specific exercise protocol regimen was done for each group and then post-exercise tests again were done. Data analysis showed that there were significant increases in exercise test in each group. One way ANOVA analysis showed that increases in speed records in elastic group were significantly higher than the other groups (p<0/05),based on research data it seems that elastic training can be a useful method and new approach in improving functional test and training regimen.

Keywords: elastic training, plyometric training, strength training, anaerobic power

Procedia PDF Downloads 511

Authors: Hung-Jiun Chi, Cheng-En Tsai, Jia-Ying Tu

Abstract:

Semi-active control of Magnetorheological (MR) dampers for vibration reduction of structural systems has received considerable attention in civil and earthquake engineering, because the effective stiffness and damping properties of MR fluid can change in a very short time in reaction to external loading, requiring only a low level of power. However, the inherent nonlinear dynamics of hysteresis raise challenges in the modeling and control processes. In order to control the MR damper, an innovative Duffing-like equation is proposed to approximate the hysteresis dynamics in a deterministic and systematic manner than previously has been possible. Then, the model-reference adaptive control technique based on the Duffing-like model and the Lyapunov method is discussed. Parameter identification work with experimental data is presented to show the effectiveness of the Duffing-like model. In addition, simulation results show that the resulting adaptive gains enable the MR damper force to track the desired response of the reference model satisfactorily, verifying the effectiveness of the proposed modeling and control techniques.

Keywords: magnetorheological damper, duffing equation, model-reference adaptive control, Lyapunov function, hysteresis

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Jainendra Singh, Zaheeruddin

Abstract:

A typical wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consists of several tiny and low-power sensors which use radio frequency to perform distributed sensing tasks. The longevity of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a major issue that impacts the application of such networks. While routing protocols are striving to save energy by acting on sensor nodes, recent studies show that network lifetime can be enhanced by further involving sink mobility. A common approach for energy efficiency is partitioning the network into clusters with correlated data, where the representative nodes simply transmit or average measurements inside the cluster. In this paper, we propose an energy- efficient homogenous clustering (EHC) technique. In this technique, the decision of each sensor is based on their residual energy and an estimate of how many of its neighboring cluster heads (CHs) will benefit from it being a CH. We, also explore the routing algorithm in clustered WSNs. We show that the proposed schemes significantly outperform current approaches in terms of packet delay, hop count and energy consumption of WSNs.

Keywords: wireless sensor network, energy efficiency, clustering, routing

Procedia PDF Downloads 250

Authors: Ennouri Triki, Toan Vu-Khanh

Abstract:

Resistance to combined puncture/cutting by pointed blades is an important property of gloves materials. The purpose of this study is to propose an approach derived from the fracture mechanics theory to calculate the fracture energy associated to the puncture/cutting of nitrile rubber. The proposed approach is also based on the application of a sample pre-strained during the puncture/cutting test in order to remove the contribution of friction. It was validated with two different pointed blade angles of 22.5° and 35°. Results show that the applied total fracture energy corresponding to puncture/cutting is controlled by three energies, one is the fracture energy or the intrinsic strength of the material, the other reflects the friction energy between a pointed blade and the material. For an applied pre-strain energy (or tearing energy) of high value, the friction energy is completely removed. Without friction, the total fracture energy is constant. In that case, the fracture contribution of the tearing energy is marginal. Growth of the crack is thus completely caused by the puncture/cutting by a pointed blade. Finally, results suggest that the value of the fracture energy corresponding to puncture/cutting by pointed blades is obtained at a frictional contribution of zero.

Keywords: elastomer, energy, fracture, friction, pointed blades

Procedia PDF Downloads 287