Search results for: Adel Francis
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 284

Search results for: Adel Francis

254 Vehicle to Vehicle Communication: Collision Avoidance Scenarios

Authors: Ahmed Emad, Ahmed Salah, Abdelrahman Magdy, Omar Rashid, Mohammed Adel

Abstract:

This research paper discusses vehicle-to-vehicle technology as an important application of linear algebra. This communication technology represents an efficient and promising application to help to ensure the safety of the drivers by warning them when a crash possibility is close. The major link that combines our topic with linear algebra is the Laplacian matrix. Some main definitions used in the V2V were illustrated, such as VANET and its characteristics. The V2V technology could be applied in different applications with different traffic scenarios and various ways to warn car drivers. These scenarios were simulated programs such as MATLAB and Python to test how the V2V system would respond to the different scenarios and warn the car drivers exposed to the threat of collisions.

Keywords: V2V communication, vehicle to vehicle scenarios, VANET, FCW, EEBL, IMA, Laplacian matrix

Procedia PDF Downloads 118
253 Mathematical Modeling of District Cooling Systems

Authors: Dana Alghool, Tarek ElMekkawy, Mohamed Haouari, Adel Elomari

Abstract:

District cooling systems have captured the attentions of many researchers recently due to the enormous benefits offered by such system in comparison with traditional cooling technologies. It is considered a major component of urban cities due to the significant reduction of energy consumption. This paper aims to find the optimal design and operation of district cooling systems by developing a mixed integer linear programming model to minimize the annual total system cost and satisfy the end-user cooling demand. The proposed model is experimented with different cooling demand scenarios. The results of the very high cooling demand scenario are only presented in this paper. A sensitivity analysis on different parameters of the model was performed.

Keywords: Annual Cooling Demand, Compression Chiller, Mathematical Modeling, District Cooling Systems, Optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 168
252 The Effect of Flue Gas Condensation on the Exergy Efficiency and Economic Performance of a Waste-To-Energy Plant

Authors: Francis Chinweuba Eboh, Tobias Richards

Abstract:

In this study, a waste-to-energy combined heat and power plant under construction was modelled and simulated with the Aspen Plus software. The base case process plant was evaluated and compared when integrated with flue gas condensation (FGC) in order to find out the impact of the exergy efficiency and economic feasibility as well as the effect of overall system exergy losses and revenue generated in the investigated plant. The economic evaluations were carried out using the vendor cost data from Aspen process economic analyser. The results indicate that 4 % increase in the exergy efficiency and 29 % reduction in the exergy loss in the flue gas were obtained when the flue gas condensation was incorporated. Furthermore, with the integrated FGC, the net present values (NPV) and income generated in the base process plant were increased by 29 % and 10 % respectively after 20 years of operation.

Keywords: economic feasibility, exergy efficiency, exergy losses, flue gas condensation, waste-to-energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 154
251 A Hybrid Heuristic for the Team Orienteering Problem

Authors: Adel Bouchakhchoukha, Hakim Akeb

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In this work, we propose a hybrid heuristic in order to solve the Team Orienteering Problem (TOP). Given a set of points (or customers), each with associated score (profit or benefit), and a team that has a fixed number of members, the problem to solve is to visit a subset of points in order to maximize the total collected score. Each member performs a tour starting at the start point, visiting distinct customers and the tour terminates at the arrival point. In addition, each point is visited at most once, and the total time in each tour cannot be greater than a given value. The proposed heuristic combines beam search and a local optimization strategy. The algorithm was tested on several sets of instances and encouraging results were obtained.

Keywords: team orienteering problem, vehicle routing, beam search, local search

Procedia PDF Downloads 394
250 Heavy Metal Concentrations in Sediments of Sta. Maria River, Laguna

Authors: Francis Angelo A. Sta. Ana

Abstract:

Heavy metal pollutants are a major environmental concern in built-up areas in the Philippines. It causes negative effects on aquatic organisms and human health. Heavy metals concentrations of chromium, mercury, lead, copper, arsenic, zinc, cadmium, and nickel were investigated in Sta. Maria river, in Laguna. A total of 16 sediment samples were collected from the river at four stations. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was used for element detection. It is found that copper is associated with chromium based on statistical analysis using principal component analysis (PCA). Conduct of Sediment Quality Guideline (SQG) revealed that chromium has high toxicity due to values higher than Sediment Quality Guidelines Probable Effect Level (SQG’s PEL). Copper, Nickel, and Pb fall on average toxicity while others are below PEL and effect range low (ERL).

Keywords: heavy metals, pollutants, sediment quality guidelines, atomic absorption spectroscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 105
249 The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Autism Attitude and Skills

Authors: Samwail Fahmi Francis Yacoub

Abstract:

Inclusive education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Thailand. Despite many more children with autism are attending schools since the Thai government introduced the Education Provision for People with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally lacking. This quantitative study used Attitude and Preparedness to Teach Students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 primary school teachers’ attitude and preparedness to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Descriptive statistical analysis of the data found that student behavior was the most significant factor in building teachers’ negative attitudes students with autism. The majority of teachers also indicated that their pre-service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in particular, those who are non-verbal. The study is significant and provides direction for enhancing teacher education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, movement skills, motor skills, children, behavior.

Procedia PDF Downloads 11
248 Robust Diagnosis Efficiency by Bond-Graph Approach

Authors: Benazzouz Djamel, Termeche Adel, Touati Youcef, Alem Said, Ouziala Mahdi

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This paper presents an approach which detect and isolate efficiently a fault in a system. This approach avoids false alarms, non-detections and delays in detecting faults. A study case have been proposed to show the importance of taking into consideration the uncertainties in the decision-making procedure and their effect on the degradation diagnostic performance and advantage of using Bond Graph (BG) for such degradation. The use of BG in the Linear Fractional Transformation (LFT) form allows generating robust Analytical Redundancy Relations (ARR’s), where the uncertain part of ARR’s is used to generate the residuals adaptive thresholds. The study case concerns an electromechanical system composed of a motor, a reducer and an external load. The aim of this application is to show the effectiveness of the BG-LFT approach to robust fault detection.

Keywords: bond graph, LFT, uncertainties, detection and faults isolation, ARR

Procedia PDF Downloads 278
247 A Compared Approach between Moderate Islamic Values and Basic Human Values

Authors: Adel Bessadok

Abstract:

The theory of values postulates that each human has a set of values, or attractive and trans-situational goals, that drive their actions. The Basic Human Values as an incentive construct that apprehends human's values have been shown to govern a wide range of human behaviors. Individuals within and within societies have very different value preferences that reflect their enculturation, their personal experiences, their social places and their genetic heritage. Using a focus group composed by Islamic religious Preachers and a sample of 800 young students; this ongoing study will establish Moderate Islamic Values parameters. We analyze later, for the same students sample the difference between Moderate Islamic Values and Schwartz’s Basic Human Values. Keywords—Moderate Islamic Values, Basic Human Values, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Keywords: moderate Islamic values, basic human values, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 352
246 On Direct Matrix Factored Inversion via Broyden's Updates

Authors: Adel Mohsen

Abstract:

A direct method based on the good Broyden's updates for evaluating the inverse of a nonsingular square matrix of full rank and solving related system of linear algebraic equations is studied. For a matrix A of order n whose LU-decomposition is A = LU, the multiplication count is O (n3). This includes the evaluation of the LU-decompositions of the inverse, the lower triangular decomposition of A as well as a “reduced matrix inverse”. If an explicit value of the inverse is not needed the order reduces to O (n3/2) to compute to compute inv(U) and the reduced inverse. For a symmetric matrix only O (n3/3) operations are required to compute inv(L) and the reduced inverse. An example is presented to demonstrate the capability of using the reduced matrix inverse in treating ill-conditioned systems. Besides the simplicity of Broyden's update, the method provides a mean to exploit the possible sparsity in the matrix and to derive a suitable preconditioner.

Keywords: Broyden's updates, matrix inverse, inverse factorization, solution of linear algebraic equations, ill-conditioned matrices, preconditioning

Procedia PDF Downloads 450
245 Water Use Efficiency of Sunflower Genotypes Under Drip Irrigation

Authors: Adel M. Mahmoud

Abstract:

This Investigation was conducted to determine the productivity and water use efficiency for new sunflower genotypes. Ten sunflower genotypes were evaluated under drip irrigation using two treatments of. Results indicate that decreasing the amount of irrigation water from 1500 to 1130 mm/hectar significantly reduced all studied traits. Mutation (M1-63) surpassed all the other one genotypes in seed yield and WUE. Lines which gave the highest yield of the seed have water use efficiency under drought conditions higher than water use efficiency under normal irrigation. The lowest depression in seed yield due to drought conditions has been registered for Line 20, Line M1-63 and Sakha 53 genotypes (11 , 18 and 16 %, respectively). Genotypes (Line 20 , Line M1-63 and Sakha 53) are more tolerant to drought than others and we can used its in breeding program to develop sunflower hybrids suitable for cultivation under drought condition.

Keywords: sunflower genotypes, water use efficiency, mutation, inbred lines

Procedia PDF Downloads 350
244 Characterization of Leakage Current on the Surface of Porcelain Insulator under Contaminated Conditions

Authors: Hocine Terrab , Abdelhafid Bayadi, Adel Kara, Ayman El-Hag

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Insulator flashover under polluted conditions has been a serious threat on the reliability of power systems. It is known that the flashover process is mainly affected by the environmental conditions such as; the pollution level and humidity. Those are the essential parameters influencing the wetting process. This paper presents an investigation of the characteristics of leakage current (LC) developed on the surface of porcelain insulator at contaminated conditions under AC voltage. The study is done in an artificial fog chamber and the LC is characterized for different stages; dry, wetted and presence of discharge activities. Time-frequency and spectral analysis are adopted to calculate the evolution of LC characteristics with various stages prior to flashover occurrence. The preliminary results could be used in analysing the LC to develop more effective diagnosis of early signs of dry band arcing as an indication for insulation washing.

Keywords: flashover, harmonic components, leakage current, phase angle, statistical analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 400
243 From Manipulation to Citizen Control: A Case Study Revealing the Level of Participation in the Citizen Participatory Audit

Authors: Mark Jason E. Arca, Jay Vee R. Linatoc, Rex Francis N. Lupango, Michael Joe A. Ramirez

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Participation promises an avenue for citizens to take part in governance, but it does not necessarily mean effective participation. The proper integration of participants in the decision-making process should be properly addressed to ensure effectiveness. This study explores the integration of the participants in the decision-making process to reveal the level of participation in the Solid Waste Management audit done by the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA), a program under the supervision of the Commission on Audit. Specifically, this study will use the experience of participation to identify emerging themes that will help reveal the level of participation through the integrated ladder of participation. The researchers used key informant interviews to gather necessary data from the actors of the program. The findings revealed that the level of participation present in the CPA is at the Placation level, a level below the program’s targeted level of participation. The study also allowed the researchers to reveal facilitating factors in the program that contributed to a better understanding of the practice of participation.

Keywords: citizen participation, culture of participation, ladder of participation, level of participation

Procedia PDF Downloads 376
242 Comparing Spontaneous Hydrolysis Rates of Activated Models of DNA and RNA

Authors: Mohamed S. Sasi, Adel M. Mlitan, Abdulfattah M. Alkherraz

Abstract:

This research project aims to investigate difference in relative rates concerning phosphoryl transfer relevant to biological catalysis of DNA and RNA in the pH-independent reactions. Activated Models of DNA and RNA for alkyl-aryl phosphate diesters (with 4-nitrophenyl as a good leaving group) have successfully been prepared to gather kinetic parameters. Eyring plots for the pH–independent hydrolysis of 1 and 2 were established at different temperatures in the range 100–160 °C. These measurements have been used to provide a better estimate for the difference in relative rates between the reactivity of DNA and RNA cleavage. Eyring plot gave an extrapolated rate of kH2O = 1 × 10-10 s -1 for 1 (RNA model) and 2 (DNA model) at 25°C. Comparing the reactivity of RNA model and DNA model shows that the difference in relative rates in the pH-independent reactions is surprisingly very similar at 25°. This allows us to obtain chemical insights into how biological catalysts such as enzymes may have evolved to perform their current functions.

Keywords: DNA and RNA models, relative rates, reactivity, phosphoryl transfe

Procedia PDF Downloads 399
241 Study of Germs Responsible of Nosocomial Infections in Hospital of Guelma

Authors: Wissem Abdaoui, Ilhem Mokhtari, Adel Gouri, Benouareth Djamel Eddine

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Contracted in a health facility, hospital-acquired infections are a major public health problem in recent years. The increase of nosocomial infections is partly related to diagnostic and therapeutic advances in medicine. The aim of our study was to isolate and diagnose some types of bacteria that are circulating in the hospital by performing different samples at two medical services: Pulmonary and Infectious Diseases. The antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed for bacterial isolates. The results have shown that there is a predominance of enterobacteria followed by the staphylococcus with its two species epidermidis ans saprophyticus. The study of the antibiogramme identified that some of these bacteria have a resistant profile against all the tested antibiotics. The fight against nosocomial infections is difficult because it must act on several factors: quality of care, safety of the hospital environment, hygiene, wearing gloves etc. are all areas that should be of heightened vigilance and preventive measures.

Keywords: nosocomial infection, isolation, identification, sensitivity and resistance to antibiotics

Procedia PDF Downloads 349
240 MMSE-Based Beamforming for Chip Interleaved CDMA in Aeronautical Mobile Radio Channel

Authors: Sherif K. El Dyasti, Esam A. Hagras, Adel E. El-Hennawy

Abstract:

This paper addresses the performance of antenna array beam-forming on Chip-Interleaved Code Division Multiple Access (CI_CDMA) system based on Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) detector in aeronautical mobile radio channel. Multipath fading, Doppler shifts caused by the speed of the aircraft, and Multiple Access Interference (MAI) are the most important reasons that affect and reduce the performance of aeronautical system. In this paper, we suggested the CI-CDMA with antenna array to combat this fading and improve the bit error rate (BER) performance. We further evaluate the performance of the proposed system in the four standard scenarios in aeronautical mobile radio channel.

Keywords: aeronautical channel, CI-CDMA, beamforming, communication, information

Procedia PDF Downloads 375
239 Line Heating Forming: Methodology and Application Using Kriging and Fifth Order Spline Formulations

Authors: Henri Champliaud, Zhengkun Feng, Ngan Van Lê, Javad Gholipour

Abstract:

In this article, a method is presented to effectively estimate the deformed shape of a thick plate due to line heating. The method uses a fifth order spline interpolation, with up to C3 continuity at specific points to compute the shape of the deformed geometry. First and second order derivatives over a surface are the resulting parameters of a given heating line on a plate. These parameters are determined through experiments and/or finite element simulations. Very accurate kriging models are fitted to real or virtual surfaces to build-up a database of maps. Maps of first and second order derivatives are then applied on numerical plate models to evaluate their evolving shapes through a sequence of heating lines. Adding an optimization process to this approach would allow determining the trajectories of heating lines needed to shape complex geometries, such as Francis turbine blades.

Keywords: deformation, kriging, fifth order spline interpolation, first, second and third order derivatives, C3 continuity, line heating, plate forming, thermal forming

Procedia PDF Downloads 429
238 The Use of Mobile Applications for Language Learning in 21st-Century Teacher Education for Sustainable Development in Africa

Authors: Carol C. Opara, Olukemi E. Adetuyi-Olu-Francis

Abstract:

The need for ICT in Teacher Education due to the nature of 21st-century learners who are computer citizens is essential. The recent increase in the use of Mobile phones has equally revealed the importance of Mobile Applications for learning purposes. However, teacher-trainees and the trainers need to be well-grounded in basic ICT skills for an appropriate outcome. This study seeks to assess the use of Mobile Applications for language learning in Teacher Education teaching-learning process. A 22-item e-questionnaire was used to elicit information from teacher-trainers and teachers-trainees from Faculties of Education in Nigerian Universities. Major findings of this study include: That teacher-education sector is not adequately prepared for manipulative use of ICT and Mobile Applications for teaching and learning process; etc. It was recommended among others that, teacher-trainers should be trained and re-trained on the manipulative use of Mobile devices and the several applications for teaching-learning purpose, especially language education.

Keywords: information and communications technology, ICT, language learning, mobile application, sustainable development, teacher education

Procedia PDF Downloads 131
237 The Psychological Impact of Acute Occupational Hand Trauma

Authors: Michelle Roesler, Ian Glendon, Francis O'Callaghan

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This study expands on recent findings and offers a new perspective on recovery from injury and return to work (RTW) after an acute traumatic occupational hand injury. Recovery is a complex medical and psychosocial process. A number of predictor variables were studied simultaneously to identify the bio-psychosocial variables that impede recovery. An unexpected phenomenon to emerge from this study was the high incidence of complications within the hand-injured patient sample. Twenty six percent (n = 71) of the total sample (N = 263) required a second operation due to complications. This warranted further investigation. Results confirmed that complications not only significantly delayed the RTW outcome but also had a profound psychological impact on the individuals affected. Research has found that surgical complications are usually the result of incorrect early assessment and management. A strategic plan needs to be implemented to ensure the optimal level of surgical care is provided for managing acute traumatic hand injuries to avoid such complications.

Keywords: occupational hand trauma, psychological recovery, return to work, psychology

Procedia PDF Downloads 473
236 Optimal Sizing and Placement of Distributed Generators for Profit Maximization Using Firefly Algorithm

Authors: Engy Adel Mohamed, Yasser Gamal-Eldin Hegazy

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This paper presents a firefly based algorithm for optimal sizing and allocation of distributed generators for profit maximization. Distributed generators in the proposed algorithm are of photovoltaic and combined heat and power technologies. Combined heat and power distributed generators are modeled as voltage controlled nodes while photovoltaic distributed generators are modeled as constant power nodes. The proposed algorithm is implemented in MATLAB environment and tested the unbalanced IEEE 37-node feeder. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in optimal selection of distributed generators size and site in order to maximize the total system profit.

Keywords: distributed generators, firefly algorithm, IEEE 37-node feeder, profit maximization

Procedia PDF Downloads 409
235 The Carbon Emission Seesaw Effect

Authors: Adel Elomri

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The notion of carbon footprinting is ever more widespread as companies are becoming increasingly aware that tackling carbon emissions and being seen to do so is a key issue to face governments, customers and other stakeholders’ pressures towards delivering environmentally friendly services and activities. In this contest, many firms are taking self-initiatives to reduce their own carbon emissions while some other are constrained to obey to different regulations/policies (e.g. carbon tax or carbon Cap) designed by higher authorities targeting a low-carbon environment. Using buyer-vendor framework, this paper provides some insights on how effective are these self-initiatives and regulatory policies when only concerning firms at the individual level and not the whole supply chain they are part of. We show that when firms individually engage in reducing their direct carbon emissions either under self-initiatives or regulatory policy, an opposite expected outcome resulting in a higher global supply chain emission can occur. This effect is referred to as the carbon seesaw effect. Moreover, we show that coordinating or centralizing the supply chain -contrary to what one may think at first- is not often the appropriate solution to get rid of this effect.

Keywords: carbon emissions, supply chain coordination, EOQ, sustainable operations

Procedia PDF Downloads 286
234 Application of PV/Wind-Based Green Energy to Power Cellular Base Station

Authors: Francis Okodede, Edafe Lucky Okotie

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Conventional energy sources based on oil, coal, and natural gas has posed a trait to environment and to human health. Green energy stands as an alternative because it has proved to be eco-friendly. The prospective of renewable energy sources are quite vast as they can, in principle, meet many times the world’s energy demand. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, can provide sustainable energy services based on the use of routinely available indigenous resources. New renewable energy sources (solar energy, wind energy, and modern bio-energy) are currently contributing immensely to global energy demand. A number of studies have shown the potential and contribution of renewable energy to global energy supplies, indicating that in the second half of the 21st century, it is going to be a major source and driver in the telecommunication sector. Green energy contribution might reach as much as 50 percent of global energy demands if the right policies are in place. This work suggests viable non-conventional means of energy supply to power a cellular base station.

Keywords: base station, energy storage, green energy, rotor efficiency, solar energy, wind energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 59
233 Physicochemical Analysis of Ground Water of Selected Areas of Oji River in Enugu State, Nigeria

Authors: C. Akpagu Francis, V. Nnamani Emmanuel

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Drinking and use of polluted water from ponds, rivers, lakes, etc. for other domestic activities especially by the larger population in the rural areas has been a major source of health problems to man. A study was carried out in two different ponds in Oji River, Enugu State of Nigeria to determine the extent of total dissolved solid (TDS), metals (lead, cadmium, iron, zinc, manganese, calcium), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Samples of water were collected from two different ponds at a distance of 510, and 15 metres from the point of entry into the ponds to fetch water. From the results obtained, TDS (751.6Mg/l), turbidity (24ftu), conductivity (1193µs/cm), cadmium (0.008Mg/l) and lead (0.03mg/t) in pond A (PA) were found to have exceeded the WHO standard. Also in pond B (PB) the results shows that TDS (760.30Mg/l), turbidity (26ftu), conductivity (1195µs/cm), cadmium (0.008mg/l) and lead (0.03Mg/l) were also found to have exceeded the WHO standard which makes the two ponds. Water very unsafe for drinking and use in other domestic activities.

Keywords: physicochemical, groundwater, Oji River, Nigeria

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232 A New Tool for Global Optimization Problems: Cuttlefish Algorithm

Authors: Adel Sabry Eesa, Adnan Mohsin Abdulazeez Brifcani, Zeynep Orman

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This paper presents a new meta-heuristic bio-inspired optimization algorithm which is called Cuttlefish Algorithm (CFA). The algorithm mimics the mechanism of color changing behavior of the cuttlefish to solve numerical global optimization problems. The colors and patterns of the cuttlefish are produced by reflected light from three different layers of cells. The proposed algorithm considers mainly two processes: reflection and visibility. Reflection process simulates light reflection mechanism used by these layers, while visibility process simulates visibility of matching patterns of the cuttlefish. To show the effectiveness of the algorithm, it is tested with some other popular bio-inspired optimization algorithms such as Genetic Algorithms (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Bees Algorithm (BA) that have been previously proposed in the literature. Simulations and obtained results indicate that the proposed CFA is superior when compared with these algorithms.

Keywords: Cuttlefish Algorithm, bio-inspired algorithms, optimization, global optimization problems

Procedia PDF Downloads 532
231 Financial Statement Fraud: The Need for a Paradigm Shift to Forensic Accounting

Authors: Ifedapo Francis Awolowo

Abstract:

The unrelenting series of embarrassing audit failures should stimulate a paradigm shift in accounting. And in this age of information revolution, there is need for a constant improvement on the products or services one offers to the market in order to be relevant. This study explores the perceptions of external auditors, forensic accountants and accounting academics on whether a paradigm shift to forensic accounting can reduce financial statement frauds. Through Neo-empiricism/inductive analytical approach, findings reveal that a paradigm shift to forensic accounting might be the right step in the right direction in order to increase the chances of fraud prevention and detection in the financial statement. This research has implication on accounting education on the need to incorporate forensic accounting into present day accounting curriculum. Accounting professional bodies, accounting standard setters and accounting firms all have roles to play in incorporating forensic accounting education into accounting curriculum. Particularly, there is need to alter the ISA 240 to make the prevention and detection of frauds the responsibilities of bot those charged with the management and governance of companies and statutory auditors.

Keywords: financial statement fraud, forensic accounting, fraud prevention and detection, auditing, audit expectation gap, corporate governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 327
230 RFID Laptop Monitoring and Management System

Authors: Francis E. Idachaba, Sarah Uyimeh Tommy

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This paper describes the design of an RFID laptop monitoring and management system. Laptops embedded with RFID chips are monitored and tracked to provide a monitoring system for the purpose of tracking as well as monitoring movement of the laptops in and out of a building. The proposed system is implemented with both hardware and software components. The hardware architecture consists of RFID passive tag, RFID module (reader), and a server hosting the application and database. The RFID readers are distributed at major exits of a building or premises. The tags are programmed with owner laptop details are concealed in the laptops. The software architecture consists of application software that has the APIs (Applications Programming Interface) necessary to interface the RFID system with the PC, to achieve automated laptop monitoring system. A friendly graphic user interface (GUI) and a database that saves all readings and owners details. The system is capable of reducing laptop theft especially in students’ hostels as laptops can be monitored as they are taken either in or out of the building.

Keywords: asset tracking, GUI, laptop monitoring, radio frequency identification, passive tags

Procedia PDF Downloads 360
229 Study of the in vivo and in vitro Antioxidant Activity of the Methanol Extract from the Roots of the Barks of Zizyphus lotus

Authors: Djemai Zoughlache Soumia, Yahia Mouloud, Lekbir Adel, Meslem Meriem, Maouchi Madiha, Bahi Ahlem, Benbia Souhila

Abstract:

Natural extracts is known for their contents of biologically active molecules. In this context, we attempted to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract prepared from the bark of the roots of Zizyphus lotus. The quantitative analysis based on the dosage, phenolic compounds, flavonoids and tannins provided following values: 0.39 ± 0.007 ug EAG/mg of extract for phenolic compounds, 0.05 ± 0.02ug EQ/mg extract for flavonoids and 0.0025 ± 7.071 E-4 ECT ug/mg extract for tannins. The study of the antioxidant activity by the DPPH test in vitro showed a powerful antiradical power with an IC50 = 8,8 ug/ml. For the DPPH test in vivo we used two rats lots, one lot with a dose of 200 mg/kg of the methanol extract and a control lot. We found a significant difference in antiradical activity with p < 0.05.

Keywords: Zizyphus lotus, antioxidant activity, DPPH, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, tannins

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228 Semantic Based Analysis in Complaint Management System with Analytics

Authors: Francis Alterado, Jennifer Enriquez

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Semantic Based Analysis in Complaint Management System with Analytics is an enhanced tool of providing complaints by the clients as well as a mechanism for Palawan Polytechnic College to gather, process, and monitor status of these complaints. The study has a mobile application that serves as a remote facility of communication between the students and the school management on the issues encountered by the student and the solution of every complaint received. In processing the complaints, text mining and clustering algorithms were utilized. Every module of the systems was tested and based on the results; these are 100% free from error before integration was done. A system testing was also done by checking the expected functionality of the system which was 100% functional. The system was tested by 10 students by forwarding complaints to 10 departments. Based on results, the students were able to submit complaints, the system was able to process accordingly by identifying to which department the complaints are intended, and the concerned department was able to give feedback on the complaint received to the student. With this, the system gained 4.7 rating which means Excellent.

Keywords: technology adoption, emerging technology, issues challenges, algorithm, text mining, mobile technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 171
227 Determination of Elements and Minerals Present in Harmattan Dust Using Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Across Selected Nigerian Stations

Authors: Aweda Francis Olatunbosun, Falaiye Oluwasesan Adeniran

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The suspended harmattan dust was collected at seven different stations in Nigeria: Iwo (7º 63'N, 4º 19'E), Oyo (8º 12'N, 3º 42'E), Ilorin (8º36'N, 4º 35'E), Minna (9º36'N, 06º35'E), Abuja (09º 09'N, 07º 11'E), Lafia (08º 49'N, 07º50'E), and Jos (9º55'N, 8º55'E), which were analyzed to determine elements and minerals present in the sample using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE). The collected sample results show the elemental concentration of the sample in various forms across each station. Cr, Ce, Mo, Zr, Sr, V, Ti, K, As, Ni, Mn, Ca, Pb, Fe, Zn, and Cu were found in the sample using an XRF machine. The minerals discovered in the sample include, but are not limited to, Corundum [Al₂O₃], Periclase [MgO], Rutile [TiO₂], and Quartz [SiO₂] in various proportions. Furthermore, the results revealed the enrichment factor for Iwo (1.3998 μg/m³), Oyo (1.3998 μg/m³), Ilorin (1.79765 μg/m³), Minna (1.737325 μg/m³), Abuja (1.635425 μg/m³), Lafia (1.409695 μg/m³), and Jos (1.787075 μg/m³). The study concluded that the sample contains sixteen (16) elements and minerals in varying percentages and concentrations. It is therefore recommended that appropriate safety procedures be put in place to raise community awareness of the presence of elements in harmattan dust.

Keywords: elements, minerals, harmattan dust, XRF, PIXE

Procedia PDF Downloads 314
226 Stock Price Informativeness and Profit Warnings: Empirical Analysis

Authors: Adel Almasarwah

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This study investigates the nature of association between profit warnings and stock price informativeness in the context of Jordan as an emerging country. The analysis is based on the response of stock price synchronicity to profit warnings percentages that have been published in Jordanian firms throughout the period spanning 2005–2016 in the Amman Stock Exchange. The standard of profit warnings indicators have related negatively to stock price synchronicity in Jordanian firms, meaning that firms with a high portion of profit warnings integrate with more firm-specific information into stock price. Robust regression was used rather than OLS as a parametric test to overcome the variances inflation factor (VIF) and heteroscedasticity issues recognised as having occurred during running the OLS regression; this enabled us to obtained stronger results that fall in line with our prediction that higher profit warning encourages firm investors to collect and process more firm-specific information than common market information.

Keywords: Profit Warnings, Jordanian Firms, Stock Price Informativeness, Synchronicity

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225 Social Anxiety, Parental Criticism and the Mediating Role of Early Maladaptive Schemas

Authors: Tahmeena Ali, Andrew Francis, Keong Yap, Sharynn Schuster

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Social anxiety is a chronic and debilitating condition characterized by fear and avoidance of social situations. Several risk factors have emerged, which emphasize the role of early childhood experiences in the development of this condition. As such, the current study tested the hypothesis that early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) mediate the relationship between retrospectively reported parental criticism and social anxiety whilst controlling the effects of depression. Three hundred and thirty-four non-clinical participants completed an online questionnaire consisting of self-report measures of parental criticism, EMSs of disconnection and rejection, and symptoms of social anxiety and depression. The mediation analysis confirmed the hypothesized model, indicating that EMSs mediated the relationship between parental criticism and social anxiety symptoms when controlling for depression. Whilst the current study is limited due to its cross-sectional design, the findings lend support to the developmental formulations of social anxiety and have important therapeutic implications for treatment.

Keywords: early maladaptive schema, parental criticism, schema, social anxiety

Procedia PDF Downloads 249