Search results for: balanced assignment

Authors: Diana Fajardo, Sebastián Ortiz, Oscar Herrera, Angélica Santis

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Currently, in Colombia is arising a problem related to collecting used lubricant oils which are generated by the increment of the vehicle fleet. This situation does not allow a proper disposal of this type of waste, which in turn results in a negative impact on the environment. Therefore, through the comparative analysis of various heuristics, the best solution to the VRP (Vehicle Routing Problem) was selected by comparing costs and times for the collection of used lubricant oils in the city of Pereira, Colombia; since there is no presence of management companies engaged in the direct administration of the collection of this pollutant. To achieve this aim, six proposals of through methods of solution of two phases were discussed. First, the assignment of the group of generator points of the residue was made (previously identified). Proposals one and four of through methods are based on the closeness of points. The proposals two and five are using the scanning method and the proposals three and six are considering the restriction of the capacity of collection vehicle. Subsequently, the routes were developed - in the first three proposals by the Clarke and Wright's savings algorithm and in the following proposals by the Traveling Salesman optimization mathematical model. After applying techniques, a comparative analysis of the results was performed and it was determined which of the proposals presented the most optimal values in terms of the distance, cost and travel time.

Keywords: Heuristics, optimization Model, savings algorithm, used vehicular oil, V.R.P.

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Authors: Ali Babaei

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There is a worldwide growing tendency toward construction of infrastructures with the possibility of private sector participation instead of free exploitation of public infrastructures. The construction and development of roads through private sector participation is performed by different countries because of appropriate results and benefits such as compensation of public budget deficit in road construction and maintenance and responding to traffic growth (demand). Toll is the most definite form of budget provision in road development. There are two issues in the toll rate assignment: A. costing of transport, B. Cost allocation and distribution of cost between different types of vehicles as each vehicle pay its own share. There can be different goals in toll collection and its extent is variable according to the strategy of toll collection. Costing principles in different countries are based on inclusion of the whole transport and not peculiar to the toll roads. For example, fuel tax policy functions where the road network users pay transportation cost (not just users of toll road). Whereas transportation infrastructures in Iran are free, these methods are not applicable. In Iran, different toll freeways have built by public investment and government provides participation in the road construction through encouragement of financial institutions. In this paper, the existing policies about the toll roads are studied and then the appropriate method of costing and cost allocation to different vehicles is introduced.

Keywords: toll allocation, road pricing, transportation, financial and industrial systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: Sindile Ngubane-Mokiwa

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This paper addresses two questions: (1) what barriers do the blind students face with assessment and feedback in open distance learning contexts? And (2) How can these barriers be removed? The paper focuses on the distance education through which most students with disabilities elevate their chances of accessing higher education. Lack of genuine inclusion is also evident in the challenges the blind students face during the assessment. These barriers are experienced at both formative and summative stages. The insights in this paper emanate from a case study that was carried out through qualitative approaches. The data was collected through in-depth interview, life stories, and telephonic interviews. The paper provides a review of local, continental and international views on how best assessment barriers can be removed. A group of five blind students, comprising of two honours students, two master's students and one doctoral student participated in this study. The data analysis was done through thematic analysis. The findings revealed that (a) feedback to the assignment is often inaccessible; (b) the software used is incompatible; (c) learning and assessment are designed in exclusionary approaches; (d) assessment facilities are not conducive; and (e) lack of proactive innovative assessment strategies. The article concludes by recommending ways in which barriers to assessment can be removed. These include addressing inclusive assessment and feedback strategies in professional development initiatives.

Keywords: assessment design, barriers, disabilities, blind students, feedback, universal design for learning

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Authors: Mahmoud Hassan, Walid Oueslati, Damien Rousseliere

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This paper explores the channels through which energy taxes may affect economic growth, using a simultaneous equations model for a balanced panel data of 31 OECD countries over the 1994–2013 period. The empirical results reveal a negative impact of energy taxes on physical investment in the short and long term. This impact is negatively sensitive to the existence and level of public debt. Additionally, the results show that energy taxes have an indirect effect on human capital through their impact on polluting emissions. The taxes on energy products are able to reduce both the flux and the stock of polluting emissions that have a negative impact on human capital skills in the short and long term. Finally, we found that energy taxes could encourage eco-innovation in the short and long term.

Keywords: energy taxes, economic growth, public debt, simultaneous equations model, multiple imputation

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Authors: Jonas Hinker, Lisa Zumholz, Johanna M. A. Myrzik

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Despite strong efforts by the German government to make a transition to higher quality level of building stocks, the rate of renovation continues to remain below the proclaimed level of 2%. As the mandatory standards for residential retrofits are well-balanced in such a way that strict adherence to them guarantees profit from the investment, it becomes difficult to explain the reasons why there are so many people hesitant with their investments. Risks and transaction costs can be understood as socio-technical boundaries and have to be taken into consideration to be able to understand why a worthwhile investment is postponed or rejected. This paper therefore presents a method for investment analyses that is focused on such socio-technical constraints, which helps to reveal the strongest misconceptions of home owners. By depicting sensitivities and risk factors in an integrated and impartial way, such a tool can be utilized by home owners to address reservations and misunderstandings. In the end, this leads to an exploitation of smaller energy efficiency measures that makes up a big demand reduction in the residential sector altogether.

Keywords: energy refurbishment, investment analysis, residential buildings, risk-aware investment strategy

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Authors: Mustapha Bouhoun Ali, Ahmed Yacine Badjah Hadj Ahmed, Mouloud Attou, Abdel Hamid Elias, Mohamed Amine Didi

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The extraction of uranium(VI) from aqueous solutions has been investigated using 1-hydroxyhexadecylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HHDPA) and 1-hydroxydodecylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HDDPA), which were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 31P NMR spectroscopy. In this paper, we propose a tentative assignment for the shifts of those two ligands and their specific complexes with uranium(VI). We carried out the extraction of uranium(VI) by HHDPA and HDDPA from [carbon tetrachloride + 2-octanol (v/v: 90%/10%)] solutions. Various factors such as contact time, pH, organic/aqueous phase ratio and extractant concentration were considered. The optimum conditions obtained were: contact time = 20 min, organic/aqueous phase ratio = 1, pH value = 3.0 and extractant concentration = 0.3M. The extraction yields are more significant in the case of the HHDPA which is equipped with a hydrocarbon chain, longer than that of the HDDPA. Logarithmic plots of the uranium(VI) distribution ratio vs. pHeq and the extractant concentration showed that the ratio of extractant to extracted uranium(VI) (ligand/metal) is 2:1. The formula of the complex of uranium(VI) with the HHDPA and the DHDPA is UO2(H3L)2 (HHDPA and DHDPA are denoted as H4L). A spectroscopic analysis has showed that coordination of uranium(VI) takes place via oxygen atoms.

Keywords: liquid-liquid extraction, uranium(VI), 1-hydroxyalkylidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acids, HHDPA, HDDPA, aqueous solution

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Authors: Aline Alves Bandeira, Luís Pedro Lima, Maria Cecília de Paula Silva, Paulo Henrique de Viveiros Tavares

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Nowadays, the study of public policies regarding management efficiency is essential. Public policies are about what governments do or do not do, being an area that has grown worldwide, contributing through the knowledge of technologies and methodologies that monitor and evaluate the performance of public administrators. The information published on official government websites needs to provide for transparency and responsiveness of managers. Thus, transparency is a primordial factor for the execution of Accountability, providing, in this way, services to the citizen with the expansion of transparent, efficient, democratic information and that value administrative eco-efficiency. The ecologically balanced management of a Smart City must optimize environmental education, building a fairer society, which brings about equality in the use of quality environmental resources. Smart Cities add value in the construction of public management, enabling interaction between people, enhancing environmental education and the practical applicability of administrative eco-efficiency, fostering economic development and improving the quality of life.

Keywords: accountability, environmental education, new public administration, smart cities

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Authors: Sakhile Nsukwini, Urmilla Bob

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Meaningful community participation is essential to the long-term success of protected areas. Hence, it is important to understand what drives neighbouring communities’ attitudes and perceptions towards protected areas. This study sought to determine local community attitudes towards conservation and protected areas, as well as their perceptions of benefits and participation at Somkhanda Game Reserve. Semi-structured interviews were held with experienced park officials, while a structured household survey and focus group discussions were conducted across two surrounding villages. The results highlighted a number of interesting findings, including support for biodiversity conservation and protected areas balanced by considerable negativity towards the Somkhanda Game Reserve itself. It was also determined that despite stated co-management policies, community residents perceived there was little meaningful participation, and benefits were poorly communicated and unfairly distributed. Practical suggestions were made for cooperatively developing more effective participation with the communities, despite limited available resources.

Keywords: communities, protected areas, perceptions, co-management, land restitution

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Authors: Ameema Mahroof, Muhammad Saeed

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Purpose: The paper aimed to explore the problems faced by the faculty in a distant and online learning environment. It proposes the remedies of the problems faced by the teachers. In distant and online learning mode, the methods of student assessment are different than traditional learning mode. In this paper, the assessment strategies of these learning modes are identified, and the challenges faced by the teachers regarding these assessment methods are explored. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is qualitative and opted for an exploratory study, including eight interviews with faculty of distant and online universities. The data for this small scale study was gathered using semi-structured interviews. Findings: Findings of the study revealed that assignment and tests are the most effective way of assessment in these modes. It further showed that less student-teacher interaction, plagiarized assignments, passive students, less time for marking are the main challenges faced by the teachers in these modes. Research Limitations: Because of the chosen research approach, the study might not be able to provide generalizable results. That’s why it is recommended to do further studies on this topic. Practical Implications: The paper includes implications for the better assessment system in online and distant learning mode. Originality/Value: This paper fulfills an identified need to study the challenges and problems faced by the teachers regarding student assessment.

Keywords: online learning, distant learning, student assessment, assignments

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Authors: Zhuo Jing-Schmidt, Jun Lang

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Numeral classifiers are common in Asian languages. Research on numeral classifiers primarily focuses on noun classifiers that quantify and individuate nominal referents. There is a scarcity of research on event quantification using verb classifiers. This study aims to understand the semantic and conceptual basis of event quantification in Chinese. From a usage-based Construction Grammar perspective, this study presents a corpus analysis of event quantification in Chinese. Drawing on a large balanced corpus of contemporary Chinese, we analyze 667 NOUN col-lexemes totaling 31136 tokens of a productive numeral classifier construction in Chinese. Using collostructional analysis of the collexemes, the results show that the construction quantifies and classifies dramatic events using a theater-based conceptual metaphor. We argue that the usage patterns reflect the cultural entrenchment of theater as in Chinese conceptualization and the construal of theatricality in linguistic expression. The study has implications for cognitive semantics and construction grammar.

Keywords: event quantification, classifier, corpus, metaphor

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Authors: Ma Lei-Lei, Zhou You

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Aiming at the problems of low detection accuracy of deep learning algorithm in traffic sign detection, this paper proposes improved EfficientDet based traffic sign detection algorithm. Multi-head self-attention is introduced in the minimum resolution layer of the backbone of EfficientDet to achieve effective aggregation of local and global depth information, and this study proposes an improved feature fusion pyramid with increased vertical cross-layer connections, which improves the performance of the model while introducing a small amount of complexity, the Balanced L1 Loss is introduced to replace the original regression loss function Smooth L1 Loss, which solves the problem of balance in the loss function. Experimental results show, the algorithm proposed in this study is suitable for the task of traffic sign detection. Compared with other models, the improved EfficientDet has the best detection accuracy. Although the test speed is not completely dominant, it still meets the real-time requirement.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, transformer, feature pyramid networks, loss function

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Authors: R. Denkova

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Nowadays, aesthetic and psychological researches in some countries show that the aesthetic ideal for women is built by the same pattern of big volumes – lips, cheek, facial disproportions. They all look like made of a matrix. And they lose their unique and emotional aspects of beauty. How to escape this matrix and find the balance? The secret to being a unique injector is good assessment, creating a treatment plan and flawless injection strategy. The newest concepts in this new injection era which meet the requirements of a modern society and deliver balanced and natural looking results are based on the concept of injecting not the consequence, but the reason. Three case studies are presented with full face assessment, treatment plan and before/after pictures. Using different approaches and techniques of the MD codes concept, lights and shadows concept in order to preserve the emotional beauty and identity of the women. In conclusion, the cases demonstrate that beauty exists even beyond the matrix and it is the injector’s mission and responsibility is to preserve and highlight the natural beauty and unique identity of every different patient.

Keywords: beyond the matrix, emotional beauty, face assessment, injector, treatment plan

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Authors: Michael Johnson, Vincenzo Oliveri

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This work considers an interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning (PBL) project developed by lecturers from the Aeronautical and Electronic and Computer Engineering departments at the University of Limerick. This “CANSAT” project utilises the CanSat can-sized satellite platform in order to allow students from aeronautical and electronic engineering to engage in a mixed format (online/face-to-face), interdisciplinary PBL assignment using a real-world platform and application. The project introduces students to the design, development, and construction of the CanSat system over the course of a single semester, enabling student(s) to apply their aeronautical and technical skills/capabilities to the realisation of a working CanSat system. In this case study, the CanSat kits are used to pivot the real-world, discipline-relevant PBL goal of designing, building, and testing the CanSat system with payload(s) from a traditional module-based setting to an online PBL setting. Feedback, impressions, benefits, and challenges identified through the semester are presented. Students found the project to be interesting and rewarding, with the interdisciplinary nature of the project appealing to them. Challenges and difficulties encountered are also addressed, with solutions developed between the students and facilitators to overcoming these discussed.

Keywords: problem-based learning, interdisciplinary, engineering, CanSATs

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Authors: Melissa C. Ingram

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The use of new literacies within science classrooms needs to be balanced by teachers to both teach different forms of communication while assessing content area proficiency. Using new literacies such as Twitter and Facebook needs to be incorporated into science content area literacy studies in addition to continuing to use generally-accepted forms of scientific content area presentation, which include scientific papers and textbooks. The research question this literature review seeks to answer is “What are some ways in which new forms of literacy are better suited to teach scientific content area literacy to 21st Century learners?” The research question is addressed through a literature review that highlights methods currently being used to educate the next wave of learners in the world of science content area literacy. Both temporal discourse analysis (TDA) and critical discourse analysis (CDA) were used to determine the need to use new literacies to teach science content area literacy. Increased use of digital technologies and a change in science content area pedagogy were explored.

Keywords: science content area literacy, new literacies, critical discourse analysis, temporal discourse analysis

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Authors: Hafiz Khubaib Ur Rehman Awan

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Education used to play a central role in the formation and transfiguration of society since early times, owing in part to the centrality of scripture and its study in the human circles. According to the Islamic purpose of education, its pivotal contribution in the society is to produce a balanced growth of the entire persona of an individual through training the spirit, intellect, rational self, feelings, and bodily senses such that faith is infused into the whole personality. The purpose of this study is to attempt the exploration of the development of the Islamic religious curriculum in the Islamic world with an emphasis on Pakistan because this homeland came into existence under the name of Islam. This study persists of necessary historical background on the curricular reform of religious education in Pakistan and their impact on it and the suburban countries. However, the mainstay of this paper bases on reform in the religious education curriculum and the challenges faced by Pakistan and the Islamic world. Some suggestions are positioned at the end for areas of Islamic religious education and the improvement of Islamic curricular reform, especially in Pakistan and generally in Muslim countries.

Keywords: curricula, religious educational institutions, Pakistan, Muslim world, educational, religious , curricula

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Saba Latif

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The use of social media among university students is a topic of ongoing debate, with conflicting views on its impact on academic achievement. This study aimed to explore the relationship between social media use and academic achievement among university students and to identify factors that may contribute to positive or negative effects. The study used a mixed-methods design, including a survey of 500 university students and qualitative interviews with a subset of participants. The survey results showed that social media use was prevalent among students, with Facebook and Instagram are the most commonly used platforms. The findings also indicated a positive relationship between social media use and academic achievement, with students who reported higher levels of social media use also reporting higher GPAs. However, the qualitative interviews revealed that excessive use of social media could be a distraction that hinders academic performance, especially when students use it to procrastinate or to stay up late at night. Overall, the findings suggest that social media use can have both positive and negative effects on academic achievement among university students. Responsible and balanced use of social media, such as setting limits on usage and avoiding procrastination, may help students maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks.

Keywords: social media, university, achievement, effective, learning

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Authors: Anton James

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This study explored the contribution of parenting styles in the Maternal Perception of Compliance Model (MPCM). This model explores maternal expectations to illustrate the formation of maternal perception of severity of noncompliance in adolescent children. The methodology consisted of three stages: In the first stage, a focus group was held, and the data was analysed to fine-tune the interview schedule. In the second stage, a single interview was held, and the interview schedule was further modified. The third and the final stage consisted of interviewing six mothers who had adolescent children. They were chosen with ‘maximum variation’ approach to represent three tiered socioeconomic statuses, and Asian, white and black ethnicities. The data was thematically analysed in a hybrid fashion: inductive coding and deductive assignment of codes into discrete parenting styles. The study found: a) parenting styles are not always discrete and sometimes it can be mixed. b) The parenting styles are influenced by culture, socioeconomic status, transgenerational knowledge, academic knowledge, observational knowledge, self-reflective knowledge, and parental anxiety. c) The parenting style functioned a mediating mechanism where it attempted to converge discrepancies between parental expectations of compliance with maternal perception of severity of noncompliance. The findings of parenting styles were discussed in relation to MPCM.

Keywords: compliance, expectation, parenting styles, perception

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Authors: Tomas Linas Šepetys

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In online content-sharing service platforms, the ability of creators to restrict illicit use of audiovisual creative works has effectively been abolished, largely due to specific infrastructure where a huge volume of copyrighted audiovisual content can be made available to the public. The European Union legislator has attempted to strengthen the positions of creators in the realm of online content-sharing services. Article 17 of the new Digital Single Market Directive considers online content-sharing service providers to carry out acts of communication to the public of any creative content uploaded to their platforms by users and posits requirements to obtain licensing agreements. While such regulation intends to assert authors‘ ability to effectively control the dissemination of their creative works, it also creates threats of parody content overblocking through automated content monitoring. Such potentially paradoxical outcome of the efforts of the EU legislator to deliver economic safeguards for the creators in the online content-sharing service platforms leads to presume lack of informity on legislator‘s part regarding creative works‘ economic exploitation opportunities provided to creators in the online content-sharing infrastructure. Analysis conducted in this scientific research discloses that the aforementioned irregularities of parody and other creative content dissemination are caused by EU legislators‘ lack of assessment of value extraction conditions for parody creators in the online content-sharing service platforms. Historical and modeling research method application reveals the existence of two creative content dissemination models and their unique mechanisms of commercial value creation. Obligations to obtain licenses and liability over creative content uploaded to their platforms by users set in Article 17 of the Digital Single Market Directive represent technological replication of the proprietary dissemination model where the creator is able to restrict access to creative content apart from licensed retail channels. The online content-sharing service platforms represent an open dissemination model where the economic potential of creative content is based on the infrastructure of unrestricted access by users and partnership with advertising services offered by the platform. Balanced modeling of proprietary dissemination models in such infrastructure requires not only automated content monitoring measures but also additional regulatory monitoring solutions to separate parody and other types of creative content. An example of the Digital Single Market Directive proves that regulation can dictate not only the technological establishment of a proprietary dissemination model but also a partial reduction of the open dissemination model and cause a disbalance between the economic interests of creators relying on such models. The results of this scientific research conclude an informative role of the creative works dissemination model in the EU copyright law modernization process. A thorough understanding of the commercial prospects of the open dissemination model intrinsic to the online content-sharing service platform structure requires and encourages EU legislators to regulate safeguards for parody content dissemination. Implementing such safeguards would result in a common application of proprietary and open dissemination models in the online content-sharing service platforms and balanced protection of creators‘ economic interests explicitly based on those creative content dissemination models.

Keywords: copyright law, creative works dissemination model, digital single market directive, online content-sharing services

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Authors: Nur Aisyah Jalalludin, Arwindra Rizqiawan, Goro Fujita

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In this study, we aim to demonstrate a microgrid system experimental simulation for an easy understanding of a large-scale microgrid system. This model is required for industrial training and learning environments. However, in order to create an exact representation of a microgrid system, the laboratory-scale system must fulfill the requirements of a grid-connected inverter, in which power values are assigned to the system to cope with the intermittent output from renewable energy sources. Aside from that, during changes in load capacity, the grid-connected system must be able to supply power from the utility grid side and microgrid side in a balanced manner. Therefore, droop control is installed in the inverter’s control board to maintain equal power sharing in both sides. This power control in a stand-alone condition and droop control in a grid-connected condition must be implemented in order to maintain a stabilized system. Based on the experimental results, power control and droop control can both be applied in the system by comparing the experimental and reference values.

Keywords: droop control, droop characteristic, grid-connected inverter, microgrid, power control

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Authors: Dina M. Ezz El-Din

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A variety of sources on Ancient Egypt provides us with knowledge about its agricultural and eating habits. This wealth of information testifies that the ancient Egyptians disposed of a wide variety of food choices. Egyptian agricultural diet was complemented by livestock breeding (Cows, sheep, geese, ducks, quail, pigeons, pelicans, etc). Moreover, the ancient Egyptians planted and harvested large amounts of cereals and vegetables (onions, leeks, lettuces, garlic). They had a varied and well-balanced diet throughout their history. Like in modern times, their eating habits not only changed from one region to the other, but also these also differed according to social classes. The present research is a descriptive-analytical study that tackles eating habits and culinary experience of the ancient Egyptians in an attempt to revive and preserve Egyptians’ food heritage. It focuses on different meals that were prepared and consumed in different occasions, and the habits that can be traced in Egypt in modern times. It also suggests means of bringing to life the ancient Egyptians’ food experience through restaurants and other tourism activities.

Keywords: cultural heritage, ancient Egyptian food, eating habits, preserving food traditions

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Authors: Miftahuddin Khilji

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The concept of human right is not alien to Islam. The Shari‘ah requires all its followers the sense of responsibility to perform their duties first and then claim their rights. This eventually guarantees the protection of human rights and ensures a peaceful society. The ultimate goal of Shari‘ah is to preserve five basic necessities which are also known as Maqasid ul Shari‘ah or Objectives of Islamic Law. This goal ensures for the members of society their rights without harming public welfare. Despite of the fact that human rights have been fully guaranteed by Islam and their compliance is required by Allah Almighty; not by any legislative body or other sovereign such as kings etc. However, many western writers, organizations and so called liberal thinkers try to create concerns, doubts and misconceptions in minds of the society members. A number of issues are pointed out and people are misguided about the concept of human rights in Islam. This paper aims to discuss main the concept of human rights in the light of perfect and balanced system of laws and principles of Shari‘ah and address those misconceptions and doubts by analyzing them and answering to questions raised about the subject. It would be an effort to prove that human rights are much more significant to Shari‘ah more than any other national or international legislative body.

Keywords: human rights, Islamic law, law, Shariah

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Authors: Venkata Reddy Kota

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These days, the industrial trend is moving away from heavy and bulky passive components to power converter systems that use more and more semiconductor elements. Also, it is difficult to connect the traditional converters to the high and medium voltage. For these reasons, a new family of multilevel inverters has appeared as a solution for working with higher voltage levels. Different modulation topologies like Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM), Selective Harmonic Elimination Pulse Width Modulation (SHE-PWM) are available for multilevel inverters. In this work, different hybrid modulation techniques which are combination of fundamental frequency modulation and multilevel sinusoidal-modulation are compared. The main characteristic of these modulations are reduction of switching losses with good harmonic performance and balanced power loss dissipation among the device. The proposed hybrid modulation schemes are developed and simulated in Matlab/Simulink for cascaded H-bridge inverter. The results validate the applicability of the proposed schemes for cascaded multilevel inverter.

Keywords: hybrid PWM techniques, cascaded multilevel inverters, switching loss minimization

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Authors: Pooja Khanal, Huaming Zhang

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Labeling of issues/bugs, also known as bug classification, plays a vital role in software engineering. Some known labels/classes of bugs are 'User Interface', 'Security', and 'API'. Most of the time, when a reporter reports a bug, they try to assign some predefined label to it. Those issues are reported for a project, and each project is a repository in GitHub/GitLab, which contains multiple issues. There are many software project repositories -ranging from individual projects to commercial projects. The labels assigned for different repositories may be dependent on various factors like human instinct, generalization of labels, label assignment policy followed by the reporter, etc. While the reporter of the issue may instinctively give that issue a label, another person reporting the same issue may label it differently. This way, it is not known mathematically if a label in one repository is similar or different to the label in another repository. Hence, the primary goal of this research is to find the semantic differences between bug labeling of different repositories via machine learning. Independent optimal classifiers for individual repositories are built first using the text features from the reported issues. The optimal classifiers may include a combination of multiple classifiers stacked together. Then, those classifiers are used to cross-test other repositories which leads the result to be deduced mathematically. The produce of this ongoing research includes a formalized open-source GitHub issues database that is used to deduce the similarity of the labels pertaining to the different repositories.

Keywords: bug classification, bug labels, GitHub issues, semantic differences

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Authors: Aleksandra Zysk, Pawel Badura

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Recognizing and controlling vocal registers during singing is a difficult task for beginner vocalist. It requires among others identifying which part of natural resonators is being used when a sound propagates through the body. Thus, an application has been designed allowing for sound recording, automatic vocal register recognition (VRR), and a graphical user interface providing real-time visualization of the signal and recognition results. Six spectral features are determined for each time frame and passed to the support vector machine classifier yielding a binary decision on the head or chest register assignment of the segment. The classification training and testing data have been recorded by ten professional female singers (soprano, aged 19-29) performing sounds for both chest and head register. The classification accuracy exceeded 93% in each of various validation schemes. Apart from a hard two-class clustering, the support vector classifier returns also information on the distance between particular feature vector and the discrimination hyperplane in a feature space. Such an information reflects the level of certainty of the vocal register classification in a fuzzy way. Thus, the designed recognition and training application is able to assess and visualize the continuous trend in singing in a user-friendly graphical mode providing an easy way to control the vocal emission.

Keywords: classification, singing, spectral analysis, vocal emission, vocal register

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Authors: Mbadiwe S. Benyeogor, Oladayo O. Olakanmi, Kosisochukwu P. Nnoli, Olusegun I. Lawal, Eric JJ. Gratton

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For a robot or any vehicular system to navigate in off-road terrain, its driving mechanisms and the electro-software system must be capable of generating, controlling, and moderating sufficient mechanical power with precision. This paper proposes an autonomous robot with a gyro-stabilized active suspension system in form of a hybrid quadrupedal wheel drive mechanism. This system is to serve as a miniature model for demonstrating how off-road vehicles can be robotized into efficient terramechanical mobile platforms that are capable of self-balanced autonomous navigation and maneuvering on rough and uneven topographies. Results from tests and analysis show that the developed system performs as expected. Therefore, our model and control devices can be adapted to computerizing, automating, and upgrading the operation of unmanned ground vehicles for off-road navigation.

Keywords: active suspension, autonomous robots, edge computing, navigational sensors, terramechanics

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Authors: Hanaa H. Abd El Baky, Gamal S. El Baroty, Eman A. Ibrahem

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Microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus, the carotenoides (astaxanine and β-caroteine) were identified as the major bioactive constituents. In this work we prepared functional pre-biotic cakes to increase general mental health. Functional cakes were formulated by adding algal caroteinods at 2 and 4 mg/100g to flower and the cakes were storage for 20 days. Oxidative stability of both function cakes products were examined during storage periods by DPPH and TBA assays, and the results revealed that both values in function food products were significantly much low than that in untreated food products. Data of sensory evaluation revealed that treated biscuit and cakes with algae or algae extracts were significantly acceptable as control for main sensory characteristics (colour, odour/aroma, flavour, texture, the global appreciation, and overall acceptability). Thus, it could be concluded that functional biscuits and cakes (very popular and well balanced nutritional food) had good sensory and nutritional profiles and can be developed as new niche food market.

Keywords: Scenedesmus obliquus, carotenoids, functional cakes antioxidant, nutritional profiles

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Authors: Sherly Ferro Lensun, Donal Matheos Ratu, Elni Jeini Usoh, Helena M. L. Pandi, Mayske Rinny Liando

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This study aims to gain a deep understanding of the process and the increase resulting in mastery of Kanji with a Language Learning Strategies through multimedia. This research aims to gain scientific data on process and the result of improving kanji mastery by using Chokusetsu strategy in Kanji learning. The method used in this research is Action Research developed by Kemmis and Mc. Taggart is known as Spiral Model. This model consists of following stages: planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. The research results in following findings: (1) Kanji mastery comprises 4 major aspects, those are reading, writing, the use in sentence, and memorizing, and those aspects show gradual improvement from time to time. (2) Students have more participation in learning activities which can be identified from some positive behaviours such giving respond in finishing exercise in class. (3) Students’ better attention to the lesson shown by active behaviour in giving more questions or asking for more explanation to the lecturers, memorizing Kanji card, finishing the task of making Kanji card/house, doing the exercises more seriously, and finishing homework assignment punctually. (4) More attractive learning activities and tasks in the forms of more engaging colour and pictures enables students to conduct self-evaluation on their learning process.

Keywords: Kanji, action research, language learning strategies, multimedia

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Authors: Svetlana Pushkar

Abstract:

Eco-indicator 99 (EI99) considers fundamental life cycle assessment (LCA) uncertainties via egalitarian/egalitarian (e/e), hierarchist/hierarchist (h/h), individualist/individualist (i/i), individualist/average (i/a), egalitarian/average (e/a), and hierarchist/average (h/a) methodological options. The objective of this study is to provide a reliable two-stage nested mixed balanced Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test as a supplemental test to EI99 to address the problematic combination of similarly and not similarly produced materials usually found in building technologies. The robustness of the test was determined from both the “EI99 (all options)” stage (including e/e, i/i, h/h, e/a, i/a, and h/a - all methodological options) and the “EI99 (perspectives)” stage (including e/e, i/i, and h/h methodological options of EI99 - the methodological options with their particular weighting set or e/a, i/a, and h/a methodological options of EI99 - the methodological options with the average weighting set) of evaluating building technologies.

Keywords: building technologies, LCA uncertainty, Eco-indicator 99, two-stage nested mixed ANOVA test

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Ian Walsh, Terry Nguyen-Khuong, Christopher H. Taron, Pauline M. Rudd

Abstract:

Glycoproteins and their covalently bonded glycans play critical roles in the immune system, cell communication, disease and disease prognosis. Ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry is conventionally used to qualitatively and quantitatively characterise glycan structures in a given sample. Exoglycosidases are enzymes that catalyze sequential removal of monosaccharides from the non-reducing end of glycans. They naturally have specificity for a particular type of sugar, its stereochemistry (α or β anomer) and its position of attachment to an adjacent sugar on the glycan. Thus, monitoring the peak movements (both in the UPLC and MS1) after application of exoglycosidases provides a unique and effective way to annotate sugars with high detail - i.e. differentiating positional and linkage isomers. Manual annotation of an exoglycosidase experiment is difficult and time consuming. As such, with increasing sample complexity and the number of exoglycosidases, the analysis could result in manually interpreting hundreds of peak movements. Recently, we have implemented pattern recognition software for automated interpretation of UPLC-MS1 exoglycosidase digestions. In this work, we explain the software, indicate how much time it will save and provide example usage showing the annotation of positional and linkage isomers in Immunoglobulin G, apolipoprotein J, and simple glycan standards.

Keywords: bioinformatics, automated glycan assignment, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Fatemeh Deldarabdolmaleki, Nur Dalilah Dahlan, Farzad Hejazi

Abstract:

Human individual physiological and psycho-physical responses widely affect thermal comfort and preferences. They should be carefully researched to help improve the design and comfort of indoor environments. This paper aims to explore and test the degree and importance of individual physiological and psycho-physical differences, reviewing the most preferred, neutral, and comfortable temperature in previous studies conducted across the world. Basic individual physiological differences like gender, age, BMI and etc., have been the focus of this research. There is no unique consensus in the literature to date in regard to providing a universal thermal comfort formula that meets all individual physiological and psycho-physical needs. In order to achieve a balanced, thermally comfortable indoor environment, studying and evaluating individual needs in different parts of the world could be helpful. Even though personalized comfort systems in indoor environments sound promising, they might not be easily achieved in bigger office interiors, considering the cost and current open-plan office trends.

Keywords: thermal comfort, indoor environments, occupants' physiological response, occupants psycho-physical response

Procedia PDF Downloads 42