Search results for: complementary

Authors: Ahmed Kiani

Abstract:

The United Arab Emirates is clearly facing a multitude of challenges in curbing its greenhouse gas emissions to meet its pre-allotted framework of Kyoto protocol and COP21 targets due to its hunger for modernization, industrialization, infrastructure growth, soaring population and oil and gas activity. In this work, we focus on the bonafide zero emission electric vehicles market penetration in the country’s transport industry for emission reduction. We study the global electric vehicle market trends, the complementary battery technologies and the trends by manufacturers, emission standards across borders and prioritized advancements which will ultimately dictate the terms of future conditions for the United Arab Emirate transport industry. Based on our findings and analysis at every stage of current viability and state-of-transport-affairs, we postulate policy recommendations to local governmental entities from a supply and demand perspective covering aspects of technology, infrastructure requirements, change in power dynamics, end user incentives program, market regulators behavior and communications amongst key stakeholders. 

Keywords: electric vehicles, greenhouse gas emission reductions, market analysis, policy recommendations

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Authors: Sarah Mhae Diaz, Erika Anna De Leon, Jacklin Alwil Cartagena, Geordan Caruncong, Micah Riezl Gonzales

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This study examined the intervention of threat and surveillance on the obedience of 100 preschool children through a task variable experiment replicated from the previous studies of Higbee (1979), and Chua, J., Chua, M., & Pico (1983). Nowadays, obedience among Filipino children to authority is disregarded since they are more outspoken and rebel due to social influences. With this, aside from corporal punishment, threat and surveillance became a mean of inducing obedience. Threat, according to the Dissonance Theory, can give attitudinal change. On the other hand, surveillance, according to the Theory of Social Facilitation, can either contribute to the completion or failure to do a task. Through a 2x2 factorial design, results show; (1) threat (F(1,96) = 12.487, p < 0.05) and (2) surveillance (F(1,96)=9.942, p<.05) had a significant main effect on obedience, suggesting that the Dissonance Theory and Theory of Social Facilitation is respectively true in the study. On the other hand, (3) no interaction (F(1,96)=1.303, p > .05) was seen since threat and surveillance both have a main effect that could be positive or negative, or could be because of their complementary property as supported by the post-hoc results. Also, (4) most effective commanding style is threat and surveillance setting (M = 30.04, SD = 7.971) due to the significant main effect of the two variables. With this, in the Filipino Setting, threat and surveillance has proven to be a very effective strategy to discipline and induce obedience from a child.

Keywords: experimental study, obedience, preschool children, surveillance, threat

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Authors: Sarah Noaman

Abstract:

Utilizing renewable resources has become extensive solution for most problems in Egypt nowadays. It plays role in environmental issues such as energy crisis, lake of natural resources and climate change. This paper focuses on the importance of working with the key concepts of creating eco-friendly spaces in Egypt by using traditional perennial plants, such as Guadua bamboo as renewable resources in structures manufacture. Egypt is in critical need to search for alternative raw materials. Thus, this paper focuses on studying the usage of neglected yet affordable materials, such as Guadua bamboo in light weight structures and digital fabrication. Guadua bamboo has been cultivated throughout in tropical and subtropical areas. In Egypt, they exist in many rural areas where people try to control their growth by using pesticides as it serves no economic purpose. This paper aims to discuss the usage of Guadua bamboo either in its original state or after fabrication in the context of interior design and architecture. The results will show the applicability of using perennial plants as complementary materials in the manufacturing processes; also the conclusion will focus the lights on the importance of re-forming shallow water plants in interior design and architecture.

Keywords: digital fabrication, Guadua bamboo, zero-waste material, sustainable material, interior architecture

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Authors: Michinori Nakata, Hiroshi Sakai

Abstract:

A rough set, which consists of lower and upper approximations, is formulated in information tables containing possibilistic information. First, lower and upper approximations on the basis of possible world semantics in the same way as Lipski did in the field of incomplete databases are shown in order to clarify fundamentals of rough sets under possibilistic information. Possibility and necessity measures are used, as is done in possibilistic databases. As a result, each object has certain and possible membership degrees to lower and upper approximations, which degrees are the lower and upper bounds. Therefore, the degree that the object belongs to lower and upper approximations is expressed by an interval value. And the complementary property linked with the lower and upper approximations holds, as is valid under complete information. Second, the approach based on indiscernibility relations, which is proposed by Dubois and Prade, are extended in three cases. The first case is that objects used to approximate a set of objects are characterized by possibilistic information. The second case is that objects used to approximate a set of objects with possibilistic information are characterized by complete information. The third case is that objects that are characterized by possibilistic information approximate a set of objects with possibilistic information. The extended approach create the same results as the approach based on possible world semantics. This justifies our extension.

Keywords: rough sets, possibilistic information, possible world semantics, indiscernibility relations, lower approximations, upper approximations

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Authors: Farah Naja, Romy Abi Fadel, Yasmin Aridi, Aya Zarif, Dania Hariri, Mohammad Alameddine, Anas Mugharbel, Maya Khalil, Zeina Nahleh, Arafat Tfayli

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The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence and determinants of CAM use among breast cancer patients in Beirut, Lebanon. A secondary objective is to evaluate the association between CAM use and quality of life (QOL). A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 180 breast cancer patients recruited from two major referral centers in Beirut. In a face to face interview, participants completed a questionnaire comprised of three sections: socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, breast cancer condition, and CAM use. The assessment of QOL was carried using the FACT-B Arabic version. Prevalence of CAM use since diagnosis was 40%. CAM use was negatively associated with age, treatment at a philanthropic hospital and positively associated with having an advanced stage of disease. The most commonly used CAM was ‘Special food’ followed by ‘Herbal teas’. Only 4% of CAM users cited health care professionals as influencing their choice of CAM. One in four patients disclosed CAM use to their treating physician. There was no significant association between CAM use and QOL. The use of CAM therapies among breast cancer patients is prevalent in Lebanon. Efforts should be dedicated at educating physicians to discuss CAM use with their patients and advising patients to disclose of their use with their physicians.

Keywords: breast cancer , complementary medicine, alternative medicine, lebanon , quality of life

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Authors: Pejman Hosseinioun, Abolghasem Ghasempour, Elham Gholami, Hamed Sarbazi

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Considering the development in global semiconductor technology, it is anticipated that gadgets such as diodes and resonant transistor tunnels (RTD/RTT), Single electron transistors (SET) and quantum cellular automata (QCA) will substitute CMOS (Complementary Metallic Oxide Semiconductor) gadgets in many applications. Unfortunately, these new technologies cannot disembark the common Boolean logic efficiently and are only appropriate for liminal logic. Therefor there is no doubt that with the development of these new gadgets it is necessary to find new MacDraw technologies which are compatible with them. Resonant transistor tunnels (RTD/RTT) and circuit MacDraw with enhanced computing abilities are candida for accumulating Nano criterion in the future. Quantum cellular automata (QCA) are also advent Nano technological gadgets for electrical circuits. Advantages of these gadgets such as higher speed, smaller dimensions, and lower consumption loss are of great consideration. QCA are basic gadgets in manufacturing gates, fuses and memories. Regarding the complex Nano criterion physical entity, circuit designers can focus on logical and constructional design to decrease complication in MacDraw. Moreover Single electron technology (SET) is another noteworthy gadget considered in Nano technology. This article is a survey in future of Nano technology in digital MacDraw.

Keywords: nano technology, resonant transistor tunnels, quantum cellular automata, semiconductor

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Authors: Farah Naja, Romy Abi Fadel, Yasmin Aridi, Aya Zarif, Dania Hariri, Mohammad Alameddine, Anas Mugharbel, Maya Khalil, Zeina Nahleh, Arafat Tfayli

Abstract:

The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence and determinants of CAM use among breast cancer patients in Beirut, Lebanon. A secondary objective is to evaluate the association between CAM use and quality of life (QOL). A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 180 breast cancer patients recruited from two major referral centers in Beirut. In a face to face interview, participants completed a questionnaire comprised of three sections: socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, breast cancer condition, and CAM use. The assessment of QOL was carried using the FACT-B Arabic version. Prevalence of CAM use since diagnosis was 40%. CAM use was negatively associated with age, treatment at a philanthropic hospital and positively associated with having an advanced stage of disease. The most commonly used CAM was ‘Special food’ followed by ‘Herbal teas’. Only 4% of CAM users cited health care professionals as influencing their choice of CAM. One in four patients disclosed CAM use to their treating physician. There was no significant association between CAM use and QOL. The use of CAM therapies among breast cancer patients is prevalent in Lebanon. Efforts should be dedicated at educating physicians to discuss CAM use with their patients and advising patients to disclose of their use with their physicians.

Keywords: breast cancer, complementary and aLternative medicine, Lebanon, quality of life

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Authors: Harukuni Tokuda, Xu FengHao, Nobutaka Suzuki

Abstract:

As part of an ongoing our projects to investigate the anti-tumor promoring properties (chemopreventive potency) of Gromwell seed, dry powder materials and its active compounds were carried out through useful test systems. Gromwell seed (Coix lachryma-jobi seed) (GS) is a grass crop that has long been used and played a role in traditional medicine as a nourishing food, and for the treatment of various aliments, paticularly cancer. The application of a new screening procedure which utilizes the synergistic effect of short-chain fatty acids and phorbol esters in enable rapid and easy detection of naturally occurring substances(anti-tumor promoters chemo-preventive agents) with inhibition of Epstein-Barr virus(EBV) activation, using human lymphblastoid cells. In addition, we have now extended these investigations to a new tumorigenesis model in which we initiated the tumors with DMBA intiation and promoted with 1.7 nmol of TPA in two-stage mouse skin test and other models. these results provide a basis for further development of these botanical supplements for human cancer chemoprevention and observations seem that this materials more extensively as one of the trials for the purpose of complementary and alternative medicine.

Keywords: chemoprevention, medicinal plant, mouse, carcinogenesis systems

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Authors: Vajhollah Ghorbanizadeh, Seyed Mohsen Asadi, Mirali Seyednaghavi, Davoud Hoseynpour

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In the current era, all organizations need knowledge to be able to manage the diverse human resources. Creative, dynamic and knowledge-based Human resources are important competitive advantage and the scarcest resource in today's knowledge-based economy. In addition managers with skills of knowledge management must be aware of human resource management science. It is now generally accepted that successful implementation of knowledge management requires dynamic interaction between knowledge management and human resource management. This is emphasized at systematic approach to knowledge management as well. However human resource management can be complementary of knowledge management because human resources management with the aim of empowering human resources as the key resource organizations in the 21st century, the use of other resources, creating and growing and developing today. Thus, knowledge is the major capital of every organization which is introduced through the process of knowledge management. In this context, knowledge management is systematic approach to create, receive, organize, access, and use of knowledge and learning in the organization. This article aims to define and explain the concepts of knowledge management and human resource management and the importance of these processes and concepts. Literature related to knowledge management and human resource management as well as related topics were studied, then to design, illustrate and provide a theoretical model to explain the factors affecting the relationship between knowledge management and human resource management and knowledge management system approach, for schematic design and are drawn.

Keywords: systemic approach, human resources, knowledge, human resources management, knowledge management

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Authors: Youngsub Oh, Youngsoon Kim

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As the second largest group among international marriages in Korea, Vietnamese married immigrant women have been exposed to psychological crisis like divorce and family violence. The purpose of this study is to understand how to counsel those women from the perspective of indigenous healing as their own psychological problem-solving way. To this end, this study reviewed Vietnamese cultural literatures on their mentality as well as Vietnamese medical literatures on indigenous healing. The research results are as follows: First, cultural foundations that have formed Vietnamese mentality are Confucian value system, reserved communication, and religious pluralism. These cultural backgrounds play an important role in understanding their own therapeutic tradition. Second, Vietnamese indigenous healing considers cause of mental disease as a collapse of balance between mind and body and environment. Thus, indigenous treatment deals with psychological problems through a recovery of the balance from the holistic perspective. In fact, indigenous healing has been actively practiced in everyday place as well as hospital until today. The implications of Vietnamese indigenous healing for multicultural counseling in Korea are as follows: First, Korean counselors need to interactively understand their own assumptions on indigenous healing as well as counselees’ own assumptions. Second, a variety of psychological intervention strategies can be drawn from Vietnamese indigenous healing. Third, indigenous healing needs to be integrated with modern techniques of counseling and psychotherapy, as both treatments are not mutually exclusive but complementary.

Keywords: indigenous healing, Korea, multicultural counseling, Vietnamese married immigrant women

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Authors: Dalia. G. Aseel, E. E. Hafez, S. M. Hammad

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Viral RNAs of both potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) and potato virus Y (PVY) were extracted from infected potato leaves collected from different Egyptian regions. Differential Display Polymerase Chain Reaction (DD-PCR) using (Endogluconase, β-1,3-glucanases, Chitinase, Peroxidase and Polyphenol oxidase) primers (forward strand) for was performed. The obtained data revealed different banding patterns depending on the viral type and the region of infection. Regarding PLRV, a 58 up regulated and 19 down regulated genes were detected, while, 31 up regulated and 14 down regulated genes were observed in case of PVY. Based on the nucleotide sequencing, variable phylogenetic relationships were reported for the three sequenced genes coding for: Induced stolen tip protein, Disease resistance RPP-like protein and non-specific lipid-transfer protein. In a complementary approach, using the quantitative Real-time PCR, the expressions of PRs genes understudy were estimated in the infected leaves by PLRV and PVY of three potato cultivars (Spunta, Diamont and Cara). The infection with both viruses inhibited the expressions of the five PRs genes. On the contrary, infected leaves by PLRV or PVY elevated the expression of some defense genes. This interaction also may be enhanced and/or inhibited the expression of some genes responsible for the plant defense mechanisms.

Keywords: PLRV, PVY, PR genes, DD-PCR, qRT-PCR, sequencing

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Authors: Mohamed Aniss El-Gamal

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For decades, the Global South has been facing many challenges in the fields of heritage conservation and local development. These challenges continue to increase due to rapid urbanization in historical cities, thus resulting in complicated juxtaposed contexts of heritage resources and deteriorated dwellings, where slum areas are dotted with heritage structures. While the majority of cases show the incapacity of national and local governments to deal with such contexts, few others managed to demonstrate how different levels of government can play complementary roles in the cooperation with local and international institutions as well as involving local community to achieve an integrated strategy and overcome the challenge. This paper discusses heritage conservation and local development strategies in reference to a number of case studies in cities of the Global south, i.e. Porto Alegre, Agra, Cairo and Mumbai. It further investigates main key aspects of success and failure through cross case studies analysis (Matrix). This study could help create a delineation of an integrated strategy for undertaking future interventions in similar contexts. Integrated strategies are needed to overcome the gap between heritage conservation and local development, maintaining the value of heritage structures and ensuring the quality of life for communities residing in its surroundings.

Keywords: heritage conservation, local development, the global south, regional development

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Authors: Thomas C. Nash

Abstract:

New Zealand has a small, yet racially diverse, population of only 4.6 million people, consisting of a majority European immigrant population and a large indigenous Maori population. Because disparities in healthcare often exist among minority populations, it could be expected that the White and Maori populations of New Zealand would have unequal access to healthcare. In order to understand the ways these disparities may present themselves, it became important to travel to New Zealand in order to interview both Western and natural healthcare professionals, public health officials, health activists and Maori people. In observing the various mechanisms within the New Zealand healthcare system, some stand out as effective ways of alleviating the racial disparities often seen in healthcare. These include the efficiency of regional District Health Boards, the benefits of individuals making decisions regarding their treatment plans and the importance of cohesion among the Maori and White populations. In forming a conclusion around these observations, it is evident that the integration of Maori culture into contemporary New Zealand has benefited the healthcare system. This unity has generated support for non-Western medical treatments, in turn forming a healthcare system that creates low barriers to entry for non-traditional forms of healthcare. These low barriers allow individuals to allocate available healthcare resources in ways that are most beneficial for them and are consistent with their tastes and preferences, maximizing efficiency.

Keywords: alternative and complementary healthcare, low barriers to entry, Maori populations, racial cohesion

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Authors: Zixian Zhang, Shanliang Yao, Zile Huang, Zhaodong Wu, Xiaohui Zhu, Yong Yue, Jieming Ma

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Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) are valuable due to their ability to perform dangerous and time-consuming tasks on the water. Object detection tasks are significant in these applications. However, inherent challenges, such as the complex distribution of obstacles, reflections from shore structures, water surface fog, etc., hinder the performance of object detection of USVs. To address these problems, this paper provides a fusion method for USVs to effectively detect objects in the inland surface environment, utilizing vision sensors and 3+1D Millimeter-wave radar. MMW radar is complementary to vision sensors, providing robust environmental information. The radar 3D point cloud is transferred to 2D radar pseudo image to unify radar and vision information format by utilizing the point transformer. We propose a multi-source object detection network (RV-YOLOX )based on radar-vision fusion for inland waterways environment. The performance is evaluated on our self-recording waterways dataset. Compared with the YOLOX network, our fusion network significantly improves detection accuracy, especially for objects with bad light conditions.

Keywords: inland waterways, YOLO, sensor fusion, self-attention

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Authors: Ruoya Huang, Ruoxian Huang, Edgar Huang

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Based on a convenience sample of 2,092 participants from across all 50 states of the United States, a survey was conducted to explore Americans’ mask-wearing behaviors during COVID-19 according to their political convictions, religious beliefs, and ethnic cultures from late July to early September, 2020. The purpose of the study is to provide evidential support for government policymaking so as to drive up more effective public policies by taking into consideration the variance in these social factors. It was found that the respondents’ party affiliation or preference, religious belief, and ethnicity, in addition to their health condition, gender, level of concern of contracting COVID-19, all affected their mask-wearing habits both in March, the initial coronavirus outbreak stage, and in August, when mask-wearing had been made mandatory by state governments. The study concludes that pandemic awareness campaigns must be run among all citizens, especially among African Americans, Muslims, and Republicans, who have the lowest rates of wearing masks, in order to protect themselves and others. It is recommended that complementary cognitive bias awareness programs should be implemented in non-Black and non-Muslim communities to eliminate social concerns that deter them from wearing masks.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, ethnicity, mask-wearing, policymaking implications, political affiliations, religious beliefs, United States

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Authors: Jessica Chakowa

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Learning a foreign language requires practice that needs to be undertaken beyond the classroom. Nowadays, learners can find a lot of resources online, but it can be challenging for them to find suitable material, receive timely and effective feedback on their progress, and, more importantly practice the target language with native speakers. This paper focuses on the development of interactive activities combined with online tutoring sessions to consolidate and enhance the learning experience of beginner students of French at * University. This project is based on collaboration with four pre-service teachers from a French university. It calls for authentic language learning material, real-life situations, cultural awareness, and aims for the sustainability of learning and teaching. The paper will first present the design of the project as part of a holistic approach. It will then provide some examples of activities before commenting on the learners and the teachers’ experiences based on quantitative and qualitative data obtained through activity reports, surveys and focus groups. The main findings of the study lie in the tension between the willingness to achieve pedagogical goals and to be involved in authentic interactions, highlighting the complementary between the role of the learner and the role of teacher. The paper will conclude on benefits, challenges and recommendations when implementing such educational projects.

Keywords: authenticity, language teaching and learning, online interaction, sustainability

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Authors: Haidong Li, Weishou Shen, Guoping Lv, Tao Wang

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Aiming to overcome the limitation of the application of traditional remote sensing (RS) technique in the mine eco-environmental monitoring, in this paper, we first classified the eco-environmental damages caused by mining activities and then introduced the principle, classification and characteristics of the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technique. The potentiality of LiDAR technique in the mine eco-environmental monitoring was analyzed, particularly in extracting vertical structure parameters of vegetation, through comparing the feasibility and applicability of traditional RS method and LiDAR technique in monitoring different types of indicators. The application situation of LiDAR technique in extracting typical mine indicators, such as land destruction in mining areas, damage of ecological integrity and natural soil erosion. The result showed that the LiDAR technique has the ability to monitor most of the mine eco-environmental indicators, and exhibited higher accuracy comparing with traditional RS technique, specifically speaking, the applicability of LiDAR technique on each indicator depends on the accuracy requirement of mine eco-environmental monitoring. In the item of large mine, LiDAR three-dimensional point cloud data not only could be used as the complementary data source of optical RS, Airborne/Satellite LiDAR could also fulfill the demand of extracting vertical structure parameters of vegetation in large areas.

Keywords: LiDAR, mine, ecological damage, monitoring, traditional remote sensing technique

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Authors: Anindita Roy

Abstract:

This paper offers a queer reading of the myth of Mohini and Ardhanarishvara in Indian mythology to explore the transformative capacity of gender performativity with a view to focusing on the notion of female and male as harmonious contributors in culture and nature. The qualitative study of these two narratives ponders on the issues of dualism in Indian mythology. These myths approach different queer experiences in different ways - the first, an incarnation of Vishnu into Mohini by body swapping and the latter, the myth of Ardhanarishvara in which one sacred body upholds two different biological identities together- male and female. Emphasizing on the transformation of sex, the present paper re-reads how these queer-transformations can become transformative in the society. The study is explained in three parts. The first one focuses on the two select myths to explore the idea of gender as performance and the concept of queer ecofeminism where nature/culture, heterosexuality/queer female/male dualism exist in a paradigm. The second segment analyzes whether these myths destabilize or promote the access of queer and the experience of ‘other’ in the society and resistance against domination. The third section inquires to rethink the whole world about the value and hierarchy of men over women, heterosexuality over queer, culture over nature to call for a recovery of the female/male, nature/culture principles as complementary. What the paper intends to investigate is if and how gender transformations in religious myths have the capacity to transform personal and social notions and practices of different hierarchies.

Keywords: dualism, Indian myth, queer, transformativity

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Authors: Tabiti S. Tabiti, A. M. Jinadu, Daramola Japheth

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Urban insecurity is among the challenges militating against sustainable urban governance; in the first place it distorts the peace of urban areas making them unsafe. On the other hand it hinders the effective performance of urban functions. Urban security challenges manifest in different forms such as, street violence, theft and robbery, accidents of different types kidnapping, killings etc.. Efforts to address urban security challenges in Nigeria have been concentrated in legislative, law enforcement and the use of community vigilante groups. However in this study, the place of physical planning strategy through effective neighbourhood renewal as practiced in Mokola is presented as an effective complementary approach for addressing urban insecurity. On this backdrop, the paper recommends the need for gradual rehabilitation of urban slum neighborhoods by the state government in collaboration with World Bank and other development financiers. The local governments should be made autonomy in Nigeria so as to make them more responsible to the people. Other recommendations suggested in the paper include creating enabling environment that will promote economic empowerment and public enlightment on personal and community sanitation. It is certain that if these recommendations are adopted the challenge of urban insecurity will reduce significantly in Nigerian cities.

Keywords: neighbourhood renewal, pilot project, slum upgrading, urban security

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Authors: Dai Yizheng, Chen-Yang Zhang

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As station-city integration has been widely accepted as a strategy for mixed-use development, a quantitative analysis of the functional characteristics of urban complexes based on station-city integration is urgently needed. Taking 15 railway stations in European, North American, and East Asian cities as the research objects, this study analyzes their functional proportion, functional positioning, and functional correlation with respect to four categories of functional facilities for both railway passenger flow and subway passenger flow. We found that (1) the functional proportion of urban complexes was mainly concentrated in three models: complementary, dominant, and equilibrium. (2) The mathematical model affected by the functional proportion was created to evaluate the functional positioning of an urban complex at three scales: station area, city, and region. (3) The strength of the correlation between the functional area and passenger flow was revealed via data analysis using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Finally, the findings of this study provide a valuable reference for research on similar topics in other countries that are developing station-city integration.

Keywords: urban complex, station-city integration, mixed-use, function, quantitative analysis

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Authors: Yannick Verbelen, Sam De Winne, Niek Blondeel, Ann Peeters, An Braeken, Abdellah Touhafi

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The growing popularity of solid state thermoelectric devices in cooling applications has sparked an increasing diversity of thermoelectric coolers (TECs) on the market, commonly known as “Peltier modules”. They can also be used as generators, converting a temperature difference into electric power, and opportunities are plentiful to make use of these devices as thermoelectric generators (TEGs) to supply energy to low power, autonomous embedded electronic applications. Their adoption as energy harvesters in this new domain of usage is obstructed by the complex thermoelectric models commonly associated with TEGs. Low cost TECs for the consumer market lack the required parameters to use the models because they are not intended for this mode of operation, thereby urging an alternative method to obtain electric power estimations in specific operating conditions. The design of the test setup implemented in this paper is specifically targeted at benchmarking commercial, off-the-shelf TECs for use as energy harvesters in domestic environments: applications with limited temperature differences and space available. The usefulness is demonstrated by testing and comparing single and multi stage TECs with different sizes. The effect of a boost converter stage on the thermoelectric end-to-end efficiency is also discussed.

Keywords: thermoelectric cooler, TEC, complementary balanced energy harvesting, step-up converter, DC/DC converter, energy harvesting, thermal harvesting

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Authors: M. Gholinjad Kordan, M. Ghasemi, S. Fazelifar

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Aim: liver plays a role in an astounding number of bodily functions: it helps with blood sugar regulation; metabolizes hormones; and traps and breaks down bacteria and toxins. Unfortunately, bodily demands can overwhelm your liver. Massage therapy can help by restoring healthy circulation and speeding the elimination of toxins. Apium graveolens has antioxidant property because of its flavonoid compounds. The purpose of this study was to determine Effect of massage and graveolens consumption on liver markers in women. Methodology: forty non-athlete male students were randomly divided into four groups: 1-control, 2-massage, 3-massage and graveolens and 4-graveolens. Amount of 5cc Blood sampling were obtained pre-test and post-test (after 12 weeks). Subjects received Russian massage for 8 weeks and 3 days a week for 20 minutes. Also, Complementary groups received the capsule supplement of graveolens after eating for twelve weeks and three times a day. Data was analyzed with One way ANOVA and tukey in p < 0/05. Results: Based on research findings, twelve weeks massage and graveolens consumption lead to a significant decrease in enzymes activity of ALT, AST and ALP in sedentary women. Conclusion: Results of This study shows that massage or graveolens consumption and especially combination of both can be used as desirable threpatic method in order to reduce or improve symptoms caused by excess weight, especially the liver damage.

Keywords: massage, graveolens, liver markers, sedentary women

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Authors: Mohammad Sohail Yunis, Hina Hashim, Alistair R. Anderson

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Entrepreneurship is gendered with masculine qualities, yet social enterprise epitomizes caring a feminine quality. However enterprising practices may have little to do with gender. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to examine practices using two very different explanatory theories, feminist and institutional theory, to establish the role played by gender. This study is situated in KP, the poor but traditional north of Pakistan. Utilising on an interpretive qualitative research approach, this research collected data through in-depth interviews with ten women social entrepreneurs of KP, Pakistan and analyzed using thematic analysis. Empirically, this paper identifies and describes on a number of interesting themes that relate to the women entrepreneurship such as 'women empowerment, patriarchal culture, role of culture and societal norms, religious extremism and terrorism, forced entrepreneurs, change creators, institutional corruption, and security issues'. In addition, female social enterprise in KP is set in a patriarchal, masculine culture, but the practices negotiate institutional obstacles to bring benefits to the disenfranchised. Finally, this research claims to present an original insight into female social entrepreneurship in a developing country context and provide fresh theoretical and empirical perspectives to advance knowledge and scholarship.

Keywords: female social entrepreneurship, institutional theory, feminist theory, developing countries

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Authors: John G. Vongas, Raghid Al Hajj

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In recent years, there has been a surge in research on empathy across disciplines ranging from management and psychology to philosophy and neuroscience. In organizational behavior, in particular, scholars have become interested in leader empathy given the rise of workplace diversity and the growing perception of leaders as managers of group emotions. It would appear that the current zeitgeist in behavioral and philosophical science is that empathy is a cornerstone of morality and that our world would be better off if only more people – and by extension, more leaders – were empathic. In spite of these claims, however, researchers have used different terminologies to explore empathy, confusing it at times with other related constructs such as emotional intelligence and compassion. Second, extant research that specifies what empathic leaders do and how their behavior affects organizational stakeholders, including themselves, does not devolve from a unifying theoretical framework. These problems plague knowledge development in this important research domain. Therefore, to the authors' best knowledge, this paper provides the first comprehensive review and synthesis of the literature on leader empathy by drawing on disparate yet complementary fields of inquiry. It clarifies empathy from other constructs and presents a theoretical model that elucidates the mechanisms by which a leader’s empathy translates into behaviors that could be either beneficial or harmful to the leaders themselves, as well as to their followers and groups. And third, it specifies the boundary conditions under which a leader’s empathy will become manifest. Finally, it suggests ways in which training could be implemented to improve empathy in practice while also remaining skeptical of its conceptualization as a moral or even effective guide in human affairs.

Keywords: compassion, empathy, leadership, group outcomes

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Authors: Ahmed Al Khamisi

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The Disaster Preparedness Standard (DPS) is one of the elements that is evaluated by the Accreditation Canada International (ACI). ACI emphasizes to train and educate all staff, including service providers and senior leaders, on emergency and disaster preparedness upon the orientation and annually thereafter. Lack of awareness and deficit of knowledge among the healthcare providers about DPS have been noticed in a tertiary hospital where ACI standards were implemented. Therefore, this paper aims to introduce a video-based e-learning (VB-EL) module that explains the hospital’s disaster plan in a simple language which will be easily accessible to all healthcare providers through the hospital’s website. The healthcare disaster preparedness coordinator in the targeted hospital will be responsible to ensure that VB-EL is ready by 25 April 2019. This module will be developed based on the Kirkpatrick evaluation method. In fact, VB-EL combines different data forms such as images, motion, sounds, text in a complementary fashion which will suit diverse learning styles and individual learning pace of healthcare providers. Moreover, the module can be adjusted easily than other tools to control the information that healthcare providers receive. It will enable healthcare providers to stop, rewind, fast-forward, and replay content as many times as needed. Some anticipated limitations in the development of this module include challenges of preparing VB-EL content and resistance from healthcare providers.

Keywords: Accreditation Canada International, Disaster Preparedness Standard, Kirkpatrick evaluation method, video-based e-learning

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Authors: Kittipong Tripetch, Nobuhiko Nakano

Abstract:

This paper proposes one stage and two stage CMOS Complementary Regulated Cascode Distributed Amplifier (CRCDA) design based on Inductive and Transformer coupling techniques. Usually, Distributed amplifier is based on inductor coupling between gate and gate of MOSFET and between drain and drain of MOSFET. But this paper propose some new idea, by coupling with differential primary windings of transformer between gate and gate of MOSFET first stage and second stage of regulated cascade amplifier and by coupling with differential secondary windings transformer of MOSFET between drain and drain of MOSFET first stage and second stage of regulated cascade amplifier. This paper also proposes polynomial modeling of Silicon Transformer passive equivalent circuit from Nanyang Technological University which is used to extract frequency response of transformer. Cadence simulation results are used to verify validity of transformer polynomial modeling which can be used to design distributed amplifier without Cadence. 4 parameters of scattering matrix of 2 port of the propose circuit is derived as a function of 4 parameters of impedance matrix.

Keywords: CMOS regulated cascode distributed amplifier, silicon transformer modeling with polynomial, low power consumption, distribute amplification technique

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Authors: Ivy Jumao-As, Randy Lupango, Clifford Villaflores, Marites Khanser

Abstract:

Alongside inadequate implementation of ecotourism standards and other pressing issues on sustainable development is the lack of business plans and formal business structures of various ecotourism sites in the Central Visayas, Philippines, and other parts of the country. Addressing these issues plays a key role to boost ecotourism which is a sustainability tool to the country’s economic development. A three-phase research is designed to investigate the green business practices of selected ecotourism sites in the region in order to propose a business model for ecotourism destinations in the region and outside. This paper reports the initial phase of the study which described the sites’ profile as well as operators of the following selected destinations: Cebu City Protected Landscape and Olango Island Wildlife Bird Sanctuary in Cebu, Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape in Bohol. Interview, Self-Administered Questionnaire with key informants and Data Mining were employed in the data collection. Findings highlighted similarities and differences in terms of eco-tourism products, type and number of visitors, manpower composition, cultural and natural resources, complementary services and products, awards and accreditation, peak and off peak seasons, among others. Recommendations based from common issues initially identified in this study are also highlighted.

Keywords: ecotourism, ecotourism sites, green business, sustainability

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Authors: Mahmoud Meckawey

Abstract:

This research is dealing with one of the most important aspects of maintenance fields, that is Maintenance Strategy. It's the branch which concerns the concepts and the schematic thoughts in how to manage maintenance and how to deal with the defects in the engineering products (buildings, machines, etc.) in general. Through the papers we will act with the followings: i) The Engineering Product & the Technical Systems: When we act with the maintenance process, in a strategic view, we act with an (engineering product) which consists of multi integrated systems. In fact, there is no engineering product with only one system. We will discuss and explain this topic, through which we will derivate a developed definition for the maintenance process. ii) The factors or basis of the functionality efficiency: That is the main factors affect the functional efficiency of the systems and the engineering products, then by this way we can give a technical definition of defects and how they occur. iii) The legality of occurrence of defects (Legal defects and Illegal defects): with which we assume that all the factors of the functionality efficiency been applied, and then we will discuss the results. iv) The Guarantee, the Functional Span Age and the Technical surplus concepts: In the complementation with the above topic, and associated with the Reliability theorems, where we act with the Probability of Failure state, with which we almost interest with the design stages, that is to check and adapt the design of the elements. But in Maintainability we act in a different way as we act with the actual state of the systems. So, we act with the rest of the story that means we have to act with the complementary part of the probability of failure term which refers to the actual surplus of the functionality for the systems.

Keywords: engineering product and technical systems, functional span age, legal and illegal defects, technical and functional surplus

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Authors: Achim Kampker, Kai Kreiskoether, Johannes Wagner, Sarah Fluchs

Abstract:

The growing speed of innovation in related industries requires the automotive industry to adapt and increase release frequencies of new vehicle derivatives which implies a significant reduction of investments per vehicle and ramp-up times. Emerging markets in various parts of the world augment the currently dominating established main automotive markets. Local content requirements such as import tariffs on final products impede the accessibility of these micro markets, which is why in the future market exploitation will not be driven by pure sales activities anymore but rather by setting up local assembly units. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the concept of decentralized assembly and to discuss and critically assess some currently researched and crucial approaches in production technology. In order to determine the scope in which complementary mobile assembly can be profitable for manufacturers, a general cost model is set up and each cost driver is assessed with respect to varying levels of decentralization. One main result of the paper is that the presented approaches offer huge cost-saving potentials and are thus critical for future production strategies. Nevertheless, they still need to be further exploited in order for decentralized assembly to be profitable for companies. The optimal level of decentralization must, however, be specifically determined in each case and cannot be defined in general.

Keywords: automotive assembly, e-mobility, production technology, release capability, small series assembly

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Authors: A. Aceranti, L. Moretti, S. Vernocchi, M. Colorato, P. Caristia

Abstract:

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the association between abdominal pain, abdominal distension and intestinal dysfunction for recurring periods. About 10% of the world's population has IBS at any given time in their life, and about 200 people per 100,000 receive an initial diagnosis of IBS each year. Persistent pain is recognized as one of the most pervasive and challenging problems facing the medical community today. Persistent pain is considered more as a complex pathophysiological, diagnostic and therapeutic situation rather than as a persistent symptom. The low efficiency of conventional drug treatments has led many doctors to become interested in the non-drug alternative treatment of IBS, especially for more severe cases. Patients and providers are often dissatisfied with the available drug remedies and often seek complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), a unique and holistic approach to treatment that is not a typical component of conventional medicine. Osteopathic treatment may be of specific interest in patients with IBS. Osteopathy is a complementary health approach that emphasizes the role of the musculoskeletal system in health and promotes optimal function of the body's tissues using a variety of manual techniques to improve body function. Osteopathy has been defined as a patient-centered health discipline based on the principles of interrelation between body structure and function, the body's innate capacity for self-healing and the adoption of a whole person health approach. mainly by practicing manual processing. Studies reported that osteopathic manual treatment (OMT) reduced IBS symptoms, such as abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, and improved general well-being. The focus in the treatment of IBS with osteopathy has gone beyond simple spinal alignment, to directly address the abnormal physiology of the body using a series of direct and indirect techniques. The topic of this study was chosen for different reasons: due to the large number of people involved who suffer from this disorder and for the dysfunction itself, since nowadays there is still little clarity about the best type of treatment and, above all, to its origin. The visceral component in the osteopathic field is still a world to be discovered, although it is related to a large part of patient series, it has contents that affect numerous disciplines and this makes it an enigma yet to be solved. The study originated in the didactic practice where the curiosity of a topic is marked that, even today, no one is able to explain and, above all, cure definitively. The main purpose of this study is to try to create a good basis on the osteopathic discipline for subsequent studies that can be exhaustive in the best possible way, resolving some doubts about which treatment modality can be used with more relevance. The path was decided to structure it in such a way that 3 types of osteopathic treatment are used on 3 groups of people who will be selected after completing a questionnaire, which will deem them suitable for the study. They will, in fact, be divided into three groups where: - the first group was given a visceral osteopathic treatment. - The second group was given a manual osteopathic treatment of neurological stimulation. - The third group received a placebo treatment. At the end of the treatment, questionnaires will be re-proposed respectively one week after the session and one month after the treatment from which any data will be collected that will demonstrate the effectiveness or otherwise of the treatment received. The sample of 50 patients examined underwent an oral interview to evaluate the inclusion and exclusion criteria to participate in the study. Of the 50 patients questioned, 17 people who underwent different osteopathic techniques were eligible for the study. Comparing the data related to the first assessment of tenderness and frequency of symptoms with the data related to the first follow-up shows a significant improvement in the score assigned to the different questions, especially in the neurogenic and visceral groups. We are aware of the fact that it is a study performed on a small sample of patients, and this is a penalizing factor. We remain, however, convinced that having obtained good results in terms of subjective improvement in the quality of life of the subjects, it would be very interesting to re-propose the study on a larger sample and fill the gaps.

Keywords: IBS, osteopathy, colon, intestinal inflammation

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