Search results for: urban management

Authors: Ahmadu Girgiri, Lawan Gana Ali, Mamman M. Baba

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Environmental security clearly articulates the perfections and developments of various communities around the world irrespective of the region, culture, religion or social inclination. Although, the present state of insecurity has become serious issue devastating the peace, unity, stability and progress of man and his physical environment particularly in developing countries. Recently, measure of security and it management in Nigeria has been a bottle-neck to the effectiveness and advancement of various sectors that include; business, education, social relations, politics and above all an economy. Several measures have been considered on mitigating environment insecurity such as surveillance, demarcation, security personnel empowerment and the likes, but still the issue remains disturbing. In this paper, we present the application of new technology that contributes to the improvement of security surveillance known as “Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)”. The system is new, smart and emerging technology that provides monitoring, detection and aggregation of information using sensor nodes and wireless network. WSN detects, monitors and stores information or activities in the deployed area such as schools, environment, business centers, public squares, industries, and outskirts and transmit to end users. This will reduce the cost of security funding and eases security surveillance depending on the nature and the requirement of the deployment.

Keywords: application, environment, insecurity, sensor, wireless sensor network

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Authors: Zakheleni P. Dube, Phatu W. Mashela

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The Curve-fitting Allelochemical Response Data (CARD) model had been adopted as a valuable tool in enhancing the understanding of the efficacy of cucurbitacin-containing phytonematicides on the suppression of nematodes. In most cases, for registration purposes, the active ingredients should be in purified form. Evidence in other phytonematicides suggested that purified active ingredients were less effective in suppression of nematodes. The objective of this study was to use CARD model to compare the overall sensitivities of Meloidogyne incognita J2 hatch, mobility and mortality to Nemarioc-AL phytonematicides, cucurbitacin A, Nemafric-BL phytonematicide and cucurbitacin B. Meloidogyne incognita eggs and J2 were exposed to 0.00, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50, 2.00, 2.50, 3.00, 3.50, 4.00, 4.50 and 5.00% of each phytonematicide, whereas in purified form the concentrations were 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25, 1.50, 1.75, 2.00, 2.25 and 2.50 μg.mL⁻¹. The exposure period to each concentration was 24-, 48- and 72-h. The overall sensitivities of J2 hatch to Nemarioc-AL phytonematicide, cucurbitacin A, Nemafric-BL phytonematicide and cucurbitacin B were 1, 30, 5 and 2 units, respectively, whereas J2 mobiltity were 3, 17, 3 and 6 units, respectively. For J2 mortality overall sensitivities to Nemarioc-AL phytonematicide, cucurbitacin A, Nemafric-BL phytonematicide and cucurbitacin B were 2, 4, 1 and 4 units, respectively. In conclusion, the two crude extracts, Nemarioc-AL and Nemafric-BL phytonematicides were generally more potent to M. incognita compared to their pure active ingredients. The crude plant extract preparation is easy, and they could be an ideal tactic for the management of nematodes in resource poor farming communities.

Keywords: Botanicals, cucumin, leptodermin, plant extracts, triterpenoids

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Authors: Wid Kattan, Rahaf Albarraq

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Background: Tokophobia is a pathological fear of pregnancy that can lead to the avoidance of childbirth. It is classified as primary or secondary. This report describes a patient with tokophobia, as well as her presentation, risk factors, comorbidities, and treatment. Case Presentation: A 43-year-old Saudi woman experienced tokophobia upon becoming pregnant for the fifth time. She was assessed in two clinical interviews by a consultant psychiatrist specializing in women’s mental health. In addition, she completed several questionnaires for assessment of different aspects of her mental health: overall depression, perinatal depression, generalized anxiety, maternal functioning, and fear of childbirth (FOC). Several risk factors and comorbidities that may have contributed to the development of tokophobia in this patient were discussed, including traumatic experiences in previous deliveries, the unplanned nature of the pregnancy, perinatal depression, and pronounced symptoms of anxiety. A collaborative decision to perform a C-section was made, in line with obstetric guidelines and good mental health practice. Full symptomatic recovery was achieved immediately after delivery. Conclusions: We hope to increase clinical awareness of the assessment and management of tokophobia, which is a relatively new concept and, as yet, understudied.

Keywords: tokophobia, fear of childbirth, mental health, anxiety, case report, depression, fear of delivery, psychiatry, cesarean section, perinatal depression

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Authors: Dermot O'Brien, Vasileios Christaras, Georgios Fontaras, Igor Nai Fovino, Ioannis Kounelis

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With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, and blockchain (BC) technologies, vehicles are becoming ever increasingly connected and are already transmitting substantial amounts of data to the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) servers. This data could be used to help detect mileage fraud and enable more accurate vehicle emissions monitoring. This would not only help regulators but could enable applications such as permitting efficient drivers to pay less tax, geofencing for air quality improvement, as well as pollution tolling and trading platforms for transport-related businesses and EU citizens. Other applications could include traffic management and shared mobility systems. BC enables the transmission of data with additional security and removes single points of failure while maintaining data provenance, identity ownership, and the possibility to retain varying levels of privacy depending on the requirements of the applied use case. This research performs simulations of vehicles interacting with European member state authorities and European Commission BC nodes that are running hyperleger fabric and explores whether the technology is currently feasible for transport applications such as the emission monitoring use-case.

Keywords: future transportation systems, technological innovations, policy approaches for transportation future, economic and regulatory trends, blockchain

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Authors: Imed Mezghani, Yousra Ben Salah, Mohamed Chaieb

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Tricholaena teneriffae L. is a xerophytic perennial herb that belongs to the Poaceae family likely to be used for ecological restoration programs. It's a dominant and economically important species widely distributed in the Bou-Hedma National Park, Tunisia. Reintroduction and expansion of T. teneriffae depend solely on sexual reproduction. This makes the understanding of its germination requirements vital for conservation and management. To provide basic information for its conservation and reintroduction, we studied the influence of environmental factors on seed germination patterns. The germination responses of seeds were determined over a wide range of constant temperatures (15–35°C), polyethylene glycol solutions of different osmotic potentials (0 to −2 MPa) and salt solution (0 to 150 mM of NaCl). Results indicated that the optimum temperature germination was attained at 25°C which corresponds to temperatures prevailing during mid spring season in the Mediterranean area. Seeds germinated in Polyethylene Glycol solutions exhibited significantly lower germination than control especially when water potential fell below -0.6 MPa. Germination percentage and rate decreased with an increase NaCl concentration. Seeds germination was substantially delayed and reduced with an increase in NaCl to levels above 50 mM. T. teneriffae is moderately salt tolerant at germination stage.

Keywords: germination, temperature, Tricholaena teneriffae L., salt stress, water stress, rehabilitation

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Authors: Gupta Amit, Kumar Ramesh, P. C. Tewari

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Globalization is putting enormous pressure on the business organizations specially manufacturing one to rethink the supply chain in innovative manners. Inventory consumes major portion of total sale revenue. Effective and efficient inventory management plays a vital role for the successful functioning of any organization. Selection of inventory policy is one of the important purchasing activities. This paper focuses on selection and ranking of alternative inventory policies. A deterministic quantitative model-based on Distance Based Approach (DBA) method has been developed for evaluation and ranking of inventory policies. We have employed this concept first time for this type of the selection problem. Four inventory policies Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), Just in Time (JIT), Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and monthly policy are considered. Improper selection could affect a company’s competitiveness in terms of the productivity of its facilities and quality of its products. The ranking of inventory policies is a multi-criteria problem. There is a need to first identify the selection criteria and then processes the information with reference to relative importance of attributes for comparison. Criteria values for each inventory policy can be obtained either analytically or by using a simulation technique or they are linguistic subjective judgments defined by fuzzy sets, like, for example, the values of criteria. A methodology is developed and applied to rank the inventory policies.

Keywords: inventory policy, ranking, DBA, selection criteria

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Authors: Abdulrazaq O. Raji, Abba Mohammed, Ibrahim D. Mohammed

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This study was conducted to investigate foetal loss among slaughtered livestock species at the Maiduguri abattoir from 2009 to 2013. Record of animals slaughtered monthly and fetuses recovered were collected from the management of the Maiduguri abattoir. Data was subjected to Analysis of Variance using the General Linear Model of SPSS 13.0 with Season, Species and their interaction as fixed factors. Average yearly slaughter at the Maiduguri abattoir was 63,225 animals with cattle, camel, goat and sheep accounting for 19737, 7374, 19281 and 17540 of the total. The corresponding number of those pregnant were 3117, 839, 2281 and 2432 out of a total of 8522 animals. Thus, cattle, camel, goat and sheep accounted for 30.87, 11.53, 30.16 and 27.44%, respectively of the animals slaughtered at the Abattoir and 35.96, 9.68, 26.31 and 28.05% of the foetal loss. The effect of season and species on foetal loss was significant (P < 0.05). The number of pregnant animals slaughtered and foetal loss were higher during wet than dry season. Similarly, foetal loss at the abattoir was higher in the month of May in respect of camel, goat and sheep, and August for cattle. Camel was the least slaughtered animal and had the least number of pregnant females. Foetal loss (%) was higher (P < 0.05) for cattle compared to other species. The interaction showed that camel was the least slaughtered species in both seasons and cattle in the wet season had the highest foetal loss.

Keywords: abattoir, foetal loss, season, species

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Authors: Eulalia Torras, Andreu Bellot

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To know whether students’ achievements are the result of online interaction and not just a consequence of individual differences themselves, it seems essential to link the teaching presence and social presence to the types of knowledge built. The research aim is to analyze the social presence in relation to two types of knowledge, declarative and procedural. Qualitative methodology has been used. The analysis of the contents was based on an observation protocol that included community of enquiry indicators and procedural and declarative knowledge indicators. The research has been conducted in three phases that focused on an observational protocol and indicators, results and conclusions. Results show that the teaching-learning processes have been characterized by the patterns of presence and types of knowledge. Results also show the importance of social presence support provided by the teacher and the students, not only in regard to the nature of the instructional support but also concerning how it is presented to the student and the importance that is attributed to it in the teaching-learning process, that is, what it is that assistance is offered on. In this study, we find that the presence based on procedural guidelines and declarative reflection, the management of shared meaning on the basis of the skills and the evidence of these skills entail patterns of learning. Nevertheless, the importance that the teacher attributes to each support aspect has a bearing on the extent to which the students reflect more on the given task.

Keywords: education, online, teaching and learning processes, knowledge

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Authors: Hilary J. Watsilla, Narasimha R. Vajjhala

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has made information access easier and affordable. Academic research has also benefited from this, with online journals and academic resource readily available by the click of a button. However, there are limited ways of assessing and controlling the quality of the academic research mostly in public institution. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with a significant number of universities and young population. The quality of knowledge created by academic researchers, however, needs to be evaluated due to the high number of predatory journals published by academia. The purpose of this qualitative study is to look at the knowledge creation, acquisition, and assimilation process by academic researchers in public universities in Nigeria. Qualitative research will be carried out using in-depth interviews and observations. Academic researchers will be interviewed and absorptive capacity theory will be used as the theoretical framework to guide the research. The findings from this study should help understand the impact of ICT on the knowledge creation process in academic research and to understand how ICT can affect the quality of knowledge produced by researchers. The findings from this study should help add value to the existing body of knowledge on the quality of academic research, especially in Africa where there is limited availability of quality academic research. As this study is limited to Nigerian universities, the outcome may not be generalized to other developing countries.

Keywords: knowledge creation, academic research, university, information and communication technology

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Authors: Lormaine Anne Branzuela, Elysa Largo, Julie Marisol Pagalilauan, Neil Concibido, Monet Concepcion Detras

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Energy is a necessity both for the people and the country. The demand for energy is continually increasing, but the supply is not doing the same. The reopening of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in the Philippines has been circulating in the media for the current time. The general public has been hesitant in accepting the inclusion of nuclear energy in the Philippine energy mix due to perceived unsafe conditions of the plant. This study evaluated the possible operations of a nuclear power plant, which is of the same type as the BNPP, considering the safety of the workers, the public, and the environment using a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) method. What-If Technique was utilized to identify the hazards and consequences on the operations of the plant, together with the level of risk it entails. Through the brainstorming sessions of the PHA team, it was found that the most critical system on the plant is the primary system. Possible leakages on pipes and equipment due to weakened seals and welds and blockages on coolant path due to fouling were the most common scenarios identified, which further caused the most critical scenario – radioactive leak through sump contamination, nuclear meltdown, and equipment damage and explosion which could result to multiple injuries and fatalities, and environmental impacts.

Keywords: process safety management, process hazard analysis, what-If technique, nuclear power plant

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Authors: Stela Papa, Klementina Puto, Migena Pllaha

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HCV is a hepatotropic RNA virus, transmitted primarily via the blood route, which causes progressive disease such as chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, or hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV nowadays is a global healthcare problem. A variety of immunoassays including old and new technologies are being applied to detect HCV in our country. These methods include Immunochromatography assays (ICA), Fluorescence immunoassay (FIA), Enzyme linked fluorescent assay (ELFA), and Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect HCV antibodies in blood serum, which lately is being slowly replaced by more sensitive methods such as rapid automated analyzer chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA). The aim of this study is to estimate HCV infection in carriers and chronic acute patients and to evaluate the use of new diagnostic methods. This study was realized from September 2016 to May 2018. During this study period, 2913 patients were analyzed for the presence of HCV by taking samples from their blood serum. The immunoassays performed were ICA, FIA, ELFA, ELISA, and CLIA assays. Concluding, 82% of patients taken in this study, resulted infected with HCV. Diagnostic methods in clinical laboratories are crucial in the early stages of infection, in the management of chronic hepatitis and in the treatment of patients during their disease.

Keywords: CLIA, ELISA, Hepatitis C virus, immunoassay

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Authors: Suppawan Lertpongpakpoom, Anongnat Boonrat, Kunya BoontummoSuppawan

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This descriptive cost analysis aimed to analyze the unit cost of patients in medical intensive care unit. Purposive sampling was used to select 20 nurses, 6 practical nurses, 5 nurses aid and select samples 30 patients. Data were collected from both primary source (activity and average time of nursing care) and secondary source Z bill of payment and patient record). Instruments were cost recording form, activity observation form, and service recording form. Content validity of all instruments were evaluated by three experts (CVI = 0.87). Descriptive statistics was employed for data analysis. The results of the Activity-Based Costing Analysis showed that total activity cost of 4 service types for the patients was 14,776.92 Bath. The highest cost was nursing record was 5,674.78 Bath, followed direct nursing activity was 5,176.18 Bath, medical treatment was 1,976.6 Bath. The lowest cost was management activity was 1,003.64 Bath per visit. The result suggested that Activity-Base Costing Analysis could be applied to give better understanding of cost structure, enabling better consideration wasted expense and non-value-added activity, and improvement of effective utilization.

Keywords: activity-based costing, medical intensive care, nursing care, cost analysis

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Authors: Hassan Barau Singhry

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Purpose: Leadership or the absence of it is an important behaviour affecting employees’ job satisfaction. Although, there are many models of leadership, one that stands out in a period of change is the transformational behaviour. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of an organizational justice on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee job satisfaction. The study is based on the assumption that change begins with leaders and leaders should be fair and just. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey through structured questionnaire was employed to collect the data of this study. The population is selected the three tiers of government such as the local, state, and federal governments in Nigeria. The sampling method used in this research is stratified random sampling. 418 middle managers of public organizations respondents to the questionnaire. Multiple regression aided by structural equation modeling was employed to test 4 hypothesized relationships. Finding: The regression results support for the mediating role of organizational justice such as distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justice in the link between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. Originality/value: This study adds to the literature of human resource management by empirically validating and integrating transformational leadership behaviour with the four dimensions of organizational justice theory. The study is expected to be beneficial to the top and middle-level administrators as well as theory building and testing.

Keywords: distributive justice, job satisfaction, organizational justice, procedural justice, transformational leadership

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Authors: Panisa Panyalert

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This research presents the tourism industry at Nakhon Sawan province in an aspect of developing points of attractions and destinations. The author attempts to empirically analyze the tourist destination, Nakhon Sawan, by using components of the tourism inventory include: attraction, accessibility, accommodation and amenity. An understanding of existing tourism product is very important in order to find out strength and weakness by comparing with the nearby well-known tourist destination, Phitsanulok province. Moreover, the hypothetical evolution of a tourist area will be utilized as a framework for indicating stages of the destination in relation to number of tourists. The study uses secondary data of number of tourist arrivals in Nakhon Sawan from 2008 to 2013 receiving from National Statistical Office and Nakhon Sawan Provincial Administration Organization (NPAO) in order to find the stage of destination development, and an in-depth interview with several open-ended questions would be preferred in order to get deep details of necessary data by video recording with ten respondents. The findings are concentrated on potential places and sites, existing tourism product, strength and weakness, and positioning to assist the province to be the destination of tourists’ mind.

Keywords: destination development, destination management, tourism inventory, tourism product

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Authors: Ehsan A. Yahia, Ayman E. El-Sharkawey, Magda M. Bayoumi

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Background: Wound dressings perform a crucial role in cutaneous wound management due to their ability to protect wounds and promote dermal and epidermal tissue regeneration. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of using hydrogel/nano silver-based dressing vs. traditional dressing on diabetic foot wound healing. Methods: Sixty patients with type-2 diabetes hospitalized for diabetic foot wound treatment were recruited from selected Surgical departments. A prospective randomized control study was carried. Results: The results showed that the percentage of a reduction rate of the ulcer by the third week of the treatment in the hydrogel/nano silver-based dressing group was higher (15.11%) than in the traditional wound dressing group (33.44%). Moreover, the mean ulcer size "sq mm" in the hydrogel/nano silver-based dressing group recognized a faster healing rate (15.11±7.89) and considerably lesser in comparison to the traditional in the third week (21.65±8.4). Conclusion: The hydrogel/nanosilver-based dressing showed better results than traditional dressing in managing diabetic ulcer foot.

Keywords: diabetes, wound care, diabetic foot, wound dressing, hydrogel nanosilver

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Authors: Nadia Adnan, Muhammad Mohsin Raza, Latha Ravindran

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Based on the principles above, the study presents an economic model of food waste for consumers, intermediaries, and producers. We discriminate between purchasing and selling, purchases versus customers consumption, and gross output versus sales for each intermediary. To compensate for waste at each level of the supply chain, agents must charge higher sales prices. The research model can produce more accurate predictions about how actions (public regulations or private efforts) to reduce food waste impact markets, including indirect (cascading) effects. With a formal model, researchers demonstrate the uniqueness of these interaction effects and simulate an empirical model calibrated to market characteristics and waste rates in Saudi Arabia. Researchers demonstrate that the effects of waste reduction differ per commodity, depending on supply and demand elasticities, degree of openness to international commerce, and the beginning rates of food loss and waste at each level of the value chain. Because of the consequential effects related to the supply chain, initiatives to minimize food waste will be strengthened in some circumstances and partially countered in others.

Keywords: food loss, food waste, supply chain management, Saudi Arabia, food supply

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Authors: Masaumi Nakahara, Sou Watanabe, Hiromichi Ogi, Atsuhiro Shibata, Kazunori Nomura

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In the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, three types of experimental research, advanced reactor fuel reprocessing, radioactive waste disposal, and nuclear fuel cycle technology, have been carried out at the Chemical Processing Facility. The facility has generated high level radioactive liquid and solid wastes in hot cells. The high level radioactive solid waste is divided into three main categories, a flammable waste, a non-flammable waste, and a solid reagent waste. A plastic product is categorized into the flammable waste and molten with a heating mantle. The non-flammable waste is cut with a band saw machine for reducing the volume. Among the solid reagent waste, a used adsorbent after the experiments is heated, and an extractant is decomposed for its stabilization. All high level radioactive solid wastes in the hot cells are packed in a high level radioactive solid waste can. The high level radioactive solid waste can is transported to the 2nd High Active Solid Waste Storage in the Tokai Reprocessing Plant in the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

Keywords: high level radioactive solid waste, advanced reactor fuel reprocessing, radioactive waste disposal, nuclear fuel cycle technology

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Authors: Zhiwen Pan, Jesus Pacheco, Salim Hariri, Yiqiang Chen, Bozhi Liu

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The Internet of Things (IoT) will lead to the development of advanced Smart Home services that are pervasive, cost-effective, and can be accessed by home occupants from anywhere and at any time. However, advanced smart home applications will introduce grand security challenges due to the increase in the attack surface. Current approaches do not handle cybersecurity from a holistic point of view; hence, a systematic cybersecurity mechanism needs to be adopted when designing smart home applications. In this paper, we present a generic intrusion detection methodology to detect and mitigate the anomaly behaviors happened in Smart Home Systems (SHS). By utilizing our Smart Home Context Data Structure, the heterogeneous information and services acquired from SHS are mapped in context attributes which can describe the context of smart home operation precisely and accurately. Runtime models for describing usage patterns of home assets are developed based on characterization functions. A threat-aware action management methodology, used to efficiently mitigate anomaly behaviors, is proposed at the end. Our preliminary experimental results show that our methodology can be used to detect and mitigate known and unknown threats, as well as to protect SHS premises and services.

Keywords: Internet of Things, network security, context awareness, intrusion detection

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Authors: Wisit Wichitkosoom

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Objectives: To find out the more effect of early cardiologist consultation using a simple technology on the diagnosis and early proper management of patients with Non-STEMI at emergency department of district hospitals without cardiologist on site before transferred. Methods: A cohort study was performed in Udonthani general hospital at Udonthani province. From 1 October 2012–30 September 2013 with 892 patients diagnosed with Non-STEMI. All patients mean aged 46.8 years of age who had been transferred because of Non-STEMI diagnosed, over a 12 week period of studied. Patients whose transferred, in addition to receiving proper care, were offered a cardiologist consultation with average time to Udonthani hospital 1.5 hour. The main outcome measure was length of hospital stay, mortality at 3 months, inpatient investigation, and transfer rate to the higher facilitated hospital were also studied. Results: Hospital stay was significantly shorter for those didn’t consult cardiologist (hazard ratio 1.19; approximate 95% CI 1.001 to 1.251; p = 0.039). The 136 cases were transferred to higher facilitated hospital. No statistically significant in overall mortality between the groups (p=0.068). Conclusions: Early cardiologist consultant can reduce length of hospital stay for patients with cardiovascular conditions outside of cardiac center. The new basic technology can apply for the safety patient.

Keywords: critical, telemedicine, safety, non STEMI

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Authors: S. Damapong, C. Kingkeow, W. Kongnoo, P. Pattapokin, S. Pruenglamphu

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As the presence of Thai children double burden malnutrition, we conducted a project to promote holistic age-appropriate nutrition for Thai children. Researchers developed P1-P7 computer software for managing and analyzing diverse types of collected data. The study objectives were: i) to use software to manage and analyze the collected data, ii) to evaluate the children nutritional status and their caretakers’ nutrition practice to create regulations for improving nutrition. Data were collected by means of questionnaires, called P1-P7. P1, P2 and P5 were for children and caretakers, and others were for institutions. The children nutritional status, height-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-height standards were calculated using Thai child z-score references. Institution evaluations consisted of various standard regulations including the use of our software. The results showed that the software was used in 44 out of 118 communities (37.3%), 57 out of 240 child development centers and nurseries (23.8%), and 105 out of 152 schools (69.1%). No major problems have been reported with the software, although user efficiency can be increased further through additional training. As the result, the P1-P7 software was used to manage and analyze nutritional status, nutrition behavior, and environmental conditions, in order to conduct Thai Child Evaluation (TCE). The software was most widely used in schools. Some aspects of P1-P7’s questionnaires could be modified to increase ease of use and efficiency.

Keywords: P1-P7 software, Thai child evaluation, nutritional status, malnutrition

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Authors: Seyedeh Zahra Seyed Sharifi, M. R. M. Tabatabaei

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Due to increase of population and healthy food demand, management and conservation of water resources have become one of the main concerns of governments, scientists and economists. In recent years, Iran has exposed to water scarcity as a result of which its rivers, lakes and wetlands have dried up or are in the drying process. Therefore, water crisis has become the most important environmental issue in the country. Under these circumstances, increasing public awareness by promoting their culture as well as public collaboration to protect water resources could only be possible by making courses to reflect water importance. This could be approached by school and high-school students to learn optimum use of water resources. This study initially focuses on the current position of water courses in levels of school and high-school educations in Iran and Turkey and then deals with the challenges to be faced for the promotion of the system. The course titles and number of pages related to water in all primary and secondary textbooks of the education system of Iran and Turkey were determined using content analysis method and the results were presented. The results indicate that primary and secondary textbooks in both countries must focus on water shortage and water protection and teach children the optimum use of water in order to promote water protection.

Keywords: educational system, environmental awareness, Iran, Turkey, water crisis

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Authors: Abdulaziz Alkathiry

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Concussion is a common brain injury that affect physical and cognitive performance. While several studies indicated that adolescents are more likely to develop concussion, in the last decade concussion has been mainly explored in adults. Migraine has been identified as a common symptom reported after concussion and was tied with worse prognoses. Hence, we aimed to investigate the effect of migraine on functional performance and self-reported symptoms in children with concussion. This cross-sectional study involved 35 symptomatic children aged 9 – 17 years recruited within 1 year from their concussion injury at a tertiary balance center. Participants’ symptoms and functional performance were assessed using the post-concussion symptoms scale (PCSS) and the functional gait assessment (FGA) respectively. Concussed children with migraine showed significantly worse symptoms including fatigue, sleeping impairment, difficulty concentrating, and visual problems (P < 0.05). Functional performance didn’t show differences between concussed children with and without migraine. Although concussed children with and without migraine didn’t show any differences on functional performance, worse cognitive symptoms were found in concussed children with migraine. A customized treatment approach is indicated in the presence of migraine for the management of children with concussion. Keywords: Concussion; Migraine; Balance; Post-Concussion Symptoms Scale; Functional Gait Assessment

Keywords: concussion, migraine, post-concussion symptoms scale, functional gait assessment, balance

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Authors: Pranjali Avinash Yadav-Deshmukh

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Remarkable development of the Internet along with the new technological innovation, such as high-speed systems and affordable large storage space have led to a tremendous increase in the amount and accessibility to digital records. For any person, studying of all these data is tremendously time intensive, so there is a great need to access effective multi-document summarization (MDS) systems, which can successfully reduce details found in several records into a short, understandable summary or conclusion. For semantic representation of textual details in ontology area, as a theoretical design, our system provides a significant structure. The stability of using the ontology in fixing multi-document summarization problems in the sector of catastrophe control is finding its recommended design. Saliency ranking is usually allocated to each phrase and phrases are rated according to the ranking, then the top rated phrases are chosen as the conclusion. With regards to the conclusion quality, wide tests on a selection of media announcements are appropriate for “Jammu Kashmir Overflow in 2014” records. Ontology centered multi-document summarization methods using “NLP centered extraction” outshine other baselines. Our participation in recommended component is to implement the details removal methods (NLP) to enhance the results.

Keywords: disaster management, extraction technique, k-means, multi-document summarization, NLP, ontology, sentence extraction

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Authors: Gi-Ryun Park, Gye-Wan Moon, Dong-Hoon Yang

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This study aims to explore the positive effects of self-leadership and innovative behavior that'd been proven in the existing researches proactively and understand the regulation effects of smartphone addiction which has recently become an issue in Korea. This study conducted a convenient sampling of college students attending the four colleges located at Daegu. A total of 210 questionnaires in 5-point Likert scale were distributed to college students. Among which, a total of 200 questionnaires were collected for our final analysis data. Both correlation analysis and regression analysis were carried out to verify those questionnaires through SPSS 20.0. As a result, college students' self-leadership had a significantly positive impact on innovative behavior (B= .210, P= .003). In addition, it is found that the relationship between self-leadership and innovative behavior can be adjusted depending on the degree of smartphone addiction in college students (B= .264, P= .000). This study could first understand the negative effects of smartphone addiction and find that if students' self-leadership is improved in terms of self-management and unnecessary use of smartphone is controlled properly, innovative behavior can be improved. In addition, this study is significant in that it attempts to identify a new impact of smartphone addiction with the recent environmental changes, unlike the existing researches that'd been carried out from the perspective of organizational behavior theory.

Keywords: innovative behavior, revolutionary behavior, self-leadership, smartphone addiction

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Authors: Takele Nemomsa, Girma Mamo, Tesfaye Balemi

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Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g. using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or variance of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. In Ethiopia; Maize production in relation to climate change at regional and sub- regional scales have not been studied in detail. Thus, this study was aimed to analyse the impact of climate change on maize yield in Ambo Districts, Central Ethiopia. To this effect, weather data, soil data and maize experimental data for Arganne hybrid were used. APSIM software was used to investigate the response of maize (Zea mays) yield to different agronomic management practices using current and future (2020s–2080s) climate data. The climate change projections data which were downscaled using SDSM were used as input of climate data for the impact analysis. Compared to agronomic practices the impact of climate change on Arganne in Central Ethiopia is minute. However, within 2020s-2080s in Ambo area; the yield of Arganne hybrid is projected to reduce by 1.06% to 2.02%, and in 2050s it is projected to reduce by 1.56 While in 2080s; it is projected to increase by 1.03% to 2.07%. Thus, to adapt to the changing climate; farmers should consider increasing plant density and fertilizer rate per hectare.

Keywords: APSIM, downscaling, response, SDSM

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Authors: Fatemeh Nejati, Farah Habib, Sayeh Goudarzi

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Architecture and structure have always been closely interrelated so that they should be integrated into a unified, coherent and beautiful universe, while in the contemporary era, both structures and architecture proceed separately. The purpose of architecture is the art of creating form and space and order for human service, and the goal of the structural engineer is the transfer of loads to the structure, too. This research seeks to achieve the goal by looking at the relationship between the form of architecture and structure from its inception to the present day to the Global Identification and Management Plan. Finally, by identifying the main components of the design of the structure in interaction with the architectural form, an effective step is conducted in the Professional training direction and solutions to professionals. Therefore, after reviewing the evolution of structural and architectural coordination in various historical periods as well as how to reach the form of the structure in different times and places, components are required to test the components and present the final theory that one hundred to be tested in this regard. Finally, this research indicates the fact that the form of architecture and structure has an aesthetic link, which is influenced by a number of components that could be edited and has a regular order throughout history that could be regular. The research methodology is analytic, and it is comparative using analytical and matrix diagrams and diagrams and tools for conducting library research and interviewing.

Keywords: architecture, structural form, structural and architectural coordination, effective components, aesthetics

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Authors: K. Durairaj, I. N. Umar

Abstract:

The asynchronous discussion forum is one of the most widely used activities in learning management system environment. Online forum allows participants to interact, construct knowledge, and can be used to complement face to face sessions in blended learning courses. However, to what extent do the students perceive the benefits or advantages of forum remain to be seen. Through content and social network analyses, instructors will be able to gauge the students’ engagement and knowledge construction level. Thus, this study aims to analyze the students’ level of knowledge construction and their participation level that occur through online discussion. It also attempts to investigate the relationship between the level of knowledge construction and their social interaction patterns. The sample involves 23 students undertaking a master course in one public university in Malaysia. The asynchronous discussion forum was conducted for three weeks as part of the course requirement. The finding indicates that the level of knowledge construction is quite low. Also, the density value of 0.11 indicating that the overall communication among the participants in the forum is low. This study reveals that strong and significant correlations between SNA measures (in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality) and level of knowledge construction. Thus, allocating these active students in a different groups aids the interactive discussion takes place. Finally, based upon the findings, some recommendations to increase students’ level of knowledge construction and also for further research are proposed.

Keywords: asynchronous discussion forums, content analysis, knowledge construction, social network analysis

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Authors: Bing Li, Zhi Li, Yilong Yang

Abstract:

Web classification can promote the quality of service discovery and management in the service repository. It is widely used to locate developers desired services. Although traditional classification methods based on supervised learning models can achieve classification tasks, developers need to manually mark web services, and the quality of these tags may not be enough to establish an accurate classifier for service classification. With the doubling of the number of web services, the manual tagging method has become unrealistic. In recent years, the attention mechanism has made remarkable progress in the field of deep learning, and its huge potential has been fully demonstrated in various fields. This paper designs a multi-head attention graph convolutional network (MHAGCN) service classification method, which can assign different weights to the neighborhood nodes without complicated matrix operations or relying on understanding the entire graph structure. The framework combines the advantages of the attention mechanism and graph convolutional neural network. It can classify web services through automatic feature extraction. The comprehensive experimental results on a real dataset not only show the superior performance of the proposed model over the existing models but also demonstrate its potentially good interpretability for graph analysis.

Keywords: attention mechanism, graph convolutional network, interpretability, service classification, service discovery

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Authors: Tolga Aydin, M. Fatih Alaeddinoğlu

Abstract:

People, throughout the history, have made estimates and inferences about the future by using their past experiences. Developing information technologies and the improvements in the database management systems make it possible to extract useful information from knowledge in hand for the strategic decisions. Therefore, different methods have been developed. Data mining by association rules learning is one of such methods. Apriori algorithm, one of the well-known association rules learning algorithms, is not commonly used in spatio-temporal data sets. However, it is possible to embed time and space features into the data sets and make Apriori algorithm a suitable data mining technique for learning spatio-temporal association rules. Lake Van, the largest lake of Turkey, is a closed basin. This feature causes the volume of the lake to increase or decrease as a result of change in water amount it holds. In this study, evaporation, humidity, lake altitude, amount of rainfall and temperature parameters recorded in Lake Van region throughout the years are used by the Apriori algorithm and a spatio-temporal data mining application is developed to identify overflows and newly-formed soil regions (underflows) occurring in the coastal parts of Lake Van. Identifying possible reasons of overflows and underflows may be used to alert the experts to take precautions and make the necessary investments.

Keywords: apriori algorithm, association rules, data mining, spatio-temporal data

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Authors: Bousnane Nour El Houda, Chennaf Ali, Yahia Mouloud, Benbia Souhila

Abstract:

Male infertility or the inability of a man to procreate is a major public health problem, where it is a leading cause of marital discord in several countries such Algeria. The objective of this work is to study some biological profiles of infertile men from the city of Batna/Algeria and to identify the causes of infertility in a population of infertile males to improve its management and to establish a good therapeutic strategy through a study that lasted 10 months in the Department of Urology of the University Hospital of Banta and on a population of 140 infertile subjects. For every man, series of assessments was performed to determine the exact causes of infertility. We found 102 cases of primary infertility against 38 cases of secondary infertility; the average age of men was 39.7 years, with a predominance of the age group (46-50 years). 34.29% of subjects had genital infections against 17.14% with varicocele. 132 men presented spermiologiques abnormalities; a asthénospermie (AS) in 27.27% of the cases, astheno-terato spermiea (OATS) 11.36% while Azoospermes showed 5.07%. Genital infections are the main causes of infertility (34.29%) of the cases. The results of spermocytogramme showed a predominance of head abnormalities (41.70%), while the flagellum abnormalities presented 33.83%. The dosage of the seminal plasma carnitine showed no pathological cases, which makes it difficult to know their association with infertility. By against some disturbances Fructose and Zinc have been reported.

Keywords: male infertility, spermogramme, spermocytogramme, biological profils

Procedia PDF Downloads 288