Search results for: traditional values

Authors: Merve Gücen

Abstract:

One of the aims of education is to educate individuals who have embraced universal moral principles and transform universal moral principles into moral values. Character education aims to educate behaviors of individuals in their mental activities to transform moral principles into moral values in their lives. As the result of this education, individuals are expected to develop positive character traits and become morally indifferent individuals. What are the characteristics of the factors that influence character education at this stage? How should character education help individuals develop positive character traits? Which methods are more effective? These questions come to mind when studying character education. Our research was developed within the framework of these questions. The aim of our study is to provide the most effective use of the education factor that affects character. In this context, we tried to explain character definition, character development, character education and the factors affecting character education using qualitative research methods. At this stage, character education programs applied in various countries were examined and a character education program consisting of Islamic values was prepared and implemented in an International Imam Hatip High School in Istanbul. Our application was carried out with the collaboration of school and families. Various seminars were organized in the school and participation of families was ensured. In the last phase of our study, we worked with the students and their families on the effectiveness of the events held during the program. In this study, it was found that activities such as storytelling and theater in character education programs were effective in recognizing wrong behaviors in individuals. It was determined that our program had a positive effect on the quality of education. It was seen that applications of this educational program affected the behavior of the employees in the educational institution.

Keywords: Character development, values education, family activities, education program.

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Authors: Hany R. Ammar, Khalil A. Khalil, El-Sayed M. Sherif

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The current study investigated the influence of milling time and ball-to-powder (BPR) weight ratio on the microstructural constituents and mechanical properties of bulk nanocrystalline Al; Al-10%Cu; and Al-10%Cu-5%Ti alloys. Powder consolidation was carried out using a high frequency induction heat sintering where the processed metal powders were sintered into a dense and strong bulk material. The powders and the bulk samples were characterized using XRD and FEGSEM techniques. The mechanical properties were evaluated at various temperatures of 25°C, 100°C, 200°C, 300°C and 400°C to study the thermal stability of the processed alloys. The processed bulk nanocrystalline alloys displayed extremely high hardness values even at elevated temperatures. The Al-10%Cu-5%Ti alloy displayed the highest hardness values at room and elevated temperatures which are related to the presence of Ti-containing phases such as Al3Ti and AlCu2Ti. These phases are thermally stable and retain the high hardness values at elevated temperatures up to 400ºC.

Keywords: Nanocrystalline Aluminum Alloys, Mechanical Alloying, Sintering, Hardness, Thermal Stability.

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Authors: N. Arulanand, P. Dhara

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Optimizing the parameters in the controller plays a vital role in the control theory and its applications. Optimizing the PID parameters is finding out the best value from the feasible solutions. Finding the optimal value is an optimization problem. Inverted Pendulum is a very good platform for control engineers to verify and apply different logics in the field of control theory. It is necessary to find an optimization technique for the controller to tune the values automatically in order to minimize the error within the given bounds. In this paper, the algorithmic concepts of Harmony search (HS) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) have been analyzed for the given range of values. The experimental results show that HS performs well than GA.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Harmony Search Algorithm, Inverted Pendulum, PID Controller.

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Authors: Ali M. Jawarneh

Abstract:

Beam and diffuse radiation data are extracted analytically from previous measured data on a horizontal surface in Zarqa city. Moreover, radiation data on a tilted surfaces with different slopes have been derived and analyzed. These data are consisting of of beam contribution, diffuse contribution, and ground reflected contribution radiation. Hourly radiation data for horizontal surface possess the highest radiation values on June, and then the values decay as the slope increases and the sharp decreasing happened for vertical surface. The beam radiation on a horizontal surface owns the highest values comparing to diffuse radiation for all days of June. The total daily radiation on the tilted surface decreases with slopes. The beam radiation data also decays with slopes especially for vertical surface. Diffuse radiation slightly decreases with slopes with sharp decreases for vertical surface. The groundreflected radiation grows with slopes especially for vertical surface. It-s clear that in June the highest harvesting of solar energy occurred for horizontal surface, then the harvesting decreases as the slope increases.

Keywords: Beam and Diffuse Radiation, Zarqa City

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Authors: M. Mlhem

Abstract:

Geotechnical engineers face many problematic soils upon construction and they have the choice for replacing these soils with more appropriate soils or attempting to improve the engineering properties of the soil through a suitable soil stabilization technique. Mostly, improving soils is environmental, easier and more economical than other solutions. Stabilization soils technique is applied by introducing a cementing agent or by injecting a substance to fill the pore volume. Chemical stabilizers are divided into two groups: traditional agents such as cement or lime and non-traditional agents such as polymers. This paper studies the effect of epoxy additives on the compression strength of four types of soil and then compares with the effect of cement on the compression strength for the same soils. Overall, the epoxy additives are more effective in increasing the strength for different types of soils regardless its classification. On the other hand, there was no clear relation between studied parameters liquid limit, passing No.200, unit weight and between the strength of samples for different types of soils.

Keywords: Additives, clay, compression strength, epoxy, stabilization.

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Authors: Semeh Ben Salem, Sami Naouali, Moetez Sallami

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Clustering is a well known data mining technique used in pattern recognition and information retrieval. The initial dataset to be clustered can either contain categorical or numeric data. Each type of data has its own specific clustering algorithm. In this context, two algorithms are proposed: the k-means for clustering numeric datasets and the k-modes for categorical datasets. The main encountered problem in data mining applications is clustering categorical dataset so relevant in the datasets. One main issue to achieve the clustering process on categorical values is to transform the categorical attributes into numeric measures and directly apply the k-means algorithm instead the k-modes. In this paper, it is proposed to experiment an approach based on the previous issue by transforming the categorical values into numeric ones using the relative frequency of each modality in the attributes. The proposed approach is compared with a previously method based on transforming the categorical datasets into binary values. The scalability and accuracy of the two methods are experimented. The obtained results show that our proposed method outperforms the binary method in all cases.

Keywords: Clustering, k-means, categorical datasets, pattern recognition, unsupervised learning, knowledge discovery.

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Authors: Helene Le Cadre

Abstract:

Three service providers in competition, try to optimize their quality of service / content level and their service access price. But, they have to deal with uncertainty on the consumers- preferences. To reduce their uncertainty, they have the opportunity to buy information and to build alliances. We determine the Shapley value which is a fair way to allocate the grand coalition-s revenue between the service providers. Then, we identify the values of β (consumers- sensitivity coefficient to the quality of service / contents) for which allocating the grand coalition-s revenue using the Shapley value guarantees the system stability. For other values of β, we prove that it is possible for the regulator to impose a per-period interest rate maximizing the market coverage under equal allocation rules.

Keywords: Alliance, Shapley value, Stability, Repeated game, Interest rate.

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Authors: Viliam Makis, Farnoosh Naderkhani, Leila Jafari

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In this paper, we present a model and an algorithm for the calculation of the optimal control limit, average cost, sample size, and the sampling interval for an optimal Bayesian chart to control the proportion of defective items produced using a semi-Markov decision process approach. Traditional p-chart has been widely used for controlling the proportion of defectives in various kinds of production processes for many years. It is well known that traditional non-Bayesian charts are not optimal, but very few optimal Bayesian control charts have been developed in the literature, mostly considering finite horizon. The objective of this paper is to develop a fast computational algorithm to obtain the optimal parameters of a Bayesian p-chart. The decision problem is formulated in the partially observable framework and the developed algorithm is illustrated by a numerical example.

Keywords: Bayesian control chart, semi-Markov decision process, quality control, partially observable process.

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Authors: Pavlo Selyshchev

Abstract:

Irradiated material is a typical example of a complex system with nonlinear coupling between its elements. During irradiation the radiation damage is developed and this development has bifurcations and qualitatively different kinds of behavior. The accumulation of primary defects in irradiated crystals is considered in frame work of nonlinear evolution of complex system. The thermo-concentration nonlinear feedback is carried out as a mechanism of self-oscillation development. It is shown that there are two ways of the defect density evolution under stationary irradiation. The first is the accumulation of defects; defect density monotonically grows and tends to its stationary state for some system parameters. Another way that takes place for opportune parameters is the development of self-oscillations of the defect density. The stationary state, its stability and type are found. The bifurcation values of parameters (environment temperature, defect generation rate, etc.) are obtained. The frequency of the selfoscillation and the conditions of their development is found and rated. It is shown that defect density, heat fluxes and temperature during self-oscillations can reach much higher values than the expected steady-state values. It can lead to a change of typical operation and an accident, e.g. for nuclear equipment.

Keywords: Irradiation, Primary Defects, Solids, Self-oscillation.

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Authors: Ljubica Dokić, Ivana Nikolić, Dragana Šoronja–Simović, Biljana Pajin, Nils Juul

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In this work sensory characteristics of cookies with different amount of chestnut flour were determined by sensory and instrumental methods. The wheat flour for cookies was substituted with chestnut flour in three different levels (20, 40 and 60%) and the dough moisture was 22%. The control sample was with 100% of wheat flour. Sensory quality of the cookies was described using quantity descriptive method (QDA) by six trained members of descriptive panel. Instrumental evaluation included texture characterization by texture analyzer, the color measurements (CIE L*a*b* system) and determination by videometer.

The samples with 20% of chestnut flour were with highest ponderated score for overall sensory impression (17.6), which is very close to score for control sample (18). Increase in amount of chestnut flour caused decrease in scores for all sensory properties, thus overall sensory score decreased also. Compared to control sample and with increase in amount of chestnut flour, instrumental determination of the samples confirmed the sensory analysis results. The hardness of the cookies increased, as well as the values of red a^* and yellow (b*) component coordinate, but the values for lightness (L*) decreased. Also the values, evaluated by videometer at defined wavelength, were the highest for control cookies and decreased with increase in amount of chestnut flour.

Keywords: Cookies, chestnut flour, sensory characteristics.

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Authors: Masaaki Saito, Qin Tang, Hiroyuki Umemuro

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The purpose of this paper is to propose a text mining approach to evaluate companies- practices on affective management. Affective management argues that it is critical to take stakeholders- affects into consideration during decision-making process, along with the traditional numerical and rational indices. CSR reports published by companies were collected as source information. Indices were proposed based on the frequency and collocation of words relevant to affective management concept using text mining approach to analyze the text information of CSR reports. In addition, the relationships between the results obtained using proposed indices and traditional indicators of business performance were investigated using correlation analysis. Those correlations were also compared between manufacturing and non-manufacturing companies. The results of this study revealed the possibility to evaluate affective management practices of companies based on publicly available text documents.

Keywords: Affective management, Affect, Stakeholder, Text mining.

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Authors: Moses, G, Osinubi, K. J.

Abstract:

A laboratory study on the influence of compactive effort on expansive black cotton specimens treated with up to 8% ordinary Portland cement (OPC) admixed with up to 8% bagasse ash (BA) by dry weight of soil and compacted using the energies of the standard Proctor (SP), West African Standard (WAS) or “intermediate” and modified Proctor (MP) were undertaken. The expansive black cotton soil was classified as A-7-6 (16) or CL using the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Unified Soil Classification System (USCS), respectively. The 7day unconfined compressive strength (UCS) values of the natural soil for SP, WAS and MP compactive efforts are 286, 401 and 515kN/m2 respectively, while peak values of 1019, 1328 and 1420kN/m2 recorded at 8% OPC/ 6% BA, 8% OPC/ 2% BA and 6% OPC/ 4% BA treatments, respectively were less than the UCS value of 1710kN/m2 conventionally used as criterion for adequate cement stabilization. The soaked California bearing ratio (CBR) values of the OPC/BA stabilized soil increased with higher energy level from 2, 4 and 10% for the natural soil to Peak values of 55, 18 and 8% were recorded at 8% OPC/4% BA 8% OPC/2% BA and 8% OPC/4% BA, treatments when SP, WAS and MP compactive effort were used, respectively. The durability of specimens was determined by immersion in water. Soils treatment at 8% OPC/ 4% BA blend gave a value of 50% resistance to loss in strength value which is acceptable because of the harsh test condition of 7 days soaking period specimens were subjected instead of the 4 days soaking period that specified a minimum resistance to loss in strength of 80%. Finally An optimal blend of is 8% OPC/ 4% BA is recommended for treatment of expansive black cotton soil for use as a sub-base material.

Keywords: Bagasse ash, California bearing ratio, Compaction, Durability, Ordinary Portland cement, Unconfined compressive strength.

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Authors: Sirbu R., Negreanu-Pirjol T., Leca M., Bechir A., Maris M., Maris D.

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In the paper we presented the possibility of application collagen gels with active principle-s from marine algae extract and chlorhexidine salt in dental medicine. The hydro-alcoholic extracts from marine algae have been used as they have been obtained. The extracts from marine algae and chlorhexidine salt (digluconate) are incorporated in type I non-denatured fibrillar collagen matrixes. In order to obtain therapeutic effects at nanostructure level, it is important to know the rheological characteristics of the relevant mixtures of collagen gels and extracts from marine algae selected for use. In this survey we have studied mixtures made of non-denatured fibrillar collagen hydro-gels where different concentrations of marine algae have been incorporated. Based on the data obtained for the shearing tensions, we have traced the rheograms – the diagrams for shearing tensions depending on the shearing speed values – from which we have calculated the apparent viscosities as ratios between shearing tension and speed values, which have been figured in relation to the shearing speed values, with a view to levelling dependency.

Keywords: rheological properties, fibrillar collagen hydro-gel, marine algae, chlorhexidine salt, dental medicine

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Authors: Richardson M. Abraham-A., Colombo Celso Gaeta Tassinari

Abstract:

The correlation between Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and flow units have been carried out to predict and compare the carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage potential of the shale and carbonate rocks in Irati Formation of the Parana Basin. The equations for permeability (K), reservoir quality index (RQI) and flow zone indicator (FZI) are redefined and engaged to evaluate the flow units in both potential reservoir rocks. Shales show higher values of TOC compared to carbonates, as such,  porosity (Ф) is most likely to be higher in shales compared to carbonates. The increase in Ф corresponds to the increase in K (in both rocks). Nonetheless, at lower values of Ф, K is higher in carbonates compared to shales. This shows that at lower values of TOC in carbonates, Ф is low, yet, K is likely to be high compared to shale. In the same vein, at higher values of TOC in shales, Ф is high, yet, K is expected to be low compared to carbonates.  Overall, the flow unit factors (RQI and FZI) are better in the carbonates compared to the shales. Moreso, within the study location,  there are some portions where the thicknesses of the carbonate units are higher compared to the shale units. Most parts of the carbonate strata in the study location are fractured in situ, hence,  this could provide easy access for the storage of CO₂. Therefore, based on these points and the disparities between the flow units in the evaluated rock types, the carbonate units are expected to show better potentials for the storage of CO₂. The shale units may be considered as potential cap rocks or seals.

Keywords: Total organic carbon, flow units, carbon dioxide storage.

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Authors: Hossein Mohammadzadeh, Mojtaba Heydarizad

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Among various water resources, the surface water has a dominant role in providing water supply in the arid and semi-arid region of Iran. Andarokh-Kardeh basin is located in 50 km from Mashhad city - the second biggest city of Iran (NE of Iran), draining by Kardeh river which provides a significant portion of potable and irrigation water needs for Mashhad. The stable isotopes (¹⁸O, ²H,¹³C-DIC, and ¹³C-DOC), as reliable and precious water fingerprints, have been measured in Kardeh river (Kharket, Mareshk, Jong, All and Kardeh stations) and in Kardeh dam reservoirs (at five different sites S1 to S5) during March to June 2011 and June 2012. On δ¹⁸O vs. δ²H diagram, the river samples were plotted between Global and Eastern Mediterranean Meteoric Water lines (GMWL and EMMWL) which demonstrate that various moisture sources are providing humidity for precipitation events in this area. The enriched δ¹⁸O and δ²H values (-6.5 ‰ and -44.5 ‰ VSMOW) of Kardeh dam reservoir are compared to Kardeh river (-8.6‰and-54.4‰), and its deviation from Mashhad meteoric water line (MMWL- δ²H=7.16δ¹⁸O+11.22) is due to evaporation from the open surface water body. The enriched value of δ ¹³C-DIC and high amount of DIC values (-7.9 ‰ VPDB and 57.23 ppm) in the river and Kardeh dam reservoir (-7.3 ‰ VPDB and 55.53 ppm) is due to dissolution of Mozdooran Carbonate Formation lithology (Jm1 to Jm3 units) (contains enriched δ¹³C DIC values of 9.2‰ to 27.7‰ VPDB) in the region. Because of the domination of C3 vegetations in Andarokh_Kardeh basin, the δ¹³C-DOC isotope of the river (-28.4‰ VPDB) and dam reservoir (-32.3‰ VPDB) demonstrate depleted values. Higher DOC concentration in dam reservoir (2.57 ppm) compared to the river (0.72 ppm) is due to more biologogical activities and organic matters in dam reservoir.

Keywords: Dam reservoir, Iran, Kardeh river, Khorasan razavi, Stable isotopes.

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Authors: Yue Zhao, Chao Li

Abstract:

Camera calibration is an important step in 3D reconstruction. Camera calibration may be classified into two major types: traditional calibration and self-calibration. However, a calibration method in using a checkerboard is intermediate between traditional calibration and self-calibration. A self is proposed based on a square in this paper. Only a square in the planar template, the camera self-calibration can be completed through the single view. The proposed algorithm is that the virtual circle and straight line are established by a square on planar template, and circular points, vanishing points in straight lines and the relation between them are be used, in order to obtain the image of the absolute conic (IAC) and establish the camera intrinsic parameters. To make the calibration template is simpler, as compared with the Zhang Zhengyou-s method. Through real experiments and experiments, the experimental results show that this algorithm is feasible and available, and has a certain precision and robustness.

Keywords: Absolute conic, camera calibration, circle point, vanishing point.

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Authors: Han Nguyen

Abstract:

The objectives of this study is to investigate the impact of culture on advertising appeals in mobile phone industry via social media channel in UK, Brazil and India. Content analysis on Samsung and Nokia commercials in YouTube is conducted. The result indicates that the advertising appeals are both congruent and incongruent with cultural dimensions in UK, Brazil and India. The result suggests that Hofstede and value paradoxes might be the tools to predict the relationship between cultural values and advertising appeals.

Keywords: Advertising appeal, international advertising, mobile phone advertising, social media advertising.

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Authors: Jakub Elbl, Lukáš Plošek, Antonín Kintl, Jaroslav Hynšt, Jaroslav Záhora, Soňa Javoreková, Ivana Charousová, Libor Kalhotka, Olga Urbánková

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This work presents the first results from the long-term laboratory experiment dealing with impact of drought on soil properties. Three groups of the treatment (A, B and C) with different regime of irrigation were prepared. The soil water content was maintained at 70 % of soil water holding capacity in group A, at 40 % in group B. In group C, soil water regime was maintained in the range of wilting point. Each group of the experiment was divided into three variants (A1 = B1, C1; A2 = B2, C2 etc.) with three repetitions: Variants A1 (B1, C1) were a controls without addition of another fertilizer. Variants A2 (B2, C2) were fertilized with mineral nitrogen fertilizer DAM 390 (0.140 Mg of N per ha) and variants A3 (B3, C3) contained 45 g of C_p per a pot.

The significant differences (ANOVA, P<0.05) in the leaching of mineral nitrogen and values of saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_sat) were found. The highest values of K_sat were found in variants (within each group) with addition of compost (A3, B3, C3). Conversely, the lowest values of K_sat were found in variants with addition of mineral nitrogen. Low values of K_sat indicate an increased level of hydrophobicity in individual groups of the experiment. Moreover, all variants with compost addition showed lower amount of mineral nitrogen leaching and high level of microbial activity than variants without. This decrease of mineral nitrogen leaching was about 200 % in comparison with the control variant and about 300 % with variant, where mineral nitrogen was added. Based on these results, we can conclude that changes of soil water content directly have impact on microbial activity, soil hydrophobicity and loss of mineral nitrogen from soil. 

Keywords: Drought, Microbial activity, Mineral nitrogen, Soil hydrophobicity.

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Authors: Darren Zou

Abstract:

Forecasting the stock market is a very challenging task. Various economic indicators such as GDP, exchange rates, interest rates, and unemployment have a substantial impact on the stock market. Time series models are the traditional methods used to predict stock market changes. In this paper, a machine learning method, Bayesian Additive Regression Tree (BART) is used in predicting stock market indexes based on multiple economic indicators. BART can be used to model heterogeneous treatment effects, and thereby works well when models are misspecified. It also has the capability to handle non-linear main effects and multi-way interactions without much input from financial analysts. In this research, BART is proposed to provide a reliable prediction on day-to-day stock market activities. By comparing the analysis results from BART and with time series method, BART can perform well and has better prediction capability than the traditional methods.

Keywords: Bayesian, Forecast, Stock, BART.

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Authors: R.Anita, V.Ganga Bharani, N.Nityanandam, Pradeep Kumar Sahoo

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The explosive growth of World Wide Web has posed a challenging problem in extracting relevant data. Traditional web crawlers focus only on the surface web while the deep web keeps expanding behind the scene. Deep web pages are created dynamically as a result of queries posed to specific web databases. The structure of the deep web pages makes it impossible for traditional web crawlers to access deep web contents. This paper, Deep iCrawl, gives a novel and vision-based approach for extracting data from the deep web. Deep iCrawl splits the process into two phases. The first phase includes Query analysis and Query translation and the second covers vision-based extraction of data from the dynamically created deep web pages. There are several established approaches for the extraction of deep web pages but the proposed method aims at overcoming the inherent limitations of the former. This paper also aims at comparing the data items and presenting them in the required order.

Keywords: Crawler, Deep web, Web Database

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Authors: P. Ahern, D. Collery

Abstract:

The implementation of lean thinking in the manufacturing industry revolutionized the traditional approach to large-scale production through the process of identifying the waste in each task and putting in place mitigation measures to eliminate the waste in all its forms. The Irish construction industry, however, has been much slower to adopt the principles of lean, opting instead to stick with the traditional approach to construction project delivery which is inherently wasteful. Lean thinking holds the potential to revolutionize the construction industry in a similar manner to the adoption of lean manufacturing. Lean principles present opportunities for reduced project duration, reduced project cost, improved quality, and elimination of re-works and non-value-added activities. This research has been designed to accumulate research data through available literature, electronic surveys, and interviews. The results show an industry reluctant to accept change and an undefined path to successful lean construction implementation.

Keywords: Barriers, lean construction, lean implementation, lean manufacturing, lean philosophy.

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Authors: Samy Sadek, Ayoub Al-Hamadi, Bernd Michaelis, Usama Sayed

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In this paper, we propose a supervised method for color image classification based on a multilevel sigmoidal neural network (MSNN) model. In this method, images are classified into five categories, i.e., “Car", “Building", “Mountain", “Farm" and “Coast". This classification is performed without any segmentation processes. To verify the learning capabilities of the proposed method, we compare our MSNN model with the traditional Sigmoidal Neural Network (SNN) model. Results of comparison have shown that the MSNN model performs better than the traditional SNN model in the context of training run time and classification rate. Both color moments and multi-level wavelets decomposition technique are used to extract features from images. The proposed method has been tested on a variety of real and synthetic images.

Keywords: Image classification, multi-level neural networks, feature extraction, wavelets decomposition.

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Authors: Bekim Avdiaj

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Everyday life is and will be influenced depending on the developments that society undergoes throughout the history. Particularly, countries undergoing transition from one system to another sustain the greatest impact in trying to embrace the modern system. Kosovo society had the fortune to experience a change, which began in late 1999 to continue up to date. One of the 'developments' of the time with the evolution in Kosovo society was the transition from the traditional education system into the modern one. This transformation began immediately after the war, to continue even today. It was started by internationals, which governed and administered Kosovo society, including education. There was a great 'evolution', because almost the entire system was 'changed'. Among other things, for the first time it was enabled the opening of private schools from the lowest level up to the colleges and universities. This paper will address: how much was ready the society to embrace such a 'cultural' change in education, respectively, how much were prepared teachers for such changes; as it was actually thought to be a modern education system, how much was it according to international standards; what are the results and current situation in Kosovo education.

Keywords: Education, evolution, reform, transformation.

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Authors: Seema Singh, Puja Anand, Alok Bhasin

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The interior design profession aims to create aesthetically pleasing design solutions for human habitats but of late, growing awareness about depleting environmental resources, both tangible and intangible, and damages to the eco-system led to the quest for creating healthy and sustainable interior environments. The paper proposes adapting traditionally produced organic wool textiles for the mainstream interior design industry. This can create sustainable livelihoods whereby eco-friendly bridges can be built between Interior designers and consumers and pastoral communities. This study focuses on traditional textiles produced by two pastoral communities from India that use organic wool from indigenous sheep varieties. The Gaddi communities of Himachal Pradesh use wool from the Gaddi sheep breed to create Pattu (a multi-purpose textile). The Kurumas of Telangana weave a blanket called the Gongadi, using wool from the Black Deccani variety of sheep. These communities have traditionally reared indigenous sheep breeds for their wool and produce hand-spun and hand-woven textiles for their own consumption, using traditional processes that are chemical free. Based on data collected personally from field visits and documentation of traditional crafts of these pastoral communities, and using traditionally produced indigenous organic wool, the authors have developed innovative textile samples by including design interventions and exploring dyeing and weaving techniques. As part of the secondary research, the role of pastoralism in sustaining the eco-systems of Himachal Pradesh and Telangana was studied, and also the role of organic wool in creating healthy interior environments. The authors found that natural wool from indigenous sheep breeds can be used to create interior textiles that have the potential to be marketed to an urban audience, and this will help create earnings for pastoral communities. Literature studies have shown that organic & sustainable wool can reduce indoor pollution & toxicity levels in interiors and further help in creating healthier interior environments. Revival of indigenous breeds of sheep can further help in rejuvenating dying crafts, and promotion of these indigenous textiles can help in sustaining traditional eco-systems and the pastoral communities whose way of life is endangered today. Based on research and findings, the authors propose that adapting traditional textiles can have potential for application in Interiors, creating eco-friendly spaces. Interior textiles produced through such sustainable processes can help reduce indoor pollution, give livelihood opportunities to traditional economies, and leave almost zero carbon foot-print while being in sync with available natural resources, hence ultimately benefiting the society. The win-win situation for all the stakeholders in this eco-friendly model makes it pertinent to re-think how we design lifestyle textiles for interiors. This study illustrates a specific example from the two pastoral communities and can be used as a model that can work equally well in any community, regardless of geography.

Keywords: Design Intervention, Eco-Friendly, Healthy Interiors, Indigenous, Organic Wool, Pastoralism, Sustainability.

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Authors: Colette Malyack, Pius Egbelu

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Business-to-Customer (B2C) delivery options have improved to meet increased demand in recent years. The change in end users has forced logistics networks to focus on customer service and sentiment that would have previously been the priority of the company or organization of origin. This has led to increased pressure on logistics companies to extend traditional B2B networks into a B2C solution while accommodating additional costs, roadblocks, and customer sentiment; the result has been the creation of the omnichannel delivery network encompassing a number of traditional and modern methods of package delivery. In this paper the many solutions within the omnichannel delivery network are defined and discussed. It can be seen through this analysis that the omnichannel delivery network can be applied to reduce the complexity of package delivery and provide customers with more options. Applied correctly the result is a reduction in cost to the logistics company over time, even with an initial increase in cost to obtain the technology.

Keywords: Network planning, Last Mile Delivery, LMD, omnichannel delivery network, omnichannel logistics.

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Authors: Zahra Ahmed Al-Zadjali

Abstract:

The influence of Islam on arts can be found primarily in calligraphy, arabesque designs and architecture. Also, geometric designs were used quite extensively. Muslim craftsmen produced stunning designs based on simple geometric principles and traditional motifs which were used to decorate many surfaces. The idea of interlacing simple rectilinear lines to form the patterns impressed Arabs. Nomads of Persia, Turks and Mongols were equally impressed with the designs so they begin to use them in their homes in carpet weaving. Islamic designs, motifs and colours which were used became common place and served to influence people’s tastes. Modern life style and contemporary products have changed the style of people’s daily lives, however, people still long for the nomadic way of life. This is clearly reflected in people’s homes. In a great many Muslim homes, Islamic decorative motifs can be seen along with traditional ‘Bedouin’ style furnishing, especially in homes of the Arabian Peninsula.

Keywords: Cultural heritage, textile design, Islamic art, motifs.

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Authors: Ntokozo Mthembu

Abstract:

Access to relevant health indicates people’s likelihood of survival, including craft of indigenous healing and its related practitioners- izinyanga. However, the emergence of a dreaded novel corona virus - COVID-19 that has engulfed almost the whole world has necessitated the need to revisit the state of traditional healers in South Africa. This circumstance tended to expose the reality of social settings in various social structures and related policies including the manner coloniality reveal its ugly head when it comes treatment between western and African based therapeutic practices in this country. In attempting to gain a better understanding of such experiences, primary and secondary sources were consulted when collecting data that perusal of various literature in this instance including face-to-face interviews with traditional healers working on the street of Tshwane Municipality in South Africa. Preliminary findings revealed that the emergence of this deadly virus coincided with the moment when the government agenda was focussed on fulfilment of its promise of addressing the past inequity practices, including the transformation of medical sector. This scenario can be witnessed by the manner in which government and related agencies such as health department keeps on undermining indigenous healing practice irrespective of its historical record in terms of healing profession and fighting various diseases before times of father of medicine, Imhotep. Based on these preliminary findings, it is recommended that the government should hasten the incorporation of African knowledge systems especially medicine to offer alternatives and diverse to assess the underutilised indigenous African therapeutic approach and relevant skills that could be useful in combating ailments such as COVID 19. Perhaps, the plural medical systems should be recognized and related policies are formulated to guarantee mutual respect among citizens and the incorporation of healing practices in South African health sector, Africa and in the broader global community.

Keywords: Indigenous healing practice, inyanga, COVID-19, therapeutic, urban, experience.

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Authors: Yanshuang Zhang, Byungho Jeong

Abstract:

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a methodology that computes efficiency values for decision making units (DMU) in a given period by comparing the outputs with the inputs. In many cases, there are some time lag between the consumption of inputs and the production of outputs. For a long-term research project, it is hard to avoid the production lead time phenomenon. This time lag effect should be considered in evaluating the performance of organizations. This paper suggests a model to calculate efficiency values for the performance evaluation problem with time lag. In the experimental part, the proposed methods are compared with the CCR and an existing time lag model using the data set of the 21st century frontier R&D program which is a long-term national R&D program of Korea.

Keywords: DEA, Efficiency, Time Lag

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Authors: S.Aranganayagi, K.Thangavel

Abstract:

Clustering categorical data is more complicated than the numerical clustering because of its special properties. Scalability and memory constraint is the challenging problem in clustering large data set. This paper presents an incremental algorithm to cluster the categorical data. Frequencies of attribute values contribute much in clustering similar categorical objects. In this paper we propose new similarity measures based on the frequencies of attribute values and its cardinalities. The proposed measures and the algorithm are experimented with the data sets from UCI data repository. Results prove that the proposed method generates better clusters than the existing one.

Keywords: Clustering, Categorical, Incremental, Frequency, Domain

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Authors: D. E. Omomo, R. M. Sunday, I. Kareem

Abstract:

This study was carried out to evaluate the nutritional composition of the African River Prawn (Macrobrachium vollenhovenii) in relation to Chokor (traditional) and Altona (improved traditional) drying techniques used in the preservation and processing of prawns by carrying out proximate composition analysis. The value obtained for the proximate analysis of Chokor and Altona smoke dried prawns were; Moisture (14.90% and 15.15%), Dry matter (85.10% and 84.85%), Protein (55.80% and 58.87%), Crude fat (1.95% and 1.98%), Crude fibre (21.40% and 13.11%), Carbohydrate (0.54% and 0.54%) and Ash (19.76% and 15.86%) respectively. The proximate mineral composition of Chokor and Altona smoke dried prawns were; Calcium (5.66% and 4.20%) and Phosphorus (9. 22% and 6.34%) respectively. Result shows there was no loss of nutritional value with respect to Chokor and Altona drying techniques used in the processing of prawns.

Keywords: Altona, Chokor, Macrobrachium vollenhovenii, Proximate composition, Smoke drying.

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