Search results for: Internet population

Authors: Rabia Bibi, Muhammad Shahzad Faisal, Khalid Iqbal, Atif Inayat

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Internet is growing rapidly and new community-based content is added by people every second. With this fast-growing community-based content, if a user requires answers of particular questions, then reviews are required from experts or community. However, it is difficult to get quality answers. The Muslim community all over the world is seeking help to get their questions and issues discussed to get answers. Online web portals of religious schools and community-based question answering sites are two big platforms to solve the issues of users. In the case of religious schools, there are experts and qualified religious scholars (mufti) who can give the expert opinion. However, the quality of community-based content cannot be guaranteed as it may not be an answer that satisfies the question of a user. Users on CQA sites may include spammers or individual criticizing the questioner instead of providing useful answers. In this paper, we research strategies to naturally distinguish the right content. As an experiment, we concentrate on Yahoo! Answers, and Quora, popular online QA sites, where questions are asked, answered, edited, and organized by a large community of users. We present the classification of data to categorize both relevant and irrelevant answers. Specifically, we demonstrate that the proposed framework can isolate quality answers from the rest with an exactness near that of people.

Keywords: Community-based question and answering, evaluation and prediction of quality answer, answer classification, Islamic content, answer ranking.

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Authors: V. Bezlepkin, A. Frolov, L. Lebedev, E. Kharchenko

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Iodine radionuclides in accident releases under severe accident conditions at NPP with VVER are the most radiationimportant with a view to population dose generation at the beginning of the accident. To decrease radiation consequences of severe accidents the technical solutions for severe accidents management have been proposed in MIR.1200 project, with consideration of the measures for suppression of volatile iodine forms generation in the containment. Behavior dynamics of different iodine forms in the containment under severe accident conditions has been analyzed for the purpose of these technical solutions justification.

Keywords: Iodine radionuclides, VVER, severe accident.

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Authors: Ayat E. Ali, Christeen R. Aziz, Merna A. Helmy, Mohammed M. Malek, Sherif H. El-Gohary

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Goal: Purpose of the project was to make a plastic surgery prediction by using pre-operative images for the plastic surgeries’ patients and to show this prediction on a screen to compare between the current case and the appearance after the surgery. Methods: To this aim, we implemented a software which used data from the internet for facial skin diseases, skin burns, pre-and post-images for plastic surgeries then the post- surgical prediction is done by using K-nearest neighbor (KNN). So we designed and fabricated a smart mirror divided into two parts a screen and a reflective mirror so patient's pre- and post-appearance will be showed at the same time. Results: We worked on some skin diseases like vitiligo, skin burns and wrinkles. We classified the three degrees of burns using KNN classifier with accuracy 60%. We also succeeded in segmenting the area of vitiligo. Our future work will include working on more skin diseases, classify them and give a prediction for the look after the surgery. Also we will go deeper into facial deformities and plastic surgeries like nose reshaping and face slim down. Conclusion: Our project will give a prediction relates strongly to the real look after surgery and decrease different diagnoses among doctors. Significance: The mirror may have broad societal appeal as it will make the distance between patient's satisfaction and the medical standards smaller.

Keywords: K-nearest neighbor, face detection, vitiligo, bone deformity.

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Authors: Peerapong Uthansakul, Monthippa Uthansakul

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The rapid growth of e-Commerce services is significantly observed in the past decade. However, the method to verify the authenticated users still widely depends on numeric approaches. A new search on other verification methods suitable for online e-Commerce is an interesting issue. In this paper, a new online signature-verification method using angular transformation is presented. Delay shifts existing in online signatures are estimated by the estimation method relying on angle representation. In the proposed signature-verification algorithm, all components of input signature are extracted by considering the discontinuous break points on the stream of angular values. Then the estimated delay shift is captured by comparing with the selected reference signature and the error matching can be computed as a main feature used for verifying process. The threshold offsets are calculated by two types of error characteristics of the signature verification problem, False Rejection Rate (FRR) and False Acceptance Rate (FAR). The level of these two error rates depends on the decision threshold chosen whose value is such as to realize the Equal Error Rate (EER; FAR = FRR). The experimental results show that through the simple programming, employed on Internet for demonstrating e-Commerce services, the proposed method can provide 95.39% correct verifications and 7% better than DP matching based signature-verification method. In addition, the signature verification with extracting components provides more reliable results than using a whole decision making.

Keywords: Online signature verification, e-Commerce services, Angular transformation.

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Authors: E. Ramaraj, A. Padmapriya

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In large Internet backbones, Service Providers typically have to explicitly manage the traffic flows in order to optimize the use of network resources. This process is often referred to as Traffic Engineering (TE). Common objectives of traffic engineering include balance traffic distribution across the network and avoiding congestion hot spots. Raj P H and SVK Raja designed the Bayesian network approach to identify congestion hors pots in MPLS. In this approach for every node in the network the Conditional Probability Distribution (CPD) is specified. Based on the CPD the congestion hot spots are identified. Then the traffic can be distributed so that no link in the network is either over utilized or under utilized. Although the Bayesian network approach has been implemented in operational networks, it has a number of well known scaling issues. This paper proposes a new approach, which we call the Pragati (means Progress) Node Popularity (PNP) approach to identify the congestion hot spots with the network topology alone. In the new Pragati Node Popularity approach, IP routing runs natively over the physical topology rather than depending on the CPD of each node as in Bayesian network. We first illustrate our approach with a simple network, then present a formal analysis of the Pragati Node Popularity approach. Our PNP approach shows that for any given network of Bayesian approach, it exactly identifies the same result with minimum efforts. We further extend the result to a more generic one: for any network topology and even though the network is loopy. A theoretical insight of our result is that the optimal routing is always shortest path routing with respect to some considerations of hot spots in the networks.

Keywords: Conditional Probability Distribution, Congestion hotspots, Operational Networks, Traffic Engineering.

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Authors: Layla Albdr

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Saudi Arabia instituted the policy of sensitizing and training stakeholders for e-learning and witnessed wide adoption in many institutions. However, it is at the infancy stage and needs time to develop to mirror the US and UK. The majority of the higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia have adopted e-learning as an alternative to traditional methods to advance education. Conversely, effective implementation of the policy of sensitization and training of stakeholders for e-learning implementation has not been attained because of various challenges. The objectives included determining the challenges and opportunities of the e-learning policy of sensitization and training of stakeholders in Saudi Arabia's higher education and examining if sensitization and training of stakeholder's policy will help promote the implementation of e-learning in institutions. The study employed a descriptive research design based on qualitative analysis. The researcher recruited 295 students and 60 academic staff from four Saudi Arabian universities to participate in the study. An online questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data were then analyzed and reported both quantitatively and qualitatively. The analysis provided an in-depth understanding of the opportunities and challenges of e-learning policy in Saudi Arabian universities. The main challenges identified as internal challenges were the lack of educators’ interest in adopting the policy, and external challenges entailed lack of ICT infrastructure and Internet connectivity. The study recommends encouraging, sensitizing, and training all stakeholders to address these challenges and adopt the policy.

Keywords: e-learning, educational policy, Saudi Arabian higher education, policy of sensitization and training

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Authors: Matías Micheletto, Rodrigo Santos, Sergio F. Ochoa

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In developing countries, most roads in rural areas are dirt road. They require frequent maintenance since they are affected by erosive events, such as rain or wind, and the transit of heavy-weight trucks and machinery. Early detection of damages on the road condition is a key aspect, since it allows to reduce the maintenance time and cost, and also the limitations for other vehicles to travel through. Most proposals that help address this problem require the explicit participation of drivers, a permanent internet connection, or important instrumentation in vehicles or roads. These constraints limit the suitability of these proposals when applied into developing regions, like Latin America. This paper proposes an alternative method, based on unattended crowdsensing, to determine the quality of dirt roads in rural areas. This method involves the use of a mobile application that complements the road condition surveys carried out by organizations in charge of the road network maintenance, giving them early warnings about road areas that could be requiring maintenance. Drivers can also take advantage of the early warnings while they move through these roads. The method was evaluated using information from a public dataset. Although they are preliminary, the results indicate the proposal is potentially suitable to provide awareness about dirt roads condition to drivers, transportation authority and road maintenance companies.

Keywords: Dirt roads automatic quality assessment, collaborative system, unattended crowdsensing method, roads quality awareness provision.

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Authors: Muhammad Hammad Lakhvi

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Islam has a general principle of increase in population. But the Muslims are equally obliged to take care of health, education and the provisions etc. for their offspring and wives in the best possible way. The Muslims would have to regulate and manage the number of children, if any situation affects their duties regarding their wives or children. Islam accomplishes permissibility of temporary blockade in human fertility if someone faces any problem regarding health of mother or children. During the life of the Holy Prophet (SAW), Azl (coitus interruptus) was the only way for temporary spacing between the children. In technologically developed environment, the same can be resort through some advanced methodology or instrument of temporary blockade. Solid grounds are available in Islam that the fertility rate should be managed if any of the aspect of human quality is being affected.

Keywords: Islam, Fertility Regulations, Muslims, Qur'an

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Authors: Vladimir Korovkin, Albert Park, Evgeny Kaganer

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Digital divide, the gap in the access to the world of digital technologies and the socio-economic opportunities that they create is an important phenomenon of the XXI century. This gap may exist between countries, regions within a country or socio-demographic groups, creating the classes of “digital have and have nots”. While the 1st-level divide (the difference in opportunities to access the digital networks) was demonstrated to diminish with time, the issues of 2nd level divide (the difference in skills and usage of digital systems) and 3rd level divide (the difference in effects obtained from digital technology) may grow. The paper offers a systemic review of literature on the measurement of the digital divide, noting the certain conceptual stagnation due to the lack of effective instruments that would capture the complex nature of the phenomenon. As a result, many important concepts do not receive the empiric exploration they deserve. As a solution the paper suggests a composite Digital Life Index, that studies separately the digital supply and demand across seven independent dimensions providing for 14 subindices. The Index is based on Internet-borne data, a distinction from traditional research approaches that rely on official statistics or surveys. The application of the model to the study of the digital divide between Russian regions and between cities in China have brought promising results. The paper advances the existing methodological literature on the 2nd level digital divide and can also inform practical decision-making regarding the strategies of national and regional digital development.

Keywords: Digital transformation, second-level digital divide, composite index, digital policy.

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Authors: Suparat Niwitpong

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In this paper we proposed two new confidence intervals for the normal population mean with known coefficient of variation. This situation occurs normally in environment and agriculture experiments where the scientist knows the coefficient of variation of their experiments. We propose two new confidence intervals for this problem based on the recent work of Searls [5] and the new method proposed in this paper for the first time. We derive analytic expressions for the coverage probability and the expected length of each confidence interval. Monte Carlo simulation will be used to assess the performance of these intervals based on their expected lengths.

Keywords: confidence interval, coverage probability, expected length, known coefficient of variation.

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Authors: Omar M. Sallabi, Younis El-Haddad

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The Genetic Algorithm (GA) is one of the most important methods used to solve many combinatorial optimization problems. Therefore, many researchers have tried to improve the GA by using different methods and operations in order to find the optimal solution within reasonable time. This paper proposes an improved GA (IGA), where the new crossover operation, population reformulates operation, multi mutation operation, partial local optimal mutation operation, and rearrangement operation are used to solve the Traveling Salesman Problem. The proposed IGA was then compared with three GAs, which use different crossover operations and mutations. The results of this comparison show that the IGA can achieve better results for the solutions in a faster time.

Keywords: AI, Genetic algorithms, TSP.

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Authors: František Bozek, Alexandr Bozek, Alena Bumbova, Eduard Bakos, Jiri Dvorak

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The article deals with the classification of alternative water resources in terms of potential risks which is the prerequisite for incorporating these water resources to the emergency plans. The classification is based on the quantification of risks resulting from possible damage, disruption or total destruction of water resource caused by natural and anthropogenic hazards, assessment of water quality and availability, traffic accessibility of the assessed resource and finally its water yield. The aim is to achieve the development of an integrated rescue system, which will be capable of supplying the population with drinking water on the whole stricken territory during the states of emergency.

Keywords: Classification, Emergency Supply, Risk, Water Standby Resource.

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Authors: Renata Mekovec, Dijana Peras, Ruben Picek

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The advent of the Internet, mobile devices and social media is revolutionizing the experience of retail customers by linking multiple sources through various channels. Omnichannel retailing is a retailing that combines multiple channels to allow customers to seamlessly leverage all the distribution information online and offline while shopping. Therefore, today data are an asset more critical than ever for all organizations. Nonetheless, because of its heterogeneity through platforms, developers are currently facing difficulties in dealing with personal data. Considering the possibilities of omnichannel communication, this paper presents channel categorization that could enhance the customer experience of omnichannel center called hyper center. The purpose of this paper is fundamentally to describe the connection between the omnichannel hyper center and the customer, with particular attention to privacy protection. The first phase was finding the most appropriate channels of communication for hyper center. Consequently, a selection of widely used communication channels has been identified and analyzed with regard to the effect requirements for optimizing user experience. The evaluation criteria are divided into 3 groups: general, user profile and channel options. For each criterion the weight of importance for omnichannel communication was defined. The most important thing was to consider how the hyper center can make user identification while respecting the privacy protection requirements. The study carried out also shows what customer experience across digital networks would look like, based on an omnichannel approach owing to privacy protection principles.

Keywords: Personal data, privacy protection, omnichannel communication, retail.

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Authors: J. T. Manhire

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A tax authority wants to take actions it knows will foster the greatest degree of voluntary taxpayer compliance to reduce the “tax gap.” This paper suggests that even if a tax authority could attain a state of complete knowledge, there are constraints on whether and to what extent such actions would result in reducing the macro-level tax gap. These limits are not merely a consequence of finite agency resources. They are inherent in the system itself. To show that this is one possible interpretation of the tax gap data, the paper formulates known results in a different way by analyzing tax compliance as a population with a single covariate. This leads to a standard use of the logistic map to analyze the dynamics of non-compliance growth or decay over a sequence of periods. This formulation gives the same results as the tax gap studies performed over the past fifty years in the U.S. given the published margins of error. Limitations and recommendations for future work are discussed, along with some implications for tax policy.

Keywords: Tax law, tax compliance, tax gap, income tax.

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Authors: M. Margarida Costa, Jorge Simão

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The minimal condition for symmetry breaking in morphogenesis of cellular population was investigated using cellular automata based on reaction-diffusion dynamics. In particular, the study looked for the possibility of the emergence of branching structures due to mechanical interactions. The model used two types of cells an external gradient. The results showed that the external gradient influenced movement of cell type-I, also revealed that clusters formed by cells type-II worked as barrier to movement of cells type-I.

Keywords: Morphogenesis, branching structures, symmetrybreaking.

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Authors: Konstantinos C. Giotopoulos, Christos E. Alexakos, Grigorios N. Beligiannis, Spiridon D.Likothanassis

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In this contribution an innovative platform is being presented that integrates intelligent agents and evolutionary computation techniques in legacy e-learning environments. It introduces the design and development of a scalable and interoperable integration platform supporting: I) various assessment agents for e-learning environments, II) a specific resource retrieval agent for the provision of additional information from Internet sources matching the needs and profile of the specific user and III) a genetic algorithm designed to extract efficient information (classifying rules) based on the students- answering input data. The agents are implemented in order to provide intelligent assessment services based on computational intelligence techniques such as Bayesian Networks and Genetic Algorithms. The proposed Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used in order to extract efficient information (classifying rules) based on the students- answering input data. The idea of using a GA in order to fulfil this difficult task came from the fact that GAs have been widely used in applications including classification of unknown data. The utilization of new and emerging technologies like web services allows integrating the provided services to any web based legacy e-learning environment.

Keywords: Bayesian Networks, Computational Intelligencetechniques, E-learning legacy systems, Service Oriented Integration, Intelligent Agents, Genetic Algorithms.

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Authors: Dewi Nasien, Habibollah Haron, Siti SophiayatiYuhaniz

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This paper presents a comparison of metaheuristic algorithms, Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), in producing freeman chain code (FCC). The main problem in representing characters using FCC is the length of the FCC depends on the starting points. Isolated characters, especially the upper-case characters, usually have branches that make the traversing process difficult. The study in FCC construction using one continuous route has not been widely explored. This is our motivation to use the population-based metaheuristics. The experimental result shows that the route length using GA is better than ACO, however, ACO is better in computation time than GA.

Keywords: Handwriting Recognition, Feature Extraction, Freeman Chain Code, Genetic Algorithm and Ant ColonyOptimization.

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Authors: Hermann Kuehnle

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Applications of the Hausdorff space and its mappings into tangent spaces are outlined, including their fractal dimensions and self-similarities. The paper details this theory set up and further describes virtualizations and atomization of manufacturing processes. It demonstrates novel concurrency principles that will guide manufacturing processes and resources configurations. Moreover, varying levels of details may be produced by up folding and breaking down of newly introduced generic models. This choice of layered generic models for units and systems aspects along specific aspects allows research work in parallel to other disciplines with the same focus on all levels of detail. More credit and easier access are granted to outside disciplines for enriching manufacturing grounds. Specific mappings and the layers give hints for chances for interdisciplinary outcomes and may highlight more details for interoperability standards, as already worked on the international level. The new rules are described, which require additional properties concerning all involved entities for defining distributed decision cycles, again on the base of self-similarity. All properties are further detailed and assigned to a maturity scale, eventually displaying the smartness maturity of a total shopfloor or a factory. The paper contributes to the intensive ongoing discussion in the field of intelligent distributed manufacturing and promotes solid concepts for implementations of Cyber Physical Systems and the Internet of Things into manufacturing industry, like industry 4.0, as discussed in German-speaking countries.

Keywords: Autonomous unit, Networkability, Smart manufacturing unit, Virtualization.

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Authors: Kang Huang, Wanting Zhou, Shiwei Yuan, Lei Li

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Since information technology develops rapidly, the security issue has become an increasingly critical for computer system. In particular, as cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) continue to gain widespread adoption, computer systems need to new security threats and attacks. The Root of Trust (RoT) is the foundation for providing basic trusted computing, which is used to verify the security and trustworthiness of other components. Designing a reliable RoT and guaranteeing its own security are essential for improving the overall security and credibility of computer systems. In this paper, we discuss the implementation of self-security technology based on the RISC-V RoT at the hardware level. To effectively safeguard the security of the RoT, researches on security safeguard technology on the RoT have been studied. At first, a lightweight and secure boot framework is proposed as a secure mechanism. Secondly, two kinds of memory protection mechanism are built to against memory attacks. Moreover, hardware implementation of proposed method has been also investigated. A series of experiments and tests have been carried on to verify to effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed approach is effective in verifying the integrity of the RoT’s own boot rom, user instructions, and data, ensuring authenticity and enabling the secure boot of the RoT’s own system. Additionally, our approach provides memory protection against certain types of memory attacks, such as cache leaks and tampering, and ensures the security of root-of-trust sensitive information, including keys.

Keywords: Root of Trust, secure boot, memory protection, hardware security.

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Authors: Chuencheewin Yimfuang

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The WIPO copyright treaty (WCT) was established by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). This agreement required the contracting nations to provide adequate protection to technological measures to prevent massive copyright infringement in the internet system. Thailand had to implement the anti-circumvention rules into domestic legislation to comply with this international obligation. The purpose of this paper is to critically discuss the legislative standard under the WCT. It also aims to examine the legal development of technological protection measures in Thailand and demonstrate that the scope of prohibitions under the copyright Act 2022 (NO.5) is similar to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (DMCA) of the United States (US). It could be found that the anti-circumvention laws of Thailand prohibit the circumvention of access-control technologies, and the regulation on trafficking circumvention devices has been added to the latest version of the Thai Copyright Act. These legislative evolutions have revealed the attempt to reinforce the legal protection of technological measures and copyright holders in order to be in line with global practices. However, the amendment has problems concerning the legal definitions of effective technological measure and the prohibited act of circumvention. The vagueness might affect the scope of protection and the boundary of prohibition. With this aspect, the DMCA will be evaluated and compared to gain guidelines for interpretation and enforcement in Thailand. The lessons and experiences learned from this study might be useful to correct the flaws or at least clarify the ambiguities embodied in Thai copyright legislation.

Keywords: Legal Development Technological Protection Measure, prohibition, circumvention, Thailand.

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Authors: Gh. Jandaghi, H. Zarei Matin, A. Farjami

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In this article, while it is attempted to describe the problem and its importance, transformational leadership is studied by considering leadership theories. Issues such as the definition of transformational leadership and its aspects are compared on the basis of the ideas of various connoisseurs and then it (transformational leadership) is examined in successful and unsuccessful companies. According to the methodology, the method of research, hypotheses, population and statistical sample are investigated and research findings are analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical methods in the framework of analytical tables. Finally, our conclusion is provided by considering the results of statistical tests. The final result shows that transformational leadership is significantly higher in successful companies than unsuccessful ones P<0.0001).

Keywords: Idealized influence, individualized considerations, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, transformational leadership

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Authors: Dominykas Broga

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Until recently it would have been unusual to consider classifying population movements and refugees as security problem. However, efforts at shaping our world to make ourselves secure have paradoxically led to ever greater insecurity. The feeling of uncertainty, pertinent throughout all discourses of security, has led to the creation of security production into seemingly benign routines of everyday life. Yet, the paper argues, neither of security discourses accounted for, disclosed and challenged the fundamental aporias embedded in Western security narratives. In turn, the paper aims to unpick the conventional security wisdom, which is haunted with strong ontologies, embedded in the politics of Orientalism, and (in)security nexus. The paper concludes that current security affair conceals the integral impossibility of fulfilling its very own promise of assured security. The paper also provides suggestions about alternative security discourse based on mutual dialogue.

Keywords: Identity, (in)security, migration, ontology

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Authors: Odenigbo Veronica Ngozi, Lorreta Chika Ukwuaba

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This study focuses on how the strengthening adult literacy programs can help accelerate transformative strategies to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria, specifically in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. The research delved into the definition of FGM, adult literacy programs, and how to achieve ending FGM in order to attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030. It further discussed the practice of FGM in Nigeria and emphasized the statement of the problem. Main purpose of the study was to investigate how strengthening adult literacy programs can help accelerate transformative strategies to end FGM in Nigeria and achieve SDGs in 2030. A survey research design was used to conduct the study in Nsukka L.G.A. The population was composed of 26 facilitators and adult learners in five adult learning centres in the area. The entire population was used as a sample. Structured questionnaires were employed to elicit information from the respondents. The items on the questionnaire were face-validated by three experts while the reliability of the instrument was verified using Cronbach Alpha Reliability Technique. The research questions were analysed using means and standard deviation while the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of degree of significance using a t-test statistics. The result of the findings shows that the practices of FGM can end through strengthening adult literacy programs. Strengthening adult literacy programs is a good channel to end or stop FGM through the knowledge and skill acquired from the learning centres. The theoretical importance of the study lies in the fact that it highlights the role of adult literacy programs in accelerating transformative strategies to combat harmful cultural practices such as FGM. It further supports the importance of education and knowledge in achieving SDGs by 2030. The study addressed the question of how strengthening adult literacy programs can help accelerate transformative strategies which can end FGM in Nigeria and achieve SDGs by 2030. In conclusion, the study revealed that adult literacy is a good tool to end FGM in Nigeria. The recommendation was that (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and individuals should support the funding and establishment of adult literacy centres in communities so as to reach all illiterate parents or individuals so that they can acquire the knowledge and skill needed to understand the negative effect of FGM in the life of a girl child.

Keywords: Adult literacy, female genital mutilation, learning centres, Sustainable Development Goals.

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Authors: Anuj K. Sharma, Amit Sharma, Kulbhushan Agnihotri

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In this work, we propose and analyze a model of Phytoplankton-Zooplankton interaction with harvesting considering that some species are exploited commercially for food. Criteria for local stability, instability and global stability are derived and some threshold harvesting levels are explored to maintain the population at an appropriate equilibrium level even if the species are exploited continuously.Further,biological and bionomic equilibria of the system are obtained and an optimal harvesting policy is also analysed using the Pantryagin’s Maximum Principle.Finally analytical findings are also supported by some numerical simulations.

Keywords: Phytoplankton-Zooplankton, Global stability, Bionomic Equilibrium, Pontrying-Maximum Principal.

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Authors: F. Mehran

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With the rapid popularization of internet services, it is apparent that the next generation terrestrial communication systems must be capable of supporting various applications like voice, video, and data. This paper presents the performance evaluation of turbo- coded mobile terrestrial communication systems, which are capable of providing high quality services for delay sensitive (voice or video) and delay tolerant (text transmission) multimedia applications in urban and suburban areas. Different types of multimedia information require different service qualities, which are generally expressed in terms of a maximum acceptable bit-error-rate (BER) and maximum tolerable latency. The breakthrough discovery of turbo codes allows us to significantly reduce the probability of bit errors with feasible latency. In a turbo-coded system, a trade-off between latency and BER results from the choice of convolutional component codes, interleaver type and size, decoding algorithm, and the number of decoding iterations. This trade-off can be exploited for multimedia applications by using optimal and suboptimal performance parameter amalgamations to achieve different service qualities. The results are therefore proposing an adaptive framework for turbo-coded wireless multimedia communications which incorporate a set of performance parameters that achieve an appropriate set of service qualities, depending on the application's requirements.

Keywords: Mobile communications, Turbo codes, wireless multimedia communication systems.

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Authors: Chrysoula Karathanasi, Senad Karavdic, Angela Odero, Michèle Baumann

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It is not only the economic determinants that impact on life conditions, but maintaining a good level of life satisfaction (LS) may also be an important challenge currently. In Luxembourg, university students receive financial aid from the government. They are then registered at the Centre for Documentation and Information on Higher Education (CEDIES). Luxembourg is built on migration with almost half its population consisting of foreigners. It is upon this basis that our research aims to analyze the associations with mental health factors (health satisfaction, psychological quality of life, worry), perceived financial situation, career attitudes (adaptability, optimism, knowledge, planning) and LS, for non-Luxembourgish and native postgraduate students. Between 2012 and 2013, postgraduates registered at CEDIES were contacted by post and asked to participate in an online survey with either the option of English or French. The study population comprised of 644 respondents. Our statistical analysis excluded: those born abroad who had Luxembourgish citizenship, or those born in Luxembourg who did not have citizenship. Two groups were formed one consisting 147 non-Luxembourgish and the other 284 natives. A single item measured LS (1=not at all satisfied to 10=very satisfied). Bivariate tests, correlations and multiple linear regression models were used in which only significant relationships (p<0.05) were integrated. Among the two groups no differences were found between LS indicators (7.8/10 non-Luxembourgish; 8.0/10 natives) as both were higher than the European indicator of 7.2/10 (for 25-34 years). In the case of non-Luxembourgish students, they were older than natives (29.3 years vs. 26.3 years) perceived their financial situation as more difficult, and a higher percentage of their parents had an education level higher than a Bachelor's degree (father 59.2% vs 44.6% for natives; mother 51.4% vs 33.7% for natives). In addition, the father’s education was related to the LS of postgraduates and the higher was the score, the greater was the contribution to LS. Whereas for native students, when their scores of health satisfaction and career optimism were higher, their LS’ score was higher. For both groups their LS was linked to mental health-related factors, perception of their financial situation, career optimism, adaptability and planning. The higher the psychological quality of life score was, the greater the LS of postgraduates’ was. Good health and positive attitudes related to the job market enhanced their LS indicator.

Keywords: Career attitudes, fathers’ education level, life satisfaction, mental health.

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Authors: Marco E. O. Jardim, Frederico A. M. Souza, Valeria M. Bastos, Myrian C. A. Costa, Nelson F. F. Ebecken

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Urban public transportation in Rio de Janeiro is based on bus lines, powered by diesel, and four limited metro lines that support only some neighborhoods. This work presents an infrastructure built to better understand microclimate variations related to massive urban transportation in some specific areas of the city. The use of sensor nodes with small analytics capacity provides environmental information to population or public services. The analyses of data collected from a few small sensors positioned near some heavy traffic streets show the harmful impact due to poor bus route plan.

Keywords: Big data, IoT, public transportation, public health system.

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Authors: Sadia Idrees, Gianpaolo Vignali, Simeon Gill

Abstract:

The study aims to establish the virtual size and fit technology features to enhance fashion online retailing platforms, utilising digital human measurements to provide customised style and function to consumers. A few firms in the UK have launched advanced interactive fashion shopping domains for personalised shopping globally, aided by the latest internet technology. Virtual size and fit interfaces have a great potential to provide a personalised better-fitted garment to promote mass customisation globally. Made-to-measure clothing, consuming unstitched fabric is a common practice offered by fashion brands in Pakistan. This product is regarded as economical and sustainable to be utilised by consumers in Pakistan. Although the manual sizing system is practiced to sell garments online, virtual size and fit visualisation and recommendation technologies are uncommon in Pakistani fashion interfaces. A comparative assessment of Pakistani fashion brand websites and UK technology-driven fashion interfaces was conducted to highlight the vast potential of the virtual size and fit technology. The results indicated that web 2.0 technology adopted by Pakistani apparel brands has limited features, whereas companies practicing web 3.0 technology provide interactive online real-store shopping experience leading to enhanced customer satisfaction and globalisation of brands.

Keywords: E-commerce, mass customization, virtual size and fit, web 3.0 technology.

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Authors: Zhang Linan, Jihwan Song, Dongchoul Kim

Abstract:

In this study, a three-dimensional haptotaxis model to simulate the migration of a population of cancer cells has been proposed. The invasion of cancer cells is related with the hapto-attractant and the effect of the interface energies between the cells and the ECM. The diffuse interface model, which incorporates the haptotaxis mechanism and interface energies, is employed. The semi-implicit Fourier spectral scheme is adopted for efficient evaluation of the simulation. The simulation results thoroughly reveal the dynamics of cancer-cell migration.

Keywords: Haptotaxis, Cancer Cells, Cell Migration, Interface Energy, Diffuse Interface Model

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Authors: C. M. Balaceanu, G. Suciu, C. S. Bosoc, O. Orza, C. Fernandez, Z. Viniczay

Abstract:

The Internet of Things (IoT) represents the best option for smart vineyard applications, even if it is necessary to integrate the technologies required for the development. This article is based on the research and the results obtained in the DISAVIT project. For Smart Agriculture, the project aims to provide a trustworthy, intelligent, integrated vineyard management solution that is based on the IoT. To have interoperability through the use of a multiprotocol technology (being the future connected wireless IoT) it is necessary to adopt an agnostic approach, providing a reliable environment to address cyber security, IoT-based threats and traceability through blockchain-based design, but also creating a concept for long-term implementations (modular, scalable). The ones described above represent the main innovative technical aspects of this project. The DISAVIT project studies and promotes the incorporation of better management tools based on objective data-based decisions, which are necessary for agriculture adapted and more resistant to climate change. It also exploits the opportunities generated by the digital services market for smart agriculture management stakeholders. The project's final result aims to improve decision-making, performance, and viticulturally infrastructure and increase real-time data accuracy and interoperability. Innovative aspects such as end-to-end solutions, adaptability, scalability, security and traceability, place our product in a favorable situation over competitors. None of the solutions in the market meet every one of these requirements by a unique product being innovative.

Keywords: Blockchain, IoT, smart agriculture, vineyard.

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