Search results for: social media analysis

Authors: Kee-Young Kwahk

Abstract:

Previous studies have indicated that one of the most critical failure reasons of enterprise systems is the lack of knowledge sharing and utilization across organizations. As a consequence, many information systems researchers have paid attention to examining the effect of absorptive capacity closely associated with knowledge sharing and transferring on IS usage performance. A lack of communications and interactions due to a lack of organizational citizenship behavior might lead to weak absorptive capacity and thus negatively influence knowledge sharing across organizations. In this study, a theoretical model which delves into the relationship between usage performance of enterprise systems and its determinants was established.

Keywords: Usage performance of information systems, Social exchanges, Enterprise systems.

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Authors: Won-Pil Park, Qyoun-Jung Lee, Dae-Gon Woo, Chang-Yong Ko, Eun-Geun Kim, Dohyung Lim, Yong-Heum Lee, Tae-Min Shin, Han-Sung Kim

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The disaster from functional gastrointestinal disorders has detrimental impact on the quality of life of the effected population and imposes a tremendous social and economic burden. There are, however, rare diagnostic methods for the functional gastrointestinal disorders. Our research group identified recently that the gastrointestinal tract well in the patients with the functional gastrointestinal disorders becomes more rigid than healthy people when palpating the abdominal regions overlaying the gastrointestinal tract. Objective of current study is, therefore, identify feasibility of a diagnostic system for the functional gastrointestinal disorders based on ultrasound technique, which can quantify the characteristics above. Two-dimensional finite difference (FD) models (one normal and two rigid model) were developed to analyze the reflective characteristic (displacement) on each soft-tissue layer responded after application of ultrasound signals. The FD analysis was then based on elastic ultrasound theory. Validation of the model was performed via comparison of the characteristic of the ultrasonic responses predicted by FD analysis with that determined from the actual specimens for the normal and rigid conditions. Based on the results from FD analysis, ultrasound system for diagnosis of the functional gastrointestinal disorders was developed and clinically tested via application of it to 40 human subjects with/without functional gastrointestinal disorders who were assigned to Normal and Patient Groups. The FD models were favorably validated. The results from FD analysis showed that the maximum displacement amplitude in the rigid models (0.12 and 0.16) at the interface between the fat and muscle layers was explicitly less than that in the normal model (0.29). The results from actual specimens showed that the maximum amplitude of the ultrasonic reflective signal in the rigid models (0.2±0.1Vp-p) at the interface between the fat and muscle layers was explicitly higher than that in the normal model (0.1±0.2 Vp-p). Clinical tests using our customized ultrasound system showed that the maximum amplitudes of the ultrasonic reflective signals near to the gastrointestinal tract well for the patient group (2.6±0.3 Vp-p) were generally higher than those in normal group (0.1±0.2 Vp-p). Here, maximum reflective signals was appeared at 20mm depth approximately from abdominal skin for all human subjects, corresponding to the location of the boundary layer close to gastrointestinal tract well. These findings suggest that our customized ultrasound system using the ultrasonic reflective signal may be helpful to the diagnosis of the functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Keywords: Finite Difference (FD) Analysis, FunctionalGastrointestinal Disorders, Gastrointestinal Tract, UltrasonicResponses.

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Authors: Mehmet Ozcan

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This study is designed to investigate errors emerged in written texts produced by 30 Turkish EFL learners with an explanatory, and thus, qualitative perspective. Erroneous language elements were identified by the researcher first and then their grammaticality and intelligibility were checked by five native speakers of English. The analysis of the data showed that it is difficult to claim that an error stems from only one single factor since different features of an error are triggered by different factors. Our findings revealed two different types of errors: those which stem from the interference of L1 with L2 and those which are developmental ones. The former type contains more global errors whereas the errors in latter type are more intelligible.

Keywords: Contrastive analysis, Error analysis, Language acquisition, Language transfer, Turkish

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Authors: Maria de Nazaré Moraes Soares, Silvia Maria Dias Pedro Rebouças, José Carlos Lázaro

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The Solidarity Economy (SE) acts in the re-articulation of the economic field to the other spheres of social action. The significant participation of women in SE resulted in the formation of a national network of self-managed enterprises in Brazil: The Solidarity and Feminist Economy Network (SFEN). The objective of the research is to identify factors of gender justice and feminist self-management practices that adhere to the reality of women in SE enterprises. The conceptual apparatus related to feminist studies in this research covers Nancy Fraser approaches on gender justice, and Patricia Yancey Martin approaches on feminist management practices, and authors of postcolonial feminism such as Mohanty and Maria Lugones, who lead the discussion to peripheral contexts, a necessary perspective when observing the women’s movement in SE. The research has a quantitative nature in the phases of data collection and analysis. The data collection was performed through two data sources: the database mapped in Brazil in 2010-2013 by the National Information System in Solidary Economy and 150 questionnaires with women from 16 enterprises in SFEN, in a state of Brazilian northeast. The data were analyzed using the multivariate statistical technique of Factor Analysis. The results show that the factors that define gender justice and feminist self-management practices in SE are interrelated in several levels, proving statistically the intersectional condition of the issue of women. The evidence from the quantitative analysis allowed us to understand the dimensions of gender justice and feminist management practices intersectionality; in this sense, the non-distribution of domestic work interferes in non-representation of women in public spaces, especially in peripheral contexts. The study contributes with important reflections to the studies of this area and can be complemented in the future with a qualitative research that approaches the perspective of women in the context of the SE self-management paradigm.

Keywords: Feminist management practices, gender justice, self-management, solidarity economy.

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Authors: Erika Ann Schaub, Christian J Darken

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Sociological models (e.g., social network analysis, small-group dynamic and gang models) have historically been used to predict the behavior of terrorist groups. However, they may not be the most appropriate method for understanding the behavior of terrorist organizations because the models were not initially intended to incorporate violent behavior of its subjects. Rather, models that incorporate life and death competition between subjects, i.e., models utilized by scientists to examine the behavior of wildlife populations, may provide a more accurate analysis. This paper suggests the use of biological models to attain a more robust method for understanding the behavior of terrorist organizations as compared to traditional methods. This study also describes how a biological population model incorporating predator-prey behavior factors can predict terrorist organizational recruitment behavior for the purpose of understanding the factors that govern the growth and decline of terrorist organizations. The Lotka-Volterra, a biological model that is based on a predator-prey relationship, is applied to a highly suggestive case study, that of the Irish Republican Army. This case study illuminates how a biological model can be utilized to understand the actions of a terrorist organization.

Keywords: Biological Models, Lotka-Volterra Predator-Prey Model, Terrorist Organizational Behavior, Terrorist Recruitment.

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Authors: Ali Ganoun

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This paper proposes evaluation of sound parameterization methods in recognizing some spoken Arabic words, namely digits from zero to nine. Each isolated spoken word is represented by a single template based on a specific recognition feature, and the recognition is based on the Euclidean distance from those templates. The performance analysis of recognition is based on four parameterization features: the Burg Spectrum Analysis, the Walsh Spectrum Analysis, the Thomson Multitaper Spectrum Analysis and the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) features. The main aim of this paper was to compare, analyze, and discuss the outcomes of spoken Arabic digits recognition systems based on the selected recognition features. The results acqired confirm that the use of MFCC features is a very promising method in recognizing Spoken Arabic digits.

Keywords: Speech Recognition, Spectrum Analysis, Burg Spectrum, Walsh Spectrum Analysis, Thomson Multitaper Spectrum, MFCC.

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Authors: K. Pandey

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The present study is a functional analysis of the relationship between castes which indicates the dynamics of the caste structure in the rural setting. The researcher has tried to show both the cooperation and competition on important ceremonial and social occasions. The real India exists in the villages, so we need to know about their solidarity and also what the village life is and has been shaping into. We need to emphasize a microcosmic study of Indian rural life. Furthermore, caste integration is an acute problem country faces today. To resolve this we are required to know the dynamics of behavior of the people of different castes and for the study of the caste dynamics a study of caste relations are needed. The present study is an attempt in this direction.

Keywords: Hierarchial groups, jajmani system, functional dependence, commensalities.

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Authors: Khaled Harrar, Rachid Jennane

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The purpose of this study is the discrimination of 28 postmenopausal with osteoporotic femoral fractures from an agematched control group of 28 women using texture analysis based on fractals. Two pre-processing approaches are applied on radiographic images; these techniques are compared to highlight the choice of the pre-processing method. Furthermore, the values of the fractal dimension are compared to those of the fractal signature in terms of the classification of the two populations. In a second analysis, the BMD measure at proximal femur was compared to the fractal analysis, the latter, which is a non-invasive technique, allowed a better discrimination; the results confirm that the fractal analysis of texture on calcaneus radiographs is able to discriminate osteoporotic patients with femoral fracture from controls. This discrimination was efficient compared to that obtained by BMD alone. It was also present in comparing subgroups with overlapping values of BMD.

Keywords: Osteoporosis, fractal dimension, fractal signature, bone mineral density.

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Authors: Marziyeh Yousefi, Hossein Nassaji

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This paper reports the results of a meta-analysis of studies on the effects of instruction mode on learning second language pragmatics during the last decade (from 2006 to 2016). After establishing related inclusion/ exclusion criteria, 39 published studies were retrieved and included in the present meta-analysis. Studies were later coded for face-to-face and computer-assisted mode of instruction. Statistical procedures were applied to obtain effect sizes. It was found that Computer-Assisted-Language-Learning studies generated larger effects than Face-to-Face instruction.

Keywords: Meta-analysis, effect size, pragmatics, computer-assisted language learnin, face-to-face instruction, comprehensive meta-analysis software.

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Authors: Osuagwu Justine Ugochukwu, Sazali Abd Wahab, Sunday Sunday Akpan

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Investigating the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on the performance of healthcare employees at the University Teaching Hospital (UNTH) in Enugu, Nigeria, was the goal of the research. The respondents were asked to fill out a structured questionnaire. The respondents were chosen using a straightforward random sampling technique and consisted of 370 health workers at the hospital. The result of the analysis revealed that transactional and transformational leadership style has a positive while ambidextrous leadership has a negative effect on healthcare workers' performance in UNTH, Enugu. Therefore, the management of public hospitals that have the capacity to change their top management approach to leadership styles will gain substantial support from their employees’ thereby increasing organizational commitment and performance among health workers. This will have remarkable social implications, one of which is a change in the work culture and attitude of medical personnel from the seemingly anti-community of patients to friendly engagement and treatment of patients leading to a harmonious coexistence among these individuals in society. Investigating ambidextrous leadership and the use of nonparametric analysis is unique and has brought knowledge to leadership literature.

Keywords: Workers’ performance, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, governance quality, ambidextrous leadership.

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Authors: Bhatti A., Nahavandi S., Hossny M.

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Current advancements in nanotechnology are dependent on the capabilities that can enable nano-scientists to extend their eyes and hands into the nano-world. For this purpose, a haptics (devices capable of recreating tactile or force sensations) based system for AFM (Atomic Force Microscope) is proposed. The system enables the nano-scientists to touch and feel the sample surfaces, viewed through AFM, in order to provide them with better understanding of the physical properties of the surface, such as roughness, stiffness and shape of molecular architecture. At this stage, the proposed work uses of ine images produced using AFM and perform image analysis to create virtual surfaces suitable for haptics force analysis. The research work is in the process of extension from of ine to online process where interaction will be done directly on the material surface for realistic analysis.

Keywords: Haptics, AFM, force feedback, image analysis.

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Authors: Maassoumeh Bemani Naeini

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Studies on interlanguage have long been engaged in describing the phenomenon of variation in SLA. Pursuing the same goal and particularly addressing the role of linguistic features, this study describes the use of Persian morphology in the interlanguage of two adult English-speaking learners of Persian L2. Taking the general approach of a combination of contrastive analysis, error analysis and interlanguage analysis, this study focuses on the identification and prediction of some possible instances of transfer from English L1 to Persian L2 across six elicitation tasks aiming to investigate whether any of contextual features may variably influence the learners’ order of morpheme accuracy in the areas of copula, possessives, articles, demonstratives, plural form, personal pronouns, and genitive cases.  Results describe the existence of task variation in the interlanguage system of Persian L2 learners.

Keywords: English L1, Interlanguage Analysis, Persian L2, SLA variation.

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Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed

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The spatial-economic modeling database is crucial in understanding economic network structures for social development. Sustainability within spatial-economic model focuses on encouraging green businesses to align with Earth’s systems. The natural exchange patterns of ecosystems exhibit consistent and periodic cycles to maintain energy and material flows in systems ecology. When network topology influences formal and informal communication to function in systems ecology, ecosystems are hypothesized to influence the basic level of spatial sustainable outcomes (i.e., project compatibility success). These referred instrumentalities impact with various aspects of the second level of spatial sustainable outcomes (i.e., participant social security satisfaction). The sustainability outcomes are modeled using composite structure based on a network analysis model to calculate the prosperity of panel databases for efficiency value from 2005 to 2025. The spatial database structure represents the state-of-the-art of value-orientation impact and corresponding complexity of sustainability issues for collecting a consistent database in approach structure of spatial-economic-ecological model, developing a set of sustainability indicators, enabling quantification impact using value-orientation policy and demonstrating spatial structure reliability. The structure of the spatial-ecological model is established for management schemes from the perspective of pollutants of multiple sources through the input–output criteria. These criteria evaluate the spillover effect to conduct Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity analysis in a unique spatial structure. The balance within “equilibrium patterns,” such as collective biosphere features, is measured using a composite index of many distributed feedback flows. This index has a dynamic structure related to physical and chemical properties for gradual prolongation to incremental patterns. While these spatial structures argue from ecological modeling of resource savings, static loads are not decisive model from an artistic/architectural perspective. The model attempts to unify analytic and analogical spatial structure for the development of urban environments in a relational database, using optimization software to integrate spatial structure where the process is based on the engineering topology of systems ecology.

Keywords: Ecological modeling, spatial structure, orientation impact, composite index, industrial ecology.

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Authors: Perumal, V., Hassan, H., Bolong, J., Osman, M. N.

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Film, as an art form playing a vital role and is a powerful tool in documenting, influencing and shaping the society. Films are the collective creation of a large number of separate individuals, each contributing with creative input, unique talents, and technical expertise to the project. Recently, the Malaysian Independent (or “Indie") filmmakers have made their presence felt by winning awards at various international film festivals. Working in the digital video (DV) format, a number of independent filmmakers really hit their stride with a range of remarkably strong titles and international recognition has been quick in coming and their works are now regularly in exhibition or in competition, winning many top prizes at prestigious festivals around the world. The interaction factors among crewmembers are emphasized as imperative for group success. An in-depth interview is conducted to analyze the social interactions and exchanges between filmmakers through Social Exchanges Theory (SET). Certainly the new millennium that was marked as the digital technology revolution has changed the face of filmmaking in Malaysia. There is a clear need to study the Malaysian independent cinema especially from the perspective of understanding what causes the independent filmmakers to work so well given all of the difficulties and constraints.

Keywords: Digital filmmaking, technology, interaction, crewmembers, cinema, independent filmmaker.

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Authors: Harish Kumar, Hussein Yahia, Oriol Pont, Michel Haissaguerre, Nicolas Derval, Meleze Hocini

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The analysis to detect arrhythmias and life-threatening conditions are highly essential in today world and this analysis can be accomplished by advanced non-linear processing methods for accurate analysis of the complex signals of heartbeat dynamics. In this perspective, recent developments in the field of multiscale information content have lead to the Microcanonical Multiscale Formalism (MMF). We show that such framework provides several signal analysis techniques that are especially adapted to the study of heartbeat dynamics. In this paper, we just show first hand results of whether the considered heartbeat dynamics signals have the multiscale properties by computing local preticability exponents (LPEs) and the Unpredictable Points Manifold (UPM), and thereby computing the singularity spectrum.

Keywords: Microcanonical Multiscale Formalism (MMF), UnpredictablePoints Manifold (UPM), Heartbeat Dynamics.

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Authors: Dinara B. Dauyen, Nurzhamal A. Aldabek

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The purpose of this work is to identify the positive and negative aspects of parties- participation in the country-s modernization, which in turn, will help a country to determine the necessary steps to improve the social-economic development. The article considers a question of the role of the dominating party of Kazakhstan and ruling party of China in the country-s modernization. Using a comparative analysis reveals differences between the People's Democratic Party “Nur Otan" and the Communist Party of China. It is discussed the policy of carrying out of modernization, the main actions of political parties of both countries with a view of modernization implementation.

Keywords: China's modernization, dominant party, ruling party, modernization of Kazakhstan.

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Authors: Chizoba Chinweze, Gwen Abiola-Oloke, Chike Jideani

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There is an urgent need to conserve the biological diversity of the Nigerian Environment for the future and present generation in the face of current energy resources development. This paper gives an in-depth analysis of the impact of oil and gas activities on the biological diversity of the Nigerian Niger Delta area and its consequences on the sustainable development of the host communities as it relates to their social, economic and environmental issues, particularly on the womenfolk who are the key managers of environmental resources. Also reviewed is the frustration of these communities that is reflected in unending conflicts.

Keywords: Biodiversity, energy resources, sustainable development, and women issues.

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Authors: P. Castillo Muñoz, A. Lara Ramírez

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Absent Theaters is a project that virtually reconstructs three theaters that existed in the twentieth century, demolished in the city of Medellin, Colombia: Circo España, Bolívar, and Junín. Virtual reconstruction is used as an excuse to talk with those who lived in their childhood and youth cultural spaces that formed a whole generation. Around 100 people who witnessed these theaters were interviewed. The means used to perform the oral history work was the virtual reconstruction of the interior of the theaters that were presented to the interviewees through the Virtual Reality glasses. The voices of people between 60 and 103 years old were used to generate a transmission of knowledge to the new generations about the importance of theaters as essential places for the city, as spaces generating social relations and knowledge of other cultures. Oral stories about events, the historical and social context of the city, were mixed with archive images and animations of the architectural transformations of these places. Oral stories about events, the historical and social context of the city, were mixed with archive images and animations of the architectural transformations of these places, with the purpose of compiling a collective discourse around cultural activities, heritage, and memory of Medellin.

Keywords: Culture, heritage, oral history, theaters, virtual reality.

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Authors: M. Yusefzad

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Law of energy conservation is one of the fundamental laws of physics. Energy is conserved, and the total amount of energy is constant. It can be transferred from one object to another and changed from one state to another. However, in the case of wave interference, this law faces important contradictions. Based on the presented mathematical relationship in this paper, it seems that validity of this law depends on the path of energy wave, like light, in which it is located. In this paper, by using some fundamental concepts in physics like the constancy of the electromagnetic wave speed in a specific media and wave theory of light, it will be shown that law of energy conservation is not valid in every condition and in some circumstances, it is possible to increase energy of a system with a determined amount of energy without any input.

Keywords: Power, law of energy conservation, electromagnetic wave, interference, Maxwell’s equations.

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Authors: Abdulrahman A. Bahaddad, Mohammed Beshir

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The objective of this paper is to demonstrate and describe eight different types of power generation technologies and to understand the history and future trends of each technology. In addition, a comparative analysis between these technologies will be presented with respect to their cost analysis and associated performance.

Keywords: Conventional power generation, economic analysis, environmental impact, renewable energy power generation.

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Authors: Kazuhisa Takagi

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This paper is about movies and dynamic objects for mobile phones. Dynamic objects are the software programmed by JavaScript. They consist of geometric figures and work on HTML5-compliant browsers. Mobile phones are very popular among teenagers. They like watching movies and playing games on them. So, mathematics movies and dynamic objects would enhance teaching and learning processes. In the movies, manga characters speak with artificially synchronized voices. They teach trigonometry together with dynamic mathematical objects. Many movies are created. They are Windows Media files or MP4 movies. These movies and dynamic objects are not only used in the classroom but also distributed to students. By watching movies, students can study trigonometry before or after class.

Keywords: Dynamic mathematical object, JavaScript, Google drive, transfer jet.

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Authors: M. Olmedilla, M. R. Martinez-Torres, S. L. Toral

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Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (eWOM) communities represent today an important source of information in which more and more customers base their purchasing decisions. They include thousands of reviews concerning very different products and services posted by many individuals geographically distributed all over the world. Due to their massive audience, eWOM communities can help users to find the product they are looking for even if they are less popular or rare. This is known as the long tail effect, which leads to a larger number of lower-selling niche products. This paper analyzes the long tail effect in a well-known eWOM community and defines a tool for finding niche products unavailable through conventional channels.

Keywords: eWOM, Online user reviews, Long tail theory, Product categorization, Social Network Analysis.

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Authors: A. Banovcinova, M. Zakova

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Labor market activity and paid employment should be a key factor in protecting individuals and families from falling into poverty and providing them with sufficient resources to meet the needs of their members. However, due to various processes in the labor market as well as the influence of individual factors and often insufficient social capital, there is a relatively large group of households that cannot eliminate paid employment and find themselves in a state of so-called working poverty. The aim of the research was to find out what strategies families use in managing poverty and meeting their needs and which of these strategies prevail in the Slovak population. A quantitative research strategy was chosen. The method of data collection was a structured interview focused on finding out the use of individual management strategies and also selected demographic indicators. The research sample consisted of members of families in which at least one member has a paid job. The condition for inclusion in the research was that the family's income did not exceed 60% of the national median equalized disposable income. The analysis of the results showed 5 basic areas to which management strategies are related - work, financial security, needs, social contacts and perception of the current situation. The prevailing strategies were strategies aimed at increasing and streamlining labor market activity and the planned and effective management of the family budget. Strategies that were rejected were mainly related to debt creation. The results make it possible to identify the preferred ways of managing poverty in individual areas of life, as well as the factors that influence this behavior. This information is important for working with families living in a state of working poverty and can help professionals develop positive ways of coping for families.

Keywords: Copying strategies, family, in-work poverty, quantitative research.

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Authors: Dong Wook Lee

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This paper describes a method for analyzing penetration for composite material using an explicit nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA). This method may be used in the early stage of design for the protection of military vehicles, aircraft engines and nuclear power plant structures made of composite materials. This paper deals with simple ballistic penetration tests for composite materials and the FEA modeling method and results. The FEA was performed to interpret the ballistic field test phenomenon regarding the damage propagation in the structure subjected to local foreign object impact.

Keywords: Computer Aided Engineering, CAE, Finite Element Analysis, FEA, impact analysis, penetration analysis, composite material.

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Authors: Miguel A. Gómez , Enrique Hilario , Francisco J. Alvarez , Elena Gastiasoro , Antonia Alvarez, Juan L. Larrabe

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Total liquid ventilation can support gas exchange in animal models of lung injury. Clinical application awaits further technical improvements and performance verification. Our aim was to develop a liquid ventilator, able to deliver accurate tidal volumes, and a computerized system for measuring lung mechanics. The computer-assisted, piston-driven respirator controlled ventilatory parameters that were displayed and modified on a real-time basis. Pressure and temperature transducers along with a lineal displacement controller provided the necessary signals to calculate lung mechanics. Ten newborn lambs (<6 days old) with respiratory failure induced by lung lavage, were monitored using the system. Electromechanical, hydraulic and data acquisition/analysis components of the ventilator were developed and tested in animals with respiratory failure. All pulmonary signals were collected synchronized in time, displayed in real-time, and archived on digital media. The total mean error (due to transducers, A/D conversion, amplifiers, etc.) was less than 5% compared to calibrated signals. Improvements in gas exchange and lung mechanics were observed during liquid ventilation, without impairment of cardiovascular profiles. The total liquid ventilator maintained accurate control of tidal volumes and the sequencing of inspiration/expiration. The computerized system demonstrated its ability to monitor in vivo lung mechanics, providing valuable data for early decision-making.

Keywords: immature lamb, perfluorocarbon, pressure-limited, total liquid ventilation, ventilator; volume-controlled

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Authors: Muhammad Waseem Ashraf, Shahzadi Tayyaba, Nitin Afzulpurkar, Asim Nisar, Adisorn Tuantranont, Erik L J Bohez

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In this paper, design, fabrication and coupled multifield analysis of hollow out-of-plane silicon microneedle array with piezoelectrically actuated microfluidic device for transdermal drug delivery (TDD) applications is presented. The fabrication process of silicon microneedle array is first done by series of combined isotropic and anisotropic etching processes using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technology. Then coupled multifield analysis of MEMS based piezoelectrically actuated device with integrated 2×2 silicon microneedle array is presented. To predict the stress distribution and model fluid flow in coupled field analysis, finite element (FE) and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis using ANSYS rather than analytical systems has been performed. Static analysis and transient CFD analysis were performed to predict the fluid flow through the microneedle array. The inlet pressure from 10 kPa to 150 kPa was considered for static CFD analysis. In the lumen region fluid flow rate 3.2946 μL/min is obtained at 150 V for 2×2 microneedle array. In the present study the authors have performed simulation of structural, piezoelectric and CFD analysis on three dimensional model of the piezoelectrically actuated mcirofluidic device integrated with 2×2 microneedle array.

Keywords: Coupled multifield, finite element analysis, hollow silicon microneedle, transdermal drug delivery.

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Authors: Miquel Colobran, Josep M. Basart

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One of the most ancient humankind concerns is knowledge formalization i.e. what a concept is. Concept Analysis, a branch of analytical philosophy, relies on the purpose of decompose the elements, relations and meanings of a concept. This paper aims at presenting a method to make a concept analysis obtaining a knowledge representation suitable to be processed by a computer system using either object-oriented or ontology technologies. Security notion is, usually, known as a set of different concepts related to “some kind of protection". Our method concludes that a more general framework for the concept, despite it is dynamic, is possible and any particular definition (instantiation) depends on the elements used by its construction instead of the concept itself.

Keywords: Concept analysis, Knowledge representation, Security, UML.

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Authors: Marco Morini, Nicolandrea Calabrese, Dario Chello

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Despite the international commitment of Algeria towards the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the country, the internal energy demand has been continuously growing during the last decade due to the substantial increase of population and of living conditions, which in turn has led to an unprecedented expansion of the residential building sector. The RTB (Thermal Building Regulation) is the technical document that establishes the calculation framework for the thermal performance of buildings in Algeria, setting up minimum obligatory targets for the thermal performance of new buildings. An update of this regulation is due in the coming years and this paper discusses some proposals in this regard, with the aim to improve the energy efficiency of the building sector, particularly with regard to social housing. In particular, it proposes a methodology for drafting an energy performance label of new Algerian residential buildings, moving from the results of the thermal compliance verification and sizing of technical systems as defined in the RTB. Such an energy performance label – whose calculation method is briefly described in the paper – aims to raise citizens' awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency. It can represent the first step in a process of integrating technical installations into the calculation of the energy performance of buildings in Algeria.

Keywords: building, energy certification, energy efficiency, social housing, international cooperation, Mediterranean Region

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Authors: Josephine S. Larkings, Patricia M. Brown

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Mental health professionals views about mental illness is an important issue which has not received enough attention. The negative stigma associated with mental illness can have many negative consequences. Unfortunately, health professionals working with the mentally ill can also exhibit stigma. It has been suggested that causal explanations or beliefs around the causes of mental illness may influence stigma. This study aims to gain a greater insight into stigma through examining stigma among potential mental health professionals. Firstly, results found that potential mental health professionals had relatively low social distance t(205) = -3.62, p <.001. Secondly, an ANOVA indicated that the participants endorsed some causal beliefs more than others, F(1.82, 311.55) = 88.47, p < .001, partial n2 = .34. Moreover, participants endorsed the biological causal explanation the most. Thirdly, results indicated that combined contact (quality and quantity) and causal beliefs (biological, psychological, and environmental) explained a significant proportion of the variance in stigma, R2 = .35, adjusted R2 = .33, F(5, 153) = 16.66, p < .001. Quality of contact was the strongest predictor, with greater quality of contact associated with lower desired social distance. Also, quantity of contact, psychological and environmental causal explanations were also significant predictors of stigma. Greater quantity of contact and higher levels of environmental causal beliefs were associated with lower levels of stigma while psychological causal explanations were associated with higher levels of stigma. A series of multiple regression analyses were conducted that showed the three causal beliefs had different impacts on four factors of stigma (Authoritarian, Benevolence, Social restrictiveness, and Community mental health ideology). These analyses showed that psychological causal beliefs had the most positive impact. More research is required on this topic as it has important implications to the treatment and recovery for people suffering from mental illness.

Keywords: Causal beliefs, contact, health professionals, mental illness stigma, social distance.

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Authors: Tanima Bhattacharya, Joy Sen

Abstract:

To transform a space into a better livable and sustainable zone, United Nations Summit in New York 2015, has decided upon 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that approach directly to achieve inclusive, people-centric, sustainable developments. Though sustainability has been majorly constructed by four pillars, namely, Ecological, Economic, Social and Cultural, but it is essentially reduced to economic and ecological consideration in the context of developing countries. Therefore, in most cases planning has reduced its ambit to concentrate around the tangible infrastructure, ignoring the fundamentals of socio-cultural heritage. With the accentuating hype of infrastructural augmentation, lack of emphasis of traditional concerns like ethnicity and social connection have further diluted the situation, disintegrating cultural continuity. As cultural continuity lacks its cohesion, it’s growing absence increasingly acts as a catalyst to degrade the heritage structures, spaces around and linking these structures, and the ability of stakeholders in identifying themselves rooted in that particular space. Hence, this paper will argue that sustainability depends on the people and their interaction with their surroundings, their culture and livelihood. The interaction between people and their surroundings strengthen community building and social interaction that abides by stakeholders reverting back to their roots. To assess the socio-cultural sustainability of the city of Kolkata, two study areas are selected, namely, an old settlement from the northern part of the city of Kolkata (KMA), imbued with social connection, age-old cultural and ethnic bonding and, another cluster of new high-rises coming up in the Newtown area having portions of planned city extension on the eastern side of the city itself. Whereas, Newtown prioritizes the surging post-industrial trends of economic aspiration and ecological aspects of urban sustainability; the former settlements of northern Kolkata still continue to represent the earliest community settlement of the British-colonial-cum native era and even the pre-colonial era, permeated with socio-cultural reciprocation. Thus, to compare and assess the inlayed organizational structure of both the spaces in the two cases, selected areas have been surveyed to portray their current imageability. The argument of this paper is structured in 5parts. First, an introduction of the idea has been forwarded, Secondly, a literature review has been conducted to ground the proposed ideas, Thirdly, methodology has been discussed and appropriate case study areas have been selected, Fourthly, surveys and analyses has been forwarded and lastly, the paper has arrived at a set of conclusions by suggesting a threefold development to create happy, healthy and sustainable community.

Keywords: Art innovation, current scenario assessment, heritage, imageability, socio-cultural sustainability.

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