Search results for: Open education

Authors: Pragya Paneru

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This paper explores altogether 10 primary teachers’ views on gender representation in primary level textbooks. Data were collected from the teachers who taught in private schools in the Kailali and Kathmandu districts. This research uses a semi-structured interview method to obtain information regarding teachers’ attitudes toward gender representations in textbook contents. The interview data were analysed by using critical skills of qualitative research. The findings revealed that most of the teachers were unaware and regarded gender issues as insignificant to discuss in primary-level classes. Most of them responded to the questions personally and claimed that there were no gender issues in their classrooms. Some of the teachers connected gender issues with contexts other than textbook representations such as school discrimination in the distribution of salary among male and female teachers, school practices of awarding girls rather than boys as the most disciplined students, following girls’ first rule in the assembly marching, encouraging only girls in the stage shows, and involving students in gender-specific activities such as decorating works for girls and physical tasks for boys. The interview also revealed teachers’ covert gendered attitudes in their remarks. Nevertheless, most of the teachers accepted that gender-biased contents have an impact on learners and this problem can be solved with more gender-centred research in the education field, discussions, and training to increase awareness regarding gender issues. Agreeing with the suggestion of teachers, this paper recommends proper training and awareness regarding how to confront gender issues in textbooks.

Keywords: Content analysis, gender equality, school education, critical awareness.

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Authors: Md Abdullah Al Faruque

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A very large percentage of bridge failures are attributed to scouring around bridge piers and this directly influences public safety. Experiments are carried out in a 12-m long rectangular open channel flume made of transparent tempered glass. A 300 mm thick bed made up of sand particles is leveled horizontally to create the test bed and a 50 mm hollow plastic cylinder is used as a model bridge pier. Tests are carried out with varying flow depths and velocities. Data points of various scour parameters such as scour depth, width, and length are collected based on different flow conditions and visual observations of changes in the stream bed downstream the bridge pier are also made as the scour progresses. Result shows that all three major flow characteristics (flow depth, Froude number and densimetric Froude number) have one way or other affect the scour profile.

Keywords: Bridge pier scour, densimetric Froude number, flow depth, Froude Number, sand.

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Authors: Richard K. F. Lee, James M. Hill

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In this paper, we summarize recent work of the authors on nanocomputing memory devices. We investigate two memory devices, each comprising a charged metallofullerene and carbon nanotubes. The first device involves two open nanotubes of the same radius that are joined by a centrally located nanotube of a smaller radius. A metallofullerene is then enclosed inside the structure. The second device also involves a etallofullerene that is located inside a closed carbon nanotube. Assuming the Lennard-Jones interaction energy and the continuum approximation, for both devices, the metallofullerene has two symmetrically placed equal minimum energy positions. On one side the metallofullerene represents the zero information state and by applying an external electrical field, it can overcome the energy barrier, and pass from one end of the tube to the other, where the metallofullerene then represents the one information state.

Keywords: Carbon nanotube, continuous approach, energy barrier, Lennard-Jones potential, metallofullerene, nanomemory device.

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Authors: Csilla M. Szabó

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In Hungary, the society has changed a lot for the past 25 years, and these changes could be detected in educational situations as well. The number and the intensity of conflicts have been increased in most fields of life, as well as at schools. Teachers have difficulties to be able to handle school conflicts. What is more, the new net generation, generation Z has values and behavioural patterns different from those of the previous one, which might generate more serious conflicts at school, especially with teachers who were mainly socialising in a traditional teacher – student relationship. In Hungary, the bill CCIV of 2011 declared the foundation of Institutes of Teacher Training in higher education institutes. One of the tasks of the Institutes is to survey the competences and needs of teachers working in public education and to provide further trainings and services for them according to their needs and requirements. This job is supported by the Social Renewal Operative Programs 4.1.2.B. The professors of a college carried out a questionnaire and surveyed the needs and the requirements of teachers working in the region. Based on the results, the professors of the Institute of Teacher Training decided to meet the requirements of teachers and to launch short teacher further training courses in spring 2015. One of the courses is going to focus on school conflict management through mediation. The aim of the pilot course is to provide conflict management techniques for teachers and to present different mediation techniques to them. The theoretical part of the course (5 hours) will enable participants to understand the main points and the advantages of mediation, while the practical part (10 hours) will involve teachers in role plays to learn how to cope with conflict situations applying mediation. We hope if conflicts could be reduced, it would influence school atmosphere in a positive way and the teaching – learning process could be more successful and effective.

Keywords: Conflict resolution, generation Z, mediation, teacher training.

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Authors: Pragati Garg, Naveen Aggarwal, Sanjeev Sofat

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With the development of ubiquitous computing, current user interaction approaches with keyboard, mouse and pen are not sufficient. Due to the limitation of these devices the useable command set is also limited. Direct use of hands as an input device is an attractive method for providing natural Human Computer Interaction which has evolved from text-based interfaces through 2D graphical-based interfaces, multimedia-supported interfaces, to fully fledged multi-participant Virtual Environment (VE) systems. Imagine the human-computer interaction of the future: A 3Dapplication where you can move and rotate objects simply by moving and rotating your hand - all without touching any input device. In this paper a review of vision based hand gesture recognition is presented. The existing approaches are categorized into 3D model based approaches and appearance based approaches, highlighting their advantages and shortcomings and identifying the open issues.

Keywords: Computer Vision, Hand Gesture, Hand Posture, Human Computer Interface.

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Authors: N. Pritchard

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Within architectural education, students arrive fore-armed with; their life-experience; knowledge gained from subject-based learning; their brains and more specifically their imaginations. The learning-by-doing that they embark on in studio-based/project-based learning calls for supervision that allows the student to proactively undertake research and experimentation with design solution possibilities. The degree to which this supervision includes direction is subject to debate and differing opinion. It can be argued that if the student is to learn-by-doing, then design decision making within the design process needs to be instigated and owned by the student so that they have the ability to personally reflect on and evaluate those decisions. Within this premise lies the problem that the student's endeavours can become unstructured and unfocused as they work their way into a new and complex activity. A resultant weakness can be that the design activity is compartmented and not holistic or comprehensive, and therefore, the student's reflections are consequently impoverished in terms of providing a positive, informative feedback loop. The construct proffered in this paper is that a supportive 'armature' or 'Heuristic-Framework' can be developed that facilitates a holistic approach and reflective learning. The normal explorations of architectural design comprise: Analysing the site and context, reviewing building precedents, assimilating the briefing information. However, the student can still be compromised by 'not knowing what they need to know'. The long-serving triad 'Firmness, Commodity and Delight' provides a broad-brush framework of considerations to explore and integrate into good design. If this were further atomised in subdivision formed from the disparate aspects of architectural design that need to be considered within the design process, then the student could sieve through the facts more methodically and reflectively in terms of considering their interrelationship conflict and alliances. The words facts and sieve hold the acronym of the aspects that form the Heuristic-Framework: Function, Aesthetics, Context, Tectonics, Spatial, Servicing, Infrastructure, Environmental, Value and Ecological issues. The Heuristic could be used as a Hermeneutic Model with each aspect of design being focused on and considered in abstraction and then considered in its relation to other aspect and the design proposal as a whole. Importantly, the heuristic could be used as a method for gathering information and enhancing the design brief. The more poetic, mysterious, intuitive, unconscious processes should still be able to occur for the student. The Heuristic-Framework should not be seen as comprehensive prescriptive formulaic or inhibiting to the wide exploration of possibilities and solutions within the architectural design process.

Keywords: Atomistic, hermeneutic, holistic, approach architectural design studio education.

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Authors: Fatma Didin Sonmez, Pinar Sener

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Technology transfer by international trade and foreign direct investment is the most important positive outcome of open economy. It is widely accepted that new technology and knowledge have an important role in enhancing economic growth. Human capital is the other important factor assisting economic growth. In this study, the role of human capital in the growth process is examined in a view of new endogenous growth theory emphasizing on the technology transfer resulting from international trade. Using the panel data of 10 developed and 10 developing countries, impact of human capital and openness on the rate of economic growth of different countries is analysed. Evidence suggests the view that human capital and openness contribute to the economic growth in both developing and developed countries, but with different rates.

Keywords: economic growth, human capital, openness, technology

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Authors: Muhammad Naseem Baig, Razia Sharif

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From past many decades human beings are suffering from plethora of natural disasters. Occurrence of disasters is a frequent process; it changes conceptual myths as more and more advancement are made. Although we are living in technological era but in developing countries like Pakistan disasters are shaped by socially constructed roles. The need is to understand the most vulnerable group of society i.e. females; their issues are complex in nature because of undermined gender status in the society. There is a need to identify maximum issues regarding females and to enhance the achievement of millennium development goals (MDGs). Gender issues are of great concern all around the globe including Pakistan. Here female visibility in society is low, and also during disasters, the failure to understand the reality that concentrates on double burden including productive and reproductive care. Women have to contribute a lot in society so we need to make them more disaster resilient. For this non-structural measures like awareness, trainings and education must be carried out. In rural and in urban settings in any disaster like earthquake or flood, elements like gender perspective, their age, physical health, demographic issues contribute towards vulnerability. In Pakistan the gender issues in disasters were of less concern before 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods. Significant achievements are made after 2010 floods when gender and child cell was created to provide all facilities to women and girls. The aim of the study is to highlight all necessary facilities in a disaster to build coping mechanism in females from basic rights till advance level including education.

Keywords: Disaster resilient, Gender cell, Millennium development.

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Authors: Sahar Khedr, Dina Sayed, Ayman Hanafy

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Arabic is one of the most ancient and critical languages in the world. It has over than 250 million Arabic native speakers and more than twenty countries having Arabic as one of its official languages. In the past decade, we have witnessed a rapid evolution in smart devices, social network and technology sector which led to the need to provide tools and libraries that properly tackle the Arabic language in different domains. Stemming is one of the most crucial linguistic fundamentals. It is used in many applications especially in information extraction and text mining fields. The motivation behind this work is to enhance the Arabic light stemmer to serve the data mining industry and leverage it in an open source community. The presented implementation works on enhancing the Arabic light stemmer by utilizing and enhancing an algorithm that provides an extension for a new set of rules and patterns accompanied by adjusted procedure. This study has proven a significant enhancement for better search accuracy with an average 10% improvement in comparison with previous works.

Keywords: Arabic data mining, Arabic Information extraction, Arabic Light stemmer, Arabic stemmer.

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Authors: Romeo A. Botes, Imelda Smit

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The demands of an ever changing and complex higher education environment, along with the profile of modern learners challenge current approaches to assessment and feedback. More learners enter the education system every year. The younger generation expects immediate feedback. At the same time, feedback should be meaningful. The assessment of practical activities in programming poses a particular problem, since both lecturers and learners in the information and computer science discipline acknowledge that paper-based assessment for programming subjects lacks meaningful real-life testing. At the same time, feedback lacks promptness, consistency, comprehensiveness and individualisation. Most of these aspects may be addressed by modern, technology-assisted assessment. The focus of this paper is the continuous development of an artefact that is used to assist the lecturer in the assessment and feedback of practical programming activities in a senior database programming class. The artefact was developed using three Design Science Research cycles. The first implementation allowed one programming activity submission per assessment intervention. This pilot provided valuable insight into the obstacles regarding the implementation of this type of assessment tool. A second implementation improved the initial version to allow multiple programming activity submissions per assessment. The focus of this version is on providing scaffold feedback to the learner – allowing improvement with each subsequent submission. It also has a built-in capability to provide the lecturer with information regarding the key problem areas of each assessment intervention.

Keywords: Programming, computer-aided assessment, technology-assisted assessment, programming assessment software, design science research, mixed-method.

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Authors: Chang Lee Shu-Jung, Mei-Se Chien, Chien-Chiang Lee, Hui-Ting Hu

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This paper applies recursive cointegration analysis to examine the dynamic changes in Feldstein-Horioka saving-investment (S-I) coefficients across China and the ASEAN-5 countries over time. To the extent that the S-I coefficients measure international capital mobility, the main empirical results are as follows. The recursive trace statistics show that the investment- savings nexus varies in these six countries. There is no cointegration between investment and savings in three countries (China, Malaysia, and Singapore), which means that the mobility of the capital markets in the three is high and that domestic investment in them will be financed by the global pool of capital. As to the other three countries (Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines), there is cointegration between investment and savings for part of the sample period in the three, including before 2002 for Thailand, before 2001 for Indonesia, and before 2002 for Philippines. This shows these three countries achieved highly mobile and open capital markets later.

Keywords: Investment, savings, recursive cointegration test, ASEAN, China.

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Authors: Ber-Lin Yu, Ting-Zhu Huang

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If there exists a nonempty, proper subset S of the set of all (n+1)(n+2)/2 inertias such that S Ôèå i(A) is sufficient for any n×n zero-nonzero pattern A to be inertially arbitrary, then S is called a critical set of inertias for zero-nonzero patterns of order n. If no proper subset of S is a critical set, then S is called a minimal critical set of inertias. In [Kim, Olesky and Driessche, Critical sets of inertias for matrix patterns, Linear and Multilinear Algebra, 57 (3) (2009) 293-306], identifying all minimal critical sets of inertias for n×n zero-nonzero patterns with n ≥ 3 and the minimum cardinality of such a set are posed as two open questions by Kim, Olesky and Driessche. In this note, the minimum cardinality of all critical sets of inertias for 4 × 4 irreducible zero-nonzero patterns is identified.

Keywords: Zero-nonzero pattern, inertia, critical set of inertias, inertially arbitrary.

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Authors: Masoud Afrand, Amin Behzadmehr, Arash Karimipour

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The world demand for potable water is increasing every day with growing population. Desalination using solar energy is suitable for potable water production from brackish and seawater. In this paper, we present a theoretical study of solar distillation in a single basin under the open environmental conditions of Chabahar-Iran. The still has a base area of 2000mm×500mm with a glass cover inclined at 25° in order to obtain extra solar energy. We model the still and conduct its energy balance equations under minor assumptions. We computed the temperatures of glass cover, seawater interface, moist air and bottom using numerical method. The investigation addressed the following: The still productivity, distilled water salinity and still performance in terms of the still efficiency. Calculated still productivity in July was higher than December. So in this paper, we show that still productivity is directly functioning of solar radiation.

Keywords: Inclined Solar still, Solar energy, Solar desalination, Numerical Simulation.

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Authors: Amah Nnachi Lofty, Oyefeso Olufemi, Ibiam Udu Ama

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New and more powerful communications technologies continue to emerge at a rapid pace and their uses in education are widespread and the impact remarkable in the developing societies. This study investigates Mobile Collaboration Learning Technique (MCLT) on learners’ outcome among students in tertiary institutions of developing nations (a case of Nigeria students). It examines the significance of retention achievement scores of students taught using mobile collaboration and conventional method. The sample consisted of 120 students using Stratified random sampling method. Five research questions and hypotheses were formulated, and tested at 0.05 level of significance. A student achievement test (SAT) was made of 40 items of multiple-choice objective type, developed and validated for data collection by professionals. The SAT was administered to students as pre-test and post-test. The data were analyzed using t-test statistic to test the hypotheses. The result indicated that students taught using MCLT performed significantly better than their counterparts using the conventional method of instruction. Also, there was no significant difference in the post-test performance scores of male and female students taught using MCLT. Based on the findings, the following submissions was made that: Mobile collaboration system be encouraged in the institutions to boost knowledge sharing among learners, workshop and training should be organized to train teachers on the use of this technique, schools and government should consistently align curriculum standard to trends of technological dictates and formulate policies and procedures towards responsible use of MCLT.

Keywords: Education, communication, learning, mobile collaboration, technology.

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Authors: Sarbjot Singh Sandhu

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This paper presents the experimental results of a single cylinder Enfield engine using an electronically controlled fuel injection system which was developed to carry out exhaustive tests using neat CNG, and mixtures of hydrogen in compressed natural gas (HCNG) as 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% by energy. Experiments were performed at 2000 and 2400 rpm with wide open throttle and varying the equivalence ratio. Hydrogen which has fast burning rate, when added to compressed natural gas, enhances its flame propagation rate. The emissions of HC, CO, decreased with increasing percentage of hydrogen but NOx was found to increase. The results indicated a marked improvement in the brake thermal efficiency with the increase in percentage of hydrogen added. The improved thermal efficiency was clearly observed to be more in lean region as compared to rich region. This study is expected to reduce vehicular emissions along with increase in thermal efficiency and thus help in reduction of further environmental degradation.

Keywords: Hydrogen, CNG, HCNG, Emissions.

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Authors: Ber-Lin Yu, Ting-Zhu Huang

Abstract:

If there exists a nonempty, proper subset S of the set of all (n + 1)(n + 2)/2 inertias such that S Ôèå i(A) is sufficient for any n × n zero-nonzero pattern A to be inertially arbitrary, then S is called a critical set of inertias for zero-nonzero patterns of order n. If no proper subset of S is a critical set, then S is called a minimal critical set of inertias. In [3], Kim, Olesky and Driessche identified all minimal critical sets of inertias for 2 × 2 zero-nonzero patterns. Identifying all minimal critical sets of inertias for n × n zero-nonzero patterns with n ≥ 3 is posed as an open question in [3]. In this paper, all minimal critical sets of inertias for 3 × 3 zero-nonzero patterns are identified. It is shown that the sets {(0, 0, 3), (3, 0, 0)}, {(0, 0, 3), (0, 3, 0)}, {(0, 0, 3), (0, 1, 2)}, {(0, 0, 3), (1, 0, 2)}, {(0, 0, 3), (2, 0, 1)} and {(0, 0, 3), (0, 2, 1)} are the only minimal critical sets of inertias for 3 × 3 irreducible zerononzero patterns.

Keywords: Permutation digraph, zero-nonzero pattern, irreducible pattern, critical set of inertias, inertially arbitrary.

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Authors: Arkady Bolotin

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One-way functions are functions that are easy to compute but hard to invert. Their existence is an open conjecture; it would imply the existence of intractable problems (i.e. NP-problems which are not in the P complexity class). If true, the existence of one-way functions would have an impact on the theoretical framework of physics, in particularly, quantum mechanics. Such aspect of one-way functions has never been shown before. In the present work, we put forward the following. We can calculate the microscopic state (say, the particle spin in the z direction) of a macroscopic system (a measuring apparatus registering the particle z-spin) by the system macroscopic state (the apparatus output); let us call this association the function F. The question is: can we compute the function F in the inverse direction? In other words, can we compute the macroscopic state of the system through its microscopic state (the preimage F -1)? In the paper, we assume that the function F is a one-way function. The assumption implies that at the macroscopic level the Schrödinger equation becomes unfeasible to compute. This unfeasibility plays a role of limit of the validity of the linear Schrödinger equation.

Keywords: One-way functions, P versus NP problem, quantummeasurements.

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Authors: Pedro J. Muñoz Merino, Natividad Martínez Madrid, Ralf E. D. Seepold

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On one hand, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) allows integrating different enterprise elements connected through Internet into a standardized remote management. On the other hand, as a consequence of the success of Intelligent Houses they can be connected through Internet now by means of a residential gateway according to a common standard called OSGi (Open Services Gateway initiative). Due to the specifics of OSGi Service Platforms and their dynamic nature, specific design criterions should be defined to implement SNMP Agents for OSGi in order to integrate them into the SNMP remote management. Based on the analysis of the relation between both standards (SNMP and OSGi), this paper shows how OSGi Service Platforms can be included into the SNMP management of a global enterprise, giving implementation details about an SNMP Agent solution and the definition of a new MIB (Management Information Base) for managing OSGi platforms that takes into account the specifics and dynamic nature of OSGi.

Keywords: MIB, OSGi, Remote Management, SNMP.

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Authors: Angelica I. Aviles, Pilar Sobrevilla, Alicia Casals

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Compensating physiological motion in the context of minimally invasive cardiac surgery has become an attractive issue since it outperforms traditional cardiac procedures offering remarkable benefits. Owing to space restrictions, computer vision techniques have proven to be the most practical and suitable solution. However, the lack of robustness and efficiency of existing methods make physiological motion compensation an open and challenging problem. This work focusses on increasing robustness and efficiency via exploration of the classes of 1−and 2−regularized optimization, emphasizing the use of explicit regularization. Both approaches are based on natural features of the heart using intensity information. Results pointed out the 1−regularized optimization class as the best since it offered the shortest computational cost, the smallest average error and it proved to work even under complex deformations.

Keywords: Motion Compensation, Optimization, Regularization, Beating Heart Surgery, Ill-posed problem.

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Authors: S. Graeff-Hönninger, J. Pfenning, V. Gutsal, S. Wolf, S. Zikeli, W. Claupein

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Broccoli is considered as being a rich source of AOX like flavonoids, polyphenols, anthocyanins etc. and of major interest especially in the organic sector. However, AOX is environment dependent and often varies between cultivars. Aim of the study was to investigate the impact of cultivar and harvest date on AOX in broccoli. Activity of the AOX was determined using a Photochem®-Analyzer and a kit of reagent solutions for analysis. Results of the study showed that the lipid (ACL) and water-soluble antioxidant potential (AWC) of broccoli heads varied significantly between the four harvesting dates, but not among the different cultivars. The highest concentration of ACL was measured in broccoli heads harvested in September 2011, followed by heads harvested at the beginning of July in 2012. ACW was highest in heads harvested in October 2011. Lowest concentrations of ACW were measured in heads harvested in June 2012. Overall, the study indicated that the harvest date and thus growing conditions seem to be of high importance for final antioxidant capacity of broccoli.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, open pollinating, organic agriculture.

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Authors: Ebenezer Kwesi Armah-Ansah, Kenneth Fosu Oteng, Esther Selasi Avinu, Eugene Budu, Edward Kwabena Ameyaw

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Maternal mortality, particularly in Benin, is a major public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa. To provide a positive pregnancy experience and reduce maternal morbidities, all pregnant women must get appropriate and timely prenatal support. However, many pregnant women in developing countries, including Benin, begin Antenatal Care (ANC) late. There is a paucity of empirical literature on the prevalence and predictors of early ANC visits in Benin. As a result, the purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and predictors of early ANC visits among women of productive age in Benin. This is a secondary analysis of the 2017/2018 Benin Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data. The study involved 6,919 eligible women. Data analysis was conducted using Stata version 14.2 for Mac OS. We adopted a multilevel logistic regression to examine the predictors of early ANC visits in Benin. The results were presented as odds ratios (ORs) associated with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and p-value < 0.05 to determine the significant associations. The prevalence of early ANC visits among pregnant women in Benin was 57.03% [95% CI: 55.41-58.64]. In the final multilevel logistic regression, early ANC visit was higher among women aged 30-34 [aOR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.17-2.18] compared to those aged 15-19, women with primary education [aOR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.06-142] compared to the non-educated women, women who were covered by health insurance [aOR = 3.03, 95% CI = 1.35-6.76], women without a big problem in getting the money needed for treatment [aOR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.16-1.49], distance to the health facility, not a big problem [aOR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.08-1.41], and women whose partners had secondary/higher education [aOR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.15-1.57] compared with those who were not covered by health insurance, had big problem in getting money needed for treatment, distance to health facility is a big problem and whose partners had no education respectively. However, women who had four or more births [aOR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.48-0.74] and those in Atacora Region [aOR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.37-0.68] had lower odds of early ANC visit. This study revealed a relatively high prevalence of early ANC visits among women of reproductive age in Benin. Women's age, educational status of women and their partners, parity, health insurance coverage, distance to health facilities, and region were all associated with early ANC visits among women of reproductive in Benin. These factors ought to be taken into account when developing ANC policies and strategies in order to boost early ANC visits among women in Benin. This will significantly reduce maternal and newborn mortality and help achieve the World Health Organization’s recommendation that all pregnant women should initiate early ANC visits within the first three months of pregnancy.

Keywords: Antenatal care, Benin, maternal health, pregnancy, DHS, public health.

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Authors: Bilgehan Gültekin, Tuba Gültekin

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It is quite essential to form dialogue mechanisms and dialogue channels to solve intercultural communication issues. Therefore, every country should develop a intercultural education project which aims to resolve international communication issues. For proper mediation training, the first step is to reach an agreement on the actors to run the project. The strongest mediation mechanisms in the world should be analyzed and initiated within the educational policies. A communication-based mediation model should be developed for international mediation training. Mediators can use their convincing communication skills as a part of this model. At the first, fundamental stages of the mediation training should be specified within the scope of the model. Another important topic at this point is common sence and peace leaders to act as an ombudsman in this process. Especially for solving some social issues and conflicts, common sense leaders acting as an ombudsman would lead to effective communication. In mediation training that is run by universities and non-governmental organizations, another phase is to focus on conducting the meetings. In intercultural mediation training, one of the most critical topics is to conduct the meeting traffic and performing a shuttle diplomacy. Meeting traffic is where the mediator organizes meetings with the parties with initiative powers, in order to contribute to the solution of the issue, and schedule these meetings. In this notice titled “ Intercultural mediation training and the training process of common sense leaders by the leadership of universities communication and artistic campaigns" , communication models and strategies about this topic will be constructed and an intercultural art activities and perspectives will be presented.

Keywords: Intercultural communication, mediation education, common sense leaders, artistic sensitivity

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Authors: Roselyn A. Maaño

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Eyes are an essential and conspicuous organ of the human body. Human eyes are outward and inward portals of the body that allows to see the outside world and provides glimpses into ones inner thoughts and feelings. Inevitable blindness and visual impairments may results from eye-related disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means. The study emphasizes innovative tools that will serve as an aid to the blind and visually impaired (VI) individuals. The researchers fabricated a prototype that utilizes the Microsoft Kinect for Windows and Arduino microcontroller board. The prototype facilitates advanced gesture recognition, voice recognition, obstacle detection and indoor environment navigation. Open Computer Vision (OpenCV) performs image analysis, and gesture tracking to transform Kinect data to the desired output. A computer vision technology device provides greater accessibility for those with vision impairments.

Keywords: Algorithms, Blind, Computer Vision, Embedded Systems, Image Analysis.

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Authors: E. Grochowska-Niedworok, K. Brukało, M. Hadasik, M. Kardas

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Consumption of vegetables by school children and adolescents is essential for their normal growth, development and health, but a significant minority of the world's population consumes the right amount of these products. The aim of the study was to evaluate the preferences and frequency of consumption of vegetables by school children and adolescents. It has been assumed that effectively implemented nutrition education programs should have an impact on increasing the frequency of vegetable consumption among the recipients. The study covered 514 students of five schools in the Opole Voivodeship aged 9 years to 22 years. The research tool was an author's questionnaire, which consisted of closed questions on the frequency of vegetable consumption and the use of 10 ways to treat them. Preferences and frequencies are shown in percentages, while correlations were estimated on the basis of Cramer`s V and gamma coefficients. In each of the examined age groups, the relationship between sex and vegetable consumption (the Cramer`s V coefficient value was 0.06 to 0.38) was determined and the various methods of culinary processing were used (V Craméra was 0.08 to 0.34). For both sexes, the relationship between age and frequency of vegetable consumption was shown (gamma values ranged from ~ 0.00 to 0.39) and different cooking methods (gamma values were 0.01 to 0.22). The most important determinant of nutritional choices is the taste and availability of products. The fact that they have a positive effect on their health is only in third position. As has been shown, obesity prevention programs can not only address nutrition education but also teach about new flavors and increase the availability of healthy foods. In addition, the frequency of vegetable consumption can be a good indicator reflecting the healthy behaviors of children and adolescents.

Keywords: Children and adolescents, frequency, welfare rate, vegetables.

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Authors: Jandot Aurélia

Abstract:

As the nuclear power is a sensitive field leading to controversy, the quality of the communication about it is important. Between 1965 and 1981, in France, this one had gradually changed. This change is studied here in the main French news magazine L’Express, in connection with several parameters. As this represents a huge number of copies and occurrences, thus a considerable amount of information; this paper is focused on the main articles as well as the main “mental images”. These ones are important, as their aim is to direct the thought of the readers, and as they have led the public awareness to evolve. Over this 17 years, two trends are in confrontation: The first one is promoting the perception of the nuclear power, while the second one is discrediting it. These trends are organized in two axes: the evolution of engineering, and the risks. In both cases, the changes in the language allow discerning the deepest intentions of the magazine editing, over a period when the nuclear technology, to there a laboratory object accompanied with mystery and secret, has become a social issue seemingly open to all.

Keywords: French news magazine, mental images, nuclear power, public awareness.

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Authors: Ege Can Onal, Enver Ersen, Meltem Elitas

Abstract:

Laparoscopy is a surgical operation, well known as keyhole surgery. The operation is performed through small holes, hence, scars of a patient become much smaller, patients can recover in a short time and the hospital stay becomes shorter in comparison to an open surgery. Several tools are used at laparoscopic operations; among them, the laparoscope has a crucial role. It provides the vision during the operation, which will be the main focus in here. Since the operation area is very small, motion of the surgical tools might be limited in laparoscopic operations compared to traditional surgeries. To overcome this limitation, most of the laparoscopic tools have become more precise, dexterous, multi-functional or automated. Here, we present a robotic-assisted laparoscope that is controlled with pedals directly by a surgeon. Thus, the movement of the laparoscope might be controlled better, so there will not be a need to calibrate the camera during the operation. The need for an assistant that controls the movement of the laparoscope will be eliminated. The duration of the laparoscopic operation might be shorter since the surgeon will directly operate the camera.

Keywords: Laparoscope, laparoscopy, low-cost, minimally invasive surgery, robotic-assisted surgery.

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Authors: Samson T. Obafemi, Seraphin D. Eyono Obono

Abstract:

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are pervasive nowadays, including in education where they are expected to improve the performance of learners. However, the hope placed in ICTs to find viable solutions to the problem of poor academic performance in schools in the developing world has not yet yielded the expected benefits. This problem serves as a motivation to this study whose aim is to examine the perceptions of educators on the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning. This aim will be subdivided into two types of research objectives. Objectives on the identification and design of theories and models will be achieved using content analysis and literature review. However, the objective on the empirical testing of such theories and models will be achieved through the survey of educators from different schools in the Pinetown District of the South African Kwazulu-Natal province. SPSS is used to quantitatively analyse the data collected by the questionnaire of this survey using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations after assessing the validity and the reliability of the data. The main hypothesis driving this study is that there is a relationship between the demographics of educators’ and their adherence to learning theories on one side, and their perceptions on the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning on the other side, as argued by existing research; but this research views these learning theories under three perspectives: educators’ adherence to self-regulated learning, to constructivism, and to progressivism. This hypothesis was fully confirmed by the empirical study except for the demographic factor where teachers’ level of education was found to be the only demographic factor affecting the perceptions of educators on the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning.

Keywords: Academic performance, e-learning, Learning theories, Teaching and Learning.

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Authors: Vasileios Anastopoulos

Abstract:

Cyber threat intelligence assists organisations in understanding the threats they face and helps them make educated decisions on preparing their defences. Sharing of threat intelligence and threat information is increasingly leveraged by organisations and enterprises, and various software solutions are already available, with the open-source malware information sharing platform (MISP) being a popular one. In this work, a methodology for the production of cyber threat intelligence using the threat information stored in MISP is proposed. The methodology leverages the discipline of social network analysis and the diamond model, a model used for intrusion analysis, to produce cyber threat intelligence. The workings of the proposed methodology are demonstrated with a case study on a production MISP instance of a real organisation. The paper concludes with a discussion on the proposed methodology and possible directions for further research.

Keywords: Cyber threat intelligence, diamond model, malware information sharing platform, social network analysis.

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Authors: Xiaowen Zhang, Wanda Luen-Wun Siu

Abstract:

The paper reviews the insights gained in combating COVID-19 in the US, Japan, and China. After evaluation and investigation, we found that China’s and Japan’s experience of fighting COVID-19 is commendable. The Chinese government and the Japanese administration have implemented highly effective governance and public health course of action to fight COVID-19. Government-led epidemic control with a staunch belief in science can roll out effective pandemic control strategies. In contrast, the US failed to react to COVID-19 effectively. The relaxed public health measures of ending shutdowns prematurely were not working. When the US keeps business open after the spring shutdown, COVID-19 cases are soaring. Such experiences inform us effective governance and a mandatory and stricter approach can better curb a pandemic than milder measures in handling a public health emergency. And China and Japan, where collectivistic culture reins, can better maneuver a public health crisis with collective efforts.

Keywords: COVID-19, China, Japan, US.

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Authors: Jasmine Adela Mutang, Alfred Chan Huan Zhi, Norzihan Ayub, Chua Bee Seok, Rosnah Ismail, Ooh Siew Ling, Uichol Kim

Abstract:

This study aims to investigate how much both son and daughter trust their father and what are the underlying reasons they trust their father. The results revealed five main reasons why Malaysian adolescents trust their father. Those reasons are related to the role of father, father-child relationship, father-s characteristics, father-s nurturing nature and father-s attitude and behavior. A total of 1022 students (males = 241, females = 781) from one of public university in Sabah, Malaysia participated in the study. The participants completed open-ended questionnaires developed by Kim (2008), asking how much the adolescents trust their father, and the reasons why they trust their father. The data was analysed by using the indigenous psychology method proposed by [1] Findings of this study revealed the pattern of trust towards father for both Malaysian male and female adolescents. The results contributed new information about Malaysian adolescents- trust towards their father form the indigenous context. The implications of finding will be discussed.

Keywords: Adolescent, Father-child relationship, Indigenous Psychology, Trust.

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