Search results for: Economic Growth

Authors: J. E. Ortiz, P. Plaza, J. Herrero, I. Cabria, J. L. Blanco, J. Gavilanes, J. I. Escavy, I. López-Cilla, V. Yagüe, C. Pérez, S. Rodríguez, J. Rico, C. Serrano, J. Bernat

Abstract:

The development of Artificial Intelligence services in mining processes, specifically in aggregate quarries, is facilitating automation and improving numerous aspects of operations. Ultimately, AI is transforming the mining industry by improving efficiency, safety and sustainability. With the ability to analyze large amounts of data and make autonomous decisions, AI offers great opportunities to optimize mining operations and maximize the economic and social benefits of this vital industry. Within the framework of the European DIGIECOQUARRY project, various services were developed for the identification of material quality, production estimation, detection of anomalies and prediction of consumption and production automatically with good results.

Keywords: Aggregates, artificial intelligence, automatization, mining operations.

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Authors: Jürgen Roßmann, Gerrit Alves

Abstract:

In today-s world, the efficient utilization of wood resources comes more and more to the mind of forest owners. It is a very complex challenge to ensure an efficient harvest of the wood resources. This is one of the scopes the project “Virtual Forest II" addresses. Its core is a database with data about forests containing approximately 260 million trees located in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Based on this data, tree growth simulations and wood mobilization simulations can be conducted. This paper focuses on the latter. It describes a discrete-event-simulation with an attached 3-D real time visualization which simulates timber harvest using trees from the database with different crop resources. This simulation can be displayed in 3-D to show the progress of the wood crop. All the data gathered during the simulation is presented as a detailed summary afterwards. This summary includes cost-benefit calculations and can be compared to those of previous runs to optimize the financial outcome of the timber harvest by exchanging crop resources or modifying their parameters.

Keywords: Timber harvest, simulation, 3-D, optimization.

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Authors: G. L. C. Yap

Abstract:

Modelling realized volatility with high-frequency returns is popular as it is an unbiased and efficient estimator of return volatility. A computationally simple model is fitting the logarithms of the realized volatilities with a fractionally integrated long-memory Gaussian process. The Gaussianity assumption simplifies the parameter estimation using the Whittle approximation. Nonetheless, this assumption may not be met in the finite samples and there may be a need to normalize the financial series. Based on the empirical indices S&P500 and DAX, this paper examines the performance of the linear volatility model pre-treated with normalization compared to its existing counterpart. The empirical results show that by including normalization as a pre-treatment procedure, the forecast performance outperforms the existing model in terms of statistical and economic evaluations.

Keywords: Long-memory, Gaussian process, Whittle estimator, normalization, volatility, value-at-risk.

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Authors: Fatahian Dehkordi RF., Parchami A.

Abstract:

Design of experiments made for correlated the hormonal activity of steroids and their effect on the vaginal structure properties. Vaginal wall consists of distinct layers of cells which strongly differ regarding growth in answer to steroid hormones. The presence study carried out for functional evaluation and sustained replacement effect of the reproductive hormones on the vaginal morphometry in the rabbit. Rabbits were maintained control (Co) or ovariectomized (Ovz) and continuously treated with estradiol (Ovz E) and estradiol mixture with testosterone (Ovz ET). Relative to control rabbits with the distinct tissue distribution pattern, ovariectomized animals displayed declined epithelial thickness and atrophy of the muscularis layer that cause the vaginal wall thinning. Estradiol treatment of Orz rabbits inverted these changes to status of the preovariectomy. Histometric measurements in Ovz ET group completely including of thickness of the epithelial and muscular layers was greater in comparison to that of control animals.

Keywords: Vagina, Ovariectomy, Rabbit, Morphometry

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Authors: F. S. Abtahi, M. Koohi Hbibi, M. Khodaei Motlagh

Abstract:

Bean common mosaic necrosis virus (BCMNV) is a potyvirus with a worldwide distribution. This virus causes serious economic losses in Iran in many leguminoses. During 20008, samples were collected from soybeans fields in Tehran Province. Four isolates (S1, S2 and S3) were inoculated on 15 species of Cucurbitaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Solanacae and Leguminosae. Chenopodium quinoa and C. amaranticolor. Did not developed any symptoms.all isolates caused mosaic symptoms on Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Red Kidney and P. vulgaris cv. Bountiful. The molecular weights of coat protein using SDS-PAGE and western blotting were estimated at 33 kDa. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed using one primer pairs designed by L. XU et al. An approximately 920 bp fragment was amplified with a specific primer.

Keywords: ELISA, RT-PCR, SDS-PAGE, BCMNV.

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Authors: C. D. Papanikolaou, V. A. Giouvanis, E. A. Karatasiou, D. S. Dimakas, M. A. Sakellariou-Makrantonaki

Abstract:

Irrigation is one of the most important cultivation practices for each crop, especially in areas where rainfall is enough to cover the crop water needs. In such areas, the farmers must irrigate in order to achieve high economical results. The precise irrigation scheduling contributes to irrigation water saving and thus a valuable natural resource is protected. Under this point of view, in the experimental field of the Laboratory of Agricultural Hydraulics of the University of Thessaly, a research was conducted during the growing season of 2012 in order to evaluate the growth, seed and oil production of sunflower as well as the water saving, by applying different methods of irrigation scheduling. Three treatments in four replications were organized. These were: a) surface drip irrigation where the irrigation scheduling based on the Penman-Monteith (PM) method (control); b) surface drip irrigation where the irrigation scheduling based on a soil moisture sensor (SMS); and c) surface drip irrigation, where the irrigation scheduling based on a soil potential sensor (WM).

Keywords: Irrigation scheduling, soil moisture sensors, sustainable agriculture, water saving.

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Authors: S.H. Zulkarnain, E.M.A Zawawi, M.Y. A. Rahman, N.K.F. Mustafa

Abstract:

Building maintenance plays an important role among other activities in building operation. Building defect and damages are part of the building maintenance 'bread and butter' as their input indicated in the building inspection is very much justified, particularly as to determine the building performance. There will be no escape route or short cut from building maintenance work. This study attempts to identify a competitive performance that translates the Critical Success Factor achievements and satisfactorily meet the university-s expectation. The quality and efficiency of maintenance management operation of building depends, to some extent, on the building condition information, the expectation from the university sector and the works carried out for each maintenance activity. This paper reviews the critical success factor in building maintenance management practice for university sectors from four (4) perspectives which include (1) customer (2) internal processes (3) financial and (4) learning and growth perspective. The enhancement of these perspectives is capable to reach the maintenance management goal for a better living environment in university campus.

Keywords: Building maintenance, Critical Success Factor, Management, University

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Authors: Xuanyu Bai

Abstract:

“The Communist Manifesto”, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is one of the most significant documents throughout the whole history which covers across different fields including Economic, Politic, Sociology and Philosophy. Instead of discussing the Communist ideas presented in the Communist Manifesto, the essay focuses on exploring the reasons that contributed to the popularization of the document and its influence on political revolutions in 19^th century Europe by concentrating on the document itself along with other primary and secondary sources and temporal artwork. Combining the details from the Communist Manifesto and other documents, Marx’s writing style and word choice, his convincible notions about a new society dominated by proletariats, and the revolutionary idea of class destruction has led to the popularization of the Communist Manifesto and influenced the latter political revolutions.

Keywords: Communist Manifesto, The Wealth of Nations, 19th century Europe, word choice, capitalism, communism.

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Authors: Nihan Cinar

Abstract:

Location selection is one of the most important decision making process which requires to consider several criteria based on the mission and the strategy. This study-s object is to provide a decision support model in order to help the bank selecting the most appropriate location for a bank-s branch considering a case study in Turkey. The object of the bank is to select the most appropriate city for opening a branch among six alternatives in the South-Eastern of Turkey. The model in this study was consisted of five main criteria which are Demographic, Socio-Economic, Sectoral Employment, Banking and Trade Potential and twenty one subcriteria which represent the bank-s mission and strategy. Because of the multi-criteria structure of the problem and the fuzziness in the comparisons of the criteria, fuzzy AHP is used and for the ranking of the alternatives, TOPSIS method is used.

Keywords: MCDM, bank branch location, fuzzy AHP, TOPSIS.

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Authors: M. F. R. Zuthi, H. H. Ngo, W. S. Guo, T. T. Nguyen

Abstract:

A novel sponge submerged membrane bioreactor (SSMBR) was developed to effectively remove organics and nutrients from wastewater. Sponge is introduced within the SSMBR as a medium for the attached growth of biomass. This paper evaluates the effects of new and acclimatized sponges for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal from wastewater at different mixed liquor suspended solids- (MLSS) concentration of the sludge. It was observed in a series of experimental studies that the acclimatized sponge performed better than the new sponge whilst the optimum DOC removal could be achieved at 10g/L of MLSS with the acclimatized sponge. Moreover, the paper analyses the relationships between the MLSSsponge/MLSSsludge and the DOC removal efficiency of SSMBR. The results showed a non-linear relationship between the biomass parameters of the sponge and the sludge, and the DOC removal efficiency of SSMBR. A second-order polynomial function could reasonably represent these relationships.

Keywords: Acclimatization, Dissolved organic carbon, Mathematical model, Sponge submerged membrane bioreactor.

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Authors: Chien-Hung Chen, Yan-Chun Hsing, Yung-Chun Chang

Abstract:

The Internet has grown into a powerful medium for information dispersion and social interaction that leads to a rapid growth of social media which allows users to easily post their emotions and perspectives regarding certain topics online. Our research aims at using natural language processing and text mining techniques to explore the public emotions expressed on Twitter by analyzing the sentiment behind tweets. In this paper, we propose a composite kernel method that integrates tree kernel with the linear kernel to simultaneously exploit both the tree representation and the distributed emotion keyword representation to analyze the syntactic and content information in tweets. The experiment results demonstrate that our method can effectively detect public emotion of tweets while outperforming the other compared methods.

Keywords: Public emotion recognition, natural language processing, composite kernel, sentiment analysis, text mining.

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Authors: S.T. El Sheltawy, A. A. Refaat

Abstract:

Until recently, energy security and climate change were considered separate issues to be dealt with by policymakers. The two issues are now converging, challenging the security and climate communities to develop a better understanding of how to deal with both issues simultaneously. Although Egypt is not a major contributor to the world's total GHG emissions, it is particularly vulnerable to the potential effects of global climate change such as rising sea levels and changed patterns of rainfall in the Nile Basin. Climate change is a major threat to sustainable growth and development in Egypt, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Egypt-s capacity to respond to the challenges of climate instability will be expanded by improving overall resilience, integrating climate change goals into sustainable development strategies, increasing the use of modern energy systems with reduced carbon intensity, and strengthening international initiatives. This study seeks to establish a framework for considering the complex and evolving links between energy security and climate change, applicable to Egypt.

Keywords: climate change, climate policy, cnergy policy, energy security, sustainable development

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Authors: Kyria Rebeca Finardi

Abstract:

The study discusses the role of foreign languages in general and of English in particular in the process of internationalization of higher education (IHE), defined as the intentional integration of an international, intercultural or global dimension in the purpose, function or offer of higher education. The study is bibliographical and offers a brief outline of the current political, economic and educational scenarios in Brazil, before discussing some possibilities and challenges for the development of multilingualism and IHE there. The theoretical background includes a review of Brazilian language and internationalization policies. The review and discussion concludes that the use of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach and the Intercomprehension approach to foreign language teaching/learning are relevant alternatives to foster multilingualism in that context.

Keywords: Brazil, higher education, internationalization, multilingualism.

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Authors: Aitor Barbero-López, Soumaya Chibily, Gerhard Scheepers, Thomas Grahn, Martti Venäläinen, Antti Haapala

Abstract:

Wood decay is addressed continuously within the wood industry through use and development of wood preservatives. The increasing awareness on the negative effects of many chemicals towards the environment is causing political restrictions in their use and creating more urgent need for research on green alternatives. This paper discusses some of the possible natural extracts for wood preserving applications and compares the analytical methods available for testing their behavior and efficiency against decay fungi. The results indicate that natural extracts have interesting chemical constituents that delay fungal growth but vary in efficiency depending on the chemical concentration and substrate used. Results also suggest that presence and redistribution of preservatives in wood during exposure trials can be assessed by spectral imaging methods although standardized methods are not available. This study concludes that, in addition to the many standard methods available, there is a need to develop new faster methods for screening potential preservative formulation while maintaining the comparability and relevance of results.

Keywords: Analytics, methods, preservatives, wood decay.

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Authors: Violina R. Angelova, Mariana N. Perifanova-Nemska, Galina P. Uzunova, Elitsa N. Kolentsova

Abstract:

Comparative research has been conducted to allow us to determine the accumulation of heavy metals (Pb, Zn and Cd) in the vegetative and reproductive organs of safflower, and to identify the possibility of its growth on soils contaminated by heavy metals and efficacy for phytoremediation. The experiment was performed on an agricultural field contaminated by the Non-Ferrous-Metal Works (MFMW) near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The experimental plots were situated at different distances (0.1, 0.5, 2.0, and 15 km) from the source of pollution. The contents of heavy metals in plant materials (roots, stems, leaves, seeds) were determined. The quality of safflower oils (heavy metals and fatty acid composition) was also determined. The quantitative measurements were carried out with inductively-coupled plasma (ICP). Safflower is a plant that is tolerant to heavy metals and can be referred to the hyperaccumulators of lead and cadmium and the accumulators of zinc. The plant can be successfully used in the phytoremediation of heavy metal contaminated soils. The processing of safflower seeds into oil and the use of the obtained oil will greatly reduce the cost of phytoremediation.

Keywords: Heavy metals, phytoremediation, polluted soils, safflower.

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Authors: Alhaji M. H. Conteh, Xiangbin Yan, M. E. S. Mvodo

Abstract:

This study endeavors to evaluate the effects of farmers’ training program on the adoption of improved farming practices, the output of rice farming, and the income as well as the profit from rice farming by employing an ex-post non-experimental data in Sierra Leone. It was established that participating in farmers’ training program increased the possibility of adoption of the improved farming activities that were implemented in the study area. Through the training program also, the proceeds from rice production was also established to have increased considerably. These results were in line with the assumption that one of the main constraints on the growth in agricultural output particularly rice cultivation in most African states is the lack of efficient extension programs.

Keywords: Dissemination of information, improved farming practices, rice ecologies, Sierra Leone.

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Authors: Guillermo Vilalta, Félix Nieto, Carlos Vaquero, José A. Vilalta

Abstract:

Abdominal aortic aneurysms rupture (AAAs) is one of the main causes of death in the world. This is a very complex phenomenon that usually occurs “without previous warning". Currently, criteria to assess the aneurysm rupture risk (peak diameter and growth rate) can not be considered as reliable indicators. In a first approach, the main geometric parameters of aneurysms have been linked into five biomechanical factors. These are combined to obtain a dimensionless rupture risk index, RI(t), which has been validated preliminarily with a clinical case and others from literature. This quantitative indicator is easy to understand, it allows estimating the aneurysms rupture risks and it is expected to be able to identify the one in aneurysm whose peak diameter is less than the threshold value. Based on initial results, a broader study has begun with twelve patients from the Clinic Hospital of Valladolid-Spain, which are submitted to periodic follow-up examinations.

Keywords: AAA, rupture risk prediction, biomechanical factors, AAA geometric characterization.

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Authors: Ahmet Diken, Meral Erdirençelebi

Abstract:

Similar to economies in many countries; family-owned enterprises have a significant role in the development of Turkish economy. Although they have a large share in economic terms, their lifetime is limited to working life of their founders. Failure in achieving their sustainability deeply affects not only these businesses but also the economy. Therefore, two basic elements of family owned enterprises, family and organizational culture and especially entrepreneurship culture, should be examined closely. The degree of effectiveness of parents in instilling their children with entrepreneurship culture and their effects on children's profession choices are examined through face-to-face surveys with the managers owning family businesses randomly chosen among family-owned enterprises registered in Konya Chamber of Industry, which are active in specific sectors and which had different generations in their management.

Keywords: Family-owned enterprises, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship culture.

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Authors: Hirich A., Choukr-allah R., Jacobsen S-E., Hamdy A., El youssfi L., El Omari H.

Abstract:

An experiment was performed in the south of Morocco in order to evaluate the effect of deficit irrigation by treated wastewater on chickpea production. We applied six irrigation treatments on a local variety of chickpea by supplying alternatively 50 or 100% of ETm in a completely randomized design. We found a highly significant difference between treatments in terms of biomass production. Drought stress during the vegetative period showed highest yield with 6.5 t/ha which was more than the yield obtained for the control (4.9 t/ha). The optimal crop stage in which deficit irrigation can be applied is the vegetative growth stage, as the crop has a chance to develop its root system, to be able to cover the plant needs for water and nutrient supply during the rest of cycle, and non stress conditions during the flowering and seed filling stages allow the plant to optimize its photosynthesis and carbon translocation, therefore increase its productivity.

Keywords: chickpea, crop stages, drought stress, water productivity

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Authors: Debesh R. Roy

Abstract:

The fundamental issue in understanding the origin and growth mechanism of nanomaterials, from a fundamental unit is a big challenging problem to the scientists. Recently, an immense attention is generated to the researchers for prediction of exceptionally stable atomic cluster units as the building units for future smart materials. The present study is a systematic investigation on the stability and electronic properties of a series of bimetallic (semiconductor-alkaline earth) clusters, viz., BxMg3 (x=1-5) is performed, in search for exceptional and/ or unusual stable motifs. A very popular hybrid exchange-correlation functional, B3LYP along with a higher basis set, viz., 6-31+G[d,p] is employed for this purpose under the density functional formalism. The magic stability among the concerned clusters is explained using the jellium model. It is evident from the present study that the magic stability of B4Mg3 cluster arises due to the jellium shell closure.

Keywords: Atomic Clusters, Density Functional Theory, Jellium Model, Magic Clusters, Smart Nanomaterials.

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Authors: V. Vidučić, T. Brešan Ančić, M. Tomelić Ćurlin

Abstract:

Prior to quantifying the variables of the information model for using school terminology in Croatia's region of Dalmatia from 1884 to 2014, the most relevant model variables had to be determined: historical circumstances, standard of living, education system, linguistic situation, and media. The research findings show that there was no significant transfer of the 1884 school terms into 1949 usage; likewise, the 1949 school terms were not widely used in 2014. On the other hand, the research revealed that the meaning of school terms changed over the decades. The quantification of the variables will serve as the groundwork for creating an information model for using school terminology in Dalmatia from 1884 to 2014 and for defining direct growth rates in further research.

Keywords: Education system, historical circumstances, linguistic situation, media, school terminology, standard of living.

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Authors: H. Sajjadi, M. Gorji, GH.R. Kefayati, D. D. Ganji, M. Shayan Nia

Abstract:

In this paper Lattice Boltzmann simulation of turbulent natural convection with large-eddy simulations (LES) in a square cavity which is filled by water has been investigated. The present results are validated by finds of other investigations which have been done with different numerical methods. Calculations were performed for high Rayleigh numbers of Ra=108 and 109. The results confirm that this method is in acceptable agreement with other verifications of such a flow. In this investigation is tried to present Large-eddy turbulence flow model by Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) with a clear and simple statement. Effects of increase in Rayleigh number are displayed on streamlines, isotherm counters and average Nusselt number. Result shows that the average Nusselt number enhances with growth of the Rayleigh numbers.

Keywords: Turbulent natural convection, Large Eddy Simulation, Lattice Boltzmann Method

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Authors: Kelvin Rozier, Vladimir E. Bondarenko

Abstract:

It is known that an analog Hopfield neural network with time delay can generate the outputs which are similar to the human electroencephalogram. To gain deeper insights into the mechanisms of rhythm generation by the Hopfield neural networks and to study the effects of noise on their activities, we investigated the behaviors of the networks with symmetric and asymmetric interneuron connections. The neural network under the study consists of 10 identical neurons. For symmetric (fully connected) networks all interneuron connections aij = +1; the interneuron connections for asymmetric networks form an upper triangular matrix with non-zero entries aij = +1. The behavior of the network is described by 10 differential equations, which are solved numerically. The results of simulations demonstrate some remarkable properties of a Hopfield neural network, such as linear growth of outputs, dependence of synchronization properties on the connection type, huge amplification of oscillation by the external uniform noise, and the capability of the neural network to transform one type of noise to another.

Keywords: Chaos, Hopfield neural network, noise, synchronization

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Authors: A. V. Dolzhikova

Abstract:

The article deals with the problems of labour migration in the Russian Federation in the context of Russia's national security, provides the typology of migrants residing in the territory of the Russian Federation and analyzes the risk factors. The author considers the structure of migration flows and the terms of legal, economic and socio-cultural adaptation of migrants in the Russian Federation. In this connection, the status of the Russian migration legislation, the concept of the comprehensive exam in Russian as a foreign language, history of Russia and the basics of the Russian Federation legislation for foreign citizens which was introduced in Russia on January 1, 2015, are analyzed. The article discloses its role as the adaptation strategy and the factor of Russia's migration security.

Keywords: Comprehensive exam, migration policy, migration legislation, Russia's national security.

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Authors: Sattam Allahawiah, Haroon Altarawneh, Sameer Alamro

Abstract:

Because of its global reach, reduction of time restraints, and ability to reduce costs and increase sales, use of the Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW), and related technologies can be a competitive tool in the arsenal of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Countries the world over are interested in the successful adoption of the Internet by SMEs. Because a vast majority of jobs come from that sector, greater financial success of SMEs translates into greater job growth and, subsequently, higher tax revenue to the government. This research investigated the level of Internet usage for business solutions by small and medium enterprises in Jordan. Through the survey of a random sample of 100 firms with less than 500 employees and from data obtained from this survey that formed the basis for our study, we found that a majority of respondents use the Internet in business activities , the adoption of the Internet as a business tool is limited to a brochure where Web site which primarily provides one way. As such, there wasn't interactive information about the company and its products and services.

Keywords: Internet, SMEs, e-commerce, website, e-business, IT.

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Authors: Lubna Shaheen

Abstract:

Palestinian cities face the challenges of land scarcity, high population growth rates, rapid urbanization, uneven development and territorial fragmentation. Due to geopolitical constrains and the absence of an effective Palestinian planning institution, urban development in Palestinian cities has not followed any discernable planning scheme. This has led to a number of internal contradictions in the structure of cities, and adversely affected land use, the provision of urban services, and the quality of the living environment. This paper explores these challenges, and the potential that exists for introducing a more sustainable urban development pattern in Palestinian cities. It assesses alternative development approaches with a particular focus on sustainable development, promoting ecodevelopment imperatives, limiting random urbanization, and meeting present and future challenges, including fulfilling the needs of the people and conserving the scarce land and limited natural resources. This paper concludes by offering conceptual proposals and guidelines for promoting sustainable physical development in Palestinian cities.

Keywords: Palestinian Cities, Rapid urbanization, Sustainableurban development.

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Authors: Ji-Hyon Kil, Kew-Cheol Shim, Kyoung-Ae Park, Kyoungho Kim

Abstract:

Ambrosia trifida L. is designated as invasive alien species by the Act on the Conservation and Use of Biodiversity by the Ministry of Environment, Korea. The purpose of present paper was to investigate the inhibitory effects of aqueous extracts of A.trifida on the development of root hairs of Triticum aestivum L., and Allium tuberosum Rottler ex Spreng and the electrophoretic protein patterns of their radicles. The development of root hairs was inhibited by increasing of aqueous extract concentrations. Through SDS-PAGE, the electrophoretic protein bands of extracted proteins from their radicles were appeared in controls, but protein bands of specific molecular weight disappeared or weakened in treatments. In conclusion, inhibitory effects of A. trifida made two receptor species changed morphologically, and at the molecular level in early growth stage.

Keywords: Ambrosia trifida L., invasive alien species, inhibitory effect, root hair, electrophoretic protein, radicle.

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Authors: Bostjan Antoncic

Abstract:

Technological newness and innovativeness are important aspects of small firm development, growth and wealth creation. The contribution of the study to entrepreneurship personality research and to technology-related research in entrepreneurship is that the model of the general personality driven technological development was developed and empirically tested. Hypotheses relating the big five personality factors (OCEAN: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) and technological developments were tested by using multiple regression analysis on survey data from a sample of 160 entrepreneurs from Slovenia. The model reveals two personality factors, which are predictive of technological developments: openness (positive impact) and neuroticism (negative impact). In addition, a positive impact of firm age on technological developments was found. Other personality factors (conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness) of entrepreneurs may not be considered important for their firm technological developments.

Keywords: Big five factors, entrepreneur, personality, technology development.

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Authors: Anqi Wang, Linye Zhang

Abstract:

With the proliferation and development of mobile devices, various mobile apps have appeared to satisfy people’s needs. Metro, with the feature of convenient, punctuality and economic, is one of the most popular modes of transportation in cities. Yet, there are still some inconveniences brought by various factors, impacting tourists’ riding experience. The aim of this study is to help tourists to shorten the time of purchasing tickets, to provide them clear metro information and direct navigation, detailed schedule as well as a way to collect metro cards as souvenir. The study collects data through three phases, including observation, survey and test. Data collected from 106 tourists totally in Wuhan metro stations are discussed in the study. The result reflects tourists’ demand when they take the metro. It also indicates the feasibility of using mobile technology to improve passenger’s experience.

Keywords: Mobile App, metro, public transportation, ticket, mobile payment, indoors positioning, tourists.

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Authors: Ravinesh C. Deo

Abstract:

This article reviews the role of nozzle-exit conditions on the flow field of a plane jet. The jet issuing from a sharp-edged orifice plate at a Reynolds number (Re=18000) with nozzle aspect ratio (AR=72) exhibits the greatest shear-layer instabilities, highest entrainment and jet-spreading rates compared to the radially contoured nozzle. The growth rate of the shear-layer is the highest for the orifice-jet although this property could be amplified for larger Re or AR. A local peak in turbulent energy is found at x»10h. The peak appears to be elevated for an orifice-jet with lower Re or AR. The far-field energy sustained by the orifice-jet exceeds the contoured case although a higher Re and AR may enhance this value. The spectra demonstrated the largest eddy structures for the contoured nozzle. However, the frequency of coherent eddies is higher for the orifice-jet, with a larger magnitude achievable for lower Re and AR. 

Keywords: Plane jet, Reynolds number, nozzle-exit conditions, nozzle geometry, aspect ratio.

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