Search results for: Business potential

Authors: Roshayani Arshad, Normah Omar, Siti Fatimah Awang

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The move from cash accounting to accrual accounting, or rule-based to principle-based accounting, by many governments is part of an ongoing efforts in promoting a more business-like and performance-focused public sector. Using questionnaire responses from preparers of financial statements of public universities in Malaysia, this study examines the implementation challenges and benefits of principle-based accounting. Results from these responses suggest that most respondents perceived significant costs would be incurred in relation to staff training and recruitment of staffs with relevant technical knowledge. In addition, most respondents also perceived that there will be significant changes in the current accounting system and structure in order to comply with the principle-based accounting requirements. However, most respondents perceived that these changes might not result in significant benefits for management purposes, for example, financial management, budgeting and allocation of resources. Nevertheless, most respondents perceived that principle-based accounting information would facilitate the monitoring function of the board. The general perception is that adoption of principle-based accounting information is not significantly useful than rule-based accounting information is expected to change over time as preparers of the financial statements gradually understand and appreciate the benefits of principle-based accounting information. This infers that the perceived usefulness of different accounting system is a function of familiarity by the preparers.

Keywords: Accrual accounting, principle-based accounting, public sector, rule-based accounting.

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Authors: A. Chennaf, M. Yahia, W. Bouafia, S. Benbia, D. Khellaf

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Our study was designed to highlight changes in  certain biochemical parameters (CH, TG, HDL, GOT, GPT, LDL and  CRP), obese women infertile fertile witnesses and research potential  pathophysiological link between obesity and infertility in this  population of women. This practical work was focused on a  population of 24 obese women infertile, compared to controls,  subjects without any pathology causing disruption of parameters to  be studied to determine the contribution of obesity in the etiology of  infertility. The assay results revealed a highly significant difference  between the two groups in serum CH, TG, HDL, TGO and TGP (P  <0.0001) and in the rate of LDL (p = 0.0017) and CRP (p = 0.02).  The present study indicates that obesity is associated with infertility,  but no direct pathophysiological link between obesity and infertility  has been determined. Further in-depth studies are needed to  determine the exact mechanism by which overweight leads to female  infertility.

 

Keywords: Obesity, fertility, infertility, biochemical, women.

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Authors: Osagiede Mercy Afe

Abstract:

After the internet explosion in the 90’s, technology was immediately integrated into the school system. Technology which symbolizes advancement in human knowledge was seen as a setback by many educators. Efforts have been made to help stem this erroneous believes and help educators realize the benefits of technology and ways of implementing it in the classrooms especially in the sciences. This advancement created a constantly expanding gap between the pupil’s perception on the use of technology within the learning atmosphere and the teacher’s perception and limitations hence, the focus of this paper is on the need to refocus on the use of Science and Technology in enhancing children’s potentials in learning at school especially in Science for sustainable development in Nigeria. The paper recommended measures for facilitating the sustenance of science and technology in Nigerian schools so as to enhance the potentials of our children in Science and Technology for a better tomorrow.

Keywords: Children’s potential, Educational system, ICT, Sustainable development.

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Authors: Dara Singh, Keikhosrow Firouzbakhsh, Mohammad Taghi Ahmadian

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In this paper, conventional laser Keratoplasty surgeries in the human eye are studied. For this purpose, a validated 3D finite volume model of the human eye is introduced. In this model the fluid flow has also been considered. The discretized domain of the human eye incorporates a bio-heat transfer equation coupled with a Boussinesq equation. Both continuous and pulsed lasers have been modeled and the results are compared. Moreover, two different conventional surgical positions that are upright and recumbent are compared for these laser therapies. The simulation results show that in these conventional surgeries, the temperature rises above the critical values at the laser insertion areas. However, due to the short duration and the localized nature, the potential damages are restricted to very small regions and can be ignored. The conclusion is that the present day lasers are acceptably safe to the human eye.

Keywords: Eye, heat-transfer, keratoplasty laser, surgery.

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Authors: Pawit Mongkolprasit, Proud Arunrangsiwed

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Lately, many media organizations in Thailand have started to produce 3D animation, so the quality of personnel should be identified. As an instructor in the school of Animation and Multimedia, the researchers have to prepare the students, suitable for the need of industry. The current study used exploratory research design to establish the knowledge of about this issue, including the required qualification of employees and the potential of animation industry in Thailand. The interview sessions involved three key informants from three well-known organizations. The interview data was used to design a questionnaire for the confirmation phase. The overall results showed that the industry needed an individual with 3D animation skill, computer graphic skills, good communication skills, a high responsibility, and an ability to finish the project on time. Moreover, it is also found that there were currently various kinds of media where 3D animation has been involved, such as films, TV variety, TV advertising, online advertising, and application on mobile device.

Keywords: Animation, marketing trend, animation industry, Thailand animation.

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Authors: S. A. Sadegh Zadeh, C. Kambhampati

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Mathematical and computational modellings are the necessary tools for reviewing, analysing, and predicting processes and events in the wide spectrum range of scientific fields. Therefore, in a field as rapidly developing as neuroscience, the combination of these two modellings can have a significant role in helping to guide the direction the field takes. The paper combined mathematical and computational modelling to prove a weakness in a very precious model in neuroscience. This paper is intended to analyse all-or-none principle in Hodgkin-Huxley mathematical model. By implementation the computational model of Hodgkin-Huxley model and applying the concept of all-or-none principle, an investigation on this mathematical model has been performed. The results clearly showed that the mathematical model of Hodgkin-Huxley does not observe this fundamental law in neurophysiology to generating action potentials. This study shows that further mathematical studies on the Hodgkin-Huxley model are needed in order to create a model without this weakness.

Keywords: All-or-none, computational modelling, mathematical model, transmembrane voltage, action potential.

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Authors: Méryl Brothier, Dominique Moulinier, Christophe Bertaux

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The gel-supported precipitation (GSP) process can be used to make spherical particles (spherules) of nuclear fuel, particularly for very high temperature reactors (VHTR) and even for implementing the process called SPHEREPAC. In these different cases, the main characteristics are the sphericity of the particles to be manufactured and the control over their grain size. Nonetheless, depending on the specifications defined for these spherical particles, the GSP process has intrinsic limits, particularly when fabricating very small particles. This paper describes the use of secondary fragmentation (water, water/PVA and uranyl nitrate) on solid surfaces under varying temperature and vibration conditions to assess the relevance of using this new technique to manufacture very small spherical particles by means of a modified GSP process. The fragmentation mechanisms are monitored and analysed, before the trends for its subsequent optimised application are described.

Keywords: Microsphere elaboration, nuclear fuel, droplet impact , gel-supported precipitation process.

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Authors: Jan Busch, Maurice Schmidt, Peter Nyhuis

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The change of conditions for production companies in high-wage countries is characterized by the globalization of competition and the transition of a supplier´s to a buyer´s market. The companies need to face the challenges of reacting flexibly to these changes. Due to the significant and increasing degree of automation, assembly has become the most expensive production process. Regarding the reduction of production cost, assembly consequently offers a considerable rationalizing potential. Therefore, an aerodynamic feeding system has been developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA), Leibniz Universitaet Hannover. This system has been enabled to adjust itself by using a genetic algorithm. The longer this genetic algorithm is executed the better is the feeding quality. In this paper, the relation between the system´s setting time and the feeding quality is observed and a function which enables the user to achieve the minimum of the total feeding time is presented.

Keywords: Aerodynamic feeding system, batch size, optimisation, setting time.

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Authors: Tim Nedyalkov

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A business decision to move to the cloud brings fundamental changes in how an organization develops and delivers its Information Technology solutions. The accelerated pace of digital transformation across businesses and government agencies increases the reliance on cloud-based services. Collecting, managing, and retaining large amounts of data in cloud environments make information security and data privacy protection essential. It becomes even more important to understand what key factors drive successful cloud adoption following the commencement of the Privacy Amendment Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) Act 2017 in Australia as the regulatory changes impact many organizations and industries. This quantitative correlational research investigated the governance, risk management, and compliance factors contributing to cloud security success. The factors influence the adoption of cloud computing within an organizational context after the commencement of the NDB scheme. The results and findings demonstrated that corporate information security policies, data storage location, management understanding of data governance responsibilities, and regular compliance assessments are the factors influencing cloud computing adoption. The research has implications for organizations, future researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and cloud computing providers to meet the rapidly changing regulatory and compliance requirements.

Keywords: Cloud compliance, cloud security, cloud security governance, data governance, privacy protection.

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Authors: Praepilas Dujjanutat, Pakawadee Kaewkannetra

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This work aims to investigate a potential of microalgae for utilizing industrial wastewater as a cheap nutrient for their growth and oil accumulation. Wastewater was collected from the effluent ponds of agro-industrial factories (cassava and ethanol production plants). Only 2 microalgal strains were isolated and identified as Scenedesmus quadricauda and Chlorella sp.. However, only S. quadricauda was selected to cultivate in various wastewater concentrations (10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%). The highest biomass obtained at 6.6×106 and 6.27×106 cells/ml when 60% wastewater was used in flask and photo-bioreactor. The cultures gave the highest lipid content at 18.58 % and 42.86% in cases of S. quadricauda and S. obliquus. In addition, under salt stress (1.0 M NaCl), S. obliquus demonstrated the highest lipid content at 50% which was much more than the case of no NaCl adding. However, the concentration of NaCl does not affect on lipid accumulation in case of S. quadricauda.

Keywords: Cassava wastewater, cultivation, lipid accumulation, microalgae

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Authors: Nneka N. Uchegbu, Ndidi F. Amulu

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The work studied the effect of germination on proximate, phenol and flavonoid content and antioxidant activities (AOA) of African Yam been (AYB). Germination was done in controlled dark chamber (100% RH, 28oC). The proximate, phenol and flavonoid content and antioxidant activities before and after germination were investigated. The crude protein, moisture, and crude fiber content of germinated AYB were significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of ungermianated seed, while the fat, Ash and carbohydrate content of ungerminated were higher than the germinated seed. Germination increased the phenol and flavoniod content by 19.14% and 14.53% respectively. The results of AOA assay showed that the DPPH, reducing power and FRAP of germinated AYB seed gave high values: 48.92 ±1.22 μg/ml, 0.75± 0.15μg/ml and 98.60±0.04 μmol/g while that of ungerminated seed were: 31.33μ/ml, 0.56±1.52μg/ml and 96.11±1.13μmol/g respectively. Germinated AYB has phytochemicals with potential AOA for disease prevention.

Keywords: Antioxidant, flovonoid, germination, phenol.

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Authors: Ubonwan Chaiyo, Savitri Garivait, Kobsak Wanthongchai

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The study site was located in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand. Four experimental plots in dry dipterocarp forest (DDF) and four plots in mixed deciduous forest (MDF) were set up to estimate the above-ground biomass of tree, sapling and bamboo. The allometry equations were used to investigate above-ground biomass of these vegetation. Seedling and other understory were determined using direct harvesting method. Carbon storage in above-ground biomass was calculated based on IPCC 2006. The results showed that the above-ground biomass of DDF at 20-40% slope, <20% slope and MDF at <20% slope were 91.96, 30.95 and 59.44 ton/ha, respectively. Bamboo covers about half of total aboveground biomass in MDF, which is a specific characteristic of this area. The carbon sequestration potential in above-ground biomass of plot slope range 20-40% DDF, <20% DDF and <20% MDF are 43.22, 14.55 and 27.94 ton C/ha, respectively.

Keywords: Carbon storage, aboveground biomass, tropical deciduous forest, dry dipterocarp forest, mixed deciduous forest.

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Authors: G. Schuh, S. Aghassi

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In order to bridge the gap between research and industry, promoting technology and knowledge transfer becomes increasingly important. Especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, having only little R&D resources themselves, depend on external technology development activities for remaining innovative. Academia research on the other hand needs potential industrial partners, who are capable and willing to commercialize their technologies as most public funding programs require some sort of technology transfer or dissemination activities. Modern web technologies offer more and more “social” functionalities and open up new ways of user interaction. In the past years several technology transfer platforms were developed, making use of modern web technologies in order to enable and support technology transfer. In this paper we report on the results of a state-of-the art analyses of existing technology transfer platforms, point out their advantages and deficits and give a perspective to the development of an improved technology transfer platform.

Keywords: Knowledge transfer, social software, technology management, technology transfer.

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Authors: Amr A. Fouad, Waleed H. Albuali, Iyad Jresat

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The protective effect of hesperidin was investigated in rats exposed to liver injury induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide (CYP) at a dose of 150 mg kg-1. Hesperidin treatment (100 mg kg-1/day, orally) was applied for seven days, starting five days before CYP administration. Hesperidin significantly decreased the CYP-induced elevations of serum alanine aminotransferase, and hepatic malondialdehyde and myeloperoxidase activity, significantly prevented the depletion of hepatic glutathione peroxidase activity resulted from CYP administration. Also, hesperidin ameliorated the CYP-induced liver tissue injury observed by histopathological examination. In addition, hesperidin decreased the CYP-induced expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, tumor necrosis factor-α, cyclooxygenase-2, Fas ligand, and caspase-9 in liver tissue. It was concluded that hesperidin may represent a potential candidate to protect against CYP-induced hepatotoxicity.

Keywords: Cyclophosphamide, hesperidin, liver, rats.

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Authors: K.H. Yang

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After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 in U.S., the container security issue got high attention, especially by U.S. government, which deployed a lot of measures to promote or improve security systems. U.S. government not only enhances its national security system, but allies with other countries against the potential terrorist attacks in the future. For example CSI (Container Security Initiative), it encourages foreign ports outside U.S. to become CSI ports as a part of U.S. anti-terrorism network. Although promotion of the security could partly reach the goal of anti-terrorism, that will influence the efficiency of container supply chain, which is the main concern when implementing the inspection measurements. This paper proposes a quick estimation methodology for an inspection service rate by a berth allocation heuristic such that the inspection activities will not affect the original container supply chain. Theoretical and simulation results show this approach is effective.

Keywords: Berth allocation, Container, Heuristic, Inspection.

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Authors: Ramy H. Mohammed

Abstract:

Displacement ventilation of a room with an occupant is modeled using CFD. The geometry of manikin is accurately represented in CFD model to minimize potential. Indoor zero equation turbulence model is used to simulate all cases and the effect of the thermal radiation from manikin is taken into account. After validation of the code, predicted mean vote, mean age of air, and ventilation effectiveness are used to predict the thermal comfort zones and indoor air quality. The effect of the inlet velocity and temperature on the thermal comfort and indoor air quality is investigated. The results show that the inlet velocity has great effect on the thermal comfort and indoor air quality and low inlet velocity is sufficient to establish comfortable conditions inside the room. In addition, the displacement ventilation system achieves not only thermal comfort in ventilated rooms, but also energy saving of fan power.

Keywords: Displacement ventilation, Energy saving, Thermal comfort, Turbulence model.

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Authors: Helen Zhang

Abstract:

Accurate segmentation of the airways from CT scans is crucial for early diagnosis of lung cancer. However, the existing airway segmentation algorithms often rely on thin-slice CT scans, which can be inconvenient and costly. This paper presents a set of machine learning-based 3D super-resolution algorithms along heterogenous dimensions to improve the resolution of thicker CT scans to reduce the reliance on thin-slice scans. To evaluate the efficacy of the super-resolution algorithms, quantitative assessments using PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) and SSIM (Structural SIMilarity index) were performed. The impact of super-resolution on airway segmentation accuracy is also studied. The proposed approach has the potential to make airway segmentation more accessible and affordable, thereby facilitating early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

Keywords: 3D super-resolution, airway segmentation, thin-slice CT scans, machine learning.

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Authors: Rahmatollah Hooshmand, Mahdi Banejad

Abstract:

One of the problems in fault diagnosis of transformer based on dissolved gas, is lack of matching the result of fault diagnosis of different standards with the real world. In this paper, the result of the different standards is analyzed using fuzzy and the result is compared with the empirical test. The comparison between the suggested method and existing methods indicate the capability of the suggested method in on-line fault diagnosis of the transformers. In addition, in some cases the existing standards are not able to diagnose the fault. In theses cases, the presented method has the potential of diagnosing the fault. The information of three transformers is used to the show the capability of the suggested method in diagnosing the fault. The results validate the capability of the presented method in fault diagnosis of the transformer.

Keywords: Fault Diagnosis of Transformer, Dissolved Gas, Fuzzy Logic.

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Authors: Mohamed A. Alsharif, Peter A. Wallace, Donald M. Hepburn, Chengke Zhou

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Worldwide, most PILC MV underground cables in use are approaching the end of their design life; hence, failures are likely to increase. This paper studies the electric field and potential distributions within the PILC insulted cable containing common void-defect. The finite element model of the performance of the belted PILC MV underground cable is presented. The variation of the electric field stress within the cable using the Finite Element Method (FEM) is concentrated. The effects of the void-defect within the insulation are given. Outcomes will lead to deeper understanding of the modeling of Paper Insulated Lead Covered (PILC) and electric field response of belted PILC insulted cable containing void defect.

Keywords: MV PILC cables, Finite Element Method /COMSOL Multiphysics, Electric Field Stress, Partial Discharge Degradation.

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Authors: Qitao Xie, Qingquan Zhang, Xiaofei Zhang, Di Tian, Ruixuan Wen, Ting Zhu, Ping Yi, Xin Li

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Inspired by the recent movement of digital currency, we are building a question answering system concerning the subject of cryptocurrency using Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT). The motivation behind this work is to properly assist digital currency investors by directing them to the corresponding knowledge bases that can offer them help and increase the querying speed. BERT, one of newest language models in natural language processing, was investigated to improve the quality of generated responses. We studied different combinations of hyperparameters of the BERT model to obtain the best fit responses. Further, we created an intelligent chatbot for cryptocurrency using BERT. A chatbot using BERT shows great potential for the further advancement of a cryptocurrency market tool. We show that the BERT neural networks generalize well to other tasks by applying it successfully to cryptocurrency.

Keywords: BERT, chatbot, cryptocurrency, deep learning.

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Authors: Nieto Bernal Wilson, Carmona Suarez Edgar

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The organizations have structured and unstructured information in different formats, sources, and systems. Part of these come from ERP under OLTP processing that support the information system, however these organizations in OLAP processing level, presented some deficiencies, part of this problematic lies in that does not exist interesting into extract knowledge from their data sources, as also the absence of operational capabilities to tackle with these kind of projects.  Data Warehouse and its applications are considered as non-proprietary tools, which are of great interest to business intelligence, since they are repositories basis for creating models or patterns (behavior of customers, suppliers, products, social networks and genomics) and facilitate corporate decision making and research. The following paper present a structured methodology, simple, inspired from the agile development models as Scrum, XP and AUP. Also the models object relational, spatial data models, and the base line of data modeling under UML and Big data, from this way sought to deliver an agile methodology for the developing of data warehouses, simple and of easy application. The methodology naturally take into account the application of process for the respectively information analysis, visualization and data mining, particularly for patterns generation and derived models from the objects facts structured.

Keywords: Data warehouse, model data, big data, object fact, object relational fact, process developed data warehouse.

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Authors: Kartini, K., Rohaidah, M.N., Zuraini, ZA.

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Demolitions of buildings have created a lot of waste and one of it is clay bricks. The waste clay bricks were ground to roughly cement fineness and used to partially replaced cement at 10%, 20% and 30% with w/b ratio of 0.6 and tested at 7, 28, 60, 90 and 120 days. The result shows that the compressive strength of GCB concrete increases over age however, decreases as the level of replacements increases. It was also found that 10% replacement of GCB gave the highest compressive strength, however for optimum replacement, 30% was chosen as it still attained strength of grade 30 concrete. In terms of durability performances, results show that GCB replacement up to 30% was found to be efficient in reducing water absorption as well as water permeability. These studies show that GCB has the potential to be used as partial cement replacement in making concrete.

Keywords: Compressive Strength, Ground Clay Bricks, Partial Cement Replacement, Water Absorption and Permeability

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Authors: S. S. Rwanga, J. M. Ndambuki, Y. Woyessa

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Development of a groundwater management model is an important step in the exploitation and management of any groundwater aquifer as it assists in the long-term sustainable planning of the resource. The current study was conducted in Central Limpopo province of South Africa with the overall objective of determining how much water can be withdrawn from the aquifer without producing nonreversible impacts on the groundwater quantity, hence developing a model which can sustainably protect the aquifer. The development was done through the computation of Groundwater Sustainability Index (GSI). Values of GSI close to unity and above indicated overexploitation. In this study, an index of 0.8 was considered as overexploitation. The results indicated that there is potential for higher abstraction rates compared to the current abstraction rates. GSI approach can be used in the management of groundwater aquifer to sustainably develop the resource and also provides water managers and policy makers with fundamental information on where future water developments can be carried out.

Keywords: Development, groundwater, groundwater sustainability index, model.

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Authors: Madhuri Bhavsar, Anupam K Singh, Shrikant Pradhan

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Long term rainfall analysis and prediction is a challenging task especially in the modern world where the impact of global warming is creating complications in environmental issues. These factors which are data intensive require high performance computational modeling for accurate prediction. This research paper describes a prototype which is designed and developed on grid environment using a number of coupled software infrastructural building blocks. This grid enabled system provides the demanding computational power, efficiency, resources, user-friendly interface, secured job submission and high throughput. The results obtained using sequential execution and grid enabled execution shows that computational performance has enhanced among 36% to 75%, for decade of climate parameters. Large variation in performance can be attributed to varying degree of computational resources available for job execution. Grid Computing enables the dynamic runtime selection, sharing and aggregation of distributed and autonomous resources which plays an important role not only in business, but also in scientific implications and social surroundings. This research paper attempts to explore the grid enabled computing capabilities on weather indices from HOAPS data for climate impact modeling and change detection.

Keywords: Climate model, Computational Grid, GridApplication, Heterogeneous Grid

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Authors: M. Ghazy, T. Dockhorn, N. Dichtl

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The present disposal routes of sewage sludge represent a critical environmental issue in Egypt. Recently, there has been an increasing concern about sewage sludge management due to the environmental risks, which resulted from the fast expansion of wastewater treatment plants without equal attention in dealing with the produced sludge. This paper discusses the current situation of sewage sludge management in Egypt presenting a brief overview of the existing wastewater treatment plants, sludge production and characteristics as well as options of beneficial use and potential demand of sewage sludge under Egyptian conditions. The characteristics of sewage sludge are discussed considering the results of own sampling and analysis as well as previous studies. Furthermore, alternative treatment scenarios for sewage sludge, which have been recently developed in Egypt, are discussed and perspectives for a sustainable agricultural use are outlined.

Keywords: Beneficial use, Egypt, Monetary value, Stabilization processes, Sewage sludge, Sludge management

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Authors: Wajeeha A. Qazi, Mohammed-Hasham Azam, Umais A. Mehmood, Ghithaa A. Al-Mufragi, Noor-Alhuda Alrawahi, Mohammed F. M. Abushammala

Abstract:

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposed in landfill sites decompose under anaerobic conditions and produce gases which mainly contain carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄). Methane has the potential of causing global warming 25 times more than CO₂, and can potentially affect human life and environment. Thus, this research aims to determine MSW generation and the annual CH₄ emissions from the generated waste in Oman over the years 1971-2030. The estimation of total waste generation was performed using existing models, while the CH₄ emissions estimation was performed using the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) default method. It is found that total MSW generation in Oman might be reached 3,089 Gg in the year 2030, which approximately produced 85 Gg of CH₄ emissions in the year 2030.

Keywords: Methane, emissions, landfills, solid waste.

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Authors: Paraskevi Theodorou, Apostolos Meliones

Abstract:

In the context of the development process of two assistive navigation mobile apps for blind and visually impaired people (BVI) an extensive qualitative analysis of the requirements of potential users has been conducted. The analysis was based on interviews with BVIs and aimed to elicit not only their needs with respect to autonomous navigation but also their preferences on specific features of the apps under development. The elicited requirements were structured into four main categories, namely, requirements concerning the capabilities, functionality and usability of the apps, as well as compatibility requirements with respect to other apps and services. The main categories were then further divided into nine sub-categories. This classification, along with its content, aims to become a useful tool for the researcher or the developer who is involved in the development of digital services for BVI.

Keywords: Accessibility, assistive mobile apps, blind and visually impaired people, user requirements analysis.

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Authors: Jyoti Narayan, S. Choudhary

Abstract:

Nanowire arrays of copper with uniform diameters have been synthesized by potentiostatic electrochemical metal deposition (EMD) of copper sulphate and potassium chloride solution within the nano-channels of porous Indium-Tin Oxide (ITO), also known as Tin doped Indium Oxide templates. The nanowires developed were fairly continuous with diameters ranging from 110-140 nm along the entire length. Single as well as poly-crystalline copper wires have been prepared by application of appropriate potential during the EMD process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), small angle electron diffraction (SAED) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the synthesized nano wires at room temperature. The electrochemical response of synthesized products was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry while surface energy analysis was carried out using a Goniometer.

Keywords: Electro-deposition, Metallic nano-wires, Nanomaterials, Template synthesis

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Authors: Mitra Bahri, Jean Leopold Kabambi, Jacqueline Yakobi-Hancock, William Render, Stephanie So

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Reducing formaldehyde concentration in residential buildings is an important challenge, especially during the summer. In this study, a ceiling tile was used as a sorptive passive panel for formaldehyde removal. The performance of this passive panel was evaluated under different environmental conditions. The results demonstrated that the removal efficiency is comprised between 40% and 71%. Change in the level of relative humidity (30%, 50%, and 75%) had a slight positive effect on the sorption capacity. However, increase in temperature from 21 °C to 26 °C led to approximately 7% decrease in the average formaldehyde removal performance. GC/MS and HPLC analysis revealed the formation of different by-products at low concentrations under extreme environmental conditions. These findings suggest that the passive panel selected for this study holds the potential to be used for formaldehyde removal under various conditions.

Keywords: Formaldehyde, indoor air quality, passive panel, removal efficiency, sorption.

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Authors: N. Mantalay, N. Chakpitak, W. Janchai, P. Sureepong

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Work-life balance has been acknowledged and promoted for the sake of employee retention. It is essential for a manager to realize the human resources situation within a company to help employees work happily and perform at their best. This paper suggests knowledge management and critical thinking are useful to motivate employees to think about their work-life balance. A qualitative case study is presented, which aimed to discover the meaning of work-life balance-s meaning from the perspective of Thai knowledge workers and how it affects their decision-making towards work resignation. Results found three types of work-life balance dimensions; a work- life balance including a workplace and a private life setting, an organizational working life balance only, and a worklife balance only in a private life setting. These aspects all influenced the decision-making of the employees. Factors within a theme of an organizational work-life balance were involved with systematic administration, fair treatment, employee recognition, challenging assignments to gain working experience, assignment engagement, teamwork, relationship with superiors, and working environment, while factors concerning private life settings were about personal demands such as an increasing their salary or starting their own business.

Keywords: knowledge management, work-life balance, knowledge workers, decision-making, critical thinking, diverse workforce

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