Search results for: investment programs

Authors: Edith Esparza-Young, Ángel M. Matos, Yaritza Gonzalez, Kirthana Sugunathevan

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Introduction: This research describes the existing medical school program which supports a multicultural setting and bilingualism. The rise of Spanish speakers in the United States has led to the recruitment of bilingual medical students who can serve the evolving demographics. This paper includes anecdotal evidence, narratives and the latest research on the outcomes of supporting a multilingual academic experience in medical school and beyond. People in the United States will continue to need health care from physicians who have experience with multicultural competence. Physicians who are bilingual and possess effective communication skills will be in high demand. Methodologies: This research is descriptive. Through this descriptive research, the researcher will describe the qualities and characteristics of the existing medical school programs, curriculum, and student services. Additionally, the researcher will shed light on the existing curriculum in the medical school and also describe specific programs which help to serve as safety nets to support diverse populations. The method included observations of the existing program and the implementation of the medical school program, specifically the Accelerated Review Program, the Language Education and Professional Communication Program, student organizations and the Global Health Institute. Concluding Statement: This research identified and described characteristics of the medical school’s program. The research explained and described the current and present phenomenon of this medical program, which has focused on increasing the graduation of bilingual and minority physicians. The findings are based on observations of the curriculum, programs and student organizations which evolves and remains innovative to stay current with student enrollment.

Keywords: Bilingual, English, medicine, doctor.

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Authors: Grace Rachid, Mutasem El-Fadel, Mahmoud Al-Hindi, Ibrahim Jamali, Daniel Abdel Nour

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This study examines the feasibility of indirect solar desalination in oil producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It relies on value engineering (VE) and costbenefit with sensitivity analyses to identify optimal coupling configurations of desalination and solar energy technologies. A comparative return on investment was assessed as a function of water costs for varied plant capacities (25,000 to 75,000 m3/day), project lifetimes (15 to 25 years), and discount rates (5 to 15%) taking into consideration water and energy subsidies, land cost as well as environmental externalities in the form of carbon credit related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. The results showed reverse osmosis (RO) coupled with photovoltaic technologies (PVs) as the most promising configuration, robust across different prices for Brent oil, discount rates, as well as different project lifetimes. Environmental externalities and subsidies analysis revealed that a 16% reduction in existing subsidy on water tariffs would ensure economic viability. Additionally, while land costs affect investment attractiveness, the viability of RO coupled with PV remains possible for a land purchase cost <$ 80/m2 or a lease rate <$1/m2/yr. Beyond those rates, further subsidy lifting is required.

Keywords: Solar energy, desalination, value engineering, CBA, carbon credit, subsidies.

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Authors: Mohammed A. Gharawi, Majed M. Khoja

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This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted at the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Saudi Arabia. The paper applied both qualitative and quantitative approaches to assess the levels of basic computer applications’ skills among students enrolled in the preparatory programs of the institution. Qualitative data have been collected from semi-structured interviews with the instructors who have previously been assigned to teach Introduction to information technology courses. Quantitative data were collected by executing a self-report questionnaire and a written statistical test. Three hundred eighty enrolled students responded to the questionnaire and one hundred forty two accomplished the statistical test. The results indicate the lack of necessary skills to deal with computer applications among most of the students who are enrolled in the IPA’s preparatory programs.

Keywords: Assessment, Computer Applications, Computer Literacy, Institute of Public Administration, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors: S. M. Amin Hosseini, Oriol Pons, Carmen Mendoza Arroyo, Albert de la Fuente

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In the aftermath of a natural disaster, the major challenge most cities and societies face, regardless of their diverse level of prosperity, is to provide temporary housing (TH) for the displaced population (DP). However, the features of TH, which have been applied in previous recovery programs, greatly varied from case to case. This situation demonstrates that providing temporary accommodation for DP in a short period time and usually in great numbers is complicated in terms of satisfying all the beneficiaries’ needs, regardless of the societies’ welfare levels. Furthermore, when previously used strategies are applied to different areas, the chosen strategies are most likely destined to fail, unless the strategies are context and culturally based. Therefore, as the population of disaster-prone cities are increasing, decision-makers need a platform to help to determine all the factors, which caused the outcomes of the prior programs. To this end, this paper aims to assess the problems, requirements, limitations, potential responses, chosen strategies, and their outcomes, in order to determine the main elements that have influenced the TH process. In this regard, and in order to determine a customizable strategy, this study analyses the TH programs of five different cases as: Marmara earthquake, 1999; Bam earthquake, 2003; Aceh earthquake and tsunami, 2004; Hurricane Katrina, 2005; and, L’Aquila earthquake, 2009. The research results demonstrate that the main vertexes of TH are: (1) local characteristics, including local potential and affected population features, (2) TH properties, which needs to be considered in four phases: planning, provision/construction, operation, and second life, and (3) natural hazards impacts, which embraces intensity and type. Accordingly, this study offers decision-makers the opportunity to discover the main vertexes, their subsets, interactions, and the relation between strategies and outcomes based on the local conditions of each case. Consequently, authorities may acquire the capability to design a customizable method in the face of complicated post-disaster housing in the wake of future natural disasters.

Keywords: Post-disaster temporary accommodation, urban resilience, natural disaster, local characteristic.

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Authors: Moustapha Bande, Hakima Ould-Slimane, Hanifa Boucheneb

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Software development for complex systems requires efficient and automatic tools that can be used to verify the satisfiability of some critical properties such as security ones. With the emergence of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), considerable work has been done in order to better modularize the separation of concerns in the software design and implementation. The goal is to prevent the cross-cutting concerns to be scattered across the multiple modules of the program and tangled with other modules. One of the key challenges in the aspect-oriented programs is to be sure that all the pieces put together at the weaving time ensure the satisfiability of the overall system requirements. Our paper focuses on this problem and proposes a formal property verification approach for a given property from the woven program. The approach is based on the control flow graph (CFG) of the woven program, and the use of a satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver to check whether each property (represented par one aspect) is satisfied or not once the weaving is done.

Keywords: Aspect-oriented programming, control flow graph, satisfiability modulo theories, property verification.

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Authors: Levan Sabauri

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In this paper, we discuss the deteriorated standing of engineering companies, some of the reasons behind it and the problems facing engineering enterprises during the financial crisis. We show the part that financial analysis plays in the detection of the main factors affecting the standing of a company, classify internal problems and the reasons influencing efficiency thereof. The publication contains the analysis of municipal engineering companies in post-Soviet transitional economies. In the wake of the 2008 world financial crisis the issue became even more poignant. It should be said though that even before the problem had been no less acute for some post-Soviet states caught up in a lengthy transitional period. The paper highlights shortcomings in the management of transportation companies, with new, more appropriate methods suggested. In analyzing the financial stability of a company, three elements need to be considered: current assets, investment policy and structural management of the funding sources leveraging the stability, should be focused on. Inappropriate management of the three may create certain financial problems, with timely and accurate detection thereof being an issue in terms of improved standing of an enterprise. In this connection, the publication contains a diagram reflecting the reasons behind the deteriorated financial standing of a company, as well as a flow chart thereof. The main reasons behind low profitability are also discussed.

Keywords: Efficiency, financial management, financial analysis funding structure, financial sustainability, investment policy, profitability, solvency, working capital.

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Authors: Anja Kurz, Marc Flynn, Tobias Good, Marco Caversaccio, Martin Kompis

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Bone Anchored Hearing Implants (BAHI) are  routinely used in patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss, e.g.  if conventional air conduction hearing aids cannot be used. New  sound processors and new fitting software now allow the adjustment  of parameters such as loudness compression ratios or maximum  power output separately. Today it is unclear, how the choice of these  parameters influences aided speech understanding in BAHI users.  In this prospective experimental study, the effect of varying the  compression ratio and lowering the maximum power output in a  BAHI were investigated.  Twelve experienced adult subjects with a mixed hearing loss  participated in this study. Four different compression ratios (1.0; 1.3;  1.6; 2.0) were tested along with two different maximum power output  settings, resulting in a total of eight different programs. Each  participant tested each program during two weeks. A blinded Latin  square design was used to minimize bias.  For each of the eight programs, speech understanding in quiet and  in noise was assessed. For speech in quiet, the Freiburg number test  and the Freiburg monosyllabic word test at 50, 65, and 80 dB SPL  were used. For speech in noise, the Oldenburg sentence test was  administered.  Speech understanding in quiet and in noise was improved  significantly in the aided condition in any program, when compared  to the unaided condition. However, no significant differences were  found between any of the eight programs. In contrast, on a subjective  level there was a significant preference for medium compression  ratios of 1.3 to 1.6 and higher maximum power output.

 

Keywords: Bone Anchored Hearing Implant, Compression, Maximum Power Output, Speech understanding.

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Authors: Reza Mokhtari Malekabadi, Leila Jalalabadi, Zahra Kiyani Ghaleh No

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Today, systems of management and urban planning, attempt to reach more sustainable development through monitoring developments, urban development and development plans. Monitoring of changes in the urban places and sustainable urban development accounted a base for the realization of worthy goals urban sustainable development. The importance of women in environmental protection programs is high enough that in 21 agenda has been requested from all countries to allocate more shares to women in their policies. On the other hand, urban waste landfill has become one of the environmental concerns in modern cities. This research assumes that the impact of women on recycling, reduction and proper waste landfill is much more than men. For this reason, three districts; Yousef Abad, Heshmatieh & Nezam Abad are gauged through questionnaire and using the analytical research hypothesis model. This research will be categorized as functional research. The results have shown that noticing the power of women, their participation towards realization of the development objectives and programs can be used in solving their problems.

Keywords: Citizens (Urban), Environmental, Sustainability, Solid waste, Tehran.

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Authors: Gururaj S Punekar, N K Kishore Senior, H S Y Shastry

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Charge Simulation Method (CSM) is one of the very widely used numerical field computation technique in High Voltage (HV) engineering. The high voltage fields of varying non uniformities are encountered in practice. CSM programs being case specific, the simulation accuracies heavily depend on the user (programmers) experience. Here is an effort to understand CSM errors and evolve some guidelines to setup accurate CSM models, relating non uniformities with assignment factors. The results are for the six-point-charge model of sphere-plane gap geometry. Using genetic algorithm (GA) as tool, optimum assignment factors at different non uniformity factors for this model have been evaluated and analyzed. It is shown that the symmetrically placed six-point-charge models can be good enough to set up CSM programs with potential errors less than 0.1% when the field non uniformity factor is greater than 2.64 (field utilization factor less than 52.76%).

Keywords: Assignment factor, Charge Simulation Method, High Voltage, Numerical field computation, Non uniformity factor, Simulation errors.

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Authors: C. Ardil

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This paper presents preference programming technique based multiple criteria decision making analysis for selecting a facility location for a new organization or expansion of an existing facility which is of vital importance for a decision support system and strategic planning process. The implementation of decision support systems is considered crucial to sustain competitive advantage and profitability persistence in turbulent environment. As an effective strategic management and decision making is necessary, multiple criteria decision making analysis supports the decision makers to formulate and implement the right strategy. The investment cost associated with acquiring the property and facility construction makes the facility location selection problem a long-term strategic investment decision, which rationalize the best location selection which results in higher economic benefits through increased productivity and optimal distribution network. Selecting the proper facility location from a given set of alternatives is a difficult task, as many potential qualitative and quantitative multiple conflicting criteria are to be considered. This paper solves a facility location selection problem using preference programming, which is an effective multiple criteria decision making analysis tool applied to deal with complex decision problems in the operational research environment. The ranking results of preference programming are compared with WSM, TOPSIS and VIKOR methods.

Keywords: Facility Location Selection, Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Multiple Criteria Decision Making Analysis, Preference Programming, Location Selection, WSM, TOPSIS, VIKOR

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Authors: Amir Reza Talaghat

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Since 2015, a new approach and policy regarding energy resources protection and using renewable energies has been started in Iran which was developing new projects. Investigating about the feasibility study of these new projects helped to figure out five steps to prepare an executive feasibility study of the concerned projects, which are proper site selections, authorizations, design and simulation, economic study and programming, respectively. The results were interesting and essential for decision makers and investors to start implementing of these projects in reliable condition. The research is obtained through collection and study of the project's documents as well as recalculation to review conformity of the results with GIS data and the technical information of the bidders. In this paper, it is attempted to describe the result of the performed research by describing the five steps as an executive methodology, for preparing a feasible study of installing a 10 MW – solar farm project. The corresponding results of the research also help decision makers to start similar projects is explained in this paper as follows: selecting the best location for the concerned PV plant, reliable and safe conditions for investment and the required authorizations to start implementing the solar farm project in the concerned region, selecting suitable component to achieve the best possible performance for the plant, economic profit of the investment, proper programming to implement the project on time.

Keywords: Solar farm, solar energy, execution of PV power plant, PV power plant, feasibility study.

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Authors: Saurabh Chanana, Monika Arora

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Demand response is getting increased attention these days due to the increase in electricity demand and introduction of renewable resources in the existing power grid. Traditionally demand response programs involve large industrial consumers but with technological advancement, demand response is being implemented for small residential and commercial consumers also. In this paper, demand response program aims to reduce the peak demand as well as overall energy consumption of the residential customers. Air conditioners are the major reason of peak load in residential sector in summer, so a dynamic model of air conditioning load with thermostat action has been considered for applying demand response programs. A programmable communicating thermostat (PCT) is a device that uses real time pricing (RTP) signals to control the thermostat setting. A new model incorporating PCT in air conditioning load has been proposed in this paper. Results show that introduction of PCT in air conditioner is useful in reducing the electricity payments of customers as well as reducing the peak demand. 

Keywords: Demand response, Home energy management Programmable communicating thermostat, Thermostatically controlled appliances.

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Authors: V. Charaia

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From the strategic point of view, not all Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are always positively benefiting the host economy, i.e. not all Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are promoting local/host economies. FDI could have different impact on different sectors of the economy, based not only on annual investment amount, but MNE motivations and peculiarities of the host economy in particular. FDI analysis based only on its amount can lead to incorrect decisions, it is much more important to understand the essence of investment. Consequently, our research is oriented on MNE’s motivations, answering which sectors are most popular among international investors and why, what motivated them to invest into one or another business. Georgian economy for the last period of time is attracting more and more efficiency seeking investments, which could be translated as - concentrating production in a limited number of locations to supply various markets, while benefiting local economy with: new technologies, employment, exports diversification, increased income for the local economy and so on. Foreign investors and MNEs in particular are no longer and not so much interested in the resource seeking investments, which was the case for Georgia in the last decade of XX century. Despite the fact of huge progress for the Georgian economy, still there is a room for foreign investors to make a local market oriented investments. The local market is still rich in imported products, which should be replaced by local ones. And the last but not the least important issue is that approximately 30% of all FDIs in Georgia according to this research are “efficiency seeking” investments, which is an enormous progress and a hope for future Georgian success.

Keywords: Investments, MNE, FDI motivations, Georgian economy.

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Authors: A. Sivakumar, S. S. Darun Prakash, P. Navaneethakrishnan

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In and around Erode District, it is estimated that more than 1250 chemical and allied textile processing fabric industries are affected, partially closed and shut off for various reasons such as poor management, poor supplier performance, lack of planning for productivity, fluctuation of output, poor investment, waste analysis, labor problems, capital/labor ratio, accumulation of stocks, poor maintenance of resources, deficiencies in the quality of fabric, low capacity utilization, age of plant and equipment, high investment and input but low throughput, poor research and development, lack of energy, workers’ fear of loss of jobs, work force mix and work ethic. The main objective of this work is to analyze the existing conditions in textile fabric sector, validate the break even of Total Productivity (TP), analyze, design and implement fuzzy sets and mathematical programming for improvement of productivity and quality dimensions in the fabric processing industry. It needs to be compatible with the reality of textile and fabric processing industries. The highly risk events from productivity and quality dimension were found by fuzzy systems and results are wrapped up among the textile fabric processing industry.

Keywords: Break Even Point, Fuzzy Crisp Data, Fuzzy Sets, Productivity, Productivity Cycle, Total Productive Maintenance.

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Authors: Rabih Joseph Nabhan

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This case study explores the impact of two major computer software programs Learn to Speak English and Learn English Spelling and Pronunciation, and some Internet search engines such as Google on mending the decoding and spelling deficiency of Simon X, a dyslexic student. The improvement in decoding and spelling may result in better reading comprehension and composition writing. Some computer programs and Internet materials can help regain the missing awareness and consequently restore his self-confidence and self-esteem. In addition, this study provides a systematic plan comprising a set of activities (four computer programs and Internet materials) which address the problem from the lowest to the highest levels of phoneme and phonological awareness. Four methods of data collection (accounts, observations, published tests, and interviews) create the triangulation to validly and reliably collect data before the plan, during the plan, and after the plan. The data collected are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Sometimes the analysis is either quantitative or qualitative, and some other times a combination of both. Tables and figures are utilized to provide a clear and uncomplicated illustration of some data. The improvement in the decoding, spelling, reading comprehension, and composition writing skills that occurred is proved through the use of authentic materials performed by the student under study. Such materials are a comparison between two sample passages written by the learner before and after the plan, a genuine computer chat conversation, and the scores of the academic year that followed the execution of the plan. Based on these results, the researcher recommends further studies on other Lebanese dyslexic learners using the computer to mend their language problem in order to design and make a most reliable software program that can address this disability more efficiently and successfully.

Keywords: Analysis, awareness, dyslexic, software.

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Authors: A. Bahar Ganiyeva, M. Sabuhi Tanriverdiyev

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The article analyzes state support and policy mechanisms aimed at driving tourism as one of the vibrant and rapidly developing economies. State programs and long-range strategic roadmaps and previous programs execution, results and their impact on the particular countries economy have been raised during the research. This theme provides a useful framework for discussions with a wider range of stakeholders as the implications arising are of importance both for academics and practitioners engaged in hospitality and tourism development and research. The impact that tourism has on sustainable regional development in emerging markets is highly substantial. For Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, and Russia, with their rich natural resources and cultural heritage, tourism can be an important basis for economic expansion, and a way to form an acceptable image of the countries as safe, open, hospitable, and complex.

Keywords: Sustainable tourism, hospitality, destination, strategic roadmap, tourism, economy, growth, state support, mechanism, policy formation, state program.

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Authors: Adil Loya, Kamran Maqsood, Muhammad Duraid

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Aerodynamic stability coefficients are necessary to be known before any unmanned aircraft flight is performed. This requires expertise on aerodynamics and stability control of the aircraft. To enable efficacious performance of aircraft requires that a well-defined flight path and aerodynamics should be defined beforehand. This paper presents a study on the aerodynamics of an unmanned aero vehicle (UAV) during flight conditions. Current research holds comparative studies of different parameters for flight aerodynamic, measured using two different open source analytical software programs. These software packages are DATCOM and XLRF5, which help in depicting the flight aerodynamic variables. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was also used to perform aerodynamic analysis for which Star CCM+ was used. Output trends of the study demonstrate high accuracies between the two software programs with that of CFD. It can be seen that the Coefficient of Lift (CL) obtained from DATCOM and XFLR is similar to CL of CFD simulation. In the similar manner, other potential aerodynamic stability parameters obtained from analytical software are in good agreement with CFD.

Keywords: XFLR5, DATCOM, computational fluid dynamic, unmanned aero vehicle.

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Authors: David Calderón Villegas, Thomas Kalitzky

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Run-of-river (RoR) hydropower projects represent a viable, clean, and cost-effective alternative to dam-based plants and provide decentralized power production. However, RoR schemes’ cost-effectiveness depends on the proper selection of site and design flow, which is a challenging task because it requires multivariate analysis. In this respect, this study presents the development of an investment decision support tool for assessing the optimal size of an RoR scheme considering the technical, environmental, and cost constraints. The net present value (NPV) from a project perspective is used as an objective function for supporting the investment decision. The tool has been tested by applying it to an actual RoR project recently proposed in Colombia. The obtained results show that the optimum point in financial terms does not match the flow that maximizes energy generation from exploiting the river's available flow. For the case study, the flow that maximizes energy corresponds to a value of 5.1 m3/s. In comparison, an amount of 2.1 m3/s maximizes the investors NPV. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the NPV as a function of the debt rate changes and the electricity prices and the CapEx. Even for the worst-case scenario, the optimal size represents a positive business case with an NPV of 2.2 USD million and an internal rate of return (IRR) 1.5 times higher than the discount rate. 

Keywords: small hydropower, renewable energy, RoR schemes, optimal sizing, financial analysis

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Authors: Zullina H. Shaari, Amzairi Amar, Abdul Mutalib Embong, Hezlina Hashim

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University websites are considered as one of the brand primary touch points for multiple stakeholders, but most of them did not have great designs to create favorable impressions. Some of the elements that web designers should carefully consider are the appearance, the content, the functionality, usability and search engine optimization. However, priority should be placed on website simplicity and negative space. In terms of content, previous research suggests that universities should include reputation, learning environment, graduate career prospects, image destination, cultural integration, and virtual tour on their websites. The study examines how top 200 world ranking science and technology-based universities present their brands online and whether the websites capture the content dimensions. Content analysis of the websites revealed that the top ranking universities captured these dimensions at varying degree. Besides, the UK-based university had better priority on website simplicity and negative space compared to the Malaysian-based university.

Keywords: Science and technology programs, top-ranked universities, online brands, university websites.

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Authors: Papathanasiou Anastasios, Liontos George, Liagkou Vasiliki, Glavas Euripides

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The purpose of this paper is to describe the growing problem of various cyber fraud schemes that exist on the internet and are currently among the most prevalent. The main focus of this paper is to provide a detailed description of the modus operandi, tools, and techniques utilized in four basic typologies of cyber frauds: Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, investment fraud, romance scams, and online sales fraud. The paper aims to shed light on the methods employed by cybercriminals in perpetrating these types of fraud, as well as the strategies they use to deceive and victimize individuals and businesses on the internet. Furthermore, this study outlines defense strategies intended to tackle the issue head-on, with a particular emphasis on the crucial role played by European legislation. European legislation has proactively adapted to the evolving landscape of cyber fraud, striving to enhance cybersecurity awareness, bolster user education, and implement advanced technical controls to mitigate associated risks. The paper evaluates the advantages and innovations brought about by the European legislation while also acknowledging potential flaws that cybercriminals might exploit. As a result, recommendations for refining the legislation are offered in this study in order to better address this pressing issue.

Keywords: Business email compromise, cybercrime, European legislation, investment fraud, Network and Information Security, online sales fraud, romance scams.

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Authors: Carlos David Carrillo Trujillo, Rebelín Echeverría Echeverría, Nancy Evia Alamilla, Rocío Quintal López

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Gender as a social construct is a term now widely studied. Within the social sciences it has become very important. In this sense, psychology tries to make some contributions from your area. The intention is to promote equal opportunities for men and women. Social, employment and educational inequities perpetuate sexism, violence and other important social problems in Mexico. The gender perspective is conceptualized as a tool to promote laws, policies, plans, programs and procedures where women are made ​​visible and empowered. The aim of this is the pursuit of equality. Thus, gender mainstreaming is one of the main challenges of education in Mexico. Only a few universities have programs, research or subjects related to the topic. Human resources, and time allocated to teachers are identified as obstacles to the institutionalization of gender. The objective was to make a diagnosis on course offerings and policies on gender. A documentary study and interviews with managers of at least 20 higher education institutions (IES's) were performed. The results indicate the need for greater gender courses, research projects and intervention. The need to promote policies that seek equal opportunities between men and women is also noted.

Keywords: Gender mainstreaming, institutionalization, universities.

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Authors: Zulkefli bin Ibrahim, Ainin Sulaiman, Tengku M. Faziharudean

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Malaysia is aggressive in promoting the usage of ICT to its mass population through the support by the government policies and programs targeting the general population. However, with the uneven distribution of the basic telecommunication infrastructure between the urban and rural area, cost for being “interconnected" that is considered high among the poorer rural population and the lack of local contents that suit the rural population needs or lifestyles, it is still a challenge for Malaysia to achieve its Vision 2020 Agenda moving the nation towards an information society by the year 2020. Among the existing programs that have been carried out by the government to encourage the usage of ICT by the rural population is “Kedaikom", a community telecenter with the general aim is to engage the community to get exposed and to use the ICT, encouraging the diffusion of the ICT technology to the rural population. The research investigated by using a questionnaire survey of how Kedaikom, as a community telecenter could play a role in encouraging the rural or underserved community to use the ICT. The result from the survey has proven that the community telecenter could bridge the digital divide between the underserved rural population and the well-accessed urban population in Malaysia. More of the rural population, especially from the younger generation and those with higher educational background are using the community telecenter to be connected to the ICT.

Keywords: Digital divide, ICT, telecenters.

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Authors: I. Derek Kaka’an, P. Smolianov, D. Koh Choon Lian, S. Dion, C. Schoen, J. Norberg

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This study was designed to examine mass participation and elite football performance in Nigeria with reference to advance international football management practices. Over 200 sources of literature on sport delivery systems were analyzed to construct a globally applicable model of elite football integrated with mass participation, comprising of the following three levels: macro- (socio-economic, cultural, legislative, and organizational), meso- (infrastructures, personnel, and services enabling sport programs) and micro-level (operations, processes, and methodologies for development of individual athletes). The model has received scholarly validation and showed to be a framework for program analysis that is not culturally bound. The Smolianov and Zakus model has been employed for further understanding of sport systems such as US soccer, US Rugby, swimming, tennis, and volleyball as well as Russian and Dutch swimming. A questionnaire was developed using the above-mentioned model. Survey questions were validated by 12 experts including academicians, executives from sport governing bodies, football coaches, and administrators. To identify best practices and determine areas for improvement of football in Nigeria, 120 coaches completed the questionnaire. Useful exemplars and possible improvements were further identified through semi-structured discussions with 10 Nigerian football administrators and experts. Finally, content analysis of Nigeria Football Federation’s website and organizational documentation was conducted. This paper focuses on the meso-level of Nigerian football delivery, particularly infrastructures, personnel, and services enabling sport programs. This includes training centers, competition systems, and intellectual services. Results identified remarkable achievements coupled with great potential to further develop football in different types of public and private organizations in Nigeria. These include: assimilating football competitions with other cultural and educational activities, providing favorable conditions for employees of all possible organizations to partake and help in managing football programs and events, providing football coaching integrated with counseling for prevention of antisocial conduct, and improving cooperation between football programs and organizations for peace-making and advancement of international relations, tourism, and socio-economic development. Accurate reporting of the sports programs from the media should be encouraged through staff training for better awareness of various events. The systematic integration of these meso-level practices into the balanced development of mass and high-performance football will contribute to international sport success as well as national health, education, and social harmony.

Keywords: Football, high performance, mass participation, Nigeria, sport development.

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Authors: Kari Björn, Mikael Soini

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Higher Education system reforms, especially Finnish system of Universities of Applied Sciences in 2014 are discussed. The new steering model is based on major legislative changes, output-oriented funding and open information. The governmental steering reform, especially the financial model and the resulting institutional level responses, such as a curriculum reforms are discussed, focusing especially in engineering programs. The paper is motivated by management need to establish objective steering-related performance indicators and to apply them consistently across all educational programs. The close relationship to governmental steering and funding model imply that internally derived indicators can be directly applied. Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) as a case institution is briefly introduced, focusing on engineering education in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and its related programs. The reform forced consolidation of previously separate smaller programs into fewer units of student application. New curriculum ICT students have a common first year before they apply for a Major. A framework of parallel and longitudinal comparisons is introduced and used across Majors in two campuses. The new externally introduced performance criteria are applied internally on ICT Majors using data ex-ante and ex-post of program merger.  A comparative performance of the Majors after completion of joint first year is established, focusing on previously omitted Majors for completeness of analysis. Some new research questions resulting from transfer of Majors between campuses and quota setting are discussed. Practical orientation identifies best practices to share or targets needing most attention for improvement. This level of analysis is directly applicable at student group and teaching team level, where corrective actions are possible, when identified. The analysis is quantitative and the nature of the corrective actions are not discussed. Causal relationships and factor analysis are omitted, because campuses, their staff and various pedagogical implementation details contain still too many undetermined factors for our limited data. Such qualitative analysis is left for further research. Further study must, however, be guided by the relevance of the observations.

Keywords: Engineering education, integrated curriculum, learning outcomes, performance measurement.

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Authors: Nazira B. Boldurukova

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The article examines the potential of the Chinese diaspora abroad. Investigate the influence of the highest in the People's Republic of foreign economic strategy of "Going to the outside" on the investment activity of Chinese enterprises abroad, the export of labor.

Keywords: China, migrants, reform, economic strategy, migration policy, huaqiao.

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Authors: Bella Llego

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This research aims to study on “ASEAN Citizenship in the Internationalization of Thai Higher Education.” The purposes of this research are (1) to examine the Thai academics and scholars defined in the concept of internationalization of higher education, (2) to know how Thailand tries to fulfill its internationalization on education goal, (3) to find out the advantages and disadvantages of Thailand hub for higher education in Asia. Sequential mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized to gather the data collected. By using a qualitative method (individual interviews from key Thai administrators and educators in the international higher education sector), a quantitative method (survey) was utilized to draw upon and to elaborate the recurring themes present during the interviews. The study found that many aspects of Thai international higher education programs received heavy influence from both the American and European higher education systems. Thailand’s role and leadership in the creation and launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015 gives its unique context for its internationalization efforts. English is being designated as the language of all Thai international programs; its influence further strengthened being the current language of academia, international business, and the internet, having global influence.

Keywords: ASEAN Citizenship, Internationalization, Thai Higher Education.

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Authors: Hyeon Seok Kim, Inhoi Lee, Seong Baeg Kim, Kyunghee Ko, Kyung Eon Lee, Dong Sik Kang

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In the age of globalization, higher education  institutions attempt to equip students with global competence. In  response, most universities have been developing and running various  international programs. However, teacher education has been a  neglected area in this trend. Therefore, in this study, we suggest a  program that offers a dual bachelor’s degree from both universities  located on different countries, focusing on teacher education  institutions with different policies and regulations of teacher education  programs that may become obstacles to designing a dual degree  program. We discuss a possible way to get a dual degree including a  teaching certificate at a specialized college, college of secondary  education. To be specific, this research presents a way to attain two  diplomas from Jeju National University (JNU) in Korea and Boise  State University (BSU) in the U.S. It attempts to build an effective  plan for students to declare simultaneous degrees at both universities.  From the study, we find that it takes about 5 years to fulfill  requirements for the dual degree at the undergraduate level.

 

Keywords: Dual degree, curriculum, teaching certificate, college of secondary education, international program.

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Authors: Amit Kumar Jakhar, Kumar Rajnish

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Inherited complexity is one of the difficult tasks in software engineering field. Further, it is said that there is no physical laws or standard guidelines suit for designing different types of software. Hence, to make the software engineering as a matured engineering discipline like others, it is necessary that it has its own theoretical frameworks and laws. Software designing and development is a human effort which takes a lot of time and considers various parameters for successful completion of the software. The cognitive informatics plays an important role for understanding the essential characteristics of the software. The aim of this work is to consider the fundamental characteristics of the source code of Object-Oriented software i.e. complexity and understandability. The complexity of the programs is analyzed with the help of extracted important attributes of the source code, which is further utilized to evaluate the understandability factor. The aforementioned characteristics are analyzed on the basis of 16 C++ programs by distributing them to forty MCA students. They all tried to understand the source code of the given program and mean time is taken as the actual time needed to understand the program. For validation of this work, Briand’s framework is used and the presented metric is also evaluated comparatively with existing metric which proves its robustness.

Keywords: Software metrics, object-oriented, complexity, cognitive weight, understandability, basic control structures.

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Authors: Brittany E. Coff, Tommy K. K. Ngai, Laura A. S. MacDonald

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Many organizations in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector provide education and training in order to increase the effectiveness of their WASH interventions. A key challenge for these organizations is measuring how well their education and training activities contribute to WASH improvements. It is crucial for implementers to understand the returns of their education and training activities so that they can improve and make better progress toward the desired outcomes. This paper presents information on CAWST’s development and piloting of the evaluation methodology. The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) has developed a methodology for evaluating education and training activities, so that organizations can understand the effectiveness of their WASH activities and improve accordingly. CAWST developed this methodology through a series of research partnerships, followed by staged field pilots in Nepal, Peru, Ethiopia and Haiti. During the research partnerships, CAWST collaborated with universities in the UK and Canada to: review a range of available evaluation frameworks, investigate existing practices for evaluating education activities, and develop a draft methodology for evaluating education programs. The draft methodology was then piloted in three separate studies to evaluate CAWST’s, and CAWST’s partner’s, WASH education programs. Each of the pilot studies evaluated education programs in different locations, with different objectives, and at different times within the project cycles. The evaluations in Nepal and Peru were conducted in 2013 and investigated the outcomes and impacts of CAWST’s WASH education services in those countries over the past 5-10 years. In 2014, the methodology was applied to complete a rigorous evaluation of a 3-day WASH Awareness training program in Ethiopia, one year after the training had occurred. In 2015, the methodology was applied in Haiti to complete a rapid assessment of a Community Health Promotion program, which informed the development of an improved training program. After each pilot evaluation, the methodology was reviewed and improvements were made. A key concept within the methodology is that in order for training activities to lead to improved WASH practices at the community level, it is not enough for participants to acquire new knowledge and skills; they must also apply the new skills and influence the behavior of others following the training. The steps of the methodology include: development of a Theory of Change for the education program, application of the Kirkpatrick model to develop indicators, development of data collection tools, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, and use of the findings for improvement. The methodology was applied in different ways for each pilot and was found to be practical to apply and adapt to meet the needs of each case. It was useful in gathering specific information on the outcomes of the education and training activities, and in developing recommendations for program improvement. Based on the results of the pilot studies, CAWST is developing a set of support materials to enable other WASH implementers to apply the methodology. By using this methodology, more WASH organizations will be able to understand the outcomes and impacts of their training activities, leading to higher quality education programs and improved WASH outcomes.

Keywords: Education and training, capacity building, evaluation, water and sanitation.

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Authors: Ebrahim Safarian, Kadir Bilen, Akif Ceviz

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The turbocharger and turbocharging have been the inherent component of diesel engines, so that critical parameters of such engines, as BSFC (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption) or thermal efficiency, fuel consumption, BMEP (Brake Mean Effective Pressure), the power density output and emission level have been improved extensively. In general, the turbocharger can be considered as the most complex component of diesel engines, because it has closely interrelated turbomachinery concepts of the turbines and the compressors to thermodynamic fundamentals of internal combustion engines and stress analysis of all components. In this paper, a waste gate for a conventional single stage radial turbine is investigated by consideration of turbochargers operation constrains and engine operation conditions, without any detail designs in the turbine and the compressor. Amount of opening waste gate which extended between the ranges of full opened and closed valve, is demonstrated by limiting compressor boost pressure ratio. Obtaining of an optimum point by regard above mentioned items is surveyed by three linked meanline modeling programs together which consist of Turbomatch®, Compal®, Rital® madules in concepts NREC® respectively.

Keywords: Turbocharger, Wastegate, diesel engine, CONCEPT NREC programs.

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