Search results for: laws and regulations

Authors: Nighat Mir, Sayed Afaq Hussain

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Advent enhancements in the field of computing have increased massive use of web based electronic documents. Current Copyright protection laws are inadequate to prove the ownership for electronic documents and do not provide strong features against copying and manipulating information from the web. This has opened many channels for securing information and significant evolutions have been made in the area of information security. Digital Watermarking has developed into a very dynamic area of research and has addressed challenging issues for digital content. Watermarking can be visible (logos or signatures) and invisible (encoding and decoding). Many visible watermarking techniques have been studied for text documents but there are very few for web based text. XML files are used to trade information on the internet and contain important information. In this paper, two invisible watermarking techniques using Synonyms and Acronyms are proposed for XML files to prove the intellectual ownership and to achieve the security. Analysis is made for different attacks and amount of capacity to be embedded in the XML file is also noticed. A comparative analysis for capacity is also made for both methods. The system has been implemented using C# language and all tests are made practically to get the results.

Keywords: Watermarking, Extensible Markup Language (XML), Synonyms, Acronyms, Copyright protection.

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Authors: M. R. Alrashidi, M. E. El-Hawary

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Environmental awareness and the recent environmental policies have forced many electric utilities to restructure their operational practices to account for their emission impacts. One way to accomplish this is by reformulating the traditional economic dispatch problem such that emission effects are included in the mathematical model. This paper presents a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to solve the Economic- Emission Dispatch problem (EED) which gained recent attention due to the deregulation of the power industry and strict environmental regulations. The problem is formulated as a multi-objective one with two competing functions, namely economic cost and emission functions, subject to different constraints. The inequality constraints considered are the generating unit capacity limits while the equality constraint is generation-demand balance. A novel equality constraint handling mechanism is proposed in this paper. PSO algorithm is tested on a 30-bus standard test system. Results obtained show that PSO algorithm has a great potential in handling multi-objective optimization problems and is capable of capturing Pareto optimal solution set under different loading conditions.

Keywords: Economic emission dispatch, economic cost dispatch, particle swarm, multi-objective optimization.

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Authors: Amira Elsonbaty, Rawya Rizk, Mohamed Elksas, Mofreh Salem

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In this paper, a Cooperative Multi-robot for Carrying Targets (CMCT) algorithm is proposed. The multi-robot team consists of three robots, one is a supervisor and the others are workers for carrying boxes in a store of 100×100 m2. Each robot has a self recharging mechanism. The CMCT minimizes robot-s worked time for carrying many boxes during day by working in parallel. That is, the supervisor detects the required variables in the same time another robots work with previous variables. It works with straightforward mechanical models by using simple cosine laws. It detects the robot-s shortest path for reaching the target position avoiding obstacles by using a proposed CMCT path planning (CMCT-PP) algorithm. It prevents the collision between robots during moving. The robots interact in an ad hoc wireless network. Simulation results show that the proposed system that consists of CMCT algorithm and its accomplished CMCT-PP algorithm achieves a high improvement in time and distance while performing the required tasks over the already existed algorithms.

Keywords: Ad hoc network, Computer vision based positioning, Dynamic collision avoidance, Multi-robot, Path planning algorithms, Self recharging.

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Authors: Murat Sengoz, Mustafa Kemal Topcu

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This study aims to contribute to efforts of Turkey to increase research and development to overcome mid-income level trap by discussing regulations on patenting and licensing. Knowledge and technology transfer from universities to business world is attached great significance to increase innovation. Through literature survey, it is observed that the States accomplished to boost the economy and increase welfare by the Bayh-Dole Act enacted in 1980. Thus, this good practice is imitated by other nations to make technological developments. The Act allows universities to acquire patent right in research programs funded by government to increase technology transfer from universities whilst motivating real sector to use research pools in the universities. An act similar with Bayh-Dole could be beneficial to Turkey since efforts in Turkey are to promote research, development and innovation. Towards this end, the impact of Bayh-Dole Act on the patent system for universities in the Sates is deliberately examined, applicability in Turkey is discussed. However, it is conceded that success rate of applying Bayh-Dole Act in Turkey would be low once Turkey mainly differs from the States regarding social, economic and cultural traits.

Keywords: Bayh-Dole act, knowledge transfer, license, patent, spin-off.

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Authors: A. Kablan

Abstract:

The prediction of financial time series is a very complicated process. If the efficient market hypothesis holds, then the predictability of most financial time series would be a rather controversial issue, due to the fact that the current price contains already all available information in the market. This paper extends the Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System for High Frequency Trading which is an expert system that is capable of using fuzzy reasoning combined with the pattern recognition capability of neural networks to be used in financial forecasting and trading in high frequency. However, in order to eliminate unnecessary input in the training phase a new event based volatility model was proposed. Taking volatility and the scaling laws of financial time series into consideration has brought about the development of the Intraday Seasonality Observation Model. This new model allows the observation of specific events and seasonalities in data and subsequently removes any unnecessary data. This new event based volatility model provides the ANFIS system with more accurate input and has increased the overall performance of the system.

Keywords: Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy Inference system, High Frequency Trading, Intraday Seasonality Observation Model.

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Authors: Y. Bi, T. Anderson, M. Huang

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The use of technology is increasingly adopted to support flexible learning in Higher Education institutions. The adoption of more sophisticated technologies offers a broad range of facilities for communication and resource sharing, thereby creating a flexible learning environment that facilitates and even encourages students not to physically attend classes. However this emerging trend seems to contradict class attendance requirements within universities, inevitably leading to a dilemma between amending traditional regulations and creating new policies for the higher education institutions. This study presents an investigation into student engagement in a technology enhanced/driven flexible environment along with its relationship to attainment. We propose an approach to modelling engagement from different perspectives in terms of indicators and then consider what impact these indicators have on student academic performance. We have carried out a case study on the relation between attendance and attainment in a flexible environment. Although our preliminary results show attendance is quantitatively correlated with successful student development and learning outcomes, our results also indicate there is a cohort that did not follow such a pattern. Nevertheless the preliminary results could provide an insight into pilot studies in the wider deployment of new technology to support flexible learning.

Keywords: Engagement, flexible leaning, attendance and attainment.

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Authors: Xiaoyuan Yan, Min Xu

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Truck platooning refers to a convoy of digitally connected automated trucks traveling safely with a small inter-vehicle gap. It has been identified as one of the most promising and applicable technologies towards automated and sustainable freight transportation. Although truck platooning delivers significant energy-saving benefits, it cannot be realized without good coordination of drivers’ shifts to lead the platoons subject to their mandatory breaks. Therefore, this study aims to route a fleet of trucks to their destinations using the least amount of fuel by maximizing platoon opportunities under the regulations of drivers’ mandatory breaks. We formulate this platoon coordination problem as a mixed-integer linear programming problem and solve it by CPLEX. Numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed model. In addition, we also explore the impacts of drivers’ compulsory breaks on the fuel-savings performance. The results show a slight increase in the total fuel costs in the presence of drivers’ compulsory breaks, thanks to driving-while-resting benefit provided for the trailing trucks. This study may serve as a guide for the operators of automated freight transportation.

Keywords: Truck platooning, route optimization, compulsory breaks, energy saving.

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Authors: C. Murat, T. Elifnaz

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Today, with globalization, human mobility has increased the interaction between countries significantly, and this contact has also increased the possibility of epidemics, although this contact has moved societies forward in terms of civilization. The coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, which caused the most loss of life from these epidemics, quickly swept the whole world with the effect of globalization. The coronavirus epidemic has affected the world economically as well as health problems. While some businesses around the world experienced an extraordinary increase in demand, some businesses temporarily stopped their activities or were forced to do so. Businesses affected by the crisis had to adapt to new legal regulations but had to make changes in matters such as working styles, human resources practices, and policies. One of the measures considered is the reduction of the workforce. The current COVID-19 crisis has created serious challenges for many organizations and has led to an unprecedented wave of termination notices. In this study, examples of companies that were affected by the pandemic process and changed their working policies after the pandemic were examined. This study aims to reveal the impact of the global COVID-19 epidemic on human resources policies and employees and how these situations will affect businesses in the future.

Keywords: COVID-19, human resource management, crisis management, business function.

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Authors: Young Kwon Yang, In Sung Kang, Jung Ha Hwang, Jin Chul Park

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The present study is a foundational study for performance improvements on isolation wards to prevent proliferation of secondary infection of infectious diseases such as SARS, H1N1, and MERS inside hospitals. Accordingly, the present study conducted an analysis of the effect of sealing mechanisms and filling of openings on ensuring air tightness performance in isolation wards as well as simulation on air currents in improved isolation wards. The study method is as follows. First, previous studies on aerial infection type and mechanism were reviewed, and the review results were utilized as basic data of analysis on simulation of air current. Second, national and international legislations and regulations in relation to isolation wards as well as case studies on developed nations were investigated in order to identify the problems in isolation wards in Korea and improvement plans. Third, construction and facility plans were compared and analyzed between general and isolation wards focusing on large general hospitals in Korea, thereby conducting comparison and analysis on the performance and effects of air-tightness of general and isolation wards through CFD simulations. The study results showed that isolation wards had better air-tightness performance than that of general wards.

Keywords: AII Room, air-borne infection, CFD, computational fluid dynamics.

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Authors: Xiaoyun Zhao, Rami Darwish, Anna Pernestål

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Automated vehicles (AVs) have the potential to enhance road capacity, improving road safety and traffic efficiency. Research and development on AVs have been going on for many years. However, when the complicated traffic rules and real situations interacted, AVs fail to make decisions on contradicting situations, and are not able to have control in all conditions due to highly dynamic driving scenarios. This limits AVs’ usage and restricts the full potential benefits that they can bring. Furthermore, regulations, infrastructure development, and public acceptance cannot keep up at the same pace as technology breakthroughs. Facing these challenges, this paper proposes automated vehicle traffic control tower (AVTCT) acting as a safe, efficient and integrated solution for AV control. It introduces a concept of AVTCT for control, management, decision-making, communication and interaction with various aspects in transportation. With the prototype demonstrations and simulations, AVTCT has the potential to overcome the control challenges with AVs and can facilitate AV reaching their full potential. Possible functionalities, benefits as well as challenges of AVTCT are discussed, which set the foundation for the conceptual model, simulation and real application of AVTCT.

Keywords: Automated vehicle, connectivity and automation, intelligent transport system, traffic control, traffic safety.

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Authors: Yung-Tan Lee, Ren-Yi Huang, Chih-Cheng Chen, You-Ting Liao

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The aim of this study is to discuss the relationship between tourist awareness of environmental issues and their own recreational behaviors in the Taipei Guandu Wetland. A total of 392 questionnaires were gathered for data analysis using descriptive statistics, t-testing, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and least significant difference (LSD) post hoc comparisons. The results showed that most of the visitors there enjoying the beautiful scenery are 21 to 30 years old with a college education. The means and standard deviations indicate that tourists express a positive degree of cognition of environmental issues and recreational behaviors. They suggest that polluting the environment is harmful to the natural ecosystem and that the natural resources of ecotourism are fragile, as well as expressing a high degree of recognition of the need to protect wetlands. Most of respondents are cognizant of the regulations proposed by the Guandu Wetland administration which asks that users exercise self-control and follow recommended guidelines when traveling the wetland. There were significant differences in the degree of cognition related to the variables of age, number of visits and reasons for visiting. We found that most respondents with relatively high levels of education would like to learn more about the wetland and are supportive of its conservation.

Keywords: Guandu Wetland, environmental awareness, recreational behaviors, conservation.

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Authors: A. Jamekhorshid, G. Karimi, I. Noshadi, A. Jahangiri

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Non-uniform current distribution in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells results in local over-heating, accelerated ageing, and lower power output than expected. This issue is very critical when fuel cell experiences water flooding. In this work, the performance of a PEM fuel cell is investigated under cathode flooding conditions. Two-dimensional partially flooded GDL models based on the conservation laws and electrochemical relations are proposed to study local current density distributions along flow fields over a wide range of cell operating conditions. The model results show a direct association between cathode inlet humidity increases and that of average current density but the system becomes more sensitive to flooding. The anode inlet relative humidity shows a similar effect. Operating the cell at higher temperatures would lead to higher average current densities and the chance of system being flooded is reduced. In addition, higher cathode stoichiometries prevent system flooding but the average current density remains almost constant. The higher anode stoichiometry leads to higher average current density and higher sensitivity to cathode flooding.

Keywords: Current distribution, Flooding, Hydrogen energysystem, PEM fuel cell.

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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: C. Mallada Fernández

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Economic development and globalization of international markets have created a favourable atmosphere for the emergence of new forms of crime such as money laundering or financing of terrorism, which may contribute to destabilized and damage economic systems. In particular, money laundering have acquired great importance since the 11S attacks, what has caused on the one hand, the establishment and development of preventive measures and, on the other hand, a progressive hardening of penal measures. Since then, the regulations imposed to fight against money laundering have been viewed as key components also in the fight against terrorist financing. Terrorism, at the beginning, was a “national” crime connected with internal problems of the State (for instance the RAF in Germany or ETA in Spain) but in the last 20 years has started to be an international problem that is connected with the defence and security of the States. Therefore, the new strategic concept for the defense and security of NATO has a comprehensive list of security threats to the Alliance, such as terrorism, international instability, money laundering or attacks on cyberspace, among others. With this new concept, money laundering and terrorism has become a priority in the national defense.

In this work we will analyze the methods to combat these new threats to the national security. We will study the preventive legislations to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism, the UIF that exchange information between States, and the hawala-Banking.

Keywords: Control of financial flows, money laundering, terrorism, financing of terrorism.

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Authors: Nurul Nadhirah Anuar, Muhammad Fauzi Abdul Ghani

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Scheduled waste management is very important in environmental and health aspects. In delivering services, highway industry has been indirectly involved in producing scheduled wastes. This paper aims to define the scheduled waste, to provide a conceptual framework of the scheduled waste management in highway industry, to highlight the effect of improper management of scheduled waste and to encourage future researchers to identify and share the present practice of scheduled waste management in their country. The understanding on effective management of scheduled waste will help the operators of highway industry, the academicians, future researchers, and encourage a friendly environment around the world. The study on scheduled waste management in highway industry is very crucial as highway transverse and run along kilometers crossing the various type of environment, residential and schools. Using Environmental Quality (Scheduled Waste) Regulations 2005 as a guide, this conceptual paper highlight several scheduled wastes produced by highway industry in Malaysia and provide a conceptual framework of scheduled waste management that focused on the highway industry. Understanding on scheduled waste management is vital in order to preserve the environment. Besides that, the waste substances are hazardous to human being. Many diseases have been associated with the improper management of schedule waste such as cancer, throat irritation and respiration problem.

Keywords: Asia Region, Environment, Highway Industry, Scheduled Waste.

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Authors: I. M. Sujaul, M. A. Sobahan, A. A. Edriyana, F. M. Yahaya, R. M. Yunus

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This study was carried out to investigate the adverse effect of industrial wastewater on surface water quality in Gebeng industrial estate, Pahang, Malaysia. Surface water was collected from six sampling stations. Physicochemical parameters were characterized based on in-situ and ex-situ analysis according to standard methods by American Public Health Association (APHA). Selected heavy metals were determined by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS). The results revealed that the concentration of heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr and Hg were high in samples. The results also showed that the value of Pb and Hg were higher in the wet season in comparison to dry season. According to Malaysia National Water Quality Standard (NWQS) and Water Quality Index (WQI) all the sampling station were categorized as class IV (highly polluted). The present study revealed that the adverse effects of careless disposal of wastes and directly discharge of effluents affected on surface water quality. Therefore, the authorities should implement the laws to ensure the proper practices of wastewater management for environmental sustainability around the study area.

Keywords: Gebeng, heavy metals, waste water, water quality index.

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Authors: Usha N. Murthy, Rekha H. B., Mahaveer Devoor

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The introduction of more stringent pollution regulations, in relation to financial and social pressures for sustainable development, has pressed toward limiting the volumes of industrial and domestic effluents discharged into the environment - as well as to increase the efforts within research and development of new or more efficient wastewater treatment technologies. Considering both discharge volume and effluent composition, wastewater generated by the textile industry is rated as the most polluting among all industrial sectors. The pollution load is mainly due to spent dye baths, which are composed of unreacted dyes, dispersing agents, surfactants, salts and organics. In the present investigation, the textile dye wastewater was characterized by high color, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS) and pH. Electrochemical oxidation process for four plate electrodes was carried out at five different current intensities, out of which 0.14A has achieved maximum percentage removal of COD with 75% and 83% of color. The COD removal rate in kg COD/h/m² decreases with increase in the current intensity. The energy consumption increases with increase in the current intensity. Hence, textile dye wastewater can be effectively pretreated by electrochemical oxidation method where the process limits objectionable color while leaving the COD associated with organics left for natural degradation thus causing a sustainable reduction in pollution load.

Keywords: Electrochemical treatment, COD, color.

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Authors: Xing Zhang

Abstract:

Since the State Council of China issued the Regulations on the Conservation of Historical Cultural Towns and Villages in 2008, formulation of conservation planning has been carried out in national, provincial and municipal historical and cultural villages for protection needs, which provides a legal basis for inheritance of historical culture and protection of historical resources. Although the quantity and content of the conservation planning are continually increasing, the implementation and application are still ambiguous. To solve the aforementioned problems, this paper explores methods to enhance the implementation of conservation planning from the perspective of planning formulation. Specifically, the technical framework of "overall objectives planning - sub-objectives planning - zoning guidelines - implementation by stages" is proposed to implement the planning objectives in different classifications and stages. Then combined with details of the Qiqiao historical and cultural village conservation planning project in Ningbo, five sub-objectives are set, which are implemented through the village zoning guidelines. At the same time, the key points and specific projects in the near-term, medium-term and long-term work are clarified, and the spatial planning is transformed into the action plan with time scale. The proposed framework and method provide a reference for the implementation and management of the conservation planning of historical and cultural villages in the future.

Keywords: Conservation planning, planning by stages, planning implementation, zoning guidelines.

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Authors: Lalla Nezha Lakmiti, Abdelkahar Zahid

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Due to the setbacks on the international scene and the wave of cacophonic financial scandals affecting large international groups, the new Islamic finance industry is not immune despite its initial resistance. The purpose of this paper is to understand and analyze the meaning of the Corporate Governance (CG) concept in Moroccan Islamic banking systems with specific reference to their institutions. The research objective is to identify also the path taken and adopted by these banks recently set up in Morocco. The foundation is rooted in shari'a, in particular, no stakeholder (the shareholding approach) must be harmed, and the ethical value is reflected into these parties’ behavior. We chose a qualitative method, semi-structured interviews where six managers provided answers about their banking systems. Since these respondents held a senior position (directors) within their organizations, it is felt that they are well placed and have the necessary knowledge to provide us with information to answer the questions asked. The results identified the orientation of participating banks and assessing how governance works, while determining which party is fovoured: shareholders, stakeholders or both. This study discusses the favorable condition to the harmonization of the regulations and therefore a better integration between Islamic finance and conventional ones in the economic context of Morocco.

Keywords: Corporate governance, participating banks, stakeholders, shareholders, and interests.

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Authors: Farbod Behnaminia, Saeed Samet

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The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed many lives until a vaccine has been available, which caused the so-called "new normal". COVID-19 is an infectious disease. It can cause significant illness or death in anyone. Governments and health officials tried to impose rules and regulations to avoid and slow down transmission. Therefore, software engineers worldwide developed applications to trace and track patients’ movements and notify others, mainly using Bluetooth. In this way, everyone could be informed whether they came in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 and take proper safety precautions. Because most of the applications use technologies that can potentially reveal the user’s identity and location, researchers have debated privacy preservation and how to improve user privacy during such pandemics. We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the literature by looking for papers in the relevant field and dividing them into pre- and post-pandemic systems. Additionally, we discussed the many uses of blockchain technology in pandemic control. We found that two major obstacles facing blockchain implementation across many healthcare systems are scalability and privacy. The Polkadot platform is presented, along with a review of its efficacy in tackling current concerns. A more scalable healthcare system is achievable in near future using Polkadot as well as a much more privacy-preserving environment.

Keywords: Blockchain, Electronic Record Management, EHR, Privacy-Preserving, patient tracking, COVID-19, trust and confidence, Polkadot.

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Authors: Gyo Woo Lee, Man Young Kim

Abstract:

Emission regulations for diesel engines are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet the standards without exhaust after-treatment systems. Lack of the space in many diesel vehicles, however, make it difficult to design and install stand-alone catalytic converters such as DOC, DPF, and SCR in the vehicle exhaust systems. Accordingly, those have been installed inside the muffler to save the space, and referred to the catalytic muffler. However, that has complex internal structure with perforated plate and pipe for noise and monolithic catalyst for emission reduction. For this reason, flow uniformity and pressure drop, which affect efficiency of catalyst and engine performance, respectively, should be examined when the catalytic muffler is designed. In this work, therefore, the flow uniformity and pressure drop to improve the performance of the catalytic converter and the engine have been numerically investigated by changing various design parameters such as inlet shape, porosity, and outlet shape of the muffler using the three-dimensional turbulent flow of the incompressible, non-reacting, and steady state inside the catalytic muffler. Finally, it can be found that the shape, in which the muffler has perforated pipe inside the inlet part, has higher uniformity index and lower pressure drop than others considered in this work.

Keywords: Catalytic muffler, Perforated inlet cone, Catalysts, Perforated pipe, Flow uniformity, Pressure drop.

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Authors: Francis Z. Naab, Abraham M. Nunbogu, Romanus D. Dinye, Alfred Dongzagla

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The study assesses the effectiveness of the Bui Dam resettlement scheme in the Tain and the Bole districts in Ghana. The study adopted a mixed approach in its data collection and analyses. Of the eight communities affected by Bui hydropower project, and thus require resettlement, four were purposively selected for primary data collection. Primary data was gathered through questionnaire administration to 157 heads of resettled households, focus group discussions with men and women and in-depth interviews with key informants. The findings indicated that the affected people had been sufficiently contacted at all levels of their resettlement. In particular, the Ghana Dams Dialogue, which served as a liaison entity between the government and the resettlement communities came up for praise for its usefulness. Many tangible policies were put in place to address the socio-cultural differences of traditional authorities. The Bui Dam Authority also rigorously followed national and international laws and protocols in the design and implementation of the resettlement scheme.  In assessing the effectiveness of the resettlement scheme, it was clear that there had been a great appreciation of the compensation regarding infrastructural development, but much more would have to be done to satisfy livelihood empowerment requirements. It was recommended that candid efforts be made to restore the lost identities of the communities resettled, and more dialogue is encouraged among communities living together.

Keywords: Resettlement, livelihood, hydro-power project, Bui Dam, Ghana.

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Authors: R. Tlili Yaakoubi, H. Nakouri, O. Blanpain, S. Lallahem

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The current tools for real time management of sewer systems are based on two software tools: the software of weather forecast and the software of hydraulic simulation. The use of the first ones is an important cause of imprecision and uncertainty, the use of the second requires temporal important steps of decision because of their need in times of calculation. This way of proceeding fact that the obtained results are generally different from those waited. The major idea of this project is to change the basic paradigm by approaching the problem by the "automatic" face rather than by that "hydrology". The objective is to make possible the realization of a large number of simulations at very short times (a few seconds) allowing to take place weather forecasts by using directly the real time meditative pluviometric data. The aim is to reach a system where the decision-making is realized from reliable data and where the correction of the error is permanent. A first model of control laws was realized and tested with different return-period rainfalls. The gains obtained in rejecting volume vary from 19 to 100 %. The development of a new algorithm was then used to optimize calculation time and thus to overcome the subsequent combinatorial problem in our first approach. Finally, this new algorithm was tested with 16- year-rainfall series. The obtained gains are 40 % of total volume rejected to the natural environment and of 65 % in the number of discharges.

Keywords: Automation, optimization, paradigm, RTC.

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Authors: Andrés C. Cuervo Pinilla, Christian G. Quintero M., Chinthaka Premachandra

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This paper considers people’s driving skills diagnosis under real driving conditions. In that sense, this research presents an approach that uses GPS signals which have a direct correlation with driving maneuvers. Besides, it is presented a novel expert-driving-criteria approximation using fuzzy logic which seeks to analyze GPS signals in order to issue an intelligent driving diagnosis. Based on above, this works presents in the first section the intelligent driving diagnosis system approach in terms of its own characteristics properties, explaining in detail significant considerations about how an expert-driving-criteria approximation must be developed. In the next section, the implementation of our developed system based on the proposed fuzzy logic approach is explained. Here, a proposed set of rules which corresponds to a quantitative abstraction of some traffics laws and driving secure techniques seeking to approach an expert-driving- criteria approximation is presented. Experimental testing has been performed in real driving conditions. The testing results show that the intelligent driving diagnosis system qualifies driver’s performance quantitatively with a high degree of reliability.

Keywords: Driver support systems, intelligent transportation systems, fuzzy logic, real time data processing.

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Authors: Dorota Habrat

Abstract:

The aim of study was to analyze the functioning the new model of criminal corporate responsibility in Poland. The need to introduce into the Polish legal system liability of corporate (collective entities) has resulted, among others, from the Polish Republic's international commitments, in particular related to membership in the European Union. The study showed that responsibility of collective entities under the Act has a criminal nature. The main question concerns the ability of the collective entity to be brought to guilt under criminal law sense. Polish criminal law knows only the responsibility of individual persons. So far, guilt as a personal feature of action, based on the ability of the offender to feel in his psyche, could be considered only in relation to the individual person, while the said Act destroyed this conviction. Guilt of collective entity must be proven under at least one of the three possible forms: the guilt in the selection or supervision and so called organizational guilt. In addition, research in article has resolved the issue how the principle of proportionality in relation to criminal measures in response of collective entities should be considered. It should be remembered that the legal subjectivity of collective entities, including their rights and freedoms, is an emanation of the rights and freedoms of individual persons which create collective entities and through these entities implement their rights and freedoms. The whole study was proved that the adopted Act largely reflects the international legal regulations but also contains the unknown and original legislative solutions.

Keywords: Criminal corporate responsibility, Polish criminal law.

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Authors: María José Benítez Jiménez

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Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (E.C.H.R.) proclaims that no one may be subjected to torture, punishment or degrading treatment. The legislative correlate in Spain is embodied in Article 15 of the Spanish Constitution, and there must be an overlapping interpretation of both precepts on the ideal plane. While it is true that there are not many cases in which the European Court of Human Rights (E.C.t.H.R. (The Strasbourg Court)) has sanctioned Spain for its failure to investigate complaints of torture, it must be emphasized that the tendency to violate Article 3 of the Convention appears to be on the rise, being necessary to know possible factors that may be affecting it. This paper addresses the analysis of sentences that directly or indirectly reveal the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention. To carry out the analysis, sentences of the Strasbourg Court have been consulted from 2012 to 2016, being able to address any previous sentences to this period if it provided justified information necessary for the study. After the review it becomes clear that there are two key groups of subjects that request a response to the Strasbourg Court on the understanding that they have been tortured or degradingly treated. These are: immigrants and terrorists. Both phenomena, immigration and terrorism, respond to patterns that have mutated in recent years, and it is important for this study to know if national regulations begin to be dysfunctional.

Keywords: European convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, European Court of Human Rights, sentences, Spanish Constitution, torture.

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Authors: Tae Hyun Ahn, Gyo Woo Lee, Man Young Kim

Abstract:

Because of high thermal efficiency and low CO2 emission, diesel engines are being used widely in many industrial fields although it makes many PM and NOx which give both human health and environment a negative effect. NOx regulations for diesel engines, however, are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet the emission standard without NOx reduction devices such as SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction), LNC (Lean NOx Catalyst), and LNT (Lean NOx Trap). Among the NOx reduction devices, urea-SCR system is known as the most stable and efficient method to solve the problem of NOx emission. But this device has some issues associated with the ammonia slip phenomenon which is occurred by shortage of evaporation and thermolysis time, and that makes it difficult to achieve uniform distribution of the injected urea in front of monolith. Therefore, this study has focused on the mixing enhancement between urea and exhaust gases to enhance the efficiency of the SCR catalyst equipped in catalytic muffler by changing inlet gas temperature and spray conditions to improve the spray uniformity of the urea water solution. Finally, it can be found that various parameters such as inlet gas temperature and injector and injection angles significantly affect the evaporation and mixing of the urea water solution with exhaust gases, and therefore, optimization of these parameters are required.

Keywords: Evaporation, Injection, Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), Thermolysis, UWS (Urea-Water-Solution).

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Authors: R. A. Harun, N. M. Ishak, N. Yusoff, S. Amat

Abstract:

This quantitative research is aimed to identify the level of leadership quality and emotional intelligence for members of Students' Representatives Council (SRC) of Malaysian Public Universities (MPU). The variables include the leadership quality and emotional quotient (EQ). 238 SRC members in MPU were selected as subjects of the study. Data were collected using two instruments i.e. Malaysian Emotional Quotient Inventory (MEQI) and Ayu-Noriah Leadership Audit Trail Inventory (Ayu-Noriah, LATI). Data were analyzed using descriptive (mean and percentage). Research findings showed that the subjects scored highly in four out of five EQ domains (Self-Regulations, Self-Motivation, Empathy and Social Skills). However, the subjects scored medium to low in Self-Awareness. Analysis on the sub domains (a total of 28 sub domains) showed that the subjects scored high in 17 sub domains for EQ, whilst another 11 were at medium level. The overall analysis indicates that the subjects have high level of EQ. Findings on their leadership qualities showed that they obtained high scores in all seven factors that were measured i.e. Strategy and Leadership Model, Recruit, Review Performance and Honor, Deploy Strategically, Developing, Engage and Retain and Built HR Capabilities/Line Ownership. The overall score for leadership qualities was found to be high.

Keywords: Emotional intelligence, leadership, students.

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Authors: A. Elbaz, K. Spang

Abstract:

Infrastructure projects are often subjected to delays and cost overruns and mistakenly described as unsuccessful projects. These projects have many peculiarities such as public attention, impact on the environment, subjected to special regulations, etc. They also deal with several stakeholders with different motivations and face unique risks. With this in mind we need to reconsider our approach to manage them, define their success factors and implement these success factors. Infrastructure projects are not only lacking a unified meaning of project success or a definition of success factors, but also a clear method to implement these factors. This paper investigates this gap and introduces a concept to implement success factors in an efficient way, taking into consideration the specific characteristics of infrastructure projects. This concept consists of six enablers such as project organization, project team, project management workflow, contract management, communication and knowledge transfer and project documentations. These enablers allow other success factors to be efficiently implemented in projects. In conclusion, this paper provides project managers as well as company managers with a tool to define and implement success factors efficiently in their projects, along with upgrading their assets for the coming projects. This tool consists of processes and validated checklists to ensure the best use of company resources and knowledge. Due to the special features of infrastructure projects this tool will be tested in the German infrastructure market. However, it is meant to be adaptable to other markets and industries.

Keywords: Infrastructure projects, enablers, project success, success factors, transportation projects.

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Authors: Rong-Terng Juang

Abstract:

Autonomous vehicles offer the possibility of significant benefits to social welfare. However, fully automated cars might not be going to happen in the near further. To speed the adoption of the self-driving technologies, many governments worldwide are passing laws requiring data recorders for the testing of autonomous vehicles. Currently, the self-driving vehicle, (e.g., shuttle bus) has to be monitored from a remote control center. When an autonomous vehicle encounters an unexpected driving environment, such as road construction or an obstruction, it should request assistance from a remote operator. Nevertheless, large amounts of data, including images, radar and lidar data, etc., have to be transmitted from the vehicle to the remote center. Therefore, this paper proposes a data compression method of in-vehicle networks for remote monitoring of autonomous vehicles. Firstly, the time-series data are rearranged into a multi-dimensional signal space. Upon the arrival, for controller area networks (CAN), the new data are mapped onto a time-data two-dimensional space associated with the specific CAN identity. Secondly, the data are sampled based on differential sampling. Finally, the whole set of data are encoded using existing algorithms such as Huffman, arithmetic and codebook encoding methods. To evaluate system performance, the proposed method was deployed on an in-house built autonomous vehicle. The testing results show that the amount of data can be reduced as much as 1/7 compared to the raw data.

Keywords: Autonomous vehicle, data recording, remote monitoring, controller area network.

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