bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Use of New Media Applications in Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: Turanci Eda , Sirzad Nefise
Published: July 2020

Corporate social responsibility is the responsibility of the corporations towards the stakeholders, the environment, and society. It covers the voluntary practices for the solution of social problems. Similar to other areas, new media applications offer new opportunities in terms of corporate social responsibility practices. In addition, it is now possible for companies to benefit from four different types of media: “paid, earned, shared, and owned media”. The purpose of this study is to reveal how corporations take advantage of paid, owned, earned, and shared media using new media applications in their social responsibility practices. For this purpose, the Vodafone Turkey Foundation's #BuMamaBenden project is selected as a case study and examined. The research results show that new media applications can be used as an effective tool to reach people. Moreover, the coordinated use of these four media types can increase the impact of corporate social responsibility projects and keeps them alive.
On the Spectrum of Communication
Authors: Yamada Toru
Published: July 2020

By examining which media Japanese college administrators chose to use in order to communicate with their students during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the author argues that the intention behind administrator messaging correlates with the effectiveness of each communication medium. While some new media is used more commonly on one side of the world, the same media cannot function or is blocked in other parts of the world. Depending on the social contexts of the emergencies, the selection of a communication medium can turn out to rather be a hybrid of traditional telecommunication and new media, rather than an either-or selection.
Gender Representation in New Media Through Global Calendar Photographs
Authors: Karabacak Zaliha İnci , Özgen Özlen
Published: July 2020

New media that enables access to more people is a preferred platform by Lavazza for bringing together consumers from all around the world within the framework of coffee culture by means of photography. Lavazza calendar photos (1993-2012) have been analysed using Dyer's non-verbal communication means and lines of appeal under the following headings: “Sexually Highlighted Female Body in Lavazza Calendar Photos,” “Different Sexual Orientations as Secondary Emphasis of Lavazza Calendar Photos,” “Idealized Body Look of Models of Lavazza Calendars,” “Roles of Women and Men in Family in Lavazza Calendar Photos,” “Queens and Superheroines in Lavazza Calendars,” “Widespread Representation of White Race in Lavazza Calendar Photos,” “Italian Cities and Italian Local and National Items in Lavazza Calendars,” “Signs of Different Geography, Culture and Life Styles in Lavazza Calendar Photos,” and “Lines of Appeal in Lavazza Calendar Photos.” According to the findings, both non-verbal means of communication in terms of gender and lines of appeal in Lavazza calendar photos in new media have changed over the years.
New Media and New Journalism
Authors: Yıldızgörür Mehmet Ramazan
Published: July 2020

This study was inspired by the SWOT analysis method to evaluate the relationship between digital technologies and journalism. SWOT analysis is a self-assessment method based on strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Although it is a technique commonly used in the field of organizational communication and marketing field, it is seen as a suitable frame to address the strengths and weaknesses of digital technologies in the context of journalism and to evaluate the opportunities and threats it offers. Accordingly, after considering the strengths and weaknesses of digital technologies in the context of journalism, the opportunities and threats it presents will be evaluated. The main questions to be answered in this study can be listed as follows: How does digitalization affect journalism positively and negatively? What are the strengths and weaknesses of digital technologies in the context of journalism? What are the opportunities and threats that digital technologies offer for journalism?
Facilitating Civility in Distance Education
Authors: Flynn Catherine F.
Published: July 2020

Higher education has a long history of incivility, and the advent of distance learning has further exacerbated the issues. Increasing incivility in our society adds another challenging dimension to combating incivility and maintaining a supportive, educational environment. This chapter addresses the challenges of maintaining civility in the online teaching and learning environment that facilitates access 24/7. Specific issues relevant to disruptive actions in distance learning are covered, as well as strategies for preventing and reducing online incivility. Promoting a sense of connectiveness and social interaction is recommended, while also maintaining a professional relationship. Online culture is discussed as a key element in establishing an effective online environment.
Enhancing Student Involvement in a Technologically Connected World
Authors: Boone Joyce B.
Published: July 2020

In the multi-faceted domain of adult online education, administrators, researchers, and practitioners have an opportunity to assist adults who bring unique experiences, talents, challenges, and needs to the online learning environment. The purpose of this chapter is to refresh the reader's awareness about two theories: student involvement and transactional distance. It is the hope of the author that a heightened understanding of these theories will spark new ideas, research, and practices, facilitating successful outcomes. Taken individually or paired as theoretical or conceptual frameworks, these theories are seminal to both adult and distance education domains. Researchers, decision-makers, and practitioners are encouraged to objectively observe their educational environments through the lenses of these two theoretical perspectives and consider what is working and what is not working in the context of today's rapidly changing cultural, socio-political climate.
The Influence of Politics and Diversity in Educational Differentiation
Authors: DePriest Desiree L.
Published: July 2020

Current societal shifts are unfolding connections between laws, acts, and behaviors of the past that affect education in the present. There is limited scholarship that reveals the historical intentionality in excluding underrepresented and marginalized persons from education. The concern is that the quest for higher industry recognition based on the old models of elite and traditional schools will make online environments vulnerable to those same exclusions. The mission is to apply transparency to the underlying disparate history in education and how severely it has affected so many generations of people, change the paradigm going forward, and not repeat homogeneity online. This chapter proposes a critical examination of factors that necessitated the evolution from past education models established to perpetuate societal dominance by a select few, to the present inclusive online learning models. The chapter argues that technology, along with the failure to include diverse populations as a unique demographic, contributed to the disruption that became online learning.
Calculation of Receipt of Renewable Energy Resources and Operation Modes of Power Plants
Authors: Babaev Baba Dzhabrailovich , Panchenko Vladimir , Kharchenko Valeriy Vladimirovich
Published: July 2020

The main objective of the work is to develop principles for the formation of the optimal composition of the energy complex from all the given power plants based on renewable energy sources for an autonomous consumer, taking into account the variable energy loads of the consumer, changing climatic conditions and the possibility of using local fuel and energy resources. As a result of solving this optimization problem, in addition to the optimal configuration of the power complex, it is also necessary to solve the problem of optimizing the joint operation of different types of power plants from the selected optimal configuration, that is, it is necessary to determine the optimal modes of operation of power plants and the optimal share of their participation in providing consumers at every moment in time. A numerical method for analyzing and optimizing the parameters and operating mode of the energy complex with the most accurate consideration of the schedule of changes in consumer load and software that automates the solution of this optimization problem are also presented.
Application of Machine Learning Algorithms in Stock Market Prediction
Authors: Kumar Sumit , Acharya Sanlap
Published: July 2020

The prediction of stock prices has always been a very challenging problem for investors. Using machine learning techniques to predict stock prices is also one of the favourite topics for academics working in this domain. This chapter discusses five supervised learning techniques and two unsupervised learning techniques to solve the problem of stock price prediction and has compared the performances of all the algorithms. Among the supervised learning techniques, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) algorithm performed better than the others whereas, among the unsupervised learning techniques, Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM) performed better. RBM is found to be performing even better than LSTM.
Wind Energy Perspectives in Myanmar
Authors: Ignatev Evgenii , Deryugina Galina , Htoon Htet Myat , Tyagunov Mikhail
Published: July 2020

One of Myanmar's problems is energy shortage. Partially, energy shortage can possibly be decreased by the construction of sizeable grid-connected offshore wind farms. Eight prospective construction sites were selected and wind turbine models chosen. This chapter describes the method for determining the optimal composition of the wind farms complex, consisting of several offshore wind farms located at a considerable distance from each other in areas with significant wind regime asynchrony. To illustrate this method, the optimal composition with an installed capacity of 47.6 MW and located off Myanmar's west coast is defined.
Modelling and Forecasting Portfolio Inflows
Authors: Rapoo Mogari I. , Munapo Elias , Chanza Martin M. , Ewemooje Olusegun Sunday
Published: July 2020

This chapter analyses efficiency of support vector regression (SVR), artificial neural networks (ANNs), and structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) models in terms of in-sample forecasting of portfolio inflows (PIs). Time series daily data sourced from Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) covering the period of 1st March 2004 to 1st February 2016 were used. Mean squared error, root mean squared error, mean absolute error, mean absolute squared error, and root mean scaled log error were used to evaluate model performance. The results showed that SVR has the best modelling performance when compared to others. In determining factors that affect allocation of PIs into South Africa based on SVAR, 69% of the variation was explained by pull factors while 9% was explained by push factor. Hence, SVR model is more accurate than ANNs. This chapter therefore recommends that banking sector particularly RMB should use machine learning technique in modelling PIs for a better financial solution.
Development of Box Behnken Design to Predict the Optimum Operating Condition of Rectangular Sheet Membrane to Increase Permeate Flux
Authors: Banik Anirban , Biswal Sushant Kumar , Bandyopadhyay Tarun Kanti
Published: July 2020

The chapter focuses on the implementation of Box Behnken Design (BBD) to increase permeate flux of rectangular sheet membrane. Box Behnken Design (BBD) was used to optimize the membrane operation by predicting the optimum conditions. The factors such as operating pressure, feed velocity, and pore size were selected as the input of the model. The study illustrates the optimum conditions of operating pressure, feed velocity, and pore size, which was found to be 14.5Pa, 0.179 m/s, and 0.59µm respectively. Analysis of variance was used to identify the significant terms in the model equation. The effect of input parameters on the model output evaluated using Pareto analysis. It shows that operating pressure is the most significant parameter in the developed model. The BBD predicted results follow the actual results with high accuracy.
Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization Techniques in Supply Chain Design Problems
Authors: Rahman Md. Ashikur , Vasant Pandian M. , Watada Junzo , Al Sokkalingam Rajalingam
Published: July 2020

Metaheuristics has become a top research area. Numerous optimization problems have been solved by metaheuristics as they showed comprehensive improvements to solve these intractable optimization problems. Complex problems like supply chain design problems need strategic decisions, and metaheuristics can intensify the decisions while designing supply chain network. In this chapter, the authors have introduced how nature memetic algorithms (e.g., genetic algorithm and particle swarm algorithms) are implemented to solve supply chain network design problem. A discussion about the recent research in this field shows an important direction to the future research.
AMPLA
Authors: Santos Nuno António , Ferreira Nuno , Machado Ricardo J.
Published: July 2020

Software architecture design, when performed in context of agile software development (ASD), sometimes referred to as “agile architecting,” promotes the emerging and incremental design of the architectural artifact in a sense of avoiding “big design upfront” (BDUF). This chapter presents the Agile Modeling Process for Logical Architectures (AMPLA) method, an approach for supporting the emergence of a candidate (logical) architecture, rather than BDUF, the architecture in an early phase. The architecture then emerges throughout agile iterations, where AMPLA plays a key contribution for providing traceability between models, from the business need to service specifications, ranging from design stages to deployment, hence covering a software development life cycle (SDLC).
Service-Oriented Computing Applications (SOCA) Development Methodologies
Authors: Rodriguez-Martinez Laura C. , Duran-Limon Hector A. , Mora Manuel
Published: July 2020

Software development methodologies (SDMs) have had an accepted evolution (i.e., the replacement of SDMs of one era to the next) through the pre-methodology and early-methodology eras to the methodology era. But in the last 20 years, the transition of the methodology era (rigor-oriented) to the post-methodology era (agile-oriented) has led a debate on benefits and drawbacks of rigor vs. agile orientation. Regarding the general software-engineering evolution, the service-oriented software engineering (SOSE) that studies service-oriented computing (SOC) development approaches, which are widely used to develop software-oriented computing applications (SOCA), has emerged. SOSE developers then face the problem of selecting and adapting a SOCA SDM. This chapter compares 11 SOCA SDM on agility-rigor balance by a framework of Boehm and Turner addressing the rigor-agility conflicts by defining three factors and their methodological characteristics. Each characteristic is evaluated for each SDM with a novel agility-rigor 45-point scale. Results suggest three of such SDMs are agility-rigor balanced.
Requirements on Dimensions for a Maturity Model for Smart Grids Based on Two Case Studies
Authors: Flore Agnetha , Marx Goméz Jorge
Published: July 2020

This contribution describes two different types of requirements engineering analysis of the necessary dimensions of a possible maturity model for Smart Grids to be implemented for utilities. For the first case study, the requirements engineering for necessary dimensions for a Smart Grid maturity model was elicited using a systematic literature research. On the contrary a more agile approach is used for the second requirements engineering. For this more agile approach, interviews with energy suppliers were conducted, taking into account the analysis of the literature research. Various energy suppliers from Germany took part in the survey. The results were used to develop the basic framework for a maturity model for Smart Grids, which can still be tailored if necessary. Finally, future research activities for the application and further development of maturity models for Smart Grids in the energy industry are explained as well as the different procedural variants in the requirements analysis.
Values or Strategy?
Authors: Rusko Rauno
Published: July 2020

Values and strategies are two powerful drivers of business. Both of them have effects on the activities and practices of the firms. This chapter compares the relevance of values and strategy in Scandinavian business basing on the contents of the web pages for the largest firms in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. The results show the importance of values in the forms of responsibility and sustainability in these web pages. The firms also provide complement information, how they will follow these topical contemporary values in their business. According to analysis, the role of strategy is still relatively important, but not so important as values especially in the headings of homepages or “about us” pages.
Convergence and Divergence Regarding Business Combinations
Authors: Tănase Alin Eliodor , Calotă Traian Ovidiu , Oncioiu Gabriela Claudia
Published: July 2020

The presence of several legal entities within the same group entails the existence of as many independent accountants as there are companies. In accordance with IFRS 3 “business combinations,” the result is goodwill that will be recognized as a non-current intangible asset in the consolidated balance sheet, being subjected annually to the impairment test; insofar as the investment cost is lower than the acquisition cost of the net assets, the negative goodwill will be obtained which will be recognized in the form a profit in the consolidated profit and loss account. In addition, national differences in accounting, taxation, and auditing are the sources of the various problems that arise in the process of controlling subsidiaries and consolidating accounts. This chapter aims to study the convergence and divergence regarding business combinations in the joint business as well as to analyze the managerial controversies that are presented in the conversion of the financial statements.
The Role of the Leader in Increasing the Performance of the Entity
Authors: Oncioiu Ionica , Stanciu Alina
Published: July 2020

Business excellence models represent the entity's framework for synchronizing vision with action decisions in a more systematic and structured manner, which results in an entity's performance increase. This chapter aims to open new research and deepen directions at the intersection of accounting and management, between science and practice, with the role of potentiating performance as a result of managerial accounting and leadership vision.
Environmental, Social, and Governance Disclosure and Financial Performance
Authors: Özcan İsmail Çağrı
Published: July 2020

The environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure performance of the companies is becoming a major criterion for significant stakeholders like shareholders, creditors, and customers. In line with the increasing interest in ESG activities, a growing respective literature emerges. Despite this evolving attraction, the ESG aspects of the transport industry in general, and the rail industry in particular remain relatively untouched except for a small body of research on airlines. This study aims at filling this gap by analyzing how the ESG disclosure performance of the rail companies affect their financial performance, which the authors measure by return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and Tobin's Q. Based on a sample of 35 rail companies from nine countries over the 2007-2017 period, the analyses show that ESG disclosure performance has a positive and statistically significant association with the ROA of the rail companies.
Prospects of Tourism for Peace
Authors: Korstanje Maximiliano E.
Published: July 2020

Over the years, philosophers have debated the problem of war and peace. Is violence inherently enrooted in our minds? Or simply are we educated in a violent society? Is war a social malady to be eradicated or part of our nature? The myth of Cain and Abel gives some hints on this, but, of course, it does not suffice to explain the complexity of the conflict in the societal order. Humans often are slaves of negative emotions such as rage, fear, greed, and envy. Nonetheless, as Immanuel Kant imagined, a durable and perpetual peace can be internationally achieved, where a tacit agreement is convened among nations. In so doing, they should share a common-grounded constitution and be subject to the law of federation. The figure of hospitality is vital to weave an international pact of cooperation and non-aggression. Here one might question if tourism is part of this panacea, as Kant in his days envisaged.
Tourism as an Instrument of Cultural De-bordering and Economic Connectivity
Authors: Leandro Francisco José
Published: July 2020

Since the retrocession of Macau to the People's Republic of China (hereafter referred to as China) in 1999, the territory has strengthened interpersonal relations related to trade and commercial engagement between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries (PSC). Moreover, the tourism industry has served as a catalyst in promoting human social capital, technology transfer, and economic security. Therefore, the main research question stands as follows: to what extent has the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) of the People's Republic of China delivered a sustainable contribution to the relations between China and PSC, using the tourism industry as apparatuses of cultural and economic de-bordering? The author argues in favour of a positive correlation between the role of MSAR and the tourism industry as an instrument of economic advancement. Moreover, China's Belt and Road initiative has put forward new opportunities to MSAR, based on the concept of people-to-people (P2P) exchange and the physical integration into the Greater Bay Area (GBA).
EU Tourism Contributing to Peace and Unity?
Authors: Sebastião Dina , Stoica Alina
Published: July 2020

This chapter analyses the EU tourism policy regarding tourism sensitive to peace. It relies on the medieval, modern, and contemporary enlightenment philosophy of building a lasting peace in Europe, which were foundational ideas of European integration and keep being a reflex in its current values. Although the EU has been witnessing the longest period of this territory with peace, it is not taken for granted, and Euroscepticism and nationalism have been growing in Europe. The chapter assesses the conception of tourism as an intervening policy for the EU to contain nationalism, intolerance, and state conflict in Europe, using the theoretical framework of tourism sensitive to peace. It is concluded that Europe lacks an immaterial vision for tourism, as it is confined to the market functionality.
Hostels in Hostile Territory
Authors: Shepherd Jack , Laven Daniel
Published: July 2020

This chapter looks at the role youth hostels play in challenging some of the destructive narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian context, narratives revolving around Othering, and demonisation of the Other. To understand the role of hostels in this regard, the authors use the concept of transformative dialogue to demonstrate how hostels assist in the formation of partnerships between previously hostile groups, and also how hostels provide a tourism forum for self-expression and exposure to divergent narratives of space. The chapter is a comparative case study using qualitative data gathered at 14 hostels over a period of six years. The findings of the chapter stress the remarkable achievement of youth hostels in the region in challenging hegemonic discourses of separation and abjection, despite the enormous difficulty in doing so.
Genetic Tourism
Authors: Villagra Álvarez Carla , Crous-Costa Neus
Published: July 2020

This chapter introduces the birth of a new tourism modality, genetic tourism, by comparing it with genealogical tourism. Once this comparison was carried out, it was possible to determine the characteristics of genetic tourism and to study its possible positive effects concerning cultural sensitivity and transculturality, related to multicultural understanding and peacebuilding. The exploratory study was done by analysing travel blogs and online news related to genetic tourism, which results were used to identify a series of topics related to cultural sensitivity and transculturality. Among these topics, the author highlights the predisposition of the studied subjects to define themselves as citizens of the world, enabling people-to-people interactions and the belief of a positive relationship between genetic tourism, tolerance, cultural ethnorelativism, and reductions of negative stereotypes.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Authors: Vashishtha Shreyasi
Published: July 2020

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common psychiatric condition in children. It comprises three core characteristics, namely inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. The current chapter highlighted the comorbidity of ADHD with other psychiatric conditions like autism spectrum, learning disorders, bipolar disorder, externalizing problems, and sleep difficulties along with familial and academic difficulties. It also focused on the behavioral manifestation of ADHD including mental health issues like anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem, suicide, substance use, and sensory processing deficits. The common treatment for ADHD includes both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods. Psychological treatment follows the use of behavioral principles used in operant conditioning. Parent and teacher training methods aim to empower them in regulating antecedents and consequences to bring desired changes in behavior. Other interventions discussed in the chapter are cognitive behavioral therapy and physical activity training.
ADHD, Parental Stress, Stigma, and Mindfulness Training
Authors: Gopalan Rejani Thudalikunnil
Published: July 2020

Many studies have proven that parental stress was associated with childhood mental disorders and disabilities, and in recent years, studies have shown that parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) experience more parenting stress than parents of typically developing children. Parents living with a child with ADHD experienced stress as they struggled to cope with the child's symptoms amidst the stigmatizing attitudes from family and community members. The chapter tried to explore various factors related with parental stress and ADHD such as quality of life, parental rating of ADHD symptoms and related issues, treatment outcome, marital life, and mental health. One of the important factors contributing to stress is stigma, and the chapter also attempted to explore the link between parental stress and stigma, especially related to ADHD and its interventions. The chapter emphasized the role of mindfulness training for treating ADHD and parental stress while pointing out the methodological limitations.
Coming Out, Going Home
Authors: Shiau Hong-Chi
Published: July 2020

Despite the historical centrality of Western cities as sites of queer cultural settlement, larger global economic and political forces have vociferously shaped, dispersed, and altered dreams of mobility for gay Taiwanese millennials in the age of globalization. While Taiwanese gay millennials follow a seemingly universal “rural-to-urban,” “East-to-West” movement trajectory, this study also explicates local nuanced ramifications running against the common trend. Drawn upon five-year ethnographic studies in Taiwan, this study examines how parents could to some extent conform to societal pressures by co-creating a life narrative to the society. Parents/family appear to contribute to how participants' decision on spatial movement but gay male millennials with supportive parents are eventually “going home.” However, the concept of home is configured by multiple economic and social forces involving (1) the optimal distance with the biological family and (2) the proper performances of consumption policed and imposed by the gay community in the neoliberal Taiwanese society.
A Machine Learning-Based Exploration of Relationship Between Security Vulnerabilities of IoT Devices and Manufacturers
Authors: Chauhan Ritu , Varma Gatha
Published: July 2020

The internet of things has brought in innovations in the daily lives of users. The enthusiasm and openness of consumers have fuelled the manufacturers to dish out new devices with more features and better aesthetics. In an attempt to keep up with the competition, the manufacturers are not paying enough attention to cyber security of these smart devices. The gravity of security vulnerabilities is further aggravated due to their connected nature. As a result, a compromised device would not only stop providing the intended service but could also act as a host for malware introduced by an attacker. This study has focused on 10 manufacturers, namely Fitbit, D-Link, Edimax, Ednet, Homematic, Smarter, Osram, Belkin Wemo, Philips Hue, and Withings. The authors studied the security issues which have been raised in the past and the communication protocols used by devices made by these brands. It was found that while security vulnerabilities could be introduced due to lack of attention to details while designing an IoT device, they could also get introduced by the protocol stack and inadequate system configuration. Researchers have iterated that protocols like TCP, UDP, and mDNS have inherent security shortcomings and manufacturers need to be mindful of the fact. Furthermore, if protocols like EAPOL or Zigbee have been used, then the device developers need to be aware of safeguarding the keys and other authentication mechanisms. The authors also analysed the packets captured during setup of 23 devices by the above-mentioned manufacturers. The analysis gave insight into the underlying protocol stack preferred by the manufacturers. In addition, they also used count vectorizer to tokenize the protocols used during device setup and use them to model a multinomial classifier to identify the manufacturers. The intent of this experiment was to determine if a manufacturer could be identified based on the tokenized protocols. The modelled classifier could then be used to drive an algorithm to checklist against possible security vulnerabilities, which are characteristic of the protocols and the manufacturer history. Such an automated system will be instrumental in regular diagnostics of a smart system. The authors then wrapped up this report by suggesting some measures a user can take to protect their local networks and connected devices.
Combining Clustering and Factor Analysis as Complementary Techniques
Authors: Prayaga Lakshmi , Devulapalli Krishna , Prayaga Chandra
Published: July 2020

The study of driver behavior and associated accidents has been of interest to researchers and insurance companies. From the perspective of insurance companies, identifying factors that contribute to traffic violations plays a significant role in providing insurance quotes as it establishes the basis for charging appropriate insurance rates to customers. This study assesses the traffic violations intensity for 64 counties in the state of Florida, USA by using the publicly available traffic violations data set. This data set consists of 3,669,796 records with 11 attributes, which include race, gender, driver's age, type of driving violation, etc. The 187 types of traffic violations are categorized into 11 broad traffic violations categories. Two machine learning algorithms, factor analysis and k-means clustering, were applied in this study. After applying factor analysis, a new comprehensive traffic violation index (TVI) was developed, which quantified the traffic violation intensity of each county. All the counties in the data set were ranked with the TVI scores, and the counties with high TVI scores were identified. K-means clustering algorithm was then applied to the same data, and four clusters of counties were derived. The counties that were grouped in each cluster were compared with the TVI scores to check if the counties in each cluster had similar TVI scores. The counties with the highest TVI scores are found to be grouped in one cluster, followed by counties with the next high TVI scores in the second cluster, and so on. Thus, it is observed that there is a perfect match in the results of both models. They serve as two techniques complementary to each other, in that the k-means clustering method groups counties with comparable traffic violation intensities and factor analysis is able to also rank individual counties according to the TVI. These techniques have identified the counties with high traffic violation intensities, which helps the policymakers to take adequate measures for traffic management.
A Machine Learning Approach to Tracking and Characterizing Planar or Near Planar Fluid Flow
Authors: Gooroochurn Mahendra , Kerr David , Bouazza-Marouf Kaddour
Published: July 2020

This paper presents a framework to segment planar or near-planar fluid flow and uses artificial neural networks to characterize fluid flow by determining the rate of flow and source of the fluid, which can be applied in various areas (e.g., characterizing fluid flow in surface irrigation from aerial pictures, in leakage detection, and in surgical robotics for characterizing blood flow over an operative site). For the latter, the outcome enables to assess bleeding severity and find the source of the bleeding. Based on its importance in assessing injuries and from a medical perspective in directing the course of surgery, fluid flow assessment is deemed to be a desirable addition to a surgical robot's capabilities. The results from tests on fluid flows generated from a test rig show that the proposed methods can contribute to an automated characterization of fluid flow, which in the presence of several fluid flow sources can be achieved by tracking the flows, determining the locations of the sources and their relative severities, with execution times suitable for real-time operation.
Airbnb or Hotel?
Authors: Li Zhiyong , Chen Honglin , Huang Xia
Published: July 2020

Advances in information technology have hugely influenced the tourism industry. Many tourists can generate and share their travel tips through social media, and people consult online reviews before making travel arrangements because they could access these sources of information easily. Either positive or negative reviews could increase consumer awareness of Airbnb. Using the approach of text mining and sentiment analysis, examining whether guests' emotions are positive or negative, this study investigates the attributes that influence Airbnb consumers' experiences compared with their previous hotel experiences by analysing big data of guests' online reviews. Findings reveal that the factors of guests' positive sentiment are the atmosphere, flexibility, special amenities, and humanized service; the factors of guests' negative sentiment are not value for money, have to clean the room before leaving, sharing amenities and space with strangers, disturbed by hosts' noisy recreational activities, and troubled by hosts' requesting good reviews.
The Influence of Perceived Value Towards Customer Satisfaction in Hostel Business
Authors: Permatasari Anggraeni
Published: July 2020

Perceived value is one of the elements that can influence customer satisfaction in the hotel and hospitality industry. In order to re-create the effective strategies, hostel business needs to understand more about factors that influence customer satisfaction. To identify which one is more preferable, this research measured the influence of perceived value, consisting of four aspects, which are image, price, technical dimension, and functional dimension. This study uses quantitative method through multiple linear regression. Data was collected by spreading questionnaires; 300 respondents have participated in this research. This research focused on domestic young adults in Indonesia who already had experience in hostel service as respondents. This study found that perceived value in the form of price is the most influential aspect that influences young adult tourist satisfaction towards the hostel business.
The Effects of Social Commerce Utilization on Business Performance
Authors: Halawani Firas Mohamad , Soh Patrick C.H. , Halawani Yahya Mohamad
Published: July 2020

Social commerce is one of the most relevant technological innovations in recent years. It has strongly benefited many industries, including tourism. While many studies on social commerce have been conducted from the user perspective, less attention has been paid to the organisational perspective, particularly that of hotel organisations. To help understand the key drivers of hotel social commerce usage and their effects on hotel business performance, this study augments the integrated model of e-business usage and impact with hotel social media characteristics. Using stratified random sampling, data from 146 hotels in Lebanon were collected and analysed with the PLS-SEM approach. The model represents a theoretical advancement by offering an organisational perspective to the social commerce literature. It shows there is a significant impact of environmental, organisational, and innovation drivers and social media characteristics. The findings help hotels assess their existing social commerce utilization and identify aspects in need of more attention and improvement.
The Role of Software Technology Adoption on Project Success at Research Institutes in Southwest Nigeria
Authors: Olateru-Olagbegi Adeniyi Thomas , Obe Olumide Olayinka , Jesuleye Olalekan Aquila
Published: July 2020

The paper examined the role of software technology adoption on project success at research institutes in Southwest Nigeria. The study employed a survey research method based on a simple structured questionnaire to gather data. Mean item ratings were used to rank the level of software technology adoption. Partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse mean item relationships. The results show a positive and significant effect between software technology adoption and project success. Among the software technologies, Microsoft Excel ranked first, with a mean value of 4.5. If software technology is made available, researchers are more productive in their daily activities, and success rates increase.
Use of artificial neural network to model reproductive performance and mortality of non-descript rabbits
Authors: Yakubu Abdulmojeed , Nimyak Philip
Published: July 2020

This study was carried out to predict average number of kits per birth and mortality number of non-descript rabbits in Plateau State, Nigeria using artificial neural network (ANN). Data were obtained from a total of 100 rabbit farmers. The predicted mean value for number of kits per birth using ANN (6.60) was similar to the observed value (6.52). As regards mortality, the predicted mean value using ANN (17.75) was also similar to the observed value (17.80). Primary occupation, experience in rabbit keeping, flock size and credit type were the parameters of utmost importance in predicting number of kits per birth. The fairly high coefficient of determination (R2) (55.7%) and low root mean square error (RMSE) value of 1.22 conferred reliability on the ANN model. The R2 value obtained in the prediction of mortality using ANN implies that 61.1% of the variation in the number of mortality can be largely explained by the explanatory variables such as flock size, age of farmers, experience in rabbit keeping and average number of kits per birth. The low RMSE value of 3.82 also gave credence to the regression model. The present information may be exploited in taking appropriate management decisions to boost production.
Inferring phenotypic causal structures among body weight traits via structural equation modeling in Kurdi sheep
Authors: Mohammadi Yahya , Saghi Davoud Ali , Shahdadi Ali Reza , Rosa Guilherme Jordão de Magalhães , Mokhtari Morteza Sattaei
Published: July 2020

Data collected on 2550 Kurdi lambs originated from 1505 dams and 149 sires during 1991 to 2015 in Hossein Abad Kurdi Sheep Breeding Station, located in Shirvan city, North Khorasan province, North-eastern area of Iran, were used for inferring causal relationship among the body weights at birth (BW), at weaning (WW), at six-month age (6MW), at nine-month age (9MW) and yearling age (YW). The inductive causation (IC) algorithm was employed to search for causal structure among these traits. This algorithm was applied to the posterior distribution of the residual (co)variance matrix of a standard multivariate model (SMM). The causal structure detected by the IC algorithm coupling with biological prior knowledge provides a temporal recursive causal network among the studied traits. The studied traits were analyzed under three multivariate models including SMM, fully recursive multivariate model (FRM) and IC-based multivariate model (ICM) via a Bayesian approach by 100,000 iterations, thinning interval of 10 and the first 10,000 iterations as burn-in. The three considered multivariate models (SMM, FRM and ICM) were compared using deviance information criterion (DIC) and predictive ability measures including mean square of error (MSE) and Pearson's correlation coefficient between the observed and predicted values (r(y, )) of records. In general, structural equation based models (FRM and ICM) performed better than SMM in terms of lower DIC and MSE and also higher r(y, ). Among the tested models ICM had the lowest (36678.551) and SMM had the highest (36744.107)DIC values. In each case of the traits studied, the lowest MSE and the highest r(y, ) were obtained under ICM. The causal effects of BW on WW, WW on 6MW, 6MW on 9MW and 9MW on YW were statistically significant values of 1.478, 0.737, 0.776 and 0.929 kg, respectively (99% highest posterior density intervals did not include zero).
The use of dijkstra mechanistic model for genetic analysis of the lactation curve characteristics and their relationships with age at first calving and somatic cell score of Iranian dairy cows
Authors: Torshizi Mahdi Elahi , Farhangfar Homayoun
Published: July 2020

The objective of this study was to estimate lactation curve parameters with Dijkstra mechanistic model and to evaluate genetic and phenotypic relationships between the parameters and the average somatic cell count in primiparous cows. The finding indicated that heritability estimates for partial milk yield (PMY1, PMY2 and PMY3), total 305-day milk yield (TMY305), decay parameter (λ2), age at first calving (AFC) and peak yield (PY) were moderate while the heritability of persistency (PS%), average somatic cell score (AVGSCS), time to peak yield (TP), initial milk production (λ0), specific rate of cell proliferation at parturition (λ1), and specific rate of cell death (λ3) were quite low. Genetic correlations between both AFC and PS% traits with average somatic cell scores was negative (-0.047 and -0.060) but low positive genetic correlation were between partial milk yields (PMY1 and PMY3) while negative genetic correlation (-0.06) was obtained between TMY305 and AVGSCS. Differences between TMY305 of cows with less than 100000 cells mL-1 and cows with >1,500,000 cells mL-1 was approximately 708 Kg and is equivalent to 8% loss of milk yield/cow during lactation period and also loss of persistency (11.1 %( was shown for the extreme classes of SCC in this study.
Effect of using inoculant on elephant grass silage with additives
Authors: Silva Ana Rebeca Pires da , Dias Fabio Jacobs , Rufino João Paulo Ferreira , Tanaka Ewerton de Souza , Lopes Maycom Marinho
Published: July 2020

This study aimed to evaluate the use of inoculant on silage of elephant grass, wet brewery waste and buriti meal at different silo opening times. The experimental silage tested was composed of 50% elephant grass, 30% wet brewery waste, and 20% buriti meal. The experimental design was randomized block in a factorial arrangement (2 x 4), where the treatments consisted of the use or not of inoculant during silage processing, and four silo opening times (7, 14, 21, and 28 days). Data collected were firstly subjected to ANOVA and subsequent Tukey’s test. Results were considered significant at p ≤ 0.05. The use of inoculant in silage production provided more acidic pH (p < 0.05) and higher (p < 0.05) effluent losses. Longer silo opening times resulted in more alkaline pH (p < 0.05) and higher (p < 0.05) effluent losses. The use of inoculant in silage production and longer silo opening times provided higher (p < 0.05) content of ash, crude protein, and fats, and lower (p < 0.05) content of dry matter and fiber (neutral and acid detergent). However, there was no interaction between the factors evaluated in this study. It was concluded that the inoculant may be used in the production of elephant grass silages, wet brewery waste, and buriti meal, providing a more acidic pH, higher effluent losses, lower contents of dry matter and fiber, and higher nutritional content. As the opening time was extended up to 28 days, there was more alkaline pH, higher effluent losses, lower dry matter and fiber content, and higher nutritional content.
Central cellular signaling pathways involved with the regulation of lipid metabolism in the liver: a review
Authors: Lopes Rute , Santana Moema Souza , Cruz Carla Rios da , Fulindi Rafael Bianchini , Gaspar Ana Maria Minarelli , Costa Paulo Inácio da
Published: July 2020

The liver is primarily responsible for energy homeostasis and the regulation of lipid, carbohydrate and protein metabolism. Lipid metabolism consists of distributing lipids to peripheral tissues or ensuring their return to the liver to be reprocessed. Additionally, cellular metabolism is regulated by several molecules in different signaling pathways. Lipid homeostasis in the liver is mainly regulated by AKT, AMPK, SREBP, PPAR, and JNK. The PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway results in the biosynthesis of macromolecules and regulates lipogenesis and the expression of lipogenic genes. AMPK is an energy sensor that regulates metabolism and is activated when stored ATP is depleted, and it is responsible for the suppression of several key lipogenic factors in the liver related to cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis. SREBPs control lipogenic gene expression and cholesterol metabolism and act in the nutritional regulation of fatty acids and triglycerides. The continued activation of SREBPs is associated with cellular stress, inflammation and ultimately steatosis. PPARs are intrinsically important regulators of lipid metabolism. These genes are essential to various metabolic processes, especially lipid and glucose homeostasis, and can play a role in cell differentiation. JNK signaling is related to insulin resistance and its activation results in decreased mitochondrial activity and fat accumulation. Therefore, the study of cell signaling pathways related to lipid metabolism and liver function may help to identify abnormalities and develop strategies to manage and regulate metabolic disorders and resulting complications.