bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ontology Creation
Authors: Daisy Anjali
Published: December 2019

Neural networks are like the models of the brain and nervous system. It is highly parallel and processes information much more like the brain than a serial computer. It is very useful in learning information, using and executing very simple and complex behaviors, applications like powerful problem solvers and biological models. There are different types of neural networks like Biological, Feed Forward, Recurrent, and Elman. Biological Neural Networks require some biological data to predict information. In Feed Forward Networks, information flows in one way. In Recurrent Networks, information flows in multiple directions. Elman Networks feature Partial re-currency with a sense of time.
Religious Capital of the Oppressed
Authors: Willis Evan
Published: December 2019

Black advancement in Antebellum Philadelphia was not solely a byproduct of White philanthropy, but Black residents advocated for a more inclusive form of education. Scholars have considered the influence of the Black church in educational progress, but not the influence of religion on the educational advocates. This chapter analyzes religion as a form of capital on the antebellum Philadelphian Black Christian community. This chapter achieved this by conducting a socio-historical content analysis of primary sources such as sermon manuscripts and books, as well as secondary sources such as history books and journal articles. Ultimately, the chapter findings suggest that religion was a motivator of the educational advancement for the Black educational advocates and churches, whereas for the White Christian community Black education was informed by deficit-based perspectives. The author of this chapter suggest that Black Christian Education can serve as a useful educational alternative especially if it embraces a social justice orientation to empower Black students.
HBIM Data Management and Visualization for Healthcare Facilities
Authors: Del Giudice Matteo , De Luca Daniela , Osello Anna
Published: December 2019

BIM and VAR represent technological frontiers able to innovate the building industry in the drawing field. Through multidisciplinary approach, their integration requires multidisciplinary skills that have to find a significant framework in the representation field. The SAM4Care (Smart Advanced Modelling for Care) project aims at enhancing the use of innovative technologies investigating data management and visualization topics. Through a selected case study, BIM and VAR were evaluated, testing possible ways to innovate healthcare system buildings developing a digital model, following HBIM methodology. In this way, different information can be provided to satisfy user's needs through participatory planning able to improve people awareness for healthcare building stock.
Waqf Education for Economic Growth
Authors: Shaikh Zakir Hossen , Sarea Adel H.
Published: December 2019

The foundation of waqf (religious endowment), an act of establishment of a charitable trust, often in the form of a property or any legitimate fund-generating estate – for which public utilities are designated as recipients of the yields, among different purposes – laid the foundation of an independent means of financing for education across the Muslim world. In recent years, overall cost of education has been increasing, despite intervention from the government in the form of grants and soft loans. In general, parents and students alike face the burden of ever-increasing fees to enroll in the higher education learning institutions while the education institutions themselves also face increasing costs to operate and provide quality education. Waqf is an Islamic financial instrument which can be utilized in solving various educational issues in India. It is a known fact that waqf education institutions are significant assets in the development of skill and knowledge amongst the Muslim communities.
The Role of Cash-Waqf in Societal Responsibility
Authors: Dembele Adama , Saiti Buerhan , Bulut Mehmet
Published: December 2019

The widespread poverty in the world has required multi-dimensional approaches and efforts to alleviate it and improve the life of the society at both national and global levels. As a result, many agencies, governmental bodies, and non-government organizations (NGOs) were formulated and established for this purpose with their own special objectives, scopes, visions, and missions. Different entities and agencies have taken various approaches and methods in the process of poverty eradication and are undertaking several programs in a large number of communities at the global scale. Meanwhile, the globalizations of poverty mitigation efforts and increasing number of agencies, operating in different communities, have increased the quick prevarication of different beliefs in the same community. One of the reasons for this is that each organization or agency has its own purposes, motives, values, and norms to directly or indirectly achieve by helping the people in need.
Exploring New Trends of Waqf in the Islamic Capital Market
Authors: Sairally Salma , Muhammad Marjan
Published: December 2019

The financial re-engineering of old concepts is a new trend in the field of Islamic finance. It has been termed as ‘New Horizon 2.0' by Shinsuke (2014)―an approach which aims to revitalize original instruments once practiced in medieval Islam to harness the potential of Islamic finance to better meet the needs of communities. It is also in line with the continuous innovative efforts of the industry to apply existing concepts, contracts, and instruments that are Shari'ah-compliant in the modern context to resolve contemporary socio-economic issues. In light of this background, this chapter examines how the age-old philanthropic concept of waqf has been integrated in the Islamic finance industry to revive its applications in contemporary societies. The chapter focuses on the inter-links between waqf and the Islamic capital market (ICM). Accordingly, it examines the new trends of waqf that have emerged in the ICM.
Industrial Exoskeletons With Gravity Compensation Elements
Authors: Jatsun Sergey Fedorovich , Yatsun Andrey
Published: December 2019

The chapter approaches the issues of modeling the process of load lifting by a person while wearing an exoskeleton. The classification of existing gravitational compensation systems for industrial exoskeletons is shown, as well as examples of its use. A mathematical model of lifting a person's load in the exoskeleton is presented, as well as numerical parameters are calculated. It is shown that the introduction of an elastic element reduces the level of energy consumption during work, and can also facilitate the level of the worker. Industrial exoskeleton prototype design is presented. A particular focus is given to studying the influence of the gravity compensator on the magnitude of the moments generated by the electric drives of the hip and knee joints. It is shown that the use of gravity compensators enables to reduce significantly the load on electric drives.
Framework for Quick and Intuitive Programming of Robot Applications
Authors: Tirmizi Asad , Leconte Patricia , Janssen Karel , Hoyos Jean , Witters Maarten
Published: December 2019

This chapter proposes a framework to make the programming of cobots faster, user-friendly and flexible for assembly tasks. The work focusses on an industrial case of a small (10kg) air compressor and investigates the technologies that can be used to automate this task with human-robot collaboration. To this end, the framework takes a radically different approach at the motion stack level and integrates the cobot with a constraint-based robot programming paradigm that enhances the robot programming possibilities. Additionally, the framework takes inputs from the operator via speech recognition and computer vision to increase the intuitiveness of the programing process. An implementation is made with focus on industrial robustness and the results show that this framework is a promising approach for the overall goal of achieving flexible assembly in the factories by making robot programming faster and intuitive.
Modeling, Model Reduction, and Control of a Hands-Free Two-Wheeled Self-Balancing Scooter
Authors: Li Qiong , Yu Wangling , Zhang H. Henry
Published: December 2019

Designing a two-wheeled self-balancing scooter involves in the synergistic approach of multidisciplinary engineering fields with mutual relationships of power transmission, mass transmission, and information transmission. The scooter consists of several subsystems and forms a large-scale system. The mathematical models are in the complex algebraic and differential equations in the form of high dimension. The complexity of its controller renders difficulties in its realization due to the limit of iteration period of real time control. Routh model reduction technique is employed to convert the original high-dimensional mathematical model into a simplified lower dimensional form. The modeling is derived using a unified variational method for both mechanical and electrical subsystems of the scooter, and for the electronic components equivalent circuit method is adopted. Simulations of the system response are based on the reduced model and its control design. A prototype is developed and realized with Matlab-Labview simulation and control environment.
Aspects of the Tourist Movement in Eastern European Countries
Authors: Pădurean Ana Mihaela
Published: December 2019

Political changes that took place in the 1990s brought up the opening of tourism markets for Eastern European countries leading to a boost in the role of tourism in the economic and social sectors. This dynamic is reflected in the main tourism indicators, starting from the number of arrivals, revenue volume, degree of endowment with accommodation equipment, as well as in the competitiveness monitor aimed at a multitude of aspects. Concurrently, the complexity of tourism resources and their attractiveness represent the starting point in the elaboration of tourism development and promotion measures, which must take into account the harmonisation of all categories of local interests from local authorities and private companies to NGOs and population, thusly providing an adequate framework so that tourism can realise its effect as a multiplier for the economy.
The Chinese Incoming Segment
Authors: Nica Ana Maria
Published: December 2019

The tourism domain has represented, for a long time, one of the main sources of revenue for the different destinations that have awarded a special focus to its development and enrichment. Its types of impacts, whether economic, social, or environmental, bring both great benefits and pose a certain level of risk. Regardless of the latter, people will be always willing to travel to get to know new cultures, and there will always be competition between destinations at the time of attracting and maintaining tourism flows. The last decades have been marked by the emergence of a new tourist flow (i.e., the Chinese outbound segment), which brings great economic potential to the Central and Eastern Europe region. To this end, this chapter focuses on presenting the current situation of the presence of the Chinese segment within CEE and some of the specificities of their tourist consumer behavior.
Economic and Social Features of MICE Industry Development and Business Tourism
Authors: Muresan Manuela Liliana
Published: December 2019

The chapter aims to study a new form of tourism, business tourism and the MICE industry, which in Romania and Eastern Europe is in the process of development, having a major economic contribution to the growth of the economy of the communities where it is taking place. The business and industry tourism sector MICE (M-meeting, I-travel incentive/reward, C-convention or congress, E-exhibition, fair, event) is an industry that governs the economic market confirms the markets of Europe and the United States of America as a success story through the regeneration of urban cities and the superior quality of services. The aim of the research is to analyze the social and economic implications generated by the business tourism sector and the MICE industry in order to increase the level of development of the communities where they are taking place.
Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Development of Rural Tourism in Central and Eastern European Areas
Authors: Negrusa Adina Letitia , Toader Valentin
Published: December 2019

Starting from concepts like sustainable development, sustainable tourism development, and sustainability, the chapter introduces important strategies for assessing sustainable rural development. Also, based on OECD and Eurostat taxonomy regarding innovation, it explains the two types of innovation: product and process (production, distribution, marketing, communication, management, and product/process development). In order to answer the question “How do firms innovate?” the authors draw attention to best practices of innovation in rural tourism. The aspects that are discussed mainly, but not exclusively, focus on the creation of tailor-made products, property renovation, marketing business skills development, information technology solutions, involvement in socially responsible activities, and the use of networking and collaborative behavior. Starting from different approaches of successful innovation in rural tourism identified in the scientific literature, the chapter emphasizes relevant case studies/best practices from the Central and Eastern European areas.
Technology, Creativity, and Learning
Authors: Azzimani Toufik , Kaddouri El Mehdi
Published: December 2019

The concept of creativity is the expression of the tendency for man to overcome his limits and go beyond himself to invent new tools that are the technological and cultural extensions of his body. This creativity is often seen as innovation, technology, and learning. So why are technologies, creativity, and learning associated in the same proposal? Creativity and learning are basically processes of meaning, and technologies are places where sense is generated. Therefore, using a theory of meaning is necessary to understand the complexity of the relationships between technology, creativity, and learning. The authors will not take position with the ICTE as a practitioner or as a teacher concerned with improving learners' learning. They will try to take an external view at the notions of technology, creativity, and learning, starting from an analytical model that has the main concern to question the relationships between facts, objects, and concepts, and that puts into perspective the subject in a continuous quest for sense.
A New Semantic Description for Multimedia and Learning Objects
Authors: Chaker Jihad , Khaldi Mohamed
Published: December 2019

This chapter explains a new description of multimedia and intelligent learning objects. The authors mention the benefits of integrating multimedia content into e-learning. Then they develop the intelligent learning environments on the one hand and the pedagogical objects on the other hand. Then, they fix the new elements of their application profile; the latter is crowned with a semantic description in the form of an ontology. Finally, they detail the generation components of multimedia and intelligent learning objects.
Design, Modeling, and Implementation of the COPROLINE (Collaborative Project Online) System
Authors: El Moudden Fauzi , Khaldi Mohamed
Published: December 2019

This chapter attempts to provide teachers with an easy way to create and administer virtual spaces to create online collaborative educational content. This tool will generate and edit educational content that provides better adaptation of courses and activities with a collaborative teaching and learning style. The socio-constructivist approach aims at concentrating the activities on the learners and facilitating the synchronous and asynchronous collaboration between them. At this level, it is therefore necessary to find a method that favors all types of collaborative activities.
Teaching Electricity Between Pedagogy and Technology
Authors: Mohammed Chekour
Published: December 2019

Moroccan high school students find major difficulties in understanding the concepts related to electricity. The problem lies not only in the knowledge itself but also in the teaching practices. Even worse, in the Moroccan educational system, the lack of experimental activities and the low rate of integration of educational technologies hinder an effective teaching of these concepts. Indeed, the lack of these experimental activities is the main cause of the introduction of the erroneous conceptions. This lack can be remedied through simulation. The simulation is the one-off solution for the phenomena invisible to the human eye. In this chapter, the authors review the literature of the main pedagogical approaches used to facilitate the acquisition of phenomena of electricity and specially the historical investigation approach based on collaborative learning. Also, they highlight the added value of the combination of the investigation and simulation of phenomena of electricity.
E-Government Avatar-Based Modeling and Development
Authors: Kizabekova Anara , Chernyshenko Vsevolod
Published: December 2019

The chapter provides a critical analysis by researchers of Kazakh, Russian and foreign authors in the field of open government. Analysis of state indicators of Kazakhstan, international frameworks regarding ICT development, open data, open government, and budget transparency and ways of their improvement are also presented. Results of an investigation of open government's role from the scope of view of official resolutions and national strategic planning of the Republic of Kazakhstan are shown. Most remarkable international initiatives in the field of Open Government are reviewed. The chapter proves the lack of strategic vision of the open government institutions and necessity to study the best world practices by Kazakhstan's strategic bodies to develop citizen-oriented e-Government platform. Critical analysis of challenges arousing at early stages of open data introduction and proper sustainable solutions is presented.
Provable Security for Public Key Cryptosystems
Authors: Ali Syed Taqi
Published: December 2019

In the early years after the invention of public key cryptography by Diffie and Hellman in 1976, the design and evaluation of public key cryptosystems has been done merely in ad-hoc manner based on trial and error. The public key cryptosystem said to be secure as long as there is no successful cryptanalytic attack on it. But due to various successful attacks on the cryptosystems after development, the cryptographic community understood that this ad-hoc approach might not be good enough. The paradigm of provable security is an attempt to get rid of ad hoc design. The goals of provable security are to define appropriate models of security on the one hand, and to develop cryptographic designs that can be proven to be secure within the defined models on the other. There are two general approaches for structuring the security proof. One is reductionist approach and other is game-based approach. In these approaches, the security proofs reduce a well known problem (such as discrete logarithm, RSA) to an attack against a proposed cryptosystem. With this approach, the security of public key cryptosystem can be proved formally under the various models viz. random oracle model, generic group model and standard model. In this chapter, we will briefly explain these approaches along with the security proofs of well known public key cryptosystems under the appropriate model.
Implementation and Evaluation of Steganography Based Online Voting System
Authors: Rura Lauretha , Issac Biju , Haldar Manas Kumar
Published: December 2019

Though there are online voting systems available, the authors propose a new and secure steganography based E2E (end-to-end) verifiable online voting system, to tackle the problems in voting process. This research implements a novel approach to online voting by combining visual cryptography with image steganography to enhance system security without degrading system usability and performance. The voting system will also include password hashed-based scheme and threshold decryption scheme. The software is developed on web-based Java EE with the integration of MySQL database server and Glassfish as its application server. The authors assume that the election server used and the election authorities are trustworthy. A questionnaire survey of 30 representative participants was done to collect data to measure the user acceptance of the software developed through usability testing and user acceptance testing.
Threshold Secret Sharing Scheme for Compartmented Access Structures
Authors: Fathimal P. Mohamed , Rani P. Arockia Jansi
Published: December 2019

In the realm of visual cryptography, secret sharing is the predominant method of transmission and reception of secure data. Most of the (n, n) secret sharing schemes suffer from one common flaw — locking of information when the all- n number of receivers are not available for some reason. This paper proposes a new method of compartmented secret sharing scheme where some threshold number of equally privileged from each compartment can retrieve data. This scheme rules out regeneration of secret image at the single compartment thereby eliminating the danger of misusing secret image. The key features of this scheme are: better visual quality of the recovered image with no pixel expansion; non-requirement of half toning of color images; less computational complexity by reconstructing secret through XORing and simple addition of all share images. This scheme is highly beneficial in applications where data has to be stored securely in a database and in cloud computing to synchronize information passed to different groups or clusters from a single host.
The Right to Garment
Authors: Corbera Gabriela
Published: December 2019

The Rana Plaza Collapse in 2013 in Dhaka, Bangladesh offers lessons in the garment industry on ethics, corporate leadership, and corporate social responsibility crisis. Given the circumstances of 1,134 workers deceased from its factory collapse in 2013, this chapter aims to inform the response in CSR Crisis in the garment sector of three major fast fashion companies. It also positions the most current labour standards in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh. This chapter draws on literature in management and economics on informing the connections in labour and industrial growth. The chapter aims to shed light on other alternatives fashion companies can take in supporting ethical responses and practices in supply chain management. It then offers a variety of business/human rights recommendations in public policy for the Republic of Bangladesh.
The Main Stages of Eurasian Integration Development
Authors: Alekseev Denis
Published: December 2019

The scholarly approach toward the analysis of the issue of stages of Eurasian integration has to offer not only a timeline data with milestones and the key events, but also conceptualized logic of Eurasian integration alongside with explanation of the consequent steps that were undertaken by the regional countries on their way to create the current level of integration. The chapter starts with the point that Russia, as the biggest political, economic, and military power in the region played a fundamental role in the integration of the post-Soviet republics. Practical steps in this way were made only when Russian leadership embraced this idea as the best alternative to the other forms of interaction and cooperation for the post-Soviet space under the umbrella of the CIS.
Common Market of Goods, Services, Capital, and Labor in the EAEU
Authors: Ozhigina Vera
Published: December 2019

The chapter examines the stages preceding creation of the common market of goods, services, capital, and labor within the EAEU, evaluates effects and proposes directions of improvement, considering the world experience. Attention is given not only to negative integration (elimination of barriers), but also to positive (signing of agreements, creation of institutions, mechanisms for cooperation, budget management and joint projects). The production cooperation, joint research, and digital economy are also considered. Based on the methodology of system analysis and integration design, the author identified problems of the EAEU common market and proposed aspects for improvement: deepening of negative integration and regulatory convergence; increasing positive integration; combination of integration with development; creation of the common system of protection; redistribution of benefits and costs; strengthening of supra-national regulation; improvement of statistics and monitoring; increasing of budget, stimulating innovations, structural changes, sustainable development and inclusive growth.
The New Model of Cooperation in Eurasia
Authors: Kurylev Konstantin , Lapenko Marina
Published: December 2019

The authors analyze the main characteristics of the EAEU – SCO partnership as a model of interstate interaction that can provide an institutional and value platform for the “Greater Eurasian Partnership”. The chapter provides the comparative analysis of the two regional associations, forms, and mechanisms of cooperation, identifies areas of intersection of their activities, and determines the synergetic effect of their interaction. The relevance of the study is determined, first of all, by the need to understand the new regional agenda, as well as to develop new approaches to the development of cooperation within the framework of the “Greater Eurasian Partnership”. As a result of the study, conclusions are made about the prospects for the formation of a new model of cooperation in Greater Eurasia, its value and institutional content, the possibilities of achieving a new balance in the socio-economic development of the countries of the region.
Connecting Eurasia
Authors: Bossuyt Fabienne , Bolgova Irina
Published: December 2019

As China further embarks on implementing its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and remains firmly set on pursuing the ambitious goal of connecting China overland with Europe, the European Union (EU) and Russia - as indispensable stakeholders for this continental connection to successfully materialize – have been developing policy responses to China's initiative that reveal an unexpected willingness to cooperate. In scrutinizing the likelihood of cooperation on connectivity between the EU, China, and Russia in Central Asia, this chapter identifies the common interests between the three sides, and highlights to what extent cooperation between them is possible in Central Asia. In doing so, the chapter points to the main opportunities while outlining the main bottlenecks, which mostly stem from the underlying geopolitical rivalry between these three actors, as well as their diverging beliefs and approaches to connectivity and development.
Eurasian Economic Union and Iran
Authors: Vakhshiteh Ahmad
Published: December 2019

The EAEU and Iran signed an Interim agreement on the creation of Free Trade Zone in May 2018. This agreement is opening a new stage in the development of relations at the bilateral and multilateral levels. The document was concluded for three years and provides for the reduction or cancellation of import customs duties on a broad list of goods. This chapter analyzes the negotiation process for the creation of Free Trade Zone, as well as promising areas of cooperation between the EAEU and Iran. The Eurasian Economic Union is interested in developing a special relationship with Iran not only in trade but also in the development of the infrastructure of the International North-South Transport Corridor. The chapter also provides an analysis of the Anzali Free Trade Zone as one of the most successful and rapidly developing economic zones of Iran and an important link in the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor.
Research on Green Supply Chain Finance Model With Multi-Party Participation
Authors: Khan Syed Shahid
Published: December 2019

Green supply chain and green finance, like effective market means, have played an important role in environmental governance since the reform and opening up in China for 40 years, and have accumulated rich practical experience in many regions and fields. In the new stage of social development and environmental management system construction in the new era, the organic combination of green supply chain and green finance will be very important for speeding up the construction of ecological civilization and achieving the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. This chapter summarizes the current situation and existing problems of green supply chain and green finance, and analyses the reasons why green supply chain finance can be used as a means to break through the bottleneck of environmental management, and creatively puts forward a new model of green supply chain finance with multi-participation, which provides reference for the government, financial institutions, and enterprises to make environmental management decisions.
Study on Evaluation Index System of Green Supply Chain for Automobile Products
Authors: Khan Rafia
Published: December 2019

It is the focus of the automobile industry to guarantee the quality of automobiles and meet the requirements of green development. Based on the principle of sustainable development, according to the characteristics of green supply chain and the concept of the whole life cycle of the automobile, the evaluation index system of the green supply chain of the automobile is constructed from five links of design, purchase, production, sale, and recycling. The “green” runs through the whole life cycle of automobile products and evaluates the green supply of automobile products scientifically and accurately. Reference should be provided for the situation.
User Awareness and Use of OPAC by Female Students of Faculty of Arts, Alagappa University
Authors: Nathiya P. , Alagu A.
Published: December 2019

OPAC in present scenario provides a standard measure and insight into Alagappa University students. The objectives of the chapter are to discuss the searching options and the presentation of results along with various parameters. The frequencies of using the respondents in Online Public Access Catalogue used in the female students of Faculty of Arts in Alagappa University, Department of Tamil are 27(10.63%); Centre for Tamil Culture, 28 (11.02%); Dept. of Fine Arts, 29(11.42%), Department of English and Foreign Language 27(10.63%), Dept. of women studies 28; Department of Social Work, 29 (11.42%); Department of Economics and Rural Development, 29 (11.42%); Department of History, 28 (11.02%); Dept. of Library and Information Science, 29 (11.42%). The advanced facilities provided by these universities are also discussed.
Usage of Social Networking Sites Among Post Graduate Students
Authors: Thanuskodi S.
Published: December 2019

Social networking sites over the years have changed from a few user-based sites into a phenomena that has become a platform for a huge number of users. However, the growth and development of social networking sites have brought great concerns on parents and educational authorities with respect to potential risks that are facing the university students as they use online social networking frequently for gathering information. The risk associated with social networking sites when used for oral communication rather than face-to-face communication results in damaging interpersonal communication among the users. The results obtained from this study have shown that a reasonable number of university students use the social networking sites. Therefore, the popularity of the social networking usage by university students of Tamil Nadu and the benefits it has on the student-users have been confirmed from the findings of this study. There are also various purposes for which the students use the social networking sites to achieve and that have been investigated. Technology is a double-edged sword. Its power for bad and good resides in the users. Based on this, it is instructive to note that the relevant government authorities have to take good measures to ensure that they (student) are made to be aware of how and why they use the social networking sites.
REDAlert+
Authors: Shakdher Arjun , Pandey Kavita
Published: December 2019

Each year, thousands of people in developing countries die due to delayed medical response. A common complaint is that emergency vehicles respond late and when they reach the hospital, precious time is lost in understanding the patient trauma before the doctors can get to work. A large number of deaths can be prevented if medical services can be provided to the victims in time, which can happen when the emergency wing of a hospital has advance information about the trauma before the patient reaches the hospital. Most hospitals lack communication infrastructure that allows them to coordinate with emergency vehicles bringing patients to hospital. In developed countries, Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) are prevalent. These networks use vehicles as mobile nodes to create a small-interconnected network on the road. A mobile application based on the principle of VANETs in combination with wireless communication and database management has been devised, that when integrated with emergency vehicles and hospitals, provides a seamless medical response system at times of an emergency.
Predicting Medical Resources Required to be Dispatched After Earthquake and Flood, Using Historical Data and Machine Learning Techniques
Authors: Papadopoulos Homer , Korakis Antonis
Published: December 2019

This article presents a method to predict the medical resources required to be dispatched after large-scale disasters to satisfy the demand. The historical data of past incidents (earthquakes, floods) regarding the number of victims requested emergency medical services and hospitalisation, simulation tools, web services and machine learning techniques have been combined. The authors adopted a twofold approach: a) use of web services and simulation tools to predict the potential number of victims and b) use of historical data and self-trained algorithms to “learn” from these data and provide relative predictions. Comparing actual and predicted victims needed hospitalisation showed that the proposed models can predict the medical resources required to be dispatched with acceptable errors. The results are promoting the use of electronic platforms able to coordinate an emergency medical response since these platforms can collect big heterogeneous datasets necessary to optimise the performance of the suggested algorithms.
Analysis of a Training Package for Law Enforcement to Conduct Open Source Research
Authors: Williams Joseph , Humphries Georgina
Published: December 2019

Law enforcement officials (LEOs) in the UK conduct open source research (OSR) as part of their routine online investigations. OSR, in this instance, refers to publicly available information that is accessed via the Internet. As part of the research, identifying and tracing the electronic suspect (RITES) course provided by the UK's College of Policing, LEOs are introduced to the open source internet research tool (OSIRT); a free software tool designed to assist LEOs with OSR investigations. This article draws on analyses from questionnaires and observations from a RITES course; mapping them to Kirkpatrick's evaluation model. Results showed the positive impact the RITES course had in transferring knowledge back on-the-job, with LEOs applying knowledge learned to real-life investigative scenarios. Additionally, results showed OSIRT integrated both in the RITES course and into the LEOs investigative routine.
Predicting the Writer's Gender Based on Electronic Discourse
Authors: Yu Szde
Published: December 2019

The present study compared three methods aimed at predicting the writer's gender based on writing features manifested in electronic discourse. The compared methods included qualitative content analysis, statistical analysis, and machine learning. These methods were further combined to create a mixed methods model. The findings showed that the machine learning model combined with qualitative content analysis produced the best prediction accuracy. Including qualitative content analysis was able to improve accuracy rates even when the training set for machine learning was relatively small. Thus, this study presented a concise model that can be fairly reliable in predicting gender based on electronic discourse with high accuracy rates and such accuracy was consistently found when the model was tested by two separate samples.
Enhancing Supply Chain Efficiency and Effectiveness With Lean Six Sigma Approach
Authors: Madhani Pankaj M.
Published: December 2019

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) enables supply chains to become more efficient and effective in sustaining continuous improvement. The speed, service quality, and the cost of operations impact the supply chain performance. One most popular approach for providing faster responses, improving quality and reducing cost in SCM, is LSS as it combines strengths of both Lean and Six Sigma. LSS is not just about doing things better, it is a way of doing better things. Research establishes complementary relationship of Lean and Six Sigma; summarizes benefits of LSS in SCM and develops various frameworks such as S-V framework and O-T-S framework to emphasize the role of LSS in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of SCM processes. As a strategic management tool, LSS deployment in SCM is considered to be an important management philosophy, supporting organizations in their efforts to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of operations, satisfy customers and enhance competitive advantages.
A Decentralized PageRank Based Content Dissemination Model at the Edge of Network
Authors: Zhang Xin , You Jiali , Xue Hanxing , Wang Jinlin
Published: December 2019

In the era of Internet of Things, cloud services are difficult to meet the real-time transmission requirements of users for the data generated in the edge of network especially for the Internet video services. Utilizing the devices at the edge of network, such as an intelligent router, to achieve nearby content services for users can effectively reduce backbone traffic and enhance service performance. This article proposes a decentralized PageRank-based content dissemination model at the edge of network, in which a suitable node selection algorithm is designed to distribute the content evenly in the network. Each node can quickly obtain data from neighbor nodes, thereby reducing the cloud load as well as the network bandwidth and improving the service response performance. The simulation shows that, compared with the other two dissemination algorithms, the content is distributed more even, which means every node has more opportunity to obtain the data from neighbors; and the service rejection rate can be decreased by an average of 5.2% in the case of high concurrent requests.
Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems for Light Duty Highway Vehicles
Authors:   Highway Tire Committee
Published: December 2019

To establish overall performance guidelines, test methods, and minimum performance levels for a TPMS. The system shall visually indicate the tire inflation pressure status. These guidelines include, but are not limited to:

a

A test methodology for a device which monitors tire inflation, that is located in/on the tire/wheel environment.

b

Recommended performance guidelines for a TPMS.
The Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic as the pivotal transformation of human history
Authors: Watkins Trevor
Published: December 2019

The objective of this paper is to set the Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic transformation (ENT) within the truly long-term of human evolutionary history. The Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic transformation take us out of the world of Palaeolithic mobile foraging into a new world, in which the scale and organisation of the social group and the tempo of socio-cultural evolution were transformed. The scale and diversity of cultural innovation and social organization can be seen to be linked in co-evolutionary feedback loops that have been characterised as ‘cumulative culture’, ‘ratcheting’ effects, or ‘runaway’ cultural evolution. The up-scaling of communities and the intensification of their interaction and networking enabled the emergence of super-communities that became the first large-scale societies, an inflection point on an accelerating curve of complex cultural, social and economic development, en route to emergent socio-political hierarchies, urbanism, kingdoms and empires.
Contextualizing Karaburun A New Area for Neolithic Research in Anatolia
Authors: Cilingiroglu Ciler , Dinçer Berkay
Published: December 2019

Recent surveys led by the author in Karaburun Peninsula discovered multiple prehistoric sites. This article introduces one of the Neolithic sites called Kömür Burnu in this marginal zone of coastal western Anatolia. The site offered various advantages to early farmer-herders including freshwater and basalt sources as well as proximity to agricultural lands, forested areas and marine resources. The plain slipped pottery from the site suggests a date between 6200-6000 cal. BC for the Neolithic occupation. P-XRF characterization of obsidian pieces from Kömür Burnu revealed that these were acquired from two different sources (Melos-Adamas and Göllüdağ). These constitute the first evidence for the participation of Karaburun early farmer-herders in the exchange networks that were active in Neolithic Anatolia and the Aegean. The differential technological features of these pieces concur well with the dual obsidian mobility model suggested by M. Milić for the western Anatolian Neolithic.
A preliminary assessment of the energy related carbon emissions associated with hotels in Enugu Metropolis Nigeria
Authors: Sam-Amobi Chinwe , Ekechukwu O.V. , Chukwuali C.B.
Published: December 2019

This study assesses the environmental impacts of energy consumption of 24 hotel buildings in Enugu Metropolis. Structured questionnaire was administered to the hotel managers in order to collect energy consumption pattern. Measurements were carried out to reproduce the floor plans of the hotels in-order to determine the floor areas. The breakdown of energy consumption showed that diesel and petrol generator sets dominated for regular and 24hours electricity supply. The average Building Energy Index (BEI) of 405.73Kwh/m2 /yr was derived based on unit floor area. The result further showed that average CO2 emissions from consumption of grid electricity to be 2936.06KgCO2e/Kwh/yr, and 294817.44KgCO2e/litre/yr and 1546.69KgCO2e/litre/yr, respectively for diesel and petrol. The study concluded that there is need to reduce dependence on fossil fuel consumption of the hotels and therefore recommends the encouragement of low energy and energy efficient hotel building designs in the study area.Key Words: fossil fuel, carbon emission, hotel buildings, building energy Index (BEI), energy efficiency
Cultural factors and traditional practices of the people In Delta State about HIV/AIDS pandemic
Authors: Iyamu Ikponmwen Florence , Tsetimi Endurance Gabriel
Published: December 2019

This study examined the cultural factors and traditional practices of the people in Delta State of Nigeria about HIV/AIDS pandemic. The research design was a descriptive survey. To guide the study, three research questions were raised and answered and two research hypotheses were formulated at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study consisted of all patients of general outpatient department of the government hospitals in south and north senatorial district of Delta state of Nigeria. The instrument was a questionnaire, the face and content validity were ascertained by some medical practitioners in the hospitals and experts in the field of counselling psychology. The Reliability of the instrument was determined, using the Cronbach Alpha and it yield the value of 0.86, ascertaining the internal consistency. The findings revealed that; there are prevailing attitude, beliefs and myths surrounding HIV/AIDS by the people in Delta south and north senatorial districts. The people are also conversant with voluntary counselling, testing and antiretroviral therapy. There are also both negative and positive impacts of socio-economic and educational background on HIV/AID respectively. It was therefore concluded that Cultural and traditional practices are prevalence in Delta state. These practices have positive impact on the educated patients and that the disease is been treated with less than honest approach by the populace in Delta state. This may spell doom for the community if not check. It was recommended that the DELSACA and NGOs (IPS) in Delta State should educate patients and the general public through electronic and mass media about HIV/AIDS among others.
The Euro-Western
Authors: Broughton Lee
Published: December 2019

The Western has always been inextricably linked to the USA, and studies have continually sought to connect its historical development to changes in American society and Hollywood innovations. Focusing new critical attention on films produced in Germany, Italy and Britain, this timely book offers a radical rereading of the evolutionary history of the Western and brings a vital international dimension to its study. Lee Broughton argues not only that European films possess a special significance in terms of the genre’s global development, but also that many offered groundbreaking and progressive representations of traditional Wild West ‘Others’: Native Americans, African Americans and so-called 'strong women'. European Westerns investigates how the histories of Germany, Italy and Britain - and the idiosyncrasies of their respective national film industries - influenced representations of the self and ‘Other’, shedding light on the broader cultural, historical and political contexts that shaped European engagement with the genre.
Ukraine
Authors:   International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
Published: December 2019

Ukraine’s public capital stock has been on a declining path over the last 20 years. Having started the period at a relatively high level (99 percent of GDP in 1996), it now ranks amongst the lowest of its comparator countries (56 percent in 2013). Evidence as to the reasons for the deterioration point to significant and persistent weaknesses in the institutional framework surrounding public investment management, inefficient allocation of resources to productive public investment and high levels of perceived corruption. Ukraine currently has an efficiency gap of around 32 percent, which ranks it below average amongst emerging market countries and other comparators. Persistent under-investment, the currently high stock of debt, and ongoing institutional weaknesses, coupled with effects of the conflict in the East could see this gap continuing to grow, absent concerted efforts to reverse recent trends.