bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Meeting Challenges in Virtual Learning Environments With the Community of Inquiry Framework
Authors: Langston Kathy Jones
Published: May 2021

Since institutions of higher education moved classes into virtual learning environments (VLE) in early 2020, professors have struggled to recreate their classes for virtual environments while students have struggled with the results of these efforts. This chapter focuses on challenges that rapid creation of online courses has produced, proposing using the community of inquiry (CoI) framework as a model from which to construct courses. From the foundational teaching presence that encompasses course creation and management to social presence that encourages students to invest in the class, the CoI combines these elements in concert with cognitive presence to produce meaning-making among students. After examining criticisms of the CoI framework, the chapter concludes by recommending the CoI framework as a model from which harried professors can create courses that deliver content that encourages students to develop transversal skills of adaptability, digital competencies, collaborative problem solving, and virtual community formation.
Cross-Cultural Virtual Team Projects
Authors: Ndubuisi Anuli , Marzi Elham , Slotta James
Published: May 2021

Future engineers require global and intercultural competencies to prepare them to work in an increasingly multicultural, digitized, and interdependent global economy. To enhance engineering students' international exposure, awareness, and cultural experiences, the authors developed a unique international virtual team program that engaged students in collaborative project-based learning with peers around the world. Each virtual team consisted of multidisciplinary students from various countries and institutions. The students' knowledge and understanding of intercultural competence were evaluated before and after the program to ascertain its impact on their understanding of intercultural sensitivities and collaboration in virtual teams. Recommendations for learning enhancements were proposed. The authors found the integration of intercultural content with the global virtual team projects to be a successful strategy for helping engineering students build intercultural competencies and virtual collaboration skills, in addition to technical engineering knowledge and experience.
Short-Term International Virtual Teams
Authors: Burleson Debra D. , Peters Uchenna
Published: May 2021

Workplace communication is changing exponentially, and these changes have directly impacted employees. Employees, who learned more traditional face-to-face practices, have had to adapt to a global mindset. In 2014, 3,000 managers surveyed from more than 100 countries reported that 40% of their employees spent at least half of their time on virtual teams, and over 77% of the teams were multicultural. Preparing employees and students for a global workplace that uses digital tools is challenging. The authors developed resources and tools for a 3-week virtual team project with students at universities in the US and Europe. Resources include details about assigning teams, preparing students for the virtual team experience, launching the project, and providing context for the cultural and spatial differences that students may experience.
Use of Robots With Play-Based Interventions in the Education of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors: Tuna Ayşe
Published: May 2021

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common developmental disorder involved in childhood neurodevelopmental disorders whose symptoms begin in early childhood. In recent years, interest in the use of technology in early diagnosis and training of ASD has been increasing day by day. For this purpose, socially interactive robots are used as tools to teach skills to children with ASD, play games with them, and reveal some desired behaviors. They also create interesting, engaging, and meaningful interaction situations that encourage children to interact with themselves. The aim of the child-robot interaction sessions is to enable children with ASD to overcome their shortcomings and understand the world better. In this context, robots can be considered as tools that will support the development of social skills of children with ASD and can be very useful for this purpose. To this end, this chapter includes studies on the use of play-based robot interventions in the education of children with ASD.
Healthy Life Style Behaviors and Quality of Life of Individuals During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Authors: Arslan Kübra , Çiçek Birgül , Şahin Hande , Erkal Sibel
Published: May 2021

This chapter aims to determine the effect of the Covid-19 epidemic period on individuals' healthy lifestyle behaviors and quality of life. This study was conducted with 370 individuals selected by simple random sampling using a survey technique. The data of the research was collected by questionnaire form. The ‘Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale II' validity and reliability studies of which were conducted by Bahar et al. (2008), and the ‘Quality of Life Scale Short Form' adapted by Eser et al. (1999) were used the measure healthy lifestyle behaviors and quality of life of individuals. The Mann-Whitney U (MWU) and Kruskal-Wallis (KW) tests were used. According to the results, quality of life and healthy life behaviors of the individuals participating in the study were above average. To prevent the adverse situations that may arise in individuals' healthy lifestyles and quality of life, it can be ensured that leisure activities are rearranged according to the existing conditions and individuals' awareness of this is increased.
Managing Healthcare Organizational Change During Uncertainty
Authors: Karadal Kerim , Ahmad Ali , Chowdhury Dababrata
Published: May 2021

The study aims to identify the factors that facilitate managing healthcare organizational change during uncertainty-perspective of COVID-19. The role of communications for managing employee's perception during change in the healthcare organizations has been examined. Mixed method approach is used in this study to identify the factors that facilitate healthcare organizational change during uncertainty. Data collection was semi-structured interviews with purposive sampling to select respondents. Clustered probability sampling method has been carried out for the questionnaire survey and analyzed the data with SPSS. The result showed that the specific change-related uncertainties can be best addressed by different sources of communication. Trust plays a crucial role for creating a positive perception through effective change-related communication. The employees who perceived they received quality change communication reported being more open toward the change during uncertainty. A five-step model was developed to link as a facilitator with uncertainty and manage change successfully.
Pandemic
Authors: Aca Zeynep
Published: May 2021

COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan, China's Hubei Province in December 2019, and human beings have faced a global crisis resulting from spreading the virus across the world, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Social work has become one of the fields that the pandemic has disproportionately damaged the most with its severe consequences in every respect. In this context, the study aims to reveal the impacts of the pandemic on social work comprehensively. These impacts are discussed under four topics: increasing inequalities (economic, healthcare, access to services, digital divide, and education), changing services due to lockdowns, social well-being (impacts of economic changes, unpaid labor, and lockdowns and social isolation on social well-being), and ethical dilemmas.
Social Work During COVID-19 and the Role of Local Governments in Managing the Crisis of the Pandemic
Authors: İkizer İhsan
Published: May 2021

The world has been passing through extremely hard times since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in January 2020. Vulnerabilities of disadvantaged groups such as the elderly, women, children, migrants, people with disabilities and people living below poverty line have increased significantly during the pandemic, which has triggered global economic crisis. Unemployment surged tremendously, which affected especially workers in the informal economy who are not covered by social insurance. After the closures of schools, the inequality among children in education has been more divisive and deeper. Domestic violence and child abuse cases have been on rise during the national lockdowns, and the burden on the social work organisations has increased enormously. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), the in-depth case study of this research, is among the local governments, which have intensified the social services for the vulnerable groups. In this chapter, the social services of IMM during the pandemic are analysed through the perspective of social work, and some policy recommendations are presented.
Digitalisation of Social Services
Authors: Sandhu Kamaljeet
Published: May 2021

Digitalisation of social services by government agencies has been one of the core themes for innovation in recent times as well as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments and different agencies involved in the development and delivery of social services are increasingly moving to the digital platform to innovate and reach vast numbers of people spread across vast geographic regions, which have resulted in cost savings and better social services management, and better use of agencies resources. However, it's not clear how the customers perceive digital social services, the level of skills required, and the level of engagement needed for interacting with digital social services, and many other issues that are studied in this chapter. Innovation is a key primary driver to develop digital social services and understanding the process requires a deeper understanding of technical (e.g., digital technologies) and non-technical (e.g., people) issues that have been presented in this study.
The Child Rearing Roles and Responsibilities of Women in Terms of Gender
Authors: Öztop Hülya , Pekmezci Pelin , Misirlioğlu Ceyda
Published: May 2021

The familial scene is one in which human emotions are displayed, and the child's role in this scene is to observe and experience human relations in all their complex aspects. This includes both positive behaviors, such as agreement, compromise, and loyalty and cooperation, as well as negative behaviors, such as disagreement, dispute, and conflict. In a healthy family, family members develop positive behaviors based on mutual respect and cooperation in accordance with responsibilities and roles of parents and children. Children learn about their roles and status in the society through the roles and responsibilities developed in line with basic family functions. Since individuals are born without any specific abilities, they need their families to acquire certain means and resources they need both personally and socially. Therefore, one of the most basic concepts for explaining the family's connection with society is that of gender and related processes.
Social Work Leadership
Authors: Düzgün Ayşegül
Published: May 2021

The concept of leadership has always been a subject of interest from ancient times to the present. The requirement for different types of leadership styles has emerged over time due to the change and innovation taking place in the organizations, and therefore, new leadership approaches have been established as a result. The aim of this study is to examine the concept of social work leadership, as a new leadership approach, and present a general framework within the scope of the studies conducted on social work leadership. Within this context, the concepts of leadership, social work, and social work leadership have been addressed, the competencies required by the social work leaders have been reviewed, and the studies conducted with respect to social work leadership were discussed. As a result of a comprehensive literature review, it was concluded that the studies regarding social work leadership were not sufficient, and the existing studies underline the lack of interest in leadership in the field of social work and make a call for leadership accordingly.
An Optimal Way of VM Placement Strategy in Cloud Computing Platform Using ABCS Algorithm
Authors: Pushpa R.  , Siddappa M.
Published: May 2021

In this paper, VM replacement strategy is developed using the optimization algorithm, namely artificial bee chicken swarm optimization (ABCSO), in cloud computing model. The ABCSO algorithm is the integration of the artificial bee colony (ABC) in chicken swarm optimization (CSO). This method employed VM placement based on the requirement of the VM for the completion of the particular task using the service provider. Initially, the cloud system is designed, and the proposed ABCSO-based VM placement approach is employed for handling the factors, such as load, CPU usage, memory, and power by moving the virtual machines optimally. The best VM migration strategy is determined using the fitness function by considering the factors, like migration cost, load, and power consumption. The proposed ABCSO method achieved a minimal load of 0.1688, minimal power consumption of 0.0419, and minimal migration cost of 0.0567, respectively.
A Biological Data-Driven Mining Technique by Using Hybrid Classifiers With Rough Set
Authors: Chowdhury Linkon , Kamal Md Sarwar , Ripon Shamim H. , Parvin Sazia , Hussain Omar Khadeer , Ashour Amira , Chowdhury Bristy Roy
Published: May 2021

Biological data classification and analysis are significant for living organs. A biological data classification is an approach that classifies the organs into a particular group based on their features and characteristics. The objective of this paper is to establish a hybrid approach with naive Bayes, apriori algorithm, and KNN classifier that generates optimal classification rules for finding biological pattern matching. The authors create combined association rules by using naïve Bayes and apriori approach with a rough set for next sequence prediction. First, the large DNA sequence is reduced by using k-nearest approach. They apply association rules by using naïve Bayes and apriori approach for the next sequence pattern. The hybrid approach provides more accuracy than single classifier for biological sequence prediction. The optimized hybrid process needs less execution time for rule generation for massive biological data analysis. The results established that the hybrid approach generally outperforms the other association rule generation approach.
Assessment of Fishers' Knowledge and Willingness to Adopt Seaweed Cultivation in Ghana in Relation to Gender, Age, Education, and Distance
Authors: Akpalu Lawrence Atsu , Barnes Victor Rex , Segbefia Alexander Yao
Published: May 2021

The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and willingness of fishers in four selected fishing communities (Ayitepa/Kponor, Ngyiresia, Adjoa, and Miemia) in Ghana for seaweed cultivation in terms of gender, age, education, and distance. The study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to collect data and household spatial position recorded by the global positioning system (GPS). The findings show that an average of 95.8% of fishers knew seaweed and 86.5% were willing cultivate it. A chi-square test shows no significant association between gender, age, education, distance, and the willingness of fishers to participate in the seaweed cultivation. In a regression model, only age group between the ages of 18 and 64 have a strong effect on the willingness of fishers to grow seaweed (P<0.05). However, focus group interviews with fishers indicate that women are not allowed to engage in any offshore activities at Ayitepa/Kponor, Ngyiresia, and Adjoa. This study shows that gender and age are main factors in deciding human capital for the cultivation of seaweed in Ghana.
Integrating the Information Systems Success Model With Project Success Management Process
Authors: Varshosaz Ali , Varajão João , Takagi Nilton
Published: May 2021

DeLone and McLean information systems success model has become a reference for explaining the success of information systems (IS). Attempts to apply and test the model have resulted in both confirmation and challenges. One of those challenges is how to translate the learnings from this model into actionable knowledge. This position paper proposes the integration of the information systems success model with the success management process as a way of getting synergies from both models and improving the study and practice of IS projects. Moreover, the authors present several examples of IS success measures to be used in practice.
Making an Impact Through Information Technology
Authors: Ghasabeh Mostafa Sayyadi
Published: May 2021

This research contributes to the fields of knowledge management, transformational leadership, as well as information technology. This article presents the theoretical underpinnings of the framework together with a thorough review of the literature. This research indicates that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership, knowledge management, and firm performance. The synthesis of the literature also lends support for the mediating role of information technology in the relationship between transformational leadership and knowledge management.
Stock Markets in Changing Times
Authors: Sehgal Meru , Gupta Shruti
Published: May 2021

The impact of COVID-19 on the stock markets of US, UK, and India has been analyzed. Daily market returns of the stock indices (Dow Jones Industrial Average, FTSE-100, Nifty 50 Index, and Nifty Bank Index) have been examined using paired t-test for 40 days before and after the reporting of the first case. Index performance has also been investigated for the quarter ending June 2020 along with comparative performance analysis of the indices with Nifty Bank Index. The results showed that markets have borne substantially negative returns, but they are not statistically significant. This indicates the resilience of these markets to restore to previous index levels after taking a short-term hit. This paper adds value to the literature by acting as a resource for academia as well as industry by spelling out changes in markets during this pandemic and supporting evidence from Indian banks that are catalysts of growth for businesses in uncertain times.
COVID-19 and the Changes in Daily Streaming Behavior of Consumers in the United States
Authors: Boyce Wesley S. , Morris Joseph , Tracy Patrick M.
Published: May 2021

In response to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many aspects of day-to-day life were considerably altered. Professional sports leagues, educational institutions, public worship, and workplace closures were commonplace. Quarantines and lockdowns put public life on hold due to social distancing requirements. As a result, internet users increased their web activity as a way of staying connected and passing the time. In this manuscript, streaming activity on Facebook Gaming, YouTube Gaming, Mixer, and Twitch is analyzed to discover changes in consumption. It is compared to school closures and stay-at-home orders in US states to better understand changes in social media platform utilization during the global pandemic. This helps to provide insights into user patterns that firms can consider in planning their future social media efforts.
Improving Intelligent Decision Making in Urban Planning
Authors: Khediri Abderrazak , Laouar Mohamed Ridda , Eom Sean B.
Published: May 2021

Generally, decision making in urban planning has progressively become difficult due to the uncertain, convoluted, and multi-criteria nature of urban issues. Even though there has been a growing interest to this domain, traditional decision support systems are no longer able to effectively support the decision process. This paper aims to elaborate an intelligent decision support system (IDSS) that provides relevant assistance to urban planners in urban projects. This research addresses the use of new techniques that contribute to intelligent decision making: machine learning classifiers, naïve Bayes classifier, and agglomerative clustering. Finally, a prototype is being developed to concretize the proposition.
Concept Mapping and Summary Writing as Complementary Strategies for Developing EFL Content Comprehension
Authors: Roy Debopriyo
Published: May 2021

This is an exploratory study in an undergraduate EFL business-writing course studying participants' ability to read, comprehend, and represent text visually using concept mapping (CM), summary writing, and social network analysis techniques as complementary strategies. The idea with this experiment was to explore if students are capable of analyzing business and technology information from technical readings in a way to represent it graphically with CMs and social networks. Preliminary data from the case study showed that students were reasonably successful in processing texts on topics related to the Tesla electric car company's business and technology models. Multiple iterations and guided instructions when designing CMs demonstrated the interplay of various actors, processes, interactions, and contexts. Student performance indicated significant expertise with CM design and text summarization but inadequate performance designing social networks, indicating the necessity for more structured instructions and practice.
The Role of Mobile Technologies in Impacting Learner Autonomy in an EFL Context
Authors: Alzubi Ali Abbas Falah
Published: May 2021

This article reviews previous research conducted on the role of mobile devices that support learner autonomy (LA) in English as a foreign/second language (EFL) context from 2010 to 2021 based on a number of criteria that included research design, publication type, period, field of study, and use of technology. Mainly, the review examined design features of the empirical studies on mobile technologies and learner autonomy (LA) in EFL contexts and the ways mobile technologies impact LA. A coding sheet was used to analyze the papers (N = 23) having met the selection criteria in terms of education form and level, instrumentation, location, context, gender, use of technology, English as a foreign/second language (EFL) skills, and learning impact. It was revealed that all of the examined studies were conducted in Asia and Europe. Also, most of the studies had male and female participants. In addition, most studies on utilizing mobile devices to impact LA were investigated in higher education informally. Moreover, literature has paid more attention to reading and writing skills, vocabulary/grammar skills, and EFL in general. Finally, the analysis showed that mobile devices played a vital role in impacting LA in EFL contexts in a positive sense. Future research gaps and recommendations are suggested based on the findings of this review.
Barriers to AI Adoption in Indian Agriculture
Authors: Tzachor Asaf
Published: May 2021

Greater adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in Indian agriculture can contribute to regional and global food security. An examination of parameters that may prevent and postpone AI transfer, diffusion, and adoption is essential. However, little research on AI adoption barriers in Indian agriculture has been conducted. This paper attends to the gap. In order to recognize, categorize, and prioritize the most critical impediments to AI adoption in Indian agriculture, this paper draws on a participatory research design in which workshops were used as the main research methodology. Seven working groups of local experts identified five categories of constraints, covering 18 explicit adoption barriers. Two constraints in particular were recognized as most critical: lack of trust in technology among farmers and a language barrier compounded by high illiteracy rates and a digital divide. With an initial catalog of constraints, this paper aims to contribute to the actualization of AI in Indian agriculture and thereby to local and global food security.
A New Approach for Power-Aware Routing for Mobile Adhoc Networks Using Cluster Head With Gateway Table
Authors: Pawan  , Hooda Susheela
Published: May 2021

Wireless ad-hoc networks have become the most vibrant and vital area of research over the past years. Most devices in MANET are power operated. Therefore, the need of the hour is to design a protocol that will not only saves the battery life but also increase the lifetime of participating nodes in the ad-hoc network. In this paper, a new power-aware routing protocol has been proposed which selects the best gateway node for sending the data packets from source to destination. Additionally, the proposed routing protocol extends the battery lifetime of a mobile node and also minimizes the power consumption of an entire network. Moreover, this paper also presents an experimental evaluation of the proposed routing protocol by using three parameters (remaining power path, remaining battery power, and hop count) and provide the best path.
OCC
Authors: Tiwari Ashish , Sharma Rajeev Mohan
Published: May 2021

In the recent trends, cloud computing service users agreed on the concept of pay and use model by accessing all the best services provided by the providers. The major problem here is that there is no standardization so that not everyone coming into the same platform. Now cloud computing efficiently uses time, cost, and effort. In this internet, speed is playing an important role. With the development of each and every field with its proper limitations, the researchers come into the picture that the ontology concept is playing a vital role in the field of computing. The key role of ontology is supporting the knowledge sharing activities. It is giving the set of criteria to prove the use of ontology in the computing world. In the design and development of ontology for computing and mathematics, the information from data centers is very important. The selected design and decisions give efficient and effective results to prove how ontology is playing a vital role in the computing system.
Gauging Opinions About the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC
Authors: Srivastava Praveen Ranjan , Eachempati Prajwal
Published: May 2021

Today, the advent of social media has provided a platform for expressing opinions regarding legislation and public schemes. One such burning legislation introduced in India is the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and its impact on the National Citizenship Register (NRC) and, subsequently, on the National Population Register (NPR). This study examines and determines the opinions expressed on social media regarding the act through a Twitter analysis approach that extracts nearly 18,000 tweets during 10 days of introducing the scheme. The analysis revealed that the opinion was neutral but tended to a more negative reaction. Consequently, recommendations on improving public perception about the scheme by suitable for interpreting the Act to the public are provided in the paper.
Digital Divide or Digital Welfare?
Authors: Shao Xu , Yang Yanlin , Wang Lingzhi
Published: May 2021

With the widespread use of the internet, exploring how it will influence the labor market is of great significance. Based on the 2010-2018 China Family Panel Studies dataset, this paper investigates the effect of the internet on sustainable employability among Chinese aged 16-60. The empirical results of the panel double-hurdle model show that the internet can significantly enhance an individual's competitiveness in the labor market. Moreover, the heterogeneity tests show that the middle aged and older adults, freelancers, and those living in disadvantaged regions can benefit more on employability brought about by the internet. The authors define this phenomenon as the information welfare of the internet, which has narrowed the digital gap caused by the uneven development of technology among different social groups. In addition, the positive coefficient associated with internet use is driven by higher skill requirements in specific workplaces. The authors further explored the role workplace computerization has had in this process.
An Empirical Research on the Construction of a Government Website Public Satisfaction Index Model in China
Authors: Li Haitao
Published: May 2021

With proliferated applications of the internet and world wide web, people are increasingly interacting with government websites. It is therefore significant to measure satisfaction on government systems from citizen's perspective. While general customer satisfaction index (CSI) models have received much attention from researchers, few studies are conducted to evaluate public satisfaction on government websites. The extent to which traditional CSI models can be extended to investigate public satisfaction on government websites remains unclear. On analysis of CSI, technology acceptance model (TAM), and task-technology fit (TTF) model, this study constructs a government website public satisfaction index (GWPSI) model and provides an empirical study by adapting GWPSI model in the context of G2C e-government. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to data collection and processing with questionnaires collected from users of the government website of Guangdong Province in China. The findings provide several important implications for e-government research and practice.
Information and Communication Technology Adoption Strategies of Emerging Multinationals From India
Authors: Mondal Arindam , Chakrabarti Amit Baran
Published: May 2021

The growth and rising prominence of multinationals from emerging markets (eMNCs) mark a significant phase in the evolution of the world economy in the last decade. This study investigates the effect of eMNCs' institutional embeddedness in terms of age on the adoption strategy of new and emerging information and communication technologies (ICT). Using panel multiple regression on a unique database of 3,756 observations from 394 Indian eMNCs in period of 2009 to 2019, the authors find that firm age has a unique negative impact on ICT investments of eMNCs. However, ownership is able to influence the negative impact of age in unique ways. Business group affiliation attenuates the impact of firm age on ICT investments, such that the reduction in ICT investments with firm age is less for BG-affiliated firms. Meanwhile, the higher the foreign institutional ownership in eMNCs, the lower the impact of firm age on ICT investments.
Foot Posture and Plantar Loading With Ankle Bracing
Authors: Dickerson Laura C. , Queen Robin M.
Published: May 2021

Context

Arch height is one important aspect of foot posture. An estimated 20% of the population has pes planus and 20% has pes cavus. These abnormal foot postures can alter lower extremity kinematics and plantar loading and contribute to injury risk. Ankle bracing is commonly used in sport to prevent these injuries, but no researchers have examined the effects of ankle bracing on plantar loading.

Objective

To evaluate the effects of ankle braces on plantar loading during athletic tasks.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Laboratory.

Patients or Other Participants

A total of 36 participants (11 men, 25 women; age = 23.1 ± 2.5 years, height = 1.72 ± 0.09 m, mass = 66.3 ± 14.7 kg) were recruited for this study.

Intervention(s)

Participants completed walking, running, and cutting tasks in 3 bracing conditions: no brace, lace-up ankle-support brace, and semirigid brace.

Main Outcome Measure(s)

We analyzed the plantar-loading variables of contact area, maximum force, and force-time integral for 2 midfoot and 3 forefoot regions and assessed the displacement of the center of pressure. A 3 × 3 mixed-model repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to determine the effects of brace and foot type (α = .05).

Results

Foot type affected force measures in the middle (P range = .003–.047) and the medial side of the foot (P range = .004–.04) in all tasks. Brace type affected contact area in the medial midfoot during walking (P = .005) and cutting (P = .01) tasks, maximum force in the medial and lateral midfoot during all tasks (P < .001), and force-time integral in the medial midfoot during all tasks (P < .001). Portions of the center-of-pressure displacement were affected by brace wear in both the medial-lateral and anterior-posterior directions (P range = .001–.049).

Conclusions

Ankle braces can be worn to redistribute plantar loading. Additional research should be done to evaluate their effectiveness in injury prevention.
Audit and tax in the context of emerging technologies: A retrospective analysis, current trends, and future opportunities
Authors:   College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Atayah Osama F. , Alshater Muneer M. ,   Faculty of Business, Middle East University. Jordan
Published: May 2021

This study aims to review the existing literature on audit and tax in the context of emerging technologies, besides providing future research agenda. A meta literature approach by combining bibliometric and content analysis was adopted to analyze 154 relevant English articles published in Scopus indexed journals, published over the last 35 years. Using RStudio, VOSviewer, and Microsoft Excel. Quantitative findings reveal that the USA is the top contributor and the most cited in the world. Brigham Young University, on the institutional level, is the most relevant affiliation. Concerning publication number, the Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting is the most relevant source. At the same time, the most cited source is the Decision Sciences journal. While the most prolific author is Miklos Vasarhelyi. Moreover, the emerging technologies, including big data, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, have significantly drawn accounting scholars interest from 2015 and thereafter. From the perspective of qualitative findings, the main focus shows that employing advanced technologies offers promising opportunities to mitigate the risk of tax evasion and enhance the auditors' efficiency. The content analysis reports two mainstreams tax and audit; each one is classified into three sub-streams, big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. This study contributes to present a clear and coherent understanding of the relevant exact literature and propose future research. However, the study review confines only on audit and tax fields, relying on the Scopus database.
Household and Hospitalization Costs of Pediatric Dengue Illness in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Authors: Sonali Fernando Enoka , Headley Tyler Y. , Tissera Hasitha , Wilder-Smith Annelies , De Silva Amala , Tozan Yesim
Published: May 2021

Dengue, a mosquito-borne viral infection that affects millions around the world, poses a substantial economic burden in endemic countries. We conducted a prospective costing study in hospitalized pediatric dengue patients at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRHC), a public pediatric hospital in Colombo district, Sri Lanka, to assess household out-of-pocket and hospitalization costs of dengue in pediatric patients during peak dengue transmission season. Between August and October 2013, we recruited 216 hospitalized patients (aged 0–3 years, 27%; 4–7 years, 29%; 8–12 years, 42%) who were clinically or laboratory diagnosed with dengue. Using 2013 US dollars, household out-of-pocket spending, on average, was US$59 (SD 49) per episode and increased with disease severity (DF, US$52; DHF/DSS, US$78). Pediatric dengue patients received free-of-charge medical care during hospitalization at LRHC, and this places a high financial burden on hospitals. The direct medical cost of hospitalization was US$68.0 (SD 31.4) for DF episode, and US$122.7 (SD 65.2) for DHF/DSS episode. Yet a hospitalized dengue illness episode still accounted for 20% to 35% of household monthly income due to direct and indirect costs. Additionally, a majority of caregivers (70%) sought outpatient care before hospitalization, most of whom (81%) visited private health facilities. Our findings indicate that hospitalized pediatric dengue illness poses a nontrivial cost burden to households and healthcare systems, emphasizing the importance of preventing and controlling the transmission of dengue in endemic countries.
Fuel Effects on Engine-out Emissions Part 2 - Fuel Properties Correlations
Authors: Voice Alexander , Singh Ripudaman , Levy Robert , Fatouraie Mohammad
Published: May 2021

Particulate matter emissions from internal combustion engines have become an increasingly important area of focus for development teams in recent years. This is due to greater regulatory scrutiny on vehicles globally, and especially on particulate emissions. The chemical composition and bulk physical properties of the fuel have been shown to influence the particulate number emissions characteristics. Although some predictive models have been proposed, the causality of specific properties or constituents has not been demonstrated due to the co-linearity of the variables considered in previous studies.

In this work, fuels were formulated to capture the expected variation in three key properties of United States (US) market gasoline fuels. Specifically, total aromatics, volatility, and particulate matter index (PMI) were varied across market extremes within regulatory limits--while holding other properties constant. Engine dyno tests were performed with the formulated fuels on a 4-cylinder 2.3 L turbocharged direct injection spark-ignited engine, operated between 2 and 16 bar BMEP.

ANOVA analysis was used to demonstrate that both low volatility and high PMI independently increased particle number (PN) emissions at high load at a statistically significant level, whereas total aromatics was only significant at low-load. However, neither low-volatility nor high PMI was universally bad for PN emissions, and other properties also played an important role. For example, at <12 bar BMEP the lowest PN formulated fuel was a low-volatility, high PMI, low aromatics fuel.

The nine formulated fuels from this work along with ten fuels tested in Part 1 of this work were used to correlate PN and THC emissions with various fuel properties, within the repeatability of the test. For PN emissions, most of the fuel-to-fuel differences could be explained across the entire load range using a combination of 5 parameters: FBP, T90, A9+, IP9+, and C11. A9+ and FBP were always positively correlated with emissions, whereas IP9+ was negatively correlated, and T90 and C11 switched from negative to positive depending on load. For THC, only three parameters were required, and T70 was by far the best predictor of emissions—accounting for 50-70% of the difference between fuels.

The work highlights the critical properties that determine engine out emissions characteristics of different fuels, and shows a path to formulating fuels that can simultaneously reduce PN and THC from vehicles.
Investigation of the Relative Performance of Vaned and Vaneless Mixed Flow Turbines for Medium and Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Applications with Pulse Exhaust Systems
Authors: Kruiswyk Rich , Lusardi Christopher , Gardner Andrew
Published: May 2021

This paper details results of a numerical and experimental investigation into the relative performance of vaned and vaneless mixed flow turbines for application to medium and heavy-duty diesel engines utilizing pulse exhaust systems. Previous investigations into the impact of nozzle vanes on turbine performance considered only open turbine housings, whereas a majority of medium and heavy-duty diesel engine applications are six-cylinder engines using pulse exhaust systems with divided turbines. The two turbine stages for this investigation were carefully designed to meet the constraints of engines with pulse exhaust systems and to control confounding factors that would undermine the vaned vs vaneless performance comparison. Detailed CFD analysis and turbine dynamometer test results confirm a significant efficiency advantage for the vaned turbine stage under both full and partial admission conditions.
Coordinated Torque, Energy and Clutch Control Strategy for Downshifts in P2 Parallel xHEV Powertrains
Authors: Robinette Darrell
Published: May 2021

This paper describes a methodology for investigating the controls coordination of clutch and propulsion torque sources relative to clutch energy, electrification energy consumption and output torque profile for offgoing controlled downshifts in P2 parallel xHEV powertrain configurations. The focus is on an 8 speed planetary automatic transmission, but the approach is equally applicable to any powerflow design with clutch-to-clutch shifting. The modeling technique is for an overall control strategy relative to achieving a targeted transmission input speed profile. A reduced order model of the transmission system is presented that accounts for input shaft acceleration and compensation of inertial contributions to offgoing clutch torque and transmission output torque. The coordinated control of offgoing clutch, engine and P2 electric motor torques are explored in the context of power on and off downshifts for clutch energy, P2 energy consumption and output torque trajectory that directly translates to responsiveness and/or perceived shift quality. The presence of a torque converter and lockup clutch and the influence of the lockup clutch state control on downshifting coordination and torque disturbance is also incorporated in the analysis. Potential improvements in downshift response, clutch controllability and output torque trajectory are provided for the particular 8 speed transmission powerflow considered. The methodology presented can easily be applied to any clutch-to-clutch transmission architecture and powerflow, whether planetary, dual clutch or other.
Machine Learning Approach for Constructing Wet Clutch Torque Transfer Function
Authors: Shui Huanyi , Zhang Yijing , Yang Hang , Upadhyay Devesh , Fujii Yuji
Published: May 2021

A wet clutch is an established component in a conventional powertrain. It also finds a new role in electrified systems. For example, a wet clutch is utilized to couple or decouple an internal combustion engine from an electrically-driven drivetrain on demand in hybrid electric vehicles. In some electrical vehicle designs, it provides a means for motor speed reduction. Wet clutch control for those new applications may differ significantly from conventional strategy. For example, actuator pressure may be heavily modulated, causing the clutch to exhibit pronounced hysteresis. The clutch may be required to operate at a very high slip speed for unforeseen behaviors. A linear transfer function is commonly utilized for clutch control in automating shifting applications, assuming that clutch torque is proportional to actuator pressure. However, the linear model becomes inadequate for enabling robust control when the clutch behavior becomes highly nonlinear with hysteresis. The use of linear transfer function also leads to errors in powertrain simulation. This paper presents a machine learning approach to construct non-linear clutch torque transfer functions for robust powertrain control and simulation. Several regression methods are evaluated for accuracy and computational efficiency as compared to the conventional linear fitting approach. It is found that Gaussian Process Regression outperforms other approaches for accurately capturing non-linear clutch behavior during training. It also provides a confidence interval for predicted clutch torque. A simulation study is conducted for a hybrid powertrain system to illustrate the impact of the non-linear clutch transfer function on engine restart behavior, as compared to the conventional linear clutch model. The use of machine learning based regression method enables accurate representation of wet clutch behavior for improved simulation and robust control development.
Aerodynamic Performance Modeling of the Centrifugal Compressor and Stability Analysis of the Compression System for Fuel Cell Vehicles
Authors: Chen Siyue , Zuo Shuguang , Wu Zhipeng
Published: May 2021

The centrifugal compressor is one of the most commonly used air compressors for fuel cell air supply systems, and it has the small volume, high pressure ratio and low noise. However, surge in a centrifugal compressor severely limits its stable flow range. In this paper, a mathematical model of the compressor aerodynamic performance based on the energy transfer method was established, some parameters of model were identified by experimental data, and the model was validated through experiments. Then the dynamic model of the compression system was derived based on the compressor model and the Moore-Greitzer model. The stability analysis of the compression system was conducted, and it was strictly proved that when the compression system is unstable, there is the limit cycle in this nonlinear system, namely the surge cycle. Furthermore, the simulation of the compression system was conducted and the instability condition of the compression system was presented. The results show that at almost all constant speeds, the compression system instability occurs as the opening of the throttle valve decrease to a specific value, and at some opening of the throttle valve, the compression system instability occurs as speed decrease to a specific value. At last, the effects of structural parameters of the compression system on surge characteristics were analyzed. This research can guide the operating condition match of compressors and the active surge control design of the compression system for fuel cell vehicles.
Systematic Degradation of Retroreflective Materials for Testing and Research
Authors: Dinakar Swaroop , Suway Jeffrey , Muttart Jeffrey , Edewaard Darlene , Gernhard - Macha Suntasy
Published: May 2021

It is important for large trailers to be outlined with retroreflective tape to make them more conspicuous in roadway environments with diminished ambient lighting. Retroreflective material is also utilized on signs as well as clothing to improve their conspicuity. As used conspicuity tape does not perform at the same level as clean and new tape. Hence, there is a need for visibility testing of retroreflective materials with degraded or reduced effectiveness.

In an effort to control the coefficient of retroreflection (RA). A methodology that uniformly obscured parts of the retroreflective materials was developed. Validation testing of this procedure was conducted using glass bead sheeting, as well as microscopic prismatic sheeting. The results from the study showed that, by uniformly obscuring parts of the tape, RA is approximately a linear function of the area exposed to the viewer. Thus, the overall perceived brightness and coefficient of retroreflection readings were reduced. This process can be very useful in simulating degraded retroreflective tape for testing to control for performance (coefficient of retroreflection) levels.