Abstract: Thanks to informational technologies development
every sphere of economics is becoming more and more datacentralized
as people are generating huge datasets containing
information on any aspect of their life. Applying research of such
data to human resources management allows getting scarce statistics
on labor market state including salary expectations and potential
employees’ typical career behavior, and this information can become
a reliable basis for management decisions.
The following article presents results of career behavior research
based on freely accessible resume data. Information used for study is
much wider than one usually uses in human resources surveys. That
is why there is enough data for statistically significant results even
for subgroups analysis.
Abstract: Robotics provides answers to amputees. The most
expensive solutions surgically connect the prosthesis to nerve endings.
There are also several types of non-invasive technologies that recover
nerve messages passing through the muscles. After analyzing these
messages, myoelectric prostheses perform the desired movement.
The main goal is to avoid all surgeries, which can be heavy and offer
cheaper alternatives. For an amputee, we use valid muscles to recover
the electrical signal involved in a muscle movement. EMG sensors
placed on the muscle allows us to measure a potential difference,
which our program transforms into control for a robotic arm with two
degrees of freedom. We have shown the feasibility of non-invasive
prostheses with two degrees of freedom. Signal analysis and an
increase in degrees of freedom is still being improved.
Abstract: Since, today in most countries around the world much
attention is paid to planning the smallest unit in the city i.e. the
residential neighborhoods to achieve sustainable urban development
goals, a variety of assessment tools have been developed to assess
and monitor the sustainability of new developments. One of the most
reliable and widely used assessment tools is LEED-ND rating system.
This paper whit the aim of assessing sustainability level of Roshdieh
neighborhood in Tabriz, has introduced this rating system and applied
it in the study area. The results indicate that Roshdieh has the
potential of achieving the standards of sustainable neighborhoods, but
the present situation is far from the ideal point.
Abstract: Most quality models have defined usability as a
significant factor that leads to improving product acceptability,
increasing user satisfaction, improving product reliability, and also
financially benefitting companies. Usability is also the best factor that
balances both the technical and human aspects of a software product,
which is an important aspect in defining quality during software
development process. A usability risk consist risk factors that could
impact the usability of a software product thereby contributing to
negative user experiences and causing a possible software product
failure. Hence, it is important to mitigate and reduce usability risks in
the software development process itself. By managing possible
usability risks in software development process, failure of software
product could be reduced. Therefore, this research uses the Delphi
method to identify mitigation plans for reducing potential usability
risks. The Delphi method is conducted with seven experts from the
field of risk management and software development.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to trace the historical
development of the accounting profession in Libya, in order to
identify challenges facing the profession as the country moves from a
closed to emerging economy. The study is based on a literature
review and archival research. Accounting information has a vital role
to play in the achievement of economic goals in developing and
emerging economies, but a well qualified accounting profession is
required. In the context of institutional instability and unique cultural
factors, the accounting profession in Libya faces educational and
legal challenges if it is to achieve its potential in assisting the country
to reach its economic goals. This study focuses on one country,
which does limit its generalisability. However, it also suggests
fruitful research areas in considering the impact and challenge of
historic factors on the accounting profession in emerging economies.
Centrally planned economies require a body of well trained
professional accountants if they are to emerge onto the global
economic arena. Studies on the accounting profession have focused
primarily on those in developed economies, where the need for
meaningful accounting information for decision making is taken for
granted and there is a well trained, professional workforce. This study
of the profession in an emerging economy highlights the efforts that
will be needed to ensure the contribution of the profession to the
economic wellbeing of other emerging economies.
Abstract: Multispectral screening systems are becoming more
popular because of their very interesting properties and applications.
One of the most significant applications of multispectral screening
systems is prevention of terrorist attacks. There are many kinds of
threats and many methods of detection. Visual detection of objects
hidden under clothing of a person is one of the most challenging
problems of threats detection. There are various solutions of the
problem; however, the most effective utilize multispectral
surveillance imagers. The development of imaging devices and
exploration of new spectral bands is a chance to introduce new
equipment for assuring public safety. We investigate the possibility
of long lasting detection of potentially dangerous objects covered
with various types of clothing. In the article we present the results of
comparative studies of passive imaging in three spectrums – visible,
infrared and terahertz.
Abstract: Folic acid (FA) is known to be an important
supplement to prevent neural tube defect (NTD) in pregnant women.
Similar to some commercial formulations, sodium bicarbonate
solution is used as a solvent for FA. This work uses the antisolvent
vapour precipitation (AVP), incorporating ethanol vapour as the
convective drying medium in place of air to produce branch-like
micro-structure FA particles. Interestingly, the dissolution rate of the
resultant particle is 2-3 times better than the particle produce from
conventional air drying due to the higher surface area of particles
produced. The higher dissolution rate could possibly improve the
delivery and absorption of FA in human body. This application could
potentially be extended to other commercial products, particularly in
less soluble drugs to improve its solubility.
Abstract: In this paper, snow samples containing dust particles
from several sampling points around the city of Ostrava were
analyzed. The pH values of sampled snow were measured and solid
particles analyzed. Particle size, zeta potential and content of selected
heavy metals were determined in solid particles. The pH values of
most samples lay in the slightly acid region. Mean values of particle
size ranged from 290.5 to 620.5 nm. Zeta potential values varied
between -5 and -26.5 mV. The following heavy metal concentration
ranges were found: copper 0.08-0.75 mg/g, lead 0.05-0.9 mg/g,
manganese 0.45-5.9 mg/g and iron 25.7-280.46 mg/g. The highest
values of copper and lead were found in the vicinity of busy
crossroads, and on the contrary, the highest levels of manganese and
iron were detected close to a large steelworks. The proportion
between pH values, zeta potentials, particle sizes and heavy metal
contents was established. Zeta potential decreased with rising pH
values and, simultaneously, heavy metal content in solid particles
increased. At the same time, higher metal content corresponded to
lower particle size.
Abstract: Metallic foams have good potential for lightweight
structures for impact and blast mitigation. Therefore it is important to
find out the optimized foam structure (i.e. cell size, shape, relative
density, and distribution) to maximise energy absorption. In this
paper, quasistatic compression and microstructural characterization
of closed-cell aluminium foams of different pore size and cell
distributions have been carried out. We present results for two
different aluminium metal foams of density 0.49-0.51 g/cc and 0.31-
0.34 g/cc respectively that have been tested in quasi-static
compression. The influence of cell geometry and cell topology on
quasistatic compression behaviour has been investigated using optical
microscope and computed tomography (micro-CT) analysis. It is
shown that the deformation is not uniform in the structure and
collapse begins at the weakest point.
Abstract: This paper explores the effects of gamification on
lower secondary school students’ motivation and engagement in the
classroom. Two-group posttest-only experimental design were
employed to study the influence of gamification teaching method
(GTM) when compared with conventional teaching method (CTM)
on 60 lower secondary school students. The Student Engagement
Instrument (SEI) and Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) were used
to assess students’ intrinsic motivation and engagement level towards
the respective teaching method. Finding indicates that students who
completed the GTM lesson were significantly higher in intrinsic
motivation to learn than those from the CTM. Although the result
were insignificant and only marginal difference in the engagement
mean, GTM still show better potential in raising student’s
engagement in class when compared with CTM. This finding proves
that the GTM is likely to solve the current issue of low motivation to
learn and low engagement in class among lower secondary school
students in Malaysia. On the other hand, despite being not significant,
higher mean indicates that CTM positively contribute to higher peer
support for learning and better teacher and student relationship when
compared with GTM. As a conclusion, gamification approach is
flexible and can be adapted into many learning content to enhance the
intrinsic motivation to learn and to some extent, encourage better
student engagement in class.
Abstract: Innovations not only contribute to competitiveness of
the company but have also positive effects on revenues. On average,
product innovations account to 14 percent of companies’ sales.
Innovation management has substantially changed during the last
decade, because of growing reliance on external partners. As a
consequence, a new task for purchasing arises, as firms need to
understand which suppliers actually do have high potential
contributing to the innovativeness of the firm and which do not.
Proper organization of the purchasing function is important since
for the majority of manufacturing companies deal with substantial
material costs which pass through the purchasing function. In the past
the purchasing function was largely seen as a transaction-oriented,
clerical function but today purchasing is the intermediate with supply
chain partners contributing to innovations, be it product or process
innovations. Therefore, purchasing function has to be organized
differently to enable firm innovation potential.
However, innovations are inherently risky. There are behavioral
risk (that some partner will take advantage of the other party),
technological risk in terms of complexity of products and processes
of manufacturing and incoming materials and finally market risks,
which in fact judge the value of the innovation. These risks are
investigated in this work. Specifically, technological risks which deal
with complexity of the products, and processes will be investigated
more thoroughly. Buying components or such high edge technologies
necessities careful investigation of technical features and therefore is
usually conducted by a team of experts. Therefore it is hypothesized
that higher the technological risk, higher will be the centralization of
the purchasing function as an interface with other supply chain
members.
Main contribution of this research lies is in the fact that analysis
was performed on a large data set of 1493 companies, from 25
countries collected in the GMRG 4 survey. Most analyses of
purchasing function are done by case study analysis of innovative
firms. Therefore this study contributes with empirical evaluations that
can be generalized.
Abstract: The systematic evaluation of manufacturing
technologies with regard to the potential for product designing
constitutes a major challenge. Until now, conventional evaluation
methods primarily consider the costs of manufacturing technologies.
Thus, the potential of manufacturing technologies for achieving
additional product design features is not completely captured. To
compensate this deficit, final evaluations of new technologies are
mainly intuitive in practice. Therefore, an additional evaluation
dimension is needed which takes the potential of manufacturing
technologies for specific realizable product designs into account. In
this paper, we present the approach of an evaluation method for
selecting manufacturing technologies with regard to their potential
for product designing. This research is done within the Fraunhofer
innovation cluster »AdaM« (Adaptive Manufacturing) which targets
the development of resource efficient and adaptive manufacturing
technology processes for complex turbomachinery components.
Abstract: Immunomodulators are substances that alter immune
system via dynamic regulation of messenger molecules. It can be
divided into immunostimulant and immunosuppressant. It can help to
increase immunity of people with a low immune system, and also can
help to normalize an overactive immune system. Aim of this study is
to investigate the effects of in vitro exposure to low and high doses of
several immunomodulators which include caffeine, kaloba and
quercetin on antigen-stimulated whole blood culture cytokine
production. Whole blood samples were taken from 5 healthy males
(age: 32 ± 12 years; weight: 75.7 ± 6.1 kg; BMI: 24.3 ± 1.5 kg/m2)
following an overnight fast with no vigorous activity during the
preceding 24 h. The whole blood was then stimulated with 50 μl of
100 x diluted Pediacel vaccine and low or high dose of
immunomodulators in the culture plate. After 20 h incubation (5%
CO2, 37°C), it was analysed using the Evidence Investigator to
determine the production of cytokines including IL-2, IL-4, IL-10,
IFN-γ, and IL-1α. Caffeine and quercetin showed a tendency towards
decrease cytokine production as the doses were increased. On the
other hand, an upward trend was evident with kaloba, where a high
dose of kaloba seemed to increase the cytokine production. In
conclusion, we found that caffeine and quercetin have potential as
immunosuppressant and kaloba as immunostimulant.
Abstract: This research focuses on the optimization of glazed
surfaces and the assessment of possible solar gains in industrial
buildings. Existing window rating methods for single windows were
evaluated and a new method for a simple analysis of energy gains and
losses by single windows was introduced. Furthermore extensive
transient building simulations were carried out to appraise the
performance of low cost polycarbonate multi-cell sheets in
interaction with typical buildings for industrial applications. Mainly
energy saving potential was determined by optimizing the orientation
and area of such glazing systems in dependency on their thermal
qualities. Moreover the impact on critical aspects such as summer
overheating and daylight illumination was considered to ensure the
user comfort and avoid additional energy demand for lighting or
cooling. Hereby the simulated heating demand could be reduced by
up to 1/3 compared to traditional architecture of industrial halls using
mainly skylights.
Abstract: Persea declinata (Bl.) Kosterm is a member of the
Lauraceae family, widely distributed in Southeast Asia. It is from the
same genus with avocado (Persea americana Mill), which is widely
consumed as food and for medicinal purposes. In the present study,
we examined the anticancer properties of Persea declinata (Bl.)
Kosterm bark methanolic crude extract (PDM). PDM exhibited a
potent antiproliferative effect in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells,
with an IC50 value of 16.68 .g/mL after 48h of treatment. We
observed that PDM caused cell cycle arrest and subsequent apoptosis
in MCF-7 cells, as exhibited by increased population at G0/G1 phase,
higher lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, and DNA
fragmentation. Mechanistic studies showed that PDM caused
significant elevation in ROS production, leading to perturbation of
mitochondrial membrane potential, cell permeability, and activation
of caspases-3/7. On the other hand, real-time PCR and Western blot
analysis showed that PDM treatment increased the expression of the
proapoptotic molecule, Bax, but decreased the expression of
prosurvival proteins, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, in a dose-dependent manner.
These findings imply that PDM could inhibit proliferation in MCF-7
cells via cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction, indicating its
potential as a therapeutic agent worthy of further development.
Abstract: Chloride resistance in Ultra High Performance
Concrete (UHPC) is determined in this paper. This work deals with
the one dimension chloride transport, which can be potentially
dangerous particularly for the durability of concrete structures. Risk
of reinforcement corrosion due to exposure to the concrete surface to
direct the action of chloride ions (mainly in the form de-icing salts or
groundwater) is dangerously increases. The measured data are
investigated depending on the depth of penetration of chloride ions
into the concrete structure. Comparative measurements with normal
strength concrete are done as well. The experimental results showed
that UHCP have improved resistance of chlorides penetration than
NSC and also chloride diffusion depth is significantly lower in
UHCP.
Abstract: In addition to the production, which is already
frequently optimized, improving the distribution logistics also opens
up tremendous potential for increasing an enterprise’s
competitiveness. Here too though, numerous interactions need to be
taken into account, enterprises thus need to be able to identify and
weigh between different potentials for economically efficient
optimizations. In order to be able to assess potentials, enterprises
require a suitable method. This paper first briefly presents the need
for this research before introducing the procedure that will be used to
develop an appropriate method that not only considers interactions
but is also quickly and easily implemented.
Abstract: The reduction of greenhouse gases emissions is highly
discussed ecological theme at present. In addition to power industry
also main production sectors of binders, i.e. cement, air and hydraulic
lime are very sensitive to these questions. One of the possibilities
how CO2 emissions can be reduced directly at clinker burnout is
represented by partial substitution of lime with a material containing
limy ions at absence of carbonate group. Fluidised fly ash is one of
such potential raw materials where CaO can be found free and also
bound in anhydrite, CaSO4. At application of FBC (fluidized bed
combustion) fly ash with approximate 20% CaO content and its
dosing ratio to high percent lime 1:2, corresponding stechiometrically
to the preparation of raw material powder, approximately 0,37 t CO2
per 1 ton of one-component cement would be released at clinker
burnout compared to 0,46 t CO2 when orthodox raw materials are
used. The reduction of CO2 emissions thus could reach even 20%.
Abstract: The aim of the present study is to investigate the
potential use of the selected seed oils. The oil was extracted using
Soxhlet apparatus and the physicochemical characteristics of the oil
determined using standard methods. The following results were
obtained for the physicochemical parameters analysed: for Egusi seed
oil, Oil yield 53.20%, Saponification value 178.03±1.25 mgKOH/g,
Iodine value 49.10±0.32 g I2/100g, Acid value 4.30±0.86 mgKOH/g,
and Peroxide value 5.80±0.27 meq/kg were obtained. For Pawpaw
seed oil, Oil yield 40.10%, Saponification value 24.13±3.93
mgKOH/g, Iodine value 24.87±0.19 g I2/100g, Acid value 9.46±0.40
mgKOH/g, and Peroxide value 3.12±1.22 meq/kg were obtained. For
Sweet orange seed oil, Oil yield 43.10%, Saponification value
106.30±2.37 mgKOH/g, Iodine value 37.08±0.04 g I2/100g, Acid
value 7.59±0.77 mgKOH/g, and Peroxide value 2.21±0.46 meq/kg
were obtained. From the obtained values of the determined
parameters, the oils can be extracted from the three selected seeds in
commercial quantities and that the egusi and sweet orange seed oils
may be utilized in the industrial soap production.
Abstract: With demand for primary energy continuously
growing, search for renewable and efficient energy sources has been
high on agenda of our society. One of the most promising energy
sources is biogas technology. Residues coming from dairy industry
and milk processing could be used in biogas production; however,
low efficiency and high cost impede wide application of such
technology. One of the main problems is management and conversion
of organic residues through the anaerobic digestion process which is
characterized by acidic environment due to the low whey pH (