Abstract: Digital systems are in the Cognitive wave of the eTransformations and are now extensively aimed at meeting the individuals’ demands, both those of customers requiring services and those of service providers. It is also apparent that successful future systems will not just simply open doors to the traditional owners/users to offer and receive services such as Uber, for example, does today, but will in the future require more customized and cognitively enabled infrastructures that will be responsive to the system user’s needs. To be able to identify what is required for such systems this research reviews the historical and the current effects of the eTransformation process by studying: 1. eTransitions of company websites and mobile applications, 2. Emergence of new shared economy business models such as Uber, and 3. New requirements for demand driven, cognitive systems capable of learning and just-in-time decision-making. Based on the analysis, this study proposes a Cognitive eTransformation Framework capable of guiding implementations of new responsive and user aware systems.
Abstract: MDS matrices are of great significance in the design
of block ciphers and hash functions. In the present paper, we
investigate the problem of constructing MDS matrices which are
both lightweight and low-latency. We propose a new method of
constructing lightweight MDS matrices using circulant matrices
which can be implemented efficiently in hardware. Furthermore, we
provide circulant MDS matrices with as few bit XOR operations as
possible for the classical dimensions 4 × 4, 8 × 8 over the space of
linear transformations over finite field F42
. In contrast to previous
constructions of MDS matrices, our constructions have achieved
fewer XORs.
Abstract: Statements of facts have been made about Nollywood, a segment of the Nigerian film industry that has in recent times become phenomenal due largely to its quantity of production and specific production style. In the face of recent transformations reshaping the industry, matters have been arising which have not been given due academic attention from an industry player perspective. While re-addressing such issues like structure, policy and informality, this study benefits from a new perspective – that of a community member adopting participant observation to research into a familiar culture. With data drawn from an extensive ethnographic study of the industry, this paper examines these matters with an emphasis on structure and the industry’s overall political economy. Drawing from discourses on the new and old Nollywood labels and other current matters arising within the industry such as the MOPICON bill redraft, corporate financing and possibilities of regeneration, this paper examines structure and power struggle within Nollywood. These are championing regenerative processes that bring about formalization, professionalism and the quest for a transnational presence, which have only been superficially evaluated. Focused essentially on Nollywood’s political economy, this study critically analyses the transforming face of an informal industry, the consistent quest for structure, quality and standard, and issues of corporate sponsorship as possible trends of regeneration. It evaluates them as indicators of regeneration, questioning the possibilities of their sustenance in an industry experiencing increased interactions with the formal economy and an influx of young professionals. With findings that make sustained regeneration both certain (due to increased formal economy interaction) and uncertain (due to the dysfunctionality of the society and its political system), it concludes that the transforming face of the industry suggests impending gentrification of the industry.
Abstract: Sulphur oxidizing bacteria (SOB) have marked their significant role in perspectives of maintaining healthy environment as researchers from all over the world tested and apply these in waste water treatment plants, bioleaching of heavy metals, deterioration of bridge structures, concrete and for bioremediation purposes, etc. Also, these SOB are well adapted in all kinds of environment ranging from normal soil, water habitats to extreme natural sources like geothermal areas, volcanic eruptions, black shale and acid rock drainage (ARD). SOB have been isolated from low pH environment of anthropogenic origin like acid mine drainage (AMD) and bioleaching heaps, hence these can work efficiently in different environmental conditions. Besides having many applications in field of environment science, they may be proven to be very beneficial in area of agriculture as sulphur is the fourth major macronutrients required for the growth of plants. More amount of sulphur is needed by pulses and oilseed crops with respect to the cereal grains. Due to continuous use of land for overproduction of more demanding sulphur utilizing crops and without application of sulphur fertilizers, its concentration is decreasing day by day, and thus, sulphur deficiency is becoming a great problem as it affects the crop productivity and quality. Sulphur is generally found in soils in many forms which are unavailable for plants (cannot be use by plants) like elemental sulphur, thiosulphate which can be taken up by bacteria and converted into simpler forms usable by plants by undergoing a series of transformations. So, keeping the importance of sulphur in view for various soil types, oilseed crops and role of microorganisms in making them available to plants, we made an effort to isolate, optimize, and characterize SOB. Three potential strains of bacteria were isolated, namely SSF7, SSA21, and SSS6, showing sulphate production of concentration, i.e. 2.268, 3.102, and 2.785 mM, respectively. Also, these were optimized for various culture conditions like carbon, nitrogen source, pH, temperature, and incubation time, and characterization was also done.
Abstract: Conservation of historical urban patterns in the traditional neighborhoods is a part of creating integrated urban environments that are socially more sustainable. Urbanization reflects on life conditions and social, physical, economical characteristics of the society. In this regard, historical zones and traditional regions are affected by dramatic interventions on these characteristics. This article focuses on the Uch Dukkan neighborhood located in Ardabil City in Azarbaijani region of Iran, which has been up to such interventions that leaded its transformation from the past to the present. After introducing a brief inventory of the main elements of the historical zone and the neighborhood; this study explores the changes and transformations in different periods; and their impacts on the quality of the environment and its social sustainability. The survey conducted in the neighborhood as part of this research study revealed that the Uch Dukkan neighborhood and the unique architectural heritage that it possesses have become more inactive physically and functionally in a decade. This condition requires an exploration and comparison of the present and the expected transformations of the meaning of social space from the most private unit to the urban scale. From this token, it is argued that an architectural point of view that is based on space order; use and meaning of space as a social and cultural image, should not be ignored. Based on the interplay between social sustainability, collective memory, and the urban environment, study aims to make the invisible portion of ignorance clear, that ends up with a weakness in defining the collective meaning of the neighborhood as a historic urban district. It reveals that the spatial possessions of the neighborhood are valuable not only for their historical and physical characteristics, but also for their social memory that is to be remembered and constructed further.
Abstract: The goal of this work is to report the main dermatological alterations occurring during pregnancy and actual cosmetic protocols available and recommended for safe use. Throughout pregnancy, woman's body undergoes many transformations such as hormonal changes and weight gain. These alterations can result in undesirable skin aspects that end up affecting the future mother's life. The main complaints of pregnant women involve melasma advent, varicose veins, edema, and natural skin aging. Even if most of the time is recommended to wait for the birth to use cosmetics, there are some alternatives to prevent and to treat these alterations during pregnancy. For all these cases, there is a need to update information about safety and efficacy of new actives and technologies in cosmetic products. The purpose of this study was to conduct a literature review about the main skin alterations during pregnancy and actual recommended treatments, according to the current legislation.
Abstract: This study aims at surveying and analyzing the contribution of Sokoto scholars or Sokoto Caliphate in the development of science and technology in West Africa. Today, it is generally accepted that the 19th century Islamic revivalism in Hausaland was a very important revolution in the history of Hausa society and beyond. It is therefore, as a result of this movement or Jihad; the Hausaland (West Africa in general) witnessed several changes and transformations. These changes were in different sectors of life from politics, economy to social and religious aspect. It is these changes especially on religion that will be given considerations in this paper. The jihad resulted is the establishment of an Islamic state of Sokoto Caliphate, the revival Islam and development of learning and scholarship. During the existence of this Caliphate, a great deal of scholarship on Islamic laws were revived, written and documented by mostly, the three Jihad leaders; Usmanu Danfodiyo, his brother Abdullahi Fodiyo and his son Muhammad Bello. The trio had written more than one thousand books and made several verdicts on Islamic medicine. This study therefore, seeks to find out the contributions of these scholars or the Sokoto caliphate in the development of science in West Africa.
Abstract: Nowadays, using rotating systems like shafts and disks in industrial machines have been increased constantly. Dynamic stability is one of the most important factors in designing rotating systems. In this study, linear frequencies and stability of a coupled continuous flexible rotor-disk-blades system are studied. The Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is utilized to model the blade and shaft. The equations of motion are extracted using the extended Hamilton principle. The equations of motion have been simplified using the Coleman and complex transformations method. The natural frequencies of the linear part of the system are extracted, and the effects of various system parameters on the natural frequencies and decay rates (stability condition) are clarified. It can be seen that the centrifugal stiffening effect applied to the blades is the most important parameter for stability of the considered rotating system. This result highlights the importance of considering this stiffing effect in blades equation.
Abstract: The effect of directional search using iterated functional system has been studied on four images taken from databases. The images are portioned successively towards smaller dimension. Presented method provides the faster rate of convergence with respect to processing time in the flat region, but the same has been found to be slower at the border of the images and edges. It has also been revealed that the PSNR is lower at the edges and border portions of the image, and it is found to be higher in the uniform gray region, under the same external illumination and external noise environment.
Abstract: The triple diffusive boundary layer flow of nanofluid under the action of constant magnetic field over a non-linear stretching sheet has been investigated numerically. The model includes the effect of Brownian motion, thermophoresis, and cross-diffusion; slip mechanisms which are primarily responsible for the enhancement of the convective features of nanofluid. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations (by using group theory transformations) and solved numerically by using variational finite element method. The effects of various controlling parameters, such as the magnetic influence number, thermophoresis parameter, Brownian motion parameter, modified Dufour parameter, and Dufour solutal Lewis number, on the fluid flow as well as on heat and mass transfer coefficients (both of solute and nanofluid) are presented graphically and discussed quantitatively. The present study has industrial applications in aerodynamic extrusion of plastic sheets, coating and suspensions, melt spinning, hot rolling, wire drawing, glass-fibre production, and manufacture of polymer and rubber sheets, where the quality of the desired product depends on the stretching rate as well as external field including magnetic effects.
Abstract: This article addresses the boundary layer flow and heat transfer of Casson fluid over a nonlinearly permeable stretching surface with chemical reaction in the presence of variable magnetic field. The effect of thermal radiation is considered to control the rate of heat transfer at the surface. Using similarity transformations, the governing partial differential equations of this problem are reduced into a set of non-linear ordinary differential equations which are solved by finite difference method. It is observed that the velocity at fixed point decreases with increasing the nonlinear stretching parameter but the temperature increases with nonlinear stretching parameter.
Abstract: This paper started with the definitions of literature,
Arabic literature, transformation and went further to highlight the
components of educational transformation. The general history of
Arabic literature was discussed with focus on how it undergoes some
transformations from pre-Islamic period through Quranic era,
Abbasid literature to renaissance period in which the modernization
of Arabic literature started in Egypt. It also traces the spread of
Arabic literature in Nigeria from the pre-colonial era during the
Kanuri rulers to Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio and the development of
literature which manifested to the Teacher’s Colleges and Bayero
University in Northern Nigeria. Also, the establishment of primary
and post-primary schools by Muslim organizations in many cities and
towns of the Western part of Nigeria. Literary criticism was also
discussed in line with Arabic literature. Poetry work of eminent poets
were cited to show its importance in line with educational
transformation in Nigerian literature and lessons from the cited
Arabic poetry works were also highlighted to include: motivation to
behave well and to tolerate others, better spirits of interaction, love
and co-existence among different sexes, religion etc. All these can
help in developing a better educational transformation in Nigeria
which can in turn help in how to conduct researches for national
development. The paper recommended compulsory Arabic literature
at all levels of the nations’ educational system as well as publication
of Arabic books and journals to encourage peace in this era of
conflicts and further transform Nigeria’s educational system for
better.
Abstract: Water suspensions of in-organic (metals and oxides)
and organic nano-objects (chitozan and collagen) were subjected to
the treatment of direct and alternative electrical fields. In addition to
quasi-periodical spatial patterning resonance-like performance of
spatial distributions of these suspensions has been found at low
frequencies of alternating electrical field. These resonances are
explained as the result of creation of equilibrium states of groups of
charged nano-objects with opposite signs of charges at the interparticle
distances where the forces of Coulomb attraction are
compensated by the repulsion forces induced by relatively negative
polarization of hydrated regions surrounding the nanoparticles with
respect to pure water. The low frequencies of these resonances are
explained by comparatively big distances between the particles and
their big masses with t\respect to masses of atoms constituting
molecules with high resonance frequencies. These new resonances
open a new approach to detailed modeling and understanding of
mechanisms of the influence of electrical fields on the functioning of
internal organs of living organisms at the level of cells and neurons.
Abstract: Discussing the nexus between global health policy and local practices, this article addresses the recent Ebola outbreak as a role model for narrative co-constructions of epidemic risk. We will demonstrate in how far a theory-driven and methodologically rooted analysis of narrativity can help to improve mechanisms of prevention and intervention whenever epidemic risk needs to be addressed locally in order to contribute to global health. Analyzing the narrative transformation of Ebola, we will also address issues of transcultural problem-solving and of normative questions at stake. In this regard, we seek to contribute to a better understanding of a key question of global health and justice as well as to the underlying ethical questions. By highlighting and analyzing the functions of narratives, this paper provides a translational approach to refine our practices by which we address epidemic risk, be it on the national, the transnational or the global scale.
Abstract: Landfill leachates contain a number of persistent pollutants, including heavy metals. They have the ability to spread in ecosystems and accumulate in fish which most of them are classified as top-consumers of trophic chains. Fish are freely swimming organisms; but perhaps, due to their species-specific ecological and behavioral properties, they often prefer the most suitable biotopes and therefore, did not avoid harmful substances or environments. That is why it is necessary to evaluate the persistent pollutant dispersion in hydroecosystem using fish tissue metal concentration. In hydroecosystems of hybrid type (e.g. river-pond-river) the distance from the pollution source could be a perfect indicator of such a kind of metal distribution. The studies were carried out in the Kairiai landfill neighboring hybrid-type ecosystem which is located 5 km east of the Šiauliai City. Fish tissue (gills, liver, and muscle) metal concentration measurements were performed on two types of ecologically-different fishes according to their feeding characteristics: benthophagous (Gibel carp, roach) and predatory (Northern pike, perch). A number of mathematical models (linear, non-linear, using log and other transformations) have been applied in order to identify the most satisfactorily description of the interdependence between fish tissue metal concentration and the distance from the pollution source. However, the only one log-multiple regression model revealed the pattern that the distance from the pollution source is closely and positively correlated with metal concentration in all predatory fish tissues studied (gills, liver, and muscle).
Abstract: Issues relating to the destructive phenomena that can
damage people and goods have returned to the centre of debate in
Italy with the increase in catastrophic episodes in recent years in a
country which is highly vulnerable to hydrological risk.
Environmental factors and geological and geomorphological
territorial characteristics play an important role in determining the
level of vulnerability and the natural tendency to risk. However, a
territory has also been subjected to the requirements of and
transformations of society and this brings other relevant factors. The
reasons for the increase in destructive phenomena are often to be
found in the territorial development models adopted. Stewardship of
the landscape and management of risk are related issues. This study aims to summarize the most relevant elements about
this connection and at the same time to clarify the role of
environmental risk assessment as a tool to aid in the sustainable
management of landscape. Finally, the study reflects on how regional
and urban planners deal with environmental risk and which aspects
should be monitored in order to adopt responsible and useful
interventions.
Abstract: Contemporary metropolitan areas and large cities are
dynamic, rapidly growing and continuously changing. Thus, urban
transformations and mutations are not a new phenomenon, but rather
a continuous process. Basic factors of urban transformation are
related to development of technologies, globalisation, lifestyle, etc.,
which in combination with local factors have generated an extremely
great variety of urban development conditions. This article discusses
the main urbanisation processes in Lithuania during last 50-year
period and social factors affecting urban functional mutations.
Abstract: Istanbul-Karakoy Port, field of this study, has lost its
former significance in time due to the transformation of urban
functions. Today, activities for regeneration of this region continue in
two forms and scales. First of these activities is the "planned
transformation projects," which also includes “Galataport project”,
and the second one is "spontaneous transformation," which consists
of individual interventions. Galataport project that based on the idea
of arranging the area specifically for tourists was prepared in 2005
and became a topic of tremendous public debate. On the other hand,
the "spontaneous transformation" that is observed in Karakoy District
starts in 2004 with the foundation of “Istanbul Modern Museum”
which allowed the cultural integration of old naval warehouses of the
port to the daily life. Following this adaptive reuse intervention, the
district started to accommodate numerous art galleries, studios, caféworkshops
and design stores. In this context, this paper first examines
regeneration studies in obsolete port regions, analyzes the planned
and ongoing socio-spatial transformations in the specific case of
Karakoy and performs a critical review of the sustainability of the
proposals on how to reinstate the district in the active life of Istanbul.
Abstract: One of the most important challenging factors in
medical images is nominated as noise. Image denoising refers to the
improvement of a digital medical image that has been infected by
Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). The digital medical image
or video can be affected by different types of noises. They are
impulse noise, Poisson noise and AWGN. Computed tomography
(CT) images are subjects to low quality due to the noise. Quality of
CT images is dependent on absorbed dose to patients directly in such
a way that increase in absorbed radiation, consequently absorbed
dose to patients (ADP), enhances the CT images quality. In this
manner, noise reduction techniques on purpose of images quality
enhancement exposing no excess radiation to patients is one the
challenging problems for CT images processing. In this work, noise
reduction in CT images was performed using two different
directional 2 dimensional (2D) transformations; i.e., Curvelet and
Contourlet and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) thresholding
methods of BayesShrink and AdaptShrink, compared to each other
and we proposed a new threshold in wavelet domain for not only
noise reduction but also edge retaining, consequently the proposed
method retains the modified coefficients significantly that result good
visual quality. Data evaluations were accomplished by using two
criterions; namely, peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and Structure
similarity (Ssim).
Abstract: Based on the hypothesis that disaster risk is
constructed socially and historically, this article shows the
importance of keeping alive the historical memory of disaster by
means of architectural and urban heritage conservation. This is
illustrated with three examples of Latin American World Heritage
cities, where disasters like floods and earthquakes have shaped urban
form. Therefore, the study of urban form or "Urban Morphology" is
proposed as a tool to understand and analyze urban transformations
with the documentation of the occurrence of disasters. Lessons
learned from such cities may be useful to reduce disasters risk in
contemporary built environments.