The significant increase in the number of electric vehicles has led to the accumulation of used battery waste. This waste has the potential to pollute the environment, so a solution in the form of battery recycling (repair, refurbishment, reuse) is needed. However, this effort is hampered by the availability of workshops capable of recycling electric batteries. This study aims to identify and analyze the factors that influence repair shops' intentions to recycle electric batteries. These factors were collected through an open questionnaire classified based on the PESTEL framework, then the weight of each factor's importance was determined using the AHP method to formulate the initiation of electric vehicle battery recycling growth. The study prioritized the factors contributing to repair shops' intention to recycle batteries as follows: economic, technological, social, and environmental factors. The order of priority of these factors was then formulated as an initiation strategy: developing technological infrastructure and training, providing green certification, tax breaks and financial support, producer responsibility policies, and building partnerships. This research makes an important contribution to initiating strategies to address electric vehicle battery waste through a systematic approach in Indonesia.

The monocyte/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio (MHR) and neutrophil/HDL-C ratio (NHR) are markers for inflammation and dyslipidaemia, which are important factors in atherosclerosis. Studies have linked MHR and NHR to the prediction, severity and prognosis of coronary artery disease. However, no study has explored their connection to plaque stability, specifically its calcific or soft/mixed content. Monocyte, neutrophil and HDL-C levels were examined in 99 patients who had coronary computed tomographic angiography (CTA) between January and August 2023. They were divided into three groups: a group of 42 healthy individuals (group 0) with no coronary artery plaque and an Agatson score of 0, an unstable plaque group (group 1) with 31 patients displaying mixed and/or soft plaque on CTA, and a stable plaque group (group 2) with 26 patients showing only calcific plaque. White blood cell (WBC), monocyte and neutrophil counts were significantly higher in group 1 patients compared to group 0 patients (group 0: WBC = 6.31 ± 0.97 × 103 cells/µl, monocytes = 0.40 ± 0.09 × 10³ cells/µl, neutrophils = 3.32 ± 0.81 × 10³ cells/µl; and group 1: WBC = 7.61 ± 1.95 × 10³ cells/µl, monocytes = 0.50 ± 0.11 × 10³ cells/µl, neutrophils = 4.19 ± 1.36 10³ cells/µl; p < 0.05). MHR and NHR were significantly higher in group 1 patients compared to group 0 patients (group 0: MHR = 0.0079 ± 0.0029, NHR = 0.063 ± 0.023 and group 1: MHR = 0.0102 ± 0.003, NHR = 0.085 ± 0.036, p < 0.05). The significant differences in MHR and NHR between the three groups were due to the differences between groups 0 and 1. MHR and NHR were significantly higher in group 1 patients, although there was no statistically significant difference between groups 1 and 2.

Work related stress has negative effect on productivity and satisfaction among workers in various field. An important barrier to understanding how work-related stress affects individual academics in the built environment is scarcity of empirical studies in the area. As a result, this study aims at examining the main causes of stress and the level of risks associated with the stress among academics in the built environment. Questionnaires were administered to academics in the built environment faculties, schools and institutes offering courses such as Architecture, Building, Estate Management, Quantity surveying, Surveying and Geoinformatics and Urban and Regional Planning in the South West and North Central geopolitical zones of Nigeria. A systematic samplingtechnique was adopted to administer the questionnaire to respondents. The results show that work related stress among built environment academics is high (&gt;60% on work related stress grading scale) and causes were classified into organizational factors, job demand and job role. The most important risk factors were also identified as problem with office accommodation inadequate temperature control, lack of privacy (physical factors), poor communication, lack of career progression and job insecurity (organizational and job role factors). Due to the high level of work-related stress among academics in the built environment, their performance in discharging duties in terms of research and teaching have been affected. Management of higher institutions should provide incentives and enabling environment to individual lecturer to address those factors identified in other to improve their overall performance.

The tourism domain consists of emotionally driven experiences between the tourists and their destinations. Psychological aspects of tourists‟ preferences are increasingly becoming an important factor to consider in the development of systems that enhance better recommendations.Studies on analysis of personality traits as well as developed systems on tourism guide/recommendation exist, however, there is less effort towards the classification of tourist sites according to personality traits and its implementation. This study, therefore, attempts to develop a tourist attraction guide through matching keywords from personality types (Big Five personality dimensions) to tourist locations in order to suggest suitable locations. Data on tourist sites were obtained from online sources with a focus on Nigeria tourist sites. The classification and matching of personality type to tourist site was done using trait keywords obtained from reviews, ratings and feedback. The tourist site information was filtered based on the personality type classification in order to deliver information about the tourist site to a user. The system prototype was implemented using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and MySQL. The resulting system is a web-based application that suggests tourist locations based on the personality preference specified by a user.

The damage to rock masses due to the action of freezing is one of the most important factors in the development of landscapes, the performance of civil structures, and the efficiency of mining operations. In this research paper, the effect has been studied on the physical and mechanical performance of seven different natural building rock samples. The testing program included an experimental study on both dry and saturated intact rock samples and therefore, the effect of saturation on the extent of damage on the tested samples has been discussed as well. Based on the obtained results, freezing–thawing cycles increase the porosity of rock samples and decrease the values of P-wave velocity, uniaxial compressive strength, elastic modulus, and Brazilian tensile strength. Moreover, the behavior of different rock types differs to some extent when exposed to weathering cycles under dry and saturated conditions. A multivariate linear regression analysis was used to predict the changes in the physical and mechanical properties of different rock types. It was been shown that with some cautions, the obtained correlations can be generalized for practical cases and can be used to predict the change of rock physical and mechanical properties during the lifetime of rock engineering projects. Such predictions have a high potential of applicability in quite different types of natural stone applications in cold climates. From the stability of structures created in rock materials to the durability of structures created by different natural stones.

Abstract: The energy management of a multi-microgrid (MG) system is essential for its stable and economic operation. This study proposes an optimal power flow scheduling strategy for the energy management of multi-MG systems. At the multi-MG level, the global central controller (GCC) is responsible for managing the MGs. The GCC calculates the amount of power exchanged within the MGs by using a novel optimal energy allocation policy. Based on the energy supply and demand mismatch, MGs are classified as providers and consumers. The GCC collects information, then distributes energy among the consumers and divides benefits to the providers. Each consumer determines the price of the purchased energy from other microgrids based on a priority parameter, in which the local load demand and renewable energy penetration rate are considered as important factors. At the MG level, with the goal of minimising the operating cost of the MG, the energy is controlled from two time scales, namely day-ahead and intraday, to optimise the output power of generators and energy storage devices. Finally, a simulation of a multi-MG system with three MGs demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed optimal method.

Abstract Gangs have been described as a central feature of prison life for at least the last 50 years, yet it is only in the last decade that prison gangs have attracted more sustained scholarly attention. The most notable studies have been conducted in North America and, to a lesser extent, Latin America, but there has been little empirical research on prison gangs in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. In addition, whilst there have been studies of gangs in England, the presence of gangs in English prisons is contested. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with prisoners and prison staff in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and England, this paper analyses the differences between the three jurisdictions regarding the prominence of prison 'gangs', and, more fundamentally, how gangs were defined. In so doing, this article empirically assesses typical explanations for the prison gangs and, given the role of importation in the jurisdictions studied, questions the extent to which the Eurogang definition can achieve the international appeal originally envisaged. It is argued that whilst criminal collaborations and forms of prisoner governance were present in all three jurisdictions, the extent to which prison gangs assumed a central governance role varied, as did the complexion and character of those gangs. There were crucial cultural, historical, penal, economic, and importation factors that explained these variations but, critically, those factors that held explanatory power had been overlooked by earlier research on prisoner governance. Moreover, our comparative study of three jurisdictions illustrates that realising the global aspirations of the Eurogang programme of research requires a dexterity and criminological imagination that allows for local, historical, penal, and cultural understanding.

Real-time retrieval of high-precision ZTD maps using GNSS observation

Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is a very important matrix factorization technique in linear algebra which generalizes the eigenvalue decomposition to both non square and non symmetric matrices. This report explains the theoretical foundation of SVD by numerical examples and the comparison of SVD with eigenvalue decomposition on the basis of versatility. Theoretical derivations, including proofs of SVD existence and uniqueness, are presented with practical implementation using Python. Experiments include image compression via truncated SVD and dimensional reduction on the Iris dataset. The results indicate that only top k singular values are enough to retain the essential data features and reduce storage requirements. For example, image compression with 50 singular values results in a MSE of 0.05 and visually clear images, as well as 4D data can be reduced into 2D without losing discriminative patterns. Findings confirm that SVD is computationally stable and efficient, and provides robust solution for rank approximation, noise reduction, and feature extraction. The study demonstrates that SVD's capability to break down data into intelligible components make it to remain relevant in big data analytics, scientific computation and artificial intelligence, with foreseeable future improvements also likely to increase its applications.

Guangdong Province, a major player in China’s foreign trade, has consistently led the nation in total import and export volume, leveraging its geographical advantage of being adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, a well-developed manufacturing sector, and a comprehensive industrial chain support. In 2023, Guangdong’s total import and export value soared to RMB 8.3 trillion, representing 19.9% of the country’s total import and export value. To delve into the dynamic shifts and principal drivers behind Guangdong’s foreign trade performance, this study employs three machine learning (ML) models—Support Vector Machine (SVM), Neural Network (NN), and Random Forest (RF)—based on 16 key indicators from 2006 to 2022. Additionally, the SHAP method is utilized to assess and rank the importance and interpretability of these influencing factors, pinpointing the top five core indicators that significantly impact Guangdong’s total import and export volume. The results of this research offer a quantitative basis for optimizing Guangdong’s foreign trade policy system. By focusing on these key factors, policymakers can craft tailored strategies to foster regional industrial upgrading, deepen regional cooperation within the RCEP framework, enhance cross-border trade facilitation, and nurture new forms of foreign trade. This approach will bolster policy precision and execution, aiding Guangdong Province in building a higher level of open economy.

Inventory management being the significant part of the supply chain drives the maximum monetary value. The purpose of this study is to optimize an inventory for Vhrushi India Pvt. Ltd. by reducing the inventory cost and developing an inventory management system. The Quantitative approach is used for the research work. The inventory cost reduction is performed by application of EOQ modeland excel visual basics is used for Inventory Management system. The author intends to determine the appropriate order quantity and reorder point by implementation of EOQ (Economic Order Quantity) model. As technology advances, businesses must manage their inventories quickly, precisely, and accurately to support their operations. Therefore, the development of inventory management system is the second part of the research which smoothens the material flow and rings transparency in it by tracking the material movement and reducing the human errors. The result of the investigation provides economic order quantities, reorder points for all the items and IMS developed. Furthermore, the regression analysis enhances the value of the findings which shows two independent variables which are unit price and holding cost are significantly correlated with the Inventory cost. In this case, Holding Cost is considered as the most important factor in terms of affecting the Inventory Cost.

China as the second largest economy supposes to produce spillover effect on the emerging market economies especially the ASEAN nations. The main objective of this paper is to study the spillover effect of the Chinese export on the new ASEAN-5 stock markets (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam). In this paper, multivariate Markov-Switching Intercept Autoregressive Heteroscedasticity (MSIAH) model is employed to analyze the linkage between Chinese export and the new ASEAN-5 stock markets over the sample period of August 2000 to December 2018. The monthly data have been analysed using EViews. Their relationship is also strong and positive. The findings report that the spillover effects of China export on new ASEAN-5 stock markets is significant. There is positive relationship between China export and the stock markets for both regimes. The conclusion can be made is China exports should be one of the important factors in determining the stock prices in new ASEAN-5 stock markets. Investors should alert China export information when investing in new ASEAN-5 stock market. New ASEAN-5 are important emerging economies in Asia Pacific region and China is a rising economic power, but there is very least literature to study the Spillover effect of China export on stock market in new ASEAN-5.

Abstract The percentage of U.S. homes heated with electricity has increased steadily from 1% in 1950 to 40% in 2020. Energy prices, geography, climate, housing characteristics, and income are shown to explain 90% of the increase, with energy prices by far the most important factor. The paper then estimates the cost of an electrification mandate for new homes. Households in warm states tend to prefer electricity anyway, so would be made worse off by less than $350 annually on average. Households in cold states, however, tend to prefer natural gas so would be made worse off by more than $1,000 annually.

This paper shows philosophical views of Michael Polanyi, in the context of his greatest work Personal knowledge: Towards a post-critical philosophy. In his study, Polanyi presents the original concept of science and knowledge, which include tacit components, such as: the personal, tacit knowledge, personal engagement, intellectual passions and participation in the scientists community, which shares the same tradition, language, frameworks and culture. All that makes the philosophy of Polanyi situated against the concept of objectivity in science which excludes personal participation in act of knowing and creating knowledge. As one of the most important factors in science formation Polanyi considers intellectual passions, which have heuristic, selective, persuasive functions. The present article is a summary of the main idea of the intellectual passions, in respect of their selective function in science. As Polanyi maintains, scientific passions have a logical function which contributes an indispensable element to science. They charge objects with emotions, making them repulsive or attractive and help distinguish between demonstratable facts which are of scientific interest, and those which are not. Furthermore, scientific passions depend ultimately on a sense of intellectual beauty, which can never be dispassionately defined, as well as the beauty of a work of art or the excellence of a noble action.

Introduction: Urine incontinence is the involuntary leakage of urine. Its actual prevalence is underestimated. There is a general belief that vaginal delivery is a major risk. Elective cesarean delivery is increasing worldwide; one reason is to protect against pelvic floor disorders, including urine incontinence. Previous studies included small samples with controversial results. This study aimed to compare the risk of urine incontinence in women who had cesarean delivery with those who had vaginal delivery. Methods: It was a retrospective study on 1751 women delivered in a university hospital over a 5- year period. Data collected on number of deliveries, age at first and last delivery, mode of each delivery, gestational age, birth weight, indication of cesarean section, induction of labor, episiotomy, perineal tears, smoking, chronic cough, chronic constipation, presence and severity of urine incontinence using ICIQ score. Patients were categorized into 2 groups: all cesarean section deliveries and at least one vaginal delivery. Results: A total of 600 respondents delivered only by cesarean section, and 1151 had at least one vaginal delivery. Urine incontinence prevalence in the cesarean group was 5.8%, and 6.9% in the vaginal group. Age, perineal tear, chronic cough, and chronic constipation were found to be significantly associated with urinary incontinence. After adjusting for all other variables, vaginal delivery was not found to be significantly associated with incontinence compared to cesarean. Conclusion: Vaginal and cesarean deliveries have a comparable incidence of urinary incontinence. It is difficult to get a firm conclusion on whether cesarean is protective. Chronic constipation and cough are important factors regardless of delivery mode.

Data from statistics Indonesia in 2017 indicates that entrepreneurship in Indonesia reaches 3.01% of the population, which is 225 million people. That number increased dramatically from 2014 which only amounted to 1.55%. Increasing the number of women entrepreneurs is still largely urbanized, whereas from rural communities the number is still limited. Women are expected to have the ability to develop their potential and improve the welfare of women in rural areas. Using Schumpeter’s theory which is then supported by hope theory explains why entrepreneurship is important for some women. The approach used in this research is to use a qualitative approach. The procedure in collecting data through the study of literature, namely in the form of activities to collect, review, and examine and search for documents or literature that can provide information needed in a research activity. This article investigates how and what rural women need to become entrepreneurs. Women in rural areas are more likely to be less involved in entrepreneurial activities and are less optimistic about the ability to engage in entrepreneurship education and the lack of confidence to start as an entrepreneur. Because in Schumpeter’s theory the most important factor that causes economic development is the process of innovation and the culprit, namely entrepreneurs. Community economic progress can only be applied with innovation by entrepreneurs. Whereas in the theory of hope, it is based on the interests of individuals who want to achieve maximum satisfaction and want to minimize dissatisfaction.

The traditional centralized network management approach presents severe efficiency and scalability limitations in large scale networks. The process of data collection and analysis typically involves huge transfers of management data to the manager which cause considerable network throughput and bottlenecks at the manager side. All these problems processed using the Agent technology as a solution to distribute the management functionality over the network elements. The proposed system consists of the server agent that is working together with clients agents to monitor the logging (off, on) of the clients computers and which user is working on it. file system watcher mechanism is used to indicate any change in files. The results were presented in real time which is minimizing the cost that represents the important factor to successful management of networks that was achieved using agents.

This study is attempt to improve thermal isolation through measuring thermal conductivity composite of on polyester resin with fillers of (TiO2, ZnO, Acrylonitril, wood flour Coconut (Wf). The grain size of the fillers is 200 µm. The number of samples is (16) in addition to the virgin sample; these samples are prepared by cast molding method for polyester with filler volume fractions (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%). Shore hardness tests were used to measure the hardness and Lee disk method for thermal conductivity. The experimental results showed that the (20% ZnO) sample has the maximum value of thermal conductivity where (20% w.f) has minimum thermal conductivity .on the other hand (15% ZnO) sample give the maximum value of hardness where (20% w.f) sample gave the minimum value of hardness. From this study there is an important factor that should be observed that is the relationship between hardness and thermal conductivity. The study prove that the experimental results satisfy the theoretical assumptions in that the additive material (fillers) of metals base increase thermal conductivity where the material of cellulose base decrease the thermal conductivity and give good thermal isolation but with low hardness and all the result above the refry sample .

Radiosensitivity remains an important factor affecting the clinical outcome of radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Liver kinase B1 (LKB1) as a tumor suppressor, is one of the most commonly mutated genes in NSCLC. However, the role of LKB1 on radiosensitivity and the possible mechanism have not been elucidated in the NSCLC. In this study, we investigated the regulatory function of LKB1 in the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cells and its possible signaling pathways. After regulating the expression of LKB1, cell proliferation was determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The flow cytometry assay was used to analyse cell cycle distribution. Survival fraction and sensitization enhancement ratio (SER) were generated by clonogenic survival assay. Western blot analysis was used to assess expression levels of LKB1, p53, p21, γ-H2AX and p-Chk2. Our study found that when the NSCLC cells were exposed to ionizing radiation, LKB1 could inhibit NSCLC cell proliferation by promoting DNA double strand break and inducing DNA repair. In addition, LKB1 could induce NSCLC cells G1 and G2/M phase arrest through up-regulating expression of p53 and p21 proteins. This current study demonstrates that LKB1 enhances the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cells via inhibiting NSCLC cell proliferation and inducing G2/M phase arrest, and the mechanism of cell cycle arrest associated with signaling pathways of p53 and p21 probably.

Abstract The majority of aging individuals’ care needs are met by family caregivers (CGs), often at great costs to CGs’ well-being. There is, however, significant heterogeneity in CG outcomes, and social capital, or the quality of marital, family, and friend relationships, is widely recognized as an im-portant factor underlying individual differences in CG outcomes. Because empirical work to date largely focuses on either cross-sectional differences or changes in social capital post-caregiving on-set, it is unclear, however, whether social capital disparities across different populations are a func-tion of the transition to CG or whether such disparities exist prior to taking on a CG role. Thus, we used data from the Health and Retirement Study (N=366; 8-waves) and Bayesian multi-phase latent growth curve models to examine social capital changes across the caregiving transition. Results sug-gested that CGs, on average, do not show significant changes in their social capital across the transi-tion to caregiving. Yet, there were significant individual differences, and individual differences in pre-caregiving social capital were significantly associated with social capital changes following tak-ing on a caregiving role: CGs with higher initial levels of social capital showed less declines in rela-tionship quality leading up to caregiving onset, but steeper declines in relationship quality at caregiv-ing onset and smaller relationship quality increases in the years following caregiving onset. This suggests that the social capital of individuals with initially satisfying relationships are most impacted by caregiving. We discuss the implications of these findings for refining and developing personal-ized social support interventions for CG populations.