Innovative Technological Advances Research Articles

Assessing the Impacts of Urban Sprawl on Suburban Villages in the Bamenda Metropolitan Periphery, North West Cameroon

Man has been and remains mobile, conquering and impacting every space he occupies. Man’s impact on space has been more accentuated since the 20th century than erstwhile in history, owing to demographic explosion and more advanced technological innovations. Urban space and adjoining lands are impacted most compared to the rural milieu. This study examines the ramifications of rapid and disordered urbanisation on peripheral villages to the city of Bamenda. This is crucial in understanding the threats and consequences of the phenomenon of unending urbanisation on contiguous agricultural land. The trend of urbanisation and resultant impacts were ascertained by analysing data drawn from national census figures, LANDSAT satellite images and suitable field surveys. Analyses revealed that a growth of 14.6% of the population between 1973 and 2018 produced a corresponding sprawl of 97.54% of the spatial extent of Bamenda metropolis, which presently covers 40.96 times the spatial area it occupied in 1973. This has grave repercussions for contiguous agricultural land and urban food security. The paper posits that a scrupulous compliance with existing urban master plans and implementation of carefully designed policies to protect agricultural land are inevitable in checking urban growth and its induced effects; and guaranteeing urban food security.

Processing, Nutrition, and Functionality of Hempseed Protein: A Review.

The increasing demand for plant proteins, along with rising awareness of the nutritional and functional roles of dietary proteins, has prompted the nutrition and food industry to explore nontraditional protein sources. Hempseed protein with its excellent nutritional value and superior digestibility has drawn great interest in both scientific and industrial fields. In this review, the chemistry and nutritional quality of hempseed protein and the health benefits of bioactive peptides derived thereof are highlighted. Processing, functionality, and application of various hemp protein products, including hempseed meal, hemp protein concentrates, and hemp protein isolates, are discussed. Moreover, recent advances in technological innovation to improve hempseed protein functionality are introduced. The objective of this review is to provide an updated summary of the research on hempseed protein and to fill the knowledge gap in the exploitation of potential nutritional, health, and processing benefits of this emerging protein source.

Disruptive Impacts of Automated Driving Systems on the Built Environment and Land Use: An Urban Planner’s Perspective

Cities have started to restructure themselves into ‘smart cities’ to address the challenges of the 21st Century—such as climate change, sustainable development, and digital disruption. One of the major obstacles to success for a smart city is to tackle the mobility and accessibility issues via ‘smart mobility’ solutions. At the verge of the age of smart urbanism, autonomous vehicle technology is seen as an opportunity to realize the smart mobility vision of cities. However, this innovative technological advancement is also speculated to bring a major disruption in urban transport, land use, employment, parking, car ownership, infrastructure design, capital investment decisions, sustainability, mobility, and traffic safety. Despite the potential threats, urban planners and managers are not yet prepared to develop autonomous vehicle strategies for cities to deal with these threats. This is mainly due to a lack of knowledge on the social implications of autonomous capabilities and how exactly they will disrupt our cities. This viewpoint provides a snapshot of the current status of vehicle automation, the direction in which the field is moving forward, the potential impacts of systematic adoption of autonomous vehicles, and how urban planners can mitigate the built environment and land use disruption of autonomous vehicles.

Innovative yet robust supervision in a rapidly changing payments landscape

The payments landscape is constantly changing, and developments are accelerating. One of the main driving forces is technological innovation. Although it is a source of opportunities, technological innovation poses challenges to the robustness and efficiency of the payments system and financial stability in general. This paper describes how De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) facilitates the positive contribution of technological innovation in payments, while ensuring the risks are properly monitored and addressed. It highlights how DNB endeavours to promote an innovative climate through an InnovationHub and Regulatory Sandbox, and dives into the challenges of the growing complexity and fragmentation of the payments landscape and increased vulnerability to cyberattacks. The paper further discusses DNB’s role in finding a right balance between innovation, safety and privacy, especially given the expected changes arising from the new Payment Services Directive (PSD2). Finally, the paper demonstrates how DNB takes advantage of technological innovation by employing advanced innovative techniques in its daily work.

Detecting Mental Workload in Surgical Teams Using a Wearable Single-Channel Electroencephalographic Device

To assess the sensitivity of an electroencephalographic (EEG)-based index, the prefrontal beta power, to quantify the mental workload in surgeons in real scenarios. Such EEG-based index might offer unique and unbiased measures of overload, a crucial factor when designing learning and training surgical programs. The experiment followed a 2 × 2 × 2 within subjects design with 3 factors: (1) Surgical Role during the surgery (primary surgeon vs. assistant surgeon), (2) the Surgical Procedure (laparo-endoscopic single-site [LESS] surgery vs. multiport laparoscopic surgery [MPS]), and (3) the Suturing Techniques (interrupted vs. continuous suture). The study was carried out at the Advanced Multi-Purpose Simulation and Technological Innovation Complex situated at IAVANTE (Granada, Spain). Four surgical teams (primary surgeon and assistant surgeon, experts in MPS) performed 8 surgical exercises on porcine models, under different task complexities. They performed 2 suturing techniques (continuous and interrupted), employing a low complex procedure (MPS) and a high complex procedure (LESS). Surgeons acted as the primary surgeon during half of the exercises, and, as the assistant surgeon, during the rest of them. Simultaneously, we monitored EEG prefrontal EEG beta power spectra of both surgeons, using 2 synchronized wearable EEG devices. We also collected performance and subjective data. Surgical complexity modulated prefrontal beta power. LESS surgery caused significant higher prefrontal beta power for both suturing techniques for both surgical roles which indicates higher demands than MPS. Perceived task complexity, overall surgical evaluation, and laparoscopic execution time confirmed EEG-based results. Finally, subjective ratings of surgical complexity differentiated between surgical roles within the same exercise, even when prefrontal beta power did not. To detect mental overload when surgeons are engaged with complex surgeries, real or simulated, is still guesswork. EEG-based indices have great potential as objective and nonintrusive measures to assess mental overload in surgeons. Furthermore, EEG-based indices might play a relevant role in monitoring surgeons and residents' cognitive state during their training.

The role of advanced demand-sector technologies and energy demand reduction in achieving ambitious carbon budgets

Abstract Limiting cumulative carbon emissions to keep global temperature increase to well below 2 °C (and as low as 1.5 °C) is an extremely challenging task, requiring rapid reduction in the carbon intensity of all sectors of the economy and with limited leeway for residual emissions. Addressing residual emissions in ‘challenging-to-decarbonise’ sectors such as the industrial and aviation sectors relies on the development and commercialization of innovative advanced technologies, currently still in their infancy. The aim of this study was to (a) explore the role of advanced technologies in achieving deep decarbonisation of the energy system and (b) provide technology-specific details of how rapid and deep carbon intensity reductions can be achieved in the energy demand sectors. This was done using TIAM-Grantham – a linear cost optimization model of the global energy system with a detailed representation of demand-side technologies. We find that the inclusion of advanced technologies in the demand sectors, together with energy demand reduction through behavioural changes, enables the model to achieve the rapid and deep decarbonisation of the energy system associated with limiting global warming to below 2 °C whilst at the same time reduces reliance on negative emissions technologies by up to ∼18% compared to the same scenario with a standard set of technologies. Realising such advanced technologies at commercial scales, as well as achieving such significant reductions in energy demand, represents a major challenge for policy makers, businesses and civil society. There is an urgent need for continued R&D efforts in the demand sectors to ensure that advanced technologies become commercially available when we need them and to avoid the gamble of overreliance on negative emissions technologies to offset residual emissions.

Let's Get Digital: Understanding Adolescent Romantic Relationships Using Naturalistic Assessments of Digital Communication.

Adolescent romantic relationships involve complex patterns of interaction. Innovative technological advances offer opportunities to capture features and dynamics of these relationships that traditional research methods have not addressed. With the explosion of digital communication platforms (e.g., mobile texting, direct messaging, social media applications), researchers can now observe and understand adolescent relationships in vivo, offering for the first time a naturalistic lens into adolescent worlds. Recognizing this scientific opportunity, in this article, we 1) discuss the potential theoretical and methodological benefits of collecting and coding digital communication data to understand adolescent romantic relationships, 2) suggest ways to use these data to develop innovative prevention tools, and 3) address potential challenges in collecting digital communication data from adolescents.

Innovative development of the regions: cooperation between enterprises and state institutions

In the conditions of limited sources of financing for the introduction of advanced innovative technologies and equipment modernization, to retain the existing positions and increase the overall level of competitiveness can only the company that establishes a close relationship with government bodies, local governments and trade union organizations with the aim of obtaining possible preferences for development within the existing regulatory right field. The purpose of the article is to analyze the main socio-economic indicators of the development of Ukraine and its regions, the definition and justification of possible areas of establishing interaction between private enterprises and government agencies. The methodological basis of the study consisted of scientific works of domestic and foreign scientists and leading specialists, statistical and analytical materials of state authorities. The results are obtained through the use of such methods as expert – to identify the impact of qualitative and quantitative indicators on the socio-economic development of the Kherson region; economics and mathematics – to study the influence of a defined group of indicators on the index of the physical volume of the gross regional product; abstract-logical – for a theoretical synthesis and formulation of conclusions. It is revealed that among the key areas of interaction is the promotion of the state and local authorities in the creation of industrial parks. The conducted research on identifying the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the economy of the Kherson region indicates the need to develop measures to ensure the economic security of the region. To solve these problems at the regional level, it is proposed to implement a state policy that would be carried out in the following areas: ensuring a solid institutional protection of investor's property rights; improvement of the legislative framework; establishing an effective mechanism for combating corruption in Ukraine, developing an effective state policy on amnesty and unshadowing of incomes of individuals and legal entities. Keywords: socio-economic development, management, innovation, industrial park, competitiveness, foreign investment, amnesty of capital.

Review of Pedestrian Load Models for Vibration Serviceability Assessment of Floor Structures

Innovative design and technological advancements in the construction industry have resulted in an increased use of large, slender and lightweight floors in contemporary office buildings. Compounded by an ever-increasing use of open-plan layouts with few internal partitions and thus lower damping, floor vibration is becoming a governing limit state in the modern structural design originating from dynamic footfall excitations. This could cause annoyance and discomfort to building occupants as well as knock-on management and financial consequences for facility owners. This article presents a comprehensive review pertinent to walking-induced dynamic loading of low-frequency floor structures. It is intended to introduce and explain key walking parameters in the field as well as summarise the development of previous walking models and methods for vibration serviceability assessment. Although a number of walking models and design procedures have been proposed, the literature survey highlights that further work is required in the following areas; (1) the development of a probabilistic multi-person loading model which accounts for inter- and intra-subject variabilities, (2) the identification of walking paths (routes accounting for the effect of occupancy patterns on office floors) coupled with spatial distribution of pedestrians and (3) the production of a statistical spatial response approach for vibration serviceability assessment. A stochastic approach, capable of taking into account uncertainties in loading model and vibration responses, appears to be a more reliable way forward compared to the deterministic approaches of the past and there is a clear need for further research in this area.

The lifetime determination of ARC reactor as a load-following plant in the energy framework

Energy studies are interdisciplinary studies. They involve not just technical aspects, but also environmental, social and political aspects. In this framework, an advanced technological innovation as a part of simple solution for the energy problem is considered. The role of the fusion energy as new energy source and in particular the project Affordable Robust Compact (ARC) fusion reactor as new technology is presented as part of energy policy. The most innovative characteristics of ARC is its integration in the energy grid as load-following power plant. In particular, the proposed study investigates the stresses induced in the vacuum vessel, the closest component to the plasma. The performed analysis has been focused on the quantification of time in which the vessel would fail due to repeated thermal stress when it works as load-following. It has been demonstrated that the vacuum vessel lifetime can be quantified from three to five years on the basis of the thermal cycles considered (i.e. 3, 10 and 20 cycles per day).

Unemployment of rural youth: causes and ways to solve

The article examines the situation on the rural youth labor market and proposes the main directions of overcoming unemployment in rural areas. In particular, it has been established that the financial and economic crisis that has been observed in recent years and military actions in the east of the country have substantially exacerbated this problem. The problem of youth unemployment is the main among economic and social problems of the 21st century, as one of the most important factors in the economic and social development of any country is the socio-cultural and professional development of the youth. In the work the authors use general scientific methods and techniques: formal logic, statistical analysis – to study the state of employment and unemployment in Ukraine; abstract – in the substantiation of theoretical positions and the formulation of conclusions, etc. Particular attention is paid to statistical components, their analysis, also the main reasons of reduction of number of young people employed in agricultural enterprises and the tendencies of self-employment in rural areas are highlighted. The authors assess the impact of current government policy affecting rural youth employment, and make suggestions for its future development. It is proved that the use of advanced innovative technologies, investment and financing of agrarian development programs, entrepreneurial initiatives in agribusiness and vocational education will all make youth in agriculture the driving force that can bring this industry out of a prolonged crisis. It is summed up that the main directions of promoting employment of rural youth are the improvement of the quality of educational services (in particular, state support through budgeting of training in agricultural specialties), information on career opportunities, support of the development of family-owned agribusiness and creative projects, the development of green tourism and the adequate state social protection of young people. Youth is a social capital that requires priority investment, so this subject needs further research.

Diversification of nonhydro renewable energy sources in developing countries

Despite the increasing attention on renewable energy, still there is limited empirical analysis about its determinants especially in developing countries. In this paper, we investigate the determinants of diversification of nonhydro renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and waste using an extensive data set covering more than 100 developing countries from 1980 to 2010. We explore several estimation techniques such as negative binomial regression and Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimation. Controlling for time and regional variations, results show that higher per capita income, implementation of renewable energy policy, advances in technological innovation and improvement in human capital promotes diversification of nonhydro sources of renewable energy. However, financial development showed no robust evidence of its effect on the diversification. Similarly, high dependence on foreign sources of fuel, increasing world market price for crude oil and increasing population will push developing countries to diversify sources of nonhydro renewable energy. In contrast, the local abundance of hydropower, high production of fossil fuel, development aid and foreign direct investment do not contribute to diversification. Results highlight salient information in drawing the roadmap for further diffusion of renewable energy in developing countries. This suggests that policy makers should exert consistent effort in integrating renewable energy in the country’s energy mix.

Application of Adaptive Structure based on Natural Inspiration on Biomimicry Architecture

Today the advancement of technology and human science has developed rapidly. These developments give a number of technological innovations that were used to solve and facilitate human life. One of the advances in technological innovation is the development of buildings that are designed and established using modern technology. However, the development of these advances, especially man-made buildings, on the contrary, also have a lot of adverse effects on the environment in which humans live. These adverse impacts cause environmental degradation to result in the extinction of a number of natural species around human habitation. These problems are mostly sourced from people who lack environmental awareness. A number of experts to scientists, especially those in charge of development problems, began to look for ways to reduce these adverse impacts. One way that is done especially by architects is to study the process of natural adaptation with its environment which is included in the Biomimicry Architecture. The adaptation process carried out by nature is reflected in how forms, processes and systems that nature uses to respond to its environment. The inspiration was then applied by the architect into the building. Architects in terms of building design must pay attention to three important aspects that exist in the building design process, namely aesthetics, function and strength. However, the aspect of power design in the discussion of biomimicry architecture has a smaller portion than aesthetics and function. While the need for building strength innovations in this regard is very necessary in the building structure against the background of the lack of innovative and environmentally friendly structural design aspects. Based on this problem, this study then used content analysis method with qualitative inductive type. The study was conducted by analyzing written information data that discussed the case of selected buildings, namely The Eden Project Building, The Gherkin Tower and The Eastgate Center. The results of the research are descriptive explanations related to how the adaptive principles applied by the architect into the building use natural inspiration. The benefits of this research are expected to provide an illustration for architects to design buildings that are adaptive to the environment, especially from structural systems and can expand the science of Biomimicry Architecture.

User Perception to Analysis and Methods of Using Electronic Resources in Coimbatore District Engineering Colleges: A Study

Academic libraries have for centuries played critically-important roles in supporting research in all subjects and disciplines within their host universities and colleges Rapid advances in technological innovations, affordable high bandwidth networks, explosive growth of web resources, sophisticated search engines, ever growing digital resources and changing information seeking behavior of users are greatly transforming the future of academic libraries. This study surveyed students’ utilization of resources, services, and facilities of the academic libraries in colleges. The findings reveal that most of the respondents visited the library to accessing the e-resources. Google is the mostly preferred search engine for e-resource access. The majority of the respondents preferred the international journals for their studies.

Predicting customer churn using targeted proactive retention

With the advent of innovative technologies and fierce competition, the choices for customers to choose from have increased tremendously in number. Especially in the case of a telecommunication industry, where deregulation is at its peak. Every year a new company springs up offering fitter options for its customers. This has turned the concentration of the business doers on churn prediction and business management models to sustain their places. Businesses approach churn in two ways, one is through targeted customer retention and through cause identification strategy. The literature of this paper provides a comprehensible understanding of the so far employed techniques in predicting customer churn. From that, it is quite evident that less attention has been given to the accuracy and the intuitiveness of churn models developed. Therefore, a novel approach of combining the models of Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics tools was proposed to deal churn prediction effectively. The purpose of this proposed work is to apply a novel retention technique called the targeted proactive retention to predict customer churning behavior in advance and help in their retention. This proposed work will help telecom companies to comprehend the risk associated with customer churn by predicting the possibility and the time of occurrence.

Linear Landscape Spaces in the Planning Structure of the City

The article is aimed to show up the role of linear landscape spaces in the layout structure of a city. The current urban environment of existence of human shows a mix between nature, urbanized informative space, advanced innovative technologies, design elements. The authors accentuate importance of creation harmonious ecological and esthetically attractive environment of a city for human life and activities basing on the proper compatibility of these constituents. Basing on the selected methodology of research the authors analyze the available historiography material, world analogues of the investigated objects and their project conceptions. The article presents the existing theoretical conceptions of the urban development starting from the treatises of the ancient Greek philosophers up to project urban conceptions of the future cities basing on the linear landscape spaces. Position of the objects under research is outlined in the system of the green space. The system includes the objects under investigation as its integral part. The authors are educed the most widespread varieties of objects. The authors show the most widespread varieties of objects under research in the layout structure of modern cities. Particular attention of the authors is addressed to the linear parks, embankments, boulevards and parkways that play an important role in life and activity of a city and its habitants. Importance of proper implementation of project conceptions for such spaces has been shown by means of different spheres of design - landscape, ecological, ergonomics, urban and graphic.

Architecture on demand. New scenarios for the design project and the construction industry

The paper examines how the relationship between the project and the matter is changing under the impact of digitalization and the productive and economical emerging paradigms, both in terms of process and product. The evolutionary path of the relationship between industrialization and architecture allow us to draw a picture which, starting from the first experience of standardizing prefabrication, lead to results increasingly oriented towards the personalization of realizations (Industrial Mass Customization). The essay proposes a critical reading of most recent and advanced technological innovations, focusing on the applications of 3d printing additive technology to the architecture and to the new scenarios of research opened for the project and the construction industry.

The Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Bank Capital Regulations on Operating Efficiency

This paper principally aims at examining the impact of capital requirements regulation on bank operating efficiency in Tanzania. The study employs bank level data for the period between 2009 and 2015. The findings show a positive and significant relationship between capital ratio and bank operating efficiency. This shows that commercial banks in Tanzania with more stringent capital regulations are more operationally efficient. This relationship proposes that capital adequacy does not only strengthen financial stability by providing a larger capital cushion but also improves bank operating efficiency by preventing a moral hazard problem between shareholders and debt-holders. This result may also imply that the increased regulations on capital requirements influence the bank’s decision to revisit their internal operations strategy in terms of strong corporate governance, risk assessment methods, credit evaluation procedures, employment of more qualified staffs, and enhanced internal control procedures. Another key finding is an inverse relationship between non-performing Loans (credit risk) and bank operating efficiency. The implication of this relationship may simply mean that the bank’s total loan and advances in combination with total deposit either due from customers or from other banks are of little importance in determining the operational efficiency of banks. This probably implies that the amount of money banks loan out is too excessive, which would attract a greater chance of default. The paper lays down some recommendations: first, banks in Tanzania are advised to invest in more advanced technological innovations to reduce the staff costs and other operating expenses to increase their operational efficiency; and, second, bank management is also advised to be more careful in the loan screening process to reduce the incidence of non-performing loans.

Non-Fiction Transmedia: Seriality and Forensics in Media Sport

The article uses two examples (from 1908 and 1966) to analyse in greater detail why and how sport’s transmedia dynamic is very much fostered by the close interrelations between the seriality of sport events and the forensic attitude of fans. Two arguments are of special importance: (1) While social media add to forensic fandom’s proliferation, it was sport’s strongly serialized evaluation of performances that actually triggered the “spreadability” of sport-related topics across different media, first doing so at the end of the 19th century. What is more, modern sport owes its very existence to the cross-media circulation of its events. (2) So far, transmedia has mainly been researched with respect to fictional content, yet existing research on documentary transmedia forms and social media seriality has shown that the inclusion of non-fiction can broaden our knowledge of how storytelling sprawls across media and takes advantage of their specific affordances. This, I want to argue, ensures that sport is an insightful and important example for the understanding of transmedia world-building.

Left Ventricular Assist Devices - A State of the Art Review.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality rates throughout the world. Next to an insufficient number of healthy donors, this has led to increasing numbers of patients on heart transplant waiting lists with prolonged waiting times. Innovative technological advancements have led to the production of ventricular assist devices that play an increasingly important role in end stage heart failure therapy. This review is intended to provide an overview of current implantable left ventricular assist devices, different design concepts and implantation techniques. Challenges such as infections and thromboembolic events that may occur during LVAD implantations have also been discussed.