ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN EMERGING MARKETS : AN EXAMINATION OF CAUSAL AND EFFECTUAL APPROACHES TO ENTREPRENEURIAL DECISION MAKING

関西学院大

SCADA System Testbed for Cybersecurity Research Using Machine Learning Approach

This paper presents the development of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system testbed used for cybersecurity research. The testbed consists of a water storage tank's control system, which is a stage in the process of water treatment and distribution. Sophisticated cyber-attacks were conducted against the testbed. During the attacks, the network traffic was captured, and features were extracted from the traffic to build a dataset for training and testing different machine learning algorithms. Five traditional machine learning algorithms were trained to detect the attacks: Random Forest, Decision Tree, Logistic Regression, Naive Bayes and KNN. Then, the trained machine learning models were built and deployed in the network, where new tests were made using online network traffic. The performance obtained during the training and testing of the machine learning models was compared to the performance obtained during the online deployment of these models in the network. The results show the efficiency of the machine learning models in detecting the attacks in real time. The testbed provides a good understanding of the effects and consequences of attacks on real SCADA environmentsComment: E-Preprin

The Impact of High Performance Work System (HPWS) on Employee Productivity as Related to Organizational Identity and Job Engagement

High-performance work systems (HPWS) are designed to improve the effectiveness and productivity of employees. In addition, the utilization of this system can reduce costs for the organization, while still creating value for employees. Organizations benefit from creating human resource (HR) systems that increase value to all stakeholders. Factors of HPWS investigated are organizational identity, job engagement, employee creativity, employee voice, and employee proactive behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between HPWS, organizational identity, job engagement, creativity, and employee voice and its impact on employees and organizational performance.The researcher applied quantitative research questions; the data was gathered from web-based surveys emailed to 450 employees which 319 surveys questionnaires were returned. Subsequently, random selection of fully completed surveys was selected to be analyzed. The study establishes the existence of correlations between high performance work systems, organizational identity, employee creativity, and employee proactive behavior. This shows that application of HPWS would enhance employee productivity and organizational performance. Keywords: high-performance work system, HPWS, job engagement, organizational identity, employee voice, employee proactive behavior, employee creativity, human resource theorie

Antibacterial Activities of Volatile oils from mentha Piperia Against Growth of Pathogenic Bacteria

The study included the extraction of volatile oil from Mentha piperita which was 1.3 % in the leaves and flowers . Volatile oil of the Mentha piperita leaves had special aromatic odour, pale yellow color, slightly pungent taste . The specific gravity and refractive index were (0.9794) and ( 1.464) respectively. The inhibition activity of the Mentha piperita Volatile oil extracts were studied on some pathogenic microorganisms like Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Proteus sp, and Klebsiella pneumoniae . The result showed that the volatile oil had an inhibition effect on the growth of all microorganisms, and it gave the higher inhibition effect on the growth of S. aureus in which the inhibition zone reached to 25 mm. also the inhibition zoon on the growth of K. pneumoniae was 20 mm.and it was 17 mm. on the growth of Salmonella.typhi , while the effect was slight on the growth of Proteus sp and E. coli 12,10 mm. respectively. The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the volatile oil extract of the Mentha .piperita leaves, were determined. The value of (MIC, MBC) of Staph. aureus was 0.625 , 1.25 % and the value for (MIC, MBC) of K. pneumoniae? Salmonella typhi were 1.25 , 2.5 % for each of them, while the value of (MIC, MBC) of Proteus sp , E. coli were 2.5 , 5 % respectively

Study of cathodic protection related to thermal desalination plant

This project comprised an in-depth study of the application of cathodic protection in thermal desalination plant and used as it's based on extensive cathodic protection system in multi stage flash units located at Dubai Aluminium Company in United Arab Emirates. A review of the literature confirmed that the Dubai cathodic protection system is unique since cathodic protection has seen only moderate application in desalination plant and this is particularly true of its application in respect of carbon steel components such as pipe-work. The practical work of the project included a detailed survey and assessment of the performance of the cathodic protection system in the multi stage flash units at Dubai. This confirmed that the system, even after some 15 years of operations, continues to successfully control corrosion in the inside of a wide range of carbon steel components. The examination of cathodically protected components clearly revealed the crucial role of calcareous deposition in the corrosion control process. The major part of the research comprised an in-depth experimental study of cathodic protection in a range of environmental conditions related to thermal desalination plant. This work involved some experiments on a relatively simple laboratory flow loop but with more emphasis on the utilization of a larger rig comprising a pipe 0.25 meter diameter and approximately 15 meter length attached to one of the multi stage flash units at Dubai. The results have provided substantial detailed evidence of the crucial role of calcareous scale deposition on the overall performance, and especially the current/time relations of cathodic protection systems and have significantly extended the knowledge available from previous studies which limited to conditions experienced on offshore installations. The work has involved the study of the influences of set potentials, temperature, flow conditions and cathodic protection control mode (potentiostatic or galvanostatic) on the performance of the cathodic protection system and the deposition characteristic of the calcareous scales. Doubled layered scale, comprises an inner Mg(OH)2 (brucite) and an outer zone of CaCO3 (aragonite) crystals have been identified over a range of conditions and tentative models for the mechanism of growth of the scales have been postulated. Since both phases of the research had confirmed the technical success of cathodic protection for protecting carbon steel components in thermal desalination plant, the final part of the work comprised a cost comparison study. This was focused on a pipe loop containing a number of fittings and the findings indicated that carbon steel protected by cathodic protection is considerably less costly then stainless steel for high temperature parts of multi stage flash plant but that glass reinforced epoxy pipes are likely to be cheaper than cathodically protected carbon steel unless modes of cathodic protection operation can be identified that successfully protect with lower capital cost

Cost-effectiveness of malaria diagnosis using rapid diagnostic tests compared to microscopy or clinical symptoms alone in Afghanistan

Background Improving access to parasitological diagnosis of malaria is a central strategy for control and elimination of the disease. Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are relatively easy to perform and could be used in primary level clinics to increase coverage of diagnostics and improve treatment of malaria.<p></p> Methods A cost-effectiveness analysis was undertaken of RDT-based diagnosis in public health sector facilities in Afghanistan comparing the societal and health sector costs of RDTs versus microscopy and RDTs versus clinical diagnosis in low and moderate transmission areas. The effect measure was ‘appropriate treatment for malaria’ defined using a reference diagnosis. Effects were obtained from a recent trial of RDTs in 22 public health centres with cost data collected directly from health centres and from patients enrolled in the trial. Decision models were used to compare the cost of RDT diagnosis versus the current diagnostic method in use at the clinic per appropriately treated case (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, ICER).<p></p> Results RDT diagnosis of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum malaria in patients with uncomplicated febrile illness had higher effectiveness and lower cost compared to microscopy and was cost-effective across the moderate and low transmission settings. RDTs remained cost-effective when microscopy was used for other clinical purposes. In the low transmission setting, RDTs were much more effective than clinical diagnosis (65.2% (212/325) vs 12.5% (40/321)) but at an additional cost (ICER) of US$4.5 per appropriately treated patient including a health sector cost (ICER) of US$2.5 and household cost of US$2.0. Sensitivity analysis, which varied drug costs, indicated that RDTs would remain cost-effective if artemisinin combination therapy was used for treating both P. vivax and P. falciparum. Cost-effectiveness of microscopy relative to RDT is further reduced if the former is used exclusively for malaria diagnosis. In the health service setting of Afghanistan, RDTs are a cost-effective intervention compared to microscopy.<p></p> Conclusions RDTs remain cost-effective across a range of drug costs and if microscopy is used for a range of diagnostic services. RDTs have significant advantages over clinical diagnosis with minor increases in the cost of service provision.<p></p&gt

Circulating Hematopoietic Stem Cell and Some Physiological Parameters in Different Training Programs

Abstract: Exercise is one of the most powerful non pharmacological strategies, which is able to affect nearly all cells and organs in the body. Changes in the behavior of adult stem cells have been shown to occur in response to exercise training. The aim of this study is to reveal the role of aerobic and anaerobic training programs on CD 34+ stem cells and some physiological parameters .20 healthy male athletes aged (18-24 yrs) were recruited for this study. Healthy low active males and BMI matched participants (n=10) aged (20-22 yrs) were recruited as controls .Aerobic and anaerobic training programs for 12 weeks were used. Vo 2max , pulse rate estimation using strand Rhyming protocol. RBCs,WBCs,Hb and hematocrit were estimated using coulter counter, Lactate by accusport,CD 34+ stem cells by flow cytometer. Results revealed: VO 2 max was increased in case of aerobic training program compared to anaerobic one .Lactate concentration was decreased in case of aerobic training programs compared to anaerobic one. RBCs,Wbcs,Hb and hematocrit were increased in anaerobic than aerobic training programs CD 34+ stem cells were increased in case of anaerobic training program than aerobic one and control. It is concluded that training programs provoke better adaptatio

Enhanced erbium-doped ceria nanostructure coating to improve solar cell performance

This paper discusses the effect of adding reduced erbium-doped ceria nanoparticles (REDC NPs) as a coating on silicon solar cells. Reduced ceria nanoparticles doped with erbium have the advantages of both improving conductivity and optical conversion of solar cells. Oxygen vacancies in ceria nanoparticles reduce Ce4+ to Ce3+ which follow the rule of improving conductivity of solar cells through the hopping mechanism. The existence of Ce3+ helps in the down-conversion from 430 nm excitation to 530 nm emission. The erbium dopant forms energy levels inside the low-phonon ceria host to up-convert the 780 nm excitations into green and red emissions. When coating reduced erbium-doped ceria nanoparticles on the back side of a solar cell, a promising improvement in the solar cell efficiency has been observed from 15% to 16.5% due to the mutual impact of improved electric conductivity and multi-optical conversions. Finally, the impact of the added coater on the electric field distribution inside the solar cell has been studied

Antibacterial activity of ginger extracts and its essential oil on some of pathogenic bacteria

The antimicrobial activity of ginger extracts ( cold-water, hot-water, ethanolic and essential oil ) against some of pathogenic bacteria ( Escherichia coli , Salmonella sp , Klebsiella sp , Serratia marcescens, Vibrio cholerae , Staphylococcus aureus , Streptococcus sp) was investigated using Disc diffusion method , and the results were compared with the antimicrobial activity of 12 antibiotics on the same bacteria . The results showed that the ginger extracts were more effective on gram-positive bacteria than gram-negative . V. cholerae and S. marcescens,were the most resistant bacteria to the extracts used , while highest inhibition was noticed against Streptococcus sp (28 mm) . The ethanolic extract showed the broadest antibacterial activity ( 11 to 28 mm ) , in comparison with moderate activity of essential oil , it was observed that the cold-water extract was more effective on the bacteria than hot-water extract . Ginger ethanolic extract presented higher diameter of inhibition zone for Streptococcus sp than in Ciprofloxacin , Cefotaxime , Cefalotin , Cephalexin and Cephaloridine , also it was found a similarity between the higher inhibition zones of ethanolic extract of ginger and some antibiotics for S. aureus , E. coli , Salmonella sp and Klebsiella sp . V. cholerae and S. marcescens,also highly resistant to antibiotics . Phytochemical analysis of ethanolic extract of ginger revealed the present of glycosides, terpenoids, flavonids and phenolic compound

Physicochemical sensitivities of tropical peat to electrokinetic environment

Tropical peat is unconsolidated superficial deposits with high non-crystalline colloid (humus) content, constituting the subsurface of wetland systems. Laboratory experiments were carried out on a very slightly decomposed fibric and a highly decomposed amorphous, undisturbed tropical peat soils, to determine the physicochemical effects on the peats due to electrokinetic (EK) treatment in terms of mechanisms and resulting effects in the presence of peat water. The different specimens were treated for 3, 6, 12, and 20-day periods. A constant electrical potential of 40 V was applied across the specimens. The untreated and treated specimens were tested for liquid limit (LL), undrained shear strength (Su), water content (WC), zeta potential (¥æ), pH, and cation exchange capacity (CEC). The peat water flew from anode to cathode because of the negative charges on the humus. In the vicinity of the anode, the CEC and ¥æ of the specimens decreased, and the Su and LL of the specimens increased because of the acidic conditions, while alkaline conditions at the cathode had an opposite effect. The sensitivity of the amorphous peat to the EK environment was higher than the sensitivity of the fibric peat to the EK environment because of larger quantities of the colloids and quality of the charges. The acid/base distributions in EK soil processing influenced the soil surface charges, which were fully pH-dependent, resulting in the variations of the CEC and ¥æ. The ¥æ variations caused thinning and expanding of the diffuse double layer around the humus particles, and were linked to the flocculation and dispersion of the particles, and subsequently affected the LL and Su of the specimens. The study was found its significance in that it confirmed the relationship between the degree of peat decomposition and the peat sensitivity to the EK treatment