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Sustainable tourism development on small islands remains challenging because of the potential conflict of interest among relevant stakeholders. This study aims to explore the issue of sustainable tourism development in small island destinations through the example of Dachen Island in China. More specifically, this study intends to fulfill three objectives: (1) assess the stakeholders' perception of tourism sustainable development using five major sustainability dimensions: economic sustainability, sociocultural sustainability, environmental sustainability, tourism development, and tourism management; (2) explore the major reasons for potential conflict of interest among the stakeholders; and (3) propose some conflict resolution mechanisms. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data from 29 stakeholders including locals, visitors, officials, and academicians. The findings indicated that sustainable tourism is developing rapidly on Dachen Island and our respondents showed reasonable satisfaction with the five sustainability dimensions, with emphasis placed on the potential for improving sustainable performance in the future. However, locals were less satisfied with the economic sustainability than other stakeholders. Limited conflict of interest among stakeholders was justified based on the ranking of their perceived priorities. Our findings recommend adopting responsible tourism and we highlight three conflict resolution mechanisms to ensure effective sustainable tourism development on Dachen Island, including the involvement of local communities in decision making, encouraging responsible visitor behavior, and enhancing infrastructure and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing interest in achieving global climate change mitigation targets that target environmental protection. Therefore, electric vehicles (as linear metros) were developed to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, which negatively impact the climate. Hence, this paper proposes a finite set-model predictive-based current control (FS-MPCC) strategy of linear induction motor (LIM) for linear metro drives fed by solar cells with a beta maximum power extraction (B-MPE) control approach to achieve lower thrust ripples and eliminate a selection of weighting factors, the main limitation of conventional model predictive-based thrust control (which can be time consuming and challenging). The B-MPE control approach ensures that the solar cells operate at their maximum power output, maximizing the energy harvested from the sun. Considering a single cost function of primary current errors between the predicted values and their references in αβ-axes, the proposed method eliminates the need for weighting factor selection, thus simplifying the control process. A comparison between the conventional and the presented control method is conducted using MATLAB/Simulink under different scenarios. Comprehensive simulation results of the presented system on a 3 kW LIM prototype revealed that the introduced system based on FS-MPCC surpasses the conventional technique, resulting in a maximum power extraction from solar cells and a suppression of the thrust ripples as well as an avoidance of weighting factor tuning, leading to fewer computational steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a novel control framework integrating feedforward (FF) and feedback (FB) strategies for the management of nonlinear systems. The intelligent control component employs a wavelet neural network (WNN) to construct the FF controller. Additionally, the FB loop incorporates H-infinity control, renowned for its robustness and resilience. The controller parameters are optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The proposed control framework's efficacy is evaluated through its application to knee joint motion, assessing both control accuracy and robustness against external disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of University of Anbar for Pure Science is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Translation is a wonderful area of study especially the literary one. Unlike other kinds of renditions, literary translation needs a lot of cognitive processing on the part of translators in that the selecting of one of the multi grammatical forms available in Arabic is not as easy as a cake considering the implied meaning that syntactic or morphological structure suggests. It could be stated that the main problem of this research is the multi syntactic and morphological structures in Arabic and how translators decide on which is the most suitable equivalent for the English verb to be translated. It is hypothesized that translators involved in literary rendering must be fully- equipped with the various morphological and syntactic devices English and Arabic have and how to accurately employ them to produce good renditions. This research aims at providing literary translators with a sort of practical knowledge and how to achieve accurate equivalence greatly based on meaning on one hand and the precision of Arabic syntactic and morphological structures on the other. It can be concluded that it is not always suitable and accurate to render the English verbs into Arabic verbs. In the current study, however, the verb phrase can be successfully rendered into nominal, prepositional, or adverbial phrases

Background: Impairment in unimanual upper limb function is frequent among children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP), which affects their ability to perform functional activities. Aim: To assess the efficacy of plyometric exercises on the function of upper extremity, selective motor control (SMC) and hand grip strength (HGS) in children with UCP. Design: This was a double‐masked, randomized, controlled clinical trial. Setting: Outpatient Clinics of Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University and Center for Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Rheumatology, Al‐Agouza Hospital, Giza, Egypt. Population: Forty children with UCP, ranging in age from 8 to 12 years, were randomly allocated to two groups equal in numbers. Method: Children were allocated to receive conventional therapy (CONV‐group; n = 20) or plyometric exercises (PLYO‐group; n = 20) for 45 min. In addition, children of both groups received selected physical and occupational therapy programs (each lasted for 30 min) twice a week over 3‐month. The intervention was delivered on non‐consecutive days. Upper extremity function, SMC and HGS were assessed by using quality of upper extremity skills test (QUEST), Test of arm selective control and pneumatic squeeze bulb dynamometer, respectively. Results: Overall, 35 children (18 in the CONV‐group, 17 in the PLYO‐group) completed data collection and treatment. With‐in group comparison showed significant improvement in the study groups while post‐treatment comparisons revealed a significant difference from mean difference in upper extremity function is 9.55 (8.71:10.39), SMC is 2.12 (1.51:2.72) and HGS is 2.91 (2.13:3.68) (p < 0.05; 95% Confidence interval) in favor of the PLYO‐group. Conclusions: Plyometric exercises have the capability to enhance upper extremity function and strength in children with UCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A post-occupancy evaluation (POE) analyzes the functionality and comfort of a building after it has been occupied. POE can determine the problems associated with the building operation phase. Therefore, in a POE project, the essential aspects of a building that can affect occupants and their productivity will be evaluated. Higher education buildings such as university campuses with many buildings and users (students, faculty, and staff) are noticeable cases for POE. By conducting POEs for university campuses and addressing related issues, some underlying problems such as indoor environmental quality (IEQ), students' learning experiences, energy consumption costs, and community-wide impacts will be enhanced. This study conducted a POE project for two large academic buildings through a case study research method. By the primary data collection method for this research--field measurement--various variables such as temperature, relative humidity, CO2, airborne particulars, sound level, and light level were collected with data loggers in two main categories: spot-check and long-term measurements. The results showed that most IEQ factors are at acceptable levels, but some of them, such as background sound, humidity, and light level, which can affect students' learning experience, should be improved. Additionally, solutions such as fluorescent bulb replacement, PV solar panels, and double glazing should be implemented to save resources for the university and reduce operational costs. These solutions can enhance building performance and reduce the negative environmental consequences and CO2 emissions. For example, fluorescent bulb replacement can cut electricity consumption by nearly half, and the payback period will be less than four years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a new approach for controlling COVID-19 through vaccination, where an adequately descriptive mathematical model is created for COVID-19 using the susceptible exposed infectious recovered (SEIR) model of epidemic diseases. The presented control approach is synthesized using a combination of feedback linearization and H∞ control, and incorporates model reference control to achieve optimal time responses with the aid of the black hole optimization (BHO) algorithm. The effectiveness of the designed control law is evaluated using data from the lombardy region of Italy. The results of the simulation show that the proposed control approach is able to effectively control the COVID-19 outbreak by accurately implementing the desirable vaccination, while effectively addressing nonlinearity and uncertainty in the COVID-19 system with a desirable control action. The control method has achieved the required immunity of 6.6 million individuals after approximately 25 days with a transmission rate reduced to zero in a short time, and a vaccination rate of 170 thousand people per day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a condition that has been well-known for more than 50 years in nations with low perinatal death rates, has developed an epidemic pattern in recent years in a number of growing economies with advanced populations. Objective: To study ROP among our preterm newborns and to assess the effect of vitamin A and beta-blockers supplementation on ROP if it exists. Patients and Methods: The present study was carried out on 186 preterm newborns of both sexes who were admitted to NICU, Pediatric Department at Menoufia University Hospitals from October 2019 to March 2020. Results: Advancement from grade I to grade II occurred significantly lesser among those who received vitamin A (4.55%) in comparison to beta blockers group (59.09%) and judicious O2 group (36.36%) (P<0.001). Those who were free of ROP at 2 weeks and became grade I at 4 weeks, occurred significantly more among those on judicious O2 (100%) in comparison to beta blockers group (0%) and vitamin A group (0%) (P=0.023). Also, among those who were grade I at 2 weeks and remained grade I with no progression at 4 weeks, occurred significantly more in vitamin A group (69.23%) in comparison to beta blockers group (7.69%) and judicious O2 group (23.08%) (P<0.001). Conclusion: Vitamin A and to a lesser extent beta blockers supplementation have an important role in decreasing the morbidity among the newborns. Early administration of vitamin A (1500 IU/day as early as possible) and beta blockers (0.5-2 mg/kg/day) in neonates may help decrease the progression of ROP grading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]