Search results for: comparative exploratory analytics

Authors: Kelvin Tang

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As the world is approaching global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, more atrocious consequences of climate change are projected to occur in the future. Consequently, it is today’s adolescents who will encounter the grand consequences of climate change. Therefore, nurturing adolescents that are well-informed, emotionally engaged, and motivated to take actions for combating climate change may be pivotal. Climate change education has a role in not only raising awareness, but also promoting behaviour change for climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, what kind of climate change education is suitable for whom? Requiring a learner-centred approach, tailoring climate change education requires a comprehensive understanding of the audience and their preconditions. In Japan, where climate change education has yet to be recognised as a field of environmental education, understanding climate change conceptions possessed by early adolescents is critical for a better design and more impactful implementation of climate change education. This exploratory study aims to investigate climate change conceptions among Japanese early adolescents from the perspective of cognition, affective, and conative dimensions. Questionnaire surveys were conducted targeting 423 students aged 12–14 in three public junior high schools located in Kashiwa City and Oita City. Findings suggest that the majority of Japanese early adolescents belong to groups that exhibit lower levels of cognition, affect, and conation in relation to climate change. The relationships among those dimensions were found to be positive and bidirectional. Moreover, several misconceptions about climate change and the effectiveness of its solutions were identified among the sample.

Keywords: climate change conceptions, climate change education, environmental education, adolescents, three learning dimensions, Japan

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Authors: Djamal Hamadi, Oussama Temami, Abdallah Zatar, Sifeddine Abderrahmani

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The analysis and design of thin shell structures is a topic of interest in a variety of engineering applications. In structural mechanics problems the analyst seeks to determine the distribution of stresses throughout the structure to be designed. It is also necessary to calculate the displacements of certain points of the structure to ensure that specified allowable values are not exceeded. In this paper a comparative study between displacement and strain based finite elements applied to the analysis of some thin shell structures is presented. The results obtained from some examples show the efficiency and the performance of the strain based approach compared to the well known displacement formulation.

Keywords: displacement formulation, finite elements, strain based approach, shell structures

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Authors: Ranjitkumar Patil

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Age estimation has importance in forensic dentistry. Dental age estimation has emerged as an alternative to skeletal age determination. The methods based on stages of tooth formation, as appreciated on radiographs, seem to be more appropriate in the assessment of age than those based on skeletal development. The study was done to evaluate dental age in the north Indian population using Cameriere’s method. Aims/Objectives: The study was conducted to assess the dental age of North Indian children using Cameriere’s method and to compare the chronological age and dental age for validation of the Cameriere’s method in the north Indian population. A comparative study of 02-year duration on the OPG (using PLANMECA Promax 3D) data of 497 individuals with ages ranging from 5 to 15 years was done based on simple random technique ethical approval obtained from institutional ethical committee. The data was obtained based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and was analyzed by software for dental age estimation. Statistical analysis: The student’s t-test was used to compare the morphological variables of males with those of females and to compare observed age with estimated age. The regression formula was also calculated. Results: Present study was a comparative study of 497 subjects with a distribution between males and females, with their dental age assessed by using a Panoramic radiograph, following the method described by Cameriere, which is widely accepted. Statistical analysis in our study indicated that gender does not have a significant influence on age estimation. (R2= 0.787). Conclusion: This infers that Cameriere’s method can be effectively applied to the north Indian population.

Keywords: forensic, dental age, skeletal age, chronological age, Cameriere’s method

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Authors: Lida Moghaddam-Banaem, Mahmood Tavoosi, Soheila Khalili

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Objective: The main objective of this study was designing a breast cancer health literacy questionnaire and assess its psychometric properties. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was performed to develop a primary questionnaire consisting of five domains. Qualitative and quantitative content validity were assessed by relevant experts, and after some modifications, the content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR) were calculated. Qualitative and quantitative face validity were evaluated by a number of patients, and the impact score for each item was calculated. 225 women with breast cancer were asked to fill out the questionnaire and construct validity was determined by using exploratory factor analysis. The reliability was tested by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Results: A 36-item questionnaire with five domains of reading, having access, understanding, assessing/judgment, and decision making/behavior was designed. 2 items were omitted in the qualitative content validity process. All items achieved optimum values in CVI, CVR and impact scores. Content and face validity of the questionnaire were confirmed too. According to the exploratory factor analysis, the five-factor solution accounted for 64.98 percent of the observed variance. Conclusion: Due to the obtained satisfactory validity and reliability, this tool can be used to assess health literacy in women with breast cancer. Health policy makers can use these findings for improving health-related behaviors in breast cancer patients.

Keywords: health literacy, breast cancer, questionnaire, psychometric properties

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Authors: Thea Freese, Michael Gille, Andrew Hursthouse, John Struthers

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Ship operators on the North and Baltic Sea have been experiencing increased political interest in marine environmental protection and cleaner vessel operations. Stricter legislation on SO2 and NOx emissions, ballast water management and other measures of protection are currently being phased in or will come into force in the coming years. These measures benefit the health of the marine environment, while increasing company’s operational costs. In times of excess shipping capacity and linked consolidation in the industry non-compliance with environmental rules is one way companies might hope to stay competitive with both intra- and inter-modal trade. Around 5-15% of industry participants are believed to neglect laws on vessel-source pollution willingly or unwillingly. Exploratory in-depth interviews conducted with 12 experts from various stakeholder groups informed the researchers about variables influencing compliance levels, including awareness and apprehension, willingness to comply, ability to comply and effectiveness of controls. Semi-structured expert interviews were evaluated using qualitative content analysis. A model of determinants of compliance was developed and is presented here. While most vessel operators endeavour to achieve full compliance with environmental rules, a lack of availability of technical solutions, expediency of implementation and operation and economic feasibility might prove a hindrance. Ineffective control systems on the other hand foster willing non-compliance. With respect to motivations, lacking time, lacking financials and the absence of commercial advantages decrease compliance levels. These and other variables were inductively developed from qualitative data and integrated into a model on environmental compliance. The outcomes presented here form part of a wider research project on economic effects of maritime environmental legislation. Research on determinants of compliance might inform policy-makers about actual behavioural effects of shipping companies and might further the development of a comprehensive legal system for environmental protection.

Keywords: compliance, marine environmental protection, exploratory qualitative research study, clean vessel operations, North and Baltic Sea area

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Authors: Mohammad Hossain Mohammadi, Saif Al Ameri, Sana Ziaei, Jinane Mounsef

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Automated enumeration of the number of hand fingers is widely used in several motion gaming and distance control applications, and is discussed in several published papers as a starting block for hand recognition systems. The automated finger enumeration technique should not only be accurate, but also must have a fast response for a moving-picture input. The high performance of video in motion games or distance control will inhibit the program’s overall speed, for image processing software such as Matlab need to produce results at high computation speeds. Since an automated finger enumeration with minimum error and processing time is desired, a comparative study between two finger enumeration techniques is presented and analyzed in this paper. In the pre-processing stage, various image processing functions were applied on a real-time video input to obtain the final cleaned auto-cropped image of the hand to be used for the two techniques. The first technique uses the known morphological tool of skeletonization to count the number of skeleton’s endpoints for fingers. The second technique uses a radial distance method to enumerate the number of fingers in order to obtain a one dimensional hand representation. For both discussed methods, the different steps of the algorithms are explained. Then, a comparative study analyzes the accuracy and speed of both techniques. Through experimental testing in different background conditions, it was observed that the radial distance method was more accurate and responsive to a real-time video input compared to the skeletonization method. All test results were generated in Matlab and were based on displaying a human hand for three different orientations on top of a plain color background. Finally, the limitations surrounding the enumeration techniques are presented.

Keywords: comparative study, hand recognition, fingertip detection, skeletonization, radial distance, Matlab

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Authors: M. Baldini, H. K. Jacobsen, M. Jaccard

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In light of the international efforts to comply with the Paris agreement and emission targets for future energy systems, Denmark and Canada are among the front-runner countries dealing with climate change. The experiences in the energy sector have seen both countries coping with trade-offs between investments in renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency, thus tackling the climate issue from the supply and demand side respectively. On the demand side, the industrial sector is going through a remarkable transformation, with implementation of energy efficiency measures, change of input fuel for end-use processes and forecasted electrification as main features under the spotlight. By looking at Canada and Denmark's experiences as pathfinders on the demand and supply approach to climate change, it is possible to obtain valuable experience that may be applied to other countries aiming at the same goal. This paper presents a comparative study on industrial energy efficiency between Canada and Denmark. The study focuses on technologies and system options, policy design and implementation and modelling methodologies when implementing industrial energy savings in optimization models in comparison to simulation models. The study identifies gaps and junctures in the approach towards climate change actions and, learning from each other, lessen the differences to further foster the adoption of energy efficiency measurements in the industrial sector, aiming at reducing energy consumption and, consequently, CO₂ emissions.

Keywords: industrial energy efficiency, comparative study, CO₂ reduction, energy system modelling

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Authors: Rasim Alguliev, Farhad Yusifov

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Considering the international experience, conceptual and architectural principles of forming of electron government are researched and some suggestions were made. The assessment of monitoring of forming processes of electron government, intellectual analysis of web-resources, provision of information security, electron democracy problems were researched, conceptual approaches were suggested. By taking into consideration main principles of electron government theory, important research directions were specified.

Keywords: electron government, public administration, information security, web-analytics, social networks, data mining

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Authors: Giselle Maggie-Fer Castañeda Lozano

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The main objective of this research was to explore the role of neural network architectures in simulating behavioral phenomena as a potential explanation for selective associations, specifically related to biological constraints on learning. Biological constraints on learning refer to the limitations observed in conditioning procedures, where learning is expected to occur. The study involved simulations of five different experiments exploring various phenomena and sources of biological constraints in learning. These simulations included the interaction between response and reinforcer, stimulus and reinforcer, specificity of stimulus-reinforcer associations, species differences, neuroanatomical constraints, and learning in uncontrolled conditions. The overall results demonstrated that by manipulating neural network architectures, conditions can be created to model and explain diverse biological constraints frequently reported in comparative psychology literature as learning typicities. Additionally, the simulations offer predictive content worthy of experimental testing in the pursuit of new discoveries regarding the specificity of learning. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed. Finally, it is suggested that this research could inaugurate a line of inquiry involving the use of neural networks to study biological factors in behavior, fostering the development of more ethical and precise research practices.

Keywords: comparative psychology, connectionism, conditioning, experimental analysis of behavior, neural networks

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Authors: D. J. Dahigaonkar, D. G. Wakde

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The performance analysis of low voltage low power CMOS OTA is presented in this paper. The differential input single output OTA is simulated in 180nm CMOS process technology. The simulation results indicate high bandwidth of the order of 7.04GHz with 0.766mW power consumption and transconductance of -71.20dB. The total harmonic distortion for 100mV input at a frequency of 1MHz is found to be 2.3603%. In addition to this, to establish comparative analysis of designed OTA and analyze effect of technology scaling, the differential input single output OTA is further simulated using 350nm CMOS process technology and the comparative analysis is presented in this paper.

Keywords: Operational Transconductance Amplifier, Total Harmonic Distortions, low voltage/low power, power dissipation

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Authors: Abdiwahab Guled

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that emanates from a broad range of conditions, which affect the communication skills, social skills. It causes restrictive and repetitive behaviors to individuals. The number of children with ASD is an increasing prevalence around the world. Virtual reality (VR) is an assistive technology, which puts the learner in an immersive learning environment. It allows the learner to interact with that environment in a seemingly real or physical way using special electronic equipment, such as headsets. This exploratory study examines the potential benefits that VR may provide to improving the communication skills of children with ASD. Educating a child with ASD is challenging because access to services, resources, and support for autistic children is inadequate. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the challenges of teaching children with ASD and how VR might help teachers to improve the communication skills of these children with ASD. Online research and literature review were used as a method to gather previously published studies to identify the research gap and provide the groundwork for future studies. Results show that VR offers potential benefits to improving the communication skills of children with ASD but there is a gap in our understanding of the functionalities of all the features of VR technology and how we can utilize it to improve the communication skills of children with ASD. Communication is a broad subject and it is impossible for one study to evidently define the speech challenges of autistic children and provide an irrefutable solution. Therefore, this study proposes further research to dissect how can VR be used to improve the different communication challenges that impede the everyday functioning of autistic children.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), autistic, Asperger, Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), virtual reality (VR).

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Authors: Shawndra Bowers, Allie Brandriet, Betsy Gilbertson

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This paper will highlight how Auburn Online’s instructional designers leveraged student and faculty data to update and improve online course design and instructional materials. When designing and revising online courses, it can be difficult for faculty to know what strategies are most likely to engage learners and improve educational outcomes in a specific discipline. It can also be difficult to identify which metrics are most useful for understanding and improving teaching, learning, and course design. At Auburn Online, the instructional designers use a suite of data based student’s performance, participation, satisfaction, and engagement, as well as faculty perceptions, to inform sound learning and design principles that guide growth-mindset consultations with faculty. The consultations allow the instructional designer, along with the faculty member, to co-create an actionable course improvement plan. Auburn Online gathers learning analytics from a variety of sources that any instructor or instructional design team may have access to at their own institutions. Participation and performance data, such as page: views, assignment submissions, and aggregate grade distributions, are collected from the learning management system. Engagement data is pulled from the video hosting platform, which includes unique viewers, views and downloads, the minutes delivered, and the average duration each video is viewed. Student satisfaction is also obtained through a short survey that is embedded at the end of each instructional module. This survey is included in each course every time it is taught. The survey data is then analyzed by an instructional designer for trends and pain points in order to identify areas that can be modified, such as course content and instructional strategies, to better support student learning. This analysis, along with the instructional designer’s recommendations, is presented in a comprehensive report to instructors in an hour-long consultation where instructional designers collaborate with the faculty member on how and when to implement improvements. Auburn Online has developed a triage strategy of priority 1 or 2 level changes that will be implemented in future course iterations. This data-informed decision-making process helps instructors focus on what will best work in their teaching environment while addressing which areas need additional attention. As a student-centered process, it has created improved learning environments for students and has been well received by faculty. It has also shown to be effective in addressing the need for improvement while removing the feeling the faculty’s teaching is being personally attacked. The process that Auburn Online uses is laid out, along with the three-tier maintenance and revision guide that will be used over a three-year implementation plan. This information can help others determine what components of the maintenance and revision plan they want to utilize, as well as guide them on how to create a similar approach. The data will be used to analyze, revise, and improve courses by providing recommendations and models of good practices through determining and disseminating best practices that demonstrate an impact on student success.

Keywords: data-driven, improvement, online courses, faculty development, analytics, course design

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Authors: Mohd Zuhair, Ram Babu Roy

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This paper presents an overview of the accessibility, design, and functioning of health insurance plans launched by state governments in India. In recent years, the governments of several states in India have come forward to provide health insurance coverage for the low-income group and rural population to reduce the out of pocket expenditure (OPE) on healthcare. Different health insurance schemes have different structures and offerings which differ in the different demographic factors. This study will portray a comparative analysis of the various health insurance schemes by analyzing different offerings and finance generation of the schemes. The comparative analysis will explain the lesson to be learned from these schemes and extend the existing knowledge of the health insurance in India. This would help in recognizing tension between various drivers and identifying issues pertaining to the sustainability of health insurance schemes in India.

Keywords: health insurance, out of pocket expenditure, universal healthcare, sustainability

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Authors: Jocelyn D. Perreault

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An exploratory study has been launched in 2013-2014 in the province of Quebec, the state of Vermont (USA) and the region of Zaer in Morocco. We have realized three first case studies in order to better understand the marketing strategies of starting up vineries, which are defined as having a maximum of five years of operations. The methodology used consisted of visiting the vineyards; conducting semi-directed interviews with owner-managers; visiting points-of-sale of the wines and analysing the web sites using an assessment grid. The results indicate many differences between the three firms in their use of their web sites. More precisely, we have noticed that: -The Quebec vineyard uses its web site in collaboration with the touristic actors of its region and the association of the wine makers of the province of Quebec.Positioning is as a touristic attraction. -In comparison,the Moroccan firm limits the content of the web site to itself and its activities and somehow to the wine industry.Positioning is as a wine specialist. -The american firm associated its web site more to farm markets actors and activities of the region.Positioning is as an agricultural actor. -The positionings of the three vineyards are very different from each others and will be discussed more thoroughly during the presentation to better understand the use of web sites, thus contributing to the «brand image». -Improvements to the three web sites have been identified and suggested by more than a hundred of persons using the same grid and comprising students of bachelor and MBA degrees from our university. In general, the web sites have been considered satisfying but requiring several improvements at different levels. Changes or updates have been observed for the Quebec winery web site but practically no changes have been made to the others in the last months. The assessment grid will be presented in more details as well as the global and the partial scores given by the respondents. In conclusion, we have noticed that only one winery is considered as a «heavy and strategic user» of its web site and of Facebook and Twitter.

Keywords: web site, wineries, marketing, positioning, starting up strategies

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Authors: Umberto Di Staso, Marco Soave, Alessio Giori, Federico Prandi, Raffaele De Amicis

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The increasing availability of information about earth surface elevation (Digital Elevation Models DEM) generated from different sources (remote sensing, Aerial Images, Lidar) poses the question about how to integrate and make available to the most than possible audience this huge amount of data. In order to exploit the potential of 3D elevation representation the quality of data management plays a fundamental role. Due to the high acquisition costs and the huge amount of generated data, highresolution terrain surveys tend to be small or medium sized and available on limited portion of earth. Here comes the need to merge large-scale height maps that typically are made available for free at worldwide level, with very specific high resolute datasets. One the other hand, the third dimension increases the user experience and the data representation quality, unlocking new possibilities in data analysis for civil protection, real estate, urban planning, environment monitoring, etc. The open-source 3D virtual globes, which are trending topics in Geovisual Analytics, aim at improving the visualization of geographical data provided by standard web services or with proprietary formats. Typically, 3D Virtual globes like do not offer an open-source tool that allows the generation of a terrain elevation data structure starting from heterogeneous-resolution terrain datasets. This paper describes a technological solution aimed to set up a so-called “Terrain Builder”. This tool is able to merge heterogeneous-resolution datasets, and to provide a multi-resolution worldwide terrain services fully compatible with CesiumJS and therefore accessible via web using traditional browser without any additional plug-in.

Keywords: Terrain Builder, WebGL, Virtual Globe, CesiumJS, Tiled Map Service, TMS, Height-Map, Regular Grid, Geovisual Analytics, DTM

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Authors: Pranay Mathur, Carlo Michelassi, Simi Karatha, Gilda Pedoto

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Industrial plant uptime is top most importance for reliable, profitable & sustainable operation. Trip and failed start has major impact on plant reliability and all plant operators focussed on efforts required to minimise the trips & failed starts. The performance of these CTQs are measured with 2 metrics, MTBT(Mean time between trips) and SR (Starting reliability). These metrics helps to identify top failure modes and identify units need more effort to improve plant reliability. Baker Hughes Trip reduction program structured to reduce these unwanted trip 1. Real time machine operational parameters remotely available and capturing the signature of malfunction including related boundary condition. 2. Real time alerting system based on analytics available remotely. 3. Remote access to trip logs and alarms from control system to identify the cause of events. 4. Continuous support to field engineers by remotely connecting with subject matter expert. 5. Live tracking of key CTQs 6. Benchmark against fleet 7. Break down to the cause of failure to component level 8. Investigate top contributor, identify design and operational root cause 9. Implement corrective and preventive action 10. Assessing effectiveness of implemented solution using reliability growth models. 11. Develop analytics for predictive maintenance With this approach , Baker Hughes team is able to support customer in achieving their Reliability Key performance Indicators for monitored units, huge cost savings for plant operators. This Presentation explains these approach while providing successful case studies, in particular where 12nos. of LNG and Pipeline operators with about 140 gas compressing line-ups has adopted these techniques and significantly reduce the number of trips and improved MTBT

Keywords: reliability, availability, sustainability, digital infrastructure, weibull, effectiveness, automation, trips, fail start

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Authors: Elif D. Oguz Erkal, David Krackhardt, Erica Cochran-Hameen

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Even though social network analysis (SNA) is an abundantly studied concept for many organizations and industries, a clear SNA approach to the project teams has not yet been adopted by the construction industry. The main challenges for performing SNA in construction and the apparent reason for this gap is the unique and complex structure of each construction project, the comparatively high circulation of project team members/contributing parties and the variety of authentic problems for each project. Additionally, there are stakeholders from a variety of professional backgrounds collaborating in a high-stress environment fueled by time and cost constraints. Within this case study on Project RE, a design & build project performed at the Urban Design Build Studio of Carnegie Mellon University, social network analysis of the project design team will be performed with the main goal of applying social network theory to construction project environments. The research objective is to determine a correlation between the network of how individuals relate to each other on one’s perception of their own professional strengths and weaknesses and the communication patterns within the team and the group dynamics. Data is collected through a survey performed over four rounds conducted monthly, detailed follow-up interviews and constant observations to assess the natural alteration in the network with the effect of time. The data collected is processed by the means of network analytics and in the light of the qualitative data collected with observations and individual interviews. This paper presents the full ethnography of this construction design team of fourteen architecture students based on an elaborate social network data analysis over time. This study is expected to be used as an initial step to perform a refined, targeted and large-scale social network data collection in construction projects in order to deduce the impacts of social networks on project performance and suggest better collaboration structures for construction project teams henceforth.

Keywords: construction design teams, construction project management, social network analysis, team collaboration, network analytics

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Authors: Glyn Atwal, Douglas Bryson

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The rapid expansion of a consumer class in India has also coincided with an increasing awareness of social and environmental issues. The overall objective of this study explores to what extent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can lead to luxury brand avoidance within an Indian context. In-depth interviews were conducted with luxury consumers in New Delhi. The demographic breakdown of those interviewed was 16 males and 9 females, aged between 21 and 44. Antecedents of brand avoidance could be sorted according to two main categories. The first category was consumer dissatisfaction due to poor product or service performance. Customer service, particularly within the hospitality sector, was identified as a defining source of brand avoidance. The second category was negative stereotypes of brand users. A salient finding was that no single participant explicitly identified CSR as a source of brand avoidance. However, the interviews revealed that luxury consumers are in fact concerned about CSR issues but assume that international luxury brands have a positive record on CSR performance. Interestingly, participants placed greater emphasis on the broader interpretation of ‘corporate reputation’ rather than specific social or environmental issues to determine the CSR performance of a luxury brand. The findings reported in this exploratory study suggest that Indian luxury consumers do value the overall CSR performance of luxury brands expressed as a brand responsibility or brand reputation, and this is a potential source of brand avoidance. International luxury brands need, therefore, consider developing but also communicating a positive CSR strategy in order to reduce the risk of customers forming negative opinions about the brand.

Keywords: brand avoidance, CSR, luxury

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Authors: Mawardati Mawardati

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This research was carried out on the traditional milkfish and shrimp culture cultivation from March to May 2018 in East Aceh District. This study aims to to analyze the differences between traditional milkfish cultivation and shrimp farming in East Aceh District, Aceh Province. The analytical method used is acquisition analysis and Independent Sample T test analysis. The results showed a significant difference between milkfish farming and shrimp farming in East Aceh District, Aceh Province. Based on the results of the analysis, the average profit from shrimp farming is higher than that of milkfish farming. This demand exceeds market demand for exports. Thus the price of shrimp is still far higher than the price of milk fish.

Keywords: comparative, profit, shrimp, milkfish

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Authors: Masoumeh Khosravi

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Introduction: The complementary therapies and Qigong exercises is important in order to maintain physical and mental health. Objective: This study was done to compare and investigate well-being and mental health's state between practitioners of a Qigong practice (Falun Dafa) and non-practitioners. Method: It was a comparative study with 60 samples (30 practitioners of Falun Dafa, and 30 non-practitioners), who were selected by random sampling from Tehran city of Iran. Data were collected by mental health inventory (SCL90) and well-being questionnaire. Multivariate variance analyzing and t-test were used for analyzing data. Results: Results showed significant differences in most components of mental health including anxiety, aggressiveness, obsessive-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, somatization disorder, depression, phobia between practitioners and non-practitioners. Well-being was significantly higher in practitioners than non-practitioners. Conclusion: Accordingly, we concluded Falun Gong exercises have high impact on mental health and well-being in people.

Keywords: mental health, well-being, Qigong, Falun Dafa

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Authors: Tatiana A. Dolenko, Sergey A. Burikov, Alexander O. Efitorov, Sergey A. Dolenko

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In this study, a comparative analysis of the approaches associated with the use of neural network algorithms for effective solution of a complex inverse problem – the problem of identifying and determining the individual concentrations of inorganic salts in multicomponent aqueous solutions by the spectra of Raman scattering of light – is performed. It is shown that application of artificial neural networks provides the average accuracy of determination of concentration of each salt no worse than 0.025 M. The results of comparative analysis of input data compression methods are presented. It is demonstrated that use of uniform aggregation of input features allows decreasing the error of determination of individual concentrations of components by 16-18% on the average.

Keywords: inverse problems, multi-component solutions, neural networks, Raman spectroscopy

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Authors: Shazia Mannan, Zunera Khalid, Hammad-Ul-Mubeen

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Wingless type Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) Integration site-10B (Wnt10B) is an important member of the Wnt protein family that functions as cellular messenger in paracrine manner. Aberrant Wnt10B activity is the cause of several abnormalities including cancers of breast, cervix, liver, gastric tract, esophagus, pancreas as well as physiological problems like obesity, and osteoporosis. The objective of this study was to determine the possible inhibitors against aberrant expression of Wnt10B in order to prevent and treat the physiological disorders associated with it. Wnt10B3D structure was predicted by using comparative modeling and then analyzed by PROCHECK, Verify3D, and Errat. The model having 84.54% quality value was selected and acylated to satisfy the hydrophobic nature of Wnt10B. For search of inhibitors, virtual screening was performed on Natural Products (NP) database. The compounds were filtered and ligand-based screening was performed using the antagonist for mouse Wnt-3A. This resulted in a library of 272 unique compounds having most potent drug like activities for Wnt-4. Out of the 271 molecules analyzed three small molecules ZINC35442871, ZINC85876388, and ZINC00754234 having activity against Wnt4 abbarent expression were found common through docking experiment of Wnt10B. It is concluded that the three molecules ZINC35442871, ZINC85876388, and ZINC00754234 can be considered as lead compounds for performing further drug designing experiments against aberrant Wnt expressions.

Keywords: Wnt10B inhibitors, comparative computational studies, proto-oncogene, molecular docking

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Authors: Ilzira A. Minigalieva, Tatiana V. Bushueva, Eleonore Frohlich, Vladimir Panov, Ekaterina Shishkina, Boris A. Katsnelson

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Background: The overwhelming majority of the experimental studies in the field of metal nanotoxicology have been performed on cultures of established cell lines, with very few researchers focusing on animal experiments, while a juxtaposition of conclusions inferred from these two types of research is blatantly lacking. The least studied aspect of this problem relates to characterizing and predicting the combined toxicity of metallic nanoparticles. Methods: Comparative and combined toxic effects of purposefully prepared spherical NiO and Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles (mean diameters 16.7 ± 8.2 nm and 18.4 ± 5.4 nm respectively) were estimated on cultures of human cell lines: MRC-5 fibroblasts, THP-1 monocytes, SY-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells, as well as on the latter two lines differentiated to macrophages and neurons, respectively. The combined cytotoxicity was mathematically modeled using the response surface methodology. Results: The comparative assessment of the studied NPs unspecific toxicity previously obtained in vivo was satisfactorily reproduced by the present in vitro tests. However, with respect to manganese-specific brain damage which had been demonstrated by us in animal experiment with the same NPs, the testing on neuronall cell culture showed only a certain enhancing effect of Mn₃O₄-NPs on the toxic action of NiO-NPs, while the role of the latter prevailed. Conclusion: From the point of view of the preventive toxicology, the experimental modeling of metallic NPs combined toxicity on cell cultures can give non-reliable predictions of the in vivo action’s effects.

Keywords: manganese oxide, nickel oxide, nanoparticles, in vitro toxicity

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Authors: Kyoung Hoon Kim

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This paper presents a comparative exergy analysis of ammonia-water Rankine cycles with and without regeneration and Kalina cycle for recovery of low-temperature heat source. Special attention is paid to the effect of system parameters such as ammonia mass fraction and turbine inlet pressure on the exergetical performance of the systems. Results show that maximum exergy efficiency can be obtained in the regenerative Rankine cycle for high turbine inlet pressures. However, Kalina cycle shows better exergy efficiency for low turbine inlet pressures, and the optimum ammonia mass fractions of Kalina cycle are lower than Rankine cycles.

Keywords: ammonia-water, Rankine cycle, Kalina cycle, exergy, exergy destruction, low-temperature heat source

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Authors: Ioannis Iglezakis, Theodoros D. Trokanas, Panagiota Kiortsi

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This paper aims to explore major legal issues arising from the collection and processing of Health Big Data in the light of the new European secondary legislation for the protection of personal data of natural persons, placing emphasis on the General Data Protection Regulation 679/2016. Whether Big Health Data can be characterised as ‘personal data’ or not is really the crux of the matter. The legal ambiguity is compounded by the fact that, even though the processing of Big Health Data is premised on the de-identification of the data subject, the possibility of a combination of Big Health Data with other data circulating freely on the web or from other data files cannot be excluded. Another key point is that the application of some provisions of GPDR to Big Health Data may both absolve the data controller of his legal obligations and deprive the data subject of his rights (e.g., the right to be informed), ultimately undermining the fundamental right to the protection of personal data of natural persons. Moreover, data subject’s rights (e.g., the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing) are heavily impacted by the use of AI, algorithms, and technologies that reclaim health data for further use, resulting in sometimes ambiguous results that have a substantial impact on individuals. On the other hand, as the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed, Big Data analytics can offer crucial sources of information. In this respect, this paper identifies and systematises the legal provisions concerned, offering interpretative solutions that tackle dangers concerning data subject’s rights while embracing the opportunities that Big Health Data has to offer. In addition, particular attention is attached to the scope of ‘consent’ as a legal basis in the collection and processing of Big Health Data, as the application of data analytics in Big Health Data signals the construction of new data and subject’s profiles. Finally, the paper addresses the knotty problem of role assignment (i.e., distinguishing between controller and processor/joint controllers and joint processors) in an era of extensive Big Health data sharing. The findings are the fruit of a current research project conducted by a three-member research team at the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and funded by the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs.

Keywords: big health data, data subject rights, GDPR, pandemic

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Authors: Ayuko Itsuki, Sachiyo Aburatani

Abstract:

Soil enzyme activities in Kasuga-yama Hill Primeval Forest (Nara, Japan) were examined to determine levels of mineralization and metabolism. Samples were selected from the soil surrounding laurel-leaved (B_B-1) and Carpinus japonica (B_B-2 and P_w) trees for analysis. Cellulase, β-xylosidase, and protease activities were higher in B_B-1 samples those in B_B-2 samples. These activity levels corresponded to the distribution of cellulose and hemicellulose in the soil horizons. Cellulase, β-xylosidase, and chymotrypsin activities were higher in soil from the P_w forest than in that from the B_B-2 forest. The relationships between the soil enzymes calculated by Spearman’s rank correlation indicate that the interactions between enzymes in B_B-2 samples were more complex than those in P_w samples.

Keywords: comparative analysis, enzyme activities, forest soil, Spearman's rank correlation

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Authors: Iman Shawky

Abstract:

Hotel websites frequently aim at encouraging visitors to become potential guests by completing their booking procedures, and accordingly, they have been proved to be attractive and appealing. That might be due to the consideration of them as one of the direct efficacious tools to promote and sell hotels' facilities, besides building strong communication with guests to create unforgettable brand images. This study tried to find out a step for five-star and four-star hotels to develop their websites to meet their visitors' or guests' requirements for an effective site. In addition, it aimed at exploring to what extent hotels' official websites compared with their pages on hotel booking sites still influence visitors' or guests' desires to book. Besides, it also aimed at investigating to what extent visitors or guests widely trust and use those sites to accomplish their booking. Furthermore, it tried to explore to what extent visitors' or guests' preferences of those sites can influence on hotels' financial performance. To achieve these objectives, the researcher conducted an exploratory study by surfing both hotels' official websites and their pages on booking sites of such hotels in Alexandria city in Egypt to make a comparison between them. Moreover, another separate comparison was made on Arab and foreign guests' views conducted by using a questionnaire during the past seven months to investigate the effectiveness of hotels' official websites against their pages on booking sites to trust and motive them to book. The results indicated that hotels' pages on booking sites represented widely trusted and used sites compared with their official websites for achieving visitors' or guests' booking process, while a few other visitors or guests still trusted official hotel websites for completing their booking.

Keywords: five-star and four-star hotels, hotel booking sites, hotels' financial performance, hotels' official websites

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Authors: Mehravar Javid, Rohma Hassan, J. DeSilva

Abstract:

In this exploratory case study, a 37-year-old male patient who previously terminated treatment after four months of therapy with a different therapist begins anew with a 38-year-old female therapist and undergoes a similar cycle of premature termination, with added discourse caused by erotic transference. Process notes and records of the therapy treatment indicate that during the short course of treatment, the patient explored his difficulties navigating personal relationships, both current and past, and his difficulties coping with hypochondriasis. The therapist becomes tasked with not only navigating the patient’s inner conflict but also how she relates to the patient in the countertransference process while maintaining professional boundaries. This includes empathizing with the patient while also experiencing discomfort in the erotic transference from a professional standpoint. When the patient terminates once more, the therapist reflects on the possible reasons for termination. This includes the patient’s difficulties with tolerating interpretations, which cause him to blame himself for past events. These interpretations were also very frequent, contributing to the emotional burden the patient experienced. The therapist reflected on the use of interpretation versus exploration of the patient’s feelings and how exploring his feelings, including his feelings towards her, would have allowed for an opportunity to explore the emotions that troubled him more deeply. This includes exploring the patient’s anger and fear, which stem from unresolved conflicts from his childhood. Moreover, the erotic transference served as an enactment of previous experiences in which the patient feared losing what he loved, leading him to opt for premature termination instead of losing his ability to control the relationship and experience loss.

Keywords: countertransference, erotic transference, premature termination, therapist-client boundaries, transference

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Authors: Seyedeh Azadeh Johari

Abstract:

For thousand years, the literature of the world has been mostly composed of men, and in all different forms of it, men have tried to propose their masculine desires, ideologies, and beliefs. What has been less written about or studied, however, was the role that female desire plays in the predominantly masculine society, and mostly the role of male desires was the key point in literature. Male writers have mostly shown their female characters either as stereotypes and void of dynamic characters, images of a meek person who bent to the will of her male superiors or as wicked or villains. The only exception was the kind of strong and courageous women who have mostly been masculinized by their authors, mostly male authors, as showing the valuable or important features of men, instead of women’s. These characters are transgendered by the author and have a gender identity or expression that differs from the sex to which they were assigned. This is the issue that is discussed in this project. We will refer to some examples of female characters who show masculine traits and characteristics.

Keywords: comparative literature, female, masculinized, transgendered

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Authors: Lima Antony

Abstract:

In G. M. Hopkins’s poetics and aesthetics there is scope for a comparative study with Indian discourses on aesthetics, an area not adequately explored so far. This exploration will enrich the field of comparative study of diverse cultural expressions and their areas of similarity. A comparative study of aesthetic and religious experiences in diverse cultures will open up avenues for the discovery of similarities in self-experiences and their transcendence. Such explorations will reveal similar patterns in aesthetic and religious experiences. The present paper intends to prove this in the theories of Hopkins and Indian aesthetics. From the time of the Vedas Indian sages have believed that aesthetic enjoyment could develop into a spiritual realm. From the Natyasastra of Bharata, Indian aesthetics develops and reaches its culmination in later centuries into a consciousness of union with the mystery of the Ultimate Being, especially in Dhvanaāloka of Anandavardhana and Locana of Abhinavagupta. Dhvanyaloka elaborates the original ideas of rasa (mood or flavor) and dhvani (power of suggestion) in Indian literary theory and aesthetics. Hopkins was successful, like the ancient Indian alankarikas, in creating aesthetically superb patterns at various levels of sound and sense for which he coined the term ‘inscape’. So Hopkins’s aesthetic theory becomes suitable for transcultural comparative study with Indian aesthetics especially the dhvani theories of Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Hopkins’s innovative approach to poetics and his selection of themes are quite suitable for analysis in the light of Indian literary theories. Indian philosophy views the ultimate reality called Brahman, as the 'soul,' or inner essence, of all reality. We see in Hopkins also a search for the essence of things and the chiming of their individuality with the Ultimate Being in multidimensional patterns of sound, sense and ecstatic experience. This search culminates in the realization of a synthesis of the individual self with the Ultimate Being. This is achieved through an act of surrender of the individuality of the self before the Supreme Being. Attempts to reconcile the immanent and transcendent aspects of the Ultimate Being can be traced in the Indian as well as Hopkins’s aesthetics which can contribute to greater understanding and harmony between cultures.

Keywords: Dhvani, Indian aesthetics, transcultural studies, Rasa

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