Search results for: visual perception

Authors: Mohamed Moustafa, Medhat Abdallah, Ramy Magdy, Ahmed Abdrabou, Mohamed Badr

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The scribe box under study dates back to the old kingdom. It was excavated by the Italian expedition in Qena (1935-1937). The box consists of 2pieces, the lid and the body. The inner side of the lid is decorated with ancient Egyptian inscriptions written with a black pigment. The box was made using several panels assembled together by wooden dowels and secured with plant ropes. The entire box is covered with a red pigment. This study aims to use analytical techniques in order to identify and have deep understanding for the box components. Moreover, the authors were significantly interested in using infrared reflectance transmission imaging (RTI-IR) to improve the hidden inscriptions on the lid. The identification of wood species included in this study. The visual observation and assessment were done to understand the condition of this box. 3Ddimensions and 2D programs were used to illustrate wood joints techniques. Optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence portable (XRF) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used in this study in order to identify wood species, remains of insects bodies, red pigment, fibers plant and previous conservation adhesives, also RTI-IR technique was very effective to improve hidden inscriptions. The analysis results proved that wooden panels and dowels were identified as Acacia nilotica, wooden rail was Salix sp. the insects were identified as Lasioderma serricorne and Gibbium psylloids, the red pigment was Hematite, while the fiber plants were linen, previous adhesive was identified as cellulose nitrates. The historical study for the inscriptions proved that it’s a Hieratic writings of a funerary Text. After its transportation from the Egyptian museum storage to the wood conservation laboratory of the Grand Egyptian museum –conservation center (GEM-CC), conservation techniques were applied with high accuracy in order to restore the object including cleaning , consolidating of friable pigments and writings, removal of previous adhesive and reassembly, finally the conservation process that were applied were extremely effective for this box which became ready for display or storage in the grand Egyptian museum.

Keywords: scribe box, hieratic, 3D program, Acacia nilotica, XRD, cellulose nitrate, conservation

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Authors: Charisse H. Tay

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Background: Schizophrenia is a severe chronic mental disorder that can result in hallucinations, delusions, reduced social engagement, and lack of motivation. While antipsychotic medications often provide the basis for treatment, psychosocial strategies complement the benefit of medications and can result in meaningful improvements in symptoms and functioning. The aim of the study was to investigate psychosocial strategies used by internet self-help forum participants to effectively manage symptoms caused by schizophrenia. Internet self-help forums are a resource for medical and psychological problems and are commonly used to share information about experiences with symptom management. Method: Three international self-help internet forums on schizophrenia were identified using a search engine. 1,181 threads regarding non-pharmacological, psychosocial self-management of schizophrenia symptoms underwent screening, resulting in the final identification and coding of 91 threads and 191 posts from 134 unique forum users that contained details on psychosocial strategies endorsed personally by users that allowed them to effectively manage symptoms of schizophrenia, including positive symptoms (e.g., auditory/visual/tactile hallucinations, delusions, paranoia), negative symptoms (e.g.., avolition, apathy, anhedonia), symptoms of distress, and cognitive symptoms (e.g., memory loss). Results: Effective symptom management strategies personally endorsed by online forum users were psychological skills (e.g., re-focusing, mindfulness/meditation, reality checking; n = 94), engaging in activities (e.g., exercise, working/volunteering, hobbies; n = 84), social/familial support (n = 48), psychotherapy (n = 33), diet (n = 18), and religion/spirituality (n = 14). 44.4% of users reported using more than one strategy to manage their symptoms. The most common symptoms targeted and effectively managed, as specified by users, were positive symptoms (n = 113), negative symptoms (n = 17), distress (n = 8), and memory loss (n = 6). 10.5% of users reported more than one symptom effectively targeted. 70.2% of users with positive symptoms reported that psychological skills were effective for symptom relief. 88% of users with negative symptoms and 75% with distress symptoms reported that engaging in activities was effective. Discussion: Individuals with schizophrenia rely on a variety of different psychosocial methods to manage their symptoms. Different symptomology appears to be more effectively targeted by different types of psychosocial strategies. This may help to inform treatment strategy and tailored for individuals with schizophrenia.

Keywords: psychosocial treatment, qualitative methods, schizophrenia, symptom management

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Authors: Ana Luiza Aranha

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This paper contributes to the discussions that consider corruption as a challenge to the establishment of more democratically inclusive societies in Latin America. The paper advocates an intrinsic connection between democratic principles and corruption control – it is only possible to achieve just forms of democratic life if accountability institutions are able to control corruption, and therefore control the political exclusions that it brings. Departing from a non-trivial approach to corruption, and recognizing a gap in democratic theory when thinking about this phenomenon, corruption is understood as the breakdown of the democratic inclusive rule, whereby political decisions are made (and actions were taken) in spite of those potentially affected by them. Based on this idea, this paper proposes a new way of measuring corruption, moving away from usual aggregate measures – such as the Corruption Perception Index – and case studies of corruption scandals. The main argument sustains that corruption is intrinsically connected with the ability to be accountable and to provide public justification for the political conduct. The point advocated is that corruption involves a dimension of political exclusion. It generates a private benefit which is, from a democratic point of view, illegitimate, since it benefits some at the expense of the decisions made by the political community. Corruption is then a form of exclusion based on deception and opacity - for corruption, there is no plausible justification. Empirically, the paper uses the audit reports produced by the Brazilian anti-corruption agency (the CGU - Office of the Comptroller General) in its Inspections From Public Lotteries Program to exemplify how we can use this definition to separate corruption cases from mismanagement irregularities. On one side, there is poor management and inefficiencies, and, on the other, corruption, defined by the implausibility of public justifications – because the public officials would have to publicize illegitimate privileges and undue advantages. CGU reports provide the justifications given by the public officials for the irregularities found and also the acceptance or not by the control agency of these justifications. The analysis of this dialogue – between public officials and control agents – makes it possible to divide the irregularities on those that can be publicly justified versus those that cannot. In order to hold public officials accountable for their actions, making them responsible for the exclusions that they may cause (such as corruption), the accountability institutions fulfil an important role in reinforcing and empowering democracy and its basic inclusive condition.

Keywords: accountability, brazil, corruption, democracy

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Authors: Govind Kumar

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The concept of ‘e-governance’ that was brought about by the new wave of reforms, namely ‘LPG’ in the early 1990s, has been enabling governments across the globe to digitally transform themselves. Digital transformation is leading the governments with qualitative decisions, optimization in rational use of resources, facilitation of cost-benefit analyses, and elimination of redundancy and corruption with the help of ICT-based applications interface. ICT-based applications/technologies have enormous potential for impacting positive change in the social lives of the global citizenry. Supercomputers test and analyze millions of drug molecules for developing candidate vaccines to combat the global pandemic. Further, e-commerce portals help distribute and supply household items and medicines, while videoconferencing tools provide a visual interface between the clients and hosts. Besides, crop yields are being maximized with the help of drones and machine learning, whereas satellite data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing help governments with the detection of illegal mining, tackling deforestation, and managing freshwater resources. Such e-applications have the potential to take governance an extra mile by achieving 5 Es (effective, efficient, easy, empower, and equity) of e-governance and six Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign and remanufacture) of sustainable development. If such digital transformation gains traction within the government framework, it will replace the traditional administration with the digitalization of public administration. On the other hand, it has brought in a new set of challenges, like the digital divide, e-illiteracy, technological divide, etc., and problems like handling e-waste, technological obsolescence, cyber terrorism, e-fraud, hacking, phishing, etc. before the governments. Therefore, it would be essential to bring in a rightful mixture of technological and humanistic interventions for addressing the above issues. This is on account of the reason that technology lacks an emotional quotient, and the administration does not work like technology. Both are self-effacing unless a blend of technology and a humane face are brought in into the administration. The paper will empirically analyze the significance of the technological framework of digital transformation within the government set up for the digitalization of public administration on the basis of the synthesis of two case studies undertaken from two diverse fields of administration and present a future framework of the study.

Keywords: digital transformation, electronic governance, public administration, knowledge framework

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Authors: Derya Gül Ünlü, Oguz Kuş

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The branding of a country means that the country has its own position different from other countries in its region and thus it is perceived more specifically. It is made possible by the branding efforts of a country and the uniqueness of all the national structures, by presenting it in a specific way, by creating the desired image and attracting tourists and foreign investors. Establishing a national brand involves, in a sense, the process of managing the perceptions of the citizens of the other country about the target country, by structuring the image of the country permanently and holistically. By this means, countries are not easily affected by their crisis of international relations. Therefore, within the scope of the research that will be carried out from this point, it is aimed to show how the warplane downing crisis between Turkey and Russia is perceived on social media. The Russian warplane was downed by Turkey on November 24, 2015, on the grounds that Turkey violated the airspace on the Syrian border. Whereupon the relations between the two countries have been tensed, and Russia has called on its citizens not to go to Turkey and citizens in Turkey to return to their countries. Moreover, relations between two countries have been weakened, for example, tourism tours organized in Russia to Turkey and visa-free travel were canceled and all military dialogue was cut off. After the event, various news sites on social media published plenty of news related to topic and the readers made various comments about the event and Turkey. In this context, an investigation into the perception of Turkey's national brand before and after the warplane downing crisis has been conducted. through comments fetched from the reports on the BBC World, and from Al Jazeera English news sites on Facebook accounts, which takes place widely in the social media. In order to realize study, user comments were fetched from jet downing-related news which are published on Facebook fan-page of BBC World Service, and Al Jazeera English. Regarding this, all the news published between 24.10.2015-24.12.2015 and containing Turk and Turkey keyword in its title composed data set of our study. Afterwards, comments written to these news were analyzed via text mining technique. Furthermore, by sentiment analysis, it was intended to reveal reader’s emotions before and after the crisis.

Keywords: Al Jazeera English, BBC World, country branding, social media, text mining

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Authors: Robert Jedrys, Zdzislaw Kobos, Justyna Skrzynska, Zbigniew Wochynski

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Professions connected to aviation require an assessment of the suitability of health, psychological and psychomotor skills and overall physical fitness of the organism, who applies. Assessment of the physical condition is conducted by the committees consisting of aero-medical specialists in clinical medicine and aviation. In addition, psychological predispositions should be evaluated by specialized psychologists familiar with the specifics of the tasks and requirements for the various positions in aviation. Both, physical abilities and general physical fitness of candidates for aviation shall be assessed during the selection exams, which also test the ability to deal with stress what is very important in aviation. Hence, the mentioned exams in physical education not only help to judge on the ranking in candidates in terms of their efficiency and performance, but also allows to evaluate the functioning under stress measured using psychological tests. Moreover, before-test stress is a predictors of successfulness in the next stages of education and practical training in the aviation. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of temperamental traits on strategies used for coping with stress during selection exams in physical education, deciding on admission to aviation school. The study involved 30 candidates for fighter pilot training in aviation school . To evaluate the temperament 'The Formal Characteristics of Behavior-Temperament Inventory' (FCB-TI) by B. Zawadzki and J.Strelau was used. To determine the pattern of coping with stress 'The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations' (CISS) to N. S. Endler and J. D. A. Parker were engaged. Study of temperament and styles of coping with stress was conducted directly before the exam selection of physical education. The results were analyzed with 'Statistica 9' program. The studies showed that:-There is a negative correlation between such a temperament feature as 'perseverance' and preferred style of coping with stress concentrated on the task (r = -0.590; p < 0.004); -There is a positive correlation between such a feature of temperament as 'emotional reactivity,' and preference to deal with a stressful situation with ‘style centered on emotions’ (r = 0.520; p <0.011); -There is a negative correlation between such a feature of temperament as ‘strength’ and ‘style of coping with stress concentrated on emotions’ (r = -0.580; p < 0.004). Studies indicate that temperament traits determine the perception of stress and preferred coping styles used during the selection, as during the exams in physical education.

Keywords: aviation, physical education, stress, temperamental traits

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Authors: Piotr Tylec, Julia Wierzbicka, Natalia Gajewska, Krzysztof Przeczek, Grzegorz Torbicz, Alicja Dudek, Magdalena Pisarska-Adamczyk, Mateusz Wierdak, Michal Pedziwiatr

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Introduction: Many patients have described changes in taste perception after weight loss surgery. However, little data is available about short term changes in taste after surgery. Aim: We aimed to evaluate short-term changes in taste preference after bariatric surgeries in comparison to colorectal surgeries. Material and Methods: Between April 2018 and April 2019, a total of 121 bariatric patients and 63 controls participated. Bariatric patients underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy or Roux-en-Y gastric by-pass. Controls underwent oncological colorectal surgeries. Patients who developed clinical complications requiring restriction of oral intake after surgery or withdraw their consent were excluded from the study. In the end, 85 bariatric patients and 44 controls were included. In all of them, the 16-item ERAS Protocol was applied. Using 10-points Numeric Rating Scale (1-10) patients completed questionnaire and rated their appetite and thirst (1 - no appetite/not thirsty, 10 – normal appetite/very thirsty) and flavoured standardized liquids' taste (1- horrible, 10-very tasty) and food images for the 6 group of taste (sweet, umami, sour, spicy, bitter and salty) (1 - not appetizing, 10 - very appetizing) preoperatively and on the first postoperative day. Data were analysed with Statistica 13.0 PL. Results: Analysed group consist of 129 patients (85 bariatric, 44 controls). Mean age and BMI in a research group was 44.91 years old, 46.22 kg/m² and in control group 62.09 years old, 25.87 kg/m², respectively. Our analysis revealed significant differences in changes of appetite between both groups (research: -4.55 ± 3.76 vs. control: -0.85 ± 4.37; p < 0.05), ratings bitter (research: 0.60 ± 2.98 vs. control: -0.88 ± 2.58; p < 0.05) and salty (research: 1.20 ± 3.50 vs. control: -0.52 ± 2.90; p < 0.05) flavoured liquids and ratings for sweet (research: 1.62 ± 3.31 vs. control: 0.01 ± 2.63; p < 0.05) and bitter (research: 1.21 ± 3.15 vs. control: -0.09 ± 2.25; p < 0.05) food images. There were statistically significant results in the ratings of other images, but in comparison to the control group, they were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The study showed that bariatric surgeries quickly decreases appetite and desire to eat certain types of food, such as salty. Moreover, the bitter taste was more desirable in the research group in comparison to control group. Nevertheless, the sweet taste was more appetible in the bariatric group than in control.

Keywords: bariatric surgery, general surgery, obesity, taste preference

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Authors: Yee-May Chan

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In recent decades, it is observed that social work agencies have participated actively, and thus, have gradually been more influential in social work education in Hong Kong. The neo-liberal welfare ideologies and changing funding mode have transformed the landscape in social work practice and have also had a major influence on the fieldwork environment in Hong Kong. The aim of this research is to explore the educational role of social work agencies and examine in particular whether they are able to enhance or hinder critical reflective learning in fieldwork. In-depth interviews with 15 frontline social workers and managers in different social work agencies were conducted to collect their views and experience in helping social work students in fieldwork. The overall findings revealed that under the current social welfare context most social workers consider that the most important role of social work agencies in fieldwork is to help students prepare to fit-in the practice requirements and work within agencies’ boundary. The fit-for-purpose and down-to-earth view of fieldwork practice is seen as prevalent among most social workers. This narrow perception of agency’s role seems to be more favourable to competence-based approaches. In contrast, though critical reflection has been seen as important in addressing the changing needs of service users, the role of enhancing critical reflective learning has not been clearly expected or understood by most agency workers. The notion of critical reflection, if considered, has been narrowly perceived in fieldwork learning. The findings suggest that the importance of critical reflection is found to be subordinate to that of practice competence. The lack of critical reflection in the field is somehow embedded in the competence-based social work practice. In general, social work students’ critical reflection has not been adequately supported or enhanced in fieldwork agencies, nor critical reflective practice has been encouraged in fieldwork process. To address this situation, the role of social work agencies in fieldwork should be re-examined. To maximise critical reflective learning in the field, critical reflection as an avowed objective in fieldwork learning should be clearly stated. Concrete suggestions are made to help fieldwork agencies become more prepared to critical reflective learning. It is expected that the research can help social work communities to reflect upon the current realities of fieldwork context and to identify ways to strengthen agencies’ capacities to enhance critical reflective learning and practice of social work students.

Keywords: competence-based social work, critical reflective learning, fieldwork agencies, neo-liberal welfare

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Authors: Faiz N. K. Yusufi, Aquil Ahmed, Jamal Ahmad

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Predicting the risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Indian type 2 diabetes patients is immensely necessary. India, being the second largest country after China in terms of a number of diabetic patients, to the best of our knowledge not a single risk score for complications has ever been investigated. Diabetic retinopathy is a serious complication and is the topmost reason for visual impairment across countries. Any type or form of DR has been taken as the event of interest, be it mild, back, grade I, II, III, and IV DR. A sample was determined and randomly collected from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology, J.N.M.C., A.M.U., Aligarh, India. Collected variables include patients data such as sex, age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar fasting (BSF), post prandial sugar (PP), glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), smoking, alcohol habits, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), physical activity, duration of diabetes, diet control, history of antihypertensive drug treatment, family history of diabetes, waist circumference, hip circumference, medications, central obesity and history of DR. Cox proportional hazard regression is used to design risk scores for the prediction of retinopathy. Model calibration and discrimination are assessed from Hosmer Lemeshow and area under receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). Overfitting and underfitting of the model are checked by applying regularization techniques and best method is selected between ridge, lasso and elastic net regression. Optimal cut off point is chosen by Youden’s index. Five-year probability of DR is predicted by both survival function, and Markov chain two state model and the better technique is concluded. The risk scores developed can be applied by doctors and patients themselves for self evaluation. Furthermore, the five-year probabilities can be applied as well to forecast and maintain the condition of patients. This provides immense benefit in real application of DR prediction in T2DM.

Keywords: Cox proportional hazard regression, diabetic retinopathy, ROC curve, type 2 diabetes mellitus

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Authors: Peeyush Verma, Anil Kumar, Anju Rawlley, Chanchal Mehra

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India's school-going population is largely served by an educational system that is, in most rural parts, stuck with methods that emphasize rote learning, endless examinations, and monotonous classroom activities. Rural government schools are generally seen as having poor infrastructure, poor support system and low motivation for teaching as well as learning. It was experienced during the survey of this project that there is lesser motivation of rural boys and girls to attend their schools and still less likely chances to study science, tabooed as “difficult”. An experiment was conducted with the help of Rural Knowledge Network Project through Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India in five remote villages of Sehore District in Madhya Pradesh (India) during 2012-2015. These schools are located about 50-70 Km away from Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh and can distinctively qualify as average rural schools. Three tier methodology was adapted to unfold the experiment. In first tier randomly selected boys and girls from these schools were taken to a daylong visit to the Regional Science Centre located in Bhopal. In second tier, randomly selected half of those who visited earlier were again taken to the Science Centre to make models of Science. And in third tier, all the boys and girls studying science were exposed to video lectures and study material through web. The results have shown an interesting face towards learning science among youths in rural schools through peer learning or incremental learning. The students who had little or no interest in learning science became good learners and queries started pouring in from the neighbourhood village as well as a few parents requested to take their wards in the project to learn science. The paper presented is a case study of the experiment conducted in five rural schools of Sehore District. It reflects upon the methodology of developing awareness and interest among students and finally engaging them in popularising science through peer-to-peer learning using incremental learning elements. The students, who had a poor perception about science initially, had changed their attitude towards learning science during the project period. The results of this case, however, cannot be generalised unless replicated in the same setting elsewhere.

Keywords: popularisation of science, science temper, incremental learning, peer-to-peer learning

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Authors: Daniela Brioschi, Rovilson Mafalda, Silvia Titotto

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In the present days, packages are considered a fundamental element in the commercialization of products and services. A good package is capable of helping to attract new customers and also increasing a product’s purchase intent. In this scenario, packaging design emerges as an important tool, since products and design of their packaging are so interconnected that they are no longer seen as separate elements. Packaging design is, in fact, capable of generating desire for a product. The packaging market for cosmetics, especially makeup market, has also been experiencing an increasing level of sophistication and requirements. Considering packaging represents an important link of communication with the final user and plays a significant role on the sales process, it is of great importance that packages accomplish not only with functional requirements but also with the visual appeal. One of the possibilities for the design of packages and, in this context, packages for make-up, is the bioinspired design – or biomimicry. The bio-inspired design presents a promising paradigm for innovation in both design and sustainable design, by using biological system analogies to develop solutions. It has gained importance as a widely diffused movement in design for environmentally conscious development and is also responsible for several useful and innovative designs. As eye mascara packages are also part of the constant evolution on the design for cosmetics area and the traditional packages present the disadvantage of product drying along time, this project aims to develop a new and innovative package for this product, by using a selected bioinspired design methodology during the development process and also suitable computational tools. In order to guide the development process of the package, it was chosen the spiral methodology, conceived by The Biomimicry Institut, which consists of a reliable tool, since it was based on traditional design methodologies. The spiral design comprises identification, translation, discovery, abstraction, emulation and evaluation steps, that can work iteratively as the process develops as a spiral. As support tool for packaging, 3D modelling is being used by the software Inventor Autodesk Inventor 2018. Although this is an ongoing research, first results showed that spiral methodology design, together with Autodesk Inventor, consist of suitable instruments for the bio-inspired design process, and also nature proved itself to be an amazing and inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Keywords: bio-inspired design, design methodology, packaging, cosmetics

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Authors: Seynabou Toure, Oumar Diop, Kidiyo Kpalma, Amadou S. Maiga

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Color and texture are the two most determinant elements for perception and recognition of the objects in an image. For this reason, color and texture analysis find a large field of application, for example in image classification and segmentation. But, the pioneering work in texture analysis was conducted on grayscale images, thus discarding color information. Many grey-level texture descriptors have been proposed and successfully used in numerous domains for image classification: face recognition, industrial inspections, food science medical imaging among others. Taking into account color in the definition of these descriptors makes it possible to better characterize images. Color texture is thus the subject of recent work, and the analysis of color texture images is increasingly attracting interest in the scientific community. In optical remote sensing systems, sensors measure separately different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum; the visible ones and even those that are invisible to the human eye. The amounts of light reflected by the earth in spectral bands are then transformed into grayscale images. The primary natural colors Red (R) Green (G) and Blue (B) are then used in mixtures of different spectral bands in order to produce RGB images. Thus, good color texture discrimination can be achieved using RGB under controlled illumination conditions. Some previous works investigate the effect of using different color space for color texture classification. However, the selection of the best performing color space in land-sea segmentation is an open question. Its resolution may bring considerable improvements in certain applications like coastline detection, where the detection result is strongly dependent on the performance of the land-sea segmentation. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a study conducted on different color spaces in order to show the best-performing color space for land-sea segmentation. In this sense, an experimental analysis is carried out using five different color spaces (RGB, XYZ, Lab, HSV, YCbCr). For each color space, the Haar wavelet decomposition is used to extract different color texture features. These color texture features are then used for Fusion of Over Segmentation (FOOS) based classification; this allows segmentation of the land part from the sea one. By analyzing the different results of this study, the HSV color space is found as the best classification performance while using color and texture features; which is perfectly coherent with the results presented in the literature.

Keywords: classification, coastline, color, sea-land segmentation

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Authors: Martial Amou

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This study was carried out to assess the situation of households’ livelihood under a changing climate pattern in the Zio district of Togo, West Africa. The study examined three important aspects: (i) assessment of households’ livelihood situation under a changing climate pattern, (ii) farmers’ perception and understanding of local climate change, (iii) determinants of adaptation strategies undertaken in cropping pattern to climate change. To this end, secondary sources of data, and survey data collected from 235 farmers in four villages in the study area were used. Adapted conceptual framework from Sustainable Livelihood Framework of DFID, two steps Binary Logistic Regression Model and descriptive statistics were used in this study as methodological approaches. Based on Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA), various factors revolving around the livelihoods of the rural community were grouped into social, natural, physical, human, and financial capital. Thus, the study came up that households’ livelihood situation represented by the overall livelihood index in the study area (34%) is below the standard average households’ livelihood security index (50%). The natural capital was found as the poorest asset (13%) and this will severely affect the sustainability of livelihood in the long run. The result from descriptive statistics and the first step regression (selection model) indicated that most of the farmers in the study area have clear understanding of climate change even though they do not have any idea about greenhouse gases as the main cause behind the issue. From the second step regression (output model) result, education, farming experience, access to credit, access to extension services, cropland size, membership of a social group, distance to the nearest input market, were found to be the significant determinants of adaptation measures undertaken in cropping pattern by farmers in the study area. Based on the result of this study, recommendations are made to farmers, policy makers, institutions, and development service providers in order to better target interventions which build, promote or facilitate the adoption of adaptation measures with potential to build resilience to climate change and then improve rural livelihood.

Keywords: climate change, rural livelihood, cropping pattern, adaptation, Zio District

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Authors: Lito M. Amit, Venecio U. Ultra, Young-Woong Song

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The business process outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines is expanding rapidly attracting more than 2% of total employment. Currently, the BPO industry is confronted with several issues pertaining to sustainable productivity such as meeting the staffing gap, high rate of employees’ turnover and workforce retention, and the occupational health and safety (OHS) of call center agents. We conducted a survey of OHS programs and health concerns among call center agents in the Philippines and determined the sociocultural factors that affect the vulnerability of call center agents to occupational health risks and hazards. The majority of the agents affirmed that OHS are implemented and OHS orientation and emergency procedures were conducted at employment initiations, perceived favorable and convenient working environment except for occasional noise disturbances and acoustic shock, visual, and voice fatigues. Male agents can easily adjust to the demands and changes in their work environment and flexible work schedules than female agents. Female agents have a higher tendency to be pressured and humiliated by low work performance, experience a higher incidence of emotional abuse, psychological abuse, and experience more physical stress than male agents. The majority of the call center agents had a night-shift schedule and regardless of other factors, night shift work brings higher stress to agents. While working in a call center, higher incidence of headaches and insomnia, burnout, suppressed anger, anxiety, and depressions were experienced by female, younger (21-25 years old) and those at night shift than their counterpart. Most common musculoskeletal disorders include body pain in the neck, shoulders and back; and hand and wrist disorders and these are commonly experienced by female and younger workers. About 30% experienced symptoms of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disorders and weakened immune systems. Overall, these findings have shown the variable vulnerability by a different subpopulation of call center agents and are important in the occupational health risk prevention and management towards a sustainable human resource for BPO industry in the Philippines.

Keywords: business process outsourcing industry, health risk of call center agents, socio-cultural determinants, Philippines

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Authors: Nihal Atif Salim

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To improve the quality of life in cities, a variety of interventions are used. Noise is a substantial and important sort of pollution that has a negative impact on the urban environment and human health. According to the complaint survey, it ranks second among environmental contamination complaints (conducted by EEAA in 2019). The most significant source of noise in the city is traffic noise. In order to improve the sound urban environment, many physical techniques are applied. In the local area, noise barriers are considered as one of the most appropriate physical techniques along existing traffic routes. Alexandria is Egypt's second-largest city after Cairo. It is located along the Mediterranean Sea, and El- Gish Road is one of the city's main arteries. It impacts the waterfront promenade that extends along with the city by a high level of traffic noise. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the design considerations for the most appropriate noise barrier type along with the promenade, with the goal of improving the Quality of Life (QOL) and the sonic urban environment specifically. The proposed methodology focuses on how noise affects human perception and the environment. Then it delves into the various physical noise control approaches. After that, the paper discusses sustainable design decisions making. Finally, look into the importance of incorporating sustainability into design decisions making. Three stages will be followed in the case study. The first stage involves doing a site inspection and using specific sound measurement equipment (a noise level meter) to measure the noise level along the promenade at many sites, and the findings will be shown on a noise map. The second step is to inquire about the site's user experience. The third step is to investigate the various types of noise barriers and their effects on QOL along existing routes in order to select the most appropriate type. The goal of this research is to evaluate the suitable design of noise barriers that fulfill environmental and social perceptions while maintaining a balanced approach to the noise issue in order to improve QOL along existing roadways in the local area.

Keywords: noise pollution, sonic urban environment, traffic noise, noise barrier, acoustic sustainability, noise reduction techniques

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Authors: Payal Bose

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The impact of music on consumers' attention and emotions at different parts of the day are rarely/never studied. Music has been widely studied in different parameters, such as in-store music and its atmospheric effects, to understand consumer arousal, in-store traffic, perceptions of visual stimuli, and actual time spent in the store. Further other parameters such as tempo, shopper's age, volume, music preference, and its usage as foreground or background music acting as a mediator and impacting consumer behavior is also well researched. However, no study has traversed the influence of music on social media advertisements and its impact on the consumer mind. Most studies have catered to the influence of music on consumers conscious. A recent study found that playing pleasant music is more effective on weekdays in enhancing supermarkets' sales than on weekends. This led to a more pertinent question about the impact of music on different parts of the day and how it impacts the attention and emotion in the consumers’ mind is an interesting question to be asked given the fact that there is a high usage of social media advertisement consumption in the recent past on a day-to-day basis. This study would help brands on social media to structure their advertisements and engage more consumers towards their products. Prior literature has examined the effects or influence of music on consumers largely in retail, brick-and-mortar format. Hence most of the outcomes are favorable for physical retail environments. However, with the rise of Web 3.0 and social media marketing, it would be interesting to see how consumers' attention and emotion can be studied with the effects of music embedded in an advertisement during different parts of the day. A smartphone is considered a personal gadget, and viewing social media advertisements on them is mostly an intimate experience. Hence in a social media advertisement, most of the viewing happens on a one-on-one basis between the consumer and the brand advertisement. To the best of our knowledge, little or no work has explored the influence of music on different parts of the day (per the circadian rhythm) in advertising research. Previous works on social media advertisement have explored the timing of social media posts, deploying Targeted Content Advertising, appropriate content, reallocation of time, and advertising expenditure. Hence, I propose studying advertisements embedded with music during different parts of the day and its influence on consumers' attention and emotions. To address the research objectives and knowledge gap, it is intended to use a neuroscientific approach using fMRI and eye-tracking. The influence of music embedded in social media advertisement during different parts of the day would be assessed.

Keywords: music, neuromarketing, circadian rhythm, social media, engagement

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Authors: Peter Hajnal

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The need to combine serious training in disciplinary/scholarly approaches to problems of general significance with an educational experience that engages students with these very same problems on a personal level is one of the key challenges facing modern liberal education in the West. The typical approach to synthesizing these two goals, one highly abstract, the other elusively practical, proceeds by invoking ideals traditionally associated with Enlightenment and 19th century “humanism”. These ideas are in turn rooted in an approach to reality codified by Cartesianism and the rise of modern science. Articulating this connection of the modern humanist tradition with Cartesianism allows for demonstrating how the central problem of modern liberal education is rooted in the strict separation of knowledge and personal experience inherent in the dualism of Descartes. The question about the shape of contemporary liberal education is, therefore, the same as asking whether an anti-Cartesian version of liberal education is possible at all. Although the formulation of a general answer to this question is a tall order (whether in abstract or practical terms), and might take different forms (nota bene in Eastern and Western contexts), a key inspiration may be provided by a certain shift of attitude towards the Cartesian conception of the relationship of knowledge and experience required by discussion based close-reading of works of visual art. Taking the work of Stanley Cavell as its central inspiration, my paper argues that this shift of attitude in question is best described as a form of “second naïveté”, and that it provides a useful model of conceptualizing in more concrete terms the appeal for such a “second naïveté” expressed in recent writings on the role of various disciplines in organizing learning by philosophers of such diverse backgrounds and interests as Hilary Putnam and Bruno Latour. The adoption of naïveté so identified as an educational ideal may be seen as a key instrument in thinking of the educational context as itself a medium of synthesis of the contemplative and the practical. Moreover, it is helpful in overcoming the bad dilemma of ideological vs. conservative approaches to liberal education, as well as in correcting a certain commonly held false view of the historical roots of liberal education in the Renaissance, which turns out to offer much more of a sui generis approach to practice rather than represent a mere precursor to the Cartesian conception.

Keywords: liberal arts, philosophy, education, Descartes, naivete

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Authors: Xiaoya Yi, Yi He, Zhao Lu, Yang Zhang

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In the process of rapid urbanization, many historical cities have undergone excessive demolition and construction under the protection and renewal mechanism. The original pattern of the city has been changed, the urban context has been cut off, and historical features have gradually been lost. The historical city gradually changed into the form of decentralization and fragmentation. The understanding of the ancient city includes two levels. The first one refers to the ancient city on the physical space, which defined an ancient city by its historic walls. The second refers to the public perception of the image, which is derived from people's spatial identification of the ancient city. In ancient China, people draw maps to show their way of understanding the city. Starting from ancient maps and exploring the spatial characteristics of traditional Chinese cities from the perspective of urban imagery is a key clue to understanding the spatial characteristics of historical cities on an overall level. The spatial characteristics of the urban image presented by the ancient map are summarized into two levels by typology. The first is the spatial pattern composed of the center, axis and boundary. The second is the space element that contains the city, street, and sign system. Taking the ancient city of Shipu as a typical case, the "city image" in the ancient map is analyzed as a prototype, and it is projected into the current urban space. The research found that after a long period of evolution, the historical spatial pattern of the ancient city has changed from “dominant” to “recessive control”, and the historical spatial elements are non-centralized and fragmented. The wall that serves as the boundary of the ancient city is transformed into “fragmentary remains”, the streets and lanes that serve as the axis of the ancient city are transformed into “structural remains”, and the symbols of the ancient city center are transformed into “site remains”. Based on this, the paper proposed the methods of controlling the protection of land boundaries, the protecting of the streets and lanes, and the selective restoring of the city wall system and the sign system by accurate assessment. In addition, this paper emphasizes the continuity of the ancient city's traditional spatial pattern and attempts to explore a holistic conservation method of the ancient city in the modern context.

Keywords: ancient city protection, ancient maps, Shipu ancient city, urban intention

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Authors: Anoop T. R., Otman Basir, Robert F. Hess, Eileen E. Birch, Brooke A. Koritala, Reed M. Jost, Becky Luu, David Stager, Ben Thompson

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Strabismus refers to a misalignment of the eyes. Early detection and treatment of strabismus in childhood can prevent the development of permanent vision loss due to abnormal development of visual brain areas. We developed a two-stage method for strabismus detection and classification based on photographs of the face. The first stage detects the presence or absence of strabismus, and the second stage classifies the type of strabismus. The first stage comprises face detection using Haar cascade, facial landmark estimation, face alignment, aligned face landmark detection, segmentation of the eye region, and detection of strabismus using VGG 16 convolution neural networks. Face alignment transforms the face to a canonical pose to ensure consistency in subsequent analysis. Using facial landmarks, the eye region is segmented from the aligned face and fed into a VGG 16 CNN model, which has been trained to classify strabismus. The CNN determines whether strabismus is present and classifies the type of strabismus (exotropia, esotropia, and vertical deviation). If stage 1 detects strabismus, the eye region image is fed into stage 2, which starts with the estimation of pupil center coordinates using mask R-CNN deep neural networks. Then, the distance between the pupil coordinates and eye landmarks is calculated along with the angle that the pupil coordinates make with the horizontal and vertical axis. The distance and angle information is used to characterize the degree and direction of the strabismic eye misalignment. This model was tested on 100 clinically labeled images of children with (n = 50) and without (n = 50) strabismus. The True Positive Rate (TPR) and False Positive Rate (FPR) of the first stage were 94% and 6% respectively. The classification stage has produced a TPR of 94.73%, 94.44%, and 100% for esotropia, exotropia, and vertical deviations, respectively. This method also had an FPR of 5.26%, 5.55%, and 0% for esotropia, exotropia, and vertical deviation, respectively. The addition of one more feature related to the location of corneal light reflections may reduce the FPR, which was primarily due to children with pseudo-strabismus (the appearance of strabismus due to a wide nasal bridge or skin folds on the nasal side of the eyes).

Keywords: strabismus, deep neural networks, face detection, facial landmarks, face alignment, segmentation, VGG 16, mask R-CNN, pupil coordinates, angle deviation, horizontal and vertical deviation

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Authors: Ji Zhou, Jung Hee Seo, Rajat Mittal

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Fish move in groups for foraging, reproduction, predator protection, and hydrodynamic efficiency. Schooling's predator protection involves the "many eyes" theory, which increases predator detection probability in a group. Reduced visual signature in a group scales with school size, offering per-capita protection. The ‘confusion effect’ makes it hard for predators to target prey in a group. These benefits, however, all focus on vision-based sensing, overlooking sound-based detection. Fish, including predators, possess sophisticated sensory systems for pressure waves and underwater sound. The lateral line system detects acoustic waves, while otolith organs sense infrasound, and sharks use an auditory system for low-frequency sounds. Among sound generation mechanisms of fish, the mechanism of dipole sound relates to hydrodynamic pressure forces on the body surface of the fish and this pressure would be affected by group swimming. Thus, swimming within a group could affect this hydrodynamic noise signature of fish and possibly serve as an additional protection afforded by schooling, but none of the studies to date have explored this effect. BAUVs with fin-like propulsors could reduce acoustic noise without compromising performance, addressing issues of anthropogenic noise pollution in marine environments. Therefore, in this study, we used our in-house immersed-boundary method flow and acoustic solver, ViCar3D, to simulate fish schools consisting of four swimmers in the classic ‘diamond’ configuration and discussed the feasibility of yielding higher swimming efficiency and controlling far-field sound signature of the school. We examine the effects of the relative phase of fin flapping of the swimmers and the simulation results indicate that the phase of the fin flapping is a dominant factor in both thrust enhancement and the total sound radiated into the far-field by a group of swimmers. For fish in the “diamond” configuration, a suitable combination of the relative phase difference between pairs of leading fish and trailing fish can result in better swimming performance with significantly lower hydroacoustic noise.

Keywords: fish schooling, biopropulsion, hydrodynamics, hydroacoustics

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Authors: Edna Gnomblerou

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Given the current scale of corruption epidemic in West African economies, governments are seeking for immediate and effective measures to reduce the likelihood of the plague within the region. Generally, accountants and auditors are expected to help organizations in detecting illegal practices. However, their role in the fight against corruption is sometimes limited due to the collusive nature of corruption. The Denmark anti-corruption model shows that the implementation of additional controls over public accounts and independent efficient audits improve transparency and increase the probability of detection. This study is aimed at reviewing the existing anti-corruption policies of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) as to observe the role attributed to accounting, auditing and other managerial practices in their anti-corruption drive. It further discusses the usefulness of accounting and auditing in helping anti-corruption commissions in controlling misconduct and increasing the perception to detect irregularities within public administration. The purpose of this initiative is to identify and assess the relevance of accounting and auditing in curbing corruption. To meet this purpose, the study was designed to answer the questions of whether accounting and auditing processes were included in the reviewed anti-corruption strategies, and if yes, whether they were effective in the detection process. A descriptive research method was adopted in examining the role of accounting and auditing in West African anti-corruption strategies. The analysis reveals that proper recognition of accounting standards and implementation of financial audits are viewed as strategic mechanisms in tackling corruption. Additionally, codes of conduct, whistle-blowing and information disclosure to the public are among the most common managerial practices used throughout anti-corruption policies to effectively and efficiently address the problem. These observations imply that sound anti-corruption strategies cannot ignore the values of including accounting and auditing processes. On one hand, this suggests that governments should employ all resources possible to improve accounting and auditing practices in the management of public sector organizations. On the other hand, governments must ensure that accounting and auditing practices are not limited to the private sector, but when properly implemented constitute crucial mechanisms to control and reduce corrupt incentives in public sector.

Keywords: accounting, anti-corruption strategy, auditing, ECOWAS

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Authors: Isabella B. Davidman

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Violence used against Jewish women in both the Eastern European pogroms and during the Nazi era was specifically gendered, targeting their female identity and dignity of womanhood. Not only did these acts of gendered violence dehumanize Jewish women, but they also hurt the Jewish community as a whole. The devastating sexual violence that women endured during the pogroms and the Nazi era caused profound trauma. Out of shame and fear, silence about women’s experiences of sexual abuse manifests in forms that words cannot translate. Women have turned to art and other means of storytelling to convey their female experiences in visual and non-verbal ways. Therefore, this paper aims to address the historical accounts of gendered violence against Jewish women during the pogroms and Nazi era, as well as art that reflects upon the female experience, in order to understand the emotional impact resulting from these events. To analyze the artwork, a feminist analysis was used to understand the intersection of gender with the other systems of inequality, such as systemic anti-semitism, in women’s lives; this ultimately explained the ways in which cultural productions undermine and reinforce the political and social oppression of women by exploring how art confronts the exploitation of women's bodies. By analyzing the art in the context of specific acts of violence, such as public rape, as a strategic weapon, we are able to understand women’s experiences and how these experiences, in turn, challenged their womanhood. Additionally, these atrocities, which often occurred in the public space, were dismissed and forgotten due to the social stigma of rape. In this sense, the experiences of women in pogroms and the Nazi era were both highly unacknowledged and forgotten. Therefore, the art that was produced during those time periods, as well as those after those events, gives voice to the profound silence on the narratives of Jewish women. Sexual violence is a weapon of war used to cause physical and psychological destruction, not only as a product of war. In both the early twentieth-century pogroms and the Holocaust, the sexual violence that Jewish women endured was fundamentally the same: the rape of Jewish women became a focal target in the theater of violence– women were not raped because they were women, but specifically, because they were Jewish women. Although the events of the pogroms and the Holocaust are in the past, the art that serves as testimony to the experience of Jewish women remains an everlasting reminder of the gendered violence that occurred. Even though covert expressions, such as an embroidered image of a bird eating an apple, the artwork gives voice to the many silenced victims of sexualized and gendered violence.

Keywords: gendered violence, holocaust, Nazi era, pogroms

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Authors: Sumitra Sharma, Christina Parker, Kathleen Finlayson, Clint Douglas, Niall Higgins

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Background: Telehealth services have potential to increase accessibility, utilization, and effectiveness of healthcare services. As the telehealth services are yet to integrate within regular hospital services in Nepal, the use of the telehealth services among adults with diabetes is scarce. Prior to implementation of telehealth services for adults with diabetes, it is necessary to examine influencing factors of telehealth services. Objective: This study aimed to investigate factors influencing telehealth services for diabetes care in Nepal. Methods: This study used a mixed-method study design which included a cross-sectional survey among adults with diabetes and semi-structured interviews among key healthcare professionals of Nepal. The study was conducted in a medical out-patient department of a tertiary hospital of Nepal. The survey adapted a previously validated questionnaire, while semi-structured questions for interviews were developed from literature review and experts consultation. All interviews were audio-recorded, and inductive content analysis was used to code transcripts and develop themes. For a survey, a descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and Mann Whitney U test were used to analyze the data. Results: One hundred adults with diabetes were participated in a survey, and seven healthcare professionals were recruited for interviews. In a survey, just over half of the participants (53%) were male, and others were female. Almost all participants (98%) owned a mobile phone, and 67% of them had a computer with internet access at home. Majority of participants had experience in using Facebook messenger (95%), followed by Viber (60%) and Zoom (26%). Almost all of the participants (96%) were willing to use telehealth services. There were significant associations between female sex and participants living 10 km away from the hospital with their willingness to use telehealth services. There was a significant association between participants' self-perception of good health status with their willingness to use video-conference calls and phone calls to use telehealth services. Seven themes were developed from interview data which are related to predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors influencing telehealth services for diabetes care in Nepal. Conclusion: In summary, several factors were found to influence the use of telehealth services for diabetes care in Nepal. For effective implementation of a sustainable telehealth services for adults with diabetes in Nepal, these factors need to be considered.

Keywords: contributing factors, diabetes mellitus, developing countries, telemedicine, telecare

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Authors: Chun-Lin Zhang, Min Wan

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With the upgrade development of the tourism industry from the simple sightseeing tour to the leisure and vacation, people's travel idea has undergone a fundamental change. More and more people begin to pursue liberal and personal tourism, so self-driving tourism has become the main form of current tourism activities. With the self-driving tourism representing the general trend, the importance of convenient tourism transportation and perfect road traffic signs have become more and more prominent. A clear urban road traffic signs can help visitors quickly identify the direction and distance to the tourism destination. The purpose of this article is analyzing the planning of urban road traffic signs which can bring positive impact on the participation in the recreation involved of self-driving tourists. The content of this article is divided into three parts. Based on the literature review and theoretical analysis, the first part constructs a structural variance model. The model is from three dimensions: the attention of the self-driving tourists to the urban traffic signs along the road, the perception of the self-driving tourists to the road traffic signs itself, the perceptions of the self-driving tourists to the tourism destination information on the traffic signs. Through this model, the paper aims to explore the influence of the urban road traffic signs to the leisure psychological involvement and leisure behavior involvement of the self-driving tourists. The second part aims to verify through the hypothesis model the questionnaire survey and come to preliminary conclusions. The preliminary conclusions are as follows: firstly, the color, shape, size, setting mode and occurrence frequency of urban road traffic sign have significant influence on the leisure psychological involvement and leisure behavior involvement of the self-driving tourists. Secondly, the influence on the leisure behavior involvement is obviously higher than the influence on the leisure psychological involvement. Thirdly, the information about the tourism destination marked on the urban road traffic signs has not obviously influence on the leisure psychological involvement, but it has distinct influence on the leisure behavior involvement of self-driving tourists. The third part puts forward that the planning of urban road traffic signs should focus on the angle of the impact of road traffic signs on people's psychology and behavior. On the basis of the above conclusions, the paper researches the color, shape, size, setting mode and information labeling of urban road traffic signs so that they can preferably satisfy the demand of the leisure involvement of self-driving tourists.

Keywords: leisure involvement, self-driving tourism, structural equation, urban road traffic signs

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Authors: Tanja Ecken, Laura Fricke, Anika Steger, Maren M. Michaelsen, Tobias Esch

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Studies and applied experiences evidence severe and traumatic accidents to not only require physical rehabilitation and recovery but also to necessitate a psychological adaption and reorganization to the changed living conditions. Neurobiological models underpinning the experience of happiness and satisfaction postulate life shocks to potentially enhance the experience of happiness and life satisfaction, i.e., posttraumatic growth (PTG). This present study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the underlying psychological processes of PTG and to outline its consequences on subjective happiness and life satisfaction. To explore the aforementioned, Esch’s (2022) ABC Model was used as guidance for the development of a questionnaire assessing changes in happiness and life satisfaction and for a schematic model postulating the development of PTG in the context of paraplegia. Two-stage qualitative interview procedures explored participants’ experiences of paraplegia. Specifically, narrative, semi-structured interviews (N=28) focused on the time before and after the accident, the availability of supportive resources, and potential changes in the perception of happiness and life satisfaction. Qualitative analysis (Grounded Theory) indicated an initial phase of reorganization was followed by a gradual psychological adaption to novel, albeit reduced, opportunities in life. Participants reportedly experienced a ‘compelled’ slowing down and elements of mindfulness, subsequently instilling a sense of gratitude and joy in relation to life’s presumed trivialities. Despite physical limitations and difficulties, participants reported an enhanced ability to relate to oneself and others and a reduction of perceived every day nuisances. Concluding, PTG can be experienced in response to severe, traumatic life events and has the potential to enrich the lives of affected persons in numerous, unexpected and yet challenging ways. PTG appears to be spectrum comprised of an interplay of internal and external resources underpinned by neurobiological processes. Participants experienced PTG irrelevant of age, gender, marital status, income or level of education.

Keywords: inhibition theory, posttraumatic growth, trauma, stress, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, traumatic life events, paraplegia

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Authors: Rui Lin, Jimmy Xiangji Huang, Gary Spraakman

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This forthcoming systematic review will underscore the imperative of leveraging technology to mitigate social isolation in older adults, particularly in the context of unprecedented global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. With the continual evolution of technology, it becomes crucial to scrutinize the efficacy of interventions and discern how they can alleviate social isolation and augment social well-being among the elderly. This review will strive to clarify the best methods for older adults to utilize cost-effective and user-friendly technology and will investigate how the adaptation and execution of such interventions can be fine-tuned to maximize their positive outcomes. The study will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to filter pertinent studies. We foresee conducting an analysis of articles and executing a narrative analysis to discover themes and indicators related to quality of life and, technology use and well-being. The review will examine how involving older adults at the community level, applying top practices from community-based participatory research, can establish efficient strategies to implement technology-based interventions designed to diminish social isolation and boost digital use self-efficacy. Applications based on mobile technology and virtual platforms are set to assume a crucial role not only in enhancing connections within families but also in connecting older adults to vital healthcare resources, fostering both physical and mental well-being. The review will investigate how technological devices and platforms can address the cognitive, visual, and auditory requirements of older adults, thus strengthening their confidence and proficiency in digital use—a crucial factor during enforced social distancing or self-isolation periods during pandemics. This review will endeavor to provide insights into the multifaceted benefits of technology for older adults, focusing on how tailored technological interventions can be a beacon of social and mental wellness in times of social restrictions. It will contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the intersection of technology and elderly well-being, offering nuanced understandings and practical implications for developing user-centric, effective, and inclusive technological solutions for older populations.

Keywords: older adults, health service delivery, digital health, social isolation, social well-being

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Authors: Dhruv Sharma, Lynne Blair, Stephen Clune

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Later life loneliness is a social issue that is increasing alongside an upward global population trend. As a society, one way that we have responded to this social challenge is through developing non-pharmacological interventions such as befriending services, activity clubs, meet-ups, etc. Through a systematic literature review, this paper suggests that currently there is an underrepresentation of radical innovation, and underutilization of digital technologies in developing loneliness interventions for older adults. This paper examines intervention studies that were published in English language, within peer reviewed journals between January 2005 and December 2014 across 4 electronic databases. In addition to academic databases, interventions found in grey literature in the form of websites, blogs, and Twitter were also included in the overall review. This approach yielded 129 interventions that were included in the study. A systematic approach allowed the minimization of any bias dictating the selection of interventions to study. A coding strategy based on a pattern analysis approach was devised to be able to compare and contrast the loneliness interventions. Firstly, interventions were categorized on the basis of their objective to identify whether they were preventative, supportive, or remedial in nature. Secondly, depending on their scope, they were categorized as one-to-one, community-based, or group based. It was also ascertained whether interventions represented an improvement, an incremental innovation, a major advance or a radical departure, in comparison to the most basic form of a loneliness intervention. Finally, interventions were also assessed on the basis of the extent to which they utilized digital technologies. Individual visualizations representing the four levels of coding were created for each intervention, followed by an aggregated visual to facilitate analysis. To keep the inquiry within scope and to present a coherent view of the findings, the analysis was primarily concerned the level of innovation, and the use of digital technologies. This analysis highlights a weak but positive correlation between the level of innovation and the use of digital technologies in designing and deploying loneliness interventions, and also emphasizes how certain existing interventions could be tweaked to enable their migration from representing incremental innovation to radical innovation for example. This analysis also points out the value of including grey literature, especially from Twitter, in systematic literature reviews to get a contemporary view of latest work in the area under investigation.

Keywords: ageing, loneliness, innovation, digital

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Authors: Saidur R. Chowdhury, Mamme K. Addai, Ernest K. Yanful

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The research was performed to assess the potential of nickel smelter slag, an industrial waste, as an adsorbent in the removal of metals from aqueous solution. An investigation was carried out for Arsenic (As), Copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) adsorption from aqueous solution. Smelter slag was obtain from Ni ore at the Vale Inco Ni smelter in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The batch experimental studies were conducted to evaluate the removal efficiencies of smelter slag. The slag was characterized by surface analytical techniques. The slag contained different iron oxides and iron silicate bearing compounds. In this study, the effect of pH, contact time, particle size, competition by other ions, slag dose and distribution coefficient were evaluated to measure the optimum adsorption conditions of the slag as an adsorbent for As, Cu, Pb and Cd. The results showed 95-99% removal of As, Cu, Pb, and almost 50-60% removal of Cd, while batch experimental studies were conducted at 5-10 mg/L of initial concentration of metals, 10 g/L of slag doses, 10 hours of contact time and 170 rpm of shaking speed and 25oC condition. The maximum removal of Arsenic (As), Copper (Cu), lead (Pb) was achieved at pH 5 while the maximum removal of Cd was found after pH 7. The column experiment was also conducted to evaluate adsorption depth and service time for metal removal. This study also determined adsorption capacity, adsorption rate and mass transfer rate. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 3.84 mg/g for As, 4 mg/g for Pb, and 3.86 mg/g for Cu. The adsorption capacity of nickel slag for the four test metals were in decreasing order of Pb > Cu > As > Cd. Modelling of experimental data with Visual MINTEQ revealed that saturation indices of < 0 were recorded in all cases suggesting that the metals at this pH were under- saturated and thus in their aqueous forms. This confirms the absence of precipitation in the removal of these metals at the pHs. The experimental results also showed that Fe and Ni leaching from the slag during the adsorption process was found to be very minimal, ranging from 0.01 to 0.022 mg/L indicating the potential adsorbent in the treatment industry. The study also revealed that waste product (Ni smelter slag) can be used about five times more before disposal in a landfill or as a stabilization material. It also highlighted the recycled slags as a potential reactive adsorbent in the field of remediation engineering. It also explored the benefits of using renewable waste products for the water treatment industry.

Keywords: adsorption, industrial waste, recycling, slag, treatment

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Authors: Margot Whitfield, Andrea Ducent, Marie Catherine Rombaut, Katia Iassinovskaia, Deborah Fels

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Learning how to create inclusive media, such as closed captioning (CC) and audio description (AD), in North America is restricted to the private sector, proprietary company-based training. We are delivering (through synchronous and asynchronous online learning) the first Canadian post-secondary, practice-based continuing education course package in inclusive media for broadcast production and processes. Despite the prevalence of CC and AD taught within the field of translation studies in Europe, North America has no comparable field of study. This novel approach to audio visual translation (AVT) education develops evidence-based methodology innovations, stemming from user study research with blind/low vision and Deaf/hard of hearing audiences for television and theatre, undertaken at Ryerson University. Knowledge outcomes from the courses include a) Understanding how CC/AD fit within disability/regulatory frameworks in Canada. b) Knowledge of how CC/AD could be employed in the initial stages of production development within broadcasting. c) Writing and/or speaking techniques designed for media. d) Hands-on practice in captioning re-speaking techniques and open source technologies, or in AD techniques. e) Understanding of audio production technologies and editing techniques. The case study of the curriculum development and deployment, involving first-time online course delivery from academic and practitioner-based instructors in introductory Captioning and Audio Description courses (CDIM 101 and 102), will compare two different instructors' approaches to learning design, including the ratio of synchronous and asynchronous classroom time and technological engagement tools on meeting software platform such as breakout rooms and polling. Student reception of these two different approaches will be analysed using qualitative thematic and quantitative survey analysis. Thus far, anecdotal conversations with students suggests that they prefer synchronous compared with asynchronous learning within our hands-on online course delivery method.

Keywords: inclusive media theory, broadcasting practices, AVT post secondary education, respeaking, audio description, learning design, virtual education

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Authors: Allyson Augusta Shrikhande, Alexa Rains, Tayyaba Ahmed, Marjorie Mamsaang, Rakhi Vyas, Janaki Natarajan, Erika Moody, Christian Reutter, Kimberlee Leishear, Yogita Tailor, Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, Lora Liu, Neha James, Rosemarie Filart

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Characterized by consistent difficulty getting and keeping an erection firm enough for intercourse, Erectile Dysfunction may affect up to 15% of adult men. Although awareness and access to treatment have improved in recent years, many patients do not actively seek diagnosis or treatment due to the stigma surrounding this condition. Patients who do seek treatment are often dissatisfied by the efficacy of the medication. The condition inhibits patients’ quality of life by worsening mental health and relationships. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an outpatient neuromuscular treatment protocol in treating the symptoms of Chronic Pelvic Pain and Erectile Dysfunction, improving pain and function. 56 patients ages 20-79 presented to an outpatient clinic for treatment of pelvic pain and Erectile Dysfunction symptoms. These symptoms had persisted for an average of 4 years. All patients underwent external ultrasound-guided hydro-dissection technique targeted at pelvic peripheral nerves in combination with pelvic floor musculature trigger-point injections. To measure the effects of this treatment, a five question Erectile Dysfunction questionnaire was completed by each patient at their first visit to a clinic and three months after treatment began. Answers were summed for a total score of 5-25, with a higher score indicating optimal function. The average score before treatment was 14.125 (SD 5.411) (a=0.05; CI 12.708-15.542), which increased by 18% to an average of 16.625 (SD 6.423) (a=0.05; CI 14.943-18.307) after treatment (P=0.0004). Secondary outcome variables included a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to measure pelvic pain intensity and the Functional Pelvic Pain Scale (FPPS) to measure function across multiple areas. VAS scores reduced by 51% after three months. Before treatment, the mean VAS score was 5.87, and the posttreatment mean VAS score was 2.89. Pelvic pain functionality improved by 34% after three months. Pretreatment FPPS scores averaged at 7.48, decreasing to 4.91 after treatment. These results indicate that this unique treatment was very effective at relieving pain and increasing function for patients with Erectile Dysfunction.

Keywords: chronic pelvic pain, erectile dysfunction, nonsurgical, outpatient, trigger point injections

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