Search results for: Cristina Maria Mendoza Sanchez

Authors: Valery A. Aurov, Maria D. Bausheva, Elena V. Uliyanova

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The problems of sustainability of contemporary high-rise buildings now demand an altogether new approach, which corresponds with the laws of dialectics. We should imply the principle “going from mega-object to the so called mezzo-object.” So the scientists have arrived at the conclusion that a contemporary “skyscraper” must not increase in height but develop horizontal space axes which unite a complex of high-rise buildings into a single composition. This is necessary both for safety issues and increasing skyscrapers’ functioning qualities. As a result, architects single out a quality unit in a dominating group of high-rise constructions and make a conclusion about the influence of visual fields on the designing parameters of this group.

Keywords: design, high-rise buildings, skyscrapers, sustainability, visual fields, dominating group, regulations, design recommendations

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Authors: Catarina Maria Neto da Cruz, Ana Maria Reis d'Azevedo Breda

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Emotions are manifestations of everything that happens around us, influencing, consequently, our actions. People experience emotions continuously when socialize with friends, when facing complex situations, and when at school, among many other situations. Although the influence of emotions in the teaching and learning process is nothing new, its study in the academic field has been more popular in recent years, distinguishing between positive (e.g., enjoyment and curiosity) and negative emotions (e.g., boredom and frustration). There is no doubt that emotions play an important role in the students’ learning process since the development of knowledge involves thoughts, actions, and emotions. Nowadays, one of the most significant changes in acquiring knowledge, accessing information, and communicating is the way we do it through technological and digital resources. Faced with an increasingly frequent use of technological or digital means with different purposes, whether in the acquisition of knowledge or in communicating with others, the emotions involved in these processes change naturally. The speed with which the Internet provides information reduces the excitement for searching for the answer, the gratification of discovering something through our own effort, the patience, the capacity for effort, and resilience. Thus, technological and digital devices are bringing changes to the emotional domain. For this reason and others, it is essential to educate children from an early age to understand that it is not possible to have everything with just one click and to deal with negative emotions. Currently, many curriculum guidelines highlight the importance of the development of so-called soft skills, in which the emotional domain is present, in academic contexts. The technical report “OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills”, developed by OECD, is one of them. Within the scope of the Portuguese reality, the “Students’ profile by the end of compulsory schooling” and the “Health education reference” also emphasizes the importance of emotions in education. There are several resources to stimulate good emotions in articulation with cognitive development. One of the most predictable and not very used resources in the most diverse areas of knowledge after pre-school education is the literature. Due to its characteristics, in the narrative or in the illustrations, literature provides the reader with a journey full of emotions. On the other hand, literature makes it possible to establish bridges between narrative and different areas of knowledge, reconciling the cognitive and emotional domains. This study results from the presentation session of a children's book, entitled “From the Outside to Inside and from the Inside to Outside”, to children attending the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of basic education in the Portuguese education system. In this book, rationale and emotion are in constant dialogue, so in this session, based on excerpts from the book dramatized by the authors, some questions were asked to the children in a large group, with an aim to explore their perception regarding certain emotions or events that trigger them. According to the aim of this study, qualitative, descriptive, and interpretative research was carried out based on participant observation and audio records.

Keywords: emotions, basic education, children, soft skills

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Authors: Edwin Calderon-Mendoza, Patrick Schweitzer, Serge Weber

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Series arc faults appear frequently and unpredictably in low voltage distribution systems. Many methods have been developed to detect this type of faults and commercial protection systems such AFCI (arc fault circuit interrupter) have been used successfully in electrical networks to prevent damage and catastrophic incidents like fires. However, these devices do not allow series arc faults to be located on the line in operating mode. This paper presents a location algorithm for series arc fault in a low-voltage indoor power line in an AC 230 V-50Hz home network. The method is validated through simulations using the MATLAB software. The fault location method uses electrical parameters (resistance, inductance, capacitance, and conductance) of a 49 m indoor power line. The mathematical model of a series arc fault is based on the analysis of the V-I characteristics of the arc and consists basically of two antiparallel diodes and DC voltage sources. In a first step, the arc fault model is inserted at some different positions across the line which is modeled using lumped parameters. At both ends of the line, currents and voltages are recorded for each arc fault generation at different distances. In the second step, a fault map trace is created by using signature coefficients obtained from Kirchhoff equations which allow a virtual decoupling of the line’s mutual capacitance. Each signature coefficient obtained from the subtraction of estimated currents is calculated taking into account the Discrete Fast Fourier Transform of currents and voltages and also the fault distance value. These parameters are then substituted into Kirchhoff equations. In a third step, the same procedure described previously to calculate signature coefficients is employed but this time by considering hypothetical fault distances where the fault can appear. In this step the fault distance is unknown. The iterative calculus from Kirchhoff equations considering stepped variations of the fault distance entails the obtaining of a curve with a linear trend. Finally, the fault distance location is estimated at the intersection of two curves obtained in steps 2 and 3. The series arc fault model is validated by comparing current registered from simulation with real recorded currents. The model of the complete circuit is obtained for a 49m line with a resistive load. Also, 11 different arc fault positions are considered for the map trace generation. By carrying out the complete simulation, the performance of the method and the perspectives of the work will be presented.

Keywords: indoor power line, fault location, fault map trace, series arc fault

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Authors: Meza-Quintero Myriam, Lobo Torrado Katty Andrea, Sanchez Picon Yesenia, Hurtado-Lugo Naudin

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The objective of the study was to evaluate the internal and external quality of the egg in the three production housing systems: floor, cage, and grazing of laying birds of the Isa Brown line, in the laying period between weeks 35 to 41; 135 hens distributed in 3 treatments of 45 birds per repetition were used (the replicas were the seven weeks of the trial). The feeding treatment supplied in the floor and cage systems contained 114 g/bird/day; for the grazing system, 14 grams less concentrate was provided. Nine eggs were collected to be studied and analyzed in the animal nutrition laboratory (3 eggs per housing system). The random statistical model was implemented: for the statistical analysis of the data, the statistical software of IBM® Statistical Products and Services Solution (SPSS) version 2.3 was used. The evaluation and follow-up instruments were the vernier caliper for the measurement in millimeters, a YolkFan™16 from Roche DSM for the evaluation of the egg yolk pigmentation, a digital scale for the measurement in grams, a micrometer for the measurement in millimeters and evaluation in the laboratory using dry matter, ashes, and ethereal extract. The results suggested that equivalent to the size of the egg (0.04 ± 3.55) and the thickness of the shell (0.46 ± 3.55), where P-Value> 0.05 was obtained, weight albumen (0.18 ± 3.55), albumen height (0.38 ± 3.55), yolk weight (0.64 ± 3.55), yolk height (0.54 ± 3.55) and for yolk pigmentation (1.23 ± 3.55). It was concluded that the hens in the three production systems, floor, cage, and grazing, did not show significant statistical differences in the internal and external quality of the chicken in the parameters studied egg for the production system.

Keywords: biological, territories, genetic resource, egg

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Authors: Nicolás Clavijo Buriticá, Laura Viviana Triana Sanchez

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This research develops a productive context associated with the aquaculture industry in northern Tolima-Colombia, specifically in the town of Lerida. Strategic aspects of chain of fish Production-Distribution, especially those related to supply network design of an association devoted to cultivating, farming, processing and marketing of fish are addressed. This research is addressed from a special approach of Supply Chain Management (SCM) which guides management objectives to the system sustainability; this approach is called Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM). The network design of fish production-distribution system is obtained for the case study by two mathematical programming models that aims to maximize the economic benefits of the chain and minimize total supply chain costs, taking into account restrictions to protect the environment and its implications on system productivity. The results of the mathematical models validated in the productive situation of the partnership under study, called Asopiscinorte shows the variation in the number of open or closed locations in the supply network that determines the final network configuration. This proposed result generates for the case study an increase of 31.5% in the partial productivity of storage and processing, in addition to possible favorable long-term implications, such as attending an agile or not a consumer area, increase or not the level of sales in several areas, to meet in quantity, time and cost of work in progress and finished goods to various actors in the chain.

Keywords: Sustainable Supply Chain, mathematical programming, aquaculture industry, Supply Chain Design, Supply Chain Configuration

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Authors: Ellen Bautista, Rebecca M. Flueckiger, Easter Dasmarinas, Rajeev Colaco, Fulbert Alec R. Gillego, Alma M. Lozada, Cristina Bisson

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Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) for family planning is at least 98% effective at preventing pregnancy when all criteria are met; (1) the mother is exclusively or nearly exclusively breastfeeding, (2) the mother is amenorrheic (not menstruating), and (3) the baby is six months old or younger. LAM is particularly suited for women interested in family planning accepted by religious authorities. As a majority catholic nation, LAM is a common and accepted form of family planning in the Philippines. The USAID funded, LuzonHealth project conducted a prospective evaluation in Legazpi City to inform the enhancement of guidelines aimed at increasing LAM compliance and encouraging a second form of contraceptive once LAM protection expires. LAM compliance, reasons for non-compliance, family planning referral and uptake of secondary modern family planning methods were tracked over a nine-month period among 521 postpartum women. The evaluation found that at three months postpartum, 97% of women either met LAM criteria or had shifted to a non-LAM modern family planning method. In month six 87% of women no longer met LAM criteria and of these only 35% had shifted to an alternative modern family planning method. This means that at six-months postpartum 65% of the women in this evaluation were not protected against pregnancy through modern family planning methods. By postpartum month nine, 70% of the women had been referred to family planning counseling, yet of those referred only 34% reported using modern family planning methods. This evaluation clearly indicates scale-up of non-LAM modern family planning does not sufficiently complement the scale-down of LAM compliance. There is a need to increase client knowledge and understanding of LAM as a temporary family planning method with a strong focus on preparing to shift to another form of modern family planning once LAM protection expires. Additionally, there is great need to restructure the referral mechanism to ensure efficacy and quality of care.

Keywords: Philippines, family planning, lactational amenorrhea method, contraceptives

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Authors: Maria da Gloria Guara-Tavares

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This article reports a synthesis of the research in Brazilian Sign Language conducted from 2000 to 2017. The objective of the synthesis was to identify the most researched areas and the most used methodologies. Articles published in three Brazilian journals of Translation Studies, unpublished dissertations and theses were included in the analysis. Abstracts and the method sections of the papers were scrutinized. Sixty studies were analyzed, and overall results indicate that the research in Brazilian Sign Language has been fragmented in several areas such as linguistic aspects, facial expressions, subtitling, identity issues, bilingualism, and interpretation strategies. Concerning research methods, the synthesis reveals that most research is qualitative in nature. Moreover, results show that the cognitive aspects of Brazilian Sign Language seem to be poorly explored. Implications for a future research agenda are also discussed.

Keywords: Brazilian sign language, qualitative methods, research agenda, synthesis

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Authors: Valentina Colonnello, Paolo Maria Russo

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Studies indicate a link between individual differences in affective disposition and depression, as well as between emotion dysregulation and depression. However, the specific role of emotion dysregulation domains in mediating the relationship between affective disposition and depression remains largely unexplored. In three cross-sectional quantitative studies (total n = 1350), we explored the extent to which specific emotion regulation difficulties mediate the relationship between personal distress disposition (Study 1), separation distress as a primary emotional trait (Study 2), and an insecure, anxious attachment style (Study 3) and depression. Across all studies, we found that the relationship between affective disposition and depression was mediated by difficulties in accessing adaptive emotion regulation strategies. These findings underscore the potential for modifiable abilities that could be targeted through preventive interventions.

Keywords: emotions, mental health, individual traits, personality

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Authors: Karla Sanchez-Ortiz, Yunuen Tapia-Torres, John Larsen, Felipe Garcia-Oliva

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Due to food demand production, the use of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizer has increased in agricultural soils to replace the N losses. Nevertheless, the intensive use of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizer in conventional agriculture negatively affects the soil and therefore the environment, so alternatives such as organic agriculture have been proposed for being more environmentally friendly. However, further research in soil is needed to see how agricultural management affects the dynamics of C and N. The objective of this research was to evaluate the C and N dynamics in the soil with three different agricultural management: an agricultural plot with intensive inorganic fertilization, a plot with semi-organic management and an agricultural plot with recent abandonment (2 years). For each plot, the soil C and N dynamics and the enzymatic activity of NAG and β-Glucosidase were characterized. Total C and N concentration of the plant biomass of each site was measured as well. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) was higher in abandoned plot, as well as this plot had higher total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN), besides microbial N and microbial C. While the enzymatic activity of NAG and β-Glucosidase was greater in the agricultural plot with inorganic fertilization, as well as nitrate (NO₃) was higher in fertilized plot, in comparison with the other two plots. The aboveground biomass (AB) of maize in the plot with inorganic fertilization presented higher TC and TN concentrations than the maize AB growing in the semiorganic plot, but the C:N ratio was highest in the grass AB in the abandoned plot. The C:N ration in the maize grain was greater in the semi-organic agricultural plot. These results show that the plot under intensive agricultural management favors the loss of soil organic matter and N, degrading the dynamics of soil organic compounds, promoting its fertility depletion.

Keywords: mineralization, nitrogen cycle, soil degradation, soil nutrients

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Authors: Maria Visitacion N. Gumabay, Byron Joseph A. Hallar, Annjeannette Alain D. Galang

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This study was intended to provide a more efficient and convenient way for mobile users to enhance their knowledge about ASEAN countries. The researchers evaluated the utility of the developed crossword puzzle application and assessed the general usability of its user interface for its intended purpose and audience of users. The descriptive qualitative research method for the research design and the Mobile-D methodology was employed for the development of the software application output. With a generally favorable reception from its users, the researchers concluded that the iSEA Mobile Based Learning Application can be considered ready for general deployment and use. It was also concluded that additional studies can also be done to make a more complete assessment of the knowledge gained by its users before and after using the application.

Keywords: mobile learning, eLearning, crossword, ASEAN, iSEA

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Authors: Feng Fu, Maria Karli

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In this paper, experimental studies were carried out to investigate the behaviour of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). A number of compressive tests, tensile splitting tests, as well as impact tests were conducted. In the tests, different recycled aggregate replacement ratio, different mix design and different water to cement ratio have been chosen in the investigation. The behavior of the RAC concrete was investigated in detail. The results of the tests show that the water-cement ratio plays an important role in the strength of the concrete and RAC concrete exhibit sufficient strength in comparison to the normal aggregate concrete; the relevant design recommendations are also made.

Keywords: recycled aggregate concrete, compressive test, tensile splitting test, flexural strength test, impact test

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Authors: Juan C. Domínguez, Belén Del Saz-Orozco, María V. Alonso, Mercedes Oliet, Francisco Rodríguez

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In the present study, the kinetics of thermal degradation of a phenolic and lignin reinforced phenolic foams, and the lignin used as reinforcement were studied and the activation energies of their degradation processes were obtained by a DAEM model. The average values for five heating rates of the mean activation energies obtained were: 99.1, 128.2, and 144.0 kJ.mol-1 for the phenolic foam, 109.5, 113.3, and 153.0 kJ.mol-1 for the lignin reinforcement, and 82.1, 106.9, and 124.4 kJ. mol-1 for the lignin reinforced phenolic foam. The standard deviation ranges calculated for each sample were 1.27-8.85, 2.22-12.82, and 3.17-8.11 kJ.mol-1 for the phenolic foam, lignin and the reinforced foam, respectively. The DAEM model showed low mean square errors (< 1x10-5), proving that is a suitable model to study the kinetics of thermal degradation of the foams and the reinforcement.

Keywords: kinetics, lignin, phenolic foam, thermal degradation

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Authors: Elucir Gir, Laelson Rochelle Milanês Sousa, Pedro Henrique Tertuliano Leoni, Carla Aparecida Arena Ventura, Ana Cristina de Oliveira e Silva, Renata Karina Reis

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Context and significance: Resilience is a protective agent for the physical and mental well-being of nursing professionals. Team members are constantly subjected to high levels of work stress that can negatively impact care performance and users of health services. Stress levels have been exacerbated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the resilience of nursing professionals in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach carried out with professionals from nursing teams from all regions of Brazil. Data collection took place in the first year of the pandemic between October and December 2020. Data were obtained through an online questionnaire posted on social networks. The information collected included the sociodemographic characterization of the nursing professionals and the Brief Resilient Coping Scale was applied. Student's t-test for independent samples and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare resilience scores with sociodemographic variables. Results: 8,792 nursing professionals participated in the study, 5,767 (65.6%) were nurses, 7,437 (84.6%) were female and 2,643 (30.1%) were from the Northeast region of Brazil, 5,124 (58.8% ) had low levels of resilience. The results showed a statistically significant difference between the resilience score and the variables: professional category (p<0.001); sex (p = 0.003); age range (p<0.001); region of Brazil (p<0.001); marital status (p=0.029) and providing assistance in a field hospital (p<0.001). Conclusion: Participants in this study had, in general, low levels of resilience. There is an urgent need for actions aimed at promoting the psychological health of nursing professionals inserted in pandemic contexts. Descriptors: Psychological Resilience; Nursing professionals; COVID-19; SARSCoV-2.

Keywords: psychological resilience, nursing professionals, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2

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Authors: ȘercăIanu Mihai, Aldea Mihaela, Iacoboaea Cristina, Luca Oana, Nenciu Ioana

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The emergence and neutralization of illegal waste dumps represent a global concern for waste management ecosystems with a particularly pronounced impact on disadvantaged communities. All over the world, and in this particular case in Romania, a relevant number of people resided in houses lacking any legal forms such as land ownership documents or building permits. These areas are referred to as “informal settlements”. An increasing number of regions and cities in Romania are struggling to manage their waste dumps, especially in the context of increasing poverty and lack of regulation related to informal settlements. An example of such informal settlement can be found at the terminus of Bistra Street in Câlnic, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Reșița in Caras Severin County. The article presents a case study that focuses on employing remote sensing techniques and spatial data to monitor and map illegal waste practices, with subsequent integration into a geographic information system tailored for the Reșița community. In addition, the paper outlines the steps involved in devising strategies aimed at enhancing waste management practices in disadvantaged areas, aligning with the shift toward a circular economy. Results presented in the paper contain a spatial mapping and visualization methodology calibrated with in situ data collection applicable for identifying illegal landfills. The emergence and neutralization of illegal dumps pose a challenge in the field of waste management. These approaches, which prove effective where conventional solutions have failed, need to be replicated and adopted more wisely.

Keywords: waste dumps, waste management, monitoring, GIS, informal settlements

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Authors: Maria Istvanova

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The purpose of the comparative study of the affricate consonants in Chinese and Slovak is to increase the awareness of the main distinguishing features between these two languages taking into consideration this particular group of consonants. This study determines the main difficulties of the Slovak learners in the process of acquiring correct pronunciation of affricate initial consonants in Chinese based on the understanding of the distinguishing features of Chinese and Slovak affricates in combination with the experimental measuring of VOT values. The software tool Praat is used for the analysis of the recorded language samples. The language samples contain recordings of a Chinese native speaker and Slovak students of Chinese with different language proficiency levels. Based on the results of the analysis in Praat, the study identifies erroneous pronunciation and provide clarification of its cause.

Keywords: Chinese, comparative study, initial consonants, pronunciation, Slovak

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Authors: Evagelia Makri, Maria Tsourela, Dimitris Paschaloudis, Dafni M. Nerantzaki

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One of the biggest financial and social problems, which at the same time constitute one of the greater challenges that Greek society faces today, is the illegal avoidance of tax payments. Tax evasion may negate financial data and community budgets, as well as breed financial chaos. This research seeks to reflect Greek reality concerning tax measures. Also, there will be an effort to record the factors surrounding tax evasion. Greek tax system’s data will be rendered in financial terms. Questionnaires will be handed out to tax payers, and interviews will be conducted to taxmen. The quantitative analysis of the questionnaire answers will define the tax payers’ opinion towards the existence of tax evasion. The qualitative analysis of the interviews will reveal the main reason that boosts tax evasion. At the end, there will be some realistic proposals about how to better collect taxes, through the creation of a strong regulatory mechanism.

Keywords: tax evasion, tax collection measures, insurance recovery measures, Greek tax system

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Authors: Izabel Cristina Zattar, Gilberto Passos Lima, Guilherme Schünemann de Oliveira

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In Brazil, there are several institutions committed to the development of new businesses based on product innovation. Among them are business incubators, universities and science institutes. Business incubators can be defined as nurseries for new companies, which may be in the technology segment, discussed in this article. Business incubators provide services related to infrastructure, such as physical space and meeting rooms. Besides these services, incubators also offer assistance in the form of information and communication, access to finance, relationship networks and business monitoring and mentoring processes. Business incubators support not all technology companies. One of the business incubators tasks is to assess the nature and feasibility of new business proposals. To assist this goal, this paper proposes a methodology for evaluating new business using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This paper presents the concepts used in the assessing methodology application for new business, concepts that have been tested with positive results in practice. This study counts on three main steps: first, a hierarchy was built, based on new business manuals used by the business incubators. These books and manuals relate business selection requirements, such as the innovation status and other technological aspects. Then, a questionnaire was generated, in order to guide incubator experts in the parity comparisons at all hierarchy levels. The weights of each requirement are calculated from information obtained from the questionnaire responses. Finally, the proposed method was applied to evaluate five new business proposals, which were applying to be part of a company incubator. The main result is the classification of these new businesses, which helped the incubator experts to decide what companies were more eligible to work with. This classification may also be helpful to the decision-making process of business incubators in future selection processes.

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Brazilian companies incubators, technology companies, incubator

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Authors: Maria E. Eggink

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Human capital is one of the essential factors in an innovation system and innovation is the driving force of economic growth and development. Schumpeter focused on the entrepreneur as innovator, but the evolutionary economists shifted the focus to all participants in the innovation system. Education and training institutions are important participants in an innovation system, but there is a gap in literature on competence building as part of the analysis of innovation systems. In this paper the education and training institutions’ competence building role in the innovation system is examined. The Mpumalanga Province of South Africa is used as a case study. It was found that the absence of a university, the level of education, the quality and performance in the education sector and the condition of the education infrastructure have not been conducive to learning.

Keywords: education institutions, human capital, innovation systems, Mpumalanga Province

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Authors: Domingo Planes Meseguer, Raffaele Danilo Esposito, Maria Del Pilar Dorado Rodriguez

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Monthly quality control checks for a Radiation Therapy Linac may be performed is a simple and efficient way once they have been standardized and protocolized. On the other hand this checks, in spite of being imperatives, require a not negligible execution times in terms of machine time and operators time. Besides it must be taken into account the amount of disposable material which may be needed together with the use of commercial software for their performing. With the aim of optimizing and standardizing mechanical-geometric checks and multi leaves collimator checks, we decided to implement a protocol which makes use of the Electronic Portal Imaging Device (EPID) available on our Linacs. The user is step by step guided by the software during the whole procedure. Acquired images are automatically analyzed by our programs all of them written using only free software.

Keywords: quality control checks, linac, radiation oncology, medical physics, free software

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Authors: Ioannis Panagiotopoulos, Aristidis Anastasakis, Konstantinos Toutouzas, Ioannis Iakovou, Charalampos Vlachopoulos, Vasilis Voudris, Georgios Tziomalos, Konstantinos Tsioufis, Efstathios Kastritis, Alexandros Briassoulis, Kimon Stamatelopoulos, Alexios Antonopoulos, Paraskevi Exadaktylou, Evanthia Giannoula, Anastasia Katinioti, Maria Kalantzi, Evangelos Leontiadis, Eftychia Smparouni, Ioannis Malakos, Nikolaos Aravanis, Argyrios Doumas, Maria Koutelou

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Introduction: Cardiac amyloidosis from Transthyretin (ATTR-CA) is an infiltrative disease characterized by the deposition of pathological transthyretin complexes in the myocardium. This study describes the characteristics of patients diagnosed with ATTR-CA from 2019 until present at the Nuclear Medicine Department of Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center and AHEPA Hospital. These centers have extensive experience in amyloidosis and modern technological equipment for its diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Records of consecutive patients (N=73) diagnosed with any type of amyloidosis were collected, analyzed, and prospectively followed. The diagnosis of amyloidosis was made using specific myocardial scintigraphy with Tc-99m DPD. Demographic characteristics, including age, gender, marital status, height, and weight, were collected in a database. Clinical characteristics, such as amyloidosis type (ATTR and AL), serum biomarkers (BNP, troponin), electrocardiographic findings, ultrasound findings, NYHA class, aortic valve replacement, device implants, and medication history, were also collected. Some of the most significant results are presented. Results: A total of 73 cases (86% male) were diagnosed with amyloidosis over four years. The mean age at diagnosis was 82 years, and the main symptom was dyspnea. Most patients suffered from ATTR-CA (65 vs. 8 with AL). Out of all the ATTR-CA patients, 61 were diagnosed with wild-type and 2 with two rare mutations. Twenty-eight patients had systemic amyloidosis with extracardiac involvement, and 32 patients had a history of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. Four patients had already developed polyneuropathy, and the diagnosis was confirmed by DPD scintigraphy, which is known for its high sensitivity. Among patients with isolated cardiac involvement, only 6 had left ventricular ejection fraction below 40%. The majority of ATTR patients underwent tafamidis treatment immediately after diagnosis. Conclusion: In conclusion, the experiences shared by the two centers and the continuous exchange of information provide valuable insights into the diagnosis and management of cardiac amyloidosis. Clinical suspicion of amyloidosis and early diagnostic approach are crucial, given the availability of non-invasive techniques. Cardiac scintigraphy with DPD can confirm the presence of the disease without the need for a biopsy. The ultimate goal still remains continuous education and awareness of clinical cardiologists so that this systemic and treatable disease can be diagnosed and certified promptly and treatment can begin as soon as possible.

Keywords: amyloidosis, diagnosis, myocardial scintigraphy, Tc-99m DPD, transthyretin

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Authors: S. Da Costa, D. Páez, F. Sánchez

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We examine the causal role of positive affect on creativity, the association of creativity or innovation in the ideation phase with functional emotional regulation, successful adjustment to stress and dispositional emotional creativity, as well as the predictive role of creativity for positive emotions and social adjustment. The study examines the effects of modification of positive affect on creativity. Participants write three poems, narrate an infatuation episode, answer a scale of personal growth after this episode and perform a creativity task, answer a flow scale after creativity task and fill a dispositional emotional creativity scale. High and low positive effect was induced by asking subjects to write three poems about high and low positive connotation stimuli. In a neutral condition, tasks were performed without previous affect induction. Subjects on the condition of high positive affect report more positive and less negative emotions, more personal growth (effect size r = .24) and their last poem was rated as more original by judges (effect size r = .33). Mediational analysis showed that positive emotions explain the influence of the manipulation on personal growth - positive affect correlates r = .33 to personal growth. The emotional creativity scale correlated to creativity scores of the creative task (r = .14), to the creativity of the narration of the infatuation episode (r = .21). Emotional creativity was also associated, during performing the creativity task, with flow (r = .27) and with affect balance (r = .26). The mediational analysis showed that emotional creativity predicts flow through positive affect. Results suggest that innovation in the phase of ideation is associated with a positive affect balance and satisfactory performance, as well as dispositional emotional creativity is adaptive.

Keywords: affectivity, creativity, induction, innovation, psychological factors

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Authors: Strahinja Kovačević, Sanja Podunavac-Kuzmanović, Lidija Jevrić, Cristina Prandi, Piermichele Kobauri

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The present study is based on molecular modeling of a series of twelve 5-(4-substituent-phenoxy)-3-methylfuran-2(5H)-one derivatives which have potential of strigolactones mimics toward Striga hermonthica. The first step of the analysis included the calculation of molecular descriptors which numerically describe the structures of the analyzed compounds. The descriptors ALOGP (lipophilicity), AClogS (water solubility) and BBB (blood-brain barrier penetration), served as the input variables in multiple linear regression (MLR) modeling of germination activity toward S. hermonthica. Two MLR models were obtained. The first MLR model contains ALOGP and AClogS descriptors, while the second one is based on these two descriptors plus BBB descriptor. Despite the braking Topliss-Costello rule in the second MLR model, it has much better statistical and cross-validation characteristics than the first one. The ALOGP and AClogS descriptors are often very suitable predictors of the biological activity of many compounds. They are very important descriptors of the biological behavior and availability of a compound in any biological system (i.e. the ability to pass through the cell membranes). BBB descriptor defines the ability of a molecule to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Besides the lipophilicity of a compound, this descriptor carries the information of the molecular bulkiness (its value strongly depends on molecular bulkiness). According to the obtained results of MLR modeling, these three descriptors are considered as very good predictors of germination activity of the analyzed compounds toward S. hermonthica seeds. This article is based upon work from COST Action (FA1206), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

Keywords: chemometrics, germination activity, molecular modeling, QSAR analysis, strigolactones

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Authors: Maria Debora Braga, Luigi Riso, Maria Grazia Zoia

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Risk-based approaches to asset allocation are portfolio construction methods that do not rely on the input of expected returns for the asset classes in the investment universe and only use risk information. They include the Minimum Variance Strategy (MV strategy), the traditional (volatility-based) Risk Parity Strategy (SRP strategy), the Most Diversified Portfolio Strategy (MDP strategy) and, for many, the Equally Weighted Strategy (EW strategy). All the mentioned approaches were based on portfolio volatility as a reference risk measure but in 2023, the Kurtosis-based Risk Parity strategy (KRP strategy) and the Minimum Kurtosis strategy (MK strategy) were introduced. Understandably, they used the fourth root of the portfolio-fourth moment as a proxy for portfolio kurtosis to work with a homogeneous function of degree one. This paper contributes mainly theoretically and methodologically to the framework of risk-based asset allocation approaches with two steps forward. First, a new and more flexible objective function considering a linear combination (with positive coefficients that sum to one) of portfolio volatility and portfolio kurtosis is used to alternatively serve a risk minimization goal or a homogeneous risk distribution goal. Hence, the new basic idea consists in extending the achievement of typical risk-based approaches’ goals to a combined risk measure. To give the rationale behind operating with such a risk measure, it is worth remembering that volatility and kurtosis are expressions of uncertainty, to be read as dispersion of returns around the mean and that both preserve adherence to a symmetric framework and consideration for the entire returns distribution as well, but also that they differ from each other in that the former captures the “normal” / “ordinary” dispersion of returns, while the latter is able to catch the huge dispersion. Therefore, the combined risk metric that uses two individual metrics focused on the same phenomena but differently sensitive to its intensity allows the asset manager to express, in the context of an objective function by varying the “relevance coefficient” associated with the individual metrics, alternatively, a wide set of plausible investment goals for the portfolio construction process while serving investors differently concerned with tail risk and traditional risk. Since this is the first study that also implements risk-based approaches using a combined risk measure, it becomes of fundamental importance to investigate the portfolio effects triggered by this innovation. The paper also offers a second contribution. Until the recent advent of the MK strategy and the KRP strategy, efforts to highlight interesting properties of risk-based approaches were inevitably directed towards the traditional MV strategy and SRP strategy. Previous literature established an increasing order in terms of portfolio volatility, starting from the MV strategy, through the SRP strategy, arriving at the EQ strategy and provided the mathematical proof for the “equalization effect” concerning marginal risks when the MV strategy is considered, and concerning risk contributions when the SRP strategy is considered. Regarding the validity of similar conclusions when referring to the MK strategy and KRP strategy, the development of a theoretical demonstration is still pending. This paper fills this gap.

Keywords: risk parity, portfolio kurtosis, risk diversification, asset allocation

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Authors: Gonzalo Ortiz de Elguea-Culebras, Raúl Sánchez-Vioquea, Adela Mena-Morales, Manuel Alaiz, Enrique Melero-Bravo, Esteban García-Romero, Javier Vioque, Lourdes Marchante-Cuevas, Julio Girón-Calle

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Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a highly valued crop for the manufacture of spice that consists of the dried stigma of the flowers. This is in contrast to other underutilized parts of the saffron plant as leaves, which represent abundant biomass whose use might help to enhance the sustainability of the saffron crop. Saffron leaves contain significant amounts of phenolic compounds, 7.8 equivalent grams of gallic acid per 100g of extract, and are very promising compounds in terms of exploring novel uses of saffron leaves. Given that phenolic compounds have numerous effects on cancer-related biological pathways, we have investigated the in vitro antiproliferative effect of saffron leaf polyphenols against human colon adenocarcinoma cells (Caco-2). Polyphenols were extracted from leaves with 70% ethanol, defatted with hexane, and purified by solid phase extraction using C18 silica gel and then silica gel 60. Analysis of polyphenols was performed by HPLC-ESI-MS. Di-, tri-, and tetrahexosides of quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin, as well as C-hexosides like isoorientin and vitexin, were tentatively identified. Polyphenols strongly inhibited the proliferation of Caco-2 cells, which is consistent with model studies in which several of the polyphenols identified in saffron leaves have demonstrated their potential as chemopreventive agents in cancer. Due to the low profitability that saffron leaf currently represents, we consider these results very encouraging and that this by-product deserves further investigation as a potential source of active molecules against colorectal cancer.

Keywords: saffron leaves, agricultural by-products, polyphenols, antiproliferative effect, human colon adenocarcinoma cells

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Authors: Maria Margaretha, Elin Cahyaningsih, Dana Indra Sensuse Lukman

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One of key success an organization can be seen from its culture. Employee, environment, and so on are factors for organization to achieve goals and build a competitive advantage. Type of organizational culture can be a guide to implementing Knowledge Management (KM) in organization especially in BKN. Culture will determine behavior of employees or environment to support KM. This paper describes the process to decide which culture does organization belong and suggestion and creating strategic moves in the future to implement KM. OCAI (Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument) and its framework (Competing Value Framework) were used to decide the type of organizational culture. To implement KM in organization, clan is an appropriate culture, because clan culture represent cultural values and leader type to implement a successful KM. Result of the measurement will be references for BKN to improve organization culture to achieve its goals and organization effectiveness.

Keywords: organizational culture, government, knowledge management, OCAI

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Authors: Zélia Maria Da Costa Ludwig, Maria José Valenzuela Bell, Geraldo Henriques Da Silva, Thales Alves Faraco, Victor Rocha Da Silva, Daniel Rotmeister Teixeira, Vírgilio De Carvalho Dos Anjos, Valdemir Ludwig

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Advances in telecommunications grow with the development of optical amplifiers based on rare earth ions. The focus has been concentrated in silicate glasses although their amplified spontaneous emission is limited to a few tens of nanometers (~ 40nm). Recently, phosphate glasses have received great attention due to their potential application in optical data transmission, detection, sensors and laser detector, waveguide and optical fibers, besides its excellent physical properties such as high thermal expansion coefficients and low melting temperature. Compared with the silica glasses, phosphate glasses provide different optical properties such as, large transmission window of infrared, and good density. Research on the improvement of physical and chemical durability of phosphate glass by addition of heavy metals oxides in P2O5 has been performed. The addition of Na2O further improves the solubility of rare earths, while increasing the Al2O3 links in the P2O5 tetrahedral results in increased durability and aqueous transition temperature and a decrease of the coefficient of thermal expansion. This work describes the structural and spectroscopic characterization of a phosphate glass matrix doped with different Er (Erbium) concentrations. The phosphate glasses containing Er3+ ions have been prepared by melt technique. A study of the optical absorption, luminescence and lifetime was conducted in order to characterize the infrared emission of Er3+ ions at 1540 nm, due to the radiative transition 4I13/2 → 4I15/2. Our results indicate that the present glass is a quite good matrix for Er3+ ions, and the quantum efficiency of the 1540 nm emission was high. A quenching mechanism for the mentioned luminescence was not observed up to 2,0 mol% of Er concentration. The Judd-Ofelt parameters, radiative lifetime and quantum efficiency have been determined in order to evaluate the potential of Er3+ ions in new phosphate glass. The parameters follow the trend as Ω2 > Ω4 > Ω6. It is well known that the parameter Ω2 is an indication of the dominant covalent nature and/or structural changes in the vicinity of the ion (short range effects), while Ω4 and Ω6 intensity parameters are long range parameters that can be related to the bulk properties such as viscosity and rigidity of the glass. From the PL measurements, no red or green upconversion was measured when pumping the samples with laser excitation at 980 nm. As future prospects: Synthesize this glass system with silver in order to determine the influence of silver nanoparticles on the Er3+ ions.

Keywords: phosphate glass, erbium, luminescence, glass system

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Authors: Maria Ilyushkina

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The article addresses the problem of translating vocative texts with intertextual references and describes the influence of language on how knowledge and meaning are developed in the field of advertising. The starting point of the article takes advertisements from the sphere of tourism and the way we choose, translate, and interpret intertexts. The article focuses on the perception and understanding of the information in printed texts advertising recreational facilities and services for tourists as the target audience by representatives of other cultures and the knowledge intertexts convey. The authors argue that intertextuality complicates translation leading to knowledge asymmetries. Studying typical communicative failures is considered to be of great importance, allowing for improvement in the practice of translation in the sphere of advertising as well as preventing the fallacious transfer of knowledge when translating foreign intertexts.

Keywords: advertising, translation, intertext, Russian culture, knowledge asymmetries, tourism, vocative texts

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Authors: Marta Maria Aguilar Carceles, Ginesa Torrente Hernandez

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The goal of the current study is focused on giving an interdisciplinary comprehension of an increased phenomenon in recent years: violence against parents. Violence can take different forms depending on the context and the vulnerability of the victims, but in this kind of situations, the relationship between parents and young people can become abusive and uncontrollable. Taking a sample from the Spanish Criminal Courts, this study explores those psychological and sociological factors that can contribute to the appearance and continuity of this kind of behaviors in minors. It is considered factors like the type of offence, presence or absence of psychopathology in the subjects, family aspects, or sociodemographic factors, getting a criminal profile of the minor and evaluating which measures are more efficient or adequate in each particular case. Finally, it will be discussed on how getting effective interventions and restorative responses to address teen violence against their parents within the Spanish Legal System.

Keywords: criminality, legal system, parents, tyrant sons, violence

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Authors: Izabel Cristina Zattar, Gilberto Passos Lima, Guilherme Schünemann de Oliveira

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In Brazil, there are several institutions committed to the development of new businesses based on product innovation. Among them are business incubators, universities and science institutes. Business incubators can be defined as nurseries for new companies, which may be in the technology segment, discussed in this article. Business incubators provide services related to infrastructure, such as physical space and meeting rooms. Besides these services, incubators also offer assistance in the form of information and communication, access to finance, relationship networks and business monitoring and mentoring processes. Business incubators support not all technology companies. One of the business incubators tasks is to assess the nature and feasibility of new business proposals. To assist in this goal, this paper proposes a methodology for evaluating new business using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This paper presents the concepts used in the assessing methodology application for new business, concepts that have been tested with positive results in practice. This study counts on three main steps: first, a hierarchy was built, based on new business manuals used by the business incubators. These books and manuals relate business selection requirements, such as the innovation status and other technological aspects. Then, a questionnaire was generated, in order to guide incubator experts in the parity comparisons at all hierarchy levels. The weights of each requirement are calculated from information obtained from the questionnaire responses. Finally, the proposed method was applied to evaluate five new business proposals, which were applying to be part of a company incubator. The main result is the classification of these new businesses, which helped the incubator experts to decide what companies were more eligible to work with. This classification may also be helpful to the decision-making process of business incubators in future selection processes.

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Brazilian companies incubators, technology companies, incubator

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Authors: A. Bayat, R. Bello-Mendoza, D. G. Wareham

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Two major categories of green waste are fruit and vegetable (FV) waste and garden and yard (GY) waste. Although, anaerobic digestions (AD) is able to manage FV waste; there is less confidence in the conditions for AD to handle GY wastes (grass, leaves, trees and bush trimmings); mainly because GY contains lignin and other recalcitrant organics. GY in the dry state (TS ≥ 15 %) can be digested at mesophilic temperatures; however, little methane data has been reported under thermophilic conditions, where conceivably better methane yields could be achieved. In addition, it is suspected that at lower solids concentrations, the methane yield could be increased. As such, the aim of this research is to find the temperature and solids concentration conditions that produce the most methane; under two different temperature regimes (mesophilic, thermophilic) and three solids states (i.e. 'dry', 'semi-dry' and 'wet'). Twenty liters of GY waste was collected from a public park located in the northern district in Tehran. The clippings consisted of freshly cut grass as well as dry branches and leaves. The GY waste was chopped before being fed into a mechanical blender that reduced it to a paste-like consistency. An initial TS concentration of approximately 38 % was achieved. Four hundred mL of anaerobic inoculum (average total solids (TS) concentration of 2.03 ± 0.131 % of which 73.4% were volatile solid (VS), soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) of 4.59 ± 0.3 g/L) was mixed with the GY waste substrate paste (along with distilled water) to achieve a TS content of approximately 20 %. For comparative purposes, approximately 20 liters of FV waste was ground in the same manner as the GY waste. Since FV waste has a much higher natural water content than GY, it was dewatered to obtain a starting TS concentration in the dry solid-state range (TS ≥ 15 %). Three samples were dewatered to an average starting TS concentration of 32.71 %. The inoculum was added (along with distilled water) to dilute the initial FV TS concentrations down to semi-dry conditions (10-15 %) and wet conditions (below 10 %). Twelve 1-L batch bioreactors were loaded simultaneously with either GY or FV waste at TS solid concentrations ranging from 3.85 ± 1.22 % to 20.11 ± 1.23 %. The reactors were sealed and were operated for 30 days while being immersed in water baths to maintain a constant temperature of 37 ± 0.5 °C (mesophilic) or 55 ± 0.5 °C (thermophilic). A maximum methane yield of 115.42 (L methane/ kg VS added) was obtained for the GY thermophilic-wet AD combination. Methane yield was enhanced by 240 % compared to the GY waste mesophilic-dry condition. The results confirm that high temperature regimes and small solids concentrations are conditions that enhance methane yield from GY waste. A similar trend was observed for the anaerobic digestion of FV waste. Furthermore, a maximum value of VS (53 %) and sCOD (84 %) reduction was achieved during the AD of GY waste under the thermophilic-wet condition.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, thermophilic, mesophilic, total solids concentration

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