Search results for: integrative oncology research

Authors: Mei-Ying Liao, Lee-Ching Wei, Jung-Hsiang Tseng

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The main purpose of this study was to explore the process of planning and execution of the music learning center in preschool. This study was conducted through a collaborative action research method. The research members included a university music professor, a teaching guide, a preschool director, and a preschool teacher, leading a class of 5-6-year-old children to participate in this study. Five teaching cycles were performed with a subject of bird. In the whole process that lasted three months, the research members would maintain the conversation, reflection, and revision repeatedly. A triangular validated method was used to collect data, including archives, interviews, seminars, observations, journals, and learning evaluations to improve research on the validity and reliability. It was found that a successful music learning center required comprehensive planning and execution. It is also important to develop good listening, singing, respect, and homing habits at the beginning of running the music learning center. By timely providing diverse musical instruments, learning materials, and activities according to the teaching goals, children’s desire to learning was highly stimulated. Besides, peer interactions improved their ensemble and problem-solving abilities. The collaborative action research enhanced the preschool teacher’s confidence and promoted professional growth of the research members.

Keywords: collaborative action research, case study, music learning center, music development

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Authors: Jyoti Srivastava, Sandhya S. Kaushik, Mallika Tewari, Hari S. Shukla

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Little information is available about the development of psychological well being over time among women who have been undergoing treatment for breast cancer. The aim of this study was to identify the trajectories of depression anxiety and stress among women with early-stage breast cancer. Of the 48 Indian women with newly diagnosed early-stage breast cancer recruited from surgical oncology unit, 39 completed an interview and were assessed for depression anxiety and stress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-DASS 21) before their first course of chemotherapy (baseline) and follow up interviews at 3, 6 and 9 months thereafter. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify distinct trajectories of Depression Anxiety and Stress symptoms. Logistic Regression analysis was used to evaluate the characteristics of women in distinct groups. Most women showed mild to moderate level of depression and anxiety (68%) while normal to mild level of stress (71%). But one in 11 women was chronically anxious (9%) and depressed (9%). Young age, having a partner, shorter education and receiving chemotherapy but not radiotherapy might characterize women whose psychological symptoms remain strong nine months after diagnosis. By looking beyond the mean, it was found that several socio-demographic and treatment factors characterized the women whose depression, anxiety and stress level remained severe even nine months after diagnosis. The results suggest that support provided to cancer patients should have a special focus on a relatively small group of patient most in need.

Keywords: psychological well being, growth mixture modeling, logistic regression analysis, socio-demographic factors

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Authors: Inyene Nathaniel Nkanta

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The present economic situation in Nigeria, with an increase in inflation rate due to the fall of crude oil prices and post covid-19 crisis, has increased the level of poverty and suffering in Nigeria, particularly the women. Against that backdrop, this research project is initiated to explore ways to empower women through entrepreneurship education and training to ameliorate the poverty level amongst women in Nigeria. A qualitative approach to data collection will be applied in this study and to test the assertions of this research project empirically, this research adopts a case study research method as this will enable me to obtain and probe ways women can be empowered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The result of this research project will provide an original perspective on human capital development, most importantly, the need for entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial literature and practice.

Keywords: women, Nigeria, entrepreneurship education, Economic development, human capital

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Authors: Kuribachew Gizaw Tohiye, Monica Garfield

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Personal knowledge management is the aspect of knowledge management that relates to the way in which individuals organize and manage their own set of knowledge. While in that respect, there has been research in this area for the past 25 years, it is at present necessary to speculate upon what research has been done and what we have discovered about this arena of knowledge management. In contrast to organizational knowledge management, which focuses on a firm’s profitability and competitiveness, personal knowledge management (PKM) is concerned with the person’s self-effectiveness, competence and success. People are concerned in managing their knowledge in order to become more efficient in a variety of personal and organizational interests. This study presents a systematic review of PKM studies. Articles with PKM concepts are reviewed with the objective of clearly defining PKM, identifying the benefits of PKM, classifying the tools that enable PKM and finding the research gaps to indicate future research directions in the area. Consequently, we have developed a definition of PKM and identified the benefits of PKM, including an understanding of who seeks PKM and for what. Tools enabling PKM are identified and classified under three categories Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 and finally the research gap and future directions are suggested. Research which facilitates collaboration by using semantic technologies is suggested to be studied further to improve PKM effectiveness.

Keywords: personal knowledge management, knowledge management, organizational knowledge management, systematic review

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Authors: Mahera Abdulrahman, Satish Chandrasekhar Nair

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Growing demand for human health research in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has prompted the need to develop a robust research ethics oversight, particularly given the large unskilled-worker immigrant population and the elderly citizens utilizing health services. Examination of the structure, function, practices and outcomes of the human research ethics committees (HREC) was conducted using two survey instruments, reliable and validated. Results indicate that in the absence of a national ethics regulatory body, the individual emirate’s governed 21 HRECs covering health facilities and academic institutions in the UAE. Among the HRECs, 86% followed International Council for Harmonization-Good Clinical Practice guidelines, 57% have been in operation for more than five years, 81% reviewed proposals within eight weeks, 48% reviewed for clinical and scientific merit apart from ethics, and 43% handled more than 50 research proposals per year. However, researcher recognition, funding transparency, adverse event reporting systems were widespread in less than one-third of all HRECs. Surprisingly, intellectual property right was not included as a research output. Research was incorporated into the vision and mission statements of many (62%) organizations and, mechanisms such as research publications, collaborations, and recognitions were employed as key performance indicators to measure research output. In spite, resources to generate research output such as dedicated budget (19%), support staff (19%) and continuous training and mentoring program for medical residents and HREC members were somehow lacking. HREC structure and operations in the UAE are similar to other regions of the world, resources allocation for efficient, quality monitoring, continuous training, and the creation of a clinical research network are needed to strengthen the clinical research enterprise to scale up for the future. It is anticipated that the results of this study will benefit investigators, regulators, pharmaceutical sponsors and the policy makers in the region.

Keywords: institutional review board, ethics committee, human research ethics, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

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Authors: Noraizah Abu Bakar, Norhayati Alais, Nurdiana Azizan, Fatimah Alwi, Muhammad Zaky Razaly

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This is a concise research module with the Islamic values concept proposed to a group of researches, potential researchers, PhD and Master Scholars to prepare themselves for their studies. The intention of designing this module is to help and guide Malaysian citizens to undergone their postgraduate’s studies. This is aligned with the 10th Malaysian plan- MyBrain 15. MyBrain 15 is a financial aid to Malaysian citizens to pursue PhD and Master programs. The program becomes one of Ministry of Education Strategic Plan to ensure by year 2013, there will be 60,000 PhD scholars in Malaysia. This module is suitable for the social science researchers; however it can be useful tool for science technology researchers such as Engineering and Information Technology disciplines too. The module consists of eight (8) series that provides a proper flow of information in doing research with the Islamic Value Application provided in each of the series. This module is designed to produce future researchers with a comprehensive knowledge of humankind and the hereafter. The uniqueness about this research module is designed based on Islamic values concept. Researchers were able to understand the proper research process and simultaneously be able to open their minds to understand Islam more closely. Application of Islamic values in each series could trigger a broader idea for researchers to examine in greater depth of knowledge related to humanities.

Keywords: Eight Series Research Module, Islamic Values concept, Teaching Methodology, Flow of Information, Epistemology of research

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Authors: Sara Mohammad Atef Sabaika

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Background: The development of factor VIII (FVIII) inhibitor and hemophilic arthropathy in patients with hemophilia A (PWHA) are a great challenge for hemophilia care. Both genetic and environmental factors led to complications in PWHA. The development of inhibitory antibodies is usually induced by the immune response. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), one of the cytokines, might contribute to its polymorphism. Aim: Study the association between tumor necrosis alpha level and genotypes in pediatric patients with hemophilia A and its relation to inhibitor development and joint status. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among a sufficient number of PWHA attending the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Unit, Pediatric department in Menoufia University hospital. The clinical parameters, FVIII, FVIII inhibitor, and serum TNF-α level were assessed. The genotyping of −380G > A TNF-α gene polymorphism was performed using real time polymerase chain reaction. Results: Among the 50 PWHA, 28 (56%) were identified as severe PWHA. The FVIII inhibitor was identified in 6/28 (21.5%) of severe PWHA. There was a significant correlation between serum TNF-α level and the development of inhibitor (p = 0:043). There was significant correlation between polymorphisms of −380G > A TNF-α gene and hemophilic arthropathy development (p = 0:645). Conclusion: The prevalence of FVIII inhibitor in severe PWHA in Menoufia was 21.5%. The frequency of replacement therapy is a risk factor for inhibitor development. Serum TNF-α level and its gene polymorphism might be used to predict inhibitor development and joint status in pediatric patients with hemophilia A.

Keywords: hemophilic arthropathy, TNF alpha., patients witb hemophilia A PWHA, inhibitor

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Authors: Mahsaossadat Pourrahmati Khelejan

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The purpose of this research was to identify and prioritize the sustainable development of sports venues using new and degradable energies with using the AHP Hierarchical Analysis approach. The research method is a descriptive strategy with regard to the direction of implementation and is a hierarchical research with a practical purpose. In this study, 30 experts (physical education faculty members, geography professors, accredited sports venues managers, and renewable energy engineers) were selected using purposeful sampling method as the research population. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire on the factors affecting the sustainable development of sports venues by using new technologies and degradable energy. Finally, the research questionnaire was designed with four components and 21 items. All steps were performed by using Expert Choice software. The importance of indicators that influence the sustainable development of sports venues is highlighted by the use of clean and degradable energy, for example: 1. Economic factor, weighing 0.420 2. Environmental index, weighing 0. 320 3. Physical index, weighing 0.148 4. Social index, weighing 0.122.

Keywords: Sports Venues, Sustainable Development, Degradable Energies, Prioritize

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Authors: Angela Odero, Chrysoula Karathanasi, Michèle Baumann

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Integration of foreign communities has been a forefront issue in Luxembourg for some time now. The country’s continued progress depends largely on the successful integration of immigrants. The aim of our study was to analyze factors which intervene in the course of integration of Non-EU citizens through the discourse of Non-EU citizens residing in Luxembourg, who have signed the Welcome and Integration Contract (CAI). The two-year contract offers integration services to assist foreigners in getting settled in the country. Semi-structured focus group discussions with 50 volunteers were held in English, French, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian or Chinese. Participants were asked to talk about their integration experiences. Recorded then transcribed, the transcriptions were analyzed with the help of NVivo 10, a qualitative analysis software. A systematic and reiterative analysis of decomposing and reconstituting was realized through (1) the identification of predetermined categories (difficulties, challenges and integration needs) (2) initial coding – the grouping together of similar ideas (3) axial coding – the regrouping of items from the initial coding in new ways in order to create sub-categories and identify other core dimensions. Our results show that intervening factors include language acquisition, professional career and socio-cultural activities or events. Each of these factors constitutes different components whose weight shifts from person to person and from situation to situation. Connecting these three emergent factors are two elements essential to the success of the immigrant’s integration – the role of time and deliberate effort from the immigrants, the community, and the formal institutions charged with helping immigrants integrate. We propose a theoretical model where the factors described may be classified in terms of how they predispose, facilitate, and / or reinforce the process towards a successful integration. Measures currently in place propose one size fits all programs yet integrative measures which target the family unit and those customized to target groups based on their needs would work best.

Keywords: integration, integration services, non-eu citizens, qualitative analysis, third country nationals

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Authors: Baohua Yu

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In line with wider tends in the expansion of international student mobility, the number of international higher degree research students has grown at a significant rate in recent years. In particular, Australia has become a hub for attracting international higher degree research students from around the world. However, research has identified that international higher degree research students often encounter a wide range of academic and socio-cultural challenges in adapting to their new environment. Moreover, this can have a significant bearing on their levels of satisfaction with their studies. This paper outlines the findings of a mixed method study exploring the experiences and perceptions of international higher degree research students in Australia. Findings revealed that IRHD students’ overall and academic satisfaction in Australia were highly related to each other, and they were strongly influenced by their learning and research, moderately influenced by co-national support and intercultural contact ability. Socio-cultural satisfaction seemed to belong to a different domain from academic satisfaction because it was explained by a different set of variables such as living and adaptation and intercultural contact ability. In addition, the most important issues in terms of satisfaction were not directly related to academic studies. Instead, factors such as integration into the community, interacting with other students, relationships with supervisors, and the provision of adequate desk space were often given the greatest weight. Implications for how university policy can better support international doctoral students are discussed.

Keywords: international higher degree research students, academic adaptation, socio-cultural adaptation, student satisfaction

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Authors: Fatemeh Norouzi

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Today, financial performance has become one of the important issues in accounting and auditing that companies and their managers have paid attention to this issue and for this reason to the variables that are influential in this field. One of the things that can affect financial performance is corporate governance, which is examined in this research, although some things such as issues related to auditing can also moderate this relationship; Therefore, this research has been conducted with the aim of investigating the relationship between corporate governance and financial performance with regard to the moderating role of feedback and internal control weakness. The research is practical in terms of purpose, and in terms of method, it has been done in a post-event descriptive manner, in which the data has been analyzed using stock market data. Data collection has been done by using stock exchange data which has been extracted from the website of the Iraqi Stock Exchange, the statistical population of this research is all the companies admitted to the Iraqi Stock Exchange. . The statistical sample in this research is considered from 2014 to 2021, which includes 34 companies. Four different models have been considered for the research hypotheses, which are eight hypotheses, in this research, the analysis has been done using EXCEL and STATA15 software. In this article, collinearity test, integration test ,determination of fixed effects and correlation matrix results, have been used. The research results showed that the first four hypotheses were rejected and the second four hypotheses were confirmed.

Keywords: size of the board of directors, duality of the CEO, financial performance, internal control weakness

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Authors: Salomé Elizabeth Scholtz

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Reviewers are the gatekeepers of knowledge dissemination and promote the scientific validity of the research. However, the literature indicates that authors often receive questionable feedback on qualitative manuscripts. Thus, this qualitative descriptive study sought to explore the qualitative knowledge and experiences of reviewers of psychology journals. A purposive and snowball sample (n=27) of psychology journal reviewers completed an online questionnaire, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Reviewers felt their postgraduate education, reading, and the process of reviewing qualitative articles equipped them to review qualitative manuscripts. Less than half of the reviewer’s published articles were qualitative and male reviewers published more than females. Despite not expecting authors to have the same level of research skills, reviewers still experienced authors as unskilled and biased, creating difficulty in accepting and reviewing qualitative articles. The applicability of the qualitative method and recommendations in preparing qualitative manuscripts for reviewing are reported.

Keywords: journal reviewers, psychology, qualitative research, research method, research skills

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Authors: Golamhassan Ghahramani Aghdam, Pedram Bavili Tabrizi

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The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between accounting information and the value of the companies accepted in Tehran Exchange Market. The dependent variable in this research is the value of a company that is measured by price coefficients, and the independent variables are balance sheet information, profit and loss information, cash flow state information, and profit quality characteristics. The profit quality characteristic index is to be related and to be on-time. This research is an application research, and the research population includes all companies that are active in Tehran exchange market. The number of 194 companies was selected by the systematic method as the statistics sample in the period of 2018-2019. The multi-variable linear regression model was used for the hypotheses test. The results show that there is no relationship between accounting information and companies’ value (stock value) that can be due to the lack of efficiency of the investment market and the inability to use the accounting information by investment market activists.

Keywords: accounting information, company value, profit quality characteristics, price coefficient

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Authors: Ayna Yusubova, Bart Clarysse

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This paper explores role of research institutes in creation of support ecosystem for new technology-based ventures. Previous literature introduced research institutes as part of business and knowledge ecosystem, very few studies are available that consider a research institute as an ecosystem that support high-tech startups at every stage of development. Based on a resource-based view and a stage-based model of high-tech startups growth, this study aims to analyze how a research institute builds a startup support ecosystem by attracting different stakeholders in order to help startups to overcome resource. This paper is based on an in-depth case study of public research institute that focus on development of entrepreneurial ecosystem in a developed region. Analysis shows that the idea generation stage of high-tech startups that related to the invention and development of product or technology for commercialization is associated with a lack of critical knowledge resources. Second, at growth phase that related to market entrance, high-tech startups face challenges associated with the development of their business network. Accordingly, the study shows the support ecosystem that research institute creates helps high-tech startups overcome resource gaps in order to achieve a successful transition from one phase of growth to the next.

Keywords: new technology-based firms, ecosystems, resources, business incubators, research instutes

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Authors: Yuanxiang Miao

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This paper aims to examine the perceptual features of couchsurfers on a new hospitality tourism platform, the free homestay website couchsurfing. As a local host, the author has accepted 61 couchsurfers in Kyoto, Japan, and attempted to figure out couchsurfers' characteristics on perception by hosting them. Moreover, the methodology of this research is mainly based on in-depth interviews, by talking with couchsurfers, observing their behaviors, doing questionnaires, etc. Five dominant perceptual features of couchsurfers were identified: (1) Trusting; (2) Meeting; (3) Sharing; (4) Reciprocity; (5) Worries. The value of this research lies in figuring out a deeper understanding of the perceptual features of couchsurfers, and the author indeed hosted and stayed with 61 couchsurfers from 30 countries and areas over one year. Lastly, the author offers practical suggestions for future research.

Keywords: couchsurfing, depth interview, hospitality tourism, perceptual features

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Authors: Benn Van Den Ende

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Over the last three decades, there has been an exponential increase in developments in implantable technologies such as the cardiac pacemaker, bionic prosthesis, and implantable chips. The effect of these technologies has been well researched in many areas. However, there is a lack of critical research in security studies. This paper will provide preliminary findings to an ongoing research project which aims to examine how implantable technologies effect the practices of governmentality in the context of security. It will do this by looking at the practices and techniques of governmentality along with different implantable technologies which increase, change or otherwise affect governmental practices. The preliminary research demonstrates that implantable technologies have a profound effect on the practices of governmentality, while also paving the way for further research into a potential ‘new’ form of governmentality in relation to these implantable technologies.

Keywords: critical security studies, governmentality, security theory, political theory, Foucault

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Authors: Joris Zufferey, Roderick John Lawrence

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This paper provides an overview of the state of the art about the positive health impacts of exposure to natural outdoor environments. It presents the results of a “review of reviews” in terms of empirical evidence and identifies some key questions. Finally, the authors stress the need to develop more interdisciplinary and systemic contributions. This synthesis of empirical research has been done as part of the EU- FP7 PHENOTYPE research project.

Keywords: Exposure, environment, phenotype, salutogenic effects

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Authors: A. Bedük, k. Eryeşil, o. Eşmen, m. Onacak

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The mobbing is a process that is consisting of negative behaviors such as, systematically and continuously insulting, offending against personal dignity, preventing access to necessary information and disseminating rumors against employee by one or more than one individuals in a work environment through which disturbing the employee physically, psychologically and socially to cause to quit his/her job. This research is aiming to explore the results of mobbing (psychological violence) on employees’ organizational commitment in workplaces. Mobbing takes many forms and is often used to force an employee to leave the work environment. Two different types of scales have been reviewed and revised for use in the research. The Heinz Leymann scale is the first measure, which was developed to define causes and effects, in addition to characteristic behaviors of mobbing. The second scale was developed by Allen and Mayer and indicates levels of organizational commitment. In this research, a questionnaire were applied to 50 employees in a special glass factory in Konya to search mobbing itself and indicate the effects of mobbing to organizational commitments. One of the important findings of this research is that there was no relation between mobbing and general organizational commitment.

Keywords: mobbing, organizational commitment, affective commitment, normative commitment, continuance commitment

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Authors: Mohammed Kafaji

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This paper aims to investigate the influence of quality of education and quality of research, provided by local educational institutions, on the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in managing business operations for companies in Saudi market. A model was developed and tested using data collected from 138 CEO’s of foreign companies in diverse business sectors. The data is analysed and managed using multivariate approaches through standard statistical packages. The results showed that educational quality has little contribution to the ICT adoption while research quality seems to play a more prominent role. These results are analysed in terms of business environment and market constraints and further extended to the perceived effectiveness of applied pedagogical approaches in schools and universities.

Keywords: quality of education, quality of research, mediation, domestic competition, ICT adoption

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Authors: Greta Rizzi, Ashley Gallitto, Federica Vacca

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Looking at design artifacts as bearers and disseminators of material knowledge and intangible socio-cultural meanings, the significance of archival jewelry was investigated following digital cultural heritage research streams. The application of the reverse engineering concept guided the research path: starting with the study of Gianfranco Ferré's archival jewelry and analyzing its technical heritage and symbolic value, the digitalization, dematerialization, and rematerialization of the artifact were carried out. According to that, the proposed paper results from research conducted within the residency program between the Gianfranco Ferré Research Center (GFRC) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), involving both the Design and Mechanical Engineering Departments of Politecnico di Milano. The paper will discuss the analysis of traditional design manufacturing techniques, re-imagined through 3D scanning, 3D modeling, and 3D printing technical knowledge while emphasizing the significance of the designer's role as an explorer of socio-cultural meanings and technological mediators in the analog-digital-analog transition.

Keywords: Archival jewelry, cultural heritage, rematerialization, reverse engineering.

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Authors: Vanessa R. Ralph, Kathryn N. Hosbein, Megan Y. Deshaye, Paulette Vincent-Ruz

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The language of the statement “persistent achievement gaps between demographic groups” communicates much about the philosophies inherent to the author. In this synthesis of two flagship journals of Chemistry Education Research: Chemistry Education Research and Practice and the Journal of Chemical Education, the use and investigation of equity was examined by the language, epistemology, and methodologies of the researchers. Findings include a considerable increase in the use and investigation of equity in these journals following the years 2012 and 2020. While an increase in consciousness of equity was apparent, epistemologies were stagnated. The majority reflects a deficit-oriented perspective wherein deficits are attributed to students as a “lack of achievement” inherent to specific “demographic groups” and minimized as “gaps” rather than systemic inequities. The lack of epistemological progress may be the result of reading and citing literature within discipline-based education research, failing to acknowledge the efforts propagated for decades by equity theory advancement in disciplines of sociology and psychology. To envision liberated educational systems across the globe, one must first contend with the biases within.

Keywords: liberating education research, philosophy of research, synthesis, review

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Authors: Manuel I. Capel, Antonio Tomeu, Alberto Salguero

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Tumor growth from a transformed cancer-cell up to a clinically apparent mass spans through a range of spatial and temporal magnitudes. Through computer simulations, Cellular Automata (CA) can accurately describe the complexity of the development of tumors. Tumor development prognosis can now be made -without making patients undergo through annoying medical examinations or painful invasive procedures- if we develop appropriate CA-based software tools. In silico testing mainly refers to Computational Biology research studies of application to clinical actions in Medicine. To establish sound computer-based models of cellular behavior, certainly reduces costs and saves precious time with respect to carrying out experiments in vitro at labs or in vivo with living cells and organisms. These aim to produce scientifically relevant results compared to traditional in vitro testing, which is slow, expensive, and does not generally have acceptable reproducibility under the same conditions. For speeding up computer simulations of cellular models, specific literature shows recent proposals based on the CA approach that include advanced techniques, such the clever use of supporting efficient data structures when modeling with deterministic stochastic cellular automata. Multiparadigm and multiscale simulation of tumor dynamics is just beginning to be developed by the concerned research community. The use of stochastic cellular automata (SCA), whose parallel programming implementations are open to yield a high computational performance, are of much interest to be explored up to their computational limits. There have been some approaches based on optimizations to advance in multiparadigm models of tumor growth, which mainly pursuit to improve performance of these models through efficient memory accesses guarantee, or considering the dynamic evolution of the memory space (grids, trees,…) that holds crucial data in simulations. In our opinion, the different optimizations mentioned above are not decisive enough to achieve the high performance computing power that cell-behavior simulation programs actually need. The possibility of using multicore and GPU parallelism as a promising multiplatform and framework to develop new programming techniques to speed-up the computation time of simulations is just starting to be explored in the few last years. This paper presents a model that incorporates parallel processing, identifying the synchronization necessary for speeding up tumor growth simulations implemented in Java and C++ programming environments. The speed up improvement that specific parallel syntactic constructs, such as executors (thread pools) in Java, are studied. The new tumor growth parallel model is proved using implementations with Java and C++ languages on two different platforms: chipset Intel core i-X and a HPC cluster of processors at our university. The parallelization of Polesczuk and Enderling model (normally used by researchers in mathematical oncology) proposed here is analyzed with respect to performance gain. We intend to apply the model and overall parallelization technique presented here to solid tumors of specific affiliation such as prostate, breast, or colon. Our final objective is to set up a multiparadigm model capable of modelling angiogenesis, or the growth inhibition induced by chemotaxis, as well as the effect of therapies based on the presence of cytotoxic/cytostatic drugs.

Keywords: cellular automaton, tumor growth model, simulation, multicore and manycore programming, parallel programming, high performance computing, speed up

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Authors: Anuradha Maharaj, Adrian Cashman

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The cross-cutting nature of water as a resource translates into the need for a better understanding of its movement, storage and loss at all points in the hydro-socioeconomic cycle. An integrated approach to addressing the issue of sustainability means quantitatively understanding: the linkages within this cycle, the role of water managers in resource allocation, and the critical factors influencing its scarcity. The Water Evaluation and Planning Tool (WEAP) is an integrative model that combines the catchment-scale hydrologic processes with a water management model, driven by environmental requirements and socioeconomic demands. The concept of demand priorities is included to represent the areas of greatest use within a given catchment. Located on Barbados’ West Coast, Speightstown and the surrounding areas encompass a well-developed tourist, residential and agricultural area. The main water resource for this area, and the rest of the island, is that of groundwater. The availability of groundwater in Barbados may be adversely affected by the projected changes in climate, such as reduced wet season rainfall. Economic development and changing sector priorities together with climate related changes have the potential to affect water resource abundance and by extension the allocation of resources for example in the Speightstown area. In order to investigate the potential impacts on the Speightstown area specifically, a WEAP Model of the study area was developed to estimate the present available water (baseline reference scenario 2000-2010). From this baseline scenario, it is envisioned that an exploration into projected changes in availability in the near term (2035-2045) and medium/long term (2065-2075) time frames will be undertaken. The generated estimations can assist water managers to better evaluate the status of and identify trends in water use and formulate adaptation measures to offset future deficits.

Keywords: water evaluation and planning system (WEAP), water availability, demand and supply, water allocation

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Authors: Joanna Dzieńdziora

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Lobbying is an instrument of influence in various decision-making processes. It is also the underestimated issue as a research problem. The lack of research on the modern lobbyist competencies is the most crucial element. The paper presents attempts of finding answers to the following questions: Who should run the lobbying activity? What competencies should a lobbyist possess in order to implement lobbying activities effectively? Searching for answers for the mentioned above questions requires positioning the opportunity to change the image of lobbying in the area of competencies of entities that provide lobbying activities. The aim of the paper is presenting the lobbyist competencies profile in the framework of his professional role. The essence of lobbying activity and its significance in the modern economy as well as areas, the scope of lobbying activities, diagnosis of a modern lobbyist’s competences, lobbyist’s competencies profile that is focused on the professionalization of the lobbying activity, will have been presented in this paper. Indicated research tasks let emerge lobbyist’s competencies in the way that allows identifying and elaborating the lobbyist competencies profile. The profile lets improve lobbying activities. Its elaboration is based on the author’s research results analysis. Taking into consideration the shortages within the theory and research on the lobbying activity, the implementation of this research enables to fill the cognitive gap existing in the theory of management sciences.

Keywords: competencies, competencies profile, lobbying, lobbyist

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Authors: Khizar Z. Choudhrya, Richard Coles, Salman Qureshi, Robert Ashford, Salim Khan, Rabia R. Mir

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Abstract: The majority of existing landscape research has been derived by conducting heuristic evaluations, without having empirical insight of real participant visual response. In this research, a modern multimodal measurement approach (using narratives and eye tracking) was applied to investigate visual behaviour in perceiving naturalistic and urban environments. This research is unique in exploring gaze behaviour on environmental images possessing different levels of saliency. Eye behaviour is predominantly attracted by salient locations. The concept of methodology of this research on naturalistic and urban environments is drawn from the approaches in market research. Borrowing methodologies from market research that examine visual responses and qualities provided a critical and hitherto unexplored approach. This research has been conducted by using mixed methodological quantitative and qualitative approaches. On the whole, the results of this research corroborated existing landscape research findings, but they also identified potential refinements. The research contributes both methodologically and empirically to human-environment interaction (HEI). This study focused on initial impressions of environmental images with the help of eye tracking. Taking under consideration the importance of the image, this study explored the factors that influence initial fixations in relation to expectations and preferences. In terms of key findings of this research it is noticed that each participant has his own unique navigation style while surfing through different elements of landscape images. This individual navigation style is given the name of ‘visual signature’. This study adds the necessary clarity that would complete the picture and bring an insight for future landscape researchers.

Keywords: human-environment interaction (HEI), multimodal measurement, narratives, eye tracking

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Authors: Meena Kumari, Ajitha Sharma, Mohan Babu Amberkar, Hasitha Manohar, Joseph Thomas, K. L. Bairy

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Aim: To evaluate the pattern of occurrence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) with platinum compounds in cancer chemotherapy at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: It was a retrospective, descriptive case record study done on patients admitted to the medical oncology ward of Kasturba Hospital, Manipal from July to November 2012. Inclusion criteria comprised of patients of both sexes and all ages diagnosed with cancer and were on platinum compounds, who developed at least one adverse drug reaction during or after the treatment period. CDSCO proforma was used for reporting ADRs. Causality was assessed using Naranjo Algorithm. Results: A total of 65 patients was included in the study. Females comprised of 67.69% and rest males. Around 49.23% of the ADRs were seen in the age group of 41-60 years, followed by 20 % in 21-40 years, 18.46% in patients over 60 years and 12.31% in 1-20 years age group. The anticancer agents which caused adverse drug reactions in our study were carboplatin (41.54%), cisplatin (36.92%) and oxaliplatin (21.54%). Most common adverse drug reactions observed were oral candidiasis (21.53%), vomiting (16.92%), anaemia (12.3%), diarrhoea (12.3%) and febrile neutropenia (0.08%). The results of the causality assessment of most of the cases were probable. Conclusion: The adverse effect of chemotherapeutic agents is a matter of concern in the pharmacological management of cancer as it affects the quality of life of patients. This information would be useful in identifying and minimizing preventable adverse drug reactions while generally enhancing the knowledge of the prescribers to deal with these adverse drug reactions more efficiently.

Keywords: adverse drug reactions, platinum compounds, cancer, chemotherapy

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Authors: Adriana C. Panayi, Riaz A. Agha, Brady A. Sieber, Dennis P. Orgill

Abstract:

Background: Increased rates of both breast cancer and obesity have resulted in more women seeking breast reconstruction. These women may be at increased risk for perioperative complications. A systematic review was conducted to assess the outcomes in obese women who have undergone breast reconstruction following mastectomy. Methods: Cochrane, PUBMED and EMBASE electronic databases were screened and data was extracted from included studies. The clinical outcomes assessed were surgical complications, medical complications, length of postoperative hospital stay, reoperation rate and patient satisfaction. Results: 33 studies met the inclusion criteria for the review and 29 provided enough data to be included in the meta-analysis (71368 patients, 20061 of which were obese). Obese women were 2.3 times more likely to experience surgical complications (95 percent CI 2.19 to 2.39; P < 0.00001), 2.8 times more likely to have medical complications (95 percent CI 2.41 to 3.26; P < 0.00001) and had a 1.9 times higher risk of reoperation (95 percent CI 1.75 to 2.07; P < 0.00001). The most common complication, wound dehiscence, was 2.5 times more likely in obese women (95 percent CI 1.80 to 3.52; P < 0.00001). Sensitivity analysis confirmed that obese women were more likely to experience surgical complications (RR 2.36, 95% CI 2.22–2.52; P < 0.00001). Conclusions: This study provides evidence that obesity increases the risk of complications in both implant and autologous reconstruction. Additional prospective and observational studies are needed to determine if weight reduction prior to reconstruction reduces the perioperative risks associated with obesity.

Keywords: autologous reconstruction, breast cancer, breast reconstruction, literature review, obesity, oncology, prosthetic reconstruction

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Authors: Ravi Kiran Pothamsetty, Radha Rani Ghosh, Baby Paul Thaliath

Abstract:

Radiation therapy has undergone many advancements and evloved from 2D to 3D. Recently, with rapid pace of drug discoveries, cutting edge technology, and clinical trials has made innovative advancements in computer technology and treatment planning and upgraded to intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) which delivers in homogenous dose to tumor and normal tissues. The present study was a hospital-based experience comparing two different conformal radiotherapy techniques for brain tumors. This analytical study design has been conducted at Regional Cancer Centre, India from January 2014 to January 2015. Ten patients have been selected after inclusion and exclusion criteria. All the patients were treated on Artiste Siemens Linac Accelerator. The tolerance level for maximum dose was 6.0 Gyfor lenses and 54.0 Gy for brain stem, optic chiasm and optical nerves as per RTOG criteria. Mean and standard deviation values of PTV98%, PTV 95% and PTV 2% in IMRT were 93.16±2.9, 95.01±3.4 and 103.1±1.1 respectively; for 3DCRT were 91.4±4.7, 94.17±2.6 and 102.7±0.39 respectively. PTV max dose (%) in IMRT and 3D-CRT were 104.7±0.96 and 103.9±1.0 respectively. Maximum dose to the tumor can be delivered with IMRT with acceptable toxicity limits. Variables such as expertise, location of tumor, patient condition, and TPS influence the outcome of the treatment.

Keywords: brain tumors, intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), three dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), radiation therapy oncology group (RTOG)

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Authors: Jiang Hua Zhou

Abstract:

According to the article "New Theoretical System of Physics in the 21st Century" published by the author, it is proposed to use the "scientific principle" of the "balanced distance" between "gravity" and "repulsion" between "planets" to "research" - "space flying saucer", and The formula for the law of universal repulsion between substances is proposed. Under the guidance of the new theoretical system, according to the principle of "planet" gravitational and repulsive force, the research and development idea of developing discharge-type "space flying saucer" is put forward. This paper expounds the reasons why flying saucers have the following characteristics: Flying Saucers can fly at high speed, change direction immediately, hover at any height on the earth, and there is no sound when flying. With the birth of the theoretical system of physics in the 21st century advocated by the author, a era of interstellar "space flying saucer" research will be created.

Keywords: planet, attraction, repulsive force, balance spacing, scientific principles, research, space, flying saucer

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Authors: Alyaa Darwish, Peter Burns, Sofia Reino

Abstract:

Online marketing has been the key focus of attention for the majority of destinations since the Internet became the primarily information tool for travel marketing. Tourism is a reputation-dependent industry; potential travelers who do not have previous experience with the destination face numerous risks during the process of decision-making. An accurate perception of the destination’s reputation helps to minimize risk against unsatisfying travel experiences. However, there has been limited investigation with regards to the reputation of tourist destination. Taking the importance of reputation to the tourism industry, this research aims to: 1) Develop a destination reputation model; 2) Assess the tourist destination approach towards online marketing tactics; 3) Evaluate the impact of differentiated online marketing tactics on reputation; and 4) Measure the potential for using online marketing tactics to manage the destination’s online reputation. This research follows an interpretivism epistemological research approach through using four research methods; interviews, questionnaire, content analysis, and experiment to achieve the research goals.

Keywords: destination reputation, online marketing, reputation, tactics

Procedia PDF Downloads 336