Search results for: decision making style

Authors: Rohit Kamal, Devaki Perumal Rajaram, Rajam Krishna, Sai Kumar Pindagiri, Silas Danielraj

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Introduction: According to WHO, Global health observatory at least 2.8 million people die each year because of obesity and overweight. This is mainly because of the adverse metabolic effects of obesity and overweight on blood pressure, lipid profile especially cholesterol and insulin resistance. To achieve optimum health WHO has set the BMI in the range of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2. Due to modernization of life style, physical exercise in the form of work is no longer a possibility and hence an effective way to burn out calories to achieve the optimum BMI is the need of the hour. Studies have shown that exercising for more than 60 minutes /day helps to maintain the weight and to reduce the weight exercise should be done for 90 minutes a day. Moderate exercise for about 30 min is essential for burning up of calories. People with low endurance fail to perform even the low intensity exercise for minimal time. Hence, it is necessary to find out some effective method to increase the endurance time. Methodology: This study was approved by the Institutional Ethical committee of our college. After getting written informed consent, 25 apparently healthy males between the age group 18-20 years were selected. Subjects are with muscular disorder, subjects who are Hypertensive, Diabetes, Smokers, Alcoholics, taking drugs affecting the muscle strength. To determine the endurance time: Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) was measured by asking the participants to squeeze the hand grip dynamometer as hard as possible and hold it for 3 seconds. This procedure was repeated thrice and the average of the three reading was taken as the maximum voluntary contraction. The participant was then asked to squeeze the dynamometer and hold it at 70% of the maximum voluntary contraction while hearing fast tempo music which was played for about ten minutes then the participant was asked to relax for ten minutes and was made to hold the hand grip dynamometer at 70% of the maximum voluntary contraction while hearing slow tempo music. To avoid the bias of getting habituated to the procedure the order of hearing for the fast and slow tempo music was changed. The time for which they can hold it at 70% of MVC was determined by using a stop watch and that was taken as the endurance time. Results: The mean value of the endurance time during fast and slow tempo music was compared in all the subjects. The mean MVC was 34.92 N. The mean endurance time was 21.8 (16.3) seconds with slow tempo music which was more then with fast tempo music with which the mean endurance time was 20.6 (11.7) seconds. The preference was more for slow tempo music then for fast tempo music. Conclusion: Music when played during exercise by some unknown mechanism helps to increase the endurance time by alleviating the symptoms of lactic acid accumulation.

Keywords: endurance time, fast tempo music, maximum voluntary contraction, slow tempo music

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Authors: Kenji Gwee

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The Mental Capacity Act is a new legislation that allows for lasting powers of attorney and court-appointed deputies, in respect of people who lack legal capacity. While the UK Act, after which the Singapore Act is modeled, has been shown to be therapeutic to donors, the Singapore Act differs from its UK counterpart and it is unclear if the Singapore Act can be beneficial to donors as purported. The purpose of this study was to determine what the perceptions of three groups of stakeholders (patients, caregivers and psychiatrists) are about the aspects of the Mental Capacity Act that are therapeutic to donors. In addition, ways to increase the therapeutic value of the Act to donors are sought. A qualitative methodology was used and the research was guided by two theoretical frameworks: therapeutic jurisprudence and an interpretive constructive framework. Interviews with 12 psychiatrists, and focus groups with twenty three patients and seven caregivers showed agreement that, allowing donors to nominate more than one decision- maker, and whistle-blowing mechanisms for recourse for abuse, were therapeutic to donors. To further increase the therapeutic value of the Act, 2 suggestions were made: the Act should provide for (i) advanced healthcare directives- allowing donors to make advance decisions to refuse treatment, or cease existing treatment, and (ii) independent advocacy services- to have a case worker to represent people who have no family or friends and are thus unable to find suitable donees.

Keywords: Mental Capacity Act, therapeutic jurisprudence, qualitative methodology, the UK Act

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Authors: Tsu-Yun Chiu, Tsung-Hsueh Lu, Tain-Junn Cheng

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Background: Traditional chronic disease management did not pay attention to effects of geographic factors on the compliance of treatment regime, which resulted in geographic inequality in outcomes of chronic disease management. This study aims to examine the geographic distribution and clustering of quality indicators of diabetes care. Method: We first extracted address, demographic information and quality of care indicators (number of visits, complications, prescription and laboratory records) of patients with diabetes for 2014 from medical information system in a medical center in Tainan City, Taiwan, and the patients’ addresses were transformed into district- and village-level data. We then compared the differences of geographic distribution and clustering of quality of care indicators between districts and villages. Despite the descriptive results, rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for indices of care in order to compare the quality of diabetes care among different areas. Results: A total of 23,588 patients with diabetes were extracted from the hospital data system; whereas 12,716 patients’ information and medical records were included to the following analysis. More than half of the subjects in this study were male and between 60-79 years old. Furthermore, the quality of diabetes care did indeed vary by geographical levels. Thru the smaller level, we could point out clustered areas more specifically. Fuguo Village (of Yongkang District) and Zhiyi Village (of Sinhua District) were found to be “hotspots” for nephropathy and cerebrovascular disease; while Wangliau Village and Erwang Village (of Yongkang District) would be “coldspots” for lowest proportion of ≥80% compliance to blood lipids examination. On the other hand, Yuping Village (in Anping District) was the area with the lowest proportion of ≥80% compliance to all laboratory examination. Conclusion: In spite of examining the geographic distribution, calculating rate ratios and their 95% CI could also be a useful and consistent method to test the association. This information is useful for health planners, diabetes case managers and other affiliate practitioners to organize care resources to the areas most needed.

Keywords: catchment area of healthcare, chronic disease management, Geographic information system, quality of diabetes care

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Authors: Yousra Drissi

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This research explores language teacher identity in a multilingual context where both teachers and students come from different linguistic backgrounds. It seeks to understand how teachers perceive themselves as language teachers in this context in relation to different influencing factors, both internal and external. This study is being conducted due to the importance of language teacher identity (LTI) in the university context, which is being neglected in the present literature (in an attempt to address the gap in the present literature). The broader aim of this study is to bring attention to language teacher identity along with the different influencing elements which can either promote or hinder its development. In this research, we are using the sociocultural theory and post-structural theory. This research uses the mixed methods approach to collect and analyse relevant data. A structured survey was distributed to language teachers from different universities around Algeria, followed by in-depth interviews. Results are supposed to show the different points in self-perception that these teachers share or differ in. they will also help us identify the different internal and external factors that can be of influence. However, the results of this research can be used by institutions as well as decision-makers to better understand university teachers and help them improve their teaching practices by empowering their language teacher identity, starting from teacher education programs to continuous teacher development programs.

Keywords: identity, language teacher identity, multilingualism, university teacher

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Authors: Wegene Demisie Jima

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Leather is a durable and flexible material used for various purposes including clothing, footwear, upholstery and gloves. However, the use of leather for smart product applications is a challenge since it is electrically insulating material. Here, we report a simple method to produce conducting glove leathers using an in-situ polymerization of pyrrole. The concentrations of pyrrole, ferric chloride and anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid sodium salt monohydrate were optimized to produce maximum conductivity in the treated leathers. The coating of polypyrrole in the treated leathers was probed using FT-IR, X-ray diffraction and electron microscopic analysis. FTIR confirms that the formation of polypyrrole on the leather surface as well as presence of prominent N-C stretching band. X-ray diffraction analysis suggests para-crystallinity in the PPy-treated leathers.We further demonstrate that the treated leathers, with maximum conductivity of 7.4 S/cm, can be used for making conductive gloves for operating touch-screen devices apart from other smart product applications.

Keywords: electrical conductivity, in-situ polymerization, pyrrole, smart product

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Authors: Junwen Chen, Celina Feleppa, Tingyue Sun, Satoko Sasagawa, Michael Smithson

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School refusal behaviours refer to behaviours to avoid school attendance, chronic lateness in arriving at school, or regular early dismissal. Poor attendance in schools is highly correlated with anxiety, depression, suicide attempts, delinquency, violence, and substance use and abuse. Poor attendance is also a strong indicator of lower achievement in school, as well as problematic social-emotional development. Long-term consequences of school refusal behaviours include fewer opportunities for higher education, employment, and social difficulties, and high risks of later psychiatric illness. Given its negative impacts on youth educational outcomes and well-being, a thorough understanding of factors that are involved in the development of this phenomenon is warranted for developing effective management approaches. This study investigated parental and adolescent factors that may contribute to school refusal behaviours by specifically focusing on the role of parental and adolescents’ anxiety and depression, emotion dysregulation, and parental rearing style. Findings are expected to inform the identification of both parental and adolescents’ factors that may contribute to school refusal behaviours. This knowledge will enable novel and effective approaches that incorporate these factors to managing school refusal behaviours in adolescents, which in turn improve their school and daily functioning. Results are important for an integrative understanding of school refusal behaviours. Furthermore, findings will also provide information for policymakers to weigh the benefits of interventions targeting school refusal behaviours in adolescents. One-hundred-and-six adolescents aged 12-18 years (mean age = 14.79 years old, SD = 1.78, males = 44) and their parents (mean age = 47.49 years old, SD = 5.61, males = 27) completed an online questionnaire measuring both parental and adolescents’ anxiety, depression, emotion dysregulation, parental rearing styles, and adolescents’ school refusal behaviours. Adolescents with school refusal behaviours reported greater anxiety and depression, with their parents showing greater emotion dysregulation. Parental emotion dysregulation and adolescents’ anxiety and depression predicted school refusal behaviours independently. To date, only limited studies have investigated the interplay between parental and youth factors in relation to youth school refusal behaviours. Although parental emotion dysregulation has been investigated in relation to youth emotion dysregulation, little is known about its role in the context of school refusal. This study is one of the very few that investigated both parental and adolescent factors in relation to school refusal behaviours in adolescents. The findings support the theoretical models that emphasise the role of youth and parental psychopathology in school refusal behaviours. Future management of school refusal behaviours should target adolescents’ anxiety and depression while incorporating training for parental emotion regulation skills.

Keywords: adolescents, school refusal behaviors, parental factors, anxiety and depression, emotion dysregulation

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Authors: Shreya Asthana

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Testers know that the feature they tested on stage is working perfectly in production only after release went live. Sometimes something breaks in production and testers get to know through the end user’s bug raised. The panic mode starts when your staging test results do not reflect current production behavior. And you started doubting your testing skills when finally the user reported a bug to you. Testers can deploy their confidence on release day by testing on production. Once you start doing testing in production, you will see test result accuracy because it will be running on real time data and execution will be a little faster as compared to staging one due to elimination of bad data. Feature flagging, canary releases, and data cleanup can help to achieve this technique of testing. By this paper it will be easier to understand the steps to achieve production testing before making your feature live, and to modify IT company’s testing procedure, so testers can provide the bug free experience to the end users. This study is beneficial because too many people think that testing should be done in staging but not in production and now this is high time to pull out people from their old mindset of testing into a new testing world. At the end of the day, it all just matters if the features are working in production or not.

Keywords: bug free production, new testing mindset, testing strategy, testing approach

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Authors: Miksusanti, Herlina, Wiwin

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The research about modification uwi starch (Dioscorea alata L) by using propylene oxide has been done. Concentration of propylene oxide were 6%(v/w), 8%(v/w), and 10%(v/w). The amilograf parameters after modification were characteristic breakdown viscosity 43 BU and setback viscosity 975 BU. The modification starch have edible properties according to FDA (Food and Drug Administration) which have degree of modification < 7%, degree of substitution < 0,1 and propylene oxide concentration < 10%(v/w). The best propylene oxide in making of edible film was 8 %( v/w). The starch control can be made into edible film with thickness 0,136 mm, tensile strength 20,4605 MPa and elongation 22%. Modification starch of uwi can be made into edible film with thickness 0,146 mm, tensile strength 25, 3521 Mpa, elongation 30% and water vapor transmission 7, 2651 g/m2/24 hours. FTIR characterization of uwi starch showed the occurrence of hydroxypropylation. The peak spectrum at 2900 cm-1 showed bonding of C-H from methyl group, which is characteristic for modification starch with hydroxypropyl. Characterization with scanning electron microscopy showed that modification of uwi starch has turned the granule of starch to be fully swallon.

Keywords: uwi starch, edible film, propylen oxide, modification

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Authors: Rihab Belguith, Fathi Abid

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The paper develops a system-based approach to investigate the dynamic adjustment of debt structure and investment policies of the Dow-Jones index. This approach enables the assessment of relations among sales, debt, and investment opportunities by considering the simultaneous effect of the market environmental change and future growth opportunities. We integrate the firm-specific sales variance to capture the industries' conditions in the model. Empirical results were obtained through a panel data set of firms with different sectors. The analysis support that environmental change does not affect equally the different industry since operating leverage differs among industries and so the sensitivity to sales variance. Including adjusted-specific variance, we find that there is no monotonic relation between leverage, sales, and investment. The firm may choose a low debt level in response to high sales variance but high leverage to attenuate the negative relation between sales variance and the current level of investment. We further find that while the overall effect of debt maturity on leverage is unaffected by the level of growth opportunities, the shorter the maturity of debt is, the smaller the direct effect of sales variance on investment.

Keywords: dynamic panel, investment, leverage decision, sales uncertainty

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Authors: Seini G. Kaufusi

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Background. Physician-assisted death (PAD) has and continues to be a controversial issue in the U.S. Dying with dignity statutes exists in 9 U.S. jurisdictions that permit competent adults diagnosed with a terminal illness and given a prognosis of 6 month or less to live to request medication to hasten death. Robust advocacy for and against PAD influences policy, and opinions vary. Aim. This study aims to explore the association between race and the attitudes toward physician-assisted death in the U.S. Methods. Data for this study derives from the General Social Survey (GSS) dataset, a national survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) that focuses on the opinions and values of American’s. A cross-sectional design and probability sample from the 2018 data set was used to randomly select respondents. Results. The results indicated that race is significantly associated with attitudes towards physician-assisted death. The level of significance suggests a strong positive association, and the direction indicated that Black and Other racial groups have higher rates of positive decision about PAD. Conclusion. Although attitudes towards PAD varied, Black and other racial groups had favorable decisions for PAD. Further research is crucial in the continuous debate on PAD and understanding the influences of predictors for or against PAD.

Keywords: attitudes, euthanasia, physician-assisted death, race

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Authors: Jason West

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Low profitability in agriculture production along with increasing scrutiny over environmental effects is limiting food production at scale. In contrast, the mining sector offers access to resources including energy, water, transport and chemicals for food production at low marginal cost. Scalable agricultural production can benefit from the nexus of resources (water, energy, transport) offered by mining activity in remote locations. A decision support bioeconomic model for controlled environment vertical farms was used. Four submodels were used: crop structure, nutrient requirements, resource-crop integration, and economic. They escalate to a macro mathematical model. A demonstrable dynamic systems framework is needed to prove productive outcomes are feasible. We demonstrate a generalized bioeconomic macro model for controlled environment production systems in minesites using systems dynamics modeling methodology. Despite the complexity of bioeconomic modelling of resource-agricultural dynamic processes and interactions, the economic potential greater than general economic models would assume. Scalability of production as an input becomes a key success feature.

Keywords: crop production systems, mathematical model, mining, agriculture, dynamic systems

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Authors: Mokhlisur Rahman

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Ocean inhibits one of the most complex ecosystems on the planet that regulates the earth's climate and weather by providing us with compatible weather to live. Ocean provides food by extending various ways of lifestyles that are dependent on it, transportation by accommodating the world's biggest carriers, recreation by offering its beauty in many moods, and home to countless species. At the essence of receiving various forms of entertainment, consumers choose to be close to the ocean while performing many fun activities. Which, at some point, upsets the stomach of the ocean by threatening marine life and the environment. Consumers throw the waste into the ocean after using it. Most of them are plastics that float over the ocean and turn into thousands of micro pieces that are hard to observe with the naked eye but easily eaten by the sea species. Eventually, that conflicts with the natural consumption process of any living species, making them sick. This information is not known by most consumers who go to the sea or seashores occasionally to spend time, nor is it widely discussed, which creates an information gap among consumers. However, advertising is a powerful tool to educate people about ocean pollution. This abstract analyzes three major ocean-saving advertisement campaigns that use innovative and advanced technology to get maximum exposure. The study collects data from the selected campaigns' websites and retrieves all available content related to messages, videos, and images. First, the SeaLegacy campaign uses stunning images to create awareness among the people; they use social media content, videos, and other educational content. They create content and strategies to build an emotional connection among the consumers that encourage them to move on an action. All the messages in their campaign empower consumers by using powerful words. Second, Ocean Conservancy Campaign uses social media marketing, events, and educational content to protect the ocean from various pollutants, including plastics, climate change, and overfishing. They use powerful images and videos of marine life. Their mission is to create evidence-based solutions toward a healthy ocean. Their message includes the message regarding the local communities along with the sea species. Third, ocean clean-up is a campaign that applies strategies using innovative technologies to remove plastic waste from the ocean. They use social media, digital, and email marketing to reach people and raise awareness. They also use images and videos to evoke an emotional response to take action. These tree advertisements use realistic images, powerful words, and the presence of living species in the imagery presentation, which are eye-catching and can grow emotional connection among the consumers. Identifying the effectiveness of the messages these advertisements carry and their strategies highlights the knowledge gap of mass people between real pollution and its consequences, making the message more accessible to the mass of people. This study aims to provide insights into the effectiveness of ocean-saving advertisement campaigns and their impact on the public's awareness of ocean conservation. The findings from this study help shape future campaigns.

Keywords: advertising-campaign, content-creation, images ocean-saving technology, videos

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Authors: P. Wlodarczak, J. Soar, M. Ally

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The dramatic rise in the use of Social Media (SM) platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide access to an unprecedented amount of user data. Users may post reviews on products and services they bought, write about their interests, share ideas or give their opinions and views on political issues. There is a growing interest in the analysis of SM data from organisations for detecting new trends, obtaining user opinions on their products and services or finding out about their online reputations. A recent research trend in SM analysis is making predictions based on sentiment analysis of SM. Often indicators of historic SM data are represented as time series and correlated with a variety of real world phenomena like the outcome of elections, the development of financial indicators, box office revenue and disease outbreaks. This paper examines the current state of research in the area of SM mining and predictive analysis and gives an overview of the analysis methods using opinion mining and machine learning techniques.

Keywords: social media, text mining, knowledge discovery, predictive analysis, machine learning

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Authors: Lauren Zammerilla Westcott, Ronald C. Jones, James W. Fleshman

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The surgical treatment of breast cancer has rapidly evolved over the past 50 years, progressing from Halsted’s radical mastectomy to a public campaign of surgical options, aesthetic reconstruction, and patient empowerment. This article examines the happenings that led to the transition of breast surgery as a subset of general surgery to its own specialized field. Sparked by the research of Dr. Bernard Fisher and the first National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project trial in 1971, the field of breast surgery underwent significant growth over the next several decades, enabling general surgeons to limit their practices to the breast. High surgical volumes eventually led to the development of the first formal breast surgical oncology fellowship in a large community-based hospital at Baylor University Medical Center in 1982. The establishment of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, as well several landmark clinical trials and public campaign efforts, further contributed to the advancement of breast surgery, making it the specialized field of the current era.

Keywords: breast cancer, breast fellowship, breast surgery, surgical history

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Authors: Laras Tursilowati, Bambang Siswanto

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Urban climate change has short- and long-term implications for decision-makers in urban development. The problem for this important metropolitan regional of population and economic value is that there is very little usable information on climate change. Research about urban climate change has been carried out in Bali Indonesia by using Conformal Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) that runs with Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)4.5. The history data means average data from 1975 to 2005, climate projections with RCP4.5 scenario means average data from 2006 to 2099, and anomaly (urban climate change) is RCP4.5 minus history. The results are the history of temperature between 22.5-27.5 OC, and RCP4.5 between 25.5-29.5 OC. The temperature anomalies can be seen in most of northern Bali that increased by about 1.6 to 2.9 OC. There is a reduced humidity tendency (drier) in most parts of Bali, especially the northern part of Bali, while a small portion in the south increase moisture (wetter). The comfort index of Bali region in history is still relatively comfortable (20-26 OC), but on the condition RCP4.5 there is no comfortable area with index more than 26 OC (hot and dry). This research is expected to be useful to help the government make good urban planning.

Keywords: CCAM, comfort index, IPCC AR5, temperature, urban climate change

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Authors: Hüseyin Altubaş, Hasret Aktaş, A. Mücahid Zengin

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Children determine the direction of the power of consumption. They affect the decisions of their parents but they also reached to a significant purchasing power themselves. Children, who are turning interactive behavior to normal behavior are becoming the decision makers in a company’s survival. Companies that analyze this effective target audience can communicate successfully with children. Children, who are interactive individuals, are closer to advertising. They are almost talking better with advertising. They are not afraid to express their likings, as well as their dislikes. Children have an interactive lifestyle and they were exposed to the vast changes in technology after year 2000. They do not know a life without internet, they spend mobile life in internet. This Z generation is the new determinants of brands. Z generation finds it appropriate to be brand ambassadors and they completely changed traditional media and traditional consumer behavior. These children live social reality with virtual reality and they feed brands differently. Brands that interact with Z generation are affected by this feeding positively, while brands that keep interaction in traditional levels are affected negatively. In this research we examine the communication, advertising and brand behaviors of Z generation. We especially analyze this generation’s interaction with social media brands and their interactive attitudes.

Keywords: social media, Z generation, children, advertising, brand choice

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Authors: Mohammad Shakir, Reshma Jolly, Mohammad Shoeb Khan, Noor-E-Iram

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A nanocomposite system incorporating dextrin into nano-hydroxyapatite/chitin matrix (n-HA/DX/CT) has been successfully synthesized via co-precipitation route at room temperature for the application in bone tissue engineering by investigating biocompatibility, cytotoxicity and mechanical properties. The FTIR spectra of n-HA/DX/CT nanocomposite indicated a considerable intermolecular interaction between the various components of the system. The results of XRD, TEM and TGA/DTA revealed that the crystallinity, size and thermal stability of the n-HA/DX/CT scaffold has decreased and increased respectively. The result of SEM image of the n-HA/DX/CT scaffold indicated that the incorporation of dextrin affected the surface morphology while considerable in-vitro bioactivity has been observed in n-HA/DX/CT based on SBF study, referring a step towards possibility of making direct bond to living bone if implanted. Moreover, MTT assay suggested the non-toxic nature of n-HA/DX/CT to murine fibroblast L929 cells. The swelling study of n-HA/DX/CT scaffold indicated the low swelling rate for n-HADX/CT. All these results have paved the way for n-HA/DX/CT to be used as a competent material for bone tissue engineering.

Keywords: autograft, chitin, dextrin, nanocomposite

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Authors: Kefaifi Aissa, Sahraoui Tahar, Kheloufi Abdelkrim, Anas Sabiha, Hannane Farouk

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The aim of this study is to show how the Design of Experiments Method (DOE) can be put into use as a practical approach for silica sand etching behavior modeling during its primary step of leaching. In the present work, we have studied etching effect on particle size during a primary step of leaching process on Algerian silica sand with florid acid (HF) at 20% and 30 % during 4 and 8 hours. Therefore, a new purity of the sand is noted depending on the time of leaching. This study was expanded by a numerical approach using a method of experiment design, which shows the influence of each parameter and the interaction between them in the process and approved the obtained experimental results. This model is a predictive approach using hide software. Based on the measured parameters experimentally in the interior of the model, the use of DOE method can make it possible to predict the outside parameters of the model in question and can give us the optimize response without making the experimental measurement.

Keywords: acid leaching, design of experiments method(DOE), purity silica, silica etching

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Authors: Matsobane Mosetja, Nehemiah Mavetera, Ernest Mnkandla

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Local governments in South Africa are responsible for the provision of basic services. There are countless benefits that come with e-Government platforms if they are properly implemented to help local governments deliver these basic services to citizens. This study investigates factors influencing the adoption and use of e-Government platforms by citizens in the North West Province, South. The study is set against a background of significant change in South Africa where government services are electronically delivered. The outcome of the study revealed that: 1) decisions on the development of e-Government platforms are made based on a series of consultative forums; 2) the municipalities are open to constructive criticism on their online platform; 3) the municipalities have room for dialogue on how best to improve service delivery; 4) the municipalities are accessible to the citizens all the time; 5) the municipalities are making means and ways to empower them to be part of the collective and lastly e-Government provides room for online discussion.

Keywords: e-government, e-government platforms, user acceptance, local government

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Authors: Ijeoma Chinyere Ukonu

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This research seeks to investigate how the globalisation of fast food has affected students’ food choice. A mixed method approach was used in this research; basically involving quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method uses a self-completion questionnaire to randomly sample one hundred and four students; while the qualitative method uses a semi structured interview technique to survey four students on their knowledge and choice to consume fast food. A cross tabulation of variables and the Kruskal Wallis nonparametric test were used to analyse the quantitative data; while the qualitative data was analysed through deduction of themes, and trends from the interview transcribe. The findings revealed that globalisation has amplified the evolution of fast food, popularising it among students. Its global presence has affected students’ food choice and preference. Price, convenience, taste, and peer influence are some of the major factors affecting students’ choice of fast food. Though, students are familiar with the health effect of fast food and the significance of using food information labels for healthy choice making, their preference of fast food is more than homemade food.

Keywords: fast food, food choice, globalisation, students

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Authors: Sarah Jacqueline Saram, Diya Baker, Jaishree Gandhewar

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Named after the Slovakian microbiologist, Miroslav Kocur, the Kocuria spp. are an emerging cause of significant human infections. Their predilection for immunocompromised states, such as malignancy and metabolic disorders, is highlighted in the literature. The coagulase-negative, gram-positive cocci are commensals found in the skin and oropharynx of humans, and their growing presence as responsible organisms in ocular infections cannot be ignored. The severe, rapid, and unrelenting disease course associated with Kocuria keratitis is underlined in the literature. However, the clinical features are variable, which may impede making a diagnosis. Here, we describe a first account of an initial misdiagnosis due to reliance on subjective analysis features on a confocal microscope, which ultimately led to a delay in commencing the correct treatment. In documenting this, we hope to underline to clinicians the difficulties in recognising a Kocuria Rhizophilia keratitis due to its similar clinical presentation to an Acanthamoeba Keratitis, thus emphasizing the need for early investigations such as corneal scrapes to secure the correct diagnosis and prevent further harm and vision loss for the patient.

Keywords: keratitis, cornea, infection, rare, Kocuria

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Authors: Sagir M. Yusuf, Chris Baber

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We describe issues bedeviling the coordination of heterogeneous (different sensors carrying agents) multi-agent missions such as belief conflict, situation reasoning, etc. We applied Bayesian and agents' presumptions inferential reasoning to solve the outlined issues with the heterogeneous multi-agent belief variation and situational-base reasoning. Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) was used in modeling the agents' belief conflict due to sensor variations. Simulation experiments were designed, and cases from agents’ missions were used in training the BBN using gradient descent and expectation-maximization algorithms. The output network is a well-trained BBN for making inferences for both agents and human experts. We claim that the Bayesian learning algorithm prediction capacity improves by the number of training data and argue that it enhances multi-agents robustness and solve agents’ sensor conflicts.

Keywords: distributed constraint optimization problem, multi-agent system, multi-robot coordination, autonomous system, swarm intelligence

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Authors: Isil Kerti, Onur Okur, Sibel Daglilar, Recep Calin

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Particulate reinforced aluminium matrix composites have gained more importance in automotive, aeronautical and defense industries due to their specific properties like as low density, high strength and stiffness, good fatigue strength, dimensional stability at high temperature and acceptable tribological properties. In this study, 2014 Aluminium alloy used as a matrix material and B₄C and SiC were selected as reinforcements components. For production of composites materials, vacuum infiltration method was used. In the experimental studies, the reinforcement volume ratios were defined by mixing as totally 10% B₄C and SiC. Aging treatment (T6) was applied to the specimens. The effect of T6 treatment on hardness was determined by using Brinell hardness test method. The effects of the aging treatment on microstructure and chemical structure were analysed by making XRD, SEM and EDS analysis on the specimens.

Keywords: metal matrix composite, vacumm infiltration method, aluminum metal matrix, mechanical feature

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Authors: Misha Mirza

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In recent years, the definition of journalism in Pakistan has changed, so has the mindset of people and their approach towards a news story. For the audience, news has become more interesting than a drama or a film. This research thus provides an insight into Pakistan’s evolving media landscape. It tries not only to bring forth the outcomes of cross-platform cooperation among print and broadcast journalism but also gives an insight into the interactive data visualization techniques being used. The storytelling in journalism in Pakistan has evolved from depicting merely the truth to tweaking, fabricating and producing docu-dramas. It aims to look into how news is translated to a visual. Pakistan acquires a diverse cultural heritage and by engaging audience through media, this history translates into the storytelling platform today. The paper explains how journalists are thriving in a converging media environment and provides an analysis of the narratives in television talk shows today.’ Jack of all, master of none’ is being challenged by the journalists today. One has to be a quality information gatherer and an effective storyteller at the same time. Are journalists really looking more into what sells rather than what matters? Express Tribune is a very popular news platform among the youth. Not only is their newspaper more attractive than the competitors but also their style of narrative and interactive web stories lead to well-rounded news. Interviews are used as the basic methodology to get an insight into how data visualization is compassed. The quest for finding out the difference between visualization of information versus the visualization of knowledge has led the author to delve into the work of David McCandless in his book ‘Knowledge is beautiful’. Journalism in Pakistan has evolved from information to combining knowledge, infotainment and comedy. What is being criticized the most by the society most often becomes the breaking news. Circulation in today’s world is carried out in cultural and social networks. In recent times, we have come across many examples where people have gained overnight popularity by releasing songs with substandard lyrics or senseless videos perhaps because creativity has taken over information. This paper thus discusses the various platforms of convergence journalism from Pakistan’s perspective. The study concludes with proving how Pakistani pop culture Truck art is coexisting with all the platforms in convergent journalism. The changing media landscape thus challenges the basic rules of journalism. The slapstick humor and ‘jhatka’ in Pakistani talk shows has evolved from the Pakistani truck art poetry. Mobile journalism has taken over all the other mediums of journalism; however, the Pakistani culture coexists with the converging landscape.

Keywords: convergence journalism in Pakistan, data visualization, interactive narrative in Pakistani news, mobile journalism, Pakistan's truck art culture

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Authors: Barbara Heinisch, Mikael Snaprud

Abstract:

A common, well understood language is crucial in critical situations like landing a plane. For e-Government solutions, a clear and common language is needed to allow users to successfully complete transactions online. Misunderstandings here may not risk a safe landing but can cause delays, resubmissions and drive costs. This holds also true for higher education, where misunderstandings can also arise due to inconsistent use of terminology. Thus, language barriers are a societal challenge that needs to be tackled. The major means to bridge language barriers is translation. However, achieving high-quality translation and making texts understandable and accessible require certain framework conditions. Therefore, the EU and individual projects take (strategic) actions. These actions include the identification, collection, processing, re-use and development of language resources. These language resources may be used for the development of machine translation systems and the provision of (public) services including higher education. This paper outlines some of the existing resources and indicate directions for further development to increase the quality and usage of these resources.

Keywords: language resources, machine translation, terminology, translation

Procedia PDF Downloads 320

Authors: T. Rocha, P. Carvalho, S. Paredes, J. Henriques, A. Bianchi, V. Traver, A. Martinez

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The main goal of LINK project is to join competences in intelligent processing in order to create a research ecosystem to address two central scientific and technical challenges for personal health care (PHC) deployment: i) how to merge clinical evidence knowledge in computational decision support systems for PHC management and ii) how to provide achieve personalized services, i.e., solutions adapted to the specific user needs and characteristics. The final goal of one of the work packages (WP2), designated Sustainable Linking and Synergies for Excellence, is the definition, implementation and coordination of the necessary activities to create and to strengthen durable links between the LiNK partners. This work focuses on the strategy that has been followed to achieve the definition of the Research Tracks (RT), which will support a set of actions to be pursued along the LiNK project. These include common research activities, knowledge transfer among the researchers of the consortium, and PhD student and post-doc co-advisement. Moreover, the RTs will establish the basis for the definition of concepts and their evolution to project proposals.

Keywords: LiNK Twin European Project, personal health care, cardiovascular diseases, research tracks

Procedia PDF Downloads 218

Authors: Faris Algarni

Abstract:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia adopted a new law of e-commerce on July 10, 2019, which is the first Saudi law regarding e-commerce. The practice of e-commerce has been started in Saudi Arabia a few years ago with no specific rules to govern e-commerce in the Kingdom. The adoption of the law raises the concern of the ability of the law to provide real protection to both the investors and the customers. Based on that, this article seeks to respond to some questions related to the protection of investors of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia, using a quantitative method through questionnaires to gather primary data. The study tried to find the impact of adopting a new Saudi law of e-commerce on the protection of the investors from the point of view of those investors. By answering this main question, this article provides an answer to the question of whether there is a need to reform the Saudi law of e-commerce to convince existing and potential foreign investors to invest in the Kingdom through e-commerce. Questions were put to the respondents to determine their level of satisfaction with the Saudi law of e-commerce and what reforms to that system would enhance the attractiveness of the Kingdom as an investment environment for e-commerce investors, based on the information gathered and the analysis of them. A key finding is that the law of e-commerce is a core factor in the decision of investors to continue investing in the e-commerce market in Saudi Arabia. A subsequent finding is that some of the respondents are not fully satisfied with the new law and think that the law provides more protection to the customers than the investors. So, they are suggesting some legal reforms to be implemented in the bylaw of e-commerce, which is not adopted yet in order to attract them to continue investing in the Kingdom.

Keywords: e-commerce, law, investors, protection, Saudi Arabia

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Marjan Golmaryami, Marzieh Behzadi

Abstract:

Recent developments in stock exchange highlight the need for an efficient and accurate method that helps stockholders make better decision. Since stock markets have lots of fluctuations during the time and different effective parameters, it is difficult to make good decisions. The purpose of this study is to employ artificial neural network (ANN) which can deal with time series data and nonlinear relation among variables to forecast next day stock price. Unlike other evolutionary algorithms which were utilized in stock exchange prediction, we trained our proposed neural network with metaheuristic bat algorithm, with fast and powerful convergence and applied it in stock price prediction for the first time. In order to prove the performance of the proposed method, this research selected a 7 year dataset from Parsian Bank stocks and after imposing data preprocessing, used 3 types of ANN (back propagation-ANN, particle swarm optimization-ANN and bat-ANN) to predict the closed price of stocks. Afterwards, this study engaged MATLAB to simulate 3 types of ANN, with the scoring target of mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The results may be adapted to other companies stocks too.

Keywords: artificial neural network (ANN), bat algorithm, particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), stock exchange

Procedia PDF Downloads 553

Authors: Febi Eka Putri, Prabowo Anggorono

Abstract:

Human Trafficking has become a threat in the global phenomenon, including Indonesia as a country adopting democracy to uphold the human rights value. Indonesia is classified as a source of trafficking in persons which dominate by women and children for sexual exploitation and forced labor purposes. In this case, Indonesia has committed to combat trafficking in persons by enacted domestic law to criminalize all types of human trafficking in domestic and international level. Tracing to the efforts, we cannot just simplify it, however, in 2016 Indonesia has placed as a tier 2 country because the government does not fully achieve the minimum standard by U. S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act due to only making efforts as progress. While as a part of ASEAN member, Indonesia has signed ASEAN Human Rights Declaration but when it comes to Human Trafficking issue, there is only few ASEAN member who has ratified ASEAN Convention on Trafficking in Persons, in particular Women and Children such as Singapore, Cambodia, and Thailand. This brings the evidence to structuring the role of Indonesia to combat human trafficking.

Keywords: Indonesia, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), human trafficking, Tier 2 country

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Rosdyana Mangir Irawan Kusuma, Wei-Chun Kao, Ho-Thi Trang, Yu-Yen Ou, Kai-Lung Hua

Abstract:

Stock market prediction is still a challenging problem because there are many factors that affect the stock market price such as company news and performance, industry performance, investor sentiment, social media sentiment, and economic factors. This work explores the predictability in the stock market using deep convolutional network and candlestick charts. The outcome is utilized to design a decision support framework that can be used by traders to provide suggested indications of future stock price direction. We perform this work using various types of neural networks like convolutional neural network, residual network and visual geometry group network. From stock market historical data, we converted it to candlestick charts. Finally, these candlestick charts will be feed as input for training a convolutional neural network model. This convolutional neural network model will help us to analyze the patterns inside the candlestick chart and predict the future movements of the stock market. The effectiveness of our method is evaluated in stock market prediction with promising results; 92.2% and 92.1 % accuracy for Taiwan and Indonesian stock market dataset respectively.

Keywords: candlestick chart, deep learning, neural network, stock market prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 456