Search results for: role play

Authors: Ivette Gonzalez-Rivera, Diana B. Paz-Trejo, Oscar Galicia-Castillo, David N. Velazquez-Martinez, Hugo Sanchez-Castillo

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Prolonged exposure to stress can cause disorders related with dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex such as generalized anxiety and depression. These disorders involve alterations in neurotransmitter systems; the serotonergic system—a target of the drugs that are commonly used as a treatment to these disorders—is one of them. Recent studies suggest that 5-HT1A receptors play a pivotal role in the serotonergic system regulation and in stress responses. In the same way, there is increasing evidence that astrocytes are involved in the pathophysiology of stress. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of 8-OH-DPAT, a selective agonist of 5-HT1A receptors, in the behavioral signs of anxiety and anhedonia as well as in the number of astrocytes in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) after exposure to chronic stress. They used 50 male Wistar rats of 250-350 grams housed in standard laboratory conditions and treated in accordance with the ethical standards of use and care of laboratory animals. A protocol of chronic unpredictable stress was used for 10 consecutive days during which the presentation of stressors such as motion restriction, water deprivation, wet bed, among others, were used. 40 rats were subjected to the stress protocol and then were divided into 4 groups of 10 rats each, which were administered 8-OH-DPAT (Tocris, USA) intraperitoneally with saline as vehicle in doses 0.0, 0.3, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg respectively. Another 10 rats were not subjected to the stress protocol or the drug. Subsequently, all the rats were measured in an open field test, a forced swimming test, sucrose consume, and a cero maze test. At the end of this procedure, the animals were sacrificed, the brain was removed and the tissue of the mPFC (Bregma: 4.20, 3.70, 2.70, 2.20) was processed in immunofluorescence staining for astrocytes (Anti-GFAP antibody - astrocyte maker, ABCAM). Statistically significant differences were found in the behavioral tests of all groups, showing that the stress group with saline administration had more indicators of anxiety and anhedonia than the control group and the groups with administration of 8-OH-DPAT. Also, a dose dependent effect of 8-OH-DPAT was found on the number of astrocytes in the mPFC. The results show that 8-OH-DPAT can modulate the effect of stress in both behavioral and anatomical level. Also they indicate that 5-HT1A receptors and astrocytes play an important role in the stress response and may modulate the therapeutic effect of serotonergic drugs, so they should be explored as a fundamental part in the treatment of symptoms of stress and in the understanding of the mechanisms of stress responses.

Keywords: anxiety, prefrontal cortex, serotonergic system, stress

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Authors: Raymond E. Raguindin

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Objective: This research studied the teaching improvement of daycare workers in imitation, joint attention, and language activities using the play-based early intervention training program in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. Methods: Focus group discussions were developed to explore the attitude, beliefs, and practices of daycare workers. Results: Findings of the study revealed that daycare workers have existing knowledge and experience in teaching children with autism. Their workshops on managing inappropriate behaviors of children with autism resulting in a general positive perception of accepting and teaching children with autism in daycare centers. Play based activities were modelled and participated in by daycare workers. These include demonstration, modelling, prompting and providing social reinforcers as reward. Five lectures and five training days were done to implement the training program. Daycare workers’ levels of skill in teaching imitation, joint attention and language were gathered before and after the participation in the training program. Findings suggest significant differences between pre-test and post test scores. They have shown significant improvement in facilitating imitation, joint attention, and language children with autism after the play-based early intervention training. They were able to initiate and sustain imitation, joint attention, and language activities with adequate knowledge and confidence. Conclusions: 1. Existing attitudes and beliefs greatly influenced the positive delivery mode of instruction. 2. Teacher-directed approach to improve attention, imitation, joint attention, and language of children with autism can be acquired by daycare workers. 3. Teaching skills and experience can be used as reference and basis for identifying future training needs.

Keywords: early intervention, imitation, joint attention, language

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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: Zubda Zia, Zainab Masood

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This study has investigated the relationship between renewable energy, urbanization, industrialization, and economic growth in Pakistan, through the years 1990-2016. All the three explanatory variables play a pivotal role in their contribution to growth in any economy, especially a developing one such as Pakistan. Auto-regressive distributive lag (ARDL) model has been used to determine the co-integration and relationship between the variables. The empirical results indicate that there exists a positive and significant relationship between all the three variables and economic growth and that there is a stable, long-run relationship among them. Policy suggestions that incorporate the results include having a larger share of renewable energy in the energy sector, using urbanization as a means to remove the big city trend and move towards, smaller sustainable cities, etc.

Keywords: economic growth, energy crisis, industrialization, renewable energy, SGDs, urbanization

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Authors: Gabriele Ciasca, Tanya E. Sassun, Eleonora Minelli, Manila Antonelli, Massimiliano Papi, Antonio Santoro, Felice Giangaspero, Roberto Delfini, Marco De Spirito

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Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an extremely aggressive brain tumor, characterized by a diffuse infiltration of neoplastic cells into the brain parenchyma. Although rarely considered, mechanical cues play a key role in the infiltration process that is extensively mediated by the tumor microenvironment stiffness and, more in general, by the occurrence of aberrant interactions between neoplastic cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Here we provide a nano-mechanical characterization of the viscoelastic response of human GBM tissues by indentation-type atomic force microscopy. High-resolution elasticity maps show a large difference between the biomechanics of GBM tissues and the healthy peritumoral regions, opening possibilities to optimize the tumor resection area. Moreover, we unveil the nanomechanical signature of necrotic regions and anomalous vasculature, that are two major hallmarks useful for glioma staging. Actually, the morphological grading of GBM relies mainly on histopathological findings that make extensive use of qualitative parameters. Our findings have the potential to positively impact on the development of novel quantitative methods to assess the tumor grade, which can be used in combination with conventional histopathological examinations. In order to provide a more in-depth description of the role of mechanical cues in tumor progression, we compared the nano-mechanical fingerprint of GBM tissues with that of grade-I (WHO) meningioma, a benign lesion characterized by a completely different growth pathway with the respect to GBM, that, in turn hints at a completely different role of the biomechanical interactions.

Keywords: AFM, nano-mechanics, nanomedicine, brain tumors, glioblastoma

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Authors: Megi Surmanidze

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The relations between tourists and the population is essentially important to develop tourism. This global branch is an incoming stream and plays the huge economy role in the country is development. This branch is important for adjarian region as well as for Batumi as a touristic city. When lots of tourists visit our city, the relationship and attitudes between tourists and the local population is too important and play the determinant role whether they will visit the country again or not. Receptivness is on actual accompanying process typical for tourism as a growing incoming business direction, and its necessary to be studied the problems and touristic relationships. The aim of the article is to show the importance of receptibility in the business touristic industry also, the topic was to show the dimension scale of receptibility revearing in Batumi population. The topic itself is of hight importance as the touristic business is growing day by day, though the helpful and disturbing social couses were left out of focus were dencely connected to the relations between tourists and the local population. The value is real and directly proportional to the relationship between tourists and the population. The qualitative social research was fulfield. The method to get information was deepened interview. the method gave us the opportunity to get acquented to the actors points of view, also it was suitable points of view, also it was suitable to create favourable conditions to respodents be sincere during interviev and don’t hide their real emotions and the opinions.

Keywords: tourism industry, receptiveness, cultural identity, xenophobia

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Authors: M. Sandeep Kumar, Vasu Velagapudi, A. Venugopal

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When machining is carried out on a workpiece, residual stresses are induced in the workpiece due to nonuniform thermal and mechanical loads. These stresses play a vital role in the surface integrity of the final product or the output. Inconel 718 is commonly used in critical structural components of aircraft engines due to its properties at high temperatures. Therefore it is important to keep down the stresses induced due to machining. This can be achieved through proper lubricating conditions. In this work, experiments were carried out to check the influence of the developed nanofluid as cutting fluids on residual stresses developed during the course of machining. The results of MQL/Nanofluids were compared with MQL/Vegetable oil and dry machining lubricating condition. Results indicate the reduction in residual stress with the use of MQL/Nanofluid.

Keywords: nanofluids, MQL, residual stress, Inconel-718

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Authors: Jeong Hwa Ryong

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Numerous characters appear in the works of England’s most prominent play writer, William Shakespeare. Most of the time, his male protagonists possess various and complex characteristics throughout the storyline of his work, making it interesting for the readers to analyze their actions in many different aspects. However, some critics argue that unlike male characters, Shakespeare’s female characters are rather more flat and one-sided, pointing out that they are either the extreme version of good or evil. Especially, it is a significant topic to discuss in the modern days, considering the fact that gender stereotype is now a sensitive issue. Starting from such argument, it is important to address their purpose of being in the play and suggest their meaning to the modern readers of today. In this context, this paper analyzes several female characters of Shakespeare’s work by closely examining their actions and lines. The characters analyzed are Ophelia from Hamlet, Cordelia from King Lear, Katherine from The Taming of the Shrew, Goneril from King Lear and Lady Macbeth from Macbeth. Nevertheless, some female protagonists of Shakespeare’s work do not fall in to this category and exceed the limitations of others. Therefore this paper proposes alternative characters such as Juliet from Romeo and Juliet and Portia from The Merchant of Venice that are rather more complex and difficult to include in just one category. By doing so, this paper critically analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of many female characters in Shakespeare’s play.

Keywords: female characters, gender stereotype, William Shakespeare

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Authors: Rachelle M. Johnson, Jenna E. Finch

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Motivation, persistence, and learning disability status are all associated with academic performance, but to the author's knowledge, little research has been done on how these variables interact with one another and how that interaction looks different within children with and without learning disabilities. The present study's goal was to examine the role motivation and persistence play in the academic success of children with learning disabilities and how these variables interact. Measurements were made using surveys and direct cognitive assessments on each child. Analyses were run on student's scores in motivation, persistence, and ability to learn compared to other fifth grade students. In this study, learning ability was intended as a proxy for learning disabilities (LDs). This study included a nationally representative sample of over 8,000 fifth-grade children from across the United States. Multiple interactions were found among these variables of motivation, persistence, and motivation as they relate to academic achievement. The major finding of the study was the significant role motivation played in academic achievement. This study shows the importance of measuring the within-group. One key finding was that motivation was associated with academic success and was moderated by the other variables. The interaction results were different for math and reading outcomes, suggesting that reading and math success are different and should be addressed differently. This study shows the importance of measuring the within-group differences in levels of motivation to better understand the academic success of children with and without learning disabilities. This study's findings call for further investigation into motivation and the possible need for motivational intervention for students, especially those with learning disabilities

Keywords: academic achievement, learning disabilities, motivation, persistence

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Authors: Raja Arslan Ahmad Khan

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Audience feedback and data play an increasingly crucial role, particularly in the digital age. The advent of digital media and the digitalization of news have given rise to novel forms of audience feedback, markedly different from traditional channels. The engagement of online audiences challenges the conventional role of journalists, introducing a dynamic where audiences can wield both direct and indirect influence. This struggle between the audience and journalists is evident in their contributions and interactions. Media professionals are grappling with challenges such as derogatory remarks, hate speech, online harassment, audience hostility, and attacks from online audiences. The influence of online audiences extends to shaping journalists' daily routines and work practices. Consequently, this study seeks to analyze the impact of online audience feedback on journalists at a routine level within the Malaysian context. Employing a Hierarchy of Influence model as a theoretical framework, the study will utilize a quantitative approach with a snowball survey method. The study's findings aim to enhance our understanding of how online audiences influence journalists and their work practices, encompassing aspects like journalists' autonomy and integrity, editorial decision-making, performance and accountability, daily routines, work practices, as well as the psychological and emotional costs they bear. It's important to note that the study has limitations due to the use of the snowball survey method and its focus within the specific context of Malaysia, making it relatively small in scale.

Keywords: online audiences, feedback, influence, journalists, Malaysia

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Authors: Ala Hanetite

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The purpose of this article is to present, by means of a model, the determinants of organisational culture which influence creativity and innovation. A literature study showed that a model, based on the open systems theory and the work of Schein, can offer a holistic approach in describing organisational culture. The relationship between creativity, innovation and culture is discussed in this context. Against the background of this model, the determinants of organisational culture were identified. The determinants are strategy, structure, support mechanisms, behaviour that encourages innovation, and open communication. The influence of each determinant on creativity and innovation is discussed. Values, norms and beliefs that play a role in creativity and innovation can either support or inhibit creativity and innovation depending on how they influence individual and group behaviour. This is also explained in the article.

Keywords: attitudes, creativity, innovation, organisational culture

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Authors: Yeukai Mupangavanhu

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The paper examines the concept of ubuntu and the extent to which it can play a role in ensuring fairness and justice in contractual relationships. Courts are expected to balance sanctity of contract and fairness. Public policy is currently a mechanism which is used by courts when balancing the above two competing interests. It, however, generally favours the freedom and sanctity of contract. The question which is addressed in this paper is whether the concept of ubuntu is an alternative mechanism that may be used to mitigate the sometimes harsh and unfair consequences of the doctrine of freedom and sanctity of contract. A comparative study and case analysis is the methodology that is used in this article. Unfairness in contracts is generally related to the problem of inequality in bargaining power underscored by deeply entrenched social and economic inequalities that are a consequence of apartheid and patriarchy. The transformative nature of the constitution demands the inclusion of African legal ideas and values in the legal order. There is a need for the harmonisation of western ideals which are based on the classical model of law of contract with relevant African principles. In order to attain a transformative legal order that promotes a societal transformation and enhances the lives of everyone courts cannot continue to frown upon African values. Ubuntu has the potential of steering the law of contract in a more equitable direction. The substantive rules of contract law undoubtedly need to be infused with the notion of ubuntu. The reconciliation of Western and African values is at the heart of legal transformation.

Keywords: fairness, sanctity of contract, contractual justice, transformative constitutionalism

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Authors: J. B. Minari, O. B. Oloyede

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Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) play a crucial role in a variety of infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Indeed, the involvement of PMNs in host defence against Plasmodium falciparum is well documented both in vitro and in vivo. Many of the antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine used in the treatment of human malaria significantly reduce the immune response of the host in vitro and in vivo. Myeloperoxidase is the most abundant enzyme found in the polymorphonuclear neutrophil which plays a crucial role in its function. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of chloroquine on the enzyme. In investigating the effects of the drug on myeloperoxidase, the influence of concentration, pH, partition ratio estimation and kinetics of inhibition were studied. This study showed that chloroquine is concentration-dependent inhibitor of myeloperoxidase with an IC50 of 0.03 mM. Partition ratio estimation showed that 40 enzymatic turnover cycles are required for complete inhibition of myeloperoxidase in the presence of chloroquine. The influence of pH on the effect of chloroquine on the enzyme showed significant inhibition of myeloperoxidase at physiological pH. The kinetic inhibition studies showed that chloroquine caused a non-competitive inhibition with an inhibition constant Ki of 0.27mM. The results obtained from this study shows that chloroquine is a potent inhibitor of myeloperoxidase and it is capable of inactivating the enzyme. It is therefore considered that the inhibition of myeloperoxidase in the presence of chloroquine as revealed in this study may partly explain the impairment of polymorphonuclear neutrophil and consequent immunosuppression of the host defence system against secondary infections.

Keywords: myeloperoxidase, chloroquine, inhibition, neutrophil, immune

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Authors: Kanika Naresh Singh, Uday Shankar

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Background: Human behaviours are influenced by drives. Sexual drive is one of them. Education regarding sexual behaviour plays a great role in shaping one’s attitude towards it. These days after attaining the age of puberty, adolescents are confused and feel shy to talk about it. In order to get information, they refer to various types of sources and these sources play a greater role in spreading awareness in the mass adolescent population. Sometimes it also leads to the building of myths and misconceptions. Due to increasing incidences of HIV/AIDS, RTIs/STIs and teenage pregnancies, there is a rising need to impart sex education. Aim: The aim of this research was to study the level of sexual awareness among the youth of Bihar and also study their sexual behaviour and sources of influence. It also aims to study the correlation between sexual awareness, behaviour and sources of sexual knowledge among youth in Bihar. Methods: The sample size for the project was 50 youth consisting of both boys and girls, in between the age group of 18 to 23 years from urban and semi-urban areas. The purposive sampling method was used in the research. The tools used were the Sexual Awareness Questionnaire and Sexual Behavior and Sources of Influence (SBSI) scale. The sexual Awareness Questionnaire was developed by Snell, having 35 items. A socio-demographic data sheet was also used. Results: The youth had poor sexual awareness. Internet and Friends were found to be the major source for gathering information. The youth of Bihar were less inclined towards resolving their doubts with their parents. There was a positive correlation between sexual awareness, behaviour and sources of knowledge. Conclusion: The youth of Bihar has poor sexual knowledge. Internet and Friends are major sources of information. Sex Education should be promoted as suggested by various institutions like World Health Organization United Nations. Psychiatrists and psychologists have a key leadership role in introducing these potentially emotionally challenging issues to the youth with consideration of psychosocial and cultural factors.

Keywords: sexual awareness, sexual behavior, sources of influence, youths, Bihar, India

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Authors: Najwa Alsayed Omar

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With the increasing popularity of the Internet, online reading has become an essential source for EFL readers. Using strategies to comprehend information on online reading texts play a crucial role in students’ academic success. Metacognitive reading strategies are effective factors that enhance EFL learners reading comprehension. This study aimed at exploring the use of online metacognitive reading strategies by postgraduate Libyan EFL students. Quantitative data was collected using the Survey of Online Reading Strategies (OSORS). The findings revealed that the participants were moderate users of metacognitive online reading strategies. Problem solving strategies were the most frequently reported used strategies, while support reading strategies were the least. The five most and least frequently reported strategies were identified. Based on the findings, some future research recommendations were presented.

Keywords: metacognitive strategies, online reading, online reading strategies, postgraduate students

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Authors: Tariq Ali Gujar, Anita Hökelmann

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Postural balance plays essential role throughout life in daily activities. Somatosensory, visual and vestibular inputs play the fundamental role in maintaining body equilibrium to balance the posture. The aim of this study was to find out electroencephalography (EEG) responses during balance activity of young people during Sensory Organization Balance Test. The outcome of this study will help to create the fitness and neurorehabilitation plan. 25 young people (25 ± 3.1 years) have been analyzed on Balance Master NeuroCom® with the coupling of Brain Vision 32 electrode wireless EEG system during the Sensory Organization Test. From the results it has been found that the balance score of samples is significantly higher under the influence of somatosensory input as compared to visual and vestibular input (p < 0.05). The EEG between somatosensory and visual input to balance the posture showed significantly higher (p < 0.05) alpha and beta activities during somatosensory input in somatosensory, attention and visual functions of the cortex whereas executive and motor functions of the cerebral cortex showed significantly higher (p < 0.05) alpha EEG activity during the visual input. The results suggest that somatosensory and attention function of the cerebral cortex has alpha and beta activity, respectively high during somatosensory and vestibular input in maintaining balance. In patients with balance impairments both physical and cognitive training, including neurofeedback will be helpful to improve balance abilities.

Keywords: balance, electroencephalography activity, somatosensory, visual, vestibular

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Authors: B. Roopa Sri, Y Lakshmi Naidu

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Chemical Graph Theory (CGT) is the branch of mathematical chemistry in which molecules are modeled to study their physicochemical properties using molecular descriptors. Amongst these descriptors, topological indices play a vital role in predicting the properties by defining the graph topology of the molecule. Recently, the bond-additive topological index known as the Mostar index has been proposed. In this paper, we compute the Mostar-type indices of octane isomers and use the data obtained to perform QSPR analysis. Furthermore, we show the correlation between the Mostar type indices and the properties.

Keywords: chemical graph theory, mostar type indices, octane isomers, qspr analysis, topological index

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Authors: Karthikeyan Srinivasan, Ranjana Singh, Yatin Talwar, Karthikeyan Srinivasan

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Healthcare services play a vital role in the life of human being. The Setup of Hospital varies in wide spectrum of cost, technology, and access. Hospital’s of Public sector satisfies need of a common man to poorer, which can differ at private owned hospitals on cost and treatment. Patient assessing hospital frequently assumes spending time at the hospital is miserable and not aware of what is happening around them. Mostly they are queued up round the clock waiting to be admitted on hospital beds. The idea here is to highlight the role in admitting patient population of Outdoor as well as Emergency entering the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh with available hospital beds. This study emphasizes the trend forecasting and acquiring beds needed. The conception “if patient population increases’ likewise increasing hospital beds advertently perceived. If tend to increase the hospital beds, thereby exploring budget, Manpower, space, and infrastructure make compulsion. This survey ideally draws out planning and forecasting beds to cater patient population in and around neighboring state of Chandigarh for admission at territory healthcare and research institute on available hospital beds. Executing healthcare services for growing population needs to know Roemer’s law indicating "in an insured population, a hospital bed built is a filled bed".

Keywords: admissions, average length of stay, bed days, hospital beds, occupancy rates

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Authors: Samson Obiene, Khamati Shilabukha, Geoffrey Muga, James Kairo

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Mangroves play a vital role in the achievement of multiple goals of global sustainable development (SDG’s), particularly SDG SDG 14 (life under water). Their management, however, is faced with several shortcomings arising from inadequate knowledge on the perceptions of their ecosystem services, hence a need to map mangrove goods and services within SDGs while interrogating the disaggregated perceptions. This study therefore aimed at exploring the parities and disparities in attitudes and perceptions of mangrove ecosystem services among community members of Vanga and the link of the ecosystem services (ESs) to specific SDG targets. The study was based at the Kenya-Tanzania transboundary area in Vanga; where a carbon-offset project on mangroves is being up scaled. Mixed methods approach employing surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs) and reviews of secondary data were used in the study. A two stage cluster samplings was used to select the study population and the sample size. FGDs were conducted purposively selecting active participants in mangrove related activities with distinct socio-demographic characteristics. Sampled respondents comprised of males and females of different occupations and age groups. Secondary data review was used to select specific SDG targets against which mangrove ecosystem services identified through a value chain analysis were mapped. In Vanga, 20 ecosystem services were identified and categorized under supporting, cultural and aesthetic, provisioning and regulating services. According to the findings of this study, 63.9% (95% ci 56.6-69.3) perceived of the ESs as very important for economic development, 10.3% (95% ci 0-21.3) viewed them as important for environmental and ecological development while 25.8% (95% ci 2.2-32.8) were not sure of any role they play in development. In the social-economic disaggregation, ecosystem service values were found to vary with the level of interaction with the ecosystem which depended on gender and other social-economic classes within the study area. The youths, low income earners, women and those with low education levels were also identified as the primary beneficiaries of mangrove ecosystem services. The study also found that of the 17 SDGs, mangroves have a potential of influencing the achievement 12, including, SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17 either directly or indirectly. Generally therefore, the local community is aware of the critical importance mangroves for enhanced livelihood and ecological services but challenges in sustainability still occur as a result the diverse values and of the services and the contradicting interests of the different actors around the ecosystem. It is therefore important to consider parities in values and perception to avoid a ‘tragedy of the commons’ while striving to enhance sustainability of the Mangrove ecosystem.

Keywords: sustainable development, community values, socio-demographics, Vanga, mangrove ecosystem services

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Authors: Taha Ahmed Özbey, Sedat Nazlıbilek, Alparslan Çağrı Yapıcı

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Combline cavity filters have gained significant attention in recent years due to their exceptional narrowband characteristics, high unloaded Q, remarkable out-of-band rejection, and versatile post-manufacturing tuning capabilities. These filters play a vital role in various wireless communication systems, radar applications, and other advanced technologies where stringent frequency selectivity and superior performance are required. This paper represents combined cavity filter design and implementation by coupling matrix synthesis. Limited filter length, 50 dB out-of-band rejection, and agile design were aimed. To do so, CAD tools and intuitive methods were used.

Keywords: cavity, band pass filter, cavity combline filter, coupling matrix synthesis

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Authors: Sinming Law

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Many Chinese families face many difficulties in maintaining their heritage language for their children in English-dominant societies. This article first looks at the losses from monolingualism and benefits of bilingualism. Then, it explores the common methods used today in teaching Chinese. We conclude that families and community play an indispensable role in their children’s acquisition. For children to acquire adequate proficiency in the language, educators should inform families about this topic and partner with them. Families can indeed be active in the process. Hence, the article further describes a guide designed and written by the author to accommodate the needs of parents. It can be used as a model for future guides. Further, the article recommends effective media routes by which families can have access to similar guides.

Keywords: children learning Chinese, biliteracy and bilingual acquisition, family and community support, heritage language maintenance

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Authors: Jakia Rajoana

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The aim of this paper is to examine the role of women entrepreneurs in bringing about sustainable rural tourism (SRT) development in Sundarbans area of Bangladesh. Theoretically, it draws upon empowerment and entrepreneurial marketing concepts. Women entrepreneurship development and lack of empowered women as role models is an important issue for developing economies in South Asia. Despite the substantial role women play in rural economy of Sundarbans, their contribution remains overlooked as enterprises led by them are run on an informal basis and their business acumen is not taken seriously both by their families and society at large. Studies on SRT fail to engage in sufficient depth with the term applied in this paper as ‘invisible women on the margins’ who run their enterprises with no formal training or societal/familial support. Moreover, the link between their (non) tourism enterprise and their empowerment remains under-theorized. Thus empirically, this research seeks to fill a significant gap by focusing on a considerably under-researched Sundarbans region. Methodologically, this study follows a qualitative research design using visual ethnographic approach. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and documentation are the primary data collection instruments in three coastal communities – Munshigonj, Burigoalini and Gabura – in the Sundarbans area. By focusing on the narratives of these under-investigated women, this work aims to provide in-depth and nuanced insights into salient issues on marginal communities experience from rural women’s perspectives. Initial findings illustrate that the Sundarbans women have low income due to no or little education. In addition, socio-cultural and religious factors also restrict the scope of their extensive contribution to workplace. In addition, physical and social violence which is a common occurrence for these women inhibits their agency and contributes to their disempowerment.

Keywords: gender, empowerment, entrepreneurial marketing, sustainable rural tourism, Sundarbans

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Authors: Thu Thuy Pham, Thi Chau Loan Tran, Van Duy Nguyen

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Marine fungi play an important role in the marine ecosystems. Marine fungi also supply biomass and metabolic products of industrial value. Currently, the biodiversity of marine fungi along the coastal areas of Vietnam has not yet been studied fully. The objective of this study is to assess the spatial and temporal diversity of planktonic fungi from the coastal waters of Nha Trang Bay and Van Phong Bay in Central Vietnam using culture-dependent and independent approach. Using culture-dependent approach, filamentous fungi and yeasts were isolated on selective media and then classified by phenotype and genotype based on the sequencing of ITS (internal transcribed spacers) regions of rDNA with two primer pairs (ITS1F_KYO2 and ITS4; NS1 and NS8). Using culture-independent approach, environmental DNA samples were isolated and amplified using fungal-specific ITS primer pairs. A total of over 160 strains were isolated from 10 seawater sampling stations at 50 cm depth. They were classified into diverse genera and species of both yeast and mold. At least 5 strains could be potentially novel species. Our results also revealed that planktonic fungi were molecularly diverse with hundreds of phylotypes recovered across these two bays. The results of the study provide data about the distribution and taxonomy of mycoplankton in this area, thereby allowing assessment of their positive role in the biogeochemical cycle of coastal ecosystems and the development of new bioactive compounds for industrial applications.

Keywords: biodiversity, ITS, marine fungi, Nha Trang Bay, Van Phong Bay

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Authors: Sonal Purohit, Animesh Dubey

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Corporate governance deals with the entire network of formal and informal relationship with the management of the company and company’s stakeholders including employees, customers, creditors, local communities, and society in general. The recent financial crisis was truly a global crisis in its nature and effects. The Indian financial markets were not immune to this global financial crisis. It is believed that corporate governance also had a major role to play in staggering the effect of this crisis. The objective of this paper is to examine the failure of prevailing corporate governance practice in India during financial crisis. Lack of appropriate implementation of the corporate government norms was a reason behind the phenomenon of money being pulled-out by FIIs, which constitute major investors and influencers of the Indian financial market.

Keywords: corporate governance, FII, financial market, financial crisis

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Authors: Elvan Ender, Ozge Celik

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Transportation systems play a vital role in access and egress in our lives. Concerns about environmental quality, social equity, economic vitality, and the threat of climate change have converged to produce a growing interest in the concept of sustainability, sustainable development, and sustainable transportation. Cities should respect nature, consider the urban ecological environment as an asset, integrate environmental issues into urban planning and administration, and accelerate the transition to sustainable development. This paper reviews current pedestrian and bike transportation in Bursa and proves the effects of unbalanced distribution to neighbourhoods of this presence. In this way creating proposal map for walking and bicycling to constitute a preliminary base for the physical urban planning of Bursa, has been aimed.

Keywords: Bursa, proposal map, sustainability, transportation

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Authors: Félix David Suárez Bonilla

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A sentiment analysis service to detect polarity (positive, neural, and negative), based on transfer learning, was built using a Spanish version of BERT and applied to tweets written in Spanish. The dataset that was used consisted of 11975 reviews, which were extracted from Google Play using the google-play-scrapper package. The BETO trained model used: the AdamW optimizer, a batch size of 16, a learning rate of 2x10⁻⁵ and 10 epochs. The system was tested using tweets of three presidential pre-candidates from Costa Rica. The system was finally validated using human labeled examples, achieving an accuracy of 83.3%.

Keywords: NLP, transfer learning, BERT, sentiment analysis, social media, opinion mining

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Authors: Djehich Mohamed Yousri

Abstract:

This research tries to highlight the different stages and developments of financial policy which has evolved significantly in its means and mechanism, goals as well, according to the successful developments of the society, in addition to that, the role of the country has been developed from custody to intervening country, that evolution does not impact only on financial science but it was reflected on financial system concepts, that helped fr transport it from neutral financial policy to intervening policy, since each stage was characterized by a set of characteristics, financial policy considers like reflective mirror to the role of state in all times, when the state has been absent as an organized authority to society, the role of financial policy was weakened and has been limited under the impact of ideology which exists at all time, financial role has was limited until the state intervened in all aspects of life, the state role is also influential in economic, social, and political life, this study highlighting the most important developments of financial policy under successful economic systems.

Keywords: public expenditure, government spending, taxes, revenues public, economics

Procedia PDF Downloads 100

Authors: Barrere Sarah

Abstract:

The area of liberty, security, and justice within the European Union is still a work in progress. No one can deny that the EU struggles between a monistic and a dualist approach. The aim of our essay is to first review how the European law is perceived by the rest of the international scene. It will then discuss two main mechanisms at play: the interpretation of larger international treaties and the penal mechanisms of European law. Finally, it will help us understand the role of a penal Europe on the international scene with concrete examples. Special attention will be paid to cases that deal with fundamental rights as they represent an interesting case study in Europe and in the rest of the World. It could illustrate the aforementioned duality currently present in the Union’s interpretation of international public law. On the other hand, it will explore some specific European penal mechanism through mutual recognition and the European arrest warrant in the transnational criminality frame. Concerning the interpretation of the treaties, it will first, underline the ambiguity and the general nature of some treaties that leave the EU exposed to tension and misunderstanding then it will review the validity of an EU act (whether or not it is compatible with the rules of International law). Finally, it will focus on the most complete manifestation of liberty, security and justice through the principle of mutual recognition. Used initially in commercial matters, it has become “the cornerstone” of European construction. It will see how it is applied in judicial decisions (its main event and achieving success is via the European arrest warrant) and how European member states have managed to develop this cooperation.

Keywords: European penal law, international scene, liberty security and justice area, mutual recognition

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Faisal Asad Aburub

Abstract:

Many organizations are investing in web applications and technologies in order to be competitive, some of them could not achieve its goals. The quality of web-based applications could play an important role for organizations to be competitive. So the aim of this study is to investigate the impact of quality of web-based applications to achieve a competitive advantage. A new model has been developed. An empirical investigation was performed on a banking sector in Jordan to test the new model. The results show that impact of web-based applications on competitive advantage is significant. Finally, further work is planned to validate and evaluate the proposed model using several domains.

Keywords: competitive advantage, web-based applications, empirical investigation, commercial banks in Jordan

Procedia PDF Downloads 320

Authors: K. Doi, T. Nishimura, M. Umeda

Abstract:

There are very few sound interfaces that both healthy people and hearing handicapped people can use to play together. In this study, we developed a sound tactile interface that makes use of the human sensation of stiffness. The interface comprises eight elastic objects having varying degrees of stiffness. Each elastic object is shaped like a column. When people with and without hearing disabilities press each elastic object, different sounds are produced depending on the stiffness of the elastic object. The types of sounds used were “Do Re Mi sounds.” The interface has a major advantage in that people with or without hearing disabilities can play with it. We found that users were able to recognize the hardness sensation and relate it to the corresponding Do Re Mi sounds.

Keywords: tactile sense, sound interface, stiffness perception, elastic object

Procedia PDF Downloads 268