Search results for: focusing events

Authors: Parham Bakhtiari

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This document follows the development of the prelude genre by analyzing specific pieces from a representative selection of composer from Bach to Shostakovich in every era. The research aims to prove the existence of an evolutionary axis in the genre of prelude's history, which is believed to be fading. In this research, Bach, Chopin, and Debussy's works are demonstrated and explored by creating a definition of the genre on his own terms and having an impact on future composers in the following generations. Taking into account, the educational aspect of the prelude and its connection to the genre of study, a brief conversation about it is also provided with an assessment of shorter versions of the genre, for instance, Chopin's preludes.

Keywords: music, piano, prelude, Bach, Chopin, Debussy

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Authors: Thomas Adi Purnomo Sidhi

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Nowadays, network is an essential need in almost every part of human daily activities. People now can seamlessly connect to others through the Internet. With advanced technology, our personal data now can be more easily accessed. One of many components we are concerned for delivering the best network is a security issue. This paper is proposing a method that provides more options for security. This research aims to improve network security by focusing on the physical layer which is the first layer of the OSI model. The layer consists of the basic networking hardware transmission technologies of a network. With the use of observation method, the research produces a schematic design for enhancing the network security through the gray code converter.

Keywords: network, network security, grey code, physical layer

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Authors: S. Pesina, T. Solonchak

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An analysis of word semantics focusing on the invariance of advanced imagery in several pressing problems. Interest in the language of imagery is caused by the introduction, in the linguistics sphere, of a new paradigm, the center of which is the personality of the speaker (the subject of the language). Particularly noteworthy is the question of the place of the image when discussing the lexical, phraseological values and the relationship of imagery and metaphors. In part, the formation of a metaphor, as an interaction between two intellective entities, occurs at a cognitive level, and it is the category of the image, having cognitive roots, which aides in the correct interpretation of the results of this process on the lexical-semantic level.

Keywords: image, metaphor, concept, creation of a metaphor, cognitive linguistics, erased image, vivid image

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Authors: Mehrdad Sheikhvatan, Mohammad Ali Boroumand, Mehrdad Behmanesh, Shayan Ziaee

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Contradictory results have been obtained regarding the role of integrin, beta 3 (ITGB3) gene polymorphisms in occurrence of acute myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Hence, we aimed to assess the association between 1565C/T polymorphism of ITGB3 gene and increased risk for acute MI in patients who suffered premature CAD in Iranian population. Our prospective study included 1000 patients (492 men and 508 women aged 21 to 55 years) referred to Tehran Heart center during a period of four years from 2008 to 2011 with the final diagnosis of premature CAD and classified into two groups with history of MI (n = 461) and without of MI (n = 539). The polymorphism variants were determined by PCR-RFLP technique by entering 10% of randomized samples and then genotyping of the polymorphism was also conducted by High Resolution Melting (HRM) method. Among study samples, 640 were followed with a median follow-up time 45.74 months for determining association of long-term major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and genotypes of polymorphisms. There was no significant difference in the frequency of 1565C/T polymorphism between the MI and non-MI groups. The frequency of wild genotype was 69.2% and 72.2%, the frequency of homozygous genotype was 21.3% and 18.4%, and the frequency of mutant genotype was 9.5% and 9.5%, respectively (p=0.505). Results were also similar when adjusted for covariates in a multivariate logistic regression model. No significant difference was also found in total-MACE free survival rate between the patients with different genotypes of 1565C/T polymorphism in both MI and non-MI group. The carriage of the 1565C/T polymorphism of ITGB3 gene seems unlikely to be a significant risk factor for the development of MI in Iranian patients with premature CAD. The presence of this ITGB3 gene polymorphism may not also predict long-term cardiac events.

Keywords: coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, gene, integrin, beta 3, polymorphism

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Authors: Nagwa E. Abd Elazim, Maha S. El-naggar, Rania H. Mohamed, Sara M. Awad

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Background: Radiodermatitis is a common side effect of radiation therapy for breast cancer. However, there is no current consensus about effective standard therapy for the prevention and management of radiation dermatitis. Topical ectoine has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of atopic dermatitis owing to its anti-inflammatory activity. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of topical ectoine in comparison to traditional topical dexpanthenol treatment in the management of acute radiodermatitis in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy. Methods: Fifty patients were randomized to use either dexpanthenol 0.5% cream (25 patients), or ectoin 7% cream (25 patients), applied twice daily to the irradiated area during the radiation period and continued for 2 weeks after cessation of radiotherapy. Assessment of radiation skin toxicity using Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events (CTCAE) v4.0, radiation-associated symptoms, and adverse events were undertaken weekly during radiotherapy and 2 weeks after the end of radiotherapy. Results: Topical ectoine showed some clinical benefit over dexpanthenol, as shown by delayed time to onset (at week 3 versus week 2, respectively) and larger number of patients who reached grade 0 at the end of treatment (64% vs. 48%, respectively). The clinical symptoms of pain (p = 0.003) and itching (p = 0.001) attributable to radiation were less pronounced with ectoine than with dexpanthenol. Burning and hyperpigmentation were the most common side effects with ectoine. However, no significant difference between dexpanthenol and ectoine treatments was found in any of the side effects (p = 0.1). Conclusion: Ectoin was overall more effective in improving radiation dermatitis than topical dexpanthenol in breast cancer patients. Ectoin could be proposed as a preventive or curative treatment for patients undergoing postoperative irradiation for breast cancer. Further clinical studies with a larger number of patients are recommended for the confirmation of these preliminary results.

Keywords: breast cancer, dexapanthenol, ectoin, radiation dermatitis

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Authors: Felipe Haleyson Ribeiro dos Santos, Edson Ronaldo Guarido Filho

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This article aims to review the literature on performance in police organizations. For that, the inOrdinatio method was adopted, which defines the form of selection and classification of articles. The search was carried out in databases, which resulted in a total of 619 documents that were cataloged and classified with the support of the Mendeley software. The theoretical scope intended here is to identify how performance in police organizations has been studied. After deepening the analysis and focusing on management, it was possible to classify the articles into three levels: individual, organizational, and institutional. However, to our best knowledge, no studies were found that addressed the performance relationship between the levels, which can be seen as a suggestion for further research.

Keywords: police management, performance, management, multi-level

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Authors: K. A. Razhiyah

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Disruptive behavior is a problem that is usually associated with those with autism. There is a need to overcome this behavioral problem because the negative impact of this problem does not only effect the social relation of the students but also can cause uneasiness to those around them. This condition will be worse if the techniques used failed to motivate students to change the behaviour. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the circus games technique on the disruptive behavior amongst students with autism. The positive results of the intervention that was carried out for three months show the reduction in disruptive behaviour, and also improvement in the turn-taking and focusing ability aspect. Positive changes shown by the students had an encouraging effect and in a way are helping them in the teaching and learning process.

Keywords: autism, desruptive behaviour, circus, effect

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Authors: Mingaile Jurkute, Vilnius University

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The memory of the Lithuanian partisan war (1944-1953) underwent extremely dramatic transformations. During this war, the image of the resistance and a partisan was one of the key elements of Lithuanian identity. Its importance is evidenced by the extremely large legacy of songs about partisans, no other topic has collected so much folklore in Lithuania. In the Soviet years, this resistance was practically forced to be forgotten. Terror and Soviet laws have forced people to stop talking about the events, even in the family circle. In addition, the Soviets created their own propaganda story, reinterpreting the Lithuanian partisan war, presenting partisans as bandits who brutally tortured and murdered locals. But even in the Soviet years, the memory could neither be completely suppressed, nor completely transformed into wishful shape. The analysis of fiction and cinema shows that the traumatic memory of real events rushed to the surface, thus transforming the very propagandistic narrative. After the restoration of the Republic of Lithuania in 1990, the Lithuanian partisan war was gradually returned to the central place of Lithuanian history. After 2014 the nationalist heroic narrative about Lithuanian partisans became the central narrative of modern Lithuanian history. Nevertheless, interviews I conducted in Lithuanian villages reveal that the memory of local communities and families preserves quite different experiences that do not fit into neither the Soviet narrative nor the heroic one. Such experiences include, for example, partisan violence against local families. This paper is about the efforts of two political ideologies (the Soviet and the Lithuanian patriotic) to use the history of the Lithuanian partisans for their own needs, and the attempts of small communities (mostly families) to resist these efforts. The research reveals that family memory, even when opposed to aggressive state memory policies, can preserve counter-narratives by exploiting unexpected objects beyond the control of the state, such as nature and wildlife. Basically, the paper analyses the limits of the instrumentalization of memory, even by extremely aggressive political regimes.

Keywords: collective memory, post-memory, violence, military conflict, family memory

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Authors: Raluca-Ioana Antonescu

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The field research of the paper stands at the intersection between Linguistics and Sociology, while the problem of the research is the importance of language in the modernization process and in a globalized society. The research objective is to prove that language is a stimulant for modernity, while it defines the tradition and the culture of a specific society. In order to examine the linguistic change of the Korean language due to the modernity and globalization, the paper tries to answer one main question, What are the changes the Korean language underwent from a traditional version of Korean, towards one influenced by modernity?, and two secondary questions, How are explored in specialized literature the relations between globalization (and modernity) and culture (focusing on language)? and What influences the Korean language? For the purpose of answering the research questions, the paper has the main premise that due to modernity and globalization, the Korean language changed its discourse construction, and two secondary hypothesis, first is that in literature there are not much explored the relations between culture and modernity focusing on the language discourse construction, but more about identity issue and commodification problems, and the second hypothesis is that the Korean language is influenced by traditional values (like Confucianism) while receiving influence also of globalization process (especially from English language). In terms of methodology, the paper will analyze the two main influences upon the Korean language, referring to traditionalism (being defined as the influence of Confucianism) and modernism (as the influence of other countries’ language and culture), and how the Korean language it was constructed and modified due to these two elements. The paper will analyze at what level (grammatical, lexical, etc.) the traditionalism help at the construction of the Korean language, and what are the changes at each level that modernism brought along. As for the results of this research, the influence of modernism changed both lexically and grammatically the Korean language. In 60 years the increase of English influence is astonishing, and this paper shows the main changes the Korean language underwent, like the loanwords (Konglish), but also the reduction of the speech levels and the ease of the register variation use. Therefore the grammatical influence of modernity and globalization could be seen at the reduction of the speech level and register variation, while the lexical change comes with the influence of English language especially, where about 10% of the Korean vocabulary is considered to be loanwords. Also the paper presents the interrelation between traditionalism and modernity, with the example of Konglish, but not only (we can consider also the Korean greetings which are translated by Koreans when they speak in other languages, bringing their cultural characteristics in English discourse construction), which makes the Koreans global, since they speak in an international language, but still local since they cannot get rid completely of their culture.

Keywords: Confucianism, globalization, language and linguistic change, modernism, traditionalism

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Authors: Merly Patiño Villanueva, Dubys Villarreal Torres, Eduardo Salazar Araujo, Lezly Ramos Macedo

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The concept of sustainability has been influencing business thinking from the perspective of various economic sectors and their environment, looking for concerns related to the risks associated with the indiscriminate consumption of the planet's resources, which have been widely studied and exposed by different public and private organizations. Tourism is not outsider to this reality; therefore, the concept of sustainable tourism evolves towards the integral management of resources, attending the needs of tourists, host communities and service providers, protecting ecosystems and assuring the conservation of the environment and its biodiversity. Considering the above, the purpose of this paper is to identify trends aimed at promoting sustainable tourism in the destinations of Barranquilla (Colombia) and Nayarit (Mexico). This study is part of the realistic epistemological paradigm, based on the existence of a specific environment for the development of tourism activity and the best sustainability practices associated with this industry, which can be observed and studied, therefore, this research contemplates qualitative research techniques such as the focus group and the interview, applied to 8 experts who are part of the value chain of the sector under study, added to a documentary review taken from the scientific databases Wos and Scopus, as well as statistical information published by official bodies. The data obtained were processed with the qualitative analysis software N-VIVO version 13. As a result, trends and actions to promote tourism are identified for the positioning of the cities of Barranquilla (Colombia) and Nayarit (Mexico) as sustainable destinations: first, the recovery of green areas and environmental spaces, as well as the realization of cultural events; promotion and encouragement of the creative industry and finally the realization of international events. It is concluded that both cities develop activities, projects and investments of public initiative, aimed at positioning them as sustainable tourist destinations.

Keywords: marketing, sustainability, tourism management, policies

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Authors: Linyao Qiu, Zhiqiang Du

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As the rapid development of urbanization, economic developments, and steady population growth in China, the widespread devastation, economic damages, and loss of human lives caused by numerous forms of natural disasters are becoming increasingly serious every year. Disaster management requires available and effective cooperation of different roles and organizations in whole process including mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Due to the imbalance of regional development in China, the disaster management capabilities of national and provincial disaster reduction centers are uneven. When an undeveloped area suffers from disaster, neither local reduction department could get first-hand information like high-resolution remote sensing images from satellites and aircrafts independently, nor sharing mechanism is provided for the department to access to data resources deployed in other place directly. Most existing disaster management systems operate in a typical passive data-centric mode and work for single department, where resources cannot be fully shared. The impediment blocks local department and group from quick emergency response and decision-making. In this paper, we introduce a collaborative platform for distributed disaster reduction. To address the issues of imbalance of sharing data sources and technology in the process of disaster reduction, we propose a multi-role oriented collaboration business mechanism, which is capable of scheduling and allocating for optimum utilization of multiple resources, to link various roles for collaborative reduction business in different place. The platform fully considers the difference of equipment conditions in different provinces and provide several service modes to satisfy technology need in disaster reduction. An integrated collaboration system based on focusing services mechanism is designed and implemented for resource scheduling, functional integration, data processing, task management, collaborative mapping, and visualization. Actual applications illustrate that the platform can well support data sharing and business collaboration between national and provincial department. It could significantly improve the capability of disaster reduction in China.

Keywords: business collaboration, data sharing, distributed disaster reduction, focusing service

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Authors: Yunita Anwar, Maya Safira Dewi

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With the increasing importance on digital TV industry, there must be several incentives given to support the growth of the industry. Prior research have found mixed findings of economic and fiscal incentives to economic growth, which means these incentives do not necessarily boost the economic growth while providing support to a particular industry. Focusing on a setting of digital TV transition in Indonesia, this research will conduct document analysis to analyze incentives have been given in other country and incentives currently available in Indonesia. Our results recommend that VAT exemption and local tax incentives could be considered to be added to the incentives list available for digital TV industry.

Keywords: Digital TV transition, Economic Incentives, Fiscal Incentives, Policy.

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Authors: Mohammadamin Hashemi, Mohammadreza Kashizadeh

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Droughts pose a significant threat to sustainable water resource management, agriculture, and socioeconomic sectors, particularly in the field of climate change. This study investigates drought simulation using rainfall-runoff modelling in the Cuneo district, Italy, over the past 60-year period. The study leverages the TUW model, a lumped conceptual rainfall-runoff model with a semi-distributed operation capability. Similar in structure to the widely used Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV) model, the TUW model operates on daily timesteps for input and output data specific to each catchment. It incorporates essential routines for snow accumulation and melting, soil moisture storage, and streamflow generation. Multiple catchments' discharge data within the Cuneo district form the basis for thorough model calibration employing the Kling-Gupta Efficiency (KGE) metric. A crucial metric for reliable drought analysis is one that can accurately represent low-flow events during drought periods. This ensures that the model provides a realistic picture of water availability during these critical times. Subsequent validation of monthly discharge simulations thoroughly evaluates overall model performance. Beyond model development, the investigation delves into drought analysis using the robust Standardized Runoff Index (SRI). This index allows for precise characterization of drought occurrences within the study area. A meticulous comparison of observed and simulated discharge data is conducted, with particular focus on low-flow events that characterize droughts. Additionally, the study explores the complex interplay between land characteristics (e.g., soil type, vegetation cover) and climate variables (e.g., precipitation, temperature) that influence the severity and duration of hydrological droughts. The study's findings demonstrate successful calibration of the TUW model across most catchments, achieving commendable model efficiency. Comparative analysis between simulated and observed discharge data reveals significant agreement, especially during critical low-flow periods. This agreement is further supported by the Pareto coefficient, a statistical measure of goodness-of-fit. The drought analysis provides critical insights into the duration, intensity, and severity of drought events within the Cuneo district. This newfound understanding of spatial and temporal drought dynamics offers valuable information for water resource management strategies and drought mitigation efforts. This research deepens our understanding of drought dynamics in the Cuneo region. Future research directions include refining hydrological modelling techniques and exploring future drought projections under various climate change scenarios.

Keywords: hydrologic extremes, hydrological drought, hydrological modelling, machine learning, rainfall-runoff modelling

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Authors: Nourah Almulhim

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This paper takes a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach to investigate discourse and ideology in political blogs, focusing in particular on the Conservative Home blog from the UK’s current governing party. The Conservative party member’s discourse strategies as the blogger, alongside the discourse used by members of the public who reply to the blog in the below-the-lines comments, will be examined. The blog discourse reflects the writer's political identity and authorial voice. The analysis of the below-the-lines comments enables members of the public to engage in creating adversative positions, introducing different language users who bring their own individual and collective identities. These language users can play the role of news reporters, political analysts, protesters or supporters of a specific agenda and current socio-political topics or events. This study takes a qualitative approach to analyze the discriminatory context towards Islam/Muslims in ' The Conservative Home' blog. A cognitive approach is adopted and an analysis of dominant discourses in the blog text and the below-the-line comments is used. The focus of the study is, firstly, on the construction of self/ collective national identity in comparison to Muslim identity, highlighting the in-group and out-group construction. Second, the type of attitudes, whether feelings or judgments, related to these social actors as they are explicated to draw on the social values. Third, the role of discursive strategies in justifying and legitimizing those Islamophobic discriminatory practices. Therefore, the analysis is based on the systematic analysis of social actors drawing on actors, actions, and arguments to explicate identity construction and its development in the different discourses. A socio-semantic categorization of social actors is implemented to draw on the discursive strategies in addition to using literature to understand these strategies. An appraisal analysis is further used to classify attitudes and elaborate on core values in both genres. Finally, the grammar of othering is applied to explain how discriminatory dichotomies of 'Us' Vs. ''Them' actions are carried in discourse. Some of the key findings of the analysis can be summarized in two main points. First, the discursive practice used to represent Muslims/Islam as different from ‘Us’ are different in both genres as the blogger uses a covert voice while the commenters generally use an overt voice. This is to say that the blogger uses a mitigated strategy to represent the Muslim identity, for example, using the noun phrase ‘British Muslim’ but then representing them as ‘radical’ and ‘terrorists'. Contrary to this is in below the lines comments, where a direct strategy with an active declarative voice is used to negatively represent the Muslim identity as ‘oppressors’ and ‘terrorists’ with no inclusion of the noun phrase ‘British Muslims’. Second, the negotiation of the ‘British’ identity and values, such as culture and democracy, are prominent in the comment section as being unique and under threat by Muslims, while in the article, these standpoints are not represented.

Keywords: xenophobia, blogs, identity, critical discourse analysis

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Authors: Henry Lau, Dilupa Nakandala, Li Zhao

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In today’s business, it is well-recognized that risk is an important factor that needs to be taken into consideration before a decision is made. Studies indicate that both the number of risks faced by organizations and their potential consequences are growing. Supply chain risk management has become one of the major concerns for practitioners and researchers. Supply chain leaders and scholars are now focusing on the importance of managing supply chain risk. In order to meet the challenge of managing and mitigating supply chain risk (SCR), we must first identify the different dimensions of SCR and assess its relevant probability and severity. SCR has been classified in many different ways, and there are no consistently accepted dimensions of SCRs and several different classifications are reported in the literature. Basically, supply chain risks can be classified into two dimensions namely disruption risk and operational risk. Disruption risks are those caused by events such as bankruptcy, natural disasters and terrorist attack. Operational risks are related to supply and demand coordination and uncertainty, such as uncertain demand and uncertain supply. Disruption risks are rare but severe and hard to manage, while operational risk can be reduced through effective SCM activities. Other SCRs include supply risk, process risk, demand risk and technology risk. In fact, the disorganized classification of SCR has created confusion for SCR scholars. Moreover, practitioners need to identify and assess SCR. As such, it is important to have an overarching framework tying all these SCR dimensions together for two reasons. First, it helps researchers use these terms for communication of ideas based on the same concept. Second, a shared understanding of the SCR dimensions will support the researchers to focus on the more important research objective: operationalization of SCR, which is very important for assessing SCR. In general, fresh food supply chain is subject to certain level of risks, such as supply risk (low quality, delivery failure, hot weather etc.) and demand risk (season food imbalance, new competitors). Effective strategies to mitigate fresh food supply chain risk are required to enhance operations. Before implementing effective mitigation strategies, we need to identify the risk sources and evaluate the risk level. However, assessing the supply chain risk is not an easy matter, and existing research mainly use qualitative method, such as risk assessment matrix. To address the relevant issues, this paper aims to analyze the risk factor of the fresh food supply chain using an approach comprising both fuzzy logic and hierarchical holographic modeling techniques. This novel approach is able to take advantage the benefits of both of these well-known techniques and at the same time offset their drawbacks in certain aspects. In order to develop this integrated approach, substantial research work is needed to effectively combine these two techniques in a seamless way, To validate the proposed integrated approach, a case study in a fresh food supply chain company was conducted to verify the feasibility of its functionality in a real environment.

Keywords: fresh food supply chain, fuzzy logic, hierarchical holographic modelling, operationalization, supply chain risk

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Authors: Parastoo Ahmadpoor

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Textile waste has become a significant environmental concern in recent years due to its adverse effects on ecosystems and human health. This manuscript presents a comprehensive overview of textile waste management, focusing on sustainable solutions for minimizing waste generation, promoting recycling and upcycling, and adopting circular economy principles. The manuscript explores the challenges and opportunities in textile waste management and highlights the importance of collaboration between stakeholders to achieve a more sustainable and responsible textile industry.

Keywords: textile waste, waste management, recycling, upcycling, circular economy, sustainability, environmental impact

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Authors: M. Naresh, Pratik Chaturvedi, Srishti Yadav, Varun Dutt, K. V. Uday

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Changes in the Earth’s climate are likely to increase natural hazards such as drought, floods, earthquakes, landslides, etc. The present study focusing on to early warning systems (EWS) of landslides, major issues in Himalayan region without prominence to deforestation, encroachments and un-engineered cutting of slopes and reforming for infrastructural purposes. EWS can be depicted by conducting a series of flume tests using micro-electro mechanical systems sensors data after reaching threshold values under controlled laboratory conditions. Based on the threshold value database, an alert will be sent via SMS.

Keywords: slope-instability, flume test, sensors, early warning system

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Authors: Vivek Mahadev, Manoj Kumar, Neelu Mathur, Brahm Dutt Pandey

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Perimeter guarding and protection of critical installations require prompt intrusion detection and assessment to take effective countermeasures. Currently, visual and electronic surveillance are the primary methods used for perimeter guarding. These methods can be costly and complicated, requiring careful planning according to the location and terrain. Moreover, these methods often struggle to detect stealthy and camouflaged insurgents. The object of the present work is to devise a surveillance technique using seismic sensors that overcomes the limitations of existing systems. The aim is to improve intrusion detection, assessment, and characterization by utilizing seismic sensors. Most of the similar systems have only two types of intrusion detection capability viz., human or vehicle. In our work we could even categorize further to identify types of intrusion activity such as walking, running, group walking, fence jumping, tunnel digging and vehicular movements. A virtual fence of 60 meters at GCNEP, Bahadurgarh, Haryana, India, was created by installing four underground geophones at a distance of 15 meters each. The signals received from these geophones are then processed to find unique seismic signatures called features. Various feature optimization and selection methodologies, such as LightGBM, Boruta, Random Forest, Logistics, Recursive Feature Elimination, Chi-2 and Pearson Ratio were used to identify the best features for training the machine learning models. The trained models were developed using algorithms such as supervised support vector machine (SVM) classifier, kNN, Decision Tree, Logistic Regression, Naïve Bayes, and Artificial Neural Networks. These models were then used to predict the category of events, employing weighted ensemble voting to analyze and combine their results. The models were trained with 1940 training events and results were evaluated with 831 test events. It was observed that using the weighted ensemble voting increased the efficiency of predictions. In this study we successfully developed and deployed the virtual fence using geophones. Since these sensors are passive, do not radiate any energy and are installed underground, it is impossible for intruders to locate and nullify them. Their flexibility, quick and easy installation, low costs, hidden deployment and unattended surveillance make such systems especially suitable for critical installations and remote facilities with difficult terrain. This work demonstrates the potential of utilizing seismic sensors for creating better perimeter guarding and protection systems using multiple machine learning models in weighted ensemble voting. In this study the virtual fence achieved an intruder detection efficiency of over 97%.

Keywords: geophone, seismic perimeter surveillance, machine learning, weighted ensemble method

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Authors: Kehinde Joseph Awosan, Balarabe Adami Isah, Edzu Usman Yunusa, Sarafadeen Adeniyi Arisegi, Izuchukwu Obasi, Oluchi Solomon-Anucha

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Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is prevalent in patients with diabetes mellitus and a significant risk for major cardiovascular events. Identifying its burden and peculiarities is crucial to preventing complications among those at risk. Aim: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and predictors of metabolic syndrome among diabetes clinic attendees in Sokoto, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 365 patients with type 2 diabetes attending the diabetes clinic of Specialist Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on the respondents’ socio-demographic variables, treatment history, and lifestyle. Blood pressure and anthropometric measurements (including weight, height, and waist circumference) were done for the patients. Likewise, biochemical assessment (including fasting plasma glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), and triglyceride (TG) was done. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III). Data were analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. Results: The ages of the patients ranged from 30 to 78 (mean = 50.9 ±11.7) years. The overall prevalence of MetS was 57.3%, with a higher prevalence in females (68.1%) than males (43.0%). The most common components of MetS observed were hypertension (69.2%), and elevated fasting plasma glucose (65.7%); while the predictors of MetS were age > 50 years (OR 6.960, 95% CI: 3.836-12.628, p < 0.001), female sex (OR 2.300, 95% CI: 1.355-3.903, p = 0.002), physical activity (OR 0.214, 95% CI: 0.126-0.363, p < 0.001), and overweight/obesity (OR 3.356, 95% CI: 1.838-6.127, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome is prevalent among patients with type 2 diabetes in Sokoto, Nigeria, and the predictors were age > 50 years, female sex, physical activity, and overweight/obesity. Diabetes care providers should screen their patients for MetS to prevent adverse cardiovascular events.

Keywords: prevalence, predictors, metabolic syndrome, diabetes

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Authors: Susanne Manes, Anni Glaeser, Katharina Wick, Bernhard Strauss, Uwe Berger

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Introduction: Over the last decades growing rates of mental health concerns among children and adolescents have been observed. At the same time, physical well-being of children and adolescents becomes increasingly impaired as well. Schools play an important role in preventing mental and physical disorders and in promoting well-being. Self-esteem, as well as social integration, are vital influence factors for mental and physical well-being. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the program 'VorteilJena' for secondary schools in Germany focusing on self-esteem and social integration to improve mental and physical well-being. Method: The school-based health promotion program was designed for students in 5th grade and higher. It consists of several short pedagogical exercises instructed by a teacher and were integrated into the regular class over the course of ten weeks. The exercises focused on fostering social integration using either tasks improving team spirit or exercises that increase tolerance and sense of belonging. Other exercises focused on strengthening the self-esteem of the students. Additionally, the program included a poster exhibition titled 'Belonging' which was put up in the school buildings. The exhibition comprised ten posters which addressed relevant risk factors and resources related to social integration and self-esteem. The study was a randomized controlled sequential study with a pre and post measurement conducted in ten German schools. A total of 1642 students (44% male) were recruited. Their age ranged from 9 to 21 years (M=12.93 years; SD= 2.11). The program was conducted in classes ranging from 5th to 12th grade. Results: The program improved wellbeing, self-esteem and social integration of the involved students compared to the control group. Differential effects depending on implementation rates or age of the students will be analyzed. Moreover, implications for future school-based health promotion programs targeting self-esteem and social integration will be discussed. Conclusion: Social integration considerably influences self-esteem and well-being of students and can be targeted by school-based programs including short and modest exercises. Since a sufficient implementation of health promotion programs is essential, the present program due to its practicability represents a good opportunity to install health promotion focusing on social integration in schools.

Keywords: social integration, well-being, health promotion in schools, self-esteem

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Authors: Nitu Chhikaraa, S. B. Tyagia, Kiran Jainb, Mamta Kharkwala

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The I–III–VI2 semiconductor Nanocrystals such as AgInS2 have great interest for various applications such as optical devices (solar cell and LED), cellular Imaging and bio tagging etc. we synthesized the phase and shape controlled chalcopyrite AgInS2 (AIS) colloidal nanoparticles by thermal decomposition of metal xanthate at low temperature in an organic solvent’s containing surfactant molecules. Here we are focusing on enhancements of photoluminescence of AgInS2 Nps by coating of ZnS at low temperature for application of optical devices. The size of core shell Nps was less than 50nm.by increasing the time and temperature the emission of the wavelength of the Zn coated AgInS2 Nps could be adjusted from visible region to IR the QY of the AgInS2 Nps could be increased by coating of ZnS from 20 to 80% which was reasonably good as compared to those of the previously reported. The synthesized NPs were characterized by PL, UV, XRD and TEM.

Keywords: PL, UV, XRD, TEM

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Authors: Adhithy Menon E., Biju C. A.

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Heritage monuments were first introduced to the public in the 1960s when the concept of preserving them was introduced. As a result of the 1990s, the concept of cultural landscapes gained importance, emphasizing the importance of culture and heritage in the context of the landscape. It is important to note that this paper is primarily concerned with the second category of ecological landscapes, which is organically evolving landscapes, as they represent a complex network of tangible, intangible, and environment, and the connections they share with the communities in which they are situated. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has identified 39 cultural sites as being in danger, including the Iranian city of Bam and the historic city of Zabid in Yemen. To ensure its protection in the future, it is necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of the factors contributing to this degradation. An analysis of selected cultural landscapes from around the world is conducted to determine which parameters cause their degradation. The paper follows the objectives of understanding cultural landscapes and their importance for development, followed by examining various criteria for identifying cultural landscapes, their various classifications, as well as agencies that focus on their protection. To identify and analyze the parameters contributing to the deterioration of cultural landscapes based on literature and case studies (cultural landscape of Sintra, Rio de Janeiro, and Varanasi). As a final step, strategies should be developed to enhance deteriorating cultural landscapes based on these parameters. The major findings of the study are the impact of community in the parameters derived - integrity (natural factors, natural disasters, demolition of structures, deterioration of materials), authenticity (living elements, sense of place, building techniques, religious context, artistic expression) public participation (revenue, dependence on locale), awareness (demolition of structures, resource management) disaster management, environmental impact, maintenance of cultural landscape (linkages with other sites, dependence on locale, revenue, resource management). The parameters of authenticity, public participation, awareness, and maintenance of the cultural landscape are directly related to the community in which the cultural landscape is located. Therefore, by focusing on the community and addressing the parameters identified, the deterioration curve of cultural landscapes can be altered.

Keywords: community, cultural landscapes, heritage, organically evolved, public participation

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Authors: Lauren Dhugga, Meena Parameswaran, David Blundell, Abbas Khushnood

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Context: A multidisciplinary weekly safety briefing was implemented at the Paediatric Cardiothoracic Unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is a tertiary referral centre with a quarternary cardiac paediatric intensive care unit and provides complexed care including heart and lung transplants, mechanical support and advanced heart failure assessment. Aim: The aim of this briefing is to provide a structured platform of communication, in an effort to improve efficiency, safety, and patient care. Problem: The paediatric cardiothoracic unit is made up of a vast multidisciplinary team including doctors, intensivists, anaesthetists, surgeons, specialist nurses, echocardiogram technicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, dentists, and dietitians. It provides care for children with congenital and acquired cardiac disease and is one of only two units in the UK to offer paediatric heart transplant. The complexity of cases means that there can be many teams involved in providing care to each patient, and frequent movement of children between ward, high dependency, and intensive care areas. Currently, there is no structured forum for communicating important information across the department, for example, staffing shortages, prescribing errors and significant events. Strategy: An initial survey questioning the need for better communication found 90% of respondents agreed that they could think of an incident that had occurred due to ineffective communication, and 85% felt that incident could have been avoided had there been a better form of communication. Lastly, 80% of respondents felt that a weekly 60 second safety briefing would be beneficial to improve communication within our multidisciplinary team. Based on those promising results, a weekly 60 second safety briefing was implemented to be conducted on a Monday morning. The safety briefing covered four key areas (SAFE): staffing, awareness, fix and events. This was to highlight any staffing gaps, any incident reports to be learned from, any issues that required fixing and any events including teachings for the week ahead. The teams were encouraged to email suggestions or issues to be raised for the week or to approach in person with information to add. The safety briefing was implemented using change theory. Effect: The safety briefing has been trialled over 6 weeks and has received a good buy in from staff across specialties. The aim is to embed this safety briefing into a weekly meeting using the PDSA cycle. There will be a second survey in one month to assess the efficacy of the safety briefing and to continue to improve the delivery of information. The project will be presented at the next clinical governance briefing to attract wider feedback and input from across the trust. Lessons: The briefing displays promise as a tool to improve vigilance and communication in a busy multi-disciplinary unit. We have learned about how to implement quality improvement and about the culture of our hospital - how hierarchy influences change. We demonstrate how to implement change through a grassroots process, using a junior led briefing to improve the efficiency, safety, and communication in the workplace.

Keywords: briefing, communication, safety, team

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Authors: Sofia Nilsson, Alicia Ohlsson, Linda-Marie Lundqvist, Aida Alvinius, Peder Hyllengren, Gerry Larsson

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In irregular warfare contexts, military personnel are often presented with morally ambiguous situations where they are aware of the morally correct choice but may feel prevented to follow through with it due to organizational demands. Moral stress and/or injury can be the outcome of the individual’s experienced dissonance. These types of challenges put a large demand on the individual to manage their own emotions and the emotions of others, particularly in the case of a leader. Both the ability and inability for emotional regulation can result in different combinations of short and long term reactions after morally stressful events, which can be either positive or negative. Our study analyzed the combination of these reactions based upon the types of morally challenging events that were described by the subjects. 1)What institutionalized norms concerning emotion regulation are favorable in short-and long-term perspectives after a morally stressful event? 2)What individual emotion-focused coping strategies are favorable in short-and long-perspectives after a morally stressful? To address these questions, we conducted a quantitative study in military contexts in Sweden and Norway on upcoming or current military officers (n=331). We tested a theoretical model built upon a recently developed qualitative study. The data was analyzed using factor analysis, multiple regression analysis and subgroup analyses. The results indicated that an individual’s restriction of emotion in order to achieve an organizational goal, which results in emotional dissonance, can be an effective short term strategy for both the individual and the organization; however, it appears to be unfavorable in a long-term perspective which can result in negative reactions. Our results are intriguing because they showed an increased percentage of reported negative long term reactions (13%), which indicated PTSD-related symptoms in comparison to previous Swedish studies which indicated lower PTSD symptomology.

Keywords: emotion culture, emotion coping, emotion management, military

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Authors: R. Henry, H. Andriamboavonjy, J. B. Paulin, S. Drahy, R. Gourichon

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During past decade, Chinese monetary policy has been to maintain stability of exchange rate CNY/USD by creating parity between the two currencies. This policy, against market equilibrium, impacts the exchange rate in having low Yuan currency, and keeping attractiveness of Chinese industries. Using macroeconomic and statistic approach, the impact of such policy onto CNY/USD exchange rate is quantitatively determined. It is also pointed out how Chinese banks respect Basel III ratios, in particular the foreign exchange ratio. The main analysis is focusing on how Chinese banks will respect these ratios in the future.

Keywords: macroeconomics models, yuan floating exchange rate, basel iii, china banking system

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Authors: Federica Laface, Cristina Pedà, Francesco Longo, Francesca de Domenico, Riccardo Minichino, Pierpaolo Consoli, Pietro Battaglia, Silvestro Greco, Teresa Romeo

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Plastics pollution represents one of the most important threats to marine biodiversity. In the last decades, different species are investigated to evaluate the extent of the plastic ingestion phenomenon. Even if the cephalopods play an important role in the food chain, they are still poorly studied. The aim of this research was to investigate the plastic ingestion in two commercial cephalopod species from the southern Tyrrhenian Sea: the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris (n=6; mean mantle length ML 10.7 ± 1.8) and the common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis (n=13; mean ML 13.2 ± 1.7). Plastics were extracted from the filters obtained by the chemical digestion of cephalopods gastrointestinal tracts (GITs), using 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution in a 1:5 (w/v) ratio. Once isolated, particles were photographed, measured, and their size class, shape and color were recorded. A total of 81 items was isolated from 16 of the 19 examined GITs, representing a total occurrence (%O) of 84.2% with a mean value of 4.3 ± 8.6 particles per individual. In particular, 62 plastics were found in 6 specimens of O. vulgaris (%O=100) and 19 particles in 10 S. officinalis (%O=94.7). In both species, the microplastics size class was the most abundant (93.8%). Plastic items found in O. vulgaris were mainly fibers (61%) while fragments were the most frequent in S. officinalis (53%). Transparent was the most common color in both species. The analysis will be completed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy technique in order to identify polymers nature. This study reports preliminary data on plastic ingestion events in two cephalopods species and represents the first record of plastic ingestion by the common octopus. Microplastic items detected in both common octopus and common cuttlefish could derive from secondary and/or accidental ingestion events, probably due to their behavior, feeding habits and anatomical features. Further studies will be required to assess the effect of marine litter pollution in these ecologically and commercially important species.

Keywords: cephalopods, GIT analysis, marine pollution, Mediterranean sea, microplastics

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Jakub Kraus, Vladimír Plos, Peter Vittek

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This article deals with a new approach to the airport emergency plans, which are the basic documents and manuals for dealing with events with impact on safety or security. The article describes the identified parts in which the current airport emergency plans do not fulfill their role and which should therefore be considered in the creation of corrective measures. All these issues have been identified at airports in the Czech Republic and confirmed at airports in neighboring countries.

Keywords: airport emergency plan, aviation safety, aviation security, comprehensive management system

Procedia PDF Downloads 498

Authors: Sophie Kroeling, Agnetha Schuchardt

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Striving for sustainability brings a lot of challenges for different fields of interest, e. g. security or health concerns. In Germany, civil protection is predominantly carried out by emergency responders who perform essential tasks of civil protection. Based on theoretical concepts of different psychological stress theories this contribution focuses on the question, how the resilience of emergency responders can be improved. The goal is to identify resources and successful coping strategies that help to prevent and reduce negative outcomes during or after stressful events. The paper will present results from a qualitative analysis of semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 emergency responders. These results provide insights into the complexity of coping processes (e. g. controlling the situation, downplaying perceived personal threats through humor) and show the diversity of stressors (like complexity of the disastrous situation, intrusive press and media, or lack of social support within the organization). Self-efficacy expectation was a very important resource for coping with stressful situations. The results served as a starting point for a quantitative survey (that was conducted in March 2017), the development of education and training tools for emergency responders and the improvement of critical incident stress management processes. First results from the quantitative study with more than 700 participants show that, e. g., the emergency responders use social coping within their private social network and also within their aid organization and that both are correlated to resilience. Moreover, missing information, bureaucratic problems and social conflicts within the organization are events that the majority of the participants considered very onerous. Further results from regression analysis will be presented. The proposed paper will combine findings from the qualitative study with the quantitative results, illustrating figures and correlations with respective statements from the interviews. At the end, suggestions for the improvement of the emergency responder’s resilience are given and it is discussed how this can make a contribution to strive for civil security and furthermore a sustainable development.

Keywords: civil security, emergency responders, stress, resilience, resources

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Authors: Shivdayal Patel, Suhail Ahmad

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Safety assurance and failure prediction of composite material component of an offshore structure due to low velocity impact is essential for associated risk assessment. It is important to incorporate uncertainties associated with material properties and load due to an impact. Likelihood of this hazard causing a chain of failure events plays an important role in risk assessment. The material properties of composites mostly exhibit a scatter due to their in-homogeneity and anisotropic characteristics, brittleness of the matrix and fiber and manufacturing defects. In fact, the probability of occurrence of such a scenario is due to large uncertainties arising in the system. Probabilistic finite element analysis of composite plates due to low-velocity impact is carried out considering uncertainties of material properties and initial impact velocity. Impact-induced damage of composite plate is a probabilistic phenomenon due to a wide range of uncertainties arising in material and loading behavior. A typical failure crack initiates and propagates further into the interface causing de-lamination between dissimilar plies. Since individual crack in the ply is difficult to track. The progressive damage model is implemented in the FE code by a user-defined material subroutine (VUMAT) to overcome these problems. The limit state function is accordingly established while the stresses in the lamina are such that the limit state function (g(x)>0). The Gaussian process response surface method is presently adopted to determine the probability of failure. A comparative study is also carried out for different combination of impactor masses and velocities. The sensitivity based probabilistic design optimization procedure is investigated to achieve better strength and lighter weight of composite structures. Chain of failure events due to different modes of failure is considered to estimate the consequences of failure scenario. Frequencies of occurrence of specific impact hazards yield the expected risk due to economic loss.

Keywords: composites, damage propagation, low velocity impact, probability of failure, uncertainty modeling

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Authors: Margarida Matos, João Pereira dos Santos, José Tavares

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Anti-minority discrimination is a persistent phenomenon with long-run effects. While there is a vast literature in economics and psychology that shows that personality and beliefs are not fixed and can be altered by experience, particularly in the so-called impressionable years in early adulthood, less is known about the long-lasting impacts of major events occurring during this time on minority attitudes. In this paper, we study the impact of serving in the military on long-term attitudes towards minorities. For many, military conscription and serving in war are unique life-shaping events. In the context of military service, individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds interact and learn with each other, potentially changing their views and attitudes in a persistent manner. A prominent theory about the change of attitudes is the contact theory. It suggests that prejudice can be decreased if members of the groups interact with one another. The present paper adds to the literature by providing evidence from a more complicated setting involving the exposure to combat. We study the attitudes of veterans of the Portuguese Colonial War between 1961 and 1974, what was the latest war between African independence movements and Europeans. More than 70 percent of military age Portuguese men were drafted every year and sent to fight in Africa in the widest draft in post-World War II Western Europe. The contact between Portuguese and African soldiers was both cooperative as well as adversarial. Portuguese fought against but also alongside locally recruited African men, who represented half of the Portuguese contingent for substantial periods. We use data from the European Social Survey to identify Portuguese citizens likely to have been drafted and were send to fight in the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. We show that men likely to have fought in African wars are more accepting of immigrants than women of their same cohort, as well as than males from younger and older cohorts. The use of corresponding cohorts from Spain as placebo tests confirms our results. Our findings also hold in a regression discontinuity design setting.

Keywords: attitudes, immigration, war in Africa, veterans, portugal

Procedia PDF Downloads 72