Search results for: minority forms of information processing

Authors: Tahira Pirzada, Zahra Ashrafi, Saad Khan

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We present a facile and sustainable solid templating approach to fabricate highly porous, flexible and superhydrophobic aerogels of composite nanofibers of cellulose diacetate and silica which are produced through sol gel electrospinning. Scanning electron microscopy, contact angle measurement, and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry are used to understand the structural features of the resultant aerogels while thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry demonstrate their thermal stability. These aerogels exhibit a self-supportive three-dimensional network abundant in large secondary pores surrounded by primary pores resulting in a highly porous structure. Thermal crosslinking of the aerogels has further stabilized their structure and flexibility without compromising on the porosity. Ease of processing, thermal stability, high porosity and oleophilic nature of these aerogels make them promising candidate for a wide variety of applications including acoustic and thermal insulation and oil and water separation.

Keywords: hybrid aerogels, sol-gel electrospinning, oil-water separation, nanofibers

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Authors: Malek Bendjaballah, Hacina Saidi, Sarra Hamidoud

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The aim of this study is to model and optimize the performance of a new electrocoagulation (E.C) process for the treatment of wastewater as well as the energy consumption in order to extrapolate it to the industrial scale. Through judicious application of an experimental design (DOE), it has been possible to evaluate the individual effects and interactions that have a significant influence on both objective functions (maximizing efficiency and minimizing energy consumption) by using aluminum electrodes as sacrificial anode. Preliminary experiments have shown that the pH of the medium, the applied potential and the treatment time with E.C are the main parameters. A factorial design 33 has been adopted to model performance and energy consumption. Under optimal conditions, the pollution reduction efficiency is 93%, combined with a minimum energy consumption of 2.60.10-3 kWh / mg-COD. The potential or current applied and the processing time and their interaction were the most influential parameters in the mathematical models obtained. The results of the modeling were also correlated with the experimental ones. The results offer promising opportunities to develop a clean process and inexpensive technology to eliminate or reduce wastewater,

Keywords: electrocoagulation, green process, experimental design, optimization

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Authors: Retno Supriyanti, Best Leader Nababan, Yogi Ramadhani, Wahyu Siswandari

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Blood cell morphology is an important parameter in a hematology test. Currently, in developing countries, a lot of hematology is done manually, either by physicians or laboratory staff. According to the limitation of the human eye, examination based on manual method will result in a lower precision and accuracy. In addition, the hematology test by manual will further complicate the diagnosis in some areas that do not have competent medical personnel. This research aims to develop a simple tool in the detection of blood cell morphology-based computer. In this paper, we focus on the detection of the outer contour of leukocytes. The results show that the system that we developed is promising for detecting blood cell morphology automatically. It is expected, by implementing this method, the problem of accuracy, precision and limitations of the medical staff can be solved.

Keywords: morphology operation, developing countries, hematology test, limitation of medical personnel

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Authors: Patrick Cormier, Cesar Meylan, Matt Jensen, Dana Agar-Newman, Chloe Werle, Ming-Chang Tsai, Marc Klimstra

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Sprint-derived horizontal force-velocity-power (FVP) profiles can be developed with adequate validity and reliability with satellite (GPS/GNSS) systems. However, FVP metrics are sensitive to small nuances in data processing procedures such that minor differences in defining the onset and end of the sprint could result in different FVP metric outcomes. Furthermore, in team-sports, there is a requirement for rapid analysis and feedback of results from multiple athletes, therefore developing standardized and automated methods to improve the speed, efficiency and reliability of this process are warranted. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare different methods of sprint end detection on the development of FVP profiles from 10Hz GPS/GNSS data through goodness-of-fit and intertrial reliability statistics. Seventeen national team female soccer players participated in the FVP protocol which consisted of 2x40m maximal sprints performed towards the end of a soccer specific warm-up in a training session (1020 hPa, wind = 0, temperature = 30°C) on an open grass field. Each player wore a 10Hz Catapult system unit (Vector S7, Catapult Innovations) inserted in a vest in a pouch between the scapulae. All data were analyzed following common procedures. Variables computed and assessed were the model parameters, estimated maximal sprint speed (MSS) and the acceleration constant τ, in addition to horizontal relative force (F₀), velocity at zero (V₀), and relative mechanical power (Pmax). The onset of the sprints was standardized with an acceleration threshold of 0.1 m/s². The sprint end detection methods were: 1. Time when peak velocity (MSS) was achieved (zero acceleration), 2. Time after peak velocity drops by -0.4 m/s, 3. Time after peak velocity drops by -0.6 m/s, and 4. When the integrated distance from the GPS/GNSS signal achieves 40-m. Goodness-of-fit of each sprint end detection method was determined using the residual sum of squares (RSS) to demonstrate the error of the FVP modeling with the sprint data from the GPS/GNSS system. Inter-trial reliability (from 2 trials) was assessed utilizing intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). For goodness-of-fit results, the end detection technique that used the time when peak velocity was achieved (zero acceleration) had the lowest RSS values, followed by -0.4 and -0.6 velocity decay, and 40-m end had the highest RSS values. For intertrial reliability, the end of sprint detection techniques that were defined as the time at (method 1) or shortly after (method 2 and 3) when MSS was achieved had very large to near perfect ICC and the time at the 40 m integrated distance (method 4) had large to very large ICCs. Peak velocity was reached at 29.52 ± 4.02-m. Therefore, sport scientists should implement end of sprint detection either when peak velocity is determined or shortly after to improve goodness of fit to achieve reliable between trial FVP profile metrics. Although, more robust processing and modeling procedures should be developed in future research to improve sprint model fitting. This protocol was seamlessly integrated into the usual training which shows promise for sprint monitoring in the field with this technology.

Keywords: automated, biomechanics, team-sports, sprint

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Authors: M. Fadlallah, G. Ghibaudo, C. G. Theodorou

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The dynamic variation in memory devices such as the Static Random Access Memory can give errors in read or write operations. In this paper, the effect of low-frequency and random telegraph noise on the dynamic variation of one SRAM cell is detailed. The effect on circuit noise, speed, and length of time of processing is examined, using the Supply Read Retention Voltage and the Read Static Noise Margin. New test run methods are also developed. The obtained results simulation shows the importance of noise caused by dynamic variation, and the impact of Random Telegraph noise on SRAM variability is examined by evaluating the statistical distributions of Random Telegraph noise amplitude in the pull-up, pull-down. The threshold voltage mismatch between neighboring cell transistors due to intrinsic fluctuations typically contributes to larger reductions in static noise margin. Also the contribution of each of the SRAM transistor to total dynamic variation has been identified.

Keywords: low-frequency noise, random telegraph noise, dynamic variation, SRRV

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Authors: Edoardo Lomi

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A problem of central interest in anthropology concerns the ethnographic displacement of modernity’s conceptual sovereignty over that of native collectives worldwide. Part of this critical project has been the association of Western modernity with a dualist, naturalist ontology. Despite its demonstrated value for comparative work, this association often comes at the cost of reproducing ideas that lack an empirical ethnographic basis. This paper proposes a way forward by bringing to bear some of the results produced by an ethnographic study of a village in Wiltshire, South England. Due to its picturesque qualities, this village has served for decades as a ready-made set for fantasy movies and a backdrop to fictional stories. These forms of mediation have in turn generated some apparent paradoxes, such as fictitious characters that affect actual material changes, films that become more real than history, and animated stories that, while requiring material grounds to unfold, inhabit a time and space in other respects distinct from that of material processes. Drawing on ongoing fieldwork and interviews with locals and tourists, this paper considers the ways villagers engage with fiction as part of their everyday lives. The resulting image is one of convergence, in the same landscape, of people and things having different ontological status. This study invites reflection on the implications of this image for diversifying our imagery of Western lifeworlds. To this end, the notion of ‘real fictions’ is put forth, connecting the ethnographic blurring of modernist distinctions–such as sign and signified, mind and matter, materiality and immateriality–with discussions on anthropology’s own reliance on fictions for critical comparative work.

Keywords: England, ethnography, landscape, modernity, mediation, ontology, post-structural theory

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Authors: Francisco Fernandez de Castro

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The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) model gives monetary transfers to beneficiary families on the condition that they take specific education and health actions. According to the economic rationale of CCTs the poor need incentives to invest in their human capital because they are trapped by a lack of information and misleading beliefs. If left to their own decision, the poor will not be able to choose what is in their best interests. The basic assumption of the CCT model is that the poor need incentives to take care of their own education and health-nutrition. Due to the incentives (income cash transfers and conditionalities), beneficiary families are supposed to attend doctor visits and health talks. Children would stay in the school. These incentivized behaviors would produce outcomes such as better health and higher level of education, which in turn will reduce poverty. Based on a grounded theory approach to conduct a two-year period of qualitative data collection in northern Mexico, this study shows that this explanation is incomplete. In addition to the information failure and inadequate beliefs, there are structural barriers in everyday life of households that make health-nutrition and education investments difficult. In-depth interviews and observation work showed that the program takes for granted local conditions in which beneficiary families should fulfill their co-responsibilities. Data challenged the program’s assumptions and unveiled local obstacles not contemplated in the program’s design. These findings have policy and research implications for the CCT agenda. They bring elements for late programming due to the gap between the CCT strategy as envisioned by policy designers, and the program that beneficiary families experience on the ground. As for research consequences, these findings suggest new avenues for scholarly work regarding the causal mechanisms and social processes explaining CCT outcomes.

Keywords: conditional cash transfers, incentives, poverty, structural barriers

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Authors: Assefa Mitike Janko, Gosa Alemu

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The review of supply and marketing of floriculture in Ethiopia was conducted to analyses the production potential and to know the marketing share of the country. The data was collected from secondary and primary. Ethiopia has been operating in the floriculture industry for over 20 years. As is the case in many developing countries, the major export items of Ethiopia are dominated by few agricultural products that earn very small amounts in the international market. Moreover, most of the exports are destined to only few countries. Given the highly capital intensive nature of production and processing, rose farming is not a smallholder activity. It is also important to note the extremely tightly controlled time dimension of the logistics process, given the product attributes desired and the fragility and perishability of the roses. Another characteristic of the Ethiopian floriculture sector is the lack of domestically produced inputs that flower producers can access. The export volume and value of cut-flowers accounts for a small proportion of the total exports of Ethiopia. In recent years the sector is showing improvements in terms of the quality and quantity of exports to the international market.

Keywords: roses, production, value chain, floriculture, supply

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Authors: Polycarpe Feussi

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Globalization, technological and customer increasing changes, amongst other drivers, result in higher levels of uncertainty and unpredictability for organizations. In order for organizations to cope with the uncertain and fast-changing economic and business environment, these organizations need to innovate in order to achieve flexibility. In simple terms, the organizations must develop strategies leading to the ability of these organizations to provide horizontal information connections across the supply chain to create and deliver products that meet customer needs by synchronization of customer demands with product creation. The generated information will create efficiency and effectiveness throughout the whole supply chain regarding production, storage, and distribution, as well as eliminating redundant activities and reduction in response time. In an integrated supply chain, spanning activities include coordination with distributors and suppliers. This paper explains how through postponement strategies, flexibility can be achieved in an organization. In order to achieve the above, a thorough literature review was conducted via the search of online websites that contains material from scientific journal data-bases, articles, and textbooks on the subject of postponement and flexibility. The findings of the research are found in the last part of the paper. The first part introduces the concept of postponement and its importance in supply chain management. The second part of the paper provides the methodology used in the process of writing the paper.

Keywords: postponement strategies, supply chain management, flexibility, logistics

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Authors: Ratna Siti Khodijah, Mirzam Abdurrachman

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Gold is recovered from gold ores. Within the ores, there are not only gold but also several types of precious metals. Copper, silver, and platinum group elements (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, rhenium, osmium, and iridium) are metals commonly found in the ores. These metals combine to form an ore because they have the same properties. It is due to their position in periodic-system-of-elements are near to gold. However, the presence of mercury in every gold ore has not been mentioned, even though it is located right next to gold in the periodic-system-of-elements and they are located in the same block, d-block. Thus, it is possible that mercury is contained in the ores. Moreover, the elements of the same group with mercury—zinc and cadmium—sometimes can be found in the ores. It is suspected that mercury can not be detected because the processing of gold ores usually using fire assay method. Before the ores melting, mercury would evaporate because it has the lowest boiling point of all precious metal in the ores. Therefore, it suggested doing research on the presence of mercury in gold ores by CVAAS method. The results of this study would obtain the amount of mercury in gold ores that should be purified. So it can be produced economically if possible.

Keywords: boiling point, d-block, fire assay, precious metal

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Authors: Ariful Islam, Showkat Ahmad Lone

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Statistical distributions have long been employed in the assessment of semiconductor devices and product reliability. The power function-distribution is one of the most important distributions in the modern reliability practice and can be frequently preferred over mathematically more complex distributions, such as the Weibull and the lognormal, because of its simplicity. Moreover, it may exhibit a better fit for failure data and provide more appropriate information about reliability and hazard rates in some circumstances. This study deals with estimating information about failure times of items under step-stress partially accelerated life tests for competing risk based on adoptive type-I progressive hybrid censoring criteria. The life data of the units under test is assumed to follow Mukherjee-Islam distribution. The point and interval maximum-likelihood estimations are obtained for distribution parameters and tampering coefficient. The performances of the resulting estimators of the developed model parameters are evaluated and investigated by using a simulation algorithm.

Keywords: adoptive progressive hybrid censoring, competing risk, mukherjee-islam distribution, partially accelerated life testing, simulation study

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Authors: Muhammad Talal Asghar

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The lift-off technique of the photoresist for metal patterning in integrated circuit (IC) packaging has been widely utilized in the field of microelectromechanical systems and semiconductor component manufacturing. The main advantage lies in cost-saving, reduction in complexity, and maturity of the process. The selection of photoresist depends upon many factors such as cost, the thickness of the resist, comfortable and valuable parameters extraction. In the present study, an extremely cheap dry film photoresist E8015 of thickness 38-micrometer is processed for the first time for edge profiling, according to the author's best knowledge. Successful extraction of the helpful parameter range for resist processing is performed. An undercut angle of 66 to 73 degrees is realized by parameter variation like exposure energy and development time. Finally, 10-micrometer thick metallic multilayer aluminum nickel is lifted off on the plain silicon wafer. Possible applications lie in controlled self-propagating reactions within structured metallic multilayer that may be utilized for IC packaging in the future.

Keywords: lift-off, IC packaging, photoresist, multilayer

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Authors: K. Malak, A. Nourah, S.Liyakathunisa

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Nowadays, healthcare services are facing many challenges since they are becoming more complex and more needed. Every detail of a patient’s interactions with health care providers is maintained in Electronic Health Records (ECR) and Healthcare information systems (HIS). However, most of the existing systems are often focused on documenting what happens in manual health care process, rather than providing the highest quality patient care. Healthcare business processes and stakeholders can no longer rely on manual processes, to provide better patient care and efficient utilization of resources, Healthcare processes must be automated wherever it is possible. In this research, a detail survey and analysis is performed on the existing health care systems in Saudi Arabia, and an automated smart medical healthcare business process model is proposed. The business process management methods and rules are followed in discovering, collecting information, analysis, redesign, implementation and performance improvement analysis in terms of time and cost. From the simulation results, it is evident that our proposed smart medical records system can improve the quality of the service by reducing the time and cost and increasing efficiency

Keywords: business process management, electronic health records, efficiency, cost, time

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Authors: Rashmi Ranade, Neelu Joshi

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Barleria prionitis L. is a well explored Indian medicinal plant valued for its stem and leaf which forms an important ingredient of many Ayurvedic formulations. It is used for the treatment of various disorders like toothache, bleeding gums, strengthening gums, whooping cough, inflammation, arthritis, enlargement of scrotum and sciatica etc. The plant is propagated vegetatively through stem cuttings. Frequent harvesting of this plant has led to the shortage of planting material, and it has acquired the status of vulnerable plant species. Plant tissue culture technology offers a very good alternative for propagation and conservation of such plant species. The present investigation was undertaken to develop in vitro regeneration protocol for B. prionitis L. via callus organogenesis pathway. Stem and leaf explants were used for this purpose. Different media and plant growth regulators were optimized to develop the protocol. The problem of phenol secretion and browning and in vitro cultures at the establishment phase was successfully curbed with the usage of antibrowning agents such as ascorbic acid and activated charcoal. Optimum shoot multiplication was achieved by the use of liquid media and incorporation of silver nitrate and TIBA (triiodobenzoic acid) into the media. High percent rooting (76%) was observed on WPM media supplemented with IBA (2.0 mg/l), IAA (0.5 mg/l), GA3(0.5) and activated charcoal(500 mg/l). The rooted plantlets were subjected to in vitro hardening on sterile potting mix (soil:farmyard manure:compost; 1:2:1) and acclimatized under greenhouse conditions. Around 85% survival of plantlets was recorded upon acclimatization. This lab scale protocol would be tested for in vitro scaling up production of B. prionitis L.

Keywords: explant browning, liquid culture, micropropagation, shoot multiplication, phenolic secretion

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Authors: C. Senabre, S. Valero, M. Lopez, E. Velasco, M. Sanchez

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This paper focuses on an application of linear mixed models to short-term load forecasting. The challenge of this research is to improve a currently working model at the Spanish Transport System Operator, programmed by us, and based on linear autoregressive techniques and neural networks. The forecasting system currently forecasts each of the regions within the Spanish grid separately, even though the behavior of the load in each region is affected by the same factors in a similar way. A load forecasting system has been verified in this work by using the real data from a utility. In this research it has been used an integration of several regions into a linear mixed model as starting point to obtain the information from other regions. Firstly, the systems to learn general behaviors present in all regions, and secondly, it is identified individual deviation in each regions. The technique can be especially useful when modeling the effect of special days with scarce information from the past. The three most relevant regions of the system have been used to test the model, focusing on special day and improving the performance of both currently working models used as benchmark. A range of comparisons with different forecasting models has been conducted. The forecasting results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed methodology.

Keywords: short-term load forecasting, mixed effects models, neural networks, mixed effects models

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Authors: Agnieszka Szczudlińska-Kanoś

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Nowadays the participation of citizens in public life increasingly effect on management at all levels of public authority. Today, however, democratic systems in many countries, also in Poland, based on the first - on the institutions of representative democracy, which is mainly on elections, party activity, on the other hand - on the basic instruments of direct democracy, which, in particular, we can include a referendum or initiative of citizenship - although these are often rather complementary. Other forms of participatory democracy, such as deliberative democracy, participatory budgeting, public consultation in practice in many countries are still rare. Appropriate use of the potential invested in participatory democracy can bring enormous and multilateral benefits. On the one hand, local and regional communities taking an active part in public life express their needs, point out problems and thus affect the decisions of public authorities. Authorities using knowledge acquired from the citizens also implement the policy tailored to their needs, thus obtaining support in the next election. The purpose of this study is to show how the Polish citizens affect to resolve issues of social policy pursued at different levels of government. This problem is very important because today the observed changes seen in virtually all fields of life create new social problems, which nowadays are no longer only the problems of the region, the country but they are international, global issues. From such this perspective we should talk about them, discuss, try to solve at all levels. Article will be useful not only theorists involved in the management of the public, local government, or social but also practitioners - local government acting as their functions at different levels of government. Conclusions drawn from the publication will also be useful to politicians and those directly affecting for: functioning social security systems, the scope and quality of public services and the overall shape of the contemporary social policy in different countries.

Keywords: social policy, local government, social participation, social services

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Authors: Selcuk Aslan, Dervis Karaboga, Celal Ozturk

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Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm is one of the most successful swarm intelligence based metaheuristics. It has been applied to a number of constrained or unconstrained numerical and combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper, we presented a parallelized version of ABC algorithm by adapting employed and onlooker bee phases to the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) platform which is a graphical processing unit (GPU) programming environment by NVIDIA. The execution speed and obtained results of the proposed approach and sequential version of ABC algorithm are compared on functions that are typically used as benchmarks for optimization algorithms. Tests on standard benchmark functions with different colony size and number of parameters showed that proposed parallelization approach for ABC algorithm decreases the execution time consumed by the employed and onlooker bee phases in total and achieved similar or better quality of the results compared to the standard sequential implementation of the ABC algorithm.

Keywords: Artificial Bee Colony algorithm, GPU computing, swarm intelligence, parallelization

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Authors: Atiya Mahmood, Mubasharah Hanif, Ghazala Butt, Mehwish Zahoor Ahmed

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Acne vulgaris affects millions of adults.Despite extensive research, its food related etiology remains elusive. Objective:To assess the correlation between dietary intake and acne through a case-control survey of 300,15-25 year old respondents living in Pakistan. 50 acne patients and 150 age-and ethnicity-matched controls completed a questionnaire.Cases and controls were separated using SPSS-22 and univariate analysis was performed using the chi-square test. p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. We used adjusted odds ratios to assess the strength of associations with 95% confidence intervals. Most of the respondents were females(91.3%).Most(48.7%)acne patients were 20-25 yearsold.Acne severity was mild in 50%,moderate in 34%,severe in14%and very severe in 2%.Frequent low-fat foods(p<0.001)(OR=3.22),fat intake(p=0.03)(OR = 1.629),sweet snacks i.e. biscuits and candies etc. (p=0.013) (OR=1.9254), soft drinks(p= 0.045)(OR= 1.9091),butter(p<0.001) (OR= 1.8185),dairy products(p=0.043)(OR=0.624),salty foods(p= 0.011)(OR=1.961),chocolate (p=0.028)(OR=1.669), were associated with increased acne risk.No association was found with consumption of fried foods, desserts, fruit juices, raw fruit, fast food, vegetables, cheese, soy products, salt, and corn. Increased butter and chocolate consumption were linked to more severe forms of acne(p=0.049 and p=0.005 respectively).Most respondents (n=218) considered themselves to have healthy eating habits, indicating they were not educated about the nutritional aspects of acne treatment.Certain food item intake was significantly higher in acne patients to give an association between the two. Further studies must be conducted to develop a causative relationship. Nutrition aawareness is critical to reduce acne.

Keywords: correlation between dietary components and acne, dietary components, acne, nutrition

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Authors: Maryam Borjali

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Introduction. Mortality due to noncommunicable diseases has increased in the world today with the advent of demographic shifts, growing age, and lifestyle patterns in the world, which have been affected by economic and social crises. Congenital heart defects are one of the forms of diseases that have raised infant mortality worldwide. e objective of present study was to identify nonmedical determinants related to this abnormality from the mother’s perspectives. Methods. is research was a qualitative study and the data collection method was a semistructured interview with mothers who had children with congenital heart diseases referring to the Shahid Rajaei Heart Hospital in Tehran, Iran. A thematic analysis approach was employed to analyze transcribed documents assisted by MAXQDA Plus version 12. Results. Four general themes and ten subthemes including social contexts (social harms, social interactions, and social necessities), psychological contexts (mood disorders and mental well-being), cultural contexts (unhealthy lifestyle, family culture, and poor parental health behaviors), and environmental contexts (living area and polluted air) were extracted from interviews with mothers of children with congenital heart diseases. Conclusions. Results suggest that factors such as childhood poverty, lack of parental awareness of congenital diseases, lack of proper nutrition and health facilities, education, and lack of medical supervision during pregnancy were most related with the birth of children with congenital heart disease from mothers’ prospective. In this regard, targeted and intersectorial collaborations are proposed to address nonmedical determinants related to the incidence of congenital heart diseases.

Keywords: congenital_cou, cultural, social, platform

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Authors: Jeonghwan Jeon, Mintak Han, Youngjun Kim

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Due to the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), a substantial transformation is currently happening in the society. As the range of intelligent technologies and services is continuously expanding, ‘things’ are becoming capable of communicating one another and even with people. However, such “Internet of Things” has the technical weakness so that a great amount of such information transferred in real-time may be widely exposed to the threat of security. User’s personal data are a typical example which is faced with a serious security threat. The threats of security will be diversified and arose more frequently because next generation of unfamiliar technology develops. Moreover, as the society is becoming increasingly complex, security vulnerability will be increased as well. In the existing literature, a considerable number of private and public reports that forecast future society have been published as a precedent step of the selection of future technology and the establishment of strategies for competitiveness. Although there are previous studies that forecast security technology, they have focused only on technical issues and overlooked the interrelationships between security technology and social factors are. Therefore, investigations of security threats in the future and security technology that is able to protect people from various threats are required. In response, this study aims to derive potential security threats associated with the development of technology and to explore the security technology that can protect against them. To do this, first of all, private and public reports that forecast future and online documents from technology-related communities are collected. By analyzing the data, future issues are extracted and categorized in terms of STEEP (Society, Technology, Economy, Environment, and Politics), as well as security. Second, the components of potential security threats are developed based on classified future issues. Then, points that the security threats may occur –for example, mobile payment system based on a finger scan technology– are identified. Lastly, alternatives that prevent potential security threats are proposed by matching security threats with points and investigating related security technologies from patent data. Proposed approach can identify the ICT-related latent security menaces and provide the guidelines in the ‘problem – alternative’ form by linking the threat point with security technologies.

Keywords: future society, information and communication technology, security technology, technology forecasting

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Authors: Chaudhary Itisha, Shankar Manu

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Patient satisfaction represents a crucial aspect in the evaluation of health care services. Preoperative teaching provides the patient with pertinent information concerning the surgical process and the intended surgical procedure as well as anticipated patient behavior (anxiety, fear), expected sensation, and the probable outcomes. Although patient education is part of Accreditation protocols, it is not uniform at most places. The aim of this study was to try to assess the benefit of preoperative patient education on selected post-operative outcome parameters; mainly, post-operative pain scores, requirement of additional analgesia, return to activity of daily living and overall patient satisfaction, and try to standardize few education protocols. Dependent variables were measured before and after the treatment on a study population of 302 volunteers. Educational intervention was provided by the Investigator in the preoperative period to the study group through personal counseling. An information booklet contained detailed information was also provided. Statistical Analysis was done using Chi square test, Mann Whitney u test and Fischer Exact Test on a total of 302 subjects. P value <0.05 was considered as level of statistical significance and p<0.01 was considered as highly significant. This study suggested that patients who are given a structured, individualized and elaborate preoperative education and counseling have a better ability to cope up with postoperative pain in the immediate post-operative period. However, there was not much difference when the patients have had almost complete recovery. There was no difference in the requirement of additional analgesia among the two groups. There is a positive effect of preoperative counseling on expected return to the activities of daily living and normal work schedule. However, no effect was observed on the activities in the immediate post-operative period. There is no difference in the overall satisfaction score among the two groups of patients. Thus this study concludes that there is a positive benefit as suggested by the results for pre-operative patient education. Although the difference in various parameters studied might not be significant over a long term basis, they definitely point towards the benefits of preoperative patient education. 

Keywords: patient education, post-operative pain, postoperative outcomes, patient satisfaction

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Authors: Aida Lamaj

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Death is an inevitable phenomenon in our life, in the same way, are also the ritual of death accompanied by the dirge and the keening performed by men. Keening is a phenomenon common among all peoples, the instances in which the ritual of death and keening coincide, as a special phenomenon of its, are numerous given the fact that keening is an outcome of an extremely special emotional state. However, even during the ritual of death, every people try to display through words its qualities, a multitude of characteristics preserved and transmitted with fanaticism from one generation to the other. The ritual of death constitutes an important element of our tradition and at the same time a material always interesting to be studied in minute details. In this study, we have tried to limit ourselves to the feminine speech, since keening, in general in Albania has been carried out by women. Differences and similarities among keening on the national scale, from the diachronic and synchronic point of view, can be seen clearly if we compare the Albanian creations in different regions. The similarities and differences within the Albanian culture serve as a typical paradigm to study how the ancient elements of outlook that the Albanians have had on death, history, and the social organization in these regions have been preserved and transmitted and above all, in what way these feelings have been clothed from the linguistic point of view, the typologies of keening and of all of the ritual of death, which clearly shows archaic forms as well as new developments. These data have been gathered not only by conducting various surveys but also by observing closely the linguistic behavior of women in Albania during the ritual of death. The study has encompassed the popular lyric poetry as well as new entries, whereas from the geographic point of view we focus mainly in the Southern regions, although examples from other regions where Albanian speaking people live are also present. The main results of the study show that women use much more than men dialect form, peripheral language elements and descriptive elements during their speech in the ritual of death.

Keywords: feminine speech in Albania, linguistic characteristics of the dirge, ritual of death, the typologies of keening

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Authors: Emmanuel Nikiema

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This paper examines article incorporation in Mauritian Creole, a French Lexifier Creole which exhibits three forms of article incorporation as illustrated in (1-3). While various analyses of article incorporation have been proposed in the literature, fewer studies have explored the motivation of this widespread phenomenon in Mauritian Creole (MC) as opposed to other French Lexifier Creoles spoken in the Caribbean. For example, Mauritian Creole exhibits 4 times more CV incorporation than Haitian Creole, and 40 times more than Reunion Creole. (1) Consonantal type (C): loraz ‘thunder storm’, lete ‘summer’, zwazo ‘bird’, nide ‘idea’. (2) Syllabic type (CV): lapo ‘skin’, liku ‘neck’, ledo ‘back’, leker ‘heart’, diber ‘butter’. (3) Bi-consonantal (CVC): delo ‘water’, dizef ‘egg’, lizye ‘eye’, dilwil ‘oil’. The goal of this study is twofold: 1) uncover the rules governing the three types of article incorporation in MC, and 2) account for its remarkable occurrence in MC as opposed to its quasi-absence in Reunion Creole. We have collected a corpus of over 700 cases and organized it into three categories (C; CV and CVC). For example, there are 471 examples of CV incorporation in MC against 112 in Haitian Creole and only 12 in Reunion Creole. Two questions can be raised: 1) what is the motivation and distribution of the three types of incorporation in MC, and 2) how can one account for the high volume of incorporation in MC as opposed to its quasi-absence in Reunion Creole? We suggest that article incorporation in MC is related to the structure of nouns in Bantou languages. While previous authors have largely used population settlement data in the colonies during the Creole formation period to justify their analyses, we propose an account based on the syntactic structure of Bantou nouns. This analysis will shed light on the contribution of African languages to the formation of MC, and on to why MC has exhibited more article incorporation cases than any other French Lexifier Creole.

Keywords: article incorporation, creole languages, description, phonology

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Authors: Veliswa Nonfundo Hoho, Jabulani Gilford Kheswa

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HIV/AIDS has been a long-term condition worldwide, which does not only affect physical health but also causes psychological and social challenges in people living with this condition. In Sub-Saharan countries, namely; Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa, people living with HIV/AIDS come across different challenges especially after one has disclosed his/her status. They experience stigma and discrimination, isolation, lack of accessing and receiving treatment, lack of support and experience psychological distress. By using the evidence-based systematic review as a form of methodology, journal articles, dissertations, internet, and books were explored. This paper seeks to describe the challenges faced by people living with HIV/AIDS after disclosure, which forms a critical component of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment interventions. The disclosure process model is used to underpin the study. This theory allows one to understand when and why interpersonal and verbal self-disclosure is beneficial for individuals who live with concealable stigmatized identities such as HIV/AIDS. Literature findings advocate that both negative and positive results were noted after disclosing one’s HIV status and psychosocial well-being of the majority of people living with HIV/AIDS also get affected especially in societies which subscribe HIV/AIDS pandemic to witchcraft. As for the infected homosexuals, research indicates that they suffer in silence and to cover their emotional emptiness due to ostracism, they often report low- self-efficacy with regard to condom use and become susceptible to reinfections which further place their lives at heightened risk for low immune system. In this regard, this paper challenges the policies which protect the dignity of people living with HIV/AIDS and calls for unity and financial support in favour of psychoeducational programmes and support groups aimed at curbing discrimination.

Keywords: disclosure, discrimination, homosexuality, self-efficacy

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Authors: Aline F. C. Pereira

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In recent years, modern slavery has increasingly gathered attention in scholarly discussions and policy debates. Whereas the mainstream studies focus on forced labour and trafficking, little attention is paid to other forms of exploitation, such as degrading conditions of work –criminalised in Brazil as an autonomous type of slavery since 2003. This paper aims to bridge this gap. It adopts a mixed method that comprises both qualitative and quantitative analysis, to investigate the adjudication of 164 cases of degrading conditions of work by Brazilian labour courts. The research discloses an ungrounded reluctance to apply the domestic legal framework, as in most of the cases degrading conditions of work are not recognised as contemporary slavery, despite the law. In some cases, not even situations described as subhuman and degrading of human dignity were framed as slavery. The analysis also suggests that, as in chattel times, lack of freedom and subjection remain relevant in the legal characterisation of slave labour. The examination has further unraveled a phenomenon absent in previous studies: normalisation of precarity. By depicting precarity as natural and inevitable in rural areas, labour courts ensure conformity to the status quo and reduce the likelihood of resistance by victims. Moreover, compensations afforded to urban workers are higher than granted to rural employees, which seems to place human beings in hierarchical categories -a trace of colonialism. In sum, the findings challenge the worldwide spread assumption that Brazil addresses slavery efficiently. Conversely, the Brazilian Labour Judiciary seems to remain subservient to a colonial perspective of slavery, legitimising, and sanctioning abusive practices.

Keywords: adjudication, contemporary slavery, degrading conditions of work, normalisation of precarity

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Authors: Mazharuddin Syed Ahmed

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This research presents a framework used to develop The Ara Polytechnic College of Architecture Studies building “Kahukura” which is Green Building certified. This framework integrates the development of a smart building digital twin by utilizing Building Information Modelling (BIM) and its BIM maturity levels, including Levels of Development (LOD), eight dimensions of BIM, Heritage-BIM (H-BIM) and Facility Management BIM (FM BIM). The research also outlines a structured approach to building performance analysis and integration with the circular economy, encapsulated within a five-level digital twin framework. Starting with Level 1, the Descriptive Twin provides a live, editable visual replica of the built asset, allowing for specific data inclusion and extraction. Advancing to Level 2, the Informative Twin integrates operational and sensory data, enhancing data verification and system integration. At Level 3, the Predictive Twin utilizes operational data to generate insights and proactive management suggestions. Progressing to Level 4, the Comprehensive Twin simulates future scenarios, enabling robust “what-if” analyses. Finally, Level 5, the Autonomous Twin, represents the pinnacle of digital twin evolution, capable of learning and autonomously acting on behalf of users.

Keywords: building information modelling, circular economy integration, digital twin, predictive analytics

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Authors: Irina Mikajlo, Jakub Elbl, Helena Dvořáčková, Antonín Kintl, Jindřich Kynický, Martin Brtnický, Jaroslav Záhora

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Present work deals with the possible use of fertigation in agriculture and its impact on the availability of mineral nitrogen (Nmin) in topsoil and subsoil horizons. The aim of the present study is to demonstrate the effect of the organic matter presence in fertigation on microbial transformation and availability of mineral nitrogen forms. The main investigation reason is the potential use of pre-treated waste water, as a source of organic carbon (Corg) and residual nutrients (Nmin) for fertigation. Laboratory experiment has been conducted to demonstrate the effect of the arable land fertilization method on the Nmin availability in different depths of the soil with the usage of model experimental containers filled with soil from topsoil and podsoil horizons that were taken from the precise area. Tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa) has been chosen as a model plant. The water source protection zone Brezova nad Svitavou has been a research area where significant underground reservoirs of drinking water of the highest quality are located. From the second half of the last century local sources of drinking water show nitrogenous compounds increase that get here almost only from arable lands. Therefore, an attention of the following text focuses on the fate of mineral nitrogen in the complex plant-soil. Research results show that the fertigation application with Corg in a combination with mineral fertilizer can reduce the amount of Nmin leached from topsoil horizon of agricultural soils. In addition, some plants biomass production reduce may occur.

Keywords: fertigation, fertilizers, mineral nitrogen, soil microorganisms

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Authors: J. Urban, Á. S. Botella, L. E. Robaina, A. Bárta, P. Souček, P. Císař, Š. Papáček, L. M. Domínguez

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Skin coloration in fish is of great physiological, behavioral and ecological importance and can be considered as an index of animal welfare in aquaculture as well as an important quality factor in the retail value. Currently, in order to compare color in animals fed on different diets, biochemical analysis, and colorimetry of fished, mildly anesthetized or dead body, are very accurate and meaningful measurements. The noninvasive method using digital images of the fish body was developed as a standalone application. This application deals with the computation burden and memory consumption of large input files, optimizing piece wise processing and analysis with the memory/computation time ratio. For the comparison of color distributions of various experiments and different color spaces (RGB, CIE L*a*b*) the comparable semi-equidistant binning of multi channels representation is introduced. It is derived from the knowledge of quantization levels and Freedman-Diaconis rule. The color calibrations and camera responsivity function were necessary part of the measurement process.

Keywords: color distribution, fish skin color, piecewise transformation, object to background segmentation

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Authors: Elizaveta Petelina, Anton Sizo

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Environmental remediation projects deal with a wide spectrum of data, including data collected during site assessment, execution of remediation activities, and environmental monitoring. Therefore, an appropriate data management is required as a key factor for well-grounded decision making. The Environmental Data Management System (EDMS) was developed to address all necessary data management aspects, including efficient data handling and data interoperability, access to historical and current data, spatial and temporal analysis, 2D and 3D data visualization, mapping, and data sharing. The system focuses on support of well-grounded decision making in relation to required mitigation measures and assessment of remediation success. The EDMS is a combination of enterprise and desktop level data management and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools assembled to assist to environmental remediation, project planning, and evaluation, and environmental monitoring of mine sites. EDMS consists of seven main components: a Geodatabase that contains spatial database to store and query spatially distributed data; a GIS and Web GIS component that combines desktop and server-based GIS solutions; a Field Data Collection component that contains tools for field work; a Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC) component that combines operational procedures for QA and measures for QC; Data Import and Export component that includes tools and templates to support project data flow; a Lab Data component that provides connection between EDMS and laboratory information management systems; and a Reporting component that includes server-based services for real-time report generation. The EDMS has been successfully implemented for the Project CLEANS (Clean-up of Abandoned Northern Mines). Project CLEANS is a multi-year, multimillion-dollar project aimed at assessing and reclaiming 37 uranium mine sites in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The EDMS has effectively facilitated integrated decision-making for CLEANS project managers and transparency amongst stakeholders.

Keywords: data management, environmental remediation, geographic information system, GIS, decision making

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Authors: Vickie Knox

Abstract:

Since the ‘urgent humanitarian crisis’ of the arrival of tens of thousands of Central American minors at the Mexico-US border in early 2014, the USA has increasingly externalised migration controls to Mexico. Although the resulting policy ‘Plan Frontera Sur’ claimed to protect migrants’ human rights, it has manifested as harshly delivered in-country controls and an alarming increase in deportations, particularly of minors. This is of particular concern given the ongoing situation of forced migration caused by criminal violence in Central America because these deportations do not all comply with Mexico’s international obligations and with its own legal framework for international protection that allows inter alia verbal asylum claims and grants minors additional protection against deportation. Notably, the volume of deportations, the speed with which they are carried out and the lack of adequate screening indicate non-compliance with the principle of non-refoulement and the right to claim asylum or other forms of protection. Based on qualitative data gathered in fieldwork in 2015 and quantitative data covering the period 2014-2016, this research details three types of adverse outcome resulting from these externalised controls: human rights violations perpetrated in order to deliver the policy–namely, deportations that may not comply with the principle of non-refoulement or the protection of minors; human rights violations perpetrated in the execution of policy–such as violations by state actors during apprehension and detention; and adverse consequences of the policy – such as increased risk during transit. This research has particular resonance as the Trump era brings tighter enforcement in the region, and has broader relevance for the study of externalisation tools on a global level.

Keywords: deportation, externalisation, forced migration, non-refoulement

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