Search results for: market and product values

Authors: Syed Atif Hassan, Luv Mehta, Syed Asif Hassan

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Hit song science is a field of investigation wherein machine learning techniques are applied to music tracks in order to extract such features from audio signals which can capture information that could explain the popularity of respective tracks. Record companies invest huge amounts of money into recruiting fresh talents and churning out new music each year. Gaining insight into the basis of why a song becomes popular will result in tremendous benefits for the music industry. This paper aims to extract basic musical and more advanced, acoustic features from songs while also taking into account external factors that play a role in making a particular song popular. We use a dataset derived from popular Spotify playlists divided by genre. We use ten genres (blues, classical, country, disco, hip-hop, jazz, metal, pop, reggae, rock), chosen on the basis of clear to ambiguous delineation in the typical sound of their genres. We feed these features into three different classifiers, namely, SVM with RBF kernel, a deep neural network, and a recurring neural network, to build separate predictive models and choosing the best performing model at the end. Predicting song popularity is particularly important for the music industry as it would allow record companies to produce better content for the masses resulting in a more competitive market.

Keywords: classifier, machine learning, music tracks, popularity, prediction

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Authors: Nicole Virgili, Romolo Remetti

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The aim of this work is to characterize, from radiation protection point of view, the emission into the environment of air contaminated by argon-41. In this research work, 41Ar is produced by a TR19PET cyclotron, operated at 19 MeV, installed at 'A. Gemelli' University Hospital, Rome, Italy, for fluorine-18 production. The production rate of 41Ar has been calculated on the basis of the scheduled operation cycles of the cyclotron and by utilising proper production algorithms. Then extensive Monte Carlo calculations, carried out by MCNP code, have allowed to determine the absolute detection efficiency to 41Ar gamma rays of a Geiger Muller detector placed in the terminal part of the chimney. Results showed unsatisfactory detection efficiency values and the need for integrating the detection system with more efficient detectors.

Keywords: Cyclotron, Geiger Muller detector, MCNPX, argon-41, emission of radioactive gas, detection efficiency determination

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Authors: Seemal Mazhar Khan, Tahira Mubashar

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The present research aimed to investigate the relationship in perceived organizational justice, organizational trust and employee engagement in bank employees. It was hypothesized: there is likely to be a relationship in perceived organizational justices, organizational trust and employee engagement; perceived organizational justice and organizational trust are likely to predict employee engagement; there is likely to be effect of bank type and designation on perceived organizational justice, organizational trust and employee engagement. The sample consisted of 150 bank employees (50 from government, 50 from private and 50 from privatized banks) selected from different banks in Lahore, Pakistan. Correlational research design was used to conduct this study. Perceived Organizational Justices Questionnaire, Organizational Trust Questionnaire and Employee Engagement Scale were used for assessment. Pearson product moment correlation, hierarchical regression and multivariate analysis of covariance were applied. Results showed a positive significant relationship in perceived organizational justice and organizational engagement and there were also a positive significant relation between organizational trust and job and organizational engagement. Results showed that organizational trust predicts organizational engagement after controlling the effect of age, marital status and socio-economic status and there is a significant interaction effect of bank type and designation level on organizational trust in bank employees. The findings of the research can serve as a platform for the awareness of important antecedents of employee engagement and organizations can inculcate trust for better and improved engagement of its employees, thereby, enhancing the productivity of their employees.

Keywords: bank employees, organizational engagement, perceived organizational justice, trust

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Authors: Dhruba Khatri, Uttam Ghimire, Nabin Kumar Thapalia

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Protected area management in Indonesia is based on MAB program and ICDPs have become Indonesia’s main approach to biodiversity conservation since the early 1990s. However, very few ICDPs have realized the importance of biodiversity conservation in Indonesia and significantly enhanced as a result of currently planned project activities. Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan was damaged illegal logging after decentralization. It made clear through the field survey: (1) Agroforestry did not make reduce to deforestation on regional level and (2) local people who engaging illegal logging activities have two characteristics that for their life and for vent of surplus labor in village. From these results, it became clear that a local resident had a bilateral character as an actor of conservation and the deforestation and also it confirmed that a market also was working on both of the conservation and deforestation. Therefore, surplus labor can be the key actors for future program design and at the same time it is necessary corroborative system which central government, local government, and local people are concerned with the process of policy making under the situation that management body of national park and buffer zone was separated.

Keywords: buffer zone, decentralization, Gunung Palung National Park, illegal logging, Indonesia

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Authors: O. G. Omogunloye, J. B. Olaleye, O. E. Abiodun, J. O. Odumosu, O. G. Ajayi

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The focus of the study is to proffer easy formulation and computation of least square observation equation’s design matrix by using an efficient book keeping strategy. Usually, for a large network of many triangles and stations, a rigorous task is involved in the computation and placement of the values of the differentials of each observation with respect to its station coordinates (latitude and longitude), in their respective rows and columns. The efficient book keeping strategy seeks to eliminate or reduce this rigorous task involved, especially in large network, by simple skillful arrangement and development of a short program written in the Matlab environment, the formulation and computation of least square observation equation’s design matrix can be easily achieved.

Keywords: design, differential, geodetic, matrix, network, station

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Authors: Ditsapelo M. McFarland

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Background: Despite the availability of the Pap smear services in urban areas in Botswana, most women in such areas do not seem to screen regular for prevention of the cervical cancer disease. Reasons for non-use of the available Pap smear services are not well understood. Beliefs about cancer may influence participation in cancer screening in these women. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure beliefs about cervical cancer and Pap smear screening among Black women in Botswana, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the instrument. Significance: Instruments that are designed to measure beliefs about cervical cancer and screening among black women in Botswana, as well as in the surrounding region, are presently not available. Valid and reliable instruments are needed for exploration of the women’s beliefs about cervical cancer. Conceptual Framework: The Health Belief Model (HBM) provided a conceptual framework for the study. Methodology: The study was done in four phases: Phase 1: item generation: 15 items were generated from literature review and qualitative data for each of four conceptually defined HBM constructs: Perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers (Version 1). Phase 2: content validity: Four experts who were advanced practice nurses of African descent and were familiar with the content and the HBM evaluated the content. Experts rated the items on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from: 1=not relevant, 2=somewhat relevant, 3=relevant and 4=very relevant. Fifty-five items were retained for instrument development: perceived susceptibility - 11, severity - 14, benefits - 15 and barriers - 15, all measuring on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (4). (Version 2). Phase 3: pilot testing: The instrument was pilot tested on a convenient sample of 30 women in Botswana and revised as needed. Phase 4: reliability: the revised instrument (Version 3) was submitted to a larger sample of women in Botswana (n=300) for reliability testing. The sample included women who were Batswana by birth and decent, were aged 30 years and above and could complete an English questionnaire. Data were collected with the assistance of trained research assistants. Major findings: confirmatory factor analysis of the 55 items found that a number of items did not adequately load in a four-factor solution. Items that exhibited reasonable reliability and had low frequency of missing values (n=36) were retained: perceived barriers (14 items), perceived benefits (8 items), perceived severity (4 items), and perceived susceptibility (10 items). confirmatory factor analysis (principle components) for a four factor solution using varimax rotation demonstrated that these four factors explained 43% of the variation in these 36 items. Conclusion: reliability analysis using Cronbach’s Alpha gave generally satisfactory results with values from 0.53 to 0.89.

Keywords: cervical cancer, factor analysis, psychometric evaluation, varimax rotation

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Authors: Indhie Febrianti Herlina, Riri Akadafi, Alna Hanana

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This research describes the constructivism of the Halal beauty of Wardah commercials that present hijab women as the advertising models and shows the sign of Halal in each promotion. There are differences of the concept of beauty between wardah and other beauty ads. When today’s ads describe that beautiful women are who have bright skin, sharp nose and long hair, wardah describes that beautiful women are the hijab women and wear Halal beauty product. This research is interesting because it is so rare when the beauty is presented by hijab women. By using the constructivism paradigm and combining it with reception theory, the author wants to reveal whether women are constructed by these commercials. Reception theory is about how public accept the content of a media. The informants are the women who wear hijab, wear Wardah products and join ‘Wardah Goes to Campus’, a roadshow event conducted by Wardah in Universities all around Indonesia. By interviewing the informants, a statement can be inferred that informants A, B, C, and D assumed that beauty is a physical beauty. However, after they have learned about the true meaning of beauty and watched Wardah commercials, those informants understand that beauty is reflected by the women who wear hijab and wear Halal Cosmetics. Meanwhile, the informant E assumes that beauty is relative, inner, and good-looking. The conclusion of this research is that the informants are constructed by the halal beauty described by Wardah commercials. By presenting the models wearing hijab and wear natural-looking cosmetics, Wardah successfully influences the informants to be more confident to look good by wearing hijab.

Keywords: ad, commercial, construction, halal beauty, wardah

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Authors: Mahnaz Hosseinzadeh, Shaghayegh Rezaee Amiri

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This paper presents a methodology for serial production planning problem in wire and cable manufacturing process that addresses the problem of input-output imbalance in different consecutive stations, hoping to minimize the halt of machines in each stage. To this end, a linear Goal Programming (GP) model is developed, in which four main categories of constraints as per the number of runs per machine, machines’ sequences, acceptable inventories of machines at the end of each period, and the necessity of fulfillment of the customers’ orders are considered. The model is formulated based upon on the real data obtained from IKO TAK Company, an important supplier of wire and cable for oil and gas and automotive industries in Iran. By solving the model in GAMS software the optimal number of runs, end-of-period inventories, and the possible minimum idle time for each machine are calculated. The application of the numerical results in the target company has shown the efficiency of the proposed model and the solution in decreasing the lead time of the end product delivery to the customers by 20%. Accordingly, the developed model could be easily applied in wire and cable companies for the aim of optimal production planning to reduce the halt of machines in manufacturing stages.

Keywords: goal programming approach, GP, production planning, serial manufacturing process, wire and cable industry

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Authors: Fahimeh Hooshyar, Seyyed Mojtaba Abtahi

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Democracy which is, in its greek roots, consisted of “Demo” (People) and “Kratic” (people) is referring to governing of the people or governing by the people. in its widest definition it refers to a common lifestyle in which all the people has the equal potentials for social participating. But in political perspective, democracy is looking for the equal participation right of the citizens in political decision-making process. in this viewpoint, the democracy is solely a political construct or a social-political style in which all the values are relative. In this definition of the democracy emphasis is on equality of the people based on the governing rule and the natural social and political rights of every member of humankind. This notion of democracy by no means is a self reliant idea and the need of an ideological basis for approaching to this idea is inevitable. In this paper we are trying to define the inter-relations of democracy and its philosophical basis to Islamic fundamental ideas. Our approach to this topic would be a philosophical ideological one.

Keywords: Islam, democracy, democracy’s philosophical basis, secularism, fundamentalism

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Authors: Parul Jindal, Shubhi Singh, Priya Ramakrishnan, Shailender Raghuvanshi

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Background: Knowledge of the influence of the age of the child on laryngeal dimensions is essential for all practitioners who are dealing with paediatric airway. Choosing the correct endotracheal tube (ETT) size is a crucial step in pediatric patients because a large-sized tube may cause complications like post-extubation stridor and subglottic stenosis. On the other hand with a smaller tube, there will be increased gas flow resistance, aspiration risk, poor ventilation, inaccurate monitoring of end-tidal gases and reintubation may also be required with a different size of the tracheal tube. Recent advancement in ultrasonography (USG) techniques should now allow for accurate and descriptive evaluation of pediatric airway. Aims and objectives: This study was planned to determine the accuracy of Ultrasonography (USG) to assess the appropriate ETT size and compare it with physical indices based formulae. Methods: After obtaining approval from Institute’s Ethical and Research committee, and parental written and informed consent, the study was conducted on 100 subjects of either sex between 12-60 months of age, undergoing various elective surgeries under general anesthesia requiring endotracheal intubation. The same experienced radiologist performed ultrasonography. The transverse diameter was measured at the level of cricoids cartilage by USG. After USG, general anesthesia was administered using standard techniques followed by the institute. An experienced anesthesiologist performed the endotracheal intubations with uncuffed endotracheal tube (Portex Tracheal Tube Smiths Medical India Pvt. Ltd.) with Murphy’s eye. He was unaware of the finding of the ultrasonography. The tracheal tube was considered best fit if air leak was satisfactory at 15-20 cm H₂O of airway pressure. The obtained values were compared with the values of endotracheal tube size calculated by ultrasonography, various age, height, weight-based formulas and diameter of right and left little finger. The correlation of the size of the endotracheal tube by different modalities was done and Pearson's correlation coefficient was obtained. The comparison of the mean size of the endotracheal tube by ultrasonography and by traditional formula was done by the Friedman’s test and Wilcoxon sign-rank test. Results: The predicted tube size was equal to best fit and best determined by ultrasonography (100%) followed by comparison to left little finger (98%) and right little finger (97%) and age-based formula (95%) followed by multivariate formula (83%) and body length (81%) formula. According to Pearson`s correlation, there was a moderate correlation of best fit endotracheal tube with endotracheal tube size by age-based formula (r=0.743), body length based formula (r=0.683), right little finger based formula (r=0.587), left little finger based formula (r=0.587) and multivariate formula (r=0.741). There was a strong correlation with ultrasonography (r=0.943). Ultrasonography was the most sensitive (100%) method of prediction followed by comparison to left (98%) and right (97%) little finger and age-based formula (95%), the multivariate formula had an even lesser sensitivity (83%) whereas body length based formula was least sensitive with a sensitivity of 78%. Conclusion: USG is a reliable method of estimation of subglottic diameter and for prediction of ETT size in children.

Keywords: endotracheal intubation, pediatric airway, subglottic diameter, traditional formulas, ultrasonography

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Authors: Craig Wight

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This presentation will identify the key findings from a recent netnographic discourse analysis of social media content generated in response to visits to three iconic European Holocaust Heritage sites: Ann Frank’s House in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the Auschwutz-Birkenau Memorial Museum and Memorial in Poland, and the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany. Four major discourses are identified under the headings of Holocaust heritage as social memory, reactions to Holocaust heritage, obligation and ritual, and transgressive visitor behaviour. Together, these discourses frame the values, existential anxieties, emotions, priorities, and expectations of visitors. The findings will interest those involved in the planning and management of Holocaust heritage for tourism purposes since they provide unique access to an archive of unmediated visitor feedback on European Holocaust heritage experiences.

Keywords: foucault, european holocaust heritage, discourse analysis, netnography, social media, dark tourism

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Authors: Chukiat Chaiboonsri, Satawat Wannapan

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This paper used an asymmetric informative concept to apply in the macroeconomic model estimation of the tourism sector in Thailand. The variables used to statistically analyze are Thailand international and domestic tourism revenues, the expenditures of foreign and domestic tourists, service investments by private sectors, service investments by the government of Thailand, Thailand service imports and exports, and net service income transfers. All of data is a time-series index which was observed between 2002 and 2015. Empirically, the tourism multiplier and accelerator were estimated by two statistical approaches. The first was the result of the Generalized Method of Moments model (GMM) based on the assumption which the tourism market in Thailand had perfect information (Symmetrical data). The second was the result of the Maximum Entropy Bootstrapping approach (MEboot) based on the process that attempted to deal with imperfect information and reduced uncertainty in data observations (Asymmetrical data). In addition, the tourism leakages were investigated by a simple model based on the injections and leakages concept. The empirical findings represented the parameters computed from the MEboot approach which is different from the GMM method. However, both of the MEboot estimation and GMM model suggests that Thailand’s tourism sectors are in a period capable of stimulating the economy.

Keywords: TThailand tourism, Maximum Entropy Bootstrapping approach, macroeconomic model, asymmetric information

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Authors: Cafer Görkem Pınar, İlker Coşar, Serkan Uzun, Atahan Çelebi, Mehmet Ali Ersoy, Ali Pınarbaşı

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In this study, it was numerically investigated that a 1:1 scale model of the Renault Clio MK4 SW brand vehicle aerodynamic analysis was performed in the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package program of ANSYS CFX 2021 R1 under steady, subsonic, and 3-D conditions. The model of vehicle used for the analysis was made independent of the number of mesh elements, and the k-epsilon turbulence model was applied during the analysis. Results were interpreted as streamlines, pressure gradient, and turbulent kinetic energy contours around the vehicle at 50 km/h and 100 km/h speeds. In addition, the validity of the analysis was decided by comparing the drag coefficient of the vehicle with the values in the literature. As a result, the pressure gradient contours of the taillight of the Renault Clio MK4 SW vehicle were examined, and the behavior of the total force at speeds of 50 km/h and 100 km/h was interpreted.

Keywords: CFD, k-epsilon, aerodynamics, drag coefficient, taillight

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Authors: Belen Carrillo, Mauricio Mosquera

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Fatty acids are bioactive compounds widely used as nutritional supplements in the food and pharmaceutical industry. Bluefish such as sardines have a large variety of these fatty acids in their composition. The objective of this project is to extract these compounds from fishing wastes, to do this, heads of known species as Pinchagua (Opistonema libertate) were used. The conducted study represents a simplified alternative for obtaining and simultaneous saponification of oil through basic hydrolysis, which separates lipids from protein and saponifies sample all the same time to isolate the fatty acid accurately through salts formation. To do these different concentrations of sodium hydroxide were used, it was demonstrated at a concentration of 1 M the highest yield of saponified oil recovery corresponding a value of 3,64% was obtained. Subsequently, the saponified oil was subjected to an acid hydrolysis in which fatty acids were isolated. Different sulfuric acid concentrations and temperatures for the process were tested. Thus, it was shown that the great fatty acids variety were obtained at a 60 °C temperature and sulfuric acid concentration of 50% v/v. Among the obtained compounds the presence of acids such as palmitic, lauric, caproic and myristic are highlighted. Applications of this type of elements are varied and widely used in the nutritional supplements development. Thus, the described methodology proposes a simple mechanism in the revaluation of fishing industry wastes that allow directly generate high added value elements.

Keywords: fatty acids, hydrolysis, Pinchagua, saponification

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Authors: Thanasit Suksutdhi

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This survey research aims to study the standard of service quality of food and beverage service staffs in hotel business by studying the service standard of three sample hotels, Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok, Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, and Banyan Tree Phuket. In order to find the international service standard of food and beverage service, triangular research, i.e. quantitative, qualitative, and survey were employed. In this research, questionnaires and in-depth interview were used for getting the information on the sequences and method of services. There were three parts of modified questionnaires to measure service quality and guest’s satisfaction including service facilities, attentiveness, responsibility, reliability, and circumspection. This study used sample random sampling to derive subjects with the return rate of the questionnaires was 70% or 280. Data were analyzed by SPSS to find arithmetic mean, SD, percentage, and comparison by t-test and One-way ANOVA. The results revealed that the service quality of the three hotels were in the international level which could create high satisfaction to the international customers. Recommendations for research implementations were to maintain the area of good service quality, and to improve some dimensions of service quality such as reliability. Training in service standard, product knowledge, and new technology for employees should be provided. Furthermore, in order to develop the service quality of the industry, training collaboration between hotel organization and educational institutions in food and beverage service should be considered.

Keywords: service standard, food and beverage department, sequence of service, service method

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Authors: Funmilayo Abiola Opadoja, Samuel Olukayode Awotona

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Nursing services costing has been a major interest to nurses for a long period of time. Determination of nursing costing is germane in order to show the effectiveness of nursing practice in an improved and affordable health care delivery system. This has been a major concern of managers that have the mind of quality and affordable health services. The treatment or intervention should be considered as ‘product’ of nursing care and should provide an explainable term for billing. The study was non-experimental, descriptive and went about eliciting the views of nurses on costing nursing care at two public hospitals namely: University College Hospital and Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital. The questionnaire was the instrument used in eliciting nurse’s response. It was administered randomly on 300 selected respondents across various wards within the hospitals. The data was collected and analysed using SPSS20.0 to generate frequency, and cross-tabulations to explore the statistical relationship between variables. The result shows that 89.2% of the respondents viewed costing of nursing care as an important issued to be looked into. The study concluded that nursing care costing is germane to enhancing the status and imagery of the nurses, it is essential because it would enhance the performance of nurses in discharging their duties. There is need to have a procedural manual agreed on by nursing practitioner on costing of each care given.

Keywords: costing, health care delivery system, intervention, nursing care, practitioner

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Authors: Uzoamaka Nwugo Akwiwu

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) among rural dwellers depletes quality of agricultural labour, and reduces quality of life. Use of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) has not significantly reduced consequences of infection, as the effort is being compromised by inadequate dietary intake. This study analysed the dietary intake of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in rural communities of Imo State, Nigeria. Data was collected from 114 PLWHA randomly selected from members of two rural support groups with high prevalence of HIV in Imo State using interview schedule. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation, and t-test at α0.05. Level of involvement in agriculture was (mean 12.7) and reduced to 7.0 after infection. Extent of involvement in agriculture significantly reduced after infection in Imo (t=8.1). Health status of 42.1% of PLWHA was perceived as poor. Diet diversity score (4.3±1.6) was low among majority (62.3%) of the PLWHA, with diet of 76.3% being inadequate. However, perceived health status had no significant correlation with dietary intake (r=0.09). The study concluded that diet of PLWHA in Imo State was inadequate, thus there is need for agricultural extension agents to collaborate with the health sector to develop nutritional guideline for PLWHA in rural communities.

Keywords: dietary intake, diet diversity, people living With HIV/AIDS, perceived health status

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Authors: H. Hazar, S. Sap

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In this experimental study; internal and external parts of an exhaust pipe were coated with a chromium carbide (Cr₃C₂) material having a thickness of 100 micron by using the plasma spray method. A diesel engine was used as the test engine. Thus, the results of continuing chemical reaction in coated and uncoated exhaust pipes were investigated. Internally and externally coated exhaust pipe was compared with the standard exhaust system. External heat transfer occurring as a result of coating the internal and external parts of the exhaust pipe was reduced and its effects on harmful exhaust emissions were investigated. As a result of the experiments; a remarkable improvement was determined in emission values as a result of delay in cooling of exhaust gases due to the coating.

Keywords: chrome carbide, diesel engine, exhaust emission, thermal barrier

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Authors: Manely Ansary Mood, Farzaneh Aziizi, Mahmoud Akbarian

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This investigation included 130 cats diagnosed with FIP (Feb 2021-March 2022) in Iran, 74 with effusive FIP, and 56 with non-effusive FIP. The patients' initial dosage regime consisted of a subcutaneous injection of GS-441524 was 6-15mg/kg-every 24h (based on the wet or ocular and neurologic signs). The minimum treatment period was twelve weeks, extended in animals that still had abnormal lab values, clinical signs, and sonographic findings. The outcomes of the 130 cats that completed the duration of treatment (14 died, 116 cured) were checked and recorded. Clinical, sonographic, and laboratory responses were checked and compared on days 28, 56, and 83 of treatment. 2 of the 116 cured cats relapsed within observation days. At the time of this publication (May 2022), 114 of the studied patients remained healthy. We could conclude that GS-441524 appears to be an effective option for FIP treatment, and also, to the base of our knowledge, this is the first report for group treatment of infected cats of FIP with GS-441524 in Iran.

Keywords: FIP, cat, GS-441524, treatment

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Authors: Anita Padmanabhanunni, Labeeqah Jaffer

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Menstruation signifies the transition to biological sexual maturity and culture-bound values influence its meaning and experience for women. In South Africa there is a paucity of research specific to the topic of menstruation. This study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the experiences of menstruation among a group of women from the ama-Xhosa ethnic group, one of the largest ethnic groups in the country. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with ama-Xhosa woman (n= 15). Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The study found that traditional knowledge systems and cultural practices associated with menstruation including virginity testing and intonjane (female right of passage) still exist and impact on women’s subjective experiences. The study highlights the interface of tradition and modernity in the meanings ascribed to menstruation and women’s experiences of it.

Keywords: menstruation, cultural belief systems, South Africa, ama-Xhosa

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Authors: Steven M. Sanders, April T. Berry, David W. Hollingsworth

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Previous research has shown that veterans have higher rates of mental health concerns compared to non-veteran populations. A potential risk factor for the development of mental health concerns (i.e., depression & anxiety), particularly in Black veterans, is psychological inflexibility. Psychological inflexibility, a component of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), is a process by which behavior is expressed in ways that attempt to control emotional and psychological reactions to uncomfortable stimuli and situations rather than by direct contingencies or personal values. The present study explored the relationship between psychological inflexibility, symptoms of depression, and symptoms of anxiety in a sample of 131 Black veterans. Results demonstrated that Black veterans who endorsed psychological inflexibility also endorsed higher levels of both depression and anxiety symptomology. These findings indicate the deleterious consequences of experiencing psychological inflexibility, which could be treated through ACT.

Keywords: psychological flexibility, veteran, black, psychological distress

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Authors: Osman Kök, İlhami̇ Tüzün, Yaşar Aluç

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This study was conducted to explore the effect of direct current (DC) applications on the growth of microalgae Chlorella vulgaris KKU71, isolated from highly saline freshwater. Experiments were implemented based upon the cross-combinations of both the intensity and duration of electric applications, generating a full factorial design of 10V, 20V, 30V, and 5s, 30s, 60s, respectively. Growth parameters of cultures were monitored on Optical Density (OD), Cell Count (CC), Chlorophyll-a, b (Chl-a, b), and Total Carotenoids (TCar). All DC-assisted treatments stimulated the growth and thus led to higher values of growth parameters such as OD, CC, Chl-a, and TCar. Monotonically increasing with the intensity and duration of DC applications, wet and dry biomass yields of the harvested algae reached their highest level at 30V-60s in all sets of treatments. In addition, this increase between DC applications was listed as C(control)<10V<20V<30V and C<5s<30s<60s. As a result, direct current applications increased the biomass.

Keywords: Chlorella Vulgaris, direct current, growth, biomass

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Authors: S. S. Rwanga, J. M. Ndambuki, Y. Woyessa

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Development of a groundwater management model is an important step in the exploitation and management of any groundwater aquifer as it assists in the long-term sustainable planning of the resource. The current study was conducted in Central Limpopo province of South Africa with the overall objective of determining how much water can be withdrawn from the aquifer without producing nonreversible impacts on the groundwater quantity, hence developing a model which can sustainably protect the aquifer. The development was done through the computation of Groundwater Sustainability Index (GSI). Values of GSI close to unity and above indicated overexploitation. In this study, an index of 0.8 was considered as overexploitation. The results indicated that there is potential for higher abstraction rates compared to the current abstraction rates. GSI approach can be used in the management of groundwater aquifer to sustainably develop the resource and also provides water managers and policy makers with fundamental information on where future water developments can be carried out.

Keywords: development, groundwater, groundwater sustainability index, model

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Authors: Rogelio Luck, Yucheng Liu

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This paper proposes the continuous-time singular value decomposition (SVD) for the impulse response function, a special kind of Green’s functions e⁻⁽ᵗ⁻ ᵀ⁾, in order to find a set of singular functions and singular values so that the convolutions of such function with the set of singular functions on a specified domain are the solutions to the inhomogeneous differential equations for those singular functions. A numerical example was illustrated to verify the proposed method. Besides the continuous-time SVD, a discrete-time SVD is also presented for the impulse response function, which is modeled using a Toeplitz matrix in the discrete system. The proposed method has broad applications in signal processing, dynamic system analysis, acoustic analysis, thermal analysis, as well as macroeconomic modeling.

Keywords: singular value decomposition, impulse response function, Green’s function , Toeplitz matrix , Hankel matrix

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Authors: Lani Fraizer, Faiz Shah

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Extreme poverty continues to plague the world. Forty-seven million people live well-below the poverty line in Bangladesh, enduring poor quality of life, often with no access to basic human needs like shelter and healthcare. It is not surprising that poverty eradication is central to the mission of social change makers, such as Muhammad Yunus, who have demonstrated how enterprise-led development initiatives empower individuals at the grassroots, and can galvanize entire communities to emerge out of poverty. Such strategies call for system-wide change, and like a number of systems leaders, social business champions have typically challenged the status quo, and broken out of silos to catalyze vibrant multi-stakeholder partnerships across sectors. Apart from individual charisma, social change makers succeed because they garner collaborative impact through socially beneficial partnerships. So while enterprise-led social development evolves in scope and complexity, in step with the need to create and sustain partnerships, Partnership Brokering is emerging as an approach to facilitate collaborative processes. As such, it may now be possible for anyone motivated by the idea of social business to acquire the skills and sophistication necessary for building enriching partnerships that harness the power of the market to address poverty. This paper examines dimensions of partnership brokering in the context of social business, and explores the implications of this emerging approach on fostering poverty eradication.

Keywords: poverty, social business, partnership brokering, social entrepreneurship, systems change, enterprise-led development, change making

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Authors: Reza Dezvareh

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to investigate the amount of wind turbulence on the aero hydrodynamic behavior of offshore wind turbines with a monopile holder platform. Since in the sea, the wind turbine structures are under water and structures interactions, the dynamic analysis has been conducted under combined wind and wave loading. The offshore wind turbines have been investigated undertow models of normal and severe wind turbulence, and the results of this study show that the amplitude of fluctuation of dynamic response of structures including thrust force and base shear force of structures is increased with increasing the amount of wind turbulence, and this increase is not necessarily observed in the mean values of responses. Therefore, conducting the dynamic analysis is inevitable in order to observe the effect of wind turbulence on the structures' response.

Keywords: offshore wind turbine, wind turbulence, structural vibration, aero-hydro dynamic

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Authors: H. C. Nguyen

Abstract:

This contribution considers seismic effects on the stability of slope and footing resting on a slope. The seismic force is simply treated as static inertial force through the values of acceleration factor. All domains are assumed to be plasticity deformations approximated using node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM). The failure mechanism and safety factor were then explored using numerical procedure based on upper bound approach in which optimization problem was formed as second order cone programming (SOCP). The data obtained confirm that upper bound procedure using NS-FEM and SOCP can give stable and rapid convergence results of seismic stability factors.

Keywords: upper bound analysis, safety factor, slope stability, footing resting on slope

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Authors: Gina Zavaleta-Espejo, Segundo R. Jáuregui-Rosas, Fanny V. Samanamud-Moreno, José Saldaña Jiménez, Anibal Felix-Quintero, Víctor Montero-Del Aguila, Elsi Mejía-Uriarte

Abstract:

Vicugnapacos "alpaca" fabrics are considered special for their finesse, and the garments in the textile market are very luxurious. It has many special characteristics such as antiallergic, soft, hygroscopic, among others. In this sense, the research aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of alpaca fabrics functionalized with silver nanoparticles on the bacteria Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923. For the functionalization of the fabrics, AgNO3 and different concentrations of trisodium citrate (TSC) 2, 6, and 10 mg. Tissue characterization was performed using Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The determination of the antimicrobial activity of the alpaca tissues was made by the Kirby-Bauer method with alpaca tissue discs functionalized with silver nanoparticles, an experimental design was made in completely randomized blocks with three treatments and a negative control with three repetitions. The results showed that inhibition halos were formed for both bacteria, therefore, the functionalized tissues have a high antimicrobial activity, whose mechanism of action is attributed to the free radicals (ROS) generated by the nanoparticles that cause oxidative damage to the bacteria. proteins and lipids of the bacterial cell wall.

Keywords: antimicrobial, animal fibers, fabrics, functionalization, trisodium citrate

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Authors: Rayanne Branco Dos Santos Lima, Lorena Pinheiro Barbosa, Kamila Ferreira Lima, Victor Manuel Tegoma Ruiz, Monyka Brito Lima Dos Santos, Maria Wendiane Gueiros Gaspar, Luzia Camila Coelho Ferreira, Leandro Cardozo Dos Santos Brito, Deyse Maria Alves Rocha

Abstract:

Introduction: The lack of regulation of the baby's sleep-wake pattern in the first years of life affects the health of thousands of women. Maternal sleep deprivation can trigger or aggravate psychosomatic problems such as depression, anxiety and stress that can directly influence maternal safety, with consequences for the baby's and mother's sleep. Such conditions can affect the family's quality of life and child development. Objective: To correlate maternal security with maternal state anxiety scores and the mother's and baby's total sleep time. Method: Cross-sectional study carried out with 96 mothers of babies aged 10 to 24 months, accompanied by nursing professionals linked to a Federal University in Northeast Brazil. Study variables were maternal security, maternal state anxiety scores, infant latency and sleep time, and total nocturnal sleep time of mother and infant. Maternal safety was calculated using a four-point Likert scale (1=not at all safe, 2=somewhat safe, 3=very safe, 4=completely safe). Maternal anxiety was measured by State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, state-anxiety subscale whose scores vary from 20 to 80 points, and the higher the score, the higher the anxiety levels. Scores below 33 are considered mild; from 33 to 49, moderate and above 49, high. As for the total nocturnal sleep time, values between 7-9 hours of sleep were considered adequate for mothers, and values between 9-12 hours for the baby, according to the guidelines of the National Sleep Foundation. For the sleep latency time, a time equal to or less than 20 min was considered adequate. It is noteworthy that the latency time and the time of night sleep of the mother and the baby were obtained by the mother's subjective report. To correlate the data, Spearman's correlation was used in the statistical package R version 3.6.3. Results: 96 women and babies participated, aged 22 to 38 years (mean 30.8) and 10 to 24 months (mean 14.7), respectively. The average of maternal security was 2.89 (unsafe); Mean maternal state anxiety scores were 43.75 (moderate anxiety). The babies' average sleep latency time was 39.6 min (>20 min). The mean sleep times of the mother and baby were, respectively, 6h and 42min and 8h and 19min, both less than the recommended nocturnal sleep time. Maternal security was positively correlated with maternal state anxiety scores (rh=266, p=0.009) and negatively correlated with infant sleep latency (rh= -0.30. P=0.003). Baby sleep time was positively correlated with maternal sleep time. (rh 0.46, p<0.001). Conclusion: The more secure the mothers considered themselves, the higher the anxiety scores and the shorter the baby's sleep latency. Also, the longer the baby sleeps, the longer the mother sleeps. Thus, interventions are needed to promote the quality and efficiency of sleep for both mother and baby.

Keywords: sleep, anxiety, infant, mother-child relations

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Authors: M. Kishore Kumar

Abstract:

The ancient Vedas and Upanishads are a treasure of knowledge gifted to the world by India. The four Vedas, a conglomerate of Hindu scriptures, contain many principles of modern management at organisation as well as at individual levels. It lays down the duties of a King and ministers as well as its citizens and cites values for leadership. Bhagawadgita (or ‘Gita’ in short), popularly cited as Pancham (Fifth) Veda, is stated to be sermoned about 5000 years ago by Lord Krishna. In the midst of the Kurukshetra battle, Gitopadesh was given various aspects such as dharma (duties), karma (action), stithaprajna (stable mind), nishkama (detachment from results) and ethics. Arjun was steered to victory by Lord Krishna as his charioteer, and the 700-odd-verse holy text Bhagawadgita can become a valuable guide for all of us to achieve success in business management. Many parallels exist between modern-day management theories and principles enshrined in Vedic texts.

Keywords: goal, motivation, leadership, mind, management

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