Search results for: bleeding events
1595 Interpretable Deep Learning Models for Medical Condition Identification
Authors: Dongping Fang, Lian Duan, Xiaojing Yuan, Mike Xu, Allyn Klunder, Kevin Tan, Suiting Cao, Yeqing Ji
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Accurate prediction of a medical condition with straight clinical evidence is a long-sought topic in the medical management and health insurance field. Although great progress has been made with machine learning algorithms, the medical community is still, to a certain degree, suspicious about the model's accuracy and interpretability. This paper presents an innovative hierarchical attention deep learning model to achieve good prediction and clear interpretability that can be easily understood by medical professionals. This deep learning model uses a hierarchical attention structure that matches naturally with the medical history data structure and reflects the member’s encounter (date of service) sequence. The model attention structure consists of 3 levels: (1) attention on the medical code types (diagnosis codes, procedure codes, lab test results, and prescription drugs), (2) attention on the sequential medical encounters within a type, (3) attention on the medical codes within an encounter and type. This model is applied to predict the occurrence of stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD3), using three years’ medical history of Medicare Advantage (MA) members from a top health insurance company. The model takes members’ medical events, both claims and electronic medical record (EMR) data, as input, makes a prediction of CKD3 and calculates the contribution from individual events to the predicted outcome. The model outcome can be easily explained with the clinical evidence identified by the model algorithm. Here are examples: Member A had 36 medical encounters in the past three years: multiple office visits, lab tests and medications. The model predicts member A has a high risk of CKD3 with the following well-contributed clinical events - multiple high ‘Creatinine in Serum or Plasma’ tests and multiple low kidneys functioning ‘Glomerular filtration rate’ tests. Among the abnormal lab tests, more recent results contributed more to the prediction. The model also indicates regular office visits, no abnormal findings of medical examinations, and taking proper medications decreased the CKD3 risk. Member B had 104 medical encounters in the past 3 years and was predicted to have a low risk of CKD3, because the model didn’t identify diagnoses, procedures, or medications related to kidney disease, and many lab test results, including ‘Glomerular filtration rate’ were within the normal range. The model accurately predicts members A and B and provides interpretable clinical evidence that is validated by clinicians. Without extra effort, the interpretation is generated directly from the model and presented together with the occurrence date. Our model uses the medical data in its most raw format without any further data aggregation, transformation, or mapping. This greatly simplifies the data preparation process, mitigates the chance for error and eliminates post-modeling work needed for traditional model explanation. To our knowledge, this is the first paper on an interpretable deep-learning model using a 3-level attention structure, sourcing both EMR and claim data, including all 4 types of medical data, on the entire Medicare population of a big insurance company, and more importantly, directly generating model interpretation to support user decision. In the future, we plan to enrich the model input by adding patients’ demographics and information from free-texted physician notes.Keywords: deep learning, interpretability, attention, big data, medical conditions
Procedia PDF Downloads 881594 Preoperative Smoking Cessation Audit: A Single Centre Experience from Metropolitan Melbourne
Authors: Ya-Chu May Tsai, Ibrahim Yacoub, Eoin Casey
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The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) advises that smoking should not be permitted within 12 hours of surgery. There is little information in the medical literature regarding patients awareness of perioperative smoking cessation recommendations nor their appreciation of how smoking might negatively impact their perioperative course. The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of current smokers presenting to Werribee Mercy Hospital (WMH) and to evaluate if pre-operative provision of both written and verbal pre-operative advice was, 1: Effective in improving patient awareness of the benefits of pre-operative smoking cessation, 2: Associated with an increase in the number of elective surgical patients who stop smoking at least 12 hours pre-operatively. Methods: The initial survey included all patients who presented to WMH for elective surgical procedures from 19 – 30 September 2016 using a standardized questionnaire focused on patients’ smoking history and their awareness of smoking cessation preoperatively. The intervention consisted of a standard pre-operative phone call to all patients advising them of the increased perioperative risks associated with smoking, and advised patients to cease 12 hours prior. In addition, written information on smoking cessation strategies were sent out in mail at least 1 week prior to planned procedure date to all patients. Questionnaire-based study after the intervention was conducted on day of elective procedure from 10 – 21 October 2016 inclusive. Primary outcomes measured were patient’s awareness of smoking cessation and proportion of smokers who quit >12 hours, considered a clinically meaning duration to reduce anaesthetics complications. Comparison of pre and post intervention results were made using SPSS 21.0. Results: In the pre-intervention group (n=156), 36 (22.4%) patients were current smokers, 46 were ex-smokers (29.5%) and 74 were non-smokers (48.1%). Of the smokers, 12 (33%) reported having been informed of smoking cessation prior to operation and 8 (22%) were aware of increased intra- and perioperative adverse events associated with smoking. In the post-intervention group n= 177, 38 (21.5%) patients were current smokers, 39 were ex-smokers (22.0%) and 100 were non-smokers (56.5%). Of the smokers, 32 (88.9%) reported having been informed of smoking cessation prior to operation and 35 (97.2%) reported being aware of increased intra- and perioperative adverse events associated with smoking. The median time since last smoke in the pre-intervention group was 5.5 hours (Q1-Q3 = 2-14) compared with 13 hours (Q1-Q3 = 5-24) in post intervention group. Amongst the smokers, smoking cessation at least 12 hours prior to surgery significantly increased from 27.8% pre-intervention to 52.6% post intervention (P=0.03). Conclusion: A standard preoperative phone call and written instruction on smoking cessation guidelines at time of waitlist placement increase preoperative smoking cessation rates by almost 2-fold.Keywords: anaesthesia, audit, perioperative medicine, smoking cessation
Procedia PDF Downloads 3001593 Frequency Interpretation of a Wave Function, and a Vertical Waveform Treated as A 'Quantum Leap'
Authors: Anthony Coogan
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Born’s probability interpretation of wave functions would have led to nearly identical results had he chosen a frequency interpretation instead. Logically, Born may have assumed that only one electron was under consideration, making it nonsensical to propose a frequency wave. Author’s suggestion: the actual experimental results were not of a single electron; rather, they were groups of reflected x-ray photons. The vertical waveform used by Scrhödinger in his Particle in the Box Theory makes sense if it was intended to represent a quantum leap. The author extended the single vertical panel to form a bar chart: separate panels would represent different energy levels. The proposed bar chart would be populated by reflected photons. Expansion of basic ideas: Part of Scrhödinger’s ‘Particle in the Box’ theory may be valid despite negative criticism. The waveform used in the diagram is vertical, which may seem absurd because real waves decay at a measurable rate, rather than instantaneously. However, there may be one notable exception. Supposedly, following from the theory, the Uncertainty Principle was derived – may a Quantum Leap not be represented as an instantaneous waveform? The great Scrhödinger must have had some reason to suggest a vertical waveform if the prevalent belief was that they did not exist. Complex wave forms representing a particle are usually assumed to be continuous. The actual observations made were x-ray photons, some of which had struck an electron, been reflected, and then moved toward a detector. From Born’s perspective, doing similar work the years in question 1926-7, he would also have considered a single electron – leading him to choose a probability distribution. Probability Distributions appear very similar to Frequency Distributions, but the former are considered to represent the likelihood of future events. Born’s interpretation of the results of quantum experiments led (or perhaps misled) many researchers into claiming that humans can influence events just by looking at them, e.g. collapsing complex wave functions by 'looking at the electron to see which slit it emerged from', while in reality light reflected from the electron moved in the observer’s direction after the electron had moved away. Astronomers may say that they 'look out into the universe' but are actually using logic opposed to the views of Newton and Hooke and many observers such as Romer, in that light carries information from a source or reflector to an observer, rather the reverse. Conclusion: Due to the controversial nature of these ideas, especially its implications about the nature of complex numbers used in applications in science and engineering, some time may pass before any consensus is reached.Keywords: complex wave functions not necessary, frequency distributions instead of wave functions, information carried by light, sketch graph of uncertainty principle
Procedia PDF Downloads 1961592 The Magnitude Scale Evaluation of Cross-Platform Internet Public Opinion
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This paper introduces a model of internet public opinion waves, which describes the message propagation and measures the influence of a detected event. We collect data on public opinion propagation from different platforms on the internet, including micro-blogs and news. Then, we compare the spread of public opinion to the seismic waves and correspondently define the P-wave and S-wave and other essential attributes and characteristics in the process. Further, a model is established to evaluate the magnitude scale of the events. In the end, a practical example is used to analyze the influence of network public opinion and test the reasonability and effectiveness of the proposed model.Keywords: internet public opinion waves (IPOW), magnitude scale, cross-platform, information propagation
Procedia PDF Downloads 2821591 Feasiblity of Replacing Inductive Instrument Transformers with Non-Conventional Intrument Transformers to replace
Authors: David A. Wallace, Salakjit J. Nilboworn
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Secure and reliable transmission and distribution of electrical power is crucial in today’s ever-increasing demand for electricity. Traditional methods of protecting the electrical grid have relied on relaying systems receiving voltage and current inputs from inductive instruments transformers (IT). This method has provided robust and stable performance throughout the years. Today with the advent of new non-conventional transformers (NCIT) and sensors, the electrical landscape is changing. These new systems have to ability to provide the same electrical performance as traditional instrument transformers with the added features of data acquisition, communication, smaller footprint, lower cost and resistance to GMD/GIC events.Keywords: non-conventional instrument transformers, digital substations, smart grids, micro-grids
Procedia PDF Downloads 761590 Impact of Solar Radiation Effects on the Physicochemical Properties of Unformulated Polyethylene (PE) Plastic Film
Authors: A. Adelhafidhi, I. M. Babaghayou, S. F. Chabira, M. Sebaa
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This study deals with the photodegradation of unformulated polyethylene films for greenhouse covering. The UV range of solar light appears as the most deleterious factor of plastic degradation in outdoor exposure. The reasons of this photosensitivity are structural defects which are light-absorbing. The use of FTIR as an investigation tool has revealed that the material reacts with surrounding oxygen via a photooxidation process. Although the photochemical process is quite complex, it appears through this study than crosslinking and chain scissions are the most important events taking place during aging These two key reactions change irremediably the average molecular weight affecting thus drastically the mechanical properties and reducing, in the same way, the service lifetime of the films.Keywords: polyethylene, films, unformulated, FTIR, ageing
Procedia PDF Downloads 3601589 Adverse Childhood Experience of Domestic Violence and Domestic Mental Health Leading to Youth Violence: An Analysis of Selected Boroughs in London
Authors: Sandra Smart-Akande, Chaminda Hewage, Imtiaz Khan, Thanuja Mallikarachchi
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According to UK police-recorded data, there has been a substantial increase in knife-related crime and youth violence in the UK since 2014 particularly in the London boroughs. These crime rates are disproportionally distributed across London with the majority of these crimes occurring in the highly deprived areas of London and among young people aged 11 to 24 with large discrepancies across ethnicity, age, gender and borough of residence. Comprehensive studies and literature have identified risk factors associated with a knife carrying among youth to be Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs), poor mental health, school or social exclusion, drug dealing, drug using, victim of violent crime, bullying, peer pressure or gang involvement, just to mention a few. ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood, this can be experiences or stressful events in the early life of a child and can lead to an increased risk of damaging health or social outcomes in the latter life of the individual. Research has shown that children or youths involved in youth violence have had childhood experience characterised by disproportionate adverse childhood experiences and substantial literature link ACEs to be associated with criminal or delinquent behavior. ACEs are commonly grouped by researchers into: Abuse (Physical, Verbal, Sexual), Neglect (Physical, Emotional) and Household adversities (Mental Illness, Incarcerated relative, Domestic violence, Parental Separation or Bereavement). To the author's best knowledge, no study to date has investigated how household mental health (mental health of a parent or mental health of a child) and domestic violence (domestic violence on a parent or domestic violence on a child) is related to knife homicides across the local authorities areas of London. This study seeks to address the gap by examining a large sample of data from the London Metropolitan Police Force and Characteristics of Children in Need data from the UK Department for Education. The aim of this review is to identify and synthesise evidence from data and a range of literature to identify the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and youth violence in the UK. Understanding the link between ACEs and future outcomes can support preventative action.Keywords: adverse childhood experiences, domestic violence, mental health, youth violence, prediction analysis, London knife crime
Procedia PDF Downloads 1121588 Ethnic Identity Formation in Diaspora of Bajau Samah: An Ethnomusicological Study of Bertitik Music Ensemble in the Northwest Coast of Sabah, Malaysia
Authors: Mohd Hassan Abdullah, Mohd Azam Sulong, Mohd Nizam Nasrifan, Nor Azman Mohd Ramli, Suflan Faidzal Arshad
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The Bajau Samah is a maritime ethnic community that inhabits the west coast of Sabah, Malaysia. The majority of these ethnicities embrace Islam and practice their own culture. Bertitik music ensemble is one of the musical practices performed in various social events, especially weddings. The ensemble, which combines several musical instruments including gongs, drums and kulintangan is played by six musicians to accompany various social events in the community. The position of the Bajau Samah in a multi-ethnic community such as Kadazandusun, Rungus, Suluk, Malay, Iranun and others exposes to the cultural activities with various artistic elements of the surrounding community. Western influences have also played an important role in the process of hybridity and acculturation in this society. Cultural change and the influx of foreign cultures have threatened the sustainability of this musical practice. This study aims to musicologically analyze the elements of bertitik ensemble that form the uniqueness of the cultural identity of the Bajau Samah Ethnic group. An ethnomusicological approach has been used to parse the essence of the bertitik music repertoire in depth. Ethnographic study design which comprises fieldwork, interviews, observations and document analysis as the main methods were utilized to collect data. Music recordings were transcribed in the form of musical notation and then analyzed based on the theory of "the norms of musical styles". This study reveals that musical elements featured in the ensemble represent the symbol and cultural identity to this ethnic group. The findings of the study were documented in the form of musicological analysis, audio and video as well as transcriptions of the musical notation of the repertoire of the music ensemble. This study is in line with the National cultural policy gazetted by the government, which is "Conservation, preservation and development of culture towards strengthening the foundations of National Culture through joint research, development, education, expansion and cultural relations" It will benefit various parties including students, teachers, academics, cultural arts activists and so on towards preserving the nation's cultural heritage as well as strengthening the spirit of nationhood among the people of various races and ethnic group in Malaysia.Keywords: ethnomusicology, ethnic music, Malaysian music, cultural identity
Procedia PDF Downloads 1321587 Transitivity Analysis in Reading Passage of English Text Book for Senior High School
Authors: Elitaria Bestri Agustina Siregar, Boni Fasius Siregar
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The paper concerned with the transitivity in the reading passage of English textbook for Senior High School. The six types of process were occurred in the passages with percentage as follows: Material Process is 166 (42%), Relational Process is 155 (39%), Mental Process is 39 (10%), Verbal Process is 21 (5%), Existential Process is 13 (3), and Behavioral Process is 5 (1%). The material processes were found to be the most frequently used process type in the samples in our corpus (41,60 %). This indicates that the twenty reading passages are centrally concerned with action and events. Related to developmental psychology theory, this book fits the needs of students of this age.Keywords: transitivity, types of processes, reading passages, developmental psycholoy
Procedia PDF Downloads 4031586 Complex Event Processing System Based on the Extended ECA Rule
Authors: Kwan Hee Han, Jun Woo Lee, Sung Moon Bae, Twae Kyung Park
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ECA (Event-Condition-Action) languages are largely adopted for event processing since they are an intuitive and powerful paradigm for programming reactive systems. However, there are some limitations about ECA rules for processing of complex events such as coupling of event producer and consumer. The objective of this paper is to propose an ECA rule pattern to improve the current limitations of ECA rule, and to develop a prototype system. In this paper, conventional ECA rule is separated into 3 parts and each part is extended to meet the requirements of CEP. Finally, event processing logic is established by combining the relevant elements of 3 parts. The usability of proposed extended ECA rule is validated by a test scenario in this study.Keywords: complex event processing, ECA rule, Event processing system, event-driven architecture, internet of things
Procedia PDF Downloads 5241585 The Markers -mm and dämmo in Amharic: Developmental Approach
Authors: Hayat Omar
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Languages provide speakers with a wide range of linguistic units to organize and deliver information. There are several ways to verbally express the mental representations of events. According to the linguistic tools they have acquired, speakers select the one that brings out the most communicative effect to convey their message. Our study focuses on two markers, -mm and dämmo, in Amharic (Ethiopian Semitic language). Our aim is to examine, from a developmental perspective, how they are used by speakers. We seek to distinguish the communicative and pragmatic functions indicated by means of these markers. To do so, we created a corpus of sixty narrative productions of children from 5-6, 7-8 to 10-12 years old and adult Amharic speakers. The experimental material we used to collect our data is a series of pictures without text 'Frog, Where are you?'. Although -mm and dämmo are each used in specific contexts, they are sometimes analyzed as being interchangeable. The suffix -mm is complex and multifunctional. It marks the end of the negative verbal structure, it is found in the relative structure of the imperfect, it creates new words such as adverbials or pronouns, it also serves to coordinate words, sentences and to mark the link between macro-propositions within a larger textual unit. -mm was analyzed as marker of insistence, topic shift marker, element of concatenation, contrastive focus marker, 'bisyndetic' coordinator. On the other hand, dämmo has limited function and did not attract the attention of many authors. The only approach we could find analyzes it in terms of 'monosyndetic' coordinator. The paralleling of these two elements made it possible to understand their distinctive functions and refine their description. When it comes to marking a referent, the choice of -mm or dämmo is not neutral, depending on whether the tagged argument is newly introduced, maintained, promoted or reintroduced. The presence of these morphemes explains the inter-phrastic link. The information is seized by anaphora or presupposition: -mm goes upstream while dämmo arrows downstream, the latter requires new information. The speaker uses -mm or dämmo according to what he assumes to be known to his interlocutors. The results show that -mm and dämmo, although all the speakers use them both, do not always have the same scope according to the speaker and vary according to the age. dämmo is mainly used to mark a contrastive topic to signal the concomitance of events. It is more commonly used in young children’s narratives (F(3,56) = 3,82, p < .01). Some values of -mm (additive) are acquired very early while others are rather late and increase with age (F(3,56) = 3,2, p < .03). The difficulty is due not only because of its synthetic structure but primarily because it is multi-purpose and requires a memory work. It highlights the constituent on which it operates to clarify how the message should be interpreted.Keywords: acquisition, cohesion, connection, contrastive topic, contrastive focus, discourse marker, pragmatics
Procedia PDF Downloads 1301584 Strategies For Management Of Massive Intraoperative Airway Haemorrhage Complicating Surgical Pulmonary Embolectomy
Authors: Nicholas Bayfield, Liam Bibo, Kaushelandra Rathore, Lucas Sanders, Mark Newman
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INTRODUCTION: Surgical pulmonary embolectomy is an established therapy for acute pulmonary embolism causing right heart dysfunction and haemodynamic instability. Massive intraoperative airway haemorrhage is a rare complication of pulmonary embolectomy. We present our institutional experience with massive airway haemorrhage complicating pulmonary embolectomy and discuss optimal therapeutic strategies. METHODS: A retrospective review of emergent surgical pulmonary embolectomy patients was undertaken. Cases complicated by massive intra-operative airway haemorrhage were identified. Intra- and peri-operative management strategies were analysed and discussed. RESULTS: Of 76 patients undergoing emergent or salvage pulmonary embolectomy, three cases (3.9%) of massive intraoperative airway haemorrhage were identified. Haemorrhage always began on weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass. Successful management strategies involved intraoperative isolation of the side of bleeding, occluding the affected airway with an endobronchial blocker, institution of veno-arterial (VA) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and reversal of anticoagulation. Running the ECMO without heparinisation allows coagulation to occur. Airway haemorrhage was controlled within 24 hours of operation in all patients, allowing re-institution of dual lung ventilation and decannulation from ECMO. One case in which positive end-expiratory airway pressure was trialled initially was complicated by air embolism. Although airway haemorrhage was controlled successfully in all cases, all patients died in-hospital for reasons unrelated to the airway haemorrhage. CONCLUSION: Massive intraoperative airway haemorrhage during pulmonary embolectomy is a rare complication with potentially catastrophic outcomes. Re-perfusion alveolar and capillary injury is the likely aetiology. With a systematic approach to management, airway haemorrhage can be well controlled intra-operatively and often resolves within 24 hours. Stopping blood flow to the pulmonary arteries and support of oxygenation by the institution of VA ECMO is important. This management has been successful in our 3 cases.Keywords: pulmonary embolectomy, cardiopulmonary bypass, cardiac surgery, pulmonary embolism
Procedia PDF Downloads 1731583 Analytical Validity Of A Tech Transfer Solution To Internalize Genetic Testing
Authors: Lesley Northrop, Justin DeGrazia, Jessica Greenwood
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ASPIRA Labs now offers an en-suit and ready-to-implement technology transfer solution to enable labs and hospitals that lack the resources to build it themselves to offer in-house genetic testing. This unique platform employs a patented Molecular Inversion Probe (MIP) technology that combines the specificity of a hybrid capture protocol with the ease of an amplicon-based protocol and utilizes an advanced bioinformatics analysis pipeline based on machine learning. To demonstrate its efficacy, two independent genetic tests were validated on this technology transfer platform: expanded carrier screening (ECS) and hereditary cancer testing (HC). The analytical performance of ECS and HC was validated separately in a blinded manner for calling three different types of variants: SNVs, short indels (typically, <50 bp), and large indels/CNVs defined as multi-exonic del/dup events. The reference set was constructed using samples from Coriell Institute, an external clinical genetic testing laboratory, Maine Molecular Quality Controls Inc. (MMQCI), SeraCare and GIAB Consortium. Overall, the analytical performance showed a sensitivity and specificity of >99.4% for both ECS and HC in detecting SNVs. For indels, both tests reported specificity of 100%, and ECS demonstrated a sensitivity of 100%, whereas HC exhibited a sensitivity of 96.5%. The bioinformatics pipeline also correctly called all reference CNV events resulting in a sensitivity of 100% for both tests. No additional calls were made in the HC panel, leading to a perfect performance (specificity and F-measure of 100%). In the carrier panel, however, three additional positive calls were made outside the reference set. Two of these calls were confirmed using an orthogonal method and were re-classified as true positives leaving only one false positive. The pipeline also correctly identified all challenging carrier statuses, such as positive cases for spinal muscular atrophy and alpha-thalassemia, resulting in 100% sensitivity. After confirmation of additional positive calls via long-range PCR and MLPA, specificity for such cases was estimated at 99%. These performance metrics demonstrate that this tech-transfer solution can be confidently internalized by clinical labs and hospitals to offer mainstream ECS and HC as part of their test catalog, substantially increasing access to quality germline genetic testing for labs of all sizes and resources levels.Keywords: clinical genetics, genetic testing, molecular genetics, technology transfer
Procedia PDF Downloads 1761582 The Need For Higher Education Stem Integrated into the Social Science
Authors: Luis Fernando Calvo Prieto, Raul Herrero Martínez, Mónica Santamarta Llorente, Sergio Paniagua Bermejo
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The project that is presented starts from the questioning about the compartmentalization of knowledge that occurs in university higher education. There are several authors who describe the problems associated with this reality (Rodamillans, M) indicating a lack of integration of the knowledge acquired by students throughout the subjects taken in their university degree. Furthermore, this disintegration is accentuated by the enrollment system of some Faculties and/or Schools of Engineering, which allows the student to take subjects outside the recommended curricular path. This problem is accentuated in an ostentatious way when trying to find an integration between humanistic subjects and the world of experimental sciences or engineering. This abrupt separation between humanities and sciences can be observed in any study plan of Spanish degrees. Except for subjects such as economics or English, in the Faculties of Sciences and the Schools of Engineering, the absence of any humanistic content is striking. At some point it was decided that the only value to take into account when designing their study plans was “usefulness”, considering the humanities systematically useless for their training, and therefore banishing them from the study plans. forgetting the role they have on the capacity of both Leadership and Civic Humanism in our professionals of tomorrow. The teaching guides for the different subjects in the branch of science or engineering do not include any competency, not even transversal, related to leadership capacity or the need, in today's world, for social, civic and humanitarian knowledge part of the people who will offer medical, pharmaceutical, environmental, biotechnological or engineering solutions to a society that is generated thanks to more or less complex relationships based on human relationships and historical events that have occurred so far. If we want professionals who know how to deal effectively and rationally with their leadership tasks and who, in addition, find and develop an ethically civic sense and a humanistic profile in their functions and scientific tasks, we must not leave aside the importance that it has, for the themselves, know the causes, facts and consequences of key events in the history of humanity. The words of the humanist Paul Preston are well known: “he who does not know his history is condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past.” The idea, therefore, that today there can be men of science in the way that the scientists of the Renaissance were, becomes, at the very least, difficult to conceive. To think that a Leonardo da Vinci can be repeated in current times is a more than crazy idea; and although at first it may seem that the specialization of a professional is inevitable but beneficial, there are authors who consider (Sánchez Inarejos) that it has an extremely serious negative side effect: the entrenchment behind the different postulates of each area of knowledge, disdaining everything. what is foreign to it.Keywords: STEM, higher education, social sciences, history
Procedia PDF Downloads 591581 The Principle of a Thought Formation: The Biological Base for a Thought
Authors: Ludmila Vucolova
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The thought is a process that underlies consciousness and cognition and understanding its origin and processes is a longstanding goal of many academic disciplines. By integrating over twenty novel ideas and hypotheses of this theoretical proposal, we can speculate that thought is an emergent property of coded neural events, translating the electro-chemical interactions of the body with its environment—the objects of sensory stimulation, X, and Y. The latter is a self- generated feedback entity, resulting from the arbitrary pattern of the motion of a body’s motor repertory (M). A culmination of these neural events gives rise to a thought: a state of identity between an observed object X and a symbol Y. It manifests as a “state of awareness” or “state of knowing” and forms our perception of the physical world. The values of the variables of a construct—X (object), S1 (sense for the perception of X), Y (object), S2 (sense for perception of Y), and M (motor repertory that produces Y)—will specify the particular conscious percept at any given time. The proposed principle of interaction between the elements of a construct (X, Y, S1, S2, M) is universal and applies for all modes of communication (normal, deaf, blind, deaf and blind people) and for various language systems (Chinese, Italian, English, etc.). The particular arrangement of modalities of each of the three modules S1 (5 of 5), S2 (1 of 3), and M (3 of 3) defines a specific mode of communication. This multifaceted paradigm demonstrates a predetermined pattern of relationships between X, Y, and M that passes from generation to generation. The presented analysis of a cognitive experience encompasses the key elements of embodied cognition theories and unequivocally accords with the scientific interpretation of cognition as the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses, and cognition means thinking and awareness. By assembling the novel ideas presented in twelve sections, we can reveal that in the invisible “chaos”, there is an order, a structure with landmarks and principles of operations and mental processes (thoughts) are physical and have a biological basis. This innovative proposal explains the phenomenon of mental imagery; give the first insight into the relationship between mental states and brain states, and support the notion that mind and body are inseparably connected. The findings of this theoretical proposal are supported by the current scientific data and are substantiated by the records of the evolution of language and human intelligence.Keywords: agent, awareness, cognitive, element, experience, feedback, first person, imagery, language, mental, motor, object, sensory, symbol, thought
Procedia PDF Downloads 3741580 Evaluating the Service Quality and Customers’ Satisfaction for Lihpaoland in Taiwan
Authors: Wan-Yu Liu, Tiffany April Lin, Yu-Chieh Tang, Yi-Lin Wang, Chieh-Hui Li
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As the national income in Taiwan has been raised, the life style of the public has also been changed, so that the tourism industry gradually moves from a service industry to an experience economy. The Lihpaoland is one of the most popular theme parks in Taiwan. However, the related works on performance of service quality of the park have been lacking since its re-operation in 2012. Therefore, this study investigates the quality of software/hardware facilities and services of the Lihpaoland, and aims to achieve the following three goals: 1) analyzing how various sample data of tourists leads to different results for service quality of LihpaoLand; 2) analyzing how tourists respond to the service tangibility, service reliability, service responsiveness, service guarantee, and service empathy of LihpaoLand; 3) according to the theoretical and empirical results, proposing how to improve the overall facilities and services of LihpaoLand, and hoping to provide suggestions to the LihpaoLand or other related businesses to make decision. The survey was conducted on the tourists to the LihpaoLand using convenience sampling, and 400 questionnaires were collected successfully. Analysis results show that tourists paid much attention to maintenance of amusement facilities and safety of the park, and were satisfied with them, which are great advantages of the park. However, transportation around the LihpaoLand was inadequate, and the price of the Fullon hotel (which is the hotel closest to the LihpaoLand) were not accepted by tourists – more promotion events are recommended. Additionally, the shows are not diversified, and should be improved with the highest priority. Tourists did not pay attention to service personnel’s clothing and the ticket price, but they were not satisfied with them. Hence, this study recommends to design more distinctive costumes and conduct ticket promotions. Accordingly, the suggestions made in this study for LihpaoLand are stated as follows: 1) Diversified amusement facilities should be provided to satisfy the needs at different ages. 2) Cheep but tasty catering and more distinctive souvenirs should be offered. 3) Diversified propaganda schemes should be strengthened to increase number of tourists. 4) Quality and professional of the service staff should be enhanced to acquire public praise and tourists revisiting. 5) Ticket promotions in peak seasons, low seasons, and special events should be conducted. 6) Proper traffic flows should be planned and combined with technologies to reduce waiting time of tourists. 7) The features of theme landscape in LihpaoLand should be strengthened to increase willingness of the tourists with special preferences to visit the park. 8) Ticket discounts or premier points card promotions should be adopted to reward the tourists with high loyalty.Keywords: service quality, customers’ satisfaction, theme park, Taiwan
Procedia PDF Downloads 4671579 Chinese Event Detection Technique Based on Dependency Parsing and Rule Matching
Authors: Weitao Lin
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To quickly extract adequate information from large-scale unstructured text data, this paper studies the representation of events in Chinese scenarios and performs the regularized abstraction. It proposes a Chinese event detection technique based on dependency parsing and rule matching. The method first performs dependency parsing on the original utterance, then performs pattern matching at the word or phrase granularity based on the results of dependent syntactic analysis, filters out the utterances with prominent non-event characteristics, and obtains the final results. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the method.Keywords: natural language processing, Chinese event detection, rules matching, dependency parsing
Procedia PDF Downloads 1321578 Data-Driven Surrogate Models for Damage Prediction of Steel Liquid Storage Tanks under Seismic Hazard
Authors: Laura Micheli, Majd Hijazi, Mahmoud Faytarouni
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The damage reported by oil and gas industrial facilities revealed the utmost vulnerability of steel liquid storage tanks to seismic events. The failure of steel storage tanks may yield devastating and long-lasting consequences on built and natural environments, including the release of hazardous substances, uncontrolled fires, and soil contamination with hazardous materials. It is, therefore, fundamental to reliably predict the damage that steel liquid storage tanks will likely experience under future seismic hazard events. The seismic performance of steel liquid storage tanks is usually assessed using vulnerability curves obtained from the numerical simulation of a tank under different hazard scenarios. However, the computational demand of high-fidelity numerical simulation models, such as finite element models, makes the vulnerability assessment of liquid storage tanks time-consuming and often impractical. As a solution, this paper presents a surrogate model-based strategy for predicting seismic-induced damage in steel liquid storage tanks. In the proposed strategy, the surrogate model is leveraged to reduce the computational demand of time-consuming numerical simulations. To create the data set for training the surrogate model, field damage data from past earthquakes reconnaissance surveys and reports are collected. Features representative of steel liquid storage tank characteristics (e.g., diameter, height, liquid level, yielding stress) and seismic excitation parameters (e.g., peak ground acceleration, magnitude) are extracted from the field damage data. The collected data are then utilized to train a surrogate model that maps the relationship between tank characteristics, seismic hazard parameters, and seismic-induced damage via a data-driven surrogate model. Different types of surrogate algorithms, including naïve Bayes, k-nearest neighbors, decision tree, and random forest, are investigated, and results in terms of accuracy are reported. The model that yields the most accurate predictions is employed to predict future damage as a function of tank characteristics and seismic hazard intensity level. Results show that the proposed approach can be used to estimate the extent of damage in steel liquid storage tanks, where the use of data-driven surrogates represents a viable alternative to computationally expensive numerical simulation models.Keywords: damage prediction , data-driven model, seismic performance, steel liquid storage tanks, surrogate model
Procedia PDF Downloads 1401577 Role of von Willebrand Factor Antigen as Non-Invasive Biomarker for the Prediction of Portal Hypertensive Gastropathy in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis
Authors: Mohamed El Horri, Amine Mouden, Reda Messaoudi, Mohamed Chekkal, Driss Benlaldj, Malika Baghdadi, Lahcene Benmahdi, Fatima Seghier
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Background/aim: Recently, the Von Willebrand factor antigen (vWF-Ag)has been identified as a new marker of portal hypertension (PH) and its complications. Few studies talked about its role in the prediction of esophageal varices. VWF-Ag is considered a non-invasive approach, In order to avoid the endoscopic burden, cost, drawbacks, unpleasant and repeated examinations to the patients. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the ability of this marker in the prediction of another complication of portal hypertension, which is portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG), the one that is diagnosed also by endoscopic tools. Patients and methods: It is about a prospective study, which include 124 cirrhotic patients with no history of bleeding who underwent screening endoscopy for PH-related complications like esophageal varices (EVs) and PHG. Routine biological tests were performed as well as the VWF-Ag testing by both ELFA and Immunoturbidimetric techniques. The diagnostic performance of our marker was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy, and receiver operating characteristic curves. Results: 124 patients were enrolled in this study, with a mean age of 58 years [CI: 55 – 60 years] and a sex ratio of 1.17. Viral etiologies were found in 50% of patients. Screening endoscopy revealed the presence of PHG in 20.2% of cases, while for EVsthey were found in 83.1% of cases. VWF-Ag levels, were significantly increased in patients with PHG compared to those who have not: 441% [CI: 375 – 506], versus 279% [CI: 253 – 304], respectively (p <0.0001). Using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), vWF-Ag was a good predictor for the presence of PHG. With a value higher than 320% and an AUC of 0.824, VWF-Ag had an 84% sensitivity, 74% specificity, 44.7% positive predictive value, 94.8% negative predictive value, and 75.8% diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion: VWF-Ag is a good non-invasive low coast marker for excluding the presence of PHG in patients with liver cirrhosis. Using this marker as part of a selective screening strategy might reduce the need for endoscopic screening and the coast of the management of these kinds of patients.Keywords: von willebrand factor, portal hypertensive gastropathy, prediction, liver cirrhosis
Procedia PDF Downloads 1961576 Uncertainty in Risk Modeling
Authors: Mueller Jann, Hoffmann Christian Hugo
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Conventional quantitative risk management in banking is a risk factor of its own, because it rests on assumptions such as independence and availability of data which do not hold when rare events of extreme consequences are involved. There is a growing recognition of the need for alternative risk measures that do not make these assumptions. We propose a novel method for modeling the risk associated with investment products, in particular derivatives, by using a formal language for specifying financial contracts. Expressions in this language are interpreted in the category of values annotated with (a formal representation of) uncertainty. The choice of uncertainty formalism thus becomes a parameter of the model, so it can be adapted to the particular application and it is not constrained to classical probabilities. We demonstrate our approach using a simple logic-based uncertainty model and a case study in which we assess the risk of counter party default in a portfolio of collateralized loans.Keywords: risk model, uncertainty monad, derivatives, contract algebra
Procedia PDF Downloads 5691575 Risk Factors Associated with Dengue Fever Outbreak in Diredawa Administration City, Ethiopia, October 2015: A Case Control Study
Authors: Luna Degife, Desalegn Belay, Yoseph Worku, Tigist Tesfaye, Assefa Tufa, Abyot Bekele, Zegeye Hailemariam, Abay Hagos
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Half of the world’s population is at risk of Dengue Fever (DF), a highly under-recognized and underreported mosquito-borne viral disease with high prevalence in the tropical and subtropical regions. Globally, an estimated 50 to 200 million cases and 20, 000 DF deaths occur annually as per the world health organization report. In Ethiopia, the first outbreak occurred in 2013 in Diredawa administration city. Afterward, three outbreaks have been reported from the eastern part of the country. We received a report of the fifth DF outbreak for Ethiopia and the second for Diredawa city on October 4, 2015. We conducted the investigation to confirm the outbreak, identify the risk factors for the repeatedly occurrence of the disease and implement control measures. We conducted un- matched case-control study and defined a suspected DF case as any person with fever of 2-7 days and 2 or more of the following: a headache, arthralgia, myalgia, rash, or bleeding from any part of the body. Controls were residents of Diredawa city without DF symptoms. We interviewed 70 Cases and 140 controls from all health facilities in Diredawa city from October 7 to 15; 2015. Epi Info version 7.1.5.0 was used to analyze the data and multivariable logistic regression was conducted to assess risk factors for DF. Sixty-nine blood samples were collected for Laboratory confirmation.The mean age for cases was 23.7±9.5 standard deviation (SD) and for controls 31.2±13 SD. Close contact with DF patient (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=5.36, 95% confidence interval(CI): 2.75-10.44), nonuse of long-lasting insecticidal nets (AOR=2.74, 95% CI: 1.06-7.08) and availability of stagnant water in the village (AOR=3.61, 95% CI:1.31-9.93) were independent risk factors associated with higher rates of the disease. Forty-two samples were tested positive. Endemicity of DF is becoming a concern for Diredawa city after the first outbreak. Therefore, effective vector control activities need to be part of long-term preventive measures.Keywords: dengue fever, Diredawa, outbreak, risk factors, second
Procedia PDF Downloads 2681574 Prevalence of Seropositivity for Cytomegalovirus in Patients with Hereditary Bleeding Diseases in West Azerbaijan of Iran
Authors: Zakieh Rostamzadeh, Zahra Shirmohammadi
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Human cytomegalovirus is a species of the cytomegalovirus family of viruses, which in turn is a member of the viral family known as herpesviridae or herpesviruses. Although they may be found throughout the body, HCMV infections are frequently associated with the salivary glands. HCMV infection is typically unnoticed in healthy people, but can be life-threatening for the immunocompromised such as HIV-infected persons, organ transplant recipients, or newborn infants. After infection, HCMV has an ability to remain latent within the body over long periods. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) causes infection in immunocompromised, hemophilia patients and those who received blood transfusion frequently. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibodies in hemophilia patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out in Urmia, North West of Iran. The study population comprised a sample of 50 hemophilic patients born after 1985 and have received blood factors in West Azerbaijan. The exclusion criteria include: drug abusing, high risk sexual contacts, vertical transmission of mother to fetus and suspicious needling. All samples were evaluated with the method of ELISA, with a certain kind of kit and by a certain laboratory. Results: Fifty hemophiliacs from 250 patients registered with Urmia Hemophilia Society were enrolled in the study including 43 (86%) male, and 7 (14%) female. The mean age of patients was 10.3 years, range 3 to 25 years. None of patients had risk factors mentioned above. Among our studied population, 34(68%) had hemophilia A, 1 (2%) hemophilia B, 8 (16%) VWF, 3(6%) factor VII deficiency, 1 (2%) factor V deficiency, 1 (2%) factor X deficiency, 1 (2%). Sera of 50 Hemodialysis patients were investigated for CMV-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM. % 91.89 patients were anti-CMV IgG positive and %40.54 was seropositive for anti-CMV IgM. 37.8% patient had serological evidence of reactivation and 2.7% of patients had the primary infection. Discussion: There was no relationship between the antibody titer and: drug abusing, high risk sexual contacts, vertical transmission of mother to fetus and suspicious needling.Keywords: bioinformatics, biomedicine, cytomegalovirus, immunocompromise
Procedia PDF Downloads 3521573 Characteristics of the Severe Rollover Crashes in the UAE Using In-Depth Crash Investigation Data
Authors: Yaser E. Hawas, Md. Didarul Alam
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Rollover crashes are complex events entailing interactions of driver, road, vehicle, and environmental factors. The primary objective of this paper is to present an empirical approach that can be used to characterise the rollover crashes and to identify some of the important factors that may lead to rollovers. Among the studied factors are the vehicle types and the rollover occurrence rate after hitting various barrier types. The carried analysis indicated that 71% of the rollover crashes occurred after impact and the type of rollover initiation is “trip/turn over” (nearly 50%). It was also found that light trucks (LTVs) vehicles are more likely to rollover than the sedan vehicles. Barrier impacts are associated with increased incidence of rollover.Keywords: empirical, hitting barrier, in-depth crash investigation, rollover, severe crash
Procedia PDF Downloads 3621572 Media Representation and Visibility of Female Athletes in Sporting Events Featuring Both Female and Male Competitors
Authors: L. A. Jennings
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Traditional sports media marginalizes or ignores female athletes in their coverage despite increasing numbers of female participation in professional sports. However, in venues in which women and men compete in the same event, such as fighting sports, media coverage of female athletes increases dramatically. Focusing on fighting sports, including boxing, submission wrestling, kickboxing, and Mixed Martial Arts, this paper demonstrates that inclusive venues provide an avenue for female athletes to receive equitable promotion, media coverage, and sponsorship opportunities using data from ESPN, Neilson, the Fan Report, and other emerging sources. This paper further argues that transgendered and nonbinary athletes could thrive in these environments in future sporting activities.Keywords: sports, media, athletes, sports media, women in sports
Procedia PDF Downloads 851571 Changes in Expression of Galanin in the CSMG Neurons Supplying the Prepyloric Area of the Porcine Stomach Induced by Intragastric Infusion of Hydrochloric Acid
Authors: Katarzyna Palus, Jarosław Całka
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Gastrointestinal disorders, especially acid-related diseases, including peptic and duodenal ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux disease, upper GI bleeding or stress-related mucosal disease, are currently serious health issues encountered very frequently in patients worldwide. However, to date, the response of sympathetic neurons to gastric mucosal injury and local inflammation following hyperacidity is unknown. Thus, the present study was designed to determine possible changes in expression of galanin (GAL) in the CSMG neurons supplying the prepyloric area of the porcine stomach in a physiological state and following experimentally-induced hyperacidity by using combined retrograde tracing and double-labelling immunohistochemistry. The choice of the domestic pig as an experimental model in the present study is not accidental and is justified by the high degree of physiological and anatomical similarity to human digestive system functions. In this experiment ten juvenile female pigs of the Large White Polish breed were used. The animals were divided into two groups: control and animals with hydrochloric acid infusion (HCl). The neuronal retrograde marker Fast Blue (FB) was injected into the anterior prepyloric wall of the stomach of all animals. After 23 days, animals of the HCl-group were reintroduced into a state of general anesthesia and intragastrically given 5 ml/kg of body weight of 0.25 M aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid. On the 28th day, all animals were euthanized. The CSMG complexes were then collected and the CSMG cryostat sections were stained immunocytochemically for GAL and TH (tyrosine hydroxylase). Immunohistochemistry revealed that in the control group 8.40 ± 0.53 % out of 200 FB-positive CSMG neurons contained GAL. In HCl group upregulation of the GAL-IR neurons to 22.52 ± 1.18 % were observed. All GAL-IR neurons in both groups showed the simultaneously TH immunoreactivity. Increase in the expression of GAL in FB-positive neurons of the HCL group may suggest its participation in the protective mechanisms of neurons in different pathological processes, such as gastric hyperacidity.Keywords: coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglion complex, gastric innervation, hyperacidity, immunohistochemistry
Procedia PDF Downloads 2401570 Efficacy and Safety of Computerized Cognitive Training Combined with SSRIs for Treating Cognitive Impairment Among Patients with Late-Life Depression: A 12-Week, Randomized Controlled Study
Authors: Xiao Wang, Qinge Zhang
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Background: This randomized, open-label study examined the therapeutic effects of computerized cognitive training (CCT) combined with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on cognitive impairment among patients with late-life depression (LLD). Method: Study data were collected from May 5, 2021, to April 21, 2023. Outpatients who met diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder according to the fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria (i.e., a total score on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) ≥ 18 and a total score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale (MOCA) <26) were randomly assigned to receive up to 12 weeks of CCT and SSRIs treatment (n=57) or SSRIs and Control treatment (n=61). The primary outcome was the change in Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) scores from baseline to week 12 between the two groups. The secondary outcomes included changes in the HAMD-17 score, Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) score and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) score. Mixed model repeated measures (MMRM) analysis was performed on modified intention-to-treat (mITT) and completer populations. Results: The full analysis set (FAS) included 118 patients (CCT and SSRIs group, n=57; SSRIs and Control group, n =61). Over the 12-week study period, the reduction in the ADAS-cog total score was significant (P < 0.001) in both groups, while MMRM analysis revealed a significantly greater reduction in cognitive function (ADAS-cog total scores) from baseline to posttreatment in the CCT and SSRIs group than in the SSRI and Control group [(F (1,115) =13.65, least-squares mean difference [95% CI]: −2.77 [−3.73, −1.81], p<0.001)]. There were significantly greater improvements in depression symptoms (measured by the HAMD-17) in the CCT and SSRIs group than in the control group [MMRM, estimated mean difference (SE) between groups −3.59 [−5.02, −2.15], p < 0.001]. The least-squares mean changes in the HAMA scores and NPI scores between baseline and week 8 were greater in the CCT and SSRIs group than in the control group (all P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between groups on response rates and remission rates by using the last-observation-carried-forward (LOCF) method (all P > 0.05). The most frequent adverse events (AEs) in both groups were dry mouth, somnolence, and constipation. There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups. Conclusions: CCT combined with SSRIs was efficacious and well tolerated in LLD patients with cognitive impairment.Keywords: late-life depression, cognitive function, computerized cognitive training, SSRIs
Procedia PDF Downloads 391569 Anomaly: A Case of Babri Masjid Dispute
Authors: Karitikeya Sonker
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Religion as a discrete system through its lawful internal working produces an output in the form of realised spatial order with its social logic and a social order with its spatial logic. Thus, it appears to exhibit its duality of spatial and trans-spatial. The components of this system share a relevance forming a collective. This shared relevance creates meaning forming a group where all collectives share one identity. This group with its new social order and its spatial logic revive the already existing spatial order. These religious groups do so having a tendency to expand resulting in the production of space in a situation of encounter where they have found relevance. But an encounter without a lawful internal working of a discrete system results in anomaly because groups do not find relevance due to the absence of collective identity. Events happen all around. One of the main reasons we could say that something became an event is because of conflict. Conflict not in its definitive sense but any occurrence that happens because of an intervention that creates an event worth remembering. The unfolding of such events creates Cities and Urban spaces which exhibit their duality of spatial and trans-spatial by behaving as a discrete system. This system through its lawful internal working produces an output in the form of realized spatial order with its social logic and a social order with spatial logic. The components of this system form a collective through a shared a relevance. This shared relevance creates meaning forming a group where all collectives share one identity. This group with its new social order and its spatial logic revives the already existing spatial order. These groups do so having a tendency to expand resulting in the production of space in a situation of encounter where they have found relevance. But an encounter without a lawful internal working of the discrete system results in anomaly because groups do not find relevance due to the absence of collective identity. This paper makes an effort to explore one such even in the case of Babri Mosque and Ramjanmabhumi, Ayodhya to explain the anomaly as transposition of social and spatial. The paper through the case studies makes an attempt to generate an equation explaining the two different situations of religious encounters, former reviving the social and spatial order and the other resulting in anomaly. Through the case study, it makes an attempt to generate an equation explaining the two different situations of religious encounters, former reviving the social and spatial order and the other resulting in anomaly.Keywords: Babri Masjid, Ayodhya, conflict, religion
Procedia PDF Downloads 2721568 The Research of Effectiveness of Animal Protection Act Implementation Reducing Animal Abuse
Authors: Yu Ling Chang
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Since the United Nations announced Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, people are paying more and more attention to the value of lives. On the other hand, life education is being vigorously pushed in different countries. Unfortunately, the results have been only moderately successful by reason that the concept is not implemented in everyone’s daily life. Even worse, animal abuse and killing events keep happening. This research is focused on generalizing a conclusion from different countries’ Animal Protection Act and actual execution by case studies, in order to make an approach of whether the number of animal abuse is directly influenced by different laws and regimes or not. It concludes the central notion and spirit of Animal Protection Act in German, Japan, and Taiwan. Providing the reference of specific schemes and analysis based on Taiwanese social culture.Keywords: animal abuse, Animal Management Act, Animal Protection Act, social culture
Procedia PDF Downloads 2041567 Political Participation of Iranian Women Celebrities
Authors: Naghmeh Sadat Nabavi
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Women´s role in political participation, despite its limitations, is undoubtedly the most essential and effective part of Iran. In all political events throughout Iran's history, women have been pioneers, although they have been limited from getting political positions, even in the parliament. In recent years, movements and protests have been formed by Iranian women to respect natural human rights, especially for women. These movements are accompanied and sometimes guided by female celebrities, the most important of which are actresses. In 2017, this cooperation reached its highest level compared to the past, and the political participation of actresses in support of Hassan Rouhani in the presidential elections brought people who were hesitant to vote to the polls. This type of participation of actresses is seen in the recent protest of #Woman_Life_Freedom in 2022 and 2023 that still continues.Keywords: political participation, presidential election, actresses, celebrities, social media, women, Iran
Procedia PDF Downloads 831566 Use of Satellite Altimetry and Moderate Resolution Imaging Technology of Flood Extent to Support Seasonal Outlooks of Nuisance Flood Risk along United States Coastlines and Managed Areas
Authors: Varis Ransibrahmanakul, Doug Pirhalla, Scott Sheridan, Cameron Lee
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U.S. coastal areas and ecosystems are facing multiple sea level rise threats and effects: heavy rain events, cyclones, and changing wind and weather patterns all influence coastal flooding, sedimentation, and erosion along critical barrier islands and can strongly impact habitat resiliency and water quality in protected habitats. These impacts are increasing over time and have accelerated the need for new tracking techniques, models and tools of flood risk to support enhanced preparedness for coastal management and mitigation. To address this issue, NOAA National Ocean Service (NOS) evaluated new metrics from satellite altimetry AVISO/Copernicus and MODIS IR flood extents to isolate nodes atmospheric variability indicative of elevated sea level and nuisance flood events. Using de-trended time series of cross-shelf sea surface heights (SSH), we identified specific Self Organizing Maps (SOM) nodes and transitions having a strongest regional association with oceanic spatial patterns (e.g., heightened downwelling favorable wind-stress and enhanced southward coastal transport) indicative of elevated coastal sea levels. Results show the impacts of the inverted barometer effect as well as the effects of surface wind forcing; Ekman-induced transport along broad expanses of the U.S. eastern coastline. Higher sea levels and corresponding localized flooding are associated with either pattern indicative of enhanced on-shore flow, deepening cyclones, or local- scale winds, generally coupled with an increased local to regional precipitation. These findings will support an integration of satellite products and will inform seasonal outlook model development supported through NOAAs Climate Program Office and NOS office of Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS). Overall results will prioritize ecological areas and coastal lab facilities at risk based on numbers of nuisance flood projected and inform coastal management of flood risk around low lying areas subjected to bank erosion.Keywords: AVISO satellite altimetry SSHA, MODIS IR flood map, nuisance flood, remote sensing of flood
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