Search results for: history of Poland

Authors: Promise Ufomadu, Edgar Rodriguez, Grace Lee

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Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is an infection caused by a variety of Leishmania species which are protozoan organisms that are typically carried by sandflies found in tropical regions. The parasite causes skin lesions that may resolve spontaneously but commonly become chronic and therefore necessitate thorough clinical attention. We present a 15-year-old female patient with CL of her bilateral dorsal hands, which resolved after a 28-day course of miltefosine. This case details the significance of compiling a thorough patient history and considering CL as a possible differential in patients from endemic regions.

Keywords: leishmaniasis, infection, immigrant, parasites, pediatrics

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Authors: Angeli Marie P. Lagman, Nephtali M. Gorgonio

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Catamenial pneumothorax is defined as a recurrent accumulation of air in the pleural cavity, which occurs in the period of 72 hours before or after menses. In a menstruating woman presenting with the difficulty of breathing and chest pain with concomitant radiographic evidence of pneumothorax, a diagnosis of catamenial pneumothorax should be entertained. Two cases of catamenial pneumothorax were reported in our local literature. This report added two more cases. The first case is 45 years old G1P1, while the second case is 46 years old G2P2. These two patients had a history of pelvic endometriosis in the past. All other signs and symptoms were similar to the previously reported cases. All patients presented with difficulty of breathing associated with chest pain. Imaging studies showed right-sided pneumothorax in all patients. Intraoperatively, subpleural bleb, diaphragmatic fenestrations, and endometriotic implants were found. Three patients underwent video-assisted thoracosurgery (VATS), while one patient underwent open thoracotomy with pleurodesis. Histopathology revealed endometriosis in only two patients. All patients received postoperative hormonal therapy, and there were no recurrences noted in all patients. Endometriosis-related catamenial pneumothorax is a rare condition that needs early recognition of the symptoms. Several theories may be involved to explain the pathogenesis of catamenial pneumothorax. Two cases show a strong significant association between a history of pelvic endometriosis and the development of catamenial pneumothorax, while one case can be explained by the hormonal theory. The difficulty of breathing and chest pain in relation to menses may prompt early diagnosis. One case has shown that pneumothorax may occur even after menstruation. A biopsy of the endometrial implants may not always show endometrial glands and stroma, nor will immunostaining, which will not always show estrogen and progesterone receptors. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is the gold standard in the diagnosis and treatment of catamenial pneumothorax. Postoperative hormonal suppression will further reduce the disease recurrence and facilitate the effectiveness of the surgical treatment.

Keywords: catamenial pneumothorax, endometriosis, menstruation, video assisted thoracosurgery

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Authors: Fortune Mangara

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The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history due to rapid urbanization. Africa’s fast rate of urbanization is being driven by several factors such as population growth and migration. Urbanization results in development pressure on existing infrastructure, and numerous existing buildings are being destroyed in the process. Many of these buildings are built by environmental heritage resources which are part of the city's heritage and are therefore valuable. Many built environment heritage resources are currently being destroyed due to development pressure, while others are facing the risk of destruction or abandonment. There are different approaches that inform urban development and urban conservation. The modernist and post-modernist dichotomy has played an influencing role on how development or conservation of built environment heritage resources are approached. The fragmented nature of historical urban conservation paradigms and theories are also reflected in the evolution of policy and legislation that guide urban development and conservation of built heritage resources. Urban development and conservation have a long history of being guided by separated policies and legislation. However, recent international and South African policy and legislation had started to acknowledge the importance of integrating urban development and urban conservation. Spatial planning guides urban development and can be used as an integrative tool. With the aforementioned in mind, the main research question that guides this study is: What role does spatial planning play in the coexistence of urban development and urban conservation in a city in transition? The main purpose of this research is to use spatial planning as a tool for integrating urban conservation and urban development with reference to built environmental heritage resources. A qualitative research methodology is going to be employed in which a singular case study will be used as the research design. A qualitative document analysis will be used to collect data. Potchefstroom is going to be used as a case study as it is the oldest town in the North West province therefore is rich in built environmental heritage resources.

Keywords: built environmental heritage resources, document analysis, spatial planning, urban conservation, urban development

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Authors: Lawrence Emah

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Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation is undoubtedly, currently going through one of the most difficult phases in her 55 years of existence as an independent nation. At no other time in her history is she under so much pressure of social unrest and unacceptable rate of crime and criminality than it is today. From the North where there is an insurgency to contend with, then to the South where kidnapping and armed robbery hold sway. These issues did not just sprout from nowhere; they have a root somewhere. This is why this paper seeks to bring to the fore poverty and illiteracy as leading causes of these twin social ills– crime and social restiveness as well as suggest practical solutions to the problems.

Keywords: crime, illiteracy, poverty, unrest

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Authors: Isabel Mousinho de Figueiredo

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Traditionally it was held that the king can do no wrong. History has proved otherwise, and both the rule of law and the open society call for a diversification of checks and balances, including civil liability in tort. Most jurisdictions are right to fear the excessive cost of such liability for the innocent taxpayer. There are notwithstanding extreme instances where refusing compensation is perceived to be outrageous. Many public bodies end up handing out on a voluntary basis, which leaves room to question its legality and merit. Instead, some criteria can shed light on the fairness of an underlying rationale of such compensation and cordon it off within reasonable limits.

Keywords: comparative law, liability of legislators, public bodies, tort law

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Authors: Dominic McGann

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Applying Kuhn’s model of paradigm shifts in science to cases of doctrinal change in religion has been a common area of study in recent years. Few authors, however, have sought an explanation for the ease with which this model of theory change in science can be applied to cases of religious change. In order to provide such an explanation of this analytic phenomenon, this paper aims to answer one central question: Why is it that a theory that was intended to be used in an analysis of the history of science can be applied to something as disparate as the doctrinal history of religion with little to no modification? By way of answering this question, this paper begins with an explanation of Kuhn’s model and its applications in the field of religious studies. Following this, Massa’s recently proposed explanation for this phenomenon, and its notable flaws will be explained by way of framing the central proposal of this article, that the operative parts of scientific and religious changes function on the same fundamental concept of changes in understanding. Focusing its argument on this key concept, this paper seeks to illustrate its operation in cases of religious conversion and in Kuhn’s notion of the incommensurability of different scientific paradigms. The conjecture of this paper is that just as a Pagan-turned-Christian ceases to hear Thor’s hammer when they hear a clap of thunder, so too does a Ptolemaic-turned-Copernican-astronomer cease to see the Sun orbiting the Earth when they view a sunrise. In both cases, the agent in question has undergone a similar change in universal understanding, which provides us with a fundamental connection between changes in religion and changes in science. Following an exploration of this connection, this paper will consider the implications that such a connection has for the concept of the division between religion and science. This will, in turn, lead to the conclusion that religion and science are more alike than they are opposed with regards to the fundamental notion of understanding, thereby providing an answer to our central question. The major finding of this paper is that Kuhn’s model can be applied to religious cases so easily because changes in science and changes in religion operate on the same type of change in understanding. Therefore, in summary, science and religion share a crucial similarity and are not as disparate as they first appear.

Keywords: Thomas Kuhn, science and religion, paradigm shifts, incommensurability, insight and understanding, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion

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Authors: Omar Qaftan

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Earthquakes can cause tremendous loss of human life and can result in severe damage to a several of civil engineering structures especially the tall buildings. The response of a multistory structure subjected to earthquake loading is a complex task, and it requires to be studied by physical and numerical modelling. For many circumstances, the scale models on shaking table may be a more economical option than the similar full-scale tests. A shaking table apparatus is a powerful tool that offers a possibility of understanding the actual behaviour of structural systems under earthquake loading. It is required to use a set of scaling relations to predict the behaviour of the full-scale structure. Selecting the scale factors is the most important steps in the simulation of the prototype into the scaled model. In this paper, the principles of scaling modelling procedure are explained in details, and the simulation of scaled multi-storey concrete structure for dynamic studies is investigated. A procedure for a complete dynamic simulation analysis is investigated experimentally and numerically with a scale factor of 1/50. The frequency domain accounting and lateral displacement for both numerical and experimental scaled models are determined. The procedure allows accounting for the actual dynamic behave of actual size porotype structure and scaled model. The procedure is adapted to determine the effects of the tall multi-storey structure on a raft foundation. Four generated accelerograms were used as inputs for the time history motions which are in complying with EC8. The output results of experimental works expressed regarding displacements and accelerations are compared with those obtained from a conventional fixed-base numerical model. Four-time history was applied in both experimental and numerical models, and they concluded that the experimental has an acceptable output accuracy in compare with the numerical model output. Therefore this modelling methodology is valid and qualified for different shaking table experiments tests.

Keywords: structure, raft, soil, interaction

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Authors: Justyna Minkiewicz

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied in the arts may influence the development of AI knowledge in other sectors and then also impact mutual collaboration with the artistic environment. Hence this collaboration may also impact the development of art projects. The paper will reflect the qualitative research outcomes based on in-depth (IDI) interviews within the marketing sector in Poland and desk research. Art is a reflection of the spirit of our times. Moreover, now we are experiencing a significant acceleration in the development of technologies and their use in various sectors. The leading technologies that contribute to the development of the economy, including the creative sector, embrace technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, extended reality, voice processing, and virtual beings. Artificial intelligence is one of the leading technologies developed for several decades, which is currently reaching a high level of interest and use in various sectors. However, the conducted research has shown that there is still low awareness of artificial intelligence and its wide application in various sectors. The study will show how artists use artificial intelligence in their art projects and how it can be translated into practice within the business. At the same time, the paper will raise awareness of the need for businesses to be inspired by the artistic environment. The research proved that there is still a need to popularize knowledge about this technology which is crucial for many sectors. Art projects are tools to develop knowledge and awareness of society and also various sectors. At the same time, artists may benefit from such collaboration. The paper will include selected aspects of mutual relations, areas of possible inspiration, and possible transfers of technological solutions. Those are AI applications in creative industries such as advertising and film, image recognition in art, and projects from different sectors.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, business, art, creative industry, technology

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Authors: Elizabeth Starzycka-Korbas, Michal Starzycki, Wojciech Rybinski, Mirosława Dabert

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For a few years, the populations of pathogenic fungi occurring in winter oilseed rape in Malyszyn were analyzed. Brassica napus L. in Poland and in the world is a source of energy for both the men (oil), and animals, as post-extraction middling, as well as a motor fuel (oil, biofuel) therefore studies of this type are very important. The species composition of pathogenic fungi can be an indicator of seed yield. The occurrence of oilseed rape pathogens during several years were analyzed using the sequencing method DNA ITS. The results were compared in the gene bank using the program NCBI / BLAST. In field conditions before harvest of oilseed rape presence of pathogens infesting B. napus has been assessed. For example, in 2015, 150 samples have been isolated and applied to PDA medium for the identification of belonging species. From all population has been selected mycelium of 83 isolates which were sequenced. Others (67 isolates) were pathogenic fungi of the genus Alternaria which are easily to recognize. The population of pathogenic species on oilseed rape have been identified after analyzing the DNA ITS and include: Leptosphaeria sp. 38 (L. maculans 25, L. biglobosa 13), Alternaria sp. 29, Fusarium sp. 3, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum 7, heterogeneous 6, total of 83 isolates. The genus Alternaria sp. fungi wear the largest share of B. napus pathogens in particular years. Another dangerous species for oilseed rape was Leptosphaeria sp. Populations of pathogens in each year were different. The number of pathogens occurring in the field and their composition is very important for breeders and farmers because of the possible selection of the most resistant genotypes for sowing in the next growing season.

Keywords: B. napus, DNA ITS Sequencing, pathogenic fungi, population

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Authors: André Smith, Amr Abdel-Dayem

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This paper presents an overview of the history and development of stereo matching algorithms. Details from its inception, up to relatively recent techniques are described, noting challenges that have been surmounted across these past decades. Different components of these are explored, though focus is directed towards the local matching techniques. While global approaches have existed for some time, and demonstrated greater accuracy than their counterparts, they are generally quite slow. Many strides have been made more recently, allowing local methods to catch up in terms of accuracy, without sacrificing the overall performance.

Keywords: developmental survey, local stereo matching, rectification, stereo correspondence

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Authors: Krystian Szczepanski, Sylwia Łaba

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Production of fruit and vegetables, food cereals or oilseeds affects the natural environment via intake of nutrients being contained in the soil, use of the resources of water, fertilizers and food protection products, and energy. The limitation of the mentioned effects requires the introduction of techniques and methods for cultivation being friendly to the environment and counteracting losses and waste of agricultural raw materials as well as the appropriate management of food waste in every stage of the agri-food supply chain. The link to basic production includes obtaining a vegetal raw material and its storage in agricultural farm and transport to a collecting point. When the plants are ready to be harvested is the initial point; the stage before harvesting is not considered in the system of measuring and monitoring the food losses. The moment at which the raw material enters the stage of processing, i.e., its receipt at the gate of the processing plant, is considered as a final point of basic production. According to the Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002, Art. 2, “food” means any substance or product, intended to be, or reasonably expected to be consumed by humans. For the needs of the studies and their analysis, it was determined when raw material is considered as food – the plants (fruit, vegetables, cereals, oilseeds), after being harvested, arrive at storehouses. The aim of the studies was to determine the reasons for loss generation and to analyze the directions of their management in basic vegetal production in Poland in the years 2017 and 2018. The studies on food losses and waste in basic vegetal production were carried out in three sectors – fruit and vegetables, cereals and oilseeds. The studies of the basic production were conducted during the period of March-May 2019 at the territory of the whole country on a representative trail of 250 farms in each sector. The surveys were carried out using the questionnaires by the PAP method; the pollsters conducted the direct questionnaire interviews. From the conducted studies, it is followed that in 19% of the examined farms, any losses were not recorded during preparation, loading, and transport of the raw material to the manufacturing plant. In the farms, where the losses were indicated, the main reason in production of fruit and vegetables was rotting and it constituted more than 20% of the reported reasons, while in the case of cereals and oilseeds’ production, the respondents identified damages, moisture and pests as the most frequent reason. The losses and waste, generated in vegetal production as well as in processing and trade of fruit and vegetables, or cereal products should be appropriately managed or recovered. The respondents indicated composting (more than 60%) as the main direction of waste management in all categories. Animal feed and landfill sites were the other indicated directions of management. Prevention and minimization of loss generation are important in every stage of production as well as in basic production. When possessing the knowledge on the reasons for loss generation, we may introduce the preventive measures, mainly connected with the appropriate conditions and methods of the storage. Production of fruit and vegetables, food cereals or oilseeds affects the natural environment via intake of nutrients being contained in the soil, use of the resources of water, fertilizers and food protection products, and energy. The limitation of the mentioned effects requires the introduction of techniques and methods for cultivation being friendly to the environment and counteracting losses and waste of agricultural raw materials as well as the appropriate management of food waste in every stage of the agri-food supply chain. The link to basic production includes obtaining a vegetal raw material and its storage in agricultural farm and transport to a collecting point. The starting point is when the plants are ready to be harvested; the stage before harvesting is not considered in the system of measuring and monitoring the food losses. The successive stage is the transport of the collected crops to the collecting point or its storage and transport. The moment, at which the raw material enters the stage of processing, i.e. its receipt at the gate of the processing plant, is considered as a final point of basic production. Processing is understood as the change of the raw material into food products. According to the Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002, Art. 2, “food” means any substance or product, intended to be, or reasonably expected to be consumed by humans. It was determined (for the needs of the present studies) when raw material is considered as a food; it is the moment when the plants (fruit, vegetables, cereals, oilseeds), after being harvested, arrive at storehouses. The aim of the studies was to determine the reasons for loss generation and to analyze the directions of their management in basic vegetal production in Poland in the years 2017 and 2018. The studies on food losses and waste in basic vegetal production were carried out in three sectors – fruit and vegetables, cereals and oilseeds. The studies of the basic production were conducted during the period of March-May 2019 at the territory of the whole country on a representative trail of 250 farms in each sector. The surveys were carried out using the questionnaires by the PAPI (Paper & Pen Personal Interview) method; the pollsters conducted the direct questionnaire interviews. From the conducted studies, it is followed that in 19% of the examined farms, any losses were not recorded during preparation, loading, and transport of the raw material to the manufacturing plant. In the farms, where the losses were indicated, the main reason in production of fruit and vegetables was rotting and it constituted more than 20% of the reported reasons, while in the case of cereals and oilseeds’ production, the respondents identified damages, moisture, and pests as the most frequent reason. The losses and waste, generated in vegetal production as well as in processing and trade of fruit and vegetables, or cereal products should be appropriately managed or recovered. The respondents indicated composting (more than 60%) as the main direction of waste management in all categories. Animal feed and landfill sites were the other indicated directions of management. Prevention and minimization of loss generation are important in every stage of production as well as in basic production. When possessing the knowledge on the reasons for loss generation, we may introduce the preventive measures, mainly connected with the appropriate conditions and methods of the storage. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The article was prepared within the project: "Development of a waste food monitoring system and an effective program to rationalize losses and reduce food waste", acronym PROM implemented under the STRATEGIC SCIENTIFIC AND LEARNING PROGRAM - GOSPOSTRATEG financed by the National Center for Research and Development in accordance with the provisions of Gospostrateg1 / 385753/1/2018

Keywords: food losses, food waste, PAP method, vegetal production

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Authors: Sherine El-Menshawy

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Death, funerary beliefs and customs form an essential feature of belief systems and practices in many cultures. It is evident that during the pre-historical periods, various techniques of corpses burial and funerary rituals were conducted. Occasionally, corpses were merely buried in the sand, or in a grave where the body is placed in a contracted position- with knees drawn up under the chin and hands normally lying before the face- with mounds of sand, marking the grave or the bodies were burnt. However, common practice, that was demonstrable in the archaeological record, was burial. The earliest graves were very simple consisting of a shallow circular or oval pits in the ground. The current study focuses on the material culture at Qatar during the pre-historical period, specifically their funerary architecture and burial practices. Since information about burial customs and funerary practices in Qatar prehistory is both scarce and fragmentary, the importance of such study is to answer research questions related to funerary believes and burial habits during the early stages of civilization transformations at prehistory Qatar compared with Mesopotamia, since chronologically, the earliest pottery discovered in Qatar belongs to prehistoric Ubaid culture of Mesopotamia, that was collected from the excavations. This will lead to deep understanding of life and social status in pre-historical period at Qatar. The research also explores the relationship between pre-history Qatar funerary traditions and those of neighboring cultures in the Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, with the aim of ascertaining the distinctive aspects of pre-history Qatar culture, the reception of classical culture and the role it played in the creation of local cultural identities in the Near East. Methodologies of this study based on published books and articles in addition to unpublished reports of the Danish excavation team that excavated in and around Doha, Qatar archaeological sites from the 50th. The study is also constructed on compared material related to burial customs found in Mesopotamia. Therefore this current research: (i) Advances knowledge of the burial customs of the ancient people who inhabited Qatar, a study which is unknown recently to scholars, the study though will apply deep understanding of the history of ancient Qatar and its culture and values with an aim to share this invaluable human heritage. (ii) The study is of special significance for the field of studies, since evidence derived from the current study has great value for the study of living conditions, social structure, religious beliefs and ritual practices. (iii) Excavations brought to light burials of different categories. The graves date to the bronze and Iron ages. Their structure varies between mounds above the ground or burials below the ground level. Evidence comes from sites such as Al-Da’asa, Ras Abruk, and Al-Khor. Painted Ubaid sherds of Mesopotamian culture have been discovered in Qatar from sites such as Al-Da’asa, Ras Abruk, and Bir Zekrit. In conclusion, there is no comprehensive study which has been done and lack of general synthesis of information about funerary practices is problematic. Therefore, the study will fill in the gaps in the area.

Keywords: archaeological, burial, findings, prehistory, Qatar

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Authors: Gaye Demi̇rtaş Adli

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Research: It was conducted to determine the factors affecting the fear of self-injection and self-pricking of fingers of diabetic individuals.The study was conducted as a cross-sectional, relation-seeking, and descriptive study. The study was conducted on 122 patients who had just started insulin therapy. Data were obtained through The Descriptive Patient Form, The Diabetic Self-Injection, and the Fear of Testing Questionnaire Form (D-FISQ). Descriptive statistical methods used in the evaluation of data are the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and the Spearman correlation. The factors affecting the scale scores were evaluated with multiple linear regression analysis. The value of P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Study group: 56.6% of the patients are male patients. Fear of self-injection (injection), fear of self-testing (test), and total fear (total) scores of women were found to be statistically higher than men (p<0.001). Age, gender, and pain experience were important variables that affected patients' fear of injections. With a one-unit increase in age, the injection fear score decreased by 0.13 points, and the mean injection fear score of women was 2.11 points higher than that of men. It was determined that the patient's age, gender, living with whom, and blood donation history were important variables affecting the fear of self-testing. It is seen that the fear test score decreases by 0.18 points with an increase in age by one unit, and the fear test scores of women compared to men are on average 3,358 points, the fear test scores of those living alone are 4,711 points compared to those living with family members, and the fear test scores of those who do not donate blood are 2,572 compared to those who donate blood score, it was determined that those with more pain experience were 3,156 points higher on average than those with less fear of injection. As a result, it was seen that the most important factors affecting the fear of insulin injection and finger punching in individuals with diabetes were age, gender, pain experience, living with whom, and blood donation history.

Keywords: diabetes, needle phobia, fear of injection, insulin injection

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Authors: Ng Wai Ming

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The Yijing (Classic of Changes) is one of the most influential Chinese classics, and its text, images and divination have been widely studied and used by different people in the world from past to present. Its impact in Asia has been particularly strong due to cultural and geographical proximity. Based on many years of textual study of the history of the Yijing in the Sinosphere, the author attempts to identify various levels of acceptance and localization of the Yijing in different Asian regions, including Japan, Korea, the Ryukyu Kingdom, Vietnam, Mongolia and Tibet. It will create a new concept of “Yijing cultural sphere” to explain the popularization and indigenization of the Yijing in Asia.

Keywords: classic of changes, asia, sinosphere, localization

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Authors: Sasha Mullally

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This paper investigates the transnational circulation of European Nordic ideas about and programs for manual education and training over the decades spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Based on the unexamined but voluminous correspondence (English-language) of Otto Salomon, an internationally famous education reformer who popularized a form of manual training called "slöjd" (anglicized as "sloyd"), this paper examines it's circulation and translation across global cultures. Salomon, a multilingual promoter of new standardized program for manual training, based his curricula on traditional handcrqafts, particularly Swedish woodworking. He and his followers claimed that the integration of manual training and craft work provided primary and secondary educators with an opportunity to cultivate the mental, but also the physical, and tangentially, the spiritual, health of children. While historians have examined the networks who came together in person to train at his slöjd school for educators in western Sweden, no one has mapped the international community he cultivated over decades of letter writing. Additionally, while the circulation of his ideas in Britain and Germany, as well as the northeastern United States has been placed in a broader narrative of "western" education reform in the Progressive or late Victorian era, no one has examined the correspondence for evidence of the program's wider international appeal beyond Europe and North America. This paper fills this gap by examining the breadth of his reach through active correspondence with educators in Asia (Japan), South America (Brazil), and Africa (South Africa and Zimbabwe). As such, this research presents an opportunity to map the international communities of education reformers active at the turn of the last century, compare and contrast their understandings of and interpretations of "holistic" education, and reveal the ways manual formation was understood to be foundational to the healthy development of children.

Keywords: history of education, history of medicine and psychiatry, child health, child formation, internationalism

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Authors: Irene Yi

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Machine learning, natural language processing, and neural network models of language are becoming more and more prevalent in the fields of technology and linguistics today. Training data for machines are at best, large corpora of human literature and at worst, a reflection of the ugliness in society. Computational linguistics is a growing field dealing with such issues of data collection for technological development. Machines have been trained on millions of human books, only to find that in the course of human history, derogatory and sexist adjectives are used significantly more frequently when describing females in history and literature than when describing males. This is extremely problematic, both as training data, and as the outcome of natural language processing. As machines start to handle more responsibilities, it is crucial to ensure that they do not take with them historical sexist and misogynistic notions. This paper gathers data and algorithms from neural network models of language having to deal with syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and text classification. Computational analysis on such linguistic data is used to find patterns of misogyny. Results are significant in showing the existing intentional and unintentional misogynistic notions used to train machines, as well as in developing better technologies that take into account the semantics and syntax of text to be more mindful and reflect gender equality. Further, this paper deals with the idea of non-binary gender pronouns and how machines can process these pronouns correctly, given its semantic and syntactic context. This paper also delves into the implications of gendered grammar and its effect, cross-linguistically, on natural language processing. Languages such as French or Spanish not only have rigid gendered grammar rules, but also historically patriarchal societies. The progression of society comes hand in hand with not only its language, but how machines process those natural languages. These ideas are all extremely vital to the development of natural language models in technology, and they must be taken into account immediately.

Keywords: computational analysis, gendered grammar, misogynistic language, neural networks

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Authors: Nadia Konstantina Zygouri

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This paper aims to provide a concise analysis of the symbolic nature of cinematic light portrayed in Apichatpong Weerasethakul's film Cemetery of Splendour (2015). The study explores the philosophical hypostasis of lighting mechanisms, the idea of which is based on political motives and, in addition, metaphysical theories originating from the Isan region of Thailand. In the film, the colourful hospital space and narcoleptic soldiers represent the deep and tumultuous history of the Thai nation, revealing a symbolic allegory through an incurable disease that the protagonists suffer from, addressing with this metaphor a collective political apathy. Specifically, the film follows Jen, a woman with a leg disability who takes care of Itt, an ex-soldier fallen into narcolepsy amidst a multi-coloured roomful of other comatose soldiers. The film's central theme, as well as the central setting, concerns an abandoned former school now used as a treatment clinic for military patients, each connected to a mechanism of light that can affect their dreams while sleeping. The audience later discovers from two mythological figures emerging from Thailand's ancient religious past that the hospital grounds are built over the ruins of an ancient kingdom's cemetery. The symbolic political implication is that ancient rulers have captured the soldiers’ spirits to fight their eternal battles, leaving their unconscious bodies in torpor, as similar politics of the past and present affect the nation to this day and enforce political apathy. In a contrasting tone, the colourful tubes are present to relieve the soldiers' symptoms and create better memories in their subconscious minds. As a result, the concluding argument of this hypothesis places Apichatpong's direction of cinematic light towards a philosophical and political commentary that, although derived from ancient national history, remains thoroughly contemporary.

Keywords: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, cemetery of Splendour, filmosophy, politics, aesthetics, direction of photography, light in cinema, metaphysics, visual philosophy

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Authors: Irene Capecchi, Tommaso Borghini, Iacopo Bernetti

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An important tool for the enhancement of cultural sites is serious games (SG), i.e., games designed for educational purposes; SG is applied in cultural sites through trivia, puzzles, and mini-games for participation in interactive exhibitions, mobile applications, and simulations of past events. The combination of Augmented Reality (AR) and digital cultural content has also produced examples of cultural heritage recovery and revitalization around the world. Through AR, the user perceives the information of the visited place in a more real and interactive way. Another interesting technological development for the revitalization of cultural sites is the combination of AR and Global Positioning System (GPS), which integrated have the ability to enhance the user's perception of reality by providing historical and architectural information linked to specific locations organized on a route. To the author’s best knowledge, there are currently no applications that combine GPS AR and SG for cultural heritage revitalization. The present research focused on the development of an SG based on GPS and AR. The study area is the village of Caldana in Tuscany, Italy. Caldana is a fortified Renaissance village; the most important architectures are the walls, the church of San Biagio, the rectory, and the marquis' palace. The historical information is derived from extensive research by the Department of Architecture at the University of Florence. The storyboard of the SG is based on the history of the three characters who built the village: marquis Marcello Agostini, who was commissioned by Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to build the village, his son Ippolito and his architect Lorenzo Pomarelli. The three historical characters were modeled in 3D using the freeware MakeHuman and imported into Blender and Mixamo to associate a skeleton and blend shapes to have gestural animations and reproduce lip movement during speech. The Unity Rhubarb Lip Syncer plugin was used for the lip sync animation. The historical costumes were created by Marvelous Designer. The application was developed using the Unity 3D graphics and game engine. The AR+GPS Location plugin was used to position the 3D historical characters based on GPS coordinates. The ARFoundation library was used to display AR content. The SG is available in two versions: for children and adults. the children's version consists of finding a digital treasure consisting of valuable items and historical rarities. Players must find 9 village locations where 3D AR models of historical figures explaining the history of the village provide clues. To stimulate players, there are 3 levels of rewards for every 3 clues discovered. The rewards consist of AR masks for archaeologist, professor, and explorer. At the adult level, the SG consists of finding the 16 historical landmarks in the village, and learning historical and architectural information interactively and engagingly. The application is being tested on a sample of adults and children. Test subjects will be surveyed on a Likert scale to find out their perceptions of using the app and the learning experience between the guided tour and interaction with the app.

Keywords: augmented reality, cultural heritage, GPS, serious game

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Authors: Samrawit Tamrat Gebretsadik

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Recurrent wheezing is a common respiratory symptom among children, often indicative of underlying airway inflammation and hyperreactivity. Understanding the prevalence and associated factors of recurrent wheezing in specific age groups is crucial for targeted interventions and improved respiratory health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of recurrent wheezing among 6-year-old children attending Adama Comprehensive Specialized Hospital Medical College in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study design was employed, involving structured interviews with parents/guardians, medical records review, and clinical examination of children. Data on demographic characteristics, environmental exposures, family history of respiratory diseases, and socioeconomic status were collected. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with recurrent wheezing. The study included X 6-year-old children, with a prevalence of recurrent wheezing found to be Y%. Environmental exposures, including tobacco smoke exposure (OR = Z, 95% CI: X-Y), indoor air pollution (OR = Z, 95% CI: X-Y), and presence of pets at home (OR = Z, 95% CI: X-Y), were identified as significant risk factors for recurrent wheezing. Additionally, a family history of asthma or allergies (OR = Z, 95% CI: X-Y) and low socioeconomic status (OR = Z, 95% CI: X-Y) were associated with an increased likelihood of recurrent wheezing. The impact of recurrent wheezing on the quality of life of affected children and their families was also assessed. Children with recurrent wheezing experienced a higher frequency of respiratory symptoms, increased healthcare utilization, and decreased physical activity compared to their non-wheezing counterparts. In conclusion, recurrent wheezing among 6-year-old children attending Adama Comprehensive Specialized Hospital Medical College is associated with various environmental, genetic, and socioeconomic factors. These findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions aimed at reducing exposure to known triggers and improving respiratory health outcomes in this population. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies to further elucidate the causal relationships between risk factors and recurrent wheezing and evaluate the effectiveness of preventive strategies.

Keywords: wheezing, inflammation, respiratory, crucial

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Authors: Peter Amobi Chiamogu

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Communication has subsisted as the basis for mass mobilization and political education through history with the media as a generic concept. Revolutions in ICTs have occasioned a limitless environment for the dissemination of information and ideas especially with the use of a seemingly pervasive access, penetration and use of the internet which has engendered a connected society. This study seeks to analyze the prospects and challenges for the adaptation of social media for free election and how this process can enhance public policy making, implementation and evaluation in a developing state.

Keywords: social media, e-participation, political mobilization, public policy, electioneering

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Authors: Orly Redlich

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In the age of social distance, which has been added to an individual and competitive worldview, it has become important to find a way to promote closeness and personal touch. The sense of social belonging and the existence of positive interaction with others have recently become a considerable necessity. Therefore, this theoretical paper will review one of the familiar and common concepts among different cultures around the world – birthday. This paper has a theoretical contribution that deepens the understanding of the birthday concept. Birthday rituals are historical and universal events, which noted since the prehistoric eras. In ancient history, birthday rituals were solely reserved for kings and nobility members, but over the years, birthday celebrations have evolved into a worldwide tradition. Some of the familiar birthday customs and symbols are currently common among most cultures, while some cultures have adopted for themselves unique birthday customs, which characterized their values and traditions. The birthday concept has a unique significance in Judaism as well, historically, religiously, and socially: It is considered as a lucky day and a private holiday for the celebrant. Therefore, the present paper reviews diverse birthday customs around the world in different cultures, including Judaism, and marks important birthdays throughout history. The paper also describes how the concept of birthday appears over the years in songs, novels, and art, and presents quotes from distinguished sages. The theoretical review suggests that birthday has a special meaning as a time-mark in the cycle of life, and as a socialization means in human development. Moreover, the birthday serves as a symbol of belonging and group cohesiveness, a day in which the celebrant's sense of belonging and sense of importance are strengthened and nurtured. Thus, the reappearance of these elements in a family or group interaction during the birthday ceremony allows the celebrant to absorb positive impressions about himself. In view of the extensive theoretical review, it seems that the unique importance of birthdays can serve as the foundation for intervention programs that may affect the participants’ sense of belonging and empowerment. In the group aspect, perhaps it can also yield therapeutic factors within a group. Concrete recommendations are presented at the end of the paper.

Keywords: birthday, universal events, positive interaction, group cohesiveness, rituals

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Authors: Aleksandra Ibragimow, Moritz Albrecht, Eerika Albrecht

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Close international cooperation between all countries within a river basin has become one of the key aspects of sustainable cross-border water management. This is due to the fact that water does not stop at administrative or political boundaries. Therefore, the preferred mode to protect and manage transnational water bodies is close cooperation between all countries and stakeholders within the natural hydrological unit of the river basin. However, past practices have demonstrated that combining interests of different countries and stakeholders with differing political systems and management approaches to environmental issues upstream as well as downstream can be challenging. The study focuses on particular problems and challenges of water management in international river basin districts by the example of the International Oder River Basin District. The Oder River is one of the largest cross-border rivers of the Baltic Sea basin passing through Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Attention is directed towards the activities and the actions that were carried out during the Districts' first management cycle of transnational river basin management (2009-2015). The results show that actions of individual countries have been focused on the National Water Management Plans while a common appointment about identified supra-regional water management problems has not been solved, and conducted actions can be considered as preliminary and merely a basis for future management. This present state raises the question whether the achievement of main objectives of Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) can be a realistic task.

Keywords: International River Basin Districts, water management, water frameworkdirective, water management plans

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Authors: Diwei Lin, Amanda Tan, Rajinder Singh-Rai

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We present the first reported case of a concomitant Leydig cell tumor (LCT) and paratesticular leiomyoma in an adult male with a known history of bilateral cryptorchidism. An 80-year-old male presented with a 2-month history of a left testicular lump associated with mild discomfort and a gradual increase in size on a background of bilateral cryptorchidism requiring multiple orchidopexy procedures as a child. Ultrasound confirmed a lesion suspicious for malignancy and he proceeded to a left radical orchidectomy. Histopathological assessment of the left testis revealed a concomitant testicular LCT with malignant features and paratesticular leiomyoma. Leydig cell tumors (LCTs) are the most common pure testicular sex cord-stromal tumors, accounting for up to 3% of all testicular tumors. They can occur at almost any age, but are noted to have a bi-modal distribution, with a peak incidence at 6 to 10 and at 20 to 50 years of age. LCT’s are often hormonally active and can lead to feminizing or virilizing syndromes. LCT’s are usually regarded as benign but can rarely exhibit malignant traits. Paratesticular tumours are uncommon and their reported prevalence varies between 3% and 16%. They occur in a complex anatomical area which includes the contents of the spermatic cord, testicular tunics, epididymis and vestigial remnants. Up to 90% of paratesticular tumours are believed to originate from the spermatic cord, though it is often difficult to definitively ascertain the exact site of origin. Although any type of soft-tissue neoplasm can be found in the paratesticular region, the most common benign tumors reported are lipomas of the spermatic cord, adenomatoid tumours of the epididymis and leiomyomas of the testis. Genetic studies have identified potential mutations that could potentially cause LCTs, but there are no known associations between concomitant LCTs and paratesticular tumors. The presence of cryptorchidism in adults with both LCTs and paratesticular neoplasms individually has been previously reported and it appears intuitive that cryptorchidism is likely to be associated with the concomitant presentation in this case report. This report represents the first documented case in the literature of a unilateral concomitant LCT and paratesticular leiomyoma on a background of bilateral cryptorchidism.

Keywords: testicular cancer, leydig cell tumour, leiomyoma, paratesticular neoplasms

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Authors: Yousef Abu Amrieh

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This paper explores how Arab American novelist Rabih Alameddine's recent novel The Angel of History (2016) appropriates certain motifs, tropes, and themes from Shakespeare's The Tempest. In particular, Alameddine's novel re-tells the story of Caliban and his mother from the perspective of a Yemeni bastard whose mis/fortunes take him to the US shores in the eighties of the previous century. The novel, specifically, re-writes the scene in which Caliban is gazed at by European travelers like Stephano and Trinculo whose first reaction to seeing him is to consider how to sell him or give him as a gift when they safely return to Europe. The novel contests Shakespeare's representation of Caliban as 'marketable' through depicting his daily experiences in modern day America.

Keywords: appropriation, Alameddine, Shakespeare, The Tempest

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Authors: Eugenija Strazdiene, Violeta Bytautaite, Daivute Krisciuniene

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The object of the investigation is the suit for chemical protection, which totally covers human body together with breathing apparatus, breathing mask and helmet (JSC Ansell Protective Solutions Lithuania). The end users of such clothing are the members of rescue team – firefighters. During the presentation, the results of 3D scanning with stationary Human Solutions scanner and portable Artec Eva scanner will be compared on the basis of the efficiency of scanning procedure and scanning accuracy. Also, the possibilities to exporting scanned bodies into specialized CAD systems for suit design development and material consumption calculation will be analyzed. The necessity to understand and to implement corresponding clothing material properties during 3D visualization of garment on CAD systems will be presented. During the presentation, the outcomes of the project ‘Smart and Safe Work Wear Clothing SWW’ will be discussed. The project is carried out under the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Program as 2014-2020 European territorial cooperation objective. Thematic priority is Capacity for Innovation. The main goal of the project is to improve competitiveness and to increase business possibilities for work wear enterprises in the Baltic Sea Region. The project focuses on mass customization of products for various end users. It engages textile and clothing manufacturing technology researchers, work wear producers, end users, as well as national textile and clothing branch organizations in Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland.

Keywords: CAD systems, mass customization, 3D scanning, safe work wear

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Authors: Yijun Shao, Yan Cheng, Rashmee U. Shah, Charlene R. Weir, Bruce E. Bray, Qing Zeng-Treitler

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Deep neural network (DNN) models are being explored in the clinical domain, following the recent success in other domains such as image recognition. For clinical adoption, outcome prediction models require explanation, but due to the multiple non-linear inner transformations, DNN models are viewed by many as a black box. In this study, we developed a deep neural network model for predicting 1-year mortality of patients who underwent major cardio vascular procedures (MCVPs), using temporal image representation of past medical history as input. The dataset was obtained from the electronic medical data warehouse administered by Veteran Affairs Information and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI). We identified 21,355 veterans who had their first MCVP in 2014. Features for prediction included demographics, diagnoses, procedures, medication orders, hospitalizations, and frailty measures extracted from clinical notes. Temporal variables were created based on the patient history data in the 2-year window prior to the index MCVP. A temporal image was created based on these variables for each individual patient. To generate the explanation for the DNN model, we defined a new concept called impact score, based on the presence/value of clinical conditions’ impact on the predicted outcome. Like (log) odds ratio reported by the logistic regression (LR) model, impact scores are continuous variables intended to shed light on the black box model. For comparison, a logistic regression model was fitted on the same dataset. In our cohort, about 6.8% of patients died within one year. The prediction of the DNN model achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 78.5% while the LR model achieved an AUC of 74.6%. A strong but not perfect correlation was found between the aggregated impact scores and the log odds ratios (Spearman’s rho = 0.74), which helped validate our explanation.

Keywords: deep neural network, temporal data, prediction, frailty, logistic regression model

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Authors: Pingshan Chen, Zhiliang Dong

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In order to estimate the post-construction settlement more objectively, the power-polynomial model is proposed, which can reflect the trend of settlement development based on the observed settlement data. It was demonstrated by an actual case history of an embankment, and during the prediction. Compared with the other three prediction models, the power-polynomial model can estimate the post-construction settlement more accurately with more simple calculation.

Keywords: prediction, model, post-construction settlement, soft ground

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Authors: Marcela Davalos Lopez

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The history of the circulation of hygienic knowledge and the consolidation of public health in Latin American cities towards the end of the 19th century is well known. Among them, Mexico City was inserted in international politics, strengthened institutions, medical knowledge, applied parameters of modernity and built sanitary engineering works. Despite the power that this hygienist system achieved, its scope was relative: it cannot be generalized to all cities. From a comparative and contextual analysis, it will be shown that conclusions derived from modern urban historiography present, from our contemporary observations, fractures. Between 1890 and 1930, the small cities and areas surrounding the Mexican capital adapted in their own way the international and federal public health regulations. This will be shown for neighborhoods located around Mexico City and in a medium city, close to the Mexican capital (about 80 km), called Cuernavaca. While the inhabitants of the neighborhoods kept awaiting the evolutionary process and the forms that public hygiene policies were taking (because they were witnesses and affected in their territories), in Cuernavaca, the dictates came as an echo. While the capital was drained, large roads were opened, roundabouts were erected, residents were expelled, and drains, sewers, drinking water pipes, etc., were built; Cuernavaca was sheltered in other times and practices. What was this due to? Undoubtedly, the time and energy that it took politicians and the group of "scientists" to carry out these enormous works in the Mexican capital took them away from addressing the issue in remote villages. It was not until the 20th century that the federal hygiene policy began to be strengthened. Despite this, there are other factors that emphasize the particularities of each site. I would like to draw attention here to the different receptions that each town prepared on public hygiene. We will see that Cuernavaca responded to its own semi-rural culture, history, orography and functions, prolonging for much longer, for example, the use of its deep ravines as sewers. For their part, the neighborhoods surrounding the capital, although affected and excluded from hygienist policies, chose to move away from them and solve the deficiencies with their own resources (they resorted to the waste that was left from the dried lake of Mexico to continue their lake practices). All of this points to a paradox that shapes our contemporary concerns: on the one hand, the benefits derived from medical knowledge and its technological applications (in this work referring particularly to the urban health system) and, on the other, the alteration it caused in environmental settings. Places like Cuernavaca (classified by the nineteenth-century and hygienists of the first decades of the twentieth century as backward), as well as landscapes such as neighborhoods, affected by advances in sanitary engineering, keep in their memory buried practices that we observe today as possible ways to reestablish environmental balances: alternative uses of water; recycling of organic materials; local uses of fauna; various systems for breaking down excreta, and so on. In sum, what the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries graduated as levels of backwardness or progress, turn out to be key information to rethink the routes of environmental conservation. When we return to the observations of the scientists, politicians and lawyers of that period, we find historically rejected cultural alterity. Populations such as Cuernavaca that, due to their history, orography and/or insufficiency of federal policies, kept different relationships with the environment, today give us clues to reorient basic elements of cities: alternative uses of water, waste of raw materials, organic or consumption of local products, among others. It is, therefore, a matter of unearthing the rejected that cries out to emerge to the surface.

Keywords: sanitary hygiene, Mexico city, cultural alterity, environmental conservation, environmental history

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Authors: Amir Deljoo

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The endeavor to comprehend the existence have been the center of thought for human in form of different disciplines and now basically in physics as the theory of everything. Here, after a brief review of the basic frameworks of thought, and a history of thought since ancient up to present, a logical methodology is presented based on a core axiom after which a function, a proto-field and then a coordinates are explained. Afterwards a generalization to Standard Model is proposed as General Standard Model which is believed to be the base of the Unified Theory of Everything.

Keywords: general relativity, grand unified theory, quantum mechanics, standard model, theory of everything

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Authors: Jason Terry

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Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, hymns in the Anglo-American tradition often ended with the congregation singing ‘amen,’ most commonly set to a plagal cadence. While the popularity of this tradition is well-known still today, this research presents the origins of this custom. In 1861, Hymns Ancient & Modern deepened this convention by concluding each of its hymns with a published plagal-amen cadence. Subsequently, hymnals from a variety of denominations throughout Europe and the United States heavily adopted this practice. By the middle of the twentieth century the number of participants singing this cadence had suspiciously declined; however, it was not until the 1990s that the plagal-amen cadence all but disappeared from hymnals. Today, it is rare for songs to conclude with the plagal-amen cadence, although instrumentalists have continued to regularly play a plagal cadence underneath the singers’ sustained finalis. After examining a variety of music theory treatises, eighteenth-century newspaper articles, manuscripts & hymnals from the last five centuries, and conducting interviews with a number of scholars around the world, this study presents the context of the plagal-amen cadence through its history. The association of ‘amen’ and the plagal cadence was already being discussed during the late eighteenth century, and the plagal-amen cadence only grew in attractiveness from that time forward, most notably in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Throughout this research, the music of Thomas Tallis, primarily through his Preces and Responses, is reasonably shown to be the basis for the high status of the plagal-amen cadence in nineteenth- and twentieth-century society. Tallis’s immediate influence was felt among his contemporary English composers as well as posterity, all of whom were well-aware of his compositional styles and techniques. More importantly, however, was the revival of his music in nineteenth-century England, which had a greater impact on the plagal-amen tradition. With his historical title as the father of English cathedral music, Tallis was favored by the supporters of the Oxford Movement. Thus, with society’s view of Tallis, the simple IV–I cadence he chose to pair with ‘amen’ attained a much greater worth in the history of Western music. A musical device such as the once-revered plagal-amen cadence deserves to be studied and understood in a more factual light than has thus far been available to contemporary scholars.

Keywords: amen cadence, Plagal-amen cadence, singing hymns with amen, Thomas Tallis

Procedia PDF Downloads 230