Search results for: online behavior

Authors: Elisa Santana-Monagas, Juan L. Núñez, Jaime León, Samuel Falcón, Celia Fernández, Rocío P. Solís

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Students’ emotional experiences have been a widely discussed theme among researchers, proving a central role on students’ outcomes. Yet, up to now, far too little attention has been paid to teaching practices that negatively relate with students’ negative emotions in the higher education. The present work aims to examine the relationship between teachers’ teaching practices (i.e., students’ evaluations of teaching and autonomy support), the students’ feelings of boredom and agentic engagement and motivation in the higher education context. To do so, the present study incorporates one of the most popular tools in natural processing language to address students’ evaluations of teaching: sentiment analysis. Whereas most research has focused on the creation of SA models and assessing students’ satisfaction regarding teachers and courses to the author’s best knowledge, no research before has included results from SA into an explanatory model. A total of 225 university students (Mean age = 26.16, SD = 7.4, 78.7 % women) participated in the study. Students were enrolled in degree and masters’ studies at the faculty of Education of a public university of Spain. Data was collected using an online questionnaire students could access through a QR code they completed during a teaching period where the assessed teacher was not present. To assess students’ sentiments towards their teachers’ teaching, we asked them the following open-ended question: “If you had to explain a peer who doesn't know your teacher how he or she communicates in class, what would you tell them?”. Sentiment analysis was performed with Microsoft's pre-trained model. For this study, we relied on the probability of the students answer belonging to the negative category. To assess the reliability of the measure, inter-rater agreement between this NLP tool and one of the researchers, who independently coded all answers, was examined. The average pairwise percent agreement and the Cohen’s kappa were calculated with ReCal2. The agreement reached was of 90.8% and Cohen’s kappa .68, both considered satisfactory. To test the hypothesis relations a structural equation model (SEM) was estimated. Results showed that the model fit indices displayed a good fit to the data; χ² (134) = 351.129, p < .001, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .09, TLI = .91, CFI = .92. Specifically, results show that boredom was negatively predicted by autonomy support practices (β = -.47[-.61, -.33]), whereas for the negative sentiment extracted from SET, this relation was positive (β = .23[.16, .30]). In other words, when students’ opinion towards their instructors’ teaching practices was negative, it was more likely for them to feel bored. Regarding the relations among boredom and student outcomes, results showed a negative predictive value of boredom on students’ motivation to study (β = -.46[-.63, -.29]) and agentic engagement (β = -.24[-.33, -.15]). Altogether, results show a promising future for sentiment analysis techniques in the field of education as they proved the usefulness of this tool when evaluating relations among teaching practices and student outcomes.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, boredom, motivation, agentic engagement

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Authors: Chuan-Ching Sue, Kai-Chun Chuang

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Peer-to-Peer (P2P) live streaming systems still suffer a challenge when thousands of new peers want to join into the system in a short time, called flash crowd, and most of new peers suffer long start-up delay. Recent studies have proposed a slot-based user access control mechanism, which periodically determines a certain number of new peers to enter the system, and a user batch join mechanism, which divides new peers into several tree structures with fixed tree size. However, the slot-based user access control mechanism is difficult for accurately determining the optimal time slot length, and the user batch join mechanism is hard for determining the optimal tree size. In this paper, we propose a structured access control (SAC) mechanism, which constructs new peers to a multi-layer mesh structure. The SAC mechanism constructs new peer connections layer by layer to replace periodical access control, and determines the number of peers in each layer according to the system’s remaining upload bandwidth and average video rate. Furthermore, we propose an analytical model to represent the behavior of the system growth if the system can utilize the upload bandwidth efficiently. The analytical result has shown the similar trend in system growth as the SAC mechanism. Additionally, the extensive simulation is conducted to show the SAC mechanism outperforms two previously proposed methods in terms of system growth and start-up delay.

Keywords: peer-to-peer, live video streaming system, flash crowd, start-up delay, access control

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Authors: Lik Hang Gary Wong

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Background: Practice learning is crucial for preparing the healthcare profession to meet the real challenge upon graduation. Students are required to demonstrate their competence in managing interpersonal challenges, such as teamwork with other professionals and communicating well with the service users, during the placement. Such competence precedes clinical practice, and it may eventually affect students' actual performance in a clinical context. Unfortunately, there were limited studies investigating how such competence affects students' performance in practice learning. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate how self-rated interpersonal competence affects students' actual performance during clinical placement. Methods: 40 occupational therapy students from Hong Kong were recruited in this study. Prior to the clinical placement (level two or above), they completed an online survey that included the Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (ICCS) measuring self-perceived competence in interpersonal communication. Near the end of their placement, the clinical educator rated students’ performance with the Student Practice Evaluation Form - Revised edition (SPEF-R). The SPEF-R measures the eight core competency domains required for an entry-level occupational therapist. This study adopted the cross-sectional observational design. Pearson correlation and multiple regression are conducted to examine the relationship between students' interpersonal communication competence and their actual performance in clinical placement. Results: The ICCS total scores were significantly correlated with all the SPEF-R domains, with correlation coefficient r ranging from 0.39 to 0.51. The strongest association was found with the co-worker communication domain (r = 0.51, p < 0.01), followed by the information gathering domain (r = 0.50, p < 0.01). Regarding the ICCS total scores as the independent variable and the rating in various SPEF-R domains as the dependent variables in the multiple regression analyses, the interpersonal competence measures were identified as a significant predictor of the co-worker communication (R² = 0.33, β = 0.014, SE = 0.006, p = 0.026), information gathering (R² = 0.27, β = 0.018, SE = 0.007, p = 0.011), and service provision (R² = 0.17, β = 0.017, SE = 0.007, p = 0.020). Moreover, some specific communication skills appeared to be especially important to clinical practice. For example, immediacy, which means whether the students were readily approachable on all social occasions, correlated with all the SPEF-R domains, with r-values ranging from 0.45 to 0.33. Other sub-skills, such as empathy, interaction management, and supportiveness, were also found to be significantly correlated to most of the SPEF-R domains. Meanwhile, the ICCS scores correlated differently with the co-worker communication domain (r = 0.51, p < 0.01) and the communication with the service user domain (r = 0.39, p < 0.05). It suggested that different communication skill sets would be required for different interpersonal contexts within the workplace. Conclusion: Students' self-perceived interpersonal communication competence could predict their actual performance during clinical placement. Moreover, some specific communication skills were more important to the co-worker communication but not to the daily interaction with the service users. There were implications on how to better prepare the students to meet the future challenge upon graduation.

Keywords: interpersonal competence, clinical education, healthcare professional education, occupational therapy, occupational therapy students

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Authors: Shashank Bahri, Divyanshu Arya, Rajni Jain, Sreedevi Upadhyayula

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Petroleum products can be obtained from syngas catalytic conversion using Fischer Tropsch Reaction. The liquid fuels obtained from FTS are sulphur and nitrogen free and thus may easily meet the increasing stringent environment regulations. In the present work we have synthesized Meso porous ZSM-5 supported catalyst. Meso structure were created in H-ZSM-5 crystallites by demetalation via subsequent base and acid treatment. Desilication through base treatment provides H-ZSM-5 with pore size and volumes similar to amorphous SiO2 (Conventional Carrier). Modifying the zeolite texture and surface chemistry by Desilication and acid washing alters its accessibility and interactions with metal phase and consequently the CO adsorption behavior and hydrocarbon product distribution. Increasing the mesoporosity via desilication provides the micro porous zeolite with essential surface area to support optimally sized metal crystallites. This improves the metal dispersion and hence improve the activity of the catalyst. Transition metal (Co) was loaded using wet impregnation method. Synthesized catalysts were characterized by Infrared Spectroscopy, Powdered X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), BET Method analytical techniques. Acidity of the catalyst which plays an important role in FTS reaction was measured by DRIFT setup pyridine adsorption instead of NH3 Temperature Programmed Desorption. The major difference is that, Pyridine Adsorption can distinguish between Lewis acidity and Bronsted Acidity, thus giving their relative strengths in the catalyst sample, whereas TPD gives total acidity including Lewis and Bronsted ones.

Keywords: mesopourus, fischer tropsch reaction, pyridine adsorrption, drift study

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Authors: Sofia Mariani, Irene Leo

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The objective of the present study is to define the mediating role of attitudes that objectify and devalue women (hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and sexual objectification of women) in the indirect correlation between exposure to televised sports and acceptance of rape myths. A second goal is to contribute to research on the topic by defining the role of mediators in exposure to different types of sports, following the traditional gender classification of sports. Data collection was carried out by means of an online questionnaire, measuring television sport exposure, sport type, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and sexual objectification of women. Data analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS software. The model used was created using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression path analysis. The predictor variable in the model was television sports exposure, the outcome was rape myths acceptance, and the mediators were (1) hostile sexism, (2) benevolent sexism, and (3) sexual objectification of women. Correlation analyses were carried out dividing by sport type and controlling for the participants’ gender. As seen in existing literature, television sports exposure was found to be indirectly and positively related to rape myth acceptance through the mediating role of: (1) hostile sexism, (2) benevolent sexism, and (3) sexual objectification of women. The type of sport watched influenced the role of the mediators: hostile sexism was found to be the common mediator to all sports type, exposure to traditionally considered feminine or neutral sports showed the additional mediation effect of sexual objectification of women. In line with existing literature, controlling for gender showed that the only significant mediators were hostile sexism for male participants and benevolent sexism for female participants. Given the prevalence of men among the viewers of traditionally considered masculine sports, the correlation between television sports exposure and rape myth acceptance through the mediation of hostile sexism is likely due to the gender of the participants. However, this does not apply to the viewers of traditionally considered feminine and neutral sports, as this group is balanced in terms of gender and shows a unique mediation: the correlation between television sports exposure and rape myth acceptance is mediated by both hostile sexism and sexual objectification. Given that hostile sexism is defined as hostility towards women who oppose or fail to conform to traditional gender roles, these findings confirm that sport is perceived as a non-traditional activity for women. Additionally, these results imply that the portrayal of women in traditionally considered feminine and neutral sports - which are defined as such because of their aesthetic characteristics - may have a strong component of sexual objectification of women. The present research contributes to defining the association between sports exposure and rape myth acceptance through the mediation effects of sexist attitudes and sexual objectification of women. The results of this study have practical implications, such as supporting the feminine sports teams who ask for more practical and less revealing uniforms, more similar to their male colleagues and therefore less objectifying.

Keywords: television exposure, sport, rape myths, objectification, sexism

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Authors: S. B. Mayil Vealan, C. Sekar

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Bisphenol A (BIS A) and 4 Nitrophenol (4N) are the most prevalent environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals which mimic hormones and have a direct relationship to the development and growth of animal and human reproductive systems. Moreover, intensive exposure to the compound is related to prostate and breast cancer, infertility, obesity, and diabetes. Hence, accurate and reliable determination techniques are crucial for preventing human exposure to these harmful chemicals. Lanthanum Copper Oxide (La₂Cu₂O₅) nanoparticles were synthesized and investigated through various techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry techniques are employed to evaluate the electrochemical behavior of as-synthesized samples toward the electrochemical detection of Bisphenol A and 4-Nitrophenol. Under the optimal conditions, the oxidation current increased linearly with increasing the concentration of BIS A and 4-N in the range of 0.01 to 600 μM with a detection limit of 2.44 nM and 3.8 nM. These are the lowest limits of detection and the widest linear ranges in the literature for this determination. The method was applied to the simultaneous determination of BIS A and 4-N in real samples (food packing materials and river water) with excellent recovery values ranging from 95% to 99%. Better stability, sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility, fast response, and ease of preparation made the sensor well-suitable for the simultaneous determination of bisphenol and 4 Nitrophenol. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in which La₂Cu₂O₅ nano particles were used as efficient electron mediators for the fabrication of endocrine disruptor (BIS A and 4N) chemical sensors.

Keywords: endocrine disruptors, electrochemical sensor, Food contacting materials, lanthanum cuprates, nanomaterials

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Authors: Hoora Dehghani, Meisam Shahbazi, Reza Zare

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During the previous decade, a significant evolution has occurred in the number of private educational centers and, accordingly, the increase in the number of providers and students of these centers around the world. The number of language teaching institutes in Iran that are considered private educational sectors is also growing exponentially as the request for learning foreign languages has extremely increased in recent years. This fact caused competition among the institutions in improving better services tailored to the students’ demands to win the competition. Along with the growth in the industry of education, higher education institutes should apply the marketing-related concepts and view students as customers because students’ outlooks are similar to consumers with education. Studying the influential factors in the selection of an institute has multiple benefits. Firstly, it acknowledges the institutions of the students’ choice factors. Secondly, the institutions use the obtained information to improve their marketing methods. It also helps institutions know students’ outlooks that can be applied to expand the student know-how. Moreover, it provides practical evidence for educational centers to plan useful amenities and programs, and use efficient policies to cater to the market, and also helps them execute the methods that increase students’ feeling of contentment and assurance. Thus, this study explored the influencing factors in the selection of a language learning institute by language learners and examined and compared the importance among the varying age groups and genders. In the first phase of the study, the researchers selected 15 language learners as representative cases within the specified age ranges and genders purposefully and interviewed them to explore the comprising elements in their language institute selection process and analyzed the results qualitatively. In the second phase, the researchers identified elements as specified items of a questionnaire, and 1000 English learners across varying educational contexts rated them. The TOPSIS method was used to analyze the data quantitatively by representing the level of importance of the items for the participants generally and specifically in each subcategory; genders and age groups. The results indicated that the educational quality, teaching method, duration of training course, establishing need-oriented courses, and easy access were the most important elements. On the other hand, offering training in different languages, the specialized education of only one language, the uniform and appropriate appearance of office staff, having native professors to the language of instruction, applying Computer or online tests instead of the usual paper tests respectively as the least important choice factors in selecting a language institute. Besides, some comparisons among different groups’ ratings of choice factors were made, which revealed the differences among different groups' priorities in choosing a language institute.

Keywords: choice factors, EFL institute selection, english learning, need analysis, TOPSIS

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Authors: Chun Yu, Tahlia M. Farrant, Max G. Marschall

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Most of Australia’s school classrooms are equipped with operable windows and occupant-controlled air-conditioners that do not provide fresh air. This can result in insufficient ventilation and high indoor CO₂ levels, which comes at a detriment to occupant productivity and health. This paper reports on the results of an in-situ study capturing indoor CO₂ levels in classrooms at a school in Victoria, Australia. The study consisted of 3 measurement periods: First, CO₂ levels pre-pandemic were measured, finding that the readings exceeded the recommended ASHRAE threshold of 1000 ppm more than 50% of the time, with levels often rising as high as 5000 ppm. Then, after the staff had been informed of the poor indoor air quality and the Victorian government had put COVIDSAFE measures in place, a second data set was captured; the impact was significant, with now only about 30% of readings above the ASHRAE threshold, and values rarely exceeding 2500 ppm. Finally, devices were installed that gave the occupants visual feedback when CO₂ levels were high, thus prompting them to open the windows; this further improved the air quality, with now less than 20% of readings above the threshold and values rarely exceeding 1500 ppm. The study suggests that, while relying on occupants to operate windows can lead to poor indoor air quality due to insufficient ventilation, it is possible to considerably influence occupant behavior through education and feedback devices. While these interventions alone did not mitigate the problem of inadequate ventilation entirely, they were sufficient to keep CO₂ levels within a generally healthy range. Considering the large energy savings that are possible by foregoing mechanical ventilation, it is evident that natural ventilation is a feasible operation method for school buildings in temperate climates, as long as classrooms are equipped with CO₂ feedback devices.

Keywords: COVID, CO₂, education, feedback devices, health, indoor air quality, natural ventilation, occupant behaviour

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Authors: Faizan Ali, Dayu Zhou, Xiaohua Liu, Tony Schenk, Johannes Muller, Uwe Schroeder

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Recently, the ferroelectricity (FE) and anti-ferroelectricity (AFE) introduced in so-called 'high-k dielectric' HfO₂ material incorporated with various dopants (Si, Gd, Y, Sr, Gd, Al, and La, etc.), HfO₂-ZrO₂ solid-solution, Al or Si-doped Hf₀.₅Zr₀.₅O₂ and even undoped HfO₂ thin films. The origin of FE property was attributed to the formation of a non-centrosymmetric orthorhombic (o) phase of space group Pbc2₁. To the author’s best knowledge, AFE property was observed only in HfO₂ doped with a certain amount of Si, Al, HfₓZr₁₋ₓO₂ (0 ≤ x < 0.5), and in Si or Al-doped Hf₀.₅Zr₀.₅O₂. The origin of the anti-ferroelectric behavior is an electric field induced phase transition between the non-polar tetragonal (t) and the polar ferroelectric orthorhombic (o) phase. Compared with the significant amount of studies for the FE properties in the context of non-volatile memories, AFE properties of HfO₂-based and HfₓZr₁₋ₓO₂ (HZO) thin films have just received attention recently for energy-related applications such as electrocaloric cooling, pyroelectric energy harvesting, and electrostatic energy storage. In this work, energy storage and solid state cooling properties of Si-doped HfO₂ AFE thin films are investigated. Owing to the high field-induced polarization and slim double hysteresis, an extremely large Energy storage density (ESD) value of 61.2 J cm⁻³ is achieved at 4.5 MV cm⁻¹ with high efficiency of ~65%. In addition, the ESD and efficiency exhibit robust thermal stability in 210-400 K temperature range and excellent endurance up to 10⁹ times of charge/discharge cycling at a very high electric field of 4.0 MV cm⁻¹. Similarly, for solid-state cooling, the maximum adiabatic temperature change (

Keywords: thin films, energy storage, endurance, solid state cooling, anti-ferroelectric

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Authors: T. D. Ibragimov, A. R. Imamaliyev, G. M. Bayramov

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The polymer network liquid crystals based on the liquid crystals Н37 and 5CB with polymethylvinilpirydine (PMVP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) have been developed. Mesogene substance 4-n-heptyoxibenzoic acid (HOBA) is served for stabilization of obtaining composites. Kinetics of network formation is investigated by methods of polarization microscopy and integrated small-angle scattering. It is shown that gel-like states of the composite H-37 + PMVP + HOBA and 5CB+PEG+HOBA are formed at polymer concentration above 7 % and 9 %, correspondingly. At slow cooling, the system separates into a liquid crystal –rich phase and a liquid crystal-poor phase. At this case, transition of these phases in the H-37 + PMVP + HOBA (87 % + 12 % + 1 %) composite to an anisotropic state occurs at 49 оС and и 41 оС, accordingly, while the composite 5CB+PEG+HOBA (85% +13 % +2%) passes to anisotropic state at 36 оС corresponding to the isotropic-nematic transition of pure 5CB. The basic electro-optic parameters of the obtained composites are determined at room temperature. It is shown that the threshold voltage of the composite H-37 + PMVP + HOBA increase in comparison with pure H-37 and, accordingly, there is a shift of voltage dependence of rise times to the high voltage region. The contrast ratio worsens while decay time improves in comparison with the pure liquid crystal at all applied voltage. The switching times of the composite 5CB + PEG + HOBA (85% +13 % +2%) show anomalous behavior connected with incompleteness of the transition to an anisotropic state. Experimental results are explained by phase separation of the system, diminution of a working area of electro-optical effects and influence of areas with the high polymer concentration on areas with their low concentration.

Keywords: liquid crystals, polymers, small-angle scattering, optical properties

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Authors: Nadia El Alami El Hassani, Soukaina Motia, Benachir Bouchikhi, Nezha El Bari

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Doxycycline (DXy) is a cycline antibiotic, most frequently prescribed to treat bacterial infections in veterinary medicine. However, its broad antimicrobial activity and low cost, lead to an intensive use, which can seriously affect human health. Therefore, its spread in the food products has to be monitored. The scope of this work was to synthetize a sensitive and very selective molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for DXy detection in honey samples. Firstly, the synthesis of this biosensor was performed by casting a layer of carboxylate polyvinyl chloride (PVC-COOH) on the working surface of a gold screen-printed electrode (Au-SPE) in order to bind covalently the analyte under mild conditions. Secondly, DXy as a template molecule was bounded to the activated carboxylic groups, and the formation of MIP was performed by a biocompatible polymer by the mean of polyacrylamide matrix. Then, DXy was detected by measurements of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). A non-imprinted polymer (NIP) prepared in the same conditions and without the use of template molecule was also performed. We have noticed that the elaborated biosensor exhibits a high sensitivity and a linear behavior between the regenerated current and the logarithmic concentrations of DXy from 0.1 pg.mL⁻¹ to 1000 pg.mL⁻¹. This technic was successfully applied to determine DXy residues in honey samples with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.1 pg.mL⁻¹ and an excellent selectivity when compared to the results of oxytetracycline (OXy) as analogous interfering compound. The proposed method is cheap, sensitive, selective, simple, and is applied successfully to detect DXy in honey with the recoveries of 87% and 95%. Considering these advantages, this system provides a further perspective for food quality control in industrial fields.

Keywords: doxycycline, electrochemical sensor, food control, gold nanoparticles, honey, molecular imprinted polymer

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Authors: Josephine Hai, Jie Jiang, Karen M. Lyons

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Of the musculoskeletal tissues, tendon is least understood in terms of biological development. The current study examines Cysteine-rich angiogenic inducer 61, or CCN1, a member of the CCN family of secreted matricellular proteins that regulate cell behavior via intercellular signaling. Though CCN1 is notable in limiting fibrosis by inducing senescence in fibroblasts, little is known about its role in normal fibrous tissue, where it may be essential to the development of ECM-rich structures like tendons. We found that CCN1 knockout mice (using limb-specific Prx1-Cre) exhibited clubfoot and waddling gaits, a unique phenotype not described in any other mutant to date. Histological analysis showed that the Achilles and patellar tendons, where we previously found high CCN1 expression in adult reporter mice, were thicker and denser in the Prx1-Cre knockouts than in their wildtype littermates. We then hypothesized that CCN1 is required directly in tendon progenitor cells for normal tendon development and generated tendon-specific CCN1 knockout mice using Scx-Cre. We observed similar Achilles/patellar tendon morphology among the Scx-Cre and Prx1-Cre mutants, indicating that the phenotype is a direct result of CCN1’s loss in tendon. To further study phenotype onset and progression, we will histologically characterize these tendons across different developmental time-points. We will also perform RNA-seq and qPCR to analyze tenocyte gene expression and expect fibrotic marker upregulation in the Scx-Cre mutants if CCN1 is required to maintain a normal tendon phenotype. Thus, our study aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying tendon formation and maintenance. Understanding tendons at the most basic level invites novel approaches to tendon repair.

Keywords: development, matricellular, musculoskeletal, tendon

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Authors: Takuro Kida, Yuichi Kida

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We show a base of the new trend of algorithm mathematically that treats a historical reason of continuous discrimination in the world as well as its solution by introducing new concepts of parallel world that includes an invisible set of errors as its companion. With respect to a matrix operator-filter bank that the matrix operator-analysis-filter bank H and the matrix operator-sampling-filter bank S are given, firstly, we introduce the detailed algorithm to derive the optimum matrix operator-synthesis-filter bank Z that minimizes all the worst-case measures of the matrix operator-error-signals E(ω) = F(ω) − Y(ω) between the matrix operator-input-signals F(ω) and the matrix operator-output signals Y(ω) of the matrix operator-filter bank at the same time. Further, feedback is introduced to the above approximation theory and it is indicated that introducing conversations with feedback does not superior automatically to the accumulation of existing knowledge of signal prediction. Secondly, the concept of category in the field of mathematics is applied to the above optimum signal approximation and is indicated that the category-based approximation theory is applied to the set-theoretic consideration of the recognition of humans. Based on this discussion, it is shown naturally why the narrow perception that tends to create isolation shows an apparent advantage in the short term and, often, why such narrow thinking becomes intimate with discriminatory action in a human group. Throughout these considerations, it is presented that, in order to abolish easy and intimate discriminatory behavior, it is important to create a parallel world of conception where we share the set of invisible error signals, including the words and the consciousness of both worlds.

Keywords: signal prediction, pseudo inverse matrix, artificial intelligence, conditional optimization

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Authors: Renan De Caldas Honorato, Ana Augusta Ferreira De Freitas

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Homosexuality is still criminalized in a large number of countries. In some of them, being gay or lesbian can even be punished by death. Added to this context, the experiences of social discrimination faced by the LGBT population, including homophobia, machismo and misogyny, cause numerous restrictions throughout their lives. The possibility of confronting these challenges in moments that should be pleasant, such as on a trip or on vacation, is unpleasant, to say the least. In the current scenario of intensifying the use of Social network sites (SNSs) to search for information, including in the tourist area, this work aims to analyze the sharing of tourist experiences with situations of confrontation and perceptions of homophobia, machismo and misogyny, and restrictions suffered in tourist destinations. The fieldwork is a community of LGBT backpackers based on Facebook. Netnography was the core method adopted. A qualitative approach was conducted and 463 publications posted from January to December 2020 were assessed through the computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA). The results suggest that these publications exist to identify the potential exposure to these offensive behaviors while traveling. Individuals affirm that the laws, positive or not, in relation to the LGBT public are not the only factors for a place to be defined as safe or not for gay travelers. The social situation of a country and its laws are quite different and this is the main target of these publications. The perception of others about the chosen destination is more important than knowing your rights and the legal status of each country and it also lessens uncertainty, even when they are never totally confident when choosing a travel destination. In certain circumstances, sexual orientation also needs to be protected from the judgment of hosts and residents. The systemic treatment of homophobic behavior and the construction of a more inclusive society are urgent.

Keywords: homophobia, hospitality, machismo, misogyny

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Authors: Martha Berg, Megan Ramaiya, Andi Schmidt, Susanna Sharma, Brandon Kohrt

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Nepali adolescents report tension and negative emotion due to perceived expectations of both academic and social achievement. These societal goals, which are internalized through early-life socialization, drive the development of self-regulatory processes such as emotion regulation. Emotion dysregulation is linked with adverse psychological outcomes such as depression, self-harm, and suicide, which are public health concerns for organizations working with Nepali adolescents. This study examined the relation among socialization, internalized cultural goals, and emotion regulation to inform interventions for reducing depression and suicide in this population. Participants included 102 students in grades 7 through 9 in a post-earthquake school setting in rural Kathmandu valley. All participants completed a tablet-based battery of quantitative measures, comprising transculturally adapted assessments of emotion regulation, depression, and self-harm/suicide ideation and behavior. Qualitative measures included two focus groups and semi-structured interviews with 22 students and 3 parents. A notable proportion of the sample reported depression symptoms in the past 2 weeks (68%), lifetime self-harm ideation (28%), and lifetime suicide attempts (13%). Students who lived with their nuclear family reported lower levels of difficulty than those who lived with more distant relatives (z=2.16, p=.03), which suggests a link between family environment and adolescent emotion regulation, potentially mediated by socialization and internalization of cultural goals. These findings call for further research into the aspects of nuclear versus extended family environments that shape the development of emotion regulation.

Keywords: adolescent mental health, emotion regulation, Nepal, socialization

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Authors: Mary Farrell, Maria Soubra, Sandra Vega, Dorothy Kakraba, Joanne Fontanilla, Moira Kendra, Danielle Tonzola, Stephanie Chiu

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Pneumonia is the most common infectious cause of hospitalizations in the United States, with more than one million admissions annually and costs of $10 billion every year, making it the 8th leading cause of death. Aspiration pneumonia is an aggressive type of pneumonia that results from inhalation of oropharyngeal secretions and/or gastric contents and is preventable. The authors hypothesized that an evidence-based aspiration pneumonia clinical care pathway could reduce 30-day hospital readmissions and mortality rates, while improving the overall care of patients. We conducted a retrospective chart review on 979 patients discharged with aspiration pneumonia from January 2021 to December 2022 at Overlook Medical Center. The authors identified patients who were coded with aspiration pneumonia and/or stable sepsis. Secondarily, we identified 30-day readmission rates for aspiration pneumonia from a SNF. The Aspiration Pneumonia Clinical Care Pathway starts in the emergency department (ED) with the initiation of antimicrobials within 4 hours of admission and early recognition of aspiration. Once this is identified, a swallow test is initiated by the bedside nurse, and if the patient demonstrates dysphagia, they are maintained on strict nothing by mouth (NPO) followed by a speech and language pathologist (SLP) referral for an appropriate modified diet recommendation. Aspiration prevention techniques included the avoidance of straws, 45-degree positioning, no talking during meals, taking small bites, placement of the aspiration wrist band, and consuming meals out of the bed in a chair. Nursing education was conducted with a newly created online learning module about aspiration pneumonia. The authors identified 979 patients, with an average age of 73.5 years old, who were diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia on the index hospitalization. These patients were reviewed for a 30-day readmission for aspiration pneumonia or stable sepsis, and mortality rates from January 2021 to December 2022 at Overlook Medical Center (OMC). The 30-day readmission rates were significantly lower in the cohort that received the clinical care pathway (35.0% vs. 27.5%, p = 0.011). When evaluating the mortality rates in the pre and post intervention cohort the authors discovered the mortality rates were lower in the post intervention cohort (23.7% vs 22.4%, p = 0.61) Mortality among non-white (self-reported as non-white) patients were lower in the post intervention cohort (34.4% vs. 21.0% , p = 0.05). Patients who reported as a current smoker/vaper in the pre and post cohorts had increased mortality rates (5.9% vs 22%). There was a decrease in mortality for the male population but an increase in mortality for women in the pre and post cohorts (19% vs. 25%). The authors attributed this increase in mortality in the post intervention cohort to more active smokers, more former smokers, and more being admitted from a SNF. This research identified that implementation of an Aspiration Pneumonia Clinical Care Pathway showed a statistically significant decrease in readmission rates and mortality rates in non-whites. The 30-day readmission rates were lower in the cohort that received the clinical care pathway (35.0% vs. 27.5%, p = 0.011).

Keywords: aspiration pneumonia, mortality, quality improvement, 30-day pneumonia readmissions

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Authors: Paulomi Polly Burey, Mark Lynch

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It has been shown that laboratory activities can help cement understanding of theoretical concepts, but it is difficult to deliver such an activity to an online cohort and issues such as occupational health and safety in the students’ learning environment need to be considered. Chemistry, in particular, is one of the sciences where practical experience is beneficial for learning, however typical university experiments may not be suitable for the learning environment of a distance learner. Food provides an ideal medium for demonstrating chemical concepts, and along with a few simple physical and virtual tools provided by educators, analytical chemistry can be experienced by distance learners. Food chemistry experiments were designed to be carried out in a home-based environment that 1) Had sufficient scientific rigour and skill-building to reinforce theoretical concepts; 2) Were safe for use at home by university students and 3) Had the potential to enhance student learning by linking simple hands-on laboratory activities with high-level virtual science. Two main components of the resources were developed, a home laboratory experiment component, and a virtual laboratory component. For the home laboratory component, students were provided with laboratory kits, as well as a list of supplementary inexpensive chemical items that they could purchase from hardware stores and supermarkets. The experiments used were typical proximate analyses of food, as well as experiments focused on techniques such as spectrophotometry and chromatography. Written instructions for each experiment coupled with video laboratory demonstrations were used to train students on appropriate laboratory technique. Data that students collected in their home laboratory environment was collated across the class through shared documents, so that the group could carry out statistical analysis and experience a full laboratory experience from their own home. For the virtual laboratory component, students were able to view a laboratory safety induction and advised on good characteristics of a home laboratory space prior to carrying out their experiments. Following on from this activity, students observed laboratory demonstrations of the experimental series they would carry out in their learning environment. Finally, students were embedded in a virtual laboratory environment to experience complex chemical analyses with equipment that would be too costly and sensitive to be housed in their learning environment. To investigate the impact of the intervention, students were surveyed before and after the laboratory series to evaluate engagement and satisfaction with the course. Students were also assessed on their understanding of theoretical chemical concepts before and after the laboratory series to determine the impact on their learning. At the end of the intervention, focus groups were run to determine which aspects helped and hindered learning. It was found that the physical experiments helped students to understand laboratory technique, as well as methodology interpretation, particularly if they had not been in such a laboratory environment before. The virtual learning environment aided learning as it could be utilized for longer than a typical physical laboratory class, thus allowing further time on understanding techniques.

Keywords: chemistry, food science, future pedagogy, STEM education

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Authors: Anastasia Schnitzer, Oliver Rehren

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Mental health has become an increasingly important topic in society in recent years, not least due to the challenges posed by the corona pandemic. Along with this, the public has become more and more aware that a lack of enlightenment and proper coping mechanisms may result in a notable risk to develop mental disorders. Yet, there are still many biases against those affected, which are further connected to issues of stigmatization and societal exclusion. One of the main strategies to combat these forms of prejudice and stigma is to induce intergroup contact. More specifically, the Intergroup Contact Theory states engaging in certain types of contact with members of marginalized groups may be an effective way to improve attitudes towards these groups. However, due to the persistent prejudice and stigmatization, affected individuals often do not dare to speak openly about their mental disorders, so that intergroup contact often goes unnoticed. As a result, many people only experience conscious contact with individuals with a mental disorder through media. As an analogy to the Intergroup Contact Theory, the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis proposes that repeatedly being exposed to positive media representations of outgroup members can lead to a reduction of negative prejudices and attitudes towards this outgroup. While there is a growing body of research on the merit of this mechanism, measurements often only consist of 'positive' or 'negative' parasocial contact conditions (or examine the valence or quality of the previous contact with the outgroup); meanwhile, more specific conditions are often neglected. The current study aims to tackle this shortcoming. By scrutinizing the potential of contemporary series as a narrative framework of high quality, we strive to elucidate more detailed aspects of beneficial parasocial contact -for the sake of reducing prejudice and stigma towards individuals with mental disorders. Thus, a two-factorial between-subject online panel study with three measurement points was conducted (N = 95). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups, having to watch episodes of either a series with a narrative framework of high (Quality-TV) or low quality (Continental-TV), with one-week interval in-between the episodes. Suitable series were determined with the help of a pretest. Prejudice and stigma towards people with mental disorders were measured at the beginning of the study, before and after each episode, and in a final follow-up one week after the last two episodes. Additionally, parasocial interaction (PSI), quality of contact (QoC), and transportation were measured several times. Based on these data, multivariate multilevel analyses were performed in R using the lavaan package. Latent growth models showed moderate to high increases in QoC and PSI as well as small to moderate decreases in stigma and prejudice over time. Multilevel path analysis with individual and group levels further revealed that a qualitative narrative framework leads to a higher quality of contact experience, which then leads to lower prejudice and stigma, with effects ranging from moderate to high.

Keywords: prejudice, quality of contact, parasocial contact, narrative framework

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Authors: Irina S. Kolesnikova, Alexander A. Dolskiy, Natalya A. Lemskaya, Yulia V. Maksimova, Asia R. Shorina, Alena S. Telepova, Alexander S. Graphodatsky, Dmitry V. Yudkin

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A cytogenetic and molecular genetic study of the family with a male child who had mental retardation and autistic features revealed an abnormal chromosome 13 bearing an enlarged p-arm with amplified ribosomal DNA (rDNA) in a boy and his father. Cytogenetic analysis using standard G-banding and FISH with labeled rDNA probes revealed an abnormal chromosome 13 with an enlarged p-arms due to rDNA amplification in a male child, who had clinically confirmed mental retardation and an autistic behavior. This chromosome is evidently inherited from the father, who has morphologically the same chromosome, but is healthy. The karyotype of the mother was normal. Ag-NOR staining showed brightly stained large whole-p-arm nucleolus organizer regions (NORs) in a child and normal-sized NORs in his father with 13p+-NOR-amount mosaicism. qRT-PCR with specific primers showed highly increased levels of 18S, 28S and 5,8 S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) in the patient’s blood samples compared to a normal healthy control donor. Both patient’s father and mother had no elevated levels of rRNAs expression. Thus, in this case, rRNA level seems to correlate with mental retardation in familial individuals with 13p+. Our findings of rRNA overexpression in a patient with mental retardation and his parents may show a possible link between the karyotype (p-arm enlargement due to rDNA amplification), rDNA functionality (rRNA overexpression), functional changes in the brain and mental retardation. The study is supported by Russian Science Foundation Grant 15-15-10001.

Keywords: mental retardation, ribosomal DNA–rDNA, ribosomal RNA–rRNA, nucleolus organizer region–NOR, chromosome 13

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Authors: Dalal Albudaiwi, Mike Allen, Talal Alhaji, Shahnaz Khadimehzadah

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As a pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted the whole world since November 2019. In other words, every organization, industry, and institution has been negatively affected by the Coronavirus. The uncertainty of how long the pandemic will last caused chaos at all levels. As with any other institution, public libraries were affected and transmitted into online services and resources. As internationally, have been witnessed that some public libraries were well-prepared for such disasters as the pandemic, and therefore, collections, users, services, technologies, staff, and budgets were all influenced. Public libraries’ policies did not mention any plan regarding such a pandemic. Instead, there are several rules in the guidelines about disasters in general, such as natural disasters. In this pandemic situation, libraries have been involved in different uneasy circumstances. However, it has always been apparent to public libraries the role they play in serving their communities in excellent and critical times. It dwells into the traditional role public libraries play in providing information services and sources to satisfy their information-based community needs. Remarkably increasing people’s awareness of the importance of informational enrichment and enhancing society’s skills in dealing with information and information sources. Under critical circumstances, libraries play a different role. It goes beyond the traditional part of information providers to the untraditional role of being a social institution that serves the community with whatever capabilities they have. This study takes two significant directions. The first focuses on investigating how libraries have responded to COVID-19 and how they manage disasters within their organization. The second direction focuses on how libraries help their communities to act during disasters and how to recover from the consequences. The current study examines how libraries prepare for disasters and the role of public libraries during disasters. We will also propose “measures” to be a model that libraries can use to evaluate the effectiveness of their response to disasters. We intend to focus on how libraries responded to this new disaster. Therefore, this study aims to develop a comprehensive policy that includes responding to a crisis such as Covid-19. An analytical lens inside the libraries as an organization and outside the organization walls will be documented based on analyzing disaster-related literature published in the LIS publication. The study employs content analysis (CA) methodology. CA is widely used in the library and information science. The critical contribution of this work is to propose solutions it provides to libraries and planers to prepare crisis management plans/ policies, specifically to face a new global disaster such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the study will help library directors to evaluate their strategies and to improve them properly. The significance of this study lies in guiding libraries’ directors to enhance the goals of the libraries to guarantee crucial issues such as: saving time, avoiding loss, saving budget, acting quickly during a crisis, maintaining libraries’ role during pandemics, finding out the best response to disasters, and creating plan/policy as a sample for all libraries.

Keywords: Covid-19, policy, preparedness, public libraries

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Authors: Farhan Nayyar, A. Batool

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The red palm weevil (RPW), being the most invasive insect pest of palm family, is considered as the most dangerous pest around the globe. As three out of four life stages of weevils are concealed inside the host plants, leaving only the adult stage for controlling it. The use of sex pheromone (Ferrugineol) for the management of red palm weevil is considered as the most rewarding technique of IPM. The current studies were conducted to find the relative potential of four different treatments including Sex pheromone, sex pheromone + date fruit + sugarcane pieces, sex pheromone + ethyl acetate and sex pheromone + jaggary water applied on the attraction behavior of weevils. The treatments were applied randomly at two different locations of Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan including Germ Plasm Unit (GPU) and fruit nursery farm having date palm plants of different ages of four varieties of date palm. The treatments were applied for three consecutive months, including February, March, and April 2022. The pheromone traps were installed at the height of two feet under shade on the western side of date palm plants. The results revealed that among the treatments, T4 consisting of Jaggary water and sex pheromone was found as the most effective treatment and attracted the maximum number of 127 weevils followed by T3 consisting of ethyl acetate and sex pheromone, attracting 53 weevils. In contrast to this, T2 consisting of sex pheromone and date fruit was found as the least effective treatment in attracting red palm weevil and attracted only 15 adult weevils. Among the two selected locations, the population of red palm weevil was found comparatively higher at GPU compared to the nursery farm, Dera Ismail Khan. In conclusion, T4 may be used for the effective and safer management of red palm weevil.

Keywords: red palm weevil, integrated management, sex pheromones, Jaggary water

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Authors: Vered Shenaar-Golan, Nava Wald, Uri Yatzkar

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Background: Parenting children with mental health problems poses multiple challenges, including coping with difficult behavior and negative child emotions. The impact on parents includes financial strain, negative social stigma, and negative feelings of guilt or blame, resulting in significant stress and lower levels of well-being. Given findings that self-compassion plays a significant role in reducing stress and improving well-being, the current study examined the role of self-compassion in the experience of parents raising a child with mental health problems. The study tested (1) whether child behavioral/emotional problem severity is associated with higher parental stress and lower parental well-being; (2) whether self-compassion is associated with lower parental stress and higher parental well-being; and (3) whether self-compassion is a stronger predictor of parental stress and well-being than child behavioral/emotional problem severity. Methods: Three hundred and six mothers and two hundred and fifty-six fathers of children attending a hospital child and adolescent psychiatric center were assessed at admission. Consenting parents completed four questionnaires: Child Strength and Difficulty – parent version, Self-compassion, Parent Feeling Inventory, and Well-Being. Results: Child behavioral/emotional problem severity was associated with higher parental stress and lower parental well-being, and self-compassion was a stronger predictor of parental stress and well-being levels than child behavioral/emotional problem severity. For children with internalizing but not externalizing behavioral/emotional problems, parental self-compassion was the only predictor of parental well-being beyond the severity of child behavioral/emotional problems. Conclusions: Cultivating self-compassion is important in reducing parental stress and increasing parental well-being, particularly with internalizing presentations, and should be considered when designing therapeutic interventions for parents.

Keywords: parenting children with mental health problems, self-compassion, parental stress, feelings, well-being

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Authors: Yulinda Rizky Pratiwi, Fuji Anugrah Emily

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Management of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) are appropriately applied properly by all workers and pekarya in the company. K3 management application also has become very important to prevent accidents. Violation of the rules regarding the K3 has often occurred from time to time. By 2015 the number of occurrences of a violation of the K3 or so-called unsafe action tends to increase. Until finally in January 2016, the number increased drastically unsafe action. Trigger increase in the number of unsafe action is a decrease in the quality of management practices K3. While the application of K3 management performed by each individual thought to be influenced by the attitude and observation guide the actions of each of the individual. In addition to the decline in the quality of K3 management application may result in increased likelihood of accidents and losses for the company as well as the local co-workers. The big difference in the number of unsafe action is very significant in the month of January 2016, making the company Pertamina as the national oil company must do a lot of effort to keep track of how the implementation of K3 management on every worker and pekarya, one at PT Pertamina EP Cepu Field Asset IV. To consider the effort to control the implementation of K3 management can be seen from the attitude and observation guide the actions of the workers and pekarya. By using Multiple Linear Regression can be seen the influence of attitude and action observation guide workers and pekarya the K3 management application that has been done. The results showed that scores K3 management application of each worker and pekarya will increase by 0.764 if the score pekarya worker attitudes and increase one unit, whereas if the score Reassurance action guidelines and pekarya workers increased by one unit then the score management application K3 will increase by 0.754.

Keywords: occupational safety and health, management of occupational safety and health, unsafe action, multiple linear regression

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Authors: Mostafa Shahriari, Sergio Rojas, David Pardo, Angel Rodriguez- Rozas, Shaaban A. Bakr, Victor M. Calo, Ignacio Muga

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Logging-While Drilling (LWD) is a technique to record down-hole logging measurements while drilling the well. Nowadays, LWD devices (e.g., nuclear, sonic, resistivity) are mostly used commercially for geo-steering applications. Modern borehole resistivity tools are able to measure all components of the magnetic field by incorporating tilted coils. The depth of investigation of LWD tools is limited compared to the thickness of the geological layers. Thus, it is a common practice to approximate the Earth’s subsurface with a sequence of 1D models. For a 1D model, we can reduce the dimensionality of the problem using a Hankel transform. We can solve the resulting system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) either (a) analytically, which results in a so-called semi-analytic method after performing a numerical inverse Hankel transform, or (b) numerically. Semi-analytic methods are used by the industry due to their high performance. However, they have major limitations, namely: -The analytical solution of the aforementioned system of ODEs exists only for piecewise constant resistivity distributions. For arbitrary resistivity distributions, the solution of the system of ODEs is unknown by today’s knowledge. -In geo-steering, we need to solve inverse problems with respect to the inversion variables (e.g., the constant resistivity value of each layer and bed boundary positions) using a gradient-based inversion method. Thus, we need to compute the corresponding derivatives. However, the analytical derivatives of cross-bedded formation and the analytical derivatives with respect to the bed boundary positions have not been published to the best of our knowledge. The main contribution of this work is to overcome the aforementioned limitations of semi-analytic methods by solving each 1D model (associated with each Hankel mode) using an efficient multi-scale finite element method. The main idea is to divide our computations into two parts: (a) offline computations, which are independent of the tool positions and we precompute only once and use them for all logging positions, and (b) online computations, which depend upon the logging position. With the above method, (a) we can consider arbitrary resistivity distributions along the 1D model, and (b) we can easily and rapidly compute the derivatives with respect to any inversion variable at a negligible additional cost by using an adjoint state formulation. Although the proposed method is slower than semi-analytic methods, its computational efficiency is still high. In the presentation, we shall derive the mathematical variational formulation, describe the proposed multi-scale finite element method, and verify the accuracy and efficiency of our method by performing a wide range of numerical experiments and comparing the numerical solutions to semi-analytic ones when the latest are available.

Keywords: logging-While-Drilling, resistivity measurements, multi-scale finite elements, Hankel transform

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Authors: Ashkan Ebadi, Adam Krzyzak

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Recommender systems, also known as recommender engines, have become an important research area and are now being applied in various fields. In addition, the techniques behind the recommender systems have been improved over the time. In general, such systems help users to find their required products or services (e.g. books, music) through analyzing and aggregating other users’ activities and behavior, mainly in form of reviews, and making the best recommendations. The recommendations can facilitate user’s decision making process. Despite the wide literature on the topic, using multiple data sources of different types as the input has not been widely studied. Recommender systems can benefit from the high availability of digital data to collect the input data of different types which implicitly or explicitly help the system to improve its accuracy. Moreover, most of the existing research in this area is based on single rating measures in which a single rating is used to link users to items. This paper proposes a highly accurate hotel recommender system, implemented in various layers. Using multi-aspect rating system and benefitting from large-scale data of different types, the recommender system suggests hotels that are personalized and tailored for the given user. The system employs natural language processing and topic modelling techniques to assess the sentiment of the users’ reviews and extract implicit features. The entire recommender engine contains multiple sub-systems, namely users clustering, matrix factorization module, and hybrid recommender system. Each sub-system contributes to the final composite set of recommendations through covering a specific aspect of the problem. The accuracy of the proposed recommender system has been tested intensively where the results confirm the high performance of the system.

Keywords: tourism, hotel recommender system, hybrid, implicit features

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Authors: Jeaha Yang, Ahmed Khan, Donna L. Rodela, Mohammed A. Qaudeer

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Traditional supply chain silos still exist today due to the difficulty of establishing trust between various partners and technological barriers across industries. Companies lose opportunities and revenue and inadvertently make poor business decisions resulting in further challenges. Blockchain technology can bring a new level of transparency through sharing information with a distributed ledger in a decentralized manner that creates a basis of trust for business. Blockchain is a loosely coupled, hub-style communication network in which trading partners can work indirectly with each other for simpler integration, but they work together through the orchestration of their supply chain operations under a coherent process that is developed jointly. A Blockchain increases efficiencies, lowers costs, and improves interoperability to strengthen and automate the supply chain management process while all partners share the risk. Blockchain ledger is built to track inventory lifecycle for supply chain transparency and keeps a journal of inventory movement for real-time reconciliation. State design patterns are used to capture the life cycle (behavior) of inventory management as a state machine for a common, transparent and coherent process which creates an opportunity for trading partners to become more responsive in terms of changes or improvements in process, reconcile discrepancies, and comply with internal governance and external regulations. It enables end-to-end, inter-company visibility at the unit level for more accurate demand planning with better insight into order fulfillment and replenishment.

Keywords: supply chain management, inventory trace-ability, perpetual inventory system, inventory lifecycle, blockchain, inventory consignment, supply chain transparency, digital thread, demand planning, hyper ledger fabric

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Authors: K. Sathishkumar, V. Thiagarasu

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Due to recent advances in DNA microarray technology, it is now feasible to obtain gene expression profiles of tissue samples at relatively low costs. Many scientists around the world use the advantage of this gene profiling to characterize complex biological circumstances and diseases. Microarray techniques that are used in genome-wide gene expression and genome mutation analysis help scientists and physicians in understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms, in diagnoses and prognoses, and choosing treatment plans. DNA microarray technology has now made it possible to simultaneously monitor the expression levels of thousands of genes during important biological processes and across collections of related samples. Elucidating the patterns hidden in gene expression data offers a tremendous opportunity for an enhanced understanding of functional genomics. However, the large number of genes and the complexity of biological networks greatly increase the challenges of comprehending and interpreting the resulting mass of data, which often consists of millions of measurements. A first step toward addressing this challenge is the use of clustering techniques, which is essential in the data mining process to reveal natural structures and identify interesting patterns in the underlying data. This work presents an analysis of several clustering algorithms proposed to deals with the gene expression data effectively. The existing clustering algorithms like Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-means algorithm and evolutionary algorithm etc. are analyzed thoroughly to identify the advantages and limitations. The performance evaluation of the existing algorithms is carried out to determine the best approach. In order to improve the classification performance of the best approach in terms of Accuracy, Convergence Behavior and processing time, a hybrid clustering based optimization approach has been proposed.

Keywords: microarray technology, gene expression data, clustering, gene Selection

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Authors: Vaibhav Budhiraja, Chandra Mouli Pandey

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The ultrasonic synthesis of nanostructured conducting copolymer is an effective technique to synthesize polymer with desired chemical properties. This tailored nanostructure, shows tremendous improvement in sensitivity and stability to detect a variety of analytes. The present work reports ultrasonically synthesized nanostructured conducting poly(o-phenylenediamine)-co-poly(1-naphthylamine) (POPD-co-PNA). The synthesized material has been characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and cyclic voltammetry. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed random copolymerization, while UV-visible studies reveal the variation in polaronic states upon copolymerization. High crystallinity was achieved via ultrasonic synthesis which was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, and the controlled morphology of the nanostructures was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy analysis. Cyclic voltammetry shows that POPD-co-PNA has rather high electrochemical activity. This behavior was explained on the basis of variable orientations adopted by the conducting polymer chains. The synthesized material was electrophoretically deposited at onto indium tin oxide coated glass substrate which is used as cathode and parallel platinum plate as the counter electrode. The fabricated bioelectrode was further used for detection of glucose by crosslinking of glucose oxidase in the PODP-co-PNA film. The bioelectrode shows a surface-controlled electrode reaction with the electron transfer coefficient (α) of 0.72, charge transfer rate constant (ks) of 21.77 s⁻¹ and diffusion coefficient 7.354 × 10⁻¹⁵ cm²s⁻¹.

Keywords: conducting, electrophoretic, glucose, poly (o-phenylenediamine), poly (1-naphthylamine), ultrasonic

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Authors: Zeinab Gharibi, B. Stoevesandt, J. Peinke

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Long term surface erosion of wind turbine blades, especially at the leading edge, impairs aerodynamic performance; therefore, lowers efficiency of the blades mostly in the high-speed rotor tip regions. Blade protection provides significant improvements in annual energy production, reduces costly downtime, and protects the integrity of the blades. However, this protection still influences the aerodynamic behavior, and broadband noise caused by interaction between the impinging turbulence and blade’s leading edge. This paper presents an extensive numerical aeroacoustics approach by investigating the sound power spectra of the eroded and coated NACA 64-618 wind turbine airfoil and evaluates aeroacoustics improvements after the protection procedure. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), different quasi 2D numerical grids were implemented and special attention was paid to the refinement of the boundary layers. The noise sources were captured and decoupled with acoustic propagation via the derived formulation of Curle’s analogy implemented in OpenFOAM. Therefore, the noise spectra were compared for clean, coated and eroded profiles in the range of chord-based Reynolds number (1.6e6 ≤ Re ≤ 11.5e6). Angle of attack was zero in all cases. Verifications were conducted for the clean profile using available experimental data. Sensitivity studies for the far-field were done on different observational positions. Furthermore, beamforming studies were done simulating an Archimedean spiral microphone array for far-field noise directivity patterns. Comparing the noise spectra of the coated and eroded geometries, results show that, coating clearly improves aerodynamic and acoustic performance of the eroded airfoil.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, computational aeroacoustics, leading edge, OpenFOAM

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Authors: Shirley S. Ho

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The advancement and development of social media have inadvertently brought about a new form of bullying – cyberbullying – that transcends across physical boundaries of space. Although extensive research has been conducted in the field of cyberbullying, most of these studies have taken an overwhelmingly empirical angle. Theories guiding cyberbullying research are few. Furthermore, very few studies have explored the association between parental mediation and cyberbullying, with majority of existing studies focusing on cyberbullying victimization rather than perpetration. Therefore, this present study investigates cyberbullying perpetration from a theoretical angle, with a focus on the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Parental Mediation Theory. More specifically, this study examines the direct effects of attitude, subjective norms, descriptive norms, injunctive norms and active mediation and restrictive mediation on cyberbullying perpetration on social media among children and adolescents in Singapore. Furthermore, the moderating role of age on the relationship between parental mediation and cyberbullying perpetration on social media are examined. A self-administered paper-and-pencil nationally-representative survey was conducted. Multi-stage cluster random sampling was used to ensure that schools from all the four (North, South, East, and West) regions of Singapore were equally represented in the sample used for the survey. In all 607 upper primary school children (i.e., Primary 4 to 6 students) and 782 secondary school adolescents participated in our survey. The total average response rates were 69.6% for student participation. An ordinary least squares hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses and research questions. The results revealed that attitude and subjective norms were positively associated with cyberbullying perpetration on social media. Descriptive norms and injunctive norms were not found to be significantly associated with cyberbullying perpetration. The results also showed that both parental mediation strategies were negatively associated with cyberbullying perpetration on social media. Age was a significant moderator of both parental mediation strategies and cyberbullying perpetration. The negative relationship between active mediation and cyberbullying perpetration was found to be greater in the case of children than adolescents. Children who received high restrictive parental mediation were less likely to perform cyberbullying behaviors, while adolescents who received high restrictive parental mediation were more likely to be engaged in cyberbullying perpetration. The study reveals that parents should apply active mediation and restrictive mediation in different ways for children and adolescents when trying to prevent cyberbullying perpetration. The effectiveness of active parental mediation for reducing cyberbullying perpetration was more in the case of children than for adolescents. Younger children were found to be more likely to respond more positively toward restrictive parental mediation strategies, but in the case of adolescents, overly restrictive control was found to increase cyberbullying perpetration. Adolescents exhibited less cyberbullying behaviors when under low restrictive strategies. Findings highlight that the Theory of Reasoned Action and Parental Mediation Theory are promising frameworks to apply in the examination of cyberbullying perpetration. The findings that different parental mediation strategies had differing effectiveness, based on the children’s age, bring about several practical implications that may benefit educators and parents when addressing their children’s online risk.

Keywords: cyberbullying perpetration, theory of reasoned action, parental mediation, social media, Singapore

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