Search results for: concepts and criteria of physical contextualism

Authors: José María Agugusto-landa, Inmaculada García-Martínez, Lara Checa Domene, Óscar Gavín Chocano

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Self-concept is the perception that a person has of himself, of his abilities, skills, traits, and values. Self-concept is composed of different dimensions, such as academic self-concept, physical self-concept, social self-concept, emotional self-concept, and family self-concept. The relationship between the dimensions of self-concept and mental health and academic performance among future teachers is a topic of interest for educational psychology. Some studies have found that: (i) There is a positive relationship between general self-concept, academic self-concept and academic performance, that is, students who have a more positive image of themselves tend to get better grades and be more motivated to learn. (ii) There is a positive relationship between emotional intelligence, physical self-concept and healthy habits, that is, students who regulate and understand their emotions better have a higher satisfaction with their physical appearance and follow a more balanced diet and a higher physical activity. As for gender differences in the dimensions of self-concept among future teachers, some studies have found that: (i) Girls tend to have a higher self-concept in the social, family and verbal dimensions, that is, they perceive themselves as more capable of relating to others, communicating effectively and receiving support from their family. (ii) Boys tend to have a higher self-concept in the physical, emotional and mathematical dimensions, that is, they perceive themselves as more capable of performing physical activities, controlling their emotions and solving mathematical problems. (iii) There are no significant differences between general self-concept and academic self-concept according to gender, that is, both girls and boys have a similar perception of their global worth and academic competence.

Keywords: preservice teachers, self-concept, academic performance, mental wellbeing

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Authors: Ku Aina Afiqah Ku Adzman, Manmeet Mahinderjit Singh, Zarul Fitri Zaaba

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NFC operates on low-range 13.56 MHz frequency within a distance from 4cm to 10cm, and the applications can be categorized as touch and go, touch and confirm, touch and connect, and touch and explore. NFC applications are vulnerable to various security and privacy attacks such due to its physical nature; unprotected data stored in NFC tag and insecure communication between its applications. This paper aims to determine the likelihood of security risks happening in an NFC technology and application. We present an NFC technology taxonomy covering NFC standards, types of application and various security and privacy attack. Based on observations and the survey presented to evaluate the risk assessment within the touch and go application demonstrates two security attacks that are high risks namely data corruption and DOS attacks. After the risks are determined, risk countermeasures by using AHP is adopted. The guideline and solutions to these two high risks, attacks are later applied to a secure NFC-enabled Smartphone Attendance System.

Keywords: Near Field Communication (NFC), risk assessment, multi-criteria decision making, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

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Authors: Şenay Pehli̇van, Gülümser Kublay

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Female inmates placed in a Correctional Institution (CI) have more physical health problems than other women and their male counterparts. Thus, they require more health care services in the CI and nursing services in particular. CI nurses also have the opportunity to teach behaviors which will protect and improve their health to these women who are difficult to reach in the community. The aim of this study was to evaluate effect of nursing services provided in a CI on the physical health levels and health behaviors of female inmates. The study has a quasi-experimental design. The study was done in Female Closed CI in Ankara, Turkey. The study was conducted on 30 female inmates. Before the implementation of nursing interventions in the initial phase of the study, female inmates were evaluated in terms of physical health problems and health behavior using forms, a physical examination, medical history, health files (file containing medical information related to prisons) and the Omaha System (OS). Findings obtained from evaluations were grouped and symptoms-findings were expressed with OS diagnosis codes. Knowledge, behavior and status scores of prisoners in relation to health problems were determined. After the implementation of the nursing interventions, female inmates were evaluated in terms of physical health problems and health behavior using OS. The research data were collected using the Female Evaluation Form developed by the researcher and the OS. It was found that knowledge, behavior and status scores of prisoners significantly increased after the implementation of nursing interventions (p < 0.05).

Keywords: prison nursing, health promotion and protecting, nursi̇ng servi̇ces, omaha system

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Authors: M. R. S. Nasuha, K. Azman, H. Azhan, S. A. Senawi, A . Mardhiah

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Sm3+ doped borotellurite glasses of the system (70-x) TeO2-20B2O3-10ZnO-xSm2O3 (where x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mol%) have been prepared using melt-quenching method. Their physical properties such as density, molar volume and oxygen packing density as well as the optical measurements by mean of their absorption and emission characteristic have been carried out at room temperature using UV/VIS and photoluminescence spectrophotometer. The result of physical properties is found to vary with respect to Sm3+ ions content. Meanwhile, three strong absorption peaks are observed and are well resolved in the ultraviolet and visible regions due to transitions between the ground state and various excited state of Sm3+ ions. Thus, the photoluminescence spectra exhibit four emission bands from the initial state, which correspond to the 4G5/2 → 6H5/2, 4G5/2 → 6H7/2, 4G5/2 → 6H9/2 and 4G5/2 → 6H11/2 fluorescence transitions at 562 nm, 599 nm, 645 nm, and 706 nm, respectively.

Keywords: absorption, borotellurite, emission, optical, physical

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Authors: Yun-na Wu, Zhen Wang

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Due to the economic downturn and the deterioration of the living environment, the development of residential buildings as high energy consuming building is gradually changing from “extensive” to green building in China. So, the evaluation system of green building is continuously improved, but the current evaluation work has the following problems: (1) There are differences in the cost of the actual investment and the purchasing power of residents, also construction target of green residential building is single and lacks multi-objective performance development. (2) Green building evaluation lacks regional characteristics and cannot reflect the different regional residents demand. (3) In the process of determining the criteria weight, the experts’ judgment matrix is difficult to meet the requirement of consistency. Therefore, to solve those problems, questionnaires which are about the green residential building for Ningxia area are distributed, and the results of questionnaires can feedback the purchasing power of residents and the acceptance of the green building cost. Secondly, combined with the geographical features of Ningxia minority areas, the evaluation criteria system of green residential building is constructed. Finally, using the improved group AHP method and the grey clustering method, the criteria weight is determined, and a real case is evaluated, which is located in Xing Qing district, Ningxia. A conclusion can be obtained that the professional evaluation for this project and good social recognition is basically the same.

Keywords: evaluation, green residential building, grey clustering method, group AHP

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Authors: D. Aboutaleb, B. Safi

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The borate glasses are known by their structural characterized by existence of unit’s structural composed by triangles and tetrahedrons boron in different configurations depending on the percentage of B2O3 in the glass chemical composition. In this paper, effect of lithium oxide addition on the thermal and physical properties of an alumina borate glass, was investigated. It was found that the boron abnormality has a significant effect in the change of glass properties according to the addition rate of lithium oxide.

Keywords: borate glasses, triangles and tetrahedrons boron, lithium oxide, boron anomaly, thermal properties, physical properties

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Authors: Bandar A. Alkhayyal

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Modern supply chains are typically linear, transforming virgin raw materials into products for end consumers, who then discard them after use to landfills or incinerators. Nowadays, there are major efforts underway to create a circular economy to reduce non-renewable resource use and waste. One important aspect of these efforts is the development of Green Supply Chain (GSC) systems which enables a reverse flow of used products from consumers back to manufacturers, where they can be refurbished or remanufactured, to both economic and environmental benefit. This paper develops novel multi-objective optimization models to inform GSC system design at multiple levels: (1) strategic planning of facility location and transportation logistics; (2) tactical planning of optimal pricing; and (3) policy planning to account for potential valuation of GSC emissions. First, physical linear programming was applied to evaluate GSC facility placement by determining the quantities of end-of-life products for transport from candidate collection centers to remanufacturing facilities while satisfying cost and capacity criteria. Second, disassembly and remanufacturing processes have received little attention in industrial engineering and process cost modeling literature. The increasing scale of remanufacturing operations, worth nearly $50 billion annually in the United States alone, have made GSC pricing an important subject of research. A non-linear physical programming model for optimization of pricing policy for remanufactured products that maximizes total profit and minimizes product recovery costs were examined and solved. Finally, a deterministic equilibrium model was used to determine the effects of internalizing a cost of GSC greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into optimization models. Changes in optimal facility use, transportation logistics, and pricing/profit margins were all investigated against a variable cost of carbon, using case study system created based on actual data from sites in the Boston area. As carbon costs increase, the optimal GSC system undergoes several distinct shifts in topology as it seeks new cost-minimal configurations. A comprehensive study of quantitative evaluation and performance of the model has been done using orthogonal arrays. Results were compared to top-down estimates from economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) models, to contrast remanufacturing GHG emission quantities with those from original equipment manufacturing operations. Introducing a carbon cost of $40/t CO2e increases modeled remanufacturing costs by 2.7% but also increases original equipment costs by 2.3%. The assembled work advances the theoretical modeling of optimal GSC systems and presents a rare case study of remanufactured appliances.

Keywords: circular economy, extended producer responsibility, greenhouse gas emissions, industrial ecology, low carbon logistics, green supply chains

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Authors: Ruben L. Tagare, Jr

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This study was conducted to determine the parents’ motivating factors for their deaf and mute children to participate in physical and recreational activities. Data were collected from the 17 parents of the deaf and mute children using a specifically designed survey questionnaire as the primary instrument used in the study. Data analysis and interpretation were done with the aid of descriptive statistics, such as frequency, percentage, weighted mean and multiple responses. Most of the respondents were female with a mean average age of 38 years old. The average age of their children was 10 years old. In terms of monthly income, the respondents had an average monthly income of PhP 13,945. Furthermore, most of the respondents lived in the urban area and were all Catholic by faith or religion. As to the factors that parents used to motivate their deaf and mute children to engage in physical and recreational activities, these included the followings: First; to make my child experience and explore more meaningful things through physical and recreational activities; second; to gain other’s respect; third; to build friendship and interact with his peers; fourth; to experience the feeling of belongingness; and fifth: to learn and discover new things. On the other hand, the least chosen factors were: first; to help achieve and maintain a healthy weight; second; to reduce fats and lowering blood pressure; third; to improve balance, coordination and strength; fourth; to improve posture; and fifth; to assist the child in the development of gross motor and fine motor skills. Based on the findings of the study, it is hereby recommended that since the first factor is 'to make my child experience and explore more meaningful things through physical and recreational activities' and the other top factors are more on social aspect, the school should design extra-curricular activities such as theatrical play and other similar activities that the students will find interesting while the parents will be more motivated to engage their children into physical and recreational activities. Also, since the least chosen factors are more on physical aspect, the school should organize or conduct a seminar for the parents to be aware of the benefits of participating in physical and recreational activities for their deaf and mute children. They can also conduct an information campaign to encourage the other parents of deaf and mute children, whom they keep only inside their home to enroll in the school and let their children be exposed to the natural world. Considering that parents are the primary motivators that can best help their children become more interested in physical and recreational activities for their own development, the school should always remain motivated by creating activities for the deaf and mute children with their parents. The study also recommends conducting further study on the level of knowledge/understanding of the parents on the benefits that can be derived from participating in physical and recreational activities.

Keywords: deaf and mute, participation, physical and recreational activities, adaptive PE

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Authors: R. Maher, D. Marchant, F. Fazel

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Choking in sport has been defined as ‘an acute performance breakdown’, and is generally explained through a range of contributory antecedents, factors, and explanatory theories. The influence of mental antecedents on an athlete’s performance under pressure has been widely examined through numerous studies. Researchers have only recently begun to investigate the influence of physical effort and associated residual fatigue as a potential contributor to choking in sport. Consequently, the initial aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which both physical exertion and pressure affect free-throw shooting performance. It was hypothesized that the free-throw shooting scores would decline under manipulated conditions. Design and Methods: Using a within-subjects design, 50 student-athletes were assigned to four manipulated conditions: (a) higher pressure-running, (b) higher pressure-no running, (c) lower pressure-running, and (d) lower pressure-no running. The physical exertion was manipulated by including a 56 meter shuttle-run in two of the running conditions. The pressure was manipulated with the presence of an audience, video-recording, performance contingent rewards, and weighting successful shots in the higher pressure conditions. A repeated measure analysis of variance was used to analyse the data. Results: The free-throw performance significantly deteriorated under manipulated physical exertion F (1, 49) = 10.13, p = .003, ηp 2 = .17 and pressure conditions F (1, 49) = 5.25, p = .02, ηp 2 = .09. The lowest free-throw scores were observed in the higher pressure-running condition, whereas the highest free-throw scores were reported in the lower pressure-no running condition. Conclusions: Physical exertion and the associated residual fatigue were contributors to choking. The results of the present study herald a new concept in choking research and yield a practical platform for use by athletes, coaches, and sport psychologists to better manage the psychological and physiological aspects of performance under pressure.

Keywords: anxiety, basketball, choking, fatigue, free-throw shooting, physical exertion

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Authors: Tharwat Girgis Farag Girgis

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The link between development and human rights has long been the subject of scholarly debate. As a result, a number of principles have been adopted, from the right to development to the human rights-based development approach, to understand the dynamics between the two concepts. Despite the initiatives taken, the exact relationship between development and human rights remains unclear. However, the rapprochement between the two concepts and the need for development efforts regarding human rights have increased in recent years. On the other hand, the emergence of sustainable development as an acceptable method in development goals and policies makes this consensus even more unstable. The place of sustainable development in the legal debate on human rights and its role in promoting sustainable development programs require further research. Therefore, this article attempts to map the relationship between development and human rights, with particular emphasis on the place given to sustainable development principles in international human rights law. It will continue to investigate whether it recognizes sustainable development rights. The article will therefore give a positive answer to question mentioned here. The jurisprudence and interpretive guidelines of human rights institutions travel to confirm this hypothesis.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability human rights protection, human rights violations, workers’ rights, justice, security

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Authors: Manssour Habbash, Srinivasa Rao Idapalapati

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Although writing is a multifaceted task, teaching writing is a demanding task basically for two reasons: Grammar and Syntax. This article provides a method of teaching writing that was found to be effective in improving students’ academic writing composition skill. The article explains the concepts of ‘guided-discovery’ and ‘guided-construction’ upon which a method of teaching writing is grounded and developed. Providing a brief commentary on what the core could mean primarily, the article presents an exposition of understanding and identifying the core and building upon the core that can demonstrate the way a teacher can make use of the concepts in teaching for improving the writing skills of their students. The method is an adaptation of grammar translation method that has been improvised to suit to a student-centered classroom environment. An intervention of teaching writing through this method was tried out with positive outcomes in formal classroom research setup, and in view of the content’s quality that relates more to the classroom practices and also in consideration of its usefulness to the practicing teachers the process and the findings are presented in a narrative form along with the results in tabular form.

Keywords: core of a text, guided construction, guided discovery, theme of a text

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Authors: Izadi Banafsheh, Sedaghat Reza

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Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) of machinery are a key recent issue concerning the automotive industry. It has always been a debated question what order or priority should be adopted for the MRO of machinery. This study attempts to examine several criteria including process sensitivity, average time between machine failures, average duration of repair, availability of parts, availability of maintenance personnel and workload through a literature review and experts survey so as to determine the condition of the machine. According to the mentioned criteria, the machinery were ranked in four modes below: A) Need for inspection, B) Need for minor repair, C) Need for part replacement, and D) Need for major repair. The Fuzzy AHP was employed to determine the weighting of criteria. At the end, the obtained weights were ranked through the AHP for each criterion, three groups were specified: shaving machines, assembly and painting in four modes. The statistical population comprises the elite in the Iranian automotive industry at IKCO covering operation managers, CEOs and maintenance professionals who are highly specialized in MRO and perfectly knowledgeable in how the machinery function. The information required for this study were collected from both desk research and field review, which eventually led to construction of a questionnaire handed out to the sample respondents in order to collect information on the subject matter. The results of the AHP for weighting the criteria revealed that the availability of maintenance personnel was the top priority at coefficient of 0.206, while the process sensitivity took the last priority at coefficient of 0.066. Furthermore, the results of TOPSIS for prioritizing the IKCO machinery suggested that at the mode where there is need for inspection, the assembly machines took the top priority while paining machines took the third priority. As for the mode where there is need for minor repairs, the assembly machines took the top priority while the third priority belonged to the shaving machines. As for the mode where there is need for parts replacement, the assembly machines took the top priority while the third belonged to the paining machinery. Finally, as for the mode where there is need for major repair, the assembly machines took the top priority while the third belonged to the paining machinery.

Keywords: maintenance, repair, overhaul, MRO, prioritization of machinery, fuzzy logic, AHP, TOPSIS

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Authors: Lovro Štefan

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Background: The main purpose of the present study was to explore the correlations between physical activity and peak plantar pressure in dynamic mode. Methods: Participants were one hundred forty-six first-year university students (30.8% girls). Plantar pressure generated under each region of the foot (forefoot, midfoot, and heel) was measured by using Zebris dynamometric platform (Isny, Germany). The level of physical activity (PA) was calculated with the International Physical Activity questionnaire (IPAQ - short form). Results: In boys, forefoot peak plantar pressure was correlated with moderate PA (MPA; r=-0.21), vigorous PA (VPA; r=-0.18), and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA; r=-0.28). No significant correlations with other foot regions (p>0.05) were observed. In girls, forefoot peak plantar pressure was correlated with MPA (r =-0.30), VPA (r=-0.39) and MVPA (r=-0.38). Also, heel peak pressure was significantly correlated with MPA (r=-0.33), while no significant correlations with VPA (r=0.05) and MVPA (r=-0.15) were observed. Conclusion: This study shows that different intensities of PA were mostly correlated with forefoot peak plantar pressure in both boys and girls. Therefore, strategies that reduce plantar pressure through a more active lifestyle should be implemented within the education system.

Keywords: pedobarography, youth, exercise, associations

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Authors: Keshab Shrestha, Hung-Suck Park

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Emergy accounting of the systems networks is guided by a definite rule called ‘emergy algebra’. The systems networks consist of two types of branching. These are the co-product branching and split branching. The emergy accounting procedure for both the branching types is different. According to the emergy algebra, each branch in the co-product branching has different transformity values whereas the split branching has the same transformity value. After the transformity value of each branch is determined, the emergy is calculated by multiplying this with the energy. The aim of this research is to solve the problems in determining the transformity values in the co-product branching through the introduction of a new methodology, the modified physical quantity method. Initially, the existing methodologies for emergy accounting in the co-product branching is discussed and later, the modified physical quantity method is introduced with a case study of the Eucalyptus pulp production. The existing emergy accounting methodologies in the co-product branching has wrong interpretations with incorrect emergy calculations. The modified physical quantity method solves those problems of emergy accounting in the co-product branching systems. The transformity value calculated for each branch is different and also applicable in the emergy calculations. The methodology also strictly follows the emergy algebra rules. This new modified physical quantity methodology is a valid approach in emergy accounting particularly in the multi-production systems networks.

Keywords: co-product branching, emergy accounting, emergy algebra, modified physical quantity method, transformity value

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Authors: Eman Muhammad Rashwan

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The identity of the state in many Middle East countries today, between secularity and religiousness, is an important and controversial question. Specially after the sweeping repels in number of countries that put Islamic parties in power. In this paper two role model states in this respect, are under examination to answer the question of how their identity that was expressed in their constitutions influenced the allocation of power between different state authorities. In the beginning both the criteria used to define the two concepts of secularity and religiousness, and the reason why these two states are particularly chosen for comparison, are explained. The situation in Turkey is firstly indicated. The constitutional system shows that power is divided between parliament, cabinet and the president. The first two authorities have the most significant powers, and generally, the system in Turkey is similar to many other secular states in the world. But when the research moves to the system in Iran, the importance of comparison starts to appear. In this section, the nature of Islamic Shi’a of Iran Republic is discussed, and also its influence on the main and unique authorities of this religious state, which don`t only include the president and council of ministers, but also The Supreme Leader and The Council of Guardians. This paper doesn`t aim to favor a one system over another, and doesn`t discuss the influences of the two systems on the social or economic situation in the two model states. The aim of this paper is to study the influence of excluding, and applying religion in respect to allocation of power in constitutions.

Keywords: comparative law, constitutional systems, secular states, religious states

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Authors: Badr A. Al-Jehani

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Nowadays, contractor selection is a critical activity of the project owner. Selecting the right contractor is essential to the project manager for the success of the project, and this cab happens by using the proper selecting method. Traditionally, the contractor is being selected based on his offered bid price. This approach focuses only on the price factor and forgetting other essential factors for the success of the project. In this research paper, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method is used as a decision tool model to select the most appropriate contractor. This decision-making method can help the clients who work in the construction industry to identify contractors who are capable of delivering satisfactory outcomes. Moreover, this research paper provides a case study of selecting the proper contractor among three contractors by using ANP method. The case study identifies and computes the relative weight of the eight criteria and eleven sub-criteria using a questionnaire.

Keywords: contractor selection, project management, decision-making, bidding

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Authors: Sepehr Moradi

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The physical and mechanical property parameters, inter-relation of key dimensional and distribution profile of raw Australia Superfine Merino Wool (ASFW) and Inner Mongolia Cashmere (IMC) fibres have been studied. The relationship between the properties of these fibres is assessed using fit transformation functions obtained through correlation coefficient analysis. ASFW and IMC fibre properties are found to be both positively skewed and asymmetric in nature. Whilst fibre diameter varies along its length and both ends have a tapering shape. The basic physical features, namely linear density, true local diameter, true length and breaking load are positively correlated while their tenacity is negatively correlated. The tenacity and true length follow a second order polynomial while the true local diameter is linearly correlated. Assessment of the diameter and length is sufficient to estimate the evaluation of quality for commercial grade ASFW and IMC fibres.

Keywords: Australia Superfine Merino Wool fibre, Inner Mongolia Cashmere fibre, distribution profile, physical properties

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Authors: Elena Pozdnyakova

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“Government Relations” is a field of knowledge presently taught at the majority of universities around the globe. English as the default language can become the language of teaching since the issues discussed are both global and national in character. However for this field of knowledge key concepts and their word representations in English don’t often coincide with those in other languages. International master’s degree students abroad as well as students, taught the course in English at their national universities, are exposed to difficulties, connected with correct conceptualizing of terminology of GR in British and American academic traditions. The study was carried out during the GR English language course elaboration (pilot research: 2013 -2015) at Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations (University), Russian Federation. Within this period, English language instructors designed and elaborated the three-semester course of GR. Methodologically the course design was based on elaboration model with the special focus on conceptual elaboration sequence and theoretical elaboration sequence. The course designers faced difficulties in concept selection and theoretical elaboration sequence. To improve the results and eliminate the problems with concept selection, a new, corpus-based approach was worked out. The computer-based tool WordSmith 6.0 was used with the aim to build a model of key concept selection. The corpus of GR English texts consisted of 1 million words (the study corpus). The approach was based on measuring effect size, i.e. the percent difference of the frequency of a word in the study corpus when compared to that in the reference corpus. The results obtained proved significant improvement in the process of concept selection. The corpus-based model also facilitated theoretical elaboration of teaching materials.

Keywords: corpus-based study, English as the default language, key concepts, measuring effect size, model of key concept selection

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Authors: Andrea Borroni

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The evolution of technology, the global scale of economy, and the new short-term employment contracts make a very peculiar set of disposition of raising interest for the legal interpreter: the employee inventor compensation. Around the globe, this issue is differently regulated according to the legal systems; therefore, it is extremely fragmented. Of course, employers with transnational businesses should face this issue from a comparative perspective. Different legal regimes are available worldwide awarding, as a consequence, diverse compensation to the inventor and according to their own methodology. Given these premises, the recourse to comparative law methodology (legal formants, diachronic and synchronic methodology, common core approach) is the best equipped to face all these different national approaches in order to achieve a tidy systematic. This research, so, elaborates a map of the specific criteria to grant the compensation for the inventor and to show the criteria to calculate them. This finding has been the first step to find out a common core of the discipline given by the common features present in the different legal systems.

Keywords: comparative law, employee invention, intellectual property, legal transplant

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Authors: Xin Chen, Xiao Yang, Rongrong Han, Lu Chen, Lingling Gao

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Background: Leisure time physical activity (LTPA) benefits both pregnant women and their fetuses. The guidelines recommended that pregnant women should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week. The aim of this study was to investigate the rate of LTPA participation among Chinese pregnant women and to identify its predictors based on the health belief model. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2019 to September 2019 in Changchun, China. A total of 225 pregnant women aged 18 years or older with no severe physical or mental disease were recruited in the obstetric clinic. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. LTPA was assessed by a pregnant physical activity questionnaire (PPAQ). A revised pregnancy physical activity health belief scale and social-demographic and perinatal characteristics factors were collected and used to predict LTPA participation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. Results: The participants had a high level of perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and action clues, with mean item scores above 3.5. The predictors of LTPA in Chinese pregnant women were pre-pregnancy exercise habits [OR 3.236 (95% CI:1.632, 6.416)], perceived susceptibility score [OR 2.083 (95% CI:1.002, 4.331)], and perceived barriers score [OR 3.113 (95%CI:1.462, 6.626)]. Conclusions: The results of this study will lead to better identification of pregnant women who may not participate in LTPA. Healthcare professionals should be cognizant of issues that may affect LTPA participation among pregnant women, including pre-pregnancy exercise habits, perceived susceptibility, and perceived barriers.

Keywords: pregnancy, health belief model., leisure time physical activity, factors

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Authors: Juan Li, Hui Tian, Min Wang

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In China, under the considerable pressure of 'Gaokao' –the highly competitive college entrance examination, high school teachers and parents often worry that doing physical activity would take away the students’ precious study time and may have a negative impact on the academic grades. There was a tendency to achieve high academic scores at the cost of physical exercise. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the physical fitness and academic achievement of Chinese high school students. The participants were 968 grade one (N=457) and grade two students (N=511) with an average age of 16 years from three high schools of different levels in Beijing, China. 479 were boys, and 489 were girls. One of the schools is a top high school in China, another is a key high school in Beijing, and the other is an ordinary high school. All analyses were weighted using SAS 9.4 to ensure the representatives of the sample. The weights were based on 12 strata of schools, sex, and grades. Physical fitness data were collected using the scores of the National Physical Fitness Test, which is an annual official test administered by the Ministry of Education in China. It includes 50m run, sits and reach test, standing long jump, 1000m run (for boys), 800m run (for girls), pull-ups for 1 minute (for boys), and bent-knee sit-ups for 1 minute (for girls). The test is an overall evaluation of the students’ physical health on the major indexes of strength, endurance, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory function. Academic scores were obtained from the three schools with the students’ consent. The statistical analysis was conducted with SPSS 24. Independent-Samples T-test was used to examine the gender group differences. Spearman’s Rho bivariate correlation was adopted to test for associations between physical test results and academic performance. Statistical significance was set at p<.05. The study found that girls obtained higher fitness scores than boys (p=.000). The girls’ physical fitness test scores were positively associated with the total academic grades (rs=.103, p=.029), English (rs=.096, p=.042), physics (rs=.202, p=.000) and chemistry scores (rs=.131, p=.009). No significant relationship was observed in boys. Cardiorespiratory fitness had a positive association with physics (rs=.196, p=.000) and biology scores (rs=.168, p=.023) in girls, and with English score in boys (rs=.104, p=.029). A possible explanation for the greater association between physical fitness and academic achievement in girls rather than boys was that girls showed stronger motivation in achieving high scores in whether academic tests or fitness tests. More driven by the test results, girls probably tended to invest more time and energy in training for the fitness test. Higher fitness levels were associated with an academic benefit among girls generally in Chinese high schools. Therefore, physical fitness needs to be given greater emphasis among Chinese adolescents and gender differences need to be taken into consideration.

Keywords: physical fitness; adolescents; academic achievement; high school

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Authors: Yanqing Yi, Maria Cristina Lavagnolo, Alessandro Manzardo

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Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is a major challenge in the European Union, emphasizing the urgent need for appropriate waste management processes. Selecting these solutions is challenging, as it requires identifying efficient C&DW management techniques that balance acceptable practices, regulatory compliance, resource conservation, economic viability, and environmental concerns. Techniques for analyzing many kinds of criteria allow for the use of multi-criteria analysis in life cycle assessment (LCA). Although LCA is commonly used to analyze environmental effects, the economic factor has not been fully integrated into the LCA approach in C&DW management. The life cycle costing (LCC) approach was designed to assess economic performance in the C&DW management process. The choice of an effective multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique is critical for the C&DW system. This study seeks to propose a model that employs MCDM by considering LCA and LCC results, thereby augmenting both environmental and economic sustainability. A widely used compensatory MCDM technique, TOPSIS, has been chosen to identify the most effective C&DW management scheme by comparing and ranking various scenarios. Four waste management alternatives were examined in the Lombardy region of Italy, namely, (i) landfill; (ii) recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery; (iii) recycling for road construction; (iv) recycling for concrete production and road construction. We determine that, with the implementation of various scenarios, the most suitable scenario emerges to be recycled for concrete production and road construction, with a score of 0.711/1; recycling for road construction, with a final score of 0.291/1, ranks second; recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery scores 0.002/1, ranks third; and landfill (scores: 0/1) is the worst choice, indicating it has the highest environmental impact. Finally, suggestions were developed to improve the system's environmental performance.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, construction and demolition waste, multi-criteria decision making

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Authors: Justin M. Swanson, Anna Nelson, Daniel Handysides, Patti Herring, Christopher Hill

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Not only may social media use have a psychological impact, but increased use may be tied to decreases in physical activity and influencing sedentary behaviors. Social media can be used to share physically active lifestyles and possibly influence others to participate. In contrast, social media use may have adverse effects by decreasing participation in exercise. This study used a qualitative design to examine the relationship between social media use and exercise patterns. Participants were asked questions about their social media habits and how it might impact their physical activity behaviors. Self-reported exercise seemed to increase after viewing others engage in relatable activities or viewing someone that has overcame challenges. To increase the likelihood of engaging in exercise, exercise related posts should be low in difficulty, require few materials, or displayed progress from the individual posting.

Keywords: social media, exercise, physical activity, adults

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Authors: Bryan Young, Andrew Wodehouse, Marion Sheridan

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The availability of working memory has long been identified as a critical aspect of an instructional design. Many conventional instructional procedures impose irrelevant or unrelated cognitive loads on the learner due to the fact that they were created without contemplation, or understanding, of cognitive work load. Learning to physically operate traditional products can be viewed as a learning process akin to any other. As such, many of today's products, such as cars, boats, and planes, which have traditional controls that predate modern user-centered design techniques may be imposing irrelevant or unrelated cognitive loads on their operators. The goal of the research was to investigate the fundamental relationships between physical inputs, resulting actions, and learnability. The results showed that individuals can quickly adapt to input/output reversals across dimensions, however, individuals struggle to cope with the input/output when the dimensions are rotated due to the resulting increase in cognitive load.

Keywords: cognitive load theory, instructional design, physical product interactions, usability design

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Authors: S. J. Ha, S. J. Baik, T. O. Kim, S. W. Han

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For computing the seismic responses of structures, current seismic design provisions permit response history analyses (RHA) that can be used without limitations in height, seismic design category, and building irregularity. In order to obtain accurate seismic responses using RHA, it is important to use adequate input ground motions. Current seismic design provisions provide criteria for selecting ground motions. In this study, the accurate and computationally efficient algorithm is proposed for accurately selecting ground motions that satisfy the requirements specified in current seismic design provisions. The accuracy of the proposed algorithm is verified using single-degree-of-freedom systems with various natural periods and yield strengths. This study shows that the mean seismic responses obtained from RHA with seven and ten ground motions selected using the proposed algorithm produce errors within 20% and 13%, respectively.

Keywords: algorithm, ground motion, response history analysis, selection

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Authors: Samrah Saeed

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Introduction: This study considers a measure of positive body image and the associations between body appreciation, beauty ideals internalization, dietary habits, and physical activity in young adults. Positive body image is assessed by Body Appreciation Scale 2. It is used to assess a person's acceptance of the body, the degree of positivity, and respect for the body.Regular physical activity and healthy eating arebasically important for the body, and they play an important role in creating a positive image of the body. Objectives: To identify the associations between body appreciation and beauty ideals internalization. To compare body appreciation and body ideals internalization among students of different physical activity. To explore the associations between dietary habits (unhealthy, healthy), body appreciation and body ideals internalization. Research methods and organization: Study participants were young adult students, aged 18-35, both male and female.The research questionnaire consisted of four areas: body appreciation, beauty ideals internalization, dietary habits, and physical activity.The questionnaire was created in Google Forms online survey platform.The questionnaire was filled out anonymously Result and Discussion: Physical dissatisfaction, diet, eating disorders and exercise disorders are found in young adults all over the world.Thorough nutrition helps people understand who they are by reassuring them that they are okay without judging or accepting themselves. Social media can positively influence body image in many ways.A healthy body image is important because it affect self-esteem, self-acceptance, and your attitude towards food and exercise.

Keywords: pysical activity, dietary habits, body image, beauty ideals internalization, body appreciation

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Authors: Arwa Khannoussi, Alexandru-Liviu Olteanu, Pritesh Narayan, Catherine Dezan, Jean-Philippe Diguet, Patrick Meyer, Jacques Petit-Frere

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Due to the nature of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) missions, it is important that the decisions of a UAV stay consistent with the priorities of an operator, while at the same time allowing them to be easily audited and explained. We propose a multi-layer decision engine that integrates the operator (human) preferences by using the Multi-Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA) methods. A software implementation of a UAV simulator and of the decision engine is presented to highlight the advantage of using such techniques on high-level decisions. We demonstrate that, with such a preference-based decision engine, the decisions of the UAV are compatible with the priorities of the operator, which in turn increases her/his confidence in its autonomous behavior.

Keywords: autonomous UAV, multi-criteria decision aiding, multi-layers decision engine, operator's preferences, traceable decisions, UAV simulation

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Authors: Birendra Kumar Jha, Mingma L. Sherpa, Binod Kumar Dahal

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Background: The metabolic syndrome is emerging as a major public health concern in the world. Urbanization, surplus energy uptake, compounded by decreased physical activities, and increasing obesity are the major factors contributing to the epidemic of metabolic syndrome worldwide. However, prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its risk factors are little studied in Terai region of Nepal. The objectives of this research were to estimate the prevalence and to identify the risk factors of metabolic syndrome among adults in Terai region of Nepal. Method: We used a community based cross sectional study design. A total of 225 adults (age: 18 to 80 years) were selected from three district of Terai region of Nepal using cluster sampling by camp approach. IDF criteria (central obesity with any two of following four factors: triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dl or specific treatment for lipid abnormality, reduced HDL, raised blood pressure and raised fasting plasma glucose or previously diagnosed type 2 diabetes) were used to assess metabolic syndrome. Interview, physical and clinical examination, measurement of fasting blood glucose and lipid profile were conducted for all participants. Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression were employed to explore the risk factors of metabolic syndrome. Result: The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 70.7%. Hypertension, increased fasting blood sugar, increased triglycerides and decreased HDL were observed in 50.7%, 32.4%, 41.8% and 79.1% of the subjects respectively. Socio-economic and behavioral risk factors significantly associated with metabolic syndrome were gender male (OR=2.56, 955 CI: 1.42-4.63; p=0.002), in service or retired from service (OR=3.72, 95% CI: 1.72-8.03; p=0.001) and smoking (OR= 4.10, 95% CI: 1.19-14.07; p=0.016). Conclusion: Higher prevalence of Metabolic syndrome along with presence of behavioral risk factors in Terai region of Nepal likely suggest lack of awareness and health promotion activities for metabolic syndrome and indicate the need to promote public health programs in this region to maintain quality of life.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome, Nepal, prevalence, risk factors, Terai

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Authors: Ülle Parm, Kata Pedamäe, Jaak Jürimäe, Evelin Lätt, Aivar Orav, Anna-Liisa Tamm

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Vegetarianism has gained popularity across the world. It`s being chosen for multiple reasons, but among Estonians, these have remained unknown. Previously, attention to bone health and probable nutrient deficiency of vegetarians has been paid and in vegetarians lower body mass index (BMI) and blood cholesterol level has been found but the results are inconclusive. The goal was to explain reasons for choosing vegetarian diet in Estonia and impact of vegetarianism to body composition – BMI, fat percentage (fat%), fat mass (FM), and fat free mass (FFM). The study group comprised of 68 vegetarians and 103 omnivorous. The determining body composition with DXA (Hologic) was concluded in 2013. Body mass (medical electronic scale, A&D Instruments, Abingdon, UK) and height (Martin metal anthropometer to the nearest 0.1 cm) were measured and BMI calculated (kg/m2). General data (physical activity level included) was collected with questionnaires. The main reasons why vegetarianism was chosen were the healthiness of the vegetarian diet (59%) and the wish to fight for animal rights (72%) Food additives were consumed by less than half of vegetarians, more often by men. Vegetarians had lower BMI than omnivores, especially amongst men. Based on BMI classification, vegetarians were less obese than omnivores. However, there were no differences in the FM, FFM and fat percentage figures of the two groups. Higher BMI might be the cause of higher physical activity level among omnivores compared with vegetarians. For classifying people as underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese both BMI and fat% criteria were used. By BMI classification in comparison with fat%, more people in the normal weight group were considered; by using fat% in comparison with BMI classification, however, more people categorized as overweight. It can be concluded that the main reasons for vegetarianism chosen in Estonia are healthiness of the vegetarian diet and the wish to fight for animal rights and vegetarian diet has no effect on body fat percentage, FM and FFM.

Keywords: body composition, body fat percentage, body mass index, vegetarianism

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Authors: Neda Valizadeh, Soudabeh Shafiee Ardestani, Arvin Najafi

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Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the association of mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MRproANP), procalcitonin (PCT), proendothelin-1 (proET-1) levels with sepsis severity in Emergency ward patients. Materials and Methods: We assessed the predictive value of MRproANP, PCT, copeptin, and proET-1 in early sepsis among patients referring to the emergency ward with a suspected sepsis. Results-132 patients were enrolled in this study. 45 (34%) patients had a final diagnosis of sepsis. A higher percentage of patients with definite sepsis had systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria at initial visit in comparison with no-sepsis patients (P<0.05) and were admitted to the hospital (P<0.05). PCT levels were higher in sepsis patients [P<0.05]. There was no significant differences for MRproANP or proET-1 in sepsis patients (P=0.47). Conclusion: A combination of SIRS criteria and PCT levels is beneficial for the early sepsis diagnosis in emergency ward patients with a suspicious infection disease.

Keywords: emergency, prolactin, sepsis, biomarkers

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