Search results for: offences against the person
607 Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study among Individuals with Substance-Related Disorders in Argentina
Authors: Badino Manuel, Farias María Alejandra
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Anxiety and depression are considered the main mental health issues found in people with substance-related disorders. Furthermore, substance-related disorders, anxiety-related and depressive disorders are among the leading causes of disability and are associated with increased mortality. The co-occurrence of substance-related disorders and these mental health conditions affect the accuracy in diagnosis, treatment plan, and recovery process. The aim is to describe the prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with substance-related disorders in a mental health service in Córdoba, Argentina. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with substance-related disorders (N=305). Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) during the period from December 2021 to March 2022. For a total of 305 participants, 71,8% were male, 25,6% female and 2,6% non-binary. As regards marital status, 51,5% were single, 21,6% as a couple, 5,9% married, 15,4% separated and 5,6% divorced. In relation to education status, 26,2% finished university, 56,1% high school, 16,4% only primary school and 1,3% no formal schooling. Regarding age, 10,8% were young, 84,3% were adults, and 4,9% were elderly. In-person treatment represented 64,6% of service users, and 35,4% were conducted through teleconsultation. 15,7% of service users scored 3 or higher for anxiety, and 32,1% scored 3 or higher for depression in the PHQ-4. 13,1% obtained a score of 3 or higher for both anxiety and depression. It is recommended to identify anxiety and depression among patients with substance-related disorders to improve the quality of diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. It is suggested to apply PHQ-4, PHQ-9 within the protocol of care for these patients.Keywords: addiction, anxiety, depression, mental health
Procedia PDF Downloads 102606 Global Emission Inventories of Air Pollutants from Combustion Sources
Authors: Shu Tao
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Based on a global fuel consumption data product (PKU-FUEL-2007) compiled recently and a series of databases for emission factors of various sources, global emission inventories of a number of greenhouse gases and air pollutants, including CO2, CO, SO2, NOx, primary particulate matter (total, PM 10, and PM 2.5), black carbon, organic carbon, mercury, volatile organic carbons, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, from combustion sources have been developed. The inventories feather high spatial and sectorial resolutions. The spatial resolution of the inventories are 0.1 by 0.1 degree, based on a sub-national disaggregation approach to reduce spatial bias due to uneven distribution of per person fuel consumption within countries. The finely resolved inventories provide critical information for chemical transport modeling and exposure modeling. Emissions from more than 60 sources in energy, industry, agriculture, residential, transportation, and wildfire sectors were quantified in this study. With the detailed sectorial information, the inventories become an important tool for policy makers. For residential sector, a set of models were developed to simulate temporal variation of fuel consumption, consequently pollutant emissions. The models can be used to characterize seasonal as well as inter-annual variations in the emissions in history and to predict future changes. The models can even be used to quantify net change of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions due to climate change. The inventories has been used for model ambient air quality, population exposure, and even health effects. A few examples of the applications are discussed.Keywords: air pollutants, combustion, emission inventory, sectorial information
Procedia PDF Downloads 369605 The Higher Education System in Jordan: Philosophy and Premises Preparation
Authors: Ihsan Orsan Oglah Elrabbaei
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This research stems from the philosophy of education notion, as it is a fundamental pillar within or component of the philosophy of education. It is the general framework that society takes towards the future in order to build its integrated educational system amid the variables that surround it, in order to prepare its members in all aspects of cognitive, skill, and behavioral life, so that there is a clear concept of the system of productive values, according to the vision of philosophy that defines its future roles, which can be found in the system of productive values. With the resignation, everything changes. As a result, the philosophy of education is anticipated to evolve in response to perceived changes in society in terms of the nature of its human and material resources. The study will answer the following questions: Has the philosophy of education changed to accommodate this change? Alternatively, is the change that occurs because of natural growth without education having a role in directing this change and being aware of it in order to fit with national, regional, and global changes? Were the national educational goals and curricula and their programs viewed through the lenses of interest? On the other hand, do things happen without realizing that the philosophy of education has changed and that it proceeds according to the natural rolling of the invisible impulse? The study concluded that we must reconsider the philosophy of education and redefine who is an educated person. In addition, to recognize all the values of the roles that the individual can play in his society, according to his abilities, and with respect. Moreover, building a new philosophy of education based on what society can look at and what it wants from a flexible future takes the concept of changing life values, their contents, diversity, and the roles of each individual in them.Keywords: higher education system, jordan, philosophy, premises preparation.
Procedia PDF Downloads 97604 Language Shapes Thought: An Experimental Study on English and Mandarin Native Speakers' Sequencing of Size
Authors: Hsi Wei
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Does the language we speak affect the way we think? This question has been discussed for a long time from different aspects. In this article, the issue is examined with an experiment on how speakers of different languages tend to do different sequencing when it comes to the size of general objects. An essential difference between the usage of English and Mandarin is the way we sequence the size of places or objects. In English, when describing the location of something we may say, for example, ‘The pen is inside the trashcan next to the tree at the park.’ In Mandarin, however, we would say, ‘The pen is at the park next to the tree inside the trashcan.’ It’s clear that generally English use the sequence of small to big while Mandarin the opposite. Therefore, the experiment was conducted to test if the difference of the languages affects the speakers’ ability to do the different sequencing. There were two groups of subjects; one consisted of English native speakers, another of Mandarin native speakers. Within the experiment, three nouns were showed as a group to the subjects as their native languages. Before they saw the nouns, they would first get an instruction of ‘big to small’, ‘small to big’, or ‘repeat’. Therefore, the subjects had to sequence the following group of nouns as the instruction they get or simply repeat the nouns. After completing every sequencing and repetition in their minds, they pushed a button as reaction. The repetition design was to gather the mere reading time of the person. As the result of the experiment showed, English native speakers reacted more quickly to the sequencing of ‘small to big’; on the other hand, Mandarin native speakers reacted more quickly to the sequence ‘big to small’. To conclude, this study may be of importance as a support for linguistic relativism that the language we speak do shape the way we think.Keywords: language, linguistic relativism, size, sequencing
Procedia PDF Downloads 281603 Post Covid-19 Landscape of Global Pharmaceutical Industry
Authors: Abu Zafor Sadek
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Pharmaceuticals were one of the least impacted business sectors during the corona pandemic as they are the center point of Covid-19 fight. Emergency use authorization, unproven indication of some commonly used drugs, self-medication, research and production capacity of an individual country, capacity of producing vaccine by many countries, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) related uncertainty, information gap among manufacturer, practitioners and user, export restriction, duration of lock-down, lack of harmony in transportation, disruption in the regulatory approval process, sudden increased demand of hospital items and protective equipment, panic buying, difficulties in in-person product promotion, e-prescription, geo-politics and associated issues added a new dimension to this industry. Although the industry maintains a reasonable growth throughout Covid-19 days; however, it has been characterized by both long- and short-term effects. Short-term effects have already been visible to so many countries, especially those who are import-dependent and have limited research capacity. On the other hand, it will take a few more time to see the long-term effects. Nevertheless, supply chain disruption, changes in strategic planning, new communication model, squeezing of job opportunity, rapid digitalization are the major short-term effects, whereas long-term effects include a shift towards self-sufficiency, growth pattern changes of certain products, special attention towards clinical studies, automation in operations, the increased arena of ethical issues etc. Therefore, this qualitative and exploratory study identifies the post-covid-19 landscape of the global pharmaceutical industry.Keywords: covid-19, pharmaceutical, businees, landscape
Procedia PDF Downloads 92602 Design of Demand Pacemaker Using an Embedded Controller
Authors: C. Bala Prashanth Reddy, B. Abhinay, C. Sreekar, D. V. Shobhana Priscilla
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The project aims in designing an emergency pacemaker which is capable of giving shocks to a human heart which has stopped working suddenly. A pacemaker is a machine commonly used by cardiologists. This machine is used in order to shock a human’s heart back into usage. The way the heart works is that there are small cells called pacemakers sending electrical pulses to cardiac muscles that tell the heart when to pump blood. When these electrical pulses stop, the heart stops beating. When this happens, a pacemaker is used to shock the heart muscles and the pacemakers back into action. The way this is achieved is by rubbing the two panels of the pacemaker together to create an adequate electrical current, and then the heart gets back to the normal state. The project aims in designing a system which is capable of continuously displaying the heart beat and blood pressure of a person on LCD. The concerned doctor gets the heart beat and also the blood pressure details continuously through the GSM Modem in the form of SMS alerts. In case of abnormal condition, the doctor sends message format regarding the amount of electric shock needed. Automatically the microcontroller gives the input to the pacemaker which in turn gives the shock to the patient. Heart beat monitor and display system is a portable and a best replacement for the old model stethoscope which is less efficient. The heart beat rate is calculated manually using stethoscope where the probability of error is high because the heart beat rate lies in the range of 70 to 90 per minute whose occurrence is less than 1 sec, so this device can be considered as a very good alternative instead of a stethoscope.Keywords: missing R wave, PWM, demand pacemaker, heart
Procedia PDF Downloads 482601 A Neuropsychological Investigation of the Relationship between Anxiety Levels and Loss of Inhibitory Cognitive Control in Ageing and Dementia
Authors: Nasreen Basoudan, Andrea Tales, Frederic Boy
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Non-clinical anxiety may be comprised of state anxiety - temporarily experienced anxiety related to a specific situation, and trait anxiety - a longer lasting response or a general disposition to anxiety. While temporary and occasional anxiety whether as a mood state or personality dimension is normal, nonclinical anxiety may influence many more components of information processing than previously recognized. In ageing and dementia-related research, disease characterization now involves attempts to understand a much wider range of brain function such as loss of inhibitory control, as against the more common focus on memory and cognition. However, in many studies, the tendency has been to include individuals with clinical anxiety disorders while excluding persons with lower levels of state or trait anxiety. Loss of inhibitory cognitive control can lead to behaviors such as aggression, reduced sensitivity to others, sociopathic thoughts and actions. Anxiety has also been linked to inhibitory control, with research suggesting that people with anxiety are less capable of inhibiting their emotions than the average person. This study investigates the relationship between anxiety and loss of inhibitory control in younger and older adults, using a variety of questionnaires and computers-based tests. Based on the premise that irrespective of classification, anxiety is associated with a wide range of physical, affective, and cognitive responses, this study explores evidence indicative of the potential influence anxiety per se on loss of inhibitory control, in order to contribute to discussion and appropriate consideration of anxiety-related factors in methodological practice.Keywords: anxiety, ageing, dementia, inhibitory control
Procedia PDF Downloads 240600 The Long-Term Impact of Health Conditions on Social Mobility Outcomes: A Modelling Study
Authors: Lise Retat, Maria Carmen Huerta, Laura Webber, Franco Sassi
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Background: Intra-generational social mobility (ISM) can be defined as the extent to which individuals change their socio-economic position over a period of time or during their entire life course. The relationship between poor health and ISM is established. Therefore, quantifying the impact that potential health policies have on ISM now and into the future would provide evidence for how social inequality could be reduced. This paper takes the condition of overweight and obesity as an example and estimates the mean earning change per individual if the UK were to introduce policies to effectively reduce overweight and obesity. Methods: The HealthLumen individual-based model was used to estimate the impact of obesity on social mobility measures, such as earnings, occupation, and wealth. The HL tool models each individual's probability of experiencing downward ISM as a result of their overweight and obesity status. For example, one outcome of interest was the cumulative mean earning per person of implementing a policy which would reduce adult overweight and obesity by 1% each year between 2020 and 2030 in the UK. Results: Preliminary analysis showed that by reducing adult overweight and obesity by 1% each year between 2020 and 2030, the cumulative additional mean earnings would be ~1,000 Euro per adult by 2030. Additional analysis will include other social mobility indicators. Conclusions: These projections are important for illustrating the role of health in social mobility and for providing evidence for how health policy can make a difference to social mobility outcomes and, in turn, help to reduce inequality.Keywords: modelling, social mobility, obesity, health
Procedia PDF Downloads 122599 Family Depression and Its Relationship with Disability
Authors: Humara Bano, Nyla Anjum
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Disability in any form has great impact not only for the person facing it but also for its family members too. This effect may be so severe that may lead to mal adjustment of any member of the family in society as well. This impact has also been multiplied due to negative attitudes of the society, unawareness about the needs of special needs and no legislation for the parents of children with special needs. As a result not only the separations among the parents have been reported but also the normal siblings in the home are also badly affected in their daily lives. The situation is more challenging when more than one child with disability is present in the family. The main objectives of this paper are to unfold the relationship of variety of disabilities (hearing, visual or physical impairment, mental retardation, speech impairment) in i) developing depression in home setting, ii) social exclusion, iii) anxiety and aggression and iv) development of insecure feelings among family members of the persons with disabilities, as well as, v) to identify coping strategies to manage the special needs by family members too. To reach on conclusion about fifty families (having any sort of disability in their homes) have been interviewed on basis of convenient sampling. Correlation, ANOVA and different analysis have been used to identify the relationship of disability in developing depression among family members in line of above mentioned problems. Results revealed that depression due to disability among families is a common phenomenon and adversely have affected their lives in daily routines as well as in following their life achievements. Coping with the situation and recommending various remedies by parents is the positive reflection of this study too that can help to families in managing their mental health.Keywords: depression, anxiety and aggression, social exclusion, parents of children with special needs
Procedia PDF Downloads 475598 The Development of Directed-Project Based Learning as Language Learning Model to Improve Students' English Achievement
Authors: Tri Pratiwi, Sufyarma Marsidin, Hermawati Syarif, Yahya
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The 21st-century skills being highly promoted today are Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication and Collaboration. Communication Skill is one of the essential skills that should be mastered by the students. To master Communication Skills, students must first master their Language Skills. Language Skills is one of the main supporting factors in improving Communication Skills of a person because by learning Language Skills students are considered capable of communicating well and correctly so that the message or how to deliver the message to the listener can be conveyed clearly and easily understood. However, it cannot be denied that English output or learning outcomes which are less optimal is the problem which is frequently found in the implementation of the learning process. This research aimed to improve students’ language skills by developing learning model in English subject for VIII graders of SMP N 1 Uram Jaya through Directed-Project Based Learning (DPjBL) implementation. This study is designed in Research and Development (R & D) using ADDIE model development. The researcher collected data through observation, questionnaire, interview, test, and documentation which were then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results showed that DPjBL is effective to use, it is seen from the difference in value between the pretest and posttest of the control class and the experimental class. From the results of a questionnaire filled in general, the students and teachers agreed to DPjBL learning model. This learning model can increase the students' English achievement.Keywords: language skills, learning model, Directed-Project Based Learning (DPjBL), English achievement
Procedia PDF Downloads 165597 The Impact of Equine-Assisted Therapy on Occupational Engagement for Children with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities: From the Perspectives of the Children and Their Caregivers
Authors: Morgan Dempsey, Sam Lewis, Maggie Pierce, Alex Goodman
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This research investigates the impact of equine-assisted therapy programs on occupational engagement for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. There is a general lack of evidence for equine-based services for this population, so this research aims to decrease gaps in the current literature. To gain comprehensive insight, data will be collected from both the child and their caregiver. This study takes a qualitative approach utilizing online surveys and in-person guided interviews. The participants are individuals ages 4-17 with a diagnosed intellectual or developmental disability who are currently participating in a PATH int. certified equine-assisted therapy program. Also, caregivers of individuals who meet this criterion are included. This study decreases gaps in the literature by providing comprehensive data regarding the impacts of these services on occupational engagement. The addressed domains are physical, behavioral, emotional, and social functioning, as well as overall activity engagement and impacts in everyday life. With a better understanding of how equine-assisted therapy affects relevant outcomes for children with disabilities, an increased number of occupational therapists can implement these uniquely effective services while adhering to standards of evidence-based practice. Ultimately, this research strives to contribute to generalizable data in occupational therapy by supporting the implementation of equine-assisted services for children with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and their caregivers/families.Keywords: occupational therapy, pediatric, rehabilitation, hippotherapy
Procedia PDF Downloads 35596 Factors of the Community Leaders' and Citizens' Way of Life Based on the Sufficient Economy in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic
Authors: Phusit Phukamchanoad
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This research aims to analyze the fundamental factors of the community leader and citizens behind the self-sufficient living in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic. The data were collected by asking 400 citizens to fill out the questionnaires and having in-depth interviews with 30 community leaders. It was found that the factors which had influenced the practice of the sufficiency economy philosophy were age, occupation, length of time living in Vientiane, education, monthly income, monthly expense, and the sufficiency economy philosophy training. The people who had been trained could practice the sufficiency economy philosophy better at both individual and household level than the people who had not been trained. The people who were older than 36 years old had practiced the sufficiency economy philosophy more than the people who were younger than 35 years old. The people who worked in state-owned enterprises, private businesses, and government officials: teachers, police officers, soldiers, and ministers applied the sufficiency economy philosophy more than the samples who were students. The people who lived in Vientiane for more than 31 years applied the sufficiency economy philosophy more than the samples who lived in Vientiane for not more than 30 years. The people whose incomes exceeded 20,001 baht applied the sufficiency economy philosophy more than the people whose incomes did not exceed 20,000 baht. Both community leaders and citizens had a good relationship with their families and community. The community members supported each other during tough times. There were regular meetings in the community. There was unity within the families. The time to build a bond in the family was the time when everyone was eating together. Also, most community leaders and citizens had at least two jobs per one person.Keywords: sufficiency economy philosophy, fundamental factors, way of life, Vientiane Lao PDR
Procedia PDF Downloads 143595 Understanding Gender-Based Violence through an Adolescent Lens: Qualitative Findings from Delhi, India
Authors: Pratishtha Singh
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Gender-based violence (GBV) or gendered violence refers to violence inflicted on a person because of their gender. Majority of men who perpetrate gender-based violence, first do so during their teenage years. Further, the first sexual experience of most girls is coerced. In order to reduce the widespread occurrence of GBV, it is vital to intervene and reach people, especially boys, when their attitudes and beliefs about sexuality and gender are developing. This study aims to understand GBV through an adolescent lens, focusing on their knowledge, attitudes and experiences regarding gendered abuse. This is a cross-sectional, qualitative study. The respondents are Delhi based students in grades 11th and 12th, recruited via snowball sampling. Sixteen in-depth, telephonic interviews were carried out in the month of April, 2020. The data was transcribed verbatim into MS Word and qualitative coding was undertaken in Atlas.ti 8. Twelve out of sixteen respondents admitted experiencing sexual GBV. Out of these, a little more than half of the victims reported it to somebody. Thematic analysis revealed key themes of: (i) Introduction and reinforcement of a patriarchal structure (ii) Violence in teen dating (iii) Acceptability and normalization of violence and (iv) Justice System. Findings reflect a process wherein GBV becomes an intricate part of adolescents’ lives. Participants showed a moderately well-informed understanding of gendered abuse whereas attitudes reflected a complex combination of internalized patriarchy and a desire to bring positive societal reform. The results of this study highlight a need for health promoting, gender-equitable interventions.Keywords: adolescents, gender, health, violence
Procedia PDF Downloads 127594 Changes in the Quality of Life of Turkish Patients with Trauma-Related Phthisis Bulbi
Authors: Titap Yazicioglu
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Purpose: Losing an eye due to trauma is a challenging situation that reduces the quality of life by causing physical, cosmetic, and serious psychological problems. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of aesthetic rehabilitation on the change in psychological status and quality of life of patients with eye loss resulting in phthisis bulbi. Materials and Methods: The files of 25 males and 15 females with an average age of 27.5 years who had trauma-related phthisic eye and had applied to the Department of Ophthalmology at the Dr. Lütfi Kırdar Kartal Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, for aesthetic rehabilitation during the years 2015-19 were retrospectively analyzed. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Scale(BAS), and Short Form 36 quality-of-life survey (SF-36) were used to collect data on admission and one-year follow-up. Results: Of the patients reviewed, 65% stated that eye loss had caused their avoidance of family and social environments; 30% had moderate anxiety and depression. The post-operative sub-dimension scores of general health, emotional role function, and physical and social functions were statistically significant (p = 0.001; p<0.01), but the variations in the sub-dimension scores of vitality, mental health, and total physical health were not (p>0.05). Conclusion: Lossing an eye is a traumatic event that can affect all aspects of a person’s social and professional life. A patient who has suffered from the psychological damage of physical loss of eye needs a prosthesis that can give the desired function and appearance in different aspects of life.Keywords: eye loss, phthisis bulbi, quality of life, psychological trauma
Procedia PDF Downloads 125593 Breaking Barriers: Utilizing Innovation to Improve Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities
Authors: Emily Purdom, Rachel Robinson
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As the number of students worldwide requiring speech-language therapy, occupational therapy and mental health services during their school day increases, innovation is becoming progressively more important to meet the demand. Telepractice can be used to reach a greater number of students requiring specialized therapy while maintaining the highest quality of care. It can be provided in a way that is not only effective but ultimately more convenient for student, teacher and therapist without the added burden of travel. Teletherapy eradicates many hurdles to traditional on-site service delivery and helps to solve the pervasive shortage of certified professionals. Because location is no longer a barrier to specialized education plans for students with disabilities when teletherapy is conducted, there are many advantages that can be deployed. Increased frequency of engagement is possible along with students receiving specialized care from a clinician that may not be in their direct area. Educational teams, including parents, can work together more easily and engage in face-to-face, student-centered collaboration through videoconference. Practical strategies will be provided for connecting students with qualified therapists without the typical in-person dynamic. In most cases, better therapy outcomes are going to be achieved when treatment is most convenient for the student and educator. This workshop will promote discussion in the field of education to increase advocacy for remote service delivery. It will serve as a resource for those wanting to expand their knowledge of options for students with special needs afforded through innovation.Keywords: education technology, innovation, student support services, telepractice
Procedia PDF Downloads 245592 Working Children and Adolescents and the Vicious Circle of Poverty from the Perspective of Gunnar Myrdal’s Theory of Circular Cumulative Causation: Analysis and Implementation of a Probit Model to Brazil
Authors: J. Leige Lopes, L. Aparecida Bastos, R. Monteiro da Silva
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The objective of this paper is to study the work of children and adolescents and the vicious circle of poverty from the perspective of Guinar Myrdal’s Theory of Circular Cumulative Causation. The objective is to show that if a person starts working in the juvenile phase of life they will be classified as poor or extremely poor when they are adult, which can to be observed in the case of Brazil, more specifically in the north and northeast. To do this, the methodology used was statistical and econometric analysis by applying a probit model. The main results show that: if people reside in the northeastern region of Brazil, and if they have a low educational level and if they start their professional life before the age 18, they will increase the likelihood that they will be poor or extremely poor. There is a consensus in the literature that one of the causes of the intergenerational transmission of poverty is related to child labor, this because when one starts their professional life while still in the toddler or adolescence stages of life, they end up sacrificing their studies. Because of their low level of education, children or adolescents are forced to perform low-paid functions and abandon school, becoming in the future, people who will be classified as poor or extremely poor. As a result of poverty, parents may be forced to send their children out to work when they are young, so that in the future they will also become poor adults, a process that is characterized as the "vicious circle of poverty."Keywords: children, adolescents, Gunnar Myrdal, poverty, vicious circle
Procedia PDF Downloads 275591 The Greek Version of the Southampton Nostalgia Scale: Psychometric Properties in Young Adults and Associations with Life Satisfaction, Positive and Negative Emotions, Time Perspective and Wellbeing
Authors: Eirini Petratou, Pezirkianidis Christos, Anastassios Stalikas
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Nostalgia is characterized as a mental state of human’s emotional longing for the past that activates both positive and negative emotions. The bittersweet emotions that are activated by nostalgia aid psychological functions to humans and are depended on the type of stimuli that evoke nostalgia but also on the nostalgia activation context. In general, despite that nostalgia can be activated and experienced by all people; however, it differs both in terms of nostalgia experience but also nostalgia frequency. As a matter of fact, nostalgia experience along with nostalgia frequency differs according to the level of the nostalgia proneness. People with high nostalgia proneness tend to experience nostalgia more intensely and frequently than people with low nostalgia proneness. Nostalgia proneness is considered as a basic individual difference that affects the experience of nostalgia, and it can be measured by the Southampton Nostalgia Scale (SNS); a psychometric instrument that measures human’s nostalgia proneness consisting of seven questions that assess a person’s attitude towards nostalgia, the degree of experience or tendency to nostalgic feelings and the nostalgia frequency. In the current study, we translated, validated and calibrated the SNS in Greek population (N = 267). For the calibration process, we used several scales relevant to positive dimensions, such as life satisfaction, positive and negative emotions, time perspective and wellbeing. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed the factors that provide a good Southampton Nostalgia Proneness model fit for young adult Greek population.Keywords: nostalgia proneness, nostalgia, psychometric instruments, psychometric properties
Procedia PDF Downloads 151590 EU Policies in Determining Refugee Status
Authors: Adriano Mortada
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Human history is rife with conflict, and the question of refugee status determination and their rehabilitation has been up for debate since. Refugee Status Determination is the administrative or legal process by which UNHCR or governments determine whether a person seeking international protection or asylum can be identified as a refugee under international, regional, or national law. Refugee Status Determination is considered to be a vital process in aiding refugees’ realization of their rights under international law. One of the major reasons why the refugee status determination is considered an “issue”, and is one that is much debated upon annually, is the fact that the national bureaucratic systems are rigid and unbending. This is particularly concerning in the 21st century despite human advancement in policy and diplomacy, working in tandem with the United Nations and their charters and resolutions on human rights and dignity. The paper seeks to criticize the European member states' response to the refugee crisis and their inflexible and prejudiced bureaucratic systems when it comes to refugee status determination. The paper looks at multiple case studies as primary evidence and the alternate case studies where the system helped refugees, like those in Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Lebanon. The main concern of the paper is to highlight the bias in the selected European systems, which do not stem from the Human Rights Charter but rather on the basis of geographical backgrounds, cultural and religious affiliations of those seeking refugee status or asylum in their respective countries. The paper hopes to not only create awareness about this issue but also provide a research background to advocacy programs to bring a change in the systems.Keywords: refugee status determination, human rights, bureaucracy, United Nations, European Union
Procedia PDF Downloads 96589 Association of Alcohol Consumption with Active Tuberculosis in Taiwanese Adults: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study
Authors: Yung-Feng Yen, Yun-Ju Lai
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Background: Animal studies have shown that alcohol exposure may cause immunosuppression and increase the susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB) infection. However, the temporality of alcohol consumption with subsequent TB development remains unclear. This nationwide population-based cohort study aimed to investigate the impact of alcohol exposure on TB development in Taiwanese adults. Methods: We included 46 196 adult participants from three rounds (2001, 2005, 2009) of the Taiwan National Health Interview Survey. Alcohol consumption was classified into heavy, regular, social, or never alcohol use. Heavy alcohol consumption was defined as intoxication at least once/week. Alcohol consumption and other covariates were collected by in-person interviews at baseline. Incident cases of active TB were identified from the National Health Insurance database. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the association between alcohol consumption and active TB, with adjustment for age, sex, smoking, socioeconomic status, and other covariates. Results: A total of 279 new cases of active TB occurred during the study follow-up period. Heavy (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 5.21; 95% confident interval [CI], 2.41-11.26) and regular alcohol use (AOR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.26-2.38) were associated with higher risks of incident TB after adjusting for the subject demographics and comorbidities. Moreover, a strong dose-response effect was observed between increasing alcohol consumption and incident TB (AOR, 2.26; 95% CI, 1.59-3.21; P <.001). Conclusion: Heavy and regular alcohol consumption were associated with higher risks of active TB. Future TB control programs should consider strategies to lower the overall level of alcohol consumption to reduce the TB disease burden.Keywords: alcohol consumption, tuberculosis, risk factor, cohort study
Procedia PDF Downloads 226588 An Inspection of Two Layer Model of Agency: An fMRI Study
Authors: Keyvan Kashkouli Nejad, Motoaki Sugiura, Atsushi Sato, Takayuki Nozawa, Hyeonjeong Jeong, Sugiko Hanawa , Yuka Kotozaki, Ryuta Kawashima
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The perception of agency/control is altered with presence of discrepancies in the environment or mismatch of predictions (of possible results) and actual results the sense of agency might become altered. Synofzik et al. proposed a two layer model of agency: In the first layer, the Feeling of Agency (FoA) is not directly available to awareness; a slight mismatch in the environment/outcome might cause alterations in FoA, while the agent still feels in control. If the discrepancy passes a threshold, it becomes available to consciousness and alters Judgment of Agency (JoA), which is directly available in the person’s awareness. Most experiments so far only investigate subjects rather conscious JoA, while FoA has been neglected. In this experiment we target FoA by using subliminal discrepancies that can not be consciously detectable by the subjects. Here, we explore whether we can detect this two level model in the subjects behavior and then try to map this in their brain activity. To do this, in a fMRI study, we incorporated both consciously detectable mismatching between action and result and also subliminal discrepancies in the environment. Also, unlike previous experiments where subjective questions from the participants mainly trigger the rather conscious JoA, we also tried to measure the rather implicit FoA by asking participants to rate their performance. We compared behavioral results and also brain activation when there were conscious discrepancies and when there were subliminal discrepancies against trials with no discrepancies and against each other. In line with our expectations, conditions with consciously detectable incongruencies triggered lower JoA ratings than conditions without. Also, conditions with any type of discrepancies had lower FoA ratings compared to conditions without. Additionally, we found out that TPJ and angular gyrus in particular to have a role in coding of JoA and also FoA.Keywords: agency, fMRI, TPJ, two layer model
Procedia PDF Downloads 470587 The Relationship between Job Stress and Handover Effectiveness of Nurses
Authors: Rujnan Tuna, Ayse Cil Akinci
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Work life takes up an important place in human life, and an employed person faces many stimuli from internal and external environments and is affected by them in a positive or negative way. Also, the handover process, which is the process of sharing information about the patient with other health professionals, is an important criterion to maintain patient care and enhance the quality of care provided. Handover is a key component for sustaining daily basic clinical practices and is also essential to maintain the safe patient care. This investigation followed a descriptive and correlation design in order to establish job stress and the handover efficiency of nurses and the relationship in between. The study was conducted with 192 nurses working in a public hospital in Istanbul between January and March 2017. Descriptive information form, Job Stressors Scale, and Handover Evaluation Scale were used to collect the data of the study. The data were analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 statistical software. Approvals from participants, managers of institution, and ethics committee were taken for the study. As a result of the research, it was found that job stress was above the median value, and the highest score in the ‘work role conflict’ subdimension. Also, it was found that the effectiveness of the nurses' handover effectiviness was above the median value and the highest score in the ‘quality of information’ subdimension. In the study, there was a negatively weak correlation between ‘work role overload’ subdimension of Job Stressors Scale and ‘interaction and support’ subdimension of Handover Evaluation Scale. There is a need for further study in order to maintain patient safety.Keywords: handover, job stress, nurse, patient
Procedia PDF Downloads 168586 Solar-Powered Water Purification Using Ozone and Sand Filtration
Authors: Kayla Youhanaie, Kenneth Dott, Greg Gillis-Smith
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Access to clean water is a global challenge that affects nearly one-third of the world’s population. A lack of safe drinking water negatively affects a person’s health, safety, and economic status. However, many regions of the world that face this clean water challenge also have high solar energy potential. To address this worldwide issue and utilize available resources, a solar-powered water purification device was developed that could be implemented in communities around the world that lack access to potable water. The device uses ozone to destroy water-borne pathogens and sand filtration to filter out particulates from the water. To select the best method for this application, a quantitative energy efficiency comparison of three water purification methods was conducted: heat, UV light, and ozone. After constructing an initial prototype, the efficacy of the device was tested using agar petri dishes to test for bacteria growth in treated water samples at various time intervals after applying the device to contaminated water. The results demonstrated that the water purification device successfully removed all bacteria and particulates from the water within three minutes, making it safe for human consumption. These results, as well as the proposed design that utilizes widely available resources in target communities, suggest that the device is a sustainable solution to address the global water crisis and could improve the quality of life for millions of people worldwide.Keywords: clean water, solar powered water purification, ozonation, sand filtration, global water crisis
Procedia PDF Downloads 77585 Site Analysis’ Importance as a Valid Factor in Building Design
Authors: Mekwa Eme, Anya chukwuma
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The act of evaluating a particular site physically and socially in order to create a good design solution that will address the physical and interior environment of the location is known as architectural site analysis. This essay will describe site analysis as a useful design component. According to the introduction and supporting research, site evaluation and analysis are crucial to good design in terms of topography, orientation, site size, accessibility, rainfall, wind direction, and times of sunrise and sunset. Methodology: Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are used in this paper. The primary and secondary types of data collection are as follows. This information was gathered via the case study approach, already published literature, journals, the internet, a local poll, oral interviews, inquiries, and in-person interviews. The purpose of this is to clarify the benefits of site analysis for the design process and its implications for the working or building stage. Results: Each site's criteria are unique in terms of things like soil, plants, trees, accessibility, topography, and security. This will make it easier for the architect and environmentalist to decide on the idea, shape, and supporting structures of the design. It is crucial because before any design work is done, the nature of the target location will be determined through site visits and research. The location, contours, site features, and accessibility are just a few of the topics included in this site study. In order for students and working architects to understand the nature of the site they will be working on, site analysis is a key component of architectural education. The building's orientation, the site's circulation, and the sustainability of the site may all be determined with thorough research of the site's features.Keywords: analysis, climate, statistics, design
Procedia PDF Downloads 249584 Women Entrepreneurship as an Inventive Approach to Ensure a Sustainable Development in Anambre State
Authors: S. Muogbo Uju, Akpunonu Uju,
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The prevailing harsh environment factors couple with poverty rate and unemployment propels a high rate of entrepreneurial activities in developing countries of the world. Women entrepreneurs operate within gender bias among other constraint that can constitute a threat or create opportunity for women entrepreneurs. This empirical paper investigates and critically examines women entrepreneurship as an inventive approach to sustainable development in Anambra State. The study used descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean, and percentages) to answer the three research questions posed. Hypotheses testing were done with person product moment correlation and multiple regressions were employed in data analysis. SPSS [statistical package for Social Science] software was used to run the analysis. Three hundred and fifty three (353) copies of questionnaires were administered, and one hundred and forty six (146) copies were returned. Consequently, the findings of this study portrayed a significant impact between women entrepreneurship activities, job creation, wealth creation, youth empowerment, poverty reduction, employment generation, and increase in standard of livings of people. Therefore, the findings prescribe that government should ensure that managerial lessons are accompanied with the skill acquisition programs in order for them to understand the rudiment of owing and sustaining a business. The study also recommends that women entrepreneurs that have overcome the inertia of starting a business should come together to create platforms that can help those women who are yet to take a step or kick-start such venture.Keywords: women entrepreneurship, skill acquisition, sustainability, wealth creation
Procedia PDF Downloads 439583 Subjective Well-Being in Individuals Diagnosed with an Autoimmune Disease: Resilience, and Rumination as Moderating Factors
Authors: Renae McNair
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Subjective well-being levels were assessed in individuals diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. The current exploratory analysis sought to examine two factors that impact subjective well-being in individuals diagnosed with a chronic health condition. The two factors, resilience, and rumination, were assessed as possible moderators in self-reported levels of subjective well-being were measured. The importance of understanding the psychological state of perceived well-being in an individual diagnosed with an autoimmune disease is important given the impact of the level of subjective well-being on life longevity. In previous research, higher levels of subjective well-being are correlated with longer life longevity, including those individuals who have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Conversely, individuals who report higher levels of negative affect have a shorter length of life longevity. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and a report from the National Health Council, currently, 8-10% of individuals in the United States have been diagnosed with at least one autoimmune disease. Although treatment plans are in place to help manage the physical effects of disease, the psychological state of the person impacts life longevity. Resilience and rumination impact subjective well-being as an outcome in individuals diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Resilience is the ability to adjust or adapt effectively and positively to unfavorable life conditions or events. Resilience acts as a protective factor in life, allowing those who face adversity to successfully adapt, regardless of the health diagnosis. Rumination is the worry or dwelling on the negative aspects of a given situation. Rumination interrupts the adaptive response, leading to a decrease in well-being. The relationship between resilience and subjective well-being were examined correlated with higher levels of resilience and higher levels of self-reported subjective well-being.Keywords: subjective well-being, rumination, resilience, autoimmune disease
Procedia PDF Downloads 251582 Image Ranking to Assist Object Labeling for Training Detection Models
Authors: Tonislav Ivanov, Oleksii Nedashkivskyi, Denis Babeshko, Vadim Pinskiy, Matthew Putman
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Training a machine learning model for object detection that generalizes well is known to benefit from a training dataset with diverse examples. However, training datasets usually contain many repeats of common examples of a class and lack rarely seen examples. This is due to the process commonly used during human annotation where a person would proceed sequentially through a list of images labeling a sufficiently high total number of examples. Instead, the method presented involves an active process where, after the initial labeling of several images is completed, the next subset of images for labeling is selected by an algorithm. This process of algorithmic image selection and manual labeling continues in an iterative fashion. The algorithm used for the image selection is a deep learning algorithm, based on the U-shaped architecture, which quantifies the presence of unseen data in each image in order to find images that contain the most novel examples. Moreover, the location of the unseen data in each image is highlighted, aiding the labeler in spotting these examples. Experiments performed using semiconductor wafer data show that labeling a subset of the data, curated by this algorithm, resulted in a model with a better performance than a model produced from sequentially labeling the same amount of data. Also, similar performance is achieved compared to a model trained on exhaustive labeling of the whole dataset. Overall, the proposed approach results in a dataset that has a diverse set of examples per class as well as more balanced classes, which proves beneficial when training a deep learning model.Keywords: computer vision, deep learning, object detection, semiconductor
Procedia PDF Downloads 136581 Fashion, Art and Culture in the Anthropological Management Model
Authors: Lucia Perez, Maria Gaton y Santa Palella
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Starting from the etymology of the word culture, the Latin term ‘colere’, whose meaning is to cultivate, we understand that the society that cultivates its knowledge is laying the foundations for new possibilities. In this sense, art and fashion contain the same attributes: concept, aesthetic principles, and refined techniques. Both play a crucial role, communication, and this implies a sense of community, relationship with tradition, and innovation. This is the mirror in which to contemplate, but also the space that helps to grow. This is the framework where our object of study opens up: the anthropological management or the mission management model applied to fashion exhibitions in museums and cultural institutions. For this purpose, a bibliographic review has been carried out with its subsequent analysis, a case study of three successful exhibitions: ‘Christian Dior: designer of dreams’, ‘Balenciaga and the Spanish painting’, and ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’. The methodology has been completed with interviews focused on the curators. Amongst the results obtained, it is worth highlighting the fundamental role of transcendent leadership, which, in addition to being results-oriented, must align the motivations of the collaborators with the mission. The anthropological management model conceives management as a service, and it is oriented to the interests of the staff and the public, in short, of the person; this is what enables the objectives of effectiveness, efficiency, and social value to be achieved; dimensions, all necessary for the proper development of the mission of the exhibitions. Fashion, understood as art, is at the service of culture, and therefore of the human being, which defines a transcendent mission. We conclude that the profile of an anthropological management model applied to fashion exhibitions in museums is the ideal one to achieve the purpose of these institutions.Keywords: art, culture, fashion, anthropological model, fashion exhibitions
Procedia PDF Downloads 103580 Open Source Knowledge Management Approach to Manage and Disseminate Distributed Content in a Global Enterprise
Authors: Rahul Thakur, Onkar Chandel
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Red Hat is the world leader in providing open source software and solutions. A global enterprise, like Red Hat, has unique issues of connecting employees with content because of distributed offices, multiple teams spread across geographies, multiple languages, and different cultures. Employees, of a global company, create content that is distributed across departments, teams, regions, and countries. This makes finding the best content difficult since owners keep iterating on the existing content. When employees are unable to find the content, they end up creating it once again and in the process duplicating existing material and effort. Also, employees may not find the relevant content and spend time reviewing obsolete duplicate, or irrelevant content. On an average, a person spends 15 minutes/day in failed searches that might result in missed business opportunities, employee frustration, and substandard deliverables. Red Hat Knowledge Management Office (KMO) applied 'open source strategy' to solve the above problems. Under the Open Source Strategy, decisions are taken collectively. The strategy aims at accomplishing common goals with the help of communities. The objectives of this initiative were to save employees' time, get them authentic content, improve their content search experience, avoid duplicate content creation, provide context based search, improve analytics, improve content management workflows, automate content classification, and automate content upload. This session will describe open source strategy, its applicability in content management, challenges, recommended solutions, and outcome.Keywords: content classification, content management, knowledge management, open source
Procedia PDF Downloads 210579 Incidence of Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies and Their Risk of Cancer in Leeds, UK: An 11-year Epidemiological Study
Authors: Benoit Jauniaux, Azzam Ismail
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Objectives: The aims were to identify all incident adult cases of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) in the City of Leeds, UK, and to estimate the risk of cancer in IIMs as compared with the general population. Methods: Cases of IIMs were ascertained by review of all muscle biopsy reports from the Neuropathology Laboratory. A review of medical records was undertaken for each case to review the clinical diagnosis and collect epidemiological data such as age, ethnicity, sex, and comorbidities, including cancer. Leeds denominator population numbers were publicly obtainable. Results: Two hundred and six biopsy reports were identified, and after review, 50 incident cases were included in the study between June 2010 and January 2021. Out of the 50 cases, 27 were male, and 23 were female. The mean incidence rate of IIMs in Leeds throughout the study period was 7.42/1 000 000 person years. The proportion of IIMs cases with a confirmed malignancy was 22%. Compared to the general population, the relative risk of cancer was significantly greater in the IIMs population(31.56, P < 0.01). Conclusions: The incidence rate of IIMs in Leeds was consistent with data from previous literature, however, disagreement exists between different methods of IIMs case inclusion due to varying clinical criteria and definitions. IIMs are associated with increased risk of cancer however, the pathogenesis of this relationship still requires investigating. This study supports the practice of malignancy screening and long-term surveillance in patients with IIMs.Keywords: idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, myositis, polymyositis, dermatomyositis, malignancy, epidemiology, incidence rate, relative risk
Procedia PDF Downloads 174578 Environmental Virtue Ethics for the Anthropocene in Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams
Authors: Xu Lan, Zainor Izat Zainal
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Human intervention in Earth’s macro system has ushered in the age of the Anthropocene, prompting introspection among humans, the action agent. This epoch demands a reawakening of human conscience and inner motivation to mitigate the irreversible trend so as to shape the trajectory of the Anthropocene. Environmental virtue ethics claims that the fundamental cause of environmental crisis lies in humans themselves. Rather than focusing more on what humans should do, environmental virtue ethics seeks to specify environmental virtues to appeal to what kind of person a human should be. Renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver illustrates her contentions about environmental ethics through the narrative of Codi and her sister Hallie’s environmental choices and actions in Animal Dreams (1990). This study adopts a textual analysis approach of the character traits exhibited by Codi and Hallie that are constitutive of making them environmentally virtuous, exploring how emotions and inner motivations drive actions. This paper is informed by Ronald Sandler’s (2007) virtues of sustainability, virtues of communion with nature, and virtues of environmental stewardship and activism. It aims to examine how Codi and Hallie’s character traits are built around these virtues. Furthermore, this study underscores the importance of internalizing principles and cultivating virtues for the environment and humans’ flourishing in the Anthropocene. As a tentative practice in applying environmental virtue ethics to examine environmental virtues for the Anthropocene, this study reveals Kingsolver’s endeavor of setting environmental virtue exemplars from fictional characters to inspire humans’ long-term and stable contribution to a better future.Keywords: anthopocene, environmental ethics, environmental virtues, virtue ethics
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