Search results for: theory of practice architecture

Authors: J. Hash, J. Converse, L. Gibson

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Plant medicines are of growing interest for addressing mental health concerns. Ayahuasca, a traditional plant-based medicine, has established itself as a powerful way of processing trauma and precipitating healing and mood stabilization. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is another treatment modality that aids in the rapid processing and resolution of trauma. We investigated group EMDR therapy, G-TEP, as a preparatory practice before Ayahuasca ceremonies to determine if the combination of these modalities supports participants in their journeys of letting go of past experiences negatively impacting mental health, thereby accentuating the healing of the plant medicine. We surveyed 96 participants (51 experimental G-TEP, 45 control grounding prior to their ceremony; age M=38.6, SD=9.1; F=57, M=34; white=39, Hispanic/Latinx=23, multiracial=11, Asian/Pacific Islander=10, other=7) in a pre-post, mixed methods design. Participants were surveyed for demographic characteristics, symptoms of PTSD and cPTSD (International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ), depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI), and stress (Perceived Stress Scale, PSS) before the ceremony and at the end of the ceremony weekend. Open-ended questions also inquired about their expectations of the ceremony and results at the end. No baseline differences existed between the control and experimental participants. Overall, participants reported a decrease in meeting the threshold for PTSD symptoms (p<0.01); surprisingly, the control group reported significantly fewer thresholds met for symptoms of affective dysregulation, 2(1)=6.776, p<.01, negative self-concept, 2 (1)=7.122, p<.01, and disturbance in relationships, 2 (1)=9.804, p<.01, on subscales of the ITQ as compared to the experimental group. All participants also experienced a significant decrease in scores on the BDI, t(94)=8.995, p<.001, and PSS, t(91)=6.892, p<.001. Similar to patterns of PTSD symptoms, the control group reported significantly lower scores on the BDI, t(65.115)=-2.587, p<.01, and a trend toward lower PSS, t(90)=-1.775, p=.079 (this was significant with a one-sided test at p<.05), compared to the experimental group following the ceremony. Qualitative interviews among participants revealed a potential explanation for these relatively higher levels of depression and stress in the experimental group following the ceremony. Many participants reported needing more time to process their experience to gain an understanding of the effects of the Ayahuasca medicine. Others reported a sense of hopefulness and understanding of the sources of their trauma and the necessary steps to heal moving forward. This suggests increased introspection and openness to processing trauma, therefore making them more receptive to their emotions. The integration process of an Ayahuasca ceremony is a week- to months-long process that was not accessible in this stage of research, yet it is an integral process to understanding the full effects of the Ayahuasca medicine following the closure of a ceremony. Our future research aims to assess participants weeks into their integration process to determine the effectiveness of EMDR, and if the higher levels of depression and stress indicate the initial reaction to greater awareness of trauma and receptivity to healing.

Keywords: ayahuasca, EMDR, PTSD, mental health

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Authors: S. N. C. M. Dias, Niels Schuetze, Franz Lennartz

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The current focus in irrigated agriculture will move from maximizing crop production per unit area towards maximizing the crop production per unit amount of water (water productivity) used. At the same time, inadequate water supply or deficit irrigation will be the only solution to cope with water scarcity in the near future. Soil matric potential based irrigation plays an important role in such deficit irrigated agriculture to grow any crop including rice. Rice as the staple food for more than half of the world population, grows mainly under flooded conditions. It requires more water compared to other upland cereals. A major amount of this water is used in the land preparation and is lost at field level due to evaporation, deep percolation, and seepage. A field experimental study was conducted in the experimental premises of rice research and development institute of Sri Lanka in Kurunegala district to estimate the water productivity of rice under deficit irrigation. This paper presents the feasibility of improving current irrigation management in rice cultivation under water scarce conditions. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four different irrigation treatments with three replicates. Irrigation treatments were based on soil matric potential threshold values. Treatment W0 was maintained between 60-80mbars. W1 was maintained between 80-100mbars. Other two dry treatments W2 and W3 were maintained at 100-120 mbar and 120 -140 mbar respectively. The sprinkler system was used to irrigate each plot individually upon reaching the maximum threshold value in respective treatment. Treatments were imposed two weeks after seed establishment and continued until two weeks before physiological maturity. Fertilizer applications, weed management, and other management practices were carried out per the local recommendations. Weekly plant growth measurements, daily climate parameters, soil parameters, soil tension values, and water content were measured throughout the growing period. Highest plant growth and grain yield (5.61t/ha) were observed in treatment W2 followed by W0, W1, and W3 in comparison to the reference yield (5.23t/ha) of flooded rice grown in the study area. Water productivity was highest in W3. Concerning the irrigation water savings, grain yield, and water productivity together, W2 showed the better performance. Rice grown under unsaturated conditions (W2) shows better performance compared to the continuously saturated conditions(W0). In conclusion, soil matric potential based irrigation is a promising practice in irrigation management in rice. Higher irrigation water savings can be achieved in this method. This strategy can be applied to a wide range of locations under different climates and soils. In future studies, higher soil matric potential values can be applied to evaluate the maximum possible values for rice to get higher water savings at minimum yield losses.

Keywords: irrigation, matric potential, rice, water scarcity

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Authors: Hai L. Tran

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In the digital age, evidence-based reporting is touted as a best practice for seeking the truth and keeping the public well-informed. Journalists are expected to rely on evidence to demonstrate the validity of a factual statement and lend credence to an individual account. Evidence can be obtained from various sources, and due to a rich supply of evidence types available, the definition of this important concept varies semantically. To promote clarity and understanding, it is necessary to break down the various types of evidence and categorize them in a more coherent, systematic way. There is a wide array of devices that digital journalists deploy as proof to back up or refute a truth claim. Evidence can take various formats, including verbal and visual materials. Verbal evidence encompasses quotes, soundbites, talking heads, testimonies, voice recordings, anecdotes, and statistics communicated through written or spoken language. There are instances where evidence is simply non-verbal, such as when natural sounds are provided without any verbalized words. On the other hand, other language-free items exhibited in photos, video footage, data visualizations, infographics, and illustrations can serve as visual evidence. Moreover, there are different sources from which evidence can be cited. Supporting materials, such as public or leaked records and documents, data, research studies, surveys, polls, or reports compiled by governments, organizations, and other entities, are frequently included as informational evidence. Proof can also come from human sources via interviews, recorded conversations, public and private gatherings, or press conferences. Expert opinions, eye-witness insights, insider observations, and official statements are some of the common examples of testimonial evidence. Digital journalism studies tend to make broad references when comparing qualitative versus quantitative forms of evidence. Meanwhile, limited efforts are being undertaken to distinguish between sister terms, such as “data,” “statistical,” and “base-rate” on one side of the spectrum and “narrative,” “anecdotal,” and “exemplar” on the other. The present study seeks to develop the evidence taxonomy, which classifies evidence through the quantitative-qualitative juxtaposition and in a hierarchical order from broad to specific. According to this scheme, data, statistics, and base rate belong to the quantitative evidence group, whereas narrative, anecdote, and exemplar fall into the qualitative evidence group. Subsequently, the taxonomical classification arranges data versus narrative at the top of the hierarchy of types of evidence, followed by statistics versus anecdote and base rate versus exemplar. This research reiterates the central role of evidence in how journalists describe and explain social phenomena and issues. By defining the various types of evidence and delineating their logical connections it helps remove a significant degree of conceptual inconsistency, ambiguity, and confusion in digital journalism studies.

Keywords: evidence, evidence forms, evidence types, taxonomy

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Authors: Papakonstantinou Apostolos, Argyrios Moustakas, Panagiotis Zervos, Dimitrios Stefanakis, Manolis Tsapakis, Nektarios Spyridakis, Mary Paspaliari, Christos Kontos, Antonis Legakis, Sarantis Houzouris, Konstantinos Topouzelis

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For years unmanned and remotely operated robots have been used as tools in industry research and education. The rapid development and miniaturization of sensors that can be attached to remotely operated vehicles in recent years allowed industry leaders and researchers to utilize them as an affordable means for data acquisition in air, land, and sea. Despite the recent developments in the ground and unmanned airborne vehicles, a small number of Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) platforms are targeted for mapping and monitoring environmental parameters for research and industry purposes. The ARGO project is developed an open-design USV equipped with multi-level control hardware architecture and state-of-the-art sensors and payloads for the autonomous monitoring of environmental parameters in large sea areas. The proposed USV is a catamaran-type USV controlled over a wireless radio link (5G) for long-range mapping capabilities and control for a ground-based control station. The ARGO USV has a propulsion control using 2x fully redundant electric trolling motors with active vector thrust for omnidirectional movement, navigation with opensource autopilot system with high accuracy GNSS device, and communication with the 2.4Ghz digital link able to provide 20km of Line of Sight (Los) range distance. The 3-meter dual hull design and composite structure offer well above 80kg of usable payload capacity. Furthermore, sun and friction energy harvesting methods provide clean energy to the propulsion system. The design is highly modular, where each component or payload can be replaced or modified according to the desired task (industrial or research). The system can be equipped with Multiparameter Sonde, measuring up to 20 water parameters simultaneously, such as conductivity, salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, etc. Furthermore, a high-end multibeam echo sounder can be installed in a specific boat datum for shallow water high-resolution seabed mapping. The system is designed to operate in the Aegean Sea. The developed USV is planned to be utilized as a system for autonomous data acquisition, mapping, and monitoring bathymetry and various environmental parameters. ARGO USV can operate in small or large ports with high maneuverability and endurance to map large geographical extends at sea. The system presents state of the art solutions in the following areas i) the on-board/real-time data processing/analysis capabilities, ii) the energy-independent and environmentally friendly platform entirely made using the latest aeronautical and marine materials, iii) the integration of advanced technology sensors, all in one system (photogrammetric and radiometric footprint, as well as its connection with various environmental and inertial sensors) and iv) the information management application. The ARGO web-based application enables the system to depict the results of the data acquisition process in near real-time. All the recorded environmental variables and indices are presented, allowing users to remotely access all the raw and processed information using the implemented web-based GIS application.

Keywords: monitor marine environment, unmanned surface vehicle, mapping bythometry, sea environmental monitoring

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Authors: W. S. Barber, S. L. King

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This paper is a qualitative case study analysis of the development of a fully online learning community of graduate students through arts-based community building activities. With increasing numbers and types of online learning spaces, it is incumbent upon educators to continue to push the edge of what best practices look like in digital learning environments. In digital learning spaces, instructors can no longer be seen as purveyors of content knowledge to be examined at the end of a set course by a final test or exam. The rapid and fluid dissemination of information via Web 3.0 demands that we reshape our approach to teaching and learning, from one that is content-focused to one that is process-driven. Rather than having instructors as formal leaders, today’s digital learning environments require us to share expertise, as it is the collective experiences and knowledge of all students together with the instructors that help to create a very different kind of learning community. This paper focuses on innovations pursued in a 36 hour 12 week graduate course in higher education entitled “Critical and Reflective Practice”. The authors chronicle their journey to developing a fully online learning community (FOLC) by emphasizing the elements of social, cognitive, emotional and digital spaces that form a moving interplay through the community. In this way, students embrace anywhere anytime learning and often take the learning, as well as the relationships they build and skills they acquire, beyond the digital class into real world situations. We argue that in order to increase student online engagement, pedagogical approaches need to stem from two primary elements, both creativity and critical reflection, that are essential pillars upon which instructors can co-design learning environments with students. The theoretical framework for the paper is based on the interaction and interdependence of Creativity, Intuition, Critical Reflection, Social Constructivism and FOLCs. By leveraging students’ embedded familiarity with a wide variety of technologies, this case study of a graduate level course on critical reflection in education, examines how relationships, quality of work produced, and student engagement can improve by using creative and imaginative pedagogical strategies. The authors examine their professional pedagogical strategies through the lens that the teacher acts as facilitator, guide and co-designer. In a world where students can easily search for and organize information as self-directed processes, creativity and connection can at times be lost in the digitized course environment. The paper concludes by posing further questions as to how institutions of higher education may be challenged to restructure their credit granting courses into more flexible modules, and how students need to be considered an important part of assessment and evaluation strategies. By introducing creativity and critical reflection as central features of the digital learning spaces, notions of best practices in digital teaching and learning emerge.

Keywords: online, pedagogy, learning, communities

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Authors: David S. Byrne

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The purpose of this paper is to understand how phone record analysis can enable identification of subjects in communication with a target of a terrorist plot. This study also sought to understand the advantages of the implementation of simulations to develop the skills of future intelligence analysts to enhance national security. Through the examination of phone reports which in essence consist of the call traffic of incoming and outgoing numbers (and not by listening to calls or reading the content of text messages), patterns can be uncovered that point toward members of a criminal group and activities planned. Through temporal and frequency analysis, conclusions were drawn to offer insights into the identity of participants and the potential scheme being undertaken. The challenge lies in the accurate identification of the users of the phones in contact with the target. Often investigators rely on proprietary databases and open sources to accomplish this task, however it is difficult to ascertain the accuracy of the information found. Thus, this paper poses two research questions: how effective are freely available web sources of information at determining the actual identification of callers? Secondly, does the identity of the callers enable an understanding of the lifestyle and habits of the target? The methodology for this research consisted of the analysis of the call detail records of the author’s personal phone activity spanning the period of a year combined with a hypothetical theory that the owner of said phone was a leader of terrorist cell. The goal was to reveal the identity of his accomplices and understand how his personal attributes can further paint a picture of the target’s intentions. The results of the study were interesting, nearly 80% of the calls were identified with over a 75% accuracy rating via datamining of open sources. The suspected terrorist’s inner circle was recognized including relatives and potential collaborators as well as financial institutions [money laundering], restaurants [meetings], a sporting goods store [purchase of supplies], and airline and hotels [travel itinerary]. The outcome of this research showed the benefits of cellphone analysis without more intrusive and time-consuming methodologies though it may be instrumental for potential surveillance, interviews, and developing probable cause for wiretaps. Furthermore, this research highlights the importance of building upon the skills of future intelligence analysts through phone record analysis via simulations; that hands-on learning in this case study emphasizes the development of the competencies necessary to improve investigations overall.

Keywords: hands-on learning, intelligence analysis, intelligence education, phone record analysis, simulations

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Authors: Natnael Debalklie Teshome

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The purpose of the study was to empirically investigate the impacts of export performance and its volatility on economic growth in the Ethiopian economy. To do so, time-series data of the sample period from 1974/75 – 2017/18 were collected from databases and annual reports of IMF, WB, NBE, MoFED, UNCTD, and EEA. The extended Cobb-Douglas production function of the neoclassical growth model framed under the endogenous growth theory was used to consider both the performance and instability aspects of export. First, the unit root test was conducted using ADF and PP tests, and data were found in stationery with a mix of I(0) and I(1). Then, the bound test and Wald test were employed, and results showed that there exists long-run co-integration among study variables. All the diagnostic test results also reveal that the model fulfills the criteria of the best-fitted model. Therefore, the ARDL model and VECM were applied to estimate the long-run and short-run parameters, while the Granger causality test was used to test the causality between study variables. The empirical findings of the study reveal that only export and coefficient of variation had significant positive and negative impacts on RGDP in the long run, respectively, while other variables were found to have an insignificant impact on the economic growth of Ethiopia. In the short run, except for gross capital formation and coefficients of variation, which have a highly significant positive impact, all other variables have a strongly significant negative impact on RGDP. This shows exports had a strong, significant impact in both the short-run and long-run periods. However, its positive and statistically significant impact is observed only in the long run. Similarly, there was a highly significant export fluctuation in both periods, while significant commodity concentration (CCI) was observed only in the short run. Moreover, the Granger causality test reveals that unidirectional causality running from export performance to RGDP exists in the long run and from both export and RGDP to CCI in the short run. Therefore, the export-led growth strategy should be sustained and strengthened. In addition, boosting the industrial sector is vital to bring structural transformation. Hence, the government has to give different incentive schemes and supportive measures to exporters to extract the spillover effects of exports. Greater emphasis on price-oriented diversification and specialization on major primary products that the country has a comparative advantage should also be given to reduce value-based instability in the export earnings of the country. The government should also strive to increase capital formation and human capital development via enhancing investments in technology and quality of education to accelerate the economic growth of the country.

Keywords: export, economic growth, export diversification, instability, co-integration, granger causality, Ethiopian economy

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Authors: Dan Luo

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With the climate change can exacerbate exposure of cultural heritage to climatic stressors, scholars pin their hope on digital technology can help the site avoid surprises. Virtual museum has been regarded as a highly effective technology that enables people to gain enjoyable visiting experience and immersive information about cultural heritage. The technology clearly reproduces the images of the tangible cultural heritage, and the aesthetic experience created by new media helps consumers escape from the realistic environment full of uncertainty. The new cultural anchor has appeared outside the cultural sites. This article synthesizes the international literature on the virtual museum by developing diagrams of Citespace focusing on the tangible cultural heritage and the alarmingly situation has emerged in the process of resolving climate change: (1) Digital collections are the different cultural assets for public. (2) The media ecology change people ways of thinking and meeting style of cultural heritage. (3) Cultural heritage may live forever in the digital world. This article provides a typical practice information to manage cultural heritage in a changing climate—the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in the far northwest of China, which is a worldwide cultural heritage site famous for its remarkable and sumptuous murals. This monument is a typical synthesis of art containing 735 Buddhist temples, which was listed by UNESCO as one of the World Cultural Heritage sites. The caves contain some extraordinary examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years - the architectural form, the sculptures in the caves, and the murals on the walls, all together constitute a wonderful aesthetic experience. Unfortunately, this magnificent treasure cave has been threatened by increasingly frequent dust storms and precipitation. The Dunhuang Academy has been using digital technology since the last century to preserve these immovable cultural heritages, especially the murals in the caves. And then, Dunhuang culture has become a new media culture after introduce the art to the world audience through exhibitions, VR, video, etc. The paper chooses qualitative research method that used Nvivo software to encode the collected material to answer this question. The author paid close attention to the survey in Dunhuang City, including participated in 10 exhibition and 20 salons that are Dunhuang-themed on network. What’s more, 308 visitors were interviewed who are fans of the art and have experienced Dunhuang culture online(6-75 years).These interviewees have been exposed to Dunhuang culture through different media, and they are acutely aware of the threat to this cultural heritage. The conclusion is that the unique halo of the cultural heritage was always emphasized, and digital media breeds twin brothers of cultural heritage. In addition, the digital media make it possible for cultural heritage to reintegrate into the daily life of the masses. Visitors gain the opportunity to imitate the mural figures through enlarged or emphasized images but also lose the perspective of understanding the whole cultural life. New media construct a new life aesthetics apart from the Authorized heritage discourse.

Keywords: cultural ecology, digital twins, life aesthetics, media

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Authors: Cagri Baris Kasap

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In this study, how interface designers can be viewed as producers of culture in the current era will be interrogated from a critical theory perspective. Walter Benjamin was a German Jewish literary critical theorist who, during 1930s, was engaged in opposing and criticizing the Nazi use of art and media. ‘The Author as Producer’ is an essay that Benjamin has read at the Communist Institute for the Study of Fascism in Paris. In this article, Benjamin relates directly to the dialectics between base and superstructure and argues that authors, normally placed within the superstructure should consider how writing and publishing is production and directly related to the base. Through it, he discusses what it could mean to see author as producer of his own text, as a producer of writing, understood as an ideological construct that rests on the apparatus of production and distribution. So Benjamin concludes that the author must write in ways that relate to the conditions of production, he must do so in order to prepare his readers to become writers and even make this possible for them by engineering an ‘improved apparatus’ and must work toward turning consumers to producers and collaborators. In today’s world, it has become a leading business model within Web 2.0 services of multinational Internet technologies and culture industries like Amazon, Apple and Google, to transform readers, spectators, consumers or users into collaborators and co-producers through platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Amazon’s CreateSpace Kindle Direct Publishing print-on-demand, e-book and publishing platforms. However, the way this transformation happens is tightly controlled and monitored by combinations of software and hardware. In these global-market monopolies, it has become increasingly difficult to get insight into how one’s writing and collaboration is used, captured, and capitalized as a user of Facebook or Google. In the lens of this study, it could be argued that this criticism could very well be considered by digital producers or even by the mass of collaborators in contemporary social networking software. How do software and design incorporate users and their collaboration? Are they truly empowered, are they put in a position where they are able to understand the apparatus and how their collaboration is part of it? Or has the apparatus become a means against the producers? Thus, when using corporate systems like Google and Facebook, iPhone and Kindle without any control over the means of production, which is closed off by opaque interfaces and licenses that limit our rights of use and ownership, we are already the collaborators that Benjamin calls for. For example, the iPhone and the Kindle combine a specific use of technology to distribute the relations between the ‘authors’ and the ‘prodUsers’ in ways that secure their monopolistic business models by limiting the potential of the technology.

Keywords: interface designer, cultural producer, Walter Benjamin, materialist aesthetics, dialectical thinking

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Authors: Wenjun Hou, Marek Perkowski

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The Traveling Salesman problem is famous in computing and graph theory. In short, it asks for the Hamiltonian cycle of the least total weight in a given graph with N nodes. All variations on this problem, such as those with K-bounded-degree nodes, are classified as NP-complete in classical computing. Although several papers propose theoretical high-level designs of quantum algorithms for the Traveling Salesman Problem, no quantum circuit implementation of these algorithms has been created up to our best knowledge. In contrast to previous papers, the goal of this paper is not to optimize some abstract complexity measures based on the number of oracle iterations, but to be able to evaluate the real circuit and time costs of the quantum computer. Using the emerging quantum programming language Q# developed by Microsoft, which runs quantum circuits in a quantum computer simulation, an implementation of the bounded-degree problem and its respective quantum circuit were created. To apply Grover’s algorithm to this problem, a quantum oracle was designed, evaluating the cost of a particular set of edges in the graph as well as its validity as a Hamiltonian cycle. Repeating the Grover algorithm with an oracle that finds successively lower cost each time allows to transform the decision problem to an optimization problem, finding the minimum cost of Hamiltonian cycles. N log₂ K qubits are put into an equiprobablistic superposition by applying the Hadamard gate on each qubit. Within these N log₂ K qubits, the method uses an encoding in which every node is mapped to a set of its encoded edges. The oracle consists of several blocks of circuits: a custom-written edge weight adder, node index calculator, uniqueness checker, and comparator, which were all created using only quantum Toffoli gates, including its special forms, which are Feynman and Pauli X. The oracle begins by using the edge encodings specified by the qubits to calculate each node that this path visits and adding up the edge weights along the way. Next, the oracle uses the calculated nodes from the previous step and check that all the nodes are unique. Finally, the oracle checks that the calculated cost is less than the previously-calculated cost. By performing the oracle an optimal number of times, a correct answer can be generated with very high probability. The oracle of the Grover Algorithm is modified using the recalculated minimum cost value, and this procedure is repeated until the cost cannot be further reduced. This algorithm and circuit design have been verified, using several datasets, to generate correct outputs.

Keywords: quantum computing, quantum circuit optimization, quantum algorithms, hybrid quantum algorithms, quantum programming, Grover’s algorithm, traveling salesman problem, bounded-degree TSP, minimal cost, Q# language

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Authors: Mária Ildikó Farkas

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Kokugaku of the Edo period can be seen as a key factor of defining cultural (and national) identity in the 18th and early 19th century based on Japanese cultural heritage. Kokugaku focused on Japanese classics, on exploring, studying and reviving (or even inventing) ancient Japanese language, literature, myths, history and also political ideology. ‘Japanese culture’ as such was distinguished from Chinese (and all other) cultures, ‘Japanese identity’ was thus defined. Meiji scholars used kokugaku conceptions of Japan to construct a modern national identity based on the premodern and culturalist conceptions of community. The Japanese cultural movement of the 18-19th centuries (kokugaku) of defining cultural and national identity before modernization can be compared not to the development of Western Europe (where national identity strongly attached to modern nation states) or other parts of Asia (where these emerged after the Western colonization), but rather with the ‘national awakening’ movements of the peoples of East Central Europe, a comparison which have not been dealt with in the secondary literature yet. The role of a common language, culture, history and myths in the process of defining cultural identity – following mainly Miroslav Hroch’s comparative and interdisciplinary theory of national development – can be examined compared to the movements of defining identity of the peoples of East Central Europe (18th-19th c). In the shadow of a cultural and/or political ‘monolith’ (China for Japan and Germany for Central Europe), before modernity, ethnic groups or communities started to evolve their own identities with cultural movements focusing on their own language and culture, thus creating their cultural identity, and in the end, a new sense of community, the nation. Comparing actual texts (‘narratives’) of the kokugaku scholars and Central European writers of the nation building period (18th and early 19th centuries) can reveal the similarities of the discourses of deliberate searches for identity. Similar motives of argument can be identified in these narratives: ‘language’ as the primary bearer of collective identity, the role of language in culture, ‘culture’ as the main common attribute of the community; and similar aspirations to explore, search and develop native language, ‘genuine’ culture, ‘original’ traditions. This comparative research offering ‘development patterns’ for interpretation can help us understand processes that may be ambiguously considered ‘backward’ or even ‘deleterious’ (e.g. cultural nationalism) or just ‘unique’. ‘Cultural identity’ played a very important role in the formation of national identity during modernization especially in the case of non-Western communities, who had to face the danger of losing their identities in the course of ‘Westernization’ accompanying modernization.

Keywords: cultural identity, Japanese modernization, kokugaku, national awakening

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Authors: Severino Machingambi

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Most academics entering Higher education as lecturers in South Africa do not have qualifications in Education or teaching. This creates serious problems since they are not sufficiently equipped with pedagogical approaches and theories that inform their facilitation of learning strategies. This, arguably, is one of the reasons why higher education institutions are experiencing high student failure rate. In order to mitigate this problem, it is critical that higher education institutions devise internal academic staff development programmes to capacitate academics with pedagogical skills and competencies so as to enhance the quality of student learning. This paper reported on how the Teaching and Learning Development Centre of a university used design-based research methodology to conceptualise and implement an academic staff development programme for new academics at a university of technology. This approach revolves around the designing, testing and refining of an educational intervention. Design-based research is an important methodology for understanding how, when, and why educational innovations work in practice. The need for a professional development course for academics arose due to the fact that most academics at the university did not have teaching qualifications and many of them were employed straight from industry with little understanding of pedagogical approaches. This paper examines three key aspects of the programme namely, the preliminary phase, the teaching experiment and the retrospective analysis. The preliminary phase is the stage in which the problem identification takes place. The problem that this research sought to address relates to the unsatisfactory academic performance of the majority of the students in the institution. It was therefore hypothesized that the problem could be dealt with by professionalising new academics through engagement in an academic staff development programme. The teaching experiment phase afforded researchers and participants in the programme the opportunity to test and refine the proposed intervention and the design principles upon which it was based. The teaching experiment phase revolved around the testing of the new academics professional development programme. This phase created a platform for researchers and academics in the programme to experiment with various activities and instructional strategies such as case studies, observations, discussions and portfolio building. The teaching experiment phase was followed by the retrospective analysis stage in which the research team looked back and tried to give a trustworthy account of the teaching/learning process that had taken place. A questionnaire and focus group discussions were used to collect data from participants that helped to evaluate the programme and its implementation. One of the findings of this study was that academics joining university really need an academic induction programme that inducts them into the discourse of teaching and learning. The study also revealed that existing academics can be placed on formal study programmes in which they acquire educational qualifications with a view to equip them with useful classroom discourses. The study, therefore, concludes that new and existing academics in universities should be supported through induction programmes and placement on formal studies in teaching and learning so that they are capacitated as facilitators of learning.

Keywords: academic staff, pedagogy, programme, staff development

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Authors: Qing Wu, Xuchun Ye, Kirsten Corazzini

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Objective: It is increasingly recognized that patients’ rational and meaningful engagement in healthcare could make important contributions to their health care and safety management. However, recent evidence indicated that patients' actual roles in healthcare didn’t match their desired roles, and many patients reported a less active role than desired, which suggested that patient engagement in healthcare may be influenced by various factors. This study aimed to analyze influencing factors on patient engagement and explore the influence mechanism, which will be expected to contribute to the strategy development of patient engagement in healthcare. Methods: On the basis of analyzing the literature and theory study, the research framework was developed. According to the research framework, a cross-sectional survey was employed using the behavior and willingness of patient engagement in healthcare questionnaire, Chinese version All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale, Facilitation of Patient Involvement Scale and Wake Forest Physician Trust Scale, and other influencing factor related scales. A convenience sample of 580 patients was recruited from 8 general hospitals in Shanghai, Jiangsu Province, and Zhejiang Province. Results: The results of the cross-sectional survey indicated that the mean score for the patient engagement behavior was (4.146 ± 0.496), and the mean score for the willingness was (4.387 ± 0.459). The level of patient engagement behavior was inferior to their willingness to be involved in healthcare (t = 14.928, P ＜ 0.01). The influencing mechanism model of patient engagement in healthcare was constructed by the path analysis. The path analysis revealed that patient attitude toward engagement, patients’ perception of facilitation of patient engagement and health literacy played direct prediction on the patients’ willingness of engagement, and standard estimated values of path coefficient were 0.341, 0.199, 0.291, respectively. Patients’ trust in physician and the willingness of engagement played direct prediction on the patient engagement, and standard estimated values of path coefficient were 0.211, 0.641, respectively. Patient attitude toward engagement, patients’ perception of facilitation and health literacy played indirect prediction on patient engagement, and standard estimated values of path coefficient were 0.219, 0.128, 0.187, respectively. Conclusions: Patients engagement behavior did not match their willingness to be involved in healthcare. The influencing mechanism model of patient engagement in healthcare was constructed. Patient attitude toward engagement, patients’ perception of facilitation of engagement and health literacy posed indirect positive influence on patient engagement through the patients’ willingness of engagement. Patients’ trust in physician and the willingness of engagement had direct positive influence on the patient engagement. Patient attitude toward engagement, patients’ perception of physician facilitation of engagement and health literacy were the factors influencing the patients’ willingness of engagement. The results of this study provided valuable evidence on guiding the development of strategies for promoting patient rational and meaningful engagement in healthcare.

Keywords: healthcare, patient engagement, influencing factor, the mechanism

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Authors: Surupa Shaw, Debjyoti Banerjee

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Enhancing heat transfer in compact volumes is a challenge when constrained by cost issues, especially those associated with requirements for minimizing pumping power consumption. This is particularly acute for electronic chip cooling applications. Technological advancements in microelectronics have led to development of chip architectures that involve increased power consumption. As a consequence packaging, technologies are saddled with needs for higher rates of power dissipation in smaller form factors. The increasing circuit density, higher heat flux values for dissipation and the significant decrease in the size of the electronic devices are posing thermal management challenges that need to be addressed with a better design of the cooling system. Maximizing surface area for heat exchanging surfaces (e.g., extended surfaces or “fins”) can enable dissipation of higher levels of heat flux. Fractal structures have been shown to maximize surface area in compact volumes. Self-replicating structures at multiple length scales are called “Fractals” (i.e., objects with fractional dimensions; unlike regular geometric objects, such as spheres or cubes whose volumes and surface area values scale as integer values of the length scale dimensions). Fractal structures are expected to provide an appropriate technology solution to meet these challenges for enhanced heat transfer in the microelectronic devices by maximizing surface area available for heat exchanging fluids within compact volumes. In this study, the effect of different fractal micro-channel architectures and flow structures on the enhancement of transport phenomena in heat exchangers is explored by parametric variation of fractal dimension. This study proposes a model that would enable cost-effective solutions for thermal-fluid transport for energy applications. The objective of this study is to ascertain the sensitivity of various parameters (such as heat flux and pressure gradient as well as pumping power) to variation in fractal dimension. The role of the fractal parameters will be instrumental in establishing the most effective design for the optimum cooling of microelectronic devices. This can help establish the requirement of minimal pumping power for enhancement of heat transfer during cooling. Results obtained in this study show that the proposed models for fractal architectures of microchannels significantly enhanced heat transfer due to augmentation of surface area in the branching networks of varying length-scales.

Keywords: fractals, microelectronics, constructal theory, heat transfer enhancement, pumping power enhancement

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Authors: Bill Wang, Paul Childerhouse, Yuanfei Kang

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Purpose: The research is to extend resource orchestration theory (ROT) into supply chain management (SCM) area to investigate the dyadic relationships at both individual and organizational levels in supply chain integration (SCI). Also, we try to explore the interaction mechanism between inter-personal relationships (IPRs) and inter-organizational (IORs) during the whole SCI process. Methodology/approach: The research employed an exploratory multiple case study approach of four New Zealand companies. The data was collected via semi-structured interviews with top, middle, and lower level managers and operators from different departments of both suppliers and customers triangulated with company archival data. Findings: The research highlights the important role of both IPRs and IORs in the whole SCI process. Both IPRs and IORs are valuable, inimitable resources but IORs are formal and exterior while IPRs are informal and subordinated. In the initial stage of SCI process, IPRs are seen as key resources antecedents to IOR building while three IPRs dimensions work differently: personal credibility acts as an icebreaker to strengthen the confidence forming IORs, and personal affection acts as a gatekeeper, whilst personal communication expedites the IORs process. In the maintenance and development stage, IORs and IPRs interact each other continuously: good interaction between IPRs and IORs can facilitate SCI process while the bad interaction between IPRs can damage the SCI process. On the other hand, during the life-cycle of SCI process, IPRs can facilitate the formation, development of IORs while IORs development can cultivate the ties of IPRs. Out of the three dimensions of IPRs, Personal communication plays a more important role to develop IORs than personal credibility and personal affection. Originality/value: This research contributes to ROT in supply chain management literature by highlighting the interaction of IPRs and IORs in SCI. The intangible resources and capabilities of three dimensions of IPRs need to be orchestrated and nurtured to achieve efficient and effective IORs in SCI. Also, IPRs and IORs need to be orchestrated in terms of breadth, depth, and life-cycle of whole SCI process. Our study provides further insight into the rarely explored inter-personal level of SCI. Managerial implications: Our research provides top management with further evidence of the significance roles of IPRs at different levels when working with trading partners. This highlights the need to actively manage and develop these soft IPRs skills as an intangible competitive resource. Further, the research identifies when staff with specific skills and connections should be utilized during the different stages of building and maintaining inter-organizational ties. More importantly, top management needs to orchestrate and balance the resources of IPRs and IORs.

Keywords: case study, inter-organizational relationships, inter-personal relationships, resource orchestration, supply chain integration

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Authors: Liya Abraham

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Eritrea is located along the Red Sea, north of the Horn of Africa, between Djibouti and Sudan and has a population of about 3.2 million as of 2010. It has six administrative regions; Anseba, Debub, Debubawi K’eyih Bahri, Gash-Barka, Ma'akel, and Semenawi K’eyih Bahri. Eritrea has got its independence in 1991 after 30 years war of liberation. The country is blessed with various medicinal flora and fauna, and marine and terrestrial biodiversity. Traditional Medicine (TM) has been an integral part of the Eritrean culture for centuries. So far, more than 19 TM modalities have been recognized, and are broadly categorized as; herbal, procedure-based and spiritual. Despite the availability of modern medicine to the majority of the population, TM is still widely practiced. The rationale behind widespread use is accessibility, affordability and cultural acceptability. Hence, TM is of great contribution to the Eritrean health care system. As a matter of fact, harnessing the potential contribution of effective and safe TM in order to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has been emphasized in the WHO TM strategy 2014-2023. The Eritrean TM, however, was operating without regulation and reliable scientific justification behind its safety and efficacy. Thus, the Ministry of Health (MoH), in recognition of the role of TM in primary healthcare and safeguard public health, established a regulatory body for TM so-called as Traditional Medicine Unit (TMU) in 2012. The mission of the unit is to ensure rational TM use through an integrated health service delivery system and contribute to the country’s economic and social development. The unit has established its national TM policy in 2017. The activities of the unit are guided by the National TM Advisory Committee (TMAC), responsible for the provision of technical assistance and advisory role. Moreover, the Legal Framework and Code of Ethics and Practice which provide a legal basis for the regulation of TM have also been drafted. In recognition of the importance of TM research and development, the unit launched a nationwide TM survey in 2017 and had surveyed two zones (Gash-Barka and Debub). The findings of the survey were subjected to a research dissemination workshop and publication in international journals. Furthermore, TM-related adverse events reporting tool (Green Form) aiming to guide regulatory interventions and researches have been established by the unit, and ever since reports are flowing. The unit has also been offering training to THPs, pharmacy students and health care professionals regarding TM and its regulatory activities. In addition, as part of the establishment of the national medicinal plants' database and herbal monograph, more than 329 and 30 medicinal plants, have been compiled respectively. In conclusion, TM is still widely accepted and practiced in Eritrea. The TMU ever since its establishment is endeavoring to ensure the safety and efficacy of the TM, and its integration in the mainstream health service delivery system.

Keywords: efficacy, regulation, safety, traditional medicine, traditional medicine unit, universal health coverage

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Authors: A. F. G. Van Woezik, L. M. A. Braakman-Jansen, O. A. Kulyk, J. E. W. C. Van Gemert-Pijnen

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Background: Zoonoses pose a serious threat to public health and economies worldwide, especially as antimicrobial resistance grows and newly emerging zoonoses can cause unpredictable outbreaks. In order to prevent and control emerging and re-emerging zoonoses, collaboration between veterinary, human health and public health domains is essential. In reality however, there is a lack of cooperation between these three disciplines and uncertainties exist about their tasks and responsibilities. The objective of this ongoing research project (ZonMw funded, 2014-2018) is to develop an online education and communication One Health platform, “eZoon”, for the general public and professionals working in veterinary, human health and public health domains to support the risk communication of non-alimentary zoonoses in the Netherlands. The main focus is on education and communication in times of outbreak as well as in daily non-outbreak situations. Methods: A participatory development approach was used in which stakeholders from veterinary, human health and public health domains participated. Key stakeholders were identified using business modeling techniques previously used for the design and implementation of antibiotic stewardship interventions and consisted of a literature scan, expert recommendations, and snowball sampling. We used a stakeholder salience approach to rank stakeholders according to their power, legitimacy, and urgency. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders (N=20) from all three disciplines to identify current problems in risk communication and stakeholder values for the One Health platform. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded inductively by two researchers. Results: The following key values were identified (but were not limited to): (a) need for improved awareness of veterinary and human health of each other’s fields, (b) information exchange between veterinary and human health, in particularly at a regional level; (c) legal regulations need to match with daily practice; (d) professionals and general public need to be addressed separately using tailored language and information; (e) information needs to be of value to professionals (relevant, important, accurate, and have financial or other important consequences if ignored) in order to be picked up; and (f) need for accurate information from trustworthy, centrally organised sources to inform the general public. Conclusion: By applying a participatory development approach, we gained insights from multiple perspectives into the main problems of current risk communication strategies in the Netherlands and stakeholder values. Next, we will continue the iterative development of the One Health platform by presenting key values to stakeholders for validation and ranking, which will guide further development. We will develop a communication platform with a serious game in which professionals at the regional level will be trained in shared decision making in time-critical outbreak situations, a smart Question & Answer (Q&A) system for the general public tailored towards different user profiles, and social media to inform the general public adequately during outbreaks.

Keywords: ehealth, one health, risk communication, stakeholder, zoonosis

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Authors: Jesika A. Walker, Mohammed Aswad, Guy Lacroix, Denis Cousineau

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There is a fundamental disconnect between the experience of time passing and the chronometric units by which time is quantified. Specifically, there appears to be no relationship between the passage of time judgments (PoTJs) and verbal duration estimates at short durations (e.g., < 2000 milliseconds). When a duration is longer than several minutes, however, evidence suggests that a slower feeling of time passing is predictive of overestimation. Might the length of a task moderate the relation between PoTJs and duration estimates? Similarly, the estimation paradigm (prospective vs. retrospective) and the mental effort demanded of a task (task demand) have both been found to influence duration estimates. However, only a handful of experiments have investigated these effects for tasks of long durations, and the results have been mixed. Thus, might the length of a task also moderate the effects of the estimation paradigm and task demand on duration estimates? To investigate these questions, 273 participants performed either an easy or difficult visual and memory search task for either eight or 58 minutes, under prospective or retrospective instructions. Afterward, participants provided a duration estimate in minutes, followed by a PoTJ on a Likert scale (1 = very slow, 7 = very fast). A 2 (prospective vs. retrospective) × 2 (eight minutes vs. 58 minutes) × 2 (high vs. low difficulty) between-subjects ANOVA revealed a two-way interaction between task demand and task duration on PoTJs, p = .02. Specifically, time felt faster in the more challenging task, but only in the eight-minute condition, p < .01. Duration estimates were transformed into RATIOs (estimate/actual duration) to standardize estimates across durations. An ANOVA revealed a two-way interaction between estimation paradigm and task duration, p = .03. Specifically, participants overestimated the task more if they were given prospective instructions, but only in the eight-minute task. Surprisingly, there was no effect of task difficulty on duration estimates. Thus, the demands of a task may influence ‘feeling of time’ and ‘estimation time’ differently, contributing to the existing theory that these two forms of time judgement rely on separate underlying cognitive mechanisms. Finally, a significant main effect of task duration was found for both PoTJs and duration estimates (ps < .001). Participants underestimated the 58-minute task (m = 42.5 minutes) and overestimated the eight-minute task (m = 10.7 minutes). Yet, they reported the 58-minute task as passing significantly slower on a Likert scale (m = 2.5) compared to the eight-minute task (m = 4.1). In fact, a significant correlation was found between PoTJ and duration estimation (r = .27, p <.001). This experiment thus provides evidence for a compensatory effect at longer durations, in which people underestimate a ‘slow feeling condition and overestimate a ‘fast feeling condition. The results are discussed in relation to heuristics that might alter the relationship between these two variables when conditions range from several minutes up to almost an hour.

Keywords: duration estimates, long durations, passage of time judgements, task demands

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Authors: Tran Thi Thuy Oanh, Nguyen Ngoc Bao Tran

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In the view of Cognitive Linguistics (CL), knowledge and experience of things and events are used by human beings in expressing concepts, especially in their daily life. The human conceptual system is considered to be fundamentally metaphorical in nature. It is also said that the way we think, what we experience, and what we do everyday is very much a matter of language. In fact, language is an integral factor of cognition in that CL is a family of broadly compatible theoretical approaches sharing the fundamental assumption. The relationship between language and thought, of course, has been addressed by many scholars. CL, however, strongly emphasizes specific features of this relation. By experiencing, we receive knowledge of lives. The partial things are ideal domains, we make use of all aspects of this domain in metaphorically understanding abstract targets. The paper refered to applying this theory on pragmatics lessons for major English students at University of Foreign Language Studies - The University of Da Nang, Viet Nam. We conducted the study with two third – year students groups studying English pragmatics lessons. To clarify this study, the data from these two classes were collected for analyzing linguistic perspectives in the view of CL and traditional concepts. Descriptive, analytic, synthetic, comparative, and contrastive methods were employed to analyze data from 50 students undergoing English pragmatics lessons. The two groups were taught how to transfer the meanings of expressions in daily life with the view of CL and one group used the traditional view for that. The research indicated that both ways had a significant influence on students' English translating and interpreting abilities. However, the traditional way had little effect on students' understanding, but the CL view had a considerable impact. The study compared CL and traditional teaching approaches to identify benefits and challenges associated with incorporating CL into the curriculum. It seeks to extend CL concepts by analyzing metaphorical expressions in daily conversations, offering insights into how CL can enhance language learning. The findings shed light on the effectiveness of applying CL in teaching and learning English pragmatics. They highlight the advantages of using metaphorical expressions from daily life to facilitate understanding and explore how CL can enhance cognitive processes in language learning in general and teaching English pragmatics to third-year students at the UFLS - UDN, Vietnam in personal. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the relationship between language, cognition, and learning. By emphasizing the metaphorical nature of human conceptual systems, it offers insights into how CL can enrich language teaching practices and enhance students' comprehension of abstract concepts.

Keywords: cognitive linguisitcs, lakoff and johnson, pragmatics, UFLS

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Authors: Brayan S. Pabón, R. Ricardo Moreno, Edith Gonzalez

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Inside the wide Colombian natural fiber set is the banana stem leaf, known as Calceta de Plátano, which is a material present in several regions of the country and is a fiber extracted from the pseudo stem of the banana plant (Musa paradisiaca) as a regular maintenance process. Colombia had a production of 2.8 million tons in 2007 and 2008 corresponding to 8.2% of the international production, number that is growing. This material was selected to be studied because it is not being used by farmers due to it being perceived as a waste from the banana harvest and a propagation pest agent inside the planting. In addition, the Calceta does not have industrial applications in Colombia since there is not enough concrete knowledge that informs us about the properties of the material and the possible applications it could have. Based on this situation the industrial design is used as a link between the properties of the material and the need to transform it into industrial products for the market. Therefore, the project identifies potential design attributes that the banana stem leaf can have for product development. The methodology was divided into 2 main chapters: Methodology for the material recognition: -Data Collection, inquiring the craftsmen experience and bibliography. -Knowledge in practice, with controlled experiments and validation tests. -Creation of design attributes and material profile according to the knowledge developed. Moreover, the Design methodology: -Application fields selection, exploring the use of the attributes and the relation with product functions. -Evaluating the possible fields and selection of the optimum application. -Design Process with sketching, ideation, and product development. Different protocols were elaborated to qualitatively determine some material properties of the Calceta, and if they could be designated as design attributes. Once defined, performed and analyzed the validation protocols, 25 design attributes were identified and classified into 4 attribute categories (Environmental, Functional, Aesthetics and Technical) forming the material profile. Then, 15 application fields were defined based on the relation between functions of product and the use of the Calceta attributes. Those fields were evaluated to measure how much are being used the functional attributes. After fields evaluation, a final field was defined , influenced by traditional use of the fiber for packing food. As final result, two products were designed for this application field. The first one is the Multiple Container, which works to contain small or large-thin pieces of food, like potatoes chips or small sausages; it allows the consumption of food with sauces or dressings. The second is the Chorizo container, specifically designed for this food due to the long shape and the consumption mode. Natural fiber research allows the generation of a solider and a more complete knowledge about natural fibers. In addition, the research is a way to strengthen the identity through the investigation of the proper and autochthonous, allowing the use of national resources in a sustainable and creative way. Using divergent thinking and the design as a tool, this investigation can achieve advances in the natural fiber handling.

Keywords: banana stem leaf, Calceta de Plátano, design attributes, natural fibers, product design

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Authors: Luci V. Hyett

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The criminal law of England and Wales currently deems that a person cannot consent to the infliction of injury upon their own body, where the level of harm is considered to be Actual or Grevious. This renders the defence of consent of the victim as being unavailable to those persons carrying out an Alternative Body Modification procedure. However, the criminalization of consensual injury is more appropriately deemed as being categorized as an offense against public morality and not one against the person, which renders the State’s involvement in the autonomous choices of a consenting adult, when determining what can be done to one’s own body, an arbitrary one. Furthermore, to recognise in law that a person is capable of giving a valid consent to socially acceptable cosmetic interventions that largely consist of procedures designed to aesthetically please men and, not those of people who want to modify their bodies for other reasons means that patriarchal attitudes are continuing to underpin public repulsion and inhibit social acceptance of such practices. Theoretical analysis will begin with a juridical examination of R v M(B) [2019] QB 1 where the High Court determined that Alternative Body Modification was not a special category exempting a person so performing from liability for Grevious Bodily Harm using the defence of consent. It will draw from its reasoning which considered that ‘the removal of body parts were medical procedures being carried out for no medical reason by someone not qualified to carry them out’ which will form the basis of this enquiry. It will consider the philosophical work of Georgio Agamben when analysing whether the biopolitical climate in the UK, which places the optimization of the perfect, healthy body at the centre of political concern can explain why those persons who wish to engage in Alternative Body Modification are treated as the ‘Exception’ to that which is normal using the ‘no medical reason’ canon to justify criminalisation, rather than legitimising the industry through regulation. It will consider, through a feminist lens, the current conflict in law between traditional cosmetic interventions which alter one’s physical appearance for socially accepted aesthetic purposes such as those to the breast, lip and buttock and, modifications described as more outlandish such as earlobe stretching, tooth filing and transdermal implants to create horns and spikes under the skin. It will assert that ethical principles relating to the psychological impact of body modification described as ‘alternative’ is used as a means to exclude person’s seeking such a procedure from receiving safe and competent treatment via a registered cosmetic surgeon which leads to these increasingly popular surgery’s being performed in Tattoo parlours throughout the UK as an extension to other socially acceptable forms of self-modification such as piercings. It will contend that only by ‘inclusive exclusion’ will those ‘othered’ through ostracisation be welcomed into the fold of normality and this can only be achieved through recognition of alternative body modification as a legitimate cosmetic intervention, subject to the same regulatory framework as existing practice. This would assist in refocusing the political landscape by erring on the side of liberty rather than that of biology.

Keywords: biopolitics, body modification, consent, criminal law

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Authors: Huimin Liu, Li Xiang, Yue Liu, Jing Wang

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Background: As one of typical case for the developing countries who are stepping into the aging times globally, more and more older people in China might face the problem of which they could not maintain normal life due to the functional disability. While the government take efforts to build long-term care system and further carry out related policies for the core concept, there is still lack of strong evidence to evaluating the profile of disability states in the elderly population and its transition rate. It has been proved that disability is a dynamic condition of the person rather than irreversible so it means possible to intervene timely on them who might be in a risk of severe disability. Objective: The aim of this study was to depict the picture of the disability transferring status of the older people in China, and then find out individual characteristics that change the state of disability to provide theory basis for disability prevention and early intervention among elderly people. Methods: Data for this study came from the 2011 baseline survey and the 2013 follow-up survey of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Normal ADL function, 1~2 ADLs disability,3 or above ADLs disability and death were defined from state 1 to state 4. Multi-state Markov model was applied and the four-state homogeneous model with discrete states and discrete times from two visits follow-up data was constructed to explore factors for various progressive stages. We modeled the effect of explanatory variables on the rates of transition by using a proportional intensities model with covariate, such as gender. Result: In the total sample, state 2 constituent ratio is nearly about 17.0%, while state 3 proportion is blow the former, accounting for 8.5%. Moreover, ADL disability statistics difference is not obvious between two years. About half of the state 2 in 2011 improved to become normal in 2013 even though they get elder. However, state 3 transferred into the proportion of death increased obviously, closed to the proportion back to state 2 or normal functions. From the estimated intensities, we see the older people are eleven times as likely to develop at 1~2 ADLs disability than dying. After disability onset (state 2), progression to state 3 is 30% more likely than recovery. Once in state 3, a mean of 0.76 years is spent before death or recovery. In this model, a typical person in state 2 has a probability of 0.5 of disability-free one year from now while the moderate disabled or above has a probability of 0.14 being dead. Conclusion: On the long-term care cost considerations, preventive programs for delay the disability progression of the elderly could be adopted based on the current disabled state and main factors of each stage. And in general terms, those focusing elderly individuals who are moderate or above disabled should go first.

Keywords: Markov model, elderly people, disability, transition intensity

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Authors: Samuel Sii, David Homewood, Brendan Dittmer, Tony Nzembela, Jonathan O’Brien, Niall Corcoran, Dinesh Agarwal

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Introduction: Innovation is key to the advancement of medicine and improvement in patient care. This is particularly true in surgery, where pioneering techniques have transformed operative management from a historically highly risky peri-morbid and disfiguring to the contemporary low-risk, sterile and minimally invasive treatment modality. There is a delicate balance between enabling innovation and minimizing patient harm. Publication and discussion of novel surgical techniques allow for independent expert review. Recent journals have increasingly stringent requirements for publications and often require larger case volumes for novel techniques to be published. This potentially impairs the initial publication of novel techniques and slows innovation. The historical perspective provides a better understanding of how requirements for the publication of new techniques have evolved over time. This is essential in overcoming challenges in developing novel techniques. Aims and Objectives: We explore how novel techniques in Urology have been published over the past 200 years. Our objective is to describe the trend and publication requirements of novel urological techniques, both historical and present. Methods: We assessed all major urological operations using multipronged historical analysis. An initial literature search was carried out through PubMed and Google Scholar for original literature descriptions, followed by reference tracing. The first publication of each pioneering urological procedure was recorded. Data collected includes the year of publication, description of the procedure, number of cases and outcomes. Results: 65 papers describing pioneering techniques in Urology were identified. These comprised of 2 experimental studies, 17 case reports and 46 case series. These papers described various pioneering urological techniques in urological oncology, reconstructive urology and endourology. We found that, historically, techniques were published with smaller case numbers. Often, the surgical technique itself was a greater focus of the publication than patient outcome data. These techniques were often adopted prior to larger publications. In contrast, the risks and benefits of recent novel techniques are often well-defined prior to adoption. This historical perspective is important as recent journals have requirements for larger case series and data outcomes. This potentially impairs the initial publication of novel techniques and slows innovation. Conclusion: A better understanding of historical publications and their effect on the adoption of urological techniques into common practice could assist the current generation of Urologists in formulating a safe, efficacious process in promoting surgical innovation and the development of novel surgical techniques. We propose the reassessment of requirements for the publication of novel operative techniques by splitting technical perspectives and data-orientated case series. Existing frameworks such as IDEAL and ASERNIP-S should be integrated into current processes when investigating and developing new surgical techniques to ensure efficacious and safe innovation within surgery is encouraged.

Keywords: urology, surgical innovation, novel surgical techniques, publications

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Authors: Karolina Ordon, Sandrine Coste, Malgorzata Makowska-Janusik, Abdelhadi Kassiba

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Photocatalytic processes play key role in the production of a new source of energy (as hydrogen), design of self-cleaning surfaces or for the environment preservation. The most challenging task deals with the purification of water distinguished by high efficiency. In the mentioned process, organic pollutants in solutions are decomposed to the simple, non-toxic compounds as H2O and CO2. The most known photocatalytic materials are ZnO, CdS and TiO2 semiconductors with a particular involvement of TiO2 as an efficient photocatalysts even with a high band gap equal to 3.2 eV which exploit only UV radiation from solar emitted spectrum. However, promising material with visible light induced photoactivity was searched through the monoclinic polytype of BiVO4 which has energy gap about 2.4 eV. As required in heterogeneous photocatalysis, the high contact surface is required. Also, BiVO4 as photocatalyst can be optimized by increasing its surface area by achieving the mesoporous structure synthesize. The main goal of the present work consists in the synthesis and characterization of BiVO4 mesoporous thin film. The synthesis method based on sol-gel was carried out using a standard surfactants such as P123 and F127. The thin film was deposited by spin and dip coating method. Then, the structural analysis of the obtained material was performed thanks to X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The surface of resulting structure was investigated using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The computer simulations based on modeling the optical and electronic properties of bulk BiVO4 by using DFT (density functional theory) methodology were carried out. The semiempirical parameterized method PM6 was used to compute the physical properties of BiVO4 nanostructures. The Raman and IR absorption spectra were also measured for synthesized mesoporous material, and the results were compared with the theoretical predictions. The simulations of nanostructured BiVO4 have pointed out the occurrence of quantum confinement for nanosized clusters leading to widening of the band gap. This result overcame the relevance of nanosized objects to harvest wide part of the solar spectrum. Also, a balance was searched experimentally through the mesoporous nature of the films devoted to enhancing the contact surface as required for heterogeneous catalysis without to lower the nanocrystallite size under some critical sizes inducing an increased band gap. The present contribution will discuss the relevant features of the mesoporous films with respect to their photocatalytic responses.

Keywords: bismuth vanadate, photocatalysis, thin film, quantum-chemical calculations

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Authors: Modi Alsubaie, Chris Dickens, Barnaby Dunn, Andy Gibson, Obioha Ukoumunned, Alison Evans, Rachael Vicary, Manish Gandhi, Willem Kuyken

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Background: Depression co-occurs in 20% of people with cardiovascular disorders, can persist for years and predicts worse physical health outcomes. While psychosocial treatments have been shown to effectively treat acute depression in those with comorbid cardiovascular disorders, to date there has been no evaluation of approaches aiming to prevent relapse and treat residual depression symptoms in this group. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a randomised controlled trial design evaluating an adapted version of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) designed specifically for people with co-morbid depression and cardiovascular disorders. Methods: A 3-arm feasibility randomised controlled trial was conducted, comparing MBCT adapted for people with cardiovascular disorders plus treatment as usual (TAU), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) plus TAU, and TAU alone. Participants completed a set of self-report measures of depression severity, anxiety, quality of life, illness perceptions, mindfulness, self-compassion and affect and had their blood pressure taken immediately before, immediately after, and three months following the intervention. Those in the adapted-MBCT arm additionally underwent a qualitative interview to gather their views about the adapted intervention. Results: 3400 potentially eligible participants were approached when attending an outpatient appointment at a cardiology clinic or via a GP letter following a case note search. 242 (7.1%) were interested in taking part, 59 (1.7%) were screened as being suitable, and 33 (<1%) were eventually randomised to the three groups. The sample was heterogeneous in terms of whether they reported current depression or had a history of depression and the time since the onset of cardiovascular disease (one to 25 years). Of 11 participants randomised to adapted MBCT seven completed the full course, levels of home mindfulness practice were high, and positive qualitative feedback about the intervention was given. Twenty-nine out of 33 participants randomised completed all the assessment measures at all three-time points. With regards to the primary outcome (depression), five out of the seven people who completed the adapted MBCT and three out of five under MBSR showed significant clinical change, while in TAU no one showed any clinical change at the three-month follow-up. Conclusions: The adapted MBCT intervention was feasible and acceptable to participants. However, aspects of the trial design were not feasible. In particular, low recruitment rates were achieved, and there was a high withdrawal rate between screening and randomisation. Moreover, the heterogeneity in the sample was high meaning the adapted intervention was unlikely to be well tailored to all participants needs. This suggests that if the decision is made to move to a definitive trial, study recruitment procedures will need to be revised to more successfully recruit a target sample that optimally matches the adapted intervention.

Keywords: mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), depression, cardiovascular disorders, feasibility, acceptability

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Authors: Ashwini Tiwari

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Introduction: Inclusive education for all is a multifaceted approach that requires system thinking and the promotion of a "Culture of Inclusion." Such can only be achieved through the collaboration of multiple stakeholders at the community, regional, state, national, and international levels. Researchers have found effective practices used in inclusive general classrooms are beneficial to all students, including students with disabilities, those who experience challenges academically and socially, and students without disabilities as well. However, to date, no statistically significant effects on the academic performance of students without disabilities in the presence of students with disabilities have been revealed. Therefore, proponents against inclusive education practices, based solely on their beliefs regarding the detrimental effects of students without disabilities, appears to have unfounded perceptions. This qualitative case study examines students' perspectives and beliefs about inclusive education in a middle school in South Texas. More specifically, this study examined students understanding of how inclusive education practices intersect with the classroom community. The data was collected from the students attending fully inclusive classrooms through interviews and focus groups. The findings suggest that peer integration and friendships built during classes are an essential part of schooling for both disabled and non-disabled students. Research Methodology: This qualitative case study used observations and focus group interviews with 12 middle school students attending an inclusive classroom at a public school located in South Texas. The participant of this study includes eight females and five males. All the study participants attend a fully inclusive middle school with special needs peers. Five of the students had disabilities. The focus groups and interviews were conducted during for entire academic year, with an average of one focus group and observation each month. The data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. The data from the focus group and observation were continuously compared for emerging codes during the data collection process. Codes were further refined and merged. Themes emerged as a result of the interpretation at the end of the data analysis process. Findings and discussion: This study was conducted to examine disabled and non-disabled students' perspectives on the inclusion of disabled students. The study revealed that non-disabled students generally have positive attitudes toward their disabled peers. The students in the study did not perceive inclusion as a special provision; rather, they perceived inclusion as a way of instructional practice. Most of the participants in the study spoke about the multiple benefits of inclusion. They emphasized that peer integration and friendships built during classes are an essential part of their schooling. Students believed that it was part of their responsibility to assist their peers in the ways possible. This finding is in line with the literature that the personality of children with disabilities is not determined by their disability but rather by their social environment and its interaction with the child. Interactions with peers are one of the most important socio-cultural conditions for the development of children with disabilities.

Keywords: inclusion, special education, k-12 education, student voices

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Authors: Francesca Marsili

Abstract:

The reliability assessment of existing structures with probabilistic methods is becoming an increasingly important and frequent engineering task. However probabilistic reliability methods are based on an exhaustive knowledge of the stochastic modeling of the variables involved in the assessment; at the moment standards for the modeling of variables are absent, representing an obstacle to the dissemination of probabilistic methods. The framework according to probability distribution functions (PDFs) are established is represented by the Bayesian statistics, which uses Bayes Theorem: a prior PDF for the considered parameter is established based on information derived from the design stage and qualitative judgments based on the engineer past experience; then, the prior model is updated with the results of investigation carried out on the considered structure, such as material testing, determination of action and structural properties. The application of Bayesian statistics arises two different kind of problems: 1. The results of the updating depend on the engineer previous experience; 2. The updating of the prior PDF can be performed only if the structure has been tested, and quantitative data that can be statistically manipulated have been collected; performing tests is always an expensive and time consuming operation; furthermore, if the considered structure is an ancient building, destructive tests could compromise its cultural value and therefore should be avoided. In order to solve those problems, an interesting research path is represented by investigating Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques that can be useful for the automation of the modeling of variables and for the updating of material parameters without performing destructive tests. Among the others, one that raises particular attention in relation to the object of this study is constituted by Case-Based Reasoning (CBR). In this application, cases will be represented by existing buildings where material tests have already been carried out and an updated PDFs for the material mechanical parameters has been computed through a Bayesian analysis. Then each case will be composed by a qualitative description of the material under assessment and the posterior PDFs that describe its material properties. The problem that will be solved is the definition of PDFs for material parameters involved in the reliability assessment of the considered structure. A CBR system represent a good candi¬date in automating the modelling of variables because: 1. Engineers already draw an estimation of the material properties based on the experience collected during the assessment of similar structures, or based on similar cases collected in literature or in data-bases; 2. Material tests carried out on structure can be easily collected from laboratory database or from literature; 3. The system will provide the user of a reliable probabilistic description of the variables involved in the assessment that will also serve as a tool in support of the engineer’s qualitative judgments. Automated modeling of variables can help in spreading probabilistic reliability assessment of existing buildings in the common engineering practice, and target at the best intervention and further tests on the structure; CBR represents a technique which may help to achieve this.

Keywords: reliability assessment of existing buildings, Bayesian analysis, case-based reasoning, historical structures

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Authors: Osungwu Emeka

Abstract:

Until recently, Port Harcourt was known as the “Garden City of Nigeria” because of its neatness and the overwhelming presence of vegetation all over the metropolis. But today, the presence of piles of refuse dotting the entire city may have turned Port Harcourt into a “Garbage City”. Indiscriminate dumping of industrial, commercial and household wastes such as food waste, paper, polythene, textiles, scrap metals, glasses, wood, plastic, etc. at street corners and gutters, is still very common. The waste management problem in the state affects the citizens both directly and indirectly. The dumping of waste along the roadside obstructs traffic and, after mixing with rain water may sip underground with the possibility of the leachate contaminating the groundwater. The basic solid waste management processes of collection, transportation, segregation and final disposal appear to be very inefficient. This study was undertaken to assess waste utilization using metal waste scavengers. Highlighting their activities as a part of the informal sector of the solid waste management system with a view to identifying their challenges, prospects and possible contributions to the solid waste management system in the Port Harcourt metropolis. Therefore, the aim was to understand and assess scavenging as a system of solid waste management in Port Harcourt and to identify the main bottlenecks to its efficiency and the way forward. This study targeted people who engage in scavenging metal scraps across 5 major waste dump sites across Port Harcourt. To achieve this, a mixed method study was conducted to provide both experiential evidence on this waste utilization method using a qualitative study and a survey to collect numeric evidence on this subject. The findings from the qualitative string of this study provided insight on scavenging as a waste utilization activity and how their activities can reduce the gross waste generated and collected from the subject areas. It further showed the nature and characteristics of scavengers in the waste recycling system as a means of achieving the millennium development goals towards poverty alleviation, job creation and the development of a sustainable, cleaner environment. The study showed that in Port Harcourt, the waste management practice involves the collection, transportation and disposal of waste by refuse contractors using cart pushers and disposal vehicles at designated dumpsites where the scavengers salvage metal scraps for recycling and reuse. This study further indicates that there is a great demand for metal waste materials/products that are clearly identified as genuinely sustainable, even though they may be perceived as waste. The market for these waste materials shall promote entrepreneurship as a profitable venture for waste recovery and recycling in Port Harcourt. Therefore, the benefit of resource recovery and recycling as a means of the solid waste management system will enhance waste to wealth that will reduce pollution, create job opportunities thereby alleviate poverty.

Keywords: scavengers, metal waste, waste-to-wealth, recycle, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, waste reduction, garden city, waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: Marc Dietrich

Abstract:

Youth cultures like Punk as much as media relevant to the specific scenes associated with them offer ample opportunity for young people or juvenile adults to construct their personal identities. However, developmental psychology has largely neglected such identity construction processes during the last decades. Such was not always the case: Early developmental psychologists intensely studied youth cultures and their meaningful objects and media in the early 20th century but lost interest when cultural studies and the social sciences occupied the field after World War II. Our project Constructions of Juvenility and Generation(ality), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, reintegrates the study of youth cultures and their meaningful objects and media in a developmental psychology perspective. We present an empirical study of the ways in which youth, juvenility, and generation (ality) are constructed and negotiated in underground media like punk fanzines (a portmanteau of fan and magazine), including both semantic and aesthetic aspects of these construction processes within punk culture. The fanzine sample was accessed by the theoretical sampling strategy typical for GTM studies. Acknowledging fanzines as artful self-produced media by scene members for scene members, we conceptualize them as authentic documents of scene norms and values. Drawing on an analysis of both text and (cover) images in Punk fanzines published in Germany (and within a sample dating from 1981 until 2015) using a novel Visual Grounded Theory approach, we found that: a) Juvenility is a highly contested concept in punk culture. Its semantic quality and valuation varies with the perspectives present within the culture (e.g. embryo punks versus older punks); b) Juvenility is constructed as having energy and being socio-critical that does not depend on biological age; c) Juvenility is regarded not an ideal per se in German Punk culture; Punk culture constructs old age in a largely positive way (e.g., as marker of being real and a historical innovator); d) Juvenility is constructed as a habit that should be kept for life as it is constantly adapted to individual biographical trajectories like specific job situations or having a family. Consequently, identity negotiation as documented in the zines attempts to balance subculturally driven perspectives on life and society with the pragmatic requirements of a bourgeois life. The proposed paper will present the main results of this large-scale study of punk fanzines and show how developmental psychology perspectives as represented in the novel methodology applied in it can advance the study of youth cultures.

Keywords: construction of juvenility, developmental psychology, visual GTM, youth culture, fanzines

Procedia PDF Downloads 292

Authors: Yen-Fen Shen, Meng-Fan Li

Abstract:

The study aims to investigate the effect of full-body vertical rhythmic training on fatigue, physical activity, and quality of life among middle-aged and elderly hemodialysis patients. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research method and recruited 43 long-term hemodialysis patients from a medical center in northern Taiwan, with 23 and 20 participants in the experimental and control groups, respectively. The experimental group received full-body vertical rhythmic training as an intervention, while the control group received standard hemodialysis care without any intervention. Both groups completed the measurements by using "Fatigue Scale", "Physical Activity Scale" and "Chinese version of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire" before and after the study. The experimental group underwent a 10-minute full-body vertical rhythmic training three times per week, which lasted for eight weeks before receiving regular hemodialysis treatment. The data were analyzed by SPSS 25 software, including descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, percentages, means, and standard deviations, as well as inferential statistics, including chi-square, independent samples t-test, and paired samples t-test. The study results are summarized as follows: 1. There were no significant differences in demographic variables, fatigue, physical activity, and quality of life between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test. 2. After the intervention of the “full-body vertical rhythmic training,” the experimental group showed significantly better results in the category of "feeling tired and fatigued in the lower back", "physical functioning role limitation", "bodily pain", "social functioning", "mental health", and "impact of kidney disease on life quality." 3. The paired samples t-test results revealed that the control group experienced significant differences between the pre-test and post-test in the categories of feeling tired and fatigued in the lower back, bodily pain, social functioning mental health, and impact of kidney disease on life quality, with scores indicating a decline in life quality. Conversely, the experimental group only showed a significant worsening in bodily pain" and the impact of kidney disease on life quality, with lower change values compared to the control group. Additionally, there was an improvement in the condition of "feeling tired and fatigued in the lower back" for the experimental group. Conclusion: The intervention of the “full-body vertical rhythmic training” had a certain positive effect on the quality of life of the experimental group. While it may not entirely enhance patients' quality of life, it can mitigate the negative impact of kidney disease on certain aspects of the body. The study provides clinical practice, nursing education, and research recommendations based on the results and discusses the limitations of the research.

Keywords: hemodialysis, full-body vertical rhythmic training, fatigue, physical activity, quality of life

Procedia PDF Downloads 23