Search results for: negative data

Authors: Kavita Khoiwal, Vatsla Dadhwal, K. Aparna Sharma, Dipika Deka, Plabani Sarkar

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Introduction: About 2.4 million (1.93 - 3.04 million) people are living with HIV/AIDS in India. Of all HIV infections, 39% (9,30,000) are among women. 5.4% of infections are from mother to child transmission (MTCT), 25,000 infected children are born every year. Besides the risk of mother to child transmission of HIV, these women are at risk of the higher adverse pregnancy outcome. The objectives of the study were to compare the obstetric and neonatal outcome in women who are HIV positive with low-risk HIV negative women and effect of antiretroviral drugs on preterm birth and IUGR. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective case record analysis of 212 HIV-positive women delivering between 2002 to 2015, in a tertiary health care centre which was compared with 238 HIV-negative controls. Women who underwent medical termination of pregnancy and abortion were excluded from the study. Obstetric outcome analyzed were pregnancy induced hypertension, HIV positive intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth, anemia, gestational diabetes and intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. Neonatal outcome analysed were birth weight, apgar score, NICU admission and perinatal transmission.HIV-positiveOut of 212 women, 204 received antiretroviral therapy (ART) to prevent MTCT, 27 women received single dose nevirapine (sdNVP) or sdNVP tailed with 7 days of zidovudine and lamivudine (ZDV + 3TC), 15 received ZDV, 82 women received duovir and 80 women received triple drug therapy depending upon the time period of presentation. Results: Mean age of 212 HIV positive women was 25.72+3.6 years, 101 women (47.6 %) were primigravida. HIV positive status was diagnosed during pregnancy in 200 women while 12 women were diagnosed prior to conception. Among 212 HIV positive women, 20 (9.4 %) women had preterm delivery (< 37 weeks), 194 women (91.5 %) delivered by cesarean section and 18 women (8.5 %) delivered vaginally. 178 neonates (83.9 %) received exclusive top feeding and 34 neonates (16.03 %) received exclusive breast feeding. When compared to low risk HIV negative women (n=238), HIV positive women were more likely to deliver preterm (OR 1.27), have anemia (OR 1.39) and intrauterine growth restriction (OR 2.07). Incidence of pregnancy induced hypertension, diabetes mellitus and ICP was not increased. Mean birth weight was significantly lower in HIV positive women (2593.60+499 gm) when compared to HIV negative women (2919+459 gm). Complete follow up is available for 148 neonates till date, rest are under evaluation. Out of these 7 neonates found to have HIV positive status. Risk of preterm birth (P value = 0.039) and IUGR (P value = 0.739) was higher in HIV positive women who did not receive any ART during pregnancy than women who received ART. Conclusion: HIV positive pregnant women are at increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. Multidisciplinary team approach and use of highly active antiretroviral therapy can optimize the maternal and perinatal outcome.

Keywords: antiretroviral therapy, HIV infection, IUGR, preterm birth

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Authors: Edoghogho Ogbeifun, Charles Mbohwa, J. H. C. Pretorius

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Effective infrastructure development scheme planned and executed has positive influence on the quantity of available stock of infrastructure to meet the immediate and expansion needs of an organization, as well as contribute to the overall economic development of a nation, community or the local entity where the infrastructure is hosted. It is noteworthy, however, that infrastructure development scheme spans a long time frame, usually longer than the political life of the administration that initiates the scheme. In the majority of circumstances, execution may start and achieve different levels of completion; at best, only limited numbers are completed and put into functional use during the life of the administration that initiated the infrastructure scheme. When there is a change in leadership, many of the uncompleted projects are usually abandoned. The new administration repeats the circle of its predecessors and develops another set of infrastructure scheme which will suffer similar fate as the ones developed by their predecessors; thus doting the landscape with many uncompleted projects, which leads to infrastructure deficit. These circle will continue unless each succeeding leader sees governance as single continuum. Therefore, infrastructure projects not completed by one administration should be continued by succeeding administration, in order to increase the stock of relevant infrastructure available for the smooth operations organization and enhance the needed developments, as well as reduce the negative effects of infrastructure deficit. The single case study of qualitative research method was adopted to investigate the actions of the administration of three successive Vice-Chancellors, in a higher education institution in Nigeria, over a longitudinal period of twelve years. This is with a view to exploring the effects of each administration on the development and execution of infrastructure projects, with particular interest on abandoned projects. The findings revealed that although two of Vice-Chancellors were committed to infrastructure upgrade, they executed more new projects than completing abandoned ones, while the current leader has shown more pragmatism in completing abandoned projects alongside constructing new ones; thus demonstrating the importance of the continuity of governance. In this regard, there is a steady increase in the stock of infrastructure to accommodate the expansion of existing academic programmes, host new ones as well as reduce the negative effects of infrastructure deficit caused by abandoned projects.

Keywords: abandoned projects, continuity of governance, infrastructure development scheme, long time frame

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Authors: Benyapa Thitimapong

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Teenage pregnancy and adolescent mothers have become a matter of increasing concern in Thailand. Since adolescent mothers have been a big problem for two main consequences; health outcomes and socio-economic impacts. Adolescent mothers often endure poor living conditions; limited financial resources while also experience high stress, family instability, and limited educational opportunities. These disadvantages are negative and have long-term effects on adolescent mothers, their families, and the community. The majority of pregnant students and adolescent mothers dropped out of school after becoming pregnant, and some of them return to study again after they gave birth. This research aimed to explain the meaning of adolescent mothers who had undergone with childrearing and studying simultaneously after childbirth. A phenomenological qualitative approach was undertaken to investigate this study. The participants were 20 adolescent mothers each of whom became a mother and a student concurrently within less than 2 years after giving birth to a healthy baby and had also undergone the experience of childrearing and studying in non-formal education. In-depth interview was carried out for data collection, and the data were analyzed using content analysis method. ‘Learning to move forward’ was the meaning of adolescent mothers who experienced with childrearing and studying simultaneously. Their expressions were classified into two categories 1) having more responsibility, and 2) conceding and going on. The result of this study can be used as evidence for health care providers, especially nurses to facilitate and support pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers to continue their education. Also, it can be used to guide policy to promote in all educational system to enable these groups to remain in school for their life-long success in the future.

Keywords: adolescent mothers, childrearing, studying, teenage pregnancy

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Authors: Torben Hansen, Lars Gronholdt, Alexander Josiassen, Anne Martensen

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Consumers often exhibit a bias in their knowledge; they often think that they know more or less than they do. The concept of 'knowledge over/underconfidence' (O/U) has in previous studies been used to investigate such knowledge bias. O/U appears as a combination of subjective and objective knowledge. Subjective knowledge relates to consumers’ perception of their knowledge, while objective knowledge relates to consumers’ absolute knowledge measured by objective standards. This separation leads to three scenarios: The consumer can either be knowledge calibrated (subjective and objective knowledge are similar), overconfident (subjective knowledge exceeds objective knowledge) or underconfident (objective knowledge exceeds subjective knowledge). Knowledge O/U is a highly useful concept in understanding consumer choice behavior. For example, knowledge overconfident individuals are likely to exaggerate their ability to make right choices, are more likely to opt out of necessary information search, spend less time to carry out a specific task than less knowledge confident consumers, and are more likely to show high financial trading volumes. Through the use of financial services as a case study, this study contributes to previous research by examining how consumer knowledge O/U affects two types of trust (broad-scope trust and narrow-scope trust) and consumer relationship satisfaction. Trust does not only concern consumer trust in individual companies (i.e., narrow.-scope confidence NST), but also concerns consumer confidence in the broader business context in which consumers plan and implement their behavior (i.e., broad scope trust, BST). NST is defined as "the expectation that the service provider can be relied on to deliver on its promises’, while BST is defined as ‘the expectation that companies within a particular business type can generally be relied on to deliver on their promises.’ This study expands our understanding of the interplay between consumer knowledge bias, consumer trust, and relationship marketing in two main ways: First, it is demonstrated that the more knowledge O/U a consumer becomes, the higher/lower NST and levels of relationship satisfaction will be. Second, it is demonstrated that BST has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between knowledge O/U and satisfaction, such that knowledge O/U has a higher positive/negative effect on relationship satisfaction when BST is low vs. high. The data for this study comprises 756 mutual fund investors. Trust is particularly important in consumers’ mutual fund behavior because mutual funds have important responsibilities in providing financial advice and in managing consumers’ funds.

Keywords: knowledge, cognitive bias, trust, customer-seller relationships, financial services

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Authors: Sašo Pečnik, Borut Žalik

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This paper presents a real-time visualization technique and filtering of classified LiDAR point clouds. The visualization is capable of displaying filtered information organized in layers by the classification attribute saved within LiDAR data sets. We explain the used data structure and data management, which enables real-time presentation of layered LiDAR data. Real-time visualization is achieved with LOD optimization based on the distance from the observer without loss of quality. The filtering process is done in two steps and is entirely executed on the GPU and implemented using programmable shaders.

Keywords: filtering, graphics, level-of-details, LiDAR, real-time visualization

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Authors: Ralph Adaimy, Wassim El-Hajj, Ghassen Ben Brahim, Hazem Hajj, Haidar Safa

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Huge amounts of data and personal information are being sent to and retrieved from web applications on daily basis. Every application has its own confidentiality and integrity policies. Violating these policies can have broad negative impact on the involved company’s financial status, while enforcing them is very hard even for the developers with good security background. In this paper, we propose a framework that enforces security-by-construction in web applications. Minimal developer effort is required, in a sense that the developer only needs to annotate database attributes by a security class. The web application code is then converted into an intermediary representation, called Extended Program Dependence Graph (EPDG). Using the EPDG, the provided annotations are propagated to the application code and run against generic security enforcement rules that were carefully designed to detect insecure information flows as early as they occur. As a result, any violation in the data’s confidentiality or integrity policies is reported. As a proof of concept, two PHP web applications, Hotel Reservation and Auction, were used for testing and validation. The proposed system was able to catch all the existing insecure information flows at their source. Moreover and to highlight the simplicity of the suggested approaches vs. existing approaches, two professional web developers assessed the annotation tasks needed in the presented case studies and provided a very positive feedback on the simplicity of the annotation task.

Keywords: web applications security, secure information flow, program dependence graph, database annotation

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Authors: Vildan Cırık, Emine Efe

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Complementary health approaches are growing in popularity worldwide and play a substantial role in health care. It is very important for paediatric nurses to have knowledge of practices affecting the medical conditions of patients and to communicate with them through integrative nursing care. The purpose of this study was to determine paediatric nurses’ knowledge and experiences of complementary health approaches (CHA) and their personal and professional attitudes to the use of complementary health approaches. This multicentre study was conducted with 1450 paediatric nurses in 18 hospitals in Turkey. Paediatric nurses included in the study were working in the following clinics: Paediatric Service, Paediatric Intensive Care, Paediatric Haematology/Oncology. Data collection focused on the paediatric nurses’ knowledge and experiences of CHA. A high proportion of our sample of paediatric nurses reported that they had used some form of CHA themselves; the most popular choices of CHA were prayer, massage, and vitamins techniques. Paediatric nurses reported positive experiences (drawing/music/art/dance therapies, prayer, herbs, thermal springs, massage, and reflexology) and negative experiences (herbs, thermal springs, prayer, and massage). This study may contribute to increased awareness of the potentially important role of paediatric nurses in the delivery of CHA. Paediatric nurses play important roles in helping patients to use complementary health approaches safely and accurately. Trainings on CHA should be organised, data collection forms including CHA should be created, and evidence-based studies should be focused towards improving the clinical practice of paediatric nurses.

Keywords: complementary health approaches, paediatric nurses, knowledge, experience, attitude, Turkey

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Authors: Pun Jankrajangjaeng

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Senna garrettiana is a climatic tropical plant in Southeast Asia. Senna garrettiana (Craib) is used as a medicinal plant in Thailand, in which the experiment reported that the plant contains triterpenoids, ligans, phenolics, and fungal metabolites. Thus, it is also reported that the plant possesses interesting biological activity such as antioxidant activity. Therefore, Senna garrettiana is selected to examine the antimicrobial activity. The purpose of this study is to examine the antimicrobial activity of Senna garrettiana (crab) extract against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Salmonella typhi, and the fungus Candida albicans. This study performed the agar disk-diffusion method and broth microdilution by using five concentrations of plant extract to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of S. garrettiana extract. The result showed that S. garrettiana extract gave the maximum zone inhibition of 11.7 mm, 13.7 mm, and 14.0 mm against S. aureus, S. typhi, and C. albicans, respectively. The MIC value of S. garrettiana against S. aureus was 125 µg/mL while the MIC in S. typhi and C. albicans greater than 2000 µg/mL. To conclude, S. garrettiana extract showed higher sensitivity of antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria than gram-negative bacteria. In addition, the plant extracts also possessed antifungal activity. Therefore, further investigation to confirm the mechanism of action of antimicrobial activity in S. garrettiana extract should be performed to identify the target of the antimicrobial action.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, Candida albicans, Salmonella typhi, Senna garrettiana, Staphylococcus aureus

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Authors: Seyyedeh Mahdis Mousavi, Masoud Maghsoudi, Zahra Vahed

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence as conceptualized in Goleman’s competency model, and decision making styles in levels of management. To conduct this study, different level managers in Iran Broadcasting Organization completed a questionnaire on emotional intelligence and decision making styles. Researcher used descriptive and inferential statistics to describe data and analyze the two variables relationship in managers of three levels. Results revealed significant relationships for rational, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous styles. No significant relationship was found for intuitive style. Yet the results indicate that avoidant style has negative relation to EI. Furthermore, EI has direct and strong relation to rational style.

Keywords: emotional intelligence (EI), decision making styles, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Iranian manager

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Authors: Jean Yves Uwamungu, Fiston Bizimana, Chunsheng Hu

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Although pesticides are used in crop productivity, their use is highly harming the soil environment, and measures must be taken in the future to eradicate soil and groundwater pollution. The primary aim was to determine the effect of biochar addition on the imidacloprid adsorption on soil prior to no-tillage (NT) and rotational tillage (RT) conditions. In the laboratory, batch tests were conducted to determine the imidacloprid adsorption on soil using equilibrium and kinetic modelling with the addition of biochar. The clay level of the soil was found to be more significant when no-tillage was applied (22.42) than when rotational tillage was applied (14.27). The imidacloprid adsorption equilibrium was significantly shortened to 25 min after biochar addition. The isotherms and kinetic findings confirmed that the adsorption occurred according to Freundlich and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, respectively. The adsorption capacity of imidacloprid (40<35<25 °C) increased with decreasing temperature, indicating an exothermic adsorption behaviour, whereas negative Gibbs free energy (G) values of -6980.5 and 5983.93 Jmol-1, respectively, for soil prior to NT and RT at 25 °C, asserted spontaneous adsorption. The negative values of entropy (ΔS); -22.83 and -38.15 Jmol-1K-1, prior to NT and RT applications, respectively, described a lowered randomness process. The enthalpy was greater when RT was applied (-17533 J mol-1) than when NT was applied (-450 J mol-1). Lastly, it was shown that NTtreatment enhanced imidacloprid adsorption capacity more than RT treatment and that biochar addition enhanced pesticide adsorption in both treatments.

Keywords: adsorption, biochar, imidacloprid, soil, tillage

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Authors: M. Sakthivel, A. Devaki, D. Balasubramanyam, P. Kumarasamy, A. Raja, R. Anilkumar, H. Gopi

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The genetic parameters of growth traits in the New Zealand White rabbits maintained at Sheep Breeding and Research Station, Sandynallah, The Nilgiris, India were estimated by partitioning the variance and covariance components. The (co)variance components of body weights at weaning (W42), post-weaning (W70) and marketing (W135) age and growth efficiency traits viz., average daily gain (ADG), relative growth rate (RGR) and Kleiber ratio (KR) estimated on a daily basis at different age intervals (1=42 to 70 days; 2=70 to 135 days and 3=42 to 135 days) from weaning to marketing were estimated by restricted maximum likelihood, fitting six animal models with various combinations of direct and maternal effects. Data were collected over a period of 15 years (1998 to 2012). A log-likelihood ratio test was used to select the most appropriate univariate model for each trait, which was subsequently used in bivariate analysis. Heritability estimates for W42, W70 and W135 were 0.42 ± 0.07, 0.40 ± 0.08 and 0.27 ± 0.07, respectively. Heritability estimates of growth efficiency traits were moderate to high (0.18 to 0.42). Of the total phenotypic variation, maternal genetic effect contributed 14 to 32% for early body weight traits (W42 and W70) and ADG1. The contribution of maternal permanent environmental effect varied from 6 to 18% for W42 and for all the growth efficiency traits except for KR2. Maternal permanent environmental effect on most of the growth efficiency traits was a carryover effect of maternal care during weaning. Direct maternal genetic correlations, for the traits in which maternal genetic effect was significant, were moderate to high in magnitude and negative in direction. Maternal effect declined as the age of the animal increased. The estimates of total heritability and maternal across year repeatability for growth traits were moderate and an optimum rate of genetic progress seems possible in the herd by mass selection. The estimates of genetic and phenotypic correlations among body weight traits were moderate to high and positive; among growth efficiency traits were low to high with varying directions; between body weights and growth efficiency traits were very low to high in magnitude and mostly negative in direction. Moderate to high heritability and higher genetic correlation in body weight traits promise good scope for genetic improvement provided measures are taken to keep the inbreeding at the lowest level.

Keywords: genetic parameters, growth traits, maternal effects, rabbit genetics

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Authors: Hasik Lee, Seung-Young Kho

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Nowadays, automatic fare collection (AFC) system is widely used in many countries. However, smart card data from many of cities does not contain alighting information which is necessary to build OD matrices. Therefore, in order to utilize smart card data, destinations of passengers should be estimated. In this paper, kernel density estimation was used to forecast probabilities of alighting stations of bus passengers and applied to smart card data in Seoul, Korea which contains boarding and alighting information. This method was also validated with actual data. In some cases, stochastic method was more accurate than deterministic method. Therefore, it is sufficiently accurate to be used to build OD matrices.

Keywords: destination estimation, Kernel density estimation, smart card data, validation

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Authors: Claudia P. Saunderson

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Widening of participation in higher education globally has increased diversity of student populations. However, widening participation is more than mere access. Central to the debate about widening participation are social justice issues of authentic inclusion and appropriate support for success for all students in higher education (HE). Given the recent global campaign for 'Black Lives Matter' as well as the worldwide advocacy for justice in the George Floyd case, the importance of the experiences of Black men, were again poignantly foregrounded. The literature abounds with the negative experiences of Black male students in higher education. Much of this literature emanates from the Global North, with little systematic research on black male students' university experiences originating from the Global South. This research, therefore, explores the psychosocial experiences of Black male students at a historically white South African university. Not only are these students' educational or academic adjustment important, but so is their psychosocial adjustment to the institution. The psychosocial adjustment might include emotional well-being, motivation, as well as the student’s perception of how well he fits in or is made to feel welcome at the institution. The study draws on strands of critical race theory (CRT), co-cultural theory (CCT) as well as defining properties of micro-aggression theory (MAT). In the study, CRT, therefore, served as an overarching theory at the macro level, and it comments on the structural dynamics while MAT and CCT rather focussed on the impact of structural arrangements like racialization, at an individual and micro-level. These theories furthermore provided a coherent analytic framework for this study. Using a case study design, this qualitative study, employing focus groups and individual interviews, drew on the psychosocial experiences of twenty Black male students to explore how they navigate this specific historically white campus. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis that provided a systematic procedure for generating codes and themes from the qualitative data. The study found that the combination of race and gender-based micro-aggressions experienced by students included negative stereotyping, criminalization as well as racial profiling and that these experiences impede participants' ability to thrive at the institution. However, participants also shared positive perspectives about the institution. Some of the positive traits of the institution that the participants mentioned were well-aligned administration, good quality of education, as well as various funding opportunities. This study implies that if any HE institution values transformation, it necessitates the exploration and interrogation of potential aspects that are subtly hidden in the institutional culture and environment that might serve as barriers to the transformation process. This positioning is based on a social justice stance and believes that all students are equal and have the right to racially and culturally equitable and appropriate education and support.

Keywords: critical race theory, higher education transformation, micro-aggression, student experience

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Authors: Rabab Makki

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Bone mineral density and bone metabolism are affected by various factors such as genetic, endocrine, mechanical and nutritional. Our understanding of nutritional influences on bone health is limited because most studies have focused on calcium. This study investigated the dietary factors which are likely t contribute to Osteoporosis in Saudi post-menopausal women, and correlated it with BMD. This is a case controlled study involved 36 postmenopausal Saudi females selected from the Orthopedics and osteoporosis outpatient clinics, and 25 postmenopausal Saudi females as controls from the primary clinic of Military Hospital in Riyadh. The women were diagnosed as osteoporotic based on the BMD measurement at any site (left femur neck, right femur neck, left total hip or right total hip or spine). Both the controls and the Osteoporotics were over 50 years of age and BMI between 31-34 kg/m2 had 2nd degree obesity, and were not free from other problems such as diabetes, hypertension, etc. Subjects (osteoporotics and controls) were interviewed to called data on demographic characterstics, medical history, dietary intake anthropometry (height and weight) bone mineral density. Blood samples were collected from subjects (Osteoporotics and controls). Analysis of serum calcium, vitamin D, phosphate were done at the main laboratory at Military Hospital Riyadh, by the laboratory technician while BMD was determined at the department of Nuclear Medicine by an expert technician and results were interpreted by radiologist.Data on frequency of consumption of animal food (meat, eggs, poultry and fish) and diary foods (milk, yogurt, cheese) of osteoporotic was less than control. In spite of the low intake there was no association with BMD.In general, the vegetables and fruits were consumed less by the osteoporotics than control. The only fruit which had shown a significant positive correlation is banana with right and left hip BMD total probably due to high potassium and minerals content which likely to prevent bone resorption. Mataziz vegetables combination of wheat showed a significant positive correlation with the same site (total right and left hip). Both osteoporotics abd controls were consuming table sugar. (But the sweet intake showed a significant negative correlation with left neck femur BMD, suggesting sucrose increase urinary calcium loss. Both osteoporotic and controls were consuming Arabic coffee. A negative significant correlation between intake of Arabic coffee and BMD of right neck femur of osteoporosis patient was observed. It could be suggested that increased intake of fruits and vegetables, might promote bone density while high intake of coffee and sugars might affect bone density, no significant correlation was observed between BMD at any site and diary product. We can say the major risk factors are inadequate nutrition. Further studies are needed among Saudi population to confirm these results.

Keywords: osteoporosi, Saudia Arabia, Riyadh Armed Forces, postmenopausal women

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Authors: Mohsen Abotalebi Esfahani, Amin Rahimi

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Maintenance and management of route and roads infrastructure is one of the most important and the most fundamental principles of the countries. Several methods have been under investigation as preventive proceedings for the maintenance of asphalt pavements for many years. Using a mixture of salt, sand and gravel is the most common method of deicing, which could have numerous harmful consequences. Icy or snow-covered road is one of the major reasons of accidents in rainy seasons, which causes substantial damages such as loss of time and energy, environmental pollution, destruction of buildings, traffic congestion and rising possibility of accidents. Regarding this, every year the government incurred enormous costs to secure traverses. In this study, asphalt pavements have been cured, in terms of compressive strength, tensile strength and resilient modulus of asphalt samples, under the influence of Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Urea and pure water; and showed that de-icing with the calcium chloride solution and urea have the minimum negative effect and de-icing with pure water has most negative effect on laboratory specimens. Hence some simple techniques and new equipment and less use of sand and salt, can reduce significantly the risks and harmful effects of excessive use of salt, sand and gravel and at the same time use the safer roads.

Keywords: maintenance, sodium chloride, icyroad, calcium chloride

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Authors: Yasser Ahmed Mahmoud Ali Helal

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The use of CAD (Computer Aided Design) technology is ubiquitous in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. This has led to its inclusion in the curriculum of architecture schools in Nigeria as an important part of the training module. This article examines the ethical issues involved in implementing CAD (Computer Aided Design) content into the architectural education curriculum. Using existing literature, this study begins with the benefits of integrating CAD into architectural education and the responsibilities of different stakeholders in the implementation process. It also examines issues related to the negative use of information technology and the perceived negative impact of CAD use on design creativity. Using a survey method, data from the architecture department of University was collected to serve as a case study on how the issues raised were being addressed. The article draws conclusions on what ensures successful ethical implementation. Millions of people around the world suffer from hepatitis C, one of the world's deadliest diseases. Interferon (IFN) is treatment options for patients with hepatitis C, but these treatments have their side effects. Our research focused on developing an oral small molecule drug that targets hepatitis C virus (HCV) proteins and has fewer side effects. Our current study aims to develop a drug based on a small molecule antiviral drug specific for the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Drug development using laboratory experiments is not only expensive, but also time-consuming to conduct these experiments. Instead, in this in silicon study, we used computational techniques to propose a specific antiviral drug for the protein domains of found in the hepatitis C virus. This study used homology modeling and abs initio modeling to generate the 3D structure of the proteins, then identifying pockets in the proteins. Acceptable lagans for pocket drugs have been developed using the de novo drug design method. Pocket geometry is taken into account when designing ligands. Among the various lagans generated, a new specific for each of the HCV protein domains has been proposed.

Keywords: drug design, anti-viral drug, in-silicon drug design, hepatitis C virus (HCV) CAD (Computer Aided Design), CAD education, education improvement, small-size contractor automatic pharmacy, PLC, control system, management system, communication

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Authors: Ali Al-Yaaribi, Maria Kavussanu

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Prosocial and antisocial behavior occurs in sport. Prosocial behavior is voluntary behavior intended to help or benefit another individual, while antisocial behavior is behavior intended to harm or disadvantage another individual. Previous sport morality research has investigated primarily antecedents of prosocial and antisocial behavior. However, the potential consequences of these behaviors remain unexplored. The aims of this study were to examine whether: (a) perceived prosocial and antisocial teammate behavior predicts task cohesion and burnout; (b) affect mediate these relationships; and (c) motivational climate moderates any of these effects. Participants were male (n = 96) and female (n = 176) teams sport players (Mage = 21.86, SD = 4.36), who completed questionnaires measuring the aforementioned variables. Mediation analysis (Hayes, 2013) indicated that prosocial teammate behavior positively predicted task cohesion and negatively predicted burnout; these effects were mediated by positive affect. Also, mastery climate moderated the positive effect of prosocial teammate behavior on task cohesion: The effect of antisocial teammate behavior on task cohesion was stronger for players who perceived a higher mastery climate created by their coaches. Performance climate moderated the negative effect of prosocial teammate behavior on burnout: This effect was only significant for players who perceived moderate or low levels of performance team climate. Antisocial teammate behavior negatively predicted task cohesion and positively predicted burnout, and these effects were mediated by negative affect. Also, performance climate moderated the positive effect of antisocial teammate behavior on burnout, such that the effect of antisocial teammate behavior on burnout was stronger for players who perceived a lower performance climate. The research findings shed some light on the potential role of prosocial and antisocial teammate behaviors as well as coach-created motivational climate on influencing players’ affect, task cohesion, and burnout. Coaches should focus on creating a mastery motivational climate and rewarding prosocial behavior while at the same time trying to deter antisocial behavior among teammates in order to enhance positive affect, task cohesion, and prevent experience of negative affect and burnout.

Keywords: mediation, moderation, morality, teams sport

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Authors: Jae Won Shin

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We develop an evaluated nuclear data based photonuclear reaction model of GEANT4 for a more accurate simulation of photon-induced neutron production. The evaluated photonuclear data libraries from the ENDF/B-VII.1 are taken as input. Incident photon energies up to 140 MeV which is the threshold energy for the pion production are considered. For checking the validity of the use of the data-based model, we calculate the photoneutron production cross-sections and yields and compared them with experimental data. The results obtained from the developed model are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data for (γ,xn) reactions.

Keywords: ENDF/B-VII.1, GEANT4, photoneutron, photonuclear reaction

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Authors: Rashi Bhalla, Russel Pears, M. Asif Naeem

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In this 'Information Explosion Era' analyzing data 'a critical commodity' and mining knowledge from vertically distributed data stream incurs huge communication cost. However, an effort to decrease the communication in the distributed environment has an adverse influence on the classification accuracy; therefore, a research challenge lies in maintaining a balance between transmission cost and accuracy. This paper proposes a method based on Bayesian inference to reduce the communication volume in a heterogeneous distributed environment while retaining prediction accuracy. Our experimental evaluation reveals that a significant reduction in communication can be achieved across a diverse range of dataset types.

Keywords: big data, bayesian inference, distributed data stream mining, heterogeneous-distributed data

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Authors: Hakan Aydogan, Fatih Bozkurt, Huseyin Coskun

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In this study, the signal of brain electrical activities of the sixteen students selected from the Department of Electrical and Energy at Usak University have been recorded during a lecturer performed happiness emotions for the first group and anger emotions for the second group in different time while the groups were in the classroom separately. The attention and meditation data extracted from the recorded signals have been analyzed and evaluated toward the teacher’s specific emotion states simultaneously. Attention levels of students who are under influence of happiness emotions of the lecturer have a positive trend and attention levels of students who are under influence of anger emotions of the lecturer have a negative trend. The meditation or mental relaxation levels of students who are under influence of happiness emotions of the lecturer are 34.3% higher comparing with the mental relaxation levels of students who are under influence of anger emotions of the lecturer.

Keywords: brainwave, attention, meditation, education

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Authors: Kassahun Tilahun Dessie

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The purpose of this study was to explore the awareness of teachers and the attitude they have to the curriculum they implement as well as to assess the actual and desired magnitude of teachers' participation in curriculum development process. It also aimed at investigating the factors that affect teachers' level of conception and perception towards the new higher education curriculum. The study was carried out in Debre Birhan University. Teachers, course coordinators, team leaders and presidents were included in the study as research subjects. Teachers were proportionally selected from each department (of the six faculties) based on available sampling technique. Accordingly, a total of 103 teachers were chosen as a subject of the study. In order to collect first hand data from the teachers, a questionnaire with four parts was developed by the researcher. To this end, scales were designed for measuring the extent of teachers' awareness and attitude. Each of the scales encompasses 11 and 17 items respectively. An open ended questionnaire was also attached for the purpose of obtaining elaborated data on the issue. Information was also obtained from interviews with presidents, team leaders and course coordinators. The data obtained were analyzed qualitatively using descriptive statistical tools. The overall results of the analysis revealed that the awareness of teachers on the curriculum was low. The meager participation of teachers in the process of curriculum development and the deficiency of trainings on the concern were major factors. Teachers' perception towards the existence and implementation of the new curriculum was also inclined to the negative, though difficult to generalize. Lack of awareness, administrators poor approach and lack of facilitating appropriate incentives as well as absence of room for evaluating the curriculum etc plays big role in endangering teachers attitude while the up to datedness of the new curriculum, involvement of teachers in the curriculum development process, the wide ranging quality of the new curriculum etc laid a better ground to boost teachers attitude towards the curriculum. This may have implication to the university in that there is a need to facilitate workshops or awareness creation trainings, to have positive and cooperative administrators, and embracing committed teachers to implement the curriculum efficiently.

Keywords: conception, perception, curriculum, higher education, Ethiopia

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Authors: Benny Sand, Yotam Lurie, Shlomo Mark

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Medical Internet of Things (MIoT), AI, and data privacy are linked forever in a gordian knot. This paper explores the conflicts of interests between the stakeholders regarding data privacy in the MIoT arena. While patients are at home during healthcare hospitalization, MIoT can play a significant role in improving the health of large parts of the population by providing medical teams with tools for collecting data, monitoring patients’ health parameters, and even enabling remote treatment. While the amount of data handled by MIoT devices grows exponentially, different stakeholders have conflicting understandings and concerns regarding this data. The findings of the research indicate that medical teams are not concerned by the violation of data privacy rights of the patients' in-home healthcare, while patients are more troubled and, in many cases, are unaware that their data is being used without their consent. MIoT technology is in its early phases, and hence a mixed qualitative and quantitative research approach will be used, which will include case studies and questionnaires in order to explore this issue and provide alternative solutions.

Keywords: MIoT, data privacy, stakeholders, home healthcare, information privacy, AI

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Authors: Manar Aslan, Ayfer Karaaslan

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the attitude towards the use of the maiden name of the Turkish people. Methods: For the study group who lives in the center of Konya/Turkey and people aged 16-65 years, as the sample identified 1,000 people with simple random between the months of February to May 2013. The survey created by the researchers, for investigating the perception of using the maiden name of the people of Konya consists of 25 questions with demographic characteristics. For statistical analysis of the obtained data made using SPSS 20, chi-square test and one-way analysis of variance methods of frequency, average, were evaluated as percentage distribution. Results: The traditional view of Konya increasing age increases, decreases the desire to use her maiden name. So look favorably than younger generations to use maiden name. In parallel with the level of educational levels are increasing utilization rates maiden name. Thus, individuals with higher levels of education are more positive look at the use of her maiden name. Looking at the marital status; compared to individuals with a single against the use of her maiden name of individuals who are married are more negative attitude.

Keywords: Maiden name, public viewpoint, utilization, women

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Authors: Deepak Singh, Rail Kuliev

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The abstract highlights the critical importance of optimizing data integration and management strategies in the upstream oil and gas industry. With its complex and dynamic nature generating vast volumes of data, efficient data integration and management are essential for informed decision-making, cost reduction, and maximizing operational performance. Challenges such as data silos, heterogeneity, real-time data management, and data quality issues are addressed, prompting the proposal of several strategies. These strategies include implementing a centralized data repository, adopting industry-wide data standards, employing master data management (MDM), utilizing real-time data integration technologies, and ensuring data quality assurance. Training and developing the workforce, “reskilling and upskilling” the employees and establishing robust Data Management training programs play an essential role and integral part in this strategy. The article also emphasizes the significance of data governance and best practices, as well as the role of technological advancements such as big data analytics, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). To illustrate the practicality of these strategies, real-world case studies are presented, showcasing successful implementations that improve operational efficiency and decision-making. In present study, by embracing the proposed optimization strategies, leveraging technological advancements, and adhering to best practices, upstream oil and gas companies can harness the full potential of data-driven decision-making, ultimately achieving increased profitability and a competitive edge in the ever-evolving industry.

Keywords: master data management, IoT, AI&ML, cloud Computing, data optimization

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Authors: Farhad Asadi, Mohammad Javad Mollakazemi, Aref Ghafouri

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Recent research in neural networks science and neuroscience for modeling complex time series data and statistical learning has focused mostly on learning from high input space and signals. Local linear models are a strong choice for modeling local nonlinearity in data series. Locally weighted projection regression is a flexible and powerful algorithm for nonlinear approximation in high dimensional signal spaces. In this paper, different learning scenario of one and two dimensional data series with different distributions are investigated for simulation and further noise is inputted to data distribution for making different disordered distribution in time series data and for evaluation of algorithm in locality prediction of nonlinearity. Then, the performance of this algorithm is simulated and also when the distribution of data is high or when the number of data is less the sensitivity of this approach to data distribution and influence of important parameter of local validity in this algorithm with different data distribution is explained.

Keywords: local nonlinear estimation, LWPR algorithm, online training method, locally weighted projection regression method

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Authors: Jiyoung Lee, Andrew D. Gershoff, Jerry Jisang Han

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Most extant research on consumer privacy concerns and their willingness to share personal data has focused on contextual factors (e.g., types of information collected, type of compensation) that lead to consumers’ personal information disclosure. Unfortunately, the literature lacks a clear understanding of how consumers’ incidental psychological needs may influence consumers’ decisions to share their personal information with companies or brands. In this research, we investigate how social exclusion, which is an increasing societal problem, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, leads to increased information disclosure intentions for consumers. Specifically, we propose and find that when consumers become socially excluded, their desire for social connection increases, and this desire leads to a greater willingness to disclose their personal information with firms. The motivation to form and maintain interpersonal relationships is one of the most fundamental human needs, and many researchers have found that deprivation of belongingness has negative consequences. Given the negative effects of social exclusion and the universal need to affiliate with others, people respond to exclusion with a motivation for social reconnection, resulting in various cognitive and behavioral consequences, such as paying greater attention to social cues and conforming to others. Here, we propose personal information disclosure as another form of behavior that can satisfy such social connection needs. As self-disclosure can serve as a strategic tool in creating and developing social relationships, those who have been socially excluded and thus have greater social connection desires may be more willing to engage in self-disclosure behavior to satisfy such needs. We conducted four experiments to test how feelings of social exclusion can influence the extent to which consumers share their personal information with brands. Various manipulations and measures were used to demonstrate the robustness of our effects. Through the four studies, we confirmed that (1) consumers who have been socially excluded show greater willingness to share their personal information with brands and that (2) such an effect is driven by the excluded individuals’ desire for social connection. Our findings shed light on how the desire for social connection arising from exclusion influences consumers’ decisions to disclose their personal information to brands. We contribute to the consumer disclosure literature by uncovering a psychological need that influences consumers’ disclosure behavior. We also extend the social exclusion literature by demonstrating that exclusion influences not only consumers’ choice of products but also their decision to disclose personal information to brands.

Keywords: consumer-brand relationship, consumer information disclosure, consumer privacy, social exclusion

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Authors: Susan Lubbers

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This study applies critical discourse analysis to the language used by educators to frame international students of Asian backgrounds in Anglo-Western universities as quiet, shy, passive and unable to think critically. Emphasis is on the self-promoted ‘internationalised’ Australian tertiary context, where negative stereotypes are commonly voiced not only in the academy but also in the media. Parallels are drawn as well with other Anglo-Western educational contexts. The study critically compares the discourse of these persistent negative stereotypes, with in-class and interview discourses of international students of Asian and Western language, cultural and educational backgrounds enrolled in a Media and Popular Culture unit in an Australian university. The focus of analysis of the student discourse is on their engagement in critical dialogic interactions on the topics of culture and interculturality. The evidence is also drawn from student interviews and focus groups and from observation of whole-class discussion participation rates. The findings of the research project provide evidence that counters the myth of student as problem. They point rather to the widespread lack of intercultural awareness of Western educators and students as being at the heart of the negative perceptions of students of Asian backgrounds. The study suggests the efficacy of an approach to developing intercultural competence that is embedded, or integrated, into tertiary programs. The presentation includes an overview of the main strategies that have been developed by the tertiary educator (author) to support the development of intercultural competence of and among the student cohort. The evidence points to the importance of developing intercultural competence among tertiary educators and students. The failure by educators to ensure that the diverse voices, ideas and perspectives of students from all cultural, educational and language backgrounds are heard in our classrooms means that our universities can hardly be regarded or promoted as genuinely internationalised. They will continue as undemocratic institutions that perpetrate persistent Western educational hegemony.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, critical thinking, embedding, intercultural competence, interculturality, international student, internationalised education

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Authors: Emmanuel Nkemakolam Okwuduba, Fransica Chinelo Offiah

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The technique of teaching chemistry to students is one of the determining factors towards their achievement. Thus, the study investigated the relationship between classroom interaction patterns and students’ achievement in Chemistry. The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of interaction in an observed chemistry classroom, determine the amount of teacher talk, student talk and period of silence and to find out the relationship between them and the mean achievement scores of students. Five research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study was a correlational survey. The sample consisted of 450 (212males and 238 females) senior secondary one students and 12 (5males and 7 females) chemistry teachers drawn from 12 selected secondary schools in Awka Education Zone of Anambra state. In each of the 12 selected schools, an intact class was used. Science Interaction Category (SIC) and Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) were developed, validated and used for data collection. Each teacher was observed three times and the interaction patterns coded using a coding sheet containing the Science Interaction Category. At the end of the observational period, the Chemistry Achievement Test (for collection of data on students’ achievement in chemistry) was administered on the students. Frequencies, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson product moment correlation were used for data analysis. The result showed that the percentages of teacher talk, student talk and silence were 59.6%, 37.6% and 2.8% respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient(r) for teacher talk, student talk and silence were -0.61, 0.76 and-0.18 respectively. The result showed negative and significant relationship between teacher talk and mean achievement scores of students; positive and significant relationship between student talk and mean achievement scores of students but there is no relationship between period of silence and mean achievement scores of students at 0.05 significant levels. The following recommendations were made based on the findings: teachers should establish high level of student talk through initiation and response as it promotes involvement and enhances achievement.

Keywords: academic achievement, chemistry, classroom, interactions patterns

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Authors: Thor Alexis Sazon, Alexander Guzman-Urbina, Yasuhiro Fukushima

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This study outlines the method of how to develop a surrogate life cycle model based on fuzzy logic using three fuzzy inference methods: (1) the conventional Fuzzy Inference System (FIS), (2) the hybrid system of Data Analytics and Fuzzy Inference (DAFIS), which uses data clustering for defining the membership functions, and (3) the Adaptive-Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), a combination of fuzzy inference and artificial neural network. These methods were demonstrated with a case study where the Global Warming Potential (GWP) and the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of solar photovoltaic (PV) were estimated using Solar Irradiation, Module Efficiency, and Performance Ratio as inputs. The effects of using different fuzzy inference types, either Sugeno- or Mamdani-type, and of changing the number of input membership functions to the error between the calibration data and the model-generated outputs were also illustrated. The solution spaces of the three methods were consequently examined with a sensitivity analysis. ANFIS exhibited the lowest error while DAFIS gave slightly lower errors compared to FIS. Increasing the number of input membership functions helped with error reduction in some cases but, at times, resulted in the opposite. Sugeno-type models gave errors that are slightly lower than those of the Mamdani-type. While ANFIS is superior in terms of error minimization, it could generate solutions that are questionable, i.e. the negative GWP values of the Solar PV system when the inputs were all at the upper end of their range. This shows that the applicability of the ANFIS models highly depends on the range of cases at which it was calibrated. FIS and DAFIS generated more intuitive trends in the sensitivity runs. DAFIS demonstrated an optimal design point wherein increasing the input values does not improve the GWP and LCOE anymore. In the absence of data that could be used for calibration, conventional FIS presents a knowledge-based model that could be used for prediction. In the PV case study, conventional FIS generated errors that are just slightly higher than those of DAFIS. The inherent complexity of a Life Cycle study often hinders its widespread use in the industry and policy-making sectors. While the methodology does not guarantee a more accurate result compared to those generated by the Life Cycle Methodology, it does provide a relatively simpler way of generating knowledge- and data-based estimates that could be used during the initial design of a system.

Keywords: solar photovoltaic, fuzzy logic, inference system, artificial neural networks

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Authors: F. Amin, S. Feizi

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Big data has the potential to improve the quality of services; enable infrastructure that businesses depend on to adapt continually and efficiently; improve the performance of employees; help organizations better understand customers; and reduce liability risks. Analytics and marketing models of fixed and mobile operators are falling short in combating churn and declining revenue per user. Big Data presents new method to reverse the way and improve profitability. The benefits of Big Data and next-generation network, however, are more exorbitant than improved customer relationship management. Next generation of networks are in a prime position to monetize rich supplies of customer information—while being mindful of legal and privacy issues. As data assets are transformed into new revenue streams will become integral to high performance.

Keywords: big data, next generation networks, network transformation, strategy

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