Search results for: socio-economic factors

Authors: Muhammad Asim Nazir

Abstract:

The investigations reported in this manuscript were carried on the screening of one hundred and seventy-eight chickpea germplasm lines/cultivars against wilt disease, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris. The screening was conducted in vivo (field) conditions. The field screening was accompanied with the study of some epidemiological factors affecting the occurrence and severity of the disease. Among the epidemiological factors maximum temperature range (28-40°C), minimum temperature range (12-24°C), relative humidity (19-44%), soil temperature (26-41°C) and soil moisture range (19-34°C) was studied for affecting the disease incidence/severity. The results revealed that air temperature was positively correlated with diseases. Soil temperature data revealed that in all cultivars disease incidence was maximum as 39°C. Most of the plants show 40-50% disease incidence. Disease incidence decreased at 33.5°C. The result of correlation of relative humidity of air and wilt incidence revealed that all cultivars/lines were negatively correlated with relative humidity. With increasing relative humidity wilt incidence decreased and vice versa.

Keywords: chickpea, epidemiological, screening, disease

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Authors: Fidelis E. Uwumiro, Chimaobi O. Nwevo, Favour O. Osemwota, Victory O. Okpujie, Emeka S. Obi, Omamuyovbi F. Nwoagbe, Ejiroghene Tejere, Joycelyn Adjei-Mensah, Christopher N. Ekeh, Charles T. Ogbodo

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Several risk factors associated with cardiovascular events have been identified as specific to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). This study endeavors to validate these CKD-specific risk factors using up-to-date national-level data, thereby highlighting the crucial significance of confirming the validity and generalizability of findings obtained from previous studies conducted on smaller patient populations. The study utilized the nationwide inpatient sample database to identify adult hospitalizations for CKD from 2016 to 2020, employing validated ICD-10-CM/PCS codes. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify both traditional and CKD-specific risk factors associated with cardiovascular events. Risk factors and cardiovascular events were defined using a combination of ICD-10-CM/PCS codes and statistical commands. Only risk factors with specific ICD-10 codes and hospitalizations with complete data were included in the study. Cardiovascular events of interest included cardiac arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death, acute heart failure, and acute coronary syndromes. Univariate and multivariate regression models were employed to evaluate the association between chronic kidney disease-specific risk factors and cardiovascular events while adjusting for the impact of traditional CV risk factors such as old age, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, inactivity, and smoking. A total of 690,375 hospitalizations for CKD were included in the analysis. The study population was predominantly male (375,564, 54.4%) and primarily received care at urban teaching hospitals (512,258, 74.2%). The mean age of the study population was 61 years (SD 0.1), and 86.7% (598,555) had a CCI of 3 or more. At least one traditional risk factor for CV events was present in 84.1% of all hospitalizations (580,605), while 65.4% (451,505) included at least one CKD-specific risk factor for CV events. The incidence of CV events in the study was as follows: acute coronary syndromes (41,422; 6%), sudden cardiac death (13,807; 2%), heart failure (404,560; 58.6%), and cardiac arrhythmias (124,267; 18%). 91.7% (113,912) of all cardiac arrhythmias were atrial fibrillations. Significant odds of cardiovascular events on multivariate analyses included: malnutrition (aOR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.06–1.13; p<0.001), post-dialytic hypotension (aOR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.26–1.42; p<0.001), thrombophilia (aOR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.29–1.65; p<0.001), sleep disorder (aOR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.09–1.25; p<0.001), and post-renal transplant immunosuppressive therapy (aOR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.26–1.53; p<0.001). The study validated malnutrition, post-dialytic hypotension, thrombophilia, sleep disorders, and post-renal transplant immunosuppressive therapy, highlighting their association with increased risk for cardiovascular events in CKD patients. No significant association was observed between uremic syndrome, hyperhomocysteinemia, hyperuricemia, hypertriglyceridemia, leptin levels, carnitine deficiency, anemia, and the odds of experiencing cardiovascular events.

Keywords: cardiovascular events, cardiovascular risk factors in CKD, chronic kidney disease, nationwide inpatient sample

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Authors: Marcella De Filippo, Delio Colangelo, Luca Farnia

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In recent decades, the hyper-competition of tourism scenario has implicated the maturity of many businesses, attributing a central role to innovative processes and their dissemination in the economy of company management. At the same time, it has defined the need for monitoring the application of innovations, in order to govern and improve the performance of companies and destinations. The study aims to analyze and define the innovation in the tourism sector. The research actions have concerned, on the one hand, some in-depth interviews with experts, identifying innovation in terms of process and product, digitalization, sustainability policies and, on the other hand, to evaluate the interaction between these factors, in terms of substitutability and complementarity in management scenarios, in order to identify which one is essential to be competitive in the global scenario. Fuzzy measures and Choquet integral were used to elicit Experts’ preferences. This method allows not only to evaluate the relative importance of each pillar, but also and more interestingly, the level of interaction, ranging from complementarity to substitutability, between pairs of factors. The results of the survey are the following: in terms of Shapley values, Experts assert that Innovation is the most important factor (32.32), followed by digitalization (31.86), Network (20.57) and Sustainability (15.25). In terms of Interaction indices, given the low degree of consensus among experts, the interaction between couples of criteria on average could be ignored; however, it is worth to note that the factors innovations and digitalization are those in which experts express the highest degree of interaction. However for some of them, these factors have a moderate level of complementarity (with a pick of 57.14), and others consider them moderately substitutes (with a pick of -39.58). Another example, although outlier is the interaction between network and digitalization, in which an expert consider them markedly substitutes (-77.08).

Keywords: innovation, business model, tourism, fuzzy

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Authors: Hala A. Hassan, Vasiliki K. Tsiouri, Konstantinos E. Konstantinos

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Fugitive particulate matter (PM) is a major source of airborne pollution in the Middle East countries. The meteorological conditions and topography of the area make it highly susceptible to wind-blown particles which raise many air quality concerns. Air quality tools such as field monitoring, emission factors, and dispersion modeling have been used in previous research studies to analyze the release and impacts of fugitive PM in the region. However, these tools have been originally developed based on experiments made for European and North American regions. In this work, an experimental campaign was conducted on April-May 2014 in a construction site in Doha city, Qatar. The ultimate goal is to evaluate the applicability of the existing emission factors for construction sites in dry and arid areas like the Middle East. This publication was made possible by a NPRP award [NPRP 7-649-2-241] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Keywords: particulate matter, emissions, fugitive, construction, air pollution

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Authors: Nyla Anjum, Humaira Bano

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Disability, regardless of its type and nature limits one or two significant life activities. These limitations constitute risk factors for suicide. Rate and intensity of problem upsurges in critical age of adolescence. Researches in the field of mental health over look problem of suicide among persons with disability. Aim of the study was to investigate prevalence and risk factors for suicide among adolescents with disability. The study constitutes purposive sample of 106 elements of both gender with four major categories of disability: hearing impairment, physical impairment, visual impairment and intellectual disabilities. Face to face interview technique was opted for data collection. Other variable are: socio-economic status, social and family support, provision of services for persons with disability, education and employment opportunities. For data analysis independent sample t-test was applied to find out significant differences in gender and One Way Analysis of variance was run to find out differences among four types of disability. Major predictors of suicide were identified with multiple regression analysis. It is concluded that ideation, plans and attempts of suicide among adolescents with disability is a multifaceted and imperative concern in the area of mental health. Urgent research recommendations contains valid measurement of suicide rate and identification of more risk factors for suicide among persons with disability. Study will also guide towards prevention of this pressing problem and will bring message of happy and healthy life not only for persons with disability but also for their families. It will also help to reduce suicide rate in society.

Keywords: suicide, risk factors, adolescent, disability, mental health

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Authors: Dave Kenneth Tayao Cayado, Carlo P. Magno

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The most common source of bias detected are those of gender and socioeconomic status. The present study investigated the Differential Item Functioning (DIF) or item bias between public and private school students in a vocabulary test. Studies on DIF were expanded by using the type of school as a source of bias. There were 200 participants in this study. 100 came from a public secondary school and 100 came from a private secondary school. The vocabulary skills of students were measured using a standardized vocabulary test for grade 7 students. Using DIF, specifically the Rasch-Welch approach, it was found that out of 24 items, 12 were biased for a specific group. The vocabulary skills on the use of slang, idiomatic expression, personification, collocations, and partitive relations were biased for private schools while the use of slang and homonymous words were biased for public school students. The analysis debunked the trend that private school students are outperforming public school students in terms of academic achievement. It was revealed that there are some competencies that private school students are having difficulty and vice versa.

Keywords: differential item functioning, item bias, public school students, private school students, vocabulary

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Authors: Karuna Sutthibenjakul, Sunisa Chatmongkolchart

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Background: Postinduction hypotension is common and occurs more often in elderly patients. We aimed to determine risk factors for hypotension after induction among elderly patients (aged 65 years and older) who underwent elective non-cardiac surgery under general anesthesia. Methods: This cohort study analyzed from 580 data between December 2017 and July 2018 at a tertiary university hospital in south of Thailand. Hypotension is defined as more than 30% decrease mean arterial pressure from baseline after induction within 20 minutes or the use of vasopressive agent to treat low blood pressure. Intraoperative parameters were blood pressure and heart rate at T0, TEI, T5, T10, T15 and T20 (immediately after arrival at operating room, time after intubation, 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes after intubation) respectively. Results: The median age was 72.5 (68, 78) years. A prevalence of post-induction hypotension was 64.8%. The highest prevalence (39.7%) was at 15 minutes after intubation. The association of post-induction hypotension is rising with diuretic drug as preoperative medication (P-value=0.016), hematocrit level (P-value=0.031) and the degree of hypertension immediately after arrival at operating room (P-value<0.001). Increasing fentanyl dosage during induction was associated with hypotension at intubation time (P-value<0.01) and 5 minutes after intubation (P-value<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in the increasing propofol dosage. Conclusion: The degree of hypertension immediately after arrival at operating room and increasing fentanyl dosage were a significant risk factors for postinduction hypotension in elderly patients.

Keywords: risk factors, post-induction, hypotension, elderly

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Authors: Reza Gheisari, Paulo J. Bartolo, Nicholas Goddard

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Polymeric micro-cantilevers (Cs) are rapidly becoming popular for MEMS applications such as chemo- and bio-sensing as well as purely electromechanical applications such as microrelays. Polymer materials present suitable physical and chemical properties combined with low-cost mass production. Hence, micro-cantilevers made of polymers indicate much more biocompatibility and adaptability of rapid prototyping along with mechanical properties. This research studies the effects of three process and one size factors on the filling behaviour in micro cavity, and the role of each in the replication of micro parts using different polymer materials i.e. polypropylene (PP) SABIC 56M10 and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) Magnum 8434. In particular, the following factors are considered: barrel temperature, mould temperature, injection speed and the thickness of micro features. The study revealed that the barrel temperature and the injection speed are the key factors affecting the flow length of micro features replicated in PP and ABS. For both materials, an increase of feature sizes improves the melt flow. However, the melt fill of micro features does not increase linearly with the increase of their thickness.

Keywords: flow length, micro cantilevers, micro injection moulding, microfabrication

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Authors: Suppara Charoenpoom

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The purposes of this research were to investigate the level of consumers’ awareness of the traditional community retailers in terms of location, service quality, risk, shopping enjoyment, value for money, shopping satisfaction and intention to repurchase as well as to investigate the factors influenced the consumers’ repurchase in Samut Sonkhram Province, Thailand. The findings revealed that consumers had a high level of awareness in terms of location, and intention to repurchase. The factors influenced the consumers’ level of satisfaction included value for money, shopping enjoyment, and service quality. The factors of consumers’ level of satisfaction had an influence to the intention to repurchase. Moreover, the findings also revealed that the majority of respondents wanted traditional community retailers to continue to operate because of these reasons: close location, convenience, credit, as well as provide a place and time for community social gathering and activities.

Keywords: quality management, service quality, traditional retailer, consumers’ awareness

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Authors: Georgiana Onicescu, Yuqian Shen

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Due to the complex nature of geo-referenced data, multicollinearity of the risk factors in public health spatial studies is a commonly encountered issue, which leads to low parameter estimation accuracy because it inflates the variance in the regression analysis. To address this issue, we proposed a two-stage variable selection method by extending the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) to the Bayesian spatial setting, investigating the impact of risk factors to health outcomes. Specifically, in stage I, we performed the variable selection using Bayesian Lasso and several other variable selection approaches. Then, in stage II, we performed the model selection with only the selected variables from stage I and compared again the methods. To evaluate the performance of the two-stage variable selection methods, we conducted a simulation study with different distributions for the risk factors, using geo-referenced count data as the outcome and Michigan as the research region. We considered the cases when all candidate risk factors are independently normally distributed, or follow a multivariate normal distribution with different correlation levels. Two other Bayesian variable selection methods, Binary indicator, and the combination of Binary indicator and Lasso were considered and compared as alternative methods. The simulation results indicated that the proposed two-stage Bayesian Lasso variable selection method has the best performance for both independent and dependent cases considered. When compared with the one-stage approach, and the other two alternative methods, the two-stage Bayesian Lasso approach provides the highest estimation accuracy in all scenarios considered.

Keywords: Lasso, Bayesian analysis, spatial analysis, variable selection

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Authors: Ramkumar Gunasekaran, John Cater, Vinod Suresh, Haribalan Kumar

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The main objective of this project is to develop a statistical shape model using principal component analysis that could be used for analyzing the shape of the human airway. The ultimate goal of this project is to identify geometric risk factors for diagnosis and management of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA). Anonymous CBCT scans of 25 individuals were obtained from the Otago Radiology Group. The airways were segmented between the hard-palate and the aryepiglottic fold using snake active contour segmentation. The point data cloud of the segmented images was then fitted with a bi-cubic mesh, and pseudo landmarks were placed to perform PCA on the segmented airway to analyze the shape of the airway and to find the relationship between the shape and OSA risk factors. From the PCA results, the first four modes of variation were found to be significant. Mode 1 was interpreted to be the overall length of the airway, Mode 2 was related to the anterior-posterior width of the retroglossal region, Mode 3 was related to the lateral dimension of the oropharyngeal region and Mode 4 was related to the anterior-posterior width of the oropharyngeal region. All these regions are subjected to the risk factors of OSA.

Keywords: medical imaging, image processing, FEM/BEM, statistical modelling

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Authors: Mijoh A. Gbededo, Kapila Liyanage, Ilias Oraifige

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Decision making for sustainable manufacturing design and management requires critical considerations due to the complexity and partly conflicting issues of economic, social and environmental factors. Although there are tools capable of assessing the combination of one or two of the sustainability factors, the frameworks have not adequately integrated all the three factors. Case study and review of existing simulation applications also shows the approach lacks integration of the sustainability factors. In this paper we discussed the development of a simulation based framework for support of a holistic assessment of sustainable manufacturing design and management. To achieve this, a strategic approach is introduced to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing decision supporting tools. Investigation reveals that Discrete Event Simulation (DES) can serve as a rock base for other Life Cycle Analysis frameworks. Simio-DES application optimizes systems for both economic and competitive advantage, Granta CES EduPack and SimaPro collate data for Material Flow Analysis and environmental Life Cycle Assessment, while social and stakeholders’ analysis is supported by Analytical Hierarchy Process, a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method. Such a common and integrated framework creates a platform for companies to build a computer simulation model of a real system and assess the impact of alternative solutions before implementing a chosen solution.

Keywords: discrete event simulation, life cycle sustainability analysis, manufacturing, sustainability

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Authors: M. Samsami, A. Hekmatdoost, N. Ebrahimi Daryani, P. Rezanejad Asl

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Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease in which immune and inflammatory factors are thought to be effective in this disease. Resveratrol is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound. This study determined the effects of resveratrol compound on inflammatory factors in patients with ulcerative colitis. This study was a double-blind randomized clinical trial conducted on 50 patients with UC. Subjects received one capsule daily for 6 wk of either resveratrol (500 mg) or a placebo. Inflammatory factors, anthropometric measures, and IBDQ-9 (Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire-9) scores were assessed at baseline and at the end of the study. STATA12 software was used for data analysis. No significant differences were found in the background variables between the two groups at baseline. The results indicated that resveratrol supplementation for 6 week significantly decreased plasma levels of TNF-a and hs-CRP and the activity of NF-κB over the placebo group (p<0.001). Significant differences remained after adjustment for vitamin C (p<0.0001). The IBDQ-9 scores increased significantly in the resveratrol group over the placebo group (p<0.001). The findings of this study showed that resveratrol supplementation can be useful in patients with ulcerative colitis.

Keywords: IBD, inflammation, resveratrol, ulcerative colitis

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Authors: Ibrahim Mahamid, A. Al-Ghonamy, M. Aichouni

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This study is conducted to identify causes of cost deviations in public construction projects in Saudi Arabia from contractors’ perspective. 41 factors that might affect cost estimating accuracy were identified through literature review and discussion with some construction experts. The factors were tabulated in a questionnaire form and a field survey included 51 contractors from the Northern Province of Saudi Arabia was performed. The results show that the top five important causes are: wrong estimation method, long period between design and time of implementation, cost of labor, cost of machinary and absence of construction-cost data.

Keywords: cost deviation, public construction, cost estimating, Saudi Arabia, contractors

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Authors: Nayera E. Hassan, Sahar A. El-Masry, Rokia A. El Banna, Mones M. Abu Shady, Muhammad Al-Tohamy, Manal Mouhamed Ali, Mehrevan M. Abd El-Moniem, Mona Anwar

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Association between vitamin D, adiponectin and obesity is a matter of debate, as they play important role in linking obesity with different cardiometabolic risk factors. Objectives: Evaluation of the association between metabolic risk factors with both adiponectin and vitamin D levels and that between adiponectin and vitamin D among obese Egyptian children. Subjects and Methods: This case-control cross-sectional study consisted of 65 obese and 30 healthy children, aged 8-11 years. 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH) D) level, serum adiponectin, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) were measured. Results: The mean 25(OH) D levels in the obese and control groups were 29.9± 10.3 and 39.7 ± 12.7 ng/mL respectively (P < 0.001). The mean 25(OH) D and adiponectin levels in the obese were lower than that in the control group (P < 0.0001). 25(OH) D were inversely correlated with body mass index (BMI), triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), while adiponectin level were inversely correlated with systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and positively correlated with HDL-C. However, there is no relation between 25(OH) D and adiponectin levels among obese children and total sample. Conclusion: In spite of strong association between vitamin D and adiponectin levels with metabolic risk factors and obesity, there is no relation between 25(OH) D and adiponectin levels. In obese children, there are significant negative correlations between 25(OH) D with lipid profile, and between adiponectin levels with blood pressure. At certain adiponectin level, the relation between it and BMI disappears.

Keywords: 25-hydroxy vitamin D, adiponectin, lipid profile, blood pressure, children

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Authors: Huang Hao, Li Weiwen

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Global biodiversity continues to decline as a result of global climate change and various human activities, such as habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of alien species and overfishing. Although there are connections between global marine organisms more or less, it is better to have clear geographical boundaries in order to facilitate the assessment and management of different biogeographical zones. And so area based management tools (ABMT) are considered as the most effective means for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity. On a large scale, the geographical gap (or barrier) is the main factor to influence the connectivity, diffusion, ecological and evolutionary process of marine organisms, which results in different distribution patterns. On a small scale, these factors include geographical location, geology, and geomorphology, water depth, current, temperature, salinity, etc. Therefore, the analysis on geographic and environmental factors is of great significance in the study of biodiversity characteristics. This paper summarizes the marine spatial classification and ABMTs used in coastal area, open oceans and deep sea. And analysis principles and methods of marine spatial classification based on biogeographic related factors, and take China Near Sea (CNS) area as case study, and select key biogeographic related factors, carry out marine spatial classification at biological region scale, ecological regionals scale and biogeographical scale. The research shows that CNS is divided into 5 biological regions by climate and geographical differences, the Yellow Sea, the Bohai Sea, the East China Sea, the Taiwan Straits, and the South China Sea. And the bioregions are then divided into 12 ecological regions according to the typical ecological and administrative factors, and finally the eco-regions are divided into 98 biogeographical units according to the benthic substrate types, depth, coastal types, water temperature, and salinity, given the integrity of biological and ecological process, the area of the biogeographical units is not less than 1,000 km². This research is of great use to the coastal management and biodiversity conservation for local and central government, and provide important scientific support for future spatial planning and management of coastal waters and sustainable use of marine biodiversity.

Keywords: spatial classification, marine biodiversity, bio-geographical, conservation

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Authors: Kamaludeen Samaila, Khashyaullah Abdulfattah, Fahimi Ahmad Bin Amir

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The study was conducted to examine the relationship between selected factors (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition) and students’ intention to use the learning management system (LMS), as well as investigating the factors predicting students’ intention to use the LMS. The study was specifically conducted at the Faculty of Educational Study of University Putra Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to 277 respondents using a random sampling technique. SPSS Version 22 was employed in analyzing the data; the findings of this study indicated that performance expectancy (r = .69, p < .01), effort expectancy (r=.60, p < .01), social influence (r = .61, p < .01), and facilitating condition (r=.42, p < .01), were significantly related to students’ intention to use the LMS. In addition, the result also revealed that performance expectancy (β = .436, p < .05), social influence (β=.232, p < .05), and effort expectancy (β = .193, p < .05) were strong predictors of students’ intention to use the LMS. The analysis further indicated that (R2) is 0.054 which means that 54% of variation in the dependent variable is explained by the entire predictor variables entered into the regression model. Understanding the factors that affect students’ intention to use the LMS could help the lecturers, LMS managers and university management to develop the policies that may attract students to use the LMS.

Keywords: LMS, postgraduate students, PutraBlas, students’ intention, UPM, UTAUT model

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Authors: Steffen Happel

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Non-standard isotopes such as Sc-44/47, Zr-89, and Sn-117mare finding interest is increasing in radiopharmaceutical applications. Methods for the separation of these elements from typical target materials were developed. The methods used in this paper are based on the use of extraction chromatographic resins such as UTEVA, TBP, and DGA resin. Information on the selectivity of the resins (Dw values of selected elements in HCl and HNO3 of varying concentration) will be presented as well as results of the method development such as elution studies, chemical recoveries, and decontamination factors. Developed methods are based on the use of vacuum supported separation allowing for fast and selective separation.

Keywords: elution, extraction chromatography, radiopharmacy, decontamination factors

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Authors: Terada Pinyo

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This study is a survey research designed to evaluate the quality of graduate students and factors influencing their quality. The sample group consists of 240 students. The data are collected from stratified sampling and are analyzed and calculated by instant computer program. Statistics used are percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation coefficient, Cramer’s V and logistic regression analysis. It is found that the graduate students’ opinions regarding their characteristics according to the Thai Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (TQF) are at high score range both overall and specific category. The top categories that received the top score are interpersonal skills and responsibility, ethics and morals, knowledge, cognitive skills, numerical analysis with communication and information technology skills, respectively. On the other hand, factors affecting the quality of graduate students are cognitive skills, numerical analysis with communication and information technology, knowledge, interpersonal skills and responsibility, ethics and morals, and career regarding sales/business, respectively.

Keywords: student quality evaluation, Thai qualifications framework for higher education, graduate school, cognitive skills

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Authors: Ali Ashraf Hamedi Oghul Beyk

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This research is aimed in order to demonstrate the factors affecting on effectiveness of animal artificial insemination training courses in Zanjan province. The research method is descriptive and correlation. Research tools a questionnaire and research sample are 104 persons who participated in animal artificial insemination training courses. The data resulted from this procedure was analysed by using SPSS software under windows system.independent variables include :individual, sociological, technical, and organizational, dependent variable is: affecting factors on effectiveness of animal artificial insemination training courses the finding of this study indicates that there is a significant correlation(99/0) between individual variables such as motivation and interest and experiment and effectiveness of animal artificial insemination training courses. There is significant correlation (95/0) between sociological variables such as job and education and effectiveness of animal artificial insemination training course. There is significant correlation (99/0) between techn ical variables such as training quality media and instructional materials. Moreover, effectiveness of animal artificial insemination training course there is significant correlation(0/95) between organizational variables such as trainers combination,place conditions.

Keywords: animal artificial insemination, effect, effectiveness, training courses, Zanjan

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Authors: Liwen Hou

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The booming mobile business has been penetrating the taxi industry worldwide with P2P (peer to peer) taxi services, as an emerging business model, transforming the industry. Parallel with other mobile businesses, member recommendations and online reviews are believed to be very effective with regard to acquiring new users for P2P taxi services. Based on an empirical dataset of the taxi industry in China, this study aims to reveal which factors influence users’ recommendations and review-writing behaviors. Differing from the existing literature, this paper takes the taxi driver’s perspective into consideration and hence selects a group of variables related to the drivers. We built two models to reflect the factors that influence the number of recommendations and reviews posted on the platform (i.e., the app). Our models show that all factors, except the driver’s score, significantly influence the recommendation behavior. Likewise, only one factor, passengers’ bad reviews, is insignificant in generating more drivers’ reviews. In the conclusion, we summarize the findings and limitations of the research.

Keywords: online recommendation, P2P taxi service, review-writing, word of mouth

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Authors: Mohammad Naeem Lakanwall

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Background:The thyroid gland, located just below the vocal cord on each side of and anterior to the trachea, is one of the main endocrine glands. Its normal weight is 15 to 20 grams in adults. The thyroid secretes two most important hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, usually called T4 and T3, respectively. These hormones greatly increase the metabolic rate of the body. In addition to T3 and T4, the thyroid gland secrets calcitonin as well which is a significant hormone for calcium metabolism. Objective: The aim of this study is to estimate the proportion of and to identify factors associated with thyroid dysfunction among individuals coming to a tertiary care facility in Kabul, Afghanistan. Material and Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study design was conducted from July to Sep 2018. Blood samples were obtained, serum TSH levels were measured, and the patients were divided into three diagnostic categories according to their serum TSH concentrations. 1) Hypothyroidism 2) Hyperthyroidism 3) Normal thyroid Results: A total of 127 individuals were part of the sample for the final analysis. The majority of study participants (77%) were females. A large number of the participants (92%) did not have a family history of thyroid dysfunction and the majority of the female participants, (85%) were not pregnant in the last two years. Furthermore, 98% of participants, were non-smokers. Conclusion: The findings of the current study showed a high prevalence of thyroid dysfunctions in individuals coming to FMIC for thyroid functions tests. The findings also indicated that aging and smoking are the factors associated with thyroid dysfunctions. Further studies are needed to find out the prevalence of and factors associated with thyroid dysfunctions.

Keywords: Afghanistan, Kabul, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, triiodothyronine, thyroxine

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Authors: Phutthiwat Waiyawuththanapoom, Pimploi Tirastittam, Manop Tirastittam

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Thailand is the agriculture country which mainly exports the agriculture product to the other countries in so many ways which are fresh vegetable, chilled vegetable or frozen vegetable. The gross export for Thailand’s vegetable is 30-40 billion baht per year, and the growth rate is about 15-20 percent per year. Ginger is one of the main vegetable product that Thailand export to Japan because Thailand’s Ginger has a good quality and be able to supply Japan’s demand with a reasonable price. This research paper is aimed to study the factors which affect the efficiency of the supply chain process of Thailand’s ginger to Japan. There are 5 factors which related to the exporting Thailand’s ginger to Japan which are quality, price, equipment and supply standard, custom process and distribution pattern. The result of the research showed that the factor which reached the 'very good' significant level is quality of Thailand’s ginger with the score of 4.86. The other 5 factors are in the 'good' significant level. So the most important factor for Thai ginger farmer to concern is the quality of the product.

Keywords: critical success factor, export, ginger, supply chain

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Authors: Vaibhavi Birle

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Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome is a rare clinic-radiological syndrome associated with acute changes in blood pressure during pregnancy. It is characterized symptomatically by headache, seizures, altered mental status, and visual blurring with radiological changes of white matter (vasogenic oedema) affecting the posterior occipital and parietal lobes of the brain. It is being increasingly recognized due to increased institutional deliveries and advances in imaging particularly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In spite of the increasing diagnosis the prediction of PRES and patient factors affecting susceptibility is still not clear. Hence, we conducted the retrospective study to analyse the factors associated with PRES at our tertiary centre.

Keywords: pres syndrome, eclampsia, maternal outcome, fetal outcome

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Authors: Awad Elkhadir, Rajab M. Ben Yousef

Abstract:

Introduction: The production of high-quality medical images by radiology technologists is useful in diagnosing and treating various injuries and diseases. However, the factors affecting the role of radiology technologists in image interpretation in Sudan have not been investigated widely. Methods: Cross-sectional study has been employed by recruiting ten radiology college deans in Sudan. The questionnaire was distributed online, and obtained data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and IBM-SPSS version 16.0 to generate descriptive statistics. Results: The study results have shown that half of the deans were doubtful about the readiness of Sudan to implement the role of radiology technologist specialist in image interpretation. The majority of them (60%) believed that this issue had been most strongly pushed by researchers over the past decade. The factors affecting the implementation of the radiology technologist specialist role in image interpretation included; education/training (100%), recognition (30%), technical issues (30%), people-related issues (20%), management changes (30%), government role (30%), costs (10%), and timings (20%). Conclusion: The study concluded that there is a need for a change in image interpretation by radiology technologists in Sudan.

Keywords: development, image interpretation, implementation, radiology technologist specialist, Sudan

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Authors: Vergeena Varghese, G. Gajalakshmi, Jayarajini Vasanth

Abstract:

The present study deals with the indication of prevalence of dry eye and evaluates environmental risk factors attributed to dry eye in different occupational sectors. 240 subjects above 20 years and below 45 years of age were screened for dry eye. Mcmonnies dry eye questionnaire based history and Schirmer’s test were used to diagnose dry eye. For Schirmer’s test Whatman strip and paracaine drop used as an anesthetic. Subject’s demographics include age, sex, smoking, alcoholism, occupation history and working environment. Out of a total of 240 subjects, 52 subjects were positive for dry eye syndrome (21.7%). The highest prevalence of dry eye syndrome in software sector was 14subjects (26.9%) out of a total of 40 subjects. In the construction sector, the prevalence of dry eye syndrome had 12 subjects (23.1%) out of 40 subjects and 9 subjects (17.3%) out of 40 subjects in agriculture sector. 7 subjects (13.5%) who had dry eye out of 40 subjects in the transport sector and in industrial 6 subjects (11.5%). In a normal sector, this was taken as control group had dry eye in 4 subjects (7.7%) out of 40 subjects. We also found the prevalence of dry eye in OS was higher than OD. Dry eye is a most common ocular condition. The highest prevalence of dry eye syndrome in software sector was 14 members than other sector. There was a significant correlation between environmental and occupational factors to cause dry eye. Excessive exposure to sunlight, wind, high temperature, and air pollution, electromagnetic radiation are the factors affect the tear film and ocular surface causing the dry eye syndrome.

Keywords: DES – dry eye syndrome, Mcmonnies dry eye questionnaire, schirmer’s test, whatman vstrip

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Authors: Chia-Hao Chang, Geng-Gui Wang, Jee-Cheng Wu

Abstract:

The prediction of a landslide is a difficult task because it requires a detailed study of past activities using a complete range of investigative methods to determine the changing condition. In this research, first step, LiDAR 1-meter by 1-meter resolution of digital elevation model (DEM) was used to generate six environmental factors of landslide. Then, back-propagation neural networks (BPNN) was adopted to identify scarp, landslide areas and non-landslide areas. The BPNN uses 6 environmental factors in input layer and 1 output layer. Moreover, 6 landslide areas are used as training areas and 4 landslide areas as test areas in the BPNN. The hidden layer is set to be 1 and 2; the hidden layer neurons are set to be 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; the learning rates are set to be 0.01, 0.1 and 0.5. When using 1 hidden layer with 7 neurons and the learning rate sets to be 0.5, the result of Network training root mean square error is 0.001388. Finally, evaluation of BPNN classification accuracy by the confusion matrix shows that the overall accuracy can reach 94.4%, and the Kappa value is 0.7464.

Keywords: digital elevation model, DEM, environmental factors, back-propagation neural network, BPNN, LiDAR

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Authors: Mahnaz Sanjari, Sedigheh Salemi, Mohammad Mirzabeigi

Abstract:

Nowadays, the world is facing a crisis of workforce and one of the most striking examples is the shortage of nurses. Nursing workforce productivity is related by various factors such as absenteeism, professional effectiveness and quality care. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 700 nurses who work in government hospitals from 35 hospitals of 9 provinces in Iran. The study was approved by the Nursing Council and was carried out with the authorization of the Research Ethics Committee. The questionnaire included 33 questions and 4 sub categories such as human resource, education and management. The reliability was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha (α=0/85). Statistical analyzes were performed, using SPSS version 16. The result showed that nurses emphasized on "respect to nurse-to-bed ratio" and less importance item was "using less experienced nurse". In addition, another important factor in clinical productivity is "Proper physical structure and amenities","good communication with colleagues" and "having good facilities". Also, "human resources at all levels of standard", "promoting on merit" and "well defined relationship in health system" are another important factors in productivity from nurse` view. The main managerial factor is "justice between employees" and the main educational component of productivity is “updating nursing knowledge”. The results show that more than half of the participants emphasized on the management and educational factors. Productivity as one of the main part of the health care quality leads to appropriate use of human and organizational resources, reduce cost services, and organizational development.

Keywords: productivity, nursing services, workforce, cost services

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Laurel Chikwado Madumere, Kevin O. Ugorji

Abstract:

A speech is said to be full of hate when it appropriates disparaging and vituperative locutions and/or appellations, which are riddled with prejudices and misconceptions about an antagonizing party on the grounds of gender, race, political orientation, religious affiliations, tribe, etc. Due largely to the dichotomies and polarities that exist in Nigeria across political ideological spectrum, tribal affiliations, and gender contradistinctions, there are possibilities for the existence of socioeconomic, religious and political conditions that would induce, provoke and catalyze hate speeches in Nigeria’s mainstream media. Therefore the aim of this paper is to investigate, using select daily newspapers in Nigeria, the extent and complexity of those likely hate speeches that emanate from the pluralism in Nigeria and to set in to relief, the discrepancies and contrariety in the interpretation of those hate words. To achieve the above, the paper shall be qualitative in orientation as it shall be using the Speech Act Theory of J. L. Austin and J. R. Searle to interpret and evaluate the hate speeches in the select Nigerian daily newspapers. Also this paper shall help to elucidate the conditions that generate hate, and inform the government and NGOs how best to approach those conditions and put an end to the possible violence and extremism that emanate from extreme cases of hate.

Keywords: extremism, gender, hate speech, pluralism, prejudice, speech act theory

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Authors: H. Z. Ulukan, E. Demircioğlu, M. Erol Genevois

Abstract:

The scope of this paper and the aim of proposed model were to apply monetary Input –Output (I-O) analysis to point out the importance of reusing know-how and other requirements in order to reduce the production costs in a manufacturing process for a laptop computer. I-O approach using the monetary input-output model is employed to demonstrate the impacts of different factors in a manufacturing process. A sensitivity analysis showing the correlation between these different factors is also presented. It is expected that the recommended model would have an advantageous effect in the cost minimization process.

Keywords: input-output analysis, monetary input-output model, manufacturing process, laptop computer

Procedia PDF Downloads 378