Search results for: multiple criteria decision making (MCDM)

Authors: Zhihui Liu, Dongmei Hao, Qian Qiu, Yang An, Lin Yang, Song Zhang, Yimin Yang, Xuwen Li, Dingchang Zheng

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Premature birth, defined as birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality and has long-term adverse consequences for health. It has recently been reported that the worldwide preterm birth rate is around 10%. The existing measurement techniques for diagnosing preterm delivery include tocodynamometer, ultrasound and fetal fibronectin. However, they are subjective, or suffer from high measurement variability and inaccurate diagnosis and prediction of preterm labor. Electrohysterography (EHG) method based on recording of uterine electrical activity by electrodes attached to maternal abdomen, is a promising method to assess uterine activity and diagnose preterm labor. The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of EHG signal features between term labor and preterm labor. Free access database was used with 300 signals acquired in two groups of pregnant women who delivered at term (262 cases) and preterm (38 cases). Among them, EHG signals from 38 term labor and 38 preterm labor were preprocessed with band-pass Butterworth filters of 0.08–4Hz. Then, EHG signal features were extracted, which comprised classical time domain description including root mean square and zero-crossing number, spectral parameters including peak frequency, mean frequency and median frequency, wavelet packet coefficients, autoregression (AR) model coefficients, and nonlinear measures including maximal Lyapunov exponent, sample entropy and correlation dimension. Their statistical significance for recognition of two groups of recordings was provided. The results showed that mean frequency of preterm labor was significantly smaller than term labor (p < 0.05). 5 coefficients of AR model showed significant difference between term labor and preterm labor. The maximal Lyapunov exponent of early preterm (time of recording < the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than early term. The sample entropy of late preterm (time of recording > the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than late term. There was no significant difference for other features between the term labor and preterm labor groups. Any future work regarding classification should therefore focus on using multiple techniques, with the mean frequency, AR coefficients, maximal Lyapunov exponent and the sample entropy being among the prime candidates. Even if these methods are not yet useful for clinical practice, they do bring the most promising indicators for the preterm labor.

Keywords: electrohysterogram, feature, preterm labor, term labor

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Authors: Mesfin Abebe Molla

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This research aims to examine the practices of inclusion of the hard of hearing and deaf students in regular schools. It also focuses on exploring strategies for optimal benefits of students with Hard of Hearing and Deaf (HH-D) from inclusion. Concurrent mixed methods research design was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data. The instruments used to gather data for this study were questionnaire, semi- structured interview, and observations. A total of 102 HH-D students and 42 primary and High School teachers were selected using simple random sampling technique and used as participants to collect quantitative data. Non-probability sampling technique was also employed to select 14 participants (4-school principals, 6-teachers and 4-parents of HH-D students) and they were interviewed to collect qualitative data. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques (independent sample t-test, one way ANOVA and Multiple regressions) were employed to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data were also analyzed qualitatively by theme analysis. The findings reported that there were individual principals’, teachers’ and parents’ strong commitment and efforts for practicing inclusion of HH-D students effectively; however, most of the core values of inclusion were missing in both schools. Most of the teachers (78.6 %) and HH-D students (75.5%) had negative attitude and considerable reservations about the feasibility of inclusion of HH-D students in both schools. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference of attitude toward to inclusion between the two school’s teachers and the teachers’ who had taken and had not taken additional training on IE and sign language. The study also indicated that there was a statistically significant difference of attitude toward to inclusion between hard of hearing and deaf students. However, the overall contribution of the demographic variables of teachers and HH-D students on their attitude toward inclusion is not statistically significant. The finding also showed that HH-D students did not have access to modified curriculum which would maximize their abilities and help them to learn together with their hearing peers. In addition, there is no clear and adequate direction for the medium of instruction. Poor school organization and management, lack of commitment, financial resources, collaboration and teachers’ inadequate training on Inclusive Education (IE) and sign language, large class size, inappropriate assessment procedure, lack of trained deaf adult personnel who can serve as role model for HH-D students and lack of parents and community members’ involvement were some of the major factors that affect the practicing inclusion of students HH-D. Finally, recommendations are made to improve the practices of inclusion of HH-D students and to make inclusion of HH-D students an integrated part of Ethiopian education based on the findings of the study.

Keywords: deaf, hard of hearing, inclusion, regular schools

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Authors: Bijit Kalita, K. V. N. Surendra

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The pulley works under both compressive loading due to contacting belt in tension and central torque due to cause rotation. In a power transmission system, the belt pulley assemblies offer a contact problem in the form of two mating cylindrical parts. In this work, we modeled a pulley as a heavy two-dimensional circular disk. Stress analysis due to contact loading in the pulley mechanism is performed. Finite element analysis (FEA) is conducted for a pulley to investigate the stresses experienced on its inner and outer periphery. In most of the heavy-duty applications, most frequently used mechanisms to transmit power in applications such as automotive engines, industrial machines, etc. is Belt Drive. Usually, very heavy circular disks are used as pulleys. A pulley could be entitled as a drum and may have a groove between two flanges around the circumference. A rope, belt, cable or chain can be the driving element of a pulley system that runs over the pulley inside the groove. A pulley is experienced by normal and shear tractions on its contact region in the process of motion transmission. The region may be belt-pulley contact surface or pulley-shaft contact surface. In 1895, Hertz solved the elastic contact problem for point contact and line contact of an ideal smooth object. Afterward, this hypothesis is generally utilized for computing the actual contact zone. Detailed stress analysis in such contact region of such pulleys is quite necessary to prevent early failure. In this paper, the results of the finite element analyses carried out on the compressed disk of a belt pulley arrangement using fracture mechanics concepts are shown. Based on the literature on contact stress problem induced in the wide field of applications, generated stress distribution on the shaft-pulley and belt-pulley interfaces due to the application of high-tension and torque was evaluated in this study using FEA concepts. Finally, the results obtained from ANSYS (APDL) were compared with the Hertzian contact theory. The study is mainly focused on the fatigue life estimation of a rotating part as a component of an engine assembly using the most famous Paris equation. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) analyses have been performed using the open-source software. From the displacement computed using the images acquired at a minimum and maximum force, displacement field amplitude is computed. From these fields, the crack path is defined and stress intensity factors and crack tip position are extracted. A non-linear least-squares projection is used for the purpose of the estimation of fatigue crack growth. Further study will be extended for the various application of rotating machinery such as rotating flywheel disk, jet engine, compressor disk, roller disk cutter etc., where Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) calculation plays a significant role on the accuracy and reliability of a safe design. Additionally, this study will be progressed to predict crack propagation in the pulley using maximum tangential stress (MTS) criteria for mixed mode fracture.

Keywords: crack-tip deformations, contact stress, stress concentration, stress intensity factor

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Authors: Diego Caballero Vélez

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In 1997 the Schengen Convention was incorporated in the mainstream of EU law by the Amsterdam Treaty. It came into effect in 1999 with the abolition of internal border controls in the EU, a milestone in the European integration project. In the meantime, due to the Yugoslav wars, nearly 700,000 asylum applications were filed in the European countries provoking a major refugee crisis. During this period, the opening of Eastern Europe fostered more cooperation and policy-making at the EU level in migration issues. Currently, a similar migratory crisis is taking place in Europe. The Syrian war has caused the most massive influx of immigrants in Europe since World War II. Nevertheless, the EU is adopting different migration policies from those implemented during the Yugoslav migration crisis. The current crisis has not led to a common European position but national responses have been offered on migration policies and responsibility for border security and asylum-seekers. A lot of factors can explain this change from a cooperation scenario to a no cooperation one, such as the economic crisis, but this research is focused on the premise that 'threat perception' lies at the core of some states grand strategies towards migration and it also influences in multilateral or unilateral responses. Migration rests at the nexus of three dimensions of security, including geopolitical interests, material production, and internal security. According to some scholars, migration policy is an 'integral instrument' of state grand strategy in that context. Political integration at the EU might be altered with the emergence of existential threats. In other words, some areas of the European cooperation can be transformed when a 'critical juncture' occurs, for instance a migration crisis. In that instance, Member states could see migration as a matter of threat that modifies their national interests and willingness to embrace international cooperation. This research will focus on EU Member states´ perceptions of the 90´s migration crisis and the current one. The goal is to evaluate to what extent the perceptions of threat are one of the main factors for explaining the transition from a cooperation scenario to a no-cooperation one in European asylum and security policies. To analyze threat perception in both migration crisis, some relevant Member states are treated as cases of study and a comparative analysis is carried out based on public opinion polls, public and policy discourse in migration, voting practices and deconstruction of the migration policies themselves both at EU level and a national one.

Keywords: cooperation, migration crisis, national responses, threat perception

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Authors: Nada Poropat Jeletic, Gordana Hrzica

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Bilingual conversational corpora represent a meaningful and the most comprehensive data source for investigating the genuine contact phenomena in non-monitored bi-lingual speech productions. They can be particularly useful for bilingual research since some features of bilingual interaction can hardly be accessed with more traditional methodologies (e.g., elicitation tasks). The method of language sampling provides the resources for describing language interaction in a bilingual community and/or in bilingual situations (e.g. code-switching, amount of languages used, number of languages used, etc.). To capture these phenomena in genuine communication situations, such sampling should be as close as possible to spontaneous communication. Bilingual spoken corpus design is methodologically demanding. Therefore this paper aims at describing the methodological challenges that apply to the corpus design of the conversational corpus design of the Istrian Istrovenetian-Croatian Bilingual Corpus. Croatian is the first official language of the Croatian-Italian officially bilingual Istria County, while Istrovenetian is a diatopic subvariety of Venetian, a longlasting lingua franca in the Istrian peninsula, the mother tongue of the members of the Italian National Community in Istria and the primary code of informal everyday communication among the Istrian Italophone population. Within the CLARIN infrastructure, TalkBank is being used, as it provides relevant procedures for designing and analyzing bilingual corpora. Furthermore, it allows public availability allows for easy replication of studies and cumulative progress as a research community builds up around the corpus, while the tools developed within the field of corpus linguistics enable easy retrieval and analysis of information. The method of language sampling employed is kept at the level of spontaneous communication, in order to maximise the naturalness of the collected conversational data. All speakers have provided written informed consent in which they agree to be recorded at a random point within the period of one month after signing the consent. Participants are administered a background questionnaire providing information about the socioeconomic status and the exposure and language usage in the participants social networks. Recording data are being transcribed, phonologically adapted within a standard-sized orthographic form, coded and segmented (speech streams are being segmented into communication units based on syntactic criteria) and are being marked following the CHAT transcription system and its associated CLAN suite of programmes within the TalkBank toolkit. The corpus consists of transcribed sound recordings of 36 bilingual speakers, while the target is to publish the whole corpus by the end of 2020, by sampling spontaneous conversations among approximately 100 speakers from all the bilingual areas of Istria for ensuring representativeness (the participants are being recruited across three generations of native bilingual speakers in all the bilingual areas of the peninsula). Conversational corpora are still rare in TalkBank, so the Corpus will contribute to BilingBank as a highly relevant and scientifically reliable resource for an internationally established and active research community. The impact of the research of communities with societal bilingualism will contribute to the growing body of research on bilingualism and multilingualism, especially regarding topics of language dominance, language attrition and loss, interference and code-switching etc.

Keywords: conversational corpora, bilingual corpora, code-switching, language sampling, corpus design methodology

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Authors: B. S. Chaudhary

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The severity and frequencies of different disasters on the globe is increasing in recent years. India is also facing the disasters in the form of drought, cyclone, earthquake, landslides, and floods. One of the major causes of disasters in northern India is flood. There are great losses and extensive damage to the agricultural crops, property, human, and animal life. This is causing environmental imbalances at places. The annual global figures for losses due to floods run into over 2 billion dollar. India is a vast country with wide variations in climate and topography. Due to widespread and heavy rainfall during the monsoon months, floods of varying magnitude occur all over the country during June to September. The magnitude depends upon the intensity of rainfall, its duration and also the ground conditions at the time of rainfall. Haryana, one of the agriculturally dominated northern states is also suffering from a number of disasters such as floods, desertification, soil erosion, land degradation etc. Earthquakes are also frequently occurring but of small magnitude so are not causing much concern and damage. Most of the damage in Haryana is due to floods. Floods in Haryana have occurred in 1978, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1998, and 2010 to mention a few. The present paper deals with the Remote Sensing and GIS applications in preparing flood risk maps in parts of Haryana State India. The satellite data of various years have been used for mapping of flood affected areas. The Flooded areas have been interpreted both visually and digitally and two classes-flooded and receded water/ wet areas have been identified for each year. These have been analyzed in GIS environment to prepare the risk maps. This shows the areas of high, moderate and low risk depending on the frequency of flood witness. The floods leave a trail of suffering in the form of unhygienic conditions due to improper sanitation, water logging, filth littered in the area, degradation of materials and unsafe drinking water making the people prone to many type diseases in short and long run. Attempts have also been made to enumerate the causes of floods. The suggestions are given for mitigating the fury of floods and proper management issues related to evacuation and safe places nearby.

Keywords: flood mapping, GIS, Haryana, India, remote sensing, space technology

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Authors: Mercedes Rodriguez Sanchez, Laura Luceño Casals

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With the rise of social media, creative people and brands everywhere are constantly generating content. The students with Bachelor's Degrees in Fashion Design use platforms such as Instagram or TikTok to look for inspiration and entertainment, as well as a way to develop their own ideas and share them with a wide audience. Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have become a central aspect of higher education, virtually affecting every aspect of the student experience. Following the current trend, during the first semester of the second year, a collaborative project across two subjects –Design Management and History of Fashion Design– was implemented. After an introductory class focused on the relationship between fashion and cinema, as well as a brief history of 20th-century fashion, the students freely chose a work team and an iconic look from a movie costume. They researched the selected movie and its sociocultural context, analyzed the costume and the work of the designer, and studied the style, fashion magazines and most popular films of the time. Students then redesigned and recreated the costume, for which they were compelled to recycle the materials they had available at home as an unavoidable requirement of the activity. Once completed the garment, students delivered in-class, team-based presentations supported by the final design, a project summary poster and a making-of video, which served as a documentation tool of the costume design process. The methodologies used include Challenge-Based Learning (CBL), debates, Internet research, application of Information and Communications Technologies, and viewing clips of classic films, among others. After finishing the projects, students were asked to complete two electronic surveys to measure the acquisition of transversal and specific competencies of each subject. Results reveal that this activity helped the students' knowledge acquisition, a deeper understanding of both subjects and their skills development. The classroom dynamic changed. The multidisciplinary approach encouraged students to collaborate with their peers, while educators were better able to keep students' interest and promote an engaging learning process. As a result, the activity discussed in this paper confirmed the research hypothesis: it is positive to propose innovative teaching projects that combine academic research with playful learning environments.

Keywords: cinema, cooperative learning, fashion design, higher education, upcycling

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Authors: Elisabeth Unterfrauner, Christian Voigt

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Since the foundation of the first Fab Lab by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about 17 years ago, the Maker movement has spread globally with the foundation of maker spaces and Fab Labs worldwide. In these workshops, citizens have access to digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printers and laser cutters to develop and test their own ideas and prototypes, which makes it an attractive place for start-up companies. Know-How is shared not only in the physical space but also online in diverse communities. According to the Horizon report, the Maker movement, however, will also have an impact on educational settings in the following years. The European project ‘DOIT - Entrepreneurial skills for young social innovators in an open digital world’ has incorporated key elements of making to develop an early entrepreneurial education program for children between the age of six and 16. The Maker pedagogy builds on constructive learning approaches, learning by doing principles, learning in collaborative and interdisciplinary teams and learning through trial and error where mistakes are acknowledged as learning opportunities. The DOIT program consists of seven consecutive elements. It starts with a motivation phase where students get motivated by envisioning the scope of their possibilities. The second step is about Co-design: Students are asked to collect and select potential ideas for innovations. In the Co-creation phase students gather in teams and develop first prototypes of their ideas. In the iteration phase, the prototype is continuously improved and in the next step, in the reflection phase, feedback on the prototypes is exchanged between the teams. In the last two steps, scaling and reaching out, the robustness of the prototype is tested with a bigger group of users outside of the educational setting and finally students will share their projects with a wider public. The DOIT program involves 1,000 children in two pilot phases at 11 pilot sites in ten different European countries. The comprehensive evaluation design is based on a mixed method approach with a theoretical backbone on Lackeus’ model of entrepreneurship education, which distinguishes between entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial knowledge. A pre-post-test with quantitative measures as well as qualitative data from interviews with facilitators, students and workshop protocols will reveal the effectiveness of the program. The evaluation results will be presented at the conference.

Keywords: early entrepreneurial education, Fab Lab, maker education, Maker movement

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Authors: Goutam Kumar Ghorai, Sandip Sadhukhan, Arpita Sarkar, Debprasad Sinha, G. Sarkar, Ashis K. Dhara

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Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases in all countries and continues to increase in numbers significantly. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is damage to the retina that occurs with long-term diabetes. DR is a major cause of blindness in the Indian population. Therefore, its early diagnosis is of utmost importance towards preventing progression towards imminent irreversible loss of vision, particularly in the huge population across rural India. The barriers to eye examination of all diabetic patients are socioeconomic factors, lack of referrals, poor access to the healthcare system, lack of knowledge, insufficient number of ophthalmologists, and lack of networking between physicians, diabetologists and ophthalmologists. A few diabetic patients often visit a healthcare facility for their general checkup, but their eye condition remains largely undetected until the patient is symptomatic. This work aims to focus on the design and development of a fully automated intelligent decision system for screening retinal fundus images towards detection of the pathophysiology caused by microaneurysm in the early stage of the diseases. Automated detection of microaneurysm is a challenging problem due to the variation in color and the variation introduced by the field of view, inhomogeneous illumination, and pathological abnormalities. We have developed aconvolutional neural network for efficient detection of microaneurysm. A loss function is also developed to handle severe class imbalance due to very small size of microaneurysms compared to background. The network is able to locate the salient region containing microaneurysms in case of noisy images captured by non-mydriatic cameras. The ground truth of microaneurysms is created by expert ophthalmologists for MESSIDOR database as well as private database, collected from Indian patients. The network is trained from scratch using the fundus images of MESSIDOR database. The proposed method is evaluated on DIARETDB1 and the private database. The method is successful in detection of microaneurysms for dilated and non-dilated types of fundus images acquired from different medical centres. The proposed algorithm could be used for development of AI based affordable and accessible system, to provide service at grass root-level primary healthcare units spread across the country to cater to the need of the rural people unaware of the severe impact of DR.

Keywords: retinal fundus image, deep convolutional neural network, early detection of microaneurysms, screening of diabetic retinopathy

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Authors: Benjamin Bressolette, S´ebastien Denjean, Vincent Roussarie, Mitsuko Aramaki, Sølvi Ystad, Richard Kronland-Martinet

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New sensors and technologies – such as microphones, touchscreens or infrared sensors – are currently making their appearance in the automotive sector, introducing new kinds of Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs). The interactions with such tools might be cognitively expensive, thus unsuitable for driving tasks. It could for instance be dangerous to use touchscreens with a visual feedback while driving, as it distracts the driver’s visual attention away from the road. Furthermore, new technologies in car cockpits modify the interactions of the users with the central system. In particular, touchscreens are preferred to arrays of buttons for space improvement and design purposes. However, the buttons’ tactile feedback is no more available to the driver, which makes such interfaces more difficult to manipulate while driving. Gestures combined with an auditory feedback might therefore constitute an interesting alternative to interact with the HMI. Indeed, gestures can be performed without vision, which means that the driver’s visual attention can be totally dedicated to the driving task. In fact, the auditory feedback can both inform the driver with respect to the task performed on the interface and on the performed gesture, which might constitute a possible solution to the lack of tactile information. As audition is a relatively unused sense in automotive contexts, gesture sonification can contribute to reducing the cognitive load thanks to the proposed multisensory exploitation. Our approach consists in using a virtual object (VO) to sonify the consequences of the gesture rather than the gesture itself. This approach is motivated by an ecological point of view: Gestures do not make sound, but their consequences do. In this experiment, the aim was to identify efficient sound strategies, to transmit dynamic information of VOs to users through sound. The swipe gesture was chosen for this purpose, as it is commonly used in current and new interfaces. We chose two VO parameters to sonify, the hand-VO distance and the VO velocity. Two kinds of sound parameters can be chosen to sonify the VO behavior: Spectral or temporal parameters. Pitch and brightness were tested as spectral parameters, and amplitude modulation as a temporal parameter. Performances showed a positive effect of sound compared to a no-sound situation, revealing the usefulness of sounds to accomplish the task.

Keywords: auditory feedback, gesture sonification, sound perception, virtual object

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Authors: Pongthep Bunrueng

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This action research accentuates the outcome of a development in English pronunciation, using principles of phonetics for English major students at Loei Rajabhat University. The research is split into 5 separate modules: 1) Organs of Speech and How to Produce Sounds, 2) Monopthongs, 3) Diphthongs, 4) Consonant sounds, and 5) Suprasegmental Features. Each module followed a 4 step action research process, 1) Planning, 2) Acting, 3) Observing, and 4) Reflecting. The research targeted 2nd year students who were majoring in English Education at Loei Rajabhat University during the academic year of 2011. A mixed methodology employing both quantitative and qualitative research was used, which put theory into action, taking segmental features up to suprasegmental features. Multiple tools were employed which included the following documents: pre-test and post-test papers, evaluation and assessment papers, group work assessment forms, a presentation grading form, an observation of participants form and a participant self-reflection form. All 5 modules for the target group showed that results from the post-tests were higher than those of the pre-tests, with 0.01 statistical significance. All target groups attained results ranging from low to moderate and from moderate to high performance. The participants who attained low to moderate results had to re-sit the second round. During the first development stage, participants attended classes with group participation, in which they addressed planning through mutual co-operation and sharing of responsibility. Analytic induction of strong points for this operation illustrated that learner cognition, comprehension, application, and group practices were all present whereas the participants with weak results could be attributed to biological differences, differences in life and learning, or individual differences in responsiveness and self-discipline. Participants who were required to be re-treated in Spiral 2 received the same treatment again. Results of tests from the 5 modules after the 2nd treatment were that the participants attained higher scores than those attained in the pre-test. Their assessment and development stages also showed improved results. They showed greater confidence at participating in activities, produced higher quality work, and correctly followed instructions for each activity. Analytic induction of strong and weak points for this operation remains the same as for Spiral 1, though there were improvements to problems which existed prior to undertaking the second treatment.

Keywords: action research, English pronunciation, phonetics, segmental features, suprasegmental features

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Authors: Dorit Alt, Nirit Raichel

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Although university teaching is claimed to have a special task to support students in adopting ways of thinking and producing new knowledge anchored in scientific inquiry practices, it is argued that students' habits of learning are still overwhelmingly skewed toward passive acquisition of knowledge from authority sources rather than from collaborative inquiry activities.This form of instruction is criticized for encouraging students to acquire inert knowledge that can be used in instructional settings at best, however cannot be transferred into real-life complex problem settings. In order to overcome this critical inadequacy between current educational goals and instructional methods, the LLAF consortium (including 16 members from 8 countries) is aimed at developing updated instructional practices that put a premium on adaptability to the emerging requirements of present society. LLAF has created a practical guide for teachers containing updated pedagogical strategies and assessment tools, based on the constructivist approach for learning that put a premium on adaptability to the emerging requirements of present society. This presentation will be limited to teachers' education only and to the contribution of the project in providing a scale designed to measure the extent to which the constructivist activities are efficiently applied in the learning environment. A mix-method approach was implemented in two phases to construct the scale: The first phase included a qualitative content analysis involving both deductive and inductive category applications of students' observations. The results foregrounded eight categories: knowledge construction, authenticity, multiple perspectives, prior knowledge, in-depth learning, teacher- student interaction, social interaction and cooperative dialogue. The students' descriptions of their classes were formulated as 36 items. The second phase employed structural equation modeling (SEM). The scale was submitted to 597 undergraduate students. The goodness of fit of the data to the structural model yielded sufficient fit results. This research elaborates the body of literature by adding a category of in-depth learning which emerged from the content analysis. Moreover, the theoretical category of social activity has been extended to include two distinctive factors: cooperative dialogue and social interaction. Implications of these findings for the LLAF project are discussed.

Keywords: constructivist learning, higher education, mix-methodology, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Jo Parsons, Cath Grimley, Debra Bick, Sarah Hillman, Louise Clarke, Helen Atherton

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The problem: Vaccinations are routinely offered to pregnant women in the UK for influenza (flu), pertussis (whooping cough), and COVID-19, yet the uptake of these vaccinations in pregnancy remains low. Pregnant women are at increased risk of hospitalisation, morbidity, and mortality from these preventable illnesses, which can also expose their unborn babies to an increased risk of serious complications, including in utero death. This research aims to explore how pregnant women feel about vaccinations offered during pregnancy (flu, whooping cough, and COVID-19), particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. It also aims to examine factors influencing women’s decisions about vaccinations during pregnancy and how they feel about their health and vulnerabilities to illness arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The approach: This is a qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with pregnant women and midwives in the UK. Interviews with pregnant women explored their views since the COVID-19 pandemic about vaccinations offered during pregnancy and whether the pandemic has influenced perceptions of vulnerability to illness in pregnant women. Interviews with midwives explored vaccination discussions they routinely have with pregnant women and identified some of the barriers to vaccination that pregnant women discuss with them. Pregnant women were recruited via participating hospitals and community groups. Midwives were recruited via participating hospitals and midwife-specific social media groups. All interviews were conducted remotely (using telephone or Microsoft Teams) and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: 43 pregnant women and 16 midwives were recruited and interviewed. The findings presented will focus on data from pregnant women. Pregnant women reported a wide range of views and vaccination behaviour, and identified several factors influencing their decision whether to accept vaccinations or not. These included internal factors (comprised of beliefs about susceptibility to illness, perceptions of immunity, fear, and feelings of responsibility), other influences (including visibility of illness and external influences such as healthcare professional recommendations), vaccination-related factors (comprised of beliefs about effectiveness and safety of vaccinations, availability and accessibility of vaccinations and preferences for alternative forms of protection to vaccination) and COVID-19 specific factors (including COVID-19 vaccinations and COVID-19 specific influences). Implications: Findings identified some of the factors that affect pregnant women’s decisions when deciding to have a vaccination or not and how these decisions have been influenced by COVID-19. Findings highlight areas where healthcare professional advice needs to focus, such as the provision of information about the increased vulnerability to illnesses during pregnancy and consideration of opportunistic vaccination at hospital appointments to maximise uptake of vaccinations during pregnancy. Findings of this study will inform the development of an intervention to increase vaccination uptake amongst pregnant women.

Keywords: vaccination, pregnancy, qualitative, interviews, COVID-19

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Authors: D. Supaporn, B. Julaluk

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The purposes of this study were to study symptom cluster, functional status and quality of life of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to examine factors related to and predicting symptom cluster, functional status and quality of life of COPD patients. The sample was 180 COPD patients multi-stage random sampling from 4 hospitals in the eastern region, Thailand. The research instruments were 8 questionnaires and recorded forms measuring personal and illness data, co-morbidity, physical and psychological symptom, health status perception, social support, and regimen adherence, functional status and quality of life. Spearman rank and Pearson correlation coefficient, exploratory factors analysis and standard multiple regression were used to analyzed data. The findings revealed that two symptom clusters were generated: physical symptom cluster including dyspnea, fatigue and insomnia; and, psychological symptom cluster including anxiety and depression. Scores of physical symptom cluster was at moderate level while that of psychological symptom cluster was at low level. Scores on functional status, social support and overall regimen adherence were at good level whereas scores on quality of life and health status perception were at moderate level. Disease severity was positively related to physical symptom cluster, psychological symptom cluster and quality of life, and was negatively related to functional status at a moderate level (rs = .512, .509, .588 and -.611, respectively). Co-morbidity was positively related to physical symptom cluster and psychological symptom cluster at a low level (r = .179 and .176, respectively). Regimen adherence was negatively related to quality of life and psychological symptom cluster at a low level (r=-.277 and -.309, respectively), and was positively related to functional status at a moderate level (r=.331). Health status perception was negatively related to physical symptom cluster, psychological symptom cluster and quality of life at a moderate to high level (r = -.567, -.640 and -.721, respectively) and was positively related to functional status at a high level (r = .732). Social support was positively related to functional status (r=.235) and was negatively related to quality of life at a low level (r=-.178). Physical symptom cluster was negatively related to functional status (r= -.490) and was positively related to quality of life at a moderate level (r=.566). Psychological symptom cluster was negatively related to functional status and was positively related to quality of life at a moderate level (r= -.566 and .559, respectively). Disease severity, co-morbidity and health status perception could predict 40.2% of the variance of physical symptom cluster. Disease severity, co-morbidity, regimen adherence and health status perception could predict 49.8% of the variance of psychological symptom cluster. Co-morbidity, regimen adherence and health status perception could predict 65.0% of the variance of functional status. Disease severity, health status perception and physical symptom cluster could predict 60.0% of the variance of quality of life in COPD patients. The results of this study can be used for enhancing quality of life of COPD patients.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, functional status, quality of life, symptom cluster

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Authors: Ayoola Doris Ayodele, Grace Oluwatoyin Tayo, Martha Dupe Olumide, Opeyemi Arinola Ajayi, Ayodeji Taofeek Ayo-Bello

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Antibiotics have been widely used in animal nutrition to improve growth performance and health worldwide for many decades. However, there are rising concerns on the negative impact of dependence on antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) to improve animal performance despite its tremendous use. The need to improve performance in poultry production creates demand for natural alternative sources. Phytogenic feed additives (PFA) are plant-derived natural bioactive compounds that could be incorporated into animal feed to enhance livestock productivity. The effect of Turmeric, clove and turmeric + clove as feed additive was evaluated on performance and intestinal morphology of egg type chickens. 504- fifteen day old Isa brown chicks were weighed and randomly distributed to nine dietary treatments by a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement (test ingredient x inclusion level) in a completely randomized design, with four replicates of 14 birds each. The birds were fed Chick starter diet containing (2800 kcal/kg ME; 20.8% CP). Dietary treatments were Group 1 (T1- basal diet with 0% Turmeric inclusion), (T2- basal diet with 1% Turmeric inclusion), (T3- basal diet with 2% Turmeric inclusion). Group 2 (T4- basal diet with 0% clove inclusion), (T5- basal diet with 1% clove inclusion), (T6- basal diet with 2% clove inclusion). Group 3, turmeric + clove combination on 1:1 ratio weight for weight (T7- basal diet with 0% turmeric + 0% clove inclusion), (T8- basal diet with 0.5% turmeric + 0.5 clove% inclusion), (T9- basal diet with 1% turmeric + 1% clove inclusion). Performance parameters were evaluated throughout the experiment. The experiment spanned from day 15 to 56. Data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test with significance of P≤ 0.05. Significant differences (P>0.05) were not observed in final body weight, weight gain, feed intake and FCR among birds fed with diets containing across the treatments. However, birds fed with test ingredients showed higher numerical values in final body weight and weight gain when compared to the birds without additive. Birds on T8 had the highest final body weight value of 617.33 g and low values in all the control treatments (T1 -588 g, T4- 572 g and T7 -584 g). At day 56, intestinal samples were taken from the jejunum and ileum to evaluate the villus height, crypt depth and villus: crypt depth ratio. Addition of turmeric, clove and turmeric + clove in the diet produced significant (P< 0.05) effect on Jejunum and ileum of birds. Therefore, Turmeric and clove can be used as feed additives for pullet birds because they have a positive effect on growth performance and intestinal morphology of pullet chicks.

Keywords: clove, intestinal morphology, isa brown chicks, performance, turmeric

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Authors: Dijiang Lyu, Shaoying Li, Zhangzhi Tan, Zhifeng Wu, Feng Gao

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Nowadays, China is experiencing rapidly urban rail transit expansions in the world. The purpose of this study is to finely model factors influencing transit ridership at multi-time dimensions within transit stations’ pedestrian catchment area (PCA) in Guangzhou, China. This study was based on multi-sources spatial data, including smart card data, high spatial resolution images, points of interest (POIs), real-estate online data and building height data. Eight multiple linear regression models using backward stepwise method and Geographic Information System (GIS) were created at station-level. According to Chinese code for classification of urban land use and planning standards of development land, residential land-use were divided into three categories: first-level (e.g. villa), second-level (e.g. community) and third-level (e.g. urban villages). Finally, it concluded that: (1) four factors (CBD dummy, number of feeder bus route, number of entrance or exit and the years of station operation) were proved to be positively correlated with transit ridership, but the area of green land-use and water land-use negative correlated instead. (2) The area of education land-use, the second-level and third-level residential land-use were found to be highly connected to the average value of morning peak boarding and evening peak alighting ridership. But the area of commercial land-use and the average height of buildings, were significantly positive associated with the average value of morning peak alighting and evening peak boarding ridership. (3) The area of the second-level residential land-use was rarely correlated with ridership in other regression models. Because private car ownership is still large in Guangzhou now, and some residents living in the community around the stations go to work by transit at peak time, but others are much more willing to drive their own car at non-peak time. The area of the third-level residential land-use, like urban villages, was highly positive correlated with ridership in all models, indicating that residents who live in the third-level residential land-use are the main passenger source of the Guangzhou Metro. (4) The diversity of land-use was found to have a significant impact on the passenger flow on the weekend, but was non-related to weekday. The findings can be useful for station planning, management and policymaking.

Keywords: fine-scale modeling, Guangzhou city, multi-time dimensions, multi-sources spatial data, transit ridership

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Aroge Stephen Talabi

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Work is a term that appears to be very common in usage and occurrence the world over. The meanings attached to it and what it implies equally appears to be that common and somewhat similar in description by individuals and groups as derivatives of their contexts. Work is generally seen as the exertion of efforts and the application of knowledge and skills to achieve different purposes comprising of earning a living, making money, prestige, achievement, recognition, companionship and other satisfactions. The paper examined the general meanings of work from the perspectives of various religions. It situated these meanings by drawing on the sociological significance of work among the Yoruba. It established work as social control for a reorientation in peoples approach to work. The Yoruba people of the Western Nigeria share, to a great extent, in common conceptualization and application of work as they believe and understand that their individual and community existence and living are contingent on work participation. The contextual meaning and sociological significance of work as investigated in this paper show that the Yorubas concept of work is daily applied variously in both their material and non-material cultural undertakings to influence individual and group for effective participation in productive ventures for overall social well-being. The Yoruba use all forms of training method which could be adopted by adult educators as pathways to increase individual’s work participation and to improve productivity in work organizations.The paper found out that in the Yoruba socio cultural milieu, the meanings, conceptions and the importance attached to work are used as method of inculcating in members of society the spirit of commitment and hard-work and the advantages thereof. Yoruba contexts of work are geared towards enhancement of commitment, diligence and improved productivity on-the-job behaviour. The paper, therefore, submits that using the Yoruba’s conceptions of work could enhance commitment on the parts of all those engaged in production of goods and services. The paper also suggests that the Yoruba principle and perception and application of work could be used as one of the training techniques in industrial education, which is a major aspect of adult education programmes for inculcating ethics in the workplace. Thus, effort should be made to embrace the Yoruba conception and tenet of work by all stakeholders such as the workers, group (Union), managers and the society at large. Such principles and tenet of work should be included in industrial education curriculum.

Keywords: work, contextual meaning, sociological significance, Yoruba-people, social milieu, productivity

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Authors: Vilma Zydziunaite, Gitana Balezentiene, Vilma Zydziunaite

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Teaching is one of most responsible profession, and it is not only a job of an artisan. This profes-sion needs a developed ability to identify oneself with the chosen teaching profession. Research questions: How teachers characterize their authentic individual professional identity? What factors teachers exclude, which support and limit the professional identity? Aim was to develop the grounded theory (GT) about teacher’s professional identity (TPI). Research methodology is based on Charmaz GT version. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with the he sample of 12 teachers. Findings. 15 extracted categories revealed that the core of TPI is teacher’s professional calling. Premises of TPI are family support, motives for choos-ing teacher’s profession, teacher’s didactic competence. Context of TPI consists of teacher compli-ance with the profession, purposeful preparation for pedagogical studies, professional growth. The strategy of TPI is based on teacher relationship with school community strengthening. The profes-sional frustration limits the TPI. TPI outcome includes teacher recognition, authority; professional mastership, professionalism, professional satisfaction. Dimensions of TPI GT the past (reaching teacher’s profession), present (teacher’s commitment to professional activity) and future (teacher’s profession reconsideration). Conclusions. The substantive GT describes professional identity as complex, changing and life-long process, which develops together with teacher’s personal identity and is connected to professional activity. The professional decision "to be a teacher" is determined by the interaction of internal (professional vocation, personal characteristics, values, self-image, talents, abilities) and external (family, friends, school community, labor market, working condi-tions) factors. The dimensions of the TPI development includes: the past (the pursuit of the teaching profession), the present (the teacher's commitment to professional activity) and the future (the revi-sion of the teaching profession). A significant connection emerged - as the teacher's professional commitment strengthens (creating a self-image, growing the teacher's professional experience, recognition, professionalism, mastery, satisfaction with pedagogical activity), the dimension of re-thinking the teacher's profession weakens. This proves that professional identity occupies an im-portant place in a teacher's life and it affects his professional success and job satisfaction. Teachers singled out the main factors supporting a teacher's professional identity: their own self-image per-ception, professional vocation, positive personal qualities, internal motivation, teacher recognition, confidence in choosing a teaching profession, job satisfaction, professional knowledge, professional growth, good relations with the school community, pleasant experiences, quality education process, excellent student achievements.

Keywords: grounded theory, teacher professional identity, semi-structured interview, school, students, school community, family

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Musa Miah

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Society and social activities are directly governed by political sociology. Political sociology has an impact on the whole of human society, the interrelationships of people in society, social responsibilities and duties, the nature of society, society and culture of different countries, conducting social activities, social change and social development. Through this, the correct knowledge and decision are made by analyzing the complexities of society in different ways. In modern civilized society, people need to get accurate knowledge about how they live, their behavior, customs and principles. The need for political sociology is undeniable, even if new plans are to be adopted for the development of society. The importance of practicing political sociology is immense if any country, nation, or society is to move forward on the path of sustainable development. Research has shown that political sociology is an essential aspect of the social impact of development, sociological analysis of poverty or underdevelopment, development of human values in individual life. The importance of political sociology for knowing the overall aspect of society is undeniable. Because, to know about social problems, to identify social problems, to find the cause of any social problem, one needs to know political sociology. Apart from knowing about the class structure of the society, people of different classes and professions live in the society. It is possible to gain knowledge about. He is also involved in various societies, communities and groups in the country and abroad. Therefore, research has shown that in order to successfully solve any task of the society, it is necessary to know the society in full. Media Studies: Media studies are directly related to socialization. Media strategy has had a positive impact on the management and direction of society. At present, Media Studies in Bangladesh is working towards providing opportunities for up-to-date and quality higher education. Introduced Department of Journalism, Communication and Media Studies in different universities of Bangladesh. The department has gained immense popularity since its inception. Here the top degree holders, as well as eminent editors, senior journalists, writers and researchers, are giving their opinions. Now there is ample scope for research in newspapers, magazines, radio, television and online media as well as outside of work as an advertising-documentary filmmaker or in domestic and foreign NGOs or other corporate organizations. According to the study, media studies have had a positive impact on the media in Bangladesh, especially television channels, the expansion and development of online media and the creation of clear ideas about communication, journalism and the media. Workshops, seminars and discussions are being held on contemporary national and international issues in addition to theoretical concepts. Journalism, communication and mass media are quite exceptional and challenging compared to the traditional subjects considering the present times. In this regard, there is a unique opportunity to build a modern society with taste and personality without mere employment.

Keywords: Bangladesh, Dhaka, social activities, political sociology

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Authors: Emma Van Schie

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The purpose of this study is to use mixed methods research to create typologies of the performance of firms in the cotton-to-clothing value chain in Zimbabwe, and to use these typologies to achieve the objective of adding to the small pool of studies on Sub-Saharan African value chains performing in the context of economic liberalisation and achieving development. The uptake of economic liberalisation measures across Sub-Saharan Africa has led to the restructuring of many value chains. While this action has resulted in some African economies positively reintegrating into global commodity chains, it has also been deeply problematic for the development impacts of the majority of others. Over and above this, these nations have been placed at a disadvantage due to the fact that there is little scholarly and policy research on approaches for managing economic liberalisation and value chain development in the unique African context. As such, the central question facing these less successful cases is how they can integrate into the world economy whilst still fostering their development. This paper draws from quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interviews with 28 stakeholders in the cotton-to-clothing value chain in Zimbabwe. This paper examines the performance of firms in the value chain, and the subsequent local socio-economic development impacts that are affected by the revival of the cotton-to-clothing value chain following its collapse in the wake of Zimbabwe’s uptake of economic liberalisation measures. Firstly, the paper finds the relatively undocumented characteristics and structures of firms in the value chain in the post-economic liberalisation era. As well as this, it finds typologies of the status of firms as either being in operation, closed down, or being placed under judicial management and the common characteristics that these typologies hold. The key findings show how a mixture of macro and local level aspects, such as value chain governance and the management structure of a business, leads to the most successful typology that is able to add value to the chain in the context of economic liberalisation, and thus unlock its socioeconomic development potential. These typologies are used in making industry and policy recommendations on achieving this balance between the macro and the local level, as well as recommendations for further academic research for more typologies and models on the case of cotton value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so, this study adds to the small collection of academic evidence and policy recommendations for the challenges that African nations face when trying to incorporate into global commodity chains in attempts to benefit from their associated socioeconomic development opportunities.

Keywords: cotton-to-clothing value chain, economic liberalisation, restructuring value chain, typologies of firms, value chain governance, Zimbabwe

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: M. Aboalazayem, Essam A. Gouda, Ahmed M. Moussa, Amr E. Flifl

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Field data collecting is considered one of the most difficult work due to the difficulty of accessing large zones such as large lakes. Also, it is well known that the cost of obtaining field data is very expensive. Remotely monitoring of lake water quality (WQ) provides an economically feasible approach comparing to field data collection. Researchers have shown that lake WQ can be properly monitored via Remote sensing (RS) analyses. Using satellite images as a method of WQ detection provides a realistic technique to measure quality parameters across huge areas. Landsat (LS) data provides full free access to often occurring and repeating satellite photos. This enables researchers to undertake large-scale temporal comparisons of parameters related to lake WQ. Satellite measurements have been extensively utilized to develop algorithms for predicting critical water quality parameters (WQPs). The goal of this paper is to use RS to derive WQ indicators in Aswan High Dam Reservoir (AHDR), which is considered Egypt's primary and strategic reservoir of freshwater. This study focuses on using Landsat8 (L-8) band surface reflectance (SR) observations to predict water-quality characteristics which are limited to Turbidity (TUR), total suspended solids (TSS), and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a). ArcGIS pro is used to retrieve L-8 SR data for the study region. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to derive new correlations between observed optical water-quality indicators in April and L-8 SR which were atmospherically corrected by values of various bands, band ratios, and or combinations. Field measurements taken in the month of May were used to validate WQP obtained from SR data of L-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) satellite. The findings demonstrate a strong correlation between indicators of WQ and L-8 .For TUR, the best validation correlation with OLI SR bands blue, green, and red, were derived with high values of Coefficient of correlation (R2) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) equal 0.96 and 3.1 NTU, respectively. For TSS, Two equations were strongly correlated and verified with band ratios and combinations. A logarithm of the ratio of blue and green SR was determined to be the best performing model with values of R2 and RMSE equal to 0.9861 and 1.84 mg/l, respectively. For Chl-a, eight methods were presented for calculating its value within the study area. A mix of blue, red, shortwave infrared 1(SWR1) and panchromatic SR yielded the greatest validation results with values of R2 and RMSE equal 0.98 and 1.4 mg/l, respectively.

Keywords: remote sensing, landsat 8, nasser lake, water quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Jessica A. Hellings, Piyushkumar Jani

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Background: Systemic autoimmune disorders are increasingly implicated in neuropsychiatric illness, especially in the setting of treatment resistance in individuals of all ages. Gluten allergy in fullest extent results in celiac disease, affecting multiple organs including central nervous system (CNS). Clinicians often lack awareness of the association between neuropsychiatric illness and gluten allergy, partly since many such research studies are published in immunology and gastroenterology journals. Methods: Following a Pubmed literature search and online searches on celiac disease websites, 40 articles are critically reviewed in detail. This work reviews celiac disease, gluten intolerance and current evidence of their relationship to neuropsychiatric and systemic illnesses. The review also covers current work-up and diagnosis, as well as dietary interventions, gluten restriction outcomes, and future research directions. Results: Gluten allergy in susceptible individuals damages the small intestine, producing a leaky gut and malabsorption state, as well as allowing antibodies into the bloodstream, which attack major organs. Lack of amino acid precursors for neurotransmitter synthesis together with antibody-associated brain changes and hypoperfusion may result in neuropsychiatric illness. This is well documented; however, studies in neuropsychiatry are often small. In the large CATIE trial, subjects with schizophrenia had significantly increased antibodies to tissue transglutaminase (TTG), and antigliadin antibodies, both significantly greater gluten antibodies than in control subjects. On later follow up, TTG-6 antibodies were identified in these subjects’ brains but not in their intestines. Significant evidence mostly from small studies also exists for gluten allergy and celiac-related depression, anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, ataxia, and epilepsy. Dietary restriction of gluten resulted in remission in several published cases, including for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Conclusions: Ongoing and larger studies are needed of the diagnosis and treatment efficacy of the gluten-free diet in neuropsychiatric illness. Clinicians should ask about the patient history of anemia, hypothyroidism, irritable bowel syndrome and family history of benefit from the gluten-free diet, not limited to but especially in cases of treatment resistance. Obtaining gluten antibodies by a simple blood test, and referral for gastrointestinal work-up in positive cases should be considered.

Keywords: celiac, gluten, neuropsychiatric, translational

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Bambi Ward

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Children of Holocaust survivors have been described as inheriting their parents’ trauma as a result of ‘vicarious memory’. The term refers to a process whereby second generation Holocaust survivors subconsciously remember aspects of Holocaust trauma, despite not having directly experienced it. This can occur even when there has been a conspiracy of silence in which survivors chose not to discuss the Holocaust with their children. There are still people born in various parts of the world such as Poland, Hungary, other parts of Europe, USA, Canada and Australia, who have only learnt of their Jewish roots as adults. This discovery may occur during a parent’s deathbed confession, or when an adult child is sorting through the personal belongings of a deceased family member. Some Holocaust survivors chose to deny their Jewish heritage and raise their children as Christians. Reasons for this decision include the trauma experienced during the Holocaust for simply being Jewish, the existence of anti-Semitism, and the desire to protect one’s self and one’s family. Although there has been considerable literature written about the transgenerational impact of trauma on children of Holocaust survivors, there has been little scholarly investigation into the effects of a hidden Jewish identity on these children. This paper presents a case study of an adult child of Hungarian Holocaust survivors who was raised as a Christian. At the age of eight she was told about her family’s Jewish background, but her parents insisted that she keep this a secret, even if asked directly. She honoured their request until she turned forty. By that time she had started the challenging process of reclaiming her Jewish identity. The paper outlines the tension between family loyalty and individual freedom, and discusses the role that art and art therapy played in assisting the subject of the case study to reclaim her Jewish identity and commence writing a memoir about her spiritual journey. The main methodology used in this case study is creative practice-led research. Particular attention is paid to the utilisation of an autoethnographic approach. The autoethnographic tools used include reflective journals of the subject of the case study. These journals reflect on the subject’s collection of autobiographical data relating to her family history, and include memories, drawings, products of art therapy, diaries, letters, photographs, home movies, objects, and oral history interviews with her mother. The case study illustrates how art and art therapy benefitted a second generation Holocaust survivor who was brought up having to suppress her Jewish identity. The process allowed her to express subconscious thoughts and feelings about her identity and free herself from the burden of the long term secret she had been carrying. The process described may also be of assistance to other traumatised people who have been trying to break the silence and who are seeking to express themselves in a positive and healing way.

Keywords: art, hidden identity, holocaust, silence

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Fuseina Mahama, Lieselot Vanhaverbeke

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This research investigates the impact of patronage determinants on the distance consumers are willing to travel to patronize a tire shop. Although store patronage has been acknowledged as an important domain and has received substantial research interest, most of the studies so far conducted focus on grocery retail, leaving other categories of goods widely unexplored. In this study, we focus on car tires and provide a new perspective to the specific factors that influence tire shop patronage. An online survey of consumers’ tyre purchasing behaviour was conducted among private car owners in Belgium. A sample of 864 respondents was used in the study, with almost four out of five of them being male. 84% of the respondents had purchased a car tyre in the last 24 months and on average travelled 22.4kms to patronise a tyre shop. We tested the direct and mediated effects of store choice determinants on distance consumers are willing to travel. All hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Our findings show that with an increase in the consumer’s age the distance they were willing to travel to a tire shop decreased. Similarly, consumers who deemed proximity an important determinant of a tire shop our findings confirmed a negative effect on willingness to travel. On the other hand, the determinants price, personal contact and professionalism all had a positive effect on distance. This means that consumers actively sought out tire shops with these characteristics and were willing to travel longer distances in order to visit them. The indirect effects of the determinants flexible opening hours, family recommendation, dealer reputation, receiving auto service at home and availability of preferred brand on distance are mediated by dealer trust. Gender had a minimal effect on distance, with females exhibiting a stronger relation in terms of dealer trust as compared to males. Overall, we found that market relevant factors were better predictors of distance; and proximity, dealer trust and professionalism have the most profound effects on distance that consumers are willing to travel. This is related to the fact that the nature of shopping goods (among which are car tires) typically reinforces consumers to be more engaged in the shopping process, therefore factors that have to do with the store (e.g. location) and shopping process play a key role in store choice decision. These findings are very specific to shopping goods and cannot be generalized to other categories of goods. For marketers and retailers these findings can have direct implications on their location strategies. The factors found to be relevant to tire shop patronage will be used in our next study to calibrate a location model to be utilised to identify the optimum location for siting new tyre shop outlets and service centres.

Keywords: dealer trust, distance to store, tire store patronage, willingness to travel

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Ye Sun, Han-Youl Lee, Kathy Musa-Veloso, Nabil Bosco

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Japan has been experiencing global ageing of population with the World’s leading life expectancy (80.8 y for men and 86.9 y for women) and among the lowest birth rate. Preventive nutrition-based approaches have been identified by the health authorities as one of the strategies to increase the healthy life expectancy and reduce the healthcare costs. However, the nutritional needs and status of the senior population have not been well characterized to provide targeted solutions. This study aims to describe the age- and gender-specific prevalence of inadequacy of macro- and micronutrients intake based on the latest Japan National Health and Nutrition Survey (JNHNS) 2014. JNHNS collected data on the consumption of foods and beverages using 1-day semi-weight household dietary record. Nutrient intake levels were then calculated using the Japanese standard tables of food composition. Where applicable, Japanese population-specific estimated average requirements (EAR) were used as a benchmark to determine the prevalence of potential nutrient intake inadequacy, and adequate intake (AI) were used for nutrients with no available EARs. In all, 3403 senior adults aged 60 y and above and 3324 young adults aged 19 to 59 y were included in the 2014 JNHNS. Age- and gender-specific differences were observed in the mean nutrient intakes as well as the prevalence of inadequacy. Among the 22 nutrients examined, the prevalence of inadequacy for iron, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and folic acid in the senior adults was significantly lower than young adults, suggesting potentially healthier dietary choices by the seniors. However, there was still a considerable proportion of seniors who did not meet the requirement for key nutrients like vitamin B1 (67%), calcium (57%), vitamin A (48%), magnesium (47%), vitamin E (44%), and vitamin B6 (41%). Inadequate nutrient intake is generally more prevalent among elderly males than females for many nutrients, with the exception of iron (prevalence of inadequacy: 21% versus 42%) which could partly be explained by the higher intake recommendations for the females. In conclusion, high prevalence of nutrient inadequacy exists in older adults, with a potentially worsened picture for men. Such inadequacies could have multiple health implications including physical frailty and mental health. Further study is warranted to investigate the food consumption patterns that could explain the observed nutrient inadequacies, and to eventually develop nutrition-based solutions tailored to the needs of specific subgroups of the population.

Keywords: ageing, national health and nutrition survey, nutrients, nutrition

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Yi Li, Yinan Zheng, Ya Ke, Yungwing Ho

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Motor learning is a process that frequently happens among humans and rodents, which is defined as the changes in the capability to perform a skill that is conformed to have a relatively permanent improvement through practice or experience. There are many ways to learn a behavior, among which is observational learning. Observational learning is the process of learning by watching the behaviors of others, for example, a child imitating parents, learning a new sport by watching the training videos or solving puzzles by watching the solutions. Many research explores observational learning in humans and primates. However, the neuronal mechanism of which, especially observational motor learning, was uncertain. It’s well accepted that mirror neurons are essential in the observational learning process. These neurons fire when the primate performs a goal-directed action and sees someone else demonstrating the same action, which suggests they have high firing activity both completing and watching the behavior. The mirror neurons are assumed to mediate imitation or play a critical and fundamental role in action understanding. They are distributed in many brain areas of primates, i.e., posterior parietal cortex (PPC), premotor cortex (M2), and primary motor cortex (M1) of the macaque brain. However, few researchers report the existence of mirror neurons in rodents. To verify the existence of mirror neurons and the possible role in motor learning in rodents, we performed customised string-pulling behavior combined with multiple behavior analysis methods, photometry, electrophysiology recording, c-fos staining and optogenetics in healthy mice. After five days of training, the demonstrator (demo) mice showed a significantly quicker response and shorter time to reach the string; fast, steady and accurate performance to pull down the string; and more precisely grasping the beads. During three days of observation, the mice showed more facial motions when the demo mice performed behaviors. On the first training day, the observer reduced the number of trials to find and pull the string. However, the time to find beads and pull down string were unchanged in the successful attempts on the first day and other training days, which indicated successful action understanding but failed motor learning through observation in mice. After observation, the post-hoc staining revealed that the c-fos expression was increased in the cognitive-related brain areas (medial prefrontal cortex) and motor cortices (M1, M2). In conclusion, this project indicated that the observation led to a better understanding of behaviors and activated the cognitive and motor-related brain areas, which suggested the possible existence of mirror neurons in these brain areas.

Keywords: observation, motor learning, string-pulling behavior, prefrontal cortex, motor cortex, cognitive

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Authors: Omer Zvi Shaked, Amir Tirosh

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Type 1 Diabetes (T1DM) is an incurable chronic illness with no known preventive measures. Excess to insulin therapy can lead to hypoglycemia with neuro-glycogenic symptoms such as shakiness, nausea, sweating, irritability, fatigue, excessive thirst or hunger, weakness, seizure, and coma. Severe Hypoglycemia (SH) is also considered a most aversive event since it may put patients at risk for injury and death, which matches the criteria of a traumatic event. SH has a ranging prevalence of 20%, which makes it a primary medical Issue. One of the results of SH is an intense emotional fear reaction resembling the form of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTS), causing many patients to avoid insulin therapy and social activities in order to avoid the possibility of hypoglycemia. As a result, they are at risk for irreversible health deterioration and medical complications. Fear of Hypoglycemia (FOH) is, therefore, a major disturbance for T1DM patients. FOH differs from prevalent post-traumatic stress reactions to other forms of traumatic events since the threat to life continuously exists in the patient's body. That is, it is highly probable that orthodox interventions may not be sufficient for helping patients after SH to regain healthy social function and proper medical treatment. Accordingly, the current presentation will demonstrate the results of a study conducted among T1DM patients after SH. The study was designed in two stages. First, a preliminary qualitative phenomenological study among ten patients after SH was conducted. Analysis revealed that after SH, patients confuse between stress symptoms and Hypoglycemia symptoms, divide life before and after the event, report a constant sense of fear, a loss of freedom, a significant decrease in social functioning, a catastrophic thinking pattern, a dichotomous split between the self and the body, and internalization of illness identity, a loss of internal locus of control, a damaged self-representation, and severe loneliness for never being understood by others. The second stage was a two steps study of intervention among five patients after SH. The first part of the intervention included three months of therapeutic 3rd wave CBT therapy. The contents of the therapeutic process were: acceptance of fear and tolerance to stress; cognitive de-fusion combined with emotional self-regulation; the adoption of an active position relying on personal values; and self-compassion. Then, the intervention included a one-week practical real-time 24/7 support by trained medical personnel, alongside a gradual exposure to increased insulin therapy in a protected environment. The results of the intervention are a decrease in stress symptoms, increased social functioning, increased well-being, and decreased avoidance of medical treatment. The presentation will discuss the unique emotional state of T1DM patients after SH. Then, the presentation will discuss the effectiveness of the intervention for patients with chronic conditions after a traumatic event. The presentation will make evident the unique situation of illness-related PTSD. The presentation will also demonstrate the requirement for multi-professional collaboration between social work and medical care for populations with chronic medical conditions. Limitations of the study and recommendations for further research will be discussed.

Keywords: type 1 diabetes, chronic illness, post-traumatic stress, illness-related PTSD

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Authors: Triveni Gogoi, Rima Chatterjee

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Shear wave velocity (Vs) estimation is an important approach in the seismic exploration and characterization of a hydrocarbon reservoir. There are varying methods for prediction of S-wave velocity, if recorded S-wave log is not available. But all the available methods for Vs prediction are empirical mathematical models. Shear wave velocity can be estimated using P-wave velocity by applying Castagna’s equation, which is the most common approach. The constants used in Castagna’s equation vary for different lithologies and geological set-ups. In this study, multiple regression analysis has been used for estimation of S-wave velocity. The EMERGE module from Hampson-Russel software has been used here for generation of S-wave log. Both single attribute and multi attributes analysis have been carried out for generation of synthetic S-wave log in Upper Assam basin. Upper Assam basin situated in North Eastern India is one of the most important petroleum provinces of India. The present study was carried out using four wells of the study area. Out of these wells, S-wave velocity was available for three wells. The main objective of the present study is a prediction of shear wave velocities for wells where S-wave velocity information is not available. The three wells having S-wave velocity were first used to test the reliability of the method and the generated S-wave log was compared with actual S-wave log. Single attribute analysis has been carried out for these three wells within the depth range 1700-2100m, which corresponds to Barail group of Oligocene age. The Barail Group is the main target zone in this study, which is the primary producing reservoir of the basin. A system generated list of attributes with varying degrees of correlation appeared and the attribute with the highest correlation was concerned for the single attribute analysis. Crossplot between the attributes shows the variation of points from line of best fit. The final result of the analysis was compared with the available S-wave log, which shows a good visual fit with a correlation of 72%. Next multi-attribute analysis has been carried out for the same data using all the wells within the same analysis window. A high correlation of 85% has been observed between the output log from the analysis and the recorded S-wave. The almost perfect fit between the synthetic S-wave and the recorded S-wave log validates the reliability of the method. For further authentication, the generated S-wave data from the wells have been tied to the seismic and correlated them. Synthetic share wave log has been generated for the well M2 where S-wave is not available and it shows a good correlation with the seismic. Neutron porosity, density, AI and P-wave velocity are proved to be the most significant variables in this statistical method for S-wave generation. Multilinear regression method thus can be considered as a reliable technique for generation of shear wave velocity log in this study.

Keywords: Castagna's equation, multi linear regression, multi attribute analysis, shear wave logs

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Authors: O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, J. Fischer, C. Lautenbach, H. A. Pant

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In 21st century higher education (HE), the diversity among students has increased in recent years due to the internationalization and higher mobility. Offering and providing equal and fair opportunities based on students’ individual skills and abilities instead of their social or cultural background is one of the major aims of HE. In this context, valid, objective and transparent assessments of students’ preconditions and academic competencies in HE are required. However, as analyses of the current states of research and practice show, a substantial research gap on assessment practices in HE still exists, calling for the development of effective solutions. These demands lead to significant conceptual and methodological challenges. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the research program 'Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education – Validation and Methodological Challenges' (KoKoHs) focusses on addressing these challenges in HE assessment practice by modeling and validating objective test instruments. Including 16 cross-university collaborative projects, the German-wide research program contributes to bridging the research gap in current assessment research and practice by concentrating on practical and policy-related challenges of assessment in HE. In this paper, we present a differentiated overview of existing assessments of HE at the national and international level. Based on the state of research, we describe the theoretical and conceptual framework of the KoKoHs Program as well as results of the validation studies, including their key outcomes. More precisely, this includes an insight into more than 40 developed assessments covering a broad range of transparent and objective methods for validly measuring domain-specific and generic knowledge and skills for five major study areas (Economics, Social Science, Teacher Education, Medicine and Psychology). Computer-, video- and simulation-based instruments have been applied and validated to measure over 20,000 students at the beginning, middle and end of their (bachelor and master) studies at more than 300 HE institutions throughout Germany or during their practical training phase, traineeship or occupation. Focussing on the validity of the assessments, all test instruments have been analyzed comprehensively, using a broad range of methods and observing the validity criteria of the Standards for Psychological and Educational Testing developed by the American Educational Research Association, the American Economic Association and the National Council on Measurement. The results of the developed assessments presented in this paper, provide valuable outcomes to predict students’ skills and abilities at the beginning and the end of their studies as well as their learning development and performance. This allows for a differentiated view of the diversity among students. Based on the given research results practical implications and recommendations are formulated. In particular, appropriate and effective learning opportunities for students can be created to support the learning development of students, promote their individual potential and reduce knowledge and skill gaps. Overall, the presented research on competency assessment is highly relevant to national and international HE practice.

Keywords: 21st century skills, academic competencies, innovative assessments, KoKoHs

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Authors: Hamsasew Hankebo Lemago, Dóra Hessz, Zoltán Erdélyi, Imre Miklós Szilágyi

Abstract:

Metal oxide inverse opals are a unique class of photocatalysts with a hierarchical structure that mimics the natural opal gemstone. They are composed of a network of interconnected pores, which provides a large surface area and efficient pathways for the transport of light and reactants. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a versatile technique for the synthesis of high-precision metal oxide thin films, including inverse opals. ALD allows for precise control over the thickness, composition, and morphology of the synthesized films, making it an ideal technique for the fabrication of photocatalysts with tailored properties. In this study, we report the synthesis of TiO2, ZnO, and Al2O3 inverse opal photocatalysts using thermal or plasma-enhanced ALD. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized using a variety of techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL), ellipsometry, and UV-visible spectroscopy. The results showed that the ALD-synthesized metal oxide inverse opals had a highly ordered structure and a tunable pore size. The PL spectroscopy results showed low recombination rates of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, while the ellipsometry and UV-visible spectroscopy results showed tunable optical properties and band gap energies. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the ALD-synthesized metal oxide inverse opals exhibited high photocatalytic activity, even under visible light irradiation. The composites photocatalysts showed even higher activity than the individual metal oxide inverse opals. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the composites can be attributed to the synergistic effect between the different metal oxides. For example, Al2O3 can act as a charge carrier scavenger, which can reduce the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The ALD-synthesized metal oxide inverse opals and their composites are promising photocatalysts for a variety of applications, such as wastewater treatment, air purification, and energy production. For example, they can be used to remove organic pollutants from wastewater, decompose harmful gases in the air, and produce hydrogen fuel from water.

Keywords: ALD, metal oxide inverse opals, composites, photocatalysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 79