Search results for: human capital accumulation

Authors: Andrea Vega-Tinoco, Ana I. Gil-Lacruz, Marta Gil-Lacruz

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The main objective of this research is to acknowledge whether civic participation affects the well-being of the elderly, thus being a key activity of active aging. It is also of interest to recognize any differences among genders, generational cohorts or country of residence. If a positive relationship is found between civic participation and well-being, the actions that promote this participation will benefit the quality of life of senior citizens. Otherwise, independent action must be taken in the improvement of social and human capital. The sample consists of approximately 50.000 individuals from the European Social Survey (2002-2016). Only individuals born before 1965 in 15 European countries were considered. The sample was distributed according to gender, year of birth, country, level of studies and ESS wave to form pseudo-panel data cohorts, leaving a total of 1.318 observations. The data were analyzed through a Cross-Lagged Model using Fixed-Effects. A bidirectional association is observed between the civic participation and well-being variables. However, participating in the past seems to have a higher impact on today’s health, happiness and life satisfaction than the other way around. Furthermore, 26% of the respondents expressed to be satisfied with their life, 27% to be happy and 57% to have good health. On the other hand, 49% have participated civically in the last year, being the most common activities: signing petitions, boycotting products and volunteer work in non-political organizations. A slight trend of BabyBoomers and men towards greater participation can be observed, as well as a higher impact of this participation on their well-being. In addition, international differences exhibit a stronger relation for Nordic, East European and Mediterranean countries. The given results support the hypothesis that civic participation is a promoter of well-being for the elderly. This paper positively highlights the activity of involving in political and non-political organizations, as well as wearing badges. At any rate, almost all forms of civic participation show a positive relationship with well-being and should therefore be promoted, although differences between countries must be taken into consideration.

Keywords: active aging, civic participation, Europe, well-being

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Authors: Mohd Farooq Naqshbandi

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The four fractions of aqueous extract of Sesame Seeds (Sesamum indicum L.) were studied for invitro DNA fragmentation, cell migration, and cellular apoptosis on SW480 and HTC116 human colorectal cancer cell lines. The seeds of Sesamum indicum were extracted with six solvents, including Methanol, Ethanol, Aqueous, Chloroform, Acetonitrile, and Hexane. The aqueous extract (IC₅₀ value 154 µg/ml) was found to be the most active in terms of cytotoxicity with SW480 human colorectal cancer cell lines. Further fractionation of this aqueous extract on flash chromatography gave four fractions. These four fractions were studied for anticancer and DNA binding studies. Cell viability was assessed by colorimetric assay (MTT). IC₅₀ values for all these four fractions ranged from 137 to 548 µg/mL for the HTC116 cancer cell line and 141 to 402 µg/mL for the SW480 cancer cell line. The four fractions showed good anticancer and DNA binding properties. The DNA binding constants ranged from 10.4 ×10⁴ 5 to 28.7 ×10⁴, showing good interactions with DNA. The DNA binding interactions were due to intercalative and π-π electron forces. The results indicate that aqueous extract fractions of sesame showed inhibition of cell migration of SW480 and HTC116 human colorectal cancer cell lines and induced DNA fragmentation and apoptosis. This was demonstrated by calculating the low wound closure percentage in cells treated with these fractions as compared to the control (80%). Morphological features of nuclei of cells treated with fractions revealed chromatin compression, nuclear shrinkage, and apoptotic body formation, which indicate cell death by apoptosis. The flow cytometer of fraction-treated cells of SW480 and HTC116 human colorectal cancer cell lines revealed death due to apoptosis. The results of the study indicate that aqueous extract of sesame seeds may be used to treat colorectal cancer.

Keywords: Sesamum indicum, cell migration inhibition, apoptosis induction, anticancer activity, colorectal cancer

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Authors: Nur Iman Subono, Meidi Kosandi

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This paper examines the role of regional cooperation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the fight against human trafficking for Indonesia. Many among scholars suggest that regional cooperation is necessary for combating human trafficking for its transnational and organized character as a crime against humanity. ASEAN members have been collectively active in responding transnational security issues with series of talks and collaboration agreement since early 2000s. Lately in 2015, ASEAN agreed on ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, particularly Women and Children (ACTIP) that requires each member to collaborate in information sharing and providing effective safeguard and protection of victims. Yet, the frequency of human trafficking crime occurrence remains high and tend to increase in Indonesian in 2017-2018. The objective of this paper is to examine the effectiveness and success of ACTIP implementation in the fight against human trafficking in Indonesia. Based on two years of research (2017-2018) in three provinces with the largest number of victims in Indonesia, this paper shows the tendency of persisting crime despite the implementation of regional and national anti-trafficking policies. The research was conducted by archive study, literature study, discourse analysis, and depth interviews with local government officials, police, prosecutors, victims, and traffickers. This paper argues that the relative success of ASEAN in establishing convention at the high-level meetings has not been followed with the success in its implementation in the society. Three main factors have contributed to the ineffectiveness of the agreements, i.e. (1) ASEAN institutional arrangement as a collection of sovereign states instead of supranational organization with binding authority; (2) the lack of commitment of ASEAN sovereign member-states to the agreements; and (3) the complexity and variety of the nature of the crime in each member-state. In effect, these factors have contributed to generating the regionalism paradox in ASEAN where states tend to revert to national policies instead of seeking regional collective solution.

Keywords: human trafficking, transnational security, regionalism, anti trafficking policy

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Authors: Kriyapa lairungruang, Arunporn Itharat

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Limonia acidissima L. (LA) (Common name: wood apple, Thai name: ma-khwit) is a medicinal plant which has long been used in Thai traditional medicine. Its bark is used for treatment of diarrhea, abscess, wound healing and inflammation and it is also used in oral cancer. Thus, this research aimed to investigate antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the LA bark extracts produced by various extraction methods. Different extraction procedures were used to extract LA bark for biological activity testing: boiling in water, maceration with 95% ethanol, maceration with 50% ethanol and water boiling of each the 95% and the 50% ethanolic residues. All extracts were tested for antioxidant activity using DPPH radical scavenging assay, cytotoxic activity against human laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma (HEp-2) cells and human oral epidermoid carcinoma (KB) cells using sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. The results found that the 95% ethanolic extract of LA bark showed the highest antioxidant activity with EC50 values of 29.76±1.88 µg/ml. For cytotoxic activity, the 50% ethanolic extract showed the best cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and KB cells with IC50 values of 9.55±1.68 and 18.90±0.86 µg/ml, respectively. This study demonstrated that the 95% ethanolic extract of LA bark showed moderate antioxidant activity and the 50% ethanolic extract provided potent cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and KB cells. These results confirm the traditional use of LA for the treatment of oral cancer and laryngeal cancer, and also support its ongoing use.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, cytotoxic activity, Laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma, Limonia acidissima L., oral epidermoid carcinoma

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Authors: Ramón Aparicio-García, Gustavo Juárez Gracia, Jesús Álvarez Cedillo

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A research line of the computer science that involve the study of the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), which search to recognize and interpret the user intent by the storage and the subsequent analysis of the electrical signals of the brain, for using them in the control of electronic devices. On the other hand, the affective computing research applies the human emotions in the HCI process helping to reduce the user frustration. This paper shows the results obtained during the hardware and software development of a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) capable of recognizing the human emotions through the association of the brain electrical activity patterns. The hardware involves the sensing stage and analogical-digital conversion. The interface software involves algorithms for pre-processing of the signal in time and frequency analysis and the classification of patterns associated with the electrical brain activity. The methods used for the analysis and classification of the signal have been tested separately, by using a database that is accessible to the public, besides to a comparison among classifiers in order to know the best performing.

Keywords: affective computing, interface, brain, intelligent interaction

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Authors: S. Vaibhav Kant Sahu, Surabhi Bipin Seth

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Human well-being has multiple constituents including the basic material for a good life, freedom and choice, health, good social relations, and security. Poverty is also multidimensional and has been defined as the pronounced deprivation of well-being. Dhurwa tribe of Bastar (India) have symbiotic relation with nature, it provisions ecosystem service such as food, fuel and fiber; regulating services such as climate regulation and non-material benefits such as spiritual or aesthetic benefits and they are managing their forest from ages. The demand for ecosystem services is now so great that trade-off among services become rule. Aim of study to explore evidences for linkages between ecosystem services and well-being of indigenous community, how much it helps them in poverty reduction and interaction between them. Objective of study was to find drivers of change and evidence concerning link between ecosystem, human development and sustainability, evidence in decision making does it opt for multi sectoral objectives. Which means human well-being as the central focus for assessment, while recognizing that biodiversity and ecosystems also have intrinsic value. Ecosystem changes that may have little impact on human well-being over days or weeks may have pronounced impacts over years or decades; so assessments needed to be conducted at spatial and temporal scales under social, political, economic scales to have high-resolution data. Researcher used framework developed by Millennium ecosystem assessment; since human action now directly or unknowingly virtually alter ecosystem. Researcher used ethnography study to get primary qualitative data, secondary data collected from panchayat office. The responses were transcribed and translated into English, as interview held in Hindi and local indigenous language. Focus group discussion were held with group of 10 women at Tiriya village. Researcher concluded with well-being is not just gap between ecosystem service supply but also increases vulnerability. Decision can have consequences external to the decision framework these consequences are called externalities because they are not part of the decision-making calculus.

Keywords: Bastar, Dhurwa tribe, ecosystem services, millennium ecosystem assessment, sustainability

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Authors: Sitaram Dahal

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Sustainable Development, a universal need for the present generation and the future generation, is an accepted way to assure intra and inter-generational equity. International movements like Rio Earth Summit 1992, Stockholm Conference 1972, Kyoto Protocol, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proclaim the need of sustainable globe. The socio- economic disparity prevailing in the society shows that the indigenous peoples are living life far below poverty line. These indigenous people, aboriginal social groups sharing common cultural values and with a unique identity, are away from development being merely focused on the growth. Though studies suggest that most of the indigenous practices are often environment-friendly, alert about the plunging trend of the practices. This study explores the trend of intergenerational transmission of indigenous profession of pottery making of Kumal community (Meghauli Village Development Committee of Chitwan district) and factors affecting the trend. The SD indicators - contribution of IP to well-being of pottery makers had been query in the study. The study reveals that the pottery making profession can stand sustainable in terms of environment and socio-economic capital compared to modern technologies. However, the number of practitioners has been decreasing and youths hardly show interest to continue their indigenous profession. The new generations are not in a stage of accepting pottery in complete profession, that challenges the social and cultural sustainability of the profession. Indigenous profession demand people investments over modern technology and innovations. The relative investment of human labour is dramatically high with the indigenous profession. In addition, the fashion and innovations of market rule challenge the sustainability of the pottery making profession. The practice is limited to small cluster as a show piece at present. The study illustrates the market driven unsustainability of indigenous profession of Kumal community.

Keywords: professional unsustainability, pottery making, Kumal Community, Indigenous Professoin

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Authors: Christopher Benedikt Jakob

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Human beings are intrigued by luxury watches for decades. It is fascinating that customers pay an enormous amount of money for specific wristwatch models. It is fascinating that customers of the luxury watch industry accept a yearly price increase. This behavior increases their desirability even more. Luxury watches are perceived as status symbols, but they are additionally accepted as a currency without the disadvantage of currency fluctuations. It is obvious that the symbolic value is more important as the functional value with reference to the buying-reasons as regards luxury watches. Nowadays human beings do not need a wristwatch to read the time. Tablets, notebooks, smartphones, the watch in the car and watches on public places are used to inform people about the current time. This is one of the reasons why there is a trend that people do not wear wristwatches anymore. Due to these facts, this study has the intention to give answers to the question why people invest an enormous amount of money on the consumption of luxury watches and why those watches are seen as a status symbol. The study examines why the luxury watch industry records significant growth rates. The self-expression model is used as an appropriate methodology to find reasons why human beings purchase specific luxury watches. This evaluative approach further discusses if human beings are aware of their current self and their ideal self and how they express them. Furthermore, the research critically evaluates the people’s social self and their ideal social self. One of the goals is to identify if customers know why they like specific luxury watches and dislike others although they have the same quality and cost comparable prices.

Keywords: luxury watch, brand awareness, buying-behaviour, consumer, self-expression

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Authors: Kebene K. Wodajo

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The right to development (RTD) has gone through different phases of metamorphoses, from the right to economic growth to full human development. Despite the fact that Africa has taken the lead in articulating and recognizing the RTD in a binding multilateral human rights treaty, realization of the right poses a challenge at the operational level. The challenge is worse in Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly because governments often tend to set economic growth as their ultimate goal, with very little consideration to the local peoples’ welfare in their territory. Ethiopia is not an exception to this. While recording a fast economic growth, yet this has been accompanied by increasing severity of multidimensional poverty. This paper explores the place of the ‘people’ in the development trajectory Ethiopia is pursuing and if and how a right-based approach to development could be brought to practice beyond the rhetoric. By inquiring into the place of the ‘people’, the paper attempts to show whether the people are at the center or at the periphery, beneficiary or victims of the ongoing development. In doing so, it divulges the gulf between the rhetoric and the reality of development practice. By asking/discussing if and how a right-based approach to development could bridge the gap, the paper shows how this approach could translate ‘people’s’ need into right, and recognize them as active subjects and stakeholders of the process of development. As an instance of showing the gap, the paper takes the Lower Omo valley sugar plantation project as a case in point. Through analysis the paper demonstrates that the development trajectory being followed by Ethiopia falls short of fitting into the human development discourse of UN Declaration on the Right to Development (DRD), the African Charter on People and Human Rights (the Charter) and the Ethiopian constitution. The paper argues that Ethiopia’s development efforts must take account of both the constitutive and prescriptive nature of the RTD if social equity is to be met.

Keywords: development, Ethiopia, lower Omo valley, right-based approach, right to development, people, people’s right

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Authors: Aliaa M. Issa, Mahmoud N. ElRouby, Sahar A. S. Ahmad, Mahmoud M. El-Merzabani

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Sider honey is a type of honey produced by bees feeding on the nectar of Sider tree, Ziziphus spina-christi (L) Desf . Honey is an effective agent for preventing, inhibiting and treating the growth of human and animal cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of different dilutions from crude Sider honey and different duration times of exposure on the growth of six tumor cell lines (human cervical cancer cell line, HeLa; human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, HepG-2; human larynx carcinoma cell line, Hep-2; brain tumor cell line, U251) as well as one animal cancerous cell line (Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells line, EAC) and one normal cell line, Homo sapiens, human, (WISH) CCL-25. Different concentrations and treatment durations with Sider honey were tested on the growth of several cancer cell lines types. Histopathological changes in the tumor masses, animal survival, apoptosis and necrosis of the used cancer cell lines (using flow cytometry) were evaluated. Sider honey was administers either to the tumor mass itself by intratumoral injection or via drinking water. One-way ANOVA test was used for the analysis of (the means + standard error) of the optical density obtained from the Elisa reader and flow cytometry. The study revealed that different concentrations of Sider honey affected the growth patterns of all the studied cancer cell lines as well as their histopathological changes, and it depended on the cell line nature and the concentration of honey used. It is obvious that the relative animal survival percentage (bearing Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, EAC cells) was proportionally increased with the increase in the used honey concentrations. The study of apoptosis and necrosis using the flow cytometry technique emphasized the viability results. In conclusion, Sider honey was effective as antitumor agent, in the used concentrations.

Keywords: antitumor, honey, sider, tumor cell lines

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Authors: Giles Balbinotti, Lucas Balbinotti, Paula Hembecker

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The management of the productive process project activities, for the conception of future work and for the financial health of the companies, is an important condition in an organizational model that corroborates the management of the human aspects and their variabilities existing in the work. It is important to seek, at all levels of the organization, understanding and consequent cultural change, and so that factors associated with human aspects are considered and prioritized in the projects. In this scenario, the central question of research for this study is placed from the context of the work, in which the managers and project coordinators are inserted, as follows: How is the top management convinced, in the design stages, to take The ‘Ergonomics’ as strategy for the performance and sustainability of the business? In this perspective, this research has as general objective to analyze how the application of the management of the human aspects in a real project of productive process in the automotive industry, including the activity of the manager and coordinator of the project beyond the strategies of convincing to act in the ergonomics of design. For this, the socio-technical and ergonomic approach is adopted, given its anthropocentric premise in the sense of acting on the social system simultaneously to the technical system, besides the support of the Modapts system that measures the non-value-added times and the correlation with the Critical positions. The methodological approach adopted in this study is based on a review of the literature and the analysis of the activity of the project coordinators of an industry, including the management of human aspects in the context of work variability and the strategies applied in project activities. It was observed in the study that the loss of performance of the serial production lines reaches the important number of the order of 30%, which can make the operation with not value-added, and this loss has as one of the causes, the ergonomic problems present in the professional activity.

Keywords: human aspects in production process project, ergonomics in design, sociotechnical project management, sociotechnical, ergonomic principles, sustainability

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Authors: O. O. Olawusi-Peters, O. E. Aguda, F. O. Okoye

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Investigations on the accumulation of heavy metals in water and sediments of River Ogbese were carried out between December 2010 and February 2011 using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Etheria elliptica a sessile organism was also used to determine the concentration of heavy metal in the aquatic environmental. In water, Cu had the highest concentration (0.55–0.13 mg/l ±0.1) while in sediments, the highest value obtained was in Fe (1.46-3.89mg/l±0.27). The minimum concentrations recorded were in Pb; which was below detectable level. The result also revealed that the shell accumulated more heavy metals than the flesh of the mussel with Cu in the shell exhibiting a negative correlation with all the metals in the flesh. However, the condition factor (K) value is 6.44, an indication of good health. The length-weight relationship is expressed as W=-0.48xL 1.94 (r2=0.29) showing the growth pattern to be negatively allometric.

Keywords: condition factor, Etheria elliptica, heavy metals, River Ogbese

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Authors: A. Ikusika, O. I. Poppola

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This study was carried out to delineate possible structures that may favour the accumulation of tantalite, a magnetic mineral. A ground based technique was employed using proton precision magnetometer G-856 AX. A total of ten geophysical traverses were established in the study area. The acquired magnetic field data were corrected for drift. The trend analysis was adopted to remove the regional gradient from the observed data and the resulting results were presented as profiles. Quantitative interpretation only was adopted to obtain the depth to basement using Peter half slope method. From the geological setting of the area and the information obtained from the magnetic survey, a conclusion can be made that the study area is underlain by a rock unit of accumulated minerals. It is therefore suspected that the overburden is relatively thin within the study area and the metallic minerals are in disseminated quantity and at a shallow depth.

Keywords: basement, drift, magnetic field data, tantalite, traverses

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Authors: Mona Elhelbawy, Mac Gray

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Traditional wired endoscopy is an intrusive process that requires a long flexible tube to be inserted through the patient’s mouth while intravenously sedated. Only images of the upper 4 feet of stomach, colon, and rectum can be captured, leaving the remaining 20 feet of small intestines. Wireless capsule endoscopy offers a painless, non-intrusive, efficient and effective alternative to traditional endoscopy. In wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE), ingestible vitamin-pill-shaped capsules with imaging capabilities, sensors, batteries, and antennas are designed to send images of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in real time. In this paper, we investigate the radiation performance and specific absorption rate (SAR) of a miniature conformal capsule antenna operating at the Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS) frequency band in the human body. We perform numerical simulations using the finite element method based commercial software, high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS) and the ANSYS human body model (HBM). We also investigate the in-body channel characteristics between the implantable capsule and an external antenna placed on the surface of the human body.

Keywords: IEEE 802.15.6, MICS, SAR, WCE

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Authors: Kimberly Samaha

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In order to attract new types of investors into the emerging Bio-Economy, new methodologies to analyze investment risk are needed. The Bio-Hub Ecosystem model was developed to address a critical area of concern within the global energy market regarding the use of biomass as a feedstock for power plants. This study looked at repurposing existing biomass-energy plants into Circular Zero-Waste Bio-Hub Ecosystems. A Bio-Hub model that first targets a ‘whole-tree’ approach and then looks at the circular economics of co-hosting diverse industries (wood processing, aquaculture, agriculture) in the vicinity of the Biomass Power Plants facilities. This study modeled the economics and risk strategies of cradle-to-cradle linkages to incorporate the value-chain effects on capital/operational expenditures and investment risk reductions using a proprietary techno-economic model that incorporates investment risk scenarios utilizing the Monte Carlo methodology. The study calculated the sequential increases in profitability for each additional co-host on an operating forestry-based biomass energy plant in West Enfield, Maine. Phase I starts with the base-line of forestry biomass to electricity only and was built up in stages to include co-hosts of a greenhouse and a land-based shrimp farm. Phase I incorporates CO2 and heat waste streams from the operating power plant in an analysis of lowering and stabilizing the operating costs of the agriculture and aquaculture co-hosts. Phase II analysis incorporated a jet-fuel biorefinery and its secondary slip-stream of biochar which would be developed into two additional bio-products: 1) A soil amendment compost for agriculture and 2) A biochar effluent filter for the aquaculture. The second part of the study applied the Monte Carlo risk methodology to illustrate how co-location derisks investment in an integrated Bio-Hub versus individual investments in stand-alone projects of energy, agriculture or aquaculture. The analyzed scenarios compared reductions in both Capital and Operating Expenditures, which stabilizes profits and reduces the investment risk associated with projects in energy, agriculture, and aquaculture. The major findings of this techno-economic modeling using the Monte Carlo technique resulted in the masterplan for the first Bio-Hub to be built in West Enfield, Maine. In 2018, the site was designated as an economic opportunity zone as part of a Federal Program, which allows for Capital Gains tax benefits for investments on the site. Bioenergy facilities are currently at a critical juncture where they have an opportunity to be repurposed into efficient, profitable and socially responsible investments, or be idled and scrapped. The Bio-hub Ecosystems techno-economic analysis model is a critical model to expedite new standards for investments in circular zero-waste projects. Profitable projects will expedite adoption and advance the critical transition from the current ‘take-make-dispose’ paradigm inherent in the energy, forestry and food industries to a more sustainable Bio-Economy paradigm that supports local and rural communities.

Keywords: bio-economy, investment risk, circular design, economic modelling

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Authors: Masood Varshosaz, Kamyar Hasanpour

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In recent years, we have seen growing interest in recognizing humans in drone images for post-disaster search and rescue operations. Deep learning algorithms have shown great promise in this area, but they often require large amounts of labeled data to train the models. To keep the data acquisition cost low, augmentation techniques can be used to create additional data from existing images. There are many techniques of such that can help generate variations of an original image to improve the performance of deep learning algorithms. While data augmentation is potentially assumed to improve the accuracy and robustness of the models, it is important to ensure that the performance gains are not outweighed by the additional computational cost or complexity of implementing the techniques. To this end, it is important to evaluate the impact of data augmentation on the performance of the deep learning models. In this paper, we evaluated the most currently available 2D data augmentation techniques on a standard convolutional network which was trained for recognizing humans in drone images. The techniques include rotation, scaling, random cropping, flipping, shifting, and their combination. The results showed that the augmented models perform 1-3% better compared to a base network. However, as the augmented images only contain the human parts already visible in the original images, a new data augmentation approach is needed to include the invisible parts of the human body. Thus, we suggest a new method that employs simulated 3D human models to generate new data for training the network.

Keywords: human recognition, deep learning, drones, disaster mitigation

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Authors: Carlos Caro, Ernest Bladé, Pedro Acosta, Camilo Lesmes

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The drying-wet process is one of the topics to be more careful in distributed hydrological modeling using finite volume schemes as a means of solving the equations of Saint Venant. In a hydrologic and hydraulic computer model, surface flow phenomena depend mainly on the different flow accumulation and subsequent runoff generation. These accumulations are generated by routing, cell by cell, from the heights of water, which begin to appear due to the rain at each instant of time. Determine when it is considered a dry cell and when considered wet to include in the full calculation is an issue that directly affects the quantification of direct runoff or generation of flow at the end of a zone of contribution by accumulations flow generated from cells or finite volume.

Keywords: hydrology, transport processes, hydrological modelling, finite volume schemes

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Authors: Jordan Georgiev Deliversky

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Fight against migrant smuggling has been put as a priority issues at the European Union policy agenda for more than a decade. The trafficked person, who has been targeted as the object of criminal exploitation, is specifically unique for human trafficking. Generally, the beginning of human trafficking activities is related to profit from the victim’s exploitation. The objective of this paper is to present measures that could result in the limitation of corruption mainly through analyzing the existing legislation framework against corruption in Europe. The analysis is focused on exploring the multiple origins of factors influencing migration processes in Europe, as corruption could be characterized as one of the most significant reasons for refugees to flee their countries. The main results show that law enforcement must turn the focus on the financing of the organized crime groups that are involved in migrant smuggling activities. Corruption has a significant role in managing smuggling operations and in particular when criminal organizations and networks are involved. Illegal migrants and refugees usually represent significant sources of additional income for officials involved in the process of boarding protection and immigration control within the European Union borders.

Keywords: corruption, influence, human smuggling, legislation, migration

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Authors: Faruk Ortes, Derya Karabulut, Yunus Ziya Arslan

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Myoelectric features gathering from musculature environment are considered on a preferential basis to perceive muscle activation and control human arm prostheses according to recent experimental researches. EMG (electromyography) signal based human arm prostheses have shown a promising performance in terms of providing basic functional requirements of motions for the amputated people in recent years. However, these assistive devices for neurorehabilitation still have important limitations in enabling amputated people to perform rather sophisticated or functional movements. Surface electromyogram (EMG) is used as the control signal to command such devices. This kind of control consists of activating a motion in prosthetic arm using muscle activation for the same particular motion. Extraction of clear and certain neural information from EMG signals plays a major role especially in fine control of hand prosthesis movements. Many signal processing methods have been utilized for feature extraction from EMG signals. The specific objective of this study was to compare widely used time domain features of EMG signal including integrated EMG(IEMG), root mean square (RMS) and waveform length(WL) for prediction of externally applied forces to human hands. Obtained features were classified using artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict the forces. EMG signals supplied to process were recorded during only type of muscle contraction which is isometric and isotonic one. Experiments were performed by three healthy subjects who are right-handed and in a range of 25-35 year-old aging. EMG signals were collected from muscles of the proximal part of the upper body consisting of: biceps brachii, triceps brachii, pectorialis major and trapezius. The force prediction results obtained from the ANN were statistically analyzed and merits and pitfalls of the extracted features were discussed with detail. The obtained results are anticipated to contribute classification process of EMG signal and motion control of powered human arm prosthetics control.

Keywords: assistive devices for neurorehabilitation, electromyography, feature extraction, force estimation, human arm prosthesis

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Authors: Ahmed Elmarhomy, K. Terada

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An automated method for counting passerby has been proposed using virtual-vertical measurement lines. Space-time image is representing the human regions which are treated using the segmentation process. Different color space has been used to perform the template matching. A proper template matching has been achieved to determine direction and speed of passing people. Distinguish one or two passersby has been investigated using a correlation between passerby speed and the human-pixel area. Finally, the effectiveness of the presented method has been experimentally verified.

Keywords: counting people, measurement line, space-time image, segmentation, template matching

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Authors: Tae Jin Choi, Jong Ok Kim, Sang Min Jin, Gilwon Yoon

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Analysis of EEG brainwave provides information on mental or emotional states. One of the particular states that can have various applications in human machine interface (HMI) is concentration. 8-channel EEG signals were measured and analyzed. The concentration index was compared during resting and concentrating periods. Among eight channels, locations the frontal lobe (Fp1 and Fp2) showed a clear increase of the concentration index during concentration regardless of subjects. The rest six channels produced conflicting observations depending on subjects. At this time, it is not clear whether individual difference or how to concentrate made these results for the rest six channels. Nevertheless, it is expected that Fp1 and Fp2 are promising locations for extracting control signal for HMI applications.

Keywords: concentration, EEG, human machine interface, biophysical

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Authors: J. H. Bang, H. J. Baek, K. I. Kim, B. J. Lee, H. J. Jung, H. J. Jang, S. K. Jung

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Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease characterized by airway hyper responsiveness (AHR), airway obstruction and airway wall remodeling responsible for significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Genetic and environment factors may result in asthma, but there are no the exact causes of asthma. Chungpye-tang (CPT) has been prescribed as a representative aerosol agent for patients with dyspnea, cough and phlegm in the respiratory clinic at Kyung Hee Korean Medicine Hospital. This Korean herbal medicines have the effect of dispelling external pathogen and dampness pattern. CPT is composed of 4 species of herbal medicines. The 4 species of herbal medicines are Ephedrae herba, Pogostemonis(Agatachis) herba, Caryophylli flos and Zingiberis rhizoma crudus. CPT suppresses neutrophil infiltration and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) mouse model. Moreover, the anti-inflammatory effects of CPT on a mouse model of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) was proved. Activation of the NF-κB has been proven that it plays an important role in inflammation via inducing transcription of pro-inflammatory genes. Over-expression of NF-κB has been believed be related to many inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, gastritis, asthma and COPD. So we firstly hypothesize whether CPT has an anti-inflammatory effect on asthmatic human airway epithelial tissue via inhibiting NF-κB pathway. In this study, CPT was extracted with distilled water for 3 hours at 100°C. After process of filtration and evaporation, it was freeze dried. And asthmatic human lung tissues were provided by MatTek Corp. We investigated the precise mechanism of the anti-inflammatory effect of CPT by western blotting analysis. We observed whether the decoction extracts could reduce NF-κB activation, COX-2 protein expression and NF-κB-mediated pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, eotaxin, IL-4, IL-9 and IL-13 in asthmatic human lung tissue. As results of this study, there was a trend toward decreased NF-κB expression in asthmatic human airway epithelial tissue. We found that the inhibition effects of CPT on COX-2 expression was not determined. IL-9 and IL-13 secretion was significantly reduced in the asthmatic human lung tissue treated with CPT. Overall, our results indicate that CPT has an anti-inflammatory effect through blocking the signaling pathway of NF-κB, thereby CPT may be a potential remedial agent for allergic asthma.

Keywords: Chungpye-tang, allergic asthma, asthmatic human airway epithelial tissue, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway, COX-2

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Authors: Abdeljalil Beniiche

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The limitation with smart contracts is that they cannot access external data that might be required to control the execution of business logic. Oracles can be used to provide external data to smart contracts. An oracle is an interface that delivers data from external data outside the blockchain to a smart contract to consume. Oracle can deliver different types of data depending on the industry and requirements. In this paper, we study and describe the widely used blockchain oracles. Then, we elaborate on his potential role, technical architecture, and design patterns. Finally, we discuss the human oracle and its key role in solving the truth problem by reaching a consensus about a certain inquiry and tasks.

Keywords: blockchain, oracles, oracles design, human oracles

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Authors: Benjamin Mugisha Bugingo

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Healthcare staffhas been considered as asignificant pillar to the health care system. However, the contest of human resources for health in terms of the turnover of health workers in Uganda has been more distinct in the latest years. The objective of the paper, therefore, were to investigate the influence Role Human resource management functions in on employeeperformance of professional health workers in public district hospitals in Kampala. The study objectives were: to establish the effect of performance management function, financialincentives, non-financial incentives, participation, and involvement in the decision-making on the employee performance of professional health workers in public district hospitals in Kampala. The study was devised in the social exchange theory and the equity theory. This study adopted a descriptive research design using quantitative approaches. The study used a cross-sectional research design with a mixed-methods approach. With a population of 402 individuals, the study considered a sample of 252 respondents, including doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, and dentists from 3 district hospitals. The study instruments entailed a questionnaire as a quantitative data collection tool and interviews and focus group discussions as qualitative data gathering tools. To analyze quantitative data, descriptive statistics were used to assess the perceived status of Human resource management functions and the magnitude of intentions to stay, and inferential statistics were used to show the effect of predictors on the outcome variable by plotting a multiple linear regression. Qualitative data were analyzed in themes and reported in narrative and verbatim quotes and were used to complement descriptive findings for a better understanding of the magnitude of the study variables. The findings of this study showed a significant and positive effect of performance management function, financialincentives, non-financial incentives, and participation and involvement in decision-making on employee performance of professional health workers in public district hospitals in Kampala. This study is expected to be a major contributor for the improvement of the health system in the country and other similar settings as it has provided the insights for strategic orientation in the area of human resources for health, especially for enhanced employee performance in relation with the integrated human resource management approach

Keywords: human resource functions, employee performance, employee wellness, profecial workers

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Authors: J. D. Temperman

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Introduction: In particular, in relation to religion, the meaning and scope of freedom of expression have been tested in recent times. This paper investigates the legal justifications for restrictions that have been suggested in this area and asks whether they are sustainable from an international human rights perspective. The universal human rights instruments, particularly the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), are increasingly geared towards eradicating ‘incitement’ to contingent harms like violence or discrimination, whilst forms of extreme speech that fall short of such incitement are to be protected rather than countered by states. Human Rights Committee’s draft-General Comment on freedom of expression, adopted in 2011, provides another strong indication that this is the envisaged way forward: repealing anti-blasphemy and anti-religious defamation laws, whilst simultaneously increasing efforts to combat ‘incitement’. Within regional human rights frameworks, notably the European Convention system, judgments have in fact supported legal restrictions on both hate speech, holocaust denial, and blasphemy or religious defamation. Major contributions to scholarship: This paper proposes an actus reus for the offense of ‘advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination or violence’, as enshrined in Article 20(2) of the UN ICCPR. In underscoring the high threshold of ‘incitement’, the author distinguishes this offense from such notions as ‘blasphemy’ or ‘defamation of religions’. In addition to treating the said provision as a sui generis prohibition, the question is addresses whether a ‘right to be protected against incitement’ may be distilled from the ICCPR. Furthermore, the author will discuss the question of how to judge incitement; notably, is mens rea required to convict someone of incitement, and if so, what degree of mens rea? This analysis also includes the question how to balance content and context factors when addressing alleged instances of incitement, notably what factors make provide for a likelihood that imminent acts of violence or discrimination will ensue from an inciteful speech act? Methodology: This paper takes a double comparative approach: (i) it endeavours to compare and contrast monitoring bodies’ approach to incitement (notably, the UN Human Rights Committee, but also the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which monitors states’ compliance with Article 4 of ICERD on incitement); and (ii) it endeavours to chart and compare and analyse from an international human rights perspective recent forms of state practice in the field of dealing with incitement (i.e. a comparative legal analysis and vertical human rights analysis of newly emerging incitement legislation in the light of the said international standards). Conclusion: This paper conceptualizes a legal notion – ‘incitement’ – encapsulated in international human rights law that may have a profound bearing on contemporary challenges of radicalization and religious strife.

Keywords: incitement, international human rights law, religious hatred, violence

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Authors: N. A. Kazemi Sefat, M. M. Mohammadi, J. Hadjati, S. Talebi, M. Ajami, H. Daneshvar

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Colorectal cancer metastases result in a significant number of cancer related deaths. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors induce growth arrest and apoptosis in a variety of human cancer cells. Sodium butyrate (SB) is a short chain fatty acid, belongs to HDAC inhibitors which is released in the colonic lumen as a consequence of fiber fermentation. In this study, we are about to assess the effect of sodium butyrate on HCT116 human colorectal carcinoma cell line. The viability of cells was measured by microscopic morphologic study and MTT assay. After 48 hours, treatments more than 10 mM lead to cell injury in HCT116 by increasing cell granulation and decreasing cell adhesion (p>0.05). After 72 hours, treatments at 10 mM and more lead to significant cell injury (p<0.05). Our results may suggest that the gene expression which is contributed in cell proliferation and apoptosis has been changed under pressure of HDAC inhibition.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, sodium butyrate, cytotoxicity, MTT

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Authors: Ray Bryant

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3Strands Global Foundation (3SGF), a non-profit with a mission to mobilize communities to combat human trafficking through prevention education and reintegration programs, launched a groundbreaking study that calls out the usage and benefits of artificial intelligence in the war against human trafficking. Having gathered more than 30,000 stories from counselors and school staff who have gone through its PROTECT Prevention Education program, 3SGF sought to develop a methodology to measure the effectiveness of the training, which helps educators and school staff identify physical signs and behaviors indicating a student is being victimized. The program further illustrates how to recognize and respond to trauma and teaches the steps to take to report human trafficking, as well as how to connect victims with the proper professionals. 3SGF partnered with Levity, a leader in no-code Artificial Intelligence (AI) automation, to create the research study utilizing natural language processing, a branch of artificial intelligence, to measure the effectiveness of their prevention education program. By applying the logic created for the study, the platform analyzed and categorized each story. If the story, directly from the educator, demonstrated one or more of the desired outcomes; Increased Awareness, Increased Knowledge, or Intended Behavior Change, a label was applied. The system then added a confidence level for each identified label. The study results were generated with a 99% confidence level. Preliminary results show that of the 30,000 stories gathered, it became overwhelmingly clear that a significant majority of the participants now have increased awareness of the issue, demonstrated better knowledge of how to help prevent the crime, and expressed an intention to change how they approach what they do daily. In addition, it was observed that approximately 30% of the stories involved comments by educators expressing they wish they’d had this knowledge sooner as they can think of many students they would have been able to help. Objectives Of Research: To solve the problem of needing to analyze and accurately categorize more than 30,000 data points of participant feedback in order to evaluate the success of a human trafficking prevention program by using AI and Natural Language Processing. Methodologies Used: In conjunction with our strategic partner, Levity, we have created our own NLP analysis engine specific to our problem. Contributions To Research: The intersection of AI and human rights and how to utilize technology to combat human trafficking.

Keywords: AI, technology, human trafficking, prevention

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Authors: Chowdhury Dilruba Shoma

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Gender is about equal rights that both males and females having access to responsibilities and opportunities in decision making is a fundamental human right. It is also a precondition for, and a mark of, sustainable people-oriented development. In Bangladesh, women have fewer opportunities than men do to access credit from banks and financial institutions. Entrenched patriarchal attitudes, unequal inheritance rights, and male-dominated hierarchies in the financial system, plus high interest rates and a lack of security/collateral, make it harder for women to obtain bank loans. Limited access to institutional credit is a serious restraint on the productivity and income of women entrepreneurs, (and the wider economy). These gender-biased and structural barriers inhibit women’s access to fundamental economic rights. Using a liberal feminist theoretical lens, this study provides some useful insights into the relationship between gender inequality and entrepreneurship, leading to a better understanding of women’s entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh. Recently, the Bangladesh Government, the United Nations Capital Development Fund, and Bangladesh Bank opened up the Women Entrepreneur Support Fund (WESF) ‒ Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) pilot project to cover collateral shortfalls for women entrepreneurs in the small and medium enterprise sector. The aim is to improve gender equality and advance women’s rights in relation to receiving credit. This article examines the challenges and prospects of the WESF-CGS, and suggests that implementation of measures in WESF-CGS policymaking, coupled with a combination of legislatory and regulatory reforms that implement the fundamental tenets of liberal feminism, can lead to a comprehensive and effective credit policy to boost women’s agency and economic empowerment. This may ultimately lead to more sustainable development in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Bangladesh, credit guarantee scheme, liberal feminist theory, women entrepreneur support fund

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Authors: Solehah Yaacob

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The study focuses on revisiting the effectiveness of Critical Thinking in human mind capability as a major faculty in human life. The tool used as a measurement of this knowledge ability consists of several processes including experience and education background. To emphasize the `Overview` concept, the researcher highlights two major aspects of philosophical approach, they are; Divine Revelation Concept and Modern Scientific Theory. The research compares between the both parties to introduce the Divine Revelation into Modern Scientific theory. An analytical and critical study of the both concepts become the methodology of the discussion.

Keywords: critical thinking, knowledge, intellectual, language

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Authors: Elena Castillo-López, Raúl Pereda, Julio Manuel de Luis, Rubén Pérez, Felipe Piña

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Sediments are an important source of accumulation of toxic contaminants within the aquatic environment. Bioassays are a powerful tool for the study of sediments in relation to their toxicity, but they can be expensive. This article presents a methodology to estimate the main physical property of intertidal sediments in coastal zones: heavy metals concentration. This study, which was developed in the Bay of Santander (Spain), applies classical and robust statistic to CASI-2 hyperspectral images to estimate heavy metals presence and ecotoxicity (TOC). Simultaneous fieldwork (radiometric and chemical sampling) allowed an appropriate atmospheric correction to CASI-2 images.

Keywords: remote sensing, intertidal sediment, airborne sensors, heavy metals, eTOCoxicity, robust statistic, estimation

Procedia PDF Downloads 422