Search results for: generalized autoregressive score model

Authors: Ana M. Lara, Manuela Llano, Felipe Gaitán, Rosa H. Bustos, Ana Maria Perdomo-Arciniegas, Ximena Bonilla

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Umbilical cord blood is used as a source of progenitor and stem cells for the regeneration of the hematopoietic and immune system to treat patients with different hematological or non-hematological diseases. This stem cell source represents an advantage over the use of bone marrow or mobilized peripheral blood because it has a lower incidence rate of graft-versus-host disease, probably due to fewer immunological compatibility restrictions. However, its low cellular dose limits its use in pediatric patients. This work proposes the standardization of a cell expansion technique to compensate for the dose of infused cells through the ex-vivo manipulation of hematopoietic progenitor cells from umbilical cord blood before transplantation. The expansion model is carried out through co-cultures with mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from bone marrow (BM) and less explored fetal tissues such as Wharton's jelly (WJ) and umbilical cord blood (UCB). Initially, a master cell bank of primary mesenchymal stem cells isolated from different sources was established and characterized following International Society of Cell Therapies (ISCT) indications. Additionally, we assessed the effect of a short 25 Gy cycle of gamma irradiation on cell cycle arrest of mesenchymal cells over the support capacity for the expansion of hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood was evaluated. The results show that co-cultures with MSC from WJ and UCB allow the cellular dose of HSPC to be maximized between 5 and 16 times having a similar support capacity as BM. In addition, was evaluated the hematopoietic stem progenitor cell's HSPC functionality through the evaluation of migration capacity, their differentiation capacity during culture time by flow cytometry to evaluate the expression of membrane markers associated with lineage-committed progenitors, their clonogenic potential, and the evaluation of secretome profile in the expansion process was evaluated. So far, the treatment with gamma irradiation maintains the hematopoietic support capacity of mesenchymal stem cells from the three sources studied compared to treatments without irradiation, favoring the use of fetal tissues that are generally waste to obtain mesenchymal cell lines for ex-vivo expansion systems. With the results obtained, a standardized protocol that will contribute to the development of ex-vivo expansion with MSC on a larger scale will be achieved, enabling its clinical use and expanding its application in adults.

Keywords: ex-vivo expansion, hematopoietic stem cells, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, mesenchymal stem cells, umbilical cord blood

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Authors: Shyam lamsal

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Introduction: Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (KAHS) has been established in 2011, by an Act of parliament of Nepal, in Jumla, to provide health services in easy way in backward areas, to produce skilled health professionals & conduct research. The backward areas mentioned in act of KAHS are Humla, Jumla, Kalikot, Dolpa, Mugu districts of Karnali zone, Jajarkot district of Bheri zone & Bajura, Baghang & Achham districts of Seti zone in Nepal occupying around 25 % of the total national geography. Backward area of Nepal is specific to having worst health indicators with life expectancy (47 years), HDI (0.35), Literacy rate (58%), global acute malnutrition (13%), crude birth rate (33.6), crude death rate (9.6), Total fertility rate (4.2), infant mortality rate (61.5 per 1000 live births), under five mortality rate (59 per 1000 live births) and maternal mortality ratio (400 per 1000 live births). History of health facilities in backward region: All the nine districts of this region have a district hospital with very few grass root level health manpower. Government of Nepal regularly deploys one or two medical officers to each district who generally are not regular to their care. Jumla district itself was having one medical officer before the establishment of KAHS. Development activities: Establishment of 100 bedded specialty teaching hospital with 10 medical officers and five specialists, accredited its own nursing school for running diploma nursing programme, started “Karnali health survey” which covers 55 thousand households of backward region, started community care and school health camps, planning phase completed for 300 bedded teaching hospital construction. Future Plan: Expansion of the teaching hospital to 300 beds within 3 years, start health assistant and bachelor midwifery course in 2015 AD, start bachelor in laboratory and bachelor in public health course in 2016 AD and start MBBS course in 2018 AD. Deploy the medical officers and family physicians to all the district hospitals within 3 years. KAHS provides reservation up to 45% students from backward region with the commitment to stay for at least five years of their service period. Conclusion: This institution may be the example for the rest of the world in providing nursing care, education in remote areas as well as the best model for nursing manpower retention in remote areas of developing countries.

Keywords: backward area, nursing school

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Authors: Kamal Kithsiri Karunadasa Hewawasam Revulge

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This paper is an interpretative historical analysis of Australian migration laws that examines asylum and refugee policies and attitudes in Australia. It looks at major turning points in Australian migration history, and in doing so, the researcher reviewed relevant literature on the aspects crucial to highlighting the current trend of Australian migration policies. The data was collected using secondary data from official government sources, including annual reports, media releases on immigration, inquiry reports, statistical information, and other available literature to identify critical historical events that significantly affected the systematic developments of asylum seekers and refugee policies in Australia and to look at the historical trends of official thinking. A reliance on using these official sources is justified as those are the most convincing sources to analyse the historical events in Australia. Additional literature provides us with critical analyses of the behaviour and culture of the Australian immigration administration. The analytical framework reviewed key Australian Government immigration policies since British colonization and the settlement era of 1787–the 1850s and to the present. The fundamental basis for doing so is that past events and incidents offer us clues and lessons relevant to the present day. Therefore, providing a perspective on migration history in Australia helps analyse how current policymakers' strategies developed and changed over time. Attention is also explicitly focused on Australian asylum and refugee policy internationally, as it helped to broaden the analysis. The finding proved a link between past events and adverse current Australian government policies towards asylum seekers and refugees. It highlighted that Australia's current migration policies are part of a carefully and deliberately planned pattern that arose from the occupation of Australia by early British settlers. In this context, the remarkable point is that the historical events of taking away children from their Australian indigenous parents, widely known as the 'stolen generation' reflected a model of assimilation, or a desire to absorb other cultures into Australian society by fully adopting the settlers' language, their culture, and losing indigenous people's traditions. Current Australian policies towards migrants reflect the same attitude. Hence, it could be argued that policies and attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees, particularly so-called 'boat people' to some extent, still reflect Australia's earlier colonial and 'white Australia' history.

Keywords: migration law, refugee law, international law, administrative law

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Authors: Chukwuka Justus Iwegbu

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Background: A major concern facing the world is providing senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups with high-quality care. This issue is more serious in Nigeria's North Eastern area, where the burden of disease and disability is heavy, and access to care is constrained. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the roles, challenges and support needs of caregivers, care home management, funding and administration in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria. The study will also provide a comprehensive understanding of the current situation and identify opportunities for improving the quality of care and support for caregivers and care recipients in these communities. Methods: A mixed-methods design, including both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, will be used, and it will be guided by the stress process model of caregiving. The qualitative stage approach will comprise a survey, In-depth interviews, observations, and focus group discussion and the quantitative analysis will be used in order to comprehend the variations between caregiver's roles and care home management. A review of relevant documents, such as care home policies and funding reports, would be used to gather quantitative data on the administrative and financial aspects of care. The data collected will be analyzed using both descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. A sample size of around 200-300 participants, including caregivers, care recipients, care home managers and administrators, policymakers and health care providers, would be recruited. Findings: The study revealed that caregivers in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria face significant challenges, including lack of training and support, limited access to funding and resources, and high levels of burnout. Care home management and administration were also found to be inadequate, with a lack of clear policies and procedures and limited oversight and accountability. Conclusion: There is a need for increased investment in training and support for caregivers, as well as a need for improved care home management and administration in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria. It also highlights the importance of involving community members in decision-making and planning processes related to care homes and services. The study would contribute to the existing body of knowledge by providing a detailed understanding of the challenges faced by caregivers, care home managers and administrators.

Keywords: caregivers, care home management, funding, administration, challenge communities, North Eastern Nigeria

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Authors: Berker Bayazit, Gulgun Kayakutlu

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The World Energy Outlook shows that energy markets will substantially change within a few forthcoming decades. First, determined action plans according to COP21 and aim of CO₂ emission reduction have already impact on policies of countries. Secondly, swiftly changed technological developments in the field of renewable energy will be influential upon medium and long-term energy generation and consumption behaviors of countries. Furthermore, share of electricity on global energy consumption is to be expected as high as 40 percent in 2040. Electrical vehicles, heat pumps, new electronical devices and digital improvements will be outstanding technologies and innovations will be the testimony of the market modifications. In order to meet highly increasing electricity demand caused by technologies, countries have to make new investments in the field of electricity production, transmission and distribution. Specifically, electricity generation mix becomes vital for both prevention of CO₂ emission and reduction of power prices. Majority of the research and development investments are made in the field of electricity generation. Hence, the prime source diversity and source planning of electricity generation are crucial for improving the wealth of citizen life. Approaches considering the CO₂ emission and total cost of generation, are necessary but not sufficient to evaluate and construct the product mix. On the other hand, employment and positive contribution to macroeconomic values are important factors that have to be taken into consideration. This study aims to constitute new investments in renewable energies (solar, wind, geothermal, biogas and hydropower) between 2018-2023 under 4 different goals. Therefore, a multi-objective programming model is proposed to optimize the goals of minimizing the CO₂ emission, investment amount and electricity sales price while maximizing the total employment and positive contribution to current deficit. In order to avoid the user preference among the goals, Dinkelbach’s algorithm and Guzel’s approach have been combined. The achievements are discussed with comparison to the current policies. Our study shows that new policies like huge capacity allotment might be discussible although obligation for local production is positive. The improvements in grid infrastructure and re-design support for the biogas and geothermal can be recommended.

Keywords: energy generation policies, multi-objective linear programming, portfolio planning, renewable energy

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Authors: Ergham Al Bachir

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This study adopts strategic leadership (Upper Echelons) as the core theory and contextual leadership theory as the research lens. This research asks how the external context impacts strategic leadership effectiveness to achieve the outcomes in pluralistic organizations (PO). The study explores how the context influences the selection of CEOs, top management teams (TMT), and their leadership effectiveness. POs are characterized by the multiple objectives of their top management teams, divergent objectives, multiple strategies, and multiple governing authorities. The research question is explored by means of a qualitative multiple-case study focusing on healthcare, real estate, and financial services organizations. The data sources are semi-structured interviews, documents, and direct observations. The data analysis strategy is inductive and deploys thematic analysis and cross-case synthesis. The findings differentiate between national and international CEOs' delegation of authority and relationship with the Board of Directors. The findings identify the elements of the dynamic context that influence TMT and PO outcomes. The emergent hybrid strategic and contextual leadership framework shows how the different contextual factors influence strategic direction, PO context, selection of CEOs and TMT, and the outcomes in four pluralistic organizations. The study offers seven theoretical contributions to Upper Echelons, strategic leadership, and contextual leadership research. (1) The integration of two theories revealed how CEO’s impact on the organization is complementary to the contextual impact. (2) Conducting this study in the Middle East contributes to strategic leadership and contextual leadership research. (3) The demonstration of the significant contextual effects on the selection of CEOs. (4 and 5) Two contributions revealed new links between the context, the Board role, internal versus external CEOs, and national versus international CEOs. (6 and 7) This study offered two definitions: what accounts for CEO leadership effectiveness and organizational outcomes. Two methodological contributions were also identified: (1) Previous strategic leadership and Upper Echelons research are mainly quantitative, while this study adopts qualitative multiple-case research with face-to-face interviews. (2) The extrication of the CEO from the TMT advanced the data analysis in strategic leadership research. Four contributions are offered to practice: (1) The CEO's leadership effectiveness inside and outside the organization. (2) Rapid turnover of predecessor CEOs signifies the need for a strategic and contextual approach to CEOs' succession. (3) TMT composition and education impact on TMT-CEO and TMT-TMT interface. (4) Multilevel strategic contextual leadership development framework.

Keywords: strategic leadership, contextual leadership, upper echelons, pluralistic organizations, cross-cultural leadership

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Authors: Riofrio Jonathan, Fernandez Guillermo

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Renewable energy represented around 80% of the energy matrix for power generation in Ecuador during 2020, so the deployment of current public policies is focused on taking advantage of the high presence of renewable sources to carry out several electrification projects. These projects are part of the portfolio sent to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the established national determined contribution (NDC). In this sense, the Ecuadorian Organic Energy Efficiency Law (LOEE) published in 2019 promotes E-mobility as one of the main milestones. In fact, it states that the new vehicles for urban and interurban usage must be E-buses since 2025. As a result, and for a successful implementation of this technological change in a national context, it is important to deploy land surveys focused on technical and geographical areas to keep the quality of services in both the electricity and transport sectors. Therefore, this research presents a technological and energy comparison between a conventional diesel bus and its equivalent E-bus. Both vehicles fulfill all the technical requirements to ride in the study-case city, which is Ambato in the province of Tungurahua-Ecuador. In addition, the analysis includes the development of a model for the energy estimation of both technologies that are especially applied in a highland city such as Ambato. The altimetry of the most important bus routes in the city varies from 2557 to 3200 m.a.s.l., respectively, for the lowest and highest points. These operation conditions provide a grade of novelty to this paper. Complementary, the technical specifications of diesel buses are defined following the common features of buses registered in Ambato. On the other hand, the specifications for E-buses come from the most common units introduced in Latin America because there is not enough evidence in similar cities at the moment. The achieved results will be good input data for decision-makers since electric demand forecast, energy savings, costs, and greenhouse gases emissions are computed. Indeed, GHG is important because it allows reporting the transparency framework that it is part of the Paris Agreement. Finally, the presented results correspond to stage I of the called project “Analysis and Prospective of Electromobility in Ecuador and Energy Mix towards 2030” supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Keywords: high altitude cities, energy planning, NDC, e-buses, e-mobility

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Authors: Yi-Ting Chen, Yu-Fang Huang, Pei-Wei Wang, Hai-Wei Liang, Chun-Hao Lai, Mei-Lien Chen

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Background: Bisphenol A (BPA) is commonly used in consumer products, such as inner coatings of cans and polycarbonated bottles. BPA is considered to be an endocrine disrupting substance (EDs) that affects normal human hormones and may cause adverse effects on human health. Pregnant women and fetuses are susceptible groups of endocrine disrupting substances. Prenatal exposure to BPA has been shown to affect the fetus through the placenta. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the potential health risk of fetal exposure to BPA during pregnancy. The aims of this study were (1) to determine the urinary concentration of BPA in pregnant women, and (2) to investigate the association between BPA exposure during pregnancy and birth outcomes. Methods: This study recruited 117 pregnant women and their fetuses from 2012 to 2014 from the Taiwan Maternal- Infant Cohort Study (TMICS). Maternal urine samples were collected in the third trimester and questionnaires were used to collect socio-demographic characteristics, eating habits and medical conditions of the participants. Information about birth outcomes of the fetus was obtained from medical records. As for chemicals analysis, BPA concentrations in urine were determined by off-line solid-phase extraction-ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a Q-Tof mass spectrometer. The urinary concentrations were adjusted with creatinine. The association between maternal concentrations of BPA and birth outcomes was estimated using the logistic regression model. Results: The detection rate of BPA is 99%; the concentration ranges (μg/g) from 0.16 to 46.90. The mean (SD) BPA levels are 5.37(6.42) μg/g creatinine. The mean ±SD of the body weight, body length, head circumference, chest circumference and gestational age at birth are 3105.18 ± 339.53 g, 49.33 ± 1.90 cm, 34.16 ± 1.06 cm, 32.34 ± 1.37 cm and 38.58 ± 1.37 weeks, respectively. After stratifying the exposure levels into two groups by median, pregnant women in higher exposure group would have an increased risk of lower body weight (OR=0.57, 95%CI=0.271-1.193), smaller chest circumference (OR=0.70, 95%CI=0.335-1.47) and shorter gestational age at birth newborn (OR=0.46, 95%CI=0.191-1.114). However, there are no associations between BPA concentration and birth outcomes reach a significant level (p < 0.05) in statistics. Conclusions: This study presents prenatal BPA profiles and infants in northern Taiwan. Women who have higher BPA concentrations tend to give birth to lower body weight, smaller chest circumference or shorter gestational age at birth newborn. More data will be included to verify the results. This report will also present the predictors of BPA concentrations for pregnant women.

Keywords: bisphenol A, birth outcomes, biomonitoring, prenatal exposure

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Authors: Elif Gencturk, Ekin Yurdakul, Ahmet Y. Celik, Senol Mutlu, Kutlu O. Ulgen

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Yeast cells are generally used as a model system of eukaryotes due to their complex genetic structure, rapid growth ability in optimum conditions, easy replication and well-defined genetic system properties. Thus, yeast cells increased the knowledge of the principal pathways in humans. During fermentation, carbohydrates (hexoses and pentoses) degrade into some toxic by-products such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF or HMF) and furfural. HMF influences the ethanol yield, and ethanol productivity; it interferes with microbial growth and is considered as a potent inhibitor of bioethanol production. In this study, yeast single cell behavior under HMF application was monitored by using a continuous flow single phase microfluidic platform. Microfluidic device in operation is fabricated by hot embossing and thermo-compression techniques from cyclo-olefin polymer (COP). COP is biocompatible, transparent and rigid material and it is suitable for observing fluorescence of cells considering its low auto-fluorescence characteristic. The response of yeast cells was recorded through Red Fluorescent Protein (RFP) tagged Nop56 gene product, which is an essential evolutionary-conserved nucleolar protein, and also a member of the box C/D snoRNP complexes. With the application of HMF, yeast cell proliferation continued but HMF slowed down the cell growth, and after HMF treatment the cell proliferation stopped. By the addition of fresh nutrient medium, the yeast cells recovered after 6 hours of HMF exposure. Thus, HMF application suppresses normal functioning of cell cycle but it does not cause cells to die. The monitoring of Nop56 expression phases of the individual cells shed light on the protein and ribosome synthesis cycles along with their link to growth. Further computational study revealed that the mechanisms underlying the inhibitory or inductive effects of HMF on growth are enriched in functional categories of protein degradation, protein processing, DNA repair and multidrug resistance. The present microfluidic device can successfully be used for studying the effects of inhibitory agents on growth by single cell tracking, thus capturing cell to cell variations. By metabolic engineering techniques, engineered strains can be developed, and the metabolic network of the microorganism can thus be manipulated such that chemical overproduction of target metabolite is achieved along with the maximum growth/biomass yield.  

Keywords: COP, HMF, ribosome biogenesis, thermoplastic microbioreactor, yeast

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Authors: Silvia Lucciarini, Antonio Corasaniti

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The issue of democracy in capitalist countries has once again become the focus of debate in recent years. A number of socio-economic and political tensions have triggered discussion of this topic from various perspectives and disciplines. Political developments, the rise of both right-wing parties and populism and the constant growth of inequalities in a context of welfare downsizing, have led scholars to question if European capitalist countries are really capable of creating and redistributing resources and look for elements that might make democratic capital in European countries more dense. The aim of the work is to shed light on the trajectories, intensity and convergence or divergence between political and associative participation, on one hand, and organization, on the other, as these constitute two of the main points of connection between the norms, values and actions that bind citizens to the state. Using the European Social Survey database, some studies have sought to analyse degrees of unionization by investigating the relationship between systems of industrial relations and vulnerable groups (in terms of value-oriented practices or political participation). This paper instead aims to investigate the relationship between union participation and civil/political participation, comparing union members and non-members and then distinguishing between employees and self-employed professionals to better understand participatory behaviors among different workers. The first component of the research will employ a multilinear logistic model to examine a sample of 10 countries selected according to a grid that combines the industrial relations models identified by Visser (2006) and the Welfare State systems identified by Esping-Andersen (1990). On the basis of this sample, we propose to compare the choices made by workers and their propensity to join trade unions, together with their level of social and political participation, from 2002 to 2016. In the second component, we aim to verify whether workers within the same system of industrial relations and welfare show a similar propensity to engage in civil participation through political bodies and associations, or if instead these tendencies take on more specific and varied forms. The results will allow us to see: (1) if political participation is higher among unionized workers than it is among the non-unionized. (2) what are the differences in unionisation and civil/political participation between self-employed, temporary and full-time employees and (3) whether the trajectories within industrial relations and welfare models display greater inclusiveness and participation, thereby confirming or disproving the patterns that have been documented among the different European countries.

Keywords: union membership, participation, democracy, industrial relations, welfare systems

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Authors: Amin Akbari, Dongcai Wang, Huiru Li, Xiaoping Du, Jie Chen

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The effect of vibrational force (VF) on accelerating orthodontic tooth movement depends on the level of delivered stimulation to the tooth in terms of peak load (PL), which requires contacts between the tooth and the VF device. A personalized device ensures the contacts, but the resulting PL distribution on the teeth is unknown. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the PL on particular teeth can be adjusted to the prescribed values. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of apersonalized VF device in controlling the level of stimulation on two teeth, the mandibular canines and 2nd molars. A 3-D finite element (FE) model of human dentition, including teeth, PDL, and alveolar bone, was created from the cone beam computed tomography images of an anonymous subject. The VF was applied to the teeth through a VFdevice consisting of a mouthpiece with engraved tooth profile of the subject and a VF source that applied 0.3 N force with the frequency of 30 Hz. The dentition and mouthpiece were meshed using 10-node tetrahedral elements. Interface elements were created at the interfaces between the teeth and the mouthpiece. The upper and lower teeth bite on the mouthpiece to receive the vibration. The depth of engraved individual tooth profile could be adjusted, which was accomplished by adding a layer of material as an interference or removing a layer of material as a clearance to change the PL on the tooth. The interference increases the PL while the clearance decreases it. Fivemouthpiece design cases were simulated, which included a mouthpiece without interference/clearance; the mouthpieces with bilateral interferences on both mandibular canines and 2nd molars with magnitudes of 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2-mm, respectively; and mouthpiece with bilateral 0.3-mm clearances on the four teeth. Then, the force distributions on the entire dentition were compared corresponding to these adjustments. The PL distribution on the teeth is uneven when there is no interference or clearance. Among all teeth, the anterior segment receives the highest level of PL. Adding 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2-mm interferences to the canines and 2nd molars bilaterally leads to increase of the PL on the canines by 10, 62, and 73 percent and on the 2nd molar by 14, 55, and 87 percent, respectively. Adding clearances to the canines and 2nd molars by removing the contactsbetween these teeth and the mouthpiece results in zero PL on them. Moreover, introducing interference to mandibular canines and 2nd molarsredistributes the PL on the entireteeth. The share of the PL on the anterior teeth are reduced. The use of the personalized mouthpiece ensures contactsof the teeth to the mouthpiece so that all teeth can be stimulated. However, the PL distribution is uneven. Adding interference between a tooth and the mouthpiece increases the PL while introducing clearance decreases the PL. As a result, the PL is redistributed. This study confirms that the level of VF stimulation on the individual tooth can be adjusted to a prescribed value.

Keywords: finite element method, orthodontic treatment, stress analysis, tooth movement, vibrational force

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Authors: Maria Antonietta Marongiu

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Propositional information in discourse is made coherent, intelligible, and persuasive through metadiscourse. The linguistic and rhetorical choices that writers/speakers make to organize and negotiate content matter are intended to help relate a text to its context. Besides, they help the audience to connect to and interpret a text according to the values of a specific discourse community. Based on these assumptions, this work aims to analyse the use of metadiscourse in the spoken performance of teachers in online EFL, ESP, and subject-teacher courses taught in English to non-native learners in higher education. In point of fact, the global spread of Covid 19 has forced universities to transition their in-class courses to online delivery. This has inevitably placed on the instructor a heavier interactional responsibility compared to in-class courses. Accordingly, online delivery needs greater structuring as regards establishing the reader/listener’s resources for text understanding and negotiating. Indeed, in online as well as in in-class courses, lessons are social acts which take place in contexts where interlocutors, as members of a community, affect the ways ideas are presented and understood. Following Hyland’s Interactional Model of Metadiscourse (2005), this study intends to investigate Teacher Talk in online academic courses during the Covid 19 lock-down in Italy. The selected corpus includes the transcripts of online EFL and ESP courses and subject-teachers online courses taught in English. The objective of the investigation is, firstly, to ascertain the presence of metadiscourse in the form of interactive devices (to guide the listener through the text) and interactional features (to involve the listener in the subject). Previous research on metadiscourse in academic discourse, in college students' presentations in EAP (English for Academic Purposes) lessons, as well as in online teaching methodology courses and MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) has shown that instructors use a vast array of metadiscoursal features intended to express the speakers’ intentions and standing with respect to discourse. Besides, they tend to use directions to orient their listeners and logical connectors referring to the structure of the text. Accordingly, the purpose of the investigation is also to find out whether metadiscourse is used as a rhetorical strategy by instructors to control, evaluate and negotiate the impact of the ongoing talk, and eventually to signal their attitudes towards the content and the audience. Thus, the use of metadiscourse can contribute to the informative and persuasive impact of discourse, and to the effectiveness of online communication, especially in learning contexts.

Keywords: discourse analysis, metadiscourse, online EFL and ESP teaching, rhetoric

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Authors: Yali Liu, Maria Avello Iturriagagoitia

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Background: Fitness applications (apps) are one of the most popular mobile health (mHealth) apps. These apps can help prevent/control health issues such as obesity, which is one of the most serious public health challenges in the developed world in recent decades. Compared with the traditional intervention like face-to-face treatment, it is cheaper and more convenient to use fitness apps to interfere with physical activities and healthy behaviors. Nevertheless, fitness applications apps tend to have high abandonment rates and low levels of user engagement. Therefore, maintaining the endurance of users' usage is challenging. In fact, previous research shows a variety of strategies -goal-setting, self-monitoring, coaching, etc.- for promoting fitness and health behavior change. These strategies can influence the users’ perseverance and self-monitoring of the program as well as favoring their adherence to routines that involve a long-term behavioral change. However, commercial fitness apps rarely incorporate these strategies into their design, thus leading to a lack of engagement with the apps. Most of today’s mobile services and brands engage their users proactively via push notifications. Push notifications. These notifications are visual or auditory alerts to inform mobile users about a wide range of topics that entails an effective and personal mean of communication between the app and the user. One of the research purposes of this article is to implement the application of behavior change strategies through push notifications. Proposes: This study aims to better understand the influence that effective use of push notifications combined with the behavioral change strategies will have on users’ engagement with the fitness app. And the secondary objectives are 1) to discuss the sociodemographic differences in utilization of push notifications of fitness apps; 2) to determine the impact of each strategy in customer engagement. Methods: The study uses a combination of the Consumer Engagement Theory and UTAUT2 based model to conduct an online survey among current users of fitness apps. The questionnaire assessed attitudes to each behavioral change strategy, and sociodemographic variables. Findings: Results show the positive effect of push notifications in the generation of consumer engagement and the different impacts of each strategy among different groups of population in customer engagement. Conclusions: Fitness apps with behavior change strategies have a positive impact on increasing users’ usage time and customer engagement. Theoretical experts can participate in designing fitness applications, along with technical designers.

Keywords: behavioral change, customer engagement, fitness app, push notification, UTAUT2

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Authors: Hannele Kuusisto, Paivi Makila, Ursula Hyrkkanen

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Introduction: There have been arguments about the skills university students should have when graduated. Current trends argue that as well as the specific job-related skills the graduated students need problem-solving, interaction and networking skills as well as self-management skills. Skills required in working life are also considered in the Finnish national project called VALTE (short for 'prepared for working life'). The project involves 11 Finnish school organizations. As one result of this project, a five-credit independent online course in study and job engagement as well as in study and job crafting was developed at Turku University of Applied Sciences. The aim of the oral or e-poster presentation is to present the online course developed in the project. The purpose of this abstract is to present the development work of the online course and the feedback received from the pilots. Method: As the University of Turku is the leading partner of the VALTE project, the collaborative education platform ViLLE (https://ville.utu.fi, developed by the University of Turku) was chosen as the online platform for the course. Various exercise types with automatic assessment were used; for example, quizzes, multiple-choice questions, classification exercises, gap filling exercises, model answer questions, self-assessment tasks, case tasks, and collaboration in Padlet. In addition, the free material and free platforms on the Internet were used (Youtube, Padlet, Todaysmeet, and Prezi) as well as the net-based questionnaires about the study engagement and study crafting (made with Webropol). Three teachers with long teaching experience (also with job crafting and online pedagogy) and three students working as trainees in the project developed the content of the course. The online course was piloted twice in 2017 as an elective course for the students at Turku University of Applied Sciences, a higher education institution of about 10 000 students. After both pilots, feedback from the students was gathered and the online course was developed. Results: As the result, the functional five-credit independent online course suitable for students of different educational institutions was developed. The student feedback shows that students themselves think that the developed online course really enhanced their job and study crafting skills. After the course, 91% of the students considered their knowledge in job and study engagement as well as in job and study crafting to be at a good or excellent level. About two-thirds of the students were going to exploit their knowledge significantly in the future. Students appreciated the variability and the game-like feeling of the exercises as well as the opportunity to study online at the time and place they chose themselves. On a five-point scale (1 being poor and 5 being excellent), the students graded the clarity of the ViLLE platform as 4.2, the functionality of the platform as 4.0 and the easiness of operating as 3.9.

Keywords: job crafting, job engagement, online course, study crafting, study engagement

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Authors: Huayuan Lu, Chunfang Yang, Ma Zhu, Baojun Qi, Yaqiong Qiao, Jiangqian Xu

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Image geolocalization has great application prospects in fields such as autonomous driving and virtual/augmented reality. In practical application scenarios, the size of the image to be located is not fixed; it is impractical to train different networks for all possible sizes. When its size does not match the size of the input of the descriptor extraction model, existing image geolocalization methods usually directly scale or crop the image in some common ways. This will result in the loss of some information important to the geolocalization task, thus affecting the performance of the image geolocalization method. For example, excessive down-sampling can lead to blurred building contour, and inappropriate cropping can lead to the loss of key semantic elements, resulting in incorrect geolocation results. To address this problem, this paper designs a learnable image resizer and proposes an arbitrary-sized image geolocation method. (1) The designed learnable image resizer employs the self-attention mechanism to enhance the geometric features of the resized image. Firstly, it applies bilinear interpolation to the input image and its feature maps to obtain the initial resized image and the resized feature maps. Then, SKNet (selective kernel net) is used to approximate the best receptive field, thus keeping the geometric shapes as the original image. And SENet (squeeze and extraction net) is used to automatically select the feature maps with strong contour information, enhancing the geometric features. Finally, the enhanced geometric features are fused with the initial resized image, to obtain the final resized images. (2) The proposed image geolocalization method embeds the above image resizer as a fronting layer of the descriptor extraction network. It not only enables the network to be compatible with arbitrary-sized input images but also enhances the geometric features that are crucial to the image geolocalization task. Moreover, the triplet attention mechanism is added after the first convolutional layer of the backbone network to optimize the utilization of geometric elements extracted by the first convolutional layer. Finally, the local features extracted by the backbone network are aggregated to form image descriptors for image geolocalization. The proposed method was evaluated on several mainstream datasets, such as Pittsburgh30K, Tokyo24/7, and Places365. The results show that the proposed method has excellent size compatibility and compares favorably to recently mainstream geolocalization methods.

Keywords: image geolocalization, self-attention mechanism, image resizer, geometric feature

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Authors: M. Tarik Boyraz, M. Bilge Imer

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Conventionally cast nickel-based super alloys, such as commercial alloy IN 738 LC, are widely used in manufacturing of industrial gas turbine blades. With carefully designed microstructure and the existence of alloying elements, the blades show improved mechanical properties at high operating temperatures and corrosive environment. The aim of this work is to model and estimate these mechanical properties of IN 738 LC alloy solely based on simulations for projected heat treatment conditions or service conditions. The microstructure (size, fraction and frequency of gamma prime- γ′ and carbide phases in gamma- γ matrix, and grain size) of IN 738 LC needs to be optimized to improve the high temperature mechanical properties by heat treatment process. This process can be performed at different soaking temperature, time and cooling rates. In this work, micro-structural evolution studies were performed experimentally at various heat treatment process conditions, and these findings were used as input for further simulation studies. The operation time, soaking temperature and cooling rate provided by experimental heat treatment procedures were used as micro-structural simulation input. The results of this simulation were compared with the size, fraction and frequency of γ′ and carbide phases, and grain size provided by SEM (EDS module and mapping), EPMA (WDS module) and optical microscope for before and after heat treatment. After iterative comparison of experimental findings and simulations, an offset was determined to fit the real time and theoretical findings. Thereby, it was possible to estimate the final micro-structure without any necessity to carry out the heat treatment experiment. The output of this microstructure simulation based on heat treatment was used as input to estimate yield stress and creep properties. Yield stress was calculated mainly as a function of precipitation, solid solution and grain boundary strengthening contributors in microstructure. Creep rate was calculated as a function of stress, temperature and microstructural factors such as dislocation density, precipitate size, inter-particle spacing of precipitates. The estimated yield stress values were compared with the corresponding experimental hardness and tensile test values. The ability to determine best heat treatment conditions that achieve the desired microstructural and mechanical properties were developed for IN 738 LC based completely on simulations.

Keywords: heat treatment, IN738LC, simulations, super-alloys

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Authors: Cleyton S. Stampa

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This paper addresses the perspectives of using low melting point metals (LMPMs) as phase change materials (PCMs) in latent thermal energy storage (LTES) units, through a numerical approach. This is a new class of PCMs that has been one of the most prospective alternatives to be considered in LTES, due to these materials present high thermal conductivity and elevated heat of fusion, per unit volume. The chosen type of LTES consists of several horizontal parallel slabs filled with PCM. The heat transfer fluid (HTF) circulates through the channel formed between each two consecutive slabs on a laminar regime through forced convection. The study deals with the LTES charging process (heat-storing) by using pure gallium as PCM, and it considers heat conduction in the solid phase during melting driven by natural convection in the melt. The transient heat transfer problem is analyzed in one arbitrary slab under the influence of the HTF. The mathematical model to simulate the isothermal phase change is based on a volume-averaged enthalpy method, which is successfully verified by comparing its predictions with experimental data from works available in the pertinent literature. Regarding the convective heat transfer problem in the HTF, it is assumed that the flow is thermally developing, whereas the velocity profile is already fully developed. The study aims to learn about the effect of the solid subcooling in the melting rate through comparisons with the melting process of the solid in which it starts to melt from its fusion temperature. In order to best understand this effect in a metallic compound, as it is the case of pure gallium, the study also evaluates under the same conditions established for the gallium, the melting process of commercial paraffin wax (organic compound) and of the calcium chloride hexahydrate (CaCl₂ 6H₂O-inorganic compound). In the present work, it is adopted the best options that have been established by several researchers in their parametric studies with respect to this type of LTES, which lead to high values of thermal efficiency. To do so, concerning with the geometric aspects, one considers a gap of the channel formed by two consecutive slabs, thickness and length of the slab. About the HTF, one considers the type of fluid, the mass flow rate, and inlet temperature.

Keywords: flat slab, heat storing, pure metal, solid subcooling

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Authors: Eunsu Jang, Kang Park

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In developing an armored ground combat vehicle (AGCV), it is a very important step to analyze the vulnerability (or the survivability) of the AGCV against enemy’s attack. In the vulnerability analysis, the penetration equations are usually used to get the penetration depth and check whether a bullet can penetrate the armor of the AGCV, which causes the damage of internal components or crews. The penetration equations are derived from penetration experiments which require long time and great efforts. However, they usually hold only for the specific material of the target and the specific type of the bullet used in experiments. Thus, penetration simulation using ANSYS can be another option to calculate penetration depth. However, it is very important to model the targets and select the input parameters in order to get an accurate penetration depth. This paper performed a sensitivity analysis of input parameters of ANSYS on the accuracy of the calculated penetration depth. Two conflicting objectives need to be achieved in adopting ANSYS in penetration analysis: maximizing the accuracy of calculation and minimizing the calculation time. To maximize the calculation accuracy, the sensitivity analysis of the input parameters for ANSYS was performed and calculated the RMS error with the experimental data. The input parameters include mesh size, boundary condition, material properties, target diameter are tested and selected to minimize the error between the calculated result from simulation and the experiment data from the papers on the penetration equation. To minimize the calculation time, the parameter values obtained from accuracy analysis are adjusted to get optimized overall performance. As result of analysis, the followings were found: 1) As the mesh size gradually decreases from 0.9 mm to 0.5 mm, both the penetration depth and calculation time increase. 2) As diameters of the target decrease from 250mm to 60 mm, both the penetration depth and calculation time decrease. 3) As the yield stress which is one of the material property of the target decreases, the penetration depth increases. 4) The boundary condition with the fixed side surface of the target gives more penetration depth than that with the fixed side and rear surfaces. By using above finding, the input parameters can be tuned to minimize the error between simulation and experiments. By using simulation tool, ANSYS, with delicately tuned input parameters, penetration analysis can be done on computer without actual experiments. The data of penetration experiments are usually hard to get because of security reasons and only published papers provide them in the limited target material. The next step of this research is to generalize this approach to anticipate the penetration depth by interpolating the known penetration experiments. This result may not be accurate enough to be used to replace the penetration experiments, but those simulations can be used in the early stage of the design process of AGCV in modelling and simulation stage.

Keywords: ANSYS, input parameters, penetration depth, sensitivity analysis

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Authors: Osk Dagsdottir

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Background—Gait classifying allows clinicians to differentiate gait patterns into clinically important categories that help in clinical decision making. Reliable comparison of gait data between normal and patients requires knowledge of the gait parameters of normal children's specific age group. However, there is still a lack of the gait database for normal children of different ages. Objectives—This study aims to investigate the kinematics of the lower limb joints during gait for normal children in different age groups. Methods—Fifty-three normal children (34 boys, 19 girls) were recruited in this study. All the children were aged between 5 to 16 years old. Age groups were defined as three types: young child aged (5-7), child (8-11), and adolescent (12-16). When a participant agreed to take part in the project, their parents signed a consent form. Vicon® motion capture system was used to collect gait data. Participants were asked to walk at their comfortable speed along a 10-meter walkway. Each participant walked up to 20 trials. Three good trials were analyzed using the Vicon Plug-in-Gait model to obtain parameters of the gait, e.g., walking speed, cadence, stride length, and joint parameters, e.g., joint angle, force, moments, etc. Moreover, each gait cycle was divided into 8 phases. The range of motion (ROM) angle of pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle joints in three planes of both limbs were calculated using an in-house program. Results—The temporal-spatial variables of three age groups of normal children were compared between each other; it was found that there was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the groups. The step length and walking speed were gradually increasing from young child to adolescent, while cadence was gradually decreasing from young child to adolescent group. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of the step length of young child, child and adolescent groups were 0.502 ± 0.067 m, 0.566 ± 0.061 m and 0.672 ± 0.053 m, respectively. The mean and SD of the cadence of the young child, child and adolescent groups were 140.11±15.79 step/min, 129±11.84 step/min, and a 115.96±6.47 step/min, respectively. Moreover, it was observed that there were significant differences in kinematic parameters, either whole gait cycle or each phase. For example, RoM of knee angle in the sagittal plane in the whole cycle of young child group is (65.03±0.52 deg) larger than child group (63.47±0.47 deg). Conclusion—Our result showed that there are significant differences between each age group in the gait phases and thus children walking performance changes with ages. Therefore, it is important for the clinician to consider the age group when analyzing the patients with lower limb disorders before any clinical treatment.

Keywords: action research, creative learning, mathematics education, professional development

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Authors: Rebecca Greenberg, Nipa Chauhan, Rashad Rehman

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Paternalism, in its traditional form, seems largely incompatible with Western medicine. In contrast, Family-Centred Care, a partial response to historically authoritative paternalism, carries its own challenges, particularly when operationalized as family-directed care. Specifically, in neonatology, decision-making is left entirely to Substitute Decision Makers (most commonly parents). Most models of shared decision-making employ both the parents’ and medical team’s perspectives but do not recognize the inherent asymmetry of information and experience – asking parents to act like physicians to evaluate technical data and encourage physicians to refrain from strong medical opinions and proposals. They also do not fully appreciate the difficulties in adjudicating which perspective to prioritize and, moreover, how to mitigate disagreement. Introducing a mild form of paternalism can harness the unique skillset both parents and clinicians bring to shared decision-making and ultimately work towards decision-making in the best interest of the child. The notion expressed here is that within the model of shared decision-making, mild paternalism is prioritized inasmuch as optimal care is prioritized. This mild form of paternalism is known as Beneficent Paternalism and justifies our encouragement for physicians to root down in their own medical expertise to propose treatment plans informed by medical expertise, standards of care, and the parents’ values. This does not mean that we forget that paternalism was historically justified on ‘beneficent’ grounds; however, our recommendation is that a re-integration of mild paternalism is appropriate within our current Western healthcare climate. Through illustrative examples from the NICU, this paper explores the appropriateness and merits of Beneficent Paternalism and ultimately its use in promoting family-centered care, patient’s best interests and reducing moral distress. A distinctive feature of the NICU is the fact that communication regarding a patient’s treatment is exclusively done with substitute decision-makers and not the patient, i.e., the neonate themselves. This leaves the burden of responsibility entirely on substitute decision-makers and the clinical team; the patient in the NICU does not have any prior wishes, values, or beliefs that can guide decision-making on their behalf. Therefore, the wishes, values, and beliefs of the parent become the map upon which clinical proposals are made, giving extra weight to the family’s decision-making responsibility. This leads to why Family Directed Care is common in the NICU, where shared decision-making is mandatory. However, the zone of parental discretion is not as all-encompassing as it is currently considered; there are appropriate times when the clinical team should strongly root down in medical expertise and perhaps take the lead in guiding family decision-making: this is just what it means to adopt Beneficent Paternalism.

Keywords: care, ethics, expertise, NICU, paternalism

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Authors: Francisco Liaño-Carrera, Jorge Enrique Baños-Illana, Arturo Gómez-Barrero, José Isaac Ramírez-Macías, Erik Omar Paredes-JuáRez, David Salas-Monreal, Mayra Lorena Riveron-Enzastiga

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Topographical changes in coastal areas are usually assessed with airborne LIDAR and conventional photogrammetry. In recent times Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have been used several in photogrammetric applications including coastline evolution. However, its use goes further by using the points cloud associated to generate beach Digital Elevation Models (DEM). We present a methodology for monitoring coastal topographic changes along a 50 km coastline in Veracruz, Mexico using high-resolution images (less than 10 cm ground resolution) and dense points cloud captured with an UAV. This monitoring develops in the context of the port of Veracruz expansion project which construction began in 2015 and intends to characterize coast evolution and prevent and mitigate project impacts on coastal environments. The monitoring began with a historical coastline reconstruction since 1979 to 2015 using aerial photography and Landsat imagery. We could define some patterns: the northern part of the study area showed accretion while the southern part of the study area showed erosion. Since the study area is located off the port of Veracruz, a touristic and economical Mexican urban city, where coastal development structures have been built since 1979 in a continuous way, the local beaches of the touristic area are been refilled constantly. Those areas were not described as accretion since every month sand-filled trucks refill the sand beaches located in front of the hotel area. The construction of marinas and the comitial port of Veracruz, the old and the new expansion were made in the erosion part of the area. Northward from the City of Veracruz the beaches were described as accretion areas while southward from the city, the beaches were described as erosion areas. One of the problems is the expansion of the new development in the southern area of the city using the beach view as an incentive to buy front beach houses. We assessed coastal changes between seasons using high-resolution images and also points clouds during 2016 and preliminary results confirm that UAVs can be used in permanent coast monitoring programs with excellent performance and detail.

Keywords: digital elevation model, high-resolution images, topographic coast monitoring, unmanned aerial vehicle

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Authors: Shailendra Kumar Singh

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With the rise of New Linguistic World Order in the 21st century, the Aged Pragmatics is palpitating on the edge of theoretical irrelevance. What appears to be a new sociolinguistic reality is that the enlightening combination of alternative west, inclusive globalization and techno-revolution is adding novel recipes to communicative actions, style and gain among new linguistic breed which is being neither dominated nor powered by the western supremacy. The paper has the following main, interrelated, aims: it is intended to introduce the concept of alternative pragmatics that can offer what exactly is needed for our emerging societal realities; it asserts as to how the basic pillar of linguistic success in the new linguistic world order rests upon linguistic temptation and calibration of all; and it also reviews an inevitability of emerging economies in shaping the communication trends at a time when the western world is struggling to maintain the same control on the others exercised in the past. In particular, the paper seeks answers for the following questions: (a) Do we need an alternative pragmatics, one with alternativist leaning in an era of inclusive globalization and alternative west? (b) What are the pulses of shift which are encapsulating emergence of new communicative behavior among the new linguistic breed by breaking yesterday’s linguistic rigidity? (c) Or, what are those shifts which are making linguistic shift more perceptible? (d) Is New Linguistic World Order succeeding in reversing linguistic priorities of `who speaks, what language, where, how, why, to whom and in which condition’ with no parallel in the history? (e) What is explicit about the contemporary world of 21st century which makes linguistic world all exciting and widely celebrative phenomenon and that is also forced into our vision? (f) What factors will hold key to the future of yesterday’s `influential languages’ and today’s `emerging languages’ as world is in the paradigm transition? (g) Is the collapse of Aged Pragmatics good for the 21st century for understanding the difference between pragmatism of old linguistic world and new linguistic world order? New Linguistic world Order today, unlike in the past, is about a branding of new world with liberal world view for a particular form of ideal to be imagined in the 21st century. At this time without question it is hope that a new set of ideals with popular vocabulary will become the implicit pragmatic model as one of benign majoritarianism in all aspects of sociolinguistic reality. It appears to be a reality that we live in an extraordinary linguistic world with no parallel in the past. In particular, the paper also highlights the paradigm shifts: Demographic, Social-psychological, technological and power. These shifts are impacting linguistic shift which is unique in itself. The paper will highlight linguistic shift in details in which alternative west plays a major role without challenging the west because it is an era of inclusive globalization in which almost everyone takes equal responsibility.

Keywords: inclusive globalization, new linguistic world order, linguistic shift, world order

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Authors: Arianna Vedaschi

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This paper addresses the relationship between freedom of expression, national security and radicalization. Is it still possible to talk about a balance between the first two elements? Or, due to the intrusion of the third, is it more appropriate to consider freedom of expression as “permanently disfigured” by securitarian concerns? In this study, both the legislative and the judicial level are taken into account and the comparative method is employed in order to provide the reader with a complete framework of relevant issues and a workable set of solutions. The analysis moves from the finding according to which the tension between free speech and national security has become a major issue in democratic countries, whose very essence is continuously endangered by the ever-changing and multi-faceted threat of international terrorism. In particular, a change in terrorist groups’ recruiting pattern, attracting more and more people by way of a cutting-edge communicative strategy, often employing sophisticated technology as a radicalization tool, has called on law-makers to modify their approach to dangerous speech. While traditional constitutional and criminal law used to punish speech only if it explicitly and directly incited the commission of a criminal action (“cause-effect” model), so-called glorification offences – punishing mere ideological support for terrorism, often on the web – are becoming commonplace in the comparative scenario. Although this is direct, and even somehow understandable, consequence of the impending terrorist menace, this research shows many problematic issues connected to such a preventive approach. First, from a predominantly theoretical point of view, this trend negatively impacts on the already blurred line between permissible and prohibited speech. Second, from a pragmatic point of view, such legislative tools are not always suitable to keep up with ongoing developments of both terrorist groups and their use of technology. In other words, there is a risk that such measures become outdated even before their application. Indeed, it seems hard to still talk about a proper balance: what was previously clearly perceived as a balancing of values (freedom of speech v. public security) has turned, in many cases, into a hierarchy with security at its apex. In light of these findings, this paper concludes that such a complex issue would perhaps be better dealt with through a combination of policies: not only criminalizing ‘terrorist speech,’ which should be relegated to a last resort tool, but acting at an even earlier stage, i.e., trying to prevent dangerous speech itself. This might be done by promoting social cohesion and the inclusion of minorities, so as to reduce the probability of people considering terrorist groups as a “viable option” to deal with the lack of identification within their social contexts.

Keywords: radicalization, free speech, international terrorism, national security

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Authors: Gedefaye Nibret Mihretie

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Background: Transactional sex is casual sex between two people to receive material incentives in exchange for sexual favors. Transactional sex is associated with negative consequences, which increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and physiological trauma. Many primary studies in Sub-Saharan Africa have been conducted to assess the prevalence and associated factors of transactional sex among women. These studies had great discrepancies and inconsistent results. Hence, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesize the pooled prevalence of the practice of transactional sex among women and its associated factors in Sub-Saharan Africa. Method: Cross-sectional studies were systematically searched from March 6, 2022, to April 24, 2022, using PubMed, Google Scholar, HINARI, Cochrane Library, and grey literature. The pooled prevalence of transactional sex and associated factors was estimated using DerSemonial-Laird Random Effect Model. Stata (version 16.0) was used to analyze the data. The I-squared statistic was used to assess the studies' heterogeneity. A funnel plot and Egger's test were used to check for publication bias. A subgroup analysis was performed to minimize the underline heterogeneity depending on the study years, source of data, sample sizes and geographical location. Results: Four thousand one hundred thirty articles were extracted from various databases. The final thirty-two studies were included in this systematic review, including 108,075 participants. The pooled prevalence of transactional sex among women in Sub-Saharan Africa was 12.55%, with a confidence interval of 9.59% to 15.52%. Educational status (OR = .48, 95%CI, 0.27, 0.69) was the protective factors of transactional sex whereas, alcohol use (OR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.19, 2.52), early sex debut (OR = 2.57, 95%CI, 1.17, 3.98), substance abuse (OR = 4.21, 95% CI: 2.05, 6.37), having history of sexual experience abuse (OR = 4.08, 95% CI: 1.38, 6.78), physical violence abuse (OR = 6.59, 95% CI: 1.17, 12.02), and sexual violence abuse (OR = 3.56, 95% CI: 1.15, 8.27) were the risk factors of transactional sex. Conclusion: The prevalence of transactional sex among women in Sub-Saharan Africa was high. Educational status, alcohol use, substance abuse, early sex debut, having a history of sexual experiences, physical violence, and sexual violence were predictors of transaction sex. Governmental and other stakeholders are designed to reduce alcohol utilization, provide health information about the negative consequences of early sex debut, substance abuse, and reduce sexual violence, ensuring gender equality through mass media, which should be included in state policy.

Keywords: women’s health, child health, reproductive health, midwifery

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Authors: Marcin Stasiulewicz, Sebastian Filipkowski, Aneta Panuszko

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Background: The hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, is an aggregation of the abnormal forms of peptides and proteins. Water is essential to functioning biomolecules, and it is one of the key factors influencing protein folding and misfolding. However, the hydration studies of proteins are complicated due to the complexity of protein systems. The use of model compounds can facilitate the interpretation of results involving larger systems. Objectives: The goal of the research was to characterize the properties of the hydration water surrounding the two three-residue K peptide fragments INS (Isoleucine - Asparagine - Serine) and NSR (Asparagine - Serine - Arginine). Methods: Fourier-transform infrared spectra of aqueous solutions of the tripeptides were recorded on Nicolet 8700 spectrometer (Thermo Electron Co.) Measurements were carried out at 25°C for varying molality of solute. To remove oscillation couplings from water spectra and, consequently, obtain narrow O-D semi-heavy water bands (HDO), the isotopic dilution method of HDO in H₂O was used. The difference spectra method allowed us to isolate the tripeptide-affected HDO spectrum. Results: The structural and energetic properties of water affected by the tripeptides were compared to the properties of pure water. The shift of the values of the gravity center of bands (related to the mean energy of water hydrogen bonds) towards lower values with respect to the ones corresponding to pure water suggests that the energy of hydrogen bonds between water molecules surrounding tripeptides is higher than in pure water. A comparison of the values of the mean oxygen-oxygen distances in water affected by tripeptides and pure water indicates that water-water hydrogen bonds are shorter in the presence of these tripeptides. The analysis of differences in oxygen-oxygen distance distributions between the tripeptide-affected water and pure water indicates that around the tripeptides, the contribution of water molecules with the mean energy of hydrogen bonds decreases, and simultaneously the contribution of strong hydrogen bonds increases. Conclusions: It was found that hydrogen bonds between water molecules in the hydration sphere of tripeptides are shorter and stronger than in pure water. It means that in the presence of the tested tripeptides, the structure of water is strengthened compared to pure water. Moreover, it has been shown that in the vicinity of the Asparagine - Serine - Arginine, water forms stronger and shorter hydrogen bonds. Acknowledgments: This work was funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (grant 2017/26/D/NZ1/00497).

Keywords: amyloids, K-peptide, hydration, FTIR spectroscopy

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Authors: Victor N. Anisimov, Lyubov A. Boyko, Yazgul R. Almukhametova, Natalia V. Galkina, Alexander V. Latanov

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Modern commercials presented on billboards, TV and on the Internet contain a lot of information about the product or service in text form. However, this information cannot always be perceived and understood by consumers. Typical sociological focus group studies often cannot reveal important features of the interpretation and understanding information that has been read in text messages. In addition, there is no reliable method to determine the degree of understanding of the information contained in a text. Only the fact of viewing a text does not mean that consumer has perceived and understood the meaning of this text. At the same time, the tools based on marketing analysis allow only to indirectly estimate the process of reading and understanding a text. Therefore, the aim of this work is to develop a valid method of recording objective indicators in real time for assessing the fact of reading and the degree of text comprehension. Psychophysiological parameters recorded during text reading can form the basis for this objective method. We studied the relationship between multimodal psychophysiological parameters and the process of text comprehension during reading using the method of correlation analysis. We used eye-tracking technology to record eye movements parameters to estimate visual attention, electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cognitive load and polygraphic indicators (skin-galvanic reaction, SGR) that reflect the emotional state of the respondent during text reading. We revealed reliable interrelations between perceiving the information and the dynamics of psychophysiological parameters during reading the text in commercials. Eye movement parameters reflected the difficulties arising in respondents during perceiving ambiguous parts of text. EEG dynamics in rate of alpha band were related with cumulative effect of cognitive load. SGR dynamics were related with emotional state of the respondent and with the meaning of text and type of commercial. EEG and polygraph parameters together also reflected the mental difficulties of respondents in understanding text and showed significant differences in cases of low and high text comprehension. We also revealed differences in psychophysiological parameters for different type of commercials (static vs. video, financial vs. cinema vs. pharmaceutics vs. mobile communication, etc.). Conclusions: Our methodology allows to perform multimodal evaluation of text perusal and the quality of text reading in commercials. In general, our results indicate the possibility of designing an integral model to estimate the comprehension of reading the commercial text in percent scale based on all noticed markers.

Keywords: reading, commercials, eye movements, EEG, polygraphic indicators

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Authors: Susana Gonçalves, Joana Lencart, Anabela Gregório Dias

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Introduction: In combination with chemotherapy, Total Body Irradiation (TBI) is most used as part of the conditioning regimen prior to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Conventional TBI techniques have a long application time but non-conformality of beam-application with the inability to individually spare organs at risk. Our institution’s intention is to start using Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) techniques to increase homogeneity of delivered radiation. As a first approach, a dosimetric plan was performed on a computed tomography (CT) scan of a Rando Alderson antropomorfic phantom (head and torso), using a set of six arcs distributed along the phantom. However, a full body anthropomorphic phantom is essential to carry out technique validation and implementation. Our aim is to define the physical and chemical characteristics and the ideal manufacturing procedure of upper and lower limbs to our anthropomorphic phantom, for later validate TBI using VMAT. Materials and Methods: To study the better fit between our phantom and limbs, a CT scan of Rando Alderson anthropomorphic phantom was acquired. CT was performed on GE Healthcare equipment (model Optima CT580 W), with slice thickness of 2.5 mm. This CT was also used to access the electronic density of soft tissue and bone through Hounsfield units (HU) analysis. Results: CT images were analyzed and measures were made for the ideal upper and lower limbs. Upper limbs should be build under the following measures: 43cm length and 7cm diameter (next to the shoulder section). Lower limbs should be build under the following measures: 79cm length and 16.5cm diameter (next to the thigh section). As expected, soft tissue and bone have very different electronic density. This is important to choose and analyze different materials to better represent soft tissue and bone characteristics. The approximate HU values of the soft tissue and for bone shall be 35HU and 250HU, respectively. Conclusion: At the moment, several compounds are being developed based on different types of resins and additives in order to be able to control and mimic the various constituent densities of the tissues. Concurrently, several manufacturing techniques are being explored to make it possible to produce the upper and lower limbs in a simple and non-expensive way, in order to finally carry out a systematic and appropriate study of the total body irradiation. This preliminary study was a good starting point to demonstrate the feasibility of TBI with VMAT.

Keywords: TBI, VMAT, anthropomorphic phantom, tissue equivalent materials

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Authors: Yari Vecchio, Margherita Masi, Jorgelina Di Pasquale

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Adoption of Precision Agriculture (PA) is involved in a multidimensional and complex scenario. The process of adopting innovations is complex and social inherently, influenced by other producers, change agents, social norms and organizational pressure. Complexity depends on factors that interact and influence the decision to adopt. Farm and operator characteristics, as well as organizational, informational and agro-ecological context directly affect adoption. This influence has been studied to measure drivers and to clarify 'bottlenecks' of the adoption of agricultural innovation. Making decision process involves a multistage procedure, in which individual passes from first hearing about the technology to final adoption. Awareness is the initial stage and represents the moment in which an individual learns about the existence of the technology. 'Static' concept of adoption has been overcome. Awareness is a precondition to adoption. This condition leads to not encountering some erroneous evaluations, arose from having carried out analysis on a population that is only in part aware of technologies. In support of this, the present study puts forward an empirical analysis among Italian farmers, considering awareness as a prerequisite for adoption. The purpose of the present work is to analyze both factors that affect the probability to adopt and determinants that drive an aware individual to not adopt. Data were collected through a questionnaire submitted in November 2017. A preliminary descriptive analysis has shown that high levels of adoption have been found among younger farmers, better educated, with high intensity of information, with large farm size and high labor-intensive, and whose perception of the complexity of adoption process is lower. The use of a logit model permits to appreciate the weight played by the intensity of labor and complexity perceived by the potential adopter in PA adoption process. All these findings suggest important policy implications: measures dedicated to promoting innovation will need to be more specific for each phase of this adoption process. Specifically, they should increase awareness of PA tools and foster dissemination of information to reduce the degree of perceived complexity of the adoption process. These implications are particularly important in Europe where is pre-announced the reform of Common Agricultural Policy, oriented to innovation. In this context, these implications suggest to the measures supporting innovation to consider the relationship between various organizational and structural dimensions of European agriculture and innovation approaches.

Keywords: adoption, awareness, complexity, precision agriculture

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Authors: Luis Guilherme Resende Santos, Ido Nevat, Leslie Norford

Abstract:

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) is characterized by increased air temperatures in urban areas compared to undeveloped rural surrounding environments. With urbanization and densification, the intensity of UHI increases, bringing negative impacts on livability, health and economy. In order to reduce those effects, it is required to take into consideration design factors when planning future developments. Given design constraints such as population size and availability of area for development, non-trivial decisions regarding the buildings’ dimensions and their spatial distribution are required. We develop a framework for optimization of urban design in order to jointly minimize UHI intensity and buildings’ energy consumption. First, the design constraints are defined according to spatial and population limits in order to establish realistic boundaries that would be applicable in real life decisions. Second, the tools Urban Weather Generator (UWG) and EnergyPlus are used to generate outputs of UHI intensity and total buildings’ energy consumption, respectively. Those outputs are changed based on a set of variable inputs related to urban morphology aspects, such as building height, urban canyon width and population density. Lastly, an optimization problem is cast where the utility function quantifies the performance of each design candidate (e.g. minimizing a linear combination of UHI and energy consumption), and a set of constraints to be met is set. Solving this optimization problem is difficult, since there is no simple analytic form which represents the UWG and EnergyPlus models. We therefore cannot use any direct optimization techniques, but instead, develop an indirect “black box” optimization algorithm. To this end we develop a solution that is based on stochastic optimization method, known as the Cross Entropy method (CEM). The CEM translates the deterministic optimization problem into an associated stochastic optimization problem which is simple to solve analytically. We illustrate our model on a typical residential area in Singapore. Due to fast growth in population and built area and land availability generated by land reclamation, urban planning decisions are of the most importance for the country. Furthermore, the hot and humid climate in the country raises the concern for the impact of UHI. The problem presented is highly relevant to early urban design stages and the objective of such framework is to guide decision makers and assist them to include and evaluate urban microclimate and energy aspects in the process of urban planning.

Keywords: building energy consumption, stochastic optimization, urban design, urban heat island, urban weather generator

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Wing Mui Winnie So, Tian Luo, Zeyu Han

Abstract:

To fully explore and develop the potentials of gifted students systematically and strategically by providing them with opportunities to receive education at appropriate levels, schools in Hong Kong are encouraged to adopt the "Three-Tier Implementation Model" to plan and implement the school-based gifted education, with Level Three refers to the provision of learning opportunities for the exceptionally gifted students in the form of specialist training outside the school setting by post-secondary institutions, non-government organisations, professional bodies and technology enterprises. Due to the growing concern worldwide about low interest among students in pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers, cultivating and boosting STEM career interest has been an emerging research focus worldwide. Although numerous studies have explored its critical contributors, little research has examined the effectiveness of comprehensive interventions such as “Studying with STEM professional”. This study aims to examine the effect on gifted students’ career interest during their participation in an off-school support programme designed and supervised by a team of STEM educators and STEM professionals from a university. Gifted students were provided opportunities and tasks to experience STEM career topics that are not included in the school syllabus, and to experience how to think and work like a STEM professional in their learning. Participants involved 40 primary school students joining the intervention programme outside the normal school setting. Research methods included adopting the STEM career interest survey and drawing tasks supplemented with writing before and after the programme, as well as interviews before the end of the programme. The semi-structured interviews focused on students’ views regarding STEM professionals; what’s it like to learn with a STEM professional; what’s it like to work and think like a STEM professional; and students’ STEM identity and career interest. The changes in gifted students’ STEM career interest and its well-recognised significant contributors, for example, STEM stereotypes, self-efficacy for STEM activities, and STEM outcome expectation, were collectively examined from the pre- and post-survey using T-test. Thematic analysis was conducted for the interview records to explore how studying with STEM professional intervention can help students understand STEM careers; build STEM identity; as well as how to think and work like a STEM professional. Results indicated a significant difference in STEM career interest before and after the intervention. The influencing mechanism was also identified from the measurement of the related contributors and the analysis of drawings and interviews. The potential of off-school support programme supervised by STEM educators and professionals to develop gifted students’ STEM career interest is argued to be further unleashed in future research and practice.

Keywords: gifted students, STEM career, STEM education, STEM professionals

Procedia PDF Downloads 74