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Authors: Khadija Radhi

Abstract:

Food allergy is a serious public health problem, especially in developed countries. As one of the most significant allergies, peanut allergy was investigated in this research. Peanut was mixed with treacle under different heating conditions. The results of glycation analyses revealed that proteins from peanuts interacted with the carbohydrates. Further studies also indicated that Millard reactions were determined by different heating treatment. It is noted that denatured peanut proteins accelerated the first stage of Millard reactions but prevented the third one. From the ELISA results, it was found that Millard reactions between proteins with sugars had no effects on the allergenicity of peanuts. Besides, there was no significant difference in allergenicity between digested and non-digested peanut proteins. However, pre-boiled peanut with denatured proteins displayed lower allergenicity after mixing with sugars. Such results indicated that denaturation is the key factor to reduce the allergenicity of the peanut proteins and it seemed that the second-staged Maillard products had less allergenicity.

Keywords: allergenicity, heating treatment, peanut, Maillard reaction

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Authors: Le Quang Hanh

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Almost all big cities in Vietnam are often located in the river deltas. Therefore the ground condition on these cities is mostly soft soil. As a result, the soil strengthen works are mandatory in order to prevent the harmful to the third parties and tunnel structure itself in urban tunnel projects in Vietnam. This paper will particularly introduce the large diameter jet-grouted column technique that is recently being successfully applied in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The success application of this technique for protecting the historical sensitive building and for water cutoff objective of launching and arriving shafts in the urban tunnel project, will be analyzed from construction process, quality control and lessons learnt. From this situation, the large diameter jet-grouted column technique can extend to another urban tunnel projects in Vietnam and other countries which have similar soft soil conditions.

Keywords: large diameter, jet grouting, ground improvement, urban tunnel

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Authors: Sarah Reker

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The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) provides the basis of this study. For all countries which have ratified the convention since its entry into force in 2007, the effective implementation of the requirements often leads to considerable challenges. Furthermore, missing indicators make it difficult to measure progress. Therefore, the aim of the research project is to contribute to analyze the consequences of the implementation process on the inclusion and exclusion conditions for people with disabilities in Germany. Disabled People’s Organisations and other associations consider the social space to be relevant for the successful implementation of the CRPD. Against this background, the research project wants to focus on the relationship between a barrier-free access to the social space and the “full and effective participation and inclusion” (Art. 3) of persons with disabilities. The theoretical basis of the study is the sociological theory of social space (“Sozialraumtheorie”).

Keywords: decentralisation, qualitative research, residential facilities, social space

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Authors: Laref Nabil

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Ecology is at the center of many debates and international regulations. It therefore becomes a necessity and a privileged axis in many countries policy. The rise of environmental problems, the particularism of the hospital as an actor Public Health must lead by example in hygiene, prevention of risks to man and his environment. In this, it seemed interesting to make a poster on hospital liquid effluents in order to know not only the regulatory aspects but also their degree of pollution and their management in health institutions. Materials and methods: Samples taken at several looks, analysis performed at STEP Reghaia Algiers. Discussion and / or findings: In general, central gaze analysis results of water we can conclude that the contents of the various physico-chemical parameters greatly exceed the standards. Although the hypothesis of assimilating hospital liquid effluents domestic waters is confirmed, the liquid effluent from the University Hospital of Beni Messous and dumped in the natural environment still represent ecotoxicological risk.

Keywords: health, hospital, liquid effluents, water

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Authors: Elizabeth Adebomi Akinlotan, Olukemi Odukoya

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INTRODUCTION: Physical Activity is defined as activity that involves bodily movement which is done as a part of daily activity in the form of working, playing, active transportation such as walking and also as a form of recreational activity. Physical inactivity has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality and morbidity causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths globally and 5.5% of total deaths and it remains a pressing public health issue. There is a shift in the major causes of death from communicable to non-communicable diseases in many developed countries and this is fast becoming the case in developing countries. Physical activity is an important determinant of health and has been associated with lower mortality rates as it reduces the risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, stroke, cancer and osteoporosis. It improves musculoskeletal health, controls weight and reduces symptoms of depression. AIM: The aim is to study the knowledge, attitude and practices of physical activity among adults in Alimosho local government area. METHODOLOGY: This was a descriptive cross sectional survey designed to study the knowledge, attitude and practice of physical activity among adults in Alimosho Local Government Area. The study population were 250 adults aged 18-65 who were residents of the area of more than 6 months duration and had no chronic disease condition or physical disability. A multistage sampling method was used to select the respondents and data was collected using interviewer administered questionnaires. The data was analyzed with the use of EPI-info 2007 statistical software. Chi Square was thereafter used to test the association between selected variables. The level of statistical significance was set at 5% (p<0.05). RESULTS: In general, majority (61.6%) of the respondents had a good knowledge of what physical activity entails, 34.0% had fair knowledge and 4.4% had poor knowledge. There was a favorable attitude towards physical activity among the respondents with 82.4% having an overall positive attitude. Below a third of the respondents (26.4%) reported having a high physical activity (METS > 3001) while 40.0% had moderate (601-3000 METS) levels of activity and 33.6% were inactive (<600METS). There is statistical significance between the gender of the respondent and the levels of physical activity (p=0.0007); 75.2% males reached the minimum recommendations while 24.8% were inactive and 55.0% females reached the minimum recommendations while 45.0% were inactive. Results also showed that of 95 respondents who were satisfied with their levels of physical activity, 33.7% were insufficiently active while 66.3% were either minimally active or highly active and of 110 who were unsatisfied with their levels of physical activity, 72.0% were above the minimum recommendations while 38.0% were insufficiently active. CONCLUSION: In contrast to the high level of knowledge and favorable attitude towards physical activity, there was a lower level of practice of high or moderate physical activities. It is recommended that more awareness should be created on the recommended levels of physical activity especially for the vigorous intensity and moderate intensity physical activity.

Keywords: METS, physical activity, physical inactivity, public health

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Authors: Carvalho M. Catia, Pinto R. Isabel, Azevedo F. Luis, Guerreiro, T. Alexandre, Barbosa R. Mariana, Pinto S. Marta

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Due to the loss of territory, foreign terrorist fighters who have joined Islamic State are returning to their home countries. In order to counter this threat to international security, it is important to implement deradicalisation programmes, through strategies and processes that can reverse radicalisation. The objectives of this scoping review - which is underway - are to provide a comprehensive overview of the programmes being implemented, its main characteristics, the main motives and processes leading to deradicalisation, and to identify the key findings and the existing gaps in the literature. The methodology to be implemented in this scoping review follows the guidelines proposed by Arksey and O’Malley and by The Joanna Briggs Institute. The main results will be the development of a synthesis map of the deradicalisation programmes existing in the world, its main features, and recommendations to policy-makers and professionals.

Keywords: deradicalisation strategies, psychosocial processes, radicalisation, terrorism

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Authors: Michel Soto Chalhoub

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Building code-related literature provides recommendations on normalizing approaches to the calculation of the dynamic properties of structures. Most building codes make a distinction among types of structural systems, construction material, and configuration through a numerical coefficient in the expression for the fundamental period. The period is then used in normalized response spectra to compute base shear. The typical parameter used in simplified code formulas for the fundamental period is overall building height raised to a power determined from analytical and experimental results. However, reinforced concrete buildings which constitute the majority of built space in less developed countries pose additional challenges to the ones built with homogeneous material such as steel, or with concrete under stricter quality control. In the present paper, the particularities of reinforced concrete buildings are explored and related to current methods of equivalent static analysis. A comparative study is presented between the Uniform Building Code, commonly used for buildings within and outside the USA, and data from the Middle East used to model 151 reinforced concrete buildings of varying number of bays, number of floors, overall building height, and individual story height. The fundamental period was calculated using eigenvalue matrix computation. The results were also used in a separate regression analysis where the computed period serves as dependent variable, while five building properties serve as independent variables. The statistical analysis shed light on important parameters that simplified code formulas need to account for including individual story height, overall building height, floor plan, number of bays, and concrete properties. Such inclusions are important for reinforced concrete buildings of special conditions due to the level of concrete damage, aging, or materials quality control during construction. Overall results of the present analysis show that simplified code formulas for fundamental period and base shear may be applied but they require revisions to account for multiple parameters. The conclusion above is confirmed by the analytical model where fundamental periods were computed using numerical techniques and eigenvalue solutions. This recommendation is particularly relevant to code upgrades in less developed countries where it is customary to adopt, and mildly adapt international codes. We also note the necessity of further research using empirical data from buildings in Lebanon that were subjected to severe damage due to impulse loading or accelerated aging. However, we excluded this study from the present paper and left it for future research as it has its own peculiarities and requires a different type of analysis.

Keywords: seismic behaviour, reinforced concrete, simplified code formulas, equivalent static analysis, base shear, response spectra

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Authors: Mingsiang Chen

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The increasing transactions among countries worldwide have brought about a trend of comparative law research in the legal community. An important branch of legal research, i.e., constitutional law, is no exception to the trend. The comparative study of constitutional law takes various forms, and one of these is to study the use of foreign law by constitutional courts. There are, in essence, three sources of foreign law usually used by constitutional courts: foreign constitutions, decisions by foreign constitutional courts, and legal theories developed by foreign scholars. There are two types of using foreign law by constitutional courts: citing any of the forenamed sources for reference purpose, ruling based on the contents or logic of any of the forenamed sources. This paper examines all the decisions handed down by the Constitutional Court of Taiwan from 1990 to 2017. Its purpose is to seek out the occasions, the extent, the significance, and the approach of such usage.

Keywords: comparative constitutional law, constitutional court, judicial review, Taiwan judiciary

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Authors: Mehdi Boukri, Mohammed Naboussi Farsi, Mounir Naili, Omar Amellal, Mohamed Belazougui, Ahmed Mebarki, Nabila Guessoum, Brahim Mezazigh, Mounir Ait-Belkacem, Nacim Yousfi, Mohamed Bouaoud, Ikram Boukal, Aboubakr Fettar, Asma Souki

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The seismic risk to which the urban centres are more and more exposed became a world concern. A co-operation on an international scale is necessary for an exchange of information and experiments for the prevention and the installation of action plans in the countries prone to this phenomenon. For that, the 1990s was designated as 'International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)' by the United Nations, whose interest was to promote the capacity to resist the various natural, industrial and environmental disasters. Within this framework, it was launched in 1996, the RADIUS project (Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas Against Seismic Disaster), whose the main objective is to mitigate seismic risk in developing countries, through the development of a simple and fast methodological and operational approach, allowing to evaluate the vulnerability as well as the socio-economic losses, by probable earthquake scenarios in the exposed urban areas. In this paper, we will present the adaptation and application of this methodology to the Algerian context for the seismic risk evaluation in urban areas potentially exposed to earthquakes. This application consists to perform an earthquake scenario in the urban centre of Constantine city, located at the North-East of Algeria, which will allow the building seismic damage estimation of this city. For that, an inventory of 30706 building units was carried out by the National Earthquake Engineering Research Centre (CGS). These buildings were digitized in a data base which comprises their technical information by using a Geographical Information system (GIS), and then they were classified according to the RADIUS methodology. The study area was subdivided into 228 meshes of 500m on side and Ten (10) sectors of which each one contains a group of meshes. The results of this earthquake scenario highlights that the ratio of likely damage is about 23%. This severe damage results from the high concentration of old buildings and unfavourable soil conditions. This simulation of the probable seismic damage of the building and the GIS damage maps generated provide a predictive evaluation of the damage which can occur by a potential earthquake near to Constantine city. These theoretical forecasts are important for decision makers in order to take the adequate preventive measures and to develop suitable strategies, prevention and emergency management plans to reduce these losses. They can also help to take the adequate emergency measures in the most impacted areas in the early hours and days after an earthquake occurrence.

Keywords: seismic risk, mitigation, RADIUS, urban areas, Algeria, earthquake scenario, Constantine

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Authors: Anna Savchenko

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The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought about a wave of decolonisation throughout the Soviet space in the 1990s. While this emancipation ushered in an era of reform in the newly independent states, it also opened up the opportunity for countries such as Ukraine to be (re)colonised by a different ruling power: the European Union. Ukraine’s relationship with the EU has been further complicated by the fact that the country’s political leadership has aligned itself with a Western agenda of democratisation. This article challenges the neoliberal belief that the global market can spurn democratisation by analysing the way in which market privatisation in Ukraine has allowed for mass corruption to flourish. I submit that neoliberalism, or the sheer force of the global market, is just as colonising as modern-day imperialism has proven to be by providing an analytical synthesis of Russia and Ukraine’s century-old conflict. The EU’s demonstrated inability to mediate cross-border conflict in the region foreshadows that Ukraine may have been economically colonised by another failing state.

Keywords: neoliberalism, imperealism, Russian-Ukrainian conflict, democratisation, colonisation

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Authors: Bassey Igri Okon, Gloria Mayen Umukoro

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The United Nations faces the formidable challenge of ensuring sustainable food provision for the world's burgeoning population, as outlined in Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2. Predominantly, underdeveloped nations bear the brunt of hunger and poverty, lacking sustainable means of self-sustenance. A critical factor contributing to this dire situation is the underperformance of their agricultural sectors, ostensibly necessitating intervention from developed nations. This paper posits that the provision of Agricultural Aid has become a modern instrument of colonization. It unveils how developed countries, under the pretext of aid, perpetuate a neo-colonial dominance over underdeveloped nations. It is argued that unless these nations revert to indigenous farming methodologies and implement effective governance to enable sustainable agriculture, they are likely to remain entrapped in a relentless cycle of hunger, poverty, and economic subservience.

Keywords: aid autonomy, self-sufficiency, rethinking, neocolonialism, underdeveloped, indigenous farming

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Authors: Luke Onyekakeyah, Cynthia Onyekakeyah

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The conflict in Northeastern Nigeria could mar local and international efforts to salvage the drying Lake Chad, which at present is merely 20 per cent of its original size. The conflict which began in 2009, assumed a monstrous dimension to the extent that any prospects of a redeeming action on the Lake is bleak. The concern of the authorities in the basin countries is how to bring the conflict to an end in the interest of the ecologically-dependent riparian population. Lake Chad is Africa’s fourth largest lake. From a previous 388,500 km2 some 600, 000 years ago, the Lake has shrunk to a maximum length of 25,000 km2. During the last four decades, the Lake has been susceptible to increasing variability and irregular rainfall. Dry spell, excessive evaporation and sandstorm have adversely affected the Lake, such that a 2001 estimate put the Lake to a meager 19,000 km2. Given the critical importance of the Lake as a source of livelihood for over 20 million people, there is mounting concern that an unprecedented human and ecological catastrophe is unfolding, should the Lake eventually dries up. The study evaluates the Lake Chad and how the conflict has adversely impacted it.

Keywords: lake chad, conflict, salvage, Nigeria

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Authors: Rossouw De Bruin, Sebastiaan H. Von Solms

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The state of national security is an evolving concern. Companies, organizations, governments, states and individuals are aware of the security of their information and their assets however, they may not always be aware of the risks present. These risks are not only limited to non-existence of security procedures. Existing security can be severely flawed, especially if there is non-conformance towards policies, practices and procedures. When looking at humanitarian actions, we can easily identify these flaws. Unfortunately, humanitarian aid has to compete with factors from within the states, countries and continents they are working in. Furthermore, as technology improves, so does our connectivity to the internet and the way in which we use the internet. However, there are times when security is overlooked and humanitarian agencies are some of the agencies that do not always take security into consideration. The purpose of this paper will be to introduce the importance of cybersecurity and cybersecurity governance with respect to humanitarian work. We will also introduce and briefly discuss a model that can be used by humanitarian agencies to assess, manage and maintain their cybersecurity efforts.

Keywords: humanities, cybersecurity, cybersecurity governance, maturity, cybersecurity maturity, maturity model

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Authors: Jac J. W. Andrews, James B. Hale

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Effective practicing psychologists require ongoing skill development that is constructivist and recursive in nature, with mentor, colleague, co-worker, and patient feedback critical to successful acquisition and maintenance of professional competencies. This paper will provide an overview of the nature and scope of psychologist skill development through multisource feedback (MSF) or 360 degree evaluation, present a rationale for its use for assessing practicing psychologist performance, and advocate its use in psychology given the demonstrated model utility in other health professions. The paper will conclude that an international research design is needed to assess the feasibility, reliability, and validity of MSF system ratings intended to solicit feedback from mentors, colleagues, coworkers, and patients about psychologist competencies. If adopted, the MSF model could lead to enhanced skill development that fosters patient satisfaction within and across countries.

Keywords: psychologist, multisource feedback, psychologist competency, professionalism

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Authors: A. Benatiallah, A. Hadjadj, D. Benatiallah, F. Abaidi, A. Harrouz

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Photovoltaic system is established as a reliable and economical source of electricity in rural and Sahara areas, especially in developing countries where the population is dispersed, has low consumption of energy and the grid power is not extended to these areas due to viability and financial problems. The production of energy by the photovoltaic system is very fluctuates and depend of meteorological conditions. Wind is a very important and often neglected parameter in the behavior of the solar module. The electric performances of a solar module to the silicon are very appreciable to the blows; in the present work we have studies the behavior of multi-crystal solar module according to the density of dust, and the principals electric feature of the solar module. An evaluation permits to affirm that a solar module under the effect of sand will collect a lower flux to the normal conditions.

Keywords: photovoltaic, multi-crystal module, experimental, effect of dust, performances

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Authors: Isabelle Gobatto

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Based on an anthropological approach, this paper explores the medical profession and the construction of medical practices by considering the multiform articulations between structural poverty and the production of care from a low-resource francophone West African country, Burkina Faso. This country is considered in its exemplary dimension of culturally differentiated countries of the African continent that share the same situation of structural poverty. The objective is to expose the effects of structural poverty on the ways of constructing professional knowledge and thinking about the sense of the medical profession. If doctors are trained to have the same capacities in South and West countries, which are to treat and save lives whatever the cultural contexts of the practice of medicine, the ways of investing their role and of dealing with this context of action fracture the homogenization of the medical profession. In the line of anthropology of biomedicine, this paper outlines the complex effects of structural poverty on health care, care relations, and the moral economy of doctors. The materials analyzed are based on an ethnography including two temporalities located thirty years apart (1990-1994 and 2020-2021), based on long-term observations of care practices conducted in healthcare institutions, interviews coupled with the life histories of physicians. The findings reveal that disabilities faced by doctors to deliver care are interpreted as policy gaps, but they are also considered by physicians as constitutive of the social and cultural characteristics of patients, making their capacities and incapacities in terms of accompanying caregivers in the production of care. These perceptions have effects on know-how, structured around the need to act even when diagnoses are not made so as not to see patients desert health structures if the costs of care are too high for them. But these interpretations of highly individualizing dimensions of these difficulties place part of the blame on patients for the difficulties in using learned knowledge and delivering effective care. These situations challenge the ethics of caregivers but also of ethnologists. Firstly because the interpretations of disabilities prevent caregivers from considering vulnerabilities of care as constituting a common condition shared with their patients in these health systems, affecting them in an identical way although in different places in the production of care. Correlatively, these results underline that these professional conceptions prevent the emergence of a figure of victim, which could be shared between patients and caregivers who, together, undergo working and care conditions at the limit of the acceptable. This dimension directly involves politics. Secondly, structural poverty and its effects on care challenge the ethics of the anthropologist who observes caregivers producing, without intent to arm, experiences of care marked by an ordinary violence, by not giving them the care they need. It is worth asking how anthropologists could get doctors to think in this light in west-African societies.

Keywords: Africa, care, ethics, poverty

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Authors: Li Sheng

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Based on an extended post-Keynesian model, we find that the association between the savings rate and income inequality is negative if savers’ funds are borrowed by spending households for consumption but positive if savings are channeled to investing firms for production. A negative association, such as the one that exists in the U.S., hinges on an income illusion created by an asset bubble and cheap credit. Thus, financial globalization leads consumption and income inequality to diverge, and the divergence is more extreme if lower-income groups have higher debt ratios. A positive association, such as the one that exists in China, relates to liquidity constraints faced by consumers such that consumption inequality closely follows income inequality. Our results imply that income inequality must be reduced in both types of countries to increase savings in deficit economies with negative associations and to reduce savings in surplus economies with positive associations.

Keywords: savings rate, income inequality, financial globalization, global imbalances

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Authors: O. Akinola, R. Mustapha

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Obesity is the most serious long-term health problem currently facing adolescents and its prevalence increasing worldwide including developing countries. A cross-sectional study was carried out among age 11-19 years in both public and private school in the urban area of the state. The data was collected using pretest self-administered questionnaire; Anthropometric measurement was also used to examine their nutritional status. Obesity status were determined using BMI cut off point, the overweight was found to be 3.06% among female and 0.6% among male whereas the prevalence of obesity was 0.46% in female and non among male. 62.6% snack daily, fruit consumption pattern was low 0.6%, and 43.7% spend between 4-5 hours watching television daily after school. A positive association exists between the lifestyle and nutritional status of the respondents. Education effort to improve nutrition knowledge can be incorporated into course curriculum and focus on various components within the system when implementing preventive measure on obesity.

Keywords: adolescent, obesity, overweight, prevalence

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Authors: Thomas Chong, Irene Victor

Abstract:

This paper discusses the history and plausible future of assistive technology and what it means for students with disabilities in Singapore, a country known for its high quality of education in the world. Over more than a century, students with disabilities have benefitted from relatively low-tech assistive technology (like eye-glasses, Braille, magnifiers and wheelchairs) to high-tech assistive technology including electronic mobility switches, alternative keyboards, computer-screen enlargers, text-to-speech readers, electronic sign-language dictionaries and signing avatars for individuals with hearing impairments. Driven by legislation, the use of assistive technology in many countries is becoming so ubiquitous that more and more students with disabilities are able to perform as well as if not better than their counterparts. Yet in many other learning environments where assistive technology is not affordable or mandated, the learning gaps can be quite significant. Without stronger legislation, Singapore may still have a long way to go in levelling the playing field for its students with disabilities.

Keywords: assistive technology, students with disabilities, disability laws in Singapore, inclusiveness

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Authors: D. S. Denchuk, O. M. Zamyatina, M. G. Minin, M. A. Soloviev, K. V. Bogrova

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The article considers invention activity in Russia and worldwide, its modern state, and the impact of innovative engineering activity on the national economy of the considered countries. It also analyses the historical premises of modern engineer-ing invention. The authors explore the development of engineering invention at an engineer-ing university, the creation of particular environment for scientific and technical creativity of students on the example of Elite engineering education program at Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia. It is revealed that for the successful de-velopment of engineering invention in a higher education institution it is neces-sary to apply a learning model that develops the creative potential of a student, which is, in its turn, inseparably connected with the ability to generate new ideas in engineering. Such academic environment can become a basis for revealing stu-dents' creativity.

Keywords: engineering invention, scientific and technical creativity, students, project-based approach

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Authors: N. Zeinalzadeh, Mahdi Sadeghi

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Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is the most common cause of non-inflammatory diarrhea in the developing countries, resulting in approximately 20% of all diarrheal episodes in children in these areas. ST is one of the most important virulence factors and CFA/I is one of the frequent colonization factors that help to process of ETEC infection. ST and CfaB (CFA/I subunit) are among vaccine candidates against ETEC. So, ST because of its small size is not a good immunogenic in the natural form. However to increase its immunogenic potential, here we explored candidate positions for ST insertion in CfaB sequence. After bioinformatics analysis, one of the candidate positions was selected and the chimeric gene (cfaB*st) sequence was synthesized and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The chimeric recombinant protein was purified with Ni-NTA columns and characterized with western blot analysis. The residue 74-75 of CfaB sequence could be a good candidate position for ST and other epitopes insertion.

Keywords: bioinformatics, CFA/I, enterotoxigenic E. coli, ST toxoid

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Authors: Sandeep Reddy, Sonia Allan, Simon Coghlan, Paul Cooper

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its application in medicine has generated ample interest amongst policymakers and clinicians. Successes with AI in medical imaging interpretation and clinical decision support are paving the way for its incorporation into routine healthcare delivery. While there has been a focus on the development of ethical principles to guide its application in healthcare, challenges of this application go beyond what ethics principles can address thus requiring robust governance frameworks. Also, while ethical challenges of medical artificial intelligence are being discussed, the ethics of deploying AI in lower-income countries receive less attention than in other developed economies. This creates an imperative not only for sound ethical guidelines but also for robust governance frameworks to regulate AI in medicine around the world. In this article, we discuss what components need to be considered in developing these governance frameworks and who should lead this worldwide effort.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, global health, governance, ethics

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Authors: Birgit Heike Spohn

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Several authors (e.g., Krowatschek & Reid, 2011; Winkler, 1998) pronounce themselves in favor of the use of relaxation techniques in school because those techniques could help children to cope with stress, improve power of concentration, learning, and social behavior as well as class climate. Children with learning disabilities might profit from those techniques in a special way because they contribute to improved learning behavior. There is no study addressing the frequency of the use of relaxation techniques in special schools for children with learning disabilities in German speaking countries. The paper presents a study in which all teachers of special schools for children with learning disabilities in a district of South Germany (n = 625) were questioned about the use of relaxation techniques in school using a standardized questionnaire. Variables addressed were the use of these techniques in the classroom, aspects of their use (kind of relaxation technique, frequency, and regularity of their use), and potential influencing factors. The results are discussed, and implications for further research are drawn.

Keywords: special education, learning disabilities, relaxation training, concentration

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Authors: Soliman Rosemary

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Despite the widespread movements towards democratization in most countries, women are still largely underrepresented at most levels of governments, especially in ministerial and other executive bodies. This paper is going to focus on the status quo of women political marginalization in Japan and the role social movements, feminist groups and campaigns play in raising the number of female politicians in administrative decision making process. The paper will raise some Japanese feminist groups such as ‘WIN WIN’ and ‘Q no Kai’ and other feminist groups as case studies. The study will help in furthering the understanding of women political empowerment in Japan and the strategies of contemporary social movements in raising the awareness of the importance of gender quota in the electoral system to be able to place new items on the political agenda that reflect and address women's gender-specific concerns, values and experiences, and providing new perspectives on mainstream political issues.

Keywords: feminist, political empowerment, quota, social movements

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Authors: Ching-Yu Lin

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The number of patients with aphasia has been gradually increasing; however, public awareness of aphasia is still limited. Moreover, surveys about public awareness of aphasia have been conducted in several countries, but there is no research about public awareness of aphasia in Taiwan so far. Therefore, this study aims at the investigation of public awareness of aphasia in Taiwan. In this pilot study, the original English-version questionnaire will be translated into Mandarin Chinese by a speech therapist (the author), and 100 Taiwanese over 18 years old will be recruited to finish the questionnaire. People with an occupation about health or medical will be excluded. In order to reach more people, the questionnaire will be an Internet survey by Google Forms, and the URL of the survey will be distributed by messaging, i.e. e-mail, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, or Line. Data will be analyzed via PASW Statistic 18. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize what proportion of the public have heard of aphasia and what proportion of the public have basic knowledge of aphasia in Taiwan. The sources of information about aphasia will also be investigated. Further, differences in awareness of aphasia due to age, gender, and education level will be discussed.

Keywords: aphasia, public awareness, public knowledge, taiwan

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Authors: Miriam Schiff, Hadas Rosenne, Ran Nir-Paz, Shiri Shinan Altman

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To examine (1) the level, predictors, and subjective perception of professional quality of life (PRoQL), posttraumatic growth, roles, task changes during the pandemic, and perceived preparedness for the next pandemic. These variables were added as part of an international study on social workers in healthcare stress, resilience, and perceived preparedness we took part in, along with Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. (2) The extent to which background variables, rate of exposure to the virus, working in COVID wards, profession, personal resilience, and resistance to organizational change predict posttraumatic growth, perceived preparedness, and PRoQL (the latter was examined among social workers only). (3) The teams' perceptions of how the pandemic impacted them at the personal, professional, and organizational levels and what assisted them. Methodologies: Mixed quantitative and qualitative methods were used. 1039 hospital healthcare workers from various professions participated in the quantitative study while 32 participated in in-depth interviews. The same methods were used in six other countries. Findings: The level of PRoQL was moderate, with higher burnout and secondary traumatization level than during routine times. Differences between countries in the level of PRoQL were found as well. Perceived preparedness for the next pandemic at the personal level was moderate and similar among the different health professions. Higher exposure to the virus was associated with lower perceived preparedness of the hospitals. Compared to other professions, doctors and nurses perceived hospitals as significantly less prepared for the next pandemic. The preparedness of the State of Israel for the next pandemic is perceived as low by all healthcare professionals. A moderate level of posttraumatic growth was found. Staff who worked at the COVID ward reported a greater level of growth. Doctors reported the lowest level of growth. The staff's resilience was high, with no differences among professions or levels of exposure. Working in the COVID ward and resilience predicted better preparedness, while resistance to organizational change predicted worse preparedness. Findings from the qualitative part of the study revealed that healthcare workers reported challenges at the personal, professional and organizational level during the different waves of the pandemic. They also report on internal and external resources they either owned or obtained during that period. Conclusion: Exposure to the COVID-19 virus is associated with secondary traumatization on one hand and personal posttraumatic growth on the other hand. Personal and professional discoveries and a sense of mission helped cope with the pandemic that was perceived as a historical event, war, or mass casualty event. Personal resilience, along with the support of colleagues, family, and direct management, were seen as significant components of coping. Hospitals should plan ahead and improve their preparedness to the next pandemic.

Keywords: covid-19, health-care, social workers, burnout, preparedness, international perspective

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Authors: Olgun Akbulut

Abstract:

Turkey has entered in the European human rights monitoring in the early 1990s. Since then many improvements have been observed in domestic law. However, one area stays the least developed one: gender discrimination. Although the country is proud of the fact that electoral rights for women were recognized in Turkey even before many developed countries in the west, interestingly the first Turkish case where the European Court of Human Rights (ECrtHR) found discrimination concerned gender discrimination. With the proposed paper, the author is willing to determine and analyze the findings of the ECrtHR in cases decided against Turkey concerning gender discrimination, identify whether Turkish public institutions display coordination in engagement or disengagement in implementing the judgments where the ECrtHR found discrimination on the basis of gender and evaluate the effectiveness of the Court's jurisprudence on Turkish gender policy.

Keywords: equality, gender discrimination, human rights, Turkey

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Maruska Vizek, Josip Glaurdic, Marina Tkalec, Goran Vuksic

Abstract:

We empirically explore whether and how taxation affects bilateral real exchange rates in the euro area – relative unit labor costs and relative consumer price indices. We find that employers’ social security contributions and the value added tax changes have the expected effects put forward in the fiscal devaluation literature and simulations. Increases in employers’ contributions appreciate the relative unit labor costs in the short- and the long-run, while value added tax hike appreciates the relative consumer prices. Somewhat surprisingly, for personal income tax increases, we find a short-run depreciating impact on the relative unit labor costs, while increases in employees’ contributions depreciate both measures of real exchange rates in the short-run.

Keywords: sovereign bonds, European Union, developing countries, political determinants

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Authors: Bushra, Filza Akhtar

Abstract:

As countries face increased pressure to address environmental issues and resource constraints, the need to implement sustainable waste management strategies grows. This research study investigates the concept of circular economy principles in the context of municipal waste management as a tool for achieving sustainability goals. Municipalities can reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources, and promote economic development by switching from traditional linear waste disposal prototypes to circular approaches prioritizing waste minimization, reuse, recycling, and resource recovery. Drawing on case studies and best practices worldwide, this study investigates the potential benefits, obstacles, and opportunities of incorporating circular economy principles into waste management methods. It also talks about the role of regulatory frameworks, technology advances, and stakeholder participation in driving the transformation.

Keywords: sustainable, waste, management, circular economy

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Authors: Jan Busch, Maurice Schmidt, Peter Nyhuis

Abstract:

The change of conditions for production companies in high-wage countries is characterized by the globalization of competition and the transition of a supplier´s to a buyer´s market. The companies need to face the challenges of reacting flexibly to these changes. Due to the significant and increasing degree of automation, assembly has become the most expensive production process. Regarding the reduction of production cost, assembly consequently offers a considerable rationalizing potential. Therefore, an aerodynamic feeding system has been developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA), Leibniz Universitaet Hannover. In former research activities, this system has been enabled to adjust itself using genetic algorithm. The longer the genetic algorithm is executed the better is the feeding quality. In this paper, the relation between the system´s setting time and the feeding quality is observed and a function which enables the user to achieve the minimum of the total feeding time is presented.

Keywords: aerodynamic feeding system, batch size, optimisation, setting time

Procedia PDF Downloads 245