Search results for: relative risk ratios (RRR)

Authors: Mohammed E. Mansour, Tamador M. A. Elhassan, Nahid A. Ibrahim, Awatif A. Ahmed, Manal A. Abdalla

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Rift valley fever (RVF) is mosquito-borne disease. RVF is transboundary zoonotic disease. It has socioeconomic and public health importance. This paper describes qualitative risk of the RVF vaccine production. RVF is endemic in the Sudan. It has been reported in Sudan due to abundance of Ades Eqytie. Thus, there is huge effort to control it. Vaccination practices had significant role to control and manage RVF. The risk assessment explains the likelihood of a risk as likely. Thus, insecticides and repellents synergize the effort of the vaccination.

Keywords: qualitative analysis, risk assessment, rift valley fever vaccine, quality control

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Authors: E. Channol, O. Collet, N. Kostyuchyk, T. Mesbah, Quoc Hoang Long Nguyen

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In this paper, a pricing model is proposed for co-integrated commodities extending Larsson model. The futures formulae have been derived and tests have been performed with non-constant volatility. The model has been applied to energy commodities (gas, CO2, energy) and soft commodities (corn, wheat). Results show that non-constant volatility leads to more accurate short term prices, which provides better evaluation of value-at-risk and more generally improve the risk management.

Keywords: co-integration, soft commodities, risk management, value-at-risk

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

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Childhood obesity, which may lead to increased risk for heart diseases in children as well as adults, is one of the most important health problems throughout the world. Prevalences of morbid obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are being increased during childhood age group. MetS is a cluster of metabolic and vascular abnormalities including hypercoagulability and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). There are also some relations between some components of MetS and leukocytes. The aim of this study is to investigate complete blood cell count parameters that differ between morbidly obese boys and girls with MetS diagnosis. A total of 117 morbid obese children with MetS consulted to Department of Pediatrics in Faculty of Medicine Hospital at Namik Kemal University were included into the scope of the study. The study population was classified based upon their genders (60 girls and 57 boys). Their heights and weights were measured and body mass index (BMI) values were calculated. WHO BMI-for age and sex percentiles were used. The values above 99 percentile were defined as morbid obesity. Anthropometric measurements were performed. Waist-to-hip and head-to-neck ratios as well as homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were calculated. Components of MetS (central obesity, glucose intolerance, high blood pressure, high triacylglycerol levels, low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol) were determined. Hematological variables were measured. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. The degree for statistical significance was p ≤ 0.05. There was no statistically significant difference between the ages (11.2±2.6 years vs 11.2±3.0 years) and BMIs (28.6±5.2 kg/m² vs 29.3±5.2 kg/m²) of boys and girls (p ≥ 0.05), respectively. Significantly increased waist-to-hip ratios were obtained for boys (0.94±0.08 vs 0.91±0.06; p=0.023). Significantly elevated values of hemoglobin (13.55±0.98 vs 13.06±0.82; p=0.004), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (33.79±0.91 vs 33.21±1.14; p=0.003), eosinophils (0.300±0.253 vs 0.196±0.197; p=0.014), and platelet (347.1±81.7 vs 319.0±65.9; p=0.042) were detected for boys. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratios as well as HOMA-IR values (p ≥ 0.05). Statistically significant gender-based differences were found for hemoglobin as well as mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and hence, separate reference intervals for two genders should be considered for these parameters. Eosinophils may contribute to the development of thrombus in acute coronary syndrome. Eosinophils are also known to make an important contribution to mechanisms related to thrombosis pathogenesis in acute myocardial infarction. Increased platelet activity is observed in patients with MetS and these individuals are more susceptible to CVDs. In our study, elevated platelets described as dominant contributors to hypercoagulability and elevated eosinophil counts suggested to be related to the development of CVDs observed in boys may be the early indicators of the future cardiometabolic complications in this gender.

Keywords: children, complete blood count, gender, metabolic syndrome

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Authors: Ashley Wei-Ting Wang, Wen-Yau Hsu

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Objectives: The current study applies and expands the Tripartite Model to elaborate the link between non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal behavior. We propose a structural model of NSSI and suicidal risk, in which negative affect (NA) predicts both anxiety and depression, positive affect (PA) predicts depression only, anxiety is linked to NSSI, and depression is linked to suicidal risk. Method: Four hundreds and eighty seven undergraduates participated. Data were collected by administering self-report questionnaires. We performed hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling to test the proposed structural model. Results: The results largely support the proposed structural model, with one exception: anxiety was strongly associated with NSSI and to a lesser extent with suicidal risk. Conclusions: We conclude that the co-occurrence of NSSI and suicidal risk is due to NA and anxiety, and suicidal risk can be differentiated by depression. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: non-suicidal self-injury, suicidal risk, anxiety, depression, the tripartite model, hierarchical relationship

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Authors: R. Berglund, T. Backström, M. Bellgran

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This study explores how management addresses psychosocial risks in seven teams of engineers and technicians in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution. The sample is from an ongoing quasi-experiment about psychosocial risk management in a manufacturing company in Sweden. Each of the seven teams belongs to one of two clusters: a positive cluster or a negative cluster. The positive cluster reports a significantly positive change in psychosocial risk levels between two time-points and the negative cluster reports a significantly negative change. The data are collected using semi-structured interviews. The results of the computer aided thematic analysis show that there are more differences than similarities when comparing the risk treatment actions taken between the two clusters. Findings show that the managers in the positive cluster use more enabling actions that foster and support formal and informal relationship building. In contrast, managers that use less enabling actions hinder the development of positive group processes and contribute negative changes in psychosocial risk levels. This exploratory study sheds some light on how management can influence significant positive and negative changes in psychosocial risk levels during a risk management process.

Keywords: group process model, risk treatment, risk management, psychosocial

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Authors: Hilalah Alturkistani, Alaa AlFaadhel, Nora AlJahani, Fatiha Djebbar

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Cloud computing is one of the most widely used technology which provides opportunities and services to government entities, large companies, and standard users. However, cybersecurity risk management studies of cloud computing and resiliency approaches are lacking. This paper proposes resilient cloud cybersecurity risk assessment and management tailored specifically, to Dropbox with two approaches:1) technical-based solution motivated by a cybersecurity risk assessment of cloud services, and 2)a target personnel-based solution guided by cybersecurity-related survey among employees to identify their knowledge that qualifies them withstand to any cyberattack. The proposed work attempts to identify cloud vulnerabilities, assess threats and detect high risk components, to finally propose appropriate safeguards such as failure predicting and removing, redundancy or load balancing techniques for quick recovery and return to pre-attack state if failure happens.

Keywords: cybersecurity risk management plan, resilient cloud computing, cyberattacks, cybersecurity risk assessment

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Authors: Ines Gasmi, Salima Smiti, Makram Soui, Khaled Ghedira

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Credit risk is considered as one of the important issues for financial institutions. It provokes great losses for banks. To this objective, numerous methods for credit risk evaluation have been proposed. Many evaluation methods are black box models that cannot adequately reveal information hidden in the data. However, several works have focused on building transparent rules-based models. For credit risk assessment, generated rules must be not only highly accurate, but also highly interpretable. In this paper, we aim to build both, an accurate and transparent credit risk evaluation model which proposes a set of classification rules. In fact, we consider the credit risk evaluation as an optimization problem which uses a genetic programming (GP) algorithm, where the goal is to maximize the accuracy of generated rules. We evaluate our proposed approach on the base of German and Australian credit datasets. We compared our finding with some existing works; the result shows that the proposed GP outperforms the other models.

Keywords: credit risk assessment, rule generation, genetic programming, feature selection

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Authors: Sandija Zeverte-Rivza, Irina Pilvere, Baiba Rivza

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The use of renewable energy sources incl. biogas has become topical in accordance with the increasing demand for energy, decrease of fossil energy resources and the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as to increase energy independence from the territories where fossil energy resources are available. As the technologies of biogas production from agricultural biomass develop, risk assessment and risk management become necessary for farms producing such a renewable energy. The need for risk assessments has become particularly topical when discussions on changing the biogas policy in the EU take place, which may influence the development of the sector in the future, as well as the operation of existing biogas facilities and their income level. The current article describes results of the risk assessment for farms producing biomass from agriculture biomass in Latvia, the risk assessment system included 24 risks, that affect the whole biogas production process and the obtained results showed the high significance of political and production risks.

Keywords: biogas production, risks, risk assessment, biosystems engineering

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Authors: Minghua Chen, Rui Wang

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This paper addresses the impact of foreign ownership on the risk-taking behavior of banks. Using bank-level panel data of more than 1,300 commercial banks in 32 emerging economies during 2000-2013, we find that foreign owned banks take on more risk than their domestic counterparts. We further examine several factors that may potentially contribute to foreign banks’ differentiated riskiness from four perspectives, namely, foreign banks’ informational disadvantages, agency problems, the contagious effect of parent banks’ financial conditions and the disparity between home and host markets. We find supportive evidence that these factors play a significant role in affecting foreign banks’ risk-taking.

Keywords: bank risk-taking, emerging economies, financial liberalization, foreign banks

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Authors: Siti Raihana Hamzah

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This paper elaborates risk shifting in debt financing system as the ultimate cause of the global financial crisis. In contrast, risk sharing in equity financing like sukuk helps the economic system to be better sustained. Nevertheless, some types of sukuk are haunted by the issue of imitation with bonds. The critics on the imitation issue not only have raised doubt on the ability of sukuk to diminish risk shifting behavior but also the ability of this Islamic financial instrument to ensure better future financial stability. Through that, this paper provides discussion on the possibility of sukuk to induce risk shifting and how equity financing may help sukuk to be free from risk shifting. This paper is important in the sense that sukuk receives a significant demand from investors throughout the world. For this instrument to be supportive in the future economic stability, the issue of imitation needs to be identified and addressed. Furthermore, critics cannot be focused on debts and its ability to gauge the financial flux but also to sukuk due to their structures similarity.

Keywords: global financial crisis, debt, risk-shifting, risk sharing, equity, sukuk, bonds

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Authors: Gulmira Umarova

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The data on the assessment of the influence of environmental risk to the health of the population of Uralsk in the West region of Kazakhstan were presented. Calculation of non-carcinogenic risks was performed for such air pollutants as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide. Here with the critical organs and systems, which are affected by the above-mentioned substances were taken into account. As well as indicators of primary and general morbidity by classes of diseases among the population were considered. The quantitative risk of the influence of substances on organs and systems is established by results of the calculation.

Keywords: environment, health, morbidity, non-carcinogenic risk

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Authors: Ian Phil Canlas, Mageswary Karpudewan, Joyce Magtolis, Rosario Canlas

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This study reported the development and validation of the Awareness to Disaster Risk Reduction Questionnaire for Teachers (ADRRQT). The questionnaire is a combination of Likert scale and open-ended questions that were grouped into two parts. The first part included questions relating to the general awareness on disaster risk reduction. Whereas, the second part comprised questions regarding the integration of disaster risk reduction in the teaching process. The entire process of developing and validating of the ADRRQT was described in this study. Statistical and qualitative findings revealed that the ADRRQT is significantly valid and reliable and has the potential of measuring awareness to disaster risk reduction of stakeholders in the field of teaching. Moreover, it also shows the potential to be adopted in other fields.

Keywords: awareness, development, disaster risk reduction, questionnaire, validation

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Authors: Amirhossein Karamoozian, Desheng Wu, Behzad Abbasnejad

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Building information modelling (BIM) is a new technology to enhance the efficiency of project management in the construction industry. In addition to the potential benefits of this useful technology, there are various risks and obstacles to applying it in construction projects. In this study, a decision making approach is presented for risk assessment in BIM adoption in construction projects. Various risk factors of exerting BIM during different phases of the project lifecycle are identified with the help of Delphi method, experts’ opinions and related literature. Afterward, Shannon’s entropy and Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation) are applied to derive priorities of the identified risk factors. Results indicated that lack of knowledge between professional engineers about workflows in BIM and conflict of opinions between different stakeholders are the risk factors with the highest priority.

Keywords: risk, BIM, fuzzy TOPSIS, construction projects

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Authors: Shannon L. Stewart, Ashley Toohey, Natalia Lapshina

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There is a well-established relationship between childhood maltreatment and negative outcomes (e.g., physical and mental health problems, social skill deficits, poor quality of life). The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between polyvictimization (multiple types of trauma) and risk of harm to self and others, taking into account possible age and sex differences. A total of 8980 children and youth were recruited from over 50 mental health facilities across Ontario, Canada. Among this sample, 29% of children and youth had experienced polyvictimization. Results showed that female children and youth who had experienced trauma were at greater risk of harm to themselves, while their male counterparts were at greater risk of harming others. Further, findings from this study highlight that experiencing polyvictimization, regardless of age or sex, increased the risk of harm to self and others. These findings add to extant literature as to the cumulative relationship between polyvictimization and risk in relation to harming oneself or others. Further, results from this study have significant implications for assessment and care-planning for those children and youth presenting with a trauma background.

Keywords: children's mental health, polyvictimization, risk of harm, sex differences

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Authors: Nguyen Quang Kim, Nguyen Thu Hien, Nguyen Thien Dung

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Flood disasters are increasing worldwide in both frequency and magnitude. Every year in Vietnam, flood causes great damage to people, property, and environmental degradation. The flood risk management policy in Vietnam is currently updated. The planning of flood mitigation strategies is reviewed to make a decision how to reach sustainable flood risk reduction. This paper discusses the basic approach where the measures of flood protection are chosen based on minimizing the present value of expected monetary expenses, total residual risk and costs of flood control measures. This approach will be proposed and demonstrated in a case study for flood risk management in Vinh Phuc province of Vietnam. Research also proposed the framework to find a solution of optimal protection level and optimal measures of the flood. It provides an explicit economic basis for flood risk management plans and interactive effects of options for flood damage reduction. The results of the case study are demonstrated and discussed which would provide the processing of actions helped decision makers to choose flood risk reduction investment options.

Keywords: drainage plan, flood planning, flood risk, residual risk, risk optimization

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Authors: Nataliya V. Dolgushina, Elena A. Gorodnova, Olga S. Beznoshenco, Andrey Yu Romanov, Irina V. Menzhinskaya, Lyubov V. Krechetova, Gennady T. Suchich

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In patients with COVID-19, generalized hypercoagulability can lead to the development of severe coagulopathy. This event is accompanied by the development of a pronounced inflammatory reaction. The observational prospective study included 39 patients with mild COVID-19 and 102 patients with moderate and severe COVID-19. Patients were then stratified into groups depending on the risk of venous thromboembolism. vWF to ADAMTS-13 concentrations and activity ratios were significantly higher in patients with a high venous thromboembolism risks in patients with moderate and severe forms COVID-19.

Keywords: ADAMTS-13, COVID-19, hypercoagulation, thrombosis, von Willebrand factor

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Authors: Mahalakshmi Vivekanandan S.

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As per the recent changes happening in the global policies, climate-related changes and the impact it causes across every sector are viewed as green swan events – in essence, climate-related changes can often happen and lead to risk and a lot of uncertainty, but needs to be mitigated instead of considering them as black swan events. This brings about a question on how this risk can be computed so that the financial institutions can plan to mitigate it. Climate-related changes impact all risk types – credit risk, market risk, operational risk, liquidity risk, reputational risk and other risk types. And the models required to compute this has to consider the different industrial needs of the counterparty, as well as the factors that are contributing to this – be it in the form of different risk drivers, or the different transmission channels or the different approaches and the granular form of data availability. This brings out the suggestion that the climate-related changes, though it affects Pillar I risks, will be a Pillar II risk. This has to be modeled specifically based on the financial institution’s actual exposure to different industries instead of generalizing the risk charge. And this will have to be considered as the additional capital to be met by the financial institution in addition to their Pillar I risks, as well as the existing Pillar II risks. In this paper, the author presents a risk assessment framework to model and assess climate change risks - for both credit and market risks. This framework helps in assessing the different scenarios and how the different transition risks affect the risk associated with the different parties. This research paper delves into the topic of the increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases that in turn cause global warming. It then considers the various scenarios of having the different risk drivers impacting the Credit and market risk of an institution by understanding the transmission channels and also considering the transition risk. The paper then focuses on the industry that’s fast seeing a disruption: the automobile industry. The paper uses the framework to show how the climate changes and the change to the relevant policies have impacted the entire financial institution. Appropriate statistical models for forecasting, anomaly detection and scenario modeling are built to demonstrate how the framework can be used by the relevant agencies to understand their financial risks. The paper also focuses on the climate risk calculation for the Pillar II Capital calculations and how it will make sense for the bank to maintain this in addition to their regular Pillar I and Pillar II capital.

Keywords: capital calculation, climate risk, credit risk, pillar ii risk, scenario modeling

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma, Muhammet Demirkol, Murat Aydin, Tuba Gokkus, Burcin Nalbantoglu, Aysin Nalbantoglu, Birol Topcu

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Obesity in childhood establishes a ground for adulthood obesity. Especially morbid obesity is an important problem for the children because of the associated diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, body mass index (BMI), body fat ratios, anthropometric measurements and ratios were evaluated together with different laboratory indices upon evaluation of obesity in morbidly obese (MO) children. Children with nutritional problems participated in the study. Written informed consent was obtained from the parents. Study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee. Sixty-two MO girls aged 129.5±35.8 months and 75 MO boys aged 120.1±26.6 months were included into the scope of the study. WHO-BMI percentiles for age-and-sex were used to assess the children with those higher than 99^th as morbid obesity. Anthropometric measurements of the children were recorded after their physical examination. Bio-electrical impedance analysis was performed to measure fat distribution. Anthropometric ratios, body fat ratios, Index-I and Index-II as well as insulin sensitivity indices (ISIs) were calculated. Girls as well as boys were binary grouped according to homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index of <2.5 and >2.5, fasting glucose to insulin ratio (FGIR) of <6 and >6 and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) of <0.33 and >0.33 as the frequently used cut-off points. They were evaluated based upon their BMIs, arms, legs, trunk, whole body fat percentages, body fat ratios such as fat mass index (FMI), trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio (TAFR), whole body fat ratio (WBFR), anthropometric measures and ratios [waist-to-hip, head-to-neck, thigh-to-arm, thigh-to-ankle, height/2-to-waist, height/2-to-hip circumference (C)]. SPSS/PASW 18 program was used for statistical analyses. p≤0.05 was accepted as statistically significance level. All of the fat percentages showed differences between below and above the specified cut-off points in girls when evaluated with HOMA-IR and QUICKI. Differences were observed only in arms fat percent for HOMA-IR and legs fat percent for QUICKI in boys (p≤ 0.05). FGIR was unable to detect any differences for the fat percentages of boys. Head-to-neck C was the only anthropometric ratio recommended to be used for all ISIs (p≤0.001 for both girls and boys in HOMA-IR, p≤0.001 for girls and p≤0.05 for boys in FGIR and QUICKI). Indices which are recommended for use in both genders were Index-I, Index-II, HOMA/BMI and log HOMA (p≤0.001). FMI was also a valuable index when evaluated with HOMA-IR and QUICKI (p≤0.001). The important point was the detection of the severe significance for HOMA/BMI and log HOMA while they were evaluated also with the other indices, FGIR and QUICKI (p≤0.001). These parameters along with Index-I were unique at this level of significance for all children. In conclusion, well-accepted ratios or indices may not be valid for the evaluation of both genders. This study has emphasized the limiting properties for boys. This is particularly important for the selection process of some ratios and/or indices during the clinical studies. Gender difference should be taken into consideration for the evaluation of the ratios or indices, which will be recommended to be used particularly within the scope of obesity studies.

Keywords: anthropometry, childhood obesity, gender, insulin sensitivity index

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Authors: Wameed Alghazali, Shawn Kenny, Paul J. Van Geel

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Settlement of municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills can be represented by mechanical settlement, which is instantaneous and time-dependent creep components, and biodegradation-induced settlement. Mechanical settlement is governed by the physical characteristics of MSW and the applied overburden pressure. Several research studies used oedometers and different size compression cells to evaluate the primary and mechanical creep compression indices/ratios. However, MSW is known for its heterogeneity, which means data obtained from laboratory testing are not necessary to be a good representation of the mechanical response observed in the field. Furthermore, most of the laboratory tests found in the literature were conducted on shredded samples of MSW to obtain specimens that are suitable for the testing setup. It is believed that shredding MSW samples changes the physical and mechanical properties of the waste. In this study, settlement field data was collected during the filling stage of Ste. Sophie landfill was used to estimate the primary and mechanical creep compression ratios. The field results from Ste. Sophie landfill indicated that both the primary and mechanical creep compression ratios of MSW are not constants but decrease with the increase in the applied vertical stress.

Keywords: mechanical creep compression ratio, municipal solid waste, primary compression ratio, stress level

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Authors: Ritsuko Kawasaki (Aiba), Takeshi Hiromatsu

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Management is required to understand all information security risks within an organization, and to make decisions on which information security risks should be treated in what level by allocating how much amount of cost. However, such decision-making is not usually easy, because various measures for risk treatment must be selected with the suitable application levels. In addition, some measures may have objectives conflicting with each other. It also makes the selection difficult. Moreover, risks generally have trends and it also should be considered in risk treatment. Therefore, this paper provides the extension of the model proposed in the previous study. The original model supports the selection of measures by applying a combination of weighted average method and goal programming method for multi-objective analysis to find an optimal solution. The extended model includes the notion of weights to the risks, and the larger weight means the priority of the risk.

Keywords: information security risk treatment, selection of risk measures, risk acceptance, multi-objective optimization

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Authors: DoHyeung Kim, DaeHee Seo, ByungDoo Kim, ByungGil Lee

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As many recent researches being implemented in aviation and maritime aspects, strong doubts have been raised concerning the reliability of the estimation of collision risk. It is shown that using position and velocity of objects can lead to imprecise results. In this paper, therefore, a new approach to the estimation of collision risks using pose and shape of objects is proposed. Simulation results are presented validating the accuracy of the new criterion to adapt to collision risk algorithm based on fuzzy logic.

Keywords: collision risk, pose, shape, fuzzy logic

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Authors: Alvaro L. Ronco

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Background and purpose: Although our country is a developing one, it has a typical Western meat-rich dietary style. Based on estimates of heme and nonheme iron contents in representative foods, we carried out the present epidemiologic study, with the aim of accurately analyzing dietary iron and its role on CRC risk. Subjects/methods: Patients (611 CRC incident cases and 2394 controls, all belonging to public hospitals of our capital city) were interviewed through a questionnaire including socio-demographic, reproductive and lifestyle variables, and a food frequency questionnaire of 64 items, which asked about food intake 5 years before the interview. The sample included 1937 men and 1068 women. Controls were matched by sex and age (± 5 years) to cases. Food-derived nutrients were calculated from available databases. Total dietary iron was calculated and classified by heme or nonheme source, following data of specific Dutch and Canadian studies, and additionally adjusted by energy. Odds Ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated through unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for relevant potential confounders (education, body mass index, family history of cancer, energy, infusions, and others). A heme/nonheme (H/NH) ratio was created and the interest variables were categorized into tertiles, for analysis purposes. Results: The following risk estimations correspond to the highest tertiles. Total iron intake showed no association with CRC risk neither among men (OR=0.83, ptrend =.18) nor among women (OR=1.48, ptrend =.09). Heme iron was positively associated among men (OR=1.88, ptrend < .001) and for the overall sample (OR=1.44, ptrend =.002), however, it was not associated among women (OR=0.91, ptrend =.83). Nonheme iron showed an inverse association among men (OR=0.53, ptrend < .001) and the overall sample (OR=0.78, ptrend =.04), but was not associated among women (OR=1.46, ptrend =.14). Regarding H/NH ratio, risks increased only among men (OR=2.12, ptrend < .001) but lacked of association among women (OR=0.81, ptrend =.29). Conclusions. We have observed different types of associations between CRC risk and high dietary heme, nonheme and H/NH iron ratio. Therefore, the source of the available iron might be of importance as a link to colorectal carcinogenesis, perhaps pointing to reconsider the animal/plant proportions of this vital mineral within diet. Nevertheless, the different associations observed for each sex, demand further studies in order to clarify these points.

Keywords: chelation, colorectal cancer, heme, iron, nonheme

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Authors: Tomohiro Uchida, Noriaki Satake, Toshimichi Nakaho, Akira Inoue, Hidemitsu Saito

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In this study, we assessed the bereavement risk of family caregivers of patients with cancer. In the palliative care unit of Tohoku University Hospital, we conducted a family psychoeducation session to support the family caregivers of patients with cancer. A total of 50 participants (8 males and 42 females; mean age = 62.98 years, SD = 11.10) were assessed after the session for bereavement risk using the Japanese version of the Bereavement Risk Assessment Tool (BRAT-J). According to the BRAT-J scores, eight participants were considered to be having no known risk (Level 1), seventeen had minimal risk (Level 2), twenty had a low risk (Level 3), four had a moderate risk (Level 4), and one had a high risk (Level 5). Of these participants, seven participants had completed the follow-up postal survey that assessed their psychological distress (the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale: K6) to compare the bereavement risk. According to the K6 scores, three-fourth of the individuals, who were considered to be at Level 3 on the BRAT-J, scored higher than the cutoff point (>10) for the detection of depressive disorder. On the other hand, one-third of the individuals, who were considered to be at Level 2 on the BRAT-J, scored higher than the cutoff point. Therefore, it appears that the BRAT-J can predict the likelihood of difficulties or complications in bereaved family caregivers. This research was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine and Tohoku University Hospital.

Keywords: palliative care, family caregivers, bereavement risk, BRAT, post-loss psychological distress

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Authors: Farah Lazzali, Yamina Ait Meziane

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Recent earthquakes in Algeria have demonstrated the need for seismic risk reduction. In fact, the latest major earthquake that affected the Algiers-Boumerdes region in 2003 caused excessive levels of loss of life and property. Economic, social and environmental damage were also experienced. During the three days following the event, a relatively weak coordination of public authority was noted. Many localities did not receive any relief due to lack of information from concerned authorities and delay in connecting damaged roads. Following this event, Algerian government and civil society has recognized the urgent need for an appropriate and immediate seismic risk mitigation strategy. This paper describes procedures for emergency response following past earthquakes in Algeria and provides a brief review of risk mitigation activities since 1980. The paper also aims to provide measures to reduce earthquake risk through general strategy and practical implementation of the mitigation actions.

Keywords: earthquake, hazard, prevention, strategy, risk reduction

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Authors: Frank Hespeler, Giuseppe Loiacono

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We propose measures for systemic risk generated through intra-sectorial interdependencies in the hedge fund sector. These measures are based on variations in the average cross-effects of funds showing significant interdependency between their individual returns and the moments of the sector’s return distribution. The proposed measures display a high ability to identify periods of financial distress, are robust to modifications in the underlying econometric model and are consistent with intuitive interpretation of the results.

Keywords: hedge funds, systemic risk, vector autoregressive model, risk monitoring

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Authors: Salam Nazhan Ahmed

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Influence of variable polarization angle (θp) of optical feedback on the Relative Intensity Noise (RIN) of a Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) has been experimentally investigated. The RIN is a minimum at θp = 0° for the dominant polarization mode (XP), and at θp = 90° for the suppressed polarization mode (YP) of VCSEL. Furthermore, the RIN of the XP mode increases rapidly with increasing θp, while for the YP mode, it increases slightly to θp = 45° and decreases for angles greater than 45°.

Keywords: lasers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, optical switching, optical polarization feedback, relative intensity noise

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Authors: Olakunle Felix Adekunle

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Risk management is recognised as an essential tool to tackle the inevitable uncertainty associated with business and projects at all levels. But it frequently fails to meet expectations, with projects continuing to run late, over budget or under performing, and business is not gaining the expected benefits. The evident disconnect which often occurs between strategic vision and tactical project delivery typically arises from poorly defined project objectives and inadequate attention to the proactive management of risks that could affect those objectives. One of the main failings in the traditional approach to risk management arises from a narrow focus on the downside, restricted to the technical or operational field, addressing tactical threats to processes, performance or people. This shortcoming can be overcome by widening the scope of risk management to encompass both strategic risks and upside opportunities, creating an integrated approach which can bridge the gap between strategy and tactics. Integrated risk management addresses risk across a variety of levels in the organisation, including strategy and tactics, and covering both opportunity and threat. Effective implementation of integrated risk management can produce a number of benefits to the organisation which are not available from the typical limited-scope risk process. This paper explores how to expand risk management to deliver strategic advantage while retaining its use as a tactical tool.

Keywords: risk management, success, organization, strategy, project, tactis, vision

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Authors: Jiradeach Kalayaruan, Tosawat Seetawan

Abstract:

This paper studied the energy of the nature systems by looking at the overall image throughout the universe. The energy of the nature systems was developed from the Einstein’s energy equation. The researcher used the new ideas called even 2n and odd 3n light dimension energy states systems, which were developed from Einstein’s relativity energy theory equation. In this study, the major methodology the researchers used was the basic principle ideas or beliefs of some religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, or Tao in order to get new discoveries. The basic beliefs of each religion - Nivara, God, Ether, Atman, and Tao respectively, were great influential ideas on the researchers to use them greatly in the study to form new ideas from philosophy. Since the philosophy of each religion was alive with deep insight of the physical nature relative energy, it connected the basic beliefs to light dimension energy states systems. Unfortunately, Einstein’s original relative energy equation showed only even 2n light dimension energy states systems (if n = 1,…,∞). But in advance ideas, the researchers multiplied light dimension energy by Einstein’s original relative energy equation and get new idea of theoritical physics in odd 3n light dimension energy states systems (if n = 1,…,∞). Because from basic principle ideas or beliefs of some religions philosophy of each religion, you had to add the media light dimension energy into Einstein’s original relative energy equation. Consequently, the simple meaning picture in deep insight showed that you could touch light dimension energy of Nivara, God, Ether, Atman, and Tao by light dimension energy. Since light dimension energy was transferred by Nivara, God, Ether, Atman and Tao, the researchers got the new equation of odd 3n light dimension energy states systems. Moreover, the researchers expected to be able to solve overview problems of all light dimension energy in all nature relative energy, which are developed from Eistein’s relative energy equation.The finding of the study was called 'super nature relative energy' ( in odd 3n light dimension energy states systems (if n = 1,…,∞)). From the new ideas above you could do the summation of even 2n and odd 3n light dimension energy states systems in all of nature light dimension energy states systems. In the future time, the researchers will expect the new idea to be used in insight theoretical physics, which is very useful to the development of quantum mechanics, all engineering, medical profession, transportation, communication, scientific inventions, and technology, etc.

Keywords: 2n light dimension energy states systems effect, Ether, even 2n light dimension energy states systems, nature relativity, Nivara, odd 3n light dimension energy states systems, perturbation points energy, relax point energy states systems, stress perturbation energy states systems effect, super relative energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: Sreedevi P. Chakyar, Jolly Andrews, V. P. Joseph

Abstract:

A compact method for measuring the relative permittivity of a dielectric material at different temperatures using a single circular Split Ring Resonator (SRR) metamaterial unit working as a test probe is presented in this paper. The dielectric constant of a material is dependent upon its temperature and the LC resonance of the SRR depends on its dielectric environment. Hence, the temperature of the dielectric material in contact with the resonator influences its resonant frequency. A single SRR placed between transmitting and receiving probes connected to a Vector Network Analyser (VNA) is used as a test probe. The dependence of temperature between 30 ^oC and 60 ^oC on resonant frequency of SRR is analysed. Relative permittivities ‘ε’ of test samples for different temperatures are extracted from a calibration graph drawn between the relative permittivity of samples of known dielectric constant and their corresponding resonant frequencies. This method is found to be an easy and efficient technique for analysing the temperature dependent permittivity of different materials.

Keywords: metamaterials, negative permeability, permittivity measurement techniques, split ring resonators, temperature dependent dielectric constant

Procedia PDF Downloads 383

Authors: Magda Posani, Maria Do Rosario Veiga, Vasco Peixoto De Freitas

Abstract:

The presented research considers the hygrothermal data acquired in the municipal library of Porto. The library is housed in an XVIII century convent and, among all the rooms in the construction, one, in particular, was chosen for the monitoring campaign because of the presence of a great number of historic books. Temperature and relative humidity, as well as CO₂ concentration, were measured for six consecutive months, in the period December 24th - June 24th. The indoor environment of the building is controlled with a heating and cooling system that is turned on only during the opening hours of the library. The ventilation rate is low because the windows are kept closed, and there is no forced ventilation. The micro-climate is analyzed in terms of users’ comfort and degradation risks for historic books and valuable building surfaces. Through a comparison between indoor and outdoor measured hygrothermal data, indoor relative humidity appears very stable. The influence of the hygroscopicity of books on the stabilization of indoor relative humidity is therefore investigated in detail. The paper finally discusses the benefits given by the presence of historic books in libraries with intermittent heating and cooling. The possibility of obtaining a comfortable and stable indoor climate with low use of HVAC systems in these conditions, while avoiding degradation risks for books and historic building components, is further debated.

Keywords: books, historic buildings, hygroscopicity, relative humidity

Procedia PDF Downloads 130