Search results for: exploratory factor

Authors: Armaghan Moravej Aleali, Seyed Bahman Ghaderian, Homeira Rashidi, Mahmoud Mapar

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Background and Objective The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is considered the most important public health threat of the 21st century. This syndrome is characterized by a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors including increased central abdominal obesity, elevated triglycerides, reduced high-density lipoprotein, high blood pressure, increased fasting glucose, and hyperinsulinemia. MetS has been associated with hypogonadism and erectile dysfunction (ED), and MetS may be considered a risk factor for ED. The aim of this study was finding an association between metabolic syndrome and hypogonadism in Khouzestan, Iran. Subjects and Methods: In this study, 60 patients divided into two groups consisted of 30 cases (with metabolic syndrome) and 30 controls. Total and free Serum Testosterone and FBS in all of them were measured. Data was analyzed with SPSS20 program. Results: There was a significant difference between two groups about free Testosterone (P=0.01), FBS (P=0.002) and LH (P=0.03). Conclusion: According to this finding, it is thought the prevalence of hypogonadism in men with metabolic syndrome is more than the general population.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome, fasting blood sugar, hypogonadism, testosterone

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Authors: Jianhua Wang, Ying Zhou, Xi Zhang

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To establish the influential mechanism of learning engagement on interpreter’s performance, the present study submitted a questionnaire to a sample of 927 English major students with 804 valid ones and used the structural equation model as the basis for empirical analysis and statistical inference on the sample data. In order to explore the mechanism for interpreting learning engagement on student interpreters’ performance, a path model of interpreting processes with three variables of ‘input-environment-output’ was constructed. The results showed that the effect of each ‘environment’ variable on interpreting ability was different from and greater than the ‘input’ variable, and learning engagement was the greatest influencing factor. At the same time, peer interaction on interpreting performance has significant influence. Results suggest that it is crucial to provide effective guidance for optimizing learning engagement and interpreting teaching research by both improving the environmental support and building the platform of peer interaction, beginning with learning engagement.

Keywords: learning engagement, interpreting performance, interpreter training, English major students

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Authors: Nermin Noshi Esraeil Abdalla

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Inclusive schooling offerings for college kids with Autism stays in its early developmental levels in Thailand. despite many greater youngsters with autism are attending schools since the Thai authorities brought the training Provision for human beings with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families obtain are typically missing. This quantitative examine used attitude and Preparedness to educate college students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 number one faculty teachers’ attitude and preparedness to educate college students with autism inside the widespread training school room. Descriptive statistical evaluation of the records discovered that scholar behavior changed into the most good sized factor in constructing teachers’ terrible attitudes students with autism. the majority of teachers additionally indicated that their pre-service schooling did not put together them to fulfill the mastering needs of children with autism especially, folks who are non-verbal. The take a look at is substantial and offers path for enhancing trainer education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, sports activities, movement skills, motor skills

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Authors: Ahmed Cherif Megri, HossamEldin ElSherif

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In a power plant, the header pipe plays a pivotal role in optimizing the performance of diverse systems by serving as a central conduit for the collection and distribution of steam within the plant. This paper investigates the significance of header pipes within power plant setups, highlighting their critical influence on reliability, efficiency, and the performance of the power plant as a whole. The concept of shape optimization emerges as a crucial factor in power plant design and operation, with the potential to maximize performance while minimizing the use of materials. Shape optimization not only enhances efficiency but also contributes to reducing the environmental footprint of power plant installations. In this paper, we initially developed a methodology designed for optimizing header shapes with the primary goal of reducing the usage of costly new alloy materials and lowering the overall maintenance operation expenses. Secondly, we conducted a case study based on an authentic header sourced from an operational power plant.

Keywords: shape optimization, header, power plant, inconel alloy, CFD, structural optimization

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Authors: Jose Ramon Calvo-Ferrer

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Video games have been extensively employed in educational contexts to teach contents and skills, upon the premise that they engage students and provide instant feedback, which makes them adequate tools in the field of education and training. Term frequency, along with metacognition and implicit corrective feedback, has often been identified as powerful variables in the learning of vocabulary in a foreign language. This study analyses the learning of L2 mobile operating system terminology by a group of students and uses the data collected by the video game The Conference Interpreter to identify the predictive strength of term frequency (times a term is shown), positive metacognition (times a right answer is provided), and negative metacognition (times a term is shown as wrong) regarding L2 vocabulary learning and perceived learning outcomes. The regression analysis shows that the factor ‘positive metacognition’ is a positive predictor of both dependent variables, whereas the other factors seem to have no statistical effect on any of them.

Keywords: digital game-based learning, feedback, metacognition, frequency, video games

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Authors: Rizwan Sultan, Hasnain Zafar

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Trauma is the leading cause of death among young population not only in USA but Pakistan as well. The high prevalence of disease should result in larger amount of data and larger number of publications resulting in exploring room for improvement in the field. We aimed to review trauma literature generated from Pakistan in journals indexed with PubMed from January 2010 to December 2014. Search using term “Trauma AND Pakistan” filtering for relevant dates and species human was done on Pubmed. The abstracts and articles were reviewed by the authors to collect data on a preformed performa. 114 articles were published from Pakistan during these 5 years. 64% articles were published in international journals. 63% articles were published in journals with impact factor less than 1. 54% articles were published from one of the four provinces of Pakistan. 64% of articles provided level 4 while 14% articles provided level 5 evidence on the topic. 55% articles discussed epidemiology in non-representative populations. Trauma literature from Pakistan is not only lacking significantly but is also of poor quality and is unable to offer conclusions on this particular subject. There is a lot of space for improvement in the upcoming years.

Keywords: trauma, literature, Pakistan, level of evidence

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Authors: Salman Iqbal

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Knowledge management (KM) literature has mainly focused on the antecedents of KM. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of specific human resource management (HRM) practices on employee knowledge sharing and its outcome as individual knowledge capability. Based on previous literature, a model is proposed for the study and hypotheses are formulated. The cross-sectional dataset comes from a sample of 19 knowledge intensive firms (KIFs). This study has run an item parceling technique followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on the latent constructs of the research model. Employees’ collaboration and their interpersonal trust can help to improve their knowledge sharing behaviour and knowledge capability within organisations. This study suggests that in future, by using a larger sample, better statistical insight is possible. The findings of this study are beneficial for scholars, policy makers and practitioners. The empirical results of this study are entirely based on employees’ perceptions and make a significant research contribution, given there is a dearth of empirical research focusing on the subcontinent.

Keywords: employees’ collaboration, individual knowledge capability, knowledge sharing, monetary rewards, structural equation modelling

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Authors: Weera Weerasophon

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The purpose of this research was to study Tourists’s satisfaction strategies case of Tourists who attended and shopped in Chatuchak weekend market (Bangkok) in order to improve service operation of Chatuchak weekend market to serve tourists’ need to impress them. The researcher used the marketing mix as a main factor that affect to tourist satisfaction. This research was emphasized as quantitative research as 400 of questionnaires were used for collecting the data from international tourists around Chatuchak weekend market that questionnaires divided in to 3 parts as a personal information part, satisfaction of marketing/services and facilities and suggestion part. After collecting all the data that would be processed in statistic program of SPSS to use for analyze the data later on. The result is described that most of international tourists satisfied Chatuchak weekend market in the level of 4 as more satisfaction for example friendly staff, Chatuchak information, price of product, facilities and service by the way, the environment of Chatuchak weekend market is the most satisfaction level.

Keywords: Chatuchak, satisfaction, Thailand tourism, marketing mix, tourists

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Authors: Qiuwen Ma, Sai On Cheung

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Incentive contracting has been developed to push the agent team for extra effort. Generally, there are three types of incentive arrangement, namely incentive/penalty for super performance/underperformance, risk/reward sharing and future business opportunities. It is found that there are significant differences in the use of incentive arrangement in private and public projects. In Hong Kong, very few public projects have used future business as incentivizer whereas private developers often signal repeated business coupled with heavy penalty. This study was conducted to identify various attributes affecting the use of I/D in both private and public engineering sectors of Hong Kong. The diverging preferences were unveiled with reference to a literature review and semi-structured interviews with industry experts. The findings reveal the public/private sectors would consider the implementation issues regarding the various performance targets. The most deterministic factor for the public sector is about accountability. The private sector is in general skeptical about the need to provide extra for the contractors for what they have already contracted to perform.

Keywords: construction incentive, public/private projects, semi-structured interview, hong kong

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Authors: Parampal Kaur, Deepak Aggarwal

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In the computational Grid, fault tolerance is an imperative issue to be considered during job scheduling. Due to the widespread use of resources, systems are highly prone to errors and failures. Hence, fault tolerance plays a key role in the grid to avoid the problem of unreliability. Scheduling the task to the appropriate resource is a vital requirement in computational Grid. The fittest resource scheduling algorithm searches for the appropriate resource based on the job requirements, in contrary to the general scheduling algorithms where jobs are scheduled to the resources with best performance factor. The proposed method is to improve the fault tolerance of the fittest resource scheduling algorithm by scheduling the job in coordination with job replication when the resource has low reliability. Based on the reliability index of the resource, the resource is identified as critical. The tasks are scheduled based on the criticality of the resources. Results show that the execution time of the tasks is comparatively reduced with the proposed algorithm using real-time approach rather than a simulator.

Keywords: computational grid, fault tolerance, task replication, job scheduling

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Authors: Juliane P. De Oliveira, Carlos H. Dos Santos, Marcia Shoji, Maria E. C. Ferreira, Natalia U. Yamaguchi

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The construction sector is considered a major generator of environmental impacts due to the high consumption of natural resources and waste generation. Thus, this article aims to evaluate the performance of a concrete produced by the partial and total replacement of natural coarse aggregate by recycled coarse aggregate, derived from the concrete residue of buildings and demolitions. The study was made by comparing the compressive strength and absorption of three different concrete traces, keeping the water/cement factor of 0.60 and changing only the proportions of recycled coarse aggregate between 0%, 50% and 100%. Traces 50% and 100% obtained good results by comparing the actual specific mass, because the material used is lighter to the natural coarse aggregate. It was concluded that the concrete produced with recycled aggregates, even with inferior results, can be used where it is not needed a structural function, giving an adequate destination to the construction and demolition waste and consequently reducing the extraction and consumption of natural resources.

Keywords: green concrete, recycled aggregate, recycling, sustainable development

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Authors: Yoshihiro Horio

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Many young offenders grow up in difficult environments. It has often been suggested that many young offenders are victims of abuse. However, there were restricted to abuse or family’s problem. Little research has examined data on ‘multiple victimization’ experiences of young offenders. Thus, this study investigated the victimization experiences of young offenders, including child abuse at home, bullying at school, and crime in the community. Specifically, the number of victimization experiences of young offenders was compared with those of non-delinquents at home, school, and in the community. It was found that young offenders experienced significantly more victimization than non-delinquents. Additionally, the influence of childhood victimization on later misconduct and/or delinquency was examined, then it was founded that victimization experiences to be a risk factor for subsequent delinquency. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that young offenders who had a strong emotional reaction to their experience of abuse began their misconduct at an earlier age. If juveniles start their misconduct early, the degree of delinquency will increase. The anger of young offenders was stronger than that of non-delinquents. A strong emotion of anger may be related to juvenile delinquency.

Keywords: abuse, bullying, delinquency, victimization, young offenders

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Authors: Mirza Amin Ul Haq

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Purpose – the purpose of conducting this research is to check the impact of nudges constructs, whether they create an encouragement factor with consumer brand loyalty and relating of word-of-mouth power have some kind of effect with all independent variables. Desin/Methodology/Approach – this study adopted the four constructs (i.e., Digital Nudge, Social Proof Nudge, Trust, and the mediator Word of Mouth) and explore its effect and connection with Brand Loyalty. A total of 390 respondents were selected for self-administrated questionnaire to obtain the finding of the research. Findings – the impact and cause between the constructs were done through structural equation modeling. The findings show a positive impact of social proof nudge and word of mouth whereas, digital nudge and trust have the weaker influence on the consumer choices when talk about brand loyalty. Originality/Value – Further implication for research and its marketing strategies in the field of clothing industry creating brand loyalty with customer.

Keywords: nudge, digital nudge, social proof, online buying, brand loyalty, trust, word of mouth

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Authors: A. Benhadji, R. Maachi

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Environmental protection has become a major economic development issues. Indeed, the environment has become both market growth factor and element of competition. It is now an integral part of all industrial strategies. Ecosystem protection is based on the reduction of the pollution load in the treatment of liquid waste. The physicochemical techniques are commonly used which a transfer of pollution is generally found. Alternative to physicochemical methods is the use of microorganisms for cleaning up the waste waters. The objective of this research is the evaluation of the effects of exogenous added Pseudomonas strains on pollutants biodegradation. The influence of the critical parameters such as inoculums concentration and duration treatment are studied. The results show that Pseudomonas putida is found to give a maximum reduction in chemical organic demand (COD) in 4 days of incubation. However, toward to protect biological pollution of environment, the treatment is achieved by electro coagulation process using aluminium electrodes. The results indicate that this process allows disinfecting the water and improving the electro coagulated sludge quality.

Keywords: tannery, pseudomonas, biological treatment, electrocoagulation process, sludge quality

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Authors: J. F. Pollo Gaspary, F. Peron Gaspary, E. M. Simão, R. Concatto Beltrame, G. Orengo de Oliveira, M. S. Ristow Ferreira, J.C. Mairesse Siluk, I. F. Minello, F. dos Santos de Oliveira

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Background: Although palliative care policies and services have been developed, research in this area continues to lag. An integrated model of palliative care is suggested, which includes complementary and alternative services aimed at improving the well-being of patients and their families. The palliative aquatics care multi-device (AuBento) uses several electromagnetic techniques to decrease pain and promote well-being through relaxation and interaction among patients, specialists, and family members. Aim: The scope of this paper is to present a preliminary design study of a device capable of exploring the various existing theories on the biomedical application of magnetic fields. This will be achieved by standardizing clinical data collection with sensory integration, and adding new therapeutic options to develop an advanced palliative aquatics care, innovating in symptom and pain management. Methods: The research methodology was based on the Work Package Methodology for the development of projects, separating the activities into seven different Work Packages. The theoretical basis was carried out through an integrative literature review according to the specific objectives of each Work Package and provided a broad analysis, which, together with the multiplicity of proposals and the interdisciplinarity of the research team involved, generated consistent and understandable complex concepts in the biomedical application of magnetic fields for palliative care. Results: Aubento ambience was idealized with restricted electromagnetic exposure (avoiding data collection bias) and sensory integration (allowing relaxation associated with hydrotherapy, music therapy, and chromotherapy or like floating tank). This device has a multipurpose configuration enabling classic or exploratory options on the use of the biomedical application of magnetic fields at the researcher's discretion. Conclusions: Several patients in diverse therapeutic contexts may benefit from the use of magnetic fields or fluids, thus validating the stimuli to clinical research in this area. A device in controlled and multipurpose environments may contribute to standardizing research and exploring new theories. Future research may demonstrate the possible benefits of the aquatics care multi-device AuBento to improve the well-being and symptom control in palliative care patients and their families.

Keywords: advanced palliative aquatics care, magnetic field therapy, medical device, research design

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Authors: Judith Partouche-Sebban, Saeedeh Rezaee Vessal

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Because of the rising number of new cases of cancer, especially among women, it is more than essential to better understand how women experience cancer in order to bring them adapted to support and care and enhance their well-being and patient experience. Cancer stands for a traumatic experience in which the diagnosis, its medical treatments, and the related side effects lead to deep physical and psychological changes that may arouse considerable stress and anxiety. In order to reduce these negative emotions, women tend to use various defense mechanisms, among which denial has been defined as the most frequent mechanism used by breast cancer patients. This study aims to better understand the consequences of the experience of cancer and their link with the adoption of a denial strategy. The empirical research was done among female cancer survivors in France. Since the topic of this study is relatively unexplored, a qualitative methodology and open-ended interviews were employed. In total, 25 semi-directive interviews were conducted with a female with different cancers, different stages of treatment, and different ages. A systematic inductive method was performed to analyze data. The content analysis enabled to highlight three different denial-related behaviors among women with cancer, which serve a self-protective function. First, women who expressed high levels of anxiety confessed they tended to completely deny the existence of their cancer immediately after the diagnosis of their illness. These women mainly exhibit many fears and a deep distrust toward the medical context and professionals. This coping mechanism is defined by the patient as being unconscious. Second, other women deliberately decided to deny partial information about their cancer, whether this information is related to the stages of the illness, the emotional consequences, or the behavioral consequences of the illness. These women use this strategy as a way to avoid the reality of the illness and its impact on the different aspects of their life as if cancer does not exist. Third, some women tend to reinterpret and give meaning to their cancer as a way to reduce its impact on their life. To this end, they may use magical thinking or positive reframing, or reinterpretation. Because denial may lead to delays in medical treatments, this topic deserves a deep investigation, especially in the context of oncology. As denial is defined as a specific defense mechanism, this study contributes to the existing literature in service marketing which focuses on emotions and emotional regulation in healthcare services which is a crucial issue. Moreover, this study has several managerial implications for healthcare professionals who interact with patients in order to implement better care and support for the patients.

Keywords: cancer, coping mechanisms, denial, healthcare services

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Authors: Adenike Boyo Olasunkanmi Kesinro, Henry Boyo, Surukite Oluwole

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Utilizing solar energy in producing electricity can minimize environmental pollution generated by fossil fuel in producing electricity. Our research was base on the extraction of dye from Roystonea regia fruit by using methanol as solvent. The dye extracts were used as sensitizers in Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSCs). Study was done on the electrical properties from the extracts of Roystonea regia fruit as Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSCs). The absorptions of the extracts and extracts with dye were determined at different wavelengths (350-1000nm). Absorption peak was observed at 1.339 at wavelength 400nm. The obtained values for methanol extract Roystonea regia extract are, Imp = 0.015mA, Vmp = 12.0mV, fill factor = 0.763, Isc= 0.018 mA and Voc = 13.1 mV and efficiency of 0.32%. .The phytochemical screening was taken and it was observed that Roystonea regia extract contained less of anthocyanin compared to flavonoids. The nanostructured dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) will provide economically credible alternative to present day silicon p–n junction photovoltaic.

Keywords: methanol, ethanol, titanium dioxide, roystonea regia fruit, dye-sensitized solar cell

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Authors: Siwapong Dheera-Aumpon

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Resource misallocation is known to be prevalent in many countries. Such misallocation in the manufacturing sector is large and has a considerable negative effect on aggregate productivity. Thailand is one of the countries having large resource misallocation in the manufacturing sector. Resource misallocation is also known to be widespread in the agricultural sector. It is, therefore, likely that resource misallocation exists in the agricultural sector of Thailand as well. This study aims to evaluate the extent of resource misallocation in Thai rice farming. Using household-level data from 2013 Thai Agricultural Census, this study calculates farm total factor productivity (TFP) controlling for land quality and rain. Similar to the case of Malawi, marginal products of land and capital are found to be related to farm TFP implying large resource misallocation. The output gain from a reallocation of resources to their best use is 67 percent. The gain from reallocation is highest for farms in the southern region and followed by the northeastern region.

Keywords: agriculture, misallocation, productivity, rice

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Authors: Semra Çoruh, Yusuf Tibet

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Dyes are widely used in industries such as textiles, paper, paints, leather, rubber, plastics, cosmetics, food, and drug etc, to color their products. Due to their chemical structures, dyes are resistant to fading on exposure to light, water and many chemicals and, therefore, are difficult to be decolorized once released into the aquatic environment. Many of the organic dyes are hazardous and may affect aquatic life and even the food chain. This study deals with the adsorption of malachite green dye onto fly ash and red mud. The effects of experimental factors (adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, pH and temperature) on the adsorption process were examined by using 24 full factorial design. The results were statistically analyzed by using the student’s t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and an F-test to define important experimental factors and their levels. A regression model that considers the significant main and interaction effects was suggested. The results showed that initial dye concentration an pH is the most significant factor that affects the removal of malachite green.

Keywords: malachite green, adsorption, red mud, fly ash, full factorial design

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Authors: Shirin Alabdulqader

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This research aims to investigate the concept of code-switching (CS) between English, Arabic, and the CS practices of Saudi online users via a Translanguaging (TL) lens for more inclusive view towards the nature of the data from the study. It employs Digitally Mediated Communication (DMC), specifically the WhatsApp and Twitter platforms, in order to understand how the users employ online resources to communicate with others on a daily basis. This project looks beyond language and considers the multimodal affordances (visual and audio means) that interlocutors utilise in their online communicative practices to shape their online social existence. This exploratory study is based on a data-driven interpretivist epistemology as it aims to understand how meaning (reality) is created by individuals within different contexts. This project used a mixed-method approach, combining a qualitative and a quantitative approach. In the former, data were collected from online chats and interview responses, while in the latter a questionnaire was employed to understand the frequency and relations between the participants’ linguistic and non-linguistic practices and their social behaviours. The participants were eight bilingual Saudi nationals (both men and women, aged between 20 and 50 years old) who interacted with others online. These participants provided their online interactions, participated in an interview and responded to a questionnaire. The study data were gathered from 194 WhatsApp chats and 122 Tweets. These data were analysed and interpreted according to three levels: conversational turn taking and CS; the linguistic description of the data; and CS and persona. This project contributes to the emerging field of analysing online Arabic data systematically, and the field of multimodality and bilingual sociolinguistics. The findings are reported for each of the three levels. For conversational turn taking, the CS analysis revealed that it was used to accomplish negotiation and develop meaning in the conversation. With regard to the linguistic practices of the CS data, the majority of the code-switched words were content morphemes. The third level of data interpretation is CS and its relationship with identity; two types of identity were indexed; absolute identity and contextual identity. This study contributes to the DMC literature and bridges some of the existing gaps. The findings of this study are that CS by its nature, and most of the findings, if not all, support the notion of TL that multiliteracy is one’s ability to decode multimodal communication, and that this multimodality contributes to the meaning. Either this is applicable to the online affordances used by monolinguals or multilinguals and perceived not only by specific generations but also by any online multiliterates, the study provides the linguistic features of CS utilised by Saudi bilinguals and it determines the relationship between these features and the contexts in which they appear.

Keywords: social media, code-switching, translanguaging, online interaction, saudi bilinguals

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Authors: Jiyoung Bae, Gyoomi Kim

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This study explores a range of linguistic features used in Korean college students’ argumentative writings for the purpose of developing a model that identifies variables which predict writing proficiencies. This study investigated the latent variable structure of L2 linguistic features, including syntactic complexity, the lexical complexity, and fluency. One hundred forty-six university students in Korea participated in this study. The results of the study’s confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that indicators of linguistic features from this study-provided a foundation for re-categorizing indicators found in extant research on L2 Korean writers depending on each latent variable of linguistic features. The CFA models indicated one measurement model of L2 syntactic complexity and L2 learners’ writing proficiency; these two latent factors were correlated with each other. Based on the overall findings of the study, integrated linguistic features of L2 writings suggested some pedagogical implications in L2 writing instructions.

Keywords: linguistic features, syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, fluency

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Authors: Walid M. Adel, Liang Guo-Zhu

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To investigate the characterization of the mechanical properties of composite solid propellant (CSP) based on hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) at different temperatures and strain rates, uniaxial tensile tests were conducted over a range of temperatures -60 °C to +76 °C and strain rates 0.000164 to 0.328084 s^-1 using a conventional universal testing machine. From the experimental data, it can be noted that the mechanical properties of AP/HTPB propellant are mainly dependent on the applied strain rate and the temperature condition. The stress-strain responses exhibited an initial yielding followed by the viscoelastic phase, which was strongly affected by the strain rate and temperature. It was found that the mechanical properties increased with both increasing strain rate and decreasing temperature. Based on the experimental tests, the master curves of the tensile properties are drawn using predetermined shift factor and the results were discussed. This work is a first step in preliminary investigation the nonlinear viscoelasticity behavior of CSP.

Keywords: AP/HTPB composite solid propellant, mechanical behavior, nonlinear viscoelastic, tensile test, strain rate

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Authors: Katie Jerram, Jacqui Nevols, Rebecca Howes, Hayley Richardson, Debbie Suso, Thomas Batten, Reny Mathai

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Pyomyositis is an uncommon acute purulent skeletal muscle infection, usually caused by Staphylococcus aureus, occurring either spontaneously or following local trauma. Immunocompromise is a risk factor. It presents with pyrexia, pain, and tenderness of the affected muscle, which may have a firm ‘woody’ feel. Management usually involves surgery and prolonged courses of antibiotics, but alongside these active treatments, palliation of symptoms such as pain is also a priority. A short case series of diabetic inpatients under the care of the Renal Medicine team with pyomyositis is presented, demonstrating that Hospital Palliative Care Teams may be well placed to provide symptom management advice by working jointly with the patient’s medical or surgical team. A review of the literature on the management of pain in pyomyositis is also presented, and there was no clear consensus on the best strategy. It may be that a combination of analgesics and adjuncts is the most effective strategy, perhaps combined with the holistic approach used within palliative care.

Keywords: pyomyositis, pain, palliation, analgesia

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Authors: Mariko Nishikawa, Masaaki Yamanaka, Ayami Kondo

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Background: International visitors to Japan are at a risk of travel-related illnesses or injury that could result in hospitalization in a country where the language and customs are unique. Over twelve million international visitors came to Japan in 2015, and more are expected leading up to the Tokyo Olympics. One aspect of this is the potentially greater demand on healthcare services by foreign visitors. Nurses who take care of them have anxieties and concerns of their knowledge of the Japanese health system. Objectives: An effective distribution of travel-health information is vital for facilitating care for international visitors. Our research investigates whether a four-minute digital animation (Mari Info Japan), designed and developed by the authors and applied to a survey of 513 nurses who take care of foreigners daily, could clarify travel health procedures, reduce anxieties, while making it enjoyable to learn. Methodology: Respondents to a survey were divided into two groups. The intervention group watched Mari Info Japan. The control group read a standard guidebook. The participants were requested to fill a two-page questionnaire called Mari Meter-X, STAI-Y in English and mark a face scale, before and after the interventions. The questions dealt with knowledge of health promotion, the Japanese healthcare system, cultural concerns, anxieties, and attitudes in Japan. Data were collected from an intervention group (n=83) and control group (n=83) of nurses in a hospital, Japan for foreigners from February to March, 2016. We analyzed the data using Text Mining Studio for open-ended questions and JMP for statistical significance. Results: We found that the intervention group displayed more confidence and less anxiety to take care of foreign patients compared to the control group. The intervention group indicated a greater comfort after watching the animation. However, both groups were most likely to be concerned about language, the cost of medical expenses, informed consent, and choice of hospital. Conclusions: From the viewpoint of nurses, the provision of travel-health information by digital animation to international visitors to Japan was more effective than traditional methods as it helped them be better prepared to treat travel-related diseases and injury among international visitors. This study was registered number UMIN000020867. Funding: Grant–in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research 2010-2012 & 2014-16, Japanese Government.

Keywords: digital animation, health promotion, international visitor, Japan, nurse

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Authors: Aisha Siddiqa

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The knowledge of pragmatic practices in a particular language is considered key to effective communication. Unlike one’s native language where this knowledge is acquired spontaneously, more conscious attention is required to learn second language pragmatics. Traditional foreign language (FL) classrooms generally focus on the acquisition of vocabulary and lexico-grammatical structures, neglecting pragmatic functions that are essential for effective communication in the multilingual networks of the modern world. In terms of effective communication, of particular importance is knowledge of what is perceived as polite or impolite in a certain language, an aspect of pragmatics which is not perceived as obligatory but is nonetheless indispensable for successful intercultural communication and integration. While learning a second language, the acquisition of politeness assumes more prominence as the politeness norms and practices vary according to language and culture. Therefore, along with focusing on the ‘use’ of politeness strategies, it is crucial to examine the ‘acquisition’ and the ‘acquisitional development’ of politeness strategies by second language learners, particularly, by lower proficiency leaners as the norms of politeness are usually focused in lower levels. Hence, there is an obvious need for a study that not only investigates the acquisition of pragmatics by young FL learners using innovative multiple methods; but also identifies the potential causes of the gaps in their development. The present research employs a cross sectional design to explore the acquisition of politeness by young English as a foreign language learners (EFL) in France; at three levels of secondary school learning. The methodology involves two phases. In the first phase a cartoon oral production task (COPT) is used to elicit samples of requests from young EFL learners in French schools. These data are then supplemented by a) role plays, b) an analysis of textbooks, and c) video recordings of classroom activities. This mixed method approach allows us to explore the repertoire of politeness strategies the learners possess and delve deeper into the opportunities available to learners in classrooms to learn politeness strategies in requests. The paper will provide the results of the analysis of COPT data for 250 learners at three different stages of English as foreign language development. Data analysis is based on categorization of requests developed in CCSARP project. The preliminary analysis of the COPT data shows that there is substantial evidence of pragmalinguistic development across all levels but the developmental process seems to gain momentum in the second half of the secondary school period as compared to the early period at school. However, there is very little evidence of sociopragmatic development. The study aims to document the current classroom practices in France by looking at the development of young EFL learner’s politeness strategies across three levels of secondary schools.

Keywords: acquisition, English, France, interlanguage pragmatics, politeness

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Authors: Vusale Aliyev, Khalil Aryanfar

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Background and purpose: Dentistry is a stressful profession, and dental students are exposed to educational and clinical stress. The present study was conducted to investigate the level of stress and its factors in dental students of Nakhjavan University of Medical Sciences in 2023. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on dental students in Nakhjavan. The data collection tool was the standard DASS-21 questionnaire (Depression-anxiety-stress scale-21) and the demographic information questionnaire. After collecting the data in SPSS statistical software, using Linear regression analysis, test regression and t-tests were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: 32.6% of students had moderate stress, and 4.3% had severe stress, and no significant statistical difference was observed between the two genders living; there was a significant difference with others (P=0.047). There was no significant relationship between the stress factor and the academic year (P=0.037). 66% of people were related to university issues. Conclusion: According to the results of this research, the level of stress is relatively high, and it seems necessary to pay attention to this issue.

Keywords: stress, dental students, Nakhichevan State University, anxiety

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Authors: Ahmad Haidar

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The rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology holds unforeseen risks like privacy violation, unemployment, and algorithmic bias, triggering research institutions, governments, and companies to develop principles of AI ethics. The extensive and diverse literature on AI lacks an analysis of the evolution of principles developed in recent years. There are two fundamental purposes of this paper. The first is to provide insights into how the principles of AI ethics have been changed recently, including concepts like risk management and public participation. In doing so, a NOISE (Needs, Opportunities, Improvements, Strengths, & Exceptions) analysis will be presented. Second, offering a framework for building Ethical AI linked to sustainability. This research adopts an explorative approach, more specifically, an inductive approach to address the theoretical gap. Consequently, this paper tracks the different efforts to have “trustworthy AI” and “ethical AI,” concluding a list of 12 documents released from 2017 to 2022. The analysis of this list unifies the different approaches toward trustworthy AI in two steps. First, splitting the principles into two categories, technical and net benefit, and second, testing the frequency of each principle, providing the different technical principles that may be useful for stakeholders considering the lifecycle of AI, or what is known as sustainable AI. Sustainable AI is the third wave of AI ethics and a movement to drive change throughout the entire lifecycle of AI products (i.e., idea generation, training, re-tuning, implementation, and governance) in the direction of greater ecological integrity and social fairness. In this vein, results suggest transparency, privacy, fairness, safety, autonomy, and accountability as recommended technical principles to include in the lifecycle of AI. Another contribution is to capture the different basis that aid the process of AI for sustainability (e.g., towards sustainable development goals). The results indicate data governance, do no harm, human well-being, and risk management as crucial AI for sustainability principles. This study’s last contribution clarifies how the principles evolved. To illustrate, in 2018, the Montreal declaration mentioned eight principles well-being, autonomy, privacy, solidarity, democratic participation, equity, and diversity. In 2021, notions emerged from the European Commission proposal, including public trust, public participation, scientific integrity, risk assessment, flexibility, benefit and cost, and interagency coordination. The study design will strengthen the validity of previous studies. Yet, we advance knowledge in trustworthy AI by considering recent documents, linking principles with sustainable AI and AI for sustainability, and shedding light on the evolution of guidelines over time.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, AI for sustainability, declarations, framework, regulations, risks, sustainable AI

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Authors: Faizan Ahmad, Jenna Wong

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Time lag between peak values of horizontal and vertical seismic waves is a well-known phenomenon. Horizontal and vertical seismic waves, secondary and primary waves in nature respectively, travel through different layers of soil and the travel time is dependent upon the medium of wave transmission. In seismic analysis, many standardized codes do not require the actual vertical acceleration to be part of the analysis procedure. Instead, a factor load addition for a particular site is used to capture strength demands in case of vertical excitation. This study reviews the effects of vertical accelerations to analyze the behavior of a linearly rubber isolated structure in different time lag situations and frequency content by application of historical and simulated ground motions using SAP2000. The response of the structure is reviewed under multiple sets of ground motions and trends based on time lag and frequency variations are drawn. The accuracy of these results is discussed and evaluated to provide reasoning for use of real vertical excitations in seismic analysis procedures, especially for isolated structures.

Keywords: seismic analysis, vertical accelerations, time lag, isolated structures

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Authors: Kongrat Nokkaew

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This article assessed the surface erosion and stability of cut and fill slope in the excavation of the detention basin, Kalasin Province, Thailand. The large excavation project was built to enlarge detention basin for relieving repeated flooding and drought which usually happen in this area. However, at the end of the 1st rainstorm season, severely erosions slope failures were widespread observed. After investigation, the severity of erosions and slope failure were classified into five level from sheet erosion (Level 1), rill erosion (Level 2, 3), gully erosion (Level 4), and slope failure (Level 5) for proposing slope remediation. The preliminary investigation showed that lack of runoff control were the major factors of the surface erosions while insufficient compacted of the fill slope leaded to slopes failures. The slope stability of four selected slope failure was back calculated by using Simplified Bishop with Seep-W. The result show that factor of safety of slope located on non-plasticity sand was less than one, representing instability of the embankment slope. Such analysis agreed well with the failures observed in the field.

Keywords: surface erosion, slope stability, detention basin, cut and fill

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Authors: Yusra Tariq

Abstract:

The Grass 37 gene is presently known in tomatoes, which are the source of healthy substances such as ascorbic acid, polyphenols, carotenoids and nutrients. It has a significant impact on the growth and development of humans. The GRASS 37 gene is a plant Transcription factor group assuming significant parts in various reactions of different Abiotic stresses such as (drought, salinity, thermal stresses, temperature, and bright waves) which could highly affect the growth. Tomatoes are very sensitive to temperature, and their growth or production occurs optimally in a temperature range from 21 C to 29.5 C during the daytime and from 18.5 C to 21 C during the night. This protein acts as a positive regulator of salt stress response and abscisic acid signaling. This study summarizes the structure characterized by molecular formula and protein-binding domains by different bioinformatics tools such as Expasy translate tool, Expasy Portparam, Swiss Prot and Inter Pro Scan, Clustal W tool regulatory procedure of GRASS gene components, also their reactions to both biotic and Abiotic stresses.

Keywords: GRAS37, gene, bioinformatics, tool

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