Search results for: Sowing term

Authors: Chih-Hsiang Chang, I-Fan Ho

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This study examines the credibility of the signaling as explanation for IPO initial underpricing. Findings reveal the initial underpricing and the long-term underperformance of IPOs in Taiwan. However, we only find weak support for signaling as explanation of IPO underpricing.

Keywords: signaling, IPO initial underpricing, IPO long-term underperformance, Taiwan’s stock market

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Authors: S. Neelima, P. S. Subramanyam

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The major tool for distribution planning is load forecasting, which is the anticipation of the load in advance. Artificial neural networks have found wide applications in load forecasting to obtain an efficient strategy for planning and management. In this paper, the application of neural networks to study the design of short term load forecasting (STLF) Systems was explored. Our work presents a pragmatic methodology for short term load forecasting (STLF) using proposed two-stage model of wavelet transform (WT) and artificial neural network (ANN). It is a two-stage prediction system which involves wavelet decomposition of input data at the first stage and the decomposed data with another input is trained using a separate neural network to forecast the load. The forecasted load is obtained by reconstruction of the decomposed data. The hybrid model has been trained and validated using load data from Telangana State Electricity Board.

Keywords: electrical distribution systems, wavelet transform (WT), short term load forecasting (STLF), artificial neural network (ANN)

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Authors: Wanhyun Cho, Seongchae Seo, Soonja Kang

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In this work, we propose a variational technique for image contrast enhancement which utilizes global and local information around each pixel. The energy functional is defined by a weighted linear combination of three terms which are called on a local, a global contrast term and dispersion term. The first one is a local contrast term that can lead to improve the contrast of an input image by increasing the grey-level differences between each pixel and its neighboring to utilize contextual information around each pixel. The second one is global contrast term, which can lead to enhance a contrast of image by minimizing the difference between its empirical distribution function and a cumulative distribution function to make the probability distribution of pixel values becoming a symmetric distribution about median. The third one is a dispersion term that controls the departure between new pixel value and pixel value of original image while preserving original image characteristics as well as possible. Second, we derive the Euler-Lagrange equation for true image that can achieve the minimum of a proposed functional by using the fundamental lemma for the calculus of variations. And, we considered the procedure that this equation can be solved by using a gradient decent method, which is one of the dynamic approximation techniques. Finally, by conducting various experiments, we can demonstrate that the proposed method can enhance the contrast of colour images better than existing techniques.

Keywords: color image, contrast enhancement technique, variational approach, Euler-Lagrang equation, dynamic approximation method, EME measure

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Authors: Hrachuhi Galstyan, Lucian Sfîcă, Pavel Ichim

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The purpose of this study is to analyze the temporal and spatial variability of thermal conditions in the Republic of Armenia. The paper describes annual fluctuations in air temperature. Research has been focused on case study region of Armenia and surrounding areas, where long–term measurements and observations of weather conditions have been performed within the National Meteorological Service of Armenia and its surrounding areas. The study contains yearly air temperature data recorded between 1961-2012. Mann-Kendal test and the autocorrelation function were applied to detect the change trend of annual mean temperature, as well as other parametric and non-parametric tests searching to find the presence of some breaks in the long term evolution of temperature. The analysis of all records reveals a tendency mostly towards warmer years, with increased temperatures especially in valleys and inner basins. The maximum temperature increase is up to 1,5 °C. Negative results have not been observed in Armenia. The patterns of temperature change have been observed since the 1990’s over much of the Armenian territory. The climate in Armenia was influenced by global change in the last 2 decades, as results from the methods employed within the study.

Keywords: air temperature, long-term variability, trend, climate change

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Authors: Aleksandras Velykis, Antanas Satkus

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Clay loam and clay soils are typical for northern Lithuania. These soils are susceptible to physical degradation in the case of intensive use of heavy machinery for field operations. However, clayey soils having poor physical properties by origin require more intensive tillage to maintain proper physical condition for grown crops. Therefore not only choice of suitable tillage system is very important for these soils in the region, but also additional search of other measures is essential for good soil physical state maintenance. Research objective: To evaluate the long-term effects of different intensity tillage as well as its combinations with supplementary agronomic practices on improvement of soil physical conditions and environmental sustainability. The experiment examined the influence of deep and shallow ploughing, ploughless tillage, combinations of ploughless tillage with incorporation of lime sludge and cover crop for green manure and application of the same cover crop for mulch without autumn tillage under spring and winter crop growing conditions on clay loam (27% clay, 50% silt, 23% sand) Endocalcaric Endogleyic Cambisol. Methods: The indicators characterizing the impact of investigated measures were determined using the following methods and devices: Soil dry bulk density – by Eijkelkamp cylinder (100 cm3), soil water content – by weighing, soil structure – by Retsch sieve shaker, aggregate stability – by Eijkelkamp wet sieving apparatus, soil mineral nitrogen – in 1 N KCL extract using colorimetric method. Results: Clay loam soil physical state (dry bulk density, structure, aggregate stability, water content) depends on tillage system and its combination with additional practices used. Application of cover crop winter mulch without tillage in autumn, ploughless tillage and shallow ploughing causes the compaction of bottom (15-25 cm) topsoil layer. However, due to ploughless tillage the soil dry bulk density in subsoil (25-35 cm) layer is less compared to deep ploughing. Soil structure in the upper (0-15 cm) topsoil layer and in the seedbed (0-5 cm), prepared for spring crops is usually worse when applying the ploughless tillage or cover crop mulch without autumn tillage. Application of lime sludge under ploughless tillage conditions helped to avoid the compaction and structure worsening in upper topsoil layer, as well as increase aggregate stability. Application of reduced tillage increased soil water content at upper topsoil layer directly after spring crop sowing. However, due to reduced tillage the water content in all topsoil markedly decreased when droughty periods lasted for a long time. Combination of reduced tillage with cover crop for green manure and winter mulch is significant for preserving the environment. Such application of cover crops reduces the leaching of mineral nitrogen into the deeper soil layers and environmental pollution. This work was supported by the National Science Program ‘The effect of long-term, different-intensity management of resources on the soils of different genesis and on other components of the agro-ecosystems’ [grant number SIT-9/2015] funded by the Research Council of Lithuania.

Keywords: clay loam, endocalcaric endogleyic cambisol, mineral nitrogen, physical state

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Authors: Aleema Rahman

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Introduction: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of long-term otitis media with effusion (OME) and hearing loss in a prospective longitudinal cohort studyand to study the relationship between the condition and educational and psychosocial outcomes. Methods: Analysis of data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) will be undertaken. ALSPAC is a longitudinal birth cohort study carried out in the UK, which has collected detailed measures of hearing on ~7000 children from the age of seven. A descriptive analysis of the data will be undertaken to estimate the prevalence of OME and hearing loss (defined as having average hearing levels > 20dB and type B tympanogram) at 7, 9, 11, and 15 years as well as that of long-term OME and hearing loss. Logistic and linear regression analyses will be conducted to examine associations between long-term OME and hearing loss and educational outcomes (grades obtained from standardised national attainment tests) and psychosocial outcomes such as anxiety, social fears, and depression at ages 10-11 and 15-16 years. Results: Results will be presented in terms of the prevalence of OME and hearing loss in the population at each age. The prevalence of long-term OME and hearing loss, defined as having OME and hearing loss at two or more time points, will also be reported. Furthermore, any associations between long-term OME and hearing loss and the educational and psychosocial outcomes will be presented. Analyses will take into account demographic factors such as sex and social deprivation and relevant confounders, including socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and IQ. Discussion: Findings from this study will provide new epidemiological information on the prevalence of long-term OME and hearing loss. The research will provide new knowledge on the impact of OME for the small group of children who do not grow out of condition by age 7 but continue to have hearing loss and need clinical care through later childhood. The study could have clinical implications and may influence service delivery for this group of children.

Keywords: educational attainment, hearing loss, otitis media with effusion, psychosocial development

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Authors: Shilpa Varghese, Adarsh Eregowda

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Introduction: The normal development and maturation of the central nervous system is significantly influenced by thyroid hormones. Small for gestational age (SGA) babies have a distinct hormonal profile than kids born at an acceptable birth weight for gestational age, according to several studies (AGA). In SGA babies, thyroid size is larger when expressed as a percentage of body weight, indicating that low thyroid hormone levels throughout foetal life may be partially compensated for. Numerous investigations have found that compared to full-term and preterm AGA neonates, SGA babies exhibit considerably decreased thyroid plasma levels. According to our hypothesis, term and preterm SGA newborns have greater thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations than those that are normal for gestational age (AGA) and a higher incidence of thyroid dysfunction. Need for the study: Clinically diagnosed Assessment of term SGA babies confirming thyroid dysfunction unclear Requirement and importance of ft4 along with tsh and comparative values of ft4 in SGA babies as compared to AGA babies unclear. Inclusion criteria : SGA infants including preterm (<37 weeks of gestation) term (37-40 weeks) – comparing with preterm and term AGA infants. 3.76 7.66 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 AGA Babies SGA Babies Mean Mean TSH Comparison 2.73 1.52 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 AGA Babies SGA Babies Mean Mean FT4 Comparison Discussion : According to this study, neonates with SGA had considerably higher TSH levels than newborns with AGA. Our findings have been supported by results from earlier research. The TSH level range was established to 7.5 mU/L in the study by Bosch-Giménez et al, found greater TSH concentrations in SGA newborns. Thyroid hormone levels from newborns that are tiny for gestational age were found to be higher than AGA in our investigation. According to Franco et al., blood T4 concentrations are lower in both preterm and term SGA infants, while TSH concentrations are only noticeably greater in term SGA infants compared to AGA ones. According to our study analysis, the SGA group had considerably greater FT4 concentrations. Therefore, our findings are consistent with those of the two studies that SGA babies have a higher incidence of transient hypothyroidism and need close follow-up. Conclusions: A greater frequency of thyroid dysfunction and considerably higher TSH values within the normal range were seen in preterm and term SGA babies. The SGA babies who exhibit these characteristics should have ongoing endocrinologic testing and periodic TFTs.

Keywords: thyroid hormone, thyroid function tests, small for gestationl age, appropriate for gestational age

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Authors: Zhihui Liu, Dongmei Hao, Qian Qiu, Yang An, Lin Yang, Song Zhang, Yimin Yang, Xuwen Li, Dingchang Zheng

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Premature birth, defined as birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality and has long-term adverse consequences for health. It has recently been reported that the worldwide preterm birth rate is around 10%. The existing measurement techniques for diagnosing preterm delivery include tocodynamometer, ultrasound and fetal fibronectin. However, they are subjective, or suffer from high measurement variability and inaccurate diagnosis and prediction of preterm labor. Electrohysterography (EHG) method based on recording of uterine electrical activity by electrodes attached to maternal abdomen, is a promising method to assess uterine activity and diagnose preterm labor. The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of EHG signal features between term labor and preterm labor. Free access database was used with 300 signals acquired in two groups of pregnant women who delivered at term (262 cases) and preterm (38 cases). Among them, EHG signals from 38 term labor and 38 preterm labor were preprocessed with band-pass Butterworth filters of 0.08–4Hz. Then, EHG signal features were extracted, which comprised classical time domain description including root mean square and zero-crossing number, spectral parameters including peak frequency, mean frequency and median frequency, wavelet packet coefficients, autoregression (AR) model coefficients, and nonlinear measures including maximal Lyapunov exponent, sample entropy and correlation dimension. Their statistical significance for recognition of two groups of recordings was provided. The results showed that mean frequency of preterm labor was significantly smaller than term labor (p < 0.05). 5 coefficients of AR model showed significant difference between term labor and preterm labor. The maximal Lyapunov exponent of early preterm (time of recording < the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than early term. The sample entropy of late preterm (time of recording > the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than late term. There was no significant difference for other features between the term labor and preterm labor groups. Any future work regarding classification should therefore focus on using multiple techniques, with the mean frequency, AR coefficients, maximal Lyapunov exponent and the sample entropy being among the prime candidates. Even if these methods are not yet useful for clinical practice, they do bring the most promising indicators for the preterm labor.

Keywords: electrohysterogram, feature, preterm labor, term labor

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Authors: Valeri Arghutashvili, Mari Gogochuri

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Tourism industry development is one of the key priorities in Georgia, as it has positive influence on economic activities. Its contribution is very important for the different regions, as well as for the national economy. Benefits of the tourism industry include new jobs, service development, and increasing tax revenues, etc. The main aim of this research is to review and analyze the potential of the Georgian tourism industry with its long-term strategy and current challenges. To plan activities in a long-term development, it is required to evaluate several factors on the regional and on the national level. Factors include activities, transportation, services, lodging facilities, infrastructure and institutions. The major research contributions are practical estimates about regional tourism development which plays an important role in the integration process with global markets.

Keywords: regional tourism, tourism industry, tourism in Georgia, tourism benefits

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Authors: Yin Yuanling

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A Deep Feedback Recurrent Neural Network (DFRNN) and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) are designed to address the problem of low accuracy of traditional relationship extraction models. This method combines a deep feedback-based recurrent neural network (DFRNN) with a bi-directional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) approach. The method combines DFRNN, which extracts local features of text based on deep feedback recurrent mechanism, BiLSTM, which better extracts global features of text, and Self-Attention, which extracts semantic information. Experiments show that the method achieves an F1 value of 76.69% on the CEC dataset, which is 0.0652 better than the BiLSTM+Self-ATT model, thus optimizing the performance of the deep learning method in the event relationship extraction task.

Keywords: event relations, deep learning, DFRNN models, bi-directional long and short-term memory networks

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Authors: Samantha Clarke

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The term social justice is central to social work; however, the meaning behind this term is not as simple as defining the term itself. This is because the meaning of social justice is relative since its origin and development is based on evolving political perspectives. Political perspectives provide numerous lenses to view social justice in social work; however, the realities of changing society have meant that social justice has assumed different values, definitions, and understandings over time and in different geopolitical and cultural contexts. There are many competing and convincing theories of social justice that are relevant to social work practice. Exploring the term is not an idle preoccupation because the meaning of the term is not as crucial as the meaning of the worldview, as it is the worldview that positions social justice as crucial in the emancipation of people marginalized from oppression. The many political assumptions that underlie the term social justice are explored and connected to the contemporary discussions about social justice in social work. These connections are then interrogated in the Canadian Social Works Code of Ethics, and in micro, mezzo, and macro approaches. To be remiss in interrogating the underlying political assumptions of the worldview of social justice is to entrench oppression and to preserve oppressive structures in contemporary Canadian social work. The concept of social justice is unable to withstand closer scrutiny about its emancipatory qualities in Canadian social work when we interrogate the many political assumptions that frame its understanding. In order to authenticate social justice as an emancipatory central organizing principle, Canadian social workers must engage in deeper discussions about the political implications of social justice in their everyday practices based on diverse worldviews and geopolitical contexts. Social workers are well positioned to develop an understanding of social justice that is emancipatory based on their everyday practices because as social and political actors they are positioned to work for and with individuals and toward the greater good of those who are marginalized from oppression.

Keywords: Canadian social work, political analysis, social justice, social work practice

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Authors: Jun Hee Lee, Young Kyu Kim, Seong Jae Hong, Chamroeun Chhorn, Seung Woo Lee

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Roller-compacted concrete pavement (RCCP), an environmental friendly pavement of which load carry capacity benefitted from both hydration and aggregate interlock from roller compacting, demonstrated a superb structural performance for a relatively small amount of water and cement content. Even though an excellent structural performance can be secured, it is required to investigate roller-compacted concrete (RCC) under environmental loading and its long-term durability under critical conditions. In order to secure long-term durability, an appropriate internal air-void structure is required for this concrete. In this study, a method for improving the long-term durability of RCCP is suggested by analyzing the internal air-void structure and corresponding durability of RCC. The method of improving the long-term durability involves measurements of air content, air voids, and air-spacing factors in RCC that experiences changes in terms of type of air-entraining agent and its usage amount. This test is conducted according to the testing criteria in ASTM C 457, 672, and KS F 2456. It was found that the freezing-thawing and scaling resistances of RCC without any chemical admixture was quite low. Interestingly, an improvement of freezing-thawing and scaling resistances was observed for RCC with appropriate the air entraining (AE) agent content; Relative dynamic elastic modulus was found to be more than 80% for those mixtures. In RCC with AE agent mixtures, large amount of air was distributed within a range of 2% to 3%, and an air void spacing factor ranging between 200 and 300 μm (close to 250 μm, recommended by PCA) was secured. The long-term durability of RCC has a direct relationship with air-void spacing factor, and thus it can only be secured by ensuring the air void spacing factor through the inclusion of the AE in the mixture.

Keywords: durability, RCCP, air spacing factor, surface scaling resistance test, freezing and thawing resistance test

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Authors: Abu Zafor Sadek

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Pharmaceuticals were one of the least impacted business sectors during the corona pandemic as they are the center point of Covid-19 fight. Emergency use authorization, unproven indication of some commonly used drugs, self-medication, research and production capacity of an individual country, capacity of producing vaccine by many countries, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) related uncertainty, information gap among manufacturer, practitioners and user, export restriction, duration of lock-down, lack of harmony in transportation, disruption in the regulatory approval process, sudden increased demand of hospital items and protective equipment, panic buying, difficulties in in-person product promotion, e-prescription, geo-politics and associated issues added a new dimension to this industry. Although the industry maintains a reasonable growth throughout Covid-19 days; however, it has been characterized by both long- and short-term effects. Short-term effects have already been visible to so many countries, especially those who are import-dependent and have limited research capacity. On the other hand, it will take a few more time to see the long-term effects. Nevertheless, supply chain disruption, changes in strategic planning, new communication model, squeezing of job opportunity, rapid digitalization are the major short-term effects, whereas long-term effects include a shift towards self-sufficiency, growth pattern changes of certain products, special attention towards clinical studies, automation in operations, the increased arena of ethical issues etc. Therefore, this qualitative and exploratory study identifies the post-covid-19 landscape of the global pharmaceutical industry.

Keywords: covid-19, pharmaceutical, businees, landscape

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Authors: Charline David, Alexandre Blondin Massé, Arnaud Zinflou

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In 2016, Clements, Hurn, and Li proposed a multiple equation time series approach for the short-term load forecasting, reporting an average mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 1.36% on an 11-years dataset for the Queensland region in Australia. We present an adaptation of their model to the electrical power load consumption for the whole Quebec province in Canada. More precisely, we take into account two additional meteorological variables — cloudiness and wind speed — on top of temperature, as well as the use of multiple meteorological measurements taken at different locations on the territory. We also consider other minor improvements. Our final model shows an average MAPE score of 1:79% over an 8-years dataset.

Keywords: short-term load forecasting, special days, time series, multiple equations, parallelization, clustering

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Authors: Othman Maklouf, Abdunnaser Tresh

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GPS and inertial navigation system (INS) have complementary qualities that make them ideal use for sensor fusion. The limitations of GPS include occasional high noise content, outages when satellite signals are blocked, interference and low bandwidth. The strengths of GPS include its long-term stability and its capacity to function as a stand-alone navigation system. In contrast, INS is not subject to interference or outages, have high bandwidth and good short-term noise characteristics, but have long-term drift errors and require external information for initialization. A combined system of GPS and INS subsystems can exhibit the robustness, higher bandwidth and better noise characteristics of the inertial system with the long-term stability of GPS. The most common estimation algorithm used in integrated INS/GPS is the Kalman Filter (KF). KF is able to take advantages of these characteristics to provide a common integrated navigation implementation with performance superior to that of either subsystem (GPS or INS). This paper presents a simplified KF algorithm for land vehicle navigation application. In this integration scheme, the GPS derived positions and velocities are used as the update measurements for the INS derived PVA. The KF error state vector in this case includes the navigation parameters as well as the accelerometer and gyroscope error states.

Keywords: GPS, INS, Kalman filter, inertial navigation system

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Authors: Pelin Atav, Gözen Güner Aktaş, Nur Ayalp

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Today’s world has started to develop design process within an interdisciplinary working environment. There is an aim of creating the most permanent design for the future. While satisfying people’s needs, environment and people relationships should be considered. When this relationship was considered for the future, the sustainability term comes to mind. The term Sustainability has been adapted very well by designer and architects. It is also one of the main and significant parts of the design process. As the education process cultivates the future professionals, the awareness of those concepts in the education process has a vital importance. The question is stated as thus: Are the 3rd and 4th year design studio students, familiar and sensitive to the concept of sustainability in the TOBB ETU University Interior Design Studio. Design studios and the instructors should be taken into consideration while this sustainability term is taught. The term "Sustainability" can not be learned without making any application in the actual real world. While students make this study, They can have the chance to search the topic of sustainability step by step. Due to having various extent, sustainability term becomes quite a comprehensive issue. In order not to create negative consequences, designers and architects work by adapting this term. In terms of material, construction process, lighting, building service, furniture, systems that are used, energy consumption issues that are considered and creating positive drawbacks for the future are aimed. This research is aimed at how university education shapes designer’s works in terms of sustainability. By giving a project that is a main interest in the field of sustainability, students are expected to reach well-thought-of results and analysis. Project process were conducted with instructor and student studies together. According to critics from their instructors, students try to product well- designed results. TOBB University was choosen as a research area situated in Ankara in Turkey. Third and fourth class (interior designer/architect department) students who are from the Faculty of Fine Arts Design and Architecture are the subject group selected for this study. Aim of this study is demonstrating sustainability as a term having application in design studio. Thus, awareness of sustainability terms will be evaluated and its development process in the university education will be observed. Consequently, results that are expected is how sustainability term is conducted in project and for the sustainability term awareness in design studios and their projects have been sufficient or not.

Keywords: design education, design process, interior design studios, sustainability

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Authors: Ravid Yinon

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Introduction: Pelvic trauma causes high mortality, particularly among the elderly population. Pelvic injury ranges from low-energy incidents such as falls to high-energy trauma like motor vehicle accidents. The mortality rate among high-energy trauma patients is higher, as can be expected. The elderly population is more vulnerable to pelvic trauma even at low energy mechanisms due to the fragility and diminished physiological reserve of these patients. The aim of this study is to examine whether there is a higher long-term mortality in pelvic injuries in the elderly from the low-energy mechanism than those injured in high energy. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a level 1 trauma center with injured patients aged 65 years and over with pelvic trauma. The patients were divided into two groups of low and high-energy mechanisms of injury. Multivariate analysis was conducted to characterize the differences between the groups. Results: There were 585 consecutive injured patients over the age of 65 with a documented pelvic injury who were treated at the primary trauma center between 2008-2020. The injured in the high energy group were younger (mean HE- 75.18, LE-80.73), with fewer comorbidities (mean 0.78 comorbidities at HE and 1.28 at LE), more men (52.6% at HE and 27.4% at LE), were consumed more treatments facilities such as angioembolization, ICU admission, emergency surgeries and blood products transfusion and higher mortality rate at admission (HE- 19/133, 14.28%, LE- 10/452, 2.21%) compared to the low energy group. However, in a long-term follow-up of one year after the injury, mortality in the low-energy group was significantly higher (HE- 14/114, 12.28%, LE- 155/442, 35.06%). Discussion: Although it can be expected that in the mechanism of high energy, the mortality rate in the long term would be higher, it was found that mortality at the low energy patient was higher. Apparently, low-energy pelvic injury in geriatric patients is a measure of frailty in these patients, causes injury to more frail and morbid patients, and is a predictor of mortality in this population in the long term. Conclusion: The long-term follow-up of injured elderly with pelvic trauma should be more intense, and the healthcare provider should put more emphasis on the rehabilitation of these special patient populations in an attempt to prevent long-term mortality.

Keywords: pelvic trauma, elderly trauma, high energy trauma, low energy trauma

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Authors: Sonia Boulos

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The prohibition on ‘inhuman treatment’ constitutes one of the central tenets of modern international human rights law. It is incorporated in principal international human rights instruments including Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, in the absence of any legislative definition of the term ‘inhuman’, its interpretation becomes challenging. The aim of this article is to critically analyze the interpretation of the term ‘inhuman’ in international human rights law and to suggest a new approach to construct its meaning. The article is composed of two central parts. The first part is a critical appraisal of the interpretation of the term ‘inhuman’ by supra-national human rights law institutions. It highlights the failure of supra-national institutions to provide an independent definition for the term ‘inhuman’. In fact, those institutions consistently fail to distinguish the term ‘inhuman’ from its other kin terms, i.e. ‘cruel’ and ‘degrading.’ Very often, they refer to these three prohibitions as ‘CIDT’, as if they were one collective. They were primarily preoccupied with distinguishing ‘CIDT’ from ‘torture.’ By blurring the conceptual differences between these three terms, supra-national institutions supplemented them with a long list of specific and purely descriptive subsidiary rules. In most cases, those subsidiary rules were announced in the absence of sufficient legal reasoning explaining how they were derived from abstract and evaluative standards embodied in the prohibitions collectively referred to as ‘CIDT.’ By opting for this option, supra-national institutions have created the risk for the development of an incoherent body of jurisprudence on those terms at the international level. They also have failed to provide guidance for domestic courts on how to enforce these prohibitions. While blurring the differences between the terms ‘cruel,’ ‘inhuman,’ and ‘degrading’ has consequences for the three, the term ‘inhuman’ remains the most impoverished one. It is easy to link the term ‘cruel’ to the clause on ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ originating from the English Bill of Rights of 1689. It is also easy to see that the term ‘degrading’ reflects a dignatarian ideal. However, when we turn to the term ‘inhuman’, we are left without any interpretative clue. The second part of the article suggests that the ordinary meaning of the word ‘inhuman’ should be our first clue. However, regaining the conceptual independence of the term ‘inhuman’ requires more than a mere reflection on the word-meaning of the term. Thus, the second part introduces philosophical concepts related to the understanding of what it means to be human. It focuses on ‘the capabilities approach’ and the notion of ‘human functioning’, introduced by Amartya Sen and further explored by Martha Nussbaum. Nussbaum’s work on the basic human capabilities is particularly helpful or even vital for understanding the moral and legal substance of the prohibition on ‘inhuman’ treatment.

Keywords: inhuman treatment, capabilities approach, human functioning, supra-national institutions

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Authors: R. K. Dubey

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Bianchi type cosmological models have been studied on the basis of Lyra’s geometry. Exact solution has been obtained by considering a time dependent displacement field for constant deceleration parameter and varying cosmological term of the universe. The physical behavior of the different models has been examined for different cases.

Keywords: Bianchi type-I cosmological model, variable gravitational coupling, cosmological constant term, Lyra's model

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Authors: Emilee M. Cruz

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Teachers take part in short-term teaching fellowships abroad, and their preparation before, during, and after the experience is critical to affecting teachers’ feelings of success in the international classroom. A program evaluation of the teacher preparation within TALMA: The Israel Program for Excellence in English (TALMA) full-year teaching fellowship was conducted. A questionnaire was developed that examined professional development, deliberate reflection, and cultural and language immersion offered before, during, and after the short-term experience. The evaluation also surveyed teachers’ feelings of preparedness for the Israeli classroom and any recommendations they had for future teacher preparation within the fellowship program. The review suggests the TALMA program includes integrated professional learning communities between fellows and Israeli co-teachers, more opportunities for immersive Hebrew language learning, a broader professional network with Israelis, and opportunities for guided discussion with the TALMA community continued participation in TALMA events and learning following the full-year fellowship. Similar short-term international programs should consider the findings in the design of their participation preparation programs. The review also offers direction for future program evaluation of short-term participant preparation, including the need for frequent response item updates to match current offerings and evaluation of participant feelings of preparedness before, during, and after the full-year fellowship.

Keywords: educational program evaluation, international teaching, short-term teaching, teacher beliefs, teaching fellowship, teacher preparation

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Authors: Melissa Angus Baboun

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Utilizing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology and a theoretical framework based on disability studies, how Jamaican and Trinidadian newspapers discussed issues relating to the Deaf community were examined. The term deaf was inputted into the search engine tool of the online website for the Jamaica Observer and the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian. All 27 articles that contained the term deaf in its content and were written between August 1, 2017 and November 15, 2017 were chosen for the study. The data analysis was divided into three steps: (1) listing and analysis instances of metaphorical deafness (e.g. fall on deaf ears), (2) categorization of the content of the articles into the models of disability discourse (the medical, socio-cultural, and superscrip models of disability narratives), and (3) the analysis of any additional data found. A total of 42% of the articles pulled for this study did not deal with the Deaf community in any capacity, but rather instances of the use of idiomatic expressions that use deafness as a metaphor for a non-physical, undesirable trait. The most common idiomatic expression found was fall on deaf ears. Regarding the models of disability discourse, eight articles were found to follow the socio-cultural model, two were found to follow the medical model, and two were found to follow the superscrip model. The additional data found in these articles include two instances of the term deaf and mute, an overwhelming use of lower case d for the term deaf, and the misuse of the term translator (to mean interpreter).

Keywords: deafness, disability, news coverage, Caribbean newspapers

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Authors: R. S. Giraddi, C. M. Poleshi

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Organic cultivation of crops is gaining importance consumer awareness towards pesticide residue free foodstuffs is increasing globally. This is also because of high costs of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, making the conventional farming non-remunerative. In India, organic manures (such as vermicompost) are an important input in organic agriculture.  Though vermicompost obtained through earthworm and microbe-mediated processes is known to comprise most of the crop nutrients, but they are in small amounts thus necessitating enrichment of nutrients so that crop nourishment is complete. Another characteristic of organic manures is that the pest infestations are kept under check due to induced resistance put up by the crop plants. In the present investigation, deoiled neem cake containing azadirachtin, copper ore tailings (COT), a source of micro-nutrients and microbial consortia were added for enrichment of vermicompost. Neem cake is a by-product obtained during the process of oil extraction from neem plant seeds. Three enriched vermicompost blends were prepared using vermicompost (at 70, 65 and 60%), deoiled neem cake (25, 30 and 35%), microbial consortia and COTwastes (5%). Enriched vermicompost was thoroughly mixed, moistened (25+5%), packed and incubated for 15 days at room temperature. In the crop response studies, the field trials on chili (Capsicum annum var. longum) and soybean, (Glycine max cv JS 335) were conducted during Kharif 2015 at the Main Agricultural Research Station, UAS, Dharwad-Karnataka, India. The vermicompost blend enriched with neem cake (known to possess higher amounts of nutrients) and vermicompost were applied to the crops and at two dosages and at two intervals of crop cycle (at sowing and 30 days after sowing) as per the treatment plan along with 50% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF). 10 plants selected randomly in each plot were studied for pest density and plant damage. At maturity, crops were harvested, and the yields were recorded as per the treatments, and the data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tools and procedures. In the crops, chili and soybean, crop nourishment with neem enriched vermicompost reduced insect density and plant damage significantly compared to other treatments. These treatments registered as much yield (16.7 to 19.9 q/ha) as that realized in conventional chemical control (18.2 q/ha) in soybean, while 72 to 77 q/ha of green chili was harvested in the same treatments, being comparable to the chemical control (74 q/ha). The yield superiority of the treatments was of the order neem enriched vermicompost>conventional chemical control>neem cake>vermicompost>untreated control.  The significant features of the result are that it reduces use of inorganic manures by 50% and synthetic chemical insecticides by 100%.

Keywords: humic acid, azadirachtin, vermicompost, insect-pest

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Authors: B. S. Harish, M. B. Revanasiddappa

Abstract:

Due to rapid growth of text documents in digital form, automated text classification has become an important research in the last two decades. The major challenge of text document representations are high dimension, sparsity, volume and semantics. Since the terms are only features that can be found in documents, selection of good terms (features) plays an very important role. In text classification, feature selection is a strategy that can be used to improve classification effectiveness, computational efficiency and accuracy. In this paper, we present a quantitative analysis of most widely used feature selection (FS) methods, viz. Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (tf
idf ), Mutual Information (MI), Information Gain (IG), CHISquare (x2), Term Frequency-Relevance Frequency (tf
rf ), Term Strength (TS), Ambiguity Measure (AM) and Symbolic Feature Selection (SFS) to classify text documents. We evaluated all the feature selection methods on standard datasets like 20 Newsgroups, 4 University dataset and Reuters-21578.

Keywords: classifiers, feature selection, text classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 423

Authors: Mahdi Motahari, Mojtaba Farzaneh, Ebrahim Sepidbar

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Tracking of moving and flying targets is one of the most important issues in image processing topic. Estimating of trajectory of desired object in short-term and long-term scale is more important than tracking of moving and flying targets. In this paper, a new way of identifying and estimating of future trajectory of a moving ball in long-term scale is estimated by using synthesis and interaction of image processing algorithms including noise removal and image segmentation, Kalman filter algorithm in order to estimating of trajectory of ball in football game in short-term scale and intelligent adaptive neuro-fuzzy algorithm based on time series of traverse distance. The proposed system attain more than 96% identify accuracy by using aforesaid methods and relaying on aforesaid algorithms and data base video in format of synthesis and interaction. Although the present method has high precision, it is time consuming. By comparing this method with other methods we realize the accuracy and efficiency of that.

Keywords: tracking, signal processing, moving targets and flying, artificial intelligent systems, estimating of trajectory, Kalman filter

Procedia PDF Downloads 435

Authors: A. Schander, T. Tessmann, H. Stemmann, S. Strokov, A. Kreiter, W. Lang

Abstract:

For the chronic application of neural prostheses and other brain-computer interfaces, long-term stable microelectrodes for electrical stimulation are essential. In recent years many developments were done to investigate different appropriate materials for these electrodes. One of these materials is the electrical conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), which has lower impedance and higher charge injection capacity compared to noble metals like gold and platinum. However the long-term stability of this polymer is still unclear. Thus this paper reports on the in-vitro evaluation of the long-term stability of PEDOT coated gold microelectrodes. For this purpose a highly flexible electrocorticography (ECoG) electrode array, based on the polymer polyimide, is used. This array consists of circular gold electrodes with a diameter of 560 µm (0.25 mm2). In total 25 electrodes of this array were coated simultaneously with the polymer PEDOT:PSS in a cleanroom environment using a galvanostatic electropolymerization process. After the coating the array is additionally sterilized using a steam sterilization process (121°C, 1 bar, 20.5 min) to simulate autoclaving prior to the implantation of such an electrode array. The long-term measurements were performed in phosphate-buffered saline solution (PBS, pH 7.4) at the constant body temperature of 37°C. For the in-vitro electrical stimulation a one channel bipolar current stimulator is used. The stimulation protocol consists of a bipolar current amplitude of 5 mA (cathodal phase first), a pulse duration of 100 µs per phase, a pulse pause of 50 µs and a frequency of 1 kHz. A PEDOT:PSS coated gold electrode with an area of 1 cm2 serves as the counter electrode. The electrical stimulation is performed continuously with a total amount of 86.4 million bipolar current pulses per day. The condition of the PEDOT coated electrodes is monitored in between with electrical impedance spectroscopy measurements. The results of this study demonstrate that the PEDOT coated electrodes are stable for more than 3.6 billion bipolar current pulses. Also the unstimulated electrodes show currently no degradation after the time period of 5 months. These results indicate an appropriate long-term stability of this electrode coating for chronic recording and electrical stimulation. The long-term measurements are still continuing to investigate the life limit of this electrode coating.

Keywords: chronic recording, electrical stimulation, long-term stability, microelectrodes, PEDOT

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Authors: Hosam Alzahrani, Martin Mackey, Emmanuel Stamatakis, Marina B. Pinheiro, Manuela Wicks, Debra Shirley

Abstract:

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of incidental (non-structured) physical activity interventions compared with other commonly prescribed interventions for the management of people with low back pain (LBP). Methods: We performed a systematic review with meta-analyses of eligible randomized controlled trials obtained by searching Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, EMBASE, and CENTRAL. This review considered trials investigating the effect of incidental physical activity interventions compared to other interventions in people aged 18 years or over, diagnosed with non-specific LBP. Analyses were conducted separately for short-term (≤3 months), intermediate-term (> 3 and < 12 months), and long-term (≥ 12 months), for each outcome. The analyses were conducted using the weighted mean difference (WMD). The overall quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE system. Meta-analyses were only performed for pain and disability outcomes as there was insufficient data on the other outcomes. Results: For pain, the pooled results did not show any significant effects between the incidental physical activity intervention and other interventions at any time point. For disability, incidental physical activity was not statistically more effective than other interventions at short-term; however, the pooled results favored incidental physical activity at intermediate-term (WMD= -6.05, 95% CI: -10.39 to -1.71, p=0.006) and long-term (WMD= -6.40 95% CI: -11.68 to -1.12, p=0.02) follow-ups among participants with chronic LBP. The overall quality of evidence was rated “moderate quality” based on the GRADE system. Conclusion: The incidental physical activity intervention provided intermediate and long disability relief for people with chronic LBP, although this improvement was small and not likely to be clinically important.

Keywords: physical activity, incidental, low back pain, systematic review, meta-analysis

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Authors: Ahmet Ekinci

Abstract:

The new government system of Turkey can be described as hyper-presidentialism, this is because the president then becomes the arbiter of all powers. In another word, the power to enact decrees, appoint bureaucrats and judicial officials into offices, and the power to dissolve a parliament belongs solely to the president. As a strong presidency fuse with a disciplined party system as well as concurrent elections and 10 percent electoral threshold, the president possibly poses a great danger to the separation of powers. Additionally, with regards to the presidential term, the president constitutionally holds the power to be elected only for two terms in Turkey. However, Erdoğan and his supporters believe that the 2017 constitutional amendments that changed the system of government have reset the agenda. Thus, the 2017 amendments offered Erdoğan a secret opportunity to join the presidential election race for a third and even a fourth term.

Keywords: hyper-presidentialism, Turkish presidentialism, presidential decree, concurrent election, Erdogan’s term limit, Turkish government system

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Olena Kavats, Dmitry Khramov, Kateryna Sergieieva, Vladimir Vasyliev, Iurii Kavats

Abstract:

Geoinformation technologies of space agromonitoring are a means of operative decision making support in the tasks of managing the agricultural sector of the economy. Existing technologies use satellite images in the optical range of electromagnetic spectrum. Time series of optical images often contain gaps due to the presence of clouds and haze. A geoinformation technology is created. It allows to fill gaps in time series of optical images (Sentinel-2, Landsat-8, PROBA-V, MODIS) with radar survey data (Sentinel-1) and use information about agrometeorological conditions of the growing season for individual monitoring years. The technology allows to perform crop classification and mapping for spring-summer (winter and spring crops) and autumn-winter (winter crops) periods of vegetation, monitoring the dynamics of crop state seasonal changes, crop yield forecasting. Crop classification is based on supervised classification algorithms, takes into account the peculiarities of crop growth at different vegetation stages (dates of sowing, emergence, active vegetation, and harvesting) and agriculture land state characteristics (row spacing, seedling density, etc.). A catalog of samples of the main agricultural crops (Ukraine) is created and crop spectral signatures are calculated with the preliminary removal of row spacing, cloud cover, and cloud shadows in order to construct time series of crop growth characteristics. The obtained data is used in grain crop growth tracking and in timely detection of growth trends deviations from reference samples of a given crop for a selected date. Statistical models of crop yield forecast are created in the forms of linear and nonlinear interconnections between crop yield indicators and crop state characteristics (temperature, precipitation, vegetation indices, etc.). Predicted values of grain crop yield are evaluated with an accuracy up to 95%. The developed technology was used for agricultural areas monitoring in a number of Great Britain and Ukraine regions using EOS Crop Monitoring Platform (https://crop-monitoring.eos.com). The obtained results allow to conclude that joint use of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images improve separation of winter crops (rapeseed, wheat, barley) in the early stages of vegetation (October-December). It allows to separate successfully the soybean, corn, and sunflower sowing areas that are quite similar in their spectral characteristics.

Keywords: geoinformation technology, crop classification, crop yield prediction, agricultural monitoring, EOS Crop Monitoring Platform

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Authors: Daniel Pastor, Hyo-Sang Shin

Abstract:

This paper presents a novel method to use optical flow navigation for long-term navigation. Unlike standard SLAM approaches for augmented reality, OFLAAM is designed for Micro Air Vehicles (MAV). It uses an optical flow camera pointing downwards, an IMU and a monocular camera pointing frontwards. That configuration avoids the expensive mapping and tracking of the 3D features. It only maps these features in a vocabulary list by a localization module to tackle the loss of the navigation estimation. That module, based on the well-established algorithm DBoW2, will be also used to close the loop and allow long-term navigation in confined areas. That combination of high-speed optical flow navigation with a low rate localization algorithm allows fully autonomous navigation for MAV, at the same time it reduces the overall computational load. This framework is implemented in ROS (Robot Operating System) and tested attached to a laptop. A representative scenarios is used to analyse the performance of the system.

Keywords: vision, UAV, navigation, SLAM

Procedia PDF Downloads 579

Authors: Chih-Hsiang Chang, Chia-Ching Tsai

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to examine the stock price effect of the enterprises being classified as socially responsible. We explore the stock price response to the announcement that an enterprise is selected for the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards. Empirical results indicate that the announcements of the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards provide useful informational content to stock market. We find the evidence of insignificantly positive short-term and significantly positive long-term price reaction to the enterprises being classified as socially responsible. This study concludes that investors in the Taiwan stock market tend to view an enterprise being selected for the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards as one with superior quality and long-term price potential.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, stock price effect, Taiwan stock market, investments

Procedia PDF Downloads 125