Search results for: onset of action

Authors: Yi-Hsiu Lai

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The present study aimed to elucidate the lexical-semantic processing for Chinese as second language (CSL) learners. Twenty L1 speakers of Chinese and twenty CSL learners in Taiwan participated in a picture naming task and a category fluency task. Based on their Chinese proficiency levels, these CSL learners were further divided into two sub-groups: ten CSL learners of elementary Chinese proficiency level and ten CSL learners of intermediate Chinese proficiency level. Instruments for the naming task were sixty black-and-white pictures: thirty-five object pictures and twenty-five action pictures. Object pictures were divided into two categories: living objects and non-living objects. Action pictures were composed of two categories: action verbs and process verbs. As in the naming task, the category fluency task consisted of two semantic categories – objects (i.e., living and non-living objects) and actions (i.e., action and process verbs). Participants were asked to report as many items within a category as possible in one minute. Oral productions were tape-recorded and transcribed for further analysis. Both error types and error frequency were calculated. Statistical analysis was further conducted to examine these error types and frequency made by CSL learners. Additionally, category effects, pictorial effects and L2 proficiency were discussed. Findings in the present study helped characterize the lexical-semantic process of Chinese naming in CSL learners of different Chinese proficiency levels and made contributions to Chinese vocabulary teaching and learning in the future.

Keywords: lexical-semantic processing, Mandarin Chinese, naming, category effects

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Authors: Jesica López, Deniz Koca, Asaf Tzachor

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In 2016 the historic peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had no strong mechanism for managing changes to land use and the environment. Since the end of a 60-year conflict in Colombia, large areas of forest in the Amazon region have been rapidly converted to agricultural uses, most recently by cattle ranching. This suggests that the peace agreement presents a threat to the conservation of the country's rainforest. We analyze the effects of cattle ranching as a driver and accelerator of deforestation from a systemic perspective, focusing on two key leverage points the legal and illegal activities involved in the cattle ranching practices. We map and understand the inherent dynamic complexity of deforestation, including factors such as land policy instruments, national strategy to tackle deforestation, land use nexus with Amazonian food systems, and loss of biodiversity. Our results show that deforestation inside Colombian Protected Areas (PAs) in the Amazon region and the surrounding buffer areas has accelerated with the onset of peace. By using a systems analysis approach, we contextualized the competition of land between cattle ranching and the need to protect tropical forests and their biodiversity loss. We elaborate on future recommendations for land use management decisions making suggest the inclusion of an Amazonian food system, interconnecting and visualizing the synergies between sustainable development goals, climate action (SDG 13) and life on land (SDG 15).

Keywords: tropical rainforest, deforestation, sustainable land use, food security, Colombian Amazon

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Authors: Sam S. Hashemi

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The breakage of bonding between sand particles and their dislodgment from the borehole wall are among the main factors resulting in a borehole failure in poorly cemented granular formations. The grain debonding usually precedes the borehole failure and it can be considered as a sign that the onset of the borehole collapse is imminent. Detecting the bonding breakage point and introducing an appropriate failure criterion will play an important role in borehole stability analysis. To study the influence of different factors on the initiation of sand bonding breakage at the borehole wall, a series of laboratory tests was designed and conducted on poorly cemented sand samples. The total absorbed strain energy per volume of material up to the point of the observed particle debonding was computed. The results indicated that the particle bonding breakage point at the borehole wall was reached both before and after the peak strength of the thick-walled hollow cylinder specimens depending on the stress path and cement content. Three different cement contents and two borehole sizes were investigated to study the influence of the bonding strength and scale on the particle dislodgment. Test results showed that the stress path has a significant influence on the onset of the sand bonding breakage. It was shown that for various stress paths, there is a near linear relationship between the absorbed energy and the normal effective mean stress.

Keywords: borehole stability, experimental studies, poorly cemented sands, total absorbed strain energy

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Authors: Ladislas Havugimana, Véronique Zinnen, Mary Hadley, Jean Claude Mwumvaneza, Francois Régis Habarugira, Silas Rudasingwa, Victor Ndaruhutse, Evelyne Bocquet

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Rwanda's health systems face various challenges, including low health infrastructure coverage (the objective is to have at least one health center per administrative sector) and insufficient qualified human resources for infrastructure maintenance and financing. Moreover, there is no policy for the preventive maintenance of infrastructures for the health sector. This paper presents action research conducted in seven districts, focusing on the impact of health infrastructure's quality on maternal and neonatal care, with the support of the Belgian cooperation agency through Enable Barame project.

Keywords: health infrastructure, maintenance, maternity, neonatology

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Authors: Saptiadi Nugroho, A. Nur Muhamad Afif

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Understanding factors that influence employee performance is very important. By finding the significant factors, organization could intervene to improve the employee performance that simultaneously will affect organization itself. In this research, four aspects consist of PCCD training, education level, corrective action, and work location were tested to identify their influence on employee performance. By using correlation analysis and T-Test, it was found that employee performance significantly influenced by PCCD training, work location, and corrective action. Meanwhile the education level did not influence employee performance.

Keywords: employee development, employee performance, performance management system, organization

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Authors: Yun Wang, Ruoyu Wang, Tuo Chen, Guangxiu Liu, Guodong Chen, Wei Zhang

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Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in China. China has the world's second largest tuberculosis epidemic (after India). Xinjiang almost has the highest annual attendance rate of TB in China, and the province is also famous because of its severe dust storms. The epidemic timing starts in February and ends in July, and the dust storm mainly distribute throughout the spring and early summer, which strongly indicate a close linkage between causative agent of TB and dust storm events. However, mechanisms responsible for the observed patterns are still not clearly indentified. By comparing the information on cases of TB from Centers for Disease Control of China annual reports with dust storm atmosphere datasets, we constructed the relationship between the large scale annual occurrence of TB in Xinjiang, a Northwest province of China, and dust storm occurrence. Regional atmospheric indexes of dust storm based on surface wind speed show a clear link between population dynamics of the disease and the climate disaster: the onset of epidemics and the dust storm defined by the atmospheric index share the same mean year. This study is the first that provides a clear demonstration of connections that exist between TB epidemics and dust storm events in China. The development of this study will undoubtedly help early warning for tuberculosis epidemic onset in China and help nationwide and international public health institutions and policy makers to better control TB disease in Norwest China.

Keywords: dust storm, tuberculosis, Xinjiang province, epidemic

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Authors: Saeed Wahass

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Objective: Obesity is epidemic, affecting all societies and cultures. Most serious medical illnesses are attributed to obesity. For this reason, all healthcare systems worldwide have focused on obesity for both intervention and prevention. However, there is scientific evidence supporting that obesity is treatable through implementing different modalities of interventions. They include biological interventions like medications and bariatric surgeries and behavioral interventions. It seems healthcare professionals may suggest the quick and the easiest interventions for obesity like surgery, ignoring other modesties that might require efforts from their sides and patients as well. Searching on the onset, progression and prevention, behavior plays a major role. As a result, psychological interventions have become increasingly core for intervention and prevention of obesity. They are effective and cost effective in dealing with obesity. Methods: A questionnaire describing the role of behavior on obesity and the way it can be prevented and treated was distributed to a group of health professionals who are dealing with obesity e.g. bariatric surgeons, bariatric physicians, psychologists, health educators, nurses and social workers. Results: 88% of healthcare professionals believed that behavior plays a major role on the onset and progression of obesity, 95% of them recognized that obesity can be prevented with consideration for behavior factors. A major proportion (87%) of the respondents see that psychological interventions are effective and cost effective in treating obesity. Conclusions: It optimistically appears that the majority of healthcare professionals believe that behavior is a key component in understanding, preventing and treating obesity. This outcome may help in developing specific training courses for healthcare professionals, who are dealing with obesity concerning the way they can treat patients behaviorally and, moreover, educating the community.

Keywords: behavior, obesity, healthcare provider, psychological interventions

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Authors: Muhammad A. Muhammad

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Butenafine (N-4-tert-butyl benzyl-N-methyl-1-naphthylene methylamine hydrochloride) is a benzylamine antimycotic (antifungal) agent that has a broad spectrum of action. The quest for improved antimycotic action brought about many research on the structure-activity properties of butenafine in relation to other antifungal agents. Of all those research, only little or no effort was recorded on the substituents attached to the aromatic systems in butenafine. In this research, N-(4-(tert-butyl) benzyl)-1-(4-tert-butyl) phenyl)-N-methyl methanaminium chloride, which is a butenafine analogue was synthesised from tert-butyl benzyl derivatives, by reductive amination using various solvents through a direct approach, where 1,2-dichloroethane gave the best solvent action at 40 °C (Yield: 75%) and of all the reducing agents used, sodium borohydride was found to give the best reducing action in the presence of silica chloride at room temperature (Yield: 50%). Characterization of the compound by 1H NMR showed a singlet peak of 18 hydrogen atoms with a chemical shift at 1.3-1.5 ppm for the presence of 6 methyl groups in the two tert-butyl substituents, the 13C NMR also indicated the presence of the two tert-butyl substituents by the peak with a chemical shift at 31-32 ppm for the six methyl carbon atoms, the IR indicated the presence of a tertiary ammonium ion by a strong band at 2460 cm-1 and finally the EIS-MS confirmed the molar mass of the compound by a mass to charge ratio of 324.2693. These results suggested that the target molecule was actually synthesised and therefore, 1,2-dichloroethane is a good solvent for this synthesis, and the most suitable reducing agent is sodium borohydride.

Keywords: antimicrobial agents, antimycotic agents, butenafine, chemotherapeutic agents, semisynthetic agents

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Authors: Ajay Agrawal, Pritha Basnet, Achala Thakur, Pappu Rizal, Rubina Rai

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Context: Rapid expulsion of fetus in intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) is usually requested without any medical grounds for it. So; an efficient, safe method for induction of labor (IOL) is required. Objective: To determine if pre-treatment with mifepristone followed by IOL with misoprostol in late IUFD is more efficacious. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial in 100 patients. Group-A women received single oral dose of 200 mg mifepristone, followed by induction with vaginal misoprostol after 24-hour. Group-B women were induced only with vaginal misoprostol. In each group 5 dose of misoprostol was used 4 hourly. If first cycle was unsuccessful, after break of 12 hour, second course of misoprostol was started. The primary outcome was a measure of induction to delivery time and vaginal delivery within 24 hours. Secondary outcome was to measure need of oxytocin and complications. Results: Maternal age, parity and period of gestation were comparable between groups. Number of misoprostol dose needed in group A was significantly less than group B. Mann Whitney U test showed, women in group A had significantly earlier onset of labor, however total induction to delivery interval was not significant. In group-A, 85.7% delivered within 24 hours of first dose of misoprostol while in group-B 70% delivered within 24 hour (p=0.07). More women in Group B required oxytocin. Conclusion: Pretreatment with mifepristone before IOL following late IUFD is an effective and safe regimen. It appears to shorten the duration of induction to onset of labor.

Keywords: induction of labor, intrauterine fetal death, mifepristone, misoprostol

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Authors: Abdelmenen Abobghala, Mahmud Ahmed, Mohamed Alwaheshi, Anwar Fanan, Meftah Mehdawi, Ahmed Abuhatira

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This research aims to predict academic performance and identify weak points in students to aid teachers in understanding their learning needs. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to identify difficult test items and the factors causing difficulties. The study uses interventions like focus group discussions, interviews, and action plans developed by the students themselves. The research questions explore the predictability of final grades based on mock exams and assignments, the student's response to action plans, and the impact on learning performance. Ethical considerations are followed, respecting student privacy and maintaining anonymity. The research aims to enhance student engagement, motivation, and responsibility for learning.

Keywords: prediction, academic performance, weak points, understanding, learning, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, formative assessments, feedback, emotional responses, intervention, focus group discussion, interview, action plan, student engagement, motivation, responsibility, ethical considerations

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Authors: Hsin-Yi Kathy Cheng, Yan-Ying JU, Wann-Yun Shieh, Chin-Man Wang

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Although the coordination of swallowing and respiration has been discussed widely, the influence of the positioning angle on swallowing and respiration during feeding has rarely been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the timing and coordination of swallowing and respiration in different seat inclination angles, with liquid and bolus, to provide suggestions and guidelines for the design and develop a feedback-controlled seat angle adjustment device for the back-adjustable wheelchair. Twenty-six participants aged between 15-30 years old without any signs of swallowing difficulty were included. The combination of seat inclinations and food types was randomly assigned, with three repetitions in each combination. The trunk inclination angle was adjusted by a commercialized positioning wheelchair. A total of 36 swallows were done, with at least 30 seconds of rest between each swallow. We used a self-developed wearable device to measure the submandibular muscle surface EMG, the movement of the thyroid cartilage, and the respiratory status of the nasal cavity. Our program auto-analyzed the onset and offset of duration, and the excursion and strength of thyroid cartilage when it was moving, coordination between breathing and swallowing were also included. Variables measured include the EMG duration (DsEMG), swallowing apnea duration (SAD), total excursion time (TET), duration of 2nd deflection, FSR amplitude, Onset latency, DsEMG onset, DsEMG offset, FSR onset, and FSR offset. These measurements were done in four-seat inclination angles (5。, 15。, 30。, 45。) and three food contents (1ml water, 10ml water, and 5ml pudding bolus) for each subject. The data collected between different contents were compared. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the basic features of the data. Repeated measure ANOVAs were used to analyze the differences for the dependent variables in different seat inclination and food content combinations. The results indicated significant differences in seat inclination, mostly between 5。 and 45。, in all variables except FSR amplitude. It also indicated significant differences in food contents almost among all variables. Significant interactions between seat inclination and food contents were only found in FSR offsets. The same protocol will be applied to participants with disabilities. The results of this study would serve as clinical guidance for proper feeding positions with different food contents. The ergonomic data would also provide references for assistive technology professionals and practitioners in device design and development. In summary, the current results indicated that it is easier for a subject to lean backward during swallowing than when sitting upright and swallowing water is easier than swallowing pudding. The results of this study would serve as the clinical guidance for proper feeding position (such as wheelchair back angle adjustment) with different food contents. The same protocol can be applied to elderly participants or participants with physical disabilities. The ergonomic data would also provide references for assistive technology professionals and practitioners in device design and development.

Keywords: swallowing, positioning, assistive device, disability

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Authors: Jamil Ahmed

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Left to Right-Right Most (LR) parsing algorithm is a widely used algorithm of syntax analysis. It is contingent on a parsing table, whereas the parsing tables are extracted from the grammar. The parsing table specifies the actions to be taken during parsing. It requires that the parsing table should have no action conflicts for the same input symbol. This requirement imposes a condition on the class of grammars over which the LR algorithms work. However, there are grammars for which the parsing tables hold action conflicts. In such cases, the algorithm needs a capability of scanning (looking-ahead) next input symbols ahead of the current input symbol. In this paper, a ‘Left to Right’-‘Right Most’ parsing algorithm with lookahead capability is introduced. The 'look-ahead' capability in the LR parsing algorithm is the major contribution of this paper. The practicality of the proposed algorithm is substantiated by the parser implementation of the Context Free Grammar (CFG) of an already proposed programming language 'State Controlled Object Oriented Programming' (SCOOP). SCOOP’s Context Free Grammar has 125 productions and 192 item sets. This algorithm parses SCOOP while the grammar requires to ‘look ahead’ the input symbols due to action conflicts in its parsing table. Proposed LR parsing algorithm with lookahead capability can be viewed as an optimization of ‘Simple Left to Right’-‘Right Most’ (SLR) parsing algorithm.

Keywords: left to right-right most parsing, syntax analysis, bottom-up parsing algorithm

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Authors: V. I. Kozyavkin, L. F. Shestopalova, T. B. Voloshyn

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Introduction: Rehabilitation of children with Autism is the issue of the day in psychiatry and neurology. It is attributed to constantly increasing quantity of autistic children - Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Existing rehabilitation approaches in treatment of children with Autism improve their medico- social and social- psychological adjustment. Experience of treatment for different kinds of Autistic disorders in International Clinic of Rehabilitation (ICR) reveals the necessity of complex intensive approach for healing this malady and wider implementation of a Kozyavkin method for treatment of children with ASD. Methods: 19 children aged from 3 to 14 years were examined. They were diagnosed ‘Autism’ (F84.0) with comorbid neurological pathology (from pyramidal insufficiency to para- and tetraplegia). All patients underwent rehabilitation in ICR during two weeks, where INRS approach was used. INRS included methods like biomechanical correction of the spine, massage, physical therapy, joint mobilization, wax-paraffin applications. They were supplemented by art- therapy, ergotherapy, rhythmical group exercises, computer game therapy, team Olympic games and other methods for improvement of motivation and social integration of the child. Estimation of efficacy was conducted using parent’s questioning and done twice- on the onset of INRS rehabilitation course and two weeks afterward. For efficacy assessment of rehabilitation of autistic children in ICR standardized tool was used, namely Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC). This scale was selected because any rehabilitation approaches for the child with Autism can be assessed using it. Results: Before the onset of INRS treatment mean score according to ATEC scale was 64,75±9,23, it reveals occurrence in examined children severe communication, speech, socialization and behavioral impairments. After the end of the rehabilitation course, the mean score was 56,5±6,7, what indicates positive dynamics in comparison to the onset of rehabilitation. Generally, improvement of psychoemotional state occurred in 90% of cases. Most significant changes occurred in the scope of speech (16,5 before and 14,5 after the treatment), socialization (15.1 before and 12,5 after) and behavior (20,1 before and 17.4 after). Conclusion: As a result of INRS rehabilitation course reduction of autistic symptoms was noted. Particularly improvements in speech were observed (children began to spell out new syllables, words), there was some decrease in signs of destructiveness, quality of contact with the surrounding people improved, new skills of self-service appeared. The prospect of the study is further, according to evidence- based medicine standards, deeper examination of INRS and assessment of its usefulness in treatment for Autism and ASD.

Keywords: intensive neurophysiological rehabilitation system (INRS), international clinic od rehabilitation, ASD, rehabilitation

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Authors: Rex C. Apillanes, Ana Rubi L. Sereño, Ellen Joy L. Palangan

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The main objective of this action research is to know the effectiveness of the compendium on Contextualized Story Word Problem in Mathematics used as an intervention material to enhance the comprehension and problem-solving skills of Grade 4 pupils. This also addresses the competencies outlined in the curriculum guide while, at the same time, providing instructional material which the pupils can work on and practice solving word problems. The twelve randomly selected grade four pupils of Mantuyom Elementary School have been chosen as respondents for this action research in consideration of their consent and approval. A Pre-Test and a Post-test have been given to the pupils to determine their baseline proficiency level in four fundamental operations. The data has been statistically treated using a T-test to determine their difference. At a mean score of 13.42 and 16.83 for pre and post-tests, respectively, the p-value of 0.000620816 reflects a highly significant difference for the pre-test and post-test. This is lesser than the 0.05 level of significance (p≤0.05). Therefore, it is found that the compendium of contextualized story word problems is an efficient instructional material for Mathematics 4, yet; it is recommended that a Parents’ User Guide shall be developed to assist the parents in the conduct of the Remediation, Reinforcement and Enhancement (RRE).

Keywords: action research, compendium, contextualized, story, word problem, research, intervention

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Authors: Heejin Song

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Employing a critical action research approach that rejects essentialist onto-epistemological orientations to research in English language teaching (ELT) and interrogates the hegemonic relations in the knowledge construction and reconstruction processes, this study illuminates how an action research-informed pedagogical practice can transform the English for academic purposes (EAP) teaching to be more culturally and linguistically inclusive and critically oriented for English language learners’ advancement in academic literacies skills. More specifically, this paper aims to showcase the action research-informed pedagogical innovations that emphasize multilingual learners’ multiliteracies engagement and experiential education-oriented learning to facilitate the development of learners’ academic literacies, intercultural communicative competence, and inclusive global citizenship in the context of Canadian university EAP classrooms. The pedagogical innovations through action research embarked in response to growing discussions surrounding pedagogical possibilities of plurilingualism in ELT and synchronous online teaching. The paper is based on two iterations of action research over the pandemic years between 2020 and 2022. The data includes student work samples, focus group interviews, anonymous surveys, teacher feedback and comments on student work and teaching reflections. The first iteration of the action research focused on the affordances of multimodal expressions in individual learners’ academic endeavors for their literacy skills development through individual online activities such as ‘my language autobiography,’ ‘multimodal expression corner’ and public speeches. While these activities help English language learners enhance their knowledge and skills of English-spoken discourses, these tasks did not necessarily require learners’ team-based collaborative endeavors to complete the assigned tasks. Identifying this area for improvement in the instructional design, the second action research cycle/iteration emphasized collaborative performativity through newly added performance/action-based innovative learning tasks, including ‘situational role-playing’, ‘my cooking show & interview’, and group debates in order to provide learners increased opportunities to communicate with peers who joined the class virtually from different parts of the world and enhance learners’ intercultural competence through various strategic and pragmatic communicative skills to collaboratively achieve their shared goals (i.e., successful completion of the given group tasks). The paper exemplifies instances wherein learners’ unique and diverse linguistic and cultural strengths were amplified, and critical literacies were further developed through learners’ performance-oriented multiliteracies engagement. The study suggests that the action research-informed teaching practice that advocates for collaborative multiliteracies engagement serves to facilitate learners’ activation of their existing linguistic and cultural knowledge and contributes to the development of learners’ academic literacy skills. Importantly, the study illuminates that such action research-informed pedagogical initiatives create an inclusive space for learners to build a strong sense of connectedness as global citizens with increased intercultural awareness in their community of language and cultural practices, and further allow learners to actively participate in the construction of ‘collaborative relations of power’ with their peers.

Keywords: action research, EAP, higher education, multiliteracies

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Authors: Arrate Barrenechea Garro

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Background: Bilingualism has been shown to enhance cognitive reserve and potentially delay the onset of dementia symptoms. This study investigates the impact of bilingualism on cognitive reserve and the age of diagnosis in Parkinson's Disease (PD). Methodology: The study involves 16 non-demented monolingual PD patients and 12 non-demented bilingual PD patients, matched for age, sex, and years of education. All participants are native Spanish speakers, with Spanish as their first language (L1). Cognitive performance is assessed through a neuropsychological examination covering all cognitive domains. Cognitive reserve is measured using the Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire (CRIq), while language proficiency is evaluated using the Bilingual Language Profile (BLP). The age at diagnosis is recorded for both monolingual and bilingual patients. Results: Bilingual PD patients demonstrate higher scores on the CRIq compared to monolingual PD patients, with significant differences between the groups. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between cognitive reserve (CRIq) and the utilization of the second language (L2) as indicated by the BLP. Bilingual PD patients are diagnosed, on average, three years later than monolingual PD patients. Conclusion: Bilingual PD patients exhibit higher levels of cognitive reserve compared to monolingual PD patients, as indicated by the CRIq scores. The utilization of the second language (L2) is positively correlated with cognitive reserve. Bilingual PD patients are diagnosed with PD, on average, three years later than monolingual PD patients. These findings suggest that bilingualism may contribute to cognitive reserve and potentially delay the onset of clinical symptoms associated with PD. This study adds to the existing literature supporting the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive reserve. Further research in this area could provide valuable insights into the potential protective effects of bilingualism in neurodegenerative disorders.

Keywords: bilingualis, cogntiive reserve, diagnosis, parkinson's disease

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Authors: Long Pham, Julia Blanke

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An increasingly popular way of establishing citizen engagement within communities is through ‘city apps’. Currently, most of these mobile applications seem to be extensions of the existing communication media, sometimes merely replicating the information available on the classical city web sites, and therefore provide minimal additional impact on citizen behavior and engagement. In order to overcome this challenge, we propose to use a holistic behavioral model to generate dynamic and contextualized app content based on optimizing well defined city-related performance goals constrained by the proposed behavioral model. In this paper, we will show how the data collected by the CorkCitiEngage project in the Irish city of Cork can be utilized to calibrate aspects of the proposed model enabling the design of a personalized citizen engagement app aiming at positively influencing people’s behavior towards more active participation in their communities. We will focus on the important aspect of intentions to act, which is essential for understanding the reasons behind the common value-action-gap being responsible for the mismatch between good intentions and actual observable behavior, and will discuss how customized app design can be based on a rigorous model of behavior optimized towards maximizing well defined city-related performance goals.

Keywords: city apps, holistic behaviour model, intention to act, value-action-gap, citizen engagement

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Authors: Srikanth Bade

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This paper discusses how the usage of social media has altered certain discourses and communicated with the political institutions for major actions in Indian scenario. The advent of new technology in the form of social media has engrossed the general public to discuss in the open forum. How they promulgated their ideas into action is captured in this study. Moreover, these discourses happening in the social media is analyzed from certain philosophical traditions by adopting a framework. Hence, this paper analyses the role of social media in political communication and change the political discourse. Also, this paper tries to address the issue that whether the deliberation made through social media had indeed communicated the issue of political matters to the decision making authorities.

Keywords: collective action and social capital, political communication, political discourse, social media

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Authors: Akbarova Gulnozakhon

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Relevance. Physical exercises can prolong the function of the growth zones of long tubular bones, delay the fusion of the epiphyses and diaphyses of bones and, thus, increase the growth of the body. At the same time, intensive strength exercises can accelerate the process of ossification of bone growth zones and slow down their growth in length. The influence of physical exercises on the process of biological maturation is noted. Gymnastics, which requires intense speed and strength loads, delays puberty. On the other hand, it is indicated that the relatively slow puberty of gymnasts is associated with the selection of girls with a special somatotype in this sport. It was found that the later onset of menstruation in female athletes does not have a negative effect on the maturation process and fertility (the ability to procreate). Observations are made about the normalizing influence of sports on the puberty of girls. The purpose of the study. Our goal is to study physical activity of varying intensity on the formation of secondary sexual characteristics and hormonal status of girls in adolescence. Each biological process peculiar to a given organism is not in a stationary state, but fluctuates with a certain frequency. According to the duration, there are, for example, circadian cycles, and infradian cycles, a typical example of which is the menstrual cycle. Materials and methods, results. Violations of menstrual function in athletes were detected by applying a questionnaire survey that contains several paragraphs and sub-paragraphs where passport data, anthropometric indicators, taking into account anthropometric indices, information about the menstrual cycle are indicated. Of 135 female athletes aged 1-3 to 16 years engaged in various sports - gymnasts, menstrual function disorders were noted in 86.7% (primary or secondary amenorrhea, irregular MC), in swimming-in 57.1%. The general condition also changes during the menstrual cycle. In a large percentage of cases, athletes indicate an increase in irritability in the premenstrual (45%) and menstrual (36%) phases. During these phases, girls note an increase in fatigue of 46.5% and 58% (respectively). In girls, secondary sexual characteristics continue to form during puberty and the clearest indicator of the onset of puberty is the age of the onset of the first menstruation - menarche. Conclusions. 1. Physical exercise has a positive effect on all major systems of the body and thus promotes health.2. Along with a beneficial effect on human health, physical exercise, if the requirements of sports are not observed, can be harmful.

Keywords: girls health, anthropometric, physical development, reproductive health

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Authors: Kristina Johansen

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Participation is a universal right that all children and young people are entitled to, according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Social work and action research share participation as a core value. However, we have limited knowledge of how children and young people of refugee background experience taking part in participatory research. The point of departure of this presentation is a qualitative study involving young, unaccompanied refugees, addressing the issues of psychosocial health and participation. The research design included participatory methods and action research. The presentation highlights the perspectives of young, unaccompanied refugees on what made participating in the research process valuable, what created challenges for participation and what created challenges for the action part in the research process. Feedback from participants indicated that taking part in enjoyable experiences, being listened to, sharing experiences, and learning from each other contributed to making the participation valuable. At the same time, participants addressed challenges related to communication, sensitive topics, participation in decision-making and powerlessness. The presentation will end with implications for social work research and practice involving young refugees.

Keywords: participatory research, power, young unaccompanied refugeees, relationships, participation

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Authors: Tohru Kawabe

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In this paper, a new SMC (Sliding Mode Control) method with MP (Model Predictive Control) integral action for the slip suppression of EV (Electric Vehicle) under braking is proposed. The proposed method introduce the integral term with standard SMC gain , where the integral gain is optimized for each control period by the MPC algorithms. The aim of this method is to improve the safety and the stability of EVs under braking by controlling the wheel slip ratio. There also include numerical simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.

Keywords: sliding mode control, model predictive control, integral action, electric vehicle, slip suppression

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Authors: Saimir Heta, Kastriot Haxhirexha, Virtut Velmishi, Nevila Alliu, Ilma Robo

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Background: Testicular rotation can occur at any age. The possibility to save the testicle is the fastest possible surgical intervention which is indicated by the presence of acute pain even at rest. The time element is more important to diagnose and proceed further with surgical intervention. Testicular damage is a consequence which mainly depends on the moment of onset of symptoms, at the time when the symptoms are diagnosed, the earliest action to be performed is surgical intervention. Sometimes medical tests are needed to confirm a diagnosis, or to help identify another cause for symptoms; for example, the urine test, that is used to check for infection, associated with the scrotal ultrasound test. Control of blood flow to the longitudinal supply vessels of the testicles is indicated. The sign that indicates testicular rotation is a reduction in blood flow. This is the element which is distinguished from ultrasound examination. Surgery may be needed to determine if the patient’s symptoms are caused by the rotation of the testis or any other condition. Discussion: As a surgical intervention of the emergency, the torsion of the test depends very much on the duration of the torsion, as the success in the life of the testicle depends on the fastest surgical intervention. From the previous clinic, it is noted that in any case presented to the pediatric patient diagnosed with testicular rotation, there is always a link with personal history that the patient refers to the presence of a previous episode of testicular trauma. Literature supports this fact very logically. Conclusions: Salvation without testicular atrophy depends closely on establishing the diagnosis of testicular rotation as soon as possible. Following the logic above, it can be said that the diagnosis for rotation should be performed as soon as possible, to avoid consequences that will not be favorable for the patient.

Keywords: acute scrotum, test torsion, newborns, clinical presentation

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Authors: Khalida S. Rijab, Mohammed E. Safi, Ayad A. Ibrahim

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When electrical electrodes are mounted on the skin surface of the muscle, a signal is detected when a skeletal muscle undergoes contraction; the signal is known as surface electromyographic signal (EMG). This signal has a noise-like interference pattern resulting from the temporal and spatial summation of action potentials (AP) of all active motor units (MU) near electrode detection. By appropriate processing (Decomposition), the surface EMG signal may be used to give an estimate of motor unit action potential. In this work, a denoising technique is applied to the MUAP signals extracted from the spatial filter (IB2). A set of signals from a non-invasive two-dimensional grid of 16 electrodes from different types of subjects, muscles, and sex are recorded. These signals will acquire noise during recording and detection. A digital fourth order band- pass Butterworth filter is used for denoising, with a tuned band-pass frequency of suitable choice of cutoff frequencies is investigated, with the aim of obtaining a suitable band pass frequency. Results show an improvement of (1-3 dB) in the signal to noise ratio (SNR) have been achieved, relative to the raw spatial filter output signals for all cases that were under investigation. Furthermore, the research’s goal included also estimation and reconstruction of the mean shape of the MUAP.

Keywords: EMG, Motor Unit, Digital Filter, Denoising

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Authors: H. Nagendra, Vinod Kumar, S. Mukherjee

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In this study, the potential benefits of playing action video game among congenitally deaf and dumb subjects is reported in terms of EEG ratio indices. The frontal and occipital lobes are associated with development of motor skills, cognition, and visual information processing and color recognition. The sixteen hours of First-Person shooter action video game play resulted in the increase of the ratios β/(α+θ) and β/θ in frontal and occipital lobes. This can be attributed to the enhancement of certain aspect of cognition among deaf and dumb subjects.

Keywords: cognitive enhancement, video games, EEG band powers, deaf and dumb subjects

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Authors: Victor Abu

Abstract:

Background: Social justice ideals are considered as the foundation of nursing practice. These ideals are not always clearly integrated into nursing professional standards or curricula. This hinders concerted global nursing agendas for becoming aware of social injustice or engaging in action for social justice to improve the health of individuals and groups. Aim and objectives: The aim was to create an educational framework for empowering nursing students for social justice awareness and action. This purpose was attained by understanding the meaning of social justice, the effect of social injustice, the visibility of social justice learning, and ways of integrating social justice in nursing education and practice. Methods: Critical interpretive methodologies and constructivist grounded theory research designs guided the processes of recruiting nursing students (n = 11) and nurse educators (n = 11) at a London nursing university to participate in interviews and focus groups, which were analysed by coding systems. Findings: Firstly, social justice was described as ethical practices that enable individuals and groups to have good access to health resources. Secondly, social injustice was understood as unfair practices that caused minimal access to resources, social deprivation, and poor health. Thirdly, social justice learning was considered to be invisible in nursing education due to a lack of explicit modules, educator knowledge, and organisational support. Lastly, explicit modules, educating educators, and attracting leaders’ support were suggested as approaches for the visible integration of social justice in nursing education and practice. Discussion: This research proposes approaches for nursing awareness and action for the development of critical active nurse-learner, critical conscious nurse-educator, and servant nurse leader. The framework on Awareness for Social Justice Action (ASJA) created in this research is an approach for empowering nursing students for social justice practices. Conclusion: This research contributes to and advocates for greater nursing scholarship to raise the spotlight on social justice in the profession.

Keywords: social justice, nursing practice, nursing education, nursing curriculum, social justice awareness, social justice action, constructivist grounded theory

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Authors: Tian Zhang

Abstract:

Unsupervised object segmentation aims at segmenting objects in sequential images and obtaining the mask of each object without any manual intervention. Unsupervised segmentation remains a challenging task due to the lack of prior knowledge about these objects. Previous methods often require manually specifying the action of each object, which is often difficult to obtain. Instead, this paper does not need action information of objects and automatically learns the actions and relations among objects from the structured environment. To obtain the object segmentation of sequential images, the relationships between objects and images are extracted to infer the action and interaction of objects based on the multi-head attention mechanism. Three types of objects’ relationships in the object segmentation task are proposed: the relationship between objects in the same frame, the relationship between objects in two frames, and the relationship between objects and historical information. Based on these relationships, the proposed model (1) is effective in multiple objects segmentation tasks, (2) just needs images as input, and (3) produces better segmentation results as more relationships are considered. The experimental results on multiple datasets show that this paper’s method achieves state-of-art performance. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the result are conducted. The proposed method could be easily extended to other similar applications.

Keywords: unsupervised object segmentation, attention mechanism, contrastive learning, structured environment

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Authors: Saja M. Nabat Al-Ajrash, Charles Browning, Rose Eckerle, Li Cao

Abstract:

Three preceramic polymer formulations for potential use in 3D printing technologies were investigated. The polymeric precursors include an allyl hydrido polycarbosilane (SMP-10), SMP-10/1,6-dexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) mixture, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The rheological property of the polymeric precursors, including the viscosity within a wide shear rate range was compared to determine the applicability in additive manufacturing technology. The structural properties of the polymeric solutions and their photocureability were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Moreover, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were utilized to study polymeric to ceramic conversion for versatile precursors. The prepared precursor resin proved to have outstanding photo-curing properties and the ability to transform to the silicon carbide phase at temperatures as low as 850 °C. The obtained ceramic was fully dense with nearly linear shrinkage and a shiny, smooth surface after pyrolysis. Furthermore, after pyrolysis to 1350 °C and TGA analysis, PDMS polymer showed the highest onset decomposition temperature and the lowest retained weight (52 wt%), while SMP.10/HDDA showed the lowest onset temperature and ceramic yield (71.7 wt%). In terms of crystallography, the ceramic matrix composite appeared to have three coexisting phases, including silicon carbide, and silicon oxycarbide. The results are very promising to fabricate ceramic materials working at high temperatures with complex geometries.

Keywords: preceramic polymer, silicon carbide, photocuring, allyl hydrido polycarbosilane, SMP-10

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Authors: Jui-Chen Huang, Shou-Hsiung Cheng

Abstract:

This study examined their willingness to use telecare for people who have had experience falling in the last three months in Taiwan. This study adopted convenience sampling and a structural questionnaire to collect data. It was based on the definition and the constructs related to the Health Belief Model (HBM). HBM is comprised of seven constructs: perceived benefits (PBs), perceived disease threat (PDT), perceived barriers of taking action (PBTA), external cues to action (ECUE), internal cues to action (ICUE), attitude toward using (ATT), and behavioral intention to use (BI). This study adopted Fuzzy Neural Network (FNN) to put forward an effective method. It shows the dependence of ATT on PB, PDT, PBTA, ECUE, and ICUE. The training and testing data RMSE (root mean square error) are 0.028 and 0.166 in the FNN, respectively. The training and testing data RMSE are 0.828 and 0.578 in the regression model, respectively. On the other hand, as to the dependence of ATT on BI, as presented in the FNN, the training and testing data RMSE are 0.050 and 0.109, respectively. The training and testing data RMSE are 0.529 and 0.571 in the regression model, respectively. The results show that the FNN method is better than the regression analysis. It is an effective and viable good way.

Keywords: fall, fuzzy neural network, health belief model, telecare, willingness

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Authors: Salwa M. Almomen, Mona A. Almaghrabi, Saja M. Alhabardi, Adel A. Alrwisan

Abstract:

Background: Hepatotoxicity is a major reason for medication withdrawal from the markets. Unfortunately, serious adverse hepatic effects can occur after marketing with limited indicators during clinical development. Therefore, finding possible predictors for hepatotoxicity might guide the monitoring program of various stakeholders. Methods: We examined the clinical review documents for drugs approved in the US from 2011 to 2016 to evaluate their hepatic safety profile. Predictors: we assessed whether these medications meet Hy’s Law with hepatotoxicity grade ≥ 3, labeled hepatic adverse effects at approval, or accelerated approval status. Outcome: post-marketing regulatory action related to hepatotoxicity, including product withdrawal or updates to warning, precaution, or adverse effects sections. Statistical analysis: drugs were included in the analysis from the time of approval until the end of 2019 or the first post-marketing regulatory action related to hepatotoxicity, whichever occurred first. The hazard ratio (HR) was estimated using Cox-regression analysis. Results: We included 192 medications in the study. We classified 48 drugs as having grade ≥ 3 hepatotoxicities, 43 had accelerated approval status, and 74 had labeled information about hepatotoxicity prior to marketing. The adjusted HRs for post-marketing regulatory action for products with grade ≥ 3 hepatotoxicity was 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.17-2.23), 0.92 (95%CI, 0.29-2.93) for a drug approved via accelerated approval program, and was 0.91 (95%CI, 0.33-2.56) for drugs with labeled hepatotoxicity information at approval time. Conclusion: This study does not provide conclusive evidence on the association between post-marketing regulatory action and grade ≥ 3 hepatotoxicity, accelerated approval status, or availability of labeled information at approval due to sampling size and channeling bias.

Keywords: accelerated approvals, hepatic adverse effects, drug-induced liver injury, hepatotoxicity predictors, post-marketing withdrawal

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Authors: Salam N. Abdo, Orien L. Tulp, George P. Einstein

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The purpose of this exploratory study was to gather the insights into psoriasis etiology, treatment, and patient experience, for developing psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis diagnostic test. Data collection methods consisted of a comprehensive meta-analysis of relevant studies and psoriasis patient survey. Established meta-analysis guidelines were used for the selection and qualitative comparative analysis of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis research studies. Only studies that clearly discussed psoriasis etiology, treatment, and patient experience were reviewed and analyzed, to establish a qualitative data base for the study. Using the insights gained from meta-analysis, an existing psoriasis patient survey was modified and administered to collect additional data as well as triangulate the results. The hypothesis is that specific types of psoriatic disease have specific etiology and pathophysiologic pattern. The following etiology categories were identified: bacterial, environmental/microbial, genetic, immune, infectious, trauma/stress, and viral. Additional results, obtained from meta-analysis and confirmed by patient survey, were the common age of onset (early to mid-20s) and type of psoriasis (plaque; mild; symmetrical; scalp, chest, and extremities, specifically elbows and knees). Almost 70% of patients reported no prescription drug use due to severe side effects and prohibitive cost. These results will guide the development of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis diagnostic test. The significant number of medical publications classified psoriatic arthritis disease as inflammatory of an unknown etiology. Thus numerous meta-analyses struggle to report any meaningful conclusions since no definitive results have been reported to date. Therefore, return to the basics is an essential step to any future meaningful results. To date, medical literature supports the fact that psoriatic disease in its current classification could be misidentifying subcategories, which in turn hinders the success of studies conducted to date. Moreover, there has been an enormous commercial support to pursue various immune-modulation therapies, thus following a narrow hypothesis/mechanism of action that is yet to yield resolution of disease state. Recurrence and complications may be considered unacceptable in a significant number of these studies. The aim of the ongoing study is to focus on a narrow subgroup of patient population, as identified by this exploratory study via meta-analysis and patient survey, and conduct an exhaustive work up, aiming at mechanism of action and causality before proposing a cure or therapeutic modality. Remission in psoriasis has been achieved and documented in medical literature, such as immune-modulation, phototherapy, various over-the-counter agents, including salts and tar. However, there is no psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis diagnostic test to date, to guide the diagnosis and treatment of this debilitating and, thus far, incurable disease. Because psoriasis affects approximately 2% of population, the results of this study may affect the treatment and improve the quality of life of a significant number of psoriasis patients, potentially millions of patients in the United States alone and many more millions worldwide.

Keywords: biologics, early diagnosis, etiology, immune disease, immune modulation therapy, inflammation skin disorder, phototherapy, plaque psoriasis, psoriasis, psoriasis classification, psoriasis disease marker, psoriasis diagnostic test, psoriasis marker, psoriasis mechanism of action, psoriasis treatment, psoriatic arthritis, psoriatic disease, psoriatic disease marker, psoriatic patient experience, psoriatic patient quality of life, remission, salt therapy, targeted immune therapy

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