Search results for: younger middle age.

Authors: Laura Sapranaviciute-Zabazlajeva, Abdonas Tamosiunas, Dalia Luksiene, Dalia Virviciute

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The cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the EU, especially in the middle aged and elderly population. Psychological wellbeing (PWB) has been linked with better cardiovascular health and survival in the elderly. The aim of the study is to evaluate associations between CVD risk and PWB in middle-aged and elderly population. 10,940 middle aged and older Lithuanians of age 45-74 years, were invited to participate in the study. A study sample was a random and stratified by gender and age. In 2006-2008 7,087 responders participated in the survey, so the response rate was 64.8%. A follow-up study was conducted from 2006 till 2015. New CVD cases and deaths from CVD were evaluated using the Kaunas population-based CVD register and death register of Kaunas. Study results revealed that good PWB predicts longer life in female participants (Log Rank = 13.7, p < 0.001). In the fully adjusted model for socio-demographic, social and CVD risk factors, hazard ratio for CVD mortality risk was lower amongst women with good PWB (HR = 0.28, 95% CI 0.11-0.72), but not significantly for men. Our study concludes, that lower CVD mortality rates is being associated with better PWB in female aged 45-74 years.

Keywords: Psychological wellbeing, cardiovascular disease, elderly.

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Authors: Stefan Rass

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Quantum cryptography offers a way of key agreement, which is unbreakable by any external adversary. Authentication is of crucial importance, as perfect secrecy is worthless if the identity of the addressee cannot be ensured before sending important information. Message authentication has been studied thoroughly, but no approach seems to be able to explicitly counter meet-in-the-middle impersonation attacks. The goal of this paper is the development of an authentication scheme being resistant against active adversaries controlling the communication channel. The scheme is built on top of a key-establishment protocol and is unconditionally secure if built upon quantum cryptographic key exchange. In general, the security is the same as for the key-agreement protocol lying underneath.

Keywords: Meet-in-the-middle attack, quantum key distribution, quantum networks, unconditionally secure authentication.

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Authors: Gioacchino Lavanco, Cinzia Novara, Floriana Romano, Elisabetta Di Giovanni

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Modern culture, based on disinhibition of cultural trends and on heterodirection, is promoting openmindedness attitudes towards ethnic diversity, but on the other hand also new forms of social representations of the foreigner. Social representation is situated between the psychic field and the social one; it is the representation of oneself and of the other one, hanging between social categories and individual inner world. We will produce the results of a research on the representation of the foreigner, built on the type of prejudice prevailing among middle-low or middle-high educational qualification subjects, in which prejudicial attitudes seem to descend from precise mental images of the foreigner.

Keywords: Community, diversity, integration, prejudice, representations.

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Authors: Vahid Rostami, Saeed Ebrahimijam, P.khajehpoor, P.Mirzaei, Mahdi Yousefiazar

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This paper introduces our first efforts of developing a new team for RoboCup Middle Size Competition. In our robots we have applied omni directional based mobile system with omnidirectional vision system and fuzzy control algorithm to navigate robots. The control architecture of MRL middle-size robots is a three layered architecture, Planning, Sequencing, and Executing. It also uses Blackboard system to achieve coordination among agents. Moreover, the architecture should have minimum dependency on low level structure and have a uniform protocol to interact with real robot.

Keywords: Robocup, Soccer robots, Fuzzy controller, Multi agent.

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Authors: B. S. Jatau, Nandom Abu

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Structural interpretation of aeromagnetic data and Landsat imagery over the Middle Benue Trough was carried out to determine the depth to basement, delineate the basement morphology and relief, and the structural features within the basin. The aeromagnetic and Landsat data were subjected to various image and data enhancement and transformation routines. Results of the study revealed lineaments with trend directions in the N-S, NE-SW, NWSE and E-W directions, with the NE-SW trends been dominant. The depths to basement within the trough were established to be at 1.8, 0.3 and 0.8km, as shown from the spectral analysis plot. The Source Parameter Imaging (SPI) plot generated showed the centralsouth/ eastern portion of the study area as being deeper in contrast to the western-south-west portion. The basement morphology of the trough was interpreted as having parallel sets of micro-basins which could be considered as grabens and horsts in agreement with the general features interpreted by early workers.

Keywords: Morphology, Middle Benue Trough, Spectral Analysis, Source Parameter Imaging.

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Authors: Feng Yang, Xuehai Zhou, Dalei Hu

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In this paper, we propose a general mandatory access framework for distributed systems. The framework can be applied into multiple operating systems and can handle multiple stakeholders. Despite considerable advancements in the area of mandatory access control, a certain approach to enforcing mandatory access control can only be applied in a specific operating system. Other than PC market in which windows captures the overwhelming shares, there are a number of popular operating systems in the emerging smart phone environment, i.e. Android, Windows mobile, Symbian, RIM. It should be noted that more and more stakeholders are involved in smartphone software, such as devices owners, service providers and application providers. Our framework includes three parts—local decision layer, the middle layer and the remote decision layer. The middle layer takes charge of managing security contexts, OS API, operations and policy combination. The design of the remote decision layer doesn’t depend on certain operating systems because of the middle layer’s existence. We implement the framework in windows, linux and other popular embedded systems.

Keywords: Mandatory Access Control, Distributed System, General Platform.

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Authors: Ismail Celik, Ismail Sahin, Fetah Eren

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The computer, among the most important inventions of the twentieth century, has become an increasingly important component in our everyday lives. Computer games also have become increasingly popular among people day-by-day, owing to their features based on realistic virtual environments, audio and visual features, and the roles they offer players. In the present study, the metaphors students have for computer games are investigated, as well as an effort to fill the gap in the literature. Students were asked to complete the sentence—‘Computer game is like/similar to….because….’— to determine the middle school students’ metaphorical images of the concept for ‘computer game’. The metaphors created by the students were grouped in six categories, based on the source of the metaphor. These categories were ordered as ‘computer game as a means of entertainment’, ‘computer game as a beneficial means’, ‘computer game as a basic need’, ‘computer game as a source of evil’, ‘computer game as a means of withdrawal’, and ‘computer game as a source of addiction’, according to the number of metaphors they included.

Keywords: Computer game, metaphor, middle school students.

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Authors: J. A. Mayouf, Q. A. Najim, H. S. Al-Bayati

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The concentrations of cadmium and lead in sewage sludge samples were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrometric Method. Samples of sewage sludge were obtained from three sewage treatment plants localised in Middle Region of Libya (Misrata, Msallata and Tarhünah cities). The results shows that, the mean levels of Cadmium for all regions are ranges from 81 to 123.4 ppm and these values are higher than the limitations for the international standard which are not registered more than 50 ppm (dry weight) in USA, Egypt and the EU countries. While, the lead concentrations are ranged from 8.0 to 189.2 ppm and all values are within the standard limits which graduated between (275–613) ppm.

Keywords: Cadmium, Lead, Sewage, Spectrometry.

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Authors: Pongsiri K.

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This research aimed to study the market feasibility for new brand coffee house, the case study of Thailand.. This study is a mixed methods research combining quantitative research and the qualitative research. Primary data 350 sets of questionnaires were distributed, and the high quality completed questionnaires of 320 sets returned. Research samples are identified as customers’ of Hi-end department stores in Thailand. The sources of secondary data were critical selected from highly reliable sources, both from public and private sectors. The results were used to classify the customer group into two main groups, the younger than 25 and the older than 25years old. Results of the younger group, are give priority to the dimension of coffee house and its services dimension more than others, then branding dimension and the product dimension respectively. On the other hand, the older group give the difference result as they rate the important of the branding, coffee house and its services, then the product respectively. Coffee consuming is not just the trend but it has become part of people lifestyle. And the new cultures also created by the wise businessman. Coffee was long produced and consumed in Thailand. But it is surprisingly the hi-end brand coffee houses in Thai market are mostly imported brands. The café business possibility for Thai brand coffee house in Thai market were discussed in the paper.

Keywords: Coffee House, Café, Coffee Consuming and new entry branding, market feasibility

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Authors: Mohd Tarmizi Ali, Mohd Khairul Mohd Salleh, Md. Mahfudz Md. Zan

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Dielectric sheet perturbation to the dominant TE111 mode resonant frequency of a circular cavity is studied and presented in this paper. The dielectric sheet, placed at the middle of the airfilled cavity, introduces discontinuities and disturbs the configuration of electromagnetic fields in the cavity. For fixed dimensions of cavity and fixed thickness of the loading dielectric, the dominant resonant frequency varies quite linearly with the permittivity of the dielectric. This quasi-linear relationship is plotted using Maple software and verified using 3D electromagnetic simulations. Two probes are used in the simulation for wave excitation into and from the cavity. The best length of probe is found to be 3 mm, giving the closest resonant frequency to the one calculated using Maple. A total of fourteen different dielectrics of permittivity ranging from 1 to 12.9 are tested one by one in the simulation. The works show very close agreement between the results from Maple and the simulation. A constant difference of 0.04 GHz is found between the resonant frequencies collected during simulation and the ones from Maple. The success of this project may lead to the possibility of using the middle loaded cavity at TE111 mode as a microwave non-destructive testing of solid materials.

Keywords: Middle-loaded cavity, dielectric sheet perturbation.

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Authors: Haythem A. Nakkas, Philip J. Scott, Jim S. Briggs

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This paper reports a structured literature review of the application of Health Information Technology in developing countries, defined as the World Bank categories Low-income countries, Lower-middle-income, and Upper-middle-income countries. The aim was to identify and classify the various applications of health information technology to assess its current state in developing countries and explore potential areas of research. We offer specific analysis and application of HIT in Libya as one of the developing countries. A structured literature review was conducted using the following online databases: IEEE, Science Direct, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Publication dates were set for 2000-2013. For the PubMed search, publications in English, French, and Arabic were specified. Using a content analysis approach, 159 papers were analyzed and a total number of 26 factors were identified that affect the adoption of health information technology. Of the 2681 retrieved articles, 159 met the inclusion criteria which were carefully analyzed and classified. The implementation of health information technology across developing countries is varied. Whilst it was initially expected financial constraints would have severely limited health information technology implementation, some developing countries like India have nevertheless dominated the literature and taken the lead in conducting scientific research. Comparing the number of studies to the number of countries in each category, we found that Low-income countries and Lower-middle-income had more studies carried out than Upper-middle-income countries. However, whilst IT has been used in various sectors of the economy, the healthcare sector in developing countries is still failing to benefit fully from the potential advantages that IT can offer.

Keywords: Developing Countries, Developed Countries, Factors, Failure, Implementation, Libya, Success.

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Authors: Danielle Morin, Jennifer D. E. Thomas, Raafat G. Saade, Daniela Petrachi

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Over the past few decades, more and more students choose to enroll in online classes instead of attending in-class lectures. While past studies consider students’ attitudes towards online education and how their grades differed from in-class lectures, the profile of the online student remains a blur. To shed light on this, an online survey was administered to about 1,500 students enrolled in an undergraduate Fundamental Business Technology course at a Canadian University. The survey was comprised of questions on students’ demographics, their reasons for choosing online courses, their expectations towards the course, the communication channels they use for the course with fellow students and with the instructor. This paper focused on the research question: Do the perspectives of online students concerning the online experience, in general, and in the course in particular, differ according to age profile? After several statistical analyses, it was found that age does have an impact on the reasons why students select online classes instead of in-class. For example, it was found that the perception that an online course might be easier than in-class delivery was a more important reason for younger students than for older ones. Similarly, the influence of friends is much more important for younger students, than for older students. Similar results were found when analyzing students’ expectation about the online course and their use of communication tools. Overall, the age profile of online users had an impact on reasons, expectations and means of communication in an undergraduate Fundamental Business Technology course. It is left to be seen if this holds true across other courses, graduate and undergraduate.

Keywords: Communication channels, fundamentals of business technology, online classes, pedagogy, user age profile, user perspectives.

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Authors: Morteza Raei Dehaghi, Seyed Mohammad Mirhashemi

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The current study explored the effect of economic development, financial development and institutional quality on environmental destruction in upper-middle income countries during the time period of 1999-2011. The dependent variable is logarithm of carbon dioxide emissions that can be considered as an index for destruction or quality of the environment given to its effects on the environment. Financial development and institutional development variables as well as some control variables were considered. In order to study cross-sectional correlation among the countries under study, Pesaran and Friz test was used. Since the results of both tests show cross-sectional correlation in the countries under study, seemingly unrelated regression method was utilized for model estimation. The results disclosed that Kuznets’ environmental curve hypothesis is confirmed in upper-middle income countries and also, financial development and institutional quality have a significant effect on environmental quality. The results of this study can be considered by policy makers in countries with different income groups to have access to a growth accompanied by improved environmental quality.

Keywords: Economic Development, Environmental Destruction, Financial Development, Institutional Development, Seemingly Unrelated Regression.

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Authors: Xin Bai, Kresimir Sivoncik, Damla Turgut, Ladislau Bölöni

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Market based models are frequently used in the resource allocation on the computational grid. However, as the size of the grid grows, it becomes difficult for the customer to negotiate directly with all the providers. Middle agents are introduced to mediate between the providers and customers and facilitate the resource allocation process. The most frequently deployed middle agents are the matchmakers and the brokers. The matchmaking agent finds possible candidate providers who can satisfy the requirements of the consumers, after which the customer directly negotiates with the candidates. The broker agents are mediating the negotiation with the providers in real time. In this paper we present a new type of middle agent, the marketmaker. Its operation is based on two parallel operations - through the investment process the marketmaker is acquiring resources and resource reservations in large quantities, while through the resale process it sells them to the customers. The operation of the marketmaker is based on the fact that through its global view of the grid it can perform a more efficient resource allocation than the one possible in one-to-one negotiations between the customers and providers. We present the operation and algorithms governing the operation of the marketmaker agent, contrasting it with the matchmaker and broker agents. Through a series of simulations in the task oriented domain we compare the operation of the three agents types. We find that the use of marketmaker agent leads to a better performance in the allocation of large tasks and a significant reduction of the messaging overhead.

Keywords: grid computing, autonomous agents, market-basedgrid

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Authors: M. K. Jindal, G. S. Lehal, R. K. Sharma

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Character segmentation is an important preprocessing step for text recognition. In degraded documents, existence of touching characters decreases recognition rate drastically, for any optical character recognition (OCR) system. In this paper a study of touching Gurmukhi characters is carried out and these characters have been divided into various categories after a careful analysis.Structural properties of the Gurmukhi characters are used for defining the categories. New algorithms have been proposed to segment the touching characters in middle zone. These algorithms have shown a reasonable improvement in segmenting the touching characters in degraded Gurmukhi script. The algorithms proposed in this paper are applicable only to machine printed text.

Keywords: Character Segmentation, Middle Zone, Touching Characters.

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Authors: Chan Eang Teng, Tang Mui Joo

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In the beginning of the prevalence of social media, it would be an obvious trend that the young adult age group has the highest population among the users on social media. However, apart from the age group of the users are becoming younger and younger, the elderly group has become a new force on social media, and this age group has increased rapidly. On top of that, the influence of social media towards the elderly is becoming more significant and it is even trending among them. This is because basic computer knowledge is not instilled into their life when they were young. This age group tends to be engrossed more than the young as this is something new for them, and they have the mindset that it is a new platform to approach things, and they tend to be more engrossed when they start getting in touch with the social media. Generally, most of the social media has been accepted and accessed by teenagers and young adult, but it is reasonable to believe that the social media is not really accepted among the elderly. Surprisingly, the elderlies are more addicted to the social media than the teenagers. Therefore, this study is to determine and understand the relationship between the elderly and social media, and how they employ social media in their lives. An online survey on 200 elderly aged 45-80 and an interview with a media expert are conducted to answer the main questions in the research paper. Uses and Gratification Approach is employed in theoretical framework. Finding revealed that majority of the respondents use social media to connect with family, friends, and for leisure purposes. The finding concluded that the elderly use social media differently according to their needs and wants which is in par with the highlight of Uses and Gratification theory. Considering the significantly large role social media plays in our culture and daily life today, the finding will shed some light on the effect of social media on the elderly or senior citizens who are usually relegated into a minority group in today’s age where the internet and social media are of great importance to our society and humanity in general. This may also serve to be useful in understanding behavioral patterns and preference in terms of social media usage among the elderly.

Keywords: Elderly, Facebook, Malaysia, social media.

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Authors: A. K. Al-Othman

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This study presents a new approach based on Tanaka's fuzzy linear regression (FLP) algorithm to solve well-known power system economic load dispatch problem (ELD). Tanaka's fuzzy linear regression (FLP) formulation will be employed to compute the optimal solution of optimization problem after linearization. The unknowns are expressed as fuzzy numbers with a triangular membership function that has middle and spread value reflected on the unknowns. The proposed fuzzy model is formulated as a linear optimization problem, where the objective is to minimize the sum of the spread of the unknowns, subject to double inequality constraints. Linear programming technique is employed to obtain the middle and the symmetric spread for every unknown (power generation level). Simulation results of the proposed approach will be compared with those reported in literature.

Keywords: Economic Dispatch, Fuzzy Linear Regression (FLP)and Optimization.

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Authors: Rana M. Zeina, Laila Al-Ayadhi, Shahid Bashir

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are characterized by abnormalities in social interaction and communication, as well as repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. Although various studies have been conducted in ASDs etiology across the world, it seems that they are still unknown in Middle East. Some scientific researches have been conducted on ASDs in Middle East (ME) especially in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A systematic literature review was performed to identify the ASDs studies in KSA. Accordingly, PubMed, ISI web of Science and Google were searched to find KSA and ME studies in ASDs. The main focus of this review work is to outline an improved understanding of the underpinnings of ASD in order to achieve therapeutic interventions and we will discuss the main problem we waiting for solution with reference with role of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to modulate cortical activity improve understanding ASD.

Keywords: Autism, Neurodevelopmental disorder

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Authors: Brandy Yee, Dianne Yee

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Through the exploration of the lived experiences, beliefs and values of instructional leaders, teachers and students in Finland, Germany and Canada, we investigated the factors which contribute to developmentally responsive, intellectually engaging middle-level learning environments for early adolescents. Student-centred leadership dimensions, effective instructional practices and student agency were examined through the lens of current policy and research on middle-level learning environments emerging from the Canadian province of Manitoba. Consideration of these three research perspectives in the context of early adolescent learning, placed against an international backdrop, provided a previously undocumented perspective on leading, teaching and learning in the middle years. Aligning with a social constructivist, qualitative research paradigm, the study incorporated collective case study methodology, along with constructivist grounded theory methods of data analysis. Data were collected through semi-structured individual and focus group interviews and document review, as well as direct and participant observation. Three case study narratives were developed to share the rich stories of study participants, who had been selected using maximum variation and intensity sampling techniques. Interview transcript data were coded using processes from constructivist grounded theory. A cross-case analysis yielded a conceptual framework highlighting key factors that were found to be significant in the establishment of developmentally responsive, intellectually engaging middle-level learning environments. Seven core categories emerged from the cross-case analysis as common to all three countries. Within the visual conceptual framework (which depicts the interconnected nature of leading, teaching and learning in middle-level learning environments), these seven core categories were grouped into Essential Factors (student agency, voice and choice), Contextual Factors (instructional practices; school culture; engaging families and the community), Synergistic Factors (instructional leadership) and Cornerstone Factors (education as a fundamental cultural value; preservice, in-service and ongoing teacher development). In addition, sub-factors emerged from recurring codes in the data and identified specific characteristics and actions found in developmentally responsive, intellectually engaging middle-level learning environments. Although this study focused on 12 schools in Finland, Germany and Canada, it informs the practice of educators working with early adolescent learners in middle-level learning environments internationally. The authentic voices of early adolescent learners are the most important resource educators have to gauge if they are creating effective learning environments for their students. Ongoing professional dialogue and learning is essential to ensure teachers are supported in their work and develop the pedagogical practices needed to meet the needs of early adolescent learners. It is critical to balance consistency, coherence and dependability in the school environment with the necessary flexibility in order to support the unique learning needs of early adolescents. Educators must intentionally create a school culture that unites teachers, students and their families in support of a common purpose, as well as nurture positive relationships between the school and its community. A large, urban school district in Canada has implemented a school cohort-based model to begin to bring developmentally responsive, intellectually engaging middle-level learning environments to scale.

Keywords: Developmentally responsive learning environments, early adolescents, middle-level learning, middle years, instructional leadership, instructional practices, intellectually engaging learning environments, leadership dimensions, student agency.

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Authors: Haytham Yassine

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This article mainly aims to detect and understand how money laundering activities are executed by transport of cash, identifying the underlying factors and separating legitimate from illegitimate usage of cash and how it is being used. This research provides academics with additional literature and provides bank supervisors and practitioners with a better understanding of sources and uses of cash in criminal activities and how cash is used in the laundering mechanism. Data are gathered through survey in the Middle East and North Africa region and review of the available research. The results of the analysis will help distinguish the factors affecting preference for cash rather other payment instruments in the region, identify what causes the tendency to launder illegal proceeds through cash transportation and how illegal cash is being laundered and moved. On the other hand, this paper sheds the light on major cash generating criminal activities, its sources and main destinations.

Keywords: Illegitimate activities, cash, money laundering, terrorism financing.

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Authors: Amol Dahal, Shunsuke Hori, Haruki Nakazawa, Kazumitsu Onishi, Toshio Kawano, Masayuki Murai

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Two indica varieties, IR36 and ‘Suweon 258’ (“S”) are middle-heading in southern Japan. 36U, also middle-heading, is an isogenic line of IR36 carrying Ur1 (Undulate rachis-1) gene. However, late-heading plants segregated in the F2 population from the F1 of S × 36U, and so did in the following generations. The concerning lateness gene is designated as Ex. From the F8 generation, isogenic-line pair of early-heading and late-heading lines, denoted by “E” (ex/ex) and “L” (Ex/Ex), were developed. Genetic analyses of heading time were conducted, using F1s and F2s among L, E, S and 36U. The following inferences were drawn from the experimental results: 1) L, and both of E and 36U harbor Ex and ex, respectively; 2) Besides Ex, S harbors an inhibitor gene to it, i.e. I-Ex which is a novel finding of the present study. 3) Ex is a dominant allele at the E1 locus.

Keywords: Basic vegetative phase, heading time, lateness gene, photoperiod-sensitive phase.

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Authors: James Patrick A. Diaz, Raul E. Ramboyong

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Background: Hypertensive response during maximal exercise test provides important information on the level of blood pressure control and evaluation of treatment. Method: A single center retrospective descriptive study was conducted among 117 young (aged 20 to 40) and middle age (aged 40 to 65) hypertensive patients, who underwent treadmill stress test. Currently on maintenance frontline medication either monotherapy (Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/Angiotensin receptor blocker [ACEi/ARB], Calcium channel blocker [CCB], Diuretic - Hydrochlorthiazide [HCTZ]) or combination therapy (ARB+CCB, ARB+HCTZ), who attained a maximal exercise on treadmill stress test (TMST) with hypertensive response (systolic blood pressure: male >210 mm Hg, female >190 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure >100 mmHg, or increase of >10 mm Hg at any time during the test), on Bruce and Modified Bruce protocol. Exaggerated blood pressure response during exercise (systolic [SBP] and diastolic [DBP]), peak exercise blood pressure (SBP and DBP), recovery period (SBP and DBP) and test for ischemia and their antihypertensive medication/s were investigated. Analysis of variance and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Results: Hypertensive responses on maximal exercise test were seen mostly among female population (P < 0.000) and middle age (P < 0.000) patients. Exaggerated diastolic blood pressure responses were significantly lower in patients who were taking CCB (P < 0.004). A longer recovery period that showed a delayed decline in SBP was observed in patients taking ARB+HCTZ (P < 0.036). There were no significant differences in the level of exaggerated systolic blood pressure response and during peak exercise (both systolic and diastolic) in patients using either monotherapy or combination antihypertensives. Conclusion: Calcium channel blockers provided lower exaggerated diastolic BP response during maximal exercise test in hypertensive middle age patients. Patients on combination therapy using ARB+HCTZ exhibited a longer recovery period of systolic blood pressure.

Keywords: Antihypertensive, exercise test, hypertension, hypertensive response.

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Authors: Mitsuyuki Kawakami, Kimihiro Yamanaka

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The top-heavy demographic of low birth-rate and longer lifespan is a growing social problem, and one of its expected effects will be a shortage of young workers and a growing reliance on a workforce of middle-aged and older people. However, the environment of today's industrial workplace is not particularly suited to middle-aged and older workers, one notable problem being temperature control. Higher temperatures can cause health problems such as heat stroke, and the number of cases increases sharply in people over 65. Moreover, in conditions above 33°C, older people can develop circulatory system disorders, and also have a higher chance of suffering a fatal heart attack. We therefore propose a new method for controlling temperature in the indoor workplace. In this study two different verification experiments were conducted, with the proposed temperature control method being tested in cargo containers and conventional houses. The method's effectiveness was apparent in measurements of temperature and electricity consumption

Keywords: CO2 reduction, Energy saving, Temperature control

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Authors: Fereshteh M. Haskouei, Habib Alimohammadian

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Magnetic susceptibility (χ) is operational to identify of late quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles in loess-paleosol sequences. It is well accepted that many loess-paleosol sequences bear witness to cold-dry/warm-humid periods, well known as glacial-interglacial cycles, respectively. For this study, loess-paleosol sequence of north-east of Iran was magnetically investigated. The study area is situated at about 8 km away of Neka city, on the main road of Sari-Behshahr, in Mazandaran Province, north of Iran. The youngest deposits of study area are the late Quaternary wind-blown accumulations. In this study, the total number of 117 samples was collected from loess-paleosols units. After that, the natural remnant magnetization (NRM) and magnetic susceptibility (MS) of the samples were measured. Variation of MS of more than 110 loess samples was plotted to reveal the correlation of the MS and paleoclimatic changes. This study aims reconstruction of climatic changes (glacial-interglacial and stadials-interstadials cycles). To confirm our results we compared MS (χ) and the curves of other investigations in paleoclimatology. This correspondence abled us to recognize worldly events in the study area such as: Younger Dryas, the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), deglaciation of Northern Hemisphere etc. The obtained magnetic data indicate that during almost 50 ka, at least two glacial-interglacial periods occurred in north-east of Iran. Further, variation of χ values revealed short period of climatically cycles known as stadials-interstadials. We recognized 4 stadials and a single stadial as colder sub-periods for S₀ (recently soil-paleosol) and S₂ (lower paleosol), respectively, Moreover, we recognized 6 warmer sub-periods (interstadials) for L₁ (upper loess) and one interstadial L₂ (lower loess).

Keywords: Glacial-interglacial cycles, Iran, last glacial maximum, loess, magnetic susceptibility (χ), Neka, Stadials-Interstadials sub-periods, younger dryas.

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Authors: Chengfeng Fang, Mohamed Ali Sadakkathulla, Abdul Sheikh

Abstract:

Ultra-high-performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is a specially formulated cement-based composite characterized with an ultra-high compressive strength (f_c^’ = 240 MPa) and a low water-cement ratio (W/B= 0.2). With such material characteristics, UHPFRC is favored for the design and constructions of structures required high structural performance and slender geometries. Unlike conventional concrete, the structural performance of members manufactured with UHPFRC has not yet been fully studied, particularly, for UHPFRC columns with high slenderness. In this study, the behaviors of slender UHPFRC columns under concentric or eccentric load will be investigated both experimentally and numerically. Four slender UHPFRC columns were tested under eccentric loads with eccentricities, of 0 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, and 85 mm, respectively, and one UHPFRC beam was tested under four-point bending. Finite element (FE) analysis was conducted with concrete damage plasticity (CDP) modulus to simulating the load-middle height or middle span deflection relationships and damage patterns of all UHPFRC members. Simulated results were compared against the experimental results and observation to gain the confidence of FE model, and this model was further extended to conduct parametric studies, which aim to investigate the effects of slenderness regarding failure modes and load-moment interaction relationships. Experimental results showed that the load bearing capacities of the slender columns reduced with an increase in eccentricity. Comparisons between load-middle height and middle span deflection relationships as well as damage patterns of all UHPFRC members obtained both experimentally and numerically demonstrated high accuracy of the FE simulations. Based on the available FE model, the following parametric study indicated that a further increase in the slenderness of column resulted in significant decreases in the load-bearing capacities, ductility index, and flexural bending capacities.

Keywords: Eccentric loads, ductility index, RC column, slenderness, UHPFRC.

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Authors: S. A Puviyarasu, V. S. Ukkeshwar

Abstract:

Elicitation of creative conceptual designing and fabrication of mini bikes is the primary aim of this study. Miniature bikes or pit bikes or simply mini bikes are found to be the recently prevalent trendsetters amongst the younger population around the globe, be it for commuting and sports. This study also focuses on the steps to be put forth in building a self-designed mini bike concept and showcases similar instances.

Keywords: Miniature bikes, design methods, creative styling.

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Authors: W. Maddison

Abstract:

This paper describes an Action Research project which was undertaken to inform professional practice in order to develop a newly created Centre for Student Success in the specific context of transnational medical and nursing education in the Middle East. The objectives were to enhance the academic performance, persistence, integration and personal and professional development of a multinational study body, in particular in relation to pre-clinical medical students, and to establish a comfortable, friendly and student-driven environment within an Irish medical university recently established in Bahrain. The outcomes of the project resulted in the development of a specific student success ‘signature’ for this particular transnational higher education context.

Keywords: Global-Local, pre-clinical medical students, student success, transnational higher education, Middle East.

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Authors: Md. Emaj Uddin, K. M. Rabiul Karim, Md. Delwar Hossain

Abstract:

This study examines age and sex patterns of children-s disability in the Parila union of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. For this we assumed that (1) prevalence of disability patterns and its severity in the middle childhood are higher than in the infancy or latter childhood in the Parila union of Rajshahi, (2) prevalence of disability patterns and its severity among the boys compared to girls are higher in the study area of Bangladesh. In order to examine the assumptions 102 samples, including their mothers were selected based on snowball process and the respondents were individually interviewed with semi-structured questionnaire method. The results of the study suggest that disability patterns and its severity among the male children were two-fold higher than the female children. In addition, these patterns of children-s disability and its severity in the middle childhood were also higher than in the infancy or latter childhood. Further study should conduct how socio-structural factors influence age and sex patterns of children-s disability patterns and its severity in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Age, Bangladesh, Children's Disability Pattern, Sex, Severity.

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Authors: Jiří F. Urbánek, David Král

Abstract:

Small and Middle Enterprises (SME) have a specific mission, characteristics, and behavior in global business competitive environments. They must respect policy, rules, requirements and standards in all their inherent and outer processes of supply - customer chains and networks. Paper aims and purposes are to introduce computational assistance, which enables us the using of prevailing operation system MS Office (SmartArt...) for mathematical models, using DYVELOP (Dynamic Vector Logistics of Processes) method. It is providing for SMS´s global environment the capability and profit to achieve its commitment regarding the effectiveness of the quality management system in customer requirements meeting and also the continual improvement of the organization’s and SME´s processes overall performance and efficiency, as well as its societal security via continual planning improvement. DYVELOP model´s maps - the Blazons are able mathematically - graphically express the relationships among entities, actors, and processes, including the discovering and modeling of the cycling cases and their phases. The blazons need live PowerPoint presentation for better comprehension of this paper mission – added value analysis. The crisis management of SMEs is obliged to use the cycles for successful coping of crisis situations.  Several times cycling of these cases is a necessary condition for the encompassment of the both the emergency event and the mitigation of organization´s damages. Uninterrupted and continuous cycling process is a good indicator and controlling actor of SME continuity and its sustainable development advanced possibilities.

Keywords: Blazons, computational assistance, DYVELOP method, small and middle enterprises.

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Authors: B. Engel, M. Junge

Abstract:

Manufacturing components of fiber-reinforced thermoplastics requires three steps: heating the matrix, forming and consolidation of the composite and terminal cooling the matrix. For the heating process a pre-determined temperature distribution through the layers and the thickness of the pre-consolidated sheets is recommended to enable forming mechanism. Thus, a design for the heating process for forming composites with thermoplastic matrices is necessary. To obtain a constant temperature through thickness and width of the sheet, the heating process was analyzed by the help of the finite element method. The simulation models were validated by experiments with resistance thermometers as well as with an infrared camera. Based on the finite element simulation, heating methods for infrared radiators have been developed. Using the numeric simulation many iteration loops are required to determine the process parameters. Hence, the initiation of a model for calculating relevant process parameters started applying regression functions.

Keywords: Fiber-reinforced thermoplastics, heating strategies, middle-wave infrared radiator.

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