bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adverse Birth Out Comes and Associated Factors among Delivered Mothers in Dessie Referral Hospital, North East Ethiopia
Authors: Cherie Niguss , Mebratu Amare
Published: April 2019

Introduction: Though there are studies on the various forms of adverse birth outcomes particularly in developing countries, there is limited information on determinant maternal and fetal factors of adverse birth outcomes at Dessie referral hospital including north east Ethiopia. Objective: To assess adverse birth outcomes and associated factors among delivered mothers in Dessie referral hospital, Dessie, Ethiopia. Methods: Institutional based cross sectional study design was conducted in Dessie referral hospital from February 30-March 30, 2017. Random sampling technique was used and 462 sample size was deployed. The collected data was checked; coded and entered to Epi info 7.3 and exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Bivariate logistic regression model used to determine the independent association of dependent and independent variables on the bases of COR; 95 percent of confidence level and significance level of 0.25 Those variables which had significance level of less than 0.25 transferred to multivariable logistic regression. Multivariable logistic regression also used to control the possible effects of confounder variables on the basis of AOR; 95 percent of confidence level and significance level of 0.05. Result: A total of 462 delivered mothers participated in this study which yields 100% response rate. The study finding showed that the proportion of adverse birth outcome among the study participants was 32.5%. Out of 462 births 8.2% were still birth, 16.7% were low birth weight, 15.2% preterm and 8.4% were with visible birth defects. Mothers who didn’t attend antenatal care were 4 times more likely to have adverse birth outcome when compared to those who attended antenatal care follow up, [AOR=4.01, 95% CI(2.8,8.3 )]. Similarly, mothers with hemoglobin level less than 11 mg/dl were encountered adverse birth outcomes 3 times more when compared to those with hemoglobin level greater or equal to 11 mg/dl [AOR=3.04, 95% CI(1.62, 5.71)]. The presence of any form of pregnancy complication to current pregnancy were 3 times more likely to result in adverse birth outcomes as compared to no complication [AOR=2.9, 95% CI (1.64, 5.15)]. Conclusion and Recommendation: proportion of adverse birth outcome among the study participants was high. Lack of antenatal care, hemoglobin level, and pregnancy complications, middle upper arm circumference, were predictors of adverse birth outcomes. Increasing antenatal care uptake, prevention and treatment of chronic medical illness, and anemia and improvements in quality of maternal health services require strict attention.
Effects of Singing Songs about Preoperative Care for Tonsillectomy on the Anxiety of Children Undergoing Tonsillectomy
Authors: Kharrati Mohebbi , Akram Sadat Sadat Hoseini , Batol Pour Abouli , Kazemnejad
Published: April 2019

Introduction: Surgery creates anxiety for children, whose control and reduction are among the objectives of nursing care. Nurses have always sought scientific evidence for the use of innovative techniques appropriate for the level of understanding, recognition, and need of children, such as the use of poetry to reduce children's anxiety. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects singing songs about preoperative care for tonsillectomy on the anxiety of children undergoing tonsillectomy.
Method: This quasi-experimental non-random study recruited 76 children aged 7-12 years old presenting to the hospital for tonsillectomy were selected with a convenience sampling method. In addition to the routine care, some songs were sung to children in the intervention group about pre- and post-operative procedures before, on the day of, and after the surgery. Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) was filled out before and after the surgery and on the day of discharge in the intervention and control groups in order to measure children's anxiety. Data were analyzed in SPSS software using Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, and Fisher’s exact tests.
Results: The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of anxiety in both groups (control=19.57 ± 3.65; intervention=19.78 ± 4.87) were not significantly different before the intervention (P=0.48), while a significant difference (P<0.001) was observed on the day of surgery between the two groups (control=34.28 ± 5.68; intervention=26.97 ± 4.6).
Conclusion: Nurses can sing songs about pre- and post-operative procedures as an easy, inexpensive way appropriate for children’s level of development to reduce their anxiety. Furthermore, the family’s engagement in pre-operative training in an innovative manner can be a step forward in the development of family-based care.
Role of music therapy in reducing anxiety – a narrative review
Authors: R Rajkumar , Jude Nithin , . Sathyanarayanan
Published: April 2019

Breif Background
Patients undergoing clinical procedures are concerned about pain and increased levels of anxiety.
Objective:
The objective of this review was to critically appraise, synthesise and present the best available evidence related to the effectiveness of music interventions on anxiety in clinical procedures.

Data sources:
A detailed search was undertaken on major electronic databases. The search was restricted to English language.

Material and methods:
Systematic review, Meta analysis, randomised controlled trials and experimental studies were included in the review.

Summary and conclusions:
This narrative review concluded that there was enough evidence to suggest that patients benefited from a procedural music-listening programme.

Key words:
Anxiety, Hemodynamic change, Music therapy
KATEKIS DALAM PERUTUSAN GEREJA DI TENGAH TUNTUTAN PROFESIONAL
Authors: Wijaya Albert I Ketut Deni
Published: April 2019

A catechist can be called a missionary and saint. This call is very appropriate considering their role in the missionary work of the Church. This research will answer two questions: (1) What is the role of catechists in the missionary work of the Church? (2) What is the professional catechism model in the midst of the needs of the world today? This study uses a qualitative method of literature study. Through this paper, it will be explained that in the mission of the Church, the catechist acts as a spokesman for the Christian congregation, a prophet, an educator and a witness. Where as the professional catechists needed are catechists who always present the Holy Spirit as their soul and missionary spirit while equipping themselves with skills and knowledge.
A Systematic Review of Security in Electronic Commerce- Threats and Frameworks
Authors: Kuruwitaarachchi N. , Abeygunawardena P.K.W. , Rupasingha L. , Udara S.W.I.
Published: April 2019

There is a remarkable scope for more streamlined living through an increase of e-platforms specially ecommerce, but this coincides with an increase in security concerns since the global market place is virtual and anonymous. Therefore, users have to blindly trust the online providers. In order to overcome this physiological barrier the eplatforms should ensure utmost security. If not the ecommerce industry is unableto perform in the market effectively. Thereby arises the need to perform a systematic review of security issues in the e-commerce industry and to discover how different frameworks address these problems. This paper aims to identifythe main security problems faced by both customers and vendors when interacting with ecommerce platforms and to evaluate general security management frameworks based on the main security areas identified.
Mobile Edge Computing
Authors: Sadiku Matthew N. O. , Kotteti Chandra M. M. , Musa Sarhan M.
Published: April 2019

Mobile applications are becoming increasingly computational intensive, while many mobile devices still have limited battery power and cannot support computational intensive tasks. Mobile edge computing (MEC) computing is an extension of edge computing, and it refers to computing at the edge of a network. In mobile edge computing, computing and storage nodes are placed at the Internet's edge near mobile devices. It places the edge clouds at the candidate locations. This paper presents a brief introduction to MEC.
A Case Study of a Prosthetic Knee Joint Infection Following Periodontal Debridement
Authors: Heglund Sabrina P.
Published: April 2019

This case study paper is written to raise awareness of prosthetic joint infection (PJI) of the right knee following periodontal debridement. The author understands that antibiotic prophylaxis for patients after the two-year post-operative milestone has been a topic of debate for over three decades. However, it is not like winning a lottery when a patient is in the small 2% of the knee prosthetic surgical population which develops a PJI. When prophylactic antibiotics and resistance to them are compared to the actual incidence of the PJI itself, costs cannot be restricted to the healthcare system, the source of income, and lack of mobility during recuperation, but should consider the patient’s quality of life and the state of mind during recuperation.
Smart Sustainable Cities: Using a Fuzzy Inference System To Determine their Global Score
Authors: Campos Filho Oswaldo Redig de , Lima Waléria Guerreiro , Paiva de Oliveira Rodrigo Felipe Albuquerque
Published: April 2019

This article assumes the premise that there is no alternative other than sustainable development. The necessary escalation to sustainability will force organizations and public administration to adopt an adequate stand to the sustainable development, mainly when it comes to the promotion of policies that shall guarantee the fulfillment of the triple bottom line (sustainability tripod) for the next generations, also respecting cultural and political issues. This research has collected data from four cities all around the globe using forty-six ‘ISO 37.120:2018’ core indicators. We have compared, using an adapted fuzzy logic model, the general sustainability score of cities in developing and developed countries. The event of trying to determine a methodology that can be used by any city of any country requires a considerable amount of researching, especially when it comes to choosing which better indicators are fit to the challenge - at the end of the article, we offer a schematic of a smart sustainable city, which we have called “sustainability mandala”. Using the same system (with different weighs for each variable,), those answers will help public managers to understand their indexes as a result of positive efforts over the indicators, always on the pursuit of a really sustainable society.
The Refractive Index of Amorphous and Crystalline Water Ice in the UV–vis
Authors: Kofman Vincent , He Jiao , Loes ten Kate Inge , Linnartz Harold
Published: April 2019

Amorphous solid water (ASW) is found on icy dust grains in the interstellar medium (ISM), as well as on comets and other icy objects in the outer solar system. The optical properties of ASW are thus relevant for many astrophysical environments, but in the ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis), its refractive index is not well constrained. Here, we introduce a new method based on UV–vis broadband interferometry to measure the wavelength-dependent refractive index n(λ) of amorphous water ice from 10 to 130 K, i.e., for different porosities, in the wavelength range of 210–757 nm. We also present n(λ) for crystalline water ice at 150 K, which allows us to compare our new method with literature data. Based on this, a method to calculate n(λ, ρ) as a function of wavelength and porosity is reported. This new approach carries much potential and is generally applicable to pure and mixed ice, both amorphous and crystalline. The astronomical and physical–chemical relevance and future potential of this work are discussed.
MCMC Inversion of Stokes Profiles
Authors: Li Hao , Xu Zhi , Qu Zhongquan , Sun Leilei
Published: April 2019

Stokes inversion techniques, based on the analysis of the polarization in spectral lines, are the most powerful tools to obtain the information about the magnetic and thermodynamic quantities in the solar atmosphere. In this paper, we present a Milne–Eddington inversion code based on Bayesian inference, which is implemented with the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. This kind of simulation is a random sampling method to visit a point in the parameter space with a probability proportional to the distribution function, and furthermore provides a powerful way to infer the parameters of a model, their errors, and mutual correlations between each of them. Detailed tests of the code with synthetic profiles and Hinode/SP observations manifest the applicability of this code to infer physical quantities from Stokes profiles. Applying the code, we investigate the spatial distributions of physical quantities and their errors, and find that the errors of B, θ, ϕ, B

x
, and B

y
are smaller in the active regions than in the quiet regions. In contrast, the errors of B

z
are much smaller in the quiet regions than in the plage and umbral regions. Besides, the study of the mutual correlations between each model parameter indicates that the thermodynamic parameters are strongly correlated, while the correlations between magnetic field parameters are relatively weak.
The Energy-dependent γ-Ray Morphology of the Crab Nebula Observed with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
Authors: Yeung Paul K. H. , Horns Dieter
Published: April 2019

The Crab Nebula is a bright emitter of non-thermal radiation across the entire accessible range of wavelengths. The spatial and spectral structures of the synchrotron nebula are well-resolved from radio to hard X-ray emission. The unpulsed emission at GeV–TeV energies is mostly produced via inverse-Compton scattering of energetic electrons with the synchrotron-emitted photons. The spatial structure observed at these energies provides insights into the distribution of electrons and indirectly constrains the so-far unknown structure of the magnetic field in the nebula. Analyzing the Large Area Telescope (LAT) data accumulated over ∼9.1 yr with a properly refined model for the Crab pulsar’s spectrum, we determined the 68% containment radius (R
68) of the Crab Nebula to be

(

) in the 5–500 GeV band. The estimated systematic uncertainty is based on two factors: (1) different analysis methods, morphological models and event types, and (2) the point-spread function evaluated with observations of Mkn 421. When comparing the Fermi-LAT and High Energy Stereoscopic System results on the spatial extension, we find evidence for an energy-dependent shrinking of the Crab Nebula’s γ-ray extension (

, where

).
Les activistes miskitus des droits de l’homme au Nicaragua
Authors: Bataillon Gilles
Published: April 2019

Comment le langage des droits de l’homme est-il devenu la langue politique des activistes défenseurs des droits des communautés amérindiennes (miskitues et mayangnas) du Nicaragua ? Agissant aujourd’hui à l’unisson avec les mouvements d’opposition au président Daniel Ortega, ces activistes n’en ont pas moins une histoire particulière qui plonge ses racines dans l’histoire de l’Église morave et de son travail d’autonomisation, comme dans toute une série d’actions menées conjointement avec de multiples organisations des droits de l’homme durant les années 1980-1990.
Vers une politique de la liberté de mouvement
Authors: Heller Charles , Pezzani Lorenzo , Stierl Maurice , Saint-Saëns Isabelle
Published: April 2019

Si l’unique alternative au régime de fermeture des frontières actuel semble être un régime fondé sur la liberté de se mouvoir des migrants, cet horizon politique rencontre de nombreuses difficultés. Pour tenter de répondre à celles-ci, nous partons des multiples frontières étatiques et sociales dont les migrants font l’expérience à travers leurs trajectoires et indiquons autant de dimensions de luttes nécessaires à une politique de la liberté de mouvement .
Un accès aux soins marqué du sceau de l’humanité ?
Authors: Izambert Caroline
Published: April 2019

En France, depuis 2000, la prise en charge des soins des personnes étrangères en situation irrégulière est assurée par une prestation d’aide sociale, l’aide médicale de l’État (AME), distincte de l’assurance maladie. En retraçant la genèse de l’AME et à partir d’enquêtes menées dans un hôpital, cet article analyse les conséquences de l’entrée des catégories de l’administration de l’immigration dans le système de soins ainsi que l’émergence de formes de citoyenneté sociale dégradée pour les personnes vivant illégalement en France.
Les objectifs de développement durable des Nations unies : une approche renouvelée des droits humains ?
Authors: Delzangles Béatrice
Published: April 2019

Apparus à des époques et dans des sphères juridiques et politiques différentes, le droit international des droits de l’homme et le développement durable se sont développés en s’ignorant l’un l’autre. Cependant, les objectifs de développement durable adoptés par l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies en 2015 réalisent un saut conceptuel en les associant étroitement. L’approche du développement durable nouvellement fondée sur les droits humains modifie, dans une certaine mesure, l’approche des droits humains eux-mêmes.
Le droit à l’oubli : vers un nouveau droit fondamental de l’individu ?
Authors: Ranquet Marie
Published: April 2019

Le droit à la protection de la vie privée s’est mis en place progressivement au cours du xx e  siècle. À partir des années 1970, la notion de protection de la vie privée s’amalgame de plus en plus à celle de protection des données à caractère personnel. Celle-ci trouve une traduction juridique dans la réglementation européenne (directive 95/46/CE en 1995, puis RGPD en 2016). Déplacée sur le terrain de l’informatique et des libertés, la question de la protection juridique de la vie privée se teinte d’une revendication nouvelle, celle du droit à l’oubli, qui se heurte parfois à la liberté d’expression ou à la liberté d’écrire l’histoire.
La culture contemporaine du viol
Authors: Nahoum-Grappe Véronique
Published: April 2019

Malgré la judiciarisation croissante des crimes sexuels, les viols en temps de paix et en temps de guerre ne semblent pas diminuer dans nos sociétés contemporaines. Ce travail inscrit la problématique des violences sexuelles dans un contexte culturel particulier : les hypothèses d’une emphase portée sur l’esthétique de la violence sexuelle dans la production d’images contemporaines où « faire l’amour » est une injonction majeure, liée à la force d’imposition des logiques de domination historiques, sont ici travaillées afin de comprendre pourquoi la sexualité devient l’arme du « faire la haine ».
Thermal Technologies and Systems for Food Preservation
Authors: Kalaiselvam Siva , Rajan Dinesh , Ali Imran Hussain Showkath
Published: April 2019

Thermal technologies for food preservation prevent the degradation of desired properties of the perishable food items for a longer duration to fulfill the needs of the consumers in the aspects of nutrition, safety, and price. Each freezing method has its distinct characteristics on quality of frozen food products. The major physical and chemical changes observed during the freezing process were freezer burns, recrystallization, protein denaturation, color, flavor, release of enzymes, etc. These will be detailed with appropriate examples. The comparative analysis of the aforementioned thermal technologies based on the quality of food products will be discussed with the recommendations for the selection of appropriate thermal technologies. It will guide the practicing engineers and researchers to understand the drawbacks of conventional thermal technologies and how they affect food qualities along with the advancements made to overcome the drawbacks.
Pinus Pinaster Bark Composition and Applications
Authors: Vieito Catarina , Pires Preciosa , Velho Manuela Vaz
Published: April 2019

The food market is demanding natural antioxidants either to be applied to food or cosmetic and nutraceutical purposes. Plants are very rich in polyphenols that have diverse biological functions, such as defending plants against microbiological attacks, becoming essential to plant life. The bark of Pinus pinaster Aiton subsp. atlantica is known to have a great amount of polyphenols with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. P. pinaster has a large area of distribution in the northwest of Portugal, making this source a biomass feedstock of great interest for the food industry in Portugal. Therefore, embarking on the trend of circular economy, polyphenols are being extracted aiming for the exploitation of their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties as a food additive in a variety of food matrices. This chapter aims to provide a more insightful view of the chemical composition, extraction methods, and food applications of pine bark of Pinus pinaster Aiton subsp. atlantica polyphenols.
An Integrated Information System for Road Traffic Accidents
Authors: Vaitis Michail , Kavroudakis Dimitris , Koukourouvli Nikoletta , Simos Dimitrios , Sarigiannis Georgios
Published: April 2019

Road traffic accidents come at a high price: 1.25 million road traffic deaths occurred globally in 2013. As the road network and the environmental conditions contribute significantly in the cause of accidents, it is crucial to understand where and when they occur, in order to plan actions for road safety improvement. For this reason, the Region of the North Aegean, Greece, in collaboration with the University of the Aegean, has established a spatial database and a web-based geographic information system (webGIS) for the registration, storage, visualization and analysis of the traffic accidents occurred in its jurisdiction. In this article, besides the development and operation of the system, the authors present a spatio-temporal analysis of the data collected since 2004 for the island of Lesvos. Hot spots and risky periods were identified, leading to useful conclusions and directions for road safety improvements.
Secured Transmission of Clinical Signals Using Hyperchaotic DNA Confusion and Diffusion Transform
Authors: Sheela S. J. , Suresh K. V. , Tandur Deepaknath
Published: April 2019

Secured transmission of electrophysiological signals is one of the crucial requirements in telemedicine, telemonitoring, cardiovascular disease diagnosis (CVD) and telecardiology applications. The chaotic systems have good potential in secured transmission of ECG/EEG signals due to their inherent characteristics relevant to cryptography. This article introduces a new cryptosystem for clinical signals such as electrocardiograms (ECG) and electroencephalograms (EEG) based on hyperchaotic DNA confusion and diffusion transform (HC-DNA-CDT). The algorithm uses a hyperchaotic system with cubic nonlinearity and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) encoding rules. The performance of the cryptosystem is evaluated for different clinical signals using different encryption/decryption quality metrics. Simulation and comparison results show that the cryptosystem yield good encryption results and is able to resist various cryptographic attacks. The proposed algorithm can also be used in picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) to provide an efficient sharing of medical image over the networks.
HeartBit
Authors: Vishkaie Rojin
Published: April 2019

Biometric heart-rate information is increasingly proliferating through simple wearable technology. However, this technology presents a need for contextual information to guide interpreting physiological responses in lower and higher levels of cognitive abilities. In this paper, the author introduces HeartBit, a sensor-based intervention used for non-obtrusive heart-rate observation of elementary age children within the creative and critical thinking contexts. The author describes the Sandbox as single-session workshop with individual children, the development of HeartBit, and results from Sandboxes with 35 K-1 students (ages 6 and 7). Findings reveal how children's in-situ levels of creativity and critical thinking were observed through an interplay of system design, heart-rate monitoring, and Bloom's Taxonomy educational learning objectives, and how this differed between the individual children.
The Development of Digital Competences and Emotional Skills Through the Use of Audio-Visual Technologies
Authors: Treglia Eugenia , Tomassoni Rosella
Published: April 2019

School is more and more engaged in giving an importance to all that concerns the emotional aspects of an educational process with the goal to promote a total emotional development of the students. The aim of this paper is to explore the use of audio-visual technologies and products as instruments to help the socio-emotional education and to develop the digital competence in the educational field. The audio-visual communication has specific peculiarities that make it fit to reproduce the real world, so favouring the involvement of the public. In particular, the authors discuss the educational use of the movies in order to participate and commit in the digital culture, improving emotional awareness, controlling emotions, helping students to utilize their emotions in a positive way, developing their empathetic capacities, and controlling in a more functional way their own interpersonal relationships. The acquisition of all these capacities in the developmental years should have direct repercussions on the educational processes of the students.
A Hardware-Software Co-Design for Object Detection Using High-Level Synthesis Tools
Authors: Badawi Aiman , Bilal Muhammad
Published: April 2019

Object detection is a vital component of modern video processing systems, and despite the availability of several efficient open-source feature-classifier frameworks and their corresponding implementation schemes, inclusion of this feature as a drop-in module in larger computer vision systems is still considered a daunting task. To this end, this work describes an open-source unified framework which can be used to train, test, and deploy an SVM-based object detector as a hardware-software co-design on FPGA using Simulink high-level synthesis tool. The proposed modular design can be seamlessly integrated within full systems developed using Simulink Computer Vision toolbox for rapid deployment. FPGA synthesis results show that the proposed hardware architecture utilizes fewer logic resources than the contemporary designs for similar operation. Moreover, experimental evidence has been provided to prove the generalization of the framework in efficiently detecting a variety of objects of interest including pedestrians, faces and traffic signs.
An Improved Retinal Blood Vessel Detection System Using an Extreme Learning Machine
Authors: Sousa Lucas S , Filho Pedro P Rebouças , Bezerra Francisco Nivando , Neto Ajalmar R Rocha , Oliveira Saulo A. F.
Published: April 2019

Retinal images are commonly used to diagnose various diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and hypertension. An important step in the analysis of such images is the detection of blood vessels, which is usually done manually and is time consuming. The main proposal in this work is a fast method for retinal blood vessel detection using Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). ELM requires only one iteration to complete its training and it is a robust and fast network in all aspects. The proposal is a compact and efficient representation of retinal images in which the authors achieved a reduction up to 39% of the initial data volume, while still keeping representativeness. To achieve such a reduction whilst maintaining the representativeness, three features (local tophat, local average, and local variance) were used. According to the simulations carried out, this proposal achieved an accuracy of about 95% for most results, outperforming most of the state-of-art methods. Furthermore, this proposal has greater sensitivity, meaning that more vessel pixels are detected correctly.
Learning from Accidents
Authors: Wienen Hans , Bukhsh Faiza Allah , Vriezekolk Eelco , Wieringa Roel J.
Published: April 2019

After a risk has manifested itself and has led to an accident, valuable lessons can be learned to reduce the risk of a similar accident occurring again. This calls for accident analysis methods. In the past 20 years, a large number of accident analysis methods have been proposed and it is difficult to find the right method to apply in a specific circumstance. The authors conducted a review of the state of the art of accident analysis methods and models across domains. They classify the models using the well-known categorization into sequential, epidemiological, and systemic methods. The authors find that these classes have their own characteristics in terms of speed of application versus pay-off. For optimum risk reduction, methods that take organizational issues into account can add valuable information to the risk management process in an organization.
A Customized Quality Model for Software Quality Assurance in Agile Environment
Authors: Jain Parita , Sharma Arun , Ahuja Laxmi
Published: April 2019

The agile approach grew dramatically over traditional approaches. The methodology focuses more on rapid development, quick evaluation, quantifiable progress and continuous delivery satisfying the customer desire. In view of this, there is a need for measurement of the agile development process. In this respect, the present research work investigates the inter-relationships and inter-dependencies between the identified quality factors (QF), thereby outlining which of these QF have high driving power and dependence power, working indirectly towards the success of agile development process. This paper proposes a new agile quality model, utilizing an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach and the identified factors are classifies using Matriced' Impacts Croise's Multiplication Applique´e a UN Classement (MICMAC) approach. The research findings can significantly impact agile development process by understanding how these QF related to each other and how they can be adopted.
Ethical Negotiations
Authors: Espinoza Francisco A , Velasco Norma E
Published: April 2019

Negotiators assess the trust-worthiness of their counterparts in a variety of ways. One way is to define the integrity of a negotiation by how much buyers or sellers can be trusted: “Are they lying? Do they overpromise or under-deliver?” Despite this initial assessment, negotiators cannot accurately predict business outcomes, such as actual risks, quality or satisfaction with end products/services. Therefore, trust is a key element to facilitate the negotiation process in the early stages of deliberation. In this chapter, we will explore the application of ethical values as a trust-building formula to aid in international negotiations. Furthermore, we propose a role-based, trust-building, ethical approach tailored to the negotiator's needs. Only within an ethical framework, can trust become the cornerstone of a relationship that will genuinely service both negotiating parties and society.
Attenuation Measurement of Lossy Coatings of Carbon for Ka-Band Helix TWT Applications
Authors: Kumar Vikas
Published: April 2019

In a high efficiency traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifier, any reflections present in the device may cause oscillations and hence instability. A coating of lossy material on appropriate parts of the tubes (known as attenuators) is done to suppress these reflections. Carbon is a very commonly used material for this type of coating, and may be deposited by a number of techniques. In the present work, coatings of carbon were done on the dielectric substrate and evaluated for the attenuation performance at microwave frequencies. Three dielectric rods (APBN material) were coated with carbon by pyrolytic deposition method for different thickness. An experimental setup involving a rectangular wave-guide with a hole has been used for measuring the attenuation of the coated rods in the Ka-band frequency range. The same structure has been simulated using the Ansoft High Frequency Simulator (HFSS) and both the experimental and simulated results have been compared.
Influence of lamb finishing system on animal performance and meat quality
Authors: Gallo Sarita Bonagurio , Arrigoni Mario De Beni , Lemos Ana Lucia da Silva C. , Haguiwara Márcia Mayumi Harada , Bezerra Helena Viel Alves
Published: April 2019

This study aimed to assess the influence of lamb finishing systems on zootechnical performance, as well as on carcass and meat quality. The experiment was conducted at the APTA’s experimental farm. Thirty-three lambs were used – both sexes, initial age of 90 ± 3 days, Texel with Santa Inês, each animal being one experimental unit, with 6 males and 5 females per treatment. Treatments consisted of: lambs finished on pasture, in semi-feedlot or in feedlot. The lambs were slaughtered with average live weight of 35 kg. Weight gain and carcass measures were taken by ultrasound. After slaughter, carcass conformation and yield, pH, temperature, color, water retention capacity and tenderness were measured. Animals finished on pasture had lower weight gain, were slaughtered at an older age, with lighter carcass weight, smaller loin area, lower shank compactness index, besides lighter shoulder and shank weights, compared to the other production systems (p < 0.05). There was no difference between the semi-feedlot and the feedlot systems for the assessed characteristics. In conclusion, production systems affect animal performance, as well as carcass and meat quality, especially when it comes to important production aspects, such as slaughter age and yield of premium cuts.
A presença das obras de José de Alencar na França (1863-1907)
Authors: Bezerra Valéria Cristina
Published: April 2019

A partir do momento em que José de Alencar adquiriu destaque no meio literário brasileiro, houve muitas tentativas fracassadas de tradução e publicação de suas obras em língua francesa. Décadas após a morte desse escritor, quando a sua obra passava para o cânone literário do país, dois de seus romances ingressaram no mercado editorial francês e tiveram publicação em jornais e numa coleção de aventuras. Les aventuriers ou le Guarani foi publicado no jornal Les Droits de l’Homme em 1899 e em livro em 1902, sob o título Le fils du soleil. Já Iracema: conte brésilien apareceu no jornal L’Action Républicaine em 1907, mas sua edição em livro só foi dada à estampa muito posteriormente. Este trabalho tem como objetivo identificar as iniciativas para a tradução das obras de Alencar entre 1863 e 1907 bem como investigar as formas de circulação e recepção das traduções de O Guarani e Iracema na França.
A Novel Method for Mixing Nanomaterials with Soil
Authors: Firoozi Ali Akbar , Taha Mohd Raihan , Khan Tanveer Ahmed , Hejazi Farzad , Firoozi Ali Asghar , Alsharef Jamal M.A.
Published: April 2019

Mixing of nano-sized powders with soils (macro-sized powders) is a noteworthy issue for geotechnical projects. Thus, this study examined the horizontal ball mill mixing of nano-copper oxide with kaolinite. Ball milling parameters (rotation speed, weight ratio of balls to powder and milling time) of the planetary ball milling were optimized for proper mixing of nano-copper oxide and kaolinite powder. Results showed that increase in mixing time decreased the agglomeration of nano-copper powders and kaolinite and increased the homogeneity of nano-copper powder with kaolinite particles. The quality of mixing was assessed through intensity and scale of segregation using concentration data obtained through energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. It was observed through these two tests that, increase in ball milling time after 6 hours resulted in grain size reduction. Field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that nano-coppers were regularly found on the surface of kaolinite particles after 6 hrs. of horizontal milling at 4:1 ratio of balls to powder mixture. Furthermore, 24 hrs. mixing resulted in grinding of kaolinite particles and hence their size was reduced. Particle size analysis confirmed these results, as the highest size span value of 3.417 was observed after 6 hrs. milling with speed of 200 rpm.
The privatised self? A theological critique of the commodification of human identity in modern technological age in an African context professing Ubuntu
Authors: Banda Collium
Published: April 2019

Modern technology has significantly improved human life. However, its serious negative element in Africa is fostering human self-sufficiency and independence that ultimately subvert human solidarity and interdependence that are highly valued by ubuntu philosophy. The main question of this article is: From the perspective of the African communal tenet of ubuntu that places human identity within communal solidarity and interdependence, how can we theologically respond to the commodification of human identity in the modern technological age? Consequently, a description is made of how modern technological age promotes human self-sufficiency that leads to the commodification of human identity. Further, the link between the commodification of human identity and privatisation of self is described. The challenge of ubuntu philosophy expressed by the Nguni proverb umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu is unpacked, and its challenge to the human self-sufficiency promoted by the technological age is explored. The image of God is proposed as an important theological tool of responding to the commodification of human identity. Finally, some steps that the churches can use to mitigate the commodification of human identity are presented. Technology is here to stay; rather than resist it, Christians must embrace it from a perspective informed by the image of God.
λ/64‐spaced compact ESPAR antenna via analog RF switches for a single RF chain MIMO system
Authors: Lee Jung‐Nam , Lee Yong‐Ho , Lee Kwang‐Chun , Joong Kim Tae
Published: April 2019

In this study, an electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (ESPAR) antenna via analog radio frequency (RF) switches for a single RF chain MIMO system is presented. The proposed antenna elements are spaced at λ/64, and the antenna size is miniaturized via a dielectric radome. The optimum reactance load value is calculated via the beamforming load search algorithm. A switch simplifies the design and implementation of the reactance loads and does not require additional complex antenna matching circuits. The measured impedance bandwidth of the proposed ESPAR antenna is 1,500 MHz (1.75 GHz–3.25 GHz). The proposed antenna exhibits a beam pattern that is reconfigurable at 2.48 GHz due to changes in the reactance value, and the measured peak antenna gain is 4.8 dBi. The reception performance is measured by using a 4  4 BPSK signal. The measured average SNR is 17 dB when using the proposed ESPAR antenna as a transmitter, and the average SNR is 16.7 dB when using a four‐conventional monopole antenna.
As relações que envolvem o estado, as classes sociais e a escola pública sob a égide do capitalismo neoliberal
Authors: Zientarski Clarice , Rafante Heulalia Charalo
Published: April 2019

O trabalho apresenta uma discussão sobre as relações que envolvem o Estado, as classes sociais e a escola pública no Brasil, no contexto dominado pelo capitalismo neoliberal. Destaca as principais características políticas, econômicas e sociais dessa conjuntura, para, em seguida, tratar das políticas direcionadas à escola pública, com foco na Educação Básica, na Reforma do Ensino Médio e no Projeto de Lei da Escola Sem Partido, evidenciando a convergência de princípios, visando a manutenção da hegemonia neoliberal. Trata-se de um estudo bibliográfico, fundamentado em pensadores que procuram compreender e analisar o Estado articulado às relações sociais, políticas, econômicas e educacionais, entendendo-o como uma dimensão fundamental do modo de produção capitalista, que expressa as relações e os antagonismos de classes. Parte do pressuposto de que, na sociedade capitalista, o suporte político do Estado procura complementar o sistema do capital, criando condições para a manutenção e reprodução do mesmo. Isso se justifica, à medida que, para prosseguir com sua expansão, impulsionada pela acumulação, o capital pressupõe a subordinação da sociedade aos seus objetivos, nas funções produtivas, distributivas e reprodutivas. Conclui que a Reforma do Ensino Médio e a Lei da Escola sem partido compõem algumas das ações do Estado no seu objetivo de manter as contradições das classes sociais existentes, favorecendo a ordem burguesa na dominação da classe trabalhadora, que tem, na escola pública e, especialmente na Educação Básica, muitas vezes, o único espaço de acesso à cultura e aos conhecimentos acumulados historicamente pela humanidade, restringindo, concretamente, o seu direito à educação.
Seismic assessment and retrofit of Waikanae and Pakuratahi river bridges
Authors: Wood John H. , Chapman Howard E. , Gregg G. C. , Kirkcaldie Donald K.
Published: April 2019

Seismic strengthening construction work has recently commenced on the Waikanae and Pakuratahi River Bridges assessed as having a high priority for retrofitting. Both bridges are on major State Highways in the Wellington region that carry high traffic volumes. The paper describes the assessment methods and strengthening details used on these two bridges.
Development of cladding contribution functions for seismic loss estimation
Authors: Khakurel Shreedhar , Yeow Trevor Z. , Chen Frankie , Wang Zam , Saha Sandip K. , Dhakal Rajesh P.
Published: April 2019

One method to rapidly estimate seismic losses during the structural design phase is to use contribution functions. These are relationships between expected losses (e.g. damage repair costs, downtime, and injury) for a wide range of building components (e.g. cladding, partitions, and ceilings) and the building’s response. This study aims to develop contribution functions for common types of cladding used in different types of buildings considering damage repair costs. In the first part of this study, a building survey was performed to identify types and quantity of cladding used in residential, commercial and industrial buildings in Christchurch, New Zealand; where it was found that the most common cladding types are glazing, masonry veneer, monolithic cladding and precast panels. The data collected during the survey was also used to develop cladding distribution (i.e. density) functions. The second step involved identifying fragility functions from relevant literature which are applicable to the cladding detailing used in New Zealand. The third step involved surveying consultants, suppliers and builders on typical repair/replacement cost. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations were performed to combine the cladding density function with the fragility functions and the repair cost for each type of cladding to derive contribution functions for various types of cladding and building usage. An example (case study) is provided to demonstrate its usage.
Depictives: An LFG Approach
Authors: Alotaibi Yasir Hameed
Published: April 2019

The main aim of this paper is to discuss two issues in analyzing depictive constructions. The first issue is related to Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), where there is an overlap between depictives and adverbs. This paper distinguishes between depictives in MSA, where the word in accusative case is adjective and adverbs, where the word in accusative case is a verbal noun. The second issue that is discussed in this paper is the syntactic analysis of depictives. In this regard, we contribute a new analysis within the Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) framework, in which depictives are analyzed as single adjuncts that modify participants in the main predicate in the same way as adjectives, when they function as modifiers, do.
An Investigation of Anxiety Factors During English Oral Presentation Skills of Engineering Undergraduates in Pakistan
Authors: Soomro Muhammad Arif , Siming Insaf Ali , Shah Syed Hyder Raza , Rajper Mukhtiar Ali , Naz Sadia , Channa Mansoor Ahmed
Published: April 2019

This study aims to investigate the factors affecting oral presentation skills of undergraduate-learners of English that influence their academic performance which potentially can affect professional career. The study has used quantitative instrument as questionnaire partially adopted from McCroskey (1982) for data collection among 100 undergraduate-participants on factors affecting oral communication skills at one Public Sector University. Purposive sampling method was used since participants were selected on specific criteria of only first year engineering undergraduates. The data were analysed through SPSS, v.20 for obtaining percentage, mean, median, standard deviation, and standard error of mean to be measured. The findings revealed that oral presentation skills as the most problematic for engineering undergraduates. The results also revealed that the several factors affected engineering undergraduates’ oral presentations.
Potentiation of adipogenesis and insulinomimetic effects of novel vanadium complex (N'-[(E)-(5-bromo-2-oxophenyl)methylidene]-4-methoxybenzohydrazide)oxido(1,10-phenanthroline)vanadium(IV) in 3T3-L1 cells
Authors: Kazek Grzegorz , Głuch-Lutwin Monika , Mordyl Barbara , Menaszek Elżbieta , Sapa Jacek , Szklarzewicz Janusz , Gryboś Ryszard , Papież Monika
Published: April 2019

The latest results in action of vanadium compounds show important influence on adipogenesis processes and adipocytes function. Based on previously screening tests in cellular models the novel vanadium complex (N'-[(E)-(5-bromo-2-oxophenyl)methylidene]-4-methoxybenzohydrazide)oxido(1,10-phenanthroline)vanadium(IV) was selected for this study. This complex shown potent inhibition ability of tyrosine phosphatases and differences in the degree of inhibition particular phosphatases was observed. Significantly increasing of intracellular lipid accumulation and proliferative effect on 3T3-L1 preadipocytes confirmed the ability of this complex to enhancement of adipogenesis. The insulinomimetic activity of the tested complex was also demonstrated in fully differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes, in which glucose utilization was potentiated. Presented results support the thesis that vanadium complexes show promising possibilities for opportunities of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes involved adipocytes.