bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Blockchain for Circular Economy in the Furniture Sector
Authors: Arangiaro Valentina , Vishkaei Behzad Maleki , De Giovanni Pietro
Published: November 2022

The research aims at examining the potential use of blockchain technology in the furniture sector's supply chain. To better understand how the furniture sector is articulated, Cubo design S.r.l and its new 4.0 production plant are used as a case study. Cubo design is an SME from Abruzzo active in the manufacture of parts and accessories of furniture. The authors describe the switch the furniture sector has undergone from “old” handicraft production with a high presence of labor and with a significant presence of external suppliers and manual production methods to the new paradigm based on smart factories. From this point, they evaluate the possible and future adoption of blockchain technologies in terms of the benefits the technology could bring to the sector, how it can be combined with 4.0 logic, and what improvements it would create to support the furniture circular economy.
An Overview of Biomedical Image Analysis From the Deep Learning Perspective
Authors: Chakraborty Shouvik , Mali Kalyani
Published: November 2022

Biomedical image analysis methods are gradually shifting towards computer-aided solutions from manual investigations to save time and improve the quality of the diagnosis. Deep learning-assisted biomedical image analysis is one of the major and active research areas. Several researchers are working in this domain because deep learning-assisted computer-aided diagnostic solutions are well known for their efficiency. In this chapter, a comprehensive overview of the deep learning-assisted biomedical image analysis methods is presented. This chapter can be helpful for the researchers to understand the recent developments and drawbacks of the present systems. The discussion is made from the perspective of the computer vision, pattern recognition, and artificial intelligence. This chapter can help to get future research directions to exploit the blessings of deep learning techniques for biomedical image analysis.
Edge Detection on Light Field Images
Authors: Sabrina Yessaadi , Tayeb Laskri Mohamed
Published: November 2022

Digital fundus imaging is becoming an important task in computer-aided diagnosis and has gained an important position in the digital medical imaging domain. One of its applications is the retinal blood vessels extracting. Object detection in machine vision and image processing has gained increasing interest due to its social and security potential. Plenoptic imaging is a promising optical technique. This technique computes the location and the propagation direction information of the object light, which are used as efficient descriptors to detect and track the object displacement. In this chapter, the authors use an edge detection technique to extract and segment blood vessels in the retinal image. They propose a novel approach to detect vessels in a simulated light fields fundus image, based on the image representation with the first and the second order derivative, well known as gradient and Laplacian image descriptors. Since the difficulties to get a light field image of a fundus in the retinal image, the authors test their model in the image provided by Sha Tong et al.
An Artificial Intelligence-Based Smart System for Early Glaucoma Recognition Using OCT Images
Authors: Singh Law Kumar , Pooja  , Garg Hitendra , Khanna Munish
Published: November 2022

Glaucoma is a progressive and constant eye disease that leads to a deficiency of peripheral vision and, at last, leads to irrevocable loss of vision. Detection and identification of glaucoma are essential for earlier treatment and to reduce vision loss. This motivates us to present a study on intelligent diagnosis system based on machine learning algorithm(s) for glaucoma identification using three-dimensional optical coherence tomography (OCT) data. This experimental work is attempted on 70 glaucomatous and 70 healthy eyes from combination of public (Mendeley) dataset and private dataset. Forty-five vital features were extracted using two approaches from the OCT images. K-nearest neighbor (KNN), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), decision tree, random forest, support vector machine (SVM) were applied for the categorization of OCT images among the glaucomatous and non-glaucomatous class. The largest AUC is achieved by KNN (0.97). The accuracy is obtained on fivefold cross-validation techniques. This study will facilitate to reach high standards in glaucoma diagnosis.
Analysis of Medical Images Using Fractal Geometry
Authors: Nayak Soumya Ranjan , Mishra Jibitesh
Published: November 2022

Fractal dimension is an emerging research area in order to characterize the complex or irritated objects found in nature. These complex objects are failed to analyze by classical Euclidian geometry. The concept of FD has extensively applied in many areas of application in image processing. The thought of the FD will work based upon the theory of self-similarity because it holds structures that are nested with one another. Over the last years, fractal geometry was applied extensively in medical image analysis in order to detect cancer cells in human body because our vascular system, nervous system, bones, and breast tissue are so complex and irregular in pattern, and also successfully applied in ECG signal, brain imaging for tumor detection, trabeculation analysis, etc. In order to analyze these complex structures, most of the researchers are adopting the concept of fractal geometry by means of box counting technique. This chapter presents an overview of box counting and its improved algorithms and how they work and their application in the field of medical image processing.
Implementation and Performance Assessment of Biomedical Image Compression and Reconstruction Algorithms for Telemedicine Applications
Authors: Bhardwaj Charu , Sharma Urvashi , Jain Shruti , Sood Meenakshi
Published: November 2022

Compression serves as a significant feature for efficient storage and transmission of medical, satellite, and natural images. Transmission speed is a key challenge in transmitting a large amount of data especially for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scan images. Compressive sensing is an optimization-based option to acquire sparse signal using sub-Nyquist criteria exploiting only the signal of interest. This chapter explores compressive sensing for correct sensing, acquisition, and reconstruction of clinical images. In this chapter, distinctive overall performance metrics like peak signal to noise ratio, root mean square error, structural similarity index, compression ratio, etc. are assessed for medical image evaluation by utilizing best three reconstruction algorithms: basic pursuit, least square, and orthogonal matching pursuit. Basic pursuit establishes a well-renowned reconstruction method among the examined recovery techniques. At distinct measurement samples, on increasing the number of measurement samples, PSNR increases significantly and RMSE decreases.
Pervious Concrete Utilized as a Base Slab of Pavement Edge Drains
Authors: Endawati Jul , Febriansya Aditia
Published: November 2022

The drainage base plate is generally made of normal concrete. The application of pervious concrete as base-slab of pavement edge drain will then be possible to infiltrate storm water runoff on the pavement surface that is not infiltrated through the pavement surface. The edge drain does not only accommodate storm water flow, but also transmits water to the ground so that it can restore the ground water level or can be reused through a reservoir in the ground underneath. The effectiveness of the application of pervious concrete as a drainage base plate on silt-clay soils was conducted experimentally. The thickness of the porous concrete slab in the modeling box is 7 cm, laid above 20 cm height of silty clay soil layer. Reference soil conditions as well as contours and cross-sectional characteristics of the edge drain are taken based on the condition of one of the existing drainages in West Bandung. Based on the results of numerical simulations using Geostudio SEEP/W, it can be seen that there is an increase in pore water pressure in the area of the pervious concrete slab and the surrounding soil. The pore water pressure at the bottom of the plate is in the range of 18.64 kPa. Overall, the pore water pressure in the first modeling tends to be higher than in the second modeling. On the third day of testing, the difference in pore water pressure between the two modeling conditions is 27.08%.
Optical and Electrical Characterization of Polymer Dispersed Nematic Liquid Crystals
Authors: Mani Santosh , Pradhan Madhavi , Rai Pushpendra , Khosla Samriti , Sarawade Pradip
Published: November 2022

Polymer dispersed liquid crystals are composite functional materials having a variety of application ranging from display to smart window. These materials consist of liquid crystal in which micron size droplets of polymer is dispersed. In the present study the effect of different concentration of polymer 2-ethyl hexyl acrylate on optical and electrical properties of nematic liquid crystal 4-cynophenyl 4-n-hexyl benzoate were investigated by various techniques. The investigation of textures at different temperatures was performed by polarizing optical microscopy for the determination of phase transition temperature. The fabry perot scattering studies using low powered laser beam was used for the confirmation of phase transition temperature. Various textures were found according to the orientation of liquid crystal and polymer. The optical and electrical properties of pure liquid crystal were found to enhance after dispersing polymer. Our investigation suggest that after dispersing polymer into nematic liquid crystal, the material shows more stability, less flicking and sticking of image for display applications.
Coal Ash and Rice Husk Ash Binder for Manufacturing Hollow Blocks
Authors: Culilang Zircon S.
Published: November 2022

This paper presents the development of a binder from coal ash and rice husk ash for manufacturing hollow blocks. Experiments were conducted to determine the compressive strength of the coal ash and rice husk ash as binders using cylindrical specimens at different curing periods. The mixture proportion with the highest compressive strength in the experiment was adopted in making the 4” hollow blocks. The compressive strength of the hollow blocks with the coal ash and rice husk ash binder was also determined at different curing periods.Cylindrical specimens with four different alkali activators were made and subjected to compression testing on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th day of curing. The mean compressive strength of the cylindrical specimen with all sodium hydroxide activator (RS0CS0) after 7 days curing is 2.54 MPa as compared to 3.05 MPa with the 2.5 sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide ratio (RS1CS0). As the amount of sodium silicate from rice husk was doubled (RS2CS0), the average compressive strength of the 7 days old cylindrical samples increased from 3.05 MPa to 3.49 MPa. Meanwhile, the 7th-day compressive strength of the cylindrical specimen with commercial silica (RS0CS1) was 5.5 Mpa.Hollow blocks were also manufactured based on the material proportion that utilizes RHA with the highest compressive strength or the design mixture RS2CS0. These blocks have a mean compressive strength of 1.22 MPa on the 3rd day, 1.88 MPa on the 7th day, and 2.7 MPa on the 14th day of the curing period.
Casting of Wire Using Twin Wheel Caster with Melt Holding Nozzle
Authors: Haga Toshio , Okuda Naotsugu , Watari Hisaki , Nishida Shinichi
Published: November 2022

A twin-wheel caster with a hole nozzle was developed to cast thin aluminum alloy wire. The lower large wheel had a trapezoid groove with a cross-sectional area of 22.5 mm2, and the upper small wheel was flat. Molten-metal flow onto the wheel was controlled by the gap between the wheel and the nozzle, and the ejection angle of the molten metal. When the gap was not appropriate, bulges formed on the free solidified surface of the molten metal on the wheel. The bulges were flattened by setting the gap to the correct size of 3 to 4 mm. The appropriate angle was found to be 60°. A thin wire of 6061 aluminum alloy could be cast continuously at a speed of 5 m/min. The cross-sectional area of the nozzle hole was 3 mm2. The cross-sectional area of the as-cast wire was 42.7 mm2.
Relevance of Economics Teacher Education Curriculum Contents in the Teaching of Senior School Economics in Nigeria
Authors: Bello Muhinat Bolanle
Published: November 2022

No one subject is better than another. However, numbers and figures play a large role in how societies function. Economics is the study of the facts and figures that affect government, households, families, businesses, and the overall state of the world’s resources. Thus much importance is attached to the learning and teaching of economics in our educational system, and the performance of students in secondary schools in Nigeria in this subject has remained an issue of concern to all stakeholders. This calls for why this study investigated the relevance of pre-service education economics curriculum contents in teaching senior school Economics in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive form of survey. Teachers of Economics in senior schools constituted the target population. They were sampled from private and public senior schools in Kwara state. There is a total of 302 economics teachers in Kwara State out of whom 217 were purposively sampled. Researchers designed a marching items questionnaire with psychometric properties of content validity, and a reliability index of 0.69 was used to elicit the needed data from the sampled respondents. The data collected were analysed using frequency and percentage mean. The finding revealed that the teacher education curriculum contents were very relevant in the teaching of senior school Economics. It was recommended that the content of economics education should remain as it is since it has catered well for the effective teaching of senior schools' Economics content.
Heart Disease Risk Identification using Machine Learning Techniques for a Highly Imbalanced Dataset: a Comparative Study
Authors: Fernando C. D. , Weerasinghe P. T. , Walgampaya C. K.
Published: November 2022

Heart disease has become one of the most prevailing universal diseases in the world today. It is estimated that 32% of all deaths worldwide are caused due to heart diseases. One of the major causes for this is that its extremely difficult even for medical practitioners to predict heart diseases as heart attacks as it is a complex task which requires a great amount of knowledge and experience. The number of deaths caused by heart diseases has hugely increased in the recent past. Machine learning has become one of the most popular areas in computer science where many complex problems have been addressed successfully specially in the field of medicine. In this study we trained multiple supervised classifiers namely’; Naïve Bayes, LightGBM, Decision Trees, Random Forest, XGBoost, K Nearest Neighbours and ADABoost and we compared the accuracies and identified what models perform better for heart disease prediction. We used the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2015 Heart Disease Health Indicators Dataset which was highly imbalanced and in order to address the class imbalance problem we used methods such as Synthetic Minority Over Sampling Technique (Smote) Sampling, Adaptive Synthetic Sampling, Random Over Sampling, Random Under Sampling, TomekLink, SmoteTomek, Smoteen and Cluster Centroid. According to the results obtained, we can conclude that the hybrid models such as Smoteen and SmoteTomek performed better than the other sampling methods.
Evaluation of Set-Up Errors and Set-Up Margin in Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy for Pelvic Tumours by Using Electronic Portal Imaging Device
Authors: Ramanathan V. , Gunarathne K. , Sampath D. C. , Rizwy M. M.
Published: November 2022

A set-up error is defined as any deviation between the predetermined and actual treatment positions, and is determined by measuring the displacement of the treatment field position by comparing the treatment image to its reference image. Dose distribution in the target volume is dependent on setup margins. It is important to assess the setup errors for each radiotherapy unit to reduce the treatment errors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the systematic and random setup errors using electronic portal imaging device (EPID) for pelvic tumour patients treated by 3D-CRT (conformal radiotherapy) and also to assess set-up margin. 115 pelvic tumour patients were included in this study in which 1150 portal images were assessed. The displacements between DRR (digitally reconstructed radiograph) and the portal images were measured in the direction of right to lateral, superior to inferior in anterior images by matching rigid bony landmarks. Moreover, the displacements between anterior to posterior and superior to inferior were measured in lateral images. The estimated systematic errors were 0.242, 0.255 cm in right to lateral and superior to inferior direction in anterior images, and 0.227, 0.220 cm in anterior to posterior and superior to inferior in lateral images. The estimated random errors were 0.404, 0.367 cm in right to lateral and superior to inferior in anterior images, 0.313, 0.337 cm in anterior to posterior and superior to inferior in lateral images. The determined margins for CTV to PTV based on ICRU were 0.4711, 0.4465, 0.3870, 0.4026 cm in the order of the above mentioned directions. A 0.5 cm safety margin is suggested for all pelvic tumour patients treated with 3D-CRT in Varian 2300CD linear accelerator unit, Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama.
An Open-Label, Multicentre, Observational, Post-Marketing Study to Monitor the Safety and Effectiveness of Umeclidinium/Vilanterol in Korean Patients
Authors: Cho Eun-Yeong , Cho Jung-Eun , Lee Eun-Bin , Yoo Seung Soo , Chang Jung Hyun
Published: November 2022

Background: Umeclidinium/vilanterol (UMEC/VI; ANORO ELLIPTA, GSK) is a commonly used dual bronchodilator. This study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of UMEC/VI in Korean patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) over a 6-year period.Methods: This was an open-label, multicentre, observational, post-marketing surveillance study. A total of 3,375 patients were enrolled consecutively in 52 hospitals, by 53 physicians, between July 2014 and July 2020. Patients who were administered UMEC/VI (fixed-dose 62.5 μg/25 μg) at least once and were monitored for safety and effectiveness were included in the analysis. Incidence and severity of adverse events (AEs) reported after administrating at least one dose of UMEC/VI were monitored, including unexpected adverse events (UAEs) and adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Effectiveness of UMEC/VI after 24 weeks of administration was also assessed using physician’s evaluation (effective, ineffective/no change, worsening, indeterminable) and lung function improvement.Results: Of 3,375 patients, 3,086 were included in the safety assessment group (mean age±standard deviation: 69.76±8.80 years; 85.9% male [n=2,652]; 73.1% aged ≥65 years [n=2,255]). The overall incidence of AEs was 28.8% (n=890), of which 2.2% (n=67) were ADRs. Serious AEs and UAEs were reported in 181 (5.9%) and 665 (21.6%) patients, respectively, and two patients (<0.1%) reported unexpected severe ADR. Of the 903/3,086 patients analysed for effectiveness, most (82.8%, n=748) showed overall disease improvement after UMEC/VI treatment.Conclusion: This study confirmed UMEC/VI administered to Korean patients according to the prescribing information was well-tolerated and can be considered an effective option for COPD treatment.
Body asymmetries as risk factors for musculoskeletal injuries in dancesport, hip-hop and ballet dancers?
Authors: Pavlović Monika , Ogrinc Nina , Šarabon Nejc
Published: November 2022

Objectives: The study aimed to determine the incidence and expression of body asymmetries in dancers of three different dance styles: dancesport (n = 14), hip-hop (n = 21) and ballet (n = 20) and to examine how body asymmetries (muscle strength and power, stability and range of motion) are associated with musculoskeletal injuries occurring over the past 12 months. Design: Cross-sectional and retrospective study. Methods: Maximal isometric voluntary contraction was measured for trunk, hip, knee and ankle movements. Participants performed a single leg stance, unilateral landing, weight bearing symmetry, squat and countermovement jump on force platforms. Passive range of motion was measured for hip, knee and ankle with two-arm goniometer or digital inclinometer (hip flexion, extension and rotations). A retrospective questionnaire was used to collect data on musculoskeletal injuries occurring in the last 12 months. Results: Different dance styles were associated with different body asymmetries, including strength asymmetries (hip flexion and external rotation), agonist/antagonist asymmetries (trunk flexion/extension, hip abduction/adduction, ankle dorsi/plantar flexion) and hip adduction and internal rotation range of motion asymmetries. Moreover, strength asymmetries of hip flexion, adduction and abduction/adduction as well as stability asymmetries were associated with the total number of musculoskeletal injuries. Conclusions: The incidence of body asymmetries (> 10%) in dancesport, hip-hop and ballet dancers was confirmed, as well as the association of some asymmetries with self-reported injuries occurring over the last 12 months. The cause-effect relationship should be clarified by further studies.
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on grief, death, mourning, and coping
Authors: Majid Abdul , Suhaff Ajaz A. , Teli Bilal A. , Rafiq Farhana , Bhat Aijaz
Published: November 2022

Background:

The outbreak of COVID-19 has influenced every sphere and all aspects of life. COVID patients were kept in isolation to curb the spread of the infection; such situations led to mental health issues in patients as well as in their families.

Aims and Objectives:

The aim and objectives of the current study were to find the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on grief, death mourning and coping in Kashmir.

Materials and Methods:

For the deeper understanding of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. A sample of 89 individuals whose loved ones died (COVID or non-COVID deaths) during pandemic were enrolled with purposive sampling technique. The sociodemographic details of both participants as well as the deceased persons were recorded, followed by semi-structured interview, Brief Cope Scale (BCS) and Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS).

Results:

Majority of the participants who lost a relative due to COVID-19 who were males in the age-group of 60 years and above. Grief was found more in males and in relatives whose loved ones died of COVID-19. Coping strategies adopted by the family members whose relative died of COVID more often adopted avoidant coping strategies as compared to non-COVID deaths. Mostly, deaths occurred when the family members were not around. It was highly challenging for the participants to mourn the loss as most of the mournings were in isolation, and there was hardly any support. Most of the participants could not perform last rites which complicated the grief among them.

Conclusion:

Current study emphasizes the importance of social support for those who are grieving and need of face-to-face interactions which can never be replaced by speaking over phone or through virtual spaces. However in extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19 scenario, sharing grief, expressing care and love through any mode can be an effective way to help the bereaved individuals to understand that they are not forgotten.
Prevalence and severity of tobacco use and access to tobacco cessation among tertiary care psychiatric in-patients in India
Authors: Badekar Amol , Rajalu Banu Manickam , Muliyala Krishna Prasad , Sharma Priyamvada , Chand Prabhat Kumar , Murthy Pratima
Published: November 2022

Background:

Rates of smoking in persons with mental illness are reported to be two times higher than those without mental illness in developed countries. We aimed to examine the prevalence and severity of tobacco use, and access to tobacco cessation services among tertiary care psychiatric in-patients in India.

Methods:

In this cross-sectional study, 500 consecutive adult in-patients in tertiary care with ICD 10 diagnoses, F20-59, were administered a sociodemographic and clinical proforma, Clinical Global Impression—Severity scale, Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence, Tobacco Craving Questionnaire, Reasons for quitting questionnaire, and Smoke Scale—Adults. Urine cotinine levels were estimated in the last 100 patients. Details of tobacco use and cessation interventions provided were obtained.

Results:

Overall prevalence of current tobacco use was 34.00%; 34.3%, 32.6%, 43.6%, and 16.7% in patients of F20-29, F30-39, F40-49, and F50-59 categories, respectively. Males used tobacco products at a significantly higher rate (44.85% vs. 17.58% in females) and were highly dependent. Smokeless tobacco use was reported in 20.5% and 18% of female patients with F20-29 and F30-39 diagnoses, respectively. More than half of the tobacco users were not asked about tobacco use and 89.4% of the users were provided no prior assistance for cessation at the time of assessment. Urinary cotinine levels were significantly greater for those who use smokeless forms than smokers or dual users.

Conclusions:

Nearly a third of psychiatric in-patients are current users of tobacco. Moderate to severe tobacco dependence was observed across psychiatric diagnoses. The assessment and interventions provided were suboptimal.
Extended Role of Parametric Mapping with Cardiac Magnetic Resonance in the Evaluation of Endomyocardial Fibrosis – Our Initial Experience
Authors: Thakur Sneha Hemantkumar , Chudgar Priya Darshan , Kamat Nikhil , Burkule Nitin
Published: November 2022

Endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF) affects approximately 12 million persons worldwide and is an important cause of restrictive cardiomyopathy in the developing world, with the highest prevalence reported in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and South America. EMF is characterized by apical infiltration with fibrotic tissue in one or both ventricles, often associated with thrombus in early stage of the disease, calcification in late stage of the disease, and typical symptoms of restrictive heart failure. Clinical evaluation, transthoracic echocardiography, and characteristic Doppler findings of restrictive physiology are sufficient to diagnose EMF in most of the cases. However, few cases may require cardiac magnetic resonance due to poor echo window or shadowing due to apical calcification. Tissue characterization ability of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging has evolved further in the era of parametric mapping. We plan to showcase the incremental value of parametric mapping (T1/T2 mapping) in staging, prognostication, and management in two cases of EMF.
Factors Influencing Nurses' Decision to Activate Critical Care Response Team
Authors: AlDhoon Mustafa Ibrahim , Lalithabai Diana Selvamony , AbuSahyoun Nizar
Published: November 2022

Background:

Critical care response team (CCRT) intervenes quickly in life-threatening situations to reduce adverse outcomes and improve patient safety. Nurses play an essential role in CCRT activation. Despite clearly satisfied criteria, there have been instances where nurses have failed to activate CCRT.

Objective:

This study examined the factors that influence nurses' CCRT activation.

Methodology:

The proposed study was done in an acute health-care setting using a cross-sectional survey approach. The study participants included 206 nurses working in inpatient care units. Nursing staff in intensive care units, pediatric intensive care units, operating rooms, outpatient departments, and main emergency rooms were excluded from the study.

Results:

Moreover, half of the majority (54.4%) of the 206 responders are knowledgeable about CCRT activation. Nearly 83 (40.3%) choose not to activate CCRT due to fear of being chastised. Nurses were more reliant on physicians to trigger CCRT. The activation score significantly correlated with the nurse participants' job title and working unit.

Conclusions:

Nursing staff avoided using the CCRT for fear of being blamed despite having a positive impression. They are primarily reliant on physicians to initiate CCRT. In addition to education and training that engages all health-care workers, hospitals should empower nurses to reduce barriers and improve CCRT activation.
Awareness, Opinion, Attitude of Intensive Care Unit Specialists about the Ethical Guidelines for Dealing with Clinical Decisions Regarding the Allocation of Scarce Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Al-Suwaidan Faisal A. , AlJarallah Jamal S. , Alyousefi Nada A , Hussein Ghaiath
Published: November 2022

Background:

With the escalation of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, critical care specialists have been challenged by ethical issues related to the distribution of scarce resources. Many relevant guidelines have been published worldwide. The Saudi Critical Care Society included a local framework for ethics in its first clinical guidelines for clinical decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources during the COVID-19 pandemic for COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICUs). This study aimed to assess the awareness, opinions, and attitudes of ICU specialists concerning these ethical guidelines and the proposed definitions.

Methods:

A descriptive cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted. The study population included 300 ICU physicians in Saudi Arabia who were members of the Saudi Critical Care Society.

Results:

A total of 70 participants (23.3%) responded to the questionnaire. Most were male, non-Saudi, and Muslim. Professionally, they were mostly intensivists with 10 or more years of experience. The most agreed-upon suggested definitions were “health crisis,” “salvageable patients” category, and the “necessity scale” (32; 45.7%, 37; 52.9%, 52; 74.3%, and 34; 48.6%, respectively). Less agreement was observed for the definitions of “de-escalation without omission” and “primary triage scale” (20; 28.6%, and 21; 3%, respectively). The most agreed-upon statements were those requiring healthcare providers to receive training on contagious diseases and calling for providing them with housing if a situation requires them to leave their homes (56; 80%), while the least agreed-upon statements concerned withholding mechanical ventilation from patients (29; 41.4%).

Conclusion:

During epidemics, health-care workers provide services in unusual, challenging situations. Doing so necessitates support in social, psychological, and professional areas. A decision-making framework is needed that endorses the cultural and religious contexts, as well as the lived experiences of frontline clinicians, including a clear de-escalation plan and a primary triage system during the pandemic.
Impacto de sistemas produtivos nos estoques de carbono e nitrogênio do solo na Região Noroeste do Paraná
Authors: Rachwal Marcos Fernando Glück , Zanatta Josileia Acordi , Porfírio-da-Silva Vanderley , Franciscon Luziane
Published: November 2022

Comparou-se os estoques de C e N em Latossolo Vermelho sob Floresta Estacional Semidecidual (FN), pastagem convencional (P) e sistema de integração pecuária-floresta (IPF). Coletaram-se amostras de solo em subcamadas até 100 cm de profundidade, após 5 anos da implantação dos sistemas produtivos. O solo do IPF apresentou estoque de C, na camada de 0 a 30 cm, 39% e 23% menor do que no solo da FN e da P, respectivamente. Com 3,2 Mg ha-1 de N o solo do IPF continha menor estoque na camada de 0 cm a 30 cm em relação ao solo da P (4,7 Mg ha-1 de N). Na camada de 0-100 cm não houve diferença nos estoques de C entre os tratamentos, mas o IPF apresentou o menor estoque de N. Os sistemas produtivos necessitam de medidas adicionais de manejo para potencializar o acúmulo de C e N no solo, entre as quais, reposição de nutrientes, adequado manejo da pastagem e melhores práticas silviculturais no IPF, visando reduzir o grau de sombreamento. Isto trará sustentabilidade aos sistemas, minimizando a perda de C e N para a atmosfera, na forma de GEE, um dos fatores que colabora para as mudanças do clima.
The Effect of Traditional and Online Learning Approaches on the Survival and Transmission of the Oral Culture, Students' Attitude and National Values
Authors: Nurdauletova Bibaisha , Aimukhambet Zhanat , Saparbaikyzy Sholpan , Kamarova Nagbdu , Tolegenuly Bekbolat
Published: November 2022

This study examines the effects of providing students with the literature-related foundations of knowledge revealed in the works of the famous Zhyrau who lived in the in the city of Aktau, Mangistau region of Kazakhstan, through online and traditional teaching. For this purpose, pretest-posttest model with study control group was applied. The study was conducted on the subject of "The Zhyrau and Their Place in Kazakh Language Literature" at the Department of Kazakh Philology in the 2022 academic year and lasted 6 weeks. According to the research findings, it has been seen that online supported blended teaching has a positive effect on the success of the course and the retention of what has been learned in the subject of "The Zhyrau and Their Place in Kazakh Language Literature" compared to traditional teaching. In another finding of the study, there was no significant difference in the attitudes and perceptions of national values of the participant student groups on the subject of "The Zhyrau and Their Place in Kazakh Language Literature". In both groups, students in the experimental group with online supported blended teaching and the control group students in the traditional teaching achieved very high posttest course attitude and national value perception scores. Online, blended and traditional activities on "The Zhyrau and Their Place in Kazakh Language Literature" have positively and highly affected students' attitudes and perceptions of national values.
The Educational Use of YouTube Videos in Communication Fluency Development in English: Digital Learning and Oral Skills in Secondary Education
Authors: Toleuzhan Akbota , Sarzhanova Galiya , Romanenko Svetlana , Uteubayeva Elmira , Karbozova Gulnara
Published: November 2022

Advancement of technology nowadays shows English has become necessary to be mastered and taught to students. Many media tools can be used in teaching language skills. One such widely used media is considered video website YouTube.com since it is the social medium that is positively appraised most by all learners. With adequate access to the internet, learners could use YouTube videos as the valuable tool to develop multiple foreign language skills. This research explored the types of EFL YouTube videos mostly watched by secondary students to enhance speaking skills in the school for gifted children in Kazakhstan. After analyzing the content of YouTube videos, a mixed-methods study was employed to reveal the most preferable categories of video websites that might be valuable to boost communication proficiency in English. Data collection was via a questionnaire with 288 Secondary Education students’ participation. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed descriptively. The findings of the study indicated that Secondary Education students had a positive attitude towards using YouTube videos to learn English speaking skills. In addition, participants’ responses showed that mostly used categories were found regarding English films, songs and vlogs. Authors also identified that the most preferable types of YouTube videos helped learners to become motivated and confident throughout the experiment.
Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Creativity Studies in WoS and Scopus Databases
Authors: Sarikaya Ozge , Denis-Celiker Huriye
Published: November 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine the trends in recent years by focusing on the bibliometric results of previous studies on scientific creativity. For this purpose, a total of 370 publications on scientific creativity obtained from Web of Science and Scopus databases were examined in terms of different bibliometric variables, and they were presented with visuals and tables. Bibliometric analyses of the publications in both databases were performed separately. Afterwards, a comparison of the top 10 studies that stand out in terms of scientific creativity studies in both databases was made and they were integrated with each other. Tables and images were created using the VOSviewer package program. The results of the study showed that the most frequently used keywords in research in both databases were “scientific creativity” and “creativity”. In both databases, the countries that had the highest number of studies and whose scientific studies were most cited were determined as USA and China. In addition, it was also determined that the top three most cited authors in scientific creativity studies in both databases were D. K. Simonton, W. Hu, and R. J. Sternberg.
Effectiveness of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL)-Based Intervention on Developing Thai EFL Learners’ Oral Accuracy
Authors: Phetsut Piyaporn , Waemusa Zainee
Published: November 2022

With the rapid growth of digital technology, mobile phones are widely used for EFL teaching and learning. However, little is known about the effectiveness of integrating a mobile application into EFL classrooms to improve oral accuracy in Thai school contexts. An instructional intervention grounded with Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) and dynamic assessment in Thai EFL contexts needs to be further investigated. This quasi – experimental study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a mobile-based intervention to develop Thai EFL learners’ speaking. Thirty students from a secondary school in southern Thailand were assigned to complete five oral tasks through the dynamic assessment process as an intervention on WhatsApp in order to develop their oral accuracy. Quantitative data were collected from the oral pre-test and post-test to examine the students’ speaking development by utilizing the paired samples t-test. The results showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test after the implementation of the MALL-based intervention. It could be suggested that the application of the MALL-based intervention could develop EFL learners’ oral accuracy in Thai school contexts. Implementations and recommendations of this study are discussed.
The Effectiveness of Online Learning Using Zoom Meetings at Elementary Schools
Authors: Hidayat Syarip , Lovita Imas Damayanti , Zakiyah Zenzen , Mimin Mimin , Nurpratiwi Arinda
Published: November 2022

This study aimed to describe the effectiveness of using Zoom Meetings, as one of the online learning platforms, in the learning process at the select school of elementary school. The purposive survey method was used in this study involving the process of data triangulation from tests, questionnaires, and unstructured interviews. Sampling in this study is random sample or probability sampling is a sampling technique that uses technical opportunities in the sampling process. A sample of 160 students select school participated in this study by filling out questionnaires distributed online. Student responses were analyzed descriptively quantitatively to determine the using of Zoom Meeting the implementation of learning. Data was collected using a five-item Likert scale survey. Based on the results of data analysis from filling in student questionnaires, it can be concluded that the online learning system using Zoom in elementary schools is effectively used, with the percentage of students understanding learning is 72.50%.
A Two-year Follow-up Case Study on Pre-service Science Teachers’ Attitudes towards Online Learning and Academic Achievement in Science Education Courses
Authors: El Takach Suzanne
Published: November 2022

The present paper attempts to answer the following research questions: 1.What are students’ attitudes towards distance education during COVID-19? 2. What are students’ feelings and opinions towards online education? 3. What are the impacts of distance learning on students’ development of their PCK skills? And 4. What is students’ academic achievement in taught online science education courses? To collect data, a total sample of 117 students enrolled in undergraduate program for science teaching at the elementary level, was used. Data was collected over three semesters, during the academic years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. The data collection tools used are: a. a questionnaire administered to students enrolled in their 2nd through the 6th semesters, at the Faculty of Education, Lebanese University, at the end of science education courses, b. students’ grades in formative and summative assessments in science education courses, c. students’ drawing themselves as remote learners, and d. a post-interview of a purposeful sample. Data analysis was done using interim analysis in the form of post-zoom class conferences and data validation using member check at the end of courses. Findings showed that students at the beginning of the state successive and long lockdowns were happy to learn remotely. But as time passes, they were dissatisfied with online learning, 38% of students missed the campus life and 16% lacked the interaction with their teachers and classmates. In addition, students’ academic performance decreased significantly and many were concerned about the little expertise to deal with students in real classes. For 57% of students, distance learning was difficult than classroom, and 70.5% admitted that home environment was not suitable for participating in online lectures due to distractions by their families. Quality teaching and the need for evaluation the online teaching/learning process at the level of the Faculty of Education and the Lebanese University is an urgent need.
STEREOLİTHOGRAFİ EKLEMELİ İMALAT YÖNTEMİYLE FARKLI DOLULUK ORANLARINDA ÜRETİLEN NUMUNELERİN MEKANİK ÖZELLİKLERİNİN İNCELENMESİ
Authors: TURAN Salih Rahmi , ÜLKİR Osman , KUNCAN Melih , BULDU Abdulkadir
Published: November 2022

Eklemeli üretim (EÜ), yalnızca prototip oluşturma konusunda değil, aynı zamanda nihai tasarımlara basılı parçaların dahil edilmesinin kolaylığı nedeniyle de endüstride bir değişimi yönlendiriyor. Stereolithografi (SLA), 3B yazıcı teknolojisi kullanılarak karmaşık parçaların hızlı üretilebildiği ve platform üzerinde dikey olarak çalışan bir eklemeli üretim teknolojisidir. Bu teknikte akışkan reçine, lazer ışını ile 3B parçalar kullanılarak katman katman işlenerek model elde edilmektedir. Diğer üretim tekniklerinden farklı olarak model şeffaf ve dayanıklı bir yapıdadır. SLA ile üretim yapan 3B yazıcılarla üretilen parçaların mekanik özelliklerinin bilinmesi, parçaların verimli çalışması ve üretim tekniğinin kullanımının yaygınlaşması açısından önemlidir. Bu çalışmada, Flashforge Foto 6.0 3B yazıcı ile Anycubic UV reçine malzeme kullanarak farklı doluluk oranına sahip 15 adet çekme ve 15 adet basma olmak üzere toplamda 30 adet numune üretilmiştir. Doluluk oranının mekanik özellikler üzerindeki etkileri araştırılmıştır. Sonuç olarak, %25, %50 ve %100 doluluk oranının, SLA tabanlı 3B yazıcı ile üretilen çekme ve basma numunelerinin mekanik özellikleri üzerinde etkisi olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Kullanılan doluluk oranları arasından en yüksek çekme ve basma mukavemetinin “%100” doluluk oranında olduğu belirlenmiştir. Bu değerler sırasıyla 10.095 MPa ve 10.098 MPa’dır. Ortalama çekme ve basma mukavemeti değerlerinin doluluk oranı arttıkça yükseldiği gözlemlenmiştir.
Making Green Bonds Greener: Proposals to Increase the Efficiency of Green Bonds
Authors: Tomfort André
Published: November 2022

Abstract

The Paris Climate Agreement requires tremendous investments into a radically new energy supply, into buildings, transport, mobility and climate-resilience. It was estimated that between USD 5 and 7 trillion of public and private capital would have to be raised each year between now and 2050. Green Bonds are hoped to become one of the main financial vehicles to generate this amount of capital. The Green Bond market, so far, has not been able to stimulate additional green investments. To change this pattern, this paper presents several proposals. The most important one is to implement a disagio in the repayment of the principal if the investment has led to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The value of this reduction would be determined by the market prices for emission certificates. With this mechanism an existing market for certificates could be easily exported into countries that do not have such a market. High multiplier effects from climate mitigation investments could be expected so that these disagio payments would finance themselves. Other important proposals are a support for asset-backed and covered bonds, a credible third-party certification of the greenness of a bond and a clarification of the criteria to determine a Green Bond.

JEL classification numbers: G23, G24, G28.
Keywords: Sustainable finance, Green bonds, Carbon markets, Emission rights, Multiplier effects.
E-LEARNING AND MODERN DIGITAL PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR MEXICO
Authors: VILLALOBOS LÓPEZ José Antonio
Published: November 2022

The article follows the deductive method, with a hermeneutic paradigm and a qualitative approach. Online learning has allowed students to have academic preparation without having to go to a traditional educational center, where there is already physical displacement and there are no pre-established schedules, in addition, they allow lowering travel and tuition costs. Permanent relearning, asynchronous models and self-learning are managing to train individuals who know how to search for adequate information and solve problems as they arise, increasing their sense of responsibility and achieving permanent updating of their knowledge. In the last decade, modern digital media have generated the appearance of new professional activities, among which they have stood out for generating higher income: Chief Digital Officer (CDO); Chief Technology Officer (CTO); Digital Business Manager. Artificial intelligence allows imitating the functions that humans perform constantly and repetitively, making its application trend grow exponentially in the future.