bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cogito et description de Descartes à Husserl : de la réflexion transcendantale à la méthode régressive
Authors: Pradelle Dominique
Published: February 2021

Une phénoménologie prenant son point de départ dans l’évidence absolue du cogito est-elle encore possible, ou rejetée dans le passé périmé par les critiques qui en mettent en doute le caractère d’évidence absolue ? Mais la méthode de réflexion transcendantale est-elle véritablement d’ascendance cartésienne ? Nous tentons de montrer que, qu’il soit ou non interprété comme le résultat d’une démarche de réflexion, le cogito cartésien n’est nullement corrélatif d’une description réflexive des structures de la conscience, mais qu’un tel projet a plutôt ses racines dans la Logique de Port-Royal , chez Malebranche et Leibniz. Puis, analysant la critique de fond adressée par Natorp à la thèse husserlienne de l’accès réflexif de la conscience pure, nous mettons en question cette dernière sur un double exemple (les modes de la conscience sensible et les actes de la conscience mathématicienne), pour montrer qu’à la démarche de réflexion transcendantale (censée saisir directement dans leur effectuation les vécus de la conscience) doit se substituer une démarche indirecte de reconstitution régressive, qui part des objets pour élucider les données et actes qui sont nécessaires à leur constitution.
Des mondes à Dieu : Descartes et les modalités
Authors: Chauvier Stéphane
Published: February 2021

Comment connaître un monde qui serait l’œuvre d’un créateur tout-puissant ? Nous reconstituons, à la lumière de la célèbre théorie cartésienne dite de la « création des vérités éternelles », la structure modale d’un tel monde et cherchons à reconstituer quelle épistémologie devrait lui correspondre. Nous nous demandons alors si c’est bien une telle épistémologie que l’on trouve dans les Méditations et les Principes de Descartes.
Évolution des systèmes ruraux et cohérence des dynamiques territoriales de la connaissance
Authors: De Rosa Marcello , Bartoli Luca , Chiappini Silvia
Published: February 2021

L’objectif de l’article est d’analyser la « cohérence » des systèmes de transmission de la connaissance dans les territoires ruraux. Plus précisément, notre travail examine la « cohérence » des Dynamiques Territoriales de la Connaissance Rurale (DTCR), à travers l’étude des services de vulgarisation agricole dans les territoires ruraux. Nous émettons l’hypothèse que les trajectoires de développement rural répondent aux différents besoins de la connaissance rurale et que, par conséquent, les services de vulgarisation agricole doivent s’adapter aux différents systèmes territoriaux ruraux. En appliquant l’approche par les milieux innovateurs (logiques d’interaction et d’apprentissage), notre analyse met en évidence de profondes différences d’adoption de la connaissance et, donc, des incohérences entre l’offre et la demande de connaissance au sein de différents contextes ruraux. Classification JEL  : Q12, Q16, Q18
On a supersonic-sonic patch arising from the frankl problem in transonic flows
Authors: Hu Yanbo , Li Jiequan
Published: February 2021

We construct a supersonic-sonic smooth patch solution for the two dimensional steady Euler equations in gas dynamics. This patch is extracted from the Frankl problem in the study of transonic flow with local supersonic bubble over an airfoil. Based on the methodology of characteristic decompositions, we establish the global existence and regularity of solutions in a partial hodograph coordinate system in terms of angle variables. The original problem is solved by transforming the solution in the partial hodograph plane back to that in the physical plane. Moreover, the uniform regularity of the solution and the regularity of an associated sonic curve are also verified.
First Return Time to the contact hyperplane for $ N $-degree-of-freedom vibro-impact systems
Authors: Le Thi Huong , Junca Stéphane , Legrand Mathias
Published: February 2021

The paper deals with the dynamics of conservative \begin{document}$ N $\end{document}-degree-of-freedom vibro-impact systems involving one unilateral contact condition and a linear free flow. Among all possible trajectories, grazing orbits exhibit a contact occurrence with vanishing incoming velocity which generates mathematical difficulties. Such problems are commonly tackled through the definition of a Poincaré section and the attendant First Return Map. It is known that the First Return Time to the Poincaré section features a square-root singularity near grazing. In this work, a non-orthodox yet natural and intrinsic Poincaré section is chosen to revisit the square-root singularity. It is based on the unilateral condition but is not transverse to the grazing orbits. A detailed investigation of the proposed Poincaré section is provided. Higher-order singularities in the First Return Time are exhibited. Also, activation coefficients of the square-root singularity for the First Return Map are defined. For the linear and periodic grazing orbits from which bifurcate nonlinear modes, one of these coefficients is necessarily non-vanishing. The present work is a step towards the stability analysis of grazing orbits, which still stands as an open problem.
Penrose’s Singularity Theorem
Authors: KANG Gungwon
Published: February 2021

Penrose’s singularity theorem and its impacts on black hole physics are reviewed briefly.
The Consequences of Market Orientation on Performance, New Product Success, and Customer Satisfaction in Traditional Sectors
Authors: Matos Graça Ramos Paulo
Published: February 2021

The market orientation concept used has been used as a way to measure the implementation of marketing strategies and tactics. Although it is still widely accepted and used as a framework for various researches, it is still open for debate as there is not yet a consensus on its consequences on business performance and in other consequences such has new product development and customer satisfaction. This chapter discusses the application of market orientation in a traditional sector (the Portuguese wine sector) using a market orientation model that integrates both the cultural and the behavioural streams. The results of the research lead us to conclude that market orientation favours in a moderate ways new product success and customer satisfaction and that it is not directly related with business profitability.
Creative and Innovative Ways of Consumer Engagement
Authors: Pangriya Ruchita , Singh Aditi Priya
Published: February 2021

Customer engagement simply means connecting with your customers. The objective of customer engagement is to build a strong emotional bond between your brand and your customer. A study by McKinsey And Company rated customer engagement as the top priority of all businesses. There is no doubt on the point that customer engagement leads to consumer loyalty. Companies need to think about innovative and unique ways to engage our customers. The objective of writing this chapter is to unfold the various creative and innovative ways for customer engagement. For this purpose, the author has discussed the various examples across the industries. The author has tried to explain how different sectors are working on this strategy with the help of new technology. This chapter is going to be extremely useful for the researchers, scholars and strategy makers by educating them and presenting the new horizons of consumer engagements.
Impact of Artificial Intelligence in the Future of Retail and Customer Engagement
Authors: V. Rodriguez Raul
Published: February 2021

We are witnessing a real revolution in the way we buy and in consumer habits. It's been decades since brands started taking their first steps in ecommerce, followed by the implementation of the first online payments and the phenomenon of .com. However, even at that time, companies had little information about their customers, and these were perceived and treated as a large homogeneous mass. The stage today is different. The user is proactive and has access to a lot of information, which makes him more demanding. For this and other reasons, the consumer should be perceived and treated as an independent individual and whose needs determine the development and marketing of a brand's products and services (now called a centric customer strategy).
Firms and Consumer Attitudes in the Digital Market
Authors: Tehci Ali , Ersoy Yusuf
Published: February 2021

With the digitalization experienced as a result of technological developments, global economies have been affected in various ways, and data and information flows have accelerated. Technological developments that significantly increased the spread of information have undoubtedly affected all consumers and businesses. Especially with the widespread use of mobile-internet-based applications, consumers spend more time and shop on digital platforms. It is thought that businesses need to analyze digital consumer attitudes and benefit from marketing activities and digital marketing opportunities to gain a competitive advantage in digital markets. For this reason, it is aimed to determine the criteria that affect the consumer attitude in digital markets and the most suitable firm according to these criteria by using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method. Within the scope of the research, three different firms in the field of e-trade were evaluated based on expert opinion according to five criteria.
Determinants of Customer Engagement in Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) Communication
Authors: Rani Anshu , Itam Urmila , H. N. Shivaprasad
Published: February 2021

The technological advancement in the usage of social networking sites (SNSs) has grown beyond boundaries. This expansion helps organizations to capture the attention of online customers towards their products and services. The primary purpose of the study is to list the drivers of eWOM credibility and explore its role in customer engagement at SNSs. A conceptual model that categorizes source credibility, trustability, knowledge, tie strength, and homophily are identified as the drivers of eWOM source credibility in SNSs. Similarly, valence, volume, consistency, emotions, quality, and rating are listed as the drivers of eWOM message credibility. This study suggested that drivers of eWOM will impact on customer engagement and that will, in turn, result in building a positive attitude, brand image, and behaviour towards the product or service listed in the SNSs. Further, the study discusses the theoretical and managerial implications in engaging customers through eWOM.
Preparation of Composite Metal-Organic Frameworks
Authors: Thakur Abhinay , Sharma Shveta , Kumar Ashish
Published: February 2021

In recent years, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived composites have emanated as a significant class of substantial materials with specific functional characteristics such as flexibility, high porosity, and diverse composition. Specific chemical modifications can also endow MOFs with specific functionality by offering the possibility of manufacturing all new generation of sensing devices. As on comparison with pure MOFs, the mix up of MOFs with matrix materials(e.g., metal nanoparticles, quantum dots, molecular species, enzymes, silica, and polymers) or functional species not only exhibits enhanced properties, but also widens its applications to modern field of heterogeneous catalysis, gas separation, potential hydrogen storage material and many others due to its high adsorption nature and excellent reversibility kinetics as in result reveals its various undefined attributes, such as reproducible syntheses, amenability to scale-up and chemical modification due to interactions of the functional matrix or species with the MOFs structures.
Applications of Quartz Crystal Microbalances Modified With Metal Organic Frameworks
Authors: Murrieta-Rico Fabian N. , Yocupicio-Gaxiola Rosario I. , Petranovskii Vitalii , Galván Donald H. , Antunez-Garcia Joel
Published: February 2021

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are versatile materials that are of interest due to their application and properties. MOFs are highly crystalline and porous materials; they are composed of organic bridging ligands, acting as linkers, and a three-dimensional (3D) network of metal ions that are secondary building units. Since the MOFs have a high surface area, high porosity, tunable topography, and their structures are quite diverse, these materials are used in process of separation/purification, gas/energy storage, drug delivery, catalysis, and chemical sensors. Since the MOFs can be modified to selectively adsorb chemical species, they can be used as sensitive layer for modification of sensors. This process allows the sensor to detect the target analyte. Quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs) are highly sensitive mass sensors. In this chapter, the authors review the literature related to QCMs modified with MOFs. In particular, the relationship between target analyte, class of MOF, and instrument used for measurement of frequency variations.
A Voice From the Field
Authors: Smith Lindsay M.
Published: February 2021

The purpose of this chapter is to show the long-lasting impacts of educator-scientist-student partnerships on both educators and students as perceived through the eyes of an educator. The chapter chronicles the educator's experiences and changes in teaching philosophy before, during, and after participation in the PolarTREC program. The goal of the chapter is to inform the reader on the benefits of participation in educator-scientist-student partnerships and encourage the reader to participate in future partnerships.
Real-World Connections With Conservation Science Through Zoos and Aquariums
Authors: Kubarek Joy , Johnson Brian
Published: February 2021

Zoos and aquariums have a long history of providing conservation education to students and teachers. As the conservation work of zoos and aquariums has grown, so have the opportunities to connect students and teachers to the work of these scientists. This chapter highlights a number of exemplary zoo and aquarium programs that connect students and teachers to scientific resources, career opportunities, and firsthand experience doing conservation science. These examples are not exhaustive of all the connections to scientists that zoos and aquariums provide, but rather they are representative of the types of experiences and subsequent outcomes that are possible. The chapter concludes with a discussion of opportunities for the future, including recommendation for robust evaluation and research of these programs.
The Potential for Science Centers in Student-Teacher-Scientist Partnerships
Authors: Heimlich Joe E. , Aichele Andy , Bertley Frederic
Published: February 2021

Science centers and museums have been heavily invested in helping scientists engage in reaching broader publics. Starting with understanding the types of learning that happen in these institutions, the chapter explores the roles of science centers in society as defined by the Association of Science and Technology Centers. The authors explore how those roles play out in COSI, a large science center in Columbus, Ohio. Each of the roles identified is tied to programs related to the interface among school-aged youth, teachers (formal and informal educators), and scientists. The authors explore these roles by describing each program and then laying out the theoretical foundations and the desired outcomes of the engagement.
Playful Learning, Thinking Dispositions, and Daring and Challenging Play in Early Childhood
Authors: Barreto Isabel María Gómez , Fernández Carlos Montoya , Santander Andrea Carolina Ortega , Ramos José Luis Gómez
Published: February 2021

This chapter presents research based on evidence, where the way of favoring the promotion of thought and the opportunities for play as a learning resource is investigated. Twenty-four three-year-old children and one teacher participated in the study. The research is based on psychology and pedagogy's empirical contributions about the game and its implication with cognitive processes and learning. The implemented method consisted of direct observation, supported by video recordings in the classrooms and during playtime. Results revealed that the promotion of thought was scarce, and there were also few opportunities for playful learning. Thus, the most frequently encouraged thinking types were connections, explanations, self-questioning and inquiring, and thinking dispositions observed during play – such as being open, adventurous, curious, and willing to be intellectually careful. In sum, a proposal based on playful learning is designed to respond to the needs found to achieve the research goals.
Emotional Factors for Teleaudiology
Authors: Sterling Leon , Burrows Rachel , Barnet Belinda , Taffe Simone , McDonald Rachael
Published: February 2021

The internet has created new possibilities for health practitioners to deliver services remotely. The potential for telemedicine is yet to be fully realized. Many factors hamper the uptake of telemedicine, including funding models and the availability of technology. This chapter concerns one important area often neglected by technology developers: considering the emotions of users interacting with systems and services. The authors believe that consideration of emotions is essential for the advocacy, adoption, and appropriation of telemedicine services by a wide range of stakeholders, who have diverse abilities and motivations. They consider one area of telemedicine: teleaudiology. The authors outline emotional factors that need to be considered in providing teleaudiology services drawing on research from software engineering developing agent-oriented models of socio-technical systems, as well as knowledge of assistive technology frameworks. They consider how emotional factors can be taken into consideration with respect to a specific teleaudiology service provided by a successful company.
Efficacy of Telemedicine in Psychiatry and Mental Health Nursing
Authors: Jones Michael , Berhie Girmay
Published: February 2021

Adoption and implementation of telecommunication services which allow psychiatric services to be delivered have increased availability of care to patients in remote areas. Past studies have suggested that telepsychiatry services are comparable to traditional face-to-face services; and patients typically considered telepsychiatry an acceptable alternative. The purpose of this research was to examine and describe the efficacy of psychiatric care delivered via telemedicine (telepsychiatry) to determine whether telepsychiatry could improve outcomes for patients. Seven electronic databases were utilized with a total of 22 articles that were referenced as a basis for this literature review. The findings suggest telepsychiatry is an effective alternative compared to traditional methods. Future research should include controlled experiments that compare telepsychiatry to face-to-face psychiatry and incorporate newer technologies into the research.
A Speech Clinic System for Children with Communication Disorder
Authors: Sarfraz Muhammad , Almutairi Maha S. , Jasem Zahraa A.
Published: February 2021

This research proposes, designs, and implements a new telehealth system. It is a Speech Clinic System (SCS) for children with communication disorders. It provides an online automated alternate to the traditional manual treatment processes for children with communication disorder. The proposed SCS provides an easy way for parents to be in touch with the speech-language pathologist, check their child progress, make an appointment, follow guidelines, and choose therapy exercises. The structure of the system has been designed to automate parts of the treatment process. To achieve the targeted system, in addition to investigating the latest studies in this area, the needed data was collected through interviews and searching about the treatment process of children with communication disorder. The system, as a special case, has been oriented for the Arabic speaking communities (specially state of Kuwait) to improve its healthcare sector. However, it can be easily oriented to fulfill the needs of other countries with some variation of language and other local requirements.
Secure and Robust Telemedicine using ECC on Radix-8 with Formal Verification
Authors: Kumar Gautam , Saini Hemraj
Published: February 2021

The scalar multiplication techniques used in Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) are having the scope for gaining the computation efficiency. This is possible through the reduction of precomputed operations. Finding the more efficient technique compares to the most recent or efficient one is a research gap for all schemes. The manuscript presents an application oriented work for Telemedicine using ECC. It is based on robust application on reduced computational complexity. The methodology we apply for the same is Scalar Multiplication without precomputation on Radix-8. Introduced software and the hardware performance are reporting a big advantage over all the related proposed techniques. The reason to cover this problem is to provide a path on a fascinating area of ECC on a smaller key size be applicable for all applications on a same level of security strengths. The smaller length key gives the higher speed and shorter clock cycle to initiate the operation.
A FRT - SVD Based Blind Medical Watermarking Technique for Telemedicine Applications
Authors: Borra Surekah , Thanki Rohit
Published: February 2021

In this article, a blind and robust medical image watermarking technique based on Finite Ridgelet Transform (FRT) and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is proposed. A host medical image is first transformed into 16 × 16 non-overlapping blocks and then ridgelet transform is applied on the individual blocks to obtain sets of ridgelet coefficients. SVD is then applied on these sets, to obtain the corresponding U, S and V matrix. The watermark information is embedded into the host medical image by modification of the value of the significant elements of U matrix. This proposed technique is tested on various types of medical images such as X-ray and CT scan. The simulation results revealed that this technique provides better imperceptibility, with an average PSNR being 42.95 dB for all test medical images. This technique also overcomes the limitation of the existing technique which is applicable on only the Region of Interest (ROI) of the medical image.
A Hybrid Watermarking Technique for Copyright Protection of Medical Signals in Teleradiology
Authors: Thanki Rohit M. , Borra Surekha , Borisagar Komal R.
Published: February 2021

Today, an individual's health is being monitored for diagnosis and treatment of diseases upon analyzing various medical data such as images and signals. Modifications of this medical data when it is transferred over an open communication channel or network leads to deviations in diagnosis and creates a serious health issue for any individual. Digital watermarking techniques are one of the solutions for providing protection to multimedia contents. This chapter gives requirements and various techniques for the security of medical data using watermarking. This chapter also demonstrates a novel hybrid watermarking technique based on fast discrete curvelet transform (FDCuT), redundant discrete wavelet transform (RDWT), and discrete cosine transform (DCT). This watermarking technique can be used for securing medical various types of medical images and ECG signals over an open communication channel.
The Importance of Qualitative Methods in Mixed Methods Studies
Authors: Boivin Jacquelynne Anne
Published: February 2021

This article presents a thorough review of the literature dedicated to learning more about mixed methods research design. Explanatory sequential mixed methods studies and exploratory sequential mixed methods studies are the two types of mixed methods research design models that this article presents in detail. To contextualize different ideas related to research design, the author provides examples of research studies that exemplify different research designs falling within mixed methods. The main objective of this article is to highlight the important role that qualitative research design plays in mixed methods research. Such a presentation of the literature aims to argue that qualitative data substantiates quantitative data as a means to heighten the regard to which qualitative methodology receives.
Contextualizing Action Research
Authors: Adugu Emmanuel
Published: February 2021

This article focuses on designing and conducting action research in diverse settings. Action research is a collaborative approach to problem solving. It involves consultative problem identification, reflects context, encourages reflexive examination, and ultimately encourages and empowers beneficiaries for desirable change. In that regard, it puts all stakeholders at the core of the change process. The process of change from research project conceptualization to analysis and policy implications is thus made more understandable and meaningful to community actors (beneficiaries). The chapter features three empirical models from diverse parts of the world. These are Model 1: Photo-voice as a form action research depicting an underused footbridge in Barbados; Model 2: DANIDA Community Water and Sanitation Project, Ghana; and REACH After School Enrichment Program, USA.
Prioritizing the Components of Online Environment to Assess Customer Experience
Authors: Garg Ruchi Jain , Vandana (b8887092-79d1-4400-8995-75fb01e06fca  , Kumar Vinod
Published: February 2021

The present study aims to identify and prioritize the components of customer experience in online environment. The study employs Pareto analysis and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) to accomplish above-mentioned objective. Firstly, 36 components have been derived from extensively reviewed literature, and out of them, 15 were finalized as vital few variables having 80% influence in creating customer experience in online environment. To assess the impact of these 15 components, one outcome component ‘Customer Experience (Flow)' has been added. So, an ISM technique is applied on a total of 16 components of customer experience in online environment. The aim of this technique is to highlight the interrelationships among the components and to prioritize them. Further, the findings are strengthened by using MICMAC analysis. Results revealed that time distortion, skill, focused attention, interactivity, playfulness, start web, and involvement are found to have weak dependence powers but with strong driving powers. However, control, challenge, arousal, telepresence, flow, positive affect, and exploratory behavior were found to possess weak driving power and strong dependence power. The results of the present study carry implications for academicians and marketers handling online experience of their customers.
Enterprise Crowdsourcing and Organizational Culture
Authors: Scupola Ada , Nicolajsen Hanne Westh
Published: February 2021

Although enterprise crowdsourcing systems that aim to harness the collective intelligence of employees for innovation purposes are proliferating, little is known about how they may impact organisations and their culture. To shed light on this problem, this paper conducts a case study to investigate an engineering consultancy's efforts to implement an internal crowdsourcing as part of an effort to change the innovation culture of the organisation. Taking the starting point in the literature on the relationship between IT and organisational culture and enterprise crowdsourcing, this paper underscores the interplay between innovation culture and information technology. The study finds that enterprise crowdsourcing systems can contribute to small changes of the innovation culture of an organisation along several cultural determinants, including behaviours that encourage innovation, communication and knowledge sharing, employees' relationships, support mechanisms, and strategy.
Patient-Physician Communication in Depression
Authors: Almeida Ana Margarida Pisco , Figueiredo-Braga Margarida , Almeida Hugo
Published: February 2021

Optimizing clinical communication between patients and health professionals is a major demand, particularly in mental health; the use of digital media is creating new opportunities in this field. Messaging services can be particularly useful to enhance communication with patients with depression, between consultations, allowing the delivery of supportive messages or reminders. This paper discusses this scenario and describes a four-stage study: (1) a diagnosis of perspectives and practices, (2) a six-week SMS intervention plan, (3) a prototype of a digital application to support patients' follow-up and interaction, (4) and a survey on physicians' digital experience and predisposition to use the prototype. Results underline the potential of using messaging systems to improve communication between health professionals and patients with depression, namely when these systems are part of blended-interventions. Further research is needed, particularly regarding the adjustment of these solutions to specific target groups.
Robustness for Authentication of the Human Using Face, Ear, and Gait Multimodal Biometric System
Authors: Singh Law Kumar , Khanna Munish , Thawkar Shankar , Gopal Jagadeesh
Published: February 2021

Biometrics is the science that deals with personal human physiological and behavioral characteristics such as fingerprints, handprints, iris, voice, face recognition, signature recognition, ear recognition, and gait recognition. Recognition using a single trait has several problems and multimodal biometrics system is one of the solutions. In this work, the novel and imperative biometric feature gait is fused with face and ear biometric features for authentication and to overcome problems of the unimodal biometric recognition system. The authors have also applied various normalization methods to sort out the best solution for such a challenge. The feature fusion of the proposed multimodal biometric system has been tested using Min-Max and Z-score techniques. The computed results demonstrate that Z-Score outperforms the Min-Max technique. It is deduced that the Z-score is a promising method that generates a high recognition rate of 95% and a false acceptance rate of 10%.
Identifying Non-Performing Students in Higher Educational Institutions Using Data Mining Techniques
Authors: Aggarwal Deepti , Mittal Sonu , Bali Vikram
Published: February 2021

The educational institutes are focusing on improving the performance of students by using several data mining techniques. Since there is an increase in the number of drop out students every year, if we are able to predict whether a student will complete the course or not, it is possible to take some preventive actions beforehand. The primary data set used for modelling has been taken from a reputed technical institute of Uttar Pradesh which consists of data of 6,807 students containing 20 academic and non-academic attributes. The most relevant attributes are extracted using CorrelationAttributeEval (in WEKA) technique using Ranker search method which ranks the attributes as per their evaluation. Synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) filter is applied to deal with the skewed data set. The models are built from eight classifiers that are analysed for predicting the most appropriate model to classify whether a student will complete the course or withdraw his/her admission.
Proposal of Iterative Genetic Algorithm for Test Suite Generation
Authors: Bansal Ankita , Jain Abha , Anand Abhijeet , Annk Swatantra
Published: February 2021

Huge and reputed software industries are expected to deliver quality products. However, industry suffers from a loss of approximately $500 billion due to shoddy software quality. The quality of the product in terms of its accuracy, efficiency, and reliability can be revamped through testing by focusing attention on testing the product through effective test case generation and prioritization. The authors have proposed a test-case generation technique based on iterative listener genetic algorithm that generates test cases automatically. The proposed technique uses its adaptive nature and solves the issues like redundant test cases, inefficient test coverage percentage, high execution time, and increased computation complexity by maintaining the diversity of the population which will decrease the redundancy in test cases. The performance of the technique is compared with four existing test-case generation algorithms in terms of computational complexity, execution time, coverage, and it is observed that the proposed technique outperformed.
Comparative Analysis of Intelligent Driving and Safety Assistance Systems Using YOLO and SSD Model of Deep Learning
Authors: Sindhwani Nidhi , Verma Shekhar , Bajaj Tushar , Anand Rohit
Published: February 2021

Bad road conditions are one of the main causes of road accidents around the world. These kinds of accidents prove to be fatal as many lives are lost in these accidents that are mainly caused by potholes or distress on surface of roads. This paper suggests a system that will not only help in reducing the chances of these accidents by making the driver aware of the upcoming distress/potholes on the road but also saving the location of these potholes which can be sent to respective authorities so that they can be repaired. The authors have used technologies like image processing, computer vision, deep learning, and internet of things (IoT) to make this happen. It uses a camera mounted in front near windshield that will capture the images which will be further be processed to get the location of the potholes and distress on road. These detected potholes can be projected on a heads-up display (HUD) placed near windshield which will notify the driver of the potholes.
Do Project Managers' Emotional Leadership Competencies Affect the Success of Public Sector Projects in Pakistan?
Authors: Ahmed Riaz , Lodhi Khalid Mahmood
Published: February 2021

The importance of abilities and skills associated with the emotional leadership competencies has been discussed in project management literature. Project managers equipped with the emotional leadership competencies should be better in solving the challenges and problems to enhance project outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of project manager's emotional leadership competencies in the success of public sector projects. For this purpose, a survey-based methodology using cross-sectional design was adopted to collect data from 150 respondents from the public sector of Pakistan. The respondents of this study were the project managers/directors of information technology and telecommunication projects from the public sector of Pakistan. This quantitative study analyzed the data for reliability and validity of the constructs. To test research hypotheses, correlation and regression analyses were employed. Findings indicated significant impact of project manager's emotional leadership competencies on successful completion of Public sector projects in Pakistan.
Transmission Power Optimization of Concurrently Communicating Two Access Points in Wireless Local Area Network
Authors: Briantoro Hendy , Funabiki Nobuo , Kuribayashi Minoru , Munene Kwenga Ismael , Sudibyo Rahardhita Widyatra , Islam Md. Manowarul , Kao Wen-Chung
Published: February 2021

Currently, the IEEE 802.11 wireless local-area network (WLAN) has been prevalent around the world due to the advantages of mobility, flexibility, and scalability. WLAN offers the wireless internet-access method through an access-point (AP) at homes, schools, or offices. When multiple APs are deployed in the network field, the proper transmission power of each AP is essential to improve the performance, considering the coverage area, transmission capacity, and interference. In this paper, the authors study the transmission power optimization of concurrently communicating two APs in WLAN. Based on extensive experiment results, the authors propose a method of selecting the best power for each AP from the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of receiving signal strength (RSS). For evaluations, the authors implemented the proposed method on the elastic WLAN system testbed using Raspberry Pi for APs and conducted experiments for nine network topologies in two buildings at Okayama University. The results show that the proposal always selects the best power in any topology.
Agricultural Supply Chain Risk Management Under Price and Demand Uncertainty
Authors: Ray Pritee
Published: February 2021

Agricultural supply chain (ASC) plays a vital role for sustainability as it is the main source of food supply. ASC encounters more sources of risk due to seasonality, perishability, and weather conditions, which makes the global food security system complex. This paper develops an optimization model for a perishable product supply chain to decide the optimal risk management strategy that maximizes the decision maker's expected profit under demand and price uncertainty. A base-case scenario is considered to show the impact of risk management strategy on performance improvement. The expected profit of the decision maker is obtained for different combination of strategies, and sensitivity analysis is performed to show the impact of perishability on the percentage of improvement from the base case scenario. The results show that backup supplier strategy is very effective during the yield disruption, but it is not as effective during harvest disruption. Hence, a single approach is inadequate to provide solution in all types of risk scenarios; thus, the combination of approaches is most effective.
Examining the Relationship Between Supply Chain Management Practices and Production Performance in Indian Handloom Industry
Authors: Anumala Kalyani
Published: February 2021

Clothing is one of the basic needs of human beings and first produced by using handlooms. Cloth can be produced by three ways: using handloom, power loom, and mills. Mill sector falls under organized sector, where as the handloom and power looms fall under unorganized sector. The supply chain in this unorganized sector is different and not given any importance. The main aim of the study is to examine the relationship between supply chain management practices and production performance in Indian handloom industry. Data is collected from the master weavers of Undivided State of Andhra Pradesh and analysed using structural equation modeling. The study found that there is a relationship between the supply chain management practices and production performance.
Modelling Uptake Sensitivities of Connected and Automated Vehicle Technologies
Authors: Harrison Gillian , Shepherd Simon P. , Chen Haibo
Published: February 2021

Connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies and services are rapidly developing and have the potential to revolutionise the transport systems. However, like many innovations, the uptake pathways are uncertain. The focus of this article is on improving understanding of factors that may affect the uptake of highly and fully automated vehicles, with a particular interest in the role of the internet of things (IoT). Using system dynamic modelling, sensitivity testing towards vehicle attributes (e.g., comfort, safety, familiarity) is carried out and scenarios were developed to explore how CAV uptake can vary under different conditions based around the quality of IoT provision. Utility and poor IoT are found to have the biggest influence. Attention is then given to CAV ‘services' that are characterized by the attributes explored earlier in the paper, and it is found that they could contribute to a 20% increase in market share.
Study on CCDC69 interfering with the prognosis of patients with breast cancer through PPAR signal pathway
Authors: Li Jinjiao , Zhang Panshi , Xia Yun
Published: February 2021

Coiled-coil domain-containing protein 69 (CCDC69) is a novel gene and limited knowledge in known in breast cancer. In the present study, we aimed to explore the relationship between CCDC69 and breast cancer, demonstrate the clinicopathological significance and prognostic role of CCDC69 in breast cancer, and analyze the possible mechanism of CCDC69 affecting the prognosis of breast cancer. First, from GEO database, TIMER, GEPIA, and OncoLnc, we select CCDC69 as the potential gene which closely involved in breast cancer progression. Next, by real-time PCR detection, the expression of CCDC69 in breast cancer tissue was notably lower than that in normal breast tissues (p=0.0002). In addition, our immunohistochemistry (IHC) indicated that the positive expression rate of CCDC69 in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) was lower than that in the non-TNBC (p=0.0362), and it was negatively correlated with the expression of Ki67 (p=0.001). Further enrichment analysis of CCDC69 and the similar genes performed on FunRich3.1.3 revealed that these genes were significantly associated with fat differentiation, and most of them were related to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signal pathway. Collectively, our findings suggest that CCDC69 is down regulated in breast cancer tissue especially in TNBC which has higher malignant grade and poorer clinical prognosis.
Frailty and risk of mortality and hospitalization in nursing home residents affected by COVID-19
Authors: Veronese Nicola , Stangherlin Vanni , Mantoan Paola , Chiavalin Marco , Tudor Florina , Pozzobon Gianfranco
Published: February 2021

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a widespread condition in nursing homes (NHs). However, no research was made regarding frailty in NH residents during COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to assess whether frailty, assessed by the multidimensional prognostic index (MPI), can predict mortality/hospitalization in COVID-19 NH residents. A Cox’s regression analysis was used, reporting the results as hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). 1146 NH residents affected by COVID-19 were included (mean age: 86 years; 75.4% females). During the followup period, we observed 286 deaths and 239 hospitalizations. Taking those with MPI <0.41 as reference, an MPI ≥0.50 was associated with a higher risk of death (HR=1.41; 95%CI: 1.07-1.85). Similar results were obtained using the MPI score increase in 0.10 points (HR=1.12; 95%CI: 1.03-1.23). Using hospitalization as outcome, only MPI score as continuous variable was associated with this outcome (HR=1.08; 95%CI: 1.002-1.17). In conclusion, frailty, as assessed by the MPI, was associated with a significant higher risk of mortality and hospitalization in NH residents affected by COVID-19 further indicating the necessity of assessing frailty in NH.
Congenital hypoparathyroidism misdiagnosed as infantile seizure
Authors: Umar Umar Isa , Aliyu Ibrahim , Jahun Mahmud Gambo , Sabo Umar Abba , Gwarzo Garba Dayyabu
Published: February 2021

The occurrence of seizure in children is a common neurologic dysfunction and finding the underlying aetiology is critically important as it determines the prognosis and outcome of the seizure and also guides therapeutic strategies. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) plays key role in the complex controlling mechanisms regulating calcium and phosphate balance. An insufficient circulating PTH level is a common cause of hypocalcaemia. A 3-months-old infant was referred to our endocrine unit with recurrent seizures, body stiffness, noisy breathing and bilateral cataract. He was previously been diagnosed as epilepsy in a syndromic child. Biochemical investigation revealed hypoparathyroidism, brain MRI was suggestive of decrease myelination for age, EEG revealed normal study, and a diagnosis of congenital hypoparathyroidism was confirmed. After calcium and vitamin D replacement, the infant improved and was seizure free off antiepileptic therapy. This case therefore explores an unusual case of seizure disorder. It further highlights the fact that not all epilepsies are cryptogenic or genetic epilepsy, therefore treatable acute symptomatic etiologies should be adequately searched.
Effect of topical bupivacaine on post-tonsillectomy pain relief in children
Authors: Suleiman Musa Kallamu , Abdullahi Abdulkarim Aitek , Mohammed Alhassan Datti , Iseh Kufre Robert , Aliyu Abdulrahman , Bello Ibrahim Galadima
Published: February 2021

Tonsillectomy is a common surgery performed in paediatric otorhinolaryngology and is usually accompanied by considerable postoperative pain. Earlier literature has shown the use of topical bupivacaine for post-tonsillectomy pain relief to be promising. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of topical bupivacaine application on post-tonsillectomy pain relief. Fifty consenting patients scheduled for tonsillectomy that met the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study and assigned into two groups of 25 patients each. Group B had their tonsillar fossa packed with 0.5% bupivacaine soaked gauze for 5 minutes while Group S had normal saline. Pain intensity was measured at 1, 2, 4, 12 and 24 hours postoperatively, using the Faces Pain Scale- Revised (FPS-R). Mean scores for groups B and S at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24 hours were 1.96±1.17, 2.40±0.82, 2.8±1.0, 2.88±1.17, 3.08±0.99, and 3.04±1.02 and 3.36±1.38, 4.72±1.62, 3.92±1.35, 3.76±1.45, 4.00±1.41, 3.38±0.98 respectively. The difference was significant at 1 and 2 hours only (P≤0.05). Post-tonsillectomy pain was reduced in the first two hours by application of bupivacaine soaked gauze.
Reported healthcare workers knowledge and practices of hand hygiene in specialist hospitals of Kano, Northwest Nigeria
Authors: Gajida Auwal Umar , Ibrahim Usman Muhammad , Jalo Rabiu Ibrahim , Bello Musa Muhammad , Gboluwaga Amole Taiwo , Gwarzo Dalha Halliru , Hanga Fatima Hassan , Bello Umar , Danzomo Abba Ahmed , Aliyu Muhammad Sani , Abulfathi Aisha Aliyu , Abdullahi Nafisat Tijjani
Published: February 2021

Compliance with recommended hand hygiene among healthcare providers is important in the prevention of morbidity and mortality associated with hospitalacquired infections including drug resistant microorganisms. This study aimed to determine the reported knowledge and hand hygiene practices among healthcare workers in Specialist Hospitals in Kano, Nigeria. Descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to study 302 healthcare workers in the specialist hospitals in Kano. Data was collected using semi-structured self-administered questionnaire and analyzed at univariate, bivariate and multivariate levels using IBM SPSS version 22. The age of the respondents ranged from 18 to 59 years with a mean of 31.4±9 years. Up to onethird (36.1%) of the respondents had poor knowledge despite the reported hand hygiene practice of 78%. Use of Alcohol Based Hand Rub and soap and water constituted 26.7% and 15.7% respectively. There was statistically significant association between working in MMSH, working in Pediatrics wards, CHEW cadre, and attendance of hand hygiene training in the last 3 years and having good knowledge of hand hygiene. Hand hygiene training was found to improve hand hygiene knowledge [AOR=1.58, 95% CI= (1.01-2.5)] and practice [AOR=1.12 95%CI= (0.64-1.99)]. Reported knowledge of hand hygiene was poor but the practices were encouraging and associated with formal training of healthcare workers on hand hygiene. Therefore, Hospital management should ensure regular hand hygiene training and re-training among healthcare workers.