bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Ethanol Extract of Propolis on Repair Optic Nerve Damage in a Rat Model for Diabetes Mellitus (Study of MDA, CRP, Caspase-3, and TGF-β Expression and Histopathological Changes on Optic Nerve Damage)
Authors: Meida Nur Shani , Purwanto Bambang , Wasita Brian , Indrakila Senyum , Soetrisno Soetrisno , Poncorini Eti , Cilmiaty Risya
Published: March 2022

Purpose
Hyperglycemia in diabetes increases oxidative stress in the body. It causes optic nerve damage and risk of glaucoma. In this study, we evaluated and analyzed the effect of propolis ethanol extract on repair of optic nerve damage in a rat model for Diabetes Mellitus.
Study Design
Laboratory experimental using the posttest only control group design was used in this study.
Methods
A total of 28 male Wistar rat were randomly divided into the following four groups namely control (K1), diabetes mellitus (K2), diabetes mellitus with propolis treatment (100 mg/kg) (P1) and diabetes mellitus with propolis treatment (200 mg/kg) (P2). Statistical analysis used ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis with a significance of p < 0.05.
Results
The results showed that Gunung Lawu propolis significantly reduced serum glucose levels, malondialdehyde levels and C-reactive protein levels (p<0.01). Furthermore, propolis extract significantly decreased caspase-3 expression and TGF-β expression (p<0.05) in the optic nerve. Propolis can significantly repair optic nerve damage (optic nerve necrosis, thinning of the retinal nerve fiber layer and retinal ganglion cell apoptosis (p < 0.01).
Conclusion
The final results showed that most of the beneficial effects of propolis were mediated by the reduction of blood glucose levels in diabetic rat.
Gastrocnemius Muscle Contraction and Its Role in Orthostatic Anti-Gravity Adjustment – The Effects of Body Mass Index
Authors: Dimcheva Marina , Karakuneva Sonya , Titianova Еkaterina
Published: March 2022

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a global concern with severe detrimental health and economic effect. Body mass index (BMI) is an inexpensive, non-invasive indicator for different diseases, and associated with abnormal weight.

AIM: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between BMI and the contraction of gastrocnemius muscle (GM) and its possible role in peripheral muscle pump activity and pathogenesis of orthostatic intolerance.

METHODS: One hundred and four volunteers (63 women and 41 men, mean age 39 ± 14 years) were divided into three subgroups according to their BMI values (with normal weight, overweight, and obesity). Changes in the transverse diameter and pennation angle of GM at rest and during maximal active plantar flexion (MAPF) were measured with multimodal ultrasound imaging. An active orthostatic test was performed and changes in systemic blood pressure and heart rate in supine position and active standing on the 1st, 5th, and 10th min were monitored. The results were statistically processed with alternative, variational, and correlational analysis.

RESULTS: Patients with abnormal BMI were significantly older and had higher anthropometrical parameters compared to the subgroup with normal weight. They showed a significantly larger diameter and pennation angles at rest and during maximal active plantar flexion of GM bilaterally, which was more pronounced for the dominant right leg. However, the amount of changes in the GM diameter and pennation angles was similar in the different subgroups.

CONCLUSION: The study showed that BMI affects predominantly the initial values of GM parameters at rest and MAPF without influence on its antigravity contractility associated with active straightening.
A Literature Review on the Role of Social Determinants in Post-Disaster Public Health
Authors: Arda Zul Adhayani , Dewi Chitra , Amaliah Andi Rizky , Juliana Nur , Kartini SKM , Nur Nur Hamdani
Published: March 2022

Introduction: Social determinants are closely related to public health disparities, and they affect health both directly and indirectly. Furthermore, social and economic conditions are often associated with a natural disaster that impacts people’s health.
Methods: This study used the Pubmed database, Science direct, and Proquest through the keywords “Determinan Sosial; Kesehatan Masyarakat; Pascabencana (Social Determinants; Public Health; Post-Disaster)”. Furthermore, the studies found are open access, not a type of review and were filtered over the last five years. The Pubmed databases found 1308 studies, which were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria to obtain a total of 7 studies for review.
Result: The role of social support shows a significant effect on a person’s stress symptoms. Moreover, environmental factors play an important role in post-disaster public health. Therefore, policies and countermeasures in disaster recovery need to continuously focus on health issues and social relations in the long term.
Conclusion: Social determinants have an important role in post-disaster public health.
The Role of Doctors in Ambulance Management of Stroke Patients in Emergency Medical Services
Authors: Apiratwarakul Korakot , Boonrod Artit , Piyawattanametha Nontaphon , Ienghong Kamonwon , Sripadungkul Darunee , Tiamkao Somsak , Cheung Lap Woon
Published: March 2022

BACKGROUND: Strokes are one of the most common of all neurological diseases and can be found in all genders and ages. Emergency medical services (EMS) are the first line of care with access to stroke patients from on the scene assessment to initial treatment. However, currently there are no studies regarding the role doctors play in initial ambulance contact to assess stroke patients.
AIM: To analyze the role of doctors in ambulances managing stroke patients in EMS.
METHODS: This was a retrospective study over a five-year period (2017-2021) at Srinagarind Hospital EMS units. The information from the EMS database was transferred completely into the data record form and imported into the computer system for further data analysis.
RESULTS: A total of 10,329 EMS operations were examined. The mean age of the patients was 52.10 ± 10.24 years. A total of 64.4% (n = 6650) of them were male. The afternoon shift was the most common time for EMS operations with doctors in the stroke group (42.9%) and non-stroke group (59.3%). The distance from hospital to the scene in the stroke group was 12.6 ± 3.2 km. The average response time for stroke group and non-stroke group were 7.05 minutes and 9.50 minutes, respectively
CONCLUSIONS: The role of doctors in the ambulance to manage stroke patients in EMS directly resulted in a decrease in time in arriving at the scene to diagnose, arriving at the laboratory, and arriving at the scene to activate the special team.
Faunistic study of butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea) of Sulaymaniyah Province, Kurdistan-Iraq
Authors: Khudhur Farhad
Published: March 2022

This study investigates the butterfly fauna (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea) of Sulaymaniyah Province, in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Investigations were carried out between April 2016 and April 2021, during which butterfly specimens were collected from 34 different localities throughout Sulaymaniyah Province. The collected butterflies belonged to 103 species within five families: five species of Papilionidae, 19 species of Hesperiidae, 18 species of Pieridae, 25 species of Lycaenidae and 36 species of Nymphalidae.

Eight species, Carcharodus stauderi Reverdin, 1913, Thymelicus hyrax Lederer, 1861, Gonepteryx rhamni (Linnaeus, 1758) Pieris krueperi Staudinger, 1860, Colias erate Esper, 1803, Polyommatus thersites (Cantener, 1835), Brenthis mofidii Wyatt, 1968 and Pseudochazara mamurra Herrich-Schäffer, 1852 have been added as new records to the fauna of Iraqi butterflies.
Are several small wildlife crossing structures better than a single large? Arguments from the perspective of large wildlife conservation
Authors: Helldin Jan Olof
Published: March 2022

Crossing structures for large wildlife are increasingly being constructed at major roads and railways in many countries and current guidelines for wildlife mitigation at linear infrastructures tend to advocate for large crossing structures sited at major movement corridors for the target species. The concept of movement corridors has, however, been challenged and pinching animal movements into bottlenecks entails risks. In this paper, I address the SLOSS dilemma of road ecology, i.e. the discussion whether a Single Large Or Several Small crossing structures along a linear barrier would produce the most benefit for wildlife, using the case of crossing structures for large wildlife in Sweden. I point out risks, ecological as well as practical, with investing in one large crossing structure and list a number of situations where it may be more beneficial to distribute the conservation efforts in the landscape by constructing several smaller crossing structures; for example, when the ecological knowledge is insufficient, when animal interactions are expected to be significant, when the landscape changes over time or when future human development cannot be controlled. I argue that such situations are often what infrastructure planning faces and that the default strategy, therefore, should be to distribute, rather than to concentrate passage opportunities along major transport infrastructures. I suggest that distributing passage opportunities over several smaller crossing structures would convey a risk diversification and that this strategy could facilitate the planning of wildlife mitigation. What to choose would however depend on, inter alia, landscape composition and ecology and on relationships amongst target species. A single large structure should be selected where it is likely that it can serve a large proportion of target animals and where the long-term functionality of the crossing structure can be guaranteed. New research is needed to support trade-offs between size and number of crossing structures. Cost-effectiveness analyses of wildlife crossing structures are currently rare and need to be further explored. Camera trapping and video surveillance of crossing structures provide opportunities to analyse details concerning, for example, any individual biases according to sex, age, status and grouping and any antagonism between species and individuals. Wildlife ecology research needs to better address questions posed by road and railway planning regarding the importance of specific movement routes and movement distances.
Assessing behaviour states of a forest carnivore in a road-dominated landscape using Hidden Markov Models
Authors: Ferreira Eduardo M. , Valerio Francesco , Medinas Denis , Fernandes Nelson , Craveiro João , Costa Pedro , Silva João Paulo , Carrapato Carlos , Mira António , Santos Sara M.
Published: March 2022

Anthropogenic infrastructures and land-use changes are major threats to animal movements across heterogeneous landscapes. Yet, the behavioural consequences of such constraints remain poorly understood. We investigated the relationship between the behaviour of the Common genet (Genetta genetta) and road proximity, within a dominant mixed forest-agricultural landscape in southern Portugal, fragmented by roads. Specifically, we aimed to: (i) identify and characterise the behavioural states displayed by genets and related movement patterns; and (ii) understand how behavioural states are influenced by proximity to main paved roads and landscape features. We used a multivariate Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to characterise the fine-scale movements (10-min fixes GPS) of seven genets tracked during 187 nights (mean 27 days per individual) during the period 2016–2019, using distance to major paved roads and landscape features as predictors. Our findings indicated that genet’s movement patterns were composed of three basic behavioural states, classified as “resting” (short step-lengths [mean = 10.6 m] and highly tortuous), “foraging” (intermediate step-lengths [mean = 46.1 m] and with a wide range in turning angle) and “travelling” (longer step-lengths [mean = 113.7 m] and mainly linear movements). Within the genet’s main activity-period (17.00 h-08.00 h), the movement model predicts that genets spend 36.7% of their time travelling, 35.4% foraging and 28.0% resting. The probability of genets displaying the travelling state was highest in areas far away from roads (> 500 m), whereas foraging and resting states were more likely in areas relatively close to roads (up to 500 m). Landscape features also had a pronounced effect on behaviour state occurrence. More specifically, travelling was most likely to occur in areas with lower forest edge density and close to riparian habitats, while foraging was more likely to occur in areas with higher forest edge density and far away from riparian habitats. The results suggest that, although roads represent a behavioural barrier to the movement of genets, they also take advantage of road proximity as foraging areas. Our study demonstrates that the HMM approach is useful for disentangling movement behaviour and understanding how animals respond to roadsides and fragmented habitats. We emphasise that road-engaged stakeholders need to consider movement behaviour of genets when targeting management practices to maximise road permeability for wildlife.
Sensitivity mapping informs mitigation of bird mortality by collision with high-voltage power lines
Authors: Paquet Jean-Yves , Swinnen Kristijn , Derouaux Antoine , Devos Koen , Verbelen Dominique
Published: March 2022

Mapping the relative risk of impact on nature by a human infrastructure at a landscape scale (“sensitivity mapping”) is an essential tool for minimising the future impact of new development or for prioritising mitigation of existing impacts. High-voltage power lines (“transmission lines”) are known to increase bird mortality by collision. Here we present a method to derive a high resolution map of relative risk of transmission line impacts across one entire country, Belgium, from existing bird distribution data. First, all the bird species observed in Belgium were systematically assessed using literature and casualty records to select those to be included in the sensitivity map. Species were selected on the basis of their intrinsic susceptibility to collision and the conservation relevance of avoiding additional mortality for that species in Belgium. Each of the selected species was included in one or several spatial layer constructed from existing data, emerging from citizen science bird monitoring schemes. The resulting 17 layers were then combined into one final sensitivity map, where a “risk score” estimates the relative collision risk across Belgium at a 1×1 km resolution. This risk score is relatively robust to the subtraction of any of the 17 layers. The map identifies areas where building new transmission lines would create high risk of collision and, if overlapped with existing power lines, helps to prioritise spans where mitigation measures should be placed. Wetlands and river valleys stand out as the most potentially dangerous areas for collision with transmission lines. This sensitivity map could be regularly updated with new bird data or adapted to other countries where similar bird data are available.
The prevalence of aflatoxins in different nut samples: A global systematic review and probabilistic risk assessment
Authors: Ebrahimi Arezoo , Emadi Alireza , Arabameri Majid , Jayedi Ahmad , Abdolshahi Anna , Yancheshmeh Behdad Shokrolahi , Shariatifar Nabi
Published: March 2022

Aflatoxins are secondary carcinogenic fungal metabolites derived from the toxic various Aspergillus species. These fungi can easily infect nuts and grains. A global systematic review was done to extract data on the concentration of aflatoxins in different nuts. Besides, risk assessment was conducted on data. The scientific databases were searched systematically from 2000 to 2020. Based on the results, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) had the most frequency in nut samples. The mean concentration of aflatoxin total (AFT) and AFB1 in nuts were as follows: peanut (37.85, 32.82 μg/kg), pistachio (31.42, 39.44 μg/kg), almond (3.54, 3.93 μg/kg), walnut (42.27, 22.23 μg/kg), hazelnut (17.33, 10.54 μg/kg), Brazil nut (4.61, 3.35 μg/kg), and other nuts (26.22, 7.38 μg/kg). According to country the margin of exposure (MOE) value for adult was as Argentina (21) > Congo (67) > India (117) > Bangladesh (175) > Cameroon (238) > Iran (357) > Bahrain (438) > Brazil (447) > Ghana (606) > South Africa (1017) > Egypt (1176) > USA (1505) > China (1526) > Cyprus (1588). The MOE of the consumers in some countries was considerably below the safety margin of 10,000. To conclude, nuts are highly consumed by different consumers, so it is necessary to emphasize strict control measures to prevent contamination of these foods with aflatoxins.
Dynamics of a free boundary problem modelling species invasion with impulsive harvesting
Authors: Meng Yue , Ge Jing , Lin Zhigui
Published: March 2022

To understand the role of impulsive harvesting in dynamics of the invasive species, we explore an impulsive logistic equation with free boundaries. The criteria whether the species spreads or vanishes are given, and some sufficient conditions based on threshold values are established. We then discuss the spreading speeds of moving fronts when the species spreads. Our numerical simulations reveal that impulsive harvesting can reduce the spreading speed of the species, and a large impulsive harvesting is unfavorable for persistence of the species. Moreover, when impulsive harvesting is moderate, the species occurs spreading or vanishing depending on its expanding capability or initial number, that is, the species will die out with a small expanding capability or small initial number and spread with a large expanding capability.

Note: KYCX22_3446 is added in Acknowledgments.
Expanding insurability through exploiting linear partial information
Authors: Zweifel Peter
Published: March 2022

This contribution aims to expand insurability using partial linear information (LPI) on probabilities of the type, $ {r}_{1}\ge {r}_{3} $ (with $ {r}_{1}+{r}_{2}+{r}_{3}+\dots {r}_{n} = {1} $). LPI theory permits to exploit such weak information for systematic decision-making provided the decision-maker is willing to apply the maxEmin criterion in a game against Nature. The maxEmin rule is a natural generalization of expected profit (probabilities are known) and the maximin rule (probabilities are unknown). LPI theory is used to find out whether a crypto assets portfolio offered to an insurance company is insurable. In an example, an unfavorable future development of losses causes maximum expected loss to exceed the present value of premiums, rendering the portfolio uninsurable according to maxEmin. However, this changes when LPI concerning this development is available, while the integration of uncertain returns from investing the extra premium fails to achieve insurability in this example. Evidently, LPI theory enables insurers to accept risks that otherwise are deemed uninsurable.
Some computable quasiconvex multiwell models in linear subspaces without rank-one matrices
Authors: Yin Ke , Zhang Kewei
Published: March 2022

In this paper we apply a smoothing technique for the maximum function, based on the compensated convex transforms, originally proposed by Zhang in [1] to construct some computable multiwell non-negative quasiconvex functions in the calculus of variations. Let $ K\subseteq E\subseteq M^{m\times n} $ with $ K $ a finite set in a linear subspace $ E $ without rank-one matrices of the space $ M^{m\times n} $ of real $ m\times n $ matrices. Our main aim is to construct computable quasiconvex lower bounds for the following two multiwell models with possibly uneven wells:

i) Let $ f:K\subseteq E\to E^\perp $ be an $ L $-Lipschitz mapping with $ 0\leq L\leq 1/\alpha $ and $ H_2(X) = \min\{ |P_EX-A_i|^2+\alpha|P_{E^\perp}X-f(A_i)|^2+\beta_i:\, i = 1, 2, \dots, k\} $, where $ \alpha > 0 $ is a control parameter, and

ii) $ H_1(X) = \alpha|P_{E^\perp}X|^2+\min\{\sqrt{|\mathcal{U}_i(P_EX-A_i)|^2+\gamma_i}: i = 1, 2, \dots, k\} $, where $ A_i\in E $ with $ U_i:E\to E $ invertible linear transforms for $ i = 1, 2, \dots, k $. If the control paramenter $ \alpha > 0 $ is sufficiently large, our quasiconvex lower bounds are 'tight' in the sense that near each 'well' the lower bound agrees with the original function, and our lower bound are of $ C^{1, 1} $. We also consider generalisations of our constructions to other simple geometrical multiwell models and discuss the implications of our constructions to the corresponding variational problems.
Hyperbolic function solutions of time-fractional Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation with variable-coefficients
Authors: Chen Cheng
Published: March 2022

Based on the variable separation method, the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation is transformed into a system of equations, in which one is a fractional ordinary differential equation with respect to time variable $ t $, and the other is an integer order variable coefficients partial differential equation with respect to spatial variables $ x, y $. Assuming that the coefficients of the obtained partial differential equation satisfy certain conditions, the equation is further reduced. The extended homogeneous balance method is used to find the exact solutions of the reduced equation. According to the solutions of some special fractional ordinary differential equations, we obtain some hyperbolic function solutions of time-fractional Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation with variable coefficients.
Multi-strategy improved salp swarm algorithm and its application in reliability optimization
Authors: Chen Dongning , Liu Jianchang , Yao Chengyu , Zhang Ziwei , Du Xinwei
Published: March 2022

To improve the convergence speed and solution precision of the standard Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA), a hybrid Salp Swarm Algorithm based on Dimension-by-dimension Centroid Opposition-based learning strategy, Random factor and Particle Swarm Optimization's social learning strategy (DCORSSA-PSO) is proposed. Firstly, a dimension-by-dimension centroid opposition-based learning strategy is added in the food source update stage of SSA to increase the population diversity and reduce the inter-dimensional interference. Secondly, in the followers' position update equation of SSA, constant 1 is replaced by a random number between 0 and 1 to increase the randomness of the search and the ability to jump out of local optima. Finally, the social learning strategy of PSO is also added to the followers' position update equation to accelerate the population convergence. The statistical results on ten classical benchmark functions by the Wilcoxon test and Friedman test show that compared with SSA and other well-known optimization algorithms, the proposed DCORSSA-PSO has significantly improved the precision of the solution and the convergence speed, as well as its robustness. The DCORSSA-PSO is applied to system reliability optimization design based on the T-S fault tree. The simulation results show that the failure probability of the designed system under the cost constraint is less than other algorithms, which illustrates that the application of DCORSSA-PSO can effectively improve the design level of reliability optimization.
Weakly supervised training for eye fundus lesion segmentation in patients with diabetic retinopathy
Authors: Li Yu , Zhu Meilong , Sun Guangmin , Chen Jiayang , Zhu Xiaorong , Yang Jinkui
Published: March 2022

Objective

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of vision loss in working-age adults. Early screening and diagnosis can help to facilitate subsequent treatment and prevent vision loss. Deep learning has been applied in various fields of medical identification. However, current deep learning-based lesion segmentation techniques rely on a large amount of pixel-level labeled ground truth data, which limits their performance and application. In this work, we present a weakly supervised deep learning framework for eye fundus lesion segmentation in patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Methods

First, an efficient segmentation algorithm based on grayscale and morphological features is proposed for rapid coarse segmentation of lesions. Then, a deep learning model named Residual-Attention Unet (RAUNet) is proposed for eye fundus lesion segmentation. Finally, a data sample of fundus images with labeled lesions and unlabeled images with coarse segmentation results is jointly used to train RAUNet to broaden the diversity of lesion samples and increase the robustness of the segmentation model.

Results

A dataset containing 582 fundus images with labels verified by doctors, including hemorrhage (HE), microaneurysm (MA), hard exudate (EX) and soft exudate (SE), and 903 images without labels was used to evaluate the model. In ablation test, the proposed RAUNet achieved the highest intersection over union (IOU) on the labeled dataset, and the proposed attention and residual modules both improved the IOU of the UNet benchmark. Using both the images labeled by doctors and the proposed coarse segmentation method, the weakly supervised framework based on RAUNet architecture significantly improved the mean segmentation accuracy by over 7% on the lesions.

Significance

This study demonstrates that combining unlabeled medical images with coarse segmentation results can effectively improve the robustness of the lesion segmentation model and proposes a practical framework for improving the performance of medical image segmentation given limited labeled data samples.
On the criteria for diagnosing depression in bereaved individuals: a self-organizing map approach
Authors: Loula R. , Monteiro L. H. A.
Published: March 2022

Bereavement exclusion (BE) is a criterion for excluding the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Simplistically, this criterion states that an individual who reports MDD symptoms should not be diagnosed as suffering from this mental illness, if such an individual is grieving a sorrowful loss. BE was introduced in 1980 to avoid confusing MDD with normal grief, because several cognitive and physical symptoms of grief and depression can look similar. However, in 2013, BE was removed from the MDD diagnosis guidelines. Here, this controversial topic is computationally investigated. A virtual population is generated according to the Brazilian data of death rate and MDD prevalence and its five kinds of individuals are clustered by using a Kohonen's self-organizing map (SOM). In addition, by examining the current guidelines for diagnosing MDD from an analytical perspective, a slight modification is proposed. With this modification, an adequate clustering is achieved by the SOM neural network. Therefore, for mathematical consistency, unbalanced scores should be assigned to the items composing the MDD diagnostic criteria. With the proposed criteria, the co-occurrence of normal grief and MDD can also be satisfactorily clustered.
Impactos ambientales asociados a la huella de carbono y la energía incorporada del ciclo de vida de una edificación en Medellín
Authors: Steven Pardo Nicolás , León Penagos Guillermo , Acevedo Harlem
Published: March 2022

El objetivo de este trabajo es la implementación de un modelo que permita calcular la huella de carbono y la energía incorporada de una edificación. Para esto se hizo un análisis mediante el software UMBERTO NXT CO2 de las fases 1 y 2 del ciclo de vida de la edificación, como se describe a continuación: Fase 1, materiales e insumos y Fase 2, construcción. Las emisiones de la Fase 3, derivadas de la operación de edificaciones, y Fase 4, final de ciclo de vida, no forman parte del alcance del presente estudio. Se encontró que las etapas de extracción de la materia prima y la fabricación de materiales en la Fase 1 generan más del 93% de la huella de carbono y más del 87% para la energía incorporada. Las demás fases no presentaron porcentajes significativos en estos dos indicadores.
Construcción de una vivienda de madera con el sistema UBUILD
Authors: Muñiz Santiago , Mosquera Emilio , Corral Alberto
Published: March 2022

Se presenta la construcción en madera de una vivienda situada en Ramiráns (Ourense). Se ha empleado para el desarrollo de la misma el sistema constructivo UBUILD. Éste permite la construcción de entramados ligeros de madera con un alto grado de industrialización en taller, dejando para obra labores propias de montaje. Para éste no es necesario más que el empleo de herramientas básicas sin precisar un alto grado de especialización laboral de los operarios encargados. Esto se logra con el empleo de técnicas BIM y de fabricación por Control Numérico. Este sistema permite su adaptación a las necesidades del usuario y no se pierde el nivel de calidad constructiva o las prestaciones de aislamiento necesarias para su uso como construcción residencial. La vivienda lleva en uso varios meses, permitiendo la validación de las técnicas empleadas en su diseño y construcción.
Population Dynamics of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in Henrys Lake, Idaho
Authors: McCarrick Darcy K. , Dillon Jeffrey C. , High Brett , Quist Michael C.
Published: March 2022

Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout (YCT) Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri is a species with significant ecological and recreational value. In many YCT fisheries, managers are tasked with balancing angler expectations and fish conservation. Henrys Lake supports a popular trophy trout fishery, but the increase of nonnative Utah Chub Gila atraria has caused concern for YCT. We summarized long-term trends in abundance, length structure, body condition, and growth of YCT to evaluate the effect of Utah Chub. Additionally, we investigated abiotic and biotic factors influencing YCT. We examined archived hard structures to provide a comprehensive evaluation of changes in age and growth of YCT in the system. We used stocking records and catch rates of Utah Chub and trout in Henrys Lake as covariates to explain changes in YCT catch rates and growth. Catch rates varied from 1.5 to 15.4 YCT per net night during the 2002 to 2020 sampling period, but we did not identify consistent patterns. Length structure was consistently dominated by stock- to quality-length fish, and we captured few fish >600 mm in total length. Relative weight of YCT was decreased from a mean ± standard deviation (SD) of 115.9 ± 16.5 in 2004 to 93.2 ± 8.2 in 2020. The age of YCT varied between 1 and 11 years; fish that we captured during 2010 to 2020 were the oldest. The majority of fish that we sampled were age 4 and younger. Total annual mortality of age-2 and older YCT was higher than other Cutthroat Trout populations (i.e., 0.70 during 2002 to 2010 and 0.60 during 2011 to 2020). Based on regression models, we identified positive relationships between catch rates of YCT, Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis, and Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss × YCT hybrid trout. We observed negative relationships between growth of YCT and abundance of Utah Chub and Brook Trout. Although we identified negative relationships, YCT growth in recent decades is as fast as or faster than earlier time periods. Results from this research suggest that major changes in YCT population dynamics are not evident over the last 20 years. This study provides insight into the factors influencing an adfluvial trout population. In particular, results from this research may be useful for managers of systems where Utah Chub have been introduced.
La différenciation régionale du chômage en Tchécoslovaquie dans un contexte de mutation économique et de désintégration territoriale
Authors: Tomes Jiri
Published: March 2022

Pour comprendre la divergence de l’évolution du chômage dans les deux républiques tchèque et slovaque, il est nécessaire d’analyser d’abord les conditions initiales d’accroissement et de développement de celui-ci. Dès la fin de l’année 1990, les taux de chômage laissent percevoir une différence (1,5 % en Slovaquie contre 0,8 % en République tchèque). Au fur et à mesure de la diffusion du chômage dans toutes les catégories d’activité, cette différence ne fait que s’accroître pour culminer au début de l’année 1992 (12,7 % en Slovaquie contre 4,4 % en République tchèque). L’analyse fine des différenciations régionales du chômage à cette date permet alors de montrer que les facteurs explicatifs sont beaucoup plus complexes que ceux qui ont été invoqués lors du débat sur la séparation. Le poids des facteurs historiques et géographiques de longue durée apparaît essentiel. L’analyse catégorielle du chômage par sexe, âge, niveau d’étude et durée d’inactivité permet de préciser la répartition du chômage et les mécanismes sociaux de sa diffusion.
La résurgence des frontières du passé : éléments de la différenciation culturelle et politique du territoire tchécoslovaque
Authors: Danek Petre
Published: March 2022

L’hypothèse de base de ce travail est que les facteurs politiques, culturels ou religieux correspondent à des lignes de clivage potentielles qui sont réactivées en situation de crise majeure de la société. L’application au cas tchécoslovaque vise à mettre à jour ces lignes de clivage potentielles en examinant la distribution spatiale des ethnies et des religions depuis le début du XXe siècle. La distribution des religions montre l’existence d’une importante coupure Nord-Sud à l’intérieur de la Bohême : déterminée par l’opposition entre la religion catholique et les autres confessions au début du XXe siècle, cette ligne de clivage oppose aujourd’hui les zones de forte pratique religieuse au zones déchristianisées. Une certaine homogénéisation des confessions s’est opérée en république tchèque. Tel n’et pas le cas en Slovaquie, où la présence des minorités a induit le maintien des différences de pratiques religieuses (protestants hongrois, grecs orthodoxes, etc.). La pratique religieuse y demeure cependant beaucoup plus importante. Sur le plan ethnique, le bouleversement majeur est constitué par les conséquences de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (départ des Allemands, extermination des Juifs). L’affirmation, au recensement de 1991, d’une identité morave est venue toutefois ajouter un élément nouveau. Il est difficile de savoir si le mouvement morave est lié à une réelle affirmation ethnique ou simplement à la recherche d’une autonomie relative dans la conduite des affaires régionales.
Migrations et effets de barrière en Tchécoslovaquie (1960-1989)
Authors: Cattan Nadine , Grasland Claude
Published: March 2022

Dans un premier temps, l’article propose une méthode permettant de mesurer avec précision les effets de barrière migratoire induits par la présence d’une limite politique ou administrative. On propose d’assimiler le franchissement d’une limite à une distance particulière qui, introduite dans un modèle gravitaire en plus de la distance physique, permet de mesurer la perméabilité de la frontière à l’aide d’un coefficient variant entre 0 et 1.L’application de ce modèle aux migrations entre les 10 régions (kraj) tchécoslovaques permet de montrer que le franchissement de la limite des deux républiques induit une réduction des flux migratoires de l’ordre de 60 % en 1989. L’analyse diachronique montre que cette réduction des flux inter-républicains n’était que d’environ 40 % en 1960, et que l’effet de barrière s’est particulièrement renforcé au cours de la période 1970-1980 pour se stabiliser après cette date. Différentes interprétations de ce mouvement sont alors proposées et conduisent à s’interroger sur les relations possibles entre cette réduction des flux inter-républicains et la partition de la Tchécoslovaquie en 1993.
Perception de la qualité de la vie et comportement spatial de la population rurale dans les environs de Bratislava
Authors: Kollar Daniel
Published: March 2022

L’objectif de ce travail est d’examiner comment la perception de la qualité de la vie influe sur le comportement spatial des populations. L’application concerne plus particulièrement la vision que les populations rurales des environs de Bratislava ont de la qualité de la vie dans les centres urbains, en fonction des niveaux (du centre local à la métropole de Bratislava). Ce travail s’appuie sur une enquête par questionnaire auprès de 578 personnes. Il montre tout d’abord que l’attrait pour un lieu est fortement lié à la distance à celui-ci. En général, les préférences des habitants vont d’abord à leur propre commune, puis à la ville la plus proche et enfin à Bratislava. Les autres communes rurales ou les autres villes sont jugées beaucoup moins attractives. L’analyse des facteurs de topophilie et de topophobie montre des contrastes très marqués selon les types de lieux. Ainsi, le rejet de Bratislava est presque toujours lié à des raisons de pollution ou de bruit, tandis que le rejet d’une commune rurale voisine est souvent associé à des considérations ethniques. Quant à la préférence pour sa propre commune, elle est liée dans près de la moitié des cas au fait qu’il s’agit du lieu de naissance. La perception de la qualité de la vie génère une volonté de migration plus potentielle que réelle, puisque moins de 6 % des personnes interrogées considère cette mobilité comme possible.
Le « bonheur danois » : entre satisfactions au travail et sentiment de sécurité
Authors: Chatron-Colliet Xavier
Published: March 2022

En partant des divers indicateurs de bonheur et de satisfaction au travail au Danemark, l’article s’intéresse à l’intégration sociale et à la relation complexe d’interaction qui peut exister entre la présence de satisfactions au travail et le sentiment de sécurité découlant de la possession d’un emploi. L’existence d’un lien de participation organique solide, même en régime d’attachement citoyen, contribue ainsi à la mise en place d’un cercle vertueux de bonheur. Les sources de satisfactions au travail sont importantes au Danemark tandis que la sécurité permise par l’emploi apparaît comme une source multifactorielle de bien-être subjectif. Cela, même en situation d’étiolement des dispositifs sécurisants, à l’aune des politiques néolibérales de restructuration du marché du travail et du modèle de flexisécurité. L’article montre ainsi que le sentiment subjectif de sécurité face au marché semble jouer un rôle relativement plus important que la protection objective de l’emploi. Une explication plausible serait l’existence d’un contrat social particulier liant l’État, les entreprises et les travailleurs.
« First New Society » - Saisir le nationalisme islandais
Authors: Cordier Lionel
Published: March 2022

Cet article se propose de décrire et analyser les mécanismes discursifs du nationalisme islandais contemporain et ses expressions les plus emblématiques de ces dernières années à travers les référendums IceSave, le mouvement InDefence, et les appels à un retour aux valeurs traditionnelles islandaises suite à la crise économique de 2008. Le nationalisme islandais possède en effet un certain nombre de caractéristiques qui le distinguent fortement de ses autres voisins nordiques : le caractère insulaire de l’Islande, sa position historique en périphérie de l’Europe, sa taille et sa dépendance passée et présente à d’autres grandes puissances occidentales. Ces spécificités aident à comprendre l’attachement marqué des Islandais à leur pays, mais aussi la faiblesse politique d’organisations politiques d’extrême-droite au sein du paysage partisan insulaire.
An Analysis of Pecking Order Theory With the Analytic Hierarchy Process
Authors: Altin Hakan
Published: March 2022

According to pecking order theory (POT), when a company feels the need for capital, it applies the hierarchies of accounts payable and accruals, retained earnings, debt, and new common stock. Similarly, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method calculates the hierarchical priorities for the solution of complex problems. The most important justification explaining the hierarchy implementation of the POT approach are the impacts of asymmetrical information and signaling. Similarly, in the AHP method, the hierarchical decision-making process depends on the justification of the decision maker. The existence of asymmetrical information shows that the two methods complete each other. The aim of the study was to analyze POT with the AHP method, in other words, an examination of the consistency of the POT and AHP approaches with each other. The results showed that the two methods are indeed consistent with each other.
Corporate Governance Challenges for Small and Medium Enterprises in the Constrained Zimbabwean Economy
Authors: Dzingirai Mufaro , Sikomwe Shingirai , Tshuma Noah
Published: March 2022

Although corporate governance has become a topical issue around the world in recent years, it is surprising to note that SMEs were much neglected in this corporate governance wave. Therefore, this study aims to establish the corporate governance challenges confronting Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) in the economy of Zimbabwe. This study is prompted by the dwindling performance experienced by SMEs. Notably, the study adopts an interpretivism research philosophy and the exploratory research design given that the study was the first of its kind. The corporate governance challenges which emerged from the data analysis are succession disputes, ownership concentration, lack of disclosure issues, limited resources, and lack of systems and structures. Therefore, it is recommended that SMEs should put in place a clear succession matrix in order to enable good corporate governance. Moreover, this study recommends that SMEs should strive to ensure that there is a separation of ownership and control in order to align with the best international corporate governance principles and practices.
The Relationship Between the Manufacturing Industry and Economic Growth in Turkey
Authors: Alıcı Övgü , Temiz Dinç Dilek , Gökmen Aytaç
Published: March 2022

The aim of this paper is to review the 1980-2020 periods, with manufacturing exports in Turkey to investigate whether there is a causal relationship between economic growth and the manufacturing industry. The relationship between manufacturing industry exports and economic growth is analyzed econometrically. A positive correlation has been determined from co-integration analysis in the long run, manufacturing industry exports to economic growth. The Granger causality test applied determined that there is a one-way causality relationship running from manufacturing industry exports to growth in the short run. To support the Granger causality test, the Toda-Yamamoto causality test has also been found to have a one-way causality relationship from manufacturing industry exports to economic growth. After the causality tests, in order to determine the sign of the impact, the stationary series were tested and the Least Squares (OLS) method was applied for the econometric model and the result of the positive effect of the manufacturing industry exports on economic growth was reached.
Taxonomical Challenges for Cyber Incident Response Threat Intelligence
Authors: Ammi Meryem , Adedugbe Oluwasegun , Alharby Fahad Mohamed , Benkhelifa Elhadj
Published: March 2022

As attackers continue to devise new means of exploiting vulnerabilities in computer systems, security personnel are doing their best to identify loopholes and threats. Analysis of threats to come up with effective mitigation techniques requires all-encompassing information about them. Security analysts can represent and share cyber threat information with semantic knowledge graphs within cyber security space to access. However, there should be no conflicting information because the response to threats must be immediate. This calls for a standardized taxonomy that is generally accepted within the cybersecurity space to represent information, ultimately making cyber threat intelligence (CTI) credible. This review looks into existing CTI-based ontologies, taxonomies, and knowledge graphs. The absence of standardized taxonomy identified could be responsible for limited taxonomy encoding and integration among existing CTI-based ontologies, as well as missing interconnections between taxonomies and existing ontologies. Hence, the development of a standardized taxonomy will enhance CTI effectiveness.
A Review on Integration of Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks and Cloud Computing
Authors: Sahoo Limali , Panda Sanjaya Kumar , Das Kunal Kumar
Published: March 2022

The vehicular network is becoming a prominent area of research in the field of smart transportation systems. In such systems, smart vehicles are embedded with the onboard unit, which includes computing systems, communication devices, and storage equipment, and these vehicles are used to provide efficient traffic management and road safety. For many years, several solutions are addressed by many practitioners regarding different issues and challenges that arise in a vehicular network. One of the solutions is vehicular cloud computing (VCC). VCC is a promising technology that has created a great impact on the services and applications of vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) by exploiting the vehicular resources effectively. In this paper, we present a survey on VCC, which integrates VANETs and cloud computing (CC). The basic overview and characteristics of VANETs are discussed. The architecture and several features of VCC are explored. We also discuss various privacy and security-related issues in VCC. Lastly, we focus on open issues, existing work, and future research directions.
Business Process Discovery Using Process Mining Techniques and Distributed Framework
Authors: Meddah Ishak H. A. , Guerroudji Fatiha
Published: March 2022

The processing of big data across different axes is becoming more and more difficult and the introduction of the Hadoop MapReduce framework seems to be a solution to this problem. With this framework, large amounts of data can be analyzed and processed. It does this by distributing computing tasks between a group of virtual servers operating in the cloud or a large group of devices. The mining process forms an important bridge between data mining and business process analysis. Its techniques make it possible to extract information from event reports. The extraction process generally consists of two phases: identification or discovery and innovation or education. Our first task is to extract small patterns from the log effects. These templates represent the implementation of the tracking from a business process report file. In this step we use the available technologies. Patterns are represented by finite state automation or regular expressions. And the final model is a combination of just two different styles.
Artificial Intelligence Adoption for E-Government
Authors: Fetais Abdulla H. M. A. , Faisal Mohd Nishat , Sabir Lamay Bin , Al Esmael Bader
Published: March 2022

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), is expected to have a major impact on the ways governments provide services to the population. The major objective of this paper is to identify success factors for AI adoption in public sector organizations and understand the interrelationships among them. Eleven factors were identified from the literature and were modeled using ISM method. The results show that “Top Management Support” and “Supportive Regulatory Environment” as most important drivers enabling AI adoption in e-government. Further, the variable “Training & Skill Development” is found to be a critical link in developing “AI driven Services Ecosystem” leading to business process transformation in e-government. The findings of this study are expected to provide an insight to further improve and promote adoption of AI based solution in facilitating e-government. The results of the study are among the first academic attempt to shed light on the key role of enablers supporting AI adoption in an emerging economy.