bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire and Its Relationship to Physical Activity and Gender Using Structural Equation Modelling
Authors: Zurita Ortega Félix , Castro Sánchez Manuel , Chacón Cuberos Ramón , Cachón Zagalaz Javier , Cofré Bolados Cristian , Knox Emily , Muros José
Published: February 2018

(1) Background: Different authors have established that each type of motivation to sports can favor healthy habits in men and women, being important to promote more self-determined motivations. (2) Methods: The present study was designed to assess selected psychometric properties of the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire and study the relationship between motivational climate, physical activity and gender in adolescents. Research was conducted with a sample of 2134 Spanish children (12.5 ± 1.4 years). (3) Results: The final scale was formed of two factors. The fit of factor 1 (ego climate) was 0.867, the fit for factor 2 was 0.851 (task climate) and the overall fit was 0.765. Structural equation modelling identified a negative relationship between ego climate and task climate. This relationship was strong in women. A direct relationship was found between the ego climate and task climate in relation to physical activity in men and women. Nevertheless, this positive relationship was stronger in men. (4) Conclusions: PMCSQ-2 test is a good instrument to measure the motivation towards sports practice. Moreover, it is important to promote adaptive types of motivation in physical education classes in order to generate pleasure for learning and long-term physical activity engagement.
Semantic Modeling of Administrative Procedures from a Spanish Regional Public Administration
Authors: Hidalgo López Francisco , Labra Gayo Jose , Ordóñez de Pablos Patricia
Published: February 2018

Over the past few years, Public Administrations have been providing systems for procedures and files electronic processing to ensure compliance with regulations and provide public services to citizens. Although each administration provides similar services to their citizens, these systems usually differ from the internal information management point of view since they usually come from different products and manufacturers. The common framework that regulations demand, and that Public Administrations must respect when processing electronic files, provides a unique opportunity for the development of intelligent agents in the field of administrative processes. However, for this development to be truly effective and applicable to the public sector, it is necessary to have a common representation model for these administrative processes. Although a lot of work has already been done in the development of public information reuse initiatives and common vocabularies standardization, this has not been carried out at the processes level. In this paper, we propose a semantic representation model of both processes models and processes for Public Administrations: the procedures and administrative files. The goal is to improve public administration open data initiatives and help to develop their sustainability policies, such as improving decision-making procedures and administrative management sustainability. As a case study, we modelled public administrative processes and files in collaboration with a Regional Public Administration in Spain, the Principality of Asturias, which enabled access to its information systems, helping the evaluation of our approach.
Will the Future Be Greener? The Environmental Behavioral Intentions of University Tourism Students
Authors: Pan Su-Lan , Chou Ju , Morrison Alastair , Huang Wen-Shiung , Lin Meng-Chen
Published: February 2018

Sustainable tourism is essential for tourism sector development. Environmentally responsible behaviors and behavioral intentions are important prerequisites for sustainable tourism. This research explores the behavioral intentions of university tourism students and significant factors affecting these behavioral intentions. The questionnaire survey method was applied to university students from the tourism departments of nine universities in Taiwan. A total of 390 valid questionnaires were collected. The pro-environmental behavioral intentions of the students ranged from moderate to high. Environmental knowledge positively affected behavioral intentions and positively influenced environmental sensitivity and environmental responsibility. Furthermore, environmental sensitivity and environmental responsibility exerted a full effect in mediating the relationship between environmental knowledge and behavioral intentions. Hence, increasing students’ environmental knowledge will enhance their behavioral intentions. However, by improving students’ sensitivity and responsibility, their intentions to protect the environment can be more effectively elevated. Development implications and recommendations for sustainable tourism and higher education are provided.
Exploring How Usage-Focused Business Models Enable Circular Economy through Digital Technologies
Authors: Bressanelli Gianmarco , Adrodegari Federico , Perona Marco , Saccani Nicola
Published: February 2018

Recent studies advocate that digital technologies are key enabling factors for the introduction of servitized business models. At the same time, these technologies support the implementation of the circular economy (CE) paradigm into businesses. Despite this general agreement, the literature still overlooks how digital technologies enable such a CE transition. To fill the gap, this paper develops a conceptual framework, based on the literature and a case study of a company implementing a usage-focused servitized business model in the household appliance industry. This study focuses on the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and analytics, and identifies eight specific functionalities enabled by such technologies (improving product design, attracting target customers, monitoring and tracking product activity, providing technical support, providing preventive and predictive maintenance, optimizing the product usage, upgrading the product, enhancing renovation and end-of-life activities). By investigating how these functionalities affect three CE value drivers (increasing resource efficiency, extending lifespan, and closing the loop), the conceptual framework developed in this paper advances knowledge about the role of digital technologies as an enabler of the CE within usage-focused business models. Finally, this study shows how digital technologies help overcome the drawback of usage-focused business models for the adoption of CE pointed out by previous literature.
Investigation on Performance of a Modified Breakwater-Integrated OWC Wave Energy Converter
Authors: Tsai Ching-Piao , Ko Chun-Han , Chen Ying-Chi
Published: February 2018

The hydrodynamic performance of the wave power extraction of an innovative modified breakwater-integrated Oscillating Water Column (OWC) wave energy converter is both numerically and experimentally presented in this study. The modified OWC device comprises a non-conventional perforated wall in front of a typical OWC chamber. The air-water two-fluid model, considering the fluid compressibility involved in FLOW-3D solver, is employed for the numerical simulations of the hydrodynamic characteristics of the OWC devices. The numerical simulations of the hydrodynamic performance of the OWC device are first validated by the experimental measurements with a scaled model. The effects of the geometry of the OWC chamber on the hydrodynamic efficiency are then discussed by numerical simulations using a full-scale OWC device under regular waves. The numerical and experimental results show that the present modified device can form a U-type flow pattern by the oscillating water column, thus developing better performance in extracting pneumatic power, when compared with the typical OWC device which does not have the perforated front wall. The results indicate that the present modified OWC device can not only promote the efficiency of the pneumatic power extraction, but can also reduce the wave force acting on the structure.
Can Energy Structure Optimization, Industrial Structure Changes, Technological Improvements, and Central and Local Governance Effectively Reduce Atmospheric Pollution in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Area in China?
Authors: Cheng Xinxuan , Fan Longfei , Wang Jiachen
Published: February 2018

Economic growth in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region has been achieved by consuming large amounts of fossil fuels. This produces a large number of pollutants, which damage the physical and mental health of residents, and prevent sustainable economic development. The most urgent task at present is improving the quality of the environment. This paper takes carbon emission as a pollution index, and adopts an extended stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology (STIRPAT) model in order to study the impact of the optimization of industry structure (in particular the reduction of the proportion of energy-intensive secondary industry), the optimization of the energy structure, and technological improvements on the atmospheric environmental quality. We obtain some important and enlightening discoveries. First of all, the rapid economic growth that has been based on magnanimous fossil fuel consumption is still the main reason for the deterioration of the atmospheric environment. This means that the main driving force of economic growth still comes from high pollution industries, despite a strategy for the transformation of the pattern of economic growth having been proposed for many years. Second, the optimization of the industrial structure has not played a significant role in promoting the reduction of carbon emissions. Through further research, we believe that this may be due to the low-quality development of the third industry. In other words, the traditional service industry related to high energy consumption accounts for a large proportion in regional total output, while the high-end service industry related to small pollution accounts for a relatively small proportion. Third, reducing the consumption of coal and improving the technological level can effectively curb the deterioration of the environmental quality. In addition, we find that transboundary pollution is an important factor affecting the environment in this region, and the earnings of any unilateral treatment action is small. As a result, joint pollution control under the supervision of the central government can produce greater benefits. Therefore, we believe that the transition of the economic growth pattern, and the optimization of the energy and industry structures (especially developing the high-end service industry) are effective ways to improve the environmental quality.
Organophosphines in Cis-PtP2CCl Derivatives Structural Aspects
Authors: Melnik Milan , Mikus Peter , Holloway Clive
Published: February 2018

This manuscript summarizes and analyzes X-ray data of monomeric cis-PtP2CCl derivatives. These complexes crystallize in the following crystal systems: tetragonal, P42/n (3), triclinic, Pī (10), orthorhombic, P212121 (prevails)(16), and monoclinic, P21/c (prevails) (36) examples. There are three sub-groups of the respective complexes: Pt(η1-PL)2(η1-CL)(η1-Cl); Pt(η2-P2L)(η1-CL)(η1-Cl) and Pt(η1-PL)(η2-P,CL)(η1-Cl). The chelating P,P-donor ligands form: four-(POP, PCP), five-(PC2P), six-(PC3P, PCNCP), seven-(PC4P) and even ten-(PCNCNCNCP) membered rings. The chelating P.C-donor ligands create three-(PC), four-(PCC) and five-(PC2C) membered rings. The mean Pt-L bond distance elongates in the sequence: 2.10 Å (C, trans to P) < 2.222 Å (P, trans to Cl) < 2.312 Å (P, trans to C) < 2.360 Å (Cl, trans to P). There are examples which exist in two isomeric forms, of the distortion isomer type.
Prorocentrolide-A from Cultured Prorocentrum lima Dinoflagellates Collected in Japan Blocks Sub-Types of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
Authors: Amar Muriel , Aráoz Rómulo , Iorga Bogdan , Yasumoto Takeshi , Servent Denis , Molgó Jordi
Published: February 2018

Prorocentrolides are members of the cyclic imine phycotoxins family. Their chemical structure includes a 26-membered carbo-macrocycle and a 28-membered macrocyclic lactone arranged around a hexahydroisoquinoline that incorporates the characteristic cyclic imine group. Six prorocentrolides are already known. However, their mode of action remains undetermined. The aim of the present work was to explore whether prorocentrolide-A acts on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), using competition-binding assays and electrophysiological techniques. Prorocentrolide-A displaced [125I]α-bungarotoxin binding to Torpedo membranes, expressing the muscle-type (α12β1γδ) nAChR, and in HEK-293 cells, expressing the chimeric chick neuronal α7-5HT3 nAChR. Functional studies revealed that prorocentrolide-A had no agonist action on nAChRs, but inhibited ACh-induced currents in Xenopus oocytes that had incorporated the muscle-type α12β1γδ nAChR to their membranes, or that expressed the human α7 nAChR, as revealed by voltage-clamp recordings. Molecular docking calculations showed the absence of the characteristic hydrogen bond between the iminium group of prorocentrolide-A and the backbone carbonyl group of Trp147 in the receptor, explaining its weaker affinity as compared to all other cyclic imine toxins. In conclusion, this is the first study to show that prorocentrolide-A acts on both muscle and neuronal nAChRs, but with higher affinity on the muscle-type nAChR.
Anti-Inflammatory and Immune Regulatory Actions of Naja naja atra Venom
Authors: Wang Shu-Zhi , Qin Zheng-Hong
Published: February 2018

Naja naja atra venom (NNAV) is composed of various proteins, peptides, and enzymes with different biological and pharmacological functions. A number of previous studies have reported that NNAV exerts potent analgesic effects on various animal models of pain. The clinical studies using whole venom or active components have confirmed that NNAV is an effective and safe medicine for treatment of chronic pain. Furthermore, recent studies have demonstrated that NNAV has anti-inflammatory and immune regulatory actions in vitro and in vivo. In this review article, we summarize recent studies of NNAV and its components on inflammation and immunity. The main new findings in NNAV research show that it may enhance innate and humoral immune responses while suppressing T lymphocytes-mediated cellular immunity, thus suggesting that NNAV and its active components may have therapeutic values in the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
A Rapid Label-Free Fluorescent Aptasensor PicoGreen-Based Strategy for Aflatoxin B1 Detection in Traditional Chinese Medicines
Authors: Zhang Cheng , Dou Xiaowen , Zhang Lei , Sun Meifeng , Zhao Ming , OuYang Zhen , Kong Dandan , Antonio F. , Yang Meihua
Published: February 2018

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a very hazardous carcinogen, readily contaminating foodstuffs and traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) that has inspired increasing health concerns due to dietary exposure. Colloidal nanocrystals have been proposed as optical labels for aptasensor assembly, but these typically require tedious multistep conjugation and suffer from unsatisfactory robustness when used for complex matrices. In the present study, we report a rapid and sensitive method for screening for trace AFB1 levels in TCMs using a label-free fluorescent aptasensor PicoGreen dye-based strategy. Using PicoGreen to selectively measure complementary double-stranded DNA, fluorescence enhancement due to dsDNA is ‘turned off’ in the presence of AFB1 due binding of aptamer target over complementary sequence. Self-assembly of a label-free fluorescent aptasensor based on AFB1 aptamer and PicoGreen dye was performed. Due to competition between the complementary sequence and AFB1 target, this rapid method was capable of highly sensitive and selective screening for AFB1 in five types of TCMs. This proposed approach had a limit of detection as low as 0.1 μg·L−1 and good linearity with a range of 0.1–10 μg·L−1 (0.1–10 ppb). Among the 20 samples tested, 6 batches were found to be contaminated with AFB1 using this method, which was confirmed using sophisticated liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry analysis. The results of this study indicate the developed method has the potential to be a simple, quick, and sensitive tool for detecting AFB1 in TCMs.
Transmission Modes of Melioidosis in Taiwan
Authors: Hsueh Pei-Tan , Huang Wei-Tien , Hsueh Hsu-Kai , Chen Ya-Lei , Chen Yao-Shen
Published: February 2018

In Taiwan, melioidosis is an emerging disease that suddenly increased in the Er-Ren River Basin, beginning in 2005 and in the Zoynan region during 2008–2012, following a typhoon. Additionally, the disease sporadically increased in a geography-dependent manner in 2016. Subcutaneous inoculation, ingestion, and the inhalation of soil or water contaminated with Burkholderia pseudomallei are recognized as the transmission modes of melioidosis. The appearance of environmental B. pseudomallei positivity in northern, central and southern Taiwan is associated with disease prevalence (cases/population: 0.03/100,000 in the northern region, 0.29/100,000 in the central region and 1.98/100,000 in the southern region). However, melioidosis-clustered areas are confined to 5 to 7.5 km2 hot spots containing high-density populations, but B. pseudomallei-contaminated environments are located >5 km northwestern of the periphery of these hot spots. The observation that the concentration of B. pseudomallei-specific DNA in aerosols was positively correlated with the incidence of melioidosis and the appearance of a northwesterly wind in a hot spot indicated that airborne transmission had occurred in Taiwan. Moreover, the isolation rate in the superficial layers of a contaminated crop field in the northwest was correlated with PCR positivity in aerosols collected from the southeast over a two-year period. The genotype ST58 was identified by multilocus sequence typing in human and aerosol isolates. The genotype ST1001 has increased in prevalence but has been sporadically distributed elsewhere since 2016. These data indicate the transmission modes and environmental foci that support the dissemination of melioidosis are changing in Taiwan.
Application and Comparative Evaluation of Fluorescent Antibody, Immunohistochemistry and Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction Tests for the Detection of Rabies Virus Antigen or Nucleic Acid in Brain Samples of Animals Suspected of Rabies in India
Authors: Prabhu K. , Isloor Shrikrishna , Veeresh B. , Rathnamma Doddamane , Sharada R. , Das Lekshmi , Satyanarayana M.L. , Hegde Nagendra , Rahman Sira
Published: February 2018

Accurate and early diagnosis of animal rabies is critical for undertaking public health measures. Whereas the direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) technique is the recommended test, the more convenient, direct rapid immunochemistry test (dRIT), as well as the more sensitive, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), have recently been employed for the laboratory diagnosis of rabies. We compared the three methods on brain samples from domestic (dog, cat, cattle, buffalo, horse, pig and goat) and wild (leopard, wolf and jackal) animals from various parts of India. Of the 257 samples tested, 167 were positive by all the three tests; in addition, 35 of the 36 decomposed samples were positive by RT-PCR. This is the first study in which such large number of animal samples have been subjected to the three tests simultaneously. The results confirm 100% corroboration between DFA and dRIT, buttress the applicability of dRIT in the simple and rapid diagnosis of rabies in animals, and reaffirm the suitability of RT-PCR for samples unfit for testing either by DFA or dRIT.
Oxidative cycloaddition of hydroxamic acids with dienes or guaiacols mediated by iodine(III) reagents
Authors: Shimizu Hisato , Yoshimura Akira , Noguchi Keiichi , Nemykin Victor N , Zhdankin Viktor V , Saito Akio
Published: February 2018

[Bis(trifluoroacetoxy)iodo]benzene (BTI) and (diacetoxyiodo)benzene (DIB) efficiently promote the formation of acylnitroso species from hydroxamic acids in the presence of various dienes to give the corresponding hetero-Diels–Alder (HDA) adducts in moderate to high yields. The present method could be applied to the HDA reactions of acylnitroso species with o-benzoquinones generated by the oxidative dearomatization of guaiacols.
Cue restructuring in English u-fronting: The role of phonetics and phonology in feature-learning
Authors: Szabo Ildiko Emese
Published: February 2018

Back tense /u/ is fronting in English in the Northeast US, which results in cue restructuring for the high front lax, back tense contrast (/u--I/). They are no longer distinguished by F2, but the F1 distinction between them is enhanced. In this paper I investigate whether this cue restructuring applies to the phonologically minimally different mid pair /o-E/. I present results from a perception experiment testing to what extent speakers use F1, F2, F3 and duration cues to distinguish between /u--I/ and /o--E/, respectively. Results show that while speakers use the new cues that are available for the /u-I/ contrast, this cue is not useful for the /o-E/, even though these sounds also differ in F1. F3 and duration are not used for either pair. This indicates that cue restructuring stemming from u-fronting does not happen on a featural level, therefore the experiment does not find evidence for a [+/-back] feature. By for a feature in a phonetically natural but phonologically inactive set, this work also contributes to research on mental representations.
Phylogeny in Phonology: How Tai Sound Systems Encode Their Past
Authors: Dockum Rikker
Published: February 2018

The study of sound change is foundational to traditional historical linguistics, particularly the linguistic comparative method. It is well established that the phonology of modern languages encodes useful data for studying the history of those languages, and their genetic relationships to one another. However, phonology has typically been the means to the end, enabling the comparative method, and coding of a comparative lexicon for cognacy. Once coded, the particular sounds involved no longer factor into the analysis. This study examines whether the phoneme inventories and phonotactic profiles of a set of languages themselves contain phylogenetic signal detectable using established statistical tests D statistic (Fritz & Purvis 2010), K (Blomberg et al 2003), and NeighborNet delta score (Holland et al 2002) and Q-residual (Gray et al 2010). This study adds to the growing body of work on the use of phonological traits in computational phylogenetics for linguistics. Using data from 20 Tai lects from the Kra-Dai language family, this study confirms and extends previous findings. This includes detection of strong phylogenetic signal in phoneme frequency and biphone transition probabilities, but also relatively strong phylogenetic signal detected in even coarse-grained phoneme and biphone presence/absence, which previous work was unable to do.
Weighted scalar constraints capture the typology of loanword adaptation
Authors: Hsu Brian , Jesney Karen
Published: February 2018

This paper discusses three basic ways in which loanwords pattern differently than native vocabulary, with a particular focus on the implicational relationships that hold among generalizations that apply at different degrees of nativization. We argue that the overall typology and the effects of the core-periphery structure are best modeled if constraints are weighted as in Harmonic Grammar (Legendre, Miyata & Smolensky 1990), and violation scores are scaled according to degree of nativization. The implicational patterns of repair versus non-repair are predicted from basic patterns of interaction among scalar constraints, obviating the need for the kinds of ranking metaconditions required in ranked-constraint alternatives.
Le récit de la translation de l’arche d’alliance par David dans les Chroniques Refondation cultuelle de la royauté au profit des Asaphites
Authors: Gosse Bernard
Published: February 2018

Dans les Chroniques, le récit du transfert par David de l’arche d’alliance à Jérusalem permet de saisir l’organisation du culte postexilique, et le rôle des chantres lévites Asaphites et Ezrahites, présentés comme installés par David. Bernard Gosse montre ici, dans la continuité de l’étude précédente sur les conflits entre chantres lévites à l’époque postexilique 1 , que ce récit vise à justifier l’organisation cultuelle postexilique et la place des lévites musiciens, par référence à la volonté supposée de David.
Isaac Papin (1657-1709). Itinéraire d’un humaniste réformé, de l’École de Saumur au jansénisme
Authors: Guillemin Thomas
Published: February 2018

Théologien du Grand Siècle, minor de la République des Lettres, Isaac Papin (1657-1709) est né calviniste. Il appartient à l’École théologique dite de Saumur : fils spirituel du théologien novateur Claude Pajon (son oncle), il adopte les théories de ce dernier sur la grâce et, lecteur dès 1681 de Spinoza, il développe une conception originale de la tolérance à une période où cette question agite la pensée protestante. Au moment de la révocation de l’édit de Nantes, Papin rejoint le Refuge : il est alors proche de citoyens des Lettres comme Jacques Lenfant, Jean Le Clerc et Pierre Bayle. Il s’installe d’abord en Angleterre où il est ordonné prêtre de l’Église anglicane puis se rend successivement aux Provinces-Unies et dans le Saint-Empire où il tente de s’installer comme pasteur d’une Église wallonne. Son identité de novateur déclenche l’opposition de l’orthodoxe Pierre Jurieu (déjà ennemi de Pajon) qui l’empêche d’atteindre son but. Il décide alors de se convertir et revient en France en 1690, où il passe au catholicisme par l’entremise de Bossuet. De nomade huguenot de la République des Lettres, Papin se mue en catholique sédentaire dans sa ville natale de Blois : il devient l’un des acteurs de la controverse antiprotestante et se rapproche du jansénisme grâce à l’un de ses amis, pasteur calviniste lui-même converti. En associant histoire sociale des réseaux théologiques et religieux et histoire des idées et des controverses, cette biographie intellectuelle retrace la trajectoire théologique particulière d’un converti du Grand Siècle passé de l’humanisme réformé de Saumur au jansénisme quesnellien.
Réflexions sur deux destins spirituels et politiques croisés : Edmond Michelet et René Brouillet
Authors: Guislin Jean-Marc
Published: February 2018

Cette étude évoque, dans un premier temps, les parcours croisés d’Edmond Michelet (1899-1970) et de René Brouillet (1909-1992) au service de l’État, entre 1945 et 1958 où leurs carrières divergent rapidement, puis entre 1958 et 1970 où ils sont amenés à coopérer, notamment à propos des affaires algériennes et des relations avec le Saint-Siège auprès duquel René Brouillet est ambassadeur. Dans une seconde partie, elle envisage l’engagement spirituel et politique – le catholicisme et le gaullisme – de ces deux éminents personnages qui ont noué des liens d’amitié et servi loyalement le général de Gaulle et Georges Pompidou. Ce faisant, elle met aussi en évidence les motivations spirituelles qui ont constamment guidé l’action de l’ancien déporté à Dachau et la foi du diplomate qui est étroitement liée à sa fidélité au souvenir ainsi qu’à sa contribution à la promotion de Michelet le croyant.
Le grand cabotage entre la France et les ports de l’Europe hanséatique, scandinave et baltique XVIII e - XIX e siècles
Authors: Le Bouëdec Gérard
Published: February 2018

L’intégration des ports français dans le grand cabotage avec l’Europe du nord est bien connue en ce qui concerne les xvi e et xvii e siècles. Depuis le début des années 2000 d’excellents travaux de recherche ont renouvelé nos connaissances des échanges entre la France et l’Europe du Nord au xviii e siècle. Il était tentant d’observer leur devenir au xix e siècle dans un contexte très différent, mais la faiblesse de la bibliographie nécessitait d’avoir recours aux sources de l’Administration des douanes. Cet article est un essai pour évaluer sur le temps long les relations commerciales maritimes France-Europe du Nord sous trois angles : la composition de la balance commerciale, les déséquilibres des échanges et du pavillon, la géographie portuaire.
La lutte contre la tuberculose dans les départements septentrionaux avant 1914
Authors: Roger Philippe
Published: February 2018

Entreprendre la lutte contre la tuberculose nécessite avant 1914 d’acquérir une connaissance précise du nombre de décès qu’elle occasionne. Les enquêtes prévues par la loi du 15 février 1902 montrent l’importance de la mortalité tuberculeuse : à la veille de la première guerre mondiale, il semble qu’elle représente un sixième de la mortalité globale dans le Pas-de-Calais. Le combat contre la tuberculose et la lutte contre l’alcoolisme vont de pair mais il faut aussi construire des sanatoria et améliorer l’hygiène, ce qui implique la construction de logements sains et le développement des procédures de désinfection. La tuberculose étant une zoonose, le rôle joué par les vétérinaires est important : améliorer la qualité du lait est cependant difficile et il s’avère impossible d’éliminer le bétail tuberculeux. En 1914, les bases de la politique antituberculeuse sont posées mais c’est pendant l’Entre-deux-guerres qu’elle prend toute son ampleur.
Online Homework in Engineering Mathematics: Can We Narrow the Performance Gap?
Authors: Vasko Mikko , Ritter Stefan , Metzger Gottfried
Published: February 2018

In this study we examine the introduction of online homework in a first-semester engineering mathematics course at a German university of applied sciences. The aim of the study was to find out whether students in general and students with low incoming mathematics skills in particular benefit from graded online homework. We found a high correlation between the number of online homework problems correctly solved and exam results, but also between placement test scores and exam results. Furthermore, we found that students with high placement test scores were more likely to use online homework regularly. We conclude that although online homework can promote successful student learning, further efforts are necessary to ensure completion of homework especially by students with low placement test scores.
The Pedagogy of Higher Education: How to Evaluate the Quality of Training in Morocco to Improve it
Authors: Riahi Sara , Riahi Azzeddine
Published: February 2018

This paper is devoted to the profession of higher education. It aims to characterize the profession of teaching and objectively draw the portrait of the Moroccan teacher to identify the business improvement routes, so the education system. This paper deals with the teaching profession in all cycles of education and training: a detailed analysis of the state of the trade is proposed for primary and secondary education, supplemented by the results of the survey, opinion on these cycles; for higher education and vocational training, a brief description of the state of business is provided in this paper.
Virtual Laboratory Application Development for Mobile Terminal
Authors: Zheng Wenbin , Shi Jinlong , Qiao Jiaqing , Xu Tian , Feng Lei , Fu Ping
Published: February 2018

It is highly important to finish the experiments while learning the course of digital circuit design is to confirm the theoretical knowledge in the experiment, which makes the learning process an extremely good expansion. However, in the actual situation, digital design laboratories are often in short supply, which is mainly reflected in its spatial limitations, the limitations on the number of instruments and instrument stability limitations, especially in some poor and developing countries. This paper designed a mobile virtual laboratory application (VL-APP) for learning digital design to help students perform virtual experiments to conduct new thoughts anywhere and anytime, which also support anyone familiar with the instruments used in the digital area. It mainly aims at the simulation experiment of a specific experiment in the digital design experiment, and provides the model and script basis for the users to design the experiment independently. Selecting Unity3D and 3ds-max for the software platform, Android for the test installation environment, the APP testing results showed that it is good enough to be applied right now.
Simulation of a Mobile Manipulator on Webots
Authors: Avilés S. Oscar F. , Rubiano M Oscar G. , Mauledoux M Mauricio F. , Valencia C Angie J. , Jiménez M Robinson
Published: February 2018

A mobile manipulator is a mobile platform with a mounted serial manipulator. A Mobile Manipulator is a system subject to its kinematic restrictions and the degrees of freedom of the manipulator arm mounted on it. These systems combine the advantages of mobile platforms and robotic arms, and reduce their disadvantages. For example, a mobile manipulator has larger working space when it has a mobile platform, as it offers more functionality during operation. For the previously mentioned in this work will be shown the implementation in the robotic simulation software Webots, a mobile manipulator that allows to determine its operation in a virtual environment
Topology of Wireless Sensor Network Based on the Perception Needs of the Internet of Things
Authors: Yuanjun Wu
Published: February 2018

In order to adapt to the characteristics of multi network convergence of IOT, this paper sorts out and summarizes the development status and existing problems of Internet of things (IOT) and wireless sensor network (WSN) as well as the key points for future research. Based on the existing research, the wireless sensor topology SORCA protocol is improved, and an energy saving intrusion tolerant network topology SORCA-W generation method is proposed, which realizes the interconnection of multiple sensor networks. Firstly, according to the location of nodes, the network is divided into topology network composed of hexagonal units. Through adding different network nodes collection summary, the neighbor table is judged and modified, and the name of the network is added. As a result, it is concluded that a plurality of wireless sensor networks can be connected for communication, which realizes the multi network integration of perception layer of Internet of things
An Instrumented Glove for Control Audiovisual Elements in Performing Arts
Authors: Tavares Rafael , Mesquita Hugo , Penha Rui , Abreu Paulo , Restivo Maria Teresa
Published: February 2018

The use of cutting-edge technologies such as wearable devices to control reactive audiovisual systems are rarely applied in more conventional stage performances, such as opera performances. This work reports a cross-disciplinary approach for the research and development of the WMTSensorGlove, a data-glove used in an opera performance to control audiovisual elements on stage through gestural movements. A system architecture of the interaction between the wireless wearable device and the different audiovisual systems is presented, taking advantage of the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol. The developed wearable system was used as audiovisual controller in “As sete mulheres de Jeremias Epicentro”, a portuguese opera by Quarteto Contratempus, which was premiered in September 2017.
Specialised aspects of architectural discourse: Metaphors in the British magazine The Architectural Review
Authors: Kloppmann-Lambert Claire
Published: February 2018

Cet article s’intéresse à la diversité des métaphores que l’on trouve dans le genre spécialisé de la critique d’ouvrages architecturaux. Cette étude s’appuie sur un corpus de ce type de critiques, publiées entre 1996 et 2015 dans la revue britannique The Architectural Review, afin de proposer une analyse tant quantitative que qualitative sur la nature de ces métaphores. Après avoir proposé un cadre théorique pour sélectionner ces métaphores spécifiques à l’architecture et les caractériser, nous proposons une description linguistique, conceptuelle et communica-tionnelle de celles-ci. Nous cherchons à expliquer le rôle central des métaphores dans le discours architectural et à répondre aux questions suivantes : que révèlent-elles des stratégies discursives des architectes ? Quelles indications cela nous donne-t-il sur les fonctions d’une critique de bâtiment en architecture ? Enfin, en quoi certaines images sont-elles propres à notre époque contemporaine et reflètent des tendances actuelles en architecture ?
El auge de la seguridad ciudadana en América Latina y el Caribe
Authors: Muggah Robert
Published: February 2018

Las sociedades latinoamericanas y caribeñas están entre las más violentas del planeta. El problema parece estar empeorando. ¿Por qué? No hay una sino muchas explicaciones que dan cuenta del incremento constante del crimen y de la victimización en la región. Además de lo impactante de la desigualdad y de la impunidad crónica, gran parte del problema se origina en enfoques represivos y punitivos para hacer frente a la criminalidad. En las últimas décadas ha surgido una nueva generación de medidas de «seguridad ciudadana» más positivas. Estas amplían el enfoque de la seguridad pública centrado en salvaguardar las instituciones públicas, dando lugar a la inclusión de una preocupación por preservar la seguridad y los derechos de los ciudadanos. Esto incluye estrategias para reformar las fuerzas policiales, la justicia penal, los sistemas penales, junto con actividades de prevención de la violencia centradas en las familias y los jóvenes en situaciones de riesgo. Aunque la evidencia científica sólida sobre su efectividad aún es escasa, la seguridad ciudadana representa una evolución positiva del pensamiento en un dominio por lo general firmemente conservador.
Towards a Customer-Centric Framework for Evaluation of E-Health Service Quality
Authors: Mutingi Michael
Published: February 2018

As the awareness of the importance of healthcare service quality and pressures from stakeholders continue to grow, healthcare service providers have no option except to develop appropriate service quality evaluation procedures. Patient satisfaction is imperative, and has become a critical issue especially in e-health services. Although healthcare service providers have become aware of the need for improving customer experience through provision of customer-centric services, virtually none of the existing e-health quality evaluation frameworks are grounded on customer-centric metrics. In this chapter, a critical analysis of existing evaluation initiatives is presented from the context of e-health services. Critical areas of e-health service are investigated to determine quality dimensions that influence customer experience. From this analysis, a customer-centric evaluation framework is proposed, comprising four e-health service quality scales. The framework provides a platform for continuous improvement in e-health service.
Experiencing Commercial Videos for Online Shopping
Authors: Cañas-Bajo Jose , Silvennoinen Johanna
Published: February 2018

Although online shopping has become a popular and convenient instrument for companies to buy and sell products, the design of these web-shops does not always offer the rich multisensory experiences that physical retailing offers. In the chapter, the authors argue that introducing audio-visual contents in the design could provide dynamic multisensory information to offer more engaging experiences to the consumer. Despite existing controversies regarding universalism of the emotional experiences induced by perceptual processes, the authors present evidence that suggests cultural modulations of videos experiences. Spanish and Finnish participants interacted with audiovisual products depicting videos of a culturally loaded brand design. Content analysis of participants' verbalizations helped to identify categories and subcategories that defined the representation of the video elements and their relative weight depending on the cultural background of the viewer. Although results indicate common elements affecting viewers of the two countries, they differ in the relative weight to global aesthetics features.
Fuzzy-Based Approach for Reducing the Impacts of Climate Changes on Agricultural Crops
Authors: Gadallah Ahmed M. , Mohammed Assem H.
Published: February 2018

Climate changes play a significant role in the crops plantation process. Such changes affect the suitability of planting of many crops in their traditional plantation dates in a given place. In contrary, many of such crops become more suitable for planting at other new dates in their traditional places or in other new places regarding the climate changes. This chapter presents a fuzzy-based approach for optimizing crops planting dates with the ongoing changes in climate at a given place. The proposed approach incorporates four phases. The first phase is concerned with climate data preparation. And the second phase is concerned with Defining suitability membership functions. While in third phase is responsible for automatic fuzzy clustering. Finally, the fourth phase is responsible for fuzzy selection and optimization for the more suitable plantation dates for each crop. This chapter consists of an introduction, related works, the proposed approach, a first case study, a second case study, results discussion, future research directions and finally the chapter conclusion.
The Impact of Climate Change on Small Ruminant Performance in Caribbean Communities
Authors: Lallo Cicero H. O. , Smalling Sebrena , Facey Audley , Hughes Martin
Published: February 2018

Many Caribbean small ruminant management systems are forage-based, relying on rain to sustain pastures for feed. Animal performance is thus heavily dependent on forage availability. The nutritive value of pasture was highest during the intermediate season and lowest during the dry season, leading to under nutrition, and declined flock performance in the dry season. Climate change will therefore seriously hamper pasture availability and nutritive value. Hair sheep on pasture, without shade or water, experienced increased respiration rate, they were under chronic heat stress. However, where adequate shade and water were provided, heat stress was reduced. The current system of small ruminant production is prone to the negative impacts of climate change events due to its effect on nutrition, growth and reproduction. Immediate actions are needed to prepare farmers to respond by mitigation methods, to maintain and enhance animal productivity if the envisaged protein security goals set for this sector are to be realized.
Disease Surveillance System for Big Climate Data Processing and Dengue Transmission
Authors: Manogaran Gunasekaran , Lopez Daphne
Published: February 2018

Ambient intelligence is an emerging platform that provides advances in sensors and sensor networks, pervasive computing, and artificial intelligence to capture the real time climate data. This result continuously generates several exabytes of unstructured sensor data and so it is often called big climate data. Nowadays, researchers are trying to use big climate data to monitor and predict the climate change and possible diseases. Traditional data processing techniques and tools are not capable of handling such huge amount of climate data. Hence, there is a need to develop advanced big data architecture for processing the real time climate data. The purpose of this paper is to propose a big data based surveillance system that analyzes spatial climate big data and performs continuous monitoring of correlation between climate change and Dengue. Proposed disease surveillance system has been implemented with the help of Apache Hadoop MapReduce and its supporting tools.
Health Searching Behaviour of Citizens From Countries in the Middle East and North African Region
Authors: Inthiran Anushia , Alhashmi Saadat M. , Ahmed Pervaiz K.
Published: February 2018

Most research studies in health information searching behaviour are conducted in developed countries. Little is known with strong governmental support in healthcare initiatives it is interesting to take note of the general information searching practices of citizens in the Middle East and North African region. In this article, a questionnaire was distributed in a university setting in the United Arab Emirates. Sixty participants consisting of citizens from MENA countries participated in this study. The results indicate citizens from the Middle East and North African region do perform online health searches. However, an equal number of citizens use books and mass media to obtain health information. When online methods are utilised, working adults who have more years of experience searching for health information tend to use more medical type search engines. Undergraduate students were generally new to the process of online health information searching. Online health searching in the MENA region is more of a social and educational activity rather than a private activity.
The Creation of Users
Authors: Aidemark Jan , Askenäs Linda
Published: February 2018

The purpose of this article is to provide a better understanding of an information systems development process from a learning theory perspective. The authors wish to investigate how learning concepts can improve the practice of developing such systems. They look closer at the activities and outcomes of a development project with the focus on the user side and how these can be understood using different theories from the field of learning. The purpose of the case project was to ensure that the intended users of the systems (in this case, heart failure patients) should be able to influence the choices made during the project so that the implemented system would benefit the whole group of patients. During this process, it became apparent that the users themselves developed and changed a great deal. In this research, the authors therefore wish to investigate the learning and change mechanism that came into play through the designed participative ISD process. As a result, they suggest that a learning mechanism should be planned for in any ISD process, regardless of what methodology is applied.
From Mobile Service Quality Evaluation to E-Word-Of-Mouth: What Makes the Users of Mobile Banking Applications Speak About the Bank?
Authors: Zoghlami Amira Trabelsi , Ben Yahia Karim , Berraies Sarra
Published: February 2018

The purpose of the present article is to explore the electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) determinants in a mobile banking context such as e-service quality, e-satisfaction, e-trust and e-loyalty. It also examines the moderating role played by brand reputation in the relation between e-loyalty and e-WOM. A survey was conducted with 256 users of mobile bank applications. The findings illustrate the positive effect of e-service quality components such as information quality, security and reliability on e-satisfaction and e-trust as well as the effect on e-loyalty. It was also found that e-loyalty can be a determinant of e-WOM. Brand reputation has a moderating effect on the relation between e-loyalty and e-WOM. This article is interesting for the practitioners by bringing tracks of improvement for banking services proposed to the customer.
To Ask or Not to Ask
Authors: Zhang Michael Jijin , Chen Honghua
Published: February 2018

This article looks to investigate the roles of interpersonal trust in knowledge seeking. Specifically, the article examines and tests the effects of two distinct types of interpersonal trust (affect-based trust and cognition-based trust) on willingness to seek two different types of knowledge (explicit and tacit). Using data from a survey of 143 employees from Chinese firms, the article found that both types of interpersonal trust positively related to explicit knowledge seeking, as well as tacit knowledge seeking. The article also found that cognition-based trust had a stronger relationship with seeking of both explicit and tacit knowledge than affect-based trust. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.