bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MSU: Engaging and Empowering Learning through Technology to Cope to a Rapidly Changing Circumstances
Authors:   College of Information Technology, Mindanao State University, Marawi City, Philippines, Jeanette C. Mama Jasmin
Published: July 2022

Mindanao State University (MSU) has begun embracing the technological revolution in support for excellence in education. Facing the challenge of the 21st century standard of learning, the university needed an upgrade of its infrastructure. Technology can be a powerful tool to transform the way students learn. This study is focused on technology integration into the tertiary curriculum to transform education by engaging and empowering learning through the use of technology. Tools for learning are identified for life-long learners to remain globally competitive and continuously engage and advanced in a digitally connected environment. Employing technology in learning is transcending. Educators must serve as collaborators in learning, always in quest for new knowledge and skills so that the needs for all learners will be met. Furthermore, the administration should also set a vision to conform to the needs of the university to provide authentic learning experiences that provide the accurate tools for learning. The flexibility and power of technology can make learning possible everywhere and all the time. Learning resources must embody the design principles that would maximize the use of technology in support for teaching and learning. Keywords: Reimagine learning experience, Technology in education, Technology-enabled learning, Tools for learning
New R package arfurimaaparch for Estimation of ARFURIMA-APARCH Model and Big Data Analytics
Authors:   Department of Statistics, Kano University of Science and Technology Wudil, Kano-State., Jibrin Sanusi Alhaji , Ibrahim Hassan Imafidor ,   Department of Statistics, Federal Polytechnic Kaltungo, Gombe State
Published: July 2022

This paper introduces the R package arfurimaaparch version 0.1.0 for time series computations, big data analytics and estimation of Autoregressive Fractional Unit Root Integral Moving Average-Asymmetric Power Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ARFURIMA-APARCH) model. The fdr, arfurimaaparch, arfurimaaparchforecast, arfurimaaparchdiagnostic and arfurimaaparch.sim are the main functions of the package. An improved version of the arfurima package version 1.1.0 of Jibrin and Rahman (2019) for implementing Monte Carlo simulation is also presented. Daily Nigeria all share index and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices for the period 26th January 2004 to 31st December 2018 were used to explained the usage of the packages. When the arfurimaaparch package is compared with other long memory packages, It would produce better stationary process after transformation, appropriate fractional differencing values in the interval of , minimum Akaike Information Criteria values, larger log-likelihood values, minimum p-values of the ARFURIMA-APARCH parameters estimates and large p-values of the Ljung-Box, ARCH-LM and Jarque-Bera test. Findings show that both R packages and their functions are robust, simple and user-friendly. As conclusion, the R packages are suitable, good and reliable for time series analysis computations, statistical analysis and big data analytics.
Sentiment Classification: Review of Text Vectorization Methods: Bag of Words, Tf-Idf, Word2vec and Doc2vec
Authors:   Dept. of Computer Science, Jigawa State Colledge of Education, Gumel, Nigeria, Abubakar Haisal Dauda , Umar Mahmood ,   Dept. of Computer Sceince, Faculty of Science, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria
Published: July 2022

In Sentiment Analysis, there are three (3) approaches namely, machine learning, lexicon-based and ruled based approaches. This study investigates on machine learning approaches which involves text vectorization or word embedding- an essential step in natural language processing tasks since most machine learning algorithms work with numerical input. Text vectorization involves the representation or mapping of words or documents of a corpus to numerical vectors of numbers or real numbers. There are several approaches in the literatures on document/text representation, however this study will focus on three (3) commonly used ones viz; Bag of words, TF-IDF, word2vec and doc2vec, and try to identify the reason behind that for review and recommendation to the researchers in hurry. Review of this study shows that TF-IDF feature vector representations generally outperforms other two (2) vectorization methods word2vec and doc2vec, specifically in book review sentiment classification. And therefore recommended for future studies in book review data set
XÂY DỰNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐỊNH LƯỢNG FLAVONOID TOÀN PHẦN TRONG DỊCH CHIẾT LÁ VỐI (CLEISTOCALYX OPERCULATUS) BẰNG QUANG PHỔ UV-VIS
Authors:   Trường Đại học Y Dược - Đại học Huế, Nguyễn Khánh Thuỳ Linh , Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Trâm ,   Trường Đại học Y Dược - Đại học Huế
Published: July 2022

Objectives: To develop and validate a quantitative analysis method of total flavonoids in the leaves of Cleistocalyx operculatus using UV-Vis method. Subjects and methods: Leaves of Cleistocalyx operculatus were collected in Thua Thien Hue province in August 2021. Determining total flavonoids using a colorimetric method based on the reaction between flavonoids and AlCl3 reagent and validating this procedure according to AOAC guidelines. Results: The quantitative analysis was performed by reaction between total flavonoids and AlCl3 reagent with a detective wavelength of 430 nm. Intra-day and inter- day precision tests showed the RSD < 2% and desirable accuracy (recovery 99.2 - 102.93%). The total flavonoid content of the leaves is 8.34 ± 0.12 mg quercetin equivalent/g dry weight of plant material. Conclusion: The quantitative analysis method of total flavonoids from Cleistocalyx operculatus leaves using the colorimetric method was validated. * Keywords: Cleistocalyx operculatus; Total flavonoids; UV-Vis.
My Cookie is a phoenix: detection, measurement, and lawfulness of cookie respawning with browser fingerprinting
Authors: Fouad Imane , Santos Cristiana , Legout Arnaud , Bielova Nataliia
Published: July 2022

Stateful and stateless web tracking gathered much attention in the last decade, however they were always measured separately. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to detect and measure cookie respawning with browser and machine fingerprinting. We develop a detection methodology that allows us to detect cookies dependency on browser and machine features. Our results show that 1, 150 out of the top 30, 000 Alexa websites deploy this tracking mechanism. We find out that this technique can be used to track users across websites even when third-party cookies are deprecated. Together with a legal scholar, we conclude that cookie respawning with browser fingerprinting lacks legal interpretation under the GDPR and the ePrivacy directive, but its use in practice may breach them, thus subjecting it to fines up to 20 million e.
Exploring the Privacy Concerns of Bystanders in Smart Homes from the Perspectives of Both Owners and Bystanders
Authors: Alshehri Ahmed , Spielman Joseph , Prasad Amiya , Yue Chuan
Published: July 2022

Smart home IoT devices collect data not only from owners of the devices, but also from bystanders in a smart home (e.g., visiting family members, friends, or domestic workers). Existing research mainly considered the privacy concerns of bystanders from their own perspectives. In this paper, we design and conduct a survey study to more comprehensively explore the privacy concerns of bystanders from the perspectives of both owners and bystanders. For owners, we investigate their understanding of their own data practices, their views on bystanders’ privacy, and their willingness to negotiate data practices with bystanders. For bystanders, we investigate their privacy concerns, their expectations of disclosures by owners, and their willingness to share their data with owners. We recruited 200 owners and 100 bystanders. We found that most owners of smart homes recognize the privacy rights of bystanders, do not fully understand their own data practices, and are willing to address the privacy concerns of trusted bystanders. We also found that most bystanders have concerns about their privacy in other people’s smart homes, do not expect owners to disclose data practices, and are willing to share data about them with owners if they consent. Reaching a temporary agreement about data practices between owners and bystanders might require some negotiation. So, we also explore the willingness of owners and bystanders on negotiating data collection, storage, and sharing in smart homes. We found that many owners and bystanders have different preferences regarding negotiating data practices. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations for enhancing the privacy protection in smart homes.
“It Feels Like Whack-a-mole”: User Experiences of Data Removal from People Search Websites
Authors: Take Kejsi , Gallagher Kevin , Forte Andrea , McCoy Damon , Greenstadt Rachel
Published: July 2022

People Search Websites aggregate and publicize users’ Personal Identifiable Information (PII), previously sourced from data brokers. This paper presents a qualitative study of the perceptions and experiences of 18 participants who sought information removal by hiring a removal service or requesting removal from the sites. The users we interviewed were highly motivated and had sophisticated risk perceptions. We found that they encountered obstacles during the removal process, resulting in a high cost of removal, whether they requested it themselves or hired a service. Participants perceived that the successful monetization of users PII motivates data aggregators to make the removal more difficult. Overall, self management of privacy by attempting to keep information off the internet is difficult and its’ success is hard to evaluate. We provide recommendations to users, third parties, removal services and researchers aiming to improve the removal process.
Deletion inference, reconstruction, and compliance in machine (un)learning
Authors: Gao Ji , Garg Sanjam , Mahmoody Mohammad , Vasudevan Prashant Nalini
Published: July 2022

Privacy attacks on machine learning models aim to identify the data that is used to train such models. Such attacks, traditionally, are studied on static models that are trained once and are accessible by the adversary. Motivated to meet new legal requirements, many machine learning methods are recently extended to support machine unlearning, i.e., updating models as if certain examples are removed from their training sets, and meet new legal requirements. However, privacy attacks could potentially become more devastating in this new setting, since an attacker could now access both the original model before deletion and the new model after the deletion. In fact, the very act of deletion might make the deleted record more vulnerable to privacy attacks. Inspired by cryptographic definitions and the differential privacy framework, we formally study privacy implications of machine unlearning. We formalize (various forms of) deletion inference and deletion reconstruction attacks, in which the adversary aims to either identify which record is deleted or to reconstruct (perhaps part of) the deleted records. We then present successful deletion inference and reconstruction attacks for a variety of machine learning models and tasks such as classification, regression, and language models. Finally, we show that our attacks would provably be precluded if the schemes satisfy (variants of) deletion compliance (Garg, Goldwasser, and Vasudevan, Eurocrypt’20).
ZoomP3: Privacy-Preserving Publishing of Online Video Conference Recordings
Authors: Sun Yuanyi , Zhu Sencun , Chen Yu
Published: July 2022

The COVID-19 epidemic has made online video conferencing extremely popular throughout the world, with many schools, companies and government sectors using video conferencing applications (e.g., Zoom, Google Meet) in a daily basis. These applications also provide local or cloud recording services, which allow the replay or sharing of video conference recordings (VCRs) in a later time. Such convenience, however, can easily cause infringement of privacy as meeting participants’ personally identifiable information (e.g., face, name, voice) may be exposed to the public without their awareness or consent. While privacy regulation and training can help relieve the situation, efficient and effective tools are also highly desired to protect the privacysensitive users in the VCRs before their public releases. In this work, we propose the first Privacy-Preserving Publishing system (ZoomP3 ) that automatically processes video and audio information in VCRs for privacy protection. Besides leveraging and integrating multiple state-of-the-art computer vision and audio processing tools seamlessly into our system, a number of optimization algorithms are proposed to improve the scalability of the system, enabling it to protect the privacy of long video conferences. We have conducted various tests with short and long videos, and the results (with online demos) verified that ZoomP3 system is suitable for largescale use. It may be applied as an online service, e.g., by Zoom, or by large organizations such as universities, research institutes and government sectors.
SoK: Assumptions Underlying Cryptocurrency Deanonymizations
Authors: Deuber Dominic , Ronge Viktoria , Rückert Christian
Published: July 2022

In recent years, cryptocurrencies have increasingly been used in cybercrime and have become the key means of payment in darknet marketplaces, partly due to their alleged anonymity. Furthermore, the research attacking the anonymity of even those cryptocurrencies that claim to offer anonymity by design is growing and is being applied by law enforcement agencies in the fight against cybercrime. Their investigative measures require a certain degree of suspicion and it is unclear whether findings resulting from attacks on cryptocurrencies’ anonymity can indeed establish that required degree of suspicion. The reason for this is that these attacks are partly based upon uncertain assumptions which are often not properly addressed in the corresponding papers. To close this gap, we extract the assumptions in papers that are attacking Bitcoin, Monero and Zcash, major cryptocurrencies used in darknet markets which have also received the most attention from researchers. We develop a taxonomy to capture the different nature of those assumptions in order to help investigators to better assess whether the required degree of suspicion for specific investigative measures could be established. We found that assumptions based on user behaviour are in general the most unreliable and thus any findings of attacks based on them might not allow for intense investigative measures such as pre-trial detention. We hope to raise awareness of the problem so that in the future there will be fewer unlawful investigations based upon uncertain assumptions and thus fewer human rights violations.
Monetary Policy Performance under Control of exchange rate and consumer price index
Authors: Jamil Muhammad Naveed
Published: July 2022

Central Reserve announced the Monetary Policy Rate from 1955 to 2021 in different ways, and the central bank should be equally interested in the output of exchange rate and price stability. Besides having a stabilizing effect on the price level and trend of exchange rate stabilized the countries outputs. We find that monetary policy control; the price level does not affect production and exchange rate. Monetary policy is the only thing that can change the trend of exchange rate and Consumer Price Index. The actual policy was fixed exchange rate, and currency devaluations like Japan were quite successful for stability. The results indicate that the central bank can stabilize much of the macroeconomic indicators and disturbances under a monetary exchange rate and consumer price index system.
Analysis of Rainfall Variability in the Province of Quirino
Authors: YANOS MAR HEISEN
Published: July 2022

The temporal variability of rainfall in Quirino Province was analyzed through the use of rainfall data of seven (7) rain gauges within the neighboring provinces like Nueva Vizcaya and Aurora. The length of record analyzed from 1997 to 2016. In this study, rainfall frequency analysis and consistency of rainfall data from the different stations through the use of double mass curve analysis was performed and analyzed. The annual series was used to screen each station’s annual rainfall data while the province’s average Thiessen rainfall was screened using maximum period series process. It was found out that all the data of the seven (7) rainfall stations were consistent. To attain allowable error in estimation of 10%, 5% and 1% for the mean annual rainfall the number of rain gauge station needed in the province should be 18, 72 and 1799, respectively.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Practice among Students in Secondary School, Ijebu Ode, Nigeria
Authors: Otto Edet , Opatoki Ayodeji , Luyi Daisi
Published: July 2022

Studies have documented that poor WaSH is accountable for several cases of diarrhea globally, resulting in millions of unnecessary deaths each year, particularly among children, and most notably in underdeveloped countries where poor knowledge and practice of WaSH have been well documented. Therefore, the work prioritizes evaluation of WaSH practice among students in secondary school in Ijebu Ode, in light of the emergence of COVID-19, which has further highlighted the essence of WaSH practice, especially in our schools. A descriptive cross-sectional approach was adopted in the conduct of the investigation, wherein data was sourced from 60 students selected through random numbers from six randomly selected secondary schools (three public and three private), representing a total student population of 360. The data collected through structured questionnaire and personal interview were computed and analyzed descriptively using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Software for Social Scientist (version 20). Findings indicated that majority of the students in Ijebu Ode have adequate knowledge (78.9%) and inadequate practice (45.6%) on WaSH, and thus, concluded that whereas the participants have adequate knowledge on WaSH, it however did not translate into an actual practice. Hence, a need for an intensive effort that will facilitate adequate WaSH practices among the school students through the availability and accessibility of appropriate WaSH resources, with school and home schedules for WaSH practice.
Spinal Cord Injury Patient's Physical and Psychological Care Needs at Home from Patients’ and Caregivers’ Perspectives: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Nassehi Asra , Dehghan Nayeri Nahid , Abbaszadeh Abbas , Emami-Razavi Seyed Hasan , Shahsavari Hooman , Ghadirian Marnani Laleh
Published: July 2022

Background: Limited studies have attempted to identify the care needs of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and their professional caregivers at home and after discharge from the hospital. However, little information about these needs has led to increased physical and psychological complications and thus a reduced quality of life in SCI patients. Objectives: This study aimed to explain the experiences of patients and their caregivers regarding physical and psychological care needs at home. Method: This qualitative descriptive study was conducted on 24 SCI patients and their professional caregivers using the conventional content analysis. Data were collected through unstructured and semi-structured interviews. Purposeful sampling was continued until data saturation was reached. The conventional content analysis approach proposed by Graneheim and Lundman (continuous comparison) was used to analyze the data. Results: The age range of the participants was 29 - 48 years, with an average age of 37.8 years. Seven of the participants had paraplegia, and three of them had tetraplegia. The results of data analysis led to the extraction of two main categories, including physical and psychological care needs. Conclusions: By identifying the real needs of patients after discharge from the hospital, we emphasize the need to remove barriers to home health care services and provide more financial support to meet patients' needs. Therefore, policymakers are encouraged to use the results of this study to plan at-home patient care services.
Diagnostic Value of Mediastinal Lymphadenopathy in Differentiating Pulmonary Tuberculosis from Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Children
Authors: Uçar Ayşe Kalyoncu , Yazici Zeynep , YEŞİL Edanur , Celebi Solmaz , Hacımustafaoğlu Mustafa , Ocakoglu Gokhan
Published: July 2022

Background: Diagnosis of childhood pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is often based on clinical features in combination with radiologic findings because of paucibacillary nature of the disease in children. It may be difficult to make a clinical diagnosis because of the overlapping clinical features of pulmonary TB and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). On computed tomography (CT) scanning, the presence of typical LAP can suggest TB as a possible cause. Objectives: To compare the features of mediastinal LAPs between two patient groups based on contrast-enhanced chest CT. Methods: A total of 45 pulmonary patients with TB and 38 patients with CAP (aged ≤ 18 years) were enrolled in this retrospective study. The presence and CT features of lymph node involvement and the incidence of associating parenchymal/pleural findings were analyzed in two groups. Results: All patients with TB and 36 of the 38 patients with CAP had at least one mediastinal LAP. There was no significant difference between the two groups according to the incidence of lymph node and multiple site involvement and also involved lymph node stations (P > 0.05). However, lymph node size was larger in the TB group (P = 0.04). Twenty-two percent of patients with TB had mediastinal LAP without parenchymal/pleural involvement. Conclusions: Although the lymph node size was larger in TB group than in CAP group, CT features of mediastinal lymph node involvement overlapped between two groups. Nevertheless, mediastinal LAP without parenchymal/pleural involvement on CT is seen in a significant number of TB patients.
Effectiveness of Video-assisted Debriefing Versus Standard Oral Debriefing Following Screen-based Simulation (CyberPatient TM) Training
Authors: Ahmady Soleiman , Masoumain Hosseini Toktam
Published: July 2022

Background: A common recommendation to develop skillful practice is to playback videos during debriefing; however, no study has addressed the advantages of such a technique. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the pedagogical effectiveness of video-assisted debriefing and oral debriefing in simulation-based training. By comparing video-assisted debriefing and traditional oral debriefing, it was hypothesized that video-assisted debriefing would improve medical students' decision-making skills and professional attitudes. Methods: This quasi-experimental study used a pretest-posttest design. The study encompassed 76 medical students in the fourth year of their seven-year training program. The participants were selected using a census and were then randomly divided into intervention (video-assisted debriefing, n = 36) and control (oral debriefing, n = 40) groups. The required data were collected using a demographic information questionnaire, the Penn State College of Medicine Professionalism Questionnaire, and Lauri and Salantera’s (2002) Clinical Decision-making Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to describe the participants’ characteristics. Paired t-test and independent t-test were run to compare the medical students’ clinical decision-making and professional attitude scores before and after the intervention within and between the groups. Results: There was no significant difference in the medical students’ clinical decision-making skills between the two groups before the intervention (P = 0.09); however, significant differences were observed in both groups after the intervention (P < 0.001). Moreover, there was no significant difference in the professional attitude of medical students between the two groups before the intervention (P = 0.03); however, there were significant differences in both groups after the intervention (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The findings revealed that simulation-based training with video-assisted debriefing was more effective in developing the undergraduate medical students' decision-making skills and promoting their professional attitudes.
Impact of Hirsutism on the Quality of Life: A Cross-sectional Pilot Study Using Dermatology Life Quality Index from Western India
Authors: Agrawal Kopal Himanshu , Belgaumkar Vasudha Abhijit , Chavan Ravindranath Brahmadeo , Deshmukh Nitika S.
Published: July 2022

Background: Hirsutism is defined as excess terminal hair growth over androgen-dependent areas in women. It may cause significant social and psychological stigma with a negative impact on the quality of life. However, there is a dearth of data regarding this important parameter from the Indian sub-continent. Objectives: A cross-sectional study was performed to elucidate the quality of life of women with hirsutism using the dermatology life quality index (DLQI). Methods: The severity of hirsutism was graded by modified Ferriman-Gallwey Score (F-G score) and correlated with quality of life by employing self-administered questionnaires of DLQI. Results: Of 40 women with hirsutism (mean DLQI score 5.55 ± 1.501), 3% demonstrated no effect, 52% small effect, and 45% moderate effect. Among domains, “symptoms and feelings” had the highest mean DLQI. Moreover, F-G score and DLQI had a weak positive but insignificant correlation. There was no significant correlation between DLQI and variables like age, marital status, occupation, and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Conclusions: Hirsutism had a small to moderate impact on the quality of life, with symptoms and feelings as the most affected domain.
Influence of intellectual capital and individual absorptive capacity on innovation performance
Authors: Agostineto Raquel Crestani , Soares Thiago Coelho , Mazon Gisele , Soares Sandro Vieira
Published: July 2022

Purpose: The objective of this research was to identify the existence of a relationship between intellectual capital, individual absorptive capacity and the innovation performance of the Federal Institute of Santa Catarina’s technical-administrative civil servants.
Methodology: Self-administered questionnaires were used as a data collection instrument, applied to the institution's technical-administrative staff, resulting in a sample of 314 respondents. In the data analysis, structural equation modeling was used. The final quantitative analysis structure resulted in 28 variables, distributed among the constructs proposed by the research.
Relevance: the relevance of the study lies in the fact that individuals play a role in the creation, transfer and absorption of knowledge, thus factors at the individual level represent an antecedent for performance; therefore, at the time when the codification of knowledge occurs or expands, through assimilation, acquisition, transformation and application, a direct contribution to increasing organizational effectiveness also occurs.
Results: The results showed that human capital, structural capital and relational capital influence the individual absorptive capacity, from the perspective of the institution's technical-administrative staff, with the most relevant relationship being that of human capital.
Originality/Theoretical contribution: The responses indicated that the innovation performance – analyzed based on the creation and implementation of ideas – is influenced by the individual absorptive capacity. Therefore, through the results obtained, contributions to management were proposed that could contribute to the influence between the constructs, and consequently, to the individual and organizational performance.
Enterprise Impact of Information and Communications Technology Risk:
Authors: Quinn Stephen , Ivy Nahla , Chua Julie , Barrett Matthew , Feldman Larry , Topper Daniel , Witte Gregory , Gardner Robert , Scarfone Karen
Published: July 2022

All enterprises should ensure that information and communications technology (ICT) risk receives appropriate attention within their enterprise risk management (ERM) programs. This document is intended to help individual organizations within an enterprise improve their ICT risk management (ICTRM). This can enable enterprises and their component organizations to better identify, assess, and manage their ICT risks in the context of their broader mission and business objectives. This document explains the value of rolling up and integrating risks that may be addressed at lower system and organizational levels to the broader enterprise level by focusing on the use of ICT risk registers as input to the enterprise risk profile.
Research Progression of Colposcopy Image-assisted Diagnosis Based on Deep Learning
Authors: HUANG Yehong
Published: July 2022

Cervical cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women; hence the world has been working to improve the effective screening and prevention of cervical cancer. Colposcopy plays a central role in cervical cancer prevention, but its accuracy and reproducibility are still limited. The use of deep learning in the field of medical images allows more researchers as well as to explore the application of deep learning in colposcopy image-assisted diagnosis. In this paper, we summarize the research status of this field and propose the current shortcomings and improvement directions this research field.
New Strategies to Improve the Quality of Peri-operative Stretcher Transportation Service in the Hospital
Authors: LIU Pei-ying , LIN Yan , SHU Li-li , ZHANG Mei-xue , WANG Meng-meng , WU Dong-mei , XIAO Juan
Published: July 2022

[Objective] In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of educational micro movies and practical experience (nurses as simulated patients) in improving the quality of peri-operative stretcher transportation service in the hospital. [Methods] From November to December 2021, 414 nurses from 18 departments of the Surgery Department of Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center participated in this practical study. Each nurse experienced the perioperative stretcher transportation service in the role of a patient, and experienced the whole process of being transferred from the ward to the operating room by the nursing staff, and then back to the original department. The whole process was recorded with photos and videos, and educational micro movies were made by department as a unit. [Results] Through this practice project, 17 disadvantageous factors (in 5 categories) affecting the quality of stretcher transportation service were summarized and 26 improvement measures were formulated. A total of 17 educational micro movies were released online by 18 departments; as of the end of December 2021, these movies have reached 113,994 views. 84.62% of nurses were satisfied or very satisfied with this practice project, and they believed that this new approach could help improve the quality of perioperative stretcher transportation service. [Conclusions] In this practical study, by allowing nurses to discover the deficiencies through fitting in patients’ role, the standard operation procedure (SOP) for peri-operative stretcher transportation service was revised and improved.
L’antica amicizia tra Ateniesi e Focidesi e le nuove sfide della Grecia multipolare
Authors: Franchi Elena
Published: July 2022

According to some sources, the friendship between the Athenians and the Phokians dates back at least to the time of the First Sacred War and proved resilient enough to withstand, and adapt to, the different balances and constellations of alliances that took shape in the classical period. The bipolar Greece of the fifth century meant the Phokians had to choose between the Athenians and the Spartans. For both the Athenians and Spartans, friendship with the Phokians was important for extending their influence in central Greece and in the Delphic Amphictyony, although the Boiotian factor should not be overlooked. The years of Spartan hegemony saw the Phokians allied with the Spartans, also in an anti-Theban key, but when Spartan hegemony was on the wane, the Phokians had no choice but to allow themselves to be drawn into the Theban orbit. This represented a significant turning point: once Spartan power had diminished, Athens no longer needed to form an alliance with the Thebans against Sparta, and the new Spartan-Athenian axis offered the Phokians a fresh range of prospects. The Athenian-Phokian axis lasted also during the delicate phase of negotiations for the conclusion of the Peace of Philokrates and influenced memories of the archaic War of Krisa.
Dopamine D2Rs coordinate cue-evoked changes in striatal acetylcholine levels
Authors: Martyniuk Kelly M , Torres-Herraez Arturo , Lowes Daniel C , Rubinstein Marcelo , Labouesse Marie A , Kellendonk Christoph
Published: July 2022

In the striatum, acetylcholine (ACh) neuron activity is modulated co-incident with dopamine (DA) release in response to unpredicted rewards and reward-predicting cues and both neuromodulators are thought to regulate each other. While this co-regulation has been studied using stimulation studies, the existence of this mutual regulation in vivo during natural behavior is still largely unexplored. One long-standing controversy has been whether striatal DA is responsible for the induction of the cholinergic pause or whether DA D2 receptors (D2Rs) modulate a pause that is induced by other mechanisms. Here, we used genetically encoded sensors in combination with pharmacological and genetic inactivation of D2Rs from cholinergic interneurons (CINs) to simultaneously measure ACh and DA levels after CIN D2R inactivation in mice. We found that CIN D2Rs are not necessary for the initiation of cue-induced decrease in ACh levels. Rather, they prolong the duration of the decrease and inhibit ACh rebound levels. Notably, the change in cue-evoked ACh levels is not associated with altered cue-evoked DA release. Moreover, D2R inactivation strongly decreased the temporal correlation between DA and ACh signals not only at cue presentation but also during the intertrial interval pointing to a general mechanism by which D2Rs coordinate both signals. At the behavioral level D2R antagonism increased the latency to lever press, which was not observed in CIN-selective D2R knock out mice. Press latency correlated with the cue-evoked decrease in ACh levels and artificial inhibition of CINs revealed that longer inhibition shortens the latency to press compared to shorter inhibition. This supports a role of the ACh signal and it’s regulation by D2Rs in the motivation to initiate actions.
Effects of growing Coptis chinensis Franch in the natural understory vs. under a manmade scaffold on its growth, alkaloid contents, and rhizosphere soil microenvironment
Authors: Wang Yu , Mo Yu R. , Tan Jun , Wu Li X. , Pan Yuan , Chen Xia D.
Published: July 2022

Background

The main planting modes currently used for the production of Coptis chinensis Franch are under the shade of a manmade scaffold or a natural understory. In this study, we analysed changes in the growth, development, and alkaloids of C. chinensis when grown in a natural understory compared with under a manmade scaffold. We also clarified the differences in the rhizosphere soil microenvironment, represented by soil physicochemical factors, enzyme activity, and microbial community structure of 1- to 5-year-old C. chinensis between the different planting modes. These results will provide theoretical guidance and scientific evidence for the development, application, and extension of ecological planting technologies for C. chinensis.

Results

The results of this study showed that rhizome length, rhizome diameter, and rhizome weight all increased over time in both planting modes. The greatest rhizome length was reached in 4-year-old C. chinensis, while the greatest rhizome diameter and rhizome weight were obtained in 5-year-old C. chinensis. There was no significant difference in rhizome biomass between the two planting modes. The alkaloid content of the four common alkaloids in the rhizome of 5-year-old C. chinensis at the harvest stage met the standards found in the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China; the berberine content and total alkaloids in the rhizomes were significantly higher with natural understory planting compared to planting under a manmade scaffold. A redundancy analysis revealed that the physicochemical factors and enzyme activity of rhizosphere soil were significantly correlated with variation in microbial community structure. Soil pH, available potassium, bulk density, available nitrogen, catalase, and peroxidase were all significantly correlated with bacterial and fungal community structures. Among these, soil pH was the most important factor influencing the structures of the fungal and bacterial community. In the two planting modes, the differences in soil enzyme activity and microbial community structure mainly manifested in the rhizosphere soil of C. chinensis between different growth years, as there was little difference between the rhizosphere soil of C. chinensis in a given growth year under different planting modes. The levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and organic matter in the rhizosphere soil under either planting mode were closely associated with the type and amount of fertiliser applied to C. chinensis. Investigating the influence of different fertilisation practices on nutrient cycling in farmland and the relationship between fertilisation and the soil environment will be key to improving the yield and quality of C. chinensis medicinal materials while maintaining the health of the soil microenvironment.
Experiencing the impossible and creativity: a targeted literature review
Authors: Wiseman Richard , Watt Caroline
Published: July 2022

Previous work suggests that unexpected and surprising experiences (e.g., living in another culture or looking at surreal images) promotes creative thinking. This targeted literature review examines whether the inherent cognitive disruption associated with experiencing the seemingly impossible has a similar effect. Correlational and experimental research across six domains (entertainment magic, fantasy play, virtual reality and computer gaming, dreaming, science fiction/fantasy, and anomalous experiences) provided consistent support for the hypothesis. In addition, anecdotal evidence illustrated the possible impact that the creative output associated with each of these areas may have had on technology, science, and the arts. It is argued that impossible experiences are an important driver of creative thinking, thus accounting for reports of such experiences across the lifespan and throughout history. The theoretical and practical implications of this work are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.
Escherichia coli transcription factors of unknown function: sequence features and possible evolutionary relationships
Authors: Duarte-Velázquez Isabel , de la Mora Javier , Ramírez-Prado Jorge Humberto , Aguillón-Bárcenas Alondra , Tornero-Gutiérrez Fátima , Cordero-Loreto Eugenia , Anaya-Velázquez Fernando , Páramo-Pérez Itzel , Rangel-Serrano Ángeles , Muñoz-Carranza Sergio Rodrigo , Romero-González Oscar Eduardo , Cardoso-Reyes Luis Rafael , Rodríguez-Ojeda Ricardo Alberto , Mora-Montes Héctor Manuel , Vargas-Maya Naurú Idalia , Padilla-Vaca Felipe , Franco Bernardo
Published: July 2022

Organisms need mechanisms to perceive the environment and respond accordingly to environmental changes or the presence of hazards. Transcription factors (TFs) are required for cells to respond to the environment by controlling the expression of genes needed. Escherichia coli has been the model bacterium for many decades, and still, there are features embedded in its genome that remain unstudied. To date, 58 TFs remain poorly characterized, although their binding sites have been experimentally determined. This study showed that these TFs have sequence variation at the third codon position G+C content but maintain the same Codon Adaptation Index (CAI) trend as annotated functional transcription factors. Most of these transcription factors are in areas of the genome where abundant repetitive and mobile elements are present. Sequence divergence points to groups with distinctive sequence signatures but maintaining the same type of DNA binding domain. Finally, the analysis of the promoter sequences of the 58 TFs showed A+T rich regions that agree with the features of horizontally transferred genes. The findings reported here pave the way for future research of these TFs that may uncover their role as spare factors in case of lose-of-function mutations in core TFs and trace back their evolutionary history.
Knowledge, attitude and practice towards bio-medical waste management among healthcare workers: a northern Saudi study
Authors: Thirunavukkarasu Ashokkumar , Al-Hazmi Ahmad Homoud , Dar Umar Farooq , Alruwaili Ahmed Mohammed , Alsharari Saleh Dhifallah , Alazmi Fahad Adel , Alruwaili Saif Farhan , Alarjan Abdullah Mohammed
Published: July 2022

Background

Health care workers (HCWs) involved in day-to-day care and other healthcare activities play a significant role in biomedical waste (BMW) management. The World Health Organization stated some of the causes for the failure of BMW management, namely, lack of awareness of the health hazards related to BMW and inadequate trained HCWs in BMW management. The present study assessed knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards BMW management among the HCWs in northern Saudi Arabia.

Methodology

The present study assessed KAP through a self-administered and validated questionnaire. Using a multistage probability sampling method, 384 HCWs from different healthcare facilities participated in this survey. We performed binomial logistic regression analysis to find association between KAP subscales and sociodemographic characteristics. Spearman’s correlation test was performed to find the strength and direction of correlation (rho) between KAP scores.

Results

Of the population studied, high knowledge, attitude, and practice scores were found in 47.1%, 65.1%, and 49.5% of the HCWs, respectively. The present study found that knowledge score was significantly higher among the age group from 30 to 39 years (ref: age less than 30 years: AOR = 2.25, 95% CI [1.05–4.85], p = 0.04) and non- Saudi nationals (ref: Saudi: AOR = 2.84, 95% CI [1.63–4.94], p < 0.001) The attitude score towards BMW management was significantly lower among the HCWs working in tertiary care settings (ref: PHC: AOR = 0.38, 95% CI [0.12–0.69], p = 0.01). Regarding the practice score, the male categories had a significantly higher score (ref: female: AOR = 1.82, 95% CI [1.19 –2.99], p = 0.02), while pharmacist (ref: physicians: AOR = 0.39, 95% CI [0.18–0.58], p = 0.02) and lab technicians (ref: physicians: AOR = 0.31, 95% CI [0.11–0.53], p = 0.02) had a significant lower practice score. The test results revealed a weak positive correlation of knowledge with the attitude scores (rho = 0.249, p = 0.001), and a moderately strong positive correlation was found between attitude and practice scores (rho = 0.432, p = 0.001).

Conclusion

This study suggests that a regular training program for the HCWs on BMW management is necessary through symposiums, role play, interactive lectures, and other feasible training methods. Furthermore, a multicentric prospective exploratory study is to be conducted in other regions of the KSA to understand the region-specific training needs of HCWs.
Development of Parent and Teacher Forms of Peer Relations Scale in Preschool Period
Authors: KANMAZ Tuğba , ŞAHİN Fatma TEZEL
Published: July 2022

Çalışmada okul öncesinde akran ilişkileri ölçeği ebeveyn ve öğretmen formlarının geliştirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini 4-6 yaş grubunda çocuğu olan 398 ebeveyn ve okul öncesi eğitim kurumunda görev yapan 331 okul öncesi
öğretmeni oluşturmuştur. Kapsam geçerliliği için uzman ve öğretmen görüşleri doğrultusunda şekil alan beş faktörlü 72 maddelik okul öncesinde akran ilişkileri ölçeği ebeveyn ve öğretmen formları veri toplama aracı olarak kullanılmıştır.
Açıklayıcı ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizleri sonrasında ebeveyn formu; zorba çocuk, arkadaşlık, iletişim ve etkileşim, empati/prososyal davranışlar, mağdur çocuk olmak üzere 5 alt boyut toplamda 33 maddeden, öğretmen formu; zorba
çocuk, arkadaşlık ve etkileşim (sosyal etkileşim), mağdur çocuk olmak üzere 3 alt boyuttan ve 37 maddeden oluşan son halini almıştır. Ebeveyn formunun Cronbach alfa katsayısı 0,89 olup, alt boyutların Cronbach alfa değeri zorba
çocuk alt boyutu için 0,90, arkadaşlık alt boyutu için 0,88, etkileşim ve iletişim alt boyutu için 0,91 empati/prososyal davranışlar alt boyutu için 0,88 ve mağdur çocuk alt boyutu için 0,90 olarak bulunmuştur. Öğretmen formunun
Cronbach alfa katsayısı 0,97 olup, alt boyutların Cronbach alfa değeri zorba çocuk alt boyutu için 0,98, arkadaşlık ve etkileşim (sosyal etkileşim) alt boyutu için 0,97 ve mağdur çocuk alt boyutu için 0,97 olarak bulunmuştur. Araştırma
sonuçları okul öncesinde akran ilişkileri ölçeği ebeveyn ve öğretmen formlarının geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracı olduğunu, 4-6 yaş aralığında çocuğu olan ebeveynler ve okul öncesi öğretmenleri tarafından akran ilişkilerinin
belirlenmesinde kullanılabileceğini göstermektedir.
Epidemiological and Histopathological Study of Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Kumar Amit , Mahmood Khalid , Upadhyay Rohit , Kumar Vijoy
Published: July 2022

Introduction: The incidence of Renal Cell Carcinomas (RCCs) has increased steadily and they have become the seventh most common histological type of cancer across the globe. Aim: To assess the profile of the patients of RCC with respect to age distribution, sex distribution, clinical presentation, site of tumour, risk factors, staging, histopathological examination, and operative complications. Materials and Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted in Department of Urology, Indira Gandhi Institute of Sciences, Patna, Bihar, India, from January 2019 to June 2020, that included patients with RCC. The pathology specimens and reports of patients with RCC who underwent laparoscopic, open, cytoreductive, and partial nephrectomy were reviewed. Data related to demographic characteristics, site of tumour, risk factors, co-morbidities, clinical features, histopathology, tumour grade and stage, type of surgery, intra-and postoperative complications, and Fuhrman nuclear grading system were recorded. Results: Total 60 patients diagnosed with RCC were included in this study. Of these, majority of patients were men (n=44). Majority of patients belonged to the age group of ≤60 years (n=39). Smoking (n=30), hypertension (n=30), obesity (n=20), and occupational exposure (n=8) were major risk factors associated with RCC. Haematuria (n=36), flank pain (n=24), hematuria and lump, with flank pain (n=18), and weight loss (n=18) were the most common clinical features in patients with RCC. According to the histopathologic type, 30 (50.0%) patients had clear cell RCC, 18 (30.0%) had papillary RCC, 8 (13.3%) had chromophobe RCC and the other four (6.7%) had cystic neoplasm, urothelial, angiomyolipoma, or sarcomatoid. Twenty-four patients underwent laparoscopic nephrectomy while 31 patients underwent open nephrectomy. Cytoreductive and partial nephrectomy was performed in three and two patients, respectively. Conclusion: The present study findings suggest that age has an impact on development of RCC. Also, intraoperative and postoperative complications were more common among patients who underwent open nephrectomy.