bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Protecting the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict
Authors: Maurer Peter
Published: April 2021

Armed conflicts have direct and indirect impacts on the natural environment, and climate risks now magnify this harm for dependent communities. Too often, the natural environment is directly attacked or suffers incidental damage as a result of the use of certain methods or means of warfare. It is also at risk from damage and destruction to the built environment, across urban and rural areas. To reduce this harm, parties to armed conflict can integrate legal protections for the environment into their armed forces’ doctrine to reduce damage as they fight. Humanitarians in turn must commit sufficient resources and expertise to respond to the needs of those coping with the environmental consequences of conflict, and limit their own climate and environmental footprint. In order to address this challenge, in November 2020 the ICRC released the Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict which aim to contribute in a practical way to promoting respect for and protection of this precious asset during armed conflicts.
Can We Save the Blue Half of Our Planet?
Authors: Freestone David
Published: April 2021

We already know that the ocean is at a crisis point. For the last twenty years and more, scientific report after report has flagged the increasing decline of ocean biodiversity and the damaging impacts of human activities –including over-extraction of resources and pollution, by plastic, of course, but overwhelmingly by anthropogenic climate change. It is only by allowing wildness to return –allowing natural ecosystems to return and heal themselves can we save the planet from ourselves. There are already two complex legal regimes governing both the ocean and climate change: the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) and the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). However, it appears, “the Law of the Sea and the Climate Change regimes are two of the giants of the international law treaty arena, yet ... they appear like ships that pass in the night.” How do we move forward on saving the blue half of our endangered planet?
A robust and high capacity data hiding method for JPEG compressed images with SVD-based block selection and advanced error correcting techniques
Authors: Biswas Kusan
Published: April 2021

In this paper, we propose a frequency domain data hiding method for the JPEG compressed images. The proposed method embeds data in the DCT coefficients of the selected 8 × 8 blocks. According to the theories of Human Visual Systems  (HVS), human vision is less sensitive to perturbation of pixel values in the uneven areas of the image. In this paper we propose a Singular Value Decomposition based image roughness measure (SVD-IRM) using which we select the coarse 8 × 8 blocks as data embedding destinations. Moreover, to make the embedded data more robust against re-compression attack and error due to transmission over noisy channels, we employ Turbo error correcting codes. The actual data embedding is done using a proposed variant of matrix encoding that is capable of embedding three bits by modifying only one bit in block of seven carrier features. We have carried out experiments to validate the performance and it is found that the proposed method achieves better payload capacity and visual quality and is more robust than some of the recent state-of-the-art methods proposed in the literature.
Cost-enabled QoS aware task scheduling in the cloud management system
Authors: Rajavel Rajkumar , Ravichandran Sathish Kumar , Nagappan Partheeban , Venu Sivakumar
Published: April 2021

Maintaining the quality of service (QoS) related parameters is an important issue in cloud management systems. The lack of such QoS parameters discourages cloud users from using the services of cloud service providers. The proposed task scheduling algorithms consider QoS parameters such as the latency, make-span, and load balancing to satisfy the user requirements. These parameters cannot sufficiently guarantee the desired user experience or that a task will be completed within a predetermined time. Therefore, this study considered the cost-enabled QoS-aware task (job) scheduling algorithm to enhance user satisfaction and maximize the profit of commercial cloud providers. The proposed scheduling algorithm estimates the cost-enabled QoS metrics of the virtual resources available from the unified resource layer in real-time. Moreover, the virtual machine (VM) manager frequently updates the current state-of-the art information about resources in the proposed scheduler to make appropriate decisions. Hence, the proposed approach guarantees profit for cloud providers in addition to providing QoS parameters such as make-span, cloud utilization, and cloud utility, as demonstrated through a comparison with existing time-and cost-based task scheduling algorithms.
QALO-MOR: Improved antlion optimizer based on quantum information theory for model order reduction
Authors: Pradhan Rosy , Khan Mohammad Rafique , Sethy Prabir Kumar , Majhi Santosh Kumar
Published: April 2021

The field of optimization science is proliferating that has made complex real-world problems easy to solve. Metaheuristics based algorithms inspired by nature or physical phenomena based methods have made its way in providing near-ideal (optimal) solutions to several complex real-world problems. Ant lion Optimization (ALO) has inspired by the hunting behavior of antlions for searching for food. Even with a unique idea, it has some limitations like a slower rate of convergence and sometimes confines itself into local solutions (optima). Therefore, to enhance its performance of classical ALO, quantum information theory is hybridized with classical ALO and named as QALO or quantum theory based ALO. It can escape from the limitations of basic ALO and also produces stability between processes of explorations followed by exploitation. CEC2017 benchmark set is adopted to estimate the performance of QALO compared with state-of-the-art algorithms. Experimental and statistical results demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to the original ALO. The proposed QALO extends further to solve the model order reduction (MOR) problem. The QALO based MOR method performs preferably better than other compared techniques. The results from the simulation study illustrate that the proposed method effectively utilized for global optimization and model order reduction.
HoQ-based evaluation of UHC competencies using an extension of interval-valued spherical fuzzy and hesitant 2-tuple linguistic term sets
Authors: Özgül Ercan , Dinçer Hasan , Yüksel Serhat
Published: April 2021

Healthy life is recognized as one of the most fundamental human rights. However, even today, millions of people around the world are forced to choose between their basic needs and fundamental rights. Half of the world’s population does not have access to the healthcare they need. Universal Health Coverage (UHC) aims to ensure that all individuals receive the quality health services they need without incurring a financial burden, and to protect them from risk factors that threaten their health. The aim of this study is to identify the significant factors to improve UHC in the countries. For this purpose, house of quality (HoQ) approach is used in the analysis process so that both customer expectations and technical requirements are considered. Within this framework, a novel hybrid model has been proposed which has three different stages. Firstly, 3 groups of diseases and 4 clinical services for each group are determined regarding the customer needs. Secondly, these factors are weighted by using interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant 2-tuple fuzzy decision making and trial evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL). In the final stage, 9 different technical requirements are ranked by using interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant 2-tuple fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). Additionally, another evaluation has also been conducted by considering Spherical fuzzy sets. Similarly, a comparative analysis has also been performed with VIKOR while ranking the alternatives. It is concluded that analysis results of both evaluations are quite similar. This situation gives an information about the coherency and consistency of the analysis results. The findings indicate that treatment services in noncommunicable diseases play the most significant role in this respect. Moreover, according to the ranking results, it is concluded that strategic policies should be related to improving the social security and special physician capacity as well as decreasing the out-of-pocket payment.
Threat identification and risk assessments for named data networking architecture using SecRam
Authors: Singh Vishwa Pratap , Ujjwal R.L.
Published: April 2021

Named Data networking is an instance of information centric networking, aims to improve the performance of the Internet by using in-network caching at storage-enabled routers and provide name based content access. However, name based content access and in-network caching make Name Data network vulnerable to new security attacks like cache pollutions, cache poisoning, false locality, cache snooping and interest flooding, etc. In this paper, we have evaluated NDN security principles, the impact of threats, ratified various security enablers, and built-in mitigation actions to combat security attacks. We have systematically applied SecRam in NDN for statistical security risk assessment, identification of run time threats, and assessment of available methods to mitigate these threats, as SecRam considers operational focus areas and proved useful for identification and severity assessment of run time threats. We have modified SecRam and used it in an entirely different domain, i.e., to a computer network, as SESAR proposed SecRam specifically for ATM systems that cannot be directly applied to another context. According to the best of our knowledge, it is the first attempt for a complete risk assessment of NDN. We have concluded this paper by defining a set of open security challenges that should be considered by future researchers.
Local gradient pattern and deep learning-based approach for the iris recognition at-a-distance
Authors: Shirke Swati D. , Rajabhushnam C.
Published: April 2021

One of the biometric techniques utilized to predict the human is based on the iris. The recognition of iris is performed by discovering an individual without human intervention utilizing the iris of human eyes. Iris offers distinct information about the person. This research presents deep learning strategy for performing iris recognition. Primarily, image is pre-processed to obtain exact region iris. Then, region of iris is extracted using Hough Transform, followed by segmentation and normalization of iris region using Daugman’s rubber sheet model. Once segmentation is performed, the features are generated with ScaT-LOOP that is the combination of Scattering Transform (ST), Tetrolet transforms (TT), Local Gradient Pattern (LGP) and Local Optimal Oriented Pattern (LOOP). Finally, steepest gradient-based Deep Belief Network (DBN) is utilized for recognizing the iris. The performance of iris recognition using the DBN classifier is computed based on accuracy, False Rejection Rate (FRR), and False Acceptance Rate (FAR). The proposed method achieves maximum accuracy of 97.96%, minimal FAR of 0.493%, and minimal FRR of 0.48% that indicates its superiority.
Development of Excessive-Smoke-Emitting-Car Fault Diagnostic System (ESECFDS) based on Case-Base Reasoning (CBR) Methodology
Authors: De Sumana , Chakraborty Baisakhi
Published: April 2021

This paper proposes a diagnostic system, ESECFDS, to solve the problem of excessive smoke emission from a faulty car, based on Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) Methodology that accepts a user query as a new case, compares it with several stored cases in a Case-Base (CB) based on a similarity score using Jaccard Similarity method and provides feedback result to the user. The CBR cycle R4 Model of Aamodt and Plaza has been modified to R5 Model to improve the time complexity of the proposed algorithm of the system over the popular R4 Model.
Facial expression analysis using local directional stigma mean patterns and convolutional neural networks
Authors: Maheswari V. Uma , Prasad Golla Vara , Raju S. Viswanadha
Published: April 2021

This paper represents automatic facial expression analysis method named Local Directional Stigma Mean Patterns (LDSMP) for automatic facial expression analysis and image retrieval using content based facial expression image retrieval and CNN. The traditional local patterns such as Local Binary Patterns (LBP) and Local Ternary Patterns (LTP) are applied for face recognition and expression analysis, calculated using relationship between the center pixel and neighboring pixels. The proposed method calculates the eight directional difference values then divided into the three ranges based on threshold values. Thus, the values are substituted with basic three positive values (+3, +2, +1) and three negative values (-3, -2, -1) to get more sensitive information from an image rather than aforementioned methods. The threshold can be select either static which is selected by user or dynamic is evaluated from image itself and supports to improve the efficiency. The performance of the proposed method is further improved by giving this patterns as input to the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and compared with the existing methods LBP, LTP, and Directional Binary Code (DBC) in terms of Average Precision (AP), Average Recall (AR), and Average Retrieval Rate (ARR) using standard databases COREL 10K (DB1) and JAFFE (The Japanese Female Facial Expression) (DB2) and Extended Cohn-Kanade (CK +) (DB3) dataset.
Enhancing virtual ontology based access over tabular data with Morph-CSV
Authors: Chaves-Fraga David , Ruckhaus Edna , Priyatna Freddy , Vidal Maria-Esther , Corcho Oscar
Published: April 2021

Ontology-Based Data Access (OBDA) has traditionally focused on providing a unified view of heterogeneous datasets (e.g., relational databases, CSV and JSON files), either by materializing integrated data into RDF or by performing on-the-fly querying via SPARQL query translation. In the specific case of tabular datasets represented as several CSV or Excel files, query translation approaches have been applied by considering each source as a single table that can be loaded into a relational database management system (RDBMS). Nevertheless, constraints over these tables are not represented (e.g., referential integrity among sources, datatypes, or data integrity); thus, neither consistency among attributes nor indexes over tables are enforced. As a consequence, efficiency of the SPARQL-to-SQL translation process may be affected, as well as the completeness of the answers produced during the evaluation of the generated SQL query. Our work is focused on applying implicit constraints on the OBDA query translation process over tabular data. We propose Morph-CSV, a framework for querying tabular data that exploits information from typical OBDA inputs (e.g., mappings, queries) to enforce constraints that can be used together with any SPARQL-to-SQL OBDA engine. Morph-CSV relies on both a constraint component and a set of constraint operators. For a given set of constraints, the operators are applied to each type of constraint with the aim of enhancing query completeness and performance. We evaluate Morph-CSV in several domains: e-commerce with the BSBM benchmark; transportation with the GTFS-Madrid benchmark; and biology with a use case extracted from the Bio2RDF project. We compare and report the performance of two SPARQL-to-SQL OBDA engines, without and with the incorporation of Morph-CSV. The observed results suggest that Morph-CSV is able to speed up the total query execution time by up to two orders of magnitude, while it is able to produce all the query answers.
Supervisor ratings of productivity loss associated with presenteeism and sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders and common mental disorders in Sweden
Authors: Bernfort Lars , Persson Jan , Linderoth Catharina , Ekberg Kerstin
Published: April 2021

BACKGROUND: Health problems due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and common mental disorders (CMD) result in costs due to lost productivity. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to increase knowledge of employers’ productivity loss due to employees’ presenteeism and sickness absence. METHODS: A web questionnaire was sent to employers of workers who were sick-listed for more than 30 days due to MSD or CMD, response rate: 50%, n = 198. Presenteeism and the impact on productivity before and after sick leave, and the performance of work tasks by replacement workers during sick leave, were measured using supervisors’ ratings. RESULTS: The average loss of productivity per sick-leave case amounted to almost 10 weeks, 53%of productivity loss was attributable to presenteeism and 47%to lower productivity by replacement workers. Employees with a CMD diagnosis had significantly higher presenteeism-related productivity loss than those with MSD. CONCLUSIONS: Employers experienced substantial productivity loss associated with employees’ presenteeism and sick leave. Whether the supervisory rating of presenteeism is preferable to employee self-rating needs to be studied further. The long duration of presenteeism is counter-productive to resource-efficient organisations and indicates the need for improved supervisory skills to identify workers with poor health, both before and after sick leave.
Exploratory study to determine if risk factors for occupational skin disease vary by type of food processing operation
Authors: Hon Chun-Yip , Holness D Linn , Fairclough Craig , Tchernikov Illia , Arrandale Victoria
Published: April 2021

BACKGROUND: Occupational skin disease (OSD) is a common health issue in the food processing sector. However, risk factors for OSD are suspected to differ according to the nature of the operation. OBJECTIVE: To ascertain if the risk factors for OSD vary depending on the type of food processing operation, namely meat processing vs. a commercial bakery. METHODS: Participants were asked to answer questions regarding workplace exposures and the current skin condition of their hands. Bivariate analyses were conducted to identify differences between the two participating operations. RESULTS: The meat processing workers were more likely to have wet work exposure, used hand sanitizer more often and changed their gloves more frequently. These findings from meat processing represented a statistically significant difference compared to the commercial bakery workers. Also, workers from meat processing reported more severe skin symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Risk factors for OSD apparently differ between types of food processing operations. Differences in the nature of skin symptoms were also found between the two participating operations. It is therefore suggested that future studies examining OSD within the food processing sector should evaluate this health effect based on the nature of operations rather than the sector as a whole.
Employment status monitoring in an Argentinian population of patients with multiple sclerosis: Particularities of a developing country
Authors: Vanotti S. , Eizaguirre M.B. , Ciufia N.P. , Yastremiz C.M. , Roman M.S. , Canyazo C. Martinez , Alonso R. , Garcea O. , Benedict R.H.B. , Caceres F.
Published: April 2021

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological chronic disease that causes a number of physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms. The identification of these factors will allow mitigating unemployment and improve quality of life of patients. The Buffalo Vocational Monitoring Survey (BVMS) is a tool to characterize Work-Challenged patients. OBJECTIVE: To describe and analyze BVMS data in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) from Argentina. To study the association with physical, cognitive and psychiatric morbidity in employed patients, comparing the performance of MS Work-Challenged and MS Work-Stable patients, with and without accommodations. METHODS: 119 MS patients were administered the Argentina adaptation of the BVMS, and completed measures of physical disability, fatigue, depression, cognitive processing speed, memory and verbal fluency. RESULTS: 65.54% of the patients were employed and 19.32% were unemployed, the remaining having roles of housewife, students and disability retirees. Within the employed subgroup, 60.26% were working as employees and 39.74% were self-employed. Cognitive and clinical variables differentiate patients with and without negative events and accommodations (p >  0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This Spanish version BVMS is considered a new tool to monitor employment difficulties in Spanish-speaking MS patients. MS Work-Challenged had a higher depression, fatigue and worse performance in cognitive variables.
Efficiency of integrated use of mineral and microbiological fertilizers on winter rye yield in the Novgorod region
Authors: Tiranova L. V. , Tiranov A. B.
Published: April 2021

As a result of the research experiment it was established that the highest yield of winter rye grain of 7.3 and 6.3 t/ha and digestible protein of 0.66 and 0.57 t/ha were obtained when applying doses of mineral fertilizers based on the planned yield (background 1) and reduced by 50% (background 2) in relation to background 1 and double use of microbiological fertilizers: in a tank mixture with a pesticide when etching seeds of 2.0 l/t and non-root treatment of crops in the tillering — exit phase at plant height up to 30 cm of 1 l/ha of each preparation. The use of Azotovite and Phosphatovite twice in technological operations allowed to obtain an additional yield of winter rye grain of 2.4 and 2.1 tons per hectare (more than 48%) in relation to backgrounds 1 and 2 respectively. High grain yield and low cost of microbiological fertilizers, as well as their combined use in tank mixtures with pesticides, provided high energy-economic indicators of winter rye cultivation technologies: low energy intensity of production of a ton of grain (less than 2.4 GJ), high energy efficiency coefficient (more than 7.2 units), production profitability of more than 170%.
Radiation shielding structures : Concepts, behaviour and the role of the heavy weight concrete as a shielding material - Rewiev
Authors: Ali Suha Ismail Ahmed , Lublóy Éva
Published: April 2021

The construction of radiation shielding buildings still developed. Application of ionizing radiations became necessary for different reasons, like electricity generation, industry, medical (therapy treatment), agriculture, and scientific research. Different countries all over the world moving toward energy saving, besides growing the demand for using radiation in several aspects. Nuclear power plants, healthcare buildings, industrial buildings, and aerospace are the main neutrons and gamma shielding buildings. Special design and building materials are required to enhance safety and reduce the risk of radiation emission. Radiation shielding, strength, fire resistance, and durability are the most important properties, cost-effective and environmentally friendly are coming next. Heavy-weight concrete (HWC) is used widely in neutron shielding materials due to its cost-effectiveness and worthy physical and mechanical properties. This paper aims to give an overview of nuclear buildings, their application, and behaviour under different radiations. Also to review the heavy-weight concrete and heavy aggregate and their important role in developing the neutrons shielding materials. Conclusions showed there are still some gaps in improving the heavy-weight concrete (HWC) properties.
Proposed simplified method of geopolymer concrete mix design
Authors: Khalaf Ali Abdulhasan , Kopecskó Katalin
Published: April 2021

The research aims to determine the best combination of the controlling factors that govern geopolymer concrete’s mechanical and physical properties by utilizing industrial waste. Therefore, a review on the controlling factors was conducted. Firstly, it is to identify the controlling factors, namely chemical composition, alkali activation solution, water content, and curing condition. Secondly, understanding the relationship between these controlling factors and the properties of geopolymer concrete. These factors are analysed to the mix proportion components. Finally, a new proportion method is proposed based on combining ACI 211 standard and recommended molar ratios of oxides involved in geopolymer synthesis. The effect of aggregate has been taken into account by applying the absolute volume method in mix design. Based on the results of the study, it is expected to determine the optimal mix proportions based on multi-responses.
建筑工程项目招投标阶段的造价控制分析
Authors: 张 小波
Published: April 2021

随着建筑工程数量的不断增多，如何在保障质量的前提下，更好的进行工程造价控制，成为建设单位重点考虑的问题之一。科学的造价控制不仅关系到企业的经济效益，而且对于参建各方的利益都会产生很大的影响。而工程造价控制分为不同的阶段，文章围绕工程项目招投标阶段的造价控制措施展开讨论，希望能够提升招投标阶段的造价控制效率。
液压支架立柱中缸内孔熔覆技术的研究与应用
Authors: 杨 晓波
Published: April 2021

我国是一个产煤大国，煤炭是我国的主要能源，储量丰富。研究报告指出，至2030年，煤炭在我国能源消费比重仍将占到70％左右，国家对煤炭资源的开发可持续发展的呼声也越来越高，为了保证国民经济的持续健康发展，仍需要有计划、大规模的开采煤炭资源。作为煤矿主要设备之一的液压支架，其立柱是承载压力的关键部件，由于井下使用环境恶劣，多为湿度大、粉尘多、伴有有毒有害气体等。立柱的再制造关键在于缸筒内壁的处理，关乎着立柱的使用寿命。缸筒内壁熔覆就是让熔覆层与基体结合，以较少的材料和成本，达到恢复图纸设计尺寸及要求，因此内孔熔覆成为立柱再制造的核心技术。
Differences Effectiveness Premature Infant Oralmotor Intervention (PIOMI) And Oromotor Stimulation (OMS) To Readiness Oral Feeding
Authors: Sumarni Sumarni - , Sutini Titin , Hariyanto Rohadi
Published: April 2021

Introduction: Premature birth is one of the biggest contributors to neonatal mortality and morbidity. It is difficult for premature infants to adapt to life outside the womb due to the immaturity of various organ systems, one of which is the suction reflex relevant to the readiness to oral feeding. Difficulty in oral feeding due to the weakness of sucking is a concern since it often delays the discharge of the infants from the hospital, negatively affects the relationship between mother and infants, and potentially causes eating disorders in children. Some of these reasons are the basis for early intervention to improve oral feeding ability. Interventions that can be carried out are PIOMI and OMS interventions
Objectives: This research aimed at identifying the differences in effectiveness between PIOMI and OMS with respect to the readiness of premature infants to oral feeding in the perinatology division of KMC Hospital, Luragung
Methods: The method used was a quasi-experimental research with pretest and posttest using a number of samples (N) = 32 respondents divided into two intervention groups respectively consisting of 16 respondents
Results: The results indicated that PIOMI (Δ = 9.0, p-value = 0.000) and OMS (Δ = 7.3, p-value = 0.000) had an effect on the readiness of premature infants to oral feeding. PIOMI intervention had a greater difference that consequently, it was more effective than OMS intervention. The confounding factors affecting the readiness of premature infants to oral feeding were gestational age and body weight, while chronological age did not affect
Conclusion: Based on the research results, it was suggested that nurses can use PIOMI intervention to make premature infants ready for oral feeding
Ações educativas para prevenção de quedas de pacientes hospitalizados: Revisão integrativa
Authors: Bittencourt Vivian Lemes Lobo , Kinalski Sandra da Silva , Stumm Eniva Miladi Fernandes , Schwengber Maria Simone Vione
Published: April 2021

Este artigo objetiva analisar evidências sobre ações educativas direcionadas à prevenção de quedas de pacientes no âmbito hospitalar. Trata-se de uma revisão integrativa que incluiu estudos que realizaram ações educativas direcionadas a pacientes, familiares e à equipe assistencial hospitalar com vistas à prevenção de quedas. Busca realizada nas bases de dados: biblioteca virtual em saúde, PubMed e Scopus, publicados entre 2005 e 2020. Compuseram o corpus de análise 19 artigos. Em sua maioria, as evidências dos artigos referem ações educativas direcionadas ao paciente, aos familiares e/ou à equipe assistencial com várias estratégias na perspectiva de prevenir quedas, contudo os estudos que utilizaram abordagens mistas obtiveram resultados mais contundentes. A análise indicou que a inserção do paciente é fundamental quando se pensa em ações educativas com vistas à redução de quedas no âmbito hospitalar. Para que ações educativas sejam exitosas, os pacientes igualmente necessitam de maior aporte de conhecimento, aptos para identificar fatores de risco no referido ambiente e, a partir disso, ter condições de sugerir, juntamente com familiares e equipes, ações prioritárias de redução dos mesmos.
Características físico-químicas do leite de cabra submetidos à diferentes períodos de congelamento
Authors: Lima Lílian Raquel do Nascimento , Negreiros Igor Filipe Leal , Silva Edilene Ferreira da , Ramos Lidiana de Siqueira Nunes
Published: April 2021

O leite de cabra é considerado um dos alimentos mais completos por apresentar vários elementos químicos importantes para a nutrição humana. Entretanto, a irregularidade na oferta desse leite, resulta em insatisfação da indústria e do consumidor. Diante do exposto, objetivou-se, avaliar a influência de diferentes tempos de congelamento, como técnica de conservação, sob as características físico-químicas no leite de cabra. Foram coletadas amostras in natura de leite de cabra que representou o tempo zero e as mesmas amostras foram segmentadas e submetidas ao congelamento lento (-18 ± 2 °C), permanecendo congeladas por 30, 60, 90, 120 e 150 dias, sendo posteriormente descongeladas para realização das análises físico-químicas de gordura (%), sólidos não-gordurosos (%), densidade 15/15 °C, proteína (%), lactose (%), sais (%), pH, acidez em % ácido lático e índice crioscópico (°H). Foram separadas amostras de leite de cabra in natura de cada produtor, para a realização do controle de qualidade microbiológico. Os parâmetros microbiológicos e físico-químicos do leite de cabra in natura encontraram-se dentro do preconizado pela legislação vigente. O leite de cabra pode ser submetido ao congelamento de até 150 dias sem sofrer interferência nas suas características físico-químicas. A conservação do leite de cabra pelo congelamento é uma técnica viável para solucionar a problemática de pequena produção de leite de cabra por animal e da sazonalidade dessa produção, regularizando seu estoque no mercado consumidor.
Sağlığın Geliştirilmesi Bağlamında Sağlıklı Davranış Değişikliği Oluşturmada Mobil Sağlık Uygulamalarının ve Sosyal Medya Gruplarının Etkisi
Authors: DÖNMEZ Ayşegül
Published: April 2021

Sağlığın geliştirilmesi ve teşvikinin hedeflerinden biri sağlıklı yaşama teşvik etmek için bireysel davranış değişikliği yapabilmektir. Bu bağlamda sağlığın geliştirilmesi faaliyetleri tütün kullanımı, sağlıksız beslenme, hareketsiz yaşam gibi bireylerin kendi kontrolünde olan ve değiştirilebilir davranışsal risklere odaklanır. Bu çalışmada bireyin kendi kontrolünde olan davranışlarının değişikliği için m-sağlık uygulamalarının etkisi ve sağlığın geliştirilmesindeki rolü değerlendirilmiştir. ‘M-sağlık uygulamaları’, ‘m-sağlık’, ‘sağlığın geliştirilmesi’ anahtar kelimeleri ile yapılan literatür taraması ile mobil uygulamaların ve bu uygulamaları kullanan bireylerin oluşturdukları sosyal medya gruplarının özellikle fiziksel aktivite ve kilo kontrolü sağlama gibi olumlu sağlık davranışı geliştirilmesinde ne derece etkili olduğu araştırılmıştır. Literatür taraması sonuçlarına göre mobil sağlık uygulamalarının kişilerin sağlıklarını geliştirmek için olumlu sağlık davranışı geliştirmelerine etkisi göz ardı edilemeyecek kadar büyüktür. Bu uygulamalarda yer alan besin değerleri, egzersiz önerileri, adım sayar ve nabız ölçümü gibi fiziksel bulguların değerlendirilmesi gibi teknik özelliklerin profesyonel destek alınarak oluşturulması önerilmektedir. Ayrıca uygulamaların kişiselleştirilmiş sağlık önerilerinde bulunabilmesi için gerekli yasal düzenlemelerin yapılması ve bilgi paylaşımı risklerinden doğabilecek güvenlik önlemlerinin alınması gerekmektedir.
EVALUASI IMPLEMENTASI ALGORITMA IMPROVED K-NEAREST NEIGHBOR PADA KATEGORISASI LIRIK LAGU BAHASA INDONESIA MENURUT USIA
Authors: Faisal Rahutomo  , Mirzha Pangestu Nur , Rozi Imam Fahrur
Published: April 2021

Pesatnya perkembangan teknologi mempercepat proses penyebaran lagu di Indonesia. Namun lagu yang beredar belum disertai dengan label batasan usia pendengar berdasarkan liriknya, seperti label usia pada film. Hal tersebut tentu membuat masyarakat kesulitan untuk memilih lagu yang sesuai usianya, sehingga masyarakat bebas menikmati berbagai lagu dan akan berdampak buruk terhadap perkembangan mental masyarakat di bawah umur. Oleh karena itu, dengan membuatkan sebuah sistem yang dapat menyaring sebuah lagu berdasarkan latar belakang usia sehingga lagu akan mempunyai sebuah label. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode Improved K-Nearest Neighbor yaitu untuk mengklasifikasikan sebuah lagu berdasarkan usianya. Proses dimulai dari melakukan preprocessing data, perhitungan TF.IDF, perhitungan cosine similarity, dan melakukan klasifikasi dengan metode Improved K-Nearest Neighbor. Berdasarkan pengujian yang sudah peneliti lakukan tingkat akurasi dari pengembangan rekomendasi lirik lagu menggunakan Improved K-Nearest Neighbor mendapatkan hasil terbaik yakni akurasi sebesar 51%, precision sebesar 100%, recall sebesar 100%, dan f-measure sebesar 100% untuk masing-masing kategori.
Vision Affects Gait Speed but not Patterns of Muscle Activation During Inclined Walking—A Virtual Reality Study
Authors: Benady Amit , Zadik Sean , Ben-Gal Oran , Cano Porras Desiderio , Wenkert Atalia , Gilaie-Dotan Sharon , Plotnik Meir
Published: April 2021

While walking, our locomotion is affected by and adapts to the environment based on vision- and body-based (vestibular and proprioception) cues. When transitioning to downhill walking, we modulate gait by braking to avoid uncontrolled acceleration, and when transitioning to uphill walking, we exert effort to avoid deceleration. In this study, we aimed to measure the influence of visual inputs on this behavior and on muscle activation. Specifically, we aimed to explore whether the gait speed modulations triggered by mere visual cues after transitioning to virtually inclined surface walking are accompanied by changes in muscle activation patterns typical to those triggered by veridical (gravitational) surface inclination transitions. We used an immersive virtual reality system equipped with a self-paced treadmill and projected visual scenes that allowed us to modulate physical–visual inclination congruence parametrically. Gait speed and leg muscle electromyography were measured in 12 healthy young adults. In addition, the magnitude of subjective visual verticality misperception (SVV) was measured by the rod and frame test. During virtual (non-veridical) inclination transitions, vision modulated gait speed by (i) slowing down to counteract the excepted gravitational “boost” in virtual downhill inclinations and (ii) speeding up to counteract the expected gravity resistance in virtual uphill inclinations. These gait speed modulations were reflected in muscle activation intensity changes and associated with SVV misperception. However, temporal patterns of muscle activation were not affected by virtual (visual) inclination transitions. Our results delineate the contribution of vision to locomotion and may lead to enhanced rehabilitation strategies for neurological disorders affecting movement.
Smart Contracts for Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Conceptual Frameworks for Supply Chain Maturity Evaluation and Smart Contract Sustainability Assessment
Authors: Groschopf Wolfram , Dobrovnik Mario , Herneth Christian
Published: April 2021

Current research on smart contracts focuses on technical, conceptual, and legal aspects but neglects organizational requirements and sustainability impacts. We consider this a significant research gap and explore the relationship between smart contracts and sustainability in supply chains. First, we define the concept of smart contracts in terms of supply chain management. Then, we conduct a content analysis of the literature to explore the overlapping research fields of smart contracts and sustainability in supply chains. Next, we develop a semi-structured assessment framework to model the potential environmental and social impacts induced by smart contracts on supply chains. We propose a conceptual framework for supply chain maturity by mapping the relationships between organizational development, sustainability, and technology. We identify smart contracts as a foundational technology that enables efficient and transparent governance and collaborative self-coordination of human and non-human actors. Thus, we argue that smart contracts can contribute to the economic and social development of networked value chains and Society 5.0. To stimulate interdisciplinary research on smart contracts, we conclude the article by formulating research propositions and trade-offs for smart contracts in the context of technology development, business process and supply chain management, and sustainability.
Autophagic Cell Death During Development – Ancient and Mysterious
Authors: Schwartz Lawrence M.
Published: April 2021

While cell death is a normal and essential component of development and homeostasis, dysregulation of this process underlies most human diseases, including cancer, autoimmunity and neurodegeneration. The best characterized mechanism for cell death is apoptosis, although some cells die by a distinct process known as autophagy-dependent cell death (ADCD). Autophagy is mediated by the formation of double membrane vesicles that contain protein aggregates, damaged organelles like mitochondria, and bulk cytoplasm, which then fuse with lysosomes to degrade and recycle their contents. Autophagy is typically viewed as an adaptive process that allows cells to survive stresses like nutrient deprivation, although increasing evidence suggests that it may also mediate cell death during development and pathogenesis. An aggressive form of autophagy termed autosis has been described in cells following either ischemia/reperfusion injury or in response to autophagy-inducing proteins like Tat-Beclin 1. Despite an extensive literature on autophagic cell death in a variety of contexts, there are still fundamental gaps in our understanding of this process. As examples: Does autophagy directly kill cells and if so how? Is ADCD activated concurrently when cells are triggered to die via apoptosis? And is ADCD essentially a more protracted version of autosis or a distinct pathway? The goal of this mini-review is to summarize the field and to identify some of the major gaps in our knowledge. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that mediate ADCD will not only provide new insights into development, they may facilitate the creation of better tools for both the diagnostics and treatment of disease.
Rethinking the Applications of Ionic Liquids and Deep Eutectic Solvents in Innovative Nano-Sorbents
Authors: Nie Lirong , Toufouki Sara , Yao Shun , Guo Dong
Published: April 2021

With the development of green chemistry and nano materials, new alternatives to traditional volatile solvents are one of many important hotspots in the field of nano materials. Ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as excellent alternative solvents are being applied in the innovation of nano-sorbents, including nanoparticles, nanogels, and nanofluid. ILs and DESs are often used as carriers/modifiers/dispersers of nano-sorbents to enhance the adsorption capacity and selectivity in the extraction procedure. Various extraction technologies, such as solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, micro-solid phase extraction, hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction, and magnetic solid-phase extraction, have also been promoted by them to achieve rapid development. This paper focused on the latest development of nano-sorbents based on ILs and DESs. The problems and bottlenecks encountered were analyzed in order to provide meaningful and valuable references for the related research and thus promote further development and application of alternative solvents-assisted nano-sorbents.
Complexity and Its Relation to Variation
Authors: Forker Diana
Published: April 2021

This paper is concerned with the relationship between complexity and variation. The main goal is to lay out the conceptual foundations and to develop and systematize reasonable hypotheses such as to set out concrete research questions for future investigations. I first compare how complexity and variation have synchronically been studied and what kinds of questions have been asked in those studies. Departing from earlier surveys of different definitions of complexity, here I classify the majority of complexity studies into two broad types based on two ways of defining this concept. The first type determines and measures linguistic complexity by counting numbers of items (e.g., linguistic forms or rules and interactions between forms). The second type makes use of transparency and the principle of One-Meaning–One-Form. In addition, linguistic complexity has been defined by means of concepts from information theory, namely in terms of description length or information content, but those studies are in the minority. Then I define linguistic variation as a situation when two or more linguistic forms have identical or largely identical meaning and it is possible to use either the one or the other variant. Variation can be free or linguistically or socially conditioned. I argue that there is an implicational relationship between complexity of the first type that is defined in terms of numbers of items and variation. Variation is a type of complexity because it implies the existence of more than one linguistic form per meaning. But not every type of complexity involves variation because complexity defined on the basis of transparency does not necessarily imply the existence of more than one form. In the following I discuss extralinguistic factors that (possibly) have an impact on socially conditioned variation and/or complexity and can lead to an increase or decrease of complexity and/or variation. I conclude with suggestions of how to further examine the relationship between complexity and variation.
Triple Oxygen Isotope Paleoaltimetry of Crystalline Rocks
Authors: Chamberlain C. Page , Ibarra Daniel E. , Kukla Tyler , Methner Katharina A. , Gao Yuan
Published: April 2021

Triple oxygen isotopes of hydrothermally altered minerals from crystalline rocks can be used to determine past elevations of mountain ranges. This method uses all three isotopes of oxygen (16O, 17O, and 18O) to create arrays that can be extrapolated back to the meteoric water line. One advantage of this technique is that it relies only on oxygen isotopes in contrast to previous studies that use oxygen and hydrogen isotopes to determine the isotopic composition of meteoric waters. Our analysis suggests that hydrogen isotopes may exchange with ambient fluids. Triple oxygen isotopes provide an independent check on the reliability of hydrogen isotope studies.
Rethinking Learning Design in IT Education During a Pandemic
Authors: Pappas Ilias O. , Giannakos Michail N.
Published: April 2021

Maintaining high-quality teaching and learning in the times of a pandemic poses a huge challenge to education systems. To scaffold adequate practices in our courses during the pandemic, more advanced, and fine-grained “learning design” is needed than providing the learning objectives and learning materials of the course and defining the deliverables and assignments. In this paper, we leverage on our experience with putting into practice different learning designs and technologies, in various information technology (IT) contexts and discuss how IT educators can further reflect on the learning design of their courses and scaffold fully remote or blended learning approaches to accommodate their courses’ needs during the pandemic. We provide three important objectives and indicative technological solution that can support those objectives, and discuss some lessons learned from our experience.
Mining Gut Microbiota From Bariatric Surgery for MAFLD
Authors: Wu Wei-Kai , Chen Yi-Hsun , Lee Po-Chu , Yang Po-Jen , Chang Chin-Chen , Liu Kao-Lang , Hsu Cheng-Chih , Huang Chi-Chang , Chuang Hsiao-Li , Sheen Lee-Yan , Liu Chun-Jen , Wu Ming-Shiang
Published: April 2021

The progression of metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) leads to steatohepatitis, liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus far, there have been no FDA-approved medications for MAFLD. Bariatric surgery (BS) has been found to improve insulin resistance, steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis but is not recommended for treating MAFLD due to its invasiveness. Recent studies suggest the improved glucose metabolism after BS is a result of, at least partly, alterations to the gut microbiota and its associated metabolites, including short chain fatty acids and bile acids. It makes sense the improved steatohepatitis and fibrosis after BS are also induced by the gut microbiota that involves in host metabolic modulation, for example, through altering bile acids composition. Given that the gut–liver axis is a path that may harbor unexplored mechanisms behind MAFLD, we review current literatures about disentangling the metabolic benefits of MAFLD after BS, with a focus on gut microbiota. Some useful research tools including the rodent BS model, the multiomics approach, and the human microbiota associated (HMA) mice are presented and discussed. We believe, by taking advantage of these modern translational tools, researchers will uncover microbiota related pathways to serve as potential therapeutic targets for treating MAFLD.
Gut-Based Strategies to Reduce Postprandial Glycaemia in Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Kamruzzaman Md , Horowitz Michael , Jones Karen L. , Marathe Chinmay S.
Published: April 2021

Postprandial glycemic control is an important target for optimal type 2 diabetes management, but is often difficult to achieve. The gastrointestinal tract plays a major role in modulating postprandial glycaemia in both health and diabetes. The various strategies that have been proposed to modulate gastrointestinal function, particularly by slowing gastric emptying and/or stimulating incretin hormone GLP-1, are summarized in this review.
Value of Exome Sequencing in Diagnosis and Management of Recurrent Non-immune Hydrops Fetalis: A Retrospective Analysis
Authors: Zhou Xinyao , Zhou Jia , Wei Xing , Yao Ruen , Yang Yingjun , Deng Linbei , Zou Gang , Wang Xietong , Yang Yaping , Duan Tao , Wang Jian , Sun Luming
Published: April 2021

The purpose of the study was to use exome sequencing (ES) to study the contribution of single-gene disorders to recurrent non-immune hydrops fetalis (NIHF) and retrospectively evaluate the value of genetic diagnosis on prenatal management and pregnancy outcome. From January 2012 to October 2018, a cohort of 28 fetuses with recurrent NIHF was analyzed by trio ES. Fetuses with immune hydrops, non-genetic factors (including infection, etc.), karyotype, or CNV abnormalities were excluded. Variants were interpreted based on ACMG/AMP guidelines. Fetal therapy was performed on seven fetuses. Of the 28 fetuses, 10 (36%) were found to carry causal genetic variants (pathogenic or likely pathogenic) in eight genes (GBA, GUSB, GBE1, RAPSN, FOXC2, PIEZO1, LZTR1, and FOXP3). Five (18%) fetuses had variant(s) of uncertain significance (VUS). Of the 10 fetuses with definitive molecular diagnosis, five (50%) were diagnosed with inborn errors of metabolism. Among the seven fetuses who received fetal therapy, two had definitive molecular diagnosis and resulted in neonatal death. Among the remaining five fetuses with negative results, four had newborn survival and one had intrauterine fetal death. Trio ES could facilitate genetic diagnosis of recurrent NIHF and improve the prenatal management and pregnancy outcome.