bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Phenomenological Case Study of Blind Male Masseuses Experiencing Sexual Assault: Implication for Nursing Practice
Authors: Dewi Nur Setiawati , Sabatini Monika Steffi Novia , Kusumaningrum Ervia , Santoso Heru Agus
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: Having experience of sexual assault may bring a great impact on the lives of blind male masseuses. However, a deep understanding of the consequences is currently still not largely explored.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of sexual assault and the consequences of sexual assaults incidents which occurred in the lives of blind male masseuses.

METHODS: This study used a phenomenological case study design. Interviews were conducted with nine blind male masseuses who had experienced sexual assault while carrying out their profession in Semarang city, Indonesia. The data were analyzed using Giorgi analysis.

RESULTS: The experience of being sexually assaulted disrupts almost all of the participants’ lives for a relatively long period of time, and even it is still felt at the present. To release and reduce the fear and trauma caused by sexual assault, the participants consciously drew themselves closer to God as the main thing to do. A prayer to God to be protected from being the victim of sexual assault is a participant’s devotion while carrying out their worship ritual. Talking to other blind masseuses also helps them to find the solutions needed to rebuild their lives. However, the participants tend to feel ashamed and reluctant to convey how such sexual assault has affected their lives to present time.

CONCLUSION: Even though the participants have adapted and rebuilt their lives, the residue of sexual assault impact is still felt and remains for a long time. Self-protection training and assistive devices for blind masseuses to prevent the recurrence of sexual assault are significantly important and should be considered to be implemented by nurses.
Successful Treatment of Condyloma Acuminata Using Office-Made Topical 60% Betel Leaf Extract
Authors: Hidayat Reinecia , Idrus Idrianti , Yunus Muhlis , Amin Safruddin , Adriani Anni , Iswanty Muji
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: Condyloma acuminata (CA), also known as anogenital warts, is a predominantly sexually transmitted disease caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The most common strains of HPV that causes anogenital warts are Type 6 and 11. This vdisease affects the mucous membrane as well as skin of the external genitalia and perianal areas. There are several therapeutic modalities for CA such as destructive and surgical therapies; however, these therapies can pose side-effects mostly tissue destruction. Alternative modalities such as using betel leaf can be atreatment option for CA.

CASE REPORT: In this paper, we report a 31-year-old female with CA who experienced clinical improvement after 3 weeks of office-made 60% topical betel leaf extract therapy, prompting more thorough research on the possible use of herbal treatments for treating CA.

CONCLUSION: Office-made betel leaf extract therapy is a promising topical therapy for CA and is relatively simple to prepare. The plant has various mechanisms such as anti-proliferative and cytotoxic properties that can be studied further to prove its efficacy in the treatment of CA to prevent adverse events caused by other conventional destructive treatment modalities.
First report of a gynandromorph of Florilegus condignus (Cresson, 1878) (Hymenoptera, Apidae), with notes on phenology and abundance
Authors: Parys Katherine A. , Davis Kendal A. , James Sharilyn T. , Davis J. Brian , Tyler Heather , Griswold Terry
Published: February 2022

Gynandromorphs are individuals that exhibit aspects of both males and females simultaneously and are the most commonly reported sexual anomalies in bees. We describe the first known specimen of a gynandromorph of the specialist pollinatorFlorilegus condignus(Cresson, 1878) (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Eucerini) collected in an agricultural field in northwestern Mississippi, USA. Additionally, we include and discuss phenological data from collections made in Mississippi and the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
Inclusion of an alien species in the host range of the Neotropical parasitoid Hymenoepimecis bicolor (Brullé, 1846) (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae)
Authors: Gonzaga Marcelo O. , Pádua Diego G. , Quero Adilson
Published: February 2022

In this study we report the first case of an introduced alien host spider species being parasitized and manipulated by an ichneumonid wasp. Hymenoepimecis bicolor, previously described parasitizing exclusively Trichonephila clavipes (Araneidae), was observed parasitizing the European species Cyrtophora citricola (Araneidae) in southeastern Brazil. The cocoon web built by the parasitized spider is composed of a reduced horizontal sheet, which maintains the radial structure. The reduced number of radii and spirals probably reduce the chances of insect interception by these modified structures. In addition, the density of supporting threads is apparently very different between normal and modified webs. The cocoon web spun by C. citricola lacks the protective barrier structure usually observed in cocoon webs spun by parasitized females of T. clavipes. Our observations are in agreement with several predictions of the ecdysteroid hypothesis and represent an interesting opportunity for further investigation of interactions between these parasitoids and their spider hosts.
All-day activity of Dolichovespula saxonica (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) colonies in Central Finland
Authors: Komonen Atte , Torniainen Jyrki
Published: February 2022

In social vespid wasps, colony activity varies at many temporal scales. We studied the peak season activity (number of individuals entering the nest per min) of colonies of the social vespine wasp Dolichovespula saxonica in its native range in boreal Finland. Six colonies were monitored non-stop for a full day, starting before sunrise and ending after sunset. Shorter monitoring was carried out before and/or after the full-day monitoring. All colonies were active before sunrise and after sunset, and the overall activity was positively linked with colony size. Activity showed irregular minute-to-minute cycles in all colonies. The broader within-day dynamics were idiosyncratic among the colonies: activity varied generally between 40–100% of the peak, there were usually a few peaks per day, and the timing of the peaks varied. Ambient temperature was not related to activity dynamics consistently. Our study provides high-resolution information about the all-day activity of D. saxonica and underscores high among-colony variability in the dynamics of vespine wasps.
Darwin wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) in Lower Eocene amber from the Paris basin
Authors: Viertler Alexandra , Klopfstein Seraina , Jouault Corentin , Spasojevic Tamara
Published: February 2022

Despite their ecological importance, Darwin wasps (Ichneumonidae) are among the most poorly studied groups of organisms. It is therefore not surprising that their fossil record is even more poorly understood than their extant diversity. The early Eocene seems rather fossil-poor regarding Ichneumonidae in amber and only one species,Palaeometopius eocenicusMenier et al., 2004, was described so far from Oise Amber from the Paris basin. Here, two new ichneumonid genera and species,Madma oisellagen. et. sp. nov.andPappous trichomatiusgen. et. sp. nov.are described and the placement ofPalaeometopius eocenicusis revised. The three fossils are well-preserved and might represent stem taxa of Tryphoninae and Phygadeuontinae. They are a highly important addition to the early Palaeogene fossil record of Ichneumonidae that otherwise mainly consists of compression fossils, which yield far less detail of the specimens’ morphology than amber pieces. Among the more than 1,000 Oise amber pieces examined, only three Ichneumonidae specimens have been found, versus about 60 Braconidae, a ratio very different from other amber deposits. Identification of additional ichneumonid specimens from this period (lowermost Eocene) is of particular importance for a better understanding of the subfamily and species compositions of this family after the K-Pg mass extinction.
Assessment of an inexpensive trap design and survey method for vespine wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Vespinae)
Authors: Jakobsberg Grady O. , Mooney Walter D. , Rangel-Sanchez Jacqueline
Published: February 2022

The introduction of the predatory Giant Asian Hornet, Vespa mandarinia Smith, to North America in 2019 has motivated efforts to create early detection systems for this and other non-native social wasp species (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Various trap and bait combinations have been used for this purpose, most of which require assembly and materials that are costly, reducing their usefulness in large-scale survey systems. This study tests an inexpensive and efficient trapping technique for detecting or surveying vespine wasps. Traps were made from reused plastic bottles containing a brown sugar and water bait. They were deployed at heights ranging from 0–6 m above ground in several configurations. Captures for traps suspended 1 m or greater above ground were, on average, nine times higher than the catch of ground-level traps. A rapid trap deployment method for large geographic areas was created, which captured seven different vespine wasp species along a 395 km east-west road transect from mountains to coastal plain in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The trapping design and survey methodology described below is inexpensive and fast and could be used by land managers or citizen scientists to detect V. mandarinia, other exotic vespine, or conducted on a large-scale vespine diversity survey.
LogSE: An Uncertainty-Based Multi-Task Loss Function for Learning Two Regression Tasks
Authors: Ghasemi-Naraghi Zeinab , Nickabadi Ahmad , Safabakhsh Reza
Published: February 2022

Multi-task learning (MTL) is a popular method in machine learning which utilizes related information of multi tasks to learn a task more efficiently and accurately. Naively, one can benefit from MTL by using a weighted linear sum of the different tasks loss functions. Manual specification of appropriate weights is difficult and typically does not improve performance, so it is critical to find an automatic weighting strategy for MTL. Also, there are three types of uncertainties that are captured in deep learning. Epistemic uncertainty is related to the lack of data. Heteroscedas- tic aleatoric uncertainty depends on the input data and differs from one input to another. In this paper, we focus on the third type, homoscedastic aleatoric uncertainty, which is constant for differ- ent inputs and is task-dependent. There are some methods for learning uncertainty-based weights as the parameters of a model. But in this paper, we introduce a novel multi-task loss function to capture homoscedastic uncertainty in multi regression tasks models, without increasing the complexity of the network. As the experiments show, the proposed loss function aids in learning a multi regression tasks network fairly with higher accuracy in fewer training steps.
Editorial
Authors: Gütl Christian
Published: February 2022

Dear Readers,

It is my great pleasure to announce the second regular issue of 2022. In this issue, various topical aspects of computer science are covered by 17 authors from 6 countries in 5 articles. I would like to thank all the authors for their sound research and the editorial board for the highly valuable review effort and comments for improvement. These contributions, together with the generous support of the consortium members, sustain the quality of our journal.

In an ongoing effort to further strengthen our journal, I would like to expand the editorial board: If you are a tenured associate professor or above with a strong publication record, you are welcome to apply to join our editorial board. We are also interested in high-quality proposals for special issues on new topics and trends. Please consider yourself and encourage your colleagues to submit high-quality articles or special issues for our journal.

In the second regular issue, I am very pleased to introduce the following 5 accepted articles: In a collaborative research between Italy and Ireland, Luca Calderoni, Dario Maio, and Paolo Palmieri compare two probabilistic data structures for association queries derived from the well-known Bloom filter, and extend and optimize the functionality of the shifting Bloom filter, which is applicable to any non-trivial number of subsets. Zeinab Ghasemi-Naraghi, Ahmad Nickabadi and Reza Safabakhsh from Iran focus their research on multi-task learning, more specifically, they introduce a novel multi-task loss function to capture homoscedastic uncertainty in multi regression tasks models without increasing the complexity of the network. Daniel Gómez, Luis Llana and Cristóbal Pareja from Spain present and experimentally review a parallel version of the Brandes algorithm implemented in Spark to compute the betweenness centrality measures. Vít Novotný, Michal Štefánik, Eniafe Festus Ayetiran, Petr Sojka and Radim Řehůřek from the Czech Republic propose and evaluate a constrained positional model that adapts the sparse attention mechanism from neural machine translation to improve the speed of the positional model. Mahmut Ünver, Atilla Ergüzen and Erdal Erdal from Turkey focus their research on an approach based on distributed file systems for managing large amounts of data generated by distance education.
Extremal problems on the general Sombor index of a graph
Authors: Hernández Juan C. ,   Facultad de Matemáticas, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Carlos E. Adame No.54 Col. Garita, 39650 Acalpulco Gro., Mexico, Rodríguez José M. , Rosario O. , Sigarreta José M. ,   Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenida de la Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain
Published: February 2022

In this work we obtain new lower and upper optimal bounds of general Sombor indices. Specifically, we get inequalities for these indices relating them with other indices: the first Zagreb index, the forgotten index and the first variable Zagreb index. Finally, we solve some extremal problems for general Sombor indices.
Multimodality imaging toward diagnosis of an intraventricular bronchogenic cyst presenting with complex components: A case report with literature review
Authors: Chen Yang , Zhu Yin su , Xu Yi , Zhou Xiao yue , Zhu Xiao mei
Published: February 2022

Cardiac bronchogenic cysts are rare lesions with very thin walls. We present a case of a 49-year-old man with intermittent chest pain and distress who was found to have a bronchogenic cyst in the right ventricle with complex tissue changes. The clinical manifestations, image findings, and differential diagnoses of bronchogenic cysts are discussed.
Improved Pain and Quality of Life with Corrected Thoracic and Lumbosacral Spondylolisthesis Subluxations Using CBP®: A Case Study and 1-Year Follow-Up
Authors: Fedorchuk Curtis , Himel Blake , Lightstone Douglas Frank
Published: February 2022

Objective: Discuss non-surgical spinal rehabilitation for a 27-year-old male with thoracic and lumbosacral spondylolistheses. A selective literature review and discussion are provided. Clinical Features: A 27-year-old male presented with severe, 8/10 mid and low back pain. Initial lateral thoracic and lumbar x-rays revealed grade 1 spondylolistheses at T9-T10 and L5-S1 measuring -5.3 mm and -6.8 mm. Interventions and Outcomes: The patient completed 60 sessions of Mirror Image® spinal adjustments, exercises, and traction over 30 weeks. Post-treatment x-rays showed correction in translations at T9-T10 and L5-S1 from -5.3 mm to 0.0 mm and -6.8 mm to -1.0 mm, within normal limits. 1-year follow-up x-rays showed maintained correction. Conclusions: This case is the first documented evidence of non-surgical or chiropractic treatment for thoracic and lumbosacral spondylolistheses where spinal alignment was corrected. More research is needed to investigate the clinical implications and applications.
Online Learning for Mass Audiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Key Considerations for Real Time Knowledge Transfer
Authors: Utunen Heini Katriina , Tokar Anna , Arabi Elham , Gamhewage Gaya Manori
Published: February 2022

This paper introduces online learning related key considerations for asynchronous health information dissemination during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings are based on 1.5 years of real-time massive scale learning intervention during this public health emergency and on related literature reviews. Meta-data analysis on World Health Organization’s (WHO) open access online learning platform OpenWHO and review on health emergency learning interventions literature. The study sought to operationalize the key considerations related to the health information dissemination as an asynchronous online learning delivery. Statistics driven findings were made based on open-source learning platform OpenWHO use case and scientific literature from the similar recorded experiences. The paper presents analysis from the recent literature and couples it with the real-time pandemic learning response results. The study suggests establishing key considerations for health emergency related learning dissemination for mass audiences: Real-time learning provision in free access, low-bandwidth and offline use formats, national and local language provision, choice of format for learners and adjustment of the learning content based on adult learning principles. The key considerations of the online learning delivery in mass mode in health emergencies emerged from the study and are recommended way forward for any international learning provided in health emergencies.
A Collaborative Education Mechanism for College Students' Physical and Mental Health Education and Safety Education Under Complex Background
Authors: Xiaoning Song , Nailei Lin
Published: February 2022

The current system for college students’ physical and mental health education and safety education in China is incomplete, however, a sound system is of important significance for exploring new ideas and ways for college students’ physical and mental health education and safety education, improving the health level of college students, and implementing the requirements of “healthy China initiative” for higher education. Until now, few studies have concerned about the construction of a collaborative education mechanism for college students’ physical and mental health and safety education under complex background, therefore, this paper attempts to fill in this research gap. In the beginning of this paper, qualitative and quantitative methods were combined to build a content system for college students’ physical and mental health education and safety education under complex background; then, a coordination evaluation model for the said matter was constructed, and principles for dividing the coupling coordination types of the collaborative education system were elaborated. After that, the grey prediction model was employed to predict and analyze the development status of collaborative education of college students’ physical and mental health education and safety education, thereby realizing rational judgement of the development trend of collaborative education. At last, test results compared the actual value and grey prediction value of the coordination degree of collaborative education, and proved the effectiveness of the constructed model.
An Overview of Attendance and Participation in Online Class During the COVID Pandemic: A Case Study
Authors: Qutishat Duha , Obeidallah Randa , Qawasmeh Yasser
Published: February 2022

COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the traditional education in all levels to be shifted to online classrooms. Monitoring student’s attendance and interaction during live online classes is a challenge for educators. During the lockdown, many factors influenced the participation and attendance to online class, which we will highlight them in this research. This research investigated the participation of students registered in course Introduction to Web Programming Lab at Hashemite University. Students' participation was measured based on attendance, class interaction, assignment delivery, and utilization of e-learning platforms. Students' course learning outcomes (CLOs) were investigated and evaluated using a survey. Number of students who were evaluated during autumn (1st semester) and spring (2nd semester) semesters 2020/2021 is 212 students. Findings indicated that online education was successfully implemented, and material content were understood by students. Further analysis showed that the interaction of students during the meeting class is considered low.
Flying Ad hoc Networks (FANET): Performance Evaluation of Topology Based Routing Protocols
Authors: Wheeb Ali Hussein
Published: February 2022

Flying Ad hoc Networks (FANETs) has developed as an innovative technology for access places without permanent infrastructure. This emerging form of networking is construct of flying nodes known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that fly at a fast rate of speed, causing frequent changes in the network topology and connection failures. As a result, there is no dedicated FANET routing protocol that enables effective communication between these devices. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of the category of topology-based routing protocols in the FANET. In a surveillance system involving video traffic, four routing protocols with varying routing mechanisms were examined. Additionally, simulation experiments conducted to determine the influence of flying altitude. The results indicate that hybrid routing protocols outperform other types of protocols in terms of average throughput. Proactive protocols, on the other hand, have the least jitter.
Development of Edu-Kit Media for Entrepreneurship Learning based on Gamification Model Toward Disruptive Education
Authors: Kusdiyanti Heny , Karkono  , Sopingi  , Febrianto Indra , Wijaya Robby , Agustina Nur Indah
Published: February 2022

The current fact shows that entrepreneurship education is only a textbook without providing experimental learning to students. The current solutions have not been able to accommodate the needs of students, especially in the era of disruptive education which is developing massively. This study aims to develop gamification-based educational learning media that will be implemented in high school students to develop students' entrepreneurial spirit. This type of research is development research using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) method by using a questionnaire to collect research data. After being implemented, gamification-based educational learning media succeeded in increasing student interest in entrepreneurship education as a provision for the growth of the entrepreneurial spirit in students. This learning media has also succeeded in increasing the activeness of teachers and students in the learning process that provides experimental learning to students. The collaboration between the gamification model and educational learning media is by the competency needs of students in the current era of disruptive education. Follow-up research is deemed necessary that focuses on digitizing gamification-based educational media that was developed without eliminating the activeness of teachers and students in learning
The Development of Learning Media Based on Augmented Reality, Hologram, and Ludo Game on The Topic of Molecular Shapes
Authors: Hakiki Rifqon , Muchson M. , Sulistina Oktavia , Febriana Asia
Published: February 2022

This Currently, technology-based learning media is needed to attract students' learning interest. Augmented Reality and Hologram, both technologies are able to answer these problem. In addition, the Ludo Game can also increase the student’s learning interest when applied as a learning media. This study aims to: developing a learning media based on Augmented Reality, Hologram, and Ludo Game on the topic of molecular shapes, as well as knowing the feasibility of this learning media. Research and Development (R&D) is used as research methods. The development of media adapted the ADDIE model, which includes the stage: assessment/analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The feasibility of this learning media is based on the results of product validation as a learning media, material, and small group trials of 17 Senior High School students. The results of study found that the percentage of product validation results as a learning media is 85,56% (very feasible), material  is 88,00% (very feasible), and small group trials is 87,25% (very feasible). Based on this, it can be concluded that this learning media is very feasible to be implemented in the study on the topic of molecular shapes.
Sensor-Based Technology in the Hospitality Industry
Authors: Thakur Anusha
Published: February 2022

In today's scenario, there has been a dramatic transformation in the way services are being provided and taken by the consumers. With the changing preferences of consumers, and businesses, vendors across the regions are emphasizing towards the introduction of touchless solutions, which are likely to change the way people interact and use the services. Incorporation of smart technologies enables the operators to create a positive and seamless experience for the users. Convergence of technologies with the current market trends is expected to bring the concept of “internet of things” nearer to reality. Embracing IoT solutions transform the overall hospitality business scenario and pose several opportunities for the smart hotel solutions. In this chapter, various IoT solutions used in the hospitality and leisure sector have been discussed. This chapter further emphasizes how efficiently the touchless technology products with minimal contact enhance the operations in hospitality sector and how the hotel industry is focusing towards nurturing the dreams of travellers.
Smart Tourism Technologies in the Consumer Experience Journey
Authors: Yurder Yigit , Sahin Mehmet Altug
Published: February 2022

Smart technologies are becoming rapidly used in various industries successfully. The tourism industry stands as one of the evolving industries, benefiting from these smart technological developments such as virtual and augmented reality, robotics, and internet of things. Anticipatory, experiential, and reflective are the three main phases of the consumer behavior process in tourism, which are regarded as pre-travel, during travel, and post-travel phases in tourism. Smart tourism technologies are being implemented to enhance the tourist experience in these phases of their journey. This chapter aims to highlight the smart tourism technology applications in every phase of consumer experience by presenting examples from the tourism industry.
A Survey on Automotive Cyber-Physical Systems
Authors: Jayaprakash Sujith , N. Shanmugapriya , K. Chitra , V. Kathiresan
Published: February 2022

The cyber-physical system encompasses physics and cyber systems, which are highly interconnected and networked. Considered to be one of the fascinating inventions of today's world, CPS applications include autonomous vehicles, industrial control systems, medical monitoring, automatic pilot avionics, etc. Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, also known as self-driving or driverless vehicles, are automobiles that require less or no human intervention for operating or controlling them. CPS has brought in several advancements in the automobile industry by providing a seamless human interaction with physical and cyber systems, which includes IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc. Machine learning algorithms play a major role in enhancing autonomous vehicle models. This chapter focuses on the various machine learning algorithms that are used commonly in building robust autonomous vehicles. This chapter also focuses on the evolution of autonomous vehicles and the backed cyber advancements.
Differential Privacy Techniques-Based Information Security for Cyber Physical System Applications
Authors: Kanagaraj A. , Sharmila S. , Finny Belwin A. , Linda Sherin A. , Thanamani Antony Selvadoss
Published: February 2022

A cyber physical system (CPS) is a mechanism that monitors and controls entire devices which are connected together. Secured data transmission in CPS systems is a major problem. To provide information security for CPS applications, certain privacy preservation strategies need to be followed. Encryption and anonymization are existing traditional privacy preservation techniques which are not suitable to provide information security for advanced systems called CPS. Differential techniques is an emerging privacy technique where a required amount of noise is added using various mathematical algorithms with data while sharing information between devices in CPSs. The process of adding noise with data is called data perturbation. There are three major data perturbations mechanisms followed to provide information security. They are exponential mechanism, Laplace mechanism, and Gaussian mechanism. This chapter presents a detailed review about applications of CPSs, significance of implementing differential privacy techniques, challenges, and future research directions of CPSs.
Vascular Disease Prediction Using Retinal Image Acquisition Algorithm
Authors: S. Deepa , R. Suguna , P. Sathishkumar , D. Vivek , M. S. Arunkumar
Published: February 2022

The people are affected by retinal vascular disease. This research automates the prediction of such disease using retinal image acquisition. The condition of the retinal blood vessels is manifested as the mirror of the vascular disease of the human body. Human retinal images of the eye give extensive data on diagnostic changes caused by local optical sickness that reveal some of the vascular diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, vascular irritation, and stroke. The infinite perimeter active contour with hybrid region information (IPACHI) model is used to segment and calculate perimeter of the blood vessels. The next stage is classification of affected retinal vessels by using support vector model (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN) models. After classification, the arterio venous ratio (ANR) is computed to identify the exact type of retinal disease. The work is done in MATLAB software, and it proves the accuracy of 95% in prediction of the retinal disease.
CluniacChain
Authors: K. Suganthi , Shukla Apratim , Tolani Mayank K. , Mishra Swapnil Vinod , Thazhethe Kalathil Abhishek , R. Manojkumar
Published: February 2022

Blockchain technology generally is associated with financial applications where it serves the role of maintaining records. However, such a tamper-resistant distributed ledger can be used for fashioning applications in the healthcare domain. Harnessing the potential of blockchain as a data store for health records would ensure that they would be secure as multiple copies of them are preserved in a decentralized manner to ensure data redundancy and security. With this technology in effect, the medical sector could leverage blockchain tech to allow any authorized hospitals to securely communicate, share information/records independent from a central figure. Information shared would only contain relevant data related to the query between stakeholders with appropriate permission attached to their roles. This chapter delineates the architecture of such a system explaining its benefits and limitations as a medical data-storage architecture.
Determinants of Career Choice among G.C.E. Ordinary Level students in Sri Lanka with special reference to the Kalutara District, Western Province
Authors: Swaris W. D. K. J. N.
Published: February 2022

Career decisions or choices are important in deciding the future of a person. Although the area of study; career choice has been studied a few times previously among graduates, university students, and A/L students, no studies have been conducted among G.C.E. Ordinary Level Students. The main purpose of this mix-convergent non-experimental study was to scrutinize the career choice of G.C.E.O/L students in Sri Lanka. Two samples, including 110 students by stratified sampling and 10 teachers by random sampling, were recruited. Students studying at 4 types of schools in Kalutara District were urged to complete a self-administered question-naire, and 10 teachers were interviewed. SPSS software was used to analyze quantitative data with intense analysis, whereas con-tent analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Based on the ISCO-08 classification, a subcategory of 'professionals' was preferred mostly by G.C.E.O/L students. Above all, 'personal interest' was found to be the most influential determinant of career choice. 59.1% of the students were not aware of career guidance programmes available in the country, while 7.3% have not yet decided on a career choice. Different social, economic, and personal or psychological impacts of choosing a career are discussed in the current report. The findings of the research would pave the path for future researchers to investigate more on determinants of career choice of students and the issues faced by the students when deciding a career. More implications for career guides, counselors in the educational field, and educational psychologists would be discussed.
Acquisition of the Verb Movement Parameter in French by Adult English Speakers
Authors: Gunawardena C. P.
Published: February 2022

This paper focuses on a parametric difference between French and English, namely the verb movement parameter. Previous re-search shows that verb-raising in French causes learnability problems for Anglophone learners. Because of verb raising in French, an adverb may be placed between the verb and its direct object, allowing the subject-verb-adverb-object (S-V-Adv-O) structure. However, the lack of verb movement prohibits the S-V-Adv-O structure in English. The acquisition of verb movement is a well-documented topic in the second language (L2) acquisition research. However, previous L2 acquisition studies have focused on L2 speakers who are in the initial stage of their L2 acquisition. The present paper focuses on the acquisition of the verb movement parameter by a group of intermediate L2 French speakers whose first language (L1) is English. It also investigates two models, namely the Failed Functional Features Hypothesis (FFFH) and the Full Transfer Full Access Hypothesis (FTFAH). The FFFH predicts that L2 speakers are unable to reset parameters from their L1 values to the L2 settings, as they do not have access to Universal Grammar (UG). On the contrary, the FTFAH suggests that L2 speakers can reset parameters to the target L2 settings due to the full accessibility of UG. The data was collected via three tasks: an acceptability judgment task, a preference task, and a production task. The findings suggest that the L1-English–L2-French speakers had not fully acquired the adverb placement in French. Therefore, the results sup-port the FFFH, as the L1-English–L2-French speakers had not reset parameters from their L1 values to the L2 settings.
Determinants of Women's Age at First Childbearing in Polonnaruwa District
Authors: Thayaparan A. , Bandara D. M. G. T. , Gunathilaka G. Y. N.
Published: February 2022

The study mainly focuses on identifying the factors associated with the age of the mother at the first childbirth in Polanaruwa district in Sri Lanka. The primary data were collected through a multistage sampling technique using questionnaires from February to March 2020. The 120 samples of the study consisted of new towns, Aluth Wewa, Jayanthipura, and Kaduruwela areas which cover rural and urban married women who have at least one child belong to the age group 21 to 49 years in the district. The study found that 45.3 percent of married women got their first childbirth aged 25 to 29 years with the mean age at first childbirth to be 27 years, whereas only 6.7 percent of them start their childbearing in age between 35 and 39 years. The frequency of age at marriage reveals that 54.2 percent of them take place early married, nearly 32 percent of them were married between age 25 and 29 years. And only 3.3 percent of them got married between 35 and 39 years, with the mean age at marriage being about 25 years. Independent samples t-test results imply that the mean age of married women differs according to education level, place of residence, religion, and economic status except for the working status of the married women. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of socio-economic characteristics on age at first childbearing and its results reveal that age at marriage, educational level, place of residence, religion, and employment status were mostly determined the childbearing in the district.
Nexus among Psychological Capital, Work-life Balance and Job Satisfaction of Employees in Apparel Industry
Authors: Anushi K. S. , Priyanath H. M. S. , Tennakoon W. D. N. S. M.
Published: February 2022

Work-Life balance and job satisfaction are among the topmost manpower managerial issues in most contemporary workplaces. Fluxes in these variables result in productivity losses and inflated overall cost at the organizational level while at the macro level, they hold back the national economic growth. Scholars argue that psychological capital can positively impact the work-life balance and, subsequently job satisfaction. Yet, empirical evidence of this nexus is scant, particularly in the context of the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Therefore, this study primarily aimed at exploring the effect of psychological capital on work-life balance and job satisfaction of employees in apparel industries in Sri Lanka. A quantitative inquiry of the research questions was performed. A self-admin-istrative survey instrument gathered data from a randomly drawn representative sample of 162 employees. Data analysis used descriptive statistics and analytical statistics techniques particularly, Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling. Results in-dicated that all psychological capital antecedents have a significant and positive effect on job satisfaction of apparel employees, among which hope is the strongest influence. Similarly, all psychological capital antecedents except optimism were found to be affecting the work-life balance. Confirmation of the power of psychological capital in manipulating work-life balance and job satisfaction is regarded as the theoretical implication of the study whereas managerial implications highlight the necessity of maintaining the healthy psychological capital state of employees to impact the other desired job-related outcomes.
Reforming the institutional and operational mechanism of SAARC organization: Potentials of SAARC in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in South Asia
Authors: Ariyawardana S. S. N.
Published: February 2022

SAARC is a regional agreement that was established to co-operate regional economic, political, and socio-cultural affairs in South Asia. As a highly vulnerable region towards natural and social disasters, South Asia needs a committed body that can manage sudden catastrophes in the region. Therefore, SAARC has founded SDMC and SEDMC to corporate in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in South Asia. However, these SAARC agencies have been unsuccessful in DRM to deal with emerging disasters in the region. Hence, this study investigates the failures and weaknesses of the SAARC operational and structural framework of proceeding DRM operations while contributing to the existing body of literature regarding SAARC. The data and information of this research are based on secondary quantitative and qualitative data which were extracted from relevant printed and online materials, including organizational websites. These data and information were analyzed under five categories that are Policy Adoption Failures; Structural failures of SAARC; coordination and cooperation failures; financial inabilities in Disaster Management; Absence of Logistic Preparedness Plan; and Lack of Military Co-operation in DRM. These findings reveal that SAARC has been failed to adopt an effective and efficient DRM policy to manage emerging disasters in South Asia. Therefore, this study recommends policy reforms, restructuring the organization, establishing reliable ICT system to coordinate and co-operate DRM, introducing SAARC Disaster Management and Emergency Relief Fund in resolving financial issues, Disaster Emergency Logistic System, and SAARC Militaries Ready Group adhering ASEAN to implement an efficient DRM while reforming SAARC institutional and operational mechanism.
Human-Elephant Conflict and Mitigation Methods using Participatory Rural Appraisal Techniques: A Case Study of Kuda Bellankadawala and Kelegama Grama Niladari Divisions in Thambuttegama Divisional Secretariat Division
Authors: Edirisooriya K. V. D. , Bandara A. P. S. S.
Published: February 2022

The land area of Sri Lanka constitutes 65,610 sq. km with a considerable range of forest conservation zones that are prone to human- elephant conflict (HEC) that has led to various social, economic, and environmental issues. The main objective of this study is to identify the key issues in human-elephant conflict and propose viable solutions for them using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). Two key HEC prone areas have been selected for this study, namely Kuda Bellankadawala and Kelegama Gramaniladari Divisions (GND) in the Thambuttegama Divisional Secretariat. Both primary and secondary data sources have been utilized in data collection and data were mainly derived from information sources, particularly published on HEC incidents reported in the key areas. Primary data were collected using PRA methods, such as resources map, seasonal map, problem tree, and risk quadrant. It was found out from the PRA survey that HEC incidents from Kuda Bellankadawala and Kelegama divisions account for 41% and 56% respectively. In terms of damage evaluation, 70% of incidents account for property damages while 25% account for damages to cultivations. According to the HEC risk value calculation, 165.85 and 100.17 risk values were found in the Kuda Bellankadawala and Kelegama villages. The most commonly used methods for HEC damage control were elephant watch towers (85%) and firecrackers (70%) and the survey has revealed that elephant corridor methods are still not used for reducing of HECs in the study areas. It is expected that the findings of this study will be instrumental in the formulation and implementation of local-level policies for minimizing damages from HECs in Sri Lanka.
Sources of Total Factor Productivity and its Determinants of Paddy Farming in Mullaitivu: A Färe-Primont Index Approach
Authors: Thayaparan A. , Neruja N. , Godwin Phillip Paulina Mary
Published: February 2022

This study estimates the decompositions of farm-level total factor productivity indices and identifies the impact of household characters, farming characteristics, and economic characters on the indices of paddy farming in Mullaitivu district, Sri Lanka. Six villages where the paddy is mostly cultivated in the district were selected as the study area and from each village, 20 farmers were selected randomly. The relevant data related to paddy yield, its inputs, demographic and farming characteristics were gathered through the questionnaire in 2020. The Färe–Primont index and its various productivity components were used to analyze the data in the study. The frequency of efficiency components revealed that nearly 38% of the farmers attained less than 50% in total factor productive efficiency, while only 11% of them attained between 50% - 70% in the sample. Overall, the mean of total factor productivity was found to be 0.629 while the mean of total factor productive efficiency was 0.458 showed that 62% and 45% of productivity and efficiency exist among the paddy farmers, respectively. The mean value of output-oriented efficiency was found to be 0.861, revealing that, 86% of total factor productivity can be increased by increasing the technical efficiency of paddy yield in the study. Determinants of total factor productivity and its sources were analyzed using the Tobit model and its results revealed that, total factor productivity, total factor productive efficiency, and input-oriented scale mix efficiency mainly determined by the quality of land, farm income, amount of saving, amount of loan and land ownership. Further, availability of training and farm income were the major drivers of output scale efficiency of paddy farms in the study.
Study on the Effects of Sports on Education Intentions of Grade Eleven Students in Government Schools: With reference to Gampaha District
Authors: Pamudini K. , Manel D. P. K.
Published: February 2022

Competitiveness in the field of education in a competitive lifestyle has created a knowledge-based education. Various factors influence the achievements of these educational intentions and this study probed the impact of sports on the education intentions of grade eleven students in government schools. The objectives of this study were to measure the level of students’ educational intentions, to identify the difference in the educational intentions of students who engage in sports and those who do not and to identify the relationship between sports participation and educational satisfaction. The study captured all grade eleven students in four government mixed schools selected from four selected divisions in the Gampaha District by using the multi-stage cluster sampling method. The Questionnaire method was used to collect data and 182 students responded. Univariate analysis, two-sample t-test, and chi-square test were used to derive the inferences. The findings of the study revealed that students’ overall education intentions were at a moderate level, and the levels of attitudes and skills of students were higher than the knowledge of the students. Furthermore, the findings showed that students who participated in sports had developed more knowledge, attitudes, and skills than students who did not participate in sports. Moreover, the study found that the students who engaged in sports obtained higher marks than the other students in the subjects of Science, Mathematics, English and History. When considering sports participation and satisfaction of education, the students who participated in sports were more satisfied with the existing education system, while students who did not participate in sports were less satisfied. The overall conclusion was that sports enabled students to achieve better knowledge, attitudes, and skills that are the intentions of the education. It can be suggested that it is essential to decide to further develop the existing school sports in Sri Lanka.
Surveillance of synthetic acaricide efficacy against Varroa destructor in Ontario, Canada
Authors: Morfin Nuria , Rawn Devan , Petukhova Tatiana , Kozak Paul , Eccles Les , Chaput Jim , Pasma Tim , Guzman-Novoa Ernesto
Published: February 2022

The parasitic mite Varroa destructor (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) is the main culprit of honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony mortality in Ontario, Canada. Most beekeepers use synthetic acaricides to control V. destructor infestations in their colonies, but the use of these products increases the risk of V. destructor developing resistance to the active ingredients, which is a growing concern. This study sought to determine the efficacy of three synthetic acaricides approved for use in Canada for control of V. destructor infestations, amitraz (Apivar™), tau-fluvalinate (Apistan®), and flumethrin (Bayvarol®), using the Pettis test. The mite mortality rate in populations of V. destructor differed for the acaricides tested. Amitraz caused a significantly higher mite mortality rate (92%) than flumethrin (78%) and tau-fluvalinate (72%) did. Amitraz was classified as “mostly effective” (90–97%), whereas flumethrin and tau-fluvalinate were classified as “minimally effective” (< 80%) for V. destructor control in the mite populations studied. Variation in mite mortality due to acaricide exposure was observed between apiaries and regions. The results highlight the importance of periodically assessing the varroacidal activity of acaricides to inform decisions to control the parasite when implementing integrated pest management strategies.