bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
أثر الحوار في معالجة الغلو ووسائل معالجته:دراسة مقارنة
Authors: العودي بدر قايد أحمد
Published: September 2023

جعل الله الكلمة واللغة والبيان هي نقطة انطلاق، وبدء الحياة والحركة، وبناء الحضارة، وإقامة العمران، وتحقيق الاجتماع البشري، فهي مفتاح الحياة، ووعاء الفكر، ووسيلة الإقناع، ففي البدء كانت الكلمة منها ما هو معتدل، ومنها ما هو متشدد تؤدي إلى الغلو، فكانت ظاهرة الغلو ظاهرة متجددة عبر العصور، وإن اختلفت أشكالها، وتعددت أساليبها من وقت إلى آخر، فهي لا تمت إلى الدين بصله، وإنما تعبر عن قدرة المجتمع، ومدى تأثره وتفاعله مع ممارسة هذه الظاهرة، التي كان لها تأثير سلبي كبير على المجتمع، وبهذه الظاهره تأثرت  الكثير من فئات الشعوب العربية والإسلامية ، بسبب الفقر والجهل بأحكام الشرع، فمعظم اختلافنا اليوم يُعزى إلى عوج في الفهم، وتوارث علة النفوس من الكبر والعجب بالرأي، والطواف حول الذات، والافتتان بها، واعتقاد أن الصواب والزعامة وبناء الكيان، إنما يكون باتهام الآخرين بحق أو بغير حق، الأمر الذي تطور حتى وصل إلى الفجور والخصومة بقدرٍ لا يطاق، وإن ما يحصل في وطننا العربي والإسلامي وبلادنا الحبيبة، من افتتان، واقتتال، ودمار، ومعانة يعود لهذه الظاهرة الخبيثة، التي هي الغلو في الفكر الديني والسياسي؛ لذلك كان من الواجب علينا كباحثين وضع  الحلول مناسبة -وفق حوار بناء- في معالجة هذه الظاهرة، والحد منها.
The Impact of Knowledge Management on Added Value of Supply Chains: An Empirical Study
Authors: Kadri Khaled , Ali Yousr , Sherif Mona
Published: September 2023

The study aimed to determine measurement dimensions for knowledge management and demonstrate the significance of organizations' reliance on advanced technological systems. In addition, the study aimed to identify the impact of knowledge management on added value of supply chains. The study revealed numerous findings. First, subsidiaries of the studied sector lack the liquidity rates necessary to finance and maintain the technological infrastructure of these organizations. Moreover, knowledge management contributes to the enhancement of the creation of added value for the products of organizations affiliated with the studied sector. The study also recommended that organizations need to support senior management to adopt the application of knowledge management systems due to their significant impact on improving the efficiency of the overall performance of the organizations within the studied sector. Consequently, this results in an increase in supply chain efficiency and the settlement of sector organizations' debts with other government sectors.
دور الرقابة الداخلية وأثرها في تحسين الأداء الماليّ في الشركة العامة للخطوط الجوية العراقية
Authors: يساري قبيلة رضا حسين , عياش عباس محمد
Published: September 2023

هدفت الدراسة إلى معرفة مدى إدراك موظفي الشركة العامة للخطوط الجوية العراقية بالرقابة الداخلية، ودراسة العلاقة بين التزام الشركة بأبعاد الرقابة الداخلية, ومستوى الأداء الماليّ في الشركة العامة للخطوط الجويّة العراقيّة. واستخدمت الدراسة المنهج الوصفي التحليلي، والاستبانة كأداة، وتكونت عينة الدراسة من (113) موظفٍ، وتوصلت الدراسة إلى أنه بلغ المتوسط الحسابي لدرجات الرقابة الداخلية لدى الشركة العامة للخطوط الجوية العراقية (74.07%)، وقد تبين أن مستوى الرقابة الداخلية لدى الشركة العامة للخطوط الجوية العراقية مرتفع، بالنسبة للأبعاد الخمسة, واحتل المرتبة الأولى بُعد تقييم المخاطر بوزن نسبي 78.23%، يليه بُعد فترة الأنشطة الرقابية بوزن نسبي 75.32%، يليه بُعد البيئة الرقابية بوزن نسبي 73.92%، ويليه بُعد المعلومات والاتصالات بوزن نسبي 72.95%، وبُعد المراقبة بوزن نسبي 71.1%, وقد أوصت الدراسة بضرورة تحديد الإدارة مسؤوليتها الرقابية تجاه أعمالها المنوطة بها، كذلك يجب اختيار الطرق الملائمة للاتصال والتواصل مع الجمهور.
Exploring Awareness and Resistance to Nonattachment in Relation to Mental Health : A Qualitative Study in a UK-Based Yoga Community
Authors: Tremblay Lindsay , Van Gordon William
Published: September 2023

Introduction: Nonattachment is a flexible and balanced way of relating to experiences that involves accepting or allowing, instead of clinging to, expectations or outcomes. Advancing the understanding of how people relate to nonattachment is important because of the associated mental health benefits. Aims: To qualitatively explore awareness of, and resistance to, nonattachment in a UK-based yoga community. Methods: A reflexive thematic analysis was conducted based on transcripts of ten semi-structured interviews. Results: Findings indicated a general lack of consensus in understanding nonattachment, with explanatory themes of (i) resistance related to external forces conflicting with internal knowing, (ii) bracing for impact, and (iii) difficulty navigating how to embrace nonattachment. However, despite the participants’ apparent implicit negativity towards nonattachment, they acknowledged its benefits for accommodating change. Conclusions: These findings have important implications for the wider adoption and application of nonattachment in applied settings.
Saliency Detection Algorithm for Foggy Images Based on Deep Learning
Authors: Zhang Leihong , Ji Zhaoyuan , Xu Runchu , Zhang Dawei
Published: September 2023

The detection of salient objects in foggy scenes is an important research component in many practical applications such as action recognition, target tracking and pedestrian re-identification. To facilitate saliency detection in foggy scenes, this paper explores two issues. The construction of dataset for foggy weather conditions and implementation scheme for foggy weather saliency detection. Firstly, a foggy sky image synthesis method is designed based on the atmospheric scattering model, and a saliency detection dataset applicable to foggy sky is constructed. Secondly, we compare the current classification networks and adopt resnet50, which has the highest classification accuracy, as the backbone network of the classification module, and classify the foggy sky images into three levels, namely fogless, light fog and dense fog, according to different concentrations. Then, Residual Refinement Network (R2Net) was selected to train and test the classified images. Horizontal and vertical flipping and image cropping were used to enhance the training set to relieve over-fitting. The accuracy of the network model was improved by using Adam as the optimizer. Experimental results show that for the detection of fogless images, our method is almost on par with state-of-the-art, and performs well for both light and dense fog images. Our method has good adaptability, accuracy and robustness.
3D Point Cloud Classification Method Based on Multiple Attention Mechanism and Dynamic Graph Convolution
Authors: Zhang Yu , Wang Zilong , Zhu Yongjian
Published: September 2023

In order to solve the problem of uneven density and the low classification accuracy of 3D point cloud, a 3D point cloud classification method fuses multi-attention machine is proposed. It is principally based on the traditional point cloud dynamic graph convolution classification network, into multiple attention mechanisms, including self-attention, spatial attention and channel attention mechanisms. The self-attention mechanism can reduce the dependence on irrelevant points while aligning point clouds, and input the processed point cloud into the classification network. Then the missing geometric information in the classification network is compensated by the integration of spatial and channel attention mechanisms. The experimental results on the public data set ModelNet40 indicate that compared with the DGCNN classification network, the improved network model improves the classification accuracy of the data set by 0.5 % and the average accuracy by 0.9 %. Meantime, the classification accuracy outstrips other contrast classification algorithms.
Deep Semantic Understanding and Sequence Relevance Learning for Question Routing in Community Question Answering
Authors: Li Hong , Li Jianjun , Li Guohui , Wang Chunzhi , Cao Wenjun , Chen Zixuan
Published: September 2023

Question routing (QR) aims to route newly submitted questions to the potential experts most likely to provide answers. Many previous works formalize the question routing task as a text matching and ranking problem between questions and user profiles, focusing on text representation and semantic similarity computation. However, these works often fail to extract matching features efficiently and lack deep contextual textual understanding. Moreover, we argue that in addition to the semantic similarity between terms, the interactive relationship between question sequences and user profile sequences also plays an important role in matching. In this paper, we proposed two BERT-based models called QR-BERTrep and QR-tBERTint to address these issues from different perspectives. QR-BERTrep is a representation-based feature ensemble model in which we integrated a weighted sum of BERT layer outputs as an extra feature into a Siamese deep matching network, aiming to address the non-context-aware word embedding and limited semantic understanding. QR-tBERTint is an interaction-based model that explores the interactive relationships between sequences as well as the semantic similarity of terms through a topic-enhanced BERT model. Specifically, it fuses a short-text-friendly topic model to capture corpus-level semantic information. Experimental results on real-world data demonstrate that QR-BERTrep significantly outperforms other traditional representation-based models. Meanwhile, QR-tBERTint exceeds QR-BERTrep and QR-BERTint with a maximum increase of 17.26% and 11.52% in MAP, respectively, showing that combining global topic information and exploring interactive relationships between sequences is quite effective for question routing tasks.
A Survey on Regression-Based Crowd Counting Techniques
Authors: Hao Yu , Du Huimin , Mao Meiwen , Liu Ying , Fan Jiulun
Published: September 2023

Traditional detect and count strategy can’t well handle the extremely crowded footage in computer vision-based counting task. In recent years, deep learning approaches have been widely explored to tackle this challenge. By regressing visual features to density map, the total crowd number can be predicted while avoids the detection of their actual positions. Efforts of improving performance distribute at various phases of the detecting pipeline, such as feature extraction and eliminating deviation of regressed density map etc. In this article, we conduct a thorough review on the most representative and state-of-the-art techniques. The efforts are systematically categorized into three topics: the evolving of front-end network, the handling of unbalanced density map prediction, and the selection of loss function. After the evaluation of most significant techniques, innovations of the state-of-the-art are inspected in detail to analyze specific reasons to achieve high performances. As conclusion, possible directions of enhancement are discussed to provide insights of future research.
Pandemic Care Through Collaboration: Sharing Lessons from a COVID-19 Police Field Hospital
Authors: Tabanejad Zeinab , Zareei Mahdi , Mesri Morteza , Babaei Mohsen
Published: September 2023

: In the summer of two years ago in 2021, the prevalence of COVID-19 increased sharply in one of the less privileged provinces. As a result, the number of beds and treatment departments in hospitals, and more importantly, the number of medical specialists in that province, did not meet the existing needs. For this reason, the military healthcare workers decided to come to the aid of that province, considering the organizational mission of the police force. According to the memorandum, the Police Organization, the Governor, and the University of Medical Sciences from that province collaborated to establish a 64-bed field hospital for patients with COVID-19, with two separate wards for male and female patients. The COVID-19 Police Field Hospital provided care for more than a thousand patients over 8 weeks from July 12 to August 31, 2021. In this report, we describe our implementation strategy, including organizational structure, acceptance criteria, and clinical services. Additionally, dynamic workflows require clear lines of relationship, clinical operations expertise, and engaged, interested, and people-friendly healthcare workers.
The Relationship Between Safe Nursing Care and Professional Commitment of Nurses in Iranian Educational-Therapeutic Hospitals
Authors: Zarabadi Poor Farnoosh , Mousavi Seyed Reza , Khakpoor Armin , Rashvand Farnoosh
Published: September 2023

Background: Safe nursing care and professional commitment are known as two important components influencing the nursing service quality. Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the relationship between safe nursing care and nurses’ professional commitment. Methods: In the present cross-sectional correlational research, 263 nurses were selected from the intensive care unit/cardiac care unit (ICU/CCU), internal, surgery, pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics, oncology, burn, orthopedics, infectious, and neurology wards of educational-therapeutic hospitals affiliated with Qazvin University of Medical Sciences by quota sampling method between May 2022 and September 2022. Data collection was performed using the nurses’ professional commitment scale (NPCS) and the assessment of safe nursing care (ASNC) questionnaire. Nurses were selected using a convenience sampling method. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests (t-test, Pearson’s correlation, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)) by SPSS software version 16. Results: The mean scores of nurses’ professional commitment and safe nursing care were 86.16 ± 4.92 and 134.57 ± 16.15, respectively. Pearson’s correlation test showed a significant relationship between nurses’ professional commitment and safe nursing care (r = 0.345, P ≤ 0.001). Also, the test results indicated that the level of nurses’ professional commitment varied among individuals with different employment types (P = 0.008). Conclusions: According to this study, safe nursing care and nurses’ professional commitment are two important components influencing each other. Therefore, these results have important implications for policymakers and healthcare systems involved in promoting the level of safe nursing care and nurses’ professional commitment.
Successful Management of Neonatal Kaposiform Haemangioendothelioma and Kasabach-Merritt Phenomenon Using Sirolimus and Surgical Excision
Authors: Adams Lucinda Elizabeth Hill , Wang Kathleen , Ryan Emma
Published: September 2023

: Kaposiform haemangioendothelioma (KHE) is a rare vascular tumor, occurring predominantly in infancy, with an incidence of 0.091 per 100,000 children. Typically presenting as a solitary large cutaneous lesion, with no distant metastases. Children with KHE are at high-risk of developing Kasabach-Merritt Phenomenon (KMP), a consumptive coagulopathy. KMP is defined as profound thrombocytopenia, hypofibrinogenemia, and elevated D-dimer. KMP has a mortality of 10 - 30%. Due to its rarity, there is little robust evidence for KHE management. Rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors have been shown to be a safe and effective treatment. This report is regarding a newborn term female who presented at birth with an abdominal cutaneous vascular malformation, subsequently developing life-threatening thrombocytopenia and coagulopathy. She was diagnosed with KHE complicated by KMP, with an excellent response to sirolimus treatment, with subsequent lesion resection.
Hybrid Energy Regulated Constant Gain Kalman-Filter for Optimized Target Detection and Tracking in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors:   Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur-208002, India, Saraswat Urvashi , Yadav Anita , Bhatia Abhishek
Published: September 2023

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are one of the most researched areas worldwide as the wide-scale networks possess low cost, are small in size, consume low power, and can be deployed in various environments. Among various applications of WSNs, target tracking is a highly demanding and broadly investigated application of wireless sensor networks. The parameter of accurate tracking is restricted because of the limited resources present in the wireless sensor networks, noise of the network, environmental factors, and faulty sensor nodes. Our work aims to enhance the accuracy of the tracking process as well as energy utilization by combing the mechanism of clustering with the prediction. Here, we present a hybrid energy-regulated constant gain Kalman filter-based target detection and tracking method, which is an algorithm to make the best use of energy and enhance precision in tracking. Our proposed algorithm is compared with the existing approaches where it is observed that the proposed technique possesses efficient energy utilization by decreasing the transference of unimportant data within the sensor network, achieving accurate results.
KERAGAAN LIMA VARIETAS SORGUM (Sorghum bicolor L.)
Authors: Agustian Ellananggar , Parwito Parwito , Novita Sari Dia
Published: September 2023

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is a popular alternative plant as raw material for the bioethanol industry. Sorghum plants have the potential to be developed in Indonesia as an alternative resource, new renewable energy raw materials and their stems and leaves can be used as a potential source of animal feed. This research was conducted from February to June 2020. Located in the experimental garden of the Faculty of Agriculture, Ratu Samban Argamakmur University, North Bengkulu Regency, the research objective was to determine the best growth and yield of varieties among the five varieties of sorghum. This research method used a randomized block design (RBD) with one factor, namely, sorghum varieties. Sorghum varieties had a very significant effect on plant height variables of all ages, number of leaves at all ages, leaf width 40 DAS, stem diameter 40 DAS, leaf area 40 DAS, and weight 1000 seeds. In general, the best variety was achieved by the Numbu variety, almost all observations showed that Numbu provided excellent growth in the observation of plant height, leaf length, dry panicle weight and others showed super 2 showed the highest value on stem diameter observations, and kawali on observations. Leaf area and super 1 showed the highest value in the observation of leaf width at the age of 40 days and 45 days after which the highest number was obtained.
RESPON PERTUMBUHAN DAN HASIL TANAMAN KEDELAI(Glycine Max L.Merril) TERHADAP PENGGUNAAN PUPUK KOTORAN SAPI DAN PUPUK NPK
Authors: Lestari Fuji , Pujiwati Hesti , Handayani Susi
Published: September 2023

Kedelai merupakan salah satu komoditas pangan dari family Leguminoseae yang dibutuhkan dalam pelengkap gizi makanan. Sayangnya produksi kedelai di Bengkulu jauh dibawah potensi produksi. Untuk meningkatkan produksi kedelai di Bengkulu perlu diperhatikan perbaikan kualitas tanah yang bagus. Penelitian ini bertujuan Untuk mendapatkan dosis terbaik pupuk kotoran sapi terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman kedelai, mendapatkan dosis terbaik pupuk NPK terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman kedelai, dan Untuk mendapatkan interaksi terhadap kombinasi pupuk kotoran sapi  dan pupuk NPK terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman kedelai. Penelitian ini menggunakan faktorial acak kelompok lengkap (RAKL), faktor pertama, dosis tanpa pemberian kotoran sapi (S0), pemberian dosis pupuk kotoran sapi 2,25 kg/petak (S1), kotoran sapi 4,5 kg/petak (S2) dan kotoran sapi 6,75 kg/petak (S3). Faktor kedua adalah pemberian pupuk NPK. Taraf  pertama tanpa pemberian NPK  (N0), NPK  200 kg/ha atau 45 g/petakan (N1), NPK 400 kg/ha atau 90 g/petakan  (N2), dan NPK 600 kg/ha atau 135 g/petakan (N3). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan interaksi jumlah polong pertanaman tertinggi oleh kombinasi perlakuan kotoran sapi (6.75 kg) dengan NPK (135 g) sebesar 124.8 g/petak. Untuk jumlah polong pertanaman terendah sebesar 85.66 g/petak tanaman diberikan oleh perlakuan kotoran sapi (4,5 kg) dengan NPK (135 g). Jumlah polong bernas tertinggi oleh kombinasi perlakuan kotoran sapi (6.75 kg) dengan NPK (135 g) sebesar 124.6 g/petak. Untuk jumlah polong bernas terendah sebesar 84.13 g/petak tanaman diberikan oleh perlakuan kotoran sapi (4,5 kg) dengan NPK (135 g). Jumlah polong hampa tertinggi oleh kombinasi perlakuan kotoran sapi (2.25 kg) dengan NPK (kontrol) sebesar 1,38 g/petak dan berbeda nyata dengan variabel lainnya. Untuk jumlah polong pertanaman terendah sebesar 0.5 g/petak tanaman diberikan oleh perlakuan kotoran sapi (6.75 kg) dengan NPK (45 g). Pemberian pupuk kotoran sapi dan pupuk NPK memberikan pengaruh tidak nyata terhadap semua variabel. Namun sangat berpengaruh nyata terhadap variabel tinggi tanaman 6 MST, jumlah polong hampa dan jumlah polong bernas.
RESPON PERTUMBUHAN DAN HASIL TANAMAN MENTIMUN (Cucumis sativus L.) TERHADAP PEMBERIAN DOSIS PUPUK KASCING
Authors: Lisa Irma , Sari Ade Serly Novita
Published: September 2023

Tanaman mentimun (Cucumis sativus L.)  merupakan sayuran buah yang memiliki peluang besar untuk dibudidayakan. Selain memiliki gizi yang baik untuk tubuh karena mengandung vitamin dan sumber mineral  untuk kesehatan, juga sebagai bahan untuk  kosmetik. Penelitian ini bertujuan, untuk mendapatkan dosis pupuk kascing yang terbaik terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman mentimun (Cucumis sativus L.). Penelitian ini menggunakan Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL) satu faktor dan perlakuan yakni dosis pupuk kascing yang terdiri dari 4 taraf perlakuan, KC0 : Tanpa Kascing 0 gram (kontrol), KC1 : Pemberian Kascing  800 g, KC2 : Pemberian Kascing 900 g, KC3 : Pemberian Kascing 1.000 g. Pada variabel pengamatan hasil tanaman mentimun (Cucumis sativus L.), tabel analisis sidik ragam menunjukan bahwa pemberian dosis pupuk kascing berpengaruh sangat nyata terhadap tinggi tanaman, jumlah daun, umur berbunga, umur panen, jumlah buah pertanaman, diameter buah, panjang buah perbuah, bobot buah perbuah, dan bobot buah pertanaman. hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa pemberian dosis pupuk kascing berpengaruh  terhadap tinggi tanaman, jumlah daun, umur berbunga, umur panen, jumlah buah pertanaman, diameter buah, panjang buah perbuah, bobot buah perbuah, dan bobot buah pertanaman. Hal ini menunjukan bahwa perlakuan pemberian dosis pupuk kascing memberikan repson yang baik sebagai bahan untuk menambah nutrisi tanaman mentimun (Cucumis sativus L.).
Characteristics of Foraminifera Distribution in Volcanic Tuff of Parepare Tanamailie Pinrang, South Sulawesi
Authors: Husain Ratna
Published: September 2023

This research was conducted to determine and distribute foraminifera in vertical positions using measured stratigraphy. This research aims to analyze the distribution characteristics of foraminifera in the Parepare Tanmailie Pinrang volcanic tuff, South Sulawesi. This research was conducted in the Tanamailie area in Suppa District, Pinrang Regency, South Sulawesi, where the fine-grained Parepare volcanics are well exposed. The method used in this research is field observation. The results of the research show that the analysis and description of fossils found in the measured stratigraphic landscape determined four sequential biozonations, namely from (1) The composition of the bottom layer in the N13 zonation Sphaeroidinellopsis subdevices - Globigerina Drury, (2) The composition of the lower middle layer in the N14-N15 zonation Globigerina nepenthes - Globorotalia (T.) sickness to Globorotalia (T.) continuous, (3) Upper middle layer arrangement zonation N16-N18 Globorotalia (T.) acostaensis acostaensis - Globorotalia (G.) merotumida to Globorotalia (G.) tumi-da plesiotumida – Sphaerodinellopsis subdevices paenedehiscens, (4) Top layer composition of zonation N18-N19 Globorotalia (G.) tumi-da – Sphaerodinellopsis subdevices paenedehiscens to Sphaeroidinella dehiscent dehiscent - Globoquadrina altispira altispira. Analysis of abundant benthic foraminifera. This tough paleoenvironment is characterized by an abundance of Textularis sp and Nodosaria sp, indicating a shallow marine depositional environment.
Suflave — A Low-Volume Colonoscopy Preparation
Authors:   Editors from The Medical Letter
Published: September 2023

The FDA has approved Suflave (Sebela/Braintree), a low-volume polyethylene glycol (PEG)- and sulfate-based product for cleansing of the colon prior to colonoscopy in adults. Suflave is marketed as tasting better than other products.
Delandistrogene Moxeparvovec (Elevidys) for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Authors:   Editors from The Medical Letter
Published: September 2023

Delandistrogene moxeparvovec-rokl (Elevidys – Sarepta), an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector-based gene therapy, has received accelerated approval from the FDA for treatment of ambulatory children 4-5 years old with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) who have a confirmed mutation in the dystrophin gene. It is the first gene therapy to be approved in the US for treatment of DMD. Accelerated approval was based on expression of microdystrophin in skeletal muscle, a surrogate endpoint.
Addendum: Gabapentinoids and Renal Impairment
Authors:   Editors from The Medical Letter
Published: September 2023

A nephrologist and longtime reader of The Medical Letter wrote us to say that our recent article entitled Drugs for Anxiety Disorders should have said more about the need for dosage adjustment of gabapentin (Neurontin, and others) and pregabalin (Lyrica, and others) in patients with renal impairment.
Addendum: Over-the-Counter Narcan Nasal Spray
Authors:   Editors from The Medical Letter
Published: September 2023

Since the publication of our articles entitled Drugs for Opioid Use Disorder and In Brief: Over-the-Counter Narcan Nasal Spray earlier this year, Narcan (Emergent), a nasal spray that delivers 4 mg of the opioid antagonist naloxone, has become available for sale over the counter (OTC).
Deepest known novel species of the genus Ophiuroglypha Hertz, 1927 (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from the central rift zone, Philippine Sea
Authors: Nethupul Hasitha , Stöhr Sabine , Zhang Haibin
Published: September 2023

A new species of brittle star was collected in 2021 by the manned submersible “Fendouzhe” from the central rift zone deep waters, Philippine Sea, at a depth of 7729 m. It is described as Ophiuroglypha fendouzhe sp. nov., and is distinguished from its congeners based on the following features: slender arms, separated dorsal and ventral arm plates, overlapping large disc scales, and distally contiguous radial shields. We provide comprehensive descriptions of the external morphological features, including characteristics of the arm skeleton, and a phylogenetic analysis based on COI sequences. The interspecific genetic distance variation in the genus Ophiuroglypha found in this study was 3.89% to 24.25%. The new species constitutes the deepest known record for the genus Ophiuroglypha.
Exploring EFL English Major Students’ Speaking Challenges and Their Strategies for Improvement
Authors: Van Thong Nguyen , Hoai Thuong Le
Published: September 2023

Introduction: In the face of global integration, the significance of mastering foreign languages for international communication has surged, especially for Vietnamese students and more specifically, for those majoring in English at Kien Giang University (KGU). Despite the importance, the challenges faced by these English-major students in honing their speaking skills and avenues to enhance their proficiency remain underexplored, especially within the KGU environment. The study primarily delved into the specific challenges that these students face in developing their speaking skills, and proposed strategies to overcome these challenges and bolster their speaking capabilities.

Methodology: This research employed a qualitative research design, utilizing a questionnaire and interviews as its primary data collection tools, and engaged 77 male and female English-major students from KGU.

Results: Analysis from the gathered data identified both intrinsic and extrinsic hurdles for the students, including limited vocabulary, apprehension about errors, and the lack of an immersive English-speaking milieu. Students shared common strategies for overcoming these challenges, which largely revolved around the use of technology, media, and interaction with proficient English speakers. The findings suggested that providing students with more opportunities to practice speaking, particularly with those proficient in the language, can be an effective way to improve their speaking challenges.

Conclusion: The study underscores the critical need for KGU students to master English amidst global integration. It highlights the intrinsic and extrinsic challenges KGU English majors face in speaking proficiency. Given the findings and recommendations, educators and students can collaboratively tackle these challenges, enabling KGU English students to excel in a globally integrated world.
The Center for Ethnic Studies: A Guide to the Collections
Authors:   Fort Hays State University, Schmeller Helmet
Published: September 2023

A Guide to the Collections of the Center for Ethnic Studies at Forsyth Library, Fort Hays State University is a bibliographic listing of materials available for public access in 1998. The Center for Ethnic Studies was established in 1977 by Dr. James L. Forsythe and Dr. Helmut J. Schmeller. The focus of the collection grew to include information on Volga Germans from Russia, Bukovina Germans, Czechs, Scandinavians, Hispanics, and African Americans. The listing of materials is grouped by format and content. This document includes materials recorded in the card catalog for Forsyth Library, as well as individual Special Collections Finding Guides. This document represents a snapshot of the collections in time, and current access and retrieval methods should be utilized before or in conjunction with this document.
Particulate Matter Concentration in Ambient Air at Gulshan e Iqbal, Karachi
Authors: Khan Fahad Muhammad , Khan Fariha Shafiq , Samoo Naeem Akhtar , Ismail Abdullah
Published: September 2023

The aim of this study is to measure the PM concentration (PM2.5, PM10) at different times and at different locations of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal town and comparison of the obtained results with the permissible limits of Pak-EPA for assessment of the air quality. A total of 12 sampling locations were selected in different blocks of Gulshan-e-Iqbal town. The PM 2.5 concentration in the study area ranged from 47 to 81.3 µg/m3, with a mean value of 65.4 µg/m3. The results revealed that values of PM2.5 at all the sampling stations were above the permissible limits (35 µg/m3) set by Environmental Protection Agency Pakistan (Pak-EPA). The PM 10 concentration in the study area ranged from 55.6 to 99.0 µg/m3, with a mean value of 79.9 µg/m3. The results revealed that values of PM10 at all the sampling stations were within the permissible limits (150 µg/m3) set by Environmental Protection Agency Pakistan (Pak-EPA). The concentration of PM (PM2.5, PM10) was found to vary with time at all the sampling stations. Maximum concentrations were recorded at 2 PM and 7 PM while minimum concentrations were recorded at 12 AM. The worst air quality in terms of particulate matter concentration in the study area was observed at Block 11 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, whereas better air quality in terms of PM was recorded at Block 7
Análise estatística do instrumento de mensuração do Programa de Desenvolvimento da Gestão das Cooperativas (PDGC)
Authors: Souza Jonathan Roque Mendes de , Silva Eduardo Damião da , Moreira Vilmar Rodrigues
Published: September 2023

O Programa de Desenvolvimento da Gestão das Cooperativas (PDGC) foi desenvolvido com intuito de fomentar e contribuir para o desenvolvimento da gestão e governança em Cooperativas, haja visto estudos que relacionam adoção de referenciais e modelos de gestão à melhores resultados. Entretanto, teóricos relatam escassez de estudos empíricos que embasem teoricamente a construção e a validação de tais modelos. Este trabalho analisou a validade e a confiabilidade estatística do PDGC, nível Primeiros Passos, ciclo 2017. Tratou-se de uma pesquisa descritiva de natureza quantitativa. Empregou-se técnicas de Análise Fatorial Exploratória e Confirmatória em uma amostra de 772 observações. A estrutura fatorial obtida explicou 68,482% da variação, com 9 fatores e 43 variáveis observáveis. Os resultados da pesquisa demostram oportunidades na metodologia de construção de escalas, visto terem indicado possíveis problemas com os dados coletados, com a teoria ou ambos, visto que o instrumento de mensuração não reflete a estrutura proposta de relacionamentos dos construtos.
A atuação das cooperativas de crédito em prol da inclusão financeira: estudo de caso comparado
Authors: Matos Alan Guran de , Greatti Ligia , Zampieri João Victor Murari
Published: September 2023

Este artigo discorre sobre a atuação das cooperativas de crédito em prol da inclusão financeira, tem como objetivo analisar sua atividade como provedora de serviços bancários a comunidades desassistidas, seu caráter de equalização de taxa de juros no mercado, bem como suas ações de fomento a educação financeira. A metodologia utilizada foi de caráter descritivo-qualitativo, com coleta de dadosrealizada por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. A pesquisa documental se baseou em relatórios fornecidos por duas cooperativas crédito, e dados disponíveis em suas plataformas na internet. Para a análise dos dados, foi utilizado o método de análise de conteúdo. Por meio desta, pode-se concluir que as cooperativas de crédito são agentes importantíssimos na sociedade, podem atuar em diversos setores e, atendendo seus princípios, contribuem com o desenvolvimento das comunidades em que estão inseridas, substancialmente em áreas como a educação e a cidadania.
Juros sobre capital próprio em cooperativas agropecuárias: a visão dos cooperativistas
Authors: Schuenck Fernanda Martins , Figari Anelise Krauspenhar Pinto , Londero Paola Richter
Published: September 2023

A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar quais são os fatores que restringem ou estimulam a utilização dos juros sobre capital próprio (JCP) como estratégia de retorno das cooperativas agropecuárias. Para tanto, empregou-se o método de pesquisa qualitativa básica com uso de entrevistas, conduzidas por meio de roteiros semiestruturados, e com a análise baseada na técnica de template. A amostra foi composta por doze entrevistados inseridos em cooperativas. Por meio da percepção dos mesmos, observou-se que os principais fatores que restringem a utilização da estratégia de retorno dos JCP pelas cooperativas agropecuárias são: a incidência da tributação; resistência em utilizar estratégia de retorno sob o capital; dificuldade de compreensão dos cooperados; possível falta de conhecimento de gestores e contadores; e, a preferência por captar recursos de terceiros. Apesar dos fatores restritivos, a estratégia de JCP pode ser compreendida como uma forma de incentivar a capitalização nas sociedades cooperativas.
Analysis Of The Effect Of NPL, Der And Asset Growth On Banking Profitability Before & During Covid-19 Listed On Idx
Authors: Setiawan Budhi , Alamsyah Agus Rahman , Murtianingsih Murtianingsih
Published: September 2023

The COVID-19 virus threatens the safety of the public so the government takes the policy of PSBB or the policy of Large Scale Social Restriction that suppresses the Indonesian economy. Indonesia’s economic growth at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic underwent contractions that led to economic growth of only 2.07% from the average before COVID-19 above 5.00%. The performance of the Nasional Banking sector which is the pillar of the economy in Indonesia also affected the covid-19 pandemic. The general bank’s profitability statistics-ROA statistics released by the financial service authority during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced a significant decline, The average profitability of ROA before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2.5% down to 1.5% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers compared the performance of national banking in this case the public bank over several independent variables against dependent variables before and during the covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of the research is: 1. To find out the influence of Non-Performing Loan (NPL) on profitability on national banking before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2. To find out the influence of Debt To Equity Ratio (DER) on the profitability of national banking before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, 3. To find out the influence of asset growth on profitability in national banking before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, 4. To find out the influence of Non-Performing Loan (NPL), Debt-to debt-equity ratio (DER), and asset growth simultaneously on profitability in national banking before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The method used in this study is quantitative with secondary data sources.
Some effective estimation procedures under non-response in two-phase successive sampling
Authors: Singh G. N. , Khetan M. , Maurya S.
Published: September 2023

This work is designed to assess the effect of non-response in estimation of the current population mean in two-phase successive sampling on two occasions. Sub-sampling technique of non-respondents has been used and exponential methods of estimation under two-phase successive sampling arrangement have been proposed. Properties of the proposed estimation procedures have been examined. Empirical studies are carried out to justify the suggested estimation procedures and suitable recommendations have been made to the survey practitioners.
Transmuted Kumaraswamy distribution
Authors: Khan Muhammad Shuaib , King Robert , Hudson Irene Lena
Published: September 2023

The Kumaraswamy distribution is the most widely applied statistical distribution in hydrological problems and many natural phenomena. We propose a generalization of the Kumaraswamy distribution referred to as the transmuted Kumaraswamy (TKw) distribution. The new transmuted distribution is developed using the quadratic rank transmutation map studied by Shaw et al. (2009). A comprehensive account of the mathematical properties of the new distribution is provided. Explicit expressions are derived for the moments, moment generating function, entropy, mean deviation, Bonferroni and Lorenz curves, and formulated moments for order statistics. The TKw distribution parameters are estimated by using the method of maximum likelihood. Monte Carlo simulation is performed in order to investigate the performance of MLEs. The flood data and HIV/AIDS data applications illustrate the usefulness of the proposed model.
Bayesian inference for state space model with panel data
Authors: Pandey Ranjita , Chaturvedi Anoop
Published: September 2023

The present work explores panel data set-up in a Bayesian state space model. The conditional posterior densities of parameters are utilized to determine the marginal posterior densities using the Gibbs sampler. An efficient one step ahead predictive density mechanism is developed to further the state of art in prediction based decision making.
On measuring income polarization: an approach based on regression trees
Authors: Mussini Mauro
Published: September 2023

This article proposes the application of regression trees for analysing income polarization. Using an approach to polarization based on the analysis of variance, we show that regression trees can uncover groups of homogeneous income receivers in a data-driven way. The regression tree can deal with nonlinear relationships between income and the characteristics of income receivers, and it can detect which characteristics and their interactions actually play a role in explaining income polarization. For these features, the regression tree is a flexible statistical tool to explore whether income receivers concentrate around local poles. An application to Italian individual income data shows an interesting partition of income receivers.
Quality of life and poverty in Ukraine – preliminary assessment based on the subjective well-being indicators
Authors: Osaulenko Oleksandr
Published: September 2023

The paper provides an overview of the information sources, methodology and main findings of the research of quality of life and poverty using indicators of subjective well-being applied by state statistics agencies in Ukraine. The paper describes the system of indicators for self-evaluation of the attained level of wellbeing, the level of satisfaction from meeting the basic living needs, and the limitations in consumption abilities of selected population groups due to hard conditions. In addition, methodological approaches in national statistics practice are discussed for the case of analysis of economic deprivation and for infrastructure development as indicator of geographic accessibility of services and non-geographic barriers causing the deprivation of access. Also, this paper reviews the factors that underlie the deprivations and define the percentage of population that is particularly affected by multiple deprivation in Ukraine. It covers the data on dynamics and analyses the distribution of deprivation by different population group, for several years. Finally, it describes further steps on the way to enhance the information capacity of subjective wellbeing studies, particularly as regards implementation of the contemporary approaches in international perspective, including Europe.
New method of variable selection for binary data cluster analysis
Authors: Korzeniewski Jerzy
Published: September 2023

Cluster analysis of binary data is a relatively poorly developed task in comparison with cluster analysis for data measured on stronger scales. For example, at the stage of variable selection one can use many methods arranged for arbitrary measurement scales but the results are usually of poor quality. In practice, the only methods dedicated for variable selection for binary data are the ones proposed by Brusco (2004), Dash et al. (2000) and Talavera (2000). In this paper the efficiency of these methods will be discussed with reference to the marketing type data of Dimitriadou et al. (2002). Moreover, the primary objective is a new proposal of variable selection method based on connecting the filtering of the input set of all variables with grouping of sets of variables similar with respect to similar groupings of objects. The new method is an attempt to link good features of two entirely different approaches to variable selection in cluster analysis, i.e. filtering methods and wrapper methods. The new method of variable selection returns best results when the classical k-means method of objects grouping is slightly modified.
Examining similarities in time allocation amongst European Countries
Authors: Hozer-Koćmiel Marta , Lis Christian
Published: September 2023

The aim of the article is to analyse the similarities between the selected European countries in terms of time allocation. Time allocation has been defined as the daily distribution of time to various activities. Professional work time, domestic work time and leisure time are the most important for the economic approach. It has been proved that there are coherent groups of countries with similar structure of time allocation. The taxonomic methods used in order to verify the thesis included: cluster analysis, k-means method, generalised distance measure GDM and interval taxonomic method TMI. The analysis was performed on the basis of HETUS data.
Sujatha distribution and its applications
Authors: Shanker Rama
Published: September 2023

In this paper a new one-parameter lifetime distribution named “Sujatha Distribution” with an increasing hazard rate for modelling lifetime data has been suggested. Its first four moments about origin and moments about mean have been obtained and expressions for coefficient of variation, skewness, kurtosis and index of dispersion have been given. Various mathematical and statistical properties of the proposed distribution including its hazard rate function, mean residual life function, stochastic ordering, mean deviations, Bonferroni and Lorenz curves, and stress-strength reliability have been discussed. Estimation of its parameter has been discussed using the method of maximum likelihood and the method of moments. The applications and goodness of fit of the distribution have been discussed with three real lifetime data sets and the fit has been compared with one-parameter lifetime distributions including Akash, Shanker, Lindley and exponential distributions.
Estimation of mean on the basis of conditional simple random sample
Authors: Wywiał Janusz
Published: September 2023

Estimation of the population mean in a finite and fixed population on the basis of the conditional simple random sampling design dependent on order statistics (quantiles) of an auxiliary variable is considered. Properties of the well-known Horvitz-Thompson and ratio type estimators as well as the sample mean are taken into account under the conditional simple random sampling designs. The considered examples of empirical analysis lead to the conclusion that under some additional conditions the proposed estimation strategies based on the conditional simple random sample are usually more accurate than the mean from the simple random sample drawn without replacement.
Changing mortality distribution in developed countries from 1970 to 2010: looking at averages and beyond them
Authors: Szulc Adam
Published: September 2023

The methods typically developed in income inequality and poverty research are employed to observe changes in life spans distribution in 35 developed countries. The analyses are performed at two levels, using the same methods when possible: i/ taking the countries as the units with a mean length of life being a single parameter representing the distribution, ii/ utilizing the country life tables (taking people as the units) in order to compare other than mean length of life attributes of mortality distribution. Increasing divergence in the mean length of life across the countries is due to growing distance of the countries below the median, mainly the post-communist ones, to the upper half. The comparisons of the within-country distributions of ages at death by means of the Kullback-Leibler divergence provides similar results. However, poverty and inequality indices calculated at this level yield opposite conclusions. Hence, most of the between-country variation might be attributed to the variation in the mean length of life while the changes in within-country inequality reduced this effect. At the same time, huge alterations in the within-country mortality rankings can be observed. Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Austria and Luxembourg may be said to be the “winners” while most of the post-communist countries are among the “losers”.
Quality of institutions and total factor productivity in the European Union
Authors: Balcerzak Adam P. , Pietrzak Michał Bernard
Published: September 2023

The key challenge for mid- and long-term policy in the European Union countries is to use the potentials of knowledge-based economy (KBE), which is a condition for maintaining high total factor productivity in Europe. For this reason, the relationship between the quality of an institutional system and total factor productivity in the EU countries has been examined. The quality of the institutional system is defined here from the perspective of incentives that influence the use of the potential of KBE. In order to determine the level of effectiveness of the institutional system in the analysed countries the method for linear ordering of objects was applied based on data from Fraser Institute. The main hypothesis of the article states that the quality of the institutional system in the context of KBE has a significant influence on the level of total factor productivity in the EU. In order to verify this hypothesis, the parameters of the Cobb-Douglas production function were estimated, which allowed the evaluation of TFP for the EU countries. The calculation made in the article based on Eurostat data. In order to identifying the relationship between the quality of the institutional system and the level of TFP a panel model was applied using data from a conducted for years 2000-2010.