bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Strategic Management in SMEs and Its Significance for Enhancing the Competitiveness in the V4 Countries - A Comparative Analysis
Authors: Gavurova Beata , Cepel Martin , Belas Jaroslav , Dvorsky Jan 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
The study’s main aim is to determine how the entrepreneurs in SMEs of the Visegrad Group (V4) perceive the strategic management process and how they manage strategic risks within it. The study also focuses on how a perception of examined determinants differs depending on business duration, management education and sex. The research was performed from 9/2019 to 4/2020 in the V4 countries by means of online questionnaire. The findings were interesting. SMEs’ business duration is a significant factor in evaluating the total structure of entrepreneurs’ attitudes to the following fact: firm’s strategic management is inevitable for corporate governance. Both SMEs’ business duration and educational attainment are significant factors in evaluating the total structure of entrepreneurs’ attitudes to the following fact: implementation of strategic management is required for day-to-day operations of a business. However, SMEs’ business duration, management education and sex do not influence managers’ attitudes to strategic management and strategic business risks. The results provide a valuable platform for the creators of national and regional strategic and development plans. Similarly, the results enable a creation of national and international benchmarking indicators in this area that would allow an improvement of the business environment and a creation of risk management systems, which are inevitable for SMEs.
Geometric and semantic quality assessments of building features in OpenStreetMap for some areas of Istanbul
Authors: Basaraner Melih 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Nowadays volunteered geographic information (VGI) and collaborative mapping projects such as OpenStreetMap (OSM) have gained popularity as they not only offer free data but also allow crowdsourced contributions. Spatial data entry in this manner creates quality concerns for further use of the VGI data. In this regard, this article focuses on the assessments of geometric and semantic quality of the OSM building features (BFs) against a large-scale topographic (TOPO) data belonging to some areas of Istanbul. The comparison is carried out based on the one-to-one matched BFs according to a geometric matching ratio. In geometric terms, various parameters of position (i.e. X, Y), size (i.e. area, perimeter and granularity), shape (i.e. convexity, circularity, elongation, equivalent rectangular index, rectangularity and roughness index), and orientation (i.e. orientation angle) elements are computed and compared. In semantic terms, BF type coherences are evaluated. According to the findings of geometric quality, the average positional difference was less than three meters. In addition, the perimeter values tended to decrease while area and granularity values tended to increase in OSM data against TOPO data. Those showed that the level of the detail of the OSM BFs was lower than TOPO BFs in general. This was also confirmed by the decreasing tendency of shape complexity according to the parameters of shape element. Orientation angle differences was often low except for some special cases. It was found that the scale of the OSM dataset, even though not homogenous, approximately corresponded to the lower limit of medium scale maps (i.e. 1:10,000) or a slightly smaller scale. According to the findings of semantic quality, in case of the presence of specific type definition, the coherence was rather high between OSM and TOPO BFs while the most OSM BFs did not have a specific type attribute. This study showed that the matching process needed some improvements while the followed approach was largely successful in the evaluation of the matched buildings from geometric and semantic aspects.
Monte Carlo characterization of the gold nanoparticles dose enhancement and estimation of the physical interactions weight in dose enhancement mechanism
Authors: Mohammadzadeh Mohammad , Ghiasi Hosein 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Radiosensitization of the cancer cells by the heavy atoms of nanoparticles was the subject of some studies. But, the physical characterization to determine the weight of all interactions hasn’t been made numerically. The aim of this study was to calculate and compare the dose enhancement (DE) for different energies. The Monte Carlo simulation method was used in the current study. The influence of gold nanoparticles (GNP) size, beam quality, the GNP concentration, and dose inhomogeneity on the radiosensitization by DE was studied. A 35% increase in the photoelectric effect was observed while energy decreased from 18 MV to 300 kV. In the microscopic study which DE calculated in 30 µm from a single GNP, a 79% decreasing in DE within the first 1µm was seen and it declined to 2% in 30 µm from the GNP center. The effect was observed at small distances only. Our study revealed that the dose inhomogeneity around a nanoparticle is the main and very strong effect of DE on a macroscopic scale. In the location which 35% DE occurs most malignant cells survival will be effectively reduced. Our research indicates the need for further research.
Automated determination of chest characteristics of Indonesians as the basis of chest dosimetrical phantom design
Authors: Heryani Heryani , Anam Choirul , Sutanto Heri , Reskianto Ari Dwi , Dougherty Geoff 
Published: January 2021

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop software to automatically measure the main areas of the chest, i.e. soft tissue, bone, and air and to implement it in Kraton Regional General Hospital for designing a specific dosimetrical phantom for chest digital radiography (DR) examination.

Methods: This study was a retrospective study on all DR images from 2015 to 2019, and computed tomography (CT) images of 102 patients in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format files scanned from January-December 2019 at the Kraton Regional General Hospital. We evaluated the number of basic DR chest examinations compared to all DR radiological examinations. We developed a MatLab graphical user interface (GUI) for automated measurement of the areas of the main chest components (soft tissue, bone, and air). We computed the areas of the main components of the chest in order to develop a specific chest phantom for DR in the hospital. In order to compute the areas of the main components, we used chest CT images of patients with clinical indications of chest tumors.

Results: The basic DR chest examination comprised 59.5% of all DR examinations in the hospital during 2015-2019. The average areas of soft tissue, bone, and air within the chest in all patients were 331, 20, and 125 cm2, respectively, with values of 345, 23, and 139 cm2 for males, and 309, 15, and 103 cm2 for females. The areas were also dependent on age with values of 121, 10, 55 cm2 for patients aged 5-11 years, 371, 27, and 88 cm2 for patients aged 12-25 years, 322, 22, and 131 cm2 for patients aged 26-45 years, and 334, 19, and 126 cm2 for patients > 45 years old.

Conclusion: A GUI for computing the main composition of the chest was successfully developed. The areas of chest male patients were greater than female patients. The areas of soft tissue, bone, and air were dependent on the patient’s age. Therefore, the design of dosimetrical DR phantom must consider the gender and age of the patient.
Determination of Seakeeping Performance for a Case Study Vessel by the Strip Theory Method
Authors: Niklas Karol , Karczewski Artur 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
The increase of seakeeping performance is of particular importance for car and passenger ferries, service ships in the gas and oil extraction industry and offshore wind power farm industry, as well as for special purpose ships (including military applications). In the water areas of the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea, which are characterised by a short and steep wave, the hull shape has a substantial impact on the operational capacity and propulsion efficiency of the ship, as well as on comfort and safety of navigation. The article analyses selected aspects of seakeeping for four variants of a selected case study vessel, indicating practical limitations of the strip method. The analysed aspects included hull heaving and pitching, added resistance, Motion Thickness Indicator (MSI), and Subjective Magnitude (SM). Experimental tests were also performed in the towing tank. Their comparison with the numerical results has indicated high inaccuracy of the strip method. What is more, the simplified representation of hull shape used in the strip method makes it impossible to analyse the effect of hull shape changes on the predicted seakeeping characteristics. Especially for the case of head wave, neglecting highly non-linear phenomena, such as slamming or head wave breaking, in strip method-based computer simulations will significantly decrease the reliability of the obtained results. When using the strip method, the seakeeping analysis should be complemented with model tests in a towing tank, or by another more complex numerical analysis, such as CFD for instance.
Influence of Process of Straightening Ship Hull Structure Made of 316L Stainless Steel on Corrosion Resistance and Mechanical Properties
Authors: Kowalski Jakub , Licznerski Łukasz , Supernak-Marczewska Milena , Emilianowicz Krzysztof 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
The AISI 316L type steel belongs to the group of chromium-nickel stainless steels. They are determined according to European standards as X2CrNiMo17-12-2 and belong to the group of austenitic stainless steels. Steels of this group are used for elements working in seawater environments, for installations in the chemical, paper, and food, industries, for architectural elements, and many others. The chemical composition of corrosion-resistant austenitic steels provides them with an austenite structure that is stable in a wide temperature range, under appropriate conditions for heating, soaking, and cooling. 316L steel plate was subjected to a technological treatment of hot straightening with an oxy-acetylene torch, which is not commonly used for this type of steel, mainly due to the lack of objective assessment of whether the austenitizing temperature has been achieved and the stability of the heat treatment process is ensured. The single-phase structure of austenite with high corrosion resistance, without precipitation of carbides, steel is obtained by supersaturation in water from 1100°C. The purpose of the presented research was to determine the usefulness of the flame straightening process for a ship structure made of 316L steel.
Second European Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Survey (Crt Survey Ii): Latvian Data Compared to Europe
Authors: Ventiņa Madara , Kalējs Oskars , Vikmane Maija , Ansabergs Jānis , Ņesterovičs Nikolajs , Blumbergs Māris , Kamzola Ginta , Sakne Sandis , Ērglis Andrejs , Lejnieks Aivars , Dickstein Kenneth , Linde Cecilia , Normand Camilla 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
The cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) survey II is a joint initiative between the European Heart Rhythm Association and the Heart Failure Association. It compiles real world data about cardiac resynchronisation therapy in European Society of Cardiology member states. 11 088 patients assigned to implantation of CRT with pacemaker function (CRT-P) or CRT with an incorporated defibrillator (CRT-D) were enrolled in the survey starting 1 October 2015 till 31 December 2016 and for each patient, an electronic case report form (eCRF) was completed. Each participating country had each eCRF data-point benchmarked against the total cohort. In total, 79 patients were included from Latvia. The mean age of patients was 68.1, similar to the total cohort of other ESC member states, and 21.8% of patients were female. Latvian patients compared to other countries more often had permanent atrial fibrillation, NYHA class III and IV, ejection fraction 35 %. CRT-Ds and multipolar lead implantation rates were higher. Peri-procedural complication rates were similarly low in both groups. At discharge, prescribed medication rates were similar but more frequently MRAs, ivabradine and calcium channel blockers were prescribed and slightly less frequently ACE inhibitors/ARBs were prescribed. The CRT survey II is a valuable resource that describes ongoing practice of cardiac resynchronisation therapy around Europe and benchmarking against the total cohort is nationally significant for each participating country.
Correlation of Body Mass Index and Lung Volume in 3–7 Year-Old Children in Rīga Pre-School Educational Institutions
Authors: Martinsone-Bērzkalne Liene , Umbraško Silvija , Duļevska Ilva , Pļaviņa Liāna , Cīrule Viktorija , Oginska Anita 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
The number of people with excess weight increases every year. Overweight and obesity in childhood can cause several chronic diseases in adulthood. Children with excess body mass develop more morphological and functional changes, including pulmonary functions. One of the common methods to assess lung function is spirometry. This method is a challenge in assessing lung function for pre-school age children. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between lung vital capacity and body mass index for the pre-school children aged 3–7 years in Rīga. In total 995 pre-school children were included in the study. An informative consent and questionnaire about the development of each individual child was filled in by parents. Several measurements were performed, including height, body mass, and lung vital capacity. This is the first study in Latvia where several morphologic and somatometric measurements were determined in children of pre-school age. There was a positive and statistically significant correlation between lung vital capacity and body height, mass, and chest circumference. The correlation between lung vital capacity and body mass index was not statistically significant. The main results do not differ from the results of similar studies in other countries. The obtained results will help to create a standard of morphological and somatometric parameters in pre-school aged children in Rīga region.
Genetic Structure of the Limecola Balthica Population in the Gulf of Riga, Baltic Sea
Authors: Fokina Oksana , Grauda Dace , Puriņa Ingrīda , Bārda Ieva , Rashal Isaak 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Samples of Limecola balthica with normal and deformed shells were collected from ten sites throughout the Gulf of Riga. Genetic diversity was evaluated by the retrotransposon-based iPBS method. Samples had close mutual genetic distances, which showed that all of them belong to one wider population of the Gulf of Rīga. No direct relationship between the activity of retrotransposons and deformation of shells was found.
Long term results of follow-up after HPV self-sampling with devices Qvintip and HerSwab in women non-attending cervical screening programme
Authors: Bokan Teodora , Ivanus Urska , Jerman Tine , Takac Iztok , Arko Darja 
Published: January 2021

Abstract

Background
We are presenting the results of the Slovenian human papillomaviruses (HPV) self-sampling pilot study in colposcopy population of National Cervical Cancer Screening Programme ZORA for the first time. One-year and four-year follow-up results are presented for two different self-sampling devices.

Participants and methods
A total of 209 women were enrolled in the study at colposcopy clinic. Prior to the gynaecological examination, all women performed self-collected vaginal swab at the clinic; 111 using Qvintip and 98 using HerSwab self-sampling device. After self-sampling, two cervical smears were taken by a clinician; first for conventional cytology and second for HPV test. After that, all women underwent colposcopy and a cervical biopsy if needed. We compared sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of cytology (at the cut-off atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or more [ASC-US+]) and HPV test (on self- and clinician-taken samples) for the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or more (CIN2+) after one and four years of follow-up. Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) assay was used for all HPV testing.

Results
The mean age of 209 women was 37.6 years and HPV positivity rate 67.0% (140/209), 36.9 years and 70.3% (78/111) in the Qvintip group and 38.4 years and 63.3% (62/98) in the HerSwab group, respectively. Overall, percent agreement between self and clinician-taken samples was 81.8% (kappa 0.534) in the Qvintip and 77.1% (kappa 0.456) in the HerSwab group. In the Qvintip group, the longitudinal sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 71.8%, 75.0%, 83.6%, 60.0% for cytology; 83.1%, 51.3%, 75.6% and 62.5% for HPV test of self-taken samples and 94.4%, 57.5%, 79.8% and 85.2% for HPV test on clinician-taken samples. In the HerSwab group, the corresponding results were 71.7%, 46.7%, 61.3%, 58.3% for cytology; 75.0%, 47.7%, 62.9% and 61.8% for HPV test on self-taken samples and 94.3%, 44.4%, 66.7% and 87.0% for clinician-taken samples, respectively.

Conclusions
The results confirm that HPV self-sampling is not as accurate as clinician sampling when HC2 is used. All HPV tests showed a higher sensitivity in detecting CIN2+ compared to cytology. Due to non-inferior longitudinal sensitivity of HPV self-sampling compared to cytology, HPV self-sampling might be an option for non-attenders to the National Cancer Screening Programme.
Serum biomarkers associated with malnutrition and nutritional risk in elderly primary care patients: A cross-sectional study from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Authors: Pavlović Jelena , Račić Maja , Ivković Nedeljka 
Published: January 2021

Abstract

Background
The aim of the study was to determine the ability of ferritin, haemoglobin, albumin and total cholesterol to identify nutritional risk and malnutrition among elderly primary care patients.

Methods
The cross-sectional study included 446 elderly adults over 65 years of age from four areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to anthropometric, functional, cognitive and biochemical indicators, nutritional status was evaluated using 24-hour recall of meals, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), and Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition, Version II (SCREEN II).

Results
Malnourished/at-risk study respondents had lower mean levels of haemoglobin (P=0.001) and total cholesterol (P<0.001), compared to those with normal nutritional status. Albumin levels significantly differed regarding nutritional status (P=0.004), but not nutritional risk level (P=0.521). Significant differences in serum ferritin levels were not found between malnourished and normally nourished study respondents (P=0.779) Determinants of albumin level were eating more than three meals a day (P<0.001), fewer than two portions of fruit and vegetables a day (P=0.024), drinking one glass of wine (P<0.001) and reporting functional independence (P=0.011). The AUC curves for serum ferritin, albumin and total cholesterol levels in men and women, as well as for haemoglobin levels in women, were poor to fair (AUC<0.800).

Conclusion
Although ferritin, haemoglobin, albumin and total cholesterol may be useful biomarkers of nutritional status, their accuracy in diagnosing malnutrition and nutritional risk among elderly primary health care patients is limited.
Foids are worse than animals. A cognitive linguistics analysis of dehumanizing metaphors in online discourse
Authors: Prażmo Ewelina 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
The aim of the article is to examine the language used by an emerging online community known as incels. Incels are “involuntarily celibate” men who gather online to share their frustration and resentment. They blame their predicament on their alleged ugliness, as well as on the structure of modern Western society in general, and women’s behaviour in particular. Hate speech and violent language flourish on incel online forums to such an extent that most of their websites are taken down, one by one, due to breaches of rules around violent content. In the present article I aim to analyze the language used by incels, focusing on the dehumanizing metaphors used in order to describe women, who are the main target of incels’ hatred. This paper was realized within the theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis with special emphasis on conceptual metaphor theory.
Word Metric, Stationary Measure and Minkowski’s Question Mark Function
Authors: Pumerantz Uriya 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Given a countably infinite group G acting on some space X, an increasing family of finite subsets Gn
, x∈ X and a function f over X we consider the sums Sn
(f, x) = ∑
g∈Gnf(gx). The asymptotic behaviour of Sn
(f, x) is a delicate problem that was studied under various settings. In the following paper we study this problem when G is a specific lattice in SL (2, ℤ ) acting on the projective line and Gn
are chosen using the word metric. The asymptotic distribution is calculated and shown to be tightly connected to Minkowski’s question mark function. We proceed to show that the limit distribution is stationary with respect to a random walk on G defined by a specific measure µ. We further prove a stronger result stating that the asymptotic distribution is the limit point for any probability measure over X pushed forward by the convolution power µ∗n
.
On Proinov’s Lower Bound for the Diaphony
Authors: Kirk Nathan 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
In 1986, Proinov published an explicit lower bound for the diaphony of finite and infinite sequences of points contained in the d−dimensional unit cube [Proinov, P. D.:On irregularities of distribution, C. R. Acad. Bulgare Sci. 39 (1986), no. 9, 31–34]. However, his widely cited paper does not contain the proof of this result but simply states that this will appear elsewhere. To the best of our knowledge, this proof was so far only available in a monograph of Proinov written in Bulgarian [Proinov, P. D.: Quantitative Theory of Uniform Distribution and Integral Approximation, University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria (2000)]. The first contribution of our paper is to give a self contained version of Proinov’s proof in English. Along the way, we improve the explicit asymptotic constants implementing recent, and corrected results of [Hinrichs, A.—Markhasin, L.: On lower bounds for the ℒ2
-discrepancy, J. Complexity 27 (2011), 127–132.] and [Hinrichs, A.—Larcher, G.: An improved lower bound for the ℒ2
-discrepancy, J. Complexity 34 (2016), 68–77]. (The corrections are due to a note in [Hinrichs, A.—Larcher, G. An improved lower bound for the ℒ2
-discrepancy, J. Complexity 34 (2016), 68–77].) Finally, as a main result, we use the method of Proinov to derive an explicit lower bound for the dyadic diaphony of finite and infinite sequences in a similar fashion.
Dimensions of Smart Administration
Authors: Giełda Małgorzata 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Smart public administration (hereinafter: smart administration) is understood primarily as the application of modern technologies that increase its effectiveness. However, not only modern techniques and innovative communication solutions define this concept. They should be considered in a broader sense because smart administration has many dimensions. The article presents just such an approach and discusses five dimensions of smart administration (technological, political, legal, subjective and structural).