Abusive Usage Research Articles

Nanoengineered disposable sensor fabricated with lanthanum stannate nanocrystallite for detecting animal feed additive: Ractopamine

Ractopamine (RA) has been at the forefront of feed additives as a nutrient repartitioning mediator that recuperates the growth rate, decreases animal fat, and guarantees food safety. However, inappropriate and abusive usage of RA to enhance economic efficiency can negatively impact the environment–animal–human interactions. Therefore, the call for monitoring and quantifying RA is highly desired. In this work, the potentiality of La2Sn2O7 as an electrode modifier on the surface of the portable screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) was examined for its precision, disposability, and ability to detect RA. The superior electrocatalytic activity of the fabricated La2Sn2O7/SPCE fortifies its standpoints by displaying a wide linear working range of 0.01–501.2 µM, an enhanced sensitivity, a better stability, a lower LOD of 0.86 nM, and an increased selectivity toward the detection of RA. Furthermore, the investigation of the constructed electrochemical sensor with real-time food samples underpins its practicality and feasibility.

Drug Use among the Elderly Assisted by the Psychosocial Assistance Center in District Federal-Brasilia

The inadequate and abusive usage of psychoactive substances is something real that affects Brazil’s elderly population, and it is a huge challenge for the public health system and its professionals. Aware of the social impact involving the use of illegal drugs, in 2002, the Ministry of Health instituted a network of psychosocial assistance as a strategy to deal with the problem. This study carried out an analysis of the profile of use of legal and illegal drugs by the elderly who are assisted by the network of psychosocial assistance in the Federal District. A quantitative and analytical study with secondary data collection, using patient records held in the CAPS-AD in the Federal District. The inclusion criteria were people of 60 and over who were users of alcohol and other drugs and who sought assistance at CAPS-AD between 2000 and 2017. A total of 408 medical records were analyzed concerning social demographic variations, types of rehabilitation services sought, types of substances consumed, associations between drugs consumed, time of consumption, and adherence to the treatment. Most of the elderly users were male (85.3%), on average 64 ± 4.42 years old. Regarding the drugs consumed, the highest quantity was for illegal substances (76%), compared to the legal ones (23%). No significant difference was found between males (OR = 1.1) and females (OR = 0.74) regarding the use or abuse of multiple drugs. The elderly used both legal and illegal drugs for a long period of time, with low adherence to the treatment, and alcohol consumption among the elderly prevailed above the other psychoactive substances.

Voices that Care Differently: Understanding the Effectiveness of a Conversational Agent with an Alternative Empathy Orientation and Emotional Expressivity in Mitigating Verbal Abuse

ABSTRACT Conversational agents (CAs) offer new functionality and convenience. While their sales have been soaring, they have also rapidly become victims of verbal abuse by their users. Without proper handling of abusive usage, abusers’ actions can be reinforced and transferred to real life. This study investigates whether alternative response styles of empathy orientation and emotional expressivity of voice-activated virtual assistants influence users’ moral emotions found to reduce verbal aggression as well as whether they affect user perceptions of the agent’s capability. Ninety-eight participants were assigned to one of the three emotional expressivity conditions (no-facial expression, fixed-facial expression, varied-facial expression) and interacted with two alternative empathy orientation conditions (other-oriented, self-oriented) of agents. The experimental results show that, regardless of the emotional expressivity types, the agent’s empathy orientation has a significant effect on the moral emotions and agent capability perceptions. Overall, an agent that employed other-oriented empathy style elicited most positive responses from the users. However, the preference was not across the board, as about one-third of the participants showed preference to the self-oriented CA. Users valued agents’ verbal contents and vocal characteristics above their facial expressions. Based on the study findings, we draw several design guidelines and suggest avenues for future research.

State of Charge Estimation Techniques for Lithium-ION Batteries Used in Electric Vehicle Applications

Abstract: Lithium-ion battery packs constitute an important part of Electric vehicles. The usage of Lithium-ion based chemistries as the source of energy has various advantages like high efficiency, high energy density, high specific energy, longevity among others. However, the management of lithium-ion battery packs require a Battery Management System (BMS). The BMS deals with functions like safety, prevention of abusive usage of battery pack, overcharging & over-discharging protection, cell balancing and others. One of the prominent features of the BMS is the estimation of State of charge (SOC). SOC is like a fuel gauge in automobile, it indicates how much more the battery can be used before charging it again. SOC is also required for other functions of BMS like State of Health (SOH) tracking, Range calculation, power & energy availability calculations. However, there is no means of measuring it directly (at least not on-board a vehicle) or estimating it easily. Various techniques should be used to estimate SOC indirectly. This paper starts from classical techniques that have existed since long time and reviews some of the modern & developing methods for SOC estimation. It contains a brief review about most of these SOC estimation methods, thus highlighting the methodology, advantages & disadvantages of each of these techniques. A brief review of other developing SOC estimation techniques is also provided. Keywords: State of Charge, SOC, Lithium-ion battery packs, Electric vehicles, Kalman Filter.

Extraction and analytical approaches in the forensic evaluation of anabolic androgenic steroid formulations

AbstractAnabolic androgenic steroids are controlled or prohibited substances worldwide since their abusive usage can lead to extensive side effects. For forensic purposes, apprehended formulations of anabolic agents have to be analyzed to determine their components as well as possible adulterants and contaminants. Nevertheless, there are no comprehensive reviews in the field in order to compile the methods and analytical techniques that have been described so far. Therefore, the aim of this work was to review the analytical techniques and methods of extraction available for the analysis of formulations of anabolic agents. In this sense, 76 research works that analyzed formulations of anabolic agents from 1979 to 2021 were reviewed and distributed under the extraction methods and the analytical techniques employed by the authors. Generally, ultrasonic‐assisted extraction associated with methanol as extractor solvent is the procedure of choice with little contribution of solid or liquid–liquid extraction. According to the literature, there are several analytical tools available for the analysis of these substances, although gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry as well as spectroscopic techniques are frequently employed. Nonetheless, novel techniques have been developed in order to decrease analysis time, cost, and sample preparation, which are important features in the expressive numbers of anabolic agents apprehended yearly. Therefore, the application of adequate methods of extraction coupled to suitable analytical techniques can be efficient forensic tools in order to contest the illicit supply of anabolic androgenic steroids providing consistent evidence to legal courts.This article is categorized under: Forensic Chemistry and Trace Evidence > Emerging Technologies and Methods Toxicology > Drug Analysis Toxicology > Analytical Toxicology

Turmeric Powder: Potential Alternative to Antibiotics in Broiler Chicken Diets

The gradual increment of the human population resulted in an increased demand for animal protein in developing countries. To satisfy the need for animal protein, synthetic antibiotics were incorporated into broiler chickens’ diets to stimulate growth and rapidly increase production performance. This is a significant problem since the resistance of antimicrobial can be derived from antibiotics’ abusive usage. The antibiotic immunity is of great public health concern because the antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked with the animals may be infective to humans, easily transmitted through food chains to humans, and widely disseminated via animal waste in the environment. These can cause complex, which somehow prolonged human infections leading to higher healthcare costs and often death. There is an urgent need for the agricultural industry to develop strategies to substitute antibiotics for food-producing animals, especially poultry and livestock. Turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn.) is one of the many medicinal herbs promising agricultural products as natural feed additives in poultry diets. It is the primary source of phenolic compounds such as curcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and tetrahydrocurcuminoids. Several trials of the utilization of turmeric in poultry have been conducted using the in vitro and in vivo methods, and it was found out that turmeric and its derivatives have antimicrobial properties. The use of turmeric powder as feed additives and supplements have been recommended as an alternative to antibiotics for broiler chicken production. The purpose of this review is to discuss the antimicrobial property of turmeric powder and its effect on broiler chicken in terms of performance and meat quality.

FAMILIA ÎN ERA DIGITALĂ (I)

Digital technology is, undoubtedly, part of the contemporary human’s life. It has not only trickled into our professional activities, but it has also invaded our family, our relationships, and our own true soul. The „digital natives” generation is born and rises alongside it. For these youngsters, technology is not an instrument, but a confidant and a friend. However, the effects it implies due to abusive usage are unfortunately affecting, in particular, younger ages than ever before. In the first part of the study, the author emphasizes the impact of the technological devices on the process of diminishing the quality of connection between spouses, on one hand, and between parents and their children, on the other. Numerous statistics regarding the amount of time spent in front of the PC, laptop or smartphone are presented, this period of time adding up to roughly 11 years of life. The outlook is one of morality. Without dispraising technology, the author advices his readers on approaching a more purposeful manner of digital usage, thus promoting the cultivation of attitudes and activities which lead to a better understanding of the importance of empathy, compassion and emotional resilience. In support of his ideas come the examples of quality time spend with own family, creating meaningful connections with other people and spending time finding oneself in nature.

World within world: Intestinal bacteria combining physiological parameters to investigate the response of Metaphire guillelmi to tetracycline stress

Due to the abusive usage of antibiotics in animal husbandry, a large amount of residual antibiotics has been released into the environment, therein posing great threat against both environment security and public health. Therefore, it is of great significance to investigate the toxicity of antibiotics on the widely-applied bioindicator-earthworm. In this work, the physiological parameters and the intestinal bacteria community of Metaphire guillelmi were monitored simultaneously to evaluate their sensitivity to the tetracycline (TC) exposure. As expected, the antioxidant enzyme activity and coelomocyte apoptosis acted fairly well as biomarkers for the TC toxicity. In contrast, the intestinal bacteria of Metaphire guillelmi responded varyingly to different TC doses. When TC concentration increased from 0 to 35.7 μg cm−2, the percentage of the Proteobacteria phylum declined significantly from 85.5% to 34.4%, while the proportions of the Firmicutes, Planctomycetes and Atinomycete phyla clearly increased (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the levels of TC resistance genes tetA, tetC, and tetW increased with the increasing TC concentration, in contrast to the declined abundance in denitrifying genes nirS and nosZ (p < 0.05). By analyzing the correlation between the antioxidant enzyme activity and the dominant intestinal bacteria in the worm gut, it is interesting to found that the four dominant bacteria genera Mesorhizobium, Aliihoeflea, Romboutsia, and Nitrospira are the promising bioindicator of TC stress due to their sensitive response. This work shed novel light on evaluating the ecotoxicological risks posed by residual TC in environment by using a combination of physiological parameters and intestinal bacterial activity in earthworms.

Could Fungicides Lead to Azole Drug Resistance in a Cross-Resistance Manner among Environmental Cryptococcus Strains?

Acquired resistance among fungal strains is a growing concern. The reasons for the emergence of this phenomenon, with great clinical implications, are only partially explained and related to the frequent use of fluconazole prophylaxis or therapeutic regimens in medical practice, and evidence of environmental origin of resistance is warranted. Soil exposed to azole fungicides may select acquired resistant fungal strains and improve the proliferation and maintenance of phenotypes in this environment. So far, the greatest focus on cross-resistance in relation to azoles is with genus Aspergillus. In view of fungicides and drugs present similar triazole chemical structure and mechanisms of action, our results showed that fungicides in agricultural areas may decrease fungal sensibility to azole drugs, becoming a potential source of resistance for invasive human mycoses agents. The abusive usage of fungicide in agriculture could play a role in the therapeutic failure of cryptococcosis.

Diagnóstico e estratégia de prevenção ao uso abusivo de smartphones na escola

O uso abusivo de smartphones pode resultar no problema da Dependência de Internet (DI), que reduz qualidade de vida das pessoas, prejudica rendimento acadêmico e aumenta evasão escolar. Considerando esta problemática, desenvolvemos coleta de dados e análises do uso abusivo de smartphones em estudantes de cursos técnicos e de tecnologia da educação profissional, considerando os instrumentos Internet Addiction Test (IAT) e MULTICAGE-TIC. Na análise das respostas ao IAT, quase 90% dos estudantes acessam a Internet na escola e mais de 50% afirmaram que o tempo dedicado a estar conectados afeta tarefas e notas acadêmicas. Com base no MULTICAGE-TIC, cerca de 88% dos respondentes gastam um terço ou mais do seu dia acessando a Internet e 72% deles acreditam passar mais tempo do que deveriam acessando por outros interesses que não são a escola. Essas duas análises serviram de suporte para uma contribuição, descrita neste trabalho, para prevenir a DI e/ou auxiliar quem se identifica em situação de dependência. Para tanto, concebemos, desenvolvemos e disponibilizamos uma plataforma web de orientação ao uso de smartphones, com grande possibilidade de ser inserida no universo juvenil e de ser usada pela equipe pedagógica para atividades de conscientização, como encontros pedagógicos, formação de professores e sensibilização da comunidade em geral. Inicialmente, divulgaremos às pessoas em geral e mais diretamente aos estudantes identificados como afetados pelo uso abusivo de smartphones. Como trabalhos futuros, propomos executar ações de intervenção, como palestras, exposições dialogadas e encontros terapêuticos em grupo, para prevenir e tratar a DI.

A novel thermal management system for improving discharge/charge performance of Li-ion battery packs under abuse

Parasitic load, which describes electrical energy consumed by battery thermal management system (TMS), is an important design criterion for battery packs. Passive TMSs using phase change materials (PCMs) are thus generating much interest. However, PCMs suffer from low thermal conductivities. Most current thermal conductivity enhancement techniques involve addition of foreign particles to PCMs. Adding foreign particles increases effective thermal conductivity of PCM-systems but at expense of their latent heat capacity.This paper presents an alternate approach for improving thermal performance of PCM-based TMSs. The introduced technique involves placing battery cells in a vertically inverted position within the battery-pack. It is demonstrated through experiments that inverted cell-layout facilitates build-up of convection current in the pack, which in turn minimises thermal variations within the PCM matrix by enabling PCM mass transfer between the top and the bottom regions of the battery pack. The proposed system is found capable of maintaining tight control over battery cell temperature even during abusive usage, defined as high-rate repetitive cycling with minimal rest periods. In addition, this novel TMS can recover waste heat from PCM-matrix through thermoelectric devices, thereby resulting in a negative parasitic load for TMS.

A Taxonomy of Financial Market Manipulations: Establishing Trust and Market Integrity in the Financialized Economy through Automated Fraud Detection

Financial market manipulations represent a major threat to trust and market integrity in capital markets. Manipulations contribute to mispricing, market imperfections and an increase in transaction costs for market participants and in costs of capital for issuers. Manipulations are facilitated by increased transaction velocity, speculative trading and abusive usage of new trading technologies, i.e., they are directly linked to financial sector changes that drive financialization. Research at the intersection of financialization and IS might support regulatory authorities and market operators in improving market surveillance and helping to detect fraudulent activities. However, confusing terminology is prevalent on financial markets with respect to different manipulation techniques and their characteristics, which hampers efficient fraud detection. Furthermore, recognizing manipulations is challenging given the large number of information sources and the vast number of trades occurring not least because of high-frequency traders. Therefore, automated market surveillance tools require a comprehensive taxonomy of financial market manipulations as a basis for appropriate configuration. Based on a cluster analysis of SEC litigation releases, a review of the latest market abuse regulation and academic studies, we develop a taxonomy of manipulations that structures and details existing manipulation techniques and reveals how these techniques differ along several dimensions. In a case study, we show how the taxonomy can be utilized to guide the development of appropriate decision support systems for fraud detection.

Social networking, a new online addiction: a review of Facebook and other addiction disorders

INTRODUCTION: is the world's most widely accessed social network, where millions of people intercommunicate. Behavioral and psychological changes relate to abusive and uncontrolled use creating severe impacts on users' life. METHOD: A critical revision was performed through MedLine, Lilacs, SciELO and Cochrane databases using the terms: Facebook Addiction, Network Sites, Facebook Abuse. The search covered the past 5 years up to January 2015. Articles that examine dependence on in the general population were included; we analyzed how this concept evolved over the last five years, and hope to contribute to the better understanding of the issue and its impacts. RESULTS: Although controversial, published reports correlate addiction to mechanisms of reward and gratification. Some users developed an abusive relationship stimulated by the false feeling of satisfaction or as a way to feel better or more self-assured (increased level of excitement or escape). Studies from several countries indicate different prevalence, probably due to lack of consensus, and the use of different denominations, giving rise to the adoption of different diagnostic criteria. CONCLUSION: Social Networks are modern communication tools; however, not only benefits, but also subsequent damage caused by its abusive use must be monitored. Many users with abusive usage and dependence recognize significant losses in their personal, professional, academic, social and family lives. Further investigation is needed to determine if abusive usage is a new psychiatric classification or merely the substrate of other disorders.

Investigating Social Media Usage and Addiction Levels among Undergraduates in University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Aim: Social media networks have become popular among the students because of the great potential they have in facilitation, collaboration, communication and sharing among the students while the students’ exposure to social media networks has been found to have the potential to determine the way students would perceive themselves. This study, therefore, examined social media usage and addiction among undergraduates in university of Ibadan, Nigeria. Methodology: The study adopted the survey method of ex-post-facto design. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted to select nine hundred and seven (907) undergraduate students from seven (7) faculties in University of Ibadan. A questionnaire named “Social Media Utilisation and Addiction Questionnaire” was used for data collection. Five (5) research questions were answered in the study. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s product moment correlation. Findings: Facebook (751 or 90.2%) and Twitter (646 or 77.6%) were the most commonly accessible social media networks. Also, Facebook (695 or 65.2%) Twitter (467 or 56.1%) were the most regularly used social networks while meeting friends (651 or 78.2%), getting news (566 or 67.9%), communication (554 or 66.5%) and online learning (450 or 54.0%) were major purposes for social media usage among the undergraduate students. High level of social media addiction was also established among the undergraduates. Social media usage was found to be positively related Original Research Article Idubor; BJESBS, 7(4): 291-301, 2015; Article no.BJESBS.2015.093 292 to social media addiction among the undergraduates studied. Recommendations: To control high level of social media addiction among the students and guarantee positive usage of social media adequate attention should be given to undergraduates’ level and purpose of social media usage to ensure that excessive and abusive usage are controlled.

Magnesium ion serum profile in chronic migraine: comparative study between treated and non-treated patients

Chronic migraine is recognized as a migraine complication and is characterized by frequency of attacks up to 15 days/ month for more than three months, in absence of painkiller abusive usage. Studies indicate that magnesium ion plays a role in migraine pathophysiology but, until now, they have never included only patients with chronic migraine as their population. Objective: To compare serum magnesium levels etween treated and non-treated chronic migraineurs. Methods: Twenty-two patients with chronic migraine were selected and divided in two groups (treated and non-treated), matched by sex and age, and submitted to serum dosage of magnesium ion for latter comparison. Result: The non-treated chronic migraineurs presented serum magnesium ion level within normal limits, but lower than those found in the treated group with a statistically significant difference. Conclusion: Similarly to other studies in the literature, this study stresses the importance of magnesium ion in the migraine pathophysiology, but studying only the chronic migraine patients.

Management of abusive and unfair Internet access by quota-based priority control

In a free of charge or flat-rate Internet access environment, there often exists abusive and unfair usage of network resources. In this paper, the Internet access by the dormitory users at the National Taiwan University (NTU) serves as a conveyer problem. A quota-based service architecture combined with priority scheduling is developed to resolve the problem of unfair and abusive Internet access encountered in the NTU dormitory networks. The goal is to meet the basic traffic demands of the majority users while limiting abusive usage from ignorant heavy users. Two classes of services are provided. The regular class sets a quota on each user’s traffic volume per quota control period. Out-of-profile or possibly abusive traffic is directed to a lower priority service class called the custody service and served when there is an excess bandwidth. The new policy and schemes are implemented on a quality of service router, a meter reading server, an accounting server and a Web-based service management server with minimal intrusion of user privacy and least disturbance to the existing service offering. The experimental results show that the original congestion at the bottleneck link was alleviated with a 48.9% reduction of the average packet drop rate. Abusive Internet access by the top 2% heavy users is greatly reduced by 57.82%. Astonishingly, over 91% users are pleased with this new policy and their network usages all increase. This is a win–win result. Under the new policy and implementation, users paying the same amount of service fee are now able to fairly share resources. A mathematical model for prediction of control effects is also presented. The experimental results are consistent with the prediction of the model.

Épicure et le système des atomes dans l'Histoire critique de la philosophie d'A. F. Deslandes

The main merit of Deslandes' account of Epicureanism, faithful to Roman and Greek texts and indebted to Gassendi' s rehabilitation of Epicurus, is to remove biographical innuendo and abusive ideological usage from the study of his conceptions. This article shows however that Deslandes, libertine and free¬ thinker, does not present a militant Epicureanism in this banned work. While praising the ethic of moderate pleasure and above all Epicurus' s religious practice, he rejects the physics of the clinamen (contrary to natural laws) and the gnoseology of simulacri (contrary to optics). This article attempts to show, by an analysis of the text, that the history of the censorship of clandestine works and conjectures concerning their authors' hidden' philosophy should not make one forget their conceptual content.

The cost escalation of social health insurance plans in China: Its implication for public policy

China has been alarmed by its rapid rise in health care expenditures of social health insurance schemes. The health care expenditure per person for the 155 million people covered by the Chinese social insurance plans has been rising at an accelerative rate. We analyze why health care cost in China has risen, and show how other nations may benefit from this experience. The annual rate of increase in health expenditure per capita was only 3.1% during 1952 to 1978, the average rate rose to 8.2% during 1978 to 1985 and then 24.4% during 1985 to 1989. We found general inflation explained one-half of the high rates of increase between 1985–1989. Although China introduced patients co-payments in 1985, the residual expenditure per capita (after adjusting for general inflation and aging of the beneficiaries) increased at 7.4% per year due to the adoption of new technology, uses of more expensive drugs and increased quality of services. While we found the expenditure increases in China were largely caused by uncontrollable factors such as general inflation and aging of the population, we also found the change in Chinese hospital financing and payment policy caused rapid adoption of high-tech medicine and abusive usage of more expensive drugs which largely explained the annual increases in expenditures of 7.4% between 1985–1989. Chinese experience also shows that demand strategy (co-payment by patients) had very little effect to contain cost escalation.

Flexible implant arthroplasty of the radiocarpal joint.

The radiocarpal, distal radioulnar, and intercarpal joints can be affected individually or in combination. Selection of the appropriate treatment method is based on accurate evaluation of the extent and severity of involvement. The durability of flexible implant resection arthroplasty of the radiocarpal joint has been further enhanced by the use of titanium grommets to protect the implant midsection, by secure dorsal and palmar capsuloligamentous reconstruction to restrict the mobility of 30 degrees flexion/30 degrees extension and 10 degrees ulnar/10 degrees radial deviation, by 6 weeks' postoperative immobilization, and by avoidance of abusive hand usage.

The Computer and Personal Privacy, Part II: The Emerging Worldwide Response to the Threat to Privacy from Computer Databases

This is the second of three articles addressing the critical issue of abusive data collection and usage practices and their effect on personal privacy. The first article, which appeared in consecutive issue 17 of Library Hi Tech, discussed the individual under assault. This article discusses the evolution of data protection laws within countries and international organizations that have enacted such laws, and compares the scope, major provisions, and enforcement components of the laws.