Related Concepts Research Articles

A fully automatic adjacent key-points localization framework for minimal repeated pattern detection in printed fabric images

The printed fabric images usually contain a large number of minimal repeated patterns (MRPs), which are of great value for the color separation, plate-making and other related applications in the textile industry. The key-points localization is a well established and effective manual method to detect the MRPs by finding a number of identical key-points. Recently, computer-aided automated key-points localization techniques have shown great potential and attracted considerable interest. Nevertheless, most of the available subtle and ad-hoc strategies are poorly generalized to complex situations due to a lack of systematic formulation. In this study, we endeavor to automate and theorize this manual detection method, aiming to enhance its accuracy, robustness, and efficiency. Specifically, we delineate related concepts and systematically formalize the minimal repeated pattern (MRP) detection problem, thereby establishing a theoretical groundwork for the manual method’s viability. Then, we present an effective and robust adjacent key-points localization (AKL) framework by automating manual detection method of MRP in printed fabric images. This framework is further developed into a comprehensive automated image retrieval system, complete with detailed implementation techniques. We also create a printed fabric dataset named PFI-10K containing approximately 10,000 images to test corresponding methods. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed AKL framework.

Sustainable transport in the face of the energy crisis related to the war in Ukraine

The energy crisis caused by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has had a huge impact on the functioning of many countries in various spheres. The Russian Federation was the main supplier of many raw materials, which had to be abandoned as a result of the sanctions that were imposed. Consequently, the prices of various commodities – primarily natural gas, crude oil and coal – have risen. This posed a particular challenge for Poland, which is highly dependent on coal. At the same time, Poland, being a Member State of the European Union, has committed to achieving the goals of climate neutrality and the related concept of sustainable transport. In this light, the author analysed the issue of striving for climate neutrality and sustainable transport in the conditions of the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. It seems appropriate, for instance, to determine whether the energy crisis has led to a collapse of the European Union’s climate policy and a change in its objectives. The process of the electrification of transportation, which, as a result of the current situation, may have become more challenging to implement, should also be considered.

Integrasi Islam dan Sains: Telaah Terhadap Konsep Matematika dalam Hadits Keutamaan Membaca Shalawat

National education has the goal of shaping the morals of students who are truehearted and dedicated to God. As part of national education, Islamic-integrated mathematics learning becomes a bridge to achieve this goal. This study aims to explore the concept of mathematics in the hadith with the theme of the virtue of reciting shalawat. This research uses a qualitative approach with literature study methods. Data were obtained from hadith books, hadith applications, articles, and relevant documents. The results showed that there are three mathematical concepts in the hadith related to the virtue of reciting shalawat. The mathematical concepts found include the concept of numbers (natural numbers, integers, positive integers, odd numbers, and even numbers), arithmetic operations (addition operations), and the concept of relations and functions (bijective functions). The results of this study can be used as a reference for learning resources related to Islamic integrated mathematics derived from hadith with the theme of the virtue of reading shalawat.

Penerapan Peraturan Perundang-Undangan Tindak Pidana Kekerasan Seksual di Lingkungan Kampus

This research discusses the negative impact of the internet on society, especially related to cases of sexual violence and revenge porn. Through a descriptive qualitative approach with secondary data analysis, this research highlights a tragic case in Pandeglang, Banten, where a female student, IAK, became a victim of rape and distribution of revenge pornographic content by her ex-boyfriend, Alwi Husein Maolana. This case reflects the complexity of the challenges in dealing with sexual violence in cyberspace, where victims face various forms of physical and psychological violence, as well as threats and blackmail. Even though the perpetrator was punished under the Information and Electronic Transactions Law (UU ITE), there is the potential to charge him with other articles related to sexual violence, rape and coercion. These findings emphasize the need for comprehensive and fair law enforcement in dealing with cybercrime and sexual violence, as well as the importance of deeper awareness and understanding of related legal concepts to protect victims and punish perpetrators appropriately. Thus, this research provides valuable insight into the need for legal reform and public awareness in addressing the negative impact of the internet on sexual violence.

The Concept of Truth in Criminology

The paper examines the concept of truth in criminology as a dichotomous concept in relation to lies. The author concludes that the concept of «truth» can act as problematic knowledge, containing probable true knowledge, partly corresponding to reality, in which the person accepting it believes. This understanding of the concept should be considered as the goal and result of search and cognitive activity in a criminal case, which is a component of subsequently obtaining reliable, true forensically significant information. The truth, in the noted understanding, can also act as a factor that significantly determines the search and cognitive activity of the investigator in criminal proceedings. From the point of view of communicative interaction, truth can be considered as information, the addressee of which seeks to convey information that he evaluates as true, in order to create in the addressee a complete and true idea of some reality, taking into account his own ideas about such completeness and truth. This definition is applicable to solving problems of procedural actions in which the main method of obtaining information is questioning, as well as to minimizing errors in obtaining true information during the production of these actions. In philosophical knowledge, truth is also studied as an ideal of ethics. Considering that the concept of ethics in criminology is highly debatable, consideration of truth as an ethical ideal so far seems inconclusive. The ideas set forth in the paper may be significant in the context of a comprehensive consideration of the concept of «truth» in criminology and the development of a theory of truth as a phenomenon of criminal proceedings as opposed to lies.

Empowering standardization of cancer vaccines through ontology: enhanced modeling and data analysis

BackgroundThe exploration of cancer vaccines has yielded a multitude of studies, resulting in a diverse collection of information. The heterogeneity of cancer vaccine data significantly impedes effective integration and analysis. While CanVaxKB serves as a pioneering database for over 670 manually annotated cancer vaccines, it is important to distinguish that a database, on its own, does not offer the structured relationships and standardized definitions found in an ontology. Recognizing this, we expanded the Vaccine Ontology (VO) to include those cancer vaccines present in CanVaxKB that were not initially covered, enhancing VO’s capacity to systematically define and interrelate cancer vaccines.ResultsAn ontology design pattern (ODP) was first developed and applied to semantically represent various cancer vaccines, capturing their associated entities and relations. By applying the ODP, we generated a cancer vaccine template in a tabular format and converted it into the RDF/OWL format for generation of cancer vaccine terms in the VO. ‘12MP vaccine’ was used as an example of cancer vaccines to demonstrate the application of the ODP. VO also reuses reference ontology terms to represent entities such as cancer diseases and vaccine hosts. Description Logic (DL) and SPARQL query scripts were developed and used to query for cancer vaccines based on different vaccine’s features and to demonstrate the versatility of the VO representation. Additionally, ontological modeling was applied to illustrate cancer vaccine related concepts and studies for in-depth cancer vaccine analysis. A cancer vaccine-specific VO view, referred to as “CVO,” was generated, and it contains 928 classes including 704 cancer vaccines. The CVO OWL file is publicly available on: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/vo/cvo.owl, for sharing and applications.ConclusionTo facilitate the standardization, integration, and analysis of cancer vaccine data, we expanded the Vaccine Ontology (VO) to systematically model and represent cancer vaccines. We also developed a pipeline to automate the inclusion of cancer vaccines and associated terms in the VO. This not only enriches the data’s standardization and integration, but also leverages ontological modeling to deepen the analysis of cancer vaccine information, maximizing benefits for researchers and clinicians.AvailabilityThe VO-cancer GitHub website is: https://github.com/vaccineontology/VO/tree/master/CVO.

Benchmarking medical laboratory performance on a global scale.

Laboratory performance as a relative concept needs repetitive benchmarking for continuous improvement of laboratory procedures and medical processes. Benchmarking as such establishes reference levels as a basis for improvements efforts for healthcare institutions along the diagnosis cycle, with the patient at its center. But while this concept seems to be generally acknowledged in laboratory medicine, a lack of practical implementation hinders progress at a global level. The aim of this study was to examine the utility of a specific combination of indicators and survey-based data collection approach, and to establish a global benchmarking dataset of laboratory performance for decision makers in healthcare institutions. The survey consisted of 44 items relating to laboratory operations in general and three subscales identified in previous studies. A global sample of laboratories was approached by trained professionals. Results were analyzed with standard descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis. Dimensional reduction of specific items was performed using confirmatory factor analysis, resulting in individual laboratory scores for the three subscales of "Operational performance," "Integrated clinical care performance," and "Financial sustainability" for the high-level concept of laboratory performance. In total, 920 laboratories from 55 countries across the globe participated in the survey, of which 401 were government hospital laboratories, 296 private hospital laboratories, and 223 commercial laboratories. Relevant results include the need for digitalization and automation along the diagnosis cycle. Formal quality management systems (ISO 9001, ISO 15189 etc.) need to be adapted more broadly to increase patient safety. Monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs) relating to healthcare performance was generally low (in the range of 10-30% of laboratories overall), and as a particularly salient result, only 19% of laboratories monitored KPIs relating to speeding up diagnosis and treatment. Altogether, this benchmark elucidates current practice and has the potential to guide improvement efforts and standardization in quality & safety for patients and employees alike as well as sustainability of healthcare systems around the globe.

The Ecosystem as Super-Organ/ism, Revisited: Scaling Hydraulics to Forests under Climate Change.

Classic debates in community ecology focused on the complexities of considering an ecosystem as a super-organ or organism. New consideration of such perspectives could clarify mechanisms underlying the dynamics of forest carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake and water vapor loss, important for predicting and managing the future of Earth's ecosystems and climate system. Here, we provide a rubric for considering ecosystem traits as aggregated, systemic, or emergent, i.e., representing the ecosystem as an aggregate of its individuals or as a metaphorical or literal super-organ or organism. We review recent approaches to scaling-up plant water relations (hydraulics) concepts developed for organs and organisms to enable and interpret measurements at ecosystem-level. We focus on three community-scale versions of water relations traits that have potential to provide mechanistic insight into climate change responses of forest CO2 and H2O gas exchange and productivity: leaf water potential (Ψcanopy), pressure volume curves (eco-PV), and hydraulic conductance (Keco). These analyses can reveal additional ecosystem-scale parameters analogous to those typically quantified for leaves or plants (e.g., wilting point and hydraulic vulnerability) that may act as thresholds in forest responses to drought, including growth cessation, mortality, and flammability. We unite these concepts in a novel framework to predict Ψcanopy and its approaching of critical thresholds during drought, using measurements of Keco and eco-PV curves. We thus delineate how the extension of water relations concepts from organ- and organism-scales can reveal the hydraulic constraints on the interaction of vegetation and climate and provide new mechanistic understanding and prediction of forest water use and productivity.

A CEFR-Oriented Probe into Culture: Implications for Language Learners

The Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR), adopted by the Council of Europe (2001), is an action-based framework for language education, teaching and assessment in Europe. CEFR's descriptions of language skills across all skill levels can guide language learners, educators, and assessors. Alongside language-related issues, one phenomenon considered highly by the CEFR is culture – a concept intricately connected with language. Given the significance of culture and related concepts for language education, this study evaluated the CEFR and Companion Volume to draw inferences about culture and explore the possible implications for language learners. To this end, the two volumes were subjected to content analysis. Findings indicated several types of cultural awareness (n=7), knowledge (n=4), competence (n=8), and strategy (n=1) that language learners must adopt for successful cross-cultural interactions. These cultural expectations might also be considered under plurilinguistic awareness, knowledge, competence, and strategies. The study is expected to contribute theoretically and practically since it intends to bridge the literature gap. Prospective research, however, is urged to corroborate the findings. Furthermore, the study is expected to guide future studies tackling the significance of culture for language learners within the CEFR.

Pemanfaatan Financial Technology Dalam Meningkatkan Akses Modal Bagi Pelaku Ekonomi Hijau dan Ekonomi Biru

This research was conducted to be able to determine the development of the rate of financial innovation in facilitating increased capital for green economy and blue economy actors as a means of contributing to providing sources of information on related topics and finding out more about economic sustainability in Indonesia by understanding the dynamics of the development of financial innovation, so that it can identifying the opportunities and challenges that exist in encouraging sustainable economic sector growth in the hope of providing a clearer picture of the importance of supporting the green economy and blue economy. The method we use is qualitative, which is used in this research process, obtained through an interview process with Green and Blue Economic Actors such as vegetable and fish sellers in the market, after which we explain and re-analyze the related concepts to obtain problem formulation and conclusions from conducting the analysis. the. The results obtained from this interview are that the use of Financial Technology has proven to be easier for economic actors, and accessing capital for business development can be done easily through financial innovation in the Financial Technology section, making it easier for green and blue economic actors.obtain the formula of problems and conclusions that exist from conducting such analysis

Clarifying and differentiating discoverability

ABSTRACT Everyday users are confronted with increasingly complex technologies, be that novel introductions or ever-changing and expanding familiar interfaces. This creates the challenge of users needing to perpetually discover new functionality and interactivity, which is rarely addressed when novel technology is proposed. A possible contributing factor for this is the variety of, often inconsistently defined, associated concepts and a consequent lack of clarity on how to address these problems. We examine usage and definitions of discoverability as well as related concepts and offer clarifications where definitions are ambiguous while highlighting focus areas and limitations. In doing so, we provide a clear definition of discoverability, underscore the separation of system, feature and interaction discoverability and elucidate how other concepts focused on initial interactions differ.

Epistemological Analysis of the Negotiation Process

The article examines negotiations as dialogues concerning conflicting interests among participants. It argues that negotiations represent the primary and most socially significant type of dialogue. This is evidenced by the disproportionate volume of research dedicated to negotiations compared to other forms of dialogue, as well as the multidisciplinary approach to their study. The purpose of the article is to investigate negotiations through the lens of epistemology, one of the disciplines involved in their analysis. The author contends that negotiations are epistemological processes governed by epistemological principles. To elucidate these principles, the article explicates key categories serving as research instruments, primarily focusing on the concepts of “negotiation” and “interest.” The relationship between “interest” and related concepts such as “desire,” “need,” and “benefit” is explored. There are two types of dialogue: those concerning the veracity of descriptions and those focused on the rationality of prescriptions. The article elucidates the distinct nature of negotiations as dialogues about prescriptions. The article also underscores the importance of the categories of “research” and “communication” in understanding the nature of negotiations. Since negotiations are fundamentally a form of communication, the examination of conflicting interests and the search for solutions to these conflicts do not fall within the negotiation process itself. These tasks are addressed prior to negotiations, during the research phase. The purpose of negotiations is to discuss and either accept or reject the outcomes of these preliminary investigations, particularly pre-drafted agreements on resolving conflicts of interest. Based on this framework, the article explores the epistemological mechanisms underlying negotiations related to the division, consolidation, and exchange of benefits. Additionally, the Harvard Negotiation Program, which seeks to transform negotiations from a confrontation of positions into a collaborative search for a shared solution, is subjected to epistemological analysis. The role of empathy in facilitating this transformation is also discussed. In conclusion, it is argued that an epistemological analysis of negotiations not only deepens our understanding of their nature as a distinct form of communication but also offers tools for enhancing negotiation practices, promoting the resolution of conflicts of divergent interests in various social conflicts without resorting to physical confrontation.

Sustainability in technical theatre pedagogy and practice

In March 2023, third-year Technical Theatre (Production and Design) students at the University of Salford produced a festival of environmentally engaged design-led performance pieces focused on the climate crisis. All four productions were based on plays from Lighting the Way: An Anthology of Short Plays about the Climate Crisis (Bilodeau and Peterson 2020) and were devised and developed by the students, who were encouraged to be as sustainable as possible in both their designs and their execution. The festival was part of the first stage of our collaborative online international learning (COIL) project with Humber College in Toronto, which continued into 2024. In devising the projects, students were encouraged to consider concepts of affectivity, relationality and materiality in relation to expanded scenography (McKinney and Palmer 2017), the practice of scenography as a political act (Elnile 2020), and the ethics of ecoscenography (Beer n.d.). Using principles from the ABTT Green Book for sustainable productions (2021), all materials and equipment used in the final performances were either drawn from in-house stock or borrowed, repurposed or upcycled, encouraging further conversations around accessibility and our collective carbon footprint.

Sufficiency as relations of enoughness

AbstractAn expanding body of literature discusses the importance of sufficiency for sustainable development. However, conceptual vagueness stands in the way of the practical application of sufficiency as a sustainability strategy. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of the concept of relations of enoughness, building on the general notion of ‘enough’, which is prevalent in sufficiency literature. Relations of enoughness will be explained based on the widespread use of sufficiency advocating for changes and reductions of individual consumption with the goal to reduce environmental impacts such as carbon dioxide emissions. Diverse uses and understandings of sufficiency can be united in a shared structure of ‘enough/too much/too little of X regarding Y’. Relations of enoughness can be connected to sustainability by expanding them into chains of enoughness, which serve as a conceptual foundation for the sustainable consumption corridor approach. Finally, the premises of sufficiency and potential for further research are discussed.

Charting The Skeptopathy - Skepticism Continuum: A Constructive Aid in the Interests of Consistent and Reliable Scientific Activity

We begin this paper by attempting to define what skepticism is. We also attempt to define other related and allied concepts such as skeptopathy, pathological skepticism, and pseudo-skepticism, and compare and contrast all these different concepts. We also present the various thoughts and opinions of different thinkers on all these issues, and also attempt to explain how thoughts related to these issues evolved through the ages. We therefore begin right from the Ancient Greeks, on to Ancient Rome, the medieval period, the renaissance period, the enlightenment period, and then proceed to the modern period. We propose how an ideal sweet spot can be accomplished and attained based on the quantum and the quality of scientific output, the opportunity loss, the quantum of pseudo-science or bad science generated in the process of scientific study. Last but not the least, we make a valiant attempt to reconcile the different concepts in this paper with the concepts proposed in our earlier papers as applicable so that meaningful extensions and additions can be made, and further takeaways added. We also emphasize the need for generating a wider awareness on this issue, all in the interests of good science, and make it central to scientific methodology and debate. Needless, to say, it will need to be taught in schools, colleges and universities at the appropriate level so that students appreciate and understand all dimensions of the issue.

Toposequence: What are we talking about?

ABSTRACT The term toposequence, proposed to designate a lateral succession of soils on a slope due to the influence of topography, began to be used differently over time, distancing itself from its original concept. Here, we discuss how this concept has been used since its inception. We carried out bibliometric analyses of publications in the database available on the Web of Science since 1900. Three main approaches and related concepts, explicit or not, one at a regional scale and two others at a local scale were identified. From this analysis, we suggest: a) when the approach is regional, the term geomorphic surface or position in the landscape should be used to address the spatial distribution and genetic implications of soils at this scale; b) when dealing with series/sequences of soils on slopes for mapping purposes or discontinuous profiles that emphasize taxonomic classification, the term catena should be used; c) when the determining factor of the soil sequence is climatic, biotic, lithological, chronological, the corresponding term climo-, bio-, litho- or chronosequence should be used; d) when dealing with a lateral succession of horizons in the continuum on slopes, resulting from the influence of topography on soil formation, which may reflect the soil contribution to the model evolution, only in this case should the term toposequence be used, returning to its original concept.

Secondary Traumatic Stress in Mental Health Professionals

Mental health professionals working with traumatic stress may experience post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, similar to their patients. For these professionals, secondary traumatic stress can be an important concept. It involves emotions, thoughts, and actions that emerge when a mental health worker becomes aware of a catastrophic event experienced by someone familiar, valued, and connected. In the literature, terms such as vicarious trauma, occupational burnout, and compassion fatigue are associated with secondary traumatic stress. Growing research presents that secondary traumatic stress is associated with personal trauma history, temperament, type of coping with stress, and levels of social support. The aim of this paper is to review and present the current situation of secondary traumatic stress and related concepts in mental health workers such as psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatry nurses, social workers, and so forth. In Türkiye, where several traumatic experiences (such as earthquake) are currently common, studying secondary traumatic stress in mental health workers is also significant. Healthy coping strategies, a resilient personality, and the display of signs of post-traumatic growth can contribute to the psychological well-being of mental health professionals. In this investigation the concept of secondary traumatic stress in mental health professionals, associated factors with this concept, coping mechanisms of secondary traumatic stress are explained in the light of the literature. Based on the emerging research, some recommendations are stated.

CDRM: Causal disentangled representation learning for missing data

Missing data pose significant challenges during representation learning of observational data. The incompleteness of data can result in a deterioration of generative performance in disentangled representation learning. Conventional data imputation solutions, such as regression imputation or multiple imputation, often neglect the underlying causal relationships among the data. To address these issues, the causal disentangled representation learning for missing data (CDRM) framework was proposed. Missing data with graph representations are integrated to construct heterogeneous networks composed of observations, features, and known feature values. To achieve data completeness, an interaction module consisting of a parallel neighbor interaction layer and an embedded update layer are integrated with the heterogeneous network to predict missing values. To recover the true causal relationship of missing data, edge embeddings are further introduced during message passing of heterogeneous networks, which can capture the interaction of different features and enrich the representation of observations. Furthermore, the causal relationship is incorporated into the VAE using two distinct encoders to learn representations of causally related concepts. In a series of experimental evaluations on diverse datasets, CDRM consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art method, namely, CausalVAE, in disentangled representation learning, particularly in scenarios with limited labeled data. Notably, CDRM can generate counterfactual data in response to missing data, further enhancing its utility in machine learning applications. The source code and data are available at https://github.com/Causal-Disentangled/CDRM.

Outcome-based analytical performance specifications: current status and future challenges.

Analytical performance specifications (APS) based on outcomes refer to how 'good' the analytical performance of a test needs to be to do more good than harm to the patient. Analytical performance of a measurand affects its clinical performance. Without first setting clinical performance requirements, it is difficult to define how good analytically the test needs to be to meet medical needs. As testing is indirectly linked to health outcomes through clinical decisions on patient management, often simulation-based studies are used to assess the impact of analytical performance on the probability of clinical outcomes which is then translated to Model 1b APS according to the Milan consensus. This paper discusses the related key definitions, concepts and considerations that should assist in finding the most appropriate methods for deriving Model 1b APS. We review the advantages and limitations of published methods and discuss the criteria for transferability of Model 1b APS to different settings. We consider that the definition of the clinically acceptable misclassification rate is central to Model 1b APS. We provide some examples and guidance on a more systematic approach for first defining the clinical performance requirements for tests and we also highlight a few ideas to tackle the future challenges associated with providing outcome-based APS for laboratory testing.

Learning with NanoKid: line-angle formula, chemical formula, molecular weight, and elemental analysis

Abstract The conversion from line-angle formula to chemical formula often poses a challenge for first-year nonchemistry majors. To address this, the authors developed an engaging exercise lecture that encompasses the conversion process and related chemistry concepts, including molecular weight and elemental analysis. Initially, the instructor reviews basic chemistry concepts with the students. Subsequently, students construct a NanoKid structure model using transistors and red LEDs connected by plastic tubes, representing carbon and oxygen atoms, respectively. By referencing their models, students identify the chemical formula of NanoKid, calculate its molecular weight, and perform elemental analysis under the guidance of the instructor. Additionally, they estimate the scale of the NanoKid model relative to the actual NanoKid molecule. The exercise promotes peer review among students and is completed within approximately 45 min. A post-lecture questionnaire revealed that the exercise was well-received by the students.