General Objective Research Articles

Protection of neurodata in the European Union: impacts of emerging (neuro)technologieson the (neuro)privacy of the data subject

The commercialization of technologies that interface with the human brain has caught attention of the international community, as they allow the collection of data from dimensions that, until now, were considered unobservable by the general public: brain activity data, commonly referred to as "neurodata". The insertion of such devices in the consumer market is especially relevant in the current technological context, in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems allow the processing of raw neurodata (inputs) and the generation of decoded neurodata (outputs) on the cognitive, affective and/or conative state of the subjects to which they refer. This new factual reality presents legal challenges regarding the protection of neurodata in the European Union (EU), raising questions as to whether neurodata qualifies as personal data for the purposes of applying the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - and, consequently, as to the nature of information relating to emotions, memories, thoughts, and intentions. Focusing on these issues, this paper aims to investigate the degree of protection that the GDPR gives to neurodata in the EU today. To this end, the hypothetical-deductive method is used, starting from the hypothesis that neurodata is not formally included in the traditional GDPR model of "personal data" and "sensitive personal data". To achieve the general objective, the work is divided into two main parts: (1) the first investigates key concepts involving the subject, to explore the research hypothesis raised; while (2) the second is dedicated to the impacts that the processing has on the data subject. The results show that there is a legal gap regarding neurodata, as it is a sui generis type of personal data, that deserves multidisciplinary and specialized study in the context of emerging (neuro)technologies for the protection of the data subject's (neuro)privacy.

Exploring the Therapeutic Potential: Antiplatelet and Antioxidant Activities of Some Medicinal Plants in Morocco

Background:: Thrombotic events and oxidative stress are major complications of certain ischemic disorders. The fight against these complications requires very intense research to develop new therapeutic agents of natural origin. Objective:: The general objective of this work is the scientific valorization of five medicinal plants: Rhus pentaphylla, Zizyphus lotus, Ammodaucus leucotrichus, Inula viscosa, and Cinnamomum zeylanicum by exploring their effects on rat platelet aggregation, antioxidant potential and determining their phytochemical composition. Methodology:: The aggregation test was monitored by stimulating isolated washed platelets suspension in the absence and presence of extracts. The antioxidant activity was conducted in vitro according to three methods: DPPH free radical scavenging activity, β-carotene bleaching test, and ferric reducing antioxidant power test. The quantitative determination of total polyphenols and flavonoids are determined respectively according to the Folin-Ciocalteu method and the colorimetric method with aluminum chloride. Results:: The results obtained show that the aqueous extract of the fruits of Rhus pentaphylla and the aerial part of Inula viscosa, as well as the stalk peel of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, significantly (p˂0.001) inhibit thrombin-platelet aggregation, while the other plant extracts have a slightly, but significant effect. These extracts exert a remarkable antioxidant activity with the three methods used. But, their IC50 values are still higher than those of the antioxidant references (ascorbic acid and butyl hydroxyanisole). Qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of secondary metabolites with varying contents. Additionally, the results of quantitative phytochemical analysis showed that the aqueous extracts of the leaves of Rhus pentaphylla and the aerial part of Inula viscosa contain the highest amount of polyphenols and flavonoids. These secondary metabolites are also present in the other extracts but in smaller quantities. Conclusion:: These results could contribute to the validation of the medical use of these extracts that exert an antiplatelet effect to treat hemostatic and thrombotic disorders.

Staff Discipline and Performance of Kogi State Civil Service Commission

Despite the Kogi State Government efforts to reposition the State Civil Service Commission for improved performance, staff commitment to duty has not significantly improved. Staff lateness and absence from duty posts, undue delay in promotion, underserved appointment and promotion in the Service among others are common. The study assessed the effect of staff discipline on the performance of the Kogi State Civil Service Commission. The general objective of the study was to assess the effect of staff discipline on the performance of Kogi State Civil Service Commission. This research work was anchored on bureaucratic theory. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study and the sample size was 120 staff of the Commission, utilizing the census sampling technique. The sources of data collection for this study were primary and secondary. Simple percentage was used to analyze responses generated from the questionnaire while the secondary data was subjected to intense analysis. We found out among others that despite the fact that there are several training and development programmes created for her staff of all ranks, the exercise fall short of established training and development standards in choosing staff for training. Of the 110 respondents, majority 65 (59.1%) identified connection to heads of units and politicians as against length of service (16, 14.5%), specific needs of the departments/units (10, 9.1%), and staff commitment to duty (19, 17.3%). The study concluded that consequent upon the neglect of established procedures in training and development of employees of the KSCSC as well as appointment and promotion, the practices have affected negatively the commitment of staff to their duties. The study then recommended among others that the Kogi State Civil Service Commission should sublet its training and development as well as appointment and promotion exercises to professional bodies, especially those outside the state to reduce possible undue influences.

Pemanfaatan Teknologi Keuangan sebagai Upaya Peningkatan Mutu Pelaporan Keuangan UMKM

Utilization of financial technology as an effort to improve the quality of MSME financial reporting. Current developments in financial technology really help business actors in preparing financial reports per period. This convenience is expected to help business actors in presenting better financial reports. The general objective of this activity is to support MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) business actors to improve their ability to record transactions and be able to present financial reports easily so as to produce sustainable financial reports. The method is carried out by making direct visits, conducting observations, conducting questions and answers and providing demonstrations and briefings. The results of this activity provide MSME players with an understanding of how important it is to record financial reports every month. The advantage of making financial reports is that it will make it easier for the owner to control and evaluate his business. Financial technology is an alternative that business actors can use to make it easier to create and present financial reports on an ongoing basis.

Deep neural operators as accurate surrogates for shape optimization

Deep neural operators, such as DeepONet, have changed the paradigm in high-dimensional nonlinear regression, paving the way for significant generalization and speed-up in computational engineering applications. Here, we investigate the use of DeepONet to infer flow fields around unseen airfoils with the aim of shape constrained optimization, an important design problem in aerodynamics that typically taxes computational resources heavily. We present results that display little to no degradation in prediction accuracy while reducing the online optimization cost by orders of magnitude. We consider NACA airfoils as a test case for our proposed approach, as the four-digit parameterization can easily define their shape. We successfully optimize the constrained NACA four-digit problem with respect to maximizing the lift-to-drag ratio and validate all results by comparing them to a high-order CFD solver. We find that DeepONets have a low generalization error, making them ideal for generating solutions of unseen shapes. Specifically, pressure, density, and velocity fields are accurately inferred at a fraction of a second, hence enabling the use of general objective functions beyond the maximization of the lift-to-drag ratio considered in the current work. Finally, we validate the ability of DeepONet to handle a complex 3D waverider geometry at hypersonic flight by inferring shear stress and heat flux distributions on its surface at unseen angles of attack. The main contribution of this paper is a modular integrated design framework that uses an over-parametrized neural operator as a surrogate model with good generalizability coupled seamlessly with multiple optimization solvers in a plug-and-play mode.

The untapped potential of causal inference in cross-modal research

Cross-modal effects have recently become a popular topic in building science. However, studies in this area frequently neglect causal inference, leading to a lack of valid causal results. To address this problem, we specifically highlight causality and its importance to cross-modal research. We present three general guidelines, and describe them using toy examples, for appropriately conducting causal cross-modal research. The guidelines originate from the methodological framework for quantitative social science by Lundberg et al. (2021). They are as follows: i) specify the theoretical estimand as the target of causal inference; ii) specify the empirical estimand that is informative for the theoretical estimand based on causal assumptions; iii) select the estimation strategy empirically to estimate the empirical estimand. In light of these guidelines, we discuss some common methodological pitfalls in current research practices that can jeopardize causal inference. Moreover, we offer certain recommendations to avoid such pitfalls. The general objective of this paper is to promote transparent causal cross-modal research by raising the awareness of causal inference in view of appropriate causality-related methodological choices.

DETERMINING THE QUANTITIES OF WASTE STREAMS

In this research, we examine and distinguish the waste that is landfilled at the local level, this is the process by which unwanted and unnecessary waste is disposed of. We can distinguish them by defining and evaluating them properly. There is a law that states that municipal programs for waste management are sectoral programs and are an integral part of municipal programs for environmental protection. We will also consider the objectives guaranteeing the achievement of the general objective of the Plan. We will consider the equations by which the amount of household waste generated is determined.

Artificial Intelligence and Business

The general objective of the research was to determine the advances related to the artificial intelligence and business. The specific objectives of the research are to identify the software of AI used in business and the countries that invest more in AI. Methodology, in this research, 62 documents have been selected, carried out in the period 2018 - 2023; including: scientific articles, review articles and information from websites of recognized organizations. Results, every day new AI tools appear that support activities in today's businesses. Conclusions, about the general objective of the research, the importance of AI in business is beginning to be understood. Therefore, it is adopted in various organizational processes worldwide. AI is impacting various human activities, so it is necessary to keep an eye on its evolution. During the pandemic, businesses worldwide had to intensively use information and communication technologies in order to reach their customers. Subsequently, AI is presented as a tool that can radically change business. About the specific objectives of the research, the software of AI used in business are: Salesforce, HubSpot, IBM Watson, ChatGPT, Alteryx Analytics Automation Platform, Amazon SageMaker, GPT-3 model, Adobe Sensei, Marketo, Supply-chain management solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI), Kasisto, Workday, HireVue, Tableau, Power BI, Dynamic Yield, Darktrace, Copy.ai, UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Merative, Google Health, Google Translate. The countries that invest the most in AI are the United States, China and the European Union.

Performance of a One-stop Facilitation Centre, a Case of Tanzania Investment Center

This case study was done at the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC). The general objective of the case study was to analyze the performance of one stop facilitation centre. The Specific objectives were to show the formation of the one-stop facilitation centre and the impact of the one-stop facilitation centre on service delivery to investors. Both theoretical and empirical literature was reviewed. Data Collection methods and instruments used were interview, survey and review of secondary data like journals, etc. Data was analyzed based on the objectives of the case and the findings were analyzed qualitatively by distilling the information, organizing and using them to explain the business case problem by backing the arguments made with relevant theories and empirical studies. Conclusion was the performance of the One Stop Facilitation Centre played an important role in the service delivery to investors. Recommendations were harmonization of the Laws and regulations of institutions included in the One Stop Facilitation Centre to smoothen service delivery to investors and automation of the One Stop Facilitation Centre in order to enable access to multiple services through a single electronic window.

Generalized vehicle routing problem: Contemporary trends and research directions

Generalized Vehicle Routing Problem (GVRP) is a challenging operational research problem which has been widely studied for nearly two decades. In this problem, it is assumed that graph nodes are grouped into a number of clusters, and serving any node of a cluster eliminates the need to visit the other nodes of that cluster. The general objective of this problem is to find the set of nodes to visit and determine the service sequence to minimize the total traveling cost. In addition to these general conditions, GVRP can be formulated with different assumptions and constraints to practically create different sub-types and variants. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive survey of the GVRP literature and explore its various dimensions. It first encompasses the definition of GVRP, similar problems, mathematical models, classification of different variants and solution methods developed for GVRPs, and practical implications. Finally, some useful suggestions are discussed to extend the problem. For this review study, Google Scholar, Scopus, Science Direct, Emerald, Springer, and Elsevier databases were searched for keywords, and 160 potential articles were extracted, and eventually, 45 articles were judged to be relevant.

Visual dexterity: In-hand reorientation of novel and complex object shapes.

In-hand object reorientation is necessary for performing many dexterous manipulation tasks, such as tool use in less structured environments, which remain beyond the reach of current robots. Prior works built reorientation systems assuming one or many of the following conditions: reorienting only specific objects with simple shapes, limited range of reorientation, slow or quasi-static manipulation, simulation-only results, the need for specialized and costly sensor suites, and other constraints that make the system infeasible for real-world deployment. We present a general object reorientation controller that does not make these assumptions. It uses readings from a single commodity depth camera to dynamically reorient complex and new object shapes by any rotation in real time, with the median reorientation time being close to 7 seconds. The controller was trained using reinforcement learning in simulation and evaluated in the real world on new object shapes not used for training, including the most challenging scenario of reorienting objects held in the air by a downward-facing hand that must counteract gravity during reorientation. Our hardware platform only used open-source components that cost less than 5000 dollars. Although we demonstrate the ability to overcome assumptions in prior work, there is ample scope for improving absolute performance. For instance, the challenging duck-shaped object not used for training was dropped in 56% of the trials. When it was not dropped, our controller reoriented the object within 0.4 radians (23°) 75% of the time.

Map of brazilian tourism – Analysis of the criteria to include the municipality of Casserengue-PB

Tourism in Paraíba represents a potentiality, portrayed in natural attractions, strong cultural identity, relevant material and intangible heritage, as well as a hospitable and supportive people. But this tourism needs to be disseminated and promoted with emphasis on the appreciation and creativity of regional and local tourism. Given this context, it is proposed as a general objective to present a proposal for integrated tourism planning, participatory management and encourage the insertion of the municipality of Casserengue in the Brazilian Tourism Map. Data collection was bibliographic and through field research, from May to November 2020, with updates from January to April 2022. As a result, it was found that the insertion of the municipality in the Brazilian Tourism Map enables integrated planning and participatory management, as well as the development of an action plan for municipal management for the benefit of society. Therefore, the tourism planning proposed for Casserengue suggests a restructuring of infrastructure, public policies, as well as the valorization of local labor to offer quality tourism services or products and provide the economic and social development of the municipality.

Effect of Adolescents and Sexual Reproductive Health Policy on Girl Child Retention in Public Secondary Schools in Butula Sub-County, Kenya

The challenge of girls' retention in educational institutions has been identified as a significant obstacle. The inability to maintain the enrollment of female students in secondary schools can be regarded as a squandering of valuable human capital and financial investments made in their primary education, as well as a loss of time invested in their initial enrollment. These young females have the potential to develop into a demographic of women lacking in literacy skills, resulting in diminished economic, social, and political contributions. Among the critical contemporary social issues affecting many countries is teenage pregnancies. The matter of ASRH is a global issue affecting both developed and underdeveloped countries. The problem has drawn attention of governments from both developed and underdeveloped nations. Researchers have also given it consideration and studied it to some extent in their efforts to solve the recurring puzzle of solving the sex related matters that affect adolescents. This research was guided by a general objective, the effect of adolescents and sexual reproductive health policy on girl child retention in public secondary schools in Butula sub-county, Kenya. The study also adopted specific objective as; i)To assess the effect of educational opportunities on girl child retention in public secondary schools in Butula Sub-county Kenya.The study was guided by Human Capital theory of adolescence. Research adopted the descriptive survey design. The study also targeted a sample size of 488 respondents, out of the targeted population of 1335 respondents. The criteria for selecting sample size using convenient and purposive sampling techniques was fixed upon Mugenda and Mugenda (2004) formula. Also, the data from both primary and secondary sources was utilized in the study. The instruments for gathering the data comprised questionnaires, interviews, and records from the schools. Before utilizing the instruments in this research, they were tested using test-retest methods to ascertain validity and reliability. To establish links between variables, the study used correlational analysis. Precisely, a SPSS version 25 was used when seeking to establish any link between the Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Policy and girl child retention in public secondary schools Butula Sub-County, Busia County. There is an expectation that this study increased towards knowledge or understanding of the effect of teenage pregnancy on class attendance in public secondary schools in Butula Sub-county. Due to the sensitivity of the research all information that was obtained it was regarded as confidential and the participants including the schools kept it anonymous. Also, no one was coerced to become part of the sample space, but consent was the criteria upon selection of respondents in the study. Therefore, this study involved the highest level of confidentiality, acknowledgment and consent when dealing with respondents and sources of data. The finding of the study was that ASRH services were significant to girl retention in schools. Moreover, it was found that information on ASRH on girls’ retention was from media and school. This study recommends that school administrators assume the role of fostering a collaborative relationship between schools and the community. This partnership would facilitate the identification of opportunities for teachers, parents, and community members to collaborate in order to enhance the educational outcomes of students.

When IC meets text: Towards a rich annotated integrated circuit text dataset

Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) is a process that uses cameras to autonomously scan printed circuit boards for quality control. Text is often printed on chip components, and it is crucial that this text is correctly recognized during AOI, as it contains valuable information. In this paper, we introduce ICText, the largest dataset for text detection and recognition on integrated circuits. Uniquely, it includes labels for character quality attributes such as low contrast, blurry, and broken. While loss-reweighting and Curriculum Learning (CL) have been proposed to improve object detector performance by balancing positive and negative samples and gradually training the model from easy to hard samples, these methods have had limited success with one-stage object detectors commonly used in industry. To address this, we propose Attribute-Guided Curriculum Learning (AGCL), which leverages the labeled character quality attributes in ICText. Our extensive experiments demonstrate that AGCL can be applied to different detectors in a plug-and-play fashion to achieve higher Average Precision (AP), significantly outperforming existing methods on ICText without any additional computational overhead during inference. Furthermore, we show that AGCL is also effective on the generic object detection dataset Pascal VOC. Our code and dataset will be publicly available at https://github.com/chunchet-ng/ICText-AGCL.

Leadership in Public Health: Challenges and Opportunities In Improving the Quality of Public Services

Purpose: This work examines the role of Leadership in the Public Sector, with a focus on the leaders' interaction with their teams, aiming to build a harmonious interpersonal relationship to ensure successful management. This, in turn, allows for the creation of management with a predominantly democratic character, with the potential to address both local and societal needs. In this context, it is emphasized that motivation is something intrinsic to each individual, and the leader must have the potential to stimulate it. The general objective of this work is to analyse the importance of leadership in improving the performance of employees in the context of Public Health. Theoretical Framework: Leadership permeates all managerial activities and is not an isolated activity. Its importance is underestimated when judged solely in terms of the proportion of managerial activities that are strictly related to team management. Method/design/approach: This research is exploratory in nature, as it conducted a literature review on the role of leadership in public institutions, using various publicly available sources such as books, journals, theses, internet articles, and monographs. Results and conclusion: The coordinator and 10 employees from various positions out of the total of 40 were selected to participate in the research. It is noteworthy that the leader holds a degree in Pedagogy and is currently pursuing Nursing, is 34 years old, female, and has previously served as a coordinator in the same UBS for 4 years in the recent past, marking her first leadership experience at the age of 26. Currently, she leads a team of 40 people. Research implications: The research emphasizes the creation of a management with a democratic predominance. If the results indicate that leadership plays a significant role in this aspect, it may influence management practices in healthcare units and potentially in other public sector organizations. Originality/value: The research focuses on the field of Public Health, which can be considered original, as it is a specific and critical area of the public sector that is not frequently addressed in general leadership studies.

Health Management in Livestock Production in Sub Saharan Countries

Purpose: The general objective of this study was to explore health management in livestock production in Sub Saharan countries.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Findings: The findings revealed that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to health management in livestock production in Sub Saharan countries. Preliminary empirical review revealed that the health management of livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa is a complex and multifaceted endeavor, influenced by a range of factors including limited access to veterinary services, inadequate nutrition management, and the effectiveness of disease control measures.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The One Health theory, Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Diffusion of Innovations theory may be used to anchor future studies relating to livestock production. The study recommends for enhancing access to veterinary services, promoting knowledge, scaling up vaccination efforts, improving nutrition management, strengthening biosecurity measures, using gender sensitive approaches and investing in disease surveillance and rapid response.

Dictionaries and encyclopedias of suicide

There are some studies that analyze definitions of the term “suicide” in academic works, as well as in generalist dictionaries and encyclopedias in several languages, but there still seems to be no investigation focused on specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias (SDEs) on this topic. Hence the general objective of this study was to describe the suicide SDEs available in the literature. To accomplish this purpose, a basic, quantitative, qualitative, descriptive, bibliographical and documental method was used. The 12 criteria proposed by John Humbley in 2018 for the analysis of SDEs were determined as the main theoretical foundation. From 2017 to 2022, through an integrative review in 6 languages and 4 databases, 8 SDEs were excluded. The 4 included ones were 2 dictionaries and 2 encyclopedias published between 2003 and 2016, 3 in English and 1 in Spanish. One of the most relevant findings was the fact that the SDEs examined try to address the various aspects of this object, instead of adopting a reductionist perspective. However, as only 4 books were analyzed, it was not possible to identify a clear pattern about all 12 criteria and all 4 sources. For example, it is not known which terms would be more feasible to include in a work of this nature nor the optimal way to predicate them. Even so, this paper is a relevant contribution to the studies on language and suicide, providing elements for the evolution of dictionaries and encyclopedias specialized on this binomial.

Strengthening local economies through social capital: The role of cooperative firms in driving economic growth in Italy

AbstractThis paper aims to empirically explore the linkage between the cooperative sector and economic growth in Italian provinces (NUTS‐3), through a panel analysis covering the period between 2013 and 2019. We hypothesize that the cooperative sector can contribute to economic growth through its ability to generate social capital, thereby helping to mitigate market failures. The empirical analysis does not provide us with robust evidence of the positive connection between the cooperative sector as a whole and local economic growth. However, when we disaggregate the cooperative sector into ordinary and social cooperatives, we find intriguing results. Indeed, there is robust evidence of a negative relationship between the territorial distribution of ordinary cooperatives and economic growth, while for social cooperatives we find a positive relationship. We interpret these results as showing that the pursuit of general interest objectives, which allows the principle of mutuality to be extended to indirect forms of reciprocity, could make cooperative firms more effective in promoting the economic performance of territories. This is because they are more likely to generate bridging social capital that encourages the spread of generalized trust, a key factor in the advancement of modern market economies.

NURSING IN MEN'S HEALTH CARE IN ANDROPAUSE: literature review

Andropause, also known as late-onset male hypogonadism, is a condition related to male aging that involves a gradual decrease in testosterone levels in the body. Among the main experimental symptoms, we can list: the reduction in testosterone levels, a main characteristic of andropause. This symptom unfolds into others, such as fatigue, loss of energy, reduced libido and erectile dysfunction. The general objective of this research is to describe andropause, presenting its general and clinical aspects, in addition to demonstrating the importance of nurses in relation to treatment and health promotion. To this end, it was necessary to outline the following specific objectives: prepare a description of the general characteristics of andropause; expose considerations about male aging and the need to break taboos; demonstrate the importance of the nurse's role in the guidance and treatment of andropause. This is basic, qualitative research. As for the objectives, it is classified as descriptive and exploratory. Regarding procedures, bibliographical research was used. It was concluded that it is essential for the primary care team to plan effective nursing actions to meet the needs of men in andropause, seeking to diagnose and prevent diseases related to this phase of male life.

Analysis of Water Volume Required to Reach Steady Flow in the Constant Head Well Permeameter Method

The most common method for in situ measurement of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) of the vadose zone is the constant head well permeameter method. Our general objective is to provide an empirical method for determining volume of water required for measuring Ksat using this procedure. For one-dimensional infiltration, steady state reaches as time (t) → ∞. For three-dimensional water flow from a cylindrical hole under a constant depth of water, however, steady state reaches rather quickly when a saturated bulb forms around the hole. To reach a quasi-steady state for measuring Ksat, we assume an adequate volume of water is needed to form the saturated bulb around the hole and increase the water content outside of the saturated bulb within a bulb-shaped volume of soil, hereafter, referred to as wetted soil volume. We determined the dimensions of the saturated bulb using the Glover model that is used for calculating Ksat. We then used the values to determine the volume of the saturated and wetted bulbs around the hole. The volume of water needed to reach a quasi-steady state depends on the difference between the soil saturated and antecedent water content (Δθ). Based on our analysis, between 2 and 5 L of water is needed to measure Ksat when Δθ varies between 0.1 and 0.4 m3 m−3, respectively.