Heavy Consequences Research Articles

Earthquake “doublets” – case studies for Kresna-Kroupnik (Bulgaria-M7.8) and Gaziantep–Kahramanmaraş (Turkey-M7.8)

The devastating earthquakes (M7.8 and M7.5) on 6th February 2023 demonstrate the power of the nature and weakness and fragility of the human society. Affecting more than 20 million people in Turkey, the death poll reaches about 60 000 deaths and about three times more injured, 120 000 buildings destroyed and more than 60 billion economical losses in Turkey and Syria. This tremendous seismic event at the same time gave the possibility to study and extract the lessons learned and to prevent heavy consequences when next similar event occurred. Following the context of the specific behavior of the seismic process this event can be attributed to the terminology using the word “doubles” of such a combination of two very strong earthquakes occurred in close space and time window – near Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş. The two strong earthquakes of 6th February demonstrated all peculiarities of the seismic process and its geophysical, seismological and social consequences. The similar effects have been observed also in 1904 in Bulgaria. On 4th of April, 1904 two very strong earthquakes (M7.2 and M7.8) occurred in a very close time and space domain. These seismic events can also be classified as a “doublet”. So the comparative analysis of such strong earthquakes can help to understand better the seismic process and the following risks for the population, infrastructure and the affected countries as a whole. This paper is targeted to the comparison of the case studies to the seismic doublets in Bulgaria and Turkey and their peculiarities with a focus on the seismic process, destructions, negative social consequences and the specifics if they exist and to extract knowledge which can be useful for the prevention of all possible negatives. The results obtained suggest that similar seismic events might have very different geophysical, seismological and social consequences due to the resilience and environmental peculiarities of the specifically affected sites.

Calculation of electromagnetic force and temperature distribution of amorphous transformers in different operating modes by finite element method

The study used the Finite element method (FEM) by ANSYS 3D software to calculate the distribution of electromagnetic force (EMF) and temperature on the high voltage and low voltage windings (HLVWs) of the amorphous steel core 3 phase transformer (ASCT) which has a power of 1000kVA –22/0.4kV under different load cases: No load, full load and short circuit (SC). The obtained results show the exact temperature distribution and location where the highest temperature is found on the HLVWs of ASCT. From the analysis of the temperature distribution on the HLVWs, it is shown that when the transformer falls into an SC fault, it causes the greatest EMF and thermodynamic force, causing extremely heavy consequences for the transformers. The obtained results help designers, manufacturers, and operators have the most suitable options to improve strength of SC and increase the life of the transformer.

Enormous Myelomeningocele of a Newborn: Case Report and Review of the Literature

The myelomeningocele, is a serious pathology with heavy consequences putting at stake the vital prognosis of the child, it is a congenital malformation resulting from a defect of closure of the neural tube. We report the case of a 25 days old newborn, in whom the antenatal diagnosis of myelomeningocele was confirmed by morphological ultrasound. The particularity of our case is the very low age of intervention as the enormous size of the myelomeningocele. Many congenital malformations of the central nervous system can be associated with this pathology going from the malformation of Arnold Chiari to the heterotopia, the discovery of this malformation imposes a complete malformative assessment, and a medical-surgical management. The main postoperative risk is the sepsis which is all the more serious and mortal that the age is young of the child at the time of the intervention.

Can Strategically Prioritizing Ransomware Protection and Implementing Specific Recommended Actions Potentially Reduce the Effects of a Ransomware Attack on an Organization?

The purpose of this research study was to explore what can be learned by prioritizing for ransomware and data loss protection during organizational strategic planning to mitigate the negative effects of these events while identifying specific actions and recommendations organizations can take to mitigate the effects of ransomware and associated data loss. The problem addressed was that many organizations have become or will become victims of massive data losses caused by ransomware attacks because ransomware security controls and data loss prevention are not prioritized during strategic planning (Breckenridge, 2020). The methodology used was a qualitative metasynthesis which examined six case studies that were chosen as a representative set of organizations that have experienced common effects that are often felt in the aftermath of either a ransomware attack, poor strategic planning for cybersecurity controls, or data loss. The findings show the emergence of several themes including a common lack of strategic planning, the inability to recognize network anomalies leading to malware installations that resulted in data breaches, the lack of or misuse of security controls, and the heavy consequences suffered as a result of not putting effort into preventing the data breaches. Additional examination focused on the need for a proactive approach to data loss prevention which demands the attention of organizational leadership at the highest levels.

This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham (review)

Reviewed by: This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham Quinita Balderson Cottingham, Kayla This Delicious Death. Sourcebooks Fire, 2023 [304p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781728236445 $11.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781728236421 $14.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 9-12 Two years ago, an environmental crisis triggered a pandemic that caused part of the population to crave human flesh to survive, resulting in an apocalyptic event coined "The Hollowing." Hollow people–called ghouls–faced a troubling dilemma: consume humans and live or risk starvation and the strong possibility that their feral instincts would lead them to uncontrollably rip loved ones to shreds. Fortunately, SynFlesh was developed (rather quickly) to satisfy the Hollowed cravings, and the world is mostly returning to normal, safely integrating ghouls into society. Finally freed from societal lockdown, four queer Hollow girlfriends road trip to a music festival in the secluded desert to let loose; unfortunately, an encounter with a cocky B-list celebrity sets off a series of mysterious events leaving a bloody trail to a missing ghoul friend. Meanwhile, attacks by an insatiable creature—far more monstrous than ghouls—slash the chances of any survivors, human or otherwise, escaping the desert. Fyre Festival meets zombie apocalypse in Cottingham's latest gore-filled excursion in which the social commentary bites just as hard as the flesh-eating monsters. Despite the heavy consequences of wrecking the environment, the world continues in the same self-serving dog-eat-dog fashion that led to this situation, and it's clear that even an apocalyptic event wouldn't eradicate societal problems like racism, homophobia, and privilege. Matters of the heart, too, coexist with the crisis, as the book follows Zoey and her bestie/long-time crush Celeste, a trans girl, and new potential love interest Cole. Once again, this author's novel begs for a film rendition and leaves fans salivating for more. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

NATIONAL INTERNAL SECURITY POLICY: AN ASSESSMENT

For the last few years, Pakistan has faced many traditional and nontraditional security threats. Among them, the fatal threat is terrorism and extremism in the country, which has largely been connected with the Afghan war. After 9/11, terrorism and extremism got triggered in Pakistan, in which the country faced heavy consequences in terms of economy, loss of life, and destruction of infrastructure. This grave situation compelled the government to develop a comprehensive national security policy to address the growing threats. In 2014, the government enacted the first NISP 20142018. The focus was to initiate military operations in FATA areas to eliminate the terrorist’s hold, which achieved some positive outcomes in the short run. In 2018, prior to the general elections, the previous government announced another NISP 2018-2023. The implementation of that newly announced security policy was handed over to the new government. It was observed that the policy could not achieve the desired outcomes, as there were certain loopholes in the formulation and implementation of these stages. In this regard, the focus of the current research is, to critically analyze the drawbacks of NISP for the period of 2018-2023.
 Keywords: extremism, NAP, NACTA, NISP, security, terrorism

VASCULAR COMPLICATIONS OF SERIOUS VIPERS ENVENOMATION: ABOUT A CASE

Declared as a neglected disease by the OMS, snakebites are responsible for 421,000 cases of envenomation and 20,000 deaths worldwide. In Morocco, they are much rarer but remain serious with heavy consequences. It is exceptional to observe a mesenteric infarction following a bugloss envenomation. The physiopathological mechanism is not clearly established, but seems multifactorial. In a context of multivisceral failure, diagnosis can be difficult and therapeutic delay is life-threatening. We report the case of lower limb ischemia associated with mesenteric infarction in a 66-year-old patient complicating a horned viper bite.

MUSLIM WORLD LEAGUE’S EFFORTS TO CONFRONT ISLAMOPHOBIA

dangerous cultural consequences of the wave of extremism and violence that has shaken the world over the past three decades. The more extremism increases, Islamophobia increases, and the more Islamophobia increases, extremism increases at the same rate. This phenomenon has imposed its heavy consequences on Muslims in all Western and non-Western countries in which Muslims represent a minority of the social fabric. Many international and local organizations have endeavored to confront this phenomenon. The Muslim World League is considered to be one of the most active international Islamic organizations in combating and confronting this phenomenon. In this article I try to trace the cultural and religious efforts of the League in countries that suffer from increasing rates of Islamophobia, through which the League aims to mitigate the effects of this phenomenon - either by educating Muslims about further integration, or educating non-Muslims about the truth of the Islamic religion. That is how it tries to correct negative perceptual images they have about Islamic religion in the Western mentality, which are the underlying motivations behind the development and escalation of islamophobia.

FORMATION OF EMOTIONAL STABILITY OF CANDIDATES FOR DRIVERS WHEN STUDYING TRAFFIC RULES

In the article the separate aspects of psychological readiness of drivers are considered to the management. An increase level of physical and psychological danger is accented at a management a motor transport. In this connection a slope is done on the analysis of preconditions of readiness of future drivers to adaptation in the conditions of the new specific activity related to the management and co-operating with other participants of travelling motion. The necessity of accented attention of future drivers is reasonable on the psychological constituents of participation travelling and possible psychological and psychophysiological risks for students. The basic constituents of estimation of readiness of students are described to driving at the study of rules of travelling motion and practice after a helm. Important qualities and lines that must be inherent to the future drivers for successful realization of management are certain, and also for a comfort feel after a helm. Attention is accented on the concept of the emotional burning down of driver that links the decline of levels of emotional firmness and attentiveness at a management certain term of time (2–3 years). The features of temperament and neuropsychic features of investigated that have qualification influence on success of management and parameters of psycho-physiological safety of future driver are distinguished. The question of prophylaxis and overcoming of excessive emotional tension is gone into detail from connection with preparation of future drivers to the management a motor transport, and urgency is distinguished of nonadmission emotionally of the unstable state that can result in the loss of attentiveness and confidence in itself during a management, and to result in heavy consequences, including for the psychical sphere of driver.

Bacterial Lipodepsipeptides and Some of Their Derivatives and Cyclic Dipeptides as Potential Agents for Biocontrol of Pathogenic Bacteria and Fungi of Agrarian Plants.

Biotic stresses (fungi, bacteria, insects, weeds, etc.) are some of the most important causes of the decrease in the quality and quantity of crops that could become an emergency due to a noteworthy increase in the world population. Thus, to overcome these problems, massive use of chemical pesticides has been carried out with heavy consequences for environmental pollution and food safety. An eco-friendly alternative can be using natural compound-based biopesticides with high efficacy and selectivity. Some bacterial lipodepsipeptides (tolaasins I, II, A, D, and E and WLIP together with hexacetyl- and tetrahydro-tolaasin I and WLIP methyl ester) and cyclic dipeptides (cyclo(l-Pro-l-Tyr), cyclo(d-Pro-l-Tyr), cyclo(l-Pro-l-Val), and cyclo(l-Pro-l-Leu)) were assayed against several pathogenic bacteria and fungi of important agrarian plants. Lipodepsipeptides showed strong growth inhibition of all microorganisms tested in the range of 0.1–0.8 μg/mL, while cyclodipeptides, despite preserving this ability, showed a noteworthily reduced antimicrobial activity being active only in the range of 15–900 μg/mL. Among the lipodepsipeptides and cyclic dipeptides assayed, tolaasin d and cyclo(l-Pro-l-Tyr) (also named maculosin-1) appeared to be the most toxic compounds. Some structure–activity relationships of lipodepsipeptides were also discussed along with their practical application as biopesticides in agriculture.

Socioeconomic status, alcohol use disorders, and depression: A population-based study

BackgroundDepressive disorders (DD) and alcohol use disorders (AUD) frequently co-occur. They are key to understanding the current increases in “deaths of despair” among individuals with lower socioeconomic status (SES). The aim of this study was to assess the prospective bidirectional associations between AUD and DD, as well as the effect of SES on these two conditions. MethodsThe National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions is a cohort study representative of the US adult population, which began in 2001–2002, with follow-up interviews conducted 3 years later. SES was primarily operationalized as educational attainment. AUD, DD, and their levels of severity were defined according to the DSM-5 criteria. ResultsThe risk of developing an incident DD increased gradually with the recency and the severity of AUD at baseline, but the converse was not observed. Lower SES was an independent risk for incident AUD or DD. SES did not modify the prospective association between AUD and DD. LimitationsThe absence of interaction between SES and moderate or severe AUD for the incident DD must be considered with caution due to the limited number of DD cases reported in these AUD categories. ConclusionsThis result is consistent with a causal relationship between AUD and DD, and suggests that therapeutic interventions for AUD may also have beneficial effects to lower DD rates. The independent effects of a lower SES and AUD on DD may result in a vulnerable population cumulating disorders with heavy consequences on health and social well-being.

Exploring the Intention of Middle-Aged and Elderly Consumers to Participate in Inclusive Medical Insurance

With the sudden and heavy consequences of diseases, medical insurance has become a vital part of the medical system. Inclusive medical insurance (IMI) aims to help people manage personal health risks from an economic perspective under the cooperation of government and private enterprises. With the worsening aging phenomenon in China, middle-aged and elderly consumers inevitably need to choose insurance services. However, the diversification of service forms and contents implies potential loopholes that may affect their intention to participate in insurance. In this study, we establish a trust mechanism model combining finance, technology, and institutions; collect and organize data using questionnaires; and explore the link between trust and intention to participate in IMI. Our results show that new service concepts under digital channels can increase financial trust, perceived ease of use affects technical trust, and reputation and security mechanisms positively affect institutional trust. Furthermore, trust transfer occurs among the three types of trust. At the same time, financial trust and institutional trust positively affect middle-aged and elderly consumers’ intention to participate in insurance. The findings of our study have theoretical value and practical implications for IMI research.

Impacts of Online Education on Teaching Quality and Satisfaction of Medical Students During Covid-19: A Case Study in a Private University in Vietnam

As a developing countries, Vietnam has been facing a myriad of challenges in various aspects during the Covid-19 pandemic. Educational sector is not an exception as it is currently suffering the heavy consequences of the constant disruptions stemming from the switching to online learning. This study was conducted with the aim of surveying and evaluating the views of students of the Faculty of Medicine at Nguyen Tat Thanh University on the influence of online learning on learning quality. Using data from survey questionnaires, the results show that the online learning has impacted different learning aspects of students such as: time management, online satisfaction, training problems. At the same time, the study also recognizes the contributions of students in improving the quality of online teaching of Nguyen Tat Thanh University.

Editor's Column

Editor's Column

Women’s Skills and Aptitudes as Drivers of Organizational Resilience: An Italian Case Study

The economic system has experienced heavy consequences caused by the recent pandemic. This paper investigates the interaction between the crisis and organization reaction, focusing on the female managerial role and contribution to overcoming the crisis in male-owned and managed companies. To achieve the research objectives, we used a qualitative research method based on an explorative case study. The results show that female managerial skills have fostered organizational resilience in terms of: (i) the attitude to change; (ii) the ability to promote new initiatives; and (iii) the ability to have initiated, consolidated, and managed solid formal relationships with institutional stakeholders. Our results also highlight the decisive contribution of corporate governance (even if male-oriented) in favoring the growth and autonomy of women in positions of responsibility. This contribution is evidenced by (iv) increasing delegation of roles and responsibilities in managing relationships with institutional stakeholders to women managers; and (v) recognizing women managers’ talents in terms of career progression. The originality of this work is represented by the survey that aims to determine how the female management of businesses managed and owned by men can foster the resilience of companies. On the other hand, this paper investigates how female leadership drives organizational resilience during unexpected shocks, opening an interdisciplinary viewpoint.

Avoiding Risk of Disputes by Re-Engineering Telecommunication Services With Blockchain Technologies

Blockchain is a technology used to immutably and transparently store information that has gained wide popularity due to the use with cryptocurrency, but it is suitable for many other business scenarios. In this paper, the authors deal with carriers providing voice services by exchanging calls with each other. These companies need to transparently store call detail records (CDR) in order to avoid billing discrepancies which can lead to disputes and risk of interruption of services with heavy consequences from the legal point of view. In this paper, the authors present a solution to this problem by using hyperledger fabric to develop smart contracts, which are invoked to store information about each CDR generated. The proposed solution initially stores CDRs before inputting these to the blockchain network. The paper presents experiments with thorough testing on the blockchain network and also some performance improvements. Results show the effectiveness of avoiding disputes by guaranteeing that CDRs are exchanged effectively and immutably without room for ambiguities or misinterpretation.

Pandemi, Bilgiye Erişim ve Akademi

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed our lives since it started. Although this change had heavy consequences, it also had positive aspects in terms of access to academic knowledge. Acceleration of digitization processes, online workshops, the expansion of databases and the fact that access to information has become a little cheaper than before has provided an irreversible convenience for the academy. This editorial covers thoughts on related topics.

The effect of OHS costs on accident severity rate in the construction industry

Due to its dynamic nature, rapid technology change, uneducated employees, harsh working conditions, many work accidents, and heavy consequences of accidents, occupational health and safety (OHS) practices are essential in the construction industry. However, occupational Health and Safety measures in the construction industry come with additional costs. Therefore, employers who have to bear a cost to take OHS measures may consider OHS costs unnecessary without considering the costs they will bear after work accidents and occupational diseases. This research aims to estimate the optimal costs of OHS budgets to reduce the number of accidents with lost time injury and whether the carried costs for occupational health and safety in the construction industry impact the lost time injuries. Therefore, OHS costs in the construction industry are grouped into eight categories: fire, work equipment, electricity, health, personal protective equipment, general equipment, training and occupational health and safety service costs. This research is based on the standard unit costs set for the 8 OHS criteria required by the OHS laws, accident severity rates and actual unit costs that the projects have carried for five years for the construction of 15 buildings with 220.000 m2- 500.000 m2 indoor space which is located in Istanbul Turkey, started in 2013 and completed in 2017. Since the research was conducted before January 1, 2020, there is no requirement for an ethics committee permission document. According to the research results, as the costs of occupational health and safety services, fire and training increased, accident severity rates has decreased. However, the impact of other variables on accident severity rates was not statistically significant. Thus, construction enterprises that want to decrease the accident severity rates in their projects need to emphasise occupational health and safety services, fire, and training criteria.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Crisis Measures: Health Protective Properties?

The ongoing 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has led governments to impose measures including mask wearing, physical distancing, and increased hygiene and disinfection, combined with home confinement and economic shutdown. Such measures have heavy negative consequences both on public health and the economy. However, these same measures have positive outcomes as “side effects” that are worth mentioning since they contribute to the improvement of some aspects of the population health. For instance, mask wearing helps to reduce allergies as well as the transmission of other airborne disease-causing pathogens. Physical distancing and social contact limitation help limit the spread of communicable diseases, and economic shutdown can reduce pollution and the health problems related to it. Decision makers could get inspired by these positive “side effects” to tackle and prevent diseases like allergies, infectious diseases and noncommunicable diseases, and improve health care and pathology management. Indeed, the effectiveness of such measures in tackling certain health problems encourages inspiration from COVID-19 measures towards managing selected health problems. However, with the massive damage COVID-19-related measures have caused to countries’ economies and people’s lives, the question of how to balance the advantages and disadvantages of these measures in order to further optimize them needs to be debated among health care professionals and decision makers.

Quality of life of transplanted children and their parents: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundTransplantation is a saving therapeutic that has heavy consequences. The quality of life (QoL) of transplanted children and their parents has been little studied and should help physicians better manage these patients. The objectives of the study were to assess: (1) the QoL of transplanted children and parents and compare it with that of children with other chronic conditions associated with long-term consequences, and (2) potential variables modulating the QoL.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was performed in a multidisciplinary paediatric unit (Timone Hospital, Marseille, France). Children were less than 18 years old; had a liver, kidney or heart transplant; and had a time since transplantation of 1–10 years. Socio-demographics and clinical data were recorded from medical forms. The QoL was assessed using the VSP-A (Vécu et Santé Perçue de l’Adolescent et de l’Enfant) and the WhoQoL self-reported questionnaires.ResultsForty-five families were included (response rate: 76%). The transplanted organs were the liver for 20 children, the kidney for 15 children, and the heart for 10 children. The QoL of transplanted children reported by their parents was better than that of children with inborn errors of metabolism and similar to that of childhood leukaemia survivors. The QoL of parents of transplanted children was better than that of parents of children with inborn errors of metabolism and did not differ from French norms. The QoL did not differ according to the nature of the transplanted organ, sex or the main sociodemographic data. The main modulators decreasing QoL were residual treatment level, medications switch and the presence of another regular treatment.ConclusionTransplanted children and their families reported a fairly preserved QoL compared to children with other chronic health conditions. Special attention should be given to QoL modulators related to therapeutic management (medication switches, regular treatments) that might be amenable to improve the QoL.Trial registration Ethics committee of Aix-Marseille University, France (reference number: 2014-08-04-03, 24/4/2015; https://www.univ-amu.fr/fr/public/comite-dethique).