Preparation Phase Research Articles

The Effects of the Traditional Data Augmentation Techniques on Long Bone Fracture Detection

Image collection and preparation phases are highly costly for machine learning 
 algorithms. They require the majority of labeled data. Hence, the image pre-processing method, data augmentation, is commonly used. Since there are so many proposed methods for the augmentation task, this comparison study is presented to be a supporting guide for the researchers. In addition, the lack of studies with animal-based data sets makes this study more valuable. The study is investigated on a comprehensive medical image data set consists of X-ray images of many different dogs. The main goal is to determine the fracture of the long bones in dogs. Many traditional augmentation methods are employed on the data set including flipping, rotating, changing brightness and contrast of the images. Transfer learning is applied on both raw and augmented data sets as a feature extractor and Support Vector Machine (SVM) is utilized as a classifier. For the classification task, the experimental study shows that changing the contrast is the outstanding method for accuracy manner, while the rotation method has the best sensitivity value.

Development of a training program in the special preparation period phase to improve (accuracy and speed) bowling skills in women criket athletes

Introduction. Good physical condition has many advantages, including athletes can and easily learn new skills that are relatively difficult, not get tired easily in participating in training and matches better. Purpose. This study was to intervene during the special preparation phase to improve the accuracy and speed of bowling skills in female cricket athletes. Materials and Methods. Preparation of a Special Preparation Stage Training Program to Improve Bowling Skills (Accuracy and Speed) for Female Cricket Athletes of South Sulawesi with a sample of 15 people. This type of research is a quantitative descriptive research. Data analysis used SPSS 21 software with descriptive tests, normality tests and hypothesis tests. Results. The results of the analysis of the effect of accuracy training variables on female cricket athletes obtained an average pretest accuracy value of 54.87 and a posttest accuracy value of 58.00 with a sig value of 0.000. The speed training program for female cricket athletes obtained an average pre-test speed value of 14.3373 and a post-test speed value of 13.2380, with a sig value of 0.000 and a difference of 1.0993 was obtained, so there was an increase in the speed training program, the average value -the average pre test bowling skill was 16.20 and the post test bowling skills score was 18.60, with a sig score of 0.000. and obtained a difference of 2,400. Conclusion. Based on the results of the data and discussion of this study, it can be concluded that the Development of a Special Preparatory Stage Training Program to Improve Bowling Skills (Accuracy and Speed) in Female Cricket Athletes.

International Negotiations in the Digital Age

The digital revolution has a significant impact on world politics, including the practice of international negotiations and diplomacy, which, being extremely conservative areas of human activity, still have to adapt to the new digital reality conditions. The practice of digital diplomacy, which involves using social networks to interact with a wide international audience, is becoming widespread. New diplomacy formats are emerging that focused on working with big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. This study explores the impact of the digital revolution on the practice of international negotiations. Methodologically, the analysis is based on the structural-functional approach, according to which international negotiations act as a structural element of diplomacy and foreign policy. At the same time, the authors single out the invariants of negotiations, which include the stages of international negotiations - preparation phase, discussions and implementation of the results of negotiations. The digital revolution is changing the nature of international negotiations, creating new opportunities for negotiation tactics, as well as new challenges, primarily related to information security and confidentiality. In addition, the development of digital technologies produces new subject areas of international negotiations that focus on Internet regulation, information security and other digital society problems, and contributes to the emergence and development of new international negotiations formats - multistakeholder negotiations and online remote negotiations. The authors conclude that the main negotiation invariants remain the same. However, digital technologies are transforming the available negotiating tools and tactics. Under these conditions, new knowledge and competencies are in demand among diplomats, in particular, in the field of data management and information security.

„…törvényeink minden téren hiányoznak…”

The Age of Dualism is the period of establishing the “Rechtsstaat”, and an important step in this protest was the first criminal code (Act 5 of 1878) coming into effect in 1880. At the time of the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the Hungarian legal system was not unified. In Transylvania, Croatia, Fiume and the Military Frontier Austrian law remained in effect, whereas in the smaller Hungary, the system was built upon the laws established by the Conference of Lord Chief Justice. The decision of the Conference of Lord Chief Justice reintroduced the old common law from before 1848 with some corrections, and kept some indispensable Austrian laws in effect. The Compromise (Act 30 of 1868) gave Croatia autonomy of legislation, therefore here the development of law was completely different than in the other parts of the country, where the appointment of the government started codification in every branch of law (judiciary system, criminal law, civil law) with the aim of eliminating the chaos. The legislation procedure had two phases: preparation by the government and the parliamentary phase. In connection with the preparatory phase there was a debate about the method to apply (one person or a committee) and about the legislative body (should it be within the Ministry of Justice, under the government or an external body). During the codification of criminal legislation almost all of the above methods were employed. Legal journalism is an important source, but systematic Hungarian research into it has hitherto been missing. In order to get a clearer understanding of the codification process and the problems arising from the absence of a criminal code, the research would also need to be extended to legal journalism. This is proven by the brief presentation of three general (identification of the law in force, undetermined crimes, undetermined punishments) and three specific (libels, slander, martial law) problems.

Improved Optimization Strategy Based on Region Division for Collaborative Multi-Agent Coverage Path Planning

In this paper, we investigate the algorithms for traversal exploration and path coverage of target regions using multiple agents, enabling the efficient deployment of a set of agents to cover a complex region. First, the original multi-agent path planning problem (mCPP) is transformed into several single-agent sub-problems, by dividing the target region into multiple balanced sub-regions, which reduces the explosive combinatorial complexity; subsequently, closed-loop paths are planned in each sub-region by the rapidly exploring random trees (RRT) algorithm to ensure continuous exploration and repeated visits to each node of the target region. On this basis, we also propose two improvements: for the corner case of narrow regions, the use of geodesic distance is proposed to replace the Eulerian distance in Voronoi partitioning, and the iterations for balanced partitioning can be reduced by more than one order of magnitude; the Dijkstra algorithm is introduced to assign a smaller weight to the path cost when the geodesic direction changes, which makes the region division more "cohesive", thus greatly reducing the number of turns in the path and making it more robust. The final optimization algorithm ensures the following characteristics: complete coverage of the target area, wide applicability of multiple area shapes, reasonable distribution of exploration tasks, minimum average waiting time, and sustainable exploration without any preparation phase.

Seismo Ionospheric Anomalies around and over the Epicenters of Pakistan Earthquakes

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based ionospheric anomalies are nowadays used to identify a possible earthquake (EQ) precursor and hence a new research topic in seismic studies. The current study also aims to provide an investigation of ionospheric anomalies associated to EQs. In order to study possible pre-and post-seismic perturbations during the preparation phase of large-magnitude EQs, statistical and machine learning algorithms are applied to Total Electron Content (TEC) from the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Ionosphere Maps (GIMs). We observed TEC perturbation from the Sukkur (27.8° N, 68.9° E) GNSS station near the epicenter of Mw 5.4 Mirpur EQ within 5–10 days before the main shock day by implementing machine learning and statistical analysis. However, no TEC anomaly occurred in GIM-TEC over the Mirpur EQ epicenter. Furthermore, machine learning and statistical techniques are also implemented on GIM TEC data before and after the Mw 7.7 Awaran, where TEC anomalies can be clearly seen within 5–10 days before the seismic day and the subsequent rise in TEC during the 2 days after the main shock. These variations are also evident in GIM maps over the Awaran EQ epicenter. The findings point towards a large emission of EQ energy before and after the main shock during quiet storm days, which aid in the development of lithosphere ionosphere coupling. However, the entire analysis can be expanded to more satellite and ground-based measurements in Pakistan and other countries to reveal the pattern of air ionization from the epicenter through the atmosphere to the ionosphere.

The Characteristics of Organizational Culture on Teacher Performance in Schools

The characteristics of organizational culture can have a significant impact on the performance of teachers in schools. Some characteristics of organizational culture that can influence teacher performance are as follows: task orientation, communication, social support, recognition, and learning culture. Research is conducted with a procedure or work stages starting from the preparation phase where the research team prepares a review of relevant theories related to the research being conducted, discussions, sharing of knowledge, and literature searches are activities in this phase. Then, initial observation is carried out on the problem, followed by submitting written questions to the respondents in the form of a questionnaire, and then the data is collected, tested, analyzed, and evaluated.

Inappropriate Involvement? Presenting Empirical Insight into the Preparation Phase of Advance Directives of Persons Living with Dementia Under German Legislation

ABSTRACT The scholarly debate on advance directives (ADs) in the context of dementia is mainly built around ethical arguments. Empirical studies that shed light into the realities of ADs of persons living with dementia are few and far between and too little is known about the effect of national AD legislation on such realities. This paper offers insight into the preparation phase of ADs according to German legislation in the context of dementia. It presents results from a document analysis of 100 ADs and from 25 episodic interviews with family members. Findings show that drafting an AD involves family members and different professionals in addition to the signatory, whose cognitive impairment differed considerably at the time of preparing the AD. The involvement of family members and professionals is at times problematic, which prompts the question of how much and what kind of involvement of others turns an AD of a person living with dementia into an AD about a person living with dementia. The results invite policy makers to critically review legislation on ADs from the perspective of cognitively impaired persons, who might find it difficult to protect themselves from inappropriate involvement when completing an AD.

Effects of One-Step and Three-Step Run-Up on Kinematic Parameters and the Efficiency of Jump Shot in Handball

The main aim of this research is to analyse the kinematic model of two different variations of executing the jump shot, one performed after one step in the preparation phase and the other performed after a three-step preparation phase (run-up). Respondents (N = 27) are female Croatian national handball team players (U17 and U19). After basic anthropometric and morphological measurements, along with the warmup, respondents proceeded to shoot with one- and three-step shots directed at targets in the upper and lower opposite corner of the goal. A significant difference was found in all measured kinematic parameters between one- and three-step jump shots: hand velocity (p < 0.001 for the upper opposite (UO) and p < 0.001 for the lower opposite target (LO)); hand height reached (p < 0.05 UO and p < 0.01 LO); jump height (p < 0.001 UO and p < 0.001 LO); shoulder velocity (p < 0.001 UO and p < 0.001 LO); and ball velocity (p < 0.05 UO and p < 0.01 LO). Coaches should incorporate specific jump shots after one step to automate this movement and produce the best shooting technique, which will allow them to have smaller differences or no differences between techniques with three-steps and one-step jump shots. Consequently, this will lead to better performance indicators which consist of shooting on target from various positions in the field.

The Effect of Pineapple Leaf Fiber Addition to Mechanical and Thermal Characteristics of Sago Starch Based Biofoam with Thermopressing Method

Biofoam can be used as an alternative packaging to Styrofoam. Biofoam made from starch and cellulose fibers has biodegradable properties. In this study used pineapple leaf fiber as an additive to strenghen on mechanical properties of biofoam. The research method consists of several stages, cooking pineapple leaf fiber, biofoam preparation, and testing phase on the resulting biofoam. The mechanical characteristics test of biofoam is a tensile strength test of 1.66-2.86 Mpa. Compound composition test through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is hydrophilic which binds to water so that it is easily degraded by soil, thermal characteristics with DSC thermogram test of pineapple leaf fiber biofoam sample 15 gr shows at a temperature of 98.04 °C occurs peak thermogram showing physical changes. TGA analysis showed that biofoam has good thermal stability. In the morphology of biofoam visible white lumps and grooves on the surface that shows the solubility is not too perfect due to the influence of stirring time.

Going Vegan for the Gain: A Cross-Sectional Study of Vegan Diets in Bodybuilders during Different Preparation Phases

Numerous athletes compete at a high level without consuming animal products; although a well-planned vegan diet might be appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, a few elements need to be addressed to build a balanced plant-based diet for an athlete, particularly in bodybuilding, in which muscle growth should be maximised, as athletes are judged on their aesthetics. In this observational study, nutritional intakes were compared in a cohort of natural omnivorous and vegan bodybuilders, during two different phases of preparation. To this end, 18 male and female bodybuilders (8 vegans and 10 omnivores) completed a food diary for 5 days during the bulking and cutting phases of their preparation. A mixed-model analysis was used to compare macro- and micronutrient intakes between the groups in the two phases. Both vegans and omnivores behaved similarly regarding energy, carbohydrate, and fat intakes, but vegans decreased their protein intake during the cutting phase. Our results suggest that vegan bodybuilders may find difficulties in reaching protein needs while undergoing a caloric deficit, and they might benefit from nutritional professionals' assistance to bridge the gap between the assumed proteins and those needed to maintain muscle mass through better nutrition and supplementation planning.

Inclusion of Spanish-Speaking Families in NICU Symptom Research Using a Community Advisory Board.

Admission rates of Hispanic/Latinx families to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are rising, yet knowledge regarding their experiences is limited. Non-English-speaking families are often excluded from research because study measures are not available in their language. The inclusion of these families in NICU research is crucial to understand the impact of cultural and language barriers in infant and family care, and the translation of study measures into Spanish could better ensure that these families' perspectives are included. However, previous research has utilized the standard translation-backtranslation method with which problems have been noted. This article describes the planning, preparation, and action phases that were completed with the use of a community advisory board (CAB) to prepare and transcreate research study materials from English to Spanish for pilot testing. Community members of interest were invited to form the CAB, and 2 meetings were held to review study materials in the English and Spanish versions. Prior to the second meeting, a professional translation company translated study materials from English to Spanish. Feedback from the CAB ensured consistent content and reading levels, and culturally appropriate language usage. The CAB also provided suggestions to the research protocol and advised sensitive methods of recruitment and measure administration. More accurate and culturally appropriate transcreation of study measures can reduce barriers to research participation and facilitate better communication with non-English-speaking families in health equity research to better inform evidence-based interventions and clinical practices across diverse groups.

An analysis of the chemical and morphological properties of brazilian jute plant fiber (Corchorus capsularis): the Amazon fiber

In recent years, the development of new composites has increased a lot, especially those that use plant fibers as reinforcement material. A critical feature for this type of application is how these fibers behave in relation to temperature variation. In this sense, this research stands out among other thermodynamic studies carried out with jute vegetable fiber (Corchorus capsularis) natural from the Amazon region. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the thermal behavior of the mentioned fiber, through the loss of its mass until the decomposition of its structural components (natural moisture, hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin and its residual substances) when subjected to temperatures up to 900°C. Vegetable fibers have a high sensitivity to environmental effects, such as temperature variations and humidity itself. The sample preparation phase for the fiber under analysis was also addressed in this study, and it was found that different preparation techniques can have a direct impact on the results of the experiments.

Group-individual multi-mode cooperative teaching-learning-based optimization algorithm and an industrial engineering application

This paper modifies the original Teaching-Learning-based Optimization (TLBO) algorithm to present a novel Group-Individual Multi-Mode Cooperative Teaching-Learning-based Optimization (CTLBO) algorithm. This algorithm introduces a new preparation phase before the teaching and learning phases and applies multiple teacher-learner cooperation strategies in teaching and learning processes. In the preparation phase, teacher-learner interaction and teacher self-learning mechanism are applied. In the teaching phase, class-teaching and performance-based group-teaching operators are applied. In the learning phase, neighbor learning, student self-learning and team-learning strategies are mixed together to form three operators. Experiments indicate that CTLBO has significant improvement in accuracy and convergence ability compared with original TLBO in solving large scale problems and outperforms other compared variants of TLBO in literature and other 9 meta-heuristic algorithms. A large-scale industrial engineering problem—warehouse materials inventory optimization problem is taken as application case, comparison results show that CTLBO can effectively solve the large-scale real problem with 1000 decision variables, while the accuracies of TLBO and other meta-heuristic algorithm are far lower than CLTBO, revealing that CTLBO can far outperform other algorithms. CTLBO is an excellent algorithm for solving large scale complex optimization issues.

A simple flash and freeze system for cryogenic time-resolved electron microscopy.

As the resolution revolution in CryoEM expands to encompass all manner of macromolecular complexes, an important new frontier is the implementation of cryogenic time resolved EM (cryoTREM). Biological macromolecular complexes are dynamic systems that undergo conformational changes on timescales from microseconds to minutes. Understanding the dynamic nature of biological changes is critical to understanding function. To realize the full potential of CryoEM, time resolved methods will be integral in coupling static structures to dynamic functions. Here, we present an LED-based photo-flash system as a core part of the sample preparation phase in CryoTREM. The plug-and-play system has a wide range of operational parameters, is low cost and ensures uniform irradiation and minimal heating of the sample prior to plunge freezing. The complete design including electronics and optics, manufacturing, control strategies and operating procedures are discussed for the Thermo Scientific™ Vitrobot and Leica™ EM GP2 plunge freezers. Possible adverse heating effects on the biological sample are also addressed through theoretical as well as experimental studies.

Facilitating and Inhibiting Factors in Deciding to Start Retreatment in Survivors of Breast Cancer Recurrence

Background: Cancer recurrence is an important care challenge for breast cancer survivors. It is necessary to understand and identify the barriers and facilitators that affect the decision to start retreatment by those facing breast cancer recurrence compared to factors affecting their decision to start the initial treatment, which is different. Objectives: This study is part of a qualitative study with a grounded theory approach, which was conducted to explain the facilitating and inhibiting factors affecting the decision to start retreatment in survivors of breast cancer recurrence, using a qualitative content analysis method. Methods: This study was conducted based on the experiences of 16 patients with breast cancer recurrence and 2 oncologists to confirm the findings of the effective inhibiting and facilitating factors in patients’ decisions to start retreatment for breast cancer recurrence in one of the hospitals in Tehran, Iran. The samples were selected, using the purposeful sampling method trying to have maximum diversity. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured telephone interviews from November 2020 to November 2021 and analyzed, using the conventional content analysis method following the Elo and Kyngas method, which includes 3 phases, including the preparation phase, the organizing phase, and the reporting phase. Credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability, and authenticity were used for determining the trustworthiness of data. Results: Both groups of inhibiting and facilitating factors were divided into 5 categories, including individual factors, social factors, family factors, illness characteristics, and treatment-related factors. Also, each category included sub-categories in two groups of inhibiting and facilitating factors affecting the decision to start treatment again. Conclusions: Based on the results of the present study, it is necessary to increase the awareness of patients with breast cancer by the treatment staff about the possibility of recurrence and to know the factors influencing their decision-making process to start retreatment. Nurses should play the role of advisors, educators, and supporters of the patients in this field.

Endoscopic and observational findings of swallowing of traditional and molded puree in healthy individuals.

Puree is commonly prescribed for patients with mastication and bolus formation difficulties, but its appearance might negatively impact appetite and intake. Molded puree is marketed to be an alternative to traditional puree, but the process of molding puree could alter the properties of the food significantly and lead to different swallowing physiology as compared to puree. The current study investigated the differences between traditional and molded puree in terms of swallowing physiology and perception in healthy individuals. Thirty two participants were included. Two outcomes were used to quantify the oral preparatory and oral phase. Fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing was used to assess the pharyngeal phase as it could retain the purees in their original form. Six outcomes were collected. Perceptual rating of the purees were provided by participants in six domains. Molded puree required significantly more masticatory cycles (p < 0.001) and longer time for ingestion (p < 0.001). Molded puree had longer swallow reaction time (p = 0.001) and more inferior site of swallow initiation (p = 0.007) compared with traditional puree. Participants' satisfaction with the appearance, texture and overall of molded puree was significantly greater. Molded puree was perceived to be more difficult to chew and swallow. This study established that the two types of puree were different in various aspects. The study also provided important clinical implications regarding the use of molded puree as a form of texture modifieddiet (TMD) in patients with dysphagia. The results could serve as the foundation of larger cohort studies on the effect of various TMDs on patients with dysphagia.

The experience of diabetic retinopathy patients during hospital-to-home full-cycle care: A qualitative study

BackgroundDiabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the major blinding eye diseases worldwide. Psychological, emotional and social problems of DR patients are prominent. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of patients with different phases of DR from hospital to home based on the “Timing It Right” framework, and to provide a reference for formulating corresponding intervention strategies.MethodsThe phenomenological method and semi-structured interviews were used in this study. A total of 40 patients with DR in different phases were recruited from a tertiary eye hospital between April and August 2022. Colaizzi’s analysis method was used to analyse the interview data.ResultsBased on the “Timing It Right” framework, different experiences in five phases of DR before and after Pars Plana Vitrectomy (PPV) were extracted. The patients experienced complicated emotional reactions and inadequate coping skills during the pre-surgery phase, increased uncertainty during the post-surgery phase, insufficient confidence and the decision to change during the discharge preparation phase, eagerness for professional support and moving forward in exploration during the discharge adjustment phase, and courageous acceptance and positive integration during the discharge adaptation phase.ConclusionThe experiences of DR patients with vitrectomy in different phases of disease are ever-changing, and medical staff should provide personalized support and guidance to help DR patients get through the hard times smoothly and enhance the quality of hospital-family holistic care.

Adapting and Developing A Diabetes Prevention Intervention Programme for South Africa: Curriculum and Tools

The South African Diabetes Prevention Programme (SA-DPP) is a lifestyle intervention targeting individuals at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In this paper we describe the mixed-method staged approach that was used to develop and refine the SA-DPP intervention curriculum and the appropriate tools for local resource-poor communities. During the preparation phase, existing evidence on similar DPP interventions was reviewed, focus group discussions with individuals from the target population were conducted as part of a needs assessment, and experts were consulted. The curriculum booklet, a participant workbook and facilitator workbook were developed, and the content was evaluated by experts in the field. The design and layout of the booklet and workbooks needed to be culturally and contextually appropriate. The printed material was evaluated for readability and acceptability by participants of the target population; based on their feedback, the design and layout were refined and the printed material was translated. The suitability of the intervention was tested in a pilot study; based on feedback from the participants and facilitator, the curriculum was revised where needed and finalised. Through this process a context specific intervention and printed materials were developed. A complete evaluation of this culturally relevant model for T2DM prevention in South Africa is pending.

Sowing wildflower meadows in Mediterranean peri-urban green areas to promote grassland diversity

IntroductionThe increase of urban areas and their infrastructure network is homogenizing the landscape and threatening biodiversity and ecosystems functions and services. Wildflower meadows have a high biodiversity value and can prosper in degraded areas dominated by nitrophilous species, making them suitable to be used in peri-urban and urban areas to promote local flora, create habitat for pollinators and other small fauna, and increase overall biodiversity. Moreover, the application of wildflowers seed mixes suitable for rehabilitating anthropized environments should be restricted to native species of regional origin, and the results properly monitored. However, thorough monitoring of seed mixes evolution is uncommon. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a seed mix of wild native species developed to promote grassland diversity in Mediterranean peri-urban areas.MethodsThe study was divided into two sequential phases. Firstly, a preparatory phase consisted in developing two seed mixes and sowing them (autumn 2016) in ex-situ plots (three plots of 5 × 2 m2 per mix) at an experimental field to choose the one with the best performance. The second phase consisted of the in-situ application (autumn 2018) of the chosen seed mix by sowing 14 plots (10 × 2 m2) in pocket parks distributed along pedestrian trails of South Portugal. All plots were monitored through floristic surveys for two springs (ex-situ trials: 2017 and 2018; in-situ trials: 2019 and 2020).ResultsAll sowed species germinated in the in-situ plots over the first 2 years. The seed mix application positively contributed to the floristic community, generating a significant increase in the total species richness, diversity, evenness, and vegetation cover. The seed mix establishment did not require watering nor soil fertilizing and the mowing frequency was low (once in late spring), contributing to sustainable and low-cost management of these green areas.DiscussionThe tested seed mix promoted native flora diversity rapidly and seems suitable for use in peri-urban context under identical climate conditions. Given the small number of native seed mixes tested in the Mediterranean, this study represents a contribution toward improved management standards of native flora diversity in Mediterranean green urban and peri-urban areas.