Steady Pace Research Articles

The Changing and Flexible Nature of Imitation and Adulteration: The Case of the Global Wine Industry, 1850–1914

The first wave of globalization, from 1850 to 1914, is considered to be a period when global trade and investment increased at a steady pace, impacting on global economic growth. Yet that evolution was not consistent across all industries. This article explains why, during that period, global trade in wines and other alcoholic beverages was reversed. Apart from diseases that affected vineyards in the main wine-producing countries of the Old World, various factors in the New World—including local government incentives and the presence of consumers (immigrants) with acquired habits of consumption from European countries—created strong incentives for the imitation and adulteration of wines. This study looks at the strategies used both by the imitators in expanding their businesses and by the innovators to survive in institutional environments that were weak with regard to the protection of their intellectual property.

International Communication of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic by Analogy of Directional Solidification.

According to the phenomenon-taking of classified analog, directional solidification can be an excellent approach for international communication of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Attitudes toward TCM by Western Medicine (WM) can be represented by various morphologies of the solid/liquid interface. COVID-19 has created an urgent need for the worldwide spread of TCM. To counter any doubts and objections against TCM, COVID-19 pandemic provides a good opportunity, meanwhile a steady and firm pace forward should be kept. It is also necessary to resolve domestic controversies and to lower cultural shock. The philosophy of TCM can agree fairly well with dialectical materialism; the scientific connotation of pentacy in TCM can be explained through the symptoms of COVID-19-infected patients. A TCM understanding compatible with WM will accelerate its international acceptance, which could help to better elaborate the significance of humanity in TCM. Holistic medicine under the guidance of TCM principles is an important trend in medical development, whose framework is illustrated in a 4C+T diagram.

The Financial Performance of Selected IT Companies in India; A Panel Data Approach

Despite the global economy growing up, the Indian Information technology industry is maintaining a steady pace of growth. Financial analysis is an aspect of the overall business finance function that involves examining historical data to gain information about the current and future financial health of a company. IT has the great possibility of becoming an engine of accelerated economic growth, efficiency, improvement for all sectors of the economy, developing India’s position in the export market, improving trade insufficiency, and means of efficient governance. It enhances the way into information, protects consumers, provides access to government services, makes skill creation and training more effective, improves the liberation of health services, and promotes simplicity. The inter-firm financial performance differential has been utilized to identify the factors that are critical in determining their financial performance. In this study, only the cross-sectional data of three countries over 10 years is collected. The cross-sectional samples are relatively small. Therefore, it is appropriate to use the LSDV Model. However, the pooled regression model will also consider for comparison. It is also convenient to Model the pooled regression Model, LSDV Model and uses R-squared, adjusted R-squared and pool ability Test to decide statistically on appropriate Model to be used The paper is structured as follows: it presents the scope of the study, a brief review of the literature dealing, followed by a description of the objectives, data, and methodology. Subsequently, it discusses the empirical results by two regression model and finally, offers the conclusion.

Towards User-Centric Intervention Adaptiveness: Influencing Behavior-Context Based Healthy Lifestyle Interventions

In the era of digital well-being, smart gadgets are the unobtrusive sources of acquiring information. A variety of personalized wellness applications support self-quantification based recommendations to provide wellness status for achieving personalized targets. However, these applications are unable to promote the induction of new healthy habits and thus are not too much effective for long term as users tend to loose their interest. Thus, we have proposed a methodology for User-Centric Adaptive Intervention based on behavior change theory for maintaining end-users’ interest. The methodology consists of four steps: (1) quantification of behavior based on contributing factors governed by expert-driven rules; (2) behavior-context based mapping for the identification of behavior status of the user; (3) selection of appropriate way of intervention to get fruitful outcomes; and finally (4) feedback based evaluation on the basis of recorded activities and questionnaires for satisfaction. A comprehensive healthy behavior index-based quantification supports the machine learning-based prediction model for behavior-context mapping. Furthermore, the evaluation is performed through implicit and explicit feedback analysis along with the accuracy of the behavior-context prediction model through multiple scenarios to cover comprehensive situations. The ensemble classifier suggests the accuracy of 98.02% for the behavior-context prediction model, which is higher than the other classifiers. The gain in behavior change is drawn from implicit feedback, which depicts that behavior context-based methods have improved the adaptation in behavior at a steady pace for the long term. The explicit feedback from 99 end-users of wellness application based on the proposed methodology obtained Good and Desired status for widely used System Usability Score and AttrakDiff tools respectively.

Монетарна політика держави в умовах рецесії

The coronavirus pandemic and measures for curbing it have a serious negative impact not only on people’s health, but also on their well-being. Countries are experiencing a decline in GDP, rising unemployment and poverty. Many governments are trying to support businesses and individuals through various fiscal and monetary measures. The COVID-19 pandemic reached Ukraine when the national economy was already in poor condition. The effects of the recently introduced quarantine, including slowed or halted production and declining trade, can only worsen the situation. The government does not have sufficient economic resources to get out of the near-term crises in both the healthcare and the economy. The way forward is likely to include, in addition to international aid, not only short-term measures to mitigate the immediate effects of the pandemic, but also long-term planning to build a more robust economy and its «inoculation» against future shocks. The relevance of the research topic is based upon the matter that governments of many world countries pay enough attention to the problem of development of the national economy and stimulating the growth rate of the economy. Of course, it is difficult to imagine the development of the economy without a fundamental base that will be included in the financial system of the country. The basis of effective operation of the financial system in the country’s economy are such elements of monetary policy, using which it is possible to ensure a steady pace of economic growth.

A coupled heat transfer model of medium-depth downhole coaxial heat exchanger based on the piecewise analytical solution

To describe the heat transfer processes of medium-depth downhole coaxial heat exchangers (MDCHEs) effectively, an analytical solution that couples the transient heat conduction in surrounding soil (or rock) with the quasi-steady heat transfer process in borehole was developed in this study. The piecewise calculation method was adopted both on the time scale and in the depth dimension in this model. With MATLAB as the programming platform, the proposed model was validated with reported experiments and numerical simulations, and the heat extraction efficiency was defined for comprehensive evaluation of heat transfer performance of MDCHEs. Afterwards, the impacts of Reynolds number, geothermal temperature gradient and inlet fluid temperature on the heat transfer performance of MDCHEs were analyzed.It is found that the analytical model with the time-piecewise function of the heat flux through the borehole wall instead of the temperature at the borehole wall as the coupling interface yielded more accurate heat transfer rates and fluid temperatures. Besides, the concave curves of fluid temperature were in better accordance with the practicalities. It was also found that the heat transfer of MDCHEs can be improved by increasing Reynolds number, but its increments gradually decreased. The recommended value of Reynolds number ranges from 1 × 104 to 4 × 104 and the heat extraction efficiency is recommended to be greater than 70% in engineering applications. The decrease of inlet fluid temperature and the increase of geothermal temperature gradient enhance the heat transfer rate at a steady pace. The analytical solution facilitates convenient design and optimal operation of MDCHEs.

Trends and prospects for the development of the livestock industry of the meat and food subcomplex in terms of resource saving and public administration

The livestock industry is an important structural element of the effective functioning of the meat subcomplex and the whole agroindustrial complex as a whole. In this sphere of management, about half of the gross agricultural output is produced (in 2017 – 48.7%). Held reform, transformation of agricultural sector in the 90-ies of XX century had a significant impact on the course and direction of this industry segment (violation of the integrity and structure of the gap and the loss of intra - and inter-industry linkages, illegal privatization, as a consequence, the recession and the bankruptcy of many companies). This situation has been stabilized and the industry has acquired a positive trend of development recently (6–7 years) after the adoption and implementation of targeted programs in the field of agriculture and food market. At the moment, modern domestic animal husbandry is developing at a fairly steady pace, but there are also systemic problems: price disparity; low resource efficiency; high depreciation of production assets and means of circulation; shortage of free cash and low availability for large credit loans; lack of highly qualified specialists; lack of implementation of mechanization and automation systems; feed supply problems. It is worth noting that this range of problems is not widespread, but they occur in many livestock farms. All this requires modern production management and public administration to take effective measures to modernize industrial enterprises. In this context, the state should create optimal conditions for fruitful interaction between investors and potential customers, act as a moderator, guarantor and insurer of the fulfillment of all obligations and agreements. It is also required to subsidize the reimbursement of costs for technical and technological re-equipment of the industry from the Federal (20–35%) and regional (20-25%) budgets; to create effective sales channels; to support projects in the field of breeding and breeding work; to continue to pay subsidies to compensate for part of the cost of increasing the number of livestock; to justify a clear action plan aimed at implementing projects in the field of modernization and reconstruction of the sectoral sphere of meat livestock for the period up to 2025; to develop a system of measures and to intensify the process of creating livestock industry associations in the regions on the basis of integration and cooperation approaches.

Genetic parameters for atypical reproductive patterns in dairy cows estimated from in-line milk progesterone profiles

Our aim was to estimate genetic parameters of atypical reproductive patterns and estimate their genetic correlation with milk production and classical fertility traits for commercial dairy cows. In contrast with classical fertility traits, atypical reproductive patterns based on in-line milk progesterone profiles might have higher heritability and lower genetic correlation with milk production. We had in-line milk progesterone profiles available for 12,046 cycles in 4,170 lactations of 2,589 primiparous and multiparous cows (mainly Holstein Friesian) from 14 herds. Based on progesterone profiles, 5 types of atypical reproductive patterns in a lactation were defined: delayed ovulation types I and II, persistent corpus luteum types I and II, and late embryo mortality. These atypical patterns were detected in 14% (persistent corpus luteum type II) to 21% (persistent corpus luteum type I) of lactations. In 47% of lactations, at least 1 atypical pattern was detected. Threshold model heritabilities for atypical reproduction patterns ranged between 0.03 and 0.14 and for most traits were slightly higher compared with classical fertility traits. The genetic correlation between milk yield and calving interval was 0.56, whereas genetic correlations between milk yield and atypical reproductive patterns ranged between -0.02 and 0.33. Although most of these correlations between milk yield and atypical reproductive patterns are still unfavorable, they are lower compared with the correlations between classical fertility traits and milk yield. Therefore selection against atypical reproductive patterns may relax some constraints in current dairy breeding programs, to enhance genetic progress in both fertility and milk yield at a steady pace. However, as long as the target trait for fertility is calving interval, atypical reproductive patterns will not add additional value to the breeding goal in the near future due to the low number of available records.

Shielding the Unregistered Marks: A Judicial Analysis

With the advent and growth of economy, trade has been consistently on the rise & such rise has been increasing at a steady pace. To recognize a product as one’s own, the traders tend to associate themselves with the name by which their product is commonly known to the masses and it is this name which is regarded as Trade Mark. The Trade Mark Act, 1999 along with the Trade Mark Rules, 2017 gives an array of rights related to Trade Mark. The principal legislation along with the rules aims at providing plenty of rights to the registered trade mark holder. Going by this notion, does this mean that those who do not have a registered Trade Mark are not subjected to any right or they are disentitled from getting any right? Simply put, the answer is no, it isn’t so. Those who do not possess a registered trade mark can also stop the other person from using the identical or similar trade mark by invoking the Doctrine of Passing Off. This doctrine is based on the principle that no one has right to represent one’s goods as the goods of other. To get the remedy of passing off the plaintiff has to proof that he is the owner of the mark, and the same has gained reputation and goodwill in the market and that the misrepresentation which has been done by the defendant due has caused the plaintiff to have suffered irreparable losses and damages. This article delves into the concept of passing off , the main elements that constitutes passing off, the evolution of law of passing and the role of judiciary to uphold the concept of passing off in the Indian Judicial system. Though, the person who has not registered the trade mark gets the rights but these rights are per se limited. In order to prove that an action of passing off holds ground, one has to show that reputation and goodwill are attached to the trademark that is in question. For an action of Passing off there as such is no criteria or definition that is expressly provided in any of the statutes. So it becomes a cumbersome job for the plaintiff to proof the same and even judiciary takes different approaches in different cases with regard to a passing off action.

Analysis of the development of consumption and production of steel cord

Dynamics of development of sales of cars in the world is considered. The steady growth of car sales in the period 2013–2018 was determined. It is determined that in just nine months of 2018, 71 153 025 cars were registered in the world, which is 1.7% more than in the nine months of 2017, and according to the data of the ASEAN (European Association of car manufacturers), 11 951 957 cars were registered in the automotive market of the European Union countries in the nine months of 2018 in the EU, which is 2.5% more than in the same period of 2017. It is determined that despite some decline in production in Japan, South Korea, the rest of the traditional car manufacturers in Europe and North America show a steady pace of development, built and planned construction of new modern production of automotive equipment mainly in the Asian and South American regions. Analysis of the development of metal cord production showed that it is expected to increase investment in the production of metal cord with a planned increase in production by 22% until 2022. At the same time, the greatest growth should fall on passenger and lightcargo tires. Due to the increasing competition in the metal cord market, the development of the latter is in the direction of highstrength structures. The transition to a high-strength metal cord attracts the possibility of reducing the weight of tires, increasing their mobility and reducing the cost per unit weight of the metal cord with an equally strong replacement of structures in tires.

Water Resource Issue and Solution in Helmand – Afghanistan

Water is flattering more and more scares and precious resources as population and utilization hike. Elevation of those elements as well as technology and action to support fine water supplies is obligatory to get control of the condition. Agriculture usage of water consumption is almost 70 % of the water used throughout the world and more than half of this water is used for irrigation purpose.For solving the problem of water scarcity in agriculture, it is important to expand water saving irrigation which has become the need of the time. Currently there are varying types of water saving methods include drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation. Between these irrigation system drip irrigation system is the most successful way in arid and semi-arid areas and its make use of rate can get up to 90 %. Drip irrigation also known as trickle irrigation is a method which minimizes the use of water and filterers by admitting water to drip at a slow and steady pace to the plant root, rather onto the soil surface or openly onto the root zone, a network process of pipes, valves, emitters and tubing.Water is one of the most precocious assets that we have . The level to which water is abundant or hard to get, polluted or clean, advantageous or devastating, deeply effect the size and standard of human life. The relentless elevation in population and the resulting spurt in the request for water and the need to be cautious in organizing and the management of the restricted water resources.

Asymmetric Inheritance of Cell Fate Determinants: Focus on RNA.

During the last decade, and mainly primed by major developments in high-throughput sequencing technologies, the catalogue of RNA molecules harbouring regulatory functions has increased at a steady pace. Current evidence indicates that hundreds of mammalian RNAs have regulatory roles at several levels, including transcription, translation/post-translation, chromatin structure, and nuclear architecture, thus suggesting that RNA molecules are indeed mighty controllers in the flow of biological information. Therefore, it is logical to suggest that there must exist a series of molecular systems that safeguard the faithful inheritance of RNA content throughout cell division and that those mechanisms must be tightly controlled to ensure the successful segregation of key molecules to the progeny. Interestingly, whilst a handful of integral components of mammalian cells seem to follow a general pattern of asymmetric inheritance throughout division, the fate of RNA molecules largely remains a mystery. Herein, we will discuss current concepts of asymmetric inheritance in a wide range of systems, including prions, proteins, and finally RNA molecules, to assess overall the biological impact of RNA inheritance in cellular plasticity and evolutionary fitness.

Impact of Digital Marketing on the Growth of Consumerism

Consumerism plays a significant role in the transition taking place in a world where everything is digitized. Businesses have started adopting various digital marketing approaches, the most favoured methods being content, social and mobile marketing. Various channels that constitute digital marketing such as mobile, search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing and media marketing need to be utilised by companies effectively to reach out to their consumers and in also ensure the success of the business. All of these elements put together sum up a cohesive digital marketing strategy. The adoption of innovative strategies is crucial as companies stand the risk of losing competitive advantage in an increasingly commoditised world. As technological change continues its advancement in an exponential manner with new digital platforms and devices it is only wise for businesses to make haste in embracing this market evolution. Furthermore India’s consumption power is so big owing to its huge market of over billion people where the youth below twenty on its own are defined by a population of 600 million. The internet users are also growing at a fast and steady pace. This paves way to huge opportunities for the marketers to take advantage of as there is positive and continuous growth by the internet users. All this advancement brings in a tectonic shift between the businesses and the consumer until a balance is attained in the digital marketing approach. Consumption structure and consumer needs are changing and their desires are growing. The future of digital marketing will be based in how marketers create ways to puzzle together the new and traditional media into a perfect fix based on the market environment. This paper intends to identify the factors that influence consumers through the growth of digital marketing.

Proctectomy for rectal cancer – What is the data for open, laparoscopy and robotics?

Since the first reported radical resection by Miles in 1908, innovation in the field of rectal cancer surgery has continued at a steady pace. Improved preoperative staging, chemoradiation therapy for local advanced disease and pelvic MRI have drastically changed the course of disease for rectal cancer patients. Despite these important advances, surgical resection remains the cornerstone of treatment for rectal cancer. Surgical approaches to rectal cancer have also evolved to improve oncologic outcomes and reduced associated morbidity. Greater attention to pathologic assessment, total mesorectal excision, minimal invasive approaches, and minimizing the impact of sexual, bladder and bowel dysfunction have become the focus of modern-day rectal cancer surgeons. This chapter focuses on proctectomy for rectal cancer, current approaches and the high-level data to support their use.

Implementation of Deep Deterministic Policy Gradients for Controlling Dynamic Bipedal Walking.

A control system for bipedal walking in the sagittal plane was developed in simulation. The biped model was built based on anthropometric data for a 1.8 m tall male of average build. At the core of the controller is a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) neural network that was trained in GAZEBO, a physics simulator, to predict the ideal foot placement to maintain stable walking despite external disturbances. The complexity of the DDPG network was decreased through carefully selected state variables and a distributed control system. Additional controllers for the hip joints during their stance phases and the ankle joint during toe-off phase help to stabilize the biped during walking. The simulated biped can walk at a steady pace of approximately 1 m/s, and during locomotion it can maintain stability with a 30 kg·m/s impulse applied forward on the torso or a 40 kg·m/s impulse applied rearward. It also maintains stable walking with a 10 kg backpack or a 25 kg front pack. The controller was trained on a 1.8 m tall model, but also stabilizes models 1.4–2.3 m tall with no changes.

Effect of heart rate on shooting performance in elite archers

AimThe aim of the present study was to examine the effect of heart rate on shooting performance in elite archers. MethodsRegularly trained 13 (7 female, 6 male) international level elite archers performed a (specific) protocol twice with 3 days interval in an indoor area. In order to raise the heart rate (HR) and related physiological stress the archers performed 4 sets of steady pace shuttle runs (males 10 km h-1; females 8 km h-1) for 3 minutes in a 20 m course following with 1 minute stop during which they performed 3 shots to 18 meter distance indoor target, and followed by 1 minute rest, where blood sample was collected from ear lobe for blood lactate (BL) analysis. Heart rate monitors were used for heart rate (HR) recordings with 5 seconds intervals for resting, running, shooting, and recovery periods. The score of the shots were recorded as in the normal archery indoor competition. Average (overall) results were taken into account for statistical analysis. ResultsMean HR and BL during resting shoot in 1st and 2nd tests were 119.0 and 112.2 bpm (range 1st test: 101–142 bpm, 2nd test: 96–135 bpm) and 1.72 and 1.65 mmol.L−1 (range 1st test: 0.9–2.6 mmol.L−1, 2nd test: 0.8–2.3 mmol.L−1) respectively. Mean HR and BL during post exercise shooting in 1st and 2nd tests were 168 and 166 bpm (range 1st test: 152–191 bpm, 2nd test: 147–188 bpm) and 4.21 and 3.44 mmol.L−1 (range 1st test: 1.3–7.0 mmol.L−1, 2nd test: 1.3–5.7 mmol.L−1) respectively. There was not any statistically difference between shooting scores (27.50–27.23 points) after running exercise and resting (p > 0.05). ConclusionIt was concluded that, under simulated indoor competition environment, high HR values do not influence short distance shooting scores.

Contrato psicológico de funcionários de organizações públicas: o que constrói essa relação?

The purpose of this work was to identify the elements that make up the psychological contract of professionals with higher education qualifications and who previously worked in the private sector, but who now work in public organizations. The recent trend in the Brazilian job market favoring positions in the public sector, as evidenced by the growing interest shown in openings in this area, is the main motivation behind this present work, which seeks to understand what the main attractions of this particular kind of employment might be. The results of the survey that were carried out suggest that among the main attractions of working in the public sector include a steady pace of work, job stability and good wages and benefits, although aspects such as corporate image, professional challenges and incentives for furthering one’s education are also relevant according to those interviewed.

High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer: Basic Sciences, Clinical and Therapeutic Standpoints.

Among a litany of malignancies affecting the female reproductive tract, that of the ovary is the most frequently fatal. Moreover, while the steady pace of scientific discovery has fuelled recent ameliorations in the outcomes of many other cancers, the rates of mortality for ovarian cancer have been stagnant since around 1980. Yet despite the grim outlook, progress is being made towards better understanding the fundamental biology of this disease and how its biology in turn influences clinical behaviour. It has long been evident that ovarian cancer is not a unitary disease but rather a multiplicity of distinct malignancies that share a common anatomical site upon presentation. Of these, the high-grade serous subtype predominates in the clinical setting and is responsible for a disproportionate share of the fatalities from all forms of ovarian cancer. This review aims to provide a detailed overview of the clinical-pathological features of ovarian cancer with a particular focus on the high-grade serous subtype. Along with a description of the relevant clinical aspects of this disease, including novel trends in treatment strategies, this text will inform the reader of recent updates to the scientific literature regarding the origin, aetiology and molecular-genetic basis of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).

A semi-parametric mixed models for longitudinally measured fasting blood sugar level of adult diabetic patients

BackgroundAt the diabetic clinic of Jimma University Specialized Hospital, health professionals provide regular follow-up to help people with diabetes live long and relatively healthy lives. Based on patient condition, they also provide interventions in the form of counselling to promote a healthy diet and physical activity and prescribing medicines. The main purpose of this study is to estimate the rate of change of fasting blood sugar (FBS) profile experienced by patients over time. The change may help to assess the effectiveness of interventions taken by the clinic to regulate FBS level, where rates of change close to zero over time may indicate the interventions are good regulating the level.MethodsIn the analysis of longitudinal data, the mean profile is often estimated by parametric linear mixed effects model. However, the individual and mean profile plots of FBS level for diabetic patients are nonlinear and imposing parametric models may be too restrictive and yield unsatisfactory results. We propose a semi-parametric mixed model, in particular using spline smoothing to efficiently analyze a longitudinal measured fasting blood sugar level of adult diabetic patients accounting for correlation between observations through random effects.ResultsThe semi-parametric mixed models had better fit than the linear mixed models for various variance structures of subject-specific random effects. The study revealed that the rate of change in FBS level in diabetic patients, due to the clinic interventions, does not continue as a steady pace but changes with time and weight of patients.ConclusionsThe proposed method can help a physician in clinical monitoring of diabetic patients and to assess the effect of intervention packages, such as healthy diet, physical activity and prescribed medicines, because individualized curve may be obtained to follow patient-specific FBS level trends.

Development of the mHealth App Trustworthiness checklist.

BackgroundMobile health applications (mHealth apps) currently lack a consensus on substantial quality and safety standards. As such, the number of individuals engaging with untrustworthy mHealth apps continues to grow at a steady pace.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate end-users’ opinions on the features or actions necessary for trustworthy mHealth apps; and to convey this information to app developers via a succinct but informative checklist: the mHealth app trustworthiness checklist.MethodsThe checklist was formulated in three stages: (a) a literature review of studies identified the desirable features of the most prolific mHealth apps (health and fitness apps); (b) four focus group sessions with past or current users of these apps (n = 20); and (c) expert feedback on whether the checklist items are conceivable in a real-life setting (n = 6).ResultsFive major themes emerged from the focus group discussions: informational content, organizational attributes, societal influence, technology-related features, and user control factors. The mHealth app trustworthiness checklist was developed to incorporate these five themes and subsequently modified following expert consultation. In addition to the trustworthiness themes, we identified features that lie between trust and mistrust (limited digital literacy and indifference) as well as 10 features and actions that cause end-users to mistrust mHealth apps.ConclusionThis study contributes to the evidence base on the attributes of trustworthy mHealth apps. The mHealth app trustworthiness checklist is a useful tool in advancing continued efforts to ensure that health technologies are trustworthy.