Hasil untuk "Information resources (General)"

Ahmad Kalate Sadati, Maliheh Alimondegari, Behnam Honarvar et al.

Objective(s): Childbearing is an indicator of sustainable development for countries that have a low level of succession. Since fertility in Iran has reached below the replacement level, it seems necessary to analyze and discover the causes of childlessness in order to improve it by removing the obstacles. Considering the decreasing trend of fertility in Fars province, this article seeks to analyze the cultural factors related to this phenomenon among married men and women. Methods: A qualitative study conducted in Fars province in 2023. The participants were married men and women without or with one child, and the data were collected using a semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was done by grounded theory method. Results: The data analysis showed that the participants were facing anxiety and suspense in having children. This means that having children was considered a process accompanied by fear and anxiety, and for this reason, despite the desire to have children, this process remains in a state of suspension. The categories of this anxiety and suspense were: individualism (the growth of individual values among couples), cultural reflection (a different look at culture and the transformation of cultural values), risk perception (worry about living in a risky society) and gender inequality (the inequality of tasks between men and women). Conclusion: Childbearing in Iran's transitioning society is complex and related to multiple social and cultural implications. Although policymaking is effective on economic dimensions, it seems that more complex social and cultural contexts are involved, which require the attention of policymakers.

Sonali Kadam, Sangram Patil, Kavita Sawant, Sae Jamdade, Apurva Gadilkar, Chahal Ohri, Namrata Rathi and Jotiram Gujar

Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) classification is essential for monitoring environmental changes, managing resources, and planning sustainable development. However, accurate classification remains challenging because of the diversity of landscapes and the computational demands of processing large datasets. Among various machine learning (ML) algorithms, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Random Forest (RF), and Classification and Regression Trees (CART), RF and CART were chosen for this study because of their robustness, simplicity, and efficiency in handling complex LULC classification tasks. This study focuses on the Brahmani-Baitarani River Basin, a region known for its environmental significance and susceptibility to land-use changes. Using remote sensing data from Landsat 8, Landsat 9, and Sentinel-2 satellites, a comparative analysis of RF and CART was conducted to evaluate their LULC mapping performance. The datasets were processed and analyzed on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform using multi-temporal image data and advanced filtering techniques. The results revealed that RF consistently delivered higher classification accuracy than CART, making it a reliable choice for LULC studies in dynamic and heterogeneous landscapes. By integrating high-resolution satellite imagery with ML algorithms, this study provided detailed insights into the spatial distribution of land use across the Brahmani-Baitarani Basin. These findings have practical applications in urban planning, natural resource management, and environmental conservation, and offer valuable information for decision-makers and researchers working to address global environmental challenges.

Yuanyuan Qin, Biheng Feng, Qingjiang Cai et al.

Abstract Background Financial resources beyond housing may influence survival in later life. Given China’s rapid population aging and high home ownership, focusing on non-housing assets can clarify wealth–health links. We therefore examined the association between total non-housing assets and all-cause mortality among Chinese middle-aged and older adults. Methods A nationwide cohort of 12,670 adults (aged 45–85) was established using the harmonized CHARLS dataset (2011–2018). All-cause mortality was ascertained through 2020 by supplementing harmonized data with vital status information from the raw CHARLS 2020 wave. The main exposure was total non-housing assets. In addition, non-housing assets were combined with household consumption (median split) to create four joint groups: Group 1 (low assets/low consumption), Group 2 (low assets/high consumption), Group 3 (high assets/low consumption), and Group 4 (high assets/high consumption). All-cause mortality was tracked. Baseline characteristics and mortality were presented by asset quartile and asset consumption group. Survival curves, Cox models (adjusted for confounders), and restricted cubic splines assessed associations. Subgroup and interaction analyses, especially for marital status, were visualized using forest and stratified plots. Results During a 9-year follow-up, 2,418 deaths occurred. Higher total non-housing assets were associated with lower mortality: Q4 (highest) vs. Q1 (lowest), adjusted HR = 0.79 (95% CI 0.68–0.91). In fully adjusted models, we also observed a graded inverse association across asset–consumption groups (P for trend < 0.001); high-consumption categories remained protective (Group 2: HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.74–0.97; Group 4: HR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.65–0.85). Marital status showed a significant interaction with asset level (P‑interaction < 0.001). Conclusions Greater non-housing assets was associated with lower mortality. Marital status has a significant interacting effect on this association. Focus should be on vulnerable elderly groups with middle-low assets, low consumption, or those who are non-married.

Marie-Lee Yous, Rose McCloskey, Abigail Wickson-Griffiths et al.

Background: With a large burden of suffering and death in 2020 due to COVID-19 in long-term care (LTC) homes resulting in restrictions of visitations, there is a need for a formal virtual intervention to support families/friends (i.e., care partners) and residents around palliative care, including planning for end-of-life when outbreaks like these occur. The LTC Palliative Toolkit includes informational resources for care partners, residents, and healthcare providers about the trajectory of life-limiting chronic illnesses (i.e., frailty, dementia, heart failure, kidney disease, lung disease) and Palliative Care Conferences (PCCs). Objective: To evaluate the impact of the LTC Palliative Toolkit on preparedness for end-of-life and satisfaction with information and to explore the experiences of care partners and residents with the virtual delivery of the components of the LTC Palliative Toolkit (i.e., informational pamphlets and PCCs). Methods: A multiple methods design was employed. Three LTC homes, one from each province (Ontario, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan, Canada), were selected to reflect diverse contexts (e.g., ownership, staff turnover, facility size, and location). Caring Ahead surveys focusing on actions, dementia knowledge, communication, and emotions and support needs were conducted with care partners before and after PCCs to evaluate how prepared they felt about their relative or friend’s end-of-life and their satisfaction. Some care partners and residents completed telephone semi-structured interviews to explore their experiences with care received. Results: Survey findings revealed only one statistically significant improvement after the intervention period, an improvement in the emotion and support needs domain following PCCs, with baseline and follow-up mean scores of 6.08 (SD = 1.06) and 6.35 (SD = 1.16), respectively ( p  = 0.016). Qualitative interviews identified that the LTC Palliative Toolkit was a valuable intervention for both care partners and residents. Conclusion: The LTC Palliative Toolkit is suitable for use in any context and demonstrated high acceptability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

André Mota Alves, Marcos Vinícius Teles Gomes, Uedson Pereira Jacobina et al.

Abstract Isopods of the suborder Cymothoida include ectoparasite species that cause physical damage and affect the development of the host by feeding on blood and tissues. On fishes, these parasites attach themselves to the skin, fins, gills, and oral cavity using claws on articulated legs. The ability to remain hidden in cavities even after the fish is caught enables isopods to be transported to new areas along with the host, making these parasites potential co-invaders. Understanding the role and environmental impact of parasites is essential, although research on parasitism in the context of biological invasions lags in comparison to general research on such invasions. Previous records indicate only two species of parasitic isopods in the São Francisco River basin. However, the present study reports the first record of two other species (Braga patagonica and Braga nasuta) on Pygocentrus piraya and in the basin itself. This demonstrates a lack of knowledge regarding fish parasites in the region, despite the presence of other parasites. Collaborations with research groups conducting fish sampling in the basin can contribute to expanding knowledge on these parasites and the training of human resources in fish parasitology. The present study provides important information on the presence of unidentified parasitic isopods on fishes in the São Francisco River basin, underscoring the need for further studies and expanding the geographic distribution of these parasites, as well as the host list for these isopods.

Fausta Gantús, Alicia Salmerón

La prensa electoral o de coyuntura en el siglo XIX remite a un tipo específico de impresos partidistas de corta vida: los generados en torno a las elecciones. Estos periódicos tenían la peculiaridad de asumir un carácter electoral, partidista y militante: fueron creados para impulsar las candidaturas y agendas de grupos o partidos de cara a los comicios en juego. Este artículo es un acercamiento al tema y se enfoca en dos prácticas propias de ese tipo especial de impresos a partir de la experiencia del México de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, décadas en que cobraron fuerza un par de estrategias periodísticas: la asociación directa de la prensa de coyuntura con clubes electorales y su apoyo en la sátira visual para tomar parte en las elecciones.

Duane Victor Knudson

Research in interdisciplinary fields like biomechanics is published in a variety of journals whose visibility depends on bibliometric indexing that is often driven by citation analysis of bibliometric databases. This study documented variation in publication metrics and research subject categories assigned to 14 biomechanics journals. Authors, citation, and citation rate (CR) were collected for the top 15 cited articles in the journals retrieved from the Google Scholar service. Research subject categories were also extracted for journals from three databases (Dimensions, Journal Citation Reports, and Scopus). Despite the focus on biomechanics for the journals studied, these biomechanics journals have widely varying CR and subject categories assigned to them. There were significant (p=0.001) and meaningful (77-108%) differences in median CR between average, low, and high CR groups of these biomechanics journals. Since CR are primary data used to calculate most journal metrics and there is no one biomechanics subject category, field normalization for journal citation metrics in biomechanics is difficult. Care must be taken to accurately interpret most citation metrics of biomechanics journals as biased proxies of general usage of research, given a specific database, time frame, and area of biomechanics research.

Wenyu Zhang, Yu Shen, Xuanyuan Wang et al.

As the main body of resource aggregation, Virtual Power Plant (VPP) not only needs to participate in the external energy market but also needs to optimize the management of internal resources. Different from other energy storage, hydrogen energy storage systems can participate in the hydrogen market in addition to assuming the backup supplementary function of electric energy. For the Virtual Power Plant Operator (VPPO), it needs to optimize the scheduling of internal resources and formulate bidding strategies for the electric-hydrogen market based on external market information. In this study, a two-stage model is constructed considering the internal and external interaction mechanism. The first stage model optimizes the operation of renewable energy, flexible load, extraction storage, and hydrogen energy storage system based on the complementary characteristics of internal resources; the second stage model optimizes the bidding strategy to maximize the total revenue of the electricity energy market, auxiliary service market and hydrogen market. Finally, a typical scenario is constructed and the rationality and effectiveness of the strategy are verified. The results show that the hybrid VPP with hydrogen storage has better economic benefits, resource benefits and reliability.

Hengdong Feng, Xiaoguang Zhang, Ying Nan et al.

Ecological sensitivity is one of the important indicators of regional ecological fragility, which can represent the sensitivity of ecosystems to natural environmental conditions and human activity disturbances in the region. In this study, the ecological sensitivity of land resources in the Tumen River Basin of China was quantitatively evaluated by taking 3 ecologically sensitive impact types, including the natural environment, human disturbance, and soil erosion, as evaluation criteria, and 11 ecologically sensitive factors were selected to build an evaluation system using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, to determine the weights of the evaluation factors, combined with geographic information system (GIS) technology. The results show that: (1) Among the three types of ecological sensitivity factors, the influence of human disturbance is the most obvious, and the two factors of land use type and distance from construction land have the highest weights in the comprehensive ecological sensitivity evaluation. (2) There are no extremely sensitive areas or insensitive areas in the Tumen River Basin in China. Highly sensitive areas account for only 0.59% of the total area and are mainly concentrated in the lakes, rivers, and reservoirs in the study area. Moderately sensitive areas account for 54.12%, which are concentrated in the central part of the Tumen River Basin Slightly sensitive areas are mainly located in the mountainous areas in the north and south of the study area. (3) Among the various land resource types, the proportion of slightly sensitive areas and moderately sensitive areas of woodland is close (about 50%), while cultivated land, grassland, construction land, and bare land are mainly moderately sensitive areas (73.95%, 82.07%, 96.59%, and 78.78%), and water bodies are mostly distributed within highly sensitive areas (60.97%), and all wetlands with the smallest area are moderately sensitive. The results of the study can provide data support and a scientific basis for regional ecological protection and development planning.

Dominique Desbois

Andrey Dmitrievich Starovoytenko

<p>Despite the enormous amounts of human resources engaged in warehousing, warehouse labor remains virtually invisible to the public, both among consumers and in the academia. A lot of research is dedicated to the transformation of labor relations within platform economy, including precarity and “uberization” of labor, as well as digital technology-mediated surveillance and control over employees during working hours. At the other “pole” are numerous studies on the informal (“garage”) economy. <br>This article is based on a 1.5-month ethnography I conducted in the summer of 2021 in the warehouse complex of a prominent Russian marketplace. Engaging in a dialogue with both “poles” mentioned, my observations in the warehouse suggest the simultaneous coexistence of two realities. The first deals with various forms of digital control of employees, ranging from access to the workspace to the regulation of output and eventual earnings. The second is predominantly informal and is based on the deliberate restriction of workers' access to “rare” resources (“work”) and information (“details”). Here I attempt to show the complex, at times conflicting interaction of formal and informal components of warehouse labor, combining the neo-Marxist conceptual apparatus with the metaphor of C. Geertz's “bazaar economy”.</p>

Meng Sun, Zheng Li, Jingyuan Li et al.

The variations of neutral temperature in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region, during the 7–8 September 2017 intense geomagnetic storm, are studied using observations by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument onboard the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. They are also studied using simulations by the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIMEGCM). The neutral temperature data cover the altitudes from 80 km to 110 km between 83° N and 52° S latitude, obtained from both SABER observations and model simulations. The SABER observations reveal that temperature increases (the maximum increase is larger than 35 K at ~108 km) and decreases (the maximum decrease is larger than 20 K at ~105 km) during the geomagnetic storm. The storm effects penetrate down to ~80 km. In observations, temperature variations corresponding to the storm show hemispheric asymmetry. That is, the variations of temperature are more prominent in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere. Conversely, the TIMEGCM outputs agree with the observations in general but overestimate the temperature increases and underestimate the temperature decreases at high and middle latitudes. Meanwhile, the simulations show stronger temperature decreases and weaker temperature increases than observations at low latitudes. After analyzing the temperature variations, we suggest that vertical winds may play an important role in inducing these significant variations of temperature in the MLT region.

Konstankiewicz, Marek

Provisions of Polish law of significance to archival activities Legal provisions significantly affect archival activities, including the state of preservation and availability of archival materials. This article presents the provisions of generally applicable law in Poland as of 1 September 2020, taking into account provisions directly related to the structure of archival institutions, the protection of archival materials and the processes of shaping, developing and sharing of archival resources. These provisions can be found in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the Act on National Archive Resources and Archives of 1983 with secondary legislation, a range of other acts and secondary legislation to them, numerous international agreements and legal acts of the EU. It is particularly interesting that there is an increase in the number of regulations which treat archives together with other cultural assets, which locate the activities of archives in the area of general access to information. A major challenge is the dispersion of these norms across many legal acts, as well as frequent and fragmentary amendments to them. Some areas of legal regulations require more in-depth research, especially in terms of their actual impact on the activities of archives. This reflection may be useful in methodological discussions, educating archive staff at all levels and formulating proposals for legislative amendments.

najme mansouri, Behnam Mohammad Hasani Zade, mohammad masoud javidi

The increasing popularity of cloud computing environments makes task scheduling as a critical problem and a hot research topic. It is necessary to decrease the energy related costs and enhance the lifespan of high performance computing resources used in cloud data centers. Moreover, the high quality of security service is increasingly critical for security-sensitive applications that work with large-scale data files such as bioinformatics. We propose a new task scheduling algorithm that includes: 1) analyzing task execution time based on the load of data centers; 2) modeling the resource utilization; 3) calculating security cost based on the failure probabilities; 4) evaluating power consumption based on the linear model; and 5) analyzing the closeness centrality of data centers to improve data retrieval time. Finally, it designs a fuzzy inference system with five inputs (i.e., total execution cost, resource utilization cost, security cost, energy consumption, and centrality) in order to assign a merit value to each data center for task execution. Cloud is a dynamic environment and there is not accurate information at every moment. Therefore, fuzzy inference is a good choice for predicting the behavior of the system and scheduling decisions. The simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm obtains superior performances respectively in waiting time, success rate, energy consumption, and degree of imbalance around 14%, 12%, 15%, 11% on average than other similar methods under high load condition. Consequently, the proposed strategy has potentials to enhance the performance of QoS delivery since it can effectively utilize cloud resources.

María Antón Pardo

Species richness is not homogeneous in space and it normally presents differences when comparing among different sites. These differences often respond to gradients in one or several factors which create biodiversity patterns in space and are scale-dependent. At a local scale, diversity patterns depend on the habitat size (species-area relationship), the productivity, the environmental harshness, the frequency and intensity of disturbance, or the regional species pool. Regional diversity may be influenced by environmental heterogeneity (increasing dissimilarity), although it could act also at smaller or larger spatial scales, and the connectivity among habitats. Finally, at a global scale, diversity patterns are found with the latitude, the altitude or the depth, although these factors are surrogates for one or several environmental variables (productivity, area, isolation, or harshness).

Denisse Soraya Lindao Bravo, Cecilia Ivonne Narváez Zurita, Juan Carlos Erazo Álvarez

The current economic situation of the banana sector requires seeking strategies to obtain profitability. In the past, the profit margin was determined by the price of the product minus costs and expenses; Currently, the desired profit margin is taken in relation to the price of the good, that is, it depends on the management of the administrator to control costs and expenses. Strategic management accounting goes beyond traditional accounting, rationing and providing important information for decision making. In this context, this article aims to design a strategic management accounting system for the optimization of costs and expenses in the banana exporter Novamerc S.A. The system includes planning and control tools, with a view to effective and efficient management of resources, such as the budget, the objective costing model, breakeven point, among others.

Joyce Barbosa Carneiro, Samuel Pereira de Vasconcelos, Bruno Araújo Araújo

The culture of mobility associated with the accelerated growth of the use of cellular devices has enabled people to interact using different languages. Therefore, working with digital cultures and mobile technologies at school is not only a new learning methodology, but also a way of thinking about this new individual of society. Considering the fact that many schools and teachers make use of outdated teaching methodologies, transformations are necessary for the teacher to adapt his resources used in class to the 21st century students. As for the teaching of technical drawing, it has always been a great challenge for teachers who teach such discipline. The Students’ capacity of abstraction is considered a turning point in the understanding of the concepts and techniques used for the execution of drawings. Thus, the teacher faces the challenge of developing Learning Objects so as to help students learn concepts presented in class. Therefore, the objective of this project was to develop Learning Objects, such as animated videos and GIFs for the Mechanical Technical Drawing disciplines of IFPB , using digital tools and appropriate software,. The selection of the workpieces was based on ABNT and literature review . The modeling and creation of animations / videos were especially developed so as to make it easier for students who have low 3D perception. A blog and sharing channel were created via YouTube, as a way of publishing the Learning Objects. Results indicated that Information and Communication Technologies was successfully used. Throughout the project, we have found that it is necessary that school institutions also change, andthink about teachers’ training courses as an integral part of their projects .

Yun Mi Yu, Euni Lee

Abstract Background While spontaneous reporting (SR) is one of the important public health activities for community pharmacists to guard patients’ safety, very few studies examined educational activities and its effects on knowledge about the SR system in Korea. This study described the association between knowledge of SR and educational activities targeting community pharmacists in Korea. Methods Self-administered questionnaires were collected between September 1, 2014 and November 25, 2014. The questionnaires addressed sources of SR knowledge (structured educational programs, personal access to educational resources, and information by social network services) and knowledge about the Regional Pharmacovigilance Center designated for community pharmacists, the legal responsibility clause on the serious event reporting, and the reportable items. The association between the knowledge of SR and the educational activities was evaluated using analysis of variance or chi-squared tests. Results Overall, 766 questionnaires demonstrated that mean age and length of career in community pharmacies was 45.7 years and 15.9 years, respectively. A structured educational program was used in 63.1% of the participants followed by a personal access to educational resources (56.3%). An educational program offered by the Korean Pharmaceutical Association was the most frequently mentioned program (56.8%), and no regional disparity in the program between the metropolitan and rural areas was observed. Pharmacists who had personal access to educational resources identified SR knowledge contents less correctly than those who used a structured educational program or both (p < 0.01). In general, pharmacists’ knowledge on reportable items was significantly lower with non-prescription drugs, nutritional supplements, and personal hygiene products as compared to their knowledge on prescription drugs, regardless of the type of education (p < 0.01). Conclusions Knowledge regarding SR was more likely to increase when a structured educational program was used alone or in combination with other educational methods. Knowledge on reportable items should be reinforced during the continuing education process.

Cenidalva Miranda de Sousa Teixeira, Juliana Rabelo do Carmo, Marcos Aurélio Pereira Veiga et al.

Estudo de softwares livres em bibliotecas escolares públicas na área Itaqui-Bacanga em São Luís, Maranhão. O uso da tecnologia da informação e comunicação fundamenta o processo de implementação da automação em unidades de informação, em especial nas bibliotecas escolares da rede estadual, com a finalidade de acesso, controle e recuperação da informação. Emprega a metodologia de pesquisa de campo, com abordagem exploratória e descritiva para coleta de dados. Aborda os conceitos e definições de softwares livres como solução para as problemáticas de organização e controle de acervo de bibliotecas em busca de propostas econômicas e/ou sem custos. Apresenta os significados e ideais do Free Software Foundation que norteia a política de uso dos softwares livres, expondo os graus de influência do uso das tecnologias nos processos desempenhados nas bibliotecas. Caracteriza o Projeto de Pesquisa em questão, e elucida os seus objetivos, universo de pesquisa e métodos para implementação de softwares livres, e os resultados parciais obtidos. Conclui indicando que a situação das bibliotecas analisadas reflete a falta de políticas públicas para essas organizações sociais, o que origina a necessidade de buscar algumas medidas para solucionar o problema da ausência de biblioteca ativas e com estruturas adequadas. Portanto, a automação de bibliotecas escolares, com uso de softwares livres, consiste em uma ferramenta eficaz para a organização, controle, disponibilização e recuperação da informação para os usuários no ambiente escolar.

Jonathas Luiz Carvalho SILVA

Resumo Este artigo trata das inter-relações entre informação e valor, apontando uma intrínseca relação entre ambos os termos. Apresenta como ponto de partida a seguinte pergunta: quais as inter-relações entre informação e valor e como elas produzem impactos na produção das tipologias valorativas da informação? O trabalho tem como objetivo abordar fundamentos sustentadores do conceito de valor, percebendo como este se inter-relaciona com o conceito de informação, considerando a formação das tipologias valorativas da informação no contexto causal e consequencial. A metodologia é concebida a partir de uma pesquisa bibliográfica, em diálogo com literatura documental diversa sobre os conceitos de valor e de informação, tanto da Ciência da Informação quanto de áreas afins, como Filosofia, Sociologia, Ciência Política, História, Educação, Linguística, Psicologia, Comunicação, entre outras. Conclui que a grande inter-relação entre informação e valor é constituída por meio das questões causais e consequenciais, sendo estas questões observadas sob uma perspectiva de construção social baseada em interações que estimulam a tomada de decisão dos sujeitos.