• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.299-324
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• 2013

The current research focuses on the seismic vulnerability assessment of typical Southern Europe buildings, based on processing of a large set of observational damage data. The presented study constitutes a sequel of a previous research. The damage statistics have been enriched and a wider damage database (178578 buildings) is created compared to the one of the first presented paper (73468 buildings) with Damage Probability Matrices (DPMs) after the elaboration of the results from post-earthquake surveys carried out in the area struck by the 7-9-1999 near field Athens earthquake. The dataset comprises buildings which developed damage in several degree, type and extent. Two different parameters are estimated for the description of the seismic demand. After the classification of damaged buildings into structural types they are further categorized according to the level of damage and macroseismic intensity. The relative and the cumulative frequencies of the different damage states, for each structural type and each intensity level, are computed and presented, in terms of damage ratio. Damage Probability Matrices (DPMs) are obtained for typical structural types and they are compared to existing matrices derived from regions with similar building stock and soil conditions. A procedure is presented for the classification of those buildings which initially could not be discriminated into structural types due to restricted information and hence they had been disregarded. New proportional DPMs are developed and a correlation analysis is fulfilled with the existing vulnerability relations.

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.226-231
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• 2012

Autoparking assistant systems are a new and very promising area in automotive systems engineering. Since the traffic in modern cities becomes more intense, it is getting harder for a driver. Those systems are necessary for an inexperienced one to find a proper parking slot, or to park in a narrow parking slot without damaging his car or the vehicles around. The implementation of autoparking assistant systems may reduce drivers' stress and make parking generally more comfortable. In addition, such system can be extremely useful for senior or disabled people or for drivers with reduced mobility. The implementation of autoparking assistant systems may increase the safety of the parking, and therefore the development of such systems is a highly-demanded task. We introduce an intelligent autoparking system that automatically generates trajectory for parking using a fuzzy logic. This paper consists of three parts. In first part we introduce trajectory generation method for parallel parking without collisions. Fuzzy-logic based trajectory generation algorithm is described in second part. Experimental results presented in the third part of the paper prove effectiveness of the proposed method.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.263-267
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• 2015

Significant changes in the past year have taken place in the world of work that are bringing new challenges with regard to employee safety and health. These changes have led to emerging psychosocial risks (PSRs) at work. The risks are primarily linked to how work is designed, organized, and managed, and to the economic and social frame of work. These factors have increased the level of work-related stress and can lead to serious deterioration in mental and physical health. In tackling PSRs, the European labor inspectorates can have an important role by enforcing preventive and/or corrective interventions in the content and context of work. However, to improve working conditions, unilateral interventions in the context and content of work are insufficient and require adopting a common strategy to tackle PSRs, based on a holistic approach. The implementation of a common strategy by the European Labor Inspectorate for tackling PSRs is restricted by the lack of a common legislative frame with regard to PSR evaluation and management, the different levels of labor inspectors' training, and the different levels of employees' and employers' health and safety culture.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.143-150
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• 2021

This study aims to determine (1) the inhibiting factors and solutions in the development of eco-tourism, and (2) how green entrepreneurship can be used for eco-tourism development. The increasing issue of global warming is pushing awareness of environmental preservation. This condition changes the people's paradigm in traveling from the concept of mass-tourism to the concept of eco-tourism. The development of eco-tourism has consequences for entrepreneurial activities which is known as green entrepreneurship. This study is applied research conducted in East Lombok, one of the regions in Indonesia. The sampling technique used is purposive sampling covering a total of 34 informants. Data collection methods are carried out through interviews, observation, and documentation studies. Based on the data analysis, the findings of this study show that (a) inhibiting factors of eco-tourism development are limitation of eco-tourism knowledge, lack of awareness in environmental preservation, and absence of supporting government policy; and (b) solution for eco-tourism development discovered in this research is divided into five factors i.e., condition, demand, related industry and support, strategy, government. Besides, for applying the green entrepreneurship model i.e., developing the spirit of green entrepreneurship, training in making products and services that are environmentally friendly is needed.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.163-170
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• 2021

Peptides are naturally occurring biological molecules that are found in all living organisms. These biologically active peptides play a key role in various biological processes. The aim of this study is the extraction and the purification of bioactive materials that induce relaxation of an apical muscle from the pyloric caeca of Patiria pectinifera. The acidified pyloric caeca extract was partially separated by the solid phase extraction using a stepwise gradient on Sep-Pak C18 cartridge. Among the fractions, materials eluted with 60% methanol/0.1% trifluoroacetic acid was put a thorough of a series of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) steps to isolate a neuropeptide with relaxation activity. The purified compound was eluted at 28% acetonitrile in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid with retention time of 25.8 min on the CAPCELL-PAK C18 reversed-phase column. To determine the molecular weight and the amino acid sequence of the purified peptide, LC-MS and Edman degradation method were used, respectively. The primary structure of the peptide was determined to be FGMGGAYDPLSAGFTD which corresponded to the amino acid sequence of a starfish myorelaxant peptide (SMP) isotype (SMPb) found in the cDNA sequence encoding SMPa and its isotypes. In this study, a muscle relaxant neuropeptide (SMPb) has been isolated from pyloric caeca of starfish P. pectinifera. This is the first report of SMPb isolation on the protein level from P. pectinifera.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.362-368
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• 2022

The main purpose of the article is to study the key aspects of the use of modern technologies to ensure economic security in the context of achieving high efficiency of public administration.The economic security of the country is a multi-level system, the structure of which is determined by the peculiarities of the structure and key development priorities both in the regional aspect and nationally. The fundamental role of economic security is realized through a set of goals and objectives that are achieved in the process of ensuring it, among the main ones is the effective, dynamic and progressive development of the economy, which is impossible without the development of innovations. The essence of ensuring economic security from the standpoint of innovative development lies in the development of innovations that can increase the level of competitiveness of the state-level economic system, which necessitated an analysis of the conditions and dynamics of innovation development. As a result of the study, the basic aspects of the implementation of modern technologies were analyzed in the context of achieving high efficiency in public administration.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 2022

The attractiveness of e-sports games¹ and the way it is spread has changed in recent years. Instead of conventional approaches, such as advertising campaigns or televised events, spectators are increasingly drawn to online platforms, which offer more opportunities for communication. Besides live streaming services like Twitch. tv, where spectators can watch matches in real-time or via recorded videos, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are now adding e-sports related content to their networks [1]. Especially the combination of live streams on Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook opens many possibilities regarding how information is shared. This might be an efficient way of spreading attractiveness among female audiences. This paper focuses on the attractiveness of e-sports events in general for females. It has been hypothesized that there are certain factors that influence this attractiveness. Studying past research papers and online resources, three factors were identified: The players' behavior and charisma, the impact of social media as well as videogames themselves. It is found that females are attracted to e-sport games because they allow them to engage more in the game compared to other videogames. This is because there are no time constraints that require players to accomplish certain tasks within a specific time frame. As such, female gamers can choose how much effort they want to put into the game depending on their personal preferences.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.572-578
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• 2022

An organism's physiological processes and behaviors are regulated by neuropeptides and hormone peptides. The first neuropeptide identified from echinoderms is SALMFamide. The two most well-studied SALMFamide neuropeptides are S1 and S2, which possess myoactivity on apical muscle, tube feet, and the cardiac stomach of starfishes. However, neuropeptide candidates identified from SALMFamide's precursor protein sequence have not been investigated. This study aims to compare the bioactivity of SALMFamide neuropeptides from the starfish Asterias rubens using various starfish muscle preparations. In this study, the bioactivity of the L-type SALMFamide neuropeptides from the starfish A. rubens, AYHTGLPFamide (SALMFa-A) and the derivative AYHSALMFamide (SALMFa-B) was investigated. The neuropeptides were applied on Asterias amurensis apical muscle, tube feet, which revealed that the neuropeptides exhibit relaxing activity on apical muscle but no activity on tube feet. The native SALMFa-A peptide had lower relaxing activity on the apical muscle compared to the derivative peptide SALMFa-B. The relaxing activity of two neuropeptides also was compared with those on the apical muscle of Patiria pectinifera, which revealed relaxing activity as well as SALMFamide-S1 and S2 neuropeptides. Moreover, the investigation of SALMFa-A and SALMFa-B peptides' bioactivity on P. pectinifera cardiac stomach muscle also showed slight relaxing activity.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.40.1-40.12
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to critically evaluate the quality, reliability and educational content of the information of vital pulp treatment videos available on YouTube. Materials and Methods: The keywords "pulpotomy" and "pulp capping" were searched on YouTube on 5th July 2020, until 60 English language videos of each search term with a duration shorter than 15 minutes were acquired. Video characteristics were recorded and Video Power Index (VPI) was calculated. Reliability and educational quality of videos were evaluated using the Modified DISCERN score, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria and Global Quality Scores (GQS). Videos were categorized by uploading source. Results: Regarding pulpotomy, 31.7% of the videos were uploaded by specialists and 68.3% were directed by non-specialists. In the case of pulp capping, the corresponding percentages were 45% and 55%, respectively. Videos uploaded by specialists had significantly higher modified DISCERN, JAMA and GQS scores compared to those uploaded by non-specialists. Endodontists tended to have the highest reliability and VPI scores. Conclusions: YouTube videos on vital pulp treatment contain low educational quality or incomplete information. Low popularity of dental pulp capping and pulpotomy videos may be attributed to the specialized nature of these procedures. As YouTube represents an important source for patient information about different health topics, reliable informative videos should be uploaded by specialized dental professionals.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.167-177
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• 2017

Purpose: Breastfeeding is the best way to feed all infants, but not all infants can be (exclusively) breastfed. Cow's milk based infant formula is the second choice infant feeding. Methods: The safety of a new synbiotic infant formula, supplemented with Bifidobacterium lactis and fructo-oligosaccharides, with lactose and a whey/casein 60/40 protein ratio was tested in 280 infants during 3 months. Results: The median age of the infants at inclusion was 0.89 months. Weight evolution was in accordance with the World Health Organization growth charts for exclusive breastfed infants. The evolution of all anthropometric parameters (weight-for-length z score and body mass index-for-age z score) was within the normal range. The incidence of functional constipation (3.2%), daily regurgitation (10.9%), infantile crying and colic (10.5%) were all significantly lower than the reported median prevalence for a similar age according to literature (median value of 7.8% for functional constipation, 26.7% for regurgitation, 17.7% for infantile colic). Conclusion: The new synbiotic infant starter formula was safe, resulted in normal growth and was well tolerated. Functional gastro-intestinal manifestations (functional constipation, regurgitation and colic) were significantly lower than reported in literature. Synbiotics (Bifidobacterium lactis and fructo-oligosaccharides) in cow's milk based infant formula bring the second choice infant feeding, formula, closer to the golden standard, exclusive breastfeeding.