• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.65-78
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• 2023

Investigations on information security factors re- main elusive at small and medium enterprises (SMEs), es- specially for custom-made software solutions. This article aims to investigate, classify, adopt factors from recent literature addressing information security resources. SMEs al- ready have information security in place, but they are not easy to adopt through the negotiation processes between the in-house software development companies and custom-made software clients at SMEs. This article proposes a strategic framework for implementing the process of adoption of the information security factors at SMEs after conducting a systematic snapshot approach for investigating and classifying the resources. The systematic snapshot was conducted using a search strategy with inclusion and exclusion criteria to retain 128 final reviewed papers from a large number of papers within the period of 2001-2022. These papers were analyzed based on a classification schema including management, organizational, development, and environmental categories in software development lifecycle (SDLC) phases in order to define new security factors. The reviewed articles addressed research gaps, trends, and common covered evidence-based decisions based on the findings of the systematic mapping. Hence, this paper boosts the broader cooperation between in-house software development companies and their clients to elicit, customize, and adopt the factors based on clients' demands.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.71-81
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• 2024

Purpose: This study examines the impact of inclusive policies and green transformation on regional development of mining areas. Research design, data and methodology: We designed and utilized a structured questionnaire to collect data from a population of 300 individuals. The questionnaire was disseminated through Google Forms and consisted of five questions for each research variable. A total of 210 respondents completed the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 70%. The sample was diverse in terms of gender and educational level Of the 210 respondents, 113 were female (53.8%) and 97 were male (46.2%). In terms of educational background, the sample was composed as follows: 13 individuals with a Doctorate degree (6.2%), 56 with a Master's degree (26.7%), 97 with a Bachelor's degree (46.2%), 22 with a Diploma (10.5%), and 22 with a High School education (10.5%). Results: The research outcomes highlight the significant influence of inclusive policies on driving the Distribution of green economic transformation. Emphasizing the pivotal role of inclusive distribution strategies, especially within the context of mining areas, the study sheds light on their crucial contribution to fostering regional development. Conclusion: These findings hold valuable implications for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and academics promoting environmentally conscious economic transformations.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.125-133
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• 1990

The effect of dietary protein-energy restriction (PER) on the growth of long bone were examined in sheep during growing period and then following a cycle of reproduction. Three months-old female sheep were offered protein-energy restricted feed for 6 months (growing period), thereafter changed to normal nutritional conditions for 8 months (reproduction period). A half of animals in each group took pregnancy, parturition and lactation. The nutritional restriction reduced the growth in bone diameter more than that in bone length. Compensatory growth resulting from the removal of the nutritional restraint strongly occurred in bone diameter, especially the bone cortical width, as compared to bone longitudinal growth. A cycle of reproduction severely decreased the growth in the bone cortical width relative to that in the bone width, and little effect was found on the growth in bone length and bone mass. The depression of bone development by pregnancy and lactation tended to exhibit severer in animals having received normal nutrition than in those having received PER. Bone mineral density was not affected by the nutritional restriction. A cycle of reproduction had an adverse effect on the mineral density between in animals having received normal nutrition and in those having received PER.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8405-8410
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• 2016

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. Recent studies demonstrated that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs2293152 in signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and rs7574865 in signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4) are associated with chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-related HCC in the Chinese population. We hypothesized that these polymorphisms might be related to HCC susceptibility in Thai population as well. Study subjects were divided into 3 groups consisting of CHB-related HCC (n=192), CHB without HCC (n=200) and healthy controls (n=190). The studied SNPs were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The results showed that the distribution of different genotypes for both polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P>0.05). Our data demonstrated positive association of rs7574865 with HCC risk when compared to healthy controls under an additive model (GG versus TT: odds ratio (OR)=2.07, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.06-4.03, P=0.033). This correlation remained significant under allelic and recessive models (OR=1.46, 95% CI=1.09-1.96, P=0.012 and OR=1.71, 95% CI=1.13-2.59, P=0.011, respectively). However, no significant association between rs2293152 and HCC development was observed. These data suggest that SNP rs7574865 in STAT4 might contribute to progression to HCC in the Thai population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9511-9515
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• 2014

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a cancer of the bile duct epithelial cells. The highest incidence rate of CCA with a poor prognosis and poor response to chemotherapy is found in Southeast Asian countries, especially in northeastern Thailand and Lao PDR. Cathepsin B is a lysosomal cysteine protease which is regulated by cysteine proteinase inhibitors such as cystatin C. Elevation of cathepsin B levels in biological fluid has been observed in patients with inflammatory diseases and many cancers. We aimed to investigate the serum cathepsin B and cystatin C levels of CCA patients to evaluate the feasibility of using cathepsin B and cystatin C as markers for the diagnosis of CCA. Fifty-six sera from CCA patients, 17 with benign biliary diseases (BBD) and 13 from controls were collected and the cathepsin B and cystatin C levels were determined. In addition, cathepsin B expression was investigated immunohistochemically for 9 matched-pairs of cancerous and adjacent tissues of CCA patients. Serum cathepsin B, but not cystatin C, was significantly higher in CCA and BBD patient groups compared to that in the control group. Consistently, all cancerous tissues strongly expressed cathepsin B while adjacent tissues were negative in 7 out of 9 cases. In contrast, serum cystatin C levels were comparable between CCA and control groups, although serum cystatin C levels in the BBD group was higher than that in the control or CCA groups. When the serum cathepsin B to cystatin C ratio was calculated, that of the CCA group was significantly higher than that of the control group, and, although statistically not significant, the ratio of CCA group showed a trend to be higher than that of the BBD group. Thus, the cathepsin B to cystatin C ratio might be used as an alternative marker for aiding diagnosis of CCA.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1367-1370
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• 2015

Diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is difficult when patients do not show jaundice. The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of using the total serum bile acid (TSBA) level as an aid for the diagnosis of CCA in patients without jaundice. For this purpose, TSBA of the following groups were measured using a Beckman Synchron CX4 clinical chemistry analyzer: 60 cases of CCA with total serum bilirubin ${\leq}2mg/dL$ (low total bilirubin group, LTB); 32 cases of CCA with total serum bilirubin >2 mg/dL (high total bilirubin group, HTB); and 115 healthy controls. Liver function parameters such as serum cholesterol, albumin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were also examined. The results showed that the TSBA of both LTB and HTB groups of the CCA patients were significantly higher than that of the healthy controls. Also, significant correlation was observed between TSBA and total bilirubin levels in the HTB group of CCA patients. However, no such correlation was seen in the LTB group. The cut-off value of TSBA was determined for the LTB group of CCA patients using the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, and it was $6.05{\mu}mol/L$ with the sensitivity and specificity of 46.7% and 84.4%, respectively. In addition, the ALP level was correlated well with the TSBA level and ALP in HTB group was significantly higher than that of LTB group. Moreover, the combination of high TSBA and high ALP levels gave higher specificity up to 97.4%. TSBA might be useful for the diagnosis of CCA patients without jaundice.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.5097-5105
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• 2014

Knowledge of health and community psychology in health professionals influences psychosocial and community determinants of health and promoting participation in disease prevention at the community level. This paper appraises the potential of knowledge on psychology in health care professionals and its contribution to community empowerment through individual behavior change and health practice. The authors proposed a schematic model for the use of psychological knowledge in health professionals to promote participation in health interventions/disease prevention programs in developing countries. By implication, the paper provides a vision on policies towards supporting breast cancer secondary prevention efforts for community health development in Asian countries.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.739-747
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• 2000

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of dimethyl-sulfoxise (DMSO, 0, 5, 50, 100 and $500{\mu}M$) on the motility and acrosome reaction of the frozen-thawed spermatozoa from 3 different bulls (Bull A, Band C). Also we evaluated the developmental capacity of bovine embryos fertilized in a medium containing DMSO at various concentrations. DMSO had negligible effects on the sperm motility and acrosome reaction in all three bulls. However, the development rates from 2 to 16 cells stage on the 3rd day after insemination with 50, 100 and $500{\mu}M$ DMSO in Bull-B, and up to the blastocyst stage fertilized with 5, 50, 100 and $500{\mu}M$ in Bull-A were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of control ($0{\mu}M$ DMSO) group from each bull. Furthermore, the rates of blastocysts per cleaved embryos of 5 to $500{\mu}M$ DMSO group in Bull-A and of 5 to $100{\mu}M$ DMSO in Bull-C were also significantly higher (p<0.05) than those for their $0{\mu}M$ groups, respectively. These results indicate that DMSO at micromol level used for in vitro fertilization might stimulate the development of embryos for some bulls.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1125-1131
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• 2014

Background: Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease causing chronic ill health in humans with a serious consequences for socio-economic development in tropical and subtropical regions. There is also evidence linking Schistosoma mansoni to colonic carcinoma occurrence. The aim of this study was to evaluate some inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers, as well as L-fucose as linkers between intestinal schistosomiasis and colonic dysplasia development in mice. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted upon 80 mice that were divided the control group (10 non infected mice) and infected group which was subdivided into 7 sub-groups (10 mice each) according to the time of sacrifaction in the post infection (p.i.) period, 10 mice being sacrificed every two weeks from 6 weeks p.i. to 18 weeks p.i. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and pentraxin 3 (PTX3) levels were estimated by immunoassay. The L-fucose level, and thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities were also evaluated in colonic tissue. Results: The current study revealed statistically significant elevation in the studied biochemical markers especially at 16 and 18 weeks p.i. The results were confirmed by histopathological examination that revealed atypical architectural and cytological changes in the form of epithelial surface serration and nuclear hyper-chromatizia at 14, 16 and 18 weeks p.i. Conclusions: inflammation, oxidative stress and L-fucose together may form an important link between Schistosomal mansoni infection and colonic dysplasia and they can be new tools for prediction of colonic dysplasia development in experimental schistosomiasis.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.505-524
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• 2022

Floods represent extreme hydrological phenomena that affect populations, environment, social, political, and ecological systems. After the catastrophic floods that have hit Europe and the World in recent decades, the flood problem has become more current. At the EU level, a legal framework has been put in place with the entry into force of Directive 2007/60/EC on Flood Risk Assessment and Management (Flood Directive). Two years after the entry into force of the Floods Directive, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), has adopted a Regulation on the types and content of water protection plans, which takes key steps and activities under the Floods Directive. The "Methodology for developing flood hazard and risk maps" (Methodology) was developed for the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, following the methodology used in the majority of EU member states, but with certain modifications to the country's characteristics. Accordingly, activities for the preparation of the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment for each river basin district were completed in 2015 for the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Activities on the production of hazard maps and flood risk maps are in progress. The results of probable climate change impact model forecasts should be included in the preparation of the Flood Risk Management Plans, which is the subsequent phase of implementing the Flood Directive. By the foregoing, the paper will give an example of the development of the hydrodynamic model of the Zujevina River, as well as the development of hazard and risk maps. Hazard and risk maps have been prepared for medium probability floods of 1/100 as well as for high probability floods of 1/20. The results of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) recording were used to create a digital terrain model (DMR). It was noticed that there are big differences between the flood maps obtained by recording LiDAR techniques in relation to the previous flood maps obtained using georeferenced topographic maps. Particular attention is given to explaining the Methodology applied in Bosnia and Herzegovina.