Journal articles on the topic 'Lao (Tai people)'

There are some researches indicating the presence of Tai Yor or Lao Nyo or Nyo speakers in the Aranyaprathet district, Sa Keaw province of Thailand and in Banteay Meanchey province of Cambodia. This is surprising because as it is generally understood the Nyo people are predominantly located in Tha Uthen district, Nakhon Phanom province and in the Kantharawichai district, Maha Sarakham province. In order to investigate this discrepancy in 2012 the Lao Nyo was studied by the author in Banteay Meanchey province and data were gathered on the phonological system and basic words of the so called Lao Nyo dialect. The objectives of this paper are first to prove that the Lao Nyo dialect in Banteay Meanchey is neither Nyo nor Yo, and secondly to investigate some of the reasons underlying the identification of this Tai dialect as Lao Nyo. There are four sets of evidence presented here 1) a comparison of the tone boxes between Nyo, Yo, Lao Nyo and Lao; 2) a comparison of the development of proto Tai *əï,*eï,*oï in these dialects; 3) a comparison of the development of proto Tai *kw,*khw,*xw,*ɣw in these dialects; and 4) a comparison of the lexical items found only in Nyo. The results are 1) the tone box of Lao Nyo is different from both Nyo and Yo but similar to Lao; 2) proto Tai *əï,*eï,*oï become -aj in Lao Nyo, Lao and Yo but become -ə: in Nyo; 3) proto Tai *kw,*khw,*xw,*ɣw become kw, khw, khw, khw in Yo but become k, kh, kh, kh in Nyo, Lao Nyo and Lao; and 4) the lexical items which are found only in Nyo cannot be found in Lao Nyo and Lao. Based on these four sets of evidence it can be concluded that Lao Nyo in Banteay Meanchey is neither Nyo nor Yo but is instead a dialect of Lao. The explanation proposed to account for the identification of this Lao dialect as Nyo or Lao Nyo is that some tone shapes in Nyo and Lao Nyo are very similar and some are even identical to the tone shapes in Nyo. This is likely to explain why these Lao speakers tend to identify themselves as Nyo or Lao Nyo.

Nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, "Breaking Through the Sky" was produced by the team of Wuhan Tai Lao Animation Co., Ltd., China, fully demonstrating the charm of Chinese animation on the international stage, and highlighting the exchange and integration of artistic nationality and the world, at the same time, this animation has also been questioned by many people, considered to be not like the animation produced in China, lacking the taste of national elements, and the relationship between the national nature of art and the world has retriggered our thinking.

Vietnam represents a country with 54 ethnic groups; however, the majority (88%) of the population are of Vietnamese heritage. Some of the other ethnic groups such as Tay, Thai, Muong, Hoa, Khmer, and Nung have a population of around 1 million each, while the Brau, Roman, and Odu consist only of a hundred people each. Living in northern Vietnam, close to the Chinese border (see Figure 1), the Tay people speak a language of the Central Tai language group called Though, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di. Tay remains one of 10 ethnic languages used by 1 million speakers (Buoi, 2003). The Tày ethnic group has a rich culture of wedding songs, poems, dance, and music and celebrate various festivals. Wet rice cultivation, canal digging and grain threshing on wooden racks are part of the Tày traditions. Their villages situated near the foothills often bear the names of nearby mountains, rivers, or fields. This study discusses the status and role of the Tày language in Northeast Vietnam. It discusses factors, which have affected the habitual use of the Tay language, the connection between language shift and development and provides a model for the sustainability and promotion of minority languages. It remains fundamentally imperative to strengthen and to foster positive attitudes of the community towards the Tày language. Tày’s young people must be enlightened to the reality their Tày non-usage could render their mother tongue defunct, which means their history stands to be lost.

In northeastern Thailand or "Isan"; Lao, otherwise known as the northeastern Thai dialect, is used as a lingua franca by people living in the area, in which minority ethnic groups are scattered. Some of the ethnic groups speak Tai dialects/languages, such as the Nyo, Phuthai, Saek, Kaloeng, Yoi, as well as others. When tonal languages belonging to the same language family are spoken in an area with the respective speakers in constant contact, it is worthwhile to investigate to what extent their tonal systems and tonal characteristics have influenced each other. To achieve this, the earliest available literature has been examined to obtain what appear to be prototypical tonal systems for the three languages. The specific goal, then, was to determine how well these prototypes have been preserved in a region of high language contact.

The writing of Lao history presents peculiar problems, not because of the quantity and quality of sources available (though these leave much to be desired for certain periods), but because of the difficulty in deciding what is meant by “Lao history”. There is a problem in identifying the object of study. Is Lao history the history of those territories inhabited by ethnic Lao, or of the state of Laos as it has existed at various times under various names? The Lao have spread far beyond the geographical boundaries of present-day Laos: many more ethnic Lao live in Thailand than in Laos. Moreover the Lao state ceased to exist as a unitary entity in the early eighteenth century. What was reconstructed by the French nearly two centuries later and exists today is but a fragment composed of territories belonging to former principalities inhabited by diverse peoples, many of whom are not ethnic Lao. They are divided into three broad groups: the Lao Loum, or Lao of the valleys, comprise not only ethnic Lao but also upland Tai and account for about 65 per cent of the population; the Lao Theung, or Lao of the mountain slopes, speaking Mon-Khmer languages, account for around 25 per cent; while the Lao Soung, or Lao of the mountain tops, speaking Tibeto-Burman languages, number perhaps 10 per cent. The terms Lao Loum, Lao Theung and Lao Soung will be used to refer to these groups in this paper.

This research took 20 years, from 2000 to 2020 by modeling the time series “auto regressive distributed lag” (ARDL) to estimate long-term and short-term relationships. This study measures the level of work participation, health investment, education investment, and economic growth in Indonesia with a multivariate regression model.Finding of this research is human capital development can be established and encouraged through improving education and health and increasing employment opportunities so as to increase community work participation. Participation in work, education, and health can significantly encourage economic growth

Atsižvelgiant į tai, kad Lietuvoje dažnu atveju ikiteisminiai tyrimai dėl neapykantos kurstymo nutraukiami nepasiekus teismo, o teismuose didelė dalis asmenų, kurie kaltinami kurstę neapykantą, išteisinami nenustačius jų veiksmuose neapykantos kurstymo sudėties požymių, šiame tyrime aptariama neapykantos kurstymo kvalifikavimo Lietuvos teismų praktikoje problematika. Šio tyrimo tikslas yra atlikus sisteminę šios veikos analizę, įvertinti baudžiamosios atsakomybės už šiuos nusikaltimus taikymą EŽTT jurisprudencijos ir ultima ratio principo kontekste. Atliktas tyrimas parodė, kad nei Lietuvoje, nei tarptautiniu mastu nėra įtvirtinto bendro neapykantos kurstymo apibrėžimo, tačiau neapykantos kurstymas gali būti apibūdinamas kaip bet kokios formos neapykantos, nukreiptos prieš asmenį ar asmenų grupę, išsiskiriančią tam tikru požymiu, skleidimas, skatinimas ar pateisinimas. Neapykantos kurstymas tiek Lietuvos teisės aktuose, tiek tarptautiniuose dokumentuose, įtvirtintas kaip nusikalstama veika, už kurią privaloma bausti baudžiamosios teisės priemonėmis. Vokietijoje, Jungtinėje Karalystėje bei Danijoje neapykantos kurstymas gali pasireikšti asmens įžeidimu ar žeminimu, tačiau Vokietijoje kurstant neapykantą turi būti sutrikdoma visuomenės rimtis. Tuo tarpu, Latvijoje neapykantos kurstymas gali pasireikšti per asmenų teisių ribojimą ar privilegijų suteikimą. Panašiai neapykantos kurstymas vertinamas ir Prancūzijoje, kur jis gali pasireikšti asmenis diskriminuojant, tačiau reikalinga įrodyti, kad neapykantos kurstymas sukėlė realius pavojingus padarinius – diskriminaciją, neapykantą ar net smurtą. Neapykantos kurstymo kvalifikavimas Lietuvoje nevisiškai atitinka EŽTT praktiką, kadangi Lietuvoje neapykantos kurstymu laikytini konkretūs ir tiesiogiai kurstantys neapykantą teiginiai, kai EŽTT neapykantos kalba pripažįsta ir netiesioginį neapykantos kurstymą, be to, priešingai EŽTT praktikai, Lietuvoje dažnu atveju vieno neapykantą kurstančio komentaro negana baudžiamosios atsakomybės taikymui, nes baudžiamosios atsakomybės taikymas už neapykantos kurstymo nusikaltimus Lietuvoje suvokiamas kaip ultima ratio priemonė, kai neapykantos kurstymo veiksmų pavojingumą pagrindžia jų sistemingumas ir reali grėsmė baudžiamojo įstatymo saugomoms vertybėms.

The residents of Furukawa-cho, Hida City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan use cooperative learning during festival organization to preserve the various traditional arts of Hida Furukawa Festival, such as Hayashi. The goals of this study were to (1) analyze the aspects of cooperative learning of Seiryu-tai Hayashi learners involved in the Furukawa Festival, and (2) determine the effects of factors influencing cooperative learning on the aspects of cooperative learning among these learners. We applied grounded theory and conducted a field study on the six years of the Furukawa Festival and residents’ daily lives since 2014. We numbered, coded, and categorized text data, and classified the data using the KJ method. We applied the five elements of cooperative learning by Johnson and Johnson, and analyzed the cooperative learning processing of Seiryu-tai, considering five aspects: (1) cultivation and skills: to follow the norms of Hayashi learning and then cultivate the skills; (2) demonstration and imitation: the process of Hayashi learning without notation; (3) instruction and accompanying: elders addressed norms and demonstrated skills, providing comfort and encouragement; (4) experience and feeling: interacting with unqualified learners to experience the Hayashi atmosphere, and (5) others and interaction: experience of a different culture. From the analyses, we found that the five elements of cooperative learning in Hayashi cooperative learning provide new functions. We applied the five elements of cooperative learning to analyze the five aspects of Azure Dragon Stall’s Hayashi cooperative learning: (1) positive interdependence: deep interdependence exists in the core of the learning circle, and guarding and immersion are included; (2) individual accountability: achievement of following the norms, enhancing skills, and having a tacit agreement on the instrumental ensemble; (3) promotive interaction: five interactive types are influenced, including people who follow etiquette, people who need to be advised, people who imitate, people with tolerance, and people who interact; (4) the division of social skills into four types including playing, performing, senior, and foreign, and (5) group processing, which includes learners, instructors, senior learners, elders, youths, and foreign visitors, who jointly form the Hayashi learning circle.

The idea of a media lab is not strictly defined. Media labs, in general, are experimental projects combining creative, research and education activities. As some researchers have concluded, “Media lab is not a name, only a tag that you can describe a specific type of place and - as with tags - use freely, according to and contributing to its conceptual meaning.” The study will present the most contemporary, important theoretical issues regarding media labs which, by creating a platform for exchanging experience and knowledge between people representing different professional groups, such as programmers, culture animators and academic researchers, enable work on projects seeking convergence of knowledge, multimedia and technology. The authors will also focus on case studies to indicate the wide range of possibilities for applying this model of creative cooperation.

This study explores the conceptualisation of Manggarai people on lonto leok culture (LLC) as a responsive-sociologic customary law device in solving land conflict and maintaining social harmony in view of cultural linguistics. In terms of its focus, the study is a decriptive study. The procedures of research were field and library research. The data wera analyzed qualitatively by using inductive method as the analysis was started from the data to the theory or concept dealing with the conceptualisation of Manggarai people on the conceptualisation of Manggarai people on the LLC as a responsive-sociologic customary law device in solving land conflict and maintaining social harmony in view of cultural linguistics. The results of research show that there are several verbal expressions in Manggarai language in which their forms and meanings reflect the function of LLC as a responsive-sociologic customary law device in an attempt to solve land conflicts and maintain social harmony for Manggarai people. The verbal expressions are as follows: (1) Muku ca pu’u neka woléng curup, téu ca ambo néka woléng lako, (2) Ipung ca tiwu neka woleng wintuk, nakeng ca wae neka woleng tae, (3) Ase-kae ca sosor wae neka woleng tae, ase -ka’e ca natas labar neka woleng bantang, and (4) Padir wa’i, rentu sa’i, bantang cama, reje leles nai ca anggit, tuka ca léléng.The result of this study might be beneficial as a source of reference in designing the model of revitalizing the LLC.

Abstract Technology research and development often exclude older adults with disabilities from participating in the design process. As a result, technologies may not be useful or usable by older adults with diverse abilities. This symposium, featuring projects at the TechSAge Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center, highlights ongoing efforts toward inclusive design, representing unique approaches to engage older adults with disabilities and their stakeholders in the research and development of technology supports. First, Mitzner et al., will describe the development of an online, group Tai Chi intervention, and the integral involvement of older adults with mobility disabilities, the exercise program developers, and technology partner in all steps of the process. Exploring the potential of voice-activated assistants, like Amazon Alexa, to support health management activities of older adults with mobility disabilities, Kadlyak et al. will present findings from a needs assessment of the target population and user testing in the lab and home environments. Koon et al. will present findings from a subject matter expert interview study with caregivers and medical professionals designed to identify the scope of activity challenges among people aging with long-term mobility and sensory disabilities that should be explored in more depth through our future interview study with the target population. Sanford et al., will describe a student design competition and hackathon that incorporates immersive experiences with people aging with disabilities to inspire innovative design concepts that respond to the needs of real people. NIDILRR Project Officer, Anne Ordway, will serve as the discussant.

Electromagnetic fields are produced when some office, visual or sound devices are working. People, who are working long hours with computers, duplicators or watching TV, always complain of a headache or other troubles. This is a very big problem because electromagnetic fields are invisible and intangible, so people don't know how to protect themselves from electromagnetic fields. The level of electromagnetic fields was evaluated in a duplicator company “Baltijos kopija”. The following duplicators were measured and assessed: Rock hooper // mutton, Vario Print 2110, Color Laner Jet 8550N, Ricoh Aficio 1060, Docular 2060, Colorgrafx ×2, Oce 9400, Oce 9400 II. The investigation results are presented in diagrams. Santrauka Dirbant biuro vaizdo ir garso technikai susidaro elektromagnetiniai laukai. Daugelis darbuotojų, ilgai dirbančių kompiuteriais, kopijavimo aparatais arba daug laiko praleidžiančių prie televizoriaus, skundžiasi galvos skausmais ar kitais negalavimais. Tai jau tapo didele problema, nes elektromagnetiniai laukai yra nematomi ir nejuntami, tad darbuotojas nežino, kaip nuo jų apsisaugoti. Elektromagnetinių laukų stipriams išmatuoti ir įvertinti pasirinkta kopijavimo paslaugas atliekanti įmonė „Baltijos kopija“. Buvo išmatuoti ir įvertinti šių kopijavimo aparatų elektromagnetiniai laukai: Rock hooper // mutton, Vario Print 2110, Color Laner Jet 8550N, Ricoh Aficio 1060, Docular 2060, Colorgrafx ×2, Oce 9400, Oce 9400 II. Palyginimui įvairių kopijavimo aparatuose susidarančių elektromagnetinių laukų rezultatai pateikiami grafikais. Резюме Электромагнитные поля излучает видео-, аудиотехника и другая офисная аппаратура. Работающие долгое время на компьютере, копировальных аппаратах или проводящие время у телевизоров люди часто жалуются на головные боли или заболевания. Это стало серьезной проблемой, так как электромагнитные поля невидимы и незаметны для человека. По этой причине работники не знают, как защитить себя от их воздействия. Измерения и оценка электромагнитных полей проводились в компании „Baltijos kopija“. Для измерения и оценки электромагнитных полей были выбраны следующие марки копировальных аппаратов: Rock hooper // mutton, Vario Print 2110, Color Laner Jet 8550N, Ricoh Aficio 1060, Docular 2060, Colorgrafx ×2, Oce 9400, Oce 9400 II. Для сравнения результаты измерений электромагнитных полей представлены в виде графиков.

Nghiên cứu tác động của việc thu hồi đất để xây dựng nhà máy điện mặt trời đến chăn thả gia súc của cộng đồng đã được tiến hành tại xã Chư Gu, huyện Krông Pa, tỉnh Gia Lai năm 2018. Phương pháp nghiên cứu đánh giá nông thôn có sự tham gia đã được sử dụng tại 4 thôn, buôn bị ảnh hưởng bởi nhà máy. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy bò, dê là tài sản quí, được sử dụng trong các nghi lễ quan trọng của người dân tộc Jrai. Việc chuyển nhượng 7,2 ha đất để xây dựng nhà máy điện mặt trời đã tác động trực tiếp đến chăn thả gia súc, giảm lượng thức ăn tính theo vật chất khô 49,26 tấn/năm, làm giảm tiếp cận đến khu vực chăn thả phía sau, tăng lượng thức ăn thêm tại chuồng (rơm: 1,2 lần, cỏ trồng: 1,36 lần, cỏ cắt: 1,26 lần) so với năm 2017. Dự án đã làm mâu thuẫn liên quan đến chăn thả bò gia tăng, người dân không còn kết hợp được việc chăn thả và lấy củi, tai nạn đuối nước xảy ra nhiều hơn vào mùa mưa và tai nạn giao thông có xu thế gia tăng trên Quốc lộ 25. Khi nhà máy điện đi vào hoạt động, số lượng gia súc của 4 thôn, buôn giảm đáng kể, trong đó bò giảm 9,32% và dê giảm tới 42,13% so với đàn gia súc năm 2016. ABSTRACT The research on the impact of land acquisition to build Solar Power Station on community grazing lands was conducted in Chu Gu Commune, Krong Pa District, Gia Lai Province in 2018. The survey was carried out by using the participatory rural appraisal in 4 hamlets under the project area. The result indicated that cattle, goats are valuable assets, used in important festivals of the Jrai people. The land acquisition of 7.2 ha to build the Solar Power Station has a direct impact on grazing capacity, including reducing feed input of 49.26 tones dry matter/year, reducing access to the hill behind, increasing the number of feed supplements at the barn (rice straw: 1.2 times, elephant grass: 1.36 times, natural grass cut: 1.26 times) compared to 2017. The project also increased conflicts related to grazing that local people can no longer combine with grazing and firewood collection, drowning accident happened more and more in the rainy season and traffic accidents tended to increase on Highway 25. When the project operated, the number of animals in 4 hamlets decreased remarkably, of which cattle decreased by 9.32% and goats decreased by 42.13% compared to 2016.

Background Intertrochanteric fracture (ITF) is one of the most common injuries in older people and is more prevalent in females. Thus, we aimed to compare two proximal femoral nail screw positions (centre-centre and posteroinferior) in stable ITF types. Objectives To determine better techniques for screw placement, especially in the emergency department. Patients and Methods Prospectively and retrospectively, 76 (33 males and 43 females) patients aged > 55 years were registered; 44 of them were treated with proximal femoral nails with screw positions centre-centre inside the femoral neck (group A), and 32 patients treated with proximal femoral nail with screw positions posteroinferior inside the femoral neck (group B). They were followed up after 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively to compare screw position effect on implant failure and functional outcome using MHHS. The reduction quality was assessed using neck-shaft angle (NSA), while the quality of Fixation was assessed using tip-apex distance (TAD) and calcar tip-apex distance (CalTAD). Singh index (SI) was used for osteoporosis assessment. Results The mean age of patients was 72.93±8.4 (group A) and 70.13±6.86 (group B). There was no significant correlation in incidences of implant failure among TAD (<25 mm) and CalTAD (>25 mm) in group A. For group B in Cleveland index (CI) areas 8 and 9, TAD and CalTAD were ≥ 25 mm, and there were no correlations with end-result and implant failure. In group A, 2 cases of implant-related complications were recorded; in group B, one patient was recorded. The functional score was higher in group B. Fixation quality between the two groups remained comparable. Conclusion The functional outcome of group B was better with optimal surgical conditions. Both groups had comparable radiological and Fixation failure outcomes.

It is undeniable that there are various social conflicts in Indonesia which involve various groups of people such as the religious conflict in Poso (2001), in Sampit (2001), in Ambon (2002) and others. Most of them were caused by uncertain, unfair, and misused regulations on keeping people’s religious tolerance. It was also caused by the lack of people’s empowerment in keeping religious tolerance. This study aims to examine dalihan na tulo as a mechanism for resolving religious conflicts in the Mandailing community, North Sumatra. This research uses juridical empirical methods, consisting of anthropological and sociological law approaches. Data were collected by means of interviews and literature studies. The result of the research showed that Dalihan na Tolu tradition based-model of maintaining religious tolerance and resolving conflicts in religious believers was done by using the philosophy of Dalihan na Tolu, Pastak-pastakni Paradaton, Uhum dohot Patik and Tutur dohot Poda. There are three types of negotiation system in resolving the conflicts: Tahi Dalihan na Tolu, Tahi Godang Parsahutaon, and Tahi Godang Haruaya Mardomu Bulung (big negotiation among the neighboring villages). Anthropologically and sociologically that the Mandailing community has proven successful in using adat as a resolution of religious conflicts, so as to create peace and order as a function of law in society.

The study demonstrated the level of tax culture as the basis for tax compliance. In turn, the formation of a strong tax culture depended on certain factors. Therefore, there were statements that the degree of such a culture depends on the level of tax communication. To show this connection, this paper analyzed the content of text arrays and products of communicative correspondence by keywords income and asset declaration in the Google search system (content analysis). Results of the analysis demonstrated more than 160 news articles and numerous social media posts. Moreover, the study contains the analytics of social media powered by YouScan artificial intelligence platform. This paper also presents the analysis and results of the sociological survey, in which more than a thousand people participated in the two biggest cities in Kazakhstan. The data of the survey were analyzed by the software Statistica 10 – the statistical data analysis system. The survey showed low tax awareness of citizens, almost 72% of respondents did not know about the introduction of the declaration of income and welfare. The results obviously demonstrated that there is a positive correlation between investigated issues, and poor utilization of information and communications technology by the government. In this way, this paper explored the relationship between tax culture and tax communication, where the awareness of citizens could be a huge step in the formation of honest taxpayers and increase confidence in government institutions.

Attīstoties informācijas tehnoloģijām un digitālajiem risinājumiem, pieaug iedzīvotāju vēlme saņemt pakalpojumus elektroniski – vai tie būtu sadzīviska rakstura pakalpojumi vai valsts un pašvaldības iestāžu piedāvātie elektroniskie pakalpojumi. Lai persona varētu saņemt attālinātus iestāžu pakalpojumus, tai ir nepieciešams elektroniski identificēties. Personas veiksmīgas elektroniskās identifikācijas būtiskākās komponentes ir abu pušu saistību izpilde personas datu drošības jautājumos un pakalpojumu sniedzēja spēja tehniski nodrošināt personas elektronisko identifikāciju. Rakstā tiek apskatīti elektroniskās identifikācijas veidi, to raksturojums un tiesiskie aspekti, izvērtējot tiesisko regulējumu, pieejamo literatūru un aktuālo tiesu praksi elektroniskās identificēšanas jautājumos. Raksts ir balstīts uz autores izstrādāto maģistra darbu, kurā tika pētīti personas elektroniskās identifikācijas riski un tiesiskā regulējuma problemātika. With the development of information technologies and digital solutions, desire of people to receive services electronically increases – whether it is a domestic or an electronic service offered by state or municipal authorities. In order to receive services of authorities remotely, a person needs to be identified electronically. The most important components of a person’s successful electronic identification are the fulfillment of both parties’ obligations on personal data security issues and the ability of the service provider to technically secure the person’s electronic identification. The Author of the paper has analysed types of person’s electronic identification, their characterisation and legal aspects, evaluating legal regulation, available literature and current court practice in electronic identification issues. The article is based on the author’s Master’s thesis, which explored the risks of electronic identification of a person and the issues of legal regulation.

Introduction: Lateral fractures of proximal femur are the most frequent fractures in elderly people. Internal fixation using medullary nails is the gold standard of treatment (Gamma 3 nail is the most implanted device) due to reduced incidence of complications than other devices. We report our experience in treating this kind of fractures with Gamma 3 nail, between January 2015 and December 2021. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients treated in our orthopaedic department; level of clinical care is III: 559 patients (431 females and 128 males, with an average age of 85.3 years) with lateral femoral neck fracture. All patients were surgically treated with Gamma 3 standard nail (SGN). We evaluated preliminary X-rays to classify fractures, according to AO-OTA classification and post-operative X-ray to verify cephalic screw position site, according to areas described by Cleveland in 1959: we measured tip-to-apex distance (TAD) and tip-to-apex calcar referred distance (CalTAD). Finally Chang reduction quality criteria (CRQC) for fracture reduction of trochanteric fractures were determined using preoperative or postoperative Antero-Posterior (AP) and lateral radiographs in a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). Incidence of cut-out was evaluated in relation with these parameters. Patients were divided into 2 groups: first group had cephalic screw in optimal positions (5-8-9), the other group had cephalic screw in other positions. Results: In 328 patients (58.7%) screw was in positions 5-8-9, in 231 patients (41.2%) screw was in not-optimal position. Median TAD was 19.1 ± 7.0 mm (range = 0.0–50.5); in 463 patients (82.8%) TAD was ≤ 25 mm. Median CalTAD was 21.4 ± 4.7 mm (range = 5.7–39.2); in 105 patients (79.4%) CalTAD was ≤ 25 mm. Cut-out was observed in 8 cases (1.43%). Multivariate analysis showed a significant correlation (p < 0,05) between incidence of cut-out and fracture type 31A2 and with TAD values >25 mm. Cephalic screw position did not influence incidence of cut-out. Discussion: In order to obtain fracture healing with a low risk of failure, in particular cut-out, it is necessary to obtain good reduction of fracture and optimal lag screw position in order to achieve a TAD inferior to 25 mm.

Phayao is considered to be a city with a history of more than 700 years after Chao Luang Wong had evacuated people from Lampang and relocated them the city of Phayao. In order to gain useful information to promote cultural tourism, a study of Phayao’s commercial community included its history, architectural styles, and the perceptions of people in the community. The methods used for research were collecting historical and physical data as well as conducting surveys. The area studied was divided into four groups which were determined by the characteristics of the area. Based on the study of data, there are three existing commercial communities known as the following: the Sop-Tam commercial community of Tai Yai and Burmese which is currently closed, the Nong Ra-bu community in which most of the shops have been operated by Hainan Chinese, recently it has decreased in significances from the prosperity of the past, and the Mueang Phayao Market community operated by Teochiu Chinese, which is now the main commercial center of Mueang Phayao. There are four patterns of shops and houses. From the survey and interviews it was found that the area along Phaholyothin Road has stories that can be conveyed linking the two viable commercial communities with its architecture and places. This indicates that the stories can create perceptions of the commercial routes that could be useful in cultural tourism.

Rural coastal communities face unique disaster risks that will impact interventions throughout the disaster risk reduction (DRR) cycle (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery). At the same time, these communities are experiencing an ageing population. As climate change contributes to rising sea levels and an increase in the intensity and frequency of climate-related disasters, older populations living in rural coastal communities face heightened risks. This is a qualitative case study examining the ageing in place (AIP) experiences of older people living in a disaster-prone rural coastal community in Hong Kong—Tai O Village. Findings highlight that: (i) a critical dimension of AIP is their ability to sustain and continue their work, which played a multidimensional role, (ii) local community-based organizations play an instrumental role in providing social support in a disaster context, (iii) more support and resources for mitigation activities are needed, and (iv) while supports exist for AIP and in a disaster situation, the older residents may not utilize such supports. In addition to informing age-friendly DRR programmes and research, these findings inform AIP practices, policies, and research relevant to rural coastal communities.

We examine police decision making by focusing on police stories and drawing together contemporary thought about identities and police subculture. Our inquiry suggests that police decision making is both improvisational and patterned. Cops are moral agents who tag people with identities as they project identities of their own. They do engage in raw forms of division or stereotyping, marking some as others to be feared and themselves as protectors of society, while exercising their coercive powers to punish “the bad.” Due, in part, to the many ways that they identify themselves, cops also connect with people as unique individuals, including individuals whose categorical identities (e.g., drug dealers) put them at the margins of society. Rather than using their coercive powers to repress these individuals, cops infuse them with certain virtues (e.g., good family men) while cutting them breaks. As they complicate representations of themselves, cops also project complex notions of law and legality. Moral discourse seems to infuse their judgments, while they invoke law strategically as a tool to enforce their moral judgments.

Plants are important elements of open-green areas in the urban space and perception of an environment. Some plants have seasonal colour changes. The identification of these changes and clarification of the effects on people are quite important for landscape architecture. Seasonal changes of plants in some open-green areas in Düzce were examined in order to explain how it affects people regarding changes in perceptional preferences. Delphi Method was used on photographs as a mean of identification of the visual effects of the plant compositions. The plant composition photographs, which had been examined before, were used in the questionnaire to 370 student groups. As a result, the difference was evaluated between the perceiving of different plant compositions. Summer was the most affecting season having the design value and visual quality. Besides, evergreen plants had a positive effect on design power and visual quality of compositions. Furthermore, as another important result, it was found out that socio-economic levels of the people had some important effects on visual preferences. In this study, perceptional differences of the participants on seasonal changes of the plants were identified. Moreover, the form and the texture were evaluated for identifying perceptional effects. Santrauka Reikšmingas urbanizuotos teritorijos elementas yra želdynų augalija. Kai kurios augalų rūšys kintant sezonui keičia spalvas. Suvokiant šių pokyčių poveikį žmogui, svarbu tai pritaikyti kuriant kraštovaizdžio architektūrą. Sezoninių augalijos pokyčių poveikiui tirti pasirinkta ãtviros Düzce apylinkių vietos. Vizualiam augalijos poveikiui nustatyti taikytas Delphi fotonuotraukų metodas. Anksčiau vertintos nuotraukos buvo panaudotos apklausoje, kurioje dalyvavo 370 studentų grupių. Vertinti augalijos skirtingos sudėties suvokimo skirtumai. Nustatyta, kad didžiausią poveikį vizuali želdinių projektavimo kokybė daro vasaros sezoną. Respondentai, vertindami projektavimą ir vizualią augalijos sudėties kokybę, teigiamai pažymėjo visžalius augalus. Iš apklausų nustatyta, kad didelę įtaką vizualiam suvokimui turi socialiniai-ekonominiai žmonių skirtumai. Įvertinta ir projektuojamų želdinių formos bei sandaros reikšmė suvokiant vaizdo efektus.

Feeding-ground captures of green (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtles tagged while nesting at eastern Australian rookeries over a 21-year period are summarised. These turtles which nest in the Great Barrier Reef region range widely throughout the Arafura and Coral seas. The tag recoveries include many from turtles that live in neighbouring countries and migrate to breed in Australia. The breeding female shows a high fidelity to her home feeding ground as well as to her nesting beach. Most recaptures of the green turtles occurred during hunting for food by indigenous people while most recaptures of loggerhead turtles were incidental captures in commercial fishing activities. Migratory behaviour, imprinting and navigation are discussed.

There is a common perception that a blind person cannot even help his own self. In order to challenge that view, a workshop for visually-impaired people to develop the skills to be independent and productive members of society was conceived. An experimental study was conducted at National Institute of Visually Handicapped, Chennai with the objective to assess the effectiveness of Touch and Feel (TAF) technique on first aid measures for the visually challenged. Total 25 visually challenged people were selected by non-probability purposive sampling technique and data was collected using demographic variable and structured knowledge questionnaire. The score obtained was categorised into three levels: inadequate (0-8), moderately adequate (8 - 17), adequate (17 -25). The study revealed that most of the visually challenged (40%) had inadequate knowledge, and 56 percent had moderately adequate and only few (4%) had adequate knowledge in the pre-test, whereas most (68%) of them had adequate knowledge in the post-test which is statistically significant at p

Background: Epilepsy is a chronic disorder characterised by recurrent seizures/convulsions that affects people of all ages. Phenytoin sodium is an effective, cheaper, most commonly used first line drug for the treatment of epilepsy. As a result of sure encounter with various painful inflammatory conditions like chronic arthritis at some point of time the co administration of analgesics becomes inevitable in epileptic patients. Aceclofenac is a commonly prescribed, moderately COX-2 selective congener of Diclofenac. Because of similarity in some pharmacokinetic properties between Phenytoin sodium and Aceclofenac; the possibility of drug interaction between them is postulated.Methods: In this prospective randomized observational study diagnosed and stabilized patients of epilepsy of either sex of more than 18 years of age were included. Patient taking Phenytoin sodium 100mg BD and prescribed tab Aceclofenac 100mg bd for 7 days. Serum Phenytoin sodium levels were measured before and after administering Aceclofenac. Graph pad Prism software Version 6 used for statistical analysis.Results: At the end of the study, we found statistically significant effect (p = 0.0104) on serum Phenytoin sodium level. However, no statistical difference was found in any of the other parameters i.e., epilepsy outcome parameters and lab parameters - Urine routine microscopy, CBC, LFT, KFT and RBG.Conclusions: Findings in this study forms a platform for future researchers to explore this field of research by designing an interventional study with well scrutinised study population considering all pharmacokinetic parameters.

A Bedouin Arab tribes until the now famous eloquent, beautiful Arabic language and literature, believed the Umayyad Caliphs to teach Arabic in young people by sending them to their home villages later appeared term badawî, which is a special place to teach Arabic being taught directly by the Bedouin. From the statement, researchers interested in analyzing the lives of Bedouin Arabs who still lumpy his Arabization (culture of the Arabs in the fushâ Arabic language and cultural). How curriculum is learning Arabic that is used by the Bedouins? And how Arabic language teaching methodology used by the Bedouins? This type of research is a library research, note at that time in the Bedouin community is not familiar with the term curriculum and methodology in education, only from the various references i have found and writers associated with the current education there are some similarities. So the authors concluded several curriculum used by the Bedouin community in the teaching of Arabic fushâ is al-ta’wîd (habituation), bî’ah lughawiyah (language environment), and advice. While the methodology is in the form of al-rih?lah (travel search teachers), al-istimâ’ (hearing), al-kalâm (oral communication), and al-kitâbah (write science that has been studied).

IntroductionThe “nootropic” or simplified as a “smart drug”, is a common term that will tag along with the compound responsible for the enhancement of mental performance. Certain individuals with a history of mental or substance use disorders might be particularly vulnerable to its adverse effects.MethodologyA review was conducted aiming to clarify the mechanisms associated of how these drugs increase mental functions including memory, motivation, concentration, and attention; and which kind of individuals are at risk of developing adverse effects when taking these drugs. The literature search was conducted in PubMed data reviewing articles dating between 2015 and 2016.Results– Glutaminergic Signalling, Cholinergic System, Amyloid Precursor Protein and Secondary Messenger may be related to the cognitive enhancement achieved by Nootropics. Others, like insulin and angiotensin receptor may involved too.– Some of them, like Ginkgo biloba, seem to have neuroprotective effects observed in human and animal models, acting as antioxidant and antiapoptotic, also inducing inhibition effects against caspase-3 activation and amyloid-aggregation toward Alzheimer's disease.– Synthetic nootropics, a lab created compound such as piracetam, especially in people with history of drug abuse, may be associated with psychiatric exacerbations of some patients.ConclusionsYoung adults all over Europe, especially university students, are starting to use nootropic drugs to improve their academic results. Some of them seem to have beneficial effects over mental health but others are sometimes related with sudden and unexplained exacerbations in stable psychiatric patients. It is important to early identify symptoms and to treat them properly.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The interaction of rural settlements by the Egirdir Lake and surroundings has been discussed in this study that has been conducted in order to support the studies of the Egirdir Lake Management Plan that is stated as a result of two‐year study and to provide local participation for these studies. The method used in this study is based on questionnaire, interviews, and direct observations. Besides several meetings about rural settlements and the Egirdir Lake were conducted among local people, stakeholders and expert groups. According to the results of this study, the Egirdir Lake surroundings have been an important centre of attraction for human settlements from the past to the present. The people that established settlements around the Lake benefited from the Lake for various purposes. The benefit from the Egirdir Lake had not reached the sizes that could affect the hydrology of the Lake until 1960s. However, start of benefiting from the Lake for the purpose of agricultural irrigation in those years and the variation of benefit in the following years have been a significant element of pressure on the Lake. By reasons of these benefits, the Lake has consistently showed water deficit, and the pollution of the Lake has reached considerable sizes as well. When effectively managed by means of the Lake Management Plan, prepared with a participatory approach, the Lake can be protected from these negative effects. Santrauka Nagrinėjamas Egirdir ežero ir jį supančių kaimo gyvenviečių nevienareikšmis ryšys – nauda turima iš ežero ir jam daroma žala. Tyrimas buvo atliekamas dvejus metus kurtam Egirdir ežero tvarkymo planui papildyti. Tyrimo metodas pagrįstas apklausomis, interviu ir tiesioginiais stebėjimais. Buvo organizuota keletas vietinių žmonių, tarpininkų ir ekspertų grupių susitikimų dėl Egirdir ežero tvarkymo. Šio ežero aplinka visada buvo svarbus traukos centras žmonėms įsikurti. Žmonės, apsistoję aplink ežerą, naudojosi juo įvairiais tikslais. Iki 1960 m. tai ežero hidrologijai didesnės įtakos neturėjo. Situacija pablogėjo ežerą pradėjus naudoti žemės naudmenoms drėkinti. Labai suaktyvėjo ir ežero tarša. Efektyviai laikantis planingų tvarkymo priemonių, ežeras gali būti apsaugotas nuo neigiamo poveikio. Резюме Исследуется взаимосвязь сельских поселений вблизи озера Эгирдир и окружающей среды: польза, получаемая от озера, и наносимый ему вред. Исследование дополняет план обустройства озера Эгирдир и предоставляет сведения об участии местных жителей в подобных исследованиях. Метод, применявшийся в исследованиях, основан на опросах людей, интервью и непосредственных наблюдениях. Состоялись встречи местных жителей, посредников и групп экспертов по вопросам заселения поселений и обустройства озера Эгирдир. На основании исследований установлено, что окрестности озера Эгирдир были и остаются важным центром притяжения людей с целью поселиться там. Поселившиеся там люди используют озеро в различных целях. Использование озера Эгирдир до 1960 г. не оказало значительного воздействия на гидрологию озера, однако после того, как озеро стало использоваться для орошения сельскохозяйственных угодий, ситуация ухудшилась. Увеличилась загрязненность озера. Избежать негативного влияния на озеро можно, если эффективно применять меры, предусмотренные планом по обустройству озера.

Background and Objectives: The incidence of hip fractures in people of advanced ages is increasing due to our aging society. Patient positioning for the intertrochanteric fractures of the femur can be performed in various ways. The aim of this study is to clinically and radiologically compare the use of the supine hemilithotomy position, the lateral decubitus position, and the traction table when performing proximal femoral nail (PFN) surgery for femoral intertrochanteric fractures in the geriatric age group. Materials and Methods: A total of 170 elderly patients with femoral intertrochanteric fractures were included in this cross-sectional study. The patients were divided into three groups (the supine hemilithotomy group, the lateral decubitus group, and the fracture table group). For the postoperative period, complications, length of stay in the intensive care unit, and length of stay in hospital were examined, while in postoperative radiographs, tip–apex distances (TADs), collodiaphyseal angles (CDAs), and Cleveland–Bosworth quadrants were examined to evaluate the placement of the lag screw in the femoral head. The quality of fracture reduction was evaluated according to the modified Baumgaertner criteria. Results: The mean age of the patients was 77.8 ± 8.8; 57.6% of patients were female. According to the modified Baumgaertner criteria, it was determined that patients with ‘poor’ reduction quality had an approximately ten times higher risk of cut-out than those with ‘good’ reduction quality (OR = 10.111, p = 0.002, 95% confidence interval; 2.313–44.207). The operative time for patients in the fracture table group was longer than that of the other groups Additionally, the CDA in the supine hemilithotomy position group was longer. Conclusions: Although PFN surgery using the traction table is longer in terms of surgical time compared to surgery performed in the lateral decubitus position and the supine hemilitotomy position, it is advantageous in terms of better TAD and CDA values and lower complication rates.

With the rapidly changing environment and growing cities and increasing traffic flows the problem of noise pollution is becoming more and more relevant. As street networks continue developing and land prices are rising, houses are more and more often built close to especially noisy suburban streets. Traffic-generated noise accounts for up to 80% of the prevailing noise level. Many people build private houses from eco-friendly building materials, such as wood. The construction volumes of log houses, roadhouses and guest houses have increased. This article presents acoustic investigations of a log house's D nT,w measured under natural conditions in the natural environment – a constructed log house – and in a noise suppression chamber, analysing an element of the log wall. The log wall concerned was covered with log house heat-insulation materials and the obtained D nT,w results reached up to 58 dB. Santrauka Aplinkai kintant, didėjant miestams ir plečiantis transporto srautams, vis aktualesnė tampa triukšmo namuose problema. Plečiantis gatvių tinklams, brangstant žemei, vis dažniau namai statomi netoli užmiesčio gatvių, kuriose aukštas triukšmo lygis. Iki 80% vyraujančio triukšmo lygio – tai transporto keliamas triukšmas. Daugelis gyventojų statosi individualius namus, o jiems statyti renkasi ekologiškas medžiagas, pavyzdžiui, medieną. Vis daugiau statoma rąstinių namų, pakelės užeigų ar svečių namų. Aprašomi akustiniai rąstinio namo sienos tyrimai, atliki natūroje ir triukšmo slopinimo kameroje. Rąstinė siena dengiama populiariomis rąstinių namų šiltinimo medžiagomis. Tiriamas vidinės sienos triukšmo izoliavimo koeficientas. Резюме В связи с изменением окружающей среды, ростом городов и увеличением транспортных потоков возрастает актуальность проблемы бытового шума. По мере развития уличной сети, роста стоимости земли строительство домов все чаще ведется на загородных улицах, отличающихся высоким уровнем шума. Шум, вызываемый транспортом, составляет до 80 % преобладающего шума. Многие жители строят индивидуальные дома и выбирают для их строительства экологичные материалы, такие, как древесина. Увеличивается строительство бревенчатых домов, придорожных кафе или гостевых домов. В статье описываются акустические исследования стены бревенчатого дома. Исследования проведены в естественных условиях и в шумоподавляющей камере. Бревенчатая стена покрывается популярными материалами, используемыми для утепления бревенчатых домов. Исследуется условный фасад дома и коэффициент шумовой изоляции внутренней стены.

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between WTO's TRIPS Agreement, patents and access to affordable medicines in Sub-Saharan Africa. The key role played by transnational corporations (TNCs) in ensuring that intellectual property rights were included in multilateral trade negotiations, and how this influence and power of TNCs has impacted on access to affordable medicine in the region is highlighted. The way in which social movements at both domestic and international levels have sought to use the right to health to resist the power of pharmaceutical TNCs bent on blocking the use by Third World countries of the exceptions or flexibilities in TRIPS, such as parallel importation of medicines and compulsory licensing is analysed. In this connection, the way in which the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC, a social movement in South Africa), used the right to health to oppose a suit filed in South Africa by pharmaceutical TNCs seeking to block legislation enacted for the purpose of enabling parallel importation of medicines, is shown. The article also explains how a network of international organisations and activists in collaboration with Third World countries pushed for the adoption of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health on the basis that access to affordable medicines is a critical element of the right to health. The article argues that the right to health has some limited potential of being used as a means of resistance against international economic forces inimical to the health of Third World peoples. To realise such potential however, one must go beyond using the right to health purely as a legal process or mechanism and instead harness the right as a tool to mobilize and exercise agency of Third World peoples in contesting the power of those forces.

Influencer marketing is a modern method that uses influential users to approach goal customers easily and quickly. An online social network is a useful platform to detect the most effective influencer for a brand. Thus, we have an issue: how can we extract user data to determine an influencer? In this paper, a model for representing a social network based on users, tags, and the relationships among them, called the SNet model, is presented. A graph-based approach for computing the impact of users and the speed of information propagation, and measuring the favorite brand of a user and sharing the similar brand characteristics, called a passion point, is proposed. Therefore, we consider two main influential measures, including the extent of the influence on other people by the relationships between users and the concern to user’s tags, and the tag propagation through social pulse on the social network. Based on these, the problem of determining the influencer of a specific brand on a social network is solved. The results of this method are used to run the influencer marketing strategy in practice and have obtained positive results.

During a pandemic, it is imperative that all staff members have up-to-date information on changing work practices in the healthcare environment. This article presents a way to implement work environment orientation amongst different groups in care facilities by utilizing mobile robots, radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies, and data synthesis. We offer a scenario based on a co-design approach, in which a mobile robot works as an orientation guide for new employees, RFID tags are applied on objects around the premises and people’s clothing. The mobile robot takes advantage of the information provided by its known location and each RFID tag read by the RFID reader integrated with the robot. We introduce the scenario here, along with the details of its practical test implementation. Further, the challenges met in the test implementation are discussed as well as the future potential of its application. In conclusion, our study indicates that repetitive training and orientation-related duties can be successfully transferred to a mobile robot. Through RFID, the mobile robot can deliver the relevant information to the right people and thus contribute to patient and personnel safety and the resource efficiency of the orientation process.

Acceptance by the local public is the key determinant for the successful implementation of NIMBY (Not-In-My-Backyard) infrastructures and may be shaped in different ways among different infrastructure types. Based on social cognitive theory (SCT), this study clarifies the specific mechanism shaping local public acceptance of NIMBY facilities with two types of hazardous effects (i.e., pollution and psychological exclusion) using a large-scale questionnaire survey and structural equation model. The results reveal that, firstly, SCT provides a solid theoretical basis for exploring the mechanism under the joint action of environmental and personal factors. Secondly, it is verified that self-efficacy indirectly predicts local public acceptance by influencing perceived risk. The effect of the positive affect tag is mediated by perceived risk in shaping acceptance of polluting facilities but not of psychologically excluded facilities. In general, people tend to have a lower perceived risk, higher perceived benefit, stronger sense of self-efficacy, and more positive attitude when faced with the siting of psychologically excluded NIMBY facilities over polluting ones. These findings are helpful for planning and decision-making of NIMBY facilities with different types of hazardous impacts, reducing NIMBY conflicts and promoting the construction of NIMBY infrastructures. Furthermore, it contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 (promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development) and (SDG) 11 (building inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and human settlements).

The paper describes a construction impact on the environment, people and their health, taking into account its subsequence. The authors offer an optimal way of building construction in order to satisfy the environmental control standards and impact on the environment. There are a few criteria of ecological materials compared with conventional materials. The aim of this investigation is to develop approach of building project ranking. The paper deals with analysis of the construction alternatives of one‐flat dwelling houses. A few alternatives are given about how to choose an optimal project. The impact of construction on the environment is discussed. Analysis is performed taking into account building life‐cycle impact on the environment, its financial and social conditions. The investigation includes pollution of building material production, construction processes, taking into account building longevity, price, running cost and utilization input of energy. Multicriteria assessment of the alternatives is made, considering impact not only on humans, but also on the environment. According to the described environmental, financial and qualitative criteria and by the assistance of newly‐developed multicriteria method SAW‐G, it was calculated, that a blockhouse, made mostly of wood‐based materials with the result of 0.303 is by 6.6% a better alternative than a wood‐frame building with the result of 0.286, made from wood‐based and mineral‐based materials, and the worst result of 0.280 was in a building from traditional bricks (a wood‐based house is by 7.5% better than a brick house). AHP approach and SAW‐G method are useful tools to help support a decision in convention site selection. Santrauka Aprašomas statybos darbu padariniu poveikis aplinkai, žmonems ir ju sveikatai. Autoriai siūlo optimalu varianta iš pateiktu statybos projektu, atitinkančiu aplinkos apsaugos reikalavimus. Pateikti ekologišku statybiniu medžiagu kriterijai, palyginti su tradiciniu medžiagu kriterijais. Šio tyrimo tikslas yra sukurti statybos proceso klasifikavimo eile, atsižvelgiant i ekonominius ir aplinkos apsaugos aspektus. Nagrinejamos vienbučio gyvenamojo namo statybos alternatyvos. Pateiktos kelios alternatyvos, kaip parinkti optimalu projekto varianta. Aptartas gamybos darbu ir statybos poveikis aplinkai. Analize atliekama atsižvelgiant i statybos gyvavimo ciklo poveiki aplinkai, finansines bei socialines aplinkybes. Tyrimas apima tarša statybiniu medžiagu gamybos procese bei vykstant statybos procesui. Vertinama pastato ilgaamžiškumas, kaina, eksploatavimo išlaidos bei utilizacijos procesui suvartojama energija. Atliktas šiu alternatyvu daugiakriterinis ivertinimas, apibrežiant ju nauda ne tik žmonems, bet ir aplinkai. Remiantis straipsnyje aprašytais aplinkos apsaugos, finansiniais ir kokybiniais kriterijais, nauju daugiakriteriniu SAW‐G metodu buvo apskaičiuota, kad blokinis namas, pastatytas naudojant daugiausia medienos medžiagas (rezultatas 0,303), yra 6,6 % geresnis už nama (rezultatas 0,2860), pastatyta iš medinio karkaso ir naudojant mineralines bei medienos medžiagas, o blogiausias rezultatas ‐ tai namas iš tradicinio plytu mūro (rezultatas 0,280) (medinis namas yra 7,5 % geresnis už mūrini). AHP ir SAW‐G metodai yra tinkami tokiems uždaviniams spresti. Резюме Описано влияние последствий строительства на окружающую среду, человека и его здоровье. Из приведенных строительных проектов, соответствующих экологическим стандартам, авторами статьи выбран оптимальный вариант. Приведены критерии экологичных строительных материалов и сравнены с традиционными материалами. Целью настоящего исследования было разработать очередность классификации строительного процесса с учетом экономических и экологических аспектов. Проанализированы альтернативы строительства одноквартирного жилого дома с целью выбора оптимального проекта. Обсуждено влияние строительства на окружающую среду. Анализ проведен с учетом воздействия жизненного цикла здания на окружающую среду, а также финансовых и социальных аспектов. Исследовалось загрязнение от производства строительных материалов, от процесса строительства с учетом долголетия дома, цены, расходов на эксплуатацию, а также энергии, расходуемой при утилизации. Произведен многокритериальный анализ вышеупомянутых альтернатив, оценена польза, приносимая как человеку, так и окружающей среде. На основании критериев охраны окружающей среды, финансов и качества работ с помощью нового многокритериального метода SAW-G было установлено, что блочный дом, построенный из деревянных материалов с результатом 0,303, на 6.6% лучше, чем дом из деревянного каркаса с минеральными и деревянными материалами с результатом 0,286. Наихудшим вариантом оказался дом, построенный из традиционной кирпичной кладки с результатом 0,280 (деревянный дом лучше кирпичного на 7,5%). Для решения задач такого типа оказались приемлемыми методы AHP и SAW-G.

Abstract Background: The molecular diagnosis in ALL allows by the research for rearrangements V(D)J on lymphoblast DNA , to find markers of clonality in 95% of the cases. These markers also are used to quantify the minimal residual disease by real time Q-PCR to adapt treatments. This strategy fails in some cases : Absence of initial marker, failure of sequencing or emergence at relapse time of a clone not observed at diagnosis time or in very minority. Several studies have asserted the usefulness of high-throughput sequencing (HTS). It enables deep sequencing of a lymphoid population, bypassing some of these problems. However, the huge amount of data raises two challenges. First, hospitals must be able to store and process terabytes of data per year. Second, the data must be nicely synthesized to ease clinician interpretation. Here, we report the use of HTS, in a hematology lab, for diagnosis and follow-up of ALL combined with a bioinformatic analysis and visualization with the new dedicated Vidjil software (Giraud, Salson, et al, BMC Genomics 2014, http://www.vidjil.org). Patients and methods: We studied the clonality of 8 pediatric patients (5 B-ALL and 3 T-ALL, 2w/6m, 2-14 years) at diagnosis and follow-up (37 follow-up time points). The sensitivity was estimated by a range of dilution of DNA tumoral in DNA of PBL from healthy donors (10-2 to 10-5). For every sample, 500ng of bone marrow DNA are extracted on Qiagen® Kit, measured on NanoDrop system® and amplified by a classical (not fluorescent) PCR system for TCRg and IgH target. These systems are described or derived from the BIOMED-2 works. The sequencing libraries are done from the PCR products, verified by electrophoresis on agarose gel then bar-coded with Ion Fragment Plus® kit and sequenced with an Ion Torrent® 318 Chip system. The obtained sequences are classified on the basis of their V(D)J rearrangements. The dedicated Vidjil browser enables to explore the lymphocyte population and to track the clones along the time. We can inspect the sequences and send them directly to IMGT/V-QUEST or IgBlast for further analysis. It is possible to tag, rename or filter out some clones, and export the resulting graphs to a printable file. Due to sequencing errors, there may be several clones corresponding to a real clone. The browser enables to align such sequences, and we can choose to merge them. The browser can also be used to compare several runs on the same sample, for example with different PCR conditions. Results: We identified several clones in the diagnosis sample and observed their evolution at different follow-up time points. Clones that were detected by classic methods were also found by Vidjil. Moreover the software allows us to look more in-depth at other clones appearing at lower concentrations. Relapses were detected, and for one patient, two emerging clones were observed. Figure 1 shows plots of the concentration for a patient with B common-ALL. The first point is the diagnosis; the four other points are respectively D35, D70, and D90 after bone marrow transplantation, and relapse. The patient was followed both on IgH (upper plot) and TCRg (lower plot). In both systems, there is the emergence of a new clone at relapse while some of the main clones at diagnosis were not detectable anymore or at a very low concentration. Those clones were also confirmed by conventional methods. Figure 1 Figure 1. Using high-throughput sequencing together with bioinformatic analysis and visualization with Vidjil allows identifying very easily the emergence of new clones that were not detected at diagnosis. Conclusion: The HTS prefigures new steps both for the knowledge of the lymphoid and auto-immune pathologies and for the ALL MRD follow-up. Coupled with a bioinformatic analysis, it gives a more complete insight of the blastic population at diagnosis and allows observing the evolution of this population. The whole analysis including the preparation, the sequencing, the software analysis and the clinician validation seems faster than the current protocols. Our protocol has been designed and tested for two years in Lille and is now being tested in other French hospitals involved in ALL-MRD. We believe that such integrated approaches, where clinicians maintain control over patient data, have their role to play. This raises the need for people having experience with high-throughput sequencing in hospitals. With the advent of this technology and its biomedical applications, that should not be a great issue. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract Background In developing countries, it is difficult to collect the data of the underlying cause of death (UCOD), especially when a death does not occur in a health facility. This study aimed to develop a short version of verbal autopsy (VA) and identify the UCOD of adults in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). Methods A short version of VA for deaths outside health facilities was developed. This study included all deaths of people aged 15 years old or older in Xaiyabouli Province in 2020. Socio-demographic factors, place of death, and UCOD of the deceased were collected from health facilities or from family members using a questionnaire including the short VA form. UCOD was compared between home deaths and hospital deaths, between the age group of 15–59 years old and the age group ≥ 60 years old, and between males and females. Results Of all the 1,235 deaths included in this study, 1,012 deaths (81.9%) occured at home and 223 deaths (18.1%) at hospitals. The most common UCOD was senility (13.3%), followed by heart/renal failure (10.5%), pneumonia (9.6%) and traffic accident (7.1%). Compared to hospital deaths, home deaths had more people who were females, 75 years old or older, and Lao-Tai. Home deaths had more deaths than hospital deaths due to accident/injury (16.0% vs. 8.1%), tumor (4.7% vs. 1.8%), and senility (16.2% vs. 0%); fewer deaths due to heart/renal disease (15.1% vs. 32.3%), respiratory disease (12.2% vs. 18.8%), liver/gastro-intestine disease (5.3% vs. 9.0%), and infection (3.1% vs. 14.3%). The age group of 15–59 years had more deaths in the categories of accident/injury (28.1% vs. 4.4%), liver/gastro-intestine disease (8.1% vs. 4.4%), infection (7.2% vs. 3.5%), and tumor (6.0% vs. 2.8%). Males had more deaths due to tumor (5.2% vs. 3.0%) and fewer natural deaths (11.2% vs. 15.9%) than females. Conclusions The major UCOD category was heart/renal disease in the adult generation in Xaiyabouli Province. Cost-effective interventions based on the multisectoral noncommunicable disease prevention plan should be appropriately implemented. Mortality surveillance using the short VA tool should be conducted for all home deaths in Lao PDR.

This study investigated the effects of the amount of cumulative heritage language (HL) exposure during three time periods, on heritage and majority language performance in young adulthood, among two distinct groups of immigrant populations in the USA. Within each time period, exposure from three different sources were examined, and amount of cumulative exposure was calculated encompassing exposure from preceding periods. Factors that may modulate exposure effects were also assessed. Results showed that greater cumulative HL exposure from people at home during all three time periods significantly predicted HL skills for both language groups. For effects on English skills, only the Spanish group showed any influences of exposure. These effects were modulated by parental English proficiency. Input from other sources had less impact. The present findings support the role of parental input throughout childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood in improving HL skills, with less noticeable consequences for the majority language.

Currently, furniture is used by every person and all working people in their lives. In office hours, it is necessary for the people to keep the furniture organized after the completion of meeting or event. Now a day’s every student, every employee and all the working people having rush in their life. So they forget to arrange their furniture in working space which will create bad look for professional environment and also affect the psychology. The common thoughts now a day in educational institutions is that after every laboratory session is over, the students left the chair unarranged and the corresponding lab assistant’s need to arrange the chairs after session is over in order to keep laboratory ready for the upcoming sessions. For this situation, in this paper we proposed a robotic chair which move automatically and follow the tag. These tags are predefined and fixed at valve or table. Whenever program runs these chairs automatically goes to the tag nearby and will aligned at its original position.

Abstract Background Lag screw cutout is a devastating complication after internal fixation of an intertrochanteric fracture. Although the tip-apex distance (TAD) is known to be associated with this complication, another factor we thought was potentially important—fracture reduction on an oblique lateral view—has not, to our knowledge, been explored. Questions/purposes (1) Is a well-reduced fracture position on an oblique lateral view after internal fixation of intertrochanteric fracture associated with a lower odds of postoperative cutout, independently of the TAD? (2) Is postoperative sliding of the lag screw after fixation associated with postoperative cutout? Methods Patients with intertrochanteric fractures who were at least 65 years old and who had been treated with internal fixation in one of six facilities between July 2011 and December 2017 were included. All patients in the study group had lag screw cutout, and controls were selected by risk-set sampling of age-matched and sex-matched patients using a ratio of 4:1 for patients from each hospital. Of the 2327 intertrochanteric fractures, there were 36 patients (0.02 per person-year), with a mean age of 85 years; 89% (32) were women. In the control group, there were 135 controls. There was no difference in age or sex between the two groups. Sagittal reduction was evaluated using an immediate postoperative oblique lateral radiograph (anterior malreduction versus anatomic reduction or posterior malreduction). The association between anterior malreduction and the odds of cutout was estimated by conditional logistic regression analysis with the TAD and interaction between the TAD and the reduced position as covariates. As a sensitivity analysis, we estimated whether sliding within 2 weeks postoperatively was associated with cutout. Results After controlling for the potentially confounding variables of age and sex, we found that anterior malreduction was independently associated with a higher odds of cutout compared with anatomic reduction or posterior malreduction (adjusted OR 4.2 [95% CI 1.5 to 12]; p = 0.006). There was also an independent association between cutout and larger TAD (≥ 20 mm) (adjusted OR 4.4 [95% CI 1.4 to 14]; p = 0.01). However, the association between cutout and reduction was not modified by the TAD (adjusted OR of interaction term 0.6 [95% CI 0.08 to 4]; p = 0.54). Postoperative sliding ≥ 6 mm within 2 weeks was associated with higher odds of cutout after adjusting for age and sex (adjusted OR 11 [95% CI 3 to 40]; p < 0.001). Conclusion In patients older than 65 years with intertrochanteric fractures, anterior malreduction on a lateral oblique view was associated with much greater odds of postoperative cutout than anatomic reduction or posterior malreduction. Because anterior malreduction is within the surgeon's control, our findings may help surgeons focus on intraoperative reduction on an oblique lateral view to prevent cutouts. Although this factor is a reliable indicator, the results should be applied to cephalomedullary nails, because there was only one patient with cutout among those with sliding hip screws. Because this study was conducted in a homogenous Japanese population, future studies should focus on the association between anterior malreduction and cutout in people of different ethnicities, adjusting for confounding factors such as implant type and surgeon level. Level of Evidence Level III, therapeutic study.

Abstract Background In the US, two common single-tablet regimens for HIV treatment are bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (B/F/TAF) and dolutegravir/lamivudine (DTG/3TC). We sought to compare B/F/TAF and DTG/3TC in virologically suppressed, treatment-experienced people with HIV in the OPERA® cohort. Methods All treatment-experienced adults with HIV switching to B/F/TAF or DTG/3TC (01Aug2020-30Jun2022) with a viral load (VL) &lt; 200 copies/mL at switch and ≥1 follow-up VL were included. Confirmed virologic failure (VF) was defined as 2 consecutive VL ≥200 copies/mL or regimen discontinuation following a VL ≥200 copies/mL; VL ≥50 copies/mL was used in a sensitivity analysis. Discontinuation was defined as any regimen modification or a treatment gap &gt;45 days. Incidence rates (Poisson regression) and hazard ratios (Cox proportional hazard models) were estimated with inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTW) to adjust for race, payer, CD4 count and eGFR at baseline. Covariate balance was assessed with standardized mean differences; values ≤0.10 indicated adequate balance. Results On B/F/TAF, 3713 individuals were followed for a median of 16 months (interquartile range: 11, 22). On DTG/3TC, 2327 individuals were followed for a median of 15 months (10, 21). The distribution of key characteristics differed between groups; balance was achieved with IPTW (Table 1). VF≥200 incidence rates per 100 person years were low (B/F/TAF: 1.7; DTG/3TC: 2.1); risk with B/F/TAF was not statistically different than with DTG/3TC (HR≥200: 0.84 [95% CI: 0.59, 1.18]). VF≥50 incidence rates were higher, but risk did not differ between groups (HR≥50: 1.04 [0.86, 1.26]; Fig 1). All-cause regimen discontinuation was less likely with B/F/TAF than DTG/3TC (HR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.73, 0.94; Fig 2). Treatment-related discontinuation (i.e., last VL ≥200 copies/mL, adverse diagnosis, side effect, lab abnormality) was identified in 6% of B/F/TAF and 9% of DTG/3TC discontinuers. Conclusion In this real-world US cohort, virologically suppressed individuals switching to B/F/TAF were less likely to discontinue their regimen than those switching to DTG/3TC. VF was infrequent and no statistical difference was observed in the risk of VF between regimens over the study duration. Disclosures Jennifer S. Fusco, BS, Epividian, Inc.: Salary|Epividian, Inc.: Ownership Interest|Epividian, Inc.: Stocks/Bonds Laurence Brunet, PhD, Epividian, Inc.: Salary|Epividian, Inc.: Stocks/Bonds Michael Sension, MD, Gilead: Advisor/Consultant|Gilead: Honoraria|Viiv: Advisor/Consultant|Viiv: Grant/Research Support|Viiv: Honoraria Megan Dunbar, PhD, Gilead: Employment Joshua Gruber, PhD, Gilead Sciences, Inc: Employee|Gilead Sciences, Inc: Stocks/Bonds Douglas Dieterich, MD, Abbvie: Advisor/Consultant|Abbvie: Honoraria|Gilead: Advisor/Consultant|Gilead: Honoraria|Merck: Advisor/Consultant|Merck: Honoraria Gregory P. Fusco, MD, MPH, Epividian, Inc.: Board Member|Epividian, Inc.: Ownership Interest|Epividian, Inc.: Stocks/Bonds

"The people formerly known as the audience wish to inform media people of our existence, and of a shift in power that goes with the platform shift you've all heard about."(Rosen, 2006)Relationerne mellem afsender og modtager, mellem ekspert og menigmand, er radikalt ændret, og forandringsagenten er Web 2.0, hævder citatet, som egentlig handler om nyhedsmedier. Den myndiggørelse (engelsk: empowerment) af brugeren i konstruktionen af viden, som angiveligt er et resultat af den teknologiske udvikling, er imidlertid generel. Den må derfor også gælde for de anvendelser af Web 2.0, som har at gøre med uddannelse og læring. Det er der følgelig skabt et begreb for, nemlig "e-læring 2.0" (Downes, 2005). Som så mange andre af de nye "versionsbegreber", der er opstået i de seneste år, er også dette skabt i højere grad ud fra en forventning til teknologiens muligheder end ud fra veldokumenterede, praktiske resultater, men der synes alligevel at være substans i det. I denne artikel vil vi først klarlægge, hvad begrebet dækker, og dernæst se nærmere på de væsentlige egenskaber, som kendetegner denne nyeste udgave af e-læring, samt give nogle eksempler på e-læringsrelevante Web 2.0-applikationer.Endnu er det sparsomt, hvad der findes af eksempler på større, systematisk tilrettelagte e‐læring 2.0-forløb. Men der findes afgrænsede forløb, som kan tjene til at illustrere modtagerens nye, aktive rolle som medproducent af viden i en uformel læringssituation. Lad os indledningsvis se på et eksempel for dermed at gøre begrebet "e-læring 2.0" mere konkret.I februar 2008 blev der på Stanford Universitetet i Californien afholdt en konference om Metaverse (http://metaverse.stanford.edu/; om begrebet Metaverse, se: Smart, Cascio, & Paffendorf, 2007). Ved denne lejlighed præsenterede en række inviterede forskere og IT-udviklere deres nyeste resultater for et betalende publikum (Heilesen, 2008). Som en illustration af mulighederne i virtuelle verdener, der er en del af metaverse, blev hele konferencen transmitteret live og gratis i Second Life, hvorfra der også blev stillet spørgsmål direkte til oplægsholderne. Bortset fra denne teknologiske finesse kunne der imidlertid have været tale om den form for hovedsagelig énvejsformidling, vi kender fra kurser og foredragsserier. Men til forskel fra konventionel formidling, kom en del af den konstruktion og deling af viden, som var konferencens formål, til at foregå uden for auditoriet gennem deltagernes aktive brug af en række tjenester på nettet. Konferencenoter blev således opsamlet både i den officielle konference‐ki og i deltagernes individuelle weblogs. Billeder fra konferencen blev gjort tilgængelige i Flickr. Videoklip med interviews af deltagerne blev offentliggjort på YouTube, kommentarer til konferencen og forsøget med Second Life blev samlet på konference‐webloggen. Og hele denne mængde af observationer og meningstilkendegivelser fra deltagerne blev bundet sammen i et netværk ved hjælp af et enkelt nøgleord (engelsk: tag), metaverseu, som gjorde det muligt at opsamle information på tværs af alle web'ets datatjenester ved hjælp af en søgemaskine eller en social applikation.Deltagerne, de faktiske og de virtuelle, har således på uformel vis samarbejdet om at skabe et "værk" om konferencen og har gennem deres aktive deltagelse i bearbejdelsen af indtrykkene defineret sig som deltagere i et fællesskab. Ved at søge i, sortere og organisere den tilgængelige information kan hver enkelt herefter konstruere sin personlige beretning om begivenheden og trække den information ud, som er relevant for vedkommende. Det er i denne personlige bearbejdning af tilgængelige ressourcer, at Metaverse U konferencen illustrerer nogle væsentlige træk ved elæring 2.0 og også ved scholarship 2.0. (dvs. nye former for forskningssamarbejde og ‐formidling; et beslægtet emne som dog ikke tages op i nærværende artikel).

Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected people worldwide. Patients with HIV who have latent TB are 20-30 times more likely to develop active TB. Integrated antiretroviral therapy (ART) early in the treatment for tuberculosis is recommended due to improved morbidity and mortality, however, there can be serious drug interactions. Rifamycins are potent inducers of the CYP3A4 isoform, which can cause sub-therapeutic concentrations of anti-retroviral drugs, among these, rifabutin (RBN) is a less potent inducer of CYP3A4. Pharmacokinetic (PK) studies done on healthy adults showed that rifampin decreased dolutegravir (DTG) concentrations by more than 50 % whereas RBN decreased it by 30%. RBN has been preferred given that its favorable pharmacokinetic and toxicity profile. Currently there are no studies examining the use of RBN and DTG in co-infected persons. This is a case series of 4 co-infected patients receiving both agents who underwent PK analysis. Methods Retrospective analysis of patients in the respiratory care unit (RCU) at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. We included adult patients, admitted to the RCU, with a concomitant diagnosis of HIV and active TB disease who received DTG and RBN, and for which DTG and RBN plasma concentrations were measured for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). A non-compartmental analysis was performed and the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) was calculated for DTG and RBN. Results We report 4 patients (Figure 1) that met criteria and underwent PK analysis. All patients with TB who were treated with RBN had low concentrations of DTG, requiring higher doses of DTG (Table 1 & 2). After adjustments based on PK analysis, there was evidence of a favorable response to treatment in 2 patients, with a less than robust in the 2 others. Adequate suppression of viral load could not be determined for 3 of the patients because of the short observation time. Figure 1:Timelines of patients describing admission and HIV and tuberculosis treatment providedDTG, dolutegravir. RFB, rifabutin. VL, viral load. AFB, Acid fast bacilli. LAD, lymphadenopathy. TAF, Tenofovir alafenamide. FTC, Emtricitabine. TDF, Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate. INH, Isoniazid. PYZ, Pyrazinamide. BID, twice a day. QD, daily. IRIS, Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome. GU, genitourinary. TB, tuberculosis.Table 1:Patients’ pharmacokinetics of DTGAUCX-Y, area under the concentration-time curve from time X to Y hours; AUC0-tau, area under the concentration-time curve from time zero to the end of the dosing interval; DTG, dolutegravir; TDM, therapeutic drug monitoring. a) AUC0-6 was calculated.Table 2:Patients’ pharmacokinetics of RBNAUCX-Y, area under the concentration-time curve from time X to Y hours; AUC0-tau, area under the concentration-time curve from time zero to the end of the dosing interval; RBN, Rifabutin; TDM, therapeutic drug monitoring. a) All RBN doses given every 24 hours, b) RBN value was trace and AUC was not calculated. Conclusion All patients with HIV and TB who were treated with RBN had low concentrations of DTG. This case series demonstrates that for optimal concomitant use of rifabutin and dolutegravir it is highly recommended to use TDM. Prospective clinical studies are needed to further determine the PK interactions between RBN and DTG and virologic response to treatment. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.

ObjectiveThe purpose of the study was to confirm the hypothesis of possible intestinal viruses circulation in wastewater in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine.IntroductionThe main reservoir of intestinal viruses in the environment is human feces and contaminated wastewater. Sewage contamination preconditions further contamination of surface water serving as a source of water supply [2,7,8]. High resistance to physical and biological exposures ensures long-term survival of the viruses in water with various type and level of contaminants, especially in sewage. Detection of enteroviruses of a specific serotype in sewage indicates a significant number of people releasing the virus with feces [1,2]. There are two peaks of enteroviruses concentration in sewage: in January-April, and in June-September [8]. Sewage testing for enteroviruses is one of effective methods for their detection and risk assessment [3]. European region, including Ukraine, is recognized as free from of wild polioviruses, and a systematic study of sewage samples is important for identifying the possibilities of their "silent" circulation [6].MethodsWastewater samples from large sewerage collectors, sewage wells of infectious departments, city hospitals and district sewerage networks of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were tested in 2007-2017 (39-64 samples monthly in the points are determined by the national regulations [7]). Gauze tampons (Moore's method) were used to collect wastewater [8]. In addition, samples were collected from wastewater flow into 1-liter sterile bottle with a sampler. Concentration was carried out using Enterosgel (hydroxyl methyl silicic acid) with high adsorption capacity [7]. The supernatant after all the concentration steps was used for culture on cell cultures RD, HEP-2, L20B [4,7,8].In the presence of cytopathic action in RD cells, culture liquid was inoculated into L20B cells to detect clear cytopathic activity. Culture liquids were investigated to identify enteroviruses in neutralization reaction. In HEP-2, cytopathic effects were observed in the form of clusters of different sizes cells, "grape clusters", which indicated the presence of adenoviruses. Adenoviruses were confirmed by immunochromatographic tests for adenovirus antigens "Cito Test Adeno" Pharmasko, Ukraine).ResultsDuring 10 years, 150 viruses were isolated, 2 of them were a mixture of polioviruses. The frequency of detection of enteroviruses (including polioviruses) and adenoviruses was 2.5% (Tab 1).The isolated strains of enteroviruses, including polioviruses, were sent for confirmation the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and Regional WHO polio reference laboratories (Moscow and Helsinki). All polio strains were attributed to the vaccine strain Sabin. Also, the result Coxsackie viruses B typing was confirmed.ConclusionsThe data testify to presence of Picornaviridae (polioviruses, Coxsackie B, non-polio enteroviruses (NPEVs), and Adenoviridae in the wastewater in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. The typical composition of viruses was not constant. Types 1, 2 polioviruses (Sabin) were occasionally isolated from wastewater. Type 2 polioviruses (Sabin) were isolated only in 2015. In 2009, 2012-2014, 2017, polioviruses did not stand out. Polioviruses isolation is associated with mass immunization of children against polioviruses carried out to maintain polio-free status of the country. In average, 150,000 children are vaccinated annually. Oral poliomyelitis vaccine (OPV) produced in Russia, France, Belgium was used in 2007-2017 (attenuated Sabin strains, 1,2,3 types). From April 2016, Ukraine refused to use trivalent OPV and switched to bivalent vaccine (Sabin strains, types 1 and 2).Sewage testing for polioviruses and their differentiation at WHO National and Regional Centers for Polio Diagnosis ensures a system for monitoring of possible "silent" circulation [6]. Sewage testing using cell cultures is one of the most affordable, effective and reliable methods for controlling the presence of viruses in the environment [4,7,8]. RD and L20B cell lines are useful for poliovirus isolation from sewage [4].In addition to polioviruses, 1,2,3 types Coxsackie viruses B were isolated from wastewater samples. However, starting from 2013, Coxsackie viruses were isolated only in sporadic cases (Cox.vir.B5). In 2007-2011, NPEVs were isolated in some cases. Because polio is on the verge of eradication, more attention should be paid to study of NPEVs [5]. For 10 years, adenoviruses were isolated, which are well preserved in wastewater [1]. The maximum number of adenoviruses was isolated in 2014.References1. Quantification and stability of human adenoviruses and polyomavirus JCPyV in wastewater matrices. Bofill-Mas, S., N. Albinana-Gimenez, P. Clemente-Casares, A. Hundesa, J. Rodriguez-Manzano, A. Allard, M. Calvo, and R. Girones. 2006. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72:7894-7896.2. Poliovirus detection in wastewater and stools following an immunization campaign in Havana, Cuba/P.Más Lago, Howard E Gary, Jr Luis Sarmientos Pérez, V.Cáceres, J. B. Olivera, R.P.Puentesk, M.Bello Corredor, P.Jímenez, M. A Pallansch, R.G. Cruz/International Journal of Epidemiology, Issue 5, 1 October 2003, p.772–777.3. Role of environmental poliovirus surveillance in global polio eradication and beyond. Hovi T., L.M. Shulman, H. van der Avoort, J. Deshpande, M. Roivainen and E.M. de Gourville.2010. Epidemiol. Infect.140:1-13.4. Detection of Polioviruses in Sewage Using Cell Culture and Molecular Methods/ Anieska Figas, M.Wieczorek, B.Litwinska and W.GU/ Polish Journal of Microbiology 2016, Vol. 65, No 4, 479–483.5. Identification and molecular characterization of non-polio enteroviruses from children with acute flaccid paralysis in West Africa, 2013–2014/Maria D. Fernandez-Garcia, Ousmane Kebe, AichatouD., Kader Ndiaye/Scientific Reportsvolume 7, Article number: 3808 (2017) | Download Citation.6. World Health Organization (WHO). 2007.World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. Wild poliovirus isolated in Switzerland’s sewer system, insignificant risk of outbreak. Monthly AFP surveillance bulletin.7. Sanitary-virological control of water bodies / Methodological recommendations approved by the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, 30.05.2007, 284: 8.8. Comparative characteristics of the isolation of enterovirus from water of various types in Ukraine / Doan S., Zadorozhna V., Bondarenko V., Zubkova N., Burat T., 2002,38-41.

Introduction “Patterns are everywhere”, design researcher Anuradha Reddy told her virtual audience at the 2023 speaker series hosted by Brilliant Labs, a Canadian non-profit focussed on experiential digital learning and coding (Brilliant Labs / Labos Créatifs). Like other technology fora, this public-facing series offered designers an opportunity to highlight the accessibility of code. But unlike many such fora, Reddy’s code was worn on the body. Sitting at the now-standard webinar lectern, Reddy shared a flurry of images and contexts as she introduced a garment she called b00b, a bra that she created in 2021 to probe the encoding of more than aesthetic possibility. Her presentation included knotted motifs of Andean Quipus; symbolic arcs of Chinese Pan Chang knots; geometric transformations of African American cornrow hairstyles (Eglash and Bennett, Brilliant Labs / Labos Créatifs). She followed the patterned imagery with questions of uncertainty that are often central for design researchers like her. Facing what might be a possible swipe, tap, or otherwise engagement, a technologist cannot fully determine what a user does. But they can “nudge”, a term popularised by behavioral economists Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein in 2008 and later propagated within technoscientific discourses on risk (see Duffy and Thorson; Rossi et al.; Thaler and Sunstein). Adjacent bodies of scholarship frame the related concept of trust as a form of compliance (Adam et al.; Gass and Seiter). The more trustworthy an interface, the more likely a user is to comply. Rooted in social-psychological precepts, this line of scholarship frames trust less as a condition than a perception. When a user trusts an indicator light, for example, an app is more likely to see increased acceptance and engagement. Reddy approaches trust from and with b00b, an emphatically intimate (soft, pliable, textile) artifact. “How do we use these … perspectives to deal with uncertainty and things we do not know yet in the future?”, Reddy asks her Brilliant Labs audience (Brilliant Labs / Labos Créatifs). To make this argument, I examine Reddy’s b00b in conversation with a legacy feminist textile performance that brings questions of embodiment (and embodied trust) to an ostensibly disembodied technocratic scene. b00b is a decorative bra that emulates two-factor authentication, or what Reddy calls “b00b factor authentication.” The bra uses its two cups to verify a user’s access to a Website describing the project. With this interaction, the bra is self-referential—asking users to unlock a link that brings them back to someone’s chest. In practice, b00b asks users to scan a bra cup that relies on scanning the companion bra cup for a second passcode. Rather than messaging users, an initial passcode that triggers a second passcode sent by text message, the engagement requires bodily proximity. The bra cups take the place of electronic media (such as the text message) so that a close encounter with the bra enlivens digital trust. Under these circumstances, a trusted user becomes a risk-taker—gaining access while transgressing personal boundaries. In the sections that follow, I thread conversations on digital and algorithmic trustworthiness with critiques of trust and compliance that pervade Reddy’s 2021 handmade experiment. To date, technology analysts tend to treat trust as a perception: feelings of confidence in a person or thing (Gilkson and Woolley). As Natasha Schüll notes, a user might trust a slot machine but might miss its implications for further (and potentially excessive) gambling. Additionally, media scholars such as Evgeny Morozov have since mapped this addiction principle within social media development, pointing to a familiar science of incentive structures, gamification dashboards, and behaviour-change techniques, each designed to raise user engagement and keep people in apps longer. Thinking with Reddy’s work, I argue that trust can reveal an embodied desire, something momentarily felt and differentially shared (see also Gregg; Sharma; Irani). Reddy frames the weft of woven material as code, the purl and knit stitches of knitting as binary, and the knots of rope as algorithms. She urges her audience to see fabric as a means of challenging common assumptions about technology. With needles and thread, she proffers algorithmic trust as a relational ethics. In Technology We Trust From a design perspective, trust grows from the strategic balancing of risk and uncertainty (Cheshire). Users who find a digital feature reliable or trustworthy are more likely to grow their engagement and convince others to join in (Hancock et al.). In a recent analysis of the overlapping dynamics of algorithmic trust and bias, communication and information scholars Jeff Hancock, Mor Namaan, and Karen Levy (95) argue that machine learning tools such as the Chrome extension Just Not Sorry often replicate bias within training data. The extension disproportionately alerts femme users when they use qualifying words like “sorry”, and “I think”. In ​​other contexts, Hancock and colleagues suggest, an AI-aided tool may help mitigate interpersonal biases since if it “imparts signals of trustworthiness between peer-based social exchange partners, these countervailing cues may neutralise stereotypes that would otherwise impede the transaction” (ibid). Here, the signal of trustworthiness holds the promise of accountability. But because the signals focus on cognition (manipulating an individual’s perceptions), what they refer to and how they may alleviate harms caused by entrenched cultural bias remains less clear. Grounded in social-psychological tenets, technology analysts codify trust as the relationship between two primary concepts: risk and uncertainty. As information scholar Coye Chesire (50) explains, “trust is not simply the absence of risk and uncertainty. More accurately, trust is a complex human response to situations that are rife with risk and uncertainty”. Through a range of controlled methods including observations, self-reports, survey questions, and the experimental conditions of a lab study, researchers measure the trustworthiness of user interface features as assessments of risk and uncertainty that explain differing motivations for use and disengagement. For example, design researcher Nick Merrill’s and Cheshire’s study of heart rate monitors finds that listening to an acquaintance's normal heart rate can lead to negative trust-related assessments in challenging contexts such as waiting to meet the acquaintance about a legal dispute. Parallel work by Hancock and colleagues uses self-reports and large-scale experiments on platforms like Facebook to map the significance of AI-enabled curation features like news feeds (Hancock et al.). As a psychological state, trustworthiness tends to indicate a behavioral metric that can be numerically encoded and individually addressed. By measuring trust-infused dimensions of user activity, analysts seek to systematically identify new ways of scaffolding trust-building behaviour by manipulating perception (Hancock, Namaan, and Levy), ultimately convincing a user to comply. A core goal is to maximise participation. The US government applied these principles to mass data collection and dissemination efforts during national census such as the COVID response (Halpern). But a secondary effect grows from the political-economic dimensions of user experience. Through compliance, users become easier to place, measure, count, and amend—a process Michelle Murphy names the economisation of life. When people’s certainty in interpersonal relationships grows, “the source of uncertainty then shifts to the assurance system, thereby making trustworthiness and reliability of the institution or organisation the salient relationship” (Cheshire 54). For instance, we may trust people in our text messages because we meet them face to face and put their numbers in our phones. But once we trust them, this assurance moves to our social media service or cellular phone provider. The service that manages our contacts also preserves the integrity of our contacts, such as when a messaging platform like WhatsApp automatically updates a cell phone number without our knowledge or explicit consent. Conversely, feelings of assurance in a digital interface feature may dwindle with decreased feelings of assurance by a platform. Until November 2022, users may have trusted someone with a blue checkmark on Twitter more than someone without one, even if they did not trust them at an interpersonal level. But with a chaotic acquisition that, according to a Washington Post report (Weatherbed), led to shifting check mark meanings and colours, this assurance grew more complicated. Murphy (24) might call these quantitative practices enriched with affect the “phantasmagrams” of rationalised assurance. Like a check mark that may or may not index a particular measure of confidence, excitement or worry, these shifting dynamics reveal the “trust and belief that animates numbers” (52). A less considered outcome of this framing is how individuated expressions of distrust (situations that foster psychological and physiological concern, skepticism, or fear for a single person) overshadow its complement: non-unconditional expressions of care. How might a user interface foster networks of connection for self and community? As Anna Lauren Hoffmann suggests, efforts to thwart algorithmic discrimination undergird this conundrum—“mirroring some of antidiscrimination discourse’s most problematic tendencies” (901). The particular value placed on trust often proceeds quick-fix techniques such as multi-factor authentication and cryptography that reduce trust to a neutral transaction (see Ashoori, et al.). In this discussion, design researchers have only begun to conceive trust (and distrust) as a deeply embodied process. Looks, Cuts, and Scans Reddy’s b00b invites audiences to explore embodied positioning. Sitting on a static mannequin, the garment invites audience members to engage the handiwork laid atop its breasts. In video documentation (Reddy), Reddy holds up a phone to a mannequin wearing the bra. She touches the phone to the mannequin’s right nipple, and the phone screen opens a Web browser with a password-protected field. As Reddy moves the phone to the mannequin’s left nipple, the phone shares the password ‘banjara,’ a reference to the community from which the embroidery techniques derive. The password opens a Website full of descriptive text and imagery detailing this material reference. In this interaction, b00b joins a movement of artistic work that uses textile artifacts to frame boundaries of self and other as porous and shifting. Consider Nam June Paik’s 1969 TV Bra for Living Sculpture. Across the 1970s, Charlotte Moorman performed the work by playing cello while wearing a transparent brassiere with two miniature television screens mounted on her chest (Paik; Rothfuss). As Moorman played her cello, wires connecting the cello to the two television sets sent sonic signals to the video that manipulate its imagery. Moorman’s instrumentation controlled the visuals displayed on the screens, inviting audience members to come closer to the electronic garment and her body—or, as Joan Rothfuss explains, “never mind that the bra actually encouraged prurience by compelling spectators to stare at [Moorman’s] breasts” (243). TV Bra invited its audience to breach conventional limits of closeness and contact much like users of b00b. Yoko Ono’s celebrated Cut Piece has sparked a similar prurience. During the work Ono dressed in some of her finest clothes and invites audience members to walk on stage and shear away pieces of fabric. Notably documented in the Albert and David Maysles film of Ono’s 1965 Carnegie Hall performance, the audience leaves Ono’s body nearly fully exposed at the performance’s end, save for her arms holding remaining pieces of fabric. With scissors in hand, the performance threatens imminent danger—inspiring snickers, pause, and discomforting ease among audience members eager to participate. Cut Piece encourages the audience to disregard consent and expose a certain breach of trust, practice mirrored with b00b. In this process of cutting cloth, often on the bias (or on a slanted angle; see Benabdallah, et al.; Rosner), feminist performance works have long prompted audiences to trouble the intimate relationship between themselves and the performer. As Vivian Huang has deftly argued, Ono’s shredded fabrics are more than neutral inconveniences; they also hint at whatever racialised and gendered feelings of trust might or might not exist between Ono and her audience. “If Orientalist conflations of the East with femininity have in turn sexualized Asian women as simultaneously hypersexual and submissive”, Haung contends, “then how can we as viewers and readers performatively read Asian femininity in a different, and not anti-relational, orientation to hospitality?” (187). b00b asks a similar question with systems of verification. Examining this possibility, Peggy Kyoungwon Lee recently puts Cut Piece in conversation with the contemporary media art of Lisa Park, and notes that “Ono’s signature composure both enacts and challenges archetypes of the feminized Asian body: cognitive efficiency, durability, calculative emotionality, docility, passivity” (54). For Lee, Cut Piece continues to open pathways for interpretation by diverting audience members from the compliance arguments above. Where algorithmic trust further complicates the making of trust with an added layer of uncertainty (is this made by an algorithm or is this not?), Cut Piece and TV Bra see in and through uncertainty to recentre a relational ethics. This concern for the relationality endures in Reddy’s b00b. To fashion the near-field communication (NFC) cards, Reddy draws from Banjara embroidery, a heritage craft technique featured in her home city of Hyderbad (Telangana). Like Banjara, b00b incorporates varied accessories (mirrors, tassels, shells) with colourful pattern. She embellishes the bra with lively zig-zagging embroidery, fashioning each nipple with a mirror that expertly doubles as an NFT tag hidden behind the embroidery. Garments like Ono’s, Paik and Moorman’s, and now Reddy’s, share an understanding that technology can and should reflect a certain felt complexity. At the Brilliant Labs event, Reddy presents b00b to conference-goers invested in shared hardware design specification standards. Across the 48-minute presentation, b00b interrupts the audience's presumed intentions. As Elizabeth Goodman has argued, hackers and tech enthusiasts interested in schematics, wireframes, and other digital drawings often prioritise formats that anyone can examine, adapt, use, and circulate by overlooking their situated social and political stakes. In the theatrical setting of a tech forum, b00b’s fabric draws attention to the body—manoeuvring the (often white Western) gaze around femme Asian subjectivities and questioning proximities between one body and another. Through its embodied relationality, real or imagined, b00b shares a concern for reimagining trust within mechanisms of control. b00b is Reddy’s attempt at generative justice, a concept of inclusive making she calls part of “bringing the Open Hardware community closer to heritage craft communities” (Reddy). In documentation, she discusses the geopolitical conditions of NFC-based authentication that relies on intimate connection as a means of state-led coercion and control. Situating her work in contemporary trust politics, she describes the Aadhar biometric identification system designed to compel Indian residents to record biometric data through iris scans, fingerprints, and photographs in exchange for a unique identity number (Dixon). She writes that systems like Aadhar “make minority communities more vulnerable to being identified, classified, and policed by powerful social actors” (Dixon). Wearing b00b challenges efforts to root NFC transactions in similar carceral and colonial logics. With an intimate scan, a user or audience makes room for counter-expressions of dis/trust. Sitting across from Reddy during a recent Zoom conference, I felt the tug of this work. With the piece modelled on a mannequin in the background, it reminded me of the homegrown techno-armour worn throughout Friedrichshain, a lively neighborhood in the former eastern part of Berlin. For the onlooker, the bra incites not only intrigue but also a careful engagement; or what Reddy names the “need to actively participate in conveying trust and intimacy with the bra’s wearer”. I couldn't help but wonder what an attendee at the Open Hardware Summit might make of the work. Would they bristle at the intimacy, or would they—like Ono’s audiences—cut in? On the surface, b00b presents a playful counterpoint to the dominant narrative of technology as slick, neutral, and disembodied. By foregrounding the tactile, handmade qualities of electronic media, Reddy’s work suggests we reconsider the boundaries between physical and digital worlds to complicate readings of computational risk. She is taking a highly technical process typically used for practical applications like finance, online identity, or other well-defined authentication problems, and enlivening it. The garment invites her audience to appreciate two-factor encryption as something intimate—both in an abstract sense and in a resolutely embodied sense. By defamiliarising digital trust, Reddy calls attention to its absurdity. How can a term like “trust” (associated with intimacy and mutual concern) also denote the extractive politics of algorithmic control (the verification of a user, the assessment of risk, the escalating manipulation of use)? Look closer at b00b, and the focus on authentication offers something specific for our ideas of algorithmic trust. Reddy turns a computational process into an extension of the body, registering a distinctly affective intrusion within the digital codification of assurance and accountability. Working with interaction design in the tradition of feminist performance, b00b directs our digital gaze back toward the embodied. Toward a Relational Ethics of Trust Fabric artifacts like b00b have long challenged digital scholars to consider questions of uncertainty and accountability. From what counts as computational, to whose labour gets recognised as innovative, woven material sparks a particular performance of risk. As Lisa Nakamura (933) shrewdly observes, gendered and racialised “traits” associated with textiles tend to fuel technological production, casting women of colour as the ideal digital workers. Looking to transnational flows connected with making, Silvia Lindnter argues that these stereotypes bring strategic meanings to feminised Asian bodies that naturalise their role within digital economies. Whose bodies get associated with fabric (through making, repair, consumption, aesthetics) reflects deep-seated stratifications within the masculine history of computing—with seemingly few possibilities for circumvention. If trust works as a felt condition, digital developments might more fully honour that condition. Bringing textile possibilities to NFTs suggests examining how authentication systems work on and through the body, even without touch. It is in this reciprocal encounter between content and user, audience and performer, textile and algorithm that something like a bra can hint at a profound ethics of connection. Reddy’s work reveals the consensual contact that can meaningfully shape who and how we digitally trust. While this essay has focussed on trust, I want to end with a brief consideration of the way a textile—in this case a conceptual and maybe even ontoepistemic (da Silva) artifact—brings the status of users closer to that of audience members. It begins to weave an analytic thread between the orientations, capacities, and desires of performance and design. Across this connection, b00b’s design works as minoritarian performance, as Jasmine Mahmoud (after José Esteban Muñoz) describes: a practice that “centers performance—as an object of study, a method, and theoretical container—as a means of centering minortized knowledge”. As minoritarian knowledge, the embroidered NFT expands Rozsika Parker’s profound insight into the subversive power of needlecraft. As Julia Bryan-Wilson (6) observes, “accounting for textiles—objects that are in close physical contact with us at virtually every minute of the day—demands alternative methodologies, ones that extend from shared bodily knowledge”. For digital scholars, b00b opens a similar possibility under racial technocapitalism. It asks us to notice how an indicator light on an AI-trained surveillance camera, for instance, does not map to an engaged or disaffected condition for an over-monitored user. It registers the need for probing relationships that underlie those tools—relationships between workers and employers, between non-users and corporate platforms, between differentially marked bodies. It challenges the reduction of trust dynamics into individualised or universalised motivations. To trust and be trusted with thread opens the possibility of algorithmic re-embodiment. Acknowledgements I’m grateful to insightful comments and suggestions from Anuradha Reddy, Amanda Doxtater, Scott Magelssen, Jasmine Jamillah Mahmoud, Adair Rounthwaite, Anne Searcy, James Pierce, and the anonymous reviewers of the current M/C Journal issue. References Adam, Martin, Michael Wessel, and Alexander Benlian. "AI-Based Chatbots in Customer Service and Their Effects on User Compliance." 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“As the old technologies become automatic and invisible, we find ourselves more concerned with fighting or embracing what’s new”—Dennis Baron, From Pencils to Pixels: The Stage of Literacy Technologies What constitutes a computer, as we have come to expect it? Are they necessarily monolithic “beige boxes”, connected to computer monitors, sitting on computer desks, located in computer rooms or computer labs? In order for a device to be considered a true computer, does it need to have a keyboard and mouse? If this were 1991 or earlier, our collective perception of what computers are and are not would largely be framed by this “beige box” model: computers are stationary, slab-like, and heavy, and their natural habitats must be in rooms specifically designated for that purpose. In 1992, when Apple introduced the first PowerBook, our perception began to change. Certainly there had been other portable computers prior to that, such as the Osborne 1, but these were more luggable than portable, weighing just slightly less than a typical sewing machine. The PowerBook and subsequent waves of laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and so-called smart phones from numerous other companies have steadily forced us to rethink and redefine what a computer is and is not, how we interact with them, and the manner in which these tools might be used in the classroom. However, this reconceptualization of computers is far from over, and is in fact steadily evolving as new devices are introduced, adopted, and subsequently adapted for uses beyond of their original purpose. Pat Crowe’s Book Reader project, for example, has morphed Nintendo’s GameBoy and GameBoy Advance into a viable electronic book platform, complete with images, sound, and multi-language support. (Crowe, 2003) His goal was to take this existing technology previously framed only within the context of proprietary adolescent entertainment, and repurpose it for open, flexible uses typically associated with learning and literacy. Similar efforts are underway to repurpose Microsoft’s Xbox, perhaps the ultimate symbol of “closed” technology given Microsoft’s propensity for proprietary code, in order to make it a viable platform for Open Source Software (OSS). However, these efforts are not forgone conclusions, and are in fact typical of the ongoing battle over who controls the technology we own in our homes, and how open source solutions are often at odds with a largely proprietary world. In late 2001, Microsoft launched the Xbox with a multimillion dollar publicity drive featuring events, commercials, live models, and statements claiming this new console gaming platform would “change video games the way MTV changed music”. (Chan, 2001) The Xbox launched with the following technical specifications: 733mhz Pentium III 64mb RAM, 8 or 10gb internal hard disk drive CD/DVD ROM drive (speed unknown) Nvidia graphics processor, with HDTV support 4 USB 1.1 ports (adapter required), AC3 audio 10/100 ethernet port, Optional 56k modem (TechTV, 2001) While current computers dwarf these specifications in virtually all areas now, for 2001 these were roughly on par with many desktop systems. The retail price at the time was $299, but steadily dropped to nearly half that with additional price cuts anticipated. Based on these features, the preponderance of “off the shelf” parts and components used, and the relatively reasonable price, numerous programmers quickly became interested in seeing it if was possible to run Linux and additional OSS on the Xbox. In each case, the goal has been similar: exceed the original purpose of the Xbox, to determine if and how well it might be used for basic computing tasks. If these attempts prove to be successful, the Xbox could allow institutions to dramatically increase the student-to-computer ratio in select environments, or allow individuals who could not otherwise afford a computer to instead buy and Xbox, download and install Linux, and use this new device to write, create, and innovate . This drive to literally and metaphorically “open” the Xbox comes from many directions. Such efforts include Andrew Huang’s self-published “Hacking the Xbox” book in which, under the auspices of reverse engineering, Huang analyzes the architecture of the Xbox, detailing step-by-step instructions for flashing the ROM, upgrading the hard drive and/or RAM, and generally prepping the device for use as an information appliance. Additional initiatives include Lindows CEO Michael Robertson’s $200,000 prize to encourage Linux development on the Xbox, and the Xbox Linux Project at SourceForge. What is Linux? Linux is an alternative operating system initially developed in 1991 by Linus Benedict Torvalds. Linux was based off a derivative of the MINIX operating system, which in turn was a derivative of UNIX. (Hasan 2003) Linux is currently available for Intel-based systems that would normally run versions of Windows, PowerPC-based systems that would normally run Apple’s Mac OS, and a host of other handheld, cell phone, or so-called “embedded” systems. Linux distributions are based almost exclusively on open source software, graphic user interfaces, and middleware components. While there are commercial Linux distributions available, these mainly just package the freely available operating system with bundled technical support, manuals, some exclusive or proprietary commercial applications, and related services. Anyone can still download and install numerous Linux distributions at no cost, provided they do not need technical support beyond the community / enthusiast level. Typical Linux distributions come with open source web browsers, word processors and related productivity applications (such as those found in OpenOffice.org), and related tools for accessing email, organizing schedules and contacts, etc. Certain Linux distributions are more or less designed for network administrators, system engineers, and similar “power users” somewhat distanced from that of our students. However, several distributions including Lycoris, Mandrake, LindowsOS, and other are specifically tailored as regular, desktop operating systems, with regular, everyday computer users in mind. As Linux has no draconian “product activation key” method of authentication, or digital rights management-laden features associated with installation and implementation on typical desktop and laptop systems, Linux is becoming an ideal choice both individually and institutionally. It still faces an uphill battle in terms of achieving widespread acceptance as a desktop operating system. As Finnie points out in Desktop Linux Edges Into The Mainstream: “to attract users, you need ease of installation, ease of device configuration, and intuitive, full-featured desktop user controls. It’s all coming, but slowly. With each new version, desktop Linux comes closer to entering the mainstream. It’s anyone’s guess as to when critical mass will be reached, but you can feel the inevitability: There’s pent-up demand for something different.” (Finnie 2003) Linux is already spreading rapidly in numerous capacities, in numerous countries. Linux has “taken hold wherever computer users desire freedom, and wherever there is demand for inexpensive software.” Reports from technology research company IDG indicate that roughly a third of computers in Central and South America run Linux. Several countries, including Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, have all but mandated that state-owned institutions adopt open source software whenever possible to “give their people the tools and education to compete with the rest of the world.” (Hills 2001) The Goal Less than a year after Microsoft introduced the The Xbox, the Xbox Linux project formed. The Xbox Linux Project has a goal of developing and distributing Linux for the Xbox gaming console, “so that it can be used for many tasks that Microsoft don’t want you to be able to do. ...as a desktop computer, for email and browsing the web from your TV, as a (web) server” (Xbox Linux Project 2002). Since the Linux operating system is open source, meaning it can freely be tinkered with and distributed, those who opt to download and install Linux on their Xbox can do so with relatively little overhead in terms of cost or time. Additionally, Linux itself looks very “windows-like”, making for fairly low learning curve. To help increase overall awareness of this project and assist in diffusing it, the Xbox Linux Project offers step-by-step installation instructions, with the end result being a system capable of using common peripherals such as a keyboard and mouse, scanner, printer, a “webcam and a DVD burner, connected to a VGA monitor; 100% compatible with a standard Linux PC, all PC (USB) hardware and PC software that works with Linux.” (Xbox Linux Project 2002) Such a system could have tremendous potential for technology literacy. Pairing an Xbox with Linux and OpenOffice.org, for example, would provide our students essentially the same capability any of them would expect from a regular desktop computer. They could send and receive email, communicate using instant messaging IRC, or newsgroup clients, and browse Internet sites just as they normally would. In fact, the overall browsing experience for Linux users is substantially better than that for most Windows users. Internet Explorer, the default browser on all systems running Windows-base operating systems, lacks basic features standard in virtually all competing browsers. Native blocking of “pop-up” advertisements is still not yet possible in Internet Explorer without the aid of a third-party utility. Tabbed browsing, which involves the ability to easily open and sort through multiple Web pages in the same window, often with a single mouse click, is also missing from Internet Explorer. The same can be said for a robust download manager, “find as you type”, and a variety of additional features. Mozilla, Netscape, Firefox, Konqueror, and essentially all other OSS browsers for Linux have these features. Of course, most of these browsers are also available for Windows, but Internet Explorer is still considered the standard browser for the platform. If the Xbox Linux Project becomes widely diffused, our students could edit and save Microsoft Word files in OpenOffice.org’s Writer program, and do the same with PowerPoint and Excel files in similar OpenOffice.org components. They could access instructor comments originally created in Microsoft Word documents, and in turn could add their own comments and send the documents back to their instructors. They could even perform many functions not yet capable in Microsoft Office, including saving files in PDF or Flash format without needing Adobe’s Acrobat product or Macromedia’s Flash Studio MX. Additionally, by way of this project, the Xbox can also serve as “a Linux server for HTTP/FTP/SMB/NFS, serving data such as MP3/MPEG4/DivX, or a router, or both; without a monitor or keyboard or mouse connected.” (Xbox Linux Project 2003) In a very real sense, our students could use these inexpensive systems previously framed only within the context of entertainment, for educational purposes typically associated with computer-mediated learning. Problems: Control and Access The existing rhetoric of technological control surrounding current and emerging technologies appears to be stifling many of these efforts before they can even be brought to the public. This rhetoric of control is largely typified by overly-restrictive digital rights management (DRM) schemes antithetical to education, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Combined,both are currently being used as technical and legal clubs against these efforts. Microsoft, for example, has taken a dim view of any efforts to adapt the Xbox to Linux. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who has repeatedly referred to Linux as a cancer and has equated OSS as being un-American, stated, “Given the way the economic model works - and that is a subsidy followed, essentially, by fees for every piece of software sold - our license framework has to do that.” (Becker 2003) Since the Xbox is based on a subsidy model, meaning that Microsoft actually sells the hardware at a loss and instead generates revenue off software sales, Ballmer launched a series of concerted legal attacks against the Xbox Linux Project and similar efforts. In 2002, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft simultaneously sued Lik Sang, Inc., a Hong Kong-based company that produces programmable cartridges and “mod chips” for the PlayStation II, Xbox, and Game Cube. Nintendo states that its company alone loses over $650 million each year due to piracy of their console gaming titles, which typically originate in China, Paraguay, and Mexico. (GameIndustry.biz) Currently, many attempts to “mod” the Xbox required the use of such chips. As Lik Sang is one of the only suppliers, initial efforts to adapt the Xbox to Linux slowed considerably. Despite that fact that such chips can still be ordered and shipped here by less conventional means, it does not change that fact that the chips themselves would be illegal in the U.S. due to the anticircumvention clause in the DMCA itself, which is designed specifically to protect any DRM-wrapped content, regardless of context. The Xbox Linux Project then attempted to get Microsoft to officially sanction their efforts. They were not only rebuffed, but Microsoft then opted to hire programmers specifically to create technological countermeasures for the Xbox, to defeat additional attempts at installing OSS on it. Undeterred, the Xbox Linux Project eventually arrived at a method of installing and booting Linux without the use of mod chips, and have taken a more defiant tone now with Microsoft regarding their circumvention efforts. (Lettice 2002) They state that “Microsoft does not want you to use the Xbox as a Linux computer, therefore it has some anti-Linux-protection built in, but it can be circumvented easily, so that an Xbox can be used as what it is: an IBM PC.” (Xbox Linux Project 2003) Problems: Learning Curves and Usability In spite of the difficulties imposed by the combined technological and legal attacks on this project, it has succeeded at infiltrating this closed system with OSS. It has done so beyond the mere prototype level, too, as evidenced by the Xbox Linux Project now having both complete, step-by-step instructions available for users to modify their own Xbox systems, and an alternate plan catering to those who have the interest in modifying their systems, but not the time or technical inclinations. Specifically, this option involves users mailing their Xbox systems to community volunteers within the Xbox Linux Project, and basically having these volunteers perform the necessary software preparation or actually do the full Linux installation for them, free of charge (presumably not including shipping). This particular aspect of the project, dubbed “Users Help Users”, appears to be fairly new. Yet, it already lists over sixty volunteers capable and willing to perform this service, since “Many users don’t have the possibility, expertise or hardware” to perform these modifications. Amazingly enough, in some cases these volunteers are barely out of junior high school. One such volunteer stipulates that those seeking his assistance keep in mind that he is “just 14” and that when performing these modifications he “...will not always be finished by the next day”. (Steil 2003) In addition to this interesting if somewhat unusual level of community-driven support, there are currently several Linux-based options available for the Xbox. The two that are perhaps the most developed are GentooX, which is based of the popular Gentoo Linux distribution, and Ed’s Debian, based off the Debian GNU / Linux distribution. Both Gentoo and Debian are “seasoned” distributions that have been available for some time now, though Daniel Robbins, Chief Architect of Gentoo, refers to the product as actually being a “metadistribution” of Linux, due to its high degree of adaptability and configurability. (Gentoo 2004) Specifically, the Robbins asserts that Gentoo is capable of being “customized for just about any application or need. ...an ideal secure server, development workstation, professional desktop, gaming system, embedded solution or something else—whatever you need it to be.” (Robbins 2004) He further states that the whole point of Gentoo is to provide a better, more usable Linux experience than that found in many other distributions. Robbins states that: “The goal of Gentoo is to design tools and systems that allow a user to do their work pleasantly and efficiently as possible, as they see fit. Our tools should be a joy to use, and should help the user to appreciate the richness of the Linux and free software community, and the flexibility of free software. ...Put another way, the Gentoo philosophy is to create better tools. When a tool is doing its job perfectly, you might not even be very aware of its presence, because it does not interfere and make its presence known, nor does it force you to interact with it when you don’t want it to. The tool serves the user rather than the user serving the tool.” (Robbins 2004) There is also a so-called “live CD” Linux distribution suitable for the Xbox, called dyne:bolic, and an in-progress release of Slackware Linux, as well. According to the Xbox Linux Project, the only difference between the standard releases of these distributions and their Xbox counterparts is that “...the install process – and naturally the bootloader, the kernel and the kernel modules – are all customized for the Xbox.” (Xbox Linux Project, 2003) Of course, even if Gentoo is as user-friendly as Robbins purports, even if the Linux kernel itself has become significantly more robust and efficient, and even if Microsoft again drops the retail price of the Xbox, is this really a feasible solution in the classroom? Does the Xbox Linux Project have an army of 14 year olds willing to modify dozens, perhaps hundreds of these systems for use in secondary schools and higher education? Of course not. If such an institutional rollout were to be undertaken, it would require significant support from not only faculty, but Department Chairs, Deans, IT staff, and quite possible Chief Information Officers. Disk images would need to be customized for each institution to reflect their respective needs, ranging from setting specific home pages on web browsers, to bookmarks, to custom back-up and / or disk re-imaging scripts, to network authentication. This would be no small task. Yet, the steps mentioned above are essentially no different than what would be required of any IT staff when creating a new disk image for a computer lab, be it one for a Windows-based system or a Mac OS X-based one. The primary difference would be Linux itself—nothing more, nothing less. The institutional difficulties in undertaking such an effort would likely be encountered prior to even purchasing a single Xbox, in that they would involve the same difficulties associated with any new hardware or software initiative: staffing, budget, and support. If the institutional in question is either unwilling or unable to address these three factors, it would not matter if the Xbox itself was as free as Linux. An Open Future, or a Closed one? It is unclear how far the Xbox Linux Project will be allowed to go in their efforts to invade an essentially a proprietary system with OSS. Unlike Sony, which has made deliberate steps to commercialize similar efforts for their PlayStation 2 console, Microsoft appears resolute in fighting OSS on the Xbox by any means necessary. They will continue to crack down on any companies selling so-called mod chips, and will continue to employ technological protections to keep the Xbox “closed”. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, in all likelihood Microsoft continue to equate any OSS efforts directed at the Xbox with piracy-related motivations. Additionally, Microsoft’s successor to the Xbox would likely include additional anticircumvention technologies incorporated into it that could set the Xbox Linux Project back by months, years, or could stop it cold. Of course, it is difficult to say with any degree of certainty how this “Xbox 2” (perhaps a more appropriate name might be “Nextbox”) will impact this project. Regardless of how this device evolves, there can be little doubt of the value of Linux, OpenOffice.org, and other OSS to teaching and learning with technology. This value exists not only in terms of price, but in increased freedom from policies and technologies of control. New Linux distributions from Gentoo, Mandrake, Lycoris, Lindows, and other companies are just now starting to focus their efforts on Linux as user-friendly, easy to use desktop operating systems, rather than just server or “techno-geek” environments suitable for advanced programmers and computer operators. While metaphorically opening the Xbox may not be for everyone, and may not be a suitable computing solution for all, I believe we as educators must promote and encourage such efforts whenever possible. I suggest this because I believe we need to exercise our professional influence and ultimately shape the future of technology literacy, either individually as faculty and collectively as departments, colleges, or institutions. Moran and Fitzsimmons-Hunter argue this very point in Writing Teachers, Schools, Access, and Change. One of their fundamental provisions they use to define “access” asserts that there must be a willingness for teachers and students to “fight for the technologies that they need to pursue their goals for their own teaching and learning.” (Taylor / Ward 160) Regardless of whether or not this debate is grounded in the “beige boxes” of the past, or the Xboxes of the present, much is at stake. Private corporations should not be in a position to control the manner in which we use legally-purchased technologies, regardless of whether or not these technologies are then repurposed for literacy uses. I believe the exigency associated with this control, and the ongoing evolution of what is and is not a computer, dictates that we assert ourselves more actively into this discussion. We must take steps to provide our students with the best possible computer-mediated learning experience, however seemingly unorthodox the technological means might be, so that they may think critically, communicate effectively, and participate actively in society and in their future careers. About the Author Paul Cesarini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Communication & Technology Education, Bowling Green State University, Ohio Email: pcesari@bgnet.bgsu.edu Works Cited http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/docs/debian.php>.Baron, Denis. “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies.” Passions Pedagogies and 21st Century Technologies. Hawisher, Gail E., and Cynthia L. Selfe, Eds. Utah: Utah State University Press, 1999. 15 – 33. Becker, David. “Ballmer: Mod Chips Threaten Xbox”. News.com. 21 Oct 2002. http://news.com.com/2100-1040-962797.php>. http://news.com.com/2100-1040-978957.html?tag=nl>. http://archive.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/08/13/020813hnchina.xml>. http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/1062/>. http://www.bookreader.co.uk>.Finni, Scott. “Desktop Linux Edges Into The Mainstream”. TechWeb. 8 Apr 2003. http://www.techweb.com/tech/software/20030408_software. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/29439.html http://gentoox.shallax.com/. http://ragib.hypermart.net/linux/. http://www.itworld.com/Comp/2362/LWD010424latinlinux/pfindex.html. http://www.xbox-linux.sourceforge.net. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/27487.html. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/26078.html. http://www.us.playstation.com/peripherals.aspx?id=SCPH-97047. http://www.techtv.com/extendedplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3356862,00.html. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,61984,00.html. http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/about.xml http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/philosophy.xml http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2869075,00.html. http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/docs/usershelpusers.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/fun.games/12/16/gamers.liksang/. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Cesarini, Paul. "“Opening” the Xbox" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0406/08_Cesarini.php>. APA Style Cesarini, P. (2004, Jul1). “Opening” the Xbox. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 7, <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0406/08_Cesarini.php>