A taxonomy of event participants based on risk and security perceptions

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to create a taxonomy of event participants based on risk and security perceptions. Design/methodology/approach: Two focus groups were established with British mothers, one with five mothers and the other with six, recruited through convenience and snowball sampling. A tree diagram was employed to uncover the taxonomic structure underlying risk and security perceptions. In creating the taxonomy, two critical issues were found to best categorise participants: the extent to which risks were considered before attending an event and whether or not participants showed an interest in knowing about security measures in advance of the event. Findings: Six taxonomy categories were created, based on the unique combination of attitude and reactions: overthinker, investigator, naïve, ignorer, survivalist and optimiser. Similarities and differences between the types of participants were examined across 12 typical traits and reactions to risk and security. Practical implications: The results provide event organisers with an understanding of whether they need to communicate their risk management strategy, and if so how they can best achieve this. Originality/value: Existing taxonomies have tended to identify customer types based on risk perceptions alone. This research expands such work by considering attitudes towards both risk and security and how these affect event attendance. Hence, the descriptive taxonomy developed in the paper provides empirical evidence of the diverse risk and security perceptions at public events

Fog Computing in the context of Smart Home, voice assistant and the future of IoT

Fog Computing es la capa de computacien distribuida mss proxima al usuario. Una arquitectura fog exitosa permite reducir el rerardo o latencia y aumenta la eficiencia. En este articulo se expone el desarrollo e implementación de una arquitectura de computation distribuida, aplicada a un entomo de automatización que aprovecha el Fog Computing como intermediario con la capa de computación en la nube. El estudio utilice una plata de desarrollo Raspberry Pi V3 conecrada a elementos finales de control como servomotor y reles, indicadores y sensores térmicos. Todo controlado por un framework de automatization que recibe las erdenes de Sid, las cuales son ejecutadas por medio de instrucciones previamente determinadas. La conexión a la nube se beneficia al reducirse el envió de datos ya que ahora solo se recibe la información relevante pare su análisis.Fog Computing is the distributed computing layer closest to the user. A successful fog architecture reduces delay or latency and increases efficiency. This article exposes the development and implementation of a distributed computing architecture, applied to an automation environment that takes advantage of Fog Computing as an intermediary with the cloud computing layer. The study uses a Raspberry Pi V3 development platform connected to final control elements such as servomotor and relays, indicators and thermal sensors. All controlled by an automation framework that receives Sid's orders, which are executed by means of previously determined instructions. The connection to the cloud benefits by reducing the sending of data since now only the relevant information is received for its analysis

Fog Computing en el contexto de Smart Home, asistente de voz y futuro de IoT

Fog Computing is the distributed computing layer that lies between the user and the cloud. A successful fog architecture reduces delay or latency and increases efficiency. This paper describes the development and implementation of a distributed computing architecture applied to an automation environment that uses Fog Computing as an intermediary with the cloud computing layer. This study used a Raspberry Pi V3 board connected to end control elements such as servomotors and relays, indicators and thermal sensors. All is controlled by an automation framework that receives orders from Siri and executes them through predetermined instructions. The cloud connection benefits from a reduced amount of data transmission, because it only receives relevant information for analysis.Fog Computing es la capa de computación distribuida más próxima al usuario. Una arquitectura fog exitosa permite reducir el retardo o latencia y aumenta la eficiencia. En este artículo se expone el desarrollo e implementación de una arquitectura de computación distribuida, aplicada a un entorno de automatización que aprovecha el Fog Computing como intermediario con la capa de computación en la nube. El estudio utilizó una placa de desarrollo Raspberry Pi V3 conectada a elementos finales de control como servomotor y relés, indicadores y sensores térmicos. Todo controlado por un framework de automatización que recibe las órdenes de Siri, las cuales son ejecutadas por medio de instrucciones previamente determinadas. La conexión a la nube se beneficia al reducirse el envío de datos ya que ahora solo se recibe la información relevante para su análisis

Democracia, sociedad civil y participación popular en América Latina

Este ensayo presenta un marco conceptual para comprender la relación multifacética, versátil y ambivalente de la democracia y la sociedad civil. Luego de definir ambos conceptos, el texto examina distintas modalidades de interacción entre la democracia y la sociedad civil, con ilustraciones puntuales de la historia contemporánea de América Latina. La última sección propone cinco corolarios para esbozar una estrategia favorable al desarrollo democrático y popular de la sociedad civil latinoamericana. Este artículo plantea que la democracia y la sociedad civil ofrecen un medio habilitante para emprender las luchas, negociaciones y concertaciones necesarias para extender el proceso de democratización. La sociedad civil es un espacio cacofónico, con ambigüedades naturales y muchas contradicciones. Aún así, es indispensable para la democracia, así como la democracia proporciona un marco político vital para el desarrollo de la sociedad civil. Ambas precisan ser resguardas y mejoradas de manera conjunta – con un pie, siempre, en la promoción de la organización, movilización y creatividad popular

O movimento dos trabalhadores rurais sem-terra (MST) e a democracia no Brasil

Este trabalho examina as relações do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) com a democracia no Brasil. O MST é a principal organização popular da América Latina e um dos mais importantes movimentos sociais pela reforma agrária na história mundial. Contrariando certas opiniões influentes, este ensaio argumenta que o MST não é uma organização “anti-Estado” ou “anti-democrática”. As ações do MST junto às instituições políticas do Brasil são multifacetadas e dinâmicas. Estas incluem o ativismo público e atos de desobediência civil, lobby e negociações, corporativismo social ad hoc, participação eleitoral e relações diversas com o Estado de Direito. Dada a crua realidade da luta agrária no Brasil –- e as opções reais disponíveis ao MST— a conduta de resistência e pressão política deve ser compreendida, em primeiro lugar, como sustentada em considerações práticas mais do que em qualquer ideologia dogmática. O perfil contencioso do MST tem sido necessário para avançar a reforma agrária no Brasil e melhorar a qualidade da sua democracia, no sentido de: (1) fortalecer a sociedade civil através da organização e incorporação de setores marginalizados da população; (2) realçar a importância do ativismo público como catalisador do desenvolvimento social; (3) facilitar a extensão e exercício de direitos básicos de cidadania entre os pobres; e, (4) gerar um sentido de utopia e afirmação de ideais que impregnam o processo de democratização do Brasil no seu longo prazo, complexidade e conseqüências abertas. Por virtude de nascimento e necessidade, a marca distintiva do MST junto à democracia brasileira tem sido a do “jogo duro”.This paper reviews the Movement of Landless Rural Workers’ (MST) relations with democracy in Brazil. The MST is Latin America’s premier grassroots organization and one of the most significant social movements for land reform in world history. Contrary to influential views, this essay argues that the MST is not an “anti-state” or “anti-democratic” organization. MST engagements with Brazil’s political institutions are multifarious and dynamic. These include public activism and acts of civil disobedience, lobbying and bargaining, ad hoc societal corporatism, electoral participation, and manifold relations with the rule of law. Given the crude realities of Brazil’s agrarian struggle –and the actual options available to the MST—the movement’s oppositional demeanor and pressure politics must be understood, first and foremost, as grounded on practical considerations rather than any dogmatic ideology. The MST’s contentious edge has been necessary to advance Brazil’s agrarian reform and improve the quality of its democracy by: (1) strengthening civil society through the organization and incorporation of marginalized sectors of the population; (2) highlighting the importance of public activism as a catalyst for social development; (3) facilitating the extension and exercise of basic citizenship rights among Brazil’s poor; and, (4) engendering a sense of utopia and affirmation of ideals imbued in Brazil’s long term, complex and open-ended democratization process by virtue of birth and necessity, the MST’s distinct mark on Brazilian democracy has been that of the “tough touch.

After-school sports programmes and social inclusion processes in culturally diverse contexts: Results of an international multicase study

This research aimed to understand the role of after-school sports programs in social inclusion processes in culturally diverse contexts through a multicase study within two locations. The first location was in Spain where immigrant and Spanish students were enrolled, and the other was in Chile with Mapuche- Huilliche students, immigrant and Chilean students. The implemented programs at both sites were similar in their educational focus on socio-educational values, and teaching models (hybridization of teaching games for understanding and cooperative learning) that enhance social inclusion. Using individual and group interviews with teachers, sports coordinators, parents, and students, a qualitative approach was used to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder the social inclusion processes. In addition, the researchers used qualitative observations of the programs over six months using “notes logbook” to record their impressions during the observation process. Results indicated that the implemented sports programs successfully facilitated social inclusion processes, enabling the development of interpersonal skills and relationships between students from different cultural backgrounds. The previous training and experiences of teachers in culturally diverse contexts, and incorporation of traditional sporting games from all cultures, seems to be an important facilitator factor for the inclusion potential of the implemented program

Characteristics of patients making serious inhaler errors with a dry powder inhaler and association with asthma-related events in a primary care setting

Acknowledgements The iHARP database was funded by unrestricted grants from Mundipharma International Ltd and Research in Real-Life Ltd; these analyses were funded by an unrestricted grant from Teva Pharmaceuticals. Mundipharma and Teva played no role in study conduct or analysis and did not modify or approve the manuscript. The authors wish to direct a special appreciation to all the participants of the iHARP group who contributed data to this study and to Mundipharma, sponsors of the iHARP group. In addition, we thank Julie von Ziegenweidt for assistance with data extraction and Anna Gilchrist and Valerie L. Ashton, PhD, for editorial assistance. Elizabeth V. Hillyer, DVM, provided editorial and writing support, funded by Research in Real-Life, Ltd.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Graph schemas as abstractions for transfer learning, inference, and planning

We propose schemas as a model for abstractions that can be used for rapid transfer learning, inference, and planning. Common structured representations of concepts and behaviors -- schemas -- have been proposed as a powerful way to encode abstractions. Latent graph learning is emerging as a new computational model of the hippocampus to explain map learning and transitive inference. We build on this work to show that learned latent graphs in these models have a slot structure -- schemas -- that allow for quick knowledge transfer across environments. In a new environment, an agent can rapidly learn new bindings between the sensory stream to multiple latent schemas and select the best fitting one to guide behavior. To evaluate these graph schemas, we use two previously published challenging tasks: the memory & planning game and one-shot StreetLearn, that are designed to test rapid task solving in novel environments. Graph schemas can be learned in far fewer episodes than previous baselines, and can model and plan in a few steps in novel variations of these tasks. We further demonstrate learning, matching, and reusing graph schemas in navigation tasks in more challenging environments with aliased observations and size variations, and show how different schemas can be composed to model larger 2D and 3D environments.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures in main paper, 12 pages and 8 figures in appendi

The Plasmodium falciparum, Nima-related kinase Pfnek-4: a marker for asexual parasites committed to sexual differentiation

<b>Background</b> Malaria parasites undergo, in the vertebrate host, a developmental switch from asexual replication to sexual differentiation leading to the formation of gametocytes, the only form able to survive in the mosquito vector. Regulation of the onset of the sexual phase remains largely unknown and represents an important gap in the understanding of the parasite's complex biology. <b>Methods:</b> The expression and function of the Nima-related kinase Pfnek-4 during the early sexual development of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum were investigated, using three types of transgenic Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 lines: (i) episomally expressing a Pfnek-4-GFP fusion protein under the control of its cognate pfnek-4 promoter; (ii) episomally expressing negative or positive selectable markers, yeast cytosine deaminase-uridyl phosphoribosyl transferase, or human dihydrofolate reductase, under the control of the pfnek-4 promoter; and (iii) lacking a functional pfnek-4 gene. Parasite transfectants were analysed by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. In vitro growth rate and gametocyte formation were determined by Giemsa-stained blood smears. <b>Results:</b> The Pfnek-4-GFP protein was found to be expressed in stage II to V gametocytes and, unexpectedly, in a subset of asexual-stage parasites undergoing schizogony. Culture conditions stimulating gametocyte formation resulted in significant increase of this schizont subpopulation. Moreover, sorted asexual parasites expressing the Pfnek-4-GFP protein displayed elevated gametocyte formation when returned to in vitro culture in presence of fresh red blood cells, when compared to GFP- parasites from the same initial population. Negative selection of asexual parasites expressing pfnek-4 showed a marginal reduction in growth rate, whereas positive selection caused a marked reduction in parasitaemia, but was not sufficient to completely abolish proliferation. Pfnek-4- clones are not affected in their asexual growth and produced normal numbers of stage V gametocytes. <b>Conclusions:</b> The results indicate that Pfnek-4 is not strictly gametocyte-specific, and is expressed in a small subset of asexual parasites displaying high rate conversion to sexual development. Pfnek-4 is not required for erythrocytic schizogony and gametocytogenesis. This is the first study to report the use of a molecular marker for the sorting of sexually-committed schizont stage P. falciparum parasites, which opens the way to molecular characterization of this pre-differentiated subpopulation

Metastability of solitary roll wave solutions of the St. Venant equations with viscosity

We study by a combination of numerical and analytical Evans function techniques the stability of solitary wave solutions of the St. Venant equations for viscous shallow-water flow down an incline, and related models. Our main result is to exhibit examples of metastable solitary waves for the St. Venant equations, with stable point spectrum indicating coherence of the wave profile but unstable essential spectrum indicating oscillatory convective instabilities shed in its wake. We propose a mechanism based on ``dynamic spectrum'' of the wave profile, by which a wave train of solitary pulses can stabilize each other by de-amplification of convective instabilities as they pass through successive waves. We present numerical time evolution studies supporting these conclusions, which bear also on the possibility of stable periodic solutions close to the homoclinic. For the closely related viscous Jin-Xin model, by contrast, for which the essential spectrum is stable, we show using the stability index of Gardner--Zumbrun that solitary wave pulses are always exponentially unstable, possessing point spectra with positive real part.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figure