Perspectivas periféricas sobre educação das artes visuais

The paper presents the International Society for Education Through Art (InSEA) as an organization enabling networking possibilities for the community of visual arts researchers, teachers and educators. Skills for the 21 century education are described to explain the need to improve our tools for advocacy. The paper describes Egyptian Visual Art Education in current days and brings up some innovative approaches to art education in the countryinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estimation of the parameter of L´evy distribution using ranked set sampling

Ranked set sampling is a statistical technique for data collection that generally leads to more efficient estimators than competitors based on simple random sampling. In this paper, we consider estimation of scale parameter of L´evy distribution using a ranked set sample. We derive the best linear unbiased estimator and its variance, based on a ranked set sample. Also we compare numerically, variance of this estimator with mean square error of the maximum likelihood, a median based estimator and an estimator based on Laplace transform. It turns out that the best linear unbiased estimator based on ranked set sampling is more efficient than other mentioned estimators

Effect of micro TiO₂ on cement mortar

TiO2 is a primary photocatalytic ingredient. If incorporated into building materials, it can keep surfaces clean and significantly reduce smog-forming air pollutants. Many researchers have focused on the ability of Nano TiO2 to reduce NOx emissions or other pollutants. However, developing countries are unable to widely utilize Nano materials due to cost and technology barriers, in spite of their great need to find means for protecting structures from pollution and improve air quality. Some studies proved that micro TiO2 (commercial grade) also has photocatalytic properties. However, the effect of this inclusion on key mechanical and durability properties needs to be verified before being recommended for wide use. In this research the effect of commercial grade TiO2 powder on fresh state flow, compressive strength, shrinkage, sulfate resistance and carbonation. The results indicated that TiO2 decreased the workability as mortars became more sticky and dry with increased TiO2 content. The compressive strength was also reduced in TiO2 containing samples compared to the control samples especially at early ages .However, TiO2 powder as an additive in mortar was useful in reducing carbonation due to the filler effect. No samples in the current investigation showed signs of cracking or expansive mass loss due to sulfate exposure. It is recommended that TiO2 powder should be used as an additive to the mortar plaster to help in controlling the air pollution problem. However, some mix adjustment may be needed to counteract the loss in flow and strength due to the inclusion of TiO2 powder

Novel Intuitionistic Based Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Similarity Measures with Application to Clustering

Similarity measures have been widely used in applications dealing with reasoning, classification and information retrieval. In this paper, we first propose three new Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Similarity measures (IT-2 FSMs) as a dual concept of some semi-metric distances between Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFSs). We also prove that the extended IT-2 FSMs satisfy many common properties (i.e. reflexivity, transivity, symmetry and overlapping). Experiments are carried out on a variety of datasets including UCI Learning Machine and real data. Comparative studies between the proposed IT-2 FSMs and the other well-known existing similarity measures (Gorzalczany, Bustince, Mitchell, Zeng and Li as well as VSM and Jaccard) are performed. Obviously, the best results are obtained with the IT-2 FSMs being resilient to the high levels of uncertainty noise. We also prove that our IT-2 FSMs can overcome the drawbacks of some existing similarity measures based on the accuracy rate measure. In addition, the proposed IT-2 FSMs are joined with Fuzzy cmeans algorithm as a clustering method and the proposed system is compared against the existing clustering algorithms (Type- 1 Fuzzy k-means, Type-1 and Type-2 Fuzzy c-means, Cluster Forest, Bagged Clustering, Evidence Accumulation and Random Projection). Relying on the clustering quality parameters R and C (equivalent to the standard classification accuracy), the advanced IT-2FSMs show higher classification accuracy of about 86% which outperforms nearly the other classifiers

Early and delayed suture adjustments after adjustable suture strabismus surgery: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Adjustable sutures increase the success rate of strabismus surgery. However, the optimal timing of postoperative suture adjustment remains controversial. This trial was aimed at comparing the surgical outcomes and pain scores of early or 2 – 4 h and delayed or 24 h postoperative suture adjustment in adult patients undergoing strabismus surgery. Methods: An open-label, prospective, randomized, comparative interventional study was performed in consecutive adult patients scheduled for eye muscle surgery. Patients were randomized into two groups: the early group, with suture adjustment 2 – 4 h postoperatively, and the delayed group, with suture adjustment 24 h postoperatively. Subjective pain scores during the adjustment were also analyzed. The angles of misalignment at 1 and 3 months and the success rate at 3 months postoperatively were compared. Results: Forty-five (90%) patients completed the follow-up, including 23 (92%) in the early adjustment group and 22 (88%) in the delayed adjustment group, with a mean (standard deviation) age of 25.6 (9.5) years and a male-to-female ratio of 46.7:53.3. Thirty patients (66.7%) had exotropia, and 15 (33.3%) patients had esotropia. Both groups had comparable baseline characteristics (all P > 0.05). The mean pain scores during adjustment did not differ significantly between groups (P > 0.05). The postoperative angles of alignment were comparable between the groups before suture adjustment and at the 1- and 3-month follow-ups (all P > 0.05). The success rate in the early adjustment group was slightly higher (87.0% versus 63.6%), but the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The success rate was comparable between the groups in patients with esotropia or exotropia (both P > 0.05). Conclusions: Although the early adjustment group had a slightly higher success rate, the difference was not significant. Both groups had comparable subjective pain scores during adjustment. Future clinical trials should be performed different time intervals for postoperative suture adjustment, and subjective and objective outcomes, such as diplopia and stereopsis, should be compared between patients with a first strabismus surgery and those who underwent reoperation. This could better resolve the persistent controversy related to the optimal time for suture adjustment

Investigation of phenotypic and molecular diversity of Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb ex Prantl and Sisymbrium irio (L.)

Descurainia sophia and Sisymbrium irio, both from Brassicaceae family have potential medicinal effects. Seeds are consumed widely across Iran in sweet drinks. To determine the morphological and molecular diversity, 55 genotypes from these two genera were studied. All 11 ISSR primers detected polymorphism and generated 274 polymorphic loci. The average values of Polymorphism Information Content (PIC), Marker Index (MI) and Resolving Power (Rp) for ISSR primers were 0.278, 6.899 and 11.57, respectively. The AMOVA analysis revealed a high genetic variation (58%) within each genus. The UPGMA clustering based on molecular analysis separated all 55 genotypes into two main groups, correlating with division of plants into two genera. Moreover,  seven morphological traits were evaluated   to distinguish all 55 genotypes. Among them, rosette figure showed the most significant differentiation between two genera. The highest correlation was observed between two traits of seed color and seed weight at 0.758. The dendrogram obtained from the morphological traits corresponded with the UPGMA clustering. The chemical composition of essential oils of D. sophia and S. irio were identified via gas chromatography mass spectrum (GC-MS). Although GC-MS analysis detected β-pinene as the dominant component in both plants but different compounds were also detected. The present investigation clearly indicates that these morphological traits alone or combined with molecular analysis using 11 ISSR markers is considered as the true reflection of two genera partitioning, and hence the eligibility of both molecular and morphological criterion are proved. These findings could be used for future breeding programs in fields of seed production and medicinal extracts

Measuring Impact of Air and Agricultural Soil Pollution on Social Development in Saudi Arabia

This research aimed to measure the impact of air and agricultural soil pollution on social development in Saudi Arabia from the period 1995–2019 by using social development indicators, concentrating on the percentages of expenditure on education and health, and the Human Development Index. In addition, this study uses multiple regressions in estimating the model to study the impact of air pollution and agricultural soil on social development. Results of the study showed that a 10% change in the number of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used in Saudi agriculture leads to a change in the total number of inpatients by 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively. It was also found that an increased percentage of health expenditure to total government spending by 10% leads to a decrease in the total number of patients in the hospital by 1.8%. An increase in air pollution, expressed as a 10% increase in CO2 emissions, increases the total number of hospitalized patients by 11.1%.  The increasing total number of patients by 10% leads to a decrease in the total productivity of the worker, as an indicator of 1.8%. Furthermore, a change of 10% in the ratio of education expenditure to total government expenditure leads to a change in the same direction of the Human Development Index by 9.6%. In light of these results, it can be recommended that the country need to reduce air pollution by expanding the use of natural gas in the industrial and transportation sectors, in addition to reducing the use of nitrogenous fertilizers and pesticides in Saudi agriculture through the expansion of clean farming and good agricultural practices

Opportunities and challenges of integrating crop and livestock systems in the desert reclaimed lands of Egypt

The Mediterranean agriculture is constrained by high competition for land and water utilization. One of the challenges for farmers is to increase land productivity through a better use of livestock in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. To assess the opportunities and challenges of integrating crop and livestock activities in irrigated areas, a survey was conducted among 175 small-scale farms in the West Delta desert land of Egypt in 2013/2014. Five regions were investigated and comprised the old reclaimed lands where settlers came in the 1960s, the intermediate reclaimed lands where farmers settled down in the 1980s, and the new reclaimed lands that were attributed to new farmers in the 1990s. The study highlighted two types of farmers’ strategies: 1) diversification and specialization with focus on fruit tree plantation by university graduates, who had benefited from the attribution of around two hectares of land in the settlement program since the end of the 1970s; and 2) diversification with emphasis on livestock by common beneficiary settlers from the Nile Valley, who had benefited from the attribution of one hectare of land since the 1990s. Graduates focusing on fruit trees corresponded to a strategy of developing new business activity, whereas common beneficiaries diversifying their farming systems through livestock corresponded to the need to secure a stable source of family income all year round. Whereas diversification appeared to be a driving force for agricultural development in this context, specialization could be a social and economic risk as graduates became more dependent on national and international markets. This was reflected in the perception of farmers who underlined the need to integrate technical, ecological, economic and social constraints in their decisions