Emoticons Unveiled: A Multifaceted Analysis of Their Linguistic Impact

This study aims to thoroughly investigate the linguistic impact of emojis and emoticons in modern written communication. This work attempts to shed light on these digital symbols’ linguistic structure, social implications, and evolution through a multidisciplinary research method. A mixed-methods approach was used in the research, integrating interdisciplinary viewpoints with quantitative and qualitative analyses. A vast amount of data was gathered from various digital communication channels, such as email exchanges, messaging apps, and social media. A sizable collection of text messages with emojis and emoticons was assembled. Emotional cons and emojis were categorized using linguistic analysis, breaking down their structure into visual components and repeating patterns. Their grammatical and syntactic effects on written language were also evaluated in this investigation. The findings indicate that using emojis in writing positively correlates with emotional expressiveness. This implies that when people wish to express emotions and subtlety in their messages, they typically utilize more emoticons. They enhance digital etiquette, reduce misunderstandings, improve emotional connection, and foster cross-cultural understanding. Emoticons are a global visual language that helps people communicate, create empathy, and navigate digital communication

Development of a Real-Time, Simple and High-Accuracy Fall Detection System for Elderly Using 3-DOF Accelerometers

© 2018, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals. Falls represent a major problem for the elderly people aged 60 or above. There are many monitoring systems which are currently available to detect the fall. However, there is a great need to propose a system which is of optimal effectiveness. In this paper, we propose to develop a low-cost fall detection system to precisely detect an event when an elderly person accidentally falls. The fall detection algorithm compares the acceleration with lower fall threshold and upper fall threshold values to accurately detect a fall event. The post-fall recognition module is the combination of posture recognition and vertical velocity estimation that has been added to our proposed method to enhance the performance and accuracy. In case of a fall, our device will transmit the location information to the contacts instantly via SMS and voice call. A smartphone application will ensure that the notifications are delivered to the elderly person’s relatives so that medical attention can be provided with minimal delay. The system was tested by volunteers and achieved 100% sensitivity and accuracy. This was confirmed by testing with public datasets and it also achieved the same percentage in sensitivity and accuracy as in our recorded datasets

Hall viscosity from gauge/gravity duality

In (2+1)-dimensional systems with broken parity, there exists yet another transport coefficient, appearing at the same order as the shear viscosity in the hydrodynamic derivative expansion. In condensed matter physics, it is referred to as "Hall viscosity". We consider a simple holographic realization of a (2+1)-dimensional isotropic fluid with broken spatial parity. Using techniques of fluid/gravity correspondence, we uncover that the holographic fluid possesses a nonzero Hall viscosity, whose value only depends on the near-horizon region of the background. We also write down a Kubo's formula for the Hall viscosity. We confirm our results by directly computing the Hall viscosity using the formula.Comment: 12 page

Adapting to climate-change-induced drought stress for improving water management in Southeast Vietnam

In Southeast Vietnam, droughts have become more frequent, causing significant damage and impacting the region’s socio-economic development. Water shortages frequently affect the industrial and agricultural sectors in the area. This study aims to calculate the water balance and the resilience of existing water resource allocations in the La Nga-Luy River basin based on two scenarios: (1) business-as-usual and (2) following a sustainable development approach. The MIKE NAM and MIKE HYDRO BASIN models were used for Rainfall-Runoff (R-R) and water balance modelling, respectively, and the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) was used to estimate the magnitude of droughts. The results identified areas within the Nga-Luy River basin where abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions are common and subbasins, i.e., in the Southeast and Northeast, where severe and extreme droughts often prevail. It is also shown that the water demand for the irrigation of the Winter-Spring and Summer-Autumn crop life cycles could be fully met under abnormally dry conditions. This decreases to 85–100% during moderate droughts, however. In contrast, 65% and 45–50% of the water demand for irrigation is met for the Winter-Spring and Summer-Autumn crop life cycles, respectively, during severe and extreme droughts. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that the water demand for irrigation could still be met 100% and 75–80% of the time during moderate, extreme, and severe droughts, respectively, through increased water use efficiency. This study could help managers rationally regulate water to meet the agricultural sector’s needs in the region and reduce the damage and costs caused by droughts

Farm-Level Risk Factors for Fish-Borne Zoonotic Trematode Infection in Integrated Small-Scale Fish Farms in Northern Vietnam

BACKGROUND: Northern Vietnam is an endemic region for fish-borne zoonotic trematodes (FZT), including liver and intestinal flukes. Humans acquire the FZT infection by eating raw or inadequately cooked fish. The production of FZT-free fish in aquaculture is a key component in establishing a sustainable program to prevent and control the FZT transmission to humans. Interventions in aquaculture should be based on knowledge of the main risk factors associated with FZT transmission. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A longitudinal study was carried out from June 2006 to May 2007 in Nam Dinh province, Red River Delta to investigate the development and risk factors of FZT infections in freshwater cultured fish. A total of 3820 fish were sampled six times at two-month intervals from 96 fish farms. Logistic analysis with repeated measurements was used to evaluate potential risk factors based on information collected through questionnaire interviews with 61 fish farm owners. The results showed that the FZT infections significantly increased from first sampling in June to July 2006 (65%) to sixth sampling in April to May, 2007 (76%). The liver fluke, Clonorchis sinensis and different zoonotic intestinal flukes including Haplochis pumilio, H. taichui, H. yokogawai, Centrocestus formosanus and Procerovum varium were found in sampled fish. Duration of fish cultured (sampling times), mebendazole drug self-medication of household members, presence of snails in the pond, and feeding fish with green vegetation collected outside fish farms all had a significant effect on the development of FZT prevalence in the fish. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The FZT prevalence in fish increased by 11 percentage points during a one-year culture period and the risk factors for the development of infection were identified. Results also highlight that the young fish are already highly infected when stocked into the grow-out systems. This knowledge should be incorporated into control programs of FZT transmission in integrated small-scale aquaculture nursery and grow-out systems in Vietnam

Rapid decrease of malaria morbidity following the introduction of community-based monitoring in a rural area of central Vietnam

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite a successful control programme, malaria has not completely disappeared in Vietnam; it remains endemic in remote areas of central Vietnam, where standard control activities seem to be less effective. The evolution of malaria prevalence and incidence over two and half years in a rural area of central Vietnam, after the introduction of community-based monitoring of malaria cases, is presented.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>After a complete census, six cross-sectional surveys and passive detection of malaria cases (by village and commune health workers using rapid diagnostic tests) were carried out between March 2004 and December 2006 in Ninh-Thuan province, in a population of about 10,000 individuals. The prevalence of malaria infection and the incidence of clinical cases were estimated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Malaria prevalence significantly decreased from 13.6% (281/2,068) in December 2004 to 4.0% (80/2,019) in December 2006. <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>and <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>were the most common infections with few <it>Plasmodium malariae </it>mono-infections and some mixed infections. During the study period, malaria incidence decreased by more than 50%, from 25.7/1,000 population at risk in the second half of 2004 to 12.3/1,000 in the second half of 2006. The incidence showed seasonal variations, with a yearly peak between June and December, except in 2006 when the peak observed in the previous years did not occur.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Over a 2.5-year follow-up period, malaria prevalence and incidence decreased by more than 70% and 50%, respectively. Possibly, this could be attributed to the setting up of a passive case detection system based on village health workers, indicating that a major impact on the malaria burden can be obtained whenever prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment are available.</p

Evaluation of microscopic observation drug susceptibility assay for diagnosis of multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis in Viet Nam

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) and multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) is important for the elimination of TB. We evaluated the microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) assay as a direct rapid drug susceptibility testing (DST) method for MDR-TB screening in sputum samples</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All adult TB suspects, who were newly presenting to Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital from August to November 2008 were enrolled into the study. Processed sputum samples were used for DST by MODS (DST-MODS) (Rifampicin (RIF) 1 μg/ml and Isoniazid (INH) 0.4 μg/ml), MGIT culture (Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube) and Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) culture. Cultures positive by either MGIT or LJ were used for proportional DST (DST-LJ) (RIF 40 μg/ml and INH 0.2 μg/ml). DST profiles on MODS and LJ were compared. Discrepant results were resolved by multiplex allele specific PCR (MAS-PCR).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seven hundred and nine TB suspects/samples were enrolled into the study, of which 300 samples with DST profiles available from both MODS and DST-LJ were analyzed. Cording in MODS was unable to correctly identify 3 Mycobacteria Other Than Tuberculosis (MOTT) isolates, resulting in 3 false positive TB diagnoses. None of these isolates were identified as MDR-TB by MODS. The sensitivity and specificity of MODS were 72.6% (95%CI: 59.8, 83.1) and 97.9% (95%CI: 95.2, 99.3), respectively for detection of INH resistant isolates, 72.7% (95%CI: 30.9, 93.7) and 99.7% (95%CI: 98.1, 99.9), respectively for detecting RIF resistant isolates and 77.8% (95%CI: 39.9, 97.1) and 99.7% (95%CI: 98.1, 99.9), respectively for detecting MDR isolates. The positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) of DST-MODS were 87.5% (95%CI: 47.3, 99.6) and 99.3% (95%CI: 97.5, 99.9) for detection of MDR isolates; and the agreement between MODS and DST-LJ was 99.0% (kappa: 0.8, <it>P </it>< 0.001) for MDR diagnosis. The low sensitivity of MODS for drug resistance detection was probably due to low bacterial load samples and the high INH concentration (0.4 μg/ml). The low PPV of DST-MODS may be due to the low MDR-TB rate in the study population (3.8%). The turnaround time of DST-MODS was 9 days and 53 days for DST-LJ.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The DST-MODS technique is rapid with low contamination rates. However, the sensitivity of DST-MODS for detection of INH and RIF resistance in this study was lower than reported from other settings.</p