Experimental Investigation on the Structural Performance of Single Span Hollow Core Slab under Successive Impact Loading

In Lebanon and many other countries where structures are vulnerable to impact loads caused by accidental rock falls due to landslides, specifically bridges with hollow core slab, it is mandatory to develop safe and efficient design procedures to design such types of structures to withstand extreme cases of loading. The structural response of concrete members subjected to low velocity high falling weight raised the interest of researchers in the previous years. The effect of impact due to landslide falling rocks on reinforced concrete (RC) slabs has been investigated by many researchers, while very few studied the effect of impact loading on pre-stressed structures, noting that a recent study was conducted at Beirut Arab University which compared the dynamic behavior of reinforced concrete and post-tensioned slabs under impact loading from a 605 kg impactor freely dropped from a height of 20 m. Hollow core slabs are widely used in bridges and precast structures. Thus, studying their behavior due to such hazards becomes inevitable. This study focuses on these types of slabs. For a better understanding of the behavior, a full scale experimental program consists of testing a single span hollow core slab. The specimen has 6000 mm × 1200 mm × 200 mm dimensions with a 100 mm cast in a place topping slab. Successive free fall drops cases from 14 m height will be investigated on the prescribed slab having a span of 6000 m. This series of impacts will be held by hitting the single span hollow core slab at three different locations: center, edge, and near the support. The data from the testing program were used to assess the structural response in terms of experimental observations, maximum impact and inertia forces, structural damage/failure: type and pattern, acceleration response, and structural design recommendations. This research showed that the hollow core slab has a different dynamic behavior compared to the post tensioned and reinforced concrete slabs mentioned in the literature review section.

Therapeutic Alliance in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Child and Adolescent Mental Health-Current Trends and Future Challenges

This extended literature review proposes to present the trends in the therapeutic alliance, outcomes, and measures in the last decade within the premises of individual cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and its innovations, used as an interventional measure in the context of child and adolescent mental health setting. A brief background of the rationale for conducting this literature search is presented at the start. This is followed by the methodology and design which incorporates the inclusion and exclusion criteria and the basis for the same. The critical appraisal of the primary studies is presented in the literature review section with a brief description of the summary features of the studies in the study tables followed by the results and discussion of the study findings. To summarise, the literature review of primary studies conducted in the last decade demonstrates the need for further research to be conducted both in the field of CBT in children and therapeutic alliance, competence, and therapy outcomes, integrating perspectives in child development, carer alliance, and the social construct theory in children, to allow for further innovations in CBT in the context of increasing challenges in the current times of exponentially developing technology and its utility without compromising the quality of therapy. In conclusion, recommendations are made as a guideline for future studies and research in this field.

THE EFFECT OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: A STUDY OF SELECTED BREWERIES IN THE SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

This study examined the effect of manpower planning on organizational performance in the Brewery industry in South-East, Nigeria. The literature review section touched on all the four-main sections of the review which include conceptual review, theoretical framework, theoretical exposition and empirical review. The study adopted descriptive survey design and used summary and descriptive statistics as well as regression analysis as the main tools of analysis. All tests were conducted at 0.05 level of significance. Preliminary results indicated that F-Statistic of 18.029 is statistical significant and as such, the model was considered valid for predictions. The regression coefficient showed that 61.7 percent relationship exists between the dependent and independent variables. The coefficient of determination also showed that 52.9 percent variation in the dependent variable can be explained by the regressors. Major findings are that manpower planning in the area of forecasting to anticipate employees number and skills/expertise level have significant positive effect on organizational performance. It was concluded that human resource planning is very essential for optimal performance in the brewery industry. The study recommended among others that the issue of human resource planning should be treated in the organization with the seriousness that it deserves. Keywords: Human Resource Planning, Manpower Forecasting, Manpower Planning, Organizational Performance, Brewery Industry and Southeast Nigeria.

What Is Deep Learning and How Has It Helped the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have been trying to find solutions through international collaborations and interdisciplinary studies. This chapter aims to present how deep learning is used for the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this scope, this chapter covers the fundamentals of deep learning in terms of definitions, key concepts, popular network types, and application areas. Then it gives a summary of the most recent studies in which deep learning models are used for COVID-19. The authors believe this chapter is a good start for researchers who want to study deep learning. In addition, the literature review section of this chapter, which was prepared by considering the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to shed light on a broad range of health studies within the pandemic process and to provide better solutions to similar problems encountered in different sectors.

Agaricoid and boletoid fungi of Russia: the modern country-scale checklist of scientific names based on literature data

The authors of this paper summarize the majority of published data on the distribution of agaricoid and boletoid fungi recorded in Russia, covering the period from 1824 through 2020. A comprehensive list of 6867 scientific names based on 954 publications was compiled for the first time for the whole territory of Russia. All records have been checked through Index Fungorum. The work consists of a review section and five appendices. The review section discusses the intensity of field research and accumulation of data on the distribution of agaricoid and boletoid fungi in Russia, both historically and in its current state. The authors discuss the current state of knowledge on the biodiversity of regions of Russia and point out blank spots, thus providing a reference and an “action plan” for the future. Appendix A presents a list of 6142 taxa unambiguously ascribed to 3246 accepted current names. Appendix B contains 727 names that cannot be ascribed to any accepted current names unequivocally, with reasons given (e.g., no current name, wrong authors’ citations, absence from Index Fungorum). Names from both checklists are supplemented with data on the distribution of these taxa within the Russian Federation and references to published records. Appendix C contains a list of accepted current names reported from only one region. Appendix D is an overview of the nearly 200 years of research of agaricoid and boletoid fungi for all regions of Russia. Appendix E is a list of references used for checklists and study history preparation.

Devices Used by 112 Personnel in the Covid-19 Pandemic Process, Validation and Problems Encountered

The emergency health service is for all interventions that are made up of people who have received special education in their field, who work together in order to provide the best emergency response to the sick and injured in the shortest time possible in line with the possibilities available. In this context, although the emergency health service provided during the pandemic process requires the implementation of special procedures for healthcare professionals, it is important in the validation of the biomedical devices used during the provision of this service. Especially the fact that this process was a disaster that took place in an unexpected time period caused everyone to be caught unprepared and this situation caused the current workload of healthcare workers to increase even more. In this study, we conducted a literature search to shed light on the problems experienced by 112 emergency healthcare professionals during the pandemic period and how the validation of the biomedical devices used by these personnel in the ambulance should be. The type of research is descriptive research. The Covid-19 pandemic was accepted as a case and the literature was reviewed, with this case being the focus. During the literature search, up-to-date keywords such as "emergency health service, Covid-19, disaster preparedness, emergency aid unit employees, biomedical device technologies", which are also mentioned in the keywords, were scanned. Care was taken to ensure that the studies included in the review section were up to date and in accordance with the academic guide. In addition, due to the limitation of resources in the validation section of the research, assistance was received from the relevant legislation and expert medical company engineers and from the active staff in the field of healthcare professionals' problems. As a result of this research, we have reached the conclusion that legal regulations should be made regarding the problems experienced by healthcare professionals due to the pandemic and that existing standards related to device validation should be updated after the pandemic.

Indonesia's omnibus law in the international context

This study explores the views of legal experts on omnibus law in Indonesia, which is a problem related to law and human rights. We have conducted data searches on hundreds of legal articles that discuss issues related to job copyright law. Data collection is carried out using the keyword system on Google Search in many legal journals both at home and abroad. He continued the effort to comprehensively involve the coding system with an in-depth evaluation and high interpretation to understand that it can answer problems by prioritizing the quality and honesty of the data. Most legal experts think it is a tremendous legal reform based on the study data and discussion. However, most of them still question its effectiveness and implementation, considering that the court's recent decision on the Law on Creative Economy and Work is unconstitutional with conditional enforcement. Hopefully, this finding will color the legal review section in Indonesia.

Exploring ESL Students’ Current Competency and Needs in Academic Writing Skills at University

Mastering academic writing is one of the skills to be acquired by all university students. Ability to master academic writing skills enables university students to be more competent in presenting ideas and information related to their field. Inability to master required skills in academic writing will consequently impact the students’ performance in fulfilling the graduation requirement. Generally, students in higher learning institutions (HLIs) are constantly struggling with unfamiliar styles and mechanisms in academic writing. The current situation subsequently resulted students’ incompetency in presenting their ideas and discussion. In this study, the researchers aim to discover the students’ expectation for an academic writing skills course and their current competency academic writing skills. An adapted questionnaire from Choo (1998) was used as the main instrument in this study to 65 undergraduate TESL students in public higher learning institution (HLI) in Malaysia. Analysis of data was done quantitatively using statistical software. Results from the analyses revealed that more than half of the respondents (76.9%) agreed that academic writing skills are regarded as complex skills to be acquired. In addition, the results also yielded that almost half of the respondents (46.2%) believed that literature review section is the most difficult section in an academic paper. Results from this study will be able to guide future researchers and educators in producing more teaching and learning related to academic writing mastery.

A STUDY ON THE IMAGE OF CHINA IN THE GERMAN MEDIA

In recent years there has been an increasing number of researches in the domestic academic community studying the image of China in the German media. This article is divided into two parts: literature review and theoretical foundation combing. The literature review section compares domestic and foreign studies on China's image in the German media coverage of China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the studies on China-related reports in the German media and in the Western media during the pandemic are based on lexical choices and discourse themes to analyse the negative images of China portrayed by the media and to explore the inuence of ideology and national interests on the construction of the discourse, without exploring the role of the discourse maker's cognition, thinking and knowledge in the production and interpretation of the discourse. In terms of theoretical foundations, this article has identied the theory of stereotypes and national identity in communication studies, thus forming a theoretical system of national image research based on critical discourse analysis