ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF A GROUP OF SUBJECTS AGED 65 AND OVER (MOROCCO)

Objective. The aim of this study was to assess the health related quality of life of elderly Moroccans living at home as well as determining the factors that influence it. Material and methods. The data was gathered through a questionnaire survey conducted between 2017 and 2018. Age, gender, level of education, socio-professional activity, morbidity and perception of old age were chosen as variables, and the LEIPAD scale was used to evaluate the respondent’s quality of life, French version. Results. This study included 520 subjects aged 65 and above (277 men and 243 women). The average age was 71.2 years, and 60.8% of them were illiterate, 22.3% employed, 25.0% retired, and 52.7% have never worked. In addition, 57.9% of participants had at least one chronic illness and 42.9% had a pessimistic attitude toward old age. Overall, the surveyed subjects’ quality of life was adequate and satisfactory. The main ratings for the areas involving "taking care of oneself" and "depression-anxiety" were the lowest (23.7 and 28.6). On the other hand, the "sexual functioning" area was the most affected (score=73.7), thus impacting the participants’ quality of life. Furthermore, socio-demographic characteristics proved to have a negative impact on the participants’ quality of life. The highest average test scores were reported by women, the oldest subjects (>-75 years), subjects with low levels of education, without professions and retirees, suffering from chronic diseases and those who negatively perceived the old age, which showed a relatively impaired quality of life. Conclusions. The majority of the surveyed people had a good quality of life. Nevertheless, providing adequate treatment for the most disadvantaged elderly people could improve their quality of life and help them reach the old age in good health. Keywords: quality of life, elderly, test LEIPAD, Morocco.

Improved fuzzy chance-constrained optimization of booster strategy for water distribution system under uncertainty

To sustain water quality in water distribution system (WDS), disinfectant generally chlorine is boosted to water distribution system. However, the concentration of chlorine should be limited to acceptable scope. The upper bound of the scope is set for preventing the occurrence of disinfectant byproduct, which is harmful to human health. The lower bound of the scope is set for controlling the growth of microorganism as well as reducing the injection mass. As such, the optimization model was applied to solve the water quality issue in WDS. However, in WDS, chlorine decays and varies with time and space, affected by pipe material, temperature, pH value, and chlorine injection, etc. Therefore, in this paper, an improved fuzzy chance constrained optimization model was proposed to optimize the chlorine injection and location to maintain chlorine in WDS distributed uniformly. The proposed model was applied to two WDSs to analyze the effect of reliability level and preference parameter on the chlorine injection and location. The results indicated that the injection mass increases with the increase of preference parameter. The results also indicated that more booster stations can lower the injection mass, and two booster stations are suitable for WDS in Case 2. The method proposed can be applied to decide how and where to inject chlorine to WDS under uncertainty, and can help manager to determine whether optimistic or pessimistic attitude should be taken under various reliability levels.

Pension Pessimism in the Young Generation: Basics or Instincts to Blame?

Background: The area of pension expectations in Hungary is barely researched. However, the importance of adequate financial literacy and self-provision is becoming obvious at the economic, the decision-making, and the individual level.Objectives: Our research is conducted to investigate state pension expectations and certain aspects of financial literacy of the young generation, and to find a behavioral explanation for their pessimistic attitude.Methods/Approach: Using a 14-question questionnaire, we collected answers from Hungarian financially educated, young people. Two hypotheses were investigated by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Besides, a comparative analysis was conducted to connect the survey results with the ten instincts published by Hans Rosling in his book ‘Factfulness’.Results: The outcomes are in harmony with prior expectations, i.e. i) students in finance major are aware of the connection between a longer working period and a higher retirement income; and ii) despite the unisex pension scheme there are gender differences in the expected pension age. In the comparative analysis with ‘Factfulness’, we identified five instincts that lie behind the general pessimism of respondents.Conclusions: State pension expectations of the Hungarian young generation are overly pessimistic, the same attitude being found in international literature, as well. Pessimistic expectations can be explained using some of the ten instincts by Rosling.

On Existentialism in Doris Lessing`s One off the Short List

Doris Lessing`s short story ------ One off the Short List, like most of her famed novels, is a manifestation of individual`s living state in the lonely and absurd world. In this thesis, the writer attempts to interpret this story from the view of Sartrean existentialism by analyzing the middle aged protagonist`s special journey of exploring himself with suffering of being “others” so as to indicate Lessing`s pessimistic attitude to modern people`s existence.

Effect of Viewing Video Representation of the Urban Environment and Forest Environment on Mood and Level of Procrastination

A common problem among students is the problem of delaying important work activities, which is conceptualized as procrastination. Since procrastination can cause considerable costs for society, we would like to find a method to effectively alleviate the symptoms of this conditioning. It has been proven in an earlier study that staying in the forest environment increases vitality and reduces anxiety, and the negative state of these features can be associated with the intensification of procrastination symptoms. Therefore, it is likely that watching a forest video may decrease the probability or intensity of procrastination. To measure the impact of the forest environment on the level of procrastination of the subjects, a randomized experiment was carried out, in which the subjects watched in random order (on different days) one of two 15-min videos: one showing a walk in the forest area and one showing a walk in an urban environment (control). We measured the level of so-called ‘fluid procrastination’ including three aspects: ‘lack of energy to do the work’, ‘inability to get to work’ and ’pessimistic attitude to do the work’ with a set of questions the respondents completed before and after the experiment. The results showed that one aspect of fluid procrastination (‘pessimistic attitude to do the work’) can be effectively lowered by watching a video showing the forest environment. In contrast, watching a video of an urban environment increased the procrastination levels for two other aspects of procrastination (‘lack of energy to do the work’, ‘inability to get to work’). We also measured three other parameters before and after the experiment: mood state, restoration and vitality. Watching the video from forest area raised mood and restoration and watching the video from urban area, decreased mood, vitality and restoration. The study suggests that watching a video showing forest landscapes could be used as an effective remedy for problems related to procrastination among students.

Inequalities, harm reduction and non-combustible nicotine products: a meta-ethnography of qualitative evidence

Background We sought to review qualitative evidence on how smokers in different socioeconomic groups engage with non-combustible nicotine products (NCNP), including electronic cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapies, in order to provide insight into how these products might impact on smoking inequalities. Methods We searched ten electronic databases in February 2017 using terms relating to NCNP and socioeconomic status. We included qualitative studies that were published since 1980 and were available in English. We used guidelines adapted from the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme for appraising qualitative research.Results The review only identified studies exploring the attitudes of socioeconomically disadvantaged smokers towards NCNP for harm reduction or cessation purposes (i.e. we did not identify any relevant studies of more advantaged socioeconomic groups). Using a lines-of-argument meta-ethnographic approach, we identified a predominantly pessimistic attitude to NCNP for harm reduction or cessation of smoking due to: wider circumstances of socio-economic disadvantage; lack of a perceived advantage of alternative products over smoking; and a perceived lack of information about relative harms of NCNP compared to smoking. Optimistic findings, although fewer, suggested the potential of NCNP being taken up among smokers experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. Conclusions Overall, our review highlights the importance of considering the social, cultural and economic circumstances that influence experiences of smoking and of alternative product use.

Inequalities, harm reduction and non-combustible nicotine products: a meta-ethnography of qualitative evidence

We sought to review qualitative evidence on how smokers in different socioeconomic groups engage with non-combustible nicotine products (NCNP), including electronic cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapies, in order to provide insight into how these products might impact on smoking inequalities. The review only identified studies exploring the attitudes of socioeconomically disadvantaged smokers towards NCNP for harm reduction or cessation purposes (i.e. we did not identify any relevant studies of more advantaged socioeconomic groups). Using a lines-of-argument meta-ethnographic approach, we identified a predominantly pessimistic attitude to NCNP for harm reduction or cessation of smoking due to: wider circumstances of socio-economic disadvantage; lack of a perceived advantage of alternative products over smoking; and a perceived lack of information about relative harms of NCNP compared to smoking. Optimistic findings, although fewer, suggested the potential of NCNP being taken up among smokers experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. Overall, our review highlights the importance of considering the social, cultural and economic circumstances that influence experiences of smoking and of alternative product use.

Confusingly Similar: Discerning between Hardware Guitar Amplifier Sounds and Simulations with the Kemper Profiling Amp

Over the last decades, the simulation of musical instruments by digital means has become an important part of modern music production and live performance. Since the first release of the Kemper Profiling Amplifier (KPA) in 2011, guitarists have been able to create and store a nearly unlimited number of “digital fingerprints” of amplifier and cabinet setups for live performances and studio productions. However, whether listeners can discriminate between the sounds of the KPA and the original amplifier remains unclear. Thus, we constructed a listening test based on musical examples from both sound sources. In a first approach, the psychoacoustic analysis using mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients (MFCCs) revealed a high degree of timbre similarity between the two sound sources. In a second step, a listening test with N = 177 showed that the overall discrimination performance was d’ = .34, which was a rather small difference (0.0 ≤ d’ ≤ 0.74). A weak relationship between the degree of general musical sophistication and discrimination performance was found. Overall, we suggest that listeners are rarely able to assign audio examples to the correct condition. We conclude that, at least on a perceptual level, our results give no support for a commonly accepted pessimistic attitude toward digital simulations of hardware sounds.

THE (UN) SPECTACULER ETHICS FOR THE ACCOUNTANT: THE HOLY QUR'AN AS A GUIDELINES, "TUNJUK AJAR MELAYU" ANSWERED

The postmodern world is a reality that is beginning to have a powerful influence in our lives today. Postmodern thoughts create a pessimistic attitude and uncare about life. Ethics thoughts developed include classic ethical streams derived from Greek philosophers' thought, contemporary ethics from medieval European thinkers until the 20th century, as well as the ethical flow of Islamic religious thought which always refers to the Holy Qur'an and As-Sunnah. Bauman (1993) offers morality without code of conduct by restoring morals to the rights and dignity of human beings. The view of Bauman (1993), universality in postmodern perspective is concerned only with the problem of globalization relating to information, technology and economics rather than ecumenical politics, culture and moral authority. Malay ethics forms a personal character and a positive characteristic of Malay people. It becomes very important to create attitudes, behaviors, ethos, and habits that focus on positive work values. The ethics of the profession which is guided by the accountant must be mirrored and follow in the footsteps of the prophet Muhammad SAW who can always be trusted by his people and business partners.

Gambaran Perempuan dalam Dua Ilustrasi Online Jerman Bertema Weltfrauentag (Hari Perempuan Dunia)

<p class="Normal1"><em>Abstrak</em> - <strong>Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk </strong><strong>mengetahui bagaimana </strong><strong>penggambaran </strong><strong>perempuan setelah ditetapkannya Hari Perempuan Internasional </strong><strong>(<em>Weltfrauentag) </em></strong><strong>dalam </strong><strong>dua</strong><strong> ilustrasi online yang dimuat pada dua portal ilustrasi online di Jerman, yaitu <em>toonpool.de </em>dan<em> </em></strong><strong><em>ce-</em></strong><strong><em>comico</em></strong><strong><em>.</em></strong><strong><em>de</em></strong><strong><em>.</em></strong><strong> Metode penelitian yang </strong><strong>di</strong><strong>gunakan berupa metode deskriptif kualitatif dengan pendekatan studi pustaka. </strong><strong>Analisis ini menggunakan teori analisis wacana kritis model Sara Mills dan model teori segitiga semantik Charles Sanders Peirce.</strong><strong> </strong><strong>Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa </strong><strong>penggambaran perempuan dalam </strong><strong>media baru berupa ilustrasi online</strong><strong> menghadirkan diskusi terbuka mengenai pelekatan unsur domestik yang kuat pada perempuan. Diskusi ini dihadirkan oleh dua ilustrasi ini dengan cara berbeda. Ilustrasi pertama bernada positif, sedangkan yang kedua bernada pesimis. Ilustrasi pertama menggambarkan pelekatan unsur domestik melalui permainan kata oleh pemuka agama yang kemudian dipatahkan dengan penggunaan warna cerah dan simbol gambar yang mendukung kemajuan perempuan. Sementara itu, ilustrasi kedua menggunakan penggambaran relasi kuasa pada pimpinan laki-laki dan bawahan perempuannya. Kesadaran akan adanya hari perempuan dunia yang diucapkan pimpinan laki laki hanya mengacu pada kemampuan perempuan dalam mengerjakan pekerjaan domestik. Warna gelap dan simbol ada dalam gambar juga menyiratkan rasa pesimis yang diusung ilustrasi tersebut.</strong></p><p class="Normal1"><em>Abstract<strong> </strong>- </em><strong>The purpose of this research was to find out how the portrayal of women (concerning international women's day/Weltfrauentag) depicted in two German online illustrations. This research methodology is a qualitative method that is written by descriptive analysis with the approach of the study of literature. This research used Sara Mills's critical discourse analysis and semantic triangle theory by Charles Sanders Peirce. The research found that the portrayal of women in the new media (in the form of illustrated online) open the discussion on the domestication of woman. This discussion is presented differently in the two illustrations: while the first shows hope and positive attitude, the latter is seen pessimistic. The first illustration depicts the domestication of a woman using the word-play by two monks that are denied by using bright color and symbol of woman empowerment. The second illustration describes the power-relation between a male director and a woman employee. The male director argues the "International Woman Day" by referring only to woman domestic skills. The dark color and symbols support pessimistic attitude in the illustration.</strong></p><p class="Normal1"><strong><em>Keywords</em></strong> – <em>International Woman’s Day, Domestication of Woman, online illustration, Weltfrauentag.</em></p>