Charitable Behavior of Muslim in Indonesia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tobit Model Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in social welfare. In such a situation, community philanthropy, including from the Muslim community, becomes critical. This study aims to explore the charitable behavior of Muslims in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tobit regression was used to analyze data from online surveys to determine the pattern changes of donations during the pandemic as well as the factors affecting the amount of donation. This study uncovered that Zakat Management Organizations (BAZNAS and LAZ) were some of the main choices for distributing zakat and alms (sedekah) during the pandemic. It was found that the factors with a positive and significant effect on the probability of increasing the percentage of donations were education, length of stay, and expenses. The results of this study contribute to the policy of developing the Zakat Management Organization as institutions trusted by the community in distributing zakat funds. This study supports the fundraising of the zakat organizations in terms of offering valuable insights and clear description about the Indonesian people’s charitable behavior. More importantly, this study suggests that improving the quality of education is crucial to increase community awareness in performing Islamic philanthropy such as giving zakat, sedekah, and waqf.

A History of Neonatal Uterine Bleeding and Its Significance

Bleeding in newborns and young girls fascinated writers for more than a millennium. Initially, there was confusion between neonatal bleeding, early menstruation due to precocious puberty, and hemorrhage due to disease. During the 19th century descriptions appeared of what is referred to today as ‘neonatal menstruation’ or ‘neonatal uterine bleeding’. By the turn of the century, Halban linked bleeding to active substances present during pregnancy and hypothesized that, while the maternal uterus reacts with decidua formation, the “weaker” fetal uterus reacts only with menstrual-like changes. Despite this clear description, several alternative theories endured for decades. Bleeding was believed to be due to a ‘catarrhal’ or neoplastic state of the genital tract, pulmonary circulatory disorder, congenital heart malformations, closure of the umbilical cord or affections of the intestine. During the 1950s, progesterone response and resistance were proposed to explain the pathogenesis of bleeding and its low incidence. The fetal endometrium is resistant to the high circulating progesterone. A decidual response is infrequent and results in menstrual shedding upon progesterone withdrawal after birth. Further research linked fetal stress consequent to pregnancy complications and post-maturity to increased incidence and preterm birth to reduced incidence of neonatal uterine bleeding.

Comparison of Complex Traffic Junction Descriptions in Automotive Standard Formats

Autonomous and highly automated transportation is very attractive not only for the automotive but also for the mapping industry. In order to exploit the technology, the latest survey solutions are needed, but beyond that, a clear description of the content is a must. Three standards have been selected: (1) used for a long time in navigation systems (NDS), (2) developed for simulation purposes (OpenDRIVE), and (3) designed and proposed for general map data exchange (GDF). In this paper, we present the approach of the three standards, then apply the tools of the standards to a specific sample area, a complex traffic junction, and produce maps in the appropriate formats. The evaluation of the pilot site shows that the difficulty of the exchange standard appears to be a serious obstacle. In the process of applying the navigation standard, the personality of the evaluator (the map maker) is also revealed. In the simulation format, the description of reality is gradually improved by including more and more extra elements.

The Use of Geotechnical Methods to Determine the Deformation Parameters of the Ground in Terms of Operation and Safety of Mortar Use

During firing from a mortar, an important issue is the parameters of compressibility of the ground on which the mortar is placed. This affects the operation of the mortar (including safety). During the qualification tests of the mortar, the influence of different types of terrains on its strength and work during shooting should be examined. Until now, in the Polish standardization documents there was no clear description of the ground parameters used for these kinds of tests. Analysis of the literature also did not allow to determine the dependence of the mortars displacement in the function of the type of ground and its geotechnical parameters. In view of the above, it has become important to draw up a research problem in the form of determining the types of soil with parameters, enabling the mortar tests to be carried out in conditions as close as possible to combat conditions. Therefore, the authors carried out the theoretical calculations and field tests with the use of geotechnical methods such as static and dynamic load tests to determine the parameters of the ground for mortar testing. Preliminary tests were conducted using the prescribed measurement methods and a comparative mortar firing test. Subsequently, an analysis of the results was carried out and the possibilities of using the tested methods of measuring the parameters of soil compressibility were determined.

Why We Eat the Way We Do: A Call to Consider Food Culture in Public Health Initiatives

The way we eat has changed dramatically in only a few decades. While definitions of food culture have previously existed, a clear description of modern food culture that can be used for health promotion is lacking. In this paper, we propose a concept of food culture for application within public health, what a positive food culture looks like compared to negative elements that have dominated in developed countries and the consequences for physical and mental health and wellbeing. We support calls to action from the international community to reconsider the way we eat. All segments of society have a role to play in building a positive food culture, and it is critical that macro (policy and systems) and meso (community) level environmental factors align and provide supportive environments that promote health-enhancing behaviours. Defining food culture is a necessary step towards articulating the complexities that influence food behaviours and impact health. The ultimate goal is collective action to enable population-wide and sustained improvements to the way we eat, and how we think and feel about food.

History of positron emission tomography (PET) in Poland

In this short chronological review, we showed the development of positron emission tomography (PET) starting from research on first isotopes through the concepts and prototype of PET machine to the current clinical practice and technological and clinical research. Particular emphasis was placed on a clear description of the milestones of PET development in Poland.

The Use of Geotechnical Methods to Determine the Strength Parameters of the Substrate in Terms of Operation and Safety of Mortar Use

During firing from a mortar, an important issue is the parameters of compressibility of the ground on which the mortar is placed. This affects the operation of the mortar (including safety). During the qualification tests of the mortar, the influence of different types of substrate on its strength and work during shooting should be examined. Until now in the Polish standardization documents was no clear description about the substrate parameters used for this kind of tests. Analysis of the literature also did not allow to determine the dependence of the mortars displacement in the function of the type of substrate and its geotechnical parameters. Therefore, the authors carried out analytical and experimental analysis of the use of geotechnical methods to determine the parameters of the substrate for mortar testing. The paper presents the proposed types of standardized soil and their research methods. Preliminary tests were also carried out using the prescribed measurement methods and a comparative mortar firing test. Subsequently, an analysis of the results was carried out and the possibilities of using the proposed methods of measuring the parameters of soil compressibility were determined.

Metaphors in Adele's Song Lyrics: A Linguistic Perspective

Metaphor is one of the figurative languages that takes two different things by identifying one with another. By using metaphor, it helps speakers or writers to give a clear description through comparison or contrast. Music is the attribute of sound in every background of human. To investigate the form and the meaning of metaphor found in the lyrics of the songs of Adele aims at the readers, especially the students of English Literature Major to use lyrics of the songs as a media in studying meaning. The method which is used in this research is descriptive method. In collecting data, the writer focused on identifying the words, phrases or noun. The result shows in terms of the identified metaphors, the writer found that the lyrics of the songs can be categorized as metaphor nominative subjective, metaphor nominative objective, metaphor predicative and metaphor sentence. The parts of sentences identified as metaphors are analyzed based on Lakoff is theory about tenor and source. Tenor refers to the underlying idea or principal subject of metaphor while source conveys the underlying; the borrowed idea, or the thing that has been resembled. The result of this study shows that the metaphor contains a certain meaning based on the context and each of them refers to a certain object of tenor and source.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENVIRONMENT RISK ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES FOR GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PLANTS OF DEVELOPING AND DEVELOPED COUNTRIES INCLUDING BANGLADESH

Genetically Engineered (GE) plants are the demand of time for increased need of food. The regulation system, followed from the development of a GE plant to its release into the environment is categorized into separate stages for maintaining the proper biosafety including Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA). ERA identifies potential risks and its impacts through science based evaluation process where it follows a case by case study. All the countries dealing with GE plants follow specific guidelines to conduct a successful ERA. In this study, ERA guidelines of 4 developing and 4 developed countries including Bangladesh were compared in terms of required data and information against ten criteria. Surprisingly, an adequate amount of data and information requirements (e.g. if the intended modification has been achieved or not, growth habit of GE plants, potential adverse effects on the human health etc.) matched between all the countries. However, a few differences of data requirement such as agronomic conventions of non-transformed plants, clear description of experimental procedures followed etc. were also observed in the study. Moreover, the result indicates that only a few countries provide instructions on the quality of the data used for ERA. Thus, if the similarities are recognized in a more framed manner then the approval pathway of GE plants can be shared.

Advancement of IoT System QoS by Integrating Cloud, Fog, Roof, and Dew Computing Assisted by SDN

In the internet of things (IoT) domain, there has currently been a growing interest, leading to the idea of the IoT ecosystem. But the standards, technology, and structures of the conventional IoT framework do not provide the necessary QoS for today's massive data. Thus, for today's IoT ecosystem, a framework called SD-DRFC (software-defined dew, roof, fog, and cloud computing) is suggested in this article. The framework delivers facilities from the closest possible position of end-user gadgets and thus increases the QoS in an IoT system. Clear description about the role and features of each tier is also presented. The path to a multi-tier computational architecture assisted by SDN can be realized from the given detailed literature review. Using the iFogSim simulator, a use case based on the architecture provided is then given and evaluated. This article considers four QoS parameters (latency, network use, cost, and energy consumption). When compared the findings of the simulation, the proposed framework execution performs much better than cloud-only execution.