Tomas Bata University in Zlín
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Regional COVID-19 cases and Bitcoin volatility: Assessment through the Markov switching prism
Get PDFThe 21st century has become the century of technology, which has spread to the currency market, presenting the international economic system with a new challenge – the challenge created by digital currency, which has determined a change in the rules of operation in the market. The main property of cryptocurrencies in general, and Bitcoin in particular, is constant volatility and mutual sensitivity to each other. This article aims to analyze the cryptocurrency market landscape from both short-term and long-term perspectives. Additionally, the article seeks to quantitatively assess the contradictions, trends, and patterns of price volatility in Bitcoin by employing the framework of Markov switching during the period spanning from 2020 to 2022. The Markov switching model was used in the study. In this study, the factors influencing volatility on different modes of the Markov switch are the COVID-19 pandemic and the Pearson correlation statistical method. The Chi-squared test was estimated to identify the connection between Bitcoin volatility switching modes and the COVID-19 pandemic spread. This analysis enables international investors to diversify with maximum efficiency and returns using available hedging tools. However, several open questions remain for future research. Future studies can analyze different cryptocurrencies’ volatility. This research helps to assess the nature of the relationship of cryptocurrencies in statistics (the correlation of cryptocurrencies as of December 1, 2021, when no significant events in the financial market and political upheavals were recorded) and dynamics (the Markov switching models for the post-pandemic period of 2020–2022). The article contributes to understanding the interdependence and sensitivity of different cryptocurrencies in relation to each other
Knowledge of diabetes among Czech outpatient nurses to provide quality care and education to diabetics: A cross-sectional study
Get PDFBackground. Currently, 1 million diabetics (i.e., 10% of Czech people) in the Czech Republic use outpatient services. Nurses are key members of outpatient health care. The aim of the study was to evaluate knowledge about diabetes among outpatient registered nurses.
Material and methods. A cross-sectional quantitative study, using a standardized questionnaire, was conducted on a sample of 441 outpatient registered nurses in 2019-2020. Descriptive and regression analysis in an exploratory regime was used to analyze the data.
Results. Respondents achieved 7-43 points (26 on average), which corresponds to a 60% success rate on the knowledge test. The best results regarding knowledge of diabetes mellitus were achieved by nurses working in diabetology outpatient departments (10 points more than other outpatient departments according to a regression analysis). On the other hand, no correlation between the length of practice or age of registered nurses was proven.
Conclusions. Nurses providing primary care or other specialist care to people with diabetes do not have the knowledge to provide quality care and education to them. Therefore, greater attention must be paid to educating outpatient nurses in diabetes management.Tomas Bata University in Zlin [RVO Excellent/MSM - RVO/FHS/2023-2025/005
A nurses eye-view on the aspects of adult patients' health literacy
Get PDFObjective: Currently, health literacy is a hot topic worldwide. It is important for all age groups, for every individual and for society as a whole. Health literacy refers to the ability to obtain, understand and use information related to health and healthcare. The aim of the study was to identify problems related to health literacy that patients encounter in the context of their own healthcare and at the same time clarify the views of nurses on the education and health literacy of older patients. Design: Qualitative research using the technique of semi-structured interviews.
Participants: Interviews were conducted with 10 senior healthcare workers (9 women, 1 man) from four healthcare facilities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The average age of the participants was 48 years (SD = 6.65, median 47, range 38 - 60).
Methods: The method of content analysis was used to analyze the obtained data. The obtained data were processed based on the analysis using open and thematic coding and categorization.
Results and conclusion: Barriers and strategies used by patients in managing their health were identified. These barriers and strategies were grouped into three themes and nine categories. Health literacy screening in a clinical care environment would not only be a beneficial tool in the care of elderly patients. Healthcare managers and senior healthcare workers should develop strategies to create environments and resources supportive of health literacy interventions
Enhancing software effort estimation with self-organizing migration algorithm: A comparative analysis of COCOMO models
Get PDFThis study presents a comprehensive analysis of enhancing software effort estimation accuracy using a Self-Organizing Migration Algorithm (SOMA)-optimized Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO). By conducting a comparative study of traditional COCOMO models and SOMA-optimized variants across preprocessed datasets (NASA93, NASA63, NASA18, Kemerer, Miyazaki94, and Turkish), our research focuses on crucial evaluation metrics, including Mean Magnitude of Relative Error (MMRE), Prediction at 0.25 (PRED(0.25)), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The analysis encompasses various configurations of COCOMO models—basic, intermediate, and post-architecture COCOMO II, supplemented with additional statistical testing and residual analysis for in-depth insights. The results demonstrate that the SOMA-optimized COCOMO models generally surpass traditional models in predictive accuracy, especially notable in metrics such as MMRE where an improvement of up to 12%, PRED(0.25) with an enhancement of 15%, MAE reduction by 18%, and a decrease in RMSE by 20% were observed. However, performance variances were identified in specific scenarios, highlighting areas for further refinement, particularly in large-scale estimations where residual plots suggested the potential for underestimation or overestimation. The study concludes that integrating the SOMA optimization algorithm into COCOMO models significantly enhances the accuracy of software effort estimations, providing valuable insights for future research to optimise estimations for larger projects and advance prediction models. This advancement addresses the technical challenge of parameter accuracy and offers a methodological improvement in model selection and application, underscoring the potential of metaheuristic optimization in software effort estimation.Faculty of Applied Informatics, Tomas Bata University in Zln
Novel Cu(II)-based metal–organic framework STAM-1 as a sulfur host for Li–S batteries
Get PDFDue to the increasing demand for energy storage devices, the development of high-energy density batteries is very necessary. Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have gained wide interest due to their particularly high-energy density. However, even this type of battery still needs to be improved. Novel Cu(II)-based metal–organic framework STAM-1 was synthesized and applied as a composite cathode material as a sulfur host in the lithium–sulfur battery with the aim of regulating the redox kinetics of sulfur cathodes. Prepared STAM-1 was characterized by infrared spectroscopy at ambient temperature and after in-situ heating, elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and textural properties by nitrogen and carbon dioxide adsorption at − 196 and 0 °C, respectively. Results of the SEM showed that crystals of STAM-1 created a flake-like structure, the surface was uniform and porous enough for electrolyte and sulfur infiltration. Subsequently, STAM-1 was used as a sulfur carrier in the cathode construction of a Li–S battery. The charge/discharge measurements of the novel S/STAM-1/Super P/PVDF cathode demonstrated the initial discharge capacity of 452 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C and after 100 cycles of 430 mAh g−1, with Coulombic efficiency of 97% during the whole cycling procedure at 0.5 C. It was confirmed that novel Cu-based STAM-1 flakes could accelerate the conversion of sulfur species in the cathode material.Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV, VEGA, (1/0095/21, 1/0104/23); Vysoké Učení Technické v Brně, BUT, (FEKT-S-23-8286); Kultúrna a Edukacná Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR, KEGA, (002UPJŠ-4/2024, 313011W442)OP VVV International mobility of UTB researchers in Zlin [APVV-20-0138, APVV-20-0111, EF16_027/0008464]; VVGS VUaVP35 UPJS [2022-2193, 2022-2123]; VEGA [1/0104/23, 1/0095/21]; Brno University of Technology [FEKT-S-23-8286]; [KEGA 002UPJS-4/2024
Converged security and information management system as a tool for smart city infrastructure resilience assessment
Get PDFCurrent research on smart cities is primarily focused on the area of applicability of information and communication technologies. However, in the context of a multidisciplinary approach, it is also necessary to pay attention to the resilience and converged security of individual infrastructures. Converged security represents a particular security type based on a selected spectrum of certain convergent security types of, assuming the creation of a complementary whole. Considering the outputs of the analysis of security breaches manifestations, this kind of security makes it possible to detect emerging security breaches earlier (still in the symptom stage), thus providing a more efficient and targeted solution suitable for building smart city infrastructure. In its essence, the article refers to the practical application of the converged security theoretical principles presented in the publication to a functional sample, deployed and tested in practical conditions in context of selected smart city infrastructure protection and resilience. Considering the nature of the practical application, the convergence of a wider spectrum of smart security alarm systems in the resilience assessment context is defined. In the beginning, the general principles of security/safety and the need for their convergence are presented. In this context, the mathematical model called Converged Resilience Assessment (CRA) method is presented for better understanding. Subsequently, Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems are described as a technological concept that can be used for resilience assessment. The most beneficial part is the structural, process, and functional description of the Converged Security and Information Management System (CSIM) using the concept of smart security alarm systems converged security.Ministerstvo Vnitra České Republiky, (VK01030014)Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic [VK01030014
Sensitivity analysis of RF+clust for leave-one-problem-out performance prediction
No full textLeave-one-problem-out (LOPO) performance prediction requires machine learning (ML) models to extrapolate algorithms' performance from a set of training problems to a previously unseen problem. LOPO is a very challenging task even for state-of-the-art approaches. Models that work well in the easier leave-one-instance-out scenario often fail to generalize well to the LOPO setting. To address the LOPO problem, recent work suggested enriching standard random forest (RF) performance regression models with a weighted average of algorithms' performance on training problems that are considered similar to a test problem. More precisely, in this RF+clust approach, the weights are chosen proportionally to the distances of the problems in some feature space. Here in this work, we extend the RF+clust approach by adjusting the distance-based weights with the importance of the features for performance regression. That is, instead of considering cosine distance in the feature space, we consider a weighted distance measure, with weights depending on the relevance of the feature for the regression model. Our empirical evaluation of the modified RF+clust approach on the CEC 2014 benchmark suite confirms its advantages over the naive distance measure. However, we also observe room for improvement, in particular with respect to more expressive feature portfolios.Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS, ARRS, (ANR-22-ERCS-0003-01, BI-FR/23-24-PROTEUS-001, J2-4460, N2-0239, P2-0098, PR-12040
Simulation of handling operations in marine container terminals for the purposes of a profession simulator
Get PDFMarine container terminals play an irreplaceable role in modern logistics. They ensure the functioning of material flows and supply chains. Optimal and efficient operations of terminals are increasingly based on full or partial automation. As a result, the expertise and skill prerequisites for service personnel and managers are increasing. This paper presents an original idea of creating a "profession simulator". Its principle is based on the application of a dynamic computer simulation method. The results represent a generally valid concept for a "profession simulator" that can be calibrated for any container terminal. Within this concept, the inputs, outputs, and processes that take place in the profession simulator are defined. The simulation model is created with the Tecnomatix Plant Simulation program. Mathematical models are implemented for all individual processes in the simulation model. A programming method using the SimTalk 2.0 language is used for their implementation. The obtained results point to the possibility of using the profession simulator to analyze and monitor selected indicators regarding handling techniques, the utilization of maritime terminals, information about the number of transported containers, or the implementation of handling activities.Kultúrna a Edukacná Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR, KEGA, (005TUKE-4/2022, 018TUKE-4/2022, APVV-21-0195, IGA/FLKŘ/2022/001, RVO/FLKŘ/2022/03)VEGA 1/0101/2
Development of a contact glass-break detector for the highest security level
Get PDFThe main object of this research was to develop a security system to evaluate the intrusion into an object through a glass pane. More specifically, this study deals with sensing and evaluating signals from a contact glass-break detector, which is part of an intruder alarm system. Each alarm detector in an alarm system must accomplish certain security level requirements that strictly describe the requirements for the area of use and the detector’s reliability. To date, no contact glass-break detector has been developed and fully tested to meet the stringent requirements of the highest security level. A contact glass-break detector was developed whose main part is an accelerometer that transmits signals from the glass pane. These signals were evaluated according to the developed methodology. It was verified that the proposed system can distinguish at the highest security level between false alarms and situations where the building has been intruded.Crime Scenario Reconstruction Within Virtual Reality, (MV-73045-3/OBVV-2021); Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University, (IGA/CebiaTech/2023/001); Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy, MŠMT, (LO1303, MSMT-7778/2014); European Regional Development Fund, ERDF, (CEBIA-Tech ED2.1.00/03.0089, VJ02010043)Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the National Sustainability Program Projec
Sulfation of furcellaran and its effect on hemocompatibility in vitro
Get PDFIn this study, furcellaran (FUR) obtained from Furcellaria lumbricalis was firstly employed for sulfation via various methods, including SO3-pyridine (SO3∙Py) complex in different aprotic solvents, chlorosulfonic acid and sulfuric acid with a “coupling” reagent N,N′-Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. Structural characterization through FT-IR, GPC, XPS and elemental analyses confirmed the successful synthesis of 6-O-sulfated FUR derivates characterized by varying degrees of sulfation (DS) ranging from 0.15 to 0.91 and molecular weight (Mw) spanning from12.5 kDa to 2.7 kDa. In vitro clotting assays, partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), thrombin time (TT), and prothrombin time (PT) underscored the essential role of sulfate esters in conferring anticoagulant activity whereas FUR prepared via chlorosulfonic acid with DS of 0.91 reached 311.4 s in aPPT showing almost 4-fold higher anticoagulant activity than native FUR at the concentration 2 mg/mL. MTT test showed all tested samples decreased cell viability in a dose dependent manner while all of them are non-cytotoxic up to the concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. Furthermore, sulfated derivates deposited onto polyethylene terephthalate surface presented substantial decrease in platelet adhesion, as well as absence of the most activated platelet stages. These findings support the pivotal role of O-6 FUR sulfates in enhancing hemocompatibility and provide valuable insights for a comparative assessment of effective sulfating approaches.DKRVO, (RP/CPS/2022/005); Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University, (APVV- 20-0278, IGA/CPS/2023/001); European Commission, EC, (CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/18_053/0017879); Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy, MŠMT; Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS, ARRS, (L2-2616, P2-0082); Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja, APVVInternal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic [IGA/CPS/2023/001]; Slovak Research and Development Agency [APVV- 20-0278]; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [DKRVO RP/CPS/2022/005]; Slovenian Research Agency [L2-2616, P2-0082]; Operational Program for Research, Development and Education; European Union [CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/18_053/0017879