*2.2. Motivations*

Motivations, as one of the key influences that guides the development of a destination image, are included in the models of destination choice and image formation [33]. These motivations can be grouped with respect to push and pull factors [34]. For Dann (1977) [35], what can be termed as internal (push) motives are linked to tourists' wishes and include such aspects as desires to escape or rest and to acquire prestige, adventure, and social interaction. Pull factors, on the other hand, are connected with a destination's attractiveness and resources. Previous research has shown that an individual's internal motivations significantly a ffects the formation of destination image [20,25]. For instance, Baloglu (2000) [36] found the relationship between motivations to relax, escape, and gain knowledge to be statistically significant.

In current tourism literature, motivation has often been used as a criterion of segmentation [37–39] with this method being suggested as one of the most e ffective [34,40]. Easy categorization of heterogeneous groups of tourists via these motivational factors has been shown to be possible by numerous empirical studies [41–43]. Thus, an expansion of knowledge on the various motivations of tourists is important for the positioning of brands in di ffering markets [44,45]; however, previous

literature has not paid special attention to the relationship between motivations to travel and SDI. Thus, the contribution of this study resides in a better understanding of this relationship. This can help DMOs in their choice of content to be communicated according to the motivations of tourists.

## *2.3. Cultural Background*

A considerable volume of research has utilized national culture as a rationale for market segmentation [45–47], and thus, it is felt to be an appropriate basis for segmentation. Nationality has received growing attention in research studies since Hofstede (1980) [48], as it has been argued to be one of the most influential aspects that a ffects tourism behavior [49–52] and influences destination image [53–57]. Furthermore, national culture plays a key role in the way tourists from di fferent countries interpret the sustainability and, in consequence, as a fundamental element on the sustainability image of tourism destinations [30].

Nevertheless, extant research on the manner in which national culture a ffects consumer behavior [58] and specially perceived destination image [59] is still not su fficiently conclusive. Researchers are seeking further studies on segmentation which utilize geographical criteria [60,61] that better guide the development of more improved, e fficient marketing strategies [45,62].

Considering that which has been mentioned so far, the purpose of this paper is to initiate debate on the relationship between the image of tourism destination sustainability and the tourists' countries of origin. There is importance, both with respect to the academic realm and for practitioners, to have clarity in understanding how the national culture of tourists might cause SDI to di ffer. Through this, the design of better marketing strategies will be possible, which will lead to a more appropriate positioning of sustainable tourism destinations within di fferent cultures.

## *2.4. Sociodemographic Characteristics*

Consumer behavior research has traditionally been linked to sociodemographic characteristics, and these have been frequently used as segmentation criteria [63]. The incorporation of sociodemographic variables as factors influencing the perception of a destination's image has occurred in most image formation models [31,64]. Studies have identified that there are di fferences in image perceptions by gender, age, and level of education [31,65].

Given the changes in consumer behavior in relationship with sustainability, there is a need for the development of further research on SDI from the perspective of market segmentation. It is feasible that segmentation criteria that has a basis in sociodemographic characteristics may not be fully aligned with the profile of sustainable tourists.


**Path Planning on Quadric Surfaces and Its Application**

**Path Planning on Quadric Surfaces and Its Application**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72573

Chi-Chia Sun, Gene Eu Jan, Chaomin Lu and Kai-Chieh Yang Kai-Chieh Yang Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Chi-Chia Sun, Gene Eu Jan, Chaomin Lu and

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72573

#### **Abstract**

In this chapter, recent near-shortest path-planning algorithms with *O*(*n*log *n*) in the quadric plane based on the Delaunay triangulation, Ahuja-Dijkstra algorithm, and ridge points are reviewed. The shortest path planning in the general three-dimensional situation is an NP-hard problem. The optimal solution can be approached under the assumption that the number of Steiner points is infinite. The state-the-art method has at most 2.81% difference on the shortest path length, but the computation time is 4216 times faster. Compared to the other *O*(*n*log *n*) time near-shortest path approach (Kanai and Suzuki, KS's algorithm), the path length of the Delaunay triangulation method is 0.28% longer than the KS's algorithm with three Steiner points, but the computation is about 31.71 times faster. This, however, has only a few path length differences, which promises a good result, but the best computing time. Notably, these methods based on Delaunay triangulation concept are ideal for being extended to solve the path-planning problem on the Quadric surface or even the cruise missile mission planning and Mars rover.

**Keywords:** Delaunay triangulation, Dijkstra algorithm, ridge point, near-shortest path, mission planning, NP-hard

### **1. Introduction**

In the Euclidean plane with obstacles, the shortest path problem is to find an optimal path between source and destination. Shortest path algorithms have already been applied to motion planning of robots and path planning of navigation. Furthermore, it can be applied to electronic design automation (EDA), biological cell transportation and operation research (OR) [1–3].

In [4–6], Jan et al. proposed two *O*(*n*log *n*) time path-planning algorithms to obtain the near-shortest path in the Euclidian and quadric planes, respectively. Compared to the other

approaches of reduced visibility graph, this fast method outperforms the rest of *O*(*n*log *n*) algorithms in the general two-dimensional situation, except the path length compared to the shortest *O*(*n*2 ) time shortest algorithm of visibility graph.

In the quadratic plane, a survey of the shortest path problem concerning a two or higher dimensional geometric object (e.g. a surface, a polyhedron, space, network) can be found in [7]. The shortest path problem in the general three-dimensional situation is non-deterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard) problem [8], and only exponential time algorithms are known. In [9], the shortest path on a polyhedron is its local, which has an important property called unfolding, where the path must enter and leave at the same angle to the intersecting edge.

It follows that any locally optimal shortest path joining two consecutive obstacle vertices can be unfolded at each edge along its edge sequence, thus obtaining a straight segment. Sharir and Schorr [10] proposed an *O*(*n*3 log *n*) algorithm, which first applied this property to find the exact shortest path on a convex surface, where *n* is the number of edges. Later, Mitchell et al. [11] proposed an *O*(*n*2 log *n*) algorithm for propagating the shortest path map over a surface by a continuous Dijkstra method for general polyhedron. Chen and Han [12] improved it to an *O*(*n*2 ) algorithm. Faster algorithms than these cannot be found by far.

4216 times faster. Therefore, it can not only obtain a good near-shortest path length on the quadratic surface, but also improve the computation time. Furthermore, it is worth noting that Delaunay triangulation-based fast algorithms are ideal for being extended to solve the path planning in the polyhedron plane or be applied to cruise missile mission planning in the

**Table 1.** Comparison of different shortest path algorithms in the three-dimensional space, *n* denotes the number of

log *n*) *O*(*n*2

Is the path shortest? N/A N/A N/A Near-shortest Near-shortest

**Polyhedron Polyhedron or quadric**

**Sharir [10] Mitchell [11] Chen [12] KS's [9] Delaunay method**

) *O*(*kn*

*n* 9*n*

Path Planning on Quadric Surfaces and Its Application http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72573 93

*n*) *O*(*n*log *n*)

log *k*2

This chapter is organised as follows. Section II briefly introduces the concept of shortest path algorithms. In Section III, we will describe the idea of the triangulation-based near-shortest path algorithm, the performance of which is analysed in Section IV. The experimental results are shown in Section V. Section VI explains a possible application for cruise missile mission

In this section, basic concepts of the Delaunay triangulation algorithm on the quadratic surface will be introduced, such as Euclidean plane, Delaunay triangulation, ridge points, and Dijkstra's single-source shortest path algorithm. Euclidean space is the Euclidean plane and three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry [15], as well as the generalisations of these notions to higher dimensions. It can be used to distinguish these spaces from the curved

For the quadratic surface, there is essentially only one Euclidean space with three real number

A Quadric surface is the locus of the points (*x, y, z*), which satisfy a second-degree equation

The classification of the different types of Quadric surfaces is made, first, on the basis of the

*A D E D B F*

types of Quadric surfaces, a total of 15, are obtained by varying the coefficients of it [17].

+ 2*Dxy* + 2*Exy* + 2*Fyz* + *Gx* + *Hy* + *Iz* + *J* = 0, and the different

*E F C*) (1)

spaces of non-Euclidean geometry and Einstein's general theory of relativity [16].

quadratic plane.

triangle mesh.

planning, and Section VII concludes the chapter.

**2. Algorithm backgrounds**

**Euclidean Algorithms**

Time complexity *O*(*n*3

Connection No No No 6*k*2

log *n*) *O*(*n*2

coordinates from the modern viewpoint.

+ *By*2

*AQ* = (

+ *Cz*2

matrix of the quadratic from determining by the symmetric matrix:

in three variables, *Ax*2

Kimmel and Sethian [13] presented a fast searching method for solving the Eikonal equation on a rectangular orthogonal mesh in *O*(*M*log *M*) steps, where *M* is the total number of grid points. They extended the fast marching method to triangulated domains with the same computational complexity. As an application, they provide an optimal time algorithm for computing the geodesic distances and thereby extracting shortest paths on triangulated manifolds.

Helgason et al. [14] presented a heuristic algorithm based on geometric concepts for the problem of finding a path composed of line segments from a given destination in the presence of polygonal obstacles. The basic idea involves constructing circumscribing triangles around the obstacles to be avoided. Their heuristic algorithm considers paths composed primarily of line segments corresponding to partial edges of these circumscribing triangles and uses a simple branch-and-bound procedure to find a relatively short path of this type.

Kanai and Suzuki proposed a near-shortest path approach (Kanai and Suzuki, KS's algorithm [9]) based on the Delaunay triangulation, the Dijkstra algorithm, and Steiner points, with computational complexity of *O*(*k*2 *n*log *k*2 *n*), where *k* is the number of Steiner points and *n* is the number of the triangles. Although KS's algorithm is an approximation, it has the significant advantages of easy implementation, high approximation accuracy, and numerical robustness. However, to obtain a shorter path, the computation time required by the path planning will increase rapidly when the Steiner points increases. A detailed comparison can be found in **Table 1**.

In this chapter, an *O*(*n* log *n*) time near-shortest path planning is introduced. It combined with the Delaunay triangulation, Ahuja-Dijkstra algorithm, and ridge points for path planning on a quadratic surface. Experimental results show that the average path length of the Delaunay triangulation-based algorithm is 0.28% longer than the KS's algorithm; however, the speed is 31.71 times faster. Furthermore, when performing KS's algorithm with 29 Steiner points, the NP-hard shortest path will be found (extremely close approximation of the shortest path planning). Although the length is 2.81% longer than the shortest, the computation time is

**Table 1.** Comparison of different shortest path algorithms in the three-dimensional space, *n* denotes the number of triangle mesh.

4216 times faster. Therefore, it can not only obtain a good near-shortest path length on the quadratic surface, but also improve the computation time. Furthermore, it is worth noting that Delaunay triangulation-based fast algorithms are ideal for being extended to solve the path planning in the polyhedron plane or be applied to cruise missile mission planning in the quadratic plane.

This chapter is organised as follows. Section II briefly introduces the concept of shortest path algorithms. In Section III, we will describe the idea of the triangulation-based near-shortest path algorithm, the performance of which is analysed in Section IV. The experimental results are shown in Section V. Section VI explains a possible application for cruise missile mission planning, and Section VII concludes the chapter.


**BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES FOR CONTROLLING WEEDS**

#### **Biological Approaches for Controlling Weeds**

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71593 Edited by Ramalingam Radhakrishnan

#### **Contributors**

Alexander Berestetskiy, Sofia Sokornova, Harsh Raman, Nawar Shamaya, James Edward Pratley, Martin Heide Jorgensen, Mozaniel Santana De Oliveira, Wanessa Almeida Da Costa, Priscila Nascimento Bezerra, Antonio Pedro Da Silva Souza Filho, Raul Nunes De Carvalho Junior, Ozoemena Ani, Ogbonnaya Boniface Onu, Gideon Onyekachi Okoro, Michael Uguru, Ramalingam Radhakrishnan

#### **© The Editor(s) and the Author(s) 2018**

The rights of the editor(s) and the author(s) have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights to the book as a whole are reserved by INTECHOPEN LIMITED. The book as a whole (compilation) cannot be reproduced, distributed or used for commercial or non-commercial purposes without INTECHOPEN LIMITED's written permission. Enquiries concerning the use of the book should be directed to INTECHOPEN LIMITED rights and permissions department (permissions@intechopen.com). Violations are liable to prosecution under the governing Copyright Law.

Individual chapters of this publication are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License which permits commercial use, distribution and reproduction of the individual chapters, provided the original author(s) and source publication are appropriately acknowledged. If so indicated, certain images may not be included under the Creative Commons license. In such cases users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. More details and guidelines concerning content reuse and adaptation can be foundat http://www.intechopen.com/copyright-policy.html.

#### **Notice**

Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book.

First published in London, United Kingdom, 2018 by IntechOpen eBook (PDF) Published by IntechOpen, 2019 IntechOpen is the global imprint of INTECHOPEN LIMITED, registered in England and Wales, registration number: 11086078, The Shard, 25th floor, 32 London Bridge Street London, SE19SG – United Kingdom Printed in Croatia

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Additional hard and PDF copies can be obtained from<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Biological Approaches for Controlling Weeds Edited by Ramalingam Radhakrishnan p. cm. Print ISBN 978-1-78923-654-5 Online ISBN 978-1-78923-655-2 eBook (PDF) ISBN 978-1-83881-589-9


**4. The question of sustainability**

In addition to the above considerations, any building activity or development today must be sustainable, and the business-as-usual model comes with inherent risks to the planet and continued human existence. This requires us to look at the issue in several separate dimensions. As buildings are one of the highest consumers of electricity, and Architects are largely responsible for their design, it is imperative that they be conversant with all the pathways in which energy efficiency can be achieved in buildings. Good internet connectivity within buildings too, is directly affected by the design of buildings. It, therefore, becomes incumbent to look at whether the satisfaction of these two requirements, for connectivity, and for efficiency, cause contradictory physical manifestations in building design.

Sustainability, considering the internet issue, can thus be approached, through an examination of connectivity needs, and any potential conflicts that they present, with other human and environment related issues. This involves studying the main linkages, synergies, and trade-offs with other issues, e.g. of health, comfort and productivity, bio-diversity, etc. As the issue of sustainability is intrinsically related to acceptance by user groups, it is also important to examine connectivity "solutions" available to the public and private sectors, their desirability, acceptance, affordability and other such factors, so that whatever solution is adopted for a building is inclusive, does not increase divides between different groups. This human factor is also one of the key indicators of sustainability.

*Internet Connectivity in Building Interiors: Architecture and Sustainability Considerations DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95968*

### **5. SDGs, internet connectivity and architecture**

A short discussion on the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) set up in 2015, and the intrinsic interlink with the world-wide-web and internet connectivity is given below. If the spaces that serve such connectivity are not designed with seamless connectivity in view, there is no doubt that it will not be possible to achieve these goals. SDGs require that governments, private sector, civil society and citizens should partner together, aiming for a better planet for future generations [5]. And the road map to achieve this, banks largely on incorporating creativity, know-how, technology and financial resources available.

Goals 1 and 2 relate to deprived populations; no poverty and zero hunger. Much of poverty arises due to lack of opportunities, which is a direct result of not having proper access to available options of employment, business outlets, and so on. Clearly, these goals are interconnected, and cannot be tackled in isolation. Information exchange is vital, populations require to be connected through cell phones, etc. Goals 3 and 4, regarding health and education, are likewise related to connectivity. Proper monitoring, access, etc. are all dependent, on how easily information can be transferred from place to place, in order to stem problems at source. The internet is vital for present-day education, which can serve to be a tool, tackling the lack of libraries and information. Goal 8, decent work and economic growth, and Goal 9, industry, innovation and infrastructure, and again depend on increased connectivity, and the related issue of spaces and their design.

Goal 11 is directly about cities and thus architecture, and the way the built environment impacts our planet. The design of cities and urban areas affects the passage of internet connectivity, due to building positioning, spacing, material use and so forth, and thus decisions that impact these, are the direct concern of all the related professionals being discussed here.

Goal 12 relates to responsible consumption and production, and is also heavily dependent on internet availability. Connectivity within groups is vital to any business activity, therefore, the spaces where people produce, i.e. industries, and their design are vital in meeting this goal. Consumption is part and parcel of everyday living, and sustainable practices call for reduction, reuse and recycling, i.e. circular economies. Again connectivity is vital, to ensure that the system works properly and promptly, to avoid clogs and blockages within the flow.

Goal 13, is to control climate change. This is all pervasive, requiring attention to the design of built spaces, which is largely responsible for the carbon footprint and the consumption of resources on our planet. Buildings designed to conserve energy and use natural resources are important, just as are automated systems within buildings, which can monitor variables, and largely offset much waste of energy, and maintain the efficiency of systems. Such systems again cannot function without internet connectivity.

Goals 16 and 17 relate to people's issues and their participation. Connectivity and platforms for voicing opinions are imperative to achieve these, making the internet and spaces of use directly related to their success.

The above points have been raised, to underline the importance of treating the issue of connectivity as a key part of architecture considerations, and to the attainment of many of the SDGs. The need for the professionals to collaborate in the design of buildings, and spaces in between, is clear from these parallel associations.

#### **6. Research relating architecture with RF matters**

Architects, through their training, look at challenges existing in a given situation, and on means to address them through holistic solutions. Till recently, environmental forces were largely natural, but since the age of the information technology, the profusion of high frequency propagation has introduced a new dimension to ensure proper functioning, and with it are related health issues. The problem has been under the sole jurisdiction of Radio Frequency (RF) Engineers, who specialize in devices and transmission using and operating on radio waves, i.e. wireless devices like mobiles, which are largely becoming the centre of existence of modern lifestyles. But research shows that the efficiency of RF transmissions and reception, seems to be intrinsically associated with the design of spaces. It is therefore becoming imperative that Architects work hand-in-hand with RF Engineers, to create environments that are conducive to proper utilization of available RF regimes, to ease unnecessary losses, which can result in poor connectivity and energy inefficiency. This section summarizes a study done at BUET [6] and its follow up, to investigate the issue of internet connectivity and its connection to architecture.


**3.2.3 Epidemiology**

104 Deep Vein Thrombosis

Given this to be the situation in the developed countries, the the magnitude of the problem would be much lower in the developing countries. Indeed many population studies that are carried in Western developed countries documented the lower incidence of VTE in Asians

Although there is strong evidence that the prevalence of venous thrombo-embolism (VTE) varies significantly among different ethnic/racial groups, the genetic, physiologic and/or

Identifying the scale of DVT in developing countries is difficult due to scanty and conflicting available published literature on the scale of the problem, the diagnostic tools, management and treatment challenges facing these countries. Most published information on the DVT was generated from small hospital-based studies that documented DVT as a significant complication of orthopedic surgery particularly total knee arthroplasty (Chung et al 2010, Ko et al. 2003, Leizorovicz et al 2005, Sen et al 2011, Sen et al 2011), and general hospital patients (Ogeng'o et al 2001, Angchaisuksiri et al 2007, Sakon et al. 2006, Lee et al. 2009). Essentially all these and other similar studies advocated the importance of

As to population studies very few could be identified and almost all from Asian Far Eastern countries particularly China and Korea. In one study from Korea the incidence of VTE, DVT and PE per 100,000 individuals was found to be 8.83, 3.91 and 3.74 in 2004 and increased to 13.8, 5.31 and 7.01 in 2008 (Jang et al 2001). Another recent study from Hong Kong documented an annual incidence of of VTE at 16.6 events per 100,000 populations (Lui et al 2002). Another Chinese study reported the incidence of DVT and PE of 17.1 and 3.9 per 100,000 populations (Cheuk et al 2004). The incidence of DVT in all three studies is almost one tenth that reported from developed counties; yet the problem of DVT remains to be a

There is remarkable disparity in standards of the health care among developing countries, especially the percentage of the Grand National Product that is expended in health care. Also, when comparing developed to developing countries, some countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE could take the lead: Egypt (5.8%), Saudi Arabia (4%), Pakistan (2.4%) and India (4.8%) have limited total expenditure on health, compared to the United States (15.2%), Switzerland (11.5%), France (10.1%) and Norway (10.3%) (WHO Health Report, 2006). Such disparity shows up as unequal distribution of healthcare personnel and deficiency in training programs in the developing world. This is also reflected

In reviewing the available evidence on the epidemiology of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the developing countries, it is quite clear that there are few on-going registries that track data on patients with DVT. Most of those registries are hospital-based rather than national. For example in Saudi Arabia there is the Saudi Thrombosis and Familial Thrombophilia (S-TAFT) Registry (Saour et al., 2009), which is considered the only registry in Gulf Region and

on the life expectancy and disease outcome and survival in these countries.

and Hispanics compared to Caucasians (Kearon 2001, White et al 2009).

thrombohphylaxis to avoid the risk of VTE.

health problem that clinicians should be aware of.

**3.2 Challengesof DVT In developing countries 3.2.1 Health disparity in the developing world**

**3.2.2 Registries**

clinical basis for these differences remain largely undefined (White et al ., 2009).

The burden of DVT in the developing world is unknown due to lack of documentation and large-scale research projects aiming at identifying the different epidemiology aspects. Some of the developing countries (Saudi Arabia, United Arab of Emirates and the rest of the Arab Gulf countries), have the financial resources to setup such registries. However, setting up registries requires substantial training to the current and future personnel who are working fulltime in maintaining them. Policymakers, represented by the governments, academic medical centers and, most importantly, local and regional funding agencies, must work together in order to consider emphasizing DVT as a public health problem so that the appropriate increasing proportion of public health resources is reallocated to address DVT and its related issues.

#### **3.2.4 The cost and value of pharmacoeconomics research**

Registries will not only allow tracking DVT in terms of its epidemiology, but also how much it burdens each country's economy. Pharmacoeconomic analysis is of great value in the evaluation of the cost of medical care. For example, cost-identification analysis seeks to identify the cost of providing the treatment of the disease. Cost-minimization analysis seeks to identify the least expensive alternative intervention to get the same outcome after treating the disease. Most importantly, cost-of-illness analysis estimates the total financial burden of DVT or its associated disability (e.g. reduced working hours, sick days, less life-expectancy etc…) to the country. This is done by estimating the total cost of diagnosing DVT, its management and the DVT-associated lost productivity. Cost-benefit analysis evaluates one or more treatment regimens in terms of pure currency expressions (e.g. dollars). This will allow the governments to identify which diseases cost higher. For example, in this form of analysis, we can compare the cost of DVT awareness, prevention and treatment to the cost of chronic kidney disease. Such analysis guides the policymakers to identify the top ranked diseases affecting the economy and allocates more dollars to combat them.

Emerging Issues in Deep Vein Thrombosis; (DVT) in Liver Disease and in Developing Countries 107

Abdulaziz Aldawood, Yaseen Arabi, Abdulrahman Aljumah, Alawi Alsaadi, Asgar Rishu,

Abeer K.Al-Ghumlas AK, Gader AMA, Al Faleh FZ. Haemostatic abnormalities in liver

Al Sayegh F, Almahmeed W, Al Humood S, Marashi M, Bahr A, Al Mahdi H, Bakir S, Al

Anderson FA Jr, Wheeler HB, Goldberg RJ, Hosmer DW, Patwardhan NA, Jovanovic B,

Angchaisuksiri P, Atichartakarn V, Aryurachai K, Archararit N, Rachakom B, Atamasirikul

Angchaisuksiri P, Pingsuthiwong S, Sura T, Aryuchai K, Busabaratana M, Atichartakarn V.

Ben Ari Z, Panagou M, Patch D, Bates S, Osman E, Pasi J et al. (1997) Hypercoagulability in

Cushman M, Tsai AW, White RH, Heckbert SR, Rosamond WD, Enright P, Folsom AR.

Cheuk BL, Cheung GC, Cheng SW. Epidemiology of Venous Thromboembolism in a

De Caterina M, Tarantino G, Farina C, Arena A, Di Maro G, Esposito P, Scopacasa F.

plasma levels of protein C versus protein S. Haemostasis, 1993; 23: 229–35. Dhillon KS, Askander A, Doraismay S. Postoperative Deep-Vein Thrombosis in Asian

Gader AA, Haggaz AE, Adam I. Epidemiology of Deep Venous Thrombosis during

investigation of thromboembolism etiology. Am J Med 2004; 117:19–25. Chung LH, Chen WM, Chen CF, Chen Th, Liu CL. Deep Vein Thrombosis after total knee

patients with deep vein thrombosis. Acta Haematol. 2000;103(4):191-6. Bechmann Lars P. , Matthias Sichau, Marc Wichert, Guido Gerken1, Knut Kro¨ ger, and

Worcester DVT Study. Arch Intern Med 1991; 151: 933–8.

prophylaxis in hospitalized cirrhotic patients. Thromb J. 2011; 9: 1

Hasan Aldorzi, Saad Alqahtani, Mohammad Alsultan, and Afaf Felemban. The incidence of venous thromboembolism and practice of deep venous thrombosis

disease: could some haemostatic tests be useful as liver function tests? Blood Coag

Farhan M. Global Risk Profile Verification in Patients with Venous Thromboembolism (GRIP VTE) in 5 Gulf countries. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost.

Forcier A, Dalen JE. A population-based perspective of the hospital incidence and case-fatality rates of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. The

K, Tiraganjana A. Risk factors of venous thromboembolism in thai patients. Int J

Prevalence of the C677T methylenetetra- hydrofolate reductase mutation in Thai

Philip Hilgard. Low-molecular-weight heparin in patientswith advanced cirrhosis.

patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and primarysclerosing cholangitis evaluated

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in two cohorts: the longitudinal

arthoplasty in asian patients without prophylactic antiagoagulation.Orthopedics.

Haemostasis unbalance in Pugh-scored liver cirrhosis: characteristic changes of

patients is not a rarity: a prospective study of 88 patients with no prophylaxis. J

pregnancy and puerperium in Sudanese Women. Vasc Health Risk Manag.

**5. References**

Fibrinol. 2005;16:329-335

2009 May-Jun;15(3):289-96.

Hematol. 2007 Dec;86(5):397-402.

2011 Jan 3;34(1):15.

2009;5(1):85-7

Liver International 2010 :ISSN 1478-3223

by thrombelastography. J Hepato l26:554–559.

Chinese Population. Br J Surg. 2004 Apr;91(4):424-8.

Bone Joint Surg Br. 1996 May;78(3):427-30.


**About the Editor**

**Giovanni Cilia** graduated cum laude with a Veterinary Biotechnological Sciences master's degree at the University of Milan (Italy) in 2016. He obtained a Ph.D. in Veterinary Sciences from the Department of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Pisa. Since 2021, he has been working at CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment in Bologna, working on honey bee pathogens and molecular biology. He performs support teaching and seminar activities for the "Infectious Bacterial Diseases", "Microbiology and Immunology", "Microbiology and Biotechnology Applied to Animal Production", and "Veterinary Hygiene" courses in the Department of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Pisa. During this time, he applied for an internship at a different research institutes, including the National Reference Center for Leptospirosis of Institute Pasteur (Paris, France). At present, his research topics aim toward the research of bees, with particular attention to honey bee infectious diseases (viruses, bacteria and fungi), insect molecular biology and wild bees. He is the author/co-author of several scientific publications in international journals, the Editor of some infectious disease Special Issues, and the Topic Editor of "Veterinary Sciences".


*2.9. Cytotoxicity*

The cytotoxicity of different plant parts was evaluated according to a previously described protocol [37,38]. Osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells were dispensed in a 96-well plate at a density of 2 × 103 cells/mL, then pre-incubated in a CO2 incubator for 24 h. After incubation, the cells were treated with various concentrations of samples (ranging from 0 to200 μg/mL) and incubated for 48 h. The cell culture solution (10 μL) was added to a 96-well plate containing 40 μL PBS. After placing the LDH reagent in each well, the mixture was placed in a dark place for 45 min at 25 ◦C. After the reaction was terminated by mixing 50 μL of stop solution, the cytotoxicity was evaluated by quantifying the plasma membrane damage. LDH is a stable enzyme present in all cell types and is rapidly released into the culture medium when the plasma membrane is damaged. Cell membrane integrity was evaluated by measuring the LDH leakage levels from the cells using the LDH Cytotoxicity Assay Kit (BioVision, Inc., Milpitas, CA, USA). The absorbance value of the samples was measured using a microplate reader (Thermo Fisher Scientific Instrument Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China) at 492 nm.

#### *2.10. ALP Activity*

MC3T3-E1 cells were seeded as described above, and the ALP activity of the media was measured by following the method described by Liu et al. [39]. Initially, MC3T3-E1 cells were dispensed in a 48-well plate at 5 × 104 cells/well and pre-incubated in a CO2 incubator for 24 h. Then, the MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with different sample concentrations (0–20 μg/mL). Subsequently, the culture medium was replaced and supplemented with 100 μL chemiluminescent substrate for alkaline phosphatase (CSPD; Roche, Basel, Switzerland), added to 20 μL total cell lysate, and reacted for 30 min. The amount of protein in the total cell lysate was measured using CSPD (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) according to the Protein Assay Kit (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA), and the ALP activity value was expressed as the fold change per μg of total protein.


**6. Structure of aged skin**

The process of skin aging results in the following histological changes.

The total of these various changes causes an increase in the fragility of the skin, a decrease in the exchange of nutrients between the dermis and the epidermis (avascular layer), and alterations in the healing process. It also decreases the number and diameter of collagen fiber bundles, appears a disorganized collagen, and increases the proportion of collagen type III versus collagen type I.

There is a general thinning of the skin and a weakening of its adipose-muscular support to which the physiological bone resorption that appears in the aging process must be added. This loss of skin tissue, especially dermal and hypodermic, favors the appearance of visible signs of aging, such as wrinkles [9].