Search results for: combined care

Authors: Dina A. Selim, Eman Shawky, Rasha M. Abu El-Khair

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In the current study, UPLC-MS/MS combined to chemometrics were applied on seven Sri Lankan tea grades; Orange Pekoe, Flowery Pekoe, Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings, Broken Orange Pekoe black tea, green tea, silver tips and golden tips white tea grades for their comprehensive metabolic profiling. Certain metabolites, namely, Theasensinin C and E, theaflavin and theacitrin appeared to be the main chemical markers of black tea type, catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, methyl epigallocatechin were the main discriminatory markers of green tea type, while theanine, oolongotheanine and quercetin glycosides were the main chemical markers of white tea type. Theogalloflavin, epigallocatechin and flavonoid glycosides were the main down-accumulated metabolites while theaflavin gallate, and N-ethyl pyrrolidinone epicatechin were the chief up- accumulated metabolites between whole and broken black tea leave grades while puerin A and C and gallic acid was the main down- accumulated metabolites and N-ethyl pyrrolidinone epicatechin gallate was the main up-accumulated one between broken and fanning black tea grades.

Keywords: tea grading, Sri Lankan tea, chemometrics, metabolomics, chemical markers

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Authors: Josiah O. Carter, Charlotte Hayden, Elizabeth Arthurs

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Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital management policies have changed frequently and rapidly. This has created novel challenges in keeping the workforce abreast of these changes to enable them to deliver safe and effective care. Traditional communication methods, e.g. email, do not keep pace with the rapidly changing environment in the hospital, resulting in inaccurate, irrelevant, or outdated information being communicated, resulting in inefficiencies in patient care. Methods: The creation of a WhatsApp messaging group within the medical division at the Bristol Royal Infirmary has enabled senior clinicians and the hospital management team to update the medical workforce in real-time. It has two primary functions: (1) To enable dissemination of a concise, important operational summary. This comprises information on bed status and infection control procedural changes. It is fed directly from a daily critical incident briefing (2) To facilitate a monthly scheduled question and answer (Q&A) session for junior doctors to clarify issues with clinical directors, rota, and management staff. Additional ad-hoc updates are sent out for time-critical information; otherwise, it mainly functions as a broadcast-only group to prevent important information from being lost amongst other communication. All junior doctors within the medical division were invited to join the group. At present, the group comprises 131 participants, of which 10 are administrative staff (rota coordinators, management staff & clinical directors); the remaining 121 are junior clinicians working within the medical division. An electronic survey via Microsoft forms was sent out to junior doctors via the WhatsApp group and via email to assess its utilisation and effectiveness with the aim of quality improvements. Results: Of the 121 group participants, 19 completed the questionnaire (response rate 15.7%). Of these, 16/19 (84.2%) used it regularly, and 12/19 (63.2%) rated it as the most useful source for reliable updates relating to the hospital response to the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas only 2/19 (10.5%) found the trust intranet and the trust COVID-19 operational email update most useful. Respondents rated the WhatsApp group more useful as an information source (mean score 7.7/10) than as a means of providing feedback to management staff (mean score 6.3/10). Qualitative feedback suggested information around ward closures and changes to COVID cohorting, along with updates on staffing issues, were most useful. Respondents also noted the Q&A sessions were an efficient way of relaying feedback about management decisions but that it would be preferable if these sessions could be delivered more frequently. Discussion: During the current global COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increased need for rapid dissemination of critical information within NHS trusts; this includes communication between junior doctors, managers, and senior clinicians. The versatility of WhatsApp permits a variety of functions allowing for regular updates, the dissemination of time-critical information, and enables conversing and feedback. The project has demonstrated that reserved and well-managed use of a WhatsApp group is a welcome, efficient and practical means of communication between the senior management team and the junior medical workforce.

Keywords: communication, COVID-19, hospital management, WhatsApp

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Authors: Jonathan D. Recchi

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Introduction: Workplace violence is a major concern for nurses throughout the United States and is a rising occupational health hazard that has been exacerbated by both the Covid-19 pandemic and increasing patient and family member incivility. De-escalation training has been found to be an evidence-based tool for emergency department nurses to help avoid or mitigate high-risk situations that could lead to workplace violence. Many healthcare organizations either do not provide de-escalation training to their staff or only provide it sparingly, such as during new employee orientation. There is limited research in the literature on the psychological benefits of de-escalation training. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if there are psychological and organizational advantages to providing emergency department nurses with de-escalation training. Equipping emergency department nurses with skills that are essential to de-escalate violent or potentially violent patients may help prevent physical, mental, and/or psychological damage to the nurse because of violence and/or threatening acts. The hypothesis is that providing de-scalation training to emergency department nurses will lead to increased nurse confidence in dealing with aggressive patients, increased resiliency, increased professional quality of life, and increased intention to stay with their current organization. This study aims to show that organizations would benefit from providing de-escalation training to all nurses operating in high-risk areas on a regular basis. Significance: Showing psychological benefits to providing evidence-based de-escalation training can provide healthcare organizations with the ability to retain a more resilient and prepared workforce. Method: This study uses a pre-experimental cross-sectional pre-/post-test design using a convenience sample of emergency department registered nurses employed across Jefferson Health Northeast (Jefferson Torresdale, Jefferson Bucks, and Jefferson Frankford. Inclusion criteria include registered nurses who work full or part-time, with 51% or more of their clinical time spent in direct clinical care. Excluded from participation are registered nurses in orientation, per-diem nurses, temporary and/or travel nurses, nurses who spend less than 51% of their time in direct patient care, and nurses who have received de-escalation training within the past two years. This study uses the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10 (CD-RISC-10), the Clinician Confidence in Coping with Patient Aggression Scale, the Press Ganey Intention To Stay question, and the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Results: A Paired t-Test will be used to analyze the mean scores of the three scales and one question pre and post-intervention to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in RN resiliency, confidence in coping with patient aggression, intention to stay, and professional quality of life. Discussion and Conclusions: Upon completion, the outcomes of this intervention will show the importance of providing evidence-based de-escalation training to all nurses operating within the emergency department.

Keywords: de-escalation, nursing, emergency department, workplace violence

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Authors: Monia Hejaiej

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The fable has lent itself to memorable imitations and reinventions. The writing of fables, in prose and verse, was widely cultivated not only in pre-Islamic Arabia but also in the middle ages, reaching its culmination with the Egyptian poet and man of letters Ahmad Shawqī (1989-1932), who revived the ancient tradition, a relatively minor and unexploited genre in the modern era, and re-wrote rimed fables with an Arab Islamic flavor, articulating a set of modern ethico-political concepts and sensibilities such as a belief in good judgment in governance, individual liberty, democracy, a sense of the brotherhood of man and justice. This essay aims to restore the 20th Century poet to his rightful place in the international pantheon of literary achievement, and offers an examination of the Arabian fabulist tradition as it appears in Arabic literature, and a treatment of this genre re-visiting a few representative samples of Ahmad Shawqī collection of fables and their implications for contemporary politics in the Middle East.

Keywords: fable, politcs, governace, democracy, ethics of care

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Authors: Mustafa M. Bob, Norhan Rahman, Abdalla Elamin, Saud Taher

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The objective of this study was to assess the suitability of Madinah city groundwater for irrigation purposes. Of the twenty three wells that were drilled in different locations in the city for the purposes of this study, twenty wells were sampled for water quality analyses. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) classification of irrigation water that is based on Sodium hazard (SAR) and salinity hazard was used for suitability assessment. In addition, the residual sodium carbonate (RSC) was calculated for all samples and also used for irrigation suitability assessment. Results showed that all groundwater samples are in the acceptable quality range for irrigation based on RSC values. When SAR and salinity hazard were assessed, results showed that while all groundwater samples (except one) fell in the acceptable range of SAR, they were either in the high or very high salinity zone which indicates that care should be taken regarding the type of soil and crops in the study area.

Keywords: irrigation suitability, TDS, salinity, SAR

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Authors: Md Shohidul Islam, Jongmyon Kim, Ui-pil Chong

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Medical image is an integral part of e-health care and e-diagnosis system. Medical image watermarking is widely used to protect patients’ information from malicious alteration and manipulation. The watermarked medical images are transmitted over the internet among patients, primary and referred physicians. The images are highly prone to corruption in the wireless transmission medium due to various noises, deflection, and refractions. Distortion in the received images leads to faulty watermark detection and inappropriate disease diagnosis. To address the issue, this paper utilizes error correction code (ECC) with (8, 4) Hamming code in an existing watermarking system. In addition, we implement the high complex ECC on a graphics processing units (GPU) to accelerate and support real-time requirement. Experimental results show that GPU achieves considerable speedup over the sequential CPU implementation, while maintaining 100% ECC efficiency.

Keywords: medical image watermarking, e-health system, error correction, Hamming code, GPU

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Authors: Ananda Perera

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Computer-Assisted Medical Evaluation of Symptoms (CAMEOS) is a medical expert system designed to help General Practices (GPs) make an accurate diagnosis. CAMEOS comprises a knowledge base, user input, inference engine, reasoning module, and output statement. The knowledge base was developed by the author. User input is an Html file. The physician user collects data in the consultation. Data is sent to the inference engine at servers. CAMEOS uses set theory to simulate diagnostic reasoning. The program output is a list of differential diagnoses, the most probable diagnosis, and the diagnostic reasoning.

Keywords: CDSS, computerized decision support systems, expert systems, general practice, diagnosis, diagnostic systems, primary care diagnostic system, artificial intelligence in medicine

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Authors: Rama Debbarma, Debanjan Das

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The performance of multiple tuned mass dampers to mitigate the seismic vibration of structures considering real time history data is investigated in this paper. Three different real earthquake time history data like Kobe, Imperial Valley and Mammoth Lake are taken in the present study. The multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMD) are distributed at each storey. For comparative study, single tuned mass damper (STMD) is installed at top of the similar structure. This study is conducted for a fixed mass ratio (5%) and fixed damping ratio (5%) of structures. Numerical study is performed to evaluate the effectiveness of MTMDs and overall system performance. The displacement, acceleration, base shear and storey drift are obtained for both combined system (structure with MTMD and structure with STMD) for all earthquakes. The same responses are also obtained for structure without damper system. From obtained results, it is investigated that the MTMD configuration is more effective for controlling the seismic response of the primary system with compare to STMD configuration.

Keywords: Earthquake, multiple tuned mass dampers, single tuned mass damper, Time history.

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Authors: Emily Hickmann, Peggy Richter, Maren Kaehlig, Hannes Schlieter

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Patient engagement is a cornerstone of high-quality care and essential for patients with chronic diseases to achieve improved health outcomes. Through digital transformation, possibilities to engage patients in their personal healthcare have multiplied. However, the exploitation of this potential is still lagging. To support the transmission of patient engagement theory into practice, this paper’s objective is to give a state-of-the-art overview of patient engagement tools and methods. A systematic literature review was conducted. Overall, 56 tools and methods were extracted and synthesized according to the four attributes of patient engagement, i.e., personalization, access, commitment, and therapeutic alliance. The results are discussed in terms of their potential to be implemented in digital health solutions under consideration of the “computers are social actors” (CASA) paradigm. It is concluded that digital health can catalyze patient engagement in practice, and a broad future research agenda is formulated.

Keywords: chronic diseases, digitalization, patient-centeredness, patient empowerment, patient engagement

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Authors: Ajish Sreedharan

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Visual cryptography encodes a secret image into shares of random binary patterns. If the shares are exerted onto transparencies, the secret image can be visually decoded by superimposing a qualified subset of transparencies, but no secret information can be obtained from the superposition of a forbidden subset. The binary patterns of the shares, however, have no visual meaning and hinder the objectives of visual cryptography. In the Secret Message Transmission through Meaningful Shares a secret message to be transmitted is converted to grey scale image. Then (2,2) visual cryptographic shares are generated from this converted gray scale image. The shares are encrypted using A Chaos-Based Image Encryption Algorithm Using Wavelet Transform. Two separate color images which are of the same size of the shares, taken as cover image of the respective shares to hide the shares into them. The encrypted shares which are covered by meaningful images so that a potential eavesdropper wont know there is a message to be read. The meaningful shares are transmitted through two different transmission medium. During decoding shares are fetched from received meaningful images and decrypted using A Chaos-Based Image Encryption Algorithm Using Wavelet Transform. The shares are combined to regenerate the grey scale image from where the secret message is obtained.

Keywords: visual cryptography, wavelet transform, meaningful shares, grey scale image

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Authors: Adrian-Gabriel Chifu, Sebastien Fournier

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One of the challenges of natural language understanding is to deal with the subjectivity of sentences, which may express opinions and emotions that add layers of complexity and nuance. Sentiment analysis is a field that aims to extract and analyze these subjective elements from text, and it can be applied at different levels of granularity, such as document, paragraph, sentence, or aspect. Aspect-based sentiment analysis is a well-studied topic with many available data sets and models. However, there is no clear definition of what makes a sentence difficult for aspect-based sentiment analysis. In this paper, we explore this question by conducting an experiment with three data sets: ”Laptops”, ”Restaurants”, and ”MTSC” (Multi-Target-dependent Sentiment Classification), and a merged version of these three datasets. We study the impact of domain diversity and syntactic diversity on difficulty. We use a combination of classifiers to identify the most difficult sentences and analyze their characteristics. We employ two ways of defining sentence difficulty. The first one is binary and labels a sentence as difficult if the classifiers fail to correctly predict the sentiment polarity. The second one is a six-level scale based on how many of the top five best-performing classifiers can correctly predict the sentiment polarity. We also define 9 linguistic features that, combined, aim at estimating the difficulty at sentence level.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, difficulty, classification, machine learning

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Authors: Kedar S. Prabhavalkar, Nimmy Baby Poovanpallil

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Lamotrigine is approved for maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder. However, its role in the treatment of acute bipolar depression is not well clear. Its efficacy in the treatment of major depressive disorders including refractory unipolar depression suggested the use of lamotrigine as an augmentation drug for acute bipolar depression. The present study aims to evaluate and perform a comparative analysis of the therapeutic effects of lamotrigine, an epileptic mood stabilizer, when used alone and in combination with duloxetine in treating acute bipolar depression at different doses of lamotrigine. Male swiss albino mice were used. For evaluation of efficacy of combination, immobility period was analyzed 30 min after the treatment from forced swim and tail suspension tests. Further amount of sucrose consumed in sucrose preference test was estimated. The combination of duloxetine and lamotrigine showed potentiation of antidepressant activity in acute models. Decrease in immobility time and increase in the amount of sucrose consumption in stressed mice were higher in combined group compared to lamotrigine monotherapy group. Brain monoamine levels were also attenuated more with combination compared to monotherapy. Results of the present study suggest potential role of lamotrigine and duloxetine combination in the treatment of acute bipolar depression.

Keywords: lamotrigine, duloxetine, acute bipolar depression, augmentation

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Authors: Ali Dashti

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Recycling materials within the realms of theatrical costume design and production is important. When a Kuwaiti play finishes its run, costumes are thrown away and new ones are designed when necessary. This practice indicates a lack of awareness of recycling strategies. This is a serious matter; tons of textile materials are being wasted rather than recycled. The current process of producing costumes for Kuwait theatre productions involves the conception and sketching of costumes, the purchase of new fabrics, and the employment of tailors for production. Since tailoring is outsourced, there is a shortage of designers who can make costumes autonomously. The current process does not incorporate any methods for recycling costumes. This combined with high levels of textile waste, results in significant ecological issues that demand immediate attention. However, data collected for this research paper, from a series of semi-structured interviews, have indicated that a lack of recycling facilities and increased textile waste do not present an area of concern within the Kuwaiti theatrical costume industry. This paper will review the findings of this research project and investigate the production processes used by costume designers in Kuwait. It will indicate how their behaviors, coupled with their lack of knowledge with using recycling strategies to create costumes, had increased textile waste and negatively affected Kuwait theatre costume design industry.

Keywords: costume, recycle, reuse, theatre

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Authors: Asmae Chraibi, Rachid Lghoul, Nabil Rhiati

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In the era of Industry 4.0, enterprises are increasingly employing digital technologies in order to improve their product development processes. This research focuses on the strategic deployment of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions during production as a key tracker of traceability and digital transformation activities. The study explores the integration of PLM within a larger organizational framework, examining its impact on product lifecycle efficiency, corporation, and innovation. Through a comprehensive analysis of a real case study from the automotive industry, this project evaluates the critical success factors and challenges associated with implementing PLM solutions for digital transformation. Moreover, it explores the synergic relationship between PLM and emerging technologies such as 3D experience and SOLIDWORKS, elucidating their combined potential in optimizing production workflows and enabling data-driven decision-making. The study's findings provide global approaches for firms looking to embark on a digital transformation journey by implementing PLM technologies. This research contributes to a better understanding of how PLM can be effectively used to foster innovation and competitiveness in the changing landscape of modern industry by shining light on best practices, critical considerations, and potential obstacles.

Keywords: product lifecyle management (PLM), industry 4.0, traceability, digital transformation, solution, innovation, 3D experience, SOLIDWORKS

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Authors: E. Grochowska-Niedworok, K. Brukalo, B. Całyniuk, J. Piekorz, M. Kardas

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The aim of the study was to assess diets of residents of nursing homes. Provided by social welfare home, 10 day menus were introduced into the computer program Diet 5 and analyzed in respect of protein, fats, carbohydrates, energy, vitamin D and calcium. The resulting mean values of 10-day menus were compared with the existing Nutrition Standards for Polish population. The analysis menus showed that the average amount of energy supplied from food is not sufficient. Carbohydrates in food supply are too high and represent 257% of normal. The average value of fats and proteins supplied with food is adequate 85.2 g/day and 75.2 g/day. The calcium content of the diet is 513.9 mg/day. The amount of vitamin D supplied in the age group 51-65 years is 2.3 µg/day. Dietary errors that have been shown are due to the lack of detailed nutritional guidelines for nursing homes, as well as state-owned care facilities in general.

Keywords: assessment of diet, essential nutrients, social welfare home, nutrition

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Authors: Md. Shafiullah, M. Shafiul Alam, Bandar Suliman Alsharif

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Electrical quantities such as frequency, voltage, current are being fluctuated due to abnormalities in power system. Most of the abnormalities cause fluctuation in system frequency and sometimes extreme abnormalities lead to system blackout. To protect the system from complete blackout planned and proper islanding plays a very important role even in case of extreme abnormalities. Islanding operation not only helps stabilizing a faulted system but also supports power supplies to critical and important loads, in extreme emergency. But the islanding systems are weaker than integrated system so the stability of islands is the prime concern when an integrated system is disintegrated. In this paper, different impacts on a load rich island have been studied and a frequency based auto-load shedding scheme has been developed for sudden load addition, generation outage and combined effect of both to the island. The developed scheme has been applied to Khulna-Barisal Island to validate the effectiveness of the developed technique. Various types of abnormalities to the test system have been simulated and for the simulation purpose CYME PSAF (Power System Analysis Framework) has been used.

Keywords: auto load shedding, FS&FD relay, impact study, island, PSAF, ROCOF

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Authors: Magda Milleyde de Sousa Lima, Letícia Lima Aguiar, Marina Guerra Martins, Erika Veríssimo Dias Sousa, Lizandra Sampaio de Oliveira, Lívia Moreira Barros, Joselany Áfio Caetano

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Patients with chronic kidney disease are vulnerable to episodes which make the safety of their health vulnerable, mainly due to the treatment process that exposes them to high rates of interventions during hemodialysis sessions. Some factors associated with health care contribute to the risk of death and complications. However, there are a small number of scientific studies evaluating the level of safety of hemodialysis clinics, and the sociodemographic characteristics of patients and professionals associated with this safety. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the level of patient safety in hemodialysis clinics in the Brazilian capital, to identify the sociodemographic and clinical factors of patients and nursing staff associated with the level of safety. This is an observational, descriptive and quantitative research conducted in three hemodialysis clinics placed in the city of Fortaleza-CE, Brazil, from September to November 2019. The sample was formed after a sample calculation for finite inhabitants of correlation with 200 chronic renal patients, 30 nursing technicians and seven nurses. Conventional sampling was used based on the inclusion criteria: being present at the hemodialysis session on the day the researcher performed the data collection and being 18 years of age or older. Participants who presented communication difficulties to listen to and/or answer the sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire were excluded. Two instruments were applied: sociodemographic and clinical characterization form and Chronic Renal Patient Safety Assessment Scale on Hemodialysis (EASPRCH). The data were analyzed using the Kruskal Walls Test for categorical variables and Spearman correlation coefficient for non-categorical variables, using the Statistical Package SPSS version 20.0. The present study respected the ethical and legal principles determined by resolution 466/2012 of the National Health Council, under the approval of the Ethics and Research Committee with an opinion number: 3,255,635. The results showed that a hemodialysis clinic presented unsafe care practices of 32 points in the EASPRCH (p=0.001). A statistical association was identified between the level of safety and the variables of the patients: level of education (p=0.018), family income (p=0.049), type of employment (p=0.012), venous access site (p=0.009), use of medication during the session (p=0.008) and time of hemodialysis (p=0.002). When evaluating the profile of nurses, a statistical association was evidenced between the level of safety with the variables: marital status (p=0.000), race (p=0.017), schooling (p= 0.000), income (p=0.013), age (p=0.000), clinic workload (p=0.000), time working with hemodialysis (p=0.000), time working in the clinic (p= 0.007) and clinic sizing (p=0.000). In order, the sociodemographic factors of nursing technicians associated with the level of patient safety were: race (p= 0.001) and weekly workload at (p=0.010). Therefore, it is concluded that there is a non-conformity in the level of patient safety in one of the clinics studied and, that sociodemographic and clinical factors of patients and health professionals corroborate the level of safety of the health unit.

Keywords: hemodialysis, nursing, patient safety, quality improvement

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Authors: Rajendra Kumar Isaac, Monisha Isaac

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Climate variability and changes are the emerging challenges for Indian agriculture with the growing population to ensure national food security. A study was conducted to assess the Climatic Change effects in medium to low altitude areas of the Himalayan region causing changes in land use and cereal crop productivity with the various climatic parameters. The rainfall and temperature changes from 1951 to 2013 were studied at four locations of varying altitudes, namely Hardwar, Rudra Prayag, Uttar Kashi and Tehri Garwal. It was observed that there is noticeable increment in temperature on all the four locations. It was surprisingly observed that the mean rainfall intensity of 30 minutes duration has increased at the rate of 0.1 mm/hours since 2000. The study shows that the combined effect of increasing temperature, rainfall, runoff and urbanization at the mid-Himalayan region is causing an increase in various climatic disasters and changes in agriculture patterns. A noticeable change in cropping patterns, crop productivity and land use change was observed. Appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies are necessary to ensure that sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture. Appropriate information is necessary for farmers, as well as planners and decision makers for developing, disseminating and adopting climate-smart technologies.

Keywords: climate variability, agriculture, land use, mitigation strategies

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Authors: Emine Akar

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The majority of privacy-related regulation has traditionally focused on concepts that are perceived to be well-understood or easily describable, such as certain categories of data and personal information or images. In the past century, such regulation appeared reasonably suitable for its purposes. However, technologies such as AI, combined with ever-increasing capabilities to collect, process, and store “big data”, not only require calibration of these traditional understandings but may require re-thinking of entire categories of privacy law. In the presentation, it will be explained, against the background of various emerging technologies under the umbrella term “emotional artificial intelligence”, why modern privacy law will need to embrace human emotions as potentially private subject matter. This argument can be made on a jurisprudential level, given that human emotions can plausibly be accommodated within the various concepts that are traditionally regarded as the underlying foundation of privacy protection, such as, for example, dignity, autonomy, and liberal values. However, the practical reasons for regarding human emotions as potentially private subject matter are perhaps more important (and very likely more convincing from the perspective of regulators). In that respect, it should be regarded as alarming that, according to most projections, the usefulness of emotional data to governments and, particularly, private companies will not only lead to radically increased processing and analysing of such data but, concerningly, to an exponential growth in the collection of such data. In light of this, it is also necessity to discuss options for how regulators could address this emerging threat.

Keywords: AI, privacy law, data protection, big data

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Authors: O. E. Ogunjinmi, N. O. Olawore, L. A. Usman, S. O. Ogunjinmi

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An essential oil is any concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds produced by plants. It has been established that several factors affect the component of the plants such as the texture of the soil, relative humidity, wind, and collection time. This study is aimed at investigating the effect of collection time on the chemical composition of this essential oil. Pulverized leaves (500 g) of Hoslundia opposite harvested in the morning (7 am) and afternoon (2 pm) of the same day were separately hydrodistilled using Clevenger apparatus to obtain the essential oils from the leaves. The leaf oils collected in the morning (7 am) and afternoon (2 pm) harvests yielded 0.54 and 0.65 %w/w respectively. Analysis of the leaf oil obtained in the morning, using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography combined mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed the presence of twenty-three (23) compounds which made up 81.8% of the total oil while nineteen (19) compounds (93.2%) were identified in the afternoon leaf essential oil. The most abundant components of the leaf oil collected in the morning (7 am) harvest were p-cymene (28.7%), sabinene (7.1%) and 1,8-cineole (6.6%) Meanwhile the major components of leaf oil in the afternoon (2 pm) harvest were p-cymene (26.4%), thymol (15.3%), 1,8-cineole (15.0%) and g-terpinene (10.4%). The composition pattern of leaf oil obtained in the morning and afternoon harvests of Hoslundia opposite revealed significant differences in qualitative and quantitative.

Keywords: essential oil, Hoslundia opposita, para cymene, 1, 8-cineole

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Authors: Y. D. Lim, K. S. Yap, K. T. Ooi

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Cross Vane Expander Compressor (CVEC) is a newly invented expander-compressor combined unit, where it is introduced to replace the compressor and the expansion valve in traditional refrigeration system. The mathematical model of CVEC has been developed to examine its performance, and it was found that the energy consumption of a conventional refrigeration system was reduced by as much as 18%. It is believed that energy consumption can be further reduced by optimizing the device. In this study, the coefficient of performance (COP) of CVEC has been optimized under predetermined operational parameters and constrained main design parameters. Several main design parameters of CVEC were selected to be the variables, and the optimization was done with theoretical model in a simulation program. The theoretical model consists of geometrical model, dynamic model, heat transfer model and valve dynamics model. Complex optimization method, which is a constrained, direct search and multi-variables method was used in the study. As a result, the optimization study suggested that with an appropriate combination of design parameters, a 58% COP improvement in CVEC R134a refrigeration system is possible.

Keywords: COP, cross vane expander-compressor, CVEC, design, simulation, refrigeration system, air-conditioning, R134a, multi variables

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Authors: Yuying Zhu

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Left-behind children in rural areas are vulnerable groups with the course of our country’s urbanization. Left-behind young children in rural area separate from their parents in their early childhood, vicegerent guardian’s care are less sensitive and careful than children’s parents; they give less concern to children’s verbal development, this makes the verbal problem of the left-behind children to be ubiquitous problem. This study chooses four kindergartens from the east the middle and the west of the Henan Province, explore the verbal development differences between the left-behind young children and the non-left-behind young rural children through the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) and self-made questionnaires. The study shows that there is no significant difference between the left-behind young children and the non-left-behind young rural children in the verbal development, though the marks in primary class and middle class the non-left-behind young rural children is higher, but, the top class in the kindergarten is not. What’s more, the emergent reading and the economy have significant influence on young children’s verbal ability.

Keywords: left-behind children, non-left-behind children, regional difference, verbal development

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Authors: Eisa A. Alsafran, Francis T. Edum-Fotwe, Wayne E. Lord

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The degree to which a public client actively participates in Public Private Partnership (PPP) schemes, is seen as a determinant of the success of the arrangement, and in particular, efficiency in the delivery of the assets of any infrastructure development. The asset delivery is often an early barometer for judging the overall performance of the PPP. Currently, there are no defined descriptors for the degree of such participation. The lack of defined descriptors makes the association between the degree of participation and efficiency of asset delivery, difficult to establish. This is particularly so if an optimum effect is desired. In addition, such an association is important for the strategic decision to embark on any PPP initiative. This paper presents a conceptual model of different levels of participation that characterise PPP schemes. The modelling was achieved by a systematic review of reported sources that address essential aspects and structures of PPP schemes, published from 2001 to 2015. As a precursor to the modelling, the common areas of Public Client Participation (PCP) were investigated. Equity and risk emerged as two dominant factors in the common areas of PCP, and were therefore adopted to form the foundation of the modelling. The resultant conceptual model defines the different states of combined PCP. The defined states provide a more rational basis for establishing how the degree of PCP affects the efficiency of asset delivery in PPP schemes.

Keywords: asset delivery, infrastructure development, public private partnership, public client participation

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Authors: Todd G. Morrison, C. J. Bishop, Melanie A. Morrison

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An upsurge of hatred directed at sexual- and gender-marginalized persons (SGMPs) has been documented in numerous Western nations. The denial of gender-affirmative care for trans youth; the banning of books containing queer content (no matter how innocuous); the boycotting of products affiliated with queer influencers and with pride celebrations; and the silencing of sexual- and gender-marginalized teachers and academics (and their allies) constitute key ways in which this hatred now manifests itself. The health consequences for SGMPs living in environments characterized by hatred of queer people include elevated rates of depression, anxiety, suicidality, and substance misuse. Given these sequelae, in this paper, the authors outline the challenges that academics experience when adopting an advocacy role. The authors also provide an overview of specific strategies that SGMPs may find helpful when engaging with persons committed to harming queer people.

Keywords: queer people, resistance, minority rights, hate speech

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Authors: V. Veena, Suguna Yesodharan, E. P. Yesodharan

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Two Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP) i.e., sono- and photo-catalysis mediated by semiconductor oxide catalyst, ZnO has been found effective for the removal of trace amounts of the toxic dye pollutant Indigocarmine (IC) from water. The effect of various reaction parameters such as concentration of the dye, catalyst dosage, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen etc. as well as the addition of oxidisers and presence of salts in water on the rate of degradation has been evaluated and optimised. The degradation follows variable kinetics depending on the concentration of the substrate, the order of reaction varying from 1 to 0 with increase in concentration. The reaction proceeds through a number of intermediates and many of them have been identified using GCMS technique. The intermediates do not affect the rate of degradation significantly. The influence of anions such as chloride, sulphate, fluoride, carbonate, bicarbonate, phosphate etc. on the degradation of IC is not consistent and does not follow any predictable pattern. Phosphates and fluorides inhibit the degradation while chloride, sulphate, carbonate and bicarbonate enhance. Adsorption studies of the dye in the absence as well as presence of these anions show that there may not be any direct correlation between the adsorption of the dye on the catalyst and the degradation. Oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide and persulphate enhance the degradation though the combined effect and it is less than the cumulative effect of individual components. COD measurements show that the degradation proceeds to complete mineralisation. The results will be presented and probable mechanism for the degradation will be discussed.

Keywords: AOP, COD, indigocarmine, photocatalysis, sonocatalysis

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Authors: Izabela P. Vatanabe, Rafaela Peron, Patricia Manzine, Marcia R. Cominetti

Abstract:

Introduction: Considering the increase in life expectancy of world population, there is an emerging concern in health services to allocate better care and care to elderly, through promotion, prevention and treatment of health. It has been observed that frailty syndrome is prevalent in elderly people worldwide and this complex and heterogeneous clinical syndrome consist of the presence of physical frailty associated with cognitive dysfunction, though in absence of dementia. This can be characterized by exhaustion, unintentional weight loss, decreased walking speed, weakness and low level of physical activity, in addition, each of these symptoms may be a predictor of adverse outcomes such as hospitalization, falls, functional decline, institutionalization, and death. Cognitive frailty is a recent concept in literature, which is defined as the presence of physical frailty associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) however in absence of dementia. This new concept has been considered as a subtype of frailty, which along with aging process and its interaction with physical frailty, accelerates functional declines and can result in poor quality of life of the elderly. MCI represents a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in view of high conversion rate for this disease. Comorbidities and physical frailty are frequently found in AD patients and are closely related to heterogeneity and clinical manifestations of the disease. The decreased platelets ADAM10 levels in AD patients, compared to cognitively healthy subjects, matched by sex, age and education. Objective: Based on these previous results, this study aims to evaluate whether ADAM10 platelet levels of could act as a biomarker of cognitive frailty. Methods: The study was approved by Ethics Committee of Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and conducted in the municipality of São Carlos, headquarters of Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar). Biological samples of subjects were collected, analyzed and then stored in a biorepository. ADAM10 platelet levels were analyzed by western blotting technique in subjects with MCI and compared to subjects without cognitive impairment, both with and without presence of frailty. Statistical tests of association, regression and diagnostic accuracy were performed. Results: The results have shown that ADAM10/β-actin ratio is decreased in elderly individuals with cognitive frailty compared to non-frail and cognitively healthy controls. Previous studies performed by this research group, already mentioned above, demonstrated that this reduction is still higher in AD patients. Therefore, the ADAM10/β-actin ratio appears to be a potential biomarker for cognitive frailty. The results bring important contributions to an accurate diagnosis of cognitive frailty from the perspective of ADAM10 as a biomarker for this condition, however, more experiments are being conducted, using a high number of subjects, and will help to understand the role of ADAM10 as biomarker of cognitive frailty and contribute to the implementation of tools that work in the diagnosis of cognitive frailty. Such tools can be used in public policies for the diagnosis of cognitive frailty in the elderly, resulting in a more adequate planning for health teams and better quality of life for the elderly.

Keywords: ADAM10, biomarkers, cognitive frailty, elderly

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Authors: Claire Song

Abstract:

Background: TikTok is an emerging social media platform creating an outlet for nurses to express and communicate their nursing experiences and stress related to nursing. Purpose: This study investigates the lived experiences of nursing burnout shared on TikTok. Method: The cross-sectional content analysis examines the video content, format, type, and quantitative indicators, including the number of likes and comments. Results: A total of 35 videos and 18616 comments were examined, published between November 2020 and May 2023. Combined, these 35 videos received 24859 comments and 1159669 of likes. Most of the videos included nurses, and 12 included nurses in professional attire. Three videos included interviewers in the video, but the rest of the videos were self-recorded. Four themes of nurses’ burnout experiences were identified: 1) high-intensity work environment, 2) negative internal perception, 3) culture of nursing work, and 4) poor teamwork experience. Conclusion: This study explored the description of nurses’ burnout experiences via a creative platform. Social media, such as TikTok, is a valuable outlet for healthcare providers to express and share their experiences. Future research might consider using the social media platform to explore coping strategies and resilience in nurses who experienced burnout.

Keywords: burnout, emotional wellbeing, nursing, social media

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Authors: Chengcao Sun, Shujun Li, Cuili Yang, Yongyong Xi, Liang Wang, Feng Zhang, Dejia Li

Abstract:

Recently, the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) NEAT1 has been identified as an oncogenic gene in multiple cancer types and elevated expression of NEAT1 was tightly linked to tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, the molecular basis for this observation has not been characterized in progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In our studies, we identified NEAT1 was highly expressed in NSCLC patients and was a novel regulator of NSCLC progression. Patients whose tumors had high NEAT1 expression had a shorter overall survival than patients whose tumors had low NEAT1 expression. Further, NEAT1 significantly accelerates NSCLC cell growth and metastasis in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Additionally, by using bioinformatics study and RNA pull down combined with luciferase reporter assays, we demonstrated that NEAT1 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for has-miR-377-3p, antagonized its functions and led to the de-repression of its endogenous targets E2F3, which was a core oncogene in promoting NSCLC progression. Taken together, these observations imply that the NEAT1 modulated the expression of E2F3 gene by acting as a competing endogenous RNA, which may build up the missing link between the regulatory miRNA network and NSCLC progression.

Keywords: long non-coding RNA NEAT1, hsa-miRNA-377-3p, E2F3, non-small cell lung cancer, tumorigenesis

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Authors: Atilla Bayram

Abstract:

This paper presents the trajectory tracking control of a spatial redundant hybrid manipulator. This manipulator consists of two parallel manipulators which are a variable geometry truss (VGT) module. In fact, each VGT module with 3-degress of freedom (DOF) is a planar parallel manipulator and their operational planes of these VGT modules are arranged to be orthogonal to each other. Also, the manipulator contains a twist motion part attached to the top of the second VGT module to supply the missing orientation of the endeffector. These three modules constitute totally 7-DOF hybrid (parallel-parallel) redundant spatial manipulator. The forward kinematics equations of this manipulator are obtained, then, according to these equations, the inverse kinematics is solved based on an optimization with the joint limit avoidance. The dynamic equations are formed by using virtual work method. In order to test the performance of the redundant manipulator and the controllers presented, two different desired trajectories are followed by using the computed force control method and a switching control method. The switching control method is combined with the computed force control method and genetic algorithm. In the switching control method, the genetic algorithm is only used for fine tuning in the compensation of the trajectory tracking errors.

Keywords: computed force method, genetic algorithm, hybrid manipulator, inverse kinematics of redundant manipulators, variable geometry truss

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Authors: Tamer Mokhtar Mohamed Ahmed

Abstract:

The metalwork industry during the Mamluk period received the attention and care of the sultans and princes, thus helping in the prosperity of this industry during this period. We are fortunate that a huge number of metal artifacts from the industry of Egypt and Syria of this period have come down to us, many of which are preserved in Egyptian and international museums as well as private collections. Characterized by great diversity in its forms, sizes and functions, including the decorative designs executed on them, the artifacts reflected the extent of artistic creativity that characterized the arts in the two Mamluk period. This research paper aims to study three copper dishes from the Mamluk Circassian period and the rare documentary texts on them that have not been previously studied. These dishes date back to different decades from the 9th AH/15 AD century. One of them bears the name of Sultan Al-Muayyad Shaikh, and the second is the name of one of the great Mamluk princes in the Mamluk Circassian period, Prince Yashbak min Mahdi. The third dish is attributed to Prince Jan Balat Al-Ashrafie.

Keywords: metalwork, dishes, decorative, calligraphy, Mamluk Arts

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