Search results for: three-level quality control system

Authors: Kseniya Gladun

Abstract:

Tactile stimulation of a dorsal side of the wrist can have a strong impact on our attitude toward physical objects such as pleasant and unpleasant impact. This study explored different aspects of tactile perception to investigate atypical touch sensitivity in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study included 40 children with ASD and 40 healthy children aged 5 to 9 years. We recorded rsEEG (sampling rate of 250 Hz) during 20 min using EEG amplifier “Encephalan” (Medicom MTD, Taganrog, Russian Federation) with 19 AgCl electrodes placed according to the International 10–20 System. The electrodes placed on the left, and right mastoids served as joint references under unipolar montage. The registration of EEG v19 assignments was carried out: frontal (Fp1-Fp2; F3-F4), temporal anterior (T3-T4), temporal posterior (T5-T6), parietal (P3-P4), occipital (O1-O2). Subjects were passively touched by 4 types of tactile stimuli on the left wrist. Our stimuli were presented with a velocity of about 3–5 cm per sec. The stimuli materials and procedure were chosen for being the most "pleasant," "rough," "prickly" and "recognizable". Type of tactile stimulation: Soft cosmetic brush - "pleasant" , Rough shoe brush - "rough", Wartenberg pin wheel roller - "prickly", and the cognitive tactile stimulation included letters by finger (most of the patient’s name ) "recognizable". To designate the moments of the stimuli onset-offset, we marked the moment when the moment of the touch began and ended; the stimulation was manual, and synchronization was not precise enough for event-related measures. EEG epochs were cleaned from eye movements by ICA-based algorithm in EEGLAB plugin for MatLab 7.11.0 (Mathwork Inc.). Muscle artifacts were cut out by manual data inspection. The response to tactile stimuli was significantly different in the group of children with ASD and healthy children, which was also depended on type of tactile stimuli and the severity of ASD. Amplitude of Alpha rhythm increased in parietal region to response for only pleasant stimulus, for another type of stimulus ("rough," "thorny", "recognizable") distinction of amplitude was not observed. Correlation dimension D2 was higher in healthy children compared to children with ASD (main effect ANOVA). In ASD group D2 was lower for pleasant and unpleasant compared to the background in the right parietal area. Hilbert transform changes in the frequency of the theta rhythm found only for a rough tactile stimulation compared with healthy participants only in the right parietal area. Children with autism spectrum disorders and healthy children were responded to tactile stimulation differently with specific frequency distribution alpha and theta band in the right parietal area. Thus, our data supports the hypothesis that rsEEG may serve as a sensitive index of altered neural activity caused by ASD. Children with autism have difficulty in distinguishing the emotional stimuli ("pleasant," "rough," "prickly" and "recognizable").

Keywords: autism, tactile stimulation, Hilbert transform, pediatric electroencephalography

Procedia PDF Downloads 228

Authors: Simran Baweja, Bhavika Kalal, Surajit Maity

Abstract:

Photoinduced tautomerization reactions have been the centre of attention among the scientific community over the past several decades because of their significance in various biological systems. 7-azaindole (7AI) is considered a model system for DNA base pairing and to understand the role of such tautomerization reactions in mutations. To the best of our knowledge, extensive studies have been carried out on 7-azaindole and its solvent clusters exhibiting proton/ hydrogen transfer in both solution as well as gas phases. Derivatives of the above molecule, like 2,7- and 2,6-diazaindoles are proposed to have even better photophysical properties due to the presence of -aza group on the 2nd position. However, there are studies in the solution phase that suggest the relevance of these molecules, but there are no experimental studies reported in the gas phase yet. In our current investigation, we present the first gas phase spectroscopic data of 2,7-diazaindole (2,7-DAI) and its solvent cluster (2,7-DAI-H2O). In this, we have employed state-of-the-art laser spectroscopic methods such as fluorescence excitation (LIF), dispersed fluorescence (DF), resonant two-photon ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (2C-R2PI), photoionization efficiency spectroscopy (PIE), IR-UV double resonance spectroscopy, i.e., fluorescence-dip infrared spectroscopy (FDIR) and resonant ion-dip infrared spectroscopy (IDIR) to understand the electronic structure of the molecule. The origin band corresponding to the S1 ← S0 transition of the bare 2,7-DAI is found to be positioned at 33910 cm-1, whereas the origin band corresponding to S1 ← S0 transition of the 2,7-DAI-H2O is positioned at 33074 cm-1. The red-shifted transition in the case of solvent cluster suggests the enhanced feasibility of excited state hydrogen/ proton transfer. The ionization potential for the 2,7-DAI molecule is found to be 8.92 eV which is significantly higher than the previously reported 7AI (8.11 eV) molecule, making it a comparatively complex molecule to study. The ionization potential is reduced by 0.14 eV in the case of 2,7-DAI-H2O (8.78 eV) cluster compared to that of 2,7-DAI. Moreover, on comparison with the available literature values of 7AI, we found the origin band of 2,7-DAI and 2,7-DAI-H2O to be red-shifted by -729 and -280 cm-1 respectively. The ground and excited state N-H stretching frequencies of the 27DAI molecule were determined using fluorescence-dip infrared spectra (FDIR) and resonant ion dip infrared spectroscopy (IDIR), obtained at 3523 and 3467 cm-1, respectively. The lower value of vNH in the electronically excited state of 27DAI implies the higher acidity of the group compared to the ground state. Moreover, we have done extensive computational analysis, which suggests that the energy barrier in the excited state reduces significantly as we increase the number of catalytic solvent molecules (S= H2O, NH3) as well as the polarity of solvent molecules. We found that the ammonia molecule is a better candidate for hydrogen transfer compared to water because of its higher gas-phase basicity. Further studies are underway to understand the excited state dynamics and photochemistry of such N-rich chromophores.

Keywords: excited state hydrogen transfer, supersonic expansion, gas phase spectroscopy, IR-UV double resonance spectroscopy, laser induced fluorescence, photoionization efficiency spectroscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Tayfun Salihoğlu

Abstract:

Following the Law No: 6306 on Transformation of Disaster Risk Areas, urban transformation in Turkey found its legal basis. In the best practices all over the World, the urban transformation was shaped as part of comprehensive social programs through the discourses of renewing the economic, social and physical degraded parts of the city, producing spaces resistant to earthquakes and other possible disasters and creating a livable environment. In Turkish practice, a contradictory process is observed. In this study, it is aimed to develop a method for better understanding of the urban space in terms of disaster risks in order to constitute a basis for decisions in Kocaeli Urban Transformation Master Plan, which is being prepared by Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. The spatial unit used in the study is the 50x50 meter grids. In order to reflect the multidimensionality of urban transformation, three basic components that have spatial data in Kocaeli were identified. These components were named as 'Problems in Built-up Areas', 'Disaster Risks arising from Geological Conditions of the Ground and Problems of Buildings', and 'Inadequacy of Urban Services'. Each component was weighted and scored for each grid. In order to delimitate urban transformation zones Optimized Outlier Analysis (Local Moran I) in the ArcGIS 10.6.1 was conducted to test the type of distribution (clustered or scattered) and its significance on the grids by assuming the weighted total score of the grid as Input Features. As a result of this analysis, it was found that the weighted total scores were not significantly clustering at all grids in urban space. The grids which the input feature is clustered significantly were exported as the new database to use in further mappings. Total Score Map reflects the significant clusters in terms of weighted total scores of 'Problems in Built-up Areas', 'Disaster Risks arising from Geological Conditions of the Ground and Problems of Buildings' and 'Inadequacy of Urban Services'. Resulting grids with the highest scores are the most likely candidates for urban transformation in this citywide study. To categorize urban space in terms of urban transformation, Grouping Analysis in ArcGIS 10.6.1 was conducted to data that includes each component scores in significantly clustered grids. Due to Pseudo Statistics and Box Plots, 6 groups with the highest F stats were extracted. As a result of the mapping of the groups, it can be said that 6 groups can be interpreted in a more meaningful manner in relation to the urban space. The method presented in this study can be magnified due to the availability of more spatial data. By integrating with other data to be obtained during the planning process, this method can contribute to the continuation of research and decision-making processes of urban transformation master plans on a more consistent basis.

Keywords: urban transformation, GIS, disaster risk assessment, Kocaeli

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: R. Christopher, C. Brandt, N. Damons

Abstract:

Background: The sequence of prevention model states that by constant assessment of injury, injury mechanisms and risk factors are identified, highlighting that collecting and recording of data is a core approach for preventing injuries. Several screening tools are available for use in the clinical setting. These screening techniques only recently received research attention, hence there is a dearth of inconsistent and controversial data regarding their applicability, validity, and reliability. Several systematic reviews related to common soccer injuries have been conducted; however, none of them addressed the screening tools for common soccer injuries. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to conduct a review of screening tools and their accuracy for common injuries in soccer. Methods: A systematic scoping review was performed based on the Joanna Briggs Institute procedure for conducting systematic reviews. Databases such as SPORT Discus, Cinahl, Medline, Science Direct, PubMed, and grey literature were used to access suitable studies. Some of the key search terms included: injury screening, screening, screening tool accuracy, injury prevalence, injury prediction, accuracy, validity, specificity, reliability, sensitivity. All types of English studies dating back to the year 2000 were included. Two blind independent reviewers selected and appraised articles on a 9-point scale for inclusion as well as for the risk of bias with the ACROBAT-NRSI tool. Data were extracted and summarized in tables. Plot data analysis was done, and sensitivity and specificity were analyzed with their respective 95% confidence intervals. I² statistic was used to determine the proportion of variation across studies. Results: The initial search yielded 95 studies, of which 21 were duplicates, and 54 excluded. A total of 10 observational studies were included for the analysis: 3 studies were analysed quantitatively while the remaining 7 were analysed qualitatively. Seven studies were graded low and three studies high risk of bias. Only high methodological studies (score > 9) were included for analysis. The pooled studies investigated tools such as the Functional Movement Screening (FMS™), the Landing Error Scoring System (LESS), the Tuck Jump Assessment, the Soccer Injury Movement Screening (SIMS), and the conventional hamstrings to quadriceps ratio. The accuracy of screening tools was of high reliability, sensitivity and specificity (calculated as ICC 0.68, 95% CI: 52-0.84; and 0.64, 95% CI: 0.61-0.66 respectively; I² = 13.2%, P=0.316). Conclusion: Based on the pooled results from the included studies, the FMS™ has a good inter-rater and intra-rater reliability. FMS™ is a screening tool capable of screening for common soccer injuries, and individual FMS™ scores are a better determinant of performance in comparison with the overall FMS™ score. Although meta-analysis could not be done for all the included screening tools, qualitative analysis also indicated good sensitivity and specificity of the individual tools. Higher levels of evidence are, however, needed for implication in evidence-based practice.

Keywords: accuracy, screening tools, sensitivity, soccer injuries, specificity

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: S. Alina Wang

Abstract:

A Gibsonian approach is used to understand the existential dimensions of the human ecological niche. Then, this existential-Gibsonian framework is applied to rethinking Hacking’s historical analysis of multiple personality disorder. This research culminates in a generalized account of psychiatric illness from an enactivist lens. In conclusion, reflections on the implications of this account on approaches to psychiatric treatment are mentioned. J.J. Gibson’s theory of affordances centered on affordances of sensorimotor varieties, which guide basic behaviors relative to organisms’ vital needs and physiological capacities (1979). Later theorists, notably Neisser (1988) and Rietveld (2014), expanded on the theory of affordances to account for uniquely human activities relative to the emotional, intersubjective, cultural, and narrative aspects of the human ecological niche. This research shows that these affordances are structured by what Haugeland (1998) calls existential commitments, which draws on Heidegger’s notion of dasein (1927) and Merleau-Ponty’s account of existential freedom (1945). These commitments organize the existential affordances that fill an individual’s environment and guide their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. This system of a priori existential commitments and a posteriori affordances is called existential enactivism. For humans, affordances do not only elicit motor responses and appear as objects with instrumental significance. Affordances also, and possibly primarily, determine so-called affective and cognitive activities and structure the wide range of kinds (e.g., instrumental, aesthetic, ethical) of significances of objects found in the world. Then existential enactivism is applied to understanding the psychiatric phenomenon of multiple personality disorder (precursor of the current diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder). A reinterpretation of Hacking’s (1998) insights into the history of this particular disorder and his generalizations on the constructed nature of most psychiatric illness is taken on. Enactivist approaches sensitive to existential phenomenology can provide a deeper understanding of these matters. Conceptualizing psychiatric illness as strictly a disorder in the head (whether parsed as a disorder of brain chemicals or meaning-making capacities encoded in psychological modules) is incomplete. Rather, psychiatric illness must also be understood as a disorder in the world, or in the interconnected networks of existential affordances that regulate one’s emotional, intersubjective, and narrative capacities. All of this suggests that an adequate account of psychiatric illness must involve (1) the affordances that are the sources of existential hindrance, (2) the existential commitments structuring these affordances, and (3) the conditions of these existential commitments. Approaches to treatment of psychiatric illness would be more effective by centering on the interruption of normalized behaviors corresponding to affordances targeted as sources of hindrance, the development of new existential commitments, and the practice of new behaviors that erect affordances relative to these reformed commitments.

Keywords: affordance, enaction, phenomenology, psychiatry, psychopathology

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Paula I. Buonfiglio, Carlos David Bruque, Lucia Salatino, Vanesa Lotersztein, Sebastián Menazzi, Paola Plazas, Ana Belén Elgoyhen, Viviana Dalamón

Abstract:

Hearing loss (HL) is the most prevalent sensorineural disorder affecting about 10% of the global population, with more than half due to genetic causes. About 1 in 500-1000 newborns present congenital HL. Most of the patients are non-syndromic with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. To date, more than 100 genes are related to HL. Therefore, the Whole-exome sequencing (WES) technique has become a cost-effective alternative approach for molecular diagnosis. Nevertheless, new challenges arise from the detection of novel variants, in particular missense changes, which can lead to a spectrum of genotype-to-phenotype correlations, which is not always straightforward. In this work, we aimed to identify the genetic causes of HL in isolated and familial cases by designing a multistep approach to analyze target genes related to hearing impairment. Moreover, we performed in silico and in vivo analyses in order to further study the effect of some of the novel variants identified in the hair cell function using the zebrafish model. A total of 650 patients were studied by Sanger Sequencing and Gap-PCR in GJB2 and GJB6 genes, respectively, diagnosing 15.5% of sporadic cases and 36% of familial ones. Overall, 50 different sequence variants were detected. Fifty of the undiagnosed patients with moderate HL were tested for deletions in STRC gene by Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification technique (MLPA), leading to 6% of diagnosis. After this initial screening, 50 families were selected to be analyzed by WES, achieving diagnosis in 44% of them. Half of the identified variants were novel. A missense variant in MYO6 gene detected in a family with postlingual HL was selected to be further analyzed. A protein modeling with AlphaFold2 software was performed, proving its pathogenic effect. In order to functionally validate this novel variant, a knockdown phenotype rescue assay in zebrafish was carried out. Injection of wild-type MYO6 mRNA in embryos rescued the phenotype, whereas using the mutant MYO6 mRNA (carrying c.2782C>A variant) had no effect. These results strongly suggest the deleterious effect of this variant on the mobility of stereocilia in zebrafish neuromasts, and hence on the auditory system. In the present work, we demonstrated that our algorithm is suitable for the sequential multigenic approach to HL in our cohort. These results highlight the importance of a combined strategy in order to identify candidate variants as well as the in silico and in vivo studies to analyze and prove their pathogenicity and accomplish a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the physiopathology of the hearing impairment.

Keywords: diagnosis, genetics, hearing loss, in silico analysis, in vivo analysis, WES, zebrafish

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: G. Swati, D. Haranath

Abstract:

Commercially available long afterglow /persistent phosphors are proprietary materials and hence the exact composition and phase responsible for their luminescent characteristics such as initial intensity and afterglow luminescence time are not known. Further to generate various emission colors, commercially available persistence phosphors are physically blended with fluorescent organic dyes such as rodhamine, kiton and methylene blue etc. Blending phosphors with organic dyes results into complete color coverage in visible spectra, however with time, such phosphors undergo thermal and photo-bleaching. This results in the loss of their true emission color. Hence, the current work is dedicated studies on inorganic based thermally and chemically stable primary color emitting nanophosphors namely SrAl2O4:Eu2+, Dy3+, (CaZn)TiO3:Pr3+, and Sr2MgSi2O7:Eu2+, Dy3+. SrAl2O4: Eu2+, Dy3+ phosphor exhibits a strong excitation in UV and visible region (280-470 nm) with a broad emission peak centered at 514 nm is the characteristic emission of parity allowed 4f65d1→4f7 transitions of Eu2+ (8S7/2→2D5/2). Sunlight excitable Sr2MgSi2O7:Eu2+,Dy3+ nanophosphors emits blue color (464 nm) with Commercial international de I’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates to be (0.15, 0.13) with a color purity of 74 % with afterglow time of > 5 hours for dark adapted human eyes. (CaZn)TiO3:Pr3+ phosphor system possess high color purity (98%) which emits intense, stable and narrow red emission at 612 nm due intra 4f transitions (1D2 → 3H4) with afterglow time of 0.5 hour. Unusual property of persistence luminescence of these nanophoshphors supersedes background effects without losing sensitive information these nanophosphors offer several advantages of visible light excitation, negligible substrate interference, high contrast bifurcation of ridge pattern, non-toxic nature revealing finger ridge details of the fingerprints. Both level 1 and level 2 features from a fingerprint can be studied which are useful for used classification, indexing, comparison and personal identification. facile methodology to extract high contrast fingerprints on non-porous and porous substrates using a chemically inert, visible light excitable, and nanosized phosphorescent label in the dark has been presented. The chemistry of non-covalent physisorption interaction between the long afterglow phosphor powder and sweat residue in fingerprints has been discussed in detail. Real-time fingerprint development on porous and non-porous substrates has also been performed. To conclude, apart from conventional dark vision applications, as prepared primary color emitting afterglow phosphors are potentional candidate for developing high contrast latent fingerprints.

Keywords: fingerprints, luminescence, persistent phosphors, rare earth

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Elvis Medina, Alejandro Karelovic, Romel Jiménez

Abstract:

Catalytic ammonia decomposition represents an attractive alternative due to its high H₂ content (17.8% w/w), a product stream free of COₓ, among others; however, challenges need to be addressed for its consolidation as an H₂ chemical storage technology, especially, those focused on the synthesis of efficient bimetallic catalytic systems, as an alternative to the price and scarcity of ruthenium, the most active catalyst reported. In this sense, from the perspective of rational catalyst design, adjusting the main catalytic activity descriptor, a screening of supported catalysts with different compositional settings of cobalt-molybdenum metals is presented to evaluate their effect on the catalytic decomposition rate of ammonia. Subsequently, a kinetic study on the supported monometallic Co and Mo catalysts, as well as on the bimetallic CoMo catalyst with the highest activity is shown. The synthesis of catalysts supported on γ-alumina was carried out using the Charge Enhanced Dry Impregnation (CEDI) method, all with a 5% w/w loading metal. Seeking to maintain uniform dispersion, the catalysts were oxidized and activated (In-situ activation) using a flow of anhydrous air and hydrogen, respectively, under the same conditions: 40 ml min⁻¹ and 5 °C min⁻¹ from room temperature to 600 °C. Catalytic tests were carried out in a fixed-bed reactor, confirming the absence of transport limitations, as well as an Approach to equilibrium (< 1 x 10⁻⁴). The reaction rate on all catalysts was measured between 400 and 500 ºC at 53.09 kPa NH3. The synergy theoretically (DFT) reported for bimetallic catalysts was confirmed experimentally. Specifically, it was observed that the catalyst composed mainly of 75 mol% cobalt proved to be the most active in the experiments, followed by the monometallic cobalt and molybdenum catalysts, in this order of activity as referred to in the literature. A kinetic study was performed at 10.13 – 101.32 kPa NH3 and at four equidistant temperatures between 437 and 475 °C the data were adjusted to an LHHW-type model, which considered the desorption of nitrogen atoms from the active phase surface as the rate determining step (RDS). The regression analysis were carried out under an integral regime, using a minimization algorithm based on SLSQP. The physical meaning of the parameters adjusted in the kinetic model, such as the RDS rate constant (k₅) and the lumped adsorption constant of the quasi-equilibrated steps (α) was confirmed through their Arrhenius and Van't Hoff-type behavior (R² > 0.98), respectively. From an energetic perspective, the activation energy for cobalt, cobalt-molybdenum, and molybdenum was 115.2, 106.8, and 177.5 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively. With this evidence and considering the volcano shape described by the ammonia decomposition rate in relation to the metal composition ratio, the synergistic behavior of the system is clearly observed. However, since characterizations by XRD and TEM were inconclusive, the formation of intermetallic compounds should be still verified using HRTEM-EDS. From this point onwards, our objective is to incorporate parameters into the kinetic expressions that consider both compositional and structural elements and explore how these can maximize or influence H₂ production.

Keywords: CEDI, hydrogen carrier, LHHW, RDS

Procedia PDF Downloads 18

Authors: Bamikole J. Adeyemi, Prashant Jadhawar, Lateef Akanji

Abstract:

Liquid-liquid interfacial flow is an important process that has applications across many spheres. One such applications are residual oil mobilization, where crude oil and low salinity water are emulsified due to lowered interfacial tension under the condition of low shear rates. The amphiphilic components (asphaltenes and resins) in crude oil are considered to assemble at the interface between the two immiscible liquids. To justify emulsification, drag and snap-off suppression as the main effects of low salinity water, mobilization of residual oil is visualized as thickening and slip of the wetting phase at the brine/crude oil interface which results in the squeezing and drag of the non-wetting phase to the pressure sinks. Meanwhile, defining the boundary conditions for such a system can be very challenging since the interfacial dynamics do not only depend on interfacial tension but also the flow rate. Hence, understanding the flow boundary condition at the brine/crude oil interface is an important step towards defining the influence of low salinity water composition on residual oil mobilization. This work presents a numerical evaluation of three slip boundary conditions that may apply at liquid-liquid interfaces. A mathematical model was developed to describe the evolution of a viscoelastic interfacial thin liquid film. The base model is developed by the asymptotic expansion of the full Navier-Stokes equations for fluid motion due to gradients of surface tension. This model was upscaled to describe the dynamics of the film surface deformation. Subsequently, Jeffrey’s model was integrated into the formulations to account for viscoelastic stress within a long wave approximation of the Navier-Stokes equations. To study the fluid response to a prescribed disturbance, a linear stability analysis (LSA) was performed. The dispersion relation and the corresponding characteristic equation for the growth rate were obtained. Three slip (slip, 1; locking, -1; and no-slip, 0) boundary conditions were examined using the resulted characteristic equation. Also, the dynamics of the evolved interfacial thin liquid film were numerically evaluated by considering the influence of the boundary conditions. The linear stability analysis shows that the boundary conditions of such systems are greatly impacted by the presence of amphiphilic molecules when three different values of interfacial tension were tested. The results for slip and locking conditions are consistent with the fundamental solution representation of the diffusion equation where there is film decay. The interfacial films at both boundary conditions respond to exposure time in a similar manner with increasing growth rate which resulted in the formation of more droplets with time. Contrarily, no-slip boundary condition yielded an unbounded growth and it is not affected by interfacial tension.

Keywords: boundary conditions, liquid-liquid interfaces, low salinity water, residual oil mobilization

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: S. Maniruzzaman, N. Ramanujam, Qazi Akhter Rasool, Swapan Kumar Biswas, P. Prasad, Chandrakanta Ojha

Abstract:

Landslide is one of the major natural disasters in South Asian countries. Applying 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomographic Imaging estimation of geometry, thickness, and depth of failure zone of the landslide can be made. Landslide is a pertinent problem in Nilgris plateau next to Himalaya. Nilgris range consists of hard Archean metamorphic rocks. Intense weathering prevailed during the Pre-Cambrian time had deformed the rocks up to 45m depth. The landslides are dominant in the southern and eastern part of plateau of is comparatively smaller than the northern drainage basins, as it has low density of drainage; coarse texture permitted the more of infiltration of rainwater, whereas in the northern part of the plateau entombed with high density of drainage pattern and fine texture with less infiltration than run off, and low to the susceptible to landslide. To get comprehensive information about the landslide zone 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomographic imaging study with CRM 500 Resistivity meter are used in Coonoor– Mettupalyam sector of Nilgiris plateau. To calculate Factor of Safety the infinite slope model of Brunsden and Prior is used. Factor of Safety can be expressed (FS) as the ratio of resisting forces to disturbing forces. If FS < 1 disturbing forces are larger than resisting forces and failure may occur. The geotechnical parameters of soil samples are calculated on the basis upon the apparent resistivity values for litho units of measured from 2D ERT image of the landslide zone. Relationship between friction angles for various soil properties is established by simple regression analysis from apparent resistivity data. Increase of water content in slide zone reduces the effectiveness of the shearing resistance and increase the sliding movement. Time-lapse resistivity changes to slope failure is determined through geophysical Factor of Safety which depends on resistivity and site topography. This ERT technique infers soil property at variable depths in wider areas. This approach to retrieve the soil property and overcomes the limit of the point of information provided by rain gauges and porous probes. Monitoring of slope stability without altering soil structure through the ERT technique is non-invasive with low cost. In landslide prone area an automated Electrical Resistivity Tomographic Imaging system should be installed permanently with electrode networks to monitor the hydraulic precursors to monitor landslide movement.

Keywords: 2D ERT, landslide, safety factor, slope stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Brajendra S. Sengar, Vivek Garg, Gaurav Siddharth, Nisheka Anadkat, Amitesh Kumar, Shaibal Mukherjee

Abstract:

The optimal band gap (~ 1 to 1.5 eV) and high absorption coefficient ~104 cm⁻¹ has made Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) films as one of the most promising absorber materials in thin-film photovoltaics. Additionally, CZTSSe consists of elements that are abundant and non-toxic, makes it even more favourable. The CZTSSe thin films are grown at 100 to 500ᵒC substrate temperature (Tsub) on Soda lime glass (SLG) substrate by Elettrorava dual ion beam sputtering (DIBS) system by utilizing a target at 2.43x10⁻⁴ mbar working pressure with RF power of 45 W in argon ambient. The chemical composition, depth profiling, structural properties and optical properties of these CZTSSe thin films prepared on SLG were examined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX, Oxford Instruments), Hiden secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) workstation with oxygen ion gun of energy up to 5 keV, X-ray diffraction (XRD) (Rigaku Cu Kα radiation, λ=.154nm) and Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE, M-2000D from J. A. Woollam Co., Inc). It is observed that from that, the thin films deposited at Tsub=200 and 300°C show Cu-poor and Zn-rich states (i.e., Cu/(Zn + Sn) < 1 and Zn/Sn > 1), which is not the case for films grown at other Tsub. It has been reported that the CZTSSe thin films with the highest efficiency are typically at Cu-poor and Zn-rich states. The values of band gap in the fundamental absorption region of CZTSSe are found to be in the range of 1.23-1.70 eV depending upon the Cu/(Zn+Sn) ratio. It is also observed that there is a decline in optical band gap with the increase in Cu/(Zn+Sn) ratio (evaluated from EDX measurement). Cu-poor films are found to have higher optical band gap than Cu-rich films. The decrease in the band gap with the increase in Cu content in case of CZTSSe films may be attributed to changes in the extent of p-d hybridization between Cu d-levels and (S, Se) p-levels. CZTSSe thin films with Cu/(Zn+Sn) ratio in the range 0.86–1.5 have been successfully deposited using DIBS. Optical band gap of the films is found to vary from 1.23 to 1.70 eV based on Cu/(Zn+Sn) ratio. CZTSe films with Cu/ (Zn+Sn) ratio of .86 are found to have optical band gap close to the ideal band gap (1.49 eV) for highest theoretical conversion efficiency. Thus by tailoring the value of Cu/(Zn+Sn), CZTSSe thin films with the desired band gap could be obtained. Acknowledgment: We are thankful to DIBS, EDX, and XRD facility equipped at Sophisticated Instrument Centre (SIC) at IIT Indore. The authors B. S. S and A. K. acknowledge CSIR, and V. G. acknowledges UGC, India for their fellowships. B. S. S is thankful to DST and IUSSTF for BASE Internship Award. Prof. Shaibal Mukherjee is thankful to DST and IUSSTF for BASE Fellowship and MEITY YFRF award. This work is partially supported by DAE BRNS, DST CERI, and DST-RFBR Project under India-Russia Programme of Cooperation in Science and Technology. We are thankful to Mukul Gupta for SIMS facility equipped at UGC-DAE Indore.

Keywords: CZTSSe, DIBS, EDX, solar cell

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Caroline Lavratti, Pedro Dal Lago, Gustavo Reinaldo, Gilson Dorneles, Andreia Bard, Laira Fuhr, Daniela Pochmann, Alessandra Peres, Luciane Wagner, Viviane Elsner

Abstract:

Approximately 1% of the world's population is affected by schizophrenia (SZ), a chronic and debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder. Among possible factors, reduced levels of Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been recognized in physiopathogenesis and course of SZ. In this context, peripheral BDNF levels have been used as a biomarker in several clinical studies, since this neurotrophin is able to cross the blood-brain barrier in a bi-directional manner and seems to present a strong correlation with the central nervous system fluid levels. The patients with SZ usually adopts a sedentary lifestyle, which has been partly associated with the increase in obesity incidence rates, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. On the other hand, exercise, a non-invasive and low cost intervention, has been considered an important additional therapeutic option for this population, promoting benefits to physical and mental health. To our knowledge, few studies have been pointed out that the positive effects of exercise in SZ patients are mediated, at least in part, to enhanced levels of BDNF after training. However, these studies are focused on evaluating the effect of single bouts of exercise of chronic interventions, data concerning the short- and long-term exercise outcomes on BDNF are scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of a concurrent exercise protocol (CEP) on plasma BDNF levels of SZ patients in different time-points. Material and Methods: This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Centro Universitário Metodista do IPA (no 1.243.680/2015). The participants (n=15) were subbmited to the CEP during 90 days, 3 times a week for 60 minutes each session. In order to evaluate the short and long-term effects of exercise, blood samples were collected pre, 30, 60 and 90 days after the intervention began. Plasma BDNF levels were determined with the ELISA method, from Sigma-Aldrich commercial kit (catalog number RAB0026) according to manufacturer's instructions. Results: A remarkable increase on plasma BDNF levels at 90 days after training compared to baseline (p=0.006) and 30 days (p=0.007) values were observed. Conclusion: Our data are in agreement with several studies that show significant enhancement on BDNF levels in response to different exercise protocols in SZ individuals. We might suggest that BDNF upregulation after training in SZ patients acts in a dose-dependent manner, being more pronounced in response to chronic exposure. Acknowledgments: This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS)/Brazil.

Keywords: exercise, BDNF, schizophrenia, time-points

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Adi Sharabi, Dafna Marom-Golan

Abstract:

Parents’ involvement in the care of their children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its beneficial effect on the children’s developmental and educational outcomes is well documented. At the same time, parents of children with ASD tend to experience greater psychological distress than parents of children with other developmental disabilities or with typical development. Positive social support is an important resource used by parents to reduce their psychological distress. The goal of the current research was to examine the contribution of formal and informal social support in explaining mothers’ and fathers’ involvement with their young children with ASD. The sample consisted of 107 parents who live in Israel (61 mothers and 46 fathers) of children aged between 2 and 7, all diagnosed with ASD and attending special kindergartens or special day care for children with ASD. Parental involvement and social support perception were assessed. Initial analysis focused on the relations between involvement, support, and demographic variables. In addition, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test differences between mothers and fathers. Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the predicted factors in the involvement model while controlling for group (mothers/fathers). Results indicate that mothers reported significantly higher levels of parenting involvement than fathers. Mothers reported higher levels of general involvement and all sub-types of involvement. For example, mothers reported that they were more interested in and have higher levels of attendance in their child’s educational program. They were also more collaborative in their child’s educational therapeutic program, and socialized with other parents of children from their child’s kindergarten than fathers. Mothers’ involvement was found to be related to their informal support (non-formal relatives). Findings also reveal significant differences between mothers and fathers on the formal support subscale measure of specializes services. Fathers, more than mothers, reported more specializes services support such as social workers or professional therapists. Separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed a unique gender difference in the factors that explained parental involvement. Specifically, informal support only had a unique positive contribution in explaining mothers’, but not fathers’ involvement. This study highlights the central role of mothers in maintaining constant contact with the educational system and the professionals who help care for their child with ASD. At the same time, this research emphasizes the crucial role of both mothers and fathers in their child's development and well-being at every development stage, particularly in early development. Further, different kinds of social support seem to relate to the different kinds of parental involvement. It is in the best interest of educators and family therapists who work with families with children with ASD to support the cohesiveness of the family and the collaboration of the parents by understanding and respecting the way each member addresses the responsibilities of parenting a child with ASD, and her or his need for different types of social support.

Keywords: parental differences, parental involvement, social support, specialized support services

Procedia PDF Downloads 232

Authors: Kever Bruno Paradelo Gomes, Rosana Carvalho Martins

Abstract:

The home gardens areas are production systems, which are located near the homes and are quite common in the tropics. They consist of agricultural and forest species and may also involve the raising of small animals to produce food for subsistence as well as income generation, with a special focus on the conservation of biodiversity. Home gardens are diverse Agroforestry systems with multiple uses, among many, food security, income aid, traditional medicine. The work was carried out on rural properties of the family farmers of the Ponte Alta Rural Nucleus, Gama Administrative Region, in the city of Brasília, Federal District- Brazil. The present research is characterized methodologically as a quantitative, exploratory and descriptive nature. The instruments used in this research were: bibliographic survey and semi-structured questionnaire. The data collection was performed through the application of a semi-structured questionnaire, containing questions that referred to the perception and behavior of the interviewed producer on the subject under analysis. In each question, the respondent explained his knowledge about sustainability, agroecological practices, environmental legislation, conservation methods, forest and medicinal species, ago social and socioeconomic characteristics, use and purpose of agroforestry and technical assistance. The sample represented 55.62% of the universe of the study. We interviewed 99 people aged 18-83 years, with a mean age of 49 years. The low level of education, coupled with the lack of training and guidance for small family farmers in the Ponte Alta Rural Nucleus, is one of the limitations to the development of practices oriented towards sustainable and agroecological agriculture in the nucleus. It is observed that 50.5% of the interviewed people landed with agroforestry yards less than 20 years ago, and only 16.17% of them are older than 35 years. In identifying agriculture as the main activity of most of the rural properties studied, attention is drawn to the cultivation of medicinal plants, fruits and crops as the most extracted products. However, it is verified that the crops in the backyards have the exclusive purpose of family consumption, which could be complemented with the marketing of the surplus, as well as with the aggregation of value to the cultivated products. Initiatives such as this may contribute to the increase in family income and to the motivation and value of the crop in agroecological gardens. We conclude that home gardens of Ponte Alta are highly diverse thus contributing to local biodiversity conservation of are managed by women to ensure food security and allows income generation. The tradition of existing knowledge on the use and management of the diversity of resources used in agroforestry yards is of paramount importance for the development of sustainable alternative practices.

Keywords: agriculture, agroforestry system, rural development, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Muhammad Qasim, Dolors Puigjaner, Josep Maria López, Joan Herrero, Carme Olivé, Gerard Fortuny

Abstract:

Computational modeling of the human pelvis using the finite element (FE) method has become extremely important to understand the mechanics of prostate motion and deformation when transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided biopsy is performed. The number of reliable and validated hyperelastic constitutive FE models of the male pelvis region is limited, and given models did not precisely describe the anatomical behavior of pelvis organs, mainly of the prostate and its neoplasms location. The motion and deformation of the prostate during TRUS-guided biopsy makes it difficult to know the location of potential lesions in advance. When using this procedure, practitioners can only provide roughly estimations for the lesions locations. Consequently, multiple biopsy samples are required to target one single lesion. In this study, the whole pelvis model (comprised of the rectum, bladder, pelvic muscles, prostate transitional zone (TZ), and peripheral zone (PZ)) is used for the simulation results. An isotropic hyperelastic approach (Signorini model) was used for all the soft tissues except the vesical muscles. The vesical muscles are assumed to have a linear elastic behavior due to the lack of experimental data to determine the constants involved in hyperelastic models. The tissues and organ geometry is taken from the existing literature for 3D meshes. Then the biomechanical parameters were obtained under different testing techniques described in the literature. The acquired parametric values for uniaxial stress/strain data are used in the Signorini model to see the anatomical behavior of the pelvis model. The five mesh nodes in terms of small prostate lesions are selected prior to biopsy and each lesion’s final position is targeted when TRUS probe force of 30 N is applied at the inside rectum wall. Code_Aster open-source software is used for numerical simulations. Moreover, the overall effects of pelvis organ deformation were demonstrated when TRUS–guided biopsy is induced. The deformation of the prostate and neoplasms displacement showed that the appropriate material properties to organs altered the resulting lesion's migration parametrically. As a result, the distance traveled by these lesions ranged between 3.77 and 9.42 mm. The lesion displacement and organ deformation are compared and analyzed with our previous study in which we used linear elastic properties for all pelvic organs. Furthermore, the visual comparison of axial and sagittal slices are also compared, which is taken for Magnetic Resource Imaging (MRI) and TRUS images with our preliminary study.

Keywords: code-aster, magnetic resonance imaging, neoplasms, transrectal ultrasound, TRUS-guided biopsy

Procedia PDF Downloads 58

Authors: Maria Thaemar Tana

Abstract:

The paper examines the policy and practice of Japan’s human security. Specifically, it asks the question: How does Japan’s shift towards a more proactive defence posture affect the place of human security in its foreign policy agenda? Corollary to this, how is Japan sustaining its human security policy? The objective of this research is to understand how Japan, chiefly through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), sustains the concept of human security as a policy framework. In addition, the paper also aims to show how and why Japan continues to include the concept in its overall foreign policy agenda. In light of the recent developments in Japan’s security policy, which essentially result from the changing security environment, human security appears to be gradually losing relevance. The paper, however, argues that despite the strategic challenges Japan faced and is facing, as well as the apparent decline of its economic diplomacy, human security remains to be an area of critical importance for Japanese foreign policy. In fact, as Japan becomes more proactive in its international affairs, the strategic value of human security also increases. Human security was initially envisioned to help Japan compensate for its weaknesses in the areas of traditional security, but as Japan moves closer to a more activist foreign policy, the soft policy of human security complements its hard security policies. Using the framework of neoclassical realism (NCR), the paper recognizes that policy-making is essentially a convergence of incentives and constraints at the international and domestic levels. The theory posits that there is no perfect 'transmission belt' linking material power on the one hand, and actual foreign policy on the other. State behavior is influenced by both international- and domestic-level variables, but while systemic pressures and incentives determine the general direction of foreign policy, they are not strong enough to affect the exact details of state conduct. Internal factors such as leaders’ perceptions, domestic institutions, and domestic norms, serve as intervening variables between the international system and foreign policy. Thus, applied to this study, Japan’s sustained utilization of human security as a foreign policy instrument (dependent variable) is essentially a result of systemic pressures (indirectly) (independent variables) and domestic processes (directly) (intervening variables). Two cases of Japan’s human security practice in two regions are examined in two time periods: Iraq in the Middle East (2001-2010) and South Sudan in Africa (2011-2017). The cases show that despite the different motives behind Japan’s decision to participate in these international peacekeepings ad peace-building operations, human security continues to be incorporated in both rhetoric and practice, thus demonstrating that it was and remains to be an important diplomatic tool. Different variables at the international and domestic levels will be examined to understand how the interaction among them results in changes and continuities in Japan’s human security policy.

Keywords: human security, foreign policy, neoclassical realism, peace-building

Procedia PDF Downloads 110

Authors: Pavel Prochazka

Abstract:

The study deals with transducers for measuring vibration displacements of rotating blade tips in turbomachines. In order to prevent major accidents with extensive economic consequences, it shows an urgent need for every low-pressure steam turbine stage being equipped with modern non-contact measuring system providing information on blade loading, damage and residual lifetime under operation. The requirement of measuring vibration and static characteristics of steam turbine blades, therefore, calls for the development and operational verification of both new types of sensors and measuring principles and methods. The task is really demanding: to measure displacements of blade tips with a resolution of the order of 10 μm by speeds up to 750 m/s, humidity 100% and temperatures up to 200 °C. While in gas turbines are used primarily capacitive and optical transducers, these transducers cannot be used in steam turbines. The reason is moisture vapor, droplets of condensing water and dirt, which disable the function of sensors. Therefore, the most feasible approach was to focus on research of electromagnetic sensors featuring promising characteristics for given blade materials in a steam environment. Following types of sensors have been developed and both experimentally and theoretically studied in the Institute of Thermodynamics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic: eddy-current, Hall effect, inductive and magnetoresistive. Eddy-current transducers demand a small distance of 1 to 2 mm and change properties in the harsh environment of steam turbines. Hall effect sensors have relatively low sensitivity, high values of offset, drift, and especially noise. Induction sensors do not require any supply current and have a simple construction. The magnitude of the sensors output voltage is dependent on the velocity of the measured body and concurrently on the varying magnetic induction, and they cannot be used statically. Magnetoresistive sensors are formed by magnetoresistors arranged into a Wheatstone bridge. Supplying the sensor from a current source provides better linearity. The MR sensors can be used permanently for temperatures up to 200 °C at lower values of the supply current of about 1 mA. The frequency range of 0 to 300 kHz is by an order higher comparing to the Hall effect and induction sensors. The frequency band starts at zero frequency, which is very important because the sensors can be calibrated statically. The MR sensors feature high sensitivity and low noise. The symmetry of the bridge arrangement leads to a high common mode rejection ratio and suppressing disturbances, which is important, especially in industrial applications. The MR sensors feature high sensitivity, high common mode rejection ratio, and low noise, which is important, especially in industrial applications. Magnetoresistive transducers provide a range of excellent properties indicating their priority for displacement measurements of rotating blades in turbomachines.

Keywords: turbines, blade vibration, blade tip timing, non-contact sensors, magnetoresistive sensors

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: G. Andreutti, G. Saccone, D. Lucariello, C. Pirozzi, S. Franchitti, R. Borrelli, C. Toscano, P. Caso, G. Ferraro, C. Pascarella

Abstract:

The reduction of greenhouse gases and pollution emissions is a worldwide environmental issue. The amount of CO₂ released by an aircraft is associated with the amount of fuel burned, so the improvement of engine thermo-mechanical efficiency and specific fuel consumption is a significant technological driver for aviation. Moreover, with the prospect that avgas will be phased out, an engine able to use more available and cheaper fuels is an evident advantage. An advanced aeronautical Diesel engine, because of its high efficiency and ability to use widely available and low-cost jet and diesel fuels, is a promising solution to achieve a more fuel-efficient aircraft. On the other hand, a Diesel engine has generally a higher overall weight, if compared with a gasoline one of same power performances. Fixing the MTOW, Max Take-Off Weight, and the operational payload, this extra-weight reduces the aircraft fuel fraction, partially vinifying the associated benefits. Therefore, an effort in weight saving manufacturing technologies is likely desirable. In this work, in order to achieve the mentioned goals, innovative Electron Beam Melting – EBM, Additive Manufacturing – AM technologies were applied to a two-stroke, common rail, GF56 Diesel engine, developed by the CMD Company for aeronautic applications. For this purpose, a consortium of academic, research and industrial partners, including CMD Company, Italian Aerospace Research Centre – CIRA, University of Naples Federico II and the University of Salerno carried out a technological project, funded by the Italian Minister of Education and Research – MIUR. The project aimed to optimize the baseline engine in order to improve its performance and increase its airworthiness features. This project was focused on the definition, design, development, and application of enabling technologies for performance improvement of GF56. Weight saving of this engine was pursued through the application of EBM-AM technologies and in particular using Arcam AB A2X machine, available at CIRA. The 3D printer processes titanium alloy micro-powders and it was employed to realize new connecting rods of the GF56 engine with an additive-oriented design approach. After a preliminary investigation of EBM process parameters and a thermo-mechanical characterization of titanium alloy samples, additive manufactured, innovative connecting rods were fabricated. These engine elements were structurally verified, topologically optimized, 3D printed and suitably post-processed. Finally, the overall performance improvement, on a typical General Aviation aircraft, was estimated, substituting the conventional engine with the optimized GF56 propulsion system.

Keywords: aeronautic propulsion, additive manufacturing, performance improvement, weight saving, piston engine

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Shiva Naidoo, Kristena Yossef, Grimm Jimm, Mirza Wasique, Eric Kemmerer, Joshua Obuch, Anand Mahadevan

Abstract:

Background: Fiducial markers effectively enhance tumor target visibility prior to Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy or Proton therapy. To streamline clinical practice, fiducial placement guidelines from a robotic radiosurgery vendor were examined with the goals of optimizing and standardizing feasible geometries for each treatment indication. Clinical examples of prostate, renal, and pancreatic cases are presented. Methods: Vendor guidelines (Accuray, Sunnyvale, Ca) suggest implantation of 4–6 fiducials at least 20 mm apart, with at least a 15-degree angular difference between fiducials, within 50 mm or less from the target centroid, to ensure that any potential fiducial motion (e.g., from respiration or abdominal/pelvic pressures) will mimic target motion. Also recommended is that all fiducials can be seen in 45-degree oblique views with no overlap to coincide with the robotic radiosurgery imaging planes. For the prostate, a standardized geometry that meets all these objectives is a 2 cm-by-2 cm square in the coronal plane. The transperineal implant of two pairs of preloaded tandem fiducials makes the 2 cm-by-2 cm square geometry clinically feasible. This technique may be applied for renal cancer, except repositioned in a sagittal plane, with the retroperitoneal placement of the fiducials into the tumor. Pancreatic fiducial placement via endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is technically more challenging, as fiducial placement is operator-dependent, and lesion access may be limited by adjacent vasculature, tumor location, or restricted mobility of the EUS probe in the duodenum. Fluoroscopically assisted fiducial placement during EUS can help ensure fiducial markers are deployed with optimal geometry and visualization. Results: Among the first 22 fiducial cases on a newly installed robotic radiosurgery system, live x-ray images for all nine prostatic cases had excellent fiducial visualization at the treatment console. Renal and pancreatic fiducials were not as clearly visible due to difficult target access and smaller caliber insertion needle/fiducial usage. The geometry of the first prostate case was used to ensure accurate geometric marker placement for the remaining 8 cases. Initially, some of the renal and pancreatic fiducials were closer than the 20 mm recommendation, and interactive feedback with the proceduralists led to subsequent fiducials being too far to the edge of the tumor. Further feedback and discussion of all cases are being used to help guide standardized geometries and achieve ideal fiducial placement. Conclusion: The ideal tradeoffs of fiducial visibility versus the thinnest possible gauge needle to avoid complications needs to be systematically optimized among all patients, particularly in regards to body habitus. Multidisciplinary collaboration among proceduralists and radiation oncologists can lead to improved outcomes.

Keywords: fiducial, prostate cancer, renal cancer, pancreatic cancer, radiotherapy

Procedia PDF Downloads 70

Authors: Loveline Ambo Angwah

Abstract:

The processing of cassava from tubers or roots into food using crude and rudimentary method (hand peeling, grating, frying and to sun drying) is a very cumbersome and difficult process. The crude methods are time consuming and labour intensive. While on the other hand, modern processing method, that is using machines to perform the various processes as washing, peeling, grinding, oven drying, fermentation and frying is easier, less time consuming, and less labour intensive. Rudimentarily, cassava roots are processed into numerous products and utilized in various ways according to local customs and preferences. For the people of Ngwo village, cassava is transformed locally into flour or powder form called ‘cumcum’. It is also sucked into water to give a kind of food call ‘water fufu’ and fried to give ‘garri’. The leaves are consumed as vegetables. Added to these, its relative high yields; ability to stay underground after maturity for long periods give cassava considerable advantage as a commodity that is being used by poor rural folks in the community, to fight poverty. It plays a major role in efforts to alleviate the food crisis because of its efficient production of food energy, year-round availability, tolerance to extreme stress conditions, and suitability to present farming and food systems in Africa. Improvement of cassava processing and utilization techniques would greatly increase labor efficiency, incomes, and living standards of cassava farmers and the rural poor, as well as enhance the-shelf life of products, facilitate their transportation, increase marketing opportunities, and help improve human and livestock nutrition. This paper presents a general overview of crude ways in cassava processing and utilization methods now used by subsistence and small-scale farmers in Ngwo village of the North West region in Cameroon, and examine the opportunities of improving processing technologies. Cassava needs processing because the roots cannot be stored for long because they rot within 3-4 days of harvest. They are bulky with about 70% moisture content, and therefore transportation of the tubers to markets is difficult and expensive. The roots and leaves contain varying amounts of cyanide which is toxic to humans and animals, while the raw cassava roots and uncooked leaves are not palatable. Therefore, cassava must be processed into various forms in order to increase the shelf life of the products, facilitate transportation and marketing, reduce cyanide content and improve palatability.

Keywords: cassava roots, crude ways, food system, poverty

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Yuliya E. Leshchenko, Tatyana S. Ostapenko

Abstract:

Language variation is a widespread linguistic phenomenon which can affect different levels of a language system: phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic, etc. It is obvious that the scope of possible standard alternations within a particular language is limited by a variety of its norms and regulations which set more or less clear boundaries for what is possible and what is not possible for the speakers. The possibility of lexical variation (alternate usage of lexical items within the same contexts) is based on the fact that the meanings of words are not clearly and rigidly defined in the consciousness of the speakers. Therefore, lexical variation is usually connected with unstable relationship between words and their referents: a case when a particular lexical item refers to different types of referents, or when a particular referent can be named by various lexical items. We assume that the scope of lexical variation in bilingual speech is generally wider than that observed in monolingual speech due to the fact that, besides ‘lexical item – referent’ relations it involves the possibility of cross-language variation of L1 and L2 lexical items. We use the term ‘cross-language variation’ to denote a case when two equivalent words of different languages are treated by a bilingual speaker as freely interchangeable within the common linguistic context. As distinct from code-switching which is traditionally defined as the conscious use of more than one language within one communicative act, in case of cross-language lexical variation the speaker does not perceive the alternate lexical items as belonging to different languages and, therefore, does not realize the change of language code. In the paper, the authors present research of lexical variation of adult Komi-Permyak – Russian bilingual speakers. The two languages co-exist on the territory of the Komi-Permyak District in Russia (Komi-Permyak as the ethnic language and Russian as the official state language), are usually acquired from birth in natural linguistic environment and, according to the data of sociolinguistic surveys, are both identified by the speakers as coordinate mother tongues. The experimental research demonstrated that alternation of Komi-Permyak and Russian words within one utterance/phrase is highly frequent both in speech perception and production. Moreover, our participants estimated cross-language word combinations like ‘маленькая /Russian/ нывка /Komi-Permyak/’ (‘a little girl’) or ‘мунны /Komi-Permyak/ домой /Russian/’ (‘go home’) as regular/habitual, containing no violation of any linguistic rules and being equally possible in speech as the equivalent intra-language word combinations (‘учöтик нывка’ /Komi-Permyak/ or ‘идти домой’ /Russian/). All the facts considered, we claim that constant concurrent use of the two languages results in the fact that a large number of their words tend to be intuitively interpreted by the speakers as lexical variants not only related to the same referent, but also referring to both languages or, more precisely, to none of them in particular. Consequently, we can suppose that bilingual mental lexicon includes an extensive ‘fused’ zone of lexical representations that provide the basis for cross-language variation in bilingual speech.

Keywords: bilingualism, bilingual mental lexicon, code-switching, lexical variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: J. D. Temperman

Abstract:

Introduction: In particular, in relation to religion, the meaning and scope of freedom of expression have been tested in recent times. This paper investigates the legal justifications for restrictions that have been suggested in this area and asks whether they are sustainable from an international human rights perspective. The universal human rights instruments, particularly the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), are increasingly geared towards eradicating ‘incitement’ to contingent harms like violence or discrimination, whilst forms of extreme speech that fall short of such incitement are to be protected rather than countered by states. Human Rights Committee’s draft-General Comment on freedom of expression, adopted in 2011, provides another strong indication that this is the envisaged way forward: repealing anti-blasphemy and anti-religious defamation laws, whilst simultaneously increasing efforts to combat ‘incitement’. Within regional human rights frameworks, notably the European Convention system, judgments have in fact supported legal restrictions on both hate speech, holocaust denial, and blasphemy or religious defamation. Major contributions to scholarship: This paper proposes an actus reus for the offense of ‘advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination or violence’, as enshrined in Article 20(2) of the UN ICCPR. In underscoring the high threshold of ‘incitement’, the author distinguishes this offense from such notions as ‘blasphemy’ or ‘defamation of religions’. In addition to treating the said provision as a sui generis prohibition, the question is addresses whether a ‘right to be protected against incitement’ may be distilled from the ICCPR. Furthermore, the author will discuss the question of how to judge incitement; notably, is mens rea required to convict someone of incitement, and if so, what degree of mens rea? This analysis also includes the question how to balance content and context factors when addressing alleged instances of incitement, notably what factors make provide for a likelihood that imminent acts of violence or discrimination will ensue from an inciteful speech act? Methodology: This paper takes a double comparative approach: (i) it endeavours to compare and contrast monitoring bodies’ approach to incitement (notably, the UN Human Rights Committee, but also the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which monitors states’ compliance with Article 4 of ICERD on incitement); and (ii) it endeavours to chart and compare and analyse from an international human rights perspective recent forms of state practice in the field of dealing with incitement (i.e. a comparative legal analysis and vertical human rights analysis of newly emerging incitement legislation in the light of the said international standards). Conclusion: This paper conceptualizes a legal notion – ‘incitement’ – encapsulated in international human rights law that may have a profound bearing on contemporary challenges of radicalization and religious strife.

Keywords: incitement, international human rights law, religious hatred, violence

Procedia PDF Downloads 290

Authors: Rohini Sharma, Chandan Kumar Sahoo, Rama Krishna Gupta Potnuru

Abstract:

Strong competitive forces and requirements to achieve efficiency are forcing the organizations to realize the necessity and inevitability of change. What's more, the trend does not appear to be abating. Researchers have estimated that about two thirds of change project fails. Empirical evidences further shows that organizations invest significantly in the planned change but people side is accounted for in a token or instrumental way, which is identified as one of the important reason, why change endeavours fail. However, whatever be the reason for change, organizational change readiness must be gauged prior to the institutionalization of organizational change. Hence, in this study the influence of employee voice and employee involvement on organizational change readiness via commitment-to-change is examined, as it is an area yet to be extensively studied. Also, though a recent study has investigated the interrelationship between leadership, organizational change readiness and commitment to change, our study further examined these constructs in relation with employee voice and employee involvement that plays a consequential role for organizational change readiness. Further, integrated conceptual model weaving varied concepts relating to organizational readiness with focus on commitment to change as mediator was found to be an area, which required more theorizing and empirical validation, and this study rooted in an Indian public sector organization is a step in this direction. Data for the study were collected through a survey among employees of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), a unit of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL); the first integrated Steel Plant in the public sector in India, for which stratified random sampling method was adopted. The schedule was distributed to around 700 employees, out of which 516 complete responses were obtained. The pre-validated scales were used for the study. All the variables in the study were measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree (1)” to “strongly agree (5)”. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 22 was used to examine the hypothesized model, which offers a simultaneous test of an entire system of variables in a model. The study results shows that inter-relationship between employee voice and commitment-to-change, employee involvement and commitment-to-change and commitment-to-change and organizational change readiness were significant. To test the mediation hypotheses, Baron and Kenny’s technique was used. Examination of direct and mediated effect of mediators confirmed that commitment-to-change partially mediated the relation between employee involvement and organizational change readiness. Furthermore, study results also affirmed that commitment-to-change does not mediate the relation between employee involvement and organizational change readiness. The empirical exploration therefore establishes that it is important to harness employee’s valuable suggestions regarding change for building organizational change readiness. Regarding employee involvement, it was found that sharing information and involving people in decision-making, leads to a creation of participative climate, which educes employee commitment during change and commitment-to-change further, fosters organizational change readiness.

Keywords: commitment-to-change, change management, employee voice, employee involvement, organizational change readiness

Procedia PDF Downloads 305

Authors: Lei Zhou, Dan Li, Ruiqi Ren, Chao Li, Yali Wang, Daxin Ni, Zijian Feng, Timothy M. Uyeki, Qun Li

Abstract:

Since the first human infections with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus were identified in early 2013, 1533 cases of laboratory-confirmed A(H7N9) virus infections were reported and confirmed as of September 13, 2017. The fifth epidemic was defined as starting from September 1, 2016, and the number of A(H7N9) cases has surged since the end of December in 2016. On February 18, 2017, the A(H7N9) cases who were infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus was reported from Southern China. The HPAI A(H7N9) cases were identified and then an investigation and analyses were conducted to assess whether disease severity in humans has changed with HPAI A(H7N9) compared with low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) A(H7N9) virus infection. Methods: All confirmed cases with A(H7N9) virus infections reported throughout mainland China from September 1, 2016, to September 13, 2017, were included. Cases' information was extracted from field investigation reports and the notifiable infectious surveillance system to describe the demographic, clinical, and epidemiologic characteristics. Descriptive statistics were used to compare HPAI A(H7N9) cases with all LPAI A(H7N9) cases reported during the fifth epidemic. Results: A total of 27 cases of HPAI A(H7N9) virus were identified infection from five provinces, including Guangxi (44%), Guangdong (33%), Hunan (15%), Hebei (4%) and Shangxi (4%). The median age of cases of HPAI A(H7N9) virus infection was 60 years (range, 15 to 80) and most of them were male (59%) and lived in rural areas (78%). All 27 cases had live poultry related exposures within 10 days before their illness onset. In comparison with LPAI A(H7N9) case-patients, HPAI A(H7N9) case-patients were significantly more likely to live in rural areas (78% vs. 51%; p = 0.006), have exposure to the sick or dead poultry (56% vs. 19%; p = 0.000), and be hospitalized earlier (median 3 vs. 4 days; p = 0.007). No significant differences were observed in median age, sex, prevalence of underlying chronic medical conditions, median time from illness onset to first medical service seeking, starting antiviral treatment, and diagnosis. Although the median time from illness onset to death (9 vs. 13 days) was shorter and the overall case-fatality proportion (48% vs. 38%) was higher for HPAI A(H7N9) case-patients than for LPAI A(H7N9) case-patients, these differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that HPAI A(H7N9) virus infection was associated with exposure to sick and dead poultry in rural areas when visited live poultry market or in the backyard. In the fifth epidemic in mainland China, HPAI A (H7N9) case-patients were hospitalized earlier than LPAI A(H7N9) case-patients. Although the difference was not statistically significant, the mortality of HPAI A (H7N9) case-patients was obviously higher than that of LPAI A(H7N9) case-patients, indicating a potential severity change of HPAI A(H7N9) virus infection.

Keywords: Avian influenza A (H7N9) virus, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), case-patients, poultry

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Hasan Atakan Sengul, Nergis Canturk, Bahar Erbas

Abstract:

Drinking water is indispensable for life. With increasing awareness of communities, the content of drinking water and tap water has been a matter of curiosity. The presence of Bisphenol-A is the top one when content curiosity is concerned. The most used chemical worldwide for production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins is Bisphenol-A. People are exposed to Bisphenol-A chemical, which disrupts the endocrine system, almost every day. Each year it is manufactured an average of 5.4 billion kilograms of Bisphenol-A. Linear formula of Bisphenol-A is (CH₃)₂C(C₆H₄OH)₂, its molecular weight is 228.29 and CAS number is 80-05-7. Bisphenol-A is known to be used in the manufacturing of plastics, along with various chemicals. Bisphenol-A, an industrial chemical, is used in the raw materials of packaging mate-rials in the monomers of polycarbonate and epoxy resins. The pass through the nutrients of Bisphenol-A substance happens by packaging. This substance contaminates with nutrition and penetrates into body by consuming. International researches show that BPA is transported through body fluids, leading to hormonal disorders in animals. Experimental studies on animals report that BPA exposure also affects the gender of the newborn and its time to reach adolescence. The extent to what similar endocrine disrupting effects are on humans is a debate topic in many researches. In our country, detailed studies on BPA have not been done. However, it is observed that 'BPA-free' phrases are beginning to appear on plastic packaging such as baby products and water carboys. Accordingly, this situation increases the interest of the society about the subject; yet it causes information pollution. In our country, all national and international studies on exposure to BPA have been examined and Ankara province has been designated as testing region. To assess the effects of plastic use in daily habits of people and the plastic amounts removed out of the body, the results of the survey conducted with volunteers who live in Ankara has been analyzed with Sciex appliance by means of LC-MS/MS in the laboratory and the amount of exposure and BPA removal have been detected by comparing the results elicited before. The results have been compared with similar studies done in international arena and the relation between them has been exhibited. Consequently, there has been found no linear correlation between the amount of BPA in drinking water and the amount of BPA in urine. This has also revealed that environmental exposure and the habits of daily plastic use have also direct effects a human body. When the amount of BPA in drinking water is considered; minimum 0.028 µg/L, maximum 1.136 µg/L, mean 0.29194 µg/L and SD(standard deviation)= 0.199 have been detected. When the amount of BPA in urine is considered; minimum 0.028 µg/L, maximum 0.48 µg/L, mean 0.19181 µg/L and SD= 0.099 have been detected. In conclusion, there has been found no linear correlation between the amount of BPA in drinking water and the amount of BPA in urine (r= -0.151). The p value of the comparison between drinking water’s and urine’s BPA amounts is 0.004 which shows that there is a significant change and the amounts of BPA in urine is dependent on the amounts in drinking waters (p < 0.05). This has revealed that environmental exposure and daily plastic habits have also direct effects on the human body.

Keywords: analyze of bisphenol-A, BPA, BPA in drinking water, BPA in urine

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Ireen Manase Kabembo, Patrick Chanda

Abstract:

Background: Substance use disorders are among the chronic conditions that affect all age groups. Worldwide, there is an increase in young people affected by SUDs, which implies that more family members are transitioning into the caregiver role. Family caregivers play a buffering role in the formal healthcare system due to their involvement in caring for persons with acute and chronic conditions in the home setting. Family carers of youth with problematic alcohol and marijuana use experience myriad challenges in managing daily care for this medically vulnerable group. In addition, the poor health-seeking behaviours of youth with SUDs characterized by eluding treatment and runaway tendencies coupled with the effects of the pandemic made caregiving a daunting task for most family caregivers. Issues such as limited and unavailable psychotropic medications, social stigma and discrimination, financial hurdles, systemic barriers in adolescent and young adult mental healthcare services, and the lack of a perceived vulnerability to Covid-19 by youth with SUDs are experiences of family caretakers. Methods: A qualitative study with 30 family caregivers of youth aged 16-24 explored their lived experiences and subjective meanings using two in-depth semi-structured interviews, a caregiving timeline, and participant observation. Findings: Results indicate that most family caregivers had challenges managing care for treatment elusive youth, let alone having them adhere to Covid-19 regulations. However, youth who utilized healthcare services and adhered to treatment regimens had positive outcomes and sustained recovery. The effects of the pandemic, such as job losses and the closure of businesses, further exacerbated the financial challenges experienced by family caregivers, making it difficult to purchase needed medications and daily necessities for the youth. The unabated stigma and discrimination of families of substance-dependent youth in Zambian communities further isolated family caregivers, leaving them with limited support. Conclusion: Since young people with SUDs have a compromised mental capacity due to the cognitive impairments that come with continued substance abuse, they often have difficulties making sound judgements, including the need to utilize SUD recovery services. Also, their tendency to not adhere to the Covid-19 pandemic requirements places them at a higher risk for adverse health outcomes in the (post) pandemic era. This calls for urgent implementation of robust youth mental health services that address prevention and recovery for these emerging adults grappling with substance use disorders. Support for their family caregivers, often overlooked, cannot be overemphasized.

Keywords: chronic care management, Covid-19 pandemic, family caregivers, youth with substance use disorders

Procedia PDF Downloads 84

Authors: Ahmed Mohammed Omer Alghamdi

Abstract:

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, a rapid, unexpected transition from face-to-face to virtual classroom (VC) teaching has involved several challenges and obstacles. However, there are also opportunities and thoughts that need to be examined and discussed. In addition, the entire world is witnessing that the teaching system and, more particularly, higher education institutes have been interrupted. To maintain the learning and teaching practices as usual, countries were forced to transition from traditional to virtual classes using various technology-based devices. In this regard, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is no exception. Focusing on how the current situation has forced many higher education institutes to change to virtual classes may possibly provide a clear insight into adopted practices and implications. The main purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate how both Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and students perceived the implementation of virtual classes as a key factor for useful language teaching and learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic period at a Saudi university. The impetus for the research was, therefore, the need to find ways of identifying the deficiencies in this application and to suggest possible solutions that might rectify those deficiencies. This study seeks to answer the following overarching research question: “How do Saudi EFL instructors and students perceive the use of virtual classes during the COVID-19 pandemic period in their language teaching and learning context?” The following sub-questions are also used to guide the design of the study to answer the main research question: (1) To what extent are virtual classes important intra-pandemic from Saudi EFL instructors’ and students’ perspectives? (2) How effective are virtual classes for fostering English language students’ achievement? (3) What are the challenges and obstacles that instructors and students may face during the implementation of virtual teaching? A mixed method approach was employed in this study; the questionnaire data collection represented the quantitative method approach for this study, whereas the transcripts of recorded interviews represented the qualitative method approach. The participants included EFL teachers (N = 4) and male and female EFL students (N = 36). Based on the findings of this study, various aspects from teachers' and students’ perspectives were examined to determine the use of the virtual classroom applications in terms of fulfilling the students’ English language learning needs. The major findings of the study revealed that the virtual classroom applications during the current pandemic situation encountered three major challenges, among which the existence of the following essential aspects, namely lack of technology and an internet connection, having a large number of students in a virtual classroom and lack of students’ and teachers’ interactions during the virtual classroom applications. Finally, the findings indicated that although Saudi EFL students and teachers view the virtual classrooms in a positive light during the pandemic period, they reported that for long and post-pandemic period, they preferred the traditional face-to-face teaching procedure.

Keywords: virtual classes, English as a foreign language, COVID-19, Internet, pandemic

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Amor Jnifene, Cedric Cocaud

Abstract:

One of the most constraining problems facing the development of autonomous vehicles is the limitations of current technologies. Guidance and navigation controllers need to be faster and more robust. Communication data links need to be more reliable and secure. For an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to be useful, and fully autonomous, one important feature that needs to be an integral part of the navigation system is autonomous trajectory planning. The work discussed in this paper presents a method for on-line trajectory planning for UAV’s. This method takes into account various constraints of different types including specific vectors of approach close to target points, multiple objectives, and other constraints related to speed, altitude, and obstacle avoidance. The trajectory produced by the proposed method ensures a smooth transition between different segments, satisfies the minimum curvature imposed by the dynamics of the UAV, and finds the optimum velocity based on available atmospheric conditions. Given a set of objective points and waypoints a skeleton of the trajectory is constructed first by linking all waypoints with straight segments based on the order in which they are encountered in the path. Secondly, vectors of approach (VoA) are assigned to objective waypoints and their preceding transitional waypoint if any. Thirdly, the straight segments are replaced by 3D curvilinear trajectories taking into account the aircraft dynamics. In summary, this work presents a method for on-line 3D trajectory generation (TG) of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The method takes as inputs a series of waypoints and an optional vector of approach for each of the waypoints. Using a dynamic model based on the performance equations of fixed wing aircrafts, the TG computes a set of 3D parametric curves establishing a course between every pair of waypoints, and assembling these sets of curves to construct a complete trajectory. The algorithm ensures geometric continuity at each connection point between two sets of curves. The geometry of the trajectory is optimized according to the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft such that the result translates into a series of dynamically feasible maneuvers. In summary, this work presents a method for on-line 3D trajectory generation (TG) of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The method takes as inputs a series of waypoints and an optional vector of approach for each of the waypoints. Using a dynamic model based on the performance equations of fixed wing aircraft, the TG computes a set of 3D parametric curves establishing a course between every pair of waypoints, and assembling these sets of curves to construct a complete trajectory. The algorithm ensures geometric continuity at each connection point between two sets of curves. The geometry of the trajectory is optimized according to the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft such that the result translates into a series of dynamically feasible maneuvers.

Keywords: trajectory planning, unmanned autonomous air vehicle, vector of approach, waypoints

Procedia PDF Downloads 383

Authors: Atara Shriki, Ilana Lavy

Abstract:

In a rapidly changing technological society, creativity is considered as an engine of economic and social progress. No doubt the education system has a central role in nurturing all students’ creativity, however, it is normally not encouraged at school. The causes of this reality are related to a variety of circumstances, among them: external pressures to cover the curriculum and succeed in standardized tests that mostly require algorithmic thinking and implementation of rules; teachers’ tendency to teach similarly to the way they themselves were taught as school students; relating creativity to giftedness, and therefore avoid nurturing all students' creativity; lack of adequate learning materials and accessible tools for following and evaluating the development of students’ creativity; and more. Since success in academic studies requires, among other things, creativity, lecturers in higher education institutions should consider appropriate ways to nurture students’ creative thinking and assess its development. Obviously, creativity has a multifaceted nature, numerous definitions, various perspectives for studying its essence (e.g., process, personality, environment, and product), and several approaches aimed at evaluating and assessing creative expressions (e.g., cognitive, social-personal, and psychometric). In this framework, we suggest nurturing students’ creativity through engaging them in problem posing activities that are part of inquiry assignments. In order to assess the development of their creativity, we propose to employ a model that was designed for this purpose, based on the psychometric approach, viewing the posed problems as the “creative product”. The model considers four measurable aspects- fluency, flexibility, originality, and organization, as well as a total score of creativity that reflects the relative weights of each aspect. The scores given to learners are of two types: (1) Total scores- the absolute number of posed problems with respect to each of the four aspects, and a final score of creativity; (2) Relative scores- each absolute number is transformed into a number that relates to the relative infrequency of the posed problems in student’s reference group. Through converting the scores received over time into a graphical display, students can assess their progress both with respect to themselves and relative to their reference group. Course lecturers can get a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of each student as well as the class as a whole, and to track changes that occur over time in response to the learning environment they had generated. Such tracking may assist lecturers in making pedagogical decisions about emphases that should be put on one or more aspects of creativity, and about the students that should be given a special attention. Our experience indicates that schoolteachers and lecturers in higher education institutes find the combination of engaging learners in problem posing along with self-assessment of their progress through utilizing the graphical display of accumulating total and relative scores has the potential to realize most learners’ creative potential.

Keywords: creativity, problem posing, psychometric model, self-assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 283

Authors: A. F. Jaber, E. Dean, M. Liu, J. He, D. Sabata, J. Radel

Abstract:

Background: Stroke is a serious health care concern and a major cause of disability in the United States. This condition impacts the individual’s functional ability to perform daily activities. Predicting functional performance of people with stroke assists health care professionals in optimizing the delivery of health services to the affected individuals. The purpose of this study was to identify significant predictors of Motor FIM and of Cognitive FIM subscores among individuals with stroke after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation (typically 4-6 weeks after stroke onset). A second purpose is to explore the relation among personal characteristics, health status, and functional performance of daily activities within 2 weeks of stroke onset. Methods: This study used a retrospective chart review to conduct a secondary analysis of data obtained from the Healthcare Enterprise Repository for Ontological Narration (HERON) database. The HERON database integrates de-identified clinical data from seven different regional sources including hospital electronic medical record systems of the University of Kansas Health System. The initial HERON data extract encompassed 1192 records and the final sample consisted of 207 participants who were mostly white (74%) males (55%) with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke (77%). The outcome measures collected from HERON included performance scores on the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). The data analysis plan included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and Stepwise regression analysis. Results: significant predictors of discharge Motor FIM subscores included age, baseline Motor FIM subscores, discharge NIHSS scores, and comorbid electrolyte disorder (R2 = 0.57, p <0.026). Significant predictors of discharge Cognitive FIM subscores were age, baseline cognitive FIM subscores, client cooperative behavior, comorbid obesity, and the total number of comorbidities (R2 = 0.67, p <0.020). Functional performance on admission was significantly associated with age (p < 0.01), stroke severity (p < 0.01), and length of hospital stay (p < 0.05). Conclusions: our findings show that younger age, good motor and cognitive abilities on admission, mild stroke severity, fewer comorbidities, and positive client attitude all predict favorable functional outcomes after inpatient stroke rehabilitation. This study provides health care professionals with evidence to evaluate predictors of favorable functional outcomes early at stroke rehabilitation, to tailor individualized interventions based on their client’s anticipated prognosis, and to educate clients about the benefits of making lifestyle changes to improve their anticipated rate of functional recovery.

Keywords: functional performance, predictors, stroke, recovery

Procedia PDF Downloads 123