Search results for: animals healthcare dealing with proper sanitation

Authors: Asim Abbasi, Amer Habib, Sajid Hussain, Muhammad Sufyan, Iqra, Hasnain Sajjad

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Except for few scattered cases, powdery mildew disease was not a big problem for watermelon in the past but with the outbreaks of its pathotypes, races 1W and 2W, this disease becomes a serious issue all around the globe. The severe outbreak of this disease also increased the rate of fungicide application for its proper management. Twelve varieties of watermelon were screened in Research Area of Department of Plant pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad to check the incidence of powdery mildew disease. Disease inoculum was prepared and applied with the help of foliar spray method. Fungicides and plants extracts were also applied after the disease incidence. Percentage leaf surface area diseased was assessed visually with a modified Horsfall-Barratt scale. The results of the experiment revealed that among all varieties, WT2257 and Zcugma F1 were highly resistant showing less than 5% disease incidence while Anar Kali and Sugar baby were highly susceptible with disease incidence of more than 65%. Among botanicals neem extract gave best results with disease incidence of less than 20%. Besides neem, all other botanicals also gave significant control of powdery mildew disease than the untreated check. In case of fungicides, Gemstar showed least disease incidence i.e. < 10%, however besides control maximum disease incidence was observed in Curzate (> 30%).

Keywords: botanicals, fungicides, pathotypes, powdery mildew

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Authors: Rotimi Larayetana, Yahaya Abdulrazaq, Oladunni O. Falola, Abayomi Ajayi

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The aim of this study was to perform green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera Lam (M oleifera) leaves and determine its effects on benign prostatic hyperplasia in Wistar rats. Silver nitrate (AgNO₃) solution was reduced using the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera Lam leaves, the resultant biogenic AgNPs were characterized by Fourier transformed infrared spectrophotometric, SEM, TEM and X-ray diffraction analysis. Animal experiments involved thirty (30) adult male Wistar rats randomly divided into five groups (A to E; n ₌ 5). Group A received only subcutaneous injection of olive oil daily while the other groups got 3 mg/kg/daily of testosterone propionate (TP) subcutaneously plus 50 mg/kg/daily of AgNPs intraperitoneally (B), 3 mg/kg/daily of TP plus 25 mg/kg/daily of AgNPs (C), 3 mg/kg/daily of TP only (D) and 25 mg/kg/daily of AgNPs only (E). The animals were sacrificed after 14 days, and the prostate gland, liver, and kidney were processed for histological analysis. Phytochemical screening and GC-MS analysis were performed to determine the composition of the M oleifera extract used. Biogenic AgNPs with an average diameter of 23 nm were synthesized. Biogenic AgNPs ameliorated hormone-induced prostate enlargement, and the inhibition of prostatic hypertrophy could be due to the presence of a significant amount of plant fatty acids and phytosterols in the aqueous extract of M oleifera extract. However, the administration of biogenic AgNPs at higher doses impacted negatively on the cytoarchitecture of the liver. Green synthesis of AgNPs with the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera might be beneficial for the treatment of BPH.

Keywords: benign prostatic hyperplasia, biogenic synthesis, Moringa oleifera, silver nanoparticles, testosterone

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Authors: Vaibhav Singh Parihar

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Incidents of serious offenses being committed by children are increasing day by day thereby becoming a matter of great concern. The involvement of a 17-year-old boy in the incident that took place on 16th December 2012 (most commonly known as ‘Nirbhaya Case’)wherein a 23-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped and thrown out of the moving bus, took the entire nation by shock. Previously, the legislation dealing with juvenile delinquency in India considered a child to be juvenile if he/she was below the age of 18 years. As a consequence, the accused who was just six months short of attaining the age of 18 years was convicted for only three years. The primary objective of the study is to understand the gravity as to why the need for distinguishing a child and juvenile arose in this time and to what extent legislations are successful in this regard. It initially explains the history and evolution of juvenile legislation in India and the provisions contained in the Indian Constitution. It then goes on to explain the causes of juvenile delinquency in India. Further, the study focuses on the latest trends that have developed in juvenile delinquency, explaining how the Nirbhaya Case led to the amendments made to the Juvenile Justice Act, 2010. Also, it focuses on the Child Rights and Child Protection and the stand taken by the National Human Rights Commission and the international community. An attempt has been made to settle the debate as to whether the juvenile justice system in India is reformative or punitive. The need for amendment in the Juvenile Justice Act is also highlighted. The outcome of the study suggests that the legislation relating to juvenile delinquency have not been able to achieve the desired results. The age determination method in our system has been given paramount importance. The maximum punishment prescribed, even for heinous crimes, is only three years. Also, the reformative style of punishment is not adequate and more emphasis should be laid on penalization. Finally, the author concludes that the legislation has failed at creating a deterrent effect. It is suggested to strengthen the role of government authorities and to sensitize people in this regard to increase community participation. A non-doctrinal and analytical approach has been adopted and secondary sources of data have been relied upon by the author for conducting the research for the study.

Keywords: child, delinquency, juvenile, Nirbhaya case

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Authors: Ode Kenneth Ogbu

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This study was designed as a survey to investigate the incidence of use and abuse of drug as a social problem among the Nigeria youths in the secondary schools in urban centres of Benue state. 500 SS 3 and fresh secondary school graduates in remedial science class of Benue State University Makurdi with mean age of 16.8 were randomly sampled for the study. An instrument called drug use and abuse perception questionnaire (DAPQ) with a reliability coefficient of 74 were administered to the students. Only 337 copies of the questionnaire were properly completed and returned which reduced the sample size of 337. The data were subjected to factor analysis. X2 statistic and frequency distribution using split half method. The result of the analysis showed that: the DAPQ yield seven baseline factors responsible for drug use and abuse; there was appreciable evidence that the study subjects used drugs (42.1%); alcohol topped the list of the drugs consumed; most students use their pocket money to buy drugs; drugs were purchased from unconventional, hidden places and 13 out of the 20 items of DAPQ were perceived as significant factors in drug use and abuse. The paper recommends proper intervention of government, parents and NGO’S among students to reduce cases of drug abuse.

Keywords: drug abuse, psychology, psychiatry, students

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Authors: Maarja Karbus, Elsbet Lippmaa, Kadri Kööp, Mare Tupits

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Aim: The aim is to describe the experiences and needs of mothers of children with cancer in coping with the child's illness. Background: Cancer affects different life areas. Especially if it is a child, in this case the whole family is involved. Loved ones are mentally affected, there are limitations, and life changes need to be made to make the whole treatment regimen and recovery as comfortable as possible. Also, the whole process is expensive and time consuming. The research is part of a larger project that covers the experiences and needs of parents of children with chronic illness and coping strategies related to the child's illness. Design: Qualitative, empirical, descriptive research. Method: Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and inductive content analysis was used to analyze the data. The interviews were conducted in the autumn of 2020, 5 respondents participated in the research. Results and Conclusions: The research revealed that the mothers' experiences of coping with a child's disease included health-related experiences, material aspects, changes in lifestyle, support systems and contact with professionals. Regarding the organizational and material aspects of life, the subjects presented experiences with economic problems, adaptation of changes in lifestyle, access to information and changes in the treatment process. With regard to health, the respondents identified experiences with the mother's physical and mental health and experiences with the health of an ill child. The experience of different support systems was related to the support of family, friends, acquaintances, various organizations and specialists. Experiences with specialist support included experiences with family relationships and positive and negatiive experiences with staff. The mothers' needs in dealing with the child's disease included the mother's emotional needs, the support of other family members, and the need for various support systems and services. The needs of coping with the child were the need for understanding, support, confidence, the need to be strong and courageous, the need to ignore one's own needs, and the need for personal time and rest. The needs of other family members included the needs of an ill child and the need to pay attention to other children in the family. The needs of different supporters and services were related to different helpers and different services.

Keywords: cancer, mother, coping, child, need, experience, illness

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Authors: Ankan Saha, Sourav Majumder, Md. Motaleb Hossen Manik, M. M. A. Hashem

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Hyperledger Fabric (HF), one of the private blockchain architectures, has gained popularity for enterprise use cases, namely supply chain management, finance, healthcare, etc., while focusing on the demand of users and functionalities like privacy, scalability, throughput, and modular architecture. However, enhancing performance is a crucial focus in the everchanging field of blockchain technology, particularly for private blockchains like HF. This paper focuses on the inherent difficulties related to scalability, throughput, and efficiency in handling large transactions. Our framework establishes a solid network architecture with two organizations, each having two types of peers (i.e., endorsing and anchor peers) and three raft orderers. It brings innovation to the chaincode, addresses functionalities like registration and transaction management via CouchDB, and integrates transaction management and block retrieval. Additionally, it includes a distributed consensus mechanism to gain maximum performance in a large architecture. Eventually, the findings assert an apparent enhancement in scalability, transaction speed, and system responsiveness, highlighting the effectiveness of our framework in optimizing the HF architecture.

Keywords: hyperledger fabric, private blockchain, scalability, transaction throughput, latency, consensus mechanism

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Authors: Hazel Johanna J., Ntailang Mary Tariang

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The paper “Runaway Girl Children and the Reasons: Qualitative Study In Government Girls Home Bangalore” explores the different reasons why children choose this last resort of running away rather than seeking proper help from the authorities. A qualitative study using a purposive sampling method was used to identify the participants based on the objectives. Girl runaway children between the age group of 12-18 years admitted to the Government Girls Home, Bangalore, were chosen for this study. Data was collected through in-depth interviews using semi-structured questions. Thematic analysis has been done using QDA Miner Lite. The main objectives of this study were to identify the reasons behind running away in children, to explore their childhood experiences and future dreams after they leave the Child Care Institution. The findings of this study derived five major themes that have caused the children to run away from their homes. The themes are child maltreatment and dysfunctional families, coerced into adulthood, forced work, adolescent dalliance, and aspirations. As a result, all the themes that emerged here are related to the family in one way or another. In conclusion, it is revealed that interpersonal family conflicts lead to the violation of child rights in so many ways, which in this context leads the child to run away from the comfort of their home.

Keywords: runaway children, dysfunctional family, abuse, child marriage, education

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Authors: Ngoc-Hieu Vu

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A study was conducted to estimate the record keeping, genetic selection, educational experience, and farm management effect on monthly milk yield per farm, average milk yield per cow, monthly milk revenue per farm, and monthly milk revenue per cow of dairy farms in the Southern region of Vietnam. The dataset contained 5448 monthly record collected from January 2013 to May 2015. Results showed that longer experience increased (P < 0.001) monthly milk yields and revenues. Better educated farmers produced more monthly milk per farm and monthly milk per cow and revenues (P < 0.001) than lower educated farmers. Farm that kept records on individual animals had higher (P < 0.001) for monthly milk yields and revenues than farms that did not. Farms that used hired people produced the highest (p < 0.05) monthly milk yield per farm, milk yield per cow and revenues, followed by farms that used both hire and family members, and lowest values were for farms that used family members only. Farms that used crosses Holstein in herd were higher performance (p < 0.001) for all traits than farms that used purebred Holstein and other breeds. Farms that used genetic information and phenotypes when selecting sires were higher (p < 0.05) for all traits than farms that used only phenotypes and personal option. Farms that received help from Vet, organization staff, or government officials had higher monthly milk yield and revenues than those that decided by owner. These findings suggest that dairy farmers should be training in systematic, must be considered and continuous support to improve farm milk production and revenues, to increase the likelihood of adoption on a sustainable way.

Keywords: dairy farming, education, milk yield, Southern Vietnam

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Authors: Sojung Kim

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This paper explores how the Partition of Korea is absorbed into everyday life through North Korean migrant women’s rituals for traditional holidays in Korea. In national holidays called myungjul, Koreans traditionally visit their paternal ancestor’s hometowns to hold jesa, the rites for the ancestors, at the graves and home. Due to the physical gaps in the kinship networks, marked by the kin left behind in North Korea, North Korean migrants gather among themselves in the neighborhood in South Korea as if they make the myungjul ritual of the family gatherings. This impossibility of the proper practice of the rites insinuates the violence of the Partition refracted into the family relations between those in the South and those in the North. Yet, the myungjul gathering creates a kind of collective hometown, beside one’s genealogical hometown, where they can express lamentation and guilt over not being able to visit their parents and ancestors in their hometowns, which they are traditionally required to do. In this as-if ritual, myungjul is re-created for and by the women and for others in the community. Yet, the texture of this ritual is marked by discontent and dissatisfaction. Attending to fostering discontents that seep into the collective events, this paper aims to seek ways to study the violence that permeated in everyday life in partitioned Korea.

Keywords: as-if ritual, everyday life, kinship, migration

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Authors: Axel Mancebo, Ana M. Bada, Angel Casacó, Bárbara González, Avelina León, María E. Arteaga, Consuelo González, Belinda Sánchez, Adriana Carr, Nuris Ledón, Arianna Iglesias

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Despite the many preventive and therapeutic modalities aimed at curing cancer, it remains as a serious world health problem. Promising recent developments suggest that cancer immunotherapy may be the next great hope for cancer treatment. EGFRs are receptor tyrosine kinases and it is considered an important therapeutic target related with tumor progression, and several types of molecular therapies, including monoclonal antibodies, small molecules, and vaccines, have been developed to target the HER family of receptors. On the other hand, gangliosides are membrane glycosphingolipids that contain two variants of sialic acid, the N-acetylated (NeuAc) and the N-glycolylated (NeuGc) variant. The high expression of this antigen-specific molecule has been associated with malignant tumor progression and immunosuppressive mechanisms, so ganglioside could be considered as the target for cancer immunotherapy. We have been working for several years in the safety evaluation of cancer vaccines targeting these two systems, the EGF receptor and ganglioside. We presented in this work results of repeated dose toxicity studies performed in Sprague Dawley rats and Cynomolgus monkeys, including clinical observations, body weight and rectal temperature measuring, clinical pathology analysis, gross necropsy and histological examination in rodent studies, and immunological evaluation. Immunizations were capable of inducing mainly inflammatory effects at the injection site, with findings largely attributable to the adjuvants used and probably enhanced by the immunological properties of the antigens. In general, these vaccines were shown to be well tolerated, and these studies in relevant species allow treating cancer patients with tumors during long periods with relative weight safety margin.

Keywords: cancer vaccines, safety, toxicology, rats, non human primates

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Authors: Rinyu Shei Mercy

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Protected areas are the potential areas for the development of ecotourism because of their biodiversity, landscapes, waterfalls, lakes, caves, salt lick and cultural heritage of local or indigenous people. These potentials have not yet been valorized, so this study will enable to investigate the evaluation and possibilities of valorization of ecotourism potentials in the Mbam and Djerem National Park. Hence, this was done by employing a combination of field observations, examination, data collection and evaluation, using a SWOT analysis. The SWOT provides an analysis to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and strategic suggestions for ecological planning. The study helps to determine an ecotouristic inventory and mapping of ecotourism potentials of the park, evaluate the degree of valorization of these potentials and the possibilities of valorization. Finally, the study has proven that the park has much natural potentials such as rivers, salt licks, waterfall and rapids, lakes, caves and rocks, etc. Also, from the study, it was realized that as concerns the degree of valorization of these ecotourism potentials, 50% of the population visit the salt lick of Pkayere because it’s a biodiversity hotspot and rich in mineral salt attracting a lot of animals and the least is the lake Miyere with 1% due to the fact that it is sacred. Moreover, from the results, there are possibilities that these potentials can be valorized and put into use because of their attractive nature such as creating good roads and bridges, good infrastructural facilities, good communication network etc. So, the study recommends that, in this process, MINTOUR, WCS, tour operators must interact sufficiently in order to develop the potential interest to ecotourism, ecocultural tourism and scientific tourism.

Keywords: ecotourism, national park Mbam and Djerem, valorization of biodiversity, protected areas of Cameroon

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Authors: A. Latif Karimi, M. K. Shrimali

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Seismic design is a critical stage in the process of design and construction of a building. It includes strategies for designing earthquake-resistant buildings to ensure health, safety, and security of the building occupants and assets. Hence, it becomes very important to understand the behavior of structural members precisely, for construction of buildings that can yield a better response to seismic forces. This paper investigates the behavior of a typical structure when subjected to ground motion. The corresponding mode shapes and modal frequencies are studied to interpret the response of an actual structure using different fabricated models and 3D visual models. In this study, three different structural configurations are subjected to horizontal ground motion, and the effect of “stiffness eccentricity” and placement of infill walls are checked to determine how each parameter contributes in a building’s response to dynamic forces. The deformation data from lab experiments and the analysis on SAP2000 software are reviewed to obtain the results. This study revealed that seismic response in a building can be improved by introducing higher deformation capacity in the building. Also, proper design of infill walls and maintaining a symmetrical configuration in a building are the key factors in building stability during the earthquake.

Keywords: eccentricity, seismic response, mode shape, building configuration, building dynamics

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Authors: Camilo Perez Lee, Mark Lefsrud, Edris Madadian, Yves Roy

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Biomass availability is one of the most important aspects to consider when determining the proper location of potential bioenergy plants. Since this aspect has a direct impact on biomass transportation and storage, biomass availability greatly influences the operational cost. Biomass availability is more than the quantity available on a specific region; other elements such as biomass accessibility and potential play an important role. Accessibility establishes if the biomass could be extracted and conveyed easily considering factors such as biomass availability, infrastructure condition and other operational issues. On the other hand, biomass potential is defined as the capacity of a specific region to scale the usage of biomass as an energy source, move from another energy source or to switch the type of biomass to increase their biomass availability in the future. This paper defines methodologies and parameters in order to determine the biomass availability within the administrative regions of the province of Quebec; firstly by defining the forestry, agricultural, municipal solid waste and energy crop biomass availability per administrative region, next its infrastructure accessibility and lastly defining the region potential. Thus, these data are processed to create a biomass availability matrix allowing to define the overall biomass availability per region and to determine the most optional candidates for bioenergy plant location.

Keywords: biomass, availability, bioenergy, accessibility, biomass potential

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Authors: Nur Hidayah Kaz Abdul Aziz, Norhalida Hashim, Zurina Hassan

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Peripartum period is a time where women are vulnerable to depression, and stress may further increase the risk of its occurrence. Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) in the treatment of postpartum depression is a common practice. Comparison of antidepressant treatment, however, is rarely studied between gestated and nulliparous animals exposed to stress. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of parity and stress, as well as fluoxetine (an SSRI) treatment after stress exposure on the behavior of rats. Gestating and nulliparous Sprague Dawley rats were either subjected to chronic stressors or left undisturbed throughout the gestation period. After parturition, all stressors were stopped and some of the stressed rats were treated with fluoxetine (10mg/kg). Hence, the final groups formed were: 1. Non-stressed nulliparous rats, 2. Non-stressed dams, 3. Stressed nulliparous rats, 4. Stressed dams, 5. Fluoxetine-treated stressed nulliparous rats, and 6. Fluoxetine-treated stressed dams. Rats were tested in open field test (OFT), novel object recognition test (NOR) and forced swim test (FST) after weaning of pups. Gestational stress significantly reduced the locomotor activity of rats in OFT (p<0.05), while fluoxetine significantly increased the activity in nulliparous rats (p<0.001) but not the dams. While no differences were observed in NOR, stress and parity inhibited the rats from performing swimming behavior in FST. However, climbing and immobile behaviors in FST were found to have no significant differences, although there is a tendency of effect of treatment for immobility parameter (p=0.06) where fluoxetine-treated stressed dams were being the least immobile. In conclusion, the effects of parity and stress, as well as fluoxetine treatment, depended on the type of behavioral test performed.

Keywords: stress, parity, SSRI, behavioral tests

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Authors: L. L. Ivy-Yap, H. A. Bekhet

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As the Malaysian residential electricity consumption continued to increase rapidly, effective energy policies, which address factors affecting residential electricity consumption, is urgently needed. This study attempts to investigate the relationship between residential electricity consumption (EC), real disposable income (Y), price of electricity (Pe) and population (Po) in Malaysia for 1978-2011 periods. Unlike previous studies on Malaysia, the current study focuses on the residential sector, a sector that is important for the contemplation of energy policy. The Phillips-Perron (P-P) unit root test is employed to infer the stationary of each variable while the bound test is executed to determine the existence of co-integration relationship among the variables, modeled in an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) framework. The CUSUM and CUSUM of squares tests are applied to ensure the stability of the model. The results suggest the existence of long-run equilibrium relationship and bidirectional Granger causality between EC and the macroeconomic variables. The empirical findings will help policy makers of Malaysia in developing new monitoring standards of energy consumption. As it is the major contributing factor in economic growth and CO2 emission, there is a need for more proper planning in Malaysia to attain future targets in order to cut emissions.

Keywords: co-integration, elasticity, granger causality, Malaysia, residential electricity consumption

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Authors: Zijiao Chai, Wangming Li

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Under the background of increasing aging population, the situation of city endowment resources shortage gradually revealed. And many villages in the metropolitan area with the good natural ecological environment and leisure tourism base, have become one of the main destinations of urban old people for the off-site pension. This paper is based on a survey of more than ten villages which are characterized by leisure and endowment in Hangzhou metropolitan area, China. The satisfaction degree of the two main groups in the villages, dwellers, and aged visitors, is researched using the method of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. The statistics are obtained from 535 questionnaires and qualitative interview. According to the satisfaction scores, it could be determined whether the dwellers and aged visitors have reached the equilibrium state. The equilibrium state is the development target of the villages, and it`s defined by environmentally friendly, proper for employment and pension, facilities sharing and harmonious life for each other. Furthermore, this paper comes up with some planning countermeasures in order to avoid "imbalance between dwellers and aged visitors" and obtain sustainable development while maintaining the economic benefit.

Keywords: aged visitors, balance between dwellers and aged visitors, dwellers, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, Hangzhou metropolitan area, leisure and endowment characteristic villages

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Authors: Amin Nakhostin-Ansari, Samaneh Akbarour, Khosro Sadeghniiat Haghighi, Zahra Banafsheh Alemohammad, Farnaz Etesam, Arezu Najafi, Mahnaz Khalafehnilsaz

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Introduction: The outbreak of coronavirus disease has considerably burdened the healthcare system in Iran. This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of insomnia experienced by the general Iranian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A scale(FCV-19) was used for Fear of COVID-19, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2 (GAD-2) for detailed characterization of insomnia and its patterns Results: In total, 675 people with insomnia with the mean age of 40.28 years (SD=11.15) participated in this study. Prevalence of difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), and early morning awakening (EMA) were 91.4%, 86.7%, and 77%, respectively. DIS, DMS, and EMA were more common in people with depression and anxiety. FCV-19 score was higher in those with more severe types of DIS, DMS, and EMA (P<0.001). FCV-19 was a risk factor for all patterns of insomnia (OR=1.19, 1.12, 1.02 for DIS, DMS, and EMA, respectively). Conclusion: fear of COVID-19 is a major factor to insomnia patterns. Investigation of COVID-19 fear in people with insomnia and the addition of attributed relieving or management strategies to conventional management of insomnia are reasonable approaches to improve the sleep condition of people in the pandemic.

Keywords: insomnia, difficulty maintaining sleep, COVID-19, Coronavirus

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Authors: P. A. Broodryk, A. F. Van Der Merwe, H. W. J. P. Neomagus

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The production of the clear liquid fertilizer ammonium polyphosphate (APP) is best achieved by the pyrolysis of urea phosphate, as it produces a product that is free from any of the impurities present in the raw phosphoric acid it was made from. This is a multiphase, multi-step reaction that produces carbon dioxide and ammonia as gasses and ammonium polyphosphate as liquid products. The polyphosphate chain length affects the solubility and thus the applicability of the product as liquid fertiliser, thus proper control of the reaction conditions is thus required for the use of this reaction in the production of fertilisers. This study investigates the reaction kinetics of the aforementioned reaction, describing a mathematical model for the kinetics of the reaction along with the accompanying rate constants. The reaction is initially exothermic, producing only carbon dioxide as a gas product and ammonium diphosphate, at higher temperatures the reaction becomes endothermic, producing ammonia gas as an additional by-product and longer chain polyphosphates, which when condensed too far becomes highly water insoluble. The aim of this study was to (i) characterise the pyrolysis reaction of urea phosphate by determining the mechanisms and the associated kinetic constants, and (ii) to determine the optimum conditions for ammonium diphosphate production. A qualitative investigation was also done to find the rate of hydrolysis of APP as this provides an estimate of the shelf life of an APP clear liquid fertiliser solution.

Keywords: ammonium polyphosphate, kinetics, pyrolysis, urea phosphate

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Authors: Kenji Gwee

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The Mental Capacity Act is a new legislation that allows for lasting powers of attorney and court-appointed deputies, in respect of people who lack legal capacity. While the UK Act, after which the Singapore Act is modeled, has been shown to be therapeutic to donors, the Singapore Act differs from its UK counterpart and it is unclear if the Singapore Act can be beneficial to donors as purported. The purpose of this study was to determine what the perceptions of three groups of stakeholders (patients, caregivers and psychiatrists) are about the aspects of the Mental Capacity Act that are therapeutic to donors. In addition, ways to increase the therapeutic value of the Act to donors are sought. A qualitative methodology was used and the research was guided by two theoretical frameworks: therapeutic jurisprudence and an interpretive constructive framework. Interviews with 12 psychiatrists, and focus groups with twenty three patients and seven caregivers showed agreement that, allowing donors to nominate more than one decision- maker, and whistle-blowing mechanisms for recourse for abuse, were therapeutic to donors. To further increase the therapeutic value of the Act, 2 suggestions were made: the Act should provide for (i) advanced healthcare directives- allowing donors to make advance decisions to refuse treatment, or cease existing treatment, and (ii) independent advocacy services- to have a case worker to represent people who have no family or friends and are thus unable to find suitable donees.

Keywords: Mental Capacity Act, therapeutic jurisprudence, qualitative methodology, the UK Act

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Authors: Agnieszka Stempniewicz, Piotr Ceranowicz, Wojciech Macyk, Jakub Cieszkowski, Beata Kuśnierz-Cabała, Katarzyna Gałązka, Zygmunt Warzecha

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Objectives: There are numerous strategies for the prevention or treatment of oral mucositis. However, their effectiveness is limited and does not correspond to expectations. Recent studies have shown that obestatin exhibits a protective effect and accelerates the healing of gastrointestinal mucosa. The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of obestatin administration on oral ulcers in rats. Methods: lingual ulcers were induced by the use of acetic acid. Rats were treated twice a day intraperitoneally with saline or obestatin(4, 8, or 16 nmol/kg/dose) for five days. The study determined: lingual mucosa morphology, cell proliferation, mucosal blood flow, and mucosal pro-inflammatory interleukin-1β level(IL-1β). Results: In animals without induction of oral ulcers, treatment with obestatin was without any effect. Obestatin administration in rats with lingual ulcers increased the healing rate of these ulcers. Obestatin given at the dose of 8 or 16 nmol/kg/dose caused the strongest and similar therapeutic effect. This result was associated with a significant increase in blood flow and cell proliferation in gingival mucosa, as well as a significant decrease in IL-1β level. Conclusions: Obestatin accelerates the healing of lingual ulcers in rats. This therapeutic effect is well-correlated with an increase in blood flow and cell proliferation in oral mucosa, as well as a decrease in pro-inflammatory IL-1β levels. Obestatin is a potentially useful candidate for the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis. Acknowledgment: Agnieszka Stempniewicz acknowledges the support of InterDokMed project no. POWR.03.02.00- 00-I013/16.

Keywords: oral mucositis, ulcers, obestatin, lingual mucosa

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Authors: Ipek Goktepe, Israa Elnemr, Hammad Asim, Hao Feng, Mosbah Kushad, Hee Park, Sheikha Alzeyara, Mohammad Alhajri

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Food safety management in Qatar is under the shared oversight of multiple agencies in two government ministries (Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Municipality and Environment). Despite the increasing number and diversity of the food service establishments, no systematic food surveillance system is in place in the country, which creates a gap in terms of determining the food safety attitudes and practices applied in the food service operations. Therefore, this study seeks to partially address this gap through determination of food safety knowledge among food handlers, specifically with respect to food preparation and handling practices, and sanitation methods applied in food service providers (FSPs) and a major market in Doha, Qatar. The study covered a sample of 53 FSPs randomly selected out of 200 FSPs. Face-to-face interviews with managers at participating FSPs were conducted using a 40-questions survey. Additionally, 120 produce handlers who are in direct contact with fresh produce at the major produce market in Doha were surveyed using a questionnaire containing 21 questions. A written informed consent was obtained from each survey participant. The survey data were analyzed using the chi-square test and correlation test. The significance was evaluated at p ˂ 0.05. The results from the FSPs surveys indicated that the average age of FSPs was 11 years, with the oldest and newest being established in 1982 and 2015, respectively. Most managers (66%) had college degree and 68% of them were trained on the food safety management system known as HACCP. These surveys revealed that FSP managers’ training and education level were highly correlated with the probability of their employees receiving food safety training while managers with lower education level had no formal training on food safety for themselves nor for their employees. Casual sit-in and fine dine-in restaurants consistently kept records (100%), followed by fast food (36%), and catering establishments (14%). The produce handlers’ survey results showed that none of the workers had any training on safe produce handling practices. The majority of the workers were in the age range of 31-40 years (37%) and only 38% of them had high-school degree. Over 64% of produce handlers claimed to wash their hands 4-5 times per day but field observations pointed limited handwashing as there was soap in the settings. This observation suggests potential food safety risks since a significant correlation (p ˂ 0.01) between the educational level and the hand-washing practices was determined. This assessment on food safety culture through determination of food and produce handlers' level of knowledge and practices, the first of its kind in Qatar, demonstrated that training and education are important factors which directly impact the food safety culture in FSPs and produce markets. These findings should help in identifying the need for on-site training of food handlers for effective food safety practices in food establishments in Qatar.

Keywords: food safety, food safety culture, food service providers, food handlers

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Authors: Philemon Wokoma Iyagba, Obey Onenee Christie

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From the hindbrain, which is responsible for motor activities, to the forebrain, responsible for processing information related to complex cognitive activities, the human brain has continued to evolve over the years. This evolution- has been progressive, leading to advancements in science and technology. However, the development of science and technology in Africa, where ancient civilization arguably began, has been retrogressive. Dialectics was done by dissecting different opinions on the reason behind the stunted development of science and technology in Africa. The researchers proposed that the inability to sustain the technological advancements made by early Africans is due to poor or lack of replicability of the African knowledge-based system, almost no or poor documentation of adopted procedures and the approval-seeking mentality that cheaply paved the way for westernization which also led to the adulteration of the African way of life and education without making room for incorporating her identity and proper alignment of her rich cultural heritage in education and her enormous achievements before and during the middle age. This article discussed conceptual issues, with its positions based on established facts, the discussion was based on relevant literature and recommendations were made accordingly.

Keywords: forebrain, hindbrain, dialectics from African perspective, development in science and technology

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Authors: Coulibaly Fatoumata, Seme Kpassi, Aboly Nicolas, Ccoulibaly Zonzereke

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Introduction and Objective: Microbial resistance is nowadays a major public health problem. In the perspective of a better understanding of the resistance of ticks against acaricides, a study was conducted in the Department of Korhogo. The general objective was to verify the knowledge and skills of breeders on the use of acaricides and contribute to reducing the impact of ticks on livestock productivity. Methodology: To carry out the work, a cross-sectional survey was conducted using elaborate questionnaires, followed by specific interviews with livestock stakeholders in the Korhogo sub-prefecture. Results: The results showed that in the study area, cattle breeders, the majority of whom (58.06%) are Ivorians, use anti-ticks without strict compliance with recommendations of the instructions and standards for use. 68% of them performed under-dosed treatments, and 32% an over-dosed treatment. The most common method for treating cattle against ticks was spraying. Conclusion: Despite the use of tick repellents by these breeders, tick-borne diseases still persist. This could be explained by the misuse of the products (under dosage and overdose), which can cause harmful effects or even resistance of certain ticks. It is, therefore important to respect the normal dosage of the products used as well as the methods of use (bath, spray, pour-on, etc.). In order to minimize the problems of resistance, awareness is necessary among breeders for the proper use of acaricidal products as well as all other drugs.

Keywords: ticks, resistance, anti-tick, cattle, korhogo

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Authors: Babatunde Dosumu, Obuks Ejohwomu, Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo

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Cost estimation in construction is often difficult, particularly when dealing with risks and uncertainties, which are inevitable and peculiar to developing countries like Nigeria. Direct consequences of these are major deviations in cost, duration, and quality. The fundamental aim of this study is to develop a framework for assessing the impacts of risk on cost estimation, which in turn causes variabilities between contract sum and final account. This is very important, as initial estimates given to clients should reflect the certain magnitude of consistency and accuracy, which the client builds other planning-related activities upon, and also enhance the capabilities of construction industry professionals by enabling better prediction of the final account from the contract sum. In achieving this, a systematic literature review was conducted with cost variability and construction projects as search string within three databases: Scopus, Web of science, and Ebsco (Business source premium), which are further analyzed and gap(s) in knowledge or research discovered. From the extensive review, it was found that factors causing deviation between final accounts and contract sum ranged between 1 and 45. Besides, it was discovered that a cost estimation framework similar to Building Cost Information Services (BCIS) is unavailable in Nigeria, which is a major reason why initial estimates are very often inconsistent, leading to project delay, abandonment, or determination at the expense of the huge sum of money invested. It was concluded that the development of a cost estimation framework that is adjudged an important tool in risk shedding rather than risk-sharing in project risk management would be a panacea to cost estimation problems, leading to cost variability in the Nigerian construction industry by the time this ongoing Ph.D. research is completed. It was recommended that practitioners in the construction industry should always take into account risk in order to facilitate the rapid development of the construction industry in Nigeria, which should give stakeholders a more in-depth understanding of the estimation effectiveness and efficiency to be adopted by stakeholders in both the private and public sectors.

Keywords: cost variability, construction projects, future studies, Nigeria

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Authors: Monique Palma, Isabel Amaral

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This paper aims at mapping medical places in Oporto in the twentieth century in order to bring the urban history of medicine and healthcare in Portugal to a large audience, using Oporto as a case study. This analysis is consistent with the SDS's 2030 goals for policy guidance for heritage and development actors. As a result, it is critical to begin this research in order to place on the political agenda the preservation of Portuguese culture's history, memory, and heritage, particularly the medical culture, which is one of the most important drivers of civilizational development. To understand the evolution of medical care in urban history, we will conduct archive research (manuals, treatises, reports, periodic journals, newspapers, etc.) and interviews with key actors from medical institutions and medical museums. The findings of this study will be used to develop medical itineraries for inclusion in touristic agendas in Portugal and abroad, to include Portuguese medicine in global roadmaps, and to promote the preservation of the most iconic places of health care and medical heritage, as well as tools to promote social cohesion, dialogue among people, and "sense of place" globally.

Keywords: medical itineraries, history of medicine, urban history, Oporto

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Authors: Matteo Mazzucato, Elena Faccio, Antonio Iudici

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Prison is a social reality constructed by everyday interactions between an inmate, other social actors (cellmates, prison officers, educationalists and psychologists or other detainees) and the external world which participates in this complex construction through the social discourses on prison reality and its problems. Being a detainee means performing a self dealing with processes of stereotypization, attribution of a social role and prejudices assigned by various interlocutors and depending on what kind of crime one has been convicted of. Among all inmates, sex offenders are the ones who risk more to be socially condemned beyond a legal sentence since they have committed one of the most hated and disapproved crime. Regarding this, prison has to be considered as a critical context in which all community expectations and beliefs are converged: for common sense, rapists and child molesters are dangerous people who have to be stigmatized, punished and isolated. Furthermore, other detainees share a code of conduct by which the ‘sex offender’ is collocated at the lowest level of the social hierarchy of the prison. The penitentiary administration too defines this kind of detainee as a ‘vulnerable person to protect’ while prison staff considers him as a particular inmate who has to be treated and definitely changed. Considering all the complexities connected with being imprisoned as a sex offender, our research aimed at exploring how people convicted of sex crimes are called upon to manage all these hetero-narrations about their selves. Set this goal, textual data retrieved from this qualitative research show that sex offenders tend to not face the stigma assigned to them. They are rather used to minimize the story telling about their selves and costruct alternative biographies to be shared with other inmates. Managing narrations about their selves in this way permits to distance them from all the threats perceived living together with other detainees but it blocks sex offenders’ ri-signification of their offences during prison treatment. Given these results, prison administration should develop activities in order to create fields of interaction between detainees where experiencing new versions of their selves spendable even in external social situations. Regarding this it’s important to re-consider prison as part of the community and the sex offenders as a member of it.

Keywords: interactions, qualitative research, prison reality, sex offender

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Authors: Katherine Arquio

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Community-based Forest Management (CBFM) is one of the integrative programs that slowly turned the course of forest management from traditional corporate to community-based practice resulting to people empowerment. As such, one of its goals is to promote socio-economic welfare among the people in the community in which social equity is included. This study aims to look at the equity aspect of the program, particularly if there are equity differences between two CBFM sites- Matikiw in Pakil, Laguna and Minayutan and Bacong Sigsigan in Famy, Laguna. Equity indicators were identified first, since these will be the basis of the questions that will be asked on the survey, after this, the survey proper was conducted, and finally, the analysis. Two tailed t-test was used as statistical tool since the difference between the two sites is the focus of the study. Statistical analysis was done through the use of STATA program, a statistical software. There were 32 indicators identified and results showed that, out of these indicators, only 13 were found significantly different between the two. The 13 indicators were significantly observed only in Matikiw; the other 19 indicators were commonly observed in both areas and are conducive as equity indicators for the CBFM program.

Keywords: social equity, CBFM, social forestry, equity indicators

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Authors: Aamna Lawrence, Ashutosh Mishra

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Tremors occur in 60% of the patients who have Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the most common demyelinating disease that affects the central and peripheral nervous system, and are the primary cause of disability in young adults. While pharmacological agents provide minimal benefits, surgical interventions like Deep Brain Stimulation and Thalamotomy are riddled with dangerous complications which make non-invasive electrical stimulation an appealing treatment of choice for dealing with tremors. Hence, we hypothesized that if the non-invasive electrical stimulation parameters (mainly frequency) can be computed by mathematically modeling the nerve fibre to take into consideration the minutest details of the axon morphologies, tremors due to demyelination can be optimally alleviated. In this computational study, we have modeled the random demyelination pattern in a nerve fibre that typically manifests in MS using the High-Density Hodgkin-Huxley model with suitable modifications to account for the myelin. The internode of the nerve fibre in our model could have up to ten demyelinated regions each having random length and myelin thickness. The arrival time of action potentials traveling the demyelinated and the normally myelinated nerve fibre between two fixed points in space was noted, and its relationship with the nerve fibre radius ranging from 5µm to 12µm was analyzed. It was interesting to note that there were no overlaps between the arrival time for action potentials traversing the demyelinated and normally myelinated nerve fibres even when a single internode of the nerve fibre was demyelinated. The study gave us an opportunity to design DC pulses whose frequency of application would be a function of the random demyelination pattern to block only the delayed tremor-causing action potentials. The DC pulses could be delivered to the peripheral nervous system non-invasively by an electrode bracelet that would suppress any shakiness beyond it thus paving the way for wearable neuro-rehabilitative technologies.

Keywords: demyelination, Hodgkin-Huxley model, non-invasive electrical stimulation, tremor

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Authors: Jacob Nortey

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Introduction: In recent years, there has been an enormous success in discoveries of scientific knowledge in medicine coupled with the advancement of technology. Despite all these successes, diagnoses and treatment of diseases have become complex. According to the Ibero – American Study of Adverse Effects (IBEAS), about 10% of hospital patients suffer from secondary damage during the care process, and approximately 2% die from this process. Many clinical decision support systems have been developed to help mitigate some healthcare medical errors. Method: Relevant databases were searched, including ones that were peculiar to the clinical decision support system (that is, using google scholar, Pub Med and general google searches). The articles were then screened for a comprehensive overview of the functionality, consultative style and statistical usage of Dxplain Clinical decision support systems. Results: Inferences drawn from the articles showed high usage of Dxplain clinical decision support system for problem-based learning among students in developed countries as against little or no usage among students in Low – and Middle – income Countries. The results also indicated high usage among general practitioners. Conclusion: Despite the challenges Dxplain presents, the benefits of its usage to clinicians and students are enormous.

Keywords: dxplain, clinical decision support sytem, diagnosis, support systems

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Authors: Sujing Wang, Song Wang, Jian Zhang, Qiang Xu

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Flaring emissions during abnormal operating conditions such as plant start-ups, shut-downs, and upsets in chemical process industries (CPI) are usually significant. Flare minimization can help to save raw material and energy for CPI plants, and to improve local environmental sustainability. In this paper, a systematic methodology based on plant-wide dynamic simulation is presented for CPI plant flare minimizations under abnormal operating conditions. Since off-specification emission sources are inevitable during abnormal operating conditions, to significantly reduce flaring emission in a CPI plant, they must be either recycled to the upstream process for online reuse, or stored somewhere temporarily for future reprocessing, when the CPI plant manufacturing returns to stable operation. Thus, the off-spec products could be reused instead of being flared. This can be achieved through the identification of viable design and operational strategies during normal and abnormal operations through plant-wide dynamic scheduling, simulation, and optimization. The proposed study includes three stages of simulation works: (i) developing and validating a steady-state model of a CPI plant; (ii) transiting the obtained steady-state plant model to the dynamic modeling environment; and refining and validating the plant dynamic model; and (iii) developing flare minimization strategies for abnormal operating conditions of a CPI plant via a validated plant-wide dynamic model. This cost-effective methodology has two main merits: (i) employing large-scale dynamic modeling and simulations for industrial flare minimization, which involves various unit models for modeling hundreds of CPI plant facilities; (ii) dealing with critical abnormal operating conditions of CPI plants such as plant start-up and shut-down. Two virtual case studies on flare minimizations for start-up operation (over 50% of emission savings) and shut-down operation (over 70% of emission savings) of an ethylene plant have been employed to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed study.

Keywords: flare minimization, large-scale modeling and simulation, plant shut-down, plant start-up

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