Search results for: affect

Authors: Muhammad Younas, Sidra Sawati, M. Razzaq Athar

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Organizational development history reveals that it has ever been a challenge to identify and fathom the role of talent management, career development and compensation management towards employees’ retention and organizational performance. Organizations strive hard to measure the impact of all those factors which affect employee retention and organizational performance. Researchers have worked in great deal in order to know the relationship of independent variables i.e. Talent Management, Career Development and Compensation Management on dependent variables i.e. Employee Retention and Organizational Performance. Employees adorned with latest skills with long lasting loyalty play a significant role towards successful achievement of short term as well as long term goals of the organizations. Retention of valuable and resourceful employees for a longer time is equally essential for meeting the set goals. The organizations which spend reasonable chunk of their resources for taking such measures that help to retain their employees through talent management and satisfactory career development always enjoy a competitive edge over their competitors. Human resource is regarded as one of the most precious and difficult resource to management. It has its own needs and requirement. It becomes an easy prey to monotony when lacks career development. Wants and aspirations of this resource are seldom met completely but can be managed through career development and compensation management. In this era of competition, organizations have to take viable steps to management their resources especially human resource. Top management and Managers keep on working for an amenable solution in order to address the challenges relating career development and compensation management as their ultimate goal is to ensure the organizational performance on optimum level. The current study was conducted to examine the impact of Talent Management, Career Development and Compensation Management towards Employees Retention and Organizational Performance with mediating effect of Employees Motivation in Service Sector of Pakistan. The current study is based on Resource Based View (RBV) and Ability Motivation Opportunity (AMO) theories. It explains that by increasing internal resources we can manage employee talent, career development through compensation management and employee motivation more effectively. It will result in effective execution of HRM practices for employee retention enabling an organization to achieve and sustain competitive advantage through optimal performance. Data collection was made through a structured questionnaire which was based upon adopted instruments after testing reliability and validity. A total 300 employees of 30 firms in service sector of Pakistan were sampled through non-probability sampling technique. Regression analysis revealed that talent management, career development and compensation management have significant positive impact on employee retention and perceived organizational performance. The results further showed that employee motivation have a significant mediating effect on employee retention and organizational performance. The interpretation of the findings and limitations, theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.

Keywords: career development, compensation management, employee retention, organizational performance, talent management

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Authors: Iris Xiaohong Quan, Sharon Qi, Kelly Tianqin Shi

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This study focuses on the critical role of insurance policies in a world grappling with increasing mental health challenges, as they significantly influence the dynamics of healthcare businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. The paper utilizes the mental health sector as a case to examine the impact of insurance policies on healthcare service providers, entrepreneurs, and individuals seeking mental health support. This paper addressed the following research questions: To what extent do changes in insurance reimbursement policies affect the accessibility and affordability of mental health services for patients, and how does this impact the overall demand for such services? What are the barriers and opportunities that mental health entrepreneurs face and what strategies and adaptations do mental health businesses employ when navigating the evolving landscape of insurance reimbursement policies? How do changes in insurance reimbursement policies, specifically related to mental health services, influence the financial viability and sustainability of mental health clinics and private practices? Employing a self-designed survey aimed at autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treatment companies, alongside two in-depth case studies and an analysis of pertinent insurance policies and documents, this research aims to elucidate the multifaceted influence of insurance policies on the mental health industry. The findings from this study reveal how insurance policies shape the landscape of mental health businesses and their operations. A total of 821 autism treatment organizations or offices were contacted by telephone between November 1, 2019, and January 31, 2020. About half of the offices (53.33%) were established in the past five years, and 80% were established in the past 15 years. There is a significant increase in the establishment of ABA service centers in the recent two decades as a result of autism insurance reform, the increasing social awareness of ASD, and the redefinition of autism. In addition, almost half of the ABA service providers we surveyed had a patient size ranging from 20 to 50 in the year when the residence state passed the legislation for autism insurance coverage. On average, an ABA service provider works with 5.3 insurance companies. This research find that insurance is the main source of revenue for most ABA service providers. However, our survey reveals that clients’ out of pocket payment has been the second main revenue sources. Despite the changes of regulations and insurance policies in all states, clients still have to pay a fraction of, if not all, the ABA treatment service fees out of pocket. This research shows that some ABA service providers seek federal and government funds and grants to support their services and businesses. Our further analysis with the in-depth case studies and other secondary data also indicate the rise of entrepreneurial startups in the mental health industry. Overall, this research sheds light on both the challenges and opportunities presented by insurance policies in the mental health sector, offering insights into the new industry landscape.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, healthcare policy, insurance policy, mental health industry

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Authors: Cherng-Jye Jeng, Ming-Feng Hou, Hsing-Yuan Liu, Chuan-Feng Chang, Lih-Rong Wang, Yen-Chin Lin

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Introduction: The incidence of breast cancer has gradually increased in Taiwan, and the characteristic of younger ages impact these women in their middle age, and may also cause challenges in terms of family, work, and illness. Breasts are symbols of femininity, as well as of sex. For women, breasts are important organs for the female identity and sexual expression. Losing breasts not only affects the female role, but would also affect sexual attraction and sexual desire. Thus, women with breast cancer who have need for mastectomies experience physical incompletion, which affects women’s self-confidence, physical image, and self-orientation. Purposes: 1. To understand the physical experience of women with breast cancer. 2. To explore the issue of sexual issues on the health effects of women with breast cancer. 3. To construct a domestic sex life issue group model for domestic women with breast cancer. 4. To explore the accompaniment experiences and sexual relationship adjustments of spouses when women have breast cancer. Method: After the research plan passes IRB review, participants will be recruited at breast surgery clinic in the affiliated hospital, to screen suitable subjects for entry into the group. Between March and May 2015, two sexual health and sex life consultation groups were conducted, which were (1) 10 in postoperative groups for women with cancer; (2) 4 married couples group for postoperative women with cancer. After sharing experiences and dialogue, women can achieve mutual support and growth. Data organization and analysis underwent descriptive analysis in qualitative research, and the group process was transcribed into transcripts for overall-content and category-content analysis. Results: Ten women with breast cancer believed that participating in group can help them exchange experiences, and elevate sexual health. The main issues include: (1) after breast cancer surgery, patients generally received chemotherapy or estrogen suppressants, causing early menopause; in particular, vaginal dryness can cause pain or bleeding in intercourse, reducing their desire for sexual activity; (2) breast cancer accentuates original spousal or family and friend relationships; some people have support and care from their family, and spouses emphasize health over the appearance of breasts; however, some people do not have acceptance and support from their family, and some even hear spousal sarcasm about loss of breasts; (3) women with breast cancer have polarized expressions of optimism and pessimism in regards to their emotions, beliefs, and body image regarding cancer; this is related to the women’s original personalities, attribution of causes of cancer, and extent of worry about relapse. Conclusion: The research results can be provided as a reference to medical institutions or breast cancer volunteer teams, to pay attention to maintaining the health of women with breast cancer.

Keywords: women with breast cancer, experiences of objectifying the body, quality of sex life, sexual health

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Authors: Anna Słupik, Krzysztof Jaworski, Anna Mosiołek, Dariusz Białoszewski

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Background: Maintaining the correct body balance is essential in the prevention of falls in the elderly, which is especially important for women because of postmenopausal osteoporosis and the serious consequences of falls. One of the exercise methods which is very popular among adults, and which may affect body balance in a positive way is the pilates method. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of regular pilates exercises on the ability to maintain body balance in static conditions in adult healthy women. Material and methods: The study group consisted of 20 healthy women attending pilates twice a week for at least 1 year. The control group consisted of 20 healthy women physically inactive. Women in the age range from 35 to 50 years old without pain in musculoskeletal system or other pain were only qualified to the groups. Body balance was assessed using MatScan VersaTek platform with Sway Analysis Module based on Matscan Clinical 6.7 software. The balance was evaluated under the following conditions: standing on both feet with eyes open, standing on both feet with eyes closed, one-leg standing (separately on the right and left foot) with eyes open. Each test lasted 30 seconds. The following parameters were calculated: estimated size of the ellipse of 95% confidence, the distance covered by the Center of Gravity (COG), the size of the maximum shift in the sagittal and frontal planes and load distribution between the left and right foot, as well as between rear- and forefoot. Results: It was found that there is significant difference between the groups in favor of the study group in the size of the confidence ellipse and maximum shifts of COG in the sagittal plane during standing on both feet, both with the eyes open and closed (p < 0.05). While standing on one leg both on the right and left leg, with eyes opened there was a significant difference in favor of the study group, in terms of the size of confidence ellipse, the size of the maximum shifts in the sagittal and in the frontal plane (p < 0.05). There were no differences between the distribution of load between the right and left foot (standing with both feet), nor between fore- and rear foot (in standing with both feet or one-leg). Conclusions: 1. Static balance in women exercising regularly by pilates method is better than in inactive women, which may in the future prevent falls and their consequences. 2. The observed differences in maintaining balance in frontal plane in one-leg standing may indicate a positive impact of pilates exercises on the ability to maintain global balance in terms of the reduced support surface. 3. Pilates method can be used as a form preventive therapy for all people who are expected to have problems with body balance in the future, for example in chronic neurological disorders or vestibular problems. 4. The results have shown that further prospective randomized research on a larger and more representative group is needed.

Keywords: balance exercises, body balance, pilates, pressure distribution, women

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Authors: Aline V. Arroteia, Gustavo G. Do Amaral, Simone Z. Kikuti, Norberto C. S. Moura, Silvio B. Melhado

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Despite the significant advances made by the construction industry in recent years, the crystalized absence of integration between the design and construction phases is still an evident and costly problem in building construction. Globally, the construction industry has sought to adopt collaborative practices through new technologies to mitigate impacts of this fragmented process and to optimize its production. In this new technological business environment, professionals are required to develop new methodologies based on the notion of collaboration and integration of information throughout the building lifecycle. This scenario also represents the industry’s reality in developing nations, and the increasing need for overall efficiency has demanded new educational alternatives at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. In countries like Brazil, it is the common understanding that Architecture, Engineering and Building Construction educational programs are being required to review the traditional design pedagogical processes to promote a comprehensive notion about integration and simultaneity between the phases of the project. In this context, the coherent inclusion of computation design to all segments of the educational programs of construction related professionals represents a significant research topic that, in fact, can affect the industry practice. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to comparatively measure the effectiveness of the Building Information Modeling courses offered by the University of Sao Paulo, the most important academic institution in Brazil, at the Schools of Architecture and Civil Engineering and the courses offered in well recognized BIM research institutions, such as the School of Design in the College of Architecture of the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, to evaluate the dissemination of BIM knowledge amongst students in post graduate level. The qualitative research methodology was developed based on the analysis of the program and activities proposed by two BIM courses offered in each of the above-mentioned institutions, which were used as case studies. The data collection instruments were a student questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, participatory evaluation and pedagogical practices. The found results have detected a broad heterogeneity of the students regarding their professional experience, hours dedicated to training, and especially in relation to their general knowledge of BIM technology and its applications. The research observed that BIM is mostly understood as an operational tool and not as methodological project development approach, relevant to the whole building life cycle. The present research offers in its conclusion an assessment about the importance of the incorporation of BIM, with efficiency and in its totality, as a teaching method in undergraduate and graduate courses in the Brazilian architecture, engineering and building construction schools.

Keywords: building information modeling (BIM), BIM education, BIM process, design teaching

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Authors: Xabier Barandiaran, Igone Guerra

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The economic and financial crisis that hit European countries in 2008 revealed the inability of governments to respond unilaterally to the so-called “wicked” problems that affect our societies. Closely linked to this, the increasing disaffection of citizens towards politics has resulted in growing distrust of the citizenry not only in the institutions in general but also in the political system, in particular. Precisely, these two factors provoked the action of the local government of Gipuzkoa (Basque Country) to move from old ways of “doing politics” to a new way of “thinking politics” based on a collaborative approach, in which innovative modes of public decision making are prominent. In this context, in 2015, the initiative Etorkizuna Eraikiz (Building the Future), a contemporary form of networked governance, was launched by the Provincial Government. The paper focuses on the Etorkizuna Eraikiz initiative, a sound commitment from a local government to build jointly with the citizens the future of the territory. This paper will present preliminary results obtained from three different experiences of co-creation developed within Etorkizuna Eraikiz in which the formulation of networked governance is a mandatory pre-requisite. These experiences show how the network building approach among the different agents of the territory as well as the co-creation of public policies is the cornerstone of this challenging mission. Through the analysis of the information and documentation gathered during the four years of Etorkizuna-Eraikiz, and, specifically by delving into the strategy promoted by the initiative, some emerging analytical conclusions resulting from the promotion of this collaborative culture will be presented. For example, some preliminary results have shown a significant positive relationship between shared leadership and the formulation of the public good. In the period 2016-2018, a total of 73 projects were launched and funding by the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa within the Etorkizuna Eraikiz initiative, that indicates greater engagement of the citizenry in the process of policy-making and therefore improving, somehow, the quality of the public policies. These statements have been supported by the last survey about the perspectives of the citizens toward politics and policies. Some of the more prominent results show us that there is still a high level of distrust in Politics (78,9% of respondents) but a greater trust in institutions such the Political Government of Gipuzkoa (40,8% of respondents declared as “good” the performance of this provincial institution). Regarding the Etorkizuna Eraikiz Initiative, it is being more readily recognized by citizens over this period of time (25,4% of the respondents in June 2018 agreed to know about the initiative giving it a mark of 5,89 ) and thus build trust and a sense of ownership. Although, there is a clear requirement for further research on the linkages between collaborative governance and level of trust, the paper, based on these findings, will provide some managerial and theoretical implications for collaborative governance in the territory.

Keywords: network governance, collaborative governance, public sector innovation, citizen participation, trust

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Authors: Mathias U. Bonet, Pericles Pilidis, Georgios Doulgeris

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A gas turbine-powered cruise Liner is scheduled to transport pilgrim passengers from Lagos-Nigeria to the Islamic port city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Since the gas turbine is an air breathing machine, changes in the density and/or mass flow at the compressor inlet due to an encounter with variations in weather conditions induce negative effects on the performance of the power plant during the voyage. In practice, all deviations from the reference atmospheric conditions of 15 ^oC and 1.103 bar tend to affect the power output and other thermodynamic parameters of the gas turbine cycle. Therefore, this paper seeks to evaluate how a simple cycle marine gas turbine power plant would react under a variety of scenarios that may be encountered during a voyage as the ship sails across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea before arriving at its designated port of discharge. It is also an assessment that focuses on the effect of varying aerodynamic and hydrodynamic conditions which deteriorate the efficient operation of the propulsion system due to an increase in resistance that results from some projected levels of the ship hull fouling. The investigated passenger ship is designed to run at a service speed of 22 knots and cover a distance of 5787 nautical miles. The performance evaluation consists of three separate voyages that cover a variety of weather conditions in winter, spring and summer seasons. Real-time daily temperatures and the sea states for the selected transit route were obtained and used to simulate the voyage under the aforementioned operating conditions. Changes in engine firing temperature, power output as well as the total fuel consumed per voyage including other performance variables were separately predicted under both calm and adverse weather conditions. The collated data were obtained online from the UK Meteorological Office as well as the UK Hydrographic Office websites, while adopting the Beaufort scale for determining the magnitude of sea waves resulting from rough weather situations. The simulation of the gas turbine performance and voyage analysis was effected through the use of an integrated Cranfield-University-developed computer code known as ‘Turbomatch’ and ‘Poseidon’. It is a project that is aimed at developing a method for predicting the off design behavior of the marine gas turbine when installed and operated as the main prime mover for both propulsion and powering of all other auxiliary services onboard a passenger cruise liner. Furthermore, it is a techno-economic and environmental assessment that seeks to enable the forecast of the marine gas turbine part and full load performance as it relates to the fuel requirement for a complete voyage.

Keywords: cruise ship, gas turbine, hull fouling, performance, propulsion, weather

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Authors: Zermina Q., Wasif Y., Naeem S., Urooj S., Sajid R. A.

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Land degradation, a leading environemtnal problem and a decrease in the quality of land has become a major global issue, caused by human activities. By land degradation, more than half of the world’s drylands are affected. The worldwide scope of main saline soils is approximately 955 M ha, whereas inferior salinization affected approximately 77 M ha. In irrigated areas, a total of 58% of these soils is found. As most of the vegetation types requires fertile soil for their growth and quality production, salinity causes serious problem to the production of these vegetation types and agriculture demands. This research aims to identify the salt affected areas in the selected part of Indus Delta, Sindh province, Pakistan. This particular mangroves dominating coastal belt is important to the local community for their crop growth. Object based image analysis approach has been adopted on Landsat TM imagery of year 2011 by incorporating different mathematical band ratios, thermal radiance and salinity index. Accuracy assessment of developed salinity landcover map was performed using Erdas Imagine Accuracy Assessment Utility. Rain factor was also considered before acquiring satellite imagery and conducting field survey, as wet soil can greatly affect the condition of saline soil of the area. Dry season considered best for the remote sensing based observation and monitoring of the saline soil. These areas were trained with the ground truth data w.r.t pH and electric condutivity of the soil samples. The results were obtained from the object based image analysis of Keti bunder and Kharo chan shows most of the region under low saline soil.Total salt affected soil was measured to be 46,581.7 ha in Keti Bunder, which represents 57.81 % of the total area of 80,566.49 ha. High Saline Area was about 7,944.68 ha (9.86%). Medium Saline Area was about 17,937.26 ha (22.26 %) and low Saline Area was about 20,699.77 ha (25.69%). Where as total salt affected soil was measured to be 52,821.87 ha in Kharo Chann, which represents 55.87 % of the total area of 94,543.54 ha. High Saline Area was about 5,486.55 ha (5.80 %). Medium Saline Area was about 13,354.72 ha (14.13 %) and low Saline Area was about 33980.61 ha (35.94 %). These results show that the area is low to medium saline in nature. Accuracy of the soil salinity map was found to be 83 % with the Kappa co-efficient of 0.77. From this research, it was evident that this area as a whole falls under the category of low to medium saline area and being close to coastal area, mangrove forest can flourish. As Mangroves are salt tolerant plant so this area is consider heaven for mangrove plantation. It would ultimately benefit both the local community and the environment. Increase in mangrove forest control the problem of soil salinity and prevent sea water to intrude more into coastal area. So deforestation of mangrove should be regularly monitored.

Keywords: indus delta, object based image analysis, soil salinity, thematic mapper

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Authors: Iris Sirirada Pattara-Angkoon, Rory Devine, Anja Lindberg, Wendy Browne, Sarah Foley, Gabrielle McHarg, Claire Hughes

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Introduction: The “Terrible Twos” is a phrase used to describe toddlers 18-30 months old. It characterizes a transition from high dependency to their caregivers in infancy to more autonomy and mastery of the body and environment. Toddlers at this age may also show more willfulness and stubbornness that could predict a future trajectory leading to conduct disorders. Thus, an important goal for this age group is to promote responsiveness to their caregivers (i.e., compliance). Existing literature tends to focus on praise to increase desirable child behavior. However, this relationship is not always straightforward as some studies have found no or negative association between praise and child compliance. Research suggests positive emotions and affection showed through body language (e.g., smiles) and actions (e.g., hugs, kisses) along with positive parent-child relationship can strengthen the praise and child compliance association. Nonetheless, few studies have examined the influences of positive emotionality within the speech. This is important as implementing verbal positive emotionality is easier than physical adjustments. The literature also tends not to include fathers in the study sample as mothers were traditionally the primary caregiver. However, as child-caring duties are increasing shared equally between mothers and fathers, it is important to include fathers within the study as studies have frequently found differences between female and male caregiver characteristics. Thus, the study will address the literary gap in two ways: 1. explore the influences of positive emotionality in parental speech and 2. include an equal sample of mothers and fathers. Positive emotionality is expected to positively correlate with and predict child compliance. Methodology: This study analyzed toddlers (18-24 months) in their dyadic interactions with mothers and fathers. A Duplo (block) task was used where parents had to work with their children to build the Duplo according to the given photo for four minutes. Then, they would be told to clean up the blocks. Parental positive emotionality in different speech types (e.g., bids, praises, affirmations) and child compliance were measured. Results: The study found that mothers (M = 28.92, SD = 12.01) were significantly more likely than fathers (M = 23.01, SD = 12.28) to use positive verbal emotionality in their speech, t(105) = 4.35, p< .001. High positive emotionality in bids during Duplo task and Clean Up was positively correlated with more child compliance in each task, r(273) = .35, p< .001 and r(264) = .58, p< .001, respectively. Overall, parental positive emotionality in speech significantly predicted child compliance, F(6, 218) = 13.33, p< .001, R² = .27) with emotionality in verbal bids (t = 6.20, p< .001) and affirmations (t = 3.12, p = .002) being significant predictors. Conclusion: Positive verbal emotions may be useful for increasing compliance in toddlers. This can be beneficial for compliance interventions as well as to the parent-child relationship quality through reduction of conflict and child defiance. As this study is correlational in nature, it will be important for future research to test the directional influence of positive emotionality within speech.

Keywords: child temperament, compliance, positive emotion, toddler, verbal bids

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Authors: K. M. S. Weerasinghe, A. H. K. Balasooriya, S. L. Ransingha, G. D. Krishantha, R. S. Brhakamanagae, L. C. Wijethilke

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Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is a major horticultural crop with an estimated global production of over 120 million metric tons and ranks first as a processing crop. The average tomato productivity in Sri Lanka (11 metric tons/ha) is much lower than the world average (24 metric tons/ha).To meet the tomato demand for the increasing population the productivity has to be intensified through the agronomic-techniques. Nutrition is one of the main factors which govern the growth and yield of tomato and the main nutrient source soil affect the plant growth and quality of the produce. Continuous cropping, improper fertilizer usage etc., cause widespread nutrient deficiencies. Therefore synthetic fertilizers and organic manures were introduced to enhance plant growth and maximize the crop yields. In this study, effects of macro and micronutrient supplementations on improvement of growth and yield of tomato were investigated. Selected tomato variety is Maheshi and plants were grown in Regional Agricultural and Research Centre Makadura under the Department of Agriculture recommended (DOA) macro nutrients and various combination of Ontario recommended dosages of secondary and micro fertilizer supplementations. There were six treatments in this experiment and each treatment was replicated in three times and each replicate consisted of six plants. Other than the DOA recommendation, five combinations of Ontario recommended dosage of secondary and micronutrients for tomato were also used as treatments. The treatments were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design. All cultural practices were carried out according to the DOA recommendations. The mean data was subjected to the statistical analysis using SAS package and mean separation (Duncan’s Multiple Range test at 5% probability level) procedures. Secondary and micronutrients containing treatments significantly increased most of the growth parameters. Plant height, plant girth, number of leaves, leaf area index etc. Fruits harvested from pots amended with macro, secondary and micronutrients performed best in terms of total yield; yield quality; to pots amended with DOA recommended dosage of fertilizer for tomato. It could be due to the application of all essential macro and micro nutrients that rise in photosynthetic activity, efficient translocation and utilization of photosynthates causing rapid cell elongation and cell division in actively growing region of the plant leading to stimulation of growth and yield were caused. The experiment revealed and highlighted the requirements of essential macro, secondary and micro nutrient fertilizer supplementations for tomato farming. The study indicated that, macro and micro nutrient supplementation practices can influence growth and yield performances of tomato fruits and it is a promising approach to get potential tomato yields.

Keywords: macro and micronutrients, tomato, SAS package, photosynthates

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Authors: Mattias Bergstrom

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Significance of the Study: This research will provide new insights into the risks with digital embedded infrastructure. Through this research, we will analyze each risk and its potential negation strategies, especially for AI and autonomous automation. Moreover, the analysis that is presented in this paper will convey valuable information for future research that can create more stable, secure, and efficient autonomous systems. To learn and understand the risks, a large IoT system was envisioned, and risks with hardware, tampering, and cyberattacks were collected, researched, and evaluated to create a comprehensive understanding of the potential risks. Potential solutions have then been evaluated on an open source IoT hardware setup. This list shows the identified passive and active risks evaluated in the research. Passive Risks: (1) Hardware failures- Critical Systems relying on high rate data and data quality are growing; SCADA systems for infrastructure are good examples of such systems. (2) Hardware delivers erroneous data- Sensors break, and when they do so, they don’t always go silent; they can keep going, just that the data they deliver is garbage, and if that data is not filtered out, it becomes disruptive noise in the system. (3) Bad Hardware injection- Erroneous generated sensor data can be pumped into a system by malicious actors with the intent to create disruptive noise in critical systems. (4) Data gravity- The weight of the data collected will affect Data-Mobility. (5) Cost inhibitors- Running services that need huge centralized computing is cost inhibiting. Large complex AI can be extremely expensive to run. Active Risks: Denial of Service- It is one of the most simple attacks, where an attacker just overloads the system with bogus requests so that valid requests disappear in the noise. Malware- Malware can be anything from simple viruses to complex botnets created with specific goals, where the creator is stealing computer power and bandwidth from you to attack someone else. Ransomware- It is a kind of malware, but it is so different in its implementation that it is worth its own mention. The goal with these pieces of software is to encrypt your system so that it can only be unlocked with a key that is held for ransom. DNS spoofing- By spoofing DNS calls, valid requests and data dumps can be sent to bad destinations, where the data can be extracted for extortion or to corrupt and re-inject into a running system creating a data echo noise loop. After testing multiple potential solutions. We found that the most prominent solution to these risks was to use a Peer 2 Peer consensus algorithm over a blockchain to validate the data and behavior of the devices (sensors, storage, and computing) in the system. By the devices autonomously policing themselves for deviant behavior, all risks listed above can be negated. In conclusion, an Internet middleware that provides these features would be an easy and secure solution to any future autonomous IoT deployments. As it provides separation from the open Internet, at the same time, it is accessible over the blockchain keys.

Keywords: IoT, security, infrastructure, SCADA, blockchain, AI

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Authors: Ružica Tomičić, Zorica Tomičić, Peter Raspor

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An abundant growth of unwanted yeasts in food processing plants can lead to problems in quality and safety with significant financial losses. Candida and Pichia are the genera mainly involved in spoilage of products in the food and beverage industry. These contaminating microorganisms can form biofilms on food contact surfaces, being difficult to eradicate, increasing the probability of microbial survival and further dissemination during food processing. It is well known that biofilms are more resistant to antimicrobial agents compared to planktonic cells and this makes them difficult to eliminate. Among the strategies used to overcome resistance to antifungal drugs and preservatives, the use of natural substances such as plant extracts has shown particular promise, and many natural substances have been found to exhibit antifungal properties. This study aimed to investigated the impact of growth medium (Malt Extract broth (MEB) or Yeast Peptone Dextrose (YPD) broth) and temperatures (7°C, 37°C, 43°C for Candida strains and 7°C, 27°C, 32°C for Pichia strains) on the adhesion of Candida spp. and Pichia spp. to stainless steel (AISI 304) discs with different degrees of surface roughness (Ra = 25.20 – 961.9 nm), a material commonly used in the food industry. We also evaluated the antifungal and antiadhesion activity of plant extracts such as Humulus lupulus, Alpinia katsumadai and Evodia rutaecarpa against C. albicans, C glabrata and P. membranifaciens and investigated whether these plant extracts can interfere with biofilm formation. The adhesion was assessed by the crystal violet staining method, while the broth microdilution method CLSI M27-A3 was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of plant extracts. Our results indicated that the nutrient content of the medium significantly influenced the amount of adhered cells of the tested yeasts. The growth medium which resulted in a higher adhesion of C. albicans and C. glabrata was MEB, while for C. parapsilosis and C. krusei was YPD. In the case of P. pijperi and P. membranifaciens, YPD broth was more effective in promoting adhesion than MEB. Regarding the effect of temperature, C. albicans strain adhered to stainless steel surfaces in significantly higher level at a temperature of 43°C, while on the other hand C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis and C. krusei showed a different behavior with significantly higher adhesion at 37°C than at 7°C and 43°C. Further, the adherence ability of Pichia strains was highest at 27°C. Based on the MIC values, all plant extracts exerted significant antifungal effects with MIC values ranged from 100 to 400 μg/mL. It was observed that biofilm of C. glabrata were more resistance to plant extracts as compared to C. albicans. However, extracts of A. katsumadai and E. rutaecarpa promoted the growth and development of the preformed biofilm of P. membranifaciens. Thus, the knowledge of how these microorganisms adhere and which factors affect this phenomenon is of great importance in order to avoid their colonization on food contact surfaces.

Keywords: adhesion, Candida spp., Pichia spp., plant extracts

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Charlotte Entwistle, Ryan Boyd

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Recent developments in information retrieval techniques and natural language processing have allowed for greater exploration of psychological and social processes. Linguistic analysis methods for understanding behaviour have provided useful insights within the field of mental health. One area within mental health that has received little attention though, is borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD is a common mental health disorder characterised by instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image and affect. It also manifests through maladaptive behaviours, such as impulsivity and self-harm. Examination of language patterns associated with BPD could allow for a greater understanding of the disorder and its links to maladaptive thoughts and behaviours. Language analysis methods could also be used in a predictive way, such as by identifying indicators of BPD or predicting maladaptive thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Additionally, associations that are uncovered between language and maladaptive thoughts and behaviours could then be applied at a more general level. This study explores linguistic characteristics of BPD, and their links to maladaptive thoughts and behaviours, through the analysis of social media data. Data were collected from a large corpus of posts from the publicly available social media platform Reddit, namely, from the ‘r/BPD’ subreddit whereby people identify as having BPD. Data were collected using the Python Reddit API Wrapper and included all users which had posted within the BPD subreddit. All posts were manually inspected to ensure that they were not posted by someone who clearly did not have BPD, such as people posting about a loved one with BPD. These users were then tracked across all other subreddits of which they had posted in and data from these subreddits were also collected. Additionally, data were collected from a random control group of Reddit users. Disorder-relevant behaviours, such as self-harming or aggression-related behaviours, outlined within Reddit posts were coded to by expert raters. All posts and comments were aggregated by user and split by subreddit. Language data were then analysed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) 2015 software. LIWC is a text analysis program that identifies and categorises words based on linguistic and paralinguistic dimensions, psychological constructs and personal concern categories. Statistical analyses of linguistic features could then be conducted. Findings revealed distinct linguistic features associated with BPD, based on Reddit posts, which differentiated these users from a control group. Language patterns were also found to be associated with the occurrence of maladaptive thoughts and behaviours. Thus, this study demonstrates that there are indeed linguistic markers of BPD present on social media. It also implies that language could be predictive of maladaptive thoughts and behaviours associated with BPD. These findings are of importance as they suggest potential for clinical interventions to be provided based on the language of people with BPD to try to reduce the likelihood of maladaptive thoughts and behaviours occurring. For example, by social media tracking or engaging people with BPD in expressive writing therapy. Overall, this study has provided a greater understanding of the disorder and how it manifests through language and behaviour.

Keywords: behaviour analysis, borderline personality disorder, natural language processing, social media data

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Authors: Paola Montenegro, Maria de los Angeles Balaguera Villa

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Contraceptive methods play a fundamental role in preventing unwanted pregnancies and protecting users from sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Despite being known to almost the entire population of reproductive age living in Colombia, there are barriers, practices and complex notions about contraceptives that affect their desired mass use and effectiveness. This work aims to analyse some of the perceptions and practices discussed with young people (13-28 years old) living in Colombia regarding the use of contraceptives in their daily lives, preferences, needs and perceived side effects. This research also examines the perceived paradox in autonomy that young people experience regarding contraceptive use: in one hand, its use (or lack of it) is interpreted as an act of self-determination and primary example of reproductive agency, on the other hand, it was frequently associated with coercion and limited autonomy derived from the gaps in reliable information available for young people, the difficulty of accessing certain preferred methods, and sometimes the experienced coercion exercise by doctors, partners and/or family members. The data and analysis discussed in this work stems from a research project whose objective was to provide information about needs and preferences in sexual and reproductive health of young people living in Colombia in relation to a possible telehealth service that could close the gap in access to quality care and safe information. Through a mixed methods approach, this study collected 5.736 responses to a virtual survey disseminated nationwide in Colombia and 47 inperson interviews (24 of them with people who were assigned female at birth and 21 with local key stakeholders in the abortion ecosystem). Quantitative data was analyzed using Stata SE Version 16.0 and qualitative analysis was completed through NVivo using thematic analysis. Key findings on contraception use in young people living in Colombia reveal that 85,8% of participants had used a contraceptive method in the last two years, and that the most commonly used methods were condoms, contraceptive pills, the morning-after pill and the method of interruption. The remaining 14,2% of respondents who declared to not have used contraceptives in the last two years expressed that the main four barriers to access were: "Lack of knowledge about contraceptive methods and where to obtain information and/or access them (13.9%)", "Have had sex with people who have vaginas (10.2%)", "Cost of contraceptive method (8.4%)" and "Difficulties in obtaining medical authorisations (7.6%)". These barriers coincided with the ones used to explain the non-use of contraceptives in young people, which reveals that limitations in information, cost, and quality care represent structural issues that need to be address in programmes, services, and public policy. Finally, interviews showed that young people perceive contraceptive use and non-use as an example of reaffirming reproductive agency and limitations to this can be explained through the widespread incomplete knowledge about how methods work and the prevalence of other social representations of contraception associated with trust, fidelity, and partner preferences, that in the end create limitations to young people’s autonomy.

Keywords: contraception, family planning, premarital fertility, unplanned pregnancy

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Authors: Ming-Hsiang Shih, Wen-Pei Sung, Shih-Heng Tung

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The purposes of hydraulic gate are to maintain the functions of storing and draining water. It bears long-term hydraulic pressure and earthquake force and is very important for reservoir and waterpower plant. The high tensile strength of steel plate is used as constructional material of hydraulic gate. The cracks and rusts, induced by the defects of material, bad construction and seismic excitation and under water respectively, thus, the mechanics phenomena of gate with crack are probing into the cause of stress concentration, induced high crack increase rate, affect the safety and usage of hydroelectric power plant. Stress distribution analysis is a very important and essential surveying technique to analyze bi-material and singular point problems. The finite difference infinitely small element method has been demonstrated, suitable for analyzing the buckling phenomena of welding seam and steel plate with crack. Especially, this method can easily analyze the singularity of kink crack. Nevertheless, the construction form and deformation shape of some gates are three-dimensional system. Therefore, the three-dimensional Digital Image Correlation (DIC) has been developed and applied to analyze the strain variation of steel plate with crack at weld joint. The proposed Digital image correlation (DIC) technique is an only non-contact method for measuring the variation of test object. According to rapid development of digital camera, the cost of this digital image correlation technique has been reduced. Otherwise, this DIC method provides with the advantages of widely practical application of indoor test and field test without the restriction on the size of test object. Thus, the research purpose of this research is to develop and apply this technique to monitor mechanics crack variations of weld steel hydraulic gate and its conformation under action of loading. The imagines can be picked from real time monitoring process to analyze the strain change of each loading stage. The proposed 3-Dimensional digital image correlation method, developed in the study, is applied to analyze the post-buckling phenomenon and buckling tendency of welded steel plate with crack. Then, the stress intensity of 3-dimensional analysis of different materials and enhanced materials in steel plate has been analyzed in this paper. The test results show that this proposed three-dimensional DIC method can precisely detect the crack variation of welded steel plate under different loading stages. Especially, this proposed DIC method can detect and identify the crack position and the other flaws of the welded steel plate that the traditional test methods hardly detect these kind phenomena. Therefore, this proposed three-dimensional DIC method can apply to observe the mechanics phenomena of composite materials subjected to loading and operating.

Keywords: welded steel plate, crack variation, three-dimensional digital image correlation (DIC), crack stel plate

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Authors: Kirti Hira, A. Sajeli Begum, S. Mahibalan, Poorna Chandra Rao

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Introduction: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Although existing therapy effectively kills cancer cells, they do affect normal growing cells leading to many undesirable side effects. Hence there is need to develop effective as well as safe drug molecules to combat cancer, which is possible through phyto-research. The currently available plant-derived blockbuster drugs are the example for this. In view of this, an investigation was done to identify cytotoxic lead molecules from Hedyotis umbellata (Family Rubiaceae), a widely distributed weed in India. Materials and Methods: The methanolic extract of the whole plant of H. umbellata (MHU), prepared through Soxhlet extraction method was further fractionated with diethyl ether and n-butanol, successively. MHU, ether fraction (EMHU) and butanol fraction (BMHU) were lyophilized and were tested for the cytotoxic effect using 3-(4,5-Dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 cell lines. The potentially active EMHU was subjected to chromatographic purification using normal-phase silica columns, in order to isolate the responsible bioactive compounds. The isolated pure compounds were tested for their cytotoxic effect by MTT assay against A549 cells. Compound-3, which was found to be most active, was characterized using IR, 1H- and 13C-NMR and MS analysis. The study was further extended to decipher the mechanism of action of cytotoxicity of compound-3 against A549 cells through various in vitro cellular models. Cell cycle analysis was done using flow cytometry following PI (Propidium Iodide) staining. Protein analysis was done using Western blot technique. Results: Among MHU, EMHU, and BMHU, the non-polar fraction EMHU demonstrated a significant dose-dependent cytotoxic effect with IC50 of 67.7μg/ml. Chromatography of EMHU yielded seven compounds. MTT assay of isolated compounds explored compound-3 as potentially active one, which inhibited the growth of A549 cells with IC50value of 14.2μM. Further, compound-3 was identified as cedrelopsin, a coumarin derivative having molecular weight of 260. Results of in vitro mechanistic studies explained that cedrelopsin induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and down-regulated the expression of G2/M regulatory proteins such as cyclin B1, cdc2, and cdc25C, dose dependently. This is the first report that explores the cytotoxic mechanism of cedrelopsin. Conclusion: Thus a potential small lead molecule, cedrelopsin isolated from H. umbellata, showing antiproliferative effect mediated by G2/M arrest in A549 cells was discovered. The effect of cedrelopsin against other cancer cell lines followed by in vivo studies can be performed in future to develop a new drug candidate.

Keywords: A549, cedrelopsin, G2/M phase, Hedyotis umbellata

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Authors: M. Marín-Ferrer, M. A. Hernández, T. Tollefsen, S. Vanzo, E. Nweke, P. V. Tognoli, M. De Cort

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Under the terms of Article 36 of the Euratom Treaty, European Union Member States (MSs) shall periodically communicate to the European Commission (EC) information on environmental radioactivity levels. Compilations of the information received have been published by the EC as a series of reports beginning in the early 1960s. The environmental radioactivity results received from the MSs have been introduced into the Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring database (REMdb) of the Institute for Transuranium Elements of the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) sited in Ispra (Italy) as part of its Directorate General for Energy (DG ENER) support programme. The REMdb brings to the scientific community dealing with environmental radioactivity topics endless of research opportunities to exploit the near 200 millions of records received from MSs containing information of radioactivity levels in milk, water, air and mixed diet. The REM action was created shortly after Chernobyl crisis to support the EC in its responsibilities in providing qualified information to the European Parliament and the MSs on the levels of radioactive contamination of the various compartments of the environment (air, water, soil). Hence, the main line of REM’s activities concerns the improvement of procedures for the collection of environmental radioactivity concentrations for routine and emergency conditions, as well as making this information available to the general public. In this way, REM ensures the availability of tools for the inter-communication and access of users from the Member States and the other European countries to this information. Specific attention is given to further integrate the new MSs with the existing information exchange systems and to assist Candidate Countries in fulfilling these obligations in view of their membership of the EU. Article 36 of the EURATOM treaty requires the competent authorities of each MS to provide regularly the environmental radioactivity monitoring data resulting from their Article 35 obligations to the EC in order to keep EC informed on the levels of radioactivity in the environment (air, water, milk and mixed diet) which could affect population. The REMdb has mainly two objectives: to keep a historical record of the radiological accidents for further scientific study, and to collect the environmental radioactivity data gathered through the national environmental monitoring programs of the MSs to prepare the comprehensive annual monitoring reports (MR). The JRC continues his activity of collecting, assembling, analyzing and providing this information to public and MSs even during emergency situations. In addition, there is a growing concern with the general public about the radioactivity levels in the terrestrial and marine environment, as well about the potential risk of future nuclear accidents. To this context, a clear and transparent communication with the public is needed. EURDEP (European Radiological Data Exchange Platform) is both a standard format for radiological data and a network for the exchange of automatic monitoring data. The latest release of the format is version 2.0, which is in use since the beginning of 2002.

Keywords: environmental radioactivity, Euratom, monitoring report, REMdb

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Authors: Arlene Villarama, Micol Grace Guanzon, Zenaida Ramos

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This paper provides insights into teaching English as a Foreign Language in the Philippines. The authors reviewed relevant theories and literature, and provide an analysis of the issues in teaching English in the Philippine setting in the light of these theories. The authors made an investigation in Bagong Barrio National High School (BBNHS) - a public school in Caloocan City. The institution has a population of nearly 3,000 students. The performances of randomly chosen 365 respondents were scrutinised. The study regarding the success of teaching English as a foreign language to Filipino children were highlighted. This includes the respondents’ family background, surroundings, way of living, and their behavior and understanding regarding education. The results show that there is a significant relationship between demonstrative, communal, and logical areas that touch the efficacy of introducing English as a foreign Dialectal. Filipino children, by nature, are adventurous and naturally joyful even for little things. They are born with natural skills and capabilities to discover new things. They highly consider activities and work that ignite their curiosity. They love to be recognised and are inspired the most when given the assurance of acceptance and belongingness. Fun is the appealing influence to ignite and motivate learning. The magic word is excitement. The study reveals the many facets of the accumulation and transmission of erudition, in introduction and administration of English as a foreign phonological; it runs and passes through different channels of diffusion. Along the way, there are particles that act as obstructions in protocols where knowledge are to be gathered. Data gained from the respondents conceals a reality that is beyond one’s imagination. One significant factor that touches the inefficacy of understanding and using English as a foreign language is an erroneous outset gained from an old belief handed down from generation to generation. This accepted perception about the power and influence of the use of language, gives the novices either a negative or a positive notion. The investigation shows that a higher number of dislikes in the use of English can be tracked down from the belief of the story on how the English language came into existence. The belief that only the great and the influential have the right to use English as a means of communication kills the joy of acceptance. A significant notation has to be examined so as to provide a solution or if not eradicate the misconceptions that lie behind the substance of the matter. The result of the authors’ research depicts a substantial correlation between the emotional (demonstrative), social (communal), and intellectual (logical). The focus of this paper is to bring out the right notation and disclose the misconceptions with regards to teaching English as a foreign language. This will concentrate on the emotional, social, and intellectual areas of the Filipino learners and how these areas affect the transmittance and accumulation of learning. The authors’ aim is to formulate logical ways and techniques that would open up new beginnings in understanding and acceptance of the subject matter.

Keywords: accumulation, behaviour, facets, misconceptions, transmittance

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Authors: Ezekiel Olukayode Akintunde

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There is a high level of inadequate methods at all levels of food supply in the global food industry. The inadequacies have led to vast wastages of food. Hence there is a need to curb the wastages that can later affect natural resources, water resources, and energy to avoid negative impacts on the climate and the environment. There is a need to engage multifaceted engineering packaging approaches for a sustainable food chain to ensure active packaging, intelligent packaging, new packaging materials, and a sustainable packaging system. Packaging can be regarded as an indispensable component approach that can be applied to solve major problems of sustainable food consumption globally; this is about controlling the environmental impact of packed food. The creative innovation will ensure that packaged foods are free from food-borne diseases and food chemical pollution. This paper evaluates the key shortcomings that must be addressed by innovative food packaging to ensure a safe, natural environment that will preserve energy and sustain water resources. Certain solutions, including fabricating microbial biodegradable chemical compounds/polymers from agro-food waste remnants, appear a bright path to ensure a strong and innovative waste-based food packaging system. Over the years, depletion in the petroleum reserves has brought about the emergence of biodegradable polymers as a proper replacement for traditional plastics; moreover, the increase in the production of traditional plastics has raised serious concerns about environmental threats. Biodegradable polymers have proven to be biocompatible, which can also be processed for other useful applications. Therefore, this study will showcase a workable guiding framework for designing a sustainable food packaging system that will not constitute a danger to our present society and that will surely preserve natural water resources. Various assessment methods will be deployed at different stages of the packaging design to enhance the package's sustainability. Every decision that will be made must be facilitated with methods that will be engaged per stage to allow for corrective measures throughout the cycle of the design process. Basic performance appraisal of packaging innovations. Food wastage can result in inimical environmental impacts, and ethical practices must be carried out for food loss at home. An examination in West Africa quantified preventable food wastage over the entire food value chain at almost 180kg per person per year. That is preventable food wastage, 35% of which originated at the household level. Many food losses reported, which happened at the harvesting, storage, transportation, and processing stages, are not preventable and are without much environmental impact because such wastage can be used for feeding. Other surveys have shown that 15%-20% of household food losses can be traced to food packaging. Therefore, new innovative packaging systems can lessen the environmental effect of food wastage to extend shelf‐life to lower food loss in the process distribution chain and at the household level.

Keywords: food packaging, biodegradable polymer, intelligent packaging, shelf-life

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Authors: Mohammad Anvari, Helen S. Joyner (Melito)

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Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz is an oilseed crop currently used for the production of biofuels. However, the low price of diesel and gasoline has made camelina an unprofitable crop for farmers, leading to declining camelina production in the US. Hence, the ability to utilize camelina byproduct (defatted meal) after oil extraction would be a pivotal factor for promoting the economic value of the plant. Camelina defatted meal is rich in proteins and polysaccharides. The great diversity in the polysaccharide structural features provides a unique opportunity for use in food formulations as thickeners, gelling agents, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. There is currently a great degree of interest in the study of novel plant polysaccharides, as they can be derived from readily accessible sources and have potential application in a wide range of food formulations. However, there are no published studies on the polysaccharide extracted from camelina meal, and its potential industrial applications remain largely underexploited. Rheological properties are a key functional feature of polysaccharides and are highly dependent on the material composition and molecular structure. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the rheological properties of the polysaccharide extracted from camelina meal at different conditions to obtain insight on the molecular characteristics of the polysaccharide. Flow and dynamic mechanical behaviors were determined under different temperatures (5-50°C) and concentrations (1-6% w/v). Additionally, the zeta potential of the polysaccharide dispersion was measured at different pHs (2-11) and a biopolymer concentration of 0.05% (w/v). Shear rate sweep data revealed that the camelina polysaccharide displayed shear thinning (pseudoplastic) behavior, which is typical of polymer systems. The polysaccharide dispersion (1% w/v) showed no significant changes in viscosity with temperature, which makes it a promising ingredient in products requiring texture stability over a range of temperatures. However, the viscosity increased significantly with increased concentration, indicating that camelina polysaccharide can be used in food products at different concentrations to produce a range of textures. Dynamic mechanical spectra showed similar trends. The temperature had little effect on viscoelastic moduli. However, moduli were strongly affected by concentration: samples exhibited concentrated solution behavior at low concentrations (1-2% w/v) and weak gel behavior at higher concentrations (4-6% w/v). These rheological properties can be used for designing and modeling of liquid and semisolid products. Zeta potential affects the intensity of molecular interactions and molecular conformation and can alter solubility, stability, and eventually, the functionality of the materials as their environment changes. In this study, the zeta potential value significantly decreased from 0.0 to -62.5 as pH increased from 2 to 11, indicating that pH may affect the functional properties of the polysaccharide. The results obtained in the current study showed that camelina polysaccharide has significant potential for application in various food systems and can be introduced as a novel anionic thickening agent with unique properties.

Keywords: Camelina meal, polysaccharide, rheology, zeta potential

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Authors: Sundaram Chandrasekaran, Seung Hyun Hur

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Exploring strategies for oxygen vacancy engineering under mild conditions and understanding the relationship between dislocations and photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell performance are challenging issues for designing high performance PEC devices. Therefore, it is very important to understand that how the oxygen vacancies (VO) or other defect states affect the performance of the photocatalyst in photoelectric transfer. So far, it has been found that defects in nano or micro crystals can have two possible significances on the PEC performance. Firstly, an electron-hole pair produced at the interface of photoelectrode and electrolyte can recombine at the defect centers under illumination of light, thereby reducing the PEC performances. On the other hand, the defects could lead to a higher light absorption in the longer wavelength region and may act as energy centers for the water splitting reaction that can improve the PEC performances. Even if the dislocation growth of ZnO has been verified by the full density functional theory (DFT) calculations and local density approximation calculations (LDA), it requires further studies to correlate the structures of ZnO and PEC performances. Exploring the hybrid structures composed of graphene oxide (GO) and ZnO nanostructures offer not only the vision of how the complex structure form from a simple starting materials but also the tools to improve PEC performances by understanding the underlying mechanisms of mutual interactions. As there are few studies for the ZnO growth with other materials and the growth mechanism in those cases has not been clearly explored yet, it is very important to understand the fundamental growth process of nanomaterials with the specific materials, so that rational and controllable syntheses of efficient ZnO-based hybrid materials can be designed to prepare nanostructures that can exhibit significant PEC performances. Herein, we fabricated various ZnO nanostructures such as hollow sphere, bucky bowl, nanorod and triangle, investigated their pH dependent growth mechanism, and correlated the PEC performances with them. Especially, the origin of well-controlled dislocation-driven growth and its transformation mechanism of ZnO nanorods to triangles on the GO surface were discussed in detail. Surprisingly, the addition of GO during the synthesis process not only tunes the morphology of ZnO nanocrystals and also creates more oxygen vacancies (oxygen defects) in the lattice of ZnO, which obviously suggest that the oxygen vacancies be created by the redox reaction between GO and ZnO in which the surface oxygen is extracted from the surface of ZnO by the functional groups of GO. On the basis of our experimental and theoretical analysis, the detailed mechanism for the formation of specific structural shapes and oxygen vacancies via dislocation, and its impact in PEC performances are explored. In water splitting performance, the maximum photocurrent density of GO-ZnO triangles was 1.517mA/cm-2 (under UV light ~ 360 nm) vs. RHE with high incident photon to current conversion Efficiency (IPCE) of 10.41%, which is the highest among all samples fabricated in this study and also one of the highest IPCE reported so far obtained from GO-ZnO triangular shaped photocatalyst.

Keywords: dislocation driven growth, zinc oxide, graphene oxide, water splitting

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Authors: Gideon Abagna Azunre

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Informal urbanism is perhaps the most ubiquitous urban phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Ghana specifically. Estimates suggest that about two-fifths of urban dwellers (37.9%) in Ghana live in informal settlements, while two-thirds of the working labour force are within the informal economy. This makes Ghana invariably an ‘informal country.’ Informal urbanism involves economic and housing activities that are – in law or in practice – not covered (or insufficiently covered) by formal regulations. Many urban folks rely on informal urbanism as a survival strategy due to limited formal waged employment opportunities or rising home prices in the open market. In an era of globalizing neoliberalism, this struggle to survive in cities resonates with several people globally. For years now, there have been intense debates on the utility of informal urbanism – both its economic and housing dimensions – in developing sustainable cities. While some scholars believe that informal urbanism is beneficial to the sustainable city development agenda, others argue that it generates unbearable negative consequences and it symbolizes lawlessness and squalor. Consequently, the main aim of this research was to dig below the surface of the narratives to locate the role of informal urbanism in the quest for sustainable cities. The research geographically focused on Ghana and its burgeoning informal sector. Also, both primary and secondary data were utilized for the analysis; Secondary data entailed a synthesis of the fragmented literature on informal urbanism in Ghana, while primary data entailed interviews with informal stakeholders (such as informal settlement dwellers), city authorities, and planners. These two data sets were weaved together to discover the nexus between informal urbanism and the tripartite dimensions of sustainable cities – economic, social, and environmental. The results from the research showed a two-pronged relationship between informal urbanism and the three dimensions of sustainable city development. In other words, informal urbanism was identified to both positively and negatively affect the drive for sustainable cities. On the one hand, it provides employment (particularly to women), supplies households’ basic needs (shelter, health, water, and waste management), and enhances civic engagement. However, on the other hand, it perpetuates social and gender inequalities, insecurity, congestion, and pollution. The research revealed that a ‘black and white’ interpretation and policy approach is incapable of capturing the complexities of informal urbanism. Therefore, trying to eradicate or remove it from the urbanscape because it exhibits some negative consequences means cities will lose their positive contributions. The inverse also holds true. A careful balancing act is necessary to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs. Overall, the research presented a de-colonial theorization of informal urbanism and thus followed post-colonial scholars’ clarion call to African cities to embrace the paradox of informality and find ways to integrate it into the city-building process.

Keywords: informal urbanism, sustainable city development, economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, Ghana

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Authors: Tuji Jemal Ahmed, Abdi Mohammed, Geremew Geidare Kailo

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Food security, foodborne illness, and food safety are critical issues that affect the East Harerghe region of Oromia, Ethiopia. Despite the region's potential for agriculture, food insecurity remains a significant problem, with many households experiencing chronic hunger and malnutrition. The region also experiences high rates of foodborne illnesses, including cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea, which are caused by poor hygiene and sanitation practices. Additionally, food safety is a significant challenge, particularly in rural areas, where there is a lack of infrastructure, inadequate food storage facilities, and limited access to information about food safety. There are several factors that contribute to the current situation in the East Harerghe region; firstly, the region is susceptible to natural disasters, for instance, drought, which affects crop yields and livestock production. Secondly, the region also experiences poor infrastructure, which affects the storage and transportation of food, particularly in rural areas. Thirdly, there is a lack of awareness and knowledge on good hygiene and sanitation practices, specifically during food handling, processing, and storage. Fourthly, unitability due to conflict and other forms of land degradation exacerbates food insecurity and malnutrition. Finally, limited access to financial resources and markets commonly affects smallholder farmers by their ability to produce and sell food. To address the current situation in that area, several potential solutions can be implemented; investment in infrastructure is necessary, especially in rural areas, to improve the storage and transportation of food. Education and awareness programs on good hygiene and sanitation practices should target local communities, smallholder farmers, and food vendors. Financial resources and markets should be made more accessible to smallholder farmers, particularly through the provision of credit and improved access to markets. Addressing the underlying causes of conflict and promoting peaceful coexistence can help to reduce displacement and loss of livelihoods. Finally, the enforcement of food safety regulations and the implementation of standards for food processing and storage facilities are necessary to ensure food safety. In conclusion, addressing the challenges of food security, foodborne illness, and food safety in the East Harerghe region requires a coordinated effort from various stakeholders, including the government, non-governmental organizations, and local communities. By implementing the solutions outlined above, the region can improve its food security, prevent foodborne illnesses, and keep food safe for its population. Eventually, building the resilience of communities to shocks such as droughts, floods, and conflict is necessary to ensure long-term food security in the region.

Keywords: foodborne illness, food handling, food safety, food security

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Authors: María Canal-Rodríguez, María Arnaiz, Natalia Rey-Raap, Ana Arenillas, Jon Ajuria

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The constant demand of electrical energy, as well as the increase in environmental concern, lead to the necessity of investing in clean and eco-friendly energy sources that implies the development of enhanced energy storage devices. Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and Electrical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) are the most widespread energy systems. Batteries are able to storage high energy densities contrary to capacitors, which main strength is the high-power density supply and the long cycle life. The combination of both technologies gave rise to Li-ion capacitors (LICs), which offers all these advantages in a single device. This is achieved combining a capacitive, supercapacitor-like positive electrode with a faradaic, battery-like negative electrode. Due to the abundance and affordability, dual carbon-based LICs are nowadays the common technology. Normally, an Active Carbon (AC) is used as the EDLC like electrode, while graphite is the material commonly employed as anode. LICs are potential systems to be used in applications in which high energy and power densities are required, such us kinetic energy recovery systems. Although these devices are already in the market, some drawbacks like the limited power delivered by graphite or the energy limiting nature of AC must be solved to trigger their used. Focusing on the anode, one possibility could be to replace graphite with Hard Carbon (HC). The better rate capability of the latter increases the power performance of the device. Moreover, the disordered carbonaceous structure of HCs enables storage twice the theoretical capacity of graphite. With respect to the cathode, the ACs are characterized for their high volume of micropores, in which the charge is storage. Nevertheless, they normally do not show mesoporous, which are really important mainly at high C-rates as they act as transport channels for the ions to reach the micropores. Usually, the porosity of ACs cannot be tailored, as it strongly depends on the precursor employed to get the final carbon. Moreover, they are not characterized for having a high electrical conductivity, which is an important characteristic to get a good performance in energy storage applications. A possible candidate to substitute ACs are carbon aerogels (CAs). CAs are materials that combine a high porosity with great electrical conductivity, opposite characteristics in carbon materials. Furthermore, its porous properties can be tailored quite accurately according to with the requirements of the application. In the present study, CAs with controlled porosity were obtained from polymerization of resorcinol and formaldehyde by microwave heating. Varying the synthesis conditions, mainly the amount of precursors and pH of the precursor solution, carbons with different textural properties were obtained. The way the porous characteristics affect the performance of the cathode was studied by means of a half-cell configuration. The material with the best performance was evaluated as cathode in a LIC versus a hard carbon as anode. An analogous full LIC made by a high microporous commercial cathode was also assembled for comparison purposes.

Keywords: li-ion capacitors, energy storage, tailored porosity, carbon aerogels

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Authors: Qian Chen, Lin Xu, Ping Ju, Zhuoran Li, Yiping Yu, Yuqing Jin

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The operation of power grid is becoming more and more complex and difficult due to its rapid development towards high voltage, long distance, and large capacity. For instance, many large-scale wind farms have connected to power grid, where their fluctuation and randomness is very likely to affect the stability and safety of the grid. Fortunately, many new-type equipments based on power electronics have been applied to power grid, such as UPFC (Unified Power Flow Controller), TCSC (Thyristor Controlled Series Compensation), STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator) and so on, which can help to deal with the problem above. Compared with traditional equipment such as generator, new-type controllable devices, represented by the FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission System), have more accurate control ability and respond faster. But they are too expensive to use widely. Therefore, on the basis of the comparison and analysis of the controlling characteristics between traditional control equipment and new-type controllable equipment in both time and space scale, a coordinated optimizing control method within mutil-time-space frame is proposed in this paper to bring both kinds of advantages into play, which can better both control ability and economical efficiency. Firstly, the coordination of different space sizes of grid is studied focused on the fluctuation caused by large-scale wind farms connected to power grid. With generator, FSC (Fixed Series Compensation) and TCSC, the coordination method on two-layer regional power grid vs. its sub grid is studied in detail. The coordination control model is built, the corresponding scheme is promoted, and the conclusion is verified by simulation. By analysis, interface power flow can be controlled by generator and the specific line power flow between two-layer regions can be adjusted by FSC and TCSC. The smaller the interface power flow adjusted by generator, the bigger the control margin of TCSC, instead, the total consumption of generator is much higher. Secondly, the coordination of different time sizes is studied to further the amount of the total consumption of generator and the control margin of TCSC, where the minimum control cost can be acquired. The coordination method on two-layer ultra short-term correction vs. AGC (Automatic Generation Control) is studied with generator, FSC and TCSC. The optimal control model is founded, genetic algorithm is selected to solve the problem, and the conclusion is verified by simulation. Finally, the aforementioned method within multi-time-space scale is analyzed with practical cases, and simulated on PSASP (Power System Analysis Software Package) platform. The correctness and effectiveness are verified by the simulation result. Moreover, this coordinated optimizing control method can contribute to the decrease of control cost and will provide reference to the following studies in this field.

Keywords: FACTS, multi-space-time frame, optimal control, TCSC

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Authors: Zo Hasina Rabemananjara

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The North-East of Madagascar is the pillar of Madagascar's foreign trade, providing 41% and 80% of world exports of cloves and vanilla, respectively, in 2016. For Madagascar, the north-eastern escarpment is home to the last massifs of humid forest in large scale of the island, surrounded by a small scale agricultural mosaic. In the sites where this study is taking place, located in the peripheral zones of protected areas, the production of rent aims to supply international markets. In fact, importers of the cash crops produced in these areas are located mainly in India, Singapore, France, Germany and the United States. Recently, the price of these products has increased significantly, especially from the year 2015. For vanilla, the price has skyrocketed, from an approximate price of 73 USD per kilo in 2015 to more than 250 USD per kilo in 2016. The value of clove exports increased sharply by 49.4% in 2017, largely to Singapore and India due to the sharp increase in exported volume (+47, 6%) in 2017. If the relationship between the rise in prices of rented products and the change in physical environments is known, the evolution of the behavior of land users linked to this aspect was not yet addressed by research. In fact, the consequence of this price increase in the organization of the use of space at the local level still raises questions. Hence, the research question is: to what extent does this improvement in the price of imported products affect user behavior linked to the local organization of access to the factor of soil production? To fully appreciate this change in behavior, surveys of 144 land user households were carried out, and group interviews were also carried out. The results of this research showed that the rise in the prices of annuity products from the year 2015 caused significant changes in the behavior of land users in the study sites. Young people, who have not been attracted to farming for a long time, have started to show interest in it since the period of rising vanilla and clove prices. They have set up their own fields of vanilla and clove cultivation. This revival of interest conferred an important value on the land and caused conflicts especially between family members because the acquisition of the cultivated land was done by inheritance or donation. This change in user behavior has also affected the farmers' life strategy since the latter have decided to abandon rain-fed rice farming, which has long been considered a guaranteed subsistence activity for cash crops. This research will contribute to nourishing scientific reflection on the management of land use and also to support political decision-makers in decision-making on spatial planning.

Keywords: behavior of land users, North-eastern Madagascar, price of export products, spatial planning

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Authors: Maryamsadat Habibi

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Objective: pharmaceutical errors are avoidable occurrences that can result in inappropriate pharmaceutical use, patient harm, treatment failure, increased hospital costs and length of stay, and other outcomes that affect both the individual receiving treatment and the healthcare provider. This study aimed to perform a reconciliation of medications in the cardiovascular ward of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, Iran, and evaluate the prevalence of medication discrepancies between the best medication list created for the patient by the pharmacist and the medication order of the treating physician there. Materials & Methods: The 97 patients in the cardiovascular ward of the Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad were the subject of a cross-sectional study from June to September of 2021. After giving their informed consent and being admitted to the ward, all patients with at least one underlying condition and at least two medications being taken at home were included in the study. A medical reconciliation form was used to record patient demographics and medical histories during the first 24 hours of admission, and the information was contrasted with the doctors' orders. The doctor then discovered medication inconsistencies between the two lists and double-checked them to separate the intentional from the accidental anomalies. Finally, using SPSS software version 22, it was determined how common medical discrepancies are and how different sorts of discrepancies relate to various variables. Results: The average age of the participants in this study was 57.6915.84 years, with 57.7% of men and 42.3% of women. 95.9% of the patients among these people encountered at least one medication discrepancy, and 58.9% of them suffered at least one unintentional drug cessation. Out of the 659 medications registered in the study, 399 cases (60.54%) had inconsistencies, of which 161 cases (40.35%) involved the intentional stopping of a medication, 123 cases (30.82%) involved the stopping of a medication unintentionally, and 115 cases (28.82%) involved the continued use of a medication by adjusting the dose. Additionally, the category of cardiovascular pharmaceuticals and the category of gastrointestinal medications were found to have the highest medical inconsistencies in the current study. Furthermore, there was no correlation between the frequency of medical discrepancies and the following variables: age, ward, date of visit, type, and number of underlying diseases (P=0.13), P=0.61, P=0.72, P=0.82, P=0.44, and so forth. On the other hand, there was a statistically significant correlation between the number of medications taken at home (P=0.037) and the prevalence of medical discrepancies with gender (P=0.029). The results of this study revealed that 96% of patients admitted to the cardiovascular unit at Imam Reza Hospital had at least one medication error, which was typically an intentional drug discontinuance. According to the study's findings, patients admitted to Imam Reza Hospital's cardiovascular ward have a great potential for identifying and correcting various medication discrepancies as well as for avoiding prescription errors when the medication reconciliation method is used. As a result, it is essential to carry out a precise assessment to achieve the best treatment outcomes and avoid unintended medication discontinuation, unwanted drug-related events, and drug interactions between the patient's home medications and those prescribed in the hospital.

Keywords: drug combination, drug side effects, drug incompatibility, cardiovascular department

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Authors: Konstantine Eristavi

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The paper will contribute to the discussion on the pitfalls, limits, and possibilities of legal and rights discourse in opposing large infrastructural projects in the context of neoliberal globalisation. To this end, the paper will analyse the struggle against the Namakhvani HPP project in Georgia. The latter has been hailed by the government as one of the largest energy projects in the history of the country, with an enormous potential impact on energy security, energy independence, economic growth, and development. This takes place against the backdrop of decades of market-led -or neoliberal- model of development in Georgia, characterised by structural adjustments, deregulation, privatisation, and Laissez-Fair approach to foreign investment. In this context, the Georgian state vies with other low and middle-income countries for foreign capital by offering to potential investors, on the one hand, exemptions from social and environmental regulations and, on the other hand, huge legal concessions and safeguards, thereby participating in what is often called a “race to the bottom.” The Namakhvani project is a good example of this. At every stage, the project has been marred with violations of laws and regulations concerning transparency, participation, social and environmental regulations, and so on. Moreover, the leaked contract between the state and the developer reveals the contractual safeguards which effectively insulate the investment throughout the duration of the contract from the changes in the national law that might adversely affect investors’ rights and returns. These clauses, aimed at preserving investors' economic position, place the contract above national law in many respects and even conflict with fundamental constitutional rights. In response to the perceived deficiencies of the project, one of the largest and most diverse social movements in the history of post-soviet Georgia has been assembled, consisting of the local population, conservative and leftist groups, human rights and environmental NGOs, etc. Crucially, the resistance movement is actively using legal tools. In order to analyse both the limitations and possibilities of legal discourse, the paper will distinguish between internal and immanent critiques. Law as internal critique, in the context of the struggles around the Namakhvani project, while potentially fruitful in hindering the project, risks neglecting and reproducing those factors -e.g., the particular model of development- that made such contractual concessions and safeguards and concomitant rights violations possible in the first place. On the other hand, the use of rights and law as part of immanent critique articulates a certain incapacity on the part of the addressee government to uphold existing laws and rights due to structural factors, hence, pointing to a need for a fundamental change. This 'ruptural' form of legal discourse that the movement employs makes it possible to go beyond the discussion around the breaches of law and enables a critical deliberation on the development model within which these violations and extraordinary contractual safeguards become necessary. It will be argued that it is this form of immanent critique that expresses the emancipatory potential of legal discourse.

Keywords: law, resistance, development, rights

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Authors: Ekaterina Malova

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Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic illness requiring immense lifestyle changes to reduce the chance of life-threatening complications. Moving to a college may be the first time for a young adult with T1D to take responsibility for all the aspects of their diabetes care. In addition, people with T1D constantly face stigmatization and discrimination as a result of their health condition, which puts additional pressure on young adults with T1D. Hence, omissions in diabetes self-care often occur during the time of transition to college when both the social and physical environment of young adults changes drastically and contribute to the fact that emerging young adults remain one of the age groups with the highest hemoglobin levels and poorest diabetes control. However, despite potential severe health risks caused by a lack of proper diabetes self-care, little is known about the experiences of emerging adults embarking on a higher education journey as this population. Thus, young adults with type 1 diabetes are a 'forgotten group,' meaning that their experiences are rarely addressed by researchers. Given that self-disclosure and information-seeking can be challenging for individuals with stigmatized illnesses, online platforms like YouTube have become a popular medium of self-disclosure and information-seeking for people living with T1D. Thus, this study aims to provide an analysis of experiences that college students with T1D choose to share with the general public online and explore the nature of information being communicated by college students with T1D to the online community in personal narratives posted on YouTube. A systematic approach was used to retrieve a video sample by searching YouTube with keywords 'type 1 diabetes' and 'college,' with results ordered by relevance. A total of 18 videos were saved. Video lengths ranged from 2 to 28 minutes. The data were coded using NVivo. Video transcripts were coded and analyzed utilizing the thematic analysis method. Three key themes emerged from thematic analysis: 1) Advice, 2) Personal experience, and 3) Things I wish everyone knew about T1D. In addition, Theme 1 was divided into subtopics to differentiate between the most common types of advice: 1) Overcoming stigma and b) Seeking social support. The identified themes indicate that two groups of the population can potentially benefit from watching students’ video testimonies: 1) lay public and 2) other students with T1D. Given that students in the videos reported a lack of T1D education in the lay public, such video narratives can serve important educational purposes and reduce health stigma, while perceived similarity and identification with students in the videos may facilitate the transition of health information to other individuals with T1D and positively affect their diabetes routine. Thus, online video narratives can potentially serve both educational and persuasive purposes, empowering students with T1D to stay in control of T1D while succeeding academically.

Keywords: type 1 diabetes, college students, health communication, transition period

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Authors: Reem Alajmi, Hind Al Harbi, Tahany Ayaad, Zainab Al Musawi

Abstract:

Hard ticks Hyalomma spp. (family: Ixodidae) are obligate ectoparasite in their all life stages on some domestic animals mainly camels and cattle. Ticks may lead to many economic and public health problems because of their blood feeding behavior. Also, they act as vectors for many bacterial, viral and protozoan agents which may cause serious diseases such as tick-born encephalitis, Rocky-mountain spotted fever, Q-fever and Lyme disease which can affect human and/or animals. In the present study, molecular identification of ticks that attack camels in Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia based on the partial sequence of mitochondrial 16s rRNA gene was applied. Also, the present study aims to detect natural infections of collected camel ticks with Rickessia spp. and Borelia spp. using PCR/hybridization of Citrate synthase encoding gene present in bacterial cells. Hard ticks infesting camels were collected from different camels located in a farm in Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia. Results of the present study showed that the collected specimens belong to two species: Hyalomma dromedari represent 99% of the identified specimens and Hyalomma marginatum which account for 1 % of identified ticks. The molecular identification was made through blasting the obtained sequence of this study with sequences already present and identified in GeneBank. All obtained sequences of H. dromedarii specimens showed 97-100% identity with the same gene sequence of the same species (Accession # L34306.1) which was used as a reference. Meanwhile, no intraspecific variations of H. marginatum mesured because only one specimen was collected. Results also had shown that the intraspecific variability between individuals of H. dromedarii obtained in 92 % of samples ranging from 0.2- 6.6%, while the remaining 7 % of the total samples of H. dromedarii showed about 10.3 % individual differences. However, the interspecific variability between H. dromedarii and H. marginatum was approximately 18.3 %. On the other hand, by using the technique of PCR/hybridization, we could detect natural infection of camel ticks with Rickettsia spp. and Borrelia spp. Results revealed the natural presence of both bacteria in collected ticks. Rickettsial spp. infection present in 29% of collected ticks, while 35% of collected specimen were infected with Borrelia spp. The valuable results obtained from the present study are a new record for the molecular identification of camel ticks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and their natural infection with both Rickettsia spp. and Borrelia spp. These results may help scientists to provide a good and direct control strategy of ticks in order to protect one of the most important economic animals which are camels. Also results of this project spotlight on the disease that might be transmitted by ticks to put out a direct protective plan to prevent spreading of these dangerous agents. Further molecular studies are needed to confirm the results of the present study by using other mitochondrial and nuclear genes for tick identification.

Keywords: Camel ticks, Rickessia spp. , Borelia spp. , mitochondrial 16s rRNA gene

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