Search results for: common regulative package

Authors: Dung V. H. Pham, Kathryn Cullen

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Introduction: 40% of adolescents with major depression (MDD) are unresponsive to 1st line antidepressant treatment. The neural mechanism underlying treatment-responsive and treatment-resistant depression in adolescent are unclear. Amygdala is important for emotion processing and has been implicated in mood disorders. Past research has shown abnormal amygdala connectivity in adolescents with MDD. This research study changes in amygdala resting-state functional connectivity to find neural correlates of successful antidepressant treatment. Methods: Thirteen adolescents aged 12-19 underwent rfMRI before and after 8-week antidepressant treatment and completed BDI-II at each scan. A whole-brain approach, using anatomically defined amygdala ROIs (1) identified brain regions that are highly synchronous with the amygdala, (2) correlated neural changes with changes in overall depression and specific symptom clusters within depression. Results: Some neural correlates were common across domains: (1) decreased amygdala RSFC with the default mode network (posterior cingulate, precuneus) is associated with improvement in overall depression and many symptom clusters, (2) increased amygdala RSFC with fusiform gyrus is associated with symptom improvement across many symptom clusters. We also found unique neural changes associated with symptom improvement in each symptom cluster. Conclusion: This is the first preliminary study that looks at neural correlates of antidepressant treatment response to overall depression as well as different clusters of symptoms of depression. The finding suggests both overlapping and distinct neural mechanisms underlying improvement in each symptom clusters within depression. Some brain regions found are also implicated in MDD among adults in previous literature.

Keywords: depression, adolescents, fMRI, antidepressants

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Authors: Mirza Sultan Ahmad, Mubashra Ahmad, Ramlah Mehmood, Nazia Mahboob, Waqar Nasir

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Objective: To ascertain the prevalence of thrombocytopenia and study changes in MPV and PDW among cases of vivax malaria. Design: Descriptive analytic study. Place and duration of study: Department of pediatrics, Fazle Omar Hospital, from January to December 2012. Methodology: All patients from birth to 16 years age, who presented in Fazle- Omar hospital, Rabwah from January to December 2012 were included in this study. Hundred patients with other febrile illnesses were taken as control. Full blood counts were checked by Madonic CA 620 analyzer. Name, age, sex, weight, platelet counts. MPV, PDW, any evidence of bleeding, outcome of cases included in this study and taken as control were recorded on data sheets. Results: One hundred and forty-two patients were included in this study. There was no incidence of death or active bleeding. Median platelet count was 109000/mm3. Thrombocytopenia was present in 108 (76.1%) patients. Severe thrombocytopenia was present in 10(7%) patients. Minimum count was 27000/mm3 and maximum was 341000/mm3. Platelet counts of control group was significantly more as compared with study group.(p<.001) Median MPV was 8.70. Minimum value was 6.40 and maximum was 11.90. MPV of study group was significantly more than control group.(p<.001) Median PDW was 11.30. Minimum value was 8.5 and maximum was 16.70. There was no difference between PDW of study and control groups (p=0.246). Conclusions: Thrombocytopenia is a common complication among pediatric cases of vivax malaria. MPV of cases of vivax malaria is higher than control group.

Keywords: malaria vivax, platelet, mean platelet volume, thrombocytopenia

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Authors: Nassib Abdallah, Pierre Chauvet, Abd El Salam Hajjar, Bassam Daya

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In this paper, we propose an optimized brain computer interface (BCI) system for unspoken speech recognition, based on the fact that the constructions of unspoken words rely strongly on the Wernicke area, situated in the temporal lobe. Our BCI system has four modules: (i) the EEG Acquisition module based on a non-invasive headset with 14 electrodes; (ii) the Preprocessing module to remove noise and artifacts, using the Common Average Reference method; (iii) the Features Extraction module, using Wavelet Packet Transform (WPT); (iv) the Classification module based on a one-hidden layer artificial neural network. The present study consists of comparing the recognition accuracy of 5 Arabic words, when using all the headset electrodes or only the 4 electrodes situated near the Wernicke area, as well as the selection effect of the subbands produced by the WPT module. After applying the articial neural network on the produced database, we obtain, on the test dataset, an accuracy of 83.4% with all the electrodes and all the subbands of 8 levels of the WPT decomposition. However, by using only the 4 electrodes near Wernicke Area and the 6 middle subbands of the WPT, we obtain a high reduction of the dataset size, equal to approximately 19% of the total dataset, with 67.5% of accuracy rate. This reduction appears particularly important to improve the design of a low cost and simple to use BCI, trained for several words.

Keywords: brain-computer interface, speech recognition, artificial neural network, electroencephalography, EEG, wernicke area

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Authors: Anano Tenieshvili, Teona Lodia

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Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common mental health problems not only in adults but also in adolescents. Individuals with SAD exhibit difficulties in interpersonal relationships, understanding emotions, and regulating them as well. For social and emotional adaptation, it is crucial to identify, understand, accept and manage emotions correctly. Researchers actively learn those factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of this condition. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to acquire knowledge about the association between social anxiety and individual characteristics, such as theory of mind (ToM), verbal irony comprehension, and personal traits. 112 adolescents aged from 12 to 18 were selected for this research. 15 of them are diagnosed with Social anxiety disorder. Statistical analysis was performed on the entire sample, and furthermore, two groups, adolescents with and without social anxiety disorder, were compared separately. Social anxiety and personal traits were assessed by questionnaires. Theory of mind and comprehension of verbal irony were measured using tests. Statistical analysis indicated a positive relationship between social anxiety and comprehension of ironic criticism. Moreover, social anxiety was significantly positively correlated with neuroticism and isolation tendency, whereas it was negatively related to extraversion and frustration tolerance. On top of that, statistical analysis revealed a positive relationship between ToM and verbal irony comprehension. However, the relationship between social anxiety and ToM was not statistically significant. In conclusion, the current research expands knowledge about social anxiety and supports the results of some previous studies.

Keywords: personal traits, social anxiety, theory of mind, verbal irony comprehension

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Authors: Anano Tenieshvili, Teona Lodia

Abstract:

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common mental health problems not only in adults but also in adolescents. Individuals with SAD exhibit difficulties in interpersonal relationships, understanding emotions and regulating them as well. For social and emotional adaptation, it is crucial to identify, understand, accept and manage emotions correctly. Researchers actively learn those factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of this condition. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to acquire knowledge about the association between social anxiety and individual characteristics, such as the theory of mind (ToM), verbal irony comprehension and personal traits. 112 adolescents aged from 12 to 18 were selected for this research. 15 of them are diagnosed with Social anxiety disorder. Statistical analysis was performed on the entire sample and furthermore, two groups, adolescents with and without a social anxiety disorder, were compared separately. Social anxiety and personal traits were assessed by questionnaires. Theory of mind and comprehension of verbal irony was measured using tests. Statistical analysis indicated a positive relationship between social anxiety and comprehension of ironic criticism. Moreover, social anxiety was significantly positively correlated with neuroticism and isolation tendency, whereas it was negatively related to extraversion and frustration tolerance. On top of that, statistical analysis revealed a positive relationship between ToM and verbal irony comprehension. However, the relationship between social anxiety and ToM was not statistically significant. In conclusion, the current research expands knowledge about social anxiety and supports the results of some previous studies.

Keywords: personal traits, social anxiety, theory of mind, verbal irony comprehension

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Authors: M. Nazim, S. Ameen, H. K. Seo, H. S. Shin

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Energy is the basis of life and strong attention has been growing for the cost-effective energy production. Recently, solution-processed small molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs) have grown much attention due to the wages such as well-defined molecular structures, definite molecular weight, easy synthesis and easy purification techniques. In particular, the size of donor (D) and acceptor (A) unit is a crucial factor for the exciton-diffusion towards D-A interface and then charge-separation for the effective charge-transport to the electrodes. Furan-bridged materials are more electron-rich, high fluorescence, with better molecular-packing, and greater rigidity and greater solubility than their thiophene-counterparts In this work, a furan-bridged thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole based organic small molecule (RFTzR) was formulated and applied for BHJ organic solar cells (OSCs). The introduction of furan spacer with two terminal alkyl units improved its absorption and solubility in the common organic solvents, significantly. RFTzR exhibited a HOMO and LUMO energy levels of -5.36 eV and -3.14 eV, respectively. The fabricated solar cell devices of RFTzR (donor) with PC60BM (acceptor) as photoactive materials showed high performance of 2.72% (RFTzR:PC60BM, 2:1, w/w) ratio with open-circuit voltage of 0.756 V and high photocurrent density of 10.13 mA/cm².

Keywords: chromophore, organic solar cells, photoactive materials, small molecule

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Authors: M. Murmu, Govardhan, J. Satya Eswari

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Concrete is the most common and widely used building material. Concrete is basically made of aggregates, both fine and coarse, glued by a cement paste which is made of cement and water. Each one of these constituents of concrete has a negative environmental impact and gives rise to different sustainability issues. The current concrete construction practice is unsustainable because, not only it consumes enormous quantities of stones, sand, and drinking water, but also one billion tons a year of cement, which is not an environment friendly material. Preventing the reduction of natural resources and enhancing the usage of waste materials has become a challenge to the scientist and engineers. A number of studies have been conducted concerning the protection of natural resources, prevention of environmental pollution and contribution to the economy by using this waste material. This paper outlines the influence of Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) as partial replacement of fine aggregate on mechanical properties of concrete. The strength of concrete is determined having OPC binder, replaced the fine aggregate with15%, 30%, 45% respectively. For this purpose, characteristics concrete mix of M25 with partial replacement of cement with GGBS is used and the strength of concrete cubes and cylinder have determined. The strength of concrete specimens has been compared with the reference specimen. Also X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests have been performed to examine the hydration products and the microstructure of the tested specimens. A correlation has been established between the developmental strength concrete with and without GGBS through analysis of hydration products and the microstructure.

Keywords: GGBS, sand, concrete, workability

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Authors: Anmar Dulaimi, Hassan Al Nageim, Felicite Ruddock, Linda Seton

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Cold bituminous asphalt mixture (CBEM) provide a sustainable, cost effective and energy efficiency alternative to traditional hot mixtures. However, these mixtures have a comparatively low initial strength and as it is considered as evolutionary materials, mainly in the early life where the initial cohesion is low and builds up slowly. On the other hand, asphalt concrete is, by far, the most common mixtures in use as binder course and base in road pavement in the UK having a continuous grade offer a good aggregate interlock results in this material having very good load-spreading properties as well as a high resistance to permanent deformation. This study aims at developing a novel fast curing cold asphalt concrete binder course mixtures by using Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) as a replacement to conventional mineral filler (0%-100%) while new by-product material (LJMU-A2) was used as a supplementary cementitious material. With this purpose, cold asphalt concrete binder course mixtures with cationic emulsions were studied by means of stiffness modulus whereas water sensitivity was approved by assessing the stiffness modulus ratio before and after sample conditioning. The results indicate that a substantial enhancement in the stiffness modulus and a considerable improvement of water sensitivity resistance by adding of LJMU-A2 to the cold asphalt mixtures as a supplementary cementitious material. Moreover, the addition of LJMU-A2 to those mixtures leads to stiffness modulus after 2- day curing comparable to those obtained with Portland cement after 7-day curing.

Keywords: cold mix asphalt, binder course, cement, stiffness modulus, water sensitivity

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Authors: Olga Colbert

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The present work examines the representation of dreaming in Charles Dickens’ novels, particularly Oliver Twist. Dickens showed great interest in the science of dreaming and had ample knowledge of the latest dream theories in the Victorian era, as can be seen in his personal correspondence, most notably in his famous letter to Dr. Thomas Stone on 2/2/1851. This essay places Dickens’ personal writings side by side with his novels to elucidate whether the scientific paradigm about dreaming included in the novel is consistent with the current (in Dickens’ time) scientific knowledge, or whether it is anachronistic or visionary (ahead of his time). Oliver Twist is particularly useful because it contains entire passages pondering on the nature of dreaming, enumerating types of common dreams, and taking a stand on the interference of sensory perception during the dreaming state. The author is particularly intrigued by Dickens’ assumption of the commonality and universality of lucid dreaming as revealed in these passages. This essay places popular Victorian dream theories, such as those contained in Robert Macnish’s The Philosophy of Sleep, side by side with recent dream theory, particularly psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge’s numerous articles and books on the topic of lucid dreaming to see if Dickens deviated in any way from the reigning paradigm of the Victorian era in his representation of dreaming in his novels. While Dickens puts to great narrative use many of the characteristics of dreaming described by leading Victorian theorists, the author of this study argues, however, that Dickens’ most visionary statements derive from his acute observations of his own dreaming experiences.

Keywords: consciousness, Dickens, dreaming, lucid dreaming, Victorian

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Authors: Abdul Rahman Chamseddine

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The Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, the Sahaba, are regarded as the first link between him and later believers who did not know him or learn from him directly. This makes the Sahaba a link in the chain between God and the ummah (community). Apart from their role in spreading the Prophet’s teachings, they came to be regarded as role models, representing the Islamic ideal of life as prescribed by the Prophet himself. According to Hadith, the Prophet had promised some Sahaba unqualified admission to paradise. It is commonly agreed that the Sahaba have the following attributes in common: God is well pleased with them; they will surely go to paradise; they are perfectly trustworthy; and they are the authorities from whom Muslims can learn all matters related to their religion. No other generation of Muslims has received the attention received by the Companions of the Prophet. In spite of the importance of the Sahaba in Islam, we still know comparatively little about them. There are at least two reasons for this. First, there is the overall scarcity of information surviving from the early period. At the death of the Prophet, it is said, there were more than 100,000 Companions. As we shall see, this is a complex issue, involving the definition of the term Sahaba. However, only few Companions of the Prophet are known to us. Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, who wrote in the fifteenth century A.D., was only able to collect facts about 11,000 of them (including those whose status as Sahaba was disputed). Ibn Sa‘d, Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr and Ibn al-Athir, all of whom lived earlier than Ibn Hajar, included in their respective works fewer lives of Sahaba than he did. If we consider Ibn Hajar’s Isaba as the most complete biographical account of the Sahaba that remains available, we have information, presumably, on approximately one tenth of them. The remaining nine tenths are apparently lost from the historical record. Second, discussion of the Sahaba tends to focus on those considered the most important among them such as ‘Uthman, ‘Ali and Mu‘awiya, while others, who together number in the thousands, are less well-known. This paper will try to study the origins of the term Sahaba that became exclusive to the Companions of the Prophet and not a synonym of the word companions in general.

Keywords: companions, Hadith, Islamic history, Muhammad, Sahaba, transmission

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Authors: Rubina Ghani, Sehrish Zia, Afifa Fatima Rafique, Shaista Emad

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Background: Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, with breast cancer being the most common cancer in women. Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer cases among Asian countries. Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for treatment outcomes and quality of life. Method: It is a case-control study with a sample size of 150. There were 100 suspected cancer cases, 25 healthy controls, and 25 diagnosed cancer cases. To analyze SSAT-1 mRNA expression in whole blood, Zymo Research Quick-RNA Miniprep and Innu SCRIPT—One Step RT-PCR Syber Green kits were used. Patients were divided into three groups: 100 suspected cancer cases, 25 controls, and 25 confirmed breast cancer cases. Result: The total mRNA was isolated, and the expression of SSAT-1 was measured using RT-qPCR. The threshold cycle (Ct) values were used to determine the amount of each mRNA. Ct values were then calculated by taking the difference between the CtSSAT-1 and Ct GAPDH, and further Ct values were calculated with the median absolute deviation for all the samples within the same experimental group. Samples that did not correlate with the results were taken as outliers and excluded from the analysis. The relative fold change is shown as 2^-Ct values. Suspected cases showed a maximum fold change of 32.24, with a control fold change of 1.31. Conclusion: The study reveals an overexpression of SSAT-1 in breast cancer. Furthermore, we can use SSAT-1 as a diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic marker for early diagnosis of cancer.

Keywords: breast cancer, spermidine/spermine, qPCR, mRNA

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Authors: S. Tireche, A. Tairi abdelaziz

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Environmental damage has increased steadily in recent decades: Depletion of natural resources, destruction of the ozone layer, greenhouse effect, degradation of the quality of life, land use etc. New terms have emerged as: "Prevention rather than cure" or "polluter pays" falls within the principles of common sense, their practical implementation still remains fragmented. Among the avenues to be explored, one of the most promising is certainly one that focuses on product design. Indeed, where better than during the design phase, can reduce the source of future impacts on the environment? What choices or those of design, they influence more on the environmental characteristics of products? The most currently recognized at the international level is the analysis of the life cycle (LCA) and Life Cycle Assessment, subject to International Standardization (ISO 14040-14043). LCA provides scientific and objective assessment of potential impacts of the product or service, considering its entire life cycle. This approach makes it possible to minimize impacts to the source in pollution prevention. It is widely preferable to curative approach, currently majority in the industrial crops, led mostly by a report of pollution. The "product" is to reduce the environmental impacts of a given product, taking into account all or part of its life cycle. Currently, there are emerging tools, known as eco-design. They are intended to establish an environmental profile of the product to improve its environmental performance. They require a quantity sufficient information on the product for each phase of its life cycle: raw material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, usage, end of life (recycling or incineration or deposit) and all stages of transport. The assessment results indicate the sensitive points of the product studied, points on which the developer must act.

Keywords: eco design, impact, life cycle analysis (LCA), sustainability

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Authors: Elisenda Camprecios, Alicia Macarrila, Montse Albiol, Neus Garriga Garriga

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The loss of a child during pregnancy, or shortly after birth, is not a common occurrence, but it is a prevalent fact in our society. When this loss happens, life and death walk together. The grief that parents experience following a perinatal loss is a devastating experience. Professionals are aware that the quality of care offered during this first period is crucial to support the families experiencing a perinatal loss and meet their needs. However, it is not always easy for the health care professionals to know what to say and what to do in these difficult circumstances. Given the complexity of the Health, painful process that a family must face when is affected by such loss, we believe that the creation of a protocol that pays special attention to the emotional needs of those couples can be a very valuable tool for the professionals. The short documentary named ‘When the illusion vanished’ was created as part of the material of this protocol, which focuses on the emotional needs of the families who have suffered a perinatal loss. This video is designed to see what impact has a perinatal death and to raise awareness among professionals working in this field. The methodology is based on interviews with couples who have experienced perinatal death and to professionals who accompany families suffering from perinatal loss. The use of sensitive and empathized words, being encouraged to express feelings, respect the time, appropriate training for the professionals are some of the issues reflected in this documentary. We believe that this video has contributed to help health care professionals to empathize and understand the need to be able to accompany these families with the appropriate care, respectful, empathetic attitude and professionalism so that they can start the path to a ‘healthy’ mourning.

Keywords: neonatal loss, midwifery, perinatal bereavement, perinatal loss

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Authors: Etaf Khlaed Haroun Alkhlaifat

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When doctors and patients do not share the same first language, language barriers may exist, which may have negative effects on the quality of communication and care provided. Doctors’ use of medical jargon and patients’ inability to fully express their illness, to a potential loss of relevant information can often create misunderstanding. This study sought to examine the extent to which a lack of “common” language represents one of the linguistic obstacles that may adversely influence the quality of healthcare services in Jordan. Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) was used to interpret the phenomena under study. Doctors (n=9) and patients (n=18) were observed and interviewed in natural Jordanian medical settings. A thematic qualitative approach was employed to analyse the data. The preliminary findings of the study revealed that most doctors appeared to have a good sense of appropriate ways to break through communication barriers by changing medical terminologies or jargons into lay terms. However, for some, there were two main challenges: 1) the use of medical jargon in explaining medication and side effects and 2) the lack of patients’ knowledge in providing a full explanation about their illnesses. The study revealed that language barriers adversely affect health outcomes for patients with limited fluency in the English language. It argues that it is doctors’ responsibility to guarantee mutual understanding, educate patients on their condition and improve their health outcomes.

Keywords: communication accommodation theory, doctor-patient interaction, language barrier, medical jargon, misunderstanding

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Authors: Viacheslav Sushko, Viktor Sushko

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Pre-cancerous breast diseases are pathological changes that precede the appearance of adenocarcinoma. The most common benign breast disease is mastopathy. We examined the life and disease history of 114 women aged 58-69 who were diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the breast at different stages of development. They filled out the Reeder Scale to determine the level of stress. The results of the study revealed that 62 of them had mastopathy at the age of 30-45 years old. These women refused surgical treatment for mastopathy. Five to six years before their diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the mammary gland, 84 women had experienced severe stress (death of a beloved close relative, torture accompanied by rape, prolonged stay in extreme conditions (under bombardment and bombardment). In the assessment of data from completed Reeder scales, 114 women had a high level of mental stress, with a score from 1-1.72. The 84 women who suffered from severe stress showed overeating or a significant decrease in food intake, insomnia, apathy, increased irritability and restlessness, loss of interest in sexual relationships, forgetfulness, difficulty in performing routine work, prolonged uncontrollable headaches, unexplained fatigue, heart pain, reduced capacity for work. In conclusion, it is important to provide psychotherapy for breast cancer patients as the diagnosis, and the different stages of treatment are very stressful. It is also advisable to see a psychiatrist at an early stage and prevent distress and treat precancerous breast disease.

Keywords: breast cancer, distress, mastopathy, severe stress

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Authors: Helena Baffoe

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The US has developed numerous programs over the past 50 years to enhance the lives of those who suffer from mental health illnesses and substance abuse, as well as the effectiveness of their treatments. Despite these advances over the past 50 years, there hasn't been a corresponding improvement in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental health disorders and substance abuse. Highly publicized acts of violence frequently elicit comments that blame the perpetrator's perceived mental health disorder since such people are thought to be substance abusers. Despite these strong public beliefs and perception about mental disorder and substance abuse, concreate empirical evidence that entail this perception is lacking, and evidence of their effectiveness has not been integrated. A rich data was collected from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) with a hypothesis that people who are diagnosed with a mental health disorder are likely to be diagnosed with substance abuse using logit regression analysis and Instrumental Variable. It was found that depressive, anxiety, and trauma/stressor mental disorders constitute the most common mental disorder in the United States, and the study could not find statistically significant evidence that being diagnosed with these leading mental health disorders in the United States does necessarily imply that such a patient is diagnosed with substances abuse. Thus, the public has a misconception of mental health and substance abuse issues, and social workers' responsibilities are outlined in order to assist ameliorate this attitude and perception.

Keywords: mental health disorder, substance abuse, role of a social worker, evidence based research

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Authors: Gina Aurora Necula

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From its transformation into a taboo and its hiding under the so-called “Moldovan language” or under the euphemistic expression “state language” to its regained status recognition as an official language, the Romanian language spoken in the Republic of Moldova has undergone impressive reforms in the last 60 years. Meant to erase the awareness of citizens’ ethnic identity and turn a majority language into a minority one, all the laws and regulations issued on the field succeeded into setting numerous barriers for speakers of Romanian. Either manifested as social constraints or materialized into assumed rejection of mother tongue usage, all these laws have demonstrated their usefulness and major impact on the Romanian-speaking population. This article is the result of our research carried out over 10 years with the support of students, and Moldovan citizens, from the master's degree program "Romanian language - identity and cultural awareness." We present here a retrospective insight of the reforms, laws, and regulations that contributed to the shifted status of the Romanian language from the official language, seen as the language of common use both in the public and private spheres, in the minority language that surrendered its privileged place to the Russian language, firstly in the public sphere, and then, slowly but surely, in the private sphere. Our main goal here is to identify and make speakers understand what the barriers to learning Romanian language are nowadays when the social pressure on using Russian no longer exists.

Keywords: linguistic barriers, lingua franca, private sphere, public sphere, reformation

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Authors: AliAkbar Hafezi, Jahanbakhsh Asadi, Majid Shahbazi, Alijan Tabarraei, Nader Mansour Samaei, Hamed Sheibak, Roghaye Gharaei

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Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In most cancer cells, apoptosis is blocked. As for the importance of apoptosis in cancer cell death and the role of different genes in its induction or inhibition, the search for compounds that can begin the process of apoptosis in tumor cells is discussed as a new strategy in anticancer drug discovery. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Naringenin (NGEN) on the apoptosis in the T47D cell line of breast cancer. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study in vitro, the T47D cell line of breast cancer was selected as a sample. The cells at 24, 48, and 72 hours were treated with doses of 20, 200, and 1000 µm of Naringenin. Then, the transcription levels of the genes involved in apoptosis, including Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase 3, Caspase 8, Caspase 9, P53, PARP-1, and FAS, were assessed using Real Time-PCR. The collected data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0. Results: The results showed that Naringenin at doses of 20, 200, and 1000 µm in all three times of 24, 48, and 72 hours increased the expression of Caspase 3, P53, PARP-1 and FAS and reduced the expression of Bcl-2 and increased the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, nevertheless in none of the studied doses and times, had not a significant effect on the expression of Bax, Caspase 8 and Caspase 9. Conclusion: This study indicates that Naringenin can reduce the growth of some cancer cells and cause their deaths through increased apoptosis and decreased anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 gene expression and, resulting in the induction of apoptosis via both internal and external pathways.

Keywords: apoptosis, breast cancer, naringenin, T47D cell line

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Authors: Simon Keller, Rainer Mueller

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Continuous range queries are a common means to handle mobile clients in high-density areas. Most existing approaches focus on settings in which the range queries for location-based services are more or less static, whereas the mobile clients in the ranges move. We focus on a category called dynamic real-time range queries (DRRQ), assuming that both, clients requested by the query and the inquirers, are mobile. In consequence, the query parameters and the query results continuously change. This leads to two requirements: the ability to deal with an arbitrarily high number of mobile nodes (scalability) and the real-time delivery of range query results. In this paper, we present the highly decentralized solution adaptive quad streaming (AQS) for the requirements of DRRQs. AQS approximates the query results in favor of a controlled real-time delivery and guaranteed scalability. While prior works commonly optimize data structures on the involved servers, we use AQS to focus on a highly distributed cell structure without data structures automatically adapting to changing client distributions. Instead of the commonly used request-response approach, we apply a lightweight streaming method in which no bidirectional communication and no storage or maintenance of queries are required at all.

Keywords: approximation of client distributions, continuous spatial range queries, mobile objects, streaming-based decentralization in spatial mobile environments

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Authors: Sri Wartini

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Based on the sovereignty over natural resources principle, the Indonesian government has an authority to exploit the natural resources within a national jurisdiction of Indonesia. The forest is one of the natural resources which is very valuable for Indonesia. It becomes the source of raw material for many industrial activities, such as pharmaceutical industry, pulp industry, and household furniture industry. Hence, it contributes to the economic development of Indonesia. However, the exploitation of the forest may cause negative impacts, such as environmental pollution and environmental degradation. The implementation of the sovereignty over natural resources principle in Indonesia may jeopardize the forest and affect the sustainability of the forest if there is no appropriate policy of the government to exploit the forest in a sustainable manner. The exploitation of the forest in Indonesia, in some extent, has caused serious impact to environment and biodiversity. Hence, in order to sustain and to maintain the forest as the valuable resources to the future generation, the government of Indonesia has already adopted many programmes and action plans. The aim of the research is to undertake a critical examination of the issues relating to the the implementation of sovereignty over natural resources to the exploitation of the forest in Indonesia. It is a normative research and the methodology employed in this research is library research. While the approaches employed in the research are conceptual approach., statutory approach, and comparative approach. The research finds that the implementation of sovereignty over natural resources principle in the exploitation of the forest in Indonesia is limited by other principles of international environmental law, such as sustainable development principle, intergenerational principle and common concern principle which have been adopted in the government policy and various regulations regarding the exploitation of the forest in Indonesia.

Keywords: Environmental damage, negative impacts, pollution, the sovereignty over natural resources

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Authors: Gloria G. Delan, Alfonso S. Piquero, Rachel Luz V. Rica, Christine M. Corrales

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The selected marine protected areas (MPAs) of southern Cebu, Philippines were assessed after these have been established between the years 2000 to 2007. These include Casay of Argao, Cawayan of Dalaguete, Guiwang-Daang Lungsod of Alcoy, North Granada of Boljoon and Sta. Cruz of Ronda. These MPAs were assessed to gather baseline information on its coral life-form structure. Point-intercept transect (PIT) method was used in the observation. Benthic life form and reef substrate at each 0.25 m point interval were identified and recorded along 50 meters transect line both inside and outside of these MPAs. It has been observed that massive, branching and digitate form of corals dominated among the five sanctuaries. Percentage of Live Hard Corals was much higher inside than outside in all sanctuaries. Common to all sanctuaries were noticeable presence of dead corals with algae and coral rubbles indicating an over-exploited habitat. Casay, Cawayan and Daan-Lungsod MPAs had some Crown of Thorn Starfish (COTS) which may pose threat to its coral community. It has been recommended that there should be strict law enforcement and a long term monitoring to continuously conserve and protect coral reef which is an important habitat for fishes for its sustainability as food for human.

Keywords: coral rubbles, coral reef, live hard coral, point-intercept transect

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Authors: Ayda Khosravanihaghighi, Pramod Koshy, Bill Walsh, Vedran Lovric, Charles Christopher Sorrell

Abstract:

There is an increasing demand for orthopedic implants owing to the increasing numbers of the aging population. Titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) is a common material used for orthopedic implants owing to its advantageous properties in terms of good corrosion resistance, minimal elastic modulus mismatch with bone, bio-inertness, and high mechanical strength. However, it is important to improve the bioactivity and osseointegration of the titanium alloy and this can be achieved by coating the implant surface with suitable ceramic materials. In the present work, pure and doped-ceria (CeO₂) coatings were deposited by spin coating on the titanium alloy surface in order to enhance the biological interactions between the surface of the implant and the surrounding tissue. In order to examine the bone-binding ability of an implant, simulated body fluid (SBF) tests were conducted in order to assess the capability of apatite layer formation on the surface and thus predict in vivo bone bioactivity. Characterization was done using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses to determine the extent of apatite formation. Preliminary tests showed that the CeO₂ coatings were biocompatible and that the extent of apatite formation and its characteristics can be enhanced by doping with suitable metal ions.

Keywords: apatite layer, biocompatibility, ceria, orthopaedic implant, SBF, spin coater, Ti-implant

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Abate Getnet Demisash, Beshatu Taye Hatew, Ababo Geleta Gudisa

Abstract:

As consumption trends of fish are rising in Ethiopia, assessment of the environmental performance of Fisheries becomes vital. Hence, Cleaner Production Assessment was conducted on Lake Tana No.1 Fish Supply Association. This paper focuses on determining the characteristics, quantity and setting up cleaner production option for the site with experimental investigation. The survey analysis showed that illegal waste dumping in Lake Tana is common practice in the area and some of the main reasons raised were they have no option than doing this for discharging fish wastes. Quantifying a fish waste by examination of records at the point of generation resulted in generation rate of 72,822.61 kg per year which is a significant amount of waste and needs management system. The result of the proximate analysis showed high free fat content of about 12.33% and this was a good candidate for the production of biodiesel that has been set as an option for fish waste utilization. Among the different waste management options, waste reduction by product optimization which involves biodiesel production was chosen as a potential method. Laboratory scale experiments were performed to produce renewable energy source from the wastes. The resulting biodiesel was characterized and found to have a density of 0.756kg/L, viscosity 0.24p and 153°C flash points which shows the product has values in compliance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards.

Keywords: biodiesel, cleaner production, renewable energy, clean energy, waste to energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: F. Esfandyari Darabad, Z. Samadi

Abstract:

Natural environments have always been affected by one of the most important natural hazards, which is called, the mass movements that cause instability. Identifying the unstable regions and separating them so as to detect and determine the risk of environmental factors is one of the important issues in mountainous areas development. In this study, the northwest of Sabalan hillsides overlooking the Meshkin city and the surrounding area of that have been delimitated, in order to analyze the range processes such as landslides and debris flows based on structural and geomorphological conditions, by means of using GIS. This area due to the high slope of the hillsides and height of the region and the poor localization of roads and so because of them destabilizing the ranges own an inappropriate situation. This study is done with the purpose of identifying the effective factors in the range motion and determining the areas with high potential for zoning these movements by using GIS. The results showed that the most common range movements in the area, are debris flows, rocks falling and landslides. The effective factors in each one of the mass movements, considering a small amount of weight for each factor, the weight map of each factor and finally, the map of risk zoning for the range movements were provided. Based on the zoning map resulted in the study area, the risking level of damaging has specified into the four zones of very high risk, high risk, medium risk, low risk, in which areas with very high and high risk are settled near the road and along the Khyav river and in the  mountainous district.

Keywords: debris flow, environmental hazards, GIS, landslide

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Authors: Mohadeseh Shojaei Shahrokhabadi, Ding-Geng (Din) Chen

Abstract:

Positive continuous outcomes with a substantial number of zero values and incomplete longitudinal follow-up are quite common in medical cost data. To jointly model semi-continuous longitudinal cost data and survival data and to provide marginalized covariate effect estimates, a marginalized two-part joint model (MTJM) has been developed for outcome variables with lognormal distributions. In this paper, we propose MTJM models for outcome variables from a generalized gamma (GG) family of distributions. The GG distribution constitutes a general family that includes approximately all of the most frequently used distributions like the Gamma, Exponential, Weibull, and Log Normal. In the proposed MTJM-GG model, the conditional mean from a conventional two-part model with a three-parameter GG distribution is parameterized to provide the marginal interpretation for regression coefficients. In addition, MTJM-gamma and MTJM-Weibull are developed as special cases of MTJM-GG. To illustrate the applicability of the MTJM-GG, we applied the model to a set of real electronic health record data recently collected in Iran, and we provided SAS code for application. The simulation results showed that when the outcome distribution is unknown or misspecified, which is usually the case in real data sets, the MTJM-GG consistently outperforms other models. The GG family of distribution facilitates estimating a model with improved fit over the MTJM-gamma, standard Weibull, or Log-Normal distributions.

Keywords: marginalized two-part model, zero-inflated, right-skewed, semi-continuous, generalized gamma

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Manisha Bal, B. C. Meikap

Abstract:

Hydrogen chloride is the most common acid gas emitted by the industries. HCl gas is listed as Title III hazardous air pollutant. It causes severe threat to the human health as well as environment. So, removal of HCl from flue gases is very imperative. In the present study, submerged self-priming venturi scrubber is chosen to remove the HCl gas with water as a scrubbing liquid. Venturi scrubber is the most popular device for the removal of gaseous pollutants. Main mechanism behind the venturi scrubber is the polluted gas stream enters at converging section which accelerated to maximum velocity at throat section. A very interesting thing in case of submerged condition, venturi scrubber is submerged inside the liquid tank and liquid is entered at throat section because of suction created due to large pressure drop generated at the throat section. Maximized throat gas velocity atomizes the entered liquid into number of tiny droplets. Gaseous pollutant HCl is absorbed from gas to liquid droplets inside the venturi scrubber due to interaction between the gas and water. Experiments were conducted at different throat gas velocity, water level and inlet concentration of HCl to enhance the HCl removal efficiency. The effect of throat gas velocity, inlet concentration of HCl, and water level on removal efficiency of venturi scrubber has been evaluated. Present system yielded very high removal efficiency for the scrubbing of HCl gas which is more than 90%. It is also concluded that the removal efficiency of HCl increases with increasing throat gas velocity, inlet HCl concentration, and water level height.

Keywords: air pollution, HCl scrubbing, mass transfer, self-priming venturi scrubber

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Nattawadee Sinpattanawong

Abstract:

Oral presentation has been used mostly in business communication. The business presentation is carrying out through an audio and visual presentation material such as statistical documents, projectors, etc. Common examples of business presentation are intra-organization and sales presentations. The study aims at investigating functions, strategies and contents of assessors’ verbal feedback on presenters’ oral presentations and exploring presenters’ learning process and specific views and expectations concerning assessors’ verbal feedback related to the delivery of the oral presentation. This study is designed as a descriptive qualitative research; four master students and one teacher in English for Business and Industry Presentation Techniques class of public university will be selected. The researcher hopes that any understanding how assessors’ verbal feedback on oral presentations and learning process may illuminate issues for other people. The data from this research may help to expand and facilitate the readers’ understanding of assessors’ verbal feedback on oral presentations and learning process in their own situations. The research instruments include an audio recorder, video recorder and an interview. The students will be interviewing in order to ask for their views and expectations concerning assessors’ verbal feedback related to the delivery of the oral presentation. After finishing data collection, the data will be analyzed and transcribed. The findings of this study are significant because it can provide presenters knowledge to enhance their learning process and provide teachers knowledge about providing verbal feedback on student’s oral presentations on a business context.

Keywords: business context, learning process, oral presentation, verbal feedback

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Suzanne Ahmed

Abstract:

Nanomotors, also commonly referred to as nanorobotics or nanomachines, have garnered considerable research attention due to their numerous potential applications in biomedicine, including drug delivery and microsurgery. Nanomotors typically consist of inorganic or polymeric particles that are powered to undergo motion. These artificial, man-made nanoscale motors operate in the low Reynolds number regime and typically have no moving parts. Several methods have been developed to actuate the motion of nanomotors including magnetic fields, electrical fields, electromagnetic waves, and chemical fuel. Since their introduction in 2012, ultrasonically powered nanomotors have been explored in biocompatible fluids and even within living cells. Due to the common use of ultrasound within the biomedical community for both imaging and therapeutics, the introduction of ultrasonically propelled nanomotors holds significant potential for biomedical applications. In this work, metallic nanomotors are electrochemically plated within porous anodic alumina templates to have a diameter of 300 nm and a length that is 2-4 µm. Nanomotors are placed within an acoustic chamber capable of producing bulk acoustic waves in the ultrasonic range. The motion of nanomotors within biomimetic confines is explored. The control over nanomotor motion is exerted by virtue of the properties of the acoustic signal within these biomimetic confines to control speed, modes of motion and directionality of motion. To expand the range of control over nanorod motion within biomimetic confines, external forces from biocompatible magnetic fields, are exerted onto the acoustically propelled nanomotors.

Keywords: nanomotors, nanomachines, nanorobots, ultrasound

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Cecilia Fagerstrom, Solve Elmstahl, Lena S. Wranker

Abstract:

The conditions of increased morbidity in an aging population cause the need for family care to become more common at an advanced age. The role of family caregivers may well last for a long time but may also change over time, from being caregivers to being non-caregivers or vice versa. Although demands associated with family caring change as individuals enter into, engage with, and exit from this role, the evidence regarding the impact of family caregiving transitions on the health of older carers is still limited. This study comprised individuals (n=2294, 60+years) from the southern part of Sweden included in the project Swedish National study of Aging and Care. Caregiving transitions are discussed in the categories: enter, exit, and continuing during a six-year period. Individuals who exited caregiving during the time were older than those who continued or entered into the role of caregiving. At the six-year follow-up, caregivers who were continuing or had exited caregiving were more often worried about their own health compared to baseline. Resembling findings were not found in those who entered caregiving. Family caregiving transitions of exiting, entering or continuing had no effect on the individuals’ functional, physical and mental health expect for participants who entered in caregiving. For them, entering the role of family caregiving was associated with an improvement in physical health during the six years follow up period. Conclusion: Although the health impact of different caregiving transitions in late life does not differ, individual conditions and health at baseline are important parameters to take into consideration to improve long-term health in family caregivers.

Keywords: family caregiving, health, old age, transition

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Jatziri Y. Moreno-Martínez, Arturo Galván, Israel Enrique Herrera Díaz, José Ramón Gasca Tirado

Abstract:

In recent years, for the elevated viaducts in Mexico City, a construction system based on precast/pre-stressed concrete elements has been used, in which the bridge girders are divided in two parts by imposing a hinged support in sections where the bending moments that are originated by the gravity loads in a continuous beam are minimal. Precast concrete girders with dapped ends are a representative sample of a behavior that has complex configurations of stresses that make them more vulnerable to cracking due to flexure–shear interaction. The design procedures for ends of the dapped girders are well established and are based primarily on experimental tests performed for different configurations of reinforcement. The critical failure modes that can govern the design have been identified, and for each of them, the methods for computing the reinforcing steel that is needed to achieve adequate safety against failure have been proposed. Nevertheless, the design recommendations do not include procedures for controlling diagonal cracking at the entrant corner under service loading. These cracks could cause water penetration and degradation because of the corrosion of the steel reinforcement. The lack of visual access to the area makes it difficult to detect this damage and take timely corrective actions. Three-dimensional non-linear numerical models based on Finite Element Method to study the cracking at the entrant corner of dapped-end beams were performed using the software package ANSYS v. 11.0. The cracking was numerically simulated by using the smeared crack approach. The concrete structure was modeled using three-dimensional solid elements SOLID65 capable of cracking in tension and crushing in compression. Drucker-Prager yield surface was used to include the plastic deformations. The longitudinal post-tension was modeled using LINK8 elements with multilinear isotropic hardening behavior using von Misses plasticity. The reinforcement was introduced with smeared approach. The numerical models were calibrated using experimental tests carried out in “Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México”. In these numerical models the characteristics of the specimens were considered: typical solution based on vertical stirrups (hangers) and on vertical and horizontal hoops with a post-tensioned steel which contributed to a 74% of the flexural resistance. The post-tension is given by four steel wires with a 5/8’’ (16 mm) diameter. Each wire was tensioned to 147 kN and induced an average compressive stress of 4.90 MPa on the concrete section of the dapped end. The loading protocol consisted on applying symmetrical loading to reach the service load (180 kN). Due to the good correlation between experimental and numerical models some additional numerical models were proposed by considering different percentages of post-tension in order to find out how much it influences in the appearance of the cracking in the reentrant corner of the dapped-end beams. It was concluded that the increasing of percentage of post-tension decreases the displacements and the cracking in the reentrant corner takes longer to appear. The authors acknowledge at “Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Celaya-Salvatierra” and the financial support of PRODEP-SEP (UGTO-PTC-460) of the Mexican government. The first author acknowledges at “Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México”.

Keywords: concrete dapped-end beams, cracking control, finite element analysis, postension

Procedia PDF Downloads 226