Search results for: shelf Life

Authors: Yeaji Seok, Myung Kyung Lee

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Background: Even if patients survive after a stroke, stroke patients may experience disability in mobility, sensation, cognition, and speech and language. Stroke patients require rehabilitation for functional recovery and daily life for a considerable time. During rehabilitation, the role of caregivers is important. However, the stroke patients’ quality of life may deteriorate due to family caregivers’ non-preparedness and increased role burden. Purpose: To investigate the prediction of caregivers' preparedness and role burden on stroke patients’ quality of life. Methods: The target population was stroke patients who were hospitalized for rehabilitation and their family care providers. A total of 153 patient-family caregiver dyads were recruited from June to August 2021. Data were collected from self-reported questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, chi-squared test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and multiple regression with SPSS statistics 28 programs. Results: Family caregivers’ preparedness affected stroke patients’ mobility (β = .20, p < 0.05) and character (β = -.084, p < 0.05) and production activities (β = -.197, p < 0.05) in quality of life. The role burden of family caregivers affected language skills (β = .310, p<0.05), visual functions (β=-.357, p < 0.05), thinking skills (β = 0.443, p = 0.05), mood conditions (β = 0.565, p < 0.001), family roles (β = -0.361, p < 0.001), and social roles (β = -0.304, p < 0.001), while the caregivers’ burden of performing self-protection negatively affected patients’ social roles (β = .180, p=.048). In addition, caregivers’ role burden of personal life sacrifice affected patients’ mobility (β = .311, p < 0.05), self-care (β =.232, p < 0.05) and energy (β = .239, p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study indicated that family caregivers' preparedness and role burden affected stroke patients’ quality of life. The results of this study suggested that intervention to improve family caregivers’ preparedness and to reduce role burden should be required for quality of life in stroke patients.

Keywords: quality of life, preparedness, role burden, caregivers, stroke

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Authors: Katarzyna Pasternak

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Experiencing the meaning of life is widely recognised as a vital element of well-being and central human motivation. Studies have shown that a higher meaning of life is associated, among other things, with a higher quality of life, higher levels of happiness and better declared health. The subject of the study is the meaning in life measured with The Meaning in Life Questionnaire and the presence of such emotions as nostalgia, awe and hope, and the content of imaginations measured after temporal mental simulations in Americans and Poles. The respondents had to imagine themselves in future, in 40 years and describe two events that would take place at that time. Next, participants assessed the importance of the events described by them, recognised whether during their journey through time they felt awe, hope and nostalgia, and answered the questionnaire examining the meaning in life. 204 (102 from Poland 102 from the USA ) people aged 21 to 60 participated in the study. The study checked whether there were differences in the content of the imaginations of the respondents from Poland and USA, and whether there were statistically significant difference between the declared sense of meaning in life among participants from both countries. The result of the study hane shown that there were no differences in the overall result obtained by the participants in The Meaning in Life Questionnaire , while there were statistically significant differences among the subscales of the questionnaire. It turned out that Americans have a higher presence of meaning in life than Poles, but they obtained lower results in searching of meaning in life. Studies have also shown that there was a statistically significant difference between Poles and Americans in feeling awe after a mental simulation. Poles felt higher level of awe. Images about the future differed between Poles and Americans. Poles judged that the events they described were very important to them. Interestingly, the content of American participants’ imaginations was dominated by topics related to the future of the world, ecology and world peace. There were also ideas about nice moments spent with friends and family. Among Poles, ideas related to professional career and development as well as family events dominated. Research shows that despite the lack of differences in the general meaning in life, Poles are more focused on searching for meaning in life than Americans. The study shows interesting differences between the two cultures.

Keywords: meaning in life, mental simulations, imaginations, temporal mental simulations, future, cultural differences

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Authors: H. Booke, R. Nordmeier

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Sudden cardiac arrest is sometimes eye-witnessed by kids. Mostly, their (grand-)parents are affected by sudden cardiac arrest, putting these kids under enormous psychological pressure: Although they are more than desperate to help, they feel insecure and helpless and are afraid of causing harm rather than realizing their chance to help. Even years later, they may blame themselves for not having helped their beloved ones. However, the absolute majority of school children - at least in Germany - is not educated to provide first aid. Teaching young kids (5th grade) in basic life support thus may help to save lives while washing away the kids' fear from causing harm during cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. A teaching of circulatory and respiratory (patho-)physiology, followed by hands-on training of basic life support for every single child, was offered to each school in our district. The teaching was performed by anesthesiologists, and the program was called 'kids can save lives'. However, before enrollment in this program, the entire class must have had lessons in biology with a special focus on heart and circulation as well as lung and gas exchange. More than 1.000 kids were taught and trained in basic life support, giving them the knowledge and skills to provide basic life support. This may help to reduce the rate of failure to provide first aid. Therefore, educating young kids in basic life support may not only help to save lives, but it also may help to prevent any feelings of guilt because of not having helped in cases of eye-witnessed sudden cardiac arrest.

Keywords: teaching, children, basic life support, cardiac arrest, CPR

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Authors: Ali Aydin, Mert Sudagidan, Aysen Coban, Alparslan Kadir Devrim

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Pseudomonas spp. (specifically, P. fluorescens and P. fragi) are considered the principal spoilage microorganisms of refrigerated poultry meats. The higher the level psychrophilic spoilage Pseudomonas spp. on carcasses at the end of processing lead to decrease the shelf life of the refrigerated product. The aim of the study was the identification of psychrophilic Pseudomonas spp. having proteolytic and lipolytic activities from poultry meats by 16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequencing, investigation of protease and lipase related genes and determination of proteolytic activity of Pseudomonas spp. In the of isolation procedure, collected chicken meat samples from local markets and slaughterhouses were homogenized and the lysates were incubated on Standard method agar and Skim Milk agar for selection of proteolytic bacteria and tributyrin agar for selection of lipolytic bacteria at +4 °C for 7 days. After detection of proteolytic and lipolytic colonies, the isolates were firstly analyzed by biochemical tests such as Gram staining, catalase and oxidase tests. DNA gene sequencing analysis and comparison with GenBank revealed that 126 strong enzyme Pseudomonas spp. were identified as predominantly P. fluorescens (n=55), P. fragi (n=42), Pseudomonas spp. (n=24), P. cedrina (n=2), P. poae (n=1), P. koreensis (n=1), and P. gessardi (n=1). Additionally, protease related aprX gene was screened in the strains and it was detected in 69/126 strains, whereas, lipase related lipA gene was found in 9 Pseudomonas strains. Protease activity was determined using commercially available protease assay kit and 5 strains showed high protease activity. The results showed that psychrophilic Pseudomonas strains were present in chicken meat samples and they can produce important levels of proteases and lipases for food spoilage to decrease food quality and safety.

Keywords: Pseudomonas, chicken meat, protease, lipase

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Authors: Jonix Owino, Heather Fuller

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Refugees flee from their home countries due to civil unrest, war, persecution and migrate to Western countries such as the United States in search of a safe haven. Transitioning into a new society and culture can be challenging, thereby affecting refugee’s quality of life and well-being in the host communities. Moreover, as individuals age, they experience physical, cognitive and socioemotional changes that may impact their quality of life. However, little is known about the predictors of quality of life among aging refugees. It is not clear how quality of life varies by age, that is, between midlife refugees in comparison to their older counterparts. In addition to age, other sociodemographic factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, or country of origin are likely to have differential associations to quality of life, yet research on such variations among older refugees is sparse. Thus the present study seeks to explore factors associated with quality of life by asking the following research questions: 1) Do sociodemographic factors (such as age and gender) predict quality of life among older refugees, 2) Is there an association between social integration and quality of life, and 3) Is there an association between migratory related experiences (such as post migratory adjustments) and quality of life. The present study recruited 90 refugees (primarily originating from Bhutan, Somalia, Burundi, and Sudan) aged 50 or older living in the US. The participants completed a structured questionnaire which assessed factors such as participant’s sociodemographic attributes (e.g., age, gender, length of residence in the US, country of origin, employment, level of education, and marital status), and validated measures of social integration, post-migration living difficulties, and quality of life. Preliminary results suggest sociodemographic variability in quality of life among these refugees. Further analyses will be conducted using hierarchical regression analyses to address the following hypotheses: first, it is hypothesized that quality of life will vary by age and gender such that younger refugees and men will report higher quality of life. Second, it is expected that refugees with greater levels of social integration will also report better quality of life. Finally, post-migration factors such as language barriers and family stress are hypothesized to predict poorer quality of life. Further results will be analyzed, including potential moderating effects of age and gender, and resulting findings will be interpreted and discussed. The findings from this study have potential implications for communities on how they can better support older refugees as well as develop social programs that can effectively cater to their well-being. Conclusions will be drawn and discussed in light of policies related to both aging and refugee migration within the context of the US.

Keywords: aging out of place, migration, older refugees, quality of life, social integration

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Authors: B. Harman, E. Gringart, C. Harms

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There is evidence that increasing numbers of adults of child-bearing age in Australia do not have children. While there has been research into the life experiences of non-parents, one of the issues is that the differences between people who choose not to have children – the childfree – and people who cannot have children – the childless – are not clearly defined. The qualitative research reported here adopted an interpretative phenomenological approach to examine the life experiences of non-parents. Potential participants from Australia were invited to complete an online survey describing their experiences of life without children. An examination of the data from 229 participants (188 female, 41 male) revealed that they defined their non-parent status as either childfree or childless. There are, however, five sub-categories of child freedom identified by the participants, whereas previous research has not recognized such distinctions. The variance in the definition of child freedom is important because it may be related to the life journey as a non-parent. The current paper will firstly discuss the different groups of childfree and childless people. Secondly, it will examine the life experiences and journeys of non-parents in light of how the participants defined themselves. From a social psychological perspective, the current research is important as it highlights the socially held stereotypes and the stigma experienced by non-parents in Australia.

Keywords: Australia, childfree, childless, non-parents, qualitative, social psychology

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Authors: M. Naimi, M. B. Khaled

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The present study consisted of an applied test in meat system to assess the effectiveness of three bio agents bacteriocinproducing strains: Lm24: Lactobacillus sakei, Lm14and Lm25: Pediococcus spp. Two tests were carried out: The ex-situ test was intended for three batches added with crude bacteriocin solutions at 12.48 AU/ml for Lm25 and 8.4 AU/ml for Lm14 and Lm24. However, the in situ one consisted of four batches; three of them inoculated with one bacteriocinogenic Lm25, Lm14, Lm24, respectively. The fourth one was used in mixture: Lm14+m24 at approximately of 107 CFU/ml. The two used tests were done in the presence of the pathogen St. aureus ATCC 6538, as a test strain at 103 CFU/ml. Another batch served as a positive or a negative control was used too. The incubation was performed at 7°C. Total viable counts, staphylococci and lactic acid bacteria, at the beginning and at selected times with interval of three days were enumerated. Physicochemical determinations (except for in situ test): pH, dry mater, sugars, fat and total protein, at the beginning and at end of the experiment, were done, according to the international norms. Our results confirmed the ex situ effectiveness. Furthermore, the batches affected negatively the total microbial load over the incubation days, and showed a significant regression in staphylococcal load at day seven, for Lm14, Lm24, and Lm25 of 0.73, 2.11, and 2.4 log units. It should be noticed that, at the last day of culture, staphylococcal load was nil for the three batches. In the in situ test, the cultures displayed less inhibitory attitude and recorded a decrease in staphylococcal load, for Lm14, Lm24, Lm25, Lm14+m24 of 0.73, 0.20, 0.86, 0.032 log units. Therefore, physicochemical analysis for Lm14, Lm24, Lm25, Lm14+m24 showed an increase in pH from 5.50 to 5.77, 6.18, 5.96, 7.22, a decrease in dry mater from 7.30% to 7.05%, 6.87%, 6.32%, 6.00%.This result reflects the decrease in fat ranging from 1.53% to 1.49%, 1.07%, 0.99%, 0.87%; and total protein from 6.18% to 5.25%, 5.56%, 5.37%, 5.5%. This study suggests that the use of selected strains as Lm25 could lead to the best results and would help in preserving and extending the shelf life of lamb meat.

Keywords: biocontrol, in situ, ex situ, meat system, St. aureus, Lactobacillus sakei, Pediococcus spp.

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Authors: Rosana Goncalves Das Dores, Maira Fonseca, Fernando Finger, Vicente Casali

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Equisetum hyemale L. (horsetail, Equisetaceae) is a medicinal plant used and commercialized in simple paper bags or non-ecological packaging in Brazil. The aim of this work was to evaluate the relation between the bioactive compounds of horsetail stems stored in ecological packages (multi-ply paper sacks) at room temperature. Stems in primary and secondary stage were harvested from an organic estate, on December 2016, selected, measured (length from the soil to the apex (cm), stem diameter at ground level (DGL mm) and breast height (DBH mm) and cut into 10 cm. For the post-harvest evaluations, stems were stored in multi-ply paper sacks and evaluated daily to the respiratory rate, fresh weight loss, pH, presence of fungi / mold, phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. The analyses were done with four replicates, over time (regression) and compared at 1% significance (Tukey test). The measured heights were 103.7 cm and 143.5 cm, DGL was 2.5mm and 8.4 mm and DBH of 2.59 and 6.15 mm, respectively for primary and secondary stems stage. At both stages of development, in storage in multi-ply paper sacks, the greatest mass loss occurred at 48 h, decaying up to 120 hours, stabilizing at 192 hours. The peak respiratory rate increase occurred in 24 hours, coinciding with a change in pH (temperature and mean humidity was 23.5°C and 55%). No fungi or mold were detected, however, there was loss of color of the stems. The average yields of ethanolic extracts were equivalent (approximately 30%). Phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity were higher in secondary stems stage in up to 120 hours (AATt0 = 20%, AATt30 = 45%), decreasing at the end of the experiment (240 hours). The packaging used allows the commercialization of fresh stems of Equisetum for up to five days.

Keywords: paper sacks, phenolic content, antioxidant activity, medicinal plants, post-harvest, ecological packages, Equisetum

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Authors: Pan Lee Ching, Chua Bee Seok

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The experience of negative work-life interaction often confronted with work related stress includes workload. The appraisal of challenge and hindrance jobs depend on the type of workload to stimulate stress response. Nevertheless, the effects of challenge and hindrance jobs on distress and negative work-life interaction are scarcely explored. Thus, research objective was to examine the relationship among challenge appraisal job (qualitative workload), hindrance appraisal job (quantitative workload), and negative work-life interaction with the mediating role of distress. A survey with random sampling method was performed on current serving public secondary school teachers in Sabah. Collected data showed 447 respondents completed three questionnaires, namely Challenge-hindrance Appraisal Scale, Stress Professional Positive and Negative Questionnaire, and Survey Work-home Interaction-Nijmegan. Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse mediation effect. Results showed distress fully mediates the relationship between challenge appraisal job (qualitative workload) and negative work-life interaction. The indirect effect was significant and negative. While distress partially mediates the relationship between hindrance appraisal job (quantitative workload) and negative work-life interaction. The indirect effect was significant and positive. The study implied that challenge appraisal job could be a positive resource for teacher to facilitate work and life, whereas hindrance appraisal job could disengage the facilitation. Hence, strengthen challenge appraisal job and control hindrance appraisal job could curb distress at work and underpin life interaction among the teachers.

Keywords: challenge-hindrance job, distress, work-life, workload

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Authors: Sneh Laller, Kamini C. Tanwar

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Human beings are social animals. The scenario is changing and people become angry towards petty things and this may lead to committing a crime. Objective: The aim of the present research is: 1. To find out the difference between convicts and under-trials on different dimensions of Personality, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Life-orientation; 2. To find out the difference between male and female jail inmates on different dimensions of Personality, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Life-orientation; 3. To find out the relationship between different dimensions of Personality, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Life-orientation in convicts and under-trials; 4. To find out the relationship between different dimensions of Personality, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Life-orientation in male and female jail inmates. Method: The study was conducted on 100 participants (consisting of 50 convicts- 25 males and 25 females, and 50 under-trials- 25 males and 25 females); age range was 20-60 years. The NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 by McCrae, Costa (2010), Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation scale- II by Leary (1983) and Life Orientation Test-R by Scheier et al. (1994) was used and purposive sampling technique was done for data collection. The t-test was applied to find out the comparison and Pearson correlation was applied to determine the relationship between personality, FNE and life-orientation in both the groups. Results: There is a significant difference in the dimension of personality that is neuroticism and life-orientation in convicts and under-trials and also, in the dimensions of personality such as neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience and agreeableness, and FNE in male and female jail inmates. In convicts the dimension of personality, agreeableness shows significant positive correlation with life-orientation (r = 0.430**) whereas, in under-trials the dimension of personality, agreeableness shows significant positive correlation with FNE (r = 0.315*) and another dimension of personality, extraversion shows significant negative correlation with life-orientation (r = -0.409**). In male jail inmates, the dimension of personality, agreeableness shows significant positive correlation with FNE (r = 0.474**) whereas in female jail inmates, the dimension of personality, openness to experience shows significant negative correlation with FNE (r = -0.356*) and significant positive correlation of neuroticism with life-orientation (r = 0.292*). Conclusion: It was found that under-trials are neurotic and life-oriented than convicts, and female jail inmates are also neurotic and exhibit fear of negative evaluation whereas male jail inmates are extravert and agreeable.

Keywords: convicts, fear of negative evaluation, life-orientation, personality, under-trials

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Authors: Priyesh Kumar Pandey, Zakir Husain, R. K. Jarial

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Condition monitoring and diagnostic is important for testing of power transformer in order to estimate the remnant life. Concentration of furan content in transformer oil can be a promising indirect measurement of the aging of transformer insulation. The oil gets contaminated mainly due to ageing. The present paper introduces adaptive neuro fuzzy technique to correlate furanic compounds obtained by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) test and remnant life of the power transformer. The results are obtained by conducting HPLC test at TIFAC-CORE lab, NIT Hamirpur on thirteen power transformer oil samples taken from Himachal State Electricity Board, India.

Keywords: adaptive neuro fuzzy technique, furan compounds, remnant life, transformer oil

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Authors: Julie Wittmannová, Petr Šeda

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Quality of life measurements (QLF) help to evaluate interventions programs in different groups of persons with special needs. Our presentation deals with QLF of persons with addiction in relation to the physical activity (PA), type of addiction, age, gender and other variables. The aim of presentation is to summarize the basic findings and offer thoughts for questions arose. Methods: SQUALA (Subjective Quality of Life Analysis); SEIQoL (Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life); questionnaire of own construction. The results are evaluated by Mann­Whitney U test and Kruskall­Wallis ANOVA test (p ≤ 0,05). Sample of 64 participants – clients of aftercare center, aged 18 plus. Findings: Application of the methods SQUALA and SEIQoL in the chosen population seems appropriate, the obtaining information regarding the QLF correlate to intervention program topics, the need of an activelifestyle and health related topics in persons with addiction is visible. Conclusions or Implications: The subjective evaluation of quality of life of Aftercare clients is an important part of evaluation process, especially used to evaluate satisfaction with offered services and programs. Techniques SQUALA and SEIQoL gave us the desired outcomes.

Keywords: adapted physical activity, addiction, quality of life, physical activity, aftercare

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Authors: Diana Ivanova Bakalova, Ekaterina Evtimova Dimitrova

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the predictive power of optimistic expectations and satisfaction with life in the country of origin and residence – Bulgaria, over the attitudes towards emigration among young Bulgarians with regard to their generational belonging and differences (i.e. Generation Y or Millennials, born between 1981-1995/6, and Generation Z or Zoomers, born between 1996/7-2012). Although the correlation between satisfaction with life and migration (attitudes) has been studied in some countries, it has neither been examined to date in Bulgaria – a sending rather than receiving Eastern European country, nor scrutinized in the light of generational differences. Within a national survey(N=1200), representative of young Bulgarians aged 18-35 years – Zoomers aged 18-25years (N=444) and Millennials aged 26-35 years (N=756), carried out in September-October 2021, optimistic expectations and satisfaction with life in Bulgaria were respectively measured by a 5-item and4-item scales. The scales were designed to measure optimistic expectations and satisfaction with life in the country, as both general constructs and in terms of specific areas of life (education, profession, career, and income). The findings suggest that the higher satisfaction with life in Bulgaria is associated with more optimistic expectations about one’s further professional, financial, and career growth in the country and reasonably, with more negative attitudes towards emigration of young Bulgarians. Although no significant differences were found between Millennials and Zoomers in their optimistic expectations and satisfaction with life in Bulgaria, Millennials are still significantly less likely to emigrate than Zoomers. Positively, the population of young Bulgarians demonstrates higher than average satisfaction with life and optimism for their prospects in the country combined with neutral to negative overall attitudes towards emigration. These findings have some important interdisciplinary psychological and demographic theoretical, applied, and policy implications. The survey is carried out under Project КП-06-Н35/4 “Psychological determinants of young people's attitudes to emigration and life planning in the context of demographic challenges in Bulgaria,” funded by the NSF - MES, Bulgaria.

Keywords: optimistic expectations, life satisfaction, emigration attitudes, young bulgerians

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Authors: Komang Rahayu Indrawati, Ni Wayan Sinthia Widiastuti, Ratna Dewi Santosa

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Today the career of Balinese working women has been highly developed where able to work with loyalty and high professionalism. Career for a woman is one conscious choice and a call of conscience, which provides financial support for her family. Career for women can develop their own potencies, intellectually, and socially, so women feel that their role is meaningful and beneficial for herself and others. Emotional support becomes important to understand certainly for women who have multirole like Balinese working women to meet the demands of their role and also enhancing their work motivation and the quality of work life. This research used quantitative research method with questionnaires dissemination to 120 respondents and analyzed using Multiple Regression Analysis. The purpose of this study was to see the role of emotional support for work motivation and quality of work life in working Balinese women. The results of this study showed that emotional support and work motivation give a significant role in the quality of work life on Balinese working women.

Keywords: Balinese working women, emotional support, quality of work life, work motivation

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Authors: Ayedh Alqahtani, Andrew Whyte

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Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is one of the goals and key pillars of the construction management science because it comprises many of the functions and processes necessary, which assist organisations and agencies to achieve their goals. It has therefore become important to design and control assets during their whole life cycle, from the design and planning phase through to disposal phase. LCCA is aimed to improve the decision making system in the ownership of assets by taking into account all the cost elements including to the asset throughout its life. Current application of LCC approach is impractical during misunderstanding of the advantages of LCC. This main objective of this research is to show a different relationship between capital cost and long-term running costs. One hundred and thirty eight actual building projects in United Kingdom (UK) were used in order to achieve and measure the above-mentioned objective of the study. The result shown that LCC is one of the most significant tools should be considered on the decision making process.

Keywords: building projects, capital cost, life cycle cost, maintenance costs, operation costs

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Authors: Piyas Palit, Urbi Pal, Jitendra Mathur, Santanu Das

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Bearing is an important machinery part in the industry. When bearings fail to meet their expected life the consequences are increased downtime, loss of revenue and missed the delivery. This article describes the failure of a gearbox bearing in rolling contact fatigue. The investigation consists of visual observation, chemical analysis, characterization of microstructures using optical microscopes and hardness test. The present study also considers bearing life as well as the operational condition of bearings. Surface-initiated rolling contact fatigue, leading to a surface failure known as pitting, is a life-limiting failure mode in many modern machine elements, particularly rolling element bearings. Metallography analysis of crack propagation, crack morphology was also described. Indication of fatigue spalling in the ferrography test was also discussed. The analysis suggested the probable reasons for such kind of failure in operation. This type of spalling occurred due to (1) heavier external loading condition or (2) exceeds its service life.

Keywords: bearing, rolling contact fatigue, bearing life

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Authors: Kumar Gular, Viswanathan S., Mastour Saeed Alshahrani, Ravi Shankar Reddy, Jaya Shanker Tedla, Snehil Dixit, Ajay Prasad Gautam, Venkata Nagaraj Kakaraparthi, Devika Rani Sangadala

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Background: Despite trunk control’s significant contribution to improving various functional activity components, the independent effect of trunk performance on quality of life is yet to be estimated in stroke survivors. Ascertaining the correlation between trunk control and self-reported quality of life while evaluating the effect of demographic and clinical characteristics on their relationship will guide concerned healthcare professionals in designing ideal rehabilitation protocols during the late sub-acute stroke stage of recovery. The aims of the present research were to (1) investigate the associations of trunk performance with self-rated quality of life and (2) evaluate if age, body mass index (BMI), and clinical characteristics mediate the relationship between trunk motor performance and perceived quality of life in the sub-acute stroke population. Methods: Trunk motor functions and quality of life among the late sub-acute stroke population aged 57.53 ± 6.42 years were evaluated through the trunk Impairment Scale (TIS) and Stroke specific quality of life (SSQOL) questionnaire, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients and mediation analysis were performed to elucidate the relationship of trunk motor function with quality of life and determine the mediation impact of demographic and clinical characteristics on their association, respectively. Results: The current study observed significant correlations between trunk motor functions (TIS) and quality of life (SSQOL) with r=0.68 (p<0.001). Age, BMI, and type of stroke were detected as potential mediating factors in the association between trunk performance and quality of life. Conclusion: Validated associations between trunk motor functions and perceived quality of life among the late sub-acute stroke population emphasize the importance of comprehensive evaluation of trunk control. Rehabilitation specialists should focus on appropriate strategies to enhance trunk performance anticipating the potential effects of age, BMI, and type of stroke to improve health-related quality of life in stroke survivors.

Keywords: sub-acute stroke, quality of life, functional independence, trunk control

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Authors: Sophia Cyril Vincent

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Background: As per the Indian Census 2011, there is nearly 104 million elderly population aged above 60 years (53 million females and 51 males), and the count is expected to be 173 million by the end of 2026. Nearly 5.5% of women and 1.5% of men are living alone.1 In India, even though it is the moral duty of the children to take care of aged parents, many elders are landing in old age homes due to the social transformation factors like mushrooming of nuclear families, migration of children, cultural echoes, differences in mindset and values. Nearly 728 old age homes are seen across the country, out of which 78 old age homes with approximately 3000 inmates are seen only in Bangalore2. The existing literature shows that elderly women residing in old age homes experience the challenges like- loneliness, health issues, rejection from children, grief, death anxiety, etc, which leads to mental and physical wellbeing in numerous and tangible ways3. Hence the best and cost-effective way to improve the meaning and quality of life among elderly females is logotherapy, a type of psychotherapeutic analysis and treatment, motivating and driving force4 within the human experience to lead a decent life. Aim: The current research is aimed at studying the effectiveness of a logotherapy intervention on meaning and quality of life among elderly women of old age homes. Samples:200 women aged < 60 years and staying in the old age home for more than 1 year were randomly allocated to the control group and experimental group. Methodology: Using the Meaning in life questionnaire (MLQ)and the World health organization quality of life (WHOQOL) questionnaire, meaning and quality of life were assessed among both groups' women. Intensive Logotherapy and meaning in life program for five days were provided for the experimental group and the control group, with no treatment. Result: Under analysis. Conclusion: It is the right of the elderly woman to lead a happy and peaceful life till her death irrespective of the residing place. Hence, continuous monitoring and effective management are necessary for elderly women.

Keywords: quality of life, meaning of life, logo therapy, old age home

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Authors: Saqib Rasool, Adnan N. Mian

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Web components are introduced as the latest standard of HTML5 for writing modular web interfaces for ensuring maintainability through the isolated scope of web components. Reusability can also be achieved by sharing plug-and-play web components that can be used as off-the-shelf components by other developers. A web component encapsulates all the required HTML, CSS and JavaScript code as a standalone package which must be imported for integrating a web component within an existing web interface. It is then followed by the integration of web component with the web services for dynamically populating its content. Since web components are reusable as off-the-shelf components, these must be equipped with some mechanism for ensuring their proper integration with web services. The consistency of a service behavior can be verified through type-checking. This is one of the popular solutions for improving the quality of code in many programming languages. However, HTML does not provide type checking as it is a markup language and not a programming language. The contribution of this work is to introduce a new extension of HTML called Service Type-checking Markup Language (STML) for adding support of type checking in HTML for JSON based REST services. STML can be used for defining the expected data types of response from JSON based REST services which will be used for populating the content within HTML elements of a web component. Although JSON has five data types viz. string, number, boolean, object and array but STML is made to supports only string, number and object. This is because of the fact that both object and array are considered as string, when populated in HTML elements. In order to define the data type of any HTML element, developer just needs to add the custom STML attributes of st-string, st-number and st-boolean for string, number and boolean respectively. These all annotations of STML are used by the developer who is writing a web component and it enables the other developers to use automated type-checking for ensuring the proper integration of their REST services with the same web component. Two utilities have been written for developers who are using STML based web components. One of these utilities is used for automated type-checking during the development phase. It uses the browser console for showing the error description if integrated web service is not returning the response with expected data type. The other utility is a Gulp based command line utility for removing the STML attributes before going in production. This ensures the delivery of STML free web pages in the production environment. Both of these utilities have been tested to perform type checking of REST services through STML based web components and results have confirmed the feasibility of evaluating service behavior only through HTML. Currently, STML is designed for automated type-checking of integrated REST services but it can be extended to introduce a complete service testing suite based on HTML only, and it will transform STML from Service Type-checking Markup Language to Service Testing Markup Language.

Keywords: REST, STML, type checking, web component

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Authors: Gabriel Chenevert, Abhilash Arora, Zeljko Pantic

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The major problem underwater acoustic communication faces is the low data rate due to low signal frequency. By contrast, the Wi-Fi communication protocol offers high throughput but limited operating range due to the attenuation effect of the sea and ocean medium. However, short-range near-field underwater wireless power transfer systems offer an environment where Wi-Fi communication can be effectively integrated to collect data and deliver instructions to sensors in underwater sensor networks. In this paper, low-power, low-cost off-the-shelf Wi-Fi modules are explored experimentally for four selected parameters for different distances between units and water salinities. The results reveal a shorter operating range and stronger dependence on water salinity than reported so far for high-end Wi-Fi modules.

Keywords: Wi-Fi, wireless power transfer, underwater communications, ESP

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Authors: S. Aberkane, N. Djabali, S. Fafi, A. Baghezza

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Chronic illnesses affect many Algerians. It is possible to investigate the impact of illness representations and coping on quality of life and whether illness representations are indirectly associated with quality of life through their influence on coping. This study aims at investigating the relationship between illness perception, coping strategies and quality of life with chronic illness. Illness perceptions are indirectly associated with the quality of life through their influence on coping mediation. A sample of 316 participants with chronic illness living in the region of Batna, Algeria, has been adopted in this study. A correlation statistical analysis is used to determine the relationship between illness perception, coping strategies, and quality of life. Multiple regression analysis was employed to highlight the predictive ability of the dimensions of illness perception and coping strategies on the dependent variables of quality of life, where mediation analysis is considered in the exploration of the indirect effect significance of the mediator. This study provides insights about the relationship between illness perception, coping strategies and quality of life in the considered sample (r = 0.39, p < 0.01). Therefore, it proves that there is an effect of illness identity perception, external and medical attributions related to emotional role, physical functioning, and mental health perceived, and these were fully mediated by the asking for assistance (c’= 0.04, p < 0.05), the guarding (c’= 0.00, p < 0.05), and the task persistence strategy (c’= 0.05, p < 0.05). The findings imply partial support for the common-sense model of illness representations in a chronic illness population. Directions for future research are highlighted, as well as implications for psychotherapeutic interventions which target unhelpful beliefs and maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy).

Keywords: chronic illness, coping, illness perception, quality of life, self- regulation model

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Authors: Sarwat Sultan, Muhammad Saleem, Frasat Kanwal

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Adolescence is a transition period of life that brings physical and psychological changes and always results in several challenges for an adolescent. An adolescent must learn life skills for a healthy transition from adolescence period to adulthood. Therefore this study was planned to examine the effects of life skill education on adolescents' mental health and academic benefits. A random sample of 720 school students aged between 13-17 years was categorized into two groups; experimental (n=360) and control (n=360). Life skill education was given to the students of the intervention group with repeated assessments of mental health and academic benefits at pre-intervention (T1) and post-intervention (T2) for both groups. Both groups were compared on scores of mental health and academic benefits across two times T1 and T2 by employing a mixed between-within-subjects analysis of variance. Findings showed the main effect of time suggesting the largest changes in mental health and academic benefits over time. Interaction effects between time and both groups were also found significant indicating the largest changes across time between both groups. Results of between-group comparisons showed significant values for Wilks’ Lambda and partial eta squared for students of the intervention group who scored higher on mental health and academic benefits after receiving life skills training than the students of the control group. Results of the present study determined the efficacy of life skill education and have implications for both teachers and psychotherapists to improve the students’ mental health and academic performance.

Keywords: academic benefits, life skills, mental health, adolescents

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Authors: Natalia A. Salazar, Erika K. Méndez, Catalina Álvarez, Carlos E. Orrego

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Lyophilization, also called freeze-drying, is an important dehydration technique mainly used for pharmaceuticals. Food industry also uses lyophilization when it is important to retain most of the nutritional quality, taste, shape and size of dried products and to extend their shelf life. Vacuum-Induced during freezing cycle (VI) has been used in order to control ice nucleation and, consequently, to reduce the time of primary drying cycle of pharmaceuticals preserving quality properties of the final product. This procedure has not been applied in freeze drying of foods. The present work aims to investigate the effect of VI on the lyophilization drying time, final moisture content, density and reconstitutional properties of mango (Mangifera indica L.) slices (MS) and mango pulp-maltodextrin dispersions (MPM) (30% concentration of total solids). Control samples were run at each freezing rate without using induced vacuum. The lyophilization endpoint was the same for all treatments (constant difference between capacitance and Pirani vacuum gauges). From the experimental results it can be concluded that at the high freezing rate (0.4°C/min) reduced the overall process time up to 30% comparing process time required for the control and VI of the lower freeze rate (0.1°C/min) without affecting the quality characteristics of the dried product, which yields a reduction in costs and energy consumption for MS and MPM freeze drying. Controls and samples treated with VI at freezing rate of 0.4°C/min in MS showed similar results in moisture and density parameters. Furthermore, results from MPM dispersion showed favorable values when VI was applied because dried product with low moisture content and low density was obtained at shorter process time compared with the control. There were not found significant differences between reconstitutional properties (rehydration for MS and solubility for MPM) of freeze dried mango resulting from controls, and VI treatments.

Keywords: drying time, lyophilization, mango, vacuum induced freezing

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Authors: Ya-Chuan Hsu, Wen-Chen Ouyang, Wei-Siang Huang

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Problem/Background: With constantly increasing aged populations, quality of life (QOL) in persons with dementia has become a significant research concern. The Alzheimer’s Related Quality of Life (ADRQL) is a high-validated, theory-derived, and multidimensional instrument. It has widely utilized in many countries, except in Taiwan. However, diverse results of quality of life from different countries by using the same measurement can provide the potential to help understand the impact of cultural contributor on QOL. Objective: To investigate the extent to which quality of life on older adults with dementia in Taiwan. Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive study conducted in an assisting living facility affiliated with a daycare center in southern Taiwan. A purposeful sample of 34 participants was recruited. Inclusion criteria included those who were at least 65 years old, able to communicate, and diagnosed with mild to moderate dementia. The QOL was measured by Chinese version ADRQL. This observational instrument consists of 30 items that is divided into five subscales with the full range of each subscale scores from 0 to 100.0. Higher scores indicate better QOL. Results: The means for subscale of the Social Interaction, Awareness of Self, Feelings and Mood, Enjoyment of Activities, and Response to Surroundings were 87.9, 74.7, 91.3, 64.5, and 90.3, respectively. The overall mean for the ADQOL was 0.83. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the level of Enjoyment of Activities is the lowest and may convey information about a need of evaluation on arrangement of facility’s activities.

Keywords: dementia, quality of life, elders, Alzheimer’s related quality of life

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Authors: Muhammad Abdullah, Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq, Faraz Ul Haq

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In developed countries, sustainability measures are widely accepted and acknowledged as crucial for addressing environmental concerns. Hydroponics, a soilless cultivation technique, has emerged as a potentially sustainable solution as it can reduce water consumption, land use, and environmental impacts. However, hydroponics may not be economically viable, especially when using reclaimed water, which may entail additional costs and risks. This study aims to address the critical question of whether hydroponics using reclaimed water can achieve a balance between sustainability and financial viability. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) will be integrated to assess the potential of hydroponics whether it is environmentally sustainable and economically viable. Life cycle assessment, or LCA, is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. While Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is an approach that assesses the total cost of an asset over its life cycle, including initial capital costs and maintenance costs. The expected benefits of this study include supporting evidence-based decision-making for policymakers, farmers, and stakeholders involved in agriculture. By quantifying environmental impacts and economic costs, this research will facilitate informed choices regarding the adoption of hydroponics with reclaimed water. It is believed that the outcomes of this research work will help to achieve a sustainable approach to agricultural production, aligning with sustainability goals while considering economic factors by adopting hydroponic technique.

Keywords: hydroponic, life cycle assessment, life cycle cost, sustainability

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Authors: Nadine Wills

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The whole life thinking of buildings (independent if these are commercial properties or residential properties) will raise if incentive systems are provided to investors, planners and users. The Use of Building Information Modelling (BIM)-Systems offers planners the possibility to plan and re-plan buildings for decades after a period of utilization without spending many capacities. The strategy-incentive should be to plan the building in a way that makes rescheduling possible by changing just parameters in the system and not re-planning the whole building. If users receive the chance to patient incentive systems, the building stock will have a long life period. Business models of tenant electricity or self-controlled operating costs are incentive systems for building –users to let fixed running costs decline without producing damages due to wrong purposes. BIM is the controlling body to ensure that users do not abuse the incentive solution and take negative influence on the building stock. The investor benefits from the planner’s and user’s incentives: the fact that the building becomes useful for the whole life without making unnecessary investments provides possibilities to make investments in different assets. Moreover, the investor gains the facility to achieve higher rents by merchandise the property with low operating costs. To execute BIM offers whole property life cycles.

Keywords: BIM, incentives, life cycle, sustainability

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Authors: Claudineia Brazil, Luciane Salvi, Margareth Haubrich

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The research aims to understand the determinants of Quality of Life at Work (QWL) and the main indicators that influence the productivity of employees working in construction. The methodology is based on the qualitative theoretical approach, in which information is collected in works that have already been carried out, providing a more detailed compression of the research from the point of view of other authors. In this research, pioneering models for assessing Quality of Life at Work (QWL) were investigated, seeking to find the best quality of life indicators in the work environment. The elements investigated in the research were classified into three main groups: Organizational, Environmental and Behavioral. In order to obtain the results, the information obtained through bibliographic research was compared and it was possible to conclude that the focus on the quality of life at work influences the individual and collective productivity of employees, causing the company to be positively impacted. This advocates the need for strategic actions in the area of people management, which will meet these needs. Therefore, it is hoped that this study can contribute to the more effective management of human resources in organizations, reflecting on increased productivity.

Keywords: construction, management, productivity, quality of life at work

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Authors: Rabia Khaliala, Adi Vitman-Schorr

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Background: The increase in longevity of people on one hand, and on the other hand the fact that the social networks in later life become increasingly narrower, highlight the importance of Internet use to enhance quality of life (QoL). However, whether Internet use increases or decreases social networks, loneliness and quality of life is not clear-cut. Purposes: To explore the direct and/or indirect effects of Internet use on QoL, and to examine whether ethnicity and time the elderly spent with family moderate the mediation effect of Internet use on quality of life throughout loneliness. Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was carried out in 2016 by structured interviews with a convenience sample of 502 respondents aged 50 and older, living in northern Israel. Bootstrapping with resampling strategies was used for testing mediation a model. Results: Use of the Internet was found to be positively associated with QoL. However, this relationship was mediated by loneliness, and moderated by the time the elderly spent with family members. In addition, respondents' ethnicity significantly moderated the mediation effect between Internet use and loneliness. Conclusions: Internet use can enhance QoL of older adults directly or indirectly by reducing loneliness. However, these effects are conditional on other variables. The indirect effect moderated by ethnicity, and the direct effect moderated by the time the elderly spend with their families. Researchers and practitioners should be aware of these interactions which can impact loneliness and quality of life of older persons differently.

Keywords: internet use, loneliness, quality of life, social contacts

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Authors: Zhuoran Shan, Li Wan, Xianchun Zhang

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With an increasing trend of regionalization and polycentricity in Chinese contemporary big cities, “sub-region life circle” turns to be an effective method on rational organization of urban function and spatial structure. By the method of questionnaire, network big data, route inversion on internet map, GIS spatial analysis and logistic regression, this article makes research on characteristic and formation mechanism of “sub-region life circle” based on human high-probability daily activity in Chinese big cities. Firstly, it shows that “sub-region life circle” has been a new general spatial sphere of residents' high-probability daily activity and mobility in China. Unlike the former analysis of the whole metropolitan or the micro community, “sub-region life circle” has its own characteristic on geographical sphere, functional element, spatial morphology and land distribution. Secondly, according to the analysis result with Binary Logistic Regression Model, the research also shows that seven factors including land-use mixed degree and bus station density impact the formation of “sub-region life circle” most, and then analyzes the index critical value of each factor. Finally, to establish a smarter “sub-region life circle”, this paper indicates that several strategies including jobs-housing fit, service cohesion and space reconstruction are the keys for its spatial organization optimization. This study expands the further understanding of cities' inner sub-region spatial structure based on human daily activity, and contributes to the theory of “life circle” in urban's meso-scale.

Keywords: sub-region life circle, characteristic, formation mechanism, human activity, spatial structure

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Authors: Tugba Cinarli, Tugba Kavalali Erdogan, Sevil Masat, Dilek Kiymaz, Nida Kiyici, Zeliha Koc

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This study was conducted in a descriptive and cross-sectional manner, in order to determine the self-esteem, life satisfaction and depression/anxiety levels of the patients with stoma. The study was conducted between June 15, 2016 and June 15, 2017 among 196 oncology patients that were hospitalized in the general surgery clinic of a public hospital in Turkey. The case group consisted of 98 cancer patients with stoma and the control group consisted of 98 cancer patients without stoma. The data were collected through the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale, Life Satisfaction Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and a 21-question survey that aimed to determine the sociodemographic and clinical properties of the patients. The data were analyzed with percentage analysis, Mann Whitney U-test, Chi-square test and Spearmen’s correlation test. It was determined that for the case group; 44.9% had colon cancer, 29.6% had rectal cancer; 50% underwent temporary colostomia, 15.3% underwent permanent colostomia, 34.7% underwent temporary ileostomy. The experimental group's findings for the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale, Life Satisfaction Scale, the Anxiety Subscale and the Depression subscale were 64 (20 - 84), 17 (5 - 38), 10 (1 - 18), and 9 (1 - 19), respectively. The control group's findings for the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale, Life Satisfaction Scale, the Anxiety Subscale and the Depression Subscale were 68 (32 - 92), 21 (7 - 31), 8.5 (1 - 18), and 8 (1 - 18), respectively. It was found that the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale, Life Satisfaction Scale, and the Anxiety Subscale findings were significantly different for the experimental and control groups (p<0.05). It was determined that the self-esteem levels were positively correlated with life satisfaction and negatively correlated with anxiety and depression; also, the life satisfaction levels were negatively correlated with anxiety and depression. It is suggested that the nursing interventions should be planned in order to improve life-satisfaction and self-esteem levels of the patients, and to decrease depression and anxiety.

Keywords: anxiety, cancer, life satisfaction, self-esteem

Procedia PDF Downloads 173