Search results for: carbon monoxide death

Authors: Miroslav Dumbrovsky

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The paper deals with impacts of climate change with the main emphasis on land degradation, agriculture and forestry management in the landscape. Land degradation, due to adverse effect of farmers activities, as a result of inappropriate conventional technologies, was a major issue in the Czech Republic during the 20th century and will remain for solving in the 21st century. The importance of land degradation is very high because of its impact on crop productivity and many other adverse effects. Land degradation through soil degradation is causing losses on crop productivity and quality of the environment, through decreasing quality of soil and water (especially water resources). Negative effects of conventional farming practices are increased water erosion, as well as crusting and compaction of the topsoil and subsoil. Soil erosion caused by water destructs the soil’s structure, reduces crop productivity due to deterioration in soil physical and chemical properties such as infiltration rate, water-holding capacity, loss of nutrients needed for crop production, and loss of soil carbon. Water erosion occurs on fields with row crops (maize, sunflower), especially during the rainfall period from April to October. Recently there is a serious problem of greatly expanded production of biofuels and bioenergy from field crops. The result is accelerated soil degradation. The damages (on and off- site) are greater than the benefits. An effective soil conservation requires an appropriate complex system of measures in the landscape. They are also important to continue to develop new sophisticated methods and technologies for decreasing land degradation. The system of soil conservation solving land degradation depend on the ability and the willingness of land users to apply them. When we talk about land degradation, it is not just a technical issue but also an economic and political issue. From a technical point of view, we have already made many positive steps, but for successful solving the problem of land degradation is necessary to develop suitable economic and political tools to increase the willingness and ability of land users to adopt conservation measures.

Keywords: land degradation, soil erosion, soil conservation, climate change

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Authors: K. Anas, M. Selvakumar, Samson David, R. R. Babu, S. Chattopadhyay

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The dynamic deformation of a visco elastic material can cause heat generation. This heat generation is aspect energy dissipation. The present work investigates the contribution of various factors like; elastomer structure, cross link type and density, filler networking, reinforcement potential and temperature at energy dissipation mechanism. The influences of these elements are investigated using very high frequency analyzer (VHF ) and dynamical mechanical analysis(DMA).VHF follows transmissibility and vibration isolation principle whereas DMA works on dynamical mechanical deformation principle. VHF analysis of different types of elastomers reveals that elastomer can act as a transmitter or damper of energy depending on the applied frequency ratio (ω/ωn). Dynamic modulus (G') of low damping rubbers like natural rubber does not varies rapidly with frequency but vice-versa for high damping rubber like butyl rubber (IIR). VHF analysis also depicts that polysulfidic linkages has high damping ratio (ζ) than mono sulfidic linkages due to its dissipative nature. At comparable cross link density, mono sulfidic linkages shows higher glass transition temperature (Tg) than poly sulfidic linkages. The intensity and location of loss modulus (G'') peak of different types of carbon black filled natural rubber compounds suggests that segmental relaxation at glass transition temperature (Tg) is seldom affected by filler particles, but the filler networks can influence the cross link density by absorbing the curatives. The filler network breaking and reformation during a dynamic strain is a thermally activated process. Thus, stronger aggregates are highly dissipative in nature. Measurements indicate that at lower temperature regimes polymeric chain friction is highly dissipative in nature.

Keywords: damping ratio, natural frequency, crosslinking density, segmental motion, surface activity, dissipative, polymeric chain friction

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Authors: Fernanda Gonçalves, Karla Alcântara, Vanessa Moura, Patrícia Nolasco, Jorge Kalil, Maristela Hernandez

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Introduction: Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease where two striking features are observed: retention of lipids and inflammation. Understanding the interaction between immune cells and lipoproteins involved in atherogenesis are urgent challenges, since cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. Macrophages are critical to the development of atherosclerotic plaques and in the perpetuation of inflammation in these lesions. These cells are also directly involved in unstable plaque rupture. Recently different populations of macrophages are being identified in atherosclerotic lesions. Although the presence of M2 macrophages (macrophages activated by the alternative pathway, eg. The IL-4) has been identified, the function of these cells in atherosclerosis is not yet defined. M2 macrophages have a high endocytic capacity, they promote remodeling of tissues and to have anti-inflammatory activity. However, in atherosclerosis, especially unstable plaques, severe inflammatory reaction, accumulation of cellular debris and intense degradation of the tissue is observed. Thus, it is possible that the M2 macrophages have altered function (phenotype) in atherosclerosis. Objective: Our aim is to evaluate if the presence of oxidized LDL alters the phenotype and function of M2 macrophages in vitro. Methods: For this, we will evaluate whether the addition of lipoprotein in M2 macrophages differentiated in vitro with IL -4 induces 1) a reduction in the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines (CBA and ELISA), 2) secretion of inflammatory cytokines (CBA and ELISA), 3) expression of cell activation markers (Flow cytometry), 4) alteration in gene expression of molecules adhesion and extracellular matrix (Real-Time PCR) and 5) Matrix degradation (confocal microscopy). Results: In oxLDL stimulated M2 macrophages cultures we did not find any differences in the expression of the cell surface markers tested, including: HLA-DR, CD80, CD86, CD206, CD163 and CD36. Also, cultures stimulated with oxLDL had similar phagocytic capacity when compared to unstimulated cells. However, in the supernatant of these cultures an increase in the secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8 was detected. No significant changes where observed in IL-6, IL-10, IL-12 and IL-1b levels. The culture supernatant also induced massive extracellular matrix (produced by mouse embryo fibroblast) filaments degradation. When evaluating the expression of 84 extracellular matrix and adhesion molecules genes, we observed that the stimulation of oxLDL in M2 macrophages decreased 47% of the genes and increased the expression of only 3% of the genes. In particular we noted that oxLDL inhibit the expression of 60% of the genes constituents of extracellular matrix and collagen expressed by these cells, including fibronectin1 and collagen VI. We also observed a decrease in the expression of matrix protease inhibitors, such as TIMP 2. On the opposite, the matricellular protein thrombospondin had a 12 fold increase in gene expression. In the presence of native LDL 90% of the genes had no altered expression. Conclusion: M2 macrophages stimulated with oxLDL secrete the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8, have an altered extracellular matrix constituents gene expression, and promote the degradation of extracellular matrix. M2 macrophages may contribute to the perpetuation of inflammation in atherosclerosis and to plaque rupture.

Keywords: atherosclerosis, LDL, macrophages, m2

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Authors: Merzak Laribi, Abdelmadjid Kasser

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Thermal spraying processes are widely used to produce coatings on original constructions as well as in repair and maintenance of long standing structures. A lot of efforts forwarding to develop thermal spray coatings technology have been focused on improving mechanical characteristics, minimizing residual stress level and reducing porosity of the coatings. The specific aim of this paper is to determine either residual stresses distribution or wear resistance of stainless steel coating thermally sprayed on a carbon steel substrate. Internal stresses determination was performed using an extensometric method in combination with a simultaneous progressive electrolytic polishing. The procedure consists of measuring micro-deformations using a bi-directional extensometric gauges glued on the substrate side of the materials. Very thin layers of the deposits are removed by electrochemical polishing across the sample surface. Micro-deformations are instantaneously measured, leading to residual stresses calculation after each removal. Wear resistance of the coating has been determined using a ball-on-plate tribometer. Friction coefficient is instantaneously measured during the tribological test. Attention was particularly focused on the influence of a post-annealing at 850 °C for one hour in vacuum either on the residual stresses distribution or on the wear resistance behavior under specific wear and lubrication conditions. The obtained results showed that the microstructure of the obtained arc sprayed stainless steel coating is classical. It is homogeneous and contains un-melted particles, metallic oxides and also pores and micro-cracks. The internal stresses are in compression in the coating. They are more or less scattered between -50 and -270 MPa on the surface and decreased more at the interface. The value at the surface of the substrate is about –700 MPa, partially due to the molten particles impact with the substrate. The post annealing has reduced the residual stresses in both coating and surface of the steel substrate so that the hole material becomes more relaxed. Friction coefficient has an average value of 0.3 and 0.4 respectively for non annealed and annealed specimen. It is rather oil lubrication which is really benefit so that friction coefficient is decreased to about 0.06.

Keywords: residual stresses, wear resistance, stainless steel, coating, thermal spraying, annealing, lubrication

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Authors: Ayhan Varol, Aysenur Ugurlu

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Due to the depletion of fossil fuels and climate change, there is a rising interest in renewable energy sources. In this concept, a wide range of biomass (energy crops, animal manure, solid wastes, etc.) are used for energy production. There has been a growing interest in biomethane production from biomass. Biomethane production from organic wastes is a promising alternative for waste management by providing organic matter stabilization. Anaerobic digestion of organic material produces biogas, and organic substrate is degraded into a more stable material. Therefore, anaerobic digestion technology helps reduction of carbon emissions and produces renewable energy. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) and organic loading rate (OLR), as well as TS (VS) loadings, influences the anaerobic digestion of organic wastes significantly. The optimum range for HRT varies between 15 days to 30 days, whereas OLR differs between 0.5 to 5 g/L.d depending on the substrate type and its lipid, protein and carbohydrate contents. The organic wastes have biogas production potential through anaerobic digestion. In this study, biomethane production potential of wastes like sugar beet bagasse, agricultural residues, food wastes, olive mill pulp, and dairy manure having different characteristics was investigated in mesophilic CSTR reactor, and their performances were compared. The reactor was mixed in order to provide homogenized content at a rate of 80 rpm. The organic matter content of these wastes was between 85 to 94 % with 61% (olive pulp) to 22 % (food waste) dry matter content. The hydraulic retention time changed between 20-30 days. High biogas productions, 13.45 to 5.70 mL/day, were achieved from the wastes studied when operated at 9 to 10.5% TS loadings where OLR varied between 2.92 and 3.95 gVS/L.day. The results showed that food wastes have higher specific methane production rate and volumetric methane production potential than the other wastes studied, under the similar OLR values. The SBP was 680, 585, 540, 390 and 295 mL/g VS for food waste, agricultural residues, sugar beet bagasse, olive pulp and dairy manure respectively. The methane content of the biogas varied between 72 and 60 %. The volatile solids conversion rate for food waste was 62%.

Keywords: biogas production, organic wastes, biomethane, anaerobic digestion

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Authors: Eva Slaninova, Diana Cernayova, Zuzana Sedrlova, Katerina Mrazova, Petr Sedlacek, Jana Nebesarova, Stanislav Obruca

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Cyanobacteria are gram-negative prokaryotes belonging to a group of photosynthetic bacteria. In comparison with heterotrophic microorganisms, cyanobacteria utilize atmospheric nitrogen and carbon dioxide without any additional substrates. This ability of these microorganisms could be employed in biotechnology for the production of bioplastics, concretely polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) which are primarily accumulated as a storage material in cells in the form of intracellular granules. In this study, there two cyanobacterial cultures from genera Synechocystis were used, namely Synechocystic sp. PCC 6803 and Synechocystis salina CCALA 192. There were optimized and used several various approaches, including microscopic techniques such as cryo-scanning electron microscopy (Cryo-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy using Nile red as a fluorescent probe (FLIM). Due to these instrumental techniques, the morphology of intracellular space and surface of cells were characterized. The next group of methods which were employed was spectroscopic techniques such as UV-Vis spectroscopy measured in two modes (turbidimetry and integration sphere) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). All these diverse techniques were used for the detection and characterization of pigments (chlorophylls, carotenoids, phycocyanin, etc.) and PHAs, in our case poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) (P3HB). To verify results, gas chromatography (GC) was employed concretely for the determination of the amount of P3HB in biomass. Cyanobacteria were also characterized as polyhydroxybutyrate producers by flow cytometer, which could count cells and at the same time distinguish cells including P3HB and without due to fluorescent probe called BODIPY and live/dead fluorescent probe SYTO Blue. Based on results, P3HB content in cyanobacteria cells was determined, as also the overall fitness of the cells. Acknowledgment: Funding: This study was partly funded by the projectGA19-29651L of the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) and partly funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), project I 4082-B25.

Keywords: cyanobacteria, fluorescent probe, microscopic techniques, poly(3hydroxybutyrate), spectroscopy, chromatography

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Authors: Elizabeth M. Annoni, Elena G. Tolkacheva

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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia that is a known prognostic marker for stroke, heart failure and death. Reentrant mechanisms of rotor formation, which are stable electrical sources of cardiac excitation, are believed to cause AF. No existing commercial mapping systems have been demonstrated to consistently and accurately predict rotor locations outside of the pulmonary veins in patients with persistent AF. There is a clear need for robust spatio-temporal techniques that can consistently identify rotors using unique characteristics of the electrical recordings at the pivot point that can be applied to clinical intracardiac mapping. Recently, we have developed four new signal analysis approaches – Shannon entropy (SE), Kurtosis (Kt), multi-scale frequency (MSF), and multi-scale entropy (MSE) – to identify the pivot points of rotors. These proposed techniques utilize different cardiac signal characteristics (other than local activation) to uncover the intrinsic complexity of the electrical activity in the rotors, which are not taken into account in current mapping methods. We validated these techniques using high-resolution optical mapping experiments in which direct visualization and identification of rotors in ex-vivo Langendorff-perfused hearts were possible. Episodes of ventricular tachycardia (VT) were induced using burst pacing, and two examples of rotors were used showing 3-sec episodes of a single stationary rotor and figure-8 reentry with one rotor being stationary and one meandering. Movies were captured at a rate of 600 frames per second for 3 sec. with 64x64 pixel resolution. These optical mapping movies were used to evaluate the performance and robustness of SE, Kt, MSF and MSE techniques with respect to the following clinical limitations: different time of recordings, different spatial resolution, and the presence of meandering rotors. To quantitatively compare the results, SE, Kt, MSF and MSE techniques were compared to the “true” rotor(s) identified using the phase map. Accuracy was calculated for each approach as the duration of the time series and spatial resolution were reduced. The time series duration was decreased from its original length of 3 sec, down to 2, 1, and 0.5 sec. The spatial resolution of the original VT episodes was decreased from 64x64 pixels to 32x32, 16x16, and 8x8 pixels by uniformly removing pixels from the optical mapping video.. Our results demonstrate that Kt, MSF and MSE were able to accurately identify the pivot point of the rotor under all three clinical limitations. The MSE approach demonstrated the best overall performance, but Kt was the best in identifying the pivot point of the meandering rotor. Artifacts mildly affect the performance of Kt, MSF and MSE techniques, but had a strong negative impact of the performance of SE. The results of our study motivate further validation of SE, Kt, MSF and MSE techniques using intra-atrial electrograms from paroxysmal and persistent AF patients to see if these approaches can identify pivot points in a clinical setting. More accurate rotor localization could significantly increase the efficacy of catheter ablation to treat AF, resulting in a higher success rate for single procedures.

Keywords: Atrial Fibrillation, Optical Mapping, Signal Processing, Rotors

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Authors: Jiri Beranovsky, Jaroslav Knapek, Tomas Kralik, Kamila Vavrova

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The paper deals with the results of research focused on the complex aspects of the use of intentionally grown biomass on agricultural land for the production of solid biofuels as an alternative for individual household heating. . The study primarily deals with the analysis of CO2 emissions of the logistics cycle of biomass for the production of energy pellets. Growing, harvesting, transport and storage are evaluated in the pellet production cycle. The aim is also to take into account the consumption profile during the year in terms of heating of common family houses, which are typical end-market segment for these fuels. It is assumed that in family houses, bio-pellets are able to substitute typical fossil fuels, such as brown coal and old wood burning heating devices and also electric boilers. One of the competing technology with the pellets are heat pumps. The results show the CO2 emissions related with considered fuels and technologies for their utilization. Comparative analysis is aimed biopellets from intentionally grown biomass, brown coal, natural gas and electricity used in electric boilers and heat pumps. Analysis combines CO2 emissions related with individual fuels utilization with costs of these fuels utilization. Cost of biopellets from intentionally grown biomass is derived from the economic models of individual energy crop plantations. At the same time, the restrictions imposed by EU legislation on Ecodesign's fuel and combustion equipment requirements and NOx emissions are discussed. Preliminary results of analyzes show that to achieve the competitiveness of pellets produced from specifically grown biomass, it would be necessary to either significantly ecological tax on coal (from about 0.3 to 3-3.5 EUR/GJ), or to multiply the agricultural subsidy per area. In addition to the Czech Republic, the results are also relevant for other countries, such as Bulgaria and Poland, which also have a high proportion of solid fuels for household heating.

Keywords: CO2 emissions, heating costs, energy crop, pellets, brown coal, heat pumps, economical evaluation

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Authors: Animesh Pan, Geoffrey D. Bothun

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With the development of nanotechnology, research in multifunctional delivery systems has a new pace and dimension. An incipient challenge is to design an all-in-one delivery system that can be used for multiple purposes, including tumor targeting therapy, radio-frequency (RF-), near-infrared (NIR-), light-, or pH-induced controlled release, photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), and medical diagnosis. In this regard, various inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) are known to show great potential as the 'functional components' because of their fascinating and tunable physicochemical properties and the possibility of multiple theranostic modalities from individual NPs. Magnetic, luminescent, and plasmonic properties are the three most extensively studied and, more importantly biomedically exploitable properties of inorganic NPs. Although successful attempts of combining any two of them above mentioned functionalities have been made, integrating them in one system has remained challenge. Keeping those in mind, controlled designs of complex colloidal nanoparticle system are one of the most significant challenges in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Therefore, systematic and planned studies providing better revelation are demanded. We report a multifunctional delivery platform-based liposome loaded with drug, iron-oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), and a gold shell on the surface of liposomes, were synthesized using a lipid with polyelectrolyte (layersomes) templating technique. MNPs and the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) were co-encapsulated inside liposomes composed by zwitterionic phophatidylcholine and anionic phosphatidylglycerol using reverse phase evaporation (REV) method. The liposomes were coated with positively charge polyelectrolyte (poly-L-lysine) to enrich the interface with gold anion, exposed to a reducing agent to form a gold nanoshell, and then capped with thio-terminated polyethylene glycol (SH-PEG2000). The core-shell nanostructures were characterized by different techniques like; UV-Vis/NIR scanning spectrophotometer, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscope (TEM). This multifunctional system achieves a variety of functions, such as radiofrequency (RF)-triggered release, chemo-hyperthermia, and NIR laser-triggered for photothermal therapy. Herein, we highlight some of the remaining major design challenges in combination with preliminary studies assessing therapeutic objectives. We demonstrate an efficient loading and delivery system to significant cell death of human cancer cells (A549) with therapeutic capabilities. Coupled with RF and NIR excitation to the doxorubicin-loaded core-shell nanostructure helped in securing targeted and controlled drug release to the cancer cells. The present core-shell multifunctional system with their multimodal imaging and therapeutic capabilities would be eminent candidates for cancer theranostics.

Keywords: cancer thernostics, multifunctional nanostructure, photothermal therapy, radiofrequency targeting

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Authors: Tânia F. C. V. Silva, Eloísa S. S. Vieira, João Pinto da Costa, Rui A. R. Boaventura, Vitor J. P. Vilar

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Sanitary landfill leachates are characterized as a complex mixture of diverse organic and inorganic contaminants, which are usually removed by combining different treatment processes. Due to its simplicity, reliability, high cost-effectiveness and high nitrogen content (mostly under the ammonium form) inherent in this type of effluent, the activated sludge biological process is almost always applied in leachate treatment plants (LTPs). The purpose of this work is to assess the effect of the main nitrification and denitrification variables on the nitrogen's biological removal, from mature leachates. The leachate samples were collected after an aerated lagoon, at a LTP nearby Porto, presenting a high amount of dissolved organic carbon (1.0-1.3 g DOC/L) and ammonium nitrogen (1.1-1.7 g NH4+-N/L). The experiments were carried out in a 1-L lab-scale batch reactor, equipped with a pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) control system, in order to determine the reaction kinetic constants at unchanging conditions. The nitrification reaction rate was evaluated while varying the (i) operating temperature (15, 20, 25 and 30ºC), (ii) DO concentration interval (0.5-1.0, 1.0-2.0 and 2.0-4.0 mg/L) and (iii) solution pH (not controlled, 7.5-8.5 and 6.5-7.5). At the beginning of most assays, it was verified that the ammonium stripping occurred simultaneously to the nitrification, reaching up to 37% removal of total dissolved nitrogen. The denitrification kinetic constants and the methanol consumptions were calculated for different values of (i) volatile suspended solids (VSS) content (25, 50 and 100 mL of centrifuged sludge in 1 L solution), (ii) pH interval (6.5-7.0, 7.5-8.0 and 8.5-9.0) and (iii) temperature (15, 20, 25 and 30ºC), using effluent previously nitrified. The maximum nitrification rate obtained was 38±2 mg NH4+-N/h/g VSS (25ºC, 0.5-1.0 mg O2/L, pH not controlled), consuming 4.4±0.3 mg CaCO3/mg NH4+-N. The highest denitrification rate achieved was 19±1 mg (NO2--N+NO3--N)/h/g VSS (30ºC, 50 mL of sludge and pH between 7.5 and 8.0), with a C/N consumption ratio of 1.1±0.1 mg CH3OH/mg (NO2--N+NO3--N) and an overall alkalinity production of 3.7±0.3 mg CaCO3/mg (NO2--N+NO3--N). The denitrification process showed to be sensitive to all studied parameters, while the nitrification reaction did not suffered significant change when DO content was changed.

Keywords: mature sanitary landfill leachate, nitrogen removal, nitrification and denitrification parameters, lab-scale activated sludge biological reactor

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Authors: Edite Kulmane, Mara Pilmane, Romans Lacis

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Introduction: Acquired heart diseases remain one of the leading health care problems in the world. Changes in myocardium of the diseased hearts are complex and pathogenesis is still not fully clear. The aim of this study was to identify appearance and distribution of apoptosis, homeostasis regulating factors, and innervation and ischemia markers in right atrial tissue in different acquired heart diseases. Methods: During elective open heart surgery were taken right atrial tissue fragments from 12 patients. All patients were operated because of acquired heart diseases- aortic valve stenosis (5 patients), coronary heart disease (5 patients), coronary heart disease and secondary mitral insufficiency (1 patient) and mitral disease (1 patient). The mean age was (mean±SD) 70,2±7,0 years (range 58-83 years). The tissues were stained with haematoxylin and eosin methods for routine light-microscopical examination and for immunohistochemical detection of protein gene peptide 9.5 (PGP 9.5), human atrial natriuretic peptide (hANUP), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), chromogranin A and endothelin. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL method. Results: All specimens showed degeneration of cardiomyocytes with lysis of myofibrils, diffuse vacuolization especially in perinuclear region, different size of cells and their nuclei. The severe invasion of connective tissue was observed in main part of all fragments. The apoptotic index ranged from 24 to 91%. One specimen showed region of newly performed microvessels with cube shaped endotheliocytes that were positive for PGP 9.5, endothelin, chromogranin A and VEGF. From all fragments, taken from patients with coronary heart disease, there were observed numerous PGP 9.5-containing nerve fibres, except in patient with secondary mitral insufficiency, who showed just few PGP 9.5 positive nerves. In majority of specimens there were regions observed with cube shaped mixed -VEGF immunoreactive endocardial and epicardial cells. Only VEGF positive endothelial cells were observed just in few specimens. There was no significant difference of hANUP secreting cells among all specimens. All patients operated due to the coronary heart disease moderate to numerous number of chromogranin A positive cells were seen while in patients with aortic valve stenosis tissue demonstrated just few factor positive cells. Conclusions: Complex detection of different factors may indicate selectively disordered morphopathogenetical event of heart disease: decrease of PGP 9.5 nerves suggests the decreased innervation of organ; increased apoptosis indicates the cell death without ingrowth of connective tissue; persistent presence of hANUP proves the unchanged homeostasis of cardiomyocytes probably supported by expression of chromogranins. Finally, decrease of VEGF detects the regions of affected blood vessels in heart affected by acquired heart disease.

Keywords: heart, apoptosis, protein-gene peptide 9.5, atrial natriuretic peptide, vascular endothelial growth factor, chromogranin A, endothelin

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Authors: Rocco Lioy, Tom Dusseldorf, Aline Lehnen, Romain Reding

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A study concerning both the rentability and ecological performance of dairy production in Luxembourg was carried out for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The data of 100 dairy farms, referring to the Greenhouse gas emissions (ecology) and the profitability (economy) of dairy production, were evaluated, and the average was compared to the corresponding figures of 80 Luxembourgish dairy farms evaluated in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016. The ecological evaluation could confirm that farm efficiency (especially defined as the lowest ratio between used feedstuff and produced milk) is the key driver for significantly reducing the level of emissions in dairy farms. In both farm groups and in the two periods, the efficient farms show almost the same level of emissions per kg ECM (1,17 kg CO2-eq) in comparison with intensive farms (1,13 kg CO2-eq), and at the same time a by far lowest level of emissions related to the production surface (9,9 vs. 13,9 t CO2-eq/ha). Concerning the economic performances, it could be observed that in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019, the intensive farms (we define intensity in the first place in terms of produced milk pro ha) reached a higher profit (incomes minus costs, only consideration for subsidies) than the efficient farms (4,8 vs. 2,6 €-cent/kg ECM), in contradiction with the observation of the years 2014, 2015 and 2015 (1,5 vs. 3,7 €-cent/kg ECM). The most important reason for this divergent behavior was a change in income and cost structure in the considered periods. In the last period (2017, 2018 and 2019), the milk price was considerably higher than in the previous period, and the production costs were lower. This was of advantage for intensive farms, which produce the highest quantity of milk with a high amount of production means. In the period 2014, 2015 and 2016, with lower milk prices but comparable production costs, the advantage was with efficient farms. In conclusion, we expect that in the next future, when especially the production costs will presumably be much higher than in the last years, the profitableness of dairy farming will decrease. In this case, we assume that efficient farms will provide not only an ecologically but also an economically better performance than production-intensive farms. High milk prices and low production costs are no good incentives for carbon-smart farming.

Keywords: efficiency, intensity, dairy, emissions, prices, costs

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Authors: Jason M. Hegenauer, Nicholas Fucci

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In the late 1990s, a major deinstitutionalization movement of elderly patients took place, since which, the design of long-term care facilities has not been adequately analyzed in the United States. Over the course of the last 25 years, major innovations in construction methods, technology, and medicine have been developed, drastically changing the landscape of healthcare architecture. In light of recent events, and the expected increase in elderly populations with the aging of the baby-boomer generation, it is evident that reconsideration of these facilities is essential for the proper care of aging populations. The global response has been effective in stifling this pandemic; however, widespread disease still poses an imminent threat to the human race. Having witnessed the devastation Covid-19 has reaped throughout nursing homes and long-term care facilities, it is evident that the current strategies for protecting our most vulnerable populations are not enough. Light renovation of existing facilities and previously overlooked considerations for new construction projects can drastically lower the risk at nursing homes and long-term care facilities. A reconfigured entry sequence supplements several of the features which have been long-standing essentials of the design of these facilities. This research focuses on several aspects identified as needing improvement, including indoor environment quality, security measures incorporated into healthcare architecture and design, and architectural mitigation strategies for sick building syndrome. The results of this study have been compiled as 'best practices' for the design of future healthcare construction projects focused on the health, safety, and quality of life of the residents of these facilities. These design strategies, which can easily be implemented through renovation of existing facilities and new construction projects, minimize risk of infection and spread of disease while allowing routine functions to continue with minimal impact, should the need for future lockdowns arise. Through the current lockdown procedures, which were implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic, isolation of residents has caused great unrest and worry for family members and friends as they are cut off from their loved ones. At this time, data is still being reported, leaving infection and death rates inconclusive; however, recent projections in some states list long-term care facility deaths as high as 60% of all deaths in the state. The population of these facilities consists of residents who are elderly, immunocompromised, and have underlying chronic medical conditions. According to the Centers for Disease Control, these populations are particularly susceptible to infection and serious illness. The obligation to protect our most vulnerable population cannot be overlooked, and the harsh measures recently taken as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic prove that the design strategies currently utilized for doing so are inadequate.

Keywords: building security, healthcare architecture and design, indoor environment quality, new construction, sick building syndrome, renovation

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Authors: Sarra K. Ikhlef, Onita Basu

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Natural organic matter (NOM) removal efficiency using drinking water treatment biological filters can be highly influenced by backwashing conditions. Backwashing has the ability to remove the accumulated biomass and particles in order to regenerate the biological filters' removal capacity and prevent excessive headloss buildup. A lab scale system consisting of 3 biological filters was used in this study to examine the implications of different backwash strategies on biological filtration performance. The backwash procedures were evaluated based on their impacts on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removals, biological filters’ biomass, backwash water volume usage, and particle removal. Results showed that under nutrient limited conditions, the simultaneous use of air and water under collapse pulsing conditions lead to a DOC removal of 22% which was significantly higher (p>0.05) than the 12% removal observed under water only backwash conditions. Employing a bed expansion of 20% under nutrient supplemented conditions compared to a 30% reference bed expansion while using the same amount of water volume lead to similar DOC removals. On the other hand, utilizing a higher bed expansion (40%) lead to significantly lower DOC removals (23%). Also, a backwash strategy that reduced the backwash water volume usage by about 20% resulted in similar DOC removals observed with the reference backwash. The backwash procedures investigated in this study showed no consistent impact on biological filters' biomass concentrations as measured by the phospholipids and the adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) methods. Moreover, none of these two analyses showed a direct correlation with DOC removal. On the other hand, dissolved oxygen (DO) uptake showed a direct correlation with DOC removals. The addition of the extended terminal subfluidization wash (ETSW) demonstrated no apparent impact on DOC removals. ETSW also successfully eliminated the filter ripening sequence (FRS). As a result, the additional water usage resulting from implementing ETSW was compensated by water savings after restart. Results from this study provide insight to researchers and water treatment utilities on how to better optimize the backwashing procedure for the goal of optimizing the overall biological filtration process.

Keywords: biological filtration, backwashing, collapse pulsing, ETSW

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Authors: Anne Nattembo

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Cervical cancer remains a major public health problem in developing countries, especially in Africa. Effective cervical cancer prevention communication requires identification of behaviors, attitudes and increasing awareness of a given population; thus this study focused on investigating awareness, attitudes, and behavior among female university students towards cervical cancer messages. The study objectives sought to investigate the communication behavior of young adults towards cervical cancer, to understand female students recognition of cervical cancer as a problem, to identify the frames related to cervical cancer and their impact towards audience communication and participation behaviors, to identify the factors that influence behavioral intentions and level of involvement towards cervical cancer services and to make recommendations on how to improve cervical cancer communication towards female university students. The researcher obtained data using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions targeting 90 respondents. The semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out through one-on-one discussions basis using a set of prepared questions among 53 respondents. All interviews were audio-tape recorded. Each interview was directly typed into Microsoft Word. 4 focus group discussions were conducted with a total of 37 respondents; 2 female only groups with 10 respondents in one and 9 respondents in another, 1 mixed with 12 participants 5 of whom were male, and 1 male only group with 6 participants. The key findings show that the participants preferred to receive and access cervical cancer information from doctors although they were mainly receiving information from the radio. In regards to the type of public the respondents represent, majority of the respondents were non-publics in the sense that they did not have knowledge about cervical cancer, had low levels of involvement and had high constraint recognition their cervical cancer knowledge levels. The researcher identified the most salient audience frames among female university students towards cervical cancer and these included; death, loss, and fear. These frames did not necessarily make cervical cancer an issue of concern among the female university students but rather an issue they distanced themselves from as they did not perceive it as a risk. The study also identified the constraints respondents face in responding to cervical cancer campaign calls-to-action which included; stigma, lack of knowledge and access to services as well as lack of recommendation from doctors. In regards to sex differences, females had more knowledge about cervical cancer than the males. In conclusion the study highlights the importance of interpersonal communication in risk or health communication with a focus on health providers proactively sharing cervical cancer prevention information with their patients. Health provider’s involvement in cervical cancer is very important in influencing behavior and compliance of cervical cancer calls-to-action. The study also provides recommendations for designing effective cervical cancer campaigns that will positively impact on the audience such as packaging cervical cancer messages that also target the males as a way of increasing their involvement and more campaigns to increase awareness of cervical cancer as well as designing positive framed messages to counter the negative audience frames towards cervical cancer.

Keywords: cervical cancer communication, health communication, university students, risk communication

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Authors: Mehri Sadat Alavinasab Ashgezari, Gholam Reza Nabi Bidhendi, Fatemeh Sadat Alavinasab Ashkezari

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Atmospheric aerosol loading (AAL) from anthropogenic sources is an evidence in industrial development. The accelerated trends in material consumption at the global scale in recent years demonstrate consumption paradigms sensible to the planetary boundaries (PB). This paper is a statistical approach on recognizing the path of climate-relevant bulk materials production (CBMP) of steel, cement and plastics to AAL via an updated and validated spatiotemporal distribution. The methodology of statistical analysis used the most updated regional or global databases or instrumental technologies. This corresponded to a selection of processes and areas capable for tracking AAL within the last decade, analyzing the most validated data while leading to explore the behavior functions or models. The results also represented a correlation within socio economic metabolism idea between the materials specified as macronutrients of society and AAL as a PB with an unknown threshold. The selected country contributors of China, India, US and the sample country of Iran show comparable cumulative AAL values vs to the bulk materials domestic extraction and production rate in the study period of 2012 to 2022. Generally, there is a tendency towards gradual descend in the worldwide and regional aerosol concentration after 2015. As of our evaluation, a considerable share of human role, equivalent 20% from CBMP, is for the main anthropogenic species of aerosols, including sulfate, black carbon and organic particulate matters too. This study, in an innovative approach, also explores the potential role of AAL control mechanisms from the economy sectors where ordered and smoothing loading trends are accredited through the disordered phenomena of CBMP and aerosol precursor emissions. The equilibrium states envisioned is an approval to the well-established theory of Spin Glasses applicable in physical system like the Earth and here to AAL.

Keywords: atmospheric aeroso loading, material flows, climate bulk materials, industrial ecology

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Authors: Hamide Aydin, Banu Karaman, Ayhan Bozkurt, Umran Kurtan

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Recently, Proton Conducting Gel Polymer Electrolytes (GPEs) have drawn much attention in supercapacitor applications due to their physical and electrochemical characteristics and stability conditions for low temperatures. In this research, PVA-H2SO4-H3BO3 GPE has been used for electric-double layer capacitor (EDLCs) application, in which electrospun free-standing carbon nanofibers are used as electrodes. Introduced PVA-H2SO4-H3BO3 GPE behaves as both separator and the electrolyte in the supercapacitor. Symmetric Swagelok cells including GPEs were assembled via using two electrode arrangements and the electrochemical properties were searched. Electrochemical performance studies demonstrated that PVA-H2SO4-H3BO3 GPE had a maximum specific capacitance (Cs) of 134 F g-1 and showed great capacitance retention (%100) after 1000 charge/discharge cycles. Furthermore, PVA-H2SO4-H3BO3 GPE yielded an energy density of 67 Wh kg-1 with a corresponding power density of 1000 W kg-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1. PVA-H2SO4 based polymer electrolyte was produced according to following procedure; Firstly, 1 g of commercial PVA was dissolved in distilled water at 90°C and stirred until getting transparent solution. This was followed by addition of the diluted H2SO4 (1 g of H2SO4 in a distilled water) to the solution to obtain PVA-H2SO4. PVA-H2SO4-H3BO3 based polymer electrolyte was produced by dissolving H3BO3 in hot distilled water and then inserted into the PVA-H2SO4 solution. The mole fraction was arranged to ¼ of the PVA repeating unit. After the stirring 2 h at RT, gel polymer electrolytes were obtained. The final electrolytes for supercapacitor testing included 20% of water in weight. Several blending combinations of PVA/H2SO4 and H3BO3 were studied to observe the optimized combination in terms of conductivity as well as electrolyte stability. As the amount of boric acid increased in the matrix, excess sulfuric acid was excluded due to cross linking, especially at lower solvent content. This resulted in the reduction of proton conductivity. Therefore, the mole fraction of H3BO3 was chosen as ¼ of PVA repeating unit. Within this optimized limits, the polymer electrolytes showed better conductivities as well as stability.

Keywords: electrical double layer capacitor, energy density, gel polymer electrolyte, ultracapacitor

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Authors: Shradha Parsekar, Suma Nair, Ajay Bailey, Binu V. S.

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Background: Concealing of cancer-related information is seen in many low-and-middle-income countries and may be associated with multiple factors. Comparatively, there is lack of information about, how breast cancers diagnosed women disclose cancer-related information to their social contacts and vice versa. To get more insights on the participant’s experience, opinions, expectations, and attitudes, a qualitative study is a suitable approach. Therefore, this study involving in-depth interviews was planned to lessen this gap. Methods: Interviews were conducted separately among breast cancer patients and their caregivers with semi-structured qualitative interview guide. Purposive and convenient sampling was being used to recruit patients and caregivers, respectively. Ethical clearance and permission from the tertiary hospital were obtained and participants were selected from the Udupi district, Karnataka, India. After obtaining a list of breast cancer diagnosed cases, participants were contacted in person and their willingness to take part in the study was taken. About 39 caregivers and 35 patients belonging to different breast cancer stages were recruited. Interviews were recorded with prior permission. Data was managed by Atlas.ti 8 software. The recordings were transcribed, translated and coded in two cycles. Most of the patients belonged to stage II and III cancer. Codes were grouped together into to whom breast cancer status was concealed to and underneath reason for the same. Main findings: followings are the codes and code families which emerged from the data. 1) Concealing the breast cancer status from social contacts other than close family members (such as extended family, neighbor and friends). Participants perceived the reasons as, a) to avoid questions which people probe (which doesn’t have answers), b) to avoid people paying courtesy visit (to inquire about the health as it is Indian culture to visit the sick person) making it inconvenient for patient and caregivers have to offer something and talk to them, c) to avoid people getting shocked (react as if cancer is different from other diseases) or getting emotional/sad, or getting fear of death d) to avoid getting negative suggestion or talking anything in front of patient as it may affect patient negatively, e) to avoid getting stigmatized, f) to avoid getting obstacle in child’s marriage. 2) Participant concealed the breast cancer status of young children as they perceived that it may a) affect studies, b) affect emotionally, c) children may get scared. 3) Concealing the breast cancer status from patients as the caregivers perceived that they have fear of a) worsening patient’s health, b) patient getting tensed, c) patient getting shocked, and d) patient getting scared. However, some participants stressed important in disclosing the cancer status to social contact/patient to make the people aware of the disease. Conclusion: The news of breast cancer spreads like electricity in the wire, therefore, patient or family avoid it for many reasons. Although, globally, due to physicians’ ethical obligations, there is an inclination towards more disclosure of cancer diagnosis and status of prognosis to the patient. However, it is an ongoing argument whether patient/social contacts should know the status especially in a country like India.

Keywords: breast cancer, concealing cancer status, India, qualitative study

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Authors: B. Vinod, L. Jsudev

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Natural fibers as reinforcement in polymer matrix material is gaining lot of attention in recent years, as they are light in weight, less in cost, and ecologically advanced surrogate material to glass and carbon fibers in composites. Natural fibers like jute, sisal, coir, hemp, banana etc. have attracted substantial importance as a potential structural material because of its attractive features along with its good mechanical properties. Cryogenic applications of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites like cryogenic wind tunnels, cryogenic transport vessels, support structures in space shuttles and rockets are gaining importance. In these unique cryogenic applications, the requirements of polymer composites are extremely severe and complicated. These materials need to possess good mechanical and physical properties at cryogenic temperatures such as liquid helium (4.2 K), liquid hydrogen (20 K), liquid nitrogen (77 K), and liquid oxygen (90 K) temperatures, etc., to meet the high requirements by the cryogenic engineering applications. The objective of this work is to investigate the mechanical behavior of hybrid hemp/jute fibers reinforced epoxy composite material at liquid nitrogen temperature. Hemp and Jute fibers are used as reinforcement material as they have high specific strength, stiffness and good adhering property and has the potential to replace the synthetic fibers. Hybrid hemp/jute fibers reinforced polymer composite is prepared by hand lay-up method and test specimens are cut according to ASTM standards. These test specimens are dipped in liquid nitrogen for different time durations. The tensile properties, flexural properties and impact strength of the specimen are tested immediately after the specimens are removed from liquid nitrogen container. The experimental results indicate that the cryogenic treatment of the polymer composite has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of this material. The tensile properties and flexural properties of the hybrid hemp/jute fibers epoxy composite at liquid nitrogen temperature is higher than at room temperature. The impact strength of the material decreased after subjecting it to liquid nitrogen temperature.

Keywords: liquid nitrogen temperature, polymer composite, tensile properties, flexural properties

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Authors: Nadezda Sergunicheva, Victoria Vasilenko

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The emotional sphere is one of the most important aspects of the child's development and significant factor in his psychological well-being. Present research aims to identify the relationships between emotional characteristics of preschoolers and parameters of family interaction: emotional interaction, parental styles, family adaptation, and cohesion. The study involved 40 people from Saint-Petersburg: 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls) from 5 to 6 years, Mage = 5 years 4 months and 20 mothers. Methods used were: Test 'Emotional identification' by E.Izotova, Empathy test by T. Gavrilova, Children's fears test by A. Zakharov, M. Panfilova, 'Parent-child emotional interaction questionnaire' by E. Zakharova, 'Analysis of family relationships questionnaire by E. Eidemiller and V. Yustitskis, Family Adaptation and Cohesion Scales (FACES III) by D. X. Olson, J. Portner, I. Lavi. Сorrelation analysis revealed that the higher index of underdevelopment of parental feelings, the lower the child’s ability to identify emotions (p < 0,05), but at the same time, the higher ability to understand emotional states (p < 0,01), as in the case of hypoprotection (p < 0,05). Two last correlations can be explained by compensatory mechanism. This is also confirmed by negative correlations between maternal educational uncertainty and child’s ability to understand emotional states and between indulgence and child’s ability to perceive emotional states (p < 0,05). The more pronounced the phobia of a child's loss, the higher egocentric nature of child’s empathy (p < 0,05). The child’s fears have the greatest number of relationships with the characteristics of family interaction. The more pronounced mother’s positive feelings in interaction, emotional support, acceptance of himself as a parent, desire for physical contact with child and the more adaptive the family system, the less the total number of child’s fears (p < 0,05). The more the mother's ability to perceive the child's state, positive feelings in interaction, emotional support (p < 0,01), unconditional acceptance of the child, acceptance of himself as a parent and the desire for physical contact (p < 0,05), the less the amount child’s spatial fears. Socially-mediated fears are associated with less pronounced mother's positive feelings in interaction, less emotional support and deficiency of demands, obligations (p < 0,05). Fears of animals and fairy-tale characters positively correlated with the excessive demands, obligations and excessive sanctions (p < 0,05). The more emotional support (p < 0,01), mother's ability to perceive the child's state, positive feelings in interaction, unconditional acceptance of the child, acceptance of himself as a parent (p < 0,05), the less the amount child’s fears of nightmares. This kind of fears is positively correlated with excessive demands, prohibitions (p < 0,05). The more adaptive the family system (p < 0,01), the higher family cohesion, mother's acceptance of himself as a parent and preference to childish traits (p < 0,05), the less fear of death. Thus, the children's fears have the closest relationships with the characteristics of family interaction. The severity of fears, especially spatial, is connected, first of all, with the emotional side of the mother-parent interaction. Fears of animals and fairy-tale characters are associated with some characteristics of the parental styles, connected with the rigor of mothers. Correlations of the emotional identification are contradictory and require further clarification. Research is supported by RFBR №18-013-00990.

Keywords: emotional characteristics, family interaction, fears, parental styles, preschoolers

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

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Obesity is a low-grade inflammatory disease and may lead to health problems such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes. It is also associated with important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. This requires the detailed evaluation of obesity, particularly in children. The aim of this study is to enlighten the potential associations between lipid ratios and obesity indices and to introduce those with discriminating features among children with obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS). A total of 408 children (aged between six and eighteen years) participated in the scope of the study. Informed consent forms were taken from the participants and their parents. Ethical Committee approval was obtained. Anthropometric measurements such as weight, height as well as waist, hip, head, neck circumferences and body fat mass were taken. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were recorded. Body mass index (BMI), diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index-II (D2 index), waist-to-hip, head-to-neck ratios were calculated. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLChol), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLChol) analyses were performed in blood samples drawn from 110 children with normal body weight, 164 morbid obese (MO) children and 134 children with MetS. Age- and sex-adjusted BMI percentiles tabulated by World Health Organization were used to classify groups; normal body weight, MO and MetS. 15^th-to-85^th percentiles were used to define normal body weight children. Children, whose values were above the 99th percentile, were described as MO. MetS criteria were defined. Data were evaluated statistically by SPSS Version 20. The degree of statistical significance was accepted as p≤0.05. Mean±standard deviation values of BMI for normal body weight children, MO children and those with MetS were 15.7±1.1, 27.1±3.8 and 29.1±5.3 kg/m², respectively. Corresponding values for the D2 index were calculated as 3.4±0.9, 14.3±4.9 and 16.4±6.7. Both BMI and D2 index were capable of discriminating the groups from one another (p≤0.01). As far as other obesity indices were considered, waist-to hip and head-to-neck ratios did not exhibit any statistically significant difference between MO and MetS groups (p≥0.05). Diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index-II was correlated with the triglycerides-to-HDL-C ratio in normal body weight and MO (r=0.413, p≤0.01 and r=0.261, (p≤0.05, respectively). Total cholesterol-to-HDL-C and LDL-C-to-HDL-C showed statistically significant differences between normal body weight and MO as well as MO and MetS (p≤0.05). The only group in which these two ratios were significantly correlated with waist-to-hip ratio was MetS group (r=0.332 and r=0.334, p≤0.01, respectively). Lack of correlation between the D2 index and the triglycerides-to-HDL-C ratio was another important finding in MetS group. In this study, parameters and ratios, whose associations were defined previously with increased cardiovascular risk or cardiac death have been evaluated along with obesity indices in children with morbid obesity and MetS. Their profiles during childhood have been investigated. Aside from the nature of the correlation between the D2 index and triglycerides-to-HDL-C ratio, total cholesterol-to-HDL-C as well as LDL-C-to- HDL-C ratios along with their correlations with waist-to-hip ratio showed that the combination of obesity-related parameters predicts better than one parameter and appears to be helpful for discriminating MO children from MetS group.

Keywords: children, lipid ratios, metabolic syndrome, obesity indices

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Authors: Fatma Ahmed, Heba Mostafa, Bassem Ramdan, Azza El-Soussi

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Background: World Health Organization stated that by 2020 cardiac disease will be the number one cause of death worldwide and estimates that 25 million people per year will suffer from heart disease. Cardiac surgery is considered an effective treatment for severe forms of cardiovascular diseases that cannot be treated by medical treatment or cardiac interventions. In spite of the benefits of cardiac surgery, it is considered a major stressful experience for patients who are candidate for surgery. Prehabilitation can decrease incidences of postoperative complications as it prepares patients for surgical stress through enhancing their defenses to meet the demands of surgery. When patients anticipate the postoperative sequence of events, they will prepare themselves to act certain behaviors, identify their roles and actively participate in their own recovery, therefore, anxiety levels are decreased and functional capacity is enhanced. Prehabilitation programs can comprise interventions that include physical exercise, psychological prehabilitation, nutritional optimization and risk factor modification. Physical exercises are associated with improvements in the functioning of the various physiological systems, reflected in increased functional capacity, improved cardiac and respiratory functions and make patients fit for surgical intervention. Prehabilitation programs should also prepare patients psychologically in order to cope with stress, anxiety and depression associated with postoperative pain, fatigue, limited ability to perform the usual activities of daily living through acting in a healthy manner. Notwithstanding the benefits of psychological preparations, there are limited studies which investigated the effect of psychological prehabilitation to confirm its effect on psychological, quality of life and physiological outcomes of patients who had undergone cardiac surgery. Aim of the study: The study aims to determine the effect of prehabilitation interventions on outcomes of patients undergoing cardiac surgeries. Methods: Quasi experimental study design was used to conduct this study. Sixty eligible and consenting patients were recruited and divided into two groups: control and intervention group (30 participants in each). One tool namely emotional, physiological, clinical, cognitive and functional capacity outcomes of prehabilitation intervention assessment tool was utilized to collect the data of this study. Results: Data analysis showed significant improvement in patients' emotional state, physiological and clinical outcomes (P < 0.000) with the use of prehabilitation interventions. Conclusions: Cardiac prehabilitation in the form of providing information about surgery, circulation exercise, deep breathing exercise, incentive spirometer training and nutritional education implemented daily by patients scheduled for elective open heart surgery one week before surgery have been shown to improve patients' emotional state, physiological and clinical outcomes.

Keywords: emotional recovery, clinical recovery, coronary artery bypass grafting patients, prehabilitation

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Authors: Intisar, Khalifa, Salim, Al Busaidi

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Recently, the synergic combination of low salinity water flooding with polymer flooding has been a subject of paramount interest for the oil industry. Numerous studies have investigated the efficiency of enhanced oil recovery using low salinity polymer flooding (LSPF). However, there is no clear conclusion that can explain the incremental oil recovery, determine the main factors controlling the oil recovery process, and define the relative contribution of rock/fluids or fluid/fluid interactions to extra oil recovery. Therefore, this study aims to perform a systematic investigation of the interactions between oil, polymer, low salinity and sandstone rock surface from pore to core scale during LSPF. Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) polymer, Boise outcrop, a crude oil sample and reservoir cores from an Omani oil field, and brine at two different salinities were used in the study. Several experimental measurements including static bulk measurements of polymer solutions prepared with brines of high and low salinities, single phase displacement experiments, along with rheological, total organic carbon and ion chromatography measurements to analyze ion exchange reactions, polymer adsorption, and viscosity loss were used. In addition, two-phase experiments were performed to demonstrate the oil recovery efficiency of LSPF. The results revealed that the incremental oil recovery from LSPF was attributed to the combination of the reduction in the water-oil mobility ratio, an increase in the repulsion forces between crude oil/brine/rock interfaces and an increase in pH of the aqueous solution. In addition, lowering the salinity of the make-up brine resulted in a larger conformation (expansion) of the polymer molecules, which in turn resulted in less adsorption and a greater in-situ viscosity without any negative impact on injectivity. This plays a positive role in the oil displacement process. Moreover, the loss of viscosity in the effluent of polymer solutions was lower in low-salinity than in high-salinity brine, indicating that an increase in cations concentration (mainly driven by Ca2+ ions) has stronger effect on the viscosity of high-salinity polymer solution compared with low-salinity polymer.

Keywords: polymer, heavy oil, low salinity, COBR interactions

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Authors: Amir Shafiee Kisomi, Mehrdad Mofidi

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Nowadays, fuel cells as a promising alternative for power source have been widely studied owing to their security, high energy density, low operation temperatures, renewable capability and low environmental pollutant emission. The nanoparticles of core-shell type could be widely described in a combination of a shell (outer layer material) and a core (inner material), and their characteristics are greatly conditional on dimensions and composition of the core and shell. In addition, the change in the constituting materials or the ratio of core to the shell can create their special noble characteristics. In this study, a fast technique for the fabrication of a Pd-Co/G/GCE modified electrode is offered. Thermal decomposition reaction of cobalt (II) formate salt over the surface of graphene/glassy carbon electrode (G/GCE) is utilized for the synthesis of Co nanoparticles. The nanoparticles of Pd-Co decorated on the graphene are created based on the following method: (1) Thermal decomposition reaction of cobalt (II) formate salt and (2) the galvanic replacement process Co by Pd2+. The physical and electrochemical performances of the as-prepared Pd-Co/G electrocatalyst are studied by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), and Chronoamperometry (CHA). Galvanic replacement method is utilized as a facile and spontaneous approach for growth of Pd nanostructures. The Pd-Co/G is used as an anode catalyst for ethanol oxidation in alkaline media. The Pd-Co/G not only delivered much higher current density (262.3 mAcm-2) compared to the Pd/C (32.1 mAcm-2) catalyst, but also demonstrated a negative shift of the onset oxidation potential (-0.480 vs -0.460 mV) in the forward sweep. Moreover, the novel Pd-Co/G electrocatalyst represents large electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), lower apparent activation energy (Ea), higher levels of durability and poisoning tolerance compared to the Pd/C catalyst. The paper demonstrates that the catalytic activity and stability of Pd-Co/G electrocatalyst are higher than those of the Pd/C electrocatalyst toward ethanol oxidation in alkaline media.

Keywords: thermal decomposition, nanostructures, galvanic replacement, electrocatalyst, ethanol oxidation, alkaline media

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Authors: Andrés Quiroz, Emilio Hormazabal, Ana Mutis, Fernando Ortega, Manuel Chacón-Fuentes, Leonardo Parra

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Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is an important forage species in temperate regions of the world. The main limitation of this species worldwide is a lack of persistence related to the high mortality of plants due to a complex of biotic and abiotic factors, determining a life span of two or three seasons. Because of the importance of red clover in Chile, a red clover breeding program was started at INIA Carillanca Research Center in 1989, with the main objective of improving the survival of plants, forage yield, and persistence. The main selection criteria for selecting new varieties have been based on agronomical parameters and biotic factors. The main biotic factor associated with red clover mortality in Chile is Hylastinus obscurus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Both larval and adults feed on the roots, causing weakening and subsequent death of clover plants. Pesticides have not been successful for controlling infestations of this root borer. Therefore, alternative strategies for controlling this pest are a high priority for red clover producers. Currently, the role of semiochemical in the interaction between H. obscurus and red clover plants has been widely studied for our group. Specifically, from the red clover foliage has been identified limonene is eliciting repellency from the root borer. Limonene is generated in the plant from two independent biosynthetic pathways, the mevalonic acid, and deoxyxylulose pathway. Mevalonate pathway enzymes are localized in the cytosol, whereas the deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway enzymes are found in plastids. In summary, limonene can be determinated by enzymatic bioassay using GPP as substrate and by limonene synthase expression. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to study genetic variation of limonene in material provided by INIA´s Red Clover breeding program. Protein extraction was carried out homogenizing 250 mg of leave tissue and suspended in 6 mL of extraction buffer (PEG 1500, PVP-30, 20 mM MgCl2 and antioxidants) and stirred on ice for 20 min. After centrifugation, aliquots of 2.5 mL were desalted on PD-10 columns, resulting in a final volume of 3.5 mL. Protein determination was performed according to Bradford with BSA as a standard. Monoterpene synthase assays were performed with 50 µL of protein extracts transferred into gas-tight 2 mL crimp seal vials after addition of 4 µL MgCl₂ and 41 µL assay buffer. The assay was started by adding 5 µL of a GPP solution. The mixture was incubated for 30 min at 40 °C. Biosynthesized limonene was quantified in a GC equipped with a chiral column and using synthetic R and S-limonene standards. The enzymatic the production of R and S-limonene from different Superqueli-Carillanca genotypes is shown in this work. Preliminary results showed significant differences in limonene content among the genotypes analyzed. These results constitute an important base for selecting genotypes with a high content of this repellent monoterpene towards H. obscurus.

Keywords: head space, limonene enzymatic determination, red clover, Hylastinus obscurus

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Authors: Elaf Ahmed, Shahid Rasul, Ohoud Alharbi, Peng Wang

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Ultra-Small Nanoparticles of metals (USNPs) have attracted the attention from the perspective of both basic and developmental science in a wide range of fields. These NPs exhibit electrical, optical, magnetic, and catalytic phenomena. In addition, they are considered effective catalysts because of their enormously large surface area. Many chemical methods of synthesising USNPs are reported. However, the drawback of these methods is the use of different capping agents and ligands in the process of the production such as Polyvinylpyrrolidone, Thiol and Ethylene Glycol. In this research ultra-small nanoparticles of gold, palladium and platinum metal have been successfully produced using electrochemically active biofilm (EAB) after optimising the pH of the media. The production of ultra-small nanoparticles has been conducted in a reactor using a simple two steps method. Initially biofilm was grown on the surface of a carbon paper for 7 days using Shewanella Loihica bacteria. Then, biofilm was employed to synthesise platinum, palladium and gold nanoparticles in water using sodium lactate as electron donor without using any toxic chemicals at mild operating conditions. Electrochemically active biofilm oxidise the electron donor and produces electrons in the solution. Since these electrons are a strong reducing agent, they can reduce metal precursors quite effectively and quickly. The As-synthesized ultra-small nanoparticles have a size range between (2-7nm) and showed excellent catalytic activity on the degradation of methyl orange. The growth of metal USNPs is strongly related to the condition of the EAB. Where using low pH for the synthesis was not successful due to the fact that it might affect and destroy the bacterial cells. However, increasing the pH to 7 and 9, led to the successful formation of USNPs. By changing the pH value, we noticed a change in the size range of the produced NPs. The EAB seems to act as a Nano factory for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles by offering a green, sustainable and toxic free synthetic route without the use of any capping agents or ligands and depending only on their respiration pathway.

Keywords: electrochemically active biofilm, electron donor, shewanella loihica, ultra-small nanoparticles

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Authors: Paulina Clara Appiah, Kofi Issah, Timothy Letsa, Kennedy Nartey, Amanua Chinbuah, Adoma Dwomo-Fokuo, Jacqeline G. Asibey

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Background: The Every Newborn Action Plan provides evidence–based interventions to end preventable deaths in high burden countries. Brong Ahafo Region is one of ten regions in Ghana with less than half of its district hospitals having sick newborn units. Facility-based neonatal care is not prioritized and under-funded, and there is also inadequate knowledge and competence to manage the sick. The aim of this intervention was to make available in–patient care for sick newborns in all 19 district hospitals through the strengthening of facility-based systems. Methods: With the development and dissemination of the National Newborn Strategy and Action Plan 2014-2018, the country was able to attract PATH which provided the region with basic resuscitation equipment, supported hospital providers’ capacity building in Helping Babies Breathe, Essential Care of Every Baby, Infection Prevention and Management and held a symposia on managing the sick newborn. Newborn advocacy was promoted through newborn champions at the facility and community levels. Hospital management was then able to mobilize resources from communities, corporate organizations and from internally generated funds; created or expanded sick newborn care units and provided essential medicines and equipment. Kangaroo Mother Care was initiated in 6 hospitals. Pediatric specialist outreach services initiated comprised telephone consultations, teaching ward rounds and participating in perinatal death audits meetings. Newborn data capture and management was improved through the provision and training on the use of standard registers provided from the national level. Results: From February 2015 to November 2017, hospitals with sick newborn units increased from 7 to 19 (37%-100%). 180 pieces each of newborn ventilation bags and masks size 0, 1 and penguin suction bulbs were distributed to the hospitals, in addition to 20 newborn mannequin sets and 90 small clinical reminder posters. 802 providers (96.9%) were trained in resuscitation, of which 96% were successfully followed up in 6 weeks, 91% in 6 months and 80% in 12 months post-training. 53 clinicians (65%) were trained and mentored to manage sick newborns. 56 specialist teaching ward rounds were conducted. Data completeness improved from 92.6% - 99.9%. Availability of essential medicines improved from 11% to 100%. Number of hospital cots increased from 116 to 248 (214%). Cot occupancy rate increased from 57.4% to 92.5%. Hospitals with phototherapy equipment increased from 0 to 12 (63%). Hospitals with incubators increased from 1 to 12 (5%-63%). Newborn deaths among admissions reduced from 6.3% to 5.4%. Conclusion: Access to in-patient care increased significantly. Newborn advocacy successfully mobilized resources required for strengthening facility –based systems.

Keywords: facility-based systems, Ghana, in-patient care, newborn advocacy

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Authors: R. S. Giraddi, B. Thirupam Reddy, D. N. Kambrekar

Abstract:

Chilli (Capsicum annum L.) an important commercial vegetable crop is ravaged by a number of insect-pests during both vegetative and reproductive phase resulting into significant crop loss.Thrips, Scirtothripsdorsalis, mite, Polyphagotarsonemuslatus and whitefly, Bemisiatabaci are the key sap feeding insects, their infestation leads to leaf curl, stunted growth and yield loss.During flowering and fruit formation stage, gall midge fly, Asphondyliacapparis (Rubsaaman) infesting flower buds and young fruits andHelicoverpaarmigera (Hubner) feeding on matured green fruits are the important insect pests causing significant crop loss.The pest is known to infest both flower buds and young fruits resulting into malformation of flower buds and twisting of fruits.In order to manage these insect-pests a combi product consisting of imidacloprid and betacyfluthrin (Soloman 300 OD) was evaluated for its bio-efficacy, phytotoxicity and effect on predator activity.Imidacloprid, a systemic insecticide belonging to neo-nicotinoid group, is effective against insect pests such as aphids, whiteflies (sap feeders) and other insectsviz., termites and soil insects.Beta-Cyfluthrin is an insecticide of synthetic pyrethroid group which acts by contact action and ingestion. It acts on the insects' nervous system as sodium channel blocker consequently a disorder of the nervous system occurs leading finally to the death. The field experiments were taken up during 2015 and 2016 at the Main Agricultural Research Station of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India.The trials were laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications using popular land race of Byadagi crop variety.Results indicated that the product at 21.6 + 50.4% gai/ha (240 ml/ha) and 27.9 + 65% gai/ha (310 ml/ha) was found quite effective in controlling thrips (0.00 to 0.66 thrips per six leaves) as against the standard check insecticide recommended for thrips by the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad wherein the density of thrips recorded was significantly higher (1.00 to 2.00 Nos./6 leaves). Similarly, the test insecticide was quite effective against other target insects, whiteflies, fruit borer and gall midge fly as indicated by lower insect population observed in the treatments as compared to standard insecticidal control. The predatory beetle activity was found to be normal in all experimental plots. Highest green fruit yield of 5100-5500 kg/ha was recorded in Soloman 300 OD applied crop at 310 ml/ha rate as compared to 4750 to 5050 kg/ha recorded in check. At present 6-8 sprays of insecticides are recommended for management of these insect-pests on the crop. If combi-products are used in pest management programmes, it is possible to reduce insecticide usages in crop ecosystem.

Keywords: Imidacloprid, Betacyfluthrin, gallmidge fly, thrips, chilli

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: B. Atli-Veltin, A. Vosteen, D. Megan, A. Jedynska, L. K. Cheng

Abstract:

Composite materials combine the advantages of being lightweight and possessing high strength. This is in particular of interest for the development of large constructions, e.g., aircraft, space applications, wind turbines, etc. One of the shortcomings of using composite materials is the complex nature of the failure mechanisms which makes it difficult to predict the remaining lifetime. Therefore, condition and health monitoring are essential for using composite material for critical parts of a construction. Different types of sensors are used/developed to monitor composite structures. These include ultrasonic, thermography, shearography and fiber optic. The first 3 technologies are complex and mostly used for measurement in laboratory or during maintenance of the construction. Optical fiber sensor can be surface mounted or embedded in the composite construction to provide the unique advantage of in-operation measurement of mechanical strain and other parameters of interest. This is identified to be a promising technology for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) or Prognostic Health Monitoring (PHM) of composite constructions. Among the different fiber optic sensing technologies, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor is the most mature and widely used. FBG sensors can be realized in an array configuration with many FBGs in a single optical fiber. In the current project, different aspects of using embedded FBG for composite wind turbine monitoring are investigated. The activities are divided into two parts. Firstly, FBG embedded carbon composite laminate is subjected to tensile and bending loading to investigate the response of FBG which are placed in different orientations with respect to the fiber. Secondly, the demonstration of using FBG sensor array for temperature and strain sensing and monitoring of a 5 m long scale model of a glass fiber mono-pile is investigated. Two different FBG types are used; special in-house fibers and off-the-shelf ones. The results from the first part of the study are showing that the FBG sensors survive the conditions during the production of the laminate. The test results from the tensile and the bending experiments are indicating that the sensors successfully response to the change of strain. The measurements from the sensors will be correlated with the strain gauges that are placed on the surface of the laminates.

Keywords: Fiber Bragg Gratings, embedded sensors, health monitoring, wind turbine towers

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Abram Zoltan

Abstract:

Over the past hundred years, human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, have released enough carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to dissipate additional heat into the lower atmosphere and affect the global climate. Climate change affects many social and environmental determinants of health: clean air, safe drinking water, and adequate food. Our aim is to draw attention to the effects of climate change on the health and health care system. Improving climate awareness and the knowledge related to climate change's health impacts are essential among medical students and practicing medical doctors. Therefore, in their everyday practice, they also need some assistance and up-to-date knowledge of how climate change can endanger human health and deal with these novel health problems. Our activity, based on the cooperation of more universities, aims to develop new curriculum outlines and learning materials on climate change's health impacts for medical schools. Special attention is intended to pay to the possible preventative measures against these impacts. For all of this, the project plans to create new curriculum outlines and learning materials for medical students, elaborate methodological guidelines and create training materials for medical doctors' postgraduate learning programs. The target groups of the project are medical students, educational staff of medical schools and universities, practicing medical doctors with special attention to the general practitioners and family doctors. We had searched various surveys, domestic and international studies about the effects of climate change and statistical estimation of the possible consequences. The health effects of climate change can be measured only approximately by considering only a fraction of the potential health effects and assuming continued economic growth and health progress. We can estimate that climate change is expected to cause about 250,000 more deaths. We conclude that climate change is one of the most serious problems of the 21st century, affecting all populations. In the short- to medium-term, the health effects of climate change will be determined mainly by human vulnerability. In the longer term, the effects depend increasingly on the extent to which transformational action is taken now to reduce emissions. We can contribute to reducing environmental pollution by raising awareness and by educating the population.

Keywords: climate change, health impacts, medical students, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 122