Search results for: scoring based risk assessment method

Authors: P. Phenpun, S. Wareewan

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This qualitative study aimed to describe the opinions in relation to humanized care emerging from the volunteer activities of nursing students at Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chonburi, Thailand. One hundred and twenty-seven second-year nursing students participated in this study. The volunteer activity model was composed of preparation, implementation, and evaluation through a learning log, in which students were encouraged to write their daily activities after completing practical training at the healthcare center. The preparation content included three main categories: service minded, analytical thinking, and client participation. The preparation process took over three days that accumulates up to 20 hours only. The implementation process was held over 10 days, but with a total of 70 hours only, with participants taking part in volunteer work activities at a healthcare center. A learning log was used for evaluation and data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings were as follows. With service minded, there were two subcategories that emerged from volunteer activities, which were service minded towards patients and within themselves. There were three categories under service minded towards patients, which were rapport, compassion, and empathy service behaviors, and there were four categories under service minded within themselves, which were self-esteem, self-value, management potential, and preparedness in providing good healthcare services. In line with analytical thinking, there were two components of analytical thinking, which were analytical skill for their works and analytical thinking for themselves. There were four subcategories under analytical thinking for their works, which were evidence based thinking, real situational thinking, cause analysis thinking, and systematic thinking, respectively. There were four subcategories under analytical thinking for themselves, which were comparative between themselves, towards their clients that leads to the changing of their service behaviors, open-minded thinking, modernized thinking, and verifying both verbal and non-verbal cues. Lastly, there were three categories under participation, which were mutual rapport relationship; reconsidering client’s needs services and providing useful health care information.

Keywords: humanized care service, volunteer activity, nursing student, learning log

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Authors: Terryann Clark, Kabir Dasgupta, Sonia Lewycka, Gail Pacheco, Alexander Plum

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This paper focused on two main research aims using data from the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUINZ) birth cohort: 1. To examine ethnic differences in life-course trajectories in the use and experience of healthcare services in early childhood years (namely immunisation, dental checks and use of General Practitioners (GPs)) 2. To quantify the contribution of relevant explanatory factors to ethnic differences. Current policy in New Zealand indicates there should be, in terms of associated direct costs, equitable access by ethnicity for healthcare services. However, empirical evidence points to persistent ethnic gaps in several domains. For example, the data highlighted that Māori have the lowest immunisation rates, across a number of time points in early childhood – despite having a higher antenatal intention to immunise relative to NZ European. Further to that, NZ European are much more likely to have their first-choice lead maternity caregiver (LMC) and use child dental services compared to all ethnicities. Method: This research explored the underlying mechanisms behind ethnic differences in the use and experience of child healthcare services. First, a multivariate regression analysis was used to adjust raw ethnic gaps in child health care utilisation by relevant covariates. This included a range of factors, encompassing mobility, socio-economic status, mother and child characteristics, household characteristics and other social aspects. Second, a decomposition analysis was used to assess the proportion of each ethnic gap that can be explained, as well as the main drivers behind the explained component. The analysis for both econometric approaches was repeated for each data time point available, which included antenatal, 9 months, 2 years and 4 years post-birth. Results: The following findings emerged: There is consistent evidence that Asian and Pacific peoples have a higher likelihood of child immunisation relative to NZ Europeans and Māori. This was evident at all time points except one. Pacific peoples had a lower rate relative to NZ European for receiving all first-year immunisations on time. For a number of potential individual and household predictors of healthcare service utilisation, the association is time-variant across early childhood. For example, socio-economic status appears highly relevant for timely immunisations in a child’s first year, but is then insignificant for the 15 month immunisations and those at age 4. Social factors play a key role. This included discouragement or encouragement regarding child immunisation. When broken down by source, discouragement by family has the largest marginal effect, followed by health professionals; whereas for encouragement, medical professionals have the largest positive influence. Perceived ethnically motivated discrimination by a health professional was significant with respect to both reducing the likelihood of achieving first choice LMC, and also satisfaction levels with child’s GP. Some ethnic gaps were largely unexplained, despite the wealth of factors employed as independent variables in our analysis. This included understanding why Pacific mothers are much less likely to achieve their first choice LMC compared to NZ Europeans; and also the ethnic gaps for both Māori and Pacific peoples relative to NZ Europeans concerning dental service use.

Keywords: child health, cohort analysis, ethnic disparities, primary healthcare

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Authors: Avani Maniar, Shivani Mehta

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Population aging is one of the most challenging issues of the twenty-first century, facing both developed and developing countries worldwide. In the developed world, there has already been a substantial amount of research on aging and work to help understand the capacity and potential of older people. They attract ever ones attention. Their existence in human society gives rise to variety of responses, reactions and apprehensions, because it connotes on greater part, to some kind of compulsion or willingness that prompt elderly to decide to work after retirement. Work due to social attention and assurance for security both economical and social. In this age, elderly aspire for psychological security with due attention. But the fact remains that despite age related limitations good number of persons in their age of sixty and beyond were hunting for work that would support them and get them some kind of support and in it turns helps them to remain physically and mentally active. Based on the existing diversities in the ageing process, it may be stated that there is a need to pay greater attention to the increasing awareness on the ageing issues and its socio-economic effects and to promote the development of policies and programmes for dealing with an ageing society. Addressing the needs, wants, and well-being of elderly people is essential for maintaining a healthy productive workforce in an aging society. This paper will draw on the results of the study about reasons of elderly working post retirement, problems faced by them and about the future of retirement to ask how widespread negative attitudes and stereotypes among employers are and whether these attitudes influence behavior towards older employees. The aim of research is not only to point out certain stereotypes concerning the elderly labour force, but also to stress that unless preconditions for overcoming these stereotypes are created and employment opportunities are given to this segment of the labour force, full employment as an ultimate goal of global economic policy cannot be achieved.

Keywords: employers, India, inequality, problems, reasons of working, silver workers

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Authors: Denise Muro

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Conflict in Syria, producing over 11 million displaced persons, has incited global attention to displacement. Although neighboring countries have borne the largest part of the displacement burden, due to the influx of refugees into Europe, the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ is taking place on two fronts: Syria’s neighboring countries, with millions of refugees, and Europe, a destination goal for so many that European states face unprecedented challenges. With increasing attention to displacement, forcibly displaced persons are consistently portrayed as either un-agentic victims, or as dangerous free agents. Recognizing that these dominant portrayals involve discourses of power and inequality, this research investigates the extent to which this victim-agent dichotomy affects refugees and organizations that work closely with them during initial integration processes in Berlin, Germany. The research measures initial integration based on German policy measures regarding integration juxtaposed with the way refugees and those who work with them understand integration. Additionally, the study examines day-to-day interactions of refugees in Germany as a way to gauge social integration in a bottom-up approach. This study involved a discourse analysis of portrayals of refugees and participant observation and interviews with refugees and those who work closely with them, which took place during fieldwork in Berlin in the summer of 2016. Germany is unique regarding their migration history and lack of successful integration, in part due to the persistent refrain, ‘Wir sind kein einwanderungsland’ (‘We are not an immigration country’). Still, their accepted asylum seeker population has grown exponentially in the past few years. Findings suggest that the victim-agent dichotomy is present and impactful in the process of refugees entering and integrating into Germany. Integration is hindered due to refugees either being patronized or criminalized to such an extent that, despite being constantly told that they must integrate, they cannot become part of German society.

Keywords: discourse analysis, Germany, integration, refugee crisis

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Authors: Ralene Sim, Stefan Mueller, N. Gopalakrishna Iyer, Ngian Chye Tan, Khee Chee Soo, R. Shetty Mahalakshmi, Hiang Khoon Tan

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Background: Regional failure in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is managed by salvage treatment in the form of neck dissection. Radical neck dissection (RND) is preferred over modified radical neck dissection (MRND) since it is traditionally believed to offer better long-term disease control. However, with the advent of more advanced imaging modalities like high-resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computed Tomography, and Positron Emission Tomography-CT scans, earlier detection is achieved. Additionally, concurrent chemotherapy also contributes to reduced tumour burden. Hence, there may be a lesser need for an RND and a greater role for MRND. With this retrospective study, the primary aim is to ascertain whether MRND, as opposed to RND, has similar outcomes and hence, whether there would be more grounds to offer a less aggressive procedure to achieve lower patient morbidity. Methods: This is a retrospective study of 66 NPC patients treated at Singapore General Hospital between 1994 to 2016 for histologically proven regional recurrence, of which 41 patients underwent RND and 25 who underwent MRND, based on surgeon preference. The type of ND performed, primary treatment mode, adjuvant treatment, and pattern of recurrence were reviewed. Overall survival (OS) was calculated using Kaplan-Meier estimate and compared. Results: Overall, the disease parameters such as nodal involvement and extranodal extension were comparable between the two groups. Comparing MRND and RND, the median (IQR) OS is 1.76 (0.58 to 3.49) and 2.41 (0.78 to 4.11) respectively. However, the p-value found is 0.5301 and hence not statistically significant. Conclusion: RND is more aggressive and has been associated with greater morbidity. Hence, with similar outcomes, MRND could be an alternative salvage procedure for regional failure in selected NPC patients, allowing similar salvage rates with lesser mortality and morbidity.

Keywords: nasopharyngeal carcinoma, neck dissection, modified neck dissection, radical neck dissection

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Authors: Jorn Fricke, Frans Melissen

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Citizens in urban areas are prone to increased levels of stress due to urbanization, inadequate and overburdened infrastructure and services, and environmental degradation. Moreover, communities are fragile and subject to shocks and stresses through various social and political processes. A loss of (a sense of) community is often seen as related to increasing political and civic disintegration. Feelings of community can manifest themselves in various ways but underlying all these manifestations is the need for trust between people. One of the main drivers of trust between individuals is (shared) experiences. It is these shared experiences that may play an important role in building resilience, i.e., the ability of a community and its members to adapt to and deal with stresses, as well as ensure the ongoing development of a community. So far, experience design, as a discipline and academic field, has mainly focused on designing products or services. However, people-to-people experiences are the ones that play a pivotal role in building inclusiveness, safety, and resilience in communities. These experiences represent challenging objects of design as they develop in an interactive space of spontaneity, serendipity, and uniqueness that is based on intuition, freedom of expression, and interaction. Therefore, there is a need for research to identify which elements are required in designing the social and physical environment (or ‘experience scape’) to increase the chance for people-to-people experiences to be successful and what elements are required for these experiences to help in building resilience in urban communities that can resist shocks and stresses. By means of a comparative case study approach in urban areas in Germany and the Netherlands, using a range of qualitative research methods such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, storytelling techniques, and life stories, this research identifies relevant actors and their roles in creating building blocks of optimal experience scrapes for building resilience in communities.

Keywords: community development, experiences, experience scapes, resilience

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Authors: Johannes Matiasek

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Introduction and Aims: Octenidine is a common antiseptic agent in the area of surgical interventions because of its antimicrobial efficacy and outstanding biocompatibility index. We investigate the direct postoperative application of octenilin® on typical procedures in the field of plastic surgery in a prospective, randomized controlled intervention study. The aim of this study is to determine the influence of a direct postoperative application of an octenidine-containing wound gel on wound healing and scarring after abdominoplasty. Material and Methods: In this study, we enrolled 33 patients who underwent abdominoplasty because of medical indications (e.g. Cutis laxa abdominis). To ensure an intraindividual comparison, each patient received both dressings (study-group: octenilin® wound gel; control-group: Omnistrip® dry plaster) immediately after surgery. We evaluate wound-healing tendency, pain during dressing changes and scar formation after two weeks, three, six and twelve months. Regarding scar-evaluation skin-elasticity, sebum on the skin, transepidermal waterloss, skin hydration, melanin content and erythema level were determined with special probes. Furthermore the Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) and pain level during dressing change are determined. Results: At the time of surgery the mean patient’s age was 44.1 years. On average 5.6 dressing changes were necessary. Wound healing disorders occurred more often in the control-group. In the control-group (dry plaster Omnistrip®) patients reported significantly more pain and superficial skin injuries during dressing changes occurred. Objective scar-evaluation after 3, 6 and 12 months resulted in a significant higher skin-elasticity and significant lower transepidermal water loss in the octenilin® group which is confirmed in the VSS. Conclusion: The immediate postoperative application of the octenidine-containing hydrogel octenilin® after abdominoplasty results in favoured scar formation compared to our actual standard therapy. Less hypertrophic scar formation was observed in the study-group.

Keywords: abdominoplasty, octenidine, scarring, wound healing

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Authors: M. Skibinska, A. Rajewska-Rager, M. Dmitrzak-Weglarz, N. Lepczynska, P. Sibilski, P. Kapelski, J. Pawlak, J. Twarowska-Hauser

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Introduction: Neurotrophic factors have been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders. Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) influences neuron differentiation in development as well as synaptic plasticity and neuron survival in adulthood. BDNF is widely studied in mood disorders and has been proposed as a biomarker for depression. BDNF is synthesized as precursor protein – proBDNF. Both forms are biologically active and exert opposite effects on neurons. Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the serum levels of BDNF and proBDNF in unipolar and bipolar young patients below 24 years old during hypo/manic, depressive episodes and in remission compared to healthy control group. Methods: In a prospective 2 years follow-up study, we investigated alterations in levels of BDNF and proBDNF in 79 patients (23 males, mean age 19.08, SD 3.3 and 56 females, mean age 18.39, SD 3.28) diagnosed with mood disorders: unipolar and bipolar disorder compared with 35 healthy control subjects (7 males, mean age 20.43, SD 4.23 and 28 females, mean age 21.25, SD 2.11). Clinical characteristics including mood, comorbidity, family history, and treatment, were evaluated during control visits and clinical symptoms were rated using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Young Mania Rating Scale. Serum BDNF and proBDNF concentrations were determined by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA) method. Serum BDNF and proBDNF levels were analysed with covariates: sex, age, age > 18 and < 18 years old, family history of affective disorders, drug-free vs. medicated status. Normality of the data was tested using Shapiro-Wilk test. Levene’s test was used to calculate homogeneity of variance. Non-parametric Tests: Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA, Friedman’s ANOVA, Wilcoxon signed rank test, Spearman correlation coefficient were applied in analyses The statistical significance level was set at p < 0.05. Results: BDNF and proBDNF serum levels did not differ between patients at baseline and controls as well as comparing patients in acute episode of depression/hypo/mania at baseline and euthymia (at month 3 or 6). Comparing BDNF and proBDNF levels between patients in euthymia and control group no differences have been found. Increased BDNF level in women compared to men at baseline (p=0.01) have been observed. BDNF level at baseline was negatively correlated with depression and mania occurence at 24 month (p=0.04). BDNF level at 12 month was negatively correlated with depression and mania occurence at 12 month (p=0.01). Correlation of BDNF level with sex have been detected (p=0.01). proBDNF levels at month 3, 6 and 12 negatively correlated with disease status (p=0.02, p=0.008, p=0.009, respectively). No other correlations of BDNF and proBDNF levels with clinical and demographical variables have been detected. Discussion: Our results did not show any differences in BDNF and proBDNF levels between depression, mania, euthymia, and controls. Imbalance in BDNF/proBDNF signalling may be involved in pathogenesis of mood disorders. Further studies on larger groups are recommended. Grant was founded by National Science Center in Poland no 2011/03/D/NZ5/06146.

Keywords: bipolar disorder, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), proBDNF, unipolar depression

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Authors: Ebipatei Victoria Tunyan, T. A. Cao, Cheol Young Ock

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Detecting subjectively biased statements is a vital task. This is because this kind of bias, when present in the text or other forms of information dissemination media such as news, social media, scientific texts, and encyclopedias, can weaken trust in the information and stir conflicts amongst consumers. Subjective bias detection is also critical for many Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks like sentiment analysis, opinion identification, and bias neutralization. Having a system that can adequately detect subjectivity in text will boost research in the above-mentioned areas significantly. It can also come in handy for platforms like Wikipedia, where the use of neutral language is of importance. The goal of this work is to identify the subjectively biased language in text on a sentence level. With machine learning, we can solve complex AI problems, making it a good fit for the problem of subjective bias detection. A key step in this approach is to train a classifier based on BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) as upstream model. BERT by itself can be used as a classifier; however, in this study, we use BERT as data preprocessor as well as an embedding generator for a Bi-LSTM (Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory) network incorporated with attention mechanism. This approach produces a deeper and better classifier. We evaluate the effectiveness of our model using the Wiki Neutrality Corpus (WNC), which was compiled from Wikipedia edits that removed various biased instances from sentences as a benchmark dataset, with which we also compare our model to existing approaches. Experimental analysis indicates an improved performance, as our model achieved state-of-the-art accuracy in detecting subjective bias. This study focuses on the English language, but the model can be fine-tuned to accommodate other languages.

Keywords: subjective bias detection, machine learning, BERT–BiLSTM–Attention, text classification, natural language processing

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Authors: Jian-Heng Wu, Bor-Shen Lin

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The temperature-salinity relationship is one of the most important characteristics used for identifying water masses in marine research. Temperature-salinity characteristics, however, may change dynamically with respect to the geographic location and is quite sensitive to the depth at the same location. When depth is taken into consideration, however, it is not easy to compare the characteristics of different water masses efficiently for a wide range of areas of the ocean. In this paper, the Gaussian mixture model was proposed to analyze the temperature-salinity-depth characteristics of water masses, based on which comparison between water masses may be conducted. Gaussian mixture model could model the distribution of a random vector and is formulated as the weighting sum for a set of multivariate normal distributions. The temperature-salinity-depth data for different locations are first used to train a set of Gaussian mixture models individually. The distance between two Gaussian mixture models can then be defined as the weighting sum of pairwise Bhattacharyya distances among the Gaussian distributions. Consequently, the distance between two water masses may be measured fast, which allows the automatic and efficient comparison of the water masses for a wide range area. The proposed approach not only can approximate the distribution of temperature, salinity, and depth directly without the prior knowledge for assuming the regression family, but may restrict the complexity by controlling the number of mixtures when the amounts of samples are unevenly distributed. In addition, it is critical for knowledge discovery in marine research to represent, manage and share the temperature-salinity-depth characteristics flexibly and responsively. The proposed approach has been applied to a real-time visualization system of ocean data, which may facilitate the comparison of water masses by aggregating the data without degrading the discriminating capabilities. This system provides an interface for querying geographic locations with similar temperature-salinity-depth characteristics interactively and for tracking specific patterns of water masses, such as the Kuroshio near Taiwan or those in the South China Sea.

Keywords: water mass, Gaussian mixture model, data visualization, system framework

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Authors: Suin Seo, Sung-Il Cho

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Background: The use of mobile apps for smoking cessation has grown exponentially in recent years. Yet, there were limited researches which evaluated the quality of smoking cessation apps to our knowledge. In most cases, a clinical practice guideline which is focused on clinical physician was used as an evaluation tool. Objective: The objective of this study was to develop a user-centered measure for quality of mobile smoking cessation apps. Methods: A literature search was conducted to identify articles containing explicit smoking cessation guideline for smoker published until January 2018. WHO’s guide for tobacco users to quit was adopted for evaluation tool which assesses smoker-oriented contents of smoking cessation apps. Compared to the clinical practice guideline, WHO guideline was designed for smokers (non-specialist). On the basis of existing criteria which was developed based on 2008 clinical practice guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, evaluation tool was modified and developed by an expert panel. Results: There were five broad categories of criteria that were identified including five objective quality scales: enhancing motivation, assistance with a planning and making quit attempts, preparation for relapse, self-efficacy, connection to smoking. Enhancing motivation and assistance with planning and making quit attempts were similar to contents of clinical practice guideline, but preparation for relapse, self-efficacy and connection to smoking (environment or habit which reminds of smoking) only existed on WHO guideline. WHO guideline had more user-centered elements than clinical guideline. Especially, self-efficacy is the most important determinant of behavior change in accordance with many health behavior change models. With the WHO guideline, it is now possible to analyze the content of the app in the light of a health participant, not a provider. Conclusion: The WHO guideline evaluation tool is a simple, reliable and smoker-centered tool for assessing the quality of mobile smoking cessation apps. It can also be used to provide a checklist for the development of new high-quality smoking cessation apps.

Keywords: smoking cessation, evaluation, mobile application, WHO, guideline

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Authors: Teklay Tesfay, Gebreyesus Brhane Tesfahunegn, Abadi Berhane, Selemawit Girmay

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Adjusting the proper sowing date of a crop at a particular location with a changing climate is an essential management option to maximize crop yield. However, determining the optimum sowing date for rainfed maize production through field experimentation requires repeated trials for many years in different weather conditions and crop management. To avoid such long-term experimentation to determine the optimum sowing date, crop models such as AquaCrop are useful. Therefore, the overall objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of AquaCrop model in simulating maize productivity under varying sowing dates. A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive cropping seasons by deploying four maize seed sowing dates in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Input data required to run this model are stored as climate, crop, soil, and management files in the AquaCrop database and adjusted through the user interface. Observed data from separate field experiments was used to calibrate and validate the model. AquaCrop model was validated for its performance in simulating the green canopy and aboveground biomass of maize for the varying sowing dates based on the calibrated parameters. Results of the present study showed that there was a good agreement (an overall R2 =, Ef= d= RMSE =) between measured and simulated values of the canopy cover and biomass yields. Considering the overall values of the statistical test indicators, the performance of the model to predict maize growth and biomass yield was successful, and so this is a valuable tool help for decision-making. Hence, this calibrated and validated model is suggested to use for determining optimum maize crop sowing date for similar climate and soil conditions to the study area, instead of conducting long-term experimentation.

Keywords: AquaCrop model, calibration, validation, simulation

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Authors: Dina Tawfic, Robert Hassan

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The current chapter addresses Al-Azhar's strategy to counter extremism in tandem with reflecting on the ideology of the Islamic establishment itself. The topic is motivated by the fact that some of the Western governments have been relying on Al-Azhar to counter the ideology of Islamist radicalism and violent extremism, in particular during the rise of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (known as ISIS/ ISIL/ Daesh) in 2014/2015. In his visit to Egypt in June 2016, Brett McGurk, the then U.S. envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIS, commended Al-Azhar’s “intellectual and reforming role” in refuting the ideology of extremism. On the other hand, Egyptian liberal intellectuals, such as Farag Fouda (1945- 1992) and Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid (1943-2010), had always questioned the ideological capability of Al-Azhar to counter extremism, citing the rigidity and resistance of the Islamic establishment to carry out genuine reformation. This chapter aims to discuss the following research questions: what is the strategy of Al-Azhar to counter extremism? Does Al-Azhar have a solid strategy to combat online propaganda produced by violent extremist groups? Is it applicable to identify Al-Azhar ideological identity? and is it capable of countering extremism? To answer these questions, I conducted intensive interviews with seven senior scholars and officials at Al-Azhar and the Endowments ministry from September to December 2020. Using a qualitative approach as a backdrop, this project uses semi-structured interviews to collect data. Participants were briefed on the purpose of the study and consented to be interviewed and to record their interviews. Some of the participants chose to conceal their names. All the interviews were conducted in Arabic via Zoom. The researcher then transcribed and translated the interviews into English. A purposive sample is used to select the seven interviewees, based on their prominence and experience in the field of counter-extremism and Al-Azhar affairs. The researcher uses a snowball sample to select the sample, in which a personal contact recommends other officials within the establishment.

Keywords: Al-Azhar, Egypt, Counter-Extremism, Political Islam, Ideology

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Authors: Vishal Pareek, Shubham Gupta, Sushil Chandra Jain

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With increasing high-speed computation demand the power consumption, heat dissipation and chip size issues are posing challenges for logic design with conventional technologies. Recovery of bit loss and bit errors is other issues that require reversibility and fault tolerance in the computation. The reversible computing is emerging as an alternative to conventional technologies to overcome the above problems and helpful in a diverse area such as low-power design, nanotechnology, quantum computing. Bit loss issue can be solved through unique input-output mapping which require reversibility and bit error issue require the capability of fault tolerance in design. In order to incorporate reversibility a number of combinational reversible logic based circuits have been developed. However, very few sequential reversible circuits have been reported in the literature. To make the circuit fault tolerant, a number of fault model and test approaches have been proposed for reversible logic. In this paper, we have attempted to incorporate fault tolerance in sequential reversible building blocks such as D flip-flop, T flip-flop, JK flip-flop, R-S flip-flop, Master-Slave D flip-flop, and double edge triggered D flip-flop by making them parity preserving. The importance of this proposed work lies in the fact that it provides the design of reversible sequential circuits completely testable for any stuck-at fault and single bit fault. In our opinion our design of reversible building blocks is superior to existing designs in term of quantum cost, hardware complexity, constant input, garbage output, number of gates and design of online testable D flip-flop have been proposed for the first time. We hope our work can be extended for building complex reversible sequential circuits.

Keywords: parity preserving gate, quantum computing, fault tolerance, flip-flop, sequential reversible logic

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Authors: Ivana Cabarkapa, Zorica Tomicic, Olivera Duragic

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Antimicrobial resistance represents one of the major challenges facing humanity in the last decades. Increasing antibiotic-resistant pathogens indicates the need for the development of alternative antibacterial drugs and new treatment strategies. One of the innovative emerging treatments in overcoming multidrug-resistant pathogens certainly represents the inhibition anti-quorum sensing system. For most of the food-borne pathogens, the expression of the virulence depends on their capability communication with other members of the population by means of quorum sensing (QS). QS represents a specific way of bacterial intercellular communication, which enabled owing to their ability to detect and to respond to cell population density by gene regulation. QS mechanisms are responsible for controls the pathogenesis, virulence luminescence, motility, sporulation and biofilm formation of many organisms by regulating gene expression. Therefore, research in this field is being an attractive target for the development of new natural antibacterial agents. Anti-QS compounds are known to have the ability to prohibit bacterial pathogenicity. Considering the importance of quorum sensing during bacterial pathogenesis, this research has been focused on evaluation anti - QS properties of four essential oils (EOs) Origanum heracleoticum, Origanum vulgare, Thymus vulgare, and Thymus serpyllum, using biomonitor strain of Chromobacterium violaceum CV026. Tests conducted on Luria Bertani agar supplemented with N hexanol DL homoserine lacton (HHL) 10µl/50ml of agar. The anti-QS potential of the EOs was assayed in a range of concentrations of 200 – 0.39 µl/ml using the disc diffusion method. EOs of Th. vulgaris and T. serpyllum were exhibited anti-QS activity indicated by a non- pigmented ring with a dilution-dependent manner. The lowest dilution of EOs T. vulgaris and T. serpyllum in which they exhibited visually detectable inhibition of violacein synthesis was 6.25 µl/ml for both tested EOs. EOs of O. heracleoticum and O. vulgare were displayed different active principles, i.e., antimicrobial activity indicated by the inner clear ring and anti-QS activity indicated by the outer non-pigmented ring, in a concentration-dependent manner. The lowest dilution of EOs of O. heracleoticum and O. vulgare in which exhibited visually detectable inhibition of violacein synthesis was 1.56 and 3.25 µl/ml, respectively. Considering that, the main constituents of the tested EOs represented by monoterpenes (carvacrol, thymol, γ-terpinene, and p-cymene), anti - QS properties of tested EOs can be mainly attributed to their activity. In particular, from the scientific literature, carvacrol and thymol show a sub-inhibitory effect against foodborne pathogens. Previous studies indicated that sub-lethal concentrations of carvacrol reduced the mobility of bacteria due to the ability of interference using QS mechanism between the bacterial cells, and thereby reducing the ability of biofilm formation The precise mechanism by which carvacrol inhibits biofilm formation is still not fully understood. Our results indicated that EOs displayed different active principles, i.e., antimicrobial activity indicated by the inner clear ring and anti-QS activity indicated by an outer non- pigmented ring with visually detectable inhibition of violacein. Preliminary results suggest that EOs represent a promising alternative for effective control of the emergence and spread of resistant pathogens.

Keywords: anti-quorum sensing activity, Chromobacterium violaceum, essential oils, violacein

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Authors: Tingyu Zhang

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The horizontal ecological compensation (HEC) mechanism is the key to stimulating the active participation of the whole basin in ecological protection. In this paper, we construct an evolutionary model for HEC in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) basin with the introduction of the central government constraint and incentive mechanism (CGCIM) and explore the conditions for the realization of a (Protection and compensation) strategy that meets the social expectations. Further, the water quality-water quantity model is utilized to measure the HEC amount with the characteristic factual data of the YREB in 2020-2022. The results show that the stability of the evolutionary game model of upstream and downstream governments in the YREB is closely related to the CGCIM. If (Protection Compensation) is to be realized as the only evolutionary stable strategy of the evolutionary game system composed of upstream and downstream governments, it is necessary for the CGCIM to satisfy that the sum of the incentives for the protection side and its unilateral or bilateral constraints is greater than twice the input cost of the active strategy, and the sum of the incentives for the compensation side and its unilateral or bilateral constraints is greater than the amount of ecological compensation that needs to be paid by it when it adopts the active strategy. At this point, the total amount of HEC that the downstream government should give to the upstream government of the YREB is 2856.7 million yuan in 2020, 5782.1 million yuan in 2021, and 23166.7 million yuan in 2022. The results of the study can provide a reference for promoting the improvement and refinement of the HEC mechanism in the YREB.

Keywords: horizontal ecological compensation, Yangtze river economic belt, evolutionary game analysis, water quality and quantity model research on territorial ecological restoration in Mianzhu city, Sichuan, under the dual evaluation framework

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Authors: Sabika Khalid, Endale Fantahun Tadesse

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Unlike other professional sectors, a great deal of studies has addressed the overwhelming gender disparity phenomena in the early childhood education (ECE) workforce, which is acknowledged for the dominance of women over men teachers. The irony of ECE being a gendered working environment is not only observed in societies that are ruled by gender roles but also in Western countries that claim to margin the gender gap in several professions. The participation of male teachers in ECE across most countries ranged from 1% to 3% of the total preschool or kindergarten teachers. When it comes to a dynamic Chinese society tempered with a deep-rooted tradition and cultural ideology, the ECE has no less place for males, and males have a low place for ECE. According to the Ministry of Education of China (2020), there are over 5 million kindergarten teachers and staff members, while only 2.3% are accounted for male teachers. The traditional gender-based discourse asserts that giving care and guidance for young children related to nurturing ‘mothering’ labels the profession in ECE as women’s work derived from originated from their ‘naturality.’ Although a large volume of evidence sheds light on the cause for low male teachers, the perception of parents, female teachers working with male teachers, and the experience of male teachers working in ECE, less is known and understood before being a teacher. Hence, this study argues that the promotion of the involvement of male teachers in light of their masculinity identity asset in the children's learning environment is comprehended to understand the construction of male student teachers' (preservice) professional identity during early childhood teacher training that allows obtaining substantial evidence that provides a feasible and robust implication in the preparation of competent and professional male preschool teachers that understand, cherish, and bring harmony in Chinese ECE through professionalism socialization with the stakeholders. This study intended to reveal male ECE preservice teachers’ knowledge of their professional identity, i.e., how they perceive themselves as a teacher and what factors agents these perceptions towards their professional identity.

Keywords: male teachers, Early Childhood Education (ECE), self-identity, perception of stakeholders

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Authors: Reihane Mehrparvar

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Human age could exceed further by altering gene expression through food intaking, although as a consequence of recent century eating patterns, human life-span getting shorter by emerging irregulating in autophagy mechanism, insulin, leptin, gut microbiota which are important etiological factors of type-2 diabetes, obesity, infertility, cancer, metabolic and autoimmune diseases. However, restricted calorie intake and vigorous exercise might be beneficial for losing weight and metabolic regulation in a short period but could not be implementable in the long term as a way of life. Therefore, the lack of a dietary program that is compatible with the genes of the body is essential. Sweet and high-glycemic-index (HGI) foods were associated with type-2 diabetes and cancer morbidity. The neuropsychological perspective characterizes the inclination of sweet and HGI-food consumption as addictive behavior; hence this process engages preference of gut microbiota, neural node, and dopaminergic functions. Moreover, meal composition is not the only factor that affects body hemostasis. In this narrative review, it is believed to attempt to investigate how the body responded to different food intakes and represent an accurate model based on current evidence. Eating frequently and ingesting unassimilable protein and carbohydrates may not be compatible with human genes and could cause impairments in the self-renovation mechanism. This trajectory indicates our body is more adapted to starvation and eating animal meat and marrow. Here has been recommended a model that takes into account three important factors: frequent eating, meal composition, and circadian rhythm, which may offer a promising intervention for obesity, inflammation, cardiovascular, autoimmune disorder, type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance, infertility, and cancer through intensifying autophagy-mechanism and eliminate medical costs.

Keywords: metabolic disease, anti-aging, type-2 diabetes, autophagy

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Authors: Huyen T. Pham, Nhue P. Nguyen, Tien Q. Phi, Phuong T. Dang, Hy G. Le

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Since the marine environmental conditions are extremely different from the other ones, so that marine actinomycetes might produce novel bioactive compounds. Therefore, actinomycete strains were screened from marine water and sediment samples collected from the coastal areas of Northern Vietnam. Ninety-nine actinomycete strains were obtained on starch-casein agar media by dilution technique, only seven strains, named HP112, HP12, HP411, HPN11, HP 11, HPT13 and HPX12, showed significant antibacterial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria (Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Staphylococcus epidemidis ATCC 12228, Escherichia coli ATCC 11105). Further studies were carried out with the most active HP411strain against Candida albicans ATCC 10231. This strain could grow rapidly on starch casein agar and other media with high salt containing 7-10% NaCl at 28-30oC. Spore-chain of HP411 showed an elongated and circular shape with 10 to 30 spores/chain. Identification of the strain was carried out by employing the taxonomical studies including the 16S rRNA sequence. Based on phylogenetic and phenotypic evidence it is proposed that HP411 to be belongs to species Streptomyces variabilis. The potent of the crude extract of fermentation broth of HP411that are effective against wide range of pathogens: both gram-positive, gram-negative and fungi. Further studies revealed that the crude extract HP411 could obtain the anticancer activity for cancer cell lines: Hep-G2 (liver cancer cell line); RD (cardiac and skeletal muscle letters cell line); FL (membrane of the uterus cancer cell line). However, the actinomycetes from marine ecosystem will be useful for the discovery of new drugs in the furture.

Keywords: marine actinomycetes, antibacterial, anticancer, Streptomyces variabilis

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Authors: Tong Ming Liu

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Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent the most used stem cells for clinical application, which have been used in over 1000 clinical trials to treat over 30 diseases due to multilineage differentiation potential, secretome and immunosuppression. Gene therapies of MSCs hold great promise in the treatment of many diseases due to enhanced MSC-based clinical outcomes. To identify genes for gene therapy of MSCs, by comparing gene expression profile before and after MSC differentiation following by functional screening, we have identified ZNF145 that regulated MSC differentiation. Forced expression of ZNF145 resulted in enhanced in vitro chondrogenesis of MSCs as an upstream factor of SOX9 and improved osteochondral repair upon implant into osteochondral defects in rodents. By comparing gene expression profile during differentiation of iPSCs toward MSCs, we also identified gene HOX regulating MSC stemness, which was much downregulated in late-passaged MSCs. Knockdown of this gene greatly compromised MSC stemness including abolished proliferation, decreased CFU-F, promoted senescence and reduced expression of cell surface antigens linked to the MSC phenotype. In addition, multi-linage differentiation was also greatly impaired. Notably, HOX overexpression resulted in improved multi-lineage differentiation. In the mechanism, HOX expression significantly deceased in late passage of MSCs compared with early passage of MSCs, correlating with MSC important genes. ChIP-seq data shown that HOX binds to genes related to MSC self-renewal and differentiation. Most importantly, most HOX binding sites are lost in late passage of MSCs. HOX exerts its effects by directing binding Twist1, one important gene of MSCs. The identification of the genes regulating MSC differentiation and stemness will provide and promising strategies for gene therapy of MSCs in regenerative medicine.

Keywords: mesenchymal stem cell, novel transcription factor, stemness, gene therapy, cartilage repair, signaling pathway

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Authors: J. Ritonja, R. Brezovnik, M. Petrun, B. Polajžer

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Many modern synchronous generators in power systems are extremely weakly damped. The reasons are cost optimization of the machine building and introduction of the additional control equipment into power systems. Oscillations of the synchronous generators and related stability problems of the power systems are harmful and can lead to failures in operation and to damages. The only useful solution to increase damping of the unwanted oscillations represents the implementation of the power system stabilizers. Power system stabilizers generate the additional control signal which changes synchronous generator field excitation voltage. Modern power system stabilizers are integrated into static excitation systems of the synchronous generators. Available commercial power system stabilizers are based on linear control theory. Due to the nonlinear dynamics of the synchronous generator, current stabilizers do not assure optimal damping of the synchronous generator’s oscillations in the entire operating range. For that reason the use of the robust power system stabilizers which are convenient for the entire operating range is reasonable. There are numerous robust techniques applicable for the power system stabilizers. In this paper the use of sliding mode control for synchronous generator stability improvement is studied. On the basis of the sliding mode theory, the robust power system stabilizer was developed. The main advantages of the sliding mode controller are simple realization of the control algorithm, robustness to parameter variations and elimination of disturbances. The advantage of the proposed sliding mode controller against conventional linear controller was tested for damping of the synchronous generator oscillations in the entire operating range. Obtained results show the improved damping in the entire operating range of the synchronous generator and the increase of the power system stability. The proposed study contributes to the progress in the development of the advanced stabilizer, which will replace conventional linear stabilizers and improve damping of the synchronous generators.

Keywords: control theory, power system stabilizer, robust control, sliding mode control, stability, synchronous generator

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Authors: Madhulika Pathak, Polani Seshagiri, Vani Venkatappa

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Blastocyst hatching is an indispensable process for successful implantation. One of the major reasons for implantation failure in IVF clinic is poor quality of embryo, which are not development/hatching-competent. Therefore, attempts are required to develop or enhance the culture system with a molecule recapitulating the autocrine/paracrine factors containing the environment of in-vivo endometrial milieu. We have tried to explore the functional molecules involved in the hamster hatching phenomenon. Blastocyst hatching is governed by several molecules that are entwined and regulate this process, among which cytokines are known to be expressed and are still least explored. Two of such cytokines we have used for our study are IL-1β and its natural antagonist IL-1ra to understand the functional dynamics of cytokines involved in the hatching process. Using hamster, an intriguing experimental model for hatching behavior, we have shown the mRNA (qPCR) and protein (ICC) expression of IL-1β, IL-1ra and IL-1 receptor type 1 throughout all the stages of morula, blastocyst and hatched blastocyst. Post-asserting the expression, the functional role is shown by supplementation studies, where IL-1β supplementation showed enhancement in hatching level (IL-1β treated: 84.1 ± 4.2% vs control: 63.7 ± 3.1 %, N=11), further confirmed by the diminishing effect of IL-1ra on hatching rate (IL-1ra treated: 27.5 ± 11.1% vs control: 67.9 ± 3.1%). The exogenous supplementation of IL-1ra decreased the survival rate of embryos and affected the viability in dose-dependent manner, establishing the importance of IL-1β in blastocyst cell survival. Previously, the cathepsin L and B were established as the proteases that were involved in the hamster hatching process. The inducing effect of IL-1β was correlated with enhanced mRNA level, as analyzed by qPCR, for both CAT L (by 1.9 ± 0.5 fold) and CAT B (by 3.5 ± 0.1) fold which was diminished in presence of IL-1ra (Cat L by 88 percent and Cat B by 94 percent. Moreover, using a specific fluorescent substrate-based assay kit, the enzymatic activity of these proteases was found to be increased in presence of IL-1β (Cat L by 2.1 ± 0.1 fold and CAT B by 2.3 ± 0.7 fold) and was curtailed in presence of IL-1ra. These observations provide functional insights with respect to the involvement of cytokines in the hatching process. This has implications in understanding the hatching biology and improving the embryo development quality in IVF clinics.

Keywords: Blastocyst, Cytokines, Hatching, Interleukin

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Authors: Han Zheng

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This research is being conducted to explore women's leadership in China's National Governing Bodies ( in order to identify the barriers to women's leadership and provide feasible solutions. Extensive research has been undertaken internationally, which has identified and acknowledged the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions across multiple industries and global contexts. According to these studies, leadership specifically within the sports industry was both historically and is still currently male-dominated. Within China, the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions is also evident, which women only occupy 16% of the leadership in business enterprises and 5.6% in scientific and technological research institutions, yet there is limited research that has looked to examine why this is the case regarding women's leadership in China, especially within in sports industry. Therefore, this research gap drives the purpose, which aims to explore the current situation of women's leadership in sports National Governing Bodies (NGBs) in China. By using both questionnaires and interviews, data from NGBs in China will be collected. This research will achieve the following three goals: 1, determine the representation level of women's leadership in the target organizations. 2, identify barriers to women's leadership and their causes. 3, provide feasible solutions. Based on the multi-level framework, this study develops a "barrier matrix" framework: according to the analysis of the previous literature, it concludes that there are eight main barriers that hinder the development of women's leadership. The research combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, using questionnaires and interviews. Key findings according to the analysis of the primary data collected: 1. The average proportion of female occupational leadership in China's sports NGBs is less than 17.5%. 2. 50.8% of China's sports NGBs have no equal employment opportunity policy. 3. According to the preliminary qualitative analysis of the interviews, it is found that the core barriers affecting women's leadership development are mainly in the following areas: male-dominated culture and gender stereotyping (macro-level), biased organizational policies and procedures (meso-level), work-family conflicts and self-limiting behaviors (micro-level).

Keywords: women leadership, sport management, gender equality, sport leadership, sport NGBs

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Authors: Jeounghee Kim

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Objective: To describe the incidence of complication, according to the stage of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury (TSCI) which was treated at Asan Medical Center (AMC), Korea. Hereafter, it should be developed in nursing management protocol of traumatic SCI. Methods. Retrospectively reviewed hospital records about the patients who were admitted AMC Patients with traumatic spinal cord injury until January 2005 and December 2016 were analyzed (n=97). AMC is a single institution of 2,700 beds where patients with trauma and severe trauma can be treated. Patients who were admitted to the emergency room due to spinal cord injury and who underwent intensive care unit, general ward, and rehabilitation ward. To identify long-term complications, we excluded patients who were operated on to other hospitals after surgery. Complications such as respiratory(pneumonia, atelectasis, pulmonary embolism, and others), cardiovascular (hypotension), urinary (autonomic dysreflexia, urinary tract infection (UTI), neurogenic bladder, and others), and skin systems (pressure ulcers) from the time of admission were examined through medical records and images. Results: SCI was graded according to ASIA scale. The initial grade was checked at admission. (grade A 55(56.7%), grade B 14(14.4)%, grade C 11(11.3%), grade D 15(15.5%), and grade E 2(2.1%). The grade was rechecked when the patient was discharged after treatment. (grade A 43(44.3%), grade B 15(15.5%), grade C 12(12.4%), grade D 21(21.6%), and grade E 6(6.2%). The most common complication after SCI was UTI 24cases (mean 36.5day), sore 24cases (40.5day), and Pneumonia which was 23 cases after 10days averagely. The other complications after SCI were neuropathic pain 19 cases, surgical site infection 4 cases. 53.6% of patient who had SCI were educated about intermittent catheterization at discharge from hospital. The mean hospital stay of all SCI patients was 61days. Conclusion: The Complications after traumatic SCI were developed at various stages from acute phase to chronic phase. Nurses need to understand fully the time-course of complication in traumatic SCI to provide evidence-based practice.

Keywords: spinal cord injury, complication, nursing, rehabilitation

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Authors: Hasan Muslemani, Xi Liang, Kathi Kaesehage, Francisco Ascui, Jeffrey Wilson

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The creation of a market for lower-carbon steel products, here called ‘green steel’, has been identified as an important means to support the introduction of breakthrough emission reduction technologies into the steel sector. However, the definition of what ‘green’ entails in the context of steel production, the implications on the competitiveness of green steel products in local and international markets, and the necessary market mechanisms to support their successful market penetration remain poorly explored. This paper addresses this gap by holding semi-structured interviews with international sustainability experts and commercial managers from leading steel trade associations, research institutes and steelmakers. Our findings show that there is an urgent need to establish a set of standards to define what ‘greenness’ means in the steelmaking context; standards that avoid market disruptions, unintended consequences, and opportunities for greenwashing. We also highlight that the introduction of green steel products will have implications on product competitiveness on three different levels: 1) between primary and secondary steelmaking routes, 2) with traditional, lesser green steel, and 3) with other substitutable materials (e.g. cement and plastics). This paper emphasises the need for steelmakers to adopt a transitional approach in deploying different low-carbon technologies, based on their stage of technological maturity, applicability in certain country contexts, capacity to reduce emissions over time, and the ability of the investment community to support their deployment. We further identify market mechanisms to support green steel production, including carbon border adjustments and public procurement, highlighting a need for implementing a combination of complementary policies to ensure the products’ roll-out. The study further shows that the auto industry is a likely candidate for green steel consumption, where a market would be supported by price premiums paid by willing consumers, such as those of high-end luxury vehicles.

Keywords: green steel, decarbonisation, business model innovation, market analysis

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Authors: Jyun-Huei Huang, Ting-I Lee

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Urban heat island effect is derived from the reduction of vegetative cover by urban development. Because plants can improve air quality and microclimate, green walls have been applied as a sustainable design approach to cool building temperature. By using plants to green vertical surfaces, they decrease room temperature and, as a result, decrease the energy use for air conditioning. Based on their structures, green walls can be divided into two categories, green façades and living walls. A green façade uses the climbing ability of a plant itself, while a living wall assembles planter modules. The latter one is widely adopted in public space, as it is time-effective and less limited. Although a living wall saves energy spent on cooling, it is not necessarily cost-effective from the perspective of a lifecycle analysis. The Italian study shows that the overall benefit of a living wall is only greater than its costs after 47 years of its establishment. In Taiwan, urban greening policies encourage establishment of green walls by referring to their benefits of energy saving while neglecting their low performance on cost-effectiveness. Thus, this research aims at understanding the perception of appliers and consumers on the cost-effectiveness of their living wall products from the lifecycle viewpoint. It adopts semi-structured interviews and field observations on the maintenance of the products. By comparing the two results, it generates insights for sustainable urban greening policies. The preliminary finding shows that stakeholders do not have a holistic sense of lifecycle or cost-effectiveness. Most importantly, a living wall well maintained is often with high input due to the availability of its maintenance budget, and thus less sustainable. In conclusion, without a comprehensive sense of cost-effectiveness throughout a product’s lifecycle, it is very difficult for suppliers and consumers to maintain a living wall system while achieve sustainability.

Keywords: case study, maintenance, post-occupancy evaluation, vertical greening

Procedia PDF Downloads 267

Authors: Ghufran Ahmed, Muhammad Osama Siddiqui, Shahbaz Siddiqui, Rauf Ahmad Shams Malick, Faisal Khan, Mubashir Khan

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In this paper, a machine learning-based approach for early prediction of diseases in cows is proposed. Different ML algos are applied to extract useful patterns from the available dataset. Technology has changed today’s world in every aspect of life. Similarly, advanced technologies have been developed in livestock and dairy farming to monitor dairy cows in various aspects. Dairy cattle monitoring is crucial as it plays a significant role in milk production around the globe. Moreover, it has become necessary for farmers to adopt the latest early prediction technologies as the food demand is increasing with population growth. This highlight the importance of state-ofthe-art technologies in analyzing how important technology is in analyzing dairy cows’ activities. It is not easy to predict the activities of a large number of cows on the farm, so, the system has made it very convenient for the farmers., as it provides all the solutions under one roof. The cattle industry’s productivity is boosted as the early diagnosis of any disease on a cattle farm is detected and hence it is treated early. It is done on behalf of the machine learning output received. The learning models are already set which interpret the data collected in a centralized system. Basically, we will run different algorithms on behalf of the data set received to analyze milk quality, and track cows’ health, location, and safety. This deep learning algorithm draws patterns from the data, which makes it easier for farmers to study any animal’s behavioral changes. With the emergence of machine learning algorithms and the Internet of Things, accurate tracking of animals is possible as the rate of error is minimized. As a result, milk productivity is increased. IoT with ML capability has given a new phase to the cattle farming industry by increasing the yield in the most cost-effective and time-saving manner.

Keywords: IoT, machine learning, health care, dairy cows

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Authors: Oluseun S. Oyelakin, Olalekan W. Olaniyi

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A field experiment was conducted at Ido town in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo state, Nigeria to determine the effects of intercropping maize (Zea mays L.) with Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis L.) at different spacing and weeding regimes on crops productivity. The treatments were 2 x 2 x 3 factorial arrangement involving two spatial crop arrangements. Spacing of 75 cm x 50 cm and 90 cm x 42 cm (41.667 cm) with two plants per stand resulted in plant population of approximately 53,000 plants/hectare. Also, Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with two cropping patterns (sole and intercrop), three weeding regimes (weedy check, weeds once, and weed twice) with three replicates was used. Data were analyzed with SAS (Statistical Analysis System) and statistical means separated using Least Significant Difference (LSD) (P ≤ 0.05). Intercropping and crop spacing did not have significant influence on the growth parameters and yield parameters. The maize grain yield of 1.11 t/ha obtained under sole maize was comparable to 1.05 t/ha from maize/jack beans. Weeding regime significantly influenced growth and yields of maize in intercropping with Jack beans. Weeding twice resulted in significantly higher growth than that of the other weeding regimes. Plant height at 6 Weeks After Sowing (WAS) under weeding twice regime (3 and 6 WAS) was 83.9 cm which was significantly different from 67.75 cm and 53.47 cm for weeding once (3 WAS) and no weeding regimes respectively. Moreover, maize grain yield of 1.3 t/ha obtained from plots weeded twice was comparable to that of 1.23 t/ha from single weeding and both were significantly higher than 0.71 t/ha maize grain yield obtained from the no weeding control. The dry matter production of Jack beans reduced at some growth stages due to intercropping of maize with Jack beans though with no significance effect on the other growth parameters of the crop. There was no effect on the growth parameters of Jack beans in maize/jack beans intercrop based on cropping spacing while comparable growth and dry matter production in Jack beans were produced in maize/Jack beans mixture with single weeding.

Keywords: crop spacing, intercropping, growth parameter, weeding regime, sole cropping, WAS, week after sowing

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Authors: Touhami Tahenni

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Excessively wide cracks are harmful to the serviceability of reinforced concrete (RC) beams and may lead to durability problems in the longer term. They also reduce the rigidity of RC sections, rendering the tensile concrete ineffective structurally. To reduce the negative effects of cracks, steel fibers are added to concrete mixes in the same manner as aggregates. In the present work, steel fibers reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams, made of normal strength and high strength concretes, were tested in a four-point bending test using a digital image correlation technique. The beams had different volume fractions of fibres and different aspect ratios (fiber length/fiber diameter). The evaluation of flexural cracking widths was determined using Gom-Aramis software. The experimental crack widths were compared with theoretical values predicted by the technical document of Rilem TC 162-TDF. The model proposed in this document seems to be the only one that considers the efficiency of steel fibres in restraining the crack widths. However, the model of Rilem takes into account only the aspect ratio of steel fibres to predict the crack width of SFRC beams. It has been reported in several pieces of research that the contribution of steel fibres to the limitation of flexural cracking widths is based on three essential parameters namely, the volume fraction, the orientation and the aspect ratio of fibres. Referring to the literature on the flexural cracking behavior of SFRC beams and the experimental observations of the present work, a correction of the Rilem model by the introduction of these parameters in the formula is proposed. The crack widths predicted by the new empirical model were compared with the experimental results and assessed against other test data on SFRC beams taken from the literature. The modified Rilem model gives better results and is found more satisfactory in predicting the crack widths of fibres concrete.

Keywords: stee fibres, reinforced concrete, flexural cracking, tensile strength, crack width

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Authors: Anne N. Heirman, Lisette van der Molen, Richard Dirven, Gyorgi B. Halmos, Michiel W.M. van den Brekel

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Background: Due to the rising incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer (OPSCC), many patients are challenged with choosing between transoral(robotic) surgery and radiotherapy, with equal survival and oncological outcomes. Also, functional outcomes are of little difference over the years. With this study, the wants and needs of patients and caregivers are identified to develop a comprehensible patient decision aid (PDA). Methods: The development of this PDA is based on the International Patient Decision Aid Standards criteria. In phase 1, relevant literature was reviewed and compared to current counseling papers. We interviewed ten post-treatment patients and ten doctors from four head and neck centers in the Netherlands, which were transcribed verbatim and analyzed. With these results, the first draft of the PDA was developed. Phase 2 beholds testing the first draft for comprehensibility and usability. Phase 3 beholds testing for feasibility. After this phase, the final version of the PDA was developed. Results: All doctors and patients agreed a PDA was needed. Phase 1 showed that 50% of patients felt well-informed after standard care and 35% missed information about treatment possibilities. Side effects and functional outcomes were rated as the most important for decision-making. With this information, the first version was developed. Doctors and patients stated (phase 2) that they were satisfied with the comprehensibility and usability, but there was too much text. The PDA underwent text reduction revisions and got more graphics. After revisions, all doctors found the PDA feasible and would contribute to regular counseling. Patients were satisfied with the results and wished they would have seen it before their treatment. Conclusion: Decision-making for OPSCC should focus on differences in side-effects and functional outcomes. Patients and doctors found the PDA to be of great value. Future research will explore the benefits of the PDA in clinical practice.

Keywords: head-and-neck oncology, oropharyngeal cancer, patient decision aid, development, shared decision making

Procedia PDF Downloads 145