Search results for: Yi Long

Authors: Syed Ahmed Salman

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Ethicality is essential in our daily activities, including personal and commercial activities. This is evidenced by referring to the historical development of the corporate governance and ethical guidelines. The first corporate governance guideline, i.e. Cadbury Report from U.K. focuses the responsibility of board members towards the shareholders only. Gradually, realising the need to take care of the society and community, stakeholders are now concerns of business entities. Consequently, later codes of corporate governance started extending the responsibility to the other stakeholders in addition to the shareholders. One prevailing corporate governance theory, i.e. stakeholder theory, has been widely used in the research to explore the effects of business entities on society. In addition, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the leading organisation which promotes social care from businesses for sustainable development. Conventionally, history shows that ethics is key to the long term success of businesses. Many organisations, societies, and regulators give full attention and consideration to ethics. Several countries have introduced ethical codes of conduct to direct trade activities. Similarly, Islam and other religions prohibit the practice of interest, uncertainty, and gambling because of its unethical nature. These prohibited practices are not at all good for the society, business, and any organisation especially as it is detrimental to the well-being of society. In order to avoid unethicality in the finance industry, Shari’ah scholars come out with the idea of Islamic finance which is free from the prohibited elements from the Islamic perspective. It can also be termed ethical finance. This paper highlights how Takaful as one of the Islamic finance products offers fair and just products to the contracting parties and the society. Takaful is framed based on ethical guidelines which are extracted from Shari’ah principles and divine sources such as the Quran and Sunnah. Takaful products have been widely offered all over the world, including in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. It seems that it is gaining acceptance regardless of religion. This is evidence that Takaful is being accepted as an ethical financial product.

Keywords: ethics, insurance, Islamic finance, religion and takaful

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Authors: Rene Hellmuth, Jorg Frohnmayer

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The requirements of the factory planning and the building concerned have changed in the last years. Factory planning has the task of designing products, plants, processes, organization, areas, and the building of a factory. Regular restructuring gains more importance in order to maintain the competitiveness of a factory. Even today, the methods and process models used in factory planning are predominantly based on the classical planning principles of Schmigalla, Aggteleky and Kettner, which, however, are not specifically designed for reorganization. In addition, they are designed for a largely static environmental situation and a manageable planning complexity as well as for medium to long-term planning cycles with a low variability of the factory. Existing approaches already regard factory planning as a continuous process that makes it possible to react quickly to adaptation requirements. However, digital factory models are not yet used as a source of information for building data. Approaches which consider building information modeling (BIM) or digital factory models in general either do not refer to factory conversions or do not yet go beyond a concept. This deficit can be further substantiated. A method for factory conversion planning using a current digital building model is lacking. A corresponding approach must take into account both the existing approaches to factory planning and the use of digital factory models in practice. A literature review will be conducted first. In it, approaches to classic factory planning and approaches to conversion planning are examined. In addition, it will be investigated which approaches already contain digital factory models. In the second step, an approach is presented how digital factory models based on building information modeling can be used as a basis for augmented reality tablet applications. This application is suitable for construction sites and provides information on the costs and time required for conversion variants. Thus a fast decision making is supported. In summary, the paper provides an overview of existing factory planning approaches and critically examines the use of digital tools. Based on this preliminary work, an approach is presented, which suggests the sensible use of digital factory models for decision support in the case of conversion variants of the factory building. The augmented reality application is designed to summarize the most important information for decision-makers during a reconstruction process.

Keywords: augmented reality, digital factory model, factory planning, restructuring

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Authors: Zakieh Rostamzadeh, Zahra Shirmohammadi

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Human cytomegalovirus is a species of the cytomegalovirus family of viruses, which in turn is a member of the viral family known as herpesviridae or herpesviruses. Although they may be found throughout the body, HCMV infections are frequently associated with the salivary glands. HCMV infection is typically unnoticed in healthy people, but can be life-threatening for the immunocompromised such as HIV-infected persons, organ transplant recipients, or newborn infants. After infection, HCMV has an ability to remain latent within the body over long periods. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) causes infection in immunocompromised, hemophilia patients and those who received blood transfusion frequently. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibodies in hemophilia patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out in Urmia, North West of Iran. The study population comprised a sample of 50 hemophilic patients born after 1985 and have received blood factors in West Azerbaijan. The exclusion criteria include: drug abusing, high risk sexual contacts, vertical transmission of mother to fetus and suspicious needling. All samples were evaluated with the method of ELISA, with a certain kind of kit and by a certain laboratory. Results: Fifty hemophiliacs from 250 patients registered with Urmia Hemophilia Society were enrolled in the study including 43 (86%) male, and 7 (14%) female. The mean age of patients was 10.3 years, range 3 to 25 years. None of patients had risk factors mentioned above. Among our studied population, 34(68%) had hemophilia A, 1 (2%) hemophilia B, 8 (16%) VWF, 3(6%) factor VII deficiency, 1 (2%) factor V deficiency, 1 (2%) factor X deficiency, 1 (2%). Sera of 50 Hemodialysis patients were investigated for CMV-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM. % 91.89 patients were anti-CMV IgG positive and %40.54 was seropositive for anti-CMV IgM. 37.8% patient had serological evidence of reactivation and 2.7% of patients had the primary infection. Discussion: There was no relationship between the antibody titer and: drug abusing, high risk sexual contacts, vertical transmission of mother to fetus and suspicious needling.

Keywords: bioinformatics, biomedicine, cytomegalovirus, immunocompromise

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Authors: Patricia Portugal Marques de Carvalho Lourenco

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A three-phase methodological multi-lingual path was designed, constructed and carried out using the 2020 Chinese Internet Drama Series We Are All Alone as a case study. Phase one, the backbone of the research, comprised of secondary data analysis, providing the structure on which the next two phases would be built on. Phase one incorporated a Google Scholar and a Baidu Index analysis, Star Network Influence Index and Mydramalist.com top two drama reviews, along with an article written about the drama and scrutiny of Chinese related blogs and websites. Phase two was field research elaborated across Latin Europe, and phase three was social media focused, having into account that perceptions are going to be memory conditioned based on past ideas recall. Overall, research has shown the poor cultural expression of Chinese entertainment in Latin Europe and demonstrated the inexistence of Chinese content in French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Business to Consumer retailers; a reflection of their low significance in Latin European markets and the short-life cycle of entertainment products in general, bubble-gum, disposable goods without a mid to long-term effect in consumers lives. The process of conducting comprehensive international research was complex and time-consuming, with data not always available in Mandarin, the researcher’s linguistic deficiency, limited Chinese Cultural Knowledge and cultural equivalence. Despite steps being taken to minimize the international proposed research, theoretical limitations concurrent to Latin Europe and China still occurred. Data accuracy was disputable; sampling, data collection/analysis methods are heterogeneous; ascertaining data requirements and the method of analysis to achieve a construct equivalence was challenging and morose to operationalize. Secondary data was also not often readily available in Mandarin; yet, in spite of the array of limitations, research was done, and results were produced.

Keywords: research methodologies, international research, primary data, secondary data, research limitations, online dramas, china, latin europe

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Authors: Renzo Munoz-Najar, Cristina Wong, Daniel De La Torre Ugarte

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The literature on price transmission usually deals with asymmetries related to different commodities and/or the short and long term. The role of domestic regional differences and the relationship with asymmetries within a country are usually left out. This paper looks at the asymmetry in the transmission of rice prices from the international price to the farm gate prices in four northern regions of Peru for the last period 2001-2016. These regions are San Martín, Piura, Lambayeque and La Libertad. The relevance of the study lies in its ability to assess the need for policies aimed at improving the competitiveness of the market and ensuring the benefit of producers. There are differences in planting and harvesting dates, as well as in geographic location that justify the hypothesis of the existence of differences in the price transition asymmetries between these regions. Those differences are due to at least three factors geography, infrastructure development, and distribution systems. For this, the Threshold Vector Error Correction Model and the Autoregressive Vector Model with Threshold are used. Both models, collect asymmetric effects in the price adjustments. In this way, it is sought to verify that farm prices react more to falls than increases in international prices due to the high bargaining power of intermediaries. The results of the investigation suggest that the transmission of prices is significant only for Lambayeque and La Libertad. Likewise, the asymmetry in the transmission of prices for these regions is checked. However, these results are not met for San Martin and Piura, the main rice producers nationwide. A significant price transmission is verified only in the Lambayeque and La Libertad regions. San Martin and Piura, in spite of being the main rice producing regions of Peru, do not present a significant transmission of international prices; a high degree of self-sufficient supply might be at the center of the logic for this result. An additional finding is the short-term adjustment with respect to international prices, it is higher in La Libertad compared to Lambayeque, which could be explained by the greater bargaining power of intermediaries in the last-mentioned region due to the greater technological development in the mills.

Keywords: asymmetric price transmission, rice prices, price transmission, regional economics

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Authors: Shahin A. Abdel-Naby, James P. Colgan, Michael S. Pindzola

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A time-dependent close-coupling method is developed to calculate a total, double and triple autoionization rates for hollow atomic ions of four-electron systems. This work was motivated by recent observations of the four-electron Auger process in near K-edge photoionization of C+ ions. The time-dependent close-coupled equations are solved using lattice techniques to obtain a discrete representation of radial wave functions and all operators on a four-dimensional grid with uniform spacing. Initial excited states are obtained by relaxation of the Schrodinger equation in imaginary time using a Schmidt orthogonalization method involving interior subshells. The radial wave function grids are partitioned over the cores on a massively parallel computer, which is essential due to the large memory requirements needed to store the coupled-wave functions and the long run times needed to reach the convergence of the ionization process. Total, double, and triple autoionization rates are obtained by the propagation of the time-dependent close-coupled equations in real-time using integration over bound and continuum single-particle states. These states are generated by matrix diagonalization of one-electron Hamiltonians. The total autoionization rates for each L excited state is found to be slightly above the single autoionization rate for the excited configuration using configuration-average distorted-wave theory. As expected, we find the double and triple autoionization rates to be much smaller than the total autoionization rates. Future work can be extended to study electron-impact triple ionization of atoms or ions. The work was supported in part by grants from the American University of Sharjah and the US Department of Energy. Computational work was carried out at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) in Berkeley, California, USA.

Keywords: hollow atoms, autoionization, auger rates, time-dependent close-coupling method

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Authors: Keroles Akram Saed Ghatas

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The near future will bring significant changes in modern organizations and management due to the growing role of intangible assets and knowledge workers. The area of copyright, intellectual property, digital (intangible) assets and media redistribution appears to be one of the greatest challenges facing business and society in general and management sciences and organizations in particular. The proposed article examines the views and perceptions of fairness in digital media sharing among Harvard Law School's LL.M.s. Students, based on 50 qualitative interviews and 100 surveys. The researcher took an ethnographic approach to her research and entered the Harvard LL.M. in 2016. at, a Face book group that allows people to connect naturally and attend in-person and private events more easily. After listening to numerous students, the researcher conducted a quantitative survey among 100 respondents to assess respondents' perceptions of fairness in digital file sharing in various contexts (based on media price, its availability, regional licenses, copyright holder status, etc.). to understand better . .). Based on the survey results, the researcher conducted long-term, open-ended and loosely structured ethnographic interviews (50 interviews) to further deepen the understanding of the results. The most important finding of the study is that Harvard lawyers generally support digital piracy in certain contexts, despite having the best possible legal and professional knowledge. Interestingly, they are also more accepting of working for the government than the private sector. The results of this study provide a better understanding of how “fairness” is perceived by the younger generation of lawyers and pave the way for a more rational application of licensing laws.

Keywords: cognitive impairments, communication disorders, death penalty, executive function communication disorders, cognitive disorders, capital murder, executive function death penalty, egyptian law absence, justice, political cases piracy, digital sharing, perception of fairness, legal profession

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Authors: Makamas Kumprou, Pipatana Amatachaya, Sugalya Amatachaya, Thiwabhorn Thaweewannakij, Preeda Arayawichanon

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Many individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) need an ambulatory assistive device (AAD) to promote their independence and experience of task-specific walking practice. Without a periodic follow-up for their walking progression, however, many individuals may use the same AAD even though up to 66% of them had the potential to progress walking ability. This may distort their optimal ability and increase the possibility of having negative impacts due to the long-lasting used of an AAD. However, these findings were cross-sectionally collected without data confirmation for the benefit or negative impacts of those who changed the types of AAD used. Therefore, this study prospectively assessed the proportion of ambulatory individuals with SCI who were able to progress their walking ability as determined using a type of AAD, and the changes of their functional ability as well as the incidence of falls over 6 months. Twenty-four subjects with SCI who daily walked with an AAD were involved in the study for 2 visits over 6 months. At the first visit (baseline assessments), the subjects were assessed for their spatiotemporal variables (i.e., cadence, step length, stride length, and step symmetry) and walking ability using the 10-meter walk test (10MWT). Then, they were assessed for the possibility of their walking progression as determined using the ability of walking with the least support AAD with no more than contact guarding assist. Those who were capable of changing an AAD were trained for the ability to walk with a new AAD. Thereafter, all subjects were monthly monitored for incidence of fall over 6 months. At the second visit (after 6 months followed-up), subjects were reassessed for their spatiotemporal variables and 10MWT. The findings indicated that, of all 24 subjects, 8 subjects (33.3%) were able to walk with less support AAD than their usual one. The walking cadence, step length symmetry, and walking ability of these subjects improved significantly greater than those who walked with the same AAD (p < 0.05). Among these subjects, one subject (12.5%) reported fell (3 times) during the follow-up period, whereas 5 subjects (31.3%) who walked with the same AAD experienced at least one fall (range 1 – 16 times). The findings indicated that a large proportion of ambulatory individuals with SCI who daily walked with an AAD could progress their walking ability, whereby their walking ability and safety also significantly improved after they walked with an optimal AAD. The findings suggest the need for a periodic follow-up for an appropriate AAD used for these individuals.

Keywords: walking device, walker, crutches, cane, rehabilitation

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Authors: Surbhi Surbhi, Andrea Erni, Gunter Meister, Harold Cremer, Christophe Beclin

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short 20-23 nucleotide long non-coding RNAs; there are 2605 miRNA in humans and 1936 miRNA in mouse in total (miRBase). The nervous system expresses the most abundant miRNA and most diverse. MiRNAs play a role in many steps during neurogenesis, like cell proliferation, differentiation, neural patterning, axon pathfinding, etc. Moreover, in vitro studies suggested a role in the regulation of local translation at the synapse, thus controlling neuronal plasticity. However, due to the specific structure of miRNA molecules, an in-vivo confirmation of the general role of miRNAs in the control of neuronal plasticity is still pending. For example, their small size and their high level of sequence homology make difficult the analysis of their cellular and sub-cellular localization in-vivo by in-situ hybridization. Moreover, it was found that only 40% of the expressed miRNA molecules in a cell are included in RNA-Induced Silencing Complexes (RISC) and, therefore, involved in inhibitory interactions while the rest is silent. Definitively, the development of new tools is needed to have a better understanding of the cellular function of miRNAs, in particular their role in neuronal plasticity. Here we describe a new technique called in-vivo AGO-APP designed to investigate miRNA expression and function in-vivo. This technique is based on the expression of a small peptide derived from the human RISC-complex protein TNRC6B, called T6B, which binds all known Argonaute (Ago) proteins with high affinity allowing the efficient immunoprecipitation of AGO-bound miRNAs. We have generated two transgenic mouse lines conditionally expressing T6B either ubiquitously in the cell or targeted at the synapse. A comparison of the repertoire of miRNAs immuno-precipitated from mature neurons of both mouse lines will provide us with a list of miRNAs showing a specific activity at the synapse. The physiological role of these miRNAs will be subsequently addressed through gain and loss of function experiments.

Keywords: RNA-induced silencing complexes, TNRC6B, miRNA, argonaute, synapse, neuronal plasticity, neurogenesis

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Authors: Wendy Carolina Gomez Ramirez, Rodulfo Ospina Torres

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Thygater aethiops is a species of solitary bee with a neotropical distribution that has been adapted to live in urban environments. This species of bee presents a marked sexual dimorphism since the males have antenna almost as long as their body different from the females that present antenna with smaller size. In this work, placoid sensilla were studied, which are structures that appear in the antenna and are involved in the detection of substances both, for reproduction and for the search of food. The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences between these sensory structures in the different sexes, for which males and females were captured. Later some body measures were taken such as fresh weight with abdomen and without it, since the weight could be modified by the stomach content; other measures were taken as the total antenna length and length of the flagellum and flagelomere. After negative imprints of the antenna were made using nail polish, the imprint was cut with a microblade and mounted onto a microscope slide. The placoid sensilla were visible on the imprint, so they were counted manually on the 100x objective lens of the optical microscope. Initially, the males presented a specific distribution pattern in two types of sensilla: trichoid and placoid, the trichoid were found aligned in the dorsal face of the antenna and the placoid were distributed along the entire antenna; that was different to the females since they did not present a distribution pattern the sensilla were randomly organized. It was obtained that the males, because they have a longer antenna, have a greater number of sensilla in relation to the females. Additionally, it was found that there was no relationship between the weight and the number of sensilla, but there was a positive relationship between the length of the antenna, the length of the flagellum and the number of sensilla. The relationship between the number of sensilla per unit area in each of the sexes was also calculated, which showed that, on average, males have 4.2 ± 0.38 sensilla per unit area and females present 2.2 ± 0.20 and likewise a significant difference between sexes. This dimorphism found may be related to the sexual behavior of the species, since it has been demonstrated that males are more adapted to the perception of substances related to reproduction than to the search of food.

Keywords: antenna, olfactory organ, sensilla, sexual dimorphism, solitary bees

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Authors: Chee Young Kim, Tae Hyun Kim, Anbok Lee, Hyun-Ah Kim, Woosung Lim, Ku Sang Kim, Jinsun Lee, Yoo Seok Kim, Beom Seok Ko

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Background: CollatampTM is Gentamicin-containing collagen sponge well known for its hemostatic effect, commonly utilized in surgeries. We inserted CollatempTM wrapped by SurgicelTM (oxidized cellulose polymer) to fill up the defect after breast conserving surgery. The purpose of this study is to verify the furthermore cosmetic value of CollatampTM in breast conserving surgery conducted in breast cancer patients. Methods: 17 patients were enrolled in this study, underwent breast conserving surgery with CollatampTM wrapped by SurgicelTM insertion, in Inje University Busan Paik Hospital from October 2015 to September 2016. Patient satisfaction, cosmetic outcome, results at 6 months from operation was analyzed to verify the effectiveness and usefulness of CollatampTM for cosmetics. Patient satisfaction was investigated through interviews on a scale of good, fair, poor, and the cosmetic outcome was investigated through physical examination by a surgeon who did not participate in the operations. Results: Among 17 patients, nine of them gave ‘good’ for patient satisfaction, eight gave ‘fair’ and none of them ‘poor’. Also, cosmetic outcome came out with 11 ‘good’s, six ‘fair’s, no ‘poor’. In ‘good’ patient satisfaction group, the mean value of resection to breast volume ratio was 16%, compared to 24% of ‘fair’ group. The mean value of actual resection volume was 100.6cm3, 102.7cm3 each. In ‘good’ cosmetic outcome group, the mean value of resection to breast volume ratio was 18%, compared to 23% of ‘fair’ group. The mean value of actual resection volume was 99.2cm3, 105.9cm3 respectively. According to these results, patient satisfaction and cosmetic outcome after surgeries were more reliable on the resection to breast volume ratio, rather than the actual resection volume. There were eight cases of postoperative complications, consisting of a lymphedema, a seroma, and six patients had mild pain. Conclusions: Cosmetic effect of CollatampTM in breast conserving surgery was more reliable on the resection to breast volume ratio, rather than the actual resection volume. In this short term survey, patients were tend to be satisfied with the cosmetics, all giving either good or fair scores. However, long term outcomes should be further assessed.

Keywords: breast cancer, breast conserving surgery, collatamp, cosmetics

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Authors: Rachel Talbot, Nasuh Malas

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Stigma in child and adolescent psychiatry continues to be a significant barrier for youth to receive much needed psychiatric care. Parents misperceptions regarding mental health may interfere with their child’s care and negatively influence their child’s view of mental health. For some children, their first experience with psychiatry may occur during medical hospitalization when they are seen by the Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison (C/L) Service. Despite this unique role, there is limited data on how to address mental health stigma with patients and families within the context of Child and Adolescent C/L Psychiatry. This study explores the use of a brief introductory video with messages from the psychiatry C/L team, families who have accessed mental health consultation in the hospital, as well as clips of family and C/L team interactions to address parental stigma of psychiatry. Common stigmatized concerns shared by parents include concerns about confidentiality, later ramifications of mental healthcare, outsider status, and parental self-blame. There are also stigmatized concerns about psychiatric medication use including overmedication, sedation, long-term effects, medicating ‘real problems’ and personality blunting. Each of these are addressed during the video parents will see with the intent of reducing negative parental perceptions relating to mental healthcare. For this study, families are given a survey highlighting these concerns, prior to and after watching the video. Pre-and post-video responses are compared with the hypothesis that watching the video will effectively reduce parental stigma about psychiatric care. Data collection is currently underway and will be completed by the end of November 2017 with data analysis completed by January 2018. This study will also give vital information about the demographic differences in perceptions of stigma so future interventions can be targeted towards those with higher perceived stigma. This study posits that use of an introductory video is an effective strategy to combat stigma and help educate and empower families. In this way, we will be reducing further barriers for patients and families to seek out mental health resources and supports that are often desperately needed for these youths.

Keywords: child and adolescent psychiatry, consult-liaison psychiatry, media, stigma

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Authors: Blanco T. F., Fernández-López A.

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Nowadays, education, motivated by the new demands of the 21st century, acquires a dimension that converts the skills that new generations may need into a huge and uncertain set of knowledge too broad to be entirety covered. Within this set, and as tools to reach them, we find Learning and Knowledge Technologies (LKT). Thus, in order to prepare students for an everchanging society in which the technological boom involves everything, it is essential to develop digital competence. Nevertheless LKT seems not to have found their place in the educational system. This work is aimed to go a step further in the research of the most appropriate procedures and resources for technological integration in the classroom. The main objective of this exploratory study is to analyze the didactic suitability (epistemic, cognitive, affective, interactional, mediational and ecological) for teaching and learning processes of mathematics with robotics and 3D printing. The analysis carried out is drawn from a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) project that has the Pilgrimage way to Santiago de Compostela as a common thread. The sample is made up of 25 Primary Education students (10 and 11 years old). A qualitative design research methodology has been followed, the sessions have been distributed according to the type of technology applied. Robotics has been focused towards learning two-dimensional mathematical notions while 3D design and printing have been oriented towards three-dimensional concepts. The data collection instruments used are evaluation rubrics, recordings, field notebooks and participant observation. Indicators of didactic suitability proposed by Godino (2013) have been used for the analysis of the data. In general, the results show a medium-high level of didactic suitability. Above these, a high mediational and cognitive suitability stands out, which led to a better understanding of the positions and relationships of three-dimensional bodies in space and the concept of angle. With regard to the other indicators of the didactic suitability, it should be noted that the interactional suitability would require more attention and the affective suitability a deeper study. In conclusion, the research has revealed great expectations around the combination of teaching-learning processes of mathematics and LKT. Although there is still a long way to go in terms of the provision of means and teacher training.

Keywords: 3D printing, didactic suitability, educational design, robotics

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Authors: Shankaran Sitarama

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Teamwork is an extremely effective pedagogical tool in engineering education. New Product Development (NPD) has been an effective strategy of companies to streamline and bring innovative products and solutions to customers. Thus, Engineering curriculum in many schools, some collaboratively with business schools, have brought NPD into the curriculum at the graduate level. Teamwork is invariably used during instruction, where students work in teams to come up with new products and solutions. There is a significant emphasis of grade on the semester long teamwork for it to be taken seriously by students. As the students work in teams and go through this process to develop the new product prototypes, their effectiveness and learning to a great extent depends on how they function as a team and go through the creative process, come together, and work towards the common goal. A core attribute of a successful NPD team is their creativity and innovation. The team needs to be creative as a group, generating a breadth of ideas and innovative solutions that solve or address the problem they are targeting and meet the user’s needs. They also need to be very efficient in their teamwork as they work through the various stages of the development of these ideas resulting in a POC (proof-of-concept) implementation or a prototype of the product. The simultaneous requirement of teams to be creative and at the same time also converge and work together imposes different types of tensions in their team interactions. These ideational tensions / conflicts and sometimes relational tensions / conflicts are inevitable. Effective teams will have to deal with the Team dynamics and manage it to be resilient enough and yet be creative. This research paper provides a computational analysis of the teams’ communication that is reflective of the team dynamics, and through a superimposition of latent semantic analysis with social network analysis, provides a computational methodology of arriving at patterns of visual interaction. These team interaction patterns have clear correlations to the team dynamics and provide insights into the functioning and thus the effectiveness of the teams. 23 student NPD teams over 2 years of a course on Managing NPD that has a blend of engineering and business school students is considered, and the results are presented. It is also correlated with the teams’ detailed and tailored individual and group feedback and self-reflection and evaluation questionnaire.

Keywords: team dynamics, social network analysis, team interaction patterns, new product development teamwork, NPD teams

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Authors: A. Burakowska, M. Piotrowski, M. Kubicki, H. Trzaskowska, R. Sosnowiec, B. Myslek-Laurikainen

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The most important source of atmospheric radioactivity are radionuclides generated as a result of the impact of primary and secondary cosmic radiation, with the nuclei of nitrogen oxygen and carbon in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. This creates about thirty radioisotopes of more than twenty elements. For organisms, the four of them are most important: ³H, ⁷Be, ²²Na, ¹⁴C. The natural radionuclides, which are present in Earth crust, also settle on dust and particles of water vapor. By this means, the derivatives of uranium and thorium, and long-life 40K get into the air. ¹³⁷Cs is the most widespread isotope, that is implemented by humans into the environment. To determine the concentration of radionuclides in the atmosphere, high volume air samplers were used, where the aerosol collection took place on a special filter fabric (Petrianov filter tissue FPP-15-1.5). In 2002 the high volume air sampler AZA-1000 was installed at the Polish Polar Observatory of the Polish Academy of Science in Hornsund, Spitsbergen (77°00’N, 15°33’E), designed to operate in all weather conditions of the cold polar region. Since 1991 (with short breaks) the ASS-500 air sampler has been working, which is located in Swider at the Kalinowski Geophysical Observatory of Geophysics Institute of the Polish Academy of Science (52°07’N, 21°15’E). The following results of radionuclides concentrations were obtained from both stations using gamma spectroscopy analysis: ⁷Be, ¹³⁷Cs, ¹³⁴Cs, ²¹⁰Pb, ⁴⁰K. For gamma spectroscopy analysis HPGe (High Purity Germanium) detector were used. These data were compared with each other. The preliminary results gave evidence that radioactivity measured in aerosols is not proportional to the amount of dust for both studied regions. Furthermore, the results indicate annual variability (seasonal fluctuations) as well as a decrease in the average activity of ⁷Be with increasing latitude. The content of ⁷Be in surface air also indicates the relationship with solar activity cycles.

Keywords: aerosols, air filters, atmospheric beryllium, environmental radionuclides, gamma spectroscopy, mid-latitude regions radionuclides, polar regions radionuclides, solar cycles

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Authors: Nji Clement Bang, Rosemary Shafack M., Kum Henry Asei, Yaro Loveline Y

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Scholars perceive learner-centered teaching-learning reform as roles and resources in teacher education (TE) and professional outcome with transformative learning (TL) continuum dimensions. But, teaching-learning reform is fast proliferating amidst debilitating stakeholder systemic dichotomies, resources, commitment, resistance and poor quality outcome that necessitate stronger TE and professional continuums. Scholars keep seeking greater understanding of themes in teaching-learning reform, TE and professional outcome as continuums and how policymakers, student-teachers, teacher trainers and local communities concerned with initial TE can promote continuous holistic quality performance. To sustain the debate continuum and answer the overarching question, we use mixed-methods research-design with diverse literature and 409 sample-data. Onset text, interview and questionnaire analyses reveal debilitating teaching-learning reform in TE continuums that need TL revival. Follow-up focus group discussion and teaching considering TL insights reinforce holistic teaching-learning in TE. Therefore, significant increase in diverse prior-experience articulation1; critical reflection-discourse engagement2; teaching-practice interaction3; complex-activity constrain control4 and formative outcome- reintegration5 reinforce teaching-learning in learning-to-teach role-resource pathways and outcomes. Themes reiterate complex teaching-learning in TE programs that suits TL journeys and student-teachers and students cum teachers, workers/citizens become akin, transformative-learners who evolve personal and collective roles-resources towards holistic-lifelong-learning outcomes. The article could assist debate about quality teaching-learning reform through TL dimensions as TE and professional role-resource continuums.

Keywords: transformative learning perspectives, teacher education, initial teacher education, learner-centered pedagogical reform, life-long learning

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Authors: S. Kozlovski, S.W. Feigelson, R. Alon

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The b2 integrin ligands ICAM-1 ICAM-2 and the endothelial VLA-4 integrin ligand VCAM-1 are constitutively expressed on different lung vessels and on high endothelial venules (HEVs), the main portal for lymphocyte entry from the blood into lung draining lymph nodes. ICAMs are also ubiquitously expressed by many antigen-presenting leukocytes and have been traditionally suggested as critical for the various antigen-specific immune synapses generated by these distinct leukocytes and specific naïve and effector T cells. Loss of both ICAM-1 and ICAM-2 on the lung vasculature reduces the ability to patrol monocytes and Tregs to patrol the lung vasculature at a steady state. Our new findings suggest, however, that in terms of innate leukocyte trafficking into the lung lamina propria, both constitutively expressed and virus-induced vascular VCAM-1 can functionally compensate for the loss of these ICAMs. In a mouse model for influenza infection, neutrophil and NK cell recruitment and clearance of influenza remained normal in mice deficient in both ICAMs. Strikingly, mice deficient in both ICAMs also mounted normal influenza-specific CD8 proliferation and differentiation. In addition, these mice normally combated secondary influenza infection, indicating that the presence of ICAMs on conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) that present viral antigens are not required for immune synapse formation between these APCs and naïve CD8 T cells as previously suggested. Furthermore, long-lasting humoral responses critical for protection from a secondary homosubtypic influenza infection were also normal in mice deficient in both ICAM-1 and ICAM-2. Collectively, our results suggest that the expression of ICAM-1 and ICAM-2 on lung endothelial and epithelial cells, as well as on DCs and B cells, is not critical for the generation of innate or adaptive anti-viral immunity in the lungs. Our findings also suggest that endothelial VCAM-1 can substitute for the functions of vascular ICAMs in leukocyte trafficking into various lung compartments.

Keywords: emigration, ICAM-1, lymph nodes, VCAM-1

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Authors: Mao Huasong, Tang Siqi, Cheng Yu

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The cognition and practice of Chinese landscapes have distinct uniqueness. The intergenerational inheritance of urban and rural landscapes is a common objective fact which has created a unique type of heritage in China - scenic heritage. The current generalization of the concept of scenic heritage has affected the lack of innovation in corresponding protection practices. Therefore, clarifying the concepts and connotations of scenery and scenic heritage, clarifying the protection objects of scenic heritage and the methods and approaches in intergenerational inheritance can provide theoretical support for the practice of Chinese scenic heritage and contribute Chinese wisdom to the transformation of world heritage sites. Taking ancient Shaoxing, which has a long time span and rich descriptions of scenic types and quantities, as the research object and using local chronicles as the basic research material, based on text analysis, word frequency analysis, case statistics, and historical, geographical spatial annotation methods, this study traces back to ancient scenic practices and conducts in-depth descriptions in both text and space. it have constructed a scenic heritage identification method based on the basic connotation characteristics and morphological representation characteristics of natural and cultural correlations, combined with the intergenerational and representative characteristics of scenic heritage; Summarized the bidirectional integration of "scenic spots" and "form scenic spots", "outstanding people" and "local spirits" in the formation process of scenic heritage; In inheritance, guided by Confucian values of education; In communication, the cultural interpretation constructed by scenery and the way of landscape life are used to strengthen the intergenerational inheritance of natural, artificial material elements, and intangible spirits. As a unique type of heritage in China, scenic heritage should improve its standards, values, and connotations in current protection practices and actively absorb historical experience.

Keywords: scenic heritage, heritage protection, cultural landscape, shaoxing, chinese landscape

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Authors: Marie-Claude Richard, Amelie Bolduc-Mokhtar, Mathieu Parent

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People who have experienced maltreatment in childhood subsequently face many parenting issues of their own, in particular when it comes to distancing themselves from the abusive behaviors they were exposed and had access to positive role models. Few studies have explored the factors explaining the ability to break the generational cycle of child maltreatment. However, deeper knowledge of the factors associated with intergenerational discontinuity could facilitate the development of innovative interventions and increase the preventive potential of existing programs. This poster presentation will be about a better understanding of the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment (IGTM) from the perspective of both youth protection workers and parents receiving child protection services. The data used to meet this goal were collected from a group interview with eight youth protection workers whose caseloads involved IGTM situations and through semi-structured interviews with four parents with a history of child protection services and who were currently receiving such services for at least one of their children. In the view of the youth protection workers, the IGTM refers to everything that is transmitted and not transmitted from one generation to the next within a family. The study participants painted quite a bleak portrait of the families affected by IGTM. However, three main avenues of intervention were mentioned by the participants: working within the network, favoring long-term interventions and being empathic. The results also show that the mothers were in a trajectory of intergenerational discontinuity in child maltreatment. Support from their families and friends as well as from formal support services brought out some possible explanatory factors for intergenerational discontinuity in child maltreatment. From a prevention perspective, developing meaningful and trusting relationships seems a source of resilience for parents who were placed in the care of the child protection system as children. The small number of participants limits the generalizability of these results. The difficulty of recruiting parents is a substantial challenge regarding gaining knowledge on the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. Future studies should examine this question and seek to develop effective strategies to help recruit study participants.

Keywords: child maltreatment, intergenerational transmission, prevention, qualitative data

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Saidasanov Saidazal Shokhmurodovich, Topolnickiy Orest Zinovyevich, Afaunova Olga Arturovna

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Relevance: Bilateral congenital cleft is one of the most complex forms of all clefts, which makes it difficult to choose a surgical method of treatment. During primary operations to close the hard and soft palate, there is a shortage of soft tissues and their lack during standard uranoplasty, and these factors aggravate the period of rehabilitation of patients. Materials and methods: The results of surgical treatment of children with bilateral cleft, who underwent uranoplasty using a flap from the tongue, were analyzed. The study used methods: clinical and statistical, which allowed us to solve the tasks, based on the principles of evidence-based medicine. Results and discussion: in our study, 15 patients were studied, who underwent surgical treatment in the following volume: uranoplasty using a flap from the tongue in two stages. Of these, 9 boys and 6 girls aged 2.5 to 6 years. The first stage was surgical treatment in the volume: veloplasty. The second stage was a surgical intervention in volume: uranoplasty using a flap from the tongue. In all patients, the width of the cleft ranged from 1.6-2.8 cm. All patients in this group were orthodontically prepared. Using this method, the surgeon can achieve the following results: maximum narrowing of the palatopharyngeal ring, long soft palate, complete closure of the hard palate, alveolar process, and the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity is also sutured, which creates good conditions for the next stage of osteoplastic surgery. Based on the result obtained, patients have positive results of working with a speech therapist. In all patients, the dynamics were positive without complications. Conclusions: Based on our observation, tongue flap uranoplasty is one of the effective techniques for patients with wide clefts of the hard and soft palate. The use of a flap from the tongue makes it possible to reduce the number of repeated reoperations and improve the quality of social adaptation of this group of patients, which is one of the important stages of rehabilitation. Upon completion of the stages of rehabilitation, all patients had the maximum improvement in functional, anatomical and social indicators.

Keywords: congenital cleft lips and palate, bilateral cleft, child surgery, maxillofacial surgery

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Authors: James Boag

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The needs of people with a diagnosis of dementia and their carers and families are physical, psychosocial, and psychological and begin at the time of diagnosis. There is frequently a lack of emotional support and counselling. Care- giving support is required from the presentation of the first symptoms of dementia until death. Alzheimer's disease begins decades before the clinical symptoms begin to appear, and in many cases, it remains undiagnosed, or diagnosed too late for any possible interventions to have any effect. However, if an incorrect diagnosis is given, it may result in a person being treated, without effect, for a type of dementia they do not have and delaying the interventions they should have received. Being diagnosed with dementia can cause emotional distress to the person, and physical and emotional support is needed, which will become more important as the disease progresses. The severity of the patient's dementia and their symptoms has a bearing of the impact on the carer and the support needed. A lack of insight and /or a denial of the diagnosis, grief, reacting to anticipated future losses, and coping methods to maximise the disease outcome, are things that should be addressed. Because of the stigma, it is important for carers not to lose contact with family and others because social isolation leads to depression and burnout. The impact on a carer's well- being and quality of life can be influenced by the severity of the illness, its type of dementia, its symptoms, healthcare support, financial and social status, career, age, health, residential setting, and relationship to the patient. Carer burnout due to lack of support leads to people diagnosed with dementia being put into residential care prematurely. Often dementia is not recognised as a terminal illness, limiting the ability of the person diagnosed with dementia and their carers to work on advance care planning and getting access to palliative and other support. Many carers have been satisfied with the physical support they were given in their everyday life, however, it was agreed that there was an immense unmet need for psychosocial support, especially after diagnosis and approaching end of life. Providing continuity and coordination of care is important. Training is necessary for providers to understand that every case is different, and they should understand the complexities. Grief, the emotional response to loss, is suffered during the progression of the disease and long afterwards, and carers should continue to be supported after the death of the person they were caring for.

Keywords: dementia, caring, challenges, needs

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Authors: Vijaya Subramaniam, Loh Soh Kheang, Astimar Abdul Aziz

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Water footprint (WFP) has gained importance due to the increase in water scarcity in the world. This study analyses the WFP for an agriculture sector, i.e., the oil palm supply chain, which produces oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB), crude palm oil, palm kernel, and crude palm kernel oil. The water accounting and vulnerability evaluation (WAVE) method was used. This method analyses the water depletion index (WDI) based on the local blue water scarcity. The main contribution towards the WFP at the plantation was the production of FFB from the crop itself at 0.23m³/tonne FFB. At the mill, the burden shifts to the water added during the process, which consists of the boiler and process water, which accounted for 6.91m³/tonne crude palm oil. There was a 33% reduction in the WFP when there was no dilution or water addition after the screw press at the mill. When allocation was performed, the WFP reduced by 42% as the burden was shared with the palm kernel and palm kernel shell. At the kernel crushing plant (KCP), the main contributor towards the WFP 4.96 m³/tonne crude palm kernel oil which came from the palm kernel which carried the burden from upstream followed by electricity, 0.33 m³/tonne crude palm kernel oil used for the process and 0.08 m³/tonne crude palm kernel oil for transportation of the palm kernel. A comparison was carried out for mills with biogas capture versus no biogas capture, and the WFP had no difference for both scenarios. The comparison when the KCPs operate in the proximity of mills as compared to those operating in the proximity of ports only gave a reduction of 6% for the WFP. Both these scenarios showed no difference and insignificant difference, which differed from previous life cycle assessment studies on the carbon footprint, which showed significant differences. This shows that findings change when only certain impact categories are focused on. It can be concluded that the impact from the water used by the oil palm tree is low due to the practice of no irrigation at the plantations and the high availability of water from rainfall in Malaysia. This reiterates the importance of planting oil palm trees in regions with high rainfall all year long, like the tropics. The milling stage had the most significant impact on the WFP. Mills should avoid dilution to reduce this impact.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, water footprint, crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil, WAVE method

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Authors: Xiping Wang，Shuran Yao, Liqin Dai

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Many studies report the winter is getting warmer and the minimum air temperature is obviously rising as the important climate warming evidences. The exacerbated air temperature fluctuation tending to bring more severe weather variation is another important consequence of recent climate change which induced more disasters to crop growth in quite a certain regions. Hebei Province is an important winter wheat growing province in North of China that recently endures more winter freezing injury influencing the local winter wheat crop management. A winter wheat freezing injury assessment Bayesian Network framework was established for the objectives of estimating, assessing and predicting winter wheat freezing disasters in Hebei Province. In this framework, the freezing disasters was classified as three severity degrees (SI) among all the three types of freezing, i.e., freezing caused by severe cold in anytime in the winter, long extremely cold duration in the winter and freeze-after-thaw in early season after winter. The factors influencing winter wheat freezing SI include time of freezing occurrence, growth status of seedlings, soil moisture, winter wheat variety, the longitude of target region and, the most variable climate factors. The climate factors included in this framework are daily mean and range of air temperature, extreme minimum temperature and number of days during a severe cold weather process, the number of days with the temperature lower than the critical temperature values, accumulated negative temperature in a potential freezing event. The Bayesian Network model was evaluated using actual weather data and crop records at selected sites in Hebei Province using real data. With the multi-stage influences from the various factors, the forecast and assessment of the event-based target variables, freezing injury occurrence and its damage to winter wheat production, were shown better scoped by Bayesian Network model.

Keywords: bayesian networks, climatic change, freezing Injury, winter wheat

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Authors: Jayson Cheyne, David Butler, Iain Bomphray

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In recent years, lithium-ion batteries have been used increasingly for electric vehicles and large energy storage systems due to their high-power density and long lifespan. Despite this, thermal runaway remains a significant safety problem because of its uncontrollable and irreversible nature - which can lead to fires and explosions. In large-scale lithium-ion packs and modules, thermal runaway propagation between cells can escalate fire hazards and cause significant damage. Thus, safety measures are required to mitigate thermal runaway propagation. The current research explores composite phase change materials (PCM) containing expanded graphite (EG) for thermal runaway mitigation. PCMs are an area of significant interest for battery thermal management due to their ability to absorb substantial quantities of heat during phase change. Moreover, the introduction of EG can support heat transfer from the cells to the PCM (owing to its high thermal conductivity) and provide shape stability to the PCM during phase change. During the research, a thermal model was established for an array of 16 cylindrical cells to simulate heat dissipation with and without the composite PCM. Two conditions were modeled, including the behavior during charge/discharge cycles (i.e., throughout regular operation) and thermal runaway. Furthermore, parameters including cell spacing, composite PCM thickness, and EG weight percentage (WT%) were varied to establish the optimal material parameters for enabling thermal runaway mitigation and effective thermal management. Although numerical modeling is still ongoing, initial findings suggest that a 3mm PCM containing 15WT% EG can effectively suppress thermal runaway propagation while maintaining shape stability. The next step in the research is to validate the model through controlled experimental tests. Additionally, with the perceived fire safety concerns relating to PCM materials, fire safety tests, including UL-94 and Limiting Oxygen Index (LOI), shall be conducted to explore the flammability risk.

Keywords: battery safety, electric vehicles, phase change materials, thermal management, thermal runaway

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Authors: Hai-Hong Gu, Yan-Jun Ai, Zheng Zhou

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Vanadium and titanium are rare metals with superior properties and are important resources in aerospace, aviation, and military. The vanadium/titanium magnetite are mostly ultra-lean ores, and a large number of tailings has been produced in the exploitation process. The tailings are characterized by loose structure, poor nutrient, complex composition and high trace metal contents. Returning green manure has been shown to not only increase plant biomass and soil nutrients but also change the bioavailability of trace metals and the microbial community structure. Fungi play an important role in decomposing organic matter and increasing soil fertility, and the application of organic matter also affects the community structure of fungi. The effects of green manure plants, alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), returned to the tailings in situ on community structure of fungi, nutrients and bioavailability of trace metals in vanadium/titanium magnetite tailings were investigated in a pot experiment. The results showed that the fungal community diversity and richness were increase after alfalfa green manure returned in situ. The dominant phyla of the fungal community were Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Ciliophora, especially, the phyla Ciliophora was rare in ordinary soil, but had been found to be the dominant phyla in tailings. Meanwhile, the nutrient properties and various trace metals may shape the microbial communities by affecting the abundance of fungi. It was found that the plant growth was stimulated and the available N and organic C were significantly improved in the vanadium/titanium magnetite tailing with the long-term returning of alfalfa green manure. Moreover, the DTPA-TEA extractable Cd and Zn concentrations in the vanadium/titanium magnetite tailing were reduced by 7.72%~23.8% and 8.02%~24.4%, respectively, compared with those in the non-returning treatment. The above results suggest that the returning of alfalfa green manure could be a potential approach to improve fungal community structure and restore mine tailing ecosystem.

Keywords: fungal community, green manure returning, vanadium/titanium magnet tailings, trace metals

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Authors: Yunfeng Shan, Xiaoliang Wang, Youjun Zhou

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Whole-genome data from two lungfish species, along with other species, present a valuable opportunity to reassess the longstanding debate regarding the evolutionary relationships among tetrapods, lungfishes, and coelacanths. However, the use of bootstrap support has become outdated for large-scale phylogenomic data. Without robust phylogenetic support, the phylogenetic trees become meaningless. Therefore, it is necessary to re-evaluate the phylogenies of tetrapods, lungfishes, and coelacanths using novel measures of phylogenetic support specifically designed for phylogenomic data, as the previous phylogenies were based on 100% bootstrap support. Our findings consistently provide strong evidence favoring lungfish as the closest living relative of tetrapods. This conclusion is based on high gene support confidence with confidence intervals exceeding 95%, high internode certainty, and high gene concordance factor. The evidence stems from two datasets containing recently deciphered whole genomes of two lungfish species, as well as five previous datasets derived from lungfish transcriptomes. These results yield fresh insights into the three hypotheses regarding the phylogenies of tetrapods, lungfishes, and coelacanths. Importantly, these hypotheses are not mere conjectures but are substantiated by a significant number of genes. Analyzing real biological data further demonstrates that the inclusion of additional taxa diminishes the number of orthologues and leads to more diverse tree topologies. Consequently, gene trees and species trees may not be identical even when whole-genome sequencing data is utilized. However, it is worth noting that many gene trees can accurately reflect the species tree if an appropriate number of taxa, typically ranging from six to ten, are sampled. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully select the number of taxa and an appropriate outgroup while excluding fast-evolving taxa as outgroups to mitigate the adverse effects of long-branch attraction (LBA) and achieve an accurate reconstruction of the species tree. This is particularly important as more whole-genome sequencing data becomes available.

Keywords: gene support confidence (GSC), origin of land vertebrates, coelacanth, two whole genomes of lungfishes, confidence intervals

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Authors: Michelle R. Sullivan

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Positive romantic relationships and marriages offer a buffer against a host of physical and emotional difficulties. Conversely, poor relationship quality and marital discord can have deleterious consequences for individuals and families. Research has described non-monogamy, infidelity, and consensual non-monogamy, as both consequential and causal of relationship difficulty, or as a unique way a couple strives to make a relationship work. Much research on consensual non-monogamy has built on feminist theory and critique. To the author’s best knowledge, to date, no studies have examined the predictive relationship between individual and relationship characteristics and expectations of non-monogamy. The current longitudinal study: 1) estimated the prevalence of expectations of partner non-monogamy and 2) evaluated whether gender, sexual identity, age, education, how a couple met, and relationship quality were predictive expectations of partner non-monogamy. This study utilized the publically available longitudinal dataset, How Couples Meet and Stay Together. Adults aged 18- to 98-years old (n=4002) were surveyed by phone over 5 waves from 2009-2014. Demographics and how a couple met were gathered through self-report in Wave 1, and relationship quality and expectations of partner non-monogamy were gathered through self-report in Waves 4 and 5 (n=1047). The prevalence of expectations of partner non-monogamy (encompassing both infidelity and consensual non-monogamy) was 4.8%. Logistic regression models indicated that sexual identity, gender, education, and relationship quality were significantly predictive of expectations of partner non-monogamy. Specifically, male gender, lower education, identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and a lower relationship quality scores were predictive of expectations of partner non-monogamy. Male gender was not predictive of expectations of partner non-monogamy in the follow up logistic regression model. Age and whether a couple met online were not associated with expectations of partner non-monogamy. Clinical implications include awareness of the increased likelihood of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals to have an expectation of non-monogamy and the sequelae of relationship dissatisfaction that may be related. Future research directions could differentiate between non-monogamy subtypes and the person and relationship variables that lead to the likelihood of consensual non-monogamy and infidelity as separate constructs, as well as explore the relationship between predicting partner behavior and actual partner behavioral outcomes.

Keywords: open relationship, polyamory, infidelity, relationship satisfaction

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Authors: Marina Arino Martin, John McEvoy, Eakalak Khan

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Endoxifen is an active metabolite responsible for the effectiveness of tamoxifen, a chemotherapeutic drug widely used for endocrine responsive breast cancer and chemo-preventive long-term treatment. Tamoxifen and endoxifen are not completely metabolized in human body and are actively excreted. As a result, they are released to the water environment via wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The presence of tamoxifen in the environment produces negative effects on aquatic lives due to its antiestrogenic activity. Because endoxifen is 30-100 times more potent than tamoxifen itself and also presents antiestrogenic activity, its presence in the water environment could result in even more toxic effects on aquatic lives compared to tamoxifen. Data on actual concentrations of endoxifen in the environment is limited due to recent discovery of endoxifen pharmaceutical activity. However, endoxifen has been detected in hospital and municipal wastewater effluents. The detection of endoxifen in wastewater effluents questions the treatment efficiency of WWTPs. Studies reporting information about endoxifen removal in WWTPs are also scarce. There was a study that used chlorination to eliminate endoxifen in wastewater. However, an inefficient degradation of endoxifen by chlorination and the production of hazardous disinfection by-products were observed. Therefore, there is a need to remove endoxifen from wastewater prior to chlorination in order to reduce the potential release of endoxifen into the environment and its possible effects. The aim of this research is to isolate and identify bacteria strain(s) capable of degrading endoxifen into less hazardous compound(s). For this purpose, bacteria strains from WWTPs were exposed to endoxifen as a sole carbon and nitrogen source for 40 days. Bacteria presenting positive growth were isolated and tested for endoxifen biodegradation. Endoxifen concentration and by-product formation were monitored. The Monod kinetic model was used to determine endoxifen biodegradation rate. Preliminary results of the study suggest that isolated bacteria from WWTPs are able to growth in presence of endoxifen as a sole carbon and nitrogen source. Ongoing work includes identification of these bacteria strains and by-product(s) of endoxifen biodegradation.

Keywords: biodegradation, bacterial degraders, endoxifen, wastewater

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Authors: Muhammad Dawood Idrees, Maria Hafeez, Arsalan Ansari

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Toll tax collection is the earliest method of tax collection and revenue generation. This revenue is utilized for the development of roads networks, maintenance, and connecting to roads and highways across the country. Pakistan is one of the biggest countries, covers a wide area of land, roads networks, and motorways are important source of connecting cities. Every day millions of people use motorways, and they have to stop at toll plazas to pay toll tax as majority of toll plazas are manually collecting toll tax. The purpose of this study is to calculate the waiting time of vehicles at Karachi Hyderabad (M-9) motorway. As Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan and hundreds of thousands of people use this route to approach other cities. Currently, toll tax collection is manual system which is a major cause for long time waiting at toll plaza. This study calculates the waiting time of vehicles, fuel consumed in waiting time, manpower employed at toll plaza as all process is manual, and it also leads to mental and physical fatigue of driver. All wastages of sources are also calculated, and a most feasible automatic toll tax collection system is proposed which is not only beneficial to reduce waiting time but also beneficial in reduction of fuel, reduction of manpower employed, and reduction in physical and mental fatigue. A cost comparison in terms of wastages is also shown between manual and automatic toll tax collection system (E-Z Pass). Results of this study reveal that, if automatic tool collection system is implemented at Karachi to Hyderabad motorway (M-9), there will be a significance reduction in waiting time of vehicles, which leads to reduction of fuel consumption, environmental pollution, mental and physical fatigue of driver. All these reductions are also calculated in terms of money (Pakistani rupees) and it is obtained that millions of rupees can be saved by using automatic tool collection system which will lead to improve the economy of country.

Keywords: toll tax collection, waiting time, wastages, driver fatigue

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Authors: Atiya Khan

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Recent research on the condition of school education in India has reaffirmed the importance of quality teacher professional development, especially in light of the rapid changes in teaching methods, learning theories, curriculum, and major shifts in information and technology that education systems are experiencing around the world. However, the quality of programs of teacher professional development in India is often uneven, in some cases non-existing. The educational authorities in India have long recognized this and have developed a range of programs to assist in-service teacher education. But, these programs have been mostly inadequate at improving the quality of teachers in India. Policy literature and reports indicate that the unevenness of these programs and more generally the lack of quality teacher professional development in India are due to factors such as a large number of teachers, budgetary constraints, top-down decision making, teacher overload, lack of infrastructure, and little or no follow-up. The disparity between the government stated goals for quality teacher professional development in India and its inability to meet the learning needs of teachers suggests that new interventions are needed. The realization that globalization has brought about an increase in the social, cultural, political and economic interconnectedness between countries has also given rise to transnational opportunities for education systems, such as India’s, aiming to build their capacity to support teacher professional development. Moreover, new developments in communication technologies seem to present a plausible means of achieving high-quality professional development for teachers through the creation of social learning spaces, such as transnational learning networks. This case study investigates the potential of one such transnational learning network to support the quality of teacher professional development in India, namely the Australia-Asia BRIDGE School Partnerships Project. It explores the participation of some fifteen teachers and their principals from BRIDGE participating schools in Delhi region of India; focusing on their professional development expectations from the BRIDGE program and account for their experiences in the program, in order to determine the program’s potential for the professional development of teachers in this study.

Keywords: case study, Australia-Asia BRIDGE Project, teacher professional development, transnational learning networks

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