Search results for: characteristic frequency

Authors: Bolatbek Rysbaiuly, Nazerke Rysbayeva, Aigerim Rysbayeva

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Relevance: Energy saving elevated to public policy in almost all developed countries. One of the areas for energy efficiency is improving and tightening design standards. In the tie with the state standards, make high demands for thermal protection of buildings. Constructive arrangement of layers should ensure normal operation in which the humidity of materials of construction should not exceed a certain level. Elevated levels of moisture in the walls can be attributed to a defective condition, as moisture significantly reduces the physical, mechanical and thermal properties of materials. Absence at the design stage of modeling the processes occurring in the construction and predict the behavior of structures during their work in the real world leads to an increase in heat loss and premature aging structures. Method: To solve this problem, widely used method of mathematical modeling of heat and mass transfer in materials. The mathematical modeling of heat and mass transfer are taken into the equation interconnected layer [1]. In winter, the thermal and hydraulic conductivity characteristics of the materials are nonlinear and depends on the temperature and moisture in the material. In this case, the experimental method of determining the coefficient of the freezing or thawing of the material becomes much more difficult. Therefore, in this paper we propose an approximate method for calculating the thermal conductivity and moisture permeability characteristics of freezing or thawing material. Questions. Following the development of methods for solving the inverse problem of mathematical modeling allows us to answer questions that are closely related to the rational design of fences: Where the zone of condensation in the body of the multi-layer fencing; How and where to apply insulation rationally his place; Any constructive activities necessary to provide for the removal of moisture from the structure; What should be the temperature and humidity conditions for the normal operation of the premises enclosing structure; What is the longevity of the structure in terms of its components frost materials. Tasks: The proposed mathematical model to solve the following problems: To assess the condition of the thermo-physical designed structures at different operating conditions and select appropriate material layers; Calculate the temperature field in a structurally complex multilayer structures; When measuring temperature and moisture in the characteristic points to determine the thermal characteristics of the materials constituting the surveyed construction; Laboratory testing to significantly reduce test time, and eliminates the climatic chamber and expensive instrumentation experiments and research; Allows you to simulate real-life situations that arise in multilayer enclosing structures associated with freezing, thawing, drying and cooling of any layer of the building material.

Keywords: energy saving, inverse problem, heat transfer, multilayer walling

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Authors: Arsalan Ansari, Muhammad Dawood Idrees, Maria Hafeez

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Use of mobile phones has been increasing considerably over the past decade. Currently, it is one of the main sources of communication and information. Initially, mobile phones were limited to calls and messages, but with the advent of new technology smart phones were being used for many other purposes including video games. Despite of positive outcomes, addiction to video games on mobile phone has become a leading cause of psychological and physiological problems among many people. Several researchers examined the different aspects of behavior addiction with the use of different scales. Objective of this study is to examine any distinction between mobile game addicted and non-addicted players with the use of electroencephalography (EEG), based upon psycho-physiological indicators. The mobile players were asked to play a mobile game and EEG signals were recorded by BIOPAC equipment with AcqKnowledge as data acquisition software. Electrodes were places, following the 10-20 system. EEG was recorded at sampling rate of 200 samples/sec (12,000samples/min). EEG recordings were obtained from the frontal (Fp1, Fp2), parietal (P3, P4), and occipital (O1, O2) lobes of the brain. The frontal lobe is associated with behavioral control, personality, and emotions. The parietal lobe is involved in perception, understanding logic, and arithmetic. The occipital lobe plays a role in visual tasks. For this study, a 60 second time window was chosen for analysis. Preliminary analysis of the signals was carried out with Acqknowledge software of BIOPAC Systems. From the survey based on CGS manual study 2010, it was concluded that five participants out of fifteen were in addictive category. This was used as prior information to group the addicted and non-addicted by physiological analysis. Statistical analysis showed that by applying clustering analysis technique authors were able to categorize the addicted and non-addicted players specifically on theta frequency range of occipital area.

Keywords: mobile game, addiction, psycho-physiology, EEG analysis

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Authors: Kaisy Xinhong Ye, Su Lin Lim, Jialiang Li, Lei Feng

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background: Multiple healthful dietary patterns have been linked with dementia, but limited studies have looked at the role of diet in cognitive health in Asians whose eating habits are very different from their counterparts in the west. This study aimed to derive a dietary pattern that is associated with the risk of cognitive impairment (CI) in the Singaporean population. Method: The analysis was based on 719 community older adults aged 60 and above. Dietary intake was measured using a validated semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Reduced rank regression (RRR) was used to extract dietary pattern from 45 food groups, specifying sugar, dietary fiber, vitamin A, calcium, and the ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat intake (P:S ratio) as response variables. The RRR-derived dietary patterns were subsequently investigated using multivariate logistic regression models to look for associations with the risk of CI. Results: A dietary pattern characterized by greater intakes of green leafy vegetables, red-orange vegetables, wholegrains, tofu, nuts, and lower intakes of biscuits, pastries, local sweets, coffee, poultry with skin, sugar added to beverages, malt beverages, roti, butter, and fast food was associated with reduced risk of CI [multivariable-adjusted OR comparing extreme quintiles, 0.29 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.77); P-trend =0.03]. This pattern was positively correlated with P:S ratio, vitamin A, and dietary fiber and negatively correlated with sugar. Conclusion: A dietary pattern providing high P:S ratio, vitamin A and dietary fiber, and a low level of sugar may reduce the risk of cognitive impairment in old age. The findings have significance in guiding local Singaporeans to dementia prevention through food-based dietary approaches.

Keywords: dementia, cognitive impairment, diet, nutrient, elderly

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Authors: Víctor D. Rodríguez, Edith P. Estupiñán, Juan C. Martínez

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The evolution in mobile broadband technologies has allowed to increase the download rates in users considering the current services. The evaluation of technical parameters at the link level is of vital importance to validate the quality and veracity of the connection, thus avoiding large losses of data, time and productivity. Some of these failures may occur between the eNodeB (Evolved Node B) and the user equipment (UE), so the link between the end device and the base station can be observed. LTE (Long Term Evolution) is considered one of the IP-oriented mobile broadband technologies that work stably for data and VoIP (Voice Over IP) for those devices that have that feature. This research presents a technical analysis of the connection and channeling processes between UE and eNodeB with the TAC (Tracking Area Code) variables, and analysis of performance variables (Throughput, Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR)). Three measurement scenarios were proposed in the city of Bogotá using QualiPoc, where two operators were evaluated (Operator 1 and Operator 2). Once the data were obtained, an analysis of the variables was performed determining that the data obtained in transmission modes vary depending on the parameters BLER (Block Error Rate), performance and SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio). In the case of both operators, differences in transmission modes are detected and this is reflected in the quality of the signal. In addition, due to the fact that both operators work in different frequencies, it can be seen that Operator 1, despite having spectrum in Band 7 (2600 MHz), together with Operator 2, is reassigning to another frequency, a lower band, which is AWS (1700 MHz), but the difference in signal quality with respect to the establishment with data by the provider Operator 2 and the difference found in the transmission modes determined by the eNodeB in Operator 1 is remarkable.

Keywords: BLER, LTE, network, qualipoc, SNR.

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Authors: Rachael Ojima Agarry, Raheemat Opeyemi Omosidi

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Over-schooling children is an abuse of the fundamental provisions of the National Policy on Education in Nigeria. The practice overburdens or places unwarranted academic demands on children, particularly preschoolers. This study was carried out to ascertain the prevalence of over-schooling preschoolers as perceived by teachers in the Kwara Central Senatorial District. One research question and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A descriptive survey design was employed. The population of the study consists of all preschool teachers in both private and public schools in Kwara Central. A validated instrument tagged “Questionnaire on Prevalence of Over-schooling of Preschoolers (QPOP)” with a reliability index of 0.76 was used for data collection. The questionnaire consists of sections A and B. Section A solicited the respondents’ demographic information, and Section B sought the prevalence of over-schooling as perceived by teachers. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the demographic information and the research question. The two research hypotheses were analyzed using a t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANCOVA) at a 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that there is a high level of prevalence of over-schooling of preschoolers in Kwara Central. Also, there is a significant difference in teachers' perception of the prevalence of over-schooling preschoolers based on school type and school location. It was concluded that both private and public schools in Kwara Central practice over-schooling of preschoolers at a high level. Hence, it was recommended that the government, through the State and/or Federal Ministry of Education, should enact and enforce a law that would ensure children in this category spend only the stipulated time in school as well as strict adherence to the recommended curriculum contents by proprietors and teachers.

Keywords: over-schooling, preschoolers, school type, school location

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Authors: Tanyaporn Chairoch

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Introduction: Cannabis is a drug to treat patients with many diseases such as Multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and Epilepsy, where theycontain many active compounds such as delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Especially, THC is the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis and binds to cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptors. Moreover, CB1 is located on the neocortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, cerebellum, and brainstem. In previous study, we found the association between the variant of CB1recptors gene (rs2023239) and decreased effect of nicotine reinforcement in patients. However, there are no data describing whether the distribution of CB1 receptor gene is a genetic marker for Thai patients who are treated with cannabis. Objective: Thus, the aim of this study we want to investigate the frequency of the CB1 receptor gene in Thai patients. Materials and Methods: All of sixty Thai patients received the medical cannabis for treatment who were recruited in this study. DNA will be extracted from EDTA whole blood by Genomic DNA Mini Kit. The genotyping of CNR1 gene (rs 2023239) was genotyped by the TaqMan real time PCR assay (ABI, Foster City, CA, USA).and using the real-time PCR ViiA7 (ABI, Foster City, CA, USA). Results: We found thirty-eight (63.3%) Thai patients were female, and twenty-two (36.70%) were male in this study with median age of 45.8 (range19 – 87 ) years. Especially, thirty-two (53.30%) medical cannabis tolerant controls were female ( 55%) and median age of52.1 (range 27 – 79 ) years. The most adverse effects for medical cannabis treatment was tachycardia. Furthermore, the number of rs 2023239 (TT) carriers was 26 of 27 (96.29%) in medical cannabis-induced adverse effects and 32 of 33 (96.96%) in tolerant controls. Additionally, rs 2023239 (CT) variant was found just only one of twenty-seven (3.7%) in medical cannabis-induced adverse effects and 1 of 33 (3.03%) in tolerant controls. Conclusions: The distribution of genetic variant in CNR1 gene might serve as a pharmacogenetics markers for screening before initiating the therapy with medical cannabis in Thai patients.

Keywords: cannabis, pharmacogenetics, CNR1 gene, thai patient

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Authors: P. M. Kundu, L. R. Singo, J. O. Odiyo

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Luvuvhu River catchment in South Africa experiences floods resulting from heavy rainfall of intensities exceeding 15 mm per hour associated with the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The generation of runoff is triggered by the rainfall intensity and soil moisture status. In this study, remote sensing and GIS techniques were used to analyze the hydrologic response to land cover changes. Runoff was calculated as a product of the net precipitation and a curve number coefficient. It was then routed using the Muskingum-Cunge method using a diffusive wave transfer model that enabled the calculation of response functions between start and end point. Flood frequency analysis was determined using theoretical probability distributions. Spatial data on land cover was obtained from multi-temporal Landsat images while data on rainfall, soil type, runoff and stream discharges was obtained by direct measurements in the field and from the Department of Water. A digital elevation model was generated from contour maps available at http://www.ngi.gov.za. The results showed that land cover changes had impacted negatively to the hydrology of the catchment. Peak discharges in the whole catchment were noted to have increased by at least 17% over the period while flood volumes were noted to have increased by at least 11% over the same period. The flood time to peak indicated a decreasing trend, in the range of 0.5 to 1 hour within the years. The synergism between remotely sensed digital data and GIS for land surface analysis and modeling was realized, and it was therefore concluded that hydrologic modeling has potential for determining the influence of changes in land cover on the hydrologic response of the catchment.

Keywords: catchment, digital elevation model, hydrological model, routing, runoff

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Authors: Taher Abofol, Eldad Yechiam, Thorsten Pachur

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In four studies, we examined whether seller and buyers differ not only in subjective price levels for objects (i.e., the endowment effect) but also in their relative accuracy given objects varying in expected value. If, as has been proposed, sellers stand to accrue a more substantial loss than buyers do, then their pricing decisions should be more sensitive to expected-value differences between objects. This is implied by loss aversion due to the steeper slope of prospect theory’s value function for losses than for gains, as well as by loss attention account, which posits that losses increase the attention invested in a task. Both accounts suggest that losses increased sensitivity to relative values of different objects, which should result in better alignment of pricing decisions to the objective value of objects on the part of sellers. Under loss attention, this characteristic should only emerge under certain boundary conditions. In Study 1 a published dataset was reanalyzed, in which 152 participants indicated buying or selling prices for monetary lotteries with different expected values. Relative EV sensitivity was calculated for participants as the Spearman rank correlation between their pricing decisions for each of the lotteries and the lotteries' expected values. An ANOVA revealed a main effect of perspective (sellers versus buyers), F(1,150) = 85.3, p < .0001 with greater EV sensitivity for sellers. Study 2 examined the prediction (implied by loss attention) that the positive effect of losses on performance emerges particularly under conditions of time constraints. A published dataset was reanalyzed, where 84 participants were asked to provide selling and buying prices for monetary lotteries in three deliberations time conditions (5, 10, 15 seconds). As in Study 1, an ANOVA revealed greater EV sensitivity for sellers than for buyers, F(1,82) = 9.34, p = .003. Importantly, there was also an interaction of perspective by deliberation time. Post-hoc tests revealed that there were main effects of perspective both in the condition with 5s deliberation time, and in the condition with 10s deliberation time, but not in the 15s condition. Thus, sellers’ EV-sensitivity advantage disappeared with extended deliberation. Study 3 replicated the design of study 1 but administered the task three times to test if the effect decays with repeated presentation. The results showed that the difference between buyers and sellers’ EV sensitivity was replicated in repeated task presentations. Study 4 examined the loss attention prediction that EV-sensitivity differences can be eliminated by manipulations that reduce the differential attention investment of sellers and buyers. This was carried out by randomly mixing selling and buying trials for each participant. The results revealed no differences in EV sensitivity between selling and buying trials. The pattern of results is consistent with an attentional resource-based account of the differences between sellers and buyers. Thus, asking people to price, an object from a seller's perspective rather than the buyer's improves the relative accuracy of pricing decisions; subtle changes in the framing of one’s perspective in a trading negotiation may improve price accuracy.

Keywords: decision making, endowment effect, pricing, loss aversion, loss attention

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Authors: Muhammad Suhail Ibrahim, Ahmad Mujtaba

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Background: The accuracy of the most frequently used tests for diagnosing Helicobacter pylori is always under consideration in clinical settings. A reliable diagnosis is crucial to confirm the success of therapy. Objective: The aim of this research was to study the isolation frequency of H. pylori from patients compatible with gastritis or gastric ulcer and to compare some feasible non-invasive and invasive methods for the diagnosis of infection. Materials and Methods: Ninety-six gastric biopsy and blood samples were obtained with various gastroduodenal symptoms after obtaining informed consent. The biopsies were analyzed and compared using the culture, microscopic examination, histopathology, Rapid urease RUT), serology, biochemical, antibiotic susceptibility test and molecular method. Results: A number of 40 (41.67%) were considered H. pylori positive in both histopathology and RUT. On the other hand, 46 patients were positive against anti IgA and IgG by ELISA. Eighteen biopsies were positive according to the culture test. This was further confirmed by endoscopic examination, urease, catalase and oxidase tests. A high percentage of resistance to polymyxin B, amoxicillin, and kanamycin was observed (100, 88.89, and 77.78%, respectively). A gene (Cag A) was also detected by using molecular technique which appeared positive in 16 patients. The sensitivity/specificity (%) of diagnostic method was 95/77 for histology, 100/83.5 for rapid urease, 85.7/90 for gram staining, 100/66.6 for IgG serology, 100/79.5 for IgA serology, 100/75.0 for PCR, 100/79.04 for combination of RUT and IgG serology and 100/92.4 for combination of RUT, gram staining and IgG serology. Conclusion: In view of the result obtained, PCR appeared to be the most reliable test. However, higher sensitivity and specificity were also recorded for other tests. So, for more accurate results, it is advisable not to rely solely on a single method for detection.

Keywords: helicobacter pylori, isolation, detection, culture, urease, polymerase chain reaction, antibiotic susceptibility test, dyspeptic patients

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Authors: Martin Hofmann, Diego Stutzer, Thomas Niederhauser, Juergen Burger

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Dental biofilm is the main etiologic factor for caries, periodontal and peri-implant infections. In addition to the risk of tooth loss, periodontitis is also associated with an increased risk of systemic diseases such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and diabetes. For this reason, dental hygienists use ultrasonic scalers for prophylactic and periodontal care of the teeth. However, the current instruments are limited to their dimensions and operating frequencies. The innovative design of a planar ultrasonic transducer introduces a new type of dental scalers. The flat titanium-based design allows the mass to be significantly reduced compared to a conventional screw-mounted Langevin transducer, resulting in a more efficient and controllable scaler. For the development of the novel device, multi-physics finite element analysis was used to simulate and optimise various design concepts. This process was supported by prototyping and electromechanical characterisation. The feasibility and potential of a planar ultrasonic transducer have already been confirmed by our current prototypes, which achieve higher performance compared to commercial devices. Operating at the desired resonance frequency of 28 kHz with a driving voltage of 40 Vrms results in an in-plane tip oscillation with a displacement amplitude of up to 75 μm by having less than 8 % out-of-plane movement and an energy transformation factor of 1.07 μm/mA. In a further step, we will adapt the design to two additional resonance frequencies (20 and 40 kHz) to obtain information about the most suitable mode of operation. In addition to the already integrated characterization methods, we will evaluate the clinical efficiency of the different devices in an in vitro setup with an artificial biofilm pocket model.

Keywords: ultrasonic instrumentation, ultrasonic scaling, piezoelectric transducer, finite element simulation, dental biofilm, dental calculus

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Authors: Deniz Ünal Özpalamutcu, Burcu Altman

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Actuaria uses mathematics, statistic and financial information when analyzing the financial impacts of uncertainties, risks, insurance and pension related issues. In other words, it deals with the likelihood of potential risks, their financial impacts and especially the financial measures. Handling these measures require some long-term payment and investments. So, it is obvious it is inevitable to plan the periodic payments with equal time intervals considering also the changing value of money over time. These series of payment made specific intervals of time is called annuity or rant. In literature, rants are classified based on start and end dates, start times, payments times, payments amount or frequency. Classification of rants based on payment amounts changes based on the constant, descending or ascending payment methods. The literature about handling the annuity is very limited. Yet in a daily life, especially in today’s world where the economic issues gained a prominence, it is very crucial to use the variable annuity method in line with the demands of the customers. In this study, the types of annuities with flexible payment are discussed. In other words, we focus on calculating payment amount of a period by adding a certain percentage of previous period payment was studied. While studying this problem, formulas were created considering both start and end period payments for cash value and accumulated. Also increase of each period payment by r interest rate each period payments calculated with previous periods increases. And the problem of annuities (rants) of which each period payment increased with previous periods’ increase by r interest rate has been analyzed. Cash value and accumulated value calculation of this problem were studied separately based on the period start/end and their relations were expressed by formulas.

Keywords: actuaria, annuity, flexible payment, rant

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Authors: Jaypalsinh Parmar, Pintu Nakrani, Bhaumik Shah

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Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is elevation data of the virtual grid on the ground. DEM can be used in application in GIS such as hydrological modelling, flood forecasting, morphometrical analysis and surveying etc.. For morphometrical analysis the stream flow network plays a very important role. DEM lacks accuracy and cannot match field data as it should for accurate results of morphometrical analysis. The present study focuses on comparing the Agree method and the conventional Shortest path method for finding out morphometric parameters in the flat region of the Lower Tapi Basin which is located in the western India. For the present study, open source SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission with 1 arc resolution) and toposheets issued by Survey of India (SOI) were used to determine the morphometric linear aspect such as stream order, number of stream, stream length, bifurcation ratio, mean stream length, mean bifurcation ratio, stream length ratio, length of overland flow, constant of channel maintenance and aerial aspect such as drainage density, stream frequency, drainage texture, form factor, circularity ratio, elongation ratio, shape factor and relief aspect such as relief ratio, gradient ratio and basin relief for 53 catchments of Lower Tapi Basin. Stream network was digitized from the available toposheets. Agree DEM was created by using the SRTM and stream network from the toposheets. The results obtained were used to demonstrate a comparison between the two methods in the flat areas.

Keywords: agree method, morphometric analysis, lower Tapi basin, shortest path method

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Authors: Abida Mariam, Anwaar Ahmed, Asif Ahmad, Muhammad Sheeraz Ahmad, Muhammad Akram Khan, Muhammad Mazahir

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The plant olive (Olea europaea L.) is known for its commercial significance due to nutritional and health benefits. Pakistan is ranked 4th among countries who import olive oil whereas, 70% of edible oil is imported to fulfil the needs of the country. There exists great potential for Olea europaea cultivation in Pakistan. The popularity and cultivation of olive fruit has increased in recent past due to its high socio-economic and health significance. There exist almost negligible data on the chemical composition of extra virgin olive oil extracted from cultivars grown in Pothwar, an area with arid climate conducive for growth of olive trees. Keeping in view these factors a study has been conducted to characterize the olive oil extracted from olive cultivars collected from Pothwar regions of Pakistan for their nutritional potential and value addition. Ten olive cultivars (Gemlik, Coratina, Sevillano, Manzanilla, Leccino, Koroneiki, Frantoio, Arbiquina, Earlik and Ottobratica) were collected from Barani Agriculture Research Institute, Chakwal. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) was extracted by cold pressing and centrifuging of olive fruits. The highest amount of oil was yielded in Coratina (23.9%) followed by Frantoio (23.7%), Koroneiki (22.8%), Sevillano (22%), Ottobratica (22%), Leccino (20.5%), Arbiquina (19.2%), Manzanilla (17.2%), Earlik (14.4%) and Gemllik (13.1%). The extracted virgin olive oil was studied for various physico- chemical properties and fatty acid profile. The Physical and chemical properties i.e., characteristic odor and taste, light yellow color with no foreign matter, insoluble impurities (≤0.08), fee fatty acid (0.1 to 0.8), acidity (0.5 to 1.6 mg/g acid), peroxide value (1.5 to 5.2 meqO2/kg), Iodine value (82 to 90), saponification value (186 to 192 mg/g) and unsaponifiable matter (4 to 8g/kg), ultraviolet spectrophotometric analysis (k232 and k270), showed values in the acceptable range, established by PSQCA and IOOC set for extra virgin olive oil. Olive oil was analyzed by Near Infra-Red spectrophotometry (NIR) for fatty acids sin olive oils which were found as: palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and alpha-linolenic. Major fatty acid was Oleic acid in the highest percentage ranging from (55 to 66.1%), followed by linoleic (10.4 to 20.4%), palmitic (13.8 to 19.5%), stearic (3.9 to 4.4%), palmitoleic (0.3 to 1.7%) and alpha-linolenic (0.9 to 1.7%). The results were significant with differences in parameters analyzed for all ten cultivars which confirm that genetic factors are important contributors in the physico-chemical characteristics of oil. The olive oil showed superior physical and chemical properties and recommended as one of the healthiest forms of edible oil. This study will help consumers to be more aware of and make better choices of healthy oils available locally thus contributing towards their better health.

Keywords: characterization, extra virgin olive oil, oil yield, fatty acids

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Authors: Pirjo Kaakinen, Helvi Kyngäs, Danica Železnik

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People live longer than earlier and healthy lifestyle is one of the important issue to prevent functional inability and chronic disease. Aim of this study was describe the lifestyle changes of Carintia region’s people. The study was cross-sectional study. Data were collected by questionnaire in two period, first May 2013 (N=63) and on March 2014 (N=77) at the University of College of ‘Health Sciences Slovenj Gradec’. The study was part of project ‘Choose a healthy lifestyle - an investment for the future’. The questionnaire included self-estimated questions about physical activity, nutrition, grocery habit, smoking habit and alcohol use. Participants were measured clinical parameters such as blood pressure, blood glucose, BMI. Most of participants were women (61%) and they were over 60 years old (64%). Participants have a high BMI (75%) and elevated blood pressure (64%). However, almost all participants (89%) had normal blood glucose level. Slightly more than half of participants (54%) have normal cholesterol level. Participants (83%) eat breakfast in the morning and most of them have three or four daily meals. Fruit and vegetable consumption decrease during this study. Half of participants (51%) drank a litre of water per day and popular beverage was coffee or tea. To drink carbonate beverages was not so popular over 60 year’s old participants than younger one. There was less smokers in 2014 than 2013. Intensity of daily physical activity increased during healthy lifestyle project. The most popular form of physical activity was hiking. This study showed that the project can be effective in the Carintia region’s people lifestyle changes even it was short time. People did changes in their daily life and there were a positive influence physical activity, meal frequency, fruit, vegetable and alcohol consumption. In the future is needed the follow up study to get out longitudinal lifestyle changes.

Keywords: adults, healthy lifestyle, health education, quality of life

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Authors: Dawid Sołoducha, Tomasz Borowski, Agata Markowska-Szczupak, Aneta Wesołowska, Marian Kordas, Rafał Rakoczy

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Many studies report varied effects of the magnetic field in medicine, but applications are still missing. Also, essential oils (EOs) were historically used in healing therapies, food preservation and the cosmetic industry due to their wound healing and antioxidant properties and antimicrobial activity. Unfortunately, the chemical characterization of EOs activates its antibacterial action only at a fairly high concentration. They can cause skin reactions, e.g., irritation (irritant contact dermatitis) or allergic contact dermatitis; therefore, they should always be used with caution. However, the administration of EOs to achieve the desired antimicrobial activity and stability with long-term medical usage in low concentration is challenging. The aim of this work was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of commercial Pinus sylvestris L. essential oil from Polish company Avicenna-Oil® under Rotating Magnetic Field (RMF) at f = 1 – 50 Hz. The novel construction of the magnetically assisted self-constructed reactor (MAP) was applied for this study. The chemical composition of essential pine oil was determined by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Model bacteria Escherichia coli K12 (ATCC 25922) was used. Different concentrations of pine oil was prepared: 100% 50%, 25%, 12.5% and 6.25%. The disc diffusion and MIC test were done. To examine the effect of essential pine oil and rotating magnetic field RMF on antibacterial performance agar plate method was used. Pine oil consist of α-pinene (28.58%), β-pinene (17.79%), δ-3-carene (14.17%) and limonene (11.58%). The present study indicates the exposition to the RMF, as compared to the unexposed controls causing an increase in the efficacy of antibacterial properties of pine oil. We have shown that the rotating magnetic fields (RMF) at a frequency, f, between 25 Hz to 50 Hz, increase the antimicrobial efficiency of oil at lower than 50% concentration. The new method can be applied in many fields e.g. aromatherapy, medicine as a component of dressing, or as food preservatives.

Keywords: rotating magnetic field, pine oil, antimicrobial activity, Escherichia coli

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Authors: Akram Boubakri, Fethi Choubani, Tan Hoa Vuong, Jacques David

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Nowadays, microwave hyperthermia is considered as an effective treatment for the malignant tumors. This microwave treatment which comes to substitute the chemotherapy and the surgical intervention enables an in-depth tumor heating without causing any diseases to the sane tissue. This technique requires a high precision system, in order to effectively concentrate the heating just in the tumor, without heating any surrounding healthy tissue. In the hyperthermia treatment, the temperature in cancerous area is typically raised up to over 42◦C and maintained for one hour in order to destroy the tumor sufficiently, whilst in the surrounding healthy tissues, the temperature is maintained below 42◦C to avoid any damage. Metamaterial lenses are widely used in medical applications like microwave hyperthermia treatment. They enabled a subdiffraction resolution thanks to the amplification of the evanescent waves and they can focus electromagnetic waves from a point source to a point image. Metasurfaces have been used to built metamaterial lenses. The main mechanical advantages of those structures over three dimensional material structures are ease of fabrication and a smaller required volume. Here in this work, we proposed a metasurface based lens operating at the frequency of 6 GHz and designed for microwave hyperthermia. This lens was applied and showed good results in focusing and heating the tumor inside a breast tissue with an increased and maintained temperature above 42°C. The tumor was placed in the focal distance of the lens so that only the tumor tissue will be heated. Finally, in this work, it has been shown that the hyperthermia area within the tissue can be carefully adjusted by moving the antennas or by changing the thickness of the metamaterial lenses based on the tumor position. Even though the simulations performed in this work have taken into account an ideal case, some real characteristics can be considered to improve the obtained results in a realistic model.

Keywords: focusing, hyperthermia, metamaterial lenses, metasurface, microwave treatment

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Authors: Othman E. Othman, Agnés Germot, Daniel Petit, Abderrahman Maftah

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Threats to the biodiversity are increasing due to the loss of genetic diversity within the species utilized in agriculture. Due to the progressive substitution of the less productive, locally adapted and native breeds by highly productive breeds, the number of threatened breeds is increased. In these conditions, it is more strategically important than ever to preserve as much the farm animal diversity as possible, to ensure a prompt and proper response to the needs of future generations. Mitochondrial (mtDNA) sequencing has been used to explain the origins of many modern domestic livestock species. Studies based on sequencing of sheep mitochondrial DNA showed that there are five maternal lineages in the world for domestic sheep breeds; A, B, C, D and E. Because of the eastern location of Egypt in the Mediterranean basin and the presence of fat-tailed sheep breeds- character quite common in Turkey and Syria- where genotypes that seem quite primitive, the phylogenetic studies of Egyptian sheep breeds become particularly attractive. We aimed in this work to clarify the genetic affinities, biodiversity and phylogeny of five Egyptian sheep breeds using cytochrome B sequencing. Blood samples were collected from 63 animals belonging to the five tested breeds; Barki, Rahmani, Ossimi, Saidi and Sohagi. The total DNA was extracted and the specific primer allowed the conventional PCR amplification of the cytochrome B region of mtDNA (approximately 1272 bp). PCR amplified products were purified and sequenced. The alignment of Sixty-three samples was done using BioEdit software. DnaSP 5.00 software was used to identify the sequence variation and polymorphic sites in the aligned sequences. The result showed that the presence of 34 polymorphic sites leading to the formation of 18 haplotypes. The haplotype diversity in five tested breeds ranged from 0.676 in Rahmani breed to 0.894 in Sohagi breed. The genetic distances (D) and the average number of pairwise differences (Dxy) between breeds were estimated. The lowest distance was observed between Rahmani and Saidi (D: 1.674 and Dxy: 0.00150) while the highest distance was observed between Ossimi and Sohagi (D: 5.233 and Dxy: 0.00475). Neighbour-joining (Phylogeny) tree was constructed using Mega 5.0 software. The sequences of the 63 analyzed samples were aligned with references sequences of different haplogroups. The phylogeny result showed the presence of three haplogroups (HapA, HapB and HapC) in the 63 examined samples. The other two haplogroups described in literature (HapD and HapE) were not found. The result showed that 50 out of 63 tested animals cluster with haplogroup B (79.37%) whereas 7 tested animals cluster with haplogroup A (11.11%) and 6 animals cluster with haplogroup C (9.52%). In conclusion, the phylogenetic reconstructions showed that the majority of Egyptian sheep breeds belonging to haplogroup B which is the dominant haplogroup in Eastern Mediterranean countries like Syria and Turkey. Some individuals are belonging to haplogroups A and C, suggesting that the crosses were done with other breeds for characteristic selection for growth and wool quality.

Keywords: cytochrome B, diversity, phylogheny, Egyptian sheep breeds

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Authors: Benjamin Chijioke Agwah, Paulinus Chinaenye Eze

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Antilock braking system (ABS) is one of the important contributions by the automobile industry, designed to ensure road safety in such way that vehicles are kept steerable and stable when during emergency braking. This paper presents a wheel slip-based intelligent controller with variable zero lag compensation for ABS. It is required to achieve a very fast perfect wheel slip tracking during hard braking condition and eliminate chattering with improved transient and steady state performance, while shortening the stopping distance using effective braking torque less than maximum allowable torque to bring a braking vehicle to a stop. The dynamic of a vehicle braking with a braking velocity of 30 ms⁻¹ on a straight line was determined and modelled in MATLAB/Simulink environment to represent a conventional ABS system without a controller. Simulation results indicated that system without a controller was not able to track desired wheel slip and the stopping distance was 135.2 m. Hence, an intelligent control based on fuzzy logic controller (FLC) was designed with a variable zero lag compensator (VZLC) added to enhance the performance of FLC control variable by eliminating steady state error, provide improve bandwidth to eliminate the effect of high frequency noise such as chattering during braking. The simulation results showed that FLC- VZLC provided fast tracking of desired wheel slip, eliminate chattering, and reduced stopping distance by 70.5% (39.92 m), 63.3% (49.59 m), 57.6% (57.35 m) and 50% (69.13 m) on dry, wet, cobblestone and snow road surface conditions respectively. Generally, the proposed system used effective braking torque that is less than the maximum allowable braking torque to achieve efficient wheel slip tracking and overall robust control performance on different road surfaces.

Keywords: ABS, fuzzy logic controller, variable zero lag compensator, wheel slip tracking

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Authors: Sachini Wickramanayaka

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The occurrence of natural disasters has increased in an alarming rate in recent times due to escalating effects of climate change. One such natural disaster that has continued to grow in frequency and intensity is ‘flooding’, adversely affecting communities around the globe. This is an exploration on how architecture can intervene and facilitate in preserving communities in the face of disaster, specifically in battling floods. ‘Resilience’ is one of the concepts that have been brought forward to be instilled in vulnerable communities to lower the impact from such disasters as a preventative and coping mechanism. While there are number of ways to achieve resilience in the built environment, this paper aims to create a synthesis between resilience and ‘urban acupuncture’. It will consider strengthening communities from within, by layering a network of relatively small-scale, fast phased interventions on pre-existing conventional flood preventative large-scale engineering infrastructure.By investigating ‘The Woodlands’, a planned neighborhood as a case study, this paper will argue that large-scale water management solutions while extremely important will not suffice as a single solution particularly during a time of frequent and extreme weather events. The different projects will try to synthesize non-architectural aspects such as neighborhood aspirations, requirements, potential and awareness into a network of architectural forms that would collectively increase neighborhood resiliency to floods. A mapping study of the selected study area will identify the problematic areas that flood in the neighborhood while the empirical data from previously implemented case studies will assess the success of each solution.If successful the different solutions for each of the identified problem areas will exhibithow flooding and water management can be integrated as part and parcel of daily life.

Keywords: acupuncture, architecture, resiliency, micro-interventions, neighborhood

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Authors: S. Ajith Kumar, Vaisakh S. Rajan

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In external flows, vortex shedding behind the bluff bodies causes to experience unsteady loads on a large number of engineering structures, resulting in structural failure. Vortex shedding can even turn out to be disastrous like the Tacoma Bridge failure incident. We need to have control over vortex shedding to get rid of this untoward condition by reducing the unsteady forces acting on the bluff body. In circular cylinders, hydrophobic surface in an otherwise no-slip surface is found to be delaying separation and minimizes the effects of vortex shedding drastically. Flow over square cylinder stands different from this behavior as separation can takes place from either of the two corner separation points (front or rear). An attempt is made in this study to numerically elucidate the effect of hydrophobic surface in flow over a square cylinder. A 2D numerical simulation has been done to understand the effects of the slip surface on the flow past square cylinder. The details of the numerical algorithm will be presented at the time of the conference. A non-dimensional parameter, Knudsen number is defined to quantify the slip on the cylinder surface based on Maxwell’s equation. The slip surface condition of the wall affects the vorticity distribution around the cylinder and the flow separation. In the numerical analysis, we observed that the hydrophobic surface enhances the shedding frequency and damps down the amplitude of oscillations of the square cylinder. We also found that the slip has a negative effect on aerodynamic force coefficients such as the coefficient of lift (CL), coefficient of drag (CD) etc. and hence replacing the no slip surface by a hydrophobic surface can be treated as an effective drag reduction strategy and the introduction of hydrophobic surface could be utilized for reducing the vortex induced vibrations (VIV) and is found as an effective method in controlling VIV thereby controlling the structural failures.

Keywords: drag reduction, flow past square cylinder, flow control, hydrophobic surfaces, vortex shedding

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Authors: Y. S. Lin, H. L. Lin

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Climate change and land-use change caused by urban expansion increase the frequency of urban flooding. To mitigate the increase in runoff volume, low-impact development (LID) is a green approach for reducing the area of impervious surface and managing stormwater at the source with decentralized micro-scale control measures. However, the current benefit assessment and practical application of LID in Taiwan is still tending to be development plan in the community and building site scales. As for urban design, site-based moisture-holding capacity has been common index for evaluating LID’s effectiveness of urban design, which ignore the diversity, and complexity of the urban built environments, such as different densities, positive and negative spaces, volumes of building and so on. Such inflexible regulations not only probably make difficulty for most of the developed areas to implement, but also not suitable for every different types of built environments, make little benefits to some types of built environments. Looking toward to enable LID to strength the link with urban design to reduce the runoff in coping urban flooding, the research consider different characteristics of different types of built environments in developing LID strategy. Classify the built environments by doing the cluster analysis based on density measures, such as Ground Space Index (GSI), Floor Space Index (FSI), Floors (L), and Open Space Ratio (OSR), and analyze their impervious surface rates and runoff volumes. Simulate flood situations by using quasi-two-dimensional flood plain flow model, and evaluate the flood mitigation effectiveness of different types of built environments in different low-impact development strategies. The information from the results of the assessment can be more precisely implement in urban design. In addition, it helps to enact regulations of low-Impact development strategies in urban design more suitable for every different type of built environments.

Keywords: low-impact development, urban design, flooding, density measures

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Authors: Balázs Ádám, Randi Nørgaard Fløe Pedersen, Jørgen Riis Jepsen

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Volatile chemicals that accumulate and release from freight containers constitute significant health risks. Fumigation to prevent spread of pests and off-gassing of freight are sources of hazardous chemicals. The aim of our study was to investigate the regulation and practice of container handling with focus on preventive measures applied against chemical exposures in Denmark. A comprehensive systematic search of scientific literature and organizational domains of international and Danish regulatory bodies was performed to explore regulations related to safe work with transport containers. The practice of container work was investigated in a series of semi-structured interviews with managers and health and safety representatives of organizations that handle transport containers. Although there are several international and national regulations and local safety instructions that relate to container handling, the provided information is not specific or up-to-date enough to conduct safe practice in many aspects. The interviewees estimate high frequency of containers with chemical exposure and deem that they can potentially damage health, although recognizable health effects are rare. Knowledge is limited about the chemicals and most of them cannot be measured by available devices. Typical preventive measures are passive ventilation and personal protective equipment but their use is not consistent and may not provide adequate protection. Hazardous chemicals are frequently present in transport containers; however, managers, workers and even occupational health professionals have limited knowledge about the problem. Detailed risk assessment and specific instructions on risk management are needed to provide safe conditions for work with containers.

Keywords: chemical exposure, fumigation, occupational health and safety regulation, transport container

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Authors: Mohammadreza Salek Faramarzi, Touraj Taghikhany

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In this paper, seismic fragility assessment of a recently developed hybrid structural system, known as the strongback system (SBS) is investigated. In this system, to mitigate the occurrence of the soft-story mechanism and improve the distribution of story drifts over the height of the structure, an elastic vertical truss is formed. The strengthened members of the braced span are designed to remain substantially elastic during levels of excitation where soft-story mechanisms are likely to occur and impose a nearly uniform story drift distribution. Due to the distinctive characteristics of near-field ground motions, it seems to be necessary to study the effect of these records on seismic performance of the SBS. To this end, a set of 56 near-field ground motion records suggested by FEMA P695 methodology is used. For fragility assessment, nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out in OpenSEES based on the recommended procedure in HAZUS technical manual. Four damage states including slight, moderate, extensive, and complete damage (collapse) are considered. To evaluate each damage state, inter-story drift ratio and floor acceleration are implemented as engineering demand parameters. Further, to extend the evaluation of the collapse state of the system, a different collapse criterion suggested in FEMA P695 is applied. It is concluded that SBS can significantly increase the collapse capacity and consequently decrease the collapse risk of the structure during its life time. Comparing the observing mean annual frequency (MAF) of exceedance of each damage state against the allowable values presented in performance-based design methods, it is found that using the elastic vertical truss, improves the structural response effectively.

Keywords: IDA, near-fault, probabilistic performance assessment, seismic fragility, strongback system, uncertainty

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Authors: Pakize Ozlem Kurt Polat

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GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal. This technology includes; nucleic acid hybridization, recombinant DNA, RNA, PCR, cell culture and gene cloning techniques. The studies are divided into three groups of properties transferred to the transgenic plant. Up to 59% herbicide resistance characteristic of the transfer, 28% resistance to insects and the virus seems to be related to quality characteristics of 13%. Transgenic crops are not included in the commercial production of each product; mostly commercial plant is soybean, maize, canola, and cotton. Day by day increasing GMO interest can be listed as follows; Use in the health area (Organ transplantation, gene therapy, vaccines and drug), Use in the industrial area (vitamins, monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, anti-cancer compounds, anti -oxidants, plastics, fibers, polyethers, human blood proteins, and are used to produce carotenoids, emulsifiers, sweeteners, enzymes , food preservatives structure is used as a flavor enhancer or color changer),Use in agriculture (Herbicide resistance, Resistance to insects, Viruses, bacteria, fungi resistance to disease, Extend shelf life, Improving quality, Drought , salinity, resistance to extreme conditions such as frost, Improve the nutritional value and quality), we explain all this methods step by step in this research. GMO has advantages and disadvantages, which we explain all of them clearly in full text, because of this topic, worldwide researchers have divided into two. Some researchers thought that the GMO has lots of disadvantages and not to be in use, some of the researchers has opposite thought. If we look the countries law about GMO, we should know Biosafety law for each country and union. For this Biosecurity reasons, the problems caused by the transgenic plants, including Turkey, to minimize 130 countries on 24 May 2000, ‘the United Nations Biosafety Protocol’ signed nudes. This protocol has been prepared in addition to Cartagena Biosafety Protocol entered into force on September 11, 2003. This protocol GMOs in general use by addressing the risks to human health, biodiversity and sustainable transboundary movement of all GMOs that may affect the prevention, transit covers were dealt and used. Under this protocol we have to know the, ‘US Regulations GMO’, ‘European Union Regulations GMO’, ‘Turkey Regulations GMO’. These three different protocols have different applications and rules. World population increasing day by day and agricultural fields getting smaller for this reason feeding human and animal we should improve agricultural product yield and quality. Scientists trying to solve this problem and one solution way is molecular biotechnology which is including the methods of GMO too. Before decide to support or against the GMO, should know the GMO protocols and it effects.

Keywords: biotechnology, GMO (genetically modified organism), molecular marker

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Authors: Rosalina Penaloza, Joanna Navarro, Pauline Jolly, Anna Junkins, Carlos Seas, Larissa Otero

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Background: Tuberculosis (TB) case detection in Peru relies on passive case finding. This strategy relies on the assumption that the community is aware that a persistent cough is a possible symptom of TB and that formal health care needs to be sought. Despite its importance, health knowledge specific to TB is underexplored in Peru. This study aimed to assess health literacy and level of TB knowledge among outpatients attending a referral hospital in Lima, Peru. The goal was to ascertain knowledge gaps in key areas relating to TB, to identify and prioritize subgroups for intervention, and to provide insight for policy and community interventions considering health literacy. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted using a survey to measure sociodemographic factors, tuberculosis knowledge, and health literacy. Bivariate and Multivariate logistic regression was performed to study the associations between variables and to account for potential confounders. The study was conducted at Hospital Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru from June – August 2017. Results: 272 participants were included in the analysis. 57.7% knew someone who had had TB before, 9% had had TB in the past. Two weeks a cough was correctly identified as a symptom that could be TB by 69.1%. High TB knowledge was found among 149 (54.8%) participants. High health literacy was found among 193 (71.0%) participants. Health literacy and TB knowledge were not significantly associated (OR 0.9 (95%CI 0.5-1.5)). After controlling for sex, age, district, education, health insurance, frequency of hospital visits and previous TB diagnosis: High TB knowledge was associated with knowing someone with TB (aOR 2.7 (95%CI 1.6-4.7)) and being a public transport driver, (aOR 0.2 (95%CI 0.05-0.9)). Not being poor was the single factor associated with high health literacy (aOR 3.8 (95%CI 1.6-8.9)). Conclusions: TB knowledge was fair, though 30% did not know the most important symptom of TB. Tailoring educational strategies to risk groups may enhance passive case detection especially amongst transport workers in Lima, Peru.

Keywords: health literacy, Peru, tuberculosis, tuberculosis knowledge

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Authors: Arun Dhakal, Geoff Cockfield, Tek Narayan Maraseni

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This paper attempts to fulfil the gap in measuring adoption in agroforestry studies. It explains the derivation of an index of adoption rate in a Nepalese context and examines the factors affecting adoption of agroforestry-based land management practice (AFLMP) in the Dhanusha District of Nepal. Data about the different farm practices and the factors (bio-physical, socio-economic) influencing adoption were collected during focus group discussion and from the randomly selected households using a household survey questionnaire, respectively. A multivariate regression model was used to determine the factors. The factors (variables) found to significantly affect adoption of AFLMP were: farm size, availability of irrigation water, education of household heads, agricultural labour force, frequency of visits by extension workers, expenditure on farm inputs purchase, household’s experience in agroforestry, and distance from home to government forest. The regression model explained about 75% of variation in adoption decision. The model rejected ‘erosion hazard’, ‘flood hazard’ and ‘gender’ as determinants of adoption, which in case of single agroforestry practice were major variables and played positive role. Out of eight variables, farm size played the most powerful role in explaining the variation in adoption, followed by availability of irrigation water and education of household heads. The results of this study suggest that policies to promote the provision of irrigation water, extension services and motivation to obtaining higher education would probably provide the incentive to adopt agroforestry elsewhere in the terai of Nepal.

Keywords: agroforestry, adoption index, determinants of adoption, step-wise linear regression, Nepal

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Authors: Ali Reza Vaezi, Ouldouz Bakhshi Rad

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Gully erosion is a widespread and often dramatic form of soil erosion caused by water during and immediately after heavy rainfall. It occurs when flowing surface water is channelled across unprotected land and washes away the soil along the drainage lines. The formation of gully is influenced by various factors, including climate, drainage surface area, slope gradient, vegetation cover, land use, and soil properties. It is a very important problem in semi-arid regions, where soils have lower organic matter and are weakly aggregated. Intensive agriculture and tillage along the slope can accelerate soil erosion by water in the region. There is little information on the development of gully erosion in agricultural rainfed areas. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the relationship between gully erosion and morphometric characteristics of the drainage area and the effects of soil properties and soil management factors (land use and tillage method) on gully development. A field study was done in a 900 km2 agricultural area in Hshtroud township located in the south of East Azarbijan province, NW Iran. Toward this, two hundred twenty-two gullies created in rainfed lands were found in the area. Some properties of gullies, consisting of length, width, depth, height difference, cross section area, and volume, were determined. Drainage areas for each or some gullies were determined, and their boundaries were drawn. Additionally, the surface area of each drainage, land use, tillage direction, and soil properties that may affect gully formation were determined. The soil erodibility factor (K) defined in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was estimated based on five soil properties (silt and very fine sand, coarse sand, organic matter, soil structure code, and soil permeability). Gully development in each drainage area was quantified using its volume and soil loss. The dependency of gully development on drainage area characteristics (surface area, land use, tillage direction, and soil properties) was determined using correlation matrix analysis. Based on the results, gully length was the most important morphometric characteristic indicating the development of gully erosion in the lands. Gully development in the area was related to slope gradient (r= -0.26), surface area (r= 0.71), the area of rainfed lands (r= 0.23), and the area of rainfed tilled along the slope (r= 0.24). Nevertheless, its correlation with the area of pasture and soil erodibility factor (K) was not significant. Among the characteristics of drainage area, surface area is the major factor controlling gully volume in the agricultural land. No significant correlation was found between gully erosion and soil erodibility factor (K) estimated by the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). It seems the estimated soil erodibility can’t describe the susceptibility of the study soils to the gully erosion process. In these soils, aggregate stability and soil permeability are the two soil physical properties that affect the actual soil erodibility and in consequence, these soil properties can control gully erosion in the rainfed lands.

Keywords: agricultural area, gully properties, soil structure, USLE

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Authors: Luksanaporn Krungkraipetch

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Pterygium is a frequent ocular surface lesion that begins in the limbal conjunctiva within the palpebral fissure and spreads to the cornea. The lesion is more common in the nasal limbus than in the temporal, and it has a wing-like aspect. Indications for surgery, in decreasing order of significance, are growth over the corneal center, decreased vision due to corneal deformation, documented growth, sensations of discomfort, and esthetic concerns. The aim of this study is twofold: first, to determine the frequency of pterygium recurrence after surgery at the mentioned hospital, and second, to identify the factors that influence the recurrence of pterygium. The research design is a retrospective examination of 164 patient samples in an eastern Thai university hospital (Code 13766). Data analysis is descriptive statistics analysis, i.e., basic data details about pterygium surgery and the risk of recurrent pterygium, and for factor analysis, the inferential statistics chi-square and ANOVA are utilized. Twenty-four of the 164 patients who underwent surgery exhibited recurrent pterygium. Consequently, the incidence of recurrent pterygium after surgery was 14.6%. There were an equal number of men and women present. The participants' ages ranged from 41 to 60 years (62, 8 percent). According to the findings, the majority of patients were female (60.4%), over the age of 60 (51.2%), did not live near the beach (83.5%), did not have an underlying disease (92.1%), and 95.7% did not have any other eye problems. Gender (X² = 1.26, p = .289), age (X² = 5.86, p = .119), an address near the sea (X² = 3.30, p = .081)), underlying disease (X² = 0.54, p = .694), and eye disease (X² = 0.00, p = 1.00) had no effect on pterygium recurrence. Recurrences occurred in 79.1% of all surgical procedures and 11.6% of all patients using the bare sclera technique. The recurrence rate for conjunctival autografts was 20.9% for all procedures and 3.0% for all participants. Mitomycin-C and amniotic membrane transplant techniques had no recurrence following surgery. Comparing the surgeries done on people with recurrent pterygium did not show anything important (F = 1.13, p = 0.339). In conclusion, the prevalence of pterygium recurrence following pterygium, 14.6%, does not differ from earlier research. Underlying disease, other eye conditions, and surgical procedures such as pterygium recurrence are unaffected by pterygium surgery.

Keywords: pterygium, recurrence pterygium, pterygium surgery, excision pterygium

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Authors: Peter M. Schneider, Batyr Garlyyev, Sebastian A. Watzele, Aliaksandr S. Bandarenka

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Functional nanostructures such as nanoparticles are a promising class of materials for energy applications due to their unique properties. Bottom-up synthetic routes for nanostructured materials often involve multiple synthesis steps and the use of surfactants, reducing agents, or stabilizers. This results in complex and extensive synthesis protocols. In recent years, a novel top-down synthesis approach to form metal nanoparticles has been established, in which bulk metal wires are immersed in an electrolyte (primarily alkali earth metal based) and subsequently subjected to a high alternating potential. This leads to the generation of nanoparticles dispersed in the electrolyte. The main advantage of this facile top-down approach is that there are no reducing agents, surfactants, or precursor solutions. The complete synthesis can be performed in one pot involving one main step with consequent washing and drying of the nanoparticles. More recent studies investigated the effect of synthesis parameters such as potential amplitude, frequency, electrolyte composition, and concentration on the size and shape of the nanoparticles. Here, we investigate the electrochemical erosion of various metal wires such as Ti, Pt, Pd, and Sn in various electrolyte compositions via this facile top-down technique and its experimental optimization to successfully synthesize nanostructured materials for various energy applications. As an example, for Pt and Pd, homogeneously distributed nanoparticles on carbon support can be obtained. These materials can be used as electrocatalyst materials for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively. In comparison, the top-down erosion of Sn wires leads to the formation of nanoparticles, which have great potential as oxygen evolution reaction (OER) support materials. The application of the technique on Ti wires surprisingly leads to the formation of nanowires, which show a high surface area and demonstrate great potential as an alternative support material to carbon.

Keywords: ORR, electrochemistry, electrocatalyst, synthesis

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Authors: Euripides Antoniades

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In 1821, the Greek Revolution movement, under the political influence that arose from the French revolution, and the corresponding movements in Italy, Germany and America, demanded the liberation of the nation and the establishment of an independent national state. Published topics in the British press regarding the Greek Revolution, focused on: a)the right of the Greeks to claim their freedom from Turkish domination in order to establish an independent state based on the principle of national autonomy, b)criticism regarding Turkish rule as illegal and the power of the Ottoman Sultan as arbitrary, c)the recognition of the Greek identity and its distinction from the Turkish one and d)the endorsement Greeks as the descendants of ancient Greeks. The London Times is a print publication that presents, in chronological or thematic order, the news, opinions or announcements about the most important events that have occurred in a place during a specified period of time. A combination of qualitative and quantitative content analysis was applied. An attempt was made to record Greek Revolution references along with the usage of specific words and expressions that contribute to the representation of the historical events and their exposure to the reading public. Key finds of this research reveal that a)there was a frequency of passionate daily articles concerning the events in Greece, their length, and context in The Times of London, b)he British public opinion was influenced by this particular newspaper and c) he newspaper published various news about the revolution by adopting the role of animator of the Greek struggle. In fact, this type of news was the main substance of the The London Times’ structure, establishing a positive image about the Greek Revolution contributing to the European diplomatic development. These factors offered a change in the attitude of the British and Russians respectively assuming a positive approach towards Greece.

Keywords: Greece, revolution, press, the london times, great britain, mass media

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