Search results for: lead accumulation

Authors: Nirjhar Dhang, S. Vinay Kumar

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Concrete is a non-homogeneous mix of coarse aggregates, sand, cement, air-voids and interfacial transition zone (ITZ) around aggregates. Adoption of these complex structures and material properties in numerical simulation would lead us to better understanding and design of concrete. In this work, the mesoscale model of concrete has been prepared from X-ray computerized tomography (CT) image. These images are converted into computer model and numerically simulated using commercially available finite element software. The mesoscale models are simulated under the influence of compressive displacement. The effect of shape and distribution of aggregates, continuous and discrete ITZ thickness, voids, and variation of mortar strength has been investigated. The CT scan of concrete cube consists of series of two dimensional slices. Total 49 slices are obtained from a cube of 150mm and the interval of slices comes approximately 3mm. In CT scan images, the same cube can be CT scanned in a non-destructive manner and later the compression test can be carried out in a universal testing machine (UTM) for finding its strength. The image processing and extraction of mortar and aggregates from CT scan slices are performed by programming in Python. The digital colour image consists of red, green and blue (RGB) pixels. The conversion of RGB image to black and white image (BW) is carried out, and identification of mesoscale constituents is made by putting value between 0-255. The pixel matrix is created for modeling of mortar, aggregates, and ITZ. Pixels are normalized to 0-9 scale considering the relative strength. Here, zero is assigned to voids, 4-6 for mortar and 7-9 for aggregates. The value between 1-3 identifies boundary between aggregates and mortar. In the next step, triangular and quadrilateral elements for plane stress and plane strain models are generated depending on option given. Properties of materials, boundary conditions, and analysis scheme are specified in this module. The responses like displacement, stresses, and damages are evaluated by ABAQUS importing the input file. This simulation evaluates compressive strengths of 49 slices of the cube. The model is meshed with more than sixty thousand elements. The effect of shape and distribution of aggregates, inclusion of voids and variation of thickness of ITZ layer with relation to load carrying capacity, stress-strain response and strain localizations of concrete have been studied. The plane strain condition carried more load than plane stress condition due to confinement. The CT scan technique can be used to get slices from concrete cores taken from the actual structure, and the digital image processing can be used for finding the shape and contents of aggregates in concrete. This may be further compared with test results of concrete cores and can be used as an important tool for strength evaluation of concrete.

Keywords: concrete, image processing, plane strain, interfacial transition zone

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Authors: Muteb Alotaibi, Graham Clarke, Nick Malleson

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The Hajj religious festival at Mina in Saudi Arabia has always presented the opportunity for injuries or deaths. For example, in 1990, a stampede killed 1426 pilgrims, whilst in 1997, 343 people were killed and 1500 injured due to a fire fuelled by high winds sweeping through the tent city in Mina.Many more minor incidents have occurred since then. It is predicted that 5 million pilgrims will soon perform the ritual at Mina (which is, in effect, a temporary city built each year in the desert), which might lead in the future to severe congestion and accidents unless the research is conducted on actions that contribute positively to improving the management of the crowd and facilitating the flow of pilgrims safely and securely. To help prevent further disasters, it is important to first plan better, more accessible locations for emergency services across Mina to ensure a good service for pilgrims. In this paper, we first use a Location Allocation Model (LAM) within a network GIS to examine the optimal locations for key services in the temporary city of Mina. This has been undertaken in relation to the location and movement of the pilgrims during the six day religious festival. The results of various what-if scenarios have been compared against the current location of services. A major argument is that planners should be flexible and locate facilities at different locations throughout the day and night. The use of location-allocation models in this type of comparative static mode has rarely been operationalised in the literature. Second, we model pilgrim movements and behaviours along with the most crowded parts of the network. This has been modelled using an agent-based model. This model allows planners to understand the key bottlenecks in the network and at what usage levels the paths become critically congested. Thus the paper has important implications and recommendations for future disaster planning strategies. This will enable planners to see at what stage in the movements of pilgrims problems occur in terms of potential crushes and trampling incidents. The main application of this research was only customised for pedestrians as the concentration only for pedestrians who move to Jamarat via foot. Further, the network in the middle of Mina was only dedicated for pedestrians for safety, so no Buses, trains and private cars were allowed in this area to prevent the congestion within this network. Initially, this research focus on Mina city as ‘temporary city’ and also about service provision in temporary cities, which is not highlighted in literature so far. Further, it is the first study which use the dynamic demand to optimise the services in the case of day and night time. Moreover, it is the first study which link the location allocation model for optimising services with ABM to find out whether or not the service location is located in the proper location in which it’s not affecting on crowd movement in mainstream flow where some pilgrims need to have health services.

Keywords: ABM, crowd management, hajj, temporary city

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Authors: Tariq Ahamad, Mohammed S. Al-Kahtani, Taisir Eldos

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Optical communications technology has made enormous and steady progress for several decades, providing the key resource in our increasingly information-driven society and economy. Much of this progress has been in finding innovative ways to increase the data carrying capacity of a single optical fiber. In this research article we have explored basic issues in terms of security and reliability for secure and reliable information transfer through the fiber infrastructure. Conspicuously, one potentially enormous source of improvement has however been left untapped in these systems: fibers can easily support hundreds of spatial modes, but today’s commercial systems (single-mode or multi-mode) make no attempt to use these as parallel channels for independent signals. Bandwidth, performance, reliability, cost efficiency, resiliency, redundancy, and security are some of the demands placed on telecommunications today. Since its initial development, fiber optic systems have had the advantage of most of these requirements over copper-based and wireless telecommunications solutions. The largest obstacle preventing most businesses from implementing fiber optic systems was cost. With the recent advancements in fiber optic technology and the ever-growing demand for more bandwidth, the cost of installing and maintaining fiber optic systems has been reduced dramatically. With so many advantages, including cost efficiency, there will continue to be an increase of fiber optic systems replacing copper-based communications. This will also lead to an increase in the expertise and the technology needed to tap into fiber optic networks by intruders. As ever before, all technologies have been subject to hacking and criminal manipulation, fiber optics is no exception. Researching fiber optic security vulnerabilities suggests that not everyone who is responsible for their networks security is aware of the different methods that intruders use to hack virtually undetected into fiber optic cables. With millions of miles of fiber optic cables stretching across the globe and carrying information including but certainly not limited to government, military, and personal information, such as, medical records, banking information, driving records, and credit card information; being aware of fiber optic security vulnerabilities is essential and critical. Many articles and research still suggest that fiber optics is expensive, impractical and hard to tap. Others argue that it is not only easily done, but also inexpensive. This paper will briefly discuss the history of fiber optics, explain the basics of fiber optic technologies and then discuss the vulnerabilities in fiber optic systems and how they can be better protected. Knowing the security risks and knowing the options available may save a company a lot embarrassment, time, and most importantly money.

Keywords: in-house networks, fiber optics, security risk, money

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Authors: Swapnil Kumar Singh

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Gamma-ray bursts (GRB's), short and intense pulses of low-energy γ rays, have fascinated astronomers and astrophysicists since their unexpected discovery in the late sixties. GRB'sare accompanied by long-lasting afterglows, and they are associated with core-collapse supernovae. The detection of delayed emission in X-ray, optical, and radio wavelength, or "afterglow," following a γ-ray burst can be described as the emission of a relativistic shell decelerating upon collision with the interstellar medium. While it is fair to say that there is strong diversity amongst the afterglow population, probably reflecting diversity in the energy, luminosity, shock efficiency, baryon loading, progenitor properties, circumstellar medium, and more, the afterglows of GRBs do appear more similar than the bursts themselves, and it is possible to identify common features within afterglows that lead to some canonical expectations. After an initial flash of gamma rays, a longer-lived "afterglow" is usually emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave, and radio). It is a slowly fading emission at longer wavelengths created by collisions between the burst ejecta and interstellar gas. In X-ray wavelengths, the GRB afterglow fades quickly at first, then transitions to a less-steep drop-off (it does other stuff after that, but we'll ignore that for now). During these early phases, the X-ray afterglow has a spectrum that looks like a power law: flux F∝ E^β, where E is energy and beta is some number called the spectral index. This kind of spectrum is characteristic of synchrotron emission, which is produced when charged particles spiral around magnetic field lines at close to the speed of light. In addition to the outgoing forward shock that ploughs into the interstellar medium, there is also a so-called reverse shock, which propagates backward through the ejecta. In many ways," reverse" shock can be misleading; this shock is still moving outward from the restframe of the star at relativistic velocity but is ploughing backward through the ejecta in their frame and is slowing the expansion. This reverse shock can be dynamically important, as it can carry comparable energy to the forward shock. The early phases of the GRB afterglow still provide a good description even if the GRB is highly collimated since the individual emitting regions of the outflow are not in causal contact at large angles and so behave as though they are expanding isotropically. The majority of afterglows, at times typically observed, fall in the slow cooling regime, and the cooling break lies between the optical and the X-ray. Numerous observations support this broad picture for afterglows in the spectral energy distribution of the afterglow of the very bright GRB. The bluer light (optical and X-ray) appears to follow a typical synchrotron forward shock expectation (note that the apparent features in the X-ray and optical spectrum are due to the presence of dust within the host galaxy). We need more research in GRB and Particle Physics in order to unfold the mysteries of afterglow.

Keywords: GRB, synchrotron, X-ray, isotropic energy

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Authors: Hager Elsheikh

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Context: Pancreatitis is a condition characterized by inflammation in the pancreas, which can lead to serious complications if untreated. Both acute and chronic pancreatitis are associated with immune reactions and fibrosis, which further damage the pancreas. The type 2 immune response, primarily driven by alternative activated macrophages (AAMs), plays a significant role in the development of fibrosis. The IL-4/STAT6 pathway is a crucial signaling pathway for the activation of M2 macrophages. Pancreatic fibrosis is induced by dysregulated inflammatory responses and can result in the autodigestion and necrosis of pancreatic acinar cells. Research Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of STAT6, a crucial molecule in the IL-4/STAT6 pathway, on the severity and development of fibrosis during acute and chronic pancreatitis. The research also aims to understand the influence of the JAK/STAT6 signaling pathway on the balance between fibrosis and regeneration in the presence of different macrophage populations. Methodology: The research utilizes murine models of acute and chronic pancreatitis induced by cerulean injection. Animal models will be employed to study the effect of STAT6 knockout on disease severity and fibrosis. Isolation of acinar cells and cell culture techniques will be used to assess the impact of different macrophage populations on wound healing and regeneration. Various techniques such as PCR, histology, immunofluorescence, and transcriptomics will be employed to analyze the tissues and cells. Findings: The research aims to provide insights into the mechanisms underlying tissue fibrosis and wound healing during acute and chronic pancreatitis. By investigating the influence of the JAK/STAT6 signaling pathway and different macrophage populations, the study aims to understand their impact on tissue fibrosis, disease severity, and pancreatic regeneration. Theoretical Importance: This research contributes to our understanding of the role of specific signaling pathways, macrophage polarization, and the type 2 immune response in pancreatitis. It provides insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying tissue fibrosis and the potential for targeted therapies. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: Data will be collected through the use of murine models, isolation and culture of acinar cells, and various experimental techniques such as PCR, histology, immunofluorescence, and transcriptomics. Data will be analyzed using appropriate statistical methods and techniques, and the findings will be interpreted in the context of the research objectives. Conclusion: By investigating the mechanisms of tissue fibrosis and wound healing during acute and chronic pancreatitis, this research aims to enhance our understanding of the disease progression and potential therapeutic targets. The findings have theoretical importance in expanding our knowledge of pancreatic fibrosis and the role of macrophage polarization in the context of the type 2 immune response.

Keywords: immunity in chronic diseases, pancreatitis, macrophages, immune response

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Authors: Indujeeva Keerthila Peiris

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The secular view of mindfulness has some connotation to the original meaning of mindfulness mentioned in the Theravada Buddhist texts (Pāli Canon), but there is a substantial difference in the meaning of the two. Secular Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBI) focus on stilling the mind, which may provide short-term benefits and help individuals to deal with physical pain, grief, and distress. However, as with many popular educational innovations, the foundational values of mindfulness strategies have been distorted and subverted in a number of instances in which ‘McMindfulness’ programmes have been implemented with a view to reducing mindfulness mediation as a self-help technique that is easily misappropriated for the exclusive pursuit of corporate objectives, employee pacification, and commercial profit. The intention of this paper is not to critique the misappropriations of mindfulness. Instead, to go back to the root source and bring insights from the Buddhist Pāli Canon and its associated teachings on mindfulness in its own terms. In the Buddha’s discourses, as preserved in the Pāli Canon, there is nothing more significant than the understanding and practice of ‘Satipatthãna’. The Satipatthāna Sutta , the ‘Discourse on the Establishment of Mindfulness,’ opens with a proclamation highlighting both the purpose of this training and its methodology. The right practice of mindfulness is the gateway to understanding the Buddha’s teaching. However, although this concept is widely discussed among the Dhamma practitioners, it is the least understood one of them all. The purpose of this paper is to understand deeper meaning of mindfulness as it was originally intended by the Teacher. The natural state of mind is that it wanders. It wanders into the past, the present, and the future. One’s ability to hold attention to a mind object (emotion, thought, feeling, sensation, sense impression) called ‘concentration’. The intentional concentration process does not lead to wisdom. However, the development of wisdom starts when the mind is calm, concentrated, and unified. The practice of insight contemplation aims at gaining a direct understanding of the real nature of phenomena. According to the Buddha’s teaching, there are three basic facts of all existence: 1) impermanence (anicca in Pāli) ; 2) fabrication (also commonly known as suffering, unsatisfactoriness, sankhara or dukka in Pāli); 3) not-self (insubstantiality or impersonality, annatta in Pāli ). The entire Buddhist doctrine is based on these three facts. The problem is our ignorance covers reality. It is not that a person sees the emptiness of them or that we try to see the emptiness of our experience by conceptually thinking that they are empty. It is an experiential outcome that happens when the cause-and- effect overrides the self-view (sakkaya dhitti), and ignorance is known as ignorance and eradicated once and for all. Therefore, the right view (samma dhitti) is the starting point of the path, not ethical conduct (sila) or samadhi (jhana). In order to develop the right view, we need to first listen to the correct Dhamma and possess Yoniso manasikara (right comprehension) to know the five aggregates as five aggregates.

Keywords: mindfulness, spirituality, buddhism, pali canon

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Kaihong Yu, Tetsui Yamashita, Shigeaki Shingyochi, Kazuo Matsumoto, Makoto Ohta

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During cardiac ablation, high power delivery for deeper lesion formation is limited by electrode-tissue interface overheating which can cause serious complications such as thrombus. To prevent this overheating, temperature control and open irrigation are often used. In temperature control, radiofrequency generator is adjusted to deliver the maximum output power, which maintains the electrode temperature at a target temperature (commonly 55°C or 60°C). Then the electrode-tissue interface temperature is also limited. The electrode temperature is a result of heating from the contacted tissue and cooling from the surrounding blood. Because the cooling from blood is decreased under conditions of low blood flow, the generator needs to decrease the output power. Thus, temperature control cannot deliver high power under conditions of low blood flow. In open irrigation, saline in room temperature is flushed through the holes arranged in the electrode. The electrode-tissue interface is cooled by the sufficient environmental cooling. And high power delivery can also be done under conditions of low blood flow. However, a large amount of saline infusions (approximately 1500 ml) during irrigation can cause other serious complication. When open irrigation cannot be used under conditions of low blood flow, a new overheating prevention may be required. The authors have proposed a new electrode cooling method by making the catheter vibrating. The previous work has introduced that the vibration can make a cooling effect on electrode, which may result form that the vibration could increase the flow velocity around the catheter. The previous work has also proved that increasing vibration frequency can increase the cooling by vibration. However, the effect of the vibration amplitude is still unknown. Thus, the present study investigated the effect of vibration amplitude on tissue temperature and lesion size. An agar phantom model was used as a tissue-equivalent material for measuring tissue temperature. Thermocouples were inserted into the agar to measure the internal temperature. Porcine myocardium was used for lesion size measurement. A normal ablation catheter was set perpendicular to the tissue (agar or porcine myocardium) with 10 gf contact force in 37°C saline without flow. Vibration amplitude of ± 0.5, ± 0.75, and ± 1.0 mm with a constant frequency (31 Hz or 63) was used. A temperature control protocol (45°C for agar phantom, 60°C for porcine myocardium) was used for the radiofrequency applications. The larger amplitude shows the larger lesion sizes. And the higher tissue temperatures in agar phantom are also shown with the higher amplitude. With a same frequency, the larger amplitude has the higher vibrating speed. And the higher vibrating speed will increase the flow velocity around the electrode more, which leads to a larger electrode temperature decrease. To maintain the electrode at the target temperature, ablator has to increase the output power. With the higher output power in the same duration, the released energy also increases. Consequently, the tissue temperature will be increased and lead to larger lesion sizes.

Keywords: cardiac ablation, electrode cooling, lesion size, tissue temperature

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Authors: Dalia Hanna, Alexander Ferworn

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This research provides detailed proposed training modules for the public safety teams and, specifically, SAR teams responsible for search and rescue operations related to finding lost persons with dementia. Finding a lost person alive is the goal of this training. Time matters if a lost person is to be found alive. Finding lost people living with dementia is quite challenging, as they are unaware they are lost and will not seek help. Even a small contribution to SAR operations could contribute to saving a life. SAR operations will always require expert professional and human volunteers. However, we can reduce their time, save lives, and reduce costs by providing practical training that is based on real-life scenarios. The content for the proposed training is based on the research work done by the researcher in this area. This research has demonstrated that, based on utilizing drones, the algorithmic approach could support a successful search outcome. Understanding the behavior of the lost person, learning where they may be found, predicting their survivability, and automating the search are all contributions of this work, founded in theory and demonstrated in practice. In crisis management, human behavior constitutes a vital aspect in responding to the crisis; the speed and efficiency of the response often get affected by the difficulty of the context of the operation. Therefore, training in this area plays a significant role in preparing the crisis manager to manage the emotional aspects that lead to decision-making in these critical situations. Since it is crucial to gain high-level strategic choices and the ability to apply crisis management procedures, simulation exercises become central in training crisis managers to gain the needed skills to respond critically to these events. The training will enhance the responders’ ability to make decisions and anticipate possible consequences of their actions through flexible and revolutionary reasoning in responding to the crisis efficiently and quickly. As adult learners, search and rescue teams will be approaching training and learning by taking responsibility of the learning process, appreciate flexible learning and as contributors to the teaching and learning happening during that training. These are all characteristics of adult learning theories. The learner self-reflects, gathers information, collaborates with others and is self-directed. One of the learning strategies associated with adult learning is effective elaboration. It helps learners to remember information in the long term and use it in situations where it might be appropriate. It is also a strategy that can be taught easily and used with learners of different ages. Designers must design reflective activities to improve the student’s intrapersonal awareness.

Keywords: training, OER, dementia, drones, search and rescue, adult learning, UDL, instructional design

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Dina Kon Mushid, Sage Ngoie, Tshimbalanga Madiba, Kabutakapua Kakanda

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Slope stability assessment is still the biggest challenge in mining activities and civil engineering structures. The slope in an opencast mine frequently reaches multiple weak layers that lead to the instability of the pit. Faults and soft layers throughout the rock would increase weathering and erosion rates. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the stability of the complex strata to figure out how stable they are. In the Dikuluwe-Mashamba (DIMA) area, the lithology of the stratum is a set of metamorphic rocks whose parent rocks are sedimentary rocks with a low degree of metamorphism. Thus, due to the composition and metamorphism of the parent rock, the rock formation is different in hardness and softness, which means that when the content of dolomitic and siliceous is high, the rock is hard. It is softer when the content of argillaceous and sandy is high. Therefore, from the vertical direction, it appears as a weak and hard layer, and from the horizontal direction, it seems like a smooth and hard layer in the same rock layer. From the structural point of view, the main structures in the mining area are the Dikuluwe dipping syncline and the Mashamba dipping anticline, and the occurrence of rock formations varies greatly. During the folding process of the rock formation, the stress will concentrate on the soft layer, causing the weak layer to be broken. At the same time, the phenomenon of interlayer dislocation occurs. This article aimed to evaluate the stability of metasedimentary rocks of the Dikuluwe-Mashamba (DIMA) open-pit mine using limit equilibrium and stereographic methods Based on the presence of statistical structural planes, the stereographic projection was used to study the slope's stability and examine the discontinuity orientation data to identify failure zones along the mine. The results revealed that the slope angle is too steep, and it is easy to induce landslides. The numerical method's sensitivity analysis showed that the slope angle and groundwater significantly impact the slope safety factor. The increase in the groundwater level substantially reduces the stability of the slope. Among the factors affecting the variation in the rate of the safety factor, the bulk density of soil is greater than that of rock mass, the cohesion of soil mass is smaller than that of rock mass, and the friction angle in the rock mass is much larger than that in the soil mass. The analysis showed that the rock mass structure types are mostly scattered and fragmented; the stratum changes considerably, and the variation of rock and soil mechanics parameters is significant.

Keywords: slope stability, weak layer, safety factor, limit equilibrium method, stereography method

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Authors: Maturos Chongchaikit, Sitthikorn Sumalee, Nopphawan Chimroylarp, Nongluck Manowaluilou, Thapanee Thammetha

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The 2015 Kasetsart University Research Plan, which was funded by the National Research Institutes: TRF – NRCT, comprises four sub-research projects on the development of three OER websites and on their usage study by students in international programs. The goals were to develop the open educational resources (OER) in the form of websites that will promote three key skills of quality learning and achievement: Academic English, Educational Research, and ICT Literacy, to graduate students in international programs of Thailand. The statistics from the Office of Higher Education showed that the number of foreign students who come to study in international higher education of Thailand has increased respectively by 25 percent per year, proving that the international education system and institutes of Thailand have been already recognized regionally and globally as meeting the standards. The output of the plan: the OER websites and their materials, and the outcome: students’ learning improvement due to lecturers’ readiness for open educational media, will ultimately lead the country to higher business capabilities for international education services in ASEAN Community in the future. The OER innovation is aimed at sharing quality knowledge to the world, with the adoption of Creative Commons Licenses that makes sharing be able to do freely (5Rs openness), without charge and leading to self and life-long learning. The research has brought the problems on the low usage of existing OER in the English language to develop the OER on three specific skills and try them out with the sample of 100 students randomly selected from the international graduate programs of top 10 Thai universities, according to QS Asia University Rankings 2014. The R&D process was used for product evaluation in 2 stages: the development stage and the usage study stage. The research tools were the questionnaires for content and OER experts, the questionnaires for the sample group and the open-ended interviews for the focus group discussions. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean and SD. The findings revealed that the developed websites were fully qualified as OERs by the experts. The students’ opinions and satisfaction were at the highest levels for both the content and the technology used for presentation. The usage manual and self-assessment guide were finalized during the focus group discussions. The direct participation according to the concept of 5Rs Openness Activities through the provided tools of OER models like MERLOT and OER COMMONS, as well as the development of usage manual and self-assessment guide, were revealed as a key approach to further extend the output widely and sustainably to the network of users in various higher education institutions.

Keywords: open educational resources, international education services business, academic English, educational research, ICT literacy, international graduate program, OER

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Authors: Julia Gontar, Natalia Buderatskaya, Igor Ilyin, Olga Parnitskaya, Sergey Lavrynenko, Eduard Kapustin, Ekaterina Ilyina, Yana Lakhno

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Introduction: It is well known that oocytes obtained from older reproductive women have accumulated mitochondrial DNA mutations, which negatively affects the morphology of a developing embryo and may lead to the birth of a child with mitochondrial disease. Special techniques have been developed to allow a donor oocyte cytoplasmic transfer with the parents’ biological nuclear DNA retention. At the same time, it is important to understand whether the procedure affects the future embryonic chromosome sets as the nuclear DNA is the transfer subject in this new complex procedure. Material and Methods: From July 2015 to July 2016, the investigation was carried out in the Medical Centre IGR. 34 donor oocytes (group A) were used for the manipulation with the aim of donating cytoplasm: 21 oocytes were used for zygotes pronuclear transfer and oocytes 13 – for the spindle transfer. The mean age of the oocyte donors was 28.4±2.9 years. The procedure was performed using Nikon Ti Eclipse inverted microscope equipped with the micromanipulators Narishige system (Japan), Saturn 3 laser console (UK), Oosight imaging systems (USA). For the preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) blastocyst biopsy was performed, trophectoderm samples were diagnosed using fluorescent in situ hybridization on chromosomes 9, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, X, Y. For comparison of morphological characteristics and euploidy, was chosen a group of embryos (group B) with the amount of 121 blastocysts obtained from 213 oocytes, which were gotten from the donor programs of assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Group B was not subjected to donor oocyte cytoplasmic transfer procedure and studied on the above mentioned chromosomes. Statistical analysis was carried out using the criteria t, x^2 at a significance levels p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001. Results: After the donor cytoplasm transfer process the amount of the third day developing embryos was 27 (79.4%). In this stage, the group B consisted of 189 (88.7%) developing embryos, and there was no statistically significant difference (SSD) between the two groups (p>0.05). After a comparative analysis of the morphological characteristics of the embryos on the fifth day, we also found no SSD among the studied groups (p>0.05): from 34 oocytes exposed to manipulation, 14 (41.2%) blastocysts was obtained, while the group B blastocyst yield was 56.8% (n=121) from 213 oocytes. The following results were obtained after PGS performing: in group A euploidy in studied chromosomes were 28.6%(n=4) blastocysts, whereas in group B this rate was 40.5%(n=49), 28.6%(n=4) and 21.5%(n=26) of mosaic embryos and 42.8%(n=6) and 38.0%(n=46) aneuploid blastocysts respectively were identified. None of these specified parameters had an SSD (p>0.05). But attention was drawn by the blastocysts in group A with identified mosaicism, which was chaotic without any cell having euploid chromosomal set, in contrast to the mosaic embryos in group B where identified chaotic mosaicism was only 2.5%(n=3). Conclusions: According to the obtained results, there is no direct procedural effect on the chromosome in embryos obtained following donor oocyte cytoplasmic transfer. Thus, the technology introduction will enhance the infertility treating effectiveness as well as avoiding having a child with mitochondrial disease.

Keywords: donor oocyte cytoplasmic transfer, embryos’ chromosome set, oocyte spindle transfer, pronuclear transfer

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Authors: Yumei Han, Naiqing Song, Xiaoping Yang, Yuping Han

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This study explores the conceptualization of key competencies that children are expected to develop in three year preschools (age 3-6) and the assessment practices of such key competencies in China. Assessment of children development has been put into the central place of early childhood education quality evaluation system in China. In the context of students key competencies development centered education reform in China, defining and selecting key competencies of children in preschools are of great significance in that they would lay a solid foundation for children’s lifelong learning path, and they would lead to curriculum and instruction reform, teacher development reform as well as quality evaluation reform in the early childhood education area. Based on sense making theory and framework, this study adopted multiple stakeholders’ (early childhood educators, parents, evaluation administrators, scholars in the early childhood education field) perspectives and grass root voices to conceptualize and operationalize key competencies for children in preschools in Southwest China. On the ground of children development theories, Chinese and international literature related to children development and key competencies, and key competencies frameworks by UNESCO, OECD and other nations, the authors designed a two-phase sequential mixed method study to address three main questions: (a) How is early childhood key competency defined or labeled from literature and from different stakeholders’ views? (b) Based on the definitions explicated in the literature and the surveys on different stakeholders, what domains and components are regarded to constitute the key competency framework of children in three-year preschools in China? (c) How have early childhood key competencies been assessed and measured, and how such assessment and measurement contribute to enhancing early childhood development quality? On the first phase, a series of focus group surveys were conducted among different types of stakeholders around the research questions. Moreover, on the second phase, based on the coding of the participants’ answers, together with literature synthesis findings, a questionnaire survey was designed and conducted to select most commonly expected components of preschool children’s key competencies. Semi-structured open questions were also included in the questionnaire for the participants to add on competencies beyond the checklist. Rudimentary findings show agreeable concerns on the significance and necessity of conceptualization and assessment of key competencies for children in preschools, and a key competencies framework composed of 7 domains and 25 indicators was constructed. Meanwhile, the findings also show issues in the current assessment practices of children’s competencies, such as lack of effective assessment tools, lack of teacher capacity in applying the tools to evaluating children and advancing children development accordingly. Finally, the authors put forth suggestions and implications for China and international communities in terms of restructuring early childhood key competencies framework, and promoting child development centered reform in early childhood education quality evaluation and development.

Keywords: assessment, conceptualization, early childhood education quality in China, key competencies

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Authors: A. D. Rao, Sachiko Mohanty, R. Gayathri, V. Ranga Rao

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Modeling on coupled physical and biogeochemical processes of coastal waters is vital to identify the primary production status under different natural and anthropogenic conditions. About 7, 500 km length of Indian coastline is occupied with number of semi enclosed coastal bodies such as estuaries, inlets, bays, lagoons, and other near shore, offshore shelf waters, etc. This coastline is also rich in wide varieties of ecosystem flora and fauna. Directly/indirectly extensive domestic and industrial sewage enter into these coastal water bodies affecting the ecosystem character and create environment problems such as water quality degradation, hypoxia, anoxia, harmful algal blooms, etc. lead to decline in fishery and other related biological production. The present study is focused on the southeast coast of India, starting from Pulicat to Gulf of Mannar, which is rich in marine diversity such as lagoon, mangrove and coral ecosystem. Three dimensional Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm) along with Darwin biogeochemical module is configured for the western Bay of Bengal (BoB) to study the biogeochemistry over this region. The biogeochemical module resolves the cycling of carbon, phosphorous, nitrogen, silica, iron and oxygen through inorganic, living, dissolved and particulate organic phases. The model domain extends from 4°N-16.5°N and 77°E-86°E with a horizontal resolution of 1 km. The bathymetry is derived from General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), which has a resolution of 30 sec. The model is initialized by using the temperature, salinity filed from the World Ocean Atlas (WOA2013) of National Oceanographic Data Centre with a resolution of 0.25°. The model is forced by the surface wind stress from ASCAT and the photosynthetically active radiation from the MODIS-Aqua satellite. Seasonal climatology of nutrients (phosphate, nitrate and silicate) for the southwest BoB region are prepared using available National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in-situ data sets and compared with the WOA2013 seasonal climatology data. The model simulations with the two different initial conditions viz., WOA2013 and the generated NIO climatology, showed evident changes in the concentration and the evolution of the nutrients in the study region. It is observed that the availability of nutrients is more in NIO data compared to WOA in the model domain. The model simulated primary productivity is compared with the spatially distributed satellite derived chlorophyll data and at various locations with the in-situ data. The seasonal variability of the model simulated primary productivity is also studied.

Keywords: Bay of Bengal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model, MITgcm, biogeochemistry, primary productivity

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Authors: M. A. Akulov, V. O. Zaharov, A. A. Tomskij

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Introduction: Scapulohumeral periarthrosis, resulting as a reaction to mechanical injury of shoulder tendons and muscles, is associated with high incidence of temporal and permanent disability. There is a strong need for investigation of treatment of that patient group. Severe pain leads to limitation of movements range, which result in secondary alterations of joint capsule and ligamentous apparatus. Muscle tension and edema, swelling of fascial and fibrous structures result in nerve and vascular compression in intramuscular and osseo-muscular-fibrous spaces. Botulinum toxin injection leads to decrease of muscle tone, increase of movements range and associated pain alleviation. Study aim: Optimization of rehabilitation process in scapolohumeral periarthrosis using Xeomin. Patients and methods: 40 patients aged 37-56 years with scapulohumeral periarthrosis were evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups according to treatment regimen. The first (main) group included 21 patients, receiving intramuscular Xeomin 150-200 U in the area of brachio-scapular joint and trigger points (inducing motion range limitation and pain). Treatment procedures were combined with physical therapy and osteopathic procedures. The second (control) group included 19 patients, receiving conventional physical therapy and osteopathic procedures. The evaluation and efficacy comparison was carried out using McGill pain questionnaire, Clinical Global Impression scale (CGI), and patient-reported increase of brachio-scapular joint movement range and pain decrease at 1, 3 and 6 months of treatment. Results. The study demonstrated a significant improvement in the main group after one month of treatment, which persisted during months of treatment. At baseline, rank pain index on McGill pain questionnaire was 18,4±4,9 and 17,8±5,1 in the main and control group, respectively (p > 0,05). At 1 month of treatment we observed a significant decrease of pain syndrome (no pain or modest pain) and increase of movement range in angular degrees in the main group (р < 0,05). In the control group significant improvements were observed only on the 3 month of treatment (р < 0,05), but at 6 months of treatment the improvement in pain syndrome and motion range in brachio-scapular joint was significantly smaller, than in the main group. Rank pain index on McGill pain scale was 5,2±1,8 in the main group compared to 12,0±2,6 in the control group (р < 0,05). At 6 months of treatment patients in the first group reported a significant/highly significant improvement of general health on CGI, whereas in the second group most patients reported a minimal improvement. We observed a sustained and persistent improvement of motion range in brachio-scapular joint in the main group. Conclusion: Xeomin injections as a part of rehabilitation process in scapulohumeral periarthrosis lead to reduced time and increased quality of rehabilitation.

Keywords: botulinum toxin, rehabilitation, scapulohumeral periarthrosis

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Authors: Bengan Simbarashe Manwere

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The entire African continent, comprising 55 countries, holds a 2% share of the global carbon market. The World Bank attributes the continent’s insignificant share and participation in the carbon market to the limited access to electricity. Approximately 800 million people spread across 47 African countries generate as much power as Spain, with a population of 45million. Only South Africa and North Africa have carbon-reduction investment opportunities on the continent and dominate the 2% market share of the global carbon market. On the back of the 2015 Paris Agreement, South Africa signed into law the Carbon Tax Act 15 of 2019 and the Customs and Excise Amendment Act 13 of 2019 (Gazette No. 4280) on 1 June 2019. By these laws, South Africa was ushered into the league of active global carbon market players. By increasing the cost of production by the rate of R120/tCO2e, the tax intentionally compels the internalization of pollution as a cost of production and, relatedly, stimulate investment in clean technologies. The first phase covered the 1 June 2019 – 31 December 2022 period during which the tax was meant to escalate at CPI + 2% for Scope 1 emitters. However, in the second phase, which stretches from 2023 to 2030, the tax will escalate at the inflation rate only as measured by the consumer price index (CPI). The Carbon Tax Act provides for carbon allowances as mitigation strategies to limit agents’ carbon tax liability by up to 95% for fugitive and process emissions. Although the June 2019 Carbon Tax Act explicitly makes provision for a carbon trading scheme (CTS), the carbon trading regulations thereof were only finalised in December 2020. This points to a delay in the establishment of a carbon trading scheme (CTS). Relatedly, emitters in South Africa are not able to benefit from the 95% reduction in effective carbon tax rate from R120/tCO2e to R6/tCO2e as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has not yet finalized the establishment of the market for trading carbon credits. Whereas most carbon trading schemes have been designed and constructed from the beginning as new tailor-made systems in countries the likes of France, Australia, Romania which treat carbon as a financial product, South Africa intends, on the contrary, to leverage existing trading infrastructure of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Clearing and Settlement platforms of Strate, among others, in the interest of the Paris Agreement timelines. Therefore the carbon trading scheme will not be constructed from scratch. At the same time, carbon will be treated as a commodity in order to align with the existing institutional and infrastructural capacity. This explains why the Carbon Tax Act is silent about the involvement of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).For South Africa, there is need to establish they equilibrium stability of the CTS. This is important as South Africa is an innovator in carbon trading and the successful trading of carbon credits on the JSE will lead to imitation by early adopters first, followed by the middle majority thereafter.

Keywords: carbon trading scheme (CTS), Johannesburg stock exchange (JSE), carbon tax act 15 of 2019, South Africa

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Authors: Amar Ghelani

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People with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) who seek support from mental health services commonly report feeling unheard and invalidated in their interactions with social workers and psychiatric professionals. Current mental health training and clinical approaches have proven to be inadequate in addressing the complex nature of voice hearing. Childhood trauma is a key factor in the development of AVH and can render people more vulnerable to hearing both supportive and/or disturbing voices. Lived experiences of racism, poverty, and immigration are also associated with development of what is broadly classified as psychosis. Despite evidence affirming the influence of environmental factors on voice hearing, the Western biomedical system typically conceptualizes this experience as a symptom of genetically-based mental illnesses which requires diagnosis and treatment. Overemphasis on psychiatric medications, referrals, and directive approaches to people’s problems has shifted clinical interventions away from assessing and addressing problems directly related to AVH. The Maastricht approach offers voice hearers and mental health workers an alternative and respectful starting point for understanding and coping with voices. The approach was developed by voice hearers in partnership with mental health professionals and entails an innovative method to assess and create meaning from voice hearing and related life stressors. The objectives of the approach are to help people who hear voices: (1) understand the problems and/or people the voices may represent in their history, and (2) cope with distress and find solutions to related problems. The Maastricht approach has also been found to help voice hearers integrate emotional conflicts, reduce avoidance or fear associated with AVH, improve therapeutic relationships, and increase a sense of control over internal experiences. The proposed oral presentation will be guided by a recovery-oriented theoretical framework which suggests healing from psychological wounds occurs through social connections and community support systems. The presentation will start with a brainstorming exercise to identify participants pre-existing knowledge of the subject matter. This will lead into a literature review on the relations between trauma, intersectionality, and AVH. An overview of the Maastricht approach and review of research related to its therapeutic risks and benefits will follow. Participants will learn trauma-informed coping skills and questions which can help voice hearers make meaning from their experiences. The presentation will conclude with a review of resources and learning opportunities where participants can expand their knowledge of the Hearing Voices Movement and Maastricht approach.

Keywords: Maastricht interview, recovery, therapeutic assessment, voice hearing

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Authors: Yan Torres, Fernanda Simoes, Francisco Petrucci-Fonseca, Freddie-Jeanne Richard

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The non-invasive samples are an alternative of collecting genetic samples directly. Non-invasive samples are collected without the manipulation of the animal (e.g., scats, feathers and hairs). Nevertheless, the use of non-invasive samples has some limitations. The main issue is degraded DNA, leading to poorer extraction efficiency and genotyping. Those errors delayed for some years a widespread use of non-invasive genetic information. Possibilities to limit genotyping errors can be done using analysis methods that can assimilate the errors and singularities of non-invasive samples. Genotype matching and population estimation algorithms can be highlighted as important analysis tools that have been adapted to deal with those errors. Although, this recent development of analysis methods there is still a lack of empirical performance comparison of them. A comparison of methods with dataset different in size and structure can be useful for future studies since non-invasive samples are a powerful tool for getting information specially for endangered and rare populations. To compare the analysis methods, four different datasets used were obtained from the Dryad digital repository were used. Three different matching algorithms (Cervus, Colony and Error Tolerant Likelihood Matching - ETLM) are used for matching genotypes and two different ones for population estimation (Capwire and BayesN). The three matching algorithms showed different patterns of results. The ETLM produced less number of unique individuals and recaptures. A similarity in the matched genotypes between Colony and Cervus was observed. That is not a surprise since the similarity between those methods on the likelihood pairwise and clustering algorithms. The matching of ETLM showed almost no similarity with the genotypes that were matched with the other methods. The different cluster algorithm system and error model of ETLM seems to lead to a more criterious selection, although the processing time and interface friendly of ETLM were the worst between the compared methods. The population estimators performed differently regarding the datasets. There was a consensus between the different estimators only for the one dataset. The BayesN showed higher and lower estimations when compared with Capwire. The BayesN does not consider the total number of recaptures like Capwire only the recapture events. So, this makes the estimator sensitive to data heterogeneity. Heterogeneity in the sense means different capture rates between individuals. In those examples, the tolerance for homogeneity seems to be crucial for BayesN work properly. Both methods are user-friendly and have reasonable processing time. An amplified analysis with simulated genotype data can clarify the sensibility of the algorithms. The present comparison of the matching methods indicates that Colony seems to be more appropriated for general use considering a time/interface/robustness balance. The heterogeneity of the recaptures affected strongly the BayesN estimations, leading to over and underestimations population numbers. Capwire is then advisable to general use since it performs better in a wide range of situations.

Keywords: algorithms, genetics, matching, population

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Authors: Xuerui Niu, Bolin Wang, Xinchuang Zhang, Xiaohua Ma, Bin Hou, Ling Yang

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The application of discrete GaN-based power switches requires the collaboration of silicon-based peripheral circuit structures. However, the packages and interconnection between the Si and GaN devices can introduce parasitic effects to the circuit, which has great impacts on GaN power transistors. GaN-based monolithic power integration technology is an emerging solution which can improve the stability of circuits and allow the GaN-based devices to achieve more functions. Complementary logic circuits consisting of GaN-based E-mode p-channel heterostructure field-effect transistors (p-HFETs) and E-mode n-channel HEMTs can be served as the gate drivers. E-mode p-HFETs with recessed gate have attracted increasing interest because of the low leakage current and large gate swing. However, they suffer from a poor interface between the gate dielectric and polarized nitride layers. The reliability of p-HFETs is analyzed and discussed in this work. In circuit applications, the inverter is always operated with dynamic gate voltage (VGS) rather than a constant VGS. Therefore, dynamic electrical stress has been simulated to resemble the operation conditions for E-mode p-HFETs. The dynamic electrical stress condition is as follows. VGS is a square waveform switching from -5 V to 0 V, VDS is fixed, and the source grounded. The frequency of the square waveform is 100kHz with the rising/falling time of 100 ns and duty ratio of 50%. The effective stress time is 1000s. A number of stress tests are carried out. The stress was briefly interrupted to measure the linear IDS-VGS, saturation IDS-VGS, As VGS switches from -5 V to 0 V and VDS = 0 V, devices are under negative-bias-instability (NBI) condition. Holes are trapped at the interface of oxide layer and GaN channel layer, which results in the reduction of VTH. The negative shift of VTH is serious at the first 10s and then changes slightly with the following stress time. However, different phenomenon is observed when VDS reduces to -5V. VTH shifts negatively during stress condition, and the variation in VTH increases with time, which is different from that when VDS is 0V. Two mechanisms exists in this condition. On the one hand, the electric field in the gate region is influenced by the drain voltage, so that the trapping behavior of holes in the gate region changes. The impact of the gate voltage is weakened. On the other hand, large drain voltage can induce the hot holes generation and lead to serious hot carrier stress (HCS) degradation with time. The poor-quality interface between the oxide layer and GaN channel layer at the gate region makes a major contribution to the high-density interface traps, which will greatly influence the reliability of devices. These results emphasize that the improved etching and pretreatment processes needs to be developed so that high-performance GaN complementary logics with enhanced stability can be achieved.

Keywords: GaN-based E-mode p-HFETs, dynamic electric stress, threshold voltage, monolithic power integration technology

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Authors: Christian Andrä, Luisa Zimmermann, Christina Müller

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Introduction: The positive relation between physical activity and cognition is commonly known. Relevant studies show that in everyday school life active breaks can lead to improvement in certain abilities (e.g. attention and concentration). A beneficial effect is in particular attributed to moderate activity. It is still unclear whether active breaks are beneficial after relatively short phases of cognitive load and whether the postulated effects of activity really have an immediate impact. The objective of this study was to verify whether an active break after 18 minutes of cognitive load leads to enhanced attention/concentration performance, compared to inactive breaks with voluntary mobile phone activity. Methodology: For this quasi-experimental study, 36 students [age: 14.0 (mean value) ± 0.3 (standard deviation); male/female: 21/15] of a secondary school were tested. In week 1, every student’s maximum heart rate (Hfmax) was determined through maximum effort tests conducted during physical education classes. The task was to run 3 laps of 300 m with increasing subjective effort (lap 1: 60%, lap 2: 80%, lap 3: 100% of the maximum performance capacity). Furthermore, first attention/concentration tests (D2-R) took place (pretest). The groups were matched on the basis of the pretest results. During week 2 and 3, crossover testing was conducted, comprising of 18 minutes of cognitive preload (test for concentration performance, KLT-R), a break and an attention/concentration test after a 2-minutes transition. Different 10-minutes breaks (active break: moderate physical activity with 65% Hfmax or inactive break: mobile phone activity) took place between preloading and transition. Major findings: In general, there was no impact of the different break interventions on the concentration test results (symbols processed after physical activity: 185.2 ± 31.3 / after inactive break: 184.4 ± 31.6; errors after physical activity: 5.7 ± 6.3 / after inactive break: 7.0. ± 7.2). There was, however, a noticeable development of the values over the testing periods. Although no difference in the number of processed symbols was detected (active/inactive break: period 1: 49.3 ± 8.8/46.9 ± 9.0; period 2: 47.0 ± 7.7/47.3 ± 8.4; period 3: 45.1 ± 8.3/45.6 ± 8.0; period 4: 43.8 ± 7.8/44.6 ± 8.0), error rates decreased successively after physical activity and increased gradually after an inactive break (active/inactive break: period 1: 1.9 ± 2.4/1.2 ± 1.4; period 2: 1.7 ± 1.8/ 1.5 ± 2.0, period 3: 1.2 ± 1.6/1.8 ± 2.1; period 4: 0.9 ± 1.5/2.5 ± 2.6; p= .012). Conclusion: Taking into consideration only the study’s overall results, the hypothesis must be dismissed. However, more differentiated evaluation shows that the error rates decreased after active breaks and increased after inactive breaks. Obviously, the effects of active intervention occur with a delay. The 2-minutes transition (regeneration time) used for this study seems to be insufficient due to the longer adaptation time of the cardio-vascular system in untrained individuals, which might initially affect the concentration capacity. To use the positive effects of physical activity for teaching and learning processes, physiological characteristics must also be considered. Only this will ensure optimum ability to perform.

Keywords: active breaks, attention/concentration test, cognitive performance capacity, heart rate, physical activity

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Authors: Maria F. Seran

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In second language interaction, an EFL student always carries his knowledge of targeted language and sometimes gets influenced by his first language cultures which makes him transfer his utterances from the first language to the second language. The influence of L1 cultures somehow can lead to face-threatening act when it comes to responding on speech act, for instance, compliment. A speaker praises a compliment to show gratitude, and in return, he expects for compliment respond uttered by the hearer. While Western people use more acceptance continuum on compliment response, Indonesians utter more denial continuum which can somehow put the speakers into a face-threating situation and offense. This study investigated compliment response employed by EFL students and English native speakers. The study was distinct as none compliment response studies had been conducted to compare the compliment response between English native speakers and two different Indonesian EFL proficiency groups in which this research sought to meet this need. This study was significant for EFL teachers because it gave insight on cross-cultural understanding and brought pedagogical implication on explicit pragmatic instruction. Two research questions were set, 1. How do Indonesian EFL students and English native speakers respond compliments? 2. Is there any correlation between Indonesia EFL students’ proficiency and their compliment response use in English? The study involved three groups of participants; 5 English native speakers, 10 high-proficiency and 10 low-proficiency Indonesian EFL university students. The research instruments used in this study were as follows, an online TOEFL prediction test, focusing on grammar skill which was modified from Barron TOEFL exercise test, and a discourse completion task (DCT), consisting of 10 compliment respond items. Based on the research invitation, 20 second-year university students majoring in English education at Widya Mandira Catholic University, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia who willingly participated in the research took the TOEFL prediction test online from the link provided. Students who achieved score 75-100 in test were categorized as high-proficiency students, while, students who attained score below 74 were considered as low-proficiency students. Then, the DCT survey was administered to these EFL groups and the native speaker group. Participants’ responses were coded and analyzed using categories of compliment response framework proposed by Tran. The study found out that 5 native speakers applied more compliment upgrades and appreciation token in compliment response, whereas, Indonesian EFL students combined some compliment response strategies in their utterance, such as, appreciation token, return and compliment downgrade. There is no correlation between students’ proficiency level and their CR responds as most EFL students in both groups produced less varied compliment responses and only 4 Indonesian high-proficiency students uttered more varied and were similar to the native speakers. The combination strategies used by EFL students can be explained as the influence of pragmatic transfer from L1 to L2; therefore, EFL teachers should explicitly teach more compliment response strategies to raise students’ awareness on English culture and elaborate their speaking to be more competence as close to native speakers as possible.

Keywords: compliment response, English native speakers, Indonesian EFL students, speech acts

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Authors: Jeanne Leblond, Warren Viricel, Amira Mbarek

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Although several products have reached the market, gene therapeutics are still in their first stages and require optimization. It is possible to improve their lacking efficiency by the use of carefully engineered vectors, able to carry the genetic material through each of the biological barriers they need to cross. In particular, getting inside the cell is a major challenge, because these hydrophilic nucleic acids have to cross the lipid-rich plasmatic and/or endosomal membrane, before being degraded into lysosomes. It takes less than one hour for newly endocytosed liposomes to reach highly acidic lysosomes, meaning that the degradation of the carried gene occurs rapidly, thus limiting the transfection efficiency. We propose to use a new pH-sensitive lipid able to change its conformation upon protonation at endosomal pH values, leading to the disruption of the lipidic bilayer and thus to the fast release of the nucleic acids into the cytosol. It is expected that this new pH-sensitive mechanism promote endosomal escape of the gene, thereby its transfection efficiency. The main challenge of this work was to design a preparation presenting fast-responding lipidic bilayer destabilization properties at endosomal pH 5 while remaining stable at blood pH value and during storage. A series of pH-sensitive lipids able to perform a conformational switch upon acidification were designed and synthesized. Liposomes containing these switchable lipids, as well as co-lipids were prepared and characterized. The liposomes were stable at 4°C and pH 7.4 for several months. Incubation with siRNA led to the full entrapment of nucleic acids as soon as the positive/negative charge ratio was superior to 2. The best liposomal formulation demonstrated a silencing efficiency up to 10% on HeLa cells, very similar to a commercial agent, with a lowest toxicity than the commercial agent. Using flow cytometry and microscopy assays, we demonstrated that drop of pH was required for the transfection efficiency, since bafilomycin blocked the transfection efficiency. Additional evidence was brought by the synthesis of a negative control lipid, which was unable to switch its conformation, and consequently exhibited no transfection ability. Mechanistic studies revealed that the uptake was mediated through endocytosis, by clathrin and caveolae pathways, as reported for previous lipid nanoparticle systems. This potent system was used for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. The switchable lipids were able to knockdown PCSK9 expression on human hepatocytes (Huh-7). Its efficiency is currently evaluated on in vivo mice model of PCSK9 KO mice. In summary, we designed and optimized a new cationic pH-sensitive lipid for gene delivery. Its transfection efficiency is similar to the best available commercial agent, without the usually associated toxicity. The promising results lead to its use for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia on a mice model. Anticancer applications and pulmonary chronic disease are also currently investigated.

Keywords: liposomes, siRNA, pH-sensitive, molecular switch

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Authors: Despina Giannadaki, Jos Lelieveld, Andrea Pozzer, John Evans

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Outdoor air pollution by fine particles ranks among the top ten global health risk factors that can lead to premature mortality. Epidemiological cohort studies, mainly conducted in United States and Europe, have shown that the long-term exposure to PM2.5 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5μm) is associated with increased mortality from cardiovascular, respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Fine particulates can cause health impacts even at very low concentrations. Previously, no concentration level has been defined below which health damage can be fully prevented. The World Health Organization ambient air quality guidelines suggest an annual mean PM2.5 concentration limit of 10μg/m3. Populations in large parts of the world, especially in East and Southeast Asia, and in the Middle East, are exposed to high levels of fine particulate pollution that by far exceeds the World Health Organization guidelines. The aim of this work is to evaluate the implementation of recent air quality standards for PM2.5 in the EU, the US and other countries worldwide and estimate what measures will be needed to substantially reduce premature mortality. We investigated premature mortality attributed to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) under adults ≥ 30yrs and children < 5yrs, applying a high-resolution global atmospheric chemistry model combined with epidemiological concentration-response functions. The latter are based on the methodology of the Global Burden of Disease for 2010, assuming a ‘safe’ annual mean PM2.5 threshold of 7.3μg/m3. We estimate the global premature mortality by PM2.5 at 3.15 million/year in 2010. China is the leading country with about 1.33 million, followed by India with 575 thousand and Pakistan with 105 thousand. For the European Union (EU) we estimate 173 thousand and the United States (US) 52 thousand in 2010. Based on sensitivity calculations we tested the gains from PM2.5 control by applying the air quality guidelines (AQG) and standards of the World Health Organization (WHO), the EU, the US and other countries. To estimate potential reductions in mortality rates we take into consideration the deaths that cannot be avoided after the implementation of PM2.5 upper limits, due to the contribution of natural sources to total PM2.5 and therefore to mortality (mainly airborne desert dust). The annual mean EU limit of 25μg/m3 would reduce global premature mortality by 18%, while within the EU the effect is negligible, indicating that the standard is largely met and that stricter limits are needed. The new US standard of 12μg/m3 would reduce premature mortality by 46% worldwide, 4% in the US and 20% in the EU. Implementing the AQG by the WHO of 10μg/m3 would reduce global premature mortality by 54%, 76% in China and 59% in India. In the EU and US, the mortality would be reduced by 36% and 14%, respectively. Hence, following the WHO guideline will prevent 1.7 million premature deaths per year. Sensitivity calculations indicate that even small changes at the lower PM2.5 standards can have major impacts on global mortality rates.

Keywords: air quality guidelines, outdoor air pollution, particulate matter, premature mortality

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Authors: Mao Zhaofang, Xu Yida, Fang Kan, Fu Enyuan, Zhao Zhao

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Nowadays, last-mile distribution plays an increasingly important role in the whole industrial chain delivery link and accounts for a large proportion of the whole distribution process cost. Promoting the upgrading of logistics networks and improving the layout of final distribution points has become one of the trends in the development of modern logistics. Due to the discrete and heterogeneous needs and spatial distribution of customer demand, which will lead to a higher delivery failure rate and lower vehicle utilization, last-mile delivery has become a time-consuming and uncertain process. As a result, courier companies have introduced a range of innovative parcel storage facilities, including pick-up points and lockers. The introduction of pick-up points and lockers has not only improved the users’ experience but has also helped logistics and courier companies achieve large-scale economy. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 of the previous period, contactless delivery has become a new hotspot, which has also created new opportunities for the development of collection services. Therefore, a key issue for logistics companies is how to design/redesign their last-mile distribution network systems to create integrated logistics and distribution networks that consider pick-up points and lockers. This paper focuses on the introduction of self-pickup facilities in new logistics and distribution scenarios and the heterogeneous demands of customers. In this paper, we consider two types of demand, including ordinary products and refrigerated products, as well as corresponding transportation vehicles. We consider the constraints associated with self-pickup points and lockers and then address the location-routing problem with self-pickup facilities and heterogeneous demands (LRP-PFHD). To solve this challenging problem, we propose a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model that aims to minimize the total cost, which includes the facility opening cost, the variable transport cost, and the fixed transport cost. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, we propose a hybrid adaptive large-neighbourhood search algorithm to solve LRP-PFHD. We evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm by using instances generated based on benchmark instances. The results demonstrate that the hybrid adaptive large neighbourhood search algorithm is more efficient than MILP solvers such as Gurobi for LRP-PFHD, especially for large-scale instances. In addition, we made a comprehensive analysis of some important parameters (e.g., facility opening cost and transportation cost) to explore their impacts on the results and suggested helpful managerial insights for courier companies.

Keywords: city logistics, last-mile delivery, location-routing, adaptive large neighborhood search

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Authors: Melissa K. Hord, Stephen P. Whiteside

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With lifetime prevalence rates ranging from 6% to 15%, anxiety disorders are among the most common childhood mental health diagnoses. Anxiety disorders diagnosed in childhood generally show an unremitting course, lead to additional psychopathology and interfere with social, emotional, and academic development. Effective evidence-based treatments include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s). However, if anxious children receive any treatment, it is usually through primary care, typically consists of medication, and very rarely includes evidence-based psychotherapy. Despite the high prevalence of anxiety disorders, there have only been two independent research labs that have investigated long-term results for CBT treatment for all childhood anxiety disorders and two for specific anxiety disorders. Generally, the studies indicate that the majority of youth maintain gains up to 7.4 years after treatment. These studies have not been replicated. In addition, little is known about the additional mental health care received by these patients in the intervening years after anxiety treatment, which seems likely to influence maintenance of gains for anxiety symptoms as well as the development of additional psychopathology during the subsequent years. The original sample consisted of 335 children ages 7 to 17 years (mean 13.09, 53% female) diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in 2010. Medical record review included provider billing records for mental health appointments during the five years after anxiety treatment. The subsample for this study was classified into three groups: 64 children who received CBT in an anxiety disorders clinic, 56 who received treatment from a psychiatrist, and 10 who were seen in a primary care setting. Chi-square analyses resulted in significant differences in mental health care utilization across the five years after treatment. Youth receiving treatment in primary care averaged less than one appointment each year and the appointments continued at the same rate across time. Children treated by a psychiatrist averaged approximately 3 appointments in the first two years and 2 in the subsequent three years. Importantly, youth treated in the anxiety clinic demonstrated a gradual decrease in mental health appointments across time. The nuanced differences will be presented in greater detail. The results of the current study have important implications for developing dissemination materials to help guide parents when they are selecting treatment for their children. By including all mental health appointments, this study recognizes that anxiety is often comorbid with additional diagnoses and that receiving evidence-based treatment may have long-term benefits that are associated with improvements in broader mental health. One important caveat might be that the acuity of mental health influenced the level of care sought by patients included in this study; however, taking this possibility into account, it seems those seeking care in a primary care setting continued to require similar care at the end of the study, indicating little improvement in symptoms was experienced.

Keywords: anxiety, children, mental health, outcomes

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Authors: Paula I. Buonfiglio, Carlos David Bruque, Lucia Salatino, Vanesa Lotersztein, Sebastián Menazzi, Paola Plazas, Ana Belén Elgoyhen, Viviana Dalamón

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Hearing loss (HL) is the most prevalent sensorineural disorder affecting about 10% of the global population, with more than half due to genetic causes. About 1 in 500-1000 newborns present congenital HL. Most of the patients are non-syndromic with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. To date, more than 100 genes are related to HL. Therefore, the Whole-exome sequencing (WES) technique has become a cost-effective alternative approach for molecular diagnosis. Nevertheless, new challenges arise from the detection of novel variants, in particular missense changes, which can lead to a spectrum of genotype-to-phenotype correlations, which is not always straightforward. In this work, we aimed to identify the genetic causes of HL in isolated and familial cases by designing a multistep approach to analyze target genes related to hearing impairment. Moreover, we performed in silico and in vivo analyses in order to further study the effect of some of the novel variants identified in the hair cell function using the zebrafish model. A total of 650 patients were studied by Sanger Sequencing and Gap-PCR in GJB2 and GJB6 genes, respectively, diagnosing 15.5% of sporadic cases and 36% of familial ones. Overall, 50 different sequence variants were detected. Fifty of the undiagnosed patients with moderate HL were tested for deletions in STRC gene by Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification technique (MLPA), leading to 6% of diagnosis. After this initial screening, 50 families were selected to be analyzed by WES, achieving diagnosis in 44% of them. Half of the identified variants were novel. A missense variant in MYO6 gene detected in a family with postlingual HL was selected to be further analyzed. A protein modeling with AlphaFold2 software was performed, proving its pathogenic effect. In order to functionally validate this novel variant, a knockdown phenotype rescue assay in zebrafish was carried out. Injection of wild-type MYO6 mRNA in embryos rescued the phenotype, whereas using the mutant MYO6 mRNA (carrying c.2782C>A variant) had no effect. These results strongly suggest the deleterious effect of this variant on the mobility of stereocilia in zebrafish neuromasts, and hence on the auditory system. In the present work, we demonstrated that our algorithm is suitable for the sequential multigenic approach to HL in our cohort. These results highlight the importance of a combined strategy in order to identify candidate variants as well as the in silico and in vivo studies to analyze and prove their pathogenicity and accomplish a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the physiopathology of the hearing impairment.

Keywords: diagnosis, genetics, hearing loss, in silico analysis, in vivo analysis, WES, zebrafish

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Authors: Somnath Bhattacharya, Kamal Sharma, Vaibhav Sonkar

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Composite materials emerged in the middle of the 20th century as a promising class of engineering materials providing new prospects for modern technology. Recently, a new class of composite materials known as functionally graded materials (FGMs) has drawn considerable attention of the scientific community. In general, FGMs are defined as composite materials in which the composition or microstructure or both are locally varied so that a certain variation of the local material properties is achieved. This gradual change in composition and microstructure of material is suitable to get gradient of properties and performances. FGMs are synthesized in such a way that they possess continuous spatial variations in volume fractions of their constituents to yield a predetermined composition. These variations lead to the formation of a non-homogeneous macrostructure with continuously varying mechanical and / or thermal properties in one or more than one direction. Lightweight functionally graded composites with high strength to weight and stiffness to weight ratios have been used successfully in aircraft industry and other engineering applications like in electronics industry and in thermal barrier coatings. In the present work, elastic-plastic crack growth problems (using Ramberg-Osgood Model) in an FGM plate under cyclic load has been explored by extended finite element method. Both edge and centre crack problems have been solved by taking additionally holes, inclusions and minor cracks under plane stress conditions. Both soft and hard inclusions have been implemented in the problems. The validity of linear elastic fracture mechanics theory is limited to the brittle materials. A rectangular plate of functionally graded material of length 100 mm and height 200 mm with 100% copper-nickel alloy on left side and 100% ceramic (alumina) on right side is considered in the problem. Exponential gradation in property is imparted in x-direction. A uniform traction of 100 MPa is applied to the top edge of the rectangular domain along y direction. In some problems, domain contains major crack along with minor cracks or / and holes or / and inclusions. Major crack is located the centre of the left edge or the centre of the domain. The discontinuities, such as minor cracks, holes, and inclusions are added either singly or in combination with each other. On the basis of this study, it is found that effect of minor crack in the domain’s failure crack length is minimum whereas soft inclusions have moderate effect and the effect of holes have maximum effect. It is observed that the crack growth is more before the failure in each case when hard inclusions are present in place of soft inclusions.

Keywords: elastic-plastic, fatigue crack, functionally graded materials, extended finite element method (XFEM)

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Authors: Laila Albughayl

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The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore Saudi females’ leadership journeys as they navigate the labyrinth of leadership in higher education. To gain a better understanding of how these leaders overcame challenges and accessed support as they progressed through the labyrinth to top positions in Saudi higher education. The significance of this research derived from the premise that leaders need to acquire essential leadership competencies such as knowledge, skills, and practices to effectively lead through economic transformation, growing globalism, and rapidly developing technology in an increasingly diverse world. In addition, understanding Saudi women’s challenges in the labyrinth will encourage policymakers to improve the situation under which these women work. The metaphor ‘labyrinth’ for Eagly and Carli (2007) encapsulates the winding paths, dead ends, and maze-like pathways that are full of challenges and supports that women traverse to access and maintain leadership positions was used. In this study, ‘labyrinth’ was used as the conceptual framework to explore women leaders’ challenges and opportunities in leadership in Saudi higher education. A proposed model for efficient navigation of the labyrinth of leadership was used. This model focused on knowledge, skills, and behaviours (KSB) as the analytical framework for examining responses to the research questions. This research was conducted using an interpretivist qualitative approach. A case study was the methodology used. Semi-structured interviews were the main data collection method. Purposive sampling was used to select ten Saudi leaders in three public universities. In coding, the 6-step framework of thematic analysis for Braun and Clarke was used to identify, analyze, and report themes within the data. NVivo software was also used as a tool to assist with managing and organizing the data. The resultant findings showed that the challenges identified by participants in navigating the labyrinth of leadership in Saudi higher education replicated some of those identified in the literature. The onset findings also revealed that the organizational barriers in Saudi higher education came as the top hindrance to women’s advancement in the labyrinth of leadership, followed by societal barriers. The findings also showed that women’s paths in the labyrinth of leadership in higher education were still convoluted and tedious compared to their male counterparts. In addition, the findings revealed that Saudi women leaders use significant strategies to access leadership posts and effectively navigate the labyrinth; this was not indicated in the literature. In addition, the resultant findings revealed that there are keys that assisted Saudi female leaders in effectively navigating the labyrinth of leadership. For example, the findings indicated that spirituality (religion) was a powerful key that enabled Saudi women leaders to pursue and persist in their leadership paths. Based on participants' experiences, a compass for effective navigation of the labyrinth of leadership in higher education was created for current and aspirant Saudi women leaders to follow. Finally, the findings had several significant implications for practice, policy, theory, and future research.

Keywords: women, leadership, labyrinth, higher education

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Authors: Merve Uzuner Sahin, Kumru D. Atalay, Berna Dengiz

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In today’s competitive market, there are many alternative products that can be used in similar manner and purpose. Therefore, the utility of the product is an important issue for the preferability of the brand. This utility could be measured in terms of its functionality, durability, reliability. These all are affected by the system capabilities. Reliability is an important system design criteria for the manufacturers to be able to have high availability. Availability is the probability that a system (or a component) is operating properly to its function at a specific point in time or a specific period of times. System availability provides valuable input to estimate the production rate for the company to realize the production plan. When considering only the corrective maintenance downtime of the system, mean time between failure (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR) are used to obtain system availability. Also, the MTBF and MTTR values are important measures to improve system performance by adopting suitable maintenance strategies for reliability engineers and practitioners working in a system. Failure and repair time probability distributions of each component in the system should be known for the conventional availability analysis. However, generally, companies do not have statistics or quality control departments to store such a large amount of data. Real events or situations are defined deterministically instead of using stochastic data for the complete description of real systems. A fuzzy set is an alternative theory which is used to analyze the uncertainty and vagueness in real systems. The aim of this study is to present a novel approach to compute system availability using representation of MTBF and MTTR in fuzzy numbers. Based on the experience in the system, it is decided to choose 3 different spread of MTBF and MTTR such as 15%, 20% and 25% to obtain lower and upper limits of the fuzzy numbers. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed method is the first application that is used fuzzy MTBF and fuzzy MTTR for fuzzy system availability estimation. This method is easy to apply in any repairable production system by practitioners working in industry. It is provided that the reliability engineers/managers/practitioners could analyze the system performance in a more consistent and logical manner based on fuzzy availability. This paper presents a real case study of a repairable multi-stage production line in lead-acid battery production factory in Turkey. The following is focusing on the considered wet-charging battery process which has a higher production level than the other types of battery. In this system, system components could exist only in two states, working or failed, and it is assumed that when a component in the system fails, it becomes as good as new after repair. Instead of classical methods, using fuzzy set theory and obtaining intervals for these measures would be very useful for system managers, practitioners to analyze system qualifications to find better results for their working conditions. Thus, much more detailed information about system characteristics is obtained.

Keywords: availability analysis, battery production system, fuzzy sets, triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs)

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Authors: Mai Sirhan, Arieh Sidess

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Asphaltic mixture is a heterogeneous material composed of three main components: aggregates; bitumen and air voids. The professional experience and scientific literature categorize asphaltic mixture as a viscoelastic material, whose behavior is determined by temperature and loading rate. Properties characterization of the asphaltic mixture used under the service conditions is done by compacting and testing cylindric asphalt samples in the laboratory. These samples must resemble in a high degree internal structure of the mixture achieved in service, and the mechanical characteristics of the compacted asphalt layer in the pavement. The laboratory samples are usually compacted in temperatures between 140 and 160 degrees Celsius. In this temperature range, the asphalt has a low degree of strength. The laboratory samples are compacted using the dynamic or vibrational compaction methods. In the compaction process, the aggregates tend to align themselves in certain directions that lead to anisotropic behavior of the asphaltic mixture. This issue has been studied in the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) research, that recommended using the gyratory compactor based on the assumption that this method is the best in mimicking the compaction in the service. In Israel, the Netivei Israel company is considering adopting the Gyratory Method as a replacement for the Marshall method used today. Therefore, the compatibility of the Gyratory Method for the use with Israeli asphaltic mixtures should be investigated. In this research, we aimed to examine the impact of the compaction method used on the mechanical characteristics of the asphaltic mixtures and to evaluate the degree of anisotropy in relation to the compaction method. In order to carry out this research, samples have been compacted in the vibratory and gyratory compactors. These samples were cylindrically cored both vertically (compaction wise) and horizontally (perpendicular to compaction direction). These models were tested under dynamic modulus and permanent deformation tests. The comparable results of the tests proved that: (1) specimens compacted by the vibratory compactor had higher dynamic modulus values than the specimens compacted by the gyratory compactor (2) both vibratory and gyratory compacted specimens had anisotropic behavior, especially in high temperatures. Also, the degree of anisotropy is higher in specimens compacted by the gyratory method. (3) Specimens compacted by the vibratory method that were cored vertically had the highest resistance to rutting. On the other hand, specimens compacted by the vibratory method that were cored horizontally had the lowest resistance to rutting. Additionally (4) these differences between the different types of specimens rise mainly due to the different internal arrangement of aggregates resulting from the compaction method. (5) Based on the initial prediction of the performance of the flexible pavement containing an asphalt layer having characteristics based on the results achieved in this research. It can be concluded that there is a significant impact of the compaction method and the degree of anisotropy on the strains that develop in the pavement, and the resistance of the pavement to fatigue and rutting defects.

Keywords: anisotropy, asphalt compaction, dynamic modulus, gyratory compactor, mechanical properties, permanent deformation, vibratory compactor

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Authors: Halima Sadia Qureshi, Urooj Sadiq, Noshi Eram Zaman

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The goal of this study was to see how cognitive behavior hypnotherapy affected nonsuicidal self-injury. DSM 5 invites the researchers to explore the newly added condition under the chapter of conditions under further study named Nonsuicidal self-injury disorder. To date, no empirical sound intervention has been proven effective for NSSI as given in DSM 5. Nonsuicidal self-injury is defined by DSM 5 as harming one's self physically, without suicidal intention. Around 7.6% of teenagers are expected to fulfill the NSSI disorder criteria. 3 Adolescents, particularly university students, account for around 87 percent of self-harm studies. Furthermore, one of the risks associated with NSSI is an increased chance of suicide attempts, and in most cases, the cycle repeats again. 6 The emotional and psychological components of the illness might lead to suicide, either intentionally or unintentionally. 7 According to a research done at a Pakistani military hospital, over 80% of participants had no intention of committing suicide. Furthermore, it has been determined that improvements in NSSI prevention and intervention are necessary as a stand-alone strategy. The quasi-experimental study took place in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from May 2019 to April 2020 and included students aged 18 to 25 years old from several institutions and colleges in the twin cities. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition, the individuals were assessed for >2 episodes without suicidal intent using the intentional self-harm questionnaire. The Clinician Administered Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Disorder Index (CANDI) was used to assess the individual for NSSI condition. Symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90) was used to screen the participants for differential diagnosis. Mclean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder (MSI-BPD) was used to rule out the BPD cases. The selected participants, n=106 from the screening sample of 600, were selected. They were further screened to meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the total of n=71 were split into two groups: intervention and control. The intervention group received cognitive behavior hypnotherapy for the next three months, whereas the control group received no treatment. After the period of three months, both the groups went through the post assessment, and after the three months’ period, follow-up assessment was conducted. The groups were evaluated, and SPSS 25 was used to analyse the data. The results showed that each of the two groups had 30 (50 percent) of the 60 participants. There were 41 males (68 percent) and 19 girls (32 percent) in all. The bulk of the participants were between the ages of 21 and 23. (48 percent). Self-harm events were reported by 48 (80 percent) of the pupils, and suicide ideation was found in 6 (ten percent). In terms of pre- and post-intervention values (d=4.90), post-intervention and follow-up assessment values (d=0.32), and pre-intervention and follow-up values (d=5.42), the study's effect size was good. The comparison of treatment and no-treatment groups revealed that treatment was more successful than no-treatment, F (1, 58) = 53.16, p.001. The results reveal that the treatment manual of CBH is effective for Nonsuicidal self-injury disorder.

Keywords: NSSI, nonsuicidal self injury disorder, self-harm, self-injury, Cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy, CBH

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