Search results for: negative effects

Authors: Hafsa Chergui

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Malnutrition is a very common problem for hospitalized patients in general but it happens most to those who have a chronic disease such as cancer. Learned food aversions are defined as aversions which form toward foods after their ingestion has been temporally paired with illness (nausea or emesis). Learned food aversion may exert a negative impact on nutritional status and quality of life. The present review evaluates the literature derived both from laboratory animals and humans. Also, a questionnaire has been filled by patients under chemotherapy to assess the level of food aversions. This study evaluated the current research for avoiding the formation of aversions to dietary items in 200 cancer patients treated with chemotherapy. A scapegoat food or beverage can be used just before treatment to reduce the incidence of treatment-related aversions to foods in the individual s usual diet. The goal of this work is to inform the nurses and dieticians because they play a vital role in the daily assessment of the patients' nutritional status. Being aware of all the causes of malnutrition may help to suggest solutions to improve the health condition of the patient and avoid severe malnutrition.

Keywords: chemotherapy, oncology, food aversion, taste aversion

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Authors: Laleh Golamrej Eliasi

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Finland is the second most violent country for women in the European Union (EU). 47% of women in Finland claimed to have experienced domestic violence against women (DVAW), compared to an average of 33% in the EU. Although the statistics in Finland are transparent, to the author’s best knowledge, there are no statisticsonDV by nationality in Finland. On the other hand, being a Muslim woman in a non-Muslim-majority country represents a position of double vulnerability to violence. There are 10404 Afghan refugees in Finland who are Muslim. Barriers such as unfamiliarity with support services, fear of the police, racism, language, economic and practical dependence, social isolation, and family commitments all lead to a lack of reporting of DVAW among migrants. Although witnessing and experiencing DV have devastating effects on women’s and children’s health and well-being, there is a lack of studies about DVAW among Afghan families in Finland. To fill this knowledge gap, Afghan women living in Finland are selected as the target group to assess their views on DVAW and child protection. This study is implemented in the socio-ecological approach framework to assess the impacts of individual characteristics, interpersonal relationships, community, and society components on DVAW in Afghan families. Interviews with Afghan women and content analysis are used to find out participants' views on DVAW, its risk factors, and approaches and methods to improve protection for women and children. Main purpose is to obtain information about participants' views on the subject. The findings can be used to improve culturally safe social work knowledge and practices with a bottom-up approach to reduce DV and increase child protection. Therefore, this research can have important effects on the sustainable development of services and supports the welfare and inclusion of immigrant families. The expected results will contribute to sustainable gender equality, which is in line with the fifth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Keywords: domestic violence, immigrant women, immigrant child protection, social work

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Authors: Ikram Mohamed Eltayeb, Ustina Saeed Barsoumbolice

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Cinnamomum zeylanicum belong to the family Lauraceae and Artemisia absinthium belong to the family Asteraceae. Both were traditionally used as antiemetic, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic. In Sudan, the mixtures of the two plants were traditionally used for the treatment of diabetes. Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia. It is mainly classified into two major groups, type-1 and type-2. Type-2 is a combination of resistance to insulin action and an inadequate compensatory insulin secretory response. The treatment of type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM) with synthetic drugs have many side effects so many researches were conducted to overcome or reduce this side effects by using alternative medicine. The objective of this study is to investigate and compare the anti-diabetic activity of C. zeylanicum and A. absinthium and their combination with difference ratio. C. zeylanicum and A. absinthium were extracted by 96% ethanol using Soxhlet apparatus. Thirty-two rats were divided into eight groups; each group contains four rats. 1st group was administered with distilled water at dose of 10ml/kg, 2nd group had received glucose only at dose of 2g/kg intraperitoneal, the standard group (3rd group) had received Glibenclamide orally at dose of 0.45mg/kg, 4th group received 100 mg C. zeylanicum + 300 mg A. absinthium with a ratio of (25:75), 5th group received 300 mg C. zeylanicum + 100 mg A. absinthium with a ratio of (75:25), 6th group received 200 mg C. zeylanicum + 200 mg A. absinthiumwith a ratio of (50:50), 7th group received 400 mg of A. absinthium, 8th group received 400 mg of C. zeylanicum. Then the blood samples were taken Retro-orbitally at 0, 1, 2 and 4 hours and the glucose level was measured. Each plant alone and their combination with different ratios shows antidiabetic effect. The significant activity was shown by A. absinthium extract (400 mg/kg), combination of ratio of (75:25) A. absinthium: C. zeylanicum(400mg/kg) and then C. zeylanicum(400mg/kg) with p-value 0.001, 0.022, 0.030 respectively, the activity was found to be increased with time. The other combinations showed less activity with p-value > 0.05. The result concludes that the good antidiabetic activity was performed by A. absinthium alone and its activity decreased by increase combination ratio with C. zeylanicum. Which maybe explains by the antagonistic effect between the compounds of C. zeylanicum and A. absinthium.

Keywords: antidiabetic, Artemisia absinthium , cinnamomum zeylanicum, combination

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Authors: Farheen Akram

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Research and Development (R&D) is the most crucial element of the firm’s survival in a competitive business environment. R&D is a long-term investment; therefore, executives having the power to make the investment decisions may be pessimistic when their compensation is closely linked with short-term firm performance. Thus, the current study investigates the impact of board composition and executives’ compensation (cash or short-term benefits and LTIs) on R&D spending using a sample of 85 S&P/100 firms listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in 2017. SmartPLS (v.3.2.7) was used to evaluate the proposed model of current research. The empirical findings of this study indicate that board composition has a significant and positive effect on R&D spending. While, as expected, executive cash compensation has negative and Long-Term-Incentives (LTIs) has a positive impact on R&D spending. Based on current findings, the study suggested that myopic behavior of CEOs and top management towards long-term value creation investment like R&D can be controlled by using long-term compensation rewards.

Keywords: cash compensation, LTIs, board composition, R&D spending

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Authors: K. K. Balavenkatraman, B. Bertschi, K. Bigot, A. Grevot, A. Doelemeyer, S. D. Chibout, A. Wolf, F. Pognan, N. Manevski, O. Kretz, P. Swart, K. Litherland, J. Ashton-Chess, B. Ling, R. Wettstein, D. J. Schaefer

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Skin toxicity is poorly detected during preclinical studies, and drug-induced side effects in humans such as rashes, hyperplasia or more serious events like bullous pemphigus or toxic epidermal necrolysis represent an important hurdle for clinical development. In vitro keratinocyte-based epidermal skin models are suitable for the detection of chemical-induced irritancy, but do not recapitulate the biological complexity of full skin and fail to detect potential serious side-effects. Normal healthy skin explants may represent a valuable complementary tool, having the advantage of retaining the full skin architecture and the resident immune cell diversity. This study investigated several conditions for the maintenance of good morphological structure after several days of culture and the retention of phase II metabolism for 24 hours in skin explants in vitro. Human skin samples were collected with informed consent from patients undergoing plastic surgery and immediately transferred and processed in our laboratory by removing the underlying dermal fat. Punch biopsies of 4 mm diameter were cultured in an air-liquid interface using transwell filters. Different cultural conditions such as the effect of calcium, temperature and cultivation media were tested for a period of 14 days and explants were histologically examined after Hematoxylin and Eosin staining. Our results demonstrated that the use of Williams E Medium at 32°C maintained the physiological integrity of the skin for approximately one week. Upon prolonged incubation, the upper layers of the epidermis become thickened and some dead cells are present. Interestingly, these effects were prevented by addition of EGFR inhibitors such as Afatinib or Erlotinib. Phase II metabolism of the skin such as glucuronidation (4-methyl umbeliferone), sulfation (minoxidil), N-acetyltransferase (p-toluidene), catechol methylation (2,3-dehydroxy naphthalene), and glutathione conjugation (chlorodinitro benzene) were analyzed by using LCMS. Our results demonstrated that the human skin explants possess metabolic activity for a period of at least 24 hours for all the substrates tested. A time course for glucuronidation with 4-methyl umbeliferone was performed and a linear correlation was obtained over a period of 24 hours. Longer-term culture studies will indicate the possible evolution of such metabolic activities. In summary, these results demonstrate that human skin explants maintain a normal structure for several days in vitro and are metabolically active for at least the first 24 hours. Hence, with further characterisation, this model may be suitable for the study of drug-induced toxicity.

Keywords: human skin explant, phase II metabolism, epidermal growth factor receptor, toxicity

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Authors: Radhwane Boudjelthia

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The most recent earthquakes that occurred in the world and particularly in Algeria, have killed thousands of people and severe damage. The example that is etched in our memory is the last earthquake in the regions of Boumerdes and Algiers (Boumerdes earthquake of May 21, 2003). For all the actors involved in the building process, the earthquake is the litmus test for construction. The goal we set ourselves is to contribute to the implementation of a thoughtful approach to the seismic protection of structures. For many engineers, the most conventional approach protection works (buildings and bridges) the effects of earthquakes is to increase rigidity. This approach is not always effective, especially when there is a context that favors the phenomenon of resonance and amplification of seismic forces. Therefore, the field of earthquake engineering has made significant inroads among others catalyzed by the development of computational techniques in computer form and the use of powerful test facilities. This has led to the emergence of several innovative technologies, such as the introduction of special devices insulation between infrastructure and superstructure. This approach, commonly known as "seismic isolation" to absorb the significant efforts without the structure is damaged and thus ensuring the protection of lives and property. In addition, the restraints to the construction by the ground shaking are located mainly at the supports. With these moves, the natural period of construction is increasing, and seismic loads are reduced. Thus, there is an attenuation of the seismic movement. Likewise, the insulation of the base mechanism may be used in combination with earthquake dampers in order to control the deformation of the insulation system and the absolute displacement of the superstructure located above the isolation interface. On the other hand, only can use these earthquake dampers to reduce the oscillation amplitudes and thus reduce seismic loads. The use of damping devices represents an effective solution for the rehabilitation of existing structures. Given all these acceleration reducing means considered passive, much research has been conducted for several years to develop an active control system of the response of buildings to earthquakes.

Keywords: earthquake, building, seismic forces, displacement, resonance, response

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Authors: Mohamed Boly

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This paper investigates the link between foreign aid and environmental protection, specifically CO2 emissions, in aid recipient countries. Conflicting results exist in the literature regarding the environmental impact of foreign aid. We come to reconcile them, using Project-Level Aid Data with environment codes, over the 1980- 2010 period. The disaggregation of aid according to the environmental codes, show why the results of previous literature remain very mixed. Moreover, we find that the effect of environmental aid is conditioned by some specific characteristics of the recipient country, independently of the donor.

Keywords: foreign aid, green aid, interactive effects, pollution

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Authors: Bita Mashayekhi, Marjan Fayyazi, Parisa Sefati

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Audit quality is a popular topic in accounting and auditing research because recent decades’ financial crises reduce the reliability of financial reports to public investors and cause significant doubt about the audit profession. Therefore, doing research to identify effective factors in improving audit quality is necessary for bringing back public investors’ trust to financial statements as well as audit reports. In this study, we explore the relationship between audit rotation and audit quality. For this purpose, we employ the Duff (2009) model of audit quality to measure audit quality and use a questionnaire survey of 27 audit service quality attributes. Our results show that there is a negative relationship between auditor’s rotation and audit quality as we consider the auditor’s reputation, capability, assurance, experience, and responsiveness as surrogates for audit quality. There is no evidence for verifying a same relationship when we use the auditor’s independence and expertise for measuring audit quality.

Keywords: audit quality, auditor’s rotation, reputation, capability, assurance, experience, responsiveness, independence, expertise

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Authors: Nam Sze Cheng, P. C. Janita Chau

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Background: Eczema is a chronic inflammatory disease with high global prevalence rates in many childhood populations. It is also the most common paediatric skin problem. Although eczema education and proper skin care were effective in controlling eczema symptoms, the lack of both sufficient time for patient consultation and structured eczema education programme hindered the transferability of knowledge to patients and their parents. As a result, these young patients and their families suffer from a significant physical disability and psychological distress, which can substantially impair their quality of life. Objectives: This integrative review is to examine the effects of educational interventions for children with eczema and identify the core elements associated with an effective intervention. Methods: This integrative review targeted all articles published in 10 databases between May 2016 and February 2017 that reported the outcomes of disease interventions of any format for children and adolescents with the clinical diagnosis of eczema who were under 18 years of age. Five randomized controlled trials (RCT) and one systematic review of 10 RCTs were identified for review. All these publications had high methodological quality, except one study of web-based eczema education that was limited by selection bias and poor subject blinding. Findings: This review found that most studies adopted nurse-led or multi-disciplinary parental eczema education programme at the outpatient clinic setting. The format of these programmes included individual lectures, demonstration and group sharing, and the educational materials covered basic eczema knowledge and management as well as methods to interrupt itch-scratch cycle. The main outcome measures of these studies included severity of eczema symptoms, treatment adherence and quality of life of both patients and their families. Nine included studies reported statistically significant improvement in the primary outcome of symptom severity of these eczematous children. On the other hand, all these reviews failed to identify an effective dosage of intervention under these educational programmes that was attributed to the heterogeneity of the interventions. One study that was designed based on the social cognitive theory to guide the interventional content yielded statistically significant results. The systematic review recommended the importance of measuring parental self-efficacy. Implication: This integrative review concludes that structured educational programme can help nurses understand the theories behind different health interventions. They can then deliver eczema education to their patients in a consistent manner. These interventions also result in behavioral changes through patient education. Due to the lack of validated educational programmes in Chinese, it is imperative to conduct an RCT of eczema educational programme to investigate its effects on eczema severity, quality of life and treatment adherence in Hong Kong children as well as to promote the importance of parental self-efficacy.

Keywords: children, eczema, education, intervention

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Authors: Sovit Pujari

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In the developing countries like Nepal, the community-based forest management approach has often been glorified as one of the best forest management alternatives to maximize the forest benefits. Though the approach has succeeded to construct a local level institution and conserve the forest biodiversity, how the local communities perceived about the forest benefits, the question always remains silent among the researchers and policy makers. The paper aims to explore the understanding of forest benefits from the perspective of local communities who used the forests in terms of institutional stability, equity and livelihood opportunity, and ecological stability. The paper revealed that the local communities have mixed understanding over the forest benefits. The institutional and ecological activities carried out by the local communities indicated that they have a better understanding over the forest benefits. However, inequality while sharing the forest benefits, low pricing strategy and its negative consequences in the valuation of forest products and limited livelihood opportunities indicating the poor understanding.

Keywords: community based forest management, low pricing strategy, forest benefits, livelihood opportunities, Nepal

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Authors: Virgilio Angelo Gelera Gener

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This study investigates the role of short-term accommodations on the place brand and real estate development of urban areas. It aims to know the perceptions of the general public, real estate developers, as well as city and barangay-level local government units (LGUs) on how these lodgings affect the place brand and land value of a community. It likewise attempts to identify the personal and institutional variables having a great influence on said perceptions in order to provide a better understanding of these establishments and their relevance within urban localities. Using certain sources, Malate, Manila was identified to be the ideal study area of the thesis. This prompted the employment of mixed methods research as the study’s fundamental data gathering and analytical tool. Here, a survey with 350 locals was done, asking them questions that would answer the aforementioned queries. Thereafter, a Pearson Chi-square Test and Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR) were utilized to determine the variables affecting their perceptions. There were also Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with the three (3) most populated Malate barangays, as well as Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with selected city officials and fifteen (15) real estate company representatives. With that, survey results showed that although a 1992 Department of Tourism (DOT) Circular regards short-term accommodations as lodgings mainly for travelers, most people actually use it for their private/intimate moments. Because of this, the survey further revealed that short-term accommodations exhibit a negative place brand among the respondents though they also believe that it’s still one of society’s most important economic players. Statistics from the Pearson Chi-square Test, on the other hand, indicate that there are fourteen (14) out of seventeen (17) variables exhibiting great influence on respondents’ perceptions. Whereas MLR findings show that being born in Malate and being part of a family household was the most significant regardless of socio-economic level and monthly household income. For the city officials, it was revealed that said lodgings are actually the second-highest earners in the City’s lodging industry. It was further stated that their zoning ordinance treats short-term accommodations just like any other lodging enterprise. So it’s perfectly legal for these establishments to situate themselves near residential areas and/or institutional structures. A sit down with barangays, on the other hand, recognized the economic benefits of short-term accommodations but likewise admitted that it contributes a negative place brand to the community. Lastly, real estate developers are amenable to having their projects built near short-term accommodations, for they do not have any bad views against it. They explained that their projects sites have always been motivated by suitability, liability, and marketability factors only. Overall, these findings merit a recalibration of the zoning ordinance and DOT Circular, as well as the imposition of regulations on their sexually suggestive roadside advertisements. Then, once relevant measures are refined for proper implementation, it can also pave the way for spatial interventions (like visual buffer corridors) to better address the needs of the locals, private groups, and government.

Keywords: estate planning, place brand, real estate development, short-term accommodations

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Authors: Vito Telesca, Giuseppina A. Giorgio

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The earth system is subject to a wide range of human activities that have changed the ecosystem more rapidly and extensively in the last five decades. These global changes have a large impact on human health. The relationship between extreme weather events and mortality are widely documented in different studies. In particular, a number of studies have investigated the relationship between climatological variations and the cardiovascular and respiratory system. The researchers have become interested in the evaluation of the effect of environmental variations on the occurrence of different diseases (such as infarction, ischemic heart disease, asthma, respiratory problems, etc.) and mortality. Among changes in weather conditions, the heat waves have been used for investigating the association between weather conditions and cardiovascular events and cerebrovascular, using thermal indices, which combine air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. The effects of heat waves on human health are mainly found in the urban areas and they are aggravated by the presence of atmospheric pollution. The consequences of these changes for human health are of growing concern. In particular, meteorological conditions are one of the environmental aspects because cardiovascular diseases are more common among the elderly population, and such people are more sensitive to weather changes. In addition, heat waves, or extreme heat events, are predicted to increase in frequency, intensity, and duration with climate change. In this context, are very important public health and climate change connections increasingly being recognized by the medical research, because these might help in informing the public at large. Policy experts claim that a growing awareness of the relationships of public health and climate change could be a key in breaking through political logjams impeding action on mitigation and adaptation. The aims of this study are to investigate about the importance of interactions between weather variables and your effects on human health, focusing on Italy. Also highlighting the need to define strategies and practical actions of monitoring, adaptation and mitigation of the phenomenon.

Keywords: climate change, illness, Italy, temperature, weather

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Authors: Blessing Igbadumhe

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The continuous long- and short-term delivery of value to customers continues to be the overarching objective of software organizations. Software engineering professionals and organizations face challenges in the maintenance and evolution of software as a result of architectural, technical debt. The issues of architectural, technical debt continue to receive a significant amount of attention because of its important impact on successful system implementation. The cost of doing nothing as far as architectural, technical debt is concerned can be significant both in financial terms and impacts on customers. Different architectural, technical debt issues exist, and this qualitative research design reviewed existing literature on the subject to identify and categorize them. This research intends to contribute to the existing bludgeoning body of knowledge on categorizations and descriptive model of technical debt related issues related to system architecture. The results identify the most common characteristics of architectural and technical debt categories. Raising awareness of the intricacies of architectural and technical debt helps technology stakeholders reduce negative consequences and increase the system success rate.

Keywords: architecture, categorizing TD, system design, technical debt

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Authors: Mohamed Hussein

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This paper studies the effect of boundary retaining walls properties on the behavior of the raft foundation. Commercial software program Sap2000 was used in this study. The soil was presented as continuous media (follows the Winkler assumption). Shell elements were employed to model the raft plate. A parametric study has been carried out to examine the effect of boundary retaining walls properties on the behavior of raft plate. These parameters namely, height of the boundary retaining walls, thickness of the boundary retaining walls, flexural rigidity of raft plate, bearing capacity of supporting soil and the earth pressure of boundary soil. The main results which were obtained from this study are positive, negative bending moment, shear stress and deflection in raft plate, where these parameters are considered the main parameters used in design of raft foundation. It was concluded that the boundary retaining walls have a significant effect on the straining actions in raft plate.

Keywords: Sap2000, boundary retaining walls, raft foundations, Winkler model, flexural rigidity

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Authors: S. K. Thind, Neha Gupta

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Glycine betaine (N, N’, N’’– trimethyl glycine), (GB) as aqueous solution (100 mM) containing 0.1% TWEEN-20 (Ploythylene glycol sorbitan monolaurate) was sprayed on selected nineteen wheat genotypes at maximum tillering and anthesis stages. Water-deficit conditions resulted in lipid peroxidation. GB applications reduced lipid peroxidation in all wheat genotypes at both the stages. Catalase (CAT) activity was recorded more in control than under stressed conditions in selected wheat genotypes at both the stages; GB had no effect. The ascorbic acid content in leaves of selected genotypes increased under water deficit. A genotypic variability in Ascorbate peroxidase (APx) activity was recorded and GB treatment decreased it. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was increased significantly under water-deficit at both stages in all genotypes. In present study, prolonged water-deficit conditions caused CAT deficiency/suppression which was compensated by APX and SOD; and GB exogenous application mitigated negative effect of water-deficit stress on lipid peroxidation.

Keywords: glycine-betaine, lipid peroxidation, ROS, water deficit stress

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Authors: Nagwa E. Abd Elazim, Maha S. El-naggar, Rania H. Mohamed, Sara M. Awad

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Background: Radiodermatitis is a common side effect of radiation therapy for breast cancer. However, there is no current consensus about effective standard therapy for the prevention and management of radiation dermatitis. Topical ectoine has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of atopic dermatitis owing to its anti-inflammatory activity. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of topical ectoine in comparison to traditional topical dexpanthenol treatment in the management of acute radiodermatitis in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy. Methods: Fifty patients were randomized to use either dexpanthenol 0.5% cream (25 patients), or ectoin 7% cream (25 patients), applied twice daily to the irradiated area during the radiation period and continued for 2 weeks after cessation of radiotherapy. Assessment of radiation skin toxicity using Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events (CTCAE) v4.0, radiation-associated symptoms, and adverse events were undertaken weekly during radiotherapy and 2 weeks after the end of radiotherapy. Results: Topical ectoine showed some clinical benefit over dexpanthenol, as shown by delayed time to onset (at week 3 versus week 2, respectively) and larger number of patients who reached grade 0 at the end of treatment (64% vs. 48%, respectively). The clinical symptoms of pain (p = 0.003) and itching (p = 0.001) attributable to radiation were less pronounced with ectoine than with dexpanthenol. Burning and hyperpigmentation were the most common side effects with ectoine. However, no significant difference between dexpanthenol and ectoine treatments was found in any of the side effects (p = 0.1). Conclusion: Ectoin was overall more effective in improving radiation dermatitis than topical dexpanthenol in breast cancer patients. Ectoin could be proposed as a preventive or curative treatment for patients undergoing postoperative irradiation for breast cancer. Further clinical studies with a larger number of patients are recommended for the confirmation of these preliminary results.

Keywords: breast cancer, dexapanthenol, ectoin, radiation dermatitis

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Authors: Theophilus Adedokun, Sylvia Zulu, Felix Awung, Sam Usadolo

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The proliferation of technology into teaching process has brought about transformation into the field of education. Language teaching is not left behind from this tremendous transformation which has drastically altered the teaching of language. It is, however, appalling that some language instructors seem to possess negative attitudes toward the use of technology in language teaching, which in this study is referred to as Computer Assisted Language Teaching (CALT). The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore sustainable lesson that can be learnt from the attitudes of language instructors towards language teaching in some public universities. The knowledge gained from this study could inform and advance the use of Computer Assisted Language Teaching. This study considers the historical progression of CALT and recommends that a fundamental approach is required for institutions to develop and advance the use of CALT for teaching. A review of sustainable lessons learnt from the attitudes of language instructors towards CALT are provided, and the CALT experience of 3 institutions are described. Drawing from this succinct description, this study makes recommendations on how operative CALT could be executed on a personal and institutional basis.

Keywords: attitudes, language instructors, sustainable lessons, computer assisted language teaching

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Authors: Mohammed Kachtali, Imad Fenjiro, Jamal Alkarkouri

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Wind erosion is a serious environmental problem in arid and semi-arid regions. Indeed, wind erosion easily removes the finest particles of the soil surface, which also contribute to losing soil fertility. The siltation of infrastructures and cultivated areas and the negative impact on health are additional consequences of wind erosion. In Morocco, wind erosion constitutes the main factor of silting up in coast and Sahara. The aim of our study is to use an equation of wind erosion in order to estimate the soil loses by wind erosion in the coast of Gharb (North of Morocco). The used equation in our model includes the geographic data, climatic data of 30 years and edaphic data collected from area study which contained 11 crossing of 4 stations. Our results have shown that the values of wind erosion are higher and very different between some crossings (p < 0.001). This difference is explained by topography, soil texture, and climate. In conclusion, wind erosion is higher in Gharb coast and varies from station to another; this problem required several methods of control and mitigation.

Keywords: Gharb coast, modeling, silting, wind erosion

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Authors: Mitra Assadi, Md. Faan

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Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in a common neurodevelopmental disorder with limited pharmacological interventions. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) has produced promising results in ASD, although there is no consensus regarding optimal targets or stimulation paradigms. A prevailing theory in ASD attributes the core deficits to dysfunction of the mirror neurons located in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Methods: Thus far, 11 subjects with ASD, 10 boys and 1 girl with the mean age of 13.36 years have completed the study by receiving 10 session of high frequency rTMS to the IPL. The subjects were randomized to receive stimulation on the left or right IPL and sham stimulation to the opposite side. The outcome measures included the Social Responsiveness Scale – Second Edition (SRS-2) and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) Verbal Fluency task. Results: None of the 11 subjects experienced any adverse effects. The rTMS did not produce any improvement in verbal fluency, nor there was any statistically significant difference between the right versus left sided stimulation. Analysis of social awareness on SRS-2 (SRS-AWR) indicated a close to significant effect of the treatment with a small to medium effect size. After removing a single subject with Level 3 ASD, we demonstrated a close to significant improvement on SRS-AWR with a large effect size. The analysis of the data 3-month post TMS demonstrated return of the SRS-AWR values to baseline. Conclusion: This preliminary analysis of the 11 subjects who have completed our study thus far shows a favorable response to high frequency rTMS stimulation of the mirror neurons/IPL on social awareness. While the decay of the response noted during the 3-month follow-up may be considered a limitation of rTMS, the presence of the improvement, especially the effect size despite the small sample size, is indicative of the efficacy of this technique.

Keywords: rTMS, autism, scoial cognition, mirror neurons

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Authors: Jeongil Kim

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The present study examined the effects of arts-mediated mother-child dyads mindfulness-based intervention for Korean children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their mothers, on behaviors in children and subjective psychological states in mothers. Four elementary school boys with ADHD and their mothers participated in the study. Using a multiple baseline design across four mother-child dyads, data were collected on the target behaviors (disruptive behavior, on-task behavior, and compliance in class) in children using a 10-second partial interval recording system and on the subjective psychological states in mothers using four questionnaires (on perceived stress, burnout, mindfulness, and satisfaction with life). The intervention consisted of a) mindfulness training, b) mindfulness practice, and c) mindful management of body and feeling. The arts activities, making a coiled clay pot and Korean traditional music performance, were utilized to facilitate the environment to help each participant to understand the content and progress of the intervention program. The results showed that all four dyads showed improvement in adaptive behaviors in the children (increase in on-task behavior; decrease in disruptive behavior) and positive change in subjective psychological states in the mothers (increase in scores of mindfulness and satisfaction with life; decrease in scores of perceived stress and burnout). The changes in the children’s behaviors and in the mothers’ subjective psychological states were maintained when the intervention was drawn and generalized in novel settings. The results suggest that arts-mediated mother-child dyads mindfulness-based intervention would be a mutual benefiting strategy to support both children with ADHD and their mothers who experience diverse challenges in behavioral and psychological aspects.

Keywords: mindfulness, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), arts-mediated, behavior, psychological well-being, child-mother

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Authors: Siamak Yaghoubi, Vahideh Rashtchi, Marzieh Khezri, Hamid Kayalha, Monadi Hamidfar

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Background and objectives: Effective postoperative pain management in abdominal surgeries, which are painful procedures, plays an important role in reducing postoperative complications and increasing patient’s satisfaction. There are many techniques for pain control, one of which is Patient-Controlled Analgesia (PCA). The aim of this study was to compare the analgesic effects of morphine, paracetamol and ketorolac in the patients undergoing open cholecystectomy, using PCA method. Material and Methods: This randomized controlled trial was performed on 330 ASA (American Society of Anesthesiology) I-II patients ( three equal groups, n=110) who were scheduled for elective open cholecystectomy in Shahid Rjaee hospital of Qazvin, Iran from August 2013 until September 2015. All patients were managed by general anesthesia with TIVA (Total Intra Venous Anesthesia) technique. The control group received morphine with maximum dose of 0.02mg/kg/h, the paracetamol group received paracetamol with maximum dose of 1mg/kg/h, and the ketorolac group received ketorolac with maximum daily dose of 60mg using IV-PCA method. The parameters of pain, nausea, hemodynamic variables (BP and HR), pruritus, arterial oxygen desaturation, patient’s satisfaction and pain score were measured every two hours for 8 hours following operation in all groups. Results: There were no significant differences in demographic data between the three groups. there was a statistically significant difference with regard to the mean pain score at all times between morphine and paracetamol, morphine and ketorolac, and paracetamol and ketorolac groups (P<0.001). Results indicated a reduction with time in the mean level of postoperative pain in all three groups. At all times the mean level of pain in ketorolac group was less than that in the other two groups (p<0.001). Conclusion: According to the results of this study ketorolac is more effective than morphine and paracetamol in postoperative pain control in the patients undergoing open cholecystectomy, using PCA method.

Keywords: analgesia, cholecystectomy, ketorolac, morphine, paracetamol

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Authors: Priya Arora, Ashutosh Mishra

Abstract:

Gene identification, towards the pursuit of mutated genes, leading to Parkinson’s disease, puts forward a challenge towards proactive cure of the disorder itself. Computational analysis is an effective technique for exploring genes in the form of protein sequences, as the theoretical and manual analysis is infeasible. The limitations and effectiveness of a particular computational method are entirely dependent on the previous data that is available for disease identification. The article presents a sequence-based classification method for the identification of genes responsible for Parkinson’s disease. During the initiation phase, the physicochemical properties of amino acids transform protein sequences into a feature vector. The second phase of the method employs Jaccard distances to select negative genes from the candidate population. The third phase involves artificial neural networks for making final predictions. The proposed approach is compared with the state of art methods on the basis of F-measure. The results confirm and estimate the efficiency of the method.

Keywords: disease gene identification, Parkinson’s disease, physicochemical properties of amino acid, protein sequences

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Authors: Xuan Hua Huang, Shu Fen Wu, Yi Ting Huang, Pi Yueh Lee

Abstract:

Background: In Taiwan, the Taiwan healthcare care Indicator Series regards the rate of hospital readmission as an important indicator of healthcare quality. Unplanned readmission not only effects patient’s condition but also increase healthcare utilization rate and healthcare costs. Purpose: The purpose of this study was explored the effects of adult unplanned readmission within 14 days of discharge at a regional teaching hospital in South Taiwan. Methods: The retrospectively review design was used. A total 495 participants of unplanned readmissions and 878 of non-readmissions within 14 days recruited from a regional teaching hospital in Southern Taiwan. The instruments used included the Charlson Comorbidity Index, and demographic characteristics, and disease-related variables. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS version 22.0. The descriptive statistics were used (means, standard deviations, and percentage) and the inferential statistics were used T-test, Chi-square test and Logistic regression. Results: The unplanned readmissions within 14 days rate was 36%. The majorities were 268 males (54.1%), aged >65 were 318 (64.2%), and mean age was 68.8±14.65 years (23-98years). The mean score for the comorbidities was 3.77±2.73. The top three diagnosed of the readmission were digestive diseases (32.7%), respiratory diseases (15.2%), and genitourinary diseases (10.5%). There were significant relationships among the gender, age, marriage, comorbidity status, and discharge planning services (χ2: 3.816-16.474, p: 0.051~0.000). Logistic regression analysis showed that old age (OR = 1.012, 95% CI: 1.003, 1.021), had the multi-morbidity (OR = 0.712~4.040, 95% CI: 0.559~8.522), had been consult with discharge planning services (OR = 1.696, 95% CI: 1.105, 2.061) have a higher risk of readmission. Conclusions: This study finds that multi-morbidity was independent risk factor for unplanned readmissions at 14 days, recommended that the interventional treatment of the medical team be provided to provide integrated care for multi-morbidity to improve the patient's self-care ability and reduce the 14-day unplanned readmission rate.

Keywords: unplanned readmission, comorbidities, Charlson comorbidity index, logistic regression

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Authors: Isadora Bugarin, Taygoara F. de Oliveira

Abstract:

Binary fluids and emulsions, in general, are present in a vast range of industrial, medical, and scientific applications, showing complex behaviors responsible for defining the flow dynamics and the system operation. However, the literature describing those highlighted fluids in non-isothermal models is currently still limited. The present work brings a detailed investigation on droplet migration due to natural convection in square enclosure, aiming to clarify the effects of drop viscosity on the flow dynamics by showing how distinct viscosity ratios (droplet/ambient fluid) influence the drop motion and the final movement pattern kept on stationary regimes. The analysis was taken by observing distinct combinations of Rayleigh number, drop initial position, and viscosity ratios. The Navier-Stokes and Energy equations were solved considering the Boussinesq approximation in a laminar flow using the finite differences method combined with the Level Set method for binary flow solution. Previous results collected by the authors showed that the Rayleigh number and the drop initial position affect drastically the motion pattern of the droplet. For Ra ≥ 10⁴, two very marked behaviors were observed accordingly with the initial position: the drop can travel either a helical path towards the center or a cyclic circular path resulting in a closed cycle on the stationary regime. The variation of viscosity ratio showed a significant alteration of pattern, exposing a large influence on the droplet path, capable of modifying the flow’s behavior. Analyses on viscosity effects on the flow’s unsteady Nusselt number were also performed. Among the relevant contributions proposed in this work is the potential use of the flow initial conditions as a mechanism to control the droplet migration inside the enclosure.

Keywords: binary fluids, droplet motion, level set method, natural convection, viscosity

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Authors: Haragobinda Srichandan, Ashish Pathak, Dong Jin Kim, Seoung-Won Lee

Abstract:

The present investigation deals with bioleaching of spent refinery catalyst (as received) using At. thiooxidans. The effect of substrate concentration and pulp density was studied. XPS analysis concluded that the metals in spent catalyst were present as both sulfide and oxides. The dissolution behavior of metals during bioleaching was different. During bioleaching, higher dissolution of Ni and lower dissolution of Mo, V and Al was observed. An increase in pulp density from 1% to 10% led to a decrease in leaching yields of all the metals. This was due to the substantial increase in medium pH at higher pulp densities. The maximum negative impact of pulp density was observed on the leaching yield of V. An increase in sulfur concentration from 0.5% to 2.5% didn’t bring positive impact on metal leaching yield. 0.5% sulfur was found to be the optimum above which no significant increase in leaching yields of metals was observed.

Keywords: At. thiooxidans, pulp density, spent catalyst, bioleaching

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Authors: Daniel Walker, Adam Qureshi, David Marchant, Alex Bahrami Balani

Abstract:

The present study aimed to assess the impact of concussion and physical pain on depression and health-related quality of life. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies' Depression Scale, and scores of health-related quality of life were measured by health-related quality of life short form-12. Data analysis of 67 participants (concussed 32 vs. 35 non-concussed) revealed that (i) 52% were displaying depressive symptoms (concussed 30% vs. non-concussed 22%) (ii) concussion had a significant effect on depressive symptoms when controlling for pain but no effect on the quality of life scores when controlling the same variable (iii) pain had a significant effect on depressive symptoms and quality of life. With this, both concussion and physical pain seem to have a negative impact on mental health; however, individuals may only recognise a reduction in quality of life with increased physical pain, hence a deterioration in mental well-being could be disregarded as a factor of health-related quality of life.

Keywords: depression, quality of life, concussion, physical pain

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Authors: Yllka Hysaj, Ylberina Hysaj Arifi

Abstract:

Recently, with BREXIT taking place, organizations and employees have been affected in the way of job and employment security. Career-oriented human resources management (HRM) practices are likely to facilitate self-initiated expatriates’ adjustment to the host country. This was related to the career security (job security and employment security), which were missing in their home country and seemed to be important elements to adjust to the host country. The aim of this study is to assess whether the perception of career security by Frances self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) have changed in the wake of the referendum result. Quantitative research method will be used, and the data will be collected through electronic questionnaires. Data will be analyzed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The study variables will include an adjustment to the host country, HRM practices, employability, and job security. Predicted results consist that career-oriented HRM practices are positively related to the adjustment to the host country, employability, and job security. However, with Brexit, there might be a negative relationship between career-oriented HRM practices and job security.

Keywords: migration, self-initiated expatriates, Brexit, job security

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Authors: A. E. Delgado, W. Aperador

Abstract:

This study evaluated the incidence of concentrated natural fibre, as well as the effects of adding a crosslinking agent on the torque when those components are mixed with low density polyethylene (LDPE). The natural fibre has a particle size of between 0.8-1.2mm and a moisture content of 0.17%. An internal mixer was used to measure the torque required to mix the polymer with the fibre. The effect of the fibre content and crosslinking agent on the torque was also determined. A change was observed in the morphology of the mixes using SEM differential scanning microscopy.

Keywords: WPC, DCP, LDPE, natural fibre, torque

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Authors: Haoxue Cui, Sirui Zhang, Shanshan Gao, Weiyi Zhang, Lantian Wang, Xuanwen Zheng

Abstract:

The 2020 "multi-school zoning" policy makes students ineligible for direct attendance in their district. To study whether the housing price trend of the school district is affected by the policy, This paper studies housing prices based on the school district division in Xicheng District, Beijing. In this paper, we collected housing prices and the basic situation of communities from "Anjuke", which were divided into two periods of 15 months before and after the 731 policy in the Xicheng District, Beijing. Then we used DID model and time fixed effect to investigate the DIFFERENTIAL statistics, that is, the overall net impact of the policy. The results show that the coefficient is negative at a certain statistical level. It indicates that the housing prices of school districts in the Xicheng district decreased after the "multi-school zoning" policy, which shows that the policy has effectively reduced the housing price of school districts in the Xicheng District and laid a foundation for the "double reduction" policy in 2022.

Keywords: “multi-school zoning”policy, DID, time fixed effect, housing prices

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Authors: Awa Diouf

Abstract:

Since 2004, inputs specific to the agricultural sector have been exempt from VAT in Senegal. This paper measures, using the Naatal Mbay survey, the impact of this reform on agricultural productivity. The survey covers a sample of 3,122 rice, millet and maize farms for the 2016 crop year. The regressions show that tax incentives are ineffective in improving partial productivity of the land factor: the higher the share of the value of exemptions in the higher the production costs, the less productive the operation. The negative effect of the exemptions on productivity is accentuated for the most intensive agricultural area: the Senegal River Delta, and the most intensive crop: irrigated rice. This relationship could stem from a decrease in allocative efficiency: farmers have overinvested in the most accessible inputs. The loose budget constraint syndrome, therefore, explains this result: farmers who benefit more from exemptions reduce their managerial effort. The results suggest a removal of the VAT exemptions applied to finished products and agricultural inputs for a better efficiency of this tax, which typically taxes final consumption and should be neutral for the producer.

Keywords: agricultural productivity, agricultural taxation, Senegal, tax incentives

Procedia PDF Downloads 117