Search results for: transmission loss.

Authors: Mine Tanaç Zeren

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The traditional architectural style or the vernacular architecture can be considered modern and permanent in terms of reflecting the community’s lifestyle, reasonable interpretation of the material and the structure, and the building and the environment relationship’s integrity. When vernacular architecture is examined, it is seen that sustainable building design approaches are achieved at the very beginning by adapting to climate conditions. The aim of the sustainable design approach is to maintain to adapt to the characteristics of the topography of the land and to the climatic conditions, minimizing the energy use by the building material and structural elements. Traditional Turkish House, as one of the representatives of the traditional and vernacular architecture in Anatolia, has a sustainable building design approach as well, which can be read both from the space organization, the section, the volume, and the building components and building details. The only effective factor that human beings cannot change and have to adapt their constructions and settlements to is climate. The vernacular settlements of vernacular architecture in Anatolia, “Traditional Turkish Houses,” are generally formed as concentric settlements in desert conditions and climates or separate and dependently formations according to the wind and the sun in moist areas. They obtain the sustainable building design criteria. This paper aims to put forward the sustainable building design approaches of vernacular architecture in Anatolia. There are four main different climatic conditions depending on the regional differentiations in Anatolia. Taking these different climatic and topographic conditions into account, it has been seen that the vernacular housing features shape and differentiate from each other due to the changing conditions. What is differentiating is the space organization, design of the shelter of the building, material, and structural system used. In this paper, the sustainable building design approaches of Anatolian vernacular architecture will be examined within these four different vernacular settlements located in Aegean Region, Marmara Region, Black Sea Region, and Eastern Region. These differentiated features and how these features differentiate in order to maintain the sustainability criteria will be the main discussion part of the paper. The methodology of this paper will briefly define these differentiations and the sustainable design criteria. The sustainable design approaches and these differentiated items will be read through the design criteria of the shelter of the building and the material selection criteria according to climatic conditions. The methods of preventing energy loss will be examined. At the end of this research, it is going to be seen that the houses located in different parts of Anatolia, depending on climate and topographic conditions to be able to adapt to the environment and maintain sustainability, differ from each other in terms of space organization, structural system, and material use, design of the shelter of the building

Keywords: sustainability of vernacular architecture, sustainable design criteria of traditional Turkish houses, Turkish houses, vernacular architecture

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Authors: K. Yuki, R. Tsuji, K. Takai, S. Aramaki, R. Kibushi, N. Unno, K. Suzuki

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A small cold plate with uni-directional porous copper is proposed for cooling power electronics such as an on-vehicle inverter with the heat generation of approximately 500 W/cm2. The uni-directional porous copper with the pore perpendicularly orienting the heat transfer surface is soldered to a grooved heat transfer surface. This structure enables the cooling liquid to evaporate in the pore of the porous copper and then the vapor to discharge through the grooves. In order to minimize the cold plate, a double flow channel concept is introduced for the design of the cold plate. The cold plate consists of a base plate, a spacer, and a vapor discharging plate, totally 12 mm in thickness. The base plate has multiple nozzles of 1.0 mm in diameter for the liquid supply and 4 slits of 2.0 mm in width for vapor discharging, and is attached onto the top surface of the porous copper plate of 20 mm in diameter and 5.0 mm in thickness. The pore size is 0.36 mm and the porosity is 36 %. The cooling liquid flows into the porous copper as an impinging jet flow from the multiple nozzles, and then the vapor, which is generated in the pore, is discharged through the grooves and the vapor slits outside the cold plate. A heated test section consists of the cold plate, which was explained above, and a heat transfer copper block with 6 cartridge heaters. The cross section of the heat transfer block is reduced in order to increase the heat flux. The top surface of the block is the grooved heat transfer surface of 10 mm in diameter at which the porous copper is soldered. The grooves are fabricated like latticework, and the width and depth are 1.0 mm and 0.5 mm, respectively. By embedding three thermocouples in the cylindrical part of the heat transfer block, the temperature of the heat transfer surface ant the heat flux are extrapolated in a steady state. In this experiment, the flow rate is 0.5 L/min and the flow velocity at each nozzle is 0.27 m/s. The liquid inlet temperature is 60 °C. The experimental results prove that, in a single-phase heat transfer regime, the heat transfer performance of the cold plate with the uni-directional porous copper is 2.1 times higher than that without the porous copper, though the pressure loss with the porous copper also becomes higher than that without the porous copper. As to the two-phase heat transfer regime, the critical heat flux increases by approximately 35% by introducing the uni-directional porous copper, compared with the CHF of the multiple impinging jet flow. In addition, we confirmed that these heat transfer data was much higher than that of the ordinary single impinging jet flow. These heat transfer data prove high potential of the cold plate with the uni-directional porous copper from the view point of not only the heat transfer performance but also energy saving.

Keywords: cooling, cold plate, uni-porous media, heat transfer

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Istvan Szilagyi, Marko Pavlovic, Paul Rouster

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Antioxidant enzymes are the most efficient defense systems against reactive oxygen species, which cause severe damage in living organisms and industrial products. However, their supplementation is problematic due to their high sensitivity to the environmental conditions. Immobilization on carrier nanoparticles is a promising research direction towards the improvement of their functional and colloidal stability. In that way, their applications in biomedical treatments and manufacturing processes in the food, textile and cosmetic industry can be extended. The main goal of the present research was to prepare and formulate antioxidant bionanocomposites composed of superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme, anionic clay (layered double hydroxide, LDH) nanoparticle and heparin (HEP) polyelectrolyte. To characterize the structure and the colloidal stability of the obtained compounds in suspension and solid state, electrophoresis, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, spectrophotometry, thermogravimetry, X-ray diffraction, infrared and fluorescence spectroscopy were used as experimental techniques. LDH-SOD composite was synthesized by enzyme immobilization on the clay particles via electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, which resulted in a strong adsorption of the SOD on the LDH surface, i.e., no enzyme leakage was observed once the material was suspended in aqueous solutions. However, the LDH-SOD showed only limited resistance against salt-induced aggregation and large irregularly shaped clusters formed during short term interval even at lower ionic strengths. Since sufficiently high colloidal stability is a key requirement in most of the applications mentioned above, the nanocomposite was coated with HEP polyelectrolyte to develop highly stable suspensions of primary LDH-SOD-HEP particles. HEP is a natural anticoagulant with one of the highest negative line charge density among the known macromolecules. The experimental results indicated that it strongly adsorbed on the oppositely charged LDH-SOD surface leading to charge inversion and to the formation of negatively charged LDH-SOD-HEP. The obtained hybrid materials formed stable suspension even under extreme conditions, where classical colloid chemistry theories predict rapid aggregation of the particles and unstable suspensions. Such a stabilization effect originated from electrostatic repulsion between the particles of the same sign of charge as well as from steric repulsion due to the osmotic pressure raised during the overlap of the polyelectrolyte chains adsorbed on the surface. In addition, the SOD enzyme kept its structural and functional integrity during the immobilization and coating processes and hence, the LDH-SOD-HEP bionanocomposite possessed excellent activity in decomposition of superoxide radical anions, as revealed in biochemical test reactions. In conclusion, due to the improved colloidal stability and the good efficiency in scavenging superoxide radical ions, the developed enzymatic system is a promising antioxidant candidate for biomedical or other manufacturing processes, wherever the aim is to decompose reactive oxygen species in suspensions.

Keywords: clay, enzyme, polyelectrolyte, formulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: Magdalena Rost-Roszkowska, Izabela Poprawa, Alina Chachulska-Zymelka, Lukasz Chajec, Grazyna Wilczek, Piotr Wilczek, Malgorzata Lesniewska

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Lithobius forficatus, commonly known as the brown centipede, is a widespread European species, which lives in the upper layers of soil, under stones, litter, rocks, and leaves. As the soil organism, it is exposed to numerous stressors such as xenobiotics, including heavy metals, temperature, starvation, pathogens, etc. Heavy metals are treated as the environmental pollutants of the soil because of their toxic effects on plants, animals and human being. One of the heavy metals which is xenobiotic and can be taken up by plants or animals from the soil is cadmium. The digestive system of centipedes is composed of three distinct regions: fore-, mid- and hindgut. The salivary glands of centipedes are the organs which belong to the anterior region of the digestive system and take part in the synthesis, accumulation, and secretion of many substances. The middle region having contact with the food masses is treated as one of the barriers which protect the organism against any stressors which originate from the external environment, e.g., toxic metals. As the material for our studies, we chose two organs of the digestive system in brown centipede, the organs which take part in homeostasis maintenance: the salivary glands and the midgut. The main purpose of the project was to investigate the relationship between the percentage of depolarized mitochondria, mitophagy and ATP level in cells of mentioned above organs. The animals were divided into experimental groups: K – the control group, the animals cultured in a laboratory conditions in a horticultural soil and fed with Acheta domesticus larvae; Cd1 – the animals cultured in a horticultural soil supplemented with 80 mg/kg (dry weight) of CdCl2, fed with A. domesticus larvae maintained in tap water, 12 days – short-term exposure; Cd2 – the animals cultured in a horticultural soil supplemented with 80 mg/kg (dry weight) of CdCl2, fed with A. domesticus larvae maintained in tap water, 45 days – long-term exposure. The studies were conducted using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Quantitative analysis revealed that regardless of the organ, a progressive increase in the percentage of cells with depolarized mitochondria was registered, but only in the salivary glands. These were statistically significant changes from the control. In both organs, there were no differences in the level of the analyzed parameter depending on the duration of exposure of individuals to cadmium. Changes in the ultrastructure of mitochondria have been observed. With the extension of the body's exposure time to metal, an increase in the ADP/ATP index was recorded. However, changes statistically significant to the control were demonstrated in the intestine and salivary glands. The size of this intestinal index and salivary glands in the Cd2 group was about thirty and twenty times higher, respectively than in control. Acknowledgment: The study has been financed by the National Science Centre, Poland, grant no 2017/25/B/NZ4/00420.

Keywords: cadmium, digestive system, ultrastructure, centipede

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Authors: H. M. Alfrihidi, H.A. Albarakaty

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Flattening filter-free (FFF) photon beam radiotherapy has increased in the last decade, which is enabled by advancements in treatment planning systems and radiation delivery techniques like multi-leave collimators. FFF beams have higher dose rates, which reduces treatment time. On the other hand, FFF beams have a higher surface dose, which is due to the loss of beam hardening effect caused by the presence of the flatting filter (FF). The possibility of improving FFF beam quality using filters from low-z materials such as steel and aluminium (Al) was investigated using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. The attenuation coefficient of low-z materials for low-energy photons is higher than that of high-energy photons, which leads to the hardening of the FFF beam and, consequently, a reduction in the surface dose. BEAMnrc user code, based on Electron Gamma Shower (EGSnrc) MC code, is used to simulate the beam of a 6 MV True-Beam linac. A phase-space (phosphor) file provided by Varian Medical Systems was used as a radiation source in the simulation. This phosphor file was scored just above the jaws at 27.88 cm from the target. The linac from the jaw downward was constructed, and radiation passing was simulated and scored at 100 cm from the target. To study the effect of low-z filters, steel and Al filters with a thickness of 1 cm were added below the jaws, and the phosphor file was scored at 100 cm from the target. For comparison, the FF beam was simulated using a similar setup. (BEAM Data Processor (BEAMdp) is used to analyse the energy spectrum in the phosphorus files. Then, the dose distribution resulting from these beams was simulated in a homogeneous water phantom using DOSXYZnrc. The dose profile was evaluated according to the surface dose, the lateral dose distribution, and the percentage depth dose (PDD). The energy spectra of the beams show that the FFF beam is softer than the FF beam. The energy peaks for the FFF and FF beams are 0.525 MeV and 1.52 MeV, respectively. The FFF beam's energy peak becomes 1.1 MeV using a steel filter, while the Al filter does not affect the peak position. Steel and Al's filters reduced the surface dose by 5% and 1.7%, respectively. The dose at a depth of 10 cm (D10) rises by around 2% and 0.5% due to using a steel and Al filter, respectively. On the other hand, steel and Al filters reduce the dose rate of the FFF beam by 34% and 14%, respectively. However, their effect on the dose rate is less than that of the tungsten FF, which reduces the dose rate by about 60%. In conclusion, filters from low-z material decrease the surface dose and increase the D10 dose, allowing for a high-dose delivery to deep tumors with a low skin dose. Although using these filters affects the dose rate, this effect is much lower than the effect of the FF.

Keywords: flattening filter free, monte carlo, radiotherapy, surface dose

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Authors: Aleksander Ejsmont, Aleksandra Galarda, Joanna Goscianska

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Smart porous carriers with defined structure and physicochemical properties are required for releasing the therapeutic drug with precise control of delivery time and location in the body. Due to their non-toxicity, ordered structure, chemical, and thermal stability, mesoporous carbons can be considered as modern carriers for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) whose effectiveness needs frequent dosing algorithms. Such an API-carrier system, if programmed precisely, may stabilize the pharmaceutical and increase its dissolution leading to enhanced bioavailability. The substance conjugated with the material, through its prior adsorption, can later be successfully applied internally to the organism, as well as externally if the API release is feasible under these conditions. In the present study, ordered mesoporous carbons of different morphologies and structures, prepared by hard template method, were applied as carriers in the adsorption and controlled release of active pharmaceutical ingredients. In the first stage, the carbon materials were synthesized and functionalized with carboxylic groups by chemical oxidation using ammonium persulfate solution and then with amine groups. Materials obtained were thoroughly characterized with respect to morphology (scanning electron microscopy), structure (X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy), characteristic functional groups (FT-IR spectroscopy), acid-base nature of surface groups (Boehm titration), parameters of the porous structure (low-temperature nitrogen adsorption) and thermal stability (TG analysis). This was followed by a series of tests of adsorption and release of paracetamol, benzocaine, and losartan potassium. Drug release experiments were performed in the simulated gastric fluid of pH 1.2 and phosphate buffer of pH 7.2 or 6.8 at 37.0 °C. The XRD patterns in the small-angle range and TEM images revealed that functionalization of mesoporous carbons with carboxylic or amine groups leads to the decreased ordering of their structure. Moreover, the modification caused a considerable reduction of the carbon-specific surface area and pore volume, but it simultaneously resulted in changing their acid-base properties. Mesoporous carbon materials exhibit different morphologies, which affect the host-guest interactions during the adsorption process of active pharmaceutical ingredients. All mesoporous carbons show high adsorption capacity towards drugs. The sorption capacity of materials is mainly affected by BET surface area and the structure/size matching between adsorbent and adsorbate. Selected APIs are linked to the surface of carbon materials mainly by hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, and electrostatic interactions. The release behavior of API is highly dependent on the physicochemical properties of mesoporous carbons. The release rate of APIs could be regulated by the introduction of functional groups and by changing the pH of the receptor medium. Acknowledgments—This research was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (project SONATA-12 no: 2016/23/D/NZ7/01347).

Keywords: ordered mesoporous carbons, sorption capacity, drug delivery, carbon nanocarriers

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Nalluri Lakshmi Ramu, C. Venkat Nihit, Narayana Kumar, Dillep

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Masonry bridges are the iconic heritage transportation infrastructure throughout the world. Continuous increase in traffic loads and speed have kept engineers in dilemma about their structural performance and capacity. Henceforth, research community has an urgent need to propose an effective methodology and validate on real-time bridges. The presented research aims to assess the structural health of an Eighty-year-old masonry railway bridge in India using wireless accelerometer sensors. The bridge consists of 44 spans with length of 24.2 m each and individual pier is 13 m tall laid on well foundation. To calculate the dynamic characteristic properties of the bridge, ambient vibrations were recorded from the moving traffic at various speeds and the same are compared with the developed three-dimensional numerical model using finite element-based software. The conclusions about the weaker or deteriorated piers are drawn from the comparison of frequencies obtained from the experimental tests conducted on alternative spans. Masonry is a heterogeneous anisotropic material made up of incoherent materials (such as bricks, stones, and blocks). It is most likely the earliest largely used construction material. Masonry bridges, which were typically constructed of brick and stone, are still a key feature of the world's highway and railway networks. There are 1,47,523 railway bridges across India and about 15% of these bridges are built by masonry, which are around 80 to 100 year old. The cultural significance of masonry bridges cannot be overstated. These bridges are considered to be complicated due to the presence of arches, spandrel walls, piers, foundations, and soils. Due to traffic loads and vibrations, wind, rain, frost attack, high/low temperature cycles, moisture, earthquakes, river overflows, floods, scour, and soil under their foundations may cause material deterioration, opening of joints and ring separation in arch barrels, cracks in piers, loss of brick-stones and mortar joints, distortion of the arch profile. Few NDT tests like Flat jack Tests are being employed to access the homogeneity, durability of masonry structure, however there are many drawbacks because of the test. A modern approach of structural health assessment of masonry structures by vibration analysis, frequencies and stiffness properties is being explored in this paper.

Keywords: masonry bridges, condition assessment, wireless sensors, numerical analysis modal frequencies

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: L. Sánchez-Abella, I. Loinaz, H-J. Grande, D. Dupin

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Aseptic loosening remains as the principal cause of revision in total hip arthroplasty (THA). For long-term implantations, submicron particles are generated in vivo due to the inherent wear of the prosthesis. When this occurs, macrophages undergo phagocytosis and secretion of bone resorptive cytokines inducing osteolysis, hence loosening of the implanted prosthesis. Therefore, new technologies are required to reduce the wear of the bearing materials and hence increase the life-span of the prosthesis. Our strategy focuses on surface modification of the bearing materials with a hydrophilic coating based on cross-linked water-soluble (meth)acrylic monomers to improve their tribological behavior. These coatings are biocompatible, with high swelling capacity and antifouling properties, mimicking the properties of natural cartilage, i.e. wear resistance with a permanent hydrated layer that prevents prosthesis damage. Cartilage mimicking based coatings may be also used to protect medical device surfaces from damage and scratches that will compromise their integrity and hence their safety. However, there are only a few reports on the mechanical and tribological characteristics of this type of coatings. Clear beneficial advantages of this coating have been demonstrated in different conditions and different materials, such as Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), Polyethylene (XLPE), Carbon-fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone (CFR-PEEK), cobalt-chromium (CoCr), Stainless steel, Zirconia Toughened Alumina (ZTA) and Alumina. Using routine tribological experiments, the wear for UHMWPE substrate was decreased by 75% against alumina, ZTA and stainless steel. For PEEK-CFR substrate coated, the amount of material lost against ZTA and CrCo was at least 40% lower. Experiments on hip simulator allowed coated ZTA femoral heads and coated UHMWPE cups to be validated with a decrease of 80% of loss material. Further experiments on hip simulator adding abrasive particles (1 micron sized alumina particles) during 3 million cycles, on a total of 6 million, demonstrated a decreased of around 55% of wear compared to uncoated UHMWPE and uncoated XLPE. In conclusion, CIDETEC‘s hydrogel coating technology is versatile and can be adapted to protect a large range of surfaces, even in abrasive conditions.

Keywords: cartilage, hydrogel, hydrophilic coating, joint

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Anna Marie Fisker, Daniele Sepe, Mette Bøgh Jensen, Daniela Rimei

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In the space of just a few years, the European policy framework on cultural heritage has been completely overhauled, moving towards a people-centred and holistic approach, and eliminating the divisions between the tangible, intangible and digital dimensions. The European Union regards cultural heritage as a potential shared resource, highlighting that all stakeholders share responsibility for its transmission to future generations. This new framework will potentially change the way in which cultural institutions manage, protect and provide access to their heritage. It will change the way in which citizens and communities engage with their cultural heritage and naturally influence the way that professionals deal with it. Participating in the creation of cultural heritage awareness can lead to an increased perception of its value, be it economic, social, environmental or cultural. It can also strengthen our personal identity, sense of belonging and community citizenship. Open Atelier, a Creative Europe project, is based on this foundation, with the goal through co-creation to develop the use, understanding and engagement with our cultural heritage. The project aim to transform selected parts of the heritage into an “experience lab” – an interactive, co-creative, dynamic and participatory space, where cultural heritage is the point of departure for new interactions and experiences between the audience and the museum and its professionals. Through a workshop-based approach built on interdisciplinary collaboration and co-creative processes, Open Atelier has started to design, develop, test, and evaluate a set of Experiences. The first collaborative initiative was set out in the discourse and knowledge of a highly creative period in Denmark where a specific group of Scandinavian artists, the Skagen Painters, gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. The Art Museums of Skagen have a large collection of photos from the period, that has never been the subject of more thorough research. The photos display a variation of many different subjects: community, family photos, reproductions of art works, costume parties, family gatherings etc., and carry with them the energies of those peoples’ work and life and evoke instances of communication with the past. This paper is about how we in Open Atelier connect these special stories, this legacy, with another place, in another time, in another context and with another audience. The first Open Atelier Experience – the performance “Around the Lighthouse” – was an initiative resulted from the collaboration between AMAT, an Italian creative organisation, and the Art Museums of Skagen. A group of Italian artists developed a co-creative investigation and reinterpretation of a selection of these historical photos. A poetic journey through videos and voices, aimed at exploring new perspectives on the museum and its heritage. An experiment on how to create new ways to actively engage audiences in the way cultural heritage is explored, interpreted, mediated, presented, and used to examine contemporary issues. This article is about this experiment and its findings, and how different views and methodologies can be adopted to discuss the cultural heritage in museums around Europe and their connection to the community.

Keywords: cultural heritage, community, innovation, museums

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Authors: Andreas Latz, Daniela Heinz, Fatima Hashemi, Melek Baygül

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Introduction: Feline leukemia virus (FeLV), feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), and feline coronavirus (FCoV) are serious infectious diseases affecting cats worldwide. Transmission of these viruses occurs primarily through close contact with infected cats (via saliva, nasal secretions, faeces, etc.). FeLV, FIV, and FCoV infections can occur in combination and are expressed in similar clinical symptoms. Diagnosis can therefore be challenging: Symptoms are variable and often non-specific. Sick cats show very similar clinical symptoms: apathy, anorexia, fever, immunodeficiency syndrome, anemia, etc. Sample volume for small companion animals for diagnostic purposes can be challenging to collect. In addition, multiplex diagnosis of diseases can contribute to an easier, cheaper, and faster workflow in the lab as well as to the better differential diagnosis of diseases. For this reason, we wanted to develop a new diagnostic tool that utilizes less sample volume, reagents, and consumables than multiplesingleplex ELISA assays Methods: The Multiplier from Dynextechonogies (USA) has been used as platform to develop a Multiplex diagnostic tool for the detection of antibodies against FIV and FCoV/FIP and antigens for FeLV. Multiplex diagnostics. The Dynex®Multiplier®is a fully automated chemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer that significantly simplifies laboratory workflow. The Multiplier®ease-of-use reduces pre-analytical steps by combining the power of efficiently multiplexing multiple assays with the simplicity of automated microplate processing. Plastic beads have been coated with antigens for FIV and FCoV/FIP, as well as antibodies for FeLV. Feline blood samples are incubated with the beads. Read out of results is performed via chemiluminescence Results: Bead coating was optimized for each individual antigen or capture antibody and then combined in the multiplex diagnostic tool. HRP: Antibody conjugates for FIV and FCoV antibodies, as well as detection antibodies for FeLV antigen, have been adjusted and mixed. 3 individual prototyple batches of the assay have been produced. We analyzed for each disease 50 well defined positive and negative samples. Results show an excellent diagnostic performance of the simultaneous detection of antibodies or antigens against these feline diseases in a fully automated system. A 100% concordance with singleplex methods like ELISA or IFA can be observed. Intra- and Inter-Assays showed a high precision of the test with CV values below 10% for each individual bead. Accelerated stability testing indicate a shelf life of at least 1 year. Conclusion: The new tool can be used for multiplex diagnostics of the most important feline infectious diseases. Only a very small sample volume is required. Fully automation results in a very convenient and fast method for diagnosing animal diseases.With its large specimen capacity to process over 576 samples per 8-hours shift and provide up to 3,456 results, very high laboratory productivity and reagent savings can be achieved.

Keywords: Multiplex, FIV, FeLV, FCoV, FIP

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Authors: Inga Žukovaitė

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This paper aims to present postdoc research on remote criminal proceedings in court. In this period, when most countries have introduced the possibility of remote criminal proceedings in their procedural laws, it is not only possible to identify the weaknesses and strengths of the legal regulation but also assess the effectiveness of the instrument used and to develop an approach to the process. The example of some countries (for example, Italy) shows, on the one hand, that criminal procedure, based on orality and immediacy, does not lend itself to easy modifications that pose even a slight threat of devaluation of these principles in a society with well-established traditions of this procedure. On the other hand, such strong opposition and criticism make us ask whether we are facing the possibility of rethinking the traditional ways to understand the safeguards in order to preserve their essence without devaluing their traditional package but looking for new components to replace or compensate for the so-called “loss” of safeguards. The reflection on technological progress in the field of criminal procedural law indicates the need to rethink, on the basis of fundamental procedural principles, the safeguards that can replace or compensate for those that are in crisis as a result of the intervention of technological progress. Discussions in academic doctrine on the impact of technological interventions on the proceedings as such or on the limits of such interventions refer to the principles of criminal procedure as to a point of reference. In the context of the inferiority of technology, scholarly debate still addresses the issue of whether the court will not gradually become a mere site for the exercise of penal power with the resultant consequences – the deformation of the procedure itself as a physical ritual. In this context, this work seeks to illustrate the relationship between remote criminal proceedings in court and the principle of immediacy, the concept of which is based on the application of different models of criminal procedure (inquisitorial and adversarial), the aim is to assess the challenges posed for legal regulation by the interaction of technological progress with the principles of criminal procedure. The main hypothesis to be tested is that the adoption of remote proceedings is directly linked to the prevailing model of criminal procedure, arguing that the more principles of the inquisitorial model are applied to the criminal process, the more remote criminal trial is acceptable, and conversely, the more the criminal process is based on an adversarial model, more the remote criminal process is seen as incompatible with the principle of immediacy. In order to achieve this goal, the following tasks are set: to identify whether there is a difference in assessing remote proceedings with the immediacy principle between the adversarial model and the inquisitorial model, to analyse the main aspects of the regulation of remote criminal proceedings based on the examples of different countries (for example Lithuania, Italy, etc.).

Keywords: remote criminal proceedings, principle of orality, principle of immediacy, adversarial model inquisitorial model

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Authors: Omid Allan

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The advent of ultra-narrow diameter implants initially offered an alternative to wider conventional implants. However, their design limitations have restricted their applicability primarily to overdentures and cement-retained fixed prostheses, often with unpredictable long-term outcomes. The introduction of the new Miniature Implants has revolutionized the field of implant dentistry, leading to a more streamlined approach. The utilization of Miniature Implants has emerged as a promising alternative to the traditional approach that entails the traumatic sequential bone drilling procedures and the use of conventional implants for full and partial arch restorations. The innovative "BioMiniatures Implant System serves as a groundbreaking bridge connecting mini implants with standard implant systems. This system allows practitioners to harness the advantages of ultra-small implants, enabling minimally invasive insertion and facilitating the application of fixed screw-retained prostheses, which were only available to conventional wider implant systems. This approach streamlines full and partial arch rehabilitation with minimal or even no bone drilling, significantly reducing surgical risks and complications for clinicians while minimizing patient morbidity. The ultra-narrow diameter and self-advancing features of these implants eliminate the need for invasive and technically complex procedures such as bone augmentation and guided bone regeneration (GBR), particularly in cases involving thin alveolar ridges. Furthermore, the absence of a microcap between the implant and abutment eliminates the potential for micro-leakage and micro-pumping effects, effectively mitigating the risk of marginal bone loss and future peri-implantitis. The cumulative experience of restoring over 50 full and partial arch edentulous cases with this system has yielded an outstanding success rate exceeding 97%. The long-term success with a stable marginal bone level in the study firmly establishes these implants as a dependable alternative to conventional implants, especially for full arch rehabilitation cases. Full arch rehabilitation with these implants holds the promise of providing a simplified solution for edentulous patients who typically present with atrophic narrow alveolar ridges, eliminating the need for extensive GBR and bone augmentation to restore their dentition with fixed prostheses.

Keywords: mini-implant, biominiatures, miniature implants, minimally invasive dentistry, full arch rehabilitation

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Authors: Andrea S. Badillo-Perez, Alexis D. Mitchell, Sara M. Levens

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Overeating, and obesity have been associated with addictive behavior, primarily due to behaviors like reward-based eating, the tendency to overeat due to factors such as lack of control, preoccupation over food, and lack of satiation. Temporal discounting (TD), the ability to select future rewards over short term gains, and mindfulness, the process of maintaining present moment awareness, have been suggested to have significant, differential impacts on health-related behaviors. An individual’s health locus of control, the degree to which they feel that they have control over their health is also known to have an impact on health outcomes. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between health locus of control and reward-based eating, as well as the relation between TD and mindfulness in a sample (N = 126) of overweight or obese participants from larger health-focused study. Through the use of questionnaires (including the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Reward-Based Eating Drive (RED), and Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLOC)), anthropometric measurements, and a computerized TD task, a series of regressions tested the association between subscales of these measures. Results revealed differences in how the mindfulness subscales are associated with TD measures. Specifically the ‘Observing’ (beta =-.203) and ‘Describing’ (beta =.26) subscales were associated with lower TD rates and a longer subjective devaluation time-frame respectively. In contrast, the ‘Acting with Awareness’ subscale was associated with a shorter subjective devaluation timeframe (beta =-.23). These findings suggest that the reflective perspective initiated through the observing and describing components of mindfulness may facilitate delay of gratification, whereas the acting with awareness component of mindfulness, which focuses on the present moment, may make delay of gratification more challenging. Results also indicated that a higher degree of reward-based eating was associated with a higher degree of an external health locus of control based on the power of chance (beta =.10). However, an external locus of control based on the power of others had no significant association with reward-based eating. This finding implies that the belief that health is due to chance is associated with greater reward-based eating behavior, suggesting that interventions that focus on locus of control may be helpful. Overall, findings demonstrate that weight loss interventions may benefit from health locus of control and mindfulness exercises, but caution should be taken as the components of mindfulness appear to have different effects on increasing or decreasing delay of gratification.

Keywords: health locus of control, mindfulness, obesity, reward-based eating, temporal discounting

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Titilope F. Onaolapo, Christiana A. Breed, Maya Pasgaard, Kristine E. Jensen, Peta Brom

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In the face of fast-growing urbanization in most of the world's developing countries, there is a need to understand and address the risk and consequences involved in the indiscriminate use of urban green space. Tshwane city in South Africa has the potential to become one of the world's top biodiversity cities as South Africa is ranked one of the mega countries in biodiversity conservation, and Tshwane metropolitan municipality is the city with the wealthiest biodiversity with grassland biomes. In this study, we focus on the potentials and challenges of urban green transitioning from the Global South perspective with Tshwane city as the case study. We also address the issue of management conflicts that have resulted in informal and illegal activities in and around green spaces, with consequences such as land degradation, loss of livelihoods and biodiversity, and socio-ecological imbalances. A desk study review of eight policy frameworks related to green urban planning and development was done based on four GI principles: multifunctionality, connectivity, interdisciplinary and social inclusion. We interviewed 15 key informants in related departments in the city and administered 200 survey questionnaires among residents. We also had several workshops the other researchers and experts on biodiversity and ecosystem. We found out there is no specific document dedicated to green space management, and where green infrastructure was mentioned, it was focused on as an approach to climate mitigation and adaptation. Also, residents perceive green and open spaces as extra land that could be developed at will. We demonstrated the use of collaborative learning approaches in ecological and development research and the tying research to the existing frameworks, programs, and strategies. Based on this understanding. We outlined the need to incorporate principles of green infrastructure in policy frameworks on spatial planning and environmental development. Furthermore, we develop a model for co-management of green infrastructures by stakeholders, such as residents, developers, policymakers, and decision-makers, to maximize benefits. Our collaborative, interdisciplinary projects pursue SDG multifunctionality of goals 11 and 15 by simultaneously addressing issues around Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action, Life on Land, and Strong Institutions, and halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity.

Keywords: governance, green infrastructure, South Africa, sustainable development, urban planning, Tshwane

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Authors: Ifeoma Anozie, Teka Apalata, Dominic Abaver

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Introduction: Despite use of Anti-retroviral therapy to reduce the incidence of opportunistic infections among HIV/AIDS patients, rapid episodes of re-infection after deworming are still common occurrences because pharmaceutical intervention alone does not prevent reinfection. Unsafe water and inadequate personal hygiene and parasitic infections are widely expected to accelerate the progression of HIV infection. This is because the chronic immunosuppression of HIV infection encourages susceptibility to opportunistic (including parasitic) infections which is linked to CD4+ cell count of <200 cells/μl. Intestinal parasites such as G. intestinalis and Entamoeba spp are ubiquitous protozoa that remain infectious over a long time in an environment and show resistance to standard disinfection. To control re-infection, the social factors that underpin the prevention need to be controlled. This study aims at prevention of intestinal parasites in people living with HIV/AIDS by using a treatment, hygiene education and sanitation (THEdS) bundle approach. Methods: This study was conducted in four clinics (Ngangelizwe health centre, Tsolo gateway clinic, Idutywa health centre and Nqamakwe health centre) across the seven districts in Eastern cape, South Africa. The four clinics were divided in two: experimental and control, for the purpose of intervention. Data was collected from March 2019 to February 2020. Six hundred participants were screened for intestinal parasitic infections. Stool samples were collected and analysed twice: before (Pre-test infection screening) and after (Post-test re-infection) THEdS bundle intervention. The experimental clinics received full intervention package, which include therapeutic treatment, health education on personal hygiene and sanitation training, while the control clinics received only therapeutic treatment for those found with intestinal parasitic infections. Results: Baseline prevalence of Intestinal Parasites isolated shows 12 intestinal parasites with overall frequency of 65, with Ascaris lumbricoides having most frequency (44.6%). The intervention had a cure rate of 60%, with odd ratio of 1.42, which indicates that the intervention group is 1.42 times more likely of parasite clearing as compared to the control group. The relative risk ratio of 1.17 signifies that there is 1.17 times more likelihood to clear intestinal parasite if there no intervention. Discussion and conclusion: Infection with multiple parasites can cause health defects, especially among HIV/AIDS patients. Efficiency of some HIV vaccines in HIV/AIDS patients is affected because treatment of re-infection amplifies drug resistance, affects the efficacy of the front-line drugs, and still permits transmission. In South Africa, treatment of intestinal parasites is usually offered to clinic attending HIV/AIDS patients upon suspicion but not as a mandate for patients being initiated into Antiretroviral (ART) program. The effectiveness of THEdS bundle advocates for inclusiveness of mandatory screening for intestinal parasitic infections among attendees of HIV/Aids clinics on regular basis.

Keywords: cure rate, , HIV/AIDS patients, intestinal parasites, intervention studies, reinfection rate

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Authors: Diego Abbo

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On February 15, 2012 off the Indian coast of Kerala, in position 091702N-0760180E by the oil tanker Enrica Lexie, flying the Italian flag, bursts of 5.56 x45 caliber shots were fired from assault rifles AR/70 Italian-made Beretta towards the Indian fisher boat St. Anthony. The shots that hit the St. Anthony fishing boat were six, of which two killed the Indian fishermen Ajesh Pink and Valentine Jelestine. From the analysis concerning the kinematic engagement of the two ships and from the autopsy and ballistic results of the Indian judicial authorities it is possible to reconstruct the trajectories of the six aforementioned shots. This essay reconstructs the trajectories of the six shots that cannot be of direct shooting but have undergone a rebound on the water. The investigation carried out scientifically demonstrates the rebound of the blows on the water, the gyrostatic deviation due to the rebound and the tumbling effect always due to the rebound as regards intermediate ballistics. In consideration of the four shots that directly impacted the fishing vessel, the current examination proves, with scientific value, that the trajectories could not be downwards but upwards. Also, the trajectory of two shots that hit to death the two fishermen could not be downwards but only upwards. In fact, this paper demonstrates, with scientific value: The loss of speed of the projectiles due to the rebound on the water; The tumbling effect in the ballistic medium within the two victims; The permanent cavities subject to the injury ballistics and the related ballistic trauma that prevented homeostasis causing bleeding in one case; The thermo-hardening deformation of the bullet found in Valentine Jelestine's skull; The upward and non-downward trajectories. The paper constitutes a tool in forensic ballistics in that it manages to reconstruct, from the final spot of the projectiles fired, all phases of ballistics like the internal one of the weapons that fired, the intermediate one, the terminal one and the penetrative structural one. In general terms the ballistics reconstruction is based on measurable parameters whose entity is contained with certainty within a lower and upper limit. Therefore, quantities that refer to angles, speed, impact energy and firing position of the shooter can be identified within the aforementioned limits. Finally, the investigation into the internal bullet track, obtained from any autopsy examination, offers a significant “lesson learned” but overall a starting point to contain or mitigate bleeding as a rescue from future gunshot wounds.

Keywords: impact physics, intermediate ballistics, terminal ballistics, tumbling effect

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Authors: Mehrdad Abkenari, Mehmet Kunt, Mahdi Nourollahi

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Evaluating the environmental risk factors is a combination of analysis of transportation effects. Various definitions for risk can be found in different scientific sources. Each definition depends on a specific and particular perspective or dimension. The effects of potential risks present along the new proposed routes and existing infrastructures of large transportation projects like railways should be studied under comprehensive engineering frameworks. Despite various definitions provided for ‘risk’, all include a uniform concept. Two obvious aspects, loss and unreliability, have always been pointed in all definitions of this term. But, selection as the third aspect is usually implied and means how one notices it. Currently, conducting engineering studies on the environmental effects of railway projects have become obligatory according to the Environmental Assessment Act in developing countries. Considering the longitudinal nature of these projects and probable passage of railways through various ecosystems, scientific research on the environmental risk of these projects have become of great interest. Although many areas of expertise such as road construction in developing countries have not seriously committed to these studies yet, attention to these subjects in establishment or implementation of different systems have become an inseparable part of this wave of research. The present study used environmental risks identified and existing in previous studies and stations to use in next step. The second step proposes a new hybrid approach of analytical network process (ANP) and DEMATEL in fuzzy conditions for assessment of determined risks. Since evaluation of identified risks was not an easy touch, mesh structure was an appropriate approach for analyzing complex systems which were accordingly employed for problem description and modeling. Researchers faced the shortage of real space data and also due to the ambiguity of experts’ opinions and judgments, they were declared in language variables instead of numerical ones. Since fuzzy logic is appropriate for ambiguity and uncertainty, formulation of experts’ opinions in the form of fuzzy numbers seemed an appropriate approach. Fuzzy DEMATEL method was used to extract the relations between major and minor risk factors. Considering the internal relations of risk major factors and its sub-factors in the analysis of fuzzy network, the weight of risk’s main factors and sub-factors were determined. In general, findings of the present study, in which effective railway environmental risk indicators were theoretically identified and rated through the first usage of combined model of DEMATEL and fuzzy network analysis, indicate that environmental risks can be evaluated more accurately and also employed in railway projects.

Keywords: DEMATEL, ANP, fuzzy, risk

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Authors: Merilin Ivanova Ivanova, Kalin Dimitrov Atanasov, Stefan Petrov Enchev

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Backgroud: Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, also known as Devic’s disease, is a relapsing demyelinating autoimmune inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system associated with anti-aquaporin 4 (AQP4) antibodies that can manifest with devastating secondary neurological deficits. Most commonly affected are the optic nerves and the spinal cord-clinically this is often presented with optic neuritis (loss of vision), transverse myelitis(weakness or paralysis of extremities),lack of bladder and bowel control, numbness. APS is a core clinical entity of NMOSD and adds to the clinical representation the following symptoms: intractable nausea, vomiting and hiccup, it usually occurs isolated at onset, and can lead to a significant delay in the diagnosis. The condition may have features similar to multiple sclerosis (MS) but the episodes are worse in NMO and it is treated differently. It could be relapsing or monophasic. Possible complications are visual field defects and motor impairment, with potential blindness and irreversible motor deficits. In severe cases, myogenic respiratory failure ensues. The incidence of reported cases is approximately 0.3–4.4 per 100,000. Paediatric cases of NMOSD are rare but have been reported occasionally, comprising less than 5% of the reported cases. Objective: The case serves to show the difficulty when it comes to the diagnostic processes regarding a rare autoimmune disease with non- specific symptoms, taking large interval of rimes to reveal as complete clinical manifestation of the aforementioned syndrome, as well as the necessity of multidisciplinary approach in the setting of а general paediatric department in аn emergency hospital. Methods: itpatient's history, clinical presentation, and information from the used diagnostic tools(MRI with contrast of the central nervous system) lead us to the conclusion .This was later on confirmed by the positive results from the anti-aquaporin 4 (AQP4) antibody serology test. Conclusion: APS is a common symptom of NMOSD and is considered a challenge in a differential-diagnostic plan. Gaining an increased awareness of this disease/syndrome, obtaining a detailed patient history, and performing thorough physical examinations are essential if we are to reduce and avoid misdiagnosis.

Keywords: neuromyelitis, devic's disease, hiccup, autoimmune, MRI

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Authors: M. Golam Rabbi

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Theme of wildlife crime is unique in Bangladesh. In earlier of 2010, wildlife crime was not designated as a crime, unlike other offenses. Forest Department and other enforcement agencies were not in full swing to find out the organized crime scene at that time and recorded few cases along with forest crime. However, after the establishment of Wildlife Crime Control Unitin 2012a, total of 374 offenses have been detected with 566 offenders and 37,039 wildlife and trophies were seized till November 2016. Most offenses seem to be committed outside the forests where the presence of the forest staff is minimal. Total detection percentage of offenses is not known, but offenders are not identified in 60% of detected cases (UDOR). Only 20% cases are decided by the courts even after eight years, conviction rate of the total disposal is 70.65%. Mostly six months imprisonment and BDT 5000 fine seems to be the modal penalty. The monetary value of wildlife crime in the country is approximate $0.72M per year and the maximum value counted for reptiles around $0.45M especially for high-level trafficking of geckos and turtles. The most common seizures of wildlife are birds (mynas, munias, parakeets, lorikeets, water birds, etc.) which have domestic demand for pet. Some other wildlife like turtles, lizards and small mammals are also on the list. Venison and migratory waterbirds often seized which has a large quantity demand for consuming at aristocratic level.Due to porous border and weak enforcement in border region poachers use the way for trafficking of geckos, turtles, and tortoises, snakes, venom, tiger and body parts, spotted deerskin, pangolinetc. Those have very high demand in East Asian countries for so-called medicinal purposes. The recent survey also demonstrates new route for illegal trade and trafficking for instance, after poaching of tiger and deer from the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove track of the planet to Thailand through the Bay of Bengal, sharks fins and ray fish through Chittagong seaport and directly by sea routes to Myanmar and Thailand. However, a good number of records of offense demonstrate the transition route from India to South and South East Asian countries. Star tortoises and Hamilton’s turtles are smuggled in from India which mostly seized at Benapole border of Jessore and Hazrat Shah Jajal International Airport of Dhaka, in very large numbers for transmission to East Asian countries. Most of the cases of wildlife trade routes leading to China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Most surprisingly African ivory was seized in Bangladesh recently, which was meant to be trafficked to the South-East Asia. However; forest department is working to fight against wildlife poaching, illegal trade and trafficking in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies. The department needs a clear mandate and to build technical capabilities for identifying, seizing and holding specimens. The department also needs to step out of the forests and must develop the capacity to surveillance and patrol all sensitive locations across the country.

Keywords: Bangladesh forest department, Sundarban, tiger, wildlife crime, wildlife trafficking

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Authors: Sevim Ugur, Cemile Kutmec Yilmaz, Omer Us, Sevdenur Koksaldi

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Aim: This study aims to investigate the effect of digital game playing and Internet addiction on perceived stress levels in university students. Method: The descriptive study was conducted through face-to-face interview method with a total of 364 university students studying at Aksaray University between November 15 and December 30, 2017. The research data were collected using personal information form, a questionnaire to determine the characteristics of playing digital game, the Internet addiction scale and the perceived stress scale. In the evaluation of the data, Mann-Whitney U test was used for two-group comparison of the sample with non-normal distribution, Kruskal-Wallis H-test was used in the comparison of more than two groups, and the Spearman correlation test was used to determine the relationship between Internet addiction and the perceived stress level. Results: It was determined that the mean age of the students participated in the study was 20.13 ± 1.7 years, 67.6% was female, 35.7% was sophomore, and 62.1% had an income 500 TL or less. It was found that 83.5% of the students use the Internet every day and 70.6% uses the Internet for 5 hours or less per day. Of the students, 12.4% prefers digital games instead of spending time outdoors, 8% plays a game as the first activity in leisure time, 12.4% plays all day, 15.7% feels anger when he/she is prevented from playing, 14.8% prefers playing games to get away from his/her problems, 23.4% had his/her school achievement affected negatively because of game playing, and 8% argues with family members due to the time spent for gaming. Students who play games on the computer for a long time were found to feel back pain (30.8%), headache (28.6%), insomnia (26.9%), dryness and pain in the eyes (26.6%), pain in the wrist (21.2%), feeling excessive tension and anger (16.2%), humpback (12.9), vision loss (9.6%) and pain in the wrist and fingers (7.4%). In our study, students' Internet addiction scale mean score was found to be 45.47 ± 16.1 and mean perceived stress scale score was 28.56 ± 2.7. A significant and negative correlation (p=0.037) was found between the total score of the Internet addiction scale and the total score of the perceived stress scale (r=-0.110). Conclusion: It was found in the study that Internet addiction and perceived stress of the students were at a moderate level and that there was a negative correlation between Internet addiction and perceived stress levels. Internet addiction was found to increase with the increasing perceived stress levels of students, and students were found to have health problems such as back pain, dryness in the eyes, pain, insomnia, headache, and humpback. Therefore, it is recommended to inform students about different coping methods other than spending time on the Internet to cope with the stress they perceive.

Keywords: digital game, internet addiction, student, stress level

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Authors: Sajmina Khatun, Monika Pebam, Aravind Kumar Rengan

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Photothermal therapy, a subset of nanomedicine, takes advantage of light-absorbing agents to generate localized heat, selectively eradicating cancer cells. This innovative approach minimizes damage to healthy tissues and offers a promising avenue for targeted cancer treatment. Unlike conventional therapies, photothermal therapy harnesses the power of light to combat malignancies precisely and effectively, showcasing its potential to revolutionize cancer treatment paradigms. The combined strengths of nanomedicine and photothermal therapy signify a transformative shift toward more effective, targeted, and tolerable cancer treatments in the medical landscape. Utilizing natural products becomes instrumental in formulating diverse bioactive medications owing to their various pharmacological properties attributed to the existence of phenolic structures, triterpenoids, and similar compounds. Hyptis suaveolens, commonly known as pignut, stands as an aromatic herb within the Lamiaceae family and represents a valuable therapeutic plant. Flourishing in swamps and alongside tropical and subtropical roadsides, these noxious weeds impede the development of adjacent plants. Hyptis suaveolens ranks among the most globally distributed alien invasive species. The present investigation revealed that a versatile, biodegradable liposome nanosystem (HIL NPs), incorporating bioactive molecules from Hyptis suaveolens, exhibits effective bioavailability to cancer cells, enabling tumor ablation upon near-infrared (NIR) laser exposure. The components within the nanosystem, specifically the bioactive molecules from Hyptis, function as anticancer agents, aiding in the photothermal ablation of highly metastatic lung cancer cells. Despite being a prolific weed impeding neighboring plant growth, Hyptis suaveolens showcases therapeutic benefits through its bioactive compounds. The obtained HIL NPs, characterized as a photothermally active liposome nanosystem, demonstrate a pronounced fluorescence absorption peak in the NIR range and achieve a high photothermal conversion efficiency under NIR laser irradiation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and particle size analysis reveal that HIL NPs possess a spherical shape with a size of 141 ± 30 nm. Moreover, in vitro assessments of HIL NPs against lung cancer cell lines (A549) indicate effective anticancer activity through a combined cytotoxic effect and hyperthermia. Tumor ablation is facilitated by apoptosis induced by the overexpression of ɣ-H2AX, arresting cancer cell proliferation. Consequently, the multifunctional and biodegradable nanosystem (HIL NPs), incorporating bioactive compounds from Hyptis, provides valuable perspectives for developing an innovative therapeutic strategy originating from a challenging weed. This approach holds promise for potential applications in both bioimaging and the combined use of phyto-photothermal therapy for cancer treatment.

Keywords: bioactive liposome, hyptis suaveolens, photothermal therapy, lung cancer

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Authors: Frank Adusah-Poku, John Bosco Dramani, Prince Boakye Frimpong

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Climate change is considered a principal threat to human existence and livelihood. The persistence and intensity of droughts and floods in recent years have adversely affected food production systems and value chains, making it impossible to end global hunger by 2030. Thus, this study aims to examine the effect of climate change on food consumption for both farm and non-farm households in Ghana. An important focus of the analysis is to investigate how climate change affects alternative dimensions of food security, examine the extent to which these effects vary across heterogeneous groups, and explore the channels through which climate change affects food consumption. Finally, we conducted a pilot study to understand the significance of farm and non-farm diversification measures in reducing the harmful impact of climate change on farm households. The approach of this article is to use two secondary and one primary datasets. The first secondary dataset is the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey (GSPS). The GSPS is a household panel dataset collected during the period 2009 to 2019. The second dataset is monthly district rainfall and temperature gridded data from the Ghana Meteorological Agency. This data was matched to the GSPS dataset at the district level. Finally, the primary data was obtained from a survey of farm and non-farm adaptation practices used by farmers in three regions in Northern Ghana. The study employed the household fixed effects model to estimate the effect of climate change (measured by temperature and rainfall) on food consumption in Ghana. Again, it used the spatial and temporal variation in temperature and rainfall across the districts in Ghana to estimate the household-level model. Evidence of potential mechanisms through which climate change affects food consumption was explored using two steps. First, the potential mechanism variables were regressed on temperature, rainfall, and the control variables. In the second and final step, the potential mechanism variables were included as extra covariates in the first model. The results revealed that extreme average temperature and drought had caused a decrease in food consumption as well as reduced the intake of important food nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein and vitamins. The results further indicated that low rainfall increased food insecurity among households with no education compared with those with primary and secondary education. Again, non-farm activity and silos have been revealed as the transmission pathways through which the effect of climate change on farm households can be moderated. Finally, the results indicated over 90% of the small-holder farmers interviewed had no farm diversification adaptation strategies for climate change, and a little over 50% of the farmers owned unskilled or manual non-farm economic ventures. This makes it very difficult for the majority of the farmers to withstand climate-related shocks. These findings suggest that achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 needs an integrated approach, such as reducing the over-reliance on rainfed agriculture, educating farmers, and implementing non-farm interventions to improve food consumption in Ghana.

Keywords: climate change, food consumption, Ghana, non-farm activity

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Authors: Pichaya Poonlarp, Danai Boonyakiat, C. Chuamuangphan, M. Chanta

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Current consumers’ behavior trends have changed towards more health awareness, the well-being of society and interest of nature and environment. The Royal Project Foundation is, therefore, well aware of organic agriculture. The project only focused on using natural products and utilizing its highland biological merits to increase resistance to diseases and insects for the produce grown. The project also brought in basic knowledge from a variety of available research information, including, but not limited to, improvement of soil fertility and a control of plant insects with biological methods in order to lay a foundation in developing and promoting farmers to grow quality produce with a high health safety. This will finally lead to sustainability for future highland agriculture and a decrease of chemical use on the highland area which is a source of natural watershed. However, there are still shortcomings of the postharvest management in term of quality and losses, such as bruising, rottenness, wilting and yellowish leaves. These losses negatively affect the maintenance and a shelf life of organic vegetables. Therefore, it is important that a research study of the appropriate and effective postharvest management is conducted for an individual organic vegetable to minimize product loss and find root causes of postharvest losses which would contribute to future postharvest management best practices. This can be achieved through surveys and data collection from postharvest processes in order to conduct analysis for causes of postharvest losses of organic pak-choi, baby pak-choi, and choy sum. Consequently, postharvest losses reduction strategies of organic vegetables can be achieved. In this study, postharvest losses of organic pak choi, baby pak-choi, and choy sum were determined at each stage of the supply chain starting from the field after harvesting, at the Development Center packinghouse, at Chiang Mai packinghouse, at Bangkok packing house and at the Royal Project retail shop in Chiang Mai. The results showed that postharvest losses of organic pak-choi, baby pak-choi, and choy sum were 86.05, 89.05 and 59.03 percent, respectively. The main factors contributing to losses of organic vegetables were due to mechanical damage and underutilized parts and/or short of minimum quality standard. Good practices had been developed after causes of losses were identified. Appropriate postharvest handling and management, for example, temperature control, hygienic cleaning, and reducing the duration of the supply chain, postharvest losses of all organic vegetables should be able to remarkably reduced postharvest losses in the supply chain.

Keywords: postharvest losses, organic vegetables, handling improvement, shelf life, supply chain

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Authors: A. Gramza-Michałowska, J. Skręty, M. Antczak, J. Kobus-Cisowska, D. Kmiecik, J. Korczak, Kulczyński Bartosz

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Background: Modern consumer highly appreciates the correlation between eating habits and health. Intensified research showed many proofs confirming that food besides its basic nutritional function, possess also significant prophylactic and therapeutic potential. Preventive potential of selected food is commonly used as improvement factor of patients life standard. World Health Organization indicates that diabetes (Diabetes mellitus) and obesity are two of the most common and dangerous diseases. Diet therapy is an element of diabetes education program and a part of healing process, allowing maintaining and remaining the optimal metabolic state of the system. It must be remembered that diabetes treatment should be individualized to each patient. One of highly recommended vegetable for diabetes is asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.), low calories common plant, growing in European countries. Objective: To propose the technology of unsweetened muesli production with addition of new components, we investigated the effects of selected vegetable addition on antioxidative capacity and consumer’s acceptance of muesli as representative of breakfast product. Methods: Muesli was formulated from a composition of oat flakes, flaxseed, bran, carrots, broccoli and asparagus. Basic composition of muesli was evaluated as content of protein, lipids, fatty acid composition, ash, selected minerals and caloricity. Antioxidant capacity of muesli was evaluated with use radical scavenging methods (DPPH, ABTS), ORAC value and PCL - photochemiluminescence antiradical potential. Proposed muesli as new product was also characterized with sensory analysis, which included color, scent, taste, consistency and overall acceptance of a product. Results: Results showed that addition of freeze-dried asparagus into muesli allowed to lower the fat content and caloricity of a product according to the base product. No significant loss in antioxidant potential was evaluated, also the sensory value of a product was not negative. Conclusion: Designed muesli would be an answer for obese people looking for healthy snack during the daytime. Results showed that product with asparagus addition would be accepted by the consumers and because of its antidiabetic potential could be a n important factor in prevention of diabetes or obesity. Financial support by the UE Project no PO IG 01.01.00.00-061/09

Keywords: muesli, vegetables, asparagus, antioxidant potential, lipids

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Authors: Champa Gunawardana, Anishka Hettiarachchi

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Conducive Architecture for learning environments is an area of interest for many scholars around the world. Loss of sense of hearing leads to the assumption that deaf students are visual learners. Comprehending favorable non-hearing attributes of architecture can lead to effective, rich and friendly learning environments for hearing impaired. The objective of the current qualitative investigation is to explore the nature and parameters of a sense of place of deaf children to support optimal learning. The investigation was conducted with hearing-impaired children (age: between 8-19, Gender: 15 male and 15 female) of Yashodhara deaf and blind school at Balangoda, Sri Lanka. A sensory ethnography study was adopted to identify the nature of perception and the parameters of most preferred and least preferred spaces of the learning environment. The common perceptions behind most preferred places in the learning environment were found as being calm and quiet, sense of freedom, volumes characterized by openness and spaciousness, sense of safety, wide spaces, privacy and belongingness, less crowded, undisturbed, availability of natural light and ventilation, sense of comfort and the view of green colour in the surroundings. On the other hand, the least preferred spaces were found to be perceived as dark, gloomy, warm, crowded, lack of freedom, smells (bad), unsafe and having glare. Perception of space by deaf considering the hierarchy of sensory modalities involved was identified as; light - color perception (34 %), sight - visual perception (32%), touch - haptic perception (26%), smell - olfactory perception (7%) and sound – auditory perception (1%) respectively. Sense of freedom (32%) and sense of comfort (23%) were the predominant psychological parameters leading to an optimal sense of place perceived by hearing impaired. Privacy (16%), rhythm (14%), belonging (9%) and safety (6%) were found as secondary factors. Open and wide flowing spaces without visual barriers, transparent doors and windows or open port holes to ease their communication, comfortable volumes, naturally ventilated spaces, natural lighting or diffused artificial lighting conditions without glare, sloping walkways, wider stairways, walkways and corridors with ample distance for signing were identified as positive characteristics of the learning environment investigated.

Keywords: deaf, visual learning environment, perception, sensory ethnography

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Authors: Jill Stephenson, Marie Vaganay, Robert Cameron, Caoimhe McGurk, Neil Hewitt

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Purpose: The key aim of the research was to identify the secondary stressors experienced by businesses affected by single or repeated flooding and to determine to what extent businesses were affected by these stressors, along with any resulting impact on health. Additionally, the research aimed to establish the likelihood of businesses being re-exposed to the secondary stressors through assessing awareness of flood risk, implementation of property protection measures and level of community resilience. Design/methodology/approach: The chosen research method involved the distribution of a questionnaire survey to businesses affected by either single or repeated flood events. The questionnaire included the Impact of Event Scale (a 15-item self-report measure which assesses subjective distress caused by traumatic events). Findings: 55 completed questionnaires were returned by flood impacted businesses. 89% of the businesses had sustained internal flooding while 11% had experienced external flooding. The results established that the key secondary stressors experienced by businesses, in order of priority, were: flood damage, fear of reoccurring flooding, prevention of access to the premise/closure, loss of income, repair works, length of closure and insurance issues. There was a lack of preparedness for potential future floods and consequent vulnerability to the emergence of secondary stressors among flood affected businesses, as flood resistance or flood resilience measures had only been implemented by 11% and 13% respectively. In relation to the psychological repercussions, the Impact of Event scores suggested that potential prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was noted among 8 out of 55 respondents (l5%). Originality/value: The results improve understanding of the enduring repercussions of flood events on businesses, indicating that not only residents may be susceptible to the detrimental health impacts of flood events and single flood events may be just as likely as reoccurring flooding to contribute to ongoing stress. Lack of financial resources is a possible explanation for the lack of implementation of property protection measures among businesses, despite 49% experiencing flooding on multiple occasions. Therefore it is recommended that policymakers should consider potential sources of financial support or grants towards flood defences for flood impacted businesses. Any form of assistance should be made available to businesses at the earliest opportunity as there was no significant association between the time of the last flood event and the likelihood of experiencing PTSD symptoms.

Keywords: flood event, flood resilience, flood resistance, PTSD, secondary stressors

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Authors: Ahmed Alghurabi, Mysara Mohyaldinn, Shiferaw Jufar, Obai Younis, Abdullah Abduljabbar

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Erosion modeling equations were typically acquired from regulated experimental trials for solid particles entrained in single-phase or multi-phase flows. Evidently, those equations were later employed to predict the erosion damage caused by the continuous impacts of solid particles entrained in streamflow. It is also well-known that the particle impact angle and velocity do not change drastically in gas-sand flow erosion prediction; hence an accurate prediction of erosion can be projected. On the contrary, high-density fluid flows, such as water flow, through complex geometries, such as sand screens, greatly affect the sand particles’ trajectories/tracks and consequently impact the erosion rate predictions. Particle tracking models and erosion equations are frequently applied simultaneously as a method to improve erosion visualization and estimation. In the present work, computational fluid dynamic (CFD)-based erosion modeling was performed using a commercially available software; ANSYS Fluent. The continuous phase (water flow) behavior was simulated using the realizable K-epsilon model, and the secondary phase (solid particles), having a 5% flow concentration, was tracked with the help of the discrete phase model (DPM). To accomplish a successful erosion modeling, three erosion equations from the literature were utilized and introduced to the ANSYS Fluent software to predict the screen wire-slot velocity surge and estimate the maximum erosion rates on the screen surface. Results of turbulent kinetic energy, turbulence intensity, dissipation rate, the total pressure on the screen, screen wall shear stress, and flow velocity vectors were presented and discussed. Moreover, the particle tracks and path-lines were also demonstrated based on their residence time, velocity magnitude, and flow turbulence. On one hand, results from the utilized erosion equations have shown similarities in screen erosion patterns, locations, and DPM concentrations. On the other hand, the model equations estimated slightly different values of maximum erosion rates of the wire-wrapped screen. This is solely based on the fact that the utilized erosion equations were developed with some assumptions that are controlled by the experimental lab conditions.

Keywords: CFD simulation, erosion rate prediction, material loss due to erosion, water-sand flow

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Authors: Muccifora S., Rinallo C., Bellani L.

Abstract:

Calcium (Ca²+) is an element essential to the plant being involved in plant growth and development. At high concentrations, it is toxic and can influence every stage, process and cellular activity of plant life. Given its toxicity, cells implement mechanisms to compartmentalize calcium in a vacuole, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, plastids and cell wall. One of the most effective mechanisms to reduce the excess of calcium, thus avoiding cellular damage, is its complexation with oxalic acid to form calcium oxalate crystals that are no longer osmotically or physiologically active. However, the sequestered calcium can be mobilized when the plant needs it. Calcium crystals can be accumulated in the vacuole of specialized sink-cells called idioblasts, with different crystalline forms (druse, raphyde and styloid) of diverse physiological meanings. Actinidia deliciosa cv. Hayward presents raphydes and styloid localized in idioblasts in cells of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic tissues. The purpose of this work was to understand if there is a relationship between the age of Actinidia leaves and the presence, distribution, dimension and shape of oxalate crystals by means of light, fluorescent, polarized and transmission electron microscopy. Three vines from female plants were chosen at the beginning of the season and used throughout the study. The leaves with petioles were collected at various stages of development from the bottom to the shoot of the plants monthly from April to July. The samples were taken in corresponding areas of the central and lateral parts of the leaves and of the basal portion of the petiole. The results showed that in the leaves, the number of raphyde idioblasts decreased with the progress of the growing season, while the styloid idioblasts increased progressively, becoming very numerous in the upper nodes of July. In June and in July samples, in the vacuoles of the highest nodes, a portion regular in shape strongly stained with rubeanic acid was present. Moreover, the chlortetracycline (CTC) staining for localization of free calcium marked the wall of the idioblasts and the wall of the cells near vascular bundles. In April petiole samples, moving towards the youngest nodes, the raphydes idioblast decreased in number and in the length of the single raphydes. Besides, crystals stained with rubeanic acid appeared in the vacuoles of some cells. In June samples, numerous raphyde idioblasts oriented parallel to vascular bundles were evident. Under the electron microscope, numerous idioblasts presented not homogeneous electrondense aggregates of material, in which a few crystals (styloids) in the form of regular holes were scattered. In July samples, an increase in the number of styloid idioblasts in the youngest nodes and little masses stained with CTC near styloids were observed. Peculiar cells stained with rubeanic acid were detected and hypothesized to be involved in the formation of the idioblasts. In conclusion, in Actinidia leaves and petioles, it seems to confirm the hypothesis that the formation of styloid idioblasts can be correlated to increasing calcium levels in growing tissues.

Keywords: calcium oxalate crystals, actinidia deliciosa, light and electron microscopy, idioblasts

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Authors: Caroline Kim

Abstract:

Scholars have long disputed the relationship between the origins of language and human behavior. Historically, behaviorist psychologist B. F. Skinner argued that language is one instance of the general stimulus-response phenomenon that characterizes the essence of human behavior. Another, more recent approach argues, by contrast, that language is an innate cognitive faculty and does not arise from behavior, which might develop and reinforce linguistic facility but is not its source. Pinker, among others, proposes that linguistic defects arise from damage to the brain, both congenital and acquired in life. Much of his argument is based on case studies in which damage to the Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas of the brain results in loss of the ability to produce coherent grammatical expressions when speaking or writing; though affected speakers often utter quite fluent streams of sentences, the words articulated lack discernible semantic content. Pinker concludes on this basis that language is an innate component of specific, classically language-correlated regions of the human brain. Taking a notorious 1970s case of linguistic maladaptation, this paper queries the dominant materialist paradigm of language-correlated regions. Susan “Genie” Wiley was physically isolated from language interaction in her home and beaten by her father when she attempted to make any sort of sound. Though without any measurable resulting damage to the brain, Wiley was never able to develop the level of linguistic facility normally achieved in adulthood. Having received a negative reinforcement of language acquisition from her father and lacking the usual language acquisition period, in adulthood Wiley was able to develop language only at a quite limited level in later life. From a contemporary behaviorist perspective, this case confirms the possibility of language deficiency without brain pathology. Wiley’s potential language-determining areas in the brain were intact, and she was exposed to language later in her life, but she was unable to achieve the normal level of communication skills, deterring socialization. This phenomenon and others like it in the case limited literature on linguistic maladaptation pose serious clinical, scientific, and indeed philosophical difficulties for both of the major competing theories of language acquisition, innateness, and linguistic stimulus-response. The implications of such cases for future research in language acquisition are explored, with a particular emphasis on the interaction of innate capacity and stimulus-based development in early childhood.

Keywords: behaviorism, innateness hypothesis, language, Susan "Genie" Wiley

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Authors: Mihaela Beregoi, Horia Iovu, Cristina Busuioc, Alexandru Evanghelidis, Elena Matei, Monica Enculescu, Ionut Enculescu

Abstract:

Nanomaterials field is very attractive for all researchers who are attempting to develop new devices with the same or improved properties than the micro-sized ones, while reducing the reagents and power consumptions. In this way, a wide range of nanomaterials were fabricated and integrated in applications for electronics, optoelectronics, solar cells, tissue reconstruction and drug delivery. Obviously, the most appealing ones are those dedicated to the medical domain. Different types of nano-sized materials, such as particles, fibers, films etc., can be synthesized by using physical, chemical or electrochemical methods. One of these techniques is electrospinning, which enable the production of fibers with nanometric dimensions by pumping a polymeric solution in a high electric field; due to the electrostatic charging and solvent evaporation, the precursor mixture is converted into nonwoven meshes with different fiber densities and mechanical properties. Moreover, polyaniline is a conducting polymer with interesting optical properties, suitable for displays and electrochromic windows. Otherwise, polyaniline is an electroactive polymer that can contract/expand by applying electric stimuli, due to the oxidation/reduction reactions which take place in the polymer chains. These two main properties can be exploited in order to synthesize smart materials that change their dimensions, exhibiting in the same time good electrochromic properties. In the context aforesaid, a poly(methyl metacrylate) solution was spun to get webs composed of fibers with diameter values between 500 nm and 1 µm. Further, the polymer meshes were covered with a gold layer in order to make them conductive and also appropriate as working electrode in an electrochemical cell. The gold shell was deposited by DC sputtering. Such metalized fibers can be transformed into smart materials by covering them with a thin layer of conductive polymer. Thus, the webs were coated with a polyaniline film by the electrochemical route, starting from and aqueous solution of aniline and sulfuric acid, where sulfuric acid acts as oxidant agent. For the polymerization of aniline, a saturated calomel electrode was employed as reference, a platinum plate as counter electrode and the gold covered webs as working electrode. Chronoamperometry was selected as deposition method for polyaniline, by modifying the deposition time. Metalized meshes with different fiber densities were used, the transmission ranging between 70 and 80 %. The morphological investigation showed that polyaniline layer has a granular structure for all deposition experiments. As well, some preliminary optical tests were done by using sulfuric acid as electrolyte, which revealed the modification of polyaniline colour from green to dark blue when applying a voltage. In conclusion, new multilayered materials were obtained by a simple approach: the merge of the electrospinning method benefits with polyaniline chemistry. This synthesis method allows the fabrication of structures with reproducible characteristics, suitable for display or tissue substituents.

Keywords: electrospinning, fibers, smart materials, polyaniline

Procedia PDF Downloads 294