Search results for: chemicals’ effects
10460 Using Fishers Knowledge in Community Based Fisheries Management in River Nun Estuary, Niger Delta
Authors: Sabina Ngodigha, Roland Gbarabe, Aiyebatonworio Austin
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A study of fisher’s knowledge (FK) and community-based fisheries management practices in River Nun estuary was conducted to assess the contribution of FK to fisheries resources conservation. A total of 390 fishers operates in the area of which 221 were interviewed based on having a minimum of 10 years of experience. Community-based fisheries management programme was introduced and implemented by fishermen’s union in 2010 for the sustainable management and conservation of fisheries resources. Local law introduced were: band on the use of mesh size of less than 5cm and band on chemical fishing. Defaulters were made to pay monetary fines ranging from #2,000 to #6,000 while fishers caught using chemicals to fish were arrested and landed over to the police for prosecution. The management method has enhanced conservation of fisheries resources which is a major source of livelihood for the people. Landings increased tremendously resulting in positive increase in the finances of the fishers. It is, therefore, pertinent to introduce community-based laws to check over exploitation of fisheries resources in the Niger Delta.Keywords: community, conservation, fishers knowledge, local laws, management
Procedia PDF Downloads 27110459 Biogas from Cover Crops and Field Residues: Effects on Soil, Water, Climate and Ecological Footprint
Authors: Manfred Szerencsits, Christine Weinberger, Maximilian Kuderna, Franz Feichtinger, Eva Erhart, Stephan Maier
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Cover or catch crops have beneficial effects for soil, water, erosion, etc. If harvested, they also provide feedstock for biogas without competition for arable land in regions, where only one main crop can be produced per year. On average gross energy yields of approx. 1300 m³ methane (CH4) ha-1 can be expected from 4.5 tonnes (t) of cover crop dry matter (DM) in Austria. Considering the total energy invested from cultivation to compression for biofuel use a net energy yield of about 1000 m³ CH4 ha-1 is remaining. With the straw of grain maize or Corn Cob Mix (CCM) similar energy yields can be achieved. In comparison to catch crops remaining on the field as green manure or to complete fallow between main crops the effects on soil, water and climate can be improved if cover crops are harvested without soil compaction and digestate is returned to the field in an amount equivalent to cover crop removal. In this way, the risk of nitrate leaching can be reduced approx. by 25% in comparison to full fallow. The risk of nitrous oxide emissions may be reduced up to 50% by contrast with cover crops serving as green manure. The effects on humus content and erosion are similar or better than those of cover crops used as green manure when the same amount of biomass was produced. With higher biomass production the positive effects increase even if cover crops are harvested and the only digestate is brought back to the fields. The ecological footprint of arable farming can be reduced by approx. 50% considering the substitution of natural gas with CH4 produced from cover crops.Keywords: biogas, cover crops, catch crops, land use competition, sustainable agriculture
Procedia PDF Downloads 54010458 Investigating the Glass Ceiling Phenomenon: An Empirical Study of Glass Ceiling's Effects on Selection, Promotion and Female Effectiveness
Authors: Sharjeel Saleem
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The glass ceiling has been a burning issue for many researchers. In this research, we examine gender of the BOD, training and development, workforce diversity, positive attitude towards women, and employee acts as antecedents of glass ceiling. Furthermore, we also look for effects of glass ceiling on likelihood of female selection and promotion and on female effectiveness. Multiple linear regression conducted on data drawn from different public and private sector organizations support our hypotheses. The research, however, is limited to Faisalabad city and only females from minority group are targeted here.Keywords: glass ceiling, stereotype attitudes, female effectiveness
Procedia PDF Downloads 28510457 The Effects of the Uniaxial Anisotropy and the Loss Tangent on the Resonant Frequencies in Stacked Rectangular Patches Configuration
Authors: Boualem Mekimah, Abderraouf Messai, Abdelkrim Belhedri
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Dielectric substrates have an important attention in the fabrication of microstrip patch antennas. The effects of the uniaxial anisotropy and the loss tangent on resonant frequencies of microstrip patches consist of two perfectly conducting rectangular patches in stacked and offset configuration, embedded in a bilayer medium containing isotropic or uniaxial anisotropic materials. The Green’s functions are discussed in detail and numerical results are validated by comparing the computed results with previously published data. The numerical results show, that the uniaxial anisotropy has more effects on resonant frequencies according to the optical axis. However, the loss tangent of dielectric substrates has almost no effect on resonant frequencies, but it strongly affects the imaginary parts of the resonant frequencies of the antenna. The dielectric constant has no effect on the separation in terms of frequencies.Keywords: resonant frequencies, loss tangent, microstrip patches, stacked, anisotropic materials, optical axis
Procedia PDF Downloads 43010456 Faithfulness of Film Adaptations: An Evaluation
Authors: Mel Aljon A. Montesa, Cynthia A. Martinez
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As the advent of the trend of lifting books into film flourishes, the study was conducted which concerns the evaluation of the level of faithfulness of film adaptations. This study assessed the level of faithfulness of the book based on the elements of fiction and determined whether the respondents were affected by it. Sixty (60) respondents were included in the study which composed of readers who have read the book before watching the film and viewers who watched the film first before reading the sourced text. The results revealed that most of the respondents evaluated the level of faithfulness of the four out of five elements of fiction including the plot, setting, conflict, and theme as moderately faithful while they found the characters somewhat faithful to the original characters. It was evident in the results that there are significant relationships among the plot and theme and its emotional effects to the respondents, thus, data also showed the significant relationships between the four out of five elements of fictions, excluding setting, and its social or behavioral effects to the respondents. A proposed rubric was made to evaluate film adaptations based on the film elements of fiction.Keywords: elements of fiction, film adaptations, level of faithfulness, psychological effects
Procedia PDF Downloads 29910455 Wetting Properties of Silver Based Alloys
Authors: Zoltán Weltsch, József Hlinka, Eszter Kókai
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The temperature dependence of wettability (wetting angle, Θ (T)) for Ag-based melts on graphite and Al2O3 substrates is compared. Typical alloying effects are found, as the Ag host metal is gradually replaced by various metallic elements. The essence of alloying lies in the change of the electron/atom (e/a) ratio. This ratio is also manifested in the shift of wetting angles on the same substrate. Nevertheless, the effects are partially smeared by other (metallurgical) factors, like the interaction between the oxygen-alloying elements and by the graphite substrate-oxygen interaction. In contrast, such effects are not pronounced in the case of Al2O3 substrates. As a consequence, Θ(T) exhibits an opposite trend in the case of two substrates. Crossovers of the Θ(T) curves were often found. The positions of crossovers depend on the chemical character and concentration of solute atoms. Segregation and epitaxial texture formation after solidification were also observed in certain alloy drops, especially in high concentration range. This phenomenon is not yet explained in every detail.Keywords: contact angle, graphite, silver, soldering, solid solubility, substrate, temperature dependence, wetting
Procedia PDF Downloads 40610454 A Survey on Speech Emotion-Based Music Recommendation System
Authors: Chirag Kothawade, Gourie Jagtap, PreetKaur Relusinghani, Vedang Chavan, Smitha S. Bhosale
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Psychological research has proven that music relieves stress, elevates mood, and is responsible for the release of “feel-good” chemicals like oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. It comes as no surprise that music has been a popular tool in rehabilitation centers and therapy for various disorders, thus with the interminably rising numbers of people facing mental health-related issues across the globe, addressing mental health concerns is more crucial than ever. Despite the existing music recommendation systems, there is a dearth of holistically curated algorithms that take care of the needs of users. Given that, an undeniable majority of people turn to music on a regular basis and that music has been proven to increase cognition, memory, and sleep quality while reducing anxiety, pain, and blood pressure, it is the need of the hour to fashion a product that extracts all the benefits of music in the most extensive and deployable method possible. Our project aims to ameliorate our users’ mental state by building a comprehensive mood-based music recommendation system called “Viby”.Keywords: language, communication, speech recognition, interaction
Procedia PDF Downloads 5510453 The Effects of Rumah Panggung Environment, Social Culture, and Behavior on Malaria Incidence in Kori Village, Indonesia
Authors: Sri Ratna Rahayu, Oktia Woro Kasmini Handayani, Lourensiana Y. S. Ngaga, Imade Sudana, Irwan Budiono
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Malaria is an infectious disease that still cannot be solved in Kori village, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, where the most of people live in rumah panggung (Stilts House). The purpose of this study was to know whether there were the effects of rumah panggung environment, social culture, and behavior on malaria incidence in the Kori village. A cross-sectional study was performed to explore the effects of rumah panggung environment, social culture and behavior on malaria incidence. This study recruited 280 respondents, who live in the rumah panggung, permanent residents in Kori village, were age above 17 years old, and suffered from malaria in the past year. The collected data were analyzed with path analysis. The results of this study showed that the environment of rumah panggung and behavior have a direct effect on the incidence of malaria (p < 0.05). It could be concluded that improvement of environmental conditions of rumah panggung, sociocultural, and behavioral changes to maintain a healthy environment are needed to reduce the malaria incidence.Keywords: Rumah panggung, socio-cultural, behavior, Malaria
Procedia PDF Downloads 21510452 The Inequality Effects of Natural Disasters: Evidence from Thailand
Authors: Annop Jaewisorn
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This study explores the relationship between natural disasters and inequalities -both income and expenditure inequality- at a micro-level of Thailand as the first study of this nature for this country. The analysis uses a unique panel and remote-sensing dataset constructed for the purpose of this research. It contains provincial inequality measures and other economic and social indicators based on the Thailand Household Survey during the period between 1992 and 2019. Meanwhile, the data on natural disasters, which are remote-sensing data, are received from several official geophysical or meteorological databases. Employing a panel fixed effects, the results show that natural disasters significantly reduce household income and expenditure inequality as measured by the Gini index, implying that rich people in Thailand bear a higher cost of natural disasters when compared to poor people. The effect on income inequality is mainly driven by droughts, while the effect on expenditure inequality is mainly driven by flood events. The results are robust across heterogeneity of the samples, lagged effects, outliers, and an alternative inequality measure.Keywords: inequality, natural disasters, remote-sensing data, Thailand
Procedia PDF Downloads 11810451 Effects of Fermentation Techniques on the Quality of Cocoa Beans
Authors: Monday O. Ale, Adebukola A. Akintade, Olasunbo O. Orungbemi
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Fermentation as an important operation in the processing of cocoa beans is now affected by the recent climate change across the globe. The major requirement for effective fermentation is the ability of the material used to retain sufficient heat for the required microbial activities. Apart from the effects of climate on the rate of heat retention, the materials used for fermentation plays an important role. Most Farmers still restrict fermentation activities to the use of traditional methods. Improving on cocoa fermentation in this era of climate change makes it necessary to work on other materials that can be suitable for cocoa fermentation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effects of fermentation techniques on the quality of cocoa beans. The materials used in this fermentation research were heap-leaves (traditional), stainless steel, plastic tin, plastic basket and wooden box. The period of fermentation varies from zero days to 10 days. Physical and chemical tests were carried out for variables in quality determination in the samples. The weight per bean varied from 1.0-1.2 g after drying across the samples and the major color of the dry beans observed was brown except with the samples from stainless steel. The moisture content varied from 5.5-7%. The mineral content and the heavy metals decreased with increase in the fermentation period. A wooden box can conclusively be used as an alternative to heap-leaves as there was no significant difference in the physical features of the samples fermented with the two methods. The use of a wooden box as an alternative for cocoa fermentation is therefore recommended for cocoa farmers.Keywords: fermentation, effects, fermentation materials, period, quality
Procedia PDF Downloads 19810450 Effects of Al on Microstructure and Magnetic Properties of (Nd,Pr)-(Fe,Co)-B Alloys Prepared by Mechanical Alloying
Authors: Rahim Sabbaghizadeh, Mansor Hashim, Nooshin Shourcheh
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Nanocrystalline Nd8Pr2Fe79-xCo5B6Alx (x=0, 1, 2, 3) magnets were prepared by mechanical alloying and respective heat treatment, and the effects of the addition of Al on the microstructure and magnetic properties of Nd-Fe-Co-B alloy were studied. The changes in the nanostructure and magnetic properties were examined by X-Ray diffraction, combined with Field Emission Scanning electron microscopy (FeSEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Addition of Al was found to be effective for improving the coercivity and the hysteresis squareness in Nd–Fe–Co–B magnets without decreasing much the remanent magnetization.Keywords: mechanical alloying, nanocrystalline, Nd-Fe-B, vibrating sample magnetomete
Procedia PDF Downloads 50510449 Non-Perturbative Vacuum Polarization Effects in One- and Two-Dimensional Supercritical Dirac-Coulomb System
Authors: Andrey Davydov, Konstantin Sveshnikov, Yulia Voronina
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There is now a lot of interest to the non-perturbative QED-effects, caused by diving of discrete levels into the negative continuum in the supercritical static or adiabatically slowly varying Coulomb fields, that are created by the localized extended sources with Z > Z_cr. Such effects have attracted a considerable amount of theoretical and experimental activity, since in 3+1 QED for Z > Z_cr,1 ≈ 170 a non-perturbative reconstruction of the vacuum state is predicted, which should be accompanied by a number of nontrivial effects, including the vacuum positron emission. Similar in essence effects should be expected also in both 2+1 D (planar graphene-based hetero-structures) and 1+1 D (one-dimensional ‘hydrogen ion’). This report is devoted to the study of such essentially non-perturbative vacuum effects for the supercritical Dirac-Coulomb systems in 1+1D and 2+1D, with the main attention drawn to the vacuum polarization energy. Although the most of works considers the vacuum charge density as the main polarization observable, vacuum energy turns out to be not less informative and in many respects complementary to the vacuum density. Moreover, the main non-perturbative effects, which appear in vacuum polarization for supercritical fields due to the levels diving into the lower continuum, show up in the behavior of vacuum energy even more clear, demonstrating explicitly their possible role in the supercritical region. Both in 1+1D and 2+1D, we explore firstly the renormalized vacuum density in the supercritical region using the Wichmann-Kroll method. Thereafter, taking into account the results for the vacuum density, we formulate the renormalization procedure for the vacuum energy. To evaluate the latter explicitly, an original technique, based on a special combination of analytical methods, computer algebra tools and numerical calculations, is applied. It is shown that, for a wide range of the external source parameters (the charge Z and size R), in the supercritical region the renormalized vacuum energy could significantly deviate from the perturbative quadratic growth up to pronouncedly decreasing behavior with jumps by (-2 x mc^2), which occur each time, when the next discrete level dives into the negative continuum. In the considered range of variation of Z and R, the vacuum energy behaves like ~ -Z^2/R in 1+1D and ~ -Z^3/R in 2+1D, exceeding deeply negative values. Such behavior confirms the assumption of the neutral vacuum transmutation into the charged one, and thereby of the spontaneous positron emission, accompanying the emergence of the next vacuum shell due to the total charge conservation. To the end, we also note that the methods, developed for the vacuum energy evaluation in 2+1 D, with minimal complements could be carried over to the three-dimensional case, where the vacuum energy is expected to be ~ -Z^4/R and so could be competitive with the classical electrostatic energy of the Coulomb source.Keywords: non-perturbative QED-effects, one- and two-dimensional Dirac-Coulomb systems, supercritical fields, vacuum polarization
Procedia PDF Downloads 19710448 Effects of Tillage and Crop Residues Management in Improving Rainfall-Use Efficiency in Dryland Crops under Sandy Soils
Authors: Cosmas Parwada, Ronald Mandumbu, Handseni Tibugari, Trust Chinyama
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A 3-yr field experiment to evaluate effects of tillage and residue management on soil water storage (SWS), grain yield, harvest index (HI) and water use efficiency (WUE) of sorghum was done in sandy soils. Treatments were conventional (CT) and minimum (MT) tillage without residue retention and conventional (CT × RT) and minimum (MT × RT) tillage with residue retention. Change in SWS was higher under CT and MT than in CT × RT and MT × RT, especially in the 0-10 cm soil layer. Grain yield and HI were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in CT and MT than CT × RT and MT × RT. Grain yield and HI were significantly (P < 0.05) positively correlated to WUE but WUE significantly (P < 0.05) negatively correlated to sand (%) particle content. The SWS was lower in winter but higher in summer and was significantly correlated to soil organic carbon (SOC), sand (%), grain yield (t/ha), HI and WUE. The WUE linearly increasing from first to last cropping seasons in tillage with returned residues; higher in CT × RT and MT × RT that promoted SOC buildup than where crop residues were removed. Soil tillage decreased effects of residues on SWS, WUE, grain yield and HI. Minimum tillage coupled to residue retention sustainably enhanced WUE but further research to investigate the interaction effects of the tillage on WUE and soil fertility management is required. Understanding and considering the WUE in crops can be a primary condition for cropping system designs. The findings pave way for further research and crop management programmes, allowing to valorize the water in crop production.Keywords: evapotranspiration, infiltration rate, organic mulch, sand, water use efficiency
Procedia PDF Downloads 20910447 Geo-Additive Modeling of Family Size in Nigeria
Authors: Oluwayemisi O. Alaba, John O. Olaomi
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The 2013 Nigerian Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) data was used to investigate the determinants of family size in Nigeria using the geo-additive model. The fixed effect of categorical covariates were modelled using the diffuse prior, P-spline with second-order random walk for the nonlinear effect of continuous variable, spatial effects followed Markov random field priors while the exchangeable normal priors were used for the random effects of the community and household. The Negative Binomial distribution was used to handle overdispersion of the dependent variable. Inference was fully Bayesian approach. Results showed a declining effect of secondary and higher education of mother, Yoruba tribe, Christianity, family planning, mother giving birth by caesarean section and having a partner who has secondary education on family size. Big family size is positively associated with age at first birth, number of daughters in a household, being gainfully employed, married and living with partner, community and household effects.Keywords: Bayesian analysis, family size, geo-additive model, negative binomial
Procedia PDF Downloads 53110446 Experimental Studies on the Corrosion Effects of the Concrete Made with Tannery Effluent
Authors: K. Nirmalkumar
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An acute water scarcity is prevailing in the dry season in and around Perundurai (Erode district, Tamil Nadu, India) where there are more number of tannery units. Hence an attempt was made to use the effluent from the tannery industry for construction purpose. The mechanical properties such as compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength and the special properties such as chloride attack, sulphate attack and chemical attack were studied by casting various concrete specimens in form of cube, cylinders and beams, etc. It was observed that the concrete had some reduction in strength while subjected to chloride attack, sulphate attack and chemical attack. So admixtures were selected and optimized in suitable proportion to counter act the adverse effects and the results were found to be satisfactory. In this research study the corrosion results of specimens prepared by using treated and untreated tannery effluent were compared with the concrete specimens prepared by using potable water. It was observed that by the addition of admixtures, the adverse effects due to the usage of the treated and untreated tannery effluent are counteracted.Keywords: corrosion, calcium nitrite, concrete, fly ash
Procedia PDF Downloads 26410445 Bioproduction of Phytohormones by Liquid Fermentation Using a Mexican Strain of Botryodiplodia theobromae
Authors: Laredo Alcalá Elan Iñaky, Hernandez Castillo Daniel, Martinez Hernandez José Luis, Arredondo Valdes Roberto, Gonzalez Gallegos Esmeralda, Anguiano Cabello Julia Cecilia
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Plant hormones are a group of molecules that control different processes ranging from the growth and development of the plant until their response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, the capacity of production of various phytohormones was evaluated from a strain of Botryodiplodia theobromae by liquid fermentation system using the modified Mierch medium added with a hydrolyzate compound of mead all in a reactor without agitation at 28 °C for 15 days. Quantification of the metabolites was performed using high performance liquid chromatography techniques. The results showed that a microbial broth with at least five different types of plant hormones was obtained: gibberellic acid, zeatin, kinetin, indoleacetic acid and jasmonic acid, the last one was higher than the others metabolites produced. The production of such hormones using a single type of microorganism could be in the future a great alternative to reduce production costs and similarly reduce the use of synthetic chemicals.Keywords: biosystem, plant hormones, Botryodiplodia theobromae, fermentation
Procedia PDF Downloads 39710444 Metformin Protects Cardiac Muscle against the Pro-Apoptotic Effects of Hyperglycaemia, Elevated Fatty Acid and Nicotine
Authors: Christopher R. Triggle, Hong Ding, Khaled Machaca, Gnanapragasam Arunachalam
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The antidiabetic drug, metformin, has been in clinical use for over 50 years and remains the first choice drug for the treatment of type two diabetes. In addition to its effectiveness as an oral anti-hyperglycaemic drug metformin also possesses vasculoprotective effects that are assumed to be secondary to its ability to reduce insulin resistance and control glycated hemoglobin levels; however, recent data from our laboratory indicate that metformin also has direct vasoprotective effects that are mediated, at least in part, via the anti-ageing gene, SIRT1. Diabetes is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and it is also well established that tobacco use further enhances the risk of CVD; however, it is not known whether treatment with metformin can offset the negative effects of diabetes and tobacco use on cardiac function. The current study was therefore designed to investigate 1: the effects of hyperglycaemia (HG) either alone or in the presence of elevated fatty acids (palmitate) and nicotine on the protein expression levels of the deacetylase sirtuin 1 (the protein product of SIRT1), anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, pro-apoptotic BIM and the pro-apoptotic, tumour suppressor protein, acetylated p53 in cardiomyocytes. 2: the ability of metformin to prevent the detrimental effects of HG, palmitate and nicotine on cardiomyocyte survival. Cell culture protocols were designed using a rat cardiomyocyte cell line, H9c2, either under normal glycaemic (NG) conditions of 5.5mM glucose, or hyperglycaemic conditions (HG) of 25mM glucose with, or without, added palmitate (250μM) or nicotine (1.0mM) for 24h. Immuno-blotting was used to detect the expression of sirtuin 1, Bcl-2, BIM, acetylated (Ac)-p53, p53 with β-actin used as the reference protein. Exposure to HG, palmitate, or nicotine alone significantly reduced expression of sirtuin1, Bcl-2 and raised the expression levels of acetylated p53 and BIM; however, the combination of HG, palmitate and nicotine had a synergistic effect to significantly suppress the expression levels of sirtuin 1 and Bcl-2, but further enhanced the expression of Ac-p53, and BIM. The inclusion of 1000μM, but not 50μM, metformin in the H9c2 cell culture protocol prevented the effects of HG, palmitate and nicotine on the pro-apoptotic pathways. Collectively these data indicate that metformin, in addition to its anti-hyperglycaemic and vasculoprotective properties, also has direct cardioprotective actions that offset the negative effects of hyerglycaemia, elevated free fatty acids and nicotine on cardiac cell survival. These data are of particular significance for the treatment of patients with diabetes who are also smokers as the inclusion of metformin in their therapeutic treatment plan should help reduce cardiac-related morbidity and mortality.Keywords: apoptosis, cardiac muscle, diabetes, metformin, nicotine
Procedia PDF Downloads 31110443 Anti-tuberculosis, Resistance Modulatory, Anti-pulmonary Fibrosis and Anti-silicosis Effects of Crinum Asiaticum Bulbs and Its Active Metabolite, Betulin
Authors: Theophilus Asante, Comfort Nyarko, Daniel Antwi
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Drug-resistant tuberculosis, together with the associated comorbidities like pulmonary fibrosis and silicosis, has been one of the most serious global public health threats that requires immediate action to curb or mitigate it. This prolongs hospital stays, increases the cost of medication, and increases the death toll recorded annually. Crinum asiaticum bulb (CAE) and betulin (BET) are known for their biological and pharmacological effects. Pharmacological effects reported on CAE include antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic, anti-analgesic, and anti-cancer effects. Betulin has exhibited a multitude of powerful pharmacological properties ranging from antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, anti-microbial, and anti-viral activities. This work sought to investigate the anti-tuberculosis and resistant modulatory effects and also assess their effects on mitigating pulmonary fibrosis and silicosis. In the anti-tuberculosis and resistant modulatory effects, both CAE and BET showed strong antimicrobial activities (31.25 ≤ MIC ≤ 500) µg/ml against the studied microorganisms and also produced significant anti-efflux pump and biofilm inhibitory effects (ρ < 0.0001) as well as exhibiting resistance modulatory and synergistic effects when combined with standard antibiotics. Crinum asiaticum bulbs extract and betulin were shown to possess anti-pulmonary fibrosis effects. There was an increased survival rate in the CAE and BET treatment groups compared to the BLM-induced group. There was a marked decrease in the levels of hydroxyproline and collagen I and III in the CAE and BET treatment groups compared to the BLM-treated group. The treatment groups of CAE and BET significantly downregulated the levels of pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations such as TGF-β1, MMP9, IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-alpha compared to an increase in the BLM-treated groups. The histological findings of the lungs suggested the curative effects of CAE and BET following BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice. The study showed improved lung functions with a wide focal area of viable alveolar spaces and few collagen fibers deposition on the lungs of the treatment groups. In the anti-silicosis and pulmonoprotective effects of CAE and BET, the levels of NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and hydroxyproline, collagen types I and III were significantly reduced by CAE and BET (ρ < 0.0001). Both CAE and BET significantly (ρ < 0.0001) inhibited the levels of hydroxyproline, collagen I and III when compared with the negative control group. On BALF biomarkers such as macrophages, lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils, CAE and BET were able to reduce their levels significantly (ρ < 0.0001). The CAE and BET were examined for anti-oxidant activity and shown to raise the levels of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) while lowering the level of malondialdehyde (MDA). There was an improvement in lung function when lung tissues were examined histologically. Crinum asiaticum bulbs extract and betulin were discovered to exhibit anti-tubercular and resistance-modulatory properties, as well as the capacity to minimize TB comorbidities such as pulmonary fibrosis and silicosis. In addition, CAE and BET may act as protective mechanisms, facilitating the preservation of the lung's physiological integrity. The outcomes of this study might pave the way for the development of leads for producing single medications for the management of drug-resistant tuberculosis and its accompanying comorbidities.Keywords: fibrosis, crinum, tuberculosis, antiinflammation, drug resistant
Procedia PDF Downloads 7910442 Family Values and Honest Attitudes in Pakistan: The Role of Tolerance and Justice Attitudes
Authors: Muhammad Shoaib
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The aim of the study is to examine the effects of family values on honest attitudes by the mediation of tolerance attitudes and justice attitudes among family members. As many other developing settings, Pakistani society is undergoing a rapid and multifaceted social changes, in which traditional thinking coexists and often clashes with modern thinking. Family values have great effects on the honest attitudes among family members as well as all the members of Pakistani society. Tolerance attitudes, justice attitudes, personal experiences and modernity factors are contributing to the development of honest attitudes among family members. Family values attitudes enhance the concept of honesty feelings, fairness, and less thinking towards theft. For the present study 520 respondents were sampled from two urban areas of Punjab province; Lahore and Faisalabad, through proportionate random sampling technique. A survey method was used as a technique of data collection and an interview schedule was administered to collect information from the respondents. The results shows similar positive effects of tolerance and justice attitudes on honest attitude by the mediation of family values attitudes.Keywords: family values, tolerance, justice, honesty, attitudes, Pakistan
Procedia PDF Downloads 43410441 The Effects of Self-Efficacy on Challenge and Threat States
Authors: Nadine Sammy, Mark Wilson, Samuel Vine
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The Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes (TCTSA) states that self-efficacy is an antecedent of challenge and threat. These states result from conscious and unconscious evaluations of situational demands and personal resources and are represented by both cognitive and physiological markers. Challenge is considered a more adaptive stress response as it is associated with a more efficient cardiovascular profile, as well as better performance and attention effects compared with threat. Self-efficacy is proposed to influence challenge/threat because an individual’s belief that they have the skills necessary to execute the courses of action required to succeed contributes to a perception that they can cope with the demands of the situation. This study experimentally examined the effects of self-efficacy on cardiovascular responses (challenge and threat), demand and resource evaluations, performance and attention under pressurised conditions. Forty-five university students were randomly assigned to either a control (n=15), low self-efficacy (n=15) or high self-efficacy (n=15) group and completed baseline and pressurised golf putting tasks. Self-efficacy was manipulated using false feedback adapted from previous studies. Measures of self-efficacy, cardiovascular reactivity, demand and resource evaluations, task performance and attention were recorded. The high self-efficacy group displayed more favourable cardiovascular reactivity, indicative of a challenge state, compared with the low self-efficacy group. The former group also reported high resource evaluations, but no task performance or attention effects were detected. These findings demonstrate that levels of self-efficacy influence cardiovascular reactivity and perceptions of resources under pressurised conditions.Keywords: cardiovascular, challenge, performance, threat
Procedia PDF Downloads 22710440 Radiation Usage Impact of on Anti-Nutritional Compounds (Antitrypsin and Phytic Acid) of Livestock and Poultry Foods
Authors: Mohammad Khosravi, Ali Kiani, Behroz Dastar, Parvin Showrang
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Review was carried out on important anti-nutritional compounds of livestock and poultry foods and the effect of radiation usage. Nowadays, with advancement in technology, different methods have been considered for the optimum usage of nutrients in livestock and poultry foods. Steaming, extruding, pelleting, and the use of chemicals are the most common and popular methods in food processing. Use of radiation in food processing researches in the livestock and poultry industry is currently highly regarded. Ionizing (electrons, gamma) and non-ionizing beams (microwave and infrared) are the most useable rays in animal food processing. In recent researches, these beams have been used to remove and reduce the anti-nutritional factors and microbial contamination and improve the digestibility of nutrients in poultry and livestock food. The evidence presented will help researchers to recognize techniques of relevance to them. Simplification of some of these techniques, especially in developing countries, must be addressed so that they can be used more widely.Keywords: antitrypsin, gamma anti-nutritional components, phytic acid, radiation
Procedia PDF Downloads 33910439 Seismic Microzonation of El-Fayoum New City, Egypt
Authors: Suzan Salem, Heba Moustafa, Abd El-Aziz Abd El-Aal
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Seismic micro hazard zonation for urban areas is the first step towards a seismic risk analysis and mitigation strategy. Essential here is to obtain a proper understanding of the local subsurface conditions and to evaluate ground-shaking effects. In the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the seismic hazard considering local site effects by carrying out detailed geotechnical and geophysical site characterization in El-Fayoum New City. Seismic hazard analysis and microzonation of El-Fayoum New City are addressed in three parts: in the first part, estimation of seismic hazard is done using seismotectonic and geological information. The second part deals with site characterization using geotechnical and shallow geophysical techniques. In the last part, local site effects are assessed by carrying out one-dimensional (1-D) ground response analysis using the equivalent linear method by program SHAKE 2000. Finally, microzonation maps have been prepared. The detailed methodology, along with experimental details, collected data, results and maps are presented in this paper.Keywords: El-Fayoum, microzonation, seismotectonic, Egypt
Procedia PDF Downloads 37410438 A Review on Application of Waste Tire in Concrete
Authors: M. A. Yazdi, J. Yang, L. Yihui, H. Su
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The application of recycle waste tires into civil engineering practices, namely asphalt paving mixtures and cementbased materials has been gaining ground across the world. This review summarizes and compares the recent achievements in the area of plain rubberized concrete (PRC), in details. Different treatment methods have been discussed to improve the performance of rubberized Portland cement concrete. The review also includes the effects of size and amount of tire rubbers on mechanical and durability properties of PRC. The microstructure behaviour of the rubberized concrete was detailed.Keywords: waste rubber aggregates, microstructure, treatment methods, size and content effects
Procedia PDF Downloads 31910437 Employment Mobility and the Effects of Wage Level and Tenure
Authors: Idit Kalisher, Israel Luski
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One result of the growing dynamicity of labor markets in recent decades is a wider scope of employment mobility – i.e., transitions between employers, either within or between careers. Employment mobility decisions are primarily affected by the current employment status of the worker, which is reflected in wage and tenure. Using 34,328 observations from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLS79), which were derived from the USA population between 1990 and 2012, this paper aims to investigate the effects of wage and tenure over employment mobility choices, and additionally to examine the effects of other personal characteristics, individual labor market characteristics and macroeconomic factors. The estimation strategy was designed to address two challenges that arise from the combination of the model and the data: (a) endogeneity of the wage and the tenure in the choice equation; and (b) unobserved heterogeneity, as the data of this research is longitudinal. To address (a), estimation was performed using two-stage limited dependent variable procedure (2SLDV); and to address (b), the second stage was estimated using femlogit – an implementation of the multinomial logit model with fixed effects. Among workers who have experienced at least one turnover, the wage was found to have a main effect on career turnover likelihood of all workers, whereas the wage effect on job turnover likelihood was found to be dependent on individual characteristics. The wage was found to negatively affect the turnover likelihood and the effect was found to vary across wage level: high-wage workers were more affected compared to low-wage workers. Tenure was found to have a main positive effect on both turnover types’ likelihoods, though the effect was moderated by the wage. The findings also reveal that as their wage increases, women are more likely to turnover than men, and academically educated workers are more likely to turnover within careers. Minorities were found to be as likely as Caucasians to turnover post wage-increase, but less likely to turnover with each additional tenure year. The wage and the tenure effects were found to vary also between careers. The difference in attitude towards money, labor market opportunities and risk aversion could explain these findings. Additionally, the likelihood of a turnover was found to be affected by previous unemployment spells, age, and other labor market and personal characteristics. The results of this research could assist policymakers as well as business owners and employers. The former may be able to encourage women and older workers’ employment by considering the effects of gender and age on the probability of a turnover, and the latter may be able to assess their employees’ likelihood of a turnover by considering the effects of their personal characteristics.Keywords: employment mobility, endogeneity, femlogit, turnover
Procedia PDF Downloads 14410436 Effects of Bilateral Electroconvulsive Therapy on Autobiographical Memories in Asian Patients
Authors: Lai Gwen Chan, Yining Ong, Audrey Yoke Poh Wong
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Background. The efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a form of treatment to a range of mental disorders is well-established. However, ECT is often associated with either temporary or persistent cognitive side-effects, resulting in the failure of wider prescription. Of which, retrograde amnesia is the most commonly reported cognitive side-effect. Most studies found a recalling deficit in autobiographical memories to be short-term, although a few have reported more persistent amnesic effects. Little is known about ECT-related amnesic effects in Asian population. Hence, this study aims to resolve conflicting findings, as well as to better elucidate the effects of ECT on cognitive functioning in a local sample. Method: 12 patients underwent bilateral ECT under the care of Psychological Medicine Department, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore. Participants’ cognition and level of functioning were assessed at four time-points: before ECT, between the third and fourth induced seizure, at the end of the whole course of ECT, and two months after the index course of ECT. Results: It was found that Global Assessment of Functioning scores increased significantly at the completion of ECT. Case-by-case analyses also revealed an overall improvement in Personal Semantic and Autobiographical memory two months after the index course of ECT. A transient dip in both personal semantic and autobiographical memory scores was observed in one participant between the third and fourth induced seizure, but subsequently resolved and showed better performance than at baseline. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that ECT is an effective form of treatment to alleviate the severity of symptoms of the diagnosis. ECT does not affect attention, language, executive functioning, personal semantic and autobiographical memory adversely. The findings suggest that Asian patients may respond to bilateral ECT differently from Western samples.Keywords: electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), autobiographical memory, cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorder
Procedia PDF Downloads 18910435 Immunomodulatory Effects of Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells on T-Cell Populations at Tissue-Related Oxygen Level
Authors: A. N. Gornostaeva, P. I. Bobyleva, E. R. Andreeva, L. B. Buravkova
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Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) possess immunomodulatory properties. The effect of MSCs on the crucial cellular immunity compartment – T-cells is of a special interest. It is known that MSC tissue niche and expected milieu of their interaction with T- cells are characterized by low oxygen concentration, whereas the in vitro experiments usually are carried out at a much higher ambient oxygen (20%). We firstly evaluated immunomodulatory effects of MSCs on T-cells at tissue-related oxygen (5%) after interaction implied cell-to-cell contacts and paracrine factors only. It turned out that MSCs under reduced oxygen can effectively suppress the activation and proliferation of PHA-stimulated T-cells and can provoke decrease in the production of proinflammatory and increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines. In hypoxia some effects were amplified (inhibition of proliferation, anti-inflammatory cytokine profile shift). This impact was more evident after direct cell-to-cell interaction; lack of intercellular contacts could revoke the potentiating effect of hypoxia.Keywords: MSCs, T-cells, activation, low oxygen, cell-to-cell interaction, immunosuppression
Procedia PDF Downloads 37810434 Effects of Elevated Temperatures on the Pumice Based Geoplymer Microstructure
Authors: Mehrzad Mohabbi Yadollahi, Pouneh Abdollahifard, Behzad Mokhtare, Majid Atashafrazeh
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Geopolymers are believed to provide good fire resistance. The effects of elevated temperatures on mechanical and microstructural properties of pumice-based geopolymer were investigated in this study. Pumice based geopolymer was exposed to elevated temperatures of 200, 400, 600, and 800 ºC for 3 hours. The residual strength of these specimens was determined after cooling at room temperature and microstructures of these samples were investigated by FTIR and SEM analyses. Specimens which were initially grey turned reddish accompanied by the appearance of cracks as temperatures increased to 600 and 800 ºC.Keywords: geopolymer, pumice, elevated temperature, SEM, FTIR
Procedia PDF Downloads 43410433 Drug-Drug Interaction Prediction in Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Rashini Maduka, C. R. Wijesinghe, A. R. Weerasinghe
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Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) can happen when two or more drugs are taken together. Today DDIs have become a serious health issue due to adverse drug effects. In vivo and in vitro methods for identifying DDIs are time-consuming and costly. Therefore, in-silico-based approaches are preferred in DDI identification. Most machine learning models for DDI prediction are used chemical and biological drug properties as features. However, some drug features are not available and costly to extract. Therefore, it is better to make automatic feature engineering. Furthermore, people who have diabetes already suffer from other diseases and take more than one medicine together. Then adverse drug effects may happen to diabetic patients and cause unpleasant reactions in the body. In this study, we present a model with a graph convolutional autoencoder and a graph decoder using a dataset from DrugBank version 5.1.3. The main objective of the model is to identify unknown interactions between antidiabetic drugs and the drugs taken by diabetic patients for other diseases. We considered automatic feature engineering and used Known DDIs only as the input for the model. Our model has achieved 0.86 in AUC and 0.86 in AP.Keywords: drug-drug interaction prediction, graph embedding, graph convolutional networks, adverse drug effects
Procedia PDF Downloads 9510432 Functions and Effects of Green Facades in the Developing Countries: Case Study of Tehran
Authors: S. Jahani, V. Choopankareh
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Many people lost their life caused by environmental pollution every year. The negative effects of environmental crises appear to be much higher in Asian countries. The most important environmental issue in the developing countries and especially in Tehran, to our best knowledge, is air pollution that has affected many aspects of life in society. Environmental topics related to technology’s development have been salient issues among the main concerns of designers. Green facades are the most considerable solutions which designers and architectures are focused on, all over the world. But there are lots of behavioral and psychological problems about this point. In this line, this excavation has tried to reveal the cultural and psychological influences of green façade in developing countries like Tehran. Green façades in developing countries are so useless, although they are so expensive. As a matter of fact, users consider green facade as a decorative item. This research is an attempt to recognize the reasons which show green façades as worthless element. Also, some solutions are presented to promote green façades in the developing countries as an intrinsic solution. There are so many environmental threats, especially about air pollution, for a city as Tehran, which might be solved by green facades.Keywords: air pollution, developing countries, effects, green facades
Procedia PDF Downloads 27010431 Pregnant Women with Dental Amalgam Fillings Limiting Their Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields to Prevent the Toxic Effects of Mercury in Their Fetuses
Authors: Ghazal Mortazavi, S. M. J. Mortazavi
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Although seems to be ultra-conservative, it has recently been suggested that whenever it is possible, pregnant women should postpone dental amalgam restorations to avoid the toxic effect of mercury on the foetus. Dental amalgam fillings cause significant exposure to elemental mercury vapour in the general population. Over the past several years, our lab has focused on the health effects of exposure of laboratory animals and humans to different sources of electromagnetic fields such as mobile phones and their base stations, mobile phone jammers, laptop computers, radars, dentistry cavitrons and MRI. Today, substantial evidence indicates that mercury even at low doses may lead to toxicity. Increased release of mercury from dental amalgam fillings after exposure to MRI or microwave radiation emitted by mobile phones has been previously shown by our team. Moreover, our recent studies on the effects of stronger magnetic fields entirely confirmed our previous findings. From the other point of view, we have also shown that papers which reported no increased release of mercury after MRI, may have some methodological flaws. As a strong positive correlation between maternal and cord blood mercury levels has been found in some studies, our findings regarding the effect of exposure to electromagnetic fields on the release of mercury from dental amalgam fillings lead us to this conclusion that pregnant women with dental amalgam fillings should limit their exposure to electromagnetic fields to prevent toxic effects of mercury in their foetuses.Keywords: pregnancy, foetus, mercury release, dental amalgam, electromagnetic fields, MRI, mobile phones
Procedia PDF Downloads 271