Search results for: small road signs

Authors: Souvik Phadikar, Nidul Sinha, Rajdeep Ghosh

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In brainwaves research using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, finding the most relevant and effective feature set for identification of activities in the human brain is a big challenge till today because of the random nature of the signals. The feature extraction method is a key issue to solve this problem. Finding those features that prove to give distinctive pictures for different activities and similar for the same activities is very difficult, especially for the number of activities. The performance of a classifier accuracy depends on this quality of feature set. Further, more number of features result in high computational complexity and less number of features compromise with the lower performance. In this paper, a novel idea of the selection of optimal feature set using a heuristically optimized deep autoencoder is presented. Using various feature extraction methods, a vast number of features are extracted from the EEG signals and fed to the autoencoder deep neural network. The autoencoder encodes the input features into a small set of codes. To avoid the gradient vanish problem and normalization of the dataset, a meta-heuristic search algorithm is used to minimize the mean square error (MSE) between encoder input and decoder output. To reduce the feature set into a smaller one, 4 hidden layers are considered in the autoencoder network; hence it is called Heuristically Optimized Deep Autoencoder (HO-DAE). In this method, no features are rejected; all the features are combined into the response of responses of the hidden layer. The results reveal that higher accuracy can be achieved using optimal reduced features. The proposed HO-DAE is also compared with the regular autoencoder to test the performance of both. The performance of the proposed method is validated and compared with the other two methods recently reported in the literature, which reveals that the proposed method is far better than the other two methods in terms of classification accuracy.

Keywords: autoencoder, brainwave signal analysis, electroencephalogram, feature extraction, feature selection, optimization

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Authors: William Ramirez-Benavides

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The mite Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman (Mesostigmata: Varroidae), is an exclusive hematophagous parasite of the Apis honey bees (Apidae: Hymenoptera). The early phoretic female mites have multiple small inactivated oocytes. Consequently, for the initial growth and vitellogenesis of the oocytes, the mother mite must feed on the hemolymph of the host, as a unique food source, by taking intermittently variable number of blood meals: 1. During the phoretic phase, to initiate vitellogenesis of the terminal oocyte, 2. From a freshly capped bee cell with a bee larva, up to the apolysis stage, to complete vitellogenesis and embryogenesis of the terminal oocyte, and 3. From all pupal stages, up to the imago stage, to induce oogenesis and vitellogenesis of the would-be nonembryonic female eggs. Additionally, oogenesis and vitellogenesis expressions in Varroa destructor and other Varroidae varies according to environmental conditions, e.g., chemical attractions produced by the adult bee and larvae, race of bees, sex of the larva, developmental period of the bee larva, food quality and quantity, and superparasitism (several cofoundressess). Also, the feeding stimuli obtained from the host hemolymph, indirectly regulate the reproductive physiology of the mite, by inducing different vitellogenin expressions, the production of a male egg first in the sequence followed by vitellogenesis of the would-be female eggs during the pupal stages. Furthermore, the different uptakes of hemolymph from the host, also indirectly induce the production of the male egg first in the sequence, local mate competition (LMC) and variable adaptive female sex ratios in the broods, especially when superparasitism occurs. Consequently, reproduction in Varroa destructor, and probably in other Varroidae, depends exclusively on feeding in the hemolymph of the bee host, even during the phoretic phase, the prepupal stages and during the pupal stages; and that, the feeding factors are common syndromes in other Varroidae.

Keywords: oogenesis, sex determination, varroa destructor, vitellogenesis

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Authors: Paola Villoria Sáez, Mercedes Del Río Merino, Jaime Santa Cruz Astorqui, Antonio Rodríguez Sánchez

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The Spanish construction industry generates large volumes of waste. However, despite the legislative improvements introduced for construction and demolition waste (CDW), construction waste recycling rate remains well below other European countries and also below the target set for 2020. This situation can be due to many difficulties. i.e.: The difficulty of onsite segregation or the estimation in advance of the total amount generated. Despite these difficulties, the proper management of CDW must be one of the main aspects to be considered by the construction companies. In this sense, some large national companies are implementing Integrated Management Systems (IMS) including not only quality and safety aspects, but also environment issues. However, although this fact is a reality for large construction companies still the vast majority of companies need to adopt this trend. In short, it is common to find in small and medium enterprises a decentralized management system: A single system of quality management, another for system safety management and a third one for environmental management system (EMS). In addition, the EMSs currently used address CDW superficially and are mainly focus on other environmental concerns such as carbon emissions. Therefore, this research determines and implements a specific best practice management system for CDW based on eight procedures in a Spanish Construction company. The main advantages and drawbacks of its implementation are highlighted. Results of this study show that establishing and implementing a CDW management system in building works, improve CDW quantification as the company obtains their own CDW generation ratio. This helps construction stakeholders when developing CDW Management Plans and also helps to achieve a higher adjustment of CDW management costs. Finally, integrating this CDW system with the EMS of the company favors the cohesion of the construction process organization at all stages, establishing responsibilities in the field of waste and providing a greater control over the process.

Keywords: construction and demolition waste, waste management, best practices, waste minimization, building, quality management systems

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Authors: Sergei Voychuk

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Introduction: Adaptive response (AR) is a manifestation of radiation hormesis, which deal with the radiation resistance that may be increased with the pretreatment with small doses of radiation. In the current study, we evaluated the potency of radiofrequency EMF to induce the AR mechanisms and to increase a resistance to UV light. Methods: Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains, which were created to study induction of mutagenesis and recombination, were used in the study. The strains have mutations in rad2 and rad54 genes, responsible for DNA repair: nucleotide excision repair (PG-61), postreplication repair (PG-80) and mitotic (crossover) recombination (T2). An induction of mutation and recombination are revealed due to the formation of red colonies on agar plates. The PG-61 and T2 are UV sensitive strains, while PG-80 is sensitive to ionizing radiation. Extremely high frequency electromagnetic field (EHF-EMF) was used. The irradiation was performed in floating mode and frequency changed during exposure from 57 GHz to 62 GHz. The power of irradiation was 100 mkW, and duration of exposure was 10 and 30 min. Treatment was performed at RT and then cells were stored at 28° C during 1 h without any exposure but after that they were treated with UV light (254nm) for 20 sec (strain T2) and 120 sec (strain PG-61 and PG-80). Cell viability and quantity of red colonies were determined after 5 days of cultivation on agar plates. Results: It was determined that EHF-EMF caused 10-20% decrease of viability of T2 and PG-61 strains, while UV showed twice stronger effect (30-70%). EHF-EMF pretreatment increased T2 resistance to UV, and decreased it in PG-61. The PG-80 strain was insensitive to EHF-EMF and no AR effect was determined for this strain. It was not marked any induction of red colonies formation in T2 and PG-80 strain after EHF or UV exposure. The quantity of red colonies was 2 times more in PG-61 strain after EHF-EMF treatment and at least 300 times more after UV exposure. The pretreatment of PG-61 with EHF-EMF caused at least twice increase of viability and consequent decrease of amount of red colonies. Conclusion: EHF-EMF may induce AR in yeast cells and increase their viability under UV treatment.

Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, EHF-EMF, UV light, adaptive response

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Authors: Maryam Salehi, Gholamreza Bonyadinejad

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The application of agricultural plastic products like mulch, greenhouse covers, and silage films is increasing due to their economic benefits in providing an early and better-quality harvest. In 2015, the 4 million tons (valued a 10.6 million USD) global market for agricultural plastic films was estimated to grow by 5.6% per year through 2030. Despite the short-term benefits provided by plastic products, their long-term sustainability issues and negative impacts on soil health are not well understood. After their removal from the field, some plastic residuals remain in the soil. Plastic residuals in farmlands may fragment to small particles called microplastics (d<5mm). The microplastics' exposure to solar radiation could alter their surface chemistry and make them susceptible to fragmentation. Thus, this study examined the photodegradation of low density polyethylene as the model microplastics that are released to the agriculture farmland. The variation of plastic’s surface chemistry, morphology, and bulk characteristics were studied after accelerated UV-A radiation experiments and sampling from an agricultural field. The Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated the formation of oxidized surface functional groups onto the microplastics surface due to the photodegradation. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis revealed an increased crystallinity for the photodegraded microplastics compared to the new samples. The gel permeation chromatography (GPC) demonstrated the reduced molecular weight for the polymer due to the photodegradation. This study provides an important opportunity to advance understanding of soil pollution. Understanding the plastic residuals’ variations as they are left in the soil is providing a critical piece of information to better estimate the microplastics' impacts on environmental biodiversity, ecosystem sustainability, and food safety.

Keywords: soil health, plastic pollution, sustainability, photodegradation

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Authors: Young-Taeg Kim, Gwang Ho Seo, Hyungju Oh, Ho Kyung Ha, Kuk Jin Kim

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Kim et al., hypothesized an increase in volume transport in the Korea Strait based on the concurrent increase in water temperature and mean sea level observed by the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency (KHOA) in the vicinity of the Korea Strait from 2000 to 2009. Since then, to our best knowledge, no definitive studies have been reported on the increase in volume transport through the Korea Strait, but the observed water temperature (2000-2021) and sea level (1989-2021) in the Korea Strait and East Sea have been found to be increasing. In particular, the rapid increase rate in the mean sea level rise (2.55~3.53 mm/y) in these areas cannot be explained by only steric effect due to the increased water temperature. It is more reasonable interpretation that the sea level rise is due to an increase in the volume transport of warm and salty currents. If the increase in the volume transport is explained by the geostrophic equation without considering the sea level rise in the Korea Strait, the current velocity should increase. However, up to now, there are no reports of an increase in current velocity from direct observations using ADCP (e.g., observations of Camellia) or from various numerical models. Therefore, the increase in volume transport cannot be explained by the geostrophic equation. Another possible explanation for the increase in the volume transport is the effect of wind. Although Korea is dominated by monsoon, it is affected by winds according to El Niño and La Niña, which have a cycle of about 3 to 4 years. During El Niño (La Niña), northerly winds (southerly winds) prevail in Korea. Consequently, it is inferred that the transported volume in the Korea Strait slowly increases interannually. However, in this study, it was difficult to find a clear correlation between annually-averaged mean sea level and El Niño (or La Niña) during 1989-2021. This is probably due to the interactions of the PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and AO (Arctic Oscillation) along with the ENSO (El niño-Southern Oscillation). However, it is clear that the interannual variability of winds is affecting the volume transport in the Korean Strait. On the other hand, the effect of global sea level rise on the volume transport in the Korea Strait is small compared to the interannual variability of the volume transport, but it seems to play a constant role.

Keywords: mean sea level, volume transport, El nino, La nina

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Authors: Vivek Anand, Rainer Naegele

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Industry 4.0 envisages 'smart' manufacturing and services, taking the automation of the 3rd Industrial Revolution to the autonomy of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Powered by innovations in technology and business models, this disruptive transformation is revitalising industry by integrating silos across and beyond value chains. Motivated by the challenges faced by SMEs and Startups in understanding and adopting Industry 4.0, this paper aims to analyse the concept of Growth Poles and evaluate the possibility of its application to Innovation Clusters that strive to propel Industry 4.0 adoption and capacity building. The proposed paper applies qualitative research methodologies including focus groups and survey questionnaires to identify the various factors that affect formation and development of Innovation Clusters. Employing content analysis, the interaction between SMEs and other ecosystem players in such clusters is studied. A strong collaborative culture is a key driver of digital transformation and technology adoption across sectors, value chains and supply chains; and will position these cluster-based growth poles at the forefront of industrial renaissance. Motivated by this argument, and based on the results of the qualitative research, a roadmap will be proposed to position Innovation Clusters as Growth Poles and effective ecosystems to support Industry 4.0 adoption in a region in the medium to long term. This paper will contribute to the current understanding of the role of Innovation Clusters in capacity building. Relevant management and policy implications stem from the analysis. Furthermore, the findings will be helpful for academicians and policymakers alike, who can leverage an ‘innovation cluster policy’ to enable Industry 4.0 Growth Poles in their regions.

Keywords: digital transformation, fourth industrial revolution, growth poles, industry 4.0, innovation clusters, innovation policy, SMEs and startups

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Authors: Kahlouche Amal, Touzene F. Zohra, Betatache Fatihaet Nouani Abdelouahab

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The development of the world production of the cheese these last decades, as well as agents' greater request cheap coagulants, accentuated the search for new surrogates of the rennet. What about the interest to explore the vegetable biodiversity, the source well cheap of many naturals metabolites that the scientists today praise it (thistle, latex of fig tree, Cardoon, seeds of melon). Indeed, a big interest is concerned the search for surrogates of vegetable origin. The objective of the study is to show the possibility of extracting a protease coagulant the milk from the cake of Sunflower, available raw material and the potential source of surrogates of rennet. so, the determination of the proteolytic activity of raw extracts, the purification, the elimination of the pigments of tint of the enzymatic preparations, a better knowledge of the coagulative properties through study of the effect of certain factors (temperature, pH, concentration in CaCl2) are so many factors which contribute to value milk particularly those produced by the small ruminants of the Algerian dairy exploitations. Otherwise, extracts coagulants of vegetable origin allowed today to value traditional, in addition, although the extract coagulants of vegetable origin made it possible today to develop traditional cheeses whose Iberian peninsula is the promoter, but the test of 'pressed paste not cooked' cheese manufacturing led to the semi-scale pilot; and that, by using the enzymatic extract of sunflower (Helianthus annus) which gave satisfactory results as well to the level of outputs as on the sensory level,which, statistically,did not give any significant difference between studied cheeses. These results confirm the possibility of use of this coagulase as a substitute of rennet commercial on an industrial scale.

Keywords: characterization, cheese, Rennet, sunflower

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Authors: S. Lemoussu, J. C. Chaudemar, R. A. Vingerhoeds

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The aeronautics sector is currently living an unprecedented growth largely due to innovative projects. In several cases, such innovative developments are being carried out by Small and Medium sized-Enterprises (SMEs). For instance, in Europe, a handful of SMEs are leading projects like airships, large civil drones, or flying cars. These SMEs have all limited resources, must make strategic decisions, take considerable financial risks and in the same time must take into account the constraints of safety, cost, time and performance as any commercial organization in this industry. Moreover, today, no international regulations fully exist for the development and certification of this kind of projects. The absence of such a precise and sufficiently detailed regulatory framework requires a very close contact with regulatory instances. But, SMEs do not always have sufficient resources and internal knowledge to handle this complexity and to discuss these issues. This poses additional challenges for those SMEs that have system integration responsibilities and that must provide all the necessary means of compliance to demonstrate their ability to design, produce, and operate airships with the expected level of safety and reliability. The final objective of our research is thus to provide a methodological framework supporting SMEs in their development taking into account recent innovation and institutional rules of the sector. We aim to provide a contribution to the problematic by developing a specific Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach. Airspace regulation, aeronautics standards and international norms on systems engineering are taken on board to be formalized in a set of models. This paper presents the on-going research project combining Systems Engineering and Project Management process modeling and taking into account the metamodeling problematic.

Keywords: aeronautics, certification, process modeling, project management, SME, systems engineering

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Authors: S. Altmeyer, B. Hof, F. Marques, J. M. Lopez

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We present numerical simulations concerning the reversal of spiraling vortices in short highly counter-rotating cylinders. Increasing the differential cylinder rotation results in global flow-inversion is which develops various different and complex flow dynamics of several quasi-periodic solutions that differ in their number of vortex cells in the bulk. The dynamics change from being dominated of the inner cylinder boundary layer with ’passive’ only responding outer one to be dominated by the outer cylinder boundary layer with only responding inner one. Solutions exist on either two or three tori invariant manifolds whereby they appear as symmetric or asymmetric states. We find for either moderate and high inner cylinder rotation speed the quasiperiodic flow to consist of only two vortex cells but differ as the vortices has opposite spiraling direction. These both flows live on 2-tori but differ in number of symmetries. While for the quasi-periodic flow (q^a_2) at lower rotation speed a pair of symmetrically related 2-tori T2 exists the quasi-periodic flow (q^s_2) at higher rotation speeds is symmetric living on a single 2-torus T2. In addition these both flows differ due to their dominant azimuthal m modes. The first is dominated by m=1 whereas for the latter m=3 contribution is largest. The 2-tori states are separated by a further quasi-periodic flow (q^a_3) living on pair of symmetrically related 3-tori T3. This flow offers a ’periodical’ competition between a two and three vortex cell states in the bulk. This flow is also an m=1 solution as for the quasiperiodic flows living on the pair of symmetrically-related 2-tori states. Moreover we find hysteresis resulting in coexisting regions of different quasiperiodic flows q^s_2 and q^a_3 with increasing and decreasing the differential rotation.

Keywords: transition, bifurcation, torus, symmetries

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Authors: Marcin Jakiel, Maria Kurek, Karolina Gutkowska, Sylwia Sanakiewicz, Dominika Stolarczyk, Jakub Batko, Rafał Jakiel, Mateusz K. Hołda

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The geometry of RVOT is extremely complicated. It is an irregular block with an ellipsoidal cross-section, whose dimensions decrease toward the pulmonary valve and measure 33.82 (IQR 30,51-39,36), 28.82 (IQR 26,11-32,22), 27.95 ± 4,11 for width [mm] and 33.41 ± 6,14, 26.99 ± 4,41, 26.91 ± 4,00 [mm] for depth, in the basal, middle and subpulmonary parts, respectively. In a sagittal section view, the RVOT heads upward and slightly backward. Its anterior perimeter has an average length of 41.96 mm and inclines to the transverse plane at an angle of 50.77° (IQR 46,53°-58,70°). In the posterior region, the RVOT is shorter (18.17mm) and flexes anteriorly. Therefore, the slope of the upper part of the rear wall to the transverse plane is an acute angle (open toward the rear) of 44,58° (IQR 37,30°-51,25°), while in the lower part it is an angle close to a right angle of 94,30°±15,44°. In addition, the thickness of the RVOT wall in the diastolic phase, at the posterior perimeter at the base, in the middle of the length and subpulmonary measure 3,80 mm ± 0,88 mm, 3,56 mm ± 0,73 mm, 3,56 mm ± 0,65 mm, respectively. In frontal cross-section, the RVOT rises on the interventricular septum, which makes it possible to distinguish the septal and supraseptal parts on its left periphery. The angles (facing the vertices to the right) of the inclination of these parts to the transverse plane are 75.5° (IQR 66,44°-81,11°) and 107.01° (IQR 99,09 – 115,23°), respectively, which allows us to conclude that the direction of the RVOT long axis changes from left to right. The above analysis shows that there is no single RVOT axis. Two axes can be distinguished, the one for the upper RVOT being more backward and leftward. The aforementioned forward deflection of the posterior wall and the RVOT's elevation over the interventricular septum, suggest that access to the subpulmonary region may be difficult. It should be emphasized that this area is often the target for ablation of ventricular arrhythmias. The small thickness of the RVOT posterior wall, with its difficult geometry, may favor its perforation into the pericardium or ascending aorta.

Keywords: angle, geometry, operation access, position, RVOT, shape

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Authors: S. S. Sree Sanker, K. N. Madhusoodanan

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Optical biosensors are dominant alternative for traditional analytical methods, because of their small size, simple design and high sensitivity. Photonic sensing method is one of the recent advancing technology for biosensors. It measures the change in refractive index which is induced by the difference in molecular interactions due to the change in concentration of the analyte. Glucose is an aldosic monosaccharide, which is a metabolic source in many of the organisms. The terahertz waves occupies the space between infrared and microwaves in the electromagnetic spectrum. Terahertz waves are expected to be applied to various types of sensors for detecting harmful substances in blood, cancer cells in skin and micro bacteria in vegetables. We have designed glucose sensors using silicon based 1D and 2D photonic crystal pillar arrays in terahertz frequency range. 1D photonic crystal has rectangular pillars with height 100 µm, length 1600 µm and width 50 µm. The array period of the crystal is 500 µm. 2D photonic crystal has 5×5 cylindrical pillar array with an array period of 75 µm. Height and diameter of the pillar array are 160 µm and 100 µm respectively. Two samples considered in the work are blood and glucose solution, which are labelled as sample 1 and sample 2 respectively. The proposed sensor detects the concentration of glucose in the samples from 0 to 100 mg/dL. For this, the crystal was irradiated with 0.3 to 3 THz waves. By analyzing the obtained S parameter, the refractive index of the crystal corresponding to the particular concentration of glucose was measured using the parameter retrieval method. Refractive indices of the two crystals decreased gradually with the increase in concentration of glucose in the sample. For 1D photonic crystals, a gradual decrease in refractive index was observed at 1 THz. 2D photonic crystal showed this behavior at 2 THz. The proposed sensor was simulated using CST Microwave studio. This will enable us to develop a model which can be used to characterize a glucose sensor. The present study is expected to contribute to blood glucose monitoring.

Keywords: CST microwave studio, glucose sensor, photonic crystal, terahertz waves

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Authors: Christine Fräulin, Daniela Schurr, Hamed Shahidi Rad, Gerrit Waters, Günter Rinke, Roland Dittmeyer, Michael Nilles

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The reaction mechanisms of many liquid-phase reactions in organic chemistry have not yet been sufficiently clarified. Process conditions of several hundred degrees celsius and pressures to ten megapascals complicate the sampling and the determination of kinetic data. Space resolved in-situ measurements promises new insights. A non-invasive in-situ measurement technique has the advantages that no sample preparation is necessary, there is no change in sample mixture before analysis and the sampling do no lead to interventions in the flow. Thus, the goal of our research was the development of a contact-free spatially resolved measurement technique for kinetic studies of liquid phase reaction under process conditions. Therefore we used laser Raman spectroscopy combined with an optical transparent microchannel reactor. To show the performance of the system we choose the oxidation of cyclohexane as sample reaction. Cyclohexane oxidation is an economically important process. The products are intermediates for caprolactam and adipic acid, which are starting materials for polyamide 6 and 6.6 production. To maintain high selectivities of 70 to 90 %, the reaction is performed in industry at a low conversion of about six percent. As Raman spectroscopy is usually very selective but not very sensitive the detection of the small product concentration in cyclohexane oxidation is quite challenging. To meet these requirements, an optical experimental setup was optimized to determine the concentrations by laser Raman spectroscopy with respect to good detection sensitivity. With this measurement technique space resolved kinetic studies of uncatalysed and homogeneous catalyzed cyclohexane oxidation were carried out to obtain details about the reaction mechanism.

Keywords: in-situ laser raman spectroscopy, space resolved kinetic measurements, homogeneous catalysis, chemistry

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Authors: Tesfay Gidey, Emiru Birhane, Ashenafi Manaye, Hailemariam Kassa, Tesfay Atsbha, Negasi Solomon, Hadgu Hishe, Aklilu Negussie, Petr Madera, Jose G. Borges

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The globally endangered Dracaena ombet is one of the ten dragon multipurpose tree species in arid ecosystems. Anthropogenic and natural factors are now impacting the sustainability of the species. This study was conducted to prioritize criteria and alternative strategies for the conservation of the species using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) model by involving all relevant stakeholders in the Desa'a dry Afromontane forest in northern Ethiopia. Information about the potential alternative strategies and the criteria for their evaluation was first collected from experts, personal experiences, and literature reviews. Afterward, they were validated using stakeholders' focus group discussions. Five candidate strategies with three evaluation criteria were considered for prioritization using the AHP techniques. The overall priority ranking value of the stakeholders showed that the ecological criterion was deemed as the most essential factor for the choice of alternative strategies, followed by the economic and social criteria. The minimum cut-off strategy, combining exclosures with the collection of only 5% of plant parts from the species, soil and water conservation, and silviculture interventions, was selected as the best alternative strategy for sustainable D. ombet conservation. The livelihood losses due to the selected strategy should be compensated by the collection of non-timber forest products, poultry farming, home gardens, rearing small ruminants, beekeeping, and agroforestry. This approach may be extended to study other dragon tree species and explore strategies for the conservation of other arid ecosystems.

Keywords: conservation strategies, analytical hierarchy process model, Desa'a forest, endangered species, Ethiopia, overexploitation

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Authors: Li Pan

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The recently prevalent government procurement of public services in China boasts a new form of government’s provision of public service through the purchasing of social work from social organizations, a new measure of the transformation in governmental functions as well as an unprecedented opportunity for the development of social organizations. For the past few years, the phenomenon of a surge in the number of social work organizations and social work staff emerged right with the initiatives of energetically carrying out the purchase of public services by the government. Such efforts have presented the strong determination of the Chinese government in building a small government by streamlining administration and delegating part of the governmental power to social organizations. This paper is based on the 2012-2014 performance appraisal project of the Guangzhou municipal government’s purchasing of public services and the project was carried out in the summer of 2015. During the process of the appraisal, several general problems hindering the sustainable development of government purchasing of public service have been observed. As Guangzhou is among the rank of pioneer cities in the conduct of the reform, it is representative and imperative to study the sustainability of government purchasing of public service. In 2012, Guangzhou local government started contracting out public service to the community social organizations to provide general family services and special services to community residents, since when integrated family service centers and special service centers were established as platforms to provide public social service in a city-wide range. Consequently, taking an example of the current rapid development of government purchase of the integrated family services and special services in Guangzhou, this paper puts up several proposals for the sustainable development of Guangzhou municipal government’s procurement of public services on the perspective of social work’s resource dependence.

Keywords: government procurement of public services, Guangzhou, integrated family service center, social work, sustainability.

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Authors: Yusif Habib

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The Volta River Basin (VRB) is a transboundary resource shared by Six (6) the West African States. It’s utilization spans across irrigation, hydropower generation, domestic/household water use, transportation, industrial processing, among others. Simultaneously, mineral resources such as gold are mined within the VRB catchment. Typically, the extraction/mining operation is earth-surface excavation; known as Artisanal and Small-scale mining. We developed a conceptual framework in the context of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus to delineate the trade-offs and synergies between the mineral extractive operation’s impact on Agricultural systems, specifically, cereal crops (e.g. Maize, Millet, and Rice) and the environment (water and soil quality, deforestation, etc.) on the VRB. Thus, the study examined the trade-offs and synergies through the WEF nexus lens to explore the extent of an eventual overarching mining preference for gold exploration with high economic returns as opposed to the presumably low yearly harvest and household income from food crops production to inform intervention prioritization. Field survey (household, expert, and stakeholder consultation), bibliometric analysis/literature review, scenario, and simulation models, including land-use land cover (LULC) analyses, were conducted. The selected study area(s) in Ghana was the location where the mineral extractive operation’s presence and impact are widespread co-exist with the Agricultural systems. Overall, the study proposes mechanisms of the virtuous cycle through FEW Nexus instead of the presumably existing vicious cycle to inform decision making and policy implementation.

Keywords: agriculture, environmental sustainability, gold Mining, synergies, trade-off, water-energy-food nexus

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Authors: J. Van der Walt, N. A. Plastow, M. Unger

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Gross and fine motor skill difficulties among children affect their ability to learn and progress in school. Research indicates that children in low socio-economic areas are at a higher risk of motor skill difficulties, while therapy resources are limited. The Hopscotch motor skill programme is a well-researched accessible in-school intervention developed by occupational and physiotherapists through complex intervention development. The development stage of the complex intervention development model firstly included a prevalence study in a low-resourced area in the West Coast of South Africa, indicating a high prevalence with significant motor skill difficulties among pre-school children at 14.5% with fine motor skill difficulties at 24.6%. A scoping review identifies motor skill interventions for pre-school children and a proposed a framework of fundamental concepts to consider when developing a motor skill intervention. a Delphi-study considered the framework and encouraged collaboration between therapists and educators to make the programme accessible, resource and cost effective, specifically geared towards a rural, low resourced area. The results from the Delphi study, together with the proposed framework from the scoping review was used to develop the Hopscotch programme, adopting a task-shifting approach. The eight-week small-group programme is facilitated by teachers with the support of therapists. The programme aims to improve the motor skills of pre-school aged children with motor skill difficulties to promote academic readiness through obstacle courses, ball skill games and fine motor games and crafts. A randomised controlled trial is planned as a next stage to determine the preliminary effect of the programme on the motor and early academic skills of pre-school children.

Keywords: accesible learning, motor skill intervention, school readiness, task shifting

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Authors: Murali Aarthy, Sanjeev Kumar Singh

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High risk human papillomaviruses are highly associated with the carcinoma of the cervix and the other genital tumors. Cervical cancer develops through the multistep process in which increasingly severe premalignant dysplastic lesions called cervical intraepithelial neoplastic progress to invasive cancer. The oncoprotein E7 of human papillomavirus expressed in the lower epithelial layers drives the cells into S-phase creating an environment conducive for viral genome replication and cell proliferation. The replication of the virus occurs in the terminally differentiating epithelium and requires the activation of cellular DNA replication proteins. To date, no suitable drug molecule is available to treat HPV infection whereas identification of potential drug targets and development of novel anti-HPV chemotherapies with unique mode of actions are expected. Hence, our present study aimed to identify the potential inhibitors analogous to EGCG, a green tea molecule which is considered to be safe to use for mammalian systems. A 3D similarity search on the natural small molecule library from natural product database using EGCG identified 11 potential hits based on their similarity score. The structure based docking strategies were implemented in the potential hits and the key interacting residues of protein with compounds were identified through simulation studies and binding free energy calculations. The conformational changes between the apoprotein and the complex were analyzed with the simulation and the results demonstrated that the dynamical and structural effects observed in the protein were induced by the compounds and indicated the dominance to the oncoprotein. Overall, our study provides the basis for the structural insights of the identified potential hits and EGCG and hence, the analogous compounds identified can be potent inhibitors against the HPV 16 E7 oncoprotein.

Keywords: EGCG, oncoprotein, molecular dynamics simulation, analogues

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Authors: Erika De Finis, Paola Gattinoni, Laura Scesi

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Massive rock avalanches formed some of the largest landslide deposits on Earth and they represent one of the major geohazards in high-relief mountains. This paper interprets a very large sedimentary fan (the Sernio fan, Valtellina, Northern Italy), located 20 Km SW from Val Pola Rock avalanche (1987), as the deposit of a partial collapse of a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DSGSD), afterwards eroded and buried by debris flows. The proposed emplacement sequence has been reconstructed based on geomorphological, structural and mechanical evidences. The Sernio fan is actually considered anomalous with reference to the very high ratio between the fan area (about 4.5km2) and the basin area (about 3km2). The morphology of the fan area is characterised by steep slopes (dip about 20%) and the fan apex is extended for 1.8 km inside the small catchment basin. This sedimentary fan was originated by a landslide that interested a part of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation, involving a wide area of about 55 km². The main controlling factor is tectonic and it is related to the proximity to regional fault systems and the consequent occurrence of fault weak rocks (GSI locally lower than 10 with compressive stress lower than 20MPa). Moreover, the fan deposit shows sedimentary evidences of recent debris flow events. The best current explanation of the Sernio fan involves an initial failure of some hundreds of Mm3. The run-out was quite limited because of the morphology of Valtellina’s valley floor, and the deposit filled the main valley forming a landslide dam, as confirmed by the lacustrine deposits detected upstream the fan. Nowadays the debris flow events represent the main hazard in the study area.

Keywords: anomalous sedimentary fans, deep seated gravitational slope deformation, Italy, rock avalanche

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Authors: Saboor Saeed, Chunming Jiang

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Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), formerly known as Churg-Strauss syndrome, is a rare systemic vasculitis of small and medium-sized vessels that primarily develops in middle-aged individuals. It is characterized by asthma, blood eosinophilia, and extra pulmonary manifestations. In childhood, EGPA is extremely rare. Pulmonary and cardiac involvement is predominant in pediatric EGPA, and mortality is substantial. Generally, EGPA will develop in three stages: a) The allergic phase is commonly associated with asthma, allergic rhinitis, and sinusitis, b) the eosinophilic phase, in which the main pathology is related to the infiltration of eosinophilic organs, i.e., lung, heart, and gastrointestinal system, c) vasculitis phase involved purpura, peripheral neuropathy, and some constitutional symptoms. The key to the treatment of EGPA lies in the early diagnosis of the disease. Early application of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants can improve symptoms and the overall prognosis of EGPA. Case Description: We presented a case of an 8-year-old boy with a history of short asthma, marked eosinophilia, and multi-organ involvement. The extremely high eosinophil level in the blood (72.50%) prompted the examination of eosinophilic leukemia before EGPA diagnosis was made. Subsequently, this disease was successfully treated. This case report shows a typical case of CSS in childhood because of the extreme eosinophilia. It emphasizes the importance of EGPA is a life-threatening cause of children's eosinophilia. Conclusion: EGPA in children has unique clinical, imaging, and histological characteristics different from those of adults. In pediatric patients, the development and diagnosis of systemic symptoms are often delayed, mainly occurring in the eosinophilic phase, which will lead to specific manifestations. At the same time, we cannot detect a genetic relationship related to EGPA.

Keywords: Churg Strauss syndrome, asthma, vasculitis, hypereosinophilia, eosinophilic granulomatosis polyangiitis

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Authors: Anurag Mishra, Prabhat Kumar Singh, Anurag Ohri, Shishir Gaur

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Streams and rivulets are crucial in maintaining river networks and their hydrology, influencing downstream ecosystems, and connecting different watersheds of urban and rural areas. The river Assi, an urban river, once a lifeline for the locals, has degraded over time. Evidence, such as the presence of paleochannels and patterns of water bodies and settlements, suggests that the river Assi was initially an alluvial stream or rivulet that originated near Rishi Durvasha Ashram near Prayagraj, flowing approximately 120 km before joining the river Ganga at Assi ghat in Varanasi. Presently, a major challenge is that nearly 90% of its original channel has been silted and disappeared, with only the last 8 km retaining some semblance of a river. It is possible that initially, the river Assi branched off from the river Ganga and functioned as a Yazoo stream. In this study, paleochannels of the river Assi were identified using Landsat 5 imageries and SRTM DEM. The study employed the Normalized Difference Vegetation Seasonality Index (NDVSI) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to detect these paleochannels. The average elevation of the sub-basin at the Durvasha Rishi Ashram of river Assi is 96 meters, while it reduces to 80 meters near its confluence with the Ganga in Varanasi, resulting in a 16-meter elevation drop along its course. There are 81 subbasins covering an area of 83,241 square kilometers. It is possible that due to the increased resistance in the flow of river Assi near urban areas of Varanasi, a new channel, Morwa, has originated at an elevation of 87 meters, meeting river Varuna at an elevation of 79 meters. The difference in elevation is 8 meters. Furthermore, the study explored the possibility of restoring the paleochannel of the river Assi and nearby ponds and water bodies to improve the river's base flow and overall hydrological conditions.

Keywords: River Assi, small river restoration, paleochannel identification, remote sensing, GIS

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Authors: Ying Deng, Fan Yang

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Aim: To study the growth pattern of preterm infants during the first year of life and explore the association between head circumference (HC) and neurodevelopment sequences and to get a general knowledge of the incidence of anemia in preterm babies in Chengdu, Southwest China. Method: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study, neonates with gestational age < 37 weeks were enrolled this study from 2012.1.1 to 2014.7.9. Anthropometry (weight, height, HC) was obtained at birth, every month before 6 months-old and every 2 months in the next half year. All the infants’ age were corrected to 40 weeks. Growth data presented as Z-scores which was calculated by WHO Anthro software. Z-score defined as (the actual value minus the average value)/standard deviation. Neurodevelopment was assessed at 12 months-old [9-11 months corrected age (CA)] by using “Denver Development Screen Test (DDST)". The hemoglobin (Hb) was examined at 6 months for CA. Result: 445 preterm infants were followed-up 1 year, including 64 very low birth weight infants (VLBW), 246 low birth weight infants (LBW) and 135 normal birth weight infants(NBW). From full-term to 12 months after birth, catch-up growth was observed in most preterm infants. From VLBW to NBW, HCZ was -1.17 (95 % CI: -1.53,-0.80; P value < 0.0001) lower during the first12 months. WAZ was-1.12(95 % CI: -1.47,-0.76; p < 0.0001) lower. WHZ and HAZ were -1.04 (95%CI:-1.38, -0.69; P<0.0001) and -0.69 (95%CI:-1.06,-0.33; P < 0.0001) lower respectively. The peak of WAZ appeared during 0-3 months CA among preterm infants. For VLBW infants, the peak of HAZ and HCZ emerged at 8-11 months CA. However, the trend of HAZ and HCZ is the same as WAZ in LBW and NBW infants. Growth in the small for gestational age (SGA) infants was poorer than appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants. The rate of DQ < 70 in VLBW and LBW were 29.6%, 7.7%, respectively (P < 0.0001). HCZ < -1SD at 3 months emerged as an independent predictor of DQ scores below 85 at 12 months after birth. The incidence of anemia in preterm infants was 11% at 6 months for CA. Moreover, 7 children (1.7%) diagnosed with Cerebral palsy (CP). Conclusions: The catch-up growth was observed in most preterm infants. VLBW and SGA showed poor growth. There was imbalance between WAZ and HAZ in VLBW infants. The VLBW babies had higher severe abnormal scores than LBW and NBW, especially in boys. Z score for HC at 3 months < -1SDwas a significant risk factor for abnormal DQ scores at the first year. The iron supplement reduced the morbidity of anemia in preterm infants.

Keywords: preterm infant, growth and development, DDST, Z-scores

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Authors: Jou-An Chung

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the verb bias of the Mandarin verbs in children’s reading materials and provide the criteria for categorization. Verb bias varies cross-linguistically. As Mandarin and English are typological different, this study hopes to shed light on Mandarin verb bias with the use of corpus and provide thorough and detailed criteria for analysis. Moreover, this study focuses on children’s reading materials since it is a significant issue in understanding children’s sentence processing. Therefore, investigating verb bias of Mandarin verbs in children’s reading materials is also an important issue and can provide further insights into children’s sentence processing. The small corpus is built up for this study. The corpus consists of the collection of school textbooks and Mandarin Daily News for children. The files are then segmented and POS tagged by JiebaR (Chinese segmentation with R). For the ease of analysis, the one-word character verbs and intransitive verbs are excluded beforehand. The total of 20 high frequency verbs are hand-coded and are further categorized into one of the three types, namely DO type, SC type and other category. If the frequency of taking Other Type exceeds the threshold of 25%, the verb is excluded from the study. The results show that 10 verbs are direct object bias verbs, and six verbs are sentential complement bias verbs. The paired T-test was done to assure the statistical significance (p = 0.0001062 for DO bias verb, p=0.001149 for SC bias verb). The result has shown that in children’s reading materials, the DO biased verbs are used more than the SC bias verbs since the simplest structure of sentences is easier for children’s sentence comprehension or processing. In sum, this study not only discussed verb bias in child's reading materials but also provided basic coding criteria for verb bias analysis in Mandarin and underscored the role of context. Sentences are easier for children’s sentence comprehension or processing. In sum, this study not only discussed verb bias in child corpus, but also provided basic coding criteria for verb bias analysis in Mandarin and underscored the role of context.

Keywords: corpus linguistics, verb bias, child language, psycholinguistics

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Authors: Deybith Venegas-Rojas, Jens Budde, Dominik Nörz, Manfred Jücker, Hoc Khiem Trieu

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Microfluidics is a promising approach for biomedicine cell culture experiments with microfluidic bioreactors (MBR), which can provide high precision in volume and time control over mass transport and microenvironments in small-scale studies. Nevertheless, shear stress and oxygen concentration are important factors that affect the microenvironment and then the cell culture. It is presented a novel MBR design in which differences in geometry, shear stress, and oxygen concentration were studied and optimized for cell culture. The aim is to mimic the in vivo condition with biocompatible materials and continuous perfusion of nutrients, a healthy shear stress, and oxygen concentration. The design consists of a capture system of PDMS micropillars which keep cells in place, so it is not necessary any hydrogel or complicated scaffolds for cells immobilization. Besides, the design allows continuous supply with nutrients or even any other chemical for cell experimentation. Finite element method simulations were used to study and optimize the effect of parameters such as flow rate, shear stress, oxygen concentration, micropillars shape, and dimensions. The micropillars device was fabricated with microsystem technology such as soft-lithography, deep reactive ion etching, self-assembled monolayer, replica molding, and oxygen plasma bonding. Eight different geometries were fabricated and tested, with different flow rates according to the simulations. During the experiments, it was observed the effect of micropillars size, shape, and configuration for stability and shear stress control when increasing flow rate. The device was tested with several successful HepG2 3D cell cultures. With this MBR, the aforementioned parameters can be controlled in order to keep a healthy microenvironment according to specific necessities of different cell types, with no need of hydrogels and can be used for a wide range of experiments with cells.

Keywords: cell culture, micro-bioreactor, microfluidics, micropillars, oxygen concentration, shear stress

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Authors: Reem Alsager, James Milton

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Coxhead’s (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) believed to be essential for students pursuing higher education and helps differentiate English for Academic Purposes (EAP) from General English as a course of study, and it is thought to be important for comprehending English academic texts. It has been described that AWL is an infrequent, discrete set of vocabulary items unreachable from general language. On the other hand, it has been known for a period of time that general vocabulary knowledge is a good predictor of academic achievement. This study, however, is an attempt to measure and compare the contribution of academic knowledge and general vocabulary knowledge to learners’ GPA and examine what knowledge is a better predictor of academic achievement and investigate whether AWL as a specialised list of infrequent words relates to the frequency effect. The participants were comprised of 44 international postgraduate students in Swansea University, all from the School of Management, following the taught MSc (Master of Science). The study employed the Academic Vocabulary Size Test (AVST) and the XK_Lex vocabulary size test. The findings indicate that AWL is a list based on word frequency rather than a discrete and unique word list and that the AWL performs the same function as general vocabulary, with tests of each found to measure largely the same quality of knowledge. The findings also suggest that the contribution that AWL knowledge provides for academic success is not sufficient and that general vocabulary knowledge is better in predicting academic achievement. Furthermore, the contribution that academic knowledge added above the contribution of general vocabulary knowledge when combined is really small and noteworthy. This study’s results are in line with the argument and suggest that it is the development of general vocabulary size is an essential quality for academic success and acquiring the words of the AWL will form part of this process. The AWL by itself does not provide sufficient coverage, and is probably not specialised enough, for knowledge of this list to influence this general process. It can be concluded that AWL as an academic word list epitomizes only a fraction of words that are actually needed for academic success in English and that knowledge of academic vocabulary combined with general vocabulary knowledge above the most frequent 3000 words is what matters most to ultimate academic success.

Keywords: academic achievement, academic vocabulary, general vocabulary, vocabulary size

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Authors: Targba Aondowase

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Undocumented migration along Nigeria’s boarder with Cameroon, Chad and Niger is a key issue in tackling the human security challenges in the region as the security situation cannot be contained without proper boarder control. The paper adopts migration systems theory which asserts that migration alters the social, cultural, economic, and institutional conditions at both the sending and receiving ends to explain the influence of unregistered migrants on institutional changes as it affects the security situation in Northern Nigeria. It was found that undocumented migration is majorly influenced by poverty, illegal trade, wars and asylum. The study also discovers that Nigerian boarders are porous with over 250 footpaths that link directly to Cameroon, Chad and Niger, making the proliferation of small arms and light weapons a transnational organized crime in the region. These porous borders are unmanned by security operatives with limited government presence in the boarder communities. The study also found that undocumented immigrants are easily integrated into the northern communities due to common religious beliefs and race where they carry out normal and civic functions without obstruction. The paper concluded that the level of undocumented migration in Northern Nigeria is high due to unmanned and porous borders. The paper therefore recommended that the security agencies should be strengthened through adequate funding, innovative technology, sound policies and proficient processes that will help protect the country’s borders. The National Populations Commission and the National Identity Management Commission should be strengthened to have a good data base of the country’s citizens and there should be international cooperation between the neighbouring countries to tackle illegal migration and illegal trade along the borders. The findings and recommendations of this paper will serve as a guide towards curtailing the impact of undocumented migration on human security in Northern Nigeria.

Keywords: human security, impact, migration, undocumented

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Authors: Ana Lucia Molina

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Introduction: Fine motor skills refer to the use of the hands and coordination of the small muscles that control the fingers. A deficiency in fine motor skills is as important as a change in global movements, as fine motor skills directly affect activities of daily living. Fine movements are involved in some functions, such as motor control of the extremities, sensitivity, strength and tonus of the hands. A growing interest in the effects of non-invasive neuromodulation, such as transcranial stimulation technologies, through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), has been observed in the scientific literature, with promising results in fine motor rehabilitation, as it provides modulation of the corresponding cortical activity in the area primary motor skills of the hands in both hemispheres (according to the International System 10-20, corresponding to C3 and C4). Objectives: to carry out a literature review about the effects of TMS on the cortical motor area corresponding to hand motricity. Methodology: This is a bibliographic survey carried out between October 2022 and March 2023 at Pubmed, Google Scholar, Lillacs and Virtual Health Library (BVS), with a national and international database. Some books on neuromodulation were included. Results: 28 articles and 5 books were initially found, and after reading the abstracts, only 14 articles and 3 books were selected, with publication dates between 2008 and 2022, to compose the literature review since it suited the purpose of this study. Conclusion: TMS has shown promising results in the treatment of fine motor rehabilitation, such as improving coordination, muscle strength and range of motion of the hands, being a complementary technique to existing treatments and thus providing more potent results for manual skills in activities of daily living. It is important to emphasize the need for more specific studies on the application of TMS for the treatment of manual disorders, which describe the uniqueness of each movement.

Keywords: transcranial magnetic stimulation, fine motor skills, motor rehabilitation, non-invasive neuromodulation

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Authors: Aleema Rahman

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Introduction: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of long-term otitis media with effusion (OME) and hearing loss in a prospective longitudinal cohort studyand to study the relationship between the condition and educational and psychosocial outcomes. Methods: Analysis of data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) will be undertaken. ALSPAC is a longitudinal birth cohort study carried out in the UK, which has collected detailed measures of hearing on ~7000 children from the age of seven. A descriptive analysis of the data will be undertaken to estimate the prevalence of OME and hearing loss (defined as having average hearing levels > 20dB and type B tympanogram) at 7, 9, 11, and 15 years as well as that of long-term OME and hearing loss. Logistic and linear regression analyses will be conducted to examine associations between long-term OME and hearing loss and educational outcomes (grades obtained from standardised national attainment tests) and psychosocial outcomes such as anxiety, social fears, and depression at ages 10-11 and 15-16 years. Results: Results will be presented in terms of the prevalence of OME and hearing loss in the population at each age. The prevalence of long-term OME and hearing loss, defined as having OME and hearing loss at two or more time points, will also be reported. Furthermore, any associations between long-term OME and hearing loss and the educational and psychosocial outcomes will be presented. Analyses will take into account demographic factors such as sex and social deprivation and relevant confounders, including socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and IQ. Discussion: Findings from this study will provide new epidemiological information on the prevalence of long-term OME and hearing loss. The research will provide new knowledge on the impact of OME for the small group of children who do not grow out of condition by age 7 but continue to have hearing loss and need clinical care through later childhood. The study could have clinical implications and may influence service delivery for this group of children.

Keywords: educational attainment, hearing loss, otitis media with effusion, psychosocial development

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Authors: Yuki Hara

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Healthy assets are recognized as important for all people in the world through experiencing COVID-19. Each part of life and work is important to be changed against the preceding wide-spreading of COVID-19. Furthermore, it is necessary to innovate the whole structure of a city upon the sum of the parts. This study aims at creating a comprehensive strategy from a small practice of making healthier lives with collaborating local actors for a city. This paper employs action research as the research framework. The core practice is the 'Ken’iku Festival' at Ken’iku Festival Committee. The field locates the urban-rural fringe in the northwest part of Fujisawa city, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. The data is collected through the author's practices for three years from the observations and interviews at meetings and discussions among stakeholders, texts in municipal reports, books, and movies, 3 questionnaires for customers and stakeholders at the Ken’iku Festival. These data are analysed by qualitative methods. The results show that couples in their 40s with children and couples or friends over the 70s are at the heart of promoting healthy lifestyles. In contrast, 40% of the visitors at the festival are the people who have no idea or no interest in healthier actions, which the committee has to suggest healthy activities through more pleasing services. The committee could organize staff and local actors as the core parties involved through gradually expanding its tasks relating to the local practices. This private sectoral activity from health promotion is covering a part of the whole-city planning of Fujisawa municipality by including many people over organisations into one community. This paper concludes from local practice networking through the festival that a comprehensive strategy for a healthy city is both a practical approach easily applied to each partner and one of the holistic services.

Keywords: communal practice network, healthy cities, health & development, health promotion, with and after COVID-19

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Authors: Michael Lekan-Kehinde, Abimbola Asojo, Bonnie Sanborn

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Good acoustic performance has been identified as one of the critical Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) factors for student learning and development by the National Research Council. Childhood presents the opportunity for children to develop lifelong skills that will support them throughout their adult lives. Acoustic performance of a space has been identified as a factor that can impact language acquisition, concentration, information retention, and general comfort within the environment. Increasingly, students learn by communication between both teachers and fellow students, making speaking and listening crucial. Neurodiversity - while initially coined to describe individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - widely describes anyone with a different brain process. As the understanding from cognitive and neurosciences increases, the number of people identified as neurodiversity is nearly 30% of the population. This research looks at guidelines and standard for spaces with good acoustical quality and relates it with the experiences of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), their parents, teachers, and educators through a mixed methods approach, including selected case studies interviews, and mixed surveys. The information obtained from these sources is used to determine if selected materials, especially properties relating to sound absorption and reverberation reduction, are equally useful in small, medium sized, and large learning spaces and methodologically approaching. The results describe the potential impact of acoustics on Neurodiverse students, considering factors that determine the complexity of sound in relation to the auditory processing capabilities of ASD students. In conclusion, this research extends the knowledge of how materials selection influences the better development of acoustical environments for autism students.

Keywords: acoustics, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), children, education, learning, learning spaces, materials, neurodiversity, sound

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