Search results for: Kaduna State University

Authors: Ayoola Adediran Amos

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Nigeria as a secular state that is characterized with various religions namely: Christianity, Islam and African Religion. Each of the religion adherents often claim that their religion is the only means of gaining eternity while others who do not belong to their sect may not be opportuned. Religious doctrine within those religious sects is another source of insurgency which serves as a threat to the unity of Nigeria. Similarly, Boko Haram Religious group has become a threat to the unity of the country in which its root has both political and religious undertones. Primary and secondary sources of collecting data were used. Historical method allowed enquiry into the past events and improvement to the current experience. Both published and unpublished theses were used. Interview was also conducted as part of the secondary sources. It was observed that all aspects of the system in Nigeria were affected with this scourge of religious unrest. i.e. education, political, economic and a host of others. Finally, it was recommended that religious leaders should be given adequate orientation on the needs not to preach against other religious groups. Government of Nigeria should not give priority to one religion at the expense of others.

Keywords: insurgency, national unity, religious, threat

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Authors: Sirisak Choedkiatphon, Tanya Niyamapa

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This research aimed to indeed understand the soil-rotary blade interaction of the newly-design rotary blade for Thai walking tractor. Therefore, this study was carried out to clarify the characteristics of the horizontal and the vertical forces and the moment around a rotary shaft of prototype rotary blade 15 lengthwise slice angle. It was set up and tested in laboratory soil bin at Kasetsart University under sandy loam and clay soil at soil dry bulk density and soil specific weight of 9.81 kN/m3 and 11.3% (d.b.), respectively. The tests were conducted at travel speeds of 0.069 and 0.142 m/s and rotational speeds of 150, 250 and 350 rpm. The characteristic of pushing-forward and lifting-up forces and moment around a rotor shaft were obtained by using the EOR transducer. Also, the acting point of resultant force of these soil-blade reaction forces was determined. The pushing-forward and lifting-up forces, moment around a rotor shaft and resultant force increased at higher travel speed and higher soil moisture content. In tilling stage, the acting points of resultant force located inside the circumstance of the blade locus. The results showed that the variation of magnitude and direction of pushing-forward, lifting-up and resultant forces corresponded to soil-blade interaction of the newly-design in tilling stage.

Keywords: rotary blde, soil-blade interaction, walking tractor, clay, sandy loam

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Authors: Eva Čáslavová, Andrej Višněvský

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This research focused on the dimensions of brand personality of the Ice Hockey World Championship sporting event. The authors compared the elements in relation to different demographic groups including gender, age, level of education and student status of the population of Prague. Moreover, the differences of opinions of respondents who had experience of visiting a sports event and those who had not were assessed. In the research, the modified brand personality scale was used. This modified scale consists of five dimensions: responsibility, activity, toughness, individuality and emotionality, none of which was previously tested. The authors had an intentional sample of 291 respondents from Prague available, ranging in age from 18 years to 75 years, with either a high school or university education. The respondents rated the characteristic features in a seven-point Likert Scale and the data was collected in November 2012. The results suggest that the Ice Hockey World Championship is most identified with these dimensions: responsibility, emotionality and activity. Men had higher mean scores (4.93) on the Likert Scale in the emotionality dimension, while women had higher mean scores (4.91) in the activity dimension. Those respondents with experience visiting an Ice Hockey World Championship match had the highest mean score (5.10) in the emotionality dimension. This research had expected to show more pronounced mean values (above six) on the Likert scale in the emotionality and activity dimensions that more strongly characterize the brand personality of the Ice Hockey World Championship, however this expectation was not confirmed.

Keywords: dimensions, brand personality, ice hockey, international sports event, marketing

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Authors: Jae Young Park, Hwansu Jung, Jong Tae Kim

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Whether the data has been well parallelized is an important factor in the Solid-State-Drive (SSD) performance. SSD parallelization is affected by allocation scheme and it is directly connected to SSD performance. There are dynamic allocation and static allocation in representative allocation schemes. Dynamic allocation is more adaptive in exploiting write operation parallelism, while static allocation is better in read operation parallelism. Therefore, it is hard to select the appropriate allocation scheme when the workload is mixed read and write operations. We simulated conditions on a few mixed data patterns and analyzed the results to help the right choice for better performance. As the results, if data arrival interval is long enough prior operations to be finished and continuous read intensive data environment static allocation is more suitable. Dynamic allocation performs the best on write performance and random data patterns.

Keywords: dynamic allocation, NAND flash based SSD, SSD parallelism, static allocation

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Authors: Jixiang Zhang, Yanhua Wang

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A dynamic of Bertrand duopoly game is analyzed, where players use different production methods and choose their prices with bounded rationality. The equilibriums of the corresponding discrete dynamical systems are investigated. The stability conditions of Nash equilibrium under a local adjustment process are studied. The stability conditions of Nash equilibrium under a local adjustment process are studied. The stability of Nash equilibrium, as some parameters of the model are varied, gives rise to complex dynamics such as cycles of higher order and chaos. On this basis, we discover that an increase of adjustment speed of bounded rational player can make Bertrand market sink into the chaotic state. Finally, the complex dynamics, bifurcations and chaos are displayed by numerical simulation.

Keywords: Bertrand duopoly model, discrete dynamical system, heterogeneous expectations, nash equilibrium

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Authors: Jelena Slugan, Ivica Ružić

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We are witnessing the rapid development of technologies that change the world around us. However, curriculums and teaching processes are often slow to adapt to the change; it takes time, money and expertise to implement technology in the classroom. Therefore, the University of Split, Croatia, partnered with local school Marko Marulić High School and created the project "Modern competence in modern high schools" as part of which five different curriculums for STEM areas were developed. One of the curriculums involves combining information technology with physics. The main idea was to teach students how to use different circuits and microcomputers to explore nature and physical phenomena. As a result, using electrical circuits, students are able to recreate in the classroom the phenomena that they observe every day in their environment. So far, high school students had very little opportunity to perform experiments independently, and especially, those physics experiment did not involve ICT. Therefore, this project has a great importance, because the students will finally get a chance to develop themselves in accordance to modern technologies. This paper presents some new methods of teaching physics that will help students to develop experimental skills through the study of deterministic nature of physical laws. Students will learn how to formulate hypotheses, model physical problems using the electronic circuits and evaluate their results. While doing that, they will also acquire useful problem solving skills.

Keywords: ICT in physics, curriculum, laboratory activities, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)

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Authors: Davide Forcellini, James Marshal Kelly

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Seismic isolation using multi-layer elastomeric isolators has been used in the United States for more than 20 years. Although isolation bearings normally have a large factor of safety against buckling due to low shear stiffness, this phenomenon has been widely studied. In particular, the linearly elastic theory adopted to study this phenomenon is relatively accurate and adequate for most design purposes. Unfortunately it cannot consider the large deformation response of a bearing when buckling occurs and the unresolved behaviour of the stability of the post-buckled state. The study conducted in this paper may be viewed as a development of the linear theory of multi-layered elastomeric bearing, simply replacing the differential equations by algebraic equations, showing how it is possible to evaluate the post-buckling behaviour and the interactions at large deformations.

Keywords: multi-layer elastomeric isolators, large deformation, compressive load, tensile load, post-buckling behaviour

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Authors: Saravanan R.

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The landscape of Kerala was paved way for the growth of maritime contacts with foreigners. Pepper was the important exported item from here because this region only having pepper production on the West Coast of India. The paper is attempting to analysis the available references of ancient port town in Kerala. It is merely preliminary investigation about Early Historic urban centres with the available literary evidences and excavations reports that would help us to understand the ancient port town in Kerala coast. There were number of ancient port towns mentioned in classical Greek and Sangam literatures. For instance, Naura, Tyndis, Nelcynda, Bacare and Muziris were the major sites of Kerala which represented only in the text but not able to locate these sites on the ground so far. There are lot of studies on site based as well as state based regarding the various aspects of ancient port towns. But, it is mainly focussed on factual narration and theoretical interpretation.

Keywords: urban centre, amphora, Muziris, port town, Sangam text and trade

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Authors: Mohamad Nizam Asmuni, Ahmad Naszeri Salleh, Yunus Adam, Azhar Yaacob, Mohd Hafiz Rosli, Muhamad Nazrul Hakim Abdullah

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Athletes at the school should have good physical fitness to participate in tournament. Currently, there are no standards for the level of physical fitness for MARA Junior Science Collage (MJSC). Therefore, this research is to determine the level of physical fitness of rugby player at MJSC. A total of 62 samples (age 16.4 ± 0.75) among rugby players at MJSC were randomly selected to participate in this study. Height, weight, body fat percentage, body mass index (BMI) and other physical testing are measured and recorded. The results showed that the average of body mass index (BMI) for rugby players is 23.4 ± 4:51. Body mass index (BMI) of rugby players can be categorized as pre-obese based on World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. BMI for rugby players was categorized as healthy based on body fat ranges for standard adults at NY Obesity Research Center. Bleep test results show that the average Bleep test is level 7 and shuttle 5; average VO2max was 37.94 L/min. Physical fitness and performance of rugby players at MJSC is lower compared to the rugby junior athletes in University Putra Malaysia (UPM). Therefore, physical fitness of rugby players must be improved to ensure the rugby players at MJSC could be performs better in the tournament.

Keywords: physical fitness, MARA junior science collage (MJSC), body mass index (BMI), bleep test

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Authors: Efstratios Karavasilis, Foteini Christidi, Georgios Velonakis, Agapi Plousi, Kalliopi Platoni, Nikolaos Kelekis, Ioannis Evdokimidis, Efstathios Efstathopoulos

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Introduction: Advanced structural and functional neuroimaging techniques contribute to the study of anatomical and functional brain connectivity and its role in the pathophysiology and symptoms’ heterogeneity in several neurodegenerative disorders, including multiple sclerosis (MS). Aim: In the present study, we applied multiparametric neuroimaging techniques to investigate the structural and functional cortico-cerebellar changes in MS patients. Material: We included 51 MS patients (28 with clinically isolated syndrome [CIS], 31 with relapsing-remitting MS [RRMS]) and 51 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) who underwent MRI in a 3.0T MRI scanner. Methodology: The acquisition protocol included high-resolution 3D T1 weighted, diffusion-weighted imaging and echo planar imaging sequences for the analysis of volumetric, tractography and functional resting state data, respectively. We performed between-group comparisons (CIS, RRMS, HC) using CAT12 and CONN16 MATLAB toolboxes for the analysis of volumetric (cerebellar gray matter density) and functional (cortico-cerebellar resting-state functional connectivity) data, respectively. Brainance suite was used for the analysis of tractography data (cortico-cerebellar white matter integrity; fractional anisotropy [FA]; axial and radial diffusivity [AD; RD]) to reconstruct the cerebellum tracts. Results: Patients with CIS did not show significant gray matter (GM) density differences compared with HC. However, they showed decreased FA and increased diffusivity measures in cortico-cerebellar tracts, and increased cortico-cerebellar functional connectivity. Patients with RRMS showed decreased GM density in cerebellar regions, decreased FA and increased diffusivity measures in cortico-cerebellar WM tracts, as well as a pattern of increased and mostly decreased functional cortico-cerebellar connectivity compared to HC. The comparison between CIS and RRMS patients revealed significant GM density difference, reduced FA and increased diffusivity measures in WM cortico-cerebellar tracts and increased/decreased functional connectivity. The identification of decreased WM integrity and increased functional cortico-cerebellar connectivity without GM changes in CIS and the pattern of decreased GM density decreased WM integrity and mostly decreased functional connectivity in RRMS patients emphasizes the role of compensatory mechanisms in early disease stages and the disintegration of structural and functional networks with disease progression. Conclusions: In conclusion, our study highlights the added value of multimodal neuroimaging techniques for the in vivo investigation of cortico-cerebellar brain changes in neurodegenerative disorders. An extension and future opportunity to leverage multimodal neuroimaging data inevitably remain the integration of such data in the recently-applied mathematical approaches of machine learning algorithms to more accurately classify and predict patients’ disease course.

Keywords: advanced neuroimaging techniques, cerebellum, MRI, multiple sclerosis

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Authors: Shamsher Singh

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The Diaspora Literature involves a concept of native land, from where the displacement occurs and a record of harsh journeys undertaken on account of economic compulsions. Basically, Diaspora is a splintered community living in eviction. The scattering (initially) signifies the location of a fluid human autonomous space involving a complex set of negotiations and exchange between the nostalgia and desire for the native land and the making of a new home, adapting to the relationships between the minority and majority, being spokes persons for minority rights and their people back native place and significantly transacting the Contact Zone - a space changed with the possibility of multiple challenges. They write in the background of the sublime qualities of their homeland and, at the same time, try to fit themselves into the traditions and cultural values of other strange communities or land. It also serves as an interconnection of the various cultures involved, and it is used to understand the customs of different cultures and countries; it is also a source of inspiration globally. Although diasporic literature originated back in the 20th century, it spread to other countries like Britain, Canada, America, Denmark, Netherland, Australia, Kenya, Sweden, Kuwait and different parts of Europe. Meaning of Diaspora is the combination of two words which means the movement of people away from their own country or motherland. From a historical point of view, the ‘Diaspora’ is often associated with Jewish bigotry. At the moment, the Diaspora is used for the dispersal of social or cultural groups. This group will be living in two different streams of cultures at the same time. One who left behind his culture and the other has to adapt himself to new cultural situations. The diasporic mind hangs between his birth land and place of work at the same time. A person’s mental state, living in dual existence, gives birth to Dysphoria sensation. Litterateurs had different experiences in this type of sensation e.g., social, universal, political, economic and experiences from the strange land. The struggle of these experiences is seen in diasporic literature. When a person moves to different land or country to fulfill his dreams, the discrimination of language, work and other difficulties with strangers make his relationship more emotional and deeper into his past. These past memories and relations create more difficulties in settling in a foreign land. He lives there physically, but his mental state is in his past constantly, and he ends up his life in those background memories. A person living in Diaspora is actually a dual visionary man. Although this double vision expands his global consciousness, due to this vision, he gains judgemental qualities to understand others. At the same time, he weighs his respect for his native land and the situations of foreign land he experiences, and he finds it difficult to survive in those conditions. It can be said that diaspora literature indicates a person or social organization who lives dual life inquisition structure which becomes the cause of diasporic literature.

Keywords: homeland sickness, language problem, quest for identity, materialistic desire

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Authors: Abdu Zakari, Said Jibrin, Fatope Majekodunmi Oladeji, Mohammed Hassan Shagga, Andrew Sule

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From the Stems of Bark of Echinaceae angustifolia DC three known triterpenes 3a,5,5b,8,8,11a-hexamethyl-1-(prop-1-en-2-yl)icosahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]chrysene-9-yl acetate (lupeol acetate), 4,4,6a,6b,8a,10,11,14b,octamethyl1,1,2,3,4,4a,5,6,6a,6b,7,8,8a, 9,10, 11,12,12a,14,14a,14b-icosahydropicen-3-yl acetate (derivative of β-amyrin and 9- hydroxy-1-isopropenyl-5a,5b,8,8,11a-pentamethyl-icosahydro-cyclopenta[a]chrysene- 3a-carboxylic acid (betulinic acid), labelled as Ea-7-38, Ea-9-10 and Ea-12-85) were isolated and characterized. All isolates were tested for their cytotoxicities against Artemia salina (brine shrimp larvae). Compound Ea-12-85 exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against the Artemia salina, Ea-7-38, Ea-9-10 were found to be non-toxic in the cytotoxicity test. The result of the study has justified the claim of the traditional medicine practitioners in Girei for the treatment of complicated malaria disease using the stem bark of E. angustifolia DC.

Keywords: cytotoxic, terpenes, Echinaceae angustifolia, brine shrimp, artemia salina

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Authors: Aya M. Aboudesouky

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Covid-19 has changed and affected the whole world dramatically in a new way that the entire world, even scientists, have not imagined before. The educational institutions around the world have been fighting since Covid-19 hit the world last December to keep the educational process unchanged for all students. E-learning was a must for almost all US universities during the pandemic. It was specifically more challenging to use online case-based learning instead of regular classes among nursing students who take practical education. This study aims to examine the difference in performance and satisfaction between nursing students taking traditional education and those who take virtual case-based education during their practical study. This study enrolls 40 last-year nursing undergraduates from a mid-sized university in Western Pennsylvania. The study uses a convenient sample. Students will be divided into two groups; a control group that is exposed to traditional teaching strategy and a treatment group that is exposed to a case-based teaching strategy. The module designed for this study is a total parenteral nutrition (TPN) module that will be taught for one month. The treatment group (n=20) utilizes the virtual simulation of the CBL method, while the control group (n=20) uses the traditional lecture-based teaching method. Student evaluations are collected after a month by using the survey to attain the students’ learning satisfaction and self-evaluation of the course. The post-test is used to assess the end of the course performance.

Keywords: virtual case-based learning, traditional education, nursing education, Covid-19 crisis, online practical education

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Authors: Maryam Panahi

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Background: Adjuvants such as ketamine, promethazine, and paracetamol could bring up patient's satisfaction and control the harmful effects of opioids besides lessening their needed doses, as seen by the fentanyl/paracetamol and fentanyl/ketamine combination before. The current study is headed to compare paracetamol and ketamine, in addition to fentanyl, applied by infusion pumps in order to pain relief following major surgery. Materials and Methods: Through a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial, patients between18 and 65 with elective surgery for tight or leg fractures with ASA Class 1 and 2 referred to a university hospital in Arak, a town in the central region of Iran, were recruited and used infusion pump for their postoperative pain control. The participants were divided into cases and controls regarding using ketamine/fentanyl (KF) or paracetamol/fentanyl (PF) infusion pumps. Results: The mean pain score was a total of 3.87, with the highest value in KF (5.06) and the lowest in PF (4.50) immediately after finishing the surgery and getting conscious when started using an infusion pump. There was no statistical difference between the groups in this regard. Concerning the side effects of the applied medications, blood pressure and heart rate had no differences comparing the groups. Conclusion: This study showed that paracetamol used in infusion pumps could be brilliant in pain control after major surgeries like those done in lower extremities and joint replacement while lessening opioid use. Although paracetamol was more effective than ketamine in the current trial, more qualified studies at bigger sizes and in other fields of surgery besides orthopedic ones would be useful to support the effects if applicable

Keywords: infusion pump, Ketamine, Paracetamol, pain

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Authors: Araceli Martínez Ortiz

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An educational research effort is analyzed using systems theory to document the power of collective impact when addressing multiple factors contributing towards the retention of students majoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) academic programs. This research promotes understanding on how networked communities may work effectively toward a shared vision and mutually aligned activities that result in sustained, large scale change. The actions of a team of researchers in their third year of collaboration are presented to describe a model that positively aligns work efforts resulting in greater total gains. The goals of the multiple programs managed by the funded program team are to: 1) expand the number of students who choose to study a STEM field of study; 2) promote student collaborative learning; 3) support faculty understanding of the funds of knowledge of diverse students and 4) establish innovative and robust STEM education research that will lead to the development of nationally replicable, scalable models for broadening participation in STEM. The impacts of this research effort are measured through quantitative statistical analysis of the changes in second-year STEM undergraduate student retention rates and representation rates of women, Hispanics and African American STEM majors.

Keywords: collaborative impact, diversity, student retention, systems theory, STEM education

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Authors: Ibrahim Ilker Ozyigit, Fatih Tabanli, Sezin Adinir

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In this study, Ascochyta blight resistance was investigated in 34 registered chickpea varieties, which are widely planting in different regions of Turkey. For this aim, molecular marker techniques, such as STMS, RAPD and ISSR were used. Ta2, Ta146 and Ts54 primers were used for STMS, while UBC733 and UBC681 primers for RAPD, and UBC836 and UBC858 primers for ISSR. Ta2, Ts54 and Ta146 (STMS), and UBC733 (RAPD) primers demonstrated the distinctive feature for Ascochyta blight resistance. Ta2, Ts54 and Ta146 primers yielded the quite effective results in detection of resistant and sensitive varieties. Besides, UBC 733 primer distinguished all kinds of standard did not give any reliable results for other varieties since it demonstrated all as resistant. In addition, monomorphic bands were obtained from UBC681 (RAPD), and UBC836 and UBC858 (ISSR) primers, not demonstrating reliable results in detection of resistance against Ascochyta blight disease. Obtained results informed us about both disease resistance and genetic diversity in registered Turkish chickpea varieties. This project was funded through the Scientific Research Projects of Marmara University under Grant Number FEN-C-YLP-070617-0365 and The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under Grant Number 113O070.

Keywords: plant genetics, ISSR, RAPD, STMS

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Authors: Chongya Song, Kang Yen, Alexander Pons, Jin Liu

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In the field of machine learning, the ensemble has been employed as a common methodology to improve the performance upon multiple base classifiers. However, the true predictions are often canceled out by the false ones during consensus due to a phenomenon called “curse of correlation” which is represented as the strong interferences among the predictions produced by the base classifiers. In addition, the existing practices are still not able to effectively mitigate the problem of imbalanced classification. Based on the analysis on our experiment results, we conclude that the two problems are caused by some inherent deficiencies in the approach of consensus. Therefore, we create an enhanced ensemble algorithm which adopts a designed rank-based chain-mode consensus to overcome the two problems. In order to evaluate the proposed ensemble algorithm, we employ a well-known benchmark data set NSL-KDD (the improved version of dataset KDDCup99 produced by University of New Brunswick) to make comparisons between the proposed and 8 common ensemble algorithms. Particularly, each compared ensemble classifier uses the same 22 base classifiers, so that the differences in terms of the improvements toward the accuracy and reliability upon the base classifiers can be truly revealed. As a result, the proposed rank-based chain-mode consensus is proved to be a more effective ensemble solution than the traditional consensus approach, which outperforms the 8 ensemble algorithms by 20% on almost all compared metrices which include accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score and area under receiver operating characteristic curve.

Keywords: consensus, curse of correlation, imbalance classification, rank-based chain-mode ensemble

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Authors: Maaly Jarrah

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In a study abroad context, students have the advantage of immersing themselves in the environment of the target language and being exposed to it. However, in and a stay home context, where English is not the mother tongue, students’ exposure to the second language is often times restricted to the classroom. Although language teachers are keen to develop inside class room activities and practices that increase the suitability of students to acquire a second language (Cook & Singleton, 2014), many would agree that class time is too limited to enhance students’ oral fluency skills. Consequently, creating opportunities outside the classroom for students to speak English is an effective strategy in compensating for students’ limited use of the L2. In an argument by Ortega (2012) external classroom activities have equal significance in enabling students learn English as a second language. The author further asserts that the activities provide a non-educational environment from which a student may feel free and comfortable to acquire new language skills. This study investigates the significance of outside classroom activities in promoting students’ oral proficiency. In addition, it reports on students’ perceptions of such activities. 15 participants from the American University of Kuwait took part in this study. Open-ended interviews were done to find out what the participants thought of these activities, and what they gained from them. Interview results show that students found outside classroom activities very effective in improving not only their oral fluency skills, but their confidence and critical thinking skills as well. The implications of this research study are for language practitioners and language programs in the EFL context to be aware of the benefits of incorporating outside classroom activities in language teaching.

Keywords: language teaching, oral fluency, outside classroom activities

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Authors: Olasunkanmi Olapeju

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A large chunk of global population are not yet connected to water borne faecal management systems that rely on flush mechanisms and sewers networks that are linked with a central treatment plant. Only about 10% of sub-Saharan African countries are connected to central sewage systems. In Nigeria, majority of the population do not only depend on on-plot sanitation systems, a huge chunk do not also have access to safe and improved toilets. Apart from the organizational challenges and technical capacity, the other major factors that account for why faecal waste management is yet unimproved in developing countries are faulty planning frameworks that fail to maintain balance between urbanization dynamics and infrastructures, and misconceptions about what modern sanitation is all about. In most cases, the quest to implement developmental patterns that integrate modern sewers based sanitation systems have huge financial and political costs. Faecal waste management in poor countries largely lacks the needed political attention and budgetary prioritization. Yet, the on-plot sanitation systems being mainly relied upon the need to be managed in a manner that is sustainable and healthy, pending when development would embrace a more sustainable off-site central sewage system. This study is aimed at investigating existing strategies for managing on-plot sanitation systems’ faecal waste in Ogun state, Nigeria, with the aim of recommending sustainable sanitation management systems. The study adopted the convergent parallel variant of the mixed-mode technique, which involves the adoption of both quantitative and qualitative method of data collection. Adopting a four-level multi-stage approach, which is inclusive of all political divisions in the study area, a total of 330 questionnaires were respectively administered in the study area. Moreover, the qualitative data adopted the purposive approach in scoping down to 33 key informants. SPSS software (Version 22.0) was employed for descriptively analysis. The study shows that about 52% of households adopt the non-recovery management (NRM) means of burying their latrines with sand sludge shrinkage with chemicals such as carbides. The dominance of the non-recovery management means seriously constrains the quest for faecal resource recovery. Essentially, the management techniques adopted by households depend largely on the technology of their sanitary containments, emptying means available, the ability of households to pay for the cost of emptying, and the social acceptability of the reusability of faecal waste, which determines faecal resource recoverability. The study suggests that there is a need for municipal authorities in the study area to urgently intervene in the sanitation sector and consider it a key element of the planning process. There is a need for a comprehensive plan that would ensure a seamless transition to the adoption of a modern sanitation management system.

Keywords: faecal, management, planning, waste, sanitation, sustainability

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Authors: J. Gonzalez, P. Jimenez, C. Isaza

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Palms have different characteristics that make them vulnerable; that is the case of the Chamaedorea linearis, with the presence of solitary stems of small diameter and medium leaves, culturally harvested, and in religious festivities used. Additionally, they present a weak apical meristem as the only emergency point, slow development and growth, and an affectation due to the high rate of deforestation in Colombia. Propagation of this species can improve the pressure on wild populations and help their survival in the environment. In this study was used in 177 plants biosolids humus from the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), located at the UMNG Campus Cajica (Cundinamarca, Colombia). The experiment used a control and two treatments with 10% and 20% of humus. During the process, the variables evaluated were number of leaves, percentage of chlorophyll, stem length, and estimated leaf area. The data set were taking during 14 weeks before the reproductive maturity, evidencing that the most representative development of the palms was in the treatment of 20%, plants in this treatment presented major number of leaves, larger stems, a high quantity of chlorophyll, and was a first treatment that present pinnate leaves them represent an important point in maturity process. The research gives an opportunity to improve times of growth in another species of palms and plants (Product result from INV ING 2986 UMNG).

Keywords: biosolids, humus, growth, palms, wastewater treatment plant, WWTP

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Authors: Houmame Benbouali

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The risks, in general, exist in any project; one can hardly carry out a project without taking risks. The hydraulic works are rather complex projects in their design, realization and exploitation, and are often subjected at the multiple risks being able to influence with their good performance, and can have an negative impact on their environment. The present study was carried out to quote the impacts caused by purification plant STEP Chlef on the environment, it aims has studies the environmental impacts during construction and when designing this STEP, it is divided into two parts: The first part results from a research task bibliographer which contain three chapters (-cleansing of water worn-general information on water worn-proceed of purification of waste water). The second part is an experimental part which is divided into four chapters (detailed state initial-description of the station of purification-evaluation of the impacts of the project analyzes measurements and recommendations).

Keywords: treatment plant, waste water, waste water treatment, environmental impact

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Authors: Joselito Medina Marin, Norberto Hernández Romero, Juan Carlos Seck Tuoh Mora, Erick S. Martinez Gomez

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The Flow Shop Scheduling Problem (FSSP) is a typical problem that is faced by production planning managers in Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS). This problem consists in finding the optimal scheduling to carry out a set of jobs, which are processed in a set of machines or shared resources. Moreover, all the jobs are processed in the same machine sequence. As in all the scheduling problems, the makespan can be obtained by drawing the Gantt chart according to the operations order, among other alternatives. On this way, an FMS presenting the FSSP can be modeled by Petri nets (PNs), which are a powerful tool that has been used to model and analyze discrete event systems. Then, the makespan can be obtained by simulating the PN through the token game animation and incidence matrix. In this work, we present an adaptive PN to obtain the makespan of FSSP by applying PN analytical tools.

Keywords: flow-shop scheduling problem, makespan, Petri nets, state equation

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Authors: Luana N. Cardozo, Debora A. S. Coutinho, Fabiola Lagher, Bruno J. G. Silva, Ivonilce Venture, Mainara Tesser, Graciela Venera

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Ostrich oil is used as food in Brazil, and it has been the subject of scientific research because it contains essential fatty acids (Omega 3, 6, 7, and 9), which provide benefits to human health. Alkylglycerols are lipid ethers consisted of a saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon chain joined by ether-type bonding to one of the glycerol hydroxyls. It is known that supplementation with alkylglycerols can act significantly on the functioning of immune system cells, both in pathological situations and in homeostasis. Objective: Analyze the presence of alkylglycerols in ostrich oil. Methods: The ostrich oil was bought from an industry that manufactures the product for sale as food, located in Mirante da Serra, northern Brazil. The samples were sent for analysis to the chemistry department of the Federal University of Paraná, where they were analyzed by the gas chromatography method. Results: The analysis of the ostrich oil presented alkylglycerols in area 514505154. Comparison, it is possible to observe that shark liver oil contains the area 26190196, and the difference between both is highly significant. Conclusion: The importance of alkylglycerol supplementation for the immune system is known. The analysis of the results made it possible to verify the presence of alkylglycerols in the ostrich oil, which is five times higher than in the shark liver oil, that would be the largest source food, but was surpassed by the ostrich oil until the present time. The present study emphasizes that ostrich oil can be considered a food source of alkylglycerols and may play a promising role in the immune system because it contains such substance, but further studies are needed to prove its performance in the body.

Keywords: ostrich oil, nutritional composition, alkylglycerols, food

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Authors: B. Mahfoud, A. Bendjagloli

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The effect of an axial magnetic field on the flow produced by co-rotation of the top and bottom disks in a vertical cylindrical heated from below is numerically analyzed. The governing Navier-Stokes, energy, and potential equations are solved by using the finite-volume method. It was observed that the Reynolds number is increased, the axisymmetric basic state loses stability to circular patterns of axisymmetric vortices and spiral waves. In mixed convection case the axisymmetric mode disappears giving an asymmetric mode m=1. It was also found that the primary thresholds Recr corresponding to the modes m=1and 2, increase with increasing of the Hartmann number (Ha). Finally, stability diagrams have been established according to the numerical results of this investigation. These diagrams giving the evolution of the primary thresholds as a function of the Hartmann number for various values of the Richardson number.

Keywords: bifurcation, co-rotating end disks, magnetic field, stability diagrams, vortices

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Authors: Tamriko Pavliashvili

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Marriage is such an important institution of family law, which is an indicator of the development of society. Although a family can be created by the birth of a child between an unmarried couple, marriage is still the main basis for the creation of a family, during which the rights and duties imposed require legal regulation. At present, in the conditions of globalization, there are different types of marriage, although, in the main countries, it is still a union of a woman and a man, which involves voluntary cohabitation and assuming and fulfilling the norms and responsibilities established on the basis of the law. Modern society is at the stage where there is a need to create a family, and therefore marriage provides the best opportunity for relationships and existence between people. The mentioned paper about the state institution - of marriage gives us the opportunity to get more information about the existing habits and legal norms from ancient times to the modern period in Georgia, and also through comparison, we will see what the differences and commonalities were and are in the marriage law of the countries of the world and Georgia.

Keywords: marriage, family law, the union of man and woman, church law, concubinage, registered marriage, impeding circumstances, positive and negative conditions of marriage

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Authors: P. Bharathiraja

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Computer Aided decision making system is used to enhance diagnosis and prognosis of diseases and also to assist clinicians and junior doctors in clinical decision making. Medical Data used for decision making should be definite and consistent. Data Mining and soft computing techniques are used for cleaning the data and for incorporating human reasoning in decision making systems. Fuzzy rule based inference technique can be used for classification in order to incorporate human reasoning in the decision making process. In this work, missing values are imputed using the mean or mode of the attribute. The data are normalized using min-ma normalization to improve the design and efficiency of the fuzzy inference system. The fuzzy inference system is used to handle the uncertainties that exist in the medical data. Equal-width-partitioning is used to partition the attribute values into appropriate fuzzy intervals. Fuzzy rules are generated using Class Based Associative rule mining algorithm. The system is trained and tested using heart disease data set from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) Machine Learning Repository. The data was split using a hold out approach into training and testing data. From the experimental results it can be inferred that classification using fuzzy inference system performs better than trivial IF-THEN rule based classification approaches. Furthermore it is observed that the use of fuzzy logic and fuzzy inference mechanism handles uncertainty and also resembles human decision making. The system can be used in the absence of a clinical expert to assist junior doctors and clinicians in clinical decision making.

Keywords: decision making, data mining, normalization, fuzzy rule, classification

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Authors: Tarsem Singh

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of yoga training on muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and agility of female hockey players. For this purpose, a sample of forty (N=40) female hockey players of age ranging from 18 to 25 years were selected from different colleges affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar. Further, the subjects were purposively divided in two groups. First group, designated as experimental group (N1=20) and the second one as control group (N2=20). All the participants were informed about the objectives and methodology of this study and they volunteered to participate in this experimental study. The study was restricted to the variables: muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and agility. The same were measured by using Flexed Arms Hang Test, Sit-Ups Test, Sit and Reach Test and Shuttle Run Test respectively. Experimental group have undergone yoga training for 8-week by following a sequence of selected yogic asanas i.e. Sarvangasana, Chakra-asana, Utthita Parsvakonasana, Parivrtta Trikonasana, Halasana, Bhujangasana, Dhanurasana, Ustrasana, Gomukasana, Paschimotansana, Ardha-Matsyendrasana and Hanumanasan. Paired sample t-test was applied to study the effects of yoga training on female hockey players. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results revealed significant differences between pre and post-tests of experimental group in respect to Muscular strength (t-6.946*), Muscular endurance (t-9.863*), Flexibility (t-11.052*) and Agility (t-14.068*). However, insignificant differences were observed between pre and post-tests of control group.

Keywords: yoga, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, agility

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Authors: Madeleine Nicole G. Bernardo, Katrina T. Feliciano, Marcelo Nonato A. Nacionales III, Diane Frances M. Peralta, Denise Nicole V. Profeta

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This study aims to find out if heart rate variability and valence of emotion have an effect on perceived intensity of emotion. Psychology undergraduates (N = 60) from the University of the Philippines Diliman were shown 10 photographs from the Japanese Female Facial Expression (JAFFE) Database, along with a corresponding questionnaire with a Likert scale on perceived intensity of emotion. In this 3 x 2 mixed subjects factorial design, each group was either made to do a simple exercise prior to answering the questionnaire in order to increase the heart rate, listen to a heart rate of 120 bpm, or colour a drawing to keep the heart rate stable. After doing the activity, the participants then answered the questionnaire, providing a rating of the faces according to the participants’ perceived emotional intensity on the photographs. The photographs presented were either of positive or negative emotional valence. The results of the experiment showed that neither an induced fast heart rate or perceived fast heart rate had any significant effect on the participants’ perceived intensity of emotion. There was also no interaction effect of heart rate variability and valence of emotion. The insignificance of results was explained by the Philippines’ high context culture, accompanied by the prevalence of both intensely valenced positive and negative emotions in Philippine society. Insignificance in the effects were also attributed to the Cannon-Bard theory, Schachter-Singer theory and various methodological limitations.

Keywords: heart rate variability, perceived intensity of emotion, Philippines , valence of emotion

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Authors: Welawat Tienpratarn, Chaiyaporn Yuksen, Rungrawin Promkul, Chetsadakon Jenpanitpong, Pajit Bunta, Suthap Jaiboon

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Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is an abnormally fast atrial tachycardia characterized by narrow (≤ 120 ms) and constant QRS. Adenosine was the drug of choice; the first dose was 6 mg. It can be repeated with the second and third doses of 12 mg, with greater than 90% success. The study found that patients observed at 4 hours after normal sinus rhythm was no recurrence within 24 hours. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors that influence the recurrence of SVT after adenosine in the emergency department (ED). The study was conducted retrospectively exploratory model, prognostic study at the Emergency Department (ED) in Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, a university-affiliated super tertiary care hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. The study was conducted for ten years period between 2010 and 2020. The inclusion criteria were age > 15 years, visiting the ED with SVT, and treating with adenosine. Those patients were recorded with the recurrence SVT in ED. The multivariable logistic regression model developed the predictive model and prediction score for recurrence PSVT. 264 patients met the study criteria. Of those, 24 patients (10%) had recurrence PSVT. Five independent factors were predictive of recurrence PSVT. There was age>65 years, heart rate (after adenosine) > 100 per min, structural heart disease, and dose of adenosine. The clinical risk score to predict recurrence PSVT is developed accuracy 74.41%. The score of >6 had the likelihood ratio of recurrence PSVT by 5.71 times. The clinical predictive score of > 6 was associated with recurrence PSVT in ED.

Keywords: supraventricular tachycardia, recurrance, emergency department, adenosine

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Authors: M. C. Venter, G. Hitge, S. C. Krygsman, J. Thiart

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For decades, South Africa has been planning transportation systems from a supply, rather than a demand side, perspective. In terms of parking, this relates to requiring the minimum parking provision that is enforced by city officials. Newer insight is starting to indicate that South Africa needs to re-think this philosophy in light of a new policy environment that desires a different outcome. Urban policies have shifted from reliance on the private car for access, to employing a wide range of alternative modes. Car dominated travel is influenced by various parameters, of which the availability and location of parking plays a significant role. The question is therefore, what is the right strategy to achieve the desired transport outcomes for SA. The focus of this paper is used to assess this issue with regard to parking provision, and specifically at a tertiary institution. A parking audit was conducted at the Stellenbosch campus of Stellenbosch University, monitoring occupancy at all 60 parking areas, every hour during business hours over a five-day period. The data from this survey was compared with the prescribed number of parking bays according to the Stellenbosch Municipality zoning scheme (requiring a minimum of 0.4 bays per student). The analysis shows that by providing 0.09 bays per student, the maximum total daily occupation of all the parking areas did not exceed an 80% occupation rate. It is concluded that the prevailing parking standards are not supportive of the new urban and transport policy environment, but that it is extremely conservative from a practical demand point of view.

Keywords: parking provision, parking requirements, travel behaviour, travel demand management

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