Search results for: Judge Paul Smith

Authors: M. L. W. P. De Silva, R. A. C. Rabel, N. Smith, L. McIntyre, T. J Parkinson, K. A. N. Wijayawardhane

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Curricular integration is an important concept in medical education for developing students’ ability to create connections between different medical disciplines. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is one of the vehicles through which such integration can be achieved. During the recent review of the veterinary curriculum at the University of Peradeniya, a series of courses in Integrative Veterinary Science (IVS) were introduced, in which PBL was the primary teaching methodology. The objectives of this study were to evaluate students’ opinions on PBL as a teaching method: it should be noted that, within the context of secondary and tertiary education in Sri Lanka, this would be an entirely novel learning experience for the students. Opinions were sought at the conclusion of IVS sessions where students of semesters 2, 4, 6, and 7 (of an 8-semester program) were exposed to a two, 2-hour PBL-based case scenario. The PBL-based case scenario in semesters 2, 4, and 7 were delivered using material previously developed by an experienced PBL practitioner, whilst material for semester 6 was prepared de novo by a less experienced practitioner. Each student (semesters 2: n=38, 4: n=37, 6: n=55, and 7: n=40) completed a questionnaire which asked whether: (i) the course had improved their critical thinking skills; (ii) the learning environment was sufficiently comfortable to express/share student’s opinion; (iii) there was sufficient facilitator guidance; (iv) the online study environment enhanced learning; and (v) the students were overall satisfied with the PBL approach and IVS concept. Responses were given on a 5-point Likert-scale (strongly agree (SA), agree (A), neutral (N), disagree (D), and strongly disagree (SD)). SA and A responses were summed to provide an overall ‘satisfactory’ response. Results were subjected to frequency-distribution statistical analysis. A total of 88.5% of students gave SA+A scores to their overall satisfaction. The proportion of SA+A scores differed between different semesters, such that 95% of semester 2, 4, and 7 students gave SA+A scores, whereas only 69% of semester 6 students did so for their respective sessions. Overall, 96% of the students gave SA+A scores to the question relating to the improvement of critical thinking skills: semester 6 students’ scores were marginally, but not significantly, lower (91% SA+A) than those in other semesters. The difference of scores between semester 6 and the other semesters may be attributed to the different PBL-material used and/or the different experience levels of the practitioners that developed the study material. The use of PBL as a means of teaching IVS curriculum-integration courses was well-received by the students in terms of their overall satisfaction and their perceptions of improved critical thinking skills. Importantly, this was achieved in the face of a methodology that was entirely novel to the students. Finally, the delivery of the PBL medium was readily mastered by the practitioner to whom it was also a novel methodology.

Keywords: critical thinking skills, integration, problem based learning, veterinary education

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Authors: Funmilayo Juliana Afolabi, Joke Haafkens, Paul De Beer

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Globally, there is a growing concern on reducing workplace accidents in the informal sector. However, there is a dearth of study on the perception of the informal workers on occupational risks they are exposed to. The way a worker perceives the workplace risk will influence his/her risk tolerance and risk behavior. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to have an in-depth understanding of the way the artisans perceive the risks at their workplace and how it influences their risk tolerance and risk behavior. This will help in designing meaningful intervention for the artisans and it will assist the policy makers in formulating a policy that will help them. Methods: Forty-three artisans were purposely selected for the study; data were generated through observation of the workplace and work practices of the artisans and in-depth interview from automobile artisans (Panel beater, Mechanic, Vulcanizer, and Painters) in Osun State, Nigeria. The transcriptions were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA software. Results: The perceived occupational risks among the study groups are a danger of being run over by oncoming vehicles while working by the roadside, a risk of vehicle falling on workers while working under the vehicle, cuts, and burns, fire explosion, falls from height and injuries from bursting of tires. The identified risk factors are carelessness of the workers, pressure from customers, inadequate tools, preternatural forces, God’s will and lack of apprentices that will assist them in the workplace. Furthermore, the study revealed that artisans engage in risky behavior like siphoning fuel with mouth because of perception that fuel is good for expelling worms and will make them free from any stomach upset. Conclusions: The study concluded that risky behaviors are influenced by culture, beliefs, and perception of the artisans. The study, therefore, suggested proper health and safety education for the artisans.

Keywords: automobile artisans, informal, occupational risks, Nigeria, sociological enquiry

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Authors: Mojtaba Eshraghi Arani

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The freight forwarders, who are known as the Architect of Transportation, play a vital role in the supply chain management. The package of various services which they provide has made the legal nature of freight forwarders very controversial, so that they might be qualified once as principal or carrier and, on other occasions, as agent of the shipper as the case may be. They could even be involved in the transportation process as the agent of shipping line, which makes the situation much more complicated. The courts in all countries have long had trouble in distinguishing the “forwarder as agent” from “forwarder as principal” (as it is outstanding in the prominent case of “Vastfame Camera Ltd v Birkart Globistics Ltd And Others” 2005, Hong Kong). It is not fully known that in the case of a claim against the forwarder, what particular parameter would be used by the judge among multiple, and sometimes contradictory, tests for determining the scope of the forwarder liability. In particular, every country has its own legal parameters for qualifying the freight forwarders that is completely different from others, as it is the case in France in comparison with Germany and England. The unpredictability of the courts’ decisions in this regard has provided the freight forwarders with the opportunity to impose any limitation or exception of liability while pretending to play the role of a principal, consequently making the cargo interests incur ever-increasing damage. The transportation industry needs to remove such uncertainty by unifying national laws governing freight forwarders liability. A long time ago, in 1967, The International Institute for Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) prepared a draft convention called “Draft Convention on Contract of Agency for Forwarding Agents Relating to International Carriage of Goods” (hereinafter called “UNIDROIT draft convention”). The UNIDROIT draft convention provided a clear and certain framework for the liability of freight forwarder in each capacity as agent or carrier, but it failed to transform to a convention, and eventually, it was consigned to oblivion. Today, after nearly 6 decades from that era, the necessity of such convention can be felt apparently. However, one might reason that the same grounds, in particular, the resistance by forwarders’ association, FIATA, exist yet, and thus it is not logical to revive a forgotten draft convention after such long period of time. It is argued in this article that the main reason for resisting the UNIDROIT draft convention in the past was pending efforts for developing the “1980 United Nation Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods”. However, the latter convention failed to become in force on due time in a way that there was no new accession since 1996, as a result of which the UNIDROIT draft convention must be revived strongly and immediately submitted to the relevant diplomatic conference. A qualitative method with the concept of interpretation of data collection has been used in this manuscript. The source of the data is the analysis of international conventions and cases.

Keywords: freight forwarder, revival, agent, principal, uidroit, draft convention

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Authors: Paul Lemarignier, Olivier Fiquet, Vincent Pateloup

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In line with the strong desire of nuclear energy players to have ever more effective products in terms of safety, research programs on E-ATF (Enhanced-Accident Tolerant Fuels) that are more resilient, particularly to the loss of coolant, have been launched in all countries with nuclear power plants. Among the multitude of solutions being developed internationally, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and its partners are investigating a promising solution, which is the realization of CERMET (CERamic-METal) type fuel pellets made of a matrix of fissile material, uranium dioxide UO2, which has a low thermal conductivity, and a metallic phase with a high thermal conductivity to improve heat evacuation. Work has focused on the development by powder metallurgy of micro-structured CERMETs, characterized by networks of metallic phase embedded in the UO₂ matrix. Other types of macro-structured CERMETs, based on concepts proposed by thermal simulation studies, have been developed with a metallic phase with a specific geometry to optimize heat evacuation. This solution could not be developed using traditional processes, so additive manufacturing, which revolutionizes traditional design principles, is used to produce these innovative prototype concepts. At CEA Cadarache, work is first carried out on a non-radioactive surrogate material, alumina, in order to acquire skills and to develop the equipment, in particular the robocasting machine, an additive manufacturing technique selected for its simplicity and the possibility of optimizing the paste formulations. A manufacturing chain was set up, with the pastes production, the 3D printing of pellets, and the associated thermal post-treatment. The work leading to the first elaborations of macro-structured alumina/molybdenum CERMETs will be presented. This work was carried out with the support of Framatome and EdF.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, alumina, CERMET, molybdenum, nuclear safety

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Authors: Esther N. Maina, Anna Skowronska, Sridhar Chaganti, Malcolm A. Taylor, Paul G. Murray, Tatjana Stankovic

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Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of human tumours of B-cell origin. The demonstration that a proportion of Hodgkin lymphomas and all Burkitt’s lymphomas harbour EBV suggests that the virus contributes to the development of these malignancies. However, the mechanisms of lymphomagenesis remain largely unknown. To determine whether EBV causes DNA damage and alters DNA damage response in cells of EBV-driven lymphoma origin, Germinal Centre (GC) B cells were infected with EBV and DNA damage responses to gamma ionising radiation (IR) assessed at early time points (12hr – 72hr) after infection and prior to establishment of lymphoblastoid (LCL) cell lines. In the presence of EBV, we observed induction of spontaneous DNA DSBs and downregulation of ATM-dependent phosphorylation in response to IR. This downregulation coincided with reduced ability of infected cells to repair IR-induced DNA double-strand breaks, as measured by the kinetics of gamma H2AX, a marker of double-strand breaks, and by the tail moment of the comet assay. Furthermore, we found that alteration of DNA damage responses coincided with the expression of LMP-1 protein. The presence of the EBV virus did not affect the localization of the ATM-dependent DNA repair proteins to sites of damage but instead lead to an increased expression of PP5, a phosphatase that regulates ATM function. The impact of the virus on DNA repair was most prominent 24h after infection, suggesting that this time point is crucial for the viral establishment in B cells. Our results suggest that during an early infection EBV virus dampens crucial cellular responses to DNA double-strand breaks which facilitate successful viral infection, but at the same time might provide the mechanism for tumor development.

Keywords: EBV, ATM, DNA damage, germinal center cells

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Authors: Paul Rowley, Adam Thirkill, Nick Doylend, Philip Leicester, Becky Gough

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The dynamic performance of all energy generation technologies is impacted to varying degrees by the stochastic properties of the wider system within which the generation technology is located. This stochasticity can include the varying nature of ambient renewable energy resources such as wind or solar radiation, or unpredicted changes in energy demand which impact upon the operational behaviour of thermal generation technologies. An understanding of these stochastic impacts are especially important in contexts such as highly distributed (or embedded) generation, where an understanding of issues affecting the individual or aggregated performance of high numbers of relatively small generators is especially important, such as in ESCO projects. Probabilistic evaluation of monitored or simulated performance data is one technique which can provide an insight into the dynamic performance characteristics of generating systems, both in a prognostic sense (such as the prediction of future performance at the project’s design stage) as well as in a diagnostic sense (such as in the real-time analysis of underperforming systems). In this work, we describe the development, application and outcomes of a new approach to the acquisition of datasets suitable for use in the subsequent performance and impact analysis (including the use of Bayesian approaches) for a number of distributed generation technologies. The application of the approach is illustrated using a number of case studies involving domestic and small commercial scale photovoltaic, solar thermal and natural gas boiler installations, and the results as presented show that the methodology offers significant advantages in terms of plant efficiency prediction or diagnosis, along with allied environmental and social impacts such as greenhouse gas emission reduction or fuel affordability.

Keywords: renewable energy, dynamic performance simulation, Bayesian analysis, distributed generation

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Authors: Charléa M. Smith, Raiden L. Schodowski, Arletty Pinel

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Faculty of Medical Sciences of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona in Kingston, Jamaica, had to rapidly migrate to digital and blended learning. Students in the preclinical stage of the program transitioned to full-time online learning, while students in the clinical stage experienced decreased daily patient contact and the implementation of a blend of online lectures and virtual clinical practice. Such sudden changes were coupled with the institutional pressure of the need to introduce a novel approach to education without much time for preparation, as well as additional strain endured by the faculty, who were overwhelmed by serving as frontline workers. During the period July 20 to August 23, 2021, this study surveyed preclinical and clinical students to capture their experiences with these changes and their recommendations for future use of digital modalities of learning to enhance medical education. It was conducted with a fellow student of the 2021 cohort of the MultiPod mentoring program. A questionnaire was developed and distributed digitally via WhatsApp to all medical students of the UWI Mona campus to assess students’ experiences and perceptions of the advantages, challenges, and impact on individual knowledge proficiencies brought about by the transition to predominantly digital learning environments. 108 students replied, 53.7% preclinical and 46.3% clinical. 67.6% of the total were female and 30.6 % were male; 1.8% did not identify themselves by gender. 67.2% of preclinical students preferred blended learning and 60.3% considered that the content presented did not prepare them for clinical work. Only 31% considered that the online classes were interactive and encouraged student participation. 84.5% missed socialization with classmates and friends and 79.3% missed a focused environment for learning. 80% of the clinical students felt that they had not learned all that they expected and only 34% had virtual interaction with patients, mostly by telephone and video calls. Observing direct consultations was considered the most useful, yet this was the least-used modality. 96% of the preclinical students and 100% of the clinical ones supplemented their learning with additional online tools. The main recommendations from the survey are the use of interactive teaching strategies, more discussion time with lecturers, and increased virtual interactions with patients. Universities are returning to face-to-face learning, yet it is unlikely that blended education will disappear. This study demonstrates that students’ perceptions of their experience during mobility restrictions must be taken into consideration in creating more effective, inclusive, and efficient blended learning opportunities.

Keywords: blended learning, digital learning, medical education, student perceptions

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Authors: Paul Lam, Kevin Wong, Chi Him Chan

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Constant practicing and accurate, immediate feedback are the keys to improving students’ speaking skills. However, traditional oral examination often fails to provide such opportunities to students. The traditional, face-to-face oral assessment is often time consuming – attending the oral needs of one student often leads to the negligence of others. Hence, teachers can only provide limited opportunities and feedback to students. Moreover, students’ incentive to practice is also reduced by their anxiety and shyness in speaking the new language. A mobile app was developed to use artificial intelligence (AI) to provide immediate feedback to students’ speaking performance as an attempt to solve the above-mentioned problems. Firstly, it was thought that online exercises would greatly increase the learning opportunities of students as they can now practice more without the needs of teachers’ presence. Secondly, the automatic feedback provided by the AI would enhance students’ motivation to practice as there is an instant evaluation of their performance. Lastly, students should feel less anxious and shy compared to directly practicing oral in front of teachers. Technically, the program made use of speech-to-text functions to generate feedback to students. To be specific, the software analyzes students’ oral input through certain speech-to-text AI engine and then cleans up the results further to the point that can be compared with the targeted text. The mobile app has invited English teachers for the pilot use and asked for their feedback. Preliminary trials indicated that the approach has limitations. Many of the users’ pronunciation were automatically corrected by the speech recognition function as wise guessing is already integrated into many of such systems. Nevertheless, teachers have confidence that the app can be further improved for accuracy. It has the potential to significantly improve oral drilling by giving students more chances to practice. Moreover, they believe that the success of this mobile app confirms the potential to extend the AI-assisted assessment to other language skills, such as writing, reading, and listening.

Keywords: artificial Intelligence, mobile learning, oral assessment, oral practice, speech-to-text function

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Authors: Venkateswarlu Kappara

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The term ‘Dharma’ is complex and ubiquitous. It has no equivalent word in English Initially applied to Aryans. In Rig Veda, it appears in a number of places with different meanings. The word Dharma comes from the roots word ‘dhr’ (Dhri-Dharayatetiiti Dharmaha). Principles of Dharma are all pervading. The closest synonyms for Dharma in English is ‘Righteousness.’ In a holy book Mahabharata, it is mentioned that Dharma destroys those who destroy it, Dharma Protects those who protect it. Also, Dharma might be shadowed, now and then by evil forces, but at the end, Dharma always triumphs. This line embodies the eternal victory of good over evil. In Mahabharata, Lord Krishna says Dharma upholds both, this worldly and other worldly affairs. Rig Veda says, ‘O Indra! Lead us on the path of Rta, on the right path over all evils.’ For Buddhists, Dharma most often means the body of teachings expounded by the Buddha. The Dharma is one of the three Jewels (Tri Ratnas) of Buddhism under which the followers take refuge. They are: the ‘Buddha’ meaning the minds perfection or enlightenment, the Dharma, meaning the teachings and the methods of the Buddha, and the Sangha meaning those awakened people who provide guidance and support followers. Buddha denies a separate permanent ‘I.’ Buddha Accepts Suffering (Dukka). Change / impermanence (Anicca) and not– self (Annatta) Dharma in the Buddhist scriptures has a variety of meanings including ‘phenomenon’ and ‘nature’ or ‘characteristic.’ For Sikhs, the word ‘Dharma’ means the ‘path’ of righteousness’ The Sikh scriptures attempt to answer the exposition of Dharma. The main Holy Scripture of the Sikh religion is called the Guru Granth Sahib. The faithful people are fully bound to do whatever the Dharma wants them to do. Such is the name of the Immaculate Lord. Only one who has faith comes to know such a state of mind. The righteous judge of Dharma, by the Hukam of God’s Command, sits and Administers true justice. From Dharma flow wealth and pleasure. The study indicates that in Sikh religion, the Dharma is the path of righteousness; In Buddhism, the mind’s perfection of enlightenment, and in Hinduism, it is non-violence, purity, truth, control of senses, not coveting the property of others. The comparative study implies that all religions dealt with Dharma for welfare of the mankind. The methodology adapted is theoretical, analytical and comparative. The present study indicates how far Indian philosophical systems influenced the present circumstances and how far the present system is not compatible with Ancient philosophical systems. A tentative generalization would be that the present system which is mostly influenced by the British Governance may not totally reflect the ancient norms. However, the mental make-up continues to be influenced by Ancient philosophical systems.

Keywords: Dharma, Dukka (suffering), Rakshati, righteous

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Authors: Luke Power, Paul O'Leary

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Research has long described the enhancement of student engagement as a fundamental aim of delivering a consistent, lifelong benefit to student success across the multitude of dimensions a quality HE (higher education) experience offers. Engagement may take many forms, with Universities and Institutes across the world attempting to define the parameters which constitutes a successful student engagement framework and implementation strategy. These efforts broadly include empowering students, encouraging involvement, and the transfer of decision-making power through a variety of methods with the goal of obtaining a meaningful partnership between students and staff. As the Republic of Ireland continues to observe an increasing population transferring directly from secondary education to HE institutions, it falls on these institutions to research and develop effective strategies which insures the growing student population have every opportunity to engage with their education, research community, and staff. This research systematically reviews SPAs (student partnership agreements) which are currently in the process of being defined, and/or have been adopted at HE institutions, worldwide. Despite the demonstrated importance of a student-staff partnership to the overall student engagement experience, there is no obvious framework or model by which to begin this process. This work will therefore provide a novel analysis of student-staff agreements which will focus on examining the factors of success common to each and builds towards a workable and applicable framework using critical review, analysis of the key words, phraseology, student involvement, and the broadly applicable HE traits and values. Following the analysis, this work proposes SPA ‘toolkit’ with input from key stakeholders such as students, staff, faculty, and alumni. The resulting implications for future research and the lessons learned from the development and implementation of the SPA will aid the systematic implementation of student-staff agreements in Ireland and beyond.

Keywords: student engagement, student partnership agreements, student-staff partnerships, higher education, systematic review, democratising students, empowering students, student unions

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Authors: Ginger Egberts, Marianne Schaaphok, Fred Vermolen, Paul van Zuijlen

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A few years ago, a promising morphoelastic model was developed for the simulation of contraction formation after burn injuries. Contraction can lead to a serious reduction in physical mobility, like a reduction in the range-of-motion of joints. If this is the case in a healing burn wound, then this is referred to as a contracture that needs medical intervention. The morphoelastic model consists of a set of partial differential equations describing both a chemical part and a mechanical part in dermal wound healing. These equations are solved with the numerical finite element method (FEM). In this method, many calculations are required on each of the chosen elements. In general, the more elements, the more accurate the solution. However, the number of elements increases rapidly if simulations are performed in 2D and 3D. In that case, it not only takes longer before a prediction is available, the computation also becomes more expensive. It is therefore important to investigate alternative possibilities to generate the same results, based on the input parameters only. In this study, a surrogate neural network has been designed to mimic the results of the one-dimensional morphoelastic model. The neural network generates predictions quickly, is easy to implement, and there is freedom in the choice of input and output. Because a neural network requires extensive training and a data set, it is ideal that the one-dimensional FEM code generates output quickly. These feed-forward-type neural network results are very promising. Not only can the network give faster predictions, but it also has a performance of over 99%. It reports on the relative surface area of the wound/scar, the total strain energy density, and the evolutions of the densities of the chemicals and mechanics. It is, therefore, interesting to investigate the applicability of a neural network for the two- and three-dimensional morphoelastic model for contraction after burn injuries.

Keywords: biomechanics, burns, feasibility, feed-forward NN, morphoelasticity, neural network, relative surface area wound

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Authors: Rebecca Richards Steed, James Van Derslice, Ken Smith, Richard Medina, Amanda Bakian

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Elucidating gene-environment interactions for heritable disease outcomes is an emerging area of disease research, with genetic studies informing hypotheses for environment and gene interactions underlying some of the most confounding diseases of our time, like autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Geography has thus far played a key role in identifying environmental factors contributing to disease, but its use can be broadened to include genetic and environmental factors that have a synergistic effect on disease. Through the use of family pedigrees and disease outcomes with life-course residential histories, space-time clustering of generations at critical developmental windows can provide further understanding of (1) environmental factors that contribute to disease patterns in families, (2) susceptible critical windows of development most impacted by environment, (3) and that are most likely to lead to an ASD diagnosis. This paper introduces a retrospective case-control study that utilizes pedigree data, health data, and residential life-course location points to find space-time clustering of ancestors with a grandchild/child with a clinical diagnosis of ASD. Finding space-time clusters of ancestors at critical developmental windows serves as a proxy for shared environmental exposures. The authors refer to geographic life-course exposures as geographic legacies. Identifying space-time clusters of ancestors creates a bridge for researching exposures of past generations that may impact modern-day progeny health. Results from the space-time cluster analysis show multiple clusters for the maternal and paternal pedigrees. The paternal grandparent pedigree resulted in the most space-time clustering for birth and childhood developmental windows. No statistically significant clustering was found for adolescent years. These results will be further studied to identify the specific share of space-time environmental exposures. In conclusion, this study has found significant space-time clusters of parents, and grandparents for both maternal and paternal lineage. These results will be used to identify what environmental exposures have been shared with family members at critical developmental windows of time, and additional analysis will be applied.

Keywords: family pedigree, environmental exposure, geographic legacy, medical geography, transgenerational inheritance

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Authors: Mary-Ellen Hooper, Anthony Paul O'Brien, Graeme Browne

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Background: It has been proposed that negative experiences in mental health nursing increase the risk of attrition for newly graduated nurses. The risk of nurse attrition is of particular concern with current nurse shortages worldwide continuing to rise. The purpose of this study was to identify and explore the qualitative experiences of new graduate nurses as they enter mental health services in their first year of clinical practice. Method: An ethnographic research design was utilized in order to explore the sub-cultural experiences of new graduate nurses. Which included 31 separate episodes of field observation (62 hours) and (n=24) semi-structured interviews. A total number of 26 new graduates and recently graduated nurses participated in this study – 14 new graduate nurses and 12 recently graduate nurses. Data collection was conducted across 6 separate Australian, NSW, mental health units from April until September 2017. Results: A major theme emerging from the research is the new graduate nurses experience of communication in their nursing role, particularly within the context of the multidisciplinary team, and the barriers to sharing information related to care. This presentation describes the thematic structure of the major theme 'communication' in the context of the everyday experience of the New Graduate mental health nurse's participation in their chosen nursing discipline. The participants described diminished communication as a negative experience affecting their envisioned notion of holistic care, which they had associated with the role of the mental health nurse. Conclusion: The relationship between nurses and members of the multidisciplinary team plays a key role in the communication of patient care, patient-centeredness and inter-professional collaboration, potentially affecting the role of the mental health nurse, satisfaction of new graduate nurses, and patient care.

Keywords: culture, mental health nursing, multidisciplinary team, new graduate nurse

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Authors: Neha Bhadauria, Indu Gaur, Shilpi Shilpi, Susmita Goswami, Prabir K. Paul

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The aerial surface of plants colonized by Human Enteric Pathogens ()has been implicated in outbreaks of enteric diseases in humans. Practice of organic farming primarily using animal dung as manure and sewage water for irrigation are the most significant source of enteric pathogens on the surface of leaves, fruits and vegetables. The present work aims to have an insight into the molecular mechanism of interaction of Human Enteric Pathogens or their metabolites with cell wall receptors in plants. Tomato plants grown under aseptic conditions at 12 hours L/D photoperiod, 25±1°C and 75% RH were inoculated individually with S. fonticola and K. pneumonia. The leaves from treated plants were sampled after 24 and 48 hours of incubation. The cell wall and cytoplasmic proteins were extracted and isocratically separated on 1D SDS-PAGE. The sampled leaves were also subjected to formaldehyde treatment prior to isolation of cytoplasmic proteins to study protein-protein interactions induced by Human Enteric Pathogens. Protein bands extracted from the gel were subjected to MALDI-TOF-TOF MS analysis. The foremost interaction of Human Enteric Pathogens on the plant surface was found to be cell wall bound receptors which possibly set ups a wave a critical protein-protein interaction in cytoplasm. The study revealed the expression and suppression of specific cytoplasmic and cell wall-bound proteins, some of them being important components of signaling pathways. The results also demonstrated HEP induced rearrangement of signaling pathways which possibly are crucial for adaptation of these pathogens to plant surface. At the end of the study, it can be concluded that controlling the over-expression or suppression of these specific proteins rearrange the signaling pathway thus reduces the outbreaks of food-borne illness.

Keywords: cytoplasmic protein, cell wall-bound protein, Human Enteric Pathogen (HEP), protein-protein interaction

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Authors: Paul E. Priester

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The Twelve Step approach to recovery from substance use and addictive disorders is considered an evidence-based model that assists many who recover from a chronic, progressive, fatal disease. Two key processes that contribute to the success of obtaining recovery from substance use disorders (SUD) are meeting engagement and the development of spiritual beliefs. Beyond establishing that there is a positive relationship between the development of spiritual beliefs in recovery from SUD’s, there has been a paucity of research exploring individual differences among individuals in this development of spiritual beliefs. One such personality variable that deserves exploration is that of the need for cognition. The need for cognition is a personality variable that explains the cognitive style of individuals. Individuals with a high need for cognition enjoy examining the complexities of a situation before coming to a conclusion. While individuals with a low need for cognition do not value or spend time cognitively dissecting a situation or decision. It is important to point out that a high need for cognition does not necessarily imply a high level of cognitive ability. Indeed, one could make the argument that a low need for cognition individual is not “wasting” cognitive energy in perseverating the multitude of aspects of a particular decision. This paper will present two case studies demonstrating the development of spiritual beliefs that enabled long-term recovery from SUD. The first case study presents an agnostic individual with a low need for cognition cognitive style in his development of spirituality in support of his recovery from alcoholism within the context of Alcoholics Anonymous. The second case study represents an adamant atheist with a high need for cognition cognitive style. This second individual is an intravenous cocaine addict and alcoholic who recovers through the development of spirituality within the contexts of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. The two case studies will be contrasted with each other, noting how the individuals’ cognitive style mediated the development of spirituality that supported their long-term recovery from alcoholism and addiction.

Keywords: spirituality, twelve step recovery, need for cognition, individual differences in recovery from addictions

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Authors: Kristin Lewis, Howard Steele, Anne Murphy, Miriam Steele, Karen Bonuck, Paul Meissner

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The present study examines data collected during the randomized control trial (RCT) of the Group Attachment-Based Intervention (GABI©), a trauma-informed, attachment-based intervention aimed at promoting healthy parent-child relationships that support child development. Families received treatment at Treatment Center and were randomly assigned to either the GABI condition or the treatment as usual condition, a parenting class called Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP). Significant improvements in the parent-child relationship have been reported for families participating in GABI, but not in the STEP control group relying on Coding Interactive Behavior (CIB) as applied to 5-minute video-films of mothers and their toddlers in a free play context. This report considers five additional attachment-relevant 'clinical codes' that were also applied to the 5-minute free play sessions. Seventy-two parent-child dyads (38 in GABI and 34 in STEP) were compared to one another at intake and end-of-treatment, on these five-point dimensions: two-parent codes—the dissociation and ignoring; two child codes—simultaneous display of contradictory behavior and fear; and one parent-child code, i.e., role reversal. Overall, scores were low for these clinical codes; thus, a binary measure was computed contrasting no evidence with some evidence of each clinical code. Crosstab analyses indicate that child fear at end-of-treatment was significantly lower among children who participated in GABI (7% or 3 children) as compared to those whose mothers participated in STEP (29% or 10 children) Chi Sq= 6.57 (1), p < .01. Discussion focuses on the potential for GABI to reduce childhood fearfulness and so enhance the child's health.

Keywords: coding interactive behavior, clinical codes, group attachment based intervention, GABI, attachment, fear

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Authors: George Cudjoe Agbemabiese, John Paul Kosiba, Michael Boadi Nyamekye, Vanessa Narkie Tetteh, Caleb Nunoo, Mohammed Muniru Husseini

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The smartphone industry continues to experience massive growth, evidenced by expanding markets and an increasing number of brands, models and manufacturers. As technology advances rapidly, manufacturers of smartphones are consistently introducing new innovations to keep up with the latest evolving industry trends and customer demand for more modern devices. This study aimed to assess the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistant (VA) on improving customer experience, resulting in the continuous use of mobile brands. Specifically, this article assesses the role of hedonic, utilitarian, and social benefits provided by AIVA on customer experience and the continuance intention to use mobile phone brands. Using a primary data collection instrument, the quantitative approach was adopted to examine the study's variables. Data from 348 valid responses were used for the analysis based on structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS version 23. Three main factors were identified to influence customer experience, which results in continuous usage of mobile phone brands. These factors are social benefits, hedonic benefits, and utilitarian benefits. In conclusion, a significant and positive relationship exists between the factors influencing customer experience for continuous usage of mobile phone brands. The study concludes that mobile brands that invest in delivering positive user experiences are in a better position to improve usage and increase preference for their brands. The study recommends that mobile brands consider and research their prospects' and customers' social, hedonic, and utilitarian needs to provide them with desired products and experiences.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, continuance usage, customer experience, smartphone industry

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Authors: Renan Caseiro De Almeida, Mateus Mello Garrute

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The world walks to be ever more globalised. This trend promotes an increase on the number of transnational commercial transactions. The main modal for carriage of goods is by sea, and many countries have their economies dependent on the maritime freightage – it could be because they exercise largely this activity or because they follow the tendency of using the maritime logistic widely. Among these ones, Brazil is included. This nation counts with sixteen ports with good capacities, which receive most of the international income by sea. It is estimated that 85 per cent of the total influx of goods in Brazil is by maritime modal, leaving mere 15 per cent for the other ones. This made it necessary to develop maritime law in international and national basis, to create a standard to be applied with the intention to harmonize the transnational carriage of goods by sea. Maritime contracts are very specific and have interesting peculiarities, but in their range, little research has been made on what causes the main divergences when it comes to international contracts: the jurisdiction conflict. Likewise any other international contract, it is common for the parties to set a forum selection clause to choose the forum which will be able to judge the litigations that could rise from a maritime transport contract and, consequently, also which law should be applied to the cases. However, the forum choice in Brazil has always been somewhat polemical – not only in the maritime law sphere - for sometimes national tribunals overlook the parties’ choice and call the competence for themselves. In this sense, it is interesting to mention that the Mexico Convention of 1994 about the law applicable to international contracts did not gain strength in Brazil, nor even reached the Congress to be considered for ratification. Furthermore, it is also noteworthy that Brazil has a new Civil Procedure Code, which was put into reinforcement in 2016 bringing new legal provisions specifically about the forum selection. This represented a mark in the national legal system in this matter. Therefore, this paper intends to give an insight through Brazilian jurisprudence, making an analysis of how this issue has been treated on litigations about maritime contracts in the national tribunals, as well as the solutions found by the Brazilian legal system for the jurisdiction conflicts in those cases. To achieve the expected results, the hypothetical-deductive method will be used in combination with researches on doctrine and legislations. Also, jurisprudential research and case law study will have a special role, since the main point of this paper is to verify and study the position of the courts in Brazil in a specific matter. As a country of civil law, the Brazilian judges and tribunals are very attached to the rules displayed on codes. However, the jurisprudential understanding has been changing during the years and with the advent of the new rules about the applicable law and forum selection clause, it is noticeable that new winds are being blown.

Keywords: applicable law, forum selection clause, international business, international maritime contracts, litigation in courts

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Authors: Faran Chaudhry, Anser Daud, Doris Braunstein, Oleg Safir, Allan Gross, Paul Kuzyk

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Background: Acetabular reconstruction in the context of massive acetabular bone loss is challenging. In rare scenarios where the extent of bone loss precludes shell placement (cup-cage), reconstruction at our center consisted of a cage combined with highly porous metal augments. This study evaluates survivorship, complications, and functional outcomes using this technique. Methods: A total of 131 cup-cage implants (129 patients) were included in our retrospective review of revisions of total hip arthroplasty from January 2003 to January 2022. Among these cases, 100/131 (76.3%) were women, the mean age at surgery time was 68.7 years (range, 29.0 to 92.0; SD, 12.4), and the mean follow-up was 7.7 years (range, 0.02 to 20.3; SD, 5.1). Kaplan-Meier survivorship analysis was conducted with failure defined as revision surgery and/or failure of the cup-cage reconstruction. Results: A total of 30 implants (23%) reached the study endpoint involving all-cause revision. Overall survivorship was 74.8% at 10 years and 69.8% at 15 years. Reasons for revision included infection 12/131 (9.1%), dislocation 10/131 (7.6%), aseptic loosening of cup and/or cage 5/131 (3.8%), and aseptic loosening of the femoral stem 2/131 (1.5%). The mean LLD improved from 12.2 ± 15.9 mm to 3.9 ± 11.8 (p<0.05). The horizontal and vertical hip centres on plain film radiographs were significantly improved (p<0.05). Functionally, there was a decrease in the number of patients requiring the use of gait aids, with fewer patients (34, 25.9%) using a cane, walker, or wheelchair post-operatively compared to pre-operatively (58, 44%). There was a significant increase in the number of independent ambulators from 24 to 47 (36%). Conclusion: The cup-cage construct is a reliable treatment option for the treatment of various acetabular defects. There are favourable survivorship, clinical and radiographic outcomes, with a satisfactory complication rate.

Keywords: revision total hip arthroplasty, acetabular defect, pelvic discontinuity, trabecular metal augment, cup-cage

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Authors: Jean Paul Hategekimana, Josiane Irakoze, Eugene Niyonzima, Annick Ndekezi

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Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a root crop comprising an anti-nutritive factor known as cyanide. The compound can be removed by numerous processing methods such as boiling, fermentation, blanching, and sun drying to avoid the possibility of cyanide poisoning. Inappropriate processing mean can lead to disease and death. Cassava-based dishes are consumed in different ways, where cassava is cultivated according to their culture and preference. However, they have been shown to be unsafe based on high cyanide levels. The current study targeted to resolve the problem of high cyanide in cassava consumed in Rwanda. This study was conducted to determine the effect of slicing, blanching, and soaking time to reduce the fermentation duration of cassava for hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in mg/g removal. Cassava was sliced into three different portions (1cm, 2cm, and 5cm). The first portions were naturally fermented for seven days, where each portion was removed every 24 hours from soaking tanks and then oven dried at a temperature of 60°C and then milled to obtain naturally fermented cassava flours. Other portions of 1cm, 2cm, and 5cm were blanched for 2, 5, 10 min, respectively, and each similarly dried at 60°C and milled to produce blanched cassava flour. Other blanched portions were used to follow the previous fermentation steps. The last portions, which formed the control, were simply chopped. Cyanide content and starch content in mg/100g were investigated. According to the conducted analysis on different cassava treatments for detoxification, found that usual fermentation can be used, but for sliced portions aimed to size reduction for the easy hydrogen cyanide diffuse out and it takes four days to complete fermentation, which has reduced at 94.44% with significantly different (p<0.05)of total hydrogen cyanide contained in cassava to safe level of consumption, and what is recommended as more effective is to apply blanching combined with fermentation due to the fact that, it takes three days to complete hydrogen cyanide removal at 95.56% on significantly different (p<0.05) of reduction to the safe level of consumption.

Keywords: cassava, cyanide, blanching, drying, fermentation

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Authors: Palaniraj Rama Raj, Himeesh Kumar, Paul Adler

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Purpose: To investigate the effect of ultrasound energy, expressed as cumulative dissipated energy (CDE), on short and long-term outcomes after uncomplicated cataract surgery by phacoemulsification. Methods: In this single-surgeon, two-center retrospective study, non-glaucomatous participants who underwent uncomplicated cataract surgery were investigated. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and intraocular pressure (IOP) were measured at 3 separate time points: pre-operative, Day 1 and ≥1 month. Anterior chamber (AC) inflammation and corneal odema (CO) were assessed at 2 separate time points: Pre-operative and Day 1. Short-term changes (Day 1) in BCVA, IOP, AC and CO and long-term changes (≥1 month) in BCVA and IOP were evaluated as a function of CDE using a multivariate multiple linear regression model, adjusting for age, gender, cataract type and grade, preoperative IOP, preoperative BCVA and duration of long-term follow-up. Results: 110 eyes from 97 non-glaucomatous participants were analysed. 60 (54.55%) were female and 50 (45.45%) were male. The mean (±SD) age was 73.40 (±10.96) years. Higher CDE counts were strongly associated with higher grades of sclerotic nuclear cataracts (p <0.001) and posterior subcapsular cataracts (p <0.036). There was no significant association between CDE counts and cortical cataracts. CDE counts also had a positive correlation with Day 1 CO (p <0.001). There was no correlation between CDE counts and Day 1 AC inflammation. Short-term and long-term changes in post-operative IOP did not demonstrate significant associations with CDE counts (all p >0.05). Though there was no significant correlation between CDE counts and short-term changes in BCVA, higher CDE counts were strongly associated with greater improvements in long-term BCVA (p = 0.011). Conclusion: Though higher CDE counts were strongly associated with higher grades of Day 1 postoperative CO, there appeared to be no detriment to long-term BCVA. Correspondingly, the strong positive correlation between CDE counts and long-term BCVA was likely reflective of the greater severity of underlying cataract type and grade. CDE counts were not associated with short-term or long-term postoperative changes in IOP.

Keywords: cataract surgery, phacoemulsification, cumulative dissipated energy, CDE, surgical outcomes

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Authors: Brian M. Mehling, Louis Quartararo, Marine Manvelyan, Paul Wang, Dong-Cheng Wu

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Numerous investigations suggest that Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) in general represent a valuable tool for therapy of symptoms related to chronic inflammatory diseases. Blue Horizon Stem Cell Therapy Program is a leading provider of adult and children’s stem cell therapies. Uniquely we have safely and efficiently treated more than 600 patients with documenting each procedure. The purpose of our study is primarily to monitor the immune response in order to validate the safety of intravenous infusion of human umbilical cord blood derived MSCs (UC-MSCs), and secondly, to evaluate effects on biomarkers associated with chronic inflammation. Nine patients were treated for conditions associated with chronic inflammation and for the purpose of anti-aging. They have been given one intravenous infusion of UC-MSCs. Our study of blood test markers of 9 patients with chronic inflammation before and within three months after MSCs treatment demonstrates that there is no significant changes and MSCs treatment was safe for the patients. Analysis of different indicators of chronic inflammation and aging included in initial, 24-hours, two weeks and three months protocols showed that stem cell treatment was safe for the patients; there were no adverse reactions. Moreover data from follow up protocols demonstrates significant improvement in energy level, hair, nails growth and skin conditions. Intravenously administered UC-MSCs were safe and effective in the improvement of symptoms related to chronic inflammation. Further close monitoring and inclusion of more patients are necessary to fully characterize the advantages of UC-MSCs application in treatment of symptoms related to chronic inflammation.

Keywords: chronic inflammatory diseases, intravenous infusion, stem cell therapy, umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs)

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Authors: Emmanuel Bernard, Rebecca L. Cordell, Akeem A. Abayomi, Rose Alani, Paul S. Monks

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This study investigates the prevalence and extent of BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene) contamination in Leicester, United Kingdom, and Lagos, Nigeria, through field measurements at roadside (RS) and urban background (UB) sites. Using thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS), BTEX concentrations were quantified. In Leicester, the average RS concentration was 24.9 ± 8.9 μg/m³, and the UB concentration was 12.7 ± 5.7 μg/m³. In Lagos, the RS concentration was significantly higher at 106 ± 39.3 μg/m³, and the UB concentration was 20.1 ± 8.9 μg/m³. The RS concentration in Lagos was approximately 4.3 times higher than in Leicester, while the UB concentration was about 1.6 times higher. These disparities are attributed to differences in road infrastructure, traffic regulation compliance, fuel and oil quality, and local activities. In Leicester, the highest UB concentration (20.5 ± 1.7 μg/m³) was at Knighton Village, near the heavily polluted RS Wigston roundabout. In Lagos, the highest concentration (172.1 ± 12.2 μg/m³) was at Ojuelegba, a major transportation hub. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationships between the concentrations of BTEX compounds in both cities, suggesting common sources such as vehicular emissions and industrial activities. The ratios of toluene to benzene (T:B) and m/p xylene to ethylbenzene (m/p X:E) were analysed to infer source contributions and the photochemical age of air masses. The T:B ratio in Leicester ranged from 0.44 to 0.71, while in Lagos, it ranged from 1.36 to 2.17. The m/p X:E ratio in Leicester ranged from 2.11 to 2.19, like other UK cities, while in Lagos, it ranged from 1.65 to 2.32, indicating relatively fresh emissions. This study highlights significant differences in BTEX concentrations between Leicester and Lagos, emphasizing the need for tailored pollution control strategies to address the specific sources and conditions in different urban environments.

Keywords: BTEX contamination, urban air quality, thermal desorption GC-MS, roadside emissions, urban background sites, vehicular emissions, pollution control strategies

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Authors: Janmejoy Gupta, Arnab Paul, Manjari Chakraborty

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Jharkhand is a state located in the eastern part of India. The Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degree North latitude line) passes through Ranchi district in Jharkhand. Mud huts with burnt clay tiled roofs in Jharkhand are an integral component of the state’s vernacular architecture. They come in various shapes, with a number of them having a courtyard type of plan. In general, it has been stated that designing dwellings with courtyards in them is a climate-responsive strategy in composite climate. The truth behind this hypothesis is investigated in this paper. In this paper, three types of mud huts with courtyards situated in Ranchi district in Jharkhand are taken as a study and through temperature measurements in the south-side rooms and courtyards, in addition to Autodesk Ecotect (Version 2011) software simulations, their thermal performance throughout the year are observed. Temperature measurements are specifically taken during the peak of summer and winter and the average temperatures in the rooms and courtyards during seven day-periods in peak of summer and peak of winter are plotted graphically. Thereafter, on the basis of the study and software simulations, the hypothesis is verified and the thermally better performing dwelling types in summer and winter identified among the three sub-types studied. Certain recommendations with respect to increasing thermal comfort in courtyard type mud huts in general are also made. It is found that all courtyard type dwellings do not necessarily show better thermal performance in summer and winter in composite climate. The U shaped dwelling with open courtyard on southern side offers maximum amount of thermal-comfort inside the rooms in the hotter part of the year and the square hut with a central courtyard, with the courtyard being closed from all sides, shows superior thermal performance in winter. The courtyards in all the three case-studies are found to get excessively heated up during summer.

Keywords: courtyard, mud huts, simulations, temperature measurements, thermal performance

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Authors: Geraldine Ambe

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Cameroon is a country in a country in Central Africa. Before the first World War, Germany colonized Cameroon, including some parts of Gabon, Chad, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic. After the war, the United Nations divided most of the colony into Britain and France. In 1960, Eastern Cameroon (‘La Republique du Cameroon’) gained its independence from France while British Southern Cameroons obtained its independence from Britain. The two entities agreed to live together as a federal state officially called the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In 1962, the name of the name of the country was changed from the Federal Republic of Cameroon to the United Republic of Cameroon, while the Prime Minister of Western Cameroon was moved to Yaounde. In 1984, President Paul Biya singlehandedly changed the name to the Republic of Cameroon, implying that Southern Cameroon is not recognized in the union again. From the words of Am Cohen, the two territories came together to form a federal government with one currency, one army, and one foreign policy like states in the United States of America. However, the name Republic of Cameroon (‘La Republique du Cameroun’) does not recognize BSC, and this is exactly what has been practiced: politics of exclusion and excessive centralization in Yaounde. In 2016, teachers and Lawyers started strikes to call the attention of the government on the inhalation of the English culture/people. They were greeted with guns, causing the radicalization of the youths. The civil society came together to form a union to address the issues facing the people, and the government took their leaders and sentenced them to live imprisonment. The consequence was a civil war with nobody to dialogue with. Out of Cameroon, more than half a million people from BSC have been taking dangerous trips through the air, land, and sea. In the jungles and the deserts, the snow of Europe, these people have been seen for the last 4 years. This paper will present some personalities, political fractions, and their stands of decentralization, federalism, and independence as the war continues. The paper will further look at the consequence of this crisis on migration in Central and Eastern Europe.

Keywords: British Southern Cameroons, decolonization, Second World War, dialogue, civil war, immigration

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Deanne McArthur, Melinda Wall, Claire Hanlon, Dana Agnolin, Krista Davis, Melanie Dennis, Elizabeth Glidden, Anne Marie Smith, Claudette Thomson

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Background and significance: Patients with eating disorders have traditionally been an underserviced population within the publicly-funded Canadian healthcare system. This situation was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying public health measures, such as “lockdowns” which led to increased isolation, changes in routine, and other disruptions. Illness severity and prevalence rose significantly with corresponding increases in patient suffering and poor outcomes. In Ontario, Canada, the provincial government responded by increasing funding for the treatment of eating disorders, including the launch of a new day program at an intermediate, regional health centre that already housed an outpatient treatment service. The funding was received in March 2022. The care team sought to optimize this opportunity by designing a program that would fit well within the resource-constrained context in Ontario. Methods: This case study will detail how the team consulted the literature and sought patient and family input to design a program that optimizes patient outcomes and supports for patients and families while they await treatment. Early steps include a review of the literature, expert consultation and patient and family focus groups. Interprofessional consensus was sought at each step with the team adopting a shared leadership and patient-centered approach. Methods will include interviews, observations and document reviews to detail a rich description of the process undertaken to design the program, including evaluation measures adopted. Interim findings pertaining to the early stages of the program-building process will be detailed as well as early lessons and ongoing evolution of the program and design process. Program implementation and outcome evaluation will continue throughout 2022 and early 2023 with further publication and presentation of study results expected in the summer of 2023. The aim of this study is to contribute to the body of knowledge pertaining to the design and implementation of eating disorder treatment services that combine outpatient and day treatment services in a resource-constrained context.

Keywords: eating disorders, day program, interprofessional, outpatient, adolescents, transitional aged youth

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Authors: Shaleeza Sohail

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Self, and peer evaluations are some of the main components in almost all group assignments and projects in higher education institutes. These evaluations provide students an opportunity to better understand the learning outcomes of the assignment and/or project. A number of online systems have been developed for this purpose that provides automated assessment and feedback of students’ contribution in a group environment based on self and peer evaluations. All these systems lack a progressive aspect of these assessments and feedbacks which is the most crucial factor for ongoing improvement and life-long learning. In addition, a number of assignments and projects are designed in a manner that smaller or initial assessment components lead to a final assignment or project. In such cases, the evaluation and feedback may provide students an insight into their performance as a group member for a particular component after the submission. Ideally, it should also create an opportunity to improve for next assessment component as well. Self and Peer Progressive Assessment and Feedback System encourages students to perform better in the next assessment by providing a comparative analysis of the individual’s contribution score on an ongoing basis. Hence, the student sees the change in their own contribution scores during the complete project based on smaller assessment components. Self-Assessment Factor is calculated as an indicator of how close the self-perception of the student’s own contribution is to the perceived contribution of that student by other members of the group. Peer-Assessment Factor is calculated to compare the perception of one student’s contribution as compared to the average value of the group. Our system also provides a Group Coherence Factor which shows collectively how group members contribute to the final submission. This feedback is provided for students and teachers to visualize the consistency of members’ contribution perceived by its group members. Teachers can use these factors to judge the individual contributions of the group members in the combined tasks and allocate marks/grades accordingly. This factor is shown to students for all groups undertaking same assessment, so the group members can comparatively analyze the efficiency of their group as compared to other groups. Our System provides flexibility to the instructors for generating their own customized criteria for self and peer evaluations based on the requirements of the assignment. Students evaluate their own and other group members’ contributions on the scale from significantly higher to significantly lower. The preliminary testing of the prototype system is done with a set of predefined cases to explicitly show the relation of system feedback factors to the case studies. The results show that such progressive feedback to students can be used to motivate self-improvement and enhanced team skills. The comparative group coherence can promote a better understanding of the group dynamics in order to improve team unity and fair division of team tasks.

Keywords: effective group work, improvement of team skills, progressive feedback, self and peer assessment system

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Authors: Varun A Baheti, Sanjay Kashyap, Kamanio Chattopadhyay, Praveen Kumar, Aloke Paul

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Ni–Sn system finds applications in the microelectronics industry, especially with respect to flip–chip or direct chip, attach technology. Here the region of interest is under bump metallization (UBM), and solder bump (Sn) interface due to the formation of brittle intermetallic phases there. Understanding the growth of these phases at UBM/Sn interface is important, as in many cases it controls the electro–mechanical properties of the product. Cu and Ni are the commonly used UBM materials. Cu is used for good bonding because of fast reaction with solder and Ni often acts as a diffusion barrier layer due to its inherently slower reaction kinetics with Sn–based solders. Investigation on the growth kinetics of phases in Ni–Sn system is reported in this study. Just for simplicity, Sn being major solder constituent is chosen. Ni–Sn electroplated diffusion couples are prepared by electroplating pure Sn on Ni substrate. Bulk diffusion couples prepared by the conventional method are also studied along with Ni–Sn electroplated diffusion couples. Diffusion couples are annealed for 25–1000 h at 50–215°C to study the phase evolutions and growth kinetics of various phases. The interdiffusion zone was analysed using field emission gun equipped scanning electron microscope (FE–SEM) for imaging. Indexing of selected area diffraction (SAD) patterns obtained from transmission electron microscope (TEM) and composition measurements done in electron probe micro−analyser (FE–EPMA) confirms the presence of various product phases grown across the interdiffusion zone. Time-dependent experiments indicate diffusion controlled growth of the product phase. The estimated activation energy in the temperature range 125–215°C for parabolic growth constants (and hence integrated interdiffusion coefficients) of the Ni₃Sn₄ phase shed light on the growth mechanism of the phase; whether its grain boundary controlled or lattice controlled diffusion. The location of the Kirkendall marker plane indicates that the Ni₃Sn₄ phase grows mainly by diffusion of Sn in the binary Ni–Sn system.

Keywords: diffusion, equilibrium phase, metastable phase, the Ni-Sn system

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Authors: Deanne McArthur, Melinda Wall, Claire Hanlon, Dana Agnolin, Krista Davis, Melanie Dennis, Elizabeth Glidden, Anne Marie Smith, Claudette Thomson

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In Canada, as prevalence rates and severity of illness have increased among patients suffering from eating disorders, wait times have grown substantially. Patients in Canada often face wait times in excess of 12 months. It is known that delaying treatment for eating disorders contributes to poor patient outcomes and higher rates of symptom relapse. Improving interim services for adult patients awaiting outpatient treatment is a priority for an outpatient eating disorders clinic in Ontario, Canada. The clinical setting currently provides care for adults diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. At present, the only support provided while patients are on the waitlist consists of communication with primary care providers regarding parameters for medical monitoring. The significance of this study will be to test the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of an intervention to support adult patients awaiting outpatient eating disorder treatment for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Methods: An intervention including psychoeducation, supportive resources, self-monitoring, and auxiliary referral will be pilot-tested with a group of patients in the summer of 2022 and detailed using a prospective cohort case study research design. The team will host patient focus groups in May 2022 to gather input informing the content of the intervention. The intervention will be pilot tested with newly-referred patients in June and July 2022. Patients who participate in the intervention will be asked to complete a survey evaluating the utility of the intervention and for suggestions, they may have for improvement. Preliminary findings describing the existing literature pertaining to waitlist interventions for patients with eating disorders, data gathered from the focus groups and early pilot testing results will be presented. Data analysis will continue throughout 2022 and early 2023 for follow-up publication and presentation in the summer of 2023. The aim of this study is to contribute to the body of knowledge pertaining to providing interim support to those patients waiting for treatment for eating disorders and, by extension, to improve outcomes for this population.

Keywords: eating disorders, waitlist management, intervention study, pilot test

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Authors: Sarah Alamolhoda, Kevin J. Smith, Xiaotao Bi, Naoko Ellis

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For millennials, biomass has been the most important source of fuel used to produce energy. Energy derived from biomass is renewable by re-growth of biomass. Various technologies are used to convert biomass to potential renewable products including combustion, gasification, pyrolysis and fermentation. Gasification is the incomplete combustion of biomass in a controlled environment that results in valuable products such as syngas, biooil and biochar. Syngas is a combustible gas consisting of hydrogen (H₂), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and traces of methane (CH₄) and nitrogen (N₂). Cleaned syngas can be used as a turbine fuel to generate electricity, raw material for hydrogen and synthetic natural gas production, or as the anode gas of solid oxide fuel cells. In this work, syngas as a product of woody biomass gasification in British Columbia, Canada, was introduced to two consecutive fixed bed reactors to perform a catalytic water gas shift reaction followed by a catalytic methanation reaction. The water gas shift reaction is a well-established industrial process and used to increase the hydrogen content of the syngas before the methanation process. Catalysts were used in the process since both reactions are reversible exothermic, and thermodynamically preferred at lower temperatures while kinetically favored at elevated temperatures. The water gas shift reactor and the methanation reactor were packed with Cu-based catalyst and Ni-based catalyst, respectively. Simulated syngas with different percentages of CO, H₂, CH₄, and CO₂ were fed to the reactors to investigate the effect of operating conditions in the unit. The water gas shift reaction experiments were done in the temperature of 150 ˚C to 200 ˚C, and the pressure of 550 kPa to 830 kPa. Similarly, methanation experiments were run in the temperature of 300 ˚C to 400 ˚C, and the pressure of 2340 kPa to 3450 kPa. The Methanation reaction reached 98% of CO conversion at 340 ˚C and 3450 kPa, in which more than half of CO was converted to CH₄. Increasing the reaction temperature caused reduction in the CO conversion and increase in the CH₄ selectivity. The process was designed to be renewable and release low greenhouse gas emissions. Syngas is a clean burning fuel, however by going through water gas shift reaction, toxic CO was removed, and hydrogen as a green fuel was produced. Moreover, in the methanation process, the syngas energy was transformed to a fuel with higher energy density (per volume) leading to reduction in the amount of required fuel that flows through the equipment and improvement in the process efficiency. Natural gas is about 3.5 times more efficient (energy/ volume) than hydrogen and easier to store and transport. When modification of existing infrastructure is not practical, the partial conversion of renewable hydrogen to natural gas (with up to 15% hydrogen content), the efficiency would be preserved while greenhouse gas emission footprint is eliminated.

Keywords: renewable natural gas, methane, hydrogen, gasification, syngas, catalysis, fuel

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