Search results for: public green spaces

Authors: Majeed Mohammed Midhin, Clare Finburgh

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To maintain a healthy balanced loyalty between art and politics posits a debatable issue. The artist is always on the look out for the potential tension between those two realms. Therefore, one of the most painful dilemmas the artist finds is how to function in a society without sacrificing the aesthetic values of his/her work. In other words, the life-long awareness of failure which derives from the concept of the artist as caught between unflattering social realities and the need to invent genuine art forms becomes a fertilizing soil for the artists to dig deep into its origin. Thus, within the framework of this dilemma, the question of the responsibility of the artist and the relationship of the art to politics will be illuminating. The present paper tackles the idea of the amorality of the artist in selected plays by Tom Stoppard. However, Stoppard’s awareness of his situation as a refugee has led him to keep at a distance from politics. He tried hard to avoid any intervention into the realms of political debate, especially in his earliest work. On the one hand, it is not meant that he did not interest in politics as such, but rather he preferred to question it than to create a fixed ideological position. On the other hand, Stoppard’s refusal to intervene in politics is ascribed to his feeling of gratitude to Britain where he settled. As a result, Stoppard has frequently been criticized for a lack of political engagement and also for not leaning too much for the left when he does engage. His reaction to these public criticisms finds expression in his self-conscious statements which defensively stressed the artifice of his work. He, like Oscar Wilde thinks that the responsibility of the artist is devoted to the realm of his/her art. Consequently, his consciousness for the role of the artist is truly reflected in his two plays, Artist Descending a Staircase(1972) and Travesties(1974).

Keywords: amorality, dilemma, aesthetic, responsibility of the artist, political theatre

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Authors: Sanam Mujahid, Aliza Ahmad

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Women education and empowerment has fundamental importance in the development of a civilized society however, in a developing country like Pakistan, there are serious challenges in this regard. Herein, we summarize the findings of 2012 study which revealed the key problems associated with women education and their proposed solutions. A survey tool was used to question female students and female faculty members in 20 different public sector universities of all four provinces of Pakistan. In this study, 1755 female students and 410 female faculty members responded. In addition to survey, semi-structured interview were also conducted with 25 female students and 10 female faculty members. Respondents of the survey emphasize the lack of adequate educational institutions in nearby vicinity, social exclusion including gender discrimination, shortage of female teachers, lack of resources and inefficient government policies are the major factors that influence female education. To solve these problems, the main recommendations by respondents include safe and secure learning environment for females in educational institutions, community and parental support, well qualified and sufficient number of female teachers. One of the most important proposals was the participation of females at policy level. Current study will provide a general layout to design the future educational strategies for promoting women education in all regions of Pakistan thus, developing towards modern educated society.

Keywords: women education, education strategies, developing countries, Pakistan

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Authors: Olumuyiwa I. Ojo, Kola Amao, Josiah A. Adeyemo, Fred A. O. Otieno

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A study was carried out to assess the environmental impact of Kampe (Omi) irrigation scheme with respect to public health hazards, the rising water table, salinity and alkalinity problems on the project site. A structured questionnaire was used as the main tool to gather information on the effect of the irrigation project on the various communities around the project site. The different sections of the questionnaire enabled the gathering of information ranging from general to more specific information. The results obtained from the study showed that the two effects are obvious: the 'positive effects' which include increasing the socioeconomic development of the entire communities, resulting in an increase in employment opportunities and better lifestyle and the 'negative effects' in which malaria (100% occurrence) and schistosomiasis (66.7%) were found to be active diseases caused by irrigation activities. Increase in height of water table and salinity is eminent in the irrigation site unless adequate drainage is provided. The collection and experimental analyses of representation soil and water samples from each scheme were used to assess the current status of each receptor. Results obtained indicate the absence of soil with sodium adsorption ration (SAR) values ranging from 3.0 to 3.89, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) ranged from 3.8% to 5.5% while pH values ranged from 6.60 to 7.00. Drainage facilities of the project site are inadequate, therefore making it difficult to leach the soil and flood history is occasional.

Keywords: irrigation, impact, soil analysis, Nigeria

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Authors: Nikolaos Katsoulas, Sofia Faliagka, George Kountrias, Eleni Dimitriou, Eleftheria Pechlivani

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The challenges to feed the world in 2050 are becoming more and more apparent. This calls for producing more with fewer inputs (most of them under scarcity), higher resource efficiency, minimum or zero effect on the environment, and higher sustainability. Therefore, increasing the circularity of production systems is highly significant for their sustainability. Protected horticulture offers opportunities for maximum resource efficiency across various levels within and between farms and at the regional level), high-quality production, and contributes significantly to the nutrition security as part of the world food production. In greenhouses, closed soilless cultivation systems give the opportunity to increase the water and nutrient use efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of the cultivation system by the reuse of the drained water and nutrients. However, due to the low quality of the water used in the Mediterranean countries, a completely closed system is not feasible. Partial discharge of the drainage nutrient solution when the levels of electrical conductivity (EC) or of the toxic ions in the system are reached is still a necessity. Thus, in the frame of the circular economy concept, this work presents the utilisation of the drainage solution of soilless cultivation systems for microalgae and biofertilisers production. The system includes a greenhouse equipped with a soilless cultivation system, a drainage solution collection tank, a closed bioreactor for microalgae production, and a biocatalysis tank. The bioreactor tested in the frame of this work includes two closed tube loops of a capacity of 1000 L each where, after the initial inoculation, the microalgae is developed using as a growth medium the drainage solution collected from the greenhouse crops. The bioreactor includes light and temperature control while pH is still manually regulated. As soon as the microalgae culture reaches a certain density level, 20% of the culture is harvested, and the culture system is refiled by a drainage nutrient solution. The microalgae produced goes through a biocatalysis process, which leads to the production of a rich aminoacids (and nitrogen) biofertiliser. The produced biofertiliser is then used for the fertilisation of greenhouse crops. The complete production cycle along with the effects of the biofertiliser produced on crop growth and yield are presented and discussed in this manuscript. Acknowledgment: This work was carried out under the PestNu project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Green Deal grant agreement No. 101037128 — PestNu.

Keywords: soilless, water use efficiency, nutrients use efficiency, biostimulant

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Authors: William Mahony, L. Jacqueline Hirth, Richard Rupp, Sandra Gonzalez, Roger Zoorob

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Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physicians has been considered by many researchers, but less is known about non-physician healthcare workers. The aim of this study is to examine the association of COVID-19 safety training and communication with stress. Methods: A 91-item online survey was distributed, starting January 2, 2021, to non-physician healthcare workers, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and medical assistants (MAs) in the United States through email and social media. A $1 donation was made to the Red Cross for each completed survey. The survey consisted of demographics, occupational questions, and perceived stress (perceived stress scale, PSS). Items on the PSS were combined for an overall score and categorized according to the severity of perceived stress. Chi-square tests were performed for bivariate analyses of categorical variables. Results: Of the 284 participants consenting to complete the survey, 197 participants completed the full survey. MAs made up most of the sample at 79%. Among all respondents, 47% had moderate PSS scores (scored between 14 and 26), and 51% had severe PSS scores (scored between 27 and 40). Unvaccinated participants reported statistically significantly lower levels of perceived stress (p = 0.002). Performing tasks outside of typical job responsibilities was not associated with PSS scores (p = .667). Discussion: Non-physician healthcare workers demonstrated a high level of perceived stress overall. The association between vaccination status and perceived stress should be examined in order to evaluate whether vaccination levels could be improved with further education about the virus and associated risks.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-Cov-2, nursing, public health

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Authors: Panagiotis Karadimos, Leonidas Anthopoulos

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Predicting the actual cost and duration in construction projects concern a continuous and existing problem for the construction sector. This paper addresses this problem with modern methods and data available from past public construction projects. 39 bridge projects, constructed in Greece, with a similar type of available data were examined. Considering each project’s attributes with the actual cost and the actual duration, correlation analysis is performed and the most appropriate predictive project variables are defined. Additionally, the most efficient subgroup of variables is selected with the use of the WEKA application, through its attribute selection function. The selected variables are used as input neurons for neural network models through correlation analysis. For constructing neural network models, the application FANN Tool is used. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual cost, produced a mean squared error with a value of 3.84886e-05 and it was based on the budgeted cost and the quantity of deck concrete. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual duration, produced a mean squared error with a value of 5.89463e-05 and it also was based on the budgeted cost and the amount of deck concrete.

Keywords: actual cost and duration, attribute selection, bridge construction, neural networks, predicting models, FANN TOOL, WEKA

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Authors: ZeinolAbedin Rahmani, Marzieh Evazi Borazjani, Nooshin Salehi

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Organizations are increasingly facing changes and developments scientific, technological, social, cultural changes among these organizations those ones are reckoned successful and effective that in addition to coordinating the development of modern society can forecast future changes and be able to accommodate these changes in order to create favorable developments to build a better future. But we can change that with the changes that occur in the organization of the program it will distinguish. Today's organizations need leaders that change and grow them have to survive. In fact, without transformational managers and leaders, it is certainly difficult to create changes in organizations. Both private and public organizations need to increase knowledge and awareness of the cause widespread changes in the structure, culture and practice for the viability and sustainability of life and growth and development. By now, different signs have determined different causes for a suitable function of employees. However, the important thing is that the commitment of the employees to their organization has always been very important. Since the decrease of organization commitment causes the high rate of absenteeism, turnover intentions, and even to reduce the impact of health staff. and these factors prevent organizations from achieving its goals. If organizations want to retain staff, the organization must find a way to be happy and continue their work with commitment, motivation, and willingness. So here is the need for strong leaders, analysts, creative and transformational upper ranks more than ever is felt. The aim of this study is to revise history, the leadership style of managers shipbuilding company by using the MLQ model.

Keywords: leadership style, managers, organizational, manufacturing company, sustainability of life

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Authors: Berit Johannessen

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Introduction: Depression and dementia are the two most common psychiatric disorders of older people. The use of antidepressants does not always have the desired effect and serious side effects are common. Aroma therapists claim that the essential oil of Bergamot has an antidepressant effect. Aromatherapy is defined as holistic or complementary medicine and is rarely used in the Norwegian public health service, but in recent years, there has been an increasing interest in, and use of complementary and alternative therapies (CAM) in the Norwegian population, and aromatherapy is one of the most widely used. Focus for this study: How do nurses experience the use of Bergamot essential oil for patients suffering from dementia and depression? Method: Action research study including 12 patients and 8 nurses. The patients were strategically selected by the nurses and were given Bergamot in a fan diffuser every day for 12 weeks. The patients' mood and behavior patterns were reported daily and the nurse`s experiences were reported weekly. Individual interviews with the nurses were conducted at the end of the project. Results: The nurses reported that bergamot had positive impact on patients mood and wellbeing, and was considered as an effective method for six patients, four had uncertain effect and two had no effect. They also reported less use of medication and that the fan diffusers were easy and pleasant to administer. They found the use of natural remedies as Bergamot inspiring and wanted to learn more about aromatherapy and its use in nursing. Some were disturbed by the smell and some had to deal with critical and negative colleagues. Conclusion: Nurses experienced aromatherapy using bergamot oil in fan diffusers as a simple and useful procedure for patients suffering from dementia and depression. The effects were varying. Further research is needed.

Keywords: aromatherapy, bergamot, dementia, depression

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Authors: Kelvin Tang

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As the world is approaching global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, more atrocious consequences of climate change are projected to occur in the future. Consequently, it is today’s adolescents who will encounter the grand consequences of climate change. Therefore, nurturing adolescents that are well-informed, emotionally engaged, and motivated to take actions for combating climate change may be pivotal. Climate change education has a role in not only raising awareness, but also promoting behaviour change for climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, what kind of climate change education is suitable for whom? Requiring a learner-centred approach, tailoring climate change education requires a comprehensive understanding of the audience and their preconditions. In Japan, where climate change education has yet to be recognised as a field of environmental education, understanding climate change conceptions possessed by early adolescents is critical for a better design and more impactful implementation of climate change education. This exploratory study aims to investigate climate change conceptions among Japanese early adolescents from the perspective of cognition, affective, and conative dimensions. Questionnaire surveys were conducted targeting 423 students aged 12–14 in three public junior high schools located in Kashiwa City and Oita City. Findings suggest that the majority of Japanese early adolescents belong to groups that exhibit lower levels of cognition, affect, and conation in relation to climate change. The relationships among those dimensions were found to be positive and bidirectional. Moreover, several misconceptions about climate change and the effectiveness of its solutions were identified among the sample.

Keywords: climate change conceptions, climate change education, environmental education, adolescents, three learning dimensions, Japan

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Authors: Xinyue Ma, Dishen Zhang, Yijun Liu, Yutian Jiang, Huiyan Yu, Chufeng Gu

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Conformity is defined as one in a social group changing his or her behavior to match the others’ behavior in the group. It is used to find that people show a higher level of online conformity behavior than offline. However, as anonymity can decrease the level of online conformity behavior, the difference between online and offline conformity behavior among Chinese college students still needs to be tested. In this study, college students (N = 60) have been randomly assigned into three groups: control group, offline experimental group, and online experimental group. Through comparing the results of offline experimental group and online experimental group with the Mann-Whitney U test, this study verified the results of Asch’s experiment, and found out that people show a lower level of online conformity behavior than offline, which contradicted the previous finding found in China. These results can be used to explain why some people make a lot of vicious remarks and radical ideas on the Internet but perform normally in their real life: the anonymity of the network makes the online group pressure less than offline, so people are less likely to conform to social norms and public opinions on the Internet. What is more, these results support the importance and relevance of online voting, because fewer online group pressures make it easier for people to expose their true ideas, thus gathering more comprehensive and truthful views and opinions.

Keywords: anonymity, Asch’s group conformity, Chinese college students, online conformity

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Authors: R. F. Mesquita Brandão

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Act Local, Think Global is the name of a campaign implemented at Superior Institute of Engineering of Porto (ISEP), one of schools of Polytechnic of Porto, with the main objective of increase the sustainability of the campus. ISEP has a campus with 52.000 m2 and more than 7.000 students. The campaign started in 2019 and the results are very clear. In 2019 only 16% of the waste created in the campus was correctly separate for recycling and now almost 50% of waste goes to the correct waste container. Actions to reduce the energy consumption were implemented with significantly results. One of the major problems in the campus are the water leaks. To solve this problem was implemented a methodology for water monitoring during the night, a period of time where consumptions are normally low. If water consumption in the period is higher than a determinate value it may mean a water leak and an alarm is created to the maintenance teams. In terms of energy savings, some measurements were implemented to create savings in energy consumption and in equivalent CO₂ produced. In order to reduce the use of plastics in the campus, was implemented the prohibition of selling 33 cl plastic water bottles and in collaboration with the students association all meals served in the restaurants changed the water plastic bottle for a glass that can be refilled with water in the water dispensers. This measures created a reduction of use of more than 75.000 plastic bottles per year. In parallel was implemented the ISEP water glass bottle to be used in all scientific meetings and events. Has a way of involving all community in sustainability issues was developed and implemented a vertical garden in aquaponic system. In 2019, the first vertical garden without soil was installed inside a large campus building. The system occupies the entire exterior façade (3 floors) of the entrance to ISEP's G building. On each of these floors there is a planter with 42 positions available for plants. Lettuces, strawberries, peppers are examples of some vegetable produced that can be collected by the entire community. Associated to the vertical garden was developed a monitoring system were some parameters of the system are monitored. This project is under development because it will work in a stand-alone energy feeding, with the use of photovoltaic panels for production of energy necessities. All the system was, and still is, developed by students and teachers and is used in class projects of some ISEP courses. These and others measures implemented in the campus, will be more developed in the full paper, as well as all the results obtained, allowed ISEP to be the first Portuguese high school to obtain the certification “Coração Verde” (Green Heart), awarded by LIPOR, a Portuguese company with the mission of transform waste into new resources through the implementation of innovative and circular practices, generating and sharing value.

Keywords: aquaponics, energy efficiency, recycling, sustainability, waste separation

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Authors: Rayleigh Dada Abu, Halilu Ahmad Shaba

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Siltation is a serious problem that affects public water supply infrastructures such as dams and reservoirs. It is a major problem which threatens the performance and sustainability of dams and reservoirs. It reduces the dam capacity for flood control, potable water supply, changes water stage, reduces water quality and recreational benefits. The focus of this study is the Lower Usuma reservoir. At completion the reservoir had a gross storage capacity of 100 × 106 m3 (100 million cubic metres), a maximum operational level of 587.440 m a.s.l., with a maximum depth of 49 m and a catchment area of 241 km2 at dam site with a daily designed production capacity of 10,000 cubic metres per hour. The reservoir is 1,300 m long and feeds the treatment plant mainly by gravity. The reservoir became operational in 1986 and no survey has been conducted to determine its current storage capacity and rate of siltation. Hydrographic survey of the reservoir by integrated acoustic echo-sounding technique was conducted in November 2012 to determine the level and rate of siltation. The result obtained shows that the reservoir has lost 12.0 meters depth to siltation in 26 years of its operation; indicating 24.5% loss in installed storage capacity. The present bathymetric survey provides baseline information for future work on siltation depth and annual rates of storage capacity loss for the Lower Usuma reservoir.

Keywords: sedimentation, lower Usuma reservoir, acoustic echo sounder, bathymetric survey

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Authors: Angelina A. Tzacheva, Jaishree Ranganathan

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Interest in (STEM) Science Technology Engineering Mathematics education especially Computer Science education has seen a drastic increase across the country. This fuels effort towards recruiting and admitting a diverse population of students. Thus the changing conditions in terms of the student population, diversity and the expected teaching and learning outcomes give the platform for use of Innovative Teaching models and technologies. It is necessary that these methods adapted should also concentrate on raising quality of such innovations and have positive impact on student learning. Light-Weight Team is an Active Learning Pedagogy, which is considered to be low-stake activity and has very little or no direct impact on student grades. Emotion plays a major role in student’s motivation to learning. In this work we use the student feedback data with emotion classification using surveys at a public research institution in the United States. We use Actionable Pattern Discovery method for this purpose. Actionable patterns are patterns that provide suggestions in the form of rules to help the user achieve better outcomes. The proposed method provides meaningful insight in terms of changes that can be incorporated in the Light-Weight team activities, resources utilized in the course. The results suggest how to enhance student emotions to a more positive state, in particular focuses on the emotions ‘Trust’ and ‘Joy’.

Keywords: actionable pattern discovery, education, emotion, data mining

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Authors: S. Abera, T. Gidey, W. Terefe

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Introduction: Testing for HIV is the key entry point to HIV prevention, treatment, and care and support services. Hence, predictive data mining techniques can greatly benefit to analyze and discover new patterns from huge datasets like that of EDHS 2011 data. Objectives: The objective of this study is to build a predictive modeling for HIV testing and identify determinants of HIV testing for adults with age above fourteen years using data mining techniques. Methods: Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) was used to predict the model for HIV testing and explore association rules between HIV testing and the selected attributes among adult Ethiopians. Decision tree, Naïve-Bayes, logistic regression and artificial neural networks of data mining techniques were used to build the predictive models. Results: The target dataset contained 30,625 study participants; of which 16, 515 (53.9%) were women. Nearly two-fifth; 17,719 (58%), have never been tested for HIV while the rest 12,906 (42%) had been tested. Ethiopians with higher wealth index, higher educational level, belonging 20 to 29 years old, having no stigmatizing attitude towards HIV positive person, urban residents, having HIV related knowledge, information about family planning on mass media and knowing a place where to get testing for HIV showed an increased patterns with respect to HIV testing. Conclusion and Recommendation: Public health interventions should consider the identified determinants to promote people to get testing for HIV.

Keywords: data mining, HIV, testing, ethiopia

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Authors: Nene Pearl Eluchie

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Globally, metal ion, particularly those generated from oil and gas effluents, form environmental pollution, particularly in developing regions like Nigeria, where water borne disease is fatal. This is clear evidence for metal ion contamination within the environment. Ecofriendly and cost effective biomaterials are the best ways of reducing metal ion contamination, thus reducing the need for chemical treatment of oil and gas effluent. Despite this, research efforts to understand the mechanism of adsorption and possible bio-adsorptive remediation interventions are limited. The study combined biomaterial and adsorption techniques: A. Indica, UV-Visible spectroscopy, SEM, FTIR in a progressive manner to provide insight. The biosorption efficiency of Azadirachta Indica silver nanoparticle AI-AgNPs was within the range of 63-95%. The study demonstrates that AI-AgNPs can be a promising agent, cheap, efficient, and biodegradable bio-sorbent for lowering oil and gas effluents. This is one of the studies to show that Azadirachta Indica is just one of the many biomaterials to synthesize silver nanoparticles through the reduction of active constituents (Nimbidin) present in them to ensure stability and surface properties, which are critical for their performance in effluent treatment. Therefore, leveraging the knowledge from this study to raise awareness through public health initiatives and community engagement will help. The prevalence of metal ions observed in the visible region in the study indicates the need for bio-adsorptive remediation interventions, not only in social settings but also in the immediate environment. There is, thus, an urgent need for targeted interventions in vulnerable communities.

Keywords: Azadirachta indica, bioadsorption, biosynthesis, effluent, nimbidin, silver nanoparticle

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Authors: Sasan Chalaki, Seyed Ali Mirgholange, Touba Nadri, Saman Chalaki

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In the current world, proper poultry nutrition has garnered special attention as one of the fundamental factors for enhancing their health and performance. Concerns related to the excessive use of antibiotics in the poultry industry and their role in antibiotic resistance have transformed this issue into a global challenge in public health and the environment. On the other hand, poultry farming plays a vital role as a primary source of meat and eggs in human nutrition, and improving their health and performance is crucial. One effective approach to enhance poultry nutrition is the utilization of the antibiotic properties of plant-based ingredients. The use of plant-based alternatives as natural antibiotics in poultry nutrition not only aids in improving poultry health and performance but also plays a significant role in reducing the consumption of synthetic antibiotics and preventing antibiotic resistance-related issues. Plants contain various antibacterial compounds, such as flavonoids, tannins, and essential oils. These compounds are recognized as active agents in combating bacteria. Plant-based antibiotics are compounds extracted from plants with antibacterial properties. They are acknowledged as effective substitutes for chemical antibiotics in poultry diets. The advantages of plant-based antibiotics include reducing the risk of resistance to chemical antibiotics, increasing poultry growth performance, and lowering the risk of disease transmission.

Keywords: poultry, antibiotics, essential oils, plant-based

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Authors: Huawei Bai, Jianguo Yao, Fellow, IEEE

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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of heart arrhythmia and is closely associated with mortality and morbidity in heart failure, stroke, and coronary artery disease. The development of single spot optical sensors enables widespread photoplethysmography (PPG) screening, especially for AF, since it represents a more convenient and noninvasive approach. To our knowledge, most existing studies based on public and unbalanced datasets can barely handle the multiple noises sources in the real world and, also, lack interpretability. In this paper, we construct a large- scale PPG dataset using measurements collected from PPG wrist- watch devices worn by volunteers and propose an attention-based two-stream heterogeneous neural network (TSHNN). The first stream is a hybrid neural network consisting of a three-layer one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) and two-layer attention- based bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) network to learn representations from temporally sampled signals. The second stream extracts latent representations from the PPG time-frequency spectrogram using a five-layer CNN. The outputs from both streams are fed into a fusion layer for the outcome. Visualization of the attention weights learned demonstrates the effectiveness of the attention mechanism against noise. The experimental results show that the TSHNN outperforms all the competitive baseline approaches and with 98.09% accuracy, achieves state-of-the-art performance.

Keywords: PPG wearables, atrial fibrillation, feature fusion, attention mechanism, hyber network

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Authors: Mohammad Muntasir Maruf, Muhammad Zillur Rahman Khan, Nasim Jahan, Md. Waziul Alam Chowdhury, Satparkash, Md. Nozrul Islam

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Background: Substance use disorders have become a major public health problem in Bangladesh. Objectives: The present study was designed to assess the pattern of substance use and factors related to it among the hospitalized patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. All the patients who were admitted in a private drug de-addiction clinic in the capital city (Dhaka) of Bangladesh during 1 July-31 December, 2013 and diagnosed as a case of substance use disorder by applying Structured Clinical Interview for DSM- Clinician Version were enrolled in the study. Data were collected through face to face interview by a semi-structured questionnaire and the information was complemented by the case-notes. Study subjects were 105 in number. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: Most (90.5%) of the respondents were male. The mean age of the respondents was 28.8 (± 8.0) years. Majority (91.4%) were poly-substance users. Most (27.6%) respondents used 3 types of substances. Smoking or inhalation was the route used by most (90.5%) respondents. More than three-fourth (81%) of the respondents used nicotine. Among the other substances, majority (79%) used opiates group, followed by cannabinoids group (55.2%) and alcohol (41%). Curiosity, peer pressure and to have enjoyment or fun were identified as the common reasons for initiating substance use. Conclusions: A high proportion of poly-substance use was found. The study findings would help in management and prevention strategy of substance use in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Bangladesh, de-addiction clinic, poly-substance users, substance use disorder

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Authors: Mustafa Var, Yasin Kültiğin Yaman, Elif Berna Var, Müberra Pulatkan

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This study deals with real application of an urban transformation project in Trabzon, Turkey. It aims to highlight the significance of using native species in terms of planting design of transformation projects which will also promote sustainability of urban identity. Urban identity is a phenomenon shaped not only by physical, but also by natural, spatial, social, historical and cultural factors. Urban areas face with continuous change which can be whether positive or negative way. If it occurs in a negative way that may have some destructive effects on urban identity. To solve this problematic issue, urban renewal movements initally started after 1840s around the world especially in the cities with ports. This process later followed by the places where people suffered a lot from fires and has expanded to all over the world. In Turkey, those processes have been experienced mostly after 1980s as country experienced the worst effects of unplanned urbanization especially in 1950-1990 period. Also old squares, streets, meeting points, green areas, Ottoman bazaars have changed slowly. This change was resulted in alienation of inhabitants to their environments. As a solution, several actions were taken like Mass Housing Laws which was enacted in 1981 and 1984 or urban transformation projects. Although projects between 1990-2000 were tried to satisfy the expectations of local inhabitants by the help of several design solutions to promote cultural identity; unfortunately those modern projects has also been resulted in alienation of urban environments to the inhabitants. Those projects were initially done by TOKI (Housing Development Administration of Turkey) and later followed by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization after 2011. Although they had significant potentials to create healthy urban environments, they could not use this opportunity in an effective way. The reason for their failure is that their architectural styles and planting designs are unrespectful to local identity and environments. Generally, it can be said that the most of the urban transformation projects implementing in Turkey nearly have no concerns about the locality. However, those projects can be used as a positive tool for enhanching the urban identity of cities by means of local planting material. For instance, Kyoto can be identified by Japanese Maple trees or Seattle can be specified by Dahlia. In the same way, in Turkey, Istanbul city can be identified by Judas and Stone Pine trees or Giresun city can be identified by Cherry trees. Thus, in this paper, the importance of conserving urban identity is discussed specificly with the help of using local planting elements. After revealing the mistakes that are made during urban transformation projects, the techniques and design criterias for preserving and promoting urban identity are examined. In the end, it is emphasized that every city should have their own original, local character and specific planting design which can be used for highlighting its identity as well as architectural elements.

Keywords: urban identity, urban transformation, planting design, landscape architecture

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Authors: Norazlan Mohmad Misnan, Maizatul Hasyima Omar, Mohd Isa Wasiman

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Papaya (Carica papaya L., Caricaceae) is a tree which mainly cultivated for its fruits in many tropical regions including Australia, Brazil, China, Hawaii, and Malaysia. Beside of fruits, its leaves, seeds, and latex have also been traditionally used for treating diseases, which also reported to possess anti-cancer and anti- malaria properties. Its leaves have been reported to consist of various chemical compounds such as alkaloids, flavonoids and phenolics. Clitorin and manghaslin are among major flavonoids presence. Thus, the aim of this study is to quantify the purity of these isolated compounds (clitorin and manghsalin) by using quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (qNMR) analysis. Only fresh C. papaya leaves were used for juice extraction procedure and subsequently was freeze-dried to obtain a dark green powdered form of the extract prior to Centrifugal Partition Chromatography (CPC) separation. The CPC experiments were performed using a two-phase solvent system comprising ethyl acetate/butanol/water (1:4:5, v/v/v/v) solvent. The upper organic phase was used as the stationary phase, and the lower aqueous phase was employed as the mobile phase. Ten fractions were obtained after an hour runtime analysis. Fraction 6 and fraction 8 has been identified as clitorin (m/z 739.21 [M-H]-) and manghaslin (m/z 755.21 [M-H]-), respectively, based on LCMS data and full analysis of NMR (1H NMR, 13C NMR, HMBC, and HSQC). The 1H-qNMR measurements were carried out using a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer (JEOL ECS 400MHz, Japan) and deuterated methanol was used as a solvent. Quantification was performed using the AQARI method (Accurate Quantitative NMR) with deuterated 1,4-Bis(trimethylsilyl)benzene (BTMSB) as an internal reference substances. This AQARI protocol includes not only NMR measurement but also sample preparation that provide highest precision and accuracy than other qNMR methods. The 90° pulse length and the T1 relaxation times for compounds and BTMSB were determined prior to the quantification to give the best signal-to-noise ratio. Regions containing the two downfield signals from aromatic part (6.00–6.89 ppm), and the singlet signal, (18H) arising from BTMSB (0.63-1.05ppm) were selected for integration. The purity of clitorin and manghaslin were calculated to be 52.22% and 43.36%, respectively. Further purification is needed in order to increase its purity. This finding has demonstrated the use of qNMR for quality control and standardization of various plant extracts and which can be applied for NMR fingerprinting of other plant-based products with good reproducibility and in the case where commercial standards is not readily available.

Keywords: Carica papaya, clitorin, manghaslin, quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Centrifugal Partition Chromatography

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Authors: Prasanti Widyasih Sarli, Prayatni Soewondo

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Greater access to sanitation in developing countries is urgent. However even though sanitation is crucial, overall budget for sanitation is limited. With this budget limitation, it is important to (1) allocate resources strategically to maximize impact and (2) take into account communal agency to potentially be a source for sanitation improvements. The Jodipan and Kesatrian Project in Malang, Indonesia is an interesting alternative for solving the sanitation problem in which resources were allocated strategically and communal agency was also observed. Although the projects initial goal was only to improve visually the situation in the slums, it became a new tourist destination, and the economic benefit that came with it had an effect also on the change of behavior of the residents and the government towards sanitation. It also grew from only including the Kesatrian Village to expanding to the Jodipan Village in the course of less than a year. To investigate the success of this project, in this paper a descriptive model will be used and data will be drawn from intensive interviews with the initiators of the project, residents affected by the project and government officials. In this research it is argued that three points mark the success of the project: (1) the strategic initial impact due to choice of location, (2) the influx of tourists that triggered behavioral change among residents and, (3) the direct economic impact which ensured its sustainability and growth by gaining government officials support and attention for more public spending in the area for slum development and sanitation improvement.

Keywords: behaviour change, sanitation, slum, strategic thinking

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Authors: Sunil Mekale, Debasish Chowdhury, Sanchita Patnaik, Amitav Das, Ashok Agarwal

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Background: Odisha is a low HIV prevalence state in India (ANC-HIV positivity of 0.42% as per HIV sentinel surveillance 2010-2011); however, it is an important source migration state with 3.2% of male migrants reporting to be PLHIV. USAID Public Health Foundation of India -PIPPSE project is piloting a source-destination corridor programme between Odisha and Gujarat. In Odisha, the focus has been on developing a comprehensive strategy to reach out to the out migrants and their spouses in the place of their origin based on their availability. The project has made concerted attempts to identify vulnerable districts with high out migration and high positivity rate. Description: 48 out of 97 ICTCs were selected from nine top high out migration districts through multistage sampling. A retrospective descriptive analysis of HIV positive male migrants and their spouses for two years (April 2013-March 2015) was conducted. A total of 3,645 HIV positive records were analysed. Findings: Among 34.2% detected HIV positive in the ICTCs, 23.3% were male migrants and 11% were spouses of male migrants; almost 50% of total ICTC attendees. More than 70% of the PLHIV male migrants and their spouses were less than 45 years old. Conclusions: Couple HIV testing approach may be considered for male migrants and their spouses. ICTC data analysis could guide in identifying the locations with high HIV positivity among male migrants and their spouses.

Keywords: HIV testing, migrants, spouse of migrants, Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC)

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Authors: Chen Yuan, Nick Green, Stuart Blackburn

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The investment casting process offers a great freedom of design combined with the economic advantage of near net shape manufacturing. It is widely used for the production of high value precision cast parts in particularly in the aerospace sector. Various combinations of materials have been used to produce the ceramic moulds, but most investment foundries use a silica based binder system in conjunction with fused silica, zircon, and alumino-silicate refractories as both filler and coarse stucco materials. However, in the context of advancing alloy technologies, silica based systems are struggling to keep pace, especially when net-shape casting titanium alloys. Study has shown that the casting of titanium based alloys presents considerable problems, including the extensive interactions between the metal and refractory, and the majority of metal-mould interaction is due to reduction of silica, present as binder and filler phases, by titanium in the molten state. Cleaner, more refractory systems are being devised to accommodate these changes. Although yttria has excellent chemical inertness to titanium alloy, it is not very practical in a production environment combining high material cost, short slurry life, and poor sintering properties. There needs to be a cost effective solution to these issues. With limited options for using pure oxides, in this work, a silica-free magnesia spinel MgAl₂O₄ was used as a primary coat filler and alumina as a binder material to produce facecoat in the investment casting mould. A comparison system was also studied with a fraction of the rare earth oxide Y₂O₃ adding into the filler to increase the inertness. The stability of the MgAl₂O₄/Al₂O₃ and MgAl₂O₄/Y₂O₃/Al₂O₃ slurries was assessed by tests, including pH, viscosity, zeta-potential and plate weight measurement, and mould properties such as friability were also measured. The interaction between the face coat and titanium alloy was studied by both a flash re-melting technique and a centrifugal investment casting method. The interaction products between metal and mould were characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The depth of the oxygen hardened layer was evaluated by micro hardness measurement. Results reveal that introducing a fraction of Y₂O₃ into magnesia spinel can significantly increase the slurry life and reduce the thickness of hardened layer during centrifugal casting.

Keywords: titanium alloy, mould, MgAl₂O₄, Y₂O₃, interaction, investment casting

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Authors: Chin Ku, Han liang Lin

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The purpose of this study is to visualize how the rule related to urban design influences the building form by 3D modeling software CityEngine. In order to make the goal of urban design clearly connect to urban form, urban planner or designer should understand how the rule affects the form, especially the building form. In Taiwan, the rule pertained to urban design includes traditional zoning, urban design review and building codes. However, zoning cannot precisely expect the outcome of building form and lack of thinking about public realm and 3D form. In addition to that, urban design review is based on case by case, do not have a comprehensive regulation plan and the building code is just for general regulation. Therefore, rule cannot make the urban form reach the vision or goal of the urban design. Consequently, another kind of zoning called Form-based code (FBC) has arisen. This study uses the component of FBC which pertained to urban fabric such as street width, block and plot size, etc., to be the variants of building form, and find out the relationship between the rule and building form. There are three stages of this research, it will start from a field survey of Taichung City in Taiwan to induce the rule-building form relationship by using cluster analysis and descriptive Statistics. Second, visualize the relationship through the parameterized and codified process in CityEngine which is the procedural modeling, and can analyze, monitor and visualize the 3D world. Last, compare the CityEngine result with real world to examine how extent do this model represent the real world appearance.

Keywords: 3D visualization, CityEngine, form-based code, urban form

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Authors: Kwaku Damoah

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This paper presents a methodology and software application (App) designed to empower users in accessing, retrieving, and comparatively exploring data within the hierarchical network framework of the Government Finance Statistics (GFS) system. It explores the ease of navigating the GFS system and identifies the gaps filled by the new methodology and App. The GFS, embodies a complex Hierarchical Network Classification (HNC) structure, encapsulating institutional units, revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities, and economic activities. Navigating this structure demands specialized knowledge, experience, and skill, posing a significant challenge for effective analytics and fiscal policy decision-making. Many professionals encounter difficulties deciphering these classifications, hindering confident utilization of the system. This accessibility barrier obstructs a vast number of professionals, students, policymakers, and the public from leveraging the abundant data and information within the GFS. Leveraging R programming language, Data Science Analytics and Machine Learning, an efficient methodology enabling users to access, navigate, and conduct exploratory comparisons was developed. The machine learning Fiscal Analytics App (FLOWZZ) democratizes access to advanced analytics through its user-friendly interface, breaking down expertise barriers.

Keywords: data science, data wrangling, drilldown analytics, government finance statistics, hierarchical network classification, machine learning, web application.

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Authors: Kemka Ihemelandu, Chukwuemeka Ihemelandu

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Melanoma remains a public health crisis, with incidence rates increasing rapidly in the past decades. Improving diagnostic accuracy to decrease misdiagnosis using Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be documented. Unfortunately, unintended racially biased outcomes, a product of lack of diversity in the dataset used, with a noted class imbalance favoring lighter vs. darker skin tone, have increasingly been recognized as a problem.Resulting in noted limitations of the accuracy of the Convolutional neural network (CNN)models. CNN models are prone to biased output due to biases in the dataset used to train them. Our aim in this study was the optimization of convolutional neural network algorithms to mitigate bias in the automated diagnosis of melanoma. We hypothesized that our proposed training algorithms based on a data augmentation method to optimize the diagnostic accuracy of a CNN classifier by generating new training samples from the original ones will reduce bias in the automated diagnosis of melanoma. We applied geometric transformation, including; rotations, translations, scale change, flipping, and shearing. Resulting in a CNN model that provided a modifiedinput data making for a model that could learn subtle racial features. Optimal selection of the momentum and batch hyperparameter increased our model accuracy. We show that our augmented model reduces bias while maintaining accuracy in the automated diagnosis of melanoma.

Keywords: bias, augmentation, melanoma, convolutional neural network

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Authors: Aghasadeghi MR., Bahramali G., Sadat SM., Sadeghi SA., Yousefi M., Khodaei K., Ghorbani M., Sadat Larijani M.

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Background:The emerging COVID-19 pandemic is a serious concernfor the public health worldwide. Despite the many mutations in the virus genome, it is important to find an effective vaccine against viral mutations. Therefore, in current study, we aimed at immunoinformatic evaluation of the virus proteins immunogenicity to design a preventive vaccine candidate, which could elicit humoral and cellular immune responses as well. Methods:Three antigenic regions are included;Spike, Membrane, and Nucleocapsid amino acid sequences were obtained, and possible fusion proteins were assessed andcompared by immunogenicity, structural features, and population coverage. The best fusion protein was also evaluated for MHC-I and MHC-II T-cell epitopes and the linear and conformational B-cell epitopes. Results: Among the four predicted models, the truncated Spike protein in fusion with M and N proteins is composed of 24 highly immunogenic human MHC class I and 29 MHC class II, along with 14 B-cell linear and 61 discontinues epitopes. Also, the selected protein has high antigenicity and acceptable population coverage of 82.95% in Iran and 92.51% in Europe. Conclusion: The data indicate that the truncated Spike-M-N SARS-CoV-2form which could be potential targets of neutralizing antibodies. The protein also has the ability to stimulate humoral and cellular immunity. The in silico study provided the fusion protein as a potential preventive vaccine candidate for further in vivo evaluation.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, immunoinformatic, protein, vaccine

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Authors: Esraa A. Khalil, Mohamed N. AbouZeid

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Building materials selection is critical for the sustainability of any project. The choice of building materials has a huge impact on the built environment and cost of projects. Building materials emit huge amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) due to the use of cement as a basic component in the manufacturing process and as a binder, which harms our environment. Energy consumption from buildings has increased in the last few years; a huge amount of energy is being wasted from using unsustainable building and finishing materials, as well as from the process of heating and cooling of buildings. In addition, the construction sector in Egypt is taking a good portion of the economy; however, there is a lack of awareness of buildings environmental impacts on the built environment. Using advanced building materials and different wall systems can help in reducing heat consumption, the project’s initial and long-term costs, and minimizing the environmental impacts. Red Bricks is one of the materials that are being used widely in Egypt. There are many other types of bricks such as Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC); however, the use of Red Bricks is dominating the construction industry due to its affordability and availability. This research focuses on the New Egyptian Administrative Capital as a case study to investigate the potential of the influence of using different wall systems such as AAC on the project’s cost and the environment. The aim of this research is to conduct a comparative analysis between the traditional and most commonly used bricks in Egypt, which is Red Bricks, and AAC wall systems. Through an economic and environmental study, the difference between the two wall systems will be justified to encourage the utilization of uncommon techniques in the construction industry to build more affordable, energy efficient and sustainable buildings. The significance of this research is to show the potential of using AAC in the construction industry and its positive influences. The study analyzes the factors associated with choosing suitable building materials for different projects according to the need and criteria of each project and its nature without harming the environment and wasting materials that could be saved or recycled. The New Egyptian Administrative Capital is considered as the country’s new heart, where ideas regarding energy savings and environmental benefits are taken into consideration. Meaning that, Egypt is taking good steps to move towards more sustainable construction. According to the analysis and site visits, there is a potential in reducing the initial costs of buildings by 12.1% and saving energy by using different techniques up to 25%. Interviews with the mega structures project engineers and managers reveal that they are more open to introducing sustainable building materials that will help in saving the environment and moving towards green construction as well as to studying more effective techniques for energy conservation.

Keywords: AAC blocks, building material, environmental impact, modern construction, new Egyptian administrative capital

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Authors: Oluwole Victor Falobi, Lawrence Olusola Ige

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The cardinal drawing force of this study is to examine the influence of audio-visual resources in teaching business subjects in selected secondary schools in IfakoIjaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was employed for the study. By using a quantitative research approach and a sample size of 120 students were randomly selected from four public schools. Three research questions with one hypothesis guided the study. Data collected were analysed using frequency, the mean and standard deviation for the research questions, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation PPMC were used to analysed the inferential statistic. Findings from the study revealed that the Influence of audio-visual resources in teaching business subjects in selected secondary schools in IfakoIjaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State is low. It further revealed data the knowledge of teachers on the use of audio-visual resources is high in Ifako Local Government Area. It was recommended that government should create a timely monitoring system in other to check secondary school laboratories and classrooms to replace outdated facilities and also purchase needed facilities for effective teaching and learning to take place.

Keywords: audio-visual resources, business subjects, school, teaching

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Authors: Ruth Green, Samantha Milton, Rinal Desai

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Background/Aims: Eye pain/swelling/redness is a common presentation to Barnet General Hospital (a district general hospital), pediatric emergency department, and is managed by both the pediatric and emergency teams. The management of each child differs dramatically depending on the healthcare professional who reviews them. There also appears to be confusion in diagnosis between periorbital cellulitis, pre-septal cellulitis, and orbital cellulitis. Pre septal cellulitis refers to an inflammation of the eyelids and soft tissue anterior to the orbital septum. In contrast, orbital cellulitis is a serious, rapidly progressive infection of soft tissues located posterior to the orbital septum. Pre-septal cellulitis is more prevalent and less serious than orbital cellulitis, although it may be part of a continuous spectrum if untreated. Pre-septal cellulitis should there be diagnosed and treated urgently to prevent spread to the septum. For the purpose of the audit, the term periorbital cellulitis has been used as an umbrella term for all spectrums of this infection. The audit aimed to look at, how as a whole, the department is diagnosing and managing orbital and pre-septal cellulitis. Gold Standard: Patients of the same age and diagnosis should be treated with the same medication, advice, and follow-up. Method: Data was collected retrospectively from pediatric patients ( < 18years) who attended the emergency department from June 2019 to February 2020 who had been coded as pre-septal cellulitis, periorbital cellulitis, orbital cellulitis, or eye pain/swelling/redness. Demographics, signs and symptoms, management, and follow-up were recorded for all patients with any of the diagnoses of pre-septal, periorbital, or orbital cellulitis. A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet was used to record the anonymised data. Results: There were vast discrepancies in the diagnosis, management, and follow-up of patients with periorbital cellulitis. Conclusion/Discussion: The audit concluded there is no uniform approach to managing periorbital cellulitis in Barnet General Hospital Paediatric Emergency Department. Healthcare professionals misdiagnosed conjunctivitis as periorbital cellulitis, and adequate steps did not appear to be documented on excluding red flag signs and symptoms of patients presenting. There was no consistency in follow-up, with some patients having timely phone reviews or clinical reviews for mild symptoms. Advice given by the staff was appropriate, and patients did return when symptoms got worse and were treated accordingly. Plan: Given the inconsistency, a gold standard care pathway or local easily accessible clinical guideline can be developed to help with the diagnosis and management of periorbital cellulitis. Along with this, a teaching session can be carried out for the staff of the pediatric team and emergency department to disseminate the teaching. Following the introduction of a guideline and teaching sessions, patients notes can be re-reviewed to check improvement in patient care.

Keywords: periorbital cellulitis, preseptal cellulitis, orbital cellulitis, erythematous eyelid

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