Search results for: political cases

Authors: Nouha Bouayed Abdelmoula, Rim Louati, Nawel Abdellaoui, Balkiss Abdelmoula, Oldez Kaabi, Walid Smaoui, Samir Aloulou

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Background and Aims: Cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome (CFC) is an autosomal dominant disorder with the vast majority of cases arising by a new mutation of BRAF, MEK1, MEK2, or rarely, KRAS genes. Here, we report a rare Tunisian case of CFC syndrome for whom we identify SOS1 mutation. Methods: Genomic DNA was obtained from peripheral blood collected in an EDTA tube and extracted from leukocytes using the phenol/chloroform method according to standard protocols. High resolution melting (HRM) analysis for screening of mutations in the entire coding sequence of PTPN11 was conducted first. Then, HRM assays to look for hot spot mutations coding regions of the other genes of the RAS-MAPK pathway (RAt Sarcoma viral oncogene homolog Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases Pathway): SOS1, SHOC2, KRAS, RAF1, KRAS, NRAS, CBL, BRAF, MEK1, MEK2, HRAS, and RIT1, were applied. Results: Heterozygous SOS1 point mutation clustered in exon 10, which encodes for the PH domain of SOS1, was identified: c.1655 G > A. The patient was a 9-year-old female born from a consanguineous couple. She exhibited pulmonic valvular stenosis as congenital heart disease. She had facial features and other malformations of Noonan syndrome, including macrocephaly, hypertelorism, ptosis, downslanting palpebral fissures, sparse eyebrows, a short and broad nose with upturned tip, low-set ears, high forehead commonly associated with bitemporal narrowing and prominent supraorbital ridges, short and/or webbed neck and short stature. However, the phenotype is also suggestive of CFC syndrome with the presence of more severe ectodermal abnormalities, including curly hair, keloid scars, hyperkeratotic skin, deep plantar creases, and delayed permanent dentition with agenesis of the right maxillary first molar. Moreover, the familial history of the patient revealed recurrent brain malignancies in the paternal family and epileptic disease in the maternal family. Conclusions: This case report of an overlapping RASopathy associated with SOS1 mutation and familial history of brain tumorigenesis is exceptional. The evidence suggests that RASopathies are truly cancer-prone syndromes, but the magnitude of the cancer risk and the types of cancer partially overlap.

Keywords: cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome, CFC, SOS1, brain cancer, germline mutation

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Authors: Chen Yao, Wang Ke

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Small towns are the most basic administrative institutions in our country, which are connected with cities and rural areas. Small towns play an important role in promoting local urban and rural economic development, providing the main public services and maintaining social stability in social governance. With the vigorous development of small towns and the transformation of industrial structure, the changes of social structure, spatial structure, and lifestyle are lagging behind, causing that the spatial form and landscape style do not belong to both cities and rural areas, and seriously affecting the quality of people’s life space and environment. The rural economy in Zhejiang Province has started, the society and the population are also developing in relative stability. In September 2016, Zhejiang Province set out the 'Technical Guidelines for Comprehensive Environmental Remediation of Small Towns in Zhejiang Province,' so as to comprehensively implement the small town comprehensive environmental remediation with the main content of strengthening the plan and design leading, regulating environmental sanitation, urban order and town appearance. In November 2016, Huzhou City started the comprehensive environmental improvement of small towns, strived to use three years to significantly improve the 115 small towns, as well as to create a number of high quality, distinctive and beautiful towns with features of 'clean and livable, rational layout, industrial development, poetry and painting style'. This paper takes Meixi Town, Zhangwu Town and Sanchuan Village in Huzhou City as the empirical cases, analyzes the small town public space by applying the relative theory of actor-network and space syntax. This paper also analyzes the spatial composition in actor and social structure elements, as well as explores the relationship of actor’s spatial practice and public open space by combining with actor-network theory. This paper introduces the relevant theories and methods of spatial syntax, carries out research analysis and design planning analysis of small town spaces from the perspective of quantitative analysis. And then, this paper proposes the effective updating strategy for the existing problems in public space. Through the planning and design in the building level, the dissonant factors produced by various spatial combination of factors and between landscape design and urban texture during small town development will be solved, inhabitant quality of life will be promoted, and town development vitality will be increased.

Keywords: small towns, urbanization, public space, updating

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Authors: Azam Fazelpour, Saeed Reza Dehghani, Vlastimil Masek, Yuri S. Muzychka

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The study uses a novel image analysis based on thermal imaging to detect temperature contours created on salt ice surface during transient phenomena. Thermal cameras detect objects by using their emissivities and IR radiance. The ice surface temperature is not uniform during transient processes. The temperature starts to increase from the boundary of ice towards the center of that. Thermal cameras are able to report temperature changes on the ice surface at every individual moment. Various contours, which show different temperature areas, appear on the ice surface picture captured by a thermal camera. Identifying the exact boundary of these contours is valuable to facilitate ice surface temperature analysis. Image processing techniques are used to extract each contour area precisely. In this study, several pictures are recorded while the temperature is increasing throughout the ice surface. Some pictures are selected to be processed by a specific time interval. An image segmentation method is applied to images to determine the contour areas. Color thermal images are used to exploit the main information. Red, green and blue elements of color images are investigated to find the best contour boundaries. The algorithms of image enhancement and noise removal are applied to images to obtain a high contrast and clear image. A novel edge detection algorithm based on differences in the color of the pixels is established to determine contour boundaries. In this method, the edges of the contours are obtained according to properties of red, blue and green image elements. The color image elements are assessed considering their information. Useful elements proceed to process and useless elements are removed from the process to reduce the consuming time. Neighbor pixels with close intensities are assigned in one contour and differences in intensities determine boundaries. The results are then verified by conducting experimental tests. An experimental setup is performed using ice samples and a thermal camera. To observe the created ice contour by the thermal camera, the samples, which are initially at -20° C, are contacted with a warmer surface. Pictures are captured for 20 seconds. The method is applied to five images ,which are captured at the time intervals of 5 seconds. The study shows the green image element carries no useful information; therefore, the boundary detection method is applied on red and blue image elements. In this case study, the results indicate that proposed algorithm shows the boundaries more effective than other edges detection methods such as Sobel and Canny. Comparison between the contour detection in this method and temperature analysis, which states real boundaries, shows a good agreement. This color image edge detection method is applicable to other similar cases according to their image properties.

Keywords: color image processing, edge detection, ice contour boundary, salt ice, thermal image

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Authors: Fouad Mrad, Viviane Zaccour

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The accelerated developments in the political, economic, environmental, security, health, and social folders are exhausting planners across the world, especially in Arab countries. The impact of the tension is multifaceted and has resulted in conflicts, wars, migration, and human insecurity. The potential cross-cutting role that science, innovation and technology can play in supporting Arab societies to address these pressing challenges is a serious, unique chance for the people of the region. This opportunity is based on the existing capacity of educated youth and inaccessible talents in the local universities and research centers. It has been accepted that Arab countries have achieved major advancements in the economy, education and social wellbeing since the 70s of the 20th Century. Mainly direct outcome of the oil and other natural resources. The UN Secretary-General, during the Education Summit in Sep 2022, stressed that “Learning continues to underplay skills, including problem-solving, critical thinking and empathy.” Stars of Science by Qatar Foundation was launched in 2009 and has been sustained through 2023. Consistent mission from the start: To mobilize a new generation of Pan-Arab innovators and problem solvers by encouraging youth participation and interest in Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship throughout the Arab world via the program and its social media activities. To make science accessible and attractive to mass audiences by de-mystifying the process of innovation. Harnessing best practices within reality TV to show that science, engineering, and innovation are important in everyday life and can be fun.” Thousands of Participants learned unforgettable lessons; winners changed their lives forever as they learned and earned seed capital; they became drivers of change in their countries and families; millions of viewers were exposed to an innovative experimental process, and culturally, several relevant national institutions adopted the SOS track in their national initiatives. The program exhibited experientially youth self-efficacy as the most distinct core property of human agency, which is an individual's belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments. In addition, the program proved that innovations are performed by networks of people with different sets of technological, useful knowledge, skills and competencies introduced by socially shared technological knowledge as a main determinant of economic activities in any economy.

Keywords: science, invention, innovation, Qatar foundation, QSTP, prototyping

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Authors: B. Casper

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The energy transition towards renewable energies and drastically reduced carbon dioxide emissions in Germany drives multiple sectors into a transformation process. Photovoltaic and on-shore wind power are predominantly feeding in the low and medium-voltage grids. The electricity grid is not laid out to allow an increasing feed-in of power in low and medium voltage grids. Electric mobility is currently in the run-up phase in Germany and still lacks a significant amount of charging stations. The additional power demand by e-mobility cannot be supplied by the existing electric grids in most cases. The future demands in heating and cooling of commercial and residential buildings are increasingly generated by heat-pumps. Yet the most important part in the energy transition is the storage of surplus energy generated by photovoltaic and wind power sources. Water electrolysis is one way to store surplus energy known as power-to-gas. With the vehicle-to-grid technology, the upcoming fleet of electric cars could be used as energy storage to stabilize the grid. All these processes use direct current (DC). The demand of bi-directional flow and higher efficiency in the future grids can be met by using DC. The Flexible Electrical Networks (FEN) research campus at RWTH Aachen investigates interdisciplinary about the advantages, opportunities, and limitations of DC grids. This paper investigates the impact of DC grids as a technological innovation on the urban form and urban life. Applying explorative scenario development, analyzation of mapped open data sources on grid networks and research-by-design as a conceptual design method, possible starting points for a transformation to DC medium voltage grids could be found. Several fields of action have emerged in which DC technology could become a catalyst for future urban development: energy transition in urban areas, e-mobility, and transformation of the network infrastructure. The investigation shows a significant potential to increase renewable energy production within cities with DC grids. The charging infrastructure for electric vehicles will predominantly be using DC in the future because fast and ultra fast charging can only be achieved with DC. Our research shows that e-mobility, combined with autonomous driving has the potential to change the urban space and urban logistics fundamentally. Furthermore, there are possible win-win-win solutions for the municipality, the grid operator and the inhabitants: replacing overhead transmission lines by underground DC cables to open up spaces in contested urban areas can lead to a positive example of how the energy transition can contribute to a more sustainable urban structure. The outlook makes clear that target grid planning and urban planning will increasingly need to be synchronized.

Keywords: direct current, e-mobility, energy transition, grid planning, renewable energy, urban planning

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Authors: Skyler Kim

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An early diagnosis of leukemia has always been a challenge to doctors and hematologists. On a worldwide basis, it was reported that there were approximately 350,000 new cases in 2012, and diagnosing leukemia was time-consuming and inefficient because of an endemic shortage of flow cytometry equipment in current clinical practice. As the number of medical diagnosis tools increased and a large volume of high-quality data was produced, there was an urgent need for more advanced data analysis methods. One of these methods was the AI approach. This approach has become a major trend in recent years, and several research groups have been working on developing these diagnostic models. However, designing and implementing a leukemia diagnostic system in real clinical environments based on a deep learning approach with larger sets remains complex. Leukemia is a major hematological malignancy that results in mortality and morbidity throughout different ages. We decided to select acute lymphocytic leukemia to develop our diagnostic system since acute lymphocytic leukemia is the most common type of leukemia, accounting for 74% of all children diagnosed with leukemia. The results from this development work can be applied to all other types of leukemia. To develop our model, the Kaggle dataset was used, which consists of 15135 total images, 8491 of these are images of abnormal cells, and 5398 images are normal. In this paper, we design and implement a leukemia diagnostic system in a real clinical environment based on deep learning approaches with larger sets. The proposed diagnostic system has the function of detecting and classifying leukemia. Different from other AI approaches, we explore hybrid architectures to improve the current performance. First, we developed two independent convolutional neural network models: VGG19 and ResNet50. Then, using both VGG19 and ResNet50, we developed a hybrid deep learning architecture employing transfer learning techniques to extract features from each input image. In our approach, fusing the features from specific abstraction layers can be deemed as auxiliary features and lead to further improvement of the classification accuracy. In this approach, features extracted from the lower levels are combined into higher dimension feature maps to help improve the discriminative capability of intermediate features and also overcome the problem of network gradient vanishing or exploding. By comparing VGG19 and ResNet50 and the proposed hybrid model, we concluded that the hybrid model had a significant advantage in accuracy. The detailed results of each model’s performance and their pros and cons will be presented in the conference.

Keywords: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, hybrid model, leukemia diagnostic system, machine learning

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Authors: Mihail Calalb

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The aim of this research is to identify ways for achieving sustainable conceptual understanding within science lessons. For this purpose, a set of teaching and learning strategies, parts of the theory of visible teaching and learning (VTL), is studied. As a result, a new didactic approach named "learning by being" is proposed and its correlation with educational paradigms existing nowadays in science teaching domain is analysed. In the context of VTL the author describes the main strategies of "learning by being" such as guided self-scaffolding, structuring of information, and recurrent use of previous knowledge or help seeking. Due to the synergy effect of these learning strategies applied simultaneously in class, the impact factor of learning by being on cognitive achievement of students is up to 93 % (the benchmark level is equal to 40% when an experienced teacher applies permanently the same conventional strategy during two academic years). The key idea in "learning by being" is the assumption by the student of cognitive goals. From this perspective, the article discusses the role of student’s personal learning effort within several teaching strategies employed in VTL. The research results emphasize that three mandatory student – related moments are present in each constructivist teaching approach: a) students’ personal learning effort, b) student – teacher mutual feedback and c) metacognition. Thus, a successful educational strategy will target to achieve an involvement degree of students into the class process as high as possible in order to make them not only know the learning objectives but also to assume them. In this way, we come to the ownership of cognitive goals or students’ deep intrinsic motivation. A series of approaches are inherent to the students’ ownership of cognitive goals: independent research (with an impact factor on cognitive achievement equal to 83% according to the results of VTL); knowledge of success criteria (impact factor – 113%); ability to reveal similarities and patterns (impact factor – 132%). Although it is generally accepted that the school is a public service, nonetheless it does not belong to entertainment industry and in most of cases the education declared as student – centered actually hides the central role of the teacher. Even if there is a proliferation of constructivist concepts, mainly at the level of science education research, we have to underline that conventional or frontal teaching, would never disappear. Research results show that no modern method can replace an experienced teacher with strong pedagogical content knowledge. Such a teacher will inspire and motivate his/her students to love and learn physics. The teacher is precisely the condensation point for an efficient didactic strategy – be it constructivist or conventional. In this way, we could speak about "hybridized teaching" where both the student and the teacher have their share of responsibility. In conclusion, the core of "learning by being" approach is guided learning effort that corresponds to the notion of teacher–student harmonic oscillator, when both things – guidance from teacher and student’s effort – are equally important.

Keywords: conceptual understanding, learning by being, ownership of cognitive goals, science learning

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Authors: Sharon Jackson, Lynn Kelly

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This paper proposes a conceptual review of the interdisciplinary literature which has theorised the concept of ‘children’s voices’. The primary aim is to identify and consider the theoretical relevance of conceptual thought on ‘children’s voices’ for research and practice in child protection contexts. Attending to the ‘voice of the child’ has become a core principle of social work practice in contemporary child protection contexts. Discourses of voice permeate the legislative, policy and practice frameworks of child protection practices within the UK and internationally. Voice is positioned within a ‘child-centred’ moral imperative to ‘hear the voices’ of children and take their preferences and perspectives into account. This practice is now considered to be central to working in a child-centered way. The genesis of this call to voice is revealed through sociological analysis of twentieth-century child welfare reform as rooted inter alia in intersecting political, social and cultural discourses which have situated children and childhood as cites of state intervention as enshrined in the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified by the UK government in 1991 and more specifically Article 12 of the convention. From a policy and practice perspective, the professional ‘capturing’ of children’s voices has come to saturate child protection practice. This has incited a stream of directives, resources, advisory publications and ‘how-to’ guides which attempt to articulate practice methods to ‘listen’, ‘hear’ and above all – ‘capture’ the ‘voice of the child’. The idiom ‘capturing the voice of the child’ is frequently invoked within the literature to express the requirements of the child-centered practice task to be accomplished. Despite the centrality of voice, and an obsession with ‘capturing’ voices, evidence from research, inspection processes, serious case reviews, child abuse and death inquires has consistently highlighted professional neglect of ‘the voice of the child’. Notable research studies have highlighted the relative absence of the child’s voice in social work assessment practices, a troubling lack of meaningful engagement with children and the need to more thoroughly examine communicative practices in child protection contexts. As a consequence, the project of capturing ‘the voice of the child’ has intensified, and there has been an increasing focus on developing methods and professional skills to attend to voice. This has been guided by a recognition that professionals often lack the skills and training to engage with children in age-appropriate ways. We argue however that the problem with ‘capturing’ and [re]representing ‘voice’ in child protection contexts is, more fundamentally, a failure to adequately theorise the concept of ‘voice’ in the ‘voice of the child’. For the most part, ‘The voice of the child’ incorporates psychological conceptions of child development. While these concepts are useful in the context of direct work with children, they fail to consider other strands of sociological thought, which position ‘the voice of the child’ within an agentic paradigm to emphasise the active agency of the child.

Keywords: child-centered, child protection, views of the child, voice of the child

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Authors: E. Cenderelli, E. Bruno, G. Iacoviello, A. Lazzini

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The financial sector is exposed to the risk of cyber-attacks like any other industrial sector. Furthermore, the topic of CybeRisk (cyber risk) has become particularly relevant given that Information Technology (IT) attacks have increased drastically in recent years, and cannot be stopped by single organizations requiring a response at international and national level. IT risk is never a matter purely for the IT manager, although he clearly plays a key role. A bank's risk management function requires a thorough understanding of the evolving risks as well as the tools and practical techniques available to address them. Upon the request of European and national legislation regarding CybeRisk in the financial system, banks are therefore called upon to strengthen the operational model for CybeRisk management. This will require an important change with a more intense collaboration with the structures that deal with information security for the development of an ad hoc system for the evaluation and control of this type of risk. The aim of the work is to propose a framework for the management and control of CybeRisk that will bridge the gap in the literature regarding the understanding and consideration of CybeRisk as an integral part of business management. The IT function has a strong relevance in the management of CybeRisk, which is perceived mainly as operational risk, but with a positive tendency on the part of risk management to the identification of CybeRisk assessment methods that are increasingly complete, quantitative and able to better describe the possible impacts on the business. The paper provides answers to the research questions: Is it possible to define a CybeRisk governance structure able to support the comparison between risk and security? How can the relationships between IT assets be integrated into a cyberisk assessment framework to guarantee a system of protection and risks control? From a methodological point of view, this research uses a case study approach. The choice of “Monte dei Paschi di Siena” was determined by the specific features of one of Italy’s biggest lenders. It is chosen to use an intensive research strategy: an in-depth study of reality. The case study methodology is an empirical approach to explore a complex and current phenomenon that develops over time. The use of cases has also the advantage of allowing the deepening of aspects concerning the "how" and "why" of contemporary events, on which the scholar has little control. The research bases on quantitative data and qualitative information obtained through semi-structured interviews of an open-ended nature and questionnaires to directors, members of the audit committee, risk, IT and compliance managers, and those responsible for internal audit function and anti-money laundering. The added value of the paper can be seen in the development of a framework based on a mapping of IT assets from which it is possible to identify their relationships for purposes of a more effective management and control of cyber risk.

Keywords: bank, CybeRisk, information technology, risk management

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Authors: Susan E Orlovich

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Ongoing, effective teacher professional learning is acknowledged as a critical influence on teacher practice. However, it is unclear whether the elements of effective professional learning result in transformed teacher practice in the classroom. This research project is interested in 4C teacher professional learning. The professional learning practices to assist teachers in transforming their practice to integrate the 4C capabilities seldom feature in the academic literature. The 4Cs are a shorthand way of representing the concepts of communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical reflection and refer to the capabilities needed for deeper learning, personal growth, and effective participation in society. The New South Wales curriculum review (2020) acknowledges that identifying, teaching, and assessing the 4C capabilities are areas of challenge for teachers. However, it also recognises that it is essential for teachers to build the confidence and capacity to understand, teach and assess the capabilities necessary for learners to thrive in the 21st century. This qualitative research project explores the professional learning experiences of sixteen teachers in four different primaries (K-6) settings in Sydney, Australia, who are learning to integrate, teach and assess the 4Cs. The project draws on the Theory of Practice Architecture as a framework to analyse and interpret teachers' experiences in each site. The sixteen participants in the study are teachers from four primary settings and include early career, experienced, and teachers in leadership roles (including the principal). In addition, some of the participants are also teachers who are learning within a Community of Practice (CoP) as their school setting is engaged in a 4C professional learning, Community of Practice. Qualitative and arts-informed research methods are utilised to examine the cultural-discursive, social-political, and material-economic practice arrangements of the site, explore how these arrangements may have shaped the professional learning experiences of teachers, and in turn, influence the teaching practices of the 4Cs in the setting. The research is in the data analysis stage (October 2022), with preliminary findings pending. The research objective is to investigate the elements of the professional learning experiences undertaken by teachers to teach the 4Cs in the primary setting. The lens of practice architectures theory is used to identify the influence of the practice architectures on critical praxis in each site and examine how the practice arrangements enable or constrain the teaching of 4C capabilities. This research aims to offer deep insight into the practice arrangements which may enable or constrain teacher professional learning in the 4Cs. Such insight from this study may contribute to a better understanding of the practices that enable teachers to transform their practice to achieve the integration, teaching, and assessment of the 4C capabilities.

Keywords: 4Cs, communication, collaboration, creativity, critical reflection, teacher professional learning

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Authors: Tsitsi Nyukurayi Muparari, Walter Timo De Vries, Jaap Zevenbergen

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The nature of Land administration accommodates diversity in terms of both spatial data handling activities and the expertise involved, which supposedly aims to satisfy the unpredictable demands of land data and the diverse demands of the customers arising from the land. However, it is known that strategic decisions of restructuring are in most cases repelled in favour of complex structures that strive to accommodate professional diversity and diverse roles in the field of Land administration. Yet despite of this widely accepted knowledge, there is scanty theoretical knowledge concerning the psychological methodologies that can extract the deeper perceptions from the diverse spatial expertise in order to explain the invisible control arm of the polarised reception of the ideas of change. This paper evaluates Q methodology in the context of a cadastre and land registry merger (under one agency) using the Swedish cadastral system as a case study. Precisely, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of Q methodology towards modelling the diverse psychological perceptions of spatial professionals who are in a widely contested decision of merging the cadastre and land registry components of Land administration using the Swedish cadastral system as a case study. An empirical approach that is prescribed by Q methodology starts with the concourse development, followed by the design of statements and q sort instrument, selection of the participants, the q-sorting exercise, factor extraction by PQMethod and finally narrative development by logic of abduction. The paper uses 36 statements developed from a dominant competing value theory that stands out on its reliability and validity, purposively selects 19 participants to do the Qsorting exercise, proceeds with factor extraction from the diversity using varimax rotation and judgemental rotation provided by PQMethod and effect the narrative construction using the logic abduction. The findings from the diverse perceptions from cadastral professionals in the merger decision of land registry and cadastre components in Sweden’s mapping agency (Lantmäteriet) shows that focus is rather inclined on the perfection of the relationship between the legal expertise and technical spatial expertise. There is much emphasis on tradition, loyalty and communication attributes which concern the organisation’s internal environment rather than innovation and market attributes that reveals customer behavior and needs arising from the changing humankind-land needs. It can be concluded that Q methodology offers effective tools that pursues a psychological approach for the evaluation and gradations of the decisions of strategic change through extracting the local perceptions of spatial expertise.

Keywords: cadastre, factor extraction, land administration merger, land registry, q-methodology, rotation

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Authors: Ning Chang, Zelong Yuan, Yunpeng Wang, Jianchun Wang

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Large eddy simulation (LES) has been extensively used in the investigation of turbulence. LES calculates the grid-resolved large-scale motions and leaves small scales modeled by sublfilterscale (SFS) models. Among the existing SFS models, the deconvolution model has been used successfully in the LES of the engineering flows and geophysical flows. Despite the wide application of deconvolution models, the effects of subfilter scale dynamics and filter anisotropy on the accuracy of SFS modeling have not been investigated in depth. The results of LES are highly sensitive to the selection of filters and the anisotropy of the grid, which has been overlooked in previous research. In the current study, two critical aspects of LES are investigated. Firstly, we analyze the influence of sub-filter scale (SFS) dynamics on the accuracy of direct deconvolution models (DDM) at varying filter-to-grid ratios (FGR) in isotropic turbulence. An array of invertible filters are employed, encompassing Gaussian, Helmholtz I and II, Butterworth, Chebyshev I and II, Cauchy, Pao, and rapidly decaying filters. The significance of FGR becomes evident, as it acts as a pivotal factor in error control for precise SFS stress prediction. When FGR is set to 1, the DDM models cannot accurately reconstruct the SFS stress due to the insufficient resolution of SFS dynamics. Notably, prediction capabilities are enhanced at an FGR of 2, resulting in accurate SFS stress reconstruction, except for cases involving Helmholtz I and II filters. A remarkable precision close to 100% is achieved at an FGR of 4 for all DDM models. Additionally, the further exploration extends to the filter anisotropy to address its impact on the SFS dynamics and LES accuracy. By employing dynamic Smagorinsky model (DSM), dynamic mixed model (DMM), and direct deconvolution model (DDM) with the anisotropic filter, aspect ratios (AR) ranging from 1 to 16 in LES filters are evaluated. The findings highlight the DDM's proficiency in accurately predicting SFS stresses under highly anisotropic filtering conditions. High correlation coefficients exceeding 90% are observed in the a priori study for the DDM's reconstructed SFS stresses, surpassing those of the DSM and DMM models. However, these correlations tend to decrease as lter anisotropy increases. In the a posteriori studies, the DDM model consistently outperforms the DSM and DMM models across various turbulence statistics, encompassing velocity spectra, probability density functions related to vorticity, SFS energy flux, velocity increments, strain-rate tensors, and SFS stress. It is observed that as filter anisotropy intensify, the results of DSM and DMM become worse, while the DDM continues to deliver satisfactory results across all filter-anisotropy scenarios. The findings emphasize the DDM framework's potential as a valuable tool for advancing the development of sophisticated SFS models for LES of turbulence.

Keywords: deconvolution model, large eddy simulation, subfilter scale modeling, turbulence

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Authors: Mia Bahar, Özlem Bozkurt

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Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a typical, persistent, and long-lasting mental health condition in which a person experiences uncontrollable, recurrent thoughts (or "obsessions") and/or activities (or "compulsions") that they feel compelled to engage in repeatedly. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is both underdiagnosed and undertreated. It frequently manifests in a variety of medical settings and is persistent, expensive, and burdensome. Obsessive-compulsive neurosis was long believed to be a condition that offered valuable insight into the inner workings of the unconscious mind. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is now recognized as a prime example of a neuropsychiatric condition susceptible to particular pharmacotherapeutic and psychotherapy therapies and mediated by pathology in particular neural circuits. An obsessive-compulsive disorder which is called OCD, usually has two components, one cognitive and the other behavioral, although either can occur alone. Obsessions are often repetitive and intrusive thoughts that invade consciousness. These obsessions are incredibly hard to control or dismiss. People who have OCD often engage in rituals to reduce anxiety associated with intrusive thoughts. Once the ritual is formed, the person may feel extreme relief and be free from anxiety until the thoughts of contamination intrude once again. These thoughts are strengthened through a manifestation of negative reinforcement because they allow the person to avoid anxiety and obscurity. These thoughts are described as autogenous, meaning they most likely come from nowhere. These unwelcome thoughts are related to actions which we can describe as Thought Action Fusion. The thought becomes equated with an action, such as if they refuse to perform the ritual, something bad might happen, and so people perform the ritual to escape the intrusive thought. In almost all cases of OCD, the person's life gets extremely disturbed by compulsions and obsessions. Studies show OCD is an estimated 1.1% prevalence, making it a challenging issue with high co-morbidities with other issues like depressive episodes, panic disorders, and specific phobias. The first to reveal brain anomalies in OCD were numerous CT investigations, although the results were inconsistent. A few studies have focused on the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate gyrus (AC), and thalamus, structures also implicated in the pathophysiology of OCD by functional neuroimaging studies, but few have found consistent results. However, some studies have found abnormalities in the basal ganglion. There have also been some discussions that OCD might be genetic. OCD has been linked to families in studies of family aggregation, and findings from twin studies show that this relationship is somewhat influenced by genetic variables. Some Research has shown that OCD is a heritable, polygenic condition that can result from de novo harmful mutations as well as common and unusual variants. Numerous studies have also presented solid evidence in favor of a significant additive genetic component to OCD risk, with distinct OCD symptom dimensions showing both common and individual genetic risks.

Keywords: compulsions, obsessions, neuropsychiatric, genetic

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Authors: Huidan Yu, Anurag Deb, Rou Chen, I-Wen Wang

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The use of left ventricle assist devices (LVADs) in patients with heart failure has been a proven and effective therapy for patients with severe end-stage heart failure. Due to the limited availability of suitable donor hearts, LVADs will probably become the alternative solution for patient with heart failure in the near future. While the LVAD is being continuously improved toward enhanced performance, increased device durability, reduced size, a better understanding of implantation management becomes critical in order to achieve better long-term blood supplies and less post-surgical complications such as thrombi generation. Important issues related to the LVAD implantation include the location of outflow grafting (OG), the angle of the OG, the combination between LVAD and native heart pumping, uniform or pulsatile flow at OG, etc. We have hypothesized that an optimal implantation of LVAD is patient specific. To test this hypothesis, we employ a novel in-house computational modeling technique, named InVascular, to conduct a systematic evaluation of cardiac output at aortic arch together with other pertinent hemodynamic quantities for each patient under various implantation scenarios aiming to get an optimal implantation strategy. InVacular is a powerful computational modeling technique that integrates unified mesoscale modeling for both image segmentation and fluid dynamics with the cutting-edge GPU parallel computing. It first segments the aortic artery from patient’s CT image, then seamlessly feeds extracted morphology, together with the velocity wave from Echo Ultrasound image of the same patient, to the computation model to quantify 4-D (time+space) velocity and pressure fields. Using one NVIDIA Tesla K40 GPU card, InVascular completes a computation from CT image to 4-D hemodynamics within 30 minutes. Thus it has the great potential to conduct massive numerical simulation and analysis. The systematic evaluation for one patient includes three OG anastomosis (ascending aorta, descending thoracic aorta, and subclavian artery), three combinations of LVAD and native heart pumping (1:1, 1:2, and 1:3), three angles of OG anastomosis (inclined upward, perpendicular, and inclined downward), and two LVAD inflow conditions (uniform and pulsatile). The optimal LVAD implantation is suggested through a comprehensive analysis of the cardiac output and related hemodynamics from the simulations over the fifty-four scenarios. To confirm the hypothesis, 5 random patient cases will be evaluated.

Keywords: graphic processing unit (GPU) parallel computing, left ventricle assist device (LVAD), lumped-parameter model, patient-specific computational hemodynamics

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Authors: Kiran Sharma, Viktor Kunder, Zerha Rizvi, Ricardo Soubelet

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Platelet rich plasma (PRP) has been recognized as a method of treatment in medicine since the 1980s. It primarily functions by releasing cytokines and growth factors that promote wound healing; these growth promoting factors released by PRP enact new processes such as angiogenesis, collagen deposition, and tissue formation that can change wound healing outcomes. Many studies recognize that PRP aids in chronic wound healing, which is advantageous for patients who suffer from chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). This scoping review aims to examine literature to identify the efficacy of PRP use in the healing of DFUs. Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched randomized-controlled trials involving PRP use in diabetic patients with foot ulcers using PubMed, Medline, CINAHL Complete, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. We restricted the search to articles published during 2005-2022, full texts in the English language, articles involving patients aged 19 years or older, articles that used PRP on specifically DFUs, articles that included a control group, articles on human subjects. The initial search yielded 119 articles after removing duplicates. Final analysis for relevance yielded 8 articles. In all cases except one, the PRP group showed either faster healing, more complete healing, or a larger percentage of healed participants. There were no situations in the included studies where the control group had a higher rate of healing or decreased wound size as compared to a group with isolated PRP-only use. Only one study did not show conclusive evidence that PRP caused accelerated healing in DFUs, and this study did not have an isolated PRP variable group. Application styles of PRP for treatment were shown to influence the level of healing in patients, with injected PRP appearing to achieve the best results as compared to topical PRP application. However, this was not conclusive due to the involvement of several other variables. Two studies additionally found PRP to be useful in healing refractory DFUs, and one study found that PRP use in patients with additional comorbidities was still more effective in healing DFUs than the standard control groups. The findings of this review suggest that PRP is a useful tool in reducing healing times and improving rates of complete wound healing in DFUs. There is room for further research in the application styles of PRP before conclusive statements can be made on the efficacy of injected versus topical PRP healing based on the findings in this study. The results of this review provide a baseline for further research in PRP use in diabetic patients and can be used by both physicians and public health experts to guide future treatment options for DFUs.

Keywords: diabetic foot ulcer, DFU, platelet rich plasma, PRP

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Authors: Bagam Venkateswarlu

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NMDC Limited, Indian multinational mining company operates under administrative control of Ministry of Steel, Government of India. This study is undertaken to evaluate how sustainable mining practiced by the company fulfils the provisions of Indian Constitution to secure to its citizen – justice, equality of status and opportunity, promoting social, economic, political, and religious wellbeing. The Constitution of India lays down a road map as to how the goal of being a “Welfare State” shall be achieved. The vision of sustainable mining being practiced is oriented along the constitutional responsibilities on Indian Citizens and the Corporate World. This qualitative study shall be backed by quantitative studies of National Mineral Development Corporation performances in various domains of sustainable mining and ESG, that is, environment, social and governance parameters. For example, Five Star Rating of mine is a comprehensive evaluation system introduced by Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India is one of the methodologies. Corporate Social Responsibilities is one of the thrust areas for securing social well-being. Green energy initiatives in and around the mines has given the title of “Eco-Friendly Miner” to NMDC Limited. While operating fully mechanized large scale iron ore mine (18.8 million tonne per annum capacity) in Bacheli, Chhattisgarh, M/s NMDC Limited caters to the needs of mineral security of State of Chhattisgarh and Indian Union. It preserves forest, wild-life, and environment heritage of richly endowed State of Chhattisgarh. In the remote and far-flung interiors of Chhattisgarh, NMDC empowers the local population by providing world class educational & medical facilities, transportation network, drinking water facilities, irrigational agricultural supports, employment opportunities, establishing religious harmony. All this ultimately results in empowered, educated, and improved awareness in population. Thus, the basic tenets of constitution of India- secularism, democracy, welfare for all, socialism, humanism, decentralization, liberalism, mixed economy, and non-violence is fulfilled. Constitution declares India as a welfare state – for the people, of the people and by the people. The sustainable mining practices by NMDC are in line with the objective. Thus, the purpose of study is fully met with. The potential benefit of the study includes replicating this model in existing or new establishments in various parts of country – especially in the under-privileged interiors and far-flung areas which are yet to see the lights of development.

Keywords: ESG values, Indian constitution, NMDC limited, sustainable mining, CSR, green energy

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Authors: Peter J. Fusco, Dave M. Mathew, Chris Mathew, Kenneth H. Levy, Kathryn S. Varghese, Stephanie Salazar-Restrepo, Serena M. Mathew, Sofia Khaja, Eamon Vega, Mia Polizzi, Alyssa Mullane, Adham Ahmed

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Background: Laparoscopic (LS) removal of neuroblastomas in children has been reported to offer favorable outcomes compared to the conventional open thoracotomy (OT) procedure. Critical perioperative measures such as blood loss, operative time, length of stay, and time to postoperative chemotherapy have all supported laparoscopic use rather than its more invasive counterpart. Herein, a pairwise meta-analysis was performed comparing perioperative outcomes between LS and OT in thoracoabdominal neuroblastoma cases. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed on PubMed, Ovid EMBASE, and Scopus databases to identify studies comparing the outcomes of pediatric patients with thoracoabdominal neuroblastomas undergoing resection via OT or LS. After deduplication, 4,227 studies were identified and subjected to initial title screening with exclusion and inclusion criteria to ensure relevance. When studies contained overlapping cohorts, only the larger series were included. Primary outcomes include estimated blood loss (EBL), hospital length of stay (LOS), and mortality, while secondary outcomes were tumor recurrence, post-operative complications, and operation length. The “meta” and “metafor” packages were used in R, version 4.0.2, to pool risk ratios (RR) or standardized mean differences (SMD) in addition to their 95% confidence intervals in the random effects model via the Mantel-Haenszel method. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed using the I² test, while publication bias was assessed via funnel plot. Results: The pooled analysis included 209 patients from 5 studies (141 OT, 68 LS). Of the included studies, 2 originated from the United States, 1 from Toronto, 1 from China, and 1was from a Japanese center. Mean age between study cohorts ranged from 2.4 to 5.3 years old, with female patients occupying between 30.8% to 50% of the study populations. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups for LOS (SMD -1.02; p=0.083), mortality (RR 0.30; p=0.251), recurrence(RR 0.31; p=0.162), post-operative complications (RR 0.73; p=0.732), or operation length (SMD -0.07; p=0.648). Of note, LS appeared to be protective in the analysis for EBL, although it did not reach statistical significance (SMD -0.4174; p= 0.051). Conclusion: Despite promising literature assessing LS removal of pediatric neuroblastomas, results showed it was non-superior to OT for any explored perioperative outcomes. Given the limited comparative data on the subject, it is evident that randomized trials are necessary to further the efficacy of the conclusions reached.

Keywords: laparoscopy, neuroblastoma, thoracoabdominal, thoracotomy

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Authors: Anna Citterbergova

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This study explores the safeguards and guarantees to children’s personal data protection under the current EU and US legislative framework, namely the GDPR (2018) and COPPA (2000). Considering that children are online for the majority of their free time, one cannot overlook the negative side effects that may be associated with online participation, which may put children’s wellbeing and their fundamental rights at risk. The question of whether the current relevant legislative framework in relation to the responsibilities of the internet service providers (ISPs) are adequate safeguards and guarantees to children’s personal data protection has been an evolving debate both in the US and in the EU. From a children’s rights perspective, processors of personal data have certain obligations that must meet the international human rights principles (e. g. the CRC, ECHR), which require taking into account the best interest of the child. Accordingly, the need to protect children’s privacy online remains strong and relevant with the expansion of the number and importance of social media platforms to human life. At the same time, the landscape of the internet is rapidly evolving, and commercial interests are taking a more targeted approach in seeking children’s data. Therefore, it is essential to constantly evaluate the ongoing and evolving newly adopted market policies of ISPs that may misuse the gap in the current letter of the law. Previous studies in the field have already pointed out that both GDPR and COPPA may theoretically not be sufficient in protecting children’s personal data. With the focus on social media platforms, this study uses the doctrinal-descriptive method to identifiy the mechanisms enshrined in the GDPR and COPPA designed to protect children’s personal data. In its second part, the study includes a data gathering phase by the national data protection authorities responsible for monitoring and supervision of the GDPR in relation to children’s personal data protection who monitor the enforcement of the data protection rules throughout the European Union an contribute to their consistent application. These gathered primary source of data will later be used to outline the series of benefits and challenges to children’s persona lata protection faced by these institutes and the analysis that aims to suggest if and/or how to hold ISPs accountable while striking a fair balance between the commercial rights and the right to protection of the personal data of children. The preliminary results can be divided into two categories. First, conclusions in the doctrinal-descriptive part of the study. Second, specific cases and situations from the practice of national data protection authorities. While for the first part, concrete conclusions can already be presented, the second part is currently still in the data gathering phase. The result of this research is a comprehensive analysis on the safeguards and guarantees to children’s personal data protection under the current EU and US legislative framework, based on doctrinal-descriptive approach and original empirical data.

Keywords: personal data of children, personal data protection, GDPR, COPPA, ISPs, social media

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Authors: Marcia Teresa Gildo

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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is responsible to provide international protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees and to seek permanent solutions to their situation. To fulfil this mandate, the agency works in collaboration with its partners and governments. This paper aims to analyse the agency's actions to protect and provide assistance to Mozambican refugees in Malawi. Since July 2015, approximately 12.000 people have fled Mozambique to neighbouring Malawi due to the political-military conflict between the government of Mozambique and RENAMO (the country’s largest opposition party). This led to a series of military clashes between the two parties and the consequent flight of some Mozambicans to Malawi, in search of asylum. Most arrived from the province of Tete, in the central region of Mozambique, and, to a lesser extent, from the province of Zambezia. The asylum seekers arrived in small groups and settled in the village of Kapise in the Mwanza district of Thambani, as well as in Chikwawa and Nsanje districts in Malawi. UNHCR led an interinstitutional response action to manage the flow of Mozambican asylum seekers to Malawi. In view of these aspects and the ongoing challenge of protecting refugees and finding permanent solutions to their situation, UNHCR remains an indispensable international organization. However, there are significant gaps in the international refugee protection regime, and there have been many occasions when UNHCR has failed to fulfill its mandate. The analysis was carried out through qualitative research methods and techniques based essentially on consultation of books, newspapers and scientific articles, television and journalistic reports and interviews with the people who were involved in the process. From the data obtained, it was concluded that UNHCR worked in coordination with its partners and the government of Malawi to provide protection and emergency assistance to the refugees. However, existing funds covered only the immediate needs of refugees, more funds had to be allocated. That was made through an interinstitutional appeal. Although the funds allocated were not sufficient, they allowed the agency to protect and assist the refugees until a permanent solution was found. UNHCR also worked in coordination with the governments of Malawi and Mozambique so that a tripartite agreement was signed between the parties for the voluntary repatriation of Mozambican refugees, since security conditions were guaranteed and the refugees had expressed their willingness to return to their country of origin. UNHCR's actions to protect Mozambican refugees in Malawi have enabled humanitarian conditions to be respected and the rights of refugees to be guaranteed. Cooperation with the different actors involved in the response has allowed UNHCR to fulfil its mandate.

Keywords: assistance , cooperation, international protection, refugees

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Authors: Susan C. Graham

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Islands have a long established allure for travellers the world over. From earliest accounts of human history, travellers were drawn by the sense of islandness embodied by these destinations. The concept of islandness describes the essence of what makes islands unique relative to non-islands and extends beyond geographic interpretations by attempting to capture the specific sense of self-exhibited by islanders in relation to their connection to place. The themes most strongly associated with islandness include a) a strong connection to water as both the life blood and a physical barrier, b) a unique culture and robust arts community that is deeply linked to both the island and islanders, c) an appreciation of and for nature, d) a rich sense of history and tradition connected to the place, e) a sense of community and belonging that arose through shared triumphs and struggles, and f) a profound awareness of independence, separateness, and uniqueness derived from both physical and social experience. The island brand, like all brands, is a marketing tactic designed to succinctly express a specific value proposition in simplistic ways which might include a brand symbol, logo, slogan, or representation meant to distinguish one brand from another. If a value proposition is the identification of attributes that separate one brand from another by highlighting the brand’s uniqueness, then presumably island brands may, at least in part, emphasize islandness as part of the destination brand. Yet it may in naïve to expect all islands to brand themselves using similar themes when islands can differ so substantially in terms of population, geography, political climate, economy, culture, and history. Of particular interest is the increased focus on tourism among 'cold-water' islands. This paper will examine the incorporation of themes related to islandness in tourism branding among cold-water, warm-water, and temperate-water islands. The tourism logos of 83 islands were collected and assessed for the use of themes related to islandness, namely water, arts and culture, nature, history and tradition, community and belongingness, and independence, separateness, and uniqueness. The ratings for each theme related to islandness for each of the 83 island destinations were then analyzed to identify if differences exist between cold-water, warm-water, and temperate-water islands. A general consensus of what constitutes 'cold-water' destinations is lacking, therefore a water temperature of 15C was adopted using the guidelines from the National Center for Cold Water Safety. Among these 83 islands, the average high and average low water temperatures of 196 specific locations, including the capital, northern, and southern most points of each island, was recorded to determine if the location was a cold-water (average high and low below 15C), warm-water (average high and low above 15C), or temperate-water (average high above 15C and low below 15C) location.

Keywords: branding, cold-water, islands, tourism

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Authors: Arpita Banerjee

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We now live in a world where half of the human population is city dwellers. The migration of people from rural to urban areas is rising continuously. But, the promise of a greater wage and better quality of life cannot keep up with the pace of migration. The rate of urbanization is much higher in developing countries. The UN predicts that 95 percent of this urban expansion will take place in the developing world in the next few decades. The population in the urban settlements of the developing nations is soaring, and megacities like Mumbai, Dhaka, Jakarta, Karachi, Manila, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, and Kinshasa are crammed with people, a majority of whom are migrants. Rural-urban migration has taken a new shape with the rising number of smaller cities. Apart from the increase in non-agricultural economic activities, growing demand for resources and energy, an increase in wastes and pollution, and a greater ecological footprint, there is another significant characteristic of the current wave of urbanization. This paper analyses that important marker of urbanization. It is the invisibility of production sites. The growing urban space ensures that the producers, the production sites, or the process stay beyond urban visibility. In cities and towns, living is majorly about earning money in either the informal service and small scale manufacturing sectors (a major part of which is food preparation), or the formal service sector. In the cases of both the informal service and small scale manufacturing or the formal service sector, commodity creation cannot be seen. The urban space happens to be the marketplace, where nature and its services, along with the non-urban labour, cannot be seen unless it is sold in the market. Hence, the consumers are now increasingly becoming disengaged from the producers. This paper compares the rate of increase in the size of and employment in the informal sector and/or that of the formal sector of some selected urban areas of India. Also, a comparison over the years of the aforementioned characteristics is presented in this paper, in order to find out how the anonymity of the producers to the urban consumers have grown as urbanization has risen. This paper also analyses the change in the transport cost of goods into the cities and towns of India and supports that claim made here that the invisibility of production is a crucial marker of modern-day urban-centric economic development. Such urbanization has an important ecological impact. The invisibility of the production site saves the urban consumer society from dealing with the ethical and ecological aspects of the production process. Once the real sector production is driven out of the cities and towns, the invisible ethical and ecological impacts of the growing urban consumption frees the consumers from associating themselves with any responsibility towards those impacts.

Keywords: ecological impact of urbanization, informal sector, invisibility of production, urbanization

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Authors: Elaheh Ghasempour

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India has always been an all-encompassing center of attention in the theological and cultural studies since it beholds a very diverse nation within its borders. Among the uncountable faiths and traditions of this massive land, this article shall negotiate Islam in a Hindu dominated society. Practicing Caste and the views on it are the most controversial topics in modern-day India. Some blame it on the teachings of Hinduism; some call it a colonial outcome; and yet many believe that it is, in fact, a social construct. Islam was the souvenir coming from the Arabian Peninsula into the Indian Subcontinent in the hands of Arab, Persian, and Turk religious missionaries and Sufi saints. The aim of bringing the faith to this region was to enlighten the people of East and the Far East with the ideas of peace, justice, brotherhood as well as a proper way of living. Due to many reasons, the concept of the Islamic Nation or ‘Ummah’ has been touched by the native teachings of Hinduism which negates and questions the actual Islamic principles and laws. The Islamic Nation in India has been parted to different classes and each class nowadays beholds one level of a hierarchy. The superiors do not hesitate to keep the inferiors oppressed as much as they can since their own high position in this hierarchy depends on such oppressions. Their rules and laws to keep the lower castes out of the political and economical scene found ways into the religious traditions so much that it has become hard to question it by the masses; the masses who are too uneducated to question their own heretical faith and traditions. But now that the world is rapidly evolving, the access to knowledge has evoked an awareness of many lower caste or ‘Dalit’ Muslims. They no longer wish to be oppressed for their ethnicity or rootless principles of the old generations to guarantee the survival of the higher caste Muslims or ‘Ashrafs’. In recent years, many have stood against the rules of the caste system. As the oppressed no longer wishes to be oppressed, they also show acts of violence against the rulers who destined them the life they currently have. Considering they are usually poor and uneducated, and they might do violent actions, this can threaten not only Indians but the whole world; especially because the ISIS can easily fund a troop of hungry men who are looking forward to revenge their masters and others for all the unjust discriminations. Therefore for the sake of social security and stopping the disrepute for followers of Islam, the entire Islamic nation must consider taking actions against practicing Caste, regardless of where they come from. Since the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH) invite all Muslims to practice equality and brotherhood in the Ummah, this article would find the practical ways to abolish the caste-system through the Islamic liturgical texts and traditions.

Keywords: Dalit Muslims, Islam in India, caste system, justice in Islam, violence

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Authors: C. Hall, J. Ramos, V. Ramasamy

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Hydrocarbon-based fuel vehicles are a major contributor to air pollution due to harmful emissions produced, leading to a demand for cleaner fuel types. A leader in this pursuit is hydrogen, with its application in vehicles producing zero harmful emissions and the only by-product being water. To compete with the performance of conventional vehicles, hydrogen gas must be stored on-board of vehicles in cylinders at high pressures (35–70 MPa) and have a short refueling duration (approximately 3 mins). However, the fast-filling of hydrogen cylinders causes a significant rise in temperature due to the combination of the negative Joule-Thompson effect and the compression of the gas. This can lead to structural failure and therefore, a maximum allowable internal temperature of 85°C has been imposed by the International Standards Organization. The technological solution to tackle the issue of rapid temperature rise during the refueling process is to decrease the temperature of the gas entering the cylinder. Pre-cooling of the gas uses a heat exchanger and requires energy for its operation. Thus, it is imperative to determine the least amount of energy input that is required to lower the gas temperature for cost savings. A validated universal thermodynamic model is used to identify an energy-efficient pre-cooling strategy. The model requires negligible computational time and is applied to previously validated experimental cases to optimize pre-cooling requirements. The pre-cooling characteristics include the location within the refueling timeline and its duration. A constant pressure-ramp rate is imposed to eliminate the effects of rapid changes in mass flow rate. A pre-cooled gas temperature of -40°C is applied, which is the lowest allowable temperature. The heat exchanger is assumed to be ideal with no energy losses. The refueling of the cylinders is modeled with the pre-cooling split in ten percent time intervals. Furthermore, varying burst durations are applied in both the early and late stages of the refueling procedure. The model shows that pre-cooling in the later stages of the refuelling process is more energy-efficient than early pre-cooling. In addition, the efficiency of pre-cooling towards the end of the refueling process is independent of the pressure profile at the inlet. This leads to the hypothesis that pre-cooled gas should be applied as late as possible in the refueling timeline and at very low temperatures. The model had shown a 31% reduction in energy demand whilst achieving the same final gas temperature for a refueling scenario when pre-cooling was applied towards the end of the process. The identification of the most energy-efficient refueling approaches whilst adhering to the safety guidelines is imperative to reducing the operating cost of hydrogen refueling stations. Heat exchangers are energy-intensive and thus, reducing the energy requirement would lead to cost reduction. This investigation shows that pre-cooling should be applied as late as possible and for short durations.

Keywords: cylinder, hydrogen, pre-cooling, refueling, thermodynamic model

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Authors: Bhavana Gulaty, Arshia Chaudhri

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Great civic projects contribute integrally to a city, and every city undergoes a recurring cycle of urban transformations and regeneration by their insertion. The M.I.C.E. (Meetings, Incentives, Convention and Exhibitions) industry is the forbearer of one category of such catalytic civic projects. Through a specific focus on M.I.C.E. destinations, this paper illustrates the multifarious dimensions that urban catalysts impact the city on S.P.U.R. (Seed. Profile. Urbane. Reflections), the theoretical framework of this paper aims to unearth these dimensions in the realm of the COEX (Convention & Exhibition) biosphere. The ‘COEX Biosphere’ is the filter of such catalysts being ecosystems unto themselves. Like a ripple in water, the impact of these strategic interventions focusing on art, culture, trade, and promotion expands right from the trigger; the immediate context to the region and subsequently impacts the global scale. These ripples are known to bring about significant economic, social, and political and network changes. The COEX inventory in the Asian context has one such prominent addition; the proposed India International Convention and Exhibition Centre (IICC) at New Delhi. It is envisioned to be the largest facility in Asia currently and would position India on the global M.I.C.E map. With the first phase of the project scheduled to open for use in the end of 2019, this flagship project of the Government of India is projected to cater to a peak daily footfall of 3,20,000 visitors and estimated to generate 5,00,000 jobs. While the economic benefits are yet to manifest in real time and ‘Good design is good business’ holds true, for the urban transformation to be meaningful, the benefits have to go beyond just a balance sheet for the city’s exchequer. This aspect has been found relatively unexplored in research on these developments. The methodology for investigation will comprise of two steps. The first will be establishing an inventory of the global success stories and associated benefits of COEX projects over the past decade. The rationale for capping the timeframe is the significant paradigm shift that has been observed in their recent conceptualization; for instance ‘Innovation Districts’ conceptualised in the city of Albuquerque that converges into the global economy. The second step would entail a comparative benchmarking of the projected transformations by IICC through a toolkit of parameters. This is posited to yield a matrix that can form the test bed for mapping the catalytic trajectory for projects in the pipeline globally. As a ready reckoner, it purports to be a catalyst to substantiate decision making in the planning stage itself for future projects in similar contexts.

Keywords: catalysts, COEX, M.I.C.E., urban transformations

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Authors: Norhalim Yunus, Mohamad Husaini Dahalan, Nor Halina Ghazali

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Building technology start-ups from ground zero into world-class companies in form and substance present a rare opportunity for government-affiliated institutions in Malaysia. The challenge of building such start-ups becomes tougher when their core businesses involve commercialization of unproven technologies for the mass market. These simple truths, while difficult to execute, will go a long way in getting a business off the ground and flying high. Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), a company founded to facilitate the commercial exploitation of R&D findings from research institutions and universities, and eventually help translate these findings of applications in the marketplace, is an excellent case in point. The purpose of this paper is to examine MTDC as an institution as it explores the concept of ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ in an effort to create and nurture start-ups into established world class Malaysian technology companies. With MTDC at the centre of Malaysia's innovative start-ups, the analysis seeks to specifically answer two questions: How has the concept been applied in MTDC? and what can we learn from this successful case? A key aim is to elucidate how MTDC's journey as a private limited company can help leverage reforms and achieve transformation, a process that might be suitable for other small, open, third world and developing countries. This paper employs a single case study, designed to acquire an in-depth understanding of how MTDC has developed and grown technology start-ups to world-class technology companies. The case study methodology is employed as the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within a real business context. It also explains the causal links in real-life situations where a single survey or experiment is unable to unearth. The findings show that MTDC maximises the concept of it needs a village to raise a child in totality, as MTDC itself assumes the role of the innovator to 'raise' start-up companies into world-class stature. As the innovator, MTDC creates shared value and leadership, introduces innovative programmes ahead of the curve, mobilises talents for optimum results and aggregates knowledge for personnel advancement. The success of the company's effort is attributed largely to leadership, visionary, adaptability, commitment to innovate, partnership and networking, and entrepreneurial drive. The findings of this paper are however limited by the single case study of MTDC. Future research is required to study more cases of success or/and failure where the concept of it takes a village to raise a child have been explored and applied.

Keywords: start-ups, technology transfer, commercialization, technology incubator

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Authors: Ayesha Akbar

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Pakistan is moving from a security state to a welfare state despite several security challenges both internal and external. Human security signifies a varied approach in different regions depending upon the leadership and policy priorities. The link between human development and economic growth is not automatic. It has to be created consciously by forward-looking policies and strategies by national governments. There are seven components or categories of human security these include: Economic Security, Personal Security, Health Security, Environmental Security, Food Security, Community Security and Political Security. The increasing interest of the international community to clearly understand the dimensions of human security provided the grounds to Pakistani scholars as well to ponder on the issue and delineate lines of human security. A great deal of work has been either done or in process to evaluate human security indicators in Pakistan. Notwithstanding, after having been done a great deal of work the human security in Pakistan is not satisfactory. A range of deteriorating indicators of human development that lies under the domain of human security leaves certain inquiries to be answered. What are the dimensions of human security in Pakistan? And how are they being dealt from the perspective of policy and institution in terms of its operationalization in Pakistan? Is the human security discourse reflects evidence-based policy changes. The methodology is broadly based on qualitative methods that include interviews, content analysis of policy documents. Pakistan is among the most populous countries in the world and faces high vulnerability to climate change. Literacy rate has gone down with the surge of youth bulge to accommodate in the job market. Increasing population is creating food problems as the resources have not been able to compete with the raising demands of food and other social amenities of life. Majority of the people are facing acute poverty. Health outcomes are also not satisfactory with the high infant and maternal mortality rate. Pakistan is on the verge of facing water crisis as the water resources are depleting so fast with the high demand in agriculture and energy sector. Pakistan is striving hard to deal with the declining state of human security but the dilemma is lack of resources that hinders in meeting up with the emerging demands. The government requires to bring about more change with scaling-up economic growth avenues with enhancing the capacity of human resources. A modern performance drive culture with the integration of technology is required to deliver efficient and effective service delivery. On an already fast track process of reforms; e-governance and evidence based policy mechanism is being instilled in the government process for better governance and evidence based decisions.

Keywords: governance, human development index, human security, Pakistan, policy

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Authors: Qiang Ren

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In the past 20 years, under the high standard of international investment protection, there have been numerous cases of investors ignoring the host country's measures to protect human health. Examples include investment disputes triggered by the Argentine government's measures related to human health, quality, and price of drinking water under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Examples also include Philip Morris v. Australia, in which case the Australian government announced the passing of the Plain Packing of Cigarettes Act to address the threat of smoking to public health in 2010. In order to take advantage of the investment treaty protection between Hong Kong and Australia, Philip Morris Asia acquired Philip Morris Australia in February 2011 and initiated investment arbitration under the treaty before the passage of the Act in July 2011. Philip Morris claimed the Act constitutes indirect expropriation and violation of fair and equitable treatment and claimed 4.16 billion US dollars compensation. Fortunately, the case ended at the admissibility decision stage and did not enter the substantive stage. Generally, even if the host country raises a human health defense, most arbitral tribunals will rule that the host country revoke the corresponding policy and make huge compensation in accordance with the clauses in the bilateral investment treaty to protect the rights of investors. The significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of host states and investors in international investment treaties undermines the ability of host states to act in pursuit of human health and social interests beyond economic interests. This squeeze on the nation's public policy space and disregard for the human health costs of investors' activities raises the need to include human health in investment rulemaking. The current international investment law system that emphasizes investor protection fails to fully reflect the requirements of the host country for the healthy development of human beings and even often brings negative impacts to human health. At a critical moment in the reform of the international investment law system, in order to achieve mutual enhancement of investment returns and human health development, human health should play a greater role in influencing and shaping international investment rules. International investment agreements should not be limited to investment protection tools but should also be part of national development strategies to serve sustainable development and human health. In order to meet the requirements of the new sustainable development goals of the United Nations, human health should be emphasized in the formulation of international investment rules, and efforts should be made to shape a new generation of international investment rules that meet the requirements of human health and sustainable development.

Keywords: human health, international investment law, Philip Morris v. Australia, investor protection

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Authors: Dahia Chibouti, Benoit Trouette, Eric Chenier

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With the development of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), understanding fluid flow and heat transfer at the micrometer scale is crucial. In the case where the flow characteristic length scale is narrowed to around ten times the mean free path of gas molecules, the classical fluid mechanics and energy equations are still valid in the bulk flow, but particular attention must be paid to the gas/solid interface boundary conditions. Indeed, in the vicinity of the wall, on a thickness of about the mean free path of the molecules, called the Knudsen layer, the gas molecules are no longer in local thermodynamic equilibrium. Therefore, macroscopic models based on the continuity of velocity, temperature and heat flux jump conditions must be applied at the fluid/solid interface to take this non-equilibrium into account. Although these macroscopic models are widely used, the assumptions on which they depend are not necessarily verified in realistic cases. In order to get rid of these assumptions, simulations at the molecular scale are carried out to study how molecule interaction with walls can change the fluid flow and heat transfers at the vicinity of the walls. The developed approach is based on a kind of heterogeneous multi-scale method: micro-domains overlap the continuous domain, and coupling is carried out through exchanges of information between both the molecular and the continuum approaches. In practice, molecular dynamics describes the fluid flow and heat transfers in micro-domains while the Navier-Stokes and energy equations are used at larger scales. In this framework, two kinds of micro-simulation are performed: i) in bulk, to obtain the thermo-physical properties (viscosity, conductivity, ...) as well as the equation of state of the fluid, ii) close to the walls to identify the relationships between the slip velocity and the shear stress or between the temperature jump and the normal temperature gradient. The coupling strategy relies on an implicit formulation of the quantities extracted from micro-domains. Indeed, using the results of the molecular simulations, a Bayesian regression is performed in order to build continuous laws giving both the behavior of the physical properties, the equation of state and the slip relationships, as well as their uncertainties. These latter allow to set up a learning strategy to optimize the number of micro simulations. In the present contribution, the first results regarding this coupling associated with the learning strategy are illustrated through parametric studies of convergence criteria, choice of basis functions and noise of input data. Anisothermic flows of a Lennard Jones fluid in micro-channels are finally presented.

Keywords: multi-scale, microfluidics, micro-channel, hybrid approach, coupling

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Authors: Olga A. Burukina

Abstract:

Tourism is a complex socio-economic phenomenon, partly regulated by national tourism industries. The sustainable development of tourism in a region, country or in tourist destination depends on a number of factors (political, economic, social, cultural, legal and technological), the understanding and correct interpretation of which is invariably anthropocentric. It is logical that for the successful functioning of a tour operating company, it is necessary to ensure its sustainable development. Sustainable tourism is defined as tourism that fully considers its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, taking into account the needs of the industry, the environment and the host communities. For the business enterprise, sustainable development is defined as adopting business strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders today while protecting, sustaining and enhancing the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future. In addition to a systemic approach to the analysis of tourist destinations, each tourism project can and should be considered as a system characterized by a very high degree of variability, since each particular case of its implementation differs from the previous and subsequent ones, sometimes in a cardinal way. At the same time, it is important to understand that this variability is predominantly of anthropogenic nature (except for force majeure situations that are considered separately and afterwards). Knowledge management is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making the best use of knowledge. Knowledge management is seen as a key systems component that allows obtaining, storing, transferring, and maintaining information and knowledge in particular, in a long-term perspective. The study aims, firstly, to identify (1) the dynamic changes in the Italian travel industry in the last 5 years before the COVID19 pandemic, which can be considered the scope of force majeure circumstances, (2) the impact of the pandemic on the industry and (3) efforts required to restore it, and secondly, how project management tools can help to improve knowledge management in tour operating companies to maintain their sustainability, diminish potential risks and restore their pre-pandemic performance level as soon as possible. The pilot research is based upon a systems approach and has employed a pilot survey, semi-structured interviews, prior research analysis (aka literature review), comparative analysis, cross-case analysis, and modelling. The results obtained are very encouraging: PM tools can improve knowledge management in tour operating companies and secure the more sustainable development of the Italian tourism industry based on proper knowledge management and risk management.

Keywords: knowledge management, project management, sustainable development, tourism industr

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Authors: Mariana Branco, Nahida Sobrino, Cristina Neves, Márcia Santos, Afonso Granja, João Rosa Oliveira, Joana Costa, Luísa Castro Leite

Abstract:

This case reports a COVID-19 infection in an unvaccinated adult man with no history of COVID-19 and no relevant clinical history besides anabolic steroid use, undergoing weaning with tamoxifen after a bodybuilding competition. The patient presented a 4cm cervical mass 3 weeks after COVID-19 infection in his cohabitants. He was otherwise asymptomatic and tested negative to multiple RT-PCR tests. Nevertheless, the IgG COVID-19 antibody was positive, suggesting the previous infection. This report raises a potential link between anabolic steroid use and atypical COVID-19 onset. Objectives: The goals of this paper are to raise a potential link between anabolic steroid use and atypical COVID-19 onset but also to report an uncommon case of COVID-19 infection with consecutive negative gold standard tests. Methodology: The authors used CARE guidelines for case report writing. Introduction: This case reports a COVID-19 infection case in an unvaccinated adult man, with multiple serial negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results, presenting with single cervical lymphadenopathy. Although the association between COVID-19 and lymphadenopathy is well established, there are no cases with this presentation, and consistently negative RT-PCR tests have been reported. Methodologies: The authors used CARE guidelines for case report writing. Case presentation: This case reports a 28-year-old Caucasian man with no previous history of COVID-19 infection or vaccination and no relevant clinical history besides anabolic steroid use undergoing weaning with tamoxifendue to participation in a bodybuilding competition. He visits his primary care physician because of a large (4 cm) cervical lump, present for 3 days prior to the consultation. There was a positive family history for COVID-19 infection 3 weeks prior to the visit, during which the patient cohabited with the infected family members. The patient never had any previous clinical manifestation of COVID-19 infection and, despite multiple consecutive RT-PCR testing, never tested positive. The patient was treated with an NSAID and a broad-spectrum antibiotic, with little to no effect. Imagiological testing was performed via a cervical ultrasound, followed by a needle biopsy for histologic analysis. Serologic testing for COVID-19 immunity was conducted, revealing a positive Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG (Spike S1) antibody, suggesting the previous infection, given the unvaccinated status of our patient Conclusion: In patients with a positive epidemiologic context and cervical lymphadenopathy, physicians should still consider COVID-19 infection as a differential diagnosis, despite negative PCR testing. This case also raises a potential link between anabolic steroid use and atypical COVID-19 onset, never before reported in scientific literature.

Keywords: COVID-19, cervical lymphadenopathy, anabolic steroids, primary care

Procedia PDF Downloads 112