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Authors: B. R. Campomanes-Alvarez, P. Quiros, B. Fernandez

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Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is a machine-based process of decoding and transcribing oral speech. A typical ASR system receives acoustic input from a speaker or an audio file, analyzes it using algorithms, and produces an output in the form of a text. Some speech recognition systems use Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to deal with the temporal variability of speech and Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) to determine how well each state of each HMM fits a short window of frames of coefficients that represents the acoustic input. Another way to evaluate the fit is to use a feed-forward neural network that takes several frames of coefficients as input and produces posterior probabilities over HMM states as output. Deep neural networks (DNNs) that have many hidden layers and are trained using new methods have been shown to outperform GMMs on a variety of speech recognition systems. Acoustic models for state-of-the-art ASR systems are usually training on massive amounts of data. However, audio files with their corresponding transcriptions can be difficult to obtain, especially in the Spanish language. Hence, in the case of these low-resource scenarios, building an ASR model is considered as a complex task due to the lack of labeled data, resulting in an under-trained system. Semi-supervised learning approaches arise as necessary tasks given the high cost of transcribing audio data. The main goal of this proposal is to develop a procedure based on acoustic semi-supervised learning for Spanish ASR systems by using DNNs. This semi-supervised learning approach consists of: (a) Training a seed ASR model with a DNN using a set of audios and their respective transcriptions. A DNN with a one-hidden-layer network was initialized; increasing the number of hidden layers in training, to a five. A refinement, which consisted of the weight matrix plus bias term and a Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) training were also performed. The objective function was the cross-entropy criterion. (b) Decoding/testing a set of unlabeled data with the obtained seed model. (c) Selecting a suitable subset of the validated data to retrain the seed model, thereby improving its performance on the target test set. To choose the most precise transcriptions, three confidence scores or metrics, regarding the lattice concept (based on the graph cost, the acoustic cost and a combination of both), was performed as selection technique. The performance of the ASR system will be calculated by means of the Word Error Rate (WER). The test dataset was renewed in order to extract the new transcriptions added to the training dataset. Some experiments were carried out in order to select the best ASR results. A comparison between a GMM-based model without retraining and the DNN proposed system was also made under the same conditions. Results showed that the semi-supervised ASR-model based on DNNs outperformed the GMM-model, in terms of WER, in all tested cases. The best result obtained an improvement of 6% relative WER. Hence, these promising results suggest that the proposed technique could be suitable for building ASR models in low-resource environments.

Keywords: automatic speech recognition, deep neural networks, machine learning, semi-supervised learning

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Authors: Meenakshi Barsaul Chauhan, Aastha Chauhan, Shilpa Hurmade, Rajeev Sen, Jyotsna Sen, Monika Dalal

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Introduction: Ovarian masses are common forms of neoplasm in women and represent 2/3rd of gynaecological malignancies. A pre-operative suggestion of malignancy can guide the gynecologist to refer women with suspected pelvic mass to a gynecological oncologist for appropriate therapy and optimized treatment, which can improve survival. In the younger age group preoperative differentiation into benign or malignant pathology can decide for conservative or radical surgery. Imaging modalities have a definite role in establishing the diagnosis. By using International Ovarian Tumor Analysis (IOTA) classification with sonography, costly radiological methods like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) / computed tomography (CT) scan can be reduced, especially in developing countries like India. Thus, this study is being undertaken to evaluate the role of clinical methods and sonography for diagnosis of the nature of the ovarian tumor. Material And Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted on 40 patients presenting with ovarian masses, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at a tertiary care center in northern India. Functional cysts were excluded. Ultrasonography and color Doppler were performed on all the cases.IOTA rules were applied, which take into account locularity, size, presence of solid components, acoustic shadow, dopper flow etc . Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) / computed tomography (CT) scans abdomen and pelvis were done in cases where sonography was inconclusive. In inoperable cases, Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was done. The histopathology report after surgery and cytology report after FNAC was correlated statistically with the pre-operative diagnosis made clinically and sonographically using IOTA rules. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive measures were analyzed by using mean and standard deviation and the Student t-test was applied and the proportion was analyzed by applying the chi-square test. Inferential measures were analyzed by sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value. Results: Provisional diagnosis of the benign tumor was made in 16(42.5%) and of the malignant tumor was made in 24(57.5%) patients on the basis of clinical findings. With IOTA simple rules on sonography, 15(37.5%) were found to be benign, while 23 (57.5%) were found to be malignant and findings were inconclusive in 2 patients (5%). FNAC/Histopathology reported that benign ovarian tumors were 14 (35%) and 26(65%) were malignant, which was taken as the gold standard. The clinical finding alone was found to have a sensitivity of 66.6% and a specificity of 90.9%. USG alone had a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 80%. When clinical findings and IOTA simple rules of sonography were combined (excluding inconclusive masses), the sensitivity and specificity were 83.3% and 92.3%, respectively. While including inconclusive masses, sensitivity came out to be 91.6% and specificity was 89.2. Conclusion: IOTA's simple sonography rules are highly sensitive and specific in the prediction of ovarian malignancy and also easy to use and easily reproducible. Thus, combining clinical examination with USG will help in the better management of patients in terms of time, cost and better prognosis. This will also avoid the need for costlier modalities like CT, and MRI.

Keywords: benign, international ovarian tumor analysis classification, malignant, ovarian tumours, sonography

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Authors: LouAnne Boyd

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From the perspective of self-advocates, the biggest unaddressed problem is not the symptoms of an autism spectrum diagnosis but the social stigma that accompanies autism. This societal perspective is in contrast to the focus on the majority of interventions. Autism interventions, and consequently, most innovative technologies for autism, aim to improve deficits that occur within the person. For example, the most common Human-Computer Interaction research projects in assistive technology for autism target social skills from a normative perspective. The premise of the autism technologies is that difficulties occur inside the body, hence, the medical model focuses on ways to improve the ailment within the person. However, other technological approaches to support people with autism do exist. In the realm of Human Computer Interaction, there are other modes of research that provide critique of the medical model. For example, critical design, whose intended audience is industry or other HCI researchers, provides products that are the opposite of interventionist work to bring attention to the misalignment between the lived experience and the societal perception of autism. For example, parodies of interventionist work exist to provoke change, such as a recent project called Facesavr, a face covering that helps allistic adults be more independent in their emotional processing. Additionally, from a critical disability studies’ perspective, assistive technologies perpetuate harmful normalizing behaviors. However, these critical approaches can feel far from the frontline in terms of taking direct action to positively impact end users. From a critical yet more pragmatic perspective, projects such as Counterventions lists ways to reduce the likelihood of perpetuating ableism in interventionist’s work by reflectively analyzing a series of evolving assistive technology projects through a societal lens, thus leveraging the momentum of the evolving ecology of technologies for autism. Therefore, all current paradigms fall short of addressing the largest need—the negative impact of social stigma. The current work introduces a new paradigm for technologies for autism, borrowing from a paradigm introduced two decades ago around changing the narrative related to eating disorders. It is the shift from reprimanding poor habits to celebrating positive aspects of eating. This work repurposes Celebratory Technology for Neurodiversity and intended to reduce social stigma by targeting for the public at large. This presentation will review how requirements were derived from current research on autism social stigma as well as design sessions with autistic adults. Congruence between these two sources revealed three key design implications for technology: provide awareness of the autistic experience; generate acceptance of the neurodivergence; cultivate an appreciation for talents and accomplishments of neurodivergent people. The current pilot work in Celebratory Technology offers a new paradigm for supporting autism by shifting the burden of change from the person with autism to address changing society’s biases at large. Shifting the focus of research outside of the autistic body creates a new space for a design that extends beyond the bodies of a few and calls on all to embrace humanity as a whole.

Keywords: neurodiversity, social stigma, accessibility, inclusion, celebratory technology

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Authors: Inna Kornienko, Svetlana Guryeva, Anatoly Shekhter, Elena Petersen

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Transplantation is an effective treatment option for patients suffering from different end-stage diseases. However, it is plagued by a constant shortage of donor organs and the subsequent need of a lifelong immunosuppressive therapy for the patient. Currently some researchers look towards using of pig organs to replace human organs for transplantation since the matrix derived from porcine organs is a convenient substitute for the human matrix. As an initial step to create a new ex vivo tissue engineered model, optimized protocols have been created to obtain organ-specific acellular matrices and evaluated their potential as tissue engineered scaffolds for culture of normal cells and tumor cell lines. These protocols include decellularization by perfusion in a bioreactor system and immersion-agitation on an orbital shaker with use of various detergents (SDS, Triton X-100) and freezing. Complete decellularization – in terms of residual DNA amount – is an important predictor of probability of immune rejection of materials of natural origin. However, the signs of cellular material may still remain within the matrix even after harsh decellularization protocols. In this regard, the matrices obtained from tissues of low-immunogenic pigs with α3Galactosyl-tranferase gene knock out (GalT-KO) may be a promising alternative to native animal sources. The research included a study of induced effect of frozen and fresh fragments of GalT-KO skin on healing of full-thickness plane wounds in 80 rats. Commercially available wound dressings (Ksenoderm, Hyamatrix and Alloderm) as well as allogenic skin were used as a positive control and untreated wounds were analyzed as a negative control. The results were evaluated on the 4th day after grafting, which corresponds to the time of start of normal wound epithelization. It has been shown that a non-specific immune response in models treated with GalT-Ko pig skin was milder than in all the control groups. Research has been performed to measure technical skin characteristics: stiffness and elasticity properties, corneometry, tevametry, and cutometry. These metrics enabled the evaluation of hydratation level, corneous layer husking level, as well as skin elasticity and micro- and macro-landscape. These preliminary data may contribute to development of personalized transplantable organs from GalT-Ko pigs with significantly limited potential of immune rejection. By applying growth factors to a decellularized skin sample it is possible to achieve various regenerative effects based on the particular situation. In this particular research BMP2 and Heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor have been used. Ideally, a bioengineered organ must be biocompatible, non-immunogenic and support cell growth. Porcine organs are attractive for xenotransplantation if severe immunologic concerns can be bypassed. The results indicate that genetically modified pig tissues with knock-outed α3Galactosyl-tranferase gene may be used for production of low-immunogenic matrix suitable for transplantation.

Keywords: decellularization, low-immunogenic, matrix, scaffolds, transplants

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Authors: Manta Nowbuth, Marie Anais Kimberley Therese

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The vulnerability of coastal areas to storm surges stands as a critical global concern. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events have increased the risks faced by communities living along the coastlines Worldwide. Small Island developing states (SIDS) stands out as being exceptionally vulnerable, coastal regions, ecosystems of human habitation and natural forces, bear witness to the frontlines of climate-induced challenges, and the intensification of storm surges underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive understanding of coastal vulnerability. With limited landmass, low-lying terrains, and resilience on coastal resources, SIDS face an amplified vulnerability to the consequences of storm surges, the delicate balance between human activities and environmental dynamics in these island nations increases the urgency of tailored strategies for assessing and mitigating coastal vulnerability. This research uses an approach to evaluate the vulnerability of coastal communities in Mauritius. The Satellite imagery analysis makes use of sentinel satellite imageries, modified normalised difference water index, classification techniques and the DSAS add on to quantify the extent of shoreline erosion or accumulation, providing a spatial perspective on coastal vulnerability. The coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) is applied by Gonitz et al Formula, this index considers factors such as coastal slope, sea level rise, mean significant wave height, and tidal range. Weighted assessments identify regions with varying levels of vulnerability, ranging from low to high. The study was carried out in a Village Located in the south of Mauritius, namely Rivière des Galets, with a population of about 500 people over an area of 60,000m². The Village of Rivière des Galets being located in the south, and the southern coast of Mauritius being exposed to the open Indian ocean, is vulnerable to swells, The swells generated by the South east trade winds can lead to large waves and rough sea conditions along the Southern Coastline which has an impact on the coastal activities, including fishing, tourism and coastal Infrastructures, hence, On the one hand, the results highlighted that from a stretch of 123km of coastline the linear rate regression for the 5 –year span varies from-24.1m/yr. to 8.2m/yr., the maximum rate of change in terms of eroded land is -24m/yr. and the maximum rate of accretion is 8.2m/yr. On the other hand, the coastal vulnerability index varies from 9.1 to 45.6 and it was categorised into low, moderate, high and very high risks zones. It has been observed that region which lacks protective barriers and are made of sandy beaches are categorised as high risks zone and hence it is imperative to high risk regions for immediate attention and intervention, as they will most likely be exposed to coastal hazards and impacts from climate change, which demands proactive measures for enhanced resilience and sustainable adaptation strategies.

Keywords: climate change, coastal vulnerability, disaster management, remote sensing, satellite imagery, storm surge

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Authors: Atin Adhikari, Sushma Kurella, Pratik Banerjee, Nabanita Mukherjee, Yamini M. Chandana Gollapudi, Bushra Shah

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Different sharp instruments, drilling machines, and high speed rotary instruments are routinely used in dental clinics during dental cleaning. Therefore, these cleaning procedures release a lot of oral microorganisms including bacteria in clinic air and may cause significant occupational bioaerosol exposure risks for dentists, dental hygienists, patients, and dental clinic employees. Two major goals of this study were to quantify volumetric airborne concentrations of bacteria and to assess overall microbial activity in this type of occupational environment. The study was conducted in several dental clinics of southern Georgia and 15 dental cleaning procedures were targeted for sampling of airborne bacteria and testing of overall microbial activity in settled dusts over clinic floors. For air sampling, a Biostage viable cascade impactor was utilized, which comprises an inlet cone, precision-drilled 400-hole impactor stage, and a base that holds an agar plate (Tryptic soy agar). A high-flow Quick-Take-30 pump connected to this impactor pulls microorganisms in air at 28.3 L/min flow rate through the holes (jets) where they are collected on the agar surface for approx. five minutes. After sampling, agar plates containing the samples were placed in an ice chest with blue ice and plates were incubated at 30±2°C for 24 to 72 h. Colonies were counted and converted to airborne concentrations (CFU/m3) followed by positive hole corrections. Most abundant bacterial colonies (selected by visual screening) were identified by PCR amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. For understanding overall microbial activity in clinic floors and estimating a general cleanliness of the clinic surfaces during or after dental cleaning procedures, ATP levels were determined in swabbed dust samples collected from 10 cm2 floor surfaces. Concentration of ATP may indicate both the cell viability and the metabolic status of settled microorganisms in this situation. An ATP measuring kit was used, which utilized standard luciferin-luciferase fluorescence reaction and a luminometer, which quantified ATP levels as relative light units (RLU). Three air and dust samples were collected during each cleaning procedure (at the beginning, during cleaning, and immediately after the procedure was completed (n = 45). Concentrations at the beginning, during, and after dental cleaning procedures were 671±525, 917±1203, and 899±823 CFU/m3, respectively for airborne bacteria and 91±101, 243±129, and 139±77 RLU/sample, respectively for ATP levels. The concentrations of bacteria were significantly higher than typical indoor residential environments. Although an increasing trend for airborne bacteria was observed during cleaning, the data collected at three different time points were not significantly different (ANOVA: p = 0.38) probably due to high standard deviations of data. The ATP levels, however, demonstrated a significant difference (ANOVA: p <0.05) in this scenario indicating significant change in microbial activity on floor surfaces during dental cleaning. The most common bacterial genera identified were: Neisseria sp., Streptococcus sp., Chryseobacterium sp., Paenisporosarcina sp., and Vibrio sp. in terms of frequencies of occurrences, respectively. The study concluded that bacterial exposure in dental clinics could be a notable occupational biohazard, and appropriate respiratory protections for the employees are urgently needed.

Keywords: bioaerosols, hospital hygiene, indoor air quality, occupational biohazards

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Authors: Aura Alejandra Burbano Patino, Mariela Agotegaray, Veronica Lassalle, Fernanda Horst

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Water pollution is of worldwide concern due to its importance as an essential resource for life. Industrial and urbanistic growth are anthropogenic activities that have caused an increase of undesirable compounds in water. In the last decade, emerging pollutants have become of great interest since, at very low concentrations (µg/L and ng/L), they exhibit a hazardous effect on wildlife, aquatic ecosystems, and human organisms. One group of emerging pollutants that are a matter of study are pharmaceuticals. Their high consumption rate and their inappropriate disposal have led to their detection in wastewater treatment plant influent, effluent, surface water, and drinking water. In consequence, numerous technologies have been developed to efficiently treat these pollutants. Adsorption appears like an easy and cost-effective technology. One of the most used adsorbents of emerging pollutants removal is carbon-based materials such as hydrochars. This study aims to use a magnetic hydrochar nanocomposite to be employed as an adsorbent for diclofenac removal. Kinetics models and the adsorption efficiency in real water samples were analyzed. For this purpose, a magnetic hydrochar nanocomposite was synthesized through the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) technique hybridized to co-precipitation to add the magnetic component into the hydrochar, based on iron oxide nanoparticles. The hydrochar was obtained from sunflower husk residue as the precursor. TEM, TGA, FTIR, Zeta potential as a function of pH, DLS, BET technique, and elemental analysis were employed to characterize the material in terms of composition and chemical structure. Adsorption kinetics were carried out in distilled water and real water at room temperature, pH of 5.5 for distilled water and natural pH for real water samples, 1:1 adsorbent: adsorbate dosage ratio, contact times from 10-120 minutes, and 50% dosage concentration of DCF. Results have demonstrated that magnetic hydrochar presents superparamagnetic properties with a saturation magnetization value of 55.28 emu/g. Besides, it is mesoporous with a surface area of 55.52 m²/g. It is composed of magnetite nanoparticles incorporated into the hydrochar matrix, as can be proven by TEM micrographs, FTIR spectra, and zeta potential. On the other hand, kinetic studies were carried out using DCF models, finding percent removal efficiencies up to 85.34% after 80 minutes of contact time. In addition, after 120 minutes of contact time, desorption of emerging pollutants from active sites took place, which indicated that the material got saturated after that t time. In real water samples, percent removal efficiencies decrease up to 57.39%, ascribable to a possible mechanism of competitive adsorption of organic or inorganic compounds, ions for active sites of the magnetic hydrochar. The main suggested adsorption mechanism between the magnetic hydrochar and diclofenac include hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions as well as hydrogen bonds. It can be concluded that the magnetic hydrochar nanocomposite could be valorized into a by-product which appears as an efficient adsorbent for DCF removal as a model emerging pollutant. These results are being complemented by modifying experimental variables such as pollutant’s initial concentration, adsorbent: adsorbate dosage ratio, and temperature. Currently, adsorption assays of other emerging pollutants are being been carried out.

Keywords: environmental remediation, emerging pollutants, hydrochar, magnetite nanoparticles

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Authors: Mohsun Rasim Alizada, Azar Inshalla Ahmdov

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Prompt photons are perhaps the most versatile tools for studying the dynamics of relativistic collisions of heavy ions. The study of photon radiation is of interest that in most hadron interactions, photons fly out as a background to other studied signals. The study of the birth of prompt photons in nucleon-nucleon collisions was previously carried out in experiments on Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Due to the large energy of colliding nucleons, in addition to prompt photons, many different elementary particles are born. However, the birth of additional elementary particles makes it difficult to determine the accuracy of the effective section of the birth of prompt photons. From this point of view, the experiments planned on the Nuclotron-based Ion Collider Facility (NICA) complex will have a great advantage, since the energy obtained for colliding heavy ions will reduce the number of additionally born elementary particles. Of particular importance is the study of the processes of birth of prompt photons to determine the gluon leaving hadrons since the photon carries information about a rigid subprocess. At present, paper production of prompt photon in Compton scattering of quark-gluon and annihilation of quark–antiquark processes is investigated. The matrix elements Compton scattering of quark-gluon and annihilation of quark-antiquark pair processes has been written. The Square of matrix elements of processes has been calculated in FeynCalc. The phase volume of subprocesses has been determined. Expression to calculate the differential cross-section of subprocesses has been obtained: Given the resulting expressions for the square of the matrix element in the differential section expression, we see that the differential section depends not only on the energy of colliding protons, but also on the mass of quarks, etc. Differential cross-section of subprocesses is estimated. It is shown that the differential cross-section of subprocesses decreases with the increasing energy of colliding protons. Asymmetry coefficient with polarization of colliding protons is determined. The calculation showed that the squares of the matrix element of the Compton scattering process without and taking into account the polarization of colliding protons are identical. The asymmetry coefficient of this subprocess is zero, which is consistent with the literary data. It is known that in any single polarization processes with a photon, squares of matrix elements without taking into account and taking into account the polarization of the original particle must coincide, that is, the terms in the square of the matrix element with the degree of polarization are equal to zero. The coincidence of the squares of the matrix elements indicates that the parity of the system is preserved. The asymmetry coefficient of annihilation of quark–antiquark pair process linearly decreases from positive unit to negative unit with increasing the production of the polarization degrees of colliding protons. Thus, it was obtained that the differential cross-section of the subprocesses decreases with the increasing energy of colliding protons. The value of the asymmetry coefficient is maximal when the polarization of colliding protons is opposite and minimal when they are directed equally. Taking into account the polarization of only the initial quarks and gluons in Compton scattering does not contribute to the differential section of the subprocess.

Keywords: annihilation of a quark-antiquark pair, coefficient of asymmetry, Compton scattering, effective cross-section

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Authors: Frederica Pettit

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Contribution: Stakeholder involvement in CSR is essential to ensuring pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours across multi-stakeholder groups. Despite increased awareness of the benefits surrounding a collaborative approach to sustainability communications, its success is limited by difficulties engaging with active online conversations with stakeholder groups. Whilst previous research defines the effectiveness of sustainability communications; this paper contributes to knowledge through the development of a theoretical framework that explores the processes to achieving pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours in stakeholder groups. The research will also consider social media as an opportunity to communicate CSR information to all stakeholder groups. Approach: A systematic review was chosen to investigate the effectiveness of the types of sustainability communications used in the hospitality and tourism industries. The systematic review was completed using Web of Science and Scopus using the search terms “sustainab* communicat*” “effective or effectiveness,” and “hospitality or tourism,” limiting the results to peer-reviewed research. 133 abstracts were initially read, with articles being excluded for irrelevance, duplicated articles, non-empirical studies, and language. A total of 45 papers were included as part of the systematic review. 5 propositions were created based on the results of the systematic review, helping to develop a theoretical framework of the processes needed for companies to encourage pro-environmental behaviours across multi-stakeholder groups. Results: The theoretical framework developed in the paper determined the processes necessary for companies to achieve pro-environmental behaviours in stakeholders. The processes to achieving pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours are stakeholder-focused, identifying the need for communications to be specific to their targeted audience. Collaborative communications that enable stakeholders to engage with CSR information and provide feedback lead to a higher awareness of CSR shared visions and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. These processes should also aim to improve their relationships with stakeholders through transparency of CSR, CSR strategies that match stakeholder values and ethics whilst prioritizing sustainability as part of their job role. Alternatively, companies can prioritize pro-environmental behaviours using choice editing by mainstreaming sustainability as the only option. In recent years, there has been extensive research on social media as a viable source of sustainability communications, with benefits including direct interactions with stakeholders, the ability to enforce the authenticity of CSR activities and encouragement of pro-environmental behaviours. Despite this, there are challenges to implementing CSR, including difficulties controlling stakeholder criticisms, negative stakeholder influences and comments left on social media platforms. Conclusion: A lack of engagement with CSR information is a reoccurring reason for preventing pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours across stakeholder groups. Traditional CSR strategies contribute to this due to their inability to engage with their intended audience. Hospitality and tourism companies are improving stakeholder relationships through collaborative processes which reduce single-use plastic consumption. A collaborative approach to communications can lead to stakeholder satisfaction, leading to changes in attitudes and behaviours. Different sources of communications are accessed by different stakeholder groups, identifying the need for targeted sustainability messaging, creating benefits such as direct interactions with stakeholders, the ability to enforce the authenticity of CSR activities, and encouraging engagement with sustainability information.

Keywords: hospitality, pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, sustainability communication, social media

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Authors: Alejandra Castillo-Arias, Santiago Amézquita-Murcia, Golber Carvajal-Lavi, Carlos M. Zuluaga-Domínguez

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The intricate relationship between health and nutrition has driven the food industry to seek healthier and more sustainable alternatives. A key strategy currently employed is the reduction of saturated fats and the incorporation of ingredients that align with new consumer trends. Modified starch, a polysaccharide widely used in baking, also serves as a functional ingredient to boost dietary fiber content. However, its use in puff pastry remains challenging due to the technological difficulties in achieving a buttery pastry with the necessary strength to create thin, flaky layers. This study explored the potential of incorporating modified starch into puff pastry formulations. To evaluate the physicochemical properties of wheat flour mixed with modified starch, five different flour samples were prepared: T1, T2, T3, and T4, containing 10g, 20g, 30g, and 40g of modified starch per 100 g mixture, respectively, alongside a control sample (C) with no added starch. The analysis focused on various physicochemical indices, including the Water Absorption Index (WAI), Water Solubility Index (WSI), Swelling Power (SP), and Water Retention Capacity (WRC). The puff pastry was further characterized by color measurement and sensory analysis. For the preparation of the puff pastry dough, the flour, modified starch, and salt were mixed, followed by the addition of water until a homogenous dough was achieved. The margarine was later incorporated into the dough, which was folded and rolled multiple times to create the characteristic layers of puff pastry. The dough was then cut into equal pieces, baked at 170°C, and allowed to cool. The results indicated that the addition of modified starch did not significantly alter the specific volume or texture of the puff pastries, as reflected by the stable WAI and SP values across the samples. However, the WRC increased with higher starch content, highlighting the hydrophilic nature of the modified starch, which necessitated additional water during dough preparation. Color analysis revealed significant variations in the L* (lightness) and a* (red-green) parameters, with no consistent relationship between the modified starch treatments and the control. However, the b* (yellow-blue) parameter showed a strong correlation across most samples, except for treatment T3. Thus, modified starch affected the a* component of the CIELAB color spectrum, influencing the reddish hue of the puff pastries. Variations in baking time due to increased water content in the dough likely contributed to differences in lightness among the samples. Sensory analysis revealed that consumers preferred the sample with a 20% starch substitution (T2), which was rated similarly to the control in terms of texture. However, treatment T3 exhibited unusual behavior in texture analysis, and the color analysis showed that treatment T1 most closely resembled the control, indicating that starch addition is most noticeable to consumers in the visual aspect of the product. In conclusion, while the modified starch successfully maintained the desired texture and internal structure of puff pastry, its impact on water retention and color requires careful consideration in product formulation. This study underscores the importance of balancing product quality with consumer expectations when incorporating modified starches in baked goods.

Keywords: consumer preferences, modified starch, physicochemical properties, puff pastry

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Authors: Ved Vrat Verma, Rani Gupta, Manisha Goel

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γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT: EC 2.3.2.2) is an N-terminal nucleophile hydrolase conserved in all three domains of life. GGT plays a key role in glutathione metabolism where it catalyzes the breakage of the γ-glutamyl bonds and transfer of γ-glutamyl group to water (hydrolytic activity) or amino acids or short peptides (transpeptidase activity). GGTs from bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes (human, rat and mouse) are homologous proteins sharing >50% sequence similarity and conserved four layered αββα sandwich like three dimensional structural fold. These proteins though similar in their structure to each other, are quite diverse in their enzyme activity: some GGTs are better at hydrolysis reactions but poor in transpeptidase activity, whereas many others may show opposite behaviour. GGT is known to be involved in various diseases like asthma, parkinson, arthritis, and gastric cancer. Its inhibition prior to chemotherapy treatments has been shown to sensitize tumours to the treatment. Microbial GGT is known to be a virulence factor too, important for the colonization of bacteria in host. However, all known inhibitors (mimics of its native substrate, glutamate) are highly toxic because they interfere with other enzyme pathways. However, a few successful efforts have been reported previously in designing species specific inhibitors. We aim to leverage the diversity seen in GGT family (pathogen vs. eukaryotes) for designing specific inhibitors. Thus, in the present study, we have used DIVERGE software to identify sites in GGT proteins, which are crucial for the functional and structural divergence of these proteins. Since, type II divergence sites vary in clade specific manner, so type II divergent sites were our focus of interest throughout the study. Type II divergent sites were identified for pathogen vs. eukaryotes clusters and sites were marked on clade specific representative structures HpGGT (2QM6) and HmGGT (4ZCG) of pathogen and eukaryotes clade respectively. The crucial divergent sites within 15 A radii of the binding cavity were highlighted, and in-silico mutations were performed on these sites to delineate the role of these sites on the mechanism of catalysis and protein folding. Further, the amino acid network (AAN) analysis was also performed by Cytoscape to delineate assortative mixing for cavity divergent sites which could strengthen our hypothesis. Additionally, molecular dynamics simulations were performed for wild complexes and mutant complexes close to physiological conditions (pH 7.0, 0.1 M ionic strength and 1 atm pressure) and the role of putative divergence sites and structural integrities of the homologous proteins have been analysed. The dynamics data were scrutinized in terms of RMSD, RMSF, non-native H-bonds and salt bridges. The RMSD, RMSF fluctuations of proteins complexes are compared, and the changes at protein ligand binding sites were highlighted. The outcomes of our study highlighted some crucial divergent sites which could be used for novel inhibitors designing in a species-specific manner. Since, for drug development, it is challenging to design novel drug by targeting similar protein which exists in eukaryotes, so this study could set up an initial platform to overcome this challenge and help to deduce the more effective targets for novel drug discovery.

Keywords: γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, divergence, species-specific, drug design

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Authors: Dario Milani, Guido Morgenthal

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Fluid dynamic computation of wind caused forces on bluff bodies e.g light flexible civil structures or high incidence of ground approaching airplane wings, is one of the major criteria governing their design. For such structures a significant dynamic response may result, requiring the usage of small scale devices as guide-vanes in bridge design to control these effects. The focus of this paper is on the numerical simulation of the bluff body problem involving multiscale phenomena induced by small scale devices. One of the solution methods for the CFD simulation that is relatively successful in this class of applications is the Vortex Particle Method (VPM). The method is based on a grid free Lagrangian formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations, where the velocity field is modeled by particles representing local vorticity. These vortices are being convected due to the free stream velocity as well as diffused. This representation yields the main advantages of low numerical diffusion, compact discretization as the vorticity is strongly localized, implicitly accounting for the free-space boundary conditions typical for this class of FSI problems, and a natural representation of the vortex creation process inherent in bluff body flows. When the particle resolution reaches the Kolmogorov dissipation length, the method becomes a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). However, it is crucial to note that any solution method aims at balancing the computational cost against the accuracy achievable. In the classical VPM method, if the fluid domain is discretized by Np particles, the computational cost is O(Np2). For the coupled FSI problem of interest, for example large structures such as long-span bridges, the aerodynamic behavior may be influenced or even dominated by small structural details such as barriers, handrails or fairings. For such geometrically complex and dimensionally large structures, resolving the complete domain with the conventional VPM particle discretization might become prohibitively expensive to compute even for moderate numbers of particles. It is possible to reduce this cost either by reducing the number of particles or by controlling its local distribution. It is also possible to increase the accuracy of the solution without increasing substantially the global computational cost by computing a correction of the particle-particle interaction in some regions of interest. In this paper different strategies are presented in order to extend the conventional VPM method to reduce the computational cost whilst resolving the required details of the flow. The methods include temporal sub stepping to increase the accuracy of the particles convection in certain regions as well as dynamically re-discretizing the particle map to locally control the global and the local amount of particles. Finally, these methods will be applied on a test case and the improvements in the efficiency as well as the accuracy of the proposed extension to the method are presented. The important benefits in terms of accuracy and computational cost of the combination of these methods will be thus presented as long as their relevant applications.

Keywords: adaptation, fluid dynamic, remeshing, substepping, vortex particle method

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Authors: Swadha Singh

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International Solar Alliance is the foremost treaty-based global organization concerned with tapping the potential of sun-abundant nations between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and enables co-operation among them. As a founding member of the International Solar Alliance, India exhibits its positioning as an upcoming leader in clean energy. India has set ambitious goals and targets to expand the share of solar in its energy mix and is playing a proactive role both at the regional and global levels. ISA aims to serve multiple goals- bring about scale commercialization of solar power, boost domestic manufacturing, and leverage solar diplomacy in African countries, amongst others. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to examine the ways in which ISA as an intergovernmental organization under Indian leadership can leverage the cause of clean energy (solar) diplomacy and effectively shape partnerships and collaborations with other developing countries in terms of sharing solar technology, capacity building, risk mitigation, mobilizing financial investment and providing an aggregate market. A more specific focus of ISA is on the developing countries, which in the absence of a collective, are constrained by technology and capital scarcity, despite being naturally endowed with solar resources. Solar rich but finance-constrained economies face political risk, foreign exchange risk, and off-taker risk. Scholars argue that aligning India’s climate change discourse and growth prospects in its engagements, collaborations, and partnerships at the bilateral, multilateral and regional level can help promote trade, attract investments, and promote resilient energy transition both in India and in partner countries. For developing countries, coming together in an action-oriented way on issues of climate and clean energy is particularly important since it is developing and underdeveloped countries that face multiple and coalescing challenges such as the adverse impact of climate change, uneven and low access to reliable energy, and pressing employment needs. Investing in green recovery is agreed to be an assured way to create resilient value chains, create sustainable livelihoods, and help mitigate climate threats. If India is able to ‘green its growth’ process, it holds the potential to emerge as a climate leader internationally. It can use its experience in the renewable sector to guide other developing countries in balancing multiple similar objectives of development, energy security, and sustainability. The challenges underlying solar expansion in India have lessons to offer other developing countries, giving India an opportunity to assume a leadership role in solar diplomacy and expand its geopolitical influence through inter-governmental organizations such as ISA. It is noted that India has limited capacity to directly provide financial funds and support and is not a leading manufacturer of cheap solar equipment, as does China; however, India can nonetheless leverage its large domestic market to scale up the commercialization of solar power and offer insights and learnings to similarly placed abundant solar countries. The paper examines the potential of and limits placed on India’s solar diplomacy.

Keywords: climate diplomacy, energy security, solar diplomacy, renewable energy

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Authors: Leonie Bradfield, Stephen Fityus, John Simmons

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The shearing behavior of current and planned coal mine spoil dumps up to 400m in height is studied using large-sample-high-stress direct shear tests performed on a range of spoils common to the coalfields of Eastern Australia. The motivation for the study is to address industry concerns that some constructed spoil dump heights ( > 350m) are exceeding the scale ( ≤ 120m) for which reliable design information exists, and because modern geotechnical laboratories are not equipped to test representative spoil specimens at field-scale stresses. For more than two decades, shear strength estimation for spoil dumps has been based on either infrequent, very small-scale tests where oversize particles are scalped to comply with device specimen size capacity such that the influence of prototype-sized particles on shear strength is not captured; or on published guidelines that provide linear shear strength envelopes derived from small-scale test data and verified in practice by slope performance of dumps up to 120m in height. To date, these published guidelines appear to have been reliable. However, in the field of rockfill dam design there is a broad acceptance of a curvilinear shear strength envelope, and if this is applicable to coal mine spoils, then these industry-accepted guidelines may overestimate the strength and stability of dumps at higher stress levels. The pressing need to rationally define the shearing behavior of more representative spoil specimens at field-scale stresses led to the successful design, construction and operation of a large direct shear machine (LDSM) and its subsequent application to provide reliable design information for current and planned very-high dumps. The LDSM can test at a much larger scale, in terms of combined specimen size (720mm x 720mm x 600mm) and stress (σn up to 4.6MPa), than has ever previously been achieved using a direct shear machine for geotechnical testing of rockfill. The results of an extensive LDSM testing program on a wide range of coal-mine spoils are compared to a published framework that widely accepted by the Australian coal mining industry as the standard for shear strength characterization of mine spoil. A critical outcome is that the LDSM data highlights several non-compliant spoils, and stress-dependent shearing behavior, for which the correct application of the published framework will not provide reliable shear strength parameters for design. Shear strength envelopes developed from the LDSM data are also compared with dam engineering knowledge, where failure envelopes of rockfills are curved in a concave-down manner. The LDSM data indicates that shear strength envelopes for coal-mine spoils abundant with rock fragments are not in fact curved and that the shape of the failure envelope is ultimately determined by the strength of rock fragments. Curvilinear failure envelopes were found to be appropriate for soil-like spoils containing minor or no rock fragments, or hard-soil aggregates.

Keywords: coal mine, direct shear test, high dump, large scale, mine spoil, shear strength, spoil dump

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Authors: Keita Nishio, Takashi Kaburagi, Yosuke Kurihara

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Recent advances in medical technology have served to enhance average life expectancy. However, the total time for which the patients are prescribed complete bedrest has also increased. With patients being required to maintain a constant lying posture- also called bedsore- development of a system to detect patient roll-over becomes imperative. For this purpose, extant studies have proposed the use of cameras, and favorable results have been reported. Continuous on-camera monitoring, however, tends to violate patient privacy. We have proposed unconstrained bio-signal measurement system that could detect body-motion during sleep and does not violate patient’s privacy. Therefore, in this study, we propose a roll-over detection method by the date obtained from the bi-signal measurement system. Signals recorded by the sensor were assumed to comprise respiration, pulse, body motion, and noise components. Compared the body-motion and respiration, pulse component, the body-motion, during roll-over, generate large vibration. Thus, analysis of the body-motion component facilitates detection of the roll-over tendency. The large vibration associated with the roll-over motion has a great effect on the Root Mean Square (RMS) value of time series of the body motion component calculated during short 10 s segments. After calculation, the RMS value during each segment was compared to a threshold value set in advance. If RMS value in any segment exceeded the threshold, corresponding data were considered to indicate occurrence of a roll-over. In order to validate the proposed method, we conducted experiment. A bi-directional microphone was adopted as a high-sensitivity pressure sensor and was placed between the mattress and bedframe. Recorded signals passed through an analog Band-pass Filter (BPF) operating over the 0.16-16 Hz bandwidth. BPF allowed the respiration, pulse, and body-motion to pass whilst removing the noise component. Output from BPF was A/D converted with the sampling frequency 100Hz, and the measurement time was 480 seconds. The number of subjects and data corresponded to 5 and 10, respectively. Subjects laid on a mattress in the supine position. During data measurement, subjects—upon the investigator's instruction—were asked to roll over into four different positions—supine to left lateral, left lateral to prone, prone to right lateral, and right lateral to supine. Recorded data was divided into 48 segments with 10 s intervals, and the corresponding RMS value for each segment was calculated. The system was evaluated by the accuracy between the investigator’s instruction and the detected segment. As the result, an accuracy of 100% was achieved. While reviewing the time series of recorded data, segments indicating roll-over tendencies were observed to demonstrate a large amplitude. However, clear differences between decubitus and the roll-over motion could not be confirmed. Extant researches possessed a disadvantage in terms of patient privacy. The proposed study, however, demonstrates more precise detection of patient roll-over tendencies without violating their privacy. As a future prospect, decubitus estimation before and after roll-over could be attempted. Since in this paper, we could not confirm the clear differences between decubitus and the roll-over motion, future studies could be based on utilization of the respiration and pulse components.

Keywords: bedsore, high-sensitivity pressure sensor, roll-over, unconstrained bio-signal measurement

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Authors: Irum Naz

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In the Arabian higher education context, linguistic proficiency in the English language is considered crucial for the developmental sustainability, economic growth, and stability of communities and societies. Qatar’s educational reforms package, through the 2030 vision, identifies the acquisition of English at K-12 as an essential survival communication tool for globalization, believing that Qatari students need better preparation to take on the responsibilities of leadership and to participate effectively in the country’s surging economy. The idea of introducing Qatari students to modern curricula benchmarked to high-student-performance curricula in developed countries is one of the components of reformatory design principles of Education for New Era reform project that is mutually consented to and supported by the Office of Shared Services, Communications Office, and Supreme Education Council. In appreciation of the government’s vision, the English Language Centre (ELC) at the Community College of Qatar ran an internal educational audit and conducted evaluative research to understand and appraise the value, impact, and practicality of the existing ELC language development program. This study sought to identify the type of change that could identify and improve the quality of Foundation Program courses and the manners in which second language learners could be assisted to transit smoothly between (ELC) levels. Following the interpretivist paradigm and mixed research method, the data was gathered through a bicyclic research model and a triangular design. The analyses of the data suggested that there was a need for improvement in the ELC program as a whole, and particularly in terms of curriculum, student learning outcomes, and the general learning environment in the department. Key findings suggest that the target program would benefit from significant revisions, which would include narrowing the focus of the courses, providing sets of specific learning objectives, and preventing repetition between levels. Another promising finding was about the assessment tools and process. The data suggested that a set of standardized assessments that more closely suited the programs of study should be devised. It was also recommended that students undergo a more comprehensive placement process to ensure that they begin the program at an appropriate level and get the maximum benefit from their learning experience. Although this ties into the idea of curriculum revamp, it was expected that students could leave the ELC having had exposure to courses in English for specific purposes. The idea of a more reliable exit assessment for students was raised frequently so ELC could regulate itself and ensure optimum learning outcomes. Another important recommendation was the provision of a Student Learning Center for students that would help them to receive personalized tuition, differentiated instruction, and self-driven and self-evaluated learning experience. In addition, an extra study level was recommended to be added to the program to accommodate the different levels of English language proficiency represented among ELC students. The evidence collected in the course of conducting the study suggests that significant change is needed in the structure of the ELC program, specifically about curriculum, the program learning outcomes, and the learning environment in general.

Keywords: educational audit, ESL, optimum learning outcomes, Qatar’s educational reforms, self-driven and self-evaluated learning experience, Student Learning Center

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: F. Iberraken, R. Medjoudj, D. Aissani

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The development of the smart grids concept is built around two separate definitions, namely: The European one oriented towards sustainable development and the American one oriented towards reliability and security of supply. In this paper, we have investigated reliability merits enabling decision-makers to provide a high quality of service. It is based on system behavior using interruptions and failures modeling and forecasting from one hand and on the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICT) to mitigate catastrophic ones such as blackouts from the other hand. It was found that this concept has been adopted by developing and emerging countries in short and medium terms followed by sustainability concept at long term planning. This work has highlighted the reliability merits such as: Benefits, opportunities, costs and risks considered as consistent units of measuring power customer satisfaction. From the decision making point of view, we have used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to achieve customer satisfaction, based on the reliability merits and the contribution of such energy resources. Certainly nowadays, fossil and nuclear ones are dominating energy production but great advances are already made to jump into cleaner ones. It was demonstrated that theses resources are not only environmentally but also economically and socially sustainable. The paper is organized as follows: Section one is devoted to the introduction, where an implicit review of smart grids development is given for the two main concepts (for USA and Europeans countries). The AHP method and the BOCR developments of reliability merits against power customer satisfaction are developed in section two. The benefits where expressed by the high level of availability, maintenance actions applicability and power quality. Opportunities were highlighted by the implementation of ICT in data transfer and processing, the mastering of peak demand control, the decentralization of the production and the power system management in default conditions. Costs were evaluated using cost-benefit analysis, including the investment expenditures in network security, becoming a target to hackers and terrorists, and the profits of operating as decentralized systems, with a reduced energy not supplied, thanks to the availability of storage units issued from renewable resources and to the current power lines (CPL) enabling the power dispatcher to manage optimally the load shedding. For risks, we have razed the adhesion of citizens to contribute financially to the system and to the utility restructuring. What is the degree of their agreement compared to the guarantees proposed by the managers about the information integrity? From technical point of view, have they sufficient information and knowledge to meet a smart home and a smart system? In section three, an application of AHP method is made to achieve power customer satisfaction based on the main energy resources as alternatives, using knowledge issued from a country that has a great advance in energy mutation. Results and discussions are given in section four. It was given us to conclude that the option to a given resource depends on the attitude of the decision maker (prudent, optimistic or pessimistic), and that status quo is neither sustainable nor satisfactory.

Keywords: reliability, AHP, renewable energy resources, smart grids

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Authors: Chiara Cosentino, Carlo Pruneti, Carla Merisio, Domenico Sgromo

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Introduction – Psychoneuroimmunology as approach clearly showed how psychological features can influence health through specific physiological pathways linked to the stress reaction. This can be true also in cancer, in its latter conceptualization seen as a chronic disease. Therefore, it is still not clear how the psychological features can combine with a physiological specific path, for a better adjustment to cancer. The aim of this study is identifying how in Italian survivors, perceived social support, body image, coping and quality of life correlate with or influence Heart Rate Variability (HRV), the physiological parameter that can mirror a condition of chronic stress or a good relaxing capability. Method - The study had an exploratory transversal design. The final sample was made of 38 ovarian cancer survivors aged from 29 to 80 (M= 56,08; SD=12,76) following a program for Ovarian Cancer at the Oncological Clinic, University Hospital of Parma, Italy. Participants were asked to fill: Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS); Derridford Appearance Scale-59 (DAS-59); Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC); Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC). For each participant was recorded Short-Term HRV (5 minutes) using emWavePro. Results– Data showed many interesting correlations within the psychological features. EORTC scores have a significant correlation with DAS-59 (r =-.327 p <.05), MSPSS (r =.411 p<.05), and MAC scores, in particular with the strategy Fatalism (r =.364 p<.05). A good social support improves HRV (F(1,33)= 4.27 p<.05). Perceiving themselves as effective in their environment, preserving a good role functioning (EORTC), positively affects HRV (F(1,33)=9.810 p<.001). Women admitting concerns towards body image seem prone to emotive disclosure, reducing emotional distress and improving HRV (β=.453); emotional avoidance worsens HRV (β=-.391). Discussion and conclusion - Results showed a strong relationship between body image and Quality of Life. These data suggest that higher concerns on body image, in particular, the negative self-concept linked to appearance, was linked to the worst functioning in everyday life. The relation between the negative self-concept and a reduction in emotional functioning is understandable in terms of possible distress deriving from the perception of body appearance. The relationship between a high perceived social support and a better functioning in everyday life was also confirmed. In this sample fatalism, was associated with a better physical, role and emotional functioning. In these women, the presence of a good support may activate the physiological Social Engagement System improving their HRV. Perceiving themselves effective in their environment, preserving a good role functioning, also positively affects HRV, probably following the same physiological pathway. A higher presence of concerns about appearance contributes to a higher HRV. Probably women admitting more body concerns are prone to a better emotive disclosure. This could reduce emotional distress improving HRV and global health. This study reached preliminary demonstration of an ‘Integrated Model of Defense’ in these cancer survivors. In these model, psychological features interact building a better quality of life and a condition of psychological well-being that is associated and influence HRV, then the physiological condition.

Keywords: cancer survivors, heart rate variability, ovarian cancer, psychophysiological adjustment

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Authors: Yuguang Gao, Mingtao Deng

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The integration of independently operating hospitals into a unified healthcare service system has become a strategic imperative in the pursuit of hospitals’ high-quality development. Central to the concept of group governance over such transformation, exemplified by a collaborative medical alliance, is the delineation of shared value, vision, and goals. Given the inherent disparity in capabilities among hospitals within the alliance, particularly in the treatment of different diseases characterized by Disease Related Groups (DRG) in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and resource utilization, this study aims to address the centralized decision-making of intra-hospital patient referral within the medical alliance to enhance the overall production and quality of service provided. We first introduce the notion of production utility, where a higher production utility for a hospital implies better performance in treating patients diagnosed with that specific DRG group of diseases. Then, a Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) framework is established for patient referral among hospitals, where patient flow modeling incorporates a queueing system with fixed capacities for each hospital. The simulation study begins with a two-member alliance. The pivotal strategy examined is a "whether-to-refer" decision triggered when the bed usage rate surpasses a predefined threshold for either hospital. Then, the decision encompasses referring patients to the other hospital based on DRG groups’ production utility differentials as well as bed availability. The objective is to maximize the total production utility of the alliance while minimizing patients’ average length of stay and turnover rate. Thus the parameter under scrutiny is the bed usage rate threshold, influencing the efficacy of the referral strategy. Extending the study to a three-member alliance, which could readily be generalized to multi-member alliances, we maintain the core setup while introducing an additional “which-to-refer" decision that involves referring patients with specific DRG groups to the member hospital according to their respective production utility rankings. The overarching goal remains consistent, for which the bed usage rate threshold is once again a focal point for analysis. For the two-member alliance scenario, our simulation results indicate that the optimal bed usage rate threshold hinges on the discrepancy in the number of beds between member hospitals, the distribution of DRG groups among incoming patients, and variations in production utilities across hospitals. Transitioning to the three-member alliance, we observe similar dependencies on these parameters. Additionally, it becomes evident that an imbalanced distribution of DRG diagnoses and further disparity in production utilities among member hospitals may lead to an increase in the turnover rate. In general, it was found that the intra-hospital referral mechanism enhances the overall production utility of the medical alliance compared to individual hospitals without partnership. Patients’ average length of stay is also reduced, showcasing the positive impact of the collaborative approach. However, the turnover rate exhibits variability based on parameter setups, particularly when patients are redirected within the alliance. In conclusion, the re-structuring of diagnostic disease groups within the medical alliance proves instrumental in improving overall healthcare service outcomes, providing a compelling rationale for the government's promotion of patient referrals within collaborative medical alliances.

Keywords: collaborative medical alliance, disease related group, patient referral, simulation

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Authors: Ece A. Irmak, Amdulla O. Mekhrabov, M. Vedat Akdeniz

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There is a growing interest on the synthesis and characterization of nanoalloys since the unique chemical, and physical properties of nanoalloys can be tuned and, consequently, new structural motifs can be created by varying the type of constituent elements, atomic and magnetic ordering, as well as size and shape of the nanoparticles. Due to the fine size effects, magnetic nanoalloys have considerable attention with their enhanced mechanical, electrical, optical and magnetic behavior. As an important magnetic nanoalloy, the novel application area of Fe-Ni based nanoalloys is expected to be widened in the chemical, aerospace industry and magnetic biomedical applications. Noble metals have been using in biomedical applications for several years because of their surface plasmon properties. In this respect, iron-nickel nanoalloys are promising materials for magnetic biomedical applications because they show novel properties such as superparamagnetism and surface plasmon resonance property. Also, there is great attention for the usage Fe-Ni based nanoalloys as radar absorbing materials in aerospace and stealth industry due to having high Curie temperature, high permeability and high saturation magnetization with good thermal stability. In this study, FeNi₃ bimetallic nanoalloys were synthesized by mechanical alloying in a planetary high energy ball mill. In mechanical alloying, micron size powders are placed into the mill with milling media. The powders are repeatedly deformed, fractured and alloyed by high energy collision under the impact of balls until the desired composition and particle size is achieved. The experimental studies were carried out in two parts. Firstly, dry mechanical alloying with high energy dry planetary ball milling was applied to obtain FeNi₃ nanoparticles. Secondly, dry milling was followed by surfactant-assisted ball milling to observe the surfactant and solvent effect on the structure, size, and properties of the FeNi₃ nanoalloys. In the first part, the powder sample of iron-nickel was prepared according to the 1:3 iron to nickel ratio to produce FeNi₃ nanoparticles and the 1:10 powder to ball weight ratio. To avoid oxidation during milling, the vials had been filled with Ar inert gas before milling started. The powders were milled for 80 hours in total and the synthesis of the FeNi₃ intermetallic nanoparticles was succeeded by mechanical alloying in 40 hours. Also, regarding the particle size, it was found that the amount of nano-sized particles raised with increasing milling time. In the second part of the study, dry milling of the Fe and Ni powders with the same stoichiometric ratio was repeated. Then, to prevent agglomeration and to obtain smaller sized nanoparticles with superparamagnetic behavior, surfactants and solvent are added to the system, after 40-hour milling time, with the completion of the mechanical alloying. During surfactant-assisted ball milling, heptane was used as milling medium, and as surfactants, oleic acid and oleylamine were used in the high energy ball milling processes. The characterization of the alloyed particles in terms of microstructure, morphology, particle size, thermal and magnetic properties with respect to milling time was done by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, vibrating-sample magnetometer, and differential scanning calorimetry.

Keywords: iron-nickel systems, magnetic nanoalloys, mechanical alloying, nanoalloy characterization, surfactant-assisted ball milling

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Authors: Siyamak Ziyaei, Siti Khalijah Mazlan, Petros Lappas

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Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) mainly consists of Methane CH₄ and has a low carbon to hydrogen ratio relative to other hydrocarbons. As a result, it has the potential to reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 20% relative to conventional fuels like diesel or gasoline Although Natural Gas (NG) has environmental advantages compared to other hydrocarbon fuels whether they are gaseous or liquid, its main component, CH₄, burns at a slower rate than conventional fuels A higher pressure and a leaner cylinder environment will overemphasize slow burn characteristic of CH₄. Lean combustion and high compression ratios are well-known methods for increasing the efficiency of internal combustion engines. In order to achieve successful CNG lean combustion in Spark Ignition (SI) engines, a strong ignition system is essential to avoid engine misfires, especially in ultra-lean conditions. Turbulent Jet Ignition (TJI) is an ignition system that employs a pre-combustion chamber to ignite the lean fuel mixture in the main combustion chamber using a fraction of the total fuel per cycle. TJI enables ultra-lean combustion by providing distributed ignition sites through orifices. The fast burn rate provided by TJI enables the ordinary SI engine to be comparable to other combustion systems such as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) or Controlled Auto-Ignition (CAI) in terms of thermal efficiency, through the increased levels of dilution without the need of sophisticated control systems. Due to the physical geometry of TJIs, which contain small orifices that connect the prechamber to the main chamber, scavenging is one of the main factors that reduce TJI performance. Specifically, providing the right mixture of fuel and air has been identified as a key challenge. The reason for this is the insufficient amount of air that is pushed into the pre-chamber during each compression stroke. There is also the problem that combustion residual gases such as CO₂, CO and NOx from the previous combustion cycle dilute the pre- chamber fuel-air mixture preventing rapid combustion in the pre-chamber. An air-controlled active TJI is presented in this paper in order to address these issues. By applying air to the pre-chamber at a sufficient pressure, residual gases are exhausted, and the air-fuel ratio is controlled within the pre-chamber, thereby improving the quality of combustion. This paper investigates the 3D-simulated combustion characteristics of a Direct Injected (DI-CNG) fuelled SI en- gine with a pre-chamber equipped with an air channel by using AVL FIRE software. Experiments and simulations were performed at the Worldwide Mapping Point (WWMP) at 1500 Revolutions Per Minute (RPM), 3.3 bar Indicated Mean Effective Pressure (IMEP), using only conventional spark plugs as the baseline. After validating simulation data, baseline engine conditions were set for all simulation scenarios at λ=1. Following that, the pre-chambers with and without an auxiliary fuel supply were simulated. In the simulated (DI-CNG) SI engine, active TJI was observed to perform better than passive TJI and spark plug. In conclusion, the active pre-chamber with an air channel demon-strated an improved thermal efficiency (ηth) over other counterparts and conventional spark ignition systems.

Keywords: turbulent jet ignition, active air control turbulent jet ignition, pre-chamber ignition system, active and passive pre-chamber, thermal efficiency, methane combustion, internal combustion engine combustion emissions

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Authors: Tibor Ajtai, Noémi Utry, Máté Pintér, Gábor Szabó, Zoltán Bozóki

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Beyond its climate and health related issues ambient light absorbing carbonaceous particulate matter (LAC) has also become a great scientific interest in terms of its regulations recently. It has been experimentally demonstrated in recent studies, that LAC is dominantly composed of traffic and wood burning aerosol particularly under wintertime urban conditions, when the photochemical and biological activities are negligible. Several methods have been introduced to quantitatively apportion aerosol fractions emitted by wood burning and traffic but most of them require costly and time consuming off-line chemical analysis. As opposed to chemical features, the microphysical properties of airborne particles such as optical absorption and size distribution can be easily measured on-line, with high accuracy and sensitivity, especially under highly polluted urban conditions. Recently a new method has been proposed for the apportionment of wood burning and traffic aerosols based on the spectral dependence of their absorption quantified by the Aerosol Angström Exponent (AAE). In this approach the absorption coefficient is deduced from transmission measurement on a filter accumulated aerosol sample and the conversion factor between the measured optical absorption and the corresponding mass concentration (the specific absorption cross section) are determined by on-site chemical analysis. The recently developed multi-wavelength photoacoustic instruments provide novel, in-situ approach towards the reliable and quantitative characterization of carbonaceous particulate matter. Therefore, it also opens up novel possibilities on the source apportionment through the measurement of light absorption. In this study, we demonstrate an in-situ spectral characterization method of the ambient carbon fraction based on light absorption and size distribution measurements using our state-of-the-art multi-wavelength photoacoustic instrument (4λ-PAS) and Single Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) The carbonaceous particulate selective source apportionment study was performed for ambient particulate matter in the city center of Szeged, Hungary where the dominance of traffic and wood burning aerosol has been experimentally demonstrated earlier. The proposed model is based on the parallel, in-situ measurement of optical absorption and size distribution. AAEff and AAEwb were deduced from the measured data using the defined correlation between the AOC(1064nm)/AOC(266nm) and N100/N20 ratios. σff(λ) and σwb(λ) were determined with the help of the independently measured temporal mass concentrations in the PM1 mode. Furthermore, the proposed optical source apportionment is based on the assumption that the light absorbing fraction of PM is exclusively related to traffic and wood burning. This assumption is indirectly confirmed here by the fact that the measured size distribution is composed of two unimodal size distributions identified to correspond to traffic and wood burning aerosols. The method offers the possibility of replacing laborious chemical analysis with simple in-situ measurement of aerosol size distribution data. The results by the proposed novel optical absorption based source apportionment method prove its applicability whenever measurements are performed at an urban site where traffic and wood burning are the dominant carbonaceous sources of emission.

Keywords: absorption, size distribution, source apportionment, wood burning, traffic aerosol

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Authors: Diana Reckien

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Vulnerability assessments are increasingly used to support policy-making in complex environments, like urban areas. Usually, vulnerability studies include the construction of aggregate (sub-) indices and the subsequent mapping of indices across an area of interest. Vulnerability studies show a couple of advantages: they are great communication tools, can inform a wider general debate about environmental issues, and can help allocating and efficiently targeting scarce resources for adaptation policy and planning. However, they also have a number of challenges: Vulnerability assessments are constructed on the basis of a wide range of methodologies and there is no single framework or methodology that has proven to serve best in certain environments, indicators vary highly according to the spatial scale used, different variables and metrics produce different results, and aggregate or composite vulnerability indicators that are mapped easily distort or bias the picture of vulnerability as they hide the underlying causes of vulnerability and level out conflicting reasons of vulnerability in space. So, there is urgent need to further develop the methodology of vulnerability studies towards a common framework, which is one reason of the paper. We introduce a social vulnerability approach, which is compared with other approaches of bio-physical or sectoral vulnerability studies relatively developed in terms of a common methodology for index construction, guidelines for mapping, assessment of sensitivity, and verification of variables. Two approaches are commonly pursued in the literature. The first one is an additive approach, in which all potentially influential variables are weighted according to their importance for the vulnerability aspect, and then added to form a composite vulnerability index per unit area. The second approach includes variable reduction, mostly Principal Component Analysis (PCA) that reduces the number of variables that are interrelated into a smaller number of less correlating components, which are also added to form a composite index. We test these two approaches of constructing indices on the area of New York City as well as two different metrics of variables used as input and compare the outcome for the 5 boroughs of NY. Our analysis yields that the mapping exercise yields particularly different results in the outer regions and parts of the boroughs, such as Outer Queens and Staten Island. However, some of these parts, particularly the coastal areas receive the highest attention in the current adaptation policy. We imply from this that the current adaptation policy and practice in NY might need to be discussed, as these outer urban areas show relatively low social vulnerability as compared with the more central parts, i.e. the high dense areas of Manhattan, Central Brooklyn, Central Queens and the Southern Bronx. The inner urban parts receive lesser adaptation attention, but bear a higher risk of damage in case of hazards in those areas. This is conceivable, e.g., during large heatwaves, which would more affect more the inner and poorer parts of the city as compared with the outer urban areas. In light of the recent planning practice of NY one needs to question and discuss who in NY makes adaptation policy for whom, but the presented analyses points towards an under representation of the needs of the socially vulnerable population, such as the poor, the elderly, and ethnic minorities, in the current adaptation practice in New York City.

Keywords: vulnerability mapping, social vulnerability, additive approach, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), New York City, United States, adaptation, social sensitivity

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Authors: Jung-Hun Cho, Tae-Heon Moon, Sun-Young Heo

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A lot of urban problems, caused by urbanization and industrialization, have occurred around the world. In particular, the creation of satellite towns, which was attributed to the explicit expansion of the city, has led to the traffic problems and the hollowization of old towns, raising the necessity of urban regeneration in old towns along with the aging of existing urban infrastructure. To select urban regeneration priority regions for the strategic execution of urban regeneration in Korea, the number of population, the number of businesses, and deterioration degree were chosen as standards. Existing standards had a limit in coping with solving urban problems fundamentally and rapidly changing reality. Therefore, it was necessary to add new indicators that can reflect the decline in relevant cities and conditions. In this regard, this study selected Busan Metropolitan City, Korea as the target area as a leading city, where urban regeneration such as an international port city has been activated like Yokohama, Japan. Prior to setting the urban regeneration priority region, the conditions of reality should be reflected because uniform and uncharacterized projects have been implemented without a quantitative analysis about population behavior within the region. For this reason, this study conducted a characterization analysis and type classification, based on the user behaviors by using representative floating population of the big data, which is a hot issue all over the society in recent days. The target areas were analyzed in this study. While 23 regions were classified as three types in existing Busan Metropolitan City urban regeneration priority region, 23 regions were classified as four types in existing Busan Metropolitan City urban regeneration priority region in terms of the type classification on the basis of user behaviors. Four types were classified as follows; type (Ⅰ) of young people - morning type, Type (Ⅱ) of the old and middle-aged- general type with sharp floating population, type (Ⅲ) of the old and middle aged-24hour-type, and type (Ⅳ) of the old and middle aged with less floating population. Characteristics were shown in each region of four types, and the study results of user behaviors were different from those of existing urban regeneration priority region. According to the results, in type (Ⅰ) young people were the majority around the existing old built-up area, where floating population at dawn is four times more than in other areas. In Type (Ⅱ), there were many old and middle-aged people around the existing built-up area and general neighborhoods, where the average floating population was more than in other areas due to commuting, while in type (Ⅲ), there was no change in the floating population throughout 24 hours, although there were many old and middle aged people in population around the existing general neighborhoods. Type (Ⅳ) includes existing economy-based type, central built-up area type, and general neighborhood type, where old and middle aged people were the majority as a general type of commuting with less floating population. Unlike existing urban regeneration priority region, these types were sub-divided according to types, and in this study, approach methods and basic orientations of urban regeneration were set to reflect the reality to a certain degree including the indicators of effective floating population to identify the dynamic activity of urban areas and existing regeneration priority areas in connection with urban regeneration projects by regions. Therefore, it is possible to make effective urban plans through offering the substantial ground by utilizing scientific and quantitative data. To induce more realistic and effective regeneration projects, the regeneration projects tailored to the present local conditions should be developed by reflecting the present conditions on the formulation of urban regeneration strategic plans.

Keywords: floating population, big data, urban regeneration, urban regeneration priority region, type classification

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Authors: Ndumbe Eric Esongami, Manga Veronica Ebot, Foba Josepha Tendo, Yengong Fabrice Lamfu, Tiku David Tambe

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The prevalence and unpleasant nature of plastics pollution constantly observed on beach shore on stormy events has prompt researchers worldwide to thesis on sustainable economic and environmental designs on plastics, especially in Cameroon, a major touristic destination in the Central Africa Region. The inconsistent protocols develop by researchers has added to this burden, thus the morphological nature of microplastic remediation is a call for concerns. The prime aim of the study is to morphologically identify, quantify and forensically understands the distribution of each plastics polymer composition. Duplicates of 2×2 m (4m2) quadrants were sampled in each beach/month over 8 months period across five purposive beaches along the Limbe – Idenau coastline, Cameroon. Collected plastic samples were thoroughly washed and separation done using a 2 mm sieve. Only particles of size, < 2 mm, were considered and forward follow the microplastics laboratory analytical processes. Established step by step methodological procedures of particle filtration, organic matter digestion, density separation, particle extraction and polymer identification including microscope and were applied for the beach microplastics samples. Microplastics were observed in each sample/beach/month with an overall abundance of 241 particles/number weighs 89.15 g in total and with a mean abundance of 2 particles/m2 (0.69 g/m2) and 6 particles/month (2.0 g/m2). The accumulation of beach shoreline MPs rose dramatically towards decreasing size with microbeads and fiber only found in the < 1 mm size fraction. Approximately 75% of beach MPs contamination were found in LDB 2, LDB 1 and IDN beaches/average particles/number while the most dominant polymer type frequently observed also were PP, PE, and PS in all morphologically parameters analysed. Beach MPs accumulation significantly varied temporally and spatially at p = 0.05. ANOVA and Spearman’s rank correlation used shows linear relationships between the sizes categories considered in this study. In terms of polymer MPs analysis, the colour class recorded that white coloured MPs was dominant, 50 particles/number (22.25 g) with recorded abundance/number in PP (25), PE (15) and PS (5). The shape class also revealed that irregularly shaped MPs was dominant, 98 particles/number (30.5 g) with higher abundance/number in PP (39), PE (33), and PS (11). Similarly, MPs type class shows that fragmented MPs type was also dominant, 80 particles/number (25.25 g) with higher abundance/number in PP (30), PE (28) and PS (15). Equally, the sized class forward revealed that 1.5 – 1.99 mm sized ranged MPs had the highest abundance of 102 particles/number (51.77 g) with higher concentration observed in PP (47), PE (41), and PS (7) as well and finally, the weight class also show that 0.01 g weighs MPs was dominated by 98 particles/number (56.57 g) with varied numeric abundance seen in PP (49), PE (29) and PS (13). The forensic investigation of the pollution indicated that majority of the beach microplastic is sourced from the site/nearby area. The investigation could draw useful conclusions regarding the pathways of pollution. The fragmented microplastic, a significant component in the sample, was found to be sourced from recreational activities and partly from fishing boat installations and repairs activities carried out close to the shore.

Keywords: forensic analysis, beach MPs, particle/number, polymer composition, cameroon

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Authors: Steven W. Carruthers

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The purpose of the present research is to equate two test forms as part of a study to evaluate the educational effectiveness of the ARTé: Mecenas art history learning game. The researcher applied Item Response Theory (IRT) procedures to calculate item, test, and mean-sigma equating parameters. With the sample size n=134, test parameters indicated “good” model fit but low Test Information Functions and more acute than expected equating parameters. Therefore, the researcher applied equipercentile equating and linear equating to raw scores and compared the equated form parameters and effect sizes from each method. Item scaling in IRT enables the researcher to select a subset of well-discriminating items. The mean-sigma step produces a mean-slope adjustment from the anchor items, which was used to scale the score on the new form (Form R) to the reference form (Form Q) scale. In equipercentile equating, scores are adjusted to align the proportion of scores in each quintile segment. Linear equating produces a mean-slope adjustment, which was applied to all core items on the new form. The study followed a quasi-experimental design with purposeful sampling of students enrolled in a college level art history course (n=134) and counterbalancing design to distribute both forms on the pre- and posttests. The Experimental Group (n=82) was asked to play ARTé: Mecenas online and complete Level 4 of the game within a two-week period; 37 participants completed Level 4. Over the same period, the Control Group (n=52) did not play the game. The researcher examined between group differences from post-test scores on test Form Q and Form R by full-factorial Two-Way ANOVA. The raw score analysis indicated a 1.29% direct effect of form, which was statistically non-significant but may be practically significant. The researcher repeated the between group differences analysis with all three equating methods. For the IRT mean-sigma adjusted scores, form had a direct effect of 8.39%. Mean-sigma equating with a small sample may have resulted in inaccurate equating parameters. Equipercentile equating aligned test means and standard deviations, but resultant skewness and kurtosis worsened compared to raw score parameters. Form had a 3.18% direct effect. Linear equating produced the lowest Form effect, approaching 0%. Using linearly equated scores, the researcher conducted an ANCOVA to examine the effect size in terms of prior knowledge. The between group effect size for the Control Group versus Experimental Group participants who completed the game was 14.39% with a 4.77% effect size attributed to pre-test score. Playing and completing the game increased art history knowledge, and individuals with low prior knowledge tended to gain more from pre- to post test. Ultimately, researchers should approach test equating based on their theoretical stance on Classical Test Theory and IRT and the respective  assumptions. Regardless of the approach or method, test equating requires a representative sample of sufficient size. With small sample sizes, the application of a range of equating approaches can expose item and test features for review, inform interpretation, and identify paths for improving instruments for future study.

Keywords: effectiveness, equipercentile equating, IRT, learning games, linear equating, mean-sigma equating

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Authors: Giuseppina Anna Giorgio, Angela Lorusso, Maria Ragosta, Vito Telesca

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Climate change is a major public health threat due to the effects of extreme weather events on human health and on quality of life in general. In this context, mean temperatures are increasing, in particular, extreme temperatures, with heat waves becoming more frequent, more intense, and longer lasting. In many cities, extreme heat waves have drastically increased, giving rise to so-called Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. In an urban centre, maximum temperatures may be up to 10° C warmer, due to different local atmospheric conditions. UHI occurs in the metropolitan areas as function of the population size and density of a city. It consists of a significant difference in temperature compared to the rural/suburban areas. Increasing industrialization and urbanization have increased this phenomenon and it has recently also been detected in small cities. Weather conditions and land use are one of the key parameters in the formation of UHI. In particular surface urban heat island is directly related to temperatures, to land surface types and surface modifications. The present study concern a UHI analysis of Matera city (Italy) based on the analysis of temperature, change in land use and land cover, using Corine Land Cover maps and satellite Landsat images. Matera, located in Southern Italy, has a typical Mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot and humid summers. Moreover, Matera has been awarded the international title of the 2019 European Capital of Culture. Matera represents a significant example of vernacular architecture. The structure of the city is articulated by a vertical succession of dug layers sometimes excavated or partly excavated and partly built, according to the original shape and height of the calcarenitic slope. In this study, two meteorological stations were selected: MTA (MaTera Alsia, in industrial zone) and MTCP (MaTera Civil Protection, suburban area located in a green zone). In order to evaluate the increase in temperatures (in terms of UHI occurrences) over time, and evaluating the effect of land use on weather conditions, the climate variability of temperatures for both stations was explored. Results show that UHI phenomena is growing in Matera city, with an increase of maximum temperature values at a local scale. Subsequently, spatial analysis was conducted by Landsat satellite images. Four years was selected in the summer period (27/08/2000, 27/07/2006, 11/07/2012, 02/08/2017). In Particular, Landsat 7 ETM+ for 2000, 2006 and 2012 years; Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS for 2017. In order to estimate the LST, Mono Window Algorithm was applied. Therefore, the increase of LST values spatial scale trend has been verified, in according to results obtained at local scale. Finally, the analysis of land use maps over the years by the LST and/or the maximum temperatures measured, show that the development of industrialized area produces a corresponding increase in temperatures and consequently a growth in UHI.

Keywords: climate variability, land surface temperature, LANDSAT images, urban heat island

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Authors: Yi-Hao Wong, Li-Li Chan, Chee-Onn Leong, Stephen Ambu, Joon-Wah Mak, Priyasashi Sahu

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Background: Acanthamoeba is a genus of amoebae which lives as a free-living in nature or as a human pathogen that causes severe brain and eye infections. Virulence potential of Acanthamoeba is not constant and can change with growth conditions. DNA methylation, an epigenetic process which adds methyl groups to DNA, is used by eukaryotic cells, including several human parasites to control their gene expression. We used qPCR, siRNA gene silencing, and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) to study DNA-methyltransferase gene family (DNMT) in order to indicate the possibility of its involvement in programming Acanthamoeba virulence potential. Methods: A virulence-attenuated Acanthamoeba isolate (designation: ATCC; original isolate: ATCC 50492) was subjected to mouse passages to restore its pathogenicity; a virulence-reactivated isolate (designation: AC/5) was generated. Several established factors associated with Acanthamoeba virulence phenotype were examined to confirm the succession of reactivation process. Differential gene expression of DNMT between ATCC and AC/5 isolates was performed by qPCR. Silencing on DNMT gene expression in AC/5 isolate was achieved by siRNA duplex. Total RNAs extracted from ATCC, AC/5, and siRNA-treated (designation: si-146) were subjected to RNA-Seq for comparative transcriptomic analysis in order to identify the genome-wide effect of DNMT in regulating Acanthamoeba gene expression. qPCR was performed to validate the RNA-Seq results. Results: Physiological and cytophatic assays demonstrated an increased in virulence potential of AC/5 isolate after mouse passages. DNMT gene expression was significantly higher in AC/5 compared to ATCC isolate (p ≤ 0.01) by qPCR. si-146 duplex reduced DNMT gene expression in AC/5 isolate by 30%. Comparative transcriptome analysis identified the differentially expressed genes, with 3768 genes in AC/5 vs ATCC isolate; 2102 genes in si-146 vs AC/5 isolate and 3422 genes in si-146 vs ATCC isolate, respectively (fold-change of ≥ 2 or ≤ 0.5, p-value adjusted (padj) < 0.05). Of these, 840 and 1262 genes were upregulated and downregulated, respectively, in si-146 vs AC/5 isolate. Eukaryotic orthologous group (KOG) assignments revealed a higher percentage of downregulated gene expression in si-146 compared to AC/5 isolate, were related to posttranslational modification, signal transduction and energy production. Gene Ontology (GO) terms for those downregulated genes shown were associated with transport activity, oxidation-reduction process, and metabolic process. Among these downregulated genes were putative genes encoded for heat shock proteins, transporters, ubiquitin-related proteins, proteins for vesicular trafficking (small GTPases), and oxidoreductases. Functional analysis of similar predicted proteins had been described in other parasitic protozoa for their survival and pathogenicity. Decreased expression of these genes in si146-treated isolate may account in part for Acanthamoeba reduced pathogenicity. qPCR on 6 selected genes upregulated in AC/5 compared to ATCC isolate corroborated the RNA sequencing findings, indicating a good concordance between these two analyses. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation and its effects on gene expression in Acanthamoeba spp. The present data indicate that DNA methylation has substantial effect on global gene expression, allowing further dissection of the genome-wide effects of DNA-methyltransferase gene in regulating Acanthamoeba pathogenicity.

Keywords: Acanthamoeba, DNA methylation, RNA sequencing, virulence

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Authors: Leah Li Echiverri, Haoyu Shang, Yue Li

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Wenzhou-Kean University (WKU) is a Sino-US Cooperative University in China. It practices the English Immersion Program (EIP), where all the courses are taught in English. Class discussions and presentations are pervasively interwoven in designing students’ learning experiences. This WKU model has brought positive influences on students and is in some way ahead of traditional college English majors. However, literature to support the perceptions on the positive outcomes of this teaching and learning model remain scarce. The distinctive profile of Chinese-ESL students in an English Medium of Instruction (EMI) environment contributes further to the scarcity of literature compared to existing studies conducted among ESL learners in Western educational settings. Hence, the study investigated the students’ perceptions towards the English Immersion Program and determine how it influences Chinese-ESL students’ academic performance (AP). This research can provide empirical data that would be helpful to educators, teaching practitioners, university administrators, and other researchers in making informed decisions when developing curricular reforms, instructional and pedagogical methods, and university-wide support programs using this educational model. The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between the English Immersion Program and Academic Performance among Chinese-ESL students enrolled at WKU for the academic year 2020-2021. Course length, immersion location, course type, and instructional design were the constructs of the English immersion program. English language learning, learning efficiency, and class participation were used to measure academic performance. Descriptive-correlational design was used in this cross-sectional research project. A quantitative approach for data analysis was applied to determine the relationship between the English immersion program and Chinese-ESL students’ academic performance. The research was conducted at WKU; a Chinese-American jointly established higher educational institution located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. Convenience, random, and snowball sampling of 283 students, a response rate of 10.5%, were applied to represent the WKU student population. The questionnaire was posted through the survey website named Wenjuanxing and shared to QQ or WeChat. Cronbach’s alpha was used to test the reliability of the research instrument. Findings revealed that when professors integrate technology (PowerPoint, videos, and audios) in teaching, students pay more attention. This contributes to the acquisition of more professional knowledge in their major courses. As to course immersion, students perceive WKU as a good place to study, providing them a high degree of confidence to talk with their professors in English. This also contributes to their English fluency and better pronunciation in their communication. In the construct of designing instruction, the use of pictures, video clips, and professors’ non-verbal communication, and demonstration of concern for students encouraged students to be more active in-class participation. Findings on course length and academic performance indicated that students’ perception regarding taking courses during fall and spring terms can moderately contribute to their academic performance. In conclusion, the findings revealed a significantly strong positive relationship between course type, immersion location, instructional design, and academic performance.

Keywords: class participation, English immersion program, English language learning, learning efficiency

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Authors: Vaiddehi Bansal, Laura Hinson, Mayumi Rezwan, Erin Leasure, Mithila Iyer, Connor Roth, Poulomi Pal, Kareem Kysia

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As digital usage becomes increasingly ubiquitous worldwide, technology-facilitated gender-based violence (GBV) has garnered increasing attention in the recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This form of violence is defined as “action by one or more people that harms others based on their sexual or gender identity or by enforcing harmful gender norms. This action is carried out using the internet and/or mobile technology that harms others based on their sexual or gender identity or by enforcing harmful gender norms”.Common forms of technology-facilitated GBV include cyberstalking, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, image-based abuse, doxing, hacking, gendertrolling, hate speech, and impersonation. Most literature on this pervasive yet complex issue has emerged from high-income countries, and few studies comprehensively summarize its prevalence, manifestations, and implications. This rigorous scoping review examines the evidence base of this phenomenon in low and middle-income countries across Asia, summarizing trends and gaps to inform actionable recommendations. The research team developed search terms to conduct a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed and grey literature. Query results were eligible for inclusion if they were published in English between 2006-2021 and with an explicit emphasis on technology-facilitated violence, gender, and the countries of interest in the Asia region. Title, abstracts, and full-texts were independently screened by two reviewers based on inclusion criteria, and data was extracted through deductive coding. Of 2,042 articles screened, 97 met inclusion criteria. The review revealed a gap in the evidence-base in Central Asia and the Pacific Islands. Findings across South and Southeast Asia indicate that technology-facilitated GBV comprises various forms of abuse, violence, and harassment that are largely shaped by country-specific societal norms and technological landscapes. The literature confirms that women, girls, and sexual minorities, especially those with intersecting marginalized identities, are often more vulnerable to experiencing online violence. Cultural norms and patriarchal structures tend to stigmatize survivors, limiting their ability to seek social and legal support. Survivors are also less likely to report their experience due to barriers such as lack of awareness of reporting mechanisms, the perception that digital platforms will not address their complaints, and cumbersome reporting systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated perpetration and strained support mechanisms. Prevalence varies by the form of violence but is difficult to estimate accurately due to underreporting and disjointed, outdated, or non-existent legal definitions. Addressing technology-facilitated GBV in Asia requires collective action from multiple actors, including government authorities, technology companies, digital and feminist movements, NGOs, and researchers.

Keywords: gender-based violence, technology, online sexual harassment, image-based abuse

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