Search results for: small series assembly

Authors: Kym Drady

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This paper considers whether creativity is the missing link which would allow the evolution of organisational behaviour and profitability if it was ‘released’. It suggests that although many organisations try to engage their workforce and expect innovation they fail to provide the means for its achievement. The paper suggests that creative thinking is the ‘glue’ which links organisational performance to profitability. A key role of a university today, is to produce skilled and capable graduates. Increasing competition and internationalisation has meant that the employability agenda has never been more prominent within the field of education. As such it should be a key consideration when designing and developing a curriculum. It has been suggested that creativity is a valuable personal skill and perhaps should be the focus of an organisations business strategy in order for them to increase their competitive advantage in the twenty first century. Flexible and agile graduates are now required to become creative in their use of skills and resources in an increasingly complex and sophisticated global market. The paper, therefore, questions that if this is the case why then does creativity fail to appear as a key curriculum subject in many business schools. It also considers why policy makers continue to neglect this critical issue when it could offer the ‘key’ to economic prosperity. Recent literature does go some way to addressing by suggesting that small clusters of UK Universities have started including some creativity in their PDP work. However, this paper builds on this work and proposes that that creativity should become a central component of the curriculum. The paper suggests that creativity should appear in every area of the curriculum and that it should act as the link that connects productivity to profitability rather than being marginalised as an additional part of the curriculum. A range of data gathering methods have been used but each has been drawn from a qualitative base as it was felt that due to nature of the study individual’s thoughts and feelings needed to be examined and reflection was important. The author also recognises the importance of her own reflection both on the experiences of the students and their later working experiences as well as on the creative elements within the programme that she delivered. This paper has been drawn from research undertaken by the author in relation to her PhD study which explores the potential benefits of including creativity in the curriculum within business schools and the added value this could make to their employability. To conclude, creativity is, in the opinion of the author, the missing link to organisational profitability and as such should be prioritised especially by higher education providers.

Keywords: business curriculum, business curriculum, higher education, creative thinking and problem-solving, creativity

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Authors: Shameel Pervez, Saad Aziz Durrani, Ibatsam Khokhar

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Pectinase is an enzyme that breaks down pectin, a compound responsible for structural integrity of the plant. Pectin is difficult to break down mechanically and the cost is very high, that is why many industries including food industries use pectinase enzyme produced by microbes for pectin breakdown. Apple (Malus domestica) is an important fruit in terms of market value. Every year, millions of apples are wasted due to post-harvest rot caused by fungi. Fungi are natural decomposers of our ecosystem and are infamous for post-harvest rot of apple fruit but at the same time they are prized for their high production of valuable extracellular enzymes such as pectinase. In this study, fungi belonging to different genus were isolated from rotten apples. Rotten samples of apple were picked from different markets of Lahore. After surface sterilization, the rotten parts were cut into small pieces and placed onto MEA media plates for three days. Afterwards, distinct colonies were picked and purified by sub-culturing. The isolates were identified to genus level through the study of basic colony morphology and microscopic features. The isolates were then subjected to screening for pectinase activity on MS media to compare pectinase production and were then subsequently tested for pathogenic activity through wound suspension method to evaluate the pathogenic activity of isolates in comparison with their pectinolytic activity. A total of twelve fungal strains were isolates from rotten apples. They were belonging to genus Penicillium, Alternaria, Paecilomyces and Rhizopus. Upon screening for pectinolytic activity, isolates Pen 1, Pen 4, and Rz showed high pectinolytic activity and were further subjected to DNA isolation and partial sequencing for species identification. The results of partial sequencing were combined with in-depth study of morphological features revealing Pen 1 as Penicillium janthinellum, Pen 4 as Penicillium griseofulvum, and Rz as Rhizopus microsporus. Pathogenic activity of all twelve isolates was evaluated. Penicillium spp. were highly pathogenic and destructive and same was the case with Paecilomyces sp. and Rhizopus sp. However, Alternaria spp. were found to be more consistent in their pathogenic activity, on all types of apples.

Keywords: apple, pectinase, fungal pathogens, penicillium, rhizopus

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Authors: Ashok Kumar, Shiv Brat Singh, Kalyan Kumar Ray

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There is growing awareness to design steels against fatigue damage Ferrite martensite dual-phase steels are known to exhibit favourable mechanical properties like good strength, ductility, toughness, continuous yielding, and high work hardening rate. However, dual-phase steels containing bainite as second phase are potential alternatives for ferrite martensite steels for certain applications where good fatigue property is required. Fatigue properties of dual phase steels are popularly assessed by the nature of variation of crack growth rate (da/dN) with stress intensity factor range (∆K), and the magnitude of fatigue threshold (∆Kth) for long cracks. There exists an increased emphasis to understand not only the long crack fatigue behavior but also short crack growth behavior of ferrite bainite dual phase steels. The major objective of this report is to examine the influence of microstructures on the short and long crack growth behavior of a series of developed dual-phase steels with varying amounts of bainite and. Three low carbon steels containing Nb, Cr and Mo as microalloying elements steels were selected for making ferrite-bainite dual-phase microstructures by suitable heat treatments. The heat treatment consisted of austenitizing the steel at 1100°C for 20 min, cooling at different rates in air prior to soaking these in a salt bath at 500°C for one hour, and finally quenching in water. Tensile tests were carried out on 25 mm gauge length specimens with 5 mm diameter using nominal strain rate 0.6x10⁻³ s⁻¹ at room temperature. Fatigue crack growth studies were made on a recently developed specimen configuration using a rotating bending machine. The crack growth was monitored by interrupting the test and observing the specimens under an optical microscope connected to an Image analyzer. The estimated crack lengths (a) at varying number of cycles (N) in different fatigue experiments were analyzed to obtain log da/dN vs. log °∆K curves for determining ∆Kthsc. The microstructural features of these steels have been characterized and their influence on the near threshold crack growth has been examined. This investigation, in brief, involves (i) the estimation of ∆Kthsc and (ii) the examination of the influence of microstructure on short and long crack fatigue threshold. The maximum fatigue threshold values obtained from short crack growth experiments on various specimens of dual-phase steels containing different amounts of bainite are found to increase with increasing bainite content in all the investigated steels. The variations of fatigue behavior of the selected steel samples have been explained with the consideration of varying amounts of the constituent phases and their interactions with the generated microstructures during cyclic loading. Quantitative estimation of the different types of fatigue crack paths indicates that the propensity of a crack to pass through the interfaces depends on the relative amount of the microstructural constituents. The fatigue crack path is found to be predominantly intra-granular except for the ones containing > 70% bainite in which it is predominantly inter-granular.

Keywords: bainite, dual phase steel, fatigue crack growth rate, long crack fatigue threshold, short crack fatigue threshold

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Authors: Kathleen L. Seifert

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Students with special needs are expected to achieve the same academic standards as their general education peers, yet many students with special needs are pulled-out of general content instruction. Because of this, many students with special needs are denied content knowledge from a content expert and instead receive content instruction in a more restrictive setting. Collaborative teaching, where a general education and special education teacher work alongside each other in the same classroom, has become increasingly popular as a means to meet the diverse needs of students in America’s public schools. The idea behind co-teaching is noble; to ensure students with special needs receive content area instruction from a content expert while also receiving the necessary supports to be successful. However, in spite of this noble effort, the effects of co-teaching are not always positive. The reasons why have produced several hypotheses, one of which has to do with lack of proper training and implementation of effective evidence-based co-teaching practices. In order to examine the effects of co-teacher training, eleven teaching pairs from a small mid-western school district in the United States participated in a study. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of co-teacher training on middle and high school student achievement in Math and Language Arts. A local university instructor provided teachers with training in co-teaching via a three-day workshop. In addition, co-teaching pairs were given the opportunity for direct observation and feedback using the Co-teaching Core Competencies Observation Checklist throughout the academic year. Data are in the process of being collected on both the students enrolled in the co-taught classes as well as on the teachers themselves. Student data compared achievement on standardized assessments and classroom performance across three domains: 1. General education students compared to students with special needs in co-taught classrooms, 2. Students with special needs in classrooms with and without co-teaching, 3. Students in classrooms where teachers were given observation and feedback compared to teachers who refused the observation and feedback. Teacher data compared the perceptions of the co-teaching initiative between teacher pairs who received direct observation and feedback from those who did not. The findings from the study will be shared with the school district and used for program improvement.

Keywords: collabortive teaching, collaboration, co-teaching, professional development

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Authors: Diriba Gemechu, Lamessa Abebe

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The aim of this study was to examine the effect of cooperative learning method on student’s academic achievement and on the achievement level over a usual method in teaching different topics of mathematics. The study also examines the perceptions of students towards cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is the instructional strategy in which pairs or small groups of students with different levels of ability work together to accomplish a shared goal. The aim of this cooperation is for students to maximize their own and each other learning, with members striving for joint benefit. The teacher’s role changes from wise on the wise to guide on the side. Cooperative learning due to its influential aspects is the most prevalent teaching-learning technique in the modern world. Therefore the study was conducted in order to examine the effect of cooperative learning on the academic achievement of grade 9 students in Mathematics in case of Mettu secondary school. Two sample sections are randomly selected by which one section served randomly as an experimental and the other as a comparison group. Data gathering instruments are achievement tests and questionnaires. A treatment of STAD method of cooperative learning was provided to the experimental group while the usual method is used in the comparison group. The experiment lasted for one semester. To determine the effect of cooperative learning on the student’s academic achievement, the significance of difference between the scores of groups at 0.05 levels was tested by applying t test. The effect size was calculated to see the strength of the treatment. The student’s perceptions about the method were tested by percentiles of the questionnaires. During data analysis, each group was divided into high and low achievers on basis of their previous Mathematics result. Data analysis revealed that both the experimental and comparison groups were almost equal in Mathematics at the beginning of the experiment. The experimental group out scored significantly than comparison group on posttest. Additionally, the comparison of mean posttest scores of high achievers indicates significant difference between the two groups. The same is true for low achiever students of both groups on posttest. Hence, the result of the study indicates the effectiveness of the method for Mathematics topics as compared to usual method of teaching.

Keywords: academic achievement, comparison group, cooperative learning, experimental group

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Authors: Kanchan Mondal, Adam Sims, Madhav Soti, Jitendra Gautam, David Carron

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Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis is a complex series of heterogeneous reactions between CO and H2 molecules (present in the syngas) on the surface of an active catalyst (Co, Fe, Ru, Ni, etc.) to produce gaseous, liquid, and waxy hydrocarbons. This product is composed of paraffins, olefins, and oxygenated compounds. The key challenge in applying the Fischer-Tropsch process to produce transportation fuels is to make the capital and production costs economically feasible relative to the comparative cost of existing petroleum resources. To meet this challenge, it is imperative to enhance the CO conversion while maximizing carbon selectivity towards the desired liquid hydrocarbon ranges (i.e. reduction in CH4 and CO2 selectivities) at high throughputs. At the same time, it is equally essential to increase the catalyst robustness and longevity without sacrificing catalyst activity. This paper focuses on process development to achieve the above. The paper describes the influence of operating parameters on Fischer Tropsch synthesis (FTS) from coal derived syngas in supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2). In addition, the unreacted gas and solvent recycle was incorporated and the effect of unreacted feed recycle was evaluated. It was expected that with the recycle, the feed rate can be increased. The increase in conversion and liquid selectivity accompanied by the production of narrower carbon number distribution in the product suggest that higher flow rates can and should be used when incorporating exit gas recycle. It was observed that this process was capable of enhancing the hydrocarbon selectivity (nearly 98 % CO conversion), reducing improving the carbon efficiency from 17 % to 51 % in a once through process and further converting 16 % CO2 to liquid with integrated recycle of the product gas stream and increasing the life of the catalyst. Catalyst robustness enhancement has been attributed to the absorption of heat of reaction by the compressed CO2 which reduced the formation of hotspots and the dissolution of waxes by the CO2 solvent which reduced the blinding of active sites. In addition, the recycling the product gas stream reduced the reactor footprint to one-fourth of the once through size and product fractionation utilizing the solvent effects of supercritical CO2 were realized. In addition to the negative CO2 selectivities, methane production was also inhibited and was limited to less than 1.5%. The effect of the process conditions on the life of the catalysts will also be presented. Fe based catalysts are known to have a high proclivity for producing CO2 during FTS. The data of the product spectrum and selectivity on Co and Fe-Co based catalysts as well as those obtained from commercial sources will also be presented. The measurable decision criteria were the increase in CO conversion at H2:CO ratio of 1:1 (as commonly found in coal gasification product stream) in supercritical phase as compared to gas phase reaction, decrease in CO2 and CH4 selectivity, overall liquid product distribution, and finally an increase in the life of the catalysts.

Keywords: carbon efficiency, Fischer Tropsch synthesis, low GHG, pressure tunable fractionation

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Authors: Andrea Bikfalvi, Josep Llach, Ferran Lazaro, Bojan Jovanovski

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Due to the continuous need to foster university-business cooperation in both developed and developing countries, some higher education institutions face the challenge of designing, piloting, operating, and consolidating knowledge and technology transfer units. University-business cooperation has different maturity stages worldwide, with some higher education institutions excelling in these practices, but with lots of others that could be qualified as intermediate, or even some situated at the very beginning of their knowledge transfer adventure. These latter face the imminent necessity to formally create the technology transfer unit and to draw its roadmap. The complexity of this operation is due to various aspects that need to align and coordinate, including a major change in mission, vision, structure, priorities, and operations. Qualitative in approach, this study presents 5 case studies, consisting of higher education institutions located in the Western Balkans – 2 in Albania, 2 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1 in Montenegro- fully immersed in the entrepreneurial journey of creating their knowledge and technology transfer unit. The empirical evidence is developed in a pan-European project, illustratively called KnowHub (reconnecting universities and enterprises to unleash regional innovation and entrepreneurial activity), which is being implemented in three countries and has resulted in at least 15 pilot cooperation agreements between academia and business. Based on a peer-mentoring approach including more experimented and more mature technology transfer models of European partners located in Spain, Finland, and Austria, a series of initial lessons learned are already available. The findings show that each unit developed its tailor-made approach to engage with internal and external stakeholders, offer value to the academic staff, students, as well as business partners. The latest technology underpinning KnowHub services and institutional commitment are found to be key success factors. Although specific strategies and plans differ, they are based on a general strategy jointly developed and based on common tools and methods of strategic planning and business modelling. The main output consists of providing good practice for designing, piloting, and initial operations of units aiming to fully valorise knowledge and expertise available in academia. Policymakers can also find valuable hints on key aspects considered vital for initial operations. The value of this contribution is its focus on the intersection of three perspectives (service orientation, organisational innovation, business model) since previous research has only relied on a single topic or dual approaches, most frequently in the business context and less frequently in higher education.

Keywords: business model, capacity building, entrepreneurial education, knowledge transfer

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Authors: Hande Barkan-Ozturk, Angelika Menner, Alexander Bismarck

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Microfluidic mixing technology grew rapidly in the past few years due to its many advantages over the macro-scale mixing, especially the ability to use small amounts of internal volume and also very high surface-to-volume ratio. The Reynold number identify whether the mixing is operated by the laminar or turbulence flow. Therefore, mixing with very fast kinetic can be achieved by diminishing the channel dimensions to decrease Reynold number and the laminar flow can be accomplished. Moreover, by using obstacles in the micromixer, the mixing length and the contact area between the species have been increased. Therefore, the channel geometry and its surface property have great importance to reach satisfactory mixing results. Since poly(-merised) High Internal Phase Emulsions (polyHIPEs) have more than 74% porosity and their pores are connected each other with pore throats, which cause high permeability, they are ideal candidate to build a micromixer. The HIPE precursor is commonly produced by using an overhead stirrer to obtain relatively large amount of emulsion in batch process. However, we will demonstrate that a desired amount of emulsion can be prepared continuously with micromixer build from polyHIPE, and such HIPE can subsequently be employed as ink in 3D printing process. In order to produce the micromixer a poly-Pickering(St-co-DVB)HIPE with 80% porosity was prepared with modified silica particles as stabilizer and surfactant Hypermer 2296 to obtain open porous structure and after coating of the surface, the three 1/16' ' PTFE tubes to transfer continuous (CP) and internal phases (IP) and the other is to collect the emulsion were placed. Afterwards, the two phases were injected in the ratio 1:3 CP:IP with syringe dispensers, respectively, and highly viscoelastic H(M)IPE, which can be used as an ink in 3D printing process, was gathered continuously. After the polymerisation of the resultant emulsion, polyH(M)IPE has interconnected porous structure identical to the monolithic polyH(M)IPE indicating that the emulsion can be prepared constantly with poly-Pickering-HIPE as micromixer and it can be used to prepare desired pattern with a 3D printer. Moreover, the morphological properties of the emulsion can be adjustable by changing flow ratio, flow speed and structure of the micromixer.

Keywords: 3D-Printing, emulsification, macroporous polymer, micromixer, polyHIPE

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Authors: Min Wang, Hui Tian

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Health promotion of high school students is essential for the construction of ‘Healthy China’, and increasing high school students’ physical activity is a must for their health promotion. School plays a crucial role in increasing high school students’ physical activity. Therefore, to have a comprehensive command of the school physical activity promotion strategies is of great significance for the health promotion of high school students in China and will shed some light on physical activity promotion worldwide. Literature review and interview survey are the main methods adopted for this research. It has been found that reforms of P.E. classes, improving the overall quality of P.E. teachers, and construction of school fields and facilities are among the major strategies to promote students’ physical activities. Even though it has been stipulated that primary and middle school students should take 3-4 times of P.E. classes per week, the execution is greatly influenced by the exam-oriented educational system. Randomly canceling P.E. classes or taking up the time to study other subjects is common, so it is difficult to guarantee the quantity of P.E. classes. According to national surveys, only 20%-40% of schools have 3-4 times of P.E. classes per week. In order to reduce the hindering effects of the exam-oriented educational system, a physical education test is included in the senior middle school entrance exam. The exam items include 1000m run for boys, 800m run for girls, and the basic skills for basketball/football/volleyball. The scores of the physical education test will greatly influence the admission of senior middle schools. China is now developing the ‘campus football’ policy and has established 20,000 football featured schools by 2017. Especially in these schools, football has become an important part of the students’ P.E. classes and a major means to promote students’ physical activity. As the Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing in 2022, China has promoted the ‘winter sports for all’ movement. The aim is to encourage 300 million people to winter sports, and the high school students are among the most potential participants. The primary and middle schools in Beijing have introduced winter sports to their P.E. curriculum, providing opportunities for the students to experience ice hockey and curling. Some Winter Olympics champions also go to the schools to popularize winter sports among the students. This greatly adds variety to the students’ physical activity regimen at school. In November 2017, seven ministries, including the General Administration of Sport of China and Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, release Youth Sport Promotion Strategy. The strategy stipulates to strengthen the construction of youth sport facilities and implement the cultivation plan for P.E. teachers. It also emphasizes that school sport facilities should be open to students during holidays and vacations for free or at an affordable price. Overall speaking, the Chinese government stresses the importance of youth physical activity promotion and has issued a series of related policies and strategies, but the implementation still needs improvement.

Keywords: China, physical activity, promotion, school

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Authors: Timothy E. Frank, Peter J. Amaddio, Elizabeth D. Decko, Alexis M. Tri, Darcy A. Farrell, Cole M. Landes

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Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) is a class of cementitious composites with a relatively large percentage of cement generating high compressive strength. Additionally, UHPC contains disbursed fibers, which control crack width, carry the tensile load across narrow cracks, and limit spalling. These characteristics lend themselves to a wide range of structural applications when UHPC members are reinforced with longitudinal steel. Efficient use of fibers and longitudinal steel is required to keep lifecycle cost competitive in reinforced UHPC members; this requires full utilization of both the compressive and tensile qualities of the reinforced cementitious composite. The objective of this study is to investigate the shear response of steel-reinforced UHPC beams to guide design decisions that keep initial costs reasonable, limit serviceability crack widths, and ensure a ductile structural response and failure path. Five small-scale, reinforced UHPC beams were experimentally tested. Longitudinal steel, transverse steel, and casting direction were varied. Results indicate that an increase in transverse steel in short-spanned reinforced UHPC beams provided additional shear capacity and increased the peak load achieved. Beams with very large longitudinal steel reinforcement ratios did not achieve yield and fully utilized the tension properties of the longitudinal steel. Casting the UHPC beams from the end or from the middle affected load-carrying capacity and ductility, but image analysis determined the fiber orientation was not significantly different. It is believed the presence of transverse and longitudinal steel reinforcement minimized the effect of different UHPC casting directions. Results support recent recommendations in the literature suggesting a 1% fiber volume fraction is sufficient within UHPC to prevent spalling and provide compressive fracture toughness under extreme loading conditions.

Keywords: fiber orientation, reinforced ultra high performance concrete beams, shear, transverse steel

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Authors: Gabriela D. Silva, Rodrigo L. O. R. Cunha, Mauricio D. Coutinho-Neto

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In the last four decades the biological activities of selenium compounds has received great attention, particularly for hypervalent derivates from selenium (IV) used as enzyme inhibitors. The unregulated activity of cysteine proteases are related to the development of several pathologies, such as neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and parasitic infections. These enzymes are therefore a valuable target for designing new small molecule inhibitors such as selenuranes. Even tough there has been advances in the synthesis and design of new selenuranes based inhibitors, little is known about their mechanism of action. It is a given that inhibition occurs through the reaction between the thiol group of the enzyme and the chalcogen atom. However, several open questions remain about the nature of the mechanism (associative vs. dissociative) and about the nature of the reactive species in solution under physiological conditions. In this work we performed a theoretical investigation on model systems to study the possible routes of substitution reactions. Nucleophiles may be present in biological systems, our interest is centered in the thiol groups from the cysteine proteases and the hydroxyls from the aqueous environment. We therefore expect this study to clarify the possibility of a route reaction in two stages, the first consisting of the substitution of chloro atoms by hydroxyl groups and then replacing these hydroxyl groups per thiol groups in selenuranes. The structures of selenuranes and nucleophiles were optimized using density function theory along the B3LYP functional and a 6-311+G(d) basis set. Solvent was treated using the IEFPCM method as implemented in the Gaussian 09 code. Our results indicate that hydrolysis from water react preferably with selenuranes, and then, they are replaced by the thiol group. It show the energy values of -106,0730423 kcal/mol for dople substituition by hydroxyl group and 96,63078511 kcal/mol for thiol group. The solvatation and pH reduction promotes this route, increasing the energy value for reaction with hydroxil group to -50,75637672 kcal/mol and decreasing the energy value for thiol to 7,917767189 kcal/mol. Alternative ways were analyzed for monosubstitution (considering the competition between Cl, OH and SH groups) and they suggest the same route. Similar results were obtained for aliphatic and aromatic selenuranes studied.

Keywords: chalcogenes, computational study, cysteine proteases, enzyme inhibitors

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Authors: Mustafa Metin Donma

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Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is characterized by a series of biochemical, physiological and anthropometric indicators and is a life-threatening health problem due to its close association with chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The syndrome deserves great interest both in adults and children. Central obesity is the indispensable component of MetS. Particularly, children, who are morbidly obese have a great tendency to develop the disease, because they are under the threat in their future lives. Preventive measures at this stage should be considered. For this, investigators seek for an informative scale or an index for the purpose. So far, several, but not many suggestions come into the stage. However, the diagnostic decision is not so easy and may not be complete particularly in the pediatric population. The aim of the study was to develop a MetS index capable of predicting MetS, while children are at the morbid obesity stage. This study was performed on morbid obese (MO) children, which were divided into two groups. Morbid obese children, who do not possess MetS criteria comprised the first group (n=44). The second group was composed of children (n=42) with MetS diagnosis. Parents were informed about the signed consent forms, which are required for the participation of their children in the study. The approval of the study protocol was taken from the institutional ethics committee of Tekirdag Namik Kemal University. Helsinki Declaration was accepted prior to and during the study. Anthropometric measurements including weight, height, waist circumference (WC), hip C, head C, neck C, biochemical tests including fasting blood glucose (FBG), insulin (INS), triglycerides (TRG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and blood pressure measurements (systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP)) were performed. Body fat percentage (BFP) values were determined by TANITA’s Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis technology. Body mass index and MetS indices were calculated. The equations for MetS index (MetSI) and advanced Donma MetS index (ADMI) were [(INS/FBG)/(HDL-C/TRG)]*100 and MetSI*[(SBP+DBP/Height)], respectively. Descriptive statistics including median values, compare means tests, correlation-regression analysis were performed within the scope of data evaluation using the statistical package program, SPSS. Statistically significant mean differences were determined by a p value smaller than 0.05. Median values for MetSI and ADMI in MO (MetS-) and MO (MetS+) groups were calculated as (25.9 and 36.5) and (74.0 and 106.1), respectively. Corresponding mean±SD values for BFPs were 35.9±7.1 and 38.2±7.7 in groups. Correlation analysis of these two indices with corresponding general BFP values exhibited significant association with ADMI, close to significance with MetSI in MO group. Any significant correlation was found with neither of the indices in MetS group. In conclusion, important associations observed with MetS indices in MO group were quite meaningful. The presence of these associations in MO group was important for showing the tendency towards the development of MetS in MO (MetS-) participants. The other index, ADMI, was more helpful for predictive purpose.

Keywords: body fat percentage, child, index, metabolic syndrome, obesity

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Authors: Madelaine Venzon, Dany S. S. L. Amaral, André L. Perez, Natália S. Diaz, Juliana A. Martinez Chiguachi, Maira C. M. Fonseca, James D. Harwood, Angelo Pallini

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Integrating strategies of sustainable crop production and promoting the provisioning of ecological services on farms and within rural landscapes is a challenge for today’s agriculture. Habitat management, through increasing vegetational diversity, enhances heterogeneity in agroecosystems and has the potential to improve the recruitment of natural enemies of pests, which promotes biological control services. In tropical agroecosystems, however, there is a paucity of information pertaining to the resources provided by associated plants and their interactions with natural enemies. The maintenance of non-crop plants integrated into and/or surrounding crop fields provides the farmer with a low-investment option to enhance biological control. We carried out field experiments in chili pepper agroecosystems with small stakeholders located in the Zona da Mata, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from 2011 to 2015 where we assessed: (a) whether non-crop plants within and around chili pepper fields affect the diversity and abundance of aphidophagous species; (b) whether there are direct interactions between non-crop plants and aphidophagous arthropods; and (c) the importance of non-crop plant resources for survival of Coccinellidae and Chrysopidae species. Aphidophagous arthropods were dominated by Coccinellidae, Neuroptera, Syrphidae, Anthocoridae and Araneae. These natural enemies were readily observed preying on aphids, feeding on flowers or extrafloral nectaries and using plant structures for oviposition and/or protection. Aphid populations were lower on chili pepper fields associated with non-crop plants that on chili pepper monocultures. Survival of larvae and adults of different species of Coccinellidae and Chrysopidae on non-crop resources varied according to the plant species. This research provides evidence that non-crop plants in chili pepper agroecosystems can affect aphid abundance and their natural enemy abundance and survival. It is also highlighting the need for further research to fully characterize the structure and function of plant resources in these and other tropical agroecosystems. Financial support: CNPq, FAPEMIG and CAPES (Brazil).

Keywords: Conservation biological control, aphididae, Coccinellidae, Chrysopidae, plant diversification

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Authors: Benjamin Glasner, Carlos Henriquez, Fernando Alfaro, Nicole Trefault, Santiago Andrade, Rodrigo De La Iglesia

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A central question in ecology refers to the relative importance that local-scale variables have over community composition, when compared with regional-scale variables. In coastal environments, strong seasonal abiotic influence dominates these systems, weakening the impact of other parameters like micronutrients. After the industrial revolution, micronutrients like trace metals have increased in ocean as pollutants, with strong effects upon biotic entities and biological processes in coastal regions. Coastal picoplankton communities had been characterized as a cyanobacterial dominated fraction, but in recent years the eukaryotic component of this size fraction has gained relevance due to their high influence in carbon cycle, although, diversity patterns and responses to disturbances are poorly understood. South Pacific upwelling coastal environments represent an excellent model to study seasonal changes due to a strong influence in the availability of macro- and micronutrients between seasons. In addition, some well constrained coastal bays of this region have been subjected to strong disturbances due to trace metal inputs. In this study, we aim to compare the influence of seasonality and trace metals concentrations, on the community structure of planktonic picoeukaryotes. To describe seasonal patterns in the study area, satellite data in a 6 years time series and in-situ measurements with a traditional oceanographic approach such as CTDO equipment were performed. In addition, trace metal concentrations were analyzed trough ICP-MS analysis, for the same region. For biological data collection, field campaigns were performed in 2011-2012 and the picoplankton community was described by flow cytometry and taxonomical characterization with next-generation sequencing of ribosomal genes. The relation between the abiotic and biotic components was finally determined by multivariate statistical analysis. Our data show strong seasonal fluctuations in abiotic parameters such as photosynthetic active radiation and superficial sea temperature, with a clear differentiation of seasons. However, trace metal analysis allows identifying strong differentiation within the study area, dividing it into two zones based on trace metals concentration. Biological data indicate that there are no major changes in diversity but a significant fluctuation in evenness and community structure. These changes are related mainly with regional parameters, like temperature, but by analyzing the metal influence in picoplankton community structure, we identify a differential response of some plankton taxa to metal pollution. We propose that some picoeukaryotic plankton groups respond differentially to metal inputs, by changing their nutritional status and/or requirements under disturbances as a derived outcome of toxic effects and tolerance.

Keywords: Picoeukaryotes, plankton communities, trace metals, seasonal patterns

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Authors: Yusuf Bulale, Mark Prince, Geoff Tansley, Peter Brett

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Cochlear Implantation (CI) which became a routine procedure for the last decades is an electronic device that provides a sense of sound for patients who are severely and profoundly deaf. Today, cochlear implantation technology uses electrode array (EA) implanted manually into the cochlea. The optimal success of this implantation depends on the electrode technology and deep insertion techniques. However, this manual insertion procedure may cause mechanical trauma which can lead to a severe destruction of the delicate intracochlear structure. Accordingly, future improvement of the cochlear electrode implant insertion needs reduction of the excessive force application during the cochlear implantation which causes tissue damage and trauma. This study is examined tool-tissue interaction of large prototype scale digit embedded with distributive tactile sensor based upon cochlear electrode and large prototype scale cochlea phantom for simulating the human cochlear which could lead to small-scale digit requirements. The digit, distributive tactile sensors embedded with silicon-substrate was inserted into the cochlea phantom to measure any digit/phantom interaction and position of the digit in order to minimize tissue and trauma damage during the electrode cochlear insertion. The digit has provided tactile information from the digit-phantom insertion interaction such as contact status, tip penetration, obstacles, relative shape and location, contact orientation and multiple contacts. The tests demonstrated that even devices of such a relative simple design with low cost have a potential to improve cochlear implant surgery and other lumen mapping applications by providing tactile sensory feedback information and thus controlling the insertion through sensing and control of the tip of the implant during the insertion. In that approach, the surgeon could minimize the tissue damage and potential damage to the delicate structures within the cochlear caused by current manual electrode insertion of the cochlear implantation. This approach also can be applied to other minimally invasive surgery applications as well as diagnosis and path navigation procedures.

Keywords: cochlear electrode insertion, distributive tactile sensory feedback information, flexible digit, minimally invasive surgery, tool/tissue interaction

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Authors: Waddah S. Abdullah, Khaled F. Al-Omari

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Electrokinetic remediation is one of the most influential and effective methods to decontaminate contaminated soils. Electroosmosis and electromigration are the processes of electrochemical extraction of contaminants from soils. The driving force that causes removing contaminants from soils (electroosmosis process or electromigration process) is voltage gradient. Therefore, the electric field distribution throughout the soil domain is extremely important to investigate and to determine the factors that help to establish a uniform electric field distribution in order to make the clean-up process work properly and efficiently. In this study, small-sized passive electrodes (made of graphite) were placed at predetermined locations within the soil specimen, and the voltage drop between these passive electrodes was measured in order to observe the electrical distribution throughout the tested soil specimens. The electrokinetic test was conducted on two types of soils; a sandy soil and a clayey soil. The electrical distribution throughout the soil domain was conducted with different tests properties; and the electrical field distribution was observed in three-dimensional pattern in order to establish the electrical distribution within the soil domain. The effects of density, applied voltages, and degree of saturation on the electrical distribution within the remediated soil were investigated. The distribution of the moisture content, concentration of the sodium ions, and the concentration of the calcium ions were determined and established in three-dimensional scheme. The study has shown that the electrical conductivity within soil domain depends on the moisture content and concentration of electrolytes present in the pore fluid. The distribution of the electrical field in the saturated soil was found not be affected by its density. The study has also shown that high voltage gradient leads to non-uniform electric field distribution within the electroremediated soil. Very importantly, it was found that even when the electric field distribution is uniform globally (i.e. between the passive electrodes), local non-uniformity could be established within the remediated soil mass. Cracks or air gaps formed due to temperature rise (because of electric flow in low conductivity regions) promotes electrical tortuosity. Thus, fracturing or cracking formed in the remediated soil mass causes disconnection of electric current and hence, no removal of contaminant occur within these areas.

Keywords: contaminant removal, electrical tortuousity, electromigration, electroosmosis, voltage distribution

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Authors: Florian Misoc, Cyril Okhio, Joshua Tolbert, Nick Carlin, Thomas Ramey

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This project is focused on designing a Stirling engine system for a solar-thermal-electrical system that can supply electric power to a single residential unit. Since Stirling engines are heat engines operating any available heat source, is notable for its ability to generate clean and reliable energy without emissions. Due to the need of finding alternative energy sources, the Stirling engines are making a comeback with the recent technologies, which include thermal energy conservation during the heat transfer process. Recent reviews show mounting evidence and positive test results that Stirling engines are able to produce constant energy supply that ranges from 5kW to 20kW. Solar Power source is one of the many uses for Stirling engines. Using solar energy to operate Stirling engines is an idea considered by many researchers, due to the ease of adaptability of the Stirling engine. In this project, the Stirling engine developed was designed and tested to operate from biomass source of energy, i.e., wood pellets stove, during low solar radiation, with good results. A 20% efficiency of the engine was estimated, and 18% efficiency was measured, making it suitable and appropriate for residential applications. The effort reported was aimed at exploring parameters necessary to design, build and test a ‘Solar Powered Stirling Engine (SPSE)’ using Water (H₂O) as the Heat Transfer medium, with Nitrogen as the working gas that can reach or exceed an efficiency of 20%. The main objectives of this work consisted in: converting a V-twin cylinder air compressor into an alpha-type Stirling engine, construct a Solar Water Heater, by using an automotive radiator as the high-temperature reservoir for the Stirling engine, and an array of fixed mirrors that concentrate the solar radiation on the automotive radiator/high-temperature reservoir. The low-temperature reservoir is the surrounding air at ambient temperature. This work has determined that a low-cost system is sufficiently efficient and reliable. Off-the-shelf components have been used and estimates of the ability of the Engine final design to meet the electricity needs of small residence have been determined.

Keywords: stirling engine, solar-thermal, power inverter, alternator

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Authors: Mohamed Naser Zainol, P. P. Angeline Song

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Over the years, the profile of end-stage renal patients placed under The National Kidney Foundation Singapore (NKFS) dialysis program has evolved, with a gradual incline in the number of patients with behavior-related issues. With these challenging profiles, social workers and counsellors are often expected to oversee behavior management, through referrals from its partnering colleagues. Due to the segregation of tasks usually found in many hospital-based multi-disciplinary settings, social workers’ and counsellors’ interventions are often seen as an endpoint, limiting other stakeholders’ involvement that could otherwise be potentially crucial in managing such patients. While patients’ contact in local hospitals often leads to eventual discharge, NKFS patients are mostly long term. It is interesting to note that these patients are regularly seen by a team of professionals that includes doctors, nurses, dietitians, exercise specialists in NKFS. The dynamism of relationships presents an opportunity for any of these professionals to take ownership of their potentials in leading interventions that can be helpful to patients. As such, it is important to have a framework that incorporates the strength of these professionals and also channels empowerment across the multi-disciplinary team in working towards wholistic patient care. This paper would like to suggest a new framework for NKFS’s multi-disciplinary team, where the group synergy and dynamics are used to encourage ownership and promote empowerment. The social worker and counsellor use group work skills and his/her knowledge of its members’ strengths, to generate constructive solutions that are centered towards patient’s growth. Using key ideas from Karl’s Tomm Interpersonal Communications, the Communication Management of Meaning and Motivational Interviewing, the social worker and counsellor through a series of guided meeting with other colleagues, facilitates the transmission of understanding, responsibility sharing and tapping on team resources for patient care. As a result, the patient can experience personal and concerted approach and begins to flow in a direction that is helpful for him. Using seven case studies of identified patients with behavioral issues, the social worker and counsellor apply this framework for a period of six months. Patient’s overall improvement through interventions as a result of this framework are recorded using the AB single case design, with baseline measured three months before referral. Interviews with patients and their families, as well as other colleagues that are not part of the multi-disciplinary team are solicited at mid and end points to gather their experiences about patient’s progress as a by-product of this framework. Expert interviews will be conducted on each member of the multi-disciplinary team to study their observations and experience in using this new framework. Hence, this exploratory framework hopes to identify the inherent usefulness in managing patients with behavior related issues. Moreover, it would provide indicators in improving aspects of the framework when applied to a larger population.

Keywords: behavior management, end-stage renal failure, satellite dialysis, multi-disciplinary team

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Authors: Elsa Reethu, S. Karthik Babu, N. Syed

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Background: Studies in the past focused on the additional benefits of action observation in improving upper and lower limb functions and improving activities of daily living when administered along with conventional therapy. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of literature proving the effects of motor imagery of truncal exercise in improving trunk control in patients with stroke. Aims/purpose: To study the effect of motor imagery of truncal exercises on trunk function and balance in early stroke. Methods: A total of 24 patients were included in the study. 12 were included in the experimental group and 12 were included in control group Trunk function was measured using Trunk Control Test (TCT), Trunk Impairment Scale Verheyden (TIS Verheyden) and Trunk Impairment Scale Fujiwara (TIS Fujiwara). The balance was assessed using Brunel Balance Assessment (BBA) and Tinetti POMA. For the experimental group, each session was for 30 minutes of physical exercises and 15 minutes of motor imagery, once a day, six times a week for 3 weeks and prior to the exercise session, patients viewed a video tape of all the trunk exercises to be performed for 15minutes. The control group practiced the trunk exercises alone for the same duration. Measurements were taken before, after and 4 weeks after intervention. Results: The effect of treatment in motor imagery group showed better improvement when compared with control group when measured after 3 weeks on values of static sitting balance, dynamic balance, total TIS (Verheyden) score, BBA, Tinetti balance and gait with a large effect size of 0.86, 1.99, 1.69, 1.06, 1.63 and 0.97 respectively. The moderate effect size was seen in values of TIS Fujiwara (0.58) and small effect size was seen on TCT (0.12) and TIS coordination component (0.13).at the end of 4 weeks after intervention, the large effect size was identified on values of dynamic balance (2.06), total TIS score (1.59) and Tinetti balance (1.24). The moderate effect size was observed on BBA (0.62) and Tinetti gait (0.72). Conclusion: Trunk motor imagery is effective in improving trunk function and balance in patients with stroke and has a carryover effect in the aspects of mobility. The therapy gain that was observed during the time of discharge was seen to be maintained at the follow-up levels.

Keywords: stroke, trunk rehabilitation, trunk function, balance, motor imagery

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Authors: Onur Ercan, Buket Askin, Erdogan Kucukoner

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Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum, bluegold) has become popular beverage due to their nutritional values such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. In the study, the effects of pressing, mashing, enzymatic treatment, and pasteurization on anthocyanins, colour, and polyphenolics of blueberry juice (BJ) were studied. The blueberry juice (BJ) was produced with two different methods that direct juice extraction (DJE) and mash treatment process (MTP) were applied. After crude blueberry juice (CBJ) production, the samples were first treated with commercial enzymes [Novoferm-61 (Novozymes A/S) (2–10 mL/L)], to break down the hydrocolloid polysaccharides, mainly pectin and starch. The enzymes were added at various concentrations. The highest transmittance (%) was obtained for Novoferm-61 at a concentration of 2 mL/L was 66.53%. After enzymatic treatment, clarification trials were applied to the enzymatically treated BJs with adding various amounts of bentonite (10%, w/v), gelatin (1%, w/v) and kiselsol (15%, v/v). The turbidities of the clarified samples were then determined. However, there was no significant differences between transmittances (%) for samples. For that, only enzymatic treatment was applied to the blueberry juice processing (DDBJ, depectinized direct blueberry juice). Based on initial pressing process made to evaluate press function, it was determined that pressing fresh blueberries with no other processing did not render adequate juice due to lack of liquefaction. Therefore, the blueberries were mash into small pieces (3 mm) and then enzymatic treatments and clarification trials were performed. Finally, both BJ samples were pasteurized. Compositional analyses, colour properties, polyphenols and antioxidant properties were compared. Enzymatic treatment caused significant reductions in ACN content (30%) in Direct Blueberry Juice Processing (DBJ), while there was a significant increasing in Mash Treatment Processing (MTP). Overall anthocyanin levels were higher intreated samples after each processing step in MTP samples, but polyphenolic levels were slightly higher for both processes (DBJ and MTP). There was a reduction for ACNs and polyphenolics only after pasteurization. It has a result that the methods for tried to blueberry juice is suitable into obtain fresh juice. In addition, we examined fruit juice during processing stages; anthocyanin, phenolic substance content and antioxidant activity are higher, and yield is higher in fruit juice compared to DBJ method in MTP method, the MTP method should be preferred in processing juice of blueberry into fruit juice.

Keywords: anthocyanins, blueberry, depectinization, polyphenols

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Authors: Anne Mastamet-Mason

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Crimes against women is a global concern, and South Africa, in particular, is in a dilemma of dealing with constant criminal acts that face the country. Debates on violence against women in South Africa cannot be overemphasised any longer as crimes continue to rise year by year. The recent death of a university student at the University of Cape Town, as well as many other cases, continues to strengthen the need to find solutions from all the spheres of South African society. The advanced textiles market contains a high number and variety of technologies, many of which have protected status and constitute a relatively small portion of the textiles used for the consumer market. Examples of advanced textiles include nanomaterials, such as silver, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, designed to create an anti-microbial and self-cleaning layer on top of the fibers, thereby reducing body smell and soiling. Smart textiles propose materials and fabrics versatile and adaptive to different situations and functions. Integrating textiles and computing technologies offer an opportunity to come up with differentiated characteristics and functionality. This paper presents a proposal to design a smart camisole/Yoga sports brazier and a smart Yoga sports pant garment to be worn by women while alone and while in purported danger zones. The smart garments are to be worn under normal clothing and cannot be detected or seen, or suspected by perpetrators. The garments are imbued with devices to sense any physical aggression and any abnormal or accelerated heartbeat that may be exhibited by the victim of violence. The signals created during the attack can be transmitted to the police and family members who own a mobile application system that accepts signals emitted. The signals direct the receiver to the exact location of the offence, and the victim can be rescued before major violations are committed. The design of the Yoga sports garments will be done by Professor Mason, who is a fashion designer by profession, while the mobile phone application system will be developed by Mr. Amos Yegon, who is an independent software developer.

Keywords: smart clothing, wearable technology, south africa, 4th industrial revolution

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Authors: Murray Matarab Konzang

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Lae Port Development Project, Four Lane Highway and other development in the extraction industry which have direct road link to Lae City are predicted to have significant impact on its road network system. This paper evaluates Lae roads improvement program with forecast on planning, economic and the installation of bypasses to ease congestion, effective and convenient transport service for bulk goods and reduce travel time. Land-use transportation study and plans for local area traffic management scheme will be considered. City roads are faced with increased number of traffic and some inadequate road pavement width, poor transport plans, and facilities to meet this transportation demand. Lae also has drainage system which might not hold a 100 year flood. Proper evaluation, plan, design and intersection analysis is needed to evaluate road network system thus recommend improvement and estimate future growth. Repetitive and cyclic loading by heavy commercial vehicles with different axle configurations apply on the flexible pavement which weakens and tear the pavement surface thus small cracks occur. Rain water seeps through and overtime it creates potholes. Effective planning starts from experimental research and appropriate design standards to enable firm embankment, proper drains and quality pavement material. This paper will address traffic problems as well as road pavement, capacities of intersections, and pedestrian flow during peak hours. The outcome of this research will be to identify heavily trafficked road sections and recommend treatments to reduce traffic congestions, road classification, and proposal for bypass routes and improvement. First part of this study will describe transport or traffic related problems within the city. Second part would be to identify challenges imposed by traffic and road related problems and thirdly to recommend solutions after the analyzing traffic data that will indicate current capacities of road intersections and finally recommended treatment for improvement and future growth.

Keywords: Lae, road network, highway, vehicle traffic, planning

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Authors: Sherelle Lou Sumera Icutan, Sheila P. Cayabyab, Mary Jane Laruan, Paulo V. Cenas, Agustina R. Tactay

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This study critically analyzed the recent theses and dissertations of the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) teachers who finished their graduate programs in selected higher educational institutions in Region I and CAR to be able to come up with a unified result from the varied results of the analyzed research works. All theses and dissertations completed by the educators/teachers/school personnel in the secondary and elementary public and private schools in Region 1 and CAR from AY 2003–2004 to AY 2007–2008 were classified first–as to work or non-work related; second–as to the different aspects of the curriculum: implementation, content, instructional materials, assessment instruments, learning, teaching, and others; third–as to being eligible for meta-analysis or not. Only studies found eligible for meta-analysis were subjected to the procedure. Aside from documentary analysis, the statistical treatments used in meta-analysis include the standardized effect size, Pearson’s correlation (r), the chi-square test of homogeneity and the inverse of the Fisher transformation. This study found out that the BEC-teachers usually probe on work-related researchers with topics that are focused on the learning performances of the students and on factors related to teaching. The development of instructional materials and assessment of implemented programs are also equally explored. However, there are only few researches on content and assessment instrument. Research findings on the areas of learning and teaching are the only aspects that are meta-analyzable. The research findings across studies in Region I and CAR of BEC teachers that focused on similar variables correlated to teaching do not vary significantly. On the contrary, research findings across studies in Region I and CAR that focused on variables correlated to learning performance significantly vary. Within each region, variations on the findings of research works related to learning performance that considered similar variables still exist. The combined finding on the effect size or relationship of the variables that are correlated to learning performance are low which means that effect is small but definite while the combined findings on the relationship of the variables correlated to teaching are slight or almost negligible.

Keywords: meta-analysis, BEC teachers, work-related research,

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Authors: Shuang Chen, Zongqian Shi, Jiajia Sun, Mingjia Li

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Microfluidics is a technology that small amounts of fluids are manipulated using channels with dimensions of tens to hundreds of micrometers. At present, this significant technology is required for several applications in some fields, including disease diagnostics, genetic engineering, and environmental monitoring, etc. Among these fields, manipulation of microparticles and cells in microfluidic device, especially separation, have aroused general concern. In magnetic field, the separation methods include positive and negative magnetophoresis. By comparison, negative magnetophoresis is a label-free technology. It has many advantages, e.g., easy operation, low cost, and simple design. Before the separation of particles or cells, focusing them into a single tight stream is usually a necessary upstream operation. In this work, the focusing of diamagnetic particles in ferrofluid microflows with a single set of overhead permanent magnets is investigated numerically. The geometric model of the simulation is based on the configuration of previous experiments. The straight microchannel is 24mm long and has a rectangular cross-section of 100μm in width and 50μm in depth. The spherical diamagnetic particles of 10μm in diameter are suspended into ferrofluid. The initial concentration of the ferrofluid c₀ is 0.096%, and the flow rate of the ferrofluid is 1.8mL/h. The magnetic field is induced by five identical rectangular neodymium−iron− boron permanent magnets (1/8 × 1/8 × 1/8 in.), and it is calculated by equivalent charge source (ECS) method. The flow of the ferrofluid is governed by the Navier–Stokes equations. The trajectories of particles are solved by the discrete phase model (DPM) in the ANSYS FLUENT program. The positions of diamagnetic particles are recorded by transient simulation. Compared with the results of the mentioned experiments, our simulation shows consistent results that diamagnetic particles are gradually focused in ferrofluid under magnetic field. Besides, the diamagnetic particle focusing is studied by varying the flow rate of the ferrofluid. It is in agreement with the experiment that the diamagnetic particle focusing is better with the increase of the flow rate. Furthermore, it is investigated that the diamagnetic particle focusing is affected by other factors, e.g., the width and depth of the microchannel, the concentration of the ferrofluid and the diameter of diamagnetic particles.

Keywords: diamagnetic particle, focusing, microfluidics, permanent magnet

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Authors: I. Dangeard, S. Meineri, M. Dupré

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large body of research on energy consumption reveals that regular information on energy consumption produces a positive effect on behavior. The present research aims to test this feedback paradigm on waste management. A small-scale experiment on residual household waste was performed in a large french urban area, in partnership with local authorities, as part of the development of larger-scale project. A two-step door-to-door recruitment scheme led to 85 households answering a questionnaire. Among them, 54 accepted to participate in a study on waste (second step). Participants were then randomly assigned to one of the 3 experimental conditions : self-reported feedback on curbside waste, external feedback on waste weight based on information technologies, and no feedback for the control group. An additional control group was added, including households who were not requested to answer the questionnaire. Household residual waste was collected every week, and tags on curbside bins fed a database with waste weight of households. The feedback period lasted 14 weeks (february-may 2014). Quantitative data on waste weight were analysed, including these 14 weeks and the 7 previous weeks. Households were then contacted by phone in order to confirm the quantitative results. Regarding the recruitment questionnaire, results revealed high pro-environmental attitude on the NEP scale, high recycling behavior level and moderate level of source reduction behavior on the adapted 3R scale, but no statistical difference between the 3 experimental groups. Regarding the feedback manipulation paradigm, waste weight reveals important differences between households, but doesn't prove any statistical difference between the experimental conditions. Qualitative phone interviews confirm that recycling is a current practice among participants, whereas source reduction of waste is not, and mainly appears as a producer problem of packaging limitation. We conclude that triggering waste prevention behaviors among recycling households involves long-term feedback and should promote benchmarking, in order to clearly set waste reduction as an objective to be managed through feedback figures.

Keywords: eco-feedback, household waste, waste reduction, experimental research

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Authors: Hussien Ali, Mesfin Menza, Fitsum Hagos, Amare Haileslassie

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Climate change has perverse effects on agricultural productivity and natural resource base, negatively affecting the well-being of the households and communities. The government and NGOs promote climate smart agricultural (CSA) practices to help farmers adapt to and mitigate the negative effects of climate change. This study aims to identify widely available CSA practices and examine their impacts on food security and multi-dimensional poverty of rural farm households in the Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia. Using three-stage proportional to size sampling procedure, the study randomly selected 278 households from two kebeles from four districts each. A cross-sectional data of 2020/21 cropping season was collected using structured and pretested survey questionnaire. Food consumption score, dietary diversity score, food insecurity experience scale, and multidimensional poverty index were calculated to measure households’ welfare indicators. Multinomial endogenous switching regression model was used to assess average treatment effects of CSA on these outcome indicators on adopter and non-adopter households. The results indicate that the widely adopted CSA practices in the area are conservation agriculture, soil fertility management, crop diversification, and small-scale irrigation. Adopter households have, on average, statistically higher food consumption score, dietary diversity score and lower food insecurity access scale than non-adopters. Moreover, adopter households, on average, have lower deprivation score in multidimensional poverty compared to non-adopter households. Up scaling the adoption of CSA practices through the improvement of households’ implementation capacity and better information, technical advice, and innovative financing mechanisms is advised. Up scaling CSA practices can further promote achieving global goals such as SDG 1, SDG 2, and SDG 13 targets, aimed to end poverty and hunger and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change, respectively.

Keywords: climate-smart agriculture, food security, multidimensional poverty, upscaling CSA, Ethiopia

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Authors: Stephen Bahooshy

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Co-producing services with the people that access them is considered best practice in the United Kingdom, with the Care Act 2014 arguing that people who access services and their carers should be involved in the design, commissioning and delivery of services. Co-production is a way of working with the community, breaking down barriers of access and providing meaningful opportunity for people to engage. Unfortunately, owing to a number of reported factors such as time constraints, practitioner experience and departmental budget restraints, this process is not always followed. In 2019, in a south London borough, d/Deaf people who access services were engaged in the design, commissioning and delivery of an information and advice service that would support their community to access local government services. To do this, sensory impairment social workers and commissioners collaborated to host a series of engagement events with the d/Deaf community. Interpreters were used to enable communication between the commissioners and d/Deaf participants. Initially, the community’s opinions, ideas and requirements were noted. This was then summarized and fed back to the community to ensure accuracy. Subsequently, a service specification was developed which included performance metrics, inclusive of qualitative and quantitative indicators, such as ‘I statements’, whereby participants respond on an adapted Likert scale how much they agree or disagree with a particular statement in relation to their experience of the service. The service specification was reviewed by a smaller group of d/Deaf residents and social workers, to ensure that it met the community’s requirements. The service was then tendered using the local authority’s e-tender process. Bids were evaluated and scored in two parts; part one was by commissioners and social workers and part two was a presentation by prospective providers to an evaluation panel formed of four d/Deaf residents. The internal evaluation panel formed 75% of the overall score, whilst the d/Deaf resident evaluation panel formed 25% of the overall tender score. Co-producing the evaluation panel with social workers and the d/Deaf community meant that commissioners were able to meet the requirements of this community by developing evaluation questions and tools that were easily understood and use by this community. For example, the wording of questions were reviewed and the scoring mechanism consisted of three faces to reflect the d/Deaf residents’ scores instead of traditional numbering. These faces were a happy face, a neutral face and a sad face. By making simple changes to the commissioning and tender evaluation process, d/Deaf people were able to have meaningful involvement in the design and commissioning process for a service that would benefit their community. Co-produced performance metrics means that it is incumbent on the successful provider to continue to engage with people accessing the service and ensure that the feedback is utilized. d/Deaf residents were grateful to have been involved in this process as this was not an opportunity that they had previously been afforded. In recognition of their time, each d/Deaf resident evaluator received a £40 gift voucher, bringing the total cost of this co-production to £160.

Keywords: co-production, community engagement, deaf and hearing impaired, service design

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Authors: Zainab Bashir

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There has been a lot of quantitative research on end-stage renal disease (ESRD), its implications, psychological effects and so on across the world, however little qualitative information is available on coping strategies and illness role adaptations specific to renal failure. This article attempts to learn about illness roles and coping strategies specific to aged ESRD patients on hemodialysis in Lahore. The patients were interviewed on a structured schedule and were asked questions on tasks and coping related to physical, psychological, and social consequences of renal failure. Standardised techniques and methods of grounded theory were used to analyse and code the information in this small-scale, in-depth study. An analysis of tasks faced by the ESRD patients and coping they employ to fulfill or overcome those tasks were done. This analysis was based on three different types of data: experiential accounts of ESRD patients with respect to tasks and strategies for coping, coping styles and illness roles typologies, and monographs of coping styles. In the information gathered using interviews with respondents, three styles of problem focused coping, and two styles of emotion focused coping could be identified. Problem focused coping included making physical adjustments to suit the requirements of the health condition, including dialysis and medical regime as integral part of patients’ lives, and altering future plans according to the course of the disease. Emotion focused coping included seeking help to manage stress/anxiety and resenting the disease condition and giving up. These coping styles are linked to the illness roles assigned to the respondents. In conclusion, there is no single formula to deal with the disease, however, some typologies can be established. In most of the cases discussed in the paper, adjustment to a regular dialysis routine, restriction in bodily function, inability to work and negative impacts on family life, especially spousal relationships have come to fore as common problems. A large part of coping with these problems had to do with mentally accepting the disease and carrying on despite. These cannot be seen as deviant adaptations to the depressive situation arising from renal failure, but more of patterned ways in which patients can approximate a close to normal lifestyle despite the terminal disease.

Keywords: coping strategies, ESRD patients, hemodialysis, illness roles

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Authors: Michela Terlizzi, Chiara Colarusso, Aldo Pinto, Rosalinda Sorrentino

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Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a membrane-derived bioactive phospholipid exerting a multitude of effects on respiratory cell physiology and pathology through five S1P receptors (S1PR1-5). Higher levels of S1P have been registered in a broad range of respiratory diseases, including inflammatory disorders and cancer, although its exact role is still elusive. Based on our previous study in which we found that S1P/S1PR3 is involved in an inflammatory pattern via the activation of Toll-like Receptor 9 (TLR9), highly expressed on lung cancer cells, the main goal of the current study was to better understand the involvement of S1P/S1PR3 pathway/signaling during lung carcinogenesis, taking advantage of a mouse model of first-hand smoke exposure and of carcinogen-induced lung cancer. We used human samples of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), a mouse model of first-hand smoking, and of Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)-induced tumor-bearing mice and A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells. We found that the intranuclear, but not the membrane, localization of S1PR3 was associated to the proliferation of lung adenocarcinoma cells, the mechanism that was correlated to human and mouse samples of smoke-exposure and carcinogen-induced lung cancer, which were characterized by higher utilization of S1P. Indeed, the inhibition of the membrane S1PR3 did not alter tumor cell proliferation after TLR9 activation. Instead, according to the nuclear localization of sphingosine kinase (SPHK) II, the enzyme responsible for the catalysis of the S1P last step synthesis, the inhibition of the kinase completely blocked the endogenous S1P-induced tumor cell proliferation. These results prove that the endogenous TLR9-induced S1P can on one side favor pro-inflammatory mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment via the activation of cell surface receptors, but on the other tumor progression via the nuclear S1PR3/SPHK II axis, highlighting a novel molecular mechanism that identifies S1P as one of the crucial mediators for lung carcinogenesis-associated inflammatory processes and that could provide differential therapeutic approaches especially in non-responsive lung cancer patients.

Keywords: sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), S1P Receptor 3 (S1PR3), smoking-mice, lung inflammation, lung cancer

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Authors: David Obafemi Adebayo

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An occupational challenge has been identified as one of the factors that could cripple set goals and life ambitions of an Internally Displaced Person (IDP). The main thrust of this study is therefore, explore the use of life support/adjustment strategy with a view to repositioning these internally displaced persons in Nigeria in revamping their goals and achieving their life-long ambitions. The study intends to investigate whether there exist, on the basis of gender, religion, years of working experience and educational qualification any significant difference in the occupational challenges and adjustment strategies of IDPs. The study being descriptive of survey type adopted a multi-stage sampling technique to select the minimum of 400 internally displaced persons from IDP camps in Yimitu Village, Waru District in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The research instrument used for the study was a researcher-designed questionnaire entitled “Questionnaire on Occupational Challenges and Adjustment Strategy of Internally Displaced Persons (QOCASIDPs)”. Eight null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha levels of significance. Frequency counts and percentages, means and rank order, t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) (where applicable) were employed to analyze the data. The Study determined whether occupational challenges of internally displaced persons included loss of employment, vocational discrimination, marginalization by employers of labour, isolation due to joblessness, lack of occupational freedom, which were found to be true. The results were discussed in line with the findings. The study established the place of notable adjustment strategies adopted by internally displaced person like engaging in petty trading, sourcing soft loans from NGOs, setting up small-scale businesses in groups, acquiring new skills, engaging in further education, among others. The study established that there was no significant difference in the occupational challenges of IDPs on the basis of years of working experience and highest educational qualifications, though there was significant difference on the basis of gender as well as religion. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made.

Keywords: internally displaced persons, occupational challenges, adjustment strategies, Abuja-Nigeria

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