Search results for: nitrogen levels

Authors: Stephens Oluyemi Adetunji, Nel Norma Margaret, Naidu Narainsamy

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Empathy has been identified by researchers to be a crucial factor in helping adolescents to refrain from delinquent behavior. Adolescent delinquent behavior is a social problem that has become a source of concern to parents, psychologists, educators, correctional services, researchers as well as governments of nations. Empathy is a social skill that enables an individual to understand and to share another’s emotional state. An individual with a high level of empathy will avoid any act or behavior that will affect another person negatively. The need for this study is predicated on the fact that delinquent adolescent behavior could lead to adult criminality. This, in the long run, has the potential of resulting in an increase in crime rate thereby threatening public safety. It has therefore become imperative to explore the level of empathy of delinquent adolescents who have committed crime and are awaiting trial. It is the conjecture of this study that knowledge of the empathy level of delinquent adolescents will provide an opportunity to design an intervention strategy to remediate the deficit. This study was therefore designed to determine the level of empathy of delinquent adolescents. In addition, this study provides a better understanding of factors that may prevent adolescents from developing delinquent behavior, in this case, delinquents’ empathy levels. In the case of participants who have a low level of empathy, remediation strategies to improve their empathy level would be designed. Two research questions were raised to guide this study. A mixed methods research design was employed for the study. The sample consists of fifteen male adolescents who are between 13-18 years old with a mean age of 16.5 years old. The participants are adolescents who are awaiting trial. The non-probability sampling technique was used to obtain the sample for the quantitative study while purposive sampling was used in the case of the qualitative study. A self–report questionnaire and structured interview were used to assess the level of empathy of participants. The data obtained was analysed using the simple percentages for the quantitative data and transcribing the qualitative data. The result indicates that most of the participants have low level of empathy. It is also revealed that there is a difference in the empathy level on the basis of whether they are from parents living together and those whose parents are separated. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that the level of empathy of participants be improved through training and emphasizing the importance of stimulating family environment for children. It is also recommended that programs such as youth mentoring and youth sheltering be established by the government of South Africa to address the menace of delinquent adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents, behavior, delinquents, empathy

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Authors: Diea Gamal Abo El-Hassan, Salwa Ahmed Aly, Abdelrahman Mahmoud Abdelgwad

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The major conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers have anticancer effect, especially breast cancer cells, inhibits cell growth and induces cell death. Also, CLA has several health benefits in vivo, including antiatherogenesis, antiobesity, and modulation of immune function. The present study aimed to assess the safety and anticancer effects of milk fat CLA against in vivo Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) in female Swiss albino mice. This was based on acute toxicity study, detection of the tumor growth, life span of EAC bearing hosts, and simultaneous alterations in the hematological, biochemical, and histopathological profiles. Materials and Methods: One hundred and fifty adult female mice were equally divided into five groups. Groups (1-2) were normal controls, and Groups (3-5) were tumor transplanted mice (TTM) inoculated intraperitoneally with EAC cells (2×106 /0.2 mL). Group (3) was (TTM positive control). Group (4) TTM fed orally on balanced diet supplemented with milk fat CLA (40 mg CLA/kg body weight). Group (5) TTM fed orally on balanced diet supplemented with the same level of CLA 28 days before tumor cells inoculation. Blood samples and specimens from liver and kidney were collected from each group. The effect of milk fat CLA on the growth of tumor, life span of TTM, and simultaneous alterations in the hematological, biochemical, and histopathological profiles were examined. Results: For CLA treated TTM, significant decrease in tumor weight, ascetic volume, viable Ehrlich cells accompanied with increase in life span were observed. Hematological and biochemical profiles reverted to more or less normal levels and histopathology showed minimal effects. Conclusion: The present study proved the safety and anticancer efficiency of milk fat CLA and provides a scientific basis for its medicinal use as anticancer attributable to the additive or synergistic effects of its isomers.

Keywords: anticancer activity, conjugated linoleic acid, Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, % increase in life span, mean survival time, tumor transplanted mice.

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Authors: M. Dieb, T. Hodairi

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In the Southwest Libya area, the Palaeozoic deposits are an important petroleum system, with Silurian shale considered a hydrocarbon source rock and Cambro-Ordovician recognized as a good reservoir. The Palaeozoic petroleum system has the greatest potential for conventional and is thought to represent the significant prospect of unconventional petroleum resources in Southwest Libya. Until now, the lateral and vertical heterogeneity of the source rock was not well evaluated, and oil-source correlation is still a matter of debate. One source rock, which is considered the main source potential in Marzuq Basin, was investigated for its uranium contents using gamma-ray logs, rock-eval pyrolysis, and organic petrography for their bulk kinetic characteristics to determine the petroleum potential qualitatively and quantitatively. Thirty source rock samples and fifteen oil samples from the Tannezzuft source rock were analyzed by Rock-Eval Pyrolysis, microscopely investigation, GC, and GC-MS to detect acyclic isoprenoids and aliphatic, aromatic, and NSO biomarkers. Geochemistry tools were applied to screen source and age-significant biomarkers to high-spot genetic relationships. A grating heterogeneity exists among source rock zones from different levels of depth with varying uranium contents according to gamma-ray logs, rock-eval pyrolysis results, and kinetic features. The uranium-rich Tannezzuft Formations (Hot Shales) produce oils and oil-to-gas hydrocarbons based on their richness, kerogen type, and thermal maturity. Biomarker results such as C₂₇, C₂₈, and C₂₉ steranes concentrations and C₂₄ tetracyclic terpane/C₂₉ tricyclic terpane ratios, with sterane and hopane ratios, are considered the most promising biomarker information in differentiating within the Silurian Shale Tannezzuft Formation and in correlating with its expelled oils. The Tannezzuft Hot Shale is considered the main source rock for oil and gas accumulations in the Cambro-Ordovician reservoirs within the Marzuq Basin. Migration of the generated and expelled oil and gas from the Tannezzuft source rock to the reservoirs of the Cambro-Ordovician petroleum system was interpreted to have occurred along vertical and lateral pathways along the faults in the Palaeozoic Strata. The Upper Tannezzuft Formation (cold shale) is considered the primary seal in the Marzuq Basin.

Keywords: heterogeneity, hot shale, kerogen, Silurian, uranium

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Authors: Beaula, M. Kruger, Silindisipho, T. Belot

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Small informal retailers are considered one of the most important features of developing countries around the world. Those small informal retailers form part of the local communities in South African townships and are estimated to be more than 100,000 across the country. The township economic landscape has changed over time in South Africa. The traditional small informal retailers in South African Townships have been faced with numerous challenges of increasing competition; an increase in the number of local retail shops and foreign-owned shops. There is evidence that the South African personal and disposable income has increased amongst black African consumers. Historically, people residing in townships were restricted to informal retail shops; however, this has changed due to the growing number of formal large retail chains entering into the township market. The larger retail chains are aware of the improved income levels of the middle-income townships residence and as a result, larger retailers have followed certain strategies such as; (1) retail format development; (2) diversification growth strategy; (3) market penetration growth strategy and (4) market expansion. This research did a comparative analysis between the different retail models developed by Pick n Pay, Spar and Shoprite. The research methodology employed for this study was of a qualitative nature and made use of a case study to conduct a comparative analysis between larger retailers. A questionnaire was also designed to obtain data from existing smaller retailers. The study found that larger retailers have developed smaller retail formats to compete with the traditional smaller retailers operating in South African townships. Only one out of the two large retailers offers entrepreneurs a franchise model. One of the big retailers offers the opportunity to employ between 15 to 20 employees while the others are subject to the outcome of a feasibility study. The response obtained from the entrepreneurs in the townships were mixed, while some found their presence as having a “negative impact,” which has increased competition; others saw them as a means to obtain a variety of products. This research found that the most beneficial retail model for both bigger retail and existing and new entrepreneurs are from Pick n Pay. The other retail format models are more beneficial for the bigger retailers and not to new and existing entrepreneurs.

Keywords: Pick n Pay, retailers, shoprite, spar, townships

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Authors: Anna-Kaisa Sjolund

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The doctoral thesis examines interaction design and sensory ethnography as tools to create immersive education environments. In recent years, there has been increasing interest and discussions among researchers and educators on immersive education like augmented reality tools, virtual glasses and the possibilities to utilize them in education at all levels. Using virtual devices as learning environments it is possible to create multisensory learning environments. Sensory ethnography in this study refers to the way of the senses consider the impact on the information dynamics in immersive learning environments. The past decade has seen the rapid development of virtual world research and virtual ethnography. Christine Hine's Virtual Ethnography offers an anthropological explanation of net behavior and communication change. Despite her groundbreaking work, time has changed the users’ communication style and brought new solutions to do ethnographical research. The virtual reality with all its new potential has come to the fore and considering all the senses. Movie and image have played an important role in cultural research for centuries, only the focus has changed in different times and in a different field of research. According to Karin Becker, the role of image in our society is information flow and she found two meanings what the research of visual culture is. The images and pictures are the artifacts of visual culture. Images can be viewed as a symbolic language that allows digital storytelling. Combining the sense of sight, but also the other senses, such as hear, touch, taste, smell, balance, the use of a virtual learning environment offers students a way to more easily absorb large amounts of information. It offers also for teachers’ different ways to produce study material. In this article using sensory ethnography as research tool approaches the core question. Sensory ethnography is used to describe information dynamics in immersive environment through interaction design. Immersive education environment is understood as three-dimensional, interactive learning environment, where the audiovisual aspects are central, but all senses can be taken into consideration. When designing learning environments or any digital service, interaction design is always needed. The question what is interaction design is justified, because there is no simple or consistent idea of what is the interaction design or how it can be used as a research method or whether it is only a description of practical actions. When discussing immersive learning environments or their construction, consideration should be given to interaction design and sensory ethnography.

Keywords: immersive education, sensory ethnography, interaction design, information dynamics

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Authors: Anne Öman

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Today in Sweden and in other countries, a variety of digital artefacts, such as laptops, tablets, interactive whiteboards, are being used at all school levels. From an educational perspective, digital artefacts challenge traditional teaching because they provide a range of modes for expression and communication and are not limited to the traditional medium of paper. Digital technologies offer new opportunities for representations and physical interactions with objects, which put forward the role of the body in interaction and learning. From a multimodal perspective the emphasis is on the use of multiple semiotic resources for meaning- making and the study presented here has examined the differential use of semiotic resources by pupils interacting in a digitally designed task in a primary school context. The instances analyzed in this paper come from a case study where the learning task was to create an advertising film in a film-software. The study in focus involves the analysis of a single case with the emphasis on the examination of the classroom setting. The research design used in this paper was based on a micro ethnographic perspective and the empirical material was collected through video recordings of small-group work in order to explore pupils’ communication within the group activity. The designed task described here allowed students to build, share, collaborate upon and publish the redesigned products. The analysis illustrates the variety of communicative modes such as body position, gestures, visualizations, speech and the interaction between these modes and the representations made by the pupils. The findings pointed out the importance of embodied communication during the small- group processes from a learning perspective as well as a pedagogical understanding of pupils’ representations, which were similar from a cultural literacy perspective. These findings open up for discussions with further implications for the school practice concerning the small- group processes as well as the redesigned products. Wider, the findings could point out how multimodal interactions shape the learning experience in the meaning-making processes taking into account that language in a globalized society is more than reading and writing skills.

Keywords: communicative learning, interactive learning environments, pedagogical issues, primary school education

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Authors: Jianzhou Ni, Hua Fan

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It has been determined that supervisor support has a major influence on postgraduate students' academic emotions and is considered a method of successfully anticipating postgraduates' good psychological well-being levels. As a result, by assessing the mediating influence upon academic emotions for contemporary postgraduates in China, this study investigated the tight reciprocal relationship between psychological empowerment and positive mental well-being among postgraduates. To that end, a help enables a theoretical analysis of role clarity, academic emotion, and positive psychological health was developed, and its validity and reliability were demonstrated for the first time using the normalized postgrad relationship with supervisor scale, academic emotion scale, and positive mental scale, as well as questionnaire data from Chinese postgraduate students. This study used the cross-lagged (ARCL) panel model data to longitudinally measure 798 valid data from two survey questions polls taken in 2019 (T1) and 2021 (T2) to investigate the link between supervisor support and positive graduate student mental well-being in a bidirectional relationship of influence. The study discovered that mentor assistance could have a considerable beneficial impact on graduate students' academic emotions and, as a result, indirectly help learners attain positive mental health development. This verifies the theoretical premise that academic emotions partially mediate the effect of mentor support on positive mental health development and argues for the coexistence of the two. The outcomes of this study can help researchers gain a better knowledge of the dynamic interplay among three different research variables: supervisor support, academic emotions, and positive mental health, as well as fill gaps in previous research. In this regard, the study indicated that mentor assistance directly stimulates students' academic drive and assists graduate students in developing good academic emotions, which contributes to the development of positive mental health. However, given the restricted measurement time in this study's cross-lagged panel data and the potential effect of moderating effects other than academic mood on graduate students' good mental health, the results of this study need to be more fully understood and validated.

Keywords: supervisor support, academic emotions, positive mental health, interaction effects, longitudinal cross-lagged measurements

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Authors: Lindsey Carruthers, Alexandra Willis, Rory MacLean

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Introduction: It has been proposed that distractibility, a key diagnostic criterion of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), may be associated with higher creativity levels in some individuals. Anecdotal and empirical evidence has shown that ADHD is therefore beneficial to creative problem-solving, and the generation of new ideas and products. Previous studies have only used one or two measures of attention, which is insufficient given that it is a complex cognitive process. The current study aimed to determine in which ways performance on creative problem-solving tasks and a range of attention tests may be related, and if performance differs between adults with and without ADHD. Methods: 150 adults, 47 males and 103 females (mean age=28.81 years, S.D.=12.05 years), were tested at Edinburgh Napier University. Of this set, 50 participants had ADHD, and 100 did not, forming the control group. Each participant completed seven attention tasks, assessing focussed, sustained, selective, and divided attention. Creative problem-solving was measured using divergent thinking tasks, which require multiple original solutions for one given problem. Two types of divergent thinking task were used: verbal (requires written responses) and figural (requires drawn responses). Each task is scored for idea originality, with higher scores indicating more creative responses. Correlational analyses were used to explore relationships between attention and creative problem-solving, and t-tests were used to study the between group differences. Results: The control group scored higher on originality for figural divergent thinking (t(148)= 3.187, p< .01), whereas the ADHD group had more original ideas for the verbal divergent thinking task (t(148)= -2.490, p < .05). Within the control group, figural divergent thinking scores were significantly related to both selective (r= -.295 to -.285, p < .01) and divided attention (r= .206 to .290, p < .05). Alternatively, within the ADHD group, both selective (r= -.390 to -.356, p < .05) and divided (r= .328 to .347, p < .05) attention are related to verbal divergent thinking. Conclusions: Selective and divided attention are both related to divergent thinking, however the performance patterns are different between each group, which may point to cognitive variance in the processing of these problems and how they are managed. The creative differences previously found between those with and without ADHD may be dependent on task type, which to the author’s knowledge, has not been distinguished previously. It appears that ADHD does not specifically lead to higher creativity, but may provide explanation for creative differences when compared to those without the disorder.

Keywords: ADHD, attention, creativity, problem-solving

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Authors: Gómez R. Marta, Martín M. Jesús María

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The general aim of this paper identifies the areas of highest concentration of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) around the incinerator through the use of dispersion models. Atmospheric dispersion models are useful tools for estimating and prevent the impact of emissions from a particular source in air quality. These models allow considering different factors that influence in air pollution: source characteristics, the topography of the receiving environment and weather conditions to predict the pollutants concentration. The PCDD/Fs, after its emission into the atmosphere, are deposited on water or land, near or far from emission source depending on the size of the associated particles and climatology. In this way, they are transferred and mobilized through environmental compartments. The modelling of PCDD/Fs was carried out with following tools: Atmospheric Dispersion Model Software (ADMS) and Surfer. ADMS is a dispersion model Gaussian plume, used to model the impact of air quality industrial facilities. And Surfer is a program of surfaces which is used to represent the dispersion of pollutants on a map. For the modelling of emissions, ADMS software requires the following input parameters: characterization of emission sources (source type, height, diameter, the temperature of the release, flow rate, etc.) meteorological and topographical data (coordinate system), mainly. The study area was set at 5 Km around the incinerator and the first population center nearest to focus PCDD/Fs emission is about 2.5 Km, approximately. Data were collected during one year (2013) both PCDD/Fs emissions of the incinerator as meteorology in the study area. The study has been carried out during period's average that legislation establishes, that is to say, the output parameters are taking into account the current legislation. Once all data required by software ADMS, described previously, are entered, and in order to make the representation of the spatial distribution of PCDD/Fs concentration and the areas affecting them, the modelling was proceeded. In general, the dispersion plume is in the direction of the predominant winds (Southwest and Northeast). Total levels of PCDD/Fs usually found in air samples, are from <2 pg/m3 for remote rural areas, from 2-15 pg/m3 in urban areas and from 15-200 pg/m3 for areas near to important sources, as can be an incinerator. The results of dispersion maps show that maximum concentrations are the order of 10-8 ng/m3, well below the values considered for areas close to an incinerator, as in this case.

Keywords: atmospheric dispersion, dioxin, furan, incinerator

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Authors: Marzouk Benali, Jawad Jeaidi, Behrang Mansoornejad, Olumoye Ajao, Banafsheh Gilani, Nima Ghavidel Mehr

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Canadian forest industry is seeking to identify and implement transformational strategies for enhanced financial performance through the emerging bioeconomy or more specifically through the concept of the biorefinery. For example, processing forest residues or surplus of biomass available on the mill sites for the production of biofuels, biochemicals and/or biomaterials is one of the attractive strategies along with traditional wood and paper products and cogenerated energy. There are many possible process-product biorefinery pathways, each associated with specific product portfolios with different levels of risk. Thus, it is not obvious which unique strategy forest industry should select and implement. Therefore, there is a need for analytical and design tools that enable evaluating biorefinery strategies based on a set of criteria considering a perspective of sustainability over the short and long terms, while selecting the existing core products as well as selecting the new product portfolio. In addition, it is critical to assess the manufacturing flexibility to internalize the risk from market price volatility of each targeted bio-based product in the product portfolio, prior to invest heavily in any biorefinery strategy. The proposed paper will focus on introducing a systematic methodology for designing integrated biorefineries using process systems engineering tools as well as a multi-criteria decision making framework to put forward the most effective biorefinery strategies that fulfill the needs of the forest industry. Topics to be covered will include market analysis, techno-economic assessment, cost accounting, energy integration analysis, life cycle assessment and supply chain analysis. This will be followed by describing the vision as well as the key features and functionalities of the I-BIOREF software platform, developed by CanmetENERGY of Natural Resources Canada. Two industrial case studies will be presented to support the robustness and flexibility of I-BIOREF software platform: i) An integrated Canadian Kraft pulp mill with lignin recovery process (namely, LignoBoost™); ii) A standalone biorefinery based on ethanol-organosolv process.

Keywords: biorefinery strategies, bioproducts, co-production, multi-criteria decision making, tool

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Authors: Gayathri.G, Hemamalini.A.J, Chandrasekaran.A

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Problem statement: Nutritional deficiency, especially calcium, may lead to poor bone formation and mineralization. Although there are plenty of synthetic supplements available, it is essential to make a calcium rich food supplement accessible to combat calcium deficiency that could be readily prepared at the household level. Thus the current study aimed to formulate and standardize an indigenous low-cost calcium-rich food supplement and to study the impact of supplementation on the bone resorption and formation markers. Methods: A Randomized controlled trial was conducted with 60 subjects distributed equally in control and experimental groups, including perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. A plant-based calcium-rich product was developed and supplemented in form of balls as a midmorning and evening snack by addition of optimized proportions of leaves of Sesbania Grandiflora, seeds of Sesamum indicum, Eleusine coracana, Glycine max, Vigna mungo for a period of 6 months. Postmenopausal and perimenopausal women received 1200mg and 800mg of calcium per day from the supplemented, respectively. Outcome measures like serum calcium; betacrosslaps (bone resorption marker) and total P1NP (bone absorption marker) were assessed after 3 months and after 6 months. Results: There were no significant changes seen in the serum calcium and total P1NP levels (bone formation marker) among the subjects during the supplementation period. The bone resorption marker (betacrosslaps) reduced in all the groups and the reduction (0.32 ± 0.130 ng/ml to 0.25 ± 0.130 ng/ml) was found to be statistically highly significant (p < 0.01) in experimental group of perimenopausal subjects and significant (p < 0.05) in experimental group of postmenopausal subjects (1.11 ± 0.290 ng/ml to 0.42 ± 0.263 ng/ml). Conclusion: With the current severe calcium deficiency in the Indian population, integrating low-cost, calcium-rich native foods that could be readily prepared at household level would be useful in raising the nutritional consumption of calcium, which would, in turn, decrease bone turnover.

Keywords: calcium, sesbania grandiflora, sesamum indicum, eleusine coracana, glycine max, vigna mungo, postmenopause, perimenopause, bone resorption, bone absorption, betacrosslaps, total P1NP

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Authors: Jamel Slaughter

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Father involvement across the development of a child has been linked to children’s psychological adjustment, fewer behavioral problems, and higher educational attainment. Conversely, there is much less research that highlights father involvement in relation to childhood development during early childhood period prior to preschool age (ages 1-3 years). Most research on fathers and child outcomes have been limited by its focus on the stages of adolescence, middle childhood, and infancy. This study examined the influence of father involvement, during the toddler stage, on 5th grade cognitive development, rule-breaking, and behavior outcomes measured by Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores. Using data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation (EHSRE) Study, 1996-2010: United States, a total of 3,001 children and families were identified in 17 sites (cities), representing a diverse demographic sample. An independent samples t-test was run to compare cognitive development, aggressive, and rule-breaking behavior mean scores among children who had early continuous father involvement for the first 14 – 36 months to children who did not have early continuous father involvement for the first 14 – 36 months. Multiple linear regression was conducted to determine if continuous, or non-continuous father involvement (14 month-36 months), can be used to predict outcome scores on the Child Behavior Checklist in aggressive behavior, rule-breaking behavior, and cognitive development, at 5th grade. A statistically significant mean difference in cognitive development scores were found for children who had continuous father involvement (M=1.92, SD=2.41, t (1009) =2.81, p =.005, 95% CI=.146 to .828) compared to those who did not (M=2.60, SD=3.06, t (1009) =-2.38, p=.017, 95% CI= -1.08 to -.105). There was also a statistically significant mean difference in rule-breaking behavior scores between children who had early continuous father involvement (M=1.95, SD=2.33, t (1009) = 3.69, p <.001, 95% CI= .287 to .940), compared to those that did not (M=2.87, SD=2.93, t (1009) = -3.49, p =.001, 95% CI= -1.30 to -.364). No statistically significant difference was found in aggressive behavior scores. Multiple linear regression was performed using continuous father involvement to determine which has the largest relationship to rule-breaking behavior and cognitive development based on CBCL scores. Rule-breaking behavior was found to be significant (F (2, 1008) = 8.353, p<.001), with an R2 of .016. Cognitive development was also significant (F (2, 1008) = 4.44, p=.012), with an R2 of .009. Early continuous father involvement was a significant predictor of rule-breaking behavior and cognitive development at middle childhood. Findings suggest early continuous father involvement during the first 14 – 36 months of their children’s life, may lead to lower levels of rule-breaking behaviors and thought problems at 5th grade.

Keywords: cognitive development, early continuous father involvement, middle childhood, rule-breaking behavior

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Authors: Amirreza Razzaghipour Sorkhab

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One of the most common disorders among humans is hearing impairment. This paper provides an evidence base that recovers understanding of Meniere’s disease and highlights the physical and mental health correlates of the disorder. Meniere's disease is more common in the elderly. The term idiopathic endolymphatic hydrops has been attributed to this disease by some in the previous. Meniere’s disease demonstrations a genetic tendency, and a family history is found in 10% of cases, with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. The COCH gene may be one of the hereditary factors contributing to Meniere’s disease, and the possibility of a COCH mutation should be considered in patients with Meniere’s disease symptoms. Should be considered Missense mutations in the COCH gene cause the autosomal dominant sensorineural hearing loss and vestibular disorder. Meniere’s disease is a complex, heterogeneous disorder of the inner ear and that is characterized by episodes of vertigo lasting from minutes to hours, fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness. The existing evidence supports the suggestion that age and sleep disorder are risk factors for Meniere's disease. Many factors have been reported to precipitate the progress of Menier, including endolymphatic hydrops, immunology, viral infection, inheritance, vestibular migraine, and altered intra-labyrinthine fluid dynamics. Although there is currently no treatment that has a proven helpful effect on hearing levels or on the long-term evolution of the disease, however, in the primary stages, the hearing may improve among attacks, but a permanent hearing loss occurs in the majority of cases. Current publications have proposed a role for the intratympanic use of medicine, mostly aminoglycosides, for the control of vertigo. more than 85% of patients with Meniere's disease are helped by either changes in lifestyle and medical treatment or minimally aggressive surgical procedures such as intratympanic steroid therapy, intratympanic gentamicin therapy, and endolymphatic sac surgery. However, unilateral vestibular extirpation methods (intratympanic gentamicin, vestibular nerve section, or labyrinthectomy) are more predictable but invasive approaches to control the vertigo attacks. Medical therapy aimed at reducing endolymph volume, such as low-sodium diet, diuretic use, is the typical initial treatment.

Keywords: meniere's disease, endolymphatic hydrops, hearing loss, vertigo, tinnitus, COCH gene

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Authors: F. Al-Fahad, J. Chakkamalayath, A. Al-Aibani

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Conventional methods of determination of concrete strength under controlled laboratory conditions will not accurately represent the actual strength of concrete developed under site curing conditions. This difference in strength measurement will be more in the extreme environment in Kuwait as it is characterized by hot marine environment with normal temperature in summer exceeding 50°C accompanied by dry wind in desert areas and salt laden wind on marine and on shore areas. Therefore, it is required to have test methods to measure the in-place properties of concrete for quality assurance and for the development of durable concrete structures. The maturity method, which defines the strength of a given concrete mix as a function of its age and temperature history, is an approach for quality control for the production of sustainable and durable concrete structures. The unique harsh environmental conditions in Kuwait make it impractical to adopt experiences and empirical equations developed from the maturity methods in other countries. Concrete curing, especially in the early age plays an important role in developing and improving the strength of the structure. This paper investigates the use of maturity method to assess the effectiveness of three different types of curing methods on the compressive and flexural strength development of one high strength concrete mix of 60 MPa produced with silica fume. This maturity approach was used to predict accurately, the concrete compressive and flexural strength at later ages under different curing conditions. Maturity curves were developed for compressive and flexure strengths for a commonly used concrete mix in Kuwait, which was cured using three different curing conditions, including water curing, external spray coating and the use of internal curing compound during concrete mixing. It was observed that the maturity curve developed for the same mix depends on the type of curing conditions. It can be used to predict the concrete strength under different exposure and curing conditions. This study showed that concrete curing with external spray curing method cannot be recommended to use as it failed to aid concrete in reaching accepted values of strength, especially for flexural strength. Using internal curing compound lead to accepted levels of strength when compared with water cuing. Utilization of the developed maturity curves will help contactors and engineers to determine the in-place concrete strength at any time, and under different curing conditions. This will help in deciding the appropriate time to remove the formwork. The reduction in construction time and cost has positive impacts towards sustainable construction.

Keywords: curing, durability, maturity, strength

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Authors: Roseliza Mat Alipiah, David Raffaelli, J. C. R. Smart

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This research is a new approach as it integrates information from both environmental and social sciences to inform effective management of the wetlands. A three-stage research framework was developed for modelling the drivers and pressures imposed on the wetlands and their impacts to the ecosystem and the local communities. Firstly, a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) was used to predict the probability of anthropogenic activities affecting the delivery of different key wetland ecosystem services under different management scenarios. Secondly, Choice Experiments (CEs) were used to quantify the relative preferences which key wetland stakeholder group (aquaculturists) held for delivery of different levels of these key ecosystem services. Thirdly, a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) was applied to produce an ordinal ranking of the alternative management scenarios accounting for their impacts upon ecosystem service delivery as perceived through the preferences of the aquaculturists. This integrated ecosystem management approach was applied to a wetland ecosystem in Setiu, Terengganu, Malaysia which currently supports a significant level of aquaculture activities. This research has produced clear guidelines to inform policy makers considering alternative wetland management scenarios: Intensive Aquaculture, Conservation or Ecotourism, in addition to the Status Quo. The findings of this research are as follows: The BBN revealed that current aquaculture activity is likely to have significant impacts on water column nutrient enrichment, but trivial impacts on caged fish biomass, especially under the Intensive Aquaculture scenario. Secondly, the best fitting CE models identified several stakeholder sub-groups for aquaculturists, each with distinct sets of preferences for the delivery of key ecosystem services. Thirdly, the MCDA identified Conservation as the most desirable scenario overall based on ordinal ranking in the eyes of most of the stakeholder sub-groups. Ecotourism and Status Quo scenarios were the next most preferred and Intensive Aquaculture was the least desirable scenario. The methodologies developed through this research provide an opportunity for improving planning and decision making processes that aim to deliver sustainable management of wetland ecosystems in Malaysia.

Keywords: Bayesian belief network (BBN), choice experiments (CE), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), aquaculture

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Authors: Cherry Dhiman, Ayushi Paliwal, Mohd. Shahid Khan, M. N. Reddy, Vinay Gupta, Monika Tomar

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The laser based high resolution spectroscopic experimental techniques such as Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Rotating Disk Electrode Optical Emission spectroscopy (RDE-OES) and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) have been used for the study of composition and degradation analysis of used engine oils. Engine oils are mainly composed of aliphatic and aromatics compounds and its soot contains hazardous components in the form of fine, coarse and ultrafine particles consisting of wear metal elements. Such coarse particulates matter (PM) and toxic elements are extremely dangerous for human health that can cause respiratory and genetic disorder in humans. The combustible soot from thermal power plants, industry, aircrafts, ships and vehicles can lead to the environmental and climate destabilization. It contributes towards global pollution for land, water, air and global warming for environment. The detection of such toxicants in the form of elemental analysis is a very serious issue for the waste material management of various organic, inorganic hydrocarbons and radioactive waste elements. In view of such important points, the current study on used engine oils was performed. The fundamental characterization of engine oils was conducted by measuring water content and kinematic viscosity test that proves the crude analysis of the degradation of used engine oils samples. The microscopic quantitative and qualitative analysis was presented by RDE-OES technique which confirms the presence of elemental impurities of Pb, Al, Cu, Si, Fe, Cr, Na and Ba lines for used waste engine oil samples in few ppm. The presence of such elemental impurities was confirmed by LIBS spectral analysis at various transition levels of atomic line. The recorded transition line of Pb confirms the maximum degradation which was found in used engine oil sample no. 3 and 4. Apart from the basic tests, the calculations for dielectric constants and refractive index of the engine oils were performed via SPR analysis.

Keywords: surface plasmon resonance, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, ICCD spectrometer, engine oil

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Authors: Przemysław Tomczyk, Dagmara Plata-Alf, Piotr Kwiatek

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Literature review is indispensable in research. One of the key techniques used in it is bibliometric analysis, where one of the methods is science mapping. The classic approach that dominates today in this area consists of mapping areas, keywords, terms, authors, or citations. This approach is also used in relation to the review of literature in the field of marketing. The development of technology has resulted in the fact that researchers and practitioners use the capabilities of software available on the market for this purpose. The use of science mapping software tools (e.g., VOSviewer, SciMAT, Pajek) in recent publications involves the implementation of a literature review, and it is useful in areas with a relatively high number of publications. Despite this well-grounded science mapping approach having been applied in the literature reviews, performing them is a painstaking task, especially if authors would like to draw precise conclusions about the studied literature and uncover potential research gaps. The aim of this article is to identify to what extent a new approach to science mapping, variable mapping, takes advantage of the classic science mapping approach in terms of research problem formulation and content/thematic analysis for literature reviews. To perform the analysis, a set of 5 articles on customer ideation was chosen. Next, the analysis of key words mapping results in VOSviewer science mapping software was performed and compared with the variable map prepared manually on the same articles. Seven independent expert judges (management scientists on different levels of expertise) assessed the usability of both the stage of formulating, the research problem, and content/thematic analysis. The results show the advantage of variable mapping in the formulation of the research problem and thematic/content analysis. First, the ability to identify a research gap is clearly visible due to the transparent and comprehensive analysis of the relationships between the variables, not only keywords. Second, the analysis of relationships between variables enables the creation of a story with an indication of the directions of relationships between variables. Demonstrating the advantage of the new approach over the classic one may be a significant step towards developing a new approach to the synthesis of literature and its reviews. Variable mapping seems to allow scientists to build clear and effective models presenting the scientific achievements of a chosen research area in one simple map. Additionally, the development of the software enabling the automation of the variable mapping process on large data sets may be a breakthrough change in the field of conducting literature research.

Keywords: bibliometrics, literature review, science mapping, variable mapping

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Authors: Dolores Sucozhañay, Gustavo Pacheco, Paul Vanegas

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In the context of sustainable development and the transition towards a sustainable circular economy (CE), evaluating the social dimension remains a challenge. Therefore, developing a respective methodology is highly important. First, the change of the economic model may cause significant social effects, which today remain unaddressed. Second, following the current level of globalization, CE implementation requires targeting global material cycles and causes social impacts on potentially vulnerable social groups. A promising methodology is the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), which embraces the philosophy of life cycle thinking and provides complementary information to environmental and economic assessments. In this context, the present work uses the updated Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) Guidelines 2020 to assess the social performance of the recycling system of Cuenca, Ecuador, to exemplify a social assessment method. Like many other developing countries, Ecuador heavily depends on the work of informal waste pickers (recyclers), who, even contributing to a CE, face harsh socio-economic circumstances, including inappropriate working conditions, social exclusion, exploitation, etc. Under a Reference Scale approach (Type 1), 12 impact subcategories were assessed through 73 site-specific inventory indicators, using an ascending reference scale ranging from -2 to +2. Findings reveal a social performance below compliance levels with local and international laws, basic societal expectations, and practices in the recycling sector; only eight and five indicators present a positive score. In addition, a social hotspot analysis depicts collection as the most time-consuming lifecycle stage and the one with the most hotspots, mainly related to working hours and health and safety aspects. This study provides an integrated view of the recyclers’ contributions, challenges, and opportunities within the recycling system while highlighting the relevance of assessing the social dimension of CE practices. It also fosters an understanding of the social impact of CE operations in developing countries, highlights the need for a close north-south relationship in CE, and enables the connection among the environmental, economic, and social dimensions.

Keywords: SLCA, circular economy, recycling, social impact assessment

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Authors: Jillian Correia, Ali Sakkal

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Lunchtime can play a pivotal role in shaping student eating habits. Studies have previously indicated that eating a healthy meal during the school day can improve students’ well-being and academic performance, and potentially prevent childhood obesity. This study investigated the school lunch program in the United Kingdom in order to gain an understanding of the attitudes and beliefs surrounding school meals and the realities of student food patterns. Using a qualitative research methodology, this study was conducted in three primary and secondary school systems in London, United Kingdom. In depth interviews consisting of 14 headteachers, teachers, staff, and chefs and fieldwork observations of approximately 830 primary and secondary school students in the three schools’ cafeterias provided the data. The results of interview responses and fieldwork observation yielded the following set of themes: (a) school meals are publicly portrayed as healthful and nutritious, yet students’ eating habits do not align with this advertising, (b) the level of importance placed on school lunch varies widely among participants and generates inconsistent views concerning who is responsible (government, families, caterers, or schools) for students’ eating habits, (c) role models (i.e. teachers and chefs) present varying levels of interaction with students and conflicting approaches when monitoring students’ eating habits. The latter finding expanded upon Osowski, Göranzon, and Fjellström’s (2013) concept of teacher roles to formulate three education philosophies – the Removed Authority Role Model, the Accommodating Role Model, and the Social Educational Role Model – concluding that the Social Educational Role Model was the most effective at fostering an environment that encouraged healthy eating habits and positive behavior. For schools looking to cultivate strong relationships between students and teachers and facilitate healthier eating habits, these findings were used to construct three key recommendations: (1) elevate the lunch environment by encouraging proper dining etiquette, (2) get teachers eating at the table with students, and (3) shift the focus from monitoring behavior to a teacher-student dialogue centered on food awareness.

Keywords: food culture, eating habits, school meals, student behavior, education, food patterns, lunchtime

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Authors: Zeineb Baatout, Safa Teka, Nejmeddine Jaballah, Nawfel Sakly, Xiaonan Sun, Mustapha Majdoub

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Currently, the economic interests linked to the development of bio-based materials make biomass one of the most interesting areas for science development. We are interested in the β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), one of the popular bio-sourced macromolecule, produced from the starch via enzymatic conversion. It is a cyclic oligosaccharide formed by the association of seven glucose units. It presents a rigid conical and amphiphilic structure with hydrophilic exterior, allowing it to be water-soluble. It has also a hydrophobic interior enabling the formation of inclusion complexes, which support its application for the elaboration of electrochemical and optical sensors. Nevertheless, the solubility of β-CD in water makes its use as sensitive layer limit and difficult due to their instability in aqueous media. To overcome this limitation, we chose to precede by modification of the hydroxyl groups to obtain hydrophobic derivatives which lead to water-stable sensing layers. Hence, a series of benzylated β-CDs were synthesized in basic aqueous media in one pot. This work reports the synthesis of a new family of substituted amphiphilic β-CDs using a green methodology. The obtained β-CDs showed different degree of substitution (DS) between 0.85 and 2.03. These organic macromolecular materials were soluble in common organic volatile solvents, and their structures were investigated by NMR, FT-IR and MALDI-TOF spectroscopies. Thermal analysis showed a correlation between the thermal properties of these derivatives and the benzylation degree. The surface properties of the thin films based on the benzylated β-CDs were characterized by contact angle measurements and atomic force microscopy (AFM). These organic materials were investigated as sensitive layers, deposited on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gravimetric transducer, for humidity sensor at room temperature. The results showed that the performances of the prepared sensors are greatly influenced by the benzylation degree of β-CD. The partially modified β-CD (DS=1) shows linear response with best sensitivity, good reproducibility, low hysteresis, fast response time (15s) and recovery time (17s) at higher relative humidity levels (RH) between 11% and 98% in room temperature.

Keywords: β-cyclodextrin, green synthesis, humidity sensor, quartz crystal microbalance

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Authors: A. Giani

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The current pedagogical culture recognizes an educational scope within the sports practices. It is widely accepted, in the pedagogical culture, that thanks to the acquisition and development of motor skills, it is also possible to exercise abilities that concern the way of facing and managing the difficulties of everyday life. Sport is a peculiar educational environment: the children have the opportunity to discover the possibilities of their body, to correlate with their peers, and to learn how to manage the rules and the relationship with authorities, such as coaches. Educational aspects of the sport concern both non-formal and formal educational environments. Coaches play a critical role in an agonistic sphere: exactly like the competencies developed by the children, coaches have to work on their skills to properly set up the educational scene. Facing these new educational tasks - which are not new per se, but new because they are brought back to awareness - a few questions arise: does the coach have adequate preparation? Is the training of the coach in this specific area appropriate? This contribution aims to explore the issue in depth by focusing on the reality of the Football School. Starting from a possible sense of pedagogical inadequacy detected during a series of meetings with several football clubs in Piedmont (Italy), there have been highlighted some important educational needs within the professional training of sports coaches. It is indeed necessary for the coach to know the processes underlying the educational relationship in order to better understand the centrality of the assessment during the educational intervention and to be able to manage the asymmetry in the coach-athlete relationship. In order to provide a response to these pedagogical needs, a formative plan has been designed to allow both an in-depth study of educational issues and a correct self-evaluation of certain pedagogical skills’ control levels, led by the coach. This plan has been based on particular practices, the Educational Practices of Pre-test (EPP), a specific version of community practices designed for the extracurricular activities. The above-mentioned practices realized through the use of texts meant as pre-tests, promoted a reflection within the group of coaches: they set up real and plausible sports experiences - in particular football, triggering a reflection about the relationship’s object, spaces, and methods. The characteristic aspect of pre-tests is that it is impossible to anticipate the reflection as it is necessarily connected to the personal experience and sensitivity, requiring a strong interest and involvement by participants: situations must be considered by the coaches as possible settings in which they could be found on the field.

Keywords: relational needs, values, responsibility, self-evaluation

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Authors: Alina Beraudi, Simona Catalani, Dalila De Pasquale, Eva Bianconi, Umberto Santoro, Susanna Stea, Pietro Apostoli

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Recently the European Community, in line with the international scientific community such as with the Consensus Statement, has determined to stop the use of metal-on-metal big head stemmed hip prosthesis. Among the factors accounted as responsible for the high failure rates of these hip implants are the release and accumulation of metal ions. Many studies have correlated the presence of these ions, besides other factors, with the induction of oxidative stress response. In our study on 12 subjects, we observed the patient specific capability to eliminate metal ions after revision surgery. While for cobalt all the patients were able to completely excrete cobalt ions within 5-7 months after metal-on-metal bearing removal, for chromium ions it didn’t happen. If on the one hand the toxicokinetic differences between the two types of ions are confirmed by toxicological and occupational studies, on the other hand, this peculiar way of exposition represents a novel and important point of view. Thus, two different approaches were performed to better understand the subject specific capability to transport metal ions (albumin study) and to manage the response to them (heme-oxygenase-1 study): - a mutational screening of ALBUMIN gene was conducted in 30 MoM prosthetic patients resulting in the absence of nucleotidic changes compared with the ALB reference sequence. To this study was also added the analysis of expression of modified albumin protein; - a gene and protein expression study on 44 patients of heme-oxygenase-1, that is one of the most important antioxidant enzyme induced by metallic ions, was performed. This study resulted in no statistically significant differences in the expression of the gene and protein heme-oxygenase-1 between prosthetic and non-prosthetic patients, as well as between patients with high and low ions levels. Our results show that the protein studied (albumin and heme-oxygenase-1) seem to be not involved in determining chromium and cobalt ions level. On the other hand, achromium and cobalt elimination rates are different, but similar in all patients analyzed, suggesting that this process could be not patient-related. We support the importance of researching more about ions transport within the organism once released by hip prosthesis, about the chemical species involved, the districts where they are contained and the mechanisms of elimination, not excluding the existence of a subjective susceptibility to these metals ions.

Keywords: chromium, cobalt, hip prosthesis, individual susceptibility

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Authors: Kirill Filianin, Satu-Pia Reinikainen, Tuomo Sainio

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Frequent measurements of product steam quality create a data overload that becomes more and more difficult to handle. In the current study, plant history data with multiple variables was successfully treated by principal component analysis to detect abnormal process behavior, particularly, in copper solvent extraction. The multivariate model is based on the concentration levels of main process metals recorded by the industrial on-stream x-ray fluorescence analyzer. After mean-centering and normalization of concentration data set, two-dimensional multivariate model under principal component analysis algorithm was constructed. Normal operating conditions were defined through control limits that were assigned to squared score values on x-axis and to residual values on y-axis. 80 percent of the data set were taken as the training set and the multivariate model was tested with the remaining 20 percent of data. Model testing showed successful application of control limits to detect abnormal behavior of copper solvent extraction process as early warnings. Compared to the conventional techniques of analyzing one variable at a time, the proposed model allows to detect on-line a process failure using information from all process variables simultaneously. Complex industrial equipment combined with advanced mathematical tools may be used for on-line monitoring both of process streams’ composition and final product quality. Defining normal operating conditions of the process supports reliable decision making in a process control room. Thus, industrial x-ray fluorescence analyzers equipped with integrated data processing toolbox allows more flexibility in copper plant operation. The additional multivariate process control and monitoring procedures are recommended to apply separately for the major components and for the impurities. Principal component analysis may be utilized not only in control of major elements’ content in process streams, but also for continuous monitoring of plant feed. The proposed approach has a potential in on-line instrumentation providing fast, robust and cheap application with automation abilities.

Keywords: abnormal process behavior, failure detection, principal component analysis, solvent extraction

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Authors: Seyedahmad Hosseini, Mohammadjavad Sotoudeheian

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Introduction: Allergic asthma is a heterogeneous immuno-inflammatory disease based on Th-2-mediated inflammation. Histopathologic abnormalities of the airways characteristic of asthma include epithelial damage and subepithelial collagen deposition. Objectives: Human bronchial epithelial cell genome expression of TNF‑α, IL‑6, ICAM‑1, VCAM‑1, nuclear factor (NF)‑κB signaling pathways up-regulate during inflammatory cascades. Moreover, immunofluorescence assays confirmed the nuclear translocation of NF‑κB p65 during inflammatory responses. An absolute LDH leakage assays suggestedLPS-inducedcells injury, and the associated mechanisms are co-incident events. LPS-induced phosphorylation of ERKand JNK causes inflammation in epithelial cells through inhibition of ERK and JNK activation and NF-κB signaling pathway. Furthermore, the inhibition of NF-κB mRNA expression and the nuclear translocation of NF-κB lead to anti-inflammatory events. Likewise, activation of SUMF2 which inhibits IL-13 and reduces Th2-cytokines, NF-κB, and IgE levels to ameliorate asthma. On the other hand, TNFα-induced mucus production reduced NF-κB activation through inhibition of the activation status of Rac1 and IκBα phosphorylation. In addition, bradykinin B2 receptor (B2R), which mediates airway remodeling, regulates through NF-κB. Bronchial B2R expression is constitutively elevated in allergic asthma. In addition, certain NF-κB -dependent chemokines function to recruit eosinophils in the airway. Besides, bromodomain containing 4 (BRD4) plays a significant role in mediating innate immune response in human small airway epithelial cells as well as transglutaminase 2 (TG2), which is detectable in saliva. So, the guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory protein α-subunit, Gα16, expresses a κB-driven luciferase reporter. This response was accompanied by phosphorylation of IκBα. Furthermore, expression of Gα16 in saliva markedly enhanced TNF-α-induced κB reporter activity. Methods: The applied method to form NF-κB activation is the electromobility shift assay (EMSA). Also, B2R-BRD4-TG2 complex detection by immunoassay method within saliva with EMSA of NF-κB activation may be a novel biomarker for asthma diagnosis and follow up. Conclusion: This concept introduces NF-κB signaling pathway as potential asthma biomarkers and promising targets for the development of new therapeutic strategies against asthma.

Keywords: NF-κB, asthma, saliva, T-helper

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Authors: P. Pérez-Martín, G. Pedrós, P. Martínez-Jiménez, M. Varo-Martínez

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In recent decades, family habits related to children’s displacements to school have changed, increasing motorized travels against active modes. This entails a major negative impact on the urban environment, road safety in cities and the physical and psychological development of children. One of the more common actions used to reverse this trend is Walking School Bus (WSB), which consists of a predefined adult-scorted pedestrian route to school with several stops along the path where schoolchildren are collected. At Tirso de Molina School in Cordoba (Spain), a new ICT-based methodology to deploy WSB has been tested. A mobile app that allows the geoposition of the group, the notification of the arrival and real-time communication between the WSB participants have been presented to the families in order to organize and register the daily participation. After an initial survey to know the travel mode and the spatial distribution of the interested families, three WSB routes have been established and the families have been trained in the app usage. During nine weeks, 33 children have joined the WSB and their parents have accompanied the groups in turns. A high recurrence in the attendance has been registered. Through a final survey, participants have valued highly the tool and the methodology designed, emphasizing as most useful features of the mobile app: notifications system, chat and real-time monitoring. It has also been found that the tool has had a major impact on the degree of confidence of parents regarding the autonomous on foot displacement of their children to school. Moreover, 37,9% of the participant families have reported a total or partial modal shift from car to walking, and the benefits more reported are an increment of the parents available time and less problems in the travel to school daily organization. As a consequence, It has been proved the effectiveness of this user-centric innovative ICT-based methodology to reduce the levels of private car drop offs, minimize barriers of time constraints, volunteer recruitment, and parents’ safety concerns, while, at the same time, increase convenience and time savings for families. This pilot study can offer guidance for community coordinated actions and local authority interventions to support sustainable school travel outcomes.

Keywords: active travel, mobile app, sustainable mobility, urban transportation planning, walking school bus

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Authors: O. Ekrami, P. Claes, S. Van Dongen

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Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) has been studied for many years as an indicator of developmental stability or ‘genetic quality’ based on the assumption that perfect symmetry is ideally the expected outcome for a bilateral organism. Further studies have also investigated the possible link between FA and attractiveness or levels of masculinity or femininity. These hypotheses have been mostly examined using 2D images, and the structure of interest is usually presented using a limited number of landmarks. Such methods have the downside of simplifying and reducing the dimensionality of the structure, which will in return increase the error of the analysis. In an attempt to reach more conclusive and accurate results, in this study we have used high-resolution 3D scans of human faces and have developed an algorithm to measure and localize FA, taking a spatially-dense approach. A symmetric spatially dense anthropometric mask with paired vertices is non-rigidly mapped on target faces using an Iterative Closest Point (ICP) registration algorithm. A set of 19 manually indicated landmarks were used to examine the precision of our mapping step. The protocol’s accuracy in measurement and localizing FA is assessed using simulated faces with known amounts of asymmetry added to them. The results of validation of our approach show that the algorithm is perfectly capable of locating and measuring FA in 3D simulated faces. With the use of such algorithm, the additional captured information on asymmetry can be used to improve the studies of FA as an indicator of fitness or attractiveness. This algorithm can especially be of great benefit in studies of high number of subjects due to its automated and time-efficient nature. Additionally, taking a spatially dense approach provides us with information about the locality of FA, which is impossible to obtain using conventional methods. It also enables us to analyze the asymmetry of a morphological structures in a multivariate manner; This can be achieved by using methods such as Principal Components Analysis (PCA) or Factor Analysis, which can be a step towards understanding the underlying processes of asymmetry. This method can also be used in combination with genome wide association studies to help unravel the genetic bases of FA. To conclude, we introduced an algorithm to study and analyze asymmetry in human faces, with the possibility of extending the application to other morphological structures, in an automated, accurate and multi-variate framework.

Keywords: developmental stability, fluctuating asymmetry, morphometrics, 3D image processing

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Authors: Dhruv Sharma, Lynne Blair, Stephen Clune

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Later life loneliness is a social issue that is increasing alongside an upward global population trend. As a society, one way that we have responded to this social challenge is through developing non-pharmacological interventions such as befriending services, activity clubs, meet-ups, etc. Through a systematic literature review, this paper suggests that currently there is an underrepresentation of radical innovation, and underutilization of digital technologies in developing loneliness interventions for older adults. This paper examines intervention studies that were published in English language, within peer reviewed journals between January 2005 and December 2014 across 4 electronic databases. In addition to academic databases, interventions found in grey literature in the form of websites, blogs, and Twitter were also included in the overall review. This approach yielded 129 interventions that were included in the study. A systematic approach allowed the minimization of any bias dictating the selection of interventions to study. A coding strategy based on a pattern analysis approach was devised to be able to compare and contrast the loneliness interventions. Firstly, interventions were categorized on the basis of their objective to identify whether they were preventative, supportive, or remedial in nature. Secondly, depending on their scope, they were categorized as one-to-one, community-based, or group based. It was also ascertained whether interventions represented an improvement, an incremental innovation, a major advance or a radical departure, in comparison to the most basic form of a loneliness intervention. Finally, interventions were also assessed on the basis of the extent to which they utilized digital technologies. Individual visualizations representing the four levels of coding were created for each intervention, followed by an aggregated visual to facilitate analysis. To keep the inquiry within scope and to present a coherent view of the findings, the analysis was primarily concerned the level of innovation, and the use of digital technologies. This analysis highlights a weak but positive correlation between the level of innovation and the use of digital technologies in designing and deploying loneliness interventions, and also emphasizes how certain existing interventions could be tweaked to enable their migration from representing incremental innovation to radical innovation for example. This analysis also points out the value of including grey literature, especially from Twitter, in systematic literature reviews to get a contemporary view of latest work in the area under investigation.

Keywords: ageing, loneliness, innovation, digital

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Authors: Bedilu Tafesse

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Home gardens are important social and cultural spaces where knowledge related to agricultural practice is transmitted and through which households may improve their income and livelihood. High levels of inter- and intra-specific plant genetic diversity are preserved in home gardens. Plant diversity is threatened by rapid and unplanned urbanization, which increases environmental problems such as heating, pollution, loss of habitats and ecosystem disruption. Tropical home gardens have played a significant role in conserving plant diversity while providing substantial benefits to households. This research aimed to understand the relationship between household characteristics and plant diversity in western Ethiopia home gardens and the contributions of plants to the household economy. Plant diversity and different uses of plants were studied in a random sample of 111 suburban home gardens in the Ilu Ababora, Jima and Wellega suburban area, western Ethiopia, based on complete garden inventories followed by household surveys on socio-economic status during 2012. A total of 261 species of plants were observed, of which 41% were ornamental plants, 36% food plants, and 22% medicinal plants. Of these 16% were sold commercially to produce income. Avocado, bananas, and other fruits produced in excess. Home gardens contributed the equivalent of 7% of total annual household income in terms of food and commercial sales. Multiple regression analysis showed that education, time spent in gardening, land for cultivation, household expenses, primary conservation practices, and uses of special techniques explained 56% of the total plant diversity. Food, medicinal and commercial plant species had significant positive relationships with time spent gardening and land area for gardening. Education and conservation practices significantly affected food and medicinal plant diversity. Special techniques used in gardening showed significant positive relations with ornamental and commercial plants. Reassessments in different suburban and urban home gardens and proper documentation using same methodology is essential to build a firm policy for enhancing plant diversity and related values to households and surroundings.

Keywords: plant genetic diversity, urbanization, suburban home gardens, Ethiopia

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Authors: Amaia Martinez Martinez, Martin Turek, Carlos Ventura, Jay Drew

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This study aims to assess the seismic performance of arch and dome structural systems made from easy to assemble precast blocks of recycled concrete. These systems have been developed by Lock Block Ltd. Company from Vancouver, Canada, as an extension of their currently used retaining wall system. The characterization of the seismic behavior of these structures is performed by a combination of experimental static and dynamic testing, and analytical modeling. For the experimental testing, several tilt tests, as well as a program of shake table testing were undertaken using small scale arch models. A suite of earthquakes with different characteristics from important past events are chosen and scaled properly for the dynamic testing. Shake table testing applying the ground motions in just one direction (in the weak direction of the arch) and in the three directions were conducted and compared. The models were tested with increasing intensity until collapse occurred; which determines the failure level for each earthquake. Since the failure intensity varied with type of earthquake, a sensitivity analysis of the different parameters was performed, being impulses the dominant factor. For all cases, the arches exhibited the typical four-hinge failure mechanism, which was also shown in the analytical model. Experimental testing was also performed reinforcing the arches using a steel band over the structures anchored at both ends of the arch. The models were tested with different pretension levels. The bands were instrumented with strain gauges to measure the force produced by the shaking. These forces were used to develop engineering guidelines for the design of the reinforcement needed for these systems. In addition, an analytical discrete element model was created using 3DEC software. The blocks were designed as rigid blocks, assigning all the properties to the joints including also the contribution of the interlocking shear key between blocks. The model is calibrated to the experimental static tests and validated with the obtained results from the dynamic tests. Then the model can be used to scale up the results to the full scale structure and expanding it to different configurations and boundary conditions.

Keywords: arch, discrete element model, seismic assessment, shake-table testing

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Authors: E. C. Swart, E. Kunneke

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Background: Disparities in food security exist between communities and households across the country, reflecting continuing social and economic inequalities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of food insecurity amongst UWC students. Method: Cross-sectional study recruited 200 students via email and cellphone from an ICS generated list of randomly selected students aged 18-25. Data collection took place during the first two weeks of term 3. Individual appointments were made with consenting participants and conducted in English by trained BSc Dietetics students. Data was analysed using SPSS. The hunger scale used by Stats SA (October 2010) was used. Dietary intake was assessed using a single 24hr recall. Results: Sixty-three percent of the students reported that they do experience some food insecurity whilst 14.5% reported to go hungry due to inadequate access to food. Coping mechanisms during periods of food insecurity include: Asking a friend, neighbour, family member (40%); Borrow (15%); Steal (none); Casual jobs (12%). Anthropometric status of students did not differ statistically significantly by food security status. A statistically significantly greater proportion of Xhosa speaking students reported inadequate money for food. Students residing in residences off campus appear to be least food secure in terms of money available and limiting food intake, whilst those residing at home are less food insecure. Similar proportions of students who receive bursaries or whose parents are paying reported going hungry whilst those who supports themselves never goes hungry. Mean nutrient intake during the previous 24 hours of students who reported inadequate resources to buy food, who eat less due to inadequate resources and who goes hungry only differed statistically significantly for Vitamin B (go hungry) and for fibre (money shortage). In general the nutrient intake is lower for those who reported to eat less and go hungry except for added sugar, vitamin A and folate (go hungry), and energy, fibre, iron, riboflavin and folate (eat less). For students who reported to have inadequate money to buy food, the mean nutrient intake was higher except for calcium and thiamin. The mean body mass index of this group of students was also higher even though the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Hunger is present on campus however a single 24hr recall did not confirm statistically significant lower nutrient intakes for students who reported different levels of food insecurity.

Keywords: anthropometry, dietary intake, nutritional status, students

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