Search results for: multiple region of interest(ROI)

Authors: Woledegebrieal Aregay

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Introduction: Family planning is defined as the ability of individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. It is part of a strategy to reduce poverty, maternal, infant and child mortality; empowers women by lightening the burden of excessive childbearing. Family planning is achieved through the use of different contraceptive methods among which the most effective method is modern family planning methods like Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive (LARCs) which are IUCD and Implant and these methods have multiple advantages over other reversible methods. Most importantly, once in place, they do not require maintenance and their duration of action is long, ranging from 3 to10 years. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Gondar town among female college students from April-May. A simple random sampling technique was employed to recruit a total of 1166 study subjects. Descriptive variables were computed for all predictors & dependent variables. The presence of an association between covariates & LARC use was observed by two tables’ findings using the chi-square test. Bivariate logistic regression was conducted to identify all possible factors affecting LARC utilization & its crude Odds Ratio, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) & P-value was observed. A multivariable logistic regression model was developed to control possible confounding variables. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) &P-values will be computed to identify significantly associated factors (P < 0.05) with LARC utilization. Result: Utilization of LARCs was 20.4%, the most common is Implant 86(96.5%), and followed by Intra-Uterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) 3(3.5%). The result of the multivariate analysis revealed that the significant association of marital status of the respondent on utilization of LARC [AOR 3.965(2.051-7.665)], discussion of the respondent about LARC utilization with the husband/boyfriend [AOR 2.198(1.191-4.058)], and attitude of the respondent on implant was found to be associated [AOR 0.365(0.143-0.933)].Conclusion: The level of knowledge and attitude in this study was not satisfactory, the utilization of long-acting reversible contraceptives among college students was relatively satisfactory but if the knowledge and attitude of the participant has improved the prevalence of LARC were increased.

Keywords: utilization, long-acting reversible contraceptive, Ethiopia, Gondar

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Authors: Wasan Ismail Khalil, Hisham Khalid Ahmed, Zainab Ali

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Structural Lightweight Aggregate Concrete (SLWAC) has been developed in recent years because it reduces the dead load, cost, thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion of the structure. So SLWAC has the advantage of being a relatively green building material. Lightweight Aggregate (LWA) is either occurs as natural material such as pumice, scoria, etc. or as artificial material produced from different raw materials such as expanded shale, clay, slate, etc. The use of SLWAC in Iraq is limited due to the lack in natural LWA. The existence of Iraqi clay deposit with different types and characteristics leads to the idea of producing artificial expanded clay aggregate. The main aim in this work is to present of the properties of artificial LWA produced in the laboratory. Available local bentonite clay which occurs in the Western region of Iraq was used as raw material to produce the LWA. Sodium silicate as liquid industrial waste material from glass plant was mixed with bentonite clay in mix proportion 1:1 by weight. The manufacturing method of the lightweight aggregate including, preparation and mixing of clay and sodium silicate, burning of the mixture in the furnace at the temperature between 750-800˚C for two hours, and finally gradually cooling process. The produced LWA was then crushed to small pieces then screened on standard sieve series and prepared with grading which conforms to the specifications of LWA. The maximum aggregate size used in this investigation is 10 mm. The chemical composition and the physical properties of the produced LWA are investigated. The results indicate that the specific gravity of the produced LWA is 1.5 with the density of 543kg/m3 and water absorption of 20.7% which is in conformity with the international standard of LWA. Many trail mixes were carried out in order to produce LWAC containing the artificial LWA produced in this research. The selected mix proportion is 1:1.5:2 (cement: sand: aggregate) by weight with water to cement ratio of 0.45. The experimental results show that LWAC has oven dry density of 1720 kg/m3, water absorption of 8.5%, the thermal conductivity of 0.723 W/m.K and compressive strength of 23 N/mm2. The SLWAC produced in this research can be used in the construction of different thermal insulated buildings and masonry units. It can be concluded that the SLWA produced in this study contributes to sustainable development by, using industrial waste materials, conserving energy, enhancing the thermal and structural efficiency of concrete.

Keywords: expanded clay, lightweight aggregate, structural lightweight aggregate concrete, sustainable

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Authors: Jeff Moussodji, Dominique Drouin

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The highly complex technology requirements of today’s integrated circuits (ICs), lead to the increased use of several materials types such as metal structures, brittle and porous low-k materials which are used in both front end of line (FEOL) and back end of line (BEOL) process for wafer manufacturing. In order to singulate chip from wafer, a critical laser-grooving process, prior to blade dicing, is used to remove these layers of materials out of the dicing street. The combination of laser-grooving and blade dicing allows to reduce the potential risk of induced mechanical defects such micro-cracks, chipping, on the wafer top surface where circuitry is located. It seems, therefore, essential to have a fundamental understanding of the physics involving laser-dicing in order to maximize control of these critical process and reduce their undesirable effects on process efficiency, quality, and reliability. In this paper, the study was based on the convergence of two approaches, numerical and experimental studies which allowed us to investigate the interaction of a nanosecond pulsed laser and BEOL wafer materials. To evaluate this interaction, several laser grooved samples were compared with finite element modeling, in which three different aspects; phase change, thermo-mechanical and optic sensitive parameters were considered. The mathematical model makes it possible to highlight a groove profile (depth, width, etc.) of a single pulse or multi-pulses on BEOL wafer material. Moreover, the heat affected zone, and thermo-mechanical stress can be also predicted as a function of laser operating parameters (power, frequency, spot size, defocus, speed, etc.). After modeling validation and calibration, a satisfying correlation between experiment and modeling, results have been observed in terms of groove depth, width and heat affected zone. The study proposed in this work is a first step toward implementing a quick assessment tool for design and debug of multiple laser grooving conditions with limited experiments on hardware in industrial application. More correlations and validation tests are in progress and will be included in the full paper.

Keywords: laser-dicing, nano-second pulsed laser, wafer multi-stack, multiphysics modeling

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Authors: Oday A. Al-Juhaishi, Sa`ad M. Ismail, Hung-Hsun Yen, Christina M. Murray, Helen M. S. Davies

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The functional anatomy of the fascia in the greyhound is still poorly understood, and incompletely described. The basic knowledge of fascia stems mainly from anatomical, histological and ultrastructural analyses. In this study, twelve specimens of hindlimbs from six fresh greyhound cadavers (3 male, 3 female) were used to examine the topographical relationships of the superficial fascia with the skin and underlying tissue. The first incision was made along the dorsal midline from the level of the thoracolumbar junction caudally to the level of the mid sacrum. The second incision was begun at the level of the first incision and extended along the midline of the lateral aspect of the hindlimb distally, to just proximal to the tarsus, and, the skin margins carefully separated to observe connective tissue links between the skin and superficial fascia, attachment points of the fascia and the relationships of the fascia with blood vessels that supply the skin. A digital camera was used to record the anatomical features as they were revealed. The dissections identified fibrous septa connecting the skin with the superficial fascia and deep fascia in specific areas. The presence of the adipose tissue was found to be very rare within the superficial fascia in these specimens. On the extensor aspects of some joints, a fusion between the superficial fascia and deep fascia was observed. This fusion created a subcutaneous bursa in the following areas: a prepatellar bursa of the stifle, a tarsal bursa caudal to the calcaneus bone, and an ischiatic bursa caudal to the ischiatic tuberosity. The evaluation of blood vessels showed that the perforating vessels passed through fibrous septa in a perpendicular direction to supply the skin, with the largest branch noted in the gluteal area. The attachment points between the superficial fascia and skin were mainly found in the region of the flexor aspect of the joints, such as caudal to the stifle joint. The numerous fibrous septa between the superficial fascia and skin that have been identified in some areas, may create support for the blood vessels that penetrate fascia and into the skin, while allowing for movement between the tissue planes. The subcutaneous bursae between the skin and the superficial fascia where it is fused with the deep fascia may be useful to decrease friction between moving areas. The adhesion points may be related to the integrity and loading of the skin. The attachment points fix the skin and appear to divide the hindlimb into anatomical compartments.

Keywords: attachment points, fibrous septa, greyhound, subcutaneous bursa, superficial fascia

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Authors: Lunthita M. Duthely, John T. Avella, John Ganapati Coleman

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For as many as one in three adolescents living in the United States, the adolescent years is a period of low well-being and mental health challenges—from depressive symptoms to mild to moderate psychological diagnoses. Longitudinal population health studies demonstrated that these challenges persist in young adulthood, and beyond. The positive psychology (PS) approach is a more preventative approach to well-being, which contrasts the traditional, deficits approach to curing mental illness. The research among adult populations formed the basis for PS studies among adolescents. The empirical evidence for the effectiveness of PS interventions exists for both adult and youth populations. Positive Psychology interventions target individuals’ strengths, such as hope and optimism, and positive emotions, such as gratitude. Positive psychology interventions such as increasing gratitude, proved effective in many outcomes among youth, including psychological, social, and academically-related outcomes. Although gratitude-inducing studies have been conducted for the past decade in the United States, few studies have been conducted among samples of urban youth, particularly youth of diverse cultural backgrounds. For nearly two decades, the secular practice of meditation has been tested among adults and more recently among youth, focused mostly among clinical samples. The field of Contemplative Sciences explores practices such as Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi, and Meditation, as preventative practices among children and adolescents. A more recent initiative is to explore Contemplative Practices in the school environment. Contemplative Practices yield a variety of positive outcomes, including academic, social, psychological, physiological, and neurological changes among children and adolescents. Again, few studies were conducted among adolescents of diverse cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation research study was to test a gratitude-meditation intervention among middle school students attending a public charter school, located in an urban region of Metropolitan Miami. The objective of this presentation is to summarize the challenges and success of bringing a positive psychology and meditation intervention into an urban middle school. Also, the most recent findings on positive psychology and meditation interventions conducted in school environments will be presented as well.

Keywords: adolescents, contemplative intervention, gratitude, secular meditation, positive psychology, school engagement, Sri Chinmoy

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Authors: Anshita Sharma

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India is one of the countries to initiate family planning with intention to control the growing population by reducing fertility. In effort to this, India had introduced the National family planning programme in 1952. The level of unmet need in India shows a reducing trend with increasing effectiveness of family planning services as in NFHS-1 the unmet need for limiting, spacing and total was 46 percent, 14 percent & 9 percent, respectively. The demand for spacing has reduced to at 8 percent, 8 percent for limiting and total unmet need was 16 percent in NFHS-2. The total unmet need has reduced to 13 percent in NFHS-3 for all currently married women and the demand for limiting and spacing is 7 percent and 6 percent respectively. The level of unmet need in India shows a reducing trend with increasing effectiveness of family planning services. Despite the progress, there is chunk of women who are deprived of controlling unintended and unwanted pregnancies. The present paper examines the socio-cultural and economic and demographic correlates of unmet need for contraception in India. It also examines the effect of women’s autonomy and unmet need for contraception on family size among different socio-economic groups of population. It uses data from national family health survey-3 carried out in 2005-06 and employs bi-variate techniques and multivariate techniques for analysis. The multiple regression analysis has done to seek the level and direction of relationship among various socio-economic and demographic factors. The result reveals that women with higher level of education and economic status have low level of unmet need for family planning. Women living in non-nuclear family have high unmet need for spacing and women living in nuclear family have high unmet need for limiting and family size is slightly higher of women of nuclear family. In India, the level of autonomy varies at different life point; usually women with higher age enjoy higher autonomy than their junior female member in the family. The finding shows that women with higher autonomy have large family size counter to women with low autonomy have low family size. Unmet need for family planning decrease with women’s increasing exposure to mass- media. The demographic factors like experience of child loss are directly related to family size. Women who experience higher child loss have low unmet need for spacing and limiting. Thus, It is established with the help that women’s autonomy status play substantial role in fulfilling demand of contraception for limiting and spacing which affect the family size.

Keywords: family size, socio-economic correlates, unmet need for limiting, unmet need for spacing, women`s autonomy

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Authors: Petra Suchovska

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The spirit of post-modernity remains chaotic and obscure. Geopolitical rivalries raging at the more extreme levels and the ability of intellectual community to explain the entropy of global affairs has been diminishing. The Western-led idea of globalisation imposed upon the world does not seem to bring the bright future for human progress anymore, and its architects lose much of global control, as the strong non-western cultural entities develop new forms of post-modern establishments. The overall growing cultural misunderstanding and mistrust are expressions of political impotence to deal with the inner contradictions within the contemporary phenomenon (capitalism, economic globalisation) that embrace global society. The drivers and effects of global restructuring must be understood in the context of systems and principles reflecting on true complexity of society. The purpose of this paper is to set out some ideas about how cybernetics can contribute to understanding international system structure and analyse possible world futures. “IS Cybernetics” would apply to system thinking and cybernetic principles in IR in order to analyse and handle the complexity of social phenomena from global perspective. “IS cybernetics” would be, for now, the subfield of IR, concerned with applying theories and methodologies from cybernetics and system sciences by offering concepts and tools for addressing problems holistically. It would bring order to the complex relations between disciplines that IR touches upon. One of its tasks would be to map, measure, tackle and find the principles of dynamics and structure of social forces that influence human behaviour and consequently cause political, technological and economic structural reordering, forming and reforming the international system. “IS cyberneticists” task would be to understand the control mechanisms that govern the operation of international society (and the sub-systems in their interconnection) and only then suggest better ways operate these mechanisms on sublevels as cultural, political, technological, religious and other. “IS cybernetics” would also strive to capture the mechanism of social-structural changes in time, which would open space for syntheses between IR and historical sociology. With the cybernetic distinction between first order studies of observed systems and the second order study of observing systems, IS cybernetics would also provide a unifying epistemological and methodological, conceptual framework for multilateralism and multiple modernities theory.

Keywords: cybernetics, historical sociology, international system, systems theory

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Authors: Dejen Alemu, Murray E. Jennex, Temtim Assefa

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This paper is investigated to understand the design, the use, and the consequence of Knowledge Management System (KMS) for knowledge systems sharing and integration. A KMS for knowledge systems sharing and integration is designed to meet the challenges raised by knowledge management researchers and practitioners: the technical, the human, and social factors. Agricultural KMS involves various members coming from different Communities of Practice (CoPs) who possess their own knowledge of multiple practices which need to be combined in the system development. However, the current development of the technology ignored the indigenous knowledge of the local communities, which is the key success factor for agriculture. This research employed the multi-methodological approach to KMS research in action research perspective which consists of four strategies: theory building, experimentation, observation, and system development. Using the KMS development practice of Ethiopian agricultural transformation agency as a case study, this research employed an interpretive analysis using primary qualitative data acquired through in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observations. The Orlikowski's structuration model of technology has been used to understand the design, the use, and the consequence of the KMS. As a result, the research identified three basic components for the architecture of the shared KMS, namely, the people, the resources, and the implementation subsystems. The KMS were developed using web 2.0 tools to promote knowledge sharing and integration among diverse groups of users in a distributed environment. The use of a shared KMS allows users to access diverse knowledge from a number of users in different groups of participants, enhances the exchange of different forms of knowledge and experience, and creates high interaction and collaboration among participants. The consequences of a shared KMS on the social system includes, the elimination of hierarchical structure, enhance participation, collaboration, and negotiation among users from different CoPs having common interest, knowledge and skill development, integration of diverse knowledge resources, and the requirement of policy and guideline. The research contributes methodologically for the application of system development action research for understanding a conceptual framework for KMS development and use. The research have also theoretical contribution in extending structuration model of technology for the incorporation of variety of knowledge and practical implications to provide management understanding in developing strategies for the potential of web 2.0 tools for sharing and integration of indigenous knowledge.

Keywords: communities of practice, indigenous knowledge, participation, structuration model of technology, Web 2.0 tools

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Authors: Sadhana Deshmukh

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Objective: Men represent only a fraction of the medical aesthetic practice. They are increasingly becoming more cosmetically-inclined. The primary objective is to harmonize facial proportion by prioritizing and focusing on forehead nose, cheek and chin complex. Introduction: Despite tremendous variability, diverse population of the Indian subcontinent, the male skull is unique in its overall larger size, and shape. Men tend to have a large forehead with prominent supraorbital ridges, wide glabella, square orbit, and a prominent protruding mandible. Men have increased skeletal muscle mass, with less facial subcutaneous fat. Facial aesthetics is evolving rapidly. Commonly published canons of facial proportions usually represent feminine standards and are not applicable to males. Strict adherence to these norms is therefore not necessary to obtain satisfying results in male patients. Materials and Methods: Male patients age group 30-60 years have been enrolled. Botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid fillers were used to update consensus recommendations for facial rejuvenation using these two types of products alone and in combination. Results: There are specific recommendations by facial area, focusing on relaxing musculature, restoring volume, recontouring using toxin and dermal fillers alone and in combination. For upper face, though botulinum toxin remains the cornerstone of treatment, temples and forehead fillers are recommended for optimal results. In Mid face, these fillers are placed more laterally to maintain the masculine look. Botulinum toxin and fillers in combination can improve outcomes in the lower face. Chin augmentation remains the center point for lower face. Conclusions: Males are more likely to have shorter doctor visits, less likely to ask questions, have a lower attention to bodily changes. The physician must patiently gauge male patients’ aging and cosmetic goals. Clinicians can also benefit from ongoing guidance on products, tailoring treatments, treating multiple facial areas, and using combinations of products. An appreciation that rejuvenation is 3-dimensional process involving muscle control, volume restoration and recontouring helps.

Keywords: male aesthetics, botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid dermal fillers, Asian patients

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Authors: Shu-Ling Wang

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Background: Multiple studies showed early skin-to-skin contact (SSC) with mothers was beneficial to newborns such as breastfeeding and maternal childcare. In cases of newborns unable to have early SSC with mothers, fathers’ involvement could let early SSC continue without interruption. However, few studies had explored the effects of early SSC by fathers in comparison to early SSC with mothers. Paternal involvement of early SSC should be equally important in term of childcare and breastfeeding. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of early SSC by fathers in particular in their support of breastfeeding. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was employed by the study. One hundred and forty-four father-infant pairs had participated the study, in which infants were assigned either to SSC with their fathers (n = 72) or to routine care (n = 72) as the control group. The study was conducted at a regional hospital in northern Taiwan. Participants included parents of both vaginal delivery (VD) and caesarean section birth (CS) infants. To be eligible for inclusion, infants must be over 37-week gestational ages. Data were collected twice: as pretest upon admission and as posttest with online questionnaire during first, second, and third postpartum months. The questionnaire included items for Breastfeeding Social Support, methods of feeding, and the mother-infant 24-hour rooming-in rate. The efficacy of early SSC with fathers was evaluated using the generalized estimating equation (GEE) modeling. Research Result: The primary finding was that SSC with fathers had positive impact on fathers’ support of breastfeeding. Analysis of the online questionnaire indicated that early SSC with fathers improved the support of breastfeeding than the control group (VD: t = -4.98, p < .001; CS: t = -2.37, p = .02). Analysis of mother-infant 24-hour rooming-in rate showed that SSC with fathers after CS had a positive impact on the rooming-in rate (χ² = 5.79, p = .02); however, with VD the difference between early SSC with fathers and the control group was insignificant (χ² = .23, p = .63). Analysis of the rate of exclusive breastfeeding indicated that early SSC with fathers had a higher rate than the control group during first three postpartum months for both delivery methods (VD: χ² = 12.51, p < .001 on 1st postpartum month, χ² = 8.13, p < .05 on 2nd postpartum month, χ² = 4.43, p < .05 on 3rd postpartum month; CS: χ² = 6.92, p < .05 on 1st postpartum month, χ² = 7.41, p < .05 on 2nd postpartum month, χ² = 6.24, p < .05 on 3rd postpartum month). No significant difference was found on the rate of exclusive breastfeeding with both methods of delivery between two groups during hospitalization. (VD: χ² =2 .00, p = .16; CS: χ² = .73, p = .39). Conclusion: Implementing early SSC with fathers has many benefits to both parents. The result of this study showed increasing fathers’ support of breastfeeding. This encourages our nursing personnel to focus the needs of father during breastfeeding, therefore further enhancing the quality of parental care, the rate and duration of breastfeeding.

Keywords: breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact, support of breastfeeding, rooming-in

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Authors: Nji Queenta Ngum, Mwanza Mulunda

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Introduction Most African research reports on the frequent aflatoxin contamination of various foodstuffs, with researchers rarely specifying which of the Aspergillus species are present in these commodities. Numerous research works provide evidence of the ability of fungi to grow, thrive, and interact with other crop species and focus on the fact that these processes are largely affected by climatic variables. South Africa is a water-stressed country with high spatio-temporal rainfall variability; moreover, temperatures have been projected to rise at a rate twice the global rate. This weather pattern change may lead to crop stress encouraging mold contamination with subsequent mycotoxin production. In this study, the biodiversity and distribution of Aspergillus species with their corresponding toxins in maize from six distinct maize producing regions with different weather patterns in South Africa were investigated. Materials And Methods By applying cultural and molecular methods, a total of 1028 maize samples from six distinct agro-climatic regions were examined for contamination by the Aspergillus species while the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was applied to analyse the level of contamination by aflatoxins. Results About 30% of the overall maize samples were contaminated by at least one Aspergillus species. Less than 30% (28.95%) of the 228 isolates subjected to the aflatoxigenic test was found to possess at least one of the aflatoxin biosynthetic genes. Furthermore, almost 20% were found to be contaminated with aflatoxins, with mean total aflatoxin concentration levels of 64.17 ppb. Amongst the contaminated samples, 59.02% had mean total aflatoxin concentration levels above the SA regulatory limit of 20ppb for animals and 10 for human consumption. Conclusion In this study, climate variables (rainfall reduction) were found to significantly (p<0.001) influence the occurrence of the Aspergillus species (especially Aspergillus fumigatus) and the production of aflatoxin in South Africa commercial maize by maize variety, year of cultivation as well as the agro-climatic region in which the maize is cultivated. This included, amongst others, a reduction in the average annual rainfall of the preceding year to about 21.27 mm, and, as opposed to other regions whose average maximum rainfall ranged between 37.24 – 44.1 mm, resulted in a significant increase in the aflatoxin contamination of maize.

Keywords: aspergillus species, aflatoxins, diversity, drought, food safety, HPLC and PCR techniques

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Authors: M. Walmsley, S. Elmatarri, S. Mannion

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Introduction: Self-inflicted injury is a recognised cause of major trauma in adults and is an independent indicator of a reduced functional outcome compared to non-intentional major trauma. There is little literature available on the inpatient mental health (MH) management of this vulnerable group. A retrospective review was conducted of inpatient MH management of major trauma patients admitted to a UK regional Major Trauma Centre (MTC). Their outcomes were compared to all major trauma patients. This group of patients required multiple MH interventions whilst on the Major Trauma Ward (MTW) and a had worse functional outcome compared to non-intentional trauma. Method: The national TARN (Trauma Audit and Research Network) database was used to identify patients admitted to a regional MTC over a 2-year period from June 2018 to July 2020. Patients with an ISS (Injury Severity Score) of greater than 15 with a mechanism of either self-harm or high-risk behavior were included for further analysis. Inpatient medical notes were reviewed for MH interventions on the MTW. Further outcomes, including mortality, length of stay (LOS) and Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) were compared with all major trauma patients for the same time period. Results: A total of 60 patients were identified in the time period and of those, 27 spent time on the MTW. A total of 23 (85%) had a prior MH diagnosis, with 11 (41%) under the care of secondary MH services. Adequate inpatient records for review were available for 24 patients. During their inpatient stay, 8 (33%) were reviewed on the ward by the inpatient MH team. There were 10 interventions required for 6 (25%) patients on the MTW including, sections under the Mental Health Act, transfer to specialist MH facility, pharmacological sedation and security being called to the MTW. When compared to all major trauma patients, those admitted due to self-harm or high-risk behavior had a statistically significantly higher ISS (31.43 vs 24.22, p=0.0001) and LOS (23.51d vs 16.06d, p=0.002). Functional outcomes using the GOS were reduced in this group of patients, GOS 5 (low disability) (51.66% vs. 61.01%) and they additionally had a higher level of mortality, GOS 1 (15.00% vs 11.67%). Discussion: Intentional self-harm is a recognised cause of major trauma in adults and this patient group sustains more severe injuries, requiring a longer hospital stay with worse outcomes compared to all major trauma patients. Inpatient MH interventions are required for a significant proportion of these patients and therefore, there needs to be a close relationship with MH services. There is limited available evidence for how this patient group is best managed as an inpatient to aid their recovery and further work is needed on how outcomes in this vulnerable group can be improved.

Keywords: adult major trauma, attempted suicide, self-inflicted major trauma, inpatient management

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Authors: Jin Li, Jing Sun, Xiangkun Cai, Lijuanwang, Yanbin Tang, Junsheng Huo

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In order to improve the malnutrition of infants and young children in poor rural areas of China, Chinese government implement a project on improvement of children's nutrition in poor rural areas. Each infant or young child aged 6 to 23 months in selected poor rural areas of China was provided a package of Yingyangbao (YYB) per day, which is a full fat soy powder mixed with multiple micronutrient powders. A technical direction to implement this project comprehensively in poor rural areas of China will be provided by assessing the nutritional status of infants and feeding practices of caregiver. The nutritional intervention was conducted using Yingyangbao for infants aged 6 to 23 months in six poor counties of Shanxi, Yunnan and Hubei Provinces. The caregiver or parents of infants were educated on feeding knowledge and practice. A total of 1840 infants were assessed before the intervention and 1789 infants one year later. The length, weight, hemoglobin concentration of infants were measured to evaluate nutritional status before and after the intervention respectively. The questionnaires were designed to collect data for the basic demographic information and feeding practices. The average weight of infants aged 6 to 23 months increased from 9.59 ± 1.54kg to 9.73 ± 1.61kg one years later (p<0.01), and the average length from 76.0±6.0 to 77.0±6.1(p<0.01). The weight and length of infants aged 12 to 17 months had most obviously improving effect among the three age groups. Before the intervention, the hemoglobin concentration value of infants was 11.7±1.2g/L, and the anemia prevalence was 32.9%. One year later, the hemoglobin concentration value of the infants was increased to 12.0±1.1g/dL, and the anemia prevalence was decreased to 26.0%. There were both statistically significant (p <0.01). The anemia prevalence of infants aged 18 to 23 months had most obviously improving effect，which decreased from 25.0% to 17.2%(p<0.01). The proportion of infants aged 6 to 8 months who received solid, semi-solid or soft foods in time was increased from 89.4% to 91.6%, while there was no statistically significant. The proportion of 6-23 month-old infants who received minimum dietary diversity increased from 55.6% to 60.3%(p <0.01). The differences of the proportion of infants who received minimum meal frequency was no statistically significant between before and after the intervention. The nutritional intervention using Yingyangbao showed the significant effect for improving infants aged 6 to 23 months anemia status, weight and length. The feeding practices were improved through education in the process of nutritional intervention, while the effect is not significant. It is need for Chinese government to explore new publicity pattern.

Keywords: nutritional intervention, infants, nutritional status, feeding practice

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Authors: Xiaobo Rui, Zhoumo Zeng, Yibo Li

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A novel tri-cantilever energy harvester with magnetic oscillator was presented, which could convert the ambient vibration into electrical energy to power the low-power devices such as wireless sensor networks. The most common way to harvest vibration energy is based on the use of linear resonant devices such as cantilever beam, since this structure creates the highest strain for a given force. The highest efficiency will be achieved when the resonance frequency of the harvester matches the vibration frequency. The limitation of the structure is the narrow effective bandwidth. To overcome this limitation, this article introduces a broadband tri-cantilever harvester with nonlinear stiffness. This energy harvester typically consists of three thin cantilever beams vertically arranged with Neodymium Magnets ( NdFeB)magnetics at its free end and a fixed base at the other end. The three cantilevers have different resonant frequencies by designed in different thicknesses. It is obviously that a similar advantage of multiple resonant frequencies as piezoelectric cantilevers array structure is built. To achieve broadband energy harvesting, magnetic interaction is used to introduce the nonlinear system stiffness to tune the resonant frequency to match the excitation. Since the three cantilever tips are all free and the magnetic force is distance dependent, the resonant frequencies will be complexly changed with the vertical vibration of the free end. Both model and experiment are built. The electromechanically coupled lumped-parameter model is presented. An electromechanical formulation and analytical expressions for the coupled nonlinear vibration response and voltage response are given. The entire structure is fabricated and mechanically attached to a electromagnetic shaker as a vibrating body via the fixed base, in order to couple the vibrations to the cantilever. The cantilevers are bonded with piezoelectric macro-fiber composite (MFC) materials (Model: M8514P2). The size of the cantilevers is 120*20mm2 and the thicknesses are separately 1mm, 0.8mm, 0.6mm. The prototype generator has a measured performance of 160.98 mW effective electrical power and 7.93 DC output voltage via the excitation level of 10m/s2. The 130% increase in the operating bandwidth is achieved. This device is promising to support low-power devices, peer-to-peer wireless nodes, and small-scale wireless sensor networks in ambient vibration environment.

Keywords: tri-cantilever, ambient vibration, energy harvesting, magnetic oscillator

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Authors: Roya Bakhtiar, Alireza Abdolmohammadi, Hadi Hajarian, Zahra Nikousefat, Davood, Kalantar-Neyestanaki

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The objective of the present study was to determine the polymorphism in the leptin (332G>A) and its association with biometric traits in Sanjabi sheep. For this purpose, blood samples from 96 rams were taken, and tail length, width tail, circumference tail, body length, body width, and height were simultaneously recorded. PCR was performed using specific primer to amplify 463 bp fragment including exon 3 of leptin gene, and PCR products were digested by Cail restriction enzymes. The 332G>A (at 332th nucleotide of exon 3 leptin gene) that caused an amino acid change from Arg to Gln was detected by Cail (CAGNNNCTG) endonuclease, as the endonuclease cannot cut this region if G nucleotide is located in this position. Three genotypes including GG (463), GA (463, 360and 103 bp) and GG (360 bp and 103 bp) were identified after digestion by enzyme. The estimated frequencies of three genotypes including GG, GA, and AA for 332G>A locus were 0.68, 0.29 and 0.03 and those were 0.18 and 0.82 for A and G alleles, respectively. In the current study, chi-square test indicated that 332G>A positions did not deviate from the Hardy–Weinberg (HW) equilibrium. The most important reason to show HW equation was that samples used in this study belong to three large local herds with a traditional breeding system having random mating and without selection. Shannon index amount was calculated which represent an average genetic variation in Sanjabi rams. Also, heterozygosity estimated by Nei index indicated that genetic diversity of mutation in the leptin gene is moderate. Leptin gene polymorphism in the 332G>A had significant effect on body length (P<0.05) trait, and individuals with GA genotype had significantly the higher body length compared to other individuals. Although animals with GA genotype had higher body width, this difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). This non-synonymous SNP resulted in different amino acid changes at codon positions111(R/Q). As leptin activity is localized, at least in part, in domains between amino acid residues 106-1406, it is speculated that the detected SNP at position 332 may affect the activity of leptin and may lead to different biological functions. Based to our results, due to significant effect of leptin gene polymorphism on body size traits, this gene may be used a candidate gene for improving these traits.

Keywords: body size, Leptin gene, PCR-RFLP, Sanjabi sheep

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Authors: Chia-Yu Lin, Yu-Hsiang Shen, Cing-Ciao Ke, Chia-Hao Chang, Fan-Pin Tseng, Yu-Ching Ni, Sheng-Pin Tseng

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Tomosynthesis is an imaging system that generates a 3D image by scanning in a limited angular range. It could provide more depth information than traditional 2D X-ray single projection. Radiation dose in tomosynthesis is less than computed tomography (CT). Because of limited angular range scanning, there are many properties depending on scanning direction. Therefore, non-coplanar imaging technique was developed to improve image quality in traditional tomosynthesis. The purpose of this study was to establish the non-coplanar imaging technique of tomosynthesis system and evaluate this technique by the reconstructed image. INER prototype tomosynthesis system contains an X-ray tube, a flat panel detector, and a motion machine. This system could move X-ray tube in multiple directions during the acquisition. In this study, we investigated three different imaging techniques that were 2D X-ray single projection, traditional tomosynthesis, and non-coplanar tomosynthesis. An anthropopathic chest phantom was used to evaluate the image quality. It contained three different size lesions (3 mm, 5 mm and, 8 mm diameter). The traditional tomosynthesis acquired 61 projections over a 30 degrees angular range in one scanning direction. The non-coplanar tomosynthesis acquired 62 projections over 30 degrees angular range in two scanning directions. A 3D image was reconstructed by iterative image reconstruction algorithm (ML-EM). Our qualitative method was to evaluate artifacts in tomosynthesis reconstructed image. The quantitative method was used to calculate a peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) that means the intensity ratio of the lesion to the background. We used PVRs to evaluate the contrast of lesions. The qualitative results showed that in the reconstructed image of non-coplanar scanning, anatomic structures of chest and lesions could be identified clearly and no significant artifacts of scanning direction dependent could be discovered. In 2D X-ray single projection, anatomic structures overlapped and lesions could not be discovered. In traditional tomosynthesis image, anatomic structures and lesions could be identified clearly, but there were many artifacts of scanning direction dependent. The quantitative results of PVRs show that there were no significant differences between non-coplanar tomosynthesis and traditional tomosynthesis. The PVRs of the non-coplanar technique were slightly higher than traditional technique in 5 mm and 8 mm lesions. In non-coplanar tomosynthesis, artifacts of scanning direction dependent could be reduced and PVRs of lesions were not decreased. The reconstructed image was more isotropic uniformity in non-coplanar tomosynthesis than in traditional tomosynthesis. In the future, scan strategy and scan time will be the challenges of non-coplanar imaging technique.

Keywords: image reconstruction, non-coplanar imaging technique, tomosynthesis, X-ray imaging

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Authors: Mokgadi Miranda Hlongwane, Ntebogeng Sharon Mokgalaka, Felix Dapare Dakora

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Lessertia (L.) frutescens (syn. Sutherlandia frutescens) is a leguminous medicinal plant indigenous to South Africa. Traditionally, L. frutescens has been used to treat cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, fever, HIV, stomach problems, wounds and other ailments. This legume is endemic to the Cape fynbos, with large populations occurring wild and cultivated in the Cape Florist Region. Its widespread distribution in the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal is linked to its increased use as a phytomedicine in the treatment of various diseases by traditional healers. The frequent harvesting of field plants for use as a medicine has made it necessary to undertake studies towards the conservation of Lessertia frutescens. As a legume, this species can form root nodules and fix atmospheric N₂ when in symbiosis with soil bacteria called rhizobia. So far, however, few studies (if any) have been done on the efficacy and diversity of native bacterial symbionts nodulating L. frutescens in South Africa. The aim of this project was to isolate and characterize L. frutescens-nodulating bacteria from five different locations in the Western Cape Province. This was done by trapping soil rhizobia using rhizosphere soil suspension to inoculate L. frutescens seedlings growing in sterilized sand and receiving sterile N-free Hoagland nutrient solution under glasshouse conditions. At 60 days after planting, root nodules were harvested from L. frutescens plants, surface-sterilized, macerated, and streaked on yeast mannitol agar (YMA) plates and incubated at 28 ˚C for observation of bacterial growth. The majority of isolates were slow-growers that took 6-14 days to appear on YMA plates. However, seven isolates were fast-growers, taking 2-4 days to appear on YMA plates. Single-colony cultures of the isolates were assessed for their ability to nodulate L. frutescens as a homologous host under glasshouse conditions. Of the 92 bacterial isolates tested, 63 elicited nodule formation on L. frutescens. Symbiotic effectiveness varied markedly between and among test isolates. There were also significant (p≤0.005) differences in nodulation, shoot biomass, photosynthetic rates, leaf transpiration and stomatal conductance of L. frutescens plants inoculated with the test isolates, which is an indication of their functional diversity.

Keywords: lessertia frutescens, nodulating, rhizobia, symbiotic effectiveness

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Authors: Hyeuk Ju Ko, Eui Ju Lee

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Many electronic devices are powered by various rechargeable batteries such as lithium-ion today, but occasionally the batteries undergo thermal runaway and cause fire, explosion, and other hazards. If a battery fire should occur in an electronic device of vehicle and aircraft cabin, it is important to quickly extinguish the fire and cool the batteries to minimize safety risks. Attempts to minimize these risks have been carried out by many researchers but the number of study on the successful extinguishment is limited. Because most rechargeable batteries are operated on the ion state with electron during charge and discharge of electricity, and the reaction of this electrolyte has a big difference with normal combustion. Here, we focused on the effect of ions on reaction stability and pollutant emissions during combustion process. The other importance for understanding ionized fuel combustion could be found in high efficient and environment-friendly combustion technologies, which are used to be operated an extreme condition and hence results in unintended flame instability such as extinction and oscillation. The use of electromagnetic energy and non-equilibrium plasma is one of the way to solve the problems, but the application has been still limited because of lack of excited ion effects in the combustion process. Therefore, the understanding of ion role during combustion might be promised to the energy safety society including the battery safety. In this study, the effects of an ionized fuel on the flame stability and pollutant emissions were experimentally investigated in the hydrocarbon jet diffusion flames. The burner used in this experiment consisted of 7.5 mm diameter tube for fuel and the gaseous fuels were ionized with the ionizer (SUNJE, SPN-11). Methane (99.9% purity) and propane (commercial grade) were used as a fuel and open ambient air was used as an oxidizer. As the performance of ionizer used in the experiment was evaluated at first, ion densities of both propane and methane increased linearly with volume flow rate but the ion density of propane is slightly higher than that of methane. The results show that the overall flame stability and shape such as flame length has no significant difference even in the higher ion concentration. However, the fuel ionization affects to the pollutant emissions such as NOx and soot. NOx and CO emissions measured in post flame region decreased with increasing fuel ionization, especially at high fuel velocity, i.e. high ion density. TGA analysis and morphology of soot by TEM indicates that the fuel ionization makes soot to be matured.

Keywords: battery fires, ionization, jet flames, stability, NOx and soot

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Authors: Sarwat un Nisa

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One of the remarkable gifts that a human being is blessed with is the ability to speak using a combination of sounds. Different combinations of sounds combine to form a word which in turn make a sentence and therefore give birth to a language. A person can either be a monolingual, i.e., can speak one language or bilingual, i.e., can speak more than one language. Whether a person speaks one language or multiple languages or in whatever language a person speaks, the main aim is to communicate, express ideas, feelings or thoughts. Sometimes the choice of a language is deliberate and sometimes it is a habitual act. The language which is used to put our ideas across speaks many things about our cultural, linguistic and ethnic identities. It can never be claimed that bilinguals are better than monolinguals in terms of linguistic skills, bilinguals or multilinguals have more than one language at their disposal. Therefore, how effectively two languages are used by the same person keeps linguists always intrigued. The most prominent and common features found in the speech of bilingual speakers are code switching and code mixing. The aim of the present paper is to explore these features among the adolescent speakers of Kashmir. The reason for studying the linguistics behavior of adolescents is the age when a person is neither an adult nor a child. They want to drift away from the norms and make a new norm for themselves. Therefore, how their linguistics skills are influenced by their age is of great interest because it can set the trend for the future generation. Kashmir is a multilingual society where three languages, i.e., Kashmiri, Urdu, and English are regularly used by the speakers, especially the educated ones. Kashmiri is widely used at home or mostly among adults. Urdu is the official language, and English is used in schools and for most of the written official correspondences. Thus, it is not uncommon to find these three languages coming in contact with each other quite frequently. The language contact results in the code switching and code mixing. In this paper different aspects of code switching and code mixing are discussed. Research Method: The data were collected from the different districts of Kashmir. The informants did not have prior knowledge of the survey. The situation was spontaneous and natural. The topics were introduced by the interviewer to the group of informants which comprised of three participants. They were asked to discuss the topic, most of the times without any intervention of the interviewer. Along with conversations, the informants also filled in written questionnaires comprising sociolinguistic questions. Questionnaires were analysed to get an idea about the sociolinguistic attitude of the informants. Percentage, frequency, and average were used as statistical tools to analyse the data. Conclusions were drawn taking into consideration of interpretations of both speech samples and questionnaires.

Keywords: code mixing, code switching, Kashmir, bilingualism

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

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Morbid obesity is a health threatening condition particularly in children. Generally, it leads to the development of metabolic syndrome (MetS) characterized by central obesity, elevated fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglyceride (TRG), blood pressure values and suppressed high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. However, some ambiguities exist during the diagnosis of MetS in children below 10 years of age. Therefore, clinicians are in the need of some surrogate markers for the laboratory assessment of pediatric MetS. In this study, the aim is to develop an index, which will be more helpful during the evaluation of further risks detected in morbid obese (MO) children. A total of 235 children with normal body mass index (N-BMI), with varying degrees of obesity; overweight (OW), obese (OB), MO as well as MetS participated in this study. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee. Informed consent forms were obtained from the parents of the children. Obesity states of the children were classified using BMI percentiles adjusted for age and sex. For the purpose, tabulated data prepared by WHO were used. MetS criteria were defined. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were measured. Parameters related to glucose and lipid metabolisms were determined. FBG, insulin (INS), HDL-C, TRG concentrations were determined. Diagnostic Obesity Notation Model Assessment Laboratory (DONMA_LAB) Index [ln TRG/HDL-C*INS] was introduced. Commonly used insulin resistance (IR) indices such as Homeostatic Model Assessment for IR (HOMA-IR) as well as ratios such as TRG/HDL-C, TRG/HDL-C*INS, HDL-C/TRG*INS, TRG/HDL-C*INS/FBG, log, and ln versions of these ratios were calculated. Results were interpreted using statistical package program (SPSS Version 16.0) for Windows. The data were evaluated using appropriate statistical tests. The degree for statistical significance was defined as 0.05. 35 N, 20 OW, 47 OB, 97 MO children and 36 with MetS were investigated. Mean ± SD values of TRG/HDL-C were 1.27 ± 0.69, 1.86 ± 1.08, 2.15 ± 1.22, 2.48 ± 2.35 and 4.61 ± 3.92 for N, OW, OB, MO and MetS children, respectively. Corresponding values for the DONMA_LAB index were 2.17 ± 1.07, 3.01 ± 0.94, 3.41 ± 0.93, 3.43 ± 1.08 and 4.32 ± 1.00. TRG/HDL-C ratio significantly differed between N and MetS groups. On the other hand, DONMA_LAB index exhibited statistically significant differences between N and all the other groups except the OW group. This index was capable of discriminating MO children from those with MetS. Statistically significant elevations were detected in MO children with MetS (p < 0.05). Multiple parameters are commonly used during the assessment of MetS. Upon evaluation of the values obtained for N, OW, OB, MO groups and for MO children with MetS, the [ln TRG/HDL-C*INS] value was unique in discriminating children with MetS.

Keywords: children, index, laboratory, metabolic syndrome, obesity

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Authors: Habib Abida, Noura Dahri

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Flash floods are among the most serious natural hazards that have disastrous environmental and human impacts. They are associated with exceptional rain events, characterized by short durations, very high intensities, rapid flows and small spatial extent. Flash floods happen very suddenly and are difficult to forecast. They generally cause damage to agricultural crops and property, infrastructures, and may even result in the loss of human lives. The city of Gabes (South-eastern Tunisia) has been exposed to numerous damaging floods because of its mild topography, clay soil, high urbanization rate and erratic rainfall distribution. The risks associated with this situation are expected to increase further in the future because of climate change, deemed responsible for the increase of the frequency and the severity of this natural hazard. Recently, exceptional events hit Gabes City causing death and major property losses. A major flooding event hit the region on June 2nd, 2014, causing human deaths and major material losses. It resulted in the stagnation of storm water in the numerous low zones of the study area, endangering thereby human health and causing disastrous environmental impacts. The characterization of flood risk in Gabes Watershed (South-eastern Tunisia) is considered an important step for flood management. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method coupled with Monte Carlo simulation and geographic information system were applied to delineate and characterize flood areas. A spatial database was developed based on geological map, digital elevation model, land use, and rainfall data in order to evaluate the different factors susceptible to affect flood analysis. Results obtained were validated by remote sensing data for the zones that showed very high flood hazard during the extreme rainfall event of June 2014 that hit the study basin. Moreover, a survey was conducted from different areas of the city in order to understand and explore the different causes of this disaster, its extent and its consequences.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, flash floods, Gabes, remote sensing, Tunisia

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Authors: D. Zhao, Y. Wang, G. Chen

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Gas sensors that utilize carbonaceous materials as sensing media offer numerous advantages, making them the preferred choice for constructing chemical sensors over those using other sensing materials. Carbonaceous materials, particularly nano-sized ones like carbon nanotubes (CNTs), provide these sensors with high sensitivity. Additionally, carbon-based sensors possess other advantageous properties that enhance their performance, including high stability, low power consumption for operation, and cost-effectiveness in their construction. These properties make carbon-based sensors ideal for a wide range of applications, especially in miniaturized devices created through MEMS or NEMS technologies. To capitalize on these properties, a group of chemoresistance-type carbon-based gas sensors was developed and tested against various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and volatile inorganic compounds (VICs). The results demonstrated exceptional sensitivity to both VOCs and VICs, along with the sensor’s long-term stability. However, this broad sensitivity also led to poor selectivity towards specific gases. This project aims at addressing the selectivity issue by modifying the carbon-based sensing materials and enhancing the sensor's specificity to individual gas. Multiple groups of sensors were manufactured and modified using proprietary techniques. To assess their performance, we conducted experiments on representative sensors from each group to detect a range of VOCs and VICs. The VOCs tested included acetone, dimethyl ether, ethanol, formaldehyde, methane, and propane. The VICs comprised carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen (H2), nitric oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The concentrations of the sample gases were all set at 50 parts per million (ppm). Nitrogen (N2) was used as the carrier gas throughout the experiments. The results of the gas sensing experiments are as follows. In Group 1, the sensors exhibited selectivity toward CO2, acetone, NO, and NO2, with NO2 showing the highest response. Group 2 primarily responded to NO2. Group 3 displayed responses to nitrogen oxides, i.e., both NO and NO2, with NO2 slightly surpassing NO in sensitivity. Group 4 demonstrated the highest sensitivity among all the groups toward NO and NO2, with NO2 being more sensitive than NO. In conclusion, by incorporating several modifications using carbon nanotubes (CNTs), sensors can be designed to respond well to NOx gases with great selectivity and without interference from other gases. Because the response levels to NO and NO2 from each group are different, the individual concentration of NO and NO2 can be deduced.

Keywords: gas sensors, carbon, CNT, MEMS/NEMS, VOC, VIC, high selectivity, modification of sensing materials

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Authors: Cynthia Briggs, Kimberly Gerardi

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Over the past six years, the authors have been working together on World Language Collaborations in the Middle School French Program at St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA. Author 2 brings design expertise to the projects, and both teachers have utilized the fabrication lab, emerging technologies, and collaboration with students. Each year, author 1 proposes a project scope, and her students are challenged to design and engineer a signature project. Both partners have improved the iterative process to ensure deeper learning and sustained student inquiry. The projects range from a 1:32 scale model of the Eiffel Tower that was CNC routed to a fully functional jukebox that plays francophone music, lights up, and can hold up to one thousand songs powered by Raspberry Pi. The most recent project is a Fragrance Marketplace, culminating with a pop-up store for the entire community to discover. Each student will learn the history of fragrance and the chemistry behind making essential oils. Students then create a unique brand, marketing strategy, and concept for their signature fragrance. They are further tasked to use the industrial design process (bottling, packaging, and creating a brand name) to finalize their product for the public Marketplace. Sometimes, these dynamic projects require maintenance and updates. For example, our wall-mounted, three-foot francophone clock is constantly changing. The most recent iteration uses Chat GPT to program the Arduino to reconcile the real-time clock shield and keep perfect time as each hour passes. The lights, motors, and sounds from the clock are authentic to each region, represented with laser-cut embellishments. Inspired by Michel Parmigiani, the history of Swiss watch-making, and the precision of time instruments, we aim for perfection with each passing minute. The authors aim to share exemplary work that is possible with students of all ages. We implemented the reverse engineering process to focus on student outcomes to refine our collaborative process. The products that our students create are prime examples of how the design engineering process is applicable across disciplines. The authors firmly believe that the past and present of World cultures inspire innovation.

Keywords: collaboration, design thinking, emerging technologies, world language

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Authors: Annette Cosgrove

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The objectives of this research study is to examine the impact of professional development in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and the digitisation of learning in teaching communities across multiple higher education sites in the ATU (Atlantic Technological University *) ( 2020-2025), including the proposal of an evidence based digital teaching model for use in a future pandemic. The research strategy undertaken for this PhD Study is a multi-site study using mixed methods. Qualitative & quantitative methods are being used in the study to collect data. A pilot study was carried out initially , feedback collected and the research instrument was edited to reflect this feedback, before being administered. The purpose of the staff questionnaire is to evaluate the impact of professional development in the area of TEL, and to capture the practitioners views on the perceived impact on their teaching practice in the higher education sector across ATU (West of Ireland – 5 Higher education locations ). The phenomenon being explored is ‘ the impact of professional development in the area of technology enhanced learning and on teaching practice in a higher education institution.’ The research methodology chosen for this study is an Action based Research Study. The researcher has chosen this approach as it is a prime strategy for developing educational theory and enhancing educational practice . This study includes quantitative and qualitative methods to elicit data which will quantify the impact that continuous professional development in the area of digital teaching practice and technologies has on the practitioner’s teaching practice in higher education. The research instruments / data collection tools for this study include a lecturer survey with a targeted TEL Practice group ( Pre and post covid experience) and semi-structured interviews with lecturers.. This research is currently being conducted across the ATU multisite campus and targeting Higher education lecturers that have completed formal CPD in the area of digital teaching. ATU, a west of Ireland university is the focus of the study , The research questionnaire has been deployed, with 75 respondents to date across the ATU - the primary questionnaire and semi- formal interviews are ongoing currently – the purpose being to evaluate the impact of formal professional development in the area of TEL and its perceived impact on the practitioners teaching practice in the area of digital teaching and learning . This paper will present initial findings, reflections and data from this ongoing research study.

Keywords: TEL, DTL, digital teaching, digital assessment

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Authors: Rafid Mueen, Konstantin Konstantinov, Micheal Lerch, Zhenxiang Cheng

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In the past two decades, the concern for skin protection from ultraviolet (UV) radiation has attracted considerable attention due to the increased intensity of UV rays that can reach the Earth’s surface as a result of the breakdown of ozone layer. Recently, UVA has also attracted attention, since, in comparison to UVB, it can penetrate deeply into the skin, which can result in significant health concerns. Sunscreen agents are one of the significant tools to protect the skin from UV irradiation, and it is either organic or in organic. Developing of inorganic UV blockers is essential, which provide efficient UV protection over a wide spectrum rather than organic filters. Furthermore inorganic UV blockers are good comfort, and high safety when applied on human skin. Inorganic materials can absorb, reflect, or scatter the ultraviolet radiation, depending on their particle size, unlike the organic blockers, which absorb the UV irradiation. Nowadays, most inorganic UV-blocking filters are based on (TiO2) and ZnO). ZnO can provide protection in the UVA range. Indeed, ZnO is attractive for in sunscreen formulization, and this relates to many advantages, such as its modest refractive index (2.0), absorption of a small fraction of solar radiation in the UV range which is equal to or less than 385 nm, its high probable recombination of photogenerated carriers (electrons and holes), large direct band gap, high exciton binding energy, non-risky nature, and high tendency towards chemical and physical stability which make it transparent in the visible region with UV protective activity. A significant issue for ZnO use in sunscreens is that it can generate ROS in the presence of UV light because of its photocatalytic activity. Therefore it is essential to make a non-photocatalytic material through modification by other metals. Several efforts have been made to deactivate the photocatalytic activity of ZnO by using inorganic surface modifiers. The doping of ZnO by different metals is another way to modify its photocatalytic activity. Recently, successful doping of ZnO with different metals such as Ce, La, Co, Mn, Al, Li, Na, K, and Cr by various procedures, such as a simple and facile one pot water bath, co-precipitation, hydrothermal, solvothermal, combustion, and sol gel methods has been reported. These materials exhibit greater performance than undoped ZnO towards increasing the photocatalytic activity of ZnO in visible light. Therefore, metal doping can be an effective technique to modify the ZnO photocatalytic activity. However, in the current work, we successfully reduce the photocatalytic activity of ZnO through Na doped ZnO fabricated via sol-gel and hydrothermal methods.

Keywords: photocatalytic, ROS, UVA, ZnO

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Authors: Amandeep Kaur, Ns Atri, Munruchi Kaur

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Mushrooms have shaped our environment in ways that we are only beginning to understand. The weather patterns, topography, flora and fauna of Punjab state in India create favorable growing conditions for thousands of species of mushrooms, but the complete region was unexplored when it comes to coprophilous mushrooms growing on herbivorous dung. Coprophilous mushrooms are the most specialized fungi ecologically, which germinate and grow directly on different types of animal dung or on manured soil. In the present work, the diversity of coprophilous mushrooms' of Family Psathyrellaceae of the order Agaricales is explored, their relationship to the human world is sketched out, and their supreme significance to life on this planet is revealed. During the investigation, different dung localities from 16 districts of Punjab state have been explored for the collection of material. The macroscopic features of the collected mushrooms were documented on the Field key. The hand cut sections of the various parts of carpophore, such as pileus, gills, stipe and the basidiospores details, were studied microscopically under different magnification. Various authentic publications were consulted for the identification of the investigated taxa. The classification, authentic names and synonyms of the investigated taxa are as per the latest version of Dictionary of Fungi and the MycoBank. The present work deals with the taxonomy of 81 collections belonging to 39 species spread over 05 coprophilous genera, namely Psathyrella, Panaeolus, Parasola, Coprinopsis, and Coprinellus of family Psathyrellaceae. In the text, the investigated taxa have been arranged as they appear in the key to the genera and species investigated. In this work, have been thoroughly examined for their macroscopic, microscopic, ecological, and chemical reaction details. The authors dig deeper to give indication of their ecology and the dung type where they can be obtained. Each taxon is accompanied by a detailed listing of its prominent features and an illustration with habitat photographs and line drawings of morphological and anatomical features. Taxa are organized as per their status in the keys, which allow easy recognition. All the taxa are compared with similar taxa. The study has shown that dung is an important substrate which serves as a favorable niche for the growth of a variety of mushrooms. This paper shows an insight what short-lived coprophilous mushrooms can teach us about sustaining life on earth!

Keywords: abundance, basidiomycota, biodiversity, seasonal availability, systematics

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Authors: Arash Dalili, Hamed Tahmouressi, Mina Hoorfar

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Advances in lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices have led to significant advances in the manipulation, separation, and isolation of particles and cells. Among the different active and passive particle manipulation methods, dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been proven to be a versatile mechanism as it is label-free, cost-effective, simple to operate, and has high manipulation efficiency. DEP has been applied for a wide range of biological and environmental applications. A popular form of DEP devices is the continuous manipulation of particles by using co-planar slanted electrodes, which utilizes a sheath flow to focus the particles into one side of the microchannel. When particles enter the DEP manipulation zone, the negative DEP (nDEP) force generated by the slanted electrodes deflects the particles laterally towards the opposite side of the microchannel. The lateral displacement of the particles is dependent on multiple parameters including the geometry of the electrodes, the width, length and height of the microchannel, the size of the particles and the throughput. In this study, COMSOL Multiphysics® modeling along with experimental studies are used to investigate the effect of the aforementioned parameters. The electric field between the electrodes and the induced DEP force on the particles are modelled by COMSOL Multiphysics®. The simulation model is used to show the effect of the DEP force on the particles, and how the geometry of the electrodes (width of the electrodes and the gap between them) plays a role in the manipulation of polystyrene microparticles. The simulation results show that increasing the electrode width to a certain limit, which depends on the height of the channel, increases the induced DEP force. Also, decreasing the gap between the electrodes leads to a stronger DEP force. Based on these results, criteria for the fabrication of the electrodes were found, and soft lithography was used to fabricate interdigitated slanted electrodes and microchannels. Experimental studies were run to find the effect of the flow rate, geometrical parameters of the microchannel such as length, width, and height as well as the electrodes’ angle on the displacement of 5 um, 10 um and 15 um polystyrene particles. An empirical equation is developed to predict the displacement of the particles under different conditions. It is shown that the displacement of the particles is more for longer and lower height channels, lower flow rates, and bigger particles. On the other hand, the effect of the angle of the electrodes on the displacement of the particles was negligible. Based on the results, we have developed an optimum design (in terms of efficiency and throughput) for three size separation of particles.

Keywords: COMSOL Multiphysics, Dielectrophoresis, Microfluidics, Particle separation

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Authors: Justus Enninga

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Enthusiasts and skeptics about economic growth have not much in common in their preference for institutional arrangements that solve ecological conflicts. This paper argues that agreement between both opposing schools can be found in the Bloomington Schools’ concept of polycentricity. Growth-enthusiasts who will be referred to as Simons after the economist Julian Simon and growth-skeptics named Ehrlichs after the ecologist Paul R. Ehrlich both profit from a governance structure where many officials and decision structures are assigned limited and relatively autonomous prerogatives to determine, enforce and alter legal relationships. The paper advances this argument in four steps. First, it will provide clarification of what Simons and Ehrlichs mean when they talk about growth and what the arguments for and against growth-enhancing or degrowth policies are for them and for the other site. Secondly, the paper advances the concept of polycentricity as first introduced by Michael Polanyi and later refined to the study of governance by the Bloomington School of institutional analysis around the Nobel Prize laureate Elinor Ostrom. The Bloomington School defines polycentricity as a non-hierarchical, institutional, and cultural framework that makes possible the coexistence of multiple centers of decision making with different objectives and values, that sets the stage for an evolutionary competition between the complementary ideas and methods of those different decision centers. In the third and fourth parts, it is shown how the concept of polycentricity is of crucial importance for growth-enthusiasts and growth-skeptics alike. The shorter third part demonstrates the literature on growth-enhancing policies and argues that large parts of the literature already accept that polycentric forms of governance like markets, the rule of law and federalism are an important part of economic growth. Part four delves into the more nuanced question of how a stagnant steady-state economy or even an economy that de-grows will still find polycentric governance desirable. While the majority of degrowth proposals follow a top-down approach by requiring direct governmental control, a contrasting bottom-up approach is advanced. A decentralized, polycentric approach is desirable because it allows for the utilization of tacit information dispersed in society and an institutionalized discovery process for new solutions to the problem of ecological collective action – no matter whether you belong to the Simons or Ehrlichs in a green political economy.

Keywords: degrowth, green political theory, polycentricity, institutional robustness

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Authors: Theoktisti Makridou, Konstantinos Tsaprailis, George Arvanitakis, Charalampos Kontoes

Abstract:

In the literature, the data-driven approaches for mosquito abundance prediction relaying on supervised machine learning models that get trained with historical in-situ measurements. The counterpart of this approach is once the model gets trained on pointlevel (specific x,y coordinates) measurements, the predictions of the model refer again to point-level. These point-level predictions reduce the applicability of those solutions once a lot of early warning and mitigation actions applications need predictions for an area level, such as a municipality, village, etc... In this study, we apply a data-driven predictive model, which relies on public-open satellite Earth Observation and geospatial data and gets trained with historical point-level in-Situ measurements of mosquito abundance. Then we propose a methodology to extract information from a point-level predictive model to a broader area-level prediction. Our methodology relies on the randomly spatial sampling of the area of interest (similar to the Poisson hardcore process), obtaining the EO and geomorphological information for each sample, doing the point-wise prediction for each sample, and aggregating the predictions to represent the average mosquito abundance of the area. We quantify the performance of the transformation from the pointlevel to the area-level predictions, and we analyze it in order to understand which parameters have a positive or negative impact on it. The goal of this study is to propose a methodology that predicts the mosquito abundance of a given area by relying on point-level prediction and to provide qualitative insights regarding the expected performance of the area-level prediction. We applied our methodology to historical data (of Culex pipiens) of two areas of interest (Veneto region of Italy and Central Macedonia of Greece). In both cases, the results were consistent. The mean mosquito abundance of a given area can be estimated with similar accuracy to the point-level predictor, sometimes even better. The density of the samples that we use to represent one area has a positive effect on the performance in contrast to the actual number of sampling points which is not informative at all regarding the performance without the size of the area. Additionally, we saw that the distance between the sampling points and the real in-situ measurements that were used for training did not strongly affect the performance.

Keywords: mosquito abundance, supervised machine learning, culex pipiens, spatial sampling, west nile virus, earth observation data

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Authors: Mohammed Seid, Aklilu Azazh, Fikre Enquselassie, Engida Yisma

Abstract:

Background: Road traffic injuries are the eighth leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause of death for young people. More than a million people die each year on the world’s roads, and the risk of dying as a result of a road traffic injury is highest in the Africa. Methods: A prospective hospital-based study was undertaken to assess injury characteristics and outcome of road traffic accident among victims at Adult Emergency Department of Tikur Anbesa specialized hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to gather the required data. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Results: A total of 230 road traffic accident victims were studied. The majority of the study subjects were men 165 (71.7%) and the male/female ratio was 2.6:1. The victims’ ages ranged from 14 to 80 years with the mean and standard deviations of 32.15 and ± 14.38 years respectively. Daily laborers (95 (41.3%)) and students (28 (12.2%)) were the majority of road traffic accident victims. Long-distance travelling Minibus (16.5%) was responsible for the majority of road traffic crash followed by followed by Taxi (14.8%) and pedestrians (62.6%) accounted for the majority of road traffic accident. Head (50.4%) and musculoskeletal (extremities) (47.0%) were the most common body region injured. Fractures (78.0%) and open wounds (56.5%) were the most common type of injuries sustained. Treatment of fracture was the most common procedure performed in 57.7 % of the victims. The overall length of hospital stay (LOS) ranged from 1 day to 61 days with mean (± standard deviation) of 7.12 ± 10.5 days and the mortality rate was 7.4 %. A significant higher proportion of victims aged 14-55 years were had less likelihood of death compared to those victims aged more than 55 years of age [Adjusted OR = 0.1 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.82)]. Conclusions: This study showed diverse injury characteristics and high morbidity and mortality among the victims attending Adult Emergency Department of Tikur Anbesa specialized hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The findings reflect that road traffic accident is a major public health problem. Urgent road traffic accident preventive measures and prompt treatment of the victims are warranted in order to reduce morbidity and mortality among the victims.

Keywords: road traffic accident, injury characteristics, outcome, Tikur Anbesa specialized hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Procedia PDF Downloads 369