Search results for: higher himalaya

Authors: Milad Mirzaei Aminiyan, Abdolreza Akhgar, Farzad Mirzaei Aminiyan

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Water quality is the critical factor that influence on human health and quantity and quality of grain production in semi-humid and semi-arid area. Pistachio is a main crop that accounts for a considerable portion of Iranian agricultural exports. Give that pistachio tree is a tolerant type of tree to saline and alkaline soil and water conditions, but groundwater and irrigation water quality play important roles in main production this crop. For this purpose, 94 well water samples were taken from 25 wells and samples were analyzed. The results showed give that region’s geological, climatic characteristics, statistical analysis, and based on dominant cations and anions in well water samples (piper diagram); four main types of water were found: Na-Cl, K-Cl, Na-SO4, and K-SO4. It seems that most wells in terms of water quality (salinity and alkalinity) and based on Wilcox diagram have critical status. The analysis suggested that more than eighty-seven percentage of the well water samples have high values of EC that these values are higher than into critical limit EC value for irrigation water, which may be due to the sandy soils in this area. Most groundwater were relatively unsuitable for irrigation but it could be used by application of correct management such as removing and reducing the ion concentrations of Cl‾, SO42‾, Na+ and total hardness in groundwater and also the concentrated deep groundwater was required treatment to reduce the salinity and sodium hazard. Given that irrigation water quality in this area was relatively unsuitable for most agriculture production but pistachio tree was adapted to this area conditions. The integrated management of groundwater for irrigation is the way to solve water quality issues not only in Rafsanjan area, but also in other arid and semi-arid areas.

Keywords: groundwater quality, irrigation water quality, salinity, alkalinity, Rafsanjan plain, pistachio

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Authors: Samaneh Pouyanfar, Michael Oliff

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The industry of home appliances may beone of theindustries which has the highest competition, and actually what can guarantee the survival of this industry is discovering the superior services. A trend to provide quality products and services plays an important role in this industry because discovering the services is counted as a vital affair for Manufacturing Organizations’ survival and profitability. Given the importance of the topic, this paper attempts to investigate the relative priority of the factors influencing the customer satisfaction in gaining the competitive advantage in Pars-Khazar Company. In sum, 96 executives of Pars-Khazar Company where investigated in a census. For this purpose, after reviewing the research literature and performing deep interviews between pundits and experts active in the industry, the research questionnaire was made based on variables affecting customer satisfaction and components determining business competitive advantage. Determining the content validity took place by judgement of the experts. The reliability of each structure was measured based on Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Since the value of Cronbach's alpha was higher than 0.7 for each structure, internal consistency of statements was high and the reliability of the questionnaire was acceptable. The data analysis was also done with Kulmgrf-asmyrnf test and Friedman test using SPSS software. The results showed that in dimension of factors affecting customer satisfaction, the History of trade name (brand), Familiarity with the product brand, Brand reputation and Safety have the highest value of priority respectively, and the variable of firm growth has the highest value of priority among the components determining the performance of competitive advantage.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, competitive advantage, brand history, safety, growth

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Authors: Rumesh Liyanage, S. B. Nawaratne, K. K. D. S. Ranaweera, Indira Wickramasinghe, K. G. S. C. Katukurunda

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Study it was attempted to identify an effect of food habits and publics’ attitudes on micro-sleepiness and preventive measures to develop a food product to combat. Statistical data pertaining to road accidents were collected from, Sri Lanka Police Traffic Division and a pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data from 250 respondents. They were selected representing drivers (especially highway drivers), private and public sector workers (shift based) and cramming students (university and school). Questionnaires were directed to fill independently and personally and collected data were analyzed statistically. Results revealed that 76.84, 96.39 and 80.93% out of total respondents consumed rice for all three meals which lead to ingesting higher glycemic meals. Taking two hyper glycemic meals before 14.00h was identified as a cause of micro-sleepiness within these respondents. Peak level of road accidents were observed at 14.00 - 20.00h (38.2%)and intensity of micro-sleepiness falls at the same time period (37.36%) while 14.00 to 16.00h was the peak time, 16.00 to 18.00h was the least; again 18.00 to 20.00h it reappears slightly. Even though respondents of the survey expressed that peak hours of micro- sleepiness is 14.00-16.00h, according to police reports, peak hours fall in between 18.00-20.00h. Out of the interviewees, 69.27% strongly wanted to avoid micro-sleepiness and intend to spend LKR 10-20 on a commercial product to combat micro sleepiness. As age-old practices to suppress micro-sleepiness are time taken, modern day respondents (51.64%) like to have a quick solution through a drink. Therefore, food habits of morning and noon may cause for micro- sleepiness while dinner may cause for both, natural and micro-sleepiness due to the heavy glycemic load of food. According to the study micro-sleepiness, can be categorized into three zones such as low-risk zone (08.00-10.00h and 18.00-20.00h), manageable zone (10.00-12.00h), and high- risk zone (14.00-16.00h).

Keywords: food habits, glycemic load, micro-sleepiness, road accidents

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Authors: Ziqu Ouyang, Kun Su

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A novel efficient and clean coal combustion system, namely the purification-combustion system, was designed by the Institute of Engineering Thermal Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, in 2022. Among them, the purification system was composed of a mesothermal activating unit and a hyperthermal reductive unit, and the combustion system was composed of a mild combustion system. In the purification-combustion system, the deep in-situ removal of coal-N could be realized by matching the temperature and atmosphere in each unit, and thus the NOx emission was controlled effectively. To acquire the methods for realizing the efficient and clean coal combustion, this study investigated the effect of the activating temperature (including 822 °C, 858 °C, 933 °C, 991 °C), which was the key factor affecting the system operation, on combustion and NOx emission characteristics of pulverized coal in a 30 kW purification-combustion test bench. The research result turned out that the activating temperature affected the combustion and NOx emission characteristics significantly. As the activating temperature increased, the temperature increased first and then decreased in the mild combustion unit, and the temperature change in the lower part was much higher than that in the upper part. Moreover, the main combustion region was always located at the top of the unit under different activating temperatures, and the combustion intensity along the unit was weakened gradually. Increasing the activating temperature excessively could destroy the reductive atmosphere early in the upper part of the unit, which wasn’t conducive to the full removal of coal-N in the reductive coal char. As the activating temperature increased, the combustion efficiency increased first and then decreased, while the NOx emission decreased first and then increased, illustrating that increasing the activating temperature properly promoted the efficient and clean coal combustion, but there was a limit to its growth. In this study, the optimal activating temperature was 858 °C. Hence, this research illustrated that increasing the activating temperature properly could realize the mutual matching of improving the combustion efficiency and reducing the NOx emission, and thus guaranteed the clean and efficient coal combustion well.

Keywords: activating temperature, combustion characteristics, nox emission, purification-combustion system

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Authors: Haris Karnezi, Kevin Tierney

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Cognitive Behaviour Drama is a research-based intervention model that brought together the science of psychology with the art form of drama to create an unobtrusive and exciting approach that would provide children on the higher end of the autism spectrum the motivation to explore the rules of social interaction and develop competencies associated with communicative success. The method involves engaging the participants in exciting fictional scenarios and encouraging them to seek various solutions on a number of problems that will lead them to an understanding of causal relationships and how a different course of action may lead to a different outcome. The sessions are structured to offer opportunities to the participants to practice target behaviours and understand the functions they serve. The study involved six separate interventions and employed both single case and group designs. Overall 8 children aged between 6 to 13 years, diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. Outcomes were measured using theory of mind tests, executive functioning tests, behavioural observations, pre and post intervention standardised social competence questionnaires for parents and teachers. Collectively, the results indicated positive changes in the self esteem and behaviour of all eight participants. In particular, improvements in the ability to solve theory of mind tasks were noted in the younger group; and qualitative improvements in social communication, in terms of verbal (content) and non verbal expression (body posture, vocal expression, fluency, eye contact, reduction of ritualistic mannerisms) were noted in the older group. The need for reliable impact measures to assess the effectiveness of the model in generating global changes in the participants’ behaviour outside the therapeutic context was identified.

Keywords: autism, drama, intervention, social skills

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Authors: Hester Fass, Ofir Pinto

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Research indicates gaps in education, employment rates and wages between people with disabilities and those without disabilities. One of the main tools available to reduce these gaps is vocational rehabilitation. In order to examine the effects of vocational rehabilitation, a follow-up study, based on comprehensive administrative data, was conducted. The study included 88,286 people with disabilities who participated in vocational rehabilitation of the National Insurance Institute of Israel (NII), and completed the process between 1999 and 2012. Research variables included: employment rates, job persistence and wage levels. This research, the first of its kind in Israel, has several unique aspects: a)a long-range follow-up study on people who completed vocational rehabilitation; b) examination of a broad population spectrum, including also people that are not eligible to disability pensions ; c) a comparison among those with work-related injuries, those injured in hostile acts and those injured in other circumstances; and finally d) the identification of the characteristics of those who are entitled to vocational rehabilitation but who do not participate in any vocational rehabilitation plan. The most notable results include: 1. Vocational rehabilitation contributed to employment, job persistence and wage levels. Participation in vocational rehabilitation resulted in an employment rate of 65% within two years after completing the program, and 73% eventually. Participation in a vocational rehabilitation plan also contributed to job persistence and wage levels. 2. Vocational rehabilitation plans aimed at integration in universal frameworks increased the chances of being employed, persisting at the job and receiving a higher wage than did the vocational rehabilitation aimed at selective frameworks (such as sheltered workshops). 3. The type of disability affected the chances of integration in a vocational rehabilitation plan and in the labor market. People with a disability from birth had greater chances of integration in a vocational rehabilitation plan, while the type of disability and its severity affected the chances of the person with disabilities to find employment.

Keywords: vocational rehabilitation, employment, job persistence, wages

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Authors: Shannon Hearney, Jeffrey Hoch

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Pancreatic cancer is a notoriously costly and deadly form of cancer. Many types of treatment centers exist for patients to seek care from, including high-volume centers which have shown promise to provide the highest quality of care. While it may be true that this type of center provides the best care it is unclear if that care is cost-effective. Studies in the US have confirmed that high-volume hospitals do provide higher quality of care but have shown inconsistencies in the cost-effectiveness of that care. Other studies, like those from Finland have shown that high-volume centers had lower mortality and lower costs than low-volume centers. This paper thus seeks to review the current scientific literature to better understand if high-volume centers are cost-effective in delivering care in both a European setting and in the US. A review of major reference databases such as Medline, Embase and PubMed will be conducted for cost-effectiveness studies on the surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer at high-volume centers. Possible MeSH terms to be included, but not limited to, are: “pancreatic cancer”, “cost analysis”, “cost-effectiveness”, “economic evaluation”, “pancreatic neoplasms”, “surgical”, and “high-volume”. Studies must also have been available in the English language. This review will encompass European scientific literature, as well as those in the US. Based on our preliminary findings, we anticipate high-volume hospitals to provide better care at greater costs. We anticipate that high-volume hospitals may be cost-effective in different contexts depending on the national structure of a healthcare system. Countries with more centralized and socialized healthcare may yield results that are more cost-effective. High-volume centers may differ in their cost-effectiveness of the surgical care of pancreatic cancer internationally especially when comparing those in the United States to others throughout Europe.

Keywords: cost-effectiveness analysis, economic evaluation, pancreatic cancer, scientific literature review

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Authors: Sujit Kumar Sinha, Madan Lal Regar

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Sewing thread plays an important role in the transformation of a two-dimensional fabric into a three-dimensional garment. The interaction of the sewing thread with the fabric at the seam not only influences the appearance of a garment but also its performance. Careful selection of sewing thread and associated parameters can only help in improvement. Over the years, ring spinning has been dominating the yarn market. In the pursuit of improvement to challenge its dominance alternative technology has also been developed. But no real challenge has been posed by the any of the developed spinning systems. Eli-Twist spinning system can be a new method of yarn manufacture to provide a product with improved mechanical and physical properties with respect to the conventional ring spun yarn. The system, patented by Suessen has gained considerable attention in the recent times. The process of produces a two-ply compact yarn with improved fiber utilization. It produces a novel structure combining all advantages of condensing and doubling. In the present study, sewing threads of three different counts each from cotton, polyester and polyester/cotton (50/50) blend were produced on a ring and Eli-Twist systems. A twist multiplier of 4.2 was used to produce all the yarns. A comparison of hairiness, tensile strength and coefficient of friction with conventional ring yarn was made. Eli-Twist yarn has shown better frictional characteristics, better tensile strength and less hairiness. The performance of the Eli-Twist sewing thread has also been found to be better than the conventional 2-ply sewing thread. The performance was estimated through seam strength, seam elongation and seam efficiency of sewn fabric. Eli-Twist sewing thread has shown less friction, less hairiness, and higher tensile strength. Eli-Twist sewing thread resulted in better seam characteristics in comparison to conventional 2-ply sewing thread.

Keywords: ring spun yarn, Eli-Twist yarn, sewing thread, seam strength, seam elongation, seam efficiency

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Authors: Abdullah Kaymakci, Daniel M. Madyira, Ntokozo Nkwanyana

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The effect of metal transfer modes on mechanical properties of welded 3CR12 stainless steel were investigated. This was achieved by butt welding 10 mm thick plates of 3CR12 in different positions while varying the welding positions for different metal transfer modes. The ASME IX: 2010 (Welding and Brazing Qualifications) code was used as a basis for welding variables. The material and the thickness of the base metal were kept constant together with the filler metal, shielding gas and joint types. The effect of the metal transfer modes on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the 3CR12 steel was then investigated as it was hypothesized that the change in welding positions will affect the transfer modes partly due to the effect of gravity. The microscopic examination revealed that the substrate was characterized by dual phase microstructure, that is, alpha phase and beta phase grain structures. Using the spectroscopic examination results and the ferritic factor calculation had shown that the microstructure was expected to be ferritic-martensitic during air cooling process. The tested tensile strength and Charpy impact energy were measured to be 498 MPa and 102 J which were in line with mechanical properties given in the material certificate. The heat input in the material was observed to be greater than 1 kJ/mm which is the limiting factor for grain growth during the welding process. Grain growths were observed in the heat affected zone of the welded materials. Ferritic-martensitic microstructure was observed in the microstructure during the microscopic examination. The grain growth altered the mechanical properties of the test material. Globular down hand had higher mechanical properties than spray down hand. Globular vertical up had better mechanical properties than globular vertical down.

Keywords: welding, metal transfer modes, stainless steel, microstructure, hardness, tensile strength

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Authors: Ramūnas Antanaitis, Robertas Stoškus, Mindaugas Televičius

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The objective is to identify changes in the quantity of milk and the pH and the temperature of rumen content after omentopexia. The research was performed in a dairy farm with 550 cows on December 2014 – January 2015. The sample consisted of 10 cows. Left-sided displacement of the abomasums was diagnosed in 5 of them, which was treated by lateral omentopexia according to Dirksen; the rest 5 were used for control. Additional treatment was not applied. A special bolus for measuring pH and temperature was administered to the rumen of healthy cows and cows after the operation. The quantity of milk was registered with the help of herd management program Westfalia DP C21. All data were recorded ones a week in the period of four weeks. Statistically reliable difference in the quantity of milk (p<0.05) between the research groups was observed during the entire research. The major difference was recorded on Week 1 after the treatment (29.18 kg/d); on Week 4, the difference was 13.97 kg/d. During the entire research, rumen pH of Test group was lower than that of the Control group. Statistically reliable difference between the groups was identified on Week 1 (p<0.05). On the period mentioned, the pH of the rumen content of Test group was lower by 0.42 than that of the Control group. On Week 3, the difference increased up to 0.84. On Weeks 1, 2, and 3, statistically reliable (p<0.05) higher temperature was observed in the Test group. Major difference of temperature, 1.81 °C, was recorded on Week 1. On Week 4, the temperature of rumen in the Test group became equal to that of the Control group. After omentopexia treatment, the first four weeks showed the following results: statistically reliable difference in the quantity of milk remains the most obvious in Week 1 after the treatment; cows with left-sided displacement of abomasums were exposed to greater risk of acidosis; they indicated lower pH of rumen content; the first two weeks after omentopexia, rumen content has increased temperature, especially obvious in Week 1.

Keywords: Displacement of the abomasum, omentopexia, acidosis

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Authors: Sahar Rakhshan, Simonetta Geninatti Crich, Diego Alberti, Rachele Stefania

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The combination of imaging and therapeutic agents in the same smart nanoparticle is a promising option to perform a minimally invasive imaging guided therapy. In this study, Low density lipoproteins (LDL), one of the most attractive biodegradable and biocompatible nanoparticles, were used for the simultaneous delivery of Paclitaxel (PTX), a hydrophobic antitumour drug and an amphiphilic contrast agent, Gd-AAZTA-C17, in B16-F10 melanoma cell line. These cells overexpress LDL receptors, as assessed by Flow cytometry analysis. PTX and Gd-AAZTA-C17 loaded LDLs (LDL-PTX-Gd) have been prepared, characterized and their stability was assessed under 72 h incubation at 37 ◦C and compared to LDL loaded with Gd-AAZTA-C17 (LDL-Gd) and LDL-PTX. The cytotoxic effect of LDL-PTX-Gd was evaluated by MTT assay. The anti-tumour drug loaded into LDLs showed a significantly higher toxicity on B16-F10 cells with respect to the commercially available formulation Paclitaxel Kabi (PTX Kabi) used in clinical applications. It was possible to demonstrate a high uptake of LDL-Gd in B16-F10 cells. As a consequence of the high cell uptake, melanoma cells showed significantly high cytotoxic effect when incubated in the presence of PTX (LDL-PTX-Gd). Furthermore, B16-F10 have been used to perform Magnetic Resonance Imaging. By the analysis of the image signal intensity, it was possible to extrapolate the amount of internalized PTX indirectly by the decrease of relaxation times caused by Gd, proportional to its concentration. Finally, the treatment with PTX loaded LDL on B16-F10 tumour bearing mice resulted in a marked reduction of tumour growth compared to the administration of PTX Kabi alone. In conclusion, LDLs are selectively taken-up by tumour cells and can be successfully exploited for the selective delivery of Paclitaxel and imaging agents.

Keywords: low density lipoprotein, melanoma cell lines, MRI, paclitaxel, personalized medicine application, theragnostic System

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Authors: Avinash Kishore, Suman Chakrabarti

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In September 2013, the parliament of India enacted the National Food Security Act (NFSA) which entitles two-thirds of India’s population to five kilograms of rice, wheat or coarse cereals per person per month at one to three rupees per kilogram. Five states in India—Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal—had already implemented somewhat similar changes in the TPDS a few years earlier using their own budgetary resources. They made rice—coincidentally, all five states are predominantly rice-eating—available in fair price shops to a majority of their population at very low prices (less than Rs.3/kg). This paper tries to account for the changes in household consumption patterns associated with the change in TPDS policy in these states using data from household consumption surveys by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO). NSS data show improvement in the coverage of TPDS and average off-take of grains from fair price shops between 2004-05 and 2009-10 across all states of India. However, the increase in coverage and off-take was significantly higher in four out of these five states than in the rest of India. An average household in these states purchased three kilos more rice per month from fair price shops than its counterpart in non-treated states as a result of more generous TPDS policies backed by administrative reforms. The increase in consumption of PDS rice was the highest in Chhattisgarh, the poster state of PDS reforms. Households in Chhattisgarh used money saved on rice to spend more on pulses, edible oil, vegetables and sugar and other non-food items. We also find evidence that making TPDS more inclusive and more generous is not enough unless it is supported by administrative reforms to improve grain delivery and control diversion to open markets.

Keywords: public distribution system, social safety-net, national food security act, diet quality, Chhattisgarh

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Authors: Kiatnarong Supapanmanee, Ekkarin Phongphinittana, Pongsak Nimdum

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Natural fibers are readily available raw materials that are widely used as composite materials. The most common problem facing many researchers with composites made from this fiber is the adhesion between the natural fiber contact surface and the matrix material. Part of the problem is due to the hydrophilic properties of natural fibers and the hydrophobic properties of the matrix material. Based on the aforementioned problems, this research selected bamboo fiber, which is a strong natural fiber in the research study. The first step was to study the effect of the mechanical properties of the pure bamboo strip by testing the tensile strength of different measurement lengths. The bamboo strip was modified surface with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at 6wt% concentrations for different soaking periods. After surface modification, the physical and mechanical properties of the pure bamboo strip fibers were studied. The modified and unmodified bamboo strips were molded into a composite material using epoxy as a matrix to compare the mechanical properties and adhesion between the fiber surface and the material with tensile and bending tests. In addition, the results of these tests were compared with the finite element method (FEM). The results showed that the length of the bamboo strip affects the strength of the fibers, with shorter fibers causing higher tensile stress. Effects of surface modification of bamboo strip with NaOH, this chemical eliminates lignin and hemicellulose, resulting in the smaller dimension of the bamboo strip and increased density. From the pretreatment results above, it was found that the treated bamboo strip and composite material had better Ultimate tensile stress and Young's modulus. Moreover, that results in better adhesion between bamboo fiber and matrix material.

Keywords: bamboo fiber, bamboo strip, composite material, bamboo composite, pure bamboo, surface modification, mechanical properties of bamboo, bamboo finite element method

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Authors: Tuiana A. Aiusheeva, Sergey S. Tamozhnikov, Alexander E. Saprygin, Arina A. Antonenko, Valentina V. Stepanova, Natalia N. Tolstykh, Alexander N. Savostyanov

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Situation of choice is an important condition for the formation of essential character qualities of a child, such as being initiative, responsible, hard-working. We have studied the behavioral and EEG reactions in Russian schoolchildren during recognition of syntactic errors in emotionally colored sentences that describe the choice situation. Twenty healthy children (mean age 9,0±0,3 years, 12 boys, 8 girls) were examined. Forty sentences were selected for the experiment; the half of them contained a syntactic error. The experiment additionally had the hidden condition: 50% of the sentences described the children's own choice and were emotionally colored (positive or negative). The other 50% of the sentences described the forced-choice situation, also with positive or negative coloring. EEG were recorded during execution of error-recognition task. Reaction time and quality of syntactic error detection were chosen as behavioral measures. Event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) was applied to characterize the oscillatory brain activity of children. There were two time-frequency intervals in EEG reactions: (1) 500-800 ms in the 3-7 Hz frequency range (theta synchronization) and (2) 500-1000 ms in the 8-12 Hz range (alpha desynchronization). We found out that behavioral and brain reactions in child brain during recognition of positive and negative sentences describing forced-choice situation did not have significant differences. Theta synchronization and alpha desynchronization were stronger during recognition of sentences with children's own choice, especially with negative coloring. Also, the quality and execution time of the task were higher for this types of sentences. The results of our study will be useful for improvement of teaching methods and diagnostics of children affective disorders.

Keywords: choice situation, electroencephalogram (EEG), emotionally colored sentences, schoolchildren

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Authors: Wenjiang Deng, Tian Mou, Yudi Pawitan, Trung Nghia Vu

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Estimation of isoform-level gene expression from RNA-seq data depends on simplifying assumptions, such as uniform reads distribution, that are easily violated in real data. Such violations typically lead to biased estimates. Most existing methods provide a bias correction step(s), which is based on biological considerations, such as GC content–and applied in single samples separately. The main problem is that not all biases are known. For example, new technologies such as single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) may introduce new sources of bias not seen in bulk-cell data. This study introduces a method called XAEM based on a more flexible and robust statistical model. Existing methods are essentially based on a linear model Xβ, where the design matrix X is known and derived based on the simplifying assumptions. In contrast, XAEM considers Xβ as a bilinear model with both X and β unknown. Joint estimation of X and β is made possible by simultaneous analysis of multi-sample RNA-seq data. Compared to existing methods, XAEM automatically performs empirical correction of potentially unknown biases. XAEM implements an alternating expectation-maximization (AEM) algorithm, alternating between estimation of X and β. For speed XAEM utilizes quasi-mapping for read alignment, thus leading to a fast algorithm. Overall XAEM performs favorably compared to other recent advanced methods. For simulated datasets, XAEM obtains higher accuracy for multiple-isoform genes, particularly for paralogs. In a differential-expression analysis of a real scRNA-seq dataset, XAEM achieves substantially greater rediscovery rates in an independent validation set.

Keywords: alternating EM algorithm, bias correction, bilinear model, gene expression, RNA-seq

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Authors: Saha Naseri

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Introduction/Objective: Son preference, a preference for sons over daughters, is a practice deeply-rooted in gender inequality that is widespread in many societies and across different religions and cultures. In this study, we are aiming to study the effects of son preference on fertility outcomes (birth interval and current contraceptive use) in Afghanistan, where have been perceived with high rates of son preference. The objectives of the study are to examine the association between the sex of the previous child and the duration of the subsequent birth interval and to evaluate the effect of son preference on current contraceptive use. Methodology: Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) (2015) was used to study the impact of son preference on fertility outcomes among married women. The data collected from 28,661 on currently-married women, aged between 15 and 49 years who have at least one child, have used to conduct this quantitative study. Outcomes of interest are birth interval and current contraceptive use. Simple and multiple regression analysis have been conducted to assess the effect of son preference on these fertility outcomes. Results: The present study has highlighted that son preference somehow exists among married women in Afghanistan. It is indicated that the sex of the first birth is significantly associated with the succeeding birth interval. Having a female child as the first baby was associated with a shorter average succeeding birth interval by 1.8 months compared to a baby boy (p-value = 0.000). For the second model, the results identified that women who desire for more sons have 7% higher odds to be current contraceptive user compared to those who have no preference (p-value = 0.03). The latter results do not indicate the son preference. However, one limitation for this result was the timeliness of the questions asked since contraceptive use in the current time was asked along with a question on ‘future’ desired sex composition. Moreover, women may have just given birth and want to reach a certain time span of birth interval before planning for another child, even if it was a boy, which might have affected the results. Conclusion: Overall, this study has demonstrated that there is a positive relationship between son preference and one main fertility behaviors, birth interval. The second fertility outcome, current contraceptive use, was not a good indicator to measure son preference. Based on the finding, recommendations will be made for appropriate interventions addressing gender norms and related fertility decisions.

Keywords: Afghanistan, birth interval, contraceptive, son preference

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Authors: Ainur Mukhambetova, Miras Karzhauov, Vyacheslav Ogay

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Introduction: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capacity to be differentiated into several cell lineages and are a promising source for cell therapy and tissue engineering. However, currently most MSCs culturing protocols use media supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS), which limits their application in clinic due to the possibility of zoonotic infections, contamination and immunological reactions. Consequently, formulating effective serum free culture medium becomes one of the important problems in contemporary cell biotechnology. Objectives: The aim of this study was to define an optimal serum-free medium for culturing of periosteum derived MSCs. Materials and methods: The MSCs were extracted from human periosteum and transferred to the culture flasks pretreated with CELLstart™. Immunophenotypic characterization, proliferation and in vitro differentiation of cells grown on STEM PRO® MSC SFM were compared to the cells cultured in the standard FBS containing media. Chromosome analysis and flow cytometry were also performed. Results: We have shown that cells were grown on STEM PRO® MSC SFM retained all the morphological, immunophenotypic (CD73, CD90, CD105, vimentin and Stro-1) and cell differentiation characteristics specific to MSCs. Chromosome analysis indicated no anomalies in the chromosome structure. Flow cytometry showed a high expression of cell adhesion molecules CD44 (98,8%), CD90 (97,4%), CD105 (99,1%). In addition, we have shown that cell is grown on STEM PRO® MSC SFM have higher proliferation capacity compared to cell expanded on standard FBS containing the medium. Conclusion: We have shown that STEM PRO® MSC SFM is optimal for culturing periosteum derived human MSCs which subsequently can be safely used in cell therapy.

Keywords: cell technologies, periosteum-derived MSCs, regenerative medicine, serum-free medium

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Authors: Wern Lin Yeo, Choo Kim Tan, Sook Ling Lew

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Mathematics anxiety refers to the feeling of anxious when one having difficulties in solving mathematical problem. Mathematics anxiety is the most common type of anxiety among other types of anxiety which occurs among the students. However, level of anxiety among males and females are different. There were few past study were conducted to determine the relationship of anxiety and gender but there were still did not have an exact results. Hence, the purpose of this study is to determine the relationship of anxiety level between male and female undergraduates at a private university in Malaysia. Convenient sampling method used in this study in which the students were selected based on the grouping assigned by the faculty. There were 214 undergraduates who registered the probability courses had participated in this study. Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) was the instrument used in study which used to determine students’ anxiety level towards probability. Reliability and validity of instrument was done before the major study was conducted. In the major study, students were given briefing about the study conducted. Participation of this study were voluntary. Students were given consent form to determine whether they agree to participate in the study. Duration of two weeks were given for students to complete the given online questionnaire. The data collected will be analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to determine the level of anxiety. There were three anxiety level, i.e., low, average and high. Students’ anxiety level were determined based on their scores obtained compared with the mean and standard deviation. If the scores obtained were below mean and standard deviation, the anxiety level was low. If the scores were at below and above the mean and between one standard deviation, the anxiety level was average. If the scores were above the mean and greater than one standard deviation, the anxiety level was high. Results showed that both of the gender were having average anxiety level. Males having high frequency of three anxiety level which were low, average and high anxiety level as compared to females. Hence, the mean values obtained for males (M = 3.62) was higher than females (M = 3.42). In order to be significant of anxiety level among the gender, the p-value should be less than .05. The p-value obtained in this study was .117. However, this value was greater than .05. Thus, there was no significant difference of anxiety level among the gender. In other words, there was no relationship of anxiety level with the gender.

Keywords: anxiety level, gender, mathematics anxiety, probability and statistics

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Authors: Suelen C. Lima, André C. de Oliveira, Rosemary A. Roque

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Dengue is fatal arboviruses transmitted by the A. aegypti mosquito to more than 100 countries, for which the WHO estimates that 2.5 million people will be infected by these disease. The widespread of these diseases is due, among other factors, to the resistance that A. aegypti has to several commercial insecticides. On the other hand, natural products based on plants of the genus Piper (Piperaceae) are characterized by their insecticidal activities against mosquitoes. Piper longepetiolatum and Piper brachypetiolatum are species with wide distribution in the State of Amazonas. However, there is no investigation of phytochemical or biological of these plants against mosquitoes such as A. aegypti. The main of this study was to identify the chemical composition of the essential oil (EOs) from P. longepetiolatum and P. brachypetiolatum and to evaluate the biological activity against A. aegypti. The EOs were extracted by hydrodistillation from leaves (200 g) of P. longepetiolatum and P. brachypetiolatum and analyzed by GC-MS and GC-FID. The main compounds β-caryophyllene (99.9% of purity) and E-nerolidol (99.4% of purity) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich® Brazil. The larvicidal activity of EOs (20 to 100 ppm), β-caryophyllene and E-nerolidol (10 to 50 ppm) was performed according to WHO protocol against A. aegypti larvae. The GC-MS and GC-FID analysis of EOs from P. longepetiolatum and P. brachypetiolatum indicated the majority presence of β-caryophyllene (35.42%) and E-nerolidol (49.79%), respectively. The results showed that all natural products presented larvicidal activity against A. aegypti. In this aspect, the OE from P. brachypetiolatum (LC50 of 15.51 ppm and LC90 of 22.79 ppm) was more active than the OE from P. longepetiolatum (LC50 of 47.17 ppm and LC90 of 69.60 ppm) (p < 0.05). Regarding of main compounds, E-nerolidol (LC50 of 9.50 ppm and LC90 of 23.89 ppm) showed higher larvicidal activity than the β-caryophyllene compound (LC50 of 79.00 ppm and LC90 of 230.91 ppm) (p < 0.05). The larvae treated with these natural products showed tremors and lethargic movements, suggesting that these natural products have neurotoxic action. These observations support studies to investigate the mechanism of action. This is the first record of the chemical composition and larvicidal activity of the EO from P. longepetiolatum and P. brachypetiolatum rich in β-caryophyllene and E-nerolidol against A. aegypti larvae.

Keywords: piperaceae, aedes, sesquiterpenes, biological control

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Authors: Jin Young Kim, Kwon Kyoo Kang

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The SGR1 (STAYGREEN1) protein is a critical regulator of plant leaves in chlorophyll degradation and senescence. The functions and mechanisms of tomato SGR1 action are poorly understood and worthy of further investigation. To investigate the function of the SGR1 gene, we generated a SGR1-knockout (KO) null line via clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9-mediated gene editing and conducted RNA sequencing and gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analysis to identify the differentially expressed genes. The SlSGR1 (Solanum lycopersicum SGR1) knockout null line clearly showed a turbid brown color with significantly higher chlorophyll and carotenoid content compared to wild-type (WT) fruit. Differential gene expression analysis revealed 728 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between WT and sgr1 #1-6 line, including 263 and 465 downregulated and upregulated genes, respectively, for which fold change was >2, and the adjusted p-value was <0.05. Most of the DEGs were related to photosynthesis and chloroplast function. In addition, the pigment, carotenoid changes in sgr1 #1-6 line was accumulated of key primary metabolites such as sucrose and its derivatives (fructose, galactinol, raffinose), glycolytic intermediates (glucose, G6P, Fru6P) and tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) intermediates (malate and fumarate). Taken together, the transcriptome and metabolite profiles of SGR1-KO lines presented here provide evidence for the mechanisms underlying the effects of SGR1 and molecular pathways involved in chlorophyll degradation and carotenoid biosynthesis.

Keywords: tomato, CRISPR/Cas9, null line, RNA-sequencing, metabolite profiling

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Authors: Khadijat O. Abdulwahab, Mohammad A. Malik, Paul O’Brien, Grigore A. Timco, Floriana Tuna

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The synthesis of spinel ferrite nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution is very crucial in their numerous applications including information storage, hyperthermia treatment, drug delivery, contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging, catalysis, sensors, and environmental remediation. Ferrites have the general formula MFe2O4 (M = Fe, Co, Mn, Ni, Zn etc.) and possess remarkable electrical and magnetic properties which depend on the cations, method of preparation, size and their site occupancies. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on the use of a single source precursor to synthesise quaternary ferrite nanoparticles. Herein, we demonstrated the use of trimetallic iron pivalate cluster [CrCoFeO(O2CtBu)6(HO2CtBu)3] as a single source precursor to synthesise monodisperse cobalt chromium ferrite (FeCoCrO4) nanoparticles by the hot injection thermolysis method. The precursor was thermolysed in oleylamine, oleic acid, with diphenyl ether as solvent at its boiling point (260°C). The effect of concentration on the stoichiometry, phases or morphology of the nanoparticles was studied. The p-XRD patterns of the nanoparticles obtained at both concentrations were matched with cubic iron cobalt chromium ferrite (FeCoCrO4). TEM showed that a more monodispersed spherical ferrite nanoparticles of average diameter 4.0 ± 0.4 nm were obtained at higher precursor concentration. Magnetic measurements revealed that all the ferrite particles are superparamagnetic at room temperature. The nanoparticles were characterised by Powder X-ray Diffraction (p-XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Super Conducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID).

Keywords: quaternary ferrite nanoparticles, single source precursor, monodisperse, cobalt chromium ferrite, colloidal, hot injection thermolysis

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Authors: Nino Chikhladze, Tamar Dochviri, Nato Pitskhelauri, Maia Bitskhinashvili

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Population aging is a key social and demographic trend of the 21st century. Falls represent a prevalent geriatric syndrome that poses significant risks to the health and independence of older adults. The World Health Organization notes a lack of comprehensive data on falls in low- and middle-income countries, complicating the creation of effective prevention programs. To the authors’ best knowledge, no such studies have been conducted in Georgia. The aim of the study is to explore the epidemiology of falls in the elderly population. The hospitalization database of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia was used for the retrospective study. Falls-related injuries were identified using ICD-10 classifications using the class XIX (S and T codes) and class XX for the type of injury (V-Y codes). Statistical data analyses were done using SPSS software version 23.0. The total number of fall-related hospitalizations for individuals aged 65 and older from 2015 to 2021 was 29,697. The study revealed that falls accounted for an average of 63% (ranging from 59% to 66%) of all hospitalizations and 68% (ranging from 65% to 70%) of injury-related hospitalizations during this period. The 69% of all patients were women and 31%-men (Chi2=4482.1, p<0.001). The highest rate of hospitalization was in the age groups 80-84 and 75-79. The probability of fall-related hospitalization was significantly higher in women (p<0.001) compared to men in all age groups except 65-69 years. In the target age group of 65 years and older, the probability of hospitalization increased significantly with an increase in age (p<0.001). The study's results can be leveraged to create evidence-based awareness programs, design targeted multi-domain interventions addressing specific risk factors, and enhance the quality of geriatric healthcare services in Georgia.

Keywords: elderly population, falls, geriatric patients, hospitalization, injuries

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Authors: Dipali Dhawan

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Cancerous epithelial cells are confined to a primary site by the continued expression of adhesion molecules and the intact basal lamina. However, as the cancer progresses some cells are believed to undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) event, leading to increased motility, invasion and, ultimately, metastasis of the cells from the primary tumour to secondary sites within the body. These disseminated cancer cells need the ability to self-renew, as stem cells do, in order to establish and maintain a heterogeneous metastatic tumour mass. Identification of the specific subpopulation of cancer stem cells amenable to the process of metastasis is highly desirable. In this study, we have isolated and characterized cancer stem cells from luminal and basal breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-453, MDA-MB-468, MCF7 and T47D) on the basis of cell surface markers CD44 and CD24; as well as Side Populations (SP) using Hoechst 33342 dye efflux. The isolated populations were analysed for epithelial and mesenchymal markers like E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Sfrp1 and Vimentin by Western blotting and Immunocytochemistry. MDA-MB-231 cell lines contain a major population of CD44+CD24- cells whereas MCF7, T47D and MDA-MB-231 cell lines show a side population. We observed higher expression of N-cadherin in MCF-7 SP cells as compared to MCF-7NSP (Non-side population) cells suggesting that the SP cells are mesenchymal like cells and hence express increased N-cadherin with stem cell-like properties. There was an expression of Sfrp1 in the MCF7- NSP cells as compared to no expression in MCF7-SP cells, which suggests that the Wnt pathway is expressed in the MCF7-SP cells. The mesenchymal marker Vimentin was expressed only in MDA-MB-231 cells. Hence, understanding the breast cancer heterogeneity would enable a better understanding of the disease progression and therapeutic targeting.

Keywords: cancer stem cells, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, biomarkers, breast cancer

Procedia PDF Downloads 516

Authors: Ramuel Spirituel Mattathiah A. San Juan, Neil Ambasing

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Background: Reversal of vision metamorphopsia is a transient form of metamorphopsia described as an upside-down alteration of the visual field in the coronal plane. Patients would describe objects, such as cups, upside down, but the tea would not spill, and people would walk on their heads. It is extremely rare as a stable finding, lasting days or weeks. We report a case wherein this type of metamorphopsia occurred only in written words and lasted for six months. Objective: To the best of our knowledge, we report the first rare occurrence of reversal of vision metamorphopsia described as inverted words as the sole initial presentation of an underlying stroke. Case Presentation: We report a 59-year-old male with poorly controlled hypertension and diabetes mellitus who presented with a 3-day history of difficulty reading, described as the words were turned upside down as if the words were inverted horizontally then with the progression of deficits such as right homonymous hemianopia and achromatopsia, prosopagnosia. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an acute infarct on the left posterior cerebral artery territory. Follow-up after six months revealed improvement of the visual field cut but with the persistence of the higher cortical function deficits. Conclusion: We report the first rare occurrence of metamorphopsia described as purely inverted words as the sole initial presentation of an underlying stroke. The differential diagnoses of a patient presenting with text reversal metamorphopsia should include stroke in the occipitotemporal areas. It further expands the landscape of metamorphopsias due to its exclusivity to written words and prolonged duration. Knowing these clinical features will help identify the lesion locus and improve subsequent stroke care, especially in time-bound management like intravenous thrombolysis.

Keywords: rare presentation, text reversal metamorphopsia, ischemic stroke, stroke

Procedia PDF Downloads 54

Authors: Asteria Nsamba

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Social networking applications and tools have become compelling platforms for generating and sharing knowledge across the world. Social networking applications and tools refer to a variety of social media platforms which include Facebook, Twitter WhatsApp, blogs and Wikis. The most popular of these platforms are Facebook, with 2.41 billion active users on a monthly basis, followed by WhatsApp with 1.6 billion users and Twitter with 330 million users. These communication platforms have not only impacted social lives but have also impacted students’ learning, across different delivery modes in higher education: distance, conventional and blended learning modes. With this amount of interest in these platforms, knowledge sharing has gained importance within the context in which it is required. In open distance learning (ODL) contexts, social networking platforms can offer students and teachers the platform on which to create and share knowledge, and form learning collaborations. Thus, they can serve as support mechanisms to increase interactions and reduce isolation and loneliness inherent in ODL. Despite this potential and opportunity, research indicates that many ODL teachers are not inclined to using social media tools in learning. Although it is unclear why these tools are uncommon in these environments, concerns raised in the literature have indicated that many teachers have not mastered the art of teaching with technology. Using technological, pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) and product quality theory, and Bloom’s Taxonomy as lenses, this paper is aimed at; firstly, assessing the quality of three social media applications: Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, in order to determine the extent to which they are suitable platforms for teaching and learning, in terms of content generation, information sharing and learning collaborations. Secondly, the paper demonstrates the application of teaching, learning and assessment using Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Keywords: distance education, quality, social networking tools, TPACK

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Ena Arora, Rong Fan, Aleksandr Fuks, Kolawole Felix Akinnawonu

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Introduction: Leiomyomas are benign tumors that are derived from the overgrowth of uterine smooth muscle cells. Women with symptomatic leiomyomas who desire future fertility, myomectomy should be the standard surgical treatment. Perioperative hemorrhage is a common complication in myomectomy. We performed the study to investigate blood transfusion rate in abdominal myomectomies, risk factors influencing blood loss and modalities to improve perioperative blood loss. Methods: Retrospective chart review was done for patients who underwent myomectomy from 2016 to 2022 at Queens hospital center, New York. We looked at preoperative patient demographics, clinical characteristics, intraoperative variables, and postoperative outcomes. Mann-Whitney U test were used for parametric and non-parametric continuous variable comparisons, respectively. Results: A total of 159 myomectomies were performed between 2016 and 2022, including 1 laparoscopic, 65 vaginal and 93 abdominal. 44 patients received blood transfusion during or within 72 hours of abdominal myomectomy. The blood transfusion rate was 47.3%. Blood transfusion rate was found to be twice higher than the average documented rate in literature which is 20%. Risk factors identified were black race, preoperative hematocrit<30%, preoperative blood transfusion within 72 hours, large fibroid burden, prolonged surgical time, and abdominal approach. Conclusion: Preoperative optimization with iron supplements or GnRH agonists is important for patients undergoing myomectomy. Interventions to decrease intra operative blood loss should include cell saver, tourniquet, vasopressin, misoprostol, tranexamic acid and gelatin-thrombin matrix hemostatic sealant.

Keywords: myomectomy, perioperative blood loss, cell saver, tranexamic acid

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Xavier Lorang, Ahmadali Tahmasebimoradi, Chetra Mang, Sylvain Girard

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The additive manufacturing processes (e.g. selective laser melting) allow us to produce lattice structures which have less weight, higher impact absorption capacity, and better thermal exchange property compared to the classical structures. Unfortunately, geometric imperfections (defects) in the lattice structures are by-products results of the manufacturing process. These imperfections decrease the lifetime and the strength of the lattice structures and alternate their mechanical responses. The objective of the paper is to present a simulation strategy which allows us to take into account the effect of the geometric imperfections on the mechanical response of the lattice structure. In the first part, an identification method of geometric imperfection parameters of the lattice structure based on point clouds is presented. These point clouds are based on tomography measurements. The point clouds are fed into the platform LATANA (LATtice ANAlysis) developed by IRT-SystemX to characterize the geometric imperfections. This is done by projecting the point clouds of each microbeam along the beam axis onto a 2D surface. Then, by fitting an ellipse to the 2D projections of the points, the geometric imperfections are characterized by introducing three parameters of an ellipse; semi-major/minor axes and angle of rotation. With regard to the calculated parameters of the microbeam geometric imperfections, a statistical analysis is carried out to determine a probability density law based on a statistical hypothesis. The microbeam samples are randomly drawn from the density law and are used to generate lattice structures. In the second part, a finite element model for the lattice structure with the simplified geometric imperfections (ellipse parameters) is presented. This numerical model is used to simulate the generated lattice structures. The propagation of the uncertainties of geometric imperfections is shown through the distribution of the computed mechanical responses of the lattice structures.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, finite element model, geometric imperfections, lattice structures, propagation of uncertainty

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Nadia A. Mohamed, Magdy W. Sabaa, Ahmed H. H. El-Ghandour, Marwa M. Abdel-Aziz, Omayma F. Abdel-Gawad

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Eighteen carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh) schiff bases and their reduced derivatives have been synthesized. They were characterized by spectral analyses (FT-IR and H1-NMR) and scanning electron microscopy observation. Their antibacterial activities against Streptococcus pneumoniae (RCMB 010010), Bacillis subtilis (RCMB 010067), as Gram positive bacteria and Escherichia coli (RCMB 010052) as Gram negative bacteria and the antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus (RCMB 02568), Geotricum candidum (RCMB 05097), and Candida albicans (RCMB 05031) were examined using agar disk diffusion method. The results demonstrate how the antibacterial and the antifungal activity are clearly affected by both the nature and position of the substituent groups in the aryl ring of the prepared derivatives. CMCh-4-nitroBenz Schiff base and its reduced form show higher antimicrobial activity comparing with other para substituted derivatives. CMCh-4-nitroBenz Schiff base: 18.3, 17, and 15.6 mm against Bacillis subtilis, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Escherichia coli respectively and 16.2, 17.3, and 16.4 mm against Aspergillus fumigates, Geotricum candidum, and Candida albicans respectively. CMCh-4-nitroBenz reduced form: 19.5, 18.7, and 16.2 mm against Bacillis subtilis, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Escherichia coli respectively and 17.5, 19.5, and 17.4 mm against Aspergillus fumigates, Geotricum candidum, and Candida albicans respectively. Also CMCh-3-bromoBenz show good results; CMCh-3-bromoBenz schiff base: 19.2, 16.9, and 14.6 mm Bacillis subtilis, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Escherichia coli respectively and 18.4, 17.6, and 15.9 mm against Aspergillus fumigates, Geotricum candidum, and Candida albicans respectively.

Keywords: chitosan, schiff base, minimum inhibition concentration, antimicrobial activity

Procedia PDF Downloads 446

Authors: Shirin Ghatrehsamani

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Higher efficiency and lower environmental impact are the consequence of using advanced technology in farming. They also help to decrease yield variability by diminishing weather variability impact, optimizing nutrient and pest management as well as reducing competition from weeds. A better understanding of the pros and cons of applying technology and finding the main reason for preventing the utilization of the technology has a significant impact on developing technology adoption among farmers and producers in the digital agriculture era. The results from two surveys carried out in 2019 and 2021 were used to investigate whether the crop types had an impact on the willingness to utilize technology on the farms. The main focus of the questionnaire was on utilizing precision agriculture (PA) technologies among farmers in some parts of the united states. Collected data was analyzed to determine the practical application of various technologies. The survey results showed more similarities in the main reason not to use PA between the two crop types, but the present application of using technology in specialty crops is generally five times larger than in row crops. GPS receiver applications were reported similar for both types of crops. Lack of knowledge and high cost of data handling were cited as the main problems. The most significant difference was among using variable rate technology, which was 43% for specialty crops while was reported 0% for row crops. Pest scouting and mapping were commonly used for specialty crops, while they were rarely applied for row crops. Survey respondents found yield mapping, soil sampling map, and irrigation scheduling were more valuable for specialty crops than row crops in management decisions. About 50% of the respondents would like to share the PA data in both types of crops. Almost 50 % of respondents got their PA information from retailers in both categories, and as the second source, using extension agents were more common in specialty crops than row crops.

Keywords: precision agriculture, smart farming, digital agriculture, technology adoption

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Suangsuda Subjaroen, Chutikarn Sriviboon, Rosjana Chandhasa

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This research aims to examine the graduates' overall satisfaction and influential factors that affect the image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, according to the graduates' viewpoints on the graduation rehearsal day. In accordance with the graduates' perceptions, the study is related to the levels of graduates' satisfaction, their perceived quality, perceived value, and the image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The sample group in this study involved 1,129 graduates of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University who attended on 2019 graduation rehearsal day. A questionnaire was used as an instrument in order to collect data. By the use of computing software, the statistics used for data analysis were various, ranging from frequencies, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, One-Way ANOVA, and Multiple Regression Analysis. The majority of participants were graduates with a bachelor's degree, followed by masters graduates and PhD graduates, respectively. Among the participants, most of them graduated from the Faculty of Management Sciences, followed by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Faculty of Education, respectively. Overall, the graduates were satisfied with the graduation rehearsal day, and each aspect was rated at a satisfactory level. Formality, steps, and procedures were the aspects that graduates were most satisfied with, followed by graduation rehearsal personnel and staff, venue, and facilities. Referring to graduates' perceptions, the perceived quality was rated at a very good level, the perceived value was at a good level, whereas the image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University was perceived at a good level, respectively. There were differences in satisfaction levels among graduates with a bachelor's degree, graduates with a master's degree and a doctoral degree with statistical significance at the level of 0.05. There was a statistical significance at the level of 0.05 in perceived quality and perceived value affecting the image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The image of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University influenced graduates' satisfaction level with statistical significance at the level of 0.01.

Keywords: university image, perceived quality, perceived value, intention to study higher education, intention to recommend the university to others

Procedia PDF Downloads 106