Search results for: food waste challenge

Authors: Mukondi Esther Nethavhakone

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In 2020 World Health Organization announced the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known as Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To curb or contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID 19), global governments implemented social distancing and lockdown regulations. Subsequently, it was no longer business as per usual, life as we knew it had changed, and so many aspects of people's lives were negatively affected, including financial and employment stability. Mainly, because companies/businesses had to put their operations on hold, some had to shut down completely, resulting in the loss of income for many people globally. Finances and employment insecurities are some of the issues that exacerbated many social issues that the world was already faced with, such as school drop-outs, teenage pregnancies, sexual assaults, gender-based violence, crime, child abuse, elderly abuse, to name a few. Expectedly the majority of the population's mental health state was threatened. This resulted in an increased number of people seeking mental healthcare services. The increasing need for mental healthcare services in Low and Middle-income countries proves to be a challenge because it is a well-known fact due to financial constraints and not well-established healthcare systems, mental healthcare provision is not as prioritised as the primary healthcare in these countries. It is against this backdrop that the researcher seeks to find viable, cost-effective, and accessible mental health solutions for low and middle-income countries amid the pressures of any pandemic. The researcher will undertake a systematic review of the technology-based mental health solutions that have been implemented/adopted by developed countries during COVID 19 lockdown and social distancing periods. This systematic review study aims to determine if low and middle-income countries can adopt the cost-effective version of digital mental health solutions for the healthcare system to adequately provide mental healthcare services during critical times such as pandemics (when there's an overwhelming diminish in mental health globally). The researcher will undertake a systematic review study through mixed methods. It will adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The mixed-methods uses findings from both qualitative and quantitative studies in one review study. It will be beneficial to conduct this kind of study using mixed methods because it is a public health topic that involves social interventions and it is not purely based on medical interventions. Therefore, the meta-ethnographic (qualitative data) analysis will be crucial in understanding why and which digital methods work and for whom does it work, rather than only the meta-analysis (quantitative data) providing what digital mental health methods works. The data collection process will be extensive, involving the development of a database, table of summary of evidence/findings, and quality assessment process lastly, The researcher will ensure that ethical procedures are followed and adhered to, ensuring that sensitive data is protected and the study doesn't pose any harm to the participants.

Keywords: digital, mental health, covid, low and middle-income countries

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Authors: In-Lee Choi, Sung Mi Hong, Min Jae Jeong, Jun Pill Baek, Ho-Min Kang

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Gomchwi (Ligularia fischeri) is grown in the wetland of the deep mountains in Korea and East Asia and has properties that are, inflammation control, whitening, antimutagenic and antigenotoxic. Jangajji is a type of pickle in Korean fermented food which is made by pickling or marinating vegetables in a sauce, such as soy sauce, chili pepper paste, soybean paste, or diluted vinegar for a long period of time. Handaeri-gomchwi jangajii is generally packed a film that has very low or no gas permeability in the Korean domestic market, so packages have a risk of swelling or bursting as a result of internal gas generation during storage or sale This study was conducted to improve secure distribution of Handaeri-gomchwi (Ligularia fischeri var. spiciformis Nakai) Jangajji using laser ablation OTR (oxygen transmission rate) films. Handaeri-gomchwi cultivated in Yangu, Gangwon province, Republic of Korea (Ligularia fischeri var. spiciformis Nakai) was processed in to Jangajji using soy sauce. They were packed by different OTR films, and were stored for 90 days in 7℃(10,000 cc, 20,000 cc, 40,000 cc and 80,000 cc O2/m²• day • atm), 20 days in 20℃ (10,000 cc, 30,000 cc, 70,000 cc and 100,000 cc) and compared with the control film(PP film, 1,300cc). The fresh weight loss, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and ethylene concentrations of Handaeri–gomchwi packages were measured during storage. On the final day of storage, incidence rate of fungi, pH, salinity, firmness, and off-flavor were measured. The fresh weight loss rate of Handaeri–gomchwi was less than 2.0% in 10,000cc OTR films at two different storage periods and temperatures. At 80,000cc(7℃) and 100,000cc(20℃), carbon dioxide contents were 2.0% and 6.4% respectively, whereas the control treatment had the highest concentration. Which was 35%(20℃) and 15%(7℃) , that resulted the packages to swell during storage. The control treatment Showed the lowest oxygen concentration at 2.5% in 7℃ and 0.8% in 20℃. Packages in 7℃ (0.3-1.7μL/L) showed very lower ethylene concentration than in 20℃(10-25μL/L), they also had no significant relation. On the final storage day, fungi were found in every film at both temperatures, except the 10,000cc, as oxygen permeability increased so did the pH, while the salinity decreased. Firmness and off-flavor Showed the best results at 10,000cc in both temperatures best result at 10,000cc in both temperature. Following the results, 10,000cc film is the most reasonable treat in storing Handaeri–gomchwi. For it had a suitable oxygen transmission rate, which prevents billowing, and maintained good qualities in both temperatures.

Keywords: carbon dioxide, Korean pickle, marketable, oxygen

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Jafar S. Noori, Jan Romano-deGea, Maria Dimaki, John Mortensen, Winnie E. Svendsen

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Pesticides have been intensively used in agriculture to control weeds, insects, fungi, and pest. One of the most commonly used pesticides is glyphosate. Glyphosate has the ability to attach to the soil colloids and degraded by the soil microorganisms. As glyphosate led to the appearance of resistant species, the pesticide was used more intensively. As a consequence of the heavy use of glyphosate, residues of this compound are increasingly observed in food and water. Recent studies reported a direct link between glyphosate and chronic effects such as teratogenic, tumorigenic and hepatorenal effects although the exposure was below the lowest regulatory limit. Today, pesticides are detected in water by complicated and costly manual procedures conducted by highly skilled personnel. It can take up to several days to get an answer regarding the pesticide content in water. An alternative to this demanding procedure is offered by electrochemical measuring techniques. Electrochemistry is an emerging technology that has the potential of identifying and quantifying several compounds in few minutes. It is currently not possible to detect glyphosate directly in water samples, and intensive research is underway to enable direct selective and quantitative detection of glyphosate in water. This study focuses on developing and modifying a sensor chip that has the ability to selectively measure glyphosate and minimize the signal interference from other compounds. The sensor is a silicon-based chip that is fabricated in a cleanroom facility with dimensions of 10×20 mm. The chip is comprised of a three-electrode configuration. The deposited electrodes consist of a 20 nm layer chromium and 200 nm gold. The working electrode is 4 mm in diameter. The working electrodes are modified by creating molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) using electrodeposition technique that allows the chip to selectively measure glyphosate at low concentrations. The modification included using gold nanoparticles with a diameter of 10 nm functionalized with 4-aminothiophenol. This configuration allows the nanoparticles to bind to the working electrode surface and create the template for the glyphosate. The chip was modified using electrodeposition technique. An initial potential for the identification of glyphosate was estimated to be around -0.2 V. The developed sensor was used on 6 different concentrations and it was able to detect glyphosate down to 0.5 mgL⁻¹. This value is below the accepted pesticide limit of 0.7 mgL⁻¹ set by the US regulation. The current focus is to optimize the functionalizing procedure in order to achieve glyphosate detection at the EU regulatory limit of 0.1 µgL⁻¹. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to modify miniaturized sensor electrodes with functionalized nanoparticles for glyphosate detection.

Keywords: pesticides, glyphosate, rapid, detection, modified, sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: Yael Rieder, Yael Gilboa, S. O. Adva, Efrat Halevi, Ronnie Tepper

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Background: Operation of ultrasound equipment is a core skill for many clinical specialties. As part of the training program at -Simultech- a simulation center for Ob\Gyn at the Meir Medical Center, Israel, teaching how to operate ultrasound equipment requires dealing with misunderstandings of spatial and 3D orientation, failure of the operator to hold a transducer correctly, and limited ability to evaluate the data on the screen. We have developed a platform intended to endow physicians and sonographers with clinical and operational skills of obstetric ultrasound. Simultech's simulations are focused on medical knowledge, risk management, technology operations and physician-patient communication. The simulations encompass extreme work conditions. Setup: Between eight and ten of the eight hundred and fifty physicians and sonographers of the Clalit health services from seven hospitals and eight community centers across Israel, participate in individual Ob/Gyn training sessions each week. These include Ob/Gyn specialists, experts, interns, and sonographers. Innovative teaching and training methodologies: The six-hour training program includes: (1) An educational computer program that challenges trainees to deal with medical questions based upon ultrasound pictures and films. (2) Sophisticated hands-on simulators that challenge the trainees to practice correct grip of the transducer, elucidate pathology, and practice daily tasks such as biometric measurements and analysis of sonographic data. (3) Participation in a video-taped simulation which focuses on physician-patient communications. In the simulation, the physician is required to diagnose the clinical condition of a hired actress based on the data she provides and by evaluating the assigned ultrasound films accordingly. Giving ‘bad news’ to the patient may put the physician in a stressful situation that must be properly managed. (4) Feedback at the end of each phase is provided by a designated trainer, not a physician, who is specially qualified by Ob\Gyn senior specialists. (5) A group exercise in which the trainer presents a medico-legal case in order to encourage the participants to use their own experience and knowledge to conduct a productive ‘brainstorming’ session. Medical cases are presented and analyzed by the participants together with the trainer's feedback. Findings: (1) The training methods and content that Simultech provides allows trainees to review their medical and communications skills. (2) Simultech training sessions expose physicians to both basic and new, up-to-date cases, refreshing and expanding the trainee's knowledge. (3) Practicing on advanced simulators enables trainees to understand the sonographic space and to implement the basic principles of ultrasound. (4) Communications simulations were found to be beneficial for trainees who were unaware of their interpersonal skills. The trainer feedback, supported by the recorded simulation, allows the trainee to draw conclusions about his performance. Conclusion: Simultech was found to contribute to physicians at all levels of clinical expertise who deal with ultrasound. A break in daily routine together with attendance at a neutral educational center can vastly improve performance and outlook.

Keywords: medical training, simulations, ultrasound, Simultech

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Authors: Asma Bashir, Neha Farid, Kashif Ali, Kiran Fatima

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Background: Bacteriocins are a subclass of antimicrobial peptides that are becoming extremely important in treatments. It is possible to utilise bacteriocins in place of or in addition to traditional antibiotics. It is possible to treat a variety of infections, including Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), using the targeted spectrum of activity of these microorganisms. Method: This study aimed to examine the efficiency of antibiotics and bacteriocin against VRSA and MRSA. The effects of bacteriocins, such as enterocin KAE01, enterocin KAE03, enterocin KAE05, and enterocin KAE06 isolated from Enterococcus faecium strains, alone and in combination with vancomycin and methicillin antibiotics were examined. The selection technique utilized the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against Gram-positive indicator strain ATCC 6538 Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and indicator strain KSA 02 Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA). Results: We report the isolation and identification of enterocins KAE01, KAE03, KAE05, and KAE06 from food isolates of Enterococcus faecium (KAE01, KAE03, KAE05, and KAE06). After isolating the protein, it was partially purified with ammonium sulphate precipitation and purified with fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) procedures. Combinations of enterocin KAE01, 1 citric acid, 1 lactic acid, and microcin J25, 1 reuterin, 1 citric acid, and microcin J25, 1 reuterin, 1 lactic acid shown synergistic benefits (FIC index = 0.5) against Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA). In addition, a moderately synergistic (FIC index = 0.75) interaction was seen between pediocin PA-1, 1 citric acid, 1 lactic acid, and reuterin 1 citric acid, 1 lactic acid against L. ivanovii HPB28. In the presence of acids, nisin Z exhibited a modestly synergistic effect (FIC index = 0.625-0.75); however, it exhibited additive effects (FIC index = 1) when combined with reuterin or pediocin PA-1 against L. ivanovii HPB28. The efficacy of synergistic consortiums against Gram-positive bacteria was examined. Conclusion: Combining antimicrobials with various modes of action boosted efficacy and expanded the spectrum of inhibition, particularly against multidrug-resistant pathogens, according to our research.

Keywords: Enterococcus faecium, bacteriocin, antimicrobial resistance, antagonistic activity, vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

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Authors: Acacia A. Salomão, Willian L. Gomes da Silva, Gustavo G. Shimamoto, Matthieu Tubino

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Biodiesel physical and chemical properties depend on the raw material composition used in its synthesis. Saturated fatty acid esters confer high oxidative stability, while unsaturated fatty acid esters improve the cold flow properties. In this study, an alternative vegetal source - the macauba kernel oil - was used in the biodiesel synthesis instead of conventional sources. Macauba can be collected from native palm trees and is found in several regions in Brazil. Its oil is a promising source when compared to several other oils commonly obtained from food products, such as soybean, corn or canola oil, due to its specific characteristics. However, the usage of biodiesel made from macauba oil alone is not recommended due to the difficulty of producing macauba in large quantities. For this reason, this project proposes the usage of blends of the macauba oil with conventional oils. These blends were prepared by mixing the macauba biodiesel with biodiesels obtained from soybean, corn, and from residual frying oil, in the following proportions: 20:80, 50:50 e 80:20 (w/w). Three parameters were evaluated, using the standard methods, in order to check the quality of the produced biofuel and its blends: oxidative stability, cold filter plugging point (CFPP), and iodine value. The induction period (IP) expresses the oxidative stability of the biodiesel, the CFPP expresses the lowest temperature in which the biodiesel flows through a filter without plugging the system and the iodine value is a measure of the number of double bonds in a sample. The biodiesels obtained from soybean, residual frying oil and corn presented iodine values higher than 110 g/100 g, low oxidative stability and low CFPP. The IP values obtained from these biodiesels were lower than 8 h, which is below the recommended standard value. On the other hand, the CFPP value was found within the allowed limit (5 ºC is the maximum). Regarding the macauba biodiesel, a low iodine value was observed (31.6 g/100 g), which indicates the presence of high content of saturated fatty acid esters. The presence of saturated fatty acid esters should imply in a high oxidative stability (which was found accordingly, with IP = 64 h), and high CFPP, but curiously the latter was not observed (-3 ºC). This behavior can be explained by looking at the size of the carbon chains, as 65% of this biodiesel is composed by short chain saturated fatty acid esters (less than 14 carbons). The high oxidative stability and the low CFPP of macauba biodiesel are what make this biofuel a promising source. The soybean, corn and residual frying oil biodiesels also have low CFPP, but low oxidative stability. Therefore the blends proposed in this work, if compared to the common biodiesels, maintain the flow properties but present enhanced oxidative stability.

Keywords: biodiesel, blends, macauba kernel oil, stability oxidative

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Authors: Supriyo Das, Elbir Jove, Ajay Singh, Sophie Corbet, Noel Carr, Martin Deetz

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Water is a critical commodity in the healthcare and medical field. The utility of medical-grade water spans from washing surgical equipment, drug preparation to the key element of life-saving therapy such as hydrotherapy and hemodialysis for patients. A properly treated medical water reduces the bioburden load and mitigates the risk of infection, ensuring patient safety. However, any compromised condition during the production of medical-grade water can create a favorable environment for microbial growth putting patient safety at high risk. Therefore, proper upstream treatment of the medical water is essential before its application in healthcare, pharma and medical space. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is one of the most preferred treatments within healthcare industries and is recommended by all International Pharmacopeias to achieve the quality level demanded by global regulatory bodies. The RO process can remove up to 99.5% of constituents from feed water sources, eliminating bacteria, proteins and particles sizes of 100 Dalton and above. The combination of RO with other downstream water treatment technologies such as Electrodeionization and Ultrafiltration meet the quality requirements of various pharmacopeia monographs to produce highly purified water or water for injection for medical use. In the reverse osmosis process, the water from a liquid with a high concentration of dissolved solids is forced to flow through an especially engineered semi-permeable membrane to the low concentration side, resulting in high-quality grade water. However, these specially engineered RO membranes need to be sanitized either chemically or at high temperatures at regular intervals to keep the bio-burden at the minimum required level. In this paper, we talk about Dupont´s FilmTec Heat Sanitizable Reverse Osmosis membrane (HSRO) for the production of medical-grade water. An HSRO element must be pre-conditioned prior to initial use by exposure to hot water (80°C-85°C) for its stable performance and to meet the manufacturer’s specifications. Without pre-conditioning, the membrane will show variations in feed pressure operations and salt rejection. The paper will discuss the critical variables of pre-conditioning steps that can affect the overall performance of the HSRO membrane and demonstrate the data to support the need for pre-conditioning of HSRO elements. Our preliminary data suggests that there can be up to 35 % reduction in flow due to initial heat treatment, which also positively affects the increase in salt rejection. The paper will go into detail about the fundamental understanding of the performance change of HSRO after the pre-conditioning step and its effect on the quality of medical water produced. The paper will also discuss another critical point, “regular hot water sanitization” of these HSRO membranes. Regular hot water sanitization (at 80°C-85°C) is necessary to keep the membrane bioburden free; however, it can negatively impact the performance of the membrane over time. We will demonstrate several data points on hot water sanitization using FilmTec HSRO elements and challenge its robustness to produce quality medical water. The last part of this paper will discuss the construction details of the FilmTec HSRO membrane and features that make it suitable to pre-condition and sanitize at high temperatures.

Keywords: heat sanitizable reverse osmosis, HSRO, medical water, hemodialysis water, water for Injection, pre-conditioning, heat sanitization

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Authors: Stephen Tullis, M. David DiDonato, Hong Sung Park

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Rowing boats (shells) are often steered by a small rudder operated by one of the backward-facing rowers; the attention required of that athlete then slightly decreases the power that that athlete can provide. Reducing the steering distraction would then increase the overall boat speed. Races are straight 2000 m courses with each boat in a 13.5 m wide lane marked by small (~15 cm) widely-spaced (~10 m) buoys, and the boat trajectory is affected by both cross-currents and winds. An optical buoy recognition and tracking system has been developed that provides the boat’s location and orientation with respect to the lane edges. This information is provided to the steering athlete as either: a simple overlay on a video display, or fed to a simplified autopilot system giving steering directions to the athlete or directly controlling the rudder. The system is then effectively a “lane-assist” device but with small, widely-spaced lane markers viewed from a very shallow angle due to constraints on camera height. The image is captured with a lightweight 1080p webcam, and most of the image analysis is done in OpenCV. The colour RGB-image is converted to a grayscale using the difference of the red and blue channels, which provides good contrast between the red/yellow buoys and the water, sky, land background and white reflections and noise. Buoy detection is done with thresholding within a tight mask applied to the image. Robust linear regression using Tukey’s biweight estimator of the previously detected buoy locations is used to develop the mask; this avoids the false detection of noise such as waves (reflections) and, in particular, buoys in other lanes. The robust regression also provides the current lane edges in the camera frame that are used to calculate the displacement of the boat from the lane centre (lane location), and its yaw angle. The interception of the detected lane edges provides a lane vanishing point, and yaw angle can be calculated simply based on the displacement of this vanishing point from the camera axis and the image plane distance. Lane location is simply based on the lateral displacement of the vanishing point from any horizontal cut through the lane edges. The boat lane position and yaw are currently fed what is essentially a stripped down marine auto-pilot system. Currently, only the lane location is used in a PID controller of a rudder actuator with integrator anti-windup to deal with saturation of the rudder angle. Low Kp and Kd values decrease unnecessarily fast return to lane centrelines and response to noise, and limiters can be used to avoid lane departure and disqualification. Yaw is not used as a control input, as cross-winds and currents can cause a straight course with considerable yaw or crab angle. Mapping of the controller with rudder angle “overall effectiveness” has not been finalized - very large rudder angles stall and have decreased turning moments, but at less extreme angles the increased rudder drag slows the boat and upsets boat balance. The full system has many features similar to automotive lane-assist systems, but with the added constraints of the lane markers, camera positioning, control response and noise increasing the challenge.

Keywords: auto-pilot, lane-assist, marine, optical, rowing

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Authors: Pierre Mintom, Ebai Patricia, Merlin Dasse, Marlyse Chantal Nyangon Ndongo, Aicha Aretouyap Kouotou, Felix Essiben, Christine Fernande Nyangono Biyegue

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Background: The death of women during and after pregnancy remains a major concern in public health policy in Cameroon. Among the causes of this mortality is eclampsia which is a consequence of the Pre-eclampsia characterized by the double burden of pregnancy-induced hypertension and albuminuria in pregnant women. Objective: To determine the various factors associated with the pre-eclampsia in pregnant women of Foumban. Methodology: A cross-sectional and analytical study was carried out during the period from July to August 2020 and supplemented by another study carried out from August 05 to September 05, 2022, at the Foumban district hospital. A questionnaire was administered to pregnant women. It focused on socio-demographic parameters, the state nutritional, health status, and maternal parameters. Blood pressure was taken using an electronic blood pressure monitor, and urinary albumin was measuring using urine dipstick. Pre-eclampsia was defined by three types of double burden: double burden systolic hypertension–hyperalbuminuria (SHH), defined for SBP≥140 mmHg and hyperalbuminuria ≥1+ on urine dipstick, double burden diastolic hypertension–hyperalbuminuria (DHH), defined for PAD≥90 mmHg and hyperalbuminuria ≥1+ on the urine dipstick, and the double burden systolodiastolic arterial hypertension– hyperalbuminuria (SDHH), defined for SBP ≥ 140mmHg, PAD≥90 mmHg and hyperalbuminuria ≥1+ on urine dipstick. IBM SPSS Software was used for statistical analysis. Results: The results of this study show that the prevalence of pre-eclampsia was 17.3% for the double burden SHH, 19.9% for the double burden DHH and 14.1% for double burden SDHH. Associated factors with pre-eclampsia according to the three types of double burden were marital status (P<0.05), religion (P<0.05), history of hypertension before pregnancy (P<0.05). Associated factors for the double burden of DHH and SDHH were the nutritional status before the pregnancy (P<0.05) and the number of prenatal consultations (P<0.05). In terms of food groups, regular consumption of spices significantly increased the risk of pre-eclampsia by 5.318, 6.277 and 11.271 times respectively for the SHH, DHH and SDHH double burdens, while regular consumption of sweets regular consumption of sweets increased by 2.42 times and 2.053 times respectively the double DHH and SDHH burdens respectively. Conclusion: Our study made it possible to redefine pre-eclampsia by considering the subtypes of hypertension. Certain socio-demographic parameters and certain dietary habits influence the occurrence of pre-eclampsia characterized by the double burden Hypertension-hyperalbuminuria in pregnant women, which may later lead to the occurrence of eclampsia. Moreover, albuminemia could be a good predicitive factor of pre-eclampsia and could be explored.

Keywords: hypertension, hyperalbuminuria, pregnant women, foumban

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Authors: Saeed Bagherifam, Trevor Brown, Chris Fellows, Ravi Naidu

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Over the last century, rapid urbanization, industrial emissions, and mining activities have resulted in widespread contamination of the environment by heavy metal(loid)s. Arsenic (As) is a toxic metalloid belonging to group 15 of the periodic table, which occurs naturally at low concentrations in soils and the earth’s crust, although concentrations can be significantly elevated in natural systems as a result of dispersion from anthropogenic sources, e.g., mining activities. Bioavailability is the fraction of a contaminant in soils that is available for uptake by plants, food chains, and humans and therefore presents the greatest risk to terrestrial ecosystems. Numerous attempts have been made to establish in situ and ex-situ technologies of remedial action for remediation of arsenic-contaminated soils. In situ stabilization techniques are based on deactivation or chemical immobilization of metalloid(s) in soil by means of soil amendments, which consequently reduce the bioavailability (for biota) and bioaccessibility (for humans) of metalloids due to the formation of low-solubility products or precipitates. This study investigated the effectiveness of two different types of synthetic manganese and iron oxides (birnessite and goethite) for stabilization of As in a soil spiked with 1000 mg kg⁻¹ of As and treated with 10% dosages of soil amendments. Birnessite was made using HCl and KMnO₄, and goethite was synthesized by the dropwise addition of KOH into Fe(NO₃) solution. The resulting contaminated soils were subjected to a series of chemical extraction studies including sequential extraction (BCR method), single-step extraction with distilled (DI) water, 2M HNO₃ and simplified bioaccessibility extraction tests (SBET) for estimation of bioaccessible fractions of As in two different soil fractions ( < 250 µm and < 2 mm). Concentrations of As in samples were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results showed that soil with birnessite reduced bioaccessibility of As by up to 92% in both soil fractions. Furthermore, the results of single-step extractions revealed that the application of both birnessite and Goethite reduced DI water and HNO₃ extractable amounts of arsenic by 75, 75, 91, and 57%, respectively. Moreover, the results of the sequential extraction studies showed that both birnessite and goethite dramatically reduced the exchangeable fraction of As in soils. However, the amounts of recalcitrant fractions were higher in birnessite, and Goethite amended soils. The results revealed that the application of both birnessite and goethite significantly reduced bioavailability and the exchangeable fraction of As in contaminated soils, and therefore birnessite and Goethite amendments might be considered as promising adsorbents for stabilization and remediation of As contaminated soils.

Keywords: arsenic, bioavailability, in situ stabilisation, metalloid(s) contaminated soils

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Authors: Erine van Niekerk, Jason Holland

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In Māori culture water is considered to be the foundation of all life and has its own mana (spiritual power) and mauri (life force). Water classification for cultural values therefore includes categories like waitapu (sacred water), waimanawa-whenua (water from under the land), waipuna (freshwater springs), the relationship between water quantity and quality and the relationship between surface and groundwater. Particular rivers and lakes have special significance to iwi and hapu for their rohe (tribal areas). The Mararoa River, including its freshwater springs and wetlands, is an example of such an area. There is currently little information available about the sources, characteristics and behavior of these important water resources and this study on the water quality of the Mararoa River and adjacent freshwater springs will provide valuable information to be used in informed decisions about water management. The regional council of Southland, Environment Southland, is required to make changes under their water quality policy in order to comply with the requirements for the New National Standards for Freshwater to consult with Maori to determine strategies for decision making. This requires an approach that includes traditional knowledge combined with scientific knowledge in the decision-making process. This study provided the scientific data that can be used in future for decision making on fresh water springs combined with traditional values for this particular area. Several parameters have been tested in situ as well as in a laboratory. Parameters such as temperature, salinity, electrical conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Total Suspended Solids, and Escherichia coli among others show that recorded values of all test parameters fall within recommended ANZECC guidelines and Environment Southland standards and do not raise any concerns for the water quality of the springs and the river at the moment. However, the destruction of natural areas, particularly due to changes in farming practices, and the changes to water quality by the introduction of Didymosphenia geminate (Didymo) means Māori have already lost many of their traditional mahinga kai (food sources). There is a major change from land use such as sheep farming to dairying in Southland which puts freshwater resources under pressure. It is, therefore, important to draw on traditional knowledge and spirituality alongside scientific knowledge to protect the waters of the Mararoa River and waipuna. This study hopes to contribute to scientific knowledge to preserve the cultural values of these significant waters.

Keywords: cultural values, freshwater springs, Maori, water quality

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Authors: Charles St. Geste, Michael Neumann, Catherine Twohig

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Our primary aim is to examine farmer-centered participatory action learning as a tool to improve agricultural production, build resilience to climate shocks and, more broadly, advance community-driven solutions for sustainable development in rural communities across Haiti. For over six years, sixty plus farmers from Deslandes, Haiti, organized in three traditional work groups called konbits, have designed and tested low-input agroecology techniques as part of the Konbit Vanyan Kapab Pwoje Agroekoloji. The project utilizes a participatory action learning approach, emphasizing social inclusion, building on local knowledge, experiential learning, active farmer participation in trial design and evaluation, and cross-community sharing. Mixed methods were used to evaluate changes in knowledge and adoption of agroecology techniques, confidence in advancing agroecology locally, and innovation among Konbit Vanyan Kapab farmers. While skill and knowledge in application of agroecology techniques varied among individual farmers, a majority of farmers successfully adopted techniques outside of the trial farms. The use of agroecology techniques on trial and individual farms has doubled crop production in many cases. Farm income has also increased, and farmers report less damage to crops and property caused by extreme weather events. Furthermore, participatory action strategies have led to greater local self-determination and greater capacity for sustainable community development. With increased self-confidence and the knowledge and skills acquired from participating in the project, farmers prioritized sharing their successful techniques with other farmers and have developed a farmer-to-farmer training program that incorporates participatory action learning. Using adult education methods, farmers, trained as agroecology educators, are currently providing training in sustainable farming practices to farmers from five villages in three departments across Haiti. Konbit Vanyan Kapab farmers have also begun testing production of value-added food products, including a dried soup mix and tea. Key factors for success include: opportunities for farmers to actively participate in all phases of the project, group diversity, resources for application of agroecology techniques, focus on group processes and overcoming local barriers to inclusive decision-making.

Keywords: agroecology, participatory action learning, rural Haiti, sustainable community development

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Authors: Catalina Iticescu, Lucian P. Georgescu, Mihaela Timofti, Gabriel Murariu

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Since the accumulation of large quantities of sewage sludge is producing serious environmental problems, numerous environmental specialists are looking for solutions to solve this problem. The sewage sludge obtained by treatment of municipal wastewater may be used as fertiliser on agricultural soils because such sludge contains large amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter. In many countries, sewage sludge is used instead of chemical fertilizers in agriculture, this being the most feasible method to reduce the increasingly larger quantities of sludge. The use of sewage sludge on agricultural soils is allowed only with a strict monitoring of their physical and chemical parameters, because heavy metals exist in varying amounts in sewage sludge. Exceeding maximum permitted quantities of harmful substances may lead to pollution of agricultural soil and may cause their removal aside because the plants may take up the heavy metals existing in soil and these metals will most probably be found in humans and animals through food. The sewage sludge analyzed for the present paper was extracted from the Wastewater Treatment Station (WWTP) Galati, Romania. The physico-chemical parameters determined were: pH (upH), total organic carbon (TOC) (mg L⁻¹), N-total (mg L⁻¹), P-total (mg L⁻¹), N-NH₄ (mg L⁻¹), N-NO₂ (mg L⁻¹), N-NO₃ (mg L⁻¹), Fe-total (mg L⁻¹), Cr-total (mg L⁻¹), Cu (mg L⁻¹), Zn (mg L⁻¹), Cd (mg L⁻¹), Pb (mg L⁻¹), Ni (mg L⁻¹). The determination methods were electrometrical (pH, C, TSD) - with a portable HI 9828 HANNA electrodes committed multiparameter and spectrophotometric - with a Spectroquant NOVA 60 - Merck spectrophotometer and with specific Merck parameter kits. The tests made pointed out the fact that the sludge analysed is low heavy metal falling within the legal limits, the quantities of metals measured being much lower than the maximum allowed. The results of the tests made to determine the content of nutrients in the sewage sludge have shown that the existing nutrients may be used to increase the fertility of agricultural soils. Other tests were carried out on lands where sewage sludge was applied in order to establish the maximum quantity of sludge that may be used so as not to constitute a source of pollution. The tests were made on three plots: a first batch with no mud and no chemical fertilizers applied, a second batch on which only sewage sludge was applied, and a third batch on which small amounts of chemical fertilizers were applied in addition to sewage sludge. The results showed that the production increases when the soil is treated with sludge and small amounts of chemical fertilizers. Based on the results of the present research, a fertilization plan has been suggested. This plan should be reconsidered each year based on the crops planned, the yields proposed, the agrochemical indications, the sludge analysis, etc.

Keywords: agricultural use, crops, physico–chemical parameters, sewage sludge

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Authors: Bianca Peterson, Tomasz J. Sańko, Carlos C. Bezuidenhout, Johnnie Van Den Berg

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Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), the maize stem borer, is a major pest in sub-Saharan Africa. It causes economic damage to maize and sorghum crops and has evolved non-recessive resistance to genetically modified (GM) maize expressing the Cry1Ab insecticidal toxin. Since B. fusca is a non-model organism, very little genomic information is publicly available, and is limited to some cytochrome c oxidase I, cytochrome b, and microsatellite data. The biology of B. fusca is well-described, but still poorly understood. This, in combination with its larval-specific behavior, may pose problems for limiting the spread of current resistant B. fusca populations or preventing resistance evolution in other susceptible populations. As part of on-going research into resistance evolution, B. fusca larvae were collected from Bt and non-Bt maize in South Africa, followed by RNA isolation (15 specimens) and sequencing on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. Quality of reads was assessed with FastQC, after which Trimmomatic was used to trim adapters and remove low quality, short reads. Trinity was used for the de novo assembly, whereas TransRate was used for assembly quality assessment. Transcript identification employed BLAST (BLASTn, BLASTp, and tBLASTx comparisons), for which two libraries (nucleotide and protein) were created from 3.27 million lepidopteran sequences. Several transcripts that have previously been implicated in Cry toxin resistance was identified for B. fusca. These included aminopeptidase N, cadherin, alkaline phosphatase, ATP-binding cassette transporter proteins, and mitogen-activated protein kinase. MEGA7 was used to align these transcripts to reference sequences from Lepidoptera to detect mutations that might potentially be contributing to Cry toxin resistance in this pest. RSEM and Bioconductor were used to perform differential gene expression analysis on groups of B. fusca larvae challenged and unchallenged with the Cry1Ab toxin. Pairwise expression comparisons of transcripts that were at least 16-fold expressed at a false-discovery corrected statistical significance (p) ≤ 0.001 were extracted and visualized in a hierarchically clustered heatmap using R. A total of 329,194 transcripts with an N50 of 1,019 bp were generated from the over 167.5 million high-quality paired-end reads. Furthermore, 110 transcripts were over 10 kbp long, of which the largest one was 29,395 bp. BLAST comparisons resulted in identification of 157,099 (47.72%) transcripts, among which only 3,718 (2.37%) were identified as Cry toxin receptors from lepidopteran insects. According to transcript expression profiles, transcripts were grouped into three subclusters according to the similarity of their expression patterns. Several immune-related transcripts (pathogen recognition receptors, antimicrobial peptides, and inhibitors) were up-regulated in the larvae feeding on Bt maize, indicating an enhanced immune status in response to toxin exposure. Above all, extremely up-regulated arylphorin genes suggest that enhanced epithelial healing is one of the resistance mechanisms employed by B. fusca larvae against the Cry1Ab toxin. This study is the first to provide a resource base and some insights into a potential mechanism of Cry1Ab toxin resistance in B. fusca. Transcriptomic data generated in this study allows identification of genes that can be targeted by biotechnological improvements of GM crops.

Keywords: epithelial healing, Lepidoptera, resistance, transcriptome

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Authors: Matthew Cardeiro, Amalia D. Ardeljan, Lexi Frankel, Dianela Prado Escobar, Catalina Molnar, Omar M. Rashid

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Introduction: Enterococci comprise the natural flora of nearly all animals and are ubiquitous in food manufacturing and probiotics. However, its role in the microbiome remains controversial. The gut microbiome has shown to play an important role in immunology and cancer. Further, recent data has suggested a relationship between gut microbiota and breast cancer. These studies have shown that the gut microbiome of patients with breast cancer differs from that of healthy patients. Research regarding enterococcus infection and its sequala is limited, and further research is needed in order to understand the relationship between infection and cancer. Enterococcus may prevent the development of breast cancer (BC) through complex immunologic and microbiotic adaptations following an enterococcus infection. This study investigated the effect of enterococcus infection and the incidence of BC. Methods: A retrospective study (January 2010- December 2019) was provided by a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant national database and conducted using a Humans Health Insurance Database. International Classification of Disease (ICD) 9th and 10th codes, Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), and National Drug Codes were used to identify BC diagnosis and enterococcus infection. Patients were matched for age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), antibiotic treatment, and region of residence. Chi-squared, logistic regression, and odds ratio were implemented to assess the significance and estimate relative risk. Results: 671 out of 28,518 (2.35%) patients with a prior enterococcus infection and 1,459 out of 28,518 (5.12%) patients without enterococcus infection subsequently developed BC, and the difference was statistically significant (p<2.2x10⁻¹⁶). Logistic regression also indicated enterococcus infection was associated with a decreased incidence of BC (RR=0.60, 95% CI [0.57, 0.63]). Treatment for enterococcus infection was analyzed and controlled for in both enterococcus infected and noninfected populations. 398 out of 11,523 (3.34%) patients with a prior enterococcus infection and treated with antibiotics were compared to 624 out of 11,523 (5.41%) patients with no history of enterococcus infection (control) and received antibiotic treatment. Both populations subsequently developed BC. Results remained statistically significant (p<2.2x10-16) with a relative risk of 0.57 (95% CI [0.54, 0.60]). Conclusion & Discussion: This study shows a statistically significant correlation between enterococcus infection and a decrease incidence of breast cancer. Further exploration is needed to identify and understand not only the role of enterococcus in the microbiome but also the protective mechanism(s) and impact enterococcus infection may have on breast cancer development. Ultimately, further research is needed in order to understand the complex and intricate relationship between the microbiome, immunology, bacterial infections, and carcinogenesis.

Keywords: breast cancer, enterococcus, immunology, infection, microbiome

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Authors: Sara De Pelsmaeker, Catarina Ferreira da Silva, Janne Prawit

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Recent studies show that enzymatically hydrolysed collagen is absorbed and distributed to joint tissues, where it has analgesic and active anti-inflammatory properties. Reviews of the associated relevant literature also support this theory. However, these studies are all using hydrolyzed collagen from animal hide or skin. This study looks into the effect of daily supplementation of hydrolyzed cartilage collagen (HCC), which has a different composition. A consumer study was set up using a double-blind placebo-controlled design with a control group using twice a day 0.5gr of maltodextrin and an experimental group using twice 0.5g of HCC, over a trial period of 12 weeks. A follow-up phase of 4 weeks without supplementation was taken into the experiment to investigate the ‘wash-out’ phase. As this consumer study was conducted during the lockdown periods, a specific app was designed to follow up with the participants. The app had the advantage that in this way, the motivation of the participants was enhanced and the drop-out range of participants was lower than normally seen in consumer studies. Participants were recruited via various sports and health clubs across the UK as we targeted a general population of people that considered themselves in good health. Exclusion criteria were ‘not experiencing any medical conditions’ and ‘not taking any prescribed medication’. A minimum requirement was that they regularly engaged in some level of physical activity. The participants had to log the type of activity that they conducted and the duration of the activity. Weekly, participants were providing feedback on their joint health and subjective pain using the validated pain measuring instrument Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The weekly repoAbstract Public Health and Wellbeing Conferencerting section in the app was designed with simplicity and based on the accuracy demonstrated in previous similar studies to track subjective pain measures of participants. At the beginning of the trial, each participant indicated their baseline on joint pain. The results of this consumer study indicated that HCC significantly improved joint health and subjective pain scores compared to the placebo group. No significant differences were found between different demographic groups (age or gender). The level of activity, going from high intensive training to regular walking, did not significantly influence the effect of the HCC. The results of the wash-out phase indicated that when the participants stopped the HCC supplementation, their subjective pain scores increased again to the baseline. In conclusion, the results gave a positive indication that the daily supplementation of HCC can contribute to the overall mobility and wellbeing of a general active population

Keywords: VAS-score, food supplement, mobility, joint health

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Authors: S. Sansone-Casaburi

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The pandemic that the world is going through is causing important changes in the daily life of all cities, which can translate into opportunities to rearrange pending situations. Among others: the town-city relationship and sustainability. On the one hand, the city continues to be the center of attention, and the countryside is assumed as the supplier of food. However, the temporary closure of cities highlighted the importance of the rural environment, and many people are reassessing this context as an alternative for life. Furthermore, the countryside is not simply the home and the center of activity of the people who inhabit it, but rather constitutes the active group of all citizens, both rural and urban. On the other hand, the pandemic is the opportunity to meet sustainable development goals. Sustainable development is understood as the capital to be transferred to future generations made up of three types of wealth: natural capital (environment), human capital (people, relationships, culture), and artificial or built capital, made up of buildings and infrastructure, or by cities and towns. The 'new normal' can mean going back to the countryside, but not to a merely agricultural place but to a sustainable, affordable, and healthy place, which, with the appropriate infrastructures, allows work from a distance, a new post-COVID-19 modality. The contribution of the research is towards the recovery of traditional villages from the perspective of populations that have managed to maintain their vitality with innovative solutions. It is assumed that innovation is a path for the recovery of traditional villages, so we ask: what conditions are necessary for innovation to be successful and sustainable? In the research, several variables were found, among which culture is named, so the objective of this article is to understand Uruena, a town in the province of Valladolid, which with only 182 inhabitants houses five museums and twelve bookstores that make up the first Villa del Libro in Spain. The methodology used is mixed: inductive and deductive and the results were specified in determining the formula of innovative peoples in culture: PIc = Pt + C [E (Aec) + S (pp) + A (T + s + t + enc)]. Where the innovative villages in culture PIc are the result of traditional villages Pt that from a cultural innovation C, integrates into the economic, economic and cultural activities E (Aec); in the social sphere, the public and private actors S (pp); and in the environmental (A), Territory (T), services (s), technology (t) and natural and built spaces (enc). The results of this analysis will focus on determining what makes the structure of innovative peoples sustainable and understanding what variables make up that structure to verify if they can be applied in other contexts and repower abandoned places to provide a solution for people who migrate to this context. That is, learn from what has been done to replicate it in similar cases.

Keywords: culture as innovation, depopulation, sustainability, traditional villages

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Authors: Anzal Abbas Jaffari, Wajiha Javed, Naseem Salahuddin

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Rationale: Rabies, a vaccine preventable disease, continues to be a critical public health issue as it kills around 2000-5000 people annually in Pakistan. Along with the disease spread among animals, the dog population remains a victim of brutal culling practices by the local authorities, which adversely affects ecosystem (sinking of poison in the soil – affecting vegetation & contaminating water) and the disease spread. The dog population has been exponentially rising primarily because a lack of a consolidated nationwide Animal Birth Control program and awareness among the local communities in general and children in particular. This is reflected in Pakistan’s low SARE score - 1.5, which makes the country trails behind other developing countries like Bangladesh (2.5) and Philippines (3.5).According to an estimate, the province of Sindh alone is home to almost 2.5 million dogs. The clustering of dogs in Peri-Urban areas and inner cities localities leads to an increase of reported dog bite cases in these areas specifically. Objective: Rabies Free Pakistan (RFP), which is a joint venture of Getz Pharma Private Limited and Indus Hospital & Health Network (IHHN); it was established in 2018 to eliminate Rabies from Pakistan by 2030 using the One Health Approach. Methodology: The RFP team is actively working on advocacy and policy front with both the Federal & Provincial government to ensure that all stakeholders currently involved in dog culling in Pakistan have a paradigm shift towards humane methods of vaccination and ABC. Along with the federal government, RFP aims to declare Rabies as a notifiable disease. Whereas RFP closely works with the provincial government of Sindh to initiate a province wide Rabies Control Program.RFP program follows international standards and WHO approved protocols for this program in Pakistan.RFP team has achieved various milestones in the fight against Rabies after successfully scaling up project operations and has vaccinated more than 30,000 dogs and neutered around 7,000 dogs since 2018. Recommendations: Effective implementation of Rabies program (MDV and ABC) requires a concentrated effort to address a variety of structural and policy challenges. This essentially demands a massive shift in the attitude of individuals towards rabies. The two most significant challenges in implementing a standard policy at the structural level are lack of institutional capacity, shortage of vaccine, and absence of inter-departmental coordination among major stakeholders: federal government, provincial ministry of health, livestock, and local bodies (including local councils). The lack of capacity in health care workers to treat dog bite cases emerges as a critical challenge at the clinical level. Conclusion: Pakistan can learn from the successful international models of Sri Lanka and Mexico as they adopted the One Health Approach to eliminate rabies like RFP. The WHO advised One Health approach provides the policymakers with an interactive and cross-sectoral guide, which involves all the essential elements of the eco system (including animals, humans, and other components).

Keywords: animal birth control, dog population, mass dog vaccination, one health, rabies elimination

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Authors: Shih-Jie Ma, Jui-Hsu Hsiao, Ming-Ying Hsieh, Shin-Yan Yang, Chun-Han Yeh, Kuo-Chun Su

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In Taiwan, social enterprises and non-profit organizations (NPOs) are not familiar with innovative business models, such as live streaming. In 2019, a brand new course called internet celebrity training project is introduced to them by the Social Innovation Lab. The Goal of this paper is to evaluate the effect of this project, to explore the role of new technology (internet live stream) in business process management (BPM), and to analyze how live stream programs can assist social enterprises in creating new business models. Social Innovation, with the purpose to solve social issues in innovative ways, is one of the most popular topics in the world. Social Innovation Lab was established in 2017 by Executive Yuan in Taiwan. The vision of Social Innovation Lab is to exploit technology, innovation and experimental methods to solve social issues, and to maximize the benefits from government investment. Social Innovation Lab aims at creating a platform for both supply and demand sides of social issues, to make social enterprises and start-ups communicate with each other, and to build an eco-system in which stakeholders can make a social impact. Social Innovation Lab keeps helping social enterprises and NPOs to gain better publicity and to enhance competitiveness by facilitating digital transformation. In this project, Social Innovation Lab exerted the influence of social media such as YouTube and Facebook, to make social enterprises and start-ups adjust their business models by using the live stream of social media, which becomes one of the tools to expand their market and diversify their sales channels. Internet live stream training courses were delivered in different regions of Taiwan in 2019, including Taitung, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien. Through these courses, potential groups and enterprises were cultivated to become so-called internet celebrities. With their concern about social issues in mind, these internet celebrities know how to manipulate social media to make a social impact in different fields, such as aboriginal people, food and agriculture, LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), environmental protection and senior citizens. Participants of live stream training courses in Taiwan are selected to take in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys. Results indicate that the digital transformation process of social enterprises and NPOs can be successful by implementing business process reengineering, a significant change made by social innovation internet celebrities. Therefore, this project can be the new driving force to facilitate the business model transformation in Taiwan.

Keywords: business process management, digital transformation, live stream, social innovation

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Authors: Anahita Mortazavi Manesh, Mojtaba Bagherzadeh

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Metalloporphyrins are well known to mimic the activity of monooxygenase enzymes. In this regard, metalloporphyrin complexes have been largely employed as valuable biomimetic catalysts, owing to the critical roles they play in oxygen transfer processes in catalytic oxidation reactions. Investigating in this area is based on different strategies to design selective, stable and high turnover catalytic systems. Immobilization of expensive metalloporphyrin catalysts onto supports appears to be a good way to improve their stability, selectivity and the catalytic performance because of the support environment and other advantages with respect to recovery, reuse. In other words, supporting metalloporphyrins provides a physical separation of active sites, thus minimizing catalyst self-destruction and dimerization of unhindered metalloporphyrins. Furthermore, heterogeneous catalytic oxidations have become an important target since their process are used in industry, helping to minimize the problems of industrial waste treatment. Hence, the immobilization of these biomimetic catalysts is much desired. An attractive approach is the preparation of the heterogeneous catalyst involves immobilization of complexes on silica coated magnetic nano-particles. Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic nanoparticles have been studied extensively due to their superparamagnetism property, large surface area to volume ratio and easy functionalization. Using heterogenized homogeneous catalysts is an attractive option to facile separation of catalyst, simplified product work-up and continuity of catalytic system. Homogeneous catalysts immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) surface occupy a unique position due to combining the advantages of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. In addition, superparamagnetic nature of MNPs enable very simple separation of the immobilized catalysts from the reaction mixture using an external magnet. In the present work, an efficient heterogeneous catalyst was prepared by immobilizing manganese porphyrin on functionalized magnetic nanoparticles through the amino propyl linkage. The prepared catalyst was characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, atomic absorption spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Application of immobilized metalloporphyrin in the oxidation of various organic substrates was explored using Gas chromatographic (GC) analyses. The results showed that the supported Mn-porphyrin catalyst (Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2@MnPor) is an efficient and reusable catalyst in oxidation reactions. Our catalytic system exhibits high catalytic activity in terms of turnover number (TON) and reaction conditions. Leaching and recycling experiments revealed that nanocatalyst can be recovered several times without loss of activity and magnetic properties. The most important advantage of this heterogenized catalytic system is the simplicity of the catalyst separation in which the catalyst can be separated from the reaction mixture by applying a magnet. Furthermore, the separation and reuse of the magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were very effective and economical.

Keywords: Fe3O4 nanoparticle, immobilized metalloporphyrin, magnetically separable nanocatalyst, oxidation reactions

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Authors: Ashlie Latiolais

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Architecture, as a discipline, is on a trajectory of extension beyond the boundaries of buildings and, more increasingly, is coupled with research that connects to alternative and typically disjointed disciplines. A “both/and” approach and (expanded) definition of architecture, as depicted here, expands the margins that contain the profession. Figuratively, architecture is a series of edges, events, and occurrences that establishes a choreography or stage by which humanity exists. The way in which architecture controls and suggests the movement through these spaces, being within a landscape, city, or building, can be viewed as a datum by which the “dance” of everyday life occurs. This submission views the realm of architecture through the lens of movement and dance as a cross-fertilizer of collaboration, tectonic, and spatial geometry investigations. “Designing on digital programs puts architects at a distance from the spaces they imagine. While this has obvious advantages, it also means that they lose the lived, embodied experience of feeling what is needed in space—meaning that some design ideas that work in theory ultimately fail in practice.” By studying the body in motion through real-time performance, a more holistic understanding of architectural space surfaces and new prospects for theoretical teaching pedagogies emerge. The atypical intersection rethinks how architecture is considered, created, and tested, similar to how “dance artists often do this by thinking through the body, opening pathways and possibilities that might not otherwise be accessible” –this is the essence of this poster submission as explained through unFOLDED, a creative performance work. A new languageismaterialized through unFOLDED, a dynamic occupiable installation by which architecture is investigated through dance, movement, and body analysis. The entry unfolds a collaboration of an architect, dance choreographer, musicians, video artist, and lighting designers to re-create one of the first documented avant-garde performing arts collaborations (Matisse, Satie, Massine, Picasso) from the Ballet Russes in 1917, entitled Parade. Architecturally, this interdisciplinary project orients and suggests motion through structure, tectonic, lightness, darkness, and shadow as it questions the navigation of the dark space (stage) surrounding the installation. Artificial light via theatrical lighting and video graphics brought the blank canvas to life – where the sensitive mix of musicality coordinated with the structure’s movement sequencing was certainly a challenge. The upstage light from the video projections created both flickered contextual imagery and shadowed figures. When the dancers were either upstage or downstage of the structure, both silhouetted figures and revealed bodies are experienced as dancer-controlled installation manipulations occurred throughout the performance. The experimental performance, through structure, prompted moving (dancing) bodies in space, where the architecture served as a key component to the choreography itself. The tectonic of the delicate steel structure allowed for the dancers to interact with the installation, which created a variety of spatial conditions – the contained box of three-dimensional space, to a wall, and various abstracted geometries in between. The development of this research unveils the new role of an Architect as a Choreographer of the built environment.

Keywords: dance, architecture, choreography, installation, architect, choreographer, space

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Authors: A. Chávez, A. Rodríguez, F. Pinzón

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Society is concerned about measures of environmental, economic and social impacts generated in the solid waste disposal. These places of confinement, also known as landfills, are locations where problems of pollution and damage to human health are reduced. They are technically designed and operated, using engineering principles, storing the residue in a small area, compact it to reduce volume and covering them with soil layers. Problems preventing liquid (leachate) and gases produced by the decomposition of organic matter. Despite planning and site selection for disposal, monitoring and control of selected processes, remains the dilemma of the leachate as extreme concentration of pollutants, devastating soil, flora and fauna; aggressive processes requiring priority attention. A biological technology is the activated sludge system, used for tributaries with high pollutant loads. Since transforms biodegradable dissolved and particulate matter into CO2, H2O and sludge; transform suspended and no Settleable solids; change nutrients as nitrogen and phosphorous; and degrades heavy metals. The microorganisms that remove organic matter in the processes are in generally facultative heterotrophic bacteria, forming heterogeneous populations. Is possible to find unicellular fungi, algae, protozoa and rotifers, that process the organic carbon source and oxygen, as well as the nitrogen and phosphorus because are vital for cell synthesis. The mixture of the substrate, in this case sludge leachate, molasses and wastewater is maintained ventilated by mechanical aeration diffusers. Considering as the biological processes work to remove dissolved material (< 45 microns), generating biomass, easily obtained by decantation processes. The design consists of an artificial support and aeration pumps, favoring develop microorganisms (denitrifying) using oxygen (O) with nitrate, resulting in nitrogen (N) in the gas phase. Thus, avoiding negative effects of the presence of ammonia or phosphorus. Overall the activated sludge system includes about 8 hours of hydraulic retention time, which does not prevent the demand for nitrification, which occurs on average in a value of MLSS 3,000 mg/L. The extended aeration works with times greater than 24 hours detention; with ratio of organic load/biomass inventory under 0.1; and average stay time (sludge age) more than 8 days. This project developed a pilot system with sludge leachate from Doña Juana landfill - RSDJ –, located in Bogota, Colombia, where they will be subjected to a process of activated sludge and extended aeration through a sequential Bach reactor - SBR, to be dump in hydric sources, avoiding ecological collapse. The system worked with a dwell time of 8 days, 30 L capacity, mainly by removing values of BOD and COD above 90%, with initial data of 1720 mg/L and 6500 mg/L respectively. Motivating the deliberate nitrification is expected to be possible commercial use diffused aeration systems for sludge leachate from landfills.

Keywords: sludge, landfill, leachate, SBR

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Authors: Noor Hasmini Abd Ghani

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Brand resonance is among of new focused strategy that getting more attention in nowadays by larger companies for their long-term market survival. The brand resonance emphasizing of two main characteristics that are intensity and activity able to generate psychology bond and enduring relationship between a brand and consumer. This strong attachment relationship has represented brand resonance with the concept of consumer brand relationship (CBR) that exhibit competitive advantage for long-term market survival. The main consideration toward this brand resonance approach is not only in the context of larger companies but also can be adapted in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well. The SMEs have been recognized as vital pillar to the world economy in both developed and emergence countries are undeniable due to their economic growth contributions, such as opportunity for employment, wealth creation, and poverty reduction. In particular, the facts that SMEs in Malaysia are pivotal to the well-being of the Malaysian economy and society are clearly justified, where the SMEs competent in provided jobs to 66% of the workforce and contributed 40% to the GDP. As regards to it several sectors, the SMEs service category that covers the Food & Beverage (F&B) sector is one of the high-potential industries in Malaysia. For that reasons, SMEs strong brand or brand equity is vital to be developed for their long-term market survival. However, there’s still less appropriate strategies in develop their brand equity. The difficulties have never been so evident until Covid-19 swept across the globe from 2020. Since the pandemic began, more than 150,000 SMEs in Malaysia have shut down, leaving more than 1.2 million people jobless. Otherwise, as the SMEs are the pillar of any economy for the countries in the world, and with negative effect of COVID-19 toward their economic growth, thus, their protection has become important more than ever. Therefore, focusing on strategy that able to develop SMEs strong brand is compulsory. Hence, this is where the strategy of brand resonance is introduced in this study. Mainly, this study aims to investigate the impact of CBR as a predictor and mediator in the context of social media marketing (SMM) activities toward SMEs e-brand equity (or strong brand) building. The study employed the quantitative research design concerning on electronic survey method with the valid response rate of 300 respondents. Interestingly, the result revealed the importance role of CBR either as predictor or mediator in the context of SMEs SMM as well as brand equity development. Further, the study provided several theoretical and practical implications that can benefit the SMEs in enhancing their strategic marketing decision.

Keywords: SME brand equity, SME social media marketing, SME consumer brand relationship, SME brand resonance

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Authors: Carolina Gutierrez-Cortes, Hector Suarez, Gustavo Buitrago

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Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria as a competitive strategy for substrate and habitat. Those peptides have a potential use as food biopreservatives due to their antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens, avoiding the use of additives that can be harmful to consumers. The industrial production of bacteriocins is currently expensive; one of the options to be competitive is the development of economic culture media, for example, with the use of agro-industrial wastes such as whey. This study evaluated the growth and production of bacteriocins from four strains: Pediococcus pentosaceus 63, Pediococcus pentosaceus 145, Pediococcus pentosaceus 146 and Pediococcus pentosaceus 147 isolated from ‘minas cheese’ (artisanal cheese made from raw milk in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil) in order to select a strain with growth at high rates and higher antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes 104 after incubation on the culture medium designed with whey and other components. The media used were: MRS broth, modified MRS broth (using different sources of carbon and nitrogen and different amounts of micronutrients) and a culture medium designed by a factorial design using whey and other components. The final biomass concentrations of the four strains in MRS broth after 24 hours of incubation were very similar 9.25, 9.33, 9.25 and 9.22 (log CFU/mL) for P. pentosaceus 63, P. pentosaceus 145, P. pentosaceus 146 and P. pentosaceus 147 respectively. In the same assays, antimicrobial activity of 3200 AU/mL for the first three and of 12800 AU/mL for P. pentosaceus 147 were obtained. Culture of P. pentosaceus 63 on modified MRS broth, showed the effect of some sources of carbon on the activity of bacteriocin, obtaining 12800 AU/mL with dextrose and 25600 AU/mL with maltose. Cultures of P. pentosaceus 145, 146 and 147 with these same sugars presented activity of 12800 AU/mL. It was observed that the modified MRS medium using whey increased the antimicrobial activity of the strains at 16000, 6400, 16000 and 19200 AU/mL for each strain respectively, keeping the biomass at values close to 9 log units. About nitrogen sources, it was observed that the combination of peptone (10 g /L), meat extract (10 g/L) and yeast extract (5 g/L) promoted the highest activity (12800 AU/mL), and in all cases MgSO4, MnSO4, K2HPO4 and ammonium citrate at low concentrations adversely affected bacteriocin production. Because P. pentosaceus 147 showed the highest antimicrobial activity in the presence of whey, it was used to evaluate the culture medium (peptone (10 g/L), meat extract (8 g/L), yeast extract (2 g/L), Tween® 80 (1 g/L), ammonium citrate (2 g/L), sodium acetate (5 g/L), MgSO4 (0.2 g/L), MnSO4 (0.04 g/L)). With the designed medium added with whey, 9.34 log units of biomass concentration and 19200 AU/mL were achieved for P. pentosaceus 147. The above suggest that the new medium promotes the antimicrobial activity of P. pentosaceus 147 allowing the use of an economic medium using whey.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, bacteriocins, pediococcus, whey

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Authors: Ankita Singh, Chandan Gorain, Amirul I. Mallick

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Successful adherence of the mucosal epithelial cells is the key early step for Campylobacter jejuni pathogenesis (C. jejuni). A set of Surface Exposed Colonization Proteins (SECPs) are among the major factors involved in host cell adherence and invasion of C. jejuni. Among them, constitutively expressed surface-exposed lipoprotein adhesin of C. jejuni, JlpA, interacts with intestinal heat shock protein 90 (hsp90α) and contributes in disease progression by triggering pro-inflammatory response via activation of NF-κB and p38 MAP kinase pathway. Together with its ability to express in the bacterial surface, higher sequence conservation and predicted predominance of several B cells epitopes, JlpA protein reserves its potential to become an effective vaccine candidate against wide range of Campylobacter sps including C. jejuni. Given that chickens are the primary sources for C. jejuni and persistent gut colonization remain as major cause for foodborne pathogenesis to humans, present study explicitly used chickens as model to test the immune-protective efficacy of JlpA protein. Taking into account that gastrointestinal tract is the focal site for C. jejuni colonization, to extrapolate the benefit of mucosal (intragastric) delivery of JlpA protein, a food grade Nisin inducible Lactic acid producing bacteria, Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis) was engineered to express recombinant JlpA protein (rJlpA) in the surface of the bacteria. Following evaluation of optimal surface expression and functionality of recombinant JlpA protein expressed by recombinant L. lactis (rL. lactis), the immune-protective role of intragastric administration of live rL. lactis was assessed in commercial broiler chickens. In addition to the significant elevation of antigen specific mucosal immune responses in the intestine of chickens that received three doses of rL. lactis, marked upregulation of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) gene expression in association with mixed pro-inflammatory responses (both Th1 and Th17 type) was observed. Furthermore, intragastric delivery of rJlpA expressed by rL. lactis, but not the injectable form, resulted in a significant reduction in C. jejuni colonization in chickens suggesting that mucosal delivery of live rL. lactis expressing JlpA serves as a promising vaccine platform to induce strong immune-protective responses against C. jejuni in chickens.

Keywords: chickens, lipoprotein adhesion of Campylobacter jejuni, immuno-protection, Lactococcus lactis, mucosal delivery

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Authors: Eli Avraham

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The Arab Spring was widely covered in the global media and the number of Western tourists traveling to the area began to fall. The goal of this study was to analyze which media strategies marketers in Middle Eastern countries chose to employ in their attempts to repair the negative image of the area in the wake of the Arab Spring. Several studies were published concerning image-restoration strategies of destinations during crises around the globe; however, these strategies were not part of an overarching theory, conceptual framework or model from the fields of crisis communication and image repair. The conceptual framework used in the current study was the ‘multi-step model for altering place image’, which offers three types of strategies: source, message and audience. Three research questions were used: 1.What public relations crisis techniques and advertising campaign components were used? 2. What media policies and relationships with the international media were adopted by Arab officials? 3. Which marketing initiatives (such as cultural and sports events) were promoted? This study is based on qualitative content analysis of four types of data: 1) advertising components (slogans, visuals and text); (2) press interviews with Middle Eastern officials and marketers; (3) official media policy adopted by government decision-maker (e.g. boycotting or arresting newspeople); and (4) marketing initiatives (e.g. organizing heritage festivals and cultural events). The data was located in three channels from December 2010, when the events started, to September 31, 2013: (1) Internet and video-sharing websites: YouTube and Middle Eastern countries' national tourism board websites; (2) News reports from two international media outlets, The New York Times and Ha’aretz; these are considered quality newspapers that focus on foreign news and tend to criticize institutions; (3) Global tourism news websites: eTurbo news and ‘Cities and countries branding’. Using the ‘multi-step model for altering place image,’ the analysis reveals that Middle Eastern marketers and officials used three kinds of strategies to repair their countries' negative image: 1. Source (cooperation and media relations; complying, threatening and blocking the media; and finding alternatives to the traditional media) 2. Message (ignoring, limiting, narrowing or reducing the scale of the crisis; acknowledging the negative effect of an event’s coverage and assuring a better future; promotion of multiple facets, exhibitions and softening the ‘hard’ image; hosting spotlight sporting and cultural events; spinning liabilities into assets; geographic dissociation from the Middle East region; ridicule the existing stereotype) and 3. Audience (changing the target audience by addressing others; emphasizing similarities and relevance to specific target audience). It appears that dealing with their image problems will continue to be a challenge for officials and marketers of Middle Eastern countries until the region stabilizes and its regional conflicts are resolved.

Keywords: Arab spring, cultural events, image repair, Middle East, tourism marketing

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Ardiansyah I. Ryan, Ashsholih K. R., Fathurrohman G. R., Kurniadi M. R., Huda P. A

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The burden of brain-related disease is very high. There are a lot of brain-related diseases with limited treatment result and thus raise the burden more. The Parkinson Disease (PD), Mental Health Problem, or Paralysis of extremities treatments had risen concern, as the patients for those diseases usually had a low quality of life and low chance to recover fully. There are also many other brain or related neural diseases with the similar condition, mainly the treatments for those conditions are still limited as our understanding of the brain function is insufficient. Brain Implant Technology had given hope to help in treating this condition. In this paper, we examine the current update of the brain implant technology. Neurotechnology is growing very rapidly worldwide. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as a brain implant in humans. As for neural implant both the cochlear implant and retinal implant are approved by FDA too. All of them had shown a promising result. DBS worked by stimulating a specific region in the brain with electricity. This device is planted surgically into a very specific region of the brain. This device consists of 3 main parts: Lead (thin wire inserted into the brain), neurostimulator (pacemaker-like device, planted surgically in the chest) and an external controller (to turn on/off the device by patient/programmer). FDA had approved DBS for the treatment of PD, Pain Management, Epilepsy and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The target treatment of DBS in PD is to reduce the tremor and dystonia symptoms. DBS has been showing the promising result in animal and limited human trial for other conditions such as Alzheimer, Mental Health Problem (Major Depression, Tourette Syndrome), etc. Every surgery has risks of complications, although in DBS the chance is very low. DBS itself had a very satisfying result as long as the subject criteria to be implanted this device based on indication and strictly selection. Other than DBS, there are several brain implant devices that still under development. It was included (not limited to) implant to treat paralysis (In Spinal Cord Injury/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), enhance brain memory, reduce obesity, treat mental health problem and treat epilepsy. The potential of neurotechnology is unlimited. When brain function and brain implant were fully developed, it may be one of the major breakthroughs in human history like when human find ‘fire’ for the first time. Support from every sector for further research is very needed to develop and unveil the true potential of this technology.

Keywords: brain implant, deep brain stimulation (DBS), deep brain stimulation, Parkinson

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Paul Flynn, Luke O’Donnell

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There is a pressing societal need for educators in formal and non-formal settings to develop pedagogical frameworks, programmes, and interventions that support the development of transversal skills for life beyond the classroom. These skills include communication, collaboration, interpersonal relationship building, problem-solving, and planning, and organizational skills; or lifeworld literacies encountered first hand. This is particularly true for young people aged between 15-18. This demographic represents both the future of society and those best positioned to take advantage of well-designed, structured educational supports within and across formal and non-formal settings. Secondary school history has been identified as an appropriate area of study which deftly develops many of those transversal skills so crucial to positive societal engagement. However, in the formal context, students often challenge history’s relevance to their own lived experience and dismiss it as a study option. In response to such challenges, teachers will often design stimulating lessons which are often well-received. That said, some students continue to question modern-day connections, presenting a persistent and pervasive classroom distraction. The continuing decline in numbers opting to study second-level history indicates an erosion of what should be a critical opportunity to develop all-important lifeworld literacies within formal education. In contrast, students readily acknowledge relevance in non-formal settings where many participants meaningfully engage with history by way of student-focused activities. Furthermore, many do so without predesigned pedagogical aids which support transversal skills development as embodied learning outcomes. As this paper will present, there is a dearth of work pertaining to the circular subject of history and its embodied learning outcomes, including lifeworld literacies, in formal and non-formal settings. While frequently challenging to reconcile formal (often defined by strict curricula and examination processes), and non-formal engagement with history, opportunities do exist. In the Irish context, this is exemplified by a popular university outreach programme: breaking the SEAL. This programme supports second-level history students as they fulfill curriculum requirements in completing a research study report. This report is a student-led research project pulling on communication skills, collaboration with peers and teachers, interpersonal relationships, problem-solving, and planning and organizational skills. Completion of this process has been widely recognized as excellent preparation not only for higher education (third level) but work-life demands as well. Within a formal education setting, the RSR harnesses non-formal learning virtues and exposes students to limited aspects of independent learning that relate to a professional work setting –a lifeworld literacy. Breaking the SEAL provides opportunities for students to enhance their lifeworld literacy by engaging in an independent research and learning process within the protective security of the classroom and its teacher. This paper will highlight the critical role this programme plays in preparing participating students (n=315) for life after compulsory education and presents examples of how lifeworld literacies may be developed through a scaffolded process of historical research and reporting anchored in non-formal contexts.

Keywords: history, education, literacy, transversal skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Beate Englich, Linda Schlittenbauer, Christiane Pfeifer, Isabel Kratochvil, Michael Borte, Gabriele I. Stangl, Martin von Bergen, Thorsten Reemtsma, Irina Lehmann, Kristin M. Junge

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The worldwide production of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) has risen dramatically over the last decades, as so has the prevalence for obesity. Many EDCs are believed to contribute to this obesity epidemic, by enhancing adipogenesis or disrupting relevant metabolism. This effect is most tremendous in the early prenatal period when priming effects find a highly vulnerable time window. Therefore, we investigate the impact of parabens on childhood overweight development and adipogenesis in general. Parabens are ester of 4-hydroxy-benzoic acid and part of many cosmetic products or food packing. Therefore, ubiquitous exposure can be found in the westernized world, with exposure already starting during the sensitive prenatal period. We assessed maternal cosmetic product consumption, prenatal paraben exposure and infant BMI z-scores in the prospective German LINA cohort. In detail, maternal urinary concentrations (34 weeks of gestation) of methyl paraben (MeP), ethyl paraben (EtP), n-propyl paraben (PrP) and n-butyl paraben (BuP) were quantified using UPLC-MS/MS. Body weight and height of their children was assessed during annual clinical visits. Further, we investigated the direct influence of those parabens on adipogenesis in-vitro using a human mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation assay to mimic a prenatal exposure scenario. MSC were exposed to 0.1 – 50 µM paraben during the entire differentiation period. Differentiation outcome was monitored by impedance spectrometry, real-time PCR and triglyceride staining. We found that maternal cosmetic product consumption was highly correlated with urinary paraben concentrations at pregnancy. Further, prenatal paraben exposure was linked to higher BMI Z-scores in children. Our in-vitro analysis revealed that especially the long chained paraben BuP stimulates adipogenesis by increasing the expression of adipocyte specific genes (PPARγ, ADIPOQ, LPL, etc.) and triglyceride storage. Moreover, we found that adiponectin secretion is increased whereas leptin secretion is reduced under BuP exposure in-vitro. Further mechanistic analysis for receptor binding and activation of PPARγ and other key players in adipogenesis are currently in process. We conclude that maternal cosmetic product consumption is linked to prenatal paraben exposure of children and contributes to the development of infant overweight development by triggering key pathways of adipogenesis.

Keywords: adipogenesis, endocrine disruptors, paraben, prenatal exposure

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: Farah Diab, Mohamad Khalil, Francesca Storace, Francesca Baldini, Piero Portincasaa, Giulio Lupidi, Laura Vergani

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Thymbra spicata is a thyme-like plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family that shows a global distribution, especially in the eastern Mediterranean region. Leaves of T. spicata contain large amounts of phenols such as phenolic acids (rosmarinic acid), phenolic monoterpenes (carvacrol), and flavonoids. In Lebanon, T. spicata is currently used as a culinary herb in salad and infusion, as well as for traditional medicinal purposes. Carvacrol (5-isopropyl-2-methyl phenol), the most abundant polyphenol in the organic extract and essential oils, has a great array of pharmacological properties. In fact, carvacrol is largely employed as a food additive and neutraceutical agent. Our aim is to investigate the beneficial effects of T. spicata ethanolic extract (TE) and its main component, carvacrol, using in vitro models of hepatic steatosis and endothelial dysfunction. As a further point, we focused on investigating if and how the binding of carvacrol to albumin, the physiological transporter for drugs in the blood, might be altered by the presence of high levels of fatty acids (FAs), thus impairing the carvacrol bio-distribution in vivo. For that reason, hepatic FaO cells treated with exogenous FAs such as oleate and palmitate mimic hepatosteatosis; endothelial HECV cells exposed to hydrogen peroxide are a model of endothelial dysfunction. In these models, we measured lipid accumulation, free radical production, lipoperoxidation, and nitric oxide release before and after treatment with carvacrol. The carvacrol binding to albumin with/without high levels of long-chain FAs was assessed by absorption and emission spectroscopies. Our findings show that both TE and carvacrol (i) counteracted lipid accumulation in hepatocytes by decreasing the intracellular and extracellular lipid contents in steatotic FaO cells; (ii) decreased oxidative stress in endothelial cells by significantly reducing lipoperoxidation and free radical production, as well as, attenuating the nitric oxide release; (ii) high levels of circulating FAs reduced the binding of carvacrol to albumin. The beneficial effects of TE and carvacrol on both hepatic and endothelial cells point to a nutraceutical potential. However, high levels of circulating FAs, such as those occurring in metabolic disorders, might hinder the carvacrol transport, bio-distribution, and pharmacodynamics.

Keywords: carvacrol, endothelial dysfunction, fatty acids, non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, serum albumin

Procedia PDF Downloads 185