Search results for: relative rates

Authors: A. G. Cunha, M. Inácio, M. C. Freitas, C. Antunes, T. Silva, C. Andrade, V. Lopes

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Saltmarshes are essential ecosystems both from an ecological and biological point of view. Furthermore, they constitute an important social niche, providing valuable economic and protection functions. Thus, understanding their rates and patterns of sedimentation is critical for functional management and rehabilitation, especially in an SLR scenario. The Sado estuary is located 40 km south of Lisbon. It is a bar built estuary, separated from the sea by a large sand spit: the Tróia barrier. Caldeira de Tróia is located on the free edge of this barrier, and encompasses a salt marsh with ca. 21,000 m². Sediment cores were collected in the high and low marshes and in the mudflat area of the North bank of Caldeira de Tróia. From the low marsh core, fifteen samples were chosen for ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs determination at University of Geneva. The cores from the high marsh and the mudflat are still being analyzed. A sedimentation rate of 2.96 mm/year was derived from ²¹⁰Pb using the Constant Flux Constant Sedimentation model. The ¹³⁷Cs profile shows a peak in activity (1963) between 15.50 and 18.50 cm, giving a 3.1 mm/year sedimentation rate for the past 53 years. The adopted sea level rise scenario was based on a model built with the initial rate of SLR of 2.1 mm/year in 2000 and an acceleration of 0.08 mm/year². Based on the harmonic analysis of Setubal-Tróia tide gauge of 2005 data, the tide model was estimated and used to build the tidal tables to the period 2000-2016. With these tables, the average mean water levels were determined for the same time span. A digital terrain model was created from LIDAR scanning with 2m horizontal resolution (APA-DGT, 2011) and validated with altimetric data obtained with a DGPS-RTK. The response model calculates a new elevation for each pixel of the DTM for 2050 and 2100 based on the sedimentation rates specific of each environment. At this stage, theoretical values were chosen for the high marsh and the mudflat (respectively, equal and double the low marsh rate – 2.92 mm/year). These values will be rectified once sedimentation rates are determined for the other environments. For both projections, the total surface of the marsh decreases: 2% in 2050 and 61% in 2100. Additionally, the high marsh coverage diminishes significantly, indicating a regression in terms of maturity.

Keywords: ¹³⁷Cs, ²¹⁰Pb, saltmarsh, sea level rise, response model

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Authors: Ora Geiger

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Reading is a cognitive process of deciphering visual signs to produce meaning. During the reading process, written information of symbols and signs is received in the person’s eye and processed in the brain. This definition is relevant to both the reading of letters and the reading of musical notation. But while the letters of the alphabet are signs determined arbitrarily, notes are recorded systematically on a staff, with the location of each note on the staff indicating its relative pitch. In this paper, the researcher specifies the characteristics of alphabet reading in comparison to musical notation reading, and discusses the question whether a person diagnosed with dyslexia will necessarily have difficulty in reading musical notes. Dyslexia is a learning disorder that makes it difficult to acquire alphabet-reading skills due to difficulties expressed in the identification of letters, spelling, and other language deciphering skills. In order to read, one must be able to connect a symbol with a sound and to join the sounds into words. A person who has dyslexia finds it difficult to translate a graphic symbol into the sound that it represents. When teaching reading to children diagnosed with dyslexia, the multi-sensory approach, supporting the activation and involvement of most of the senses in the learning process, has been found to be particularly effective. According to this approach, when most senses participate in the reading learning process, it becomes more effective. During years of experience, the researcher, who is a music specialist, has been following the music reading learning process of elementary school age students, some of them diagnosed with Dyslexia, while studying to play soprano (descant) recorder. She argues that learning music reading while studying to play a musical instrument is a multi-sensory experience by its nature. The senses involved are: sight, hearing, touch, and the kinesthetic sense (motion), which provides the brain with information on the relative positions of the body. In this way, the learner experiences simultaneously visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic impressions. The researcher concludes that there should be no contra-indication for teaching standard music reading to children with dyslexia if an appropriate process is offered. This conclusion is based on two main characteristics of music reading: (1) musical notation system is a systematic, logical, relative set of symbols written on a staff; and (2) music reading learning connected with playing a musical instrument is by its nature a multi-sensory activity since it combines sight, hearing, touch, and movement. This paper describes music reading teaching procedures and provides unique teaching methods that have been found to be effective for students who were diagnosed with Dyslexia. It provides theoretical explanations in addition to guidelines for music education practices.

Keywords: alphabet reading, dyslexia, multisensory teaching method, music reading, recorder playing

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Authors: Mohamed A. Hammad, Dzul Azri Mohamed Noor, Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman, Ahmed A. Khamis, Abeer Kharshid, Nor Azizah Aziz

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The effect of statins dose intensity (SDI) on glycemic control in patients with existing diabetes is unclear. Also, there are many contradictory findings were reported in the literature; thus, it is limiting the possibility to draw conclusions. This project was designed to compare the effect of SDI on glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c%) control in outpatients with Type 2 diabetes in the endocrine clinic at Hospital Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, between July 2015 and August 2016. A prospective cohort study was conducted, where records of 345 patients with Type 2 diabetes (Moderate-SDI group 289 patients and high-SDI cohort 56 patients) were reviewed to identify demographics and laboratory tests. The target of glycemic control (HbA1c < 7% for patient < 65 years, and < 8% for patient ≥ 65 years) was estimated, and the results were presented as descriptive statistics. From 289 moderate-SDI cohorts with a mean age of 57.3 ± 12.4 years, only 86 (29.8%) cases were shown to have controlled glycemia, while there were 203 (70.2%) cases with uncontrolled glycemia with confidence interval (CI) of 95% (6.2–10.8). On the other hand, the high-SDI group of 56 patients with Type 2 diabetes with a mean age 57.7±12.4 years is distributed among 11 (19.6%) patients with controlled diabetes, and 45 (80.4%) of them had uncontrolled glycemia, CI: 95% (7.1–11.9). The study has demonstrated that the relative risk (RR) of uncontrolled glycemia in patients with Type 2 diabetes that used high-SDI is 1.15, and the excessive relative risk (ERR) is 15%. The absolute risk (AR) is 10.2%, and the number needed to harm (NNH) is 10. Outpatients with Type 2 diabetes who use high-SDI of statin have a higher risk of uncontrolled glycemia than outpatients who had been treated with a moderate-SDI.

Keywords: cohort study, diabetes control, dose intensity, HbA1c, Malaysia, statin, type 2 diabetes mellitus, uncontrolled glycemia

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Authors: Fatemeh Sadeghi, Peyman Sheikhzadeh

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Introduction: Block Sequential Regularized Expectation Maximization (BSREM) reconstruction algorithm was recently developed to suppress excessive noise by applying a relative difference penalty. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of various strengths of noise penalization factor in the BSREM algorithm under different acquisition duration and lesion sizes in order to determine an optimum penalty factor by considering both quantitative and qualitative image evaluation parameters in clinical uses. Materials and Methods: The NEMA IQ phantom and 15 clinical whole-body patients with prostate cancer were evaluated. Phantom and patients were injected withGallium-68 Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen(68 Ga-PSMA)and scanned on a non-time-of-flight Discovery IQ Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography(PET/CT) scanner with BGO crystals. The data were reconstructed using BSREM with a β-value of 100-500 at an interval of 100. These reconstructions were compared to OSEM as a widely used reconstruction algorithm. Following the standard NEMA measurement procedure, background variability (BV), recovery coefficient (RC), contrast recovery (CR) and residual lung error (LE) from phantom data and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-background ratio (SBR) and tumor SUV from clinical data were measured. Qualitative features of clinical images visually were ranked by one nuclear medicine expert. Results: The β-value acts as a noise suppression factor, so BSREM showed a decreasing image noise with an increasing β-value. BSREM, with a β-value of 400 at a decreased acquisition duration (2 min/ bp), made an approximately equal noise level with OSEM at an increased acquisition duration (5 min/ bp). For the β-value of 400 at 2 min/bp duration, SNR increased by 43.7%, and LE decreased by 62%, compared with OSEM at a 5 min/bp duration. In both phantom and clinical data, an increase in the β-value is translated into a decrease in SUV. The lowest level of SUV and noise were reached with the highest β-value (β=500), resulting in the highest SNR and lowest SBR due to the greater noise reduction than SUV reduction at the highest β-value. In compression of BSREM with different β-values, the relative difference in the quantitative parameters was generally larger for smaller lesions. As the β-value decreased from 500 to 100, the increase in CR was 160.2% for the smallest sphere (10mm) and 12.6% for the largest sphere (37mm), and the trend was similar for SNR (-58.4% and -20.5%, respectively). BSREM visually was ranked more than OSEM in all Qualitative features. Conclusions: The BSREM algorithm using more iteration numbers leads to more quantitative accuracy without excessive noise, which translates into higher overall image quality and lesion detectability. This improvement can be used to shorter acquisition time.

Keywords: BSREM reconstruction, PET/CT imaging, noise penalization, quantification accuracy

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Authors: Md. Rezaul Karim, Md. Ashikur Rahman, Dewan Mahmud Mim

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Scarcity of potable water as the result of rapid climate change and saltwater intrusion in groundwater has been a major problem in the coastal regions over the world. In equinoctial countries like Bangladesh, where sunlight is available for more than 10 hours a day, Solar Distillation provides a promising sustainable way for safe drinking water supply in coastal poor households with negligible major cost and difficulty of construction and maintenance. In this paper, two passive type solar stills- a Conventional Single Slope Solar still (CSS) and a Pyramid Solar Sill (PSS) is used and relationship is established between distill water output corresponding to four different factors- temperature, solar intensity, relative humidity and wind speed for Gazipur, Bangladesh. Comparison is analyzed between the two different still outputs for nine months period (January- September) and efficiency is calculated. Later a thermal mathematical model is developed and the distilled water output for Khulna, Bangladesh is computed. Again, difference between the output of the two cities- Gazipur and Khulna is demonstrated and finally an economic analysis is prepared. The distillation output has a positive correlation with temperature and solar intensity, inverse relation with relative humidity and wind speed has nugatory consequence. The maximum output of Conventional Solar Still is obtained 3.8 L/m2/day and Pyramid still is 4.3 L/m2/day for Gazipur and almost 15% more efficiency is found for Pyramid still. Productivity in Khulna is found almost 20% more than Gazipur. Based on economic analysis, taking 10 BDT, per liter, the net profit, benefit cost ratio, payback period all indicates that both stills are feasible but pyramid still is more feasible than Conventional Still. Finally, for a 3-4 member family, area of 4 m2 is suggested for Conventional Still and 3m2 for Pyramid Solar Still.

Keywords: solar distillation, household water supply, saline zones, Bangladesh

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Authors: Mi Kyeong Yu, Seon Jeong Lee, So Young Kim, Bora Choi, Young Mi Lee, Su-Jung Cho, Je Tae Woo, Myung-Sook Choi

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A high-fat diet (HFD) induces excessive fat accumulation in white adipose tissue (WAT), which increases metabolic disorders such as obesity, dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes. Many plants are known to have effects that improve metabolic disorders. Therefore, the aim of this present study is to investigate the effect of nepodin-enrich plant extract on dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia in high fat diet-induced C57BL/6J mice. Male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into two groups, and fed HFD (20% fat, w/w) or HFD supplemented with nepodin-enrich plant extract (NPE 0.005%, w/w) for 16 weeks. Body weight and food intake were measured every week. And we also analysed metabolic rates (respiratory quotient), blood glucose level, and plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, free fatty acid, apolipoprotein (apo) A-1 and apo B levels. Food intakes and body weights were not different between NPE group and HFD group, while plasma apo B, free fatty acid levels, and blood glucose concentration were significantly decreased in NPE group than in HFD group. Furthermore, plasma apo A and HDL-cholesterol levels in NPE group were remarkably increased than in HFD group. Metabolic rates (respiratory quotient) were significantly increased in NPE group than in HFD group. These results indicate that NPE can alleviate dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia. Further studies are required to identify the effects of NPE on metabolic disorders.

Keywords: dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, metabolic disorders, nepodin enrich plant extract

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Authors: Rehan Deshmukh, Sunil Bhand, Utpal Roy

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We report the label-free electrochemical detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (ATCC 43895) in potable water using a DNA probe as a sensing molecule targeting the open reading frame marker. Indium tin oxide (ITO) surface was modified with organosilane and, glutaraldehyde was applied as a linker to fabricate the DNA sensor chip. Non-Faradic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) behavior was investigated at each step of sensor fabrication using cyclic voltammetry, impedance, phase, relative permittivity, capacitance, and admittance. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed significant changes in surface topographies of DNA sensor chip fabrication. The decrease in the percentage of pinholes from 2.05 (Bare ITO) to 1.46 (after DNA hybridization) suggested the capacitive behavior of the DNA sensor chip. The results of non-Faradic EIS studies of DNA sensor chip showed a systematic declining trend of the capacitance as well as the relative permittivity upon DNA hybridization. DNA sensor chip exhibited linearity in 0.5 to 25 pg/10mL for E. coli O157:H7 (ATCC 43895). The limit of detection (LOD) at 95% confidence estimated by logistic regression was 0.1 pg DNA/10mL of E. coli O157:H7 (equivalent to 13.67 CFU/10mL) with a p-value of 0.0237. Moreover, the fabricated DNA sensor chip used for detection of E. coli O157:H7 showed no significant cross-reactivity with closely and distantly related bacteria such as Escherichia coli MTCC 3221, Escherichia coli O78:H11 MTCC 723 and Bacillus subtilis MTCC 736. Consequently, the results obtained in our study demonstrated the possible application of developed DNA sensor chips for E. coli O157:H7 ATCC 43895 in real water samples as well.

Keywords: capacitance, DNA sensor, Escherichia coli O157:H7, open reading frame marker

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Authors: Wah Wah Min

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The relative abundance and diversities of gastropods and crabs were assessed for mangrove areas of Ko Libong, Kantang district, Trang, Thailand in June 2022. Two sample sites (I and II) were studied. The site I was replanted under ecotourism, whereas site II represented the protected natural restored mangroves. This study is aimed to assess faunal diversity and how it could become re-established and resemble to natural restored mangroves. There was one sample plot at each study site with the dimension (10m x 25m) in study site I and (20m x 30m) in site II. The sample was randomly taken from each plot by using a quadrate measuring at (1 m2) in site I and (3m2) in site II; there were four quadrates in total of each site. The species richness (S), Shannon Index (H’) and Evenness Index (J’), vegetative measurements and physico-chemical parameters were calculated for each site. Seventeen gastropod species belonged to 11 families and six crab species under two families, which were collected in both study sites. Overall, in gastropod species, the highest relative abundance of Nerita planospira exhibited (53.45%, category C) with lower population density (1.61 individuals/m2), whichwas observed in study site II and for crab species, Parasesarma plicatum (83.33%, category C) with lower population density (0.33 individuals/m2). The diversity indices of gastropod species at the study site I was calculated higher indicating by (S= 12, H’= 2.27, J’ and SDI=0.91) compared to study site II (S= 7, H’= 1.22, J’ and SDI=0.63, 0.62). For the crabs, (S= 4, H’=1.33, J’ and SDI=0.96, 0.9) in study site I and (S= 2, H’=0.64, J’ and SDI=0.92, 0.67) in site II. Overall, the higher species diversity indices of study site I can be categorized “very equally” with a very good category according to evenness criteria (>0.81). This can be gained by increasing restoration sites through an ecotourism replanting program for achieving the goals of sustainable development for mangrove conservation and long-term studies are required to confirm this hypothesis.

Keywords: biodiversity, ecotourism, restoration, population

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Authors: Eko Adhi Setiawan, Duli Asih Siregar, Aiman Setiawan

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Solar energy is abundant in nature, particularly in the tropics which have peak sun hour that can reach 8 hours per day. In the fabrication process, Photovoltaic’s (PV) performance are tested in standard test conditions (STC). It specifies a module temperature of 25°C, an irradiance of 1000 W/ m² with an air mass 1.5 (AM1.5) spectrum and zero wind speed. Thus, the results of the performance testing of PV at STC conditions cannot fully represent the performance of PV in the tropics. For example Indonesia, which has a temperature of 20-40°C. In this paper, the effect of temperature on the choice of the 5 kW AC inverter topology on the PV system such as the Central Inverter, String Inverter and AC-Module specifically for the tropics will be discussed. The proper inverter topology can be determined by analysis of the effect of temperature and irradiation on the PV panel. The effect of temperature and irradiation will be represented in the characteristics of I-V and P-V curves. PV’s characteristics on high temperature would be analyzed using Solar panel modeling through MATLAB Simulink based on mathematical equations that form Solar panel’s characteristic curve. Based on PV simulation, it is known then that temperature coefficients of short circuit current (ISC), open circuit voltage (VOC), and maximum output power (PMAX) consecutively as high as 0.56%/oC, -0.31%/oC and -0.4%/oC. Those coefficients can be used to calculate PV’s electrical parameters such as ISC, VOC, and PMAX in certain earth’s surface’s certain point. Then, from the parameters, the utility of the 5 kW AC inverter system can be determined. As the result, for tropical area, string inverter topology has the highest utility rates with 98, 80 %. On the other hand, central inverter and AC-Module Topology has utility rates of 92.69 % and 87.7 % eventually.

Keywords: Photovoltaic, PV-Inverter Configuration, PV Modeling, Solar Panel Characteristics.

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Authors: Arefeh Sabzipour

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In the present work, the effect of Lepidium meyenii on viability, motility, and sperm morphology in the treatment of infertility of adult male Wistar rats was evaluated. 21 male Wistar rats were adopted, fed and brought up in the same conditions to reach the weight of 230±5 g. after that, they were randomly divided into three groups, including two experimental groups and one control group, each group consisted of 7 rates. Lepidium meyenii was extracted and pulverized. Mice in the control group were treated with distilled water, and experimental groups were gavage with alcoholic juice extracted from Lepidium meyenii once a day for 10 consecutive days. After rates were killed, the testes were isolated. Different parameters includes semen volume in mice, sperm count, sperm motility, morphology, and viability, were evaluated. The results shows that sperm motility and sperm survival indices were significantly different between groups, and sperm count and sperm morphology indices were not significantly different. Sperm motility index in intervention group 1 was equal to 77.00±2.499 and was significantly higher than the one in intervention group two (70.14±3.579, P=0.018) and control group (69.43 ±7.323, P=0.018). Sperm survival index was 91.14 ± 2.410 in intervention group 1, 79.43± 5.062 in intervention group 2, and 76.71.6.651 in the control group (P<0.001). Based on the results of the present study, Lepidium meyenii had great effect on improving sperm indices of mice, especially sperm motility index and sperm survival index. Sperm count index and sperm morphology index, although increased, were not statistically significant.

Keywords: infertility, lepidium, sperm morphology, sperm survival

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Authors: Erfan Niazi, Marianne Fenech

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Red Blood Cells (RBCs) or erythrocytes tend to form chain-like aggregates under low shear rate called rouleaux. This is a reversible process and rouleaux disaggregate in high shear rates. Therefore, RBCs aggregation occurs in the microcirculation where low shear rates are present but does not occur under normal physiological conditions in large arteries. Numerical modeling of RBCs interactions is fundamental in analytical models of a blood flow in microcirculation. Population Balance Modeling (PBM) is particularly useful for studying problems where particles agglomerate and break in a two phase flow systems to find flow characteristics. In this method, the elementary particles lose their individual identity due to continuous destructions and recreations by break-up and agglomeration. The aim of this study is to find RBCs aggregation in a dynamic situation. Simplified PBM was used previously to find the aggregation rate on a static observation of the RBCs aggregation in a drop of blood under the microscope. To find aggregation rate in a dynamic situation we propose an experimental set up testing RBCs sedimentation. In this test, RBCs interact and aggregate to form rouleaux. In this configuration, disaggregation can be neglected due to low shear stress. A high-speed camera is used to acquire video-microscopic pictures of the process. The sizes of the aggregates and velocity of sedimentation are extracted using an image processing techniques. Based on the data collection from 5 healthy human blood samples, the aggregation rate was estimated as 2.7x10³(±0.3 x10³) 1/s.

Keywords: red blood cell, rouleaux, microfluidics, image processing, population balance modeling

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Authors: Samaneh Pouyanfar, Michael Oliff

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

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

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Authors: S. K. Ashiquer Rahman

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The proper policy handling might not able to attain the target since some of recessions, e.g., pandemic-led crises, the variables shocks of the economics. At the level of this situation, the Central bank implements the monetary policy to choose increase the exogenous expenditure and level of money supply consecutively for booster level economic growth, whether the monetary policy is relatively more effective than fiscal policy in altering real output growth of a country or both stand for relatively effective in the direction of output growth of a country. The dispute with reference to the relationship between the monetary policy and fiscal policy is centered on the inflationary penalty of the shortfall financing by the fiscal authority. The latest variables socks of economics as well as the pandemic-led crises, central banks around the world predicted just about a general dilemma in relation to increase rates to face the or decrease rates to sustain the economic movement. Whether the prices hang about fundamentally unaffected, the aggregate demand has also been hold a significantly negative attitude by the outbreak COVID-19 pandemic. To empirically investigate the effects of economics shocks associated COVID-19 pandemic, the paper considers the effectiveness of the monetary policy and fiscal policy that linked to the adjustment mechanism of different economic variables. To examine the effects of economics shock associated COVID-19 pandemic towards the effectiveness of Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy in the direction of output growth of a Country, this paper uses the Simultaneous equations model under the estimation of Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Method.

Keywords: IS-LM framework, pandemic. Economics variables shocks, simultaneous equations model, output growth

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Authors: Sarah Almuhayya, Andrew Mcbain, Gavin Humphreys

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Background. The microbiome of the upper respiratory tract (URT) has received less research attention than other body sites. This study aims to investigate the microbial ecology of the human URT with a focus on the antagonism between the corynebacteria and staphylococci. Methods. Mucosal swabs were collected from the anterior nares and nasal turbinates of 20 healthy adult subjects. Genomic DNA amplification targeting the (V4) of the 16Sr RNA gene was conducted and analyzed using QIIME. Nasal swab isolates were cultured and identified using near full-length sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Isolates identified as corynebacteria or staphylococci were typed using (rep-PCR). Antagonism was determined using an agar-based inhibition assay. Results. Four major bacterial phyla (Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria) were identified from all volunteers. The typing of cultured staphylococci and corynebacteria suggested that intra-individual strain diversity was limited. Analysis of generated nasal microbiota profiles suggested an inverse correlation in terms of relative abundance between staphylococci and corynebacteria. Despite the apparent antagonism between these genera, it was limited when investigated on agar. Of 1000 pairwise interactions, observable zones of inhibition were only reported between a single strain of C.pseudodiphtheriticum and S.aureus. Imaging under EM revealed this effect to be bactericidal with clear lytic effects on staphylococcal cell morphology. Conclusion. Nasal microbiota is complex, but culturable staphylococci and corynebacteria were limited in terms of clone type. Analysis of generated nasal microbiota profiles suggested an inverse correlation in terms of relative abundance between these genera suggesting an antagonism or competition between these taxonomic groups.

Keywords: nasal, microbiota, S.aureus, microbioal interaction

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Authors: Talat Zeeshan

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Nickel doped cobalt ferrites 〖(Co〗_(1-x) Ni_x Fe_2 O_4) has been synthesized with the variation of Ni dopant (x=0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75) by ball milling route at 150 RPM for 3hrs. The impact of nickel on Co ferrites has been investigated by using various approaches of characterization such as XRD (X-Ray diffraction), SEM (Scanning electron microscopy, FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), UV-Vis spectroscopy, LCR meter and CV (Cyclic voltammetry). The cubic structure of the nanoparticles confirmed by the XRD data, the increase in Ni dopant reduces the crystallite size. FTIR spectroscopy has been employed in order to analyze various functional groups. The agglomerated morphology of the particles has been observed by SEM images.. UV-Vis analysis reveals that the optical energy bandgap progressively rises with nickel doping, from 1.50 eV to 2.02 eV. The frequency range of 20 Hz to 20 MHz has been used for dielectric evaluation, where dielectric parameters such as AC conductivity, tan loss, and dielectric constant are examined. When the frequency of the applied AC field rises the AC conductivity increases, while the dielectric constant and tan loss constantly decrease. The pseudocapacitive behavior revealed by the CV curve showed that at high scan rates, specific capacitance values (Cs) are low, whereas at low scan rates, they are high. At the low scan rate of 10 mVs-1, the maximum specific capacitance of 244.4 Fg-1 has been attained at x = 0.75. Nickel doped cobalt ferrites electrodes have incredible electrochemical characteristics that make them a promising option for pseudo capacitor applications.

Keywords: lattice parameters, crystallite size, pseudo capacitor, band gap: magnetic material, energy band gap

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Authors: Ana Sofia Saldanha

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The answer is yes. Globalization is changing the translation world day after day, year after year. The need to know more about new technologies, clients, companies, project management and social networks is becoming more and more demanding and increasingly competitive. The great majority of the recently graduated Translators do not know where to go, what to do or even who to contact to start their careers in translation. It is well known that there are innumerous webinars, books, blogs and webpages with the so-called “tips do become a professional translator” indicating for example, what to do, what not to do, rates, how your resume should look like, etc. but are these pieces of advice coming from real translators? Translators who work daily with clients, who understand their demands, requests, questions? As far as today`s trends, the answer is no. Most of these pieces of advice are just theoretical and coming from “brilliant minds” who are more interested in spreading their word and winning “likes” to become, in some way, “important people in some area. Mentoring is, indeed, a highly important tool to help and guide new translators starting their career. An effective and well oriented Mentoring is a powerful way to orient these translators on how to create their resumes, where to send resumes, how to approach clients, how to answer emails and how to negotiate rates in an efficient way. Mentoring is a crucial tool and even some kind of “psychological trigger”, when properly delivered by professional and experienced translators, to help in the so aimed career development. The advice and orientation sessions which can bem 100% done online, using Skype for example, are almost a “weapon” to destroy the barriers created by opinions, by influences or even by universities. This new orientation trend is the future path for new translators and is the future of the Translation industry and professionals and Universities who must update their way of approaching the real translation world, therefore, minds and spirits need to be opened and engaged in this new trend of developing skills.

Keywords: mentoring, orientation, professional follow-up, translation

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Authors: Rosaline Govender, Shubnam Rambharos

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Universities are, to a certain extent, the source of under-preparedness ideologically, structurally, and pedagogically, particularly since organizational cultures often alienate students by failing to enable epistemological access. This is evident in the unsustainably low graduation rates that characterize South African higher education, which indicate that under 30% graduate in minimum time, under two-thirds graduate within 6 years, and one-third have not graduated after 10 years. Although the statistics for the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in South Africa have improved significantly from 2019 to 2021, the graduation (32%), throughput (50%), and dropout rates (16%) are still a matter for concern as the graduation rates, in particular, are quite similar to the national statistics. For our students to succeed, higher education should take a multi-pronged approach to ensure student success, and student engagement is one of the ways to support our students. Student engagement depends not only on students’ teaching and learning experiences but, more importantly, on their social and academic integration, their sense of belonging, and their emotional connections in the institution. Such experiences need to challenge students academically and engage their intellect, grow their communication skills, build self-discipline, and promote confidence. The aim of this mixed methods study is to explore the multi-pronged nature of student success within the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics at DUT and focuses on the enabling and constraining factors of student success. The sources of data were the Mid-year student experience survey (N=60), the Hambisa Student Survey (N=85), and semi structured focus group interviews with first, second, and third year students of the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics Hambisa program. The Hambisa (“Moving forward”) focus area is part of the Siyaphumelela 2.0 project at DUT and seeks to understand the multiple challenges that are impacting student success which create a large “middle” cohort of students that are stuck in transition within academic programs. Using the lens of the sociocultural influences on student engagement framework, we conducted a thematic analysis of the two surveys and focus group interviews. Preliminary findings indicate that living conditions, choice of program, access to resources, motivation, institutional support, infrastructure, and pedagogical practices impact student engagement and, thus, student success. It is envisaged that the findings from this project will assist the university in being better prepared to enable student success.

Keywords: social and academic integration, socio-cultural influences, student engagement, student success

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Authors: Ugoh Kelechi Melford, Anene O.

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Introduction: Evidence has shown that there are increasing rates of new HIV and other STI infections occurring among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) in Nigeria, with the prevalence 3 times higher than the general population as reported by the 2011 National Integrated Bio Behavioral Surveillance Survey. The poor state of health care and support services hinders our effort to control the high rates of these new infections among MSM. Methods: The Initiative for Improved Male Health (IMH-Initiative) works to provide a safe space for young MSM living with HIV to access comprehensive palliative care and support, as well as referrals for other services through drama and dance competitions. An STI assessment was conducted in IMH-Initiative’s Community Center in Calabar, for gay men and other MSM. An STI history was conducted for all clients who visited the community clinic specifically for HCT and STI counseling and referrals within a 5 month period, and their data were collated. Results: 61 MSM were diagnosed, and reported the following in the last 6 months. 49 where living with HIV. 46 had previous histories of untreated anal warts. 20 had previous histories of treated Gonorrhea by self-medication and herbs. 21 had untreated boils and rashes around the genitals. 10 clients where living with HIV, and reported untreated penile and rectal gonorrhea. All clients indicated that there were not comfortable discussing STI infections with staff of public hospitals. Conclusion: It is evident that a reasonable number of STI infections among MSM are not completely treated or ignored. This thereby increases the individual’s risk of HIV infection, and cripples HIV prevention programming in Nigeria. HIV programs targeting MSM must incorporate STI syndromic management, so as to increase access to non-stigmatized diagnosis and treatment of STIs. Also, access to STI drugs for clients cannot be overemphasized.

Keywords: MSM, IBBSS, STI, IMH

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Authors: Saba Goudarzi Dehrizifar, Aysan Afradi

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The utilization of ozone treatment as a potential technique for storage pest control has gained significant attention. This approach presents an alternative to traditional chemical methods. In the current study, the mortality rates of Plodia interpunctella as a primary pest found in stored products particularly nuts, were examined after being exposed to different O3 concentration (minimum, half, and maximum) in three replicates and within 24 hours. As the concentration of O3 increased, the mortality rates of P. interpunctella also experienced a dramatic growth. A 20-member panel (men and women in different ages), formed from the society community, was selected for sensory evaluation. The pumpkin seeds samples were coded and presented randomly in identical containers. The panelists were asked to evaluate their degree of liking or disliking on a seven-point hedonic scale using descriptive categories, ranging 1-7 (1: extremely dislike, 2: very dislike, 3: dislike, 4: no difference, 5: like, 6: very like, and 7: extremely like). The results obtained from experiments on the qualitative characteristics of the studied dates through the sensory test revealed that O3 concentration did not affect their color, crispness, firmness, and overall acceptance and the half concentration of ozone on pumpkin seed had the highest consumption interest. Moreover, minimal alterations were observed in the aroma of the pumpkin seeds, which could be resolved with a short period of air exposure. Therefore, it could be concluded that the atmospheric O3 gas provided a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way for controlling the insect pests in pumpkin seeds, besides preserving their sensory and quality properties.

Keywords: zone, control, pumpkin seeds, qualitative characteristics

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Authors: Arefeh Sabzipour

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In the present work, the effect of Lepidium meyenii on viability, motility, and sperm morphology in the treatment of infertility of adult male Wistar rats was evaluated. 21 male Wistar rats were adopted, fed and brought up in the same conditions to reach the weight of 230±5 g. after that, they were randomly divided into three groups, including two experimental groups and one control group, each group consisted of 7 rates. Lepidium meyenii was extracted and pulverized. Mice in the control group were treated with distilled water, and experimental groups were gavage with alcoholic juice extracted from Lepidium meyenii once a day for 10 consecutive days. After rates were killed, the testes were isolated. Different parameters includes semen volume in mice, sperm count, sperm motility, morphology, and viability, were evaluated. The results shows that sperm motility and sperm survival indices were significantly different between groups, and sperm count and sperm morphology indices were not significantly different. Sperm motility index in intervention group 1 was equal to 77.00±2.499 and was significantly higher than the one in intervention group two (70.14±3.579, P=0.018) and control group (69.43 ±7.323, P=0.018). Sperm survival index was 91.14 ± 2.410 in intervention group 1, 79.43± 5.062 in intervention group 2, and 76.71.6.651 in the control group (P<0.001). Based on the results of the present study, Lepidium meyenii had great effect on improving sperm indices of mice, especially sperm motility index and sperm survival index. Sperm count index and sperm morphology index, although increased, were not statistically significant.

Keywords: infertility, lepidium meyenii, sperm morphology, sperm survival

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Authors: Arefeh Sabzipour

Abstract:

In the present work, the effect of Lepidium meyenii on viability, motility, and sperm morphology in the treatment of infertility of adult male Wistar rats was evaluated. 21 male Wistar rats were adopted, fed and brought up in the same conditions to reach the weight of 230±5 g. after that they were randomly divided into three groups including two experimental groups and one control group, each group consisted of 7 rates. Lepidium meyenii was extracted and pulverized. Mice in the control group were treated with distilled water and experimental groups were gavage with alcoholic juice extracted from Lepidium meyenii once a day for 10 consecutive days. After rates were killed, the testes were isolated. Different parameters includes semen volume in mice, sperm count, sperm motility, morphology, and viability were evaluated. The results shows that sperm motility and sperm survival indices were significantly different between groups and sperm count and sperm morphology indices were not significantly different. Sperm motility index in intervention group 1 was equal to 77.00±2.499 and was significantly higher than the one in intervention group two (70.14±3.579, P=0.018) and control group (69.43 ±7.323, P=0.018). Sperm survival index was 91.14 ± 2.410 in intervention group 1, 79.43± 5.062 in intervention group 2, and 76.71.6.651 in control group (P<0.001). Based on the results of the present study, Lepidium meyenii had great effect on improving sperm indices of mice, especially sperm motility index and sperm survival index. Sperm count index and sperm morphology index, although increased, were not statistically significant.

Keywords: infertility, Lepidium meyenii, sperm morphology, sperm survival

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Authors: Laxmi Versain, R. S. Banshtu

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Landslides are found to be the most commonly occurring geological hazards in the mountainous regions of the Himalaya. This mountainous zone is facing large number of seismic turbulences, climatic changes, and topography changes due to increasing urbanization. That eventually has lead several researchers working for best suitable methodologies to infer the ultimate results. Landslide Hazard Zonation has widely come as suitable method to know the appropriate factors that trigger the lansdslide phenomenon on higher reaches. Most vulnerable zones or zones of weaknesses are indentified and safe mitigation measures are to be suggested to mitigate and channelize the study of an effected area. Use of Landslide Hazard Zonation methodology in relative zones of weaknesses depend upon the data available for the particular site. The causative factors are identified and data is made available to infer the results. Factors like seismicity in mountainous region have closely associated to make the zones of thrust and faults or lineaments more vulnerable. Data related to soil, terrain, rainfall, geology, slope, nature of terrain, are found to be varied for various landforms and areas. Thus, the relative causes are to be identified and classified by giving specific weightage to each parameter. Factors which cause the instability of slopes are several and can be grouped to infer the potential modes of failure. The triggering factors of the landslides on the mountains are not uniform. The urbanization has crawled like ladder and emergence of concrete jungles are in a very fast pace on hilly region of Himalayas. The local terrains has largely been modified and hence instability of several zones are triggering at very fast pace. More strategic and pronounced methods are required to reduce the effect of landslide.

Keywords: zonation, LHZ, susceptible, weightages, methodology

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Authors: Michael McCann

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Managerial theories propose that, in joint stock companies, executives may be tempted to waste excess free cash on unprofitable projects to keep control of resources. In order to conceal their projects' poor performance, they may seek to engage in earnings management. On the one hand, managers may manipulate earnings upwards in order to post ‘good’ performances and safeguard their position. On the other, since managers pursuit of unrewarding investments are likely to lead to low long-term profitability, managers will use negative accruals to reduce current year’s earnings, smoothing earnings over time in order to conceal the negative effects. Agency models argue that boards of directors are delegated by shareholders to ensure that companies are governed properly. Part of that responsibility is ensuring the reliability of financial information. Analyses of the impact of board characteristics, particularly board independence on the misuse of free cash flow and earnings management finds conflicting evidence. However, existing characterizations of board independence do not account for such directors gaining firm-specific knowledge over time, influencing their monitoring ability. Further, there is little analysis of the influence of the relative experience of independent directors and executives on decisions surrounding the use of free cash. This paper contributes to this literature regarding the heterogeneous characteristics of boards by investigating the influence of independent director tenure on earnings management and the relative tenures of independent directors and Chief Executives. A balanced panel dataset comprising 51 companies across 11 annual periods from 2005 to 2015 is used for the analysis. In each annual period, firms were classified as conducting earnings management if they had discretionary accruals in the bottom quartile (downwards) and top quartile (upwards) of the distributed values for the sample. Logistical regressions were conducted to determine the marginal impact of independent board tenure and a number of control variables on the probability of conducting earnings management. The findings indicate that both absolute and relative measures of board independence and experience do not have a significant impact on the likelihood of earnings management. It is the level of free cash flow which is the major influence on the probability of earnings management. Higher free cash flow increases the probability of earnings management significantly. The research also investigates whether board monitoring of earnings management is contingent on the level of free cash flow. However, the results suggest that board monitoring is not amplified when free cash flow is higher. This suggests that the extent of earnings management in companies is determined by a range of company, industry and situation-specific factors.

Keywords: corporate governance, boards of directors, agency theory, earnings management

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Authors: Shu-Han Hsu, Jiho Yoon, Chwen Sheu

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With the rapidly growing of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, various industries which include tourism has added in cryptocurrency as the payment method of their transaction. More and more tourism companies accept payments in digital currency for flights, hotel reservations, transportation, and more. For travellers and tourists, using cryptocurrency as a payment method has become a way to circumvent costs and prevent risks. Understanding volatility dynamics and interdependencies between standard currency and cryptocurrency is important for appropriate financial risk management to assist policy-makers and investors in marking more informed decisions. The purpose of this paper has been to understand and explain the risk spillover effects between six major cryptocurrencies and the top ten most traded standard currencies. Using data for the daily closing price of cryptocurrencies and currency exchange rates from 7 August 2015 to 10 December 2019, with 1,133 observations. The diagonal BEKK model was used to analyze the co-volatility spillover effects between cryptocurrency returns and exchange rate returns, which are measures of how the shocks to returns in different assets affect each other’s subsequent volatility. The empirical results show there are co-volatility spillover effects between the cryptocurrency returns and GBP/USD, CNY/USD and MXN/USD exchange rate returns. Therefore, currencies (British Pound, Chinese Yuan and Mexican Peso) and cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tether, Litecoin and Stellar) are suitable for constructing a financial portfolio from an optimal risk management perspective and also for dynamic hedging purposes.

Keywords: blockchain, co-volatility effects, cryptocurrencies, diagonal BEKK model, exchange rates, risk spillovers

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Authors: Mohsen Ramezan Shirazi, Orod Zarrin, Komeil Valipourian

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This study investigated the behavior of improved soft soils through the vibro replacement technique by considering their settlements and consolidation rates and the applicability of this technique in various types of soils and settlement and bearing capacity calculations.

Keywords: bearing capacity, expansive clay, stone columns, vibro techniques

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Authors: Oliver Commichau, Richard Krimm, Bernd-Arno Behrens

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A growing demand on the production rate of modern presses leads to higher stroke rates. Commonly used material feeding devices for presses like grippers and roll-feeding systems can only achieve high stroke rates along with high gripper forces, to avoid stick-slip. These forces are limited by the sensibility of the surfaces of the workpieces. Stick-slip leads to scratches on the surface and false positioning of the workpiece. In this paper, a new contactless feeding device is presented, which develops higher feeding force without damaging the surface of the workpiece through gripping forces. It is based on the principle of the linear induction motor. A primary part creates a magnetic field and induces eddy currents in the electrically conductive material. A Lorentz-Force applies to the workpiece in feeding direction as a mutual reaction between the eddy-currents and the magnetic induction. In this study, the FEA model of this approach is shown. The calculation of this model was used to identify the influence of various design parameters on the performance of the feeder and thus showing the promising capabilities and limits of this technology. In order to validate the study, a prototype of the feeding device has been built. An experimental setup was used to measure pulling forces and placement accuracy of the experimental feeder in order to give an outlook of a potential industrial application of this approach.

Keywords: conductive material, contactless feeding, linear induction, Lorentz-Force

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Authors: Teagan Fink, Lynn Chong, Michael Hii, Brett Knowles

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Background: Telemedicine is a rapidly advancing field providing healthcare to patients at a distance from their treating clinician. There is a paucity of high-quality evidence detailing the safety and acceptability of telemedicine for postoperative outpatient follow-up. This randomized controlled trial – conducted prior to the COVID 19 pandemic – aimed to assess patient satisfaction and safety (as determined by readmission, reoperation and complication rates) of telephone compared to face-to-face clinic follow-up after uncomplicated general surgical procedures. Methods: Patients following uncomplicated laparoscopic appendicectomy or cholecystectomy and laparoscopic or open umbilical or inguinal hernia repairs were randomized to a telephone or face-to-face outpatient clinic follow-up. Data points including patient demographics, perioperative details and postoperative outcomes (eg. wound healing complications, pain scores, unplanned readmission to hospital and return to daily activities) were compared between groups. Patients also completed a Likert patient satisfaction survey following their consultation. Results: 103 patients were recruited over a 12-month period (21 laparoscopic appendicectomies, 65 laparoscopic cholecystectomies, nine open umbilical hernia repairs, six laparoscopic inguinal hernia repairs and two laparoscopic umbilical hernia repairs). Baseline patient demographics and operative interventions were the same in both groups. Patient or clinician-reported concerns on postoperative pain, use of analgesia, wound healing complications and return to daily activities at clinic follow-up were not significantly different between the two groups. Of the 58 patients randomized to the telemedicine arm, 40% reported high and 60% reported very high patient satisfaction. Telemedicine clinic mean consultation times were significantly shorter than face-to-face consultation times (telemedicine 10.3 +/- 7.2 minutes, face-to-face 19.2 +/- 23.8 minutes, p-value = 0.014). Rates of failing to attend clinic were not significantly different (telemedicine 3%, control 6%). There was no increased rate of postoperative complications in patients followed up by telemedicine compared to in-person. There were no unplanned readmissions, return to theatre, or mortalities in this study. Conclusion: Telemedicine follow-up of patients undergoing uncomplicated general surgery is safe and does not result in any missed diagnosis or higher rates of complications. Telemedicine provides high patient satisfaction and steps to implement this modality in inpatient care should be undertaken.

Keywords: general surgery, telemedicine, patient satisfaction, patient safety

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Authors: Pascal Roubides

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The presentation proposed herein describes a research case study of a hybrid application of the competency-based education model best exemplified by Western Governor’s University, within the general temporal confines of an accelerated (8-week) term of a College Algebra course at the author’s institution. A competency-based model was applied to an accelerated online College Algebra course, built as an Open Educational Resources (OER) course, seeking quantifiable evidence of any differences in the academic achievement of students enrolled in the competency-based course and the academic achievement of the current delivery of the same course. Competency-based learning has been gaining in support in recent times and the author’s institution has also been involved in its own efforts to design and develop courses based on this approach. However, it is unknown whether there had been any research conducted to quantify evidence of the effect of this approach against traditional approaches prior to the author’s case study. The research question sought to answer in this experimental quantitative study was whether the online College Algebra curriculum at the author’s institution delivered via an OER-based competency-based model can produce statistically significant improvement in retention and success rates against the current delivery of the same course. Results obtained in this study showed that there is no statistical difference in the retention rate of the two groups. However, there was a statistically significant difference found between the rates of successful completion of students in the experimental group versus those in the control group.

Keywords: competency-based learning, online mathematics, online math education, online courses

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Authors: Ponghyung Lee

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This study seeks to investigate the variations occurring to Korean consonantal variations center around laryngeal features of the concerned sounds, to the exclusion of others. Our fundamental premise is that the weak contrast associated with concerned segments might be held accountable for the oscillation of the status quo of the concerned consonants. What is more, we assume that an array of notions as a measure of communicative efficiency of linguistic units would be significantly influential on triggering those variations. To this end, we have tried to compute the surprisal, entropic contribution, and relative contrastiveness associated with Korean obstruent consonants. What we found therein is that the Information-theoretic perspective is compelling enough to lend support our approach to a considerable extent. That is, the variant realizations, chronologically and stylistically, prove to be profoundly affected by a set of Information-theoretic factors enumerated above. When it comes to the biblical proper names, we use Georgetown University CQP Web-Bible corpora. From the 8 texts (4 from Old Testament and 4 from New Testament) among the total 64 texts, we extracted 199 samples. We address the issue of laryngeal feature variations associated with Korean obstruent consonants under the presumption that the variations stem from the weak contrast among the triad manifestations of laryngeal features. The variants emerge from diverse sources in chronological and stylistic senses: Christianity biblical texts, ordinary casual speech, the shift of loanword adaptation over time, and ideophones. For the purpose of discussing what they are really like from the perspective of Information Theory, it is necessary to closely look at the data. Among them, the massive changes occurring to loanword adaptation of proper nouns during the centennial history of Korean Christianity draw our special attention. We searched 199 types of initially capitalized words among 45,528-word tokens, which account for around 5% of total 901,701-word tokens (12,786-word types) from Georgetown University CQP Web-Bible corpora. We focus on the shift of the laryngeal features incorporated into word-initial consonants, which are available through the two distinct versions of Korean Bible: one came out in the 1960s for the Protestants, and the other was published in the 1990s for the Catholic Church. Of these proper names, we have closely traced the adaptation of plain obstruents, e. g. /b, d, g, s, ʤ/ in the sources. The results show that as much as 41% of the extracted proper names show variations; 37% in terms of aspiration, and 4% in terms of tensing. This study set out in an effort to shed light on the question: to what extent can we attribute the variations occurring to the laryngeal features associated with Korean obstruent consonants to the communicative aspects of linguistic activities? In this vein, the concerted effects of the triad, of surprisal, entropic contribution, and relative contrastiveness can be credited with the ups and downs in the feature specification, despite being contentiousness on the role of surprisal to some extent.

Keywords: entropic contribution, laryngeal feature variation, relative contrastiveness, surprisal

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Authors: Saeed Pourhassan, Nastaran Maghbouli

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Statement of the problem: The relationship between obesity and cardiovascular diseases has been studied widely(1). The distribution of fat tissue gained attention in relation to cardiovascular risk factors during lang-time research (2). American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) is widely and the most reliable tool to be used as a cardiovascular risk (CVR) assessment tool(3). This study aimed to determine which anthropometric index is better in discrimination of high CVR patients from low risks using ACC/AHA score in addition to finding the best index as a CVR predictor among both genders in different races and countries. Methodology & theoretical orientation: The literature in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched by two independent investigators using the keywords "anthropometric indices," "cardiovascular risk," and "obesity." The search strategy was limited to studies published prior to Jan 2022 as full-texts in the English language. Studies using ACC/AHA risk assessment tool as CVR and those consisted at least 2 anthropometric indices (ancient ones and novel ones) are included. Study characteristics and data were extracted. The relative risks were pooled with the use of the random-effect model. Analysis was repeated in subgroups. Findings: Pooled relative risk for 7 studies with 16,348 participants were 1.56 (1.35-1.72) for BMI, 1.67(1.36-1.83) for WC [waist circumference], 1.72 (1.54-1.89) for WHR [waist-to-hip ratio], 1.60 (1.44-1.78) for WHtR [waist-to-height ratio], 1.61 (1.37-1.82) for ABSI [A body shape index] and 1.63 (1.32-1.89) for CI [Conicity index]. Considering gender, WC among females and WHR among men gained the highest RR. The heterogeneity of studies was moderate (α²: 56%), which was not decreased by subgroup analysis. Some indices such as VAI and LAP were evaluated just in one study. Conclusion & significance: This meta-analysis showed WHR could predict CVR better in comparison to BMI or WHtR. Some new indices like CI and ABSI are less accurate than WHR and WC. Among women, WC seems to be a better choice to predict cardiovascular disease risk.

Keywords: obesity, cardiovascular disease, risk assessment, anthropometric indices

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