Search results for: severe obstetric hemorrhage

Authors: Uluhan Berk Ondul

Abstract:

This article aims to shed light on the new stage of transitional justice in Argentina through examining the representations of the 2x1 decision of the Supreme Court and Santiago Maldonado’s Disappearance in the newspaper, La Nación. The two events hold the key to understanding Argentina’s journey since return to democracy as they are about the same crimes of the dictatorship, namely, the forced disappearance of civilians and the subsequent impunity that follows. In the case of a convicted torturer, The Supreme Court of Argentina ruled on 3rd of May 2017 that the days spent in preventive detention after two years should be counted double for the overall sentence. This court decision was met with severe resistance from the members of the parliament as well as the human rights movement. The second item on the list still continues and divides the country into two camps: (1) those who think that the police force has committed another act of forced disappearance in the case of activist Santiago Maldonado and (2) the others who blame the peronistas (the party and supporters of the ex-president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner) of using this subject as a means to score political points. As a newspaper known for its proximity to the current administration, La Nación offers an insight to the direction of the country and also demonstrates how the neoliberal mindset works. The results of the study show that the transitional justice process in Argentina is far from being complete as the Promise of Nunca Más is still not a shared value but a political statement.

Keywords: Argentina, Fallo 2x1, impunity, Santiago Maldonado, transitional justice

Procedia PDF Downloads 215

Authors: S. El Hasini, M. El Azzouzi, M. De Nobili, K. Azim, A. Zouahri

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Soil salinization is one of the most severe environmental hazards which threaten sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions, including Morocco. In this regard the application of organic matter to saline soil has confirmed its effectiveness. The present study was aimed to examine the effect of humic acid which represent, among others, the important component of organic matter that contributes to reduce soil salinity. In fact, different composts taken from Agadir (Morocco), with different C/N ratio, were tested. After extraction and purification of humic acid, the interaction with Na2CO3 was carried out. The reduction of salinity is calculated as a value expressed in mg Na2CO3 equivalent/g HA. The results showed that humic acid had generally a significant effect on salinity. In that respect, the hypothesis proposed that carboxylic groups of humic acid create bonds with excess sodium in the soil to form a coherent complex which descends by leaching operation. The comparison between composts was based on C/N ratio, it showed that the compost with the lower ratio C/N had the most important effect on salinity reduction, whereas the compost with higher C/N ratio was less effective. The study is attended also to evaluate the quality of each compost by determining the humification index, we noticed that the compost which have the lowest C/N (20) ratio was relatively less stable, where a greater predominance of the humified substances, when the compost with C/N ratio is 35 exhibited higher stability.

Keywords: compost, humic acid, organic matter, salinity

Procedia PDF Downloads 221

Authors: Mark Osborn

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Clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR/Cas) proteins can be designed to bind specified DNA and RNA sequences and hold great promise for the accurate detection of nucleic acids for diagnostics. Commercially available reagents were integrated into a CRISPR/Cas9-based lateral flow assay that can detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequences with single-base specificity. This approach requires minimal equipment and represents a simplified platform for field-based deployment. A rapid, multiplex fluorescence CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease cleavage assay capable of detecting and differentiating SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B, and respiratory syncytial virus in a single reaction was also developed. These findings provide proof of principle for CRISPR/Cas9 point-of-care diagnosis that can detect specific SARS-CoV-2 strain(s). Further, Cas9 cleavage allows for a scalable fluorescent platform for identifying respiratory viral pathogens with overlapping symptomology. Collectively, this approach is a facile platform for diagnostics with broad application to user-defined sequence interrogation and detection.

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9, lateral flow assay, SARS-Co-V2, single-nucleotide resolution

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Kaycee Bills

Abstract:

Studies have demonstrated that middle and high school students with disabilities are more likely to experience bullying than other student groups. The high rates of bullying victimization observed among youth with disabilities can result in severe socio-emotional consequences. These socio-emotional consequences often manifest in detrimental impacts on the students’ personal relationships. Past studies have indicated that participating in extracurricular athletic activities can have several socio-emotional benefits for students with disabilities. Given the findings of past studies demonstrating the positive relationship between mental health and participation in sports among students with disabilities, it is possible that participating in athletics could have a moderating relationship on the severity of the impact that bullying has on a student’s relationships with family and friends. Using the National Crime Victimization Survey/School Crime Supplement (NCVS/SCS), this study employs an ordinal logistic regression to determine if participation in extracurricular athletic activities mitigates the damaging impact bullying has on the personal relationships with friends and family among students who have disabilities. This study identified statistically significant results suggesting that students with disabilities who participate in athletics reported reduced levels of negative personal relationships resulting from bullying compared to their peers who did not participate in athletics.

Keywords: disability, inclusion, bullying, relationships

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: E. Batista, R. Mendes, A. Furtado, M. C. Ferreira, I. Godinho, J. A. Sousa, M. Alvares, R. Martins

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Syringe pumps are commonly used for drug delivery in hospitals and clinical environments. These instruments are critical in neonatology and oncology, where any variation in the flow rate and drug dosing quantity can lead to severe incidents and even death of the patient. Therefore it is very important to determine the accuracy and precision of these devices using the suitable calibration methods. The Volume Laboratory of the Portuguese Institute for Quality (LVC/IPQ) uses two different methods to calibrate syringe pumps from 16 nL/min up to 20 mL/min. The Interferometric method uses an interferometer to monitor the distance travelled by a pusher block of the syringe pump in order to determine the flow rate. Therefore, knowing the internal diameter of the syringe with very high precision, the travelled distance, and the time needed for that travelled distance, it was possible to calculate the flow rate of the fluid inside the syringe and its uncertainty. As an alternative to the gravimetric and the interferometric method, a methodology based on the application of optical technology was also developed to measure flow rates. Mainly this method relies on measuring the increase of volume of a drop over time. The objective of this work is to compare the results of the calibration of two syringe pumps using the different methodologies described above. The obtained results were consistent for the three methods used. The uncertainties values were very similar for all the three methods, being higher for the optical drop method due to setup limitations.

Keywords: calibration, flow, interferometry, syringe pump, uncertainty

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Daniel O. Wasonga, Jouko Kleemola, Laura Alakukku, Pirjo Makela

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Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a major food crop for millions of people in the tropics. Growth and yield of cassava in the arid-tropics are seriously constrained by intermittent water deficit and low soil K content. Therefore, experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of interaction between water deficit and K fertigation on growth and yield response of biofortified cassava at early growth phase. Yellow cassava cultivar was grown under controlled glasshouse conditions in 5-L pots containing 1.7 kg of pre-fertilized potting mix. Plants were watered daily for 30 days after planting. Treatments were three watering levels (30%, severe water deficit; 60%, mild water deficit; 100%, well-watered), on which K (0.01, 1, 4, 16 and 32 mM) was split. Plants were harvested at 90 days after planting. Leaf area was smallest in plants grown with 30% watering and 0.01 mM K, and largest in plants grown with 100% watering and 32 mM K. Leaf, root, and total dry mass decreased in water-stressed plants. However, dry mass was markedly higher when plants were grown with 16 mM K under all watering levels in comparison to other K concentrations. The highest leaf, root and total dry mass were in plants with 100% watering and 16 mM K. In conclusion, K improved the growth of plants under water deficit and thus, K application on soils with low moisture and low K may improve the productivity of cassava.

Keywords: dry mass, interaction, leaf area, Manihot esculenta

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: Kyonghoon Kim, Wonyoung Park, Taeil Park

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In 1994, Korea experienced a national tragedy of Seongsu Bridge collapse. The accident was severe enough to alert governmental officers to the problem of existing management policy for national infrastructures. As a result, government legislated the ‘Guidelines for the safety inspection and test of infrastructure’ which have been utilized as the primary tool to make decision for the maintenance and rehabilitation of infrastructure for last twenty years. Although it is clear that the guideline established a basics how to evaluate and manage the condition of infrastructures in systematic manner, it is equally clear that the guideline needs improvements in order to obtain reasonable investment decisions for budget allocation. Because its inspection and evaluation procedures mainly focused on the structural condition of infrastructures, it was hard to make decision when the infrastructures were in same level of structural condition. In addition, it did not properly reflect various aspects of infrastructures such as performance, public demand, capacity, etc., which were more valuable to public. Regardless of the importance, these factors were commonly neglected in governmental decision-making process, because there factors were somewhat subjective and difficult to quantify in rational manner. Thus, this study proposes a framework to properly evaluate the serviceability indicators using AHP and Fuzzy approach. The framework is expected to assist governmental agency in establishing effective investment strategies for budget planning.

Keywords: infrastructure, evaluation, serviceability, fuzzy

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Ogbonna Olelewe

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This quality improvement project seeks to address the background and significance of promoting antidepressant (AD) medication adherence to reduce depression symptoms in patients diagnosed with major depression. This project aims to substantiate using daily encrypted short message service (SMS) text reminders to take prescribed antidepressant medications with the goal of increasing medication adherence to reduce depression scores in patients diagnosed with major depression, thereby preventing relapses and increasing remission rates. Depression symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale. The PHQ-9 provides a total score of depression symptoms from mild to severe, ranging from 0 to 27. A -pretest/post-test design was used, with a convenience sample size of 35 adult patients aged 18 years old to 45 years old, diagnosed with MDD, and prescribed at least one antidepressant for one year or more. Pre- and post-test PHQ-9 scores were conducted to compare depression scores before and after the four-week intervention period. The results indicated improved post-intervention PHQ-9 scores, improved AD medication adherence, and a significant reduction in depression symptoms.

Keywords: major depressive disorder, antidepressants, short message services, text reminders, Medication adherence/non-adherence, Patient Health Questionnaire 9

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Alexandra Monteiro, K. Bousson, Fernando J. O. Moreira, Ricardo Reis

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Fixed-wing flying vehicles are usually controlled by means of control surfaces such as elevators, ailerons, and rudders. The failure of these systems may lead to severe or even fatal crashes. These failures resulted in increased popularity for research activities on propulsion control in the last decades. The present work deals with a hybrid control architecture in which the propulsion-controlled vehicle maintains its traditional control surfaces, addressing the issue of robust lateral-directional dynamics control. The challenges stem from the parameter uncertainties in the stability and control derivatives and some unknown terms in the flight dynamics model. Two approaches are implemented and tested: linear quadratic regulation with robustness characteristics and H∞ control. The problem is centered on roll-yaw controller design with full state-feedback, which is able to deal with a standalone propulsion control mode as well as a hybrid mode combining both propulsion control and conventional control surface concepts while maintaining the original flight maneuverability characteristics. The results for both controllers emphasized very good control performances; however, the H∞ controller showed higher stabilization rates and robustness albeit with a slightly higher control magnitude than using the linear quadratic regulator.

Keywords: robust propulsion control, h-infinity control, lateral-directional flight dynamics, parameter uncertainties

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Yongseok Kim, Jeong-Min Lee, Hyunwoo Song, Junghan Yun, Jungin Byun, Jae-Mean Koo, Chang-Sung Seok

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Thermal barrier coating(TBC) is applied for gas turbine components to protect the components from extremely high temperature condition. Since metallic substrate cannot endure such severe condition of gas turbines, delamination of TBC can cause failure of the system. Thus, delamination life of TBC is one of the most important issues for designing the components operating at high temperature condition. Thermal stress caused by thermally grown oxide(TGO) layer is known as one of the major failure mechanisms of TBC. Thermal stress by TGO mainly occurs at the interface between TGO layer and ceramic top coat layer, and it is strongly influenced by the thickness and shape of TGO layer. In this study, Isothermal oxidation is conducted on coin-type TBC specimens prepared by APS(air plasma spray) method. After the isothermal oxidation at various temperature and time condition, the thickness and shape(rumpling shape) of the TGO is investigated, and the test data is processed by numerical analysis. Finally, the test data is arranged into a mathematical prediction model with two variables(temperature and exposure time) which can predict the thickness and rumpling shape of TGO.

Keywords: thermal barrier coating, thermally grown oxide, thermal stress, isothermal oxidation, numerical analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Talha Ahmed, Ishtiaq Hassan

Abstract:

Urban areas or metropolitan is portrayed by the very high density of population due to the result of these economic activities. Some critical elements, such as urban expansion and climate change, are driving changes in cities with exposure to the incidence and impacts of pluvial floods. Urban communities are recurrently developed by huge spaces by which water cannot enter impermeable surfaces, such as man-made permanent surfaces and structures, which do not cause the phenomena of infiltration and percolation. Urban sprawl can result in increased run-off volumes, flood stage and flood extents during heavy rainy seasons. The flood risks require a thorough examination of all aspects affecting to severe an event in order to accurately estimate their impacts and other risk factors associated with them. For risk evaluation and its impact due to urbanization, an integrated hydrological modeling approach is used on the study area in Islamabad (Pakistan), focusing on a natural water body that has been adopted in this research. The vulnerability of the physical elements at risk in the research region is analyzed using GIS and SOBEK. The supervised classification of land use containing the images from 1980 to 2020 is used. The modeling of DEM with selected return period is used for modeling a hydrodynamic model for flood event inundation. The selected return periods are 50,75 and 100 years which are used in flood modeling. The findings of this study provided useful information on high-risk places and at-risk properties.

Keywords: urbanization, flood, flood risk, GIS

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Yen-Ni Teng, Hsing-Yi Chen, Hsien-An Pan, Yung-Ming Lin, Hany A. Omar, Jui-Hsiang Hung

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Leucine-rich repeats and WD repeat domain containing 1 (LRWD1) is highly expressed in the testes of healthy males. On the other hand, LRWD1 is significantly down-regulated in the testicular tissues of patients with severe spermatogenic defects. In our study, the downregulation of LRWD1 expression by shRNA caused a significant reduction of cell growth and mitosis and a noteworthy increase in the cell microtubule atrophy rate. Here, we used EMBOSS CpG plot analysis to explore the promoter region of LRWD1 gene. We found that CpG islands are located between positions -253 to +5 nucleotides upstream from the LRWD1 transcription start site. Luciferase reporter assay revealed that the hypermethylation of the LRWD1 promoter reduced the transcription activity in cells. In addition, quantitative methylation-specific PCR and immunostaining showed that the methylation inhibitor, 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine, increased LRWD1 promoter activity, LRWD1 mRNA, protein expression and cell viability. Whereas, the methylation activator, S-adenosylmethionine, caused opposite effects. The overexpression of p53 and Nrf2 in NT2/D1 cells increased LRWD1 promoter activity while 5-fluorodeoxyuridine decreased it. In conclusion, this study highlights evidence that the methylation status of LRWD1 promoter is associated with LRWD1 expression. Since the expression level of LRWD1 plays an important role in spermatogenesis, the methylation status of LRWD1 may serve as a novel molecular diagnostic or therapeutic approach in male's infertility.

Keywords: LRWD1, DNA methylation, p53, Nrf2

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Zengmin Tian, Bin Lv, Rui Hui, Yupeng Liu, Chuan Wang, Qing Liu, Hongyu Li, Yan Qi, Li Song

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Objective Robot was used for replacement of the frame in recent years. The paper is to investigate the safety and effectiveness of frameless stereotactic surgery in the treatment of children with cerebral palsy. Methods Clinical data of 425 children with spastic cerebral palsy were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were treated with robot-assistant frameless stereotactic surgery of nuclear mass destruction. The motor function was evaluated by gross motor function measure-88 (GMFM-88) before the operation, 1 week and 3 months after the operation respectively. The statistical analysis was performed. Results The postoperative CT showed that the destruction area covered the predetermined target in all the patients. Minimal bleeding of puncture channel occurred in 2 patient, and mild fever in 3 cases. Otherwise, there was no severe surgical complication occurred. The GMFM-88 scores were 49.1±22.5 before the operation, 52.8±24.2 and 64.2±21.4 at the time of 1 week and 3 months after the operation, respectively. There was statistical difference between before and after the operation (P<0.01). After 3 months, the total effective rate was 98.1%, and the average improvement rate of motor function was 24.3% . Conclusion Replaced the traditional frame, the robot-assistant frameless stereotactic surgery is safe and reliable for children with spastic cerebral palsy, which has positive significance in improving patients’ motor function.

Keywords: cerebral palsy, robotics, stereotactic techniques, frameless operation

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Ahmed K. Sharaby, Ahmed S. El-Gendy

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Phenolic compounds (PCs) exist in the wastewater effluents of some industries such as oil refinery, pharmaceutical and cosmetics. Phenolic compounds are extremely hazardous pollutants that can cause severe problems to the aquatic life and human beings if disposed of without treatment. One of the most efficient treatment methods of PCs is photocatalytic degradation. The current work studies the performance of composite nanomaterial of titanium dioxide with magnetite as a photo-catalyst in the degradation of PCs. The current work aims at optimizing the synthesized photocatalyst dosage and contact time as part of the operational parameters at different initial concentrations of PCs and pH values in the wastewater. The study was performed in a lab-scale batch reactor under fixed conditions of light intensity and aeration rate. The initial concentrations of PCs and the pH values were in the range of (10-200 mg/l) and (3-9), respectively. Results of the study indicate that the dosage of the catalyst and contact time for total mineralization is proportional to the initial concentrations of PCs, while the optimum pH conditions for highly efficient degradation is at pH 3. Exceeding the concentration levels of the catalyst beyond certain limits leads to the decrease in the degradation efficiency due to the dissipation of light. The performance of the catalyst for degradation was also investigated in comparison to the pure TiO2 Degussa (P-25). The dosage required for the synthesized catalyst for photocatalytic degradation was approximately 1.5 times that needed from the pure titania.

Keywords: industrial, optimization, phenolic compounds, photocatalysis, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 302

Authors: Rastislav Stojsavljevic

Abstract:

During most of the Middle Ages, warmer-than-average weather prevailed in the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. This period is also called Medieval Climate Optimum. It had its most noticeable phases during the 12th and 13th centuries. Due to climatic conditions, the appearance of unstable weather was observed. Strong storms and hail were a frequent occurrence. From the 9th to the 15th century, the Christian religion dominated the Balkan Peninsula. From East-West Schism (1054 A.D.), most of the people in Balkan states belonged to Eastern Orthodox churches: Byzantium, Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia. Medieval Croatia and the coastal part (the Adriatic Sea) of Zeta belonged to the Roman Catholic church. In addition to the dominant Christian religion, a lot of pagan Slavic cults remained in the Balkans during the Middle Ages. Various superstitions were a regular occurrence. They were dominant during severe storms, floods, great droughts, the appearance of comets, etc. In this paper, the appearance of warm and cold temperature spells will be investigated. In the second half of the 14th century, the Little Ice Age began and lasted for several centuries. The period of the first half of the 15th century is characterized by cold and snowy winters. Hunger was a regular occurrence. This has given rise to many beliefs which will be researched and mentioned in the paper.

Keywords: the Balkans, religion, medieval climate optimum, little ice age

Procedia PDF Downloads 54

Authors: Kazuhisa Koda, Tsutomu Kobayashi

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Laura Island, which is located about 50 km away from downtown, is a source of water supply in Majuro atoll, which is the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Low and flat Majuro atoll has neither river nor lake. It is very important for Majuro atoll to ensure the conservation of its water resources. However, up-coning, which is the process of partial rising of the freshwater-saltwater boundary near the water-supply well, was caused by the excess pumping from it during the severe drought in 1998. Up-coning will make the water usage of the freshwater lens difficult. Thus, appropriate water usage is required to prevent up-coning in the freshwater lens because there is no other water source during drought. Numerical simulation of water usage applying SEAWAT model was conducted at the central part of Laura Island, including the water-supply well, which was affected by up-coning. The freshwater lens was created as a result of infiltration of consistent average rainfall. The lens shape was almost the same as the one in 1985. 0 of monthly rainfall and variable daily pump discharge were used to calculate the sustainable pump discharge from the water-supply well. Consequently, the total amount of pump discharge was increased as the daily pump discharge was increased, indicating that it needs more time to recover from up-coning. Thus, a pump standard to reduce the pump intensity is being proposed, which is based on numerical simulation concerning the occurrence of the up-coning phenomenon in Laura Island during the drought.

Keywords: freshwater lens, islands, numerical simulation, sustainable water use

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Ana Corberan-Vallet, Karen C. Florez, Ingrid C. Marino, Jose D. Bermudez

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In 2016, the Region of the Americas was declared free of measles, a viral disease that can cause severe health problems. However, since 2017, measles has reemerged in Venezuela and has subsequently reached neighboring countries. In 2018, twelve American countries reported confirmed cases of measles. Governmental and health authorities in Colombia, a country that shares the longest land boundary with Venezuela, are aware of the need for a strong response to restrict the expanse of the epidemic. In this work, we apply a Bayesian hierarchical Poisson model with an underlying cluster structure to describe disease incidence in Colombia. Concretely, the proposed methodology provides relative risk estimates at the department level and identifies clusters of disease, which facilitates the implementation of targeted public health interventions. Socio-demographic factors, such as the percentage of migrants, gross domestic product, and entry routes, are included in the model to better describe the incidence of disease. Since the model does not impose any spatial correlation at any level of the model hierarchy, it avoids the spatial confounding problem and provides a suitable framework to estimate the fixed-effect coefficients associated with spatially-structured covariates.

Keywords: Bayesian analysis, cluster identification, disease mapping, risk estimation

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Kaycee Bills

Abstract:

Studies have demonstrated that middle and high school students with disabilities are more likely to experience bullying than other student groups. The high rates of bullying victimization observed among youth with disabilities can result in severe socio-emotional consequences. These socio-emotional consequences often manifest in detrimental impacts on the students’ personal relationships. Past studies have indicated that participating in extracurricular athletic activities can have several socio-emotional benefits for students with disabilities. Given the findings of past studies demonstrating the positive relationship between mental health and participation in sports among students with disabilities, it is possible that participating in athletics could have a moderating relationship on the severity of the impact that bullying has on a student’s relationships with family and friends. Using the National Crime Victimization Survey/School Crime Supplement (NCVS/SCS), this study employs an ordinal logistic regression to determine if participation in extracurricular athletic activities mitigates the damaging impact bullying has on the personal relationships with friends and family among students who have disabilities. This study identified statistically significant results suggesting that students with disabilities who participate in athletics reported reduced levels of negative personal relationships resulting from bullying compared to their peers who did not participate in athletics.

Keywords: disability, inclusion, bullying, relationships

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Ankur P. Sati, Manju Mohan

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The hazardous combination of smoke and pollutant gases, smog, is harmful for health. There are strong evidences that the Agricultural waste burning (AWB) in the Northern India leads to adverse air quality in Delhi and its surrounding regions. A severe smog episode was observed over Delhi, India during November 2012 which resulted in very low visibility and various respiratory problems. Very high values of pollutants (PM10 as high as 989 µg m-3, PM2.5 as high as 585 µg m-3 an NO2 as high as 540 µg m-3) were measured all over Delhi during the smog episode. Ultra Violet Aerosol Index (UVAI) from Aura satellite and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) are used in the present study along with the output trajectories from HYSPLIT model and the in-situ data. Satellite data also reveal that AOD, UVAI are always at its highest during the farmfires duration in Punjab region of India and the extent of these farmfires may be increasing. It is observed that during the smog episode all the AOD, UVAI, PM2.5 and PM10 values surpassed those of the Diwali period (one of the most polluted events in the city) by a considerable amount at all stations across Delhi. The parameters used from the remote sensing data and the ground based observations at various stations across Delhi are very well in agreement about the intensity of Smog episode. The analysis clearly shows that regional pollution can have greater contributions in deteriorating the air quality than the local under adverse meteorological conditions.

Keywords: smog, farmfires, AOD, remote sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: Husni Mohd Radzi, Lilie Zahara Ramly, Sapora Sipon, Salhah Abdullah

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Malaysia have been experiencing series of huge floods all around the country for the past decades despide planned development done by local authorities. The floods incurred due to factors like natural climate change or man-made disaster. Floods have caused a lot of damages, destructions and losses in term of infrastructure, financial implications and physical health. However, other damaging aspect was not being given much attention are the psychological need of the flood victim. The traumatic impact from the natural disaster like floods may cause serious psychological and spiritual deterioration. Many flood relief shelters in the past did not provide counseling services for flood victims to consult, and as a result, it contributes to added stress among the flood victims, as the issue were not being addressed. Some studies indicates that flood victims did not look for counseling service being offered. A total of 257 flood victim was involved in this study. Main area of the study was Kg Bukit Changgang, Kg. Rancangan Tanah Belia, Kg. Labohan Dagang and Kg.Olak Lempit in Kuala Langat, Selangor. The flood victims have responded to the survey given and the data was analyze using SPSS for descriptive information and other measures. At least 13 victims were reported to have experienced moderate to severe level of stress and anxiety over the flood disaster incidents and a total of 88 respondents admitted to have at least thought and consider getting counseling service.

Keywords: perception, acceptance towards counseling, counseling service for flood victim, disaster

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Authors: Nahid Salarkia, Nasrin Omidvar, Erfan Ghassemi, Vahideh Arab-Salari, Tirang Reza Neyestani

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Background: Household food insecurity has an adverse impact on the maternal mental health. This study was carried out to assess the relationship between household food insecurity, maternal depression and mother’s self-efficacy in Varamin, Iran, in 2014. Methods: In this cross-sectional study 423 mothers with children under 2 years old, with mean age 28.1±5.2 year; weight 66.3±13.4 kg; height 160.3± 5.7 cm and BMI 25.7±4.8 kg/m2 were selected by a multistage random sampling scheme. The instruments were: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-III) and mother’s self-efficacy questionnaire. Data was analyzed using χ2 test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation. Results: Mildly, moderately and severely food insecure households were 39.5, 9.7 and 3.1%, respectively. Mild, moderate and sever depression was: 18.7, 13.9 and 5.7%. Mean score of depression in moderate and severe food insecure (8.6±5.3) was more than mild food insecure (4.8±4.7) and food secure (3.1±3.6) mothers. Frequency of very good, good and low mother’s self-efficacy were 62.8, 36.5, and 0.7%, respectively. Very good mother’s self-efficacy in food secure mothers (33.4%) was more than mild (25.4%) and moderate-sever food insecure groups (4%). There was a negative significant association between household food insecurity and mother’s self-efficacy (r= -0.297, p<0.01), and between mother’s depression and self-efficacy (r= -0.309, p=0.001). Conclusion: Empowerment of mothers with educational programs and social support can decrease mothers’ depression and increase self-efficacy that lead to improve maternal practices in food insecure households.

Keywords: Household food insecurity, Iran, mothers, physiological characteristics, self-efficacy

Procedia PDF Downloads 496

Authors: I. Boroňová, J. Bernasovská, J. Kmec, E. Petrejčíková

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Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a severe cardiovascular disorder characterized by progressive systolic dysfunction due to cardiac chamber dilatation and inefficient myocardial contractility often leading to chronic heart failure. Recently, a genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on DCM indicate that the ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 single nucleotide polymorphism is associated with DCM. The aim of the study was to identify the distribution of ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism in 50 Slovak patients with DCM and 80 healthy control subjects using the Custom Taqman®SNP Genotyping assays. Risk factors detected at baseline in each group included age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, diabetes and blood pressure. The mean age of patients with DCM was 52.9±6.3 years; the mean age of individuals in control group was 50.3±8.9 years. The distribution of investigated genotypes of rs10927875 polymorphism within ZBTB17 gene in the cohort of Slovak patients with DCM was as follows: CC (38.8%), CT (55.1%), TT (6.1%), in controls: CC (43.8%), CT (51.2%), TT (5.0%). The risk allele T was more common among the patients with dilated cardiomyopathy than in normal controls (33.7% versus 30.6%). The differences in genotype or allele frequencies of ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism were not statistically significant (p=0.6908; p=0.6098). The results of this study suggest that ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism may be a risk factor for susceptibility to DCM in Slovak patients with DCM. Studies of numerous files and additional functional investigations are needed to fully understand the roles of genetic associations.

Keywords: ZBTB17 gene, rs10927875 polymorphism, dilated cardiomyopathy, cardiovascular disorder

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Authors: Sree Vennela P., V. Samyuktha Bhardwaj

Abstract:

Hyponatremia is an electrolyte disturbance in which the sodium ion concentration in the serum is lower than normal. Sodium is the dominant extracellular cation (positive ion) and cannot freely cross from the interstitial space through the cell membrane, into the cell. Its homeostasis (stability of concentration) inside the cell is vital to the normal function of any cell. Normal serum sodium levels are between 135 and 145 mEq/L. Hyponatremia is defined as a serum level of less than 135 mEq/L and is considered severe when the serum level is below 125 mEq/L. In the vast majority of cases, Hyponatremia occurs as a result of excess body water diluting the serum sodium (salt level in the blood). Hyponatremia is often a complication of other medical illnesses in which excess water accumulates in the body at a higher rate than can be excreted (for example in congestive heart failure, syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone, SIADH, or polydipsia). Sometimes it may be a result of over-hydration (drinking too much water).Lack of sodium (salt) is very rarely the cause of Hyponatremia, although it can promote Hyponatremia indirectly. In particular, sodium loss can lead to a state of volume depletion (loss of blood volume in the body), with volume depletion serving as a signal for the release of ADH (anti-diuretic hormone). As a result of ADH-stimulated water retention (too much water in the body), blood sodium becomes diluted and Hyponatremia results.

Keywords: Tolvaptan, hyponatremia, syndrome of insufficient anti diuretic hormone (SIADH), euvolemic hyponatremia

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Md. Kausar Alam, Mohammad Yazdi, Peiman Zogh, Ramin Motamed

Abstract:

The liquefaction-induced ground settlement has caused severe damage to structures in the past decades. However, the amount of building settlement caused by liquefaction is directly proportional to the intensity of the ground shaking. To reduce this soil liquefaction effect, it is essential to examine the influence of peak ground acceleration (PGA). Unfortunately, limited studies have been carried out on this issue. In this study, a series of moderate scale 1g shake table experiments were conducted at the University of Nevada Reno to evaluate the influence of PGA with the same duration in liquefiable soil layers. The model is prepared based on a large-scale shake table with a scaling factor of N = 5, which has been conducted at the University of California, San Diego. The model ground has three soil layers with relative densities of 50% for crust, 30% for liquefiable, and 90% for dense layer, respectively. In addition, a shallow foundation is seated over an unsaturated crust layer. After preparing the model, the input motions having various peak ground accelerations (i.e., 0.16g, 0.25g, and 0.37g) for the same duration (10 sec) were applied. Based on the experimental results, when the PGA increased from 0.16g to 0.37g, the foundation increased from 20 mm to 100 mm. In addition, the expected foundation settlement based on the scaling factor was 25 mm, while the actual settlement for PGA 0.25g for 10 seconds was 50 mm.

Keywords: foundation settlement, liquefaction, peak ground acceleration, shake table test

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Authors: F. Al-Mufadi, F. Djavanroodi

Abstract:

During the last decade ultrafine grained (UFG) and nano-structured (NS) materials have experienced a rapid development. In this research work finite element analysis has been carried out to investigate the plastic strain distribution in equal channel angular process (ECAP). The magnitudes of standard deviation (S. D.) and inhomogeneity index (Ci) were compared for different ECAP passes. Verification of a three-dimensional finite element model was performed with experimental tests. Finally the mechanical property including impact energy of ultrafine grained pure commercially pure Aluminum produced by severe plastic deformation method has been examined. For this aim, equal channel angular pressing die with the channel angle, outer corner angle and channel diameter of 90°, 20° and 20 mm had been designed and manufactured. Commercial pure Aluminum billets were ECAPed up to four passes by route BC at the ambient temperature. The results indicated that there is a great improvement at the hardness measurement, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength after ECAP process. It is found that the magnitudes of HV reach 67 HV from 21 HV after the final stage of process. Also, about 330% and 285% enhancement at the YS and UTS values have been obtained after the fourth pass as compared to the as-received conditions, respectively. On the other hand, the elongation to failure and impact energy have been reduced by 23% and 50% after imposing four passes of ECAP process, respectively.

Keywords: SPD, ECAP, FEM, pure Al, mechanical properties

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Authors: Chowdhury Md. Navim Kabir

Abstract:

Renal impairment is one of the most severe non-communicable diseases around the world. Especially patients with diagnosed/newly diagnosed renal impairment who need surgery are more focused on preoperative and postoperative preparation. Serum creatinine is the prime biochemical marker for assessing renal function, and the level of impairment is widely measured by this marker as well as Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR). Objective: Factors responsible for fluctuating serum creatinine during preoperative and postoperative periods and minimizing the process of serum creatinine is the ultimate goal of this study. Method: 37 patients participated in this cross-sectional study who were previously diagnosed/newly diagnosed. They were admitted to different tertiary-level hospitals for emergency or elective surgery. Fifteen patients were admitted in the renal function impairment stage and 22 were admitted as normal patients’. Values of creatinine at the pre-admission stage and 2nd/3rd post-admission follow-up were compared. Results: 0.41 was the average of 22 patients' creatinine between pre-admission and 2nd/3rd follow-up. The responsible factor like prolonged staying, immobilization, co-morbidities, different preoperative antibiotics and Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) were also inducers for creatinine elevation. After postoperative hemodialysis rapid decrease of creatinine is seen in normal patients, but this decrease is very much minor in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) diagnosed patients.

Keywords: CKD, Meropenam, NSAID, comorbidities, immobilized

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Authors: Rajni Kant Panik, Deependra Singh, Manju Singh

Abstract:

Despite significant advances in the treatment of severe burn injury, infection and sepsis persist as frequent causes of morbidity and mortality for burn victims due to extensive compromise of the skin and contiguous tissue that serve as a protective barrier against microbial invasion. In the setting of a burn wound infection, Staphylococcus aureus is the most commonly isolated pathogens from bloodstream infections in burn care hospitals. We aimed to develop a biocompatible system of Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA)-sodium alginate hydrogel carrying multiple drugs- catalase and mupirocin in controlled manner for effective and complete burn wound healing. PLGA nanoparticles of Catalase and mupirocin were prepared by homogenization method and optimized system was incorporated in PVA-sodium alginate slurry. PVA-sodium alginate hydrogels were prepared by freeze thaw method. The prepared dispersion was casted into films to prepare multiphase hydrogel system and characterized by in vitro and in vivo studies. The study clearly showed the beneficial effect of antioxidant enzyme and antibiotic in the treatment of infected burn wound, as evidenced by the reduced incidence of wound infection and the shortening of healing time.

Keywords: burn wound, catalase, mupirocin, wound healing

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Authors: Mosupi Ratshaa

Abstract:

Despite years of diligent study, sedimentation is still undoubtedly the most severe technical problem faced by the dam industry. The problem of sedimentation build-up and its removal should be the focus as an approach to remedy this. The world's reservoirs lose about 1% of their storage capacity yearly to sedimentation, what this means is that 1% of water that could be stored is lost the world-over. The increase in population means that the need for water also increases and, therefore, the loss due to sedimentation is of great concern especially to the conservation of water. When it comes to reservoir sedimentation, the thought of water conservation comes with soil conservation since this increasing sediment that takes the volume meant for water is being lost from dry land. For this reason, reservoir sediment control is focused on reducing sediment entering the reservoir and reducing sediment within the reservoir. There are many problems with sediment control such as the difficulty to predict settling patterns, inability to greatly reduce the sediment volume entering the river flow which increases the reservoirs trap efficiency just to mention a few. Notably reservoirs are habitats for flora and fauna, the process of removing sediment from these reservoirs damages this ecosystem so there is an ethical point to be considered in this section. This paper looks at the methods used to control the sedimentation of reservoirs and their effects to the ecosystem in the aim of reducing water losses due to sedimentation. Various control measures which reduce sediment entering the reservoir such as Sabo dams or Check dams along with measures which emphasize the reduction in built-up settled sediment such as flushing will be reviewed all with the prospect of conservation.

Keywords: sedimentation, conservation, ecosystem, flushing

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Authors: David Carvalho

Abstract:

Future changes in the mean, maximum and minimum temperature in continental Portugal were investigated using high-resolution future climate projections based on the latest IPCC AR6 CMIP6 climate scenarios. The results show that the mean, maximum and minimum temperatures are projected to increase substantially in all of continental Portugal, particularly in the south-central inland regions. For the near-term future (2046-2065 period), SSP3-7.0 is the future climate scenario that projects higher increases of around 1 ºC, 1.5 ºC and 2 ºC for the daily mean, maximum and minimum temperatures, respectively. For the long-term future (2081-2100 period), the projected warming is higher, particularly under the SSP5-8.5 future climate scenario with projected warmings of 3 ºC, 3.5 ºC and 2.5 ºC for the daily mean, maximum and minimum temperatures, respectively. Occurrences of hot days (mean temperature above 30 ºC), very hot days (maximum temperature above 40 ºC) and tropical nights (minimum temperature above 20 ºC) are all projected to increase up to 35-40, 12-15 and 50 more days per year, respectively, mainly in the interior areas of Portugal. Oppositely, the occurrence of frost days is projected to decrease in practically all mountainous areas in Portugal. These results show a clear tendency of a significant increase in the surface temperatures and frequency of occurrence of extreme temperature episodes in continental Portugal, which can have severe impacts on the population, environment, economy and vital human activities such as agriculture.

Keywords: climate change, global warming, CMIP6, Portugal

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Authors: Xinyi Zhao, Furong Tian

Abstract:

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolic products of fungi. These are poisonous, carcinogens and mutagens in nature and pose a serious health threat to both humans and animals, causing severe illnesses and even deaths. The rapid, simple and cheap detection methods of mycotoxins are of immense importance and in great demand in the food and beverage industry as well as in agriculture and environmental monitoring. Lateral flow immunochromatographic strips (ICSTs) have been widely used in food safety, environment monitoring. Forty-six papers were identified and reviewed on Google Scholar and Scopus for their limit of detection and nanomaterial on Lateral flow immunochromatographic strips on different types of mycotoxins. The papers were dated 2001-2021. Twenty five papers were compared to identify the lowest limit of detection of among different mycotoxins (Aflatoxin B1: 10, Zearalenone:5, Fumonisin B1: 5, Trichothecene-A: 5). Most of these highly sensitive strips are competitive. Sandwich structure are usually used in large scale detection. In conclusion, the mycotoxin receives that most researches is aflatoxin B1 and its limit of detection is the lowest. Gold-nanopaticle based immunochromatographic test strips has the lowest limit of detection. Five papers involve smartphone detection and they all detect aflatoxin B1 with gold nanoparticles. In these papers, quantitative concentration results can be obtained when the user uploads the photograph of test lines using the smartphone application.

Keywords: aflatoxin B1, limit of detection, gold nanoparticle, lateral flow immunochromatographic strips, mycotoxins

Procedia PDF Downloads 181