Search results for: active role

Authors: Majid Farsadrooh, Mehran Feizi-Dehnayebi

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Serum albumin is the most abundant protein that is present in the circulatory system of a wide variety of organisms. Although it is a significant macromolecule, it can contribute to osmotic blood pressure and also, plays a superior role in drug disposition and efficiency. Molecular docking simulation can improve in silico drug design and discovery procedures to propound a lead compound and develop it from the discovery step to the clinic. In this study, the molecular docking simulation was applied to select a lead molecule through an investigation of the interaction of the two anticancer drugs (Alitretinoin and Abemaciclib) with Human Serum Albumin (HSA). Then, a series of new compounds (a-e) were suggested using lead molecule modification. Density functional theory (DFT) including MEP map and HOMO-LUMO analysis were used for the newly proposed compounds to predict the reactivity zones on the molecules, stability, and chemical reactivity. DFT calculation illustrated that these new compounds were stable. The estimated binding free energy (ΔG) values for a-e compounds were obtained as -5.78, -5.81, -5.95, -5,98, and -6.11 kcal/mol, respectively. Finally, the pharmaceutical properties and toxicity of these new compounds were estimated through OSIRIS DataWarrior software. The results indicated no risk of tumorigenic, irritant, or reproductive effects and mutagenicity for compounds d and e. As a result, compounds d and e, could be selected for further study as potential therapeutic candidates. Moreover, employing molecular docking simulation with the prediction of pharmaceutical properties helps to discover new potential drug compounds.

Keywords: drug design, anticancer, computational studies, DFT analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 61

Authors: John Zanetich

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Due to their positive associations with student learning and retention, certain undergraduate opportunities are designated ‘high-impact.’ High-Impact Practices (HIPs) such as, learning communities, community based projects, research, internships, study abroad and culminating senior experience, share several traits bin common: they demand considerable time and effort, learning occurs outside of the classroom, and they require meaningful interactions between faculty and students, they encourage collaboration with diverse others, and they provide frequent and substantive feedback. As a result of experiential learning in these practices, participation in these practices can be life changing. High impact learning helps individuals locate tacit knowledge, and build mental models that support the accumulation of knowledge. On-going learning from experience and knowledge conversion provides the individual with a way to implicitly organize knowledge and share knowledge over a lifetime. Knowledge conversion is a knowledge management component which focuses on the explication of the tacit knowledge that exists in the minds of students and that knowledge which is embedded in the process and relationships of the classroom educational experience. Knowledge conversion is required when working with tacit knowledge and the demand for a learner to align deeply held beliefs with the cognitive dissonance created by new information. Knowledge conversion and tacit knowledge result from the fact that an individual's way of knowing, that is, their core belief structure, is considered generalized and tacit instead of explicit and specific. As a phenomenon, tacit knowledge is not readily available to the learner for explicit description unless evoked by an external source. The development of knowledge–related capabilities such as Aggressive Development of Tacit Knowledge (ADTK) can be used in experiential educational programs to enhance knowledge, foster behavioral change, improve decision making, and overall performance. ADTK allows the student in HIPs to use their existing knowledge in a way that allows them to evaluate and make any necessary modifications to their core construct of reality in order to amalgamate new information. Based on the Lewin/Schein Change Theory, the learner will reach for tacit knowledge as a stabilizing mechanism when they are challenged by new information that puts them slightly off balance. As in word association drills, the important concept is the first thought. The reactionary outpouring to an experience is the programmed or tacit memory and knowledge of their core belief structure. ADTK is a way to help teachers design their own methods and activities to unfreeze, create new learning, and then refreeze the core constructs upon which future learning in a subject area is built. This paper will explore the use of ADTK as a technique for knowledge conversion in the classroom in general and in HIP programs specifically. It will focus on knowledge conversion in curriculum development and propose the use of one-time educational experiences, multi-session experiences and sequential program experiences focusing on tacit knowledge in educational programs.

Keywords: tacit knowledge, knowledge management, college programs, experiential learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 250

Authors: Abu Salim Mustafa

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Water plays a major role in maintaining life on earth, but it can also serve as a matrix for pathogenic organisms, posing substantial health threats to humans. Although, outbreaks of diseases attributable to drinking water may not be common in industrialized countries, they still occur and can lead to serious acute, chronic, or sometimes fatal health consequences. The analysis of drinking water samples from different regions of Kuwait was performed in this study for bacterial and viral contaminations. Drinking tap water samples were collected from 15 different locations of the six Kuwait governorates. All samples were analyzed by confocal microscopy for the presence of bacteria. The samples were cultured in vitro to detect cultivable organisms. DNA was isolated from the cultured organisms and the identity of the bacteria was determined by sequencing the bacterial 16S rRNA genes, followed by BLAST analysis in the database of NCBI, USA. RNA was extracted from water samples and analyzed by real-time PCR for the detection of viruses with potential health risks, i.e. Astrovirus, Enterovirus, Norovirus, Rotavirus, and Hepatitis A. Confocal microscopy showed the presence of bacteria in some water samples. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing of culture grown organisms, followed by BLAST analysis, identified the presence of several non-pathogenic bacterial species. However, one sample had Acinetobacter baumannii, which often causes opportunistic infections in immunocompromised people, but none of the studied viruses could be detected in the drinking water samples analyzed. The results indicate that drinking water samples analyzed from various locations in Kuwait are relatively safe for drinking and do not contain many harmful pathogens.

Keywords: drinking water, microbial contaminant, 16S rDNA, Kuwait

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Shirin jalili, Hadi Shirzad, Samaneh Nabavi, Somayeh Khanjani

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Biosensors in forensic analysis are ideal biological tools that can be used for rapid and sensitive initial screening and testing to detect of suspicious components like biological and chemical agent in crime scenes. The wide use of different biomolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, microorganisms, antibodies and enzymes makes it possible. These biosensors have great advantages such as rapidity, little sample manipulation and high sensitivity, also Because of their stability, specificity and low cost they have become a very important tool to Forensic analysis and detection of crime. In crime scenes different substances such as rape samples, Semen, saliva fingerprints and blood samples, act as a detecting elements for biosensors. On the other hand, successful fluid recovery via biosensor has the propensity to yield a highly valuable source of genetic material, which is important in finding the suspect. Although current biological fluid testing techniques are impaired for identification of body fluids. But these methods have disadvantages. For example if they are to be used simultaneously, Often give false positive result. These limitations can negatively result the output of a case through missed or misinterpreted evidence. The use of biosensor enable criminal researchers the highly sensitive and non-destructive detection of biological fluid through interaction with several fluid-endogenous and other biological and chemical contamination at the crime scene. For this reason, using of the biosensors for detecting the biological fluid found at the crime scenes which play an important role in identifying the suspect and solving the criminal.

Keywords: biosensors, forensic analysis, biological fluid, crime detection

Procedia PDF Downloads 1093

Authors: Amal A. Mashali, Omar Eltaweel, Elerian Ekladious

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Stature of an individual has an important role in identification, which is often required in medico-legal practice. The estimation of stature is an important step in the identification of dismembered remains or when only a part of a skeleton is only available as in major disasters or with mutilation. There is no published data on anthropological data among Jordanian population. The present study was designed in order to find out relationship of stature to some anthropometric measures among a sample of Jordanian population and to determine the most accurate and reliable one in predicting the stature of an individual. A cross sectional study was conducted on 336 adult healthy volunteers , free of bone diseases, nutritional diseases and abnormalities in the extremities after taking their consent. Students of Faculty of Medicine, Mutah University helped in collecting the data. The anthropometric measurements (anatomically defined) were stature, humerus length, hand length and breadth, foot length and breadth, foot index and knee height on both right and left sides of the body. The measurements were typical on both sides of the bodies of the studied samples. All the anthropologic data showed significant relation with age except the knee height. There was a significant difference between male and female measurements except for the foot index where F= 0.269. There was a significant positive correlation between the different measures and the stature of the individuals. Three equations were developed for estimation of stature. The most sensitive measure for prediction of a stature was found to be the humerus length.

Keywords: foot index, foot length, hand length, humerus length, stature

Procedia PDF Downloads 291

Authors: Roel Guinto Jr, John Peter Dacanay, Edison Ramos

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The Philippines now has the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the entire Asia-Pacific region. According to the January 2023 HIV/AIDS Registry of the Philippines of the Department of Health (DOH), there were 86 newly reported HIV cases involving 19 years old and below. A cure for HIV is not yet readily available but effective preventive measures to prevent its transmission. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis is a biomedical intervention for HIV infection in the form of a pill. Students play a significant role in identifying solutions to preventing the transmission of HIV Infection, making it critical to assess their Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis on HIV Infection. A study was conducted among 390 regular students from different college departments at National University – Manila. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data and other statistical tools were used to analyze data. The findings reveal that most students had no knowledge or idea about PreExposure Prophylaxis before being interviewed. It also shows that students have a positive attitude toward the practice of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. The study revealed that there is also a significant relationship between the Knowledge and the Socio-demographic profile of the respondents. Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices on PrEP of students were overall identified, and areas of improvement were also recognized. Sex Education and Sexual Health Awareness should be implemented to enhance students’ knowledge of practicing safe sex to help prevent HIV Transmission.

Keywords: HIV, cure, biomedical intervention, pre-exposure prophylaxis, pill, knowledge, attitude, practice, sex education, sexual health awareness

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Ruanzhenghao Shi

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Student movements have persisted in mainland China, especially in elite universities since the Tiananmen Prodemocracy Movement, contrary to the lack of studies on them. However, the participants' repertoire, mobilization and mode of interaction with authorities are vastly different from their predecessors in the 1980s as well as their western counterparts. In most of the cases, agents, cognizant of the high cost of action and their vulnerability to the authorities, consciously curtailed certain repertoire and themes of resistance. Thus these movements, without appreciable organized force, were self-interested, fragmentally mobilized, lowly integrated and limited within the campus. This study documents the 2014 protest against Yanching Academy program at Peking University, a top-tier Chinese university that played the leading role in the 1989 protest. The 2014 case is different from abovementioned trend of submissive resistance in the last twenty years, insofar as it is a value-oriented and emotion-driven collective action with the resurgence of some repertoire. The participants perceived the university's contemporary ineffectiveness and clumsiness in control and administration, higher Party authorities' indifference to less-political themes, and an increasing number of potential advocates, including students, intellectuals and social media. It shows that resisters' perception of their relative strength to their opponents - in this case, the university and its system for controlling students - under specific circumstances, not merely political opportunities or institutional changes, stimulates the participants and thus contributes to the mobilization and organization of a collective action, even under severe social control.

Keywords: collective action, China, university students, resistance

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Soham Das

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Oedipus in Oedipus Rex is necessarily a victim of fate and his own psychology. His curiosity brings about his downfall. Ancient Greek plays weren't just portrayals of some obscure tale but were insights into human nature. Oedipus, although a victim of circumstances, digs his own grave by curiously unravelling his past. Jocasta foresees his doom and begs him to stop, but to no avail. The curiosity of Oedipus forces him, almost like a drug, to explore the mystery regarding his birth. This curiosity is not something extraordinary in Oedipus - it is an intrinsic attribute of human nature. Knowledge is not always desired - whether it is Adam or Oedipus, their curiosity caused their eventual downfall. Oedipus was ill-fated since birth. He did not know that Laius was his biological father and therefore killed him. He arrived at Thebes, solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and married Jocasta without knowing that she, in fact, was his biological mother. He begot children and was living happily with his family when a sudden calamity struck Thebes. The calamity, though at first seemed public in nature, but later proved to be very personal for Oedipus. It drives home the fundamental truth about uncertainty of human life. That Laius was slayed by his own son, even after many precautions, proves the helplessness of humans in front of the designs of fate. Oedipus's mutilation of his eyes is also fated. It was committed by him in the heat of the moment and was certainly not a rational decision. It is evident to any modern reader that Oedipus does not have justice. Destiny treats him unfairly. Oedipus, in fact, defends his actions in Oedipus Rex in its sequel Oedipus At Colonus. The research paper discusses the unhappy fate of Oedipus and the role of destiny and his own curiosity in achieving it.

Keywords: ancient Greek drama, Oedipus Rex, Sophocles, destiny

Procedia PDF Downloads 993

Authors: W. Staiano, S. Marcora

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Introduction: It has been proposed that acute negative effect of mental fatigue (MF) could potentially become a training stimulus for the brain (Brain endurance training (BET)) to adapt and improve its ability to attenuate MF states during sport competitions. Purpose: The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of 6 weeks of BET on cognitive and cycling tests in a group of well-trained subjects. We hypothesised that combination of BET and standard physical training (SPT) would increase cognitive capacity and cycling performance by reducing rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and increase resilience to fatigue more than SPT alone. Methods: In a randomized controlled trial design, 26 well trained participants, after a familiarization session, cycled to exhaustion (TTE) at 80% peak power output (PPO) and, after 90 min rest, at 65% PPO, before and after random allocation to a 6 week BET or active placebo control. Cognitive performance was measured using 30 min of STROOP coloured task performed before cycling performance. During the training, BET group performed a series of cognitive tasks for a total of 30 sessions (5 sessions per week) with duration increasing from 30 to 60 min per session. Placebo engaged in a breathing relaxation training. Both groups were monitored for physical training and were naïve to the purpose of the study. Physiological and perceptual parameters of heart rate, lactate (LA) and RPE were recorded during cycling performances, while subjective workload (NASA TLX scale) was measured during the training. Results: Group (BET vs. Placebo) x Test (Pre-test vs. Post-test) mixed model ANOVA’s revealed significant interaction for performance at 80% PPO (p = .038) or 65% PPO (p = .011). In both tests, groups improved their TTE performance; however, BET group improved significantly more compared to placebo. No significant differences were found for heart rate during the TTE cycling tests. LA did not change significantly at rest in both groups. However, at completion of 65% TTE, it was significantly higher (p = 0.043) in the placebo condition compared to BET. RPE measured at ISO-time in BET was significantly lower (80% PPO, p = 0.041; 65% PPO p= 0.021) compared to placebo. Cognitive results in the STROOP task showed that reaction time in both groups decreased at post-test. However, BET decreased significantly (p = 0.01) more compared to placebo despite no differences accuracy. During training sessions, participants in the BET showed, through NASA TLX questionnaires, constantly significantly higher (p < 0.01) mental demand rates compared to placebo. No significant differences were found for physical demand. Conclusion: The results of this study provide evidences that combining BET and SPT seems to be more effective than SPT alone in increasing cognitive and cycling performance in well trained endurance participants. The cognitive overload produced during the 6-week training of BET can induce a reduction in perception of effort at a specific power, and thus improving cycling performance. Moreover, it provides evidence that including neurocognitive interventions will benefit athletes by increasing their mental resilience, without affecting their physical training load and routine.

Keywords: cognitive training, perception of effort, endurance performance, neuro-performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Daria Grechishnikova, Maria Poptsova

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Transposable elements play an important role in the evolution of various species from bacteria to human. Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements (LINEs) and Short Interspersed Nuclear Elements (SINEs) are two major classes of retrotransposons that occupy a considerable part of any genome and their copy numbers can range form several hundreds to a million. Both LINEs and SINEs multiply through a copy-and-paste mechanism. LINEs encode proteins, which make them capable of self-propagation while SINEs are parasitic and require the machinery of LINEs to multiply. The mechanisms how LINE and SINE RNA is recognized by the LINE-encoded reverse transcriptase (RT) remain unclear. For some SINE-LINE pairs, it was shown that they share a common 3’-end with a stem-loop structure. Majority of the SINE-LINE pairs do not have a common 3’-end. Recently we have shown that in the human genome Alu-L1 pairs have structurally similar stem-loop structure at the 3’-end. Here we extended our analysis to a wide range of species and analyzed LINEs from 161 different species from Repbase and 217 SINE sequences from SINEBase. It appeared that all of the analyzed sequences contained stem-loop structures at the 3’-end. Here we conclude that it is very likely that a common evolutionary mechanism of transposon RNA recognition requires the presence of stem-loop structures at their 3’-end.

Keywords: LINE, SINE, mechanisms of retrotransposition, retrotransposons, stem-loop, stem-loop structures, transposons

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: Rachel M. Lørum, Henrik Eriksson, Frida Smith

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Purpose: In recent years, the use of benchmarks for the improvement of healthcare has become increasingly common. There has been an increasing interest in why improvement initiatives so often fail to eliminate the problems they aspire to solve. Benchmarking comes with its fair share of challenges and problems, such as capturing the dynamics and complexities of the care environments, among others. In this study, we demonstrate how learning-oriented, voluntary benchmarks in the complex environment of public healthcare could be designed. Findings: Our four most important findings were the following: first, important organizational learning (OL) regarding the complexity of the service and implications on how to design a benchmark for learning and improvement occurred during the process. Second, participation by a wide range of professionals and stakeholders was crucial for capturing the complexity of people and organizations and increasing the quality of the template. Third, the continuous dialogue between all organizations involved was an important tool for ongoing organizational learning throughout the process. The last important finding was the impact of the facilitator’s role through supporting progress, coordination, and dialogue. Design: We chose participatory design as the research design. Data were derived from written materials such as e-mails, protocols, observational notes, and reflection notes collected during a period of 1.5 years. Originality: Our main contributions are the identification of important strategies, initiatives, and actors to involve when designing voluntary benchmarks for learning and improvement.

Keywords: organizational learning, quality improvement, learning-oriented benchmark, healthcare, patient safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: Elias K. Maragos, Petros E. Maravelakis, Apostolos I. Linardis

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Health2020 is a promising framework of policies provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and aiming to diminish the health and well-being inequalities among the citizens of the European Union (EU) countries. The major demographic, social and environmental changes, in addition to the resent economic crisis prevent the unobstructed and successful implementation of this framework. The unemployment rates and the percentage of people at risk of poverty have increased among the citizens of EU countries. At the same time, the adopted fiscal, economic policies do not help governments to serve their social role and mitigate social and health inequalities. In those circumstances, there is a strong pressure to organize all health system resources efficiently and wisely. In order to provide a unified and value-based framework of valuation, we propose a valuation framework using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and dynamic DEA. We believe that the adopted methodology could provide a robust tool which can capture the degree of success with which policies have been implemented and is capable to determine which of the countries developed the requested policies efficiently and which of the countries have been lagged. Using the proposed methodology, we evaluated the performance of 28 EU member-countries in relation to the Health2020 peripheral targets. We adopted several versions of evaluation, measuring the effectiveness and the efficiency of EU countries from 2011 to 2016. Our results showed stability in technological changes and revealed a group of countries which were benchmarks in most of the years for the inefficient countries.

Keywords: DEA, Health2020, health inequalities, malmquist index, policies evaluation, well-being

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Natalia Politaeva, Iuliia Smiatskaia, Iuliia Bazarnova, Iryna Atamaniuk, Kerstin Kuchta

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Nowadays, the progressive decrease of primary natural resources and ongoing upward trend in terms of energy demand, have resulted in development of new generation technological processes which are focused on step-wise production and residues utilization. Thus, microalgae-based 3^rd generation bioeconomy is considered one of the most promising approaches that allow production of value-added products and sophisticated utilization of residues biomass. In comparison to conventional biomass, microalgae can be cultivated in wide range of conditions without compromising food and feed production, and thus, addressing issues associated with negative social and environmental impacts. However, one of the most challenging tasks is to undergo seasonal variations and to achieve optimal growing conditions for indoor closed systems that can cover further demand for material and energetic utilization of microalgae. For instance, outdoor cultivation in St. Petersburg (Russia) is only suitable within rather narrow time frame (from mid-May to mid-September). At earlier and later periods, insufficient sunlight and heat for the growth of microalgae were detected. On the other hand, without additional physical effects, the biomass increment in summer is 3-5 times per week, depending on the solar radiation and the ambient temperature. In order to increase biomass production, scientists from all over the world have proposed various technical solutions for cultivators and have been studying the influence of various physical factors affecting biomass growth namely: magnetic field, radiation impact, and electric field, etc. In this paper, the influence of infrared radiation (IR) and fluorescent light on the growth rate of microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana has been studied. The cultivation of Chlorella sorokiniana was carried out in 500 ml cylindrical glass vessels, which were constantly aerated. To accelerate the cultivation process, the mixture was stirred for 15 minutes at 500 rpm following 120 minutes of rest time. At the same time, the metabolic needs in nutrients were provided by the addition of micro- and macro-nutrients in the microalgae growing medium. Lighting was provided by fluorescent lamps with the intensity of 2500 ± 300 lx. The influence of IR was determined using IR lamps with a voltage of 220 V, power of 250 W, in order to achieve the intensity of 13 600 ± 500 lx. The obtained results show that under the influence of fluorescent lamps along with the combined effect of active aeration and variable mixing, the biomass increment on the 2^nd day was three times, and on the 7^th day, it was eight-fold. The growth rate of microalgae under the influence of IR radiation was lower and has reached 22.6·10⁶ cells·mL^-1. However, application of IR lamps for the biomass growth allows maintaining the optimal temperature of microalgae suspension at approximately 25-28°C, which might especially be beneficial during the cold season in extreme climate zones.

Keywords: biomass, fluorescent lamp, infrared radiation, microalgae

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Sean O'Callaghan

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Around 2011/2012, a whole new genre of Christian religious writing began to emerge, focused on the role of advanced technologies, particularly the GRIN technologies (Genetics, Robotics, Information Technology and Nanotechnology), in bringing about a techno-apocalypse, leading to catastrophic events which would usher in the end of the world. This genre, at first niche, has now begun to grow in significance in many quarters of the more fundamentalist and biblically literalist branches of evangelicalism. It approaches science and technology with more than extreme skepticism. It accuses transhumanists of being in league with satanic powers and a satanic agenda and contextualizes transhumanist scientific progress in terms of its service to what it believes to be a soon to come Antichrist figure. The genre has moved beyond literature and videos about its message can be found on YouTube and other forums, where many of the presentations there get well over a quarter of a million views. This paper will examine the genre and its genesis, referring to the key figures involved in spreading the anti-intellectualist and anti-scientific message. It will demonstrate how this genre of writing is similar in many respects to other forms of apocalyptic writing which have emerged in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, all in response to both scientific and political events which are interpreted in the light of biblical prophecy. It will also set the genre in the context of a contemporary pre-occupation with conspiracy theory. The conclusions of the research conducted in this field by the author are that it does a grave disservice to both the scientific and Christian audiences which it targets, by misrepresenting scientific advances and by creating a hermeneutic of suspicion which makes it impossible for Christians to place their trust in scientific claims.

Keywords: antichrist, catastrophic, Christian, techno-apocalypse

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Md. Monjurul Islam, Tofael Ahamed, Ryozo Noguchi

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Progress continues in the fight against hunger, yet an unacceptably large number of people still lack food they need for an active and healthy life. Bangladesh is one of the rising countries in the South-Asia but still lots of people are food insecure. In the last few years, Bangladesh has significant achievements in food grain production but still food security at national to individual levels remain a matter of major concern. Ensuring food security for all is one of the major challenges that Bangladesh faces today, especially production of rice in the flood and poverty prone areas. Northern part is more vulnerable than any other part of Bangladesh. To ensure food security, one of the best way is to increase domestic production. To increase production, it is necessary to secure lands for achieving optimum utilization of resources. One of the measures is to identify the vulnerable and potential areas using Land Suitability Assessment (LSA) to increase rice production in the poverty prone areas. Therefore, the aim of the study was to identify the suitable sites for food grain crop rice production in the poverty prone areas located at the northern part of Bangladesh. Lack of knowledge on the best combination of factors that suit production of rice has contributed to the low production. To fulfill the research objective, a multi-criteria analysis was done and produced a suitable map for crop production with the help of Geographical Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Primary and secondary data were collected from ground truth information and relevant offices. The suitability levels for each factor were ranked based on the structure of FAO land suitability classification as: Currently Not Suitable (N2), Presently Not Suitable (N1), Marginally Suitable (S3), Moderately Suitable (S2) and Highly Suitable (S1). The suitable sites were identified using spatial analysis and compared with the recent raster image from Google Earth Pro® to validate the reliability of suitability analysis. For producing a suitability map for rice farming using GIS and multi-criteria analysis tool, AHP was used to rank the relevant factors, and the resultant weights were used to create the suitability map using weighted sum overlay tool in ArcGIS 10.3®. Then, the suitability map for rice production in the study area was formed. The weighted overly was performed and found that 22.74 % (1337.02 km2) of the study area was highly suitable, while 28.54% (1678.04 km2) was moderately suitable, 14.86% (873.71 km2) was marginally suitable, and 1.19% (69.97 km2) was currently not suitable for rice farming. On the other hand, 32.67% (1920.87 km2) was permanently not suitable which occupied with settlements, rivers, water bodies and forests. This research provided information at local level that could be used by farmers to select suitable fields for rice production, and then it can be applied to other crops. It will also be helpful for the field workers and policy planner who serves in the agricultural sector.

Keywords: AHP, GIS, spatial analysis, land suitability

Procedia PDF Downloads 220

Authors: Amtul Jamil Sami

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Apis mellifera is an insect of immense economic importance lives on rich carbohydrate diet including cellulose, nectar, honey and pollen. The carbohydrate metabolism in A mellifera has not been understood fully, as there are no data available, on the functional expression of cellulase gene. The cellulose hydrolyzing enzyme is required for the digestion of pollen cellulose wall, to release the important nutrients (amino acids, minerals, vitamins etc.) from the pollen. A dissection of Apis genome had revealed that there is one gene present for the expression of endo-beta-1,4-glucanase, for cellulose hydrolysis. In the presented work, functional expression of endo-beta-1,4 glucanase gene is reported. Total soluble proteins of the honey bee were isolated and were tested cellulose hydrolyzing enzyme activity, using carboxy-methyl cellulose, as a substrate. A mellifera proteins were able to hydrolyze carboxy-methyl cellulose, confirming its endo- type mode of action. Endo beta-1,4 glucanase enzyme was only present in the gut tissues, no activity was detected in the salivary glands. The pH optima of the enzyme were in the acidic pH range of 4-5-5-0, indicating its metabolic role in the acidic stomach of A mellifera. The reported enzyme is unique, as endo-beta- 1,4 glucanase was able to generate non reducing sugar, as an end product. The results presented, are supportive to the information that the honey bee is capable of producing its novel endo-beta-1,4 glucanase. Further it could be helpful, in understanding, the carbohydrate metabolism in A mellifera.

Keywords: honey bees, Endo-beta 1, 4- glucanase, Apis mellifera, functional expression

Procedia PDF Downloads 384

Authors: Eleni Giouli

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Distance learning provides a flexible approach to education, enabling busy learners to complete their coursework at their own pace, on their own schedule, and from a convenient location. This flexibility combined with a series of other issues; make the benefits of lifelong distance learning numerous. The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether distance education can contribute to the improvement of adult skills in Greece, highlighting in this way the necessity of the lifelong distance learning. To investigate this goal, a questionnaire is constructed and analyzed based on responses from 3,016 attendees of lifelong distance learning programs in the e-learning of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece. In order to do so, a series of relationships is examined including the effects of a) the gender, b) the previous educational level, c) the current employment status, and d) the method used in the distance learning program, on the development of new general, technical, administrative, social, cultural, entrepreneurial and green skills. The basic conclusions that emerge after using a binary logistic framework are that the following factors are critical in order to develop new skills: the gender, the education level and the educational method used in the lifelong distance learning program. The skills more significantly affected by those factors are the acquiring new skills in general, as well as acquiring general, language and cultural, entrepreneurial and green skills, while for technical and social skills only gender and educational method play a crucial role. Moreover, routine skills and social skills are not affected by the four factors included in the analysis.

Keywords: adult skills, distance learning, education, lifelong learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: T. Yu, L. Audibert, J. F. Chaix, D. Komatitsch, V. Garnier, J. M. Henault

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Linear Ultrasonic Techniques play a major role in Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) for civil engineering structures in concrete since they can meet operational requirements. Interpretation of ultrasonic measurements could be improved by a better understanding of ultrasonic wave propagation in a multiple scattering medium. This work aims to develop a 2D numerical model of ultrasonic wave propagation in a heterogeneous medium, like concrete, integrating the multiple scattering phenomena in SPECFEM software. The coherent field of multiple scattering is obtained by averaging numerical wave fields, and it is used to determine the effective phase velocity and attenuation corresponding to an equivalent homogeneous medium. First, this model is applied to one scattering element (a cylinder) in a homogenous medium in a linear-elastic system, and its validation is completed thanks to the comparison with analytical solution. Then, some cases of multiple scattering by a set of randomly located cylinders or polygons are simulated to perform parametric studies on the influence of frequency and scatterer size, concentration, and shape. Also, the effective properties are compared with the predictions of Waterman-Truell model to verify its validity. Finally, the mortar viscoelastic behavior is introduced in the simulation in order to considerer the dispersion and the attenuation due to porosity included in the cement paste. In the future, different steps will be developed: The comparisons with experimental results, the interpretation of NDE measurements, and the optimization of NDE parameters before an auscultation.

Keywords: attenuation, multiple-scattering medium, numerical modeling, phase velocity, ultrasonic measurements

Procedia PDF Downloads 260

Authors: Alam Zeb, Glen W. Armstrong, Muhammad Qasim

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Loss of forest cover is one of the most important land cover changes and has been of great concern to policy makers. This study quantified forest cover changes over pre logging ban (1973-1993) and post logging ban (1993-2015) to examine the role of geophysical factors and spatial attributes of land in the two periods. We show that despite a complete ban on green felling, forest cover decreased by 28% and mostly converted to rangeland. Nevertheless, the logging ban was completely effective in controlling agriculture expansion. The binary logistic regression revealed that the south facing aspects at low elevation witnessed more deforestation in the pre-ban period compared to post-ban. Opposite to deforestation, forest degradation was more prominent on the northern aspects at higher elevation during the policy period. Agriculture expansion was widespread in the low elevation flat areas with gentle slope, while during the policy period agriculture contraction in the form of regeneration was observed on the low elevation areas of north facing slopes. All proximity variables, except distance to administrative boundary, showed a similar trend across the two periods and were important explanatory variables in understanding forest and agriculture expansion. The changes in determinants of forest and agriculture expansion and contraction over the two periods might be attributed to the influence of policy and a general decrease in resource availability.

Keywords: forest conservation , wood harvesting ban, logistic regression, deforestation, forest degradation, agriculture expansion, Chitral, Pakistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: John Bankier

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Development of academic English occurs not only in communities of practice but also within wider social networks, referred to by Zappa-Hollman and Duff as individual networks of practice. Such networks may exist whether students are developing academic English in English-dominant contexts or in contexts in which English is not a majority language. As yet, little research has examined how newcomers to universities interact with a variety of social ties in such networks to receive academic and emotional support as they develop the academic English necessary to succeed in local and global academia. The one-year ethnographic study described in this presentation followed five Japanese university students enrolled on an academic English program in their home country. We graphically represent participants’ individual networks of practice related to academic English and display the role of interaction in these networks to socialization. Specific examples of academic practices will be linked to specific instances of social interaction. Interaction supportive of the development of academic practices often occurred during unplanned interactions outside the classroom and among small groups of close friends who were connected to each other in more than one way, such as those taking multiple classes together. These interactions occurred in study spaces, in hallways between class periods, at lunchtimes, and online. However, constraints such as differing accommodation arrangements, class scheduling and the hierarchical levelling of English classes by test scores discouraged some participants both from forming strong ties related to English and from interacting with existing ties. The presentation will briefly describe ways in which teachers in all contexts can maximise interaction outside the classroom.

Keywords: academic, english, practice, network

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Authors: Dionisio Andujar, Juan lópez-Correa, Hugo Moreno, Angela Ri

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The increased number of weeds in tomato crops highly lower yields. Weed identification with the aim of machine learning is important to carry out site-specific control. The last advances in computer vision are a powerful tool to face the problem. The analysis of RGB (Red, Green, Blue) images through Artificial Neural Networks had been rapidly developed in the past few years, providing new methods for weed classification. The development of the algorithms for crop and weed species classification looks for a real-time classification system using Object Detection algorithms based on Convolutional Neural Networks. The site study was located in commercial corn fields. The classification system has been tested. The procedure can detect and classify weed seedlings in tomato fields. The input to the Neural Network was a set of 10,000 RGB images with a natural infestation of Cyperus rotundus l., Echinochloa crus galli L., Setaria italica L., Portulaca oeracea L., and Solanum nigrum L. The validation process was done with a random selection of RGB images containing the aforementioned species. The mean average precision (mAP) was established as the metric for object detection. The results showed agreements higher than 95 %. The system will provide the input for an online spraying system. Thus, this work plays an important role in Site Specific Weed Management by reducing herbicide use in a single step.

Keywords: deep learning, object detection, cnn, tomato, weeds

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Authors: Ankitsinh Chauhan, Vimal Patel, A. D. Parekh, Ishant patil

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This study delves into the crucial influence of cooling tower fan operation on the performance of a chiller plant, with a specific focus on the Chiller Plant at SVNIT. Continuous operation of the chiller plant led to unexpected damage to the cooling tower's belt drive, rendering the cooling tower fan non-operational. Consequently, the efficiency of heat transfer in the condenser was significantly impaired. In response, we analyzed and calculated several vital parameters, including the Coefficient of Performance (COP), heat rejection in the condenser (Qc), work required for the compressor (Wc), and heat absorbed by the refrigerant in the evaporator (Qe). Our findings revealed that in the absence of the cooling tower fan, relying solely on natural convection, the COP of the chiller plant reached a minimum value of 5.49. However, after implementing a belt drive to facilitate forced convection for the cooling tower fan, the COP of the chiller plant experienced a noteworthy improvement, reaching approximately 6.27. Additionally, the utilization of forced convection resulted in an impressive reduction of 8.9% in compressor work, signifying enhanced energy efficiency. This study underscores the critical role of cooling tower fan operation in optimizing chiller plant performance, with practical implications for energy-efficient HVAC systems. It highlights the potential benefits of employing forced convection mechanisms, such as belt drives, to ensure efficient heat transfer in the condenser, ultimately contributing to improved energy utilization and reduced operational costs in cooling.

Keywords: cooling tower, chiller Plant, cooling tower fan, energy efficiency, VCRS.

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Authors: Gulnara Moldasheva

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The research explores the relationship between management responsibility and corporate governance of listed companies in Kazakhstan. This research employs firm level data of randomly selected listed non-financial firms and firm level data “operational” financial sector, consisted from banking sector, insurance companies and accumulated pension funds using multivariate regression analysis under fixed effect model approach. Ownership structure includes institutional ownership, managerial ownership and private investor’s ownership. Management responsibility of the firm is expressed by the decision of the firm on amount of leverage. Results of the cross sectional panel study for non-financial firms showed that only institutional shareholding is significantly negatively correlated with debt to equity ratio. Findings from “operational” financial sector show that leverage is significantly affected only by the CEO/Chair duality and the size of financial institutions, and insignificantly affected by ownership structure. Also, the findings show, that there is a significant negative relationship between profitability and the debt to equity ratio for non-financial firms, which is consistent with pecking order theory. Generally, the found results suggest that corporate governance and a management responsibility play important role in corporate performance of listed firms in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: ownership, corporate governance, debt to equity ratio, corporate performance

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Authors: Naveed Chughtai, Salman Atif, Azhar Ali Taj, Murtaza Asghar Bukhari

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Accessible transport systems play a crucial role in infrastructure management and ease of access to destinations. Thus, the necessity of knowledge of service coverage and service deprived areas is a prerequisite for devising policies. Integration of PTALs model with GIS network analysis models (Service Area Analysis, Closest Facility Analysis) facilitates the analysis of deprived areas. In this research, models presented determine the accessibility. The empirical evidence suggests that current bus network system caters only 18.5% of whole population. Using network analysis results as inputs for PTALs, it is seen that excellent accessibility indexed bands cover a limited areas, while 78.8% of area is totally deprived of any service. To cater the unserved catchment, new route alignments are proposed while keeping in focus the Socio-economic characteristics, land-use type and net population density of the deprived area. Change in accessibility with proposed routes show a 10% increment in service delivery and enhancement in terms of served population is up to 20.4%. PTALs result shows a decrement of 60 Km2 in unserved band. The result of this study can be used for planning, transport infrastructure management, allocation of new route alignments in combination with future land-use development and for adequate spatial distribution of service access points.

Keywords: GIS, public transport accessibility, PTALs, accessibility index, service area analysis, closest facility analysis

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Authors: Sunil Kumar Ghosh

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Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentus L.) is an annual vegetable crop grown in the sub-Himalayan region of north east India throughout the year except rainy season in normal field cultivation. The crop is susceptible to various insect pests of which whitefly (Bemesia tabaci Genn.) causes heavy damage. Thus, a study on its occurrence and sustainable management is needed for successful cultivation. The pest was active throughout the growing period. During 38th standard week to 41st standard week that is during 3rd week of September to 2nd week of October minimum population was observed. The maximum population level was maintained during 11th standard week to 18th standard week that is during 2nd week of March to 3rd week of March with peak population (0.47/leaf) was recorded. Weekly population counts on white fly showed non-significant negative correlation (p=0.05) with temperature and weekly total rainfall where as significant negative correlation with relative humidity. Eight treatments were taken to study the management of the white fly pest such as botanical insecticide azadirachtin botanical extracts, Spilanthes paniculata flower, Polygonum hydropiper L. flower, tobacco leaf and garlic and mixed formulation like neem and floral extract of Spilanthes were evaluated and compared with the ability of acetamiprid. The insectide acetamiprid was found most lethal against whitefly providing 76.59% suppression, closely followed by extracts of neem + Spilanthes providing 62.39% suppression. Spectophotometric scanning of crude methanolic extract of Polygonum flower showed strong absorbance wave length between 645-675 nm. Considering the level of peaks of wave length the flower extract contain some important chemicals like Spirilloxanthin, Quercentin diglycoside, Quercentin 3-O-rutinoside, Procyanidin B1 and Isorhamnetin 3-O-rutinoside. These chemicals are responsible for pest control. Spectophotometric scanning of crude methanolic extract of Spilanthes flower showed strong absorbance wave length between 645-675 nm. Considering the level of peaks of wave length the flower extract contain some important chemicals of which polysulphide compounds are important and responsible of pest control. Neem and Spilanthes individually did not produce good results but when used as a mixture they recorded better results. Highest yield (30.15 t/ha) were recorded from acetamiprid treated plots followed by neem + Spilanthes (27.55 t/ha). Azadirachtin and Plant extracts are biopesticides having less or no hazardous effects on human health and environment. Thus they can be incorporated in IPM programmes and organic farming in vegetable cultivation.

Keywords: biopesticides, organic farming, seasonal fluctuation, vegetable IPM

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Authors: Randa Alahmadi

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Because the world has become a global village, English is not only used by native speakers, but also by non-native speakers from culturally diverse backgrounds. Even though learning a second/foreign language requires development of the four skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking, there is also an intertwined relationship between language and culture, making it difficult to teach language without knowing the cultural context in which it is to be used. In the past decade, the number of international students enrolled in universities around the world has increased significantly. Having the urge to communicate effectively would serve as a motivation for both international and domestic students. The teaching of culture is important because linguistic competence is not enough for successful communication with speakers of other languages. Therefore, whether teaching natives or non-natives, students need to improve their cross-cultural communication skills and become culturally prepared to communicate successfully with people from other cultures. Teachers can equip their students for this environment by giving them appropriate knowledge and skills for effective intercultural communication. This paper will focus on the importance of intercultural communicative competence and its role in developing students’ understanding of diverse cultures as part of learning foreign/second languages. It will also explain how teachers can decide which culture should be taught: the target culture, the learners’ culture, or both. Moreover, practical and effective techniques that can be used in cultural-based language teaching will be shared.

Keywords: cultural-based language teaching, English as a lingua franca, English language learners, intercultural communicative competence

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Authors: Essam Mansour

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The key purpose of this study is to show information-seeking behaviour of Kuwaiti Judges (KJs). Being one of the few studies about the information needs and information-seeking behaviour conducted in Arab and developing countries, this study is a pioneer one among many studies conducted in information seeking, especially with this significant group of information users. The authors tried to investigate this seeking behavior in terms of KJs' thoughts, perceptions, motivations, techniques, preferences, tools and barriers met when seeking information. The authors employed a questionnaire, with a response rate 77.2 percent. This study showed that most of KJs were likely to be older, educated and with a work experience ranged from new to old experience. There is a statistically reliable significant difference between KJs' demographic characteristics and some sources of information, such as books, encyclopedias, references and mass media. KJs were using information moderately to make a decision, to be in line with current events, to collect statistics and to make a specific/general research. The office and home were the most frequent location KJs were accessing information from. KJs' efficiency level of the English language is described to be moderately good, and a little number of them confirmed that their efficiency level of French was not bad. The assistance provided by colleagues, followed by consultants, translators, sectaries and librarians were found to be most strong types of assistance needed when seeking information. Mobile apps, followed by PCs, information networks (the Internet) and information databases were the highest technology tool used by KJs. Printed materials, followed by non-printed and audiovisual materials were the most preferred information formats KJs use. The use of languages, the recency of information and the place of information, the deficit role of the library to deliver information were at least significant barriers to KJs when seeking information.

Keywords: information users, information-seeking behaviour, information needs, judges, Kuwait

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Authors: Ozge Yalciner

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Intercultural communication is crucial in the education of multilingual learners in primary grades, significantly influencing their academic and social development. This study explores how intercultural communication intersects with multilingual education, highlighting the importance of culturally responsive teaching practices. It addresses the challenges and opportunities presented by diverse linguistic backgrounds and proposes strategies for creating inclusive and supportive learning environments. The research emphasizes the need for teacher training programs that equip educators with the skills to recognize and address cultural differences, thereby enhancing student engagement and participation. This study was completed in an elementary school in a city in the Midwest, USA. The data was collected through observations and interviews with students and teachers. It discusses the integration of multicultural perspectives in curricula and the promotion of language diversity as an asset. Peer interactions and collaborative learning are highlighted as crucial for developing intercultural competence among young learners. The findings suggest that meaningful intercultural communication fosters a sense of belonging and mutual respect, leading to improved educational outcomes for multilingual students. Prioritizing intercultural communication in primary education is essential for supporting the linguistic and cultural identities of multilingual learners. By adopting inclusive pedagogical approaches and fostering an environment of cultural appreciation, educators can better support their students' academic success and personal growth.

Keywords: diversity, intercultural communication, multilingual learners, primary grades

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Authors: Sam S. Hashemi

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The breakage of bonding between sand particles and their dislodgment from the borehole wall are among the main factors resulting in a borehole failure in poorly cemented granular formations. The grain debonding usually precedes the borehole failure and it can be considered as a sign that the onset of the borehole collapse is imminent. Detecting the bonding breakage point and introducing an appropriate failure criterion will play an important role in borehole stability analysis. To study the influence of different factors on the initiation of sand bonding breakage at the borehole wall, a series of laboratory tests was designed and conducted on poorly cemented sand samples. The total absorbed strain energy per volume of material up to the point of the observed particle debonding was computed. The results indicated that the particle bonding breakage point at the borehole wall was reached both before and after the peak strength of the thick-walled hollow cylinder specimens depending on the stress path and cement content. Three different cement contents and two borehole sizes were investigated to study the influence of the bonding strength and scale on the particle dislodgment. Test results showed that the stress path has a significant influence on the onset of the sand bonding breakage. It was shown that for various stress paths, there is a near linear relationship between the absorbed energy and the normal effective mean stress.

Keywords: borehole stability, experimental studies, poorly cemented sands, total absorbed strain energy

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Authors: Shilpa Bagade Poharkar

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The basis for traditional notion of security was the use of force to preserve vital interest which based on either realism or power politics. The modern approach to security extends beyond the traditional notions of security which focus on issues as development and respect for human rights. In global politics, the issue of human security plays a vital role in most of the policy matter. In modern era, the protection of human rights is now recognized as one of the main functions of any legitimate modern state. The research paper will explore the relationship between human rights and security. United Nations is facing major challenges like rampant poverty, refugee outflows, human trafficking, displacement, conflicts, terrorism, intra-inter ethnic conflicts, proliferation of small arms, genocide, piracy, climate change, health issues and so on. The methodology is observed in this paper is doctrinaire which includes analytical and descriptive comparative method. The hypothesis of the paper is the relationship between human rights and a goal of United Nations to attain peace and security. Although previous research has been done in this field but this research paper will try to find out the challenges in the human security through human rights in the contemporary world and will provide measures for it. The study will focus on the following research questions: What are the issues and challenges United Nations facing while advancing human security through human rights? What measures the international community would take for ensuring the protection of human rights while protecting state security and contribute in the attainment of goals of United Nations?

Keywords: human rights, human security, peace, security, United Nations

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