Search results for: food samples

Authors: Ieva Jokubauskaite, Alvyra Slepetiene, Danute Karcauskiene, Inga Liaudanskiene, Kristina Amaleviciute

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Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the key soil quality and ecological stability indicator, therefore, carbon accumulation in stable forms not only supports and increases the organic matter content in the soil, but also has a positive effect on the quality of soil and the whole ecosystem. Soil liming is one of the most common ways to improve the carbon sequestration in the soil. Determination of the optimum intensity and combinations of liming in order to ensure the optimal carbon quantitative and qualitative parameters is one of the most important tasks of this work. The field experiments were carried out at the Vezaiciai Branch of Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (LRCAF) during the 2011–2013 period. The effect of liming with different intensity (at a rate 0.5 every 7 years and 2.0 every 3-4 years) was investigated in the topsoil of acid moraine loam Bathygleyic Dystric Glossic Retisol. Chemical analyses were carried out at the Chemical Research Laboratory of Institute of Agriculture, LRCAF. Soil samples for chemical analyses were taken from the topsoil after harvesting. SOC was determined by the Tyurin method modified by Nikitin, measuring with spectrometer Cary 50 (VARIAN) at 590 nm wavelength using glucose standards. SOC fractional composition was determined by Ponomareva and Plotnikova version of classical Tyurin method. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was analyzed using an ion chromatograph SKALAR in water extract at soil-water ratio 1:5. Spectral properties (E4/E6 ratio) of humic acids were determined by measuring the absorbance of humic and fulvic acids solutions at 465 and 665 nm. Our study showed a negative statistically significant effect of periodical liming (at 0.5 and 2.0 liming rates) on SOC content in the soil. The content of SOC was 1.45% in the unlimed treatment, while in periodically limed at 2.0 liming rate every 3–4 years it was approximately by 0.18 percentage points lower. It was revealed that liming significantly decreased the DOC concentration in the soil. The lowest concentration of DOC (0.156 g kg-1) was established in the most intensively limed (2.0 liming rate every 3–4 years) treatment. Soil liming exerted an increase of all humic acids and fulvic acid bounded with calcium fractions content in the topsoil. Soil liming resulted in the accumulation of valuable humic acids. Due to the applied liming, the HR/FR ratio, indicating the quality of humus increased to 1.08 compared with that in unlimed soil (0.81). Intensive soil liming promoted the formation of humic acids in which groups of carboxylic and phenolic compounds predominated. These humic acids are characterized by a higher degree of condensation of aromatic compounds and in this way determine the intensive organic matter humification processes in the soil. The results of this research provide us with the clear information on the characteristics of SOC change, which could be very useful to guide the climate policy and sustainable soil management.

Keywords: acid soil, carbon sequestration, long–term liming, soil organic carbon

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Authors: Alberto Veses, Olga Sanhauja, María Soledad Callén, Tomás García

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The appropriate use of renewable sources emerges as a decisive point to minimize the environmental impact caused by fossil fuels use. Particularly, the use of lignocellulosic biomass becomes one of the best promising alternatives since it is the only carbon-containing renewable source that can produce bioproducts similar to fossil fuels and it does not compete with food market. Among all the processes that can valorize lignocellulosic biomass, pyrolysis is an attractive alternative because it is the only thermochemical process that can produce a liquid biofuel (bio-oil) in a simple way and solid and gas fractions that can be used as energy sources to support the process. However, in order to incorporate bio-oils in current infrastructures and further process in future biorefineries, their quality needs to be improved. Introducing different low-cost catalysts and/or incorporating different polymer residues to the process are some of the new, simple and low-cost strategies that allow the user to directly obtain advanced bio-oils to be used in future biorefineries in an economic way. In this manner, from previous thermogravimetric analyses, local agricultural wastes such as grape seeds (GS) were selected as lignocellulosic biomass while, waste tires (WT) were selected as polymer residue. On the other hand, CaO was selected as low-cost catalyst based on previous experiences by the group. To reach this aim, a specially-designed fixed bed reactor using N₂ as a carrier gas was used. This reactor has the peculiarity to incorporate a vertical mobile liner that allows the user to introduce the feedstock in the oven once the selected temperature (550 ºC) is reached, ensuring higher heating rates needed for the process. Obtaining a well-defined phase distribution in the resulting bio-oil is crucial to ensure the viability to the process. Thus, once experiments were carried out, not only a well-defined two layers was observed introducing several mixtures (reaching values up to 40 wt.% of WT) but also, an upgraded organic phase, which is the one considered to be processed in further biorefineries. Radical interactions between GS and WT released during the pyrolysis process and dehydration reactions enhanced by CaO can promote the formation of better-quality bio-oils. The latter was reflected in a reduction of water and oxygen content of bio-oil and hence, a substantial increase of its heating value and its stability. Moreover, not only sulphur content was reduced from solely WT pyrolysis but also potential and negative issues related to a strong acidic environment of conventional bio-oils were minimized due to its basic pH and lower total acid numbers. Therefore, acidic compounds obtained in the pyrolysis such as CO₂-like substances can react with the CaO and minimize acidic problems related to lignocellulosic bio-oils. Moreover, this CO₂ capture promotes H₂ production from water gas shift reaction favoring hydrogen-transfer reactions, improving the final quality of the bio-oil. These results show the great potential of grapes seeds to carry out the catalytic co-pyrolysis process with different plastic residues in order to produce a liquid bio-oil that can be considered as a high-quality renewable vector.

Keywords: advanced bio-oils, biorefinery, catalytic co-pyrolysis of biomass and waste tires, lignocellulosic biomass

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Authors: Desmond Appiah, Fan Zhang, Shouqi Yuan, Wei Xueyuan, Stephen N. Asomani

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The side channel pump has distinctive hydraulic performance characteristics over other vane pumps because of its generation of high pressure heads in only one impeller revolution. Hence, there is soaring utilization and application in the fields of petrochemical, food processing fields, automotive and aerospace fuel pumping where high heads are required at low flows. The side channel pump is characterized by unstable flow because after fluid flows into the impeller passage, it moves into the side channel and comes back to the impeller again and then moves to the next circulation. Consequently, the flow leaves the side channel pump following a helical path. However, the pressure fluctuation exhibited in the flow greatly contributes to the unwanted noise and vibration which is associated with the flow. In this paper, a side channel pump prototype was examined thoroughly through numerical calculations based on SST k-ω turbulence model to ascertain the pressure fluctuation behavior. The pressure fluctuation intensity of the 3D unstable flow dynamics were carefully investigated under different working conditions 0.8QBEP, 1.0 QBEP and 1.2QBEP. The results showed that the pressure fluctuation distribution around the pressure side of the blade is greater than the suction side at the impeller and side channel interface (z=0) for all three operating conditions. Part-load condition 0.8QBEP recorded the highest pressure fluctuation distribution because of the high circulation velocity thus causing an intense exchanged flow between the impeller and side channel. Time and frequency domains spectra of the pressure fluctuation patterns in the impeller and the side channel were also analyzed under the best efficiency point value, QBEP using the solution from the numerical calculations. It was observed from the time-domain analysis that the pressure fluctuation characteristics in the impeller flow passage increased steadily until the flow reached the interrupter which separates low-pressure at the inflow from high pressure at the outflow. The pressure fluctuation amplitudes in the frequency domain spectrum at the different monitoring points depicted a gentle decreasing trend of the pressure amplitudes which was common among the operating conditions. The frequency domain also revealed that the main excitation frequencies occurred at 600Hz, 1200Hz, and 1800Hz and continued in the integers of the rotating shaft frequency. Also, the mass flow exchange plots indicated that the side channel pump is characterized with many vortex flows. Operating conditions 0.8QBEP, 1.0 QBEP depicted less and similar vortex flow while 1.2Q recorded many vortex flows around the inflow, middle and outflow regions. The results of the numerical calculations were finally verified experimentally. The performance characteristics curves from the simulated results showed that 0.8QBEP working condition recorded a head increase of 43.03% and efficiency decrease of 6.73% compared to 1.0QBEP. It can be concluded that for industrial applications where the high heads are mostly required, the side channel pump can be designed to operate at part-load conditions. This paper can serve as a source of information in order to optimize a reliable performance and widen the applications of the side channel pumps.

Keywords: exchanged flow, pressure fluctuation, numerical simulation, side channel pump

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Authors: Amjad Ali Khan, Muhammad Ishaq Saqi, Kashif Ali

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The focus of hydrocarbon exploration in Pakistan has been primarily on conventional hydrocarbon resources. Directorate General Petroleum Concessions (DGPC) has taken the lead on the assessment of indigenous unconventional oil and gas resources, which has resulted in a ‘Shale Oil/Gas Resource Assessment Study’ conducted with the help of USAID. This was critically required in the energy-starved Pakistan, where the gap between indigenous oil & gas production and demand continues to widen for a long time. Exploration & exploitation of indigenous unconventional resources of Pakistan have become vital to meet our energy demand and reduction of oil and gas import bill of the country. This study has attempted to bridge a critical gap in geological information about the potential of shale gas & oil in Pakistan in the four formations, i.e., Sembar, Lower Goru, Ranikot and Ghazij in the Middle and Lower Indus Basins, which were selected for the study as for resource assessment for shale gas & oil. The primary objective of the study was to estimate and establish shale oil/gas resource assessment of the study area by carrying out extensive geological analysis of exploration, appraisal and development wells drilled in the Middle and Lower Indus Basins, along with identification of fairway(s) and sweet spots in the study area. The Study covers the Lower parts of the Middle Indus basins located in Sindh, southern Punjab & eastern parts of the Baluchistan provinces, with a total sedimentary area of 271,795 km2. Initially, 1611 wells were reviewed, including 1324 wells drilled through different shale formations. Based on the availability of required technical data, a detailed petrophysical analysis of 124 wells (21 Confidential & 103 in the public domain) has been conducted for the shale gas/oil potential of the above-referred formations. The core & cuttings samples of 32 wells and 33 geochemical reports of prospective Shale Formations were available, which were analyzed to calibrate the results of petrophysical analysis with petrographic/ laboratory analyses to increase the credibility of the Shale Gas Resource assessment. This study has identified the most prospective intervals, mainly in Sembar and Lower Goru Formations, for shale gas/oil exploration in the Middle and Lower Indus Basins of Pakistan. The study recommends seven (07) sweet spots for undertaking pilot projects, which will enable to evaluate of the actual production capability and production sustainability of shale oil/gas reservoirs of Pakistan for formulating future strategies to explore and exploit shale/oil resources of Pakistan including fiscal incentives required for developing shale oil/gas resources of Pakistan. Some E&P Companies are being persuaded to make a consortium for undertaking pilot projects that have shown their willingness to participate in the pilot project at appropriate times. The location for undertaking the pilot project has been finalized as a result of a series of technical sessions by geoscientists of the potential consortium members after the review and evaluation of available studies.

Keywords: conventional resources, petrographic analysis, petrophysical analysis, unconventional resources, shale gas & oil, sweet spots

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Authors: John Toussaint

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Objective: Our society is suffering from an epidemic of body image dissatisfaction, and related disorders appear to be increasing globally for children. There is much to indicate that children's body image and eating attitudes are being affected negatively by socio-cultural factors such as parents, peers and media. Most studies and theories, however, have focused extensively on the daughter-mother relationship. Very few studies have investigated the role of attachment to the father as an important factor in the development of girls’ and women’s attitudes towards themselves and their bodies. Recently, data have shown that the father’s parenting style, as well as the quality of the relationship with him is crucial for the understanding of the development and persistence of body image disorders. This presentation is based on samples of participants with self-defined body image dissatisfaction, and the self-reported measures of their fathers’ parental behaviours, emotional warmth, support, or protection. Attachment theory does offer support in exploring these relationships and it is used in this presentation to assist in understanding the relationship between the father and his daughter in relation to body image and mental health. Clinical implications are also offered in respect to work with body image, eating disorders and relational therapy. Methods: As awareness of the increasing frequency of body image concerns in children grows, so too does the need for a simple, valid and reliable measure of body image. The Children's Body Image Scale (CBIS) designed in Australia, depicts seven male and females figures from which children are to choose their perceived body type and ideal body type. This was compared with a range of international body mass index (BMI) reference standards. These measures together with individual one-on-one interviews were completed by 158 children aged 7-12 years. Results: A high frequency of body image dissatisfaction was indicated in the children's responses. 55% of girls and 41% of boys said they would like to be thinner, and wished for an ideal BMI figure below the 10th percentile. This is an unhealthy and unattainable level of body fatness for the majority of children when considered in relation to the reported secular trend of their increasing average body size. Thin children were generally ranked as best and perceived as kind, happy, academically skilled, and socially successful. Fat children were perceived as unintelligent, lazy, greedy, unpopular, and unable to play physical games. Conclusions: Body image ideals and fat stereotypes are well entrenched among children. There is much to indicate that children's body image and eating attitudes are being affected negatively by sociocultural factors such as parents, peers and media. Teachers and health professionals could promote intervention programs for children involving knowledge and acceptance of genetic influences on body type; the dangerous effects of weight loss dieting; the importance of physical activity and eating healthy; and scepticism and critical analysis of mass media messages.

Keywords: body image, father attachment, mental health, eating disorders

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Authors: Alaa Abdellatif, Gabrièle Breda

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Background. Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) are innovative therapies that mainly target orphan diseases and high unmet medical needs. ATMP includes gene therapy medicinal products (GTMP), somatic cell therapy medicinal products (CTMP), and tissue-engineered therapies (TEP). Since legislation opened the way in 2007, 25 ATMPs have been approved in the EU, which is about the same amount as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, not all of the ATMPs that have been approved have successfully reached the market and retained their approval. Objectives. We aim to understand all the factors limiting the market access to very promising therapies in a systemic approach, to be able to overcome these problems, in the future, with scientific, regulatory and commercial innovations. Further to recent reviews that focus either on specific countries, products, or dimensions, we will address all the challenges faced by ATMP development today. Methodology. We used mixed methods and a multi-level approach for data collection. First, we performed an updated academic literature review on ATMP development and their scientific and market access challenges (papers published between 2018 and April 2023). Second, we analyzed industry feedback from cell and gene therapy webinars and white papers published by providers and pharmaceutical industries. Finally, we established a comparative analysis of the regulatory guidelines published by EMA and the FDA for ATMP approval. Results: The main challenges in bringing these therapies to market are the high development costs. Developing ATMPs is expensive due to the need for specialized manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the regulatory pathways for ATMPs are often complex and can vary between countries, making it challenging to obtain approval and ensure compliance with different regulations. As a result of the high costs associated with ATMPs, challenges in obtaining reimbursement from healthcare payers lead to limited patient access to these treatments. ATMPs are often developed for orphan diseases, which means that the patient population is limited for clinical trials which can make it challenging to demonstrate their safety and efficacy. In addition, the complex manufacturing processes required for ATMPs can make it challenging to scale up production to meet demand, which can limit their availability and increase costs. Finally, ATMPs face safety and efficacy challenges: dangerous adverse events of these therapies like toxicity related to the use of viral vectors or cell therapy, starting material and donor-related aspects. Conclusion. As a result of our mixed method analysis, we found that ATMPs face a number of challenges in their development, regulatory approval, and commercialization and that addressing these challenges requires collaboration between industry, regulators, healthcare providers, and patient groups. This first analysis will help us to address, for each challenge, proper and innovative solution(s) in order to increase the number of ATMPs approved and reach the patients

Keywords: advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), product development, market access, innovation

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Authors: Natcha Lueangapapong, Chariya Chuthapisith, Lunliya Thampratankul

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Background: There is a need to find an appropriate tool to help healthcare providers determine sleep problems in children for early diagnosis and management. The Japanese Sleep Questionnaire for Preschoolers (JSQ-P) is a parent-reported sleep questionnaire that has good psychometric properties and can be used in the context of Asian culture, which is likely suitable for Thai children. Objectives: This study aimed to translate and validate the Japanese Sleep Questionnaire for Preschoolers (JSQ-P) into a Thai version and to evaluate factors associated with sleep disorders in preschoolers. Methods: After approval by the original developer, the cross-cultural adaptation process of JSQ-P was performed, including forward translation, reconciliation, backward translation, and final approval of the Thai version of JSQ-P (TH-JSQ-P) by the original creator. This study was conducted between March 2021 and February 2022. The TH-JSQ-P was completed by 2,613 guardians whose children were aged 2-6 years twice in 10-14 days to assess its reliability and validity. Content validity was measured by an index of item-objective congruence (IOC) and a content validity index (CVI). Face validity, content validity, structural validity, construct validity (discriminant validity), criterion validity and predictive validity were assessed. The sensitivity and specificity of the TH-JSQ-P were also measured by using a total JSQ-P score cutoff point 84, recommended by the original JSQ-P and each subscale score among the clinical samples of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Results: Internal consistency reliability, evaluated by Cronbach’s α coefficient, showed acceptable reliability in all subscales of JSQ-P. It also had good test-retest reliability, as the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for all items ranged between 0.42-0.84. The content validity was acceptable. For structural validity, our results indicated that the final factor solution for the Th-JSQ-P was comparable to the original JSQ-P. For construct validity, age group was one of the clinical parameters associated with some sleep problems. In detail, parasomnias, insomnia, daytime excessive sleepiness and sleep habits significantly decreased when the children got older; on the other hand, insufficient sleep was significantly increased with age. For criterion validity, all subscales showed a correlation with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (r = -0.049-0.349). In predictive validity, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale was significantly a strong factor that correlated to sleep problems in all subscales of JSQ-P except in the subscale of sleep habit. The sensitivity and specificity of the total JSQ-P score were 0.72 and 0.66, respectively. Conclusion: The Thai version of JSQ-P has good internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability. It passed 6 validity tests, and this can be used to evaluate sleep problems in preschool children in Thailand. Furthermore, it has satisfactory general psychometric properties and good reliability and validity. The data collected in examining the sensitivity of the Thai version revealed that the JSQ-P could detect differences in sleep problems among children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. This confirmed that the measure is sensitive and can be used to discriminate sleep problems among different children.

Keywords: preschooler, questionnaire, validation, Thai version

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Authors: Neil Fourati

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Collaboration between public and private stakeholders for agricultural development are today lacking in Tunisia. The last dictatorship witnessed by the country has deteriorated the necessary trust between the state and small farmers for the realization of development projects, in particular in the interior, disadvantaged regions of the country. These regions, where the youth unemployment rate is above 30%, have been the heart of the uprising that preceded the revolution. The transitional period that the country is going through since 2011 is an opportunity for the emergence of new governance systems in the context of the decentralization. The latter is recognized in the 2nd Tunisian Republic constitution as the basis of regional management. Civil society participation to the decision-making process is considered as a mean to identify measures that are more coherent with local populations’ needs. The development of agriculture and food value chains in rural areas is relevant within the framework of the implementation of new decisions systems that require public-private collaborations. These new systems can lead to actions in favor of improving living conditions of rural populations. The diverisification of activities around agriculture can be a solution for job creation and local value creation. The project for the promotion of sustainable agriculture and rural development in Tunisia has designed and implemented a multi-stakeholder dialogue process for the development of local value chains platforms in disadvantaged areas of the country. The platforms gather public and private organizations ; as well civil society organizations ; that intervene in a locality in relation to the production transformation or product’s commercialization. The role of these platforms is to formulate realize and evaluate collaborative actions or projects for the promotion of the concerned product and territory. The dialogue process steps allow to create the necessary collaboration conditions in order to promote viable collectivities, dynamic economies and healthy environments. Effectively, the dialogue process steps allow to identify the local leaders. These leaders recognize the development constraints and opportunities. They deal with key and gathering subjects around the collaborative projects or actions. They take common decisions in order to create effective coalitions for the implementation of common actions. The plateforms realize quick success so as to build trust. The project has supported the formulation of 22 collaborative projects. Seven priority collaborative projects have been realized. Each collaborative project includes 3 parts : the signature of the collaboration conventions between public and private organizations, investment in the relevant material in order to increase productivity and the quality of local and products and finally management and technical training in favour of producers’ organizations for the promotion of local products. The implementation of this process has enabled to enhance the capacities of collaboration between local actors : producers, traders, processors and support structures from public sector and civil society. It also allowed to improve the efficiency and relevance of actions and measures for agriculture and rural development programs. Thus, the process for the development of local value chain platform is a basis for sustainable development of agriculture.

Keywords: governance, public private collaboration, rural development, value chains

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Authors: Mohammed Sabbah, Prospero Di Pierro, Raffaele Porta

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Protein-based edible films and coatings have attracted an increasing interest in recent years since they might be used to protect pharmaceuticals or improve the shelf life of different food products. Among them, several plant proteins represent an abundant, inexpensive and renewable raw source. These natural biopolymers are used as film forming agents, being able to form intermolecular linkages by various interactions. However, without the addition of a plasticizing agent, many biomaterials are brittle and, consequently, very difficult to be manipulated. Plasticizers are generally small and non-volatile organic additives used to increase film extensibility and reduce its crystallinity, brittleness and water vapor permeability. Plasticizers normally act by decreasing the intermolecular forces along the polymer chains, thus reducing the relative number of polymer-polymer contacts, producing a decrease in cohesion and tensile strength and thereby increasing film flexibility allowing its deformation without rupture. The most commonly studied plasticizers are polyols, like glycerol (GLY) and some mono or oligosaccharides. In particular, GLY not only increases film extensibility but also migrates inside the film network often causing the loss of desirable mechanical properties of the material. Therefore, replacing GLY with a different plasticizer might help to improve film characteristics allowing potential industrial applications. To improve film properties, it seemed of interest to test as plasticizers some cationic small molecules like polyamines (PAs). Putrescine, spermidine (SPD), and spermine are PAs widely distributed in nature and of particular interest for their biological activities that may have some beneficial health effects. Since PAs contains amino instead of hydroxyl functional groups, they are able to trigger ionic interactions with negatively charged proteins. Bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia; BV) is an ancient grain legume crop, originated in the Mediterranean region, which can be found today in many countries around the world. This annual Vicia genus shows several favorable features, being their seeds a cheap and abundant protein source. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of different concentrations of SPD on the mechanical and permeability properties of films prepared with native or heat denatured BV proteins in the presence of different concentrations of SPD and/or GLY. Therefore, a BV seed protein concentrate (BVPC), containing about 77% proteins, was used to prepare film forming solutions (FFSs), whereas GLY and SPD were added as film plasticizers, either singly or in combination, at various concentrations. Since a primary plasticizer is generally defined as a molecule that when added to a material makes it softer, more flexible and easier to be processed, our findings lead to consider SPD as a possible primary plasticizer of protein-based films. In fact, the addition of millimolar concentrations of SPD to BVPC FFS allowed obtaining handleable biomaterials with improved properties. Moreover, SPD can be also considered as a secondary plasticizer, namely an 'extender', because of its ability even to enhance the plasticizing performance of GLY. In conclusion, our studies indicate that innovative edible protein-based films and coatings can be obtained by using PAs as new plasticizers.

Keywords: edible films, glycerol, plasticizers, polyamines, spermidine

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Authors: Caterina Muzzi, Sergio Albertini, Davide Giacomini

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The research is aimed to investigate the role of young entrepreneurs’ personality traits and their contextual background on the success of entrepreneurial initiatives. In the literature, the debate is still open about the main drivers in predicting entrepreneurial success. Classical theories are focused on looking at specific personality traits that could lead to successful start-ups initiatives, while emerging approaches are more interested in young entrepreneurs’ contextual background (such as the family of origin, the previous experience and their professional network). An online survey was submitted to the participants of an entrepreneurial training initiative organised by the Italian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Confindustria) in Brescia headquarter (AIB). At the time the authors started data collection for this research, the third edition of the initiative was just concluded and involved a total amount of 37 young future entrepreneurs. In the literature General self-efficacy (GSE) and, more specifically, entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) have often been associated to positive performances, as they allow future entrepreneurs to effectively cope with entrepreneurial activities, both at an early stage and in new venture management. In a counter-intuitive manner, optimism is not always associated with entrepreneurial positive results. Too optimistic people risk taking hazardous risks and some authors suggest that moderately optimistic entrepreneurs achieve more positive results than over-optimistic ones. Indeed highly optimistic individuals often hold unrealistic expectations, discount negative information, and mentally reconstruct experiences so as to avoid contradictions The importance of context has been increasingly considered in entrepreneurship literature and its role strongly emerges starting from the earliest entrepreneurial stage and it is crucial to transform the “intention of entrepreneurship” into the actual start-up. Furthermore, coherently with the “network approach to entrepreneurship”, context embeddedness allow future entrepreneurs to leverage relationships built through previous experiences and/or thanks to the fact of belonging to families of entrepreneurs. For the purpose of this research, entrepreneurial success was measured by the fact of having or not founded a new venture after the training initiative. In this research, the authors measured GSE, ESE and optimism using already tested items that showed to be reliable also in this case. They collected 36 completed questionnaires. The t-test for independent samples run to measure significant differences in means between those that already funded the new venture and those that did not. No significant differences emerged with respect to all the tested personality traits, but a logistic regression analysis, run with contextual variables as independent ones, showed that personal and professional networking, made both before and during the master, is the most relevant variable in determining new venture success. These findings shed more light on the process of new venture foundation and could encourage national and local policy makers to invest on networking as one of the main drivers that could support the creation of new ventures.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, networking, new ventures, personality traits

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Authors: Marina Sofia, Alexios Giannakopoulos, Antonia Touloudi, Dimitris C Chatzopoulos, Zoi Athanasakopoulou, Vassiliki Spyrou, Charalambos Billinis

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Fertility of dairy cattle can be affected by heat stress when the ambient temperature increases above 30°C and the relative humidity ranges from 35% to 50%. The present study was conducted on dairy cattle farms during summer months in Greece and aimed to identify the serological profile against pathogens that could affect fertility and to associate the positive serological results at herd level with temperature factors. A total of 323 serum samples were collected from clinically healthy dairy cows of 8 herds, located in Central and Northern Greece. ELISA tests were performed to detect antibodies against selected pathogens that affect fertility, namely Chlamydophila abortus, Coxiella burnetii, Neospora caninum, Toxoplasma gondii and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis Virus (IBRV). Eleven climatic variables were derived from the WorldClim version 1.4. and ArcGIS V.10.1 software was used for analysis of the spatial information. Five different MaxEnt models were applied to associate the temperature variables with the locations of seropositive Chl. abortus, C. burnetii, N. caninum, T. gondii and IBRV herds (one for each pathogen). The logistic outputs were used for the interpretation of the results. ROC analyses were performed to evaluate the goodness of fit of the models’ predictions. Jackknife tests were used to identify the variables with a substantial contribution to each model. The seropositivity rates of pathogens varied among the 8 herds (0.85-4.76% for Chl. abortus, 4.76-62.71% for N. caninum, 3.8-43.47% for C. burnetii, 4.76-39.28% for T. gondii and 47.83-78.57% for IBRV). The variables of annual temperature range, mean diurnal range and maximum temperature of the warmest month gave a contribution to all five models. The regularized training gains, the training AUCs and the unregularized training gains were estimated. The mean diurnal range gave the highest gain when used in isolation and decreased the gain the most when it was omitted in the two models for seropositive Chl.abortus and IBRV herds. The annual temperature range increased the gain when used alone and decreased the gain the most when it was omitted in the models for seropositive C. burnetii, N. caninum and T. gondii herds. In conclusion, antibodies against Chl. abortus, C. burnetii, N. caninum, T. gondii and IBRV were detected in most herds suggesting circulation of pathogens that could cause infertility. The results of the spatial analyses demonstrated that the annual temperature range, mean diurnal range and maximum temperature of the warmest month could affect positively the possible pathogens’ presence. Acknowledgment: This research has been co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH–CREATE–INNOVATE (project code: T1EDK-01078).

Keywords: dairy cows, seropositivity, spatial analysis, temperature factors

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Authors: Maher Z. Mohammed, Barry G. Clarke

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As an alternative to stone column in fine grained soils, it is possible to create stiffened columns of soils using electroosmosis (electroosmotic piles). This program of this research is to establish the effectiveness and efficiency of the process in different soils. The aim of this study is to assess the capability of electroosmosis treatment in a range of composite soils. The combined electroosmotic and preloading equipment developed by Nizar and Clarke (2013) was used with an octagonal array of anodes surrounding a single cathode in a nominal 250mm diameter 300mm deep cylinder of soil and 80mm anode to cathode distance. Copper coiled springs were used as electrodes to allow the soil to consolidate either due to an external vertical applied load or electroosmosis. The equipment was modified to allow the temperature to be monitored during the test. Electroosmotic tests were performed on China Clay Grade E kaolin and calcium bentonite (Bentonex CB) mixed with sand fraction C (BS 1881 part 131) at different ratios by weight; (0, 23, 33, 50 and 67%) subjected to applied voltages (5, 10, 15 and 20). The soil slurry was prepared by mixing the dry soil with water to 1.5 times the liquid limit of the soil mixture. The mineralogical and geotechnical properties of the tested soils were measured before the electroosmosis treatment began. In the electroosmosis cell tests, the settlement, expelled water, variation of electrical current and applied voltage, and the generated heat was monitored during the test time for 24 osmotic tests. Water content was measured at the end of each test. The electroosmotic tests are divided into three phases. In Phase 1, 15 kPa was applied to simulate a working platform and produce a uniform soil which had been deposited as a slurry. 50 kPa was used in Phase 3 to simulate a surcharge load. The electroosmotic treatment was only performed during Phase 2 where a constant voltage was applied through the electrodes in addition to the 15 kPa pressure. This phase was stopped when no further water was expelled from the cell, indicating the electroosmotic process had stopped due to either the degradation of the anode or the flow due to the hydraulic gradient exactly balanced the electroosmotic flow resulting in no flow. Control tests for each soil mixture were carried out to assess the behaviour of the soil samples subjected to only an increase of vertical pressure, which is 15kPa in Phase 1 and 50kPa in Phase 3. Analysis of the experimental results from this study showed a significant dewatering effect on the soil slurries. The water discharged by the electroosmotic treatment process decreased as the sand content increased. Soil temperature increased significantly when electrical power was applied and drops when applied DC power turned off or when the electrode degraded. The highest increase in temperature was found in pure clays at higher applied voltage after about 8 hours of electroosmosis test.

Keywords: electrokinetic treatment, electrical conductivity, electroosmotic consolidation, electroosmosis permeability ratio

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Authors: K. K. Balavenkatraman, B. Bertschi, K. Bigot, A. Grevot, A. Doelemeyer, S. D. Chibout, A. Wolf, F. Pognan, N. Manevski, O. Kretz, P. Swart, K. Litherland, J. Ashton-Chess, B. Ling, R. Wettstein, D. J. Schaefer

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Skin toxicity is poorly detected during preclinical studies, and drug-induced side effects in humans such as rashes, hyperplasia or more serious events like bullous pemphigus or toxic epidermal necrolysis represent an important hurdle for clinical development. In vitro keratinocyte-based epidermal skin models are suitable for the detection of chemical-induced irritancy, but do not recapitulate the biological complexity of full skin and fail to detect potential serious side-effects. Normal healthy skin explants may represent a valuable complementary tool, having the advantage of retaining the full skin architecture and the resident immune cell diversity. This study investigated several conditions for the maintenance of good morphological structure after several days of culture and the retention of phase II metabolism for 24 hours in skin explants in vitro. Human skin samples were collected with informed consent from patients undergoing plastic surgery and immediately transferred and processed in our laboratory by removing the underlying dermal fat. Punch biopsies of 4 mm diameter were cultured in an air-liquid interface using transwell filters. Different cultural conditions such as the effect of calcium, temperature and cultivation media were tested for a period of 14 days and explants were histologically examined after Hematoxylin and Eosin staining. Our results demonstrated that the use of Williams E Medium at 32°C maintained the physiological integrity of the skin for approximately one week. Upon prolonged incubation, the upper layers of the epidermis become thickened and some dead cells are present. Interestingly, these effects were prevented by addition of EGFR inhibitors such as Afatinib or Erlotinib. Phase II metabolism of the skin such as glucuronidation (4-methyl umbeliferone), sulfation (minoxidil), N-acetyltransferase (p-toluidene), catechol methylation (2,3-dehydroxy naphthalene), and glutathione conjugation (chlorodinitro benzene) were analyzed by using LCMS. Our results demonstrated that the human skin explants possess metabolic activity for a period of at least 24 hours for all the substrates tested. A time course for glucuronidation with 4-methyl umbeliferone was performed and a linear correlation was obtained over a period of 24 hours. Longer-term culture studies will indicate the possible evolution of such metabolic activities. In summary, these results demonstrate that human skin explants maintain a normal structure for several days in vitro and are metabolically active for at least the first 24 hours. Hence, with further characterisation, this model may be suitable for the study of drug-induced toxicity.

Keywords: human skin explant, phase II metabolism, epidermal growth factor receptor, toxicity

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Kusno Kamil, Andi Asni, Sungkono

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According to a report of the World Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO): the post-harvest fish losses in Indonesia reaches 30 percent from 170 trillion rupiahs of marine fisheries reserves, then the potential loss reaches 51 trillion rupiahs (end of 2016 data). This condition is caused by traditionally vulnerable fish catches damaged due to disruption of the cold chain of preservation. The physical and chemical changes in fish flesh increase rapidly, especially if exposed to the scorching heat in the middle of the sea, exacerbated by the low awareness of catch hygiene; many unclean catches which contain blood are often treated without special attention and mixed with freshly caught fish, thereby increasing the potential for faster fish spoilage. This background encourages research on traditional fisherman catch preservation methods that aim to find the best and most affordable methods and/or combinations of fish preservation methods so that they can help fishermen increase their fishing duration without worrying that their catch will be damaged, thereby reducing their economic value when returning to the beach to sell their catches. This goal is expected to be achieved through experimental methods of treatment of fresh fish catches in containers with the addition of anti-bacterial copper, liquid smoke solution, and the use of vacuum containers. The other three treatments combined the three previous treatment variables with an electrically powered cooler (temperature 0~4 ᵒC). As a control specimen, the untreated fresh fish (placed in the open air and in the refrigerator) were also prepared for comparison for 1, 3, and 6 days. To test the level of freshness of fish for each treatment, physical observations were used, which were complemented by tests for bacterial content in a trusted laboratory. The content of copper (Cu) in fish meat (which is suspected of having a negative impact on consumers) was also part of the examination on the 6th day of experimentation. The results of physical observations on the test specimens (organoleptic method) showed that preservation assisted by the use of coolers was still better for all treatment variables. The specimens, without cooling, sequentially showed that the best preservation effectiveness was the addition of copper plates, the use of vacuum containers, and then liquid smoke immersion. Especially for liquid smoke, soaking for 6 days of preservation makes the fish meat soft and easy to crumble, even though it doesn't have a bad odor. The visual observation was then complemented by the results of testing the amount of growth (or retardation) of putrefactive bacteria in each treatment of test specimens within similar observation periods. Laboratory measurements report that the minimum amount of putrefactive bacteria achieved by preservation treatment combining cooler with liquid smoke (sample A+), then cooler only (D+), copper layer inside cooler (B+), vacuum container inside cooler (C+), respectively. Other treatments in open air produced a hundred times more putrefactive bacteria. In addition, treatment of the copper layer contaminated the preserved fresh fish more than a thousand times bigger compared to the initial amount, from 0.69 to 1241.68 µg/g.

Keywords: fish, preservation, traditional, fishermen, boat

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Istvan Szilagyi, Marko Pavlovic, Paul Rouster

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Antioxidant enzymes are the most efficient defense systems against reactive oxygen species, which cause severe damage in living organisms and industrial products. However, their supplementation is problematic due to their high sensitivity to the environmental conditions. Immobilization on carrier nanoparticles is a promising research direction towards the improvement of their functional and colloidal stability. In that way, their applications in biomedical treatments and manufacturing processes in the food, textile and cosmetic industry can be extended. The main goal of the present research was to prepare and formulate antioxidant bionanocomposites composed of superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme, anionic clay (layered double hydroxide, LDH) nanoparticle and heparin (HEP) polyelectrolyte. To characterize the structure and the colloidal stability of the obtained compounds in suspension and solid state, electrophoresis, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, spectrophotometry, thermogravimetry, X-ray diffraction, infrared and fluorescence spectroscopy were used as experimental techniques. LDH-SOD composite was synthesized by enzyme immobilization on the clay particles via electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, which resulted in a strong adsorption of the SOD on the LDH surface, i.e., no enzyme leakage was observed once the material was suspended in aqueous solutions. However, the LDH-SOD showed only limited resistance against salt-induced aggregation and large irregularly shaped clusters formed during short term interval even at lower ionic strengths. Since sufficiently high colloidal stability is a key requirement in most of the applications mentioned above, the nanocomposite was coated with HEP polyelectrolyte to develop highly stable suspensions of primary LDH-SOD-HEP particles. HEP is a natural anticoagulant with one of the highest negative line charge density among the known macromolecules. The experimental results indicated that it strongly adsorbed on the oppositely charged LDH-SOD surface leading to charge inversion and to the formation of negatively charged LDH-SOD-HEP. The obtained hybrid materials formed stable suspension even under extreme conditions, where classical colloid chemistry theories predict rapid aggregation of the particles and unstable suspensions. Such a stabilization effect originated from electrostatic repulsion between the particles of the same sign of charge as well as from steric repulsion due to the osmotic pressure raised during the overlap of the polyelectrolyte chains adsorbed on the surface. In addition, the SOD enzyme kept its structural and functional integrity during the immobilization and coating processes and hence, the LDH-SOD-HEP bionanocomposite possessed excellent activity in decomposition of superoxide radical anions, as revealed in biochemical test reactions. In conclusion, due to the improved colloidal stability and the good efficiency in scavenging superoxide radical ions, the developed enzymatic system is a promising antioxidant candidate for biomedical or other manufacturing processes, wherever the aim is to decompose reactive oxygen species in suspensions.

Keywords: clay, enzyme, polyelectrolyte, formulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Sibele A. F. Leite, Bernno S. Leite, José Vicente H. D´Angelo, Ana Teresa P. Dell’Isola, Julio CéSar Souza

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The generation of bioenergy is one of the oldest and simplest biomass applications and is one of the safest options for minimizing emissions of greenhouse gasses and replace the use of fossil fuels. In addition, the increasing development of technologies for energy biomass conversion parallel to the advancement of research in biotechnology and engineering has enabled new opportunities for exploitation of biomass. Agricultural residues offer great potential for energy use, and Brazil is in a prominent position in the production and export of agricultural products such as banana and rice. Despite the economic importance of the growth prospects of these activities and the increasing of the agricultural waste, they are rarely explored for energy and production of new materials. Brazil products almost 10.5 million tons/year of rice husk and 26.8 million tons/year of banana stem. Thereby, the aim of this study was to analysis the potential of biomass residues for energy production and applications in new materials. Rice husk (specify the type) and banana stem (specify the type) were characterized by physicochemical analyses using the following parameters: organic carbon, nitrogen (NTK), proximate analyses, FT-IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analyses (TG), calorific values and silica content. Rice husk and banana stem presented attractive superior calorific (from 11.5 to 13.7MJ/kg), and they may be compared to vegetal coal (21.25 MJ/kg). These results are due to the high organic matter content. According to the proximate analysis, biomass has high carbon content (fixed and volatile) and low moisture and ash content. In addition, data obtained by Walkley–Black method point out that most of the carbon present in the rice husk (50.5 wt%) and in banana stalk (35.5 wt%) should be understood as organic carbon (readily oxidizable). Organic matter was also detected by Kjeldahl method which gives the values of nitrogen (especially on the organic form) for both residues: 3.8 and 4.7 g/kg of rice husk and banana stem respectively. TG and DSC analyses support the previous results, as they can provide information about the thermal stability of the samples allowing a correlation between thermal behavior and chemical composition. According to the thermogravimetric curves, there were two main stages of mass-losses. The first and smaller one occurred below 100 °C, which was suitable for water losses and the second event occurred between 200 and 500 °C which indicates decomposition of the organic matter. At this broad peak, the main loss was between 250-350 °C, and it is because of sugar decomposition (components readily oxidizable). Above 350 °C, mass loss of the biomass may be associated with lignin decomposition. Spectroscopic characterization just provided qualitative information about the organic matter, but spectra have shown absorption bands around 1030 cm-1 which may be identified as species containing silicon. This result is expected for the rice husk and deserves further investigation to the stalk of banana, as it can bring a different perspective for this biomass residue.

Keywords: rice husk, banana stem, bioenergy, renewable feedstock

Procedia PDF Downloads 250

Authors: Magdalena Rost-Roszkowska, Izabela Poprawa, Alina Chachulska-Zymelka, Lukasz Chajec, Grazyna Wilczek, Piotr Wilczek, Malgorzata Lesniewska

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Lithobius forficatus, commonly known as the brown centipede, is a widespread European species, which lives in the upper layers of soil, under stones, litter, rocks, and leaves. As the soil organism, it is exposed to numerous stressors such as xenobiotics, including heavy metals, temperature, starvation, pathogens, etc. Heavy metals are treated as the environmental pollutants of the soil because of their toxic effects on plants, animals and human being. One of the heavy metals which is xenobiotic and can be taken up by plants or animals from the soil is cadmium. The digestive system of centipedes is composed of three distinct regions: fore-, mid- and hindgut. The salivary glands of centipedes are the organs which belong to the anterior region of the digestive system and take part in the synthesis, accumulation, and secretion of many substances. The middle region having contact with the food masses is treated as one of the barriers which protect the organism against any stressors which originate from the external environment, e.g., toxic metals. As the material for our studies, we chose two organs of the digestive system in brown centipede, the organs which take part in homeostasis maintenance: the salivary glands and the midgut. The main purpose of the project was to investigate the relationship between the percentage of depolarized mitochondria, mitophagy and ATP level in cells of mentioned above organs. The animals were divided into experimental groups: K – the control group, the animals cultured in a laboratory conditions in a horticultural soil and fed with Acheta domesticus larvae; Cd1 – the animals cultured in a horticultural soil supplemented with 80 mg/kg (dry weight) of CdCl2, fed with A. domesticus larvae maintained in tap water, 12 days – short-term exposure; Cd2 – the animals cultured in a horticultural soil supplemented with 80 mg/kg (dry weight) of CdCl2, fed with A. domesticus larvae maintained in tap water, 45 days – long-term exposure. The studies were conducted using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Quantitative analysis revealed that regardless of the organ, a progressive increase in the percentage of cells with depolarized mitochondria was registered, but only in the salivary glands. These were statistically significant changes from the control. In both organs, there were no differences in the level of the analyzed parameter depending on the duration of exposure of individuals to cadmium. Changes in the ultrastructure of mitochondria have been observed. With the extension of the body's exposure time to metal, an increase in the ADP/ATP index was recorded. However, changes statistically significant to the control were demonstrated in the intestine and salivary glands. The size of this intestinal index and salivary glands in the Cd2 group was about thirty and twenty times higher, respectively than in control. Acknowledgment: The study has been financed by the National Science Centre, Poland, grant no 2017/25/B/NZ4/00420.

Keywords: cadmium, digestive system, ultrastructure, centipede

Procedia PDF Downloads 110

Authors: Nilam Bano, Uzma Iram

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Globally, the dilemma of undernutrition has become a notable concern for the researchers, academicians, and policymakers because of its severe consequences for many centuries. The nutritional deficiencies create hurdles for the people to achieve goals related to live a better lifestyle. Not only at micro level but also at the macro level, the consequences of undernutrition affect the economic progress of the country. The initial five years of a child’s life are considered critical for the physical growth and brain development. In this regard, children require special care and good quality food (nutrient intake) to fulfill their nutritional demand of the growing body. Having the sensitive stature and health, children specially under the age of 5 years are more vulnerable to the poor economic, housing, environmental and other social conditions. Beside confronting economic challenges and political upheavals, Pakistan is also going through from a rough patch in the context of social development. Majority of the children are facing serious health problems in the absence of required nutrition. The complexity of this issue is getting severe day by day and specially children are left behind with different type of immune problems and vitamins and mineral deficiencies. It is noted that children from the well-off background are less likely affected by the undernutrition. In order to underline this issue, the present study aims to highlight the existing nutritional inequalities among the children of under five years in Pakistan. Moreover, this study strives to decompose those factors that severely affect the existing nutritional inequality and standing in the queue to capture the consideration of concerned authorities. Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012-13 was employed to assess the relevant indicators of undernutrition such as stunting, wasting, underweight and associated socioeconomic factors. The objectives were executed through the utilization of the relevant empirical techniques. Concentration indices were constructed to measure the nutritional inequalities by utilizing three measures of undernutrition; stunting, wasting and underweight. In addition to it, the decomposition analysis following the logistic regression was made to unfold the determinants that severely affect the nutritional inequalities. The negative values of concentration indices illustrate that children from the marginalized background are affected by the undernutrition more than their counterparts who belong from rich households. Furthermore, the result of decomposition analysis indicates that child age, size of a child at birth, wealth index, household size, parents’ education, mother’s health and place of residence are the most contributing factors in the prevalence of existing nutritional inequalities. Considering the result of the study, it is suggested to the policymakers to design policies in a way so that the health sector of Pakistan can stimulate in a productive manner. Increasing the number of effective health awareness programs for mothers would create a notable difference. Moreover, the education of the parents must be concerned by the policymakers as it has a significant association with the present research in terms of eradicating the nutritional inequalities among children.

Keywords: concentration index, decomposition analysis, inequalities, undernutrition, Pakistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: D. Malouch, M. Berchel, C. Dreanno, S. Stachowski-Haberkorn, P-A. Jaffres

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Biofouling is a complex natural phenomenon that involves biological, physical and chemical properties related to the environment, the submerged surface and the living organisms involved. Bio-colonization of artificial structures can cause various economic and environmental impacts. The increase in costs associated with the over-consumption of fuel from biocolonized vessels has been widely studied. Measurement drifts from submerged sensors, as well as obstructions in heat exchangers, and deterioration of offshore structures are major difficulties that industries are dealing with. Therefore, surfaces that inhibit biocolonization are required in different areas (water treatment, marine paints, etc.) and many efforts have been devoted to produce efficient and eco-compatible antifouling agents. The different steps of surface fouling are widely described in literature. Studying the biofilm and its stages provides a better understanding of how to elaborate more efficient antifouling strategies. Several approaches are currently applied, such as the use of biocide anti-fouling paint (mainly with copper derivatives) and super-hydrophobic coatings. While these two processes are proving to be the most effective, they are not entirely satisfactory, especially in a context of a changing legislation. Nowadays, the challenge is to prevent biofouling with non-biocide compounds, offering a cost effective solution, but with no toxic effects on marine organisms. Since the micro-fouling phase plays an important role in the regulation of the following steps of biofilm formation, it is desired to reduce or delate biofouling of a given surface by inhibiting the micro-fouling at its early stages. In our recent works, we reported that some amphiphilic compounds exhibited bacteriostatic or bactericidal properties at a concentration that did not affect mammalian eukaryotic cells. These remarkable properties invited us to assess this type of bio-inspired phospholipids to prevent the colonization of surfaces by marine bacteria. Of note, other studies reported that amphiphilic compounds interacted with bacteria leading to a reduction of their development. An amphiphilic compound is a molecule consisting of a hydrophobic domain and a polar head (ionic or non-ionic). These compounds appear to have interesting antifouling properties: some ionic compounds have shown antimicrobial activity, and zwitterions can reduce nonspecific adsorption of proteins. Herein, we investigate the potential of amphiphilic compounds as inhibitors of bacterial growth and marine biofilm formation. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of four synthetic phospholipids that features a cationic charge or a zwitterionic polar-head group to prevent microfouling with marine bacteria. Toxicity of these compounds was also studied in order to identify the most promising compounds that inhibit biofilm development and show low cytotoxicity on two links representative of coastal marine food webs: phytoplankton and oyster larvae.

Keywords: amphiphilic phospholipids, biofilm, marine fouling, non-toxique assays

Procedia PDF Downloads 113

Authors: Mona Kamel Hassan

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Teaching a class of diverse learners poses a great challenge not only for foreign and second language teachers, but also for teachers in different disciplines as well as for curriculum designers. Thus, to contribute to previous research tackling language diversity, the current paper shares the experience of teaching a reading, writing and vocabulary building course to diverse Arabic as a Foreign Language learners in their advanced language proficiency level. Diversity is represented in students’ motivation, their prior knowledge, their various needs and interests, their level of anxiety, and their different learning styles and skills. While teaching this course the researcher adopted the universal design for learning (UDL) framework, which is a means to meet the various needs of diverse learners. UDL stresses the importance of enabling the entire diverse students to gain skills, knowledge, and enthusiasm to learn through the employment of teaching methods that respond to students' individual differences. Accordingly, the educational curriculum developed for this course and the teaching methods employed is modified. First, the researcher made the language curriculum vivid and attractive to inspire students' learning and to keep them engaged in their learning process. The researcher encouraged the entire students, from the first day, to suggest topics of their interest; political, social, cultural, etc. The authentic Arabic texts chosen are those that best meet students’ needs, interests, lives, and sociolinguistic issues, together with the linguistic and cultural components. In class and under the researcher’s guidance, students dig into these topics to find solutions for the tackled issues while working with their peers. Second, to gain equal opportunities to demonstrate learning, role-playing was encouraged to give students the opportunity to perform different linguistic tasks, to reflect and share their diverse interests and cultural backgrounds with their peers. Third, to bring the UDL into the classroom, students were encouraged to work on interactive, collaborative activities through technology to improve their reading and writing skills and reinforce their mastery of the accumulated vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and collocations. These interactive, collaborative activities help to facilitate student-student communication and student-teacher communication and to increase comfort in this class of diverse learners. Detailed samples of the educational curriculum and interactive, collaborative activities developed, accompanied by methods of teaching employed to teach these diverse learners, are presented for illustration. Results revealed that students are responsive to the educational materials which are developed for this course. Therefore, they engaged in the learning process and classroom activities and discussions effectively. They also appreciated their instructor’s willingness to differentiate the teaching methods to suit students of diverse background knowledge, learning styles, level of anxiety, etc. Finally, the researcher believes that sharing this experience in teaching diverse learners will help both language teachers and teachers in other disciplines to develop a better understanding to meet their students' diverse needs. Results will also pave the way for curriculum designers to develop educational material that meets the needs of diverse learners.

Keywords: teaching, language, diverse, learners

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Loren S. Bernal., Catalina Castillo, Carel E. Carvajal, José F. Ibla

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Plastic pollution, specifically microplastics, has become a significant issue in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. The large amount of plastic waste carried by water tributaries has resulted in the accumulation of microplastics in water bodies. The polymer aging process caused by environmental influences such as photodegradation and chemical degradation of additives leads to polymer embrittlement and properties change that require degradation or reduction procedures in rivers. However, there is a lack of such procedures for freshwater entities that develop over extended periods. The aim of this study is evaluate the potential of Pleurotus ostreatus a fungus, in reducing lowdensity polyethylene microplastics present in freshwater samples collected from the middle basin of the Magdalena River in Colombia. The study aims to evaluate this process both in vitro and in silico by identifying the growth capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus in the presence of microplastics and identifying the most likely interactions of Pleurotus ostreatus enzymes and their affinity energies. The study follows an engineering development methodology applied on an experimental basis. The in vitro evaluation protocol applied in this study focused on the growth capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus on microplastics using enzymatic inducers. In terms of in silico evaluation, molecular simulations were conducted using the Autodock 1.5.7 program to calculate interaction energies. The molecular dynamics were evaluated by using the myPresto Portal and GROMACS program to calculate radius of gyration and Energies.The results of the study showed that Pleurotus ostreatus has the potential to degrade low-density polyethylene microplastics. The in vitro evaluation revealed the adherence of Pleurotus ostreatus to LDPE using scanning electron microscopy. The best results were obtained with enzymatic inducers as a MnSO4 generating the activation of laccase or manganese peroxidase enzymes in the degradation process. The in silico modelling demonstrated that Pleurotus ostreatus was able to interact with the microplastics present in LDPE, showing affinity energies in molecular docking and molecular dynamics shown a minimum energy and the representative radius of gyration between each enzyme and its substract. The study contributes to the development of bioremediation processes for the removal of microplastics from freshwater sources using the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. The in silico study provides insights into the affinity energies of Pleurotus ostreatus microplastic degrading enzymes and their interaction with low-density polyethylene. The study demonstrated that Pleurotus ostreatus can interact with LDPE microplastics, making it a good agent for the development of bioremediation processes that aid in the recovery of freshwater sources. The results of the study suggested that bioremediation could be a promising approach to reduce microplastics in freshwater systems.

Keywords: bioremediation, in silico modelling, microplastics, Pleurotus ostreatus

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Evija Silina, Maris Taube, Maksims Zolovs

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Background: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is the most common chronic endocrine pathology in children. The management of type 1 diabetes requires a strong diet, physical activity, lifelong insulin therapy, and proper self-monitoring of blood glucose and is usually complicated and, therefore, may result in a variety of psychosocial problems for children, adolescents, and their families. Metabolic control of the disease is determined by glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), the main criterion for diabetes compensation. A correlation was observed between anxiety and depression levels and glycaemic control in many previous studies. It is assumed that anxiety and depression symptoms negatively affect glycaemic control. Parental psychological distress was associated with higher child self-report of stress and depressive symptoms, and it had negative effects on diabetes management. Objective: The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between parental mental health conditions (depression and anxiety) and metabolic control of their adolescents with T1DM. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited adolescents with T1D (N=251) and their parents (N=251). The respondents completed questionnaires. The 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale measured anxiety level; The Patient Health Questionnaire – 9 (PHQ-9) measured depressive symptoms. Glycaemic control of patients was assessed using the last glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) values. GLM mediation analysis was performed to determine the potential mediating effect of the parent’s mental health conditions (depression and anxiety) on the relationship between the mental health conditions (depression and anxiety) of a child on the level of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). To test the significance of the mediated effect (ME) for non-normally distributed data, bootstrapping procedures (10,000 bootstrapped samples) were used. Results: 502 respondents were eligible for screening to detect anxiety and depression symptoms. Mediation analysis was performed to assess the mediating role of parent GAD-7 on the linkage between a dependent variable (HbA1c) and independent variables (child GAD-7 un child PHQ-9). The results revealed that the total effect of child GAD-7 (B = 0.479, z = 4.30, p < 0.001) on HbA1c was significant but the total effect of child PHQ-9 (B = 0.166, z = 1.49, p = 0.135) was not significant. With the inclusion of the mediating variable (parent GAD-7), the impact of child GAD-7 on HbA1c was found insignificant (B = 0.113, z=0.98, p = 0.326), the impact of child PHQ-9 on HbA1c was found also insignificant (B = 0.068, z=0.74, p = 0.458). The indirect effect of child GAD-7 on HbA1c through parent GAD-7 was found significant (B = 0.366, z = 4.31, p < 0.001) and the indirect effect of child PHQ-9 on HbA1c through parent GAD-7 was found also significant (B = 0.098, z = 2.56, p = 0.010). This indicates that the relationship between a dependent variable (HbA1c) and independent variables (child GAD-7 un child PHQ-9) is fully mediated by parent GAD-7. Conclusion: The main result suggests that glycated haemoglobin in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes is related to adolescents’ mental health via parents’ anxiety. It means that parents’ anxiety plays a more significant role in the level of glycated haemoglobin in adolescents than depression and anxiety in the adolescent.

Keywords: type 1 diabetes, adolescents, parental diabetes-specific mental health conditions, glycated haemoglobin, anxiety, depression

Procedia PDF Downloads 57

Authors: Anupama Singh, Papia Raj

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Though Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a worldwide problem, yet its implications are enormous in developing countries, as they are unable to provide proper Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) for the large volume of MSW. As a result, the collected wastes are dumped in open dumping at landfilling sites while the uncollected wastes remain strewn on the roadside, many-a-time clogging drainage. Such unsafe and inadequate management of MSW causes various public health hazards. For example, MSW directly on contact or by leachate contaminate the soil, surface water, and ground water; open burning causes air pollution; anaerobic digestion between the piles of MSW enhance the greenhouse gases i.e., carbon dioxide and methane (CO2 and CH4) into the atmosphere. Moreover, open dumping can cause spread of vector borne disease like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and so on. Patna, the capital city of Bihar, one of the most underdeveloped provinces in India, is a unique representation of this situation. Patna has been identified as the ‘garbage city’. Over the last decade there has been an exponential increase in the quantity of MSW generation in Patna. Though a large proportion of such MSW is recyclable in nature, only a negligible portion is recycled. Plastic constitutes the major chunk of the recyclable waste. The chemical composition of plastic is versatile consisting of toxic compounds, such as, plasticizers, like adipates and phthalates. Pigmented plastic is highly toxic and it contains harmful metals such as copper, lead, chromium, cobalt, selenium, and cadmium. Human population becomes vulnerable to an array of health problems as they are exposed to these toxic chemicals multiple times a day through air, water, dust, and food. Based on analysis of health data it can be emphasized that in Patna there has been an increase in the incidence of specific diseases, such as, diarrhoea, dysentry, acute respiratory infection (ARI), asthma, and other chronic respiratory diseases (CRD). This trend can be attributed to improper MSWM. The results were reiterated through a survey (N=127) conducted during 2014-15 in selected areas of Patna. Random sampling method of data collection was used to better understand the relationship between different variables affecting public health due to exposure to MSW and lack of MSWM. The results derived through bivariate and logistic regression analysis of the survey data indicate that segregation of wastes at source, segregation behavior, collection bins in the area, distance of collection bins from residential area, and transportation of MSW are the major determinants of public health issues. Sustainable recycling is a robust method for MSWM with its pioneer concerns being environment, society, and economy. It thus ensures minimal threat to environment and ecology consequently improving public health conditions. Hence, this paper concludes that sustainable recycling would be the most viable approach to manage MSW in Patna and would eventually reduce public health hazards.

Keywords: municipal solid waste, Patna, public health, sustainable recycling

Procedia PDF Downloads 296

Authors: Alondra Balbuena Medina, Carlos Diaz Delgado, Aleida Yadira Vilchis Fránces

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In Mexico, each year news is disseminated about the ravages of floods, such as the total loss of housing, damage to the fields; the increase of the costs of the food, derived from the losses of the harvests, coupled with health problems such as skin infection, etc. In addition to social problems such as delinquency, damage in education institutions and the population in general. The flooding is a consequence of heavy rains, tropical storms and or hurricanes that generate excess water in drainage systems that exceed its capacity. In urban areas, heavy rains can be one of the main factors in causing flooding, in addition to excessive precipitation, dam breakage, and human activities, for example, excessive garbage in the strainers. In agricultural areas, these can hardly achieve large areas of cultivation. It should be mentioned that for both areas, one of the significant impacts of floods is that they can permanently affect the livelihoods of many families, cause damage, for example in their workplaces such as farmlands, commercial or industry areas and where services are provided. In recent years, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have had an accelerated development, being reflected in the growth and the exponential evolution of the innovation giving; as a result, the daily generation of new technologies, updates, and applications. Innovation in the development of Information Technology applications has impacted on all areas of human activity. They influence all the orders of life of individuals, reconfiguring the way of perceiving and analyzing the world such as, for instance, interrelating with people as individuals and as a society, in the economic, political, social, cultural, educational, environmental, etc. Therefore the present work describes the creation of a system of calculation of flood costs for housing areas, retail establishments and agricultural areas from the Mexican Republic, based on the use and application of geotechnical tools being able to be useful for the benefit of the sectors of public, education and private. To generate analysis of hydrometereologic affections and with the obtained results to realize the Geoinformatics tool was constructed from two different points of view: the geoinformatic (design and development of GIS software) and the methodology of flood damage validation in order to integrate a tool that provides the user the monetary estimate of the effects caused by the floods. With information from the period 2000-2014, the functionality of the application was corroborated. For the years 2000 to 2009 only the analysis of the agricultural and housing areas was carried out, incorporating for the commercial establishment's information of the period 2010 - 2014. The method proposed for the resolution of this research project is a fundamental contribution to society, in addition to the tool itself. Therefore, it can be summarized that the problems that are in the physical-geographical environment, conceiving them from the point of view of the spatial analysis, allow to offer different alternatives of solution and also to open up slopes towards academia and research.

Keywords: floods, technological innovation, monetary estimation, spatial analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: A. Delimitsou, C. Gouedard, E. Konstanta, A. Koletis, S. Patera, E. Manou, K. Spaho, S. Murray

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Background: There remains a lack of International Standard Control Reference materials for Next Generation Sequencing-based approaches or device calibration. We have designed and validated dsDNA biomimetic reference materials for targeted such approaches incorporating proprietary motifs (patent pending) for device/test calibration. They enable internal single-sample calibration, alleviating sample comparisons to pooled historical population-based data assembly or statistical modelling approaches. We have validated such an approach for BRCA Copy Number Variation analytics using iQRS™-CNVSUITE versus Mixed Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification. Methods: Standard BRCA Copy Number Variation analysis was compared between mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification and next generation sequencing using a cohort of 198 breast/ovarian cancer patients. Next generation sequencing based copy number variation analysis of samples spiked with iQRS™ dsDNA biomimetics were analysed using proprietary CNVSUITE software. Mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification analyses were performed on an ABI-3130 Sequencer and analysed with Coffalyser software. Results: Concordance of BRCA – copy number variation events for mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification and CNVSUITE indicated an overall sensitivity of 99.88% and specificity of 100% for iQRS™-CNVSUITE. The negative predictive value of iQRS-CNVSUITE™ for BRCA was 100%, allowing for accurate exclusion of any event. The positive predictive value was 99.88%, with no discrepancy between mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification and iQRS™-CNVSUITE. For device calibration purposes, precision was 100%, spiking of patient DNA demonstrated linearity to 1% (±2.5%) and range from 100 copies. Traditional training was supplemented by predefining the calibrator to sample cut-off (lock-down) for amplicon gain or loss based upon a relative ratio threshold, following training of iQRS™-CNVSUITE using spiked iQRS™ calibrator and control mocks. BRCA copy number variation analysis using iQRS™-CNVSUITE™ was successfully validated and ISO15189 accredited and now enters CE-IVD performance evaluation. Conclusions: The inclusion of a reference control competitor (iQRS™ dsDNA mimetic) to next generation sequencing-based sequencing offers a more robust sample-independent approach for the assessment of copy number variation events compared to mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification. The approach simplifies data analyses, improves independent sample data analyses, and allows for direct comparison to an internal reference control for sample-specific quantification. Our iQRS™ biomimetic reference materials allow for single sample copy number variation analytics and further decentralisation of diagnostics to single patient sample assessment.

Keywords: validation, diagnostics, oncology, copy number variation, reference material, calibration

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Authors: Abdullah S. Alghamdi, Khaled Alghamdi, Richard O. Jenkins, Parvez I. Haris

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Background: Quantity and quality of sleep have been reported to be significant risk factors for obesity and development of metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The relationship between diabetes and sleep quantity was reported to be U-shaped, which means increased or decreased sleeping hours can increase the risk of diabetes. The plasma glucagon levels were found to continuously decrease during night-time sleep in healthy individuals, independently of blood glucose and insulin levels. The disturbance of the circadian rhythm is also important and has been linked with an increased the chance of diabetes incidence. There is a lack of research on sleep patterns on Saudis with T2DM and how this is affected by Ramadan fasting. Aim: To assess the sleeping patterns of Saudis with T2DM (before, during, and after Ramadan), using two different techniques and relate this to their HbA1c levels. Method: This study recruited 82 Saudi with T2DM, who chose to fast during Ramadan, from the Endocrine and Diabetic Centre of Al Iman General Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ethical approvals for the study were obtained from De Montfort University and Saudi Ministry of Health. Their sleeping patterns were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire (before, during, and after Ramadan). The assessment included the daily total sleeping hours (DTSH), and total night-time sleeping hours (TNTSH) of the participants. In addition, sleeping patterns of 36 patients, randomly selected from the 82 participants, were further tracked during and after Ramadan by using Fitbit Flex 2™ accelerometer. Blood samples were collected in each period for measuring HbA1c. Results: Questionnaire analysis revealed that the sleeping patterns significantly changed between the periods, with shorter hours during Ramadan (P < 0.001 for DTSH, and P < 0.001 for TNTSH). These findings were confirmed by the Fitbit data, which also indicated significant shorter sleeping hours for the DTSH, and the TNTSH during Ramadan (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). Although there were no significant correlations between the questionnaire and Fitbit data, the TNTSH were shorter among the participants in all periods by both techniques. The mean HbA1c significantly varied between periods, with lowest level during Ramadan. Although the statistical tests did not show significant variances in the mean HbA1c between the groups of participants regarding their hours of sleeping, the lowest mean HbA1c was observed in the group of participants who slept for 6-8 hours and had longer night-time sleeping hours. Conclusion: A short sleep duration, and absence of night-time sleep were significantly observed among the majority of the study population during Ramadan, which could suppress the full benefits of Ramadan fasting for diabetic patients. This study showed that there is a good agreement between the findings of the questionnaire and the Fitbit device for evaluating sleeping patterns in a Saudi population. A larger study is needed in the future to investigate the impact of Ramadan fasting on sleep quality and quantity and its relationship with health and disease.

Keywords: Diabetes, Fasting, Fitbit, HbA1c, IPAQ, Ramadan, Sleep

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Authors: Ashok Kumar, Shiv Brat Singh, Kalyan Kumar Ray

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There is growing awareness to design steels against fatigue damage Ferrite martensite dual-phase steels are known to exhibit favourable mechanical properties like good strength, ductility, toughness, continuous yielding, and high work hardening rate. However, dual-phase steels containing bainite as second phase are potential alternatives for ferrite martensite steels for certain applications where good fatigue property is required. Fatigue properties of dual phase steels are popularly assessed by the nature of variation of crack growth rate (da/dN) with stress intensity factor range (∆K), and the magnitude of fatigue threshold (∆Kth) for long cracks. There exists an increased emphasis to understand not only the long crack fatigue behavior but also short crack growth behavior of ferrite bainite dual phase steels. The major objective of this report is to examine the influence of microstructures on the short and long crack growth behavior of a series of developed dual-phase steels with varying amounts of bainite and. Three low carbon steels containing Nb, Cr and Mo as microalloying elements steels were selected for making ferrite-bainite dual-phase microstructures by suitable heat treatments. The heat treatment consisted of austenitizing the steel at 1100°C for 20 min, cooling at different rates in air prior to soaking these in a salt bath at 500°C for one hour, and finally quenching in water. Tensile tests were carried out on 25 mm gauge length specimens with 5 mm diameter using nominal strain rate 0.6x10⁻³ s⁻¹ at room temperature. Fatigue crack growth studies were made on a recently developed specimen configuration using a rotating bending machine. The crack growth was monitored by interrupting the test and observing the specimens under an optical microscope connected to an Image analyzer. The estimated crack lengths (a) at varying number of cycles (N) in different fatigue experiments were analyzed to obtain log da/dN vs. log °∆K curves for determining ∆Kthsc. The microstructural features of these steels have been characterized and their influence on the near threshold crack growth has been examined. This investigation, in brief, involves (i) the estimation of ∆Kthsc and (ii) the examination of the influence of microstructure on short and long crack fatigue threshold. The maximum fatigue threshold values obtained from short crack growth experiments on various specimens of dual-phase steels containing different amounts of bainite are found to increase with increasing bainite content in all the investigated steels. The variations of fatigue behavior of the selected steel samples have been explained with the consideration of varying amounts of the constituent phases and their interactions with the generated microstructures during cyclic loading. Quantitative estimation of the different types of fatigue crack paths indicates that the propensity of a crack to pass through the interfaces depends on the relative amount of the microstructural constituents. The fatigue crack path is found to be predominantly intra-granular except for the ones containing > 70% bainite in which it is predominantly inter-granular.

Keywords: bainite, dual phase steel, fatigue crack growth rate, long crack fatigue threshold, short crack fatigue threshold

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Authors: Sivananth Murugesan, I. Regupathi, B. Vishwas Prabhu, Ankit Devatwal, Vishnu Sivan Pillai

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Pectinase is an important enzyme which has a wide range of applications including textile processing and bioscouring of cotton fibers, coffee and tea fermentation, purification of plant viruses, oil extraction etc. Selective separation and purification of pectinase from fermentation broth and recover the enzyme form process stream for reuse are cost consuming process in most of the enzyme based industries. It is difficult to identify a suitable medium to enhance enzyme activity and retain its enzyme characteristics during such processes. The cost effective, selective separation of enzymes through the modified Liquid-liquid extraction is of current research interest worldwide. Reverse micellar extraction, globally acclaimed Liquid-liquid extraction technique is well known for its separation and purification of solutes from the feed which offers higher solute specificity and partitioning, ease of operation and recycling of extractants used. Surfactant concentrations above critical micelle concentration to an apolar solvent form micelles and addition of micellar phase to water in turn forms reverse micelles or water-in-oil emulsions. Since, electrostatic interaction plays a major role in the separation/purification of solutes using reverse micelles. These interaction parameters can be altered with the change in pH, addition of cosolvent, surfactant and electrolyte and non-electrolyte. Even though many chemical based commercial surfactant had been utilized for this purpose, the biosurfactants are more suitable for the purification of enzymes which are used in food application. The present work focused on the partitioning of pectinase from the synthetic aqueous solution within the reverse micelle phase formed by a biosurfactant, Soybean Lecithin dissolved in chloroform. The critical micelle concentration of soybean lecithin/chloroform solution was identified through refractive index and density measurements. Effect of surfactant concentrations above and below the critical micelle concentration was considered to study its effect on enzyme activity, enzyme partitioning within the reverse micelle phase. The effect of pH and electrolyte salts on the partitioning behavior was studied by varying the system pH and concentration of different salts during forward and back extraction steps. It was observed that lower concentrations of soybean lecithin enhanced the enzyme activity within the water core of the reverse micelle with maximizing extraction efficiency. The maximum yield of pectinase of 85% with a partitioning coefficient of 5.7 was achieved at 4.8 pH during forward extraction and 88% yield with a partitioning coefficient of 7.1 was observed during backward extraction at a pH value of 5.0. However, addition of salt decreased the enzyme activity and especially at higher salt concentrations enzyme activity declined drastically during both forward and back extraction steps. The results proved that reverse micelles formed by Soybean Lecithin and chloroform may be used for the extraction of pectinase from aqueous solution. Further, the reverse micelles can be considered as nanoreactors to enhance enzyme activity and maximum utilization of substrate at optimized conditions, which are paving a way to process intensification and scale-down.

Keywords: pectinase, reverse micelles, soybean lecithin, selective partitioning

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Authors: Jiujie Cai, Fengxia LI, Haibo Wang

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After years of research, offshore oil and gas development now are shifted to unconventional reservoirs, where multi-stage hydraulic fracturing technology has been widely used. However, the simulation of complex hydraulic fractures in tight reservoirs is faced with geological and engineering difficulties, such as large burial depths, sand-shale interbeds, and complex stress barriers. The objective of this work is to simulate the hydraulic fracture propagation in the tight sandstone matrix of the marine-continental transitional reservoirs, where the Shanxi Formation in Tianhuan syncline of the Dongsheng gas field was used as the research target. The characteristic parameters of the vertical rock samples with rich beddings were clarified through rock mechanics experiments. The influence of rock mechanical parameters, vertical stress difference of pay-zone and bedding layer, and fracturing parameters (such as injection rates, fracturing fluid viscosity, and number of perforation clusters within single stage) on fracture initiation and propagation were investigated. In this paper, a 3-D fracture propagation model was built to investigate the complex fracture propagation morphology by boundary element method, considering the strength of bonding surface between layers, vertical stress difference and fracturing parameters (such as injection rates, fluid volume and viscosity). The research results indicate that on the condition of vertical stress difference (3 MPa), the fracture height can break through and enter the upper interlayer when the thickness of the overlying bedding layer is 6-9 m, considering effect of the weak bonding surface between layers. The fracture propagates within the pay zone when overlying interlayer is greater than 13 m. Difference in fluid volume distribution between clusters could be more than 20% when the stress difference of each cluster in the segment exceeds 2MPa. Fracture cluster in high stress zones cannot initiate when the stress difference in the segment exceeds 5MPa. The simulation results of fracture height are much higher if the effect of weak bonding surface between layers is not involved. By increasing the injection rates, increasing fracturing fluid viscosity, and reducing the number of clusters within single stage can promote the fracture height propagation through layers. Optimizing the perforation position and reducing the number of perforations can promote the uniform expansion of fractures. Typical curves of fracture height estimation were established for the tight sandstone of the Lower Permian Shanxi Formation. The model results have good consistency with micro-seismic monitoring results of hydraulic fracturing in Well 1HF.

Keywords: fracture propagation, boundary element method, fracture height, offshore oil and gas, marine-continental transitional reservoirs, rock mechanics experiment

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Authors: Mokhlisur Rahman

Abstract:

Ocean inhibits one of the most complex ecosystems on the planet that regulates the earth's climate and weather by providing us with compatible weather to live. Ocean provides food by extending various ways of lifestyles that are dependent on it, transportation by accommodating the world's biggest carriers, recreation by offering its beauty in many moods, and home to countless species. At the essence of receiving various forms of entertainment, consumers choose to be close to the ocean while performing many fun activities. Which, at some point, upsets the stomach of the ocean by threatening marine life and the environment. Consumers throw the waste into the ocean after using it. Most of them are plastics that float over the ocean and turn into thousands of micro pieces that are hard to observe with the naked eye but easily eaten by the sea species. Eventually, that conflicts with the natural consumption process of any living species, making them sick. This information is not known by most consumers who go to the sea or seashores occasionally to spend time, nor is it widely discussed, which creates an information gap among consumers. However, advertising is a powerful tool to educate people about ocean pollution. This abstract analyzes three major ocean-saving advertisement campaigns that use innovative and advanced technology to get maximum exposure. The study collects data from the selected campaigns' websites and retrieves all available content related to messages, videos, and images. First, the SeaLegacy campaign uses stunning images to create awareness among the people; they use social media content, videos, and other educational content. They create content and strategies to build an emotional connection among the consumers that encourage them to move on an action. All the messages in their campaign empower consumers by using powerful words. Second, Ocean Conservancy Campaign uses social media marketing, events, and educational content to protect the ocean from various pollutants, including plastics, climate change, and overfishing. They use powerful images and videos of marine life. Their mission is to create evidence-based solutions toward a healthy ocean. Their message includes the message regarding the local communities along with the sea species. Third, ocean clean-up is a campaign that applies strategies using innovative technologies to remove plastic waste from the ocean. They use social media, digital, and email marketing to reach people and raise awareness. They also use images and videos to evoke an emotional response to take action. These tree advertisements use realistic images, powerful words, and the presence of living species in the imagery presentation, which are eye-catching and can grow emotional connection among the consumers. Identifying the effectiveness of the messages these advertisements carry and their strategies highlights the knowledge gap of mass people between real pollution and its consequences, making the message more accessible to the mass of people. This study aims to provide insights into the effectiveness of ocean-saving advertisement campaigns and their impact on the public's awareness of ocean conservation. The findings from this study help shape future campaigns.

Keywords: advertising-campaign, content-creation, images ocean-saving technology, videos

Procedia PDF Downloads 49