Search results for: connected domination number
2385 Tackling Women Leaders Under-Representation in Politic in Sabah, Malaysia
Authors: Noraini Idris, Imelda Albert Gisip
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Women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all level of decisionmaking process are essential in order to achieve sustainable development goals by 2030. This paper discusses how women in Malaysia generally still find themselves under-represented in political institutions. Leaders from various political parties in Malaysia were all on the same page in their commitment to achieve the target of fielding 30 percent women candidates in election which in turn will increase female representation in the country’s legislative bodies. However, despite their pledge on making equal opportunities to women in decision making process, the 30 percent target has yet to be achieved be it in the federal election nor respective state elections in thirteen states conducted throughout the country until now. Sabah’s political landscape with regards to women leaders’ representation in politic mirrors that at the federal level. During the 15th Parliamentary General Election which was conducted in November 2022, despite Sabah Women’s significant numbers as voters in the electoral rolls which recorded 49.36 percent (833,847 women voters); only 17.6 percent or 21 women candidates out of 119 candidates in Sabah were fielded by the political parties contesting in the election. Sabah has 25 parliamentary seats. Out of 31 women members of Parliament who won the 15th General Election, only 3 women members of Parliament are from Sabah. Even in the 2020 Sabah State Election only nine (9) percent of the candidates or 43 women out of the 447 total candidates were fielded. The current Sabah State legislative Assembly saw only eight (8) percent or 7 women Assemblymen out of 79 Assemblymen in the legislative body. The number of female leaders in the legislative body in Malaysia has never exceeded 15 percent with the highest being 14.86 percent in the Lower House (Dewan Rakyat), 14.42 percent in the Upper House (Dewan Senat) and merely 8 percent in the Sabah State legislative Assembly. Thus, this paper will further discuss the strategies to tackle women leaders underrepresentation in politics particularly in Sabah, Malaysia and to provide suggestions to overcome this issue.Keywords: women, leaders, politic, Sabah, Malaysia
Procedia PDF Downloads 452384 A Study on the Relationships among Teacher Empowerment, Professional Commitment and School Effectiveness
Authors: S. C. Lin, W. F. Hung, W. W. Cheng
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Teacher empowerment was regarded as investing teachers with the right to participate in the determination of school goals and policies and to exercise professional judgment about what and how to teach. Professional commitment was considered as a person’s belief in and acceptance of the values of his or her chosen occupation or line of work, and a willingness to maintain membership in that occupation. An effective school has been defined as one in which students’ progress further than might be expected from consideration of its intake. An effective school thus adds extra value to its students' outcomes, in comparison with other schools serving similar intakes. A number of literature from various countries explored that teacher empowerment and professional commitment significantly influenced school effectiveness. However, there lacked more empirical studies to examine the relationships among them. Hence, this study was to explore the relationships among teacher empowerment, professional commitment and school effectiveness in junior high schools in Taiwan. Samples were seven hundred and five junior high school teachers selected from Taichung City, Changhua County and Nantou County. Questionnaire was applied to collect data. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings of this study were as follows: First, the overall performances of teachers’ perceptions of teacher empowerment, teacher professional commitment and school effectiveness were above average. Second, the teachers’ perceptions of teacher empowerment were significant different in gender, designated duty, and school size. Third, the teachers’ perceptions of teacher professional commitment were significant different in gender, designated duty, and school size. Fourth, the teachers’ perceptions of school effectiveness were significant different in designated duty. Fifth, teacher empowerment was mid-positively correlation by teacher professional commitment. Sixth, there was mid-positively correlation between teacher empowerment and school effectiveness. Seventh, there was mid-positively correlation between teacher professional commitment and school effectiveness. Eighth, Teacher empowerment and professional commitment could significantly predict school effectiveness. Based on the findings of this study, the study proposed some suggestions for educational authorities, schools, teachers, and future studies as well.Keywords: junior high school teacher, teacher empowerment, teacher professional commitment, school effectiveness
Procedia PDF Downloads 4532383 CSR Practices in Bali: An Exploratory Study on the Environmental Aspect
Authors: Trianasari, Gede Adi Yuniarta
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The tourism industry has been widely recognized as one of the world’s largest industries and is expected to have continuous growth. While it has positive impacts especially on the job markets and economic aspect, this industry also brings serious environmental impacts that may not be neglected. As such, the tourism industry is faced with increasing demands and challenges to deal with the environmental issues. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a way to show the firms’ concern on the societal and environmental aspects. In line with the increasing pressure on such responsibilities, a growing number of firms have involved in CSR activities. In Bali, the majority of both chained and locally owned hotels have shown their efforts on CSR practices. However, little is known about what and how they perform or implement such program especially within the environmental aspect. The importance of understanding what they focus on lays in the identification of areas that have received sufficient treatment and those that require more attention. Furthermore, also, it is especially essential considering that Bali is one of the worldly known destinations that have been facing numerous crucial issues on environment that may threaten the sustainability of the island and its people. This paper reports on the results of a study exploring the practices of CSR in hotels in Bali. Data were collected from 49 hotel managers and human resource managers in Bali across four major tourist areas, using semi structured interview method. The analysis was conducted qualitatively. The results showed that all hotels under study have implemented CSR activities in which environment was found to be the second key aspect, following the activities directly related to community aspect. Moreover, there were five major types of environmental action identified: beach cleaning, replantation, marine conservation, turtle conservation, mangrove, and garbage management. These findings suggest that hotels in Bali under study have shown their concern on the environment, however, less attention was given on attempt to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations. Mapping the types of environmental related CSR activities enhances the knowledge of and gives lights into the CSR literature especially from the perspective of Eastern practice.Keywords: CSR, exploratory study, sustainable tourism, tourist object
Procedia PDF Downloads 1632382 Collagen Hydrogels Cross-Linked by Squaric Acid
Authors: Joanna Skopinska-Wisniewska, Anna Bajek, Marta Ziegler-Borowska, Alina Sionkowska
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Hydrogels are a class of materials widely used in medicine for many years. Proteins, such as collagen, due to the presence of a large number of functional groups are easily wettable by polar solvents and can create hydrogels. The supramolecular network capable to swelling is created by cross-linking of the biopolymers using various reagents. Many cross-linking agents has been tested for last years, however, researchers still are looking for a new, more secure reactants. Squaric acid, 3,4-dihydroxy 3-cyclobutene 1,2- dione, is a very strong acid, which possess flat and rigid structure. Due to the presence of two carboxyl groups the squaric acid willingly reacts with amino groups of collagen. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of addition of squaric acid on the chemical, physical and biological properties of collagen materials. The collagen type I was extracted from rat tail tendons and 1% solution in 0.1M acetic acid was prepared. The samples were cross-linked by the addition of 5%, 10% and 20% of squaric acid. The mixtures of all reagents were incubated 30 min on magnetic stirrer and then dialyzed against deionized water. The FTIR spectra show that the collagen structure is not changed by cross-linking by squaric acid. Although the mechanical properties of the collagen material deteriorate, the temperature of thermal denaturation of collagen increases after cross-linking, what indicates that the protein network was created. The lyophilized collagen gels exhibit porous structure and the pore size decreases with the higher addition of squaric acid. Also the swelling ability is lower after the cross-linking. The in vitro study demonstrates that the materials are attractive for 3T3 cells. The addition of squaric acid causes formation of cross-ling bonds in the collagen materials and the transparent, stiff hydrogels are obtained. The changes of physicochemical properties of the material are typical for cross-linking process, except mechanical properties – it requires further experiments. However, the results let us to conclude that squaric acid is a suitable cross-linker for protein materials for medicine and tissue engineering.Keywords: collagen, squaric acid, cross-linking, hydrogel
Procedia PDF Downloads 3842381 A Remote Sensing Approach to Estimate the Paleo-Discharge of the Lost Saraswati River of North-West India
Authors: Zafar Beg, Kumar Gaurav
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The lost Saraswati is described as a large perennial river which was 'lost' in the desert towards the end of the Indus-Saraswati civilisation. It has been proposed earlier that the lost Saraswati flowed in the Sutlej-Yamuna interfluve, parallel to the present day Indus River. It is believed that one of the earliest known ancient civilizations, the 'Indus-Saraswati civilization' prospered along the course of the Saraswati River. The demise of the Indus civilization is considered to be due to desiccation of the river. Today in the Sutlej-Yamuna interfluve, we observe an ephemeral river, known as Ghaggar. It is believed that along with the Ghaggar River, two other Himalayan Rivers Sutlej and Yamuna were tributaries of the lost Saraswati and made a significant contribution to its discharge. Presence of a large number of archaeological sites and the occurrence of thick fluvial sand bodies in the subsurface in the Sutlej-Yamuna interfluve has been used to suggest that the Saraswati River was a large perennial river. Further, the wider course of about 4-7 km recognized from satellite imagery of Ghaggar-Hakra belt in between Suratgarh and Anupgarh strengthens this hypothesis. Here we develop a methodology to estimate the paleo discharge and paleo width of the lost Saraswati River. In doing so, we rely on the hypothesis which suggests that the ancient Saraswati River used to carry the combined flow or some part of the Yamuna, Sutlej and Ghaggar catchments. We first established a regime relationship between the drainage area-channel width and catchment area-discharge of 29 different rivers presently flowing on the Himalayan Foreland from Indus in the west to the Brahmaputra in the East. We found the width and discharge of all the Himalayan rivers scale in a similar way when they are plotted against their corresponding catchment area. Using these regime curves, we calculate the width and discharge of paleochannels originating from the Sutlej, Yamuna and Ghaggar rivers by measuring their corresponding catchment area from satellite images. Finally, we add the discharge and width obtained from each of the individual catchments to estimate the paleo width and paleo discharge respectively of the Saraswati River. Our regime curves provide a first-order estimate of the paleo discharge of the lost Saraswati.Keywords: Indus civilization, palaeochannel, regime curve, Saraswati River
Procedia PDF Downloads 1772380 Improving the Logistic System to Secure Effective Food Fish Supply Chain in Indonesia
Authors: Atikah Nurhayati, Asep A. Handaka
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Indonesia is a world’s major fish producer which can feed not only its citizens but also the people of the world. Currently, the total annual production is 11 tons and expected to double by the year of 2050. Given the potential, fishery has been an important part of the national food security system in Indonesia. Despite such a potential, a big challenge is facing the Indonesians in making fish the reliable source for their food, more specifically source of protein intake. The long geographic distance between the fish production centers and the consumer concentrations has prevented effective supply chain from producers to consumers and therefore demands a good logistic system. This paper is based on our research, which aimed at analyzing the fish supply chain and is to suggest relevant improvement to the chain. The research was conducted in the Year of 2016 in selected locations of Java Island, where intensive transaction on fishery commodities occur. Data used in this research comprises secondary data of time series reports on production and distribution and primary data regarding distribution aspects which were collected through interviews with purposively selected 100 respondents representing fishers, traders and processors. The data were analyzed following the supply chain management framework and processed following logistic regression and validity tests. The main findings of the research are as follows. Firstly, it was found that improperly managed connectivity and logistic chain is the main cause for insecurity of availability and affordability for the consumers. Secondly, lack of quality of most local processed products is a major obstacle for improving affordability and connectivity. The paper concluded with a number of recommended strategies to tackle the problem. These include rationalization of the length of the existing supply chain, intensification of processing activities, and improvement of distribution infrastructure and facilities.Keywords: fishery, food security, logistic, supply chain
Procedia PDF Downloads 2352379 Socio-Economic Analysis of Child Homelessness in South Africa: Implications
Authors: Chigozie Azunna, Botes Lucius
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Child homelessness remains a significant challenge in South Africa in the upcoming decade. Despite children making up a substantial portion of South Africa's population, the issue of child homelessness continues to pose a socio-economic crisis with diverse impacts. Achieving the UN 2050 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in terms of equality and non-discrimination, requires an effective approach to curb child homelessness. Addressing this issue will positively influence the economic trajectory of South Africa's evolving demographic landscape. This research uses content analysis through an extensive review of current literature on child homelessness in South Africa. Findings indicate alignment between national policies and international agendas in tackling child homelessness in South Africa. However, the following statistics depict the ongoing challenge: In metropolitan areas, homelessness stands at 74.1%, whereas non-metro regions account for 25.9%. The City of Tshwane has the highest number of homeless individuals at 18.1%, followed by the City of Johannesburg at 15.6%, while Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan has the lowest at 2.7%. Despite existing national policy frameworks, child homelessness persists. The lack of accurate data, compounded by issues such as economic challenges, the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and gaps in policy implementation, has exacerbated the problem. The consequences are dire, affecting children’s physical and emotional health, education, and future opportunities. The study recommends reinforcing actionable policies to address child homelessness effectively. Bridging the urban-rural divide and establishing intra-community networks are crucial for tackling this issue comprehensively. This includes addressing multifaceted challenges such as access to education, disease susceptibility, and the overall vulnerability of homeless children.Keywords: South Africa, child, homeless, SDGs, COVID, urban, rural
Procedia PDF Downloads 182378 Comparison of Donor Motivations in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I vs Division II
Authors: Soojin Kim, Yongjae Kim
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Continuous economic downturn and ongoing budget cuts poses higher education with profound challenges which has a direct impact on the collegiate athletic programs. In response to the ever-changing landscape of the fiscal environment, universities seek to boost revenues, resorting to alternative sources of funding. In particular, athletic programs have become increasingly dependent on financial support from their alumni and boosters, which is how athletic departments attempt to offset budget shortfalls and make capital improvements. Although there currently exists three major divisions within National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the majority of the sport management studies on college sport tend to focus on Division I level. Particularly within the donor motivation literature, a plethora of donor motivation studies exist, but mainly on NCAA Division I athletic programs. Since each athletic department functions differently in a number of different dimensions, while institutional difference can also have a huge impact on athletic donor motivations, the current study attempts to fill this gap that exists in the literature. As such, the purpose of this study was to (I) reexamine the factor structure of the Athletic Donor motivation scale; and (II) identify the prominent athletic donor motives in a NCAA Division II athletic program. For the purpose of this study, a total of 232 actual donors were used for analysis. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to test construct validity, and the reliability of the scale was assessed using Composite Reliability. To identify the prominent motivational factors, the means and standard deviations were examined. Results of this study indicated that Vicarious Achievement, Philanthropy, and Commitment are the three primary motivational factors, while Tangible Benefits, was consistently found as an important motive in prior studies was found low. Such findings highlight the key difference and suggest different salient motivations exist that are specific to the context.Keywords: college athletics, donor, motivation, NCAA
Procedia PDF Downloads 1422377 Syntax and Words as Evolutionary Characters in Comparative Linguistics
Authors: Nancy Retzlaff, Sarah J. Berkemer, Trudie Strauss
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In the last couple of decades, the advent of digitalization of any kind of data was probably one of the major advances in all fields of study. This paves the way for also analysing these data even though they might come from disciplines where there was no initial computational necessity to do so. Especially in linguistics, one can find a rather manual tradition. Still when considering studies that involve the history of language families it is hard to overlook the striking similarities to bioinformatics (phylogenetic) approaches. Alignments of words are such a fairly well studied example of an application of bioinformatics methods to historical linguistics. In this paper we will not only consider alignments of strings, i.e., words in this case, but also alignments of syntax trees of selected Indo-European languages. Based on initial, crude alignments, a sophisticated scoring model is trained on both letters and syntactic features. The aim is to gain a better understanding on which features in two languages are related, i.e., most likely to have the same root. Initially, all words in two languages are pre-aligned with a basic scoring model that primarily selects consonants and adjusts them before fitting in the vowels. Mixture models are subsequently used to filter ‘good’ alignments depending on the alignment length and the number of inserted gaps. Using these selected word alignments it is possible to perform tree alignments of the given syntax trees and consequently find sentences that correspond rather well to each other across languages. The syntax alignments are then filtered for meaningful scores—’good’ scores contain evolutionary information and are therefore used to train the sophisticated scoring model. Further iterations of alignments and training steps are performed until the scoring model saturates, i.e., barely changes anymore. A better evaluation of the trained scoring model and its function in containing evolutionary meaningful information will be given. An assessment of sentence alignment compared to possible phrase structure will also be provided. The method described here may have its flaws because of limited prior information. This, however, may offer a good starting point to study languages where only little prior knowledge is available and a detailed, unbiased study is needed.Keywords: alignments, bioinformatics, comparative linguistics, historical linguistics, statistical methods
Procedia PDF Downloads 1462376 A Contemporary Advertising Strategy on Social Networking Sites
Authors: M. S. Aparna, Pushparaj Shetty D.
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Nowadays social networking sites have become so popular that the producers or the sellers look for these sites as one of the best options to target the right audience to market their products. There are several tools available to monitor or analyze the social networks. Our task is to identify the right community web pages and find out the behavior analysis of the members by using these tools and formulate an appropriate strategy to market the products or services to achieve the set goals. The advertising becomes more effective when the information of the product/ services come from a known source. The strategy explores great buying influence in the audience on referral marketing. Our methodology proceeds with critical budget analysis and promotes viral influence propagation. In this context, we encompass the vital bits of budget evaluation such as the number of optimal seed nodes or primary influential users activated onset, an estimate coverage spread of nodes and maximum influence propagating distance from an initial seed to an end node. Our proposal for Buyer Prediction mathematical model arises from the urge to perform complex analysis when the probability density estimates of reliable factors are not known or difficult to calculate. Order Statistics and Buyer Prediction mapping function guarantee the selection of optimal influential users at each level. We exercise an efficient tactics of practicing community pages and user behavior to determine the product enthusiasts on social networks. Our approach is promising and should be an elementary choice when there is little or no prior knowledge on the distribution of potential buyers on social networks. In this strategy, product news propagates to influential users on or surrounding networks. By applying the same technique, a user can search friends who are capable to advise better or give referrals, if a product interests him.Keywords: viral marketing, social network analysis, community web pages, buyer prediction, influence propagation, budget constraints
Procedia PDF Downloads 2512375 Model of Application of Blockchain Technology in Public Finances
Authors: M. Vlahovic
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This paper presents a model of public finances, which combines three concepts: participatory budgeting, crowdfunding and blockchain technology. Participatory budgeting is defined as a process in which community members decide how to spend a part of community’s budget. Crowdfunding is a practice of funding a project by collecting small monetary contributions from a large number of people via an Internet platform. Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger that enables efficient and reliable transactions that are secure and transparent. In this hypothetical model, the government or authorities on local/regional level would set up a platform where they would propose public projects to citizens. Citizens would browse through projects and support or vote for those which they consider justified and necessary. In return, they would be entitled to a tax relief in the amount of their monetary contribution. Since the blockchain technology enables tracking of transactions, it can be used to mitigate corruption, money laundering and lack of transparency in public finances. Models of its application have already been created for e-voting, health records or land registries. By presenting a model of application of blockchain technology in public finances, this paper takes into consideration the potential of blockchain technology to disrupt governments and make processes more democratic, secure, transparent and efficient. The framework for this paper consists of multiple streams of research, including key concepts of direct democracy, public finance (especially the voluntary theory of public finance), information and communication technology, especially blockchain technology and crowdfunding. The framework defines rules of the game, basic conditions for the implementation of the model, benefits, potential problems and development perspectives. As an oversimplified map of a new form of public finances, the proposed model identifies primary factors, that influence the possibility of implementation of the model, and that could be tracked, measured and controlled in case of experimentation with the model.Keywords: blockchain technology, distributed ledger, participatory budgeting, crowdfunding, direct democracy, internet platform, e-government, public finance
Procedia PDF Downloads 1422374 A Comparative Analysis of Various Companding Techniques Used to Reduce PAPR in VLC Systems
Authors: Arushi Singh, Anjana Jain, Prakash Vyavahare
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Recently, Li-Fi(light-fiedelity) has been launched based on VLC(visible light communication) technique, 100 times faster than WiFi. Now 5G mobile communication system is proposed to use VLC-OFDM as the transmission technique. The VLC system focused on visible rays, is considered for efficient spectrum use and easy intensity modulation through LEDs. The reason of high speed in VLC is LED, as they flicker incredibly fast(order of MHz). Another advantage of employing LED is-it acts as low pass filter results no out-of-band emission. The VLC system falls under the category of ‘green technology’ for utilizing LEDs. In present scenario, OFDM is used for high data-rates, interference immunity and high spectral efficiency. Inspite of the advantages OFDM suffers from large PAPR, ICI among carriers and frequency offset errors. Since, the data transmission technique used in VLC system is OFDM, the system suffers the drawbacks of OFDM as well as VLC, the non-linearity dues to non-linear characteristics of LED and PAPR of OFDM due to which the high power amplifier enters in non-linear region. The proposed paper focuses on reduction of PAPR in VLC-OFDM systems. Many techniques are applied to reduce PAPR such as-clipping-introduces distortion in the carrier; selective mapping technique-suffers wastage of bandwidth; partial transmit sequence-very complex due to exponentially increased number of sub-blocks. The paper discusses three companding techniques namely- µ-law, A-law and advance A-law companding technique. The analysis shows that the advance A-law companding techniques reduces the PAPR of the signal by adjusting the companding parameter within the range. VLC-OFDM systems are the future of the wireless communication but non-linearity in VLC-OFDM is a severe issue. The proposed paper discusses the techniques to reduce PAPR, one of the non-linearities of the system. The companding techniques mentioned in this paper provides better results without increasing the complexity of the system.Keywords: non-linear companding techniques, peak to average power ratio (PAPR), visible light communication (VLC), VLC-OFDM
Procedia PDF Downloads 2782373 Pavement Management for a Metropolitan Area: A Case Study of Montreal
Authors: Luis Amador Jimenez, Md. Shohel Amin
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Pavement performance models are based on projections of observed traffic loads, which makes uncertain to study funding strategies in the long run if history does not repeat. Neural networks can be used to estimate deterioration rates but the learning rate and momentum have not been properly investigated, in addition, economic evolvement could change traffic flows. This study addresses both issues through a case study for roads of Montreal that simulates traffic for a period of 50 years and deals with the measurement error of the pavement deterioration model. Travel demand models are applied to simulate annual average daily traffic (AADT) every 5 years. Accumulated equivalent single axle loads (ESALs) are calculated from the predicted AADT and locally observed truck distributions combined with truck factors. A back propagation Neural Network (BPN) method with a Generalized Delta Rule (GDR) learning algorithm is applied to estimate pavement deterioration models capable of overcoming measurement errors. Linear programming of lifecycle optimization is applied to identify M&R strategies that ensure good pavement condition while minimizing the budget. It was found that CAD 150 million is the minimum annual budget to good condition for arterial and local roads in Montreal. Montreal drivers prefer the use of public transportation for work and education purposes. Vehicle traffic is expected to double within 50 years, ESALS are expected to double the number of ESALs every 15 years. Roads in the island of Montreal need to undergo a stabilization period for about 25 years, a steady state seems to be reached after.Keywords: pavement management system, traffic simulation, backpropagation neural network, performance modeling, measurement errors, linear programming, lifecycle optimization
Procedia PDF Downloads 4522372 A Sustainable Supplier Selection and Order Allocation Based on Manufacturing Processes and Product Tolerances: A Multi-Criteria Decision Making and Multi-Objective Optimization Approach
Authors: Ravi Patel, Krishna K. Krishnan
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In global supply chains, appropriate and sustainable suppliers play a vital role in supply chain development and feasibility. In a larger organization with huge number of suppliers, it is necessary to divide suppliers based on their past history of quality and delivery of each product category. Since performance of any organization widely depends on their suppliers, well evaluated selection criteria and decision-making models lead to improved supplier assessment and development. In this paper, SCOR® performance evaluation approach and ISO standards are used to determine selection criteria for better utilization of supplier assessment by using hybrid model of Analytic Hierchchy Problem (AHP) and Fuzzy Techniques for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS). AHP is used to determine the global weightage of criteria which helps TOPSIS to get supplier score by using triangular fuzzy set theory. Both qualitative and quantitative criteria are taken into consideration for the proposed model. In addition, a multi-product and multi-time period model is selected for order allocation. The optimization model integrates multi-objective integer linear programming (MOILP) for order allocation and a hybrid approach for supplier selection. The proposed MOILP model optimizes order allocation based on manufacturing process and product tolerances as per manufacturer’s requirement for quality product. The integrated model and solution approach are tested to find optimized solutions for different scenario. The detailed analysis shows the superiority of proposed model over other solutions which considered individual decision making models.Keywords: AHP, fuzzy set theory, multi-criteria decision making, multi-objective integer linear programming, TOPSIS
Procedia PDF Downloads 1652371 Glaucoma with Normal IOP, Is It True Normal Tension glaucoma or Something Else!
Authors: Sushma Tejwani, Shoruba Dinakaran, Kushal Kacha, K. Bhujang Shetty
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Introduction and aim: It is not unusual to find patients with glaucomatous damage and normal intraocular pressure, and to label a patient as Normal tension glaucoma (NTG) majority of clinicians depend on office Intraocular pressures (IOP) recordings; hence, the concern is that whether we are missing the late night or early morning spikes in this group of patients. Also, ischemia to the optic nerve is one of the presumed causes of damage in these patients, however demonstrating the same has been a challenge. The aim of this study was to evaluate IOP variations and patterns in a series of patients with open angles, glaucomatous discs or fields but normal office IOP, and in addition to identify ischemic factors for true NTG patients. Materials & Methods: This was an observational cross- sectional study from a tertiary care centre. The patients that underwent full day DVT from Jan 2012 to April 2014 were studied. All patients underwent IOP measurement on Goldmann applanation tonometry every 3 hours for 24 hours along with a recording of the blood pressure (BP). Further patients with normal IOP throughout the 24- hour period were evaluated with a cardiologist for echocardiography and carotid Doppler. Results: There were 47 patients and a maximum number of patients studied was in the age group of 50-70 years. A biphasic IOP peak was noted for almost all the patients. Out of the 47 patients, 2 were excluded from analysis as they were on treatment.20 patients (42%) were diagnosed on DVT to have an IOP spike and were then diagnosed as open angle glaucoma and another 25 (55%) were diagnosed to have normal tension glaucoma and were subsequently advised a carotid Doppler and a cardiologists consult. Another interesting finding was that 9 patients had a nocturnal dip in their BP and 3 were found to have carotid artery stenosis. Conclusion: A continuous 24-hour monitoring of the IOP and BP is a very useful albeit mildly cumbersome tool which provides a wealth of information in cases of glaucoma presenting with normal office pressures. It is of great value in differentiating between normal tension glaucoma patients & open angle glaucoma patients. It also helps in timely diagnosis & possible intervention due to referral to a cardiologist in cases of carotid artery stenosis.Keywords: carotid artery disease in NTG, diurnal variation of IOP, ischemia in glaucoma, normal tension glaucoma
Procedia PDF Downloads 2782370 Acute and Chronic Effect of Biopesticide on Infestation of Whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) on the Culantro Cultivation
Authors: U. Pangnakorn, S. Chuenchooklin
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Acute and chronic effects of biopesticide from entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema thailandensis n. sp.), bacteria ISR (Pseudomonas fluorescens), wood vinegar and fermented organic substances from plants: (neem Azadirachta indica + citronella grass Cymbopogon nardus Rendle + bitter bush Chromolaena odorata L.) were tested on culantro (Eryngium foetidum L.). The biopesticide was investigated for infestation reduction of the major insect pest whitefly (Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)). The experimental plots were located at a farm in Nakhon Sawan Province, Thailand. This study was undertaken during the drought season (late November to May). Effectiveness of the treatment was evaluated in terms of acute and chronic effect. The populations of whitefly were observed and recorded every hour up to 3 hours with insect nets and yellow sticky traps after the treatments were applied for the acute effect. The results showed that bacteria ISR had the highest effectiveness for controlling whitefly infestation on culantro; the whitefly numbers on insect nets were 12.5, 10.0 and 7.5 after 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr, respectively while the whitefly on yellow sticky traps showed 15.0, 10.0 and 10.0 after 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr, respectively. For chronic effect, the whitefly was continuously collected and recorded at weekly intervals; the result showed that treatment of bacteria ISR found the average whitefly numbers only 8.06 and 11.0 on insect nets and sticky traps respectively, followed by treatment of nematode where the average whitefly was 9.87 and 11.43 on the insect nets and sticky traps, respectively. In addition, the minor insect pests were also observed and collected. The biopesticide influenced the reduction number of minor insect pests (red spider mites, beet armyworm, short-horned grasshopper, pygmy locusts, etc.) with only a few found on the culantro cultivation.Keywords: whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius), culantro (Eryngium foetidum L.), acute and chronic effect, entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema thailandensis n. sp.), bacteria ISR (Pseudomonas fluorescens)
Procedia PDF Downloads 2762369 Factors Affecting Visual Environment in Mine Lighting
Authors: N. Lakshmipathy, Ch. S. N. Murthy, M. Aruna
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The design of lighting systems for surface mines is not an easy task because of the unique environment and work procedures encountered in the mines. The primary objective of this paper is to identify the major problems encountered in mine lighting application and to provide guidance in the solution of these problems. In the surface mining reflectance of surrounding surfaces is one of the important factors, which improve the vision, in the night hours. But due to typical working nature in the mines it is very difficult to fulfill these requirements, and also the orientation of the light at work site is a challenging task. Due to this reason machine operator and other workers in a mine need to be able to orient themselves in a difficult visual environment. The haul roads always keep on changing to tune with the mining activity. Other critical area such as dumpyards, stackyards etc. also change their phase with time, and it is difficult to illuminate such areas. Mining is a hazardous occupation, with workers exposed to adverse conditions; apart from the need for hard physical labor, there is exposure to stress and environmental pollutants like dust, noise, heat, vibration, poor illumination, radiation, etc. Visibility is restricted when operating load haul dumper and Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM) vehicles resulting in a number of serious accidents. one of the leading causes of these accidents is the inability of the equipment operator to see clearly people, objects or hazards around the machine. Results indicate blind spots are caused primarily by posts, the back of the operator's cab, and by lights and light brackets. The careful designed and implemented, lighting systems provide mine workers improved visibility and contribute to improved safety, productivity and morale. Properly designed lighting systems can improve visibility and safety during working in the opencast mines.Keywords: contrast, efficacy, illuminance, illumination, light, luminaire, luminance, reflectance, visibility
Procedia PDF Downloads 3542368 The Psychosis Prodrome: Biomarkers of the Glutamatergic System and Their Potential Role in Prediction and Treatment
Authors: Peter David Reiss
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The concept of the psychosis prodrome has allowed for the identification of adolescent and young adult patients who have a significantly elevated risk of developing schizophrenia spectrum disorders. A number of different interventions have been tested in order to prevent or delay progression of symptoms. To date, there has been no consistent meta-analytical evidence to support efficacy of antipsychotic treatment for patients in the prodromal state, and their use remains therefore inconclusive. Although antipsychotics may manage symptoms transiently, they have not been found to prevent or delay onset of psychotic disorders. Furthermore, pharmacological intervention in high-risk individuals remains controversial, because of the antipsychotic side effect profile in a population in which only about 20 to 35 percent will eventually convert to psychosis over a two-year period, with even after two years conversion rates not exceeding 30 to 40 percent. This general estimate is additionally problematic, in that it ignores the fact that there is significant variation in individual risk among clinical high-risk cases. The current lack of reliable tests for at-risk patients makes it difficult to justify individual treatment decisions. Preventive treatment should ideally be dictated by an individual’s risk while minimizing potentially harmful medication exposure. This requires more accurate predictive assessments by using valid and accessible prognostic markers. The following will compare prediction and risk modification potential of behavioral biomarkers such as disturbances of basic sense of self and emotion awareness, neurocognitive biomarkers such as attention, working and declarative memory, and neurophysiological biomarkers such as glutamatergic abnormalities and NMDA receptor dysfunction. Identification of robust biomarkers could therefore not only provide more reliable means of psychosis prediction, but also help test and develop new clinical interventions targeted at the prodromal state.Keywords: at-risk mental state, biomarkers, glutamatergic system, NMDA receptor, psychosis prodrome, schizophrenia
Procedia PDF Downloads 1892367 Assessment of Barriers Preventing Recycling Practices among Bars and Eateries in Central South Africa
Authors: Jana Vermaas, Carien Denner
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Waste has become a global issue and the management regarding it a priority. Some of the main problems in South Africa (SA) include: (1) the lack of information and education, (2) waste collection services, (3) reusing and recycling is not encouraged, (4) illegal dumping, and the biggest problem of all (5) the lack of waste related regulations and enforcement by the government and municipalities. In SA, there are provinces such as Gauteng and the Western Cape that have some recycling programs in place, but nothing yet in the central part of the country. By identifying the barriers preventing these businesses from recycling, the local municipalities and recycling services could create a solution. Owners or employees of eateries and bars completed a self-administered questionnaire. Information were obtained on knowledge of recycling, participation in recycling and to which extent, barriers that prevent them from recycling and motives that would encourage recycling. The data obtained from the questionnaire indicated that most (98%) participants knew only the basics, that recycling is a process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. Further knowledge questions indicated that individuals were not educated about recycling as almost half (49%) of the participants believe that they can’t reuse plastic bottles. They do not understand which items of their waste could be re-used or recycled. They had limited knowledge about the recycling opportunities or practices in the area. Only a small number (34%) were involved in recycling or sustainable practices. Many did not even know of any collection services or buy-back centres in their vicinity. Most of the participants (94%) indicated that they would be willing to recycle if it would have a financial benefit. Many also stated that they would be more willing to recycle if the recyclable waste will be collected from their establishment, on a regular basis. The enforcement of recycling by municipalities or government by awarding fines for waste offenders was indicated as a significant motive. It could be concluded that the most significant barrier is knowledge and lack of information. These businesses do not comprehend the impact that they can have with their recycling contributions, not only on the environment, but also on the consumers that they serve. Another barrier is the lack of collection services. There are currently no government or municipal services for the collection of recyclable waste. All waste are taken to landfills. Many of the larger recycling initiatives and companies do not reach as far as central SA. Therefore, the buy-back component of recycling is not present.Keywords: eateries, recycling, sustainable practices, waste
Procedia PDF Downloads 2832366 Prevalence of Pretreatment Drug HIV-1 Mutations in Moscow, Russia
Authors: Daria Zabolotnaya, Svetlana Degtyareva, Veronika Kanestri, Danila Konnov
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An adequate choice of the initial antiretroviral treatment determines the treatment efficacy. In the clinical guidelines in Russia non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) are still considered to be an option for first-line treatment while pretreatment drug resistance (PDR) testing is not routinely performed. We conducted a cohort retrospective study in HIV-positive treatment naïve patients of the H-clinic (Moscow, Russia) who performed PDR testing from July 2017 to November 2021. All the information was obtained from the medical records anonymously. We analyzed the mutations in reverse transcriptase and protease genes. RT-sequences were obtained by AmpliSens HIV-Resist-Seq kit. Drug resistance was defined using the HIVdb Program v. 8.9-1. PDR was estimated using the Stanford algorithm. Descriptive statistics were performed in Excel (Microsoft Office, 2019). A total of 261 HIV-1 infected patients were enrolled in the study including 197 (75.5%) male and 64 (24.5%) female. The mean age was 34.6±8.3 years. The median CD4 count – 521 cells/µl (IQR 367-687 cells/µl). Data on risk factors of HIV-infection were scarce. The total quantity of strains containing mutations in the reverse transcriptase gene was 75 (28.7%). From these 5 (1.9%) mutations were associated with PDR to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and 30 (11.5%) – with PDR to NNRTIs. The number of strains with mutations in protease gene was 43 (16.5%), from these only 3 (1.1%) mutations were associated with resistance to protease inhibitors. For NNRTIs the most prevalent PDR mutations were E138A, V106I. Most of the HIV variants exhibited a single PDR mutation, 2 were found in 3 samples. Most of HIV variants with PDR mutation displayed a single drug class resistance mutation. 2/37 (5.4%) strains had both NRTIs and NNRTIs mutations. There were no strains identified with PDR mutations to all three drug classes. Though earlier data demonstrated a lower level of PDR in HIV treatment naïve population in Russia and our cohort can be not fully representative as it is taken from the private clinic, it reflects the trend of increasing PDR especially to NNRTIs. Therefore, we consider either pretreatment testing or giving the priority to other drugs as first-line treatment necessary.Keywords: HIV, resistance, mutations, treatment
Procedia PDF Downloads 852365 Epidemiology of Private Prehospital Calls over the Last Decade in South Africa
Authors: Rhodine Hickman, Craig Wylie, Michael G. McCaul
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Introduction: The World Health Organisation has called on governments around the world to recognise emergency conditions as a global public health problem and respond with appropriate steps for effective preventative strategies. However, to understand the magnitude of the problem, good quality epidemiological data is required. This is especially challenging in low and middle-income countries, where routine data is scarce, specifically within the prehospital setting. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of a national prehospital private sector EMS database. The database being the property of ER24 (private Emergency Medical Services (EMS) company in South Africa) contains claims submitted by the majority of ambulance services in South Africa during the period between 1 January 2008 to 28 March 2017. We used descriptive statistics and control charts to describe the data using STATA 14. Results: 299,257 calls were included in the analysis. The top clinical conditions requiring ambulance transport were transport accidents (10% of total call volume) and ischaemic heart disease (4.4%). The number of transport accidents consistently increased between 2009 and 2014 and reached beyond the limit for normal variation in 2015. Victims of transport accidents required basic life support services 60% of the time with 80% of injuries being minor to moderate. The frequency of ischaemic heart disease had a steady incline from 2011 to 2016. Advanced life support services were required about 50% of the time, with 60% of patients needing urgent care. Conclusion: Transport accidents, followed by ischaemic heart disease, are the most prevalent conditions in South African private EMS. There is a potential to address these conditions by developing the capacity of low and mid-level providers in trauma and advanced EMS providers in ischaemic heart disease.Keywords: emergency care, emergency medicine, prehospital providers, South Africa
Procedia PDF Downloads 1632364 Applying Semi-Automatic Digital Aerial Survey Technology and Canopy Characters Classification for Surface Vegetation Interpretation of Archaeological Sites
Authors: Yung-Chung Chuang
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The cultural layers of archaeological sites are mainly affected by surface land use, land cover, and root system of surface vegetation. For this reason, continuous monitoring of land use and land cover change is important for archaeological sites protection and management. However, in actual operation, on-site investigation and orthogonal photograph interpretation require a lot of time and manpower. For this reason, it is necessary to perform a good alternative for surface vegetation survey in an automated or semi-automated manner. In this study, we applied semi-automatic digital aerial survey technology and canopy characters classification with very high-resolution aerial photographs for surface vegetation interpretation of archaeological sites. The main idea is based on different landscape or forest type can easily be distinguished with canopy characters (e.g., specific texture distribution, shadow effects and gap characters) extracted by semi-automatic image classification. A novel methodology to classify the shape of canopy characters using landscape indices and multivariate statistics was also proposed. Non-hierarchical cluster analysis was used to assess the optimal number of canopy character clusters and canonical discriminant analysis was used to generate the discriminant functions for canopy character classification (seven categories). Therefore, people could easily predict the forest type and vegetation land cover by corresponding to the specific canopy character category. The results showed that the semi-automatic classification could effectively extract the canopy characters of forest and vegetation land cover. As for forest type and vegetation type prediction, the average prediction accuracy reached 80.3%~91.7% with different sizes of test frame. It represented this technology is useful for archaeological site survey, and can improve the classification efficiency and data update rate.Keywords: digital aerial survey, canopy characters classification, archaeological sites, multivariate statistics
Procedia PDF Downloads 1342363 Identification of the Antimicrobial Effect of Liquorice Extracts on Gram-Positive Bacteria: Determination of Minimum Inhibitory Concentration and Mechanism of Action Using a luxABCDE Reporter Strain
Authors: Madiha El Awamie, Catherine Rees
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Natural preservatives have been used as alternatives to traditional chemical preservatives; however, a limited number have been commercially developed and many remain to be investigated as sources of safer and effective antimicrobials. In this study, we have been investigating the antimicrobial activity of an extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra (liquorice) that was provided as a waste material from the production of liquorice flavourings for the food industry, and to investigate if this retained the expected antimicrobial activity so it could be used as a natural preservative. Antibacterial activity of liquorice extract was screened for evidence of growth inhibition against eight species of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, including Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria innocua, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Bacillus subtilis. The Gram-negative bacteria tested include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium but none of these were affected by the extract. In contrast, for all of the Gram-positive bacteria tested, growth was inhibited as monitored using optical density. However parallel studies using viable count indicated that the cells were not killed meaning that the extract was bacteriostatic rather than bacteriocidal. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration [MIC] and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration [MBC] of the extract was also determined and a concentration of 50 µg ml-1 was found to have a strong bacteriostatic effect on Gram-positive bacteria. Microscopic analysis indicated that there were changes in cell shape suggesting the cell wall was affected. In addition, the use of a reporter strain of Listeria transformed with the bioluminescence genes luxABCDE indicated that cell energy levels were reduced when treated with either 12.5 or 50 µg ml-1 of the extract, with the reduction in light output being proportional to the concentration of the extract used. Together these results suggest that the extract is inhibiting the growth of Gram-positive bacteria only by damaging the cell wall and/or membrane.Keywords: antibacterial activity, bioluminescence, Glycyrrhiza glabra, natural preservative
Procedia PDF Downloads 3342362 Comparison of Medical Students Evaluation by Serious Games and Clinical Case-Multiple Choice Questions
Authors: Chamtouri I., Kechida M.
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Background: Evaluation has a prominent role in medical education and graduation. This evaluation has usually done in face-to-face, by written or oral questions. Simulation is increasingly taking a part as a method of evaluation. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted face-to-face evaluation, simulation using serious games (SG) is emerging in the field of training and assessment of medical students. The aim of our study is to compare the results of the evaluation of medical students by virtual simulation by online serious games versus clinical case-multiple choice questions (MCQ) and to assess the degree of satisfaction from these two evaluation methods. Methods: Medical students from the same study level were voluntarily participated in this study. Groupe 1 had an evaluation by SG dealing with “diagnosis and management of ST-segment elevationmyocardialinfarction (STEMI)alreadyprepared on the website www.Mediactiv.com. Groupe 2 were evaluated by clinical case-MCQ having thes same topic as SG. Results of the two groups were compared. Satisfaction questionnaire was filled by the two groups. Satisfaction degree was compared between the two groups. Results. In this study, 64 medical students (G1:31 and G2: 33) were enrolled. Obtaining complete notes in the "questioning" and "clinical examination" parts is significantly more important in-group 1 compared to group 2. No significant difference detected between the two groups in terms of “ECG interpretation” and “diagnosis of STEMI” parts. A greater number of students of group 1 obtained the full note compared to group 2 in “the initial treatment part” (54.8% vs. 39.4%; p = 0.04). Thirty learners (96.8%) in-group 1 obtained a total score ≥ 50% versus 69.7% in-group 2 (p = 0.004). The full score of 100% was obtained in three learners in-group1, while no student scored 100% in-group2 (p = 0.027). Medical evaluation using SG was reported as more innovative, fun, and realistic compared to evaluation by clinical case-MCQ. No significant difference detected between the two methods in terms of stress. Conclusion: Simulation by SG can be considered as an innovative and effective method in evaluating medical students with a higher degree of satisfaction.Keywords: evaluation, serious games, medical students, satisfaction
Procedia PDF Downloads 1362361 Teaching Audiovisual Translation (AVT):Linguistic and Technical Aspects of Different Modes of AVT
Authors: Juan-Pedro Rica-Peromingo
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Teachers constantly need to innovate and redefine materials for their lectures, especially in areas such as Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) and Translation Studies (TS). It is therefore essential for the lecturers to be technically skilled to handle the never-ending evolution in software and technology, which are necessary elements especially in certain courses at university level. This need becomes even more evident in Audiovisual Translation (AVT) Modules and Courses. AVT has undergone considerable growth in the area of teaching and learning of languages for academic purposes. We have witnessed the development of a considerable number of masters and postgraduate courses where AVT becomes a tool for L2 learning. The teaching and learning of different AVT modes are components of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Universities, in which AVT is offered as part of their teaching programme or training, make use of professional or free software programs. This paper presents an approach in AVT withina specific university context, in which technology is used by means of professional and nonprofessional software. Students take an AVT subject as part of their English Linguistics Master’s Degree at the Complutense University (UCM) in which they are using professional (Spot) and nonprofessional (Subtitle Workshop, Aegisub, Windows Movie Maker) software packages. The students are encouraged to develop their tasks and projects simulating authentic professional experiences and contexts in the different AVT modes: subtitling for hearing and deaf and hard of hearing population, audio description and dubbing. Selected scenes from TV series such as X-Files, Gossip girl, IT Crowd; extracts from movies: Finding Nemo, Good Will Hunting, School of Rock, Harry Potter, Up; and short movies (Vincent) were used. Hence, the complexity of the audiovisual materials used in class as well as the activities for their projects were graded. The assessment of the diverse tasks carried out by all the students are expected to provide some insights into the best way to improve their linguistic accuracy and oral and written productions with the use of different AVT modes in a very specific ESP university context.Keywords: ESP, audiovisual translation, technology, university teaching, teaching
Procedia PDF Downloads 5102360 Lexical-Semantic Deficits in Sinhala Speaking Persons with Post Stroke Aphasia: Evidence from Single Word Auditory Comprehension Task
Authors: D. W. M. S. Samarathunga, Isuru Dharmarathne
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In aphasia, various levels of symbolic language processing (semantics) are affected. It is shown that Persons with Aphasia (PWA) often experience more problems comprehending some categories of words than others. The study aimed to determine lexical semantic deficits seen in Auditory Comprehension (AC) and to describe lexical-semantic deficits across six selected word categories. Thirteen (n =13) persons diagnosed with post-stroke aphasia (PSA) were recruited to perform an AC task. Foods, objects, clothes, vehicles, body parts and animals were selected as the six categories. As the test stimuli, black and white line drawings were adapted from a picture set developed for semantic studies by Snodgrass and Vanderwart. A pilot study was conducted with five (n=5) healthy nonbrain damaged Sinhala speaking adults to decide familiarity and applicability of the test material. In the main study, participants were scored based on the accuracy and number of errors shown. The results indicate similar trends of lexical semantic deficits identified in the literature confirming ‘animals’ to be the easiest category to comprehend. Mann-Whitney U test was performed to determine the association between the selected variables and the participants’ performance on AC task. No statistical significance was found between the errors and the type of aphasia reflecting similar patterns described in aphasia literature in other languages. The current study indicates the presence of selectivity of lexical semantic deficits in AC and a hierarchy was developed based on the complexity of the categories to comprehend by Sinhala speaking PWA, which might be clinically beneficial when improving language skills of Sinhala speaking persons with post-stroke aphasia. However, further studies on aphasia should be conducted with larger samples for a longer period to study deficits in Sinhala and other Sri Lankan languages (Tamil and Malay).Keywords: aphasia, auditory comprehension, selective lexical-semantic deficits, semantic categories
Procedia PDF Downloads 2492359 The Impact of Adopting Cross Breed Dairy Cows on Households’ Income and Food Security in the Case of Dejen Woreda, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
Authors: Misganaw Chere Siferih
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This study assessed the impact of crossbreed dairy cows on household income and food security. The study area is found in Dejen Woreda, East Gojam Zone, and Amhara region of Ethiopia. Random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 80 crossbreed dairy cow owners and 176 indigenous dairy cow owners. The study employed food consumption score analytical framework to measure food security status of the household. No Statistical significant mean difference is found between crossbreed owners and indigenous owners. Logistic regression was employed to investigate crossbreed dairy cow adoption determinants , the result indicates that gender, education, labor number, land size cultivated, dairy cooperatives membership, net income and food security status of the household are statistically significant independent variables, which explained the binary dependent variable, crossbreed dairy cow adoption. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to analyze the impact of crossbreed dairy cow owners on farmers’ income and food security. The average net income of crossbreed dairy cow owners was found to be significantly higher than indigenous dairy cow owners. Estimates of average treatment effect of the treated (ATT) indicated that crossbreed dairy cow is able to impact households’ net income by 42%, 38.5%, 30.8% and 44.5% higher in kernel, radius, nearest neighborhood and stratification matching algorithms respectively as compared to indigenous dairy cow owners. However, estimates of average treatment of the treated (ATT) suggest that being an owner of crossbreed dairy cow is not able to affect food security significantly. Thus, crossbreed dairy cow enables farmers to increase income but not their food security in the study area. Finally, the study recommended establishing dairy cooperatives and advice farmers to become a member of them, attention to promoting the impact of crossbreed dairy cows and promotion of nutrition focus projects.Keywords: crossbreed dairy cow, net income, food security, propensity score matching
Procedia PDF Downloads 482358 Regional Variation of Cancer Incidence in Nepal
Authors: Rudra Prasad Khanal
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Introduction: Non-communicable disease, such as cancer, has spread all over the world for some last decades. However, every nation has experienced a burden from the development of technology. In the context of Nepal, 10 to 15 thousand new cancer incidences are being registered in different hospitals for treatment. Since the date of starting nuclear medicine at Bir Hospital in 1998, cancer patients have been getting treatment regularly. According to the data of the population-based cancer registry, approximately 60% of the population having a middle-class income is being affected by cancer in Nepal. Methods and Materials: The study is aimed to find out the particular place where the population density of new cancer incidence is highest in Nepal and to inform the concerned regulatory body that is working on cancer screening and early detection for the proper treatment from the beginning. In order to identify the areas with the highest population density of new cancer incidence, all the data of cancer patients were collected from five different renowned hospitals and also from the population-based cancer registry center and then analyzed the data. The history of cancer patients was studied from 2003 to 2020, but here the data are analyzed from 2015 to 2020 only to find the latest trend in cancer incidence. Results: In the five major hospitals in Nepal, the total new cancer incidence was 61783 from 2015 to 2020. Out of those, 34617 were female, and 27176 were male. This research shows that female cancer patients were more every year. In the male, lung cancer patients more than cancer of other organs, but in females, the number of breast cancer patients was greatest. The age-adjusted mortality rate for males in Kathmandu valley was 36.3, and for females was 27.0 per 100,000 population. The cancer incidence and mortality rate were slightly lesser in other districts of Nepal. This rate increased with the increase in the age of people. Over 60 years, cancer incidence and mortality rates have been found to increase rapidly. Conclusion: This research supports conducting the program of cancer screening and early detection at Kathmandu valley with high priority and then Morang, Rukum, SSDM, etc., to control cancer.Keywords: cancer incidence, research scholar, Tribhuvan University, Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, Nepal
Procedia PDF Downloads 682357 The Prevalence of Citrus Specific Nematode Tylenchulus semipenetrans Cobb 1913 on the Coast of the Black Sea in Georgia
Authors: E.Tskitisvili, L. Jgenti, I. Eliava, T. Tskitishvili, N. Bagathuria, M. Gigolashvili
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The fight against dangerous nematode diseases that have world economic importance requires accurate data about the prevalence of these pests. In the point of view of the International Convention on Biological Diversity, the identification of the plant invasion causing dangerous pathogen in the early stages of invasion on new territory is the most important part of the program, which aims to monitor the Bio-Agro Coenosis and Bio-Control. Citrus nematode-specific belongs to the pathogen species, which can cause epiphytotics particularly for large areas and cause irreparable damage to citrus plantations. This paper provides a brief tour of the spread of citrus nematodes on the Black Sea coast (Adjara and Abkhazia). Also the bio-ecological monitoring data to detect the potential sources of invasion for evaluating the current conditions of the citrus nematodes prevalence. Through 2006-2010, the material was gained by structural monitoring system during the citrus vegetation period on tangerines, lemon and oranges from nine points of the study area. Mature forms of Tylenchulus semipenetrans Cobb, 1913 were observed in almost all of the samples of the root system, the peak of larvae was observed in late spring and outumn. 92 forms of nematode has been detected in the rhizosphere belonging to 8 Orders: Areolaimida, Dorylaimida, Enoplida, Mononchida, Tylenshida, Monshysterida, Rhabditida, Aphelenchida, 23 families and 40 genera. 75 forms are identified as species. It is estimated the number of nematodes fauna and ecological groups. To detect possible sources of invasion we obtained additional materials in 2013-2014 from citrus plantations planted in 2011, where is planted tangerine trees introduced from Spain and Japan. The fauna of rhizosphere is identified and Tylenchulus semipenetrans Cobb, 1913 is not detected.Keywords: Citrus nematodes, infection, bioecological monitoring, epiphytotics
Procedia PDF Downloads 3612356 Modification of Hexagonal Boron Nitride Induced by Focused Laser Beam
Authors: I. Wlasny, Z. Klusek, A. Wysmolek
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Hexagonal boron nitride is a representative of a widely popular class of two-dimensional Van Der Waals materials. It finds its uses, among others, in construction of complexly layered heterostructures. Hexagonal boron nitride attracts great interest because of its properties characteristic for wide-gap semiconductors as well as an ultra-flat surface.Van Der Waals heterostructures composed of two-dimensional layered materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides or graphene give hope for miniaturization of various electronic and optoelectronic elements. In our presentation, we will show the results of our investigations of the not previously reported modification of the hexagonal boron nitride layers with focused laser beam. The electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) images reveal that the irradiation leads to changes of the local electric fields for a wide range of laser wavelengths (from 442 to 785 nm). These changes are also accompanied by alterations of crystallographic structure of the material, as reflected by Raman spectra. They exhibit high stability and remain visible after at least five months. This behavior can be explained in terms of photoionization of the defect centers in h-BN which influence non-uniform electrostatic field screening by the photo-excited charge carriers. Analyzed changes influence local defect structure, and thus the interatomic distances within the lattice. These effects can be amplified by the piezoelectric character of hexagonal boron nitride, similar to that found in nitrides (e.g., GaN, AlN). Our results shed new light on the optical properties of the hexagonal boron nitride, in particular, those associated with electron-phonon coupling. Our study also opens new possibilities for h-BN applications in layered heterostructures where electrostatic fields can be used in tailoring of the local properties of the structures for use in micro- and nanoelectronics or field-controlled memory storage. This work is supported by National Science Centre project granted on the basis of the decision number DEC-2015/16/S/ST3/00451.Keywords: atomic force microscopy, hexagonal boron nitride, optical properties, raman spectroscopy
Procedia PDF Downloads 165