Search results for: adopt a culture of continuous learning

Authors: Olasunkanmi Olapeju

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A large chunk of global population are not yet connected to water borne faecal management systems that rely on flush mechanisms and sewers networks that are linked with a central treatment plant. Only about 10% of sub-Saharan African countries are connected to central sewage systems. In Nigeria, majority of the population do not only depend on on-plot sanitation systems, a huge chunk do not also have access to safe and improved toilets. Apart from the organizational challenges and technical capacity, the other major factors that account for why faecal waste management is yet unimproved in developing countries are faulty planning frameworks that fail to maintain balance between urbanization dynamics and infrastructures, and misconceptions about what modern sanitation is all about. In most cases, the quest to implement developmental patterns that integrate modern sewers based sanitation systems have huge financial and political costs. Faecal waste management in poor countries largely lacks the needed political attention and budgetary prioritization. Yet, the on-plot sanitation systems being mainly relied upon the need to be managed in a manner that is sustainable and healthy, pending when development would embrace a more sustainable off-site central sewage system. This study is aimed at investigating existing strategies for managing on-plot sanitation systems’ faecal waste in Ogun state, Nigeria, with the aim of recommending sustainable sanitation management systems. The study adopted the convergent parallel variant of the mixed-mode technique, which involves the adoption of both quantitative and qualitative method of data collection. Adopting a four-level multi-stage approach, which is inclusive of all political divisions in the study area, a total of 330 questionnaires were respectively administered in the study area. Moreover, the qualitative data adopted the purposive approach in scoping down to 33 key informants. SPSS software (Version 22.0) was employed for descriptively analysis. The study shows that about 52% of households adopt the non-recovery management (NRM) means of burying their latrines with sand sludge shrinkage with chemicals such as carbides. The dominance of the non-recovery management means seriously constrains the quest for faecal resource recovery. Essentially, the management techniques adopted by households depend largely on the technology of their sanitary containments, emptying means available, the ability of households to pay for the cost of emptying, and the social acceptability of the reusability of faecal waste, which determines faecal resource recoverability. The study suggests that there is a need for municipal authorities in the study area to urgently intervene in the sanitation sector and consider it a key element of the planning process. There is a need for a comprehensive plan that would ensure a seamless transition to the adoption of a modern sanitation management system.

Keywords: faecal, management, planning, waste, sanitation, sustainability

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Authors: Kwasi Sarfo, Bernard Okoampah Otu

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The 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana recognises the authority and roles of traditional leaders and considers them as being entrusted with fiduciary responsibility over land in their respective territories. The new land act, Act 1036 of 2020, in buttressing the fiduciary role of traditional leaders in land matters, inserted the traditional leaders’ accountability clause. Many traditional leaders have expressed their misgivings about the insertion of this clause. Therefore, there appears to be a misunderstanding of the concept of fiduciary in land management in Ghana. The objective of this study is to examine the concept of fiduciary in respect of allodial rights holders in land management and administration and how this concept is perceived and applied by traditional leaders. The study seeks to provide insights into the discrepancy between fiduciary theory and its practical implementation in Ghana. The study is based on a qualitative empirical research approach and adopts in-depth interviews as a primary method of data collection. The study also adopts the theory of New Institutionalism of social anthropology in analysing and interpreting the findings. The data for this study was collected over a period of one year, from July 2022 to July 2023, as part of one of the author's PhD dissertation. The collected data were carefully analysed using the principles of thematic analysis, identifying key themes and patterns. This study does not seek to pursue the discussions from a legal standpoint but from a social anthropological perspective and argues that the concept of fiduciary in theory is far different from what pertains in practice and that traditional leaders’ assumptions and application of this concept contribute to the alienation of customary and communal land at the expense of their subjects. This study deepens our understanding of the continuous expropriation of communal landholders in many rural communities in Africa in the era of global land grabbing, which worsens their poverty levels. It also explains further the theory of new institutionalism of social anthropology by highlighting how the theory manifests in practice in the case of Ghana.

Keywords: fiduciary, customary land tenure, allodial rights, land alienation, communal land, Ghana

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Authors: Szu-Yi Chang, Jiin-Ru Rong

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This paper discussed a case involving a young female patient with schizophrenia. The patient's condition was deteriorating, and she was becoming increasingly reliant on her family to take care of her, and as her father did not understand the illness well and was afraid that others will learn about the presence of a mentally ill individual in their family, he and the patient's mother were thus unable to cope with the patient's deteriorating condition, which in turn caused her to suffer from a lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. The patient received nursing care from July 26th to October 25th, 2017, during which counseling, family visits, and phone interviews were carried out, and her condition was monitored. By referring to the practical ability indicators for community psychiatric mental health nursing that were developed by the psychiatric mental health nurses' association of the Republic of China, defining categories such as 'self-construction,' 'self-management,' 'disease management,' and 'family nursing,' and incorporating indicators for empowerment and various skills into the steps and strategies used for nursing care, we will able to help the patient to construct her own identity, raise her self-esteem, improve her ability to independently perform activities of daily living, strengthen her disease management ability, and gradually build up her life management skills. The patient's family was also encouraged to communicate more among themselves, so as to align them with the nursing care objectives of improving the patient's ability to adapt to community life and her disease. The results indicated that the patient was able to maintain her mental stability within her community. By implementing effective self-management and maintaining a routine life, the patient was able to continue her active participation in community work and rehabilitation activities. Improvements were also achieved with respect to family role issues by establishing mutual understanding among the patient's family members and gaining their support. It is recommended that mental health nurses can leverage their community mental health nursing skills and the related strategies to promote adaptation to community life among mental life patients.

Keywords: community psychiatric mental health nursing, family nursing, schizophrenia, self-management

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Authors: Shahab Mirzaean Mahabadi, Elham Ebrahimi

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The urban development process in the historical urban context has predominately witnessed two main approaches: the first is the Preservation and conservation of the urban fabric and its value, and the second approach is urban renewal and redevelopment. The latter is generally supported by political and economic aspirations. These two approaches conflict evidently. The authors go through the history of urban planning in order to review the historical development of the mentioned approaches. In this article, various values which are inherent in the historical fabric of a city are illustrated by emphasizing on cultural identity and activity. In the following, it is tried to find an optimized plan which maximizes economic development and minimizes change in historical-cultural sites simultaneously. In the proposed model, regarding the decision maker’s intention, and the variety of functions, the selected zone is divided into a number of components. For each component, different alternatives can be assigned, namely, renovation, refurbishment, destruction, and change in function. The decision Variable in this model is to choose an alternative for each component. A set of decisions made upon all components results in a plan. A plan developed in this way can be evaluated based on the decision maker’s point of view. That is, interactions between selected alternatives can make a foundation for the assessment of urban context to design a historical-cultural landscape. A genetic algorithm (GA) approach is used to search for optimal future land use within the historical-culture landscape for a sustainable high-growth city.

Keywords: urban sustainability, green city, regeneration, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Riksa Parikrama, Bremmy Laksono, Dadang S. H. Effendi

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Disorder of sexual development (DSD) covers various conditions with a specific term such as Klinefelter syndrome, Turner syndrome, androgen insensitivity syndrome, and many more. The techniques to accurately diagnose those conditions has developed extensively. However, conventional karyotype and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) are still widely used in many genetic laboratories as the basic method to determine chromosomal condition of DSD patients. Cytogenetic study was conducted on 36 DSD patients in Cell Culture and Cytogenetics Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia. Most of the patients referred to the laboratory diagnosed with primary amenorrhea, hypospadias, micropenis, genitalia ambiguity, or congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The study used G-banding technique to acquire complete karyotype and followed by FISH as either confirmation or comparison method. Among 36 patients, G-banding karyotype and FISH results showed that two were diagnosed with 45, X (Turner syndrome); three with 47, XXY (Klinefelter syndrome); five with 46, XX DSD; 22 with 46, XY DSD; and four with 46,XY complete androgen insensitivity syndrome. G-banding karyotype analysis were paired with FISH using X and Y chromosome probe produced similar results. The present analysis showed that FISH is a reliable method to attain a rapid and accurate chromosome analysis result of DSD patients. Nevertheless, conventional karyotype technique is still vital if other condition appeared in DSD patients in order to get more detailed karyotype result which FISH method cannot achieve.

Keywords: chromosome, DSD, FISH, karyotype

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Authors: Asma AlQahtani, Jumana AlHadad, Maryam AlQallaf, Shoug AlHasan

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New product development (NPD) is the complete process of bringing a new product to the customer by integrating the two broad divisions; one involving the idea generation, product design and detail engineering; and the other involving market research and marketing analysis. It is a common practice for companies to undertake some of these tasks simultaneously (concurrent engineering) and also consider them as an ongoing process (continuous development). The current study explores the framework and methodology for a new product development process utilizing the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) tool for bringing the customer opinion into the product development process. An elaborate customer survey with focus groups in the region was carried out to ensure that customer requirements are integrated into new products as early as the design stage including identifying the recognition of need for the new product. A QFD Matrix (House of Quality) was prepared that links customer requirements to product engineering requirements and a feasibility study and risk assessment exercise was carried out for a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in Kuwait for development of the new product. SMEs in Kuwait, particularly in manufacturing sector are mainly focused on serving the local demand, and often lack of product quality adversely affects the ability of the companies to compete on a regional/global basis. Further, lack of focus on identifying customer requirements often deters SMEs to envisage the idea of a New Product Development. The current study therefore focuses in utilizing QFD Matrix right from the conceptual design to detail design and to some extent, extending the link this to design of the manufacturing system. The outcome of the project resulted in a development of the prototype for a new molded product which can ensure consistency between the customer’s requirements and the measurable characteristics of the product. The Engineering Economics and Cost studies were also undertaken to analyse the viability of the new product, the results of which was also linked to the successful implementation of the initial QFD Matrix.

Keywords: Quality Function Deployment, QFD Matrix, new product development, NPD, Kuwait SMEs, prototype development

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Authors: Abu Salim Mustafa

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

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

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Authors: Keyi Wang

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Similar to the touchscreen, hand gesture based human-computer interaction (HCI) is a technology that could allow people to perform a variety of tasks faster and more conveniently. This paper proposes a training method of an image-based hand gesture image and video clip recognition system using a CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) with a dataset. A dataset containing 6 hand gesture images is used to train a 2D CNN model. ~98% accuracy is achieved. Furthermore, a 3D CNN model is trained on a dataset containing 4 hand gesture video clips resulting in ~83% accuracy. It is demonstrated that a Cozmo robot loaded with pre-trained models is able to recognize static and dynamic hand gestures.

Keywords: deep learning, hand gesture recognition, computer vision, image processing

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Authors: Katherine O'Grady-Bray

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For some deaf children, reading books can be a challenge. Frank Barnes School (FBS) provides guided reading time with Teachers of the Deaf, in which they read books with deaf children using a bilingual approach. The vocabulary and context of the story is explained to deaf children in BSL so they develop skills bridging English and BSL languages. However, the success of this practice is only achieved if the person is fluent in both languages. FBS piloted a scheme to convert an Oxford Reading Tree (ORT) book into an e-book that can be read using tablets. Deaf readers at FBS have access to both languages (BSL and English) during lessons and outside the classroom. The pupils receive guided reading sessions with a Teacher of the Deaf every morning, these one to one sessions give pupils the opportunity to learn how to bridge both languages e.g. how to translate English to BSL and vice versa. Generally, due to our pupils’ lack of access to incidental learning, gaining new information about the world around them is limited. This highlights the importance of quality time to scaffold their language development. In some cases, there is a shortfall of parental support at home due to poor communication skills or an unawareness of how to interact with deaf children. Some families have a limited knowledge of sign language or simply don’t have the required learning environment and strategies needed for language development with deaf children. As the majority of our pupils’ preferred language is BSL we use that to teach reading and writing English. If this is not mirrored at home, there is limited opportunity for joint reading sessions. Development of the e-Book required planning and technical development. The overall production took time as video footage needed to be shot and then edited individually for each page. There were various technical considerations such as having an appropriate background colour so not to draw attention away from the signer. Appointing a signer with the required high level of BSL was essential. The language and pace of the sign language was an important consideration as it was required to match the age and reading level of the book. When translating English text to BSL, careful consideration was given to the nonlinear nature of BSL and the differences in language structure and syntax. The e-book was produced using Apple’s ‘iBook Author’ software which allowed video footage of the signer to be embedded on pages opposite the text and illustration. This enabled BSL translation of the content of the text and inferences of the story. An interpreter was used to directly ‘voice over’ the signer rather than the actual text. The aim behind the structure and layout of the e-book is to allow parents to ‘read’ with their deaf child which helps to develop both languages. From observations, the use of e-books has given pupils confidence and motivation with their reading, developing skills bridging both BSL and English languages and more effective reading time with parents.

Keywords: bilingual book, e-book, BSL and English, bilingual e-book

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Authors: Emmanuel Ukpe, S. M. F. D. Syed Mustapha

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Trust in an organization has been perceived as one of the key factors behind knowledge sharing, mainly in an unstructured work environment. In an informal working environment, to instill trust among individuals is a challenge and even more in the virtual environment. The study has contributed in developing the framework for building trust in an unstructured organization in performing knowledge sharing in a virtual environment. The artifact called KAPE (Knowledge Acquisition, Processing, and Exchange) was developed for knowledge sharing for the informal organization where the framework was incorporated. It applies to Cassava farmers to facilitate knowledge sharing using web-based platform. A survey was conducted; data were collected from 382 farmers from 21 farm communities. Multiple regression technique, Cronbach’s Alpha reliability test; Tukey’s Honestly significant difference (HSD) analysis; one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and all trust acceptable measures (TAM) were used to test the hypothesis and to determine noteworthy relationships. The results show a significant difference when there is a trust in knowledge sharing between farmers, the ones who have high in trust acceptable factors found in the model (M = 3.66 SD = .93) and the ones who have low on trust acceptable factors (M = 2.08 SD = .28), (t (48) = 5.69, p = .00). Furthermore, when applying Cognitive Expectancy Theory, the farmers with cognitive-consonance show higher level of trust and satisfaction with knowledge and information from KAPE, as compared with a low level of cognitive-dissonance. These results imply that the adopted trust model KAPE positively improved knowledge sharing activities in an informal environment amongst rural farmers.

Keywords: trust, knowledge, sharing, knowledge acquisition, processing and exchange, KAPE

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Authors: Ayoub Moufid, Najib Bennis, Soumia El Hani

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The objective of greenhouse climate control is to improve the culture development and to minimize the production costs. A greenhouse is an open system to external environment and the challenge is to regulate the internal climate despite the strong meteorological disturbances. The internal state of greenhouse considered in this work is defined by too relevant and coupled variables, namely inside temperature and hygrometry. These two variables are chosen to describe the internal state of greenhouses due to their importance in the development of plants and their sensitivity to external climatic conditions, sources of weather disturbances. A multivariable model is proposed and validated by considering a greenhouse as black-box system and the least square method is applied to parameters identification basing on collected experimental measures. To regulate the internal climate, we propose a Model Predictive Control (MPC) scheme. This one considers the measured meteorological disturbances and the physical and operational constraints on the control and state variables. A successful feasibility study of the proposed controller is presented, and simulation results show good performances despite the high interaction between internal and external variables and the strong external meteorological disturbances. The inside temperature and hygrometry are tracking nearly the desired trajectories. A comparison study with an On/Off control applied to the same greenhouse confirms the efficiency of the MPC approach to inside climate control.

Keywords: climate control, constraints, identification, greenhouse, model predictive control, optimization

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Authors: Tracey Jean Boisseau

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In the United States and around the world, we see liberal democracies attacked, from within and without, on a number of grounds. One of the primary assaults on the liberal ideology of feminism has been to ban or severely curtail the teaching of and scholarship on gender as constructed rather than as a biological and binarist component of human identity. On every continent, women’s and gender studies at the university level have become targets of rightwing movements aligning with authoritarian regimes to suppress queer and trans people as well as feminist scholars and academics who define gender as fluid, contingent on culture, and as reflective of a political commitment rather than timeless, sacred, natural, biological, or god-given. Rightwing movements calling for an end to gender studies have put already-marginalized academic and scholarly projects under new scrutiny, in some cases resulting in the dismantlement of long-standing women’s and gender studies programs. This paper evaluates the cross-cultural effects such movements have had on our discipline worldwide and documents the strategic responses engaged in by gender studies scholars and leaders to resist the erasure of our field. Evidence is drawn from surveys of thousands of programs and dozens of interviews conducted in the past year with gender studies scholars, administrators, and practitioners. This paper’s main objective is to highlight the international linkages between movements aiming to suppress or erase gender studies as a field of research and teaching and to identify collaborative responses and promising solutions that can protect our discipline from these assaults.

Keywords: anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ, authoritarianism, movements, gender studies, globalization

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Authors: Rufus Olufemi Adebayo, Sylvia Phiwani Zulu

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Interpreting in the setting of diverse language and multicultural congregants, is often understood as integrating the content of the message. Preaching, similar to any communication, takes seriously people’s multiple contexts. The one who provides the best insight into understanding “the other”, traditionally speaking could be an interpreter in a multilingual context. Nonetheless, there are reflections in the loss of spiritual communication, translation and interpretive dialogue. No matter how eloquent the preacher is, an interpreter can make or mere the sermon (speech). The sermon that the preacher preaches is not always the one the congregation hears from the interpreter. In other occurrences, however, interpreting can lead not only to distort messages but also to dissatisfied audiences and preacher being overshadowed by the pranks of the interpreter. Using qualitative methodology, this paper explores the challenges and the conventional assumptions about preachers’ interpreter as influenced by spirituality, culture, and language in empirical and theoretical perspectives. An emphasis on the bias translation and the basis of reality that suppresses or devalues the spiritual communication is examined. The result indicates that interpretation of the declaration of guilt, history of congregation, spirituality, attitudes, morals, customs, specific practices of a preacher, education, and the environment form an entangled and misinterpretation. The article concludes by re-examining these qualities and rearticulating them into a preliminary theory for practice, as distinguished from theory, which could possibly enhance the development of more sustainable multilingual interpretation in the South African Pentecostal churches.

Keywords: congregants, divergences, interpreting/translation, language & communication, sermon/preaching

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Authors: Rinaldi Ikhram, R. A. Julia Satriani

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The discovery of historical objects in Indonesia, especially in the area around Bandung and Priangan zone in general, have been inventorized and recorded by Dutch geologists during the colonial time. Among artefacts such as axes made of chalcedony and quartzite; arrowheads, knives, shrivel, and drill bit all made from obsidian; grindstones, even bracelet from stones. Ceramic mold for smelting bronze or iron were also found. The abundance of artefacts inspired DR. W. Docters van Leeuwen and his colleagues to initiate the establishment of Sunda Open-air Museum "Soenda Openlucht Museum" in 1917, located in the hills of North Bandung area, the site of pre-historic settlements that needs conservation. Unfortunately, this plan was not implemented because shortly after, World War II occurred. The efforts of heritage conservation is one of our responsibilities as a geologist today. Open-air Museum may be one of the solutions of heritage conservation for historic sites around the world. In this paper, the study of the development of Open-air Museum will be focused on the area of Dago, North Bandung. Method used is data analysis of field surveys, and data analysis of the remaining artefacts stored at both the National Museum in Jakarta, and the Bandung Museum of Geology. The museum is based on Geotourism and further research on pre-historic culture, while its purpose is to give people a common interest and to motivate them to participate in the research and conservation of pre-historic relics. This paper will describe more details about the concept, form, and management of the geopark and the Open-air Museum within.

Keywords: geoparks, heritage conservation, open-air museum, sustainable tourism

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Authors: Cristian Soitu, Alexander Feuerborn, Cyril Deroy, Alfonso Castrejon-Pita, Peter R. Cook, Edmond J. Walsh

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Microfluidics now stands as an academically mature technology after a quarter of a century research activities have delivered a vast array of proof of concepts for many biological workflows. However, translation to industry remains poor, with only a handful of notable exceptions – e.g. digital PCR, DNA sequencing – mainly because of biocompatibility issues, limited range of readouts supported or complex operation required. This technology exploits the domination of interfacial forces over gravitational ones at the microscale, replacing solid walls with fluid ones as building blocks for cell micro-environments. By employing only materials used by biologists for decades, the system is shown to be biocompatible, and easy to manufacture and operate. The method consists in displacing a continuous fluid layer into a pattern of isolated chambers overlaid with an immiscible liquid to prevent evaporation. The resulting fluid arrangements can be arrays of micro-chambers with rectangular footprint, which use the maximum surface area available, or structures with irregular patterns. Pliant, self-healing fluid walls confine volumes as small as 1 nl. Such fluidic structures can be reconfigured during the assays, giving the platform an unprecedented level of flexibility. Common workflows in cell biology are demonstrated – e.g. cell growth and retrieval, cloning, cryopreservation, fixation and immunolabeling, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, and proof-of-concept drug tests. This fluid-shaping technology is shown to have potential for high-throughput cell- and organism-based assays. The ability to make and reconfigure on-demand microfluidic circuits on standard Petri dishes should find many applications in biology, and yield more relevant phenotypic and genotypic responses when compared to standard microfluidic assays.

Keywords: fluid walls, micro-chambers, reconfigurable, freestyle

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Authors: El Asnaoui Khalid, Aksasse Brahim, Ouanan Mohammed

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In this paper, we are interested in the problem of finding similar images in a large database. For this purpose we propose a new algorithm based on a combination of the 2-D histogram intersection in the HSV space and statistical moments. The proposed histogram is based on a 3x3 window and not only on the intensity of the pixel. This approach can overcome the drawback of the conventional 1-D histogram which is ignoring the spatial distribution of pixels in the image, while the statistical moments are used to escape the effects of the discretisation of the color space which is intrinsic to the use of histograms. We compare the performance of our new algorithm to various methods of the state of the art and we show that it has several advantages. It is fast, consumes little memory and requires no learning. To validate our results, we apply this algorithm to search for similar images in different image databases.

Keywords: 2-D histogram, statistical moments, indexing, similarity distance, histograms intersection

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Authors: Kristen Erekson, Sarah Spendlove Caswell

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Nurse educators have the challenge of training future nurses that will provide compassionate care to an increasingly diverse population of patients in a culturally sensitive way. One approach to this challenge is an immersive public and global health experience as part of the nursing program curriculum. Undergraduate nursing students at our institution are required to participate in a Public and Global Health course. They participate in a didactic preparatory course followed by a 3-to-4-week program in one of the following locations: The Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland/Poland, Ghana, India, Spain, Taiwan, Tonga, an Honor Flight to Washington D.C. with Veterans, or in local (Utah) communities working with marginalized populations (including incarcerated individuals, refugees, etc.). The students are required to complete 84 clinical hours and 84 culture hours (which involve exposure to local history, art, architecture, customs, etc.). As Faculty, we feel strongly that these public and global health experiences help cultivate cultural awareness in our students and prepare nurses who are better prepared to serve a diverse population of patients throughout their careers. This presentation will highlight our experiences and provide ideas for other nurse educators who have an interest in developing similar programs in their schools but do not know where to start. Suggestions about how to start building relationships that can lead to these opportunities, along with logistics for continuing the programs, will be highlighted.

Keywords: global health nursing, nursing education, clinical education, public health nursing

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Authors: M. Maier, I. Dedigama, J. Majasan, Y. Wu, Q. Meyer, L. Castanheira, G. Hinds, P. R. Shearing, D. J. L. Brett

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Increasing the efficiency of electrolyser technology is commonly seen as one of the main challenges on the way to the Hydrogen Economy. There is a significant lack of understanding of the different states of operation of polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysers (PEMWE) and how these influence the overall efficiency. This in particular means the two-phase flow through the membrane, gas diffusion layers (GDL) and flow channels. In order to increase the efficiency of PEMWE and facilitate their spread as commercial hydrogen production technology, new analytic approaches have to be found. Acoustic emission (AE) offers the possibility to analyse the processes within a PEMWE in a non-destructive, fast and cheap in-situ way. This work describes the generation and analysis of AE data coming from a PEM water electrolyser, for, to the best of our knowledge, the first time in literature. Different experiments are carried out. Each experiment is designed so that only specific physical processes occur and AE solely related to one process can be measured. Therefore, a range of experimental conditions is used to induce different flow regimes within flow channels and GDL. The resulting AE data is first separated into different events, which are defined by exceeding the noise threshold. Each acoustic event consists of a number of consequent peaks and ends when the wave diminishes under the noise threshold. For all these acoustic events the following key attributes are extracted: maximum peak amplitude, duration, number of peaks, peaks before the maximum, average intensity of a peak and time till the maximum is reached. Each event is then expressed as a vector containing the normalized values for all criteria. Principal Component Analysis is performed on the resulting data, which orders the criteria by the eigenvalues of their covariance matrix. This can be used as an easy way of determining which criteria convey the most information on the acoustic data. In the following, the data is ordered in the two- or three-dimensional space formed by the most relevant criteria axes. By finding spaces in the two- or three-dimensional space only occupied by acoustic events originating from one of the three experiments it is possible to relate physical processes to certain acoustic patterns. Due to the complex nature of the AE data modern machine learning techniques are needed to recognize these patterns in-situ. Using the AE data produced before allows to train a self-learning algorithm and develop an analytical tool to diagnose different operational states in a PEMWE. Combining this technique with the measurement of polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy allows for in-situ optimization and recognition of suboptimal states of operation.

Keywords: acoustic emission, gas diffusion layers, in-situ diagnosis, PEM water electrolyser

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Authors: Abdullah Khuwaileh

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While teaching and translating vocabulary is no longer a neglected area in ELT in general and in translation in particular, the psychology of its acquisition has been a neglected area. Our paper aims at exploring some of the learning and translating conditions under which vocabulary is acquired and translated properly. To achieve this objective, two teaching methods (experiments) were applied on 4 translators to measure their acquisition of a number of transparent vocabulary items. Some of these items were knowingly chosen from 'deceptively transparent words'. All the data, sample, etc., were taken from Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) and Yarmouk University, where the researcher is employed. The study showed that translators might translate transparent words inaccurately, particularly if these words are uncontextualised. It was also shown that the morphological structures of words may lead translators or even EFL learners to misinterpretations of meaning.

Keywords: english, transparent, word, processing, translation

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

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The impact of metabolic syndrome (MetS) on cognition and functions of the brain is being investigated. Iron deficiency and deficiencies of B9 (folate) as well as B12 (cobalamin) vitamins are best-known nutritional anemias. They are associated with cognitive disorders and learning difficulties. The antidepressant effects of vitamin D are known and the deficiency state affects mental functions negatively. The aim of this study is to investigate possible correlations of MetS with serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), iron, folate, cobalamin and vitamin D in pediatric patients. 30 children, whose age- and sex-dependent body mass index (BMI) percentiles vary between 85 and 15, 60 morbid obese children with above 99^th percentiles constituted the study population. Anthropometric measurements were taken. BMI values were calculated. Age- and sex-dependent BMI percentile values were obtained using the appropriate tables prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO). Obesity classification was performed according to WHO criteria. Those with MetS were evaluated according to MetS criteria. Serum BDNF was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum folate was analyzed by an immunoassay analyzer. Serum cobalamin concentrations were measured using electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Vitamin D status was determined by the measurement of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25-hydroxy vitamin D3, 25(OH)D] using high performance liquid chromatography. Statistical evaluations were performed using SPSS for Windows, version 16. The p values less than 0.05 were accepted as statistically significant. Although statistically insignificant, lower folate and cobalamin values were found in MO children compared to those observed for children with normal BMI. For iron and BDNF values, no alterations were detected among the groups. Significantly decreased vitamin D concentrations were noted in MO children with MetS in comparison with those in children with normal BMI (p ≤ 0.05). The positive correlation observed between iron and BDNF in normal-BMI group was not found in two MO groups. In THE MetS group, the partial correlation among iron, BDNF, folate, cobalamin, vitamin D controlling for waist circumference and BMI was r = -0.501; p ≤ 0.05. None was calculated in MO and normal BMI groups. In conclusion, vitamin D should also be considered during the assessment of pediatric MetS. Waist circumference and BMI should collectively be evaluated during the evaluation of MetS in children. Within this context, BDNF appears to be a key biochemical parameter during the examination of obesity degree in terms of mental functions, cognition and learning capacity. The association observed between iron and BDNF in children with normal BMI was not detected in MO groups possibly due to development of inflammation and other obesity-related pathologies. It was suggested that this finding may contribute to mental function impairments commonly observed among obese children.

Keywords: brain-derived neurotrophic factor, iron, vitamin B9, vitamin B12, vitamin D

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Authors: D. Sigirli

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The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve is a commonly used statistical tool for evaluating the diagnostic performance of screening and diagnostic test with continuous or ordinal scale results which aims to predict the presence or absence probability of a condition, usually a disease. When the test results were measured as numeric values, sensitivity and specificity can be computed across all possible threshold values which discriminate the subjects as diseased and non-diseased. There are infinite numbers of possible decision thresholds along the continuum of the test results. The ROC curve presents the trade-off between sensitivity and the 1-specificity as the threshold changes. The empirical ROC curve which is a non-parametric estimator of the ROC curve is robust and it represents data accurately. However, especially for small sample sizes, it has a problem of variability and as it is a step function there can be different false positive rates for a true positive rate value and vice versa. Besides, the estimated ROC curve being in a jagged form, since the true ROC curve is a smooth curve, it underestimates the true ROC curve. Since the true ROC curve is assumed to be smooth, several smoothing methods have been explored to smooth a ROC curve. These include using kernel estimates, using log-concave densities, to fit parameters for the specified density function to the data with the maximum-likelihood fitting of univariate distributions or to create a probability distribution by fitting the specified distribution to the data nd using smooth versions of the empirical distribution functions. In the present paper, we aimed to propose a smooth ROC curve estimation based on the boundary corrected kernel function and to compare the performances of ROC curve smoothing methods for the diagnostic test results coming from different distributions in different sample sizes. We performed simulation study to compare the performances of different methods for different scenarios with 1000 repetitions. It is seen that the performance of the proposed method was typically better than that of the empirical ROC curve and only slightly worse compared to the binormal model when in fact the underlying samples were generated from the normal distribution.

Keywords: empirical estimator, kernel function, smoothing, receiver operating characteristic curve

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Authors: Chung-Kwei Wang, Kuo-Ying Lo

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The study is aimed to examine main and moderation effect of Chinese traditional social wisdom ‘Ren-qing Shi-kuon' the adjustment of social worker students during their practicum. Ren-qing Shi-ku as a social wisdom has been emphasized by collective-oriented Chinese society for thousand years. Based on interview and literature review, we operationalized the concept as four factors, including ‘harmonious interaction’, ‘understanding and tolerance’, ‘empathetic communication’ and ‘rule abiding’. We administer the scale to 96 social worker senior students before their summer practicums begins and collect their response on emotion labor, emotional exhaustion, work load, work satisfaction. We also ask their supervisors rated their performance on empathy, interpersonal relationships, performance on practicum and their Ren-qing Shi-ku performance. Results indicated that self-ratings of students on Ren-qing Shi-ku scale are correlated with rating from their supervisors. Students who have higher Ren-qing Shi-ku have better adjustment and higher ratings from their supervisor. Ren-qing Shi-ku also moderate effects of surface acting labor and work load on emotional exhaustion and work satisfaction. However, Ren-qing Shi-ku seems more beneficial under low work load situations. The finding of this study suggested traditional social skill training might be very effective for social service providers in a collective-oriented culture.

Keywords: emotion labor, ren-qing shi-ku, emotional exhaustion, work satisfaction and performance

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Authors: F. Berahmandpour, K. Bagheri

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Introduction: Spirulina is nutritious blue - green algae which are used as supplement or a preservative in many foods. The studies about the algae argue that the Spirulina can improve immune system, increase fat utilization, reduce oxidative stress and promote endurance at high-intensity exercise. The purpose of study is to assess the effects of Spirulina supplement on healthy weight control. Method: the study is a cross-sectional study which had 30 participants. The participants were men and women who referred to the nutrition and diet therapy clinic (in west of Tehran / Iran) for control weight. The sampling was a purposeful sampling. The participants were divided into three groups, and they were surveyed for 4 weeks. In the first group, 10 participants were used Spirulia supplement (dose: 500mg of Spiruvit Supplement as tablet / 3 times per day) without any special diet. The second group was 10 participants who received Spirulia supplement (dose 500mg of Spiruvit Supplement as tablet / 3 times per day) with a weight loss exercise program and without any special diet. The third group was 10 participants who used Spirulia supplement (dose 500mg of Spiruvit Supplement as tablet / 3 times per day) with an optimum weight loss diet. Results and Discussion: The results show that there were not any significant loss weights in first group. In while, the participants of second group argued that the Spirulina supplement had positive effects on their mud and physical body; however the clinical results showed that the loss weight had fixed tilt in this group. The significant results of study were related to the third group, because the participations could continuous loss weight during 4 weeks. However, the optimum weight loss diets were effective effects on weight loss in this group, but the researchers found that Spirulina supplement could improve loss weight with set of hormonal system (especially in women with menopause). Conclusion: The study is concluded that the Spirulina as a supplement (Spiruvit Supplement) can be an effective effect on healthy weight control, if it is used with a nutritious healthy weight loss diet. In fact, the effect of Spirulina can be related to powerful antioxidant effects and improvable hormonal system in the body.

Keywords: diet, healthy weight control, spirulina, spiruvit supplement

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Authors: Mindaugas Zavalis

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Analysis of experimental tests data of bending one-way reinforced concrete slabs from various articles of science revealed that voided slabs with a grid of hollow plastic inserts inside have smaller mechani-cal and physical parameters compared to continuous cross-section slabs (solid slabs). The negative influence of a reinforced concrete slab is impacted by hollow plastic inserts, which make a grid of voids in the middle of the cross-sectional area of the reinforced concrete slab. A formed grid of voids reduces the slab’s stiffness, which influences the slab’s parameters of serviceability, like deflection and cracking. Prima-ry investigation of data established during experiments illustrates that cracks occur faster in the tensile surface of the voided slab under bend-ing compared to bending solid slab. It means that the crack bending moment force for the voided slab is smaller than the solid slab and the reduction can variate in the range of 14 – 40 %. Reduce of resistance to cracking can be controlled by changing a lot of factors: the shape of the plastic hallow insert, plastic insert height, steps between plastic in-serts, usage of prestressed reinforcement, the diameter of reinforcement bar, slab effective depth, the bottom cover thickness of concrete, effec-tive cross-section of the concrete area about reinforcement and etc. Mentioned parameters are used to evaluate crack width and step of cracking, but existing analytical calculation methods for cracking eval-uation of voided slab with plastic inserts are not so exact and the re-sults of cracking evaluation in this paper are higher than the results of analyzed experiments. Therefore, it was made analytically calculations according to experimental bending tests of voided reinforced concrete slabs with hollow plastic inserts to find and propose corrections for the evaluation of cracking for reinforced concrete voided slabs with hollow plastic inserts.

Keywords: voided slab, cracking, hallow plastic insert, bending, one-way reinforced concrete, serviceability

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Authors: Guo Yu, Haoming Ma, Peiru Zhou

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BACKGROUND: In addition to hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, and glycemic variability, a decrease in the time in the targeted blood glucose range (TIR) may be associated with an increased risk of death for critically ill patients. However, the relationship between the TIR and mortality may be influenced by the presence of diabetes and glycemic variability. METHODS: A total of 998 diabetic and non-diabetic patients with severe diseases in the ICU were selected for this retrospective analysis. The TIR is defined as the percentage of time spent in the target blood glucose range of 3.9–10.0 mmol/L within 24 hours. The relationship between TIR and in-hospital in diabetic and non-diabetic patients was analyzed. The effect of glycemic variability was also analyzed. RESULTS: The binary logistic regression model showed that there was a significant association between the TIR as a continuous variable and the in-hospital death of severely ill non-diabetic patients (OR=0.991, P=0.015). As a classification variable, TIR≥70% was significantly associated with in-hospital death (OR=0.581, P=0.003). Specifically, TIR≥70% was a protective factor for the in-hospital death of severely ill non-diabetic patients. The TIR of severely ill diabetic patients was not significantly associated with in-hospital death; however, glycemic variability was significantly and independently associated with in-hospital death (OR=1.042, P=0.027). Binary logistic regression analysis of comprehensive indices showed that for non-diabetic patients, the C3 index (low TIR & high CV) was a risk factor for increased mortality (OR=1.642, P<0.001). In addition, for diabetic patients, the C3 index was an independent risk factor for death (OR=1.994, P=0.008), and the C4 index (low TIR & low CV) was independently associated with increased survival. CONCLUSIONS: The TIR of non-diabetic patients during ICU hospitalization was associated with in-hospital death even after adjusting for disease severity and glycemic variability. There was no significant association between the TIR and mortality of diabetic patients. However, for both diabetic and non-diabetic critically ill patients, the combined effect of high TIR and low CV was significantly associated with ICU mortality. Diabetic patients seem to have higher blood glucose fluctuations and can tolerate a large TIR range. Both diabetic and non-diabetic critically ill patients should maintain blood glucose levels within the target range to reduce mortality.

Keywords: severe disease, diabetes, blood glucose control, time in targeted blood glucose range, glycemic variability, mortality

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Authors: Mona Alzahrani

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Microworld theories can help to define the many influences on female development. In this research, theories together with narratives have been used to discover the reality of children’s gender perceptions in Saudi Arabia. Today, Saudi Arabia is considered a ‘closed and conserved’ society due to tribal, cultural and religious factors. This study focuses on how young girls in Saudi Arabia learn about what is expected of them as females. Cultural beliefs and experiences contribute to children’s notions of identity. Moreover, significant others such as more experienced peers, teachers, parents, and other members of a society can influence a child’s development of knowledge through interactions within their social world. There are dominant influences from the Saudi State. These influences have very strong devices and perceptions of what or how a female should act and be. However, children may have other viewpoints, as it also needs to be considered that the Internet and other media sources could have an influence. Consequently, difficulties could exist for these young children to feel an authentic sense of belonging. The study gathered data using a multi-method approach that elicited the perspectives of the children using ‘multiple modes of expression’ such as observations, story-telling, picture prompt cards, group interviews, drawings and annotations. For this study, prompts and a book was devised, specifically, for use in a Saudi setting. It was found that Saudi young girls in preschool were heteronomous, mainly influenced by culture and society, in their perceptions of female gender and role.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, pre-school, female, teachers, gender, identity, role

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Authors: Nam-Phuong T. Hoang, Divna Haslam, Matthew Sanders

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Parenting psychological control (PPC) is a parenting manner of which intrusive tactics such as guilt induction, shaming or love withdrawal is adopted to manipulate the child's behavior, emotion and beliefs. PPC has been widely reported to be associated with both psychological dysfunction and low self-esteem in adolescents. Highly demanding and restrictive parenting was also found to related to high rate of risk behaviors, depression, anxiety and anti-social behaviors in adults who co-live with their parents. In many cultures like that of Asia, adults keep on co-live with their parents even after having their own families, and this is not an uncommon practice. Due to the culture obligation of family relationship and the filial piety, children are expected to stay with their parents to taking care of them when they get older, and the parents are also expected to co-live with their children in order to support them with grandchild care. As one become a grandparent, however, it does not means one stop being the parent to their own child. The effect of PPC if exist thus might continue to interfere one’s relationship with their adult children and also their adult child’s parenting. This study was designed to examine that effect of PPC on adults’ life as parents. Data was collected from 501 Vietnamese parents whose children between the age of 2 to 12 and having their parent living with them or taking care of the grandchild on daily basic. Findings show that grandparent psychological control (GPPC) is significantly associated with parent’s harsh parenting, parent’s well-being, and parent-grandparent coparenting relationship. Significantly, GPPC is the strongest predictor for the coparenting conflict between parent and grandparent.

Keywords: parenting psychological control, grandparent, coparenting, well-being

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Authors: Sonila Robo, Ilma Robo, Eduart Kapaj, Saimir Heta

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Background: Early birth is 37 weeks or less, pregnancy maturity! Clinically active presence, or positive culture of vaginal secretions, means excessive production of cytokines and prostaglandins also encountered in amniotic fluid. Bacterial vaginosis appears with their clinical outbreak in a combination of bacteria. Some of these bacteria are basic members in the creation of bacterial plaque. Objective: The purpose of this study is to find the link between the presence of specific bacteria in the mouth, bacterial vaginosis as one of the causes of premature birth, and the latter. Methods: The study was applied to 30 pregnant women in the burden pathology ward at Fier maternity, divided into two groups. The first group consisting of 20 women in the 2-month period, August-September. The number of women in the ward was 10 days maximum! All women were treated with cortisone and serum IV, magnesium sulphate, antibiotic prophylaxis! Results: 55% of women were under the age of 25 and 45% of women were over the age of 25. The age effect is mentioned for classifying the diseases that causes Actinomyces. Under the age of 25, a teenager and a 25-year-old are chronically ill. The final index was G2! All females were positive for the presence of salicylic acid in saliva and vaginal secretions. Conclusions:Premature birth is a complex process with some gynecological reasons, but in high percentage of cases there is coverage with the presence of infection by Actinomyces Actinomycetemcomitans in the oral cavity, which depending on the age causes two different types of periodontitis with special characteristics.

Keywords: early birth, periodontal status, bacterial vaginosis, actinomyces actinomycetemcomitans

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Authors: J. B. J. Njalam’mano, E. M. N. Chirwa

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In low resource settings in Africa and other developing regions, pit latrines remain the dominant basic minimum acceptable form of sanitation. However, unpleasant smells-malodours emitted from faecal sludge in the pit latrines, which elicit disgusting or repulsive response, are one of the factors that thwart people to use latrines and instead opt for open defecation as an alternative. This provides an important but often overlooked major impediment, dissuading people from adopting and using the pit latrines hence affecting successful, effective sanitation promotion. The malodours are primarily attributed to four odorants: butanoic acid (C₄H₈O₂), dimethyl trisulphide (C₂H₆S₃), indole (C₈H₇N) and para-cresol (C₇H₈O). Several pit latrine deodorisation methods such as addition of carbonous materials, use of ventilation systems and urine separation are available, and they continue to occupy their niche, but social, economic, environmental and technological shortfalls remain. Bioremediation has been gaining popularity because it is inexpensive, simple to operate and environmentally friendly. Recently, the biodegradation of butanoic acid as individual odorant has been studied. However, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no kinetic studies of the butanoic acid in the presence of other key odorous compounds. In this study, a series of experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of indole on the removal of butanoic acid under aerobic conditions using indigenous bacteria strains, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Serratia marcescens isolated from faecal sludge as pure cultures as well as mixed cultures. In this purpose, butanoic acid removal was performed in a batch reactor containing the bacterial strains in mineral salt medium (MSM) amended with 3000 ppm of butanoic acid at the temperature of 30°C, under continuous stirring rate of 150 rpm and the concentration of indole was varied from 50-200 ppm. The initial pH of the solution was in the range of 6.0-7.2. Overall, there were significant differences in the bacterial growth rate and total butanoic acid removal dependent on the concentration of indole in the solution.

Keywords: biodegradation, butanoic acid, indole, pit latrine

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Authors: Itsuo Yokoyama, Rikako Kikuti, Naoko Watabe, Tosinori Asai, Sarai Tsuyoshi

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Introduction: Chronic kidney disease presents significant changes in mineral and bone metabolism, referred to as CKD-MBD. These changes lead to decreased bone mass, heightened bone fragility, fractures, and increased vascular and valvular calcification, ultimately impacting cardiovascular outcomes. Key contributors to these complications in dialysis patients include calcium, phosphate, parathyroid hormone (PTH), fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), and the vitamin D hormonal system. Methods: In our outpatient dialysis clinic, we monitor the long-term effects of vascular calcifications by calculating the volume of calcified areas in the abdominal aorta based on CT scan data. The results revealed a progressive nature of vascular calcification. To extend our study, we measured the volume of calcification in bones (vertebrae and femur) corresponding to Hounsfield units of 200 and 300. The study aims to investigate changes in osteoporosis during a 5-year follow-up period and its relationship with extraosseous calcification. Results and Considerations: While extraosseous calcification demonstrated a generally progressive nature, often resistant to medical treatment, the degree of osteoporotic change varied among patients. The majority exhibited continuous osteoporotic changes, while some showed improvement or minimal changes in bone calcification. Variations in the distribution and magnitude of osteoporotic changes were observed between groups based on the timing of hemodialysis initiation during the study. The former group tended to display more osteoporotic changes, possibly attributed to differences in medication between the groups. Other contributing factors may include the patient's age, duration of dialysis, or causes of renal disease. In conclusion, we emphasize the importance of carefully monitoring calcium and phosphate levels and maintaining adequate dialysis therapy to prevent osteoporosis in dialysis patients.

Keywords: CKD-MBD, dialysis, calcification, kidney

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