Search results for: international public relations

Authors: Supriyo Das, Elbir Jove, Ajay Singh, Sophie Corbet, Noel Carr, Martin Deetz

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Water is a critical commodity in the healthcare and medical field. The utility of medical-grade water spans from washing surgical equipment, drug preparation to the key element of life-saving therapy such as hydrotherapy and hemodialysis for patients. A properly treated medical water reduces the bioburden load and mitigates the risk of infection, ensuring patient safety. However, any compromised condition during the production of medical-grade water can create a favorable environment for microbial growth putting patient safety at high risk. Therefore, proper upstream treatment of the medical water is essential before its application in healthcare, pharma and medical space. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is one of the most preferred treatments within healthcare industries and is recommended by all International Pharmacopeias to achieve the quality level demanded by global regulatory bodies. The RO process can remove up to 99.5% of constituents from feed water sources, eliminating bacteria, proteins and particles sizes of 100 Dalton and above. The combination of RO with other downstream water treatment technologies such as Electrodeionization and Ultrafiltration meet the quality requirements of various pharmacopeia monographs to produce highly purified water or water for injection for medical use. In the reverse osmosis process, the water from a liquid with a high concentration of dissolved solids is forced to flow through an especially engineered semi-permeable membrane to the low concentration side, resulting in high-quality grade water. However, these specially engineered RO membranes need to be sanitized either chemically or at high temperatures at regular intervals to keep the bio-burden at the minimum required level. In this paper, we talk about Dupont´s FilmTec Heat Sanitizable Reverse Osmosis membrane (HSRO) for the production of medical-grade water. An HSRO element must be pre-conditioned prior to initial use by exposure to hot water (80°C-85°C) for its stable performance and to meet the manufacturer’s specifications. Without pre-conditioning, the membrane will show variations in feed pressure operations and salt rejection. The paper will discuss the critical variables of pre-conditioning steps that can affect the overall performance of the HSRO membrane and demonstrate the data to support the need for pre-conditioning of HSRO elements. Our preliminary data suggests that there can be up to 35 % reduction in flow due to initial heat treatment, which also positively affects the increase in salt rejection. The paper will go into detail about the fundamental understanding of the performance change of HSRO after the pre-conditioning step and its effect on the quality of medical water produced. The paper will also discuss another critical point, “regular hot water sanitization” of these HSRO membranes. Regular hot water sanitization (at 80°C-85°C) is necessary to keep the membrane bioburden free; however, it can negatively impact the performance of the membrane over time. We will demonstrate several data points on hot water sanitization using FilmTec HSRO elements and challenge its robustness to produce quality medical water. The last part of this paper will discuss the construction details of the FilmTec HSRO membrane and features that make it suitable to pre-condition and sanitize at high temperatures.

Keywords: heat sanitizable reverse osmosis, HSRO, medical water, hemodialysis water, water for Injection, pre-conditioning, heat sanitization

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Linda Fellag, Arlene Caney

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E-learning has earned an essential place in academia because it promotes learner autonomy, student engagement, and technological aptitude, and allows for flexible learning. However, despite advantages, educators have been slower to embrace e-learning for ESL and other non-traditional students for fear that such students will not succeed without the direct faculty contact and academic support of face-to-face classrooms. This study aims to determine if a non-traditional student-friendly online course can produce student retention and performance rates that compare favorably with those of students in standard online sections of the same course aimed at traditional college-level students. One Music faculty member is currently collaborating with an English instructor to redesign an online college-level Music Appreciation course for non-traditional college students. At Community College of Philadelphia, Introduction to Music Appreciation was recently designated as one of the few college-level courses that advanced ESL, and developmental English students can take while completing their language studies. Beginning in Fall 2017, the course will be critical for international students who must maintain full-time student status under visa requirements. In its current online format, however, Music Appreciation is designed for traditional college students, and faculty who teach these sections have been reluctant to revise the course to address the needs of non-traditional students. Interestingly, presenters maintain that the online platform is the ideal place to develop language and college readiness skills in at-risk students while maintaining the course's curricular integrity. The two faculty presenters describe how curriculum rather than technology drives the redesign of the digitized music course, and self-study materials, guided assignments, and periodic assessments promote independent learning and comprehension of material. The 'scaffolded' modules allow ESL and developmental English students to build on prior knowledge, preview key vocabulary, discuss content, and complete graded tasks that demonstrate comprehension. Activities and assignments, in turn, enhance college success by allowing students to practice academic reading strategies, writing, speaking, and student-faculty and peer-peer communication and collaboration. The course components facilitate a comparison of student performance and retention in sections of the redesigned and existing online sections of Music Appreciation as well as in previous sections with at-risk students. Indirect, qualitative measures include student attitudinal surveys and evaluations. Direct, quantitative measures include withdrawal rates, tests of disciplinary knowledge, and final grades. The study will compare the outcomes of three cohorts in the two versions of the online course: ESL students, at-risk developmental students, and college-level students. These data will also be compared with retention and student outcomes data of the three cohorts in f2f Music Appreciation, which permitted non-traditional student enrollment from 1998-2005. During this eight-year period, the presenter addressed the problems of at-risk students by adding language and college success support, which resulted in strong retention and outcomes. The presenters contend that the redesigned course will produce favorable outcomes among all three cohorts because it contains components which proved successful with at-risk learners in f2f sections of the course. Results of their study will be published in 2019 after the redesigned online course has met for two semesters.

Keywords: college readiness, e-learning, music appreciation, online courses

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Authors: Kiran Sharma, Viktor Kunder, Zerha Rizvi, Ricardo Soubelet

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Platelet rich plasma (PRP) has been recognized as a method of treatment in medicine since the 1980s. It primarily functions by releasing cytokines and growth factors that promote wound healing; these growth promoting factors released by PRP enact new processes such as angiogenesis, collagen deposition, and tissue formation that can change wound healing outcomes. Many studies recognize that PRP aids in chronic wound healing, which is advantageous for patients who suffer from chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). This scoping review aims to examine literature to identify the efficacy of PRP use in the healing of DFUs. Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched randomized-controlled trials involving PRP use in diabetic patients with foot ulcers using PubMed, Medline, CINAHL Complete, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. We restricted the search to articles published during 2005-2022, full texts in the English language, articles involving patients aged 19 years or older, articles that used PRP on specifically DFUs, articles that included a control group, articles on human subjects. The initial search yielded 119 articles after removing duplicates. Final analysis for relevance yielded 8 articles. In all cases except one, the PRP group showed either faster healing, more complete healing, or a larger percentage of healed participants. There were no situations in the included studies where the control group had a higher rate of healing or decreased wound size as compared to a group with isolated PRP-only use. Only one study did not show conclusive evidence that PRP caused accelerated healing in DFUs, and this study did not have an isolated PRP variable group. Application styles of PRP for treatment were shown to influence the level of healing in patients, with injected PRP appearing to achieve the best results as compared to topical PRP application. However, this was not conclusive due to the involvement of several other variables. Two studies additionally found PRP to be useful in healing refractory DFUs, and one study found that PRP use in patients with additional comorbidities was still more effective in healing DFUs than the standard control groups. The findings of this review suggest that PRP is a useful tool in reducing healing times and improving rates of complete wound healing in DFUs. There is room for further research in the application styles of PRP before conclusive statements can be made on the efficacy of injected versus topical PRP healing based on the findings in this study. The results of this review provide a baseline for further research in PRP use in diabetic patients and can be used by both physicians and public health experts to guide future treatment options for DFUs.

Keywords: diabetic foot ulcer, DFU, platelet rich plasma, PRP

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: Nurkhairul Bariyah Baharun, Afzan Adam, Reena Rahayu Md Zin

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Tumor microenvironment (TME) in breast cancer is mainly composed of cancer cells, immune cells, and stromal cells. The interaction between cancer cells and their microenvironment plays an important role in tumor development, progression, and treatment response. The TME in breast cancer includes tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) that are implicated in killing tumor cells. TILs can be found in tumor stroma (sTILs) and within the tumor (iTILs). TILs in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) have been demonstrated to have prognostic and potentially predictive value. The international Immune-Oncology Biomarker Working Group (TIL-WG) had developed a guideline focus on the assessment of sTILs using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained slides. According to the guideline, the pathologists use “eye balling” method on the H&E stained- slide for sTILs assessment. This method has low precision, poor interobserver reproducibility, and is time-consuming for a comprehensive evaluation, besides only counted sTILs in their assessment. The TIL-WG has therefore recommended that any algorithm for computational assessment of TILs utilizing the guidelines provided to overcome the limitations of manual assessment, thus providing highly accurate and reliable TILs detection and classification for reproducible and quantitative measurement. This study is carried out to develop a TNBC digital whole slide image (WSI) dataset from H&E-stained slides and IHC (CD4+ and CD8+) stained slides. TNBC cases were retrieved from the database of the Department of Pathology, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM). TNBC cases diagnosed between the year 2010 and 2021 with no history of other cancer and available block tissue were included in the study (n=58). Tissue blocks were sectioned approximately 4 µm for H&E and IHC stain. The H&E staining was performed according to a well-established protocol. Indirect IHC stain was also performed on the tissue sections using protocol from Diagnostic BioSystems PolyVue™ Plus Kit, USA. The slides were stained with rabbit monoclonal, CD8 antibody (SP16) and Rabbit monoclonal, CD4 antibody (EP204). The selected and quality-checked slides were then scanned using a high-resolution whole slide scanner (Pannoramic DESK II DW- slide scanner) to digitalize the tissue image with a pixel resolution of 20x magnification. A manual TILs (sTILs and iTILs) assessment was then carried out by the appointed pathologist (2 pathologists) for manual TILs scoring from the digital WSIs following the guideline developed by TIL-WG 2014, and the result displayed as the percentage of sTILs and iTILs per mm² stromal and tumour area on the tissue. Following this, we aimed to develop an automated digital image scoring framework that incorporates key elements of manual guidelines (including both sTILs and iTILs) using manually annotated data for robust and objective quantification of TILs in TNBC. From the study, we have developed a digital dataset of TNBC H&E and IHC (CD4+ and CD8+) stained slides. We hope that an automated based scoring method can provide quantitative and interpretable TILs scoring, which correlates with the manual pathologist-derived sTILs and iTILs scoring and thus has potential prognostic implications.

Keywords: automated quantification, digital pathology, triple negative breast cancer, tumour infiltrating lymphocytes

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Authors: Sofia Papadimitriou

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INTRODUCTION: The differential diagnosis between acute viral and bacterial infections is an important cost-effectiveness parameter at the stage of the treatment process in order to achieve the maximum benefits in therapeutic intervention by combining the minimum cost to ensure the proper use of antibiotics.The discovery of sensitive and robust molecular diagnostic tests in response to the role of the host in infections has enhanced the accurate diagnosis and differentiation of infections. METHOD: The study used a sample of six independent blood samples (total=756) which are associated with human proteins-proteins, each of which at the transcription stage expresses a different response in the host network between viral and bacterial infections.Τhe individual blood samples are subjected to a sequence of computer filters that identify a gene panel corresponding to an autonomous diagnostic score. The data set and the correspondence of the gene panel to the diagnostic patents a new Bangalore -Viral Bacterial (BL-VB). FINDING: We use a biomarker based on the blood of 10 genes(Panel-VB) that are an important prognostic value for the detection of viruses from bacterial infections with a weighted average AUROC of 0.97(95% CL:0.96-0.99) in eleven independent samples (sets n=898). We discovered a base with a patient score (VB 10 ) according to the table, which is a significant diagnostic value with a weighted average of AUROC 0.94(95% CL: 0.91-0.98) in 2996 patient samples from 56 public sets of data from 19 different countries. We also studied VB 10 in a new cohort of South India (BL-VB,n=56) and found 97% accuracy in confirmed cases of viral and bacterial infections. We found that VB 10 (a)accurately identifies the type of infection even in unspecified cases negative to the culture (b) shows its clinical condition recovery and (c) applies to all age groups, covering a wide range of acute bacterial and viral infectious, including non-specific pathogens. We applied our VB 10 rating to publicly available COVID 19 data and found that our rating diagnosed viral infection in patient samples. RESULTS: Τhe results of the study showed the diagnostic power of the biomarker VB 10 as a diagnostic test for the accurate diagnosis of acute infections in recovery conditions. We look forward to helping you make clinical decisions about prescribing antibiotics and integrating them into your policies management of antibiotic stewardship efforts. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, we are developing a new property of the RNA-based biomarker and a new blood test to differentiate between viral and bacterial infections to assist a physician in designing the optimal treatment regimen to contribute to the proper use of antibiotics and reduce the burden on antimicrobial resistance, AMR.

Keywords: acute infections, antimicrobial resistance, biomarker, blood transcriptome, systems biology, classifier diagnostic score

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Dominique Parrish

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Globally, higher education institutions are responsible for the quality assurance and accreditation of their educational programmes (Courses). The primary purpose of these activities is to ensure that the educational standards of the governing higher education authority are met and the quality of the education provided to students is assured. Despite policies and frameworks being established in many countries, to improve the veracity and accountability of quality assurance and accreditation processes, there are reportedly still mistakes, gaps and deficiencies in these processes. An analysis of Australian universities’ quality assurance and accreditation processes noted that significant improvements were needed in managing these processes and ensuring that review recommendations were implemented. It has also been suggested that the following principles are critical for higher education quality assurance and accreditation to be effective and sustainable: academic standards and performance outcomes must be defined, attainable and monitored; those involved in providing the higher education must assume responsibility for the associated quality assurance and accreditation; potential academic risks must be identified and management solutions developed; and the expectations of the public, governments and students should be considered and incorporated into Course enhancements. This phenomenological study, which was conducted in a Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health in an Australian university, sought to systematically and iteratively develop an effective quality assurance and accreditation process that integrated the evidence-based principles of success and promoted meaningful and sustainable change. Qualitative evaluative feedback was gathered, over a period of eleven months (January - November 2014), from faculty staff engaged in the quality assurance and accreditation of forty-eight undergraduate and postgraduate Courses. Reflexive analysis was used to analyse the data and inform ongoing modifications and developments to the assurance and accreditation process as well as the associated supporting resources. The study resulted in the development of a formal quality assurance and accreditation process together with a suite of targeted resources that were identified as critical for success. The research findings also provided some insights into the institutional enablers that were antecedents to successful quality assurance and accreditation processes as well as meaningful change in the educational practices of academics. While longitudinal data will be collected to further assess the value of the assurance and accreditation process on educational quality, early indicators are that there has been a change in the pedagogical perspectives and activities of academic staff and growing momentum to explore opportunities to further enhance and develop Courses. This presentation will explain the formal quality assurance and accreditation process as well as the component parts, which resulted from this study. The targeted resources that were developed will be described, the pertinent factors that contributed to the success of the process will be discussed and early indicators of sustainable academic change as well as suggestions for future research will be outlined.

Keywords: academic standards, quality assurance and accreditation, phenomenological study, process, resources

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Authors: Brady, Imelda Katherine, Da Cunha Fanego, Iria

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Today's university students are considered digital natives and the use of Information Technologies (ITs) forms a large part of their study and learning. In the context of language studies, applications that help with revisions of grammar or vocabulary are particularly useful, especially if they are open access. There are studies that show the effectiveness of this type of application in the learning of English as a foreign language and that using IT can help learners become more autonomous in foreign language acquisition, given that these applications can enhance awareness of the learning process; this means that learners are less dependent on the teacher for corrective feedback. We also propose that the exploitation of these technologies also enhances the work of the language instructor wishing to incorporate IT into his/her practice. In this context, the aim of this paper is to present the creation of a repository of tools that provide support in the writing and correction of texts in English and the assessment of their usefulness on behalf of university students enrolled in the English Studies Degree. The project seeks to encourage the development of autonomous learning through the acquisition of skills linked to the self-correction of written work in English. To comply with the above, our methodology follows five phases. First of all, a selection of the main open-access online applications available for the correction of written texts in English is made: AutoCrit, Hemingway, Grammarly, LanguageTool, OutWrite, PaperRater, ProWritingAid, Reverso, Slick Write, Spell Check Plus and Virtual Writing Tutor. Secondly, the functionalities of each of these tools (spelling, grammar, style correction, etc.) are analyzed. Thirdly, explanatory materials (texts and video tutorials) are prepared on each tool. Fourth, these materials are uploaded into a repository of our university in the form of an institutional blog, which is made available to students and the general public. Finally, a survey was designed to collect students’ feedback. The survey aimed to analyse the usefulness of the blog and the quality of the explanatory materials as well as the degree of usefulness that students assigned to each of the tools offered. In this paper, we present the results of the analysis of data received from 33 students in the 1st semester of the 21-22 academic year. One result we highlight in our paper is that the students have rated this resource very highly, in addition to offering very valuable information on the perceived usefulness of the applications provided for them to review. Our work, carried out within the framework of a teaching innovation project funded by our university, emphasizes that teachers need to design methodological strategies that help their students improve the quality of their productions written in English and, by extension, to improve their linguistic competence.

Keywords: academic blog, open access tools, online self-correction, written production in English, university learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Rahy Farooq, Maria Ahmad Khan, Ayesha Isani Majeed

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Objective: The main aim of this research is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of female nursing staff and nursing students regarding breast cancer, to provide a baseline for monitoring trends of breast cancer awareness in them. Background: Healthcare professionals are a direct source of information for the patients and the general public as a whole. It is, therefore, essential that the information they convey be accurate and helps in building additional awareness. However, clinical experience does not influence the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding breast cancer. Nurses, being the prime part of the healthcare professionals, play a significant role and hence, their awareness regarding this pressing issue is pertinent. Lack of awareness regarding common presenting symptoms or breast cancer risk factors translates to poor breast cancer screening practices and late diagnosis. Methodology: A cross-sectional study of 280 female nurses was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan. A pre-tested structured questionnaire with additional variables like cultural barriers to seeking medical help was used. The scores for outcome variables including knowledge, attitude and practices were pre-defined. Data was analyzed using SPSSv23. Results: Of the 280 participants with a mean age of 28.99±9.98 years, 142 (50.7%) were married, and 138 (49.3%) were unmarried. Mean scores were computed to be 6.14±2.93 (out of 12), 0.30±0.7 (out of 3) and 9.53±1.92 (out of 16) for knowledge, attitude and practice respectively. Using independent sample T-test, a statistically significant correlation was found when means for the score of Attitude was compared with age. With a p-value of 0.018, 117 nurses of age more than 30 years, faced more practical, financial, emotional and service barriers as compared to 163 women younger than 30 years of age. Knowledge of age-related lifetime risks was also significantly poor more in single women; with a p-value of 0.006 for identification of correct age as a risk factor and a p-value of 0.005 for correct identification of risk for development of breast cancer in the lifetime of women. By application of Chi-square test, there was a significant correlation between marital status and cultural barriers to seeking medical help, showing that single women (58.7%) shy away from talking about breast cancer considering it a taboo (p-value 0.028) whereas, more married nurses (59.2%) were apprehensive that they might be considered at fault by the society, as compared to 40.8% of single nurses. (p-value 0.038). Conclusion: Owing to the scarcity of awareness among nurses, this study recognizes the need for delivering effective information to the female nurses regarding breast cancer. Educating patients is likely to be effective if the female nurses play their part and have correct attitudes towards breast cancer practices. A better understanding of the knowledge and practices regarding breast cancer among the nursing population will enable high-risk patients to be recognized early. Therefore, we recommend arrangement of special courses and seminars for all healthcare professionals including the nursing staff.

Keywords: breast cancer, cultural barriers, kap, nurses

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: A. F. Huseynov, N. T. Mardanov, J. Y. Nakhchivanski

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This practical research is aimed to improve the management quality and efficiency of public administration agencies providing e-services. The monitoring system developed will provide continuous review of the websites compliance with the selected indicators, their evaluation based on the selected indicators and ranking of services according to the quality criteria. The responsible departments in the government agencies were surveyed; the questionnaire includes issues of management and feedback, e-services provided, and the application of information systems. By analyzing the main affecting factors and barriers, the recommendations will be given that lead to the relevant decisions to strengthen the state agencies competencies for the management and the provision of their services. Component 1. E-services monitoring system. Three separate monitoring activities are proposed to be executed in parallel: Continuous tracing of e-government sites using built-in web-monitoring program; this program generates several quantitative values which are basically related to the technical characteristics and the performance of websites. The expert assessment of e-government sites in accordance with the two general criteria. Criterion 1. Technical quality of the site. Criterion 2. Usability/accessibility (load, see, use). Each high-level criterion is in turn subdivided into several sub-criteria, such as: the fonts and the color of the background (Is it readable?), W3C coding standards, availability of the Robots.txt and the site map, the search engine, the feedback/contact and the security mechanisms. The on-line survey of the users/citizens – a small group of questions embedded in the e-service websites. The questionnaires comprise of the information concerning navigation, users’ experience with the website (whether it was positive or negative), etc. Automated monitoring of web-sites by its own could not capture the whole evaluation process, and should therefore be seen as a complement to expert’s manual web evaluations. All of the separate results were integrated to provide the complete evaluation picture. Component 2. Assessment of the agencies/departments efficiency in providing e-government services. - the relevant indicators to evaluate the efficiency and the effectiveness of e-services were identified; - the survey was conducted in all the governmental organizations (ministries, committees and agencies) that provide electronic services for the citizens or the businesses; - the quantitative and qualitative measures are covering the following sections of activities: e-governance, e-services, the feedback from the users, the information systems at the agencies’ disposal. Main results: 1. The software program and the set of indicators for internet sites evaluation has been developed and the results of pilot monitoring have been presented. 2. The evaluation of the (internal) efficiency of the e-government agencies based on the survey results with the practical recommendations related to the human potential, the information systems used and e-services provided.

Keywords: e-government, web-sites monitoring, survey, internal efficiency

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Authors: B. M. Y. I. Basnayake, G. G. T. Nisansala, P. I. J. B. Wijewickrama, U. S. Weerathunga, K. W. M. Y. D. Gunasekara, N. K. Jayasekera, A. W. Kalupahana, R. S. Kalupahana, A. Silva- Fletcher, K. S. A. Kottawatta

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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has attracted significant attention worldwide as an emerging threat to public health. Understanding the role of livestock and wildlife with the shared environment in the maintenance and transmission of AMR is of utmost importance due to its interactions with humans for combating the issue in one health approach. This study aims to investigate the extent of AMR distribution among wild animals, livestock, and environment cohabiting in a rural ecosystem in Sri Lanka: Hambegamuwa. One square km area at Hambegamuwa was mapped using GPS as the sampling area. The study was conducted for a period of five months from November 2020. Voided fecal samples were collected from 130 wild animals, 123 livestock: buffalo, cattle, chicken, and turkey, with 36 soil and 30 water samples associated with livestock and wildlife. From the samples, Escherichia coli (E. coli) was isolated, and their AMR profiles were investigated for 12 antimicrobials using the disk diffusion method following the CLSI standard. Seventy percent (91/130) of wild animals, 93% (115/123) of livestock, 89% (32/36) of soil, and 63% (19/30) of water samples were positive for E. coli. Maximum of two E. coli from each sample to a total of 467 were tested for the sensitivity of which 157, 208, 62, and 40 were from wild animals, livestock, soil, and water, respectively. The highest resistance in E. coli from livestock (13.9%) and wild animals (13.3%) was for ampicillin, followed by streptomycin. Apart from that, E. coli from livestock and wild animals revealed resistance mainly against tetracycline, cefotaxime, trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole, and nalidixic acid at levels less than 10%. Ten cefotaxime resistant E. coli were reported from wild animals, including four elephants, two land monitors, a pigeon, a spotted dove, and a monkey which was a significant finding. E. coli from soil samples reflected resistance primarily against ampicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline at levels less than in livestock/wildlife. Two water samples had cefotaxime resistant E. coli as the only resistant isolates out of 30 water samples tested. Of the total E. coli isolates, 6.4% (30/467) was multi-drug resistant (MDR) which included 18, 9, and 3 isolates from livestock, wild animals, and soil, respectively. Among 18 livestock MDRs, the highest (13/ 18) was from poultry. Nine wild animal MDRs were from spotted dove, pigeon, land monitor, and elephant. Based on CLSI standard criteria, 60 E. coli isolates, of which 40, 16, and 4 from livestock, wild animal, and environment, respectively, were screened for Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL) producers. Despite being a rural ecosystem, AMR and MDR are prevalent even at low levels. E. coli from livestock, wild animals, and the environment reflected a similar spectrum of AMR where ampicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and cefotaxime being the predominant antimicrobials of resistance. Wild animals may have acquired AMR via direct contact with livestock or via the environment, as antimicrobials are rarely used in wild animals. A source attribution study including the effects of the natural environment to study AMR can be proposed as this less contaminated rural ecosystem alarms the presence of AMR.

Keywords: AMR, Escherichia coli, livestock, wildlife

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Authors: Md. Nuru Miah, A. F. M. Akhter Uddin

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Medicinal plants are grown naturally in a tropical environment in Bangladesh and used as drug and therapeutic agents in the health care system. According to Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), there are 722 species of medicinal plants in the country. Of them, 255 plants are utilized by the manufacturers of Ayurvedic and Unani medicines. Medicinal plants like Aloevera, Ashwagonda, shotomul,Tulsi, Vuikumra, Misridana are extensively cultivated in some selected areas as well; where Aloevera scored the highest position in production. In the early 1980, Ayurvedic and Unani companies procured 80 percent of medicinal plants from natural forests, and the rest 20 percent was imported. Now the scenario has changed; 80 percent is imported, and the rest 20 percent is collected from local products(Source: Astudy on sectorbased need assessment of Business promotion council-Herbal products and medicinal plants, page-4). Uttara Development Program Society, a leading Non- Government development organization in Bangladesh, has been implementing a value chain development project under promoting Agricultural commercialization and Enterprises of Pally Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Natore Sadar Upazila from April 2017 to sustainably develop the technological interventions for products and market development. The ultimate goal of the project is to increase income, generate employment and develop this sector as a sustainable business enterprise. Altogether 10,000 farmers (Nursery owners, growers, input supplier, processors, whole sellers, and retailers) are engaged in different activities of the project. The entrepreneurs engaged in medicinal plant cultivation did not know and follow environmental and good agricultural practices. They used to adopt traditional methodology in production and processing. Locally the farmers didn’t have any positive initiative to expand their business as well as developvalue added products. A lot of diversified products could be possible to develop and marketed with the introduction of post-harvest processing technology and market linkage with the local and global buyer. Training is imparted to the nursery owners and herbal growers on production technologies, sowing method, use of organic fertilizers/compost/pesticides, harvesting procedures, and storage facilities. Different types of herbal tea like Rosella, Moringa, Tulshi, and Basak are being produced and packed locally with a good scope of its marketing in different cities of the country. The project has been able to achieve a significant impact in the development of production technologies, but still, there is room for further improvement in processing, packaging, and marketing level. The core intervention of the current project to develop some entrepreneurs for branding, packaging, promotion, and marketing while considering environment friendly practices. The present strategies will strengthen the knowledge and skills of the entrepreneurs for the production and marketing of their products, maintaining worldwide accepted compliance system for easy access to the global market.

Keywords: aloe vera, herbs and shrubs, market, interventions

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Authors: Idowu R. Akomolafe, Naven Chetty

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Background: The widespread medical application of ionizing radiation has raised public concern about radiation exposure and, thus, associated cancer risk. The production of reactive oxygen species and free radicals as a result of radiation exposure can cause severe damage to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of cells, thus leading to biological effect. Radiotherapy is an excellent modality in the treatment of cancerous cells, comes with a few challenges. A significant challenge is the exposure of healthy cells surrounding the tumour to radiation. The last few decades have witnessed lots of attention shifted to plants, herbs, and natural product as an alternative to synthetic compound for radioprotection. Thus, the study investigated the radioprotective efficacy of Costus afer against whole-body radiation-induced haematological, histopathological disorder in mice. Materials and Method: Fifty-four mice were randomly divided into nine groups. Animals were pretreated with the extract of Costus afer by oral gavage for six days before irradiation. Control: 6 mice received feed and water only; 6 mice received feed, water, and 3Gy; 6 mice received feed, water, and 6Gy; experimental: 6 mice received 250 mg/kg extract; 6 mice received 500 mg/kg extract; 6 mice received 250 mg/kg extract and 3Gy; 6 mice received 500 mg/kg extract and 3Gy; 6 mice received 250 mg/kg extract and 6Gy; 6 mice received 500 mg/kg extract and 6Gy in addition to feeding and water. The irradiation was done at the Radiotherapy and Oncology Department of Grey's Hospital using linear accelerator (LINAC). Thirty-six mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation 48 hours after irradiation, and blood was collected for haematology tests. Also, the liver and kidney of the sacrificed mice were surgically removed for histopathology tests. The remaining eighteen (18) mice were used for mortality and survival studies. Data were analysed by one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test. Results: Prior administration of Costus afer extract decreased the symptoms of radiation sickness and caused a significant delay in the mortality as demonstrated in the experimental mice. The first mortality was recorded on day-5 post irradiation, and this happened to the group E- that is, mice that received 6Gy but no extract. There was significant protection in the experimental mice, as demonstrated in the blood counts against hematopoietic and gastrointestinal damage when compared with the control. The protection was seen in the increase in blood counts of experimental animals and the number of survivor. The protection offered by Costus afer may be due to its ability to scavenge free radicals and restore gastrointestinal and bone marrow damage produced by radiation. Conclusions: The study has demonstrated that exposure of mice to radiation could cause modifications in the haematological and histopathological parameters of irradiated mice. However, the changes were relieved by the methanol extract of Costus afer, probably through its free radical scavenging and antioxidant properties.

Keywords: costus afer, hematological, mortality, radioprotection, radiotherapy

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Authors: Jollen Dai, Truman You, Xinyun Du, Katrina Liu

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Transportation is one of the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Thus, to meet the Paris Agreement 2015, all countries must adopt a different and more sustainable transportation system. From bikes to Maglev, the world is slowly shifting to sustainable transportation. To develop a utility public transit system, a sustainable web of buses must be implemented. As of now, only a handful of cities have adopted a detailed plan to implement a full fleet of e-buses by the 2030s, with Shenzhen in the lead. Every change requires a detailed plan and a focused analysis of the impacts of the change. In this report, the economic implications and financial implications have been taken into consideration to develop a well-rounded 10-year plan for New York City. We also apply the same financial model to the other cities, LA and Chicago. We picked NYC, Chicago, and LA to conduct the comparative NPB analysis since they are all big metropolitan cities and have complex transportation systems. All three cities have started an action plan to achieve a full fleet of e-bus in the decades. Plus, their energy carbon footprint and their energy price are very different, which are the key factors to the benefits of electric buses. Using TCO (Total Cost Ownership) financial analysis, we developed a model to calculate NPB (Net Present Benefit) /and compare EBS (electric buses) to DBS (diesel buses). We have considered all essential aspects in our model: initial investment, including the cost of a bus, charger, and installation, government fund (federal, state, local), labor cost, energy (electricity or diesel) cost, maintenance cost, insurance cost, health and environment benefit, and V2G (vehicle to grid) benefit. We see about $1,400,000 in benefits for a 12-year lifetime of an EBS compared to DBS provided the government fund to offset 50% of EBS purchase cost. With the government subsidy, an EBS starts to make positive cash flow in 5th year and can pay back its investment in 5 years. Please remember that in our model, we consider environmental and health benefits, and every year, $50,000 is counted as health benefits per bus. Besides health benefits, the significant benefits come from the energy cost savings and maintenance savings, which are about $600,000 and $200,000 in 12-year life cycle. Using linear regression, given certain budget limitations, we then designed an optimal three-phase process to replace all NYC electric buses in 10 years, i.e., by 2033. The linear regression process is to minimize the total cost over the years and have the lowest environmental cost. The overall benefits to replace all DBS with EBS for NYC is over $2.1 billion by the year of 2033. For LA, and Chicago, the benefits for electrification of the current bus fleet are $1.04 billion and $634 million by 2033. All NPB analyses and the algorithm to optimize the electrification phase process are implemented in Python code and can be shared.

Keywords: financial modeling, total cost ownership, net present benefits, electric bus, diesel bus, NYC, LA, Chicago

Procedia PDF Downloads 27

Authors: Gerald Steyn

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Despite the huge number of identical, tiny, boxy, freestanding houses built by the South African government after the advent of democracy in 1994, squatter camps continue to mushroom, and there is no evidence that the backlog is being reduced. Not only is the wasteful low-density detached-unit approach of the past being perpetuated, but the social, spatial, and economic marginalization is worse than before 1994. The situation is precarious since squatters are vulnerable to fires and flooding. At the same time, the occupants of the housing schemes are trapped far from employment opportunities or any public amenities. Despite these insecurities, the architectural, urban design, and city planning professions are puzzlingly quiet. Design projects address these issues only at the universities, albeit inevitably with somewhat Utopian notions. Geoffrey Payne, the renowned urban housing and urban development consultant and researcher focusing on issues in the Global South, once proclaimed that “we do not have a housing problem – we have a settlement problem.” This dictum was used as the guiding philosophy to conceptualize urban design and architectural principles that foreground the needs of low-income households and allow them to be fully integrated into the larger conurbation. Information was derived from intensive research over two decades, involving frequent visits to informal settlements, historic Black townships, and rural villages. Observations, measured site surveys, and interviews resulted in several scholarly articles from which a set of desirable urban and architectural criteria could be extracted. To formulate culturally appropriate design principles, existing vernacular and informal patterns were analyzed, reconciled with contemporary designs that align with the requirements for the envisaged settlement attributes, and reimagined as residential design principles. Five interrelated design principles are proposed, ranging in scale from (1) Integrating informal settlements into the city, (2) linear neighborhoods, (3) market streets as wards, (4) linear neighborhoods, and (5) typologies and densities for clustered and aggregated patios and courtyards. Each design principle is described, first in terms of its context and associated issues of concern, followed by a discussion of the patterns available to inform a possible solution, and finally, an explanation and graphic illustration of the proposed design. The approach is predominantly bottom-up since each of the five principles is unfolded from existing informal and vernacular practices studied in situ. They are, however, articulated and represented in terms of contemporary design language. Contrary to an idealized vision of housing for South Africa’s low-income urban households, this study proposes actual principles for critical assessment by peers in the tradition of architectural research in design.

Keywords: culturally appropriate design principles, informal settlements, South Africa’s housing backlog, squatter camps

Procedia PDF Downloads 34

Authors: Taghrid Asfar, Olusanya J. Oluwole, Michael Schmidt, Alejandra Casas, Zoran Bursac, Wasim Maziak.

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Waterpipe (WP) smoking (a.k.a. hookah) has increased dramatically in the US mainly due to the misperception that it is safer than cigarette smoking. Mounting evidence show that WP smoking is addictive and harmful. Health warning labels (HWLs) are effective in communicating smoking-related risks. Currently, the FDA requires that WP tobacco packages have a textual HWL about nicotine. While this represents a good step, it is inadequate given the established harm of WP smoking beyond addiction and the superior performance of pictorial HWLs over text-only ones. We developed 24 WP pictorial HWLs in a Delphi study among international expert panel. HWLs were grouped into 6 themes: addiction, harm compared to cigarettes, harm to others, health effects, quitting, and specific harms. This study aims to compare the effect of the pictorial HWLs compared to the FDA HWL, and 2) the effect of pictorial HWLs between the 6 themes. A 2x7 between/within subject online factorial experimental study was conducted among a national convenience sample of 300 (50% current WP smokers; 50% nonsmokers) US adults (females 71.1%; mean age of 31.1±3.41 years) in March 2022. The first factor varied WP smoking status (smokers, nonsmokers). The second factor varied the HWL theme and type (text, pictorial). Participants were randomized to view and rate 7 HWLs: 1 FDA text HWL (control) and 6 HWLs, one from each of the 6 themes, all presented in random order. HWLs were rated based on the message impact framework into five categories: attention, reaction (believability, relevance, fear), perceived effectiveness, intentions to quit WP among current smokers, and intention to not initiate WP among nonsmokers. measures were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (1=not at all to 5=very much) for attention and reaction and on a 7-point Likert scale (1=not at all to 7=very much) for the perceived effectiveness and intentions to quit or not initiate WP smoking. Means and SDs of outcome measures for each HWL type and theme were calculated. Planned comparisons using Friedman test followed by pairwise Wilcoxon signed-rank test for multiple comparisons were used to examine distributional differences of outcomes between the HWL type and themes. Approximately 74.4 % of participants were non-Hispanic Whites, 68.4% had college degrees, and 41.5% were under the poverty level. Participants reported starting WTS on average at 20.3±8.19 years. Compared with the FDA text HWL, pictorial HWLs elicited higher attention (p<0.0001), fear (p<0.0001), harm perception (p<0.0003), perceived effectiveness (p<0.0001), and intentions to quit (p=0.0014) and not initiate WP smoking (p<0.0003). HWLs in theme 3 (harm to others) achieved the highest rating in attention (4.14±1), believability (4.15±0.95), overall perceived effectiveness (7.60±2.35), harm perception (7.53±2.43), and intentions to quit (7.35±2.57). HWLs in theme 2 (WP harm compared to cigarettes) achieved the highest rating in discouraging WP smoking initiation (7.32±2.54). Pictorial HWLs were superior to the FDA text-only for several communication outcomes. Pictorial HWLs related to WP harm to others and WP harm compared to cigarette are promising. These findings provide strong evidence for the potential implementation of WP-specific pictorial HWLs.

Keywords: health communication, waterpipe smoking, factorial experiment, reaction, harm perception, tobacco regulations

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Nguyen J. M., Lucas G., Ruan S., Digonnet H., Antonioli D.

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Introduction: Deep Learning (DL) is a very powerful tool for analyzing image data. But for tabular data, it cannot compete with machine learning methods like XGBoost. The research question becomes: can tabular data be transformed into images that can be analyzed by simple CNNs (Convolutional Neuron Networks)? Will DL be the absolute tool for data classification? All current solutions consist in repositioning the variables in a 2x2 matrix using their correlation proximity. In doing so, it obtains an image whose pixels are the variables. We implement a technology, DeepNIC, that offers the possibility of obtaining an image for each variable, which can be analyzed by simple CNNs. Material and method: The 'ROP' (Regression OPtimized) model is a binary and atypical decision tree whose nodes are managed by a new artificial neuron, the Neurop. By positioning an artificial neuron in each node of the decision trees, it is possible to make an adjustment on a theoretically infinite number of variables at each node. From this new decision tree whose nodes are artificial neurons, we created the concept of a 'Random Forest of Perfect Trees' (RFPT), which disobeys Breiman's concepts by assembling very large numbers of small trees with no classification errors. From the results of the RFPT, we developed a family of 10 statistical information criteria, Nguyen Information Criterion (NICs), which evaluates in 3 dimensions the predictive quality of a variable: Performance, Complexity and Multiplicity of solution. A NIC is a probability that can be transformed into a grey level. The value of a NIC depends essentially on 2 super parameters used in Neurops. By varying these 2 super parameters, we obtain a 2x2 matrix of probabilities for each NIC. We can combine these 10 NICs with the functions AND, OR, and XOR. The total number of combinations is greater than 100,000. In total, we obtain for each variable an image of at least 1166x1167 pixels. The intensity of the pixels is proportional to the probability of the associated NIC. The color depends on the associated NIC. This image actually contains considerable information about the ability of the variable to make the prediction of Y, depending on the presence or absence of other variables. A basic CNNs model was trained for supervised classification. Results: The first results are impressive. Using the GSE22513 public data (Omic data set of markers of Taxane Sensitivity in Breast Cancer), DEEPNic outperformed other statistical methods, including XGBoost. We still need to generalize the comparison on several databases. Conclusion: The ability to transform any tabular variable into an image offers the possibility of merging image and tabular information in the same format. This opens up great perspectives in the analysis of metadata.

Keywords: tabular data, CNNs, NICs, DeepNICs, random forest of perfect trees, classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: V. Cesaroni, C. Girometta, A. Bernicchia, M. Brusoni, F. Corana, R. M. Baiguera, C. M. Cusaro, M. L. Guglielminetti, B. Mannucci, H. Kawagishi, C. Perini, A. M. Picco, P. Rossi, E. Salerni, E. Savino

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Fungi of the genus Hericium contain various compounds with antibacterial activity, cytotoxic effect on cancer cells and bioactive molecules. Some of the active metabolites stimulate the synthesis of the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). Recently, the effect of dietary supplement based on Hericium erinaceus on recognition memory and on hippocampal mossy fiber-CA3 neurotransmission was published. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Hericium species on Italian territory in order to isolate the strains for further studies and applications. The first step was to collect Hericium sporophores in Tuscany: H. alpestre Pers., H. coralloides (Scop.) Pers. and H. erinaceus (Bull.) Pers. were the species present. The strains of H. alpestre (H.a.1), H. coralloides (H.c.1) and H. erinaceus (H.e.1 & H.e.2) have been isolated in pure culture and preserved in the collection of the University of Pavia (MicUNIPV). The DNA sequences obtained from the strains were compared to other sequences found in international databases. Therefore, it was possible to construct a phylogenetic tree that highlights the clear separation in clades of the sequences and the molecular identification of our strains with the species of Hericium considered. The second step was to cultivate indoor and outdoor H. erinaceus in order to obtain as many sporophores as possible for further chemical analysis. All the procedures for H. erinaceus cultivation have been followed. Among the available recipes for indoor H. erinaceus cultivation, it was used a substrate formulation contained 70% oak sawdust, 20% rice bran, 10% wheat straw, 1% CaCO3 and 1% sucrose. The bioactive compounds present in the mycelia and in the sporophores of H. erinaceus were chemically analyzed in collaboration with the Centro Grandi Strumenti of the University of Pavia using high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS/MS). The materials to be analyzed were previously freeze-dried and then extracted with an alcoholic procedure. Preliminary chromatographic analysis revealed the presence of potentially bioactive and structurally different secondary metabolites such as polysaccharides, erinacins, ericenones, steroids and other terpenoids. Ericenones C and D (in sporophores) and erinacin A (in mycelium) have been identified by comparison with the respective standards. These molecules are known to have effects on the Central Nervous System (CNS) cells, which is the main objective of our studies. Thanks to the high sensitivity in the detection of bioactive compounds of H. erinaceus, it will be possible to use the To obtain lyophilized mycelium and the respective culture broth, 4 small pieces (about 5 mm2) of the respective H.e.1 or H.c.1 strains, taken from the margin of growing cultures (MEA), were inoculated into 1 liter of 2% ME (malt extract, Biokar Diagnostics). The static liquid cultures were kept at 24 °C in the dark chamber and fungi grew for one month. 10 replicates for each strain have been done. The method proposed as an analytical screening protocol to determine the optimal growth conditions of the fungus and to improve the production chain of H. erinaceus. These results encourage to carry out chemical analyzes also on H. alpestre and H. coralloides in order to evaluate the presence of bioactive compounds in these two species.

Keywords: Hericium species, Hercium erinaceus bioactive compounds, medicinal mushrooms, mushroom cultivation

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Kanokwan Chancharoenchai

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Economic growth can be considered as an important element of countries’ development process. For developing countries, like Thailand, to ensure the continuous growth of the economy, the Thai government usually implements various policies to stimulate economic growth. They may take the form of fiscal, monetary, trade, and other policies. Because of these different aspects, understanding factors relating to economic growth could allow the government to introduce the proper plan for the future economic stimulating scheme. Consequently, this issue has caught interest of not only policymakers but also academics. This study, therefore, investigates explanatory variables for economic growth in Thailand from 2005 to 2017 with a total of 52 quarters. The findings would contribute to the field of economic growth and become helpful information to policymakers. The investigation is estimated throughout the production function with non-linear Cobb-Douglas equation. The rate of growth is indicated by the change of GDP in the natural logarithmic form. The relevant factors included in the estimation cover three traditional means of production and implicit effects, such as human capital, international activity and technological transfer from developed countries. Besides, this investigation takes the internal and external instabilities into account as proxied by the unobserved inflation estimation and the real effective exchange rate (REER) of the Thai baht, respectively. The unobserved inflation series are obtained from the AR(1)-ARCH(1) model, while the unobserved REER of Thai baht is gathered from naive OLS-GARCH(1,1) model. According to empirical results, the AR(|2|) equation which includes seven significant variables, namely capital stock, labor, the imports of capital goods, trade openness, the REER of Thai baht uncertainty, one previous GDP, and the world financial crisis in 2009 dummy, presents the most suitable model. The autoregressive model is assumed constant estimator that would somehow cause the unbias. However, this is not the case of the recursive coefficient model from the state space model that allows the transition of coefficients. With the powerful state space model, it provides the productivity or effect of each significant factor more in detail. The state coefficients are estimated based on the AR(|2|) with the exception of the one previous GDP and the 2009 world financial crisis dummy. The findings shed the light that those factors seem to be stable through time since the occurrence of the world financial crisis together with the political situation in Thailand. These two events could lower the confidence in the Thai economy. Moreover, state coefficients highlight the sluggish rate of machinery replacement and quite low technology of capital goods imported from abroad. The Thai government should apply proactive policies via taxation and specific credit policy to improve technological advancement, for instance. Another interesting evidence is the issue of trade openness which shows the negative transition effect along the sample period. This could be explained by the loss of price competitiveness to imported goods, especially under the widespread implementation of free trade agreement. The Thai government should carefully handle with regulations and the investment incentive policy by focusing on strengthening small and medium enterprises.

Keywords: autoregressive model, economic growth, state space model, Thailand

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Angela Evans, Gabriel Gijon-Nogueron, Alfonso Martinez-Nova

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Background The health sector, whose mission is protecting health, also contributes to the climate crisis, the greatest health threat of the 21st century. The carbon footprint from healthcare exceeds 5% of emissions globally, surpassing 7% in the USA and Australia. Global recognition has led to the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the World Health Organization's Climate Change Action Plan. It is agreed that the majority of health impacts stem from energy and resource consumption, as well as the production of greenhouse gases in the environment and deforestation. Many professional medical associations and healthcare providers advocate for their members to take the lead in environmental sustainability. Objectives To avail and expand ‘Green Podiatry’ via the three pillars of: Exercise ; Evidence ; Everyday changes; to highlight the benefits of physical activity and exercise for both human health and planet health. Walking and running are beneficial for health, provide low carbon transport, and have evidence-based health benefits. Podiatrists are key healthcare professionals in the physical activity space and can influence and guide their patients to increase physical activity and avert the many non-communicable diseases that are decimating public health, eg diabetes, arthritis, depression, cancer, obesity. Methods Publications, conference presentations, and pilot projects pertinent to ‘Green Podiatry’ have been activated since 2021, and a survey of podiatrist’s knowledge and awareness has been undertaken.The survey assessed attitudes towards environmental sustainability in work environment. The questions addressed commuting habits, hours of physical exercise per week, and attitudes in the clinic, such as prescribing unnecessary treatments or emphasizing sports as primary treatment. Results Teaching and Learning modules have been developed for podiatric medicine students and graduates globally. These will be availed. A pilot foot orthoses recycling project has been undertaken and will be reported, in addition to established footwear recycling. The preliminary survey found almost 90% of respondents had no knowledge of green podiatry or footwear recycling. Only 30% prescribe sports/exercise as the primary treatment for patients, and 45% do not to prescribe unnecessary treatments. Conclusions Podiatrists are in a good position to lead in the crucial area of healthcare and climate change implications. Sufficient education of podiatrists is essential for the profession to beneficially promote health and physical activity, which is beneficial for the health of all peoples and all communities.

Keywords: climate change, gait, green, healthcare, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Paritosh Goel

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The conservation of historic buildings and historic Centre’s over recent years has become fully encompassed in the planning of built-up areas and their management following climate changes. The approach of the world of restoration, in the Indian context on integrated urban regeneration and its strategic potential for a smarter, more sustainable and socially inclusive urban development introduces, for urban transformations in general (historical centers and otherwise), the theme of sustainability. From this viewpoint, it envisages, as a primary objective, a real “green, ecological or environmental” requalification of the city through interventions within the main categories of sustainability: mobility, energy efficiency, use of sources of renewable energy, urban metabolism (waste, water, territory, etc.) and natural environment. With this the concept of a “resilient city” is also introduced, which can adapt through progressive transformations to situations of change which may not be predictable, behavior that the historical city has always been able to express. Urban planning on the other hand, has increasingly focused on analyses oriented towards the taxonomic description of social/economic and perceptive parameters. It is connected with human behavior, mobility and the characterization of the consumption of resources, in terms of quantity even before quality to inform the city design process, which for ancient fabrics, and mainly affects the public space also in its social dimension. An exact definition of the term “smart city” is still essentially elusive, since we can attribute three dimensions to the term: a) That of a virtual city, evolved based on digital networks and web networks b) That of a physical construction determined by urban planning based on infrastructural innovation, which in the case of historic Centre’s implies regeneration that stimulates and sometimes changes the existing fabric; c) That of a political and social/economic project guided by a dynamic process that provides new behavior and requirements of the city communities that orients the future planning of cities also through participation in their management. This paper is a preliminary research into the connections between these three dimensions applied to the specific case of the fabric of ancient cities with the aim of obtaining a scientific theory and methodology to apply to the regeneration of Indian historical Centre’s. The Smart city scheme if contextualize with heritage of the city it can be an initiative which intends to provide a transdisciplinary approach between various research networks (natural sciences, socio-economics sciences and humanities, technological disciplines, digital infrastructures) which are united in order to improve the design, livability and understanding of urban environment and high historical/cultural performance levels.

Keywords: historical cities regeneration, sustainable restoration, urban planning, smart cities, cultural heritage development strategies

Procedia PDF Downloads 270

Authors: E. S. Martens, E. E. Onwuliri

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Over the past three decades, Nigeria’s film industry has become a global powerhouse, releasing hundreds of films annually and even monthly. Nollywood, a portmanteau of Nigeria and Hollywood as well as Bollywood that was coined by New York Times journalist Norimitsu Onishi in 2002, came to mark the plenitude of filmmaking happening in Lagos from the early 1990s onwards. Following the success of the 1992 straight-to-VHS film Living in Bondage, the Nigerian film industry experienced a popular home video boom that gained a huge following in Nigeria, across Africa, and among the global African diaspora. In fact, with an estimated worth of $6.4 billion as of 2021, Nollywood is nowadays considered the world’s second-largest film industry and even the largest in terms of output and popularity. Producing about 2,500 films annually and reaching an estimated audience of over 200 million people worldwide, Nollywood has not only seemingly surpassed Hollywood but also Bollywood with regard to production and consumption size. Due to its commercial success and cultural impact from the early 2010s, Nollywood has often been heralded as a potential driver of Africa’s tourism industry. In its 2012 Global Trends Report, the World Travel Market forecasted an increase in GDP in Africa due to tourism in Nollywood filming locations. Additionally, it was expected that the rising popularity of Nollywood would significantly contribute to growth in the leisure sector, drawing both film enthusiasts and business travelers intrigued by the expanding significance of the Nigerian film industry. Still, despite much talk about the potential impact of Nollywood on Nigerian tourism in the past 10 years or so, relatively little is known about Nollywood’s association with film tourism and the existing connections between Nigeria’s film and tourism industries more generally. Already well over a decade ago, it was observed that there is still a lack of research examining the extent to which film tourism related to Nollywood in Africa has been generated – and to date, this is still largely the case. This paper, then, seeks to discuss the reported connections between Nollywood and tourism and to review the efforts and opportunities related to Nollywood film tourism as suggested in Nigeria’s public domain. Based on a content analysis of over 50 newspaper articles and other online available materials, such as websites, blogs and forums, this paper explores the practices and discourses surrounding Nollywood connections with tourism in Nigeria and across Africa over the past ten years. The analysis shows that, despite these high expectations, film tourism related to Nollywood has remained limited. Despite growing government attention and support to Nollywood and its potential for tourism, most state initiatives in this direction have not (yet) materialize – and it very much remains to be seen to what extent ‘Destination Nollywood’ is really able to come to fruition as long as the structural issues underlying the development of Nigerian film (and) tourism are not sufficiently addressed.

Keywords: film tourism, Nigerian cinema, Nollywood, tourist destination

Procedia PDF Downloads 32

Authors: Alon Cohen, Jeffrey Kantor, Shalom Levy

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The use of the audit risk model in auditing has faced limitations and difficulties, leading auditors to rely on a conceptual level of its application. The qualitative approach to assessing risks has resulted in different risk assessments, affecting the quality of audits and decision-making on the adoption of CAATTs. This study aims to investigate risk factors impacting the implementation of the audit risk model and propose a complementary risk-based instrument (KRIs) to form substance risk judgments and mitigate against heightened risk of material misstatement (RMM). The study addresses the question of how risk factors impact the implementation of the audit risk model, improve risk judgments, and aid in the adoption of CAATTs. The study uses a three-stage scale development procedure involving a pretest and subsequent study with two independent samples. The pretest involves an exploratory factor analysis, while the subsequent study employs confirmatory factor analysis for construct validation. Additionally, the authors test the ability of the KRIs to predict audit efforts needed to mitigate against heightened RMM. Data was collected through two independent samples involving 767 participants. The collected data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to assess scale validity and construct validation. The suggested KRIs, comprising two risk components and seventeen risk items, are found to have high predictive power in determining audit efforts needed to reduce RMM. The study validates the suggested KRIs as an effective instrument for risk assessment and decision-making on the adoption of CAATTs. This study contributes to the existing literature by implementing a holistic approach to risk assessment and providing a quantitative expression of assessed risks. It bridges the gap between intuitive risk evaluation and the theoretical domain, clarifying the mechanism of risk assessments. It also helps improve the uniformity and quality of risk assessments, aiding audit standard-setters in issuing updated guidelines on CAATT adoption. A few limitations and recommendations for future research should be mentioned. First, the process of developing the scale was conducted in the Israeli auditing market, which follows the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs). Although ISAs are adopted in European countries, for greater generalization, future studies could focus on other countries that adopt additional or local auditing standards. Second, this study revealed risk factors that have a material impact on the assessed risk. However, there could be additional risk factors that influence the assessment of the RMM. Therefore, future research could investigate other risk segments, such as operational and financial risks, to bring a broader generalizability to our results. Third, although the sample size in this study fits acceptable scale development procedures and enables drawing conclusions from the body of research, future research may develop standardized measures based on larger samples to reduce the generation of equivocal results and suggest an extended risk model.

Keywords: audit risk model, audit efforts, CAATTs adoption, key risk indicators, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Jayden R. Hunter, Brett A. Gordon, Stephen R. Bird, Amanda C. Benson

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The World Health Organisation recognises the workplace as an important setting for exercise promotion, with potential benefits including improved employee health and fitness, and reduced worker absenteeism and presenteeism. Despite these potential benefits to both employee and employer, there is a lack of evidence supporting the long-term effectiveness of workplace exercise programs. There is, therefore, a need for better-informed programs that cater to employee exercise preferences. Specifically, workplace exercise programs should address any time, motivation, internal and external barriers to participation reported by sub-groups of employees. This study sought to compare exercise participation to perceived barriers and facilitators to workplace exercise engagement of university employees. This information is needed to design and implement wider-reaching programs aiming to maximise long-term employee exercise adherence and subsequent health, fitness and productivity benefits. An online survey was advertised at an Australian university with the potential to reach 3,104 full-time employees. Along with exercise participation (International physical activity questionnaire) and behaviour (stage of behaviour change in relation to physical activity questionnaire), perceived barriers (corporate exercise barriers scale) and facilitators to workplace exercise participation were identified. The survey response rate was 8.1% (252 full-time employees; 95% white-collar; 60% female; 79.4% aged 30–59 years; 57% professional and 38% academic). Most employees reported meeting (43.7%) or exceeding (42.9%) exercise guidelines over the previous week (i.e. ⩾30 min of moderate-intensity exercise on most days or ⩾ 25 min of vigorous-intensity exercise on at least three days per week). Reported exercise behaviour over the previous six months showed that 64.7% of employees were in maintenance, 8.3% were in action, 10.9% were in preparation, 12.4% were in contemplation, and 3.8% were in the pre-contemplation stage of change. Perceived barriers towards workplace exercise participation were significantly higher in employees not attaining weekly exercise guidelines compared to employees meeting or exceeding guidelines, including a lack of time or reduced motivation (p < 0.001; partial eta squared = 0.24 (large effect)), exercise attitude (p < 0.05; partial eta squared = 0.04 (small effect)), internal (p < 0.01; partial eta squared = 0.10 (moderate effect)) and external (p < 0.01; partial eta squared = 0.06 (moderate effect)) barriers. The most frequently reported exercise facilitators were personal training (particularly for insufficiently active employees; 33%) and group exercise classes (20%). The most frequently cited preferred modes of exercise were walking (70%), swimming (50%), gym (48%), and cycling (45%). In conclusion, providing additional means of support such as individualised gym, swimming and cycling programs with personal supervision and guidance may be particularly useful for employees not meeting recommended moderate-vigorous volumes of exercise, to help overcome reported exercise barriers in order to improve participation, health, and fitness. While individual biopsychosocial factors should be considered when making recommendations for interventions, the specific barriers and facilitators to workplace exercise participation identified by this study can inform the development of workplace exercise programs aiming to broaden employee engagement and promote greater ongoing exercise adherence. This is especially important for the uptake of less active employees who perceive greater barriers to workplace exercise participation than their more active colleagues.

Keywords: exercise barriers, exercise facilitators, physical activity, workplace health

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Mumuni Sumaila, Viness Pillay, Yahya E. Choonara, Pradeep Kumar, Pierre P. Kondiah

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Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious challenge to public health globally, despite every effort put together to curb the disease. Current TB therapeutics available have proven to be inefficient due to a multitude of drawbacks that range from serious adverse effects/drug toxicity to inconsistent bioavailability, which ultimately contributes to the emergence of drug-resistant TB. An effective ‘cargo’ system designed to cleverly deliver therapeutic doses of anti-TB drugs to infection sites and in a sustained-release manner may provide a better therapeutic choice towards winning the war against TB. In the current study, we investigated mannose-functionalized lipopolysaccharide hybrid nanoparticles for safety and efficacy towards macrophage-targeted simultaneous delivery of the two first-line anti-TB drugs, rifampicin (RF) and isoniazid (IS). RF-IS-loaded lipopolysaccharide hybrid nanoparticles were fabricated using the solvent injection technique (SIT), incorporating soy lecithin (SL) and low molecular weight chitosan (CS) as the lipid and polysaccharide components, respectively. Surface-functionalized nanoparticles were obtained through the reaction of the aldehyde group of mannose with free amine functionality present at the surface of the nanoparticles. The functionalized nanocarriers were spherical with average particle size and surface charge of 107.83 nm and +21.77 mV, respectively, and entrapment efficiencies (EE) were 53.52% and 69.80% for RF and IS, respectively. FTIR spectrum revealed high-intensity bands between 1663 cm⁻¹ and 1408 cm⁻¹ wavenumbers (absent in non-functionalized nanoparticles), which could be attributed to the C=N stretching vibration produced by the formation of Schiff’s base (–N=CH–) during the mannosylation reaction. In vitro release studies showed a sustained-release profile for RF and IS, with less than half of the total payload released over a 48-hour period. The nanocarriers were biocompatible and safe, with more than 80% cell viability achieved when incubated with RAW 264.7 cells at concentrations 30 to 500 μg/mL over a 24-hour period. Cellular uptake studies (after a 24-hour incubation period with the murine macrophage cells, RAW 264.7) revealed a 13- and a 9-fold increase in intracellular accumulation of RF and IS, respectively, when compared with the unformulated RF+IS solution. A 6- and a 3-fold increase in intracellular accumulation of RF and IS, respectively, were observed when compared with the non-functionalized nanoparticles. Furthermore, fluorescent microscopy images showed nanoparticle internalization and accumulation within the RAW 264.7 cells, which was more significant in the mannose-functionalized system compared to the non-functionalized nanoparticles. The overall results suggested that the fabricated mannose-functionalized lipopolysaccharide nanoparticles are a safe and promising platform for macrophage-targeted delivery of anti-TB therapeutics. However, in vivo pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics studies are required to further substantiate the therapeutic efficacy of the nanosystem.

Keywords: anti-tuberculosis therapeutics, hybrid nanosystem, lipopolysaccharide nanoparticles, macrophage-targeted delivery

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Akhentoolove Corbin, Leta De Jonge, Charmaine De Jonge

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Introduction: Various writers have promoted the adoption of the 4th R in the education curricula (relationships, respect, reasoning, religion, computing, science, art, conflict management, music) and the 5th R (responsibility). They argue that the traditional 3 Rs are not adequate for the modern environment and the requirements for students to become functional citizens in society. In particular, the developing countries of the anglophone Caribbean (most of which are tiny islands) are susceptible to the dangers and complexities of climate change and global economic volatility. These proposed additions to the 3Rs do have some justification, but this research considers Resilience as even more important and relevant in a world that is faced with the negative prospects of climate change, poverty, discrimination, and economic volatility. It is argued that the foundation for resilient citizens, workers, and workplaces, must be built in the elementary and secondary/middle schools and then through the tertiary level, to achieve an outcome of more resilient students. Government, business, and society require widespread resilience to be capable of ‘bouncing back’ and be more adaptable, transformational, and sustainable. Methodology: The paper utilises a mixed-methods approach incorporating a questionnaire and interviews to determine participants’ opinions on the importance and relevance of resilience in the schools’ curricula and to government, business, and society. The target groups are as follows: educators at all levels, education administrators, members of the business sector, public sector, and 3rd sector. The research specifically targets the anglophone Caribbean developing countries (Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Lucia, and St Vincent, and the Grenadines). The research utilises SPSS for data analysis. Major Findings: The preliminary findings suggest that the majority of participants support the adoption of resilience as a 4th R in the curricula of the elementary, secondary/middle schools, and tertiary level in the anglophone Caribbean. The final results will allow the researchers to reveal more specific details on any variations among the islands in the sample andto engage in an in-depth discussion of the relevance and importance of resilience as the 4th R. Conclusion: Results seem to suggest that the education system should adopt the 4th R of resilience so that educators working in collaboration with the family and community/village can develop young citizens who are more resilient and capable of manifesting the behaviours and attitudes associated with ‘bouncing back,’ adaptability, transformation, and sustainability. These findings may be useful for education decision-makers and governments in these Caribbean islands, who have the authority and responsibility for the development of education policy, laws, and regulations.

Keywords: education, resilient students, adaptable, transformational, resilient citizens, workplaces, government

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Authors: Alex J. Summers, Jasmine P. Devadhasan, Douglas Montgomery, Brittany Fischer, Jian Gu, Frederic Zenhausern

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Immunoassays have been utilized for several applications, including the detection of pathogens. Our laboratory is in the development of a tier 1 biothreat panel utilizing Vertical Flow Assay (VFA) technology for simultaneous detection of pathogens and toxins. One method of manufacturing VFA membranes is with non-contact piezoelectric dispensing, which provides advantages, such as low-volume and rapid dispensing without compromising the structural integrity of antibody or substrate. Challenges of this processinclude premature discontinuation of dispensing and misaligned spotting. Preliminary data revealed the Yp 11C7 mAb (11C7)reagent to exhibit a large angle of failure during printing which may have contributed to variable printing outputs. A Design of Experiment (DOE) was executed using this reagent to investigate the effects of hydrostatic pressure and reagent concentration on microarray printing outputs. A Nano-plotter 2.1 (GeSIM, Germany) was used for printing antibody reagents ontonitrocellulose membrane sheets in a clean room environment. A spotting plan was executed using Spot-Front-End software to dispense volumes of 11C7 reagent (20-50 droplets; 1.5-5 mg/mL) in a 6-test spot array at 50 target membrane locations. Hydrostatic pressure was controlled by raising the Pressure Compensation Vessel (PCV) above or lowering it below our current working level. It was hypothesized that raising or lowering the PCV 6 inches would be sufficient to cause either liquid accumulation at the tip or discontinue droplet formation. After aspirating 11C7 reagent, we tested this hypothesis under stroboscope.75% of the effective raised PCV height and of our hypothesized lowered PCV height were used. Humidity (55%) was maintained using an Airwin BO-CT1 humidifier. The number and quality of membranes was assessed after staining printed membranes with dye. The droplet angle of failure was recorded before and after printing to determine a “stroboscope score” for each run. The DOE set was analyzed using JMP software. Hydrostatic pressure and reagent concentration had a significant effect on the number of membranes output. As hydrostatic pressure was increased by raising the PCV 3.75 inches or decreased by lowering the PCV -4.5 inches, membrane output decreased. However, with the hydrostatic pressure closest to equilibrium, our current working level, membrane output, reached the 50-membrane target. As the reagent concentration increased from 1.5 to 5 mg/mL, the membrane output also increased. Reagent concentration likely effected the number of membrane output due to the associated dispensing volume needed to saturate the membranes. However, only hydrostatic pressure had a significant effect on stroboscope score, which could be due to discontinuation of dispensing, and thus the stroboscope check could not find a droplet to record. Our JMP predictive model had a high degree of agreement with our observed results. The JMP model predicted that dispensing the highest concentration of 11C7 at our current PCV working level would yield the highest number of quality membranes, which correlated with our results. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Chemical Biological Technologies Directorate (Contract # HDTRA1-16-C-0026) and the Advanced Technology International (Contract # MCDC-18-04-09-002) from the Department of Defense Chemical and Biological Defense program through the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

Keywords: immunoassay, microarray, design of experiment, piezoelectric dispensing

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Authors: Debdatta Mukherjee, Abhiman Das, Amit Garg

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In recent years, there is a growing interest about corporate social responsibility of firms in both academic literature and business world. Since business forms a part of society incorporating socio-environment concerns into its value chain, activities are vital for ensuring mutual sustainability and prosperity. But, until now most of the works have been either descriptive or normative rather than positivist in tone. Even the few ones with a positivist approach have mostly studied the link between corporate financial performance and corporate social performance. However, these studies have been severely criticized by many eminent authors on grounds that they lack a theoretical basis for their findings. They have also argued that apart from corporate financial performance, there must be certain other crucial influences that are likely to determine corporate social performance of firms. In fact, several studies have indicated that firms operating in distinct national institutions show significant variations in the corporate social responsibility practices that they undertake. This clearly suggests that the institutional context of a country in which the firms operate is a key determinant of corporate social performance of firms. Therefore, this paper uses an institutional framework to understand why corporate social performance of firms vary across countries. It examines the impact of country level institutions on corporate social performance using a sample of 3240 global publicly-held firms across 33 countries covering the period 2010-2015. The country level institutions include public institutions, private institutions, markets and capacity to innovate. Econometric Analysis has been mainly used to assess this impact. A three way panel data analysis using fixed effects has been used to test and validate appropriate hypotheses. Most of the empirical findings confirm our hypotheses and the economic significance indicates the specific impact of each variable and their importance relative to others. The results suggest that institutional determinants like ethical behavior of private institutions, goods market, labor market and innovation capacity of a country are significantly related to the corporate social performance of firms. Based on our findings, few implications for policy makers from across the world have also been suggested. The institutions in a country should promote competition. The government should use policy levers for upgrading home demands, like setting challenging yet flexible safety, quality and environment standards, and framing policies governing buyer information, providing innovative recourses to low quality goods and services and promoting early adoption of new and technologically advanced products. Moreover, the institution building in a country should be such that they facilitate and improve the capacity of firms to innovate. Therefore, the proposed study argues that country level institutions impact corporate social performance of firms, empirically validates the same, suggest policy implications and attempts to contribute to an extended understanding of corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance in a multinational context.

Keywords: corporate social performance, corporate social responsibility, institutions, markets

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Authors: Samuel N. Forjuoh, Marcia G. Ory, Jaewoong Won, Samuel D. Towne, Suojin Wang, Chanam Lee

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The public health burden of obesity is well established as is the influence of physical activity (PA) on the health and wellness of individuals who are obese. This study examined the influence of selected demographic, health, and socioenvironmental factors on the walking behaviors of middle-aged and older overweight and obese adults. Online and paper surveys were administered to community-dwelling overweight and obese adults aged ≥ 50 years residing in four cities in central Texas and seen by a family physician in the primary care clinic from October 2013 to June 2014. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize participants’ anthropometric and demographic data as well as their health conditions and walking, socioenvironmental, and more broadly defined PA behaviors. Then Pearson chi-square tests were used to assess differences between participants who reported walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose in a typical week as a proxy to meeting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s PA guidelines and those who did not. Finally, logistic regression was used to predict walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose, controlling for covariates. The analysis was conducted in 2016. Of the total sample (n=253, survey response rate of 6.8%), the majority were non-Hispanic white (81.7%), married (74.5%), male (53.5%), and reported an annual household income of ≥ $50,000 (65.7%). Approximately, half were employed (49.6%), or had at least a college degree (51.8%). Slightly more than 1 in 5 (n=57, 22.5%) reported walking the recommended ≥150 minutes for any purpose in a typical week. The strongest predictors of walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose in a typical week in adjusted analysis were related to education and a high favorable perception of the neighborhood environment. Compared to those with a high school diploma or some college, participants with at least a college degree were five times as likely to walk the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose (OR=5.55, 95% CI=1.79-17.25). Walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose was significantly associated with participants who disagreed that there were many distracted drivers (e.g., on the cell phone while driving) in their neighborhood (OR=4.08, 95% CI=1.47-11.36) and those who agreed that there are sidewalks or protected walkways (e.g., walking trails) in their neighborhood (OR=3.55, 95% CI=1.10-11.49). Those employed were less likely to walk the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose compared to those unemployed (OR=0.31, 95% CI=0.11-0.85) as were those who reported some difficulty walking for a quarter of a mile (OR=0.19, 95% CI=0.05-0.77). Other socio-environmental factors such as having care-giver responsibilities for elders, someone to walk with, or a dog in the household as well as Walk Score™ were not significantly associated with walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose in a typical week. Neighborhood perception appears to be an important factor associated with the walking behaviors of middle-aged and older overweight and obese individuals. Enhancing the neighborhood environment (e.g., providing walking trails) may promote walking among these individuals.

Keywords: determinants of walking, obesity, older adults, physical activity

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Authors: Min Koo Choi

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The paper will examine Im Sun-dŭk’s two short stories, 'Iryoil' (Sunday, 1937) and 'Nazuoya' (A Godmother, 1942), which illuminate the subjects of Korean intellectuals going through the later period of a harsh and oppressive Japanese colonial rule. When Japan went to war against China in 1937, Korea, a colony of Japan since 1910, became an outpost for Japanese expansionism into China, and the Korean people were mobilized into the war effort. Nationalist movements and radical ideas that posed a threat and opposition to Japanese colonial rule in Korea and its colonial expansionism were ruthlessly suppressed, and Koreans were forcibly assimilated into becoming Japanese citizens without political rights. Racial discrimination between Koreans and Japanese was prevalent. Im Sun-dŭk, who participated in the Socialist movement in the 1930s, had his debut as a literary writer and a critic in the late 1930s, when Korean literary society was reincorporated in order to collaborate with the Japanese war effort through writing and public speech. Sun-duk's writing illuminates the unique internal landscape of a female subject who strives to live on while preserving her commitment and dignity under the circumstances that force Korean intellectuals either to collaborate with or acquiesce to Japanese colonial rule. 'Iryoil' (Sunday, 1937) foregrounds an educated intellectual, Hyeyŏng, who supplies her fiancé in prison for political involvement in resistance against Japan. On Sundays, she turns down her friends’ suggestion for enjoying holidays outside, due to her indebtedness to her fiancé. Her fiancé's imprisonment indicates the social conscience that still remains, and she seeks to share the commitment and suffering with her fiancé. The short story 'Nazuoya' (A Godmother, 1942), written in Japanese due to the suppression of Korean language publications at the time, also problematizes Japanese policy that forces Koreans to change their names into Japanese. Through the narrator I, who struggles to find a meaningful name for her cousin brother’s baby, she highlights how meaningful one’s name is for one’s life and identity. What makes her two stories unique is that her writing draws other people’s confessions into its own narrative through fragmentary forms, such as part of letter or reflection. The voices of others are intersected with the main character in 'Iryoil' (Sunday, 1937) and a narrator in 'Nazuoya' (A Godmother, 1942). In many ways, the narrator and main character provide the confessional voices who display the characters' gloomy interiorities. Even though these confessional voices do not share the commitment and values, both the main character and I in the stories reveal a more open set of viewpoints to them. In this way, they seek to form bonds and encouragement and acquire a more resilient sensibility that embraces those who strive to survive and endure in the gloomy days of the later period of Japanese colonial rule.

Keywords: Im Sun-dŭk, Japanese colonial rule, Korean literature, socialist movement

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Authors: Susanna Graziano, Lydia Krstic Ward

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The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate the steps of using multimedia and collaborative platforms in project-based learning. The presentation will demonstrate the stages of the learning project with various components of independent and collaborative learning, where students research the topic, share information, prepare a survey, use social media (Facebook, Instagram, WhasApp) and collaborative platforms (wikispaces.com and Google docs) to collect, analyze and process data, then produce reports and logos to be displayed as a final product. At the beginning of the presentation participants will answer a questionnaire about project based learning and share their experience on using social media, real–world project work and collaborative learning. Using a PPP, the presentation will walk participants through the steps of a completed project where tertiary education students are involved in putting together a multimedia campaign for safe driving in Kuwait. The research component of the project entails taking a holistic view on the problem of the high death rate in traffic accidents. The final goal of the project is to lead students to raise public awareness about the importance of safe driving. The project steps involve using the social media and collaborative platforms for collecting data and sharing the required materials to be used in the final product – a display of written reports, slogans and videos, as well as oral presentations. The same structure can be used to organize a multimedia campaign focusing on other issues, whilst scaffolding on students’ ability to brainstorm, retrieve information, organize it and engage in collaborative/ cooperative learning whilst being immersed in content-based learning as well as in authentic tasks. More specifically, the project we carried out at Box Hill College was a real-world one and involved a multimedia Campaign for Safe Driving since reckless driving is one of the major problems in the country. The idea for the whole project started by a presentation given by a board member of the Kuwaiti Society for Traffic Safety who was invited to college and spoke about: • Driving laws in the country, • What causes car accidents, • Driving safety tips. The principal goal of this project was to let students consider problems of traffic in Kuwait from different points of view. They also had to address the number and causes of accidents, evaluate the effectiveness of the local traffic law in order to send a warning about the importance of safe driving and, finally, suggest ways of its improvement. Benefits included: • Engagement, • Autonomy, • Motivation, • Content knowledge, • Language mastery, • Enhanced critical thinking, • Increased metacognitive awareness, • Improved social skills, • Authentic experience.

Keywords: social media, online learning platforms, collaborative platforms, project based learning

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