Search results for: individual entrepreneurial behavior

Authors: Tamir Michal

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The subject of Bedouin dispersion has accompanied the State of Israel from the day of its establishment. From a legal point of view, this subject has offered a launchpad for creative judicial decisions. Thus, for example, the first court decision in Israel to recognize affirmative action (Avitan), dealt with a petition submitted by a Jew appealing the refusal of the State to recognize the Petitioner’s entitlement to the long-term lease of a plot designated for Bedouins. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition, holding that there existed a public interest in assisting Bedouin to establish permanent urban settlements, an interest which justifies giving them preference by selling them plots at subsidized prices. In another case (The Forum for Coexistence in the Negev) the Supreme Court extended equitable relief for the purpose of constructing a bridge, even though the construction infringed the Law, in order to allow the children of dispersed Bedouin to reach school. Against this background, the recent verdict, delivered during the Protective Edge military campaign, which dismissed a petition aimed at forcing the State to spread out Protective Structures in Bedouin villages in the Negev against the risk of being hit from missiles launched from Gaza (Abu Afash) is disappointing. Even if, in arguendo, no selective discrimination was involved in the State’s decision not to provide such protection, the decision, and its affirmation by the Court, is problematic when examined through the prism of the Theory of Recognition. The article analyses the issue by tools of theory of Recognition, according to which people develop their identities through mutual relations of recognition in different fields. In the social context, the path to recognition is cognitive respect, which is provided by means of legal rights. By seeing other participants in Society as bearers of rights and obligations, the individual develops an understanding of his legal condition as reflected in the attitude to others. Consequently, even if the Court’s decision may be justified on strict legal grounds, the fact that Jewish settlements were protected during the military operation, whereas Bedouin villages were not, is a setback in the struggle to make the Bedouin citizens with equal rights in Israeli society. As the Court held, ‘Beyond their protective function, the Migunit [Protective Structures] may make a moral and psychological contribution that should not be undervalued’. This contribution is one that the Bedouin did not receive in the Abu Afash verdict. The basic thesis is that the Court’s verdict analyzed above clearly demonstrates that the reliance on classical liberal instruments (e.g., equality) cannot secure full appreciation of all aspects of Bedouin life, and hence it can in fact prejudice them. Therefore, elements of the recognition theory should be added, in order to find the channel for cognitive dignity, thereby advancing the Bedouins’ ability to perceive themselves as equal human beings in the Israeli society.

Keywords: bedouin dispersion, cognitive respect, recognition theory, sustainable development

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Authors: Anoush Saadatmehr

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Design and build of large clear span structures have always been demanding in the construction industry targeting industrial and commercial buildings around the world. The function of these spectacular structures encompasses distinguished types of building such as aircraft and airship hangars, warehouses, bulk storage buildings, sports and recreation facilities. From an engineering point of view, there are various types of steel structure systems that are often adopted in large-span buildings like conventional trusses, space frames and cable-supported roofs. However, this paper intends to investigate and review an innovative light, economic and quickly erected large span steel structure renowned as “Stressed-Arch,” which has several advantages over the other common types of structures. This patented system integrates the use of cold-formed hollow section steel material with high-strength pre-stressing strands and concrete grout to establish an arch shape truss frame anywhere there is a requirement to construct a cost-effective column-free space for spans within the range of 60m to 180m. In this study and firstly, the main structural properties of the stressed-arch system and its components are discussed technically. These features include nonlinear behavior of truss chords during stress-erection, the effect of erection method on member’s compressive strength, the rigidity of pre-stressed trusses to overcome strict deflection criteria for cases with roof suspended cranes or specialized front doors and more importantly, the prominent lightness of steel structure. Then, the effects of utilizing pre-stressing strands to safeguard a smooth process of installation of main steel members and roof components and cladding are investigated. In conclusion, it is shown that the Stressed-Arch system not only provides an optimized light steel structure up to 30% lighter than its conventional competitors but also streamlines the process of building erection and minimizes the construction time while preventing the risks of working at height.

Keywords: large span structure, pre-stressed steel truss, stressed-arch building, stress-erection, steel structure

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Authors: Adu-Ampomah Yaw Junior

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Local procurement has become one of the latest trends in the discourse of sustainable tourism due to the economic benefits it generates for tourist destinations in developing countries. Local procurement helps in creating jobs which consequently helps in alleviating poverty. However, there have been limited studies on local procurement patterns in developing countries. Research on hotel procurement practices has mainly emphasized the challenges that hoteliers face when procuring locally, leaving questions regarding their motivations to engage in local procurement unanswered. The institutional theory provides a suitable framework to better understand these motivations as it underlines the importance of individual cognitive perceptions on issues in shaping organizational response strategies. More specifically, the extent to which an issue is perceived to belong to the organization’s responsibility. Also the organizational actors’ belief of losses or gains resultant from acting or not acting on an issue (degree of importance). Furthermore the organizational actors’ belief of the probability of resolving an issue (degree of feasibility). These factors influence how an organization will act on this issue. Hence, this paper adopts an institutional perspective to examine local procurement patterns of food by hoteliers in Ghana. Qualitative interviews with 20 procurement managers about their procurement practices and motivations, as well as interviews with different stakeholders for data triangulation purposes, indicated that most hotels sourced their food from middlemen who imported most of their products. However, direct importation was more prevalent foreign owned hotels as opposed to locally owned ones. Notwithstanding, the importation and the usage of foreign foods as opposed to local ones can be explained by the lack of pressure from NGOs and trade associations on hotels to act responsibly. Though guests’ menu preferences were perceived as important to hoteliers business operations, western tourists demand foreign food primarily with the foreign owned hotels make it less important to procure local produce. Lastly hoteliers, particularly those in foreign owned ones, perceive local procurement to be less feasible, raising concerns about quality and variety of local produce. The paper outlines strategies to improve the perception and degree of local Firstly, there is the need for stakeholder engagement in order to make hoteliers feel responsible for acting on the issue.Again it is crucial for Ghana government to promote and encourage hotels to buy local produce. Also, the government has to also make funds and storage facilities available for farmers to impact on the quality and quantity of local produce. Moreover, Sites need to be secured for farmers to engage in sustained farming.Furthermore, there is the need for collaborations between various stakeholders to organize training programs for farmers. Notwithstanding hotels need to market local produce to their guests. Finally, the Ghana hotels association has to encourage hotels to indulge in local procurement.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, feasible, important, local procurement

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Authors: Dona Shaini Abhilasha Nanayakkara, Kurugamage Jude Pravinda Gregory Perera

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E-commerce platforms have revolutionized the shopping experience, offering convenient ways for consumers to make purchases. To improve interactions with customers and optimize marketing strategies, it is essential for businesses to understand user behavior, preferences, and needs on these platforms. This paper focuses on recommending businesses to customize interactions with users based on their behavioral patterns, leveraging data-driven analysis and machine learning techniques. Businesses can improve engagement and boost the adoption of e-commerce platforms by aligning behavioral patterns with user goals of usability and satisfaction. We propose TheAnalyzer, a clustering-based system designed to enhance business productivity by analyzing user-profiles and improving human-computer interaction. The Analyzer seamlessly integrates with business applications, collecting relevant data points based on users' natural interactions without additional burdens such as questionnaires or surveys. It defines five key user analytics as features for its dataset, which are easily captured through users' interactions with e-commerce platforms. This research presents a study demonstrating the successful distinction of users into specific groups based on the five key analytics considered by TheAnalyzer. With the assistance of domain experts, customized business rules can be attached to each group, enabling The Analyzer to influence business applications and provide an enhanced personalized user experience. The outcomes are evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, demonstrating that utilizing TheAnalyzer’s capabilities can optimize business outcomes, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive sustainable growth. The findings of this research contribute to the advancement of personalized interactions in e-commerce platforms. By leveraging user behavioral patterns and analyzing both new and existing users, businesses can effectively tailor their interactions to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and ultimately drive sales.

Keywords: data clustering, data standardization, dimensionality reduction, human computer interaction, user profiling

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Authors: L. Meers, L. Contalbrigo, V. Stevens, O. Ulitina, S. Laufer, W. E. Samuels, S. Normando

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Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, there has been concern that domestic animals may help spread SARS-Cov-2. This concern also greatly affected human-animal interaction projects such as animal-assisted interventions (AAI). As a result, institutions and AAI practitioners developed new safety protocols and procedures to control the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus during AAI sessions and to guarantee safety for their clients and animals. However, little is known yet about the impact on animals' needs and the possible welfare issues due to these lifestyle adaptions. Fifteen therapists in Flanders, Belgium, who were currently conducting canine-assisted interventions, conducted unstructured observations on how their dogs' (11 mixed breeds, 3 Labradors, 1 terrier aged 2 – 12 years) behaviors changed due to institutional COVID-19 safety protocols. Most (80%) of the respondents reported that their dogs showed sniffing or sneezing after smelling disinfected areas. Two (13%) dogs responded with vomiting and gagging, and three (20%) dogs urinated over disinfected areas. All protocols advise social distancing between participants and animals. When held back, eight (53%) dogs showed self-calming behaviors. Respondents reported that most (73%) dogs responded with flight reactions when seeing humans wearing facial masks. When practitioners threw their used masks in open dustbins, five (33%) dogs tried to take them out with their mouths and play with them; two (13%) Labradors tried to eat them. Taking the dogs' temperatures was the most frequently (53%) used method to supervise their health. However, all dogs showed behaviors as ducking the tail, trying to escape, or biting the animal handler during this procedure. We interpret these results to suggest that dogs tended to react with stress and confusion to the changes in AAI practices they're part of. The health and safety protocols that institutions used were largely borne from recommendations made to protect humans. The participating practitioners appeared to use their knowledge of dog behavior and safety to modify them as best they could—but with more significant concern directed towards the other humans. Given their inter-relatedness and mutual importance for welfare, we advocate for integrated human and animal health and welfare assessments and protocols to provide a framework for "One health" approaches in animal-assisted interventions.

Keywords: animal-assisted therapy, COVID-19 protocol, one health, welfare

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Authors: Chettyparambil Lalchand Thejalakshmi, Sonal Sabu Edattukaran

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Hair loss is one of the main issues that contemporary society is dealing with. It can be attributable to a wide range of factors, listing from one's genetic composition and the anxiety we experience on a daily basis. Telogen effluvium [TE] is a condition that causes temporary hair loss after a stressor that might shock the body and cause the hair follicles to temporarily rest, leading to hair loss. Most frequently, women are the ones who bring up these difficulties. Extreme illness or trauma, an emotional or important life event, rapid weight loss and crash dieting, a severe scalp skin problem, a new medication, or ceasing hormone therapy are examples of potential causes. Men frequently do not notice hair thinning with time, but women with long hair may be easily identified when shedding, which can occasionally result in bias because women tend to be more concerned with aesthetics and beauty standards of the society, and approach frequently with the concerns .The woman, who formerly possessed a full head of hair, is worried about the hair loss from her scalp . There are several cases of hair loss reported every day, and Telogen effluvium is said to be the most prevalent one of them all without any hereditary risk factors. While the patient has loss in hair volume, baldness is not the result of this problem . The exponentially growing Dermatology and Aesthetic medical division has discovered that this problem is the most common and also the easiest to cure since it is feasible for these people to regrow their hair, unlike those who have scarring alopecia, in which the follicle itself is damaged and non-viable. Telogen effluvium comes in two different forms: acute and chronic. Acute TE occurs in all the age groups with a hair loss of less than three months, while chronic TE is more common in those between the ages of 30 and 60 with a hair loss of more than six months . Both kinds are prevalent throughout all age groups, regardless of the predominance. It takes between three and six months for the lost hair to come back, although this condition is readily reversed by eliminating stresses. After shedding their hair, patients frequently describe having noticeable fringes on their forehead. The current medical treatments for this condition include topical corticosteroids, systemic corticosteroids, minoxidil and finasteride, CNDPA (caffeine, niacinamide, panthenol, dimethicone, and an acrylate polymer) .Individual terminal hair growth was increased by 10% as a result of the innovative intervention CNDPA. Botulinum Toxin A, Scalp Micro Needling, Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy [PRP], and sessions with Multivitamin Mesotherapy Injections are some recently enhanced techniques with partially or completely reversible hair loss. Also, it has been shown that supplements like Nutrafol and Biotin are producing effective outcomes. There is virtually little evidence to support the claim that applying sulfur-rich ingredients to the scalp, such as onion juice, can help TE patients' hair regenerate.

Keywords: dermatology, telogen effluvium, hair loss, modern hair loass treatments

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Authors: Matt Stichter

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Moral development requires learning from one’s failures, but that turnsout to be especially challenging when dealing with moral failures. The distress prompted by moral failure can cause responses ofdefensiveness or disengagement rather than attempts to make amends and work on self-change. The most potentially distressing response to moral failure is a shame. However, there appears to be two different senses of “shame” that are conflated in the literature, depending on whether the failure is appraised as the result of a global and unalterable self-defect, or a local and alterable self-defect. One of these forms of shame does prompt self-improvement in response to moral failure. This occurs if one views the failure as indicating only a specific (local) defect in one’s identity, where that’s something repairable, rather than asanoverall(orglobal)defectinyouridentity that can’t be fixed. So, if the whole of one’s identity as a morally good person isn’t being called into question, but only a part, then that is something one could work on to improve. Shame, in this sense, provides motivation for self-improvement to fix this part oftheselfinthe long run, and this would be important for moral development. One factor that looks to affect these different self-attributions in the wake of moral failure can be found in mindset theory, as reactions to moral failure in these two forms of shame are similar to how those with a fixed or growth mindset of their own abilities, such as intelligence, react to failure. People fall along a continuum with respect to how they view abilities – it is more of a fixed entity that you cannot do much to change, or it is malleable such that you can train to improve it. These two mindsets, ‘fixed’ versus ‘growth’, have different consequences for how we react to failure – a fixed mindset leads to maladaptive responses because of feelings of helplessness to do better; whereas a growth mindset leads to adaptive responses where a person puts forth effort to learn how to act better the next time. Here we can see the parallels between a fixed mindset of one’s own (im)morality, as the way people respond to shame when viewed as indicating a global and unalterable self-defect parallels the reactions people have to failure when they have a fixed mindset. In addition, it looks like there may be a similar structure to pride. Pride is, like shame, a self-conscious emotion that arises from internal attributions about the self as being the cause of some event. There are also paradoxical results from research on pride, where pride was found to motivate pro-social behavior in some cases but aggression in other cases. Research suggests that there may be two forms of pride, authentic and hubristic, that are also connected to different self-attributions, depending on whether one is feeling proud about a particular (local) aspect of the self versus feeling proud about the whole of oneself (global).

Keywords: emotion, mindset, moral development, moral psychology, pride, shame, self-regulation

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Authors: Magdalena Igras, Joanna Grzybowska, Mariusz Ziółko

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The study of emotions expressed in emergency phone call is presented, covering both statistical analysis of emotions configurations and an attempt to automatically classify emotions. An emergency call is a situation usually accompanied by intense, authentic emotions. They influence (and may inhibit) the communication between caller and responder. In order to support responders in their responsible and psychically exhaustive work, we studied when and in which combinations emotions appeared in calls. A corpus of 45 hours of conversations (about 3300 calls) from emergency call center was collected. Each recording was manually tagged with labels of emotions valence (positive, negative or neutral), type (sadness, tiredness, anxiety, surprise, stress, anger, fury, calm, relief, compassion, satisfaction, amusement, joy) and arousal (weak, typical, varying, high) on the basis of perceptual judgment of two annotators. As we concluded, basic emotions tend to appear in specific configurations depending on the overall situational context and attitude of speaker. After performing statistical analysis we distinguished four main types of emotional behavior of callers: worry/helplessness (sadness, tiredness, compassion), alarm (anxiety, intense stress), mistake or neutral request for information (calm, surprise, sometimes with amusement) and pretension/insisting (anger, fury). The frequency of profiles was respectively: 51%, 21%, 18% and 8% of recordings. A model of presenting the complex emotional profiles on the two-dimensional (tension-insecurity) plane was introduced. In the stage of acoustic analysis, a set of prosodic parameters, as well as Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) were used. Using these parameters, complex emotional states were modeled with machine learning techniques including Gaussian mixture models, decision trees and discriminant analysis. Results of classification with several methods will be presented and compared with the state of the art results obtained for classification of basic emotions. Future work will include optimization of the algorithm to perform in real time in order to track changes of emotions during a conversation.

Keywords: acoustic analysis, complex emotions, emotion recognition, machine learning

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Authors: Rafael Bezerra de Souza, José Ribas Vieira

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The judicial litigation on socio-economic rights (SERs), in a context of increasing centrality of the judiciary as an area of political debate for civil society actors, has assumed greater importance in the last two decades. This tendency to seek social change through the courts generated a long tradition of research on the role of legal institutions and of legal mobilization in the US and some European countries. However, little is known about these processes in Latin America, Asia and Africa. A significant portion of the Brazilian constitutional doctrine did not bother to investigate the phenomenon of constitutional judicial litigation of socio-economic rights, in a practical and empirical look, from the functioning of democratic institutions. The central issue of this study draws attention to the theoretical and analytic deficit of Brazilian constitutional doctrine: the lack of a holistic understanding of the effects and impact of judicial decisions. Consequently, for a proper understanding was analyzed if the trend of judicial litigation in Brazil - to ensure the fulfillment of its institutional mission to protect and ensure the effectiveness of socio-economic rights - has been accompanied by the establishment of institutional mechanisms that enable decision making and the implementation of SERs in complex cases involving structural and public policy. The lack of empirical studies in Law in order to verify this hypothesis justified the adoption of the case study method as an interdisciplinary methodological strategy between Law and Political Science, aiming to construct an explanation of the Raposa Serra do Sol Case and, in a complementary way, the process-tracing technique. Drawings of small-n type or case studies, when guided by theory, are more suitable to problems it is supposed to increase the potential of intensive analysis of causal processes. As a preliminary result, the Brazilian Supreme Court was not a sufficient agent to implement a relevant social change and to assure the protection of the social rights, because there were few measures that directly impacted the behavior of other institutional political actors and should, therefore, be considered another actor within a complex institutional arrangement.

Keywords: courts, case study, judicial litigation, social change

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Authors: Md. S. Sabuz

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Bangladesh, a South Asian developing country, has achieved a remarkable breakthrough in health indicators during the last four decades despite immense income inequality. This phenomenon results in the mystical exclusion of marginalized people from obtaining health care facilities. However, the persistence of exclusion of the disadvantaged remains troubling. Exclusion occurs from occupational inferiority, pay and wage differences, educational backwardness, gender disparity to urban-rural complexity and eliminate the unprivileged from seeking and availing the health services. Evidence from Bangladesh shows that many sick people prefer to die at home without securing medical services because in previous times they were not treated well, not because the medical facilities were inadequate or antediluvian but the socio-economic class allows them to receive obdurate treatment. Furthermore, government and policymakers have given enormous emphasis on infrastructural development and achieving health indicators instead of ensuring quality services and inclusiveness of people from all spheres. Therefore, it is high time to address the issues concerning this and highlight the impact of economic status on health status in a sociological perspective. The objective of this study is to consider ways of assessing and exploring the impact of economic status for instance: occupational status, pay and wage variable, on health status in the context of Bangladesh. The hypotheses are that there are a significant number of factors affecting economic status which are impactful for health status eventually, but acute income inequality is a prominent factor. Illiteracy, gender disparity, remoteness, incredibility on services, superior costs, superstition etc. are the dominant indicators behind the economic factors influencing the health status. The chosen methodologies are a qualitative and quantitative approaches to accomplish the research objectives. Secondary sources of data will be used to conduct the study. Surveys will be conducted on the people who have ever been through the health care facilities and people from the different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Focus group discussions will be conducted to acquire the data from different cultural and regional citizens. The findings show that 48% of people who are from disadvantaged communities have been deprived of proper health care facilities. The general reasons behind this are the higher cost of medicines and other equipment. A significant number of people are unaware of the appropriate facilities. It was found that the socio-economic variables are the main influential factors that work as the driving force for both economic dimension and health status. Above all regional variables and gender, dimensions have an enormous effect on determining the health status of an individual or community. Amidst many positive achievements for example decrease in the child mortality rate, an increase in the immunization programs of the child etc., the inclusiveness of all classes of people in health care facilities has been overshadowed in Bangladesh. However, this phenomenon along with the socio-economic and cultural phenomena significantly demolishes the quality and inclusiveness of the health status of people.

Keywords: cultural context of health, economic status, gender and health, rural health care

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Authors: Jayanta Kumar Mahato, Partha Sarathi De, Amrita Kundu, P. C. Chakraborti

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Ratcheting is one of the most important phenomena to be considered for design and safety assessment of structural components subjected to stress controlled asymmetric cyclic loading in the elasto-plastic domain. In the present study uniaxial ratcheting behavior of commercially pure annealed OFHC copper and aluminium with two different grain sizes has been investigated. Stress-controlled tests have been conducted at various combinations of stress amplitude and mean stress. These stresses were selected in such a way that the ratio of equivalent stress amplitude (σₐeq) to ultimate tensile strength (σUTS) of the selected materials remains constant. It is found that irrespective of grain size the ratcheting fatigue lives decrease with the increase of both stress amplitude and mean stress following power relationships. However, the effect of stress amplitude on ratcheting lives is observed higher as compared to mean stress for both the FCC metals. It is also found that for both FCC metals ratcheting fatigue lives at a constant ratio of equivalent stress amplitude (σ ₐeq) to ultimate tensile strength (σUTS) are more in case fine grain size. So far ratcheting strain rate is concerned, it decreases rapidly within first few cycles and then a steady state is reached. Finally, the ratcheting strain rate increases up to the complete failure of the specimens due to a very large increase of true stress for a substantial reduction in cross-sectional area. The steady state ratcheting strain rate increases with the increase in both stress amplitude and mean stress. Interestingly, a unique perfectly power relationship between steady state ratcheting strain rate and cycles to failure has been found irrespective of stress combination for both FCC metals. Similar to ratcheting strain rate, the strain energy density decreases rapidly within first few cycles followed by steady state and then increases up to a failure of the specimens irrespective of stress combinations for both FCC metals; but strain energy density at steady state decreases with increase in mean stress and increases with the increase of stress amplitude. From the fractography study, it is found that the void density increases with the increase of maximum stress, but the void size and void density are almost same for any combination of stress parameters considering constant maximum stress.

Keywords: ratcheting phenomena, grain size, stress parameter, ratcheting lives, ratcheting strain rate

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Authors: Linyi Fan, C.J. Schumaker

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Background: Biomedical efforts to treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have typically produced mixed to poor results, while more lifestyle-focused treatments such as exercise may fare better than existing biomedical treatments. A few promising studies have indicated that activities of daily life (ADL) may be a useful way of predicting AD. However, the existing cross-sectional studies fail to show how functional-related issues such as ADL in early years predict AD and how social factors influence health either in addition to or in interaction with individual risk factors. This study would helpbetterscreening and early treatments for the elderly population and healthcare practice. The findings have significance academically and practically in terms of creating positive social change. Methodology: The purpose of this quantitative historical, correlational study was to examine the relationship between early years’ ADL and the development of AD in later years. The studyincluded 4,526participantsderived fromRAND HRS dataset. The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a longitudinal household survey data set that is available forresearchof retirement and health among the elderly in the United States. The sample was selected by the completion of survey questionnaire about AD and dementia. The variablethat indicates whether the participant has been diagnosed with AD was the dependent variable. The ADL indices and changes in ADL were the independent variables. A four-step multilevel regression model approach was utilized to address the research questions. Results: Amongst 4,526 patients who completed the AD and dementia questionnaire, 144 (3.1%) were diagnosed with AD. Of the 4,526 participants, 3,465 (76.6%) have high school and upper education degrees,4,074 (90.0%) were above poverty threshold. The model evaluatedthe effect of ADL and change in ADL on onset of AD in late years while allowing the intercept of the model to vary by level of education. The results suggested that the only significant predictor of the onset of AD was changes in early years’ ADL (b = 20.253, z = 2.761, p < .05). However, the result of the sensitivity analysis (b = 7.562, z = 1.900, p =.058), which included more control variables and increased the observation period of ADL, are not supported this finding. The model also estimated whether the variances of random effect vary by Level-2 variables. The results suggested that the variances associated with random slopes were approximately zero, suggesting that the relationship between early years’ ADL were not influenced bysociodemographic factors. Conclusion: The finding indicated that an increase in changes in ADL leads to an increase in the probability of onset AD in the future. However, this finding is not support in a broad observation period model. The study also failed to reject the hypothesis that the sociodemographic factors explained significant amounts of variance in random effect. Recommendations were then made for future research and practice based on these limitations and the significance of the findings.

Keywords: alzheimer’s disease, epidemiology, moderation, multilevel modeling

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Authors: Dipendra Kumar Yadav, Nabaraj Paudel, Anjana Yadav

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Background: Low Birth weight (LBW) is defined as the weight at birth less than 2500 grams, irrespective of the period of their gestation. LBW is an important indicator of general health status of population and is considered as the single most important predictors of infant mortality especially of deaths within the first month of life that is birth weight determines the chances of newborn survival. Objective of this study was to identify the maternal risk factors associated with low birth weight neonates. Materials and Methods: A hospital based case-control study was conducted in maternity ward of Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal from 23 September 2014 to 12 November 2014. During study period 59 cases were obtained and twice number of control group were selected with frequency matching of the mother`s age with ± 3 years and total controls were 118. Interview schedule was used for data collection along with record review. Data were entered in Epi-data program and analysis was done with help of SPSS software program. Results: From bivariate logistic regression analysis, eighteen variables were found significantly associated with LBW and these were place of residence, family monthly income, education, previous still birth, previous LBW, history of STD, history of vaginal bleeding, anemia, ANC visits, less than four ANC visits, de-worming status, counseling during pregnancy, CVD, physical workload, stress, extra meal during pregnancy, smoking and alcohol consumption status. However after adjusting confounding variables, only six variables were found significantly associated with LBW. Mothers who had family monthly income up to ten thousand rupees were 4.83 times more likely to deliver LBW with CI (1.5-40.645) and p value 0.014 compared to mothers whose family income NRs.20,001-60,000. Mothers who had previous still birth were 2.01 times more likely to deliver LBW with CI (0.69-5.87) and p value 0.02 compared to mothers who did not has previous still birth. Mothers who had previous LBW were 5.472 times more likely to deliver LBW with CI (1.2-24.93) and p value 0.028 compared to mothers who did not has previous LBW. Mothers who had anemia during pregnancy were 3.36 times more likely to deliver LBW with CI (0.77-14.57) and p value 0.014 compared to mothers who did not has anemia. Mothers who delivered female newborn were 2.96 times more likely to have LBW with 95% CI (1.27-7.28) and p value 0.01 compared to mothers who deliver male newborn. Mothers who did not get extra meal during pregnancy were 6.04 times more likely to deliver LBW with CI (1.11-32.7) and p value 0.037 compared to mothers who getting the extra meal during pregnancy. Mothers who consumed alcohol during pregnancy were 4.83 times more likely to deliver LBW with CI (1.57-14.83) and p value 0.006 compared to mothers who did not consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Conclusions: To reduce low birth weight baby through economic empowerment of family and individual women. Prevention and control of anemia during pregnancy is one of the another strategy to control the LBW baby and mothers should take full dose of iron supplements with screening of haemoglobin level. Extra nutritional food should be provided to women during pregnancy. Health promotion program will be focused on avoidance of alcohol and strengthen of health services that leads increasing use of maternity services.

Keywords: low birth weight, case-control, risk factors, hospital based study

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Authors: Qianqian He, Naian Liu, Xiaodong Xie, Linhe Zhang, Yang Zhang, Weidong Yan

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In the wild, the vegetation layer with exceptionally complex fuel composition and heterogeneous spatial distribution strongly affects the rate of fire spread (ROS) and fire intensity. Clarifying the influence of fuel bed structure on fire spread behavior is of great significance to wildland fire management and prediction. The packing ratio is one of the key physical parameters describing the property of the fuel bed. There is a threshold value of the packing ratio for ROS, but little is known about the controlling mechanism. In this study, to address this deficiency, a series of fire spread experiments were performed across a discrete fuel bed composed of some regularly arranged laser-cut cardboards, with constant wind speed and different packing ratios (0.0125-0.0375). The experiment aims to explore the relative importance of the internal and surface heat transfer with packing ratio. The dependence of the measured ROS on the packing ratio was almost consistent with the previous researches. The data of the radiative and total heat fluxes show that the internal heat transfer and surface heat transfer are both enhanced with increasing packing ratio (referred to as ‘Stage 1’). The trend agrees well with the variation of the flame length. The results extracted from the video show that the flame length markedly increases with increasing packing ratio in Stage 1. Combustion intensity is suggested to be increased, which, in turn, enhances the heat radiation. The heat flux data shows that the surface heat transfer appears to be more important than the internal heat transfer (fuel preheating inside the fuel bed) in Stage 1. On the contrary, the internal heat transfer dominates the fuel preheating mechanism when the packing ratio further increases (referred to as ‘Stage 2’) because the surface heat flux keeps almost stable with the packing ratio in Stage 2. As for the heat convection, the flow velocity was measured using Pitot tubes both inside and on the upper surface of the fuel bed during the fire spread. Based on the gas velocity distribution ahead of the flame front, it is found that the airflow inside the fuel bed is restricted in Stage 2, which can reduce the internal heat convection in theory. However, the analysis indicates not the influence of inside flow on convection and combustion, but the decreased internal radiation of per unit fuel is responsible for the decrease of ROS.

Keywords: discrete fuel bed, fire spread, packing ratio, wildfire

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Authors: Xuan Li, Lei Xu

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By the end of 2014, China has an urban population of 749 million, reaching the urbanization rate of 54.77%. Dense and vertical urban structure has become a common choice for China and most of the densely populated Asian countries for sustainable development. This paper focuses on the most conspicuous urban change period in China, from 2000 to 2010, during which China's population shifted the fastest from rural region to cities. On one hand, the 200 million nationwide "new citizen" along with the 456 million "old citizen" explored in the new-century city for new urban lifestyle and livable built environment; On the other hand, however, large-scale rapid urban constructions are confined to the methods of traditional two-dimensional architectural thinking. Human-oriented design and system thinking have been missing in this intricate postmodern urban condition. This phenomenon, especially the gap and spark between the solid, huge urban physical system and the rich, subtle everyday urban life, will be studied in depth: How the 20th-century high-rise residential building "spontaneously" turned into an old but expensive multi-functional high-rise complex in the 21st century city center; how 21st century new/late 20th century old public buildings with the same function integrated their different architectural forms into the new / old city center? Finally the paper studies cases in Hangzhou: 1) Function Evolve–downtown high-rise residential building “International Garden” and “Zhongshan Garden” (1999). 2) Form Compare–Hangzhou Theater (1998) vs Hangzhou Grand Theatre (2004), Hangzhou City Railway Station (1999) vs Hangzhou East Railway Station (2013). The research aims at the exploring the essence of city from the building form dispel and urban program re-configuration approach, gaining a better consideration of human behavior through compact urban design effort for improving urban intertextuality, searching for a sustainable development path in the crucial time of urban population explosion in China.

Keywords: architecture form dispel, compact urban design, urban intertextuality, urban program re-configuration

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Authors: Maryamsadat Habibi

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Objective: pharmaceutical errors are avoidable occurrences that can result in inappropriate pharmaceutical use, patient harm, treatment failure, increased hospital costs and length of stay, and other outcomes that affect both the individual receiving treatment and the healthcare provider. This study aimed to perform a reconciliation of medications in the cardiovascular ward of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, Iran, and evaluate the prevalence of medication discrepancies between the best medication list created for the patient by the pharmacist and the medication order of the treating physician there. Materials & Methods: The 97 patients in the cardiovascular ward of the Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad were the subject of a cross-sectional study from June to September of 2021. After giving their informed consent and being admitted to the ward, all patients with at least one underlying condition and at least two medications being taken at home were included in the study. A medical reconciliation form was used to record patient demographics and medical histories during the first 24 hours of admission, and the information was contrasted with the doctors' orders. The doctor then discovered medication inconsistencies between the two lists and double-checked them to separate the intentional from the accidental anomalies. Finally, using SPSS software version 22, it was determined how common medical discrepancies are and how different sorts of discrepancies relate to various variables. Results: The average age of the participants in this study was 57.6915.84 years, with 57.7% of men and 42.3% of women. 95.9% of the patients among these people encountered at least one medication discrepancy, and 58.9% of them suffered at least one unintentional drug cessation. Out of the 659 medications registered in the study, 399 cases (60.54%) had inconsistencies, of which 161 cases (40.35%) involved the intentional stopping of a medication, 123 cases (30.82%) involved the stopping of a medication unintentionally, and 115 cases (28.82%) involved the continued use of a medication by adjusting the dose. Additionally, the category of cardiovascular pharmaceuticals and the category of gastrointestinal medications were found to have the highest medical inconsistencies in the current study. Furthermore, there was no correlation between the frequency of medical discrepancies and the following variables: age, ward, date of visit, type, and number of underlying diseases (P=0.13), P=0.61, P=0.72, P=0.82, P=0.44, and so forth. On the other hand, there was a statistically significant correlation between the number of medications taken at home (P=0.037) and the prevalence of medical discrepancies with gender (P=0.029). The results of this study revealed that 96% of patients admitted to the cardiovascular unit at Imam Reza Hospital had at least one medication error, which was typically an intentional drug discontinuance. According to the study's findings, patients admitted to Imam Reza Hospital's cardiovascular ward have a great potential for identifying and correcting various medication discrepancies as well as for avoiding prescription errors when the medication reconciliation method is used. As a result, it is essential to carry out a precise assessment to achieve the best treatment outcomes and avoid unintended medication discontinuation, unwanted drug-related events, and drug interactions between the patient's home medications and those prescribed in the hospital.

Keywords: drug combination, drug side effects, drug incompatibility, cardiovascular department

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Authors: Nan Xu

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In airlines, the crew scheduling problem is usually decomposed into two stages: crew pairing and crew rostering. In the crew pairing stage, pairings are generated such that each flight is covered by exactly one pairing and the overall cost is minimized. In the crew rostering stage, the pairings generated in the crew pairing stage are combined with off days, training and other breaks to create individual work schedules. The paper focuses on cabin crew rostering problem, which is challenging due to the extremely large size and the complex working rules involved. In our approach, the objective of rostering consists of two major components. The first is to minimize the number of unassigned pairings and the second is to ensure the fairness to crew members. There are two measures of fairness to crew members, the number of overnight duties and the total fly-hour over a given period. Pairings should be assigned to each crew member so that their actual overnight duties and fly hours are as close to the expected average as possible. Deviations from the expected average are penalized in the objective function. Since several small deviations are preferred than a large deviation, the penalization is quadratic. Our model of the airline crew rostering problem is based on column generation. The problem is decomposed into a master problem and subproblems. The mater problem is modeled as a set partition problem and exactly one roster for each crew is picked up such that the pairings are covered. The restricted linear master problem (RLMP) is considered. The current subproblem tries to find columns with negative reduced costs and add them to the RLMP for the next iteration. When no column with negative reduced cost can be found or a stop criteria is met, the procedure ends. The subproblem is to generate feasible crew rosters for each crew member. A separate acyclic weighted graph is constructed for each crew member and the subproblem is modeled as resource constrained shortest path problems in the graph. Labeling algorithm is used to solve it. Since the penalization is quadratic, a method to deal with non-additive shortest path problem using labeling algorithm is proposed and corresponding domination condition is defined. The major contribution of our model is: 1) We propose a method to deal with non-additive shortest path problem; 2) Operation to allow relaxing some soft rules is allowed in our algorithm, which can improve the coverage rate; 3) Multi-thread techniques are used to improve the efficiency of the algorithm when generating Line-of-Work for crew members. Here a column generation based algorithm for the airline cabin crew rostering problem is proposed. The objective is to assign a personalized roster to crew member which minimize the number of unassigned pairings and ensure the fairness to crew members. The algorithm we propose in this paper has been put into production in a major airline in China and numerical experiments show that it has a good performance.

Keywords: aircrew rostering, aircrew scheduling, column generation, SPPRC

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Authors: Ghadeer Aly, Yasmeen Hanafy

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The way we research travel options and decide where to go has substantially changed in the digital age. Atypical search engines like social networking sites like TikTok have evolved, influencing the preferences of various generations. The influence of TikTok use as a search engine for choosing travel locations and its effect on a country's destination branding are both examined in this study. The study specifically focuses on the comparative preferences and actions of Generations Y and Z within the Egyptian community, shedding light on how these generations interact with travel related TikTok content and how it influences their perceptions of various destinations. It also investigates how TikTok Accounts use tourism branding techniques to promote a country's tourist destination. The investigation of how social media platforms are changing as unconventional search engines has theoretical relevance. This study can advance our knowledge of how digital platforms alter information-seeking behaviors and affect the way people make decisions. Furthermore, investigating the relationship between TikTok video and destination branding might shed light on the intricate interplay between social media, perceptions of locations, and travel preferences, enhancing theories about consumer behavior and communication in the digital age. Regarding the methodology of the research, the study is conducted in two stages: first, both generations are polled, and from the results, the top three destinations are chosen to be subjected to content analysis. As for the research's theoretical framework, it incorporates the tourism destination branding model as well as the conceptual model of nation branding. Through the use of the survey as a quantitative approach and the qualitative content analysis, the research will rely on both quantitative and qualitative methods. When it comes to the theoretical framework, both the Nation Branding Model and the Tourism Branding Model can offer useful frameworks for analyzing and comprehending the dynamics of using TikTok as a search engine to choose travel destinations, especially in the context of Generation Y and Generation Z in the Egyptian community. Additionally, the sample will be drawn specifically from both Gen-Y and Gen-Z. 100 members of Gen Z and 100 members of Gen Y will be chosen from TikTok users and followers of travel-related accounts, and the sample for the content analysis will be chosen based on the survey's results.

Keywords: tiktok, nation image, egyptian community, tourism branding

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Authors: Olubukayo-Opeyemi Oyetayo, Oscar Mendez-Lucio, Andreas Bender, Hans Kiefer

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The thermal melting curve of a protein provides information on its conformational stability and could provide cues on its aggregation behavior. Naturally-occurring osmolytes have been shown to improve the thermal stability of most proteins in a concentration-dependent manner. They are therefore commonly employed as additives in therapeutic protein purification and formulation. A number of intertwined and seemingly conflicting mechanisms have been put forward to explain the observed stabilizing effects, the most prominent being the preferential exclusion mechanism. We attempted to probe and summarize molecular mechanisms for thermal stabilization of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) by developing quantitative structure-activity relationships using a rationally-selected library of 120 osmolyte-like compounds in the polyhydric alcohols, amino acids and methylamines classes. Thermal stabilization potencies were experimentally determined by thermal shift assays based on differential scanning fluorimetry. The cross-validated QSAR model was developed by partial least squares regression using descriptors generated from Molecular Operating Environment software. Careful evaluation of the results with the use of variable importance in projection parameter (VIP) and regression coefficients guided the selection of the most relevant descriptors influencing mAb thermal stability. For the mAb studied and at pH 7, the thermal stabilization effects of tested compounds correlated positively with their fractional polar surface area and inversely with their fractional hydrophobic surface area. We cannot claim that the observed trends are universal for osmolyte-protein interactions because of protein-specific effects, however this approach should guide the quick selection of (de)stabilizing compounds for a protein from a chemical library. Further work with a large variety of proteins and at different pH values would help the derivation of a solid explanation as to the nature of favorable osmolyte-protein interactions for improved thermal stability. This approach may be beneficial in the design of novel protein stabilizers with optimal property values, especially when the influence of solution conditions like the pH and buffer species and the protein properties are factored in.

Keywords: thermal stability, monoclonal antibodies, quantitative structure-activity relationships, osmolytes

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Authors: Maria Francesca Lavadia-Gumabao, Mary Antoinette Salvamante-Torallo

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Introduction: The fibrous intrauterine adhesions forming inside the uterus and/or cervix in Asherman syndrome can obstruct the internal cervical orifice and may present as a case of outflow tract obstruction. Asherman syndrome is often overlooked since it has no specific presentation and is undetectable by routine physical examinations or diagnostic procedures such as an ultrasound. This paper highlights the delay and elusive diagnosis of Asherman syndrome which negatively impacted the patient’s fertility and quality of life. Case presentation: A 33-year-old woman (gravida 3, para 3) who presented with secondary amenorrhea for thirteen years associated with cyclic pelvic pain and secondary infertility sought a consultation at our institution for evaluation and specialty management. The patient had no other well-established risk factors for Asherman syndrome aside from pregnancy. For more than a decade, she delayed seeking medical care. At presentation, history taking, physical examination, and ultrasound were not helpful in identifying the cause of outflow tract obstruction. Diagnostic hysteroscopy was then performed, during which extensive scarring and fibrosis completely obscured the internal cervical orifice were observed, consistent with the diagnosis of Asherman syndrome (Grade 5B). The patient then underwent ultrasound guided hysteroscopy outflow tract dilatation and responded well to the treatment as she had her menstrual period a month after the procedure and no longer had cyclic pelvic pain with a repeat ultrasound finding of an unremarkable uterus. The hispathology result of the tissues retrieved revealed myometrial fragments with associated old hemorrhage benign endometrial stromal tissues, which failed to show endometrial glands. Conclusion: The delay and elusive diagnosis of Asherman syndrome can be brought about by poor health seeking behavior of patients and difficulty in detecting this condition by routine physical examinations or diagnostic procedures such as an ultrasound. It is, therefore, necessary to include Asherman syndrome in the differential diagnosis of secondary amenorrhea and secondary infertility. With expertise in hysteroscopy, early diagnosis, proper classification in the advent of hysteroscopy, and optimal management can improve patient outcomes.

Keywords: Asherman syndrome, outflow tract obstruction, secondary amenorrhea, infertility, hysteroscopy

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Authors: Clarence Dissanayake, Anishka A. Hettiarachchi

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Landscape architecture needs to encompass a placemaking process carefully composing and manipulating landscape elements to address perceptual needs of humans, especially aesthetic, psychological and spiritual. The objective of this qualitative investigation is to inquire the impact of elements of rock and water combination on landscape perception and related feelings, emotions, and behavior. The past empirical studies have assessed the impact of landscape elements in isolation on user preference, yet the combined effect of elements have been less considered. This research was conducted with reference to the verity of qualities of water and rock through a visual landscape quality assessment focusing on landscape qualities derived from five visual concepts (coherence, historicity imageability, naturalness, and ephemera). 'Kaludiya Pokuna' archeological site in Anuradhapura was investigated with a sample of University students (n=19, male 14, female 5, age 20-25) using a five-point Likert scale via a perception based questionnaire and a visitor employed photographic survey (VEP). Two hypothetical questions were taken into investigation concerning biophilic (naturalness) and topophilic (historicity) aspects of humans to prefer a landscape with rock and water. The findings revealed that this combination encourages both biophilic and topophilic aspects, but in varying degrees. The identified hierarchy of visual concepts based on visitor’s preference signify coherence (93%), historicity (89%), imageability (79%), naturalness (75%) and ephemera (70%) respectively. It was further revealed that this combination creates a scenery more coherent dominating information processing aspect of humans to perceive a landscape over the biophilic and topophilic aspects. Different characteristics and secondary landscape effects generated by rock and water combination were found to affect in transforming a space into a place, full filling the aesthetic and spiritual aspects of the visitors. These findings enhance a means of making places for people, resource management and historical landscape conservation. Equalization of gender based participation, taking diverse cases and increasing the sample size with more analytical photographic analysis are recommended to enhance the quality of further research.

Keywords: landscape perception, visitor’s preference, rock and water combination, visual concepts

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Authors: Shashikant Iyengar, Jasmeet Kaur, Anup Singh, Arun Kumar, Ira Sahay

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Insulin resistance (IR) is a condition that occurs when cells in the body become less responsive to insulin, leading to higher levels of both insulin and glucose in the blood. This condition is linked to metabolic syndromes, including diabetes. It is crucial to address IR promptly after diagnosis to prevent long-term complications associated with high insulin and high blood glucose. This four-month case study highlights the importance of treating the underlying condition to manage diabetes effectively. Insulin is essential for regulating blood sugar levels by facilitating the uptake of glucose into cells for energy or storage. In IR individuals, cells are less efficient at taking up glucose from the blood resulting in elevated blood glucose levels. As a result of IR, beta cells produce more insulin to make up for the body's inability to use insulin effectively. This leads to high insulin levels, a condition known as hyperinsulinemia, which further impairs glucose metabolism and can contribute to various chronic diseases. In addition to regulating blood glucose, insulin has anti-catabolic effects, preventing the breakdown of molecules in the body, such as inhibiting glycogen breakdown in the liver, inhibiting gluconeogenesis, and inhibiting lipolysis. If a person is insulin-sensitive or metabolically healthy, an optimal level of insulin prevents fat cells from releasing fat and promotes the storage of glucose and fat in the body. Thus optimal insulin levels are crucial for maintaining energy balance and plays a key role in metabolic processes. During the four-month study, researchers looked at the impact of a low-carb dietary (LCD) intervention on two male individuals (A & B) who had Type-2 diabetes. Althoughvneither of these individuals were obese, they were both slightly overweight and had abdominal fat deposits. Before the trial began, important markers such as fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and Hba1c were measured. These markers are essential in defining metabolic health, their individual values and variability are integral in deciphering metabolic health. The ratio of TG to HDL is used as a surrogate marker for IR. This ratio has a high correlation with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and with IR itself. It is a convenient measure because it can be calculated from a standard lipid profile and does not require more complex tests. In this four-month trial, an improvement in insulin sensitivity was observed through the ratio of TG/HDL, which, in turn, improves fasting blood glucose levels and HbA1c. For subject A, HbA1c dropped from 13 to 6.28, and for subject B, it dropped from 9.4 to 5.7. During the trial, neither of the subjects were taking any diabetic medications. The significant improvements in their health markers, such as better glucose control, along with an increase in energy levels, demonstrate that incorporating LCD interventions can effectively manage diabetes.

Keywords: metabolic disorder, insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes, low-carb nutrition

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Authors: Siming Xie

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In social networks, the term homophily refers to the tendency of agents with similar characteristics to link with one another and is so robustly observed across many contexts and dimensions. The starting point of my research is the observation that the “type” of agents is not a single exogenous variable. Agents, despite their differences in race, religion, and other hard to alter characteristics, may share interests and engage in activities that cut across those predetermined lines. This research aims to capture the interactions of homophily effects in a model where agents have two-dimension characteristics (i.e., race and personal hobbies such as basketball, which one either likes or dislikes) and with biases in meeting opportunities and in favor of same-type friendships. A novel feature of my model is providing a matching process with biased meeting probability on different dimensions, which could help to understand the structuring process in multidimensional networks without missing layer interdependencies. The main contribution of this study is providing a welfare based matching process for agents with multi-dimensional characteristics. In particular, this research shows that the biases in meeting opportunities on one dimension would lead to the emergence of homophily on the other dimension. The objective of this research is to determine the pattern of homophily in network formations, which will shed light on our understanding of segregation and its remedies. By constructing a two-dimension matching process, this study explores a method to describe agents’ homophilous behavior in a social network with multidimension and construct a game in which the minorities and majorities play different strategies in a society. It also shows that the optimal strategy is determined by the relative group size, where society would suffer more from social segregation if the two racial groups have a similar size. The research also has political implications—cultivating the same characteristics among agents helps diminishing social segregation, but only if the minority group is small enough. This research includes both theoretical models and empirical analysis. Providing the friendship formation model, the author first uses MATLAB to perform iteration calculations, then derives corresponding mathematical proof on previous results, and last shows that the model is consistent with empirical evidence from high school friendships. The anonymous data comes from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health).

Keywords: homophily, multidimension, social networks, friendships

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Authors: Varun Dongre, Stefan Pirker, Stefan Heinrich

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Over the last decades, the numerical modelling of fluidized bed processes has become feasible even for industrial processes. Commonly, continuous two-fluid models are applied to describe large-scale fluidization. In order to allow for coarse grids novel two-fluid models account for unresolved sub-grid heterogeneities. However, computational efforts remain high – in the order of several hours of compute-time for a few seconds of real-time – thus preventing the representation of long-term phenomena such as heating or particle conversion processes. In order to overcome this limitation, data-based recurrence computational fluid dynamics (rCFD) has been put forward in recent years. rCFD can be regarded as a data-based method that relies on the numerical predictions of a conventional short-term simulation. This data is stored in a database and then used by rCFD to efficiently time-extrapolate the flow behavior in high spatial resolution. This study will compare the numerical predictions of rCFD simulations with those of corresponding full CFD reference simulations for lab-scale and pilot-scale fluidized beds. In assessing the predictive capabilities of rCFD simulations, we focus on solid mixing and secondary gas holdup. We observed that predictions made by rCFD simulations are highly sensitive to numerical parameters such as diffusivity associated with face swaps. We achieved a computational speed-up of four orders of magnitude (10,000 time faster than classical TFM simulation) eventually allowing for real-time simulations of fluidized beds. In the next step, we apply the checkerboarding technique by introducing gas tracers subjected to convection and diffusion. We then analyze the concentration profiles by observing mixing, transport of gas tracers, insights about the convective and diffusive pattern of the gas tracers, and further towards heat and mass transfer methods. Finally, we run rCFD simulations and calibrate them with numerical and physical parameters compared with convectional Two-fluid model (full CFD) simulation. As a result, this study gives a clear indication of the applicability, predictive capabilities, and existing limitations of rCFD in the realm of fluidization modelling.

Keywords: multiphase flow, recurrence CFD, two-fluid model, industrial processes

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Authors: Mindaugas Liaudanskas, Darius Kviklys, Kristina Zymonė, Raimondas Raudonis, Jonas Viškelis, Norbertas Uselis, Pranas Viškelis, Valdimaras Janulis

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Apples are among the most commonly consumed fruits in the world. Based on data from the year 2014, approximately 84.63 million tons of apples are grown per annum. Apples are widely used in food industry to produce various products and drinks (juice, wine, and cider); they are also used unprocessed. Apples in human diet are an important source of different groups of biological active compounds that can positively contribute to the prevention of various diseases. They are a source of various biologically active substances – especially vitamins, organic acids, micro- and macro-elements, pectins, and phenolic, triterpenic, and other compounds. Triterpenic compounds, which are characterized by versatile biological activity, are the biologically active compounds found in apples that are among the most promising and most significant for human health. A specific analytical procedure including sample preparation and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis was developed, optimized, and validated for the detection of triterpenic compounds in the samples of different apples, their peels, and flesh from widespread apple cultivars 'Aldas', 'Auksis', 'Connel Red', 'Ligol', 'Lodel', and 'Rajka' grown in Lithuanian climatic conditions. The conditions for triterpenic compound extraction were optimized: the solvent of the extraction was 100% (v/v) acetone, and the extraction was performed in an ultrasound bath for 10 min. Isocratic elution (the eluents ratio being 88% (solvent A) and 12% (solvent B)) for a rapid separation of triterpenic compounds was performed. The validation of the methodology was performed on the basis of the ICH recommendations. The following characteristics of validation were evaluated: the selectivity of the method (specificity), precision, the detection and quantitation limits of the analytes, and linearity. The obtained parameters values confirm suitability of methodology to perform analysis of triterpenic compounds. Using the optimised and validated HPLC technique, four triterpenic compounds were separated and identified, and their specificity was confirmed. These compounds were corosolic acid, betulinic acid, oleanolic acid, and ursolic acid. Ursolic acid was the dominant compound in all the tested apple samples. The detected amount of betulinic acid was the lowest of all the identified triterpenic compounds. The greatest amounts of triterpenic compounds were detected in whole apple and apple peel samples of the 'Lodel' cultivar, and thus apples and apple extracts of this cultivar are potentially valuable for use in medical practice, for the prevention of various diseases, for adjunct therapy, for the isolation of individual compounds with a specific biological effect, and for the development and production of dietary supplements and functional food enriched in biologically active compounds. Acknowledgements. This work was supported by a grant from the Research Council of Lithuania, project No. MIP-17-8.

Keywords: apples, HPLC, triterpenic compounds, validation

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Authors: Shian Guan, Marie Bourdin, Isabelle Trenque, Younes Messaddeq, Thierry Cardinal, Nicolas Penin, Issam Mjejri, Aline Rougier, Etienne Duguet, Stephane Mornet, Manuel Gaudon

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At the interface of the studies performed by 3 Ph.D. students: Shian Guan (2017-2020), Marie Bourdin (2016-2019) and Isabelle Trenque (2012-2015), a single synthesis route: polyol-mediated process, was used with success for the preparation of different inorganic oxides. Both of these inorganic oxides were elaborated for their potential application as smart optical compounds. This synthesis route has allowed us to develop nanoparticles of zinc oxide, vanadium oxide or tungsten oxide. This route is with easy implementation, inexpensive and with large-scale production potentialities and leads to materials of high purity. The obtaining by this route of nanometric particles, however perfectly crystalline, has notably led to the possibility of doping these matrix materials with high doping ion concentrations (high solubility limits). Thus, Al3+ or Ga3+ doped-ZnO powder, with high doping rate in comparison with the literature, exhibits remarkable infrared absorption properties thanks to their high free carrier density. Note also that due to the narrow particle size distribution of the as-prepared nanometric doped-ZnO powder, the original correlation between crystallite size and unit-cell parameters have been established. Also, depending on the annealing atmosphere use to treat vanadium precursors, VO2, V2O3 or V2O5 oxides with thermochromic or electrochromic properties can be obtained without any impurity, despite the versatility of the oxidation state of vanadium. This is of more particular interest on vanadium dioxide, a relatively difficult-to-prepare oxide, whose first-order metal-insulator phase transition is widely explored in the literature for its thermochromic behavior (in smart windows with optimal thermal insulation). Finally, the reducing nature of the polyol solvents ensures the production of oxygen-deficient tungsten oxide, thus conferring to the nano-powders exotic colorimetric properties, as well as optimized photochromic and electrochromic behaviors.

Keywords: inorganic oxides, electrochromic, photochromic, thermochromic

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Authors: Marco Soto-Arriaza, Eduardo Cena-Ahumada, Jaime Melendez-Rojel

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Background: Liposomes have been widely used as a model of lipid bilayer to study the physicochemical properties of biological membrane, encapsulation, transport and release of different molecules. Furthermore, extensive research has focused on improving the efficiency in the transport of drugs, developing tools that improve the release of the encapsulated drug from liposomes. In this context, the enzymatic activity of PLA₂, despite having been shown to be an effective tool to promote the release of drugs from liposomes, is still an open field of research. Aim: The aim of the present study is to explore the effect of cholesterol (Cho) and amphipathic di- and tri-block copolymers, on calcein release mediated by enzymatic activity of PLA2 in Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) liposomes under physiological conditions. Methods: Different dispersions of DPPC, cholesterol, di-block POE₄₅-PCL₅₂ or tri-block PCL₁₂-POE₄₅-PCL₁₂ were prepared by the extrusion method after five freezing/thawing cycles; in Phosphate buffer 10mM pH 7.4 in presence of calcein. DPPC liposomes/Calcein were centrifuged at 15000rpm 10 min to separate free calcein. Enzymatic activity assays of PLA₂ were performed at 37°C using the TBS buffer pH 7.4. The size distribution, polydispersity, Z-potential and Calcein encapsulation of DPPC liposomes was monitored. Results: PLA₂ activity showed a slower kinetic of calcein release up to 20 mol% of cholesterol, evidencing a minimum at 10 mol% and then a maximum at 18 mol%. Regardless of the percentage of cholesterol, up to 18 mol% a one-hundred percentage release of calcein was observed. At higher cholesterol concentrations, PLA₂ showed to be inefficient or not to be involved in calcein release. In assays where copolymers were added in a concentration lower than their cmc, a similar behavior to those showed in the presence of Cho was observed, that is a slower kinetic in calcein release. In both experimental approaches, a one-hundred percentage of calcein release was observed. PLA₂ was shown to be sensitive to the 4-(4-Octadecylphenyl)-4-oxobutenoic acid inhibitor and calcium, reducing the release of calcein to 0%. Cell viability of HeLa cells decreased 7% in the presence of DPPC liposomes after 3 hours of incubation and 17% and 23% at 5 and 15 hours, respectively. Conclusion: Calcein release from DPPC liposomes, mediated by PLA₂ activity, depends on the percentage of cholesterol and the presence of copolymers. Both, cholesterol up to 20 mol% and copolymers below it cmc could be applied to the regulation of the kinetics of antitumoral drugs release without inducing cell toxicity per se.

Keywords: amphipathic copolymers, calcein release, cholesterol, DPPC liposome, phospholipase A₂

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Authors: Zeina Bou Diab, Arij Daou

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The neural mechanisms of sequential behaviors are intensively studied, with songbirds a focus for learned vocal production. We are studying the premotor nucleus HVC at a nexus of multiple pathways contributing to song learning and production. The HVC consists of multiple classes of neuronal populations, each has its own cellular, electrophysiological and functional properties. During singing, a large subset of motor cortex analog-projecting HVCRA neurons emit a single 6-10 ms burst of spikes at the same time during each rendition of song, a large subset of basal ganglia-projecting HVCX neurons fire 1 to 4 bursts that are similarly time locked to vocalizations, while HVCINT neurons fire tonically at average high frequency throughout song with prominent modulations whose timing in relation to song remains unresolved. This opens the opportunity to define models relating explicit HVC circuitry to how these neurons work cooperatively to control learning and singing. We developed conductance-based Hodgkin-Huxley models for the three classes of HVC neurons (based on the ion channels previously identified from in vitro recordings) and connected them in several physiologically realistic networks (based on the known synaptic connectivity and specific glutaminergic and gabaergic pharmacology) via different architecture patterning scenarios with the aim to replicate the in vivo firing patterning behaviors. We are able, through these networks, to reproduce the in vivo behavior of each class of HVC neurons, as shown by the experimental recordings. The different network architectures developed highlight different mechanisms that might be contributing to the propagation of sequential neural activity (continuous or punctate) in the HVC and to the distinctive firing patterns that each class exhibits during singing. Examples of such possible mechanisms include: 1) post-inhibitory rebound in HVCX and their population patterns during singing, 2) different subclasses of HVCINT interacting via inhibitory-inhibitory loops, 3) mono-synaptic HVCX to HVCRA excitatory connectivity, and 4) structured many-to-one inhibitory synapses from interneurons to projection neurons, and others. Replication is only a preliminary step that must be followed by model prediction and testing.

Keywords: computational modeling, neural networks, temporal neural sequences, ionic currents, songbird

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Authors: Jan Masak, Eva Kvasnickova, Vladimir Scholtz, Olga Matatkova, Marketa Valkova, Alena Cejkova

Abstract:

Microbial colonization of medical instruments, catheters, implants, etc. is a serious problem in the spread of nosocomial infections. Biofilms exhibit enormous resistance to environment. The resistance of biofilm populations to antibiotic or biocides often increases by two to three orders of magnitude in comparison with suspension populations. Subjects of interests are substances or physical processes that primarily cause the destruction of biofilm, while the released cells can be killed by existing antibiotics. In addition, agents that do not have a strong lethal effect do not cause such a significant selection pressure to further enhance resistance. Non-thermal plasma (NTP) is defined as neutral, ionized gas composed of particles (photons, electrons, positive and negative ions, free radicals and excited or non-excited molecules) which are in permanent interaction. In this work, the effect of NTP generated by the cometary corona with a metallic grid on the formation and stability of biofilm and metabolic activity of cells in biofilm was studied. NTP was applied on biofilm populations of Staphylococcus epidermidis DBM 3179, Pseudomonas aeruginosa DBM 3081, DBM 3777, ATCC 15442 and ATCC 10145, Escherichia coli DBM 3125 and Candida albicans DBM 2164 grown on solid media on Petri dishes and on the titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) surface used for the production joint replacements. Erythromycin (for S. epidermidis), polymyxin B (for E. coli and P. aeruginosa), amphotericin B (for C. albicans) and ceftazidime (for P. aeruginosa) were used to study the combined effect of NTP and antibiotics. Biofilms were quantified by crystal violet assay. Metabolic activity of the cells in biofilm was measured using MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) colorimetric test based on the reduction of MTT into formazan by the dehydrogenase system of living cells. Fluorescence microscopy was applied to visualize the biofilm on the surface of the titanium alloy; SYTO 13 was used as a fluorescence probe to stain cells in the biofilm. It has been shown that biofilm populations of all studied microorganisms are very sensitive to the type of used NTP. The inhibition zone of biofilm recorded after 60 minutes exposure to NTP exceeded 20 cm², except P. aeruginosa DBM 3777 and ATCC 10145, where it was about 9 cm². Also metabolic activity of cells in biofilm differed for individual microbial strains. High sensitivity to NTP was observed in S. epidermidis, in which the metabolic activity of biofilm decreased after 30 minutes of NTP exposure to 15% and after 60 minutes to 1%. Conversely, the metabolic activity of cells of C. albicans decreased to 53% after 30 minutes of NTP exposure. Nevertheless, this result can be considered very good. Suitable combinations of exposure time of NTP and the concentration of antibiotic achieved in most cases a remarkable synergic effect on the reduction of the metabolic activity of the cells of the biofilm. For example, in the case of P. aeruginosa DBM 3777, a combination of 30 minutes of NTP with 1 mg/l of ceftazidime resulted in a decrease metabolic activity below 4%.

Keywords: anti-biofilm activity, antibiotic, non-thermal plasma, opportunistic pathogens

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Jose Daniel Giraldo Arias, Camilo Rojas Gomez, David Villegas Delgado, Gullermo Idarraga Alarcon, Juan Meza Meza

Abstract:

The reverse engineering processes are widely used in the industry with the main goal to determine the materials and the manufacture used to produce a component. There are a lot of characterization techniques and computational tools that are used in order to get this information. A study case of a reverse engineering applied to a secondary sandwich- hybrid type structure used in a helicopter is presented. The methodology used consists of five main steps, which can be applied to any other similar component: Collect information about the service conditions of the part, disassembly and dimensional characterization, functional characterization, material properties characterization and manufacturing processes characterization, allowing to obtain all the supports of the traceability of the materials and processes of the aeronautical products that ensure their airworthiness. A detailed explanation of each step is covered. Criticality and comprehend the functionalities of each part, information of the state of the art and information obtained from interviews with the technical groups of the helicopter’s operators were analyzed,3D optical scanning technique, standard and advanced materials characterization techniques and finite element simulation allow to obtain all the characteristics of the materials used in the manufacture of the component. It was found that most of the materials are quite common in the aeronautical industry, including Kevlar, carbon, and glass fibers, aluminum honeycomb core, epoxy resin and epoxy adhesive. The stacking sequence and volumetric fiber fraction are a critical issue for the mechanical behavior; a digestion acid method was used for this purpose. This also helps in the determination of the manufacture technique which for this case was Vacuum Bagging. Samples of the material were manufactured and submitted to mechanical and environmental tests. These results were compared with those obtained during reverse engineering, which allows concluding that the materials and manufacture were correctly determined. Tooling for the manufacture was designed and manufactured according to the geometry and manufacture process requisites. The part was manufactured and the mechanical, and environmental tests required were also performed. Finally, a geometric characterization and non-destructive techniques allow verifying the quality of the part.

Keywords: reverse engineering, sandwich-structured composite parts, helicopter, mechanical properties, prototype

Procedia PDF Downloads 418