Search results for: fish scales

Authors: Peter L. Varkonyi, Andras A. Sipos

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The quasi-static growth of elastic fibers is studied in the presence of distributed contact with an immobile surface, subject to isotropic dry or viscous friction. Unlike classical problems of elastic stability modelled by autonomous dynamical systems with multiple time scales (slowly varying bifurcation parameter, and fast system dynamics), this problem can only be formulated as a non-autonomous system without time scale separation. It is found that the fibers initially converge to a trivial, straight configuration, which is later replaced by divergence reminiscent of buckling phenomena. In order to capture the loss of stability, a new definition of exponential stability against infinitesimal perturbations for systems defined over finite time intervals is developed. A semi-analytical method for the determination of the critical length based on eigenvalue analysis is proposed. The post-critical behavior of the fibers is studied numerically by using variational methods. The emerging post-critical shapes and the asymptotic behavior as length goes to infinity are identified for simple spatial distributions of growth. Comparison with physical experiments indicates reasonable accuracy of the theoretical model. Some applications from modeling plant root growth to the design of soft manipulators in robotics are briefly discussed.

Keywords: buckling, elastica, friction, growth

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Authors: Panpan Feng

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The concept of green infrastructure originated in Europe and the United States. It aims to ensure smart growth of urban and rural ecosystems and achieve sustainable urban and rural ecological, social, and economic development by combining it with gray infrastructure in traditional planning. Based on the literature review of the theoretical origin, value connotation, and measurement methods of green infrastructure, this study summarizes the research content of green infrastructure at different scales from the three spatial levels of region, city, and block and divides it into functional dimensions, spatial dimension, and strategic dimension. The results show that in the functional dimension, from region-city-block, the research on green infrastructure gradually shifts from ecological function to social function. In the spatial dimension, from region-city-block, the research on the spatial form of green infrastructure has shifted from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, and the spatial structure of green infrastructure has shifted from single ecological elements to multiple composite elements. From a strategic perspective, green infrastructure research is more of a spatial planning tool based on land management, environmental livability and ecological psychology, providing certain decision-making support.

Keywords: green infrastructure, multi-scale, social and ecological functions, spatial strategic decision-making tools

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Authors: Christiana Jonut

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The study addresses tagal as an ecotourism product that is uniquely for Sabah. It is a community based tourism venture that is influenced by the Dusun ethic’s traditional law. The traditional principle of tagal is focused primarily on individual exploitation of riverine resources and it was transformed into a community participation in the riverine conservation to foster the growth or survival of ecotourism. It manages a river into a sustainable manner. A smart partnership system between the community and the authority particularly the Department of Fisheries Sabah, tagal has successfully become an instrument to protect, revive and manage the river fish resources. In 2015, Sabah Fisheries Department added 536 tagal sites. Most tagal sites were turned into a community based tourism venture. They generate income through jobs creation for the purpose of uplifting the local’s economic level. Tagal ecotourism sites also increase environmental awareness of the local people to love their culture, tradition and environment. This venture also promotes the sustainability of the eco-tourism. The objective of this study is to explore the issues and contexts of empowerment of the local people in managing a successful tagal ecotourism. This study further explains how community capacity building is the major influence of empowerment of the local community. The methodology approach used is qualitative where interview is chosen as the data collection method. This is a literature review of exploring empowerment of the local community through various community capacity building initiatives that would motivate the local people to be actively involved in the tagal.

Keywords: capacity building, Tagal, ecotourism, empowerment, Sabah

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Authors: Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

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Although fisheries and aquaculture studies might seem marginal to international business (IB) studies in general, fisheries and aquaculture IB (FAIB) management is currently facing increasing pressure to meet global demand and consumption for fish in the next coming decades. In part address to this challenge, the purpose of this systematic review of literature (SLR) study is to investigate the use of the term ‘market access’ in its context of use in the generic literature and business sector discourse, in comparison to the more specific literature and discourse in fisheries, aquaculture and seafood. This SLR aims to uncover the knowledge/interest gaps between the academic subject discourses and business sector practices. Corpus driven in methodology and using a triangulation method of three different text analysis software including AntConc, VOSviewer and Web of Science (WoS) analytics, the SLR results indicate a gap in conceptual knowledge and business practices in how ‘market access’ is conceived and used in the context of the pharmaceutical healthcare industry and FAIB research and practice. While it is acknowledged that the product orientation of different business sectors might differ, this SLR study works with the assumption that both business sectors are global in orientation. These business sectors are complex in their operations from product to market. This SLR suggests a conceptual model in understanding the challenges, the potential barriers as well as avenues for solutions to developing market access for FAIB.

Keywords: market access, fisheries and aquaculture, international business, systematic literature review

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Authors: M. Aboudalle, Le Btth, M. Sari, F. Meftah

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In parallel with the appearance of new materials, brick masonry had and still has an essential part of the construction market today, with new technical challenges in designing bricks to meet additional requirements. Being used in structural applications, predicting the performance of clay brick masonry allows a significant cost reduction, in terms of practical experimentation. The behavior of masonry walls depends on the behavior of their elementary components, such as bricks, joints, and coatings. Therefore, it is necessary to consider it at different scales (from the scale of the intrinsic material to the real scale of the wall) and then to develop appropriate models, using numerical simulations. The work presented in this paper focuses on the mechanical characterization of the terracotta material at ambient temperature. As a result, the static Young’s modulus obtained from the flexural test shows different values in comparison with the compression test, as well as with the dynamic Young’s modulus obtained from the Impulse excitation of vibration test. Moreover, the Young's modulus varies according to the direction in which samples are extracted, where the values in the extrusion direction diverge from the ones in the orthogonal directions. Based on these results, hollow bricks can be considered as transversely isotropic bimodulus material.

Keywords: bimodulus material, hollow clay brick, ımpulse excitation of vibration, transversely isotropic material, young’s modulus

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Authors: Ghodbane Azeddine, Saad Maarouf, Boland Jean-Francois, Thibeault Claude

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This paper proposes a new design of an active fault-tolerant flight control system against abrupt actuator faults. This overall system combines a multiple time scale sliding mode controller for fault compensation and a geometric approach for fault detection and diagnosis. The proposed control system is able to accommodate several kinds of partial and total actuator failures, by using available healthy redundancy actuators. The overall system first estimates the correct fault information using the geometric approach. Then, and based on that, a new reconfigurable control law is designed based on the multiple time scale sliding mode technique for on-line compensating the effect of such faults. This approach takes advantages of the fact that there are significant difference between the time scales of aircraft states that have a slow dynamics and those that have a fast dynamics. The closed-loop stability of the overall system is proved using Lyapunov technique. A case study of the non-linear model of the F16 fighter, subject to the rudder total loss of control confirms the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Keywords: actuator faults, fault detection and diagnosis, fault tolerant flight control, sliding mode control, multiple time scale approximation, geometric approach for fault reconstruction, lyapunov stability

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Authors: Bruce G. Wilson

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The collection of municipal solid waste at the curbside is a complex operation that is repeated daily under varying circumstances around the world. There have been several attempts to develop Monte Carlo simulation models of the waste collection process dating back almost 50 years. Despite this long history, the use of simulation modeling as a planning or optimization tool for waste collection is still extremely limited in practice. Historically, simulation modeling of waste collection systems has been hampered by the limitations of computer hardware and software and by the availability of representative input data. This paper outlines the development of a Monte Carlo simulation model that overcomes many of the limitations contained in previous models. The model uses a general purpose simulation software program that is easily capable of modeling an entire waste collection network. The model treats the stops on a waste collection route as a queue of work to be processed by a collection vehicle (or server). Input data can be collected from a variety of sources including municipal geographic information systems, global positioning system recorders on collection vehicles, and weigh scales at transfer stations or treatment facilities. The result is a flexible model that is sufficiently robust that it can model the collection activities in a large municipality, while providing the flexibility to adapt to changing conditions on the collection route.

Keywords: modeling, queues, residential waste collection, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: Meghana Srivatsav, Timothy J. Luke, Par Anders Granhag, Aldert Vrij

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The aim of this study was to understand how the phrasing of questions influences guilty suspects’ inferences regarding prior information held by the interviewer about the suspect’s crime-related activities. Three phrasing factors were explored namely specificity (crime-related details within questions), stressor (emphasis on the importance of the information in the question) and phase presentation (whether a specific activity was questioned about). 370 participants were recruited and randomly assigned into 6 different question-phrasing groups. Participants assumed the role of a suspect, read a crime narrative and an interview transcript based on the suspect’s activities. Participants responded to scales that measured their perception of interviewer’s knowledge (PIK) based on the questions posed by the interviewer in the interview transcripts. The researchers found that there is an effect of specific details revealed in the questions on the suspect’s perception of interviewer knowledge. Questioning about a specific activity also increased their perception of interviewer’s prior knowledge. However, the individual hypotheses were only partially supported. The study allowed the researchers to explore a psycholinguistic approach to investigate the underlying mechanisms of inferences drawn by suspects from the phrasing of investigative questions.

Keywords: police interviewing, question framing effects on suspects, suspect inferences from questions, suspect interviews

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Authors: Fatih Özogul, Sezen Özçeli̇k, Yesim Özogul

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Lactic, acetic, succinic, propionic, formic and butyric acid production by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were monitored in M17 broth (the control) and some fish (squid, shrimp, octopus, and eel) infusion broth by using HPLC method. There were significant differences in terms of lactic, acetic, succinic, propionic, formic and butyric acid production (p < 0.005) among bacterial strains. Acetic acid production was the lowest by LAB while succinic acid followed by propionic acid was synthesized at the highest levels. Lactic acid production ranged from 0 to 938 mg/L by all LAB strains in different infusion broth. The highest acetic acid production was found by Lb. acidophilus and Lb. delbrueckii subsp. lactic in octopus and shrimp infusion broth, with values of 872 and 674 mg/L, respectively while formic acid formation ranged from 1747 mg/L by Lb. acidophilus in octopus infusion broth to 69 mg/L by Lb. delbrueckii subsp. lactis in shrimp infusion broth. Propionic acid and butyric acid productions by St. thermophilus were 9852 and 3999 mg/L in shrimp infusion broth while Leu. mes. subsp. cremoris synthesized 312 and 9 mg/L of those organic acid in European squid infusion broth, respectively. Apparently, LAB strains had a great capability to generate succinic acid followed by propionic and butyric acid. In addition, other organic acid production differed significantly depending on bacterial strains and growth medium.

Keywords: Lactic acid bacteria , organic acid, HPLC analysis, growth medium

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Authors: Dai Yizheng, Chen-Yang Zhang

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As station-city integration has been widely accepted as a strategy for mixed-use development, a quantitative analysis of the functional characteristics of urban complexes based on station-city integration is urgently needed. Taking 15 railway stations in European, North American, and East Asian cities as the research objects, this study analyzes their functional proportion, functional positioning, and functional correlation with respect to four categories of functional facilities for both railway passenger flow and subway passenger flow. We found that (1) the functional proportion of urban complexes was mainly concentrated in three models: complementary, dominant, and equilibrium. (2) The mathematical model affected by the functional proportion was created to evaluate the functional positioning of an urban complex at three scales: station area, city, and region. (3) The strength of the correlation between the functional area and passenger flow was revealed via data analysis using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Finally, the findings of this study provide a valuable reference for research on similar topics in other countries that are developing station-city integration.

Keywords: urban complex, station-city integration, mixed-use, function, quantitative analysis

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Authors: Danny Fraser, James Zhang

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Aim of the study: Our study aims to identify any statistically significant evidence as it relates to PROMs for mastectomy and implant-based reconstruction to guide future surgical management. Method: The demographic, pre and post-operative treatment and implant characteristics were collected of all patients at Basildon hospital who underwent breast reconstruction from 2017-2023. We used the Breast-Q psychosocial well-being, physical well-being, and satisfaction with breasts scales. An Independent t-test was conducted for each group, and linear regression of age and implant size. Results: 69 patients were contacted, and 39 PROMs returned. The mean age of patients was 57.6. 40% had smoked before, and 40.8% had BMI>30. 29 had pre-pectoral placement, and 40 had subpectoral placement. 17 had smooth implants, and 52 textured. Sub pectoral placement was associated with higher (75.7 vs. 61.9 p=0.046) psychosocial scores than pre pectoral, and textured implants were associated with a lower physical score than the smooth surface (34.7 VS 50.2 P=0.046). On linear regression, age was positively associated (p=0.007) with psychosocial score. Conclusion: We present a large cohort of patients who underwent breast reconstruction. Understanding the PROMs of these procedures can guide clinicians, patients and policy makers to be more informed of the course of rehabilitation of these operations. Significance: We have found that from a patient perspective subpectoral implant placement was associated with a statistically significant improvement in psychosocial scores.

Keywords: breast surgery, mastectomy, breast implants, oncology

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Authors: Monika Paleczna, Małgorzata Holda

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Choosing an avatar's gender in a computer game is one of the key elements in the process of creating an online identity. The selection of a male or female avatar can define the entirety of subsequent decisions regarding both appearance and behavior. However, when the most popular games available for the Nintendo console in 1998 were analyzed, it turned out that 41% of computer games did not have female characters. Nowadays, players create their avatars based mainly on binary gender classification, with male and female characters to choose from. The main aim of the poster is to explore gender differences in adolescent avatars. 130 adolescents aged 15-17 participated in the study. They created their avatars and then played a computer game. The creation of the avatar was based on the choice of gender, then physical and mental characteristics. Data on gender consistency (consistency between participant’s sex and gender selected for the avatar) and masculinity-femininity of avatar nicknames and appearance will be presented. The masculinity-femininity of avatar nicknames and appearance was assessed by expert raters on a very masculine to very feminine scale. Additionally, data on the relationships of the perceived levels of masculinity-femininity with hostility-friendliness and the intelligence of avatars will be shown. The dimensions of hostility-friendliness and intelligence were also assessed by expert raters on scales ranging from very hostile to very friendly and from very low intelligence to very high intelligence.

Keywords: gender, avatar, adolescence, computer games

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Authors: John Adeboye Oyeboade, Pius Olatunji Olaojo, Kuburay Folashade Yusuf, John Oluwaseye Adebayo

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Web-based Information Resources (WBIR) are increasingly becoming essential tools for students to accomplish academic tasks. Preliminary observation revealed that many polytechnic libraries in Southwestern Nigeria do not subscribe or renew subscriptions to WBIR academic databases, and students use free-based electronic resources. Hence, this study was carried out to investigate socioeconomic status and use of WBIR by public polytechnic students in Southwestern Nigeria. Six public polytechnics out of the 16 offerings of Higher National Diploma (HND) programs were selected by stratified random sampling to reflect federal and state polytechnics. A proportionate size sampling technique was used to select 1,463 HND students. The instruments used were Socioeconomic status (SeS) (α=0.81) and WBIR used for Academic Tasks (α=0.98) scales. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s product-moment correlation at a 0.05 level of significance. Students’ SeS ( =79.10) was moderate. Online reference sources ( =3.97), Web 2.0 ( =3.50), and social media ( =3.00) were regularly used WBIR. WBIR use ( =53.34) was moderate. The students used WBIR for project writing ( =3.46) and class assignments ( =3.42). The Students’ SeS (r=0.59) had significant relationships with WBIR use. Socioeconomic status directly influenced the use of WBIR for academic tasks. Management of polytechnics should provide WBIR subscriptions for students’ use in the polytechnic e-libraries.

Keywords: public polytechnic students, polytechnic libraries, socioeconomic status, Web-based information resources

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Authors: O. B. Citil, V. Sariyel, M. Akoz

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In this study, total fatty acid composition of muscle lipids of Cyprinus carpio L. living in Suğla Dam Lake, Altinapa Dam Lake, Eğirdir Lake and Burdur Lake were determined using GC. During this study, for the summer season of July was taken from each region of the land and they were stored in deep-freeze set to -20 degrees until the analysis date. At the end of the analyses, 30 different fatty acids were found in the composition of Cyprinus carpio L. which lives in different lakes. Cyprinus carpio Suğla Dam Lake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), were higher than other lakes. Cyprinus carpio L. was the highest in the major SFA palmitic acid. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of carp, the most abundant fish species in all lakes, were found to be higher than those of saturated fatty acids (SFA) in all lakes. Palmitic acid was the major SFA in all lakes. Oleic acid was identified as the major MUFA. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was the most abundant in all lakes. ω3 fatty acid composition was higher than the percentage of the percentage ω6 fatty acids in all lake. ω3/ω6 rates of Cyprinus carpio L. Suğla Dam Lake, Altinapa Dam Lake, Eğirdir Lake and Burdur Lake, 2.12, 1.19, 2.15, 2.87, and 2.82, respectively. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was the major PUFA in Eğirdir and Burdur lakes, whereas linoleic acid (LA) was the major PUFA in Altinapa and Suğla Dam Lakes. It was shown that the fatty acid composition in the muscle of carp was significantly influenced by different lakes.

Keywords: Cyprinus carpio L., fatty acid, composition, gas chromatography

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Authors: Simone Jane Dennis

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This paper leverages the spatial and temporal investigative strategy utilized by crime scene investigators – blood spatter work– to engage with the real and metaphorical memorialization of blood-soaked places. It uses this key trope with phenomenological sensibility, to trace the physical and temporal movement of blood outbound from the human body to sites beyond. Working backward, as crime scene investigators do, this paper traces the importance of both space and time and their confluence, to developing a comprehensive theory of violence. To do this work, the paper engages a range of geo-violent scales, from murder scenes to genocides, to both engage an extraordinarily replete literature of bloodshed across history and to move beyond analyses of how significance is assigned to the sites in which blood comes to rest to instead consider the importance of space and time to the structure of violence itself. It is in this regard that the kind of investigative work upon which blood spatter analysis depends is crucial: it engages time and space in reverse to understand the microscopic relations between bodies, places, and numerous (biological, clock, and seasonal) temporalities. Considering the circumstances under which blood escaped a body, the details of its destination in place, and the temporal circumstances of corporal departure, is crucial to making new knowledge about the peculiar temporality and spatiality of violence itself.

Keywords: blood, crime scenes, temporality, violence

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Authors: Maharani Yulisti, Amin Mugera, James Fogarty

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Food safety standards have received significant attention in the fisheries global market due to health issues, free trade agreements, and increasing aquaculture production. Vertical coordination throughout the supply chain of fish producing and exporting countries is needed to meet food safety demands imposed by importing countries. However, the complexities of the supply chain governance structures and difficulties in standard implementation can generate safety uncertainty and high transaction costs. Using a Transaction Cost Economics framework, this paper examines the alignment between food safety standards and the governance structures in the shrimp supply chain in Indonesia. We find the supply chain is organized closer to the hierarchy-like governance structure where private standard (organic standard) are implemented and more towards a market-like governance structure where public standard (IndoGAP certification) are more prevalent. To verify the statements, two cases are examined from Sidoarjo district as a centre of shrimp production in Indonesia. The results show that public baseline FSS (Food Safety Standards) need additional mechanism to achieve a coordinated chain-wide response because uncertainty, asset specificity, and performance measurement problems are high in this chain. Organic standard as private chain-wide FSS is more efficient because it has been achieved by hierarchical-like type of governance structure.

Keywords: governance structure, shrimp value chain, food safety standards, transaction costs economics

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Authors: M. P. Rajeeshkumar, K. V. Aneesh Kumar, J. L. Otero-Ferrer, A. Lombarte, M. Hashim, N. Saravanane, V. N.Sanjeevan, V. M. Tuset

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The anglerfishes are widely distributed from shallow to deep-water habitats and are highly diverse in morphology, behaviour, and niche occupancy patterns. To understand this interspecific variability and degree of niche overlap, we performed a functional analysis of five species inhabiting Indian waters where diversity of deep-sea anglerfishes is very high. The sensory capacities (otolith shape and eye size) were also studied to improve the understanding of coexistence of species. The analyses of fish body and otolith shape clustered species in two morphotypes related to phylogenetic lineages: i) Malthopsis lutea, Lophiodes lugubri and Halieutea coccinea were characterized by a dorso-ventrally flattened body with high swimming ability and relative small otoliths, and ii) Chaunax spp. were distinguished by their higher body depth, lower swimming efficiency, and relative big otoliths. The sensory organs did not show a pattern linked to depth distribution of species. However, the larger eye size in M. lutea suggested a nocturnal feeding activity, whereas Chaunax spp. had a large mouth and deeper body in response to different ecological niches. Therefore, the present study supports the hypothesis of spatial and temporal segregation of anglerfishes in the Indian waters, which can be explained from a functional approach and understanding from sensory capabilities.

Keywords: functional traits, otoliths, niche overlap, fishes, Indian waters

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Authors: Jian Li

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Carotenoids area group of metabolites in mostly photosynthetic organisms such as plants and microalgae and have wide applications in cosmetics, food, feed, and health industries. Although phototrophic cultivation of microalgae has been developed to produce some carotenoids for decades, most carotenoids are currently synthesized chemically at industrial scales because of affordable production costs. Chemical carotenoids are regarded not as safe for human beings as natural carotenoids and are restricted only for animal feed markets, and the industries call for inexpensive sources of natural products. Microalgae grow much quicker in mixotrophy than in phototrophy, and thus mixotrophic cultivation processes have great potential to reduce the production cost of carotenoids from microalgae. However, much more expensive photobioreactor systems and more strictly controlled sterile processes are needed to avoid contamination by heterotrophic organisms during mixotrophic cultivation processes, which makes mixotrophy, in fact, much more expensive than phototrophic cultivation. Recently technical breakthroughs have been reported to overcome contamination problems in photobioreactor systems traditionally used for phototrophic cultivation, and a much lower process cost of mixotrophic cultivation than that of phototrophic cultivation might be achieved for carotenoid production. These reviews intend to summarize recent technical advancements in mixotrophic cultivation of microalgae, to evaluate the economic viability of carotenoid production from mixotrophically cultivated microalgae, and to prospect mixotrophy as a strategy to produce a variety of carotenoids for industrial applications.

Keywords: microalgae, carotenoid, mixotrophy, biotechnology

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Authors: Fatema Salman, Ridha Hammam, Fatima Khairallah, Fatima Aradi, Nafeesa Abdulla, Mohammed Alsafar

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Purpose: This study aims at measuring the extent of nurses’ knowledge and attitudes toward the use of physical restraints in different hospital wards at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC). Background: The habitual use of physical restraint is a widespread practice among nurses working in the clinical settings. Restraints inflict many deleterious consequences on patients physically and psychologically which in turn increases their morbidity and mortality risk and jeopardizes care quality. Nurses’ knowledge and attitudes toward physical restraints are crucial determinants of the persistence of this practice. Literature review: the evidence of lack of knowledge among nurses regarding the use of physical restraints is overwhelming in various clinical settings, especially in two main areas which are the negative consequences and the available alternatives to physical restraints. Studies explored nurses’ attitudes toward physical restraints yielded inconsistent findings. Equally comparable, some studies found that nurses hold positive attitudes toward the use of physical restraints while some others reported just the opposite. Methods: Self-administered knowledge and attitudes scales to 106 nurses working in the SMC. Findings: nurses hold the moderate level of knowledge about restraints (M=58%) with weak negative attitudes (M = -20%) toward using it. Significant moderately-strong negative correlation (r= -0.57, r2= 0.32, p= 0.000) was uncovered between nurses knowledge and their attitudes which provided an empirical explanation of this phenomenon (use of physical restraints). Recommendations: Induction of awareness program that especially focuses on the negative consequences and encourages the use of alternatives is an evident need. This effort necessarily should be adjoined with policy and procedure adjustments.

Keywords: attitudes, knowledge, nurses, restraints

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Authors: Djamel Remache, Serge Dos Santos, Michael Cliez, Michel Gratton, Patrick Chabrand, Jean-Marie Rossi, Jean-Louis Milan

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Skin tissue is an inhomogeneous and anisotropic material. Uniaxial tensile testing is one of the primary testing techniques for the mechanical characterization of skin at large scales. In order to predict the mechanical behavior of materials, the direct or inverse analytical approaches are often used. However, in case of an inhomogeneous and anisotropic material as skin tissue, analytical approaches are not able to provide solutions. The numerical simulation is thus necessary. In this work, the uniaxial tensile test and the FEM (finite element method) based inverse method were used to identify the anisotropic mechanical properties of porcine skin tissue. The uniaxial tensile experiments were performed using Instron 8800 tensile machine®. The uniaxial tensile test was simulated with FEM, and then the inverse optimization approach (or the inverse calibration) was used for the identification of mechanical properties of the samples. Experimentally results were compared to finite element solutions. The results showed that the finite element model predictions of the mechanical behavior of the tested skin samples were well correlated with experimental results.

Keywords: mechanical skin tissue behavior, uniaxial tensile test, finite element analysis, inverse optimization approach

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Authors: Horesh Reinman Netta

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Objectives: To examine the relationship between stressful life events and recurrent major depressive disorders Methods: Three groups of 50 subjects were assessed. One group had a recurrent major depressive disorder with melancholic features; the second group met the criteria for borderline personality disorder, and the third consisted of healthy controls. The Structured Clinical Interview for AXIS I DSM-IV Disorders sand the Structured Clinical Interview for AXIS II DSM-IV Disorders were used for diagnosis. The Israel Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview (IPERI) Life Event Scale and the Coddington Life Events Schedule (CLES) were used to measure life events which were confirmed with a confirmatory semi-structured interview. The Beck Depression Inventory and the Satisfaction from Life scales were also administered. Results : The total number of loss-related events in childhood and in the year preceding the first episode was significantly higher in the affective disorder group than in the two control groups. Total number of LE, uncontrolled and independent events were also more common in the depressed patients in the year preceding the first episode. No category of SLE was differentiated among any of the three groups during any period of time following the first depressive episode. Conclusions: SLE play an important role in the onset of affective disorders. There appear to be specific kinds of SLE occurring in childhood and in the year preceding a first episode that have particular significance. SLE may have a lesser role in the maintenance of this illness.

Keywords: modd dosorders, recurrent depression, stress, life events

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Authors: Parisa Mansour

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered and rapidly spread to various countries around the world since the end of 2019. Computed tomography (CT) images have been used as an important alternative to the time-consuming RT. PCR test. However, manual segmentation of CT images alone is a major challenge as the number of suspected cases increases. Thus, accurate and automatic segmentation of COVID-19 infections is urgently needed. Because the imaging features of the COVID-19 infection are different and similar to the background, existing medical image segmentation methods cannot achieve satisfactory performance. In this work, we try to build a deep convolutional neural network adapted for the segmentation of chest CT images with COVID-19 infections. First, we maintain a large and novel chest CT image database containing 165,667 annotated chest CT images from 861 patients with confirmed COVID-19. Inspired by the observation that the boundary of an infected lung can be improved by global intensity adjustment, we introduce a feature variable block into the proposed deep CNN, which adjusts the global features of features to segment the COVID-19 infection. The proposed PV array can effectively and adaptively improve the performance of functions in different cases. We combine features of different scales by proposing a progressive atrocious space pyramid fusion scheme to deal with advanced infection regions with various aspects and shapes. We conducted experiments on data collected in China and Germany and showed that the proposed deep CNN can effectively produce impressive performance.

Keywords: chest, COVID-19, chest Image, coronavirus, CT image, chest CT

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Authors: Etty Soesilowati

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This research was intended to: (1) designing production systems that produce high quality salt and (2) diversification of salt products. This research used qualitative and quantitative approaches which Garam Mas Ltd. as the research site. The data were analyzed interactively and subjected to laboratory tests. The analyses showed that salt production system using HDPE geomembranes produced whiter and cleaner salts than those produced by conventional methods without HDPE geomembranes. High quality consumption salt contained 97% NaCl and a maximum of 0.05% water, in the form of white minute crystals and usually used for table salt of food and snack seasoning, souses and cheese and vegetable oil industries. Medium grade salt contained 94.7%-97% NaCl and 3%-7% water and usually used for kitchen salt, soy sauce, tofu industries and cattle feeding. Low quality salt contained 90%-94.7% NaCl and 5%-10% water, with dull white color and usually used for fish preservation and agriculture. The quality and quantity of salts production were influenced by temperatures, weather, water concentrations used during production processes and the discipline of salt farmers itself. The use of water temperature less than 23 °Be during the production processes produced low quality salts. Optimizing cultivation of the production process from raw material to end product (consumption salt) should be attempted to produce quality salt that fulfills the Indonesian National Standard. Therefore, the integrated policies among stakeholders are really needed to build strong institutional base at salt farmer level. This might be achieved through the establishment of specific region for salt production.

Keywords: cultivation system, diversification, salt products, high quality salt

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Authors: Shang-Hua Wu, Rong-Chi Chang, Horng–Twu Liaw

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Nowadays, competencies of e-learning project personnel are very important in assisting them in offering courses, serving students in an effective way, leveraging advantages, strengthen their relationships with potential students, etc. among e-learning platforms, MOOCs has recently attracted increasing focuses in distance education since it can be conducted for a large numbers of virtual learners. Nonetheless, since MOOCs is a relatively new e-learning platform, top concerns have been paid to what competencies are important for e-learning personnel to consider. Taking this need, this research aimed to carry out an in-depth exploration of competency requirements of MOOCs (e-learning) project personnel in Taiwan vocational schools. Data were collected through thorough literature reviews and discussions and competency analysis was carried out using Delphi technique questionnaires. The results show that that MOOCs (e-learning) project personnel’ professional competency lie in three main dimensions, among which ‘demand analysis competency’ (i.e., containing 10 major competences and 48 subordinate capabilities) is the most important competency, followed by ‘project management competency’ (i.e., comprising 6 major competences and 31 secondary capabilities), and finally ‘digital content production competency’ (i.e., including 12 major competences and 79 secondary capabilities). As such, in Taiwan context with different organizational scales and market sizes, the e-learning competency items and unique experience/ achievements throughout the promotion process obtained in this research will provide useful references for academic institutions in promoting e-learning.

Keywords: competency analysis, Delphi technique questionnaire, e-learning, massive open online courses

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Authors: Ezgiamn Abraha Hagos

Abstract:

The primary objective of this study was to assess the existential concerns and related manifestations of higher learning students by investigating their perception of meaningful life and evaluating their purpose in life. In addition, this study was aimed at assessing the manifestations of existential pain among the students. Data was procured using Purpose in Life test (PIL), Well-being Manifestation Measure Scale (WBMMS), and focus group discussion. The total numbers of participants was 478, of which 299 were males and the remaining 179 females. They were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Data was analyzed using two ways. SPSS-version 20 was used to analyze the quantitative part, and narrative modes were utilized to analyze the qualitative data. The research finding revealed that students are involved in risk taking behaviors like alcohol ingestion, drug use, Khat (chat) chewing, and unsafe sex. In line with this it is found out that life in campus was perceived as temporary and as a result the sense of hedonism was prevalent at any cost. Of course, the most important thing for the majority of the students was to know about the purpose of life. Regarding WBMMS, there was no statistically significant difference among males and females and with the exception of the sub-scale of happiness; in all the sub-scales the mean is low. At last, assisting adolescents to develop holistically in terms of body, mind, and spirit is recommended.

Keywords: existential concerns, higher learning institutions, Ethiopia, Aksum University

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Authors: Mojebullah Wahidy, Murat Olgun

Abstract:

In this study, four different types of cement are used to investigate the permeability of DMC (Deep Mixing Column) in the clay. The clay used in this research is in the kaolin group, and the types of cement are; CEM I 42.5.R. normal portland cement, CEM II/A-M (P-L) pozzolan doped cement, CEM III/A 42.5 N blast furnace slag cement and DMFC-800 fine-grained portland cement. Firstly, some rheological tests are done on every cement, and a 0.9 water/cement ratio is selected as the appropriate ratio. This ratio is used to prepare the small-scale DMCs for all types of cement with %6, %9, %12, and %15, which are determined as the dry weight of the clay. For all the types of cement, three samples were prepared in every percentage and were kept on curing for 7, 14, and 28 days for permeability tests. As a result of the small-scale DMCs, permeability tests, a %12 selected for big-scale DMCs. A total of five big scales DMC were prepared by using a %12-cement and were kept for 28 days curing for permeability tests. The results of the permeability tests show that by increasing the cement percentage and curing time of all DMCs, the permeability coefficient (k) is decreased. Despite variable results in different cement ratios and curing time in general, samples treated by DMFC-800 fine-grained cement have the lowest permeability coefficient. Samples treated with CEM II and CEM I cement types were the second and third lowest permeable samples. The highest permeability coefficient belongs to the samples that were treated with CEM III cement type.

Keywords: deep mixing column, rheological test, DMFC-800, permeability test

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Authors: Wenjun Zhang, Yunqing Du, Steven W. Cranford, Ming L. Wang

Abstract:

The beginning of 21st century has witnessed new advancements in the design and use of new materials for biosensing applications, from nano to macro, protein to tissue. Traditional analytical methods lack a complete toolset to describe the complexities introduced by living systems, pathological relations, discrete hierarchical materials, cross-phase interactions, and structure-property dependencies. Materiomics – via systematic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation – can provide structure-process-property relations by using a materials science approach linking mechanisms across scales and enables oriented biosensor design. With this approach, DNA biosensors can be utilized to detect disease biomarkers present in individuals’ breath such as acetone for diabetes. Our wireless sensor array based on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)-decorated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) has successfully detected trace amount of various chemicals in vapor differentiated by pattern recognition. Here, we present how MD simulation can revolutionize the way of design and screening of DNA aptamers for targeting biomarkers related to oral diseases and oral health monitoring. It demonstrates great potential to be utilized to build a library of DNDA sequences for reliable detection of several biomarkers of one specific disease, and as well provides a new methodology of creating, designing, and applying of biosensors.

Keywords: biosensor, DNA, biomarker, molecular dynamics simulation

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Authors: Rachida Houssa, Hassan Rhinane, Fadoumo Ali Malouw, Amina Oulmaalem

Abstract:

Since the early 70s, the Moroccan Atlantic sea was subjected to the pressure of the bottom trawling, one of the most destructive techniques seabed that cause havoc on fishing catch, nonselective, and responsible for more than half of all releases of fish around the world. The present paper aims to map and assess the impact of the activity of the bottom trawling of the Moroccan Atlantic coast. For this purpose, a dataset of thirty years, between 1962 and 1999, from foreign fishing vessels using bottom trawling, has been used and integrated in a GIS. To estimate the extent and the importance of the geographical distribution of the trawling effort, the Moroccan Atlantic area was divided into a grid of cells of 25 km2 (5x5 km). This grid was joined to the effort trawling data, creating a new entity with a table containing spatial overlay grid with the polygon of swept surfaces. This mapping model allowed to quantify the used fishing effort versus time and to generate the trace indicative of trawling efforts on the seabed. Indeed, for a given year, a grid cell may have a swept area equal to 0 (never been touched by the trawl) or 25 km2 (the trawled area is similar to the cell size) or may be 100 km2 indicating that for this year, the scanned surface is four times the cell area. The results show that the total cumulative sum of trawled area is approximately 28,738,326 km2, scattered throughout the Atlantic coast. 95% of the overall trawling effort is located in the southern zone, between 29°N and 20°30'N. Nearly 5% of the trawling effort is located in the northern coastal region, north of 33°N. The center area between 33°N and 29°N is the least swept by Russian commercial vessels because in this region the majority of the area is rocky, and non trawlable.

Keywords: GIS, Moroccan Atlantic Ocean, seabed, trawling

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Authors: Abu S. M. G. Kibria, Alison M. Behie, Robert Costanza, Colin Groves, Tracy Farrell

Abstract:

This study is aimed to understand the level of access and the influence of livelihood capitals in maintaining access and control of ecosystem services (ESS) in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh. Besides the villagers, we consider other stakeholders including the forest department, coast guard, police, merchants, pirates and villagers who ‘controlled’ or ‘maintained’ access to ESS (crab catching, shrimp fry, honey, shrimp, mixed fish, fuel wood) in this region. Villagers used human, physical, natural and social capitals to gain access to ESS. The highest level of access was observed in crab catching and the lowest was found in honey collection, both of which were done when balancing the costs and benefits of accessing one ESS against another. The outcomes of these ongoing access negotiations were determined by livelihood capitals of the households. In addition, it was often found that the certain variables could have a positive effect on one ESS and a negative effect on another. For instance, human, social and natural capitals (eldest daughter’s education and No. of livelihood group membership and) had significant positive effects on honey collection while two components of human and social capitals including ‘eldest son’s education’ and ‘severity of pirate problem’ had exactly the opposite impact. These complex interactions were also observed in access to other ESS. It thus seems that access to ESS is not anything which is provided, but rather it is achieved by using livelihood capitals. Protecting any ecosystem from over exploitation and improve wellbeing can be achieved by properly balancing the livelihood capital-access nexus.

Keywords: provisioning services, access level, livelihood capital, interaction, access gain

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Authors: Maria Malliarou, Efrossini Lyraraki, Pavlos Sarafis, Theodosios Paralikas, Styliani Kotrotsiou, Evangelia Kotrotsiou, Mairy Gouva

Abstract:

Women with breast cancer have to adapt to physical malformations, side effects of chemotherapy, emotional insecurity, and changes in social roles. Inability to recognize the co-morbidity of psychiatric conditions can have an aggravating effect on patient compliance in therapeutic interventions, resulting in treatment delays and an impact on overall survival. The purpose of this study was to identify the quality of life of breast cancer patients undergoing external radiation therapy and to correlate it with depression and anxiety. Patients were asked to respond to an anonymous questionnaire with general demographic and clinical questions, followed by the EORTCQLQ-C30 questionnaire for assessing the quality of life of patients with breast cancer. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) as well as the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was also administered. The statistical analysis of the data was done in IBM SPSS. Results indicated that the incidence of anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients is high both in HADS (37.5 % with mild to moderate depression and 62.5 % with significant to severe depression) and DASS - 21 (39.2 % mild to moderate depression and 60.8 % significant to severe) scales. The correlation of anxiety and depression with life quality was negative for HADS (r = -, 810, p = .000) as well as for DASS-21 (r = -, 682, p = .000). The psychological impact of breast cancer on patients is important. Its correlation with the quality of life may lead to better tolerance to treatment and better effectiveness of the therapeutic approach.

Keywords: anxiety, breast cancer, depression, quality of life

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