Search results for: learning outcomes assessment

Authors: Jeounghee Kim

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Objective: To describe the incidence of complication, according to the stage of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury (TSCI) which was treated at Asan Medical Center (AMC), Korea. Hereafter, it should be developed in nursing management protocol of traumatic SCI. Methods. Retrospectively reviewed hospital records about the patients who were admitted AMC Patients with traumatic spinal cord injury until January 2005 and December 2016 were analyzed (n=97). AMC is a single institution of 2,700 beds where patients with trauma and severe trauma can be treated. Patients who were admitted to the emergency room due to spinal cord injury and who underwent intensive care unit, general ward, and rehabilitation ward. To identify long-term complications, we excluded patients who were operated on to other hospitals after surgery. Complications such as respiratory(pneumonia, atelectasis, pulmonary embolism, and others), cardiovascular (hypotension), urinary (autonomic dysreflexia, urinary tract infection (UTI), neurogenic bladder, and others), and skin systems (pressure ulcers) from the time of admission were examined through medical records and images. Results: SCI was graded according to ASIA scale. The initial grade was checked at admission. (grade A 55(56.7%), grade B 14(14.4)%, grade C 11(11.3%), grade D 15(15.5%), and grade E 2(2.1%). The grade was rechecked when the patient was discharged after treatment. (grade A 43(44.3%), grade B 15(15.5%), grade C 12(12.4%), grade D 21(21.6%), and grade E 6(6.2%). The most common complication after SCI was UTI 24cases (mean 36.5day), sore 24cases (40.5day), and Pneumonia which was 23 cases after 10days averagely. The other complications after SCI were neuropathic pain 19 cases, surgical site infection 4 cases. 53.6% of patient who had SCI were educated about intermittent catheterization at discharge from hospital. The mean hospital stay of all SCI patients was 61days. Conclusion: The Complications after traumatic SCI were developed at various stages from acute phase to chronic phase. Nurses need to understand fully the time-course of complication in traumatic SCI to provide evidence-based practice.

Keywords: spinal cord injury, complication, nursing, rehabilitation

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Authors: Sofiene Amara, Mohamed Ali Bahri, Sabri Gaied Chortane

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of personal goal setting on psychological parameters (cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence) and the 50m freestyle performance. 30 young swimmers participated in this investigation, and was divided into three groups, the first group (G1, n = 10, 14 ± 0.7 years old) was prepared for the competition without a fixed target (method 1), the second group (G2, n = 10, 14 ± 0.9 years old) was oriented towards a vague goal 'Do your best' (method 2), while the third group (G3, n = 10, 14 ± 0, 5 years old) was invited to answer a goal that is difficult to reach according to a goal-setting interval (GST) (method 3). According to the statistical data of the present investigation, the cognitive and somatic anxiety scores in G1 and G3 were higher than in G2 (G1-G2, G3-G2: cognitive anxiety, P = 0.000, somatic anxiety: P = 0.000 respectively). On the other hand, the self-confidence score was lower in G1 compared with the other two groups (G1-G2, G3-G2: P = 0.02, P = 0.03 respectively). Our assessment also shows that the 50m freestyle time performance was improved better by method 3 (pre and post-Test: P = 0.006, -2.5sec, 7.83%), than by method 2 (pre and Post-Test: P = 0.03; -1sec; 3.24%), while, performance remained unchanged in G1 (P > 0.05). To conclude, the setting of a difficult goal by GST is more effective to improve the chronometric performance in the 50m freestyle, but at the same time increased the values ​​of the cognitive and somatic anxiety. For this, the mental trainers and the staff technical, invited to develop models of mental preparation associated with this method of setting a goal to help swimmers on the psychological level.

Keywords: cognitive anxiety, goal setting, performance of swimming freestyle, self-confidence, somatic anxiety

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Authors: Saidu Garba Okereafor Stella

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The presence of 15 organochlorine pesticides residue was assessed from 29 different fruits and fruit juice samples from selected farms in Kaduna and Niger States using the quick easy cheap effective rugged and safe (QuEChERS), followed by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The results showed the presence of varying concentrations of ten (10) organochlorine pesticide residues in all the samples with Endrin ketone showing the highest concentration in 3 samples from Kaduna (guava juice 1 and 2 0.099 to 0.145 mg/kg) and Niger States (orange juice J19 0.102 mg/kg). The heptachlor was detected at high concentration in 11 samples, 7 samples from Kaduna State (mango juice 0.011 mg/kg, Washington orange 0.014 mg/kg, Valencia orange fruit 0.020 mg/kg, orange juice 0.011, white guava fruit 0.024 mg/kg, guava juice 0.023 mg/kg, guava juice 2 0.024 mg/kg) and 4 samples from (mango juice 1 0.015 mg/kg, pineapple juice 1 0.0120 mg/kg pineapple juice 2 011 mg/kg and mix juice 2 0.012 mg/kg) from Niger State. Dieldrine and endosulfansulfate were detected at high levels in one sample each from Niger (guava fruit 0.019 mg/kg and mixed juice1 0.011mg/kg), respectively. However, all were above the maximum residue limits (MRLs) set by WHO/FAO which suggest that people consuming these type of contaminated fruits and fruits juices may contact diseases associated with those organochlorine pesticides residue. Minute concentrations of other organochlorines (α- BHC, δ- BHC, β- BHC, Lindane, and p’p DDT) ranged from 0.003 to 0.015 were recorded below the MRLs.

Keywords: fruits and fruits juices, organochlorine pesticide residue, comparative studies, gc-ms spectrophometer

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Authors: Julie Furst-Bowe

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Over the past decade, there has been significant growth in online courses and programs at all levels of education in the United States. This study explores the growth of online and blended (or hybrid) programs offered by the sixteen technical colleges in the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS). The WTCS provides education and training programs to more than 300,000 students each year in career clusters including agriculture, business, energy, information technology, healthcare, human services, manufacturing, and transportation. These programs range from short-term training programs that may lead to a certificate to two-year programs that lead to an associate degree. Students vary in age from high school students who are exploring career interests to employees who are seeking to gain additional skills or enter a new career. Because there is currently a shortage of skilled workers in nearly all sectors in the state of Wisconsin, it is critical that the WTCS is providing fully educated and trained graduates to fill workforce needs in a timely manner. For this study, information on online and blended programs for the past five years was collected from the WTCS, including types of programs, course and program enrollments, course completion rates, program completion rates, time to completion and graduate employment rates. The results of this study indicate that the number of online and blended courses and programs is continuing to increase each year. Online and blended programs are most commonly found in the business, human services, and information technology areas, and they are less commonly found in agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation programs. Overall, course and program completion rates were higher for blended programs when compared to fully online programs. Students preferred the blended programs over the fully online programs. Overall, graduates were placed into related jobs at a rate of approximately 90 percent, although there was some variation in graduate placement rates by programs and by colleges. Differences in graduate employment rate appeared to be based on geography and sector as employers did not distinguish between graduates who had completed their programs via traditional, blended or fully online instruction. Recommendations include further exploration as to the reasons that blended courses and programs appear to be more effective than fully online courses and programs. It is also recommended that those program areas that are not using blended or online delivery methods, including agriculture, health, manufacturing and transportation, explore the use of these methods to make their courses and programs more accessible to students, particularly working adults. In some instances, colleges were partnering with specific companies to ensure that groups of employees were completing online coursework leading to a certificate or a degree. Those partnerships are to be encouraged in order for the state to continue to improve the skills of its workforce. Finally, it is recommended that specific colleges specialize in the delivery of specific programs using online technology since it is not bound by geographic considerations. This approach would take advantage of the strengths of the individual colleges and avoid unnecessary duplication.

Keywords: career and technical education, online learning, skills shortage, technical colleges

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Authors: Kebede Mengistu, Kassahun Alemu, Bikes Destaw

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Introduction: Malnutrition continues to be a major public health problem in developing countries. It is the most important risk factor for the burden of diseases. It causes about 300, 000 deaths per year and responsible for more than half of all deaths in children. In Ethiopia, child malnutrition rate is one of the most serious public health problem and the highest in the world. High malnutrition rates in the country pose a significant obstacle to achieving better child health outcomes. Objective: To assess prevalence of malnutrition and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months at Hidabu Abote district, North shewa, Oromia. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted on 820 children aged 6-59 months from September 8-23, 2012 at Hidabu Abote district. Multistage sampling method was used to select households. Children were selected from each kebeles by simple random sampling. Anthropometric measurements and structured questioners were used. Data was processed using EPi-info soft ware and exported to SPSS for analysis. Then after, sex, age, months, height, and weight transferred with HHs number to ENA for SMART 2007software to convert nutritional data into Z-scores of the indices; H/A, W/H and W/A. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to identify associated factors of malnutrition. Results: The analysis this study revealed that, 47.6%, 30.9% and 16.7% of children were stunted, underweight and wasted, respectively. The main associated factors of stunting were found to be child age, family monthly income, children were received butter as pre-lacteal feeding and family planning. Underweight was associated with number of children HHs and children were received butter as per-lacteal feeding but un treatment of water in HHs only associated with wasting. Conclusion and recommendation: From the findings of this study, it is concluded that malnutrition is still an important problem among children aged 6-59 months. Therefore, especial attention should be given on intervention of malnutrition.

Keywords: children, Hidabu Abote district, malnutrition, public health

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Authors: Kushal Patel, Manasa Dittakavi, Cyrus Falsafi, Gretchen Lovett

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Rural America has seen a surge in opioid addiction rates and overdose deaths in recent years, becoming a significant public health crisis. This may be due to a variety of factors, such as lack of access to healthcare or other economic and social factors that can contribute to addiction such as poverty, unemployment, and social isolation. As the opioid epidemic has disproportionately affected rural communities, pregnant women in these areas may be highly susceptible and face additional difficulties in facing the appropriate care they need. Opioid use disorder has many negative effects on prenatal infants. These include changes in their microbiome, mental health, neurodevelopment and cognition. These can affect how the child performs in various activities in life and how they interact with others. It has been demonstrated that using cognitive behavioral therapy improves not just pain-related results but also mobility, quality of life, disability, and mood outcomes. This indicates that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may be a useful therapeutic strategy for enhancing general health and wellbeing in people with opioid use problems. In terms of treating psychiatric diseases, CBT carries fewer dangers than opioids. One study that illustrates the potential for CBT to promote a reduction in opioid use disorder used self-reported drug use patterns 6 months prior to and during their pregnancy. At the beginning of the study, participants reported an average of 3.78 drug or alcohol use days in the previous 28 days, which decreased to 1.63 days after treatment. The study also found a decrease in depression scores, as measured by IDS scores, from 23.9 to 17.1 at the end of treatment. These and other results show that CBT can have meaningful impacts on pregnant women in Rural America who struggle with an opioid use disorder. This project has been approved by the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine- Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and deemed non-research scholarly work.

Keywords: appalachia, CBT, opiods, pregnancy

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Authors: Oliver T. Gore

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Social inequalities and inequity of outcomes in higher education (HE) persist in South Africa despite the government introducing policy that seeks to address social injustices brought about by previous apartheid policies. In addressing these social injustices, HE policy conceptualises inequalities under the concept of historical ‘disadvantage’ which is understood to be primarily race-based. The study adds on to the existing knowledge on inequalities through developing the dimensions of (dis)advantage, which have the potential to inform the South African HE policy on providing equal opportunities amongst diverse students to participate and succeed in their studies. Drawing from the capabilities approach, this study argues that (dis)advantage can be richly understood in terms of students’ capabilities, functionings and agency as opposed to a sole focus on race. The study argues that limited freedoms, lack of effective opportunities, and reduced agency for students to turn university resources into real achievements such as personal development, economic skills and social responsibility amounts to disadvantage, while the converse is also true. The study draws from qualitative interview data with honours students, university staff and Student Representative Council members from five different university departments at one South African university. This presentation uses results from 20 students and reveals what their university experiences tell us regarding students’ unfreedoms in relation to: the inability to make decisions, poor schooling backgrounds, inadequate finances, emotional stress, lack of social support, inability to understand the language of instruction, lack of safe transport and accommodation issues. Despite these unfreedoms, the data shows that the students aspired and persevered with their studies. Using theory and empirical data in conversation, the paper shows that there is a need to nuance the definition of (dis)advantage, particularly by focusing on how different forms of disadvantage intersect with each other.

Keywords: capabilities approach, (dis)advantage, higher education, social justice

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Authors: Luis Rodrigo Valencia Pérez, Juan Manuel Peña Aguilar, Adelina Morita Alexander, Alberto Lamadrid Alvarez, Héctor Fernando Valencia Pérez

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Financial education is among the areas of opportunity in the Spanish-speaking from an early age to high school, through mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets using ludic and fun applications like interactive games, children can learn money management and investment through time, thereby fostering the habit of saving and/or sound management of cash and family business resources, having interaction with an uncontrolled environment such as the involvement of other players in the external decisions of the environment in which the game is play. The application proposed in Phase 1 (design and development) was designed in multi-user environments, under methodologies of hybrid programming for any platform on the market and designed under CMMI standards that allow for quality production over time, following up on these improvements counting with continuous user feedback and usage statistics.

Keywords: mobile educational games, ludic games, children, multiuser, design and software development

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Authors: R. Shayamapiki

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This study explores the applicability of applying new urbanism principles in cities of developing countries as a panacea towards building sustainable cities through implementing smart transportation. Smart transportation approach to planning has been growing remarkably around the globe in the past decade. In conquest to curb traffic congestion and reducing automobile dependency in the inner-city Harare, Smart Transportation has been a strong drive towards building sustainable cities. Conceptually, Smart Transportation constitutes of principles which include walking, cycling and mass transit. The Smart Transportation approach has been a success story in the cities of developing world but its application in the cities of developing countries has been doubtful. Cities of developing countries being multifaceted with several urban sustainability challenges, the study consolidates that there are no robust policy, legislative and institutional frameworks to govern the application of Smart Transportation in urban planning hence no clear roadway towards its success story. Questions regarding this investigation proliferate to; how capable are cities of developing countries to transform Smart Transportation principles to a success story? What victory can Smart Transportation bring to sustainable urban development? What are constraints of embracing the principles and how can they be manipulated? Methodologically the case study of urban syntax in Harare Central Business District and arterial roads of the city, legislation and institutional settings underpins various research outcomes. The study finds out the hindrances of policy, legislative and institutional incapacities cooked with economic constraints, lack of political will and technically inflexible zoning regulations. The study also elucidates that there is need to adopt a localized approach to Smart Transportation. The paper then calls for strengthening of institutional and legal reform in conquest to embrace the concept, policy and legislative support, feasible financial mechanism, coordination of responsible stakeholders, planning standards and regulatory frameworks reform to celebrate the success story of Smart Transportation in the developing world.

Keywords: inner-city Harare, new urbanism, smart transportation, sustainable cities

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Authors: B. F. Dada, B. S. Ewulo, M. A. Awodun, S. O. Ajayi

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Aggregate soil carbon distribution and stock in the soil in the form of a carbon pool is important for soil fertility and sequestration. The amount of carbon pool and other nutrients statues of the soil are to benefit plants, animal and the environment in the long run. This study was carried out at Akure North and South Local Government; the study area is one of the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State in the Southwest geo-political zone of Nigeria. The sites were divided into Map Grids and geo-referenced with Global Positioning System (GPS). Horizons were designated and morphological description carried out on the field. Pedons were characterized and classified according to USDA soil taxonomy. The local government area shares boundaries with; Ikere Local Government (LG) in the North, Ise Orun LG in the northwest, Ifedore LG in the northeast Akure South LG in the East, Ose LG in the South East, and Owo LG in the South. SOC-pool at Federal College of Agriculture topsoil horizon A2 is significantly higher than all horizons, 67.83 th⁻¹. The chemical properties of the pedons have shown that the soil is very strongly acidic to neutral reaction (4.68 – 6.73). The nutrients status of the soil topsoil A1 and A2 generally indicates that the soils have a low potential for retaining plant nutrients, and therefore call for adequate soil management.

Keywords: soil organic carbon (SOC), horizon, pedon, Akure

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Authors: Lei Zhang

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The carbon cycle greatly influences global change, and the land cover changes contribute to the status and rate of the carbon budget in ecosystems. This paper proposes a land cover classification system for mapping land cover, the national ecological environment assessment, and estimating carbon storage in ecosystems. The classification system consists of basic land cover classes at levels Ⅰ and Ⅱ and auxiliary features at level III. The basic 38 classes characterizing land cover features are derived from 19 criteria referring to composition, structure, pattern, phenology, etc. The basic classes reflect the status of carbon storage in ecosystems. The auxiliary classes at level III complement the attributes of higher levels by 9 criteria. The 5 environmental criteria of temperature, moisture, landform, aspect and slope mainly reflect the potential and intensity of carbon storage in ecosystems. The disturbance of vegetation succession caused by land use type influences the vegetation carbon budget. The other 3 vegetation cover criteria, growth period, and species characteristics further refine the vegetation types. The hierarchical structure of the land cover map (the classes of levels Ⅰ and Ⅱ) is independent of the products of level III, which is helpful for land cover product management and applications. The classification system has been adopted in the Chinese national land cover database for the carbon budget in ecosystems at a 30 m scale.

Keywords: classification system, land cover, ecosystem, carbon storage, object based

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Authors: Divya Pande

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The dynamics of culture expresses itself in language. Even after India got independence in 1947 English subtly crept in the language of the masses with a silent and powerful flow towards the vernacular. The culture contact resulted in learning and emergence of a new language across the Hindi speaking belt of Northern and Central India. The hybrid words thus formed displaced the original word and got contextualized and absorbed in the language of the common masses. The research paper explores the interesting new vocabulary used extensively in the urban and rural districts of the state of Uttar- Pradesh which is the most populous state of India. The paper adopts a two way classification- formal and contextual for the analysis of the hybrid vocabulary of the linguistic items where one element is necessarily from the English language and the other from the Hindi. The new vocabulary represents languages of the wider world cutting across the geographical and the cultural barriers. The paper also broadly points out to the Hinglish commonly used in the state.

Keywords: assimilation, culture contact, Hinglish, hybrid words

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Authors: K. Sushma Varma, Rajesh Singh

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Non-engineered landfills cause serious environmental damage due to toxic emissions and mobilization of persistent pollutants, organic and inorganic contaminants, as well as soluble metal ions. The available treatment technologies for landfill leachate and solid waste are not effective from an economic, environmental, and social standpoint. The present study assesses the potential of the bioelectrochemical system (BES) integrated with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in the sustainable treatment and decontamination of landfill wastes. For this purpose, solid waste and landfill leachate collected from different landfill sites were evaluated for long-term treatment using the integrated SRB-BES anaerobic designed bioreactors after pre-treatment. Based on periodic gas composition analysis, physicochemical characterization of the leachate and solid waste, and metal concentration determination, the present system demonstrated significant improvement in volumetric hydrogen production by suppressing methanogenesis. High reduction percentages of Be, Cr, Pb, Cd, Sb, Ni, Cr, COD, and sTOC removal were observed. This mineralization can be attributed to the synergistic effect of ammonia-assisted pre-treatment complexation and microbial sulphide formation. Despite being amended with 0.1N ammonia, the treated leachate level of NO³⁻ was found to be reduced along with SO₄²⁻. This integrated SRB-BES system can be recommended as an eco-friendly solution for landfill reclamation. The BES-treated solid waste was evidently more stabilized, as shown by a five-fold increase in surface area, and potentially useful for leachate immobilization and bio-fortification of agricultural fields. The vector arrangement and magnitude showed similar treatment with differences in magnitudes for both leachate and solid waste. These findings support the efficacy of SRB-BES in the treatment of landfill leachate and solid waste sustainably, inching a step closer to our sustainable development goals. It utilizes low-cost treatment, and anaerobic SRB adapted to landfill sites. This technology may prove to be a sustainable treatment strategy upon scaling up as its outcomes are two-pronged: landfill waste treatment and energy recovery.

Keywords: bio-electrochemical system, leachate /solid waste treatment, landfill leachate, sulfate-reducing bacteria

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Authors: Daniel Benson, Yundan Gong, Hannah Kirk

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Advancement in national language processing techniques has led to increased data processing speeds, and reduced the need for cumbersome, manual data processing that is often required when processing data from multilateral organizations for specific purposes. As such, using named entity recognition (NER) modeling and the Organisation of Economically Developed Countries (OECD) Creditor Reporting System database, we present the first geotagged dataset of OECD donor Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects on a global, subnational basis. Our resulting data contains 52,086 ODA projects geocoded to subnational locations across 115 countries, worth a combined $87.9bn. This represents the first global, OECD donor ODA project database with geocoded projects. We use this new data to revisit old questions of how ‘well’ donors allocate ODA to the developing world. This understanding is imperative for policymakers seeking to improve ODA effectiveness.

Keywords: international aid, geocoding, subnational data, natural language processing, machine learning

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Authors: Kevin Smith

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Publicly traded company in the US are legally obligated to host earnings calls that discuss their most recent financial reports. During these calls, investors are able to ask these companies questions about these financial reports and on the future direction of the company. This paper examines whether common institutional owners use these calls as a way to indirectly signal to companies in their portfolio to not take actions that could hurt the common owner's interests. This paper uses transcripts taken from the earnings calls of the six largest health insurance companies in the US from 2014 to 2019. This data is analyzed using text analysis and sentiment analysis to look for patterns in the statements made by common owners. The analysis found that common owners where more likely to recommend against direct price competition and instead redirect the insurance companies towards more passive actions, like investing in new technologies. This result indicates a mechanism that common owners use to reduce competition in the health insurance market.

Keywords: common ownership, text analysis, sentiment analysis, machine learning

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Authors: Afroza Khatun, Masuma, Md. Younus Mia, Kamal Kanta Das

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Analysis of the microbial status and physicochemical parameters of some branded and street vended ice cream showed that total viable bacteria in branded ice cream ranged from 4.8×10³ to 1.10×10⁵ cfu/ml, and in street vended ice-cream ranged from 7.5×10⁴ to 1.6×10⁸ cfu/ml. Total coliform bacteria present up to 9.20×10³ cfu/ml in branded ice cream and 5.3×10³ to 9.6×10⁶ cfu/ml observed in street vended ice cream. Total E. coli were found to be present within a range from 0 to 4.5×10³ cfu/ml in branded and 4.1×10² to 7.5×10⁴ cfu/ml in street ice cream. The ranges of Staphylococcus aureus count were 1.8×10² to 2.9×10⁴ cfu/ml (branded) and 3.9×10⁴ to 7.9×10⁶ cfu/ml (street). The pH of both types of ice cream showed acidic to neutral conditions where the concentration of pH for branded ice cream was 5.5 to 6.9, as well as the value of pH in street ice cream, was 6.2 to 7.0. The range of Total soluble solids in several branded ice creams was 26 to 29%, and the value of TSS obtained in street-vended ice-creams ranged from 5 to 10%. The overall results of this research demonstrated that the microbial quality in all street ice creams exceeded the BSTI standard and exhibited lower quality than the industrially produced branded ice creams due to comparatively faulty manufacturing processes and poor hygiene practices. The presence of pathogenic microbes was also observed in branded ice creams which was quite alarming for public health. So it is suggested that the government authorized organization should conduct the proper monitoring system to ensure that both branded and street vended ice-creams are microbiologically safe to prevent public health hazards.

Keywords: food safety, microbiological analysis, physicochemical, ice-cream, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus

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Authors: Justina I. R. Udotong, Essien U. Essien

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Diagnostic enzymes like aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined as indices of heavy metal pollution in Tilapia guinensis. Three different sets of fishes treated with lead (Pb), iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) were used for the study while a fourth group with no heavy metal served as a control. Fishes in each of the groups were exposed to 2.65 mg/l of Pb, 0.85 mg/l of Fe and 0.35 mg/l of Cu in aerated aquaria for 96 hours. Tissue fractionation of the liver tissues was carried out and the three diagnostic enzymes (AST, ALT, and ALP) were estimated. Serum levels of the same diagnostic enzymes were also measured. The mean values of the serum enzyme activity for ALP in each experimental group were 19.5±1.62, 29.67±2.17 and 1.15±0.27 IU/L for Pb, Fe and Cu groups compared with 9.99±1.34 IU/L enzyme activity in the control. This result showed that Pb and Fe caused increased release of the enzyme into the blood circulation indicating increased tissue damage while Cu caused a reduction in the serum level as compared with the level in the control group. The mean values of enzyme activity obtained in the liver were 102.14±6.12, 140.17±2.06 and 168.23±3.52 IU/L for Pb, Fe and Cu groups, respectively compared to 91.20±9.42 IU/L enzyme activity for the control group. The serum and liver AST and ALT activities obtained in Pb, Fe, Cu and control groups are reported. It was generally noted that the presence of the heavy metal caused liver tissues damage and consequent increased level of the diagnostic enzymes in the serum.

Keywords: diagnostic enzymes, enzyme activity, heavy metals, tissues investigations

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Authors: Shpresa Agani, Nysret Agani

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Studies have found that women, during the 1st stage of labour, respectively cervical effacement, experience anxiety. This study aims to measure the degree of anxiety during cervical effacement, using Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) for measuring anxiety symptoms (HSCL-25). A randomized prospective study with 300 women during the 1st stage of labour was conducted where cervical effacement percentage in parallel with the symptoms of anxiety was examined. Anxiety degree levels were examined by HSCL-25. Results showed that 81% were primiparous, while 19% were multiparous. All participants experienced anxiety symptoms, and the degree of anxiety depended on the stage of the birth process. Groups-based modeling according to HSCL- 2 identified three distinct groups of anxiety symptoms: group 1 (low degree, 32 cases or 11%), group 2 (mild degree, 186 cases or 62%), and group 3 (high degree, 82 cases or 27%). Depending on the percentage of cervical effacement, the anxiety degree increased. In a cervical effacement of 0-60-%, 125 cases or 41.6% had symptoms of anxiety, while in a cervical effacement of 60-100%, 174 cases or 58.4% had symptoms of anxiety (Chi-Square X2 (4,N=300)=10.755, p=0.02). This study showed a correlation between cervical effacement and the degree of anxiety. Further, it was found that the majority of participants experienced symptoms of anxiety during the cervical effacement process. The degree of anxiety increased in direct proportion to the degree of the cervical effacement process. The higher the percentage of cervical effacement, the higher the degree of anxiety. A continuing assessment of the psychological well-being of women throughout the birth process.

Keywords: anxiety, cervical effacement, pregnancy, HSCL-25

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Authors: Mahdi Bazarganigilani

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Aortic enlargement, also known as an aortic aneurysm, can occur when the walls of the aorta become weak. This disease can become deadly if overlooked and undiagnosed. In this paper, a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system was introduced to accurately diagnose aortic enlargement from chest x-ray images. An enhanced convolutional neural network (CNN) was employed and then trained by transfer learning by using three different main areas from the original images. The areas included the left lung, heart, and right lung. The accuracy of the system was then evaluated on 1001 samples by using 4-fold cross-validation. A promising accuracy of 90% was achieved in terms of the F-measure indicator. The results showed using different areas from the original image in the training phase of CNN could increase the accuracy of predictions. This encouraged the author to evaluate this method on a larger dataset and even on different CAD systems for further enhancement of this methodology.

Keywords: computer-aided diagnosis systems, aortic enlargement, chest X-ray, image processing, convolutional neural networks

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Authors: Subodh Chandra Shakya, Badal Shrestha, Suni Thapa, Ashutosh Chauhan, Saugat Adhikari

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To tackle our problem of clothes identification, we used different architectures of Convolutional Neural Networks. Among different architectures, the outcome from Inception ResNet V2 and MobileNet V2 seemed promising. On comparison of the metrices, we observed that the Inception ResNet V2 slightly outperforms MobileNet V2 for this purpose. So this paper of ours proposes the cloth identifier using Inception ResNet V2 and also contains the comparison between the outcome of ResNet V2 and MobileNet V2. The document here contains the results and findings of the research that we performed on the DeepFashion Dataset. To improve the dataset, we used different image preprocessing techniques like image shearing, image rotation, and denoising. The whole experiment was conducted with the intention of testing the efficiency of convolutional neural networks on cloth identification so that we could develop a reliable system that is good enough in identifying the clothes worn by the users. The whole system can be integrated with some kind of recommendation system.

Keywords: inception ResNet, convolutional neural net, deep learning, confusion matrix, data augmentation, data preprocessing

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Authors: Nagham Ismail, Djamel Ouahrani

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Thermal resilience in the built environment reflects the building's capacity to adapt to extreme climate changes. In hot climates, power outages in office buildings pose risks to the health and productivity of workers. Therefore, it is of interest to quantify the thermal resilience of office buildings by developing a user-friendly simplified model. This simplified model begins with creating an assessment metric of thermal resilience that measures the duration between the power outage and the point at which the thermal habitability condition is compromised, considering different power interruption times (morning, noon, and afternoon). In this context, energy simulations of an office building are conducted for Qatar's summer weather by changing different parameters that are related to the (i) wall characteristics, (ii) glazing characteristics, (iii) load, (iv) orientation and (v) air leakage. The simulation results are processed using SPSS to derive linear regression equations, aiding stakeholders in evaluating the performance of commercial buildings during different power interruption times. The findings reveal the significant influence of glazing characteristics on thermal resilience, with the morning power outage scenario posing the most detrimental impact in terms of the shortest duration before compromising thermal resilience.

Keywords: thermal resilience, thermal envelope, energy modeling, building simulation, thermal comfort, power disruption, extreme weather

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Authors: Srikantan L. Jayasri, James Gan

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The changes in Singapore’s land use, natural preference of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to live in forest edges and their adaptability has led to interface between humans and macaques. Studies have shown that two-third of human-macaque interactions in Singapore were related to human food. We aimed to assess differences among macaques groups in their dependence on human food and interaction with humans as indicators of the level of interface. Field observations using instantaneous scan sampling and all occurrence ad-lib sampling were carried out for 23 macaque groups over 28 days recording 71.5 hours of observations. Data on macaque behaviour, demography, frequency, and nature of human-macaque interactions were collected. None of the groups were found to completely rely on human food source. Of the 23 groups, 40% of them were directly or indirectly provisioned by humans. One-third of the groups observed engaged in some form of interactions with the humans. Three groups that were directly fed by humans contributed to 83% of the total human-macaque interactions observed during the study. Our study indicated that interactions between humans and macaques exist in specific groups and in those fed by humans regularly. Although feeding monkeys is illegal in Singapore, such incidents seem to persist in specific locations. We emphasize the importance of group and location-specific assessment of the existing human-wildlife interactions. Conflict management strategies developed should be location specific to address the cause of interactions.

Keywords: primates, Southeast Asia, wildlife management, Singapore

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Authors: Jia Li, Xing Wei, Yuchen Hong, Yang Lu

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Detecting vehicle behavior has always been the focus of intelligent transportation, but with the explosive growth of the number of vehicles and the complexity of the road environment, the vehicle behavior videos captured by traditional surveillance have been unable to satisfy the study of vehicle behavior. The traditional method of manually labeling vehicle behavior is too time-consuming and labor-intensive, but the existing object detection and tracking algorithms have poor practicability and low behavioral location detection rate. This paper proposes a vehicle behavior detection algorithm based on the dual-stream convolution network and the multi-dimensional video dynamic detection network. In the videos, the straight-line behavior of the vehicle will default to the background behavior. The Changing lanes, turning and turning around are set as target behaviors. The purpose of this model is to automatically mark the target behavior of the vehicle from the untrimmed videos. First, the target behavior proposals in the long video are extracted through the dual-stream convolution network. The model uses a dual-stream convolutional network to generate a one-dimensional action score waveform, and then extract segments with scores above a given threshold M into preliminary vehicle behavior proposals. Second, the preliminary proposals are pruned and identified using the multi-dimensional video dynamic detection network. Referring to the hierarchical reinforcement learning, the multi-dimensional network includes a Timer module and a Spacer module, where the Timer module mines time information in the video stream and the Spacer module extracts spatial information in the video frame. The Timer and Spacer module are implemented by Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and start from an all-zero hidden state. The Timer module uses the Transformer mechanism to extract timing information from the video stream and extract features by linear mapping and other methods. Finally, the model fuses time information and spatial information and obtains the location and category of the behavior through the softmax layer. This paper uses recall and precision to measure the performance of the model. Extensive experiments show that based on the dataset of this paper, the proposed model has obvious advantages compared with the existing state-of-the-art behavior detection algorithms. When the Time Intersection over Union (TIoU) threshold is 0.5, the Average-Precision (MP) reaches 36.3% (the MP of baselines is 21.5%). In summary, this paper proposes a vehicle behavior detection model based on multi-dimensional dynamic detection network. This paper introduces spatial information and temporal information to extract vehicle behaviors in long videos. Experiments show that the proposed algorithm is advanced and accurate in-vehicle timing behavior detection. In the future, the focus will be on simultaneously detecting the timing behavior of multiple vehicles in complex traffic scenes (such as a busy street) while ensuring accuracy.

Keywords: vehicle behavior detection, convolutional neural network, long short-term memory, deep learning

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Authors: Nanjiang Chen

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In the backdrop of expanding urban landscapes, accurately assessing spatial openness is critical. Traditional visibility analysis methods grapple with discretization errors and inefficiencies, creating a gap in truly capturing the human experi-ence of space. Addressing these gaps, this paper introduces a distinct continuous visibility algorithm, a leap in measuring urban spaces from a human-centric per-spective. This study presents a methodological breakthrough by applying this algorithm to urban visibility analysis. Unlike conventional approaches, this tech-nique allows for a continuous range of visibility assessment, closely mirroring hu-man visual perception. By eliminating the need for predefined subdivisions in ray casting, it offers a more accurate and efficient tool for urban planners and architects. The proposed algorithm not only reduces computational errors but also demonstrates faster processing capabilities, validated through a case study in Bei-jing's urban setting. Its key distinction lies in its potential to benefit a broad spec-trum of stakeholders, ranging from urban developers to public policymakers, aid-ing in the creation of urban spaces that prioritize visual openness and quality of life. This advancement in urban analysis methods could lead to more inclusive, comfortable, and well-integrated urban environments, enhancing the spatial experience for communities worldwide.

Keywords: visual openness, spatial continuity, ray-tracing algorithms, urban computation

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Authors: Mekonen G., Sileshi M., Melkamu M.

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Recharge estimation is important for the assessment and management of groundwater resources effectively. This study applied the soil moisture balance and Baseflow separation methods to estimate groundwater recharge in the Fetam Catchment. It is one of the major catchments understudied from the different catchments in the upper Blue Nile River basin. Surface water has been subjected to high seasonal variation; due to this, groundwater is a primary option for drinking water supply to the community. This research has been conducted to estimate groundwater recharge by using fifteen years of River flow data for the Baseflow separation and ten years of daily meteorological data for the daily soil moisture balance recharge estimating method. The recharge rate by the two methods is 170.5 and 244.9mm/year daily soil moisture and baseflow separation method, respectively, and the average recharge is 207.7mm/year. The average value of annual recharge in the catchment is almost equal to the average recharge in the country, which is 200mm/year. So, each method has its own limitations, and taking the average value is preferable rather than taking a single value. Baseflow provides overestimated result compared to the average of the two, and soil moisture balance is the list estimator. The recharge estimation in the area also should be done by other recharge estimation methods.

Keywords: groundwater, recharge, baseflow separation, soil moisture balance, Fetam catchment

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Authors: Maria T. Mamba, Febe Marl G. Paat

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The illustrious estimation that psychology majors, psychologists and allied psychology practitioners as expert behavior analysts, if not, “life enthusiasts” spurred two essentially linked endeavors. First, the reconsideration of the time-honored ingenuity and expectations from psychologists such as the ability to perceive ways to undertake a range of difficulties, the ability to apply psychology in order to self-regulate and to display personal integrity, and among others. Second, is to ascertain solid support to uphold aforesaid expectations. This study achieved its goals by having explored how two burgeoning constructs- RQ and EQ play parts in the lives of psychology people. Having involved the total population of psychology majors in Cagayan State University along with the use of Emotional Quotient Test and Resilience Assessment Questionnaire, the study provides a précis of how perceived “champions” of psychological well-being respond emotionally to different situations and deal effectively with and even thrive on the demands of frequently changing environmental circumstances. Significant findings about how the major variables correlated with the population’s demographic profile (e.g. age, sex, and year level) were also accounted. To realize a more academic concept with the present study, significant connections between RQ (self-assurance, personal vision, flexible and adaptable, organized, problem solver, interpersonal competence, socially connected, and active) and EQ (e.g. emotional maturity, emotional sensitivity, and emotional competency) dimensions were uncovered.

Keywords: emotional quotient, resilience quotient, psychology majors, exploring

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Authors: Engy Eissa, Dina M. Yousri

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COVID-19 has hit massively the world economy, financial markets and even societies’ livelihood. The infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus was claimed responsible for a shrink in the global economy by 4.4% in 2020. Shortly after the first case in Wuhan was identified, a quick surge in the number of confirmed cases in China was evident and a vast spread worldwide is recorded with cases surpassing the 500,000 cases. Irrespective of the disease’s trajectory in each country, a call for immediate action and prompt government intervention was needed. Given that there is no one-size-fits-all approach across the world, a number of containment and adoption policies were embraced. It was starting by enforcing complete lockdown like China to even stricter policies targeted containing the spread of the virus, augmenting the efficiency of health systems, and controlling the economic outcomes arising from this crisis. Hence, this paper has three folds; first, it examines the impact of containment policies taken by governments on controlling the number of cases and deaths in the given countries. Second, to assess the ramifications of COVID-19 on financial markets measured by stock returns. Third, to study the impact of containment policies measured by the government response index, the stringency index, the containment health index, and the economic support index on financial markets performance. Using a sample of daily data covering the period 31st of January 2020 to 15th of April 2021 for the 10 most hit countries in wave one by COVID-19 namely; Brazil, India, Turkey, Russia, UK, USA, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. The aforementioned relationships were tested using Panel VAR Regression. The preliminary results showed that the number of daily deaths had an impact on the stock returns; moreover, the health containment policies and the economic support provided by the governments had a significant effect on lowering the impact of COVID-19 on stock returns.

Keywords: COVID-19, government policies, stock returns, VAR

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Authors: Yessentayeva K. Y., Berzhanova R. Z., Mukasheva T. D.

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The purpose of this study was to study the microbial diversity of soils with long-standing hydrocarbon pollution in the S. Balgimbayev field (Kazakhstan), where the transformation of meadow coastal soils technogenic solonchak soils, as well as the assessment of the degradation potential of microorganisms perspective for the use for bioremediation. In the present work autochthonous microorganisms of the surface horizon of soils were investigated. In samples with a low degree of pollution the number of microorganisms, was comparable to the number in the uncontaminated soil and was 103 - 104 CFU/g. and one and two orders of magnitude lower in samples with high oil content. A collection of microorganisms was created using different culture media, which made it possible to isolate isolates that play a key role in different successional stages of biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons. The collection included the main bacterial filiiments, Protobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Mycelial fungi andyeast-like fungwere assigned to the Ascomycota division. Studies showed that the percentage of isolates capable of growth in hydrocarbons varied. More than 50 % of the isolates grew on crude oil, a low percentage of less than 10 % of the isolates grew on an anthracene, phenanthrene and naphthalene, more than 20 % of the isolates belonging to different genera Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Rhodococcus, Achromobacter, Gordonia, Microbacterium, and Trichosporon, characterized the growth on two or three different hydrocarbons. The ability to grow using all hydrocarbons, associated with the synthesis of biosurfactants, was detected only in a few isolates.

Keywords: oil, soil, number of bioremediation, biodegradation, microorganisms, hydrocarbons – oxidizing microorganisms

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Authors: Behdoukht Mall Amiri, Zohreh Gheydar

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The thrust of the current study was to investigate the relationship among EFL learners' creativity (CR), emotional intelligence (EI), and self-efficacy (SE). To this end, a group of 120 male and female learners, between the ages of 19 and 35 studying BA in English Translation and MA in Teaching English at Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran were selected using convenient sampling and were given three questionnaires: Bar-On’s EQ-I questionnaire by Bar-On (1997), the General Self-Efficacy Scale questionnaire (SGSES) by Sherer et al. (1982), and a questionnaire of creativity (CR) by O'Neil, Abedi, and Spielberger (1992). Analysis of the results through Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient showed that there was not a significant relationship between students’ CR and EI, and EI and SE. In addition, CR and SE were correlated significantly but negatively. Multiple regressions revealed that CR could significantly predict SE. Regarding the findings of the study, the obtained results may help EFL teachers, teacher trainers, materials developers, and educational policy makers to possess a broader perspective and heightened degree knowledge toward the TEFL practice and to take practical steps toward the attainments of the desired objectives of the profession.

Keywords: creativity, emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, learning

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Authors: Arezou Javadi

Abstract:

The use of algorithmic models dependent on software calculations and simulation of new government management assays with the help of specialized software had increased the productivity and efficiency of the government management system recently. This has caused the management approach to change from the old bitch & fix model, which has low efficiency and less usefulness, to the capable management model with higher efficiency called the partnership with resident model. By using Govpilot TM software, the relationship between people in a system and the government was examined. The method of two tailed interaction was the outsourcing of a goal in a system, which is formed in the order of goals, qualified executive people, optimal executive model, and finally, summarizing additional activities at the different statistical levels. The results showed that the participation of people in a financial implementation system with a statistical potential of P≥5% caused a significant increase in investment and initial capital in the government system with maximum implement project in a smart government.

Keywords: machine learning, financial income, statistical potential, govpilot

Procedia PDF Downloads 73