Search results for: generational difference

Authors: Gayani Ranawake, Kate Wilson

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Underrepresentation of women in academia, particularly in science, has been discussed by many scholars for decades. The causes of this underrepresentation are debated to this day. Publication is an important aspect of success in academia, and publication and citation rates are significant metrics in performance review, promotion, and employment. It has been established that men’s and women’s language use in general, both spoken and written, is different. However, no one, to our knowledge, has looked at whether men’s and women’s writing in science is different. If there are significant differences in the writing of men and women, then these differences may affect women’s ability to succeed in science. This study is part of a larger project to explore whether differences can be recognized in the academic science writing of men and women. Mono authored articles from high ranking physics, biology and psychology journals by men and women authors were compared in terms of readability statistics. In particular, the abstract and introduction sections were compared, as these are the first sections encountered by a reviewer, and so may have an important effect on their impression of the work. The Flesch Reading Ease, the percentage of passive sentences and the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level were calculated for each section of each article, along with counts of numbers of sentences, words per sentence and sentences per paragraph. Significance of differences was tested using the Behrens statistic. It was found that for both physics and biology papers there were no significant differences in the complexity or verbosity of the writing of men and women authors. However, there was a significant difference between the two disciplines, with physics articles being generally more readable (higher readability score) while also more passive (higher number of passive sentences). In contrast, the psychology articles showed a difference between men and women authors which may be significant. The average readability for introductions in women’s articles was 28 which was higher than for men’s articles, which was 19 (higher values indicate more readable). Women’s articles in psychology also had a greater proportion of passive sentences. It can be concluded that, at least in the more traditional sciences, men and women have adopted similar ways of writing, and that disciplinary differences are greater than gender differences. This may not be the case in psychology, which many consider to be more closely aligned with the humanities. Whether the lack of differences is because women have adapted to a masculine way of writing, or whether the genre itself is gender neutral needs further investigation.

Keywords: academic writing, gender differences, readability, science

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Kamal Tolani, Sandeep Kumar, Rohit Luthra, Ankit Dadhania, Krishnaprasad K., Ram Gupta, Deepa Joshi

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Background: Post-operative analgesia remains a clinical challenge, with central and peripheral sensitization playing a pivotal role in treatment-related complications and impaired quality of life. Centrally acting opioids offer poor risk benefit profile with increased intensity of gastrointestinal or central side effects and slow onset of clinical analgesia. The objective of this study was to assess the clinical feasibility of induction and maintenance therapy with Tapentadol Nasal Spray (NS) in moderate to severe acute post-operative pain. Methods: Phase III, randomized, active-controlled, non-inferiority clinical trial involving 294 cases who had undergone surgical procedures under general anesthesia or regional anesthesia. Post-surgery patients were randomized to receive either Tapentadol NS 45 mg or Tramadol 100mg IV as a bolus and subsequent 50 mg or 100 mg dose over 2-3 minutes. The frequency of administration of NS was at every 4-6 hours. At the end of 24 hrs, patients in the tramadol group who had a pain intensity score of ≥4 were switched to oral tramadol immediate release 100mg capsule until the pain intensity score reduced to <4. All patients who had achieved pain intensity ≤ 4 were shifted to a lower dose of either Tapentadol NS 22.5 mg or oral Tramadol immediate release 50mg capsule. The statistical analysis plan was envisaged as a non-inferiority trial involving comparison with Tramadol for Pain intensity difference at 60 minutes (PID60min), Sum of Pain intensity difference at 60 minutes (SPID60min), and Physician Global Assessment at 24 hrs (PGA24 hrs). Results: The per-protocol analyses involved 255 hospitalized cases undergoing surgical procedures. The median age of patients was 38.0 years. For the primary efficacy variables, Tapentadol NS was non-inferior to Inj/Oral Tramadol in relief of moderate to severe post-operative pain. On the basis of SPID60min, no clinically significant difference was observed between Tapentadol NS and Tramadol IV (1.73±2.24 vs. 1.64± 1.92, -0.09 [95% CI, -0.43, 0.60]). In the co-primary endpoint PGA24hrs, Tapentadol NS was non–inferior to Tramadol IV (2.12 ± 0.707 vs. 2.02 ±0.704, - 0.11[95% CI, -0.07, 0.28). However, on further assessment at 48hr, 72 hrs, and 120hrs, clinically superior pain relief was observed with the Tapentadol NS formulation that was statistically significant (p <0.05) at each of the time intervals. Secondary efficacy measures, including the onset of clinical analgesia and TOTPAR, showed non-inferiority to Tramadol. The safety profile and need for rescue medication were also similar in both the groups during the treatment period. The most common concomitant medications were anti-bacterial (98.3%). Conclusion: Tapentadol NS is a clinically feasible option for improved compliance as induction and maintenance therapy while offering a sustained and persistent patient response that is clinically meaningful in post-surgical settings.

Keywords: tapentadol nasal spray, acute pain, tramadol, post-operative pain

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Ashraf Mohammadzadeh, Ahmad Shah Farhat, Azin Vaezi, Aradokht Vaezi

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Background & Aim: Preterm infants born at less than 34 weeks postconceptional age are not as neurologically mature as their term counterparts and thus have difficulty coordinating sucking, swallowing and breathing. As a result, they are traditionally gavage fed until they are able to oral feed successfully. The aim of study was to evaluate comparative effect of orogastric and breast feeding on oxygen saturation in very low birth weight infant (<1500gm). Patients and Methods: In this clinical trial all babies admitted in the Neonatal Research Center of Imamreza Hospital, Mashhad during a 4 months period were elected. Criteria for entrance to study included birth weight ≤ 1500 grams, exclusive breastfeeding, having no special problem after 48 hours, receivinge only routine care and intake of milk was 100cc/kg/day. Each neonate received two rounds of orogastric and breast feeding in the morning and in the afternoon, during which mean oxygen saturation was measured by pulse-oxymetry. During the study the heart rate and temperature of the neonates were monitored, and in case of hypothermia, bradycardia(less than 100 per minute) or apnea the feeding was discontinued and the study was repeated the following day. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS. Results: Fifty neonates were studied. The average birth weight was 1267.20±165.42 grams and average gestational age was 31.81±1.92 and female/male ratio was 1.2. There was no significant statistical difference in arterial oxygen saturation in orogastric and breast feeding in the morning and in the afternoon. (p=0.16 in the morning and p=0.6 in the afternoon). There was no complication of apnea, hypothermia or bradycardia. Conclusion: There was no significant statistical difference between the two methods in arterial oxygen saturation. It seems that oral feeding (which is a natural route) and skin contact between the mother and neonate causes a strong emotional bonding between the two and brings about better social adaptation for the neonate. Also shorter period of stay in hospital is more preferred, and breast feeding should be started at the earliest possible time after birth.

Keywords: Very low birth weight (V.L.B.W), O2 Saturation, Breast Feeding, Tube Feeding

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Authors: Su-Thing Ho, Shiao-Shing Chen, Hung-Te Hsu, Saikat Sinha Ray

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Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging technology for direct and indirect potable water reuse application. However, successful implementation of FO is still hindered by the lack of draw solution recovery with high efficiency. Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermal separation process by using hydrophobic microporous membrane that is kept in sandwich mode between warm feed stream and cold permeate stream. Typically, temperature difference is the driving force of MD which attributed by the partial vapor pressure difference across the membrane. In this study, the direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) system was used to recover diluted draw solution of FO. Na3PO4 at pH 9 and EDTA-2Na at pH 8 were used as the feed solution for MD since it produces high water flux and minimized salt leakage in FO process. At high pH, trivalent and tetravalent ions are much easier to remain at draw solution side in FO process. The result demonstrated that PTFE with pore size of 1 μm could achieve the highest water flux (12.02 L/m2h), followed by PTFE 0.45 μm (10.05 L/m2h), PTFE 0.1 μm (7.38 L/m2h) and then PP (7.17 L/m2h) while using 0.1 M Na3PO4 draw solute. The concentration of phosphate and conductivity in the PTFE (0.45 μm) permeate were low as 1.05 mg/L and 2.89 μm/cm respectively. Although PTFE with the pore size of 1 μm could obtain the highest water flux, but the concentration of phosphate in permeate was higher than other kinds of MD membranes. This study indicated that four kinds of MD membranes performed well and PTFE with the pore size of 0.45 μm was the best among tested membranes to achieve high water flux and high rejection of phosphate (99.99%) in recovery of diluted draw solution. Besides that, the results demonstrate that it can obtain high water flux and high rejection of phosphate when operated with cross flow velocity of 0.103 m/s with Tfeed of 60 ℃ and Tdistillate of 20 ℃. In addition to that, the result shows that Na3PO4 is more suitable for recovery than EDTA-2Na. Besides that, while recovering the diluted Na3PO4, it can obtain the high purity of permeate water. The overall performance indicates that, the utilization of DCMD is a promising technology to recover the diluted draw solution for FO process.

Keywords: membrane distillation, forward osmosis, draw solution, recovery

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Authors: Pejman Taghibeikzadehbadr

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Background and Aim: PGC-1 alpha is a transcription factor that was first detected in brown adipose tissue. Since its discovery, PGC-1 alpha has been known to facilitate beneficial adaptations such as mitochondrial biogenesis and increased angiogenesis in skeletal muscle following aerobic exercise. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of PGC-1 alpha isoforms in response to eccentric and concentric resistance training in healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: Ten healthy men were randomly divided into two groups (5 patients in eccentric group - 5 in eccentric group). Isokinetic contraction protocols included eccentric and concentric knee extension with maximum power and angular velocity of 60 degrees per second. The torques assigned to each subject were considered to match the workload in both protocols, with a rotational speed of 60 degrees per second. Contractions consisted of a maximum of 12 sets of 10 repetitions for the right leg, a rest time of 30 seconds between each set. At the beginning and end of the study, biopsy of the lateral broad muscle tissue was performed. Biopsies were performed in both distal and proximal directions of the lateral flank. To evaluate the expression of PGC1α-1 and PGC1α-4 genes, tissue analysis was performed in each group using Real-Time PCR technique. Data were analyzed using dependent t-test and covariance test. SPSS21 software and Exell 2013 software were used for data analysis. Results: The results showed that intra-group changes of PGC1α-1 after one session of activity were not significant in eccentric (p = 0.168) and concentric (p = 0.959) groups. Also, inter-group changes showed no difference between the two groups (p = 0.681). Also, intra-group changes of PGC1α-4 after one session of activity were significant in an eccentric group (p = 0.012) and concentric group (p = 0.02). Also, inter-group changes showed no difference between the two groups (p = 0.362). Conclusion: It seems that the lack of significant changes in the desired variables due to the lack of exercise pressure is sufficient to stimulate the increase of PGC1α-1 and PGC1α-4. And with regard to reviewing the answer, it seems that the compatibility debate has different results that need to be addressed.

Keywords: eccentric contraction, concentric contraction, PGC1α-1 و PGC1α-4, human subject

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Authors: Lijuan Li

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Nitric oxide (NO) has become a fascinating entity in biological chemistry over the past few years. It is a gaseous lipophilic radical molecule that plays important roles in several physiological and pathophysiological processes in mammals, including activating the immune response, serving as a neurotransmitter, regulating the cardiovascular system, and acting as an endothelium-derived relaxing factor. NO functions in eukaryotes both as a signal molecule at nanomolar concentrations and as a cytotoxic agent at micromolar concentrations. The latter arises from the ability of NO to react readily with a variety of cellular targets leading to thiol S-nitrosation, amino acid N-nitrosation, and nitrosative DNA damage. Nitric oxide can readily bind to metals to give metal-nitrosyl (M-NO) complexes. Some of these species are known to play roles in biological NO storage and transport. These complexes have different biological, photochemical, or spectroscopic properties due to distinctive structural features. These recent discoveries have spawned a great interest in the development of transition metal complexes containing NO, particularly its iron complexes that are central to the role of nitric oxide in the body. Spectroscopic evidence would appear to implicate species of “Fe(NO)2+” type in a variety of processes ranging from polymerization, carcinogenesis, to nitric oxide stores. Our research focuses on isolation and structural studies of non-heme iron nitrosyls that mimic biologically active compounds and can potentially be used for anticancer drug therapy. We have shown that reactions between Fe(NO)2(CO)2 and a series of imidazoles generated new non-heme iron nitrosyls of the form Fe(NO)2(L)2 [L = imidazole, 1-methylimidazole, 4-methylimidazole, benzimidazole, 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole, and L-histidine] and a tetrameric cluster of [Fe(NO)2(L)]4 (L=Im, 4-MeIm, BzIm, and Me2BzIm), resulted from the interactions of Fe(NO)2 with a series of substituted imidazoles was prepared. Recently, a series of sulfur bridged iron di nitrosyl complexes with the general formula of [Fe(µ-RS)(NO)2]2 (R = n-Pr, t-Bu, 6-methyl-2-pyridyl, and 4,6-dimethyl-2-pyrimidyl), were synthesized by the reaction of Fe(NO)2(CO)2 with thiols or thiolates. Their structures and properties were studied by IR, UV-vis, 1H-NMR, EPR, electrochemistry, X-ray diffraction analysis and DFT calculations. IR spectra of these complexes display one weak and two strong NO stretching frequencies (νNO) in solution, but only two strong νNO in solid. DFT calculations suggest that two spatial isomers of these complexes bear 3 Kcal energy difference in solution. The paramagnetic complexes [Fe2(µ-RS)2(NO)4]-, have also been investigated by EPR spectroscopy. Interestingly, the EPR spectra of complexes exhibit an isotropic signal of g = 1.998 - 2.004 without hyperfine splitting. The observations are consistent with the results of calculations, which reveal that the unpaired electron dominantly delocalize over the two sulfur and two iron atoms. The difference of the g values between the reduced form of iron-sulfur clusters and the typical monomeric di nitrosyl iron complexes is explained, for the first time, by of the difference in unpaired electron distributions between the two types of complexes, which provides the theoretical basis for the use of g value as a spectroscopic tool to differentiate these biologically active complexes.

Keywords: di nitrosyl iron complex, metal nitrosyl, non-heme iron, nitric oxide

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Authors: Hiroki Tsuneda, Takamasa Suzuki, Hideki Yamamoto, Kimito Kawamura, Eiji Tamura, Katharina Wochner, Roberto Plasenzotti

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Flow property of human blood is one of the important factors on the prevention of the circulatory condition such as a high blood pressure, a diabetes mellitus, and a cardiac infarction. However, the measurement of flow property of human blood, especially blood viscosity, is not so easy, because of their coagulation or aggregation behaviors after taking a sample from blood vessel. In the experiment, some kinds of anticoagulant were added into the human blood to avoid its solidification. Anticoagulant used in the blood test has been chosen for each purpose of blood test, for anticoagulant effect on blood is different mechanism for each. So that, there is a problem that the evaluation of measured blood property with different anticoagulant is so difficult. Therefore, it is so important to make clear the difference of anticoagulant effect on the blood property. In the previous work, a compact-size falling needle rheometer (FNR) has been developed in order to measure the flow property of human blood such as a flow curve, an apparent viscosity. It was found that FNR system can apply to a rheometer or a viscometry for various experimental conditions for not only human blood but also mammalians blood. In this study, the measurements of human blood viscosity with different anticoagulant (EDTA and Heparin) were carried out using newly developed FNR system. The effect of anticoagulant on blood viscosity was also tested by using the standard liquid for each. The accuracy on the viscometry was also tested by using the standard liquid for calibrating materials (JS-10, JS-20) and observed data have satisfactory agreement with reference data around 1.0% at 310K. The flow curve of six males and females with different anticoagulant were measured using FNR. In this experiment, EDTA and Heparin were chosen as anticoagulant for blood. Heparin can inhibit the coagulation of human blood by activating the body of anti-thrombin. To examine the effect of human blood viscosity on anticoagulant, flow curve was measured at high shear rate (＞350s-1), and apparent viscosity of each person were determined with different anticoagulant. The apparent viscosity of human blood with heparin was 2%-9% higher than that with EDTA. However, the difference of blood viscosity for two anticoagulants for same blood was different for each. Further discussion, we need the consideration of effect on other physical property, such as cellular component and plasma component.

Keywords: falling-needle rheometer, human blood, viscosity, anticoagulant

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Authors: Faezeh Jahanpour, Shahin Dezhdar, Saeedeh Firouz Bakht, Afshin Ostovar

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Objective: The hospitalized premature babies often undergo various painful procedures such as venous sampling. The Kangaroo mother care (KMC) method is one of the pain reduction methods, but as mother’s presence is not always possible, this research was done to compare the effect of swaddling and KMC method on venous sampling pain on premature neonates. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial 90 premature infants selected and randomly alocated into three groups; Group A (swaddling), Group B (the kangaroo care), and group C (the control). From 10 minutes before blood sampling to 2 minutes after that in group A, the infant was wrapped in a thin sheet, and in group B, the infant was under Kangaroo care. In all three groups, the heart rate and arterial oxygen saturation in time intervals of 30 seconds before, during, 30-60-90, and 120 seconds after sampling were measured and recorded. The infant’s face was video recorded since sampling till 2 minutes and the videos were checked by a researcher who was unaware of the kind of intervention and the pain assessment tools for infants (PIPP) for time intervals of 30 seconds were completed. Data analyzed by t-test, Q square, Repeated Measure ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, Post-hoc and Bonferroni test. Results: Findings revealed that the pain was reduced to a great extent in swaddling and kangaroo method compared to that in control group. But there was not a significant difference between kangaroo and swaddling care method (P ≥ 0.05). In addition, the findings showed that the heart rate and arterial oxygen saturation was low and stable in swaddling and Kangaroo care method and returned to base status faster, whereas, the changes were severe in control group and did not return to base status even after 120 seconds. Discussion: The results of this study showed that there was not a meaningful difference between swaddling and kangaroo care method on physiological indexes and pain in infants. Therefore, swaddling method can be a good substitute for kangaroo care method in this regard.

Keywords: Kangaroo mother care, neonate, pain, premature, swaddling, venipuncture,

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Authors: Yi Hu, Chun-Chi Lin, Shau-En Yeh, Shin Lee

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In this study, p–n heterojunctions with La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 (LSCO) and W-doped VO2 thin films were fabricated by the radio frequency (r.f.) magnetron sputtering technique and sol-gel process, respectively. The thickness of VO2 and LSCO thin films are about 40 nm and 400 nm, respectively. Good crystalline match between LSCO and VO2 films was observed from the SEM. The built-in voltages for the junction are about 1.1 V and 2.3 V for the sample in the metallic and insulating state, respectively. The sample can undergo the current induced MIT during applying field when the sample was heated at 40 and 50ºC. This is in agreement with the value obtained from the difference in the work functions of LSCO and VO2. The band structure of the heterojunction was proposed based on the results of analysis.

Keywords: hetrojection, Mott transition, switching , VO2

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Authors: Vandana N. Purav

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Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials are special cases of Chebyshev polynomial. There are two types of Chebyshev polynomials, a Chebyshev polynomial of first kind and a Chebyshev polynomial of second kind. Chebyshev polynomial of second kind can be derived from the Chebyshev polynomial of first kind. Chebyshev polynomial is a polynomial of degree n and satisfies a second order homogenous differential equation. We consider the difference equations which are related with Chebyshev, Fibonacci and Lucas polynomias. Thus Chebyshev polynomial of second kind play an important role in finding the recurrence relations with Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials.

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Procedia PDF Downloads 358

Authors: Chen-Ya Juan

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Problem-Based Learning uses vague questions to guide student thinking and enhance their self-learning and collaboration. Most teachers implement PBL in a physical classroom, where teachers can monitor and evaluate students’ learning progress and guide them to search resources for answers. However, the prevalence of the Covid-19 in the world had changed from physical teaching to distance teaching. This instruction used many cases and applied Problem-Based Learning combined on the distance teaching via the internet for college students. This study involved an experimental group with PBL and a control group without PBL. The teacher divided all students in PBL class into eight groups, and 7~8 students in each group. The teacher assigned different cases for each group of the PBL class. Three stages of instruction were developed, including background knowledge of Learning, case analysis, and solving problems for each case. This study used a quantitative research method, a two-sample t-test, to find a significant difference in groups with PBL and without PBL. Findings indicated that PBL incased the average score of special education knowledge. The average score was improved by 20.46% in the PBL group and 15.4% without PBL. Results didn’t show significant differences (0.589>0.05) in special education professional knowledge. However, the feedback of the PBL students implied learning more about the application, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking. PBL students were more likely to apply professional knowledge on the actual case, find questions, resources, and answers. Most of them understood the importance of collaboration, working as a team, and communicating with other team members. The suggestions of this study included that (a) different web-based teaching instruments influenced student’s Learning; (b) it is difficult to monitor online PBL progress; (c) online PBL should be implemented flexible and multi-oriented; (d) although PBL did not show a significant difference on the group with PBL and without PBL, it did increase student’s problem-solving skills and critical thinking.

Keywords: problem-based learning, college students, distance learning, case analysis, problem-solving

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Authors: Chun-Shien Lu

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Privacy-preserving query has recently received considerable attention in the signal processing and multimedia community. It is also a critical step in wireless sensor network for retrieval of sensitive data. The purposes of privacy-preserving query in both the areas of signal processing and sensor network are the same, but the similarity and difference of the adopted technologies are not fully explored. In this paper, we first review the recently developed methods of privacy-preserving query, and then describe in a comprehensive manner what we can learn from the mutual of both areas.

Keywords: encryption, privacy-preserving, search, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 247

Authors: Samaneh Nazeri, Bagher Mojazi Amiri, Hamid Farahmand

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Production of high quality fish eggs with reasonable hatching rate makes a success in aquaculture industries. It is influenced by the environmental stimulators and inhibitors. Diazinon is a widely-used pesticide in Golestan province (Southern Caspian Sea, North of Iran) which is washed to the aquatic environment (3 mg/L in the river). It is little known about the effect of this pesticide on the embryogenesis of sturgeon fish, the valuable species of the Caspian Sea. Hormonal content of the egg is an important factor to guaranty the successful passes of embryonic stages. In this study, the fate of Persian sturgeon embryo to 24, 48, 72, and 96-hours exposure of diazinon (LC₅₀ dose) was tested. Also, the effect of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) on these embryos was tested concurrently or separately with diazinon LC ₅₀ dose. Fertilized eggs are exposed to T3 (low dose: 1 ng/ml, high dose: 10 ng/ml), T4 (low dose: 1 ng/ml, high dose: 10 ng/ml). Six eggs were randomly selected from each treatment (with three replicates) in five developmental stages (two cell- division, neural, heart present, heart beaten, and hatched larvae). The possibility of changing T3, T4, and cortisol contents of the embryos were determined in all treated groups and in every mentioned embryonic stage. The hatching rate in treated groups was assayed at the end of the embryogenesis to clarify the effect of thyroid hormones and diazinon. The results indicated significant differences in thyroid hormone contents, but no significant differences were recognized in cortisol levels at various early life stages of embryos. There was also significant difference in thyroid hormones in (T3, T4) + diazinon treated embryos (P˂0.05), while no significant difference between control and treatments in cortisol levels was observed. The highest hatching rate was recorded in HT3 treatment, while the lowest hatching rate was recorded for diazinon LC₅₀ treatment. The result confirmed that Persian sturgeon embryo is less sensitive to diazinon compared to teleost embryos, and thyroid hormones may increase hatching rate even in the presence of diazinon.

Keywords: Persian sturgeon, diazinon, thyroid hormones, cortisol, embryo

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Authors: Somruay Apichatibutarapong

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The purpose of this study was to address and comparison of the attitudes towards the statistics course for undergraduate students. Data were collected from 120 students in Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University who enrolled in the statistics course. The quantitative approach was used to investigate the assessment and comparison of attitudes towards statistics course. It was revealed that the overall attitudes somewhat agree both in pre-test and post-test. In addition, the comparison of students’ attitudes towards the statistic course (Form A) has no difference in the overall attitudes. However, there is statistical significance in all dimensions and overall attitudes towards the statistics course (Form B).

Keywords: statistics attitude, student’s attitude, statistics, attitude test

Procedia PDF Downloads 446

Authors: Jiyoung Kim, Chae Weon Chung

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Labor pain is one of the most common concerns of pregnant women, thus women are in need of possible options they could take to control the pain. So, this study aimed to explore maternal perception of epidural anesthesia and to compare the childbirth outcomes according to the use of epidural anesthesia. For this descriptive study, women who were over 36 weeks of pregnancy were recruited from an out-patient obstetric clinic in a public hospital in Seoul. Women were included in the study if agreed to participate, were pregnant singleton, without pregnancy complication, and expecting a natural birth. Data collection was done twice, the first one at the prenatal care visit and the second one at an in-patient ward on 2nd day postpartum. The instrument of the beliefs about epidural anesthesia, one item of asking intention to use epidural anesthesia, demographics, and obstetrical characteristics were incorporated into a questionnaire. One nurse researcher performed data collection with the structured questionnaire after the approval of the institutional review board. At the initial data collection 133 women were included, while 117 were retained at the second point after excluded 13 women due to the occurrence of complications. Analyses were done by chi-square, t-test, and ANOVA using the SPSS program. Women were aged 32.5 years old, 22.2% were over 35 years old. The average gestational age was 38.5 weeks, and 67.5% were nulliparous. Out of 38 multiparous women, 20 women (52.6%) had received epidural anesthesia in the previous delivery. At the initial interview, 62.6% (n=73) of women wanted to receive epidural anesthesia while 22.4% answered not decided and 15.4% did not want to take the procedure. However, there were changes in proportions between women’s intention to take it and actual procedures done, particularly, two-thirds of women (n=26) who had been undecided were found to receive epidural anesthesia during labor. There was a significant difference in the perception of epidural anesthesia measured before delivery between women who received and not received it (t=3.68, p < .001). Delivery outcomes were statistically different between the two groups in delivery mode (chi-square=8.64, p=.01), O₂ supply during labor (chi-square =5.01, p=.03), duration of 2nd stage of labor (t=3.70, p < .001), and arterial cord blood pH (t=2.64, p=.01). Interestingly, there was no difference in labor pain perceived between women with and without epidural anesthesia. Considering the preference and use of epidural anesthesia, health professionals need to assess coping ability of women undergoing delivery and to provide accurate information about pain control to support their decision making and eventually to enhance delivery outcomes for mothers and neonates.

Keywords: epidural anesthesia, delivery outcomes, labor pain, perception

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Authors: Andy S.K. Cheng, Samuel Leung, Cindy Kwok, Hector Tsang

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Background: Telephone counselling is one of the essential interventions that can be found in most of the Employee Assistance Programs (EAP). The purposes of this study were to (1) explore the trend of the telephone counselling from 2003-2016 in Hong Kong; (2) explore which EAP issue requires more follow-up; and 3) examine the relationship between the EAP issues and demographic data such as gender and job ranking. Method: Date of EAP services usage was collected from EAP providers in Hong Kong during 2003-2016. EAP issues were categorized into two domains, namely workplace issues and personal issues. Each domain has 12 sub-categories. Two hypotheses were formulated in this study (1) there was a gender difference in EAP issues and the follow-up hours; and (2) there was a significant difference between job ranking, EAP issues and follow-up hours. Results: A total of eight hundred and ninety-three valid cases were identified for analysis. Of them, three hundred and forty-three cases sought for follow-up. The duration of follow-up by hours was calculated for each of the follow-up cases. The results of the study shows that the top three workplace issues that required the longest duration of follow-up were (1) workload, (2) supervisor-subordinate relationship; and (3) team member’s relationship. On the other hand, the top three personal issues that required the longest duration of follow-up were (1) parenting/parent-child relationship, (2) family care, and (3) marital relationship. Two-way ANOVA was performed to compare the total follow-up hours (excluding first intake) between gender and EAP issues. There was no statistical significance for gender (p =.891), but a statistically significant main effect for EAP issues (p <.001) was found. Post-hoc analysis (Tukey’s test) showed that total follow-up hour in personal issues was statistically significant higher than that in handling workplace issues (p <.001). However, there was no statistically significant interaction effect between gender and EAP issues (p=.879) and between job ranking and EAP issues (p=.843). Conclusion: Telephone counselling is a very common intervention in addressing EAP issues arising from workplace and personal level in Hong Kong. It was frequently used to handle interpersonal relationships and the service usage was independent of gender and job ranking.

Keywords: employee assistance program, follow-up time, interpersonal relationships, telephone counselling

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Authors: Akhila Vasudev, Himanshu Kaushik, Tadikonda Venkata Bharat

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A large number of mine tailings are produced every year as part of the extraction process of phosphates, gold, copper, and other materials. Mine tailings are high in water content and have very slow dewatering behavior. The efficient design of tailings dam and economical disposal of these slurries requires the knowledge of tailings consolidation behavior. The large-strain consolidation theory closely predicts the self-weight consolidation of these slurries as the theory considers the conservation of mass and momentum conservation and considers the hydraulic conductivity as a function of void ratio. Classical laboratory techniques, such as settling column test, seepage consolidation test, etc., are expensive and time-consuming for the estimation of hydraulic conductivity variation with void ratio. Inverse estimation of the constitutive relationships from the measured settlement versus time curves is explored. In this work, inverse analysis based on metaheuristics techniques will be explored for predicting the hydraulic conductivity parameters for mine tailings from the base excess pore water pressure dissipation curve and the initial conditions of the mine tailings. The proposed inverse model uses particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, which is based on the social behavior of animals searching for food sources. The finite-difference numerical solution of the forward analytical model is integrated with the PSO algorithm to solve the inverse problem. The method is tested on synthetic data of base excess pore pressure dissipation curves generated using the finite difference method. The effectiveness of the method is verified using base excess pore pressure dissipation curve obtained from a settling column experiment and further ensured through comparison with available predicted hydraulic conductivity parameters.

Keywords: base excess pore pressure, hydraulic conductivity, large strain consolidation, mine tailings

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Authors: Zubdahe Noor, Haseeb Athar

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In this article, first a relation for conditional expectation is developed and then is used to characterize a general class of distributions F(x) = 1-e^(-ah(x)) through conditional expectation of difference of pair of generalized order statistics. Some results are reduced for particular cases. In the end, a list of distributions is presented in the form of table that are compatible with the given general class.

Keywords: generalized order statistics, order statistics, record values, conditional expectation, characterization

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Authors: Amna B. Medani, M. A. Elbadwi Samia, Hassan A. Khalid

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In our study, nine Nubian goat kids were obtained, allotted into three groups, and healthily adapted in pens within the premises of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, University of Khartoum to be given the oral doses of the dried herb shoots at daily doses of 1 and 5 gm/kg/day with drinking water, while the kids of the control group were left undosed. All goats were slaughtered,if not died, after 35 days. S. argel at the given doses caused signs of arched posture, ruffled hair, shivering and paralysis of limbs. On post mortem, lesions were seen to be hepatic fatty changes, renal necrosis, congested lungs and inflamed intestines. Serum chemistry investigations revealed significant increase (P< 0.05-0.01) in the activities of ALP(alkaline phosphates) and AST( aspartate-aminotransferase) in goats dosed with 5 gm /kg/ day. Also observed were significant increases in inorganic phosphorus and urea concentrations (P < 0.05-0.01) in both dosed goat groups. .Other investigations including the activity of GGT( gamma glutamyltransferase), creatinine, calcium, total protein and albumin illustrated no significant difference from that of the undosed controls. On haematological evaluation , the goat kids dosed with 5 gm/kg/dayshowed a decrease in haemoglobin concentration and red blood cells count of (P < 0.05-0.01).Both groups of dosed goats showed a higher packed cell volume values of (P < 0.05) when compared to the control goats .Mean corpuscular haemoglobin values were not different from those of the control kids. S. argel at the given doses caused signs of arched posture, ruffled hair, shivering and paralysis of limbs. On post mortem, lesions were seen to be hepatic fatty changes, renal necrosis, congested lungs and inflamed intestines. Serum chemistry investigations revealed significant increase (P < 0.05-0.01) in the activities of ALP(alkaline phosphates) and AST( aspartate-aminotransferase) in goats dosed with 5 gm /kg/ day. Also observed were significant increases in inorganic phosphorus and urea concentrations (P < 0.05-0.01) in both dosed goat groups. .Other investigations including the activity of GGT( gamma-glutamyltransferase), creatinine, calcium, total protein and albumin illustrated no significant difference from that of the undosed controls. calcium, total protein and albumin illustrated no significant difference from that of the undosed controls. On haematological evaluation , the goat kids dosed with 5 gm/kg/dayshowed a decrease in haemoglobin concentration and red blood cells count of (P < 0.05-0.01).Both groups of dosed goats showed a higher packed cell volume values of (P < 0.05) when compared to the control goats .Mean corpuscular haemoglobin values were not different from those of the control kids. Data obtained were then discussed to find S. argel irritable to intestines , toxic to the kidney and liver and a haematological mild toxin.Suggestions for future were forwarded.

Keywords: hargal, nubian goats, solenstemma argel, toxicity

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Authors: Rama Munajat

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Discourse information levels may be viewed from either a background-foreground distinction or a multi-level perspective, and cross-linguistic studies on this area suggest that each information level is marked by a specific linguistic device. In this sense, Sundanese, spoken in Indonesia’s West Javanese Province, further differentiates the background and foreground information into ordinary and significant types. This paper will report an ongoing shift from particle-to-active voice marking in the way Sundanese signals foregrounding events. The shift relates to decades of contact with Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesia’s official language) and linguistic compatibility between the two surface marking strategies. Representative data analyzed include three groups of short stories in both Sundanese and Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) published in three periods: before 1945, 1965-2006, and 2016-2019. In the first group of Sundanese data, forward-moving events dominantly appear in particle KA (Kecap Anteuran, word-accompanying) constructions, where the KA represents different particles that co-occur with a special group of verbs. The second group, however, shows that the foregrounded events are more frequently described in active-voice forms with a subject-predicate (SP) order. Subsequently, the third offers stronger evidence for the use of the SP structure. As for the Indonesian data, the foregrounding events in the first group occur in verb-initial and passive-voice constructions, while in the second and third, the events more frequently appear in active-voice structures (subject-predicate sequence). The marking shift above suggests a structural influence from Indonesian, stemmed from generational differences among authors of the Sundanese short stories, particularly related to their education and language backgrounds. The first group of short stories – published before 1945 or before Indonesia's independence from Dutch – were written by native speakers of Sundanese who spoke Indonesian as a foreign language and went through the Dutch education system. The second group of authors, on the other hand, represents a generation of Sundanese native speakers who spoke Indonesian as a second language. Finally, the third group consists of authors who are bilingual speakers of both Sundanese and Indonesian. The data suggest that the last two groups of authors completed the Indonesian education system. With these, the use of subject-predicate sequences to denote foregrounding events began to appear more frequently in the second group and then became more dominant in those of the third. The coded data also signify that cohesion, coherence, and pragmatic purposes in Particle KA constructions are intact in their respective active-voice structure counterparts. For instance, the foregrounding events in Particle KA constructions occur in Sentence-initial KA and Pre-verbal KA forms, whereas those in the active-voice are described in Subject-Predicate (SP) and Zero-Subject active-voice patterns. Cross-language data further demonstrate that the Sentence-initial KA and the SP active-voice structures each contain an overt noun phrase (NP) co-referential with one of the entities introduced in a preceding context. Similarly, the pre-verbal KA and Zero-Subject active-voice patterns have a deleted noun phrase unambiguously referable to the only one entity previously mentioned. The presence and absence of an NP inform a pragmatic strategy to place prominence on topic/given and comment/new information, respectively.

Keywords: discourse analysis, foregrounding marking, pragmatics, language contact

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Authors: Joshua W. Edefo, Shafiul Azam, Murray D. Smith

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Introduction: In April 2022, the Welsh Government introduced the six goals for urgent and emergency care programs. One of these goals was to provide access to clinically safe alternatives, leading to the establishment of the Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) program. The SDEC initiative aims to offer viable options that maintain patient safety while avoiding unnecessary hospital stays. The aim of the study is to determine the duration of patient stay in SDEC and compare it with that of Emergency department (ED) stay to ascertain if one of the objectives of SDEC is achieved. Methods: Patient stays and attendance datasets were constructed from Withybush SDEC and ED patient records. These records were provided by Hywel Dda University Health Board Informatics. Some hypothetical pathways were identified, notably SDEC visits involving a single attendance and ED visits then immediately transferred to SDEC. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the data, and hypothesis tests for mean differences used the student t-test. Propensity scoring was employed to match a set of ED patient stays to SDEC patient stays which were then used to determine the average treatment effect (ATE) to compare durations of stay in SDEC with ED. Regression methods were used to model the natural logarithm of the duration of SDEC attendance, and the level of statistical significance was set to 0.05. Results: SDEC visits involving a single attendance (170 of 384; 44.3%) is the most frequently observed pathway with patient length of stay at 256 minutes (95%CI 237.4 - 275.1). The next most frequently observed pathway of patient stay was SDEC attendance after presenting to ED (80 of 384; 20.8%) and gave the length of stay of 440 minutes (95%CI 351.6 - 529.2). Time spent in this pathway significantly increased by 184 minutes (95%CI 118.0 - 250.2, support for no difference p<0.001) compared to the most seen pathway. When SDEC data were compared with ED, the estimate for the ATE from SDEC single attendance was -272 minutes (95%CI -334.1 - -210.5; p<0.001), while that of ED then SDEC pathway was -50.6 min (95%CI -182.7-81.5; p=0.453). Conclusion: When patients are admitted to SDEC and successfully discharged, their stays are significantly shorter, approximately 4.5 hours, compared to patients who spend their entire stay in the Emergency Department. That difference vanishes when the patient stay includes a period spent previously in ED before transfer to SDEC.

Keywords: attendance, emergency-department, patient-stay, same-day-emergency-care

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Authors: S. Kohestani, R. Amrollahi, P. Daryabor

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Microwave diagnostics such as reflectometry are receiving growing attention in magnetic confinement fusionresearch. In order to obtain the better understanding of plasma confinement physics, more detailed measurements on density profile and its fluctuations might be required. A 2D full-wave simulation of ordinary mode propagation has been written in an effort to model effects seen in reflectometry experiment. The code uses the finite-difference-time-domain method with a perfectly-matched-layer absorption boundary to solve Maxwell’s equations.The code has been used to simulate the reflectometer measurement in Alborz Tokamak.

Keywords: reflectometry, simulation, ordinary mode, tokamak

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Authors: Ahmad Kayvani Fard, Yehia Manawi

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Qatar’s primary source of fresh water is through seawater desalination. Amongst the major processes that are commercially available on the market, the most common large scale techniques are Multi-Stage Flash distillation (MSF), Multi Effect distillation (MED), and Reverse Osmosis (RO). Although commonly used, these three processes are highly expensive down to high energy input requirements and high operating costs allied with maintenance and stress induced on the systems in harsh alkaline media. Beside that cost, environmental footprint of these desalination techniques are significant; from damaging marine eco-system, to huge land use, to discharge of tons of GHG and huge carbon footprint. Other less energy consuming techniques based on membrane separation are being sought to reduce both the carbon footprint and operating costs is membrane distillation (MD). Emerged in 1960s, MD is an alternative technology for water desalination attracting more attention since 1980s. MD process involves the evaporation of a hot feed, typically below boiling point of brine at standard conditions, by creating a water vapor pressure difference across the porous, hydrophobic membrane. Main advantages of MD compared to other commercially available technologies (MSF and MED) and specially RO are reduction of membrane and module stress due to absence of trans-membrane pressure, less impact of contaminant fouling on distillate due to transfer of only water vapor, utilization of low grade or waste heat from oil and gas industries to heat up the feed up to required temperature difference across the membrane, superior water quality, and relatively lower capital and operating cost. To achieve the objective of this study, state of the art flat-sheet cross-flow DCMD bench scale unit was designed, commissioned, and tested. The objective of this study is to analyze the characteristics and morphology of the membrane suitable for DCMD through SEM imaging and contact angle measurement and to study the water quality of distillate produced by DCMD bench scale unit. Comparison with available literature data is undertaken where appropriate and laboratory data is used to compare a DCMD distillate quality with that of other desalination techniques and standards. Membrane SEM analysis showed that the PTFE membrane used for the study has contact angle of 127º with highly porous surface supported with less porous and bigger pore size PP membrane. Study on the effect of feed solution (salinity) and temperature on water quality of distillate produced from ICP and IC analysis showed that with any salinity and different feed temperature (up to 70ºC) the electric conductivity of distillate is less than 5 μS/cm with 99.99% salt rejection and proved to be feasible and effective process capable of consistently producing high quality distillate from very high feed salinity solution (i.e. 100000 mg/L TDS) even with substantial quality difference compared to other desalination methods such as RO and MSF.

Keywords: membrane distillation, waste heat, seawater desalination, membrane, freshwater, direct contact membrane distillation

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Authors: Su-Lin Yu

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Coalition politics has been one of feminists’ persistent concerns. Following recent feminist discussion on new modes of affiliation across difference, she will explore how the process of female subject formation depends on alliances across different cultural locations. First, she will examine how coalition politics is reformulated across difference in contemporary feminist literature. In particular, the paper will identify the particular contexts and locations in which coalition building both enables and constrains the female subject. She will attempt to explore how contemporary feminist literature highlights the possibilities and limitations for solidarity and affiliations. To understand coalition politics in contemporary feminist works, she will engage in close readings of two texts: Rebecca Walker’s Black, White and Jewish: Memoir of a Shifting Self and Danzy Senna’s Caucasia. Both Walker and Senna have articulated the complex nodes of identity that are staged by a politics of location as they refuse to be boxed into simplistic essentialist positions. Their texts are characterized by the characters’ racial ambiguity and their social and geographical mobility of life in the contemporary United States. Their experiences of living through conflictual and contradictory relationships never fully fit the boundaries of racial categorization. Each of these texts demonstrates the limits as well as the possibilities of working with diversity among and within persons and groups, thus, laying the ground for complex alliance formation. Because each of the protagonists must negotiate a set of contradictions, they will have to constantly shift their affiliations. Rather than construct a static alliance, they describe a process of moving ‘beyond boundaries,’ an embracing of multiple locations. As self-identified third wavers, Rebecca Walker and Danzy Senna have been identified and marked with the status of ‘leader’ by the feminist establishment and by mainstream U.S. media. Their texts have captured both mass popularity and critical attention in the feminist and, often, the non-feminist literary community. By analyzing these texts, she will show how contemporary American feminist literature reveals coalition politics which is fraught with complications and unintended consequences. Taken as a whole, then, these works provide an important examination not only of coalition politics of American feminism, but also a snapshot of a central debate among feminist critique of coalition politics as a whole.

Keywords: coalition politics, contemporary women’s literature, identity, female subject

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Authors: Said Algarni

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The purpose of this study was to investigate selected numerical methods that demonstrate good performance in solving PDEs. We adapted alternative method that involve rational polynomials. Padé time stepping (PTS) method, which is highly stable for the purposes of the present application and is associated with lower computational costs, was applied. Furthermore, PTS was modified for our study which focused on diffusion equations. Numerical runs were conducted to obtain the optimal local error control threshold.

Keywords: Padé time stepping, finite difference, reaction diffusion equation, PDEs

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Authors: Bilgen Özlük, Ülkü Baykal

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The study was conducted with the aim of determining the evaluations of nurses directed at the restructuring process carried out in the nursing services of a private hospital, and reveal how they have been affected by this process, in an integrated manner between a prospective approach and methods of quantitative and qualitative research, and as a comparative study, comparing the changes over a period of three years. The sample for the study is comprised of all of the nurses employed at a private hospital, and data has been collected from 17 nurses (a total of 30 interviews) for the qualitative part 377 nurses in 2013 and 429 nurses in 2014 for the quantitative part. As vehicles of data collection, the study used a form directed at identifying the changes in the organisational and management structure of the hospital, a nurses' interview form, a questionnaire identifying the personal and occupational characteristics of the nurses, the "Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale", the "Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale" and the "Organisational Trust Scale". Qualitative data by researchers, quantitative data was analysed using number and percentage tests, a t-test, and ANOVA, progressive analysis Tukey and regression tests. While in the qualitative part of the study the nurses stated in the first year of the restructuring that they were satisfied with their relationship with top level management, the increases in salaries and changes in the working environment such as the increase in the number of staff, in later years, they stated that there had been a fall in their satisfaction levels due to reasons such as nursing services instead of nurse practitioners in a position they are not satisfied that the director, nursing services outside the nursing profession appointment of persons to positions of management and the lack of appropriate training and competence of these persons, increases in the burden of work, insufficient salaries and the lack of a difference in the salaries of senior and more junior staff. On the other hand, in the quantitative part, it was found that there was no difference in the levels of job satisfaction and organisational trust in any of the two years, that as the level of organisational trust increased the level of job satisfaction also increased, and that as the levels of job satisfaction and organisational trust a positive impact on organisational citizenship behaviour also increased.

Keywords: services, nursing management, re-structuring, job satisfaction, organisational citizenship behaviour, organisational trust

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Authors: Abdul Murad Zainal Abidin, Azahar Mohd, Nor Idayu Arifin, Siti Nor Azila Khalid, Mohd Julzaha Zahari Mohamad Yusof

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A thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is an electronic component that uses ‘peltier’ effect to create a temperature difference by transferring heat between two electrical junctions of two different types of materials. TEC can also be used for heating by reversing the electric current flow and even power generation. A heat flow meter (HFM) is an equipment for measuring thermal conductivity of building materials. During the test, water is used as heat transfer medium to cool the HFM. The existing re-circulating cooler in the market is very costly, and the alternative is to use piped tap water to extract heat from HFM. However, the tap water temperature is insufficiently low to enable heat transfer to take place. The operating temperature for isothermal plates in the HFM is 40°C with the range of ±0.02°C. When the temperature exceeds the operating range, the HFM stops working, and the test cannot be conducted. The aim of the research is to develop a low-cost but energy-efficient TEC prototype that enables heat transfer without compromising the function of the HFM. The objectives of the research are a) to identify potential of TEC as a cooling device by evaluating its cooling rate and b) to determine the amount of water savings using TEC compared to normal tap water. Four (4) peltier sets were used, with two (2) sets used as pre-cooler. The cooling water is re-circulated from the reservoir into HFM using a water pump. The thermal conductivity readings, the water flow rate, and the power consumption were measured while the HFM was operating. The measured data has shown decrease in average cooling temperature difference (ΔTave) of 2.42°C and average cooling rate of 0.031°C/min. The water savings accrued from using the TEC is projected to be 8,332.8 litres/year with the application of water re-circulation. The results suggest the prototype has achieved required objectives. Further research will include comparing the cooling rate of TEC prototype against conventional tap water and to optimize its design and performance in terms of size and portability. The possible application of the prototype could also be expanded to portable storage for medicine and beverages.

Keywords: energy efficiency, thermoelectric cooling, pre-cooling device, heat flow meter, sustainable technology, thermal conductivity

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Authors: Mohamed Salaheldien Mohamed Alayat, Ahmed Mohamed Elsoudany, Roaa Abdulghani Sroge, Bayan Muteb Aldhahwani

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Background: Neck pain is a common illness that could affect individual’s daily activities. Class IV laser with longer wavelength can stimulate tissues and penetrate more than the classic low-level laser therapy. Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the efficacy of class IV diode laser in the treatment of patients with chronic neck pain (CNP). Methods: Fifty-two patients participated and completed the study. Their mean age (SD) was 50.7 (6.2). Patients were randomized into two groups and treated with laser plus exercise (laser + EX) group and placebo laser plus exercise (PL+EX) group. Treatment was performed by Class IV laser in two phases; scanning and trigger point phases. Scanning to the posterior neck and shoulder girdle region with 4 J/cm2 with a total energy of 300 J applied to 75 cm2 in 4 minutes and 16 seconds. Eight trigger points on the posterior neck area were treated by 4 J/cm2 and the time of application was in 30 seconds. Both groups received exercise two times per week for 4 weeks. Exercises included range of motion, isometric, stretching, isotonic resisted exercises to the cervical extensors, lateral bending and rotators muscles with postural correction exercises. The measured variables were pain level using visual analogue scale (VAS), and neck functional activity using neck disability index (NDI) score. Measurements were taken at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment. The level of statistical significance was set as p < 0.05. Results: There were significant decreases in post-treatment VAS and NDI in both groups as compared to baseline values. Laser + EX effectively decreased VAS (mean difference -6.5, p = 0.01) and NDI scores after (mean difference -41.3, p = 0.01) 4 weeks of treatment compared to PL + EX. Conclusion: Class IV laser combined with exercise is effective treatment for patients with CNP as compared to PL + EX therapy. The combination of laser + EX effectively increased functional activity and reduced pain after 4 weeks of treatment.

Keywords: chronic neck pain, class IV laser, exercises, neck disability index, visual analogue scale

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Authors: Kazunori Takai, Weng Kaiwei, Sadao Araki, Hideki Yamamoto

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HFC and PFC gases have been commonly and widely used as refrigerant of air conditioner and as etching agent of semiconductor manufacturing process, because of their higher heat of vaporization and chemical stability. On the other hand, HFCs and PFCs gases have the high global warming effect on the earth. Therefore, we have to be decomposed these gases emitted from chemical apparatus like as refrigerator. Until now, disposal of these gases were carried out by using combustion method like as Rotary kiln treatment mainly. However, this treatment needs extremely high temperature over 1000 °C. In the recent year, in order to reduce the energy consumption, a hydrolytic decomposition method using catalyst and plasma decomposition treatment have been attracted much attention as a new disposal treatment. However, the decomposition of fluorine-containing gases under the wet condition is not able to avoid the generation of hydrofluoric acid. Hydrofluoric acid is corrosive gas and it deteriorates catalysts in the decomposition process. Moreover, an additional process for the neutralization of hydrofluoric acid is also indispensable. In this study, the decomposition of C2F6 using zeolite and zeolite/CaO mixture as reactant was evaluated in the dry condition at 923 K. The effect of the chemical structure of zeolite on the decomposition reaction was confirmed by using H-Y, H-Beta, H-MOR and H-ZSM-5. The formation of CaF2 in zeolite/CaO mixtures after the decomposition reaction was confirmed by XRD measurements. The decomposition of C2F6 using zeolite as reactant showed the closely similar behaviors regardless the type of zeolite (MOR, Y, ZSM-5, Beta type). There was no difference of XRD patterns of each zeolite before and after reaction. On the other hand, the difference in the C2F6 decomposition for each zeolite/CaO mixtures was observed. These results suggested that the rate-determining process for the C2F6 decomposition on zeolite alone is the removal of fluorine from reactive site. In other words, the C2F6 decomposition for the zeolite/CaO improved compared with that for the zeolite alone by the removal of the fluorite from reactive site. HMOR/CaO showed 100% of the decomposition for 3.5 h and significantly improved from zeolite alone. On the other hand, Y type zeolite showed no improvement, that is, the almost same value of Y type zeolite alone. The descending order of C2F6 decomposition was MOR, ZSM-5, beta and Y type zeolite. This order is similar to the acid strength characterized by NH3-TPD. Hence, it is considered that the C-F bond cleavage is closely related to the acid strength.

Keywords: hexafluoroethane, zeolite, calcium oxide, decomposition

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Authors: D. P. N. De Silva, N. P. P. Liyanage

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Zebrafish (Danio rerio) in the family Cyprinidae, is a tropical freshwater fish widely used as a model organism in scientific research. Use of effective and economical anaesthetic is very important when handling fish. Clove oil (active ingredient: eugenol) was identified as a natural product which is safer and economical compared to synthetic chemicals like methanesulfonate (MS-222). Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the most effective dosage of clove oil solution as an anaesthetic on mature Zebrafish. Clove oil solution was prepared by mixing pure clove oil with 94% ethanol at a ratio of 1:9 respectively. From that solution, different volumes were selected as (0.4 ml, 0.6 ml and 0.8 ml) and dissolved in one liter of conditioned water (dosages : 0.4 ml/L, 0.6 ml/L and 0.8 ml/L). Water quality parameters (pH, temperature and conductivity) were measured before and after adding clove oil solution. Mature Zebrafish with similar standard length (2.76 ± 0.1 cm) and weight (0.524 ± 0.1 g) were selected for this experiment. Time taken for loss of equilibrium (initiation phase) and complete loss of movements including opercular movement (anaesthetic phase) were measured. To detect the efficacy on anaesthetic recovery, time taken to begin opercular movements (initiation of recovery phase) until swimming (post anaesthetic phase) were observed. The results obtained were analyzed according to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukeys’ method using SPSS version 17.0 at 95% confidence interval (p<0.5). According to the results, there was no significant difference at the initiation phase of anaesthesia in all three doses though the time taken was varied from 0.14 to 0.41 minutes. Mean value of the time taken to complete the anaesthetic phase at 0.4 ml/L dosage was significantly different with 0.6 ml/L and 0.8 ml/L dosages independently (p=0.01). There was no significant difference among recovery times at all dosages but 0.8 ml/L dosage took longer time compared to 0.6 ml/L dosage. The water quality parameters (pH and temperature) were stable throughout the experiment except conductivity, which increased with the higher dosage. In conclusion, the best dosage need to anaesthetize Zebrafish using clove oil solution was 0.6 ml/L due to its fast initiation of anaesthesia and quick recovery compared to the other two dosages. Therefore clove oil can be used as a good substitute for synthetic anaesthetics because of its efficacy at a lower dosage with higher safety at a low cost.

Keywords: anaesthetics, clove oil, zebrafish, Cyprinidae

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