Search results for: climate change and urban resilience

Authors: Andleeb Zahra, Itrat Rubab, Sumaira Malik, Amina Khan, Muhammad Jawad Khan, M. Qaiser Fatmi

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Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Recent studies have highlighted the role of miRNA in disease pathology, indicating its potential use in an early diagnostic tool. miRNAs are small, double stranded, non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression by deregulating mRNAs. miRNAs play important roles in modifying various cellular processes such as cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis, and immune response. Dis-regulated expression of miRNAs is known to affect the cell growth, and this may function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes in various cancers. Objectives: The main objectives of this study were to characterize the extracellular miRNAs involved in oral cancer (OC) to assist early detection of cancer as well as to propose a list of genes that can potentially be used as biomarkers of OC. We used gene expression data by microarrays already available in literature. Materials and Methods: In the first step, a total of 318 miRNAs involved in oral carcinoma were shortlisted followed by the prediction of their target genes. Simultaneously, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of oral carcinoma from all experiments were identified. The common genes between lists of DEGs of OC based on experimentally proven data and target genes of each miRNA were identified. These common genes are the targets of specific miRNA, which is involved in OC. Finally, a list of genes was generated which may be used as biomarker of OC. Results and Conclusion: In results, we included some of pathways in cancer to show the change in gene expression under the control of specific miRNA. Ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) provided a list of major biomarkers like CDH2, CDK7 and functional enrichment analysis identified the role of miRNA in major pathways like cell adhesion molecules pathway affected by cancer. We observed that at least 25 genes are regulated by maximum number of miRNAs, and thereby, they can be used as biomarkers of OC. To better understand the role of miRNA with respect to their target genes further experiments are required, and our study provides a platform to better understand the miRNA-OC relationship at genomics level.

Keywords: biomarkers, gene expression, miRNA, oral carcinoma

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Authors: Roman Matejka, Vaclav Prochazka, Tibor Izak, Jana Stepanovska, Martina Travnickova, Alexander Kromka

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Cell-based impedance spectroscopy is suitable method for electrical monitoring of cell activity especially on substrates that cannot be easily inspected by optical microscope (without fluorescent markers) like decellularized tissues, nano-fibrous scaffold etc. Special sensor for this measurement was developed. This sensor consists of corning glass substrate with gold interdigitated electrodes covered with diamond layer. This diamond layer provides biocompatible non-conductive surface for cells. Also, a special PPFC flow cultivation chamber was developed. This chamber is able to fix sensor in place. The spring contacts are connecting sensor pads with external measuring device. Construction allows real-time live cell imaging. Combining with perfusion system allows medium circulation and generating shear stress stimulation. Experimental evaluation consist of several setups, including pure sensor without any coating and also collagen and fibrin coating was done. The Adipose derived stem cells (ASC) and Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were seeded onto sensor in cultivation chamber. Then the chamber was installed into microscope system for live-cell imaging. The impedance measurement was utilized by vector impedance analyzer. The measured range was from 10 Hz to 40 kHz. These impedance measurements were correlated with live-cell microscopic imaging and immunofluorescent staining. Data analysis of measured signals showed response to cell adhesion of substrates, their proliferation and also change after shear stress stimulation which are important parameters during cultivation. Further experiments plan to use decellularized tissue as scaffold fixed on sensor. This kind of impedance sensor can provide feedback about cell culture conditions on opaque surfaces and scaffolds that can be used in tissue engineering in development artificial prostheses. This work was supported by the Ministry of Health, grants No. 15-29153A and 15-33018A.

Keywords: bio-impedance measuring, bioreactor, cell cultivation, diamond layer, gold interdigitated electrodes, tissue engineering

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Authors: Shannon Glaspy, Gerald Boon, Jack Lambert

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Studies on AE of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in children and adolescents are rare. The aim of this study is to observe the frequency of treatment limiting adverse drug reactions against years on ARVs and specific ARV regimen. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in East London, South Africa. All patient files in the pediatric (0 – 18 years) ARV cohort were examined, selecting only those patients started on HAART. ARV regimen changes explicitly due to AE, age on ARV treatment onset, age of AE onset, and gender were extrapolated. Eligible subjects were obtained from patient folders, anonymized and cross-referenced with data obtained from electronic records. A total of 1120 patients [592 male (52.9%) and 528 female (47.1%)] were charted by incidence and year. Additional information was extrapolated in cases where the patient experienced lipodystrophy and lipoatrophy to include the number of years on ARVs prior to the onset of the AE. Results: Of the 1120 HIV infected children of the hospital cohort, a total of 105 (9.37%) AE (53.3% male) observed were deemed eligible for the study due to completeness of medical history and agreement between electronic records and paper files. The AE cited were as follows: lipoatrophy 62 (5.53% of all subjects), lipodystrophy 27 (2.41%), neuropathy 9 (0.8%), anemia 2 (0.17%), Steven Johnsons Syndrome 1 (0.08%), elevated LFTs 1 (0.8%), breast hypertrophy (0.08%), gastritis 1 (0.08%) and rash 1 (0.08%). The most prevalence ARV regimens associated with the onset of the AE are: D4T/3TC/EFV 72 cases (64.86% of all AE), D4T/3TC/LOPr 24 cases (21.62%). Lipoatrophy and lipodystrophy combined represent 84.76% (89 cases) of all adverse events documented in this cohort. Within the 60 cases of lipoatrophy, the average number of years on ARVs associated with an AE is 3.54, with 14 cases experiencing an AE between 0-2 years of HAART. Within the 29 cases of lipodystrophy, the average number of years on ARVs associated with an AE is 3.89, with 4 cases experiencing an AE between 0-2 years on HAART. The regimen D4T/3TC/EFV is associated with 43 cases (71.66%) of lipoatrophy and 21 cases (72.41%) of lipodystrophy. D4T/3TC/LOPr is associated with 15 cases (25%) of lipoatrophy and 7 cases (24.14%) of lipodystrophy. The frequency of AE associated with ARV regimens could be misrepresented due to prevalence of different 1st line regimens which were not captured in this study, particularly with the systematic change of 1st line drugs from D4T to ABC in 2010. Conclusion: In this descriptive study we found a 9.37% prevalence of AE were significant enough to be treatment limiting among our cohort. Lipoatrophy accounted for 59.04% of all documented AE. Overall, D4T/3TC/EFV was associated with 64.86% of all AE, 71.66% of lipoatrophy cases and 72.41% of lipodystrophy cases.

Keywords: ARV, adverse events, HAART, pediatric

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Authors: Khalid Mahmoud Gaafar

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In human diets , ω-6 and ω-3 are important essential fatty acids for immunity and health. However, considerable alteration in dietary patterns and contents has resulted in change of the consumption of such fatty acids ,with subsequent increase in the consumption of ω-6 fatty acids and a marked decrease in the consumption of ω-3 fatty acids. This dietary alteration has led to an imbalance in the ratio for ω-6/ω-3, which at 20:1 now differs considerably from the original ratio (1:1). Therefore, dietary supplements such as eggs and meat enriched with omega 3 are necessary to increase the consumption of ω-3 to meet the recommended need for ω-3. Foods that supply ω-6 fatty acids include soybean, palm , sunflower, and rapeseed oils, whereas foods that supply ω-3 fatty acids such as linseed and fish oils. Lin seed oils contain Alpha – linolenic acid (ALA), which can be converted to DHA and EPA in the birds body, with linseed oil containing more than 50% ALA. On the other hand, high doses of omega 6 sources in the diet may have deleterious effects on humans. Maintaining an optimum ratio of ω-3 and ω-6fatty acids not only improves performance but also prevents these health risks. The ratio of n-6:ω-3 fatty acids also plays an important role in the immune response, production performance of broilers and designing meat enriched with ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Birds of three experimental groups fed on basal starter (0-2nd weeks), grower (3rd -4th weeks) and finisher (5th week) rations. The first is control group fed during the grower-finisher periods on basic diet with two replicate (one fed on basic diet contain vegetable oil and the other don’t) without any additives. The three experimental groups (T1 – T2 –T3) fed during the grower- finisher periods on diets free from vegetable oils and contain of 5% of extruded mixture of soybean and linseed (60%:40%). The second (T2) and third (T3) experimental groups supplemented with vitamin B12 and enzyme mixture. The first experimental groups don’t receive vitamins or enzymes. The obtained results showed a significant increased growth performance, immune response, highest antioxidant activity and serum HDL with lowest serum LDL and triglycerides levels in all experimental groups compared with control group, which was highly significant in group fed on vitamin B6.

Keywords: omega fatty acids, broiler, feeding, human health, growth performance, immunity

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Authors: Tanima Bhattacharya, Joy Sen

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To transform a space into a better livable and sustainable zone, United Nations Summit in New York 2015, has decided upon 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that approach directly to achieve inclusive, people-centric, sustainable developments. Though sustainability has been majorly constructed by four pillars, namely, Ecological, Economic, Social and Cultural, but it is essentially reduced to economic and ecological consideration in the context of developing countries. Therefore, in most cases planning has reduced its ambit to concentrate around the tangible infrastructure, ignoring the fundamentals of socio-cultural heritage. With the accentuating hype of infrastructural augmentation, lack of emphasis of traditional concerns like ethnicity and social connection have further diluted the situation, disintegrating cultural continuity. As cultural continuity lacks its cohesion, it’s growing absence increasingly acts as a catalyst to degrade the heritage structures, spaces around and linking these structures, and the ability of stakeholders in identifying themselves rooted in that particular space. Hence, this paper will argue that sustainability depends on the people and their interaction with their surroundings, their culture and livelihood. The interaction between people and their surroundings strengthen community building and social interaction that abides by stakeholders reverting back to their roots. To assess the socio-cultural sustainability of the city of Kolkata, two study areas are selected, namely, an old settlement from the northern part of the city of Kolkata (KMA), imbued with social connection, age-old cultural and ethnic bonding and, another cluster of new high-rises coming up in the Newtown area having portions of planned city extension on the eastern side of the city itself. Whereas, Newtown prioritizes the surging post-industrial trends of economic aspiration and ecological aspects of urban sustainability; the former settlements of northern Kolkata still continue to represent the earliest community settlement of the British-colonial-cum native era and even the pre-colonial era, permeated with socio-cultural reciprocation. Thus, to compare and assess the inlayed organizational structure of both the spaces in the two cases, selected areas have been surveyed to portray their current imageability. The argument of this paper is structured in 5parts. First, an introduction of the idea has been forwarded, Secondly, a literature review has been conducted to ground the proposed ideas, Thirdly, methodology has been discussed and appropriate case study areas have been selected, Fourthly, surveys and analyses has been forwarded and lastly, the paper has arrived at a set of conclusions by suggesting a threefold development to create happy, healthy and sustainable community.

Keywords: art innovation, current scenario assessment, heritage, imageability, socio-cultural sustainability

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Authors: Nuttapimon Bhirommuang, Kulapong Jayanama

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Background: Prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized patient is higher than general population. As a result of the unawareness of consequence and the more concerning in the other aspects of care, many patients with high risk of malnutrition are unrecognized. Even if malnutrition has been identified as affecting in many patient outcomes, the impact may differ in each population and group of patients. Objectives: The aims of this study were to examine the association between the nutritional status and the length of stay and hospital costs in hospitalized patients, to investigate the factors related these outcomes and to determine the frequency of malnutrition in hospitals. Method: This retrospective cohort study enrolled all patients aged 15 years old or older and admitted in SDMC, Ramathibodi Hospital between 1st January 2016 and 30th September 2016. The nutritional status assessment by Nutrition Alert Form (NAF) was performed by well-trained nurses in all patients at admission. Baseline characteristics were recorded. Length of stay and hospital costs were collected during their hospitalization. Univariate analysis, nonparametric rank test, Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare means in the case of nonnormally and noncontinuously distributed data. Chi-square used to analyze categorical variables, the nutritional status and the length of stay and hospital costs and identify possible confounding factors (data were analyzed using SPSS version 18.0). Result: Of the 2,906 patients, 3.9% were severe malnutrition (NAF-C score > 10) and 11.4% were moderate malnutrition (NAF-B score 6 - 10). Both length of stay and hospital costs were found significantly higher in more severe malnutrition group (p < 0.001), NAF = A: 3.21 days, 95% CI 3.06-3.35 and 111,544.25 THB, 95% CI 106,994.41 – 116,094.1; NAF = B: 7.54 days, 95% CI 6.32 – 8.76 and 162,302.4 THB, 95% CI 129,557.88 – 195,046.92; NAF =C: 14.77 days, 95% CI 11.34 – 18.2 and 323,572.11 THB, 95% CI 226,958.1 – 420,096.13 (1 THB = 0.03019 USD). Age of each nutritional status group had also significant increase from NAF A to NAF C (p < 0.001): 55.07, 67.03 and 73.88 years old, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of malnutrition in Ramathibodi hospital is voluminous. Severe malnutrition screening by NAF is significantly correlated with worse clinical outcome, especially higher length of stay and hospital costs. Elderly is also a significant factor which correlates with malnutrition. The results of this study could change the awareness of health personnel and the practice protocol. Moreover, the further study concerning nutritional support in high-risk group of malnutrition is ongoing to confirm this hypothesis.

Keywords: malnutrition, NAF, length of stay, hospital costs

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Authors: Zainab S. Ahmed, Mohammed S. Ali, Nadia A. Elshiekh, Sami Adam Ibrahim, Ghada M. El-Tayeb, Ahmed H. Elsadig, Rihab A. Omer, Sofia B. Mohamed

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Maple syrup urine (MSUD) is an autosomal recessive disease that causes a deficiency in the enzyme branched-chain alpha-keto acid (BCKA) dehydrogenase. The development of disease has been associated with SNPs in the DBT gene. Despite that, the computational analysis of SNPs in coding and noncoding and their functional impacts on protein level still remains unknown. Hence, in this study, we carried out a comprehensive in silico analysis of missense that was predicted to have a harmful influence on DBT structure and function. In this study, eight different in silico prediction algorithms; SIFT, PROVEAN, MutPred, SNP&GO, PhD-SNP, PANTHER, I-Mutant 2.0 and MUpo were used for screening nsSNPs in DBT including. Additionally, to understand the effect of mutations in the strength of the interactions that bind protein together the ELASPIC servers were used. Finally, the 3D structure of DBT was formed using Mutation3D and Chimera servers respectively. Our result showed that a total of 15 nsSNPs confirmed by 4 software (R301C, R376H, W84R, S268F, W84C, F276C, H452R, R178H, I355T, V191G, M444T, T174A, I200T, R113H, and R178C) were found damaging and can lead to a shift in DBT gene structure. Moreover, we found 7 nsSNPs located on the 2-oxoacid_dh catalytic domain, 5 nsSNPs on the E_3 binding domain and 3 nsSNPs on the Biotin Domain. So these nsSNPs may alter the putative structure of DBT’s domain. Furthermore, we detected all these nsSNPs are on the core residues of the protein and have the ability to change the stability of the protein. Additionally, we found W84R, S268F, and M444T have high significance, and they affected Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine, which reduces or disrupt the function of BCKD complex, E2-subunit which the DBT gene encodes. In conclusion, based on our extensive in-silico analysis, we report 15 nsSNPs that have possible association with protein deteriorating and disease-causing abilities. These candidate SNPs can aid in future studies on Maple Syrup Urine Disease type II base in the genetic level.

Keywords: DBT gene, ELASPIC, in silico analysis, UCSF chimer

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Authors: Luisa Barreira, Viana Castaneda, Maria J. Rodrigues, Florinda Gama, Tamara Santos, Marta Oliveira, Catarina Pereira, Maribela Pestana, Pedro Correia, Miguel Salazar, Carla Nunes, Luisa Custodio, Joao Varela

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In the last century, the world witnessed an exponential demographic increase that has put an enormous pressure on agriculture and food production. Associated also with climate changes, there has been a decrease in the amount of available freshwater and an increased salinization of soils which can affect the production of most food crops. Halophytes, however, are plants able to withstand high salinities while maintaining a good growth productivity. To cope with the excess salt, they produce secondary metabolites (e.g. vitamins and phenolic compounds) which, along with the natural presence of some minerals, makes them not only nutritionally rich but also functional foods. Some halophytes, as quinoa or salicornia, are already used in some countries, mostly as gourmet food. Hydroponic cultivation of halophytes using seawater or diluted seawater for watering can decrease the pressure on freshwater resources while producing a nutritional and functional food. The XtremeGourmet project funded by the EU aims to develop and optimize the production of different halophytes by hydroponics. One of the more specific objectives of this project is the study of halophytes’ productivity and chemical composition under different abiotic conditions, e.g. salt and nutrient concentration and light intensity. Three species of halophytes commonly occurring in saltmarshes of the South of Portugal (Inula chrithmoides, Salicornia ramosissima and Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum) were cultivated using hydroponics under different salinities, ranging from 5 to 45 dS/m. For each condition, several parameters were assessed namely: total and commercial productivity, electrical conductivity, total soluble solids, proximal composition, mineral profile, total phenolics, flavonoids and condensed tannins content and antioxidant activity. Results show that productivity was significantly reduced for all plants with increasing salinity up to salinity 29 dS/m and remained low onwards. Oppositely, the electrical conductivity and the total soluble solids content of the produced plants increased with salinity, reaching a plateau at 29 dS/m. It seems that plants reflect the salt concentration of the water up to some point, being able to regulate their salt content for higher salinities. The same tendency was observed for the ash content of these plants, which is related to the mineral uptake from the cultivating media and the plants’ capacity to both accumulate and regulate ions’ concentration in their tissues. Nonetheless, this comes with a metabolic cost which is observed by a decrease in productivity. The mineral profile of these plants shows high concentrations of sodium but also high amounts of potassium. In what concerns the microelements, these plants appear to be a good source of manganese and iron and the low amounts of toxic metals account for their safe consumption in moderate amounts. Concerning the phenolics composition, plants presented moderate concentrations of phenolics but high amounts of condensed tannins, particularly I. crithmoides which accounts for its characteristic sour and spicy taste. Contrary to some studies in which higher amounts of phenolics were found in plants cultivated under higher salinities, in this study, the highest amount of phenolic compounds were found in plants grown at the lowest or intermediate salinities. Nonetheless, there was a positive correlation between the concentration of these compounds and the antioxidant capacity of the plants’ extracts.

Keywords: functional properties, halophytes, hydroponics, nutritional composition, salinity effect

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Authors: Noriyuki Suyama

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This paper looked into consumer behavioral changes by analyzing the data collected by ASMARKS Co., one of a research companies in Japan. The purpose of the paper is to understand the two differences of before vs. after COVID-19 pandemic and Japanese living in Japan. Subsequently, examining the analysis results helped obtain useful insights into new business models for business parties in Japan as a microlevel perspective. The paper also tried to explore future conditions of globalization by taking into consideration nation’s political and economic changes as a macro-level perspective. The COVID-19 has been continuing its spread across the world with more than 60 million confirmed cases in 190 countries. This pandemic with restricted scopes of behavior mandates have disrupted the consumer habits of their lifestyles. Consumers have tendency to learn new ways when they have trouble in taking routine action. For example, the government forces people to refrain from going out, they try to telecommute at home. If the situation come back to normal, people still change their lifestyles to fit in the best. Some of data show typical effects of COVID-19; forceful exposure to digitalized work-life styles; more flexible time at home; importance of trustful and useful information gathering between what's good and bad;etc. in comparison with before vs. after COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Japanese have less changed their lifestyles than Expatriates living in Japan. For example, while 94% of the expatriates have decreased their outgo because of self-quarantine, only 55% of the Japanese have done. There are more differences in both comparisons in the analysis results. The economic downtrend resulting from COVID-19 is supposed to be at least as devastating if not more so than that of the financial crisis. With unemployment levels in the US taking two weeks to reach what took 6 months in the 2008 crisis, there is no doubt of a global recession some predict could reach 10% or above of GDP. As a result, globalization in the global supply chain of goods and services will end up with negative impact. A lot of governmental financial and economic policies are supposed to focus on their own profits and interests, exclusing other countries interests as is the case with the Recovery Act just after the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2008. Both micro- and macro-levels analysis successfully reveal important connotations and managerial implications of business in Japan for Japanese consumers as well as after COVID-19 global business.

Keywords: COVID-19, lifestyle in Japan, expatriates, consumer behavior

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Authors: Naziema B. Jappie

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Over the last 23 years leaders in government, political parties and universities have been spending much time on identifying and discussing various gaps in the system that impact systematically on students especially those from historically Black communities. Equity and access to higher education were two critical aspects that featured in achieving the transformation goals together with a funding model for those previously disadvantaged. Free education was not a feasible option for the government. Institutional leaders in higher education face many demands on their time and resources. Often, the time for crisis management planning or consideration of being proactive and preventative is not a standing agenda item. With many issues being priority in academia, people become complacent and think that crisis may not affect them or they will cross the bridge when they get to it. Historically South Africa has proven to be a country of militancy, strikes and protests in most industries, some leading to disastrous outcomes. Higher education was not different between October 2015 and late 2016 when the #Rhodes Must Fall which morphed into the # Fees Must Fall protest challenged the establishment, changed the social fabric of universities, bringing the sector to a standstill. Some institutional leaders and administrators were better at handling unexpected, high-consequence situations than others. At most crisis leadership is viewed as a situation more than a style of leadership which is usually characterized by crisis management. The objective of this paper is to show how institutions managed catastrophes of disastrous proportions, down through unexpected incidents of 2015/2016. The content draws on the vast past crisis management experience of the presenter and includes the occurrences of the recent protests giving an event timeline. Using responses from interviews with institutional leaders and administrators as well as students will ensure first-hand information on their experiences and the outcomes. Students have tasted the power of organized action and they demand immediate change, if not the revolt will continue. This paper will examine the approaches that guided institutional leaders and their crisis teams and sector crisis response. It will further expand on whether the solutions effectively changed governance in higher education or has it minimized the need for more protests. The conclusion will give an insight into the future of higher education in South Africa from a leadership perspective.

Keywords: crisis, governance, intervention, leadership, strategies, protests

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Authors: P. Suchismita Behera, V. G. Sathe, A. K. Nigam, P. A. Bhobe

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Co-existence of long-range ferromagnetism and semi-conductivity with correlated behavior of structural, magnetic, optical and electrical properties in various sites doping at CdCr2Se4 makes it a most promising candidate for spin-based electronic applications and magnetic devices. It orders ferromagnetically below TC = 130 K with a direct band gap of ~ 1.5 eV. The magnetic ordering is believed to result from strong competition between the direct antiferromagnetic Cr-Cr spin couplings and the ferromagnetic Cr-Se-Cr exchange interactions. With an aim of understanding the influence of crystal structure on its magnetic properties without disturbing the magnetic site, we investigated four compositions with 3%, 5%, 7% and 10% of Sn-substitution at Cd-site. Partial substitution of Cd2+ (0.78Å) by small sized nonmagnetic ion, Sn4+ (0.55Å), is expected to bring about local lattice distortion as well as a change in electronic charge distribution. The structural disorder would affect the Cd/Sn – Se bonds thus affecting the Cr-Cr and Cr-Se-Cr bonds. Whereas, the charge imbalance created due to Sn4+ substitution at Cd2+ leads to the possibility of Cr mixed valence state. Our investigation of the local crystal structure using the EXAFS, Raman spectroscopy and magnetic properties using SQUID magnetometry of the Cd1-xSnxCr2Se4 series reflects this premise. All compositions maintain the Fd3m cubic symmetry with tetrahedral distribution of Sn at Cd-site, as confirmed by XRD analysis. Lattice parameters were determined from the Rietveld refinement technique of the XRD data and further confirmed from the EXAFS spectra recorded at Cr K-edge. Presence of five Raman-active phonon vibrational modes viz. (T2g (1), T2g (2), T2g (3), Eg, A1g) in the Raman spectra further confirms the crystal symmetry. Temperature dependence of the Raman data provides interesting insight to the spin– phonon coupling, known to dominate the magneto-capacitive properties in the parent compound. Below the magnetic ordering temperature, the longitudinal damping of Eg mode associated with Se-Cd/Sn-Se bending and T2g (2) mode associated to Cr-Se-Cr interaction, show interesting deviations with respect to increase in Sn substitution. Besides providing the estimate of TC, the magnetic measurements recorded as a function of field provide the values of total magnetic moment for all the studied compositions indicative of formation of multiple Cr valences.

Keywords: exchange interactions, EXAFS, ferromagnetism, Raman spectroscopy, spinel chalcogenides

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Authors: Balazs Kulcsar

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Professional energy organizations perform analyses mainly on the global and national levels about the expected development of the share of renewables in electric power generation, heating, and cooling, as well as the transport sectors. There are just a few publications, research institutions, non-profit organizations, and national initiatives with a focus on studies in the individual towns, settlements. Issues concerning the self-supply of energy on the settlement level have not become too wide-spread. The goal of our energy geographic studies is to determine the share of local renewable energy sources in the settlement-based electricity supply across Hungary. The Hungarian energy supply system defines four categories based on the installed capacities of electric power generating units. From these categories, the theoretical annual electricity production of small-sized household power plants (SSHPP) featuring installed capacities under 50 kW and small power plants with under 0.5 MW capacities have been taken into consideration. In the above-mentioned power plant categories, the Hungarian Electricity Act has allowed the establishment of power plants primarily for the utilization of renewable energy sources since 2008. Though with certain restrictions, these small power plants utilizing renewable energies have the closest links to individual settlements and can be regarded as the achievements of the host settlements in the shift of energy use. Based on the 2017 data, we have ranked settlements to reflect the level of self-sufficiency in electricity production from renewable energy sources. The results show that the supply of all the energy demanded by settlements from local renewables is within reach now in small settlements, e.g., in the form of the small power plant categories discussed in the study, and is not at all impossible even in small towns and cities. In Hungary, 30 settlements produce more renewable electricity than their own annual electricity consumption. If these overproductive settlements export their excess electricity towards neighboring settlements, then full electricity supply can be realized on further 29 settlements from renewable sources by local small power plants. These results provide an opportunity for governmental planning of the realization of energy shift (legislative background, support system, environmental education), as well as framing developmental forecasts and scenarios until 2030.

Keywords: energy geography, Hungary, local small power plants, renewable energy sources, self-sufficiency settlements

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Authors: Melek Göregenli, Işık Gürşimşek

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There has been a great deal of research in the past few decades examining attitudes toward homosexuals.Theoretic research has demonstrated that antihomosexual attitudes are expressed in cognitive, affective, behavioral and cultural components. Homophobia is generally defined as hostility towards or fear of LGBTI people, but can also refer to social and cultural ideologies which stigmatize homosexuality. Negative feelings or attitudes towards non-heterosexual behavior, identity, relationships and community can lead to homophobic behavior and is the root of the discrimination experienced by many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTI) people. Since the increase in number of hate crimes during the last decade, there has been a sense of urgency to respond to the problem of hate violence in Turkey. The LGBTI Rights Association KAOS-GL indicated that the most of lesbian, gay, bisexual, travesty and transsexuals reported some form of victimization in their lifetimes based on their sexual orientation in Turkey. This study explored the relations between homophobia, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation and just world belief attitudes towards LGBTI individuals in a sample of 393 Turkish college students from Ege University in Izmir, Turkey. Data were collected with a questionnaire including the Homosexism Scale, the Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale, Social Dominance Orientation Scale and Just World Belief Scale. Participants completed a questionnaire containing the attitude measures and other several questions related with the socio-demographic variables. Consistent with the previous finding males were more homophobic than females. Contrary to this finding the main effects of other demographic variables (age, income, place of birth, class) were not statistically significant except the department of participants. These findings imply that efforts to garner wide-ranging support for policies designed to change negative attitudes to LGBT people and to enhance the given awareness on homophobia. The results of the study were discussed in cross-cultural and social psychological perspective considering cultural and social values of Turkey and current political circumstances of the country.

Keywords: homophobia, just world belief, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, Turkey

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Authors: Mayur Kudale, Priyanka Panchal

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Cellulose fibres, mainly cotton, are the most important kind of fibre used for manufacturing shirting fabric. However, to overcome its main disadvantage, that is it gets wrinkled after washing, is to use special kind of finish which is resin finish. This finish provides a resistance against shrinkage along with improved wet and dry wrinkle recovery to cellulosic textiles. The Durable Press (DP) finish uses a mechanism of cross-linking with polymers or resin to inhibit the easy movement of the cellulose chains. The purpose of these experimentations on the weave is to observe and compare the variations in properties after DP finish without adverse effect on strength of the fabric. In this work, we have prepared three types of fabric weaves viz. Plain, Twill and Sateen with their construction parameters intact. To get the projected results, this work uses three types of variables viz. concentration of Resin, Temperature and Time. Resultant of these variables is only change in weave or construction on DP finish which further opens the possibilities of improvement of DP either of mentioned weaves. The combined effect of such various parametric resin finish methodology will give the best method to improve the DP. However, the DP finish can cause a side effect of reduction in elasticity and flexibility of cellulosic fibres. The natural cellulose could loss abrasion resistance along with tear and tensile strength by applying DP finish. In this work, it is taken care that the tear strength of fabric will not drop below certain limit otherwise the fabric will tear down easily. In this work, it is found that there is a significant drop in tearing and tensile strength with the improvement of DP finish. Later on, it is also found that the twill weave has more percentage drop in tearing strength as compared to plain and sateen weave. There is major kind of observations obtained after this work. First, the mixing of cotton should be done properly to achieve the higher DP rating in plain weave. Second, the careful combination of warp, weft and fabric construction must be decided to avoid the high drop in tear and tensile strength in a twill weave. Third, the sateen weave has a good sheen and DP rating hence it can be used in shirting of gents and ladies dress materials. This concludes that to achieve higher DP ratings, use plain weave construction than twill and sateen because it has the lowest tear and tensile strength drop.

Keywords: concentration of resin, cross-linking, durable press (DP) finish, sheen, tear and tensile strength, weave

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Authors: R. Mofeed, N. Elgendy

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Cinema constructs mind-spaces that reflect inherent human thoughts and emotions. As a representational art, Cinema would introduce comprehensive images of life phenomena in different ways. The term “represent” suggests verity of meanings; bring into presence, replace or typify. In that sense, Cinema may present a phenomenon through direct embodiment, or introduce a substitute image that replaces the original phenomena, or typify it by relating the produced image to a more general category through a process of abstraction. This research is interested in questioning the type of images that Egyptian Cinema introduces to informal urbanism and how these images were conditioned and reshaped in the last twenty years. The informalities/slums phenomenon first appeared in Egypt and, particularly, Cairo in the early sixties, however, this phenomenon was completely ignored by the state and society until the eighties, and furthermore, its evident representation in Cinema was by the mid-nineties. The Informal City represents the illegal housing developments, and it is a fast growing form of urbanization in Cairo. Yet, this expanding phenomenon is still depicted as the minority, exceptional and marginal through the Cinematic lenses. This paper aims at tracing the forms of representations of the urban informalities in the Egyptian Cinema between 1994 and 2014, and how did that affect the popular mind and its perception of these areas. The paper runs two main lines of inquiry; the first traces the phenomena through a chronological and geographical mapping of the informal urbanism has been portrayed in films. This analysis is based on an academic research work at Cairo University in Fall 2014. The visual tracing through maps and timelines allowed a reading of the phases of ignorance, presence, typifying and repetition in the representation of this huge sector of the city through more than 50 films that has been investigated. The analysis clearly revealed the “portrayed image” of informality by the Cinema through the examined period. However, the second part of the paper explores the “perceived image”. A designed questionnaire is applied to highlight the main features of that image that is perceived by both inhabitants of informalities and other Cairenes based on watching selected films. The questionnaire covers the different images of informalities proposed in the Cinema whether in a comic or a melodramatic background and highlight the descriptive terms used, to see which of them resonate with the mass perceptions and affected their mental images. The two images; “portrayed” and “perceived” are then to be encountered to reflect on issues of repetitions, stereotyping and reality. The formulated stereotype of informal urbanism is finally outlined and justified in relation to both production consumption mechanisms of films and the State official vision of informalities.

Keywords: cinema, informal urbanism, popular mind, representation

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Authors: Mokhtar Nikgoo

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Today's industrial world has undergone tremendous changes in certain periods. These changes are called environmental changes. And they have a direct impact on organizations and bodies. Therefore, the importance of knowing these changes is clear. This importance has caused the manufacturing organizations to move towards multiple products and constantly change and expand their system. This research tries to show how the organization moves in this category by defining the basic steps of implementing a project. One of the most important features of a hard-to-order production organization is the definition of different production projects from different customers. Therefore, the lack of sufficient understanding of the type of work causes the project to be defined for the organization in question, and the managers of the organization (in every organizational level) are constantly involved with different projects. In the implementation of the production project of the aforementioned organizations, directing the facilities and people of the organization towards the implementation of the project is of particular importance. Therefore, it is felt necessary to define the project manager and his basic duties. Considering the importance of this topic, the project chapter deals with project management and its importance and examines all the different issues in that category from the perspective of implementation. A project includes certain activities of the organization that require the use of different resources and all the activities of the organization in order to implement the project with defined facilities and at the designated times. Project management is planning, organizing and controlling the organization's resources for a short-term goal that has been created for short-term and medium-term goals and objectives. Project management has the important task of centering and integrating (coordinating) task and line managers. In other words, project management requires having a strong and appropriate relationship with the internal people of the system to carry out the assigned activities and must have a general and technical knowledge related to various activities in the project environment. It seems that everything with project management in It is communication. One of the characteristics of production organizations under the order is the relationship between the customer (customers) and the organization until the completion of the defined project. Due to the nature of the work, it is necessary for a person to establish this relationship between the client and the organization's people and to establish this relationship in such a way that it does not cause a lack of coordination in the organization's activities. Therefore, project management has a very important role at this stage, because the relationship between the client and his organization will be any problems and problems and points of view that the client has, he must inform the management so that he can implement the cases with its analysis and special processes. To be transferred to other departments and line managers.

Keywords: project management, crisis management, project delays bill, project duration

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Authors: Gideon J. Bonthuys, Marco van Dijk, Jay N. Bhagwan

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Small scale hydropower used to play a very important role in the provision of energy to urban and rural areas of South Africa. The national electricity grid, however, expanded and offered cheap, coal generated electricity and a large number of hydropower systems were decommissioned. Unfortunately, large numbers of households and communities will not be connected to the national electricity grid for the foreseeable future due to high cost of transmission and distribution systems to remote communities due to the relatively low electricity demand within rural communities and the allocation of current expenditure on upgrading and constructing of new coal fired power stations. This necessitates the development of feasible alternative power generation technologies. A feasibility and implementation model was developed to assist in designing and financially evaluating small-scale hydropower (SSHP) plants. Several sites were identified using the model. The SSHP plants were designed for the selected sites and the designs for the different selected sites were priced using pricing models (civil, mechanical and electrical aspects). Following feasibility studies done on the designed and priced SSHP plants, a feasibility analysis was done and a design chart developed for future similar potential SSHP plant projects. The methodology followed in conducting the feasibility analysis for other potential sites consisted of developing cost and income/saving formulae, developing net present value (NPV) formulae, Capital Cost Comparison Ratio (CCCR) and levelised cost formulae for SSHP projects for the different types of plant installations. It included setting up a model for the development of a design chart for a SSHP, calculating the NPV, CCCR and levelised cost for the different scenarios within the model by varying different parameters within the developed formulae, setting up the design chart for the different scenarios within the model and analyzing and interpreting results. From the interpretation of the develop design charts for feasible SSHP in can be seen that turbine and distribution line cost are the major influences on the cost and feasibility of SSHP. High head, short transmission line and islanded mini-grid SSHP installations are the most feasible and that the levelised cost of SSHP is high for low power generation sites. The main conclusion from the study is that the levelised cost of SSHP projects indicate that the cost of SSHP for low energy generation is high compared to the levelised cost of grid connected electricity supply; however, the remoteness of SSHP for rural electrification and the cost of infrastructure to connect remote rural communities to the local or national electricity grid provides a low CCCR and renders SSHP for rural electrification feasible on this basis.

Keywords: cost, feasibility, rural electrification, small-scale hydropower

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Authors: Beatriz Botella-Gil, Patricio Martínez-Barco, Lea Canales

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The Internet and ICT are an integral element of and omnipresent in our daily lives. Technologies have changed the way we see the world and relate to it. The number of companies in the ICT sector is increasing every year, and there has also been an increase in the work that occurs online, from sending e-mails to the way companies promote themselves. In social life, ICT’s have gained momentum. Social networks are useful for keeping in contact with family or friends that live far away. This change in how we manage our relationships using electronic devices and social media has been experienced differently depending on the age of the person. According to currently available data, people are increasingly connected to social media and other forms of online communication. Therefore, it is no surprise that violent content has also made its way to digital media. One of the important reasons for this is the anonymity provided by social media, which causes a sense of impunity in the victim. Moreover, it is not uncommon to find derogatory comments, attacking a person’s physical appearance, hobbies, or beliefs. This is why it is necessary to develop artificial intelligence tools that allow us to keep track of violent comments that relate to violent events so that this type of violent online behavior can be deterred. The objective of our research is to create a guide for detecting and recording violent messages. Our annotation guide begins with a study on the problem of violent messages. First, we consider the characteristics that a message should contain for it to be categorized as violent. Second, the possibility of establishing different levels of aggressiveness. To download the corpus, we chose the social network Twitter for its ease of obtaining free messages. We chose two recent, highly visible violent cases that occurred in Spain. Both of them experienced a high degree of social media coverage and user comments. Our corpus has a total of 633 messages, manually tagged, according to the characteristics we considered important, such as, for example, the verbs used, the presence of exclamations or insults, and the presence of negations. We consider it necessary to create wordlists that are present in violent messages as indicators of violence, such as lists of negative verbs, insults, negative phrases. As a final step, we will use automatic learning systems to check the data obtained and the effectiveness of our guide.

Keywords: human language technologies, language modelling, offensive language detection, violent online content

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Authors: Portia Murphy, Danica Vasic, Anoja W. Gunaratne, Encarnita Sitchon, Teresita Tugonon, Marou Ison, Antoinette Le Busque, Christelle Pagonis, Thomas J. Borody

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Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder that affects an estimated 11% of the population globally with the most predominant symptoms being abdominal pain, bloating and altered bowel movements. All age groups suffer from IBS although the prevalence of IBS decreases for age groups over 50 years. Women are more likely to suffer from IBS than men. IBS can be categorized into 3 groups based on the type of altered bowel movement: diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D), constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C) and IBS with mixed bowel habit (IBS-M). The contribution of the gut microbiome to the etiology of IBS is becoming increasingly recognized with rising use of anti-microbial agents. Previous studies on vancomycin and rifaximin used as monotherapy or in combination have been conducted mainly on IBS-C and showed marked improvements in the symptoms. According to our knowledge, no studies reported using these two combinations of antibiotics for IBS-D. Here, we report a consecutive cohort of 18 patients treated with both vancomycin and rifaximin for IBS-D. These patients’ records were reviewed retrospectively. In this cohort, patients ages were between 24-74 years (mean 44 years) and 9 were female. Baseline all patients had diarrhea, 4 with mucus and one with blood. Patients reported other symptoms were abdominal pain (n=11) bloating (n=9), flatulence (n=7), fatigue (n=4) and nausea (n=3). Patients treatments were personalized according to their symptom severity and tolerability and were treated with combination of rifaximin (500 - 3000mg/d) and vancomycin (500mg - 1500mg/d) for an ongoing period. Follow-ups were conducted between 2-32 weeks’ time. Of all patients, 89% patients reported improvement of the symptoms, 1 reported no change and 1 patient’s symptoms got worse. The mechanism of action for both vancomycin and rifaximin involves the inhibition of bacterial cell wall and protein synthesis respectively. The role of these medications in improving the symptoms of this cohort suggests that IBS-D may be microbiome infection driven. In this cohort, similar patient presentations to Clostridium difficile, as well as symptom improvement with the use of rifaximin and particularly vancomycin, suggest that the infectious agent may be an unidentified Clostridium. These preliminary results offer an alternative etiology for IBS-D not previously considered and open the avenue for new research.

Keywords: clostridium deficile, diarrhea predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome, microbiome, vancomycin/rifaximin combination

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Authors: Qiong Li

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This study investigated in which condition computer-mediated communication (CMC) could promote pragmatic development. The focal feature included four Chinese sentence final particles (SFPs), a, ya, ba, and ne. They occur frequently in Chinese, and function as mitigators to soften the tone of speech. However, L2 acquisition of SFPs is difficult, suggesting the necessity of additional exposure to or explicit instruction on Chinese SFPs. This study follows this line and aims to explore two research questions: (1) Is CMC combined with data-driven instruction more effective than CMC alone in promoting L2 Chinese learners’ SFP use? (2) How does L2 Chinese learners’ SFP use change over time, as compared to the production of native Chinese speakers? The study involved 19 intermediate-level learners of Chinese enrolled at a private American university. They were randomly assigned to two groups: (1) the control group (N = 10), which was exposed to SFPs through CMC alone, (2) the treatment group (N = 9), which was exposed to SFPs via CMC and data-driven instruction. Learners interacted with native speakers on given topics through text-based CMC over Skype. Both groups went through six 30-minute CMC sessions on a weekly basis, with a one-week interval after the first two CMC sessions and a two-week interval after the second two CMC sessions (nine weeks in total). The treatment group additionally received a data-driven instruction after the first two sessions. Data analysis focused on three indices: token frequency, type frequency, and acceptability of SFP use. Token frequency was operationalized as the raw occurrence of SFPs per clause. Type frequency was the range of SFPs. Acceptability was rated by two native speakers using a rating rubric. The results showed that the treatment group made noticeable progress over time on the three indices. The production of SFPs approximated the native-like level. In contrast, the control group only slightly improved on token frequency. Only certain SFPs (a and ya) reached the native-like use. Potential explanations for the group differences were discussed in two aspects: the property of Chinese SFPs and the role of CMC and data-driven instruction. Though CMC provided the learners with opportunities to notice and observe SFP use, as a feature with low saliency, SFPs were not easily noticed in input. Data-driven instruction in the treatment group directed the learners’ attention to these particles, which facilitated the development.

Keywords: computer-mediated communication, data-driven instruction, pragmatic development, second language Chinese, sentence final particles

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Authors: Mohamad Mahdi Namdari

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In today's rapidly changing and evolving business competition, companies and organizations require advanced and efficient tools to manage their markets and sales networks. Big data analysis, quick response in competitive markets, process and operations optimization, and forecasting customer behavior are among the concerns of executive managers. Artificial intelligence, as one of the emerging technologies, has provided extensive capabilities in this regard. The use of artificial intelligence in market and sales network management can lead to improved efficiency, increased decision-making accuracy, and enhanced customer satisfaction. Specifically, AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, identify complex patterns, and offer strategic suggestions to improve sales performance. However, many companies are still distant from effectively leveraging this technology, and those that do face challenges in fully exploiting AI's potential in market and sales network management. It appears that the general public's and even the managerial and academic communities' lack of knowledge of this technology has caused the managerial structure to lag behind the progress and development of artificial intelligence. Additionally, high costs, fear of change and employee resistance, lack of quality data production processes, the need for updating structures and processes, implementation issues, the need for specialized skills and technical equipment, and ethical and privacy concerns are among the factors preventing widespread use of this technology in organizations. Clarifying and explaining this technology, especially to the academic, managerial, and elite communities, can pave the way for a transformative beginning. The aim of this research is to elucidate the capacities of artificial intelligence in market and sales network management, identify its opportunities and benefits, and examine the existing challenges and obstacles. This research aims to leverage AI capabilities to provide a framework for enhancing market and sales network performance for managers. The results of this research can help managers and decision-makers adopt more effective strategies for business growth and development by better understanding the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, market management, sales network, big data analysis, decision-making, digital marketing

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Authors: Rong Li, Brian D. Wirth, Bing Liu

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Graphite is the matrix, and structural material in the high temperature gas-cooled reactor exhibits an irradiation response. It is of significant importance to analyze the defect production and evaluate the role of graphite under irradiation. A vast experimental literature exists for graphite on the dimensional change, mechanical properties, and thermal behavior. However, simulations have not been applied to the atomistic perspective. Remarkably few molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to study the irradiation response in graphite. In this paper, irradiation-induced damage cascades in graphite were investigated with molecular dynamics simulation. Statistical results of the graphite defects were obtained by sampling a wide energy range (1–30 KeV) and 10 different runs for every cascade simulation with different random number generator seeds to the velocity scaling thermostat function. The chemical bonding in carbon was described using the adaptive intermolecular reactive empirical bond-order potential (AIREBO) potential coupled with the standard Ziegler–Biersack–Littmack (ZBL) potential to describe close-range pair interactions. This study focused on analyzing the number of defects, the final cascade morphology and the distribution of defect clusters in space, the length-scale cascade properties such as the cascade length and the range of primary knock-on atom (PKA), and graphite mechanical properties’ variation. It can be concluded that the number of surviving Frenkel pairs increased remarkably with the increasing initial PKA energy but did not exhibit a thermal spike at slightly lower energies in this paper. The PKA range and cascade length approximately linearly with energy which indicated that increasing the PKA initial energy will come at expensive computation cost such as 30KeV in this study. The cascade morphology and the distribution of defect clusters in space mainly related to the PKA energy meanwhile the temperature effect was relatively negligible. The simulations are in agreement with known experimental results and the Kinchin-Pease model, which can help to understand the graphite damage cascades and lifetime span under irradiation and provide a direction to the designs of these kinds of structural materials in the future reactors.

Keywords: graphite damage cascade, molecular dynamics, cascade morphology, cascade distribution

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Authors: Vidya Yadav

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In every society, males and females are expected to behave in certain ways, and in every culture, those expectation, values and norms are different and vary accordingly. Many of the inequalities between men and women are rooted in institutional structure such as in educational field, labour market, wages, decision-making power, access to services as well as in accessing the health and well-being care also. The marriage and kinship pattern shape both men’s and women’s lives. Earlier many studies have highlighted the gender disparities which vary tremendously between regions, social classes, and communities. This study will try to explore the prominent indicators to show the status of women and well-being condition in Indian society. Primarily this paper concern with firstly identification of indicators related to gender in each area like education, work status, mobility, women participation in public and private decision making, autonomy and domestic violence etc. And once the indicators are identified next task is to define them. The indicators which are selected here are for a comparison of women’s status across Indian states. Recent Indian Human Development Survey, 2011-12 has been procured to show the current situation of women. Result shows that in spite of rising levels of education and images of growing westernization in India, love marriages remain in rarity even among urban elite. In India marriage is universal, and most of the men and women marry at relatively young age. Even though the legal age of marriage is 18, but more than 60 percent are married before the legal age. Not surprisingly, but Bihar and Rajasthan are the states with earliest age at marriage. Most of them reported that they have very limited contact with their husband before marriages. Around 69 percent of women met their husbands on the day of the wedding or shortly before. In spite of decline in fertility, still childbearing remains essential to women’s lives. Mostly women aged 25 and older had at least one child. Women’s control over household resources, physical space and mobility is also limited. Indian women’s, mostly rely on men to purchase day to day necessities, as well as medicines, as well as other necessary items. This ultimately reduces the likelihood that women have cash in hand for such purchases. The story is quite different when it comes to have control over decision over purchasing household assets such as TVs or refrigerator, names on the bank account, and home ownership papers. However, the likelihood of ownership rises among urbanite educated women’s. Women’s still have to the cultural norms and the practice of purdah or ghunghat, familial control over women’s physical movement. Wife beating and domestic violence still remain pervasive, and beaten for minor transgression like going out without permission. Development of India cannot be realized without the very significant component of gender. Therefore detailed examinations of different indicators are required to understand, strategize, plan and formulate programmes.

Keywords: autonomy, empowerment, gender, violence

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Authors: Noman Shahzad, Amyn Pardhan, Hasnain Zafar

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Introduction: Though short term survival advantage of damage control laparotomy in management of critically ill trauma patients is established, there is little known about the long-term quality of life of these patients. Facial closure rate after damage control laparotomy is reported to be 20-70 percent. Abdominal wall reconstruction in those who failed to achieve facial closure is challenging and can potentially affect quality of life of these patients. Methodology: We conducted retrospective matched cohort study. Adult patients who underwent damage control laparotomy from Jan 2007 till Jun 2013 were identified through medical record. Patients who had concomitant disabling brain injury or limb injuries requiring amputation were excluded. Age, gender and presentation time matched non exposure group of patients who underwent laparotomy for trauma but no damage control were identified for each damage control laparotomy patient. Quality of life assessment was done via telephonic interview at least one year after the operation, using Urdu version of EuroQol Group Quality of Life (QOL) questionnaire EQ5D after permission. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare QOL scores and McNemar test was used to compare individual parameters of QOL questionnaire. Study was approved by institutional ethical review committee. Results: Out of 32 patients who underwent damage control laparotomy during study period, 20 fulfilled the selection criteria for which 20 matched controls were selected. Median age of patients (IQ Range) was 33 (26-40) years. Facial closure rate in damage control laparotomy group was 40% (8/20). One third of those who did not achieve facial closure (4/12) underwent abdominal wall reconstruction. Self-reported QOL score of damage control laparotomy patients was significantly worse than non-damage control group (p = 0.032). There was no statistically significant difference in two groups regarding individual QOL measures. Significantly, more patients in damage control group were requiring use of abdominal binder, and more patients in damage control group had to either change their job or had limitations in continuing previous job. Our study was not adequately powered to detect factors responsible for worse QOL in damage control group. Conclusion: Quality of life of damage control patients is worse than their age and gender matched patients who underwent trauma laparotomy but not damage control. Adequately powered studies need to be conducted to explore factors responsible for this finding for potential improvement.

Keywords: damage control laparotomy, laparostomy, quality of life

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Authors: Gary Peach, Furqan Hameed

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Musaimeer outfall tunnel is one of the longest storm water tunnels in the world, with a total length of 10.15 km. The tunnel will accommodate surface and rain water received from the drainage networks from 270 km of urban areas in southern Doha with a pumping capacity of 19.7m³/sec. The tunnel is excavated by Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) through Rus Formation, Midra Shales, and Simsima Limestone. Water inflows at high pressure, complex mixed ground, and weaker ground strata prone to karstification with the presence of vertical and lateral fractures connected to the sea bed were also encountered during mining. In addition to pre-tender geotechnical investigations, the Contractor carried out a supplementary offshore geophysical investigation in order to fine-tune the existing results of geophysical and geotechnical investigations. Electric resistivity tomography (ERT) and Seismic Reflection survey was carried out. Offshore geophysical survey was performed, and interpretations of rock mass conditions were made to provide an overall picture of underground conditions along the tunnel alignment. This allowed the critical tunnelling area and cutter head intervention to be planned accordingly. Karstification was monitored with a non-intrusive radar system facility installed on the TBM. The Boring Electric Ahead Monitoring(BEAM) was installed at the cutter head and was able to predict the rock mass up to 3 tunnel diameters ahead of the cutter head. BEAM system was provided with an online system for real time monitoring of rock mass condition and then correlated with the rock mass conditions predicted during the interpretation phase of offshore geophysical surveys. The further correlation was carried by Samples of the rock mass taken from tunnel face inspections and excavated material produced by the TBM. The BEAM data was continuously monitored to check the variations in resistivity and percentage frequency effect (PFE) of the ground. This system provided information about rock mass condition, potential karst risk, and potential of water inflow. BEAM system was found to be more than 50% accurate in picking up the difficult ground conditions and faults as predicted in the geotechnical interpretative report before the start of tunnelling operations. Upon completion of the project, it was concluded that the combined use of different geophysical investigation results can make the execution stage be carried out in a more confident way with the less geotechnical risk involved. The approach used for the prediction of rock mass condition in Geotechnical Interpretative Report (GIR) and Geophysical Reflection and electric resistivity tomography survey (ERT) Geophysical Reflection surveys were concluded to be reliable as the same rock mass conditions were encountered during tunnelling operations.

Keywords: tunnel boring machine (TBM), subsea, karstification, seismic reflection survey

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Authors: Maria Consuelo Doble

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For decades, basic public education in the Philippines has been beleaguered by a governance scenario of multi-layered decision-making and the lack of collaboration between sectors in addressing issues on poor access to schools, high dropout rates, low survival rates, and poor student performance. These chronic problems persisted despite multiple efforts making it appear that the education system is incapable of reforming itself. In the mountainous rural towns of La Trinidad and Tuba, in the province of Benguet in Northern Philippines, collaborative education governance was catalyzed by the intervention of Synergeia Foundation, a coalition made up of individuals, institutions and organizations that aim to improve the quality of education in the Philippines. Its major thrust is to empower the major stakeholders at the community level to make education work by building the capacities of School Governing Councils (SGCs). Although mandated by the Department of Education in 2006, the SGCs in Philippine public elementary schools remained dysfunctional. After one year of capacity-building by Synergeia Foundation, some SGCs are already exhibiting active community-based multi-sectoral collaboration, while there are many that are not. With the myriad of factors hindering collaboration, Synergeia Foundation is now confronted with the pressing question: What are the factors that promote collaborative governance in the SGCs so that they can address the education-related issues that they are facing? Using Emerson’s (2011) framework on collaborative governance, this study analyzes the application of collaborative governance by highly-functioning SGCs in the public elementary schools of Tuba and La Trinidad. Findings of this action research indicate how the dynamics of collaboration composed of three interactive and iterative components – principled engagement, shared motivation and capacity for joint action – have resulted in meaningful short-term impact such as stakeholder engagement and decreased a number of dropouts. The change in the behavior of stakeholders is indicative of adaptation to a more collaborative approach in governing education in Benguet highland settings such as Tuba and La Trinidad.

Keywords: basic public education, Benguet highlands, collaborative governance, School Governing Council

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Authors: Govind Kumar

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The concept of ‘e-governance’ that was brought about by the new wave of reforms, namely ‘LPG’ in the early 1990s, has been enabling governments across the globe to digitally transform themselves. Digital transformation is leading the governments with qualitative decisions, optimization in rational use of resources, facilitation of cost-benefit analyses, and elimination of redundancy and corruption with the help of ICT-based applications interface. ICT-based applications/technologies have enormous potential for impacting positive change in the social lives of the global citizenry. Supercomputers test and analyze millions of drug molecules for developing candidate vaccines to combat the global pandemic. Further, e-commerce portals help distribute and supply household items and medicines, while videoconferencing tools provide a visual interface between the clients and hosts. Besides, crop yields are being maximized with the help of drones and machine learning, whereas satellite data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing help governments with the detection of illegal mining, tackling deforestation, and managing freshwater resources. Such e-applications have the potential to take governance an extra mile by achieving 5 Es (effective, efficient, easy, empower, and equity) of e-governance and six Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign and remanufacture) of sustainable development. If such digital transformation gains traction within the government framework, it will replace the traditional administration with the digitalization of public administration. On the other hand, it has brought in a new set of challenges, like the digital divide, e-illiteracy, technological divide, etc., and problems like handling e-waste, technological obsolescence, cyber terrorism, e-fraud, hacking, phishing, etc. before the governments. Therefore, it would be essential to bring in a rightful mixture of technological and humanistic interventions for addressing the above issues. This is on account of the reason that technology lacks an emotional quotient, and the administration does not work like technology. Both are self-effacing unless a blend of technology and a humane face are brought in into the administration. The paper will empirically analyze the significance of the technological framework of digital transformation within the government set up for the digitalization of public administration on the basis of the synthesis of two case studies undertaken from two diverse fields of administration and present a future framework of the study.

Keywords: digital transformation, electronic governance, public administration, knowledge framework

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Authors: Sarai Guerrero, Lijia Liu

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Zinc gallogermanate (ZGGO) is a persistent phosphor that can emit in the near infrared (NIR) range once dopped with Cr³⁺ enabling its use for in-vivo deep-tissue bio-imaging. Such a property also allows for its application in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Given this, work into developing a synthetic procedure that can be done using common laboratory instruments and equipment as well as understanding ZGGO overall, is in demand. However, the ZGGO nanoparticles must have a size compatible for cell intake to occur while still maintaining sufficient photoluminescence. The nanoparticle must also be made biocompatible by functionalizing the surface for hydrophilic solubility and for high particle uniformity in the final product. Additionally, most research is completed on doped ZGGO, leaving a gap in understanding the base form of ZGGO. It also leaves a gap in understanding how doping affects the synthesis of ZGGO. In this work, the first step of optimizing the particle size via the crystalline size of ZGGO was done with undoped ZGGO using the organic acid, oleic acid (OA) for organic ligand-assisted biphasic hydrothermal synthesis. The effects of this synthesis procedure on ZGGO’s crystallinity were evaluated using Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD). OA was selected as the capping ligand as experiments have shown it beneficial in synthesizing sub-10 nm zinc gallate (ZGO) nanoparticles as well as palladium nanocrystals and magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles. Later it is possible to substitute OA with a different ligand allowing for hydrophilic solubility. Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier-Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) was used to investigate the surface of the nanoparticle to investigate and verify that OA had capped the nanoparticle. PXRD results showed that using this procedure led to improved crystallinity, comparable to the high-purity reagents used on the ZGGO nanoparticles. There was also a change in the crystalline size of the ZGGO nanoparticles. ATR-FTIR showed that once capped ZGGO cannot be annealed as doing so will affect the OA. These results point to this new procedure positively affecting the crystallinity of ZGGO nanoparticles. There are also repeatable implying the procedure is a reliable source of highly crystalline ZGGO nanoparticles. With this completed, the next step will be working on substituting the OA with a hydrophilic ligand. As these ligands effect the solubility of the nanoparticle as well as the pH that the nanoparticles can dissolve in, further research is needed to verify which ligand is best suited for preparing ZGGO for bio-imaging.

Keywords: biphasic hydrothermal synthesis, crystallinity, oleic acid, zinc gallogermanate

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Authors: Fidelis E. Uwumiro, Chimaobi O. Nwevo, Favour O. Osemwota, Victory O. Okpujie, Emeka S. Obi, Omamuyovbi F. Nwoagbe, Ejiroghene Tejere, Joycelyn Adjei-Mensah, Christopher N. Ekeh, Charles T. Ogbodo

Abstract:

Several risk factors associated with cardiovascular events have been identified as specific to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). This study endeavors to validate these CKD-specific risk factors using up-to-date national-level data, thereby highlighting the crucial significance of confirming the validity and generalizability of findings obtained from previous studies conducted on smaller patient populations. The study utilized the nationwide inpatient sample database to identify adult hospitalizations for CKD from 2016 to 2020, employing validated ICD-10-CM/PCS codes. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify both traditional and CKD-specific risk factors associated with cardiovascular events. Risk factors and cardiovascular events were defined using a combination of ICD-10-CM/PCS codes and statistical commands. Only risk factors with specific ICD-10 codes and hospitalizations with complete data were included in the study. Cardiovascular events of interest included cardiac arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death, acute heart failure, and acute coronary syndromes. Univariate and multivariate regression models were employed to evaluate the association between chronic kidney disease-specific risk factors and cardiovascular events while adjusting for the impact of traditional CV risk factors such as old age, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, inactivity, and smoking. A total of 690,375 hospitalizations for CKD were included in the analysis. The study population was predominantly male (375,564, 54.4%) and primarily received care at urban teaching hospitals (512,258, 74.2%). The mean age of the study population was 61 years (SD 0.1), and 86.7% (598,555) had a CCI of 3 or more. At least one traditional risk factor for CV events was present in 84.1% of all hospitalizations (580,605), while 65.4% (451,505) included at least one CKD-specific risk factor for CV events. The incidence of CV events in the study was as follows: acute coronary syndromes (41,422; 6%), sudden cardiac death (13,807; 2%), heart failure (404,560; 58.6%), and cardiac arrhythmias (124,267; 18%). 91.7% (113,912) of all cardiac arrhythmias were atrial fibrillations. Significant odds of cardiovascular events on multivariate analyses included: malnutrition (aOR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.06–1.13; p<0.001), post-dialytic hypotension (aOR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.26–1.42; p<0.001), thrombophilia (aOR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.29–1.65; p<0.001), sleep disorder (aOR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.09–1.25; p<0.001), and post-renal transplant immunosuppressive therapy (aOR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.26–1.53; p<0.001). The study validated malnutrition, post-dialytic hypotension, thrombophilia, sleep disorders, and post-renal transplant immunosuppressive therapy, highlighting their association with increased risk for cardiovascular events in CKD patients. No significant association was observed between uremic syndrome, hyperhomocysteinemia, hyperuricemia, hypertriglyceridemia, leptin levels, carnitine deficiency, anemia, and the odds of experiencing cardiovascular events.

Keywords: cardiovascular events, cardiovascular risk factors in CKD, chronic kidney disease, nationwide inpatient sample

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Magdalena Suárez-Ortega, M. Fe. Sánchez-García

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the analysis of the motivations that lead people to undertake and consolidate their business. It is addressed from the framework of planned behavior theory, which recognizes the importance of the social environment and cultural values, both in the decision to undertake business and in business consolidation. Similarly, it is also based on theories of career development, which emphasize the importance of career management competencies and their connections to other vital aspects of people, including their roles within their families and other personal activities. This connects directly with the impact of entrepreneurship on the career and the professional-personal project of each individual. This study is part of the project titled Career Design and Talent Management (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, State Plan 2013-2016 Excellence Ref. EDU2013-45704-P). The aim of the study is to identify and describe entrepreneurial competencies and motivational profiles in a sample of 248 Spanish entrepreneurs, considering the consolidated profile and the profile in transition (n = 248).In order to obtain the information, the Questionnaire of Motivation and conditioners of the entrepreneurial career (MCEC) has been applied. This consists of 67 items and includes four scales (E1-Conflicts in conciliation, E2-Satisfaction in the career path, E3-Motivations to undertake, E4-Guidance Needs). Cluster analysis (mixed method, combining k-means clustering with a hierarchical method) was carried out, characterizing the groups profiles according to the categorical variables (chi square, p = 0.05), and the quantitative variables (ANOVA). The results have allowed us to characterize three motivational profiles relevant to the motivation, the degree of conciliation between personal and professional life, and the degree of conflict in conciliation, levels of career satisfaction and orientation needs (in the entrepreneurial project and life-career). The first profile is formed by extrinsically motivated entrepreneurs, professionally satisfied and without conflict of vital roles. The second profile acts with intrinsic motivation and also associated with family models, and although it shows satisfaction with their professional career, it finds a high conflict in their family and professional life. The third is composed of entrepreneurs with high extrinsic motivation, professional dissatisfaction and at the same time, feel the conflict in their professional life by the effect of personal roles. Ultimately, the analysis has allowed us to line the kinds of entrepreneurs to different levels of motivation, satisfaction, needs and articulation in professional and personal life, showing characterizations associated with the use of time for leisure, and the care of the family. Associations related to gender, age, activity sector, environment (rural, urban, virtual), and the use of time for domestic tasks are not identified. The model obtained and its implications for the design of training actions and orientation to entrepreneurs is also discussed.

Keywords: motivation, entrepreneurial career, guidance needs, life-work balance, job satisfaction, assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 295