Search results for: crisis response strategies

Authors: Chenyao Shen, Jie Shen

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The rating system provides an effective framework for assessing building environmental performance and integrating sustainable development into building and construction processes; as it can be used as a design tool by developing appropriate sustainable design strategies and determining performance measures to guide the sustainable design and decision-making processes. Healthcare buildings are resource (water, energy, etc.) intensive. To maintain high-cost operations and complex medical facilities, they require a great deal of hazardous and non-hazardous materials, stringent control of environmental parameters, and are responsible for producing polluting emission. Compared with other types of buildings, the impact of healthcare buildings on the full cycle of the environment is particularly large. With broad recognition among designers and operators that energy use can be reduced substantially, many countries have set up their own green rating systems for healthcare buildings. There are four main green healthcare building evaluation systems widely acknowledged in the world - Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC), which was jointly organized by the United States HCWH and CMPBS in 2003; BREEAM Healthcare, issued by the British Academy of Building Research (BRE) in 2008; the Green Star-Healthcare v1 tool, released by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) in 2009; and LEED Healthcare 2009, released by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2011. In addition, the German Association of Sustainable Building (DGNB) has also been developing the German Sustainable Building Evaluation Criteria (DGNB HC). In China, more and more scholars and policy makers have recognized the importance of assessment of sustainable development, and have adapted some tools and frameworks. China’s first comprehensive assessment standard for green building (the GBTs) was issued in 2006 (lately updated in 2014), promoting sustainability in the built-environment and raise awareness of environmental issues among architects, engineers, contractors as well as the public. However, healthcare building was not involved in the evaluation system of GBTs because of its complex medical procedures, strict requirements of indoor/outdoor environment and energy consumption of various functional rooms. Learn from advanced experience of GGHC, BREEAM, and LEED HC above, China’s first assessment criteria for green hospital/healthcare buildings was finally released in December 2015. Combined with both quantitative and qualitative assessment criteria, the standard highlight the differences between healthcare and other public buildings in meeting the functional needs for medical facilities and special groups. This paper has focused on the assessment criteria framework for sustainable healthcare buildings, for which the comparison of different rating systems is rather essential. Descriptive analysis is conducted together with the cross-matrix analysis to reveal rich information on green assessment criteria in a coherent manner. The research intends to know whether the green elements for healthcare buildings in China are different from those conducted in other countries, and how to improve its assessment criteria framework.

Keywords: assessment criteria framework, green building design, healthcare building, building performance rating tool

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Authors: Jessie Rapoza, Petr Moroshkin, Jimmy Xu

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Chirality is omnipresent, in nature, in life, and in the field of physics. One intriguing example is the homochirality that has remained a great secret of life. Another is the pairs of mirror-image molecules – enantiomers. They are identical in atomic composition and therefore indistinguishable in the scalar physical properties. Yet, they can be either therapeutic or toxic, depending on their chirality. Recent studies suggest a potential link between abnormal levels of certain D-amino acids and some serious health impairments, including schizophrenia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and potentially cancer. Although indistinguishable in their scalar properties, the chirality of a molecule reveals itself in interaction with the surrounding of a certain chirality, or more generally, a broken mirror-symmetry. In this work, we report on a system for chiral molecule detection, in which the mirror-symmetry is doubly broken, first by asymmetric structuring a nanopatterned plasmonic surface than by the incidence of circularly polarized light (CPL). In this system, the incident circularly-polarized light induces a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) wave, propagating along the asymmetric plasmonic surface. This SPP field itself is chiral, evanescently bound to a near-field zone on the surface (~10nm thick), but with an amplitude greatly intensified (by up to 104) over that of the incident light. It hence probes just the molecules on the surface instead of those in the volume. In coupling to molecules along its path on the surface, the chiral SPP wave favors one chirality over the other, allowing for chirality detection via the change in an optical rectification current measured at the edges of the sample. The asymmetrically structured surface converts the high-frequency electron plasmonic-oscillations in the SPP wave into a net DC drift current that can be measured at the edge of the sample via the mechanism of optical rectification. The measured results validate these design concepts and principles. The observed optical rectification current exhibits a clear differentiation between a pair of enantiomers. Experiments were performed by focusing a 1064nm CW laser light at the sample - a gold grating microchip submerged in an approximately 1.82M solution of either L-arabinose or D-arabinose and water. A measurement of the current output was then recorded under both rights and left circularly polarized lights. Measurements were recorded at various angles of incidence to optimize the coupling between the spin-momentums of the incident light and that of the SPP, that is, spin-momentum locking. In order to suppress the background, the values of the photocurrent for the right CPL are subtracted from those for the left CPL. Comparison between the two arabinose enantiomers reveals a preferential signal response of one enantiomer to left CPL and the other enantiomer to right CPL. In sum, this work reports on the first experimental evidence of the feasibility of chiral molecule detection via optical rectification in a metal meta-grating. This nanoscale interfaced electrical detection technology is advantageous over other detection methods due to its size, cost, ease of use, and integration ability with read-out electronic circuits for data processing and interpretation.

Keywords: Chirality, detection, molecule, spin

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Authors: Mengdan Guo, Zongmin Wang, Haibo Yang

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Drought is one of the most complex and destructive natural disasters, with a huge impact on both nature and society. In recent years, adverse climate conditions and uncontrolled human activities have exacerbated the occurrence of global droughts, among which socio-economic droughts are closely related to human survival. The study of socio-economic drought risk assessment is crucial for sustainable social development. Therefore, this study comprehensively considered the risk of disaster causing factors, the exposure level of the disaster-prone environment, and the vulnerability of the disaster bearing body to construct a socio-economic drought risk assessment model for Chuxiong Prefecture in Yunnan Province. Firstly, a threedimensional frequency analysis of intensity area duration drought was conducted, followed by a statistical analysis of the drought risk of the socio-economic system. Secondly, a grid analysis model was constructed to assess the exposure levels of different agents and study the effects of drought on regional crop growth, industrial economic growth, and human consumption thresholds. Thirdly, an agricultural vulnerability model for different irrigation levels was established by using the DSSAT crop model. Industrial economic vulnerability and domestic water vulnerability under the impact of drought were investigated by constructing a standardized socio-economic drought index and coupling water loss. Finally, the socio-economic drought risk was assessed by combining hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. The results show that the frequency of drought occurrence in Chuxiong Prefecture, Yunnan Province is relatively high, with high population and economic exposure concentrated in urban areas of various counties and districts, and high agricultural exposure concentrated in mountainous and rural areas. Irrigation can effectively reduce agricultural vulnerability in Chuxiong, and the yield loss rate under the 20mm winter irrigation scenario decreased by 10.7% compared to the rain fed scenario. From the perspective of comprehensive risk, the distribution of long-term socio-economic drought risk in Chuxiong Prefecture is relatively consistent, with the more severe areas mainly concentrated in Chuxiong City and Lufeng County, followed by counties such as Yao'an, Mouding and Yuanmou. Shuangbai County has the lowest socio-economic drought risk, which is basically consistent with the economic distribution trend of Chuxiong Prefecture. And in June, July, and August, the drought risk in Chuxiong Prefecture is generally high. These results can provide constructive suggestions for the allocation of water resources and the construction of water conservancy facilities in Chuxiong Prefecture, and provide scientific basis for more effective drought prevention and control. Future research is in the areas of data quality and availability, climate change impacts, human activity impacts, and countermeasures for a more comprehensive understanding and effective response to drought risk in Chuxiong Prefecture.

Keywords: DSSAT model, risk assessment, socio-economic drought, standardized socio-economic drought index

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Authors: Lauren G. Coggins

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Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) are among the most common healthcare-associated infections (HAI), contributing to prolonged lengths of stay, greater costs of patient care, and increased patient mortality. Evidence-based preventative care bundles exist to establish consistent, safe patient-care practices throughout an entire organization, helping to ensure the collective application of care strategies that aim to improve patient outcomes and minimize complications. The cardiac intensive care unit at a nationally ranked teaching and research hospital in the United States exceeded its annual CAUTI and CLABSI targets in the fiscal year 2019, prompting examination into the unit’s infection prevention efforts that included preventative care bundles for both HAIs. Adherence to the CAUTI and CLABSI preventative care bundles was evaluated through frequent audits conducted over three months, using standards and resources from The Joint Commission, a globally recognized leader in quality improvement in healthcare and patient care safety. The bundle elements with the lowest scores were identified as the most commonly missed elements. Three elements from both bundles, six elements in total, served as key content areas for the educational interventions targeted to bedside nurses. The CAUTI elements included appropriate urinary catheter order, appropriate continuation criteria, and urinary catheter care. The CLABSI elements included primary tubing compliance, needleless connector compliance, and dressing change compliance. An integrated, multi-platform education campaign featured content on each CAUTI and CLABSI preventative care bundle in its entirety, with additional reinforcement focused on the lowest scoring elements. One-on-one educational materials included an informational pamphlet, badge buddy, a presentation to reinforce nursing care standards, and real-time application through case studies and electronic health record demonstrations. A digital hub was developed on the hospital’s Intranet for quick access to unit resources, and a bulletin board helped track the number of days since the last CAUTI and CLABSI incident. Audits continued to be conducted throughout the education campaign, and staff were given real-time feedback to address any gaps in adherence. Nearly every nurse in the cardiac intensive care unit received all educational materials, and adherence to all six key bundle elements increased after the implementation of educational interventions. Recommendations from this implementation include providing consistent, comprehensive education across multiple teaching tools and regular audits to track adherence. The multi-platform education campaign brought focus to the evidence-based CAUTI and CLABSI bundles, which in turn will help to reduce CAUTI and CLABSI rates in clinical practice.

Keywords: education, healthcare-associated infections, infection, nursing, prevention

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Authors: Eda Ozkara San

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Nurse educators have been charged by several nursing organizations and accrediting bodies to provide innovative and evidence-based educational experiences, both didactic and clinical, to help students to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to provide culturally competent nursing care to patients. Clinical simulation, which offers the opportunity for students to practice nursing skills in a risk-free, controlled environment and helps develop self-efficacy (confidence) within the nursing role. As one simulation method, the standardized patients (SPs) simulation helps educators to teach nursing students variety of skills in nursing, medicine, and other health professions. It can be a helpful tool for nurse educators to enhance cultural competence of nursing students. An alarming gap exists within the literature concerning the effectiveness of SP strategy to enhance cultural competence development of diverse student groups, who must work with patients from various backgrounds. This grant-supported, longitudinal, one-group, pretest and post-test educational intervention study aimed to examine the effect of the Diverse Standardized Patient Simulation (DSPS) cultural competence education strategy on students’ (n = 53) transcultural self-efficacy (TSE). The researcher-developed multidimensional DSPS strategy involved careful integration of transcultural nursing skills guided by the Cultural Competence and Confidence (CCC) model. As a carefully orchestrated teaching and learning strategy by specifically utilizing the SP pedagogy, the DSPS also followed international guidelines and standards for the design, implementation, evaluation, and SP training; and had content validity review. The DSPS strategy involved two simulation scenarios targeting underrepresented patient populations (Muslim immigrant woman with limited English proficiency and Irish-Italian American gay man with his partner (Puerto Rican) to be utilized in a second-semester, nine-credit, 15-week medical-surgical nursing course at an urban public US university. Five doctorally prepared content experts reviewed the DSPS strategy for content validity. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) score was calculated between .80-1.0 on the evaluation forms. Jeffreys’ Transcultural Self-Efficacy Tool (TSET) was administered as a pretest and post-test to assess students’ changes in cognitive, practical, and affective dimensions of TSE. Results gained from this study support that the DSPS cultural competence education strategy assisted students to develop cultural competence and caused statistically significant changes (increase) in students’ TSE perceptions. Results also supported that all students, regardless of their background, benefit (and require) well designed cultural competence education strategies. The multidimensional DSPS strategy is found to be an effective way to foster nursing students’ cultural competence development. Step-by-step description of the DSPS provides an easy adaptation of this strategy with different student populations and settings.

Keywords: cultural competence development, the cultural competence and confidence model, CCC model, educational intervention, transcultural self-efficacy, TSE, transcultural self-efficacy tool, TSET

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Authors: A. K. Tekile, I. L. Kim, J. Y. Lee

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Human activities put freshwater quality under risk, mainly due to expansion of agriculture and industries, damming, diversion and discharge of inadequately treated wastewaters. The rapid human population growth and climate change escalated the problem. External controlling actions on point and non-point pollution sources are long-term solution to manage water quality. To have a holistic approach, these mechanisms should be coupled with the in-water control strategies. The available in-lake or river methods are either costly or they have some adverse effect on the ecological system that the search for an alternative and effective solution with a reasonable balance is still going on. This study aimed at the physical and chemical water quality improvement in a stagnant Yeo-cheon River reach (Korea), which has recently shown sign of water quality problems such as scum formation and fish death. The river water quality was monitored, for the duration of three months by operating only water flow generator in the first two weeks and then ultrasonic irradiation device was coupled to the flow unit for the remaining duration of the experiment. In addition to assessing the water quality improvement, the correlation among the parameters was analyzed to explain the contribution of the ultra-sonication. Generally, the combined strategy showed localized improvement of water quality in terms of dissolved oxygen, Chlorophyll-a and dissolved reactive phosphate. At locations under limited influence of the system operation, chlorophyll-a was highly increased, but within 25 m of operation the low initial value was maintained. The inverse correlation coefficient between dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a decreased from 0.51 to 0.37 when ultrasonic irradiation unit was used with the flow, showing that ultrasonic treatment reduced chlorophyll-a concentration and it inhibited photosynthesis. The relationship between dissolved oxygen and reactive phosphate also indicated that influence of ultra-sonication was higher than flow on the reactive phosphate concentration. Even though flow increased turbidity by suspending sediments, ultrasonic waves canceled out the effect due to the agglomeration of suspended particles and the follow-up settling out. There has also been variation of interaction in the water column as the decrease of pH and dissolved oxygen from surface to the bottom played a role in phosphorus release into the water column. The variation of nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon concentrations showed mixed trend probably due to the complex chemical reactions subsequent to the operation. Besides, the intensive rainfall and strong wind around the end of the field trial had apparent impact on the result. The combined effect of water flow and ultrasonic irradiation was a cumulative water quality improvement and it maintained the dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a requirement of the river for healthy ecological interaction. However, the overall improvement of water quality is not guaranteed as effectiveness of ultrasonic technology requires long-term monitoring of water quality before, during and after treatment. Even though, the short duration of the study conducted here has limited nutrient pattern realization, the use of ultrasound at field scale to improve water quality is promising.

Keywords: stagnant, ultrasonic irradiation, water flow, water quality

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Authors: Margarita Ivanova, Julia Dao, Andrew Friedman, Neil Kasaci, Rekha Gopal, Ozlem Goker-Alpan

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In Fabry disease (FD), α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A) deficiency leads to the accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Lyso-Gb3 and Gb3), triggering a pathologic cascade that causes the severity of organs damage. The heart is one of the several organs with high sensitivity to the α-Gal A deficiency. A subgroup of patients with significant residual of α-Gal A activity with primary cardiac involvement is occasionally referred to as “cardiac variant.” The cardiovascular complications are most frequently encountered, contributing substantially to morbidity, and are the leading cause of premature death in male and female patients with FD. The deposition of Lyso-Gb-3 and Gb-3 within the myocardium affects cardiac function with resultant progressive cardiovascular pathology. Gb-3 and Lyso-Gb-3 accumulation at the cellular level trigger a cascade of events leading to end-stage fibrosis. In the cardiac tissue, Lyso-Gb-3 deposition is associated with the increased release of inflammatory factors and transforming growth factors. Infiltration of lymphocytes and macrophages into endomyocardial tissue indicates that inflammation plays a significant role in cardiac damage. Moreover, accumulated data suggest that chronic inflammation leads to multisystemic FD pathology even under enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). NF-κB activation plays a subsequent role in the inflammatory response to cardiac dysfunction and advanced heart failure in the general population. TNFalpha/NF-κB signaling protects the myocardial evoking by ischemic preconditioning; however, this protective effect depends on the concentration of TNF-α. Thus, we hypothesize that TNF-α is a critical factor in determining the grade of cardio-pathology. Cardiac hypertrophy corresponds to the expansion of the coronary vasculature to maintain a sufficient supply of nutrients and oxygen. Coronary activation of angiogenesis and fibrosis plays a vital role in cardiac vascularization, hypertrophy, and tissue remodeling. We suggest that the interaction between the inflammatory pathways and cardiac vascularization is a bi-directional process controlled by secreted cytokines and growth factors. The co-coordination of these two processes has never been explored in FD. In a cohort of 40 patients with FD, biomarkers associated with inflammation and cardio hypertrophic remodeling were studied. FD patients were categorized into three groups based on LVmass/DSA, LVEF, and ECG abnormalities: FD with no cardio complication, FD with moderate cardio complication, and severe cardio complication. Serum levels of NF-kB, TNFalpha, Il-6, Il-2, MCP1, ING-gamma, VEGF, IGF-1, TGFβ, and FGF2 were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Among the biomarkers, MCP-1, INF-gamma, VEGF, TNF-alpha, and TGF-beta were elevated in FD patients. Some of these biomarkers also have the potential to correlate with cardio pathology in FD. Conclusion: The study provides information about the role of inflammatory pathways and biomarkers of cardio hypertrophic remodeling in FD patients. This study will also reveal the mechanisms that link intracellular accumulation of Lyso-GB-3 and Gb3 to the development of cardiomyopathy with myocardial thickening and resultant fibrosis.

Keywords: biomarkers, Fabry disease, inflammation, growth factors

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Authors: M. Soubadra Devy, Savitha Swamy, Chethana V. Casiker

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Sustainable smart cities are emerging as an important concept in response to the exponential rise in the world’s urbanizing population. While earlier, only technical, economic and governance based solutions were considered, more and more layers are being added in recent times. With the prefix of 'sustainability', solutions which help in judicious use of resources without negatively impacting the environment have become critical. We present a case study of Bangalore city which has transformed from being a garden city and pensioners' paradise to being an IT city with a huge, young population from different regions and diverse cultural backgrounds. This has had a big impact on the green spaces in the city and the biodiversity that they support, as well as on farming/gardening practices. Edible landscapes comprising farms lands, home gardens and neighbourhood parks (NPs henceforth) were examined. The land prices of areas having NPs were higher than those that did not indicate an appreciation of their aesthetic value. NPs were part of old and new residential areas largely managed by the municipality. They comprised manicured gardens which were similar in vegetation structure and composition. Results showed that NPs that occurred in higher density supported reasonable levels of biodiversity. In situations where NPs occurred in lower density, the presence of a larger green space such as a heritage park or botanical garden enhanced the biodiversity of these parks. In contrast, farm lands and home gardens which were common within the city are being lost at an unprecedented scale to developmental projects. However, there is also the emergence of a 'neo-culture' of home-gardening that promotes 'locovory' or consumption of locally grown food as a means to a sustainable living and reduced carbon footprint. This movement overcomes the space constraint by using vertical and terrace gardening techniques. Food that is grown within cities comprises of vegetables and fruits which are largely pollinator dependent. This goes hand in hand with our landscape-level study that has shown that cities support pollinator diversity. Maintaining and improving these man-made ecosystems requires analysing the functioning and characteristics of the existing structures of governance. Social network analysis tool was applied to NPs to examine relationships, between actors and ties. The management structures around NPs, gaps, and means to strengthen the networks from the current state to a near-ideal state were identified for enhanced services. Learnings from NPs were used to build a hypothetical governance structure and functioning of integrated governance of NPs and edible landscapes to enhance ecosystem services such as biodiversity support, food production, and aesthetic value. They also contribute to the sustainability axis of smart cities.

Keywords: biodiversity support, ecosystem services, edible green spaces, neighbourhood parks, sustainable smart city

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Authors: Martina Grdiša, Filip Varga, Nina Jeran, Ante Turudić, Zlatko Šatović

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Dalmatian pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium (Trevir.) Sch. Bip.) is a plant species that occurs naturally in the eastern Mediterranean. It is of immense economic importance as it synthesizes and accumulates the phytochemical compound pyrethrin. Pyrethrin consists of several monoterpene esters (pyrethrin I and II, cinerin I and II and jasmolin I and II), which have insecticidal and repellent activity through their synergistic action. In this study, 15 natural Dalmatian pyrethrum populations were sampled along their natural range in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to characterize and compare their pyrethrin profiles and to define the bioclimatic factors associated with the accumulation of each pyrethrin compound. Pyrethrins were extracted from the dried flower heads of Dalmatian pyrethrum using ultrasound-assisted extraction and the amount of each compound was quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to DAD-UV /VIS. The biochemical data were subjected to analysis of variance, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis. Quantitative variability within and among populations was found, with population P15 Vranjske Njive, Podgorica having the significantly highest pyrethrin I content (66.47% of total pyrethrin content), while the highest levels of total pyrethrin were found in P14 Budva (1.27% of dry flower weight; DW), followed by P08 Korčula (1.15% DW). Based on the environmental conditions at the sampling sites of the populations, five bioclimatic groups were distinguished, referred to as A, B, C, D, and E, each with rare chemical profile. The first group (A) consisted of the northern Adriatic population P01 Vrbnik, Krk and the population P06 Sevid - the coastal population of the central Adriatic, and generally differed significantly from the other bioclimatic groups by higher average jasmolin II values (2.13% of total pyrethrin). The second group (B) consisted of two central Adriatic island populations (P02 Telašćica, Dugi otok and P03 Žman, Dugi otok), while the remaining central Adriatic island populations were grouped in bioclimatic group C, which was characterized by the significantly highest average pyrethrin II (48.52% of total pyrethrin) and cinerin II (5.31% DW) content. The South Adriatic inland populations P10 Srđ and P11 Trebinje (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and the populations from Montenegro (P12 Grahovo, P13 Lovćen, P14 Budva and P15 Vranjske Njive, Podgorica) formed bioclimatic group E. This bioclimatic group was characterized by the highest average values for pyrethrin I (53.07 % of total pyrethrin), total pyrethrin content (1.06 % DW) and the ratio of pyrethrin I and II (1.85). Slightly lower values (although not significant) for the latter traits were detected in bioclimatic group D (southern Adriatic island populations P07 Vis, P08 Korčula and P09 Mljet). A weak but significant correlation was found between the levels of some pyrethrin compounds and bioclimatic variables (e.g., BIO03 Isothermality and BIO04 Temperature Seasonality), which explains part of the variability observed in the populations studied. This suggests the interconnection between bioclimatic variables and biochemical profiles either through the selection of adapted genotypes or through the ability of species to alter the expression of biochemical traits in response to environmental changes.

Keywords: biopesticides, biochemical variability, pyrethrin, Tanacetum cinerariifolium

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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

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Authors: Andrew N. Saylor, James R. Peters

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Scoliosis is a complex 3D deformity of the thoracic and lumbar spines, clinically diagnosed by measurement of a Cobb angle of 10 degrees or more on a coronal X-ray. The Cobb angle is the angle made by the lines drawn along the proximal and distal endplates of the respective proximal and distal vertebrae comprising the curve. Traditionally, Cobb angles are measured manually using either a marker, straight edge, and protractor or image measurement software. The task of measuring the Cobb angle can also be represented by a function taking the spine geometry rendered using X-ray imaging as input and returning the approximate angle. Although the form of such a function may be unknown, it can be approximated using artificial neural networks (ANNs). The performance of ANNs is affected by many factors, including the choice of activation function and network architecture; however, the effects of these parameters on the accuracy of scoliotic deformity measurements are poorly understood. Therefore, the objective of this study was to systematically investigate the effect of ANN architecture and activation function on Cobb angle measurement from the coronal X-rays of scoliotic subjects. The data set for this study consisted of 609 coronal chest X-rays of scoliotic subjects divided into 481 training images and 128 test images. These data, which included labeled Cobb angle measurements, were obtained from the SpineWeb online database. In order to normalize the input data, each image was resized using bi-linear interpolation to a size of 500 × 187 pixels, and the pixel intensities were scaled to be between 0 and 1. A fully connected (dense) ANN with a fixed cost function (mean squared error), batch size (10), and learning rate (0.01) was developed using Python Version 3.7.3 and TensorFlow 1.13.1. The activation functions (sigmoid, hyperbolic tangent [tanh], or rectified linear units [ReLU]), number of hidden layers (1, 3, 5, or 10), and number of neurons per layer (10, 100, or 1000) were varied systematically to generate a total of 36 network conditions. Stochastic gradient descent with early stopping was used to train each network. Three trials were run per condition, and the final mean squared errors and mean absolute errors were averaged to quantify the network response for each condition. The network that performed the best used ReLU neurons had three hidden layers, and 100 neurons per layer. The average mean squared error of this network was 222.28 ± 30 degrees2, and the average mean absolute error was 11.96 ± 0.64 degrees. It is also notable that while most of the networks performed similarly, the networks using ReLU neurons, 10 hidden layers, and 1000 neurons per layer, and those using Tanh neurons, one hidden layer, and 10 neurons per layer performed markedly worse with average mean squared errors greater than 400 degrees2 and average mean absolute errors greater than 16 degrees. From the results of this study, it can be seen that the choice of ANN architecture and activation function has a clear impact on Cobb angle inference from coronal X-rays of scoliotic subjects.

Keywords: scoliosis, artificial neural networks, cobb angle, medical imaging

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Authors: S. Gustafsson

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The aim of this paper is to explore the connection between gender, agency, and health on personal and social levels over time. The use of gender as an analytical tool for health research has been shown to be useful to explore thoughts and ideas that are taken for granted, which have relevance for health. The paper highlights the following three issues. There are multiple forms of femininity and masculinity. Agency and social structure are closely related and referred to in this paper as 'gender agency'. Gender is illuminated as a product of history but also treated as a social factor and a producer of history. As a prominent social factor in the process of shaping living conditions, gender is highlighted as being significant for understanding health. To make health explicit as a dynamic and complex concept and not merely the opposite of disease requires a broader alliance with feminist theory and a post-Bourdieusian framework. A personal story, included with other ethnographic material about women’s networking in rural Sweden, is used as an empirical illustration. Ethnographic material was chosen for its ability to illustrate historical, local, and cultural ways of doing gendered and capitalized health. New concepts characterize ethnography, exemplified in this study by 'processes of transformation'. The semi-structured interviews followed an interview guide drafted with reference to the background theory of gender. The interviews lasted about an hour and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed interviews and the author’s field notes formed the basis for the writing up of this paper. Initially, the participants' interests in weaving, sewing, and various handicrafts became obvious foci for networking activities and seemed at first to shape compliance with patriarchy, which generally does the opposite of promoting health. However, a significant event disrupted the stability of this phenomenon. What was permissible for the women began to crack and new spaces opened up. By exploiting these new spaces, the participants found opportunities to try out alternatives to emphasized femininity. Over time, they began combining feminized activities with degrees of masculinity, as leadership became part of the activities. In response to this, masculine enactment was gradually transformed and became increasingly gender neutral. As the tasks became more gender neutral the activities assumed a more formal character and the women stretched the limits of their capacity by enacting gender agency, a process the participants referred to as 'personal growth' and described as health promotion. What was described in terms of 'personal growth' can be interpreted as the effects of a raised status. Participation in women’s networking strengthened the participants’ structural position. More specifically, it was the gender-neutral position that was rewarded. To clarify the connection between gender, agency, and health on personal and social levels over time the concept processes of transformation is used. This concept is suggested as a dynamic equivalent to habitus. Health is thus seen as resulting from situational access to social recognition, prestige, capital assets and not least, meanings of gender.

Keywords: a cross-gender bodily hexis, gender agency, gender as analytical tool, processes of transformation

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Authors: Anahita Mortazavi Manesh, Mojtaba Bagherzadeh

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Metalloporphyrins are well known to mimic the activity of monooxygenase enzymes. In this regard, metalloporphyrin complexes have been largely employed as valuable biomimetic catalysts, owing to the critical roles they play in oxygen transfer processes in catalytic oxidation reactions. Investigating in this area is based on different strategies to design selective, stable and high turnover catalytic systems. Immobilization of expensive metalloporphyrin catalysts onto supports appears to be a good way to improve their stability, selectivity and the catalytic performance because of the support environment and other advantages with respect to recovery, reuse. In other words, supporting metalloporphyrins provides a physical separation of active sites, thus minimizing catalyst self-destruction and dimerization of unhindered metalloporphyrins. Furthermore, heterogeneous catalytic oxidations have become an important target since their process are used in industry, helping to minimize the problems of industrial waste treatment. Hence, the immobilization of these biomimetic catalysts is much desired. An attractive approach is the preparation of the heterogeneous catalyst involves immobilization of complexes on silica coated magnetic nano-particles. Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic nanoparticles have been studied extensively due to their superparamagnetism property, large surface area to volume ratio and easy functionalization. Using heterogenized homogeneous catalysts is an attractive option to facile separation of catalyst, simplified product work-up and continuity of catalytic system. Homogeneous catalysts immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) surface occupy a unique position due to combining the advantages of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. In addition, superparamagnetic nature of MNPs enable very simple separation of the immobilized catalysts from the reaction mixture using an external magnet. In the present work, an efficient heterogeneous catalyst was prepared by immobilizing manganese porphyrin on functionalized magnetic nanoparticles through the amino propyl linkage. The prepared catalyst was characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, atomic absorption spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Application of immobilized metalloporphyrin in the oxidation of various organic substrates was explored using Gas chromatographic (GC) analyses. The results showed that the supported Mn-porphyrin catalyst (Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2@MnPor) is an efficient and reusable catalyst in oxidation reactions. Our catalytic system exhibits high catalytic activity in terms of turnover number (TON) and reaction conditions. Leaching and recycling experiments revealed that nanocatalyst can be recovered several times without loss of activity and magnetic properties. The most important advantage of this heterogenized catalytic system is the simplicity of the catalyst separation in which the catalyst can be separated from the reaction mixture by applying a magnet. Furthermore, the separation and reuse of the magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were very effective and economical.

Keywords: Fe3O4 nanoparticle, immobilized metalloporphyrin, magnetically separable nanocatalyst, oxidation reactions

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Authors: Faris Algahtani

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Background: In Saudi Arabia, it is essential to know what practices are employed and considered effective by special education teachers working with preschool children with intellectual disabilities, as a prerequisite for identifying areas for improvement. Preschool provision for these children is expanding through a network of Intellectual Disability Centres while, in primary schools, a policy of inclusion is pursued and, in mainstream preschools, pilots have been aimed at enhancing learning in readiness for primary schooling. This potentially widens the attainment gap between preschool children with and without intellectual disabilities, and influences the scope for improvement. Goal: The aim of the study was to explore special education teachers’ practices and perceived perceptions of those practices for preschool children with intellectual disabilities in Saudi Arabia Method: A qualitative interpretive approach was adopted in order to gain a detailed understanding of how special education teachers in an IDC operate in the classroom. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with experienced and qualified teachers. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, based on themes identified from the literature review together with new themes emerging from the data. Findings: American methods strongly influenced teaching practices, in particular TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication related handicapped Children), which emphasises structure, schedules and specific methods of teaching tasks and skills; and ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis), which aims to improve behaviours and skills by concentrating on detailed breakdown and teaching of task components and rewarding desired behaviours with positive reinforcement. The Islamic concept of education strongly influenced which teaching techniques were used and considered effective, and how they were applied. Tensions were identified between the Islamic approach to disability, which accepts differences between human beings as created by Allah in order for people to learn to help and love each other, and the continuing stigmatisation of disability in many Arabic cultures, which means that parents who bring their children to an IDC often hope and expect that their children will be ‘cured’. Teaching methods were geared to reducing behavioural problems and social deficits rather than to developing the potential of the individual child, with some teachers recognizing the child’s need for greater freedom. Relationships with parents could in many instances be improved. Teachers considered both initial teacher education and professional development to be inadequate for their needs and the needs of the children they teach. This can be partly attributed to the separation of training and development of special education teachers from that of general teachers. Conclusion: Based on the findings, teachers’ practices could be improved by the inclusion of general teaching strategies, parent-teacher relationships and practical teaching experience in both initial teacher education and professional development. Coaching and mentoring support from carefully chosen special education teachers could assist the process, as could the presence of a second teacher or teaching assistant in the classroom.

Keywords: special education, intellectual disabilities, early intervention , early childhood

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Authors: Vangmayee. V. Subban, Somashekara H. S, Shwetha Prabhu, Jayashree S. Bhat

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Introduction and Need: Phonological processing is critical in learning to read alphabetical and non-alphabetical languages. However, its role in learning to read Kannada an alphasyllabary is equivocal. The literature has focused on the developmental role of phonological awareness on reading. To the best of authors knowledge, the role of phonological memory and phonological naming has not been addressed in alphasyllabary Kannada language. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the comprehensive role of the phonological processing skills in Kannada on word decoding skills during the early years of schooling. Aim and Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the phonological processing abilities and their role in learning to decode pseudowords in children learning to read the Kannada language during initial years of formal schooling between 5.6 to 8.6 years. Method: In this cross sectional study, 60 typically developing Kannada speaking children, 20 each from Grade I, Grade II, and Grade III between the age range of 5.6 to 6.6 years, 6.7 to 7.6 years and 7.7 to 8.6 years respectively were selected from Kannada medium schools. Phonological processing abilities were assessed using an assessment tool specifically developed to address the objectives of the present research. The assessment tool was content validated by subject experts and had good inter and intra-subject reliability. Phonological awareness was assessed at syllable level using syllable segmentation, blending, and syllable stripping at initial, medial and final position. Phonological memory was assessed using pseudoword repetition task and phonological naming was assessed using rapid automatized naming of objects. Both phonological awareneness and phonological memory measures were scored for the accuracy of the response, whereas Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) was scored for total naming speed. Results: The mean scores comparison using one-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) between the groups on all the measures of phonological awareness, pseudoword repetition, rapid automatized naming, and pseudoword reading. Subsequent post-hoc grade wise comparison using Bonferroni test revealed significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between each of the grades for all the tasks except (p ≥ 0.05) for syllable blending, syllable stripping, and pseudoword repetition between Grade II and Grade III. The Pearson correlations revealed a highly significant positive correlation (p=0.000) between all the variables except phonological naming which had significant negative correlations. However, the correlation co-efficient was higher for phonological awareness measures compared to others. Hence, phonological awareness was chosen a first independent variable to enter in the hierarchical regression equation followed by rapid automatized naming and finally, pseudoword repetition. The regression analysis revealed syllable awareness as a single most significant predictor of pseudoword reading by explaining the unique variance of 74% and there was no significant change in R² when RAN and pseudoword repetition were added subsequently to the regression equation. Conclusion: Present study concluded that syllable awareness matures completely by Grade II, whereas the phonological memory and phonological naming continue to develop beyond Grade III. Amongst phonological processing skills, phonological awareness, especially syllable awareness is crucial for word decoding than phonological memory and naming during initial years of schooling.

Keywords: phonological awareness, phonological memory, phonological naming, phonological processing, pseudo-word decoding

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: D. Malouch, M. Berchel, C. Dreanno, S. Stachowski-Haberkorn, P-A. Jaffres

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Biofouling is a complex natural phenomenon that involves biological, physical and chemical properties related to the environment, the submerged surface and the living organisms involved. Bio-colonization of artificial structures can cause various economic and environmental impacts. The increase in costs associated with the over-consumption of fuel from biocolonized vessels has been widely studied. Measurement drifts from submerged sensors, as well as obstructions in heat exchangers, and deterioration of offshore structures are major difficulties that industries are dealing with. Therefore, surfaces that inhibit biocolonization are required in different areas (water treatment, marine paints, etc.) and many efforts have been devoted to produce efficient and eco-compatible antifouling agents. The different steps of surface fouling are widely described in literature. Studying the biofilm and its stages provides a better understanding of how to elaborate more efficient antifouling strategies. Several approaches are currently applied, such as the use of biocide anti-fouling paint (mainly with copper derivatives) and super-hydrophobic coatings. While these two processes are proving to be the most effective, they are not entirely satisfactory, especially in a context of a changing legislation. Nowadays, the challenge is to prevent biofouling with non-biocide compounds, offering a cost effective solution, but with no toxic effects on marine organisms. Since the micro-fouling phase plays an important role in the regulation of the following steps of biofilm formation, it is desired to reduce or delate biofouling of a given surface by inhibiting the micro-fouling at its early stages. In our recent works, we reported that some amphiphilic compounds exhibited bacteriostatic or bactericidal properties at a concentration that did not affect mammalian eukaryotic cells. These remarkable properties invited us to assess this type of bio-inspired phospholipids to prevent the colonization of surfaces by marine bacteria. Of note, other studies reported that amphiphilic compounds interacted with bacteria leading to a reduction of their development. An amphiphilic compound is a molecule consisting of a hydrophobic domain and a polar head (ionic or non-ionic). These compounds appear to have interesting antifouling properties: some ionic compounds have shown antimicrobial activity, and zwitterions can reduce nonspecific adsorption of proteins. Herein, we investigate the potential of amphiphilic compounds as inhibitors of bacterial growth and marine biofilm formation. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of four synthetic phospholipids that features a cationic charge or a zwitterionic polar-head group to prevent microfouling with marine bacteria. Toxicity of these compounds was also studied in order to identify the most promising compounds that inhibit biofilm development and show low cytotoxicity on two links representative of coastal marine food webs: phytoplankton and oyster larvae.

Keywords: amphiphilic phospholipids, biofilm, marine fouling, non-toxique assays

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Authors: Hongmei Wang, Ziyun Xiang, Ying liu, Li Yu, Dongsheng Yue

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Intro: The COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) has greatly changed the global economic, political and financial ecology. The mutation of the coronavirus in the UK in December 2020 has brought new panic to the world. Deep learning was performed on Chest Computed tomography (CT) of COVID-19 and Influenza and describes their characteristics. The predominant features of COVID-19 pneumonia was ground-glass opacification, followed by consolidation. Lesion density: most lesions appear as ground-glass shadows, and some lesions coexist with solid lesions. Lesion distribution: the focus is mainly on the dorsal side of the periphery of the lung, with the lower lobe of the lungs as the focus, and it is often close to the pleura. Other features it has are grid-like shadows in ground glass lesions, thickening signs of diseased vessels, air bronchi signs and halo signs. The severe disease involves whole bilateral lungs, showing white lung signs, air bronchograms can be seen, and there can be a small amount of pleural effusion in the bilateral chest cavity. At the same time, this year's flu season could be near its peak after surging throughout the United States for months. Chest CT for Influenza infection is characterized by focal ground glass shadows in the lungs, with or without patchy consolidation, and bronchiole air bronchograms are visible in the concentration. There are patchy ground-glass shadows, consolidation, air bronchus signs, mosaic lung perfusion, etc. The lesions are mostly fused, which is prominent near the hilar and two lungs. Grid-like shadows and small patchy ground-glass shadows are visible. Deep neural networks have great potential in image analysis and diagnosis that traditional machine learning algorithms do not. Method: Aiming at the two major infectious diseases COVID-19 and influenza, which are currently circulating in the world, the chest CT of patients with two infectious diseases is classified and diagnosed using deep learning algorithms. The residual network is proposed to solve the problem of network degradation when there are too many hidden layers in a deep neural network (DNN). The proposed deep residual system (ResNet) is a milestone in the history of the Convolutional neural network (CNN) images, which solves the problem of difficult training of deep CNN models. Many visual tasks can get excellent results through fine-tuning ResNet. The pre-trained convolutional neural network ResNet is introduced as a feature extractor, eliminating the need to design complex models and time-consuming training. Fastai is based on Pytorch, packaging best practices for in-depth learning strategies, and finding the best way to handle diagnoses issues. Based on the one-cycle approach of the Fastai algorithm, the classification diagnosis of lung CT for two infectious diseases is realized, and a higher recognition rate is obtained. Results: A deep learning model was developed to efficiently identify the differences between COVID-19 and influenza using chest CT.

Keywords: COVID-19, Fastai, influenza, transfer network

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Authors: Aura Maria Lopera Echavarria, Angela Maria Lema Perez, Daniela Medrano David, Pedronel Araque Marin, Marta Elena Londoño Lopez

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Bone regeneration is the process by which the formation of new bone is stimulated. Bone fractures can originate at any time due to trauma, infections, tumors, congenital malformations or skeletal diseases. Currently there are different strategies to treat bone defects that in some cases, regeneration does not occur on its own. That is why they are treated with bone substitutes, which provide a necessary environment for the cells to synthesize new bone. The Demineralized Bone Matrix (DBM) is widely used as a bone implant due to its good properties, such as osteoinduction and bioactivity. However, the use of DBM is limited, because its presentation is powder, which is difficult to implant with precision and is susceptible to migrating to other sites through blood flow. That is why the DBM is commonly incorporated into a variety of vehicles or carriers. The objective of this project is to evaluate the bioactive and confinement properties of a bone substitute based on demineralized bone matrix (DBM). Also, structural and morphological properties were evaluated. Bone substitute was obtained from EIA Biomaterials Laboratory of EIA University and the DBM was facilitated by Tissue Bank Foundation. Morphological and structural properties were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (DRX) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with total attenuated reflection (FTIR-ATR). Water absorption capacity and degradation were also evaluated during three months. The cytotoxicity was evaluated by the MTT test. The bioactivity of the bone substitute was evaluated through immersion of the samples in simulated body fluid during four weeks. Confinement tests were performed on tibial fragments of a human donor with bone defects of determined size, to ensure that the substitute remains in the defect despite the continuous flow of fluid. According of the knowledge of the authors, the methodology for evaluating samples in a confined environment has not been evaluated before in real human bones. The morphology of the samples showed irregular surface and presented some porosity. DRX confirmed a semi-crystalline structure. The FTIR-ATR determined the organic and inorganic phase of the sample. The degradation and absorption measurements stablished a loss of 3% and 150% in one month respectively. The MTT showed that the system is not cytotoxic. Apatite clusters formed from the first week were visualized by SEM and confirmed by EDS. These calcium phosphates are necessary to stimulate bone regeneration and thanks to the porosity of the developed material, osteinduction and osteoconduction are possible. The results of the in vitro evaluation of the confinement of the material showed that the migration of the bone filling to other sites is negligible, although the samples were subjected to the passage of simulated body fluid. The bone substitute, putty type, showed stability, is bioactive, non-cytotoxic and has handling properties for specialists at the time of implantation. The obtained system allows to maintain the osteoinductive properties of DBM and it can fill completely fractures in any way; however, it does not provide a structural support, that is, it should only be used to treat fractures without requiring a mechanical load.

Keywords: bone regeneration, cytotoxicity, demineralized bone matrix, hydrogel

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Authors: Alena Semeradtova, Marcel Stofik, Lucie Mareckova, Petr Maly, Ondrej Stanek, Jan Maly

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Recently, novel strategies based on so-called molecular evolution were shown to be effective for the production of various peptide ligand libraries with high affinities to molecular targets of interest comparable or even better than monoclonal antibodies. The major advantage of these peptide scaffolds is mainly their prevailing low molecular weight and simple structure. This study describes a new high-affinity binding molecules based immunesensor using a simple optical system for human serum albumin (HSA) detection as a model molecule. We present a comparison of two variants of recombinant binders based on albumin binding domain of the protein G (ABD) performed on micropatterned glass chip. Binding domains may be tailored to any specific target of interest by molecular evolution. Micropatterened glass chips were prepared using UV-photolithography on chromium sputtered glasses. Glass surface was modified by (3-aminopropyl)trietoxysilane and biotin-PEG-acid using EDC/NHS chemistry. Two variants of high-affinity binding molecules were used to detect target molecule. Firstly, a variant is based on ABD domain fused with TolA chain. This molecule is in vivo biotinylated and each molecule contains one molecule of biotin and one ABD domain. Secondly, the variant is ABD domain based on streptavidin molecule and contains four gaps for biotin and four ABD domains. These high-affinity molecules were immobilized to the chip surface via biotin-streptavidin chemistry. To eliminate nonspecific binding 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) or 6% fetal bovine serum (FBS) were used in every step. For both variants range of measured concentrations of fluorescently labelled HSA was 0 – 30 µg/ml. As a control, we performed a simultaneous assay without high-affinity binding molecules. Fluorescent signal was measured using inverse fluorescent microscope Olympus IX 70 with COOL LED pE 4000 as a light source, related filters, and camera Retiga 2000R as a detector. The fluorescent signal from non-modified areas was substracted from the signal of the fluorescent areas. Results were presented in graphs showing the dependence of measured grayscale value on the log-scale of HSA concentration. For the TolA variant the limit of detection (LOD) of the optical immunosensor proposed in this study is calculated to be 0,20 µg/ml for HSA detection in 1% BSA and 0,24 µg/ml in 6% FBS. In the case of streptavidin-based molecule, it was 0,04 µg/ml and 0,07 µg/ml respectively. The dynamical range of the immunosensor was possible to estimate just in the case of TolA variant and it was calculated to be 0,49 – 3,75 µg/ml and 0,73-1,88 µg/ml respectively. In the case of the streptavidin-based the variant we didn´t reach the surface saturation even with the 480 ug/ml concentration and the upper value of dynamical range was not estimated. Lower value was calculated to be 0,14 µg/ml and 0,17 µg/ml respectively. Based on the obtained results, it´s clear that both variants are useful for creating the bio-recognizing layer on immunosensors. For this particular system, it is obvious that the variant based on streptavidin molecule is more useful for biosensing on glass planar surfaces. Immunosensors based on this variant would exhibit better limit of detection and wide dynamical range.

Keywords: high affinity binding molecules, human serum albumin, optical immunosensor, protein G, UV-photolitography

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Authors: Angela Oktavia Suryani, Bernadeth Gloria, Edwin Sutamto, Jessica Kristianty, Ni Made Rai Sapitri, Patricia Catherine Agla, Sitti Arlinda Rochiadi

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It was found that some blogs or personal websites in Indonesia sell standardized intelligence tests (for example, Progressive Matrices (PM), Intelligence Structure Test (IST), and Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT)) and other psychological tests, together with the manual and the key answers for public. Individuals can buy and prepare themselves for selection or recruitment with the real test. This action drives people to lie to the institution (education or company) and also to themselves. It was also found that those tests are old. Some items are not relevant with the current context, for example a question about a diameter of a certain coin that does not exist anymore. These problems motivate us to develop a new intelligence battery test, namely of Multiple Aptitude Battery (MAB). The battery test was built by using Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities theory and intended to be used by high schools students, university students, and worker applicants. The battery tests consist of 9 subtests. In the current study we examine six subtests, namely Reading Comprehension, Verbal Analogies, Numerical Inductive Reasoning, Numerical Deductive Reasoning, Mechanical Ability, and Two Dimensional Spatial Reasoning for university students. The study included 1424 data from students recruited by convenience sampling from eight faculties at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia. Classical and modern test approaches (Item Response Theory) were carried out to identify the item difficulties of the items and confirmatory factor analysis was applied to examine their internal validities. The validity of each subtest was inspected by using convergent–discriminant method, whereas the reliability was examined by implementing Kuder–Richardson formula. The result showed that the majority of the subtests were difficult in medium level, and there was only one subtest categorized as easy, namely Verbal Analogies. The items were found homogenous and valid measuring their constructs; however at the level of subtests, the construct validity examined by convergent-discriminant method indicated that the subtests were not unidimensional. It means they were not only measuring their own constructs but also other construct. Three of the subtests were able to predict academic performance with small effect size, namely Reading Comprehension, Numerical Inductive Reasoning, and Two Dimensional Spatial Reasoning. GPAs in intermediate level (GPAs at third semester and above) were considered as a factor for predictive invalidity. The Kuder-Richardson formula showed that the reliability coefficients for both numerical reasoning subtests and spatial reasoning were superior, in the range 0.84 – 0.87, whereas the reliability coefficient for the other three subtests were relatively below standard for ability test, in the range of 0.65 – 0.71. It can be concluded that some of the subtests are ready to be used, whereas some others are still need some revisions. This study also demonstrated that the convergent-discrimination method is useful to identify the general intelligence of human.

Keywords: intelligence, psychometric examination, multiple aptitude battery, university students

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Authors: Ricardo Godoy, Herbert Venthur, Hector Jimenez, Andres Quiroz, Ana Mutis

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In agriculture, grape production has great economic importance at global level, considering that in 2013 it reached 7.4 million hectares (ha) covered by plantations of this fruit worldwide. Chile is the number one exporter in the world with 800,000 tons. However, these values have been threatened by the attack of the grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis & Schiffermuller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), since its detection in 2008. Nowadays, the use of semiochemicals, in particular the major component of the sex pheromone, (E,Z)-7.9-dodecadienil acetate, are part of mating disruption methods to control L. botrana. How insect pests can recognize these molecules, is being part of huge efforts to deorphanize their olfactory mechanism at molecular level. Thus, an interesting group of proteins has been identified in the antennae of insects, where odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are known by transporting molecules to odorant receptors (ORs) and a co-receptor (ORCO) causing a behavioral change in the insect. Other proteins such as chemosensory proteins (CSPs), ionotropic receptors (IRs), odorant degrading enzymes (ODEs) and sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs) seem to be involved, but few studies have been performed so far. The above has led to an increasing interest in insect communication at a molecular level, which has contributed to both a better understanding of the olfaction process and the design of new pest management strategies. To date, it has been reported that the ORs can detect one or a small group of odorants in a specific way. Therefore, the objective of this study is the identification of genes that encode these ORs using the antennal transcriptome of L. botrana. Total RNA was extracted for females and males of L. botrana, and the antennal transcriptome sequenced by Next Generation Sequencing service using an Illumina HiSeq2500 platform with 50 million reads per sample. Unigenes were assembled using Trinity v2.4.0 package and transcript abundance was obtained using edgeR. Genes were identified using BLASTN and BLASTX locally installed in a Unix system and based on our own Tortricidae database. Those Unigenes related to ORs were characterized using ORFfinder and protein Blastp server. Finally, a phylogenetic analysis was performed with the candidate amino acid sequences for LbotORs including amino acid sequences of other moths ORs, such as Bombyx mori, Cydia pomonella, among others. Our findings suggest 61 genes encoding ORs and one gene encoding an ORCO in both sexes, where the greatest difference was found in the OR6 because of the transcript abundance according to the value of FPKM in females and males was 1.48 versus 324.00. In addition, according to phylogenetic analysis OR6 is closely related to OR1 in Cydia pomonella and OR6, OR7 in Epiphyas postvittana, which have been described as pheromonal receptors (PRs). These results represent the first evidence of ORs present in the antennae of L. botrana and a suitable starting point for further functional studies with selected ORs, such as OR6, which is potentially related to pheromonal recognition.

Keywords: antennal transcriptome, lobesia botrana, odorant receptors (ORs), phylogenetic analysis

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Authors: Brenda Ravenscroft, Ulemu Luhanga, Bev King

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A comprehensive evaluation of online learning needs to include a blend of educational design, technology use, and online instructional practices that integrate technology appropriately for developing and delivering quality online courses. Research shows that classroom-based evaluation tools do not adequately capture the dynamic relationships between content, pedagogy, and technology in online courses. Furthermore, studies suggest that using classroom evaluations for online courses yields lower than normal scores for instructors, and may affect faculty negatively in terms of administrative decisions. In 2014, the Faculty of Arts and Science at Queen’s University responded to this evidence by seeking an alternative to the university-mandated evaluation tool, which is designed for classroom learning. The Faculty is deeply engaged in e-learning, offering large variety of online courses and programs in the sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts. This paper describes the process by which a new student survey instrument for online courses was developed and piloted, the methods used to analyze the data, and the ways in which the instrument was subsequently adapted based on the results. It concludes with a critical reflection on the challenges of evaluating e-learning. The Student Evaluation of Online Teaching Effectiveness (SEOTE), developed by Arthur W. Bangert in 2004 to assess constructivist-compatible online teaching practices, provided the starting point. Modifications were made in order to allow the instrument to serve the two functions required by the university: student survey results provide the instructor with feedback to enhance their teaching, and also provide the institution with evidence of teaching quality in personnel processes. Changes were therefore made to the SEOTE to distinguish more clearly between evaluation of the instructor’s teaching and evaluation of the course design, since, in the online environment, the instructor is not necessarily the course designer. After the first pilot phase, involving 35 courses, the results were analyzed using Stobart's validity framework as a guide. This process included statistical analyses of the data to test for reliability and validity, student and instructor focus groups to ascertain the tool’s usefulness in terms of the feedback it provided, and an assessment of the utility of the results by the Faculty’s e-learning unit responsible for supporting online course design. A set of recommendations led to further modifications to the survey instrument prior to a second pilot phase involving 19 courses. Following the second pilot, statistical analyses were repeated, and more focus groups were used, this time involving deans and other decision makers to determine the usefulness of the survey results in personnel processes. As a result of this inclusive process and robust analysis, the modified SEOTE instrument is currently being considered for adoption as the standard evaluation tool for all online courses at the university. Audience members at this presentation will be stimulated to consider factors that differentiate effective evaluation of online courses from classroom-based teaching. They will gain insight into strategies for introducing a new evaluation tool in a unionized institutional environment, and methodologies for evaluating the tool itself.

Keywords: evaluation, online courses, student survey, teaching effectiveness

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Authors: Francesca Fermi, Paola Astegiano, Angelo Martino, Stephanie Heitel, Michael Krail

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In order to achieve the targeted emission reductions for the decarbonisation of the European economy by 2050, fundamental contributions are required from both energy and transport sectors. The objective of this paper is to analyse the impacts of a largescale diffusion of e-vehicles, either battery-based or fuel cells, together with the implementation of transport policies aiming at decreasing the use of motorised private modes in order to achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, in the context of a future high share of renewable energy. The analysis of the impacts and challenges of future scenarios on transport sector is performed with the ASTRA (ASsessment of TRAnsport Strategies) model. ASTRA is a strategic system-dynamic model at European scale (EU28 countries, Switzerland and Norway), consisting of different sub-modules related to specific aspects: the transport system (e.g. passenger trips, tonnes moved), the vehicle fleet (composition and evolution of technologies), the demographic system, the economic system, the environmental system (energy consumption, emissions). A key feature of ASTRA is that the modules are linked together: changes in one system are transmitted to other systems and can feed-back to the original source of variation. Thanks to its multidimensional structure, ASTRA is capable to simulate a wide range of impacts stemming from the application of transport policy measures: the model addresses direct impacts as well as second-level and third-level impacts. The simulation of the different scenarios is performed within the REFLEX project, where the ASTRA model is employed in combination with several energy models in a comprehensive Modelling System. From the transport sector perspective, some of the impacts are driven by the trend of electricity price estimated from the energy modelling system. Nevertheless, the major drivers to a low carbon transport sector are policies related to increased fuel efficiency of conventional drivetrain technologies, improvement of demand management (e.g. increase of public transport and car sharing services/usage) and diffusion of environmentally friendly vehicles (e.g. electric vehicles). The final modelling results of the REFLEX project will be available from October 2018. The analysis of the impacts and challenges of future scenarios is performed in terms of transport, environmental and social indicators. The diffusion of e-vehicles produces a consistent reduction of future greenhouse gas emissions, although the decarbonisation target can be achieved only with the contribution of complementary transport policies on demand management and supporting the deployment of low-emission alternative energy for non-road transport modes. The paper explores the implications through time of transport policy measures on mobility and environment, underlying to what extent they can contribute to a decarbonisation of the transport sector. Acknowledgements: The results refer to the REFLEX project which has received grants from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 691685.

Keywords: decarbonisation, greenhouse gas emissions, e-mobility, transport policies, energy

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Authors: Fang Bin Guo, Emma Roberts, Haibin Du, Yonggang Wang, Yu Chen, Xiuli Ge

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This paper explores the findings so far from a major externally-funded project which operates internationally in China, Germany and the UK. The research team is working in the context of the redevelopment of post-industrial sites in China and how these might be platforms for creative enterprises and thereby, the economy and welfare to flourish. Results from the project are anticipated to inform urban design policies in China and possibly farther afield. The research has utilised ethnographic studies and participatory design methods to investigate alternative strategies for sustainable urban renewal of China’s post-industrial areas. Additionally, it has undertaken comparative studies of successful examples of European and Chinese urban regeneration cases. The international cross-disciplinary team has been seeking different opportunities for developing relevant creative industries whilst retaining cultural and industrial heritage. This paper will explore the research conducted so far by the team and offer initial findings. Findings point out the development challenges of cities respecting the protection of local culture/heritages, history of the industries and transformation of the local economies. The preliminary results and pilot analysis of the current research have demonstrated that local government policyholders, business investors/developers and creative industry practitioners are the three major stakeholders that will impact city revitalisations. These groups are expected to work together with asynchronous vision in order for redevelopments to be successful. Meanwhile, local geography, history, culture, politics, economy and ethnography have been identified as important factors that impact on project design and development during urban transformations. Data is being processed from the team’s research conducted across the focal Western and Chinese cities. This has provided theoretical guidance and practical support to the development of significant experimental projects. Many were re-examined with a more international perspective, and adjustments have been based on the conclusions of the research. The observations and research are already generating design solutions in terms of ascertaining essential site components, layouts, visual design and practical facilities for regenerated sites. Two significant projects undertaken by this project team have been nominated by the central Chinese government as the most successful exemplars. They have been listed as outstanding national industry heritage projects; in particular, one of them was nominated by ArchDaily as Building of the Year 2019, and so this project outcome has made a substantial contribution to research and innovation. In summary, this paper will outline the funded project, discuss the work conducted so far, and pinpoint the initial discoveries. It will detail the future steps and indicate how these will impact on national and local governments in China, designers, local citizens and building users.

Keywords: cultural & industrial heritages, ethnographic research, participatory design, regeneration of post-industrial sites, sustainable

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Authors: Harriet Bothwell, Lowri Evans, Kevin Jones

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Background: The University of Bristol provides all medical students the opportunity to undertake student selected components (SSCs) at multiple stages of the undergraduate programme. SSCs enable students to explore areas of interest that are not necessarily covered by the curriculum. Students are required to produce a written report and most use SSCs as an opportunity to undertake an audit or small research project. In 2013 Swindon Academy, based at the Great Western Hospital, offered eight students the opportunity of a global health SSC which included a two week trip to rural hospital in Uganda. This SSC has since expanded and in 2017 a total of 20 students had the opportunity to undertake small research projects at two hospitals in rural Uganda. 'Tomorrows Doctors' highlights the importance of understanding healthcare from a 'global perspective' and student feedback from previous SSCs suggests that self-assessed knowledge of global health increases as a result of this SSC. Through the most recent version of this SSC students had the opportunity to undertake projects in a wide range of specialties including paediatrics, palliative care, surgery and medical education. Methods: An anonymous online questionnaire was made available to students following the SSC. There was a response rate of 80% representing 16 out of the 20 students. This questionnaire surveyed students’ satisfaction and experience of the SSC including the level of academic, project and spiritual support provided as well as perceived challenges in completing the project and barriers to healthcare delivery in the low resource setting. This survey had multiple open questions allowing the collection of qualitative data. Further qualitative data was collected from the students’ project report. The suggested format included a reflection and all students completed these. All qualitative data underwent thematic analysis. Results: All respondents rated the overall experience of the SSC as 'good' or 'excellent'. Preliminary data suggest that students’ confidence in their knowledge of global health, diagnosis of tropical diseases and management of tropical diseases improved after completing this SSC. Thematic analysis of students' reflection is ongoing but suggests that students gain far more than improved knowledge of tropical diseases. Students reflect positively on having the opportunity to research in a low resource setting and feel that by completing these projects they will be 'useful' to the hospital. Several students reflect the stark contrast to healthcare delivery in the UK and recognise the 'privilege' of having a healthcare system that is free at the point of access. Some students noted the different approaches that clinicians in Uganda had to train in 'taking ownership' of their own learning. Conclusions: Students completing this SSC report increased knowledge of global health and tropical medicine. However, their reflections reveal much broader learning outcomes and demonstrate considerable insight in multiple topics including conducting research in the low resource setting, training and healthcare inequality.

Keywords: global health, medical education, student feedback, undergraduate

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Authors: Su Mon Saw, Joe Rothnagel

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Short open reading frames (sORFs) located in 5’UTR of mRNAs are known as uORFs. Characterization of uORF-encoded peptides (uPEPs) i.e., a subset of short open reading frame encoded peptides (sPEPs) and their translation regulation lead to understanding of causes of genetic disease, proteome complexity and development of treatments. Existence of uORFs within cellular proteome could be detected by LC-MS/MS. The ability of uORF to be translated into uPEP and achievement of uPEP identification will allow uPEP’s characterization, structures, functions, subcellular localization, evolutionary maintenance (conservation in human and other species) and abundance in cells. It is hypothesized that a subset of sORFs are translatable and that their encoded sPEPs are functional and are endogenously expressed contributing to the eukaryotic cellular proteome complexity. This project aimed to investigate whether sORFs encode functional peptides. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and bioinformatics were thus employed. Due to probable low abundance of sPEPs and small in sizes, the need for efficient peptide enrichment strategies for enriching small proteins and depleting the sub-proteome of large and abundant proteins is crucial for identifying sPEPs. Low molecular weight proteins were extracted using SDS-PAGE from Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK293) cells and Strong Cation Exchange Chromatography (SCX) from secreted HEK293 cells. Extracted proteins were digested by trypsin to peptides, which were detected by LC-MS/MS. The MS/MS data obtained was searched against Swiss-Prot using MASCOT version 2.4 to filter out known proteins, and all unmatched spectra were re-searched against human RefSeq database. ProteinPilot v5.0.1 was used to identify sPEPs by searching against human RefSeq, Vanderperre and Human Alternative Open Reading Frame (HaltORF) databases. Potential sPEPs were analyzed by bioinformatics. Since SDS PAGE electrophoresis could not separate proteins <20kDa, this could not identify sPEPs. All MASCOT-identified peptide fragments were parts of main open reading frame (mORF) by ORF Finder search and blastp search. No sPEP was detected and existence of sPEPs could not be identified in this study. 13 translated sORFs in HEK293 cells by mass spectrometry in previous studies were characterized by bioinformatics. Identified sPEPs from previous studies were <100 amino acids and <15 kDa. Bioinformatics results showed that sORFs are translated to sPEPs and contribute to proteome complexity. uPEP translated from uORF of SLC35A4 was strongly conserved in human and mouse while uPEP translated from uORF of MKKS was strongly conserved in human and Rhesus monkey. Cross-species conserved uORFs in association with protein translation strongly suggest evolutionary maintenance of coding sequence and indicate probable functional expression of peptides encoded within these uORFs. Translation of sORFs was confirmed by mass spectrometry and sPEPs were characterized with bioinformatics.

Keywords: bioinformatics, HEK293 cells, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, ProteinPilot, Strong Cation Exchange Chromatography, SDS-PAGE, sPEPs

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Authors: Esther Friedlander, Philip Friedlander

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The use of immunotherapy that inhibits programmed death-1 (PD-1) or its ligand PD-L1 confers survival benefits in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, approximately 45% of patients experience primary treatment resistance, necessitating the development of strategies to improve efficacy. While the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has systemic hemodynamic effects, tissue-specific regulation exists along with modulation of immune activity in part through regulation of myeloid cell activity, leading to the hypothesis that RAS inhibition may improve anti-PD-1/L-1 efficacy. A retrospective analysis was conducted that included 173 advanced solid tumor cancer patients treated at Valley Hospital, a community Hospital in New Jersey, USA, who were treated with a PD-1/L-1 inhibitor in a defined time period showing a statistically significant relationship between RAS pathway inhibition (RASi through concomitant treatment with an ACE inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker) and positive efficacy to the immunotherapy that was independent of age, gender and cancer type. Subset analysis revealed strong numerical benefit for efficacy in both patients with squamous and nonsquamous NSCLC as determined by documented clinician assessment of efficacy and by duration of therapy. A PUBMED literature search was now conducted to identify studies assessing the effect of RAS pathway inhibition on anti-PD-1/L1 efficacy in advanced solid tumor patients and compare these findings to those seen in the Valley Hospital retrospective study with a focus on NSCLC specifically. A total of 11 articles were identified assessing the effects of RAS pathway inhibition on the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy in advanced cancer patients. Of the 11 studies, 10 assessed the effect on survival of RASi in the context of treatment with anti-PD-1/PD-L1, while one assessed the effect on CTLA-4 inhibition. Eight of the studies included patients with NSCLC, while the remaining 2 were specific to genitourinary malignancies. Of the 8 studies, two were specific to NSCLC patients, with the remaining 6 studies including a range of cancer types, of which NSCLC was one. Of these 6 studies, only 2 reported specific survival data for the NSCLC subpopulation. Patient characteristics, multivariate analysis data and efficacy data seen in the 2 NSLCLC specific studies and in the 2 basket studies, which provided data on the NSCLC subpopulation, were compared to that seen in the Valley Hospital retrospective study supporting a broader effect of RASi on anti-PD-1/L1 efficacy in advanced NSLCLC with the majority of studies showing statistically significant benefit or strong statistical trends but with one study demonstrating worsened outcomes. This comparison of studies extends published findings to the community hospital setting and supports prospective assessment through randomized clinical trials of efficacy in NSCLC patients with pharmacodynamic components to determine the effect on immune cell activity in tumors and on the composition of the tumor microenvironment.

Keywords: immunotherapy, cancer, angiotensin, efficacy, PD-1, lung cancer, NSCLC

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Authors: Vaibhav Baliyan, S. S. Parihar

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With the rise in temperature during reproductive phase and moisture stress, winter wheat yields are likely to decrease because of limited plant growth, higher rate of night respiration, higher spikelet sterility or number of grains per spike and restricted embryo development thereby reducing grain number. Crop management practices play a pivotal role in minimizing adverse effects of terminal heat stress on wheat production. Amongst various agronomic management practices, adjusting sowing date, crop cultivars and irrigation scheduling have been realized to be simple yet powerful, implementable and eco-friendly mitigation strategies to sustain yields under elevated temperature conditions. Taking into account, large variability in wheat production in space and time, a study was conducted to identify the suitable wheat varieties under both early and late planting with suitable irrigation schedule for minimizing terminal heat stress effect and thereby improving wheat production. Experiments were conducted at research farms of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, separately for timely and late sown conditions with suitable varieties with staggering dates of sowing from 1st November to 30th November in case of timely sown and from 1st December to 31st December for late sown condition. The irrigation schedule followed for both the experiments were 100% of ETc (evapotranspiration of crop), 80% of ETc and 60% of ETc. Results of the timely sown experiment indicated that 1st November sowing resulted in higher grain yield followed by 10th November. However, delay in sowing thereafter resulted in gradual decrease in yield and the maximum reduction was noticed under 30th November sowing. Amongst the varieties, HD3086 produced higher grain yield compared to other varieties. Irrigation applied based on 100% of ETc gave higher yield comparable to 80% of ETc but both were significantly higher than 60% of ETc. It was further observed that even liberal irrigation under 100% of ETc could not compensate the yield under delayed sowing suggesting that rise in temperature beyond January adversely affected the growth and development of crop as well as forced maturity resulting in significant reduction of yield attributing characters due to terminal heat stress. Similar observations were recorded under late sown experiment too. Planting on 1st December along with 100% ETc of irrigation schedule resulted in significantly higher grain yield as compared to other dates and irrigation regimes. Further, it was observed that reduction in yield under late sown conditions was significantly large than the timely sown conditions irrespective of the variety grown and irrigation schedule followed. Delayed sowing resulted in reducing crop growth period and forced maturity in turn led to significant deterioration in all the yield attributing characters and there by reduction in yield suggesting that terminal heat stress had greater impact on yield under late sown crop than timely sown due to temperature rise coinciding with reproductive phase of the crop.

Keywords: climate, irrigation, mitigation, wheat

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Authors: Shelley Jones

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Assumptions abound that education for girls will, as a matter of course, lead to their economic empowerment as women; yet. little is known about the ways in which schooling for girls, who traditionally/historically would not have had opportunities for post-primary, or perhaps even primary education – such as the participants in this study based in rural Uganda - in reality, impacts their economic situations. There is a need forlongitudinal studies in which women share experiences, understandings, and reflections of their lives that can inform our knowledge of this. In response, this paper reports on stage four of a longitudinal case study (2004-2018) focused on education and empowerment for girls and women in rural Uganda, in which 13 of the 15 participants from the original study participated. This paper understands empowerment as not simply increased opportunities (e.g., employment) but also real gains in power, freedoms that enable agentive action, and authentic and viable choices/alternatives that offer ‘exit options’ from unsatisfactory situations. As with the other stages, this study used a critical, postmodernist, global feminist ethnographic methodology, multimodal and qualitative data collection. Participants participated in interviews, focus group discussions, and a two-day workshop, which explored their understandings of how/if they understood post-primary education to have contributed to their economic empowerment. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used for data analysis to capture major themes. Findings indicate that although all participants believe that post-primary education provided them with economic opportunities they would not have had otherwise, the parameters of their economic empowerment were severely constrained by historic and extant sociocultural, economic, political, and institutional structures that continue to disempower girls and women, as well as additional financial responsibilities that they assumed to support others. Even though the participants had post-primary education, and they were able to obtain employment or operate their own businesses that they would not likely have been able to do without post-primary education, the majority of the participants’ incomes were not sufficient to elevate them financially above the extreme poverty level, especially as many were single mothers and the sole income earners in their households. Furthermore, most deemed their working conditions unsatisfactory and their positions precarious; they also experienced sexual harassment and abuse in the labour force. Additionally, employment for the participants resulted in a double work burden: long days at work, surrounded by many hours of domestic work at home (which, even if they had spousal partners, still fell almost exclusively to women). In conclusion, although the participants seem to have experienced some increase in economic empowerment, largely due to skills, knowledge, and qualifications gained at the post-primary level, numerous barriers prevented them from maximizing their capabilities and making significant gains in empowerment. There is need, in addition to providing education (primary, secondary, and tertiary) to girls, to address systemic gender inequalities that mitigate against women’s empowerment, as well as opportunities and freedom for women to come together and demand fair pay, reasonable working conditions, and benefits, freedom from gender-based harassment and assault in the workplace, as well as advocate for equal distribution of domestic work as a cultural change.

Keywords: girls' post-primary education, women's empowerment, uganda, employment

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Authors: Kate Allman, Heather Maranges, Elise Dykhuis

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Moral Growth Mindset (MGM) is the belief that one has the capacity to become a more moral person, as opposed to a fixed conception of one’s moral ability and capacity (Han et al., 2018). Building from Dweck’s work in incremental implicit theories of intelligence (2008), Moral Growth Mindset (Han et al., 2020) extends growth mindsets into the moral dimension. The concept of MGM has the potential to help researchers understand how both mindsets and interventions can impact character development, and it has even been shown to have connections to voluntary service engagement (Han et al., 2018). Understanding the contexts in which MGM might be cultivated could help to promote the further cultivation of character, in addition to prosocial behaviors like service engagement, which may, in turn, promote larger scale engagement in social justice-oriented thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. In particular, college may be a place to intentionally cultivate a growth mindset toward moral capacities, given the unique developmental and maturational components of the college experience, including contextual opportunity (Lapsley & Narvaez, 2006) and independence requiring the constant consideration, revision, and internalization of personal values (Lapsley & Woodbury, 2016). In a semester-long, quasi-experimental study, we examined the impact of a pedagogical approach designed to cultivate college student character development on participants’ MGM. With an intervention (n=69) and a control group (n=97; Pre-course: 27% Men; 66% Women; 68% White; 18% Asian; 2% Black; <1% Hispanic/Latino), we investigated whether college courses that intentionally incorporate character education pedagogy (Lamb, Brant, Brooks, 2021) affect a variety of psychosocial variables associated with moral thoughts, feelings, identity, and behavior (e.g. moral growth mindset, honesty, compassion, etc.). The intervention group consisted of 69 undergraduate students (Pre-course: 40% Men; 52% Women; 68% White; 10.5% Black; 7.4% Asian; 4.2% Hispanic/Latino) that voluntarily enrolled in five undergraduate courses that encouraged students to engage with key concepts and methods of character development through the application of research-based strategies and personal reflection on goals and experiences. Moral Growth Mindset was measured using the four-item Moral Growth Mindset scale (Han et al., 2020), with items such as You can improve your basic morals and character considerably on a six-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Higher scores of MGM indicate a stronger belief that one can become a more moral person with personal effort. Reliability at Time 1 was Cronbach’s ɑ= .833, and at Time 2 Cronbach’s ɑ= .772. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to explore whether post-course MGM scores were different between the intervention and control when controlling for pre-course MGM scores. The ANCOVA indicated significant differences in MGM between groups post-course, F(1,163) = 8.073, p = .005, R² = .11, where descriptive statistics indicate that intervention scores were higher than the control group at post-course. Results indicate that intentional character development pedagogy can be leveraged to support the development of Moral Growth Mindset and related capacities in undergraduate settings.

Keywords: moral personality, character education, incremental theories of personality, growth mindset

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