Search results for: primary bio metric

Authors: Anita D. Adamu, Winston M. W. Shakantu

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Maintenance management is no longer a stand-alone activity. It has now assumed a strategic position in many organisations that have recognised its importance in achieving primary goals and a key aspect of effective management of facilities. This paper aims at providing an understanding of the role and function of strategic management in creating and sustaining an effective maintenance management system in an organisation. The background provides an articulated concept and principles of strategic management. The theoretical concepts paved way for a conceptual framework for which strategic management can be integrated into the maintenance management system of an organisation to improve effectiveness in the maintenance of facilities.

Keywords: facilities, maintenance management, organisations, strategic management

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Authors: Wang Xingbo

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Computation of determinant in the form |I-X| is primary and fundamental because it can help to compute many other determinants. This article puts forward a time-reducible approach to compute determinant |I-X|. The approach is derived from the Newton’s identity and its time complexity is no more than that to compute the eigenvalues of the square matrix X. Mathematical deductions and numerical example are presented in detail for the approach. By comparison with classical approaches the new approach is proved to be superior to the classical ones and it can naturally reduce the computational time with the improvement of efficiency to compute eigenvalues of the square matrix.

Keywords: algorithm, determinant, computation, eigenvalue, time complexity

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Authors: Sushma Tejwani, Shoruba Dinakaran, Rupa Rokhade, K. Bhujang Shetty

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Introduction and aim: One of the major causes for failure of trabeculectomy is fibrosis and scarring of subconjunctival tissue around the bleb, and hence intra operative usage of anti-fibrotic agents like Mitomycin C (MMC) has become very popular. However, the long term effects of MMC like thin, avascular bleb, hypotony, bleb leaks and late onset endophthalmitis cannot be ignored, and may preclude its usage in routine trabeculectomy. In this particular study we aim to study the outcomes of trabeculectomy with and without MMC in uncomplicated glaucoma patients. Methods: Retrospective study of series of patients that underwent trabeculectomy with or without cataract surgery in glaucoma department of a tertiary eye care centre by a single surgeon for primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), angle closure glaucoma (PACG), Pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (PXF glaucoma). Patients with secondary glaucoma, juvenile and congenital glaucoma were excluded; also patients undergoing second trabeculectomy were excluded. The outcomes were studied in terms of IOP control at 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year and were analyzed separately for surgical outcomes with and without MMC. Success was considered if IOP was < 16 mmHg on applanation tonometry. Further, the necessity of medication, 5 fluorouracil (5FU) postoperative injections, needling post operatively was noted. Results: Eighty nine patient’s medical records were reviewed, of which 58 patients had undergone trabeculectomy without MMC and 31 with MMC. Mean age was 62.4 (95%CI 61- 64), 34 were females and 55 males. MMC group (n=31): Preoperative mean IOP was 21.1mmHg (95% CI: 17.6 -24.6), and 22 patients had IOP > 16. Three out of 33 patients were on single medication and rests were on multiple drugs. At 1 month (n=27) mean IOP was 12.4 mmHg (CI: 10.7-14), and 31/33 had success. At 6 months (n=18) mean IOP was 13mmHg (CI: 10.3-14.6) and 16/18 had good outcome, however at 1 year only 11 patients were available for follow up and 91% (10/11) had success. Overall, 3 patients required medication and one patient required postoperative injection of 5 FU. No MMC group (n=58): Preoperative mean IOP was 21.9 mmHg (CI: 19.8-24.2), and 42 had IOP > 16 mmHg. 12 out of 58 patients were on single medication and rests were on multiple drugs. At 1 month (n=52) mean IOP was14.6mmHg (CI: 13.2-15.9), and 45/ 58 had IOP < 16mmHg. At 6 months (n=31) mean IOP was 13.5 mmHg (CI: 11.9-15.2) and 26/31 had success, however at 1 year only 23 patients came for follow up and of these 87% (20/23) patients had success. Overall, 1 patient required needling, 5 required 5 FU injections and 5 patients required medication. The success rates at each follow up visit were not significantly different in both the groups. Conclusion: Intra-operative MMC usage may not be required in all patients undergoing trabeculectomy, and the ones without MMC also have fairly good outcomes in primary glaucoma.

Keywords: glaucoma filtration surgery, mitomycin C, outcomes of trabeculectomy, wound modulation

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Authors: K. V. Venugopalan

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Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been accepted as the engine of economic growth and for promoting equitable development. The major advantage of the sector is its employment potential at low capital cost. The labour intensity of the MSME sector is much higher than that of the large enterprises. The MSMEs constitute over 90% of total enterprises in most of the economies and are credited with generating the highest rates of employment growth and account for a major share of industrial production and exports. Kerala is a small state in India with the limited land area with high potential in educated human resources need micro, small and medium enterprises for development. Kerala has the highest Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) in India and the highest Human Development Index (HDI) at par with the developed countries SME play an important role in alleviating poverty and contribute significantly towards the growth of developing economies. Financial institutions can play a vital role for the promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises in Kerala. The study entitled “Financial Institutions and its role in the promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kerala “examine the progress of MSME in Kerala and India and also the role of financial institutions and the problems faced by entrepreneurs for getting advances with reference to ‘Kerala Financial Corporation’-an agency set up by the government for promoting small and medium enterprises in the state. This study is based on both secondary and primary data. Primary data for the study was collected from those entrepreneurs who availed advances from financial institutions. The secondary data include the investment made, goods and services provided, the employment generated and the number of units registered in MSME sector for the last 10 years in Kerala. The study concluded that financial institutions providing finance with simple procedures and charging smaller interest rates will increase the number of MSME's and also contribute gross state domestic product and reduce the unemployment problem and poverty in the economy.

Keywords: gross state domestic product, human development index, micro, small and medium enterprises

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Authors: F. Argurio, F. G. Vaccaro

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In a global environment defined by ever-increasing health issues, in spite of the progress made by modern medicine, this paper seeks to readdress the question of global health in an international relations perspective. The research hypothesis is: the lower the security environment, the higher the spread of communicable diseases. This question will be channeled by re-scaling the connotation of 'global' and 'international' dimension through the theoretical lens of glocalization, a theory by Bauman that starts its analysis from simple systems to get to the most complex ones. Glocalization theory will be operationalized by analyzing health in an armed-conflict context. In this respect, the independent variable 'low security environment' translates into the cases of Syria and Yemen, which provide a clear example of the all-encompassing nature of conflict on national health and the effects on regional development. In fact, Syria and Yemen have been affected by poliomyelitis and cholera outbreaks respectively. The dependent variable will be constructed on said communicable diseases which belong to the families of sanitation-related and vaccine-preventable diseases. The research will be both qualitative and quantitative, based on primary (interviews) and secondary (WHO and other NGO’s reports) sources. The methodology is based on the assessment of the vaccine coverage and case-analysis in time and space using epidemiological data. Moreover, local health facilities’ functioning and efficiency will be studied. The article posits that the intervention and cooperation of international organizations with the local authorities becomes crucial to provide the local populations with their primary health needs. In Yemen, the majority of fatal cholera cases were in the regions controlled by the Houthi rebels, not officially accredited by the International Community. Similarly, the polio outbreak in Syria primarily affected the areas not controlled by the Syrian Arab Republic forces, recognized as the leading interlocutor by the WHO. The jeopardized possibilities to access these countries have been pivotal to the determining the problem in controlling sanitation-related and vaccine preventable diseases. This represents a potential threat to global health.

Keywords: health in conflict-affected areas, cholera, polio, Yemen, Syria, glocalization

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Authors: Qiong Huang, Satish Chand

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This paper uses a primary data from 670 Chinese manufacturing firms, together with the newly introduced regressionbased inequality decomposition method, to study the effect of openness on wage inequality. We find that openness leads to a positive industry wage premium, but its contribution to firm-level wage inequality is relatively small, only 4.69%. The major contributor to wage inequality is human capital, which could explain 14.3% of wage inequality across sample firms.  

Keywords: openness, human capital, wage inequality, decomposition, China

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Authors: S. Ibrahim, D. Salilew-Wondim, M. Hoelker, C. Looft, E. Tholen, C. Grosse-Brinkhaus, K. Schellander, C. Neuhoff, D. Tesfaye

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Bovine endometrial cells appear to have a key role in innate immune defense of the female genital tract. A better understanding of molecular changes in microRNAs (miRNAs) and their target genes expression may identify reliable prognostic indicators for cows that will resolve inflammation and resume cyclicity. In the current study, we hypothesized that let-7 miRNAs family has a primary role in the innate immune defence of the endometrium tissue against bacterial infection, which is partly achieved via regulating mRNA stability of pro-inflammatory cytokines at the post-transcriptional level. Therefore, we conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, primary bovine endometrial cells were challenged with clinical (3.0 μg/ml) and sub-clinical (0.5 μg/ml) doses of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24h. In the 2nd experiment, we have investigated the potential role of let-7 miRNAs (let-7a and let-7f) using gain and loss of function approaches. Additionally, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), transforming growth factor beta 1 induced transcript 1 (TGFB1I1) and serum deprivation response (SDPR) genes were validated using reporter assay. Here we addressed for the first time that let-7 miRNAs have a precise role in bovine endometrium, where LPS dysregulated let-7 miRNAs family expression was associated with an increased pro-inflammatory cytokine level by directly/indirectly targeting the TNFα, interleukin 6 (IL6), nuclear factor kappa-light-chain enhancer of activated B cells (NFκB), TGFβ1I1 and SDPR genes. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that TNFα, TGFβ1I1 and SDPR were identified and validated as novel let-7 miRNAs targets and could have a distinct role in inflammatory immune response of LPS challenged bovine endometrial cells. Our data represent a new finding by which uterine homeostasis is maintained through functional regulation of let-7a by down-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines expression (TNFα and IL6) at the mRNA and protein levels. These findings suggest that LPS serves as a negative regulator of let-7 miRNAs expression and provides a mechanism for the persistent pro-inflammatory phenotype, which is a hallmark of bovine subclinical endometritis.

Keywords: bovine endometrial cells, let-7, lipopolysaccharide, pro-inflammatory cytokines

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Authors: Abdelkader Hocine, Abdelhakim Maizia

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The exponential growth of reinforced fibers composite materials use has prompted researchers to step up their work on the prediction of their reliability. Owing to differences between the properties of the materials used for the composite, the manufacturing processes, the load combinations and types of environment, the prediction of the reliability of composite materials has become a primary task. Through failure criteria, TSAI-WU and the maximum stress, the reliability of multilayer tubular structures under pressure is the subject of this paper, where the failure probability of is estimated by the method of Monte Carlo.

Keywords: composite, design, monte carlo, tubular structure, reliability

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Authors: Vaibhav Rathi, Soumen Maity, Achu R. Sekhar, Abhijit Banerjee

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Construction sector in India is extremely resource and carbon intensive. It contributes to significantly to national greenhouse emissions. At the resource end the industry consumes significant portions of the output from mining. Resources such as sand and soil are most exploited and their rampant extraction is becoming constant source of impact on environment and society. Cement is another resource that is used in abundance in building and construction and has a direct impact on limestone resources. Though India is rich in cement grade limestone resource, efforts have to be made for sustainable consumption of this resource to ensure future availability. Use of these resources in high volumes in India is a result of rapid urbanization. More cities have grown to a population of million plus in the last decade and million plus cities are growing further. To cater to needs of growing urban population of construction activities are inevitable in the coming future thereby increasing material consumption. Increased construction will also lead to substantial increase in end of life waste generation from Construction and Demolition (C&D). Therefore proper management of C&D waste has the potential to reduce environmental pollution as well as contribute to the resource efficiency in the construction sector. The present study deals with estimation, characterisation and documenting current management practices of C&D waste in 10 Indian cities of different geographies and classes. Based on primary data the study draws conclusions on the potential of C&D waste to be used as an alternative to primary raw materials. The estimation results show that India generates 716 million tons of C&D waste annually, placing the country as second largest C&D waste generator in the world after China. The study also aimed at utilization of C&D waste in to building materials. The waste samples collected from various cities have been used to replace 100% stone aggregates in paver blocks without any decrease in strength. However, management practices of C&D waste in cities still remains poor instead of notification of rules and regulations notified for C&D waste management. Only a few cities have managed to install processing plant and set up management systems for C&D waste. Therefore there is immense opportunity for management and reuse of C&D waste in Indian cities.

Keywords: building materials, construction and demolition waste, cities, environmental pollution, resource efficiency

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Authors: Mostafa Feiz, Hossein Hadizadeh, Mohammad Safari

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The Chalpo copper area is located in northeastern Iran, which is part of the structural zone of central Iran and the back-arc basin of Sabzevar. This sedimentary basin accumulated in destructive-Oligomiocene sediments is named the Nasr-Chalpo-Sangerd (NCS) basin. The sedimentary layers in this basin originated mainly from Upper Cretaceous ophiolitic rocks and intermediate to mafic-post ophiolitic volcanic rocks, deposited as a nonconformity. The mineralized sandstone layers in the Chalpo area include leached zones (with a thickness of 5 to 8 meters) and mineralized lenses with a thickness of 0.5 to 0.7 meters. Ore minerals include primary sulfide minerals, such as chalcocite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite, as well as secondary minerals, such as covellite, digenite, malachite, and azurite, formed in three stages that comprise primary, simultaneously, and supergene stage. The best agents that control the mineralization in this area include the permeability of host rocks, the presence of fault zones as the conduits for copper oxide solutions, and significant amounts of plant fossils, which create a reducing environment for the deposition of mineralized layers. Statistical studies on copper layers indicate that Ag, Cd, Mo, and S have the maximum positive correlation with Cu, whereas TiO₂, Fe₂O₃, Al₂O₃, Sc, Tm, Sn, and the REEs have a negative correlation. The calculations of mass changes on copper-bearing layers and primary sandstone layers indicate that Pb, As, Cd, Te, and Mo are enriched in the mineralized zones, whereas SiO₂, TiO₂, Fe₂O₃, V, Sr, and Ba are depleted. The combination of geological, stratigraphic, and geochemical studies suggests that the origin of copper may have been the underlying red strata that contained hornblende, plagioclase, biotite, alkaline feldspar, and labile minerals. Dehydration and hydrolysis of these minerals during the diagenetic process caused the leaching of copper and associated elements by circling fluids, which formed an oxidant-hydrothermal solution. Copper and silver in this oxidant solution might have moved upwards through the basin-fault zones and deposited in the reducing environments in the sandstone layers that have had abundant organic matters. Copper in these solutions probably was carried by chloride complexes. The collision of oxidant and reduced solutions caused the deposition of Cu and Ag, whereas some stable elements in oxidant environments (e.g., Fe₂O₃, TiO₂, SiO₂, REEs) become unstable in the reduced condition. Therefore, the copper-bearing sandstones in the study area are depleted from these elements resulting from the leaching process. The results indicate that during the mineralization stage, LREEs and MREEs were depleted, but Cu, Ag, and S were enriched. Based on field evidence, it seems that the circulation of connate fluids in the reb-bed strata, produced by diagenetic processes, encountered to reduced facies, which formed earlier by abundant fossil-plant debris in the sandstones, is the best model for precipitating sulfide-copper minerals.

Keywords: Chalpo, oligo-miocene red beds, sandstone-hosted copper mineralization, mass change, LREEs, MREEs

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Authors: Salman Naseer, Usman Zafar, Iqra Zafar

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This study explores the implication of Vehicular Adhoc Network (VANET) - in the rural and urban scenarios that is one domain of Mobile Adhoc Network (MANET). VANET provides wireless communication between vehicle to vehicle and also roadside units. The Federal Commission Committee of United States of American has been allocated 75 MHz of the spectrum band in the 5.9 GHz frequency range for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) that are specifically designed to enhance any road safety applications and entertainment/information applications. There are several vehicular related projects viz; California path, car 2 car communication consortium, the ETSI, and IEEE 1609 working group that have already been conducted to improve the overall road safety or traffic management. After the critical literature review, the selection of routing protocols is determined, and its performance was well thought-out in the urban and rural scenarios. Numerous routing protocols for VANET are applied to carry out current research. Its evaluation was conceded with the help of selected protocols through simulation via performance metric i.e. throughput and packet drop. Excel and Google graph API tools are used for plotting the graphs after the simulation results in order to compare the selected routing protocols which result with each other. In addition, the sum of the output from each scenario was computed to undoubtedly present the divergence in results. The findings of the current study present that DSR gives enhanced performance for low packet drop and high throughput as compared to AODV and DSDV in an urban congested area and in rural environments. On the other hand, in low-density area, VANET AODV gives better results as compared to DSR. The worth of the current study may be judged as the information exchanged between vehicles is useful for comfort, safety, and entertainment. Furthermore, the communication system performance depends on the way routing is done in the network and moreover, the routing of the data based on protocols implement in the network. The above-presented results lead to policy implication and develop our understanding of the broader spectrum of VANET.

Keywords: AODV, DSDV, DSR, Adhoc network

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Authors: Babajide S. Adeokin, Oguntoyinbo O. Kazeem

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The not so pleasing state of the nation's quality of education has been a major area of research. Many researchers have looked into various aspects of the educational system and organizational structure in relation to the quality of service delivery of the staff members. However, there is paucity of research in areas relating to the sense of competence and commitment in relation to leadership styles. Against this backdrop, this study investigated the impact of leadership style and sense of competence on the performance of post-primary school teachers in Oyo state Nigeria. Data were generated across public secondary schools in the city using survey design method. Ibadan as a metropolis has eleven local government areas contained in it. A systematic random sampling technique of the eleven local government areas in Ibadan was done and five local government areas were selected. The selected local government areas are Akinyele, Ibadan North, Ibadan North-East, Ibadan South and Ibadan South-West. Data were obtained from a range of two – three public secondary schools selected in each of the local government areas mentioned above. Also, these secondary schools are a representation of the variations in the constructs under consideration across the Ibadan metropolis. Categorically, all secondary school teachers in Ibadan were clustered into selected schools in those found across the five local government areas. In all, a total of 272 questionnaires were administered to public secondary school teachers, while 241 were returned. Findings revealed that transformational leadership style makes room for job commitment when compared with transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles. Teachers with a high sense of competence are more likely to demonstrate more commitment to their job than others with low sense of competence. We recommend that, it is important an assessment is made of the leadership styles employed by principals and school administrators. This guides administrators and principals in to having a clear, comprehensive knowledge of the style they currently adopt in the management of the staff and the school as a whole; and know where to begin the adjustment process from. Also to make an impact on student achievement, being attentive to teachers’ levels of commitment may be an important aspect of leadership for school principals.

Keywords: Ibadan, leadership style, sense of competence, teachers, public secondary schools

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Authors: Sarah Irani, Meisam Modarresi

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Lifestyle entrepreneurship allows the business owner to create a business activity that aligns with their values, interests, and motivations. Examining the views and experiences of lifestyle entrepreneurs has an essential impact on the growth of the entrepreneurial economy and the concept of entrepreneurship. The primary purpose of this research is to discover the main and secondary influencing aspects of lifestyle entrepreneurship. This research is qualitative and tries to develop research in this field by presenting a framework from the literature. This study can provide a clear picture of lifestyle entrepreneurship. The results showed that lifestyle entrepreneurship is influenced by four main aspects.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs, innovation, lifestyle entrepreneurship, small businesses development

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Authors: Pratima Poudel, Austin Himes, Heidi Renninger, Eric McConnel

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Populus spp. (poplar) are the fastest-growing trees in North America, making them ideal for a range of applications as they can achieve high yields on short rotations and regenerate by coppice. Furthermore, poplar undergoes biochemical conversion to fuels without complexity, making it one of the most promising, purpose-grown, woody perennial energy sources. Employing wood-based biomass for bioenergy offers numerous benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to non-renewable traditional fuels, the preservation of robust forest ecosystems, and creating economic prospects for rural communities.In order to gain a better understanding of the potential use of poplar as a biomass feedstock for biofuel in the southeastern US, the conducted a techno-economic assessment (TEA). This assessment is an analytical approach that integrates technical and economic factors of a production system to evaluate its economic viability. the TEA specifically focused on a short rotation coppice system employing a single-pass cut-and-chip harvesting method for poplar. It encompassed all the costs associated with establishing dedicated poplar plantations, including land rent, site preparation, planting, fertilizers, and herbicides. Additionally, we performed a sensitivity analysis to evaluate how different costs can affect the economic performance of the poplar cropping system. This analysis aimed to determine the minimum average delivered selling price for one metric ton of biomass necessary to achieve a desired rate of return over the cropping period. To inform the TEA, data on the establishment, crop care activities, and crop yields were derived from a field study conducted at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station's Bearden Dairy Research Center in Oktibbeha County and Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwood Branch Experiment Station in Pontotoc County.

Keywords: biomass, populus species, sensitivity analysis, technoeconomic analysis

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Authors: Miriam Itzkowitz, Katie Olson

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Through an interdisciplinary and trauma-responsive lens, this article reviews the legal and social history of mandated reporting laws and family separation, examines the ethical conundrum of mandated reporting as it relates to evidence-based practice, and discusses alternatives to mandated reporting as a primary prevention strategy. Using existing and emerging data, the authors argue that mandated reporting as a universal strategy contributes to racial disproportionality in the child welfare system and that anti-racist practices should begin with an examination of our reliance on mandated reporting.

Keywords: child welfare, education, mandated reporting, racial disproportionality, trauma

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Authors: R. Benelmir, M. El Kadri, A. Donnot, D. Descieux

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HVAC represents a significant part of energy needs in buildings. Integrating renewable energy in cooling processes contributes to reducing primary energy consumption. Sorption refrigeration allows cold production through the use of solar/biomass/geothermal energy or even valuation of waste heat. This work presents an analysis of an experimental bench incorporating an adsorption chiller driven by hybrid energy resources associating solar thermal collectors with a cogeneration gas engine and a geothermal heat pump.

Keywords: solar cooling, cogeneration, geothermal heat pump, hybrid energy resources

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Authors: R. H. Begaydarova, B. Zh. Kultanov, B. T. Esilbaeva, G. E. Nasakaeva, Y. Yukhnevich, G. K. Alshynbekova, A. E. Dyusembaeva

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Background: The level of middle molecules of peptides (MMP) allows to evaluate the severity and prognosis of the disease and is a criterion for the effectiveness of the treatment. The detection the products of lipidperoxidation cascade, such as conjugated dienes, malondialdehyde in biological material, has an important role in the development of pathogenesis, the diagnosis and prognosis in different parasitic diseases. Purpose of the study was to evaluate the state of endogenous intoxication and indicators of lipid peroxidation in patients with giardiasis before and after treatment. Materials and methods: Endogenous intoxication was evaluated in patients with giardiasis in the level of middle molecules of peptides (MMP) in the blood. The amount of MMP and products of lipid peroxidation were determined in the blood of 198 patients with giardiasis, 129 of them were women (65%), 69 were men (35%). The MMP level was detected for comparison in the blood of 84 healthy volunteers. The lipid peroxidation were determined in 40 healthy men and women without giardiasis and history of chronic diseases. Data were processed by conventional methods of variation statistics, we calculated the arithmetic mean (M) and standard dispersion (m). t-test (t) was used to assess differences. Results: The level of MMP in the blood was significantly higher in patients with giardiasis in comparison with group of healthy men and women. MMP concentration in the blood of women with Giardia was 2.5 times greater than that of the comparison groups of women. The level of MMP exceeds more than 6 times in men with giardiasis. The decrease in the intensity of endogenous intoxication was two weeks after antigiardia therapy, both men and women. According to the study, a statistically significant increase in the level of all the studied parameters lipid peroxidation cascade was observed in the blood of men with giardiasis, with the exception of the total primary production (NGN). The treatment of giardiasis helped to stabilize the level of almost all metabolites of lipid peroxidation cascade. The exception was level of malondialdehyde, it was significantly elevated to compare with the control group and after treatment. Conclusion: Thus, the MMP level was significantly higher in blood of patients with giardiasis than in comparison group. This is evidence of severe endogenous intoxication caused by giardia infection. The accumulation of primary and secondary products of lipid peroxidation was observed in the blood of men and women. These processes tend to be more active in men than in women. Antigiardiasis therapy contributed to the normalization of almost all the studied indicators of lipid peroxidation in the blood of participants, except the level malondialdehyde in the blood of men.

Keywords: enzymes of antioxidant protection, giardiasis, blood, treatment

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Authors: Konstantina Georgali

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The present study explores Greek teachers’ understandings of typical language development and of language difficulties. Its core aim was to highlight that teachers need to have a thorough understanding of educational linguistics, that is of how language figures in education. They should also be aware of how language should be taught so as to promote language development for all students while at the same time support the needs of children with language difficulties in an inclusive ethos. The study, thus argued that language can be a dynamic learning mechanism in the minds of all children and a powerful teaching tool in the hands of teachers and provided current research evidence to show that structural and morphological particularities of native languages- in this case, of the Greek language- can be used by teachers to enhance children’s understanding of language and simultaneously improve oral language skills for children with typical language development and for those with language difficulties. The research was based on a Sequential Exploratory Mixed Methods Design deployed in three consecutive and integrative phases. The first phase involved 18 exploratory interviews with teachers. Its findings informed the second phase involving a questionnaire survey with 119 respondents. Contradictory questionnaire results were further investigated in a third phase employing a formal testing procedure with 60 children attending Y1, Y2 and Y3 of primary school (a research group of 30 language impaired children and a comparison group of 30 children with typical language development, both identified by their class teachers). Results showed both strengths and weaknesses in teachers’ awareness of educational linguistics and of language difficulties. They also provided a different perspective of children’s language needs and of language teaching approaches that reflected current advances and conceptualizations of language problems and opened a new window on how best they can be met in an inclusive ethos. However, teachers barely used teaching approaches that could capitalize on the particularities of the Greek language to improve language skills for all students in class. Although they seemed to realize the importance of oral language skills and their knowledge base on language related issues was adequate, their practices indicated that they did not see language as a dynamic teaching and learning mechanism that can promote children’s language development and in tandem, improve academic attainment. Important educational implications arose and clear indications of the generalization of findings beyond the Greek educational context.

Keywords: educational linguistics, inclusive ethos, language difficulties, typical language development

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Authors: Lakmali Anthony, Madeline Gillies

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Background Breast cancer (BC) is usually managed with surgical resection. Many outcomes traditionally used to define successful operative management, such as resection margin, do not adequately reflect patients’ experience. Patient-reported outcomes (PRO) such as Health-Related Quality of life (HRQoL) provide a means by which the impact of surgery for cancer can be reported in a patient-centered way. This exploratory cross-sectional study aims to; (1) describe postoperative HRQoL in patients who underwent primary resection in a regional Australian hospital; (2) describe the prevalence of anxiety, depression and clinically significant fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) in this population; and (3) identify demographic, psychosocial, disease and treatment factors associated with poorer self-reported HRQoL. Methods Patients who had resection of BC in a regional Australian hospital between 2015 and 2022 were eligible. Participants were asked to complete a survey designed to assess HRQoL, as well as validated instruments that assess several other psychosocial PROs hypothesized to be associated with HRQoL; emotional distress, fear of cancer recurrence, social support, dispositional optimism, body image and spirituality. Results Forty-six patients completed the survey. Clinically significant levels of FCR and emotional distress were present in this group. Many domains of HRQoL were significantly worse than an Australian reference population for BC. Demographic and disease factors associated with poor HRQoL included smoking and ongoing adjuvant systemic therapy. The primary operation was not associated with HRQoL for breast cancer. All psychosocial factors measured were associated with HRQoL. Conclusion HRQoL is an important outcome in surgery for both research and clinical practice. This study provides an overview of the quality of life in a regional Australian population of postoperative breast cancer patients and the factors that affect it. Understanding HRQoL and awareness of patients particularly vulnerable to poor outcomes should be used to aid the informed consent and shared decision-making process between surgeon and patient.

Keywords: breast cancer, surgery, quality of life, regional population

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Authors: Jane E. A. Lewis, Paul Williams, Jane H. Davies

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Introduction: There is, at present, a clear and recognized need to optimize the diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), particularly in non-specialist settings such as primary care, and this arises from several key facts. Firstly, PAD is a highly prevalent condition. In 2010, it was estimated that globally, PAD affected more than 202 million people and furthermore, this prevalence is predicted to further escalate. The disease itself, although frequently asymptomatic, can cause considerable patient suffering with symptoms such as lower limb pain, ulceration, and gangrene which, in worse case scenarios, can necessitate limb amputation. A further and perhaps the most eminent consequence of PAD arises from the fact that it is a manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis and therefore is a powerful predictor of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Objective: This cross sectional study aimed to individually and cumulatively compare sensitivity and specificity of the (i) ankle brachial index (ABI) and (ii) pulse volume waveform (PVW) recorded by the same automated device, with the presence or absence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) being verified by an Ultrasound Duplex Scan (UDS). Methods: Patients (n = 205) referred for lower limb arterial assessment underwent an ABI and PVW measurement using volume plethysmography followed by a UDS. Presence of PAD was recorded for ABI if < 0.9 (noted if > 1.30) if PVW was graded as 2, 3 or 4 or a hemodynamically significant stenosis > 50% with UDS. Outcome measure was agreement between measured ABI and interpretation of the PVW for PAD diagnosis, using UDS as the reference standard. Results: Sensitivity of ABI was 80%, specificity 91%, and overall accuracy 88%. Cohen’s kappa revealed good agreement between ABI and UDS (k = 0.7, p < .001). PVW sensitivity 97%, specificity 81%, overall accuracy 84%, with a good level of agreement between PVW and UDS (k = 0.67, p < .001). The combined sensitivity of ABI and PVW was 100%, specificity 76%, and overall accuracy 85% (k = 0.67, p < .001). Conclusions: Combing these two diagnostic modalities within one device provided a highly accurate method of ruling out PAD. Such a device could be utilized within the primary care environment to reduce the number of unnecessary referrals to secondary care with concomitant cost savings, reduced patient inconvenience, and prioritization of urgent PAD cases.

Keywords: ankle brachial index, peripheral arterial disease, pulse volume waveform, ultrasound duplex scan

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Authors: Fernanda M. Bastos, Teógenes A. da Silva

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Extrapolation chambers were designed to be used as primary standard dosimeter for measuring absorbed dose in a medium in beta radiation and low energy x-rays. The International Organization for Standardization established series of reference x-radiation for calibrating and determining the energy dependence of dosimeters that are to be reproduced in metrology laboratories. Standardization of the low energy x-ray beams with tube potential lower than 30 kV may be affected by the instrument used for dosimetry. In this work, parameters of a 23392 model PTW extrapolation chamber were determined aiming its use in low energy x-ray beams as a reference instrument.

Keywords: extrapolation chamber, low energy x-rays, x-ray dosimetry, X-ray metrology

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Authors: Mohammad Tarek Al Muallim, Ozhan Duzenli, Ceyhun Ilguy

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Harbor protection systems are so important. The need for automatic protection systems has increased over the last years. Diver detection active sonar has great significance. It used to detect underwater threats such as divers and autonomous underwater vehicle. To automatically detect such threats the sonar image is processed by algorithms. These algorithms used to detect, track and classify of underwater objects. In this work, divers tracking and classification algorithm is improved be proposing a robust wake detection method. To detect objects the sonar images is normalized then segmented based on fixed threshold. Next, the centroids of the segments are found and clustered based on distance metric. Then to track the objects linear Kalman filter is applied. To reduce effect of noise and creation of false tracks, the Kalman tracker is fine tuned. The tuning is done based on our active sonar specifications. After the tracks are initialed and updated they are subjected to a filtering stage to eliminate the noisy and unstable tracks. Also to eliminate object with a speed out of the diver speed range such as buoys and fast boats. Afterwards the result tracks are subjected to a classification stage to deiced the type of the object been tracked. Here the classification stage is to deice wither if the tracked object is an open circuit diver or a close circuit diver. At the classification stage, a small area around the object is extracted and a novel wake detection method is applied. The morphological features of the object with his wake is extracted. We used support vector machine to find the best classifier. The sonar training images and the test images are collected by ARMELSAN Defense Technologies Company using the portable diver detection sonar ARAS-2023. After applying the algorithm to the test sonar data, we get fine and stable tracks of the divers. The total classification accuracy achieved with the diver type is 97%.

Keywords: harbor protection, diver detection, active sonar, wake detection, diver classification

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Authors: A. Beril Tugrul

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Demand on production and thereby the global need of energy is growing continuously. Each country has different trends on energy demand and supply according to their geopolitical and geographical locations, underground reserves, weather conditions and level of industrialization. Conventional energy resources such as oil, gas and coal –in other words fossil resources- remain dominant on primary energy supply in spite of causing of environmental problems. Energy supply and demand securities are essential within the energy importing and exporting countries. This concept affected all sectors, but especially impressed on political aspects of the countries and also global economic views.

Keywords: energy policy, energy economics, energy strategy, global trends, petro-dollar recycling

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Authors: Aileen O'loughlin

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‘Is Everybody Going WeLL?’ (IEGW?) is a 33-hour classroom-based initiative created to a) explore values and how they impact on well-being, b) encourage adolescents to connect with their community, and c) provide them with the education to encourage and maintain a lifetime love of physical activity (PA) to ensure beneficial effects on their personal well-being. This initiative is also aimed at achieving sustainable education and aligning with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals numbers 3 and 4. The classroom is a unique setting in which adolescents’ PA participation can be positively influenced through fun PA policies and initiatives. The primary purpose of this research is to evaluate a range of psychosocial and PA outcomes following the 33-hour education programme. This research examined the impact of a PA and well-being programme consisting of either a 60minute or 80minute class, depending on the timetable structure of the school, delivered once a week. Participant outcomes were measured using validated questionnaires regarding Self-esteem, Mental Health Literacy (MHL) and Daily Physical Activity Participation. These questionnaires were administered at three separate time points; baseline, mid-intervention, and post intervention. Semi-structured interviews with participating teachers regarding adherence and participants’ attitudes were completed post-intervention. These teachers were randomly selected for interview. This perspective analytical cohort study included 235 post-primary school students between 11-13 years of age (100 boys and 135 girls) from five public Irish post-primary schools. Three schools received the intervention only; a 33hour interactive well-being learning unit, one school formed a control group and one school had participants in both the intervention and control group. Participating schools were a convenience sample. Data presented outlines baseline data collected pre-participation (0 hours completed). N = 18 junior certificate students returned all three questionnaires fully completed for a 56.3% return rate from 1 school, Intervention School #3. 94.4% (n = 17) of participants enjoy taking part in some form of PA, however only 5.5% (n = 1) of the participants took part in PA every day of the previous 7 days and only 5.5% (n = 1) of those surveyed participated in PA every day during a normal week. 55% (n = 11) had a low level of self-esteem, 50% (n = 9) fall within the normal range of self-esteem, and n = 0 surveyed demonstrated a high level of self-esteem. Female participants’ Mean score was higher than their male counterparts when MHL was compared. Correlation analyses revealed a small association between Self-esteem and Happiness (r = 0.549). Positive correlations were also revealed between MHL and Happiness, MHL and Self-esteem and Self-esteem and 60+ minutes of PA completed daily. IEGW? is a classroom-based with simple methods easy to implement, replicate and financially viable to both public and private schools. It’s unique dataset will allow for the evaluation of a societal approach to the psycho-social well-being and PA participation levels of adolescents. This research is a work in progress and future work is required to learn how to best support the implementation of ‘Is Everybody Going WeLL?’ as part of the school curriculum.

Keywords: education, life-long learning, physical activity, psychosocial well-being

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Authors: Adedeji S. Adegoke, Olakunle N. Popoola

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Promotion is indispensible and inestimable property of marketing through which different organizations persuade their prospective customers. The idea of passing information about a product to the consumer at outside the world is known as promotional activities. A study was determined whether there was relationship between promotional mix and consumer buying decision, that is may be customers were influenced by promotion. It was investigated to determine whether promotion can be used to influence competitors’ activities in the market and also research was conducted to determine if there was any problem encountered by Nigeria bottling company plc, in promoting its beverages products. The various forms of promotional mix available for an organization were examined and recommended the appropriate promotional mix that company can adopt to boost the company sales. The research design was depended on the primary and secondary data. The primary data were information collected from the subjects using methods of data collection, that is through the use of questionnaire, interview, direct observation, etc. The secondary data consist of information that already exists having been collected for another purpose by some researchers. These include internal and external sources. The questionnaire was designed and administered to the staff of production and marketing department of Nigeria bottling company plc., which served as the population of this study, out of which sample was drawn randomly from the population, using sample random technique. It was deduced that 90% of the respondents opined that advertising influenced competition in the market and that there was a good sale after they started advert while 10% of them were not sure. At advertising level, 85% of the respondents chose 81-100% as the increase in the percentage recorded in their sales level, while 10% of them agreed that increase in the percentage recorded in their sales was within 61-80% and 5% of them chose 45-60% as the percentage increase in their sales record. Due to unstable economic condition of the Nigeria, many business organizations adopted the promotional strategies. Apart from advertising, it was discovered through research that sales promotion served as an incentive to consumers of Nigeria bottling company plc at a time offer gifts and prizes to consumers which drastically increased their level of sales. Since advertising and sales promotion increased the level of sales, more money should be allocated for this purpose to maintain market share and thereby increase profit.

Keywords: consumer, marketing, organization, promotional mix

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Authors: S. Murugan, Bohumil Horak

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Pyrolysis is one of the possible technologies to derive energy from waste organic substances. In recent years, pilot level and demonstrated plants have been installed in few countries. The heat energy lost during the process is not effectively utilized resulting in less savings of energy and money. This paper proposes a novel approach to integrate a combined heat and power unit(CHP) and reduce the primary energy consumption in a tyre pyrolysis pilot plant. The proposal primarily uses the micro combined heat and power concept that will help to produce both heat and power in the process.

Keywords: pyrolysis, waste tyres, waste plastics, biomass, waste heat

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Authors: Nejib Turki, Karima Kouki Khalfallah

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The effect of six treatments of organic amendments were evaluated on a sandy soil in the region of Soukra in Tunisia. T1: cattle manure 55 t.ha-1, T2: commercial compost from Germany to 1 t.ha-1, T3: a mixture of 27.5 t.ha-1 of T1 with 0.5 t. ha-1 of T2, T4: commercial compost from France 2 t.ha-1, T5: a Tunisian commercial compost to 10 t.ha-1 and T0: control without treatment. The nitrogen in the soil increase to 0.029 g.kg-1 of soil treatment for the T1 and 0.021 g. kg-1 of soil treatment for the T3. The highest content of P2O5 has been registered by the T3 treatment that 0.44 g kg-1 soil with respect to the control (T0), which shows a content of 0.36 g.kg-1 soil. The soil was initially characterized by a potassium content of 0.8 g kg-1 soil, K2O exchangeable rate varied between 0.63 g.Kg-1 and 0.71 g.kg-1 soil respectively T2 and T1.

Keywords: compost, organic amendement, Ntot, P2O5, K2O

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Authors: Ryotaro Ishikawa

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INTRODUCTION: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric label for a collection of psychological symptoms following a traumatic event. PTSD is as a result of a traumatic experience such as rape or sexual assault. A victim may have PTSD if she/he has experienced the following symptoms for at least a month: a) Stressor, b) Intrusion symptoms, c) Avoidance, d) Negative alterations in cognitions and mood, e) Alterations in arousal and reactivity. Studies on the cognitive theory of PTSD emphasized the roles of (a) negative appraisals of trauma memories in maintaining the symptomatology of PTSD, and (b) disorganized trauma memories in the development of PTSD. Mental contamination is primarily caused by experiences involving humans (e.g. violators or perpetrators) as opposed to substances (e.g. dirt or bodily fluids). Feelings of mental contamination may evoke following experiences of ill-treatment, sexual assault, domination, degradation, manipulation, betrayal, or humiliation. Some studies have demonstrated that traumatic thoughts related to sexual assault are particularly strong predictors of mental contamination. Treatment protocols based on cognitive-behavioral therapy appear to be beneficial in reducing the severity of PTSD and mental contamination. Studies on the cognitive theory of PTSD emphasized the roles of (A) negative appraisals of trauma memories in maintaining the symptomatology of PTSD, and (B) disorganized trauma memories in the development of PTSD. We will demonstrate a feasibility study of individual CBT for PTSD and mental contamination in Japanese clinical settings. METHOD: The single-arm trial is a group setting CBT intervention. The primary outcome is the self-rated Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, with secondary measurements of depressive severity and mental pollution questionnaire. Assessments are conducted at baseline, after a waiting period before CBT, during CBT, and after CBT. RESULTS: Participants are eligible for the study and complete the outcome measures at all assessment points. In our hypothesis, receiving CBT would lead to improvements in primary and secondary PTSD severity. CONCLUSION: We will demonstrate a feasibility study of individual CBT for PTSD and mental contamination in Japanese clinical settings. Our treatment would achieve favorable treatment outcomes for PTSD with mental contamination in Japanese clinical settings.

Keywords: CBT, cognitive theory, PTSD, mental pollution

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Authors: Vikas Kumar

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Portable batteries are reliable source of mobile energy to power smart wearable electronics, medical devices, communications, and others internet of thing (IoT) devices. There is a continuous increase in demand for thinner, more flexible battery with high energy density and reliability to meet the requirement. For a flexible battery, factors that affect these properties are the stability of current collectors, electrode materials and their interfaces with the corrosive electrolytes. State-of-the-art conventional and flexible batteries utilise carbon as an electrode and current collectors which cause high internal resistance (~100 ohms) and limit the peak current to ~1mA. This makes them unsuitable for a wide range of applications. Replacing the carbon parts with metallic components would reduce the internal resistance (and hence reduce parasitic loss), but significantly increases the risk of corrosion due to galvanic interactions within the battery. To overcome these challenges, low cost electroplated nickel (Ni) on copper (Cu) was studied as a potential anode current collector for a zinc-manganese oxide primary battery with different concentration of NH4Cl/ZnCl2 electrolyte. Using electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), we monitored the open circuit potential (OCP) of electroplated nickel (different thicknesses) in different concentration of electrolytes to optimise the thickness of Ni coating. Our results show that electroless Ni coating suffer excessive corrosion in these electrolytes. Corrosion rates of Ni coatings for different concentrations of electrolytes have been calculated with Tafel analysis. These results suggest that for electroplated Ni, channelling and/or open porosity is a major issue, which was confirmed by morphological analysis. These channels are an easy pathway for electrolyte to penetrate thorough Ni to corrode the Ni/Cu interface completely. We further investigated the incorporation of a special printed graphene layer on Ni to provide corrosion protection in this corrosive electrolyte medium. We find that the incorporation of printed graphene layer provides the corrosion protection to the Ni and enhances the chemical bonding between the active materials and current collector and also decreases the overall internal resistance of the battery system.

Keywords: corrosion, electrical impedance spectroscopy, flexible battery, graphene, metal current collector

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Authors: Rigers Dodaj

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Nowadays, the environment is a critical goal for civil engineers, human activity, construction projects, economic growth, and whole national development. Regarding the development of Albania's economy, people's living standards are increasing, and the requirements for the living environment are also increasing. Under these circumstances, environmental protection and sustainability this is the critical issue. The rising industrialization, urbanization, and energy demand affect the environment by emission of carbon dioxide gas (CO2), a significant parameter known to impact air pollution directly. Consequently, many governments and international organizations conducted policies and regulations to address environmental degradation in the pursuit of economic development, for instance in Albania, the CO2 emission calculated in metric tons per capita has increased by 23% in the last 20 years. This paper analyzes the importance of civil engineering and economic growth in the sustainability of the environment focusing on CO2 emission. The analyzed data are time series 2001 - 2020 (with annual frequency), based on official publications of the World Bank. The statistical approach with vector error correction model and time series forecasting model are used to perform the parameter’s estimations and long-run equilibrium. The research in this paper adds a new perspective to the evaluation of a sustainable environment in the context of carbon emission reduction. Also, it provides reference and technical support for the government toward green and sustainable environmental policies. In the context of low-carbon development, effectively improving carbon emission efficiency is an inevitable requirement for achieving sustainable economic and environmental protection. Also, the study reveals that civil engineering development projects impact greatly the environment in the long run, especially in areas of flooding, noise pollution, water pollution, erosion, ecological disorder, natural hazards, etc. The potential for reducing industrial carbon emissions in recent years indicates that reduction is becoming more difficult, it needs another economic growth policy and more civil engineering development, by improving the level of industrialization and promoting technological innovation in industrial low-carbonization.

Keywords: CO₂ emission, civil engineering, economic growth, environmental sustainability

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