Search results for: lake level fluctuation

Authors: Jean Paul M. Milambo

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Purpose: Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are indicated in the treatment of hormone-receptive breast cancer in postmenopausal women in various settings. Studies have shown cardiovascular events in some developed countries. To date the data is sparce for evidence-based recommendations in African clinical settings due to lack of cancer registries, capacity building and surveillance systems. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the feasibility of HyBeacon® probe genotyping adjunctive to standard care for timely prediction and diagnosis of Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) associated adverse events in breast cancer survivors in Africa. Methods: Cross sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge of POCT among six African countries using online survey and telephonically contacted. Incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated, using diagnostic accuracy study. This was based on mathematical modeling. Results: One hundred twenty-six participants were considered for analysis (mean age = 61 years; SD = 7.11 years; 95%CI: 60-62 years). Comparison of genotyping from HyBeacon® probe technology to Sanger sequencing showed that sensitivity was reported at 99% (95% CI: 94.55% to 99.97%), specificity at 89.44% (95% CI: 87.25 to 91.38%), PPV at 51% (95%: 43.77 to 58.26%), and NPV at 99.88% (95% CI: 99.31 to 100.00%). Based on the mathematical model, the assumptions revealed that ICER was R7 044.55. Conclusion: POCT using HyBeacon® probe genotyping for AI-associated adverse events maybe cost effective in many African clinical settings. Integration of preventive measures for early detection and prevention guided by different subtype of breast cancer diagnosis with specific clinical, biomedical and genetic screenings may improve cancer survivorship. Feasibility of POCT was demonstrated but the implementation could be achieved by improving the integration of POCT within primary health cares, referral cancer hospitals with capacity building activities at different level of health systems. This finding is pertinent for a future envisioned implementation and global scale-up of POCT-based initiative as part of risk communication strategies with clear management pathways.

Keywords: breast cancer, diagnosis, point of care, South Africa, aromatase inhibitors

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Authors: Alireza Hassanshahi, Xanthe Strudwick, Zlatko Kopecki, Allison J Cowin

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Studies have shown that Flightless (Flii) is elevated in human wounds, including burns, and reducing the level of Flii is a promising approach for improving wound repair and reducing scar formation. The most effective approach has been to neutralise Flii activity using localized, intradermal application of function blocking monoclonal antibodies. However, large surface area burns are difficult to treat by intradermal injection of therapeutics, so the aim of this study was to investigate if a systemic injection of a monoclonal antibody against Flii could improve healing in mice following burn injury. Flii neutralizing antibodies (FnAbs) were labelled with Alxa-Fluor-680 for biodistribution studies and the healing effects of systemically administered FnAbs to mice with burn injuries. A partial thickness, 7% (70mm2) total body surface area scald burn injury was created on the dorsal surface of mice (n=10/group), and 100µL of Alexa-Flour-680-labeled FnAbs were injected into the intraperitoneal cavity (IP) at time of injury. The burns were imaged on days 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 using IVIS Lumina S5 Imaging System, and healing was assessed macroscopically, histologically, and using immunohistochemistry. Fluorescent radiance efficiency measurements showed that IP injected Alexa-Fluor-680-FnAbs localized at the site of burn injury from day 1, remaining there for the whole 7-day study. The burns treated with FnAbs showed a reduction in macroscopic wound area and an increased rate of epithelialization compared to controls. Immunohistochemistry for NIMP-R14 showed a reduction in the inflammatory infiltrate, while CD31/VEGF staining showed improved angiogenesis post-systemic FnAb treatment. These results suggest that systemically administered FnAbs are active within the burn site and can improve healing outcomes. The clinical application of systemically injected Flii monoclonal antibodies could therefore be a potential approach for promoting the healing of large surface area burns immediately after injury.

Keywords: biodistribution, burn, flightless, systemic, fnAbs

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: Basma Yassa

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Evidence on cash transfers’ effectiveness in mitigating macro and idiosyncratic shocks’ impacts has been mixed and is mostly concentrated in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia with very limited evidence from the MENA region. Yet conditional cash transfers schemes have been continually used, especially in Egypt, as the main social protection tool in response to the recent socioeconomic crises and macro shocks. We use 2 panel datasets and 1 cross-sectional dataset to estimate the effectiveness of cash transfers as a shock-mitigative mechanism in the Egyptian context. In this paper, the results from the different models (Panel Fixed Effects model and the Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) model) confirm that micro and macro shocks lead to significant decline in several household-level welfare outcomes and that Takaful cash transfers have a significant positive impact in mitigating the negative shock impacts, especially on households’ debt incidence, debt levels, and asset ownership, but not necessarily on food, and non-food expenditure levels. The results indicate large positive significant effects on decreasing household incidence of debt by up to 12.4 percent and lowered the debt size by approximately 18 percent among Takaful beneficiaries compared to non-beneficiaries’. Similar evidence is found on asset ownership levels, as the RDD model shows significant positive effects on total asset ownership and productive asset ownership, but the model failed to detect positive impacts on per capita food and non-food expenditures. Further extensions are still in progress to compare the models’ results with the DID model results when using a nationally representative ELMPS panel data (2018/2024) rounds. Finally, our initial analysis suggests that conditional cash transfers are effective in buffering the negative shock impacts on certain welfare indicators even after successive macro-economic shocks in 2022 and 2023 in the Egyptian Context.

Keywords: cash transfers, fixed effects, household welfare, household debt, micro shocks, regression discontinuity design

Procedia PDF Downloads 46

Authors: Mateus L. O. Freitas, Flávia H. de M. Libório, Letycia L. Ricardo, Patrícia da C. Zonetti, Graciene de S. Bido

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Weeds compete with agricultural crops for resources such as light, water, and nutrients. This competition can cause significant damage to agricultural producers, and, currently, the use of agrochemicals is the most effective method for controlling these undesirable plants. Morning glory (Ipomoea grandifolia [Dammer] O'Donell) is an aggressive weed and significantly reduces agricultural productivity making harvesting difficult, especially mechanical harvesting. The biggest challenge in modern agriculture is to preserve high productivity reducing environmental damage and maintaining soil characteristics. No-till is a sustainable practice that can reduce the use of agrochemicals and environmental impacts due to the presence of plant residues in the soil, which release allelopathic compounds and reduce the incidence or alter the growth and development of crops and weeds. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) is a forage with proven allelopathic activity, mainly for producing sorgholeone. In this context, this research aimed to evaluate the allelopathic action of sorghum fractions using hexane, dichloromethane, butanol, and ethyl acetate on the germination and initial growth of morning glory. The parameters analyzed were the percentage of germination, speed of germination, seedling length, and biomass weight (fresh and dry). The bioassays were performed in Petri dishes, kept in an incubation chamber for 7 days, at 25 °C, with a 12h photoperiod. The experimental design was completely randomized, with five replicates of each treatment. The data were evaluated by analysis of variance, and the averages between each treatment were compared using the Scott Knott test at a 5% significance level. The results indicated that the dichloromethane and ethyl acetate fractions showed bioherbicidal effects, promoting effective reductions on germination and initial growth of the morning glory. It was concluded that allelochemicals were probably extracted in these fractions. These secondary metabolites can reduce the use of agrochemicals and environmental impact, making agricultural production systems more sustainable.

Keywords: allelochemicals, secondary metabolism, sorgoleone, weeds

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Authors: Mukesh Lal Das, Muthukumar Muthuchamy

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Climate change Adaptation strategy (AS) is a scientific approach to dealing with the impacts of climate change (CC). Efforts are being made to contain the global emission of greenhouse gas within threshold limits, thereby limiting the rise of global temperature to an optimal level. Global Climate change is a spontaneous process; therefore, reversing the damage would take decades. The climate change adaptation strategy recommended by various stakeholders could be a key to resilience for biodiversity. The Indian Government has constituted the panel to synthesize the climate change action report at the federal and state levels. This review scavenged the published literature on the Western Ghats hotspots. And highlight the adaptation strategy recommended by diverse scientific actors to conserve biodiversity. It also reviews the grey literature adopted by state and federal governments and its effectiveness in mitigating the impacts on biodiversity. We have narrowed the scope of interest to the state action report by 6 Indian states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which host Western Ghats global biodiversity hotspot. Western Ghats(WGs) act as the water tower to the peninsular part of India, and its extensive watershed caters to the water demand of the Industry sector, Agriculture and urban community. Conservation of WGs is the key to the prosperity of Peninsular India. The global scientific community suggested more than 600+ Climate change adaptation strategies for the policymakers, stakeholders, and other state actors to take proactive actions. The preliminary analysis of the federal and the state action plan on climate change in the wake of CC indicate inadequacy in motion as per recommended scientific adaptation strategies. Tamil Nadu and Kerala state constitute nine effective adaptation strategies out of the 40+ recommended for Western Ghats conservation. And other four states' adaptation strategies are deficient, confusing and vague. Western Ghats' resilience capacity will soon or might have reached its threshold, and the frequency of severe drought and flash floods might upsurge manifold in the decades to come. The lack of a clear roadmap to climate change adaptation strategies in the federal and state action stirred us to identify the gap and address it by offering a holistic approach to WGs biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: adaptation strategy, biodiversity conservation, climate change, resilience, Western Ghats

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Authors: Priyal Chikhaliwala, Sudeshna Chandra

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Liver cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors with poor prognosis. This is because liver cancer does not exhibit any symptoms in early stage of disease. Increased serum level of AFP is clinically considered as a diagnostic marker for liver malignancy. The present diagnostic modalities include various types of immunoassays, radiological studies, and biopsy. However, these tests undergo slow response times, require significant sample volumes, achieve limited sensitivity and ultimately become expensive and burdensome to patients. Considering all these aspects, electrochemical biosensors based on dendrimer-magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) was designed. Dendrimers are novel nano-sized, three-dimensional molecules with monodispersed structures. Poly-amidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers with eight –NH₂ groups using ethylenediamine as a core molecule were synthesized using Michael addition reaction. Dendrimers provide added the advantage of not only stabilizing Fe₃O₄ NPs but also displays capability of performing multiple electron redox events and binding multiple biological ligands to its dendritic end-surface. Fe₃O₄ NPs due to its superparamagnetic behavior can be exploited for magneto-separation process. Fe₃O₄ NPs were stabilized with PAMAM dendrimer by in situ co-precipitation method. The surface coating was examined by FT-IR, XRD, VSM, and TGA analysis. Electrochemical behavior and kinetic studies were evaluated using CV which revealed that the dendrimer-Fe₃O₄ NPs can be looked upon as electrochemically active materials. Electrochemical immunosensor was designed by immobilizing anti-AFP onto dendrimer-MNPs by gluteraldehyde conjugation reaction. The bioconjugates were then incubated with AFP antigen. The immunosensor was characterized electrochemically indicating successful immuno-binding events. The binding events were also further studied using magnetic particle imaging (MPI) which is a novel imaging modality in which Fe₃O₄ NPs are used as tracer molecules with positive contrast. Multicolor MPI was able to clearly localize AFP antigen and antibody and its binding successfully. Results demonstrate immense potential in terms of biosensing and enabling MPI of AFP in clinical diagnosis.

Keywords: alpha-fetoprotein, dendrimers, electrochemical biosensors, magnetic nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: M. Sakthivel, A. Devaki, D. Balasubramanyam, P. Kumarasamy, A. Raja, R. Anilkumar, H. Gopi

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The influence of inbreeding on growth traits in the New Zealand White rabbits maintained at Sheep Breeding and Research Station, Sandynallah, The Nilgiris, India was studied in a closed herd. Data were collected over a period of 15 years (1998 to 2012). The traits studied were body weights at weaning (W42), post-weaning (W70) and marketing (W135) age and growth efficiency traits viz., average daily gain (ADG), relative growth rate (RGR) and Kleiber ratio (KR) estimated on a daily basis at different age intervals (1=42 to 70 days; 2=70 to 135 days and 3=42 to 135 days) from weaning to marketing. The effects of inbreeding along with other non-genetic factors (sex of the kit, season and period of birth of the kit) were analyzed using least-squares method. The inbreeding (F) and equivalent inbreeding (EF) coefficients were taken as fixed classes as well as covariates in separate analyses. When taken as covariate, the effect was analyzed as partial regression of respective growth trait on individual inbreeding coefficient (F or EF). The mean body weights at weaning, post-weaning and marketing were 0.715, 1.276 and 2.187 kg, respectively. The maximum growth efficiency was noticed between weaning and post-weaning. Season and period had highly significant influence on all the growth parameters studied and sex of the kit had significant influence on certain growth efficiency traits only. The average coefficients of inbreeding and equivalent inbreeding in the population were 13.233 and 17.585 percent, respectively. About 11.17 percent of total matings were highly inbred in which full-sib, half-sib and parent-offspring matings were 1.20, 6.30 and 3.67 percent, respectively. The regression of body weight traits on F and EF showed negative effect whereas most of the growth efficiency traits showed positive effects. Significant inbreeding depression was observed in W42 and W70. The depression in W42 was 0.214 kg and 0.139 kg and in W70 was 0.269 kg and 0.172 kg for every one unit increase in F and EF, respectively. Though the trait W135 showed positive value and ADG1 showed depression, the effects of inbreeding and equivalent inbreeding were non-significant in these traits. Higher values of inbreeding depression could be due to more variance of F or EF in the population. The analysis of the effect of level of inbreeding on growth traits revealed that the inbreeding class was significant on W70, ADG2, RGR2 and KR2 while EF classes had significant influence only on ADG2, RGR2 and KR2. Obviously, inbreeding does not have a positive effect, therefore, these results suggest that inbreeding had no effect on these traits.

Keywords: growth parameters, equivalent inbreeding, inbreeding effects, rabbit genetics

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Authors: Ni Tang, Jinping Zhang

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An effective and sustainable volunteer team is needed to create a more available blood supply system. In order to promote the sustainable development of blood donation in Zhejiang Province, China, a “three-exemption” policy was proposed in 2014: blood donors who received the National Award for unpaid blood donation may government-invested and funded parks, scenic spots and other places for free, visit non-profit medical institutions for free outpatient fees, and be exempted from urban public transportation fees. As the policy has been in place for seven years, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the policy by comparing the increasing rate of blood donation in Hangzhou (capital city of Zhejiang) before and after the policy using the intermittent time series analysis. The blood donation in Anhui, a Province near Zhejiang, was also compared as a negative control. Blood donation data from 2012 to 2018 were obtained from the donation center's official websites. The increasing rate of blood donation volume since 2012 in Hangzhou is 34.37 units/month, and after 2014, the increasing rate additionally increases 71.69 (p=0.1442), which indicating a statistically non-significant change after the policy. While as a negative control, in Anhui, the increasing rate of blood donation volume since 2012 is -163.3 unit/month, and the increasing rate additionally increases 167.2 (p=5.63e-07) after 2014. The result shows that the three-exemption policy had a certain level of impact on encouraging volunteers to donate blood, but the effect was not substantial. One possible reason for the ineffectiveness of the policy might be a lack of public awareness of the policy. On the other hand, this policy mainly waived unnecessary life expenses, such as fares and scenic entrance fees, and requires a certain number of blood donations, registration procedures, and blood donation certificates. Perhaps, reducing life-related expenses such as oil, water and electricity, could better attract people to participate in blood donation. This current study on the three-exemption policy provides a new direction for promoting people's blood donation. Incentive policies may require greater publicity and incentives. In order to better ensure the operation of the blood donation system, other policies, especially incentive policies, should be further explored.

Keywords: blood donation, policy, Zhejiang, unpaid blood donation, three-exemption policy

Procedia PDF Downloads 209

Authors: Abdulkarem Qasem Dammag, Basema Qasim Dammag, Jian Dai

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Change in Land use and Land cover (LU/LC) has a profound impact on the area's natural, economic, and ecological development, and the search for drivers of land cover change is one of the fundamental issues of LU/LC change. The study aimed to assess the temporal and Spatio-temporal dynamics of LU/LC in the past and to predict the future using Landsat images by exploring the characteristics of different LU/LC types. Spatio-temporal patterns of LU/LC change in Ibb Governorate, Yemen, were analyzed based on RS and GIS from 1990, 2005, and 2020. A socioeconomic survey and key informant interviews were used to assess potential drivers of LU/LC. The results showed that from 1990 to 2020, the total area of vegetation land decreased by 5.3%, while the area of barren land, grassland, built-up area, and waterbody increased by 2.7%, 1.6%, 1.04%, and 0.06%, respectively. Based on socio-economic surveys and key informant interviews, natural factors had a significant and long-term impact on land change. In contrast, site construction and socio-economic factors were the main driving forces affecting land change in a short time scale. The analysis results have been linked to the CA-Markov Land Use simulation and forecasting model for the years 2035 and 2050. The simulation results revealed from the period 2020 to 2050, the trend of dynamic changes in land use, where the total area of barren land decreased by 7.0% and grassland by 0.2%, while the vegetation land, built-up area, and waterbody increased by 4.6%, 2.6%, and 0.1 %, respectively. Overall, these findings provide LULC's past and future trends and identify drivers, which can play an important role in sustainable land use planning and management by balancing and coordinating urban growth and land use and can also be used at the regional level in different levels to provide as a reference. In addition, the results provide scientific guidance to government departments and local decision-makers in future land-use planning through dynamic monitoring of LU/LC change.

Keywords: LU/LC change, CA-Markov model, driving forces, change detection, LU/LC change simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Xinqi Guo, Karen R. Dobkins

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Background and Objectives: Humans are probably the only animals whose minds are constantly filled with thoughts, feelings and emotions. Previous studies have investigated human minds from different dimensions, including its proportion of time for not being present, its representative format, its personal relevance, its temporal locus, and affect valence. The current study aims at characterizing human mind by employing Experience Sampling Methods (ESM), a self-report research procedure for studying daily experience. This study emphasis on answering the following questions: 1) How does the contents of the inner experience vary across demographics, 2) Are certain types of inner experiences correlated with level of mindfulness and mental well-being (e.g., are people who spend more time being present happier, and are more mindful people more at-present?), 3) Will being prompted to report one’s inner experience increase mindfulness and mental well-being? Methods: Participants were recruited from the subject pool of UC San Diego or from the social media. They began by filling out two questionnaires: 1) Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form, and 2) Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, and demographic information. Then they participated in the ESM part by responding to the prompts which contained questions about their real-time inner experience: if they were 'at-present', 'mind-wandering', or 'zoned-out'. The temporal locus, the clarity, and the affect valence, and the personal importance of the thought they had the moment before the prompt were also assessed. A mobile app 'RealLife Exp' randomly delivered these prompts 3 times/day for 6 days during wake-time. After the 6 days, participants completed questionnaire (1) and (2) again. Their changes of score were compared to a control group who did not participate in the ESM procedure (yet completed (1) and (2) one week apart). Results: Results are currently preliminary as we continue to collect data. So far, there is a trend that participants are present, mind-wandering and zoned-out, about 53%, 23% and 24% during wake-time, respectively. The thoughts of participants are ranked to be clearer and more neutral if they are present vs. mind-wandering. Mind-wandering thoughts are 66% about the past, consisting 80% of inner speech. Discussion and Conclusion: This study investigated the subjective account of human mind by a tool with high ecological validity. And it broadens the understanding of the relationship between contents of mind and well-being.

Keywords: experience sampling method, meta-memory, mindfulness, mind-wandering

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Clara T. Fatoye, April Betts, Abayomi Odeyemi, Francis A. Fatoye, Isaac O. Odeyemi

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Background: The post-launch stage is the last stage in the development of a pharmaceutical product. It is important to involve patients in the development of pharmaceutical products at the post-launch stage, as patients are the end-users of pharmaceutical products. It is expected that involving them might ensure an effective working relationship among the various stakeholders. However, involving patients in the development of pharmaceutical products comes with its problems. Hence, this study examined how to resolve problems experienced by involving patients in the developments of pharmaceutical products’ at post-launch consisting of Positioning of pharmaceutical products (POPP), detailing of pharmaceutical products (DOPP) and reimbursement and Formulary Submission (R&FS). Methods: A questionnaire was used for the present study. It was administered at the ISPOR Glasgow 2017 to 104 participants, all of which were professionals from Market access (MA) and health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) backgrounds. They were asked how the issues experienced by patients can be resolved. Participants responded under six domains as follows: communication, cost, effectiveness, external factors, Quality of life (QoL) and safety. Thematic analysis was carried out to identify strategies to resolve issues experienced by patients at the post-launch stage. Results: Three (3) factors cut across at POPP, DOPP, and R&FS that is (external factors, communication and QoL). The first resolution method was an external factor that is, the relationship with stakeholders and policymakers. Communication was also identified as a resolution method that can help to resolve problems experienced by patients at the post-launch stage. The third method was QoL as perceived by the patients based on professionals’ opinions. Other strategies that could be used to resolve problems experienced were the effectiveness of pharmaceutical products at the DOPP level and cost at R&FS. Conclusion: The study showed that focusing on external factors, communication, and patients’ QoL are methods for resolving issues experienced by involving patients at the post-launch stage of pharmaceutical product development. Hence, effective working relationships between patients, policymakers and stakeholders may help to resolve problems experienced at the post-launch stage. Healthcare policymakers are to be aware of these findings as they may help them to put appropriate strategies in place to enhance the involvement of patients in pharmaceutical product development at the post-launch stage, thereby improving the health outcomes of the patients.

Keywords: patients, pharmaceutical products, post-launch stage, quality of life, QoL

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Daijun Chen

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Affordable housing is subsidized by the government to meet the housing demand of low and middle-income urban residents in the process of urbanization and to alleviate the housing inequality caused by market-based housing reforms. It is a recognized fact that the living conditions of the insured have been improved while constructing the subsidized housing. However, the choice of affordable housing is mostly in the suburbs, where the surrounding urban functions and infrastructure are incomplete, resulting in the spatial mismatch of "jobs-housing" in affordable housing. The main reason for this problem is that the residents of affordable housing are more sensitive to the spatial location of their residence, but their selectivity and controllability to the housing location are relatively weak, which leads to higher commuting costs. Their real cost of living has not been effectively reduced. In this regard, 92 subsidized housing communities in Nanjing, China, are selected as the research sample in this paper. The residents of the affordable housing and their commuting Spatio-temporal behavior characteristics are identified based on the LBS (location-based service) data. Based on the spatial mismatch theory, spatial mismatch indicators such as commuting distance and commuting time are established to measure the spatial mismatch degree of subsidized housing in different districts of Nanjing. Furthermore, the geographically weighted regression model is used to analyze the influencing factors of the spatial mismatch of affordable housing in terms of the provision of employment opportunities, traffic accessibility and supporting service facilities by using spatial, functional and other multi-source Spatio-temporal big data. The results show that the spatial mismatch of affordable housing in Nanjing generally presents a "concentric circle" pattern of decreasing from the central urban area to the periphery. The factors affecting the spatial mismatch of affordable housing in different spatial zones are different. The main reasons are the number of enterprises within 1 km of the affordable housing district and the shortest distance to the subway station. And the low spatial mismatch is due to the diversity of services and facilities. Based on this, a spatial optimization strategy for different levels of spatial mismatch in subsidized housing is proposed. And feasible suggestions for the later site selection of subsidized housing are also provided. It hopes to avoid or mitigate the impact of "spatial mismatch," promote the "spatial adaptation" of "jobs-housing," and truly improve the overall welfare level of affordable housing residents.

Keywords: affordable housing, spatial mismatch, commuting characteristics, spatial adaptation, welfare benefits

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Authors: Asma Rashid, Shazia Iram, Iftikhar Ahmad

Abstract:

Mango sudden death is an emerging problem in Pakistan. As its prevalence is observed in almost all mango growing areas and severity varied from 2-5% in Punjab and 5-10% in Sindh. Symptoms on affected trees include bark splitting, discoloration of the vascular tissue, wilting, gummosis and at the end rapid death. Total of n= 45 isolates were isolated from different mango growing areas of Punjab and Sindh. Pathogenicity of these fungal isolates was tested through artificial inoculation method on different hosts (potato tubers, detached mango leaves, detached mango twigs and mango plants) under controlled conditions and all were proved pathogenic with varying degree of aggressiveness in reference to control. The findings of the present study proved that out of these four methods, potato tubers inoculation method was the most ideal as this fix the inoculums on the target site. Increased fungal growth and spore numbers may be due to soft tissues of potato tubers from which Ceratocystis isolates can easily pass. Lesion area on potato tubers was in the range of 7.09-0.14 cm2 followed by detached mango twigs which were ranged from 0.48-0.09 cm2). All pathological results were proved highly significant at P<0.05 through ANOVA but isolate to isolate showed non-significant behaviour but they have the positive effect on lesion area. Re-isolation of respective fungi was achieved with 100 percent success which results in the verification of Koch’s postulates. DNA of fungal pathogens was successfully extracted through phenol chloroform method. Amplification was done through ITS, b-tubulin gene, and Transcription Elongation Factor (EF1-a) gene primers and the amplified amplicons were sequenced and compared from NCBI which showed 99-100 % similarity with Ceratocystis manginecans. Fungus Ceratocystis manginecans formed one of strongly supported sub-clades through phylogenetic tree. Results obtained through this work would be supportive in establishment of relation of isolates with their region and will give information about pathogenicity level of isolates that would be useful to develop the management policies to reduce the afflictions in orchards caused by mango sudden death.

Keywords: artificial inoculation, mango, Ceratocystis manginecans, phylogenetic, screening

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Authors: Shameel Pervez, Saad Aziz Durrani, Ibatsam Khokhar

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Pectinase is an enzyme that breaks down pectin, a compound responsible for structural integrity of the plant. Pectin is difficult to break down mechanically and the cost is very high, that is why many industries including food industries use pectinase enzyme produced by microbes for pectin breakdown. Apple (Malus domestica) is an important fruit in terms of market value. Every year, millions of apples are wasted due to post-harvest rot caused by fungi. Fungi are natural decomposers of our ecosystem and are infamous for post-harvest rot of apple fruit but at the same time they are prized for their high production of valuable extracellular enzymes such as pectinase. In this study, fungi belonging to different genus were isolated from rotten apples. Rotten samples of apple were picked from different markets of Lahore. After surface sterilization, the rotten parts were cut into small pieces and placed onto MEA media plates for three days. Afterwards, distinct colonies were picked and purified by sub-culturing. The isolates were identified to genus level through the study of basic colony morphology and microscopic features. The isolates were then subjected to screening for pectinase activity on MS media to compare pectinase production and were then subsequently tested for pathogenic activity through wound suspension method to evaluate the pathogenic activity of isolates in comparison with their pectinolytic activity. A total of twelve fungal strains were isolates from rotten apples. They were belonging to genus Penicillium, Alternaria, Paecilomyces and Rhizopus. Upon screening for pectinolytic activity, isolates Pen 1, Pen 4, and Rz showed high pectinolytic activity and were further subjected to DNA isolation and partial sequencing for species identification. The results of partial sequencing were combined with in-depth study of morphological features revealing Pen 1 as Penicillium janthinellum, Pen 4 as Penicillium griseofulvum, and Rz as Rhizopus microsporus. Pathogenic activity of all twelve isolates was evaluated. Penicillium spp. were highly pathogenic and destructive and same was the case with Paecilomyces sp. and Rhizopus sp. However, Alternaria spp. were found to be more consistent in their pathogenic activity, on all types of apples.

Keywords: apple, pectinase, fungal pathogens, penicillium, rhizopus

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Mengfei Peng, Serajus Salaheen, Debabrata Biswas

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Lactobacillus casei found in the human intestine and mouth is commonly applied for dairy production. Recently, it was found that some byproducts produced by Lactobacillus exhibited antimicrobial activities against multiple bacteria. Meanwhile, introduction of prebiotic-like foods (e.g. cocoa) or probiotics or both of them as food supplements in human diets as well as in farm animal feeds is believed to be an effective ways in control/reduce the colonization of foodborne bacterial pathogens infection in the gut environment. We hypothesized that cocoa may stimulate the production antimicrobial components of Lactobacillus casei and may potentially inhibit/reduce the colonization and infection of foodborne bacterial pathogens in the gut. Mixed culture of L. casei (LC) with enterohemorrhagic E. coli EDL933 (EHEC), Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 (ST), or Listeria monocytogenes LM2 (LM) showed that LC could competitively exclude (100%) them within 72 h. Further, investigation of cell-free culture supernatant (CFCS) revealed that the antimicrobial effects of LC came from CFCS. CFCS of LC eliminated (100%) EHEC, ST, and LM within 72 h, and 2 h CFCS treatment increased the hydrophobicity of EHEC (5.10 folds), ST (8.48 folds), and LM (2.03 folds). In addition, LC cells exhibited more inhibitive effects than CFCS on cell adhesive and invasive activities of EHEC (52.14% & 90.45%), ST (66.89% & 93.83%), and LM (61.10% & 83.40%). Two clusters of poly-peptides in CFCS were identified by SDS-PAGE, the molecular weights of which are ≈5 KD and 40-45 KD. LC CFCS with overnight growth in the presence of 3% strengthened all of the antimicrobial activities (growth inhibition, outer membrane disruption, and cell infective ability reduction). Liquid chromatography/Mass spectrometry analysis detected 5 unique components in class of flavonoids in LC CFCS with overnight 3% cocoa supplement. Furthermore, qPCR results showed that CFCSs up-regulated the expression level of genes responsible for flagellin synthesis and motility, but down-regulated genes for specific binding and invasion-associated proteins synthesis. The stimulatory effects of cocoa in producing bioactive components of probiotics may aid prevention of foodborne illness caused by major foodborne enteric bacterial pathogens.

Keywords: foodborne pathogens, probiotics, prebiotics, pathogen exclusion

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Authors: M. S. Abd El-Sadek, M. A. Omar, Gharib M. Taha

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In recent years, photocatalytic degradation of various kinds of organic and inorganic pollutants using semiconductor powders as photocatalysts has been extensively studied. Owing to its relatively high photocatalytic activity, biological and chemical stability, low cost, nonpoisonous and long stable life, Tin oxide materials have been widely used as catalysts in chemical reactions, including synthesis of vinyl ketone, oxidation of methanol and so on. Tin oxide (SnO₂), with a rutile-type crystalline structure, is an n-type wide band gap (3.6 eV) semiconductor that presents a proper combination of chemical, electronic and optical properties that make it advantageous in several applications. In the present work, SnO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized at room temperature by the sol-gel process and thermohydrolysis of SnCl₂ in isopropanol by controlling the crystallite size through calculations. The synthesized nanoparticles were identified by using XRD analysis, TEM, FT-IR, and Uv-Visible spectroscopic techniques. The crystalline structure and grain size of the synthesized samples were analyzed by X-Ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and the XRD patterns confirmed the presence of tetragonal phase SnO₂. In this study, Methylene blue degradation was tested by using SnO₂ nanoparticles (at different calculations temperatures) as a photocatalyst under sunlight as a source of irradiation. The results showed that the highest percentage of degradation of Methylene blue dye was obtained by using SnO₂ photocatalyst at calculations temperature 800 ᵒC. The operational parameters were investigated to be optimized to the best conditions which result in complete removal of organic pollutants from aqueous solution. It was found that the degradation of dyes depends on several parameters such as irradiation time, initial dye concentration, the dose of the catalyst and the presence of metals such as silver as a dopant and its concentration. Percent degradation was increased with irradiation time. The degradation efficiency decreased as the initial concentration of the dye increased. The degradation efficiency increased as the dose of the catalyst increased to a certain level and by further increasing the SnO₂ photocatalyst dose, the degradation efficiency is decreased. The best degradation efficiency on which obtained from pure SnO₂ compared with SnO₂ which doped by different percentage of Ag.

Keywords: SnO₂ nanoparticles, a sol-gel method, photocatalytic applications, methylene blue, degradation efficiency

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Authors: Geetha Jayapathy, Lakshmi Muthukrishnan, Manoj Kumar Reddy Pulim , Radhika Raman

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Introduction: Ketones are the end products of fatty acid metabolism and a source of energy for vital organs such as the brain, heart and skeletal muscles. Ketones are produced in excess when glucose is not available as a source of energy or it cannot be utilized as in diabetic ketoacidosis. Children admitted in the emergency department often have starvation ketosis which is not clinically manifested. Decision on admission of children to the emergency room with subtle signs can be difficult at times. Point of care blood ketone testing can be done at the bedside even in a primary level care setting to supplement and guide us in our management decisions. Hence this study was done to explore the utility of this simple bedside parameter as a supplement in assessing pediatric patients presenting to the emergency department. Objectives: To estimate blood ketones of children admitted in the emergency department. To analyze the significance of blood ketones in various disease conditions. Methods: Blood ketones using point of care testing instrument (ABOTTprecision Xceed Pro meters) was done in patients getting admitted in emergency room and in out-patients (through sample collection centre). Study population: Children aged 1 month to 18 years were included in the study. 250 cases (In-patients) and 250 controls (out-patients) were collected. Study design: Prospective observational study. Data on details of illness and physiological status were documented. Blood ketones were compared between the two groups and all in patients were categorized into various system groups and analysed. Results: Mean blood ketones were high in in-patients ranging from 0 to 7.2, with a mean of 1.28 compared to out-patients ranging from 0 to 1.9 with a mean of 0.35. This difference was statistically significant with a p value < 0.001. In-patients with shock (mean of 4.15) and diarrheal dehydration (mean of 1.85) had a significantly higher blood ketone values compared to patients with other system involvement. Conclusion: Blood ketones were significantly high (above the normal range) in pediatric patients who are sick requiring admission. Patients with various forms of shock had very high blood ketone values as found in diabetic ketoacidosis. Ketone values in diarrheal dehydration were moderately high correlating to the degree of dehydration.

Keywords: admission, blood ketones, paediatric emergencies, point of care testing

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Authors: T. Moody, E. Mitchell, T. Dang, A. Barry, T. Proshan, S. Andrisse, V. Odero-Marah

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Women’s prison and reentry programs are focused primarily on reducing recidivism but neglect how an individual’s intersecting identities influence their risk of violence and ways that histories of gender-based violence (GBV) must be addressed for these women to recover from traumas. Light To Life (LTL) and From Prison Cells to Ph.D. (P2P) Womxn’s Cohort program recognizes this need; providing national gender-responsive programming (GRP), and trauma-informed programming to justice-impacted survivors through digital resources, leadership opportunities, educational workshops, and healing justice approaches for positive health outcomes. Through the support of a community-university partnership (CUP), a comparative evaluation study is being conducted among intimate-partner violence (IPV) survivors with histories of incarceration who have or have not participated in the cohort. The objectives of the partnership are to provide mutually beneficial training and consultation for evaluating GRP through a rigorously tested research methodology. This collaborative applies a rigorous methodology of semi-structured interviews with an intervention and control group to evaluate the impact of LTL’s programming in the P2P Womxn’s Cohort. The CUP is essential to achieve the expected results of the project. It will measure primary outcomes, including participants' level of engagement and satisfaction with programming, reduction in attitudes that accept violence in relationships, and increase in interpersonal and intrapersonal skills that lead to healthy relationships. This community-based approach will provide opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The results addressed in the hypothesis will provide learning lessons to improve this program, to scale it up, and apply it to other similarly affected populations. The partnership experience and anticipated outcomes contribute to the knowledge in women’s health and criminal justice by fostering public awareness on the importance of developing new partnerships and fostering CUP to establish a framework to the leveraging of partnerships for social impact available to academic institutions.

Keywords: Community-university partnership, gender-responsive programming, incarceration, intimate-partner violence, POC, women

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Authors: Chuang-Hung Lin, Cheng-Yuan Hsu, Jia-Yan Lin

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It is an indispensible strategy to adopt greenery approach on architectural bases so as to improve ecological habitats, decrease heat-island effect, purify air quality, and relieve surface runoff as well as noise pollution, all of which are done in an attempt to achieve sustainable environment. How we can do with plant design to attain the best visual quality and ideal carbon dioxide fixation depends on whether or not we can appropriately make use of greenery according to the nature of architectural bases. To achieve the goal, it is a need that architects and landscape architects should be provided with sufficient local references. Current greenery studies focus mainly on the heat-island effect of urban with large scale. Most of the architects still rely on people with years of expertise regarding the adoption and disposition of plantation in connection with microclimate scale. Therefore, environmental design, which integrates science and aesthetics, requires fundamental research on landscape environment technology divided from building environment technology. By doing so, we can create mutual benefits between green building and the environment. This issue is extremely important for the greening design of the bases of green buildings in cities and various open spaces. The purpose of this study is to establish plant selection and allocation strategies under different building sunshade levels. Initially, with the shading of sunshine on the greening bases as the starting point, the effects of the shades produced by different building types on the greening strategies were analyzed. Then, by measuring the PAR( photosynthetic active radiation), the relative DLI( daily light integral) was calculated, while the DLI Map was established in order to evaluate the effects of the building shading on the established environmental greening, thereby serving as a reference for plant selection and allocation. The discussion results were to be applied in the evaluation of environment greening of greening buildings and establish the “right plant, right place” design strategy of multi-level ecological greening for application in urban design and landscape design development, as well as the greening criteria to feedback to the eco-city greening buildings.

Keywords: daily light integral, plant design, urban open space

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Authors: Diriba Gemechu, Lamessa Abebe

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The aim of this study was to examine the effect of cooperative learning method on student’s academic achievement and on the achievement level over a usual method in teaching different topics of mathematics. The study also examines the perceptions of students towards cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is the instructional strategy in which pairs or small groups of students with different levels of ability work together to accomplish a shared goal. The aim of this cooperation is for students to maximize their own and each other learning, with members striving for joint benefit. The teacher’s role changes from wise on the wise to guide on the side. Cooperative learning due to its influential aspects is the most prevalent teaching-learning technique in the modern world. Therefore the study was conducted in order to examine the effect of cooperative learning on the academic achievement of grade 9 students in Mathematics in case of Mettu secondary school. Two sample sections are randomly selected by which one section served randomly as an experimental and the other as a comparison group. Data gathering instruments are achievement tests and questionnaires. A treatment of STAD method of cooperative learning was provided to the experimental group while the usual method is used in the comparison group. The experiment lasted for one semester. To determine the effect of cooperative learning on the student’s academic achievement, the significance of difference between the scores of groups at 0.05 levels was tested by applying t test. The effect size was calculated to see the strength of the treatment. The student’s perceptions about the method were tested by percentiles of the questionnaires. During data analysis, each group was divided into high and low achievers on basis of their previous Mathematics result. Data analysis revealed that both the experimental and comparison groups were almost equal in Mathematics at the beginning of the experiment. The experimental group out scored significantly than comparison group on posttest. Additionally, the comparison of mean posttest scores of high achievers indicates significant difference between the two groups. The same is true for low achiever students of both groups on posttest. Hence, the result of the study indicates the effectiveness of the method for Mathematics topics as compared to usual method of teaching.

Keywords: academic achievement, comparison group, cooperative learning, experimental group

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Authors: Krystof Kryniski, Asa Kassman Rudolphi, Su Zhao, Per Lindholm

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ABB offers range of turbochargers from 500 kW to 80+ MW diesel and gas engines. Those operate on ships, power stations, generator-sets, diesel locomotives and large, off-highway vehicles. The units need to sustain harsh operating conditions, exposure to high speeds, temperatures and varying loads. They are expected to work at over-critical speeds damping effectively any transients and encountered resonances. Components are often connected via friction joints. Designs of those interfaces need to account for surface roughness, texture, pre-stress, etc. to sustain against fretting fatigue. The experience from field contributed with valuable input on components performance in hash sea environment and their exposure to high temperature, speed and load conditions. Study of tribological interactions of oxide formations provided an insight into dynamic activities occurring between the surfaces. Oxidation was recognized as the dominant factor of a wear. Microscopic inspections of fatigue cracks on turbine indicated insufficient damping and unrestrained structural stress leading to catastrophic failure, if not prevented in time. The contact interface exhibits strongly non-linear mechanism and to describe it the piecewise approach was used. Set of samples representing the combinations of materials, texture, surface and heat treatment were tested on a friction rig under range of loads, frequencies and excitation amplitudes. Developed numerical technique extracted the friction coefficient, tangential contact stiffness and damping. Vast amount of experimental data was processed with the multi-harmonics balance (MHB) method to categorize the components subjected to the periodic excitations. At the pre-defined excitation level both force and displacement formed semi-elliptical hysteresis curves having the same area and secant as the actual ones. By cross-correlating the terms remaining in the phase and out of the phase, respectively it was possible to separate an elastic energy from dissipation and derive the stiffness and damping characteristics.

Keywords: contact interface, fatigue, rotor-dynamics, torsional resonances

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: Piyawan Srisuruk, Janya Boonmeeprasert, Romwarin Gamlunglert, Benjamaporn Choikhruea, Ornjira Jaraepram, Jarin Boonsuchat, Sakdadech Singkibud, Kusalaporn Chaiudomsom, Chanatiporn Chonprai, Pornchanaka Tana, Suchat Paholpak

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Objective: To develop an Intensive and comprehensive program (ICP) for the Inclusive Class Teacher (ICPICT) to teach elementary students (ES) with ASD in order to enhance the students’ academic and social skills (ASS) and to study the effect of the teaching program. Methods: The purposive sample included 15 Khon Kaen inclusive class teachers and their 15 elementary students. All the students were diagnosed by a child and adolescent psychiatrist to have DSM-5 level 1 ASD. The study tools included 1) an ICP to teach teachers about ASD, a teaching method to enhance academic and social skills for ES with ASD, and an assessment tool to assess the teacher’s knowledge before and after the ICP. 2) an ICPICT to teach ES with ASD to enhance their ASS. The project taught 10 sessions, 3 hours each. The ICPICT had its teaching structure. Teaching media included: pictures, storytelling, songs, and plays. The authors taught and demonstrated to the participant teachers how to teach with the ICPICT until the participants could display the correct teaching method. Then the teachers taught ICPICT at school by themselves 3) an assessment tool to assess the students’ ASS before and after the completion of the study. The ICP to teach the teachers, the ICPICT, and the relevant assessment tools were developed by the authors and were adjusted until consensus agreed as appropriate for researching by 3 curriculum of teaching children with ASD experts. The data were analyzed by descriptive and analytic statistics via SPSS version 26. Results: After the briefing, the teachers increased the mean score, though not with statistical significance, of knowledge of ASD and how to teach ES with ASD on ASS (p = 0.13). Teaching ES with ASD with the ICPICT could increase the mean scores of the students’ skills in learning and expressing social emotions, relationships with a friend, transitioning, and skills in academic function 3.33, 2.27, 2.94, and 3.00 scores (full scores were 18, 12, 15 and 12, Paired T-Test p = 0.007, 0.013, 0.028 and 0.003 respectively). Conclusion: The program to teach academic and social skills simultaneously in an intensive and comprehensive structure could enhance both the academic and social skills of elementary students with ASD. Keywords: Elementary students, autism spectrum, academic skill, social skills, intensive program, comprehensive program, integration.

Keywords: academica and social skills, students with autism, intensive and comprehensive, teaching program

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Authors: Atitallah Sofien, Bouyahia Olfa, Attar Souleima, Missaoui Nada, Ben Rabeh Rania, Yahyaoui Salem, Mazigh Sonia, Boukthir Samir

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Introduction: Ciliopathies are a spectrum of diseases that have in common a defect in the synthesis of ciliary proteins. It is a rare cause of neonatal cholestasis. Clinical presentation varies extremely, and the main affected organs are the kidneys, liver, and pancreas. Methodology: This is a descriptive case report of a newborn who was admitted for exploration of neonatal cholestasis in the Paediatric Department C at the Children’s Hospital of Tunis, where the investigations concluded with a rare genetic mutation. Results: This is the case of a newborn male with no family history of hepatic and renal diseases, born to consanguineous parents, and from a well-monitored uneventful pregnancy. He developed jaundice on the second day of life, for which he received conventional phototherapy in the neonatal intensive care unit. He was admitted at 15 days for mild bronchiolitis. On clinical examination, intense jaundice was noted with normal stool and urine colour. Initial blood work showed an elevation in conjugated bilirubin and a high gamma-glutamyl transferase level. Transaminases and prothrombin time were normal. Abdominal sonography revealed hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and undifferentiated renal cortex with bilateral medullar micro-cysts. Kidney function tests were normal. The infant received ursodeoxycholic acid and vitamin therapy. Genetic testing showed a homozygous mutation in the DCDC2 gene that hadn’t been documented before confirming the diagnosis of renal-hepatic ciliopathy. The patient has regular follow-ups, and his conjugated bilirubin and gamma-glutamyl transferase levels have been decreasing. Conclusion: Genetic testing has revolutionized the approach to etiological diagnosis in pediatric cholestasis. It enables personalised treatment strategies to better enhance the quality of life of patients and prevent potential complications following adequate long-term monitoring.

Keywords: cholestasis, newborn, ciliopathy, DCDC2, genetic

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Authors: S. Fröhlich, M. Herold, M. Allmer

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Early stage quantitative analysis of host cell protein (HCP) variations is challenging yet necessary for comprehensive bioprocess development. High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) provides a high-end technology for accurate identification alongside with quantitative information. Hereby we describe a flexible HRMS assay platform to quantify HCPs relevant in microbial expression systems such as E. Coli in both up and downstream development by means of MVDA tools. Cell pellets were lysed and proteins extracted, purified samples not further treated before applying the SMART tryptic digest kit. Peptides separation was optimized using an RP-UHPLC separation platform. HRMS-MSMS analysis was conducted on an Orbitrap Velos Elite applying CID. Quantification was performed label-free taking into account ionization properties and physicochemical peptide similarities. Results were analyzed using SIEVE 2.0 (Thermo Fisher Scientific) and SIMCA (Umetrics AG). The developed HRMS platform was applied to an E. Coli expression set with varying productivity and the corresponding downstream process. Selected HCPs were successfully quantified within the fmol range. Analysing HCP networks based on pattern analysis facilitated low level quantification and enhanced validity. This approach is of high relevance for high-throughput screening experiments during upstream development, e.g. for titer determination, dynamic HCP network analysis or product characterization. Considering the downstream purification process, physicochemical clustering of identified HCPs is of relevance to adjust buffer conditions accordingly. However, the technology provides an innovative approach for label-free MS based quantification relying on statistical pattern analysis and comparison. Absolute quantification based on physicochemical properties and peptide similarity score provides a technological approach without the need of sophisticated sample preparation strategies and is therefore proven to be straightforward, sensitive and highly reproducible in terms of product characterization.

Keywords: process analytical technology, mass spectrometry, process characterization, MVDA, pattern recognition

Procedia PDF Downloads 250

Authors: Vinay Singh, Chandra Deo, Asit Chakrabarti, Lopamudra Sahoo, Mahak Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, H. Bharati, Biswajit Das, V. K. Mishra

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The most widely used feed resources in poultry feed, like maize and soybean, are expensive as well as in short supply. Hence, there is a need to utilize non-conventional feed ingredients to cut down feed costs. As an alternative, brewery by-products like brewers’ dried grains are potential non-conventional feed resources. North-East India is inhabited by many tribes, and most of these tribes prepare their indigenous local brew, mostly using rice grains as the primary substrate. Choak, a homemade rice beer waste, is an excellent and cheap source of protein and other nutrients. Fresh homemade rice beer waste (rice brewer’s grain) was collected locally. The proximate analysis indicated 28.53% crude protein, 92.76% dry matter, 5.02% ether extract, 7.83% crude fibre, 2.85% total ash, 0.67% acid insoluble ash, 0.91% calcium, and 0.55% total phosphorus. A feeding trial with 5 treatments (incorporating rice beer waste at the inclusion levels of 0,10,20,30 & 40% by replacing maize and soybean from basal diet) was conducted with 25 laying hens per treatment for 16 weeks under completely randomized design in order to study the production performance, blood-biochemical parameters, immunity, egg quality and cost economics of laying hens. The results showed substantial variations (P<0.01) in egg production, egg mass, FCR per dozen eggs, FCR per kg egg mass, and net FCR. However, there was not a substantial difference in either body weight or feed intake or in egg weight. Total serum cholesterol reduced significantly (P<0.01) at 40% inclusion of rice beer waste. Additionally, the egg haugh unit grew considerably (P<0.01) when the graded levels of rice beer waste increased. The inclusion of 20% rice brewers dried grain reduced feed cost per kg egg mass and per dozen egg production by Rs. 15.97 and 9.99, respectively. Choak (homemade rice beer waste) can thus be safely incorporated into the diet of laying hens at a 20% inclusion level for better production performance and cost-effectiveness.

Keywords: choak, rice beer waste, laying hen, production performance, cost economics

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Authors: Yan Yan, Erhong Sun, Lin Peng, Xuchun Ye

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Aims: The present study aimed to explore Intensive Care Unit(ICU) nurses’ mental workload (MWL) and associated factors with it in performing human-machine tasks. Background: A wide range of emerging technologies have penetrated widely in the field of health care, and ICU nurses are facing a dramatic increase in nursing human-machine tasks. However, there is still a paucity of literature reporting on the general MWL of ICU nurses performing human-machine tasks and the associated influencing factors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was employed. The data was collected from January to February 2021 from 9 tertiary hospitals in 6 provinces (Shanghai, Gansu, Guangdong, Liaoning, Shandong, and Hubei). Two-stage sampling was used to recruit eligible ICU nurses (n=427). The data were collected with an electronic questionnaire comprising sociodemographic characteristics and the measures of MWL, self-efficacy, system usability, and task difficulty. The univariate analysis, two-way analysis of variance(ANOVA), and a linear mixed model were used for data analysis. Results: Overall, the mental workload of ICU nurses in performing human-machine tasks was medium (score 52.04 on a 0-100 scale). Among the typical nursing human-machine tasks selected, the MWL of ICU nurses in completing first aid and life support tasks (‘Using a defibrillator to defibrillate’ and ‘Use of ventilator’) was significantly higher than others (p < .001). And ICU nurses’ MWL in performing human-machine tasks was also associated with age (p = .001), professional title (p = .002), years of working in ICU (p < .001), willingness to study emerging technology actively (p = .006), task difficulty (p < .001), and system usability (p < .001). Conclusion: The MWL of ICU nurses is at a moderate level in the context of a rapid increase in nursing human-machine tasks. However, there are significant differences in MWL when performing different types of human-machine tasks, and MWL can be influenced by a combination of factors. Nursing managers need to develop intervention strategies in multiple ways. Implications for practice: Multidimensional approaches are required to perform human-machine tasks better, including enhancing nurses' willingness to learn emerging technologies actively, developing training strategies that vary with tasks, and identifying obstacles in the process of human-machine system interaction.

Keywords: mental workload(MWL), nurse, ICU, human-machine, tasks, cross-sectional study, linear mixed model, China

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Authors: Joanna Estkowska

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The Sensory Integration Method is aimed primarily at children with learning disabilities. It can also be used as a complementary method in treatment of children with cerebral palsy, autistic, mentally handicapped, blind and deaf. Autism is holistic development disorder that manifests itself in the specific functioning of a child. The most characteristic are: disorders in communication, difficulties in social relations, rigid patterns of behavior and impairment in sensory processing. In addition to these disorders may occur abnormal intellectual development, attention deficit disorders, perceptual disorders and others. This study was focused on the application sensory integration techniques in science education of autistic students. The lack of proper sensory integration causes problems with complicated processes such as motor coordination, movement planning, visual or auditory perception, speech, writing, reading or counting. Good functioning and cooperation of proprioceptive, tactile and vestibular sense affect the child’s mastery of skills that require coordination of both sides of the body and synchronization of the cerebral hemispheres. These include, for example, all sports activities, precise manual skills such writing, as well as, reading and counting skills. All this takes place in stages. Achieving skills from the first stage determines the development of fitness from the next level. Any deficit in the scope of the first three stages can affect the development of new skills. This ultimately reflects on the achievements at school and in further professional and personal life. After careful analysis symptoms from the emotional and social spheres appear to be secondary to deficits of sensory integration. During our research, the students gained knowledge and skills in the classroom of experience by learning biology, chemistry and physics with application sensory integration techniques. Sensory integration therapy aims to teach the child an adequate response to stimuli coming to him from both the outside world and the body. Thanks to properly selected exercises, a child can improve perception and interpretation skills, motor skills, coordination of movements, attention and concentration or self-awareness, as well as social and emotional functioning.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, science education, sensory integration, special educational needs

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Authors: Gökçen A. Çiftçioğlu, M. A. Neşet Kadırgan, Figen Kadırgan

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Solar energy, since it is available every day, is seen as one of the most valuable renewable energy resources. Thus, the energy of sun should be efficiently used in various applications. The most known applications that use solar energy are heating water and spaces. High efficiency solar collectors need appropriate selective surfaces to absorb the heat. Selective surfaces (Selektif-Sera) used in this study are applied to flat collectors, which are produced by a roll to roll cost effective coating of nano nickel layers, developed in Selektif Teknoloji Co. Inc. Efficiency of flat collectors using Selektif-Sera absorbers are calculated in collaboration with Institute for Solar Technik Rapperswil, Switzerland. The main cause of high energy consumption in industry is mostly caused from low temperature level processes. There is considerable effort in research to minimize the energy use by renewable energy sources such as solar energy. A feasibility study will be presented to obtain the potential of solar thermal energy utilization in the textile industry using these solar collectors. For the feasibility calculations presented in this study, textile dyeing and finishing factory located at Kahramanmaras is selected since the geographic location was an important factor. Kahramanmaras is located in the south east part of Turkey thus has a great potential to have solar illumination much longer. It was observed that, the collector area is limited by the available area in the factory, thus a hybrid heating generating system (lignite/solar thermal) was preferred in the calculations of this study to be more realistic. During the feasibility work, the calculations took into account the preheating process, where well waters heated from 15 °C to 30-40 °C by using the hot waters in heat exchangers. Then the preheated water was heated again by high efficiency solar collectors. Economic comparison between the lignite use and solar thermal collector use was provided to determine the optimal system that can be used efficiently. The optimum design of solar thermal systems was studied depending on the optimum collector area. It was found that the solar thermal system is more economic and efficient than the merely lignite use. Return on investment time is calculated as 5.15 years.

Keywords: energy, renewable energy, selective surface, solar collector

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Authors: Chiu-Neng Su, Santhanamoorthi Nachimuthu, Jyh-Chiang Jiang

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In lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) the solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer, which forms on the anode surface, plays a crucial role in stabilizing battery performance. Over the past two decades, efforts to enhance LIB electrolytes have primarily focused on refining the quality of SEI components. Despite these endeavors, several observed phenomena remain inadequately improved the SEI layer. Consequently, there has been a significant surge in research interest regarding the behavior of electrolyte solvation structures to elucidate improvements in battery performance. Thus, in this study, we aimed to explore the solvation structures of LiPF₆ in a mixture of organic solvents, tetrahydrofuran (THF) and 2-methyl-tetrahydrofuran (MTHF) using ab-initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. Our work investigated the solvation structure of electrolytes with different salt concentrations: low-concentration electrolyte (1.0M LiPF6 in 1:1v/v mixture of THF and MTHF), and high-concentration electrolyte (2.0M LiPF₆ in 1:1v/v mixture of THF and MTHF) and compared them with that of conventional electrolyte (1.0M LiPF₆ in 1:1v/v mixture of ethylene carbonate (EC) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC)). Furthermore, the reduction stability of Li+ solvation structures in these electrolyte systems are investigated. It is found that the first solvation shell of Li+ primary consists of THF. We also analyzed the molecular orbital energy levels to understand the reducing stability of these solvents. Compared with the solvation sheath of commercial electrolyte, the THF/MTHF-containing electrolytes have a higher lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level, resulting in improved reduction and interface stability. It has been shown that Li-Al alloy can significantly improve cycle life and promote the formation of a dense SEI layer. Therefore, this study aims to construct the solvation structures obtained from calculations of the pure electrolyte system on the surface of Al-Li alloy. Additionally, AIMD simulations will be conducted to investigate chemical reactions at the interface. This investigation aims to elucidate the composition of the SEI layer formed. Furthermore, Bader charges are used to determine the origin and flow of electrons, thereby revealing the sequence of reduction reactions for generating SEI layers.

Keywords: lithium, aluminum, alloy, battery, solvation structure

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Authors: Gyoomi Kim, Jiyoung Bae

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The purpose of this study was to propose a framework that verifies the structural relationships among students’ use of digital English learning strategy (DELS), affective domains, and their individual variables. The study developed a hypothetical model based on previous studies on language learning strategy use as well as digital language learning. The participants were 720 Korean high school students and 430 university students. The instrument was a self-response questionnaire that contained 70 question items based on Oxford’s SILL (Strategy Inventory for Language Learning) as well as the previous studies on language learning strategies in digital learning environment in order to measure DELS and affective domains. The collected data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM). This study used quantitative data analysis procedures: Explanatory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Firstly, the EFA was conducted in order to verify the hypothetical model; the factor analysis was conducted preferentially to identify the underlying relationships between measured variables of DELS and the affective domain in the EFA process. The hypothetical model was established with six indicators of learning strategies (memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social strategies) under the latent variable of the use of DELS. In addition, the model included four indicators (self-confidence, interests, self-regulation, and attitude toward digital learning) under the latent variable of learners’ affective domain. Secondly, the CFA was used to determine the suitability of data and research models, so all data from the present study was used to assess model fits. Lastly, the model also included individual learner factors as covariates and five constructs selected were learners’ gender, the level of English proficiency, the duration of English learning, the period of using digital devices, and previous experience of digital English learning. The results verified from SEM analysis proposed a theoretical model that showed the structural relationships between Korean students’ use of DELS and their affective domains. Therefore, the results of this study help ESL/EFL teachers understand how learners use and develop appropriate learning strategies in digital learning contexts. The pedagogical implication and suggestions for the further study will be also presented.

Keywords: Digital English Learning Strategy, DELS, individual variables, learners' affective domains, Structural Equation Modeling, SEM

Procedia PDF Downloads 125