Search results for: level(s) methodology

Authors: Sopio Totibadze

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Although the legal framework of Georgia reflects the main principles of gender equality and is in line with the international situation (UNDP, 2018), Georgia remains a male-dominated society. This means that men prevail in many areas of social, economic, and political life, which frequently gives women a subordinate status in society and the family (UN women). According to the latest study, “violence against women and girls in Georgia is also recognized as a public problem, and it is necessary to focus on it” (UN women). Moreover, the Public Defender's report on the protection of human rights in Georgia (2019) reveals that “in the last five years, 151 women were killed in Georgia due to gender and family violence”. Sadly, these statistics have increased significantly since that time. The issue was acutely reflected in the document published by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, “Gender Hate Crime” (March 10, 2021). “Unfortunately, the rates of femicide ..... are still high in the country, and distrust of law enforcement agencies often makes such cases invisible, which requires special attention from the state.” More precisely, the cited document considers that there are frequent cases of crimes based on gender-based oppression in Georgia, which pose a threat not only to women but also to people of any gender whose desires and aspirations do not correspond to the gender norms and roles prevailing in society. According to the study, this type of crime has a “significant and lasting impact on the victim(s) and also undermines the safety and cohesion of society and gender equality”. It is well-known that language is often used as a tool for gender oppression (Rusieshvili-Cartledge and Dolidze, 2021; Totibadze, 2021). Therefore, feminist and gender studies in linguistics ultimately serve to represent the problem, reflect on it, and propose ways to solve it. Together with technical advancement in communication, a new form of discrimination has arisen- hate language against women in electronic media discourse. Due to the nature of social media and the internet, messages containing hate language can spread in seconds and reach millions of people. However, only a few know about the detrimental effects they may have on the addressee and society. This paper aims to analyse the hateful comments directed at women on various media platforms to determine (1) the linguistic strategies used while attacking women and (2) the reasons why women may fall victim to this type of hate language. The data have been collected over six months, and overall, 500 comments will be examined for the paper. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was chosen for the methodology of the study. The comments posted on various media platforms, including social media posts, articles, or pictures, have been selected manually due to several reasons, the most important being the problem of identifying hate speech as it can disguise itself in different ways- humour, memes, etc. The comments on the articles, posts, pictures, and videos selected for sociolinguistic analysis depict a woman, a taboo topic, or a scandalous event centred on a woman that triggered a lot of hatred and hate language towards the person to whom the post/article was dedicated. The study has revealed that a woman can become a victim of hatred directed at them if they do something considered to be a deviation from a societal norm, namely, get a divorce, be sexually active, be vocal about feministic values, and talk about taboos. Interestingly, people who utilize hate language are not only men trying to “normalize” the prejudiced patriarchal values but also women who are equally active in bringing down a "strong" woman. The paper also aims to raise awareness about the hate language directed at women, as being knowledgeable about the issue at hand is the first step to tackling it.

Keywords: femicide, hate language, media discourse, sociolinguistics

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Authors: Trenten Theis, Trevor Daubert, Kennedy Kluthe, Austin Nuxoll

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Staphylococcus aureus is a gram-positive bacterium responsible for an estimated 23,000 deaths in the United States and 25,000 deaths in the European Union annually. Recurring S. aureus bacteremia is associated with biofilm-mediated infections and can occur in 5 - 20% of cases, even with the use of antibiotics. Despite these infections being caused by drug-susceptible pathogens, they are surprisingly difficult to eradicate. One potential explanation for this is the presence of persister cells—a dormant type of cell that shows a high tolerance to antibiotic treatment. Recent studies have shown a connection between low intracellular ATP and persister cell formation. Specifically, this decrease in ATP, and therefore increase in persister cell formation, is due to an interrupted tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. However, S. aureus persister cells’ role in pathogenesis remains unclear. Initial studies have shown that a fumC (TCA cycle gene) knockout survives challenge from aspects of the innate immune system better than wild-type S. aureus. Specifically, challenges from two antimicrobial peptides--LL-37 and hBD-3—show a log increase in survival of the fumC::N∑ strain compared to wild type S. aureus after 18 hours. Furthermore, preliminary studies show that the fumC knockout has a log more survival within a macrophage. These data lead us to hypothesize that the fumC knockout is better suited to other aspects of the innate immune system compared to wild-type S. aureus. To further investigate the mechanism for increased survival of fumC::N∑ within a macrophage, we tested bacterial growth in the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), and a low pH. Preliminary results suggest that the fumC knockout has increased growth compared to wild-type S. aureus in the presence of all three antimicrobial factors; however, no difference was observed in any single factor alone. To investigate survival within a host, a nine-day biofilm-associated catheter infection was performed on 6–8-week-old male and female C57Bl/6 mice. Although both sexes struggled to clear the infection, female mice were trending toward more frequently clearing the HG003 wild-type infection compared to the fumC::N∑ infection. One possible reason for the inability to reduce the bacterial burden is that biofilms are largely composed of persister cells. To test this hypothesis further, flow cytometry in conjunction with a persister cell marker was used to measure persister cells within a biofilm. Cap5A (a known persister cell marker) expression was found to be increased in a maturing biofilm, with the lowest levels of expression seen in immature biofilms and the highest expression exhibited by the 48-hour biofilm. Additionally, bacterial cells in a biofilm state closely resemble persister cells and exhibit reduced membrane potential compared to cells in planktonic culture, further suggesting biofilms are largely made up of persister cells. These data may provide an explanation as to why infections caused by antibiotic-susceptible strains remain difficult to treat.

Keywords: antibiotic tolerance, Staphylococcus aureus, host-pathogen interactions, microbial pathogenesis

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Authors: Julien G. Chenet, Mario A. Hernandez, U. Leonardo Rodriguez

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The tropical areas are places where there is scarcity of access to potable water and where renewable energies need further development. They also display high undernourishment levels, even though they are one of the resources-richest areas in the world. In these areas, it is common to count on great extension of soils, high solar radiation and raw water from rain, groundwater, surface water or even saltwater. Even though resources are available, access to them is limited, and the low-density habitat makes central solutions expensive and investments not worthy. In response to this lack of investment, rural inhabitants use fossil fuels and timber as an energy source and import agrochemical for soils fertilization, which increase GHG emissions. The OASIS project brings an answer to this situation. It supplies renewable energy, potable water and organic food. The first step is the determination of the needs of the communities in terms of energy, water quantity and quality, food requirements and soil characteristics. Second step is the determination of the available resources, such as solar energy, raw water and organic residues on site. The pilot OASIS project is located in the Vichada department, Colombia, and ensures the sustainable use of natural resources to meet the community needs. The department has roughly 70% of indigenous people. They live in a very scattered landscape, with no access to clean water and energy. They use polluted surface water for direct consumption and diesel for energy purposes. OASIS pilot will ensure basic needs for a 400-students education center. In this case, OASIS will provide 20 kW of solar energy potential and 40 liters per student per day. Water will be treated form groundwater, with two qualities. A conventional one with chlorine, and as the indigenous people are not used to chlorine for direct consumption, second train is with reverse osmosis to bring conservable safe water without taste. OASIS offers a solution to supply basic needs, shifting from fossil fuels, timber, to a no-GHG-emission solution. This solution is part of the mitigation strategy against Climate Change for the communities in low-density areas of the tropics. OASIS is a learning center to teach how to convert natural resources into utilizable ones. It is also a meeting point for the community with high pedagogic impact that promotes the efficient and sustainable use of resources. OASIS system is adaptable to any tropical area and competes technically and economically with any conventional solution, that needs transport of energy, treated water and food. It is a fully automatic, replicable and sustainable solution to sort out the issue of access to basic needs in rural areas. OASIS is also a solution to undernourishment, ensuring a responsible use of resources, to prevent long-term pollution of soils and groundwater. It promotes the closure of the nutrient cycle, and the optimal use of the land whilst ensuring food security in depressed low-density regions of the tropics. OASIS is under optimization to Vichada conditions, and will be available to any other tropical area in the following months.

Keywords: climate change adaptation and mitigation, rural development, sustainable access to clean and renewable resources, social inclusion

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Authors: T. C. C. Soo, S. Bhassu

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Unlike the common presence of both innate and adaptive immunity in vertebrates, crustaceans, in particular, shrimps, have been discovered to possess only innate immunity. This further emphasizes the importance of innate immunity within shrimps in pathogenic resistance. Under the study of pathogenic immune challenge, different shrimp species actually exhibit varying degrees of immune resistance towards the same pathogen. Furthermore, even within the same shrimp species, different batches of challenged shrimps can have different strengths of immune defence. Several important pathways are activated within shrimps during pathogenic infection. One of them is JAK-STAT pathway that is activated during bacterial, viral and fungal infections by which STAT(Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription) gene is the core element of the pathway. Based on theory of Central Dogma, the genomic information is transmitted in the order of DNA, RNA and protein. This study is focused in uncovering the important evolutionary patterns present within the DNA (non-coding region) and RNA (coding region). The three shrimp species involved are Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei which all possess commercial significance. The shrimp species were challenged with a famous penaeid shrimp virus called white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) which can cause serious lethality. Tissue samples were collected during time intervals of 0h, 3h, 6h, 12h, 24h, 36h and 48h. The DNA and RNA samples were then extracted using conventional kits from the hepatopancreas tissue samples. PCR technique together with designed STAT gene conserved primers were utilized for identification of the STAT coding sequences using RNA-converted cDNA samples and subsequent characterization using various bioinformatics approaches including Ramachandran plot, ProtParam and SWISS-MODEL. The varying levels of immune STAT gene activation for the three shrimp species during WSSV infection were confirmed using qRT-PCR technique. For one sample, three biological replicates with three technical replicates each were used for qRT-PCR. On the other hand, DNA samples were important for uncovering the structural variations within the genomic region of STAT gene which would greatly assist in understanding the STAT protein functional variations. The partially-overlapping primers technique was used for the genomic region sequencing. The evolutionary inferences and event predictions were then conducted through the Bayesian Inference method using all the acquired coding and non-coding sequences. This was supplemented by the construction of conventional phylogenetic trees using Maximum likelihood method. The results showed that adaptive evolution caused STAT gene sequence mutations between different shrimp species which led to evolutionary divergence event. Subsequently, the divergent sites were correlated to the differing expressions of STAT gene. Ultimately, this study assists in knowing the shrimp species innate immune variability and selection of disease resistant shrimps for breeding purpose. The deeper understanding of STAT gene evolution from the perspective of both purifying and adaptive approaches not only can provide better immunological insight among shrimp species, but also can be used as a good reference for immunological studies in humans or other model organisms.

Keywords: gene evolution, JAK-STAT pathway, immunology, STAT gene

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Authors: Inês Amorim Leitão, Loes van Shaick, António Dinis Ferreira, Violette Geissen

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Plastic pollution is a growing concern worldwide: plastics are commercialized in large quantities and it takes a long time for them to degrade. When in the environment, plastic is fragmented into microplastics (<5mm), which have been found in all environmental compartments at different locations. Microplastics contribute to the environmental pollution in water, air and soil and are linked to human health problems. The progressive increase of population living in cities led to the aggravation of the pollution problem worldwide, especially in urban environments. Urban areas represent a strong source of pollution, through the roads, industrial production, wastewater, landfills, etc. It is expected that pollutants such as microplastics are transported diffusely from the sources through different pathways such as wind and rain. Therefore, it is very complex to quantify, control and treat these pollutants, designated current problematic issues by the European Commission. Green areas are pointed out by experts as natural filters for contaminants in cities, through their capacity of retention by vegetation. These spaces have thus the capacity to control the load of pollutants transported. This study investigates the spatial distribution of microplastics in urban soils of different land uses, their transport through atmospheric deposition, wind erosion, runoff and streams, as well as their deposition in vegetation like grass and tree leaves in urban environment. Coimbra, a medium large city located in the central Portugal, is the case-study. All the soil, sediments, water and vegetation samples were collected in Coimbra and were later analyzed in the Wageningen University & Research laboratory. Microplastics were extracted through the density separation using Sodium Phosphate as solution (~1.4 g cm−3) and filtration methods, visualized under a stereo microscope and identified using the u-FTIR method. Microplastic particles were found in all the different samples. In terms of soils, higher concentrations of microplastics were found in green parks, followed by landfills and industrial places, and the lowest concentrations in forests and pasture land-uses. Atmospheric deposition and streams after rainfall events seems to represent the strongest pathways of microplastics. Tree leaves can retain microplastics on their surfaces. Small leaves such as needle leaves seem to present higher amounts of microplastics per leaf area than bigger leaves. Rainfall episodes seem to reduce the concentration of microplastics on leaves surface, which suggests the wash of microplastics down to lower levels of the tree or to the soil. When in soil, different types of microplastics could be transported to the atmosphere through wind erosion. Grass seems to present high concentrations of microplastics, and the enlargement of the grass cover leads to a reduction of the amount of microplastics in soil, but also of the microplastics moved from the ground to the atmosphere by wind erosion. This study proof that vegetation can help to control the transport and dispersion of microplastics. In order to control the entry and the concentration of microplastics in the environment, especially in cities, it is essential to defining and evaluating nature-based land-use scenarios, considering the role of green urban areas in filtering small particles.

Keywords: microplastics, cities, sources, pathways, vegetation

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Authors: Partha Saha, Uttam Kumar Banerjee

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Maternal and Child Healthcare (MCH) has always been regarded as one of the important issues globally. Reduction of maternal and child mortality rates and increase of healthcare service coverage were declared as one of the targets in Millennium Development Goals till 2015 and thereafter as an important component of the Sustainable Development Goals. Over the last decade, worldwide MCH indicators have improved but could not match the expected levels. Progress of both maternal and child mortality rates have been monitored by several researchers. Each of the studies has stated that only less than 26% of low-income and middle income countries (LMICs) were on track to achieve targets as prescribed by MDG4. Average worldwide annual rate of reduction of under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality rate were 2.2% and 1.9% as on 2011 respectively whereas rates should be minimum 4.4% and 5.5% annually to achieve targets. In spite of having proven healthcare interventions for both mothers and children, those could not be scaled up to the required volume due to fragmented health systems, especially in the developing and under-developed countries. In this research, a knowledge discovery based interactive Decision Support System (DSS) has been developed on web platform which would assist healthcare policy makers to develop evidence-based policies. To achieve desirable results in MCH, efficient resource planning is very much required. In maximum LMICs, resources are big constraint. Knowledge, generated through this system, would help healthcare managers to develop strategic resource planning for combatting with issues like huge inequity and less coverage in MCH. This system would help healthcare managers to accomplish following four tasks. Those are a) comprehending region wise conditions of variables related with MCH, b) identifying relationships within variables, c) segmenting regions based on variables status, and d) finding out segment wise key influential variables which have major impact on healthcare indicators. Whole system development process has been divided into three phases. Those were i) identifying contemporary issues related with MCH services and policy making; ii) development of the system; and iii) verification and validation of the system. More than 90 variables under three categories, such as a) educational, social, and economic parameters; b) MCH interventions; and c) health system building blocks have been included into this web-based DSS and five separate modules have been developed under the system. First module has been designed for analysing current healthcare scenario. Second module would help healthcare managers to understand correlations among variables. Third module would reveal frequently-occurring incidents along with different MCH interventions. Fourth module would segment regions based on previously mentioned three categories and in fifth module, segment-wise key influential interventions will be identified. India has been considered as case study area in this research. Data of 601 districts of India has been used for inspecting effectiveness of those developed modules. This system has been developed by importing different statistical and data mining techniques on Web platform. Policy makers would be able to generate different scenarios from the system before drawing any inference, aided by its interactive capability.

Keywords: maternal and child heathcare, decision support systems, data mining techniques, low and middle income countries

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Authors: Wen-Yang Hu, Ranli Lu, Mark Maienschein-Cline, Danping Hu, Larisa Nonn, Toshi Shioda, Gail S. Prins

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Background: Genetic mutations are highly associated with increased prostate cancer risk. In addition to whole genome sequencing, somatic mutations can be identified by aligning transcriptome sequences to the human genome. Here we analyzed bulk RNAseq and single cell RNAseq data of human prostate cancer cells and their matched non-cancer cells in benign regions from 4 individual patients. Methods: Sequencing raw reads were aligned to the reference genome hg38 using STAR. Variants were annotated using Annovar with respect to overlap gene annotation information, effect on gene and protein sequence, and SIFT annotation of nonsynonymous variant effect. We determined cancer-specific novel alleles by comparing variant calls in cancer cells to matched benign cells from the same individual by selecting unique alleles that were only detected in the cancer samples. Results: In bulk RNAseq data from 3 patients, the most common variants were the noncoding mutations at UTR3/UTR5, and the major variant types were single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) including frameshift mutations. C>T transversion is the most frequently presented substitution of SNP. A total of 222 genes carrying unique exonic or UTR variants were revealed in cancer cells across 3 patients but not in benign cells. Among them, transcriptome levels of 7 genes (CITED2, YOD1, MCM4, HNRNPA2B1, KIF20B, DPYSL2, NR4A1) were significantly up or down regulated in cancer stem cells. Out of the 222 commonly mutated genes in cancer, 19 have nonsynonymous variants and 11 are damaged genes with variants including SIFT, frameshifts, stop gain/loss, and insertions/deletions (indels). Two damaged genes, activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) and histone demethylase KDM3A are of particular interest; the former is a survival factor for certain cancer cells while the later positively activates androgen receptor target genes in prostate cancer. Further, single cell RNAseq data of cancer cells and their matched non-cancer benign cells from both primary 2D and 3D tumoroid cultures were analyzed. Similar to the bulk RNAseq data, single cell RNAseq in cancer demonstrated that the exonic mutations are less common than noncoding variants, with SNPs including frameshift mutations the most frequently presented types in cancer. Compared to cancer stem cell enriched-3D tumoroids, 2D cancer cells carried 3-times higher variants, 8-times more coding mutations and 10-times more nonsynonymous SNP. Finally, in both 2D primary and 3D tumoroid cultures, cancer stem cells exhibited fewer coding mutations and noncoding SNP or insertions/deletions than non-stem cancer cells. Summary: Our study demonstrates the usefulness of bulk and single cell RNAseaq data in identifying somatic mutations in prostate cancer, providing an alternative method in screening candidate genes for prostate cancer diagnosis and potential therapeutic targets. Cancer stem cells carry fewer somatic mutations than non-stem cancer cells due to their inherited immortal stand DNA from parental stem cells that explains their long-lived characteristics.

Keywords: prostate cancer, stem cell, genomic mutation, RNAseq

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Authors: Rajwanlop Kumpoopong, Sukit Yindeesuk, Pornchai Silarom

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Modeling cracks in concrete is complicated by its strain-softening behavior which requires the use of sophisticated energy criteria of fracture mechanics to assure stable and convergent solutions in the finite-element (FE) analysis particularly for relatively large structures. However, for small-scale structures such as beams and slabs, a simpler approach relies on retaining some shear stiffness in the cracking plane has been adopted in literature to model the strain-softening behavior of concrete under monotonically increased loading. According to the shear retaining approach, each element is assumed to be an isotropic material prior to cracking of concrete. Once an element is cracked, the isotropic element is replaced with an orthotropic element in which the new orthotropic stiffness matrix is formulated with respect to the crack orientation. The shear transfer factor of 0.5 is used in parallel to the crack plane. The shear retaining approach is adopted in this research to model cracks in RC bridge deck with some modifications to take into account the effect of repetitive moving truck wheel loads as they cause fatigue cracking of concrete. First modification is the introduction of fatigue tests of concrete and reinforcing steel and the Palmgren-Miner linear criterion of cumulative damage in the conventional FE analysis. For a certain loading, the number of cycles to failure of each concrete or RC element can be calculated from the fatigue or S-N curves of concrete and reinforcing steel. The elements with the minimum number of cycles to failure are the failed elements. For the elements that do not fail, the damage is accumulated according to Palmgren-Miner linear criterion of cumulative damage. The stiffness of the failed element is modified and the procedure is repeated until the deck slab fails. The total number of load cycles to failure of the deck slab can then be obtained from which the S-N curve of the deck slab can be simulated. Second modification is the modification in shear transfer factor. Moving loading causes continuous rubbing of crack interfaces which greatly reduces shear transfer mechanism. It is therefore conservatively assumed in this study that the analysis is conducted with shear transfer factor of zero for the case of moving loading. A customized FE program has been developed using the MATLAB software to accomodate such modifications. The developed procedure has been validated with the fatigue test of the 1/6.6-scale AASHTO bridge deck under the applications of both fixed-point repetitive loading and moving loading presented in the literature. Results are in good agreement both experimental vs. simulated S-N curves and observed vs. simulated crack patterns. Significant contribution of the developed procedure is a series of S-N relations which can now be simulated at any desired levels of cracking in addition to the experimentally derived S-N relation at the failure of the deck slab. This permits the systematic investigation of crack propagation or deterioration of RC bridge deck which is appeared to be useful information for highway agencies to prolong the life of their bridge decks.

Keywords: bridge deck, cracking, deterioration, fatigue, finite-element, moving truck, reinforced concrete

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Authors: Catherine Alex Agbor

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The modern Nigerian society is dynamic, divided in zones based on economic, political and educational resources often shared across the zones. The Six Geopolitical Zones in Nigeria is a major division in modern Nigeria, created during the regime of president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. They are North Central, North East, North West, South East, South South and South West. However, the zone used in this study is known as former South-Eastern State of Akwa-Ibom State and Cross-River State; former Rivers State of Bayelsa State and Rivers State; and former Mid-Western Region, Nigeria of Delta State and Edo State. Many reforms have taken place overtime, particularly in the education sector. Education is constantly presenting new ideas and innovative approaches which act to facilitate the rapid exchange of knowledge and provide quality basic education for learners. The Federal Government of Nigeria in accordance with its National Council on Education directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council to restructure its basic education curriculum with the hope to enable the nation meet national and global developmental goals. One of the goals of the 9-year Basic Education Programme is developing in the entire citizenry a strong consciousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion. Another is ensuring the acquisition of appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life-skills as well as the ethical, moral and civic values for laying a solid foundation for lifelong learning. Therefore, this article at the introductory stage is aimed to describe some key issues in Nigeria’s experience in the basic education curriculum. In this study, particular attention is paid to this very recent educational policy of the Nigerian government known as Universal Basic Education, its challenges and what can be done to make the policy achieve its desired objectives. It progresses to analyze modern requirements for second language teaching; and presents the challenges of second language teaching in Nigeria. Finally, it reports a study which investigated special efforts for appropriate achievement of quality education in language classroom in the south-south zone of Nigeria. One fundamental research question was posed on what educational practices can contribute to current understanding of the structure of language curriculum. More explicitly, the study was designed to analyze the extent to which quality content contributes to current understanding of the structure of school curriculum in the zone. Otherwise stated, it investigated how student-centred educational practices impact on their learning of French language. One hundred and eighty (180) participants (teachers) were purposefully sampled for the study. Qualitative technique was used to elicit information from participants. The qualitative method used was Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Participants were divided into six groups comprising of 30 teachers from each zone. Group discussions were based mainly on curriculum contents and practices. Information from participants revealed that the curriculum content, among others is inadequate and should be re-examined. Recommendations were proffered as a panacea to concrete implementation of the basic education in Nigeria.

Keywords: basic education, quality contents, second language, south-south states

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Authors: Carmen Axisa, Louise Nash, Patrick Kelly, Simon Willcock

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Introduction: Doctors experience high levels of burnout, stress and psychiatric morbidity. This can affect the health of the doctor and impact patient care. Study Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of a workshop intervention to promote wellbeing for Australian Physician Trainees. Methods: A workshop was developed in consultation with specialist clinicians to promote health and wellbeing for physician trainees. The workshop objectives were to improve participant understanding about factors affecting their health and wellbeing, to outline strategies on how to improve health and wellbeing and to encourage participants to apply these strategies in their own lives. There was a focus on building resilience and developing long term healthy behaviours as part of the physician trainee daily lifestyle. Trainees had the opportunity to learn practical strategies for stress management, gain insight into their behaviour and take steps to improve their health and wellbeing. The workshop also identified resources and support systems available to trainees. The workshop duration was four and a half hours including a thirty- minute meal break where a catered meal was provided for the trainees. Workshop evaluations were conducted at the end of the workshop. Sixty-seven physician trainees from Adult Medicine and Paediatric training programs in Sydney Australia were randomised into intervention and control groups. The intervention group attended a workshop facilitated by specialist clinicians and the control group did not. Baseline and post intervention measurements were taken for both groups to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the workshop. Forty-six participants completed all three measurements (69%). Demographic, personal and self-reported data regarding work/life patterns was collected. Outcome measures include Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Results: The workshop was well received by the physician trainees and workshop evaluations showed that the majority of trainees strongly agree or agree that the training was relevant to their needs (96%) and met their expectations (92%). All trainees strongly agree or agree that they would recommend the workshop to their medical colleagues. In comparison to the control group we observed a reduction in alcohol use, depression and burnout but an increase in stress, anxiety and secondary traumatic stress in the intervention group, at the primary endpoint measured at 6 months. However, none of these differences reached statistical significance (p > 0.05). Discussion: Although the study did not reach statistical significance, the workshop may be beneficial to physician trainees. Trainees had the opportunity to share ideas, gain insight into their own behaviour, learn practical strategies for stress management and discuss approach to work, life and self-care. The workshop discussions enabled trainees to share their experiences in a supported environment where they learned that other trainees experienced stress and burnout and they were not alone in needing to acquire successful coping mechanisms and stress management strategies. Conclusion: These findings suggest that physician trainees are a vulnerable group who may benefit from initiatives that promote wellbeing and from a more supportive work environment.

Keywords: doctors' health, physician burnout, physician resilience, wellbeing workshop

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Authors: Deepak Loura

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The most contemporary method of producing horticulture crops both qualitatively and quantitatively is protected cultivation, or greenhouse cultivation, which has gained widespread acceptance in recent decades. Protected farming, commonly referred to as controlled environment agriculture (CEA), is extremely productive, land- and water-wise, as well as environmentally friendly. The technology entails growing horticulture crops in a controlled environment where variables such as temperature, humidity, light, soil, water, fertilizer, etc. are adjusted to achieve optimal output and enable a consistent supply of them even during the off-season. Over the past ten years, protected cultivation of high-value crops and cut flowers has demonstrated remarkable potential. More and more agricultural and horticultural crop production systems are moving to protected environments as a result of the growing demand for high-quality products by global markets. By covering the crop, it is possible to control the macro- and microenvironments, enhancing plant performance and allowing for longer production times, earlier harvests, and higher yields of higher quality. These shielding features alter the environment of the plant while also offering protection from wind, rain, and insects. Protected farming opens up hitherto unexplored opportunities in agriculture as the liberalised economy and improved agricultural technologies advance. Typically, the revenues from fruit, vegetable, and flower crops are 4 to 8 times higher than those from other crops. If any of these high-value crops are cultivated in protected environments like greenhouses, net houses, tunnels, etc., this profit can be multiplied. Vegetable and cut flower post-harvest losses are extremely high (20–0%), however sheltered growing techniques and year-round cropping can greatly minimize post-harvest losses and enhance yield by 5–10 times. Seasonality and weather have a big impact on the production of vegetables and flowers. The variety of their products results in significant price and quality changes for vegetables. For the application of current technology in crop production, achieving a balance between year-round availability of vegetables and flowers with minimal environmental impact and remaining competitive is a significant problem. The future of agriculture will be protected since population growth is reducing the amount of land that may be held. Protected agriculture is a particularly profitable endeavor for tiny landholdings. Small greenhouses, net houses, nurseries, and low tunnel greenhouses can all be built by farmers to increase their income. Protected agriculture is also aided by the rise in biotic and abiotic stress factors. As a result of the greater productivity levels, these technologies are not only opening up opportunities for producers with larger landholdings, but also for those with smaller holdings. Protected cultivation can be thought of as a kind of precise, forward-thinking, parallel agriculture that covers almost all aspects of farming and is rather subject to additional inspection for technical applicability to circumstances, farmer economics, and market economics.

Keywords: protected cultivation, horticulture, greenhouse, vegetable, controlled environment agriculture

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Authors: Hilary Modir, Kyle Dutton, Michelle Swab, Shabnam Asghari

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Since its emergence, the cutaneous manifestations of COVID-19 have been documented in the literature. However, the majority are case reports with significant limitations in appraisal quality, thus leaving the role of dermatological manifestations of COVID-19 erroneously underexplored. The primary aim of this review was to systematically examine clinical patterns of dermatological manifestations as reported in the literature. This study was designed as a systematic review of case reports. The inclusion criteria consisted of all published reports and articles regarding COVID-19 in English, from September 1st, 2019, until June 22nd, 2020. The population consisted of confirmed cases of COVID-19 with associated cutaneous signs and symptoms. Exclusion criteria included research in planning stages, protocols, book reviews, news articles, review studies, and policy analyses. With the collaboration of a librarian, a search strategy was created consisting of a mixture of keyword terms and controlled vocabulary. Electronic databases searched were MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, LILACS, PsycINFO, WHO Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease, Cochrane Library, Campbell Collaboration, Prospero, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, U.S. Institutes of Health Ongoing Trials Register, AAD Registry, OSF preprints, SSRN, MedRxiV and BioRxiV. The study selection featured an initial pre-screening of titles and abstracts by one independent reviewer. Results were verified by re-examining a random sample of 1% of excluded articles. Eligible studies progressed for full-text review by two calibrated independent reviewers. Covidence was used to store and extract data, such as citation information and findings pertaining to COVID-19 and cutaneous signs and symptoms. Data analysis and summarization methodology reflect the framework proposed by PRISMA and recommendations set out by Cochrane and Joanna Brigg’s Institute for conducting systematic reviews. The Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine’s level of evidence was used to appraise the quality of individual studies. The literature search revealed a total of 1221 articles. After the abstract and full-text screening, only 95 studies met the eligibility criteria, proceeding to data extraction. Studies were divided into 58% case reports and 42% series. A total of 833 manifestations were reported in 723 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The most frequent lesions were 23% maculopapular, 15% urticarial and 13% pseudo-chilblains, with 46% of lesions reporting pruritus, 16% erythema, 14% pain, 12% burning sensation, and 4% edema. The most common lesion locations were 20% trunk, 19.5% lower limbs, and 17.7% upper limbs. The time to resolution of lesions was between one and twenty-one days. In conclusion, over half of the reported cutaneous presentations in COVID-19 positive patients were maculopapular, urticarial and pseudo-chilblains, with the majority of lesions distributed to the extremities and trunk. As this review’s sample size only contained COVID-19 confirmed cases with skin presentations, it becomes difficult to deduce the direct relationship between skin findings and COVID-19. However, it can be correlated that acute onset of skin lesions, such as chilblains-like, may be associated with or may warrant consideration of COVID-19 as part of the differential diagnosis.

Keywords: COVID-19, cutaneous manifestations, cutaneous signs, general dermatology, medical dermatology, Sars-Cov-2, skin and infectious disease, skin findings, skin manifestations

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Authors: Brandon Takahashi, Marielle Hanley, Gerry Hanley

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The large-scale quick-service restaurant industry is a complex business to manage optimally. With over 40 suppliers providing different ingredients for food preparation and thousands of restaurants serving over 50 unique food offerings across a wide range of regions, the company must implement a quality assurance process. Businesses want to deliver quality food efficiently, reliably, and successfully at a low cost that the public wants to buy. They also want to make sure that their food offerings are never unsafe to eat or of poor quality. A good reputation (and profitable business) developed over the years can be gone in an instant if customers fall ill eating your food. Poor quality also results in food waste, and the cost of corrective actions is compounded by the reduction in revenue. Product compliance evaluation assesses if the supplier’s ingredients are within compliance with the specifications of several attributes (physical, chemical, organoleptic) that a company will test to ensure that a quality, safe to eat food is given to the consumer and will deliver the same eating experience in all parts of the country. The technical component of the evaluation includes the chemical and physical tests that produce numerical results that relate to shelf-life, food safety, and organoleptic qualities. The psychological component of the evaluation includes organoleptic, which is acting on or involving the use of the sense organs. The rubric for product compliance evaluation has four levels: (1) Ideal: Meeting or exceeding all technical (physical and chemical), organoleptic, & psychological specifications. (2) Deviation from ideal but no impact on quality: Not meeting or exceeding some technical and organoleptic/psychological specifications without impact on consumer quality and meeting all food safety requirements (3) Acceptable: Not meeting or exceeding some technical and organoleptic/psychological specifications resulting in reduction of consumer quality but not enough to lessen demand and meeting all food safety requirements (4) Unacceptable: Not meeting food safety requirements, independent of meeting technical and organoleptic specifications or meeting all food safety requirements but product quality results in consumer rejection of food offering. Sampling of products and consumer tastings within the distribution network is a second critical element of the quality assurance process and are the data sources for the statistical analyses. Each finding is not independently assessed with the rubric. For example, the chemical data will be used to back up/support any inferences on the sensory profiles of the ingredients. Certain flavor profiles may not be as apparent when mixed with other ingredients, which leads to weighing specifications differentially in the acceptability decision. Quality assurance processes are essential to achieve that balance of quality and profitability by making sure the food is safe and tastes good but identifying and remediating product quality issues before they hit the stores. Comprehensive quality assurance procedures implement human factors methodologies, and this report provides recommendations for systemic application of quality assurance processes for quick service restaurant services. This case study will review the complex decision rubric and evaluate processes to ensure the right balance of cost, quality, and safety is achieved.

Keywords: decision making, food safety, organoleptics, product compliance, quality assurance

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Authors: Rohan M. Dalal, Elena Pirondini, Shanu Somvanshi

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Introduction: The current state of reproductive health outcomes in lower-income countries is poor, with inadequate knowledge and culture among adolescent boys. Moreover, boys have traditionally not been a priority target. To explore the opportunity to educate adolescent boys in the developing world regarding accurate reproductive health information, the purpose of this study is to investigate how adolescent boys in the developing world engage and use technology, utilizing cell phones. This electronic survey and video interview study were conducted to determine the feasibility of a mobile phone platform for an educational video game specifically designed for boys that will improve health knowledge, influence behavior, and change health outcomes, namely teen pregnancies. Methods: With the assistance of Plan India, a subsidiary of Plan International, informed consent was obtained from parents of adolescent males who participated in an electronic survey and video interviews via Microsoft Teams. An electronic survey was created with 27 questions, including topics of mobile phone usage, gaming preferences, and sexual and reproductive health, with a sample size of 181 adolescents, ages 11-25, near New Delhi, India. The interview questions were written to explore more in-depth topics after the completion of the electronic survey. Eight boys, aged 15, were interviewed for 40 minutes about gaming and usage of mobile phones as well as sexual and reproductive health. Data/Results. 154 boys and 27 girls completed the survey. They rated their English fluency as relatively high. 97% of boys (149/154) had access to mobile phones. The majority of phones were smartphones (97%, 143/148). 48% (71/149) of boys borrowed cell phones. The most popular phone platform was Samsung (22%, 33/148). 36% (54/148) of adolescent males looked at their phones 1-10 times per day for 1-2 hours. 55% (81/149) of the boys had parental restrictions. 51% (76/148) had 32 GB of storage on their phone. 78% (117/150) of the boys had wifi access. 80% (120/150) of respondents reported ease in downloading apps. 97% (145/150) of male adolescents had social media, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube. 58% (87/150) played video games. Favorite video games included Free Fire, PubG, and other shooting games. In the video interviews, the boys revealed what made games fun and engaging, including customized avatars, progression to higher levels, realistic interactive platforms, shooting/guns, the ability to perform multiple actions, and a variety of worlds/settings/adventures. Ideas to improve engagement in sexual and reproductive health classes included open discussions in the community, enhanced access to information, and posting on social media. Conclusion: This study involving an electronic survey and video interviews provides an initial foray into understanding mobile phone usage among adolescent males and understanding sexual and reproductive health education in New Delhi, India. The data gathered from this study support using mobile phone platforms, and this will be used to create a serious video game to educate adolescent males about sexual and reproductive health in an attempt to lower the rate of unwanted pregnancies in the world.

Keywords: adolescent males, India, mobile phone, sexual and reproductive health

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Authors: Jonathan Adeyemi

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Context: This study focuses on El Anatsui and his global acclaim in the art world despite his origins from the global artworld’s margins. It addresses the disparities in the treatment between Western and non-Western artists and questions whether Anatsui’s consecration is a result of exoticism or the growing consensus on decolonization. Research Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how El Anatsui achieved global acclaim from the margins of the art world and determine if his consecration represents a mark of decolonization or the typical Western desire for exoticism. Methodology: The study utilizes a case study approach, literature analysis, and in-depth interviews. The artist, the organizers of the Venice Biennale, the relevant curators at Tate Modern London, and the October Gallery in London, and other galleries in Nigeria, which represent the artist were interviewed for data collection. Findings: The study seeks to determine the authenticity of the growing consensus on decolonization, inclusion, and diversity in the global artistic field. Preliminary findings show that domestic socio-economic and political factors debilitated the mechanisms for local validation in Nigeria, weakening the domestic foundation for international engagement. However, alternative systems of exhibition, especially in London and the USA contributed critically to providing the initial international visibility, which formed the foundation for his global acclaim. Out of the 21 winners of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement since its inception at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997, American artists have dominated with 10 recipients, 8 recipients from Europe, 2 recipients from Africa (2007 and 2015) and 1 from Asia. This aligns with Bourdieu’s concept of cultural and economic capital, which prevented Africa countries from participation until recently. Moreover, while the average age of recipients is 76 years, Anatsui received the award at the age of 71, while Malick Sidibé (Mali) was awarded at 72. Thus, the Venice Biennale award for El Anatsui incline more towards a commitment to decolonisation than exoticism. Theoretical Importance: This study contributes to the field by examining the dynamics of the art world's monopoly of legitimation and the role of national, ethnicity and cultural differences in the promotion of artists. It aims to challenge the Westernized hierarchy of valorization and consecration in the art world. The research supports Bourdieu’s artistic field theory, which emphasises the importance of cultural, economic and social capital in determining agents’ position and access to the field resources (symbolic capital). Bourdieu also established that dominated agents can change their position in the field’s hierarchy either by establishing or navigating alternative systems. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: The opacity of art world’s operations places the required information within the purview of the insiders (agents). Thus, the study collects data through in-depth interviews with relevant and purposively selected individuals and organizations. The data was/will be analyzed using qualitative methods, such as thematic analysis and content analysis. The interpretive analytical approach adopted facilitated the construction of meanings that may not be apparent in the data or responses. Questions Addressed: The study addresses how El Anatsui achieved global acclaim despite being from the margins, whether his consecration represents decolonization or exoticism, and the extent to which the global artistic field embraces decolonization, inclusion, and diversity. Conclusion: The study will contribute to knowledge by providing insights into the extent of commitment to decolonization, inclusion, and diversity in the global artistic field. It also shed light on the mechanisms behind El Anatsui's rise to global acclaim and challenge Western-dominated artistic hierarchies.

Keywords: decolonisation, exorticism, artistic field, culture game

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Authors: Manta Nowbuth, Marie Anais Kimberley Therese

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The vulnerability of coastal areas to storm surges stands as a critical global concern. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events have increased the risks faced by communities living along the coastlines Worldwide. Small Island developing states (SIDS) stands out as being exceptionally vulnerable, coastal regions, ecosystems of human habitation and natural forces, bear witness to the frontlines of climate-induced challenges, and the intensification of storm surges underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive understanding of coastal vulnerability. With limited landmass, low-lying terrains, and resilience on coastal resources, SIDS face an amplified vulnerability to the consequences of storm surges, the delicate balance between human activities and environmental dynamics in these island nations increases the urgency of tailored strategies for assessing and mitigating coastal vulnerability. This research uses an approach to evaluate the vulnerability of coastal communities in Mauritius. The Satellite imagery analysis makes use of sentinel satellite imageries, modified normalised difference water index, classification techniques and the DSAS add on to quantify the extent of shoreline erosion or accumulation, providing a spatial perspective on coastal vulnerability. The coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) is applied by Gonitz et al Formula, this index considers factors such as coastal slope, sea level rise, mean significant wave height, and tidal range. Weighted assessments identify regions with varying levels of vulnerability, ranging from low to high. The study was carried out in a Village Located in the south of Mauritius, namely Rivière des Galets, with a population of about 500 people over an area of 60,000m². The Village of Rivière des Galets being located in the south, and the southern coast of Mauritius being exposed to the open Indian ocean, is vulnerable to swells, The swells generated by the South east trade winds can lead to large waves and rough sea conditions along the Southern Coastline which has an impact on the coastal activities, including fishing, tourism and coastal Infrastructures, hence, On the one hand, the results highlighted that from a stretch of 123km of coastline the linear rate regression for the 5 –year span varies from-24.1m/yr. to 8.2m/yr., the maximum rate of change in terms of eroded land is -24m/yr. and the maximum rate of accretion is 8.2m/yr. On the other hand, the coastal vulnerability index varies from 9.1 to 45.6 and it was categorised into low, moderate, high and very high risks zones. It has been observed that region which lacks protective barriers and are made of sandy beaches are categorised as high risks zone and hence it is imperative to high risk regions for immediate attention and intervention, as they will most likely be exposed to coastal hazards and impacts from climate change, which demands proactive measures for enhanced resilience and sustainable adaptation strategies.

Keywords: climate change, coastal vulnerability, disaster management, remote sensing, satellite imagery, storm surge

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Authors: Mohamed Sifan, Brabha Nagaratnam, Julian Thamboo, Keerthan Poologanathan

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Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) is a type of cementitious material known for its exceptional strength, ductility, and durability. However, its production is often associated with high costs due to the significant amount of cementitious materials required and the use of fine powders to achieve the desired strength. The aim of this research is to explore the feasibility of developing cost-effective UHPC mixes using locally available materials. Specifically, the study aims to investigate the use of coarse limestone sand along with other sand types, namely, basalt sand, dolomite sand, and river sand for developing UHPC mixes and evaluating its performances. The study utilises the particle packing model to develop various UHPC mixes. The particle packing model involves optimising the combination of coarse limestone sand, basalt sand, dolomite sand, and river sand to achieve the desired properties of UHPC. The developed UHPC mixes are then evaluated based on their workability (measured through slump flow and mini slump value), compressive strength (at 7, 28, and 90 days), splitting tensile strength, and microstructural characteristics analysed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The results of this study demonstrate that cost-effective UHPC mixes can be developed using locally available materials without the need for silica fume or fly ash. The UHPC mixes achieved impressive compressive strengths of up to 149 MPa at 28 days with a cement content of approximately 750 kg/m³. The mixes also exhibited varying levels of workability, with slump flow values ranging from 550 to 850 mm. Additionally, the inclusion of coarse limestone sand in the mixes effectively reduced the demand for superplasticizer and served as a filler material. By exploring the use of coarse limestone sand and other sand types, this study provides valuable insights into optimising the particle packing model for UHPC production. The findings highlight the potential to reduce costs associated with UHPC production without compromising its strength and durability. The study collected data on the workability, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and microstructural characteristics of the developed UHPC mixes. Workability was measured using slump flow and mini slump tests, while compressive strength and splitting tensile strength were assessed at different curing periods. Microstructural characteristics were analysed through SEM and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The collected data were then analysed and interpreted to evaluate the performance and properties of the UHPC mixes. The research successfully demonstrates the feasibility of developing cost-effective UHPC mixes using locally available materials. The inclusion of coarse limestone sand, in combination with other sand types, shows promising results in achieving high compressive strengths and satisfactory workability. The findings suggest that the use of the particle packing model can optimise the combination of materials and reduce the reliance on expensive additives such as silica fume and fly ash. This research provides valuable insights for researchers and construction practitioners aiming to develop cost-effective UHPC mixes using readily available materials and an optimised particle packing approach.

Keywords: cost-effective, limestone powder, particle packing model, ultra high performance concrete

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Authors: Kalaumari Mayoral-Peña, Ana I. Montejano-Montelongo, Josué Reyes-Muñoz, Gonzalo A. Ortiz-Mancilla, Mayrin Rodríguez-Cruz, Víctor Hernández-Villalobos, Jesús A. Guzmán-López, Santiago García-Jacobo, Iván Licona-Vázquez, Grisel Fierros-Romero, Rosario Flores-Vallejo

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The group B-lactamic antibiotics include some of the most frequently used small drug molecules against bacterial infections. Nevertheless, an alarming decrease in their efficacy has been reported due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Infections caused by bacteria expressing extended Spectrum B-lactamases (ESBLs) are difficult to treat and account for higher morbidity and mortality rates, delayed recovery, and high economic burden. According to the Global Report on Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance, it is estimated that mortality due to resistant bacteria will ascend to 10 million cases per year worldwide. These facts highlight the importance of developing low-cost and readily accessible detection methods of drug-resistant ESBLs bacteria to prevent their spread and promote accurate and fast diagnosis. Bacterial detection is commonly done using molecular diagnostic techniques, where PCR stands out for its high performance. However, this technique requires specialized equipment not available everywhere, is time-consuming, and has a high cost. Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) is an alternative technique that works at a constant temperature, significantly decreasing the equipment cost. It yields double-stranded DNA of several lengths with repetitions of the target DNA sequence as a product. Although positive and negative results from LAMP can be discriminated by colorimetry, fluorescence, and turbidity, there is still a large room for improvement in the point-of-care implementation. DNA origami is a technique that allows the formation of 3D nanometric structures by folding a large single-stranded DNA (scaffold) into a determined shape with the help of short DNA sequences (staples), which hybridize with the scaffold. This research aimed to generate DNA origami structures using LAMP products as scaffolds to improve the sensitivity to detect ESBLs in point-of-care diagnosis. For this study, the coding sequence of the CTM-X-15 ESBL of E. coli was used to generate the LAMP products. The set of LAMP primers were designed using PrimerExplorerV5. As a result, a target sequence of 200 nucleotides from CTM-X-15 ESBL was obtained. Afterward, eight different DNA origami structures were designed using the target sequence in the SDCadnano and analyzed with CanDo to evaluate the stability of the 3D structures. The designs were constructed minimizing the total number of staples to reduce costs and complexity for point-of-care applications. After analyzing the DNA origami designs, two structures were selected. The first one was a zig-zag flat structure, while the second one was a wall-like shape. Given the sequence repetitions in the scaffold sequence, both were able to be assembled with only 6 different staples each one, ranging between 18 to 80 nucleotides. Simulations of both structures were performed using scaffolds of different sizes yielding stable structures in all the cases. The generation of the LAMP products were tested by colorimetry and electrophoresis. The formation of the DNA structures was analyzed using electrophoresis and colorimetry. The modeling of novel detection methods through bioinformatics tools allows reliable control and prediction of results. To our knowledge, this is the first study that uses LAMP products and DNA-origami in combination to delect ESBL-producing bacterial strains, which represent a promising methodology for diagnosis in the point-of-care.

Keywords: beta-lactamases, antibiotic resistance, DNA origami, isothermal amplification, LAMP technique, molecular diagnosis

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Authors: Faruk Inaltekin, Imran Gurakan

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This paper will aim to discuss the importance of value-added services provided by Science and Technology Parks for entrepreneurship development in Turkey. Entrepreneurship is vital subject for all countries. It has not only fostered economic development but also promoted innovation at local and international levels. To foster high tech entrepreneurship ecosystem, Technopark (Science and Technology Park/STP) concept was initiated with the establishment of Silicon Valley in the 1950s. The success and rise of Silicon Valley led to the spread of technopark activities. Developed economies have been setting up projects to plan and build STPs since the 1960s and 1970s. To promote the establishment of STPs, necessary legislations were made by Ministry of Science, Industry, and Technology in 2001, Technology Development Zones Law (No. 4691) and it has been revised in 2016 to provide more supports. STPs’ basic aim is to provide customers high-quality office spaces with various 'value added services' such as business development, network connections, cooperation programs, investor/customers meetings and internationalization services. For this aim, STPs should help startups deal with difficulties in the early stages and to support mature companies’ export activities in the foreign market. STPs should support the production, commercialization and more significantly internationalization of technology-intensive business and foster growth of companies. Nowadays within this value-added services, internationalization is very popular subject in the world. Most of STPs design clusters or accelerator programs in order to support their companies in the foreign market penetration. If startups are not ready for international competition, STPs should help them to get ready for foreign market with training and mentoring sessions. These training and mentoring sessions should take a goal based approach to working with companies. Each company has different needs and goals. Therefore the definition of ‘success' varies for each company. For this reason, it is very important to create customized value added services to meet the needs of startups. After local supports, STPs should also be able to support their startups in foreign market. Organizing well defined international accelerator program plays an important role in this mission. Turkey is strategically placed between key markets in Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East. Its population is young and well educated. So both government agencies and the private sectors endeavor to foster and encourage entrepreneurship ecosystem with many supports. In sum, the task of technoparks with these and similar value added services is very important for developing entrepreneurship ecosystem. The priorities of all value added services are to identify the commercialization and growth obstacles faced by entrepreneurs and get rid of them with the one-to-one customized services. Also, in order to have a healthy startup ecosystem and create sustainable entrepreneurship, stakeholders (technoparks, incubators, accelerators, investors, universities, governmental organizations etc.) should fulfill their roles and/or duties and collaborate with each other. STPs play an important role as bridge for these stakeholders & entrepreneurs. STPs always should benchmark and renew services offered to how to help the start-ups to survive, develop their business and benefit from these stakeholders.

Keywords: accelerator, cluster, entrepreneurship, startup, technopark, value added services

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Authors: S. N. T. I. Sampath, J. M. S. Jayasinghe, A. P. Attanayake, V. Karunaratne

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Diabetes mellitus is one of the major public health posers throughout the world today that incidence and associated with increasing mortality. Insufficient regulation of the blood glucose level might be serious effects for health and its necessity to identify new therapeutics that have ability to reduce hyperglycaemic condition in the human body. Even though synthetic antidiabetic drugs are more effective to control diabetes mellitus, there are considerable side effects have been reported. Thus, there is an increasing demand for searching new natural products having high antidiabetic activity with lesser side effects. The purposes of the present study were to evaluate different physical parameters and in-vitro and in-vivo antidiabetic potential of the selected combined medicinal plant extracts mixture composed of leaves of Murraya koenigii, cloves of Allium sativum, fruits of Garcinia queasita and seeds of Piper nigrum. The selected plants parts were mixed and ground together and extracted sequentially into the hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol. Solvents were evaporated and they were further dried by freeze-drying to obtain a fine powder of each extract. Various physical parameters such as moisture, total ash, acid insoluble ash and water soluble ash were evaluated using standard test procedures. In-vitro antidiabetic activity of combined plant extracts mixture was screened using enzyme assays such as α-amylase inhibition assay and α-glucosidase inhibition assay. The acute anti-hyperglycaemic activity was performed using oral glucose tolerance test for the streptozotocin induced diabetic Wistar rats to find out in-vivo antidiabetic activity of combined plant extracts mixture and it was assessed through total oral glucose tolerance curve (TAUC) values. The percentage of moisture content, total ash content, acid insoluble ash content and water soluble ash content were ranged of 7.6-17.8, 8.1-11.78, 0.019-0.134 and 6.2-9.2 respectively for the plant extracts and those values were less than standard values except the methanol extract. The hexane and ethyl acetate extracts exhibited highest α-amylase (IC50 = 25.7 ±0.6; 27.1 ±1.2 ppm) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 22.4 ±0.1; 33.7 ±0.2 ppm) inhibitory activities than methanol extract (IC50 = 360.2 ±0.6; 179.6 ±0.9 ppm) when compared with the acarbose positive control (IC50 = 5.7 ±0.4; 17.1 ±0.6 ppm). The TAUC values for hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol extracts and glibenclamide (positive control) treated rats were 8.01 ±0.66; 8.05 ±1.07; 8.40±0.50; 5.87 ±0.93 mmol/L.h respectively, whereas in diabetic control rats the TAUC value was 13.22 ±1.07 mmol/L.h. Administration of plant extracts treated rats significantly suppressed (p<0.05) the rise in plasma blood glucose levels compared to control rats but less significant than glibenclamide. The obtained results from in-vivo and in-vitro antidiabetic study showed that the hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of selected combined plant mixture might be considered as a potential source to isolate natural antidiabetic agents and physical parameters of hexane and ethyl acetate extracts will helpful to develop antidiabetic drug with further standardize properties.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, in-vitro antidiabetic assays, medicinal plants, standardization

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Authors: Olga Kononova, Sergey Lyapin

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Global information society requirements are transparency and reliability of data, as well as ability to manage information resources independently; particularly to search, to analyze, to evaluate information, thereby obtaining new expertise. Moreover, it is satisfying the society information needs that increases the efficiency of the enterprise management and public administration. The study of structurally organized thematic and semantic contexts of different types, automatically extracted from unstructured data, is one of the important tasks for the application of information technologies in education, science, culture, governance and business. The objectives of this study are the contextual knowledge typologization, selection or creation of effective tools for extracting and analyzing contextual knowledge. Explication of various kinds and forms of the contextual knowledge involves the development and use full-text search information systems. For the implementation purposes, the authors use an e-library 'Humanitariana' services such as the contextual search, different types of queries (paragraph-oriented query, frequency-ranked query), automatic extraction of knowledge from the scientific texts. The multifunctional e-library «Humanitariana» is realized in the Internet-architecture in WWS-configuration (Web-browser / Web-server / SQL-server). Advantage of use 'Humanitariana' is in the possibility of combining the resources of several organizations. Scholars and research groups may work in a local network mode and in distributed IT environments with ability to appeal to resources of any participating organizations servers. Paper discusses some specific cases of the contextual knowledge explication with the use of the e-library services and focuses on possibilities of new types of the contextual knowledge. Experimental research base are science texts about 'e-government' and 'computer games'. An analysis of the subject-themed texts trends allowed to propose the content analysis methodology, that combines a full-text search with automatic construction of 'terminogramma' and expert analysis of the selected contexts. 'Terminogramma' is made out as a table that contains a column with a frequency-ranked list of words (nouns), as well as columns with an indication of the absolute frequency (number) and the relative frequency of occurrence of the word (in %% ppm). The analysis of 'e-government' materials showed, that the state takes a dominant position in the processes of the electronic interaction between the authorities and society in modern Russia. The media credited the main role in these processes to the government, which provided public services through specialized portals. Factor analysis revealed two factors statistically describing the used terms: human interaction (the user) and the state (government, processes organizer); interaction management (public officer, processes performer) and technology (infrastructure). Isolation of these factors will lead to changes in the model of electronic interaction between government and society. In this study, the dominant social problems and the prevalence of different categories of subjects of computer gaming in science papers from 2005 to 2015 were identified. Therefore, there is an evident identification of several types of contextual knowledge: micro context; macro context; dynamic context; thematic collection of queries (interactive contextual knowledge expanding a composition of e-library information resources); multimodal context (functional integration of iconographic and full-text resources through hybrid quasi-semantic algorithm of search). Further studies can be pursued both in terms of expanding the resource base on which they are held, and in terms of the development of appropriate tools.

Keywords: contextual knowledge, contextual search, e-library services, frequency-ranked query, paragraph-oriented query, technologies of the contextual knowledge extraction

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Authors: Khelladi Hadj Mostefa, Krouf Djamil, Taleb-Dida Nawel

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Background: Obesity results from a prolonged imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, as depending on basal metabolic rate. Oils and proteins from sea have important therapeutic (such as obesity and hypercholesterolemia) and antioxidant effects. Sardine are a widely consumed fish in the Mediterranean region. Its consumption provides humans with various nutrients such as oils (rich in omega 3 plyunsaturated fatty acids)) and proteins. Methods: Sardine oil (SO) and sardine proteins (SP) were extracted and purified. Mixture of vegetable oils (olive-walnut-sunflower) were prepared from oils produced in Algeria. Eighteen wistar rats are fed a high fat diet enriched with 1% cholesterol for 30 days to induce obesity and hypercholesterolemia. The rats are divided into 3 groups. The first group consumes 20% sardine protein combined with 5% sardine oil (38% SFA (saturated fatty acids), 31% MIFA (monounsaturated fatty acids) and 31% PIFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids)) (SPso). The second group consumes 20% sardine protein combined with 5% of a mixture of vegetable oils (VO) containing 13% SFA, 58% MIFA and 29% PIFA (PSvo), and the third group consuming 20% casein combined with 5% of the mixture of vegetable oils and serves as a semi-synthetic reference (CASvo). Body weights and glycaemia are measured weekly After 28 days of experimentation, the rats are sacrificed, the blood and the liver removed. Serum assays of total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG) were performed by enzymatic colorimetric methods. Evaluation of lipid peroxidation was performed by assaying thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) and hydroperoxides values. The protein oxidation was performed by assaying carbonyl derivatives values. Finally, evaluation of antioxidant defense is made by measuring the activity of antioxidant enzymes, the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the catalase (CAT).Results: After 28 days, the body weight (BW) of the rats increased significantly in SPso and SPvo groups compared to CAS group, by +11% and 7%, respectively. Cholesterolemia (TC) increased significantly in the SPso and SPvo groups compared to the CAS group (P<0.01), while triglyceridemia (TG) decreased significantly in the SPso group compared to SPvo and CAS groups (P<0.01). Albumin (marker of inflammation) increased in the PSs group compared to SPvo and CAS groups by +35% and +13%, respectively. The serum TBARS levels are -40% lower in SPso group compared to SPvo group, and they are -80% and -76% lower in SPso compared to SPvo and CAS groups, respectively. The level of carbonyls derivatives in the serum and liver are significantly reduced in the SPso group compared to the SPvo and CAS groups. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity decreased in liver of SPso group compared to SPvo group (P<0.01). While that of CAT is increased in liver tissue of SPso group compared to SPvo group (P<0.01). Conclusion: Sardine oil combined with sardine protein has a hypotriglyceridemic effect, reduces body weight, attenuates inflammation and seems to protect against lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation and increases antioxidant defense in hypercholesterolemic and obese rats. This could be in favor of a protective effect against obesity and cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: rat, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, sardine protein, sardine oil, vegetable oils mixture, lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, antioxidant defense

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Authors: Babak Forouraghi

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A genetic circuit is a collection of interacting genes and proteins that enable individual cells to implement and perform vital biological functions such as cell division, growth, death, and signaling. In cell engineering, synthetic gene circuits are engineered networks of genes specifically designed to implement functionalities that are not evolved by nature. These engineered networks enable scientists to tackle complex problems such as engineering cells to produce therapeutics within the patient's body, altering T cells to target cancer-related antigens for treatment, improving antibody production using engineered cells, tissue engineering, and production of genetically modified plants and livestock. Construction of computational models to realize genetic circuits is an especially challenging task since it requires the discovery of flow of genetic information in complex biological systems. Building synthetic biological models is also a time-consuming process with relatively low prediction accuracy for highly complex genetic circuits. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the utility of a pre-trained bidirectional encoder transformer that can accurately predict gene expressions in genetic circuit designs. The main reason behind using transformers is their innate ability (attention mechanism) to take account of the semantic context present in long DNA chains that are heavily dependent on spatial representation of their constituent genes. Previous approaches to gene circuit design, such as CNN and RNN architectures, are unable to capture semantic dependencies in long contexts as required in most real-world applications of synthetic biology. For instance, RNN models (LSTM, GRU), although able to learn long-term dependencies, greatly suffer from vanishing gradient and low-efficiency problem when they sequentially process past states and compresses contextual information into a bottleneck with long input sequences. In other words, these architectures are not equipped with the necessary attention mechanisms to follow a long chain of genes with thousands of tokens. To address the above-mentioned limitations of previous approaches, a transformer model was built in this work as a variation to the existing DNA Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (DNABERT) model. It is shown that the proposed transformer is capable of capturing contextual information from long input sequences with attention mechanism. In a previous work on genetic circuit design, the traditional approaches to classification and regression, such as Random Forrest, Support Vector Machine, and Artificial Neural Networks, were able to achieve reasonably high R2 accuracy levels of 0.95 to 0.97. However, the transformer model utilized in this work with its attention-based mechanism, was able to achieve a perfect accuracy level of 100%. Further, it is demonstrated that the efficiency of the transformer-based gene expression classifier is not dependent on presence of large amounts of training examples, which may be difficult to compile in many real-world gene circuit designs.

Keywords: transformers, generative ai, gene expression design, classification

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Authors: Swadha Singh

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International Solar Alliance is the foremost treaty-based global organization concerned with tapping the potential of sun-abundant nations between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and enables co-operation among them. As a founding member of the International Solar Alliance, India exhibits its positioning as an upcoming leader in clean energy. India has set ambitious goals and targets to expand the share of solar in its energy mix and is playing a proactive role both at the regional and global levels. ISA aims to serve multiple goals- bring about scale commercialization of solar power, boost domestic manufacturing, and leverage solar diplomacy in African countries, amongst others. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to examine the ways in which ISA as an intergovernmental organization under Indian leadership can leverage the cause of clean energy (solar) diplomacy and effectively shape partnerships and collaborations with other developing countries in terms of sharing solar technology, capacity building, risk mitigation, mobilizing financial investment and providing an aggregate market. A more specific focus of ISA is on the developing countries, which in the absence of a collective, are constrained by technology and capital scarcity, despite being naturally endowed with solar resources. Solar rich but finance-constrained economies face political risk, foreign exchange risk, and off-taker risk. Scholars argue that aligning India’s climate change discourse and growth prospects in its engagements, collaborations, and partnerships at the bilateral, multilateral and regional level can help promote trade, attract investments, and promote resilient energy transition both in India and in partner countries. For developing countries, coming together in an action-oriented way on issues of climate and clean energy is particularly important since it is developing and underdeveloped countries that face multiple and coalescing challenges such as the adverse impact of climate change, uneven and low access to reliable energy, and pressing employment needs. Investing in green recovery is agreed to be an assured way to create resilient value chains, create sustainable livelihoods, and help mitigate climate threats. If India is able to ‘green its growth’ process, it holds the potential to emerge as a climate leader internationally. It can use its experience in the renewable sector to guide other developing countries in balancing multiple similar objectives of development, energy security, and sustainability. The challenges underlying solar expansion in India have lessons to offer other developing countries, giving India an opportunity to assume a leadership role in solar diplomacy and expand its geopolitical influence through inter-governmental organizations such as ISA. It is noted that India has limited capacity to directly provide financial funds and support and is not a leading manufacturer of cheap solar equipment, as does China; however, India can nonetheless leverage its large domestic market to scale up the commercialization of solar power and offer insights and learnings to similarly placed abundant solar countries. The paper examines the potential of and limits placed on India’s solar diplomacy.

Keywords: climate diplomacy, energy security, solar diplomacy, renewable energy

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Authors: Rama Munajat

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

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

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Authors: Aleksandra Bylinska, Samantha Slight-Webb, Kevin Thomas, Miles Smith, Susan Macwana, Nicolas Dominguez, Eliza Chakravarty, Joan T. Merrill, Judith A. James, Joel M. Guthridge

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Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an interferon-related autoimmune disease characterized by B cell dysfunction. One of the main hallmarks is a loss of tolerance to self-antigens leading to increased levels of autoantibodies against nuclear components (ANAs). However, up to 20% of healthy ANA+ individuals will not develop clinical illness. SLE is more prevalent among women and minority populations (African, Asian American and Hispanics). Moreover, African Americans have a stronger interferon (IFN) signature and develop more severe symptoms. The exact mechanisms involved in ethnicity-dependent B cell dysregulation and the progression of autoimmune disease from ANA+ healthy individuals to clinical disease remains unclear. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from African (AA) and European American (EA) ANA- (n=12), ANA+ (n=12) and SLE (n=12) individuals were assessed by multimodal scRNA-Seq/CITE-Seq methods to examine differential gene signatures in specific B cell subsets. Library preparation was done with a 10X Genomics Chromium according to established protocols and sequenced on Illumina NextSeq. The data were further analyzed for distinct cluster identification and differential gene signatures in the Seurat package in R and pathways analysis was performed using Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA). Results: Comparing all subjects, 14 distinct B cell clusters were identified using a community detection algorithm and visualized with Uniform Manifold Approximation Projection (UMAP). The proportion of each of those clusters varied by disease status and ethnicity. Transitional B cells trended higher in ANA+ healthy individuals, especially in AA. Ribonucleoprotein high population (HNRNPH1 elevated, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein, RNP-Hi) of proliferating Naïve B cells were more prevalent in SLE patients, specifically in EA. Interferon-induced protein high population (IFIT-Hi) of Naive B cells are increased in EA ANA- individuals. The proportion of memory B cells and plasma cells clusters tend to be expanded in SLE patients. As anticipated, we observed a higher signature of cytokine-related pathways, especially interferon, in SLE individuals. Pathway analysis among AA individuals revealed an NRF2-mediated Oxidative Stress response signature in the transitional B cell cluster, not seen in EA individuals. TNFR1/2 and Sirtuin Signaling pathway genes were higher in AA IFIT-Hi Naive B cells, whereas they were not detected in EA individuals. Interferon signaling was observed in B cells in both ethnicities. Oxidative phosphorylation was found in age-related B cells (ABCs) for both ethnicities, whereas Death Receptor Signaling was found only in EA patients in these cells. Interferon-related transcription factors were elevated in ABCs and IFIT-Hi Naive B cells in SLE subjects of both ethnicities. Conclusions: ANA+ healthy individuals have altered gene expression pathways in B cells that might drive apoptosis and subsequent clinical autoimmune pathogenesis. Increases in certain regulatory pathways may delay progression to SLE. Further, AA individuals have more elevated activation pathways that may make them more susceptible to SLE.

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Authors: Leonie Bradfield, Stephen Fityus, John Simmons

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The shearing behavior of current and planned coal mine spoil dumps up to 400m in height is studied using large-sample-high-stress direct shear tests performed on a range of spoils common to the coalfields of Eastern Australia. The motivation for the study is to address industry concerns that some constructed spoil dump heights ( > 350m) are exceeding the scale ( ≤ 120m) for which reliable design information exists, and because modern geotechnical laboratories are not equipped to test representative spoil specimens at field-scale stresses. For more than two decades, shear strength estimation for spoil dumps has been based on either infrequent, very small-scale tests where oversize particles are scalped to comply with device specimen size capacity such that the influence of prototype-sized particles on shear strength is not captured; or on published guidelines that provide linear shear strength envelopes derived from small-scale test data and verified in practice by slope performance of dumps up to 120m in height. To date, these published guidelines appear to have been reliable. However, in the field of rockfill dam design there is a broad acceptance of a curvilinear shear strength envelope, and if this is applicable to coal mine spoils, then these industry-accepted guidelines may overestimate the strength and stability of dumps at higher stress levels. The pressing need to rationally define the shearing behavior of more representative spoil specimens at field-scale stresses led to the successful design, construction and operation of a large direct shear machine (LDSM) and its subsequent application to provide reliable design information for current and planned very-high dumps. The LDSM can test at a much larger scale, in terms of combined specimen size (720mm x 720mm x 600mm) and stress (σn up to 4.6MPa), than has ever previously been achieved using a direct shear machine for geotechnical testing of rockfill. The results of an extensive LDSM testing program on a wide range of coal-mine spoils are compared to a published framework that widely accepted by the Australian coal mining industry as the standard for shear strength characterization of mine spoil. A critical outcome is that the LDSM data highlights several non-compliant spoils, and stress-dependent shearing behavior, for which the correct application of the published framework will not provide reliable shear strength parameters for design. Shear strength envelopes developed from the LDSM data are also compared with dam engineering knowledge, where failure envelopes of rockfills are curved in a concave-down manner. The LDSM data indicates that shear strength envelopes for coal-mine spoils abundant with rock fragments are not in fact curved and that the shape of the failure envelope is ultimately determined by the strength of rock fragments. Curvilinear failure envelopes were found to be appropriate for soil-like spoils containing minor or no rock fragments, or hard-soil aggregates.

Keywords: coal mine, direct shear test, high dump, large scale, mine spoil, shear strength, spoil dump

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Authors: Sini George

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Active learning pedagogies are valued for their success in increasing 21st-century learners’ engagement, developing transferable skills like critical thinking or quantitative reasoning, and creating deeper and more lasting educational gains. 'Blended learning' is an active learning pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter. This project aimed to develop a blended learning instructional approach to teaching concepts around pharmaceutical calculations to year 1 pharmacy students. The wrong dose, strength or frequency of a medication accounts for almost a third of medication errors in the NHS therefore, progression to year 2 requires a 70% pass in this calculation test, in addition to the standard progression requirements. Many students were struggling to achieve this requirement in the past. It was also challenging to teach these concepts to students of a large class (> 130) with mixed mathematical abilities, especially within a traditional didactic lecture format. Therefore, short screencasts with voice-over of the lecturer were provided in advance of a total of four teaching sessions (two hours/session), incorporating core content of each session and talking through how they approached the calculations to model metacognition. Links to the screencasts were posted on the learning management. Viewership counts were used to determine that the students were indeed accessing and watching the screencasts on schedule. In the classroom, students had to apply the knowledge learned beforehand to a series of increasingly difficult set of questions. Students were then asked to create a question in group settings (two students/group) and to discuss the questions created by their peers in their groups to promote deep conceptual learning. Students were also given time for question-and-answer period to seek clarifications on the concepts covered. Student response to this instructional approach and their test grades were collected. After collecting and organizing the data, statistical analysis was carried out to calculate binomial statistics for the two data sets: the test grade for students who received blended learning instruction and the test grades for students who received instruction in a standard lecture format in class, to compare the effectiveness of each type of instruction. Student response and their performance data on the assessment indicate that the learning of content in the blended learning instructional approach led to higher levels of student engagement, satisfaction, and more substantial learning gains. The blended learning approach enabled each student to learn how to do calculations at their own pace freeing class time for interactive application of this knowledge. Although time-consuming for an instructor to implement, the findings of this research demonstrate that the blended learning instructional approach improves student academic outcomes and represents a valuable method to incorporate active learning methodologies while still maintaining broad content coverage. Satisfaction with this approach was high, and we are currently developing more pharmacy content for delivery in this format.

Keywords: active learning, blended learning, deep conceptual learning, instructional approach, metacognition, pharmaceutical calculations

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Authors: B. Philip, J. Littlewood, R. Radford, N. Evans, T. Whyman, D. P. Jones

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UK buildings and energy infrastructures are heavily dependent on natural gas, a large proportion of which is used for domestic space heating. However, approximately half of the gas consumed in the UK is imported. Improving energy security and reducing carbon emissions are major government drivers for reducing gas dependency. In order to do so there needs to be a wholesale shift in the energy provision to householders without impacting on thermal comfort levels, convenience or cost of supply to the end user. Heat pumps are seen as a potential alternative in modern well insulated homes, however, can the same be said of older homes? A large proportion of housing stock in Britain was built prior to 1919. The age of the buildings bears testimony to the quality of construction; however, their thermal performance falls far below the minimum currently set by UK building standards. In recent years significant sums of money have been invested to improve energy efficiency and combat fuel poverty in some of the most deprived areas of Wales. Increasing energy efficiency of older properties remains a significant challenge, which cannot be achieved through insulation and air-tightness interventions alone, particularly when alterations to historically important architectural features of the building are not permitted. This paper investigates the energy demand of pre-1919 dwellings in a former Welsh mining village, the feasibility of meeting that demand using water from the disused mine workings to supply a district heat network and potential barriers to success of the scheme. The use of renewable solar energy generation and storage technologies, both thermal and electrical, to reduce the load and offset increased electricity demand, are considered. A wholistic surveying approach to provide a more accurate assessment of total household heat demand is proposed. Several surveying techniques, including condition surveys, air permeability, heat loss calculations, and thermography were employed to provide a clear picture of energy demand. Additional insulation can bring unforeseen consequences which are detrimental to the fabric of the building, potentially leading to accelerated dilapidation of the asset being ‘protected’. Increasing ventilation should be considered in parallel, to compensate for the associated reduction in uncontrolled infiltration. The effectiveness of thermal performance improvements are demonstrated and the detrimental effects of incorrect material choice and poor installation are highlighted. The findings show estimated heat demand to be in close correlation to household energy bills. Major areas of heat loss were identified such that improvements to building thermal performance could be targeted. The findings demonstrate that the use of heat pumps in older buildings is viable, provided sufficient improvement to thermal performance is possible. Addition of passive solar thermal and photovoltaic generation can help reduce the load and running cost for the householder. The results were used to predict future heat demand following energy efficiency improvements, thereby informing the size of heat pumps required.

Keywords: heat demand, heat pump, renewable energy, retrofit

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Authors: Pinzhe Zhao

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This study focuses on predicting university students' cheating tendencies using psychological traits and machine learning techniques. Academic dishonesty is a significant issue that compromises the integrity and fairness of educational institutions. While much research has been dedicated to detecting cheating behaviors after they have occurred, there is limited work on predicting such tendencies before they manifest. The aim of this research is to develop a model that can identify students who are at higher risk of engaging in academic misconduct, allowing for earlier interventions to prevent such behavior. Psychological factors are known to influence students' likelihood of cheating. Research shows that traits such as test anxiety, moral reasoning, self-efficacy, and achievement motivation are strongly linked to academic dishonesty. High levels of anxiety may lead students to cheat as a way to cope with pressure. Those with lower self-efficacy are less confident in their academic abilities, which can push them toward dishonest behaviors to secure better outcomes. Students with weaker moral judgment may also justify cheating more easily, believing it to be less wrong under certain conditions. Achievement motivation also plays a role, as students driven primarily by external rewards, such as grades, are more likely to cheat compared to those motivated by intrinsic learning goals. In this study, data on students’ psychological traits is collected through validated assessments, including scales for anxiety, moral reasoning, self-efficacy, and motivation. Additional data on academic performance, attendance, and engagement in class are also gathered to create a more comprehensive profile. Using machine learning algorithms such as Random Forest, Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, the research builds models that can predict students’ cheating tendencies. These models are trained and evaluated using metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores to ensure they provide reliable predictions. The findings demonstrate that combining psychological traits with machine learning provides a powerful method for identifying students at risk of cheating. This approach allows for early detection and intervention, enabling educational institutions to take proactive steps in promoting academic integrity. The predictive model can be used to inform targeted interventions, such as counseling for students with high test anxiety or workshops aimed at strengthening moral reasoning. By addressing the underlying factors that contribute to cheating behavior, educational institutions can reduce the occurrence of academic dishonesty and foster a culture of integrity. In conclusion, this research contributes to the growing body of literature on predictive analytics in education. It offers a approach by integrating psychological assessments with machine learning to predict cheating tendencies. This method has the potential to significantly improve how academic institutions address academic dishonesty, shifting the focus from punishment after the fact to prevention before it occurs. By identifying high-risk students and providing them with the necessary support, educators can help maintain the fairness and integrity of the academic environment.

Keywords: academic dishonesty, cheating prediction, intervention strategies, machine learning, psychological traits, academic integrity

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