Search results for: early childhood education and care

Authors: Tope Olubodun

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Background: Family planning practices help individuals and couples avoid unwanted pregnancies, regulate intervals between pregnancies, and determine the number of children in the family. Family planning is an effective intervention for promoting maternal health, but its acceptability and utilization are impeded by many factors in Southwest Nigeria. Aim: This study was conducted to assess women’s knowledge and practice of family planning in two rural communities in Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria, and to determine factors associated with the utilization of family planning among these women. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 561 women of reproductive age selected by multistage sampling. The data collection was done using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data obtained were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20. Frequencies were generated, and chi-square test was used to explore associations. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Result: The majority of the respondents were aware of family planning 410 (73.1%). The method most commonly known was male condom 348 (62.0%), then pills 276 (49.2%) and injectables 231(41.3%). The commonest sources of information on family planning were health workers 158 (26.8%), outreaches 162 (27.5%) and TV/radio 136 (23.1%). Respondents that had used family planning, however, only constituted forty–five percent. The methods commonly used were injectables 104 (39.2%) and pills 85 (32.1%). Reasons for choosing not to use family planning include the desire for more children 78 (26.3%), because spouse does not support family planning 56 (18.9%), fear of unbearable side effects 44 (14.9%), and poor knowledge of the methods of family planning as well as where the services can be obtained 39 (13.2%). There is a statistically significant association between age, ethnicity, education, occupation, average monthly income, and use of family planning. Conclusion: Campaigns that promote male involvement in family planning, use of family planning for child spacing, and dispelling of fears is recommended to improve the practice of family planning among such a group of women.

Keywords: family planning, rural, knowledge, practice

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Authors: Okike Benjamin

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Terrorism is the use of violence and threat to intimidate or coerce a person, group, society or even government especially for political purposes. Terrorism may be a way of resisting government by some group who may feel marginalized. It could also be a way of expressing displeasure over the activities of government. On 26th December, 2009, US placed Nigeria as a terrorist nation. Recently, the occurrences of terrorism in Nigeria have increased considerably. In Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria, there was a bomb blast which claimed many lives on the eve of 2010 Christmas. Similarly, there was another bomb blast in Mugadishi (Sani Abacha) Barracks Mammy market on the eve of 2011 New Year. For some time now, it is no longer news that bomb exploded in some Northern part of Nigeria. About 25 years ago, stopping terrorism in America by the Americans relied on old-fashioned tools such as strict physical security at vulnerable places, intelligence gathering by government agents, or individuals, vigilance on the part of all citizens, and a sense of community in which citizens do what could be done to protect each other. Just as technology has virtually been used to better the way many other things are done, so also this powerful new weapon called computer technology can be used to detect and prevent terrorism not only in Nigeria, but all over the world. This paper will x-ray the possible causes and effects of bomb blast, which is an act of terrorism and suggest ways in which Explosive Detection Devices (EDDs) and computer software technology could be deployed to reduce the occurrences of terrorism in Nigeria. This become necessary with the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State from their hostel by members of Boko Haram sect members on 14th April, 2014. Presently, Barrack Obama and other world leaders have sent some of their military personnel to help rescue those innocent schoolgirls whose offence is simply seeking to acquire western education which the sect strongly believe is forbidden.

Keywords: terrorism, bomb blast, computer technology, explosive detection devices, Nigeria

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Authors: Getaneh Berie Tarekegn, Li-Chia Tai

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With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, low-power built-in sensors on Internet of Things devices, and communication technologies, location-aware services have become increasingly popular and have permeated every aspect of people’s lives. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) are the default method of providing continuous positioning services for ground and aerial vehicles, as well as consumer devices (smartphones, watches, notepads, etc.). However, the environment affects satellite positioning systems, particularly indoors, in dense urban and suburban cities enclosed by skyscrapers, or when deep shadows obscure satellite signals. This is because (1) indoor environments are more complicated due to the presence of many objects surrounding them; (2) reflection within the building is highly dependent on the surrounding environment, including the positions of objects and human activity; and (3) satellite signals cannot be reached in an indoor environment, and GNSS doesn't have enough power to penetrate building walls. GPS is also highly power-hungry, which poses a severe challenge for battery-powered IoT devices. Due to these challenges, IoT applications are limited. Consequently, precise, seamless, and ubiquitous Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems are crucial for many artificial intelligence Internet of Things (AI-IoT) applications in the era of smart cities. Their applications include traffic monitoring, emergency alarming, environmental monitoring, location-based advertising, intelligent transportation, and smart health care. This paper proposes a generative AI-based positioning scheme for large-scale wireless settings using fingerprinting techniques. In this article, we presented a novel semi-supervised deep convolutional generative adversarial network (S-DCGAN)-based radio map construction method for real-time device localization. We also employed a reliable signal fingerprint feature extraction method with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), which extracts dominant features while eliminating noise from hybrid WLAN and long-term evolution (LTE) fingerprints. The proposed scheme reduced the workload of site surveying required to build the fingerprint database by up to 78.5% and significantly improved positioning accuracy. The results show that the average positioning error of GAILoc is less than 0.39 m, and more than 90% of the errors are less than 0.82 m. According to numerical results, SRCLoc improves positioning performance and reduces radio map construction costs significantly compared to traditional methods.

Keywords: location-aware services, feature extraction technique, generative adversarial network, long short-term memory, support vector machine

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Authors: Renato Roda

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With the emergence of the so-called 'Knowledge Society', the implementation of policies to attract, grow and retain talents, in an academic context as well, has become critical –both in the perspective of didactics and research and as far as administration and institutional management are concerned. At the same time, the contemporary philanthropic entities/organizations, which are evolving from traditional types of social support towards new styles of aid, envisaged to go beyond mere monetary donations, face the challenge of brand-new forms of complexity in supporting such specific dynamics of the global human capital market. In this sense, it becomes unavoidable for the philanthropic foundation, while carrying out their daily charitable tasks, to resort to innovative ways to facilitate the acquisition and the promotion of talents by academic and research institutions. In order to deepen such a specific perspective, this paper features the case of Turin, former 'factory city' of Italy’s North West, headquarters -and main reference territory- of Italy’s largest and richest private formerly bank-based philanthropic foundation, the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. While it was assessed and classified as 'medium' in the city Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) of 2020, Turin has nevertheless acquired over the past months status of impact laboratory for a whole series of innovation strategies in the competition for the acquisition of excellence human capital. Leading actors of this new city vision are the foundations with their specifically adjusted financial engagement and a consistent role of stimulus towards innovation for research and education institutions.

Keywords: human capital, post-Fordism, private foundation, war on talents

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Authors: Frederick Huie, Lauren Fusfeld, William Burchenal, Scott Howell, Alyssa McVey, Thomas F. Goss

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Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a degenerative brain disease characterized by memory loss and cognitive decline that presents a substantial economic burden for patients and health insurers in the US. This study evaluates the payer budget impact of the DISCERN™ test in the diagnosis and management of patients with symptoms of dementia evaluated for AD. DISCERN™ comprises three assays that assess critical factors related to AD that regulate memory, formation of synaptic connections among neurons, and levels of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain and can provide a quicker, more accurate diagnosis than tests in the current diagnostic pathway (CDP). An Excel-based model with a three-year horizon was developed to assess the budget impact of DISCERN™ compared with CDP in a Medicare Advantage plan with 1M beneficiaries. Model parameters were identified through a literature review and were verified through consultation with clinicians experienced in diagnosis and management of AD. The model assesses direct medical costs/savings for patients based on the following categories: •Diagnosis: costs of diagnosis using DISCERN™ and CDP. •False Negative (FN) diagnosis: incremental cost of care avoidable with a correct AD diagnosis and appropriately directed medication. •True Positive (TP) diagnosis: AD medication costs; cost from a later TP diagnosis with the CDP versus DISCERN™ in the year of diagnosis, and savings from the delay in AD progression due to appropriate AD medication in patients who are correctly diagnosed after a FN diagnosis.•False Positive (FP) diagnosis: cost of AD medication for patients who do not have AD. A one-way sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the effect of varying key clinical and cost parameters ±10%. An additional scenario analysis was developed to evaluate the impact of individual inputs. In the base scenario, DISCERN™ is estimated to decrease costs by $4.75M over three years, equating to approximately $63.11 saved per test per year for a cohort followed over three years. While the diagnosis cost is higher with DISCERN™ than with CDP modalities, this cost is offset by the higher overall costs associated with CDP due to the longer time needed to receive a TP diagnosis and the larger number of patients who receive a FN diagnosis and progress more rapidly than if they had received appropriate AD medication. The sensitivity analysis shows that the three parameters with the greatest impact on savings are: reduced sensitivity of DISCERN™, improved sensitivity of the CDP, and a reduction in the percentage of disease progression that is avoided with appropriate AD medication. A scenario analysis in which DISCERN™ reduces the utilization for patients of computed tomography from 21% in the base case to 16%, magnetic resonance imaging from 37% to 27% and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker testing, positive emission tomography, electroencephalograms, and polysomnography testing from 4%, 5%, 10%, and 8%, respectively, in the base case to 0%, results in an overall three-year net savings of $14.5M. DISCERN™ improves the rate of accurate, definitive diagnosis of AD earlier in the disease and may generate savings for Medicare Advantage plans.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, budget, dementia, diagnosis.

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Authors: Nourhan Hussein Fanaki, Hoda Mohamed Gamal El-Din Omar, Nihal Kadry Moussa, Eva Adel Edward Farid

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The resistance of staphylococci to various antibiotics has become a major concern for health care professionals. The efficacy of the combinations of selected glycopeptides (vancomycin and teicoplanin) with gentamicin or rifampicin, as well as that of gentamicin/rifampicin combination, was studied against selected pathogenic staphylococcus isolated from Egypt. The molecular distribution of genes conferring resistance to these four antibiotics was detected among tested clinical isolates. Antibiotic combinations were studied using the checkerboard technique and the time-kill assay (in both the stationary and log phases). Induction of resistance to glycopeptides in staphylococci was tried in the absence and presence of diclofenac sodium as inducer. Transmission electron microscopy was used to study the effect of glycopeptides on the ultrastructure of the cell wall of staphylococci. Attempts were made to cure gentamicin resistance plasmids and to study the transfer of these plasmids by conjugation. Trials for the transformation of the successfully isolated gentamicin resistance plasmid to competent cells were carried out. The detection of genes conferring resistance to the tested antibiotics was performed using the polymerase chain reaction. The studied antibiotic combinations proved their efficacy, especially when tested during the log phase. Induction of resistance to glycopeptides in staphylococci was more promising in presence of diclofenac sodium, compared to its absence. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the thickening of bacterial cell wall in staphylococcus clinical isolates due to the presence of tested glycopeptides. Curing of gentamicin resistance plasmids was only successful in 2 out of 9 tested isolates, with a curing rate of 1 percent for each. Both isolates, when used as donors in conjugation experiments, yielded promising conjugation frequencies ranging between 5.4 X 10-2 and 7.48 X 10-2 colony forming unit/donor cells. Plasmid isolation was only successful in one out of the two tested isolates. However, low transformation efficiency (59.7 transformants/microgram plasmid DNA) of such plasmids was obtained. Negative regulators of autolysis, such as arlR, lytR and lrgB, as well as cell-wall associated genes, such as pbp4 and/or pbp2, were detected in staphylococcus isolates with reduced susceptibility to the tested glycopeptides. Concerning rifampicin resistance genes, rpoBstaph was detected in 75 percent of the tested staphylococcus isolates. It could be concluded that in vitro studies emphasized the usefulness of the combination of vancomycin or teicoplanin with gentamicin or rifampicin, as well as that of gentamicin with rifampicin, against staphylococci showing varying resistance patterns. However, further in vivo studies are required to ensure the safety and efficacy of such combinations. Diclofenac sodium can act as an inducer of resistance to glycopeptides in staphylococci. Cell-wall thickness is a major contributor to such resistance among them. Gentamicin resistance in these strains could be chromosomally or plasmid mediated. Multiple mutations in the rpoB gene could mediate staphylococcus resistance to rifampicin.

Keywords: glycopeptides, combinations, induction, diclofenac, transmission electron microscopy, polymerase chain reaction

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Authors: Neeraj Vij, Amber Brennan, Jenni Winters, Hadi Salehi, Hamy Temkit, Emily Andrisevic, Mohan V. Belthur

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Idiopathic clubfoot is a common lower extremity deformity with an incidence of 1:500. The Ponseti Method is well known as the gold standard of treatment. However, there is limited functional data demonstrating correction of the clubfoot after treatment with the Ponseti method. The purpose of this study was to study the clinical and functional outcomes after the Ponseti method with the Clubfoot Disease-Specific Instrument (CDS) and pedobarography. This IRB-approved prospective study included patients aged 3-18 who were treated for idiopathic clubfoot with the Ponseti method between January 2008 and December 2018. Age-matched controls were identified through siblings of clubfoot patients and other community members. Treatment details were collected through a chart review of the included patients. Laboratory assessment included a physical exam, gait analysis, and pedobarography. The Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument and the Clubfoot Disease-Specific Instrument were also obtained on clubfoot patients (CF). The Wilcoxson rank-sum test was used to study differences between the CF patients and the typically developing (TD) patients. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. There were a total of 37 enrolled patients in our study. 21 were priorly treated for CF and 16 were TD. 94% of the CF patients had bilateral involvement. The age at the start of treatment was 29 days, the average total number of casts was seven to eight, and the average total number of casts after Achilles tenotomy was one. The reoccurrence rate was 25%, tenotomy was required in 94% of patients, and ≥1 tenotomy was required in 25% of patients. There were no significant differences between step length, step width, stride length, force-time integral, maximum peak pressure, foot progression angles, stance phase time, single-limb support time, double limb support time, and gait cycle time between children treated with the Ponseti method and typically developing children. The average post-treatment Pirani and Dimeglio scores were 5.50±0.58 and 15.29±1.58, respectively. The average post-treatment PODCI subscores were: Upper Extremity: 90.28, Transfers: 94.6, Sports: 86.81, Pain: 86.20, Happiness: 89.52, Global: 88.6. The average post-treatment Clubfoot Disease-Specific Instrument scores subscores were: Satisfaction: 73.93, Function: 80.32, Overall: 78.41. The Ponseti Method has a very high success rate and remains to be the gold standard in the treatment of idiopathic clubfoot. Timely management leads to good outcomes and a low need for repeated Achilles tenotomy. Children treated with the Ponseti method demonstrate good functional outcomes as measured through pedobarography. Pedobarography may have clinical utility in studying congenital foot deformities. Objective measures for hours of brace wear could represent an improvement in clubfoot care.

Keywords: functional outcomes, pediatric deformity, patient-reported outcomes, talipes equinovarus

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Authors: Daniel Tscharnuter, Eliza Truszkiewicz, Gerald Pinter

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High-quality surfaces of plastic parts can be achieved in a very cost-effective manner using in-mold processes, where e.g. scratch resistant or high gloss polymer films are pre-formed and subsequently receive their support structure by injection molding. The pre-forming may be done by high-pressure forming. In this process, a polymer sheet is heated and subsequently formed into the mold by pressurized air. Due to the heat transfer to the cooled mold the polymer temperature drops below its glass transition temperature. This ensures that the deformed microstructure is retained after depressurizing, giving the sheet its final formed shape. The development of a forming process relies heavily on the experience of engineers and trial-and-error procedures. Repeated mold design and testing cycles are however both time- and cost-intensive. It is, therefore, desirable to study the process using reliable computer simulations. Through simulations, the construction of the mold and the effect of various process parameters, e.g. temperature levels, non-uniform heating or timing and magnitude of pressure, on the deformation of the polymer sheet can be analyzed. Detailed knowledge of the deformation is particularly important in the forming of polymer films with integrated electro-optical functions. Care must be taken in the placement of devices, sensors and electrical and optical paths, which are far more sensitive to deformation than the polymers. Reliable numerical prediction of the deformation of the polymer sheets requires sophisticated material models. Polymer films are often either transversely isotropic or orthotropic due to molecular orientations induced during manufacturing. The anisotropic behavior affects the resulting strain field in the deformed film. For example, parts of the same shape but different strain fields may be created by varying the orientation of the film with respect to the mold. The numerical simulation of the high-pressure forming of such films thus requires material models that can capture the nonlinear anisotropic mechanical behavior. There are numerous commercial polymer grades for the engineers to choose from when developing a new part. The effort required for comprehensive material characterization may be prohibitive, especially when several materials are candidates for a specific application. We, therefore, propose a class of models for compressible hyperelasticity, which may be determined from basic experimental data and which can capture key features of the mechanical response. Invariant-based hyperelastic models with a reduced number of invariants are formulated in a semi-numerical way, such that the models are determined from a single uniaxial tensile tests for isotropic materials, or two tensile tests in the principal directions for transversely isotropic or orthotropic materials. The simulation of the high pressure forming of an orthotropic polymer film is finally done using an orthotropic formulation of the hyperelastic model.

Keywords: hyperelastic, anisotropic, polymer film, thermoforming

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Authors: Nasrin Badrkhani

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Teaching is an interaction between the teacher, student, and the concept being taught, especially within the classroom setting. As society increasingly values thoughtful and creative individuals, there is a growing need to adopt modern, active teaching methods. These methods should engage students in activities that foster problem-solving, creativity, cooperation, and scientific thinking skills. Modern teaching methods emphasize student involvement, gradual and continuous learning (process-centered approaches), and holistic evaluation of students' abilities and talents. A shift from teacher-centered to student-centered teaching is crucial. Among these modern methods are group work, role-playing, group discussions, and activities that engage students in evaluating societal values. This research employs a survey and a 38-question Likert scale questionnaire to explore teachers' perspectives on the impact of modern teaching methods on the quality of education. The study also examines the relationship between these perspectives and variables such as gender, major, and teaching experience. The statistical population consists of high school teachers in Shiraz, Iran, with sampling done using the Morgan table. Discriminant analysis was used for the initial analysis of the questions, and Cronbach's Alpha test was employed for the final examination. SPSS Software was used for statistical analysis, including T-tests and one-way ANOVA. The results indicate that teachers in this city generally have positive attitudes towards the use of modern teaching methods, except when it comes to engaging in judgments concerning societal values. There is no significant difference in viewpoints based on gender or educational background. The findings are consistent with similar studies conducted both within Iran and internationally.

Keywords: learning, modern methods, student, teacher, teaching

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Authors: Rachel M. Edelstein, John D. Van Horn, Karen M. Schmidt, Sydney N. Cushing

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As a consequence of sports-related concussions, female athletes have been documented as reporting more symptoms than their male counterparts, in addition to incurring longer periods of recovery. However, the role of sex and its potential influence on symptom reporting and recovery outcomes in concussion management has not been completely explored. The present aims to investigate the relationship between female concussion symptom severity and the presence of assessment bias. The Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 3 (SCAT3), collected by the NCAA and DoD CARE Consortium, was quantified at five different time points post-concussion. N= 1,258 NCAA athletes, n= 473 female (soccer, rugby, lacrosse, ice hockey) and n=785 male athletes (football, rugby, lacrosse, ice hockey). A polytomous Item Response Theory (IRT) Graded Response Model (GRM) was used to assess the relationship between sex and symptom reporting. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) and Differential Group Functioning (DGF) were used to examine potential group-level bias. Interactions for DIF were utilized to explore the impact of sex on symptom reporting among NCAA male and female athletes throughout and after their concussion recovery. DIF was significantly detected after B-H corrections displayed in limited items; however, one symptom, “Pressure in Head” (-0.29, p=0.04 vs -0.20, p =0.04), was statistically significant at both < 6 hours and 24-48 hours. Thus, implies that at < 6 hours, males were 29% less likely to indicate “Pressure in the Head” compared to female athletes and 20% less likely at 24-48 hours. Overall, the DGF suggested significant group differences, suggesting that male athletes might be at a higher risk for returning to play prematurely (logits = -0.38, p < 0.001). However, after analyzing the SCAT 3, a clinically relevant trend was discovered. Twelve out of the twenty-two symptoms suggest higher difficulty in female athletes within three or more of the five-time points. These symptoms include Balance Problems, Blurry Vision, Confusion, Dizziness, Don’t Feel Right, Feel in Fog, Feel Slow Down, Low Energy, Neck Pain, Sensitivity to Light, Sensitivity to Noise, Trouble Falling Asleep. Despite a lack of statistical significance, this tendency is contrary to current literature stating that males may be unclear on symptoms, but females may be more honest in reporting symptoms. Further research, which includes possible modifying socioecological factors, is needed to determine whether females may consistently experience more symptoms and require longer recovery times or if, parsimoniously, males tend to present their symptoms and readiness for play differently than females. Such research will help to improve the validity of current assumptions concerning male as compared to female head injuries and optimize individualized treatments for sports-related head injuries.

Keywords: female athlete, sports-related concussion, item response theory, concussion assessment

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Authors: Claudia Martínez-Araneda, Mariella Gutiérrez, Pedro Gómez, Diego Maldonado, Alejandra Segura, Christian Vidal-Castro

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The purpose of this document is to showcase the preliminary work in developing an EduChatbot-type tool and measuring the effects of its use aimed at providing effective feedback to students in programming courses. This bot, hereinafter referred to as tutorBot+, was constructed based on chatGPT and is tasked with assisting and delivering timely positive feedback to students in the field of computer science at the Universidad Católica de Concepción. The proposed working method consists of four stages: (1) Immersion in the domain of Large Language Models (LLMs), (2) Development of the tutorBot+ prototype and integration, (3) Experiment design, and (4) Intervention. The first stage involves a literature review on the use of artificial intelligence in education and the evaluation of intelligent tutors, as well as research on types of feedback for learning and the domain of chatGPT. The second stage encompasses the development of tutorBot+, and the final stage involves a quasi-experimental study with students from the Programming and Database labs, where the learning outcome involves the development of computational thinking skills, enabling the use and measurement of the tool's effects. The preliminary results of this work are promising, as a functional chatBot prototype has been developed in both conversational and non-conversational versions integrated into an open-source online judge and programming contest platform system. There is also an exploration of the possibility of generating a custom model based on a pre-trained one tailored to the domain of programming. This includes the integration of the created tool and the design of the experiment to measure its utility.

Keywords: assessment, chatGPT, learning strategies, LLMs, timely feedback

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Authors: A. Cittadino, P. Gantes, C. Coviella, M. Casset, A. Sanchez Caro

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Three currently active landfills receive the waste from Buenos Aires city and the Great Buenos Aires suburbs. One of the first landfills to receive solid waste from this area was located in Villa Dominico, some 7 km south from Buenos Aires City. With an area of some 750 ha, including riparian habitats, divided into 14 cells, it received solid wastes from June 1979 through February 2004. In December 2010, a biological monitoring program was set up by CEAMSE and Universidad Nacional de Lujan, still operational to date. The aim of the monitoring program is to assess the state of several biological groups within the landfill and to follow their dynamics overtime in order to identify if any, early signs of damage the landfill activities might have over the biota present. Bird and rodent populations, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates’ populations, cells vegetation coverage, and surrounding areas vegetation coverage and main composition are followed by quarterly samplings. Bird species richness and abundance were estimated by observation over walk transects on each environment. A total of 74 different species of birds were identified. Species richness and diversity were high for both riparian surrounding areas and within the landfill. Several grassland -typical of the 'Pampa'- bird species were found within the landfill, as well as some migratory and endangered bird species. Sherman and Tomahawk traps are set overnight for small mammal sampling. Rodent populations are just above detection limits, and the few specimens captured belong mainly to species common to rural areas, instead of city-dwelling species. The two marsupial species present in the region were captured on occasions. Aquatic macroinvertebrates were sampled on a watercourse upstream and downstream the outlet of the landfill’s wastewater treatment plant and are used to follow water quality using biological indices. Water quality ranged between weak and severe pollution; benthic invertebrates sampled before and after the landfill, show no significant differences in water quality using the IBMWP index. Insect biota from yellow sticky cards and pitfall traps showed over 90 different morphospecies, with Shannon diversity index running from 1.9 to 3.9, strongly affected by the season. An easy-to-perform non-expert demandant method was used to assess vegetation coverage. Two scales of determination are utilized: field observation (1 m resolution), and Google Earth images (that allow for a better than 5 m resolution). Over the eight year period of the study, vegetation coverage over the landfill cells run from a low 83% to 100% on different cells, with an average between 95 to 99% for the entire landfill depending on seasonality. Surrounding area vegetation showed almost 100% coverage during the entire period, with an average density from 2 to 6 species per sq meter and no signs of leachate damaged vegetation.

Keywords: biological indicators, biota monitoring, landfill species diversity, waste management

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Authors: Jerome Osentowski

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The objective at Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute has been to put in practice a sustainable way of life while growing food, medicine, and providing education. This has been done by applying methods of farming such as agroforestry, forest farming, and perennial polycultures. These methods have been found to be regenerative to the environment through carbon sequestration, soil-building, climate change mitigation, and the provision of food security. After 30 years of implementing carbon farming methods, the results are agro-diversity, self-sustaining systems, and a consistent provision of food and medicine. These results are exhibited through polyculture plantings in an outdoor forest garden spanning roughly an acre containing about 200 varieties of fruits, nuts, nitrogen-fixing trees, and medicinal herbs, and two indoor forest garden greenhouses (one Mediterranean and one Tropical) containing about 50 varieties of tropical fruits, beans, herbaceous plants and more. While the climate zone outside the greenhouse is 6, the tropical forest garden greenhouse retains an indoor climate zone of 11 with near-net-zero energy consumption through the use of a climate battery, allowing the greenhouse to serve as a year-round food producer. The effort to source food from the forest gardens is minimal compared to annual crop production. The findings at Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute conclude that agroecological methods are not only beneficial but necessary in order to revive and regenerate the environment and food security.

Keywords: agroecology, agroforestry, carbon farming, carbon sequestration, climate battery, food security, forest farming, forest garden, greenhouse, near-net-zero, perennial polycultures

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Authors: Shang Yee Chong

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Perioperative pain is a complex mechanism activated by various nociceptive, neuropathic, and inflammatory pathways. Opioids have long been a mainstay for analgesia in this period, even as we are continuously moving towards a multimodal model to improve pain control while minimising side effects. Dexmedetomidine, a potent alpha-2 agonist, is a useful sedative and hypnotic agent. Its use in the intensive care unit has been well described, and it is increasingly an adjunct intraoperatively for its opioid sparing effects and to decrease pain scores. We describe a case of a general surgical patient in whom minimal opioids was required with dexmedetomidine use. The patient was a 61-year-old Indian gentleman with a history of hyperlipidaemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus, presenting with rectal adenocarcinoma detected on colonoscopy. He was scheduled for a robotic ultra-low anterior resection. The patient was induced with intravenous fentanyl 75mcg, propofol 160mg and atracurium 40mg. He was intubated conventionally and mechanically ventilated. Anaesthesia was maintained with inhalational desflurane and anaesthetic depth was measured with the Masimo EEG Sedline brain function monitor. An initial intravenous dexmedetomidine dose (bolus) of 1ug/kg for 10 minutes was given prior to anaesthetic induction and thereafter, an infusion of 0.2-0.4ug/kg/hr to the end of surgery. In addition, a bolus dose of intravenous lignocaine 1.5mg/kg followed by an infusion at 1mg/kg/hr throughout the surgery was administered. A total of 10mmol of magnesium sulphate and intravenous paracetamol 1000mg were also given for analgesia. There were no significant episodes of bradycardia or hypotension. A total of intravenous phenylephrine 650mcg was given throughout to maintain the patient’s mean arterial pressure within 10-15mmHg of baseline. The surgical time lasted for 5 hours and 40minutes. Postoperatively the patient was reversed and extubated successfully. He was alert and comfortable and pain scores were minimal in the immediate post op period in the postoperative recovery unit. Time to first analgesia was 4 hours postoperatively – with paracetamol 1g administered. This was given at 6 hourly intervals strictly for 5 days post surgery, along with celecoxib 200mg BD as prescribed by the surgeon regardless of pain scores. Oral oxycodone was prescribed as a rescue analgesic for pain scores > 3/10, but the patient did not require any dose. Neither was there nausea or vomiting. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 5. This case has reinforced the use of dexmedetomidine as an adjunct in general surgery cases, highlighting its excellent opioid-sparing effects. In the entire patient’s hospital stay, the only dose of opioid he received was 75mcg of fentanyl at the time of anaesthetic induction. The patient suffered no opioid adverse effects such as nausea, vomiting or postoperative ileus, and pain scores varied from 0-2/10. However, intravenous lignocaine infusion was also used in this instance, which would have helped improve pain scores. Paracetamol, lignocaine, and dexmedetomidine is thus an effective, opioid-sparing combination of multi-modal analgesia for major abdominal surgery cases.

Keywords: analgesia, dexmedetomidine, general surgery, opioid sparing

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Authors: C. O’Brien, Chloe Reiss

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While South Africa has been the chosen host country for over 1,2 million asylum seekers/refugees it has at the same time, been struggling to address the needs of its own people who are still trapped in poverty with little prospects of employment. This limited exploratory, qualitative study was undertaken in Cape Town with a purposive sample of 21 key personnel from various NPOs providing a service to asylum seekers/refugees. Individual in-depth face to face interviews were carried out and the main findings were: Some of the officials at the Department of Home Affairs, health personnel, landlords, school principals, employers, bank officials and police officers were prejudicial in their practices towards asylum seekers/ refugees. The major constraints experienced by NPOs in this study were linked to a lack of funding and minimal government support, strained relationship with the Department of Home Affairs and difficulties in accessing refugees. And finally, the strategies adopted by these NPOs included networking with other service providers, engaging in advocacy, raising community awareness and liaising with government. Thus, more focused intervention strategies are needed to build social cohesion, address prejudices which fuels xenophobic attacks and raise awareness/educate various sectors about refugee rights. Given this burgeoning global problem, social work education and training should include curriculum content on migrant issues. Furthermore, larger studies using mixed methodology approaches would yield more nuanced data and provide for more strategic interventions.

Keywords: refugees and asylum seekers, constraints of service delivery, non-profit organisations, refugee challenges

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Authors: Alexander Suuk Laar, Emmanuel Bekyieriya, Sylvester Isang, Benjamin Baguune

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Introduction: In Ghana, despite the implementation of strategies and initiatives to ensure universal access to reproductive health and family planning (FP) services for the past two decades, interventions have not adequately addressed the access and utilization needs of women of reproductive age, especially in rural Ghana. To improve access and use of reproductive and maternal health services in Ghana, a free maternal care exemption policy under the universal health coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme was implemented in 2005. Despite the importance of FP, this service was left out of the benefit package of the policy. Low or no use of FP services is often associated with poor health among women. However, to date, there has been limited research on perspectives of women for not making FP services as part of the benefit package of the free maternal health services. This qualitative study explored perceptions of women on the comprehensiveness of the free maternal health benefit package and the effects on utilisation of services in the rural Upper West region of Ghana to improve services. Methods: This exploratory qualitative study used focus group discussions with pregnant and lactating women in three rural districts in the Upper West region of Ghana. Six focus groups were held with both pregnant women and lactating mothers at the time of the interview. Three focus group discussions were organised with the same category of women in each district. We used a purposive sampling procedure to select the participants from the districts. The interviews with the written consent of the participants lasted between 60 minutes and 120 minutes. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke thematic framework guidelines. Results: This research presents an in-depth account of women's perceptions on the effects associated with the uptake of FP services and its exclusion from the benefit package of the free maternal health policy. Our study found that participants did not support the exclusion of FP services in the benefit package. Participants mentioned factors hampering their access to and use of FP and contraceptive services to include the cost of services, distance and cost of transport to health facilities, lack of knowledge about FP services, socio-cultural norms and negative attitude of healthcare professionals. Participants are of the view that making FP services part of the benefit package could have addressed the cost aspect of services which act as the main barrier to improve the use of services by poor rural women. Conclusion: Women of reproductive age face cost barriers that limit their access to and use of FP and contraception services in the rural Upper West region of Ghana and need health policymakers to revise the free maternal health package to include FP services. It is essential for policymakers to begin considering revising the free maternal health policy benefit package to include FP services to help address the cost barrier for rural poor women to use services.

Keywords: benefit package, free maternal policy, women, Ghana, rural Upper West Region, Universal Health Coverage.

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Authors: Houda Zouar, Hanane Sarnou

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In the 21st, century the concept of learners' autonomy is crucial. The concept of self-regulated learning has come forward as a result of enabling learners to direct their learning with autonomy towards academic goals achievement. Academic self-regulation is defined as the process by which learners systematically plan, monitor and asses their learning to achieve their academic established goals. In the field of English as a foreign language, teachers emphasise the role of learners’ autonomy to foster the process of English language learning. Consequently, academic self-regulation is considered as a vehicle to enhance autonomy among English language learners. However, not all learners can be equally self-regulators if not well assisted, mainly those novice pupils of basic education. For this matter, understanding the role of teachers in fostering academic self- regulation must be among the preliminary objectives in searching and developing this area. The present research work targets the role of the Algerian middle school teachers in enhancing academic self-regulation and teaching pupils how to learn, besides their role as models in the trajectory of teaching their pupils to become self-regulators. Despite the considerable endeavours in the field of educational setting on Self-Regulated Learning, the literature of the Algerian context indicates confined endeavours to undertake and divulge this notion. To go deeper into this study, a mixed method approach was employed to confirm our hypothesis. For data collection, teachers were observed and addressed by a questionnaire on their role in enhancing academic self- regulation among their pupils. The result of the research indicates that the attempts of middle school Algerian teachers are implicit and limited. This study emphasises the need to prepare English language teachers with the necessary skills to promote autonomous and self-regulator English learners.

Keywords: Algeria, English as a foreign language, middle school, self-regulation, Teachers' role

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Authors: M. J. Geca, T. Tulwin, A. Majczak

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On-board electricity consumption in the diesel city bus during operation is an important energy source. Electricity is generated by a combustion engine-driven alternator. Increased fuel consumption to generate on-board electricity in the bus has a negative impact on the emission of toxic components and carbon dioxide. At the same time, the bus roof surface allows placing a set of lightweight photovoltaic panels with power from 1 to 1.5 kW. The article presents an experimental study of electricity consumption of a city bus with diesel engine equipped with photovoltaic installation. The stream of electricity consumed by the bus and generated by a standard alternator and PV system was recorded. Base on the experimental research carried out in central Europe; the article analyses the impact of an additional source of electricity in the form of a photovoltaic installation on fuel consumption and emissions of toxic components of vehicles located in the latitude of Sydney. In Poland, the maximum global value of horizontal irradiation GHI is 1150 kWh/m², while for Sydney 1652 kWh/m². In addition, the profile of temperature and sunshine per year is different for these two different latitudes as presented in the article. Electricity generated directly from the sun powers the bus's electrical receivers. The photovoltaic system is able to replace 23% of annual electricity consumption, which at the same time will reduce 4% of fuel consumption and CO₂ reduction. Approximately 25% of the light is lost during vehicle traffic in Sydney latitude. The temperature losses of photovoltaic panels are comparable due to the cooling during vehicle motion. Acknowledgement: The project/research was financed in the framework of the project Lublin University of Technology - Regional Excellence Initiative, funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (contract no. 030/RID/2018/19).

Keywords: electric energy, photovoltaic system, fuel consumption, CO₂

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Authors: Nkereke M. Essien

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The intention of this paper is to examine stress in the Educated Nigerian Accent of English (ENAE) with the aim of analyzing stress and rhythmic patterns of Nigerian English. Our aim also is to isolate differences and similarities in the stress patterns studied and also know what forms the accent of these Educated Nigerian English (ENE) which marks them off from other groups or English’s of the world, to ascertain and characterize it and to provide documented evidence for its existence. Nigerian stress and rhythmic patterns are significantly different from the British English stress and rhythmic patterns consequently, the educated Nigerian English (ENE) features more stressed syllables than the native speakers’ varieties. The excessive stressed of syllables causes a contiguous “Ss” in the rhythmic flow of ENE, and this brings about a “jerky rhythm’ which distorts communication. To ascertain this claim, ten (10) Nigerian speakers who are educated in the English Language were selected by a stratified Random Sampling technique from two Federal Universities in Nigeria. This classification belongs to the education to the educated class or standard variety. Their performance was compared to that of a Briton (control). The Metrical system of analysis was used. The respondents were made to read some words and utterance which was recorded and analyzed perceptually, statistically and acoustically using the one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The Turky-Kramer Post Hoc test, the Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Signed Ranks test, and the Praat analysis software were used in the analysis. It was revealed from our findings that the Educated Nigerian English speakers feature more stressed syllables in their productions by spending more time in pronouncing stressed syllables and sometimes lesser time in pronouncing the unstressed syllables. Their overall tempo was faster. The ENE speakers used tone to mark prominence while the native speaker used stress to mark pronounce, typified by the control. We concluded that the stress pattern of the ENE speakers was significantly different from the native speaker’s variety represented by the control’s performance.

Keywords: accent, Nigerian English, rhythm, stress

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Authors: Lennon Furtado, Sandro Oliveira

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The importance of an effective measurement program lies in the ability to control and predict what can be measured. Thus, the measurement program has the capacity to provide bases in decision-making to support the interests of an organization. Therefore, it is only possible to apply for an effective measurement program with a team of software engineers well trained in the measurement area. However, the literature indicates that are few computer science courses that have in their program the teaching of the software measurement process. And even these, generally present only basic theoretical concepts of said process and little or no measurement in practice, which results in the student's lack of motivation to learn the measurement process. In this context, according to some experts in software process improvements, one of the most used approaches to maintaining the motivation and commitment to software process improvements program is the use of the gamification. Therefore, this paper aims to present a proposal of teaching the measurement process by gamification. Which seeks to improve student motivation and performance in the assimilation of tasks related to software measurement, by incorporating elements of games into the practice of measurement process, making it more attractive for learning. And as a way of validating the proposal will be made a comparison between two distinct groups of 20 students of Software Quality class, a control group, and an experiment group. The control group will be the students that will not make use of the gamification proposal to learn software measurement process, while the experiment group, will be the students that will make use of the gamification proposal to learn software measurement process. Thus, this paper will analyze the objective and subjective results of each group. And as objective result will be analyzed the student grade reached at the end of the course, and as subjective results will be analyzed a post-course questionnaire with the opinion of each student about the teaching method. Finally, this paper aims to prove or refute the following hypothesis: If the gamification proposal to teach software measurement process does appropriate motivate the student, in order to attribute the necessary competence to the practical application of the measurement process.

Keywords: education, gamification, software measurement process, software engineering

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Authors: N. G. Klivleyeva, T. I. Glebova, G. V. Lukmanova, S. B. Bayseit, S. Z. Taubaeva, M. K. Kalkozhaeva

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The role of viral diseases in the general infectious disease incidence increases every year and requires special attention to the problem of interpreting the etiology of infectious agents. Influenza and acute respiratory viral infections are one of the most pressing public health issues. In the period 2012-2014, collection of 419 nasal swabs and 150 blood sera has been carried out in the patient care institutions of the various Kazakhstan regions from patients with symptoms of ARVI and pneumonia. Primary identification of biosamples for the presence of influenza viral antigens in enzyme immunoassay on nitrocellulose membrane gave positive results in 125 swabs (29.8%). Biosample screening in immunofluorescence test revealed the presence of influenza viral antigens against A/H1 in 63 samples (15.0%), A/H3 – in 70 samples (16.7%) and type B – in 9 samples (2.1%). As a result of primary infection, and successive passages in chick embryos and MDCK cell cultures, 38 HAAg were isolated from 419 samples with a clear cytopathic effect and hemagglutination titre in MDCK cell culture within 1:2-1:4, in CE - 1:8-1:256. The infectivity of isolates in chicken embryos were 3.5-6.5 lg EID50/0.2, in MDCK cell culture – 2.5-6.5 lg PFU/ml. Identification of 28 isolates was carried out in inhibition reactions of hemagglutinating activity and neuraminidase activity, showed their belonging to the influenza virus: 26 strains to A/H1N1, one - to A/H3N2, and one - to type B. Serological examination of blood sera for the presence of specific antibodies being an indirect evidence of the performed isolation and contributing to the timely interpretation of the disease etiology in the epidemics takes an important place in the comprehensive study of influenza viruses circulating among people. Serological analyzes were carried out in HAI assay using a kit consisting of 12 reference strains obtained from the WHO centre for reference and research on Influenza (CDC, Atlanta, USA) and three Kazakhstan (A/Almaty/347/09 (H1N1v), A/Almaty/462/11 (H3N2) and B/Almaty/414/10) human influenza viruses that are stored in the laboratory collection. The results of serological analysis of 150 blood sera showed that antihaemagglutinins against the A/H3N2 virus serosubtype were found in 46 samples (49.4%) out of 93 sera collected in 2012-2013. The antibody titres were within 1:160-1:320. 19 sera (20.4%) were seropositive against influenza A/H1N1 virus, the antibodies were observed in titres of 1:20-1:40. Six sera (6.4%) were positive against the influenza A/H1N1+A/H3N2 virus (mixed infection); the antibodies were recorded in titres of 1:20-1:40. Antihaemagglutinins against influenza type B virus were detected only in five sera (5.4%). The results of analysis of 57 sera collected in 2014 showed that antihaemagglutinins against A/H3N2 virus subtype were detected in 32 blood sera (56.1%) in titres of 1:160-1:640. Ten sera (17.5%) were seropositive against A/H1N1 virus; antihaemagglutinins against influenza type B virus were not detected. Therefore, virological and serological studies have shown that in Kazakhstan, as well as in the world, the influenza viruses A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and influenza B viruses were actively circulating during the epidemic seasons in 2012-2014.

Keywords: influenza, MDCK cell, serological analysis, virus

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Authors: Charlotte Bose Iro-Idoro, Adebisi Folake Osore, Tajudeen Adisa Jimoh

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All changes in the office environment were and are still driven by advances in technology. The impact of computers on office work has resulted in numerous changes in office activities, procedures and the expectations from office managers and secretaries. This study investigated the level of knowledge and use of computer office application packages by secretaries and office managers in higher educational institutions in Ogun State and the implications of these on their performance enhancement. The study is an ex post facto research and adopted the survey design for the collection of data. Two hypotheses were formulated, and a questionnaire was developed and tested at 0.05 level of significance. All office managers and secretaries in the service of higher educational institutions in Ogun State, Nigeria formed the population of the study. The study was limited to federal institutions and a total of 120 office managers/secretaries were selected to form the sample such that 40 office managers/secretaries were randomly selected from each of the three Federal higher institutions in the State, that is Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro and Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, Ogun State. Analysis of data and hypotheses tests were carried out with frequency counts, percentage and T-Test. The result indicated varying levels of awareness on office application tools with limited knowledge and use of computer application packages by office managers/secretaries. The results also showed that good knowledge and high use of office application tools enhance performance of office managers/secretaries. The study recommended that there should be maximum institutional resources and support and personal development on the part of the office managers to ensure update knowledge and maximal use of office application tools by office managers/secretaries.

Keywords: application packages, computer, office managers, performance enhancement

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Authors: Ammar Asma, Bouafia Nabiha, Dhahri Meriem, Ben Cheikh Asma, Ezzi Olfa, Chafai Rim, Njah Mansour

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Despite recent advances in treatment of the lung cancer patients, the prognosis remains poor. Information is limited regarding health related quality of life (QOL) status of advanced lung cancer patients. The purposes of this study were: to assess patient reported symptom burden, to measure their QOL, and to identify determinant factors associated with QOL. Materials/Methods: A cross sectional study of 60 patients was carried out from over the period of 03 months from February 1st to 30 April 2016. Patients were recruited in two department of health care: Pneumology department in a university hospital in Sousse and an oncology unit in a University Hospital in Kairouan. Patients with advanced stage (III and IV) of lung cancer who were hospitalized or admitted in the day hospital were recruited by convenience sampling. We used a questionnaire administrated and completed by a trained interviewer. This questionnaire is composed of three parts: demographic, clinical and therapeutic information’s, QOL measurements: based on the SF-36 questionnaire, Symptom’s burden measurement using the Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS). To assess Correlation between symptoms burden and QOL, we compared the scores of two scales two by two using the Pearson correlation. To identify factors influencing QOL in Lung cancer, a univariate statistical analysis then, a stepwise backward approach, wherein the variables with p< 0.2, were carried out to determine the association between SF-36 scores and different variables. Results: During the study period, 60 patients consented to complete symptom and quality of life questionnaires at a single point time (72% were recruited from day hospital). The majority of patients were male (88%), age ranged from 21 to 79 years with a mean of 60.5 years. Among patients, 48 (80%) were diagnosed as having non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Approximately, 60 % (n=36) of patients were in stage IV, 25 % in stage IIIa and 15 % in stage IIIb. For symptom burden, the symptom burden index was 43.07 (Standard Deviation, 21.45). Loss of appetite and fatigue were rated as the most severe symptoms with mean scores (SD): 49.6 (25.7) and 58.2 (15.5). The average overall score of SF36 was 39.3 (SD, 15.4). The physical and emotional limitations had the lowest scores. Univariate analysis showed that factors which influence negatively QOL were: married status (p<0.03), smoking cessation after diagnosis (p<0.024), LCSS total score (p<0.001), LCSS symptom burden index (p<0.001), fatigue (p<0.001), loss of appetite (p<0.001), dyspnea (p<0.001), pain (p<0.002), and metastatic stage (p<0.01). In multivariate analysis, unemployment (p<0.014), smoking cessation after diagnosis (p<0.013), consumption of analgesic (p<0.002) and the indication of an analgesic radiotherapy (p<0.001) are revealed as independent determinants of QOL. The result of the correlation analyses between total LCSS scores and the total and individual domain SF36 scores was significant (p<0.001); the higher total LCSS score is, the poorer QOL is. Conclusion: A built in support of lung cancer patients would better control the symptoms and promote the QOL of these patients.

Keywords: quality of life, lung cancer, metastasis, symptoms burden

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Authors: A. M. Maruthesh, B. M. Anandakumar, O. Kumara, Akshatha Gombi, S. R. Rajini

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Women play a vital role in ensuring proper development and growth of children. They also contribute significantly towards income generation, food preparation and health. Nutritional status reflects the health of a person and is influenced by the quality of foods eaten and the ability of the body to utilize these foods to meet its needs it is affected by various socio-economic factors including income, family size, occupation and educational status of the people. The study was undertaken on nutritional status of rural women in Heggadehalli of Doddaballapurtaluk and Venkathalli of Devanahallitaluk in Bengaluru rural district with the sample size of 200 respondents. The prevalence of symptoms of malnutrition in a community is in turn a reflection of dietary consumption of its members. Mean anthropometric measurement of rural women were 153.8 cm of height, 46.8 kg of weight. In comparison with the mean BMI standards, it was observed that 20 percent of women were under nourished, 64 percent of women were normal and 16 percent women were obese. In comparison with the mean waist/hip ratio with standards, it was observed that 84 percent were in normal category and 16 percent were obese. Education, land holding, income and age had significant positive association with anthropometric measurements of rural women. The deficient level of haemoglobin existed in 53 percent of rural women, low in 20 percent and only 27 percent had acceptable level. The occurrence of morbidity symptoms was higher in rural women, its illness reported among women in the study were pain in hands and legs, backache, headache, pain in abdomen, fever, weakness, cold and cough and acidity. This may be due to considerable amount of workload on women who spend 8 to 9 hours at work and after returning continue their day’s work at home also.

Keywords: anthrometry, body index, hemoglobin, nutrient deficiency, rural women, nutritional status

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Authors: Amna I. Shibeika, Batoul Y. Hittini, Tasneem B. Abd Bakri

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Regulation and integration of public policy, economy, insurance industry, education, and construction stakeholders are the main contributors to achieve sustainable development. Building environmental assessment methods were introduced in the field to address issues such as global warming and conservation of natural resources. In the UAE, Estidama framework with its associated Pearl Building Rating System (PBRS) has been introduced in 2010 to address and spread sustainability practices within the country’s fast-growing built environment. Based on literature review of relevant studies investigating different project characteristics that influence sustainability outcomes, this paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding the adoption of PBRS in UAE projects. The framework also draws on Diffusion of Innovations theory to address the questions of how the assessment method is chosen in the first place and what is the impact of PBRS on the multi-disciplinary design and construction processes. The study highlights the mandatory nature of the adoption of PBRS for government buildings as well as imbedding Estidama principles within Abu Dhabi building codes as key factors for raising awareness about sustainable practices. Moreover, several project-related elements are addressed to understand their relationship with the adoption process, including project team collaboration; communication and coordination; levels of commitment and engagement; and the involvement of key actors as sustainability champions. This conceptualization of the adoption of PBRS in UAE projects contributes to the growing literature on the adoption of energy assessment tools and addresses the UAE vision is to be at the forefront of innovative sustainable development by 2021.

Keywords: adoption, building assessment, design management, innovation, sustainability

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Authors: Samuel Sii, David Homewood, Brendan Dittmer, Tony Nzembela, Jonathan O’Brien, Niall Corcoran, Dinesh Agarwal

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Introduction: Innovation is key to the advancement of medicine and improvement in patient care. This is particularly true in surgery, where pioneering techniques have transformed operative management from a historically highly risky peri-morbid and disfiguring to the contemporary low-risk, sterile and minimally invasive treatment modality. There is a delicate balance between enabling innovation and minimizing patient harm. Publication and discussion of novel surgical techniques allow for independent expert review. Recent journals have increasingly stringent requirements for publications and often require larger case volumes for novel techniques to be published. This potentially impairs the initial publication of novel techniques and slows innovation. The historical perspective provides a better understanding of how requirements for the publication of new techniques have evolved over time. This is essential in overcoming challenges in developing novel techniques. Aims and Objectives: We explore how novel techniques in Urology have been published over the past 200 years. Our objective is to describe the trend and publication requirements of novel urological techniques, both historical and present. Methods: We assessed all major urological operations using multipronged historical analysis. An initial literature search was carried out through PubMed and Google Scholar for original literature descriptions, followed by reference tracing. The first publication of each pioneering urological procedure was recorded. Data collected includes the year of publication, description of the procedure, number of cases and outcomes. Results: 65 papers describing pioneering techniques in Urology were identified. These comprised of 2 experimental studies, 17 case reports and 46 case series. These papers described various pioneering urological techniques in urological oncology, reconstructive urology and endourology. We found that, historically, techniques were published with smaller case numbers. Often, the surgical technique itself was a greater focus of the publication than patient outcome data. These techniques were often adopted prior to larger publications. In contrast, the risks and benefits of recent novel techniques are often well-defined prior to adoption. This historical perspective is important as recent journals have requirements for larger case series and data outcomes. This potentially impairs the initial publication of novel techniques and slows innovation. Conclusion: A better understanding of historical publications and their effect on the adoption of urological techniques into common practice could assist the current generation of Urologists in formulating a safe, efficacious process in promoting surgical innovation and the development of novel surgical techniques. We propose the reassessment of requirements for the publication of novel operative techniques by splitting technical perspectives and data-orientated case series. Existing frameworks such as IDEAL and ASERNIP-S should be integrated into current processes when investigating and developing new surgical techniques to ensure efficacious and safe innovation within surgery is encouraged.

Keywords: urology, surgical innovation, novel surgical techniques, publications

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Authors: Monjur E-Khoda Tarafdar

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Institutional autonomy and academic freedom corresponding to accountability are seen as a core concept of university governance. Universities are crucial factors in search of truth for knowledge production and dissemination. Academic leaders are the pivots to progressively influence the university governance. Therefore, in a continuum of debate about autonomy and accountability in the aspect of perception, academic leadership has been studied. Having longstanding acquaintance in the field the researcher has been instrumental to gain lived experiences of the informants in this qualitative study. Case studies are useful to gain an understanding of the complexities of a particular site to preserve a sense of wholeness of the site being investigated. Thus, multiple case study approach has been employed with a sample size of seventy-one. Such large size of informants was interviewed in order to capture a wider range of views that exist in Bangladesh. This qualitative multiple case study has engaged in-depth interviewing method of academic leaders and policy makers of three case universities. Open-ended semi-structured questionnaires are used to have a comprehensive understanding of how the perception of autonomy and accountability of academic leaders has impacted university governance in the context of Bangladesh. The paper has interpreted the voices of the informants and distinguished both the transformational and transactional style of academic leaderships in local university settings against the globally changed higher education demography. The study finds contextual dissimilarity in the perspectives of autonomy and accountability of academic leadership towards university governance. Unaccountability results in losing autonomous power and collapsing academic excellence. Since accountability grows competitiveness and competence, the paper also focuses on how academic leaders abuse the premise of academic loyalty to universities.

Keywords: academic loyalty, accountability, autonomy, leadership, perception, university governance

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Authors: Georgios Boustras, Cleo Varianou Mikellidou, Christos Argyropoulos

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Summer 2021 was marked by a number of prolific fires in the EU (Greece, Cyprus, France) as well as outside the EU (USA, Turkey, Israel). This series of dramatic events have stretched national civil protection systems and first responders in particular. Despite the introduction of National, Regional and International frameworks (e.g. rescEU), a number of challenges have arisen, not only related to climate change. RESPOND-A (funded by the European Commission by Horizon 2020, Contract Number 883371) introduces a unique five-tier project architectural structure for best associating modern telecommunications technology with novel practices for First Responders of saving lives, while safeguarding themselves, more effectively and efficiently. The introduced architecture includes Perception, Network, Processing, Comprehension, and User Interface layers, which can be flexibly elaborated to support multiple levels and types of customization, so, the intended technologies and practices can adapt to any European Environment Agency (EEA)-type disaster scenario. During the preparation of the RESPOND-A proposal, some of our First Responder Partners expressed the need for an information management system that could boost existing emergency response tools, while some others envisioned a complete end-to-end network management system that would offer high Situational Awareness, Early Warning and Risk Mitigation capabilities. The intuition behind these needs and visions sits on the long-term experience of these Responders, as well, their smoldering worry that the evolving threat of climate change and the consequences of industrial accidents will become more frequent and severe. Three large-scale pilot studies are planned in order to illustrate the capabilities of the RESPOND-A system. The first pilot study will focus on the deployment and operation of all available technologies for continuous communications, enhanced Situational Awareness and improved health and safety conditions for First Responders, according to a big fire scenario in a Wildland Urban Interface zone (WUI). An important issue will be examined during the second pilot study. Unobstructed communication in the form of the flow of information is severely affected during a crisis; the flow of information between the wider public, from the first responders to the public and vice versa. Call centers are flooded with requests and communication is compromised or it breaks down on many occasions, which affects in turn – the effort to build a common operations picture for all firstr esponders. At the same time the information that reaches from the public to the operational centers is scarce, especially in the aftermath of an incident. Understandably traffic if disrupted leaves no other way to observe but only via aerial means, in order to perform rapid area surveys. Results and work in progress will be presented in detail and challenges in relation to civil protection will be discussed.

Keywords: first responders, safety, civil protection, new technologies

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Authors: Dereje Regasa

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The global food system is at a crossroads, which requires prompt action to minimize the effects of the crises. Agroecology is gaining prominence due to its contributions to sustainable food systems. To support efforts in mitigating the crises, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) established alternative approaches for sustainable agri-food systems. Agroecological elements and principles were developed to guide and support measures that countries need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs require the systemic integration of practices for a smart intensification or adaptation of traditional or industrial agriculture. As one of the countries working towards SDGs, the agricultural practices in Ethiopia need to be guided by these agroecological elements and principles. Aiming at the identification of challenging aspects of a sustainable agri-food system and the characterization of an enabling environment for agroecology, as well as exploring to what extent the existing policies and strategies support the agroecological transition process, five policy and strategy documents were reviewed. These documents are the Rural Development Policy and Strategy, the Environment Policy, the Biodiversity Policy, and the Soil Strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). Using the Agroecology Criteria Tool (ACT), the contents were reviewed, focusing on agroecological requirements and the inclusion of sustainable practices. ACT is designed to support a self-assessment of elements supporting agroecology. For each element, binary values were assigned based on the inclusion of the minimum requirements index and then validated through discussion with the document owners. The results showed that the documents were well below the requirements for an agroecological transition of the agri-food system. The Rural Development Policy and Strategy only suffice to 83% in Human and Social Value. It does not support the transition concerning the other elements. The Biodiversity Policy and Soil Strategy suffice regarding the inclusion of Co-creation and Sharing of knowledge (100%), while the remaining elements were not considered sufficiently. In contrast, the Environment Policy supports the transition with three elements accounting for 100%. These are Resilience, Recycling, and Human and Social Care. However, when the four documents were combined, elements such as Synergies, Diversity, Efficiency, Human and Social value, Responsible governance, and Co-creation and Sharing of knowledge were identified as fully supportive (100%). This showed that the policies and strategies complemented one another to a certain extent. However, the evaluation results call for improvements concerning elements like Culture and food traditions, Circular and solidarity economy, Resilience, Recycling, and Regulation and balance since the majority of the elements were not sufficiently observed. Consequently, guidance for the smart intensification of local practices is needed, as well as traditional knowledge enriched with advanced technologies. Ethiopian agricultural and environmental policies and strategies should provide sufficient support and guidance for the intensification of sustainable practices and should provide a framework for an agroecological transition towards a sustainable agri-food system.

Keywords: agroecology, diversity, recycling, sustainable food system, transition

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Authors: Langhit Kurar, Loren Charles

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Introduction: In light of recent BOAST 12 (August 2016) published guidance on management of ankle fractures, the project aimed to highlight key discrepancies throughout the care trajectory from admission to point of discharge at a district general hospital. Wide breadth of data covering three key domains: accident and emergency, radiology, and orthopaedic surgery were subsequently stratified and recommendations on note documentation, and outpatient follow up were made. Methods: A retrospective twelve month audit was conducted reviewing results of ankle fracture management in 37 patients. Inclusion criterion involved all patients seen at Darent Valley Hospital (DVH) emergency department with radiographic evidence of an ankle fracture. Exclusion criterion involved all patients managed solely by nursing staff or having sustained purely ligamentous injury. Medical notes, including discharge summaries and the PACS online radiographic tool were used for data extraction. Results: Cross-examination of the A & E domain revealed limited awareness of the BOAST 12 recent publication including requirements to document skin integrity and neurovascular assessment. This had direct implications as this would have changed the surgical plan for acutely compromised patients. The majority of results obtained from the radiographic domain were satisfactory with appropriate X-rays taken in over 95% of cases. However, due to time pressures within A & E, patients were often left without a post manipulation XRAY in a backslab. Poorly reduced fractures were subsequently left for a long period resulting in swollen ankles and a time-dependent lag to surgical intervention. This had knocked on implications for prolonged inpatient stay resulting in hospital-acquired co-morbidity including pressure sores. Discussion: The audit has highlighted several areas of improvement throughout the disease trajectory from review in the emergency department to follow up as an outpatient. This has prompted the creation of an algorithm to ensure patients with significant fractures presenting to the emergency department are seen promptly and treatment expedited as per recent guidance. This includes timing for X-rays taken in A & E. Re-audit has shown significant improvement in both documentation at time of presentation and appropriate follow-up strategies. Within the orthopedic domain, we are in the process of creating an ankle fracture pathway to ensure imaging and weight bearing status are made clear to the consulting clinicians in an outpatient setting. Significance/Clinical Relevance: As a result of the ankle fracture algorithm we have adapted the BOAST 12 guidance to shape an intrinsic pathway to not only improve patient management within the emergency department but also create a standardised format for follow up.

Keywords: ankle, fracture, BOAST, radiology

Procedia PDF Downloads 180