Search results for: working with natural processes

Authors: Humaira Saeed Malik, Salma Saad

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Introduction: Fowler's syndrome, first described by Clare Fowler in 1985, is a rare urological condition characterized by difficulty in urination due to the abnormal function of the urethral sphincter. It predominantly affects young women and leads to chronic urinary retention. The main concern is to ensure regular bladder emptying. The Mitrofanoff procedure, a surgical creation of a continent urinary diversion, is often performed in patients with Fowler's syndrome who require long-term catheterization. This procedure involves creating a conduit (from the appendix or a segment of the small intestine) between the bladder and the skin, allowing for intermittent self-catheterization to manage urinary retention. Study: A 39-year-old woman with a history of Fowler's syndrome and a Mitrofanoff procedure was booked in our obstetrics department at 8 weeks of gestation. The patient was gravida 3, para 0+2, (both first-trimester miscarriages) with a BMI of 40 and type I diabetes managed with insulin. Fowler's syndrome was diagnosed at 23 years of age. A sacral nerve stimulator device was initially placed but stopped working after one year due to trauma so it was removed and the suprapubic catheter was inserted. The Mitrofanoff procedure was performed at the age of 29, where the bowl was used to create—a continent-catheterized stoma, which has been successfully used for intermittent self-catheterization. During her current pregnancy, some vaginal bleeding was experienced at 10 weeks and was started on progesterone pessaries to support the pregnancy, with advice to discontinue them at 16 weeks. A dating scan at 13 weeks was normal. At the beginning of the second trimester, at 14+4 weeks, the patient was admitted with signs and symptoms of a Urinary tract infection and was treated with antibiotics. Despite these challenges, she continued self-catheterization through the Mitrofanoff stoma to prevent urine retention. The patient was seen jointly in the diabetic clinic and had a fetal anomaly scan at 20 weeks, which was normal. Her current gestational age is 21 weeks and the plan was made for a joint diabetic clinic every 4 weeks, serial growth scans from 28 weeks to assess fetal growth, and to start low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) from 28 weeks due to the intermediate risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Regular monitoring was arranged by a multidisciplinary team, including an obstetrician and urologist, with admission from 30 weeks and planned cesarean birth in a tertiary center at 34 weeks. Conclusion: Pregnancy in women with Fowler's syndrome who have undergone a Mitrofanoff procedure is rare, and management requires careful planning and a multidisciplinary approach. This case highlights the importance of individualized care plans and close monitoring of the mother and fetus. The patient with a risk of recurrent UTIs, coupled with her diabetes and high BMI, necessitated coordinated care across specialties to ensure the best possible outcomes. The Mitrofanoff procedure proved effective in managing her urinary retention, allowing her to maintain self-catheterization in pregnancy. The multidisciplinary team approach was crucial in addressing her complex medical needs, involving obstetrics, urology, and endocrinology. This case adds valuable information to the limited literature on pregnancy management in patients with Fowler's syndrome with mitrofanoff procedure highlighting the need for comprehensive, individualized care and the involvement of a multidisciplinary team to achieve the best results.

Keywords: fowlers syndrome, mitofanoff procedure, pregnancy, chronic urine retension

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Authors: Guler D. Uzel, Andrew G. Parker, Robert L. Mach, Adly Abd-Alla

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Several tsetse fly species (Diptera: Glossinidae) in natural or colonized populations can be infected with the salivary gland hypertrophy virus (SGHV), a circular dsDNA virus (Hytrosaviridae). The virus infection is mainly asymptomatic but, in some species under certain conditions, the infection can produce salivary gland hypertrophy (SGH) symptoms. In the laboratory colonized tsetse, flies with SGH have reduced fertility, which negatively affects colony performance. Therefore, a high prevalence of SGH in insect mass rearing represents a major challenge for tsetse control using the sterile insect technique. The main objective of this study is to analyze the impact of Glossina pallidipes SGHV infection in various tsetse species on mortality and productivity and its impact on the symbiotic bacteria. Hypertropied salivary glands (SG) were collected from G. pallidipes into phosphate buffered saline (PBS) to prepare suspension; 2 µl aliquots were injected into adults of several tsetse species (G. pallidipes (Gp), G. p. gambiensis (Gpg), G. brevipalpis (Gb), G. morsitans morsitans (Gmm), G. morsitans centralis (Gmc) and G. fuscipes (Gf)) and the change in virus and symbiont titers were analyzed using qPCR. The development of SGH in the F1 was detected by dissection 10 days after emergence and virus infection was confirmed by PCR. The impact of virus infection on fly mortality and productivity was recorded. 2 µl aliquots were also injected into 3rd instar larvae of the different species and the adult SGs assayed by PCR for virus. Virus positive SGs from each species were homogenized in PBS and pooled within species for injection into larvae of the same species. Flies injected with PBS were used as control. Injecting teneral flies with SGHV caused increasing virus titer over time in all species but no SGH was detected. Dissection of the F1 also showed no development of SGH except in Gp (the homologous host). Injection of SGHV did not have any impact on the prevalence of the tsetse symbionts, but an increase in Sodalis titer was observed correlated with fly age regardless of virus infection. The virus infection had a negative impact on productivity and mortality. SGHV injection into larvae of the different species produced SGHV infected glands in the adults determined by PCR with a rate of 60%, 27%, 16%, 7% and 7% for Gp, Gf, Gpg, Gmm and Gmc, respectively. Virus positive SGs observed in the heterologous species were smaller than SGH found in Gp. No virus positive SG was detected by PCR in Gb and no SGH was observed in any adults except in Gp. Injecting virus suspension from the virus positive SGs into conspecific larvae did not produce any adults with infected SGs (except in Gp). SGHV can infect all tested tsetse species. Although the virus can infect and increase in titer in other tsetse species and affect fly mortality and productivity, no vertical virus transmission was observed in other tsetse species with might indicate a transmission barrier in these species, and virus collected from flies injected as larvae was not infective by injection.

Keywords: DNA viruses, glossina, hytrosaviridae, symbiotic bacteria, tsetse

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Authors: Elham Soltani Dehnavi

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In today’s compact cities, bringing daylighting and fresh air to buildings is a significant challenge, but it also presents opportunities to reduce energy consumption in buildings by reducing the need for artificial lighting and mechanical systems. Simple adjustments to building form can contribute to their efficiency. This paper examines how the relationship between the width and depth of the rooms in office buildings affects visual and thermal comfort, and consequently energy savings. Based on these evaluations, we can determine the best location for sedentary areas in a room. We can also propose improvements to occupant experience and minimize the difference between the predicted and measured performance in buildings by changing other design parameters, such as natural ventilation strategies, glazing properties, and shading. This study investigates the condition of spatial daylighting and thermal comfort for a range of room configurations using computer simulations, then it suggests the best depth for optimizing both daylighting and thermal comfort, and consequently energy performance in each room type. The Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR) is 40% with 0.8m window sill and 0.4m window head. Also, there are some fixed parameters chosen according to building codes and standards, and the simulations are done in Seattle, USA. The simulation results are presented as evaluation grids using the thresholds for different metrics such as Daylight Autonomy (DA), spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA), Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE), and Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) for visual comfort, and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV), Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD), occupied Thermal Comfort Percentage (occTCP), over-heated percent, under-heated percent, and Standard Effective Temperature (SET) for thermal comfort that are extracted from Grasshopper scripts. The simulation tools are Grasshopper plugins such as Ladybug, Honeybee, and EnergyPlus. According to the results, some metrics do not change much along the room depth and some of them change significantly. So, we can overlap these grids in order to determine the comfort zone. The overlapped grids contain 8 metrics, and the pixels that meet all 8 mentioned metrics’ thresholds define the comfort zone. With these overlapped maps, we can determine the comfort zones inside rooms and locate sedentary areas there. Other parts can be used for other tasks that are not used permanently or need lower or higher amounts of daylight and thermal comfort is less critical to user experience. The results can be reflected in a table to be used as a guideline by designers in the early stages of the design process.

Keywords: occupant experience, office buildings, space depth, thermal comfort, visual comfort

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Authors: Shahram Naghizadeh Raeisi, Ali Alghooneh, Seyed Jalal Razavi Zahedkolaei

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Herein, a shelf stable (no refrigeration required) UHT processed, aseptically packaged whey protein drink was formulated by using a new strategy in microparticulate process. Applying thermal and two-dimensional mechanical treatments simultaneously, a modified protein (MWPC-80) was produced. Then the physical, thermal and thermodynamic properties of MWPC-80 were assessed using particle size analysis, dynamic temperature sweep (DTS), and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) tests. Finally, using MWPC-80, a new RTD beverage was formulated, and shelf stability was assessed for three months at ambient temperature (25 °C). Non-isothermal dynamic temperature sweep was performed, and the results were analyzed by a combination of classic rate equation, Arrhenius equation, and time-temperature relationship. Generally, results showed that temperature dependency of the modified sample was significantly (Pvalue<0.05) less than the control one contained WPC-80. The changes in elastic modulus of the MWPC did not show any critical point at all the processed stages, whereas, the control sample showed two critical points during heating (82.5 °C) and cooling (71.10 °C) stages. Thermal properties of samples (WPC-80 & MWPC-80) were assessed using DSC with 4 °C /min heating speed at 20-90 °C heating range. Results did not show any thermal peak in MWPC DSC curve, which suggested high thermal resistance. On the other hands, WPC-80 sample showed a significant thermal peak with thermodynamic properties of ∆G:942.52 Kj/mol ∆H:857.04 Kj/mole and ∆S:-1.22Kj/mole°K. Dynamic light scattering was performed and results showed 0.7 µm and 15 nm average particle size for MWPC-80 and WPC-80 samples, respectively. Moreover, particle size distribution of MWPC-80 and WPC-80 were Gaussian-Lutresian and normal, respectively. After verification of microparticulation process by DTS, PSD and DSC analyses, a 10% why protein beverage (10% w/w/ MWPC-80, 0.6% w/w vanilla flavoring agent, 0.1% masking flavor, 0.05% stevia natural sweetener and 0.25% citrate buffer) was formulated and UHT treatment was performed at 137 °C and 4 s. Shelf life study did not show any jellification or precipitation of MWPC-80 contained beverage during three months storage at ambient temperature, whereas, WPC-80 contained beverage showed significant precipitation and jellification after thermal processing, even at 3% w/w concentration. Consumer knowledge on nutritional advantages of whey protein increased the request for using this protein in different food systems especially RTD beverages. These results could make a huge difference in this industry.

Keywords: high protein whey beverage, micropartiqulation, two-dimentional mechanical treatments, thermodynamic properties

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Authors: Chrislaura Carmo, Luca Deiana, Mafalda Laranjo, Abilio Sobral, Armando Cordova

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is currently used for the treatment of malignancies and premalignant tumors. It is based on the capture of a photosensitizing molecule (PS) which, when excited by light at a certain wavelength, reacts with oxygen and generates oxidizing species (radicals, singlet oxygen, triplet species) in target tissues, leading to cell death. BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indaceno) derivatives are emerging as important candidates for photosensitizer in photodynamic therapy of cancer cells due to their high triplet quantum yield. Today these dyes are relevant molecules in photovoltaic materials and fluorescent sensors. In this study, it will be demonstrated the possibility that BODIPY can be covalently linked to thioglycolic acid through the click reaction. Thiol−ene click chemistry has become a powerful synthesis method in materials science and surface modification. The design of biobased allyl-terminated precursors with high renewable carbon content for the construction of the thiol-ene polymer networks is essential for sustainable development and green chemistry. The work aims to synthesize the BODIPY (10-(4-(allyloxy) phenyl)-2,8-diethyl-5,5-difluoro-1,3,7,9-tetramethyl-5H-dipyrrolo[1,2-c:2',1'-f] [1,3,2] diazaborinin-4-ium-5-uide) and to click reaction with Thioglycolic acid. BODIPY was synthesized by the condensation reaction between aldehyde and pyrrole in dichloromethane, followed by in situ complexation with BF3·OEt2 in the presence of the base. Then it was functionalized with allyl bromide to achieve the double bond and thus be able to carry out the click reaction. The thiol−ene click was performed using DMPA (2,2-Dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone) as a photo-initiator in the presence of UV light (320–500 nm) in DMF at room temperature for 24 hours. Compounds were characterized by standard analytical techniques, including UV-Vis Spectroscopy, 1H, 13C, 19F NMR and mass spectroscopy. The results of this study will be important to link BODIPY to polymers through the thiol group offering a diversity of applications and functionalization. This new molecule can be tested as third-generation photosensitizers, in which the dye is targeted by antibodies or nanocarriers by cells, mainly in cancer cells, PDT and Photodynamic Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (PACT). According to our studies, it was possible to visualize a click reaction between allyl BODIPY and thioglycolic acid. Our team will also test the reaction with other thiol groups for comparison. Further, we will do the click reaction of BODIPY with a natural polymer linked with a thiol group. The results of the above compounds will be tested in PDT assays on various lung cancer cell lines.

Keywords: bodipy, click reaction, thioglycolic acid, allyl, thiol-ene click

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Authors: Renata Swislocka, Grzegorz Swiderski, Agata Jablonska-Trypuc, Wlodzimierz Lewandowski

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Forming a complex of a phenolic compound with a metal not only alters the physicochemical properties of the ligand (including increase in stability or changes in lipophilicity), but also its biological activity, including antioxidant, antimicrobial and many others. As part of our previous projects, we examined the physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of phenolic acids and their complexes with metals naturally occurring in foods. Previously we studied the complexes of manganese(II), copper(II), cadmium(II) and alkali metals with ferulic, caffeic and p-coumaric acids. In the framework of this study, the physicochemical and biological properties of cicoric acid, its sodium salt, and complexes with copper and zinc were investigated. Cichoric acid is a derivative of both caffeic acid and tartaric acid. It has first been isolated from Cichorium intybus (chicory) but also it occurs in significant amounts in Echinacea, particularly E. purpurea, dandelion leaves, basil, lemon balm and in aquatic plants, including algae and sea grasses. For the study of spectroscopic and biological properties of cicoric acid, its sodium salt, and complexes with zinc and copper a variety of methods were used. Studies of antioxidant properties were carried out in relation to selected stable radicals (method of reduction of DPPH and reduction of FRAP). As a result, the structure and spectroscopic properties of cicoric acid and its complexes with selected metals in the solid state and in the solutions were defined. The IR and Raman spectra of cicoric acid displayed a number of bands that were derived from vibrations of caffeic and tartaric acids moieties. At 1746 and 1716 cm-1 the bands assigned to the vibrations of the carbonyl group of tartaric acid occurred. In the spectra of metal complexes with cichoric these bands disappeared what indicated that metal ion was coordinated by the carboxylic groups of tartaric acid. In the spectra of the sodium salt, a characteristic wide-band vibrations of carboxylate anion occurred. In the spectra of cicoric acid and its salt and complexes, a number of bands derived from the vibrations of the aromatic ring (caffeic acid) were assigned. Upon metal-ligand attachment, the changes in the values of the wavenumbers of these bands occurred. The impact of metals on the antioxidant properties of cicoric acid was also examined. Cichoric acid has a high antioxidant potential. Complexation by metals (zinc, copper) did not significantly affect its antioxidant capacity. The work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (grant no. 2015/17/B/NZ9/03581).

Keywords: chicoric acid, metal complexes, natural antioxidant, phenolic acids

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Authors: Hamid Abdulroof Saleh

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Background: Dioxins are one of the most widely distributed environmental pollutants. Dioxins consist of feedstock during the preparation of some industries, such as the paper industry as they can be produced in the atmosphere during the process of burning garbage and waste, especially medical waste. Dioxins can be found in the adipose tissues of animals in the food chain as well as in human breast milk. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-pdioxin (TCDD) is the most toxic component of a large group of dioxins. Humans are exposed to TCDD through contaminated food items like meat, fish, milk products, eggs etc. Recently, natural formulations relating to reducing or eliminating TCDD toxicity have been in focus. Ginger rhizome (Zingiber officinale R., family: Zingiberaceae), is used worldwide as a spice. Both antioxidative and androgenic activity of Z. officinale was reported in animal models. Researchers showed that ginger oil has dominative protective effect on DNA damage and might act as a scavenger of oxygen radical and might be used as an antioxidant. Aim of the work: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the toxic effect of TCDD on the structure and histoarchitecture of the testis and the protective role of co-administration of ginger root extract to prevent this toxicity. Materials & Methods: Male adult rats of Sprague-Dawley strain were assigned to four groups, eight rats in each; control group, dioxin treated group (given TCDD at the dose of 100 ng/kg Bwt/day by gavage), ginger treated group (given 50 mg/kg Bwt/day of ginger root extract by gavage), dioxin and ginger treated group (given TCDD at the dose of 100 ng/kg Bwt/day and 50 mg/kg Bwt/day of ginger root extract by gavages). After three weeks, rats were weighed and sacrificed where testis were removed and weighted. The testes were processed for routine paraffin embedding and staining. Tissue sections were examined for different morphometric and histopathological changes. Results: Dioxin administration showed a harmful effects in the body, testis weight and other morphometric parameters of the testis. In addition, it produced varying degrees of damage to the seminiferous tubules, which were shrunken and devoid of mature spermatids. The basement membrane was disorganized with vacuolization and loss of germinal cells. The co-administration of ginger root extract showed obvious improvement in the above changes and showed reversible morphometric and histopathological changes of the seminiferous tubules. Conclusion: Ginger root extract treatment in this study was successful in reversing all morphometric and histological changes of dioxin testicular damage. Therefore, it showed a protective effect on testis against dioxin toxicity.

Keywords: dioxin, ginger, rat, testis

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Authors: Juliana C. Salvadori, Jose Carlos Felix

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This paper aims at discussing the role literary translation has played in Brazilian Concrete Poetry Movement – an aesthetic, critical and pedagogical project which conceived translation as poiesis, i.e., as both creative and critic work in which the potency (dynamic) of literary work is unfolded in the interpretive and critic act (energeia) the translating practice demands. We argue that translation, for concrete poets, is conceived within the framework provided by the reinterpretation –or deglutition– of Oswald de Andrade’s anthropophagy – a carefully selected feast from which the poets pick and model their Paideuma. As a case study, we propose to approach and analyze two of Augusto de Campos’s long-term translation projects: the translation of Emily Dickinson’s and E. E. Cummings’s works to Brazilian readers. Augusto de Campos is a renowned poet, translator, critic and one of the founding members of Brazilian Concrete Poetry movement. Since the 1950s he has produced a consistent body of translated poetry from English-speaking poets in which the translator has explored creative translation processes – transcreation, as concrete poets have named it. Campos’s translation project regarding E. E. Cummings’s poetry comprehends a span of forty years: it begins in 1956 with 10 poems and unfolds in 4 works – 20 poem(a)s, 40 poem(a)s, Poem(a)s, re-edited in 2011. His translations of Dickinson’s poetry are published in two works: O Anticrítico (1986), in which he translated 10 poems, and Emily Dickinson Não sou Ninguém (2008), in which the poet-translator added 35 more translated poems. Both projects feature bilingual editions: contrary to common sense, Campos translations aim at being read as such: the target readers, to fully enjoy the experience, must be proficient readers of English and, also, acquainted with the poets in translation – Campos expects us to perform translation criticism, as Antoine Berman has proposed, by assessing the choices he, as both translator and poet, has presented in order to privilege aesthetic information (verse lines, word games, etc.). To readers not proficient in English, his translations play a pedagogycal role of educating and preparing them to read both the target poet works as well as concrete poetry works – the detailed essays and prefaces in which the translator emphasizes the selection of works translated and strategies adopted enlighten his project as translator: for Cummings, it has led to the oblieraton of the more traditional and lyrical/romantic examples of his poetry while highlighting the more experimental aspects and poems; for Dickinson, his project has highligthed the more hermetic traits of her poems. To the domestic canons of both poets in Brazilian literary system, we analyze Campos’ contribution in this work.

Keywords: translation criticism, Augusto de Campos, E. E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson

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Authors: Alvin Uchenna Ugwu

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The United Nation’s 2030 agenda and Global Action Programme (GAP) for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has mandated all sectors in the societies, including education, to develop strategies towards actualizing sustainability in all facets of the society, by the year 2030. Education is no doubt a key tool for social change. However, educational institutions in most African nations need a paradigmatic shift to strike a balance between policies (curricular) and practices, with regards to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The paradigm shift in this regard is described as whole-institution/school approach. The whole institution approaches advocate action-focused ESD. In other words, ESD policy and curriculum makers, formal and non-formal education institutions, need to ‘practice what they preach’. This paper is developed from an ongoing study carried out by the author and guided by two research questions: -What are the views of intermediate phase science and technology preservice teachers on the ESD content included in the science and technology modules? -What challenges or enable intermediate phase science and technology pre-service teachers to learn about ESD in science and technology modules? The study drew from the views and experiences of preservice science teachers, learning about ESD in a university’s college of education in South Africa. Using qualitative case study research design, the research data were generated via questionnaires and focus group discussions. Analysis of generated data indicates that universities and institutions of higher learning need to demonstrate practical involvement while implementing ESD in societies, rather than just standing as knowledge media. Findings of the study further suggest that natural sciences and technology courses in teacher education programmes and other institutions of higher learning, should be perceived as key transformative tools in shaping the consciousness of students towards integrating and fostering ESD in developing countries such as South Africa. Thus, this paper seeks to promote ‘Whole Institution Involvement’ in teacher education colleges in South Africa, as a measure of improving ESD in higher education settings. The paper suggests that in order to achieve ESD in higher education settings and beyond, policies and practices should be reexamined beyond rhetoric and buzzwords. The paper further argues that implementation of ESD is largely influenced by context, hence two different contexts should be examined empirically.

Keywords: education for sustainable development, higher education institutions, pre-service science teachers, qualitative case study research, whole institution involvement

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Authors: Timothy Garvey, Don Driscoll

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Within Tasmania, the growling grass frog (Litoria raniformis) has experienced a rapid contraction in distribution. This decline is primarily attributed to habitat loss through landscape modification and improved land drainage. Reductions in seasonal water-sources have placed increasing importance on permanent water bodies for reproduction and foraging. Tasmanian agricultural and commercial forestry landscapes often feature small artificial ponds, utilized for watering livestock and fighting wildfires. Improved knowledge of how L. raniformis may be exploiting anthropogenic ponds is required for improved conservation management. We implemented telemetric tracking in order to evaluate the spatial ecology of L. raniformis (n = 20) within agricultural and managed forestry sites, with tracking conducted periodically over the breeding season (November/December, January/February, March/April). We investigated (1) potential differences in habitat utilization between agricultural and plantation sites, and (2) the post-breeding dispersal of individual frogs. Frogs were found to remain in close proximity to ponds throughout November/December, with individuals occupying vegetative depauperate water bodies beginning to disperse by January/February. Dispersing individuals traversed exposed plantation understory and agricultural pasture land in order to enter patches of native scrubland. By March/April all individuals captured at minimally vegetated ponds had retreated to adjacent scrub corridors. Animals found in ponds featuring dense riparian vegetation were not recorded to disperse. No difference in behavior was recorded between sexes. Rising temperatures coincided with increased movement by individuals towards native scrub refugia. The patterns of movement reported in this investigation emphasize the significant contribution of manmade water-bodies towards the conservation of L. raniformis within modified landscapes. The use of natural scrubland as cyclical retreats between breeding seasons also highlights the importance of the continued preservation of remnant vegetation corridors. Loss of artificial dams or buffering scrubland in heavily altered landscapes could see the breakdown of the greater L. raniformis meta-population further threatening their regional persistence.

Keywords: habitat loss, modified landscapes, spatial ecology, telemetry

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Authors: Mohammad Atashinbar

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Lalehzar was one of the main streets in central Tehran in late Qajar and 1st Pahlavi (1880-1940) and a center of attention for the government. It was a natural walk during the last decade of the reign of Nasser al-Din Shah (1880-1895). However, this street lost its prosperity status under the 2nd Pahlavi and evolved from a modern cultural street to a commercial corridor. Lalehzar's decline was the result of the immigration of the upper class from the inner city to the northern part and the consequent transfer of amenities and luxury goods with them. It seems that during Lalehzar's six decades of prosperity, this khiâbân has received an aesthetic look, which has made it enjoyable and appreciated by Tehran’s people. Various post-revolutionary urban management measures have been taken to revive Lalehzar and improve the quality of its urban life. Since the beginning of the Safavid era, the khiâbân was accompanied by the concept of urban space, and its characteristics are explained by referring to the main axis of the Persian Garden with rows of trees, streams, and a line of flowers on both sides. The construction of a street inside the city as an urban space benefits from a mental concept as a spiritual and exciting space, especially in common forms in the Persian Garden. Before that, the khiâbân was a religious and mythical concept, and we can even say that the mastery of this concept led to its appearance in the garden. In Tehran, Lalehzar Street is a gateway to modernity. The aesthetic changes in Lalehzar Street, inspired by Nasser al-Din Shah's journey to Europe around 1870, coinciding with the changes in architectural and urban landscape movements around the world between 1880 and 1940. The Shah is impressed by the modernist urbanism and, in particular, the Champs-Élysées in Paris. A tree-lined promenade with the hallmarks of the Persian Garden is familiar to Nasser al-Din Shah's mental image of beauty. In its state of mind, the main axis of the Persian Garden has the characteristics of a promenade. Therefore, the origins of the aesthetic of Lalehzar Street come from the aesthetics of the khiâbân. Admitting that the Champs-Élysées served as a model for Lalehzar, it seems that the Shah wanted to associate the Champs-Élysées with Lalehzar and highlight its landscape aspects by building this street. Depending on whether the percepts have their own aesthetic, this proposal seeks to analyze the aesthetic evolutions of the khiâbân as a percept towards the street as a component of the urban landscape in Lalehzar. The research attempts to review the aesthetic aspects of Lalehzar between 1880-1940 by using iconographic analysis, based on the available historical data, to find the leading aesthetics principles of this street. The aesthetic view to Lalehzar as an artwork is one of the main achievements of this study.

Keywords: Lalehzar, aesthetics, percept, Tehran, street

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Authors: Adonis Menezes, J. C. Passos

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The current panorama of technology in heat transfer and the scarcity of information about the convective boiling of CO₂ and hydrocarbon in small diameter channels motivated the development of this work. Among non-halogenated refrigerants, CO₂/ R744 has distinct thermodynamic properties compared to other fluids. The R744 presents significant differences in operating pressures and temperatures, operating at higher values compared to other refrigerants, and this represents a challenge for the design of new evaporators, as the original systems must normally be resized to meet the specific characteristics of the R744, which creates the need for a new design and optimization criteria. To carry out the convective boiling tests of CO₂, an experimental apparatus capable of storing (m= 10kg) of saturated CO₂ at (T = -30 ° C) in an accumulator tank was used, later this fluid was pumped using a positive displacement pump with three pistons, and the outlet pressure was controlled and could reach up to (P = 110bar). This high-pressure saturated fluid passed through a Coriolis type flow meter, and the mass velocities varied between (G = 20 kg/m².s) up to (G = 1000 kg/m².s). After that, the fluid was sent to the first test section of circular cross-section in diameter (D = 4.57mm), where the inlet and outlet temperatures and pressures, were controlled and the heating was promoted by the Joule effect using a source of direct current with a maximum heat flow of (q = 100 kW/m²). The second test section used a cross-section with multi-channels (seven parallel channels) with a square cross-section of (D = 2mm) each; this second test section has also control of temperature and pressure at the inlet and outlet as well as for heating a direct current source was used, with a maximum heat flow of (q = 20 kW/m²). The fluid in a biphasic situation was directed to a parallel plate heat exchanger so that it returns to the liquid state, thus being able to return to the accumulator tank, continuing the cycle. The multi-channel test section has a viewing section; a high-speed CMOS camera was used for image acquisition, where it was possible to view the flow patterns. The experiments carried out and presented in this report were conducted in a rigorous manner, enabling the development of a database on the convective boiling of the R744 in macro and micro channels. The analysis prioritized the processes from the beginning of the convective boiling until the drying of the wall in a subcritical regime. The R744 resurfaces as an excellent alternative to chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants due to its negligible ODP (Ozone Depletion Potential) and GWP (Global Warming Potential) rates, among other advantages. The results found in the experimental tests were very promising for the use of CO₂ in micro-channels in convective boiling and served as a basis for determining the flow pattern map and correlation for determining the heat transfer coefficient in the convective boiling of CO₂.

Keywords: convective boiling, CO₂/R744, macro-channels, micro-channels

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Authors: M. Venegas, M. De Vega, N. García-Hernando

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Absorption cooling chillers have received growing attention over the past few decades as they allow the use of low-grade heat to produce the cooling effect. The combination of this technology with solar thermal energy in the summer period can reduce the electricity consumption peak due to air-conditioning. One of the main components, the absorber, is designed for simultaneous heat and mass transfer. Usually, shell and tubes heat exchangers are used, which are large and heavy. Cooling water from a cooling tower is conventionally used to extract the heat released during the absorption and condensation processes. These are clear inconvenient for the generalization of the absorption technology use, limiting its benefits in the contribution to the reduction in CO2 emissions, particularly for the H2O-LiBr solution which can work with low heat temperature sources as provided by solar panels. In the present work a promising new technology is under study, consisting in the use of membrane contactors in adiabatic microchannel mass exchangers. The configuration here proposed consists in one or several modules (depending on the cooling capacity of the chiller) that contain two vapour channels, separated from the solution by adjacent microporous membranes. The solution is confined in rectangular microchannels. A plastic or synthetic wall separates the solution channels between them. The solution entering the absorber is previously subcooled using ambient air. In this way, the need for a cooling tower is avoided. A model of the configuration proposed is developed based on mass and energy balances and some correlations were selected to predict the heat and mass transfer coefficients. The concentration and temperatures along the channels cannot be explicitly determined from the set of equations obtained. For this reason, the equations were implemented in a computer code using Engineering Equation Solver software, EES™. With the aim of minimizing the absorber volume to reduce the size of absorption cooling chillers, the ratio between the cooling power of the chiller and the absorber volume (R) is calculated. Its variation is shown along the solution channels, allowing its optimization for selected operating conditions. For the case considered the solution channel length is recommended to be lower than 3 cm. Maximum values of R obtained in this work are higher than the ones found in optimized horizontal falling film absorbers using the same solution. Results obtained also show the variation of R and the chiller efficiency (COP) for different ambient temperatures and desorption temperatures typically obtained using flat plate solar collectors. The configuration proposed of adiabatic membrane-based absorber using ambient air to subcool the solution is a good technology to reduce the size of the absorption chillers, allowing the use of low temperature solar heat and avoiding the need for cooling towers.

Keywords: adiabatic absorption, air-cooled, membrane, solar thermal energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Sofia Maria Poulimenou, Ioannis Deliyannis, Elisavet Filippidou, Stamatella Laboura

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Smart technologies are being actively used to improve the experience of travel and promote or demote a destination’s reputation via a wide variety of social media applications and platforms. This paper conceptualises the design and deployment of smart management apps to promote culture, sustainability and accessibility within two destinations in Greece that represent the extremes of visiting scale. One is the densely visited Corfu, which is a UNESCO’s heritage site. The problems caused by the lack of organisation of the visiting experience and infrastructures affect all parties interacting within the site: visitors, citizens, public and private sector. Second is Kilkis, a low tourism destination with high seasonality and mostly inbound tourism. Here the issue faced is that traditional approaches to inform and motivate locals and visitors to explore and taste of the culture have not flourished. The problem is apprehended via the design and development of two systems named “Hologrammatic Corfu” for Corfu old town and “BRENDA” for the area of Kilkis. Although each system is designed independently, featuring different solutions to the problems, both approaches have been designed by the same team and a novel gaming and gamification methodology. The “Hologramatic Corfu” application has been designed, for the exploration of the site covering user requirments before, during and after the trip, with the use of transmedia content such as photos, 360-degree videos, augmented reality and hologrammatic videos. Also, a statistical analysis of travellers’ visits to specific points of interest is actively utilized enabling visitors to dynamically re-rooted during their visit, safeguarding sustainability and accessibility and inclusivity along the entire tourism cycle. “BRENDA” is designed specifically to promote gastronomic and historical tourism. This serious game implements and combines gaming and gamification elements in order to connect local businesses with cultural points of interest. As the environment of the project has a strong touristic orientation, “BRENDA” supports food-related gamified processes and historical games involving active participation of both local communities (content providers) and visitors (players) which are more likely to be successfully performed in the informal environment of travelling and promote sustainable tourism experiences. Finally, the paper presents the ability to re-use existing gaming components within new areas of interest via minimal adaptation and the use of transmedia aspects that enables destinations to be rebranded into smart destinations.

Keywords: smart tourism, gamification, user experience, transmedia content

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Authors: Rune Bjerke

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Psychologists incline to see creativity as a mental and psychological process. However, creativity is as well results of cultural and social interactions. Therefore, creativity is not a product of individuals in isolation, but of social systems. Creative people get ideas from the influence of others and the immediate cultural environment – a space of knowledge, situations, and practices. Therefore, in this study we apply the systems theory in practice to activate creativity processes in the production of our novel and screenplay writing. We, as storytellers actively seek to get into situations in our everyday lives, our systems, to generate ideas. Within our personal systems, we have the potential to induce situations to realise ideas to our texts, which may be accepted by our gate-keepers and can become socially validated. This is our method of writing – get into situations, get ideas to texts, and test them with family and friends in our social systems. Example of novel text as an outcome of our method is as follows: “Is it a matter of obviousness or had I read it somewhere, that the one who increases his knowledge increases his pain? And also, the other way around, with increased pain, knowledge increases, I thought. Perhaps such a chain of effects explains why the rebel August Strindberg wrote seven plays in ten months after the divorce with Siri von Essen. Shortly after, he tried painting. Neither the seven theatre plays were shown, nor the paintings were exhibited. I was standing in front of Munch's painting Women in Three Stages with chaotic mental images of myself crumpled in a church and a laughing x-girlfriend watching my suffering. My stomach was turning at unpredictable intervals and the subsequent vomiting almost suffocated me. Love grief at the worst. Was it this pain Strindberg felt? Despite the failure of his first plays, the pain must have triggered a form of creative energy that turned pain into ideas. Suffering, thoughts, feelings, words, text, and then, the reader experience. Maybe this negative force can be transformed into something positive, I asked myself. The question eased my pain. At that moment, I forgot the damp, humid air in the Munch Museum. Is it the similar type of Strindberg-pain that could explain the recurring, depressive themes in Munch's paintings? Illness, death, love and jealousy. As a beginning art student at the master's level, I had decided to find the answer. Was it the same with Munch's pain, as with Strindberg - a woman behind? There had to be women in the case of Munch - therefore, the painting “Women in Three Stages”? Who are they, what personality types are they – the women in red, black and white dresses from left to the right?” We, the writers, are using persons, situations and elements in our systems, in a systems theory perspective, to prompt creative ideas. A conceptual model is provided to advance creativity theory.

Keywords: creativity theory, systems theory, novel writing, screenplay writing, sources of creativity in social systems

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Authors: Sankha Chakrabortty, Biswajit Ruj, Parimal Pal

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Methanol is one of the most important chemical products and intermediates. It can be used as a solvent, intermediate or raw material for a number of higher valued products, fuels or additives. From the last one decay, the total global demand of methanol has increased drastically which forces the scientists to produce a large amount of methanol from a renewable source to meet the global demand with a sustainable way. Different types of non-renewable based raw materials have been used for the synthesis of methanol on a large scale which makes the process unsustainable. In this circumstances, photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ into methanol under solar/UV excitation becomes a viable approach to give a sustainable production approach which not only meets the environmental crisis by recycling CO₂ to fuels but also reduces CO₂ amount from the atmosphere. Development of such sustainable production approach for CO₂ conversion into methanol still remains a major challenge in the current research comparing with conventional energy expensive processes. In this backdrop, the development of environmentally friendly materials, like photocatalyst has taken a great perspective for methanol synthesis. Scientists in this field are always concerned about finding an improved photocatalyst to enhance the photocatalytic performance. Graphene-based hybrid and composite materials with improved properties could be a better nanomaterial for the selective conversion of CO₂ to methanol under visible light (solar energy) or UV light. The present invention relates to synthesis an improved heterogeneous graphene-based photocatalyst with improved catalytic activity and surface area. Graphene with enhanced surface area is used as coupled material of copper-loaded titanium oxide to improve the electron capture and transport properties which substantially increase the photoinduced charge transfer and extend the lifetime of photogenerated charge carriers. A fast reduction method through H₂ purging has been adopted to synthesis improved graphene whereas ultrasonication based sol-gel method has been applied for the preparation of graphene coupled copper loaded titanium oxide with some enhanced properties. Prepared photocatalysts were exhaustively characterized using different characterization techniques. Effects of catalyst dose, CO₂ flow rate, reaction temperature and stirring time on the efficacy of the system in terms of methanol yield and productivity have been studied in the present study. The study shown that the newly synthesized photocatalyst with an enhanced surface resulting in a sustained productivity and yield of methanol 0.14 g/Lh, and 0.04 g/gcat respectively, after 3 h of illumination under UV (250W) at an optimum catalyst dosage of 10 g/L having 1:2:3 (Graphene: TiO₂: Cu) weight ratio.

Keywords: renewable energy, CO₂ capture, photocatalytic conversion, methanol

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Authors: Hira Jabbar, Tanzeel-Ur Rehman

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Urban parks and open spaces play a significant role in improving physical and mental health of the citizens, strengthen the societies and make the cities more attractive places to live and work. As the world’s cities continue to grow, continuing to value green space in cities is vital but is also a challenge, particularly in developing countries where there is pressure for space, resources, and development. Offering equal opportunity of accessibility to parks is one of the important issues of park distribution. The distribution of parks should allow all inhabitants to have close proximity to their residence. Remote sensing and Geographic information systems (GIS) can provide decision makers with enormous opportunities to improve the planning and management of Park facilities. This study exhibits the capability of GIS and RS techniques to provide baseline knowledge about the distribution of parks, level of accessibility and to help in identification of potential areas for such facilities. For this purpose Landsat OLI imagery for year 2016 was acquired from USGS Earth Explorer. Preprocessing models were applied using Erdas Imagine 2014v for the atmospheric correction and NDVI model was developed and applied to quantify the land use/land cover classes including built up, barren land, water, and vegetation. The parks amongst total public green spaces were selected based on their signature in remote sensing image and distribution. Percentages of total green and parks green were calculated for each town of Lahore City and results were then synchronized with the recommended standards. ANGSt model was applied to calculate the accessibility from parks. Service area analysis was performed using Network Analyst tool. Serviceability of these parks has been evaluated by employing statistical indices like service area, service population and park area per capita. Findings of the study may contribute in helping the town planners for understanding the distribution of parks, demands for new parks and potential areas which are deprived of parks. The purpose of present study is to provide necessary information to planners, policy makers and scientific researchers in the process of decision making for the management and improvement of urban parks.

Keywords: accessible natural green space standards (ANGSt), geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing (RS), United States geological survey (USGS)

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Authors: Carolina Brandão Piva

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In our visual culture, images play a newly significant role in the basis of a complex dialogue between imagination, creativity, and social practice. Insofar as imagination has broken out of the 'special expressive space of art' to become a part of the quotidian mental work of ordinary people, it is pertinent to recognize that visual representation can no longer be assumed as if in a domain detached from everyday life or exclusively 'centered' within the limited frame of 'art history.' The approach of Visual Culture as a field of study is, in this sense, indispensable to comprehend that not only 'the image,' but also 'the imagined' and 'the imaginary' are produced in the plurality of social interactions; crucial enough, this assertion directs us to something new in contemporary cultural processes, namely both imagination and image production constitute a social practice. This paper starts off with this approach and seeks to examine the artistic practice of two women from the State of Goiás, Brazil, who are ordinary citizens with their daily activities and narratives but also dedicated to visuality production. With no formal training from art schools, branded or otherwise, Maria Aparecida de Souza Pires deploys 'waste disposal' of daily life—from car tires to old work clothes—as a trampoline for art; also adept at sourcing raw materials collected from her surroundings, she manipulates raw hewn wood, tree trunks, plant life, and various other pieces she collects from nature giving them new meaning and possibility. Hilda Freire works with sculptures in clay using different scales and styles; her art focuses on representations of women and pays homage to unprivileged groups such as the practitioners of African-Brazilian religions, blue-collar workers, poor live-in housekeepers, and so forth. Although they have never been acknowledged by any mainstream art institution in Brazil, whose 'criterion of value' still favors formally trained artists, Maria Aparecida de Souza Pires, and Hilda Freire have produced visualities that instigate 'new ways of seeing,' meriting cultural significance in many ways. Their artworks neither descend from a 'traditional' medium nor depend on 'canonical viewing settings' of visual representation; rather, they consist in producing relationships with the world which do not result in 'seeing more,' but 'at least differently.' From this perspective, the paper finally demonstrates that grouping this kind of artistic production under the label of 'mere craft' has much more to do with who is privileged within the fields of power in art system, who we see and who we do not see, and whose imagination of what is fed by which visual images in Brazilian contemporary society.

Keywords: visual culture, artistic practice, women's art in the Brazilian State of Goiás, Maria Aparecida de Souza Pires, Hilda Freire

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Authors: Mustapha Rilwan Adewale, Salau Ayobami Muhammed

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This study focuses on the heat transfer analysis of magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) squeezing flow between parallel disks, considering a viscous incompressible fluid. The upper disk exhibits both upward and downward motion, while the lower disk remains stationary but permeable. By employing similarity transformations, a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations is derived to describe the flow behavior. To solve this system, a numerical approach, namely the Chebyshev collocation method, is utilized. The study investigates the influence of flow parameters and compares the obtained results with existing literature. The significance of this research lies in understanding the heat transfer characteristics of MHD squeezing flow, which has practical implications in various engineering and industrial applications. By employing the similarity transformations, the complex governing equations are simplified into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, facilitating the analysis of the flow behavior. To obtain numerical solutions for the system, the Chebyshev collocation method is implemented. This approach provides accurate approximations for the nonlinear equations, enabling efficient computations of the heat transfer properties. The obtained results are compared with existing literature, establishing the validity and consistency of the numerical approach. The study's major findings shed light on the influence of flow parameters on the heat transfer characteristics of the squeezing flow. The analysis reveals the impact of parameters such as magnetic field strength, disk motion amplitude, fluid viscosity on the heat transfer rate between the disks, the squeeze number(S), suction/injection parameter(A), Hartman number(M), Prandtl number(Pr), modified Eckert number(Ec), and the dimensionless length(δ). These findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the system's behavior and provide insights for optimizing heat transfer processes in similar configurations. In conclusion, this study presents a thorough heat transfer analysis of magneto-hydrodynamics squeezing flow between parallel disks. The numerical solutions obtained through the Chebyshev collocation method demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the approach. The investigation of flow parameters highlights their influence on heat transfer, contributing to the existing knowledge in this field. The agreement of the results with previous literature further strengthens the reliability of the findings. These outcomes have practical implications for engineering applications and pave the way for further research in related areas.

Keywords: squeezing flow, magneto-hydro-dynamics (MHD), chebyshev collocation method(CCA), parallel manifolds, finite difference method (FDM)

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Authors: S. Agarwal, A. Rani

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Catechol is a natural polyphenolic compound that widely exists in higher plants such as teas, vegetables, fruits, tobaccos, and some traditional Chinese medicines. The fly ash-based zeolites are capable of absorbing a wide range of pollutants. But the process of zeolite synthesis is time-consuming and requires technical setups by the industries. The marketed costs of zeolites are quite high restricting its use by small-scale industries for the removal of phenolic compounds. The present research proposes a simple method of alkaline treatment of FA to produce an effective adsorbent for catechol removal from wastewater. The experimental parameter such as pH, temperature, initial concentration and adsorbent dose on the removal of catechol were studied in batch reactor. For this purpose the adsorbent materials were mixed with aqueous solutions containing catechol ranging in 50 – 200 mg/L initial concentrations and then shaken continuously in a thermostatic Orbital Incubator Shaker at 30 ± 0.1 °C for 24 h. The samples were withdrawn from the shaker at predetermined time interval and separated by centrifugation (Centrifuge machine MBL-20) at 2000 rpm for 4 min. to yield a clear supernatant for analysis of the equilibrium concentrations of the solutes. The concentrations were measured with Double Beam UV/Visible spectrophotometer (model Spectrscan UV 2600/02) at the wavelength of 275 nm for catechol. In the present study, the use of low-cost adsorbent (BTFA) derived from coal fly ash (FA), has been investigated as a substitute of expensive methods for the sequestration of catechol. The FA and BTFA adsorbents were well characterized by XRF, FE-SEM with EDX, FTIR, and surface area and porosity measurement which proves the chemical constituents, functional groups and morphology of the adsorbents. The catechol adsorption capacities of synthesized BTFA and native material were determined. The adsorption was slightly increased with an increase in pH value. The monolayer adsorption capacities of FA and BTFA for catechol were 100 mg g⁻¹ and 333.33 mg g⁻¹ respectively, and maximum adsorption occurs within 60 minutes for both adsorbents used in this test. The equilibrium data are fitted by Freundlich isotherm found on the basis of error analysis (RMSE, SSE, and χ²). Adsorption was found to be spontaneous and exothermic on the basis of thermodynamic parameters (ΔG°, ΔS°, and ΔH°). Pseudo-second-order kinetic model better fitted the data for both FA and BTFA. BTFA showed large adsorptive characteristics, high separation selectivity, and excellent recyclability than FA. These findings indicate that BTFA could be employed as an effective and inexpensive adsorbent for the removal of catechol from wastewater.

Keywords: catechol, fly ash, isotherms, kinetics, thermodynamic parameters

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Authors: Bamikole J. Adeyemi, Prashant Jadhawar, Lateef Akanji

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Theoretically, there exist two mathematical interfaces (fluid-solid and fluid-fluid) when a liquid film is present on solid surfaces. These interfaces overlap if the mineral surface is oil-wet or mixed wet, and therefore, the effects of disjoining pressure are significant on both boundaries. Hence, dewetting is a necessary process that could detach oil from the mineral surface. However, if the thickness of the thin water film directly in contact with the surface is large enough, disjoining pressure can be thought to be zero at the liquid-liquid interface. Recent studies show that the integration of fluid-fluid interactions with fluid-rock interactions is an important step towards a holistic approach to understanding smart water effects. Experiments have shown that the brine solution can alter the micro forces at oil-water interfaces, and these ion-specific interactions lead to oil emulsion formation. The natural emulsifiers present in crude oil behave as polyelectrolytes when the oil interfaces with low salinity water. Wettability alteration caused by low salinity waterflooding during Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) process results from the activities of divalent ions. However, polyelectrolytes are said to lose their viscoelastic property with increasing cation concentrations. In this work, the influence of cation concentrations on the dynamics of viscoelastic liquid-liquid interfaces is numerically investigated. The resultant ion concentrations at the crude oil/brine interfaces were estimated using a surface complexation model. Subsequently, the ion concentration parameter is integrated into a mathematical model to describe its effects on the dynamics of a viscoelastic interfacial thin film. The film growth, stability, and rupture were measured after different time steps for three types of fluids (Newtonian, purely elastic and viscoelastic fluids). The interfacial films respond to exposure time in a similar manner with an increasing growth rate, which resulted in the formation of more droplets with time. Increased surfactant accumulation at the interface results in a higher film growth rate which leads to instability and subsequent formation of more satellite droplets. Purely elastic and viscoelastic properties limit film growth rate and consequent film stability compared to the Newtonian fluid. Therefore, low salinity and reduced concentration of the potential determining ions in injection water will lead to improved interfacial viscoelasticity.

Keywords: liquid-liquid interfaces, surfactant concentrations, potential determining ions, residual oil mobilization

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Authors: Soumya Dutta

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This research paper aims at investigating the impact of emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence on radio presenter’s performance in the All India Radio, Kolkata (India’s public service broadcaster). The ancient concept of productivity is the ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. But, father of modern management Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) defined productivity of knowledge work and knowledge workers in a new form. In the other hand, the concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI) originated back in 1920’s when Thorndike (1920) for the first time proposed the emotional intelligence into three dimensions, i.e., abstract intelligence, mechanical intelligence, and social intelligence. The contribution of Salovey and Mayer (1990) is substantive, as they proposed a model for emotional intelligence by defining EI as part of the social intelligence, which takes measures the ability of an individual to regulate his/her personal and other’s emotions and feeling. Cognitive intelligence illustrates the specialization of general intelligence in the domain of cognition in ways that possess experience and learning about cognitive processes such as memory. The outcomes of past research on emotional intelligence show that emotional intelligence has a positive effect on social- mental factors of human resource; positive effects of emotional intelligence on leaders and followers in terms of performance, results, work, satisfaction; emotional intelligence has a positive and significant relationship with the teachers' job performance. In this paper, we made a conceptual framework based on theories of emotional intelligence proposed by Salovey and Mayer (1989-1990) and a compensatory model of emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence, and job performance proposed by Stephen Cote and Christopher T. H. Miners (2006). For investigating the impact of emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence on radio presenter’s performance, sample size consists 59 radio presenters (considering gender, academic qualification, instructional mood, age group, etc.) from All India Radio, Kolkata station. Questionnaires prepared based on cognitive (henceforth called C based and represented by C1, C2,.., C5) as well as emotional intelligence (henceforth called E based and represented by E1, E2,., E20). These were sent to around 59 respondents (Presenters) for getting their responses. Performance score was collected from the report of program executive of All India Radio, Kolkata. The linear regression has been carried out using all the E-based and C-based variables as the predictor variables. The possible problem of autocorrelation has been tested by having the Durbinson-Watson (DW) Statistic. Values of this statistic, almost within the range of 1.80-2.20, indicate the absence of any significant problem of autocorrelation. The possible problem of multicollinearity has been tested by having the Variable Inflation Factor (VIF) value. Values of this statistic, around within 2, indicates the absence of any significant problem of multicollinearity. It is inferred that the performance scores can be statistically regressed linearly on the E-based and C-based scores, which can explain 74.50% of the variations in the performance.

Keywords: cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, performance, productivity

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Authors: José Carlos Bronze, Carlinda Leite, Angélica Monteiro

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The creation of the Erasmus Program in 1987 represented a milestone in promoting and funding international mobility in higher education in Europe. Its effects were so significant that they influenced the creation of the European Higher Education Area through the Bologna Process and ensured the program’s continuation and maintenance. Over the last decades, the escalating figures of participants and funds instigated significant scientific studies on the program's effects on higher education. More recently, in 2014, the program was renamed “Erasmus+” when it expanded into other fields of education, namely Vocational Education and Training (VET). Despite being now running in this field of education for a decade (2014-2024), its effects on VET remain less studied and less known, while the higher education field keeps attracting researchers’ attention. Given this gap, it becomes relevant to study the effects of E+ on VET, particularly in the priority domains of the Program: “Inclusion and Diversity,” “Participation in Democratic Life, Common Values and Civic Engagement,” “Environment and Fight Against Climate Change,” and “Digital Transformation.” This latter has been recently emphasized due to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the so-called emergency remote teaching, leading schools to quickly transform and adapt to a new reality regardless of the preparedness levels of teachers and students. Together with the remaining E+ priorities, they directly relate to an emancipatory perspective of education sustained in soft skills such as critical thinking, intercultural awareness, autonomy, active citizenship, teamwork, and problem-solving, among others. Based on this situation, it is relevant to know the effects of E+ on the VET field, namely questioning how international mobility instigates digitalization processes and supports emancipatory queries therein. As an education field that more directly connects to hard skills and an instrumental approach oriented to the labor market’s needs, a study was conducted to determine the effects of international mobility on developing digital literacy and soft skills in the VET field. In methodological terms, the study used semi-structured interviews with teaching and non-teaching staff from three VET schools who are strongly active in the E+ Program. The interviewees were three headmasters, four mobility project managers, and eight teachers experienced in international mobility. The data was subjected to qualitative content analysis using the NVivo 14 application. The results show that E+ international mobility promotes and facilitates the use of digital technologies as a pedagogical resource at VET schools and enhances and generates students’ soft skills. In conclusion, E+ mobility in the VET field supports adopting the program’s priorities by increasing the teachers’ knowledge and use of digital resources and amplifying and generating participants’ soft skills.

Keywords: Erasmus international mobility, digital literacy, soft skills, vocational education and training

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Authors: Stephen Osakue Amiandamhen, Schwaller Andreas, Martina Meincken, Luvuyo Tyhoda

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Invasive alien tree species are currently being cleared in South Africa as a result of the forest and water imbalances. These species grow wildly constituting about 40% of total forest area. They compete with the ecosystem for natural resources and are considered as ecosystem engineers by rapidly changing disturbance regimes. As such, they are harvested for commercial uses but much of it is wasted because of their form and structure. The waste is being sold to local communities as fuel wood. These species can be considered as potential feedstock for the production of phosphate bonded composites. The presence of bark in wood-based composites leads to undesirable properties, and debarking as an option can be cost implicative. This study investigates the potentials of these invasive species processed without debarking on some fundamental properties of wood-based panels. Some invasive alien tree species were collected from EC Biomass, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. They include Acacia mearnsii (Black wattle), A. longifolia (Long-leaved wattle), A. cyclops (Red-eyed wattle), A. saligna (Golden-wreath wattle) and Eucalyptus globulus (Blue gum). The logs were chipped as received. The chips were hammer-milled and screened through a 1 mm sieve. The wood particles were conditioned and the quantity of bark in the wood was determined. The binding matrix was prepared using a reactive magnesia, phosphoric acid and class S fly ash. The materials were mixed and poured into a metallic mould. The composite within the mould was compressed at room temperature at a pressure of 200 KPa. After initial setting which took about 5 minutes, the composite board was demoulded and air-cured for 72 h. The cured product was thereafter conditioned at 20°C and 70% relative humidity for 48 h. Test of physical and strength properties were conducted on the composite boards. The effect of binder formulation and fly ash content on the properties of the boards was studied using fitted response surface technology, according to a central composite experimental design (CCD) at a fixed wood loading of 75% (w/w) of total inorganic contents. The results showed that phosphate/magnesia ratio of 3:1 and fly ash content of 10% was required to obtain a product of good properties and sufficient strength for intended applications. The proposed products can be used for ceilings, partitioning and insulating wall panels.

Keywords: invasive alien tree species, phosphate bonded composites, physical properties, strength

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Authors: Claire Limoge Schraen, Philippe Gueguen, Cedric Giry, Cedric Desprez, Frédéric Ragueneau

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Mediterranean area is characterized by numerous monumental or vernacular masonry structures illustrating old ways of build and live. Those precious buildings are often poorly documented, present complex shapes and loadings, and are protected by the States, leading to legal constraints. This area also presents a moderate to high seismic activity. Even moderate earthquakes can be magnified by local site effects and cause collapse or significant damage. Moreover the structural resistance of masonry buildings, especially when less famous or located in rural zones has been generally lowered by many factors: poor maintenance, unsuitable restoration, ambient pollution, previous earthquakes. Recent earthquakes prove that any damage to these architectural witnesses to our past is irreversible, leading to the necessity of acting preventively. This means providing preventive assessments for hundreds of structures with no or few documents. In this context we want to propose a general method, based on hierarchized numerical models, to provide preliminary structural diagnoses at a regional scale, indicating whether more precise investigations and models are necessary for each building. To this aim, we adapt different tools, being developed such as photogrammetry or to be created such as a preprocessor starting from pictures to build meshes for a FEM software, in order to allow dynamic studies of the buildings of the panel. We made an inventory of 198 baroque chapels and churches situated in the French Alps. Then their structural characteristics have been determined thanks field surveys and the MicMac photogrammetric software. Using structural criteria, we determined eight types of churches and seven types for chapels. We studied their dynamical behavior thanks to CAST3M, using EC8 spectrum and accelerogramms of the studied zone. This allowed us quantifying the effect of the needed simplifications in the most sensitive zones and choosing the most effective ones. We also proposed threshold criteria based on the observed damages visible in the in situ surveys, old pictures and Italian code. They are relevant in linear models. To validate the structural types, we made a vibratory measures campaign using vibratory ambient noise and velocimeters. It also allowed us validating this method on old masonry and identifying the modal characteristics of 20 churches. Then we proceeded to a dynamic identification between numerical and experimental modes. So we updated the linear models thanks to material and geometrical parameters, often unknown because of the complexity of the structures and materials. The numerically optimized values have been verified thanks to the measures we made on the masonry components in situ and in laboratory. We are now working on non-linear models redistributing the strains. So we validate the damage threshold criteria which we use to compute the vulnerability curves of each defined structural type. Our actual results show a good correlation between experimental and numerical data, validating the final modeling simplifications and the global method. We now plan to use non-linear analysis in the critical zones in order to test reinforcement solutions.

Keywords: heritage structures, masonry numerical modeling, seismic vulnerability assessment, vibratory measure

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Authors: Zakia Hammouni

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Healthcare professionals’ well-being is becoming a priority during this Covid-19 pandemic due to stress, fatigue, and workload. Well before this pandemic, contemporary hospitals are endowed with environmental attributes that contribute to achieving well-being within their environment with the emphasis on the patient. The patient-centered care approach has been followed by the patient-centered design approach. Studies that have focused on the physical environment in hospitals have dealt with the patient's recovery process and his well-being. Prior scientific literature has placed less emphasis on the healthcare professionals’ interactions within the physical environment and to guide hospital designers to make evidence-based design choices to meet the needs and expectations of hospital users by considering, in addition to patients, healthcare professionals. This paper examines these issues related to the daily stress of professionals who provide care in a hospital environment. In this exploratory study, the interest was to grasp the issues related to this environment and explores the current realities of newly built hospitals based on design approaches and what attributes of the physical setting support healthcare professional’s well-being. Within a constructivist approach, this study was conducted in two care units in a new hospital in a big city in Canada before the Covid-19 pandemic (august 2nd to November 2nd 2018). A spatial evaluation of these care units allowed us to understand the interaction of health professionals in their work environment, to understand the spatial behavior of these professionals, and the narratives from 44 interviews of various healthcare professionals. The mental images validated the salient components of the hospital environment as perceived by these healthcare professionals. Thematic analysis and triangulation of the data set were conducted. Among the key attributes promoting the healthcare professionals’ well-being as revealed by the healthcare professionals are the overall light-color atmosphere in the hospital and care unit, particularly in the corridors and public areas of the hospital, the maintenance and cleanliness. The presence of the art elements also brings well-being to the health professionals as well as panoramic views from the staff lounge and corridors of the care units or elevator lobbies. Despite the overall positive assessment of this environment, some attributes need to be improved to ensure the well-being of healthcare professionals and to provide them with a restructuring environment. These are the supply of natural light, softer colors, sufficient furniture, comfortable seating in the restroom, and views, which are important in allowing these healthcare professionals to recover from their work stress. Noise is another attribute that needs to be further improved in the hospital work environment, especially in the nursing workstations and consultant's room. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of providing healthcare professionals with work and rest areas that allow them to resist the stress they face, particularly during periods of extreme stress and fatigue such as a Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords: healthcare facilities, healthcare professionals, physical environment, well-being

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Authors: Christopher Latella, Ashlee M. Hendy, Dan Vander Westhuizen, Wei-Peng Teo

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Introduction: Neural adaptations following resistance training interventions have been widely investigated, however the evidence regarding the mechanisms of early adaptation are less clear. Understanding neural responses from an acute resistance training session is pivotal in the prescription of frequency, intensity and volume in applied strength and conditioning practice. Therefore the primary aim of this study was to investigate the time course of neurophysiological mechanisms post training against current super compensation theory, and secondly, to examine whether these responses reflect neural adaptations observed with resistance training interventions. Methods: Participants (N=14) completed a randomised, counterbalanced crossover study comparing; control, strength and hypertrophy conditions. The strength condition involved 3 x 5RM leg extensions with 3min recovery, while the hypertrophy condition involved 3 x 12 RM with 60s recovery. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and peripheral nerve stimulation were used to measure excitability of the central and peripheral neural pathways, and maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) to quantify strength changes. Measures were taken pre, immediately post, 10, 20 and 30 mins and 1, 2, 6, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hrs following training. Results: Significant decreases were observed at post, 10, 20, 30 min, 1 and 2 hrs for both training groups compared to control group for force, (p <.05), maximal compound wave; (p < .005), silent period; (p < .05). A significant increase in corticospinal excitability; (p < .005) was observed for both groups. Corticospinal excitability between strength and hypertrophy groups was near significance, with a large effect (η2= .202). All measures returned to baseline within 6 hrs post training. Discussion: Neurophysiological mechanisms appear to be significantly altered in the period 2 hrs post training, returning to homeostasis by 6 hrs. The evidence suggests that the time course of neural recovery post resistance training occurs 18-40 hours shorter than previous super compensation models. Strength and hypertrophy protocols showed similar response profiles with current findings suggesting greater post training corticospinal drive from hypertrophy training, despite previous evidence that strength training requires greater neural input. The increase in corticospinal drive and decrease inl inhibition appear to be a compensatory mechanism for decreases in peripheral nerve excitability and maximal voluntary force output. The changes in corticospinal excitability and inhibition are akin to adaptive processes observed with training interventions of 4 wks or longer. It appears that the 2 hr recovery period post training is the most influential for priming further neural adaptations with resistance training. Secondly, the frequency of prescribed resistance sessions can be scheduled closer than previous super compensation theory for optimal strength gains.

Keywords: neural responses, resistance training, super compensation, transcranial magnetic stimulation

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Authors: Despoina Mouratidis, Katia Lida Kermanidis

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Machine translation (MT) is a very important task in Natural Language Processing (NLP). MT evaluation is crucial in MT development, as it constitutes the means to assess the success of an MT system, and also helps improve its performance. Several methods have been proposed for the evaluation of (MT) systems. Some of the most popular ones in automatic MT evaluation are score-based, such as the BLEU score, and others are based on lexical similarity or syntactic similarity between the MT outputs and the reference involving higher-level information like part of speech tagging (POS). This paper presents a language-independent machine learning framework for classifying pairwise translations. This framework uses vector representations of two machine-produced translations, one from a statistical machine translation model (SMT) and one from a neural machine translation model (NMT). The vector representations consist of automatically extracted word embeddings and string-like language-independent features. These vector representations used as an input to a multi-layer neural network (NN) that models the similarity between each MT output and the reference, as well as between the two MT outputs. To evaluate the proposed approach, a professional translation and a "ground-truth" annotation are used. The parallel corpora used are English-Greek (EN-GR) and English-Italian (EN-IT), in the educational domain and of informal genres (video lecture subtitles, course forum text, etc.) that are difficult to be reliably translated. They have tested three basic deep learning (DL) architectures to this schema: (i) fully-connected dense, (ii) Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and (iii) Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM). Experiments show that all tested architectures achieved better results when compared against those of some of the well-known basic approaches, such as Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). Better accuracy results are obtained when LSTM layers are used in our schema. In terms of a balance between the results, better accuracy results are obtained when dense layers are used. The reason for this is that the model correctly classifies more sentences of the minority class (SMT). For a more integrated analysis of the accuracy results, a qualitative linguistic analysis is carried out. In this context, problems have been identified about some figures of speech, as the metaphors, or about certain linguistic phenomena, such as per etymology: paronyms. It is quite interesting to find out why all the classifiers led to worse accuracy results in Italian as compared to Greek, taking into account that the linguistic features employed are language independent.

Keywords: machine learning, machine translation evaluation, neural network architecture, pairwise classification

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Authors: Louise Bernier

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Under some jurisdictions (including Canada), eligible patients can request and receive medical assistance in dying (MAiD) through lethal injections, inducing their cardiocirculatory death. Those same patients can also wish to donate their organs in the process. If they qualify as organ donors, a clinical and ethical rule called the 'dead donor rule' (DDR) requires the transplant teams to wait after cardiocirculatory death is confirmed, followed by a 'no touch' period (5 minutes in Canada) before they can proceed with organ removal. The medical procedures (lethal injections) as well as the delays associated with the DDR can damage organs (mostly thoracic organs) due to prolonged anoxia. Yet, strong scientific evidences demonstrate that operating differently and reconsidering the DDR would result in more organs of better quality available for transplant. This idea generates discomfort and resistance, but it is also worth considering, especially in a context of chronic shortage of available organs. One option that could be examined for MAiD’ patients who wish and can be organ donors would be to remove vital organs while patients are still alive (and under sedation). This would imply accepting that patient’s death would occur through organ donation instead of lethal injections required under MAiD’ legal rules. It would also mean that patients requesting MAiD and wishing to be organ donors could aspire to donate better quality organs, including their heart, an altruistic gesture that carries important symbolic value for many donors and their families. Following a patient centered approach, our hypothesis is that preventing vital organ donation from a living donor in all circumstance is neither perfectly coherent with how legal mentalities have evolved lately in the field of fundamental rights nor compatible with the clinical and ethical frameworks that shape the landscape in which those complex medical decisions unfold. Through a study of the legal, ethical, and clinical rules in place, both at the national and international levels, this analysis raises questions on the numerous inconsistencies associated with respecting the DDR with patients who have chosen to die through MAiD. We will begin with an assessment of the erosion of certain national legal frameworks that pertain to the sacred nature of the right to life which now also includes the right to choose how one wishes to die. We will then study recent innovative clinical protocols tested in different countries to help address acute organ shortage problems in creative ways. We will conclude this analysis with an ethical assessment of the situation, referring to principles such as justice, autonomy, altruism, beneficence, and non-malfeasance. This study will build a strong argument in favor of starting to allow vital organ donations from living donors in countries where MAiD is already permitted.

Keywords: altruism, autonomy, dead donor rule, medical assistance in dying, non-malfeasance, organ donation

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Authors: Ganga Brahma

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Boro employs verbs hooked up with morphemes which lead verbs to adjust with their arguments and hence, affecting the whole of sentence structures. This paper is based on few such syntactic parameters which are usually considered as argument decreasing parameters in linguistic works. Passivizing of few transitive clauses which are usually construed from the verbs occurring with certain morphemes and representation in middle constructions are few of such strategies which lead to conceptualizing of decreasing of syntactic arguments from a sentence. This paper focuses on the mentioned linguistic strategies and attempts to describe the linguistic processes as for how these parameters work in languages especially by concentrating on a particular Tibeto-Burman language i.e. Boro. Boro is a Tibeto-Burman language widely spoken in parts of the north-eastern regions of India. It has an agglutinative nature in forming words as well as clauses. There is a morpheme ‘za’ which means ‘to happen, become’ in Boro whose appearances with verb roots denotes an idea of the subject being passivized. Passivization, usually has notions that it is a reversed representation of its active sentence forms in the terms of argument placements. (However, it is not accountably true as passives and actives have some distinct features of their own and independent of one and the other.) This particular work will concentrate on the semantics of passivization at the same time along with its syntactic reality. The verb khɑo meaning ‘to steal’ offers a sense of passivization with the appearance of the morpheme zɑ which means ‘to happen, become’ (e.g Zunu-ɑ lama-ɑo phɯisɑ khɑo-zɑ-bɑi; Junu-NOM road-LOC money steal-PASS-PRES: Junu got her money stolen on the road). The focus, here, is more on the argument placed at the subject position (i.e. Zunu) and the event taken place. The semantics of such construction asks for the agent because without an agent the event could not have taken place. However, the syntactic elements fill the slots of relegated or temporarily deleted agent which, infact, is the actual subject cum agent in its active representation. Due to the event marker ‘zɑ’ in this presentation it affords to reduce one participant from such a situation which in actual is made up of three participants. Hence, the structure of di-transitive construction here reduces to mono-transitive structure. Unlike passivization, middle construction does not allow relegation of the agents. It permanently deletes agents. However, it also focuses on the fore-grounded subject and highlighting on the changed states on the subjects which happens to be the underlying objects of their respective transitive structures (with agents). This work intends to describe how these two parameters which are different at their semantic realization can meet together at a syntactic level in order to create a linguistic parameter that decreases participants from their actual structures which are with more than one participant.

Keywords: argument-decrease, middle-construction, passivization, transitivity-intransitivity

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