Search results for: Developed country

Authors: Mariko Hara, Mari Aoki, Takako Ito, Masao Sugita

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Social distancing measures due to the COVID-19 crisis had a severe impact on music and art practices based in community settings. They had to re-think how to connect with their dispersed community using online tools. As the social distancing continues, there is an urgent need to investigate the possibilities of online community music and art practices. Are they sustainable actions that can have positive impacts on the community and the quality of lives of people over time? The Online Lindgren Café (hereafter ‘OLC’) is a monthly online literature event which started in June 2020. In the OLC, up to 14 members meet online to discuss the works of Astrid Lindgren and similar authors. Members come from various places in Japan and Norway, with a variety of expertise from music therapy, music education, psychotherapy, music sociology, storytelling, and theatre, and their family members join them. In these meetings, music and arts activities emerged in response to interests among the members. The resources and experiences of the members helped to develop these activities further. This paper first introduces one of the music and art activities in one specific event, a collaborative picture book-making with music, which was initiated and led by the second author. The third author chose the music, and the activity itself was recorded. This is followed by the description of a reflecting event, where the recording of the collaborative picture book-making activity was shared to facilitate further creations (drawings, haiku, and fabric weaving) as well as group reflections on the trajectories of the Online Lindgren Café. Finally, we will discuss the preliminary findings using the data collected at the reflecting event. Key findings suggest that the resource-driven approach of the OLC leveled the relationships among the intergenerational, multi-cultural, and interdisciplinary members. This enabled the members to set aside their professional and/or predominant identities, which allowed them to discover their own and others’ resources. The relaxed, unstructured, and liminal phenomenon at OLC can be regarded as a form of communitas, where members gain a sense of liberation and belonging in a different way from in-person communications. Participation from one’s home, as well as a video conferencing function that allowed the members to position themselves among the other participants in equal-sized windows, seems to have enabled members to feel safe to express themselves openly at the same time feel a sense of belonging. Furthermore, in the OLC, music and arts activities acted to inclusively connect and re-connect dispersed, intergenerational members with each other. For instance, in a music and drawing activity, music acted as a means for each member to engage in their own ‘drawing space’ while still feeling connected with the others. The positive experiences from these activities inspired the members to use similar approaches outside of the OLC. The finding suggests that, because of its resource-driven approach supported by the music and arts activities, the OLC could be developed further as a permeable and sustainable action even after any current social distancing measures are lifted.

Keywords: communitas, COVID-19, musical affordances, online community of practices, resource-driven approach

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Authors: Sumeyra Yakar, Emine Enise Yakar

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Iran presents itself as Islamic, first and foremost, and thus, it can be said that sharī’a is the political and social centre of the states. However, actual practice reveals distinct interpretations and understandings of the sharī’a. The research can be categorised inside the framework of logic in Islamic law and theology. The first task of this paper will be to identify how the sharī’a is understood in Iran by mapping out how the judges apply the law in their respective jurisdictions. The attention will then move from a simple description of the diversity of sharī’a understandings to the question of how that diversity relates to social concepts and cultures. This, of course, necessitates a brief exploration of Iran’s historical background which will also allow for an understanding of sectarian influences and the significance of certain events. The main purpose is to reach an understanding of the process of applying sources to formulate solutions which are in accordance with sharī’a and how religious education is pursued in order to become official judges. Ultimately, this essay will explore the attempts to gain an understanding by linking the practices to the secondary sources of Islamic law. It is important to emphasise that these cultural components of Islamic law must be compatible with the aims of Islamic law and their fundamental sources. The sharī’a consists of more than just legal doctrines (fiqh) and interpretive activities (ijtihād). Its contextual and theoretical framework reveals a close relationship with cultural and historical elements of society. This has meant that its traditional reproduction over time has relied on being embedded into a highly particular form of life. Thus, as acknowledged by pre-modern jurists, the sharī’a encompasses a comprehensive approach to the requirements of justice in legal, historical and political contexts. In theological and legal areas that have the specific authority of tradition, Iran adheres to Shīa’ doctrine, and this explains why the Shīa’ religious establishment maintains a dominant position in matters relating to law and the interpretation of sharī’a. The statements and interpretations of the tradition are distinctly different from sunnī interpretations, and so the use of different sources could be understood as the main reason for the discrepancies in the application of sharī’a between Iran and other Muslim countries. The sharī’a has often accommodated prevailing customs; moreover, it has developed legal mechanisms to all for its adaptation to particular needs and circumstances in society. While jurists may operate within the realm of governance and politics, the moral authority of the sharī’a ensures that these actors legitimate their actions with reference to God’s commands. The Iranian regime enshrines the principle of vilāyāt-i faqīh (guardianship of the jurist) which enables jurists to solve the conflict between law as an ideal system, in theory, and law in practice. The paper aims to show how the religious, educational system works in harmony with the governmental authorities with the concept of vilāyāt-i faqīh in Iran and contributes to the creation of religious custom in the society.

Keywords: guardianship of the jurist (vilāyāt-i faqīh), imitation (taqlīd), seminaries (hawza), Shi’i jurisprudence

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Authors: Igor Povar, Catherine Goyet

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The seawater is subject to multiple external stressors (ES) including rising atmospheric CO2 and ocean acidification, global warming, atmospheric deposition of pollutants and eutrophication, which deeply alter its chemistry, often on a global scale and, in some cases, at the degree significantly exceeding that in the historical and recent geological verification. In ocean systems the micro- and macronutrients, heavy metals, phosphor- and nitrogen-containing components exist in different forms depending on the concentrations of various other species, organic matter, the types of minerals, the pH etc. The major limitation to assessing more strictly the ES to oceans, such as pollutants (atmospheric greenhouse gas, heavy metals, nutrients as nitrates and phosphates) is the lack of theoretical approach which could predict the ocean resistance to multiple external stressors. In order to assess the abovementioned ES, the research has applied and developed the buffer theory approach and theoretical expressions of the formal chemical thermodynamics to ocean systems, as heterogeneous aqueous systems. The thermodynamic expressions of complex chemical equilibria, involving acid-base, complex formation and mineral ones have been deduced. This thermodynamic approach utilizes thermodynamic relationships coupled with original mass balance constraints, where the solid phases are explicitly expressed. The ocean sensitivity to different external stressors and changes in driving factors are considered in terms of derived buffering capacities or buffer factors for heterogeneous systems. Our investigations have proved that the heterogeneous aqueous systems, as ocean and seas are, manifest their buffer properties towards all their components, not only to pH, as it has been known so far, for example in respect to carbon dioxide, carbonates, phosphates, Ca2+, Mg2+, heavy metal ions etc. The derived expressions make possible to attribute changes in chemical ocean composition to different pollutants. These expressions are also useful for improving the current atmosphere-ocean-marine biogeochemistry models. The major research questions, to which the research responds, are: (i.) What kind of contamination is the most harmful for Future Ocean? (ii.) What are chemical heterogeneous processes of the heavy metal release from sediments and minerals and its impact to the ocean buffer action? (iii.) What will be the long-term response of the coastal ocean to the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic pollutants? (iv.) How will change the ocean resistance in terms of future chemical complex processes and buffer capacities and its response to external (anthropogenic) perturbations? The ocean buffer capacities towards its main components are recommended as parameters that should be included in determining the most important ocean factors which define the response of ocean environment at the technogenic loads increasing. The deduced thermodynamic expressions are valid for any combination of chemical composition, or any of the species contributing to the total concentration, as independent state variable.

Keywords: atmospheric greenhouse gas, chemical thermodynamics, external stressors, pollutants, seawater

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Authors: Domenico Carmelo Mongelli

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The context is that of great uncertainty in the 27 countries belonging to the European Union which has adopted an epochal measure: the elimination of internal combustion engines for the traction of road vehicles starting from 2035 with complete replacement with electric vehicles. If on the one hand there is great concern at various levels for the unpreparedness for this change, on the other the Scientific Community is not preparing accurate studies on the problem, as the scientific literature deals with single aspects of the issue, moreover addressing the issue at the level of individual countries, losing sight of the global implications of the issue for the entire EU. The aim of the research is to fill these gaps: the technological, plant engineering, environmental, economic and employment aspects of the energy transition in question are addressed and connected to each other, comparing the current situation with the different scenarios that could exist in 2035 and in the following years until total disposal of the internal combustion engine vehicle fleet for the entire EU. The methodologies adopted by the research consist in the analysis of the entire life cycle of electric vehicles and batteries, through the use of specific databases, and in the dynamic simulation, using specific calculation codes, of the application of the results of this analysis to the entire EU electric vehicle fleet from 2035 onwards. Energy balance sheets will be drawn up (to evaluate the net energy saved), plant balance sheets (to determine the surplus demand for power and electrical energy required and the sizing of new plants from renewable sources to cover electricity needs), economic balance sheets (to determine the investment costs for this transition, the savings during the operation phase and the payback times of the initial investments), the environmental balances (with the different energy mix scenarios in anticipation of 2035, the reductions in CO2eq and the environmental effects are determined resulting from the increase in the production of lithium for batteries), the employment balances (it is estimated how many jobs will be lost and recovered in the reconversion of the automotive industry, related industries and in the refining, distribution and sale of petroleum products and how many will be products for technological innovation, the increase in demand for electricity, the construction and management of street electric columns). New algorithms for forecast optimization are developed, tested and validated. Compared to other published material, the research adds an overall picture of the energy transition, capturing the advantages and disadvantages of the different aspects, evaluating the entities and improvement solutions in an organic overall picture of the topic. The results achieved allow us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the energy transition, to determine the possible solutions to mitigate these weaknesses and to simulate and then evaluate their effects, establishing the most suitable solutions to make this transition feasible.

Keywords: engines, Europe, mobility, transition

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Authors: Shamini Dhana, G. Subrahmanya VRK Rao

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The fashion industry is advancing towards a mindset of zero waste, personalization, creativity, and circularity. The trend of upcycling clothing and materials into personalized fashion is being demanded by the next generation. There is a need for a digital tool to accelerate the process towards mass customization. Dhana’s D/Sphere fashion technology platform uses digital tools to accelerate upcycling. In essence, advanced fashion garments can be designed and developed via reuse, repurposing, recreating activities, and using existing fabric and circulating materials. The D/Sphere platform has the following objectives: to provide (1) An opportunity to develop modern fashion using existing, finished materials and clothing without chemicals or water consumption; (2) The potential for an everyday customer and designer to use the medium of fashion for creative expression; (3) A solution to address the global textile waste generated by pre- and post-consumer fashion; (4) A solution to reduce carbon emissions, water, and energy consumption with the participation of all stakeholders; (5) An opportunity for brands, manufacturers, retailers to work towards zero-waste designs and as an alternative revenue stream. Other benefits of this alternative approach include sustainability metrics, trend prediction, facilitation of disassembly and remanufacture deep learning, and hyperheuristics for high accuracy. A design tool for mass personalization and customization utilizing existing circulating materials and deadstock, targeted to fashion stakeholders will lower environmental costs, increase revenues through up to date upcycled apparel, produce less textile waste during the cut-sew-stitch process, and provide a real design solution for the end customer to be part of circular fashion. The broader impact of this technology will result in a different mindset to circular fashion, increase the value of the product through multiple life cycles, find alternatives towards zero waste, and reduce the textile waste that ends up in landfills. This technology platform will be of interest to brands and companies that have the responsibility to reduce their environmental impact and contribution to climate change as it pertains to the fashion and apparel industry. Today, over 70% of the $3 trillion fashion and apparel industry ends up in landfills. To this extent, the industry needs such alternative techniques to both address global textile waste as well as provide an opportunity to include all stakeholders and drive circular fashion with new personalized products. This type of modern systems thinking is currently being explored around the world by the private sector, organizations, research institutions, and governments. This technological innovation using digital tools has the potential to revolutionize the way we look at communication, capabilities, and collaborative opportunities amongst stakeholders in the development of new personalized and customized products, as well as its positive impacts on society, our environment, and global climate change.

Keywords: circular fashion, deep learning, digital technology platform, personalization

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Authors: Makhan Maharjan, Mani Ulaganathan, Vanchiappan Aravindan, Srinivasan Madhavi, Jing-Yuan Wang, Tuti Mariana Lim

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There is great interest to exploit sustainable, low-cost, renewable resources as carbon precursors for energy storage applications. Research on development of energy storage devices has been growing rapidly due to mismatch in power supply and demand from renewable energy sources This paper reported the synthesis of porous activated carbon from biomass waste and evaluated its performance in supercapicators. In this work, we employed orange peel (waste material) as the starting material and synthesized activated carbon by pyrolysis of KOH impregnated orange peel char at 800 °C in argon atmosphere. The resultant orange peel-derived activated carbon (OP-AC) exhibited a high BET surface area of 1,901 m2 g-1, which is the highest surface area so far reported for the orange peel. The pore size distribution (PSD) curve exhibits the pores centered at 11.26 Å pore width, suggesting dominant microporosity. The OP-AC was studied as positive electrode in combination with different negative electrode materials, such as pre-lithiated graphite (LiC6) and Li4Ti5O12 for making different hybrid capacitors. The lithium ion capacitor (LIC) fabricated using OP-AC with pre-lithiated graphite delivered a high energy density of ~106 Wh kg–1. The energy density for OP-AC||Li4Ti5O12 capacitor was ~35 Wh kg–1. For comparison purpose, configuration of OP-AC||OP-AC capacitors were studied in both aqueous (1M H2SO4) and organic (1M LiPF6 in EC-DMC) electrolytes, which delivered the energy density of 6.6 Wh kg-1 and 16.3 Wh kg-1, respectively. The cycling retentions obtained at current density of 1 A g–1 were ~85.8, ~87.0 ~82.2 and ~58.8% after 2500 cycles for OP-AC||OP-AC (aqueous), OP-AC||OP-AC (organic), OP-AC||Li4Ti5O12 and OP-AC||LiC6 configurations, respectively. In addition, characterization studies were performed by elemental and proximate composition, thermogravimetry, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, Fourier transform-infrared, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and N2 sorption isotherms. The morphological features from FE-SEM exhibited well-developed porous structures. Two typical broad peaks observed in the XRD framework of the synthesized carbon implies amorphous graphitic structure. The ratio of 0.86 for ID/IG in Raman spectra infers high degree of graphitization in the sample. The band spectra of C 1s in XPS display the well resolved peaks related to carbon atoms in various chemical environments; for instances, the characteristics binding energies appeared at ~283.83, ~284.83, ~286.13, ~288.56, and ~290.70 eV which correspond to sp2 -graphitic C, sp3 -graphitic C, C-O, C=O and π-π*, respectively. Characterization studies revealed the synthesized carbon to be promising electrode material towards the application for energy storage devices. The findings opened up the possibility of developing high energy LICs from abundant, low-cost, renewable biomass waste.

Keywords: lithium-ion capacitors, orange peel, pre-lithiated graphite, supercapacitors

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Authors: Ch. Sridevi, S. P. Shailender Kumar, B. Gurudayal, A. Chalapathi Rao, K. Koteswara Rao, P. Srinivasulu

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System reliability and system availability evaluation plays a crucial role in ensuring the seamless operation of complex satellite data reception system with consistent performance for longer periods. This paper presents a novel approach for the same using a case study on one of the antenna systems at satellite data reception ground station in India. The methodology involves analyzing system's components, their failure rates, system's architecture, generation of logical reliability block diagram model and estimating the reliability of the system using the component level mean time between failures considering exponential distribution to derive a baseline estimate of the system's reliability. The model is then validated with collected system level field failure data from the operational satellite data reception systems that includes failure occurred, failure time, criticality of the failure and repair times by using statistical techniques like median rank, regression and Weibull analysis to extract meaningful insights regarding failure patterns and practical reliability of the system and to assess the accuracy of the developed reliability model. The study mainly focused on identification of critical units within the system, which are prone to failures and have a significant impact on overall performance and brought out a reliability model of the identified critical unit. This model takes into account the interdependencies among system components and their impact on overall system reliability and provides valuable insights into the performance of the system to understand the Improvement or degradation of the system over a period of time and will be the vital input to arrive at the optimized design for future development. It also provides a plug and play framework to understand the effect on performance of the system in case of any up gradations or new designs of the unit. It helps in effective planning and formulating contingency plans to address potential system failures, ensuring the continuity of operations. Furthermore, to instill confidence in system users, the duration for which the system can operate continuously with the desired level of 3 sigma reliability was estimated that turned out to be a vital input to maintenance plan. System availability and station availability was also assessed by considering scenarios of clash and non-clash to determine the overall system performance and potential bottlenecks. Overall, this paper establishes a comprehensive methodology for reliability and availability analysis of complex satellite data reception systems. The results derived from this approach facilitate effective planning contingency measures, and provide users with confidence in system performance and enables decision-makers to make informed choices about system maintenance, upgrades and replacements. It also aids in identifying critical units and assessing system availability in various scenarios and helps in minimizing downtime and optimizing resource allocation.

Keywords: exponential distribution, reliability modeling, reliability block diagram, satellite data reception system, system availability, weibull analysis

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Authors: Miranda Lin

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This project examined the impact of a globally focused service-learning project implemented in a multicultural education course in a Midwestern university. This project facilitated critical self-reflection and build cross-cultural competence while nurturing a partnership with two schools that serve students with disabilities in Vietnam. Through a service-learning project, pre-service teachers connected via Skype with the principals/teachers at schools in Vietnam to identify and subsequently develop needed instructional materials for students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities. Qualitative data sources include students’ intercultural competence self-reflection survey (pre-test and post-test), reflections, discussions, service project, and lesson plans. Literature Review- Global service-learning is a teaching strategy that encompasses service experiences both in the local community and abroad. Drawing on elements of global learning and international service-learning, global service-learning experiences are guided by a framework that is designed to support global learning outcomes and involve direct engagement with difference. By engaging in real-world challenges, global service-learning experiences can support the achievement of learning outcomes such as civic. Knowledge and intercultural knowledge and competence. Intercultural competence development is considered essential for cooperative and reciprocal engagement with community partners.Method- Participants (n=27*) were mostly elementary and early childhood pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a multicultural education course. All but one was female. Among the pre-service teachers, one Asian American, two Latinas, and the rest were White. Two pre-service teachers identified themselves as from the low socioeconomic families and the rest were from the middle to upper middle class.The global service-learning project was implemented in the spring of 2018. Two Vietnamese schools that served students with disabilities agreed to be the global service-learning sites. Both schools were located in an urban city.Systematic collection of data coincided with the course schedule as follows: an initial intercultural competence self-reflection survey completed in week one, guided reflections submitted in week 1, 9, and 16, written lesson plans and supporting materials for the service project submitted in week 16, and a final intercultural competence self-reflection survey completed in week 16. Significance-This global service-learning project has helped participants meet Merryfield’s goals in various degrees. They 1) learned knowledge and skills in the basics of instructional planning, 2) used a variety of instructional methods that encourage active learning, meet the different learning styles of students, and are congruent with content and educational goals, 3) gained the awareness and support of their students as individuals and as learners, 4) developed questioning techniques that build higher-level thinking skills, and 5) made progress in critically reflecting on and improving their own teaching and learning as a professional educator as a result of this project.

Keywords: global service-learning, teacher education, intercultural competence, diversity

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Authors: Elias Jemal Abdella

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The Blue Nile River is an important shared resource of Ethiopia, Sudan and also, because it is the major contributor of water to the main Nile River, Egypt. Despite the potential benefits of regional cooperation and integrated joint basin management, all three countries continue to pursue unilateral plans for development. Besides, there is great uncertainty about the likely impacts of climate change in water availability for existing as well as proposed irrigation and hydropower projects in the Blue Nile Basin. The main objective of this study is to quantitatively assess the impact of climate change on the hydrological regime of the upper Blue Nile basin, western Ethiopia. Three models were combined, a dynamic Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) regional climate model (RCM) that is used to determine climate projections for the Upper Blue Nile basin for Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 greenhouse gas emissions scenarios for the period 2021-2050. The outputs generated from multimodel ensemble of four (4) CORDEX-RCMs (i.e., rainfall and temperature) were used as input to a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model which was setup, calibrated and validated with observed climate and hydrological data. The outputs from the SWAT model (i.e., projections in river flow) were used as input to a Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) water resources model which was used to determine the water resources implications of the changes in climate. The WEAP model was set-up to simulate three development scenarios. Current Development scenario was the existing water resource development situation, Medium-term Development scenario was planned water resource development that is expected to be commissioned (i.e. before 2025) and Long-term full Development scenario were all planned water resource development likely to be commissioned (i.e. before 2050). The projected change of mean annual temperature for period (2021 – 2050) in most of the basin are warmer than the baseline (1982 -2005) average in the range of 1 to 1.4oC, implying that an increase in evapotranspiration loss. Subbasins which already distressed from drought may endure to face even greater challenges in the future. Projected mean annual precipitation varies from subbasin to subbasin; in the Eastern, North Eastern and South western highland of the basin a likely increase of mean annual precipitation up to 7% whereas in the western lowland part of the basin mean annual precipitation projected to decrease by 3%. The water use simulation indicates that currently irrigation demand in the basin is 1.29 Bm3y-1 for 122,765 ha of irrigation area. By 2025, with new schemes being developed, irrigation demand is estimated to increase to 2.5 Bm3y-1 for 277,779 ha. By 2050, irrigation demand in the basin is estimated to increase to 3.4 Bm3y-1 for 372,779 ha. The hydropower generation simulation indicates that 98 % of hydroelectricity potential could be produced if all planned dams are constructed.

Keywords: Blue Nile River, climate change, hydropower, SWAT, WEAP

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Authors: L. Bidyalakshmi, R. Ananthan, T. Longvah

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Antioxidants are substances that can prevent or delay oxidative damage of lipids, proteins and nucleic acids by reactive oxygen species. These help in lowering incidence of degenerative diseases such as cancer, arthritis, atherosclerosis, heart disease, inflammation, brain dysfunction and acceleration of the ageing process. The north eastern part of India falls among the global hotspots of biodiversity. Over the years, the local communities in the region have developed ingenious uses of many wild plants within their environment as food sources. Many of these less familiar foods form an integral part of the diet of these communities, and some are traditionally valued for its therapeutic effects. So the study was carried to estimate the antioxidant activity of some of these indigenous foods. Twenty-eight indigenous plant foods were studied for their antioxidant activity. Antioxidant activities were determined by using DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assay, FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) assay and SOSA (Super Oxide Scavenging Assay). Out of the twenty-eight plant foods, there were thirteen leafy vegetables, four fruits, five roots and tubers, four spices and two mushrooms. Water extract and methanol extract of the samples were used for the analysis. The leafy vegetable samples exhibited antioxidant capacity with IC50 ranging from 8-1414 mg/ml for lipid extract and 34-37878 mg/ml for aqueous extract in DPPH assay. Total FRAP value ranging from 58-1005 mmol FeSO4 Eq/100g of the sample, which is comparatively higher than the antioxidant capacity of some commonly consumed leafy vegetables. In SOSA, water extract of leafy vegetables show a range of 0.05-193.68 µmol ascorbic acid equivalent/g of the samples. While the methanol extract of the samples show 0.20-21.94 µmol Trolox equivalent/g of the samples. Polygonum barbatum, Wendlandia glabrata and Polygonum posumbu have higher antioxidant activity among the leafy vegetables analysed. Among the fruits, Rhus hookerii showed the highest antioxidant activities in both FRAP and SOSA methods while Spondias magnifera exhibited higher antioxidant activity in DPPH method. Alocasia cucullata exhibited higher antioxidant activity in DPPH and FRAP assays while Alpinia galanga showed higher antioxidant activity in SOSA assay when compared to the other samples of roots and tubers. Elsholtzia communis showed high antioxidant activity in all the three parameters among the spices. For the mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus exhibited higher antioxidant activity than Auricularia delicate in DPPH and SOSA. The samples analysed exhibited antioxidant activity at varying levels and some exhibited higher antioxidant activity than the commonly consumed foods. So consumption of these less familiar foods may play a role in preventing human disease in which free radicals are involved. Further studies on these food samples on phytonutrients and its contribution to the antioxidant activities are required.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, DPPH, FRAP, SOSA

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Authors: Koteswara Rao Pagolu, Raghava Rao Tamanam

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The present study was aimed to find out the prevalence of DD's in Visakhapatnam, one of the north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, India during a span of five years. A cross-sectional investigation was held at District early intervention center (DEIC), Visakhapatnam from 2016 to 2020. To identify the pattern and trend of different DD's including seasonal variations, a retrospective analysis of the health center's inpatient database for the past 5 years was done. Male and female children aged 2 months-18 years are included in the study with the prior permission of the concerned medical officer. The screening tool developed by the Ministry of health and family welfare, India, was used for the study. Among 26,423 cases, children with birth defects are 962, 2229 with deficiencies, 7516 with diseases, and 15716 with disabilities were admitted during the study period. From birth defects, congenital deafness occurred in large numbers with 22.66%, and neural tube defect observed in a small number of cases with 0.83% during the period. From the side of deficiencies, severe acute malnutrition has mostly occurred (66.80 %) and a small number of children were affected with goiter (1.70%). Among the diseases, dental carriers (67.97%) are mostly found and these cases were at peak during the years 2016 and 2019. From disabilities, children with vision impairment (20.55%) have mostly approached the center. Over the past 5 years, the admission rate of down's syndrome and congenital deafness cases showed a rising trend up to 2019 and then declined. Hearing impairment, motor delay, and learning disorder showed a steep rise and gradual decline trend, whereas severe anemia, vitamin-D deficiency, otitis media, reactive airway disease, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder showed a declining trend. However, congenital heart diseases, dental caries, and vision impairment admission rates showed a zigzag pattern over the past 5 years. This center had inadequate diagnostic facilities related to genetic disease management. For advanced confirmation, the cases are referred to a district government hospital or private diagnostic laboratories in the city for genetic tests. Information regarding the overall burden and pattern of admissions in the health center is obtained by the review of DEIC records. Through this study, it is observed that the incidence of birth defects, as well as genetic disease burden, is high in the Visakhapatnam district. Hence there is a need for strengthening of management services for these diseases in this region.

Keywords: child health screening, developmental delays, district early intervention center, genetic disease management, infrastructural facility, Visakhapatnam district

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Authors: Mohammed Makki, Milad Showkatbakhsh, Aiman Tabony

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Computational applications of natural evolutionary processes as problem-solving tools have been well established since the mid-20th century. However, their application within architecture and design has only gained ground in recent years, with an increasing number of academics and professionals in the field electing to utilize evolutionary computation to address problems comprised from multiple conflicting objectives with no clear optimal solution. Recent advances in computer science and its consequent constructive influence on the architectural discourse has led to the emergence of multiple algorithmic processes capable of simulating the evolutionary process in nature within an efficient timescale. Many of the developed processes of generating a population of candidate solutions to a design problem through an evolutionary based stochastic search process are often driven through the application of both environmental and architectural parameters. These methods allow for conflicting objectives to be simultaneously, independently, and objectively optimized. This is an essential approach in design problems with a final product that must address the demand of a multitude of individuals with various requirements. However, one of the main challenges encountered through the application of an evolutionary process as a design tool is the ability for the simulation to maintain variation amongst design solutions in the population while simultaneously increasing in fitness. This is most commonly known as the ‘golden rule’ of balancing exploration and exploitation over time; the difficulty of achieving this balance in the simulation is due to the tendency of either variation or optimization being favored as the simulation progresses. In such cases, the generated population of candidate solutions has either optimized very early in the simulation, or has continued to maintain high levels of variation to which an optimal set could not be discerned; thus, providing the user with a solution set that has not evolved efficiently to the objectives outlined in the problem at hand. As such, the experiments presented in this paper seek to achieve the ‘golden rule’ by incorporating a mathematical fitness criterion for the development of an urban tissue comprised from the superblock as its primary architectural element. The mathematical value investigated in the experiments is the standard deviation factor. Traditionally, the standard deviation factor has been used as an analytical value rather than a generative one, conventionally used to measure the distribution of variation within a population by calculating the degree by which the majority of the population deviates from the mean. A higher standard deviation value delineates a higher number of the population is clustered around the mean and thus limited variation within the population, while a lower standard deviation value is due to greater variation within the population and a lack of convergence towards an optimal solution. The results presented will aim to clarify the extent to which the utilization of the standard deviation factor as a fitness criterion can be advantageous to generating fitter individuals in a more efficient timeframe when compared to conventional simulations that only incorporate architectural and environmental parameters.

Keywords: architecture, computation, evolution, standard deviation, urban

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Authors: Ionut Vintu, Stefan Laible, Ruth Schulz

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Agricultural robotics has been developing steadily over recent years, with the goal of reducing and even eliminating pesticides used in crops and to increase productivity by taking over human labor. The majority of crops are arranged in rows. The first step towards autonomous robots, capable of driving in fields and performing crop-handling tasks, is for robots to robustly detect the rows of plants. Recent work done towards autonomous driving between plant rows offers big robotic platforms equipped with various expensive sensors as a solution to this problem. These platforms need to be driven over the rows of plants. This approach lacks flexibility and scalability when it comes to the height of plants or distance between rows. This paper proposes instead an algorithm that makes use of cheaper sensors and has a higher variability. The main application is in tree nurseries. Here, plant height can range from a few centimeters to a few meters. Moreover, trees are often removed, leading to gaps within the plant rows. The core idea is to combine row detection algorithms with graph-based localization methods as they are used in SLAM. Nodes in the graph represent the estimated pose of the robot, and the edges embed constraints between these poses or between the robot and certain landmarks. This setup aims to improve individual plant detection and deal with exception handling, like row gaps, which are falsely detected as an end of rows. Four methods were developed for detecting row structures in the fields, all using a point cloud acquired with a 3D LiDAR as an input. Comparing the field coverage and number of damaged plants, the method that uses a local map around the robot proved to perform the best, with 68% covered rows and 25% damaged plants. This method is further used and combined with a graph-based localization algorithm, which uses the local map features to estimate the robot’s position inside the greater field. Testing the upgraded algorithm in a variety of simulated fields shows that the additional information obtained from localization provides a boost in performance over methods that rely purely on perception to navigate. The final algorithm achieved a row coverage of 80% and an accuracy of 27% damaged plants. Future work would focus on achieving a perfect score of 100% covered rows and 0% damaged plants. The main challenges that the algorithm needs to overcome are fields where the height of the plants is too small for the plants to be detected and fields where it is hard to distinguish between individual plants when they are overlapping. The method was also tested on a real robot in a small field with artificial plants. The tests were performed using a small robot platform equipped with wheel encoders, an IMU and an FX10 3D LiDAR. Over ten runs, the system achieved 100% coverage and 0% damaged plants. The framework built within the scope of this work can be further used to integrate data from additional sensors, with the goal of achieving even better results.

Keywords: 3D LiDAR, agricultural robots, graph-based localization, row detection

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Authors: Hale Kirer Silva Lecuna, Beyza Aydin

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Health is one of the main components of human capital and sustainable development, and it is very important for economic growth. Health economics, which is an indisputable part of the science of economics, has five stages in general. These are health and development, financing of health services, economic regulation in the health, allocation of resources and efficiency of health services. A well-developed and efficient health sector plays a major role by increasing the level of development of countries. The most crucial pillars of the health sector are the hospitals that are divided into public and private. The main purpose of the hospitals is to provide more efficient services. Therefore the aim is to meet patients’ satisfaction by increasing the service quality. Health-related studies in Turkey date back to the Ottoman and Seljuk Empires. In the near past, Turkey applied 'Health Sector Transformation Programs' under different titles between 2003 and 2010. Our aim in this paper is to measure how effective these transformation programs are for the health sector, to see how much they can increase the efficiency of hospitals over the years, to see the return of investments, to make comments and suggestions on the results, and to provide a new reference for the literature. Within this framework, the public and private hospitals in Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Çanakkale, Edirne, Istanbul, Kirklareli, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Tekirdağ, Yalova will be examined by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for the years between 2000 and 2019. DEA is a linear programming-based technique, which gives relatively good results in multivariate studies. DEA basically estimates an efficiency frontier and make a comparison. Constant returns to scale and variable returns to scale are two most commonly used DEA methods. Both models are divided into two as input and output-oriented. To analyze the data, the number of personnel, number of specialist physicians, number of practitioners, number of beds, number of examinations will be used as input variables; and the number of surgeries, in-patient ratio, and crude mortality rate as output variables. 11 hospitals belonging to the Marmara region were included in the study. It is seen that these hospitals worked effectively only in 7 provinces (Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Edirne, İstanbul, Kırklareli, Yalova) for the year 2001 when no transformation program was implemented. After the transformation program was implemented, for example, in 2014 and 2016, 10 hospitals (Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Çanakkale, Edirne, İstanbul, Kocaeli, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, Yalova) were found to be effective. In 2015, ineffective results were observed for Sakarya, Tekirdağ and Yalova. However, since these values are closer to 1 after the transformation program, we can say that the transformation program has positive effects. For Sakarya alone, no effective results have been achieved in any year. When we look at the results in general, it shows that the transformation program has a positive effect on the effectiveness of hospitals.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, efficiency, health sector, Marmara region

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Authors: S. Fares, K. Mellakh, A. Hmouri

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The StorMer project aims to set up a network of researchers to study traditional hydraulic rainwater harvesting systems in the Mediterranean basin, a region suffering from the major impacts of climate change and limited natural water resources. The arid and semi-arid Mediterranean basin has a long history of pioneering water management practices. The region has developed various ancient traditional water management systems, such as cisterns and qanats, to sustainably manage water resources under historical conditions of scarcity. Therefore, the StorMer project brings together Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Jordan and Morocco to explore traditional rainwater harvesting practices and systems in the Mediterranean region and to develop accurate modeling to simulate the performance and sustainability of these technologies under present-day climatic conditions. The ultimate goal of this project was to resuscitate and valorize these practices in the context of contemporary challenges. This project was intended to establish a Mediterranean network to serve as a basis for a more ambitious project. The ultimate objective was to analyze traditional hydraulic systems and create a prototype hydraulic ecosystem using a coupled environmental approach and traditional and ancient know-how, with the aim of reinterpreting them in the light of current techniques. The combination of ‘traditional’ and ‘modern knowledge/techniques’ is expected to lead to proposals for innovative hydraulic systems. The pandemic initially slowed our progress, but in the end it forced us to carry out the fieldwork in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and so restart the project. With the participation of colleagues from chronologically distant fields (archaeology, sociology), we are now prepared to share our observations and propose the next steps. This interdisciplinary approach should give us a global vision of the project's objectives and challenges. A diachronic approach is needed to tackle the question of the long-term adaptation of societies in a Mediterranean context that has experienced several periods of water stress. The next stage of the StorMer project is the implementation of pilots in non-urbanized regions. These pilots will test the implementation of traditional systems and will be maintained and evaluated in terms of effectiveness, cost and acceptance. Based on these experiences, larger projects will be proposed and could provide information for regional water management policies. One of the most important lessons learned from this project is the highly social nature of managing traditional rainwater harvesting systems. Unlike modern, centralized water infrastructures, these systems often require the involvement of communities, which assume ownership and responsibility for them. This kind of community engagement leads to greater maintenance and, therefore, sustainability of the systems. Knowledge of the socio-cultural characteristics of these communities means that the systems can be adapted to the needs of each location, ensuring greater acceptance and efficiency.

Keywords: oasis, rainfall harvesting, arid regions, Mediterranean

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Authors: Joao Almeida, Ana Azevedo, Myriam Kanoun-Boule, Maria Ines Santos, Antonio Tadeu

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The effects of the increasing expansion of cities and climate changes have encouraged European countries and regions to adopt nature-based solutions with ability to mitigate environmental issues and improve life in cities. Among these strategies, green roofs and urban gardens have been considered ingenious solutions, since they have the desirable potential to improve air quality, prevent floods, reduce the heat island effect and restore biodiversity in cities. However, an additional consumption of fresh water and mineral nutrients is necessary to sustain larger green urban areas. This communication discusses the main technical features of a new system to manage urine recovery at the building level and its application in green roofs. The depletion of critical nutrients like phosphorus constitutes an emergency. In turn, their elimination through urine is one of the principal causes for their loss. Thus, urine recovery in buildings may offer numerous advantages, constituting a valuable fertilizer abundantly available in cities and reducing the load on wastewater treatment plants. Although several urine-diverting toilets have been developed for this purpose and some experiments using urine directly in agriculture have already been carried out in Europe, several challenges have emerged with this practice concerning collection, sanitization, storage and application of urine in buildings. To our best knowledge, current buildings are not designed to receive these systems and integrated solutions with ability to self-manage the whole process of urine recovery, including separation, maturation and storage phases, are not known. Additionally, if from a hygiene point of view human urine may be considered a relatively safe fertilizer, the risk of disease transmission needs to be carefully analysed. A reduction in microorganisms can be achieved by storing the urine in closed tanks. However, several factors may affect this process, which may result in a higher survival rate for some pathogens. In this work, urine effluent was collected under real conditions, stored in closed containers and kept in climatic chambers under variable conditions simulating cold, temperate and tropical climates. These samples were subjected to a first physicochemical and microbiological control, which was repeated over time. The results obtained so far suggest that maturation conditions were reached for all the three temperatures and that a storage period of less than three months is required to achieve a strong depletion of microorganisms. The authors are grateful for the Project WashOne (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-017461) funded by the Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) of Portugal 2020, with the support of the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).

Keywords: sustainable green roofs and urban gardens, urban nutrient cycle, urine-based fertilizers, urine recovery in buildings

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Authors: Vita Krungleviciute, Rasa Zelvyte, Ingrida Monkeviciene, Jone Kantautaite, Rolandas Stankevicius, Modestas Ruzauskas, Elena Bartkiene

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The environmental impact of agricultural bioproducts from the processing of food crops is an increasing concern worldwide. Currently, cereal bran has been used as a low-value ingredient for both human consumption and animal feed. The most popular bioprocessing technologies for cereal bran nutritional and technological functionality increasing are enzymatic processing and fermentation, and the most popular starters in fermented feed production are lactic acid bacteria (LAB) including pediococci. However, the ruminant digestive system is unique, there are billions of microorganisms which help the cow to digest and utilize nutrients in the feed. To achieve efficient feed utilization and high milk yield, the microorganisms must have optimal conditions, and the disbalance of this system is highly undesirable. Pediococcus strains Pediococcus acidilactici BaltBio01 and Pediococcus pentosaceus BaltBio02 from spontaneous fermented rye were isolated (by rep – PCR method), identified, and characterized by their growth (by Thermo Bioscreen C automatic turbidometer), acidification rate (2 hours in 2.5 pH), gas production (Durham method), and carbohydrate metabolism (by API 50 CH test ). Antimicrobial activities of isolated pediococcus against variety of pathogenic and opportunistic bacterial strains previously isolated from diseased cattle, and their resistance to antibiotics were evaluated (EFSA-FEEDAP method). The isolated pediococcus strains were cultivated in barley/wheat bran (90 / 10, m / m) substrate, and developed supplements, with high content of valuable pediococcus, were used for Lithuanian black and white dairy cows feeding. In addition, the influence of supplements on milk production and composition was determined. Milk composition was evaluated by the LactoScope FTIR” FT1.0. 2001 (Delta Instruments, Holland). P. acidilactici BaltBio01 and P. pentosaceus BaltBio02 demonstrated versatile carbohydrate metabolism, grown at 30°C and 37°C temperatures, and acidic tolerance. Isolated pediococcus strains showed to be non resistant to antibiotics, and having antimicrobial activity against undesirable microorganisms. By barley/wheat bran utilisation using fermentation with selected pediococcus strains, it is possible to produce safer (reduced Enterobacteriaceae, total aerobic bacteria, yeast and mold count) feed stock with high content of pediococcus. Significantly higher milk yield (after 33 days) by using pediococcus supplements mix for dairy cows feeding could be obtained, while similar effect by using separate strains after 66 days of feeding could be achieved. It can be stated that barley/wheat bran could be used for higher value feed production in order to increase milk production. Therefore, further research is needed to identify what is the main mechanism of the positive action.

Keywords: barley/wheat bran, dairy cattle, fermented feed, milk, pediococcus

Procedia PDF Downloads 290

Authors: Melanie Francois, Gilles Caboche, Frederic Demoisson, Francois Maeght, Maria Paola Carpanese, Lionel Combemale, Pascal Briois

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Finding new clean, and efficient way for energy production is one of the actual global challenges. Advances in fuel cell technology have shown that, for few years, Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell (PCFC) has attracted much attention in the field of new hydrogen energy thanks to their lower working temperature, possible higher efficiency, and better durability than classical SOFC. On the contrary of SOFC, where O²⁻ oxygen ion is the charge carrier, PCFC works with H⁺ proton as a charge carrier. Consequently, the lower activation energy of proton diffusion compared to the one of oxygen ion explains those benefits and allows PCFC to work in the 400-600°C temperature range. Doped-BaCeO₃ is currently the most chosen material for this application because of its high protonic conductivity; for example, BaCe₀.₉Y₀.₁O₃ δ exhibits a total conductivity of 1.5×10⁻² S.cm⁻¹ at 600°C in wet H₂. However, BaCeO₃ based perovskite has low stability in H₂O and/or CO₂ containing atmosphere, which limits their practical application. On the contrary, BaZrO₃ based perovskite exhibits good chemical stability but lower total conductivity than BaCeO₃ due to its larger grain boundary resistance. By substituting zirconium with 20% of yttrium, it is possible to achieve a total conductivity of 2.5×10⁻² S.cm⁻¹ at 600°C in wet H₂. However, the high refractory property of BaZr₀.₈Y₀.₂O₃-δ (noted BZY20) causes problems to obtain a dense membrane with large grains. Thereby, using a synthesis process that gives fine particles could allow better sinterability and thus decrease the number of grain boundaries leading to a higher total conductivity. In this work, BaZr₀.₈Y₀.₂O₃-δ have been synthesized by classical batch hydrothermal device and by a continuous hydrothermal device developed at ICB laboratory. The two variants of this process are able to work in supercritical conditions, leading to the formation of nanoparticles, which could be sintered at a lower temperature. The as-synthesized powder exhibits the right composition for the perovskite phase, impurities such as BaCO₃ and YO-OH were detected at very low concentration. Microstructural investigation and densification rate measurement showed that the addition of 1 wt% of ZnO as sintering aid and a sintering at 1550°C for 5 hours give high densified electrolyte material. Furthermore, it is necessary to heat the synthesized powder prior to the sintering to prevent the formation of secondary phases. It is assumed that this thermal treatment homogenizes the crystal structure of the powder and reduces the number of defects into the bulk grains. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy investigations in various atmospheres and a large range of temperature (200-700°C) were then performed on sintered samples, and the protonic conductivity of BZY20 has been highlighted. Further experiments on half-cell, NiO-BZY20 as anode and BZY20 as electrolyte, are in progress.

Keywords: hydrothermal synthesis, impedance measurement, Y-doped BaZrO₃, proton conductor

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Ramalan Musa Yerima

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The paper titled “loading by number” explained a strategy developed recently by Zonal Commanding Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps of Nigeria, covering Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States of Northern Nigeria. The strategy is aimed at reducing competition, which will invariably leads to the reduction in speed, reduction in dangerous driving, reduction in crash rate, reduction in injuries, reduction in property damages and reduction in death through road traffic crashes (RTC). This research paper presents a study focused on enhancing the safety of commercial vehicles. The background of this study highlights the alarming statistics related to commercial vehicle crashes in Nigeria with focus on Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States, which often result in significant damage to property, loss of lives, and economic costs. The significance and aims is to investigate and propose effective strategy to enhance the safety of commercial vehicles. The study recognizes the pressing need for heightened safety measures in commercial transportation, as it impacts not only the well-being of drivers and passengers but also the overall public safety. To achieve the objectives, an examination of accident data, including causes and contributing factors, was performed to identify critical areas for improvement. The major finding of the study reveals that when competition comes into play within the realm of commercial driving, it has detrimental effects on road safety and resource management. Commercial drivers are pushed to complete their routes quickly, deliver goods on time or they pushed themselves to arrive quickly for more passengers and new contracts. This competitive environment, fuelled by internal and external pressures such as tight deadlines, poverty and greed, often leads to sad endings. The study recommend that if a strategy called loading by number is integrated with other multiple safety measures such as driver training programs, regulatory enforcement, and infrastructure improvements, commercial vehicle safety can be significantly enhanced. "Loading by Number” approach is design to ensure that the sequence of departure of drivers from motor park ‘A’ would be communicated to motor park officials of park ‘B’, which would be considered sequentially when giving them returning passengers, regardless of the first to arrive. In conclusion, this paper underscores the significance of improving the safety measures of commercial vehicles, as they are often larger and heavier than other vehicles on the road. Whenever they are involved in accidents, the consequences can be more severe. Commercial vehicles are also frequently involved in long-haul or interstate transportation, which means they cover longer distances and spend more time on the road. This increased exposure to driving conditions increases the probability of accidents occurring. By implementing the suggested measures, policymakers, transportation authorities, and industry stakeholders can work collectively towards ensuring a safer commercial transportation system.

Keywords: commercial, safety, strategy, transportation

Procedia PDF Downloads 41

Authors: Afentoula Mavrodi, Andreas Georgiou, Georgios Tsiotras, Vassilis Aletras

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Placing a monetary value on a quality-adjusted-life-year (QALY) is of utmost importance in economic evaluation. Identifying the population’s preferences is critical in order to understand some of the reasons driving variations in the assigned monetary value. Yet, evidence of the motives behind value assignment to a QALY by the general public is limited. Developing an instrument that would capture the population’s motives could be proven valuable to policy-makers, to guide them in allocating different values to a QALY based on users’ motivations. The aim of this study was to identify the most relevant motives and develop an appropriate instrument to assess them. To design the instrument, we employed: a) the EQ-5D-3L tool to assess participants’ current health status, and b) the Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) approach, within the Contingent Valuation (CV) Method framework, to elicit the monetary value. Advancing the open-ended approach adopted to assess solely protest bidders’ motives; a variety of follow-up item-specific statements were designed (deductive approach), aiming to evaluate motives of both protest bidders and participants willing to pay for the hypothetical treatment under consideration. The initial design of the survey instrument was the outcome of an extensive literature review. This instrument was revised based on 15 semi-structured interviews that took place in September 2018 and a pilot study held during two months (October-November) in 2018. Individuals with different educational, occupational and economical backgrounds and adequate verbal skills were recruited to complete the semi-structured interviews. The follow-up motivation statements of both protest bidders and those willing to pay were revised and rephrased after the semi-structured interviews. In total 4 statements for protest bidders and 3 statements for those willing to pay for the treatment were chosen to be included in the survey tool. Using the CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) method, a randomly selected sample of 97 persons living in Thessaloniki, Greece, completed the questionnaire on two occasions over a period of 4 weeks. Based on pilot study results, a test-retest reliability assessment was performed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). All statements formulated for protest bidders showed acceptable reliability (ICC values of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.67, 0.92) and above). Similarly, all statements for those willing to pay for the treatment showed high reliability (ICC values of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.78, 0.91) and above). Overall, the instrument designed in this study was reliable with regards to the item-specific statements assessing participants’ motivation. Validation of the instrument will take place in a future study. For a holistic WTP per QALY instrument, participants’ motivation must be addressed broadly. The instrument developed in this study captured a variety of motives and provided insight with regards to the method through which the latter are evaluated. Last but not least, it extended motive assessment to all study participants and not only protest bidders.

Keywords: contingent valuation method, instrument, motives, quality-adjusted life-year, willingness-to-pay

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Authors: M. Grandcolas, N. Rival, H. Bu, S. Jahren, R. Schmid, H. Johnsen

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The concept of an autonomic self-healing material, where initiation of repair is integrated to the material, is now being considered for engineering applications and is a hot topic in the literature. Among several concepts/techniques, two are most interesting: i) Capsules: Integration of microcapsules in or at the surface of coatings or fibre-like structures has recently gained much attention. Upon damage-induced cracking, the microcapsules are broken by the propagating crack fronts resulting in a release of an active chemical (healing agent) by capillary action, subsequently repairing and avoiding further crack growth. ii) Self-healing polymers: Interestingly, the introduction of dynamic covalent bonds into polymer networks has also recently been used as a powerful approach towards the design of various intrinsically self-healing polymer systems. The idea behind this is to reconnect the chemical crosslinks which are broken when a material fractures, restoring the integrity of the material and thereby prolonging its lifetime. We propose here to integrate both self-healing concepts (capsules, self-healing polymers) in electrospun fibres and coatings. Different capsule preparation approaches have been investigated in SINTEF. The most advanced method to produce capsules is based on emulsification to create a water-in-oil emulsion before polymerisation. The healing agent is a polyurethane-based dispersion that was encapsulated in shell materials consisting of urea-benzaldehyde resins. Results showed the successful preparation of microcapsules and release of the agent when capsules break. Since capsules are produced in water-in-oil systems we mainly investigated organic solvent based coatings while a major challenge resides in the incorporation of capsules into water-based coatings. We also focused on developing more robust microcapsules to prevent premature rupture of the capsules. The capsules have been characterized in terms of size, and encapsulation and release might be visualized by incorporating fluorescent dyes and examine the capsules by microscopy techniques. Alternatively, electrospinning is an innovative technique that has attracted enormous attention due to unique properties of the produced nano-to-micro fibers, ease of fabrication and functionalization, and versatility in controlling parameters. Especially roll-to-roll electrospinning is a unique method which has been used in industry to produce nanofibers continuously. Electrospun nanofibers can usually reach a diameter down to 100 nm, depending on the polymer used, which is of interest for the concept with self-healing polymer systems. In this work, we proved the feasibility of fabrication of POSS-based (POSS: polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes, tradename FunzioNano™) nanofibers via electrospinning. Two different formulations based on aqueous or organic solvents have shown nanofibres with a diameter between 200 – 450nm with low defects. The addition of FunzioNano™ in the polymer blend also showed enhanced properties in term of wettability, promising for e.g. membrane technology. The self-healing polymer systems developed are here POSS-based materials synthesized to develop dynamic soft brushes.

Keywords: capsules, coatings, electrospinning, fibers

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Authors: Stephen Bahooshy

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Co-producing services with the people that access them is considered best practice in the United Kingdom, with the Care Act 2014 arguing that people who access services and their carers should be involved in the design, commissioning and delivery of services. Co-production is a way of working with the community, breaking down barriers of access and providing meaningful opportunity for people to engage. Unfortunately, owing to a number of reported factors such as time constraints, practitioner experience and departmental budget restraints, this process is not always followed. In 2019, in a south London borough, d/Deaf people who access services were engaged in the design, commissioning and delivery of an information and advice service that would support their community to access local government services. To do this, sensory impairment social workers and commissioners collaborated to host a series of engagement events with the d/Deaf community. Interpreters were used to enable communication between the commissioners and d/Deaf participants. Initially, the community’s opinions, ideas and requirements were noted. This was then summarized and fed back to the community to ensure accuracy. Subsequently, a service specification was developed which included performance metrics, inclusive of qualitative and quantitative indicators, such as ‘I statements’, whereby participants respond on an adapted Likert scale how much they agree or disagree with a particular statement in relation to their experience of the service. The service specification was reviewed by a smaller group of d/Deaf residents and social workers, to ensure that it met the community’s requirements. The service was then tendered using the local authority’s e-tender process. Bids were evaluated and scored in two parts; part one was by commissioners and social workers and part two was a presentation by prospective providers to an evaluation panel formed of four d/Deaf residents. The internal evaluation panel formed 75% of the overall score, whilst the d/Deaf resident evaluation panel formed 25% of the overall tender score. Co-producing the evaluation panel with social workers and the d/Deaf community meant that commissioners were able to meet the requirements of this community by developing evaluation questions and tools that were easily understood and use by this community. For example, the wording of questions were reviewed and the scoring mechanism consisted of three faces to reflect the d/Deaf residents’ scores instead of traditional numbering. These faces were a happy face, a neutral face and a sad face. By making simple changes to the commissioning and tender evaluation process, d/Deaf people were able to have meaningful involvement in the design and commissioning process for a service that would benefit their community. Co-produced performance metrics means that it is incumbent on the successful provider to continue to engage with people accessing the service and ensure that the feedback is utilized. d/Deaf residents were grateful to have been involved in this process as this was not an opportunity that they had previously been afforded. In recognition of their time, each d/Deaf resident evaluator received a £40 gift voucher, bringing the total cost of this co-production to £160.

Keywords: co-production, community engagement, deaf and hearing impaired, service design

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Authors: Sigal Portnoy, Jason Friedman, Eitan Raveh

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Introduction: Sensory substitution is possible due to the capacity of our brain to adapt to information transmitted by a synthetic receptor via an alternative sensory system. Practical sensory substitution systems are being developed in order to increase the functionality of individuals with sensory loss, e.g. amputees. For upper limb prosthetic-users the loss of tactile feedback compels them to allocate visual attention to their prosthesis. The effect of adding vibrotactile feedback (VTF) to the applied force has been studied, however its effect on the allocation if visual attention during dual-tasking and the response during misleading visual feedback have not been studied. We hypothesized that VTF will improve the performance and reduce visual attention during dual-task assignments in healthy individuals using a robotic hand and improve the performance in a standardized functional test, despite the presence of misleading visual feedback. Methods: For the dual-task paradigm, twenty healthy subjects were instructed to toggle two keyboard arrow keys with the left hand to retain a moving virtual car on a road on a screen. During the game, instructions for various activities, e.g. mix the sugar in the glass with a spoon, appeared on the screen. The subject performed these tasks with a robotic hand, attached to the right hand. The robotic hand was controlled by the activity of the flexors and extensors of the right wrist, recorded using surface EMG electrodes. Pressure sensors were attached at the tips of the robotic hand and induced VTF using vibrotactile actuators attached to the right arm of the subject. An eye-tracking system tracked to visual attention of the subject during the trials. The trials were repeated twice, with and without the VTF. Additionally, the subjects performed the modified box and blocks, hidden from eyesight, in a motion laboratory. A virtual presentation of a misleading visual feedback was be presented on a screen so that twice during the trial, the virtual block fell while the physical block was still held by the subject. Results: This is an ongoing study, which current results are detailed below. We are continuing these trials with transradial myoelectric prosthesis-users. In the healthy group, the VTF did not reduce the visual attention or improve performance during dual-tasking for the tasks that were typed transfer-to-target, e.g. place the eraser on the shelf. An improvement was observed for other tasks. For example, the average±standard deviation of time to complete the sugar-mixing task was 13.7±17.2s and 19.3±9.1s with and without the VTF, respectively. Also, the number of gaze shifts from the screen to the hand during this task were 15.5±23.7 and 20.0±11.6, with and without the VTF, respectively. The response of the subjects to the misleading visual feedback did not differ between the two conditions, i.e. with and without VTF. Conclusions: Our interim results suggest that the performance of certain activities of daily living may be improved by VTF. The substitution of visual sensory input by tactile feedback might require a long training period so that brain plasticity can occur and allow adaptation to the new condition.

Keywords: prosthetics, rehabilitation, sensory substitution, upper limb amputation

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Authors: Md. M. Hossain, Regan Roat, Jenica Christopherson, Colette Free, Zhiguang Guo

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Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) mediated post-transcriptional gene regulation, and their epigenetic landscapes have been shown to be involved in many human diseases. However, their regulation in diabetes through governing islet’s β-cell function and survival needs to be elucidated. Due to the technical and ethical constraints, it is difficult to study their role in β-cell function and survival in human under in vivo condition. In this study, humanized mice have been developed through transplanting human pancreatic islet under the kidney capsule of NOD.SCID mice and induced β-cell death leading to diabetes condition to study lncRNA mediated regulation. For this, human islets from 3 donors (3000 IEQ, purity > 80%) were transplanted under the kidney capsule of STZ induced diabetic NOD.scid mice. After at least 2 weeks of normoglycecemia, lymphocytes from diabetic NOD mice were adoptively transferred and islet grafts were collected once blood glucose reached > 200 mg/dl. RNA from human donor islets, islet grafts from humanized mice with either adoptive lymphocyte transfer (ALT) or PBS control (CTL) were ribodepleted; barcoded fragment libraries were constructed and sequenced on the Ion Proton sequencer. lncRNA expression in isolated human islets, islet grafts from humanized mice with and without induced β-cell death and their regulation in human islets function in vitro under glucose challenge, cytokine mediated inflammation and induced apoptotic condition were investigated. Out of 3155 detected lncRNAs, 299 that highly expressed in islets were found to be significantly downregulated and 224 upregulated in ALT compared to CTL. Most of these are found to be collocated within 5 kb upstream and 1 kb downstream of 788 up- and 624 down-regulated mRNAs. Genomic Regions Enrichment of Annotations Analysis revealed deregulated and collocated genes are related to pancreas endocrine development; insulin synthesis, processing, and secretion; pancreatitis and diabetes. Many of them, that found to be located within enhancer domains for islet specific gene activity, are associated to the deregulation of known islet/βcell specific transcription factors and genes that are important for β-cell differentiation, identity, and function. RNA sequencing analysis revealed aberrant lncRNA expression which is associated to the deregulated mRNAs in β-cell function as well as in molecular pathways related to diabetes. A distinct set of candidate lncRNA isoforms were identified as highly enriched and specific to human islets, which are deregulated in human islets from donors with different BMIs and with type 2 diabetes. These RNAs show an interesting regulation in cultured human islets under glucose stimulation and with induced β-cell death by cytokines. Aberrant expression of these lncRNAs was detected in the exosomes from the media of islets cultured with cytokines. Results of this study suggest that the islet specific lncRNAs are deregulated in human islet with β-cell death, hence important in diabetes. These lncRNAs might be important for human β-cell function and survival thus could be used as biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets for diabetes.

Keywords: β-cell, humanized mouse, pancreatic islet, LncRNAs

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Authors: Mingyan Hong, Shuozhao Hou

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Collaborative Strategic Learning (CSL) teaches students to use learning strategies while working cooperatively. Student strategies include the following steps: defining the learning task and purpose; conducting ongoing negotiation of the learning materials by deciding "click" (I get it and I can teach it – green card, I get it –yellow card) or "clunk" (I don't get it – red card) at the end of each learning unit; "getting the gist" of the most important parts of the learning materials; and "wrapping up" key ideas. Find out how to help students of mixed achievement levels apply learning strategies while learning content area in materials in small groups. The design of CSL is based on social-constructivism and Vygotsky’s best-known concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The definition of ZPD is the distance between the actual acquisition level as decided by individual problem solution case and the level of potential acquisition level, similar to Krashen (1980)’s i+1, as decided through the problem-solution case under the facilitator’s guidance, or in group work with other more capable members (Vygotsky, 1978). Vygotsky claimed that learners’ ideal learning environment is in the ZPD. An ideal teacher or more-knowledgable-other (MKO) should be able to recognize a learner’s ZPD and facilitates them to develop beyond it. Then the MKO is able to leave the support step by step until the learner can perform the task without aid. Steven Krashen (1980) proposed Input hypothesis including i+1 hypothesis. The input hypothesis models are the application of ZPD in second language acquisition and have been widely recognized until today. Krashen (2019)’s optimal language learning environment (2019) further developed the application of ZPD and added the component of strategic group learning. The strategic group learning is composed of desirable learning materials learners are motivated to learn and desirable group members who are more capable and are therefore able to offer meaningful input to the learners. Purpose-driven Collaborative Strategic Learning Model is a strategic integration of ZPD, i+1 hypothesis model, and Optimal Language Learning Environment Model. It is purpose driven to ensure group members are motivated. It is collaborative so that an optimal learning environment where meaningful input from meaningful conversation can be generated. It is strategic because facilitators in the model strategically assign each member a meaningful and collaborative role, e.g., team leader, technician, problem solver, appraiser, offer group learning instrument so that the learning process is structured, and integrate group learning and team building making sure holistic development of each participant. Using data collected from college year one and year two students’ English courses, this presentation will demonstrate how purpose-driven collaborative strategic learning model is implemented in the second/foreign language classroom, using the qualitative data from questionnaire and interview. Particular, this presentation will show how second/foreign language learners grow from functioning with facilitator or more capable peer’s aid to performing without aid. The implication of this research is that purpose-driven collaborative strategic learning model can be used not only in language learning, but also in any subject area.

Keywords: collaborative, strategic, optimal input, second language acquisition

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Authors: Aliya K. Salahova

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Scientific thinking, characterized by purposeful knowledge-seeking and the harmonization of theory and facts, holds a crucial role in preparing young minds for an increasingly complex and technologically advanced world. This abstract presents a research study aimed at fostering scientific thinking in early childhood, focusing on children aged 5 to 9 years, through experiential learning in Kids Science Labs (STEM). The study utilized a longitudinal exploration design, spanning 240 weeks from September 2018 to April 2023, to evaluate the effectiveness of the Kids Science Labs program in developing scientific thinking skills. Participants in the research comprised 72 children drawn from local schools and community organizations. Through a formative psychology-pedagogical experiment, the experimental group engaged in weekly STEM activities carefully designed to stimulate scientific thinking, while the control group participated in daily art classes for comparison. To assess the scientific thinking abilities of the participants, a registration table with evaluation criteria was developed. This table included indicators such as depth of questioning, resource utilization in research, logical reasoning in hypotheses, procedural accuracy in experiments, and reflection on research processes. The data analysis revealed dynamic fluctuations in the number of children at different levels of scientific thinking proficiency. While the development was not uniform across all participants, a main leading factor emerged, indicating that the Kids Science Labs program and formative experiment exerted a positive impact on enhancing scientific thinking skills in children within this age range. The study's findings support the hypothesis that systematic implementation of STEM activities effectively promotes and nurtures scientific thinking in children aged 5-9 years. Enriching education with a specially planned STEM program, tailoring scientific activities to children's psychological development, and implementing well-planned diagnostic and corrective measures emerged as essential pedagogical conditions for enhancing scientific thinking abilities in this age group. The results highlight the significant and positive impact of the systematic-activity approach in developing scientific thinking, leading to notable progress and growth in children's scientific thinking abilities over time. These findings have promising implications for educators and researchers, emphasizing the importance of incorporating STEM activities into educational curricula to foster scientific thinking from an early age. This study contributes valuable insights to the field of science education and underscores the potential of STEM-based interventions in shaping the future scientific minds of young children.

Keywords: Scientific thinking, education, STEM, intervention, Psychology, Pedagogy, collaborative learning, longitudinal study

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Authors: Farzan Gity, Lida Ansari, Ian M. Povey, Roger E. Nagle, James C. Greer

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Titanium nitride (TiN) films have been widely used in variety of fields, due to its unique electrical, chemical, physical and mechanical properties, including low electrical resistivity, chemical stability, and high thermal conductivity. In microelectronic devices, thin continuous TiN films are commonly used as diffusion barrier and metal gate material. However, as the film thickness decreases below a few nanometers, electrical properties of the film alter considerably. In this study, the physical and electrical characteristics of 1.5nm to 22nm thin films deposited by Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (PE-ALD) using Tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium(IV), (TDMAT) chemistry and Ar/N2 plasma on 80nm SiO2 capped in-situ by 2nm Al2O3 are investigated. ALD technique allows uniformly-thick films at monolayer level in a highly controlled manner. The chemistry incorporates low level of oxygen into the TiN films forming titanium oxynitride (TiON). Thickness of the films is characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) which confirms the uniformity of the films. Surface morphology of the films is investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) indicating sub-nanometer surface roughness. Hall measurements are performed to determine the parameters such as carrier mobility, type and concentration, as well as resistivity. The >5nm-thick films exhibit metallic behavior; however, we have observed that thin film resistivity is modulated significantly by film thickness such that there are more than 5 orders of magnitude increment in the sheet resistance at room temperature when comparing 5nm and 1.5nm films. Scattering effects at interfaces and grain boundaries could play a role in thickness-dependent resistivity in addition to quantum confinement effect that could occur at ultra-thin films: based on our measurements the carrier concentration is decreased from 1.5E22 1/cm3 to 5.5E17 1/cm3, while the mobility is increased from < 0.1 cm2/V.s to ~4 cm2/V.s for the 5nm and 1.5nm films, respectively. Also, measurements at different temperatures indicate that the resistivity is relatively constant for the 5nm film, while for the 1.5nm film more than 2 orders of magnitude reduction has been observed over the range of 220K to 400K. The activation energy of the 2.5nm and 1.5nm films is 30meV and 125meV, respectively, indicating that the TiON ultra-thin films are exhibiting semiconducting behaviour attributing this effect to a metal-semiconductor transition. By the same token, the contact is no longer Ohmic for the thinnest film (i.e., 1.5nm-thick film); hence, a modified lift-off process was developed to selectively deposit thicker films allowing us to perform electrical measurements with low contact resistance on the raised contact regions. Our atomic scale simulations based on molecular dynamic-generated amorphous TiON structures with low oxygen content confirm our experimental observations indicating highly n-type thin films.

Keywords: activation energy, ALD, metal-semiconductor transition, resistivity, titanium oxynitride, ultra-thin film

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Authors: Sunha Ahn

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Intimate relationships have constructed our embodied experiences and emotional memories, which can become grounded as practical knowledge to some extent and play a critical role in social medicine, particularly, in our well-being and mental health. In South Africa, such relational factors are significant for young women and girls in their emotional development period of time, especially, working as the existence of social and relational pressures over feminine sexual health and choices. This, in turn, brings about the absence/lack of communication in intimate relationships, especially with their parents, which leads to a vicious cycle in sexual health behaviour choices. Drawing upon sociological and socio-anthropological understandings of HIV-related issues, this study provides narrative threads of evidence about South African teenage mothers from early-dating debuted to HIV infection. Their stories consist of a visualised figure in chronicle order, illustrating embodied journeys of sexual health choices surrounding uncommunicative relationships and socially-suppressive environments. Methodologically, this qualitative study explored data from mixed online methods: 1) a case study analysing online comments (N = 12,763) on the South African Springster's website, run by the UK-based NGO, namely, Girl Effect; and 2) In-depth online interviews (N = 21) were conducted with young SA women and girls (16-28 ages) recruited in Cape Town, Pretoria, and Johannesburg, SA. Participants consist of both those living with HIV and without. Ethical approval was gained via the College of Social Sciences Ethical Committee at the University of Glasgow, and informed consent was obtained verbally and in writing from participants in due course. Data were thematically applied to an iteratively developed codebook and analysed. There are three kinds of typical pressures as relational factors for them, including peer pressure, partners or boyfriends, and parents’ reactions. Under the patriarchal and religious-devoted social atmospheres, these relationships work as a source of scaredness among young women and girls who could not talk about their sexual health concerns and rights. Such an inability to communicate with intimate relationships, eventually, emerges as a perpetuated or taken-for-granted social environment in South Africa, insistently leading to an increase in unwanted pregnancies or new HIV infections in young South African women and girls. In this sense, this study reveals the pressing need for open communication between generations with accurate information about HIV/AIDS. This also implies that the sociological feminist praxes in South Africa would help eliminate HIV-related stigma as well as construct open space to reduce gender-based violence and sexually-transmitted infection. Ultimately, this will be a road for supporting sexually healthy decisions and well-being across South African generations.

Keywords: HIV, young women, South Africa, intimate relationships, communication, social medicine

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Authors: Ramalan Musa Yerima

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The paper titled “Loading by number” explained a strategy developed recently by the Zonal Commanding Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps of Nigeria, covering Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States of Northern Nigeria. The strategy is aimed at reducing competition, which will invariably lead to a reduction in speed, reduction in dangerous driving, reduction in crash rate, reduction in injuries, reduction in property damages and reduction in death through road traffic crashes (RTC). This research paper presents a study focused on enhancing the safety of commercial vehicles. The background of this study highlights the alarming statistics related to commercial vehicle crashes in Nigeria with a focus on Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States, which often result in significant damage to property, loss of lives, and economic costs. The significance and aims is to investigate and propose an effective strategy to enhance the safety of commercial vehicles. The study recognizes the pressing need for heightened safety measures in commercial transportation, as it impacts not only the well-being of drivers and passengers but also the overall public safety. To achieve the objectives, an examination of accident data, including causes and contributing factors, was performed to identify critical areas for improvement. The major finding of the study reveals that when competition comes into play within the realm of commercial driving, it has detrimental effects on road safety and resource management. Commercial drivers are pushed to complete their routes quickly and deliver goods on time, or they push themselves to arrive quickly for more passengers and new contracts. This competitive environment, fuelled by internal and external pressures such as tight deadlines, poverty and greed, often leads to sad endings. The study recommends that if a strategy called loading by number is integrated with other multiple safety measures, such as driver training programs, regulatory enforcement, and infrastructure improvements, commercial vehicle safety can be significantly enhanced. "Loading by Number” approach is designed to ensure that the sequence of departure of drivers from the motor park ‘A’ would be communicated to motor park officials of park ‘B’, which would be considered sequentially when giving them returning passengers, regardless of the first to arrive. In conclusion, this paper underscores the significance of improving the safety measures of commercial vehicles, as they are often larger and heavier than other vehicles on the road. Whenever they are involved in accidents, the consequences can be more severe. Commercial vehicles are also frequently involved in long-haul or interstate transportation, which means they cover longer distances and spend more time on the road. This increased exposure to driving conditions increases the probability of accidents occurring. By implementing the suggested measures, policymakers, transportation authorities, and industry stakeholders can work collectively toward ensuring a safer commercial transportation system.

Keywords: commercial, safety, strategy, transport

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Authors: Elena Chernyak, Ryan Ceresola

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Intimate partner violence is a serious social problem that affects a million women worldwide and impacts their health and wellbeing. Some risk factors for intimate partner violence against women (e.g., disobeying or arguing with a partner, women’s age, education, and employment) are similar in many countries, both developed and developing. However, one of the principal and most significant contributors to women’s vulnerability to violence perpetrated by their intimate partners is the witnessing of interparental aggression in the family of origin. Witnessing interparental violence may lead to acceptance of intimate partner violence as a normal way to resolve conflicts. Thus, utilization of violence becomes the behavioral model: men who witnessed the parental violence are more likely to employ physical violence against their female partners whereas women who observed their fathers beating their mothers learn to tolerate aggressive behavior and become victims of domestic violence themselves. Taking into consideration the importance of this subject matter, the association between witnessing intimate partner violence in family-of-origin and experience of intimate partner violence in adulthood requires further attention. The objective of this research is to analyze and compare the prevalence of intimate partner violence in ten developing countries in different regions, namely: Mali, Haiti, Jordan, Peru, the Philippines, Pakistan, Cambodia, Egypt, the Dominican Republic and Nigeria. Specifically, this research asks whether witnessing interparental violence in a family of origin is associated with the woman’s experience of intimate partner violence during adulthood and to what extent this factor varies among the countries under investigation. This study contributes to the literature on domestic violence against women, prevalence and experience of intimate partner violence against women in developing countries, and the risk factors, using recently collected, nationally representative population-based data from above-mentioned countries. The data used in this research are derived from the demographic and health surveys conducted in the ten mentioned above countries from 2013-2016. These surveys are cross-sectional, nationally representative surveys of ever-married or cohabitating women of reproductive age and the good source of high quality and comprehensive information about women, their children, partners, and households. To complete this analysis, multivariate logistic regression was run for each of the countries, and the results are presented with odds ratios, in order to highlight the effect of witnessing intimate partner violence controlling for other factors. The results of this study indicated that having witnessed partner violence in a family of origin significantly (by 50-500%) increases the likelihood of experiencing later abuse for respondents in all countries. This finding provides robust support for the intergenerational transmission of violence theory that explains the link between interparental aggression and intimate partner violence in subsequent relationships in adulthood as a result of a learned model of behavior observed in childhood. Furthermore, it was found that some of the control variables (e.g., education, number of children, and wealth) are associated with intimate partner violence in some countries under investigation while are not associated with male partner’s abusive behavior in some other, which may be explained by specific cultural and economic factors.

Keywords: intimate partner violence, domestic violence against women, developing countries, demographic and health surveys, risk factors

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