Search results for: placebo effect

Authors: Peter Adly Hamdy Fahmy

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The aim of the study was to examine the effects of a physical education program on student learning by combining the teaching of personal and social responsibility (TPSR) with a physical education model and TPSR with a traditional teaching model, these learning outcomes involving self-learning. -Study. Athletic performance, enthusiasm for sport, group cohesion, sense of responsibility and game performance. The participants were 3 secondary school physical education teachers and 6 physical education classes, 133 participants with students from the experimental group with 75 students and the control group with 58 students, and each teacher taught the experimental group and the control group for 16 weeks. The research methods used surveys, interviews and focus group meetings. Research instruments included the Personal and Social Responsibility Questionnaire, Sports Enthusiasm Scale, Group Cohesion Scale, Sports Self-Efficacy Scale, and Game Performance Assessment Tool. Multivariate analyzes of covariance and repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine differences in student learning outcomes between combining the TPSR with a physical education model and the TPSR with a traditional teaching model. The research findings are as follows: 1) The TPSR sports education model can improve students' learning outcomes, including sports self-efficacy, game performance, sports enthusiasm, team cohesion, group awareness and responsibility. 2) A traditional teaching model with TPSR could improve student learning outcomes, including sports self-efficacy, responsibility, and game performance. 3) The sports education model with TPSR could improve learning outcomes more than the traditional teaching model with TPSR, including sports self-efficacy, sports enthusiasm, responsibility and game performance. 4) Based on qualitative data on teachers' and students' learning experience, the physical education model with TPSR significantly improves learning motivation, group interaction and sense of play. The results suggest that physical education with TPSR could further improve learning outcomes in the physical education program. On the other hand, the hybrid model curriculum projects TPSR - Physical Education and TPSR - Traditional Education are good curriculum projects for moral character education that can be used in school physics.

Keywords: approach competencies, physical, education, teachers employment, graduate, physical education and sport sciences, SWOT analysis character education, sport season, game performance, sport competence

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Authors: Fernando M. Soto, Gaetano Di Mino

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The design of an unmodified bituminous mixture and three rubber-aggregate mixtures containing rubber-aggregate by a dry process (RUMAC) was evaluated, using an empirical-analytical approach based on experimental findings obtained in the laboratory with the volumetric mix design by gyratory compaction. A reference dense-graded bituminous sub-ballast mixture (3% of air voids and a bitumen 4% over the total weight of the mix), and three rubberized mixtures by dry process (1,5 to 3% of rubber by total weight and 5-7% of binder) were used applying the Superpave mix-design for a level 3 (high-traffic) design rail lines. The railway trackbed section analyzed was a granular layer of 19 cm compacted, while for the sub-ballast a thickness of 12 cm has been used. In order to evaluate the effect of increasing the specimen density (as a percent of its theoretical maximum specific gravity), in this article, are illustrated the results obtained after different comparative analysis into the influence of varying the binder-rubber percentages under the sub-ballast layer mix-design. This work demonstrates that rubberized blends containing crumb and ground rubber in bituminous asphalt mixtures behave at least similar or better than conventional asphalt materials. By using the same methodology of volumetric compaction, the densification curves resulting from each mixture have been studied. The purpose is to obtain an optimum empirical parameter multiplier of the number of gyrations necessary to reach the same compaction energy as in conventional mixtures. It has provided some experimental parameters adopting an empirical-analytical method, evaluating the results obtained from the gyratory-compaction of bituminous mixtures with an HMA and rubber-aggregate blends. An extensive integrated research has been carried out to assess the suitability of rubber-modified hot mix asphalt mixtures as a sub-ballast layer in railway underlayment trackbed. Design optimization of the mixture was conducted for each mixture and the volumetric properties analyzed. Also, an improved and complete manufacturing process, compaction and curing of these blends are provided. By adopting this increase-parameters of compaction, called 'beta' factor, mixtures modified with rubber with uniform densification and workability are obtained that in the conventional mixtures. It is found that considering the usual bearing capacity requirements in rail track, the optimal rubber content is 2% (by weight) or 3.95% (by volumetric substitution) and a binder content of 6%.

Keywords: empirical approach, rubber-asphalt, sub-ballast, superpave mix-design

Procedia PDF Downloads 368

Authors: Adebisi Adunola Demehin, Wanlaya Thamnarak, Jaruwan Chatwichien, Chatchakorn Eurtivong, Kiattawee Choowongkomon, Somsak Ruchirawat, Nopporn Thasana

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The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a transmembrane glycoprotein involved in cellular signalling processes and, its aberrant activity is crucial in the development of many cancers such as lung cancer. Selaginellaceae are fern allies that have long been used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat various cancer types, especially lung cancer. Biflavonoids, the major secondary metabolites in Selaginellaceae, have numerous pharmacological activities, including anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory. For instance, amentoflavone induces a cytotoxic effect in the human NSCLC cell line via the inhibition of PARP-1. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies on biflavonoids as EGFR inhibitors. Thus, this study aims to investigate the EGFR inhibitory activities of biflavonoids isolated from Selaginella siamensis and Selaginella bryopteris. Amentoflavone, tetrahydroamentoflavone, sciadopitysin, robustaflavone, robustaflavone-4-methylether, delicaflavone, and chrysocauloflavone were isolated from the ethyl-acetate extract of the whole plants. The structures were determined using NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. In vitro study was conducted to evaluate their cytotoxicity against A549, HEPG2, and T47D human cancer cell lines using the MTT assay. In addition, a target-based assay was performed to investigate their EGFR inhibitory activity using the kinase inhibition assay. Finally, a molecular docking study was conducted to predict the binding modes of the compounds. Robustaflavone-4-methylether and delicaflavone showed the best cytotoxic activity on all the cell lines with IC50 (µM) values of 18.9 ± 2.1 and 22.7 ± 3.3 on A549, respectively. Of these biflavonoids, delicaflavone showed the most potent EGFR inhibitory activity with an 84% relative inhibition at 0.02 nM using erlotinib as a positive control. Robustaflavone-4-methylether showed a 78% inhibition at 0.15 nM. The docking scores obtained from the molecular docking study correlated with the kinase inhibition assay. Robustaflavone-4-methylether and delicaflavone had a docking score of 72.0 and 86.5, respectively. The inhibitory activity of delicaflavone seemed to be linked with the C2”=C3” and 3-O-4”’ linkage pattern. Thus, this study suggests that the structural features of these compounds could serve as a basis for developing new EGFR-TK inhibitors.

Keywords: anticancer, biflavonoids, EGFR, molecular docking, Selaginellaceae

Procedia PDF Downloads 198

Authors: Yui Okuno, Mariko Era, Takayoshi Kawahara, Takahide Kanyama, Hiroshi Morita

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Introduction: Fungus and mite are known as allergens that cause an allergic disease for example asthma bronchiale and allergic rhinitis. Cladosporium cladosporioides is one of the most often detected fungi in the indoor environment and causes pollution and deterioration. Dermatophagoides farinae is major mite allergens indoors. Therefore, the creation of antifungal agents with high safety and the antifungal effect is required. Fatty acid salts are known that have antibacterial activities. This report describes the effects of fatty acid salts against Cladosporium cladosporioides NBRC 30314 and Dermatophagoides farinae. Methods: Potassium salts of 9 fatty acids (C4:0, C6:0, C8:0, C10:0, C12:0, C14:0, C18:1, C18:2, C18:3) were prepared by mixing the fatty acid with the appropriate amount of KOH solution to a concentration of 175 mM and pH 10.5. The antifungal method, the spore suspension (3.0×104 spores/mL) was mixed with a sample of fatty acid potassium (final concentration of 175 mM). Samples were counted at 0, 10, 60, 180 min by plating (100 µL) on PDA. Fungal colonies were counted after incubation for 3 days at 30 °C. The MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) against the fungi was determined by the two-fold dilution method. Each fatty acid salts were inoculated separately with 400 µL of C. cladosporioides at 3.0 × 104 spores/mL. The mixtures were incubated at the respective temperature for each organism for 10 min. The tubes were then contacted with the fungi incubated at 30 °C for 7 days and examined for growth of spores on PDA. The acaricidal method, twenty D. farinae adult females were used and each adult was covered completely with 2 µL fatty acid potassium for 1 min. The adults were then dried with filter paper. The filter paper was folded and fixed by two clips and kept at 25 °C and 64 % RH. Mortalities were determained 48 h after treatment under the microscope. D. farina was considered to be dead if appendages did not move when prodded with a pin. Results and Conclusions: The results show that C8K, C10K, C12K, C14K was effective to decrease survival rate (4 log unit) of the fatty acids potassium incubated time for 10 min against C. cladosporioides. C18:3K was effective to decrease 4 log unit of the fatty acids potassium incubated time for 60 min. Especially, C12K was the highest antifungal activity and the MIC of C12K was 0.7 mM. On the other hand, the fatty acids potassium showed no acaricidal effects against D. farinae. The activity of D. farinae was not adversely affected after 48 hours. These results indicate that C12K has high antifungal activity against C. cladosporioides and suggest the fatty acid potassium will be used as an antifungal agent.

Keywords: fatty acid salts, antifungal effects, acaricidal effects, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Dermatophagoides farinae

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Authors: Rajashree Bothale, Venkateswara Rao

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Indian Himalayas also known as third pole with 0.9 Million SQ km area, contain the largest reserve of ice and snow outside poles and affect global climate and water availability in the perennial rivers. The variations in the extent of snow are indicative of climate change. The snow melt is sensitive to climate change (warming) and also an influencing factor to the climate change. A study of the spatio-temporal dynamics of snow cover and melt/freeze conditions is carried out using space based observations in visible and microwave bands. An analysis period of 2003 to 2015 is selected to identify and map the changes and trend in snow cover using Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) data. For mapping of wet snow, microwave data is used, which is sensitive to the presence of liquid water in the snow. The present study uses Ku-band scatterometer data from QuikSCAT and Oceansat satellites. The enhanced resolution images at 2.25 km from the 13.6GHz sensor are used to analyze the backscatter response to dry and wet snow for the period of 2000-2013 using threshold method. The study area is divided into three major river basins namely Brahmaputra, Ganges and Indus which also represent the diversification in Himalayas as the Eastern Himalayas, Central Himalayas and Western Himalayas. Topographic variations across different zones show that a majority of the study area lies in 4000–5500 m elevation range and the maximum percent of high elevated areas (>5500 m) lies in Western Himalayas. The effect of climate change could be seen in the extent of snow cover and also on the melt/freeze status in different parts of Himalayas. Melt onset day increases from east (March11+11) to west (May12+15) with large variation in number of melt days. Western Himalayas has shorter melt duration (120+15) in comparison to Eastern Himalayas (150+16) providing lesser time for melt. Eastern Himalaya glaciers are prone for enhanced melt due to large melt duration. The extent of snow cover coupled with the status of melt/freeze indicating solar radiation can be used as precursor for monsoon prediction.

Keywords: Indian Himalaya, Scatterometer, Snow Melt/Freeze, AWiFS, Cryosphere

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Authors: A. P. Pashkov

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The number of environmental factors that adversely affect children's health is growing every year; their combination in each territory is different. The contribution of socio-economic factors to the health status of the younger generation is increasing. It is the child’s body that is most sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, responding to this with a deterioration in health. Over the past years, scientists have determined the influence of environmental factors and the incidence of children. Currently, there is a tendency to study regional characteristics of the interaction of a combination of environmental factors with the child's body. The aim of the work was to identify trends in the primary non-infectious morbidity of the children of the Altai Territory as a unique region that combines territories with different levels of environmental quality indicators, as well as to assess the effect of atmospheric air, drinking water and socio-economic indicators on the incidence of children in the region. An unfavorable tendency has been revealed in the region for incidence of such nosological groups as neoplasms, including malignant ones, diseases of the endocrine system, including obesity and thyroid disease, diseases of the circulatory system, digestive diseases, diseases of the genitourinary system, congenital anomalies, and respiratory diseases. Between some groups of diseases revealed a pattern of geographical distribution during mapping and a significant correlation. Some nosologies have a relationship with socio-economic indicators for an integrated assessment: circulatory system diseases, respiratory diseases (direct connection), endocrine system diseases, eating disorders, and metabolic disorders (feedback). The analysis of associations of the incidence of children with average annual concentrations of substances that pollute the air and drinking water showed the existence of reliable correlation in areas of critical and intense degree of environmental quality. This fact confirms that the population living in contaminated areas is subject to the negative influence of environmental factors, which immediately affects the health status of children. The results obtained indicate the need for a detailed assessment of the influence of environmental factors on the incidence of children in the regional aspect, the formation of a database, and the development of automated programs that can predict the incidence in each specific territory. This will increase the effectiveness, including economic of preventive measures.

Keywords: incidence of children, regional features, socio-economic factors, environmental factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Tewodros Abate Alemayehu, Abebe Getahun, Akewake Geremew, Dawit Solomon Demeke, John Recha, Dawit Solomon, Gebremedihin Ambaw, Fasil Dawit Moges

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of supplementation of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and Mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) on growth performance, feed utilization, fatty acid profiles, hematology, and intestinal morphology of Chamo strain Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) fry reared at optimal temperature (28.62 ± 0.11 ⁰C). Nile tilapia fry (initial weight 1.45 ± 0.01g) were fed basal diet/control diet (Diet-T1), 6 g kg-¹ MOS supplemented diet (Diet-T2), 4 mg ZnO-NPs supplemented diet (Diet-T3), 4 mg ZnO-Bulk supplemented diet (Diet-T4), a combination of 6 g kg-¹ MOS and 4 mg ZnO-Bulk supplemented diet (Diet-T5) and combination of 6 g kg-¹ MOS and 4 mg ZnO-NPs supplemented diet (Diet-T6). Randomly, duplicate aquariums for each diet were assigned and hand-fed to apparent satiation three times daily (08:00, 12:00, and 16:00) for 12 weeks. Fish fed MOS, ZnO-NPs, and a combination of MOS and ZnO-Bulk supplemented diet had higher weight gain, Daily Growth Rate (DGR), and Specific Growth Rate (SGR) than fish fed the basal diet and other feeding groups, although the effect was not significant. According to the GC analysis, Nile tilapia was supplemented with 6 g kg-¹ MOS, 4 mg ZnO-NPs, or a combination of ZnO-NPs, and MOS showed the highest content of EPA, DHA, and higher ratios of PUFA/SFA than other feeding groups. Mean villi length in the proximal and middle portion of the Nile tilapia intestine was affected significantly (p<0.05) by diet. Fish fed Diet-T2 and Diet-T3 had significantly higher villi lengths in the proximal and middle portions of the intestine compared to other feeding groups. The inclusion of additives significantly improved goblet numbers at the proximal, middle, and distal portions of the intestine. Supplementation of additives had also improved some hematological parameters compared with control groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of additives MOS and ZnO-NPs could confer benefits on growth performance, fatty acid profiles, hematology, and intestinal morphology of Chamo strain Nile tilapia.

Keywords: chamo strain nile tilapia, fatty acid profile, hematology, intestinal morphology, MOS, ZnO-Bulk, ZnO-NPs

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Ekta, G. K. Darbha

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Nanotechnology offers the potential of simultaneously increasing efficiency as compared to their bulk material as well as reducing harmful environmental impacts of pesticides in field of agriculture. The term nanopesticide covers different pesticides that are cumulative of several surfactants, polymers, metal ions, etc. of nanometer size ranges from 1-1000 nm and exhibit abnormal behavior (high efficacy and high specific surface area) of nanomaterials. Commercial formulations of pesticides used by farmers nowadays cannot be used effectively due to a number of problems associated with them. For example, more than 90% of applied formulations are either lost in the environment or unable to reach the target area required for effective pest control. Around 20−30% of pesticides are lost through emissions. A number of factors (application methods, physicochemical properties of the formulations, and environmental conditions) can influence the extent of loss during application. It is known that among various formulations, polymer-based formulations show the greatest potential due to their greater efficacy, slow release and protection against premature degradation of active ingredient as compared to other commercial formulations. However, the nanoformulations can have a significant effect on the fate of active ingredient as well as may release some new ingredients by reacting with existing soil contaminants. Environmental fate of these newly generated species is still not explored very well which is essential to field scale experiments and hence a lot to be explored in the field of environmental fate, nanotoxicology, transport properties and stability of such formulations. In our preliminary work, we have synthesized polymer based nanoformulation of commercially used weedicide atrazine. Atrazine belongs to triazine class of herbicide, which is used in the effective control of seed germinated dicot weeds and grasses. It functions by binding to the plastoquinone-binding protein in PS-II. Plant death results from starvation and oxidative damage caused by breakdown in electron transport system. The stability of the suspension of nanoformulation containing herbicide has been evaluated by considering different parameters like polydispersity index, particle diameter, zeta-potential under different environmental relevance condition such as pH range 4-10, temperature range from 25°C to 65°C and stability of encapsulation also have been studied for different amount of added polymer. Morphological characterization has been done by using SEM.

Keywords: atrazine, nanoformulation, nanopesticide, nanotoxicology

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Authors: Hayder H. Kareem, Shunqi Pan

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The geological environment where the groundwater is collected represents the most important element that affects the behaviour of groundwater aquifer. As groundwater is a worldwide vital resource, it requires knowing the parameters that affect this source accurately so that the conceptualized mathematical models would be acceptable to the broadest ranges. Therefore, groundwater models have recently become an effective and efficient tool to investigate groundwater aquifer behaviours. Groundwater aquifer may contain aquitards, aquicludes, or interfaces within its geological formations. Aquitards and aquicludes have geological formations that forced the modellers to include those formations within the conceptualized groundwater models, while interfaces are commonly neglected from the conceptualization process because the modellers believe that the interface has no effect on aquifer behaviour. The current research highlights the impact of an interface existing in a real unconfined groundwater aquifer called Dibdibba, located in Al-Najaf City, Iraq where it has a river called the Euphrates River that passes through the eastern part of this city. Dibdibba groundwater aquifer consists of two types of soil layers separated by an interface soil layer. A groundwater model is built for Al-Najaf City to explore the impact of this interface. Calibration process is done using PEST 'Parameter ESTimation' approach and the best Dibdibba groundwater model is obtained. When the soil interface is conceptualized, results show that the groundwater tables are significantly affected by that interface through appearing dry areas of 56.24 km² and 6.16 km² in the upper and lower layers of the aquifer, respectively. The Euphrates River will also leak water into the groundwater aquifer of 7359 m³/day. While these results are changed when the soil interface is neglected where the dry area became 0.16 km², the Euphrates River leakage became 6334 m³/day. In addition, the conceptualized models (with and without interface) reveal different responses for the change in the recharge rates applied on the aquifer through the uncertainty analysis test. The aquifer of Dibdibba in Al-Najaf City shows a slight deficit in the amount of water supplied by the current pumping scheme and also notices that the Euphrates River suffers from stresses applied to the aquifer. Ultimately, this study shows a crucial need to represent the interface soil layer in model conceptualization to be the intended and future predicted behaviours more reliable for consideration purposes.

Keywords: Al-Najaf City, groundwater aquifer behaviour, groundwater modelling, interface soil layer, Visual MODFLOW

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Authors: Qiaoyue Kuang, Yang Li, Mizuki Endo, Takeaki Ozawa

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G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are the largest family of receptor proteins that detect molecules outside the cell and activate cellular responses. Of the GPCRs, dopamine receptors, which recognize extracellular dopamine, are essential to mammals due to their roles in numerous physiological events, including autonomic movement, hormonal regulation, emotions, and the reward system in the brain. To precisely understand the physiological roles of dopamine receptors, it is important to spatiotemporally control the signaling mediated by dopamine receptors, which is strongly dependent on their surface expression. Conventionally, chemical-induced interactions were applied to trigger the endocytosis of cell surface receptors. However, these methods were subjected to diffusion and therefore lacked temporal and special precision. To further understand the receptor-mediated signaling and to control the plasma membrane expression of receptors, an optogenetic tool called E-fragment was developed. The C-terminus of a light-sensitive photosensory protein cyptochrome2 (CRY2) was attached to β-Arrestin, and the E-fragment was generated by fusing the C-terminal peptide of vasopressin receptor (V2R) to CRY2’s binding partner protein CIB. The CRY2-CIB heterodimerization triggered by blue light stimulation brings β-Arrestin to the vicinity of membrane receptors and results in receptor endocytosis. In this study, the E-fragment system was applied to dopamine receptors 1 and 2 (DRD1 and DRD2) to control dopamine signaling. First, confocal fluorescence microscope observation qualitatively confirmed the light-induced endocytosis of E-fragment fused receptors. Second, NanoBiT bioluminescence assay verified quantitatively that the surface amount of E-fragment labeled receptors decreased after light treatment. Finally, GloSensor bioluminescence assay results suggested that the E-fragment-dependent receptor light-induced endocytosis decreased cAMP production in DRD1 signaling and attenuated the inhibition effect of DRD2 on cAMP production. The developed optogenetic tool was able to induce receptor endocytosis by external light, providing opportunities to further understand numerous physiological activities by controlling receptor-mediated signaling spatiotemporally.

Keywords: dopamine receptors, endocytosis, G protein-coupled receptors, optogenetics

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Authors: S. Gariani, I. Shyha

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Cutting titanium alloys are usually accompanied with low productivity, poor surface quality, short tool life and high machining costs. This is due to the excessive generation of heat at the cutting zone and difficulties in heat dissipation due to relatively low heat conductivity of this metal. The cooling applications in machining processes are crucial as many operations cannot be performed efficiently without cooling. Improving machinability, increasing productivity, enhancing surface integrity and part accuracy are the main advantages of cutting fluids. Conventional fluids such as mineral oil-based, synthetic and semi-synthetic are the most common cutting fluids in the machining industry. Although, these cutting fluids are beneficial in the industries, they pose a great threat to human health and ecosystem. Vegetable oils (VOs) are being investigated as a potential source of environmentally favourable lubricants, due to a combination of biodegradability, good lubricous properties, low toxicity, high flash points, low volatility, high viscosity indices and thermal stability. Fatty acids of vegetable oils are known to provide thick, strong, and durable lubricant films. These strong lubricating films give the vegetable oil base stock a greater capability to absorb pressure and high load carrying capacity. This paper details preliminary experimental results when turning Ti-6Al-4V. The impact of various VO-based cutting fluids, cutting tool materials, working conditions was investigated. The full factorial experimental design was employed involving 24 tests to evaluate the influence of process variables on average surface roughness (Ra), tool wear and chip formation. In general, Ra varied between 0.5 and 1.56 µm and Vasco1000 cutting fluid presented comparable performance with other fluids in terms of surface roughness while uncoated coarse grain WC carbide tool achieved lower flank wear at all cutting speeds. On the other hand, all tools tips were subjected to uniform flank wear during whole cutting trails. Additionally, formed chip thickness ranged between 0.1 and 0.14 mm with a noticeable decrease in chip size when higher cutting speed was used.

Keywords: cutting fluids, turning, Ti-6Al-4V, vegetable oils, working conditions

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Bagnoud-Velásquez Mariluz, Damergi Eya, Grandjean Dominique, Frédéric Vogel, Ludwig Christian

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The sustainability of algae to biofuel processes is seriously affected by the energy intensive production of fertilizers. Large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus are required for a large-scale production resulting in many cases in a negative impact of the limited mineral resources. In order to meet the algal bioenergy opportunity it appears crucial the promotion of processes applying a nutrient recovery and/or making use of renewable sources including waste. Hydrothermal (HT) conversion is a promising and suitable technology for microalgae to generate biofuels. Besides the fact that water is used as a “green” reactant and solvent and that no biomass drying is required, the technology offers a great potential for nutrient recycling. This study evaluated the possibility to treat the water HT effluent by the growth of microalgae while producing renewable algal biomass. As already demonstrated in previous works by the authors, the HT aqueous product besides having N, P and other important nutrients, presents a small fraction of organic compounds rarely studied. Therefore, extracted heteroaromatic compounds in the HT effluent were the target of the present research; they were profiled using GC-MS and LC-MS-MS. The results indicate the presence of cyclic amides, piperazinediones, amines and their derivatives. The most prominent nitrogenous organic compounds (NOC’s) in the extracts were carefully examined by their effect on microalgae, namely 2-pyrrolidinone and β-phenylethylamine (β-PEA). These two substances were prepared at three different concentrations (10, 50 and 150 ppm). This toxicity bioassay used three different microalgae strains: Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Chlorella sorokiniana and Scenedesmus vacuolatus. The confirmed IC50 was for all cases ca. 75ppm. Experimental conditions were set up for the growth of microalgae in the aqueous phase by adjusting the nitrogen concentration (the key nutrient for algae) to fit that one established for a known commercial medium. The values of specific NOC’s were lowered at concentrations of 8.5 mg/L 2-pyrrolidinone; 1mg/L δ-valerolactam and 0.5 mg/L β-PEA. The growth with the diluted HT solution was kept constant with no inhibition evidence. An additional ongoing test is addressing the possibility to apply an integrated water cleanup step making use of the existent hydrothermal catalytic facility.

Keywords: hydrothermal process, microalgae, nitrogenous organic compounds, nutrient recovery, renewable biomass

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Authors: Majid Eslami

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Functionally graded materials (FGMs) exhibit heterogeneous microstructures in which the composition and properties gently change in specified directions. The common type of FGMs consist of a metal in which ceramic particles are distributed with a graded concentration. There are many processing routes for FGMs. An important group of these methods is casting techniques (gravity or centrifugal). However, the main problem of casting molten metal slurry with dispersed ceramic particles is a destructive chemical reaction between these two phases which deteriorates the properties of the materials. In order to overcome this problem, in the present investigation a suspension of 6061 aluminum and alumina powders in a liquid polymer was used as the starting material and subjected to centrifugal force for making FGMs. The size rang of these powders was 45-63 and 106-125 μm. The volume percent of alumina in the Al/Al2O3 powder mixture was in the range of 5 to 20%. PMMA (Plexiglas) in different concentrations (20-50 g/lit) was dissolved in toluene and used as the suspension liquid. The glass mold contaning the suspension of Al/Al2O3 powders in the mentioned liquid was rotated at 1700 rpm for different times (4-40 min) while the arm length was kept constant (10 cm) for all the experiments. After curing the polymer, burning out the binder, cold pressing and sintering , cylindrical samples (φ=22 mm h=20 mm) were produced. The density of samples before and after sintering was quantified by Archimedes method. The results indicated that by using the same sized alumina and aluminum powders particles, FGM sample can be produced by rotation times exceeding 7 min. However, by using coarse alumina and fine alumina powders the sample exhibits step concentration. On the other hand, using fine alumina and coarse alumina results in a relatively uniform concentration of Al2O3 along the sample height. These results are attributed to the effects of size and density of different powders on the centrifugal force induced on the powders during rotation. The PMMA concentration and the vol.% of alumina in the suspension did not have any considerable effect on the distribution of alumina particles in the samples. The hardness profiles along the height of samples were affected by both the alumina vol.% and porosity content. The presence of alumina particles increased the hardness while increased porosity reduced the hardness. Therefore, the hardness values did not show the expected gradient in same sample. The sintering resulted in decreased porosity for all the samples investigated.

Keywords: FGM, powder metallurgy, centrifugal method, polymeric suspension

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Authors: Jorge Martínez-Rodríguez, Esther Pérez-Carrillo, Diana Laura Anchondo Álvarez, Julia Lucía Leal Villarreal, Mariana Juárez Dominguez, Luisa Fernanda Torres Hernández, Daniela Salinas Morales, Erick Heredia-Olea

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Maize tortillas are a staple food in Mexico which are mostly made by nixtamalization, which includes the cooking and steeping of maize kernels in alkaline conditions. The cooking step in nixtamalization demands a lot of energy and also generates nejayote, a water pollutant, at the end of the process. The aim of this study was to reduce the cooking time by adding a maize soaking step before nixtamalization while maintaining the quality properties of masa and tortillas. Maize kernels were soaked for 36 h to increase moisture up to 36%. Then, the effect of different cooking times (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 20, 25, 30, 35, 45-control and 50 minutes) was evaluated on viscosity profile (RVA) of masa to select the treatments with a profile similar or equal to control. All treatments were left steeping overnight and had the same milling conditions. Treatments selected were 20- and 25-min cooking times which had similar values for pasting temperature (79.23°C and 80.23°C), Maximum Viscosity (105.88 Cp and 96.25 Cp) and Final Viscosity (188.5 Cp and 174 Cp) to those of 45 min-control (77.65 °C, 110.08 Cp, and 186.70 Cp, respectively). Afterward, tortillas were produced with the chosen treatments (20 and 25 min) and for control, then were analyzed for texture, damage starch, colorimetry, thickness, and average diameter. Colorimetric analysis of tortillas only showed significant differences for yellow/blue coordinates (b* parameter) at 20 min (0.885), unlike the 25-minute treatment (1.122). Luminosity (L*) and red/green coordinates (a*) showed no significant differences from treatments with respect control (69.912 and 1.072, respectively); however, 25 minutes was closer in both parameters (73.390 and 1.122) than 20 minutes (74.08 and 0.884). For the color difference, (E), the 25 min value (3.84) was the most similar to the control. However, for tortilla thickness and diameter, the 20-minute with 1.57 mm and 13.12 cm respectively was closer to those of the control (1.69 mm and 13.86 cm) although smaller to it. On the other hand, the 25 min treatment tortilla was smaller than both 20 min and control with 1.51 mm thickness and 13.590 cm diameter. According to texture analyses, there was no difference in terms of stretchability (8.803-10.308 gf) and distance for the break (95.70-126.46 mm) among all treatments. However, for the breaking point, all treatments (317.1 gf and 276.5 gf for 25 and 20- min treatment, respectively) were significantly different from the control tortilla (392.2 gf). Results suggest that by adding a soaking step and reducing cooking time by 25 minutes, masa and tortillas obtained had similar functional and textural properties to the traditional nixtamalization process.

Keywords: tortilla, nixtamalization, corn, lime cooking, RVA, colorimetry, texture, masa rheology

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Authors: Kristy Howells, Catherine Meehan

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This position paper presents current research findings into the proposed gap between teachers’ and practitioners’ thinking and acting about physical activity health and well-being in childhood. Within the new Primary curriculum, there is a focus on sustained physical activity within a Physical Education and healthy lifestyles in Personal, Health, Social and Emotional lessons, but there is no curriculum guidance about what sustained physical activity is and how it is defined. The current health guidance on birth to five suggests that children should not be inactive for long periods and specify light and energetic activities, however there is the a suggested period of time per day for young children to achieve, but the guidance does not specify how this should be measured. The challenge therefore for teachers and practitioners is their own confidence and understanding of what “good / moderate intensity” physical activity and healthy living looks like for children and the children understanding what they are doing. There is limited research about children from birth to eight years and also the perceptions and attitudes of those who work with this age group of children, however it was found that children at times can identify different levels of activity and it has been found that children can identify healthy foods and good choices for healthy living at a basic level. Authors have also explored teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning and found that teachers could act in accordance to their beliefs about their subject area only when their subject knowledge, understanding and confidence of that area is high. It has been proposed that confidence and competence of practitioners and teachers to integrate ‘well-being’ within the learning settings has been reported as being low. This may be due to them not having high subject knowledge. It has been suggested that children’s life chances are improved by focusing on well-being in their earliest years. This includes working with parents and families, and being aware of the environmental contexts that may impact on children’s wellbeing. The key is for practitioners and teachers to know how to implement these ideas effectively as these key workers have a profound effect on young children as role models and due to the time of waking hours spent with them. The position paper is part of a longitudinal study at Canterbury Christ Church University and currently we will share the research findings from the initial questionnaire (online, postal, and in person) that explored and evaluated the knowledge, competence and confidence levels of practitioners and teachers as to the structure and planning of sustained physical activity and healthy lifestyles and how this progresses with the children’s age.

Keywords: health, perceptions, physical activity, well-being

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Authors: Yohannes Kelifa, Gomathi Periasamy, Aman Karim

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Introduction: Diabetes mellitus has become a major public health and economical problem across the globe. Modern antidiabetic drugs have a number of limitations, and scientific investigation of traditional herbal remedies used for diabetes may provide novel leads for the development of new antidiabetic drugs that can be used as alternative or complementary to available antidiabetic allopathic medications. Though Myrica salicifolia Hochst. ex A. Rich. is used for the management of diabetes in Ethiopian traditional medicine, there was no previous scientific evidence about its antidiabetic effect to the authors’ knowledge. This study was undertaken to evaluate the antidiabetic activity the root extracts of Myrica salicifolia in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. Methods: Experimental diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal administration of STZ (150 mg/kg) in male mice. Diabetic mice were treated with oral doses of M. salicifolia root extracts at 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg, and its fractions (chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and aqueous) at a dose of 400 mg/kg daily for 15 days. Fasting blood glucose level (BGL) was measured at 0, 5th,10th, and 15th day. The free radical scavenging activity of the crude extract was determined using in vitro by DPPH assay. The statistical significance was assessed by one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison tests. Results were considered significant when p < 0.05. Results: Daily administration of the M. salicifolia 80% methanol root extracts (at three different doses (200, 400 and 600 mg/kg) significantly (p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.001) reduced fasting BGL compared with diabetic control. The aqueous and butanol fractions at a dose of 400 mg/kg resulted in maximum reduction of fasting BGL by 42.39%, and 52.13%, respectively at the 15th day in STZ-induced diabetic mice. Free radical scavenging activity of the 80% methanol extract of M. salicifolia was comparable to ascorbic acid. The IC50 values of the crude extract and ascorbic acid (a reference compound) were found to be 4.54 μg/ml and 4.39 μg/ml, respectively. Conclusion: These findings demonstrated that the methanolic extracts of M. salicifolia root and its fractions (n-butanol and aqueous) exhibit a significant antihyperglycemic activity in STZ-induced diabetic mice. Furthermore, the result of the present study indicates that M. salicifolia root extract is a potential source of natural antioxidants.

Keywords: antidiabetic, diabetes mellitus, DPPH, mice, Myrica salicifolia, streptozotocin

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Authors: Hernan Arturo Blas López, Gustavo Henndel Lopes, Antonio Carlos Silva Costa Teixeira, Carmen Elena Flores Barreda, Patricia Araujo Pantoja

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Phenols are toxic for life and the environment and may come from many sources. Uncured phenolic monomers present in phenolic resins used as binders in grinding wheels and emery paper can contaminate industrial wastewaters in abrasives manufacture plants. Furthermore, vestiges of resol and novolacs resins generated by wear and tear of abrasives are also possible sources of water contamination by phenolics in these facilities. Fortunately, advanced oxidation by dark Fenton and photo-Fenton techniques are capable of oxidizing phenols and their degradation products up to their mineralization into H₂O and CO₂. The maximal allowable concentrations for phenols in Peruvian waterbodies is very low, such that insufficiently treated effluents from the abrasives industry are a potential environmental noncompliance. The current case study highlights findings obtained during the lab-scale application of Fenton’s and photo-assisted Fenton’s chemistries to real industrial wastewater samples from an abrasives manufacture plant in Peru. The goal was to reduce the phenolic content and sample toxicity. For this purpose, two independent variables-reaction time and effect of ultraviolet radiation–were studied as for their impacts on the concentration of total phenols, total organic carbon (TOC), biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). In this study, diluted samples (1 L) of the industrial effluent were treated with Fenton’s reagent (H₂O₂ and Fe²⁺ from FeSO₄.H₂O) during 10 min in a photochemical batch reactor (Alphatec RFS-500, Brazil) at pH 2.92. In the case of photo-Fenton tests with ultraviolet lamps of 9 W, UV-A, UV-B and UV-C lamps were evaluated. All process conditions achieved 100% of phenols degraded within 5 minutes. TOC, BOD and COD decreased by 49%, 52% and 86% respectively (all processes together). However, Fenton treatment was not capable of reducing BOD, COD and TOC below a certain value even after 10 minutes, contrarily to photo-Fenton. It was also possible to conclude that the processes here studied degrade other compounds in addition to phenols, what is an advantage. In all cases, elevated effluent dilution factors and high amounts of oxidant agent impact negatively the overall economy of the processes here investigated.

Keywords: fenton oxidation, wastewater treatment, phenols, abrasives industry

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Authors: Kholood A. Baron

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While radiologist numbers specialized in spine interventional procedures are limited in Kuwait, the number of patients demanding these procedures is increasing rapidly. Due to this high demand, the workload of radiologists is increasing, which might represent a radiation exposure concern. During these procedures, the doctor’s hands are in very close proximity to the main radiation beam/ if not within it. The aim of this study is to measure the radiation dose for radiologists during several interventional procedures for the spine. Methods: Two doctors carrying different workloads were included. (DR1) was performing procedures in the morning and afternoon shifts, while (DR2) was performing procedures in the morning shift only. Comparing the radiation exposures that the hand of each doctor is receiving will assess radiation safety and help to set up workload regulations for radiologists carrying a heavy schedule of such procedures. Entrance Skin Dose (ESD) was measured via TLD (ThermoLuminescent Dosimetry) placed at the right wrist of the radiologists. DR1 was covering the morning shift in one hospital (Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital) and the afternoon shift in another hospital (Dar Alshifa Hospital). The TLD chip was placed in his gloves during the 2 shifts for a whole week. Since DR2 was covering the morning shift only in Al Razi Hospital, he wore the TLD during the morning shift for a week. It is worth mentioning that DR1 was performing 4-5 spine procedures/day in the morning and the same number in the afternoon and DR2 was performing 5-7 procedures/day. This procedure was repeated for 4 consecutive weeks in order to calculate the ESD value that a hand receives in a month. Results: In general, radiation doses that the hand received in a week ranged from 0.12 to 1.12 mSv. The ESD values for DR1 for the four consecutive weeks were 1.12, 0.32, 0.83, 0.22 mSv, thus for a month (4 weeks), this equals 2.49 mSv and calculated to be 27.39 per year (11 months-since each radiologist have 45 days of leave in each year). For DR2, the weekly ESD values are 0.43, 0.74, 0.12, 0.61 mSv, and thus, for a month, this equals 1.9 mSv, and for a year, this equals 20.9 mSv /year. These values are below the standard level and way below the maximum limit of 500 mSv per year (set by ICRP = International Council of Radiation Protection). However, it is worth mentioning that DR1 was a senior consultant and hence needed less fluoro-time during each procedure. This is evident from the low ESD values of the second week (0.32) and the fourth week (0.22), even though he was performing nearly 10-12 procedures in a day /5 days a week. These values were lower or in the same range as those for DR2 (who was a junior consultant). This highlighted the importance of increasing the radiologist's skills and awareness of fluoroscopy time effect. In conclusion, the radiation dose that radiologists received during spine interventional radiology in our setting was below standard dose limits.

Keywords: radiation protection, interventional radiology dosimetry, ESD measurements, radiologist radiation exposure

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Authors: Anna Rudzińska, Katarzyna Szklener, Pola Juchaniuk, Anna Rodzajweska, Katarzyna Machulska-Ciuraj, Monika Rychlik- Grabowska, Michał łOziński, Agnieszka Kolak-Bruks, SłAwomir Mańdziuk

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Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) belongs to the modern forms of anti-cancer treatment. Due to the constant development and continuous research in the field of ICI, many aspects of the treatment are yet to be discovered. One of the less researched aspects of ICI treatment is the influence of the adverse effects on the treatment success rate. It is suspected that adverse events in the course of the ICI treatment indicate a better response rate and correlate with longer progression-free- survival. Methodology: The research was conducted with the usage of the documentation of the Department of Clinical Oncology and Chemotherapy. Data of the patients with a lung cancer diagnosis who were treated between 2019-2022 and received ICI treatment were analyzed. Results: Out of over 133 patients whose data was analyzed, the vast majority were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer. The majority of the patients did not experience adverse effects. Most adverse effects reported were classified as grade 1 or grade 2 according to CTCAE classification. Most adverse effects involved skin, thyroid and liver toxicity. Statistical significance was found for the adverse effect incidence and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) (p=0,0263) and for the time of toxicity onset and OS and PFS (p<0,001). The number of toxicity sites was statistically significant for prolonged PFS (p=0.0315). The highest OS was noted in the group presenting grade 1 and grade 2 adverse effects. Conclusions: Obtained results confirm the existence of the prolonged OS and PFS in the adverse-effects-charged patients, mostly in the group presenting mild to intermediate (Grade 1 and Grade 2) adverse effects and late toxicity onset. Simultaneously our results suggest a correlation between treatment response rate and the toxicity grade of the adverse effects and the time of the toxicity onset. Similar results were obtained in several similar research conducted - with the proven tendency of better survival in mild and moderate toxicity; meanwhile, other studies in the area suggested an advantage in patients with any toxicity regardless of the grade. The contradictory results strongly suggest the need for further research on this topic, with a focus on additional factors influencing the course of the treatment.

Keywords: adverse effects, immunotherapy, lung cancer, PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors

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Authors: Olfat A. Mohamed

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Rhamnolipids biosurfactants have distinct properties given them importance in many industrial applications, especially their great new future applications in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. These applications have encouraged the search for diverse and renewable resources to control the cost of production. The experimental results were then applied to find a suitable mathematical model for obtaining the design criteria of the batch bioreactor. This research aims to produce Rhamnolipids from different oily wastewater sources such as petroleum crude oil (PO) and vegetable oil (VO) by using Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027. Different concentrations of the PO and the VO are added to the media broth separately are in arrangement (0.5 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 % v/v) and (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10%v/v). The effect of the initial concentration of oil residues and the addition of glycerol and palmitic acid was investigated as an inducer in the production of rhamnolipid and the surface tension of the broth. It was found that 2% of the waste (PO) and 6% of the waste (VO) was the best initial substrate concentration for the production of rhamnolipids (2.71, 5.01 g rhamnolipid/l) as arrangement. Addition of glycerol (10-20% v glycerol/v PO) to the 2% PO fermentation broth led to increase the rhamnolipid production (about 1.8-2 times fold). However, the addition of palmitic acid (5 and 10 g/l) to fermentation broth contained 6% VO rarely enhanced the production rate. The experimental data for 2% initially (PO) was used to estimate the various kinetic parameters. The following results were obtained, maximum rate or velocity of reaction (Vmax) = 0.06417 g/l.hr), yield of cell weight per unit weight of substrate utilized (Yx/s = 0.324 g Cx/g Cs) maximum specific growth rate (μmax = 0.05791 hr⁻¹), yield of rhamnolipid weight per unit weight of substrate utilized (Yp/s)=0.2571gCp/g Cs), maintenance coefficient (Ms =0.002419), Michaelis-Menten constant, (Km=6.1237 gmol/l), endogenous decay coefficient (Kd=0.002375 hr⁻¹). Predictive parameters and advanced mathematical models were applied to evaluate the time of the batch bioreactor. The results were as follows: 123.37, 129 and 139.3 hours in respect of microbial biomass, substrate and product concentration, respectively compared with experimental batch time of 120 hours in all cases. The expected mathematical models are compatible with the laboratory results and can, therefore, be considered as tools for expressing the actual system.

Keywords: batch bioreactor design, glycerol, kinetic parameters, petroleum crude oil, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, rhamnolipids biosurfactants, vegetable oil

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Authors: Mark Anthony Casimiro, Ivan Culaba, Cornelia Soto

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Misconceptions are the wrong concepts understood by the students which may come up based on what they experience and observe around their environment. This seemed to hinder students’ learning. In this study, six different misconceptions were determined by the researcher from the previous researches. Teachers play a vital role in the classroom. The use of appropriate strategies can contribute a lot in the success of teaching and learning Physics. The current study aimed to compare two strategies- Interactive Lecture Demonstration (ILD) and Inquiry-Based Instruction (IBI) in addressing students’ misconceptions in electric circuits. These two strategies are both interactive learning activities and student-centered. In ILD, the teacher demonstrates the activity and the students have their predictions while in IBI, students perform the experiments. The study used the mixed method in which quantitative and qualitative researches were combined. The main data of this study were the test scores of the students from the pretest and posttest. Likewise, an interview with the teacher, observer and students was done before, during and after the execution of the activities. Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuits Test version 2 (DIRECT v.2) was the instrument used in the study. Two sections of Grade 9 students from Kalumpang National High School were the respondents of the study. The two strategies were executed to each section; one class was assigned as the ILD group and the other class was the IBI group. The Physics teacher of the said school was the one who taught and executed the activities. The researcher taught the teacher the steps in doing the two strategies. The Department of Education level of proficiency in the Philippines was adopted in scoring and interpretation. The students’ level of proficiency was used in assessing students’ knowledge on electric circuits. The pretest result of the two groups had a p-value of 0.493 which was greater than the level of significance 0.05 (p >0.05) and it implied that the students’ level of understanding in the topic was the same before the execution of the strategies. The posttest results showed that the p-value (0.228) obtained was greater than the level of significance which is 0.05 (p> 0.05). This implied that the students from the ILD and IBI groups had the same level of understanding after the execution of the two strategies. This could be inferred that either of the two strategies- Interactive Lecture Demonstration and Inquiry-Based Instruction could be used in addressing students’ misconception in electric circuit as both had similar effect on the students’ level of understanding in the topic. The result of this study may greatly help teachers, administration, school heads think of appropriate strategies that can address misconceptions depending on the availability of their materials of their school.

Keywords: inquiry- based instruction, interactive lecture demonstration, misconceptions, mixed method

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Authors: Amritee Bora, B. S. Mipun

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Land degradation is often used to describe the land environmental phenomena that reduce land’s original productivity both qualitatively and quantitatively. The study of land degradation vulnerability primarily deals with “Environmentally Sensitive Areas” (ESA) and the amount of topsoil loss due to erosion. In many studies, it is observed that the assessment of the existing status of land degradation is used to represent the vulnerability. Moreover, it is also noticed that in most studies, the primary emphasis of land degradation vulnerability is to assess its sensitivity to soil erosion only. However, the concept of land degradation vulnerability can have different objectives depending upon the perspective of the study. It shows the extent to which changes in land use land cover can imprint their effect on the land. In other words, it represents the susceptibility of a piece of land to degrade its productive quality permanently or in the long run. It is also important to mention that the vulnerability of land degradation is not a single factor outcome. It is a probability assessment to evaluate the status of land degradation and needs to consider both biophysical and human induce parameters. To avoid the complexity of the previous models in this regard, the present study has emphasized on to generate a simplified model to assess the land degradation vulnerability in terms of its current human population pressure, land use practices, and existing biophysical conditions. It is a “Mixed-Method” termed as the land degradation vulnerability index (LDVi). It was originally inspired by the MEDALUS model (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use), 1999, and Farazadeh’s 2007 revised version of it. It has followed the guidelines of Space Application Center, Ahmedabad / Indian Space Research Organization for land degradation vulnerability. The model integrates the climatic index (Ci), vegetation index (Vi), erosion index (Ei), land utilization index (Li), population pressure index (Pi), and cover management index (CMi) by giving equal weightage to each parameter. The final result shows that the very high vulnerable zone primarily indicates three (3) prominent circumstances; land under continuous population pressure, high concentration of human settlement, and high amount of topsoil loss due to surface runoff within the study sites. As all the parameters of the model are amalgamated with equal weightage further with the help of regression analysis, the LDVi model also provides a strong grasp of each parameter and how far they are competent to trigger the land degradation process.

Keywords: population pressure, land utilization, soil erosion, land degradation vulnerability

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Authors: Alexander Chinyere Nwankpa, Nneka Ngozi Nwankpa

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In Nigeria, the Federal government is trying to make sure that everyone has access to enough food that is nutritiously adequate and safe. But in the southwest of Nigeria, notably in Ondo State, the most valuable minerals such as oil and gas, bitumen, kaolin, limestone talc, columbite, tin, gold, coal, and phosphate are abundant. Therefore, some regions of Ondo State are now linked to large quantities of natural radioactivity as a result of the mineral presence. In this work, the baseline radioactivity levels in some of the most important food crops in Ondo State were analyzed, allowing for the prediction of probable radiological health impacts. To this effect, maize (Zea mays), yam (Dioscorea alata) and cassava (Manihot esculenta) tubers were collected from the farmlands in the State because they make up the majority of food's nutritional needs. Ondo State was divided into eight zones in order to provide comprehensive coverage of the research region. At room temperature, the maize (Zea mays), yam (Dioscorea alata), and cassava (Manihot esculenta) samples were dried until they reached a consistent weight. They were pulverized, homogenized, and 250 g packed in a 1-liter Marinelli beaker and kept for 28 days to achieve secular equilibrium. The activity concentrations of Radium-226 (Ra-226), Thorium-232 (Th-232), and Potassium-40 (K-40) were determined in the food samples using Gamma-ray spectrometry. Firstly, the Hyper Pure Germanium detector was calibrated using standard radioactive sources. The gamma counting, which lasted for 36000s for each sample, was carried out in the Centre for Energy Research and Development, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The mean activity concentration of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 for yam were 1.91 ± 0.10 Bq/kg, 2.34 ± 0.21 Bq/kg and 48.84 ± 3.14 Bq/kg, respectively. The content of the radionuclides in maize gave a mean value of 2.83 ± 0.21 Bq/kg for Ra-226, 2.19 ± 0.07 Bq/kg for Th-232 and 41.11 ± 2.16 Bq/kg for K-40. The mean activity concentrations in cassava were 2.52 ± 0.31 Bq/kg for Ra-226, 1.94 ± 0.21 Bq/kg for Th-232 and 45.12 ± 3.31 Bq/kg for K-40. The average committed effective doses in zones 6-8 were 0.55 µSv/y for the consumption of yam, 0.39 µSv/y for maize, and 0.49 µSv/y for cassava. These values are higher than the annual dose guideline of 0.35 µSv/y for the general public. Therefore, the values obtained in this work show that there is radiological contamination of some foodstuffs consumed in some parts of Ondo State. However, we recommend that systematic and appropriate methods also need to be established for the measurement of gamma-emitting radionuclides since these constitute important contributors to the internal exposure of man through ingestion, inhalation, or wound on the body.

Keywords: contamination, environment, radioactivity, radionuclides

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Authors: Jana Soler Libran

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The primary aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between power and knowledge suggested in Michel Foucault's theory. Taking into consideration the role of power in knowledge production, the goal is to evaluate to what extent genealogy can be presented as a practical method for epistemic resistance. To do so, the methodology used consists of a revision of Foucault’s literature concerning the topic discussed. In this sense, conceptual analysis is applied in order to understand the effect of the double dimension of power on knowledge production. In its negative dimension, power is conceived as an organ of repression, vetoing certain instances of knowledge considered deceitful. In opposition, in its positive dimension, power works as an organ of the production of truth by means of institutionalized discourses. This double declination of power leads to the first main findings of the present analysis: no truth or knowledge can lie outside power’s action, and power is constituted through accepted forms of knowledge. To second these statements, Foucaultian discourse formations are evaluated, presenting external exclusion procedures as paradigmatic practices to demonstrate how power creates and shapes the validity of certain epistemes. Thus, taking into consideration power’s mechanisms to produce and reproduce institutionalized truths, this paper accounts for the Foucaultian praxis of genealogy as a method to reveal power’s intention, instruments, and effects in the production of knowledge. In this sense, it is suggested to consider genealogy as a practice which, firstly, reveals what instances of knowledge are subjugated to power and, secondly, promotes aforementioned peripherical discourses as a form of epistemic resistance. In order to counterbalance these main theses, objections to Foucault’s work from Nancy Fraser, Linda Nicholson, Charles Taylor, Richard Rorty, Alvin Goldman, or Karen Barad are discussed. In essence, the understanding of the Foucaultian relationship between power and knowledge is essential to analyze how contemporary discourses are produced by both traditional institutions and new forms of institutionalized power, such as mass media or social networks. Therefore, Michel Foucault's practice of genealogy is relevant, not only for its philosophical contribution as a method to uncover the effects of power in knowledge production but also because it constitutes a valuable theoretical framework for political theory and sociological studies concerning the formation of societies and individuals in the contemporary world.

Keywords: epistemic resistance, Foucault’s genealogy, knowledge, power, truth

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Authors: Ibrahim O. Abdulmalik, Michael C. Amonye, Mahdi Makoyo

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Manual knapsack sprayer is the most popular means of farm spraying in Nigeria. It has its limitations. Apart from the human fatigue, which leads to unsteady walking steps, their field capacities are small. They barely cover about 0.2hectare per hour. Their small swath implies that a sizeable farm would take several days to cover. Weather changes are erratic and often it is desired to spray a large farm within hours or few days for even effect, uniformity and to avoid adverse weather interference. It is also often required that a large farm be covered within a short period to avoid re-emergence of weeds before crop emergence. Deployment of many knapsack operators to large farms has not been successful. Human error in taking equally spaced swaths usually result in over dosage of overlaps and in unapplied areas due to error at edges overlaps. Large farm spraying require boom equipment with larger swath. Reduced error in swath overlaps and spraying within the shortest possible time are then assured. Tractor boom sprayers would readily overcome these problems and achieve greater coverage, but they are not available in the country. Tractor hire for cultivation is very costly with the attendant lack of spare parts and specialized technicians for maintenance wherefore farmers find it difficult to engage tractors for cultivation and would avoid considering the employment of a tractor boom sprayer. Animal traction in farming is predominant in Nigeria, especially in the Northern part of the country. Development of boom sprayers drawn by work animals surely implies the maximization of animal utilization in farming. The Hydraulic Equipment Development Institute, Kano, in keeping to its mandate of targeted R&D in hydraulic and pneumatic systems, has developed an Animal Drawn Knapsack Boom Sprayer with four nozzles using the axle mechanism of a two wheeled cart to actuate the piston pump of two knapsack sprayers in line with appropriate technology demand of the country. It is hoped that the introduction of this novel contrivance shall enhance crop protection practice and lead to greater crop and food production in Nigeria.

Keywords: boom, knapsack, farm, sprayer, wheel axle

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Authors: M. A. Hafiz, P. T. Matevenga

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Micro-level machining of metals is a developing field which has shown to be a prospective approach to produce features on the parts in the range of a few to a few hundred microns with acceptable machining quality. It is known that the mechanics (i.e. the material removal mechanism) of micro-machining and conventional machining have significant differences due to the scaling effects associated with tool-geometry, tool material and work piece material characteristics. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are those metal alloys which display two exceptional properties, pseudoelasticity and the shape memory effect (SME). Nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloys are one of those unique metal alloys. NiTi alloys are known to be difficult-to-cut materials specifically by using conventional machining techniques due to their explicit properties. Their high ductility, high amount of strain hardening, and unusual stress–strain behaviour are the main properties accountable for their poor machinability in terms of tool wear and work piece quality. The motivation of this research work was to address the challenges and issues of micro-machining combining with those of machining of NiTi alloy which can affect the desired performance level of machining outputs. To explore the significance of range of cutting conditions on surface roughness and tool wear, machining tests were conducted on NiTi. Influence of different cutting conditions and cutting tools on surface and sub-surface deformation in work piece was investigated. Design of experiments strategy (L9 Array) was applied to determine the key process variables. The dominant cutting parameters were determined by analysis of variance. These findings showed that feed rate was the dominant factor on surface roughness whereas depth of cut found to be dominant factor as far as tool wear was concerned. The lowest surface roughness was achieved at the feed rate of equal to the cutting edge radius where as the lowest flank wear was observed at lowest depth of cut. Repeated machining trials have yet to be carried out in order to observe the tool life, sub-surface deformation and strain induced hardening which are also expecting to be amongst the critical issues in micro machining of NiTi. The machining performance using different cutting fluids and strategies have yet to be studied.

Keywords: nickel titanium, micro-machining, surface roughness, machinability

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Authors: Kamil Ganaev, Elina Vlasova, Andrei Shiryaev, Renat Akchurin

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De novo atrial fibrillation (AF) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a common complication. To date, there are no data on the possible effect of diffuse lesions of coronary arteries on the incidence of postoperative AF complications. Methods. Patients operated on-pump under hypothermic conditions during the calendar year (2020) were studied. Inclusion criteria - isolated CABG and achievement of complete myocardial revascularization. Patients with a history of AF moderate and severe valve dysfunction, hormonal thyroid pathology, initial CHF(Congestive heart failure), as well as patients with developed perioperative complications (IM, acute heart failure, massive blood loss) and deceased were excluded. Thus 227 patients were included; mean age 65±9 years; 69% were men. 89% of patients had a 3-vessel lesion of the coronary artery; the remainder had a 2-vessel lesion. Mean LV size: 3.9±0.3 cm, indexed LV volume: 29.4±5.3 mL/m2. Two groups were considered: D (n=98), patients with diffuse coronary heart disease, and L (n=129), patients with local coronary heart disease. Clinical and demographic characteristics in the groups were comparable. Rhythm assessment: continuous bedside ECG monitoring up to 5 days; ECG CT at 5-7 days after CABG; daily routine ECG registration. Follow-up period - postoperative hospital period. Results. The Median follow-up period was 9 (7;11) days. POFP (Postoperative atrial fibrillation) was detected in 61/227 (27%) patients: 34/98 (35%) in group D versus 27/129 (21%) in group L; p<0.05. Moreover, the values of revascularization index in groups D and L (3.9±0.7 and 3.8±0.5, respectively) were equal, and the mean time Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) (107±27 and 80±13min), as well as the mean ischemic time (67±17 and 55±11min) were significantly longer in group D (p<0.05). However, a separate analysis of these parameters in patients with and without developed AF did not reveal any significant differences in group D (CPB time 99±21.2 min, ischemic time 63±12.2 min), or in group L (CPB time 88±13.1 min, ischemic time 58.7±13.2 min). Conclusion. With the diffuse nature of coronary lesions, the incidence of AF in the hospital period after isolated CABG definitely increases. To better understand the role of severe coronary atherosclerosis in the development of POAF, it is necessary to distinguish the influence of organic features of atrial and ventricular myocardium (as a consequence of chronic coronary disease) from the features of surgical correction in diffuse coronary lesions.

Keywords: atrial fibrillation, diffuse coronary artery disease, coronary artery bypass grafting, local coronary artery disease

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Authors: Maria Hopkins, Sarah Koch, Fred Biasini

Abstract:

Autism is lifelong disorder that affects one out of every 110 Americans. The deficits that accompany Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), such as abnormal behaviors and social incompetence, often make it extremely difficult for these individuals to gain functional independence from caregivers. These long-term implications necessitate an immediate effort to improve social skills among children with an ASD. Any technology that could teach individuals with ASD necessary social skills would not only be invaluable for the individuals affected, but could also effect a massive saving to society in treatment programs. The overall purpose of the first study was to develop, implement, and evaluate an avatar tutor for social skills training in children with ASD. “Face Say” was developed as a colorful computer program that contains several different activities designed to teach children specific social skills, such as eye gaze, joint attention, and facial recognition. The children with ASD were asked to attend to FaceSay or a control painting computer game for six weeks. Children with ASD who received the training had an increase in emotion recognition, F(1, 48) = 23.04, p < 0.001 (adjusted Ms 8.70 and 6.79, respectively) compared to the control group. In addition, children who received the FaceSay training had higher post-test scored in facial recognition, F(1, 48) = 5.09, p < 0.05 (adjusted Ms: 38.11 and 33.37, respectively) compared to controls. The findings provide information about the benefits of computer-based training for children with ASD. Recent research suggests the value of also using socially assistive robots with children who have an ASD. Researchers investigating robots as tools for therapy in ASD have reported increased engagement, increased levels of attention, and novel social behaviors when robots are part of the social interaction. The overall goal of the second study was to develop a social robot designed to teach children specific social skills such as emotion recognition. The robot is approachable, with both an animal-like appearance and features of a human face (i.e., eyes, eyebrows, mouth). The feasibility of the robot is being investigated in children ages 7-12 to explore whether the social robot is capable of forming different facial expressions to accurately display emotions similar to those observed in the human face. The findings of this study will be used to create a potentially effective and cost efficient therapy for improving the cognitive-emotional skills of children with autism. Implications and study findings using the robot as an intervention tool will be discussed.

Keywords: autism, intervention, technology, emotions

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Authors: Komal Khan, Hafsa Zaneb, Saima Masood, Muhammad Younus, Sanan Raza

Abstract:

Cigarette smoke induces many physiological and pathological changes in respiratory tract like goblet cell hyperplasia and regional distention of airspaces. It is also associated with elevation of inflammatory profiles in different airway compartments. As probiotics are generally known to promote mucosal tolerance, it was postulated that prophylactic use of probiotics can be helpful in reduction of respiratory damage induced by cigarette smoke exposure. Twenty-four adult mice were randomly divided into three groups (cigarette-smoke (CS) group, cigarette-smoke+ Lactobacillus (CS+ P) group, control (Cn) group), each having 8 mice. They were exposed to cigarette smoke for 28 days (6 cigarettes/ day for 6 days/week). Wright-Giemsa staining of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was performed in three mice per group. Tissue samples of trachea and lungs of 7 mice from each group were processed by paraffin embedding technique for haematoxylin & eosin (H & E) and alcian blue- periodic acid-Schiff (AB-PAS) staining. Then trachea (goblet cell number, ratio and loss of cilia) and lungs (airspace distention) were studied. The results showed that the number of goblet cells was increased in CS group as a result of defensive mechanism of the respiratory system against irritating substances. This study also revealed that the cells of CS group having acidic glycoprotein were found to be higher in quantity as compared to those containing neutral glycoprotein. However, CS + P group showed a decrease in goblet cell index due to enhanced immunity by prophylactically used probiotics. Moreover, H & E stained tracheas showed significant loss of cilia in CS group due to propelling of mucous but little loss in CS + P group because of having good protective tracheal epithelium. In lungs, protection of airspaces was also much more evident in CS+ P group as compared to CS group having distended airspaces, especially at 150um distance from terminal bronchiole. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of inflammatory cells population of BALF showed neutrophilia and eosinophilia was significantly reduced in CS+ P group. This study proved that probiotics are found to be useful for reduction of changes in micro-architecture of the respiratory system. Thus, dietary supplementation of probiotic as prophylactic measure can be useful in achieving immunomodulatory effects.

Keywords: cigarette smoke, probiotics, goblet cells, airspace enlargement, BALF

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Authors: Ella Sever, Irena Glažar, Ema Saltović

Abstract:

Conventional cigarette smoking is associated with an increased risk of oral diseases and oral symptoms such as dry mouth, bad breath, burning sensation, and changes in taste sensation. The harmful effects of conventional cigarette smoking on oral health have been extensively studied previously. However, there is a severe lack of studies investigating the effects of Tobacco Heating System (THS) on oral structures. As a preventive measure, a new alternative Tobacco THS has been developed, and according to the manufacturer, it has fewer potentially harmful and harmful constituents and consequently, lowers the risk of developing tobacco-related diseases. The aim is to analyze the effects of conventional cigarettes and THS on salivary flow rate (SFR), and self-reported oral symptoms.The stratified cross-sectional study included 90 subjects divided into three groups: THS smokers, conventional cigarette smokers, and nonsmokers. The subjects completed questionnaires on smoking habits, and symptoms (dry mouth, bad breath, burning sensation, and changes in taste sensation). SFR test were performed on each subject. The lifetime exposure to smoking was calculated using the Brinkman index (BI). Participants were 20-55 years old (median 31), and 66.67 % were female. The study included three groups of equal size (n = 20), and no statistically significant differences were found between the groups in terms of age (p = 0.632), sex (p = 1.0), and lifetime exposure to smoking (the BI) (p=0,129). Participants from the smoking group had an average of 10 (2-30) years of smoking experience in the conventional cigarettes group and 6 (1-20) years of smoking experience in the THS group. Daily consumption of cigarettes/heets per day was the same for both smokers’ groups (12(2-20) cigarettes/heets per day). The self-reported symptoms were present in 40 % of participants in the smokers group. There were significant differences in the presence of halitosis (p = 0.025) and taste sensation (p=0.013). There were no statistical differences in the presence of dry mouth (p =0.416) and burning sensation (0.7). The SFR differed between groups (p < 0.001) and was significantly lower in the THS and conventional cigarette smokers’ groups than the nonsmokers’ group. There were no significant differences between THS smokers and conventional cigarette smokers. The results of the study show that THS products have a similar effect to conventional cigarettes on oral cavity structures, especially in terms of SFR, self-reported halitosis, and changes in taste.

Keywords: oral health, tobacco products, halitosis, cigarette smoking

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