Search results for: time intervals

Authors: Averill Reindle T. Camilo, Veena Jaye B. Cosme, Hazel Kaye a Mabborang, Johannah a Magayam, Julie May D. Magguiya, Trisha Irish W. Maique, Klein Van M. Maloc, Jaydee B. Masadao, Yvonne Mae P. Ματεο

Abstract:

The City of Tabuk had the highest number of registered births in the province of Kalinga, indicating the need to study birth spacing trends in Tabuk City further. The study investigates women's experiences with poor birth spacing in Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga, focusing on their views, practices, challenges, and strategies to cope with these issues. A qualitative research approach was used, specifically the Descriptive Phenomenological Research Design with eight (8) participants from Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga. The study found that women's views on poor birth spacing, including intense desire, wanting to have more children, and their perception of children as blessings and helpers, are prevalent and including side effects of contraceptives. The challenges faced by women due to poor birth spacing include financial constraints, sickness, lack of support, and time constraints. These issues can lead to increased living costs for stay-at-home parents, including food, clothing, transportation, medical care, housing, childcare, and budget modifications. The participants also face difficulties in handling sick children and adjusting to uneven birth spacing. To cope, they focus on earning money, patience, andcontraception, while seeking family support fromin-laws andmothers.

Keywords: birth spacing, contraception, coping strategies, maternal health, women experiences

Procedia PDF Downloads 32

Authors: V. K. Tewari, M. Hussain, H. K. D. Gupta

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B-Methylprednisolone-level-1-benefit (20%) usually given in paraplegia (but within 8hrs). Patients wait-long-duration for physiological-recovery. Intrathecal-Sodium-Nitroprusside(ITSNP) has been used-in vasospasm-due-to-subarachnoid-hemorrhage. ITSNP-has been studied-here for wide-window-period-range for-treatment, fast-recovery/affordability. 2- for acute-cases-and 1-mechanism-for chronic-cases, which-are-interrelated, are being-proposed-for-physiological-recovery. retrograde-neurotransmission, vasospasm and long-term-potentiation-(ltp) mechanisms are proposed here for recovery. It’s a case-control-prospective-study. 82paraplegia-patients(10patients taken as control-no superfusion or dextrose5% superfusion and 72patients as ITSNP-group). The mean time for superfusion was 14.11 days. ITSNP administered at a dosage of 0.2 mg/kg bo wt. Pre/post ITSNP monitored by SSEP/MEP. After-2-Hours in ITSNP-group Mean-Change-From-Baseline-Asia Motor/Sensory-Score 13.84%/13.10%, after-24-hours MOTOR-1.27-points decrease(3.77%) and SENSORY 10.5points-increase(6.22%)as compared to Control-group no-change noted upto 24-hours, At-7days ITSNP motor/sensory;11.56%/6.22% as compared to Control-group 7.60/4.48%, At-2-months in ITSNP 27.69%/6.22% as compared to Control-group 16.02/4.5%. SSEP/MEP-documented-improvements-noted. ITSNP, a-swift-acting-drug in treatment-of-paraplegia, is effective within-two-hours(mean-change-MOTOR-13.84% and SENSORY-13.10%) on-mean14.11th postparaplegia-day with a small-detrimental-response after-24-hours which-recovers-fast.

Keywords: paraplegias, intrathecal sodium nitroprusside, retrograde transmission, the 10, 000 fold effect, perforators, vasodilatations, long term potenciations

Procedia PDF Downloads 410

Authors: Adebisi Moruf Ademola

Abstract:

Hematite (Fe2O3),commonly known as ‘rust’ which usually surfaced on metal when exposed to some climatic materials. This emerges as a promising candidate for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to its favorable physiochemical properties of the narrow band gap (2.1–2.2 eV), chemical stability, nontoxicity, abundance, and low cost. However, inherent limitations such as short hole diffusion length (2–4 nm), high charge recombination rate, and slow oxygen evolution reaction kinetics inhibit the PEC performances of a-Fe2O3 photoanodes. As such, given the narrow bandgap enabling excellent optical absorption, increased charge carrier density and accelerated surface oxidation reaction kinetics become the key points for improved photoelectrochemical performances for a-Fe2O3 photoanodes and metal ion doping as an effective way to promote charge transfer by increasing donor density and improving the electronic conductivity of a-Fe2O3. Hematite attracts enormous efforts with a number of metal ions (Ti, Zr, Sn, Pt ,etc.) as dopants. A facile deposition-annealing process showed greatly enhanced PEC performance due to the increased donor density and reduced electron-hole recombination at the time scale beyond a few picoseconds. Zr doping was also found to enhance the PEC performance of a-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays by reducing the rate of electron-hole recombination. Slow water oxidation reaction kinetics, another main factor limiting the PEC water splitting efficiency of aFe2O3 as photoanodes, was previously found to be effectively improved by surface treatment.

Keywords: deposition-annealing, hematite, metal ion doping, nanorod

Procedia PDF Downloads 223

Authors: H. Aksas, H. Babaci, K. Louhab

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In this paper, a comparative study of the adsorption of Chromium and dyes, onto mixture biosorbents, olive stones and date pits at different percentage was investigated in aqueous solution. The study of various parameters: Effect of contact time, pH, temperature and initial concentration shows that these materials possess a high affinity for the adsorption of chromium for the adsorption of dye bezaktiv yellow HE-4G. To deepen the comparative study of the adsorption of chromium and dye with the use of different blends of olive stones and date pits, the following models are studied: Langmuir, Freundlich isotherms and Dubinin- Radushkvich (D-R) were used as the adsorption equilibrium data model. Langmuir isotherm model was the most suitable for the adsorption of the dye bezaktiv HE-4G and the D-R model is most suitable for adsorption Chrome. The pseudo-first-order model, pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion were used to describe the adsorption kinetics. The apparent activation energy was found to be less than 8KJ/mol, which is characteristic of a controlled chemical reaction for the adsorption of two materials. t was noticed that adsorption of chromium and dye BEZAKTIV HE-YELLOW 4G follows the kinetics of the pseudo second order. The study of the effect of temperature was quantified by calculating various thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy, enthalpy and entropy changes. The resulting thermodynamic parameters indicate the endothermic nature of the adsorption of Cr (VI) ions and the dye Bezaktiv HE-4G. But these materials are very good adsorbents, as they represent a low cost. in addition, it has been noticed that the greater the quantity of olive stone in the mixture increases, the adsorption ability of the dye or chromium increases.

Keywords: chromium ions, anions dye, sorption, mixed adsorbents, olive stone, date pits

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Sidra Shaheen, Nadir Naveed Siddiqui, Shah Ali Ul Qader

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In recent years, significant progress has been made in discovering and developing new bacterial polysaccharides producing organisms possessing extremely functional properties. Levan is a natural biopolymer of fructose which is produced by transfructosylation reaction in the presence of levansucrase. It is one of the industrially promising enzymes that offer a variety of industrial applications in the field of cosmetics, foods and pharmaceuticals. Although levan has significant applications but the yield of levan produced is not equal to other biopolymers due to the inefficiency of producer microorganism. Among wide range of levansucrase producing microorganisms, Zymomonas mobilis is considered as a potential candidate for large scale production of this natural polysaccharide. The present investigation is concerned with the isolation of levansucrase producing natural isolate having maximum enzyme production. Furthermore, production parameters were optimized to get higher enzyme yield. Levansucrase was partially purified and characterized to study its applicability on industrial scale. The results of this study revealed that the bacterial strain Z. mobilis KIBGE-IB14 was the best producer of levansucrase. Bacterial growth and enzyme production was greatly influenced by physical and chemical parameters. Maximum levansucrase production was achieved after 24 hours of fermentation at 30°C using modified medium of pH-6.5. Contrary to other levansucrases, the one presented in the current study is able to produce high amount of products in relatively short period of time with optimum temperature at 35°C. Due to these advantages, this enzyme can be used on large scale for commercial production of levan and other important metabolites.

Keywords: levansucrase, metabolites, polysaccharides, transfructosylation

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Authors: Kulveer Sandhu

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Background: In 1999, the Government of Canada legalized the use of cannabis for the therapeutic purpose (CTP); however, its users remain highly vulnerable to stigma and are judged by care providers and nonusers of cannabis. Findings from a literature review suggest health care providers (HCPs), including nurses in palliative care settings, lack knowledge about medical cannabis. For this reason, it is important to enhance HCPs’awarenessand knowledge of medical cannabis. Significance of the Project: Nurses are the first point of contact and spend more time with patients than other care providers; it is, therefore, important for them to be informed about CTPto provide quality and equitable care for medical cannabis users. Although nurses and other HCPs want information on CTP, the topic is rarely included in their educational curriculum. The purpose of this project is to create an evidence informed Package designed to increase knowledge among palliative care nurses about CTP. The information package will empower palliative nurses to help palliative patients make informed decisions about their treatment plan. Method: The information package will include a basic overview of the endocannabinoid system, common cannabis plants and products, and methods of consumption, as well as information to help nurses better understand consumption and harm reduction. The package will also include a set of cannabis fact sheets for nurses. Each fact sheet will comprise a high-level overview with graphics followed by a description of medical cannabis with links and references. At the end of the learning package, there are five self-reflection questions that allow nurses to examine their personal values, attitudes, and practices regarding medical cannabis. These questions will help each nurse understand their personal approach towards CTP and its users.

Keywords: medical cannabis, improve knowledge, cannabis for therapeutic purpose (CTP), patient experience, palliative care

Procedia PDF Downloads 223

Authors: P. Senthilraja, C. Rukumani Khandhan, M. Palaniappan, S. L. Rama, P. Sai Sushimitha, R. Madhan, J. Vinumathi, N. Vijayarangan

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Nowadays, the logistics achieve a vast improvement in efficient delivery of goods. The technology improvement also helps to improve its development, but still the owners of transport vehicles face problems, i.e., fuel theft in vehicles by the drivers or by an unknown person. There is no proper solution to overcome the problems. This scheme is to determine the amount of fuel that has been stolen and also to determine the position of the vehicle at a particular time using the technologies like GPS, GSM, ultrasonic fuel level sensor and numeric lock system. The ultrasonic sensor uses the ultrasonic waves to calculate the height of the tank up to which the fuel is available. Based on height it is possible to calculate the amount of fuel. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system. The scientific community uses GPS for its precision timing capability and position information. The GSM provides the periodic information about the fuel level. A numeric lock system has been provided for fuel tank opening lever. A password is provided to access the fuel tank lever and this is authenticated only by the driver and the owner. Once the fuel tank is opened an alert is sent to owner through a SMS including the timing details. Third party monitoring software is a user interface that updates the information automatically into the database which helps to retrieve the data as and when required. Third party monitoring software provides vehicle’s information to the owner and also shows the status of the vehicle. The techniques that are to be proposed will provide an efficient output. This project helps to overcome the theft and hence to put forth fuel economy.

Keywords: fuel theft, third party monitoring software, bioinformatics, biomedicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Mohammed Bnebaghdad, Feriel Betouche, Malika Semmani

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Image processing become more sophisticated over time due to technological advances, especially artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Currently, AI image processing is used in many areas, including surveillance, industry, science, and medicine. AI in medical image processing can help doctors diagnose diseases faster, with minimal mistakes, and with less effort. Among these diseases is malaria, which remains a major public health challenge in many parts of the world. It affects millions of people every year, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. Early detection of malaria is essential to prevent serious complications and reduce the burden of the disease. In this paper, we propose and implement a scheme based on AI image processing to enhance malaria disease diagnosis through automated analysis of blood smear images. The scheme is based on the convolutional neural network (CNN) method. So, we have developed a model that classifies infected and uninfected single red cells using images available on Kaggle, as well as real blood smear images obtained from the Central Laboratory of Medical Biology EHS Laadi Flici (formerly El Kettar) in Algeria. The real images were segmented into individual cells using the watershed algorithm in order to match the images from the Kaagle dataset. The model was trained and tested, achieving an accuracy of 99% and 97% accuracy for new real images. This validates that the model performs well with new real images, although with slightly lower accuracy. Additionally, the model has been embedded in a Raspberry Pi4, and a graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to visualize the malaria diagnostic results and facilitate user interaction.

Keywords: medical image processing, malaria parasite, classification, CNN, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Akbar Cahyadhi Pratama Putra, Tantri Utami Widhaningtyas, M. Randy Aswin

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Indonesia as an archipelagic nation have very long coastline which have large potential marine resources, one of that is the mangrove ecosystems. Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java requires mudflow flowed into the sea through the river Brantas and Porong. Mud material that transported by river flow is feared dangerous because they contain harmful substances such as heavy metals. This study aims to map the mangrove ecosystem seen from its density and knowing how big the impact of a disaster on the Lapindo mud to mangrove ecosystem and accompanied by efforts to address the mangrove ecosystem that maintained continuity. Mapping coastal mangrove conditions of Sidoarjo was done using remote sensing products that Landsat 7 ETM + images with dry months of recording time in 2002, 2006, 2009, and 2014. The density of mangrove detected using NDVI that uses the band 3 that is the red channel and band 4 that is near IR channel. Image processing was used to produce NDVI using ENVI 5.1 software. NDVI results were used for the detection of mangrove density is 0-1. The development of mangrove ecosystems of both area and density from year to year experienced has a significant increase. Mangrove ecosystems growths are affected by material deposition area of Lapindo mud on Porong and Brantas river estuary, where the silt is growing medium suitable mangrove ecosystem and increasingly growing. Increasing the density caused support by public awareness to prevent heavy metals in the material so that the Lapindo mud mangrove breeding done around the farm.

Keywords: archipelagic nation, mangrove, Lapindo mudflow disaster, NDVI

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Authors: Kara Terki Ibtissem, Hassaine Hafida, Bellifa Samia

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Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the species that are most frequently isolated from urinary catheters. The ability to produce a biofilm is an important step in the pathogenesis of these staphylococci; biofilm formation is strongly dependent on the environmental conditions it also depends on the different parameters these biofilms are subjected to. Antiseptics, including ethanol and betadine, are used in clinical practice for disinfection and infection prevention. Recent studies, however, demonstrate that disinfectants may enhance biofilm production in Staphylococci. Methods: In this study, 48 staphylococcus aureus isolated from urinary catheters at the University Hospital Center of Sidi Bel Abbes (in Northwestern Algeria) were analyzed to detect the formation of biofilm by culture on Red Congo Agar (RCA), the Tube Method (TM) and tissue Culture Plate (TCP) techniques, this last was also used to investigate the effect of ethanol and Betadine on the preformed biofilm In a second time to know which environment is most favorable to the formation of the biofilm we perform a statistical test based on the student test by the software R. Results: It has been found that 23 strains produced a bacterial slime on the Congo red medium, 5 strains produced a biofilm by the tube method, 2 of which are highly productive. In addition, 7 strains produced a biofilm on polystyrene micro-plates; this number was higher in the presence of ethanol 70% and ethanol 90% with 19 and 11 biofilm-producing strains, respectively. On the other hand, no biofilm was formed in the presence of Betadine. Conclusion: It is important to examine the response of biofilms following an imposed external constraint, such as disinfectants, in order to develop new strategies to combat bacterial biofilms but also to better control their formation.

Keywords: staphylococcus aureus, biofilm, urinary catheter, ethanol

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Authors: Ashok Pandey, Rajan Adhikari

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Introduction: Menstruation is part of the female reproductive cycle that starts when girls become sexually mature at the time of puberty. It is a phenomenon unique to the females. During a menstrual period, a woman bleeds from her uterus via the vagina. For decades, in many countries, academic school ‘type,’ private or public, as a predictor of or factor in future academic success has been researched and debated. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The comparative study was carried out with adolescent girls studying in both public and private schools of Kathmandu valley. A total of 100 girls participated in the survey, and out of them 21 participated in the FGD and 5 in the in- depth interview. Quantitative data from the survey was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 software. Informed verbal consent with the respective head of school and the respondents were taken before data collection. Results:The age of the respondents ranges from 11 to 18 years, with mean age of menarche being 12.37 years in both school adolescent girls. 70 percent of the public school adolescent girls and 72 percent of the private school adolescent girls are feeling upset and tension during menarche. There is a statistically significant difference on take rest during the period and good hygienic practice during menstruation of public/private school, at α=0. 05 level of significance. There is a statistically significant difference on overall score of practice during menstruation between public and private adolescent girls. Conclusion: Private schools children are more knowledgeable and maintain hygiene as compere to public school even though, it can be said that among the adolescent school girls both in public and private school, menstrual knowledge and perceptions are poor and practices often not optimal for proper hygiene. Often ignored issues of privacy affect the hygienic practices and daily lives.

Keywords: Comparison, Menstruation, Private school, Public School

Procedia PDF Downloads 445

Authors: Camille Intson

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This paper endeavors to explore the opportunities, challenges, and ethics of reconstructing and re-enacting archives of memory through virtual reality (VR) performance, using Jordan Tannahill’s Draw Me Close as an exemplary case study. Draw Me Close is a 1:1 virtual reality (VR) performance in which the artist’s childhood memories, experiences, and interactions with his mother are reconstructed in the wake of her passing. Solo audience members are positioned as Jordan (the subject and character) and taken through a series of narratives, (virtual) spaces, and interactions with his “mother,” played by a live actor. Piece by piece, audiences are brought into the world of the “shifting” archive, inhabiting Jordan’s reconstructed virtual world from his early explorations of queer sexuality through to his mother’s cancer diagnosis and passing. This paper will explore how the world of Draw Me Close represents a “touching” and/or “queering” of time within its archive, blurring and transgressing the boundaries between the animate and the inanimate, life and death. On a philosophical level, considering foundational queer performance scholarship and archival theory, it will also examine how performance’s ephemerality rewards its artists with the dual advantages of visibility and protection, allowing for an ethical exploration of traumatic memory and loss within a disappearing medium. Finally, this provocation will use Draw Me Close as a point of departure from which to outline future possibilities for performance and emerging technologies’ engagements with archival theory and practice. By positioning virtual reality (VR) as an archive-constructing medium, it aims to move beyond the question of how we can take performances seriously as archives towards how personal archive construction is itself a performative act.

Keywords: intermedial theatre, new media arts, queer performance, virtual reality

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Authors: Sifatullah Bahij, Safiullah Omary, Francoise Feugeas, Amanullah Faqiri

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Plastic packages have been broadly used for a long time. Such widespread usage of plastic has resulted in an increased amount of plastic wastes and many environmental impacts. Plastic wastes are one of the most significant types of waste materials because of their non-degradation and low biodegradability. It is why many researchers tried to find a safe and environmentally friendly solution for plastic wastes. In this goal, in the civil engineering industry, many types of plastic wastes have been incorporated, as a partial substitution of aggregates or as additive materials (fibers) in concrete mixtures because of their lengthier lifetime and lower weight. This work aims to study the mechanical properties (compressive, split tensile and flexural strengths) of concrete with a water-cement ratio (w/c) of 0.45 and with the incorporation of non-woven PET plastic sheets. Five configurations -without PET (reference), 1-layer sheet, 2-side, 3-side, and full sample wrapping- were applied. The 7, 14 and 28-days samples’ compressive strengths, flexural strength and split tensile strength were measured. The outcomes of the study show that the compressive strength was improved for the wrapped samples, particularly for the cylindrical specimens. Also, split tensile and flexural behaviors of the wrapped samples improved significantly compared to the reference ones. Moreover, reference samples were damaged into many parts after mechanical testing, while wrapped specimens were taken by the applied configurations and were not divided into many small fragments. Therefore, non-woven fabrics appeared to improve some properties of the concrete.

Keywords: solid waste plastic, non-woven polyethylene terephthalate sheets, mechanical behaviors, crack pattern

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Authors: Wei Kunkun, Cao Wanyang, Xu Yujie, Qiao Yuzhi, Liu Yingning

Abstract:

The reasonable design of bus parking spaces can improve the traffic capacity of the station and reduce traffic congestion. In order to reasonably determine the number of berths at BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) stops, it is based on the actual bus rapid transit station observation data, scheduling data, and passenger flow data. Optimize the number of station berths from the perspective of optimizing the balance of supply and demand at the site. Combined with the classical capacity calculation model, this paper first analyzes the important factors affecting the traffic capacity of BRT stops by using SPSS PRO and MATLAB programming software, namely the distribution of BRT stops and the distribution of BRT stop time. Secondly, the method of calculating the number of the classic human capital management (HCM) model is optimized based on the actual passenger demand of the station, and the method applicable to the actual number of station berths is proposed. Taking Gangding Station of Zhongshan Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Corridor in Guangzhou as an example, based on the calculation method proposed in this paper, the number of berths of sub-station 1, sub-station 2 and sub-station 3 is 2, which reduces the road space of the station by 33.3% compared with the previous berth 3 of each sub-station, and returns to social vehicles. Therefore, under the condition of ensuring the passenger flow demand of BRT stations, the road space of the station is reduced, and the road is returned to social vehicles, the traffic capacity of social vehicles is improved, and the traffic capacity and efficiency of the BRT corridor system are improved as a whole.

Keywords: urban transportation, bus rapid transit station, HCM model, capacity, number of berths

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Authors: Papai Barman, Harihar Sahoo

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With increasing life expectancy, urbanization, and adult out migration, elder people live without adult child and most of time responsible for grandchild caring while the care is needed for them. On this line, the current study examined the association between grandchild caring (GCC) with different household structures and depression among elderly (60+) grandparents (GP) living in India using Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI), 2017-18. HH structure was defined as the skipped-generation household (SGH) where GP and GC lived together without middle generation and the multi-generation household (MGH) where more than two generations lived together. GCC was defined by two categories, compulsive and non-compulsive caring. CES-D depression scale was utilized to measure GP’s mental health. Socio-economic characteristics, chronic diseases, and health behavior were controlled to get the effect of HH structure and GCC considered key explanatory variables. Bivariate analyses showed that the prevalence of elderly lived in SGH in India (2.5%). Prevalence of compulsive caring was found 16.3% in MGH and 51.1% in SGH. Prevalence of depressions was found nearly 37.1 and 49.5% among the GPs responsible for GCC in MGH and SGH, respectively. Using Biprobit and margins results, GPs lived in SGH were 0.40 times (dy/dx=0.40, p<0.001) more likely to report depression than GPs lived in MGH, given the condition on compulsive caring. Ensuring SDG goal-3, health aging, and giving more social security to the elder people responsible for caring while they are needed care at later life, the current study may improve the existing knowledge and help policy makers to make an intervention on this most vulnerable people, especially for the elderly people living in SGH and responsible for caring.

Keywords: household structure, grandchild caring, skipped-generation household, multi-generation household, depression, mental health, India

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Authors: Huiling Feng, Xiaoshuang Jia, Jihong Liang, Li Niu

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Beijing, formerly romanized as Peking, is the capital of the People's Republic of China and the world's second most populous city proper and most populous capital city. Beijing is a noted historical and cultural whose city history dates back three millennia which is extremely rich in terms of cultural heritage. In 2012, a digital memory project led by Humanistic Beijing Studies Center in Renmin University of China started with the goal to build a total digital collection of knowledge assets about Beijing and represent Beijing memories in new fresh ways. The title of the entire project is ‘Peking Memory Project(PMP)’. The main goal is for safeguarding the documentary heritage and intellectual memory of Beijing, more specifically speaking, from the perspective of historical humanities and public participation, PMP will comprehensively applied digital technologies like digital capture, digital storage, digital process, digital presentation and digital communication to transform different kinds of cultural heritage of Beijing into digital formats that can be stored, re-organized and shared. These digital memories can be interpreted with a new perspective, be organized with a new theme, be presented in a new way and be utilized with a new need. Taking social memory as theoretical basis and digital technologies as tools, PMP is framed with ‘Two Sites and A Repository’. Two sites mean the special website(s) characterized by ‘professional’ and an interactive website characterized by ‘crowdsourcing’. A Repository means the storage pool used for safety long-time preservation of the digital memories. The work of PMP has ultimately helped to highlight the important role in safeguarding the documentary heritage and intellectual memory of Beijing.

Keywords: digital memory, cultural heritage, digital technologies, peking memory project

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Authors: Biruhi Tesfaye, Avinash M. Potdar

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The laboratory test process to determine the California bearing ratio (CBR) of black cotton soils is not only overpriced but also time-consuming as well. Hence advanced prediction of CBR plays a significant role as it is applicable In pavement design. The prediction of CBR of treated soil was executed by Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) which is a Computational tool based on the properties of the biological neural system. To observe CBR values, combined eggshell and waste glass was added to soil as 4, 8, 12, and 16 % of the weights of the soil samples. Accordingly, the laboratory related tests were conducted to get the required best model. The maximum CBR value found at 5.8 at 8 % of eggshell waste glass powder addition. The model was developed using CBR as an output layer variable. CBR was considered as a function of the joint effect of liquid limit, plastic limit, and plastic index, optimum moisture content and maximum dry density. The best model that has been found was ANN with 5, 6 and 1 neurons in the input, hidden and output layer correspondingly. The performance of selected ANN has been 0.99996, 4.44E-05, 0.00353 and 0.0067 which are correlation coefficient (R), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) respectively. The research presented or summarized above throws light on future scope on stabilization with waste glass combined with different percentages of eggshell that leads to the economical design of CBR acceptable to pavement sub-base or base, as desired.

Keywords: CBR, artificial neural network, liquid limit, plastic limit, maximum dry density, OMC

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Authors: Yea-Pyng Lin

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Evidence-based nursing (EBN) can improve quality of patient care and reduce medical expenses. Development of training and consultation program according to nurses’ needs and difficulties is essential to promote their competence and self-efficacy in EBN. However, limited research evaluated the effects of EBN program on EBN self-efficacy among nurses. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of an EBN consultation program on self-efficacy and outcome expectancy of evidence-based practice (EBP) among nurses. A two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used. A purposive sample of full-time nurses was recruited from a hospital. Experimental group (n=28) received the EBN consultation program including 18-hour EBN training courses, hand-on practices and group discussion by faculty mentors. Control group (n=33) received regular in-service education with no EBN program. All participants received baseline and post-test assessment using Chinese version of Self-Efficacy in EBP scale (SE-EBP) and Outcome Expectancy for EBP scale (OE-EBP). After receiving EBN consultation program, experimental group’s posttest scores of SE-EBP (t=-4.98, p<0.001) and OE-SEP (t=-3.65, p=0.001) were significantly higher than those of the pretests. By controlling the age and years of nursing work experience, the experimental group‘s SE-EBP(F=10.47, p=0.002) and OE-SEP(F=9.53, p=0.003) scores were significantly improved compared to those of the control group. EBN program focus on hand-on practice and group discussion by faculty mentors in addition to EBN training courses can improve EBP self-efficacy and outcome expectancy among nurses. EBN program focus on English literature reading, database searching, and appraisal practice according to nurses’ needs and difficulties can promote implementation of EBN.

Keywords: evidence-based nursing, evidence-based practice, consultation program, self-efficacy, outcome expectancy

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Authors: Thirayu Jumsai na Ayudhya

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Initial attempts to understand about what architecture means to people as they go about their everyday life through my previous research revealed that knowledge such as environmental psychology, environmental perception, environmental aesthetics, did not adequately address a perceived need for the contextualized and holistic theoretical framework. In my previous research, it is found that people’s making senses of their everyday architecture can be described in terms of four super‐ordinate themes; (1) building in urban (text), (2) building in (text), (3) building in human (text), (4) and building in time (text). For more comprehensively understanding of how people make sense of their everyday architectural experience, in this ongoing research Phuket Old town was selected as the focal urban context where the distinguish character of Chino-Portuguese is remarkable. It is expected that in a unique urban context like Phuket old town unprecedented super-ordinate themes will be unveiled through the reflection of people’s everyday experiences. The ongoing research of people’s architectural experience conducted in Phuket Island, Thailand, will be presented succinctly. The research will address the question of how do people make sense of their everyday architecture/buildings especially in a unique urban context, Phuket Old town, and identify ways in which people make sense of their everyday architecture. Participant-Produced-Photograph (PPP) and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) are adopted as main methodologies. PPP allows people to express experiences of their everyday urban context freely without any interference or forced-data generating by researchers. With IPA methodology a small pool of participants is considered desirable given the detailed level of analysis required and its potential to produce a meaningful outcome.

Keywords: architectural experience, the everyday architecture, Phuket, Thailand

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Authors: E. Er, Y. S. Cheng

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The role of parents and caregivers in their children’s education is pivotal. Parental involvement (PI) is often associated with a range of student outcomes. This includes academic achievements, socioemotional development, adaptive skills, physical fitness and school attendance. This study is the first in Singapore to (1) explore the relationship between parental involvement and student outcomes; (2) determine the effects of family structure and socioeconomic status (SES) on parental involvement and (3) investigate factors that inform involvement in parents of children with specific developmental disabilities. Approval for the study was obtained from Nanyang Technological University’s Institutional Review Board in Singapore. The revised version of a comprehensive theoretical model on parental involvement was used as the theoretical framework in this study. Parents were recruited from a SPED school in Singapore which caters to school-aged children (7 to 21 years old). Pearson’s product moment correlation, analysis of variance and multiple regression analyses were used as statistical techniques in this study. Results indicate that there are significant associations between parental involvement and educational outcomes in students with developmental disabilities. Next, SES has a significant impact on levels of parental involvement. In addition, parents in the current study reported being more involved at home, in school activities and the community, when teachers specifically requested their involvement. Home-based involvement was also predicted by parents’ perceptions of their time and energy, efficacy and beliefs in supporting their child’s education, as well as their children’s invitations to be more involved. An interesting and counterintuitive inverse relationship was found between general school invitations and parental involvement at home. Research findings are further discussed, and suggestions are put forth to increase involvement for this specific group of parents.

Keywords: autism, developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, parental involvement, Singapore

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Authors: Chomba Kalunga

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Many developing countries have a rich endowment of natural resources. Yet, amidst that wealth, living standards remain poor. At the same time, international markets have been surged with an increase in copper prices in the last twenty years. This is a presentation of the findings on the causal economic impact of Zambia’s copper mines, a country located in sub-Saharan Africa endowed with vast copper deposits on living standards using household data from 1996 to 2010, exploiting an episode where the copper prices on the international market were rising. Using an Instrumental Variable approach and controlling for constituency-level and microeconomic factors, the results show a significant impact of copper production on living standards. After splitting the constituencies close to and far away from the nearest mine, the results document that constituencies close to the mines benefited significantly from the increase in copper production, compared to their counterparts through increased levels of employment. Finally, the results are not consistent with the natural resource curse hypothesis; findings show a positive causal relationship between the presence of natural resources and socioeconomic outcomes in less developed countries, particularly for constituencies close to the mines in Zambia. Some key policy implications follow from the findings. The finding that increased copper production led to an increase in employment suggests that, in Zambias’ context, policies that promote local employment may be more beneficial to residents. Meaning that it is government policies that can help improve the living standards were government needs to work towards making this impact more substantial.

Keywords: copper prices, local development, mining, natural resources

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Authors: Alaa Sarhan, Rania Abd El Gelil, Hana Awad

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Through the last decades, the impact of thermal comfort on the working performance of users and occupants of an indoor space has been a concern. Research papers concluded that natural ventilation quality directly impacts the levels of thermal comfort. Natural ventilation must be put into account during the design process in order to improve the inhabitant's efficiency and productivity. One example of daily long-term occupancy spaces is educational facilities. Many individuals spend long times receiving a considerable amount of knowledge, and it takes additional time to apply this knowledge. Thus, this research is concerned with user's level of thermal comfort in design studios of educational facilities. The natural ventilation quality in spaces is affected by a number of parameters including orientation, opening design, and many other factors. This research aims to investigate the conscious manipulation of the physical parameters of the spaces and its impact on natural ventilation performance which subsequently affects thermal comfort of users. The current research uses inductive and deductive methods to define natural ventilation design considerations, which are used in a field study in a studio in the university building in Alexandria (AAST) to evaluate natural ventilation performance through analyzing and comparing the current case to the developed framework and conducting computational fluid dynamics simulation. Results have proved that natural ventilation performance is successful by only 50% of the natural ventilation design framework; these results are supported by CFD simulation.

Keywords: educational buildings, natural ventilation, , mediterranean climate, thermal comfort

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Authors: Begum Serim-Yildiz

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The aim of this study is to examine the role of parents' emotional and behavioral reactions on fears of children in the COVID-19 pandemic considering Rachman’s Three Pathways Theory. For this purpose, a phenomenological qualitative study was conducted. Thirteen participants living with their children were utilized through criterion and snowball sampling. In semi-structured interviews parents were asked about their own and their children’s beahavioral and emotional reactions in the COVID-19 pandemic, and they were expected to give detailed information about fears of their children before and in pandemic. Firstly, parents were asked about their behavioral and emotional reactions in the COVID-19 pandemic. As behavioral reactions, precautions taken by parents to protect the rest of the family from negative physical and emotional impact of the pandemic were mentioned, while emotional reactions were defined as acquisition of negative emotions like fear, anxiety, and worry. Secondly, parents were asked about their children’s behavioral and emotional reactions. Some of the parents talked about positive behavioral changes such as gaining self-control, while some others explained negative behavioral changes like increased time spent with technological tools. In the emotional changes section, all of the parents explained at least one negative emotion. All of the parents stated that their children had COVID-19 related fears. According to parents’ expressions, fears of children in pandemic were examined in two dimensions. Fears directly related to COVID-19 were fear of virus/microbes, illness or death of someone in family and death and fears. Fears indirectly related to COVID-19 were fear of going out, sleep alone at night, separation, touching stuff outside the home, and cold. Considering existing literature and based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that children’s modelling experiences have impact on acquisition of negative emotions, especially fear, therefore, preventive interventions involving caregivers should be provided by mental health professionals working with children.

Keywords: children’s fears, COVID-19 pandemic, modelling experiences, parents’ reactions

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Authors: Yong Eun Yoon, Eric N. Johnson, Liling Ren

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Multirotor is one of the most popular types of small unmanned aircraft systems and has already been used in many areas including transport, military, surveillance, and leisure. Together with its popularity, the needs for proper flight control is growing because in most applications it is required to conduct its missions autonomously, which is in many aspects based on autonomous flight control. There have been many studies about the flight control for multirotor, but there is still room for enhancements in terms of performance and efficiency. This paper presents an autonomous flight control method for multirotor based on alternative input output linearization coupled with nested saturations. With alternative choice of the output of the multirotor flight control system, we can reduce computational cost regarding Lie algebra, and the linearized system can be stabilized with the introduction of nested saturations with real poles of our own design. Stabilization of internal dynamics is also based on the nested saturations and accompanies the determination of part of desired states. In particular, outer control loops involving state variables which originally are not included in the output of the flight control system is naturally rendered through this internal dynamics stabilization. We can also observe that desired tilting angles are determined by error dynamics from outer loops. Simulation results show that in any tracking situations multirotor stabilizes itself with small time constants, preceded by tuning process for control parameters with relatively low degree of complexity. Future study includes control of piecewise linear behavior of multirotor with actuator saturations, and the optimal determination of desired states while tracking multiple waypoints.

Keywords: automatic flight control, input output linearization, multirotor, nested saturations

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Authors: George Mahalu

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The Chua diode has been configured over time in various ways, using electronic structures like as operational amplifiers (OAs) or devices with gas or semiconductors. When discussing the use of semiconductor devices, tunnel diodes (Esaki diodes) are most often considered, and more recently, transistorized configurations such as lambda diodes. The paper-work proposed here uses in the modeling a lambda diode type configuration consisting of two Junction Field Effect Transistors (JFET). The original scheme is created in the MULTISIM electronic simulation environment and is analyzed in order to identify the conditions for the appearance of evolutionary unpredictability specific to nonlinear dynamic systems with chaos-induced behavior. The chaotic deterministic oscillator is one autonomous type, a fact that places it in the class of Chua’s type oscillators, the only significant and most important difference being the presence of a nonlinear device like the one mentioned structure above. The chaotic behavior is identified both by means of strange attractor-type trajectories and visible during the simulation and by highlighting the hypersensitivity of the system to small variations of one of the input parameters. The results obtained through simulation and the conclusions drawn are useful in the further research of ways to implement such constructive electronic solutions in theoretical and practical applications related to modern small signal amplification structures, to systems for encoding and decoding messages through various modern ways of communication, as well as new structures that can be imagined both in modern neural networks and in those for the physical implementation of some requirements imposed by current research with the aim of obtaining practically usable solutions in quantum computing and quantum computers.

Keywords: chaos, lambda diode, strange attractor, nonlinear system

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Authors: Doaa Hashad, Amany Elyamany, Perihan Salem

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Introduction: Hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) constitutes a serious dilemma that has an impact on the health of millions of Egyptians. Hepatitis C virus related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCV-HCC) is a crucial consequence of HCV that represents the third cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Aim of the study: assess the use of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content as a non-invasive molecular biomarker in hepatitis c virus related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCV-HCC). Methods: A total of 135 participants were enrolled in the study. Volunteers were assigned to one of three groups equally; a group of HCV related cirrhosis (HCV-cirrhosis), a group of HCV-HCC and a control group of age- and sex- matched healthy volunteers with no evidence of liver disease. mtDNA was determined using a quantitative real-time PCR technique. Results: mtDNA content was lowest in HCV-HCC cases. No statistically significant difference was observed between the group of HCV-cirrhosis and the control group as regards mtDNA level. HCC patients with multi-centric hepatic lesions had significantly lower mtDNA content. On using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, a cutoff of 34 was assigned for mtDNA content to distinguish between HCV-HCC and HCV-cirrhosis patients who are not yet complicated by malignancy. Lower mtDNA was associated with greater HCC risk on using healthy controls, HCV-cirrhosis, or combining both groups as a reference group. Conclusions: mtDNA content might constitute a non-invasive molecular biomarker that reflects tumor burden in HCV-HCC cases and could be used as a predictor of HCC risk in patients of HCV-cirrhosis. In addition, the non significant difference of mtDNA level between HCV-cirrhosis patients and healthy controls could eliminate the grey zone created by the use of AFP in some cirrhotic patients.

Keywords: DNA copy number, HCC, HCV, mitochondrial

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Authors: Niloofar Bahramian, Mohammad Atai, Mohammad Reza Naimi-Jamal

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Rule of mixtures is the simple analytical model is used to predict various properties of composites before design. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the benefits and limitations of the Rule-of-Mixtures (ROM) for predicting bending modulus of a continuous and unidirectional fiber reinforced composites using in dental applications. The Composites were fabricated from light curing resin (with and without silica nanoparticles) and modified and non-modified fibers. Composite samples were divided into eight groups with ten specimens for each group. The bending modulus (flexural modulus) of samples was determined from the slope of the initial linear region of stress-strain curve on 2mm×2mm×25mm specimens with different designs: fibers corona treatment time (0s, 5s, 7s), fibers silane treatment (0%wt, 2%wt), fibers volume fraction (41%, 33%, 25%) and nanoparticles incorporation in resin (0%wt, 10%wt, 15%wt). To study the fiber and matrix interface after fracture, single edge notch beam (SENB) method and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used. SEM also was used to show the nanoparticles dispersion in resin. Experimental results of bending modulus for composites made of both physical (corona) and chemical (silane) treated fibers were in reasonable agreement with linear ROM estimates, but untreated fibers or non-optimized treated fibers and poor nanoparticles dispersion did not correlate as well with ROM results. This study shows that the ROM is useful to predict the mechanical behavior of unidirectional dental composites but fiber-resin interface and quality of nanoparticles dispersion play important role in ROM accurate predictions.

Keywords: bending modulus, fiber reinforced composite, fiber treatment, rule-of-mixtures

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Authors: T. A. Rosy, M. R. I. Talukdar, N. S. Juyena, F. Y. Bari, M. N. Islam

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The ovarian follicular dynamics, vaginal electrical resistance (VER) and progesterone (P4) and estrogen (E2) profiles were investigated during estrus cycle in four indigenous ewes. Daily VER values were recorded with heat detector. The follicles were observed and measured by trans-rectal ultrasonography. Blood was collected daily for hormonal profiles. Results showed a significant variation in VER values (P<0.05) at estrus in regards to ewes and cycles. The day difference between two successive lower values in VER waves ranged from 13-17 days which might indicate the estrus cycle in indigenous ewes. Trans-rectal ultrasonography of ovaries revealed the presence of two to four waves of follicular growth during the study period. Results also showed that follicular diameter was negatively correlated with VER values. Study of hormonal profiles by ELISA revealed a positive correlation between E2 concentration and development of follicle and negative correlation between P4 concentration and development of follicle. The concentrations of estradiol increased at the time of estrus and then fall down in a basal level. Development of follicular size was accompanied by an increase in the concentration of serum estradiol. Inversely, when follicles heed to ovulation concentration of progesterone starts to fall down and after ovulation it turns its way to the zenith and remains at this state until next ovulatory follicle comes to its maximum diameter. This study could help scientists to set up a manipulative reproductive technique for improving genetic values of sheep in Bangladesh.

Keywords: ovarian follicle, hormonal profile, sheep, ultrasonography, vaginal electrical resistance

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Authors: Jhemson C. Elis, Alvin S. Magadia

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Our world is full of numbers, shapes, and figures that illustrate the wholeness of a thing. Indeed, this statement signifies that mathematics is everywhere. Mathematics in its broadest sense helps people in their everyday life that is why in education it is a must to be taken by the students as a subject. The study aims to determine the profile of the respondents in terms of gender and age, performance of the control and experimental groups in the pretest and posttest, impact of the instructional game used as instructional intervention in teaching algebra for high school students, significant difference between the level of performance of the two groups of respondents in their pre–test and post–test results, and the instructional intervention can be proposed. The descriptive method was also utilized in this study. The use of the certain approach was to that it corresponds to the main objective of this research that is to determine the effectiveness of the instructional game used as an instructional intervention in teaching algebra for high school students. There were 30 students served as respondents, having an equal size of the sample of 15 each while a greater number of female teacher respondents which totaled 7 or 70 percent and male were 3 or 30 percent. The study recommended that mathematics teacher should conceptualize instructional games for the students to learn mathematics with fun and enjoyment while learning. Mathematics education program supervisor should give training for teachers on how to conceptualize mathematics intervention for the students learning. Meaningful activities must be provided to sustain the student’s interest in learning. Students must be given time to have fun at the classroom through playing while learning since mathematics for them was considered as difficult. Future researcher must continue conceptualizing some mathematics intervention to suffice the needs of the students, and teachers should inculcate more educational games so that the discussion will be successful and joyful.

Keywords: instructional game in algebra, mathematical intervention, joyful, successful

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Authors: Kamyar Moradi

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Background: There is mixed evidence regarding the association between recreational cannabinoid use and memory performance. One of the major reasons for the present controversy is different cannabinoid use-related covariates that influence the cognitive status of an individual. Adjustment of these confounding variables provides accurate insight into the real effects of cannabinoid use on memory status. In this study, we sought to investigate the association between recent recreational cannabinoid use and memory performance while correcting the model for other possible covariates such as demographic characteristics and duration, and amount of cannabinoid use. Methods: Cannabinoid users were assigned to two groups based on the results of THC urine drug screen test (THC+ group: n = 110, THC- group: n = 410). THC urine drug screen test has a high sensitivity and specificity in detecting cannabinoid use in the last 3-4 weeks. The memory domain of NIH Toolbox battery and brain MRI volumetric measures were compared between the groups while adjusting for confounding variables. Results: After Benjamini-Hochberg p-value correction, the performance in all of the measured memory outcomes, including vocabulary comprehension, episodic memory, executive function/cognitive flexibility, processing speed, reading skill, working memory, and fluid cognition, were significantly weaker in THC+ group (p values less than 0.05). Also, volume of gray matter, left supramarginal, right precuneus, right inferior/middle temporal, right hippocampus, left entorhinal, and right pars orbitalis regions were significantly smaller in THC+ group. Conclusions: this study provides evidence regarding the acute effect of recreational cannabis use on memory performance. Further studies are warranted to confirm the results.

Keywords: brain MRI, cannabis, memory, recreational use, THC urine test

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