Search results for: cannabis regulation proposal

Authors: Murray Matarab Konzang

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Lae Port Development Project, Four Lane Highway and other development in the extraction industry which have direct road link to Lae City are predicted to have significant impact on its road network system. This paper evaluates Lae roads improvement program with forecast on planning, economic and the installation of bypasses to ease congestion, effective and convenient transport service for bulk goods and reduce travel time. Land-use transportation study and plans for local area traffic management scheme will be considered. City roads are faced with increased number of traffic and some inadequate road pavement width, poor transport plans, and facilities to meet this transportation demand. Lae also has drainage system which might not hold a 100 year flood. Proper evaluation, plan, design and intersection analysis is needed to evaluate road network system thus recommend improvement and estimate future growth. Repetitive and cyclic loading by heavy commercial vehicles with different axle configurations apply on the flexible pavement which weakens and tear the pavement surface thus small cracks occur. Rain water seeps through and overtime it creates potholes. Effective planning starts from experimental research and appropriate design standards to enable firm embankment, proper drains and quality pavement material. This paper will address traffic problems as well as road pavement, capacities of intersections, and pedestrian flow during peak hours. The outcome of this research will be to identify heavily trafficked road sections and recommend treatments to reduce traffic congestions, road classification, and proposal for bypass routes and improvement. First part of this study will describe transport or traffic related problems within the city. Second part would be to identify challenges imposed by traffic and road related problems and thirdly to recommend solutions after the analyzing traffic data that will indicate current capacities of road intersections and finally recommended treatment for improvement and future growth.

Keywords: Lae, road network, highway, vehicle traffic, planning

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Authors: Tomas Macsotay

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If monument removal and monument effacement may call to mind a Nietzschean proposal for vitalist disregard of conventional morality, it remains the case that it is often only by a willingness to go “beyond good and evil” in inherited monument politics that truthful, be it unexpected aspects of our co-existence with monuments can finally start to rise into fuller consciousness. A series of urgent questions press themselves in the panorama created by the affirmative idea that we can, as a community, make crucial decisions with regard to monumental preservation or discontinuation. Memorials are not the core concern for decolonial and racial dignity movements like Black Lives Matter (BLM), which have repeatedly shown they regard these actions as a welcome, albeit complementary, part of a reckoning with a past of racial violence and injustice, slavery, and colonial subaltern existence. As such, the iconoclastic issue of “rights and prohibitions of images” only tangentially touches on a cultural movement that seems rather question dominant ideas of history, pertinence, and the long life of the class, gender, and racial conflict through ossified memorial cultures. In the recent monument insurrection, we face a rare case of a new negotiation of rights of existence for this particular tract of material culture. This engenders a debate on how and why we accord rights to objects in public dominion ― indeed, how such rights impinge upon the rights of subjects who inhabit the public sphere. Incidentally, the possibility of taking away from monuments such imagined or adjoined rights has made it possible to tease open a sphere of emotionality that could not be expressed in patrimonial thinking: the reality of atmospheres as settings, often dependent on pseudo-objects and half-conscious situations, that situate individuals involuntarily in a pathic aesthetics. In this way, the unique moment we now witness ― full of the possibility of going “beyond good and evil” of monument preservation ― starts to look more like a moment of involuntary awaking: an awakening to the encrypted gaze of the monument and the enigma that the same monument or memorial site can carry day-to-day habits of life for some bystanders, while racialized and disenfranchised communities experience discomfort and erosion of subjective life in the same sites.

Keywords: monument, memorial, atmosphere, racial justice, decolonialism

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Authors: Noury Bakrim

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Formalization is indeed a foundational Mathematical Linguistics as demonstrated by the pioneering works. While dialoguing with this frame, we nonetheless propone, in our approach of language as a real object, a mathematical linguistics/biosemiotics defined as a dialectical synthesis between induction and computational deduction. Therefore, relying on the parametric interaction of cycles, rules, and features giving way to a sub-hypothetic biological point of view, we first hypothesize a factorial equation as an explanatory principle within Category Mathematics of the Ergobrain: our computation proposal of Universal Grammar rules per cycle or a scalar determination (multiplying right/left columns of the determinant matrix and right/left columns of the logarithmic matrix) of the transformable matrix for rule addition/deletion and cycles within representational mapping/cycle heredity basing on the factorial example, being the logarithmic exponent or power of rule deletion/addition. It enables us to propone an extension of minimalist merge/label notions to a Language Merge (as a computing principle) within cycle recursion relying on combinatorial mapping of rules hierarchies on external Entax of the Event Sequence. Therefore, to define combinatorial maps as language merge of features and combinatorial hierarchical restrictions (governing, commanding, and other rules), we secondly hypothesize from our results feature/hierarchy exponentiation on graph representation deriving from Gromov's Symbolic Dynamics where combinatorial vertices from Fe are set to combinatorial vertices of Hie and edges from Fe to Hie such as for all combinatorial group, there are restriction maps representing different derivational levels that are subgraphs: the intersection on I defines pullbacks and deletion rules (under restriction maps) then under disjunction edges H such that for the combinatorial map P belonging to Hie exponentiation by intersection there are pullbacks and projections that are equal to restriction maps RM₁ and RM₂. The model will draw on experimental biomathematics as well as structural frames with focus on Amazigh and English (cases from phonology/micro-semantics, Syntax) shift from Structure to event (especially Amazigh formant principle resolving its morphological heterogeneity).

Keywords: rule/cycle addition/deletion, bio-mathematical methodology, general merge calculation, feature exponentiation, combinatorial maps, event sequence

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Authors: Shahlan Surat, Saemah Rahman, Saadiah Kummin

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When teachers reflect and evaluate whether their teaching methods actually have an impact on students’ learning, they will adjust their practices accordingly. This inevitably improves their students’ learning and performance. The approach in meta-teaching can invigorate and create a passion for teaching. It thus helps to increase the commitment and love for the teaching profession. This study was conducted to determine the level of metacognitive thinking of teachers in the process of teaching and learning in the classroom. Metacognitive thinking teachers include the use of metacognitive knowledge which consists of different types of knowledge: declarative, procedural and conditional. The ability of the teachers to plan, monitor and evaluate the teaching process can also be determined. This study was conducted on 377 graduate teachers in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The stratified sampling method was selected for the purpose of this study. The metacognitive teaching inventory consisting of 24 items is called InKePMG (Teacher Indicators of Effectiveness Meta-Teaching). The results showed the level of mean is high for two components of metacognitive knowledge; declarative knowledge (mean = 4.16) and conditional (mean = 4.11) whereas, the mean of procedural knowledge is 4.00 (moderately high). Similarly, the level of knowledge in monitoring (mean = 4.11), evaluating (mean = 4.00) which indicate high score and planning (mean = 4.00) are moderately high score among teachers. In conclusion, this study shows that the planning and procedural knowledge is an important element in improving the quality of teachers teaching in the classroom. Thus, the researcher recommended that further studies should focus on training programs for teachers on metacognitive skills and also on developing creative thinking among teachers.

Keywords: metacognitive thinking skills, procedural knowledge, conditional knowledge, meta-teaching and regulation of cognitive

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Authors: Luisa Maria Arrechea Fajardo, Luz Stella Cadavid Rodriguez

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Fish is one of the most commercialized foods worldwide. However, this industry only takes advantage of about 55% of the product's weight, the rest is converted into waste, which is mainly composed of viscera, gills, scales and spines. Consequently, if these wastes are not used or disposed of properly, they cause serious environmental impacts. This is the case of Tumaco (Colombia), the second largest producer of marine fisheries on the Colombian Pacific coast, where artisanal fishermen process more than 50% of the commercialized volume. There, fishing waste is disposed primarily in the ocean, causing negative impacts on the environment and society. Therefore, in the present research, a proposal was made to take advantage of fishing waste through anaerobic treatments, through which it is possible to obtain products with high added value from organic waste. The research was carried out in four stages. First, the production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) in semi-continuous 4L reactors was studied, evaluating three hydraulic retention times (HRT) (10, 7 and 5 days) with four organic loading rates (OLR) (16, 14, 12 and 10 gVS/L/day), the experiment was carried out for 150 days. Subsequently, biogas production was evaluated from the solid digestate generated in the VFA production reactors, initially evaluating the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of 4 total solid concentrations (1, 2, 4 and 6% TS), for 40 days and then, with the optimum TS concentration (2 gVS/L/day), 2 HRT (15 and 20 days) in semi-continuous reactors, were evaluated for 100 days. Finally, the integration of the processes was carried out with the best conditions found, a first phase of VFA production from fishing waste and a second phase of biogas production from unrecovered VFAs and unprocessed material Additionally, an VFA membrane extraction system was included. In the first phase, a liquid digestate with a concentration and VFA production yield of 59.04 gVFA/L and 0.527 gVFA/gVS, respectively, was obtained, with the best condition found (HRT:7 days and OLR: 16 gVS/L/día), where acetic acid and isobutyric acid were the predominant acids. In the second phase of biogas production, a BMP of 0.349 Nm3CH4/KgVS was reached, and it was found as best HRT 20 days. In the integration, the isovaleric, butyric and isobutyric acid were the VFA with the highest percentage of extraction, additionally a 106.67% increase in biogas production was achieved. This research shows that anaerobic treatments are a promising technology for an environmentally safe management of fishing waste and presents the basis of a possible biorefinery.

Keywords: biogas production, fishing waste, VFA membrane extraction, VFA production

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Authors: Mukta Singh, Ratan Kumar Saha, Himadri Saha, Paramveer Singh

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The present study evaluated the effect of sub-lethal doses of antifungal drug miconazole nitrate (MCZ) on immunological responses including immune-related gene expression and its role as a prophylactic drug against S. parasitica in Labeo rohita fingerlings. Fish were fed with sub lethal doses of MCZ i.e., T1- 6.30 mg MCZ kgBW⁻¹, T2- 12.61 mg MCZ kgBW⁻¹ and T3- 25.22 mg MCZ kgBW⁻¹ and sampling was done at different time intervals for 240 h. Immunological parameters viz. lysozyme activity, oxygen radical production and plasma anti-protease activity showed significant enhancement (p < 0.05) in fish fed with T2 and T3 doses. Significant reduction in plasma protein content was observed in all the dietary groups as compared to control. Expression of immune-relevant genes like TLR-22 and β2-M showed significantly higher expression at six h and 24 h of sampling in both liver and head-kidney. However, these genes showed a down-regulation after 120 h of sampling in both the tissues. Preventive efficacy study showed that single dose of MCZ provides protection against oomycetes up to the fourth day of infection. Significantly higher mortality was observed in control diet-fed fish as compared to fish fed with MCZ medicated diet. Thus, from the study, it can be concluded that the MCZ can act as a potent antifungal agent for preventing oomycetes infection as well as to enhance the immune response.

Keywords: antifungal, immune gene, immunological, miconazole nitrate, prophylactic

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Authors: Samira B. R. Prado, Paulo R. Melfi, Beatriz T. Minguzzi, João P. Fabi

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Fruit softening is the main change that occurs during papaya (Carica papaya L.) ripening. It is characterized by the depolymerization of cell wall polysaccharides, especially the pectic fractions, which causes cell wall disassembling. However, it is uncertain how the modification of the two main pectin polysaccharides fractions (water-soluble – WSF, and oxalate-soluble fractions - OSF) accounts for fruit softening. The aim of this work was to correlate molecular weight changes of WSF and OSF with the gene expression of pectin-solubilizing enzymes (pectinases) during papaya ripening. Papaya fruits obtained from a producer were harvest and storage under specific conditions. The fruits were divided in five groups according to days after harvesting. Cell walls from all groups of papaya pulp were isolated and fractionated (WSF and OSF). Expression profiles of pectinase genes were achieved according to the MIQE guidelines (Minimum Information for publication of Quantitative real-time PCR Experiments). The results showed an increased yield and a decreased molecular weight throughout ripening for WSF and OSF. Gene expression data support that papaya softening is achieved by polygalacturonases (PGs) up-regulation, in which their actions might have been facilitated by the constant action of pectinesterases (PMEs). Moreover, BGAL1 gene was up-regulated during ripening with a simultaneous galactose release, suggesting that galactosidases (GALs) could also account for pulp softening. The data suggest that a solubilization of galacturonans and a depolymerization of cell wall components were caused mainly by the action of PGs and GALs.

Keywords: carica papaya, fruit ripening, galactosidases, plant cell wall, polygalacturonases

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Authors: Helen Johnson-Egemba

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This paper will discuss the current effectiveness of music therapy for a range of conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Indeed, traditional forms of therapy have often been effective in treating various mental and physical health conditions. However, they are not with their limitations. Music therapy, on the other hand, is a non-invasive and cost-effective alternative that can produce similar or even better results. Music therapy can produce longer-lasting results. The research also highlights the underlying mechanisms of traditional music therapy, such as its complementary treatment. A systematic review of existing literature was conducted to gather relevant studies and establish a comprehensive understanding of the topic. Various research methods, including experimental studies, qualitative research, surveys, were utilized to explore the therapeutic potential of traditional music interventions. The findings reveal that traditional music therapy shows promise in managing anxiety and depression symptoms, with positive outcomes impacting brain activity, emotions, and stress regulation. The outcomes of this study contribute to evidence-based practice, providing insights for clinicians and therapists to incorporate traditional music therapy into their treatment approaches. Furthermore, the research promotes awareness and acceptance of traditional music as a legitimate and effective therapeutic intervention for anxiety and depression, potentially enhancing access to alternative and complementary treatment options. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential benefits of traditional music therapy in addressing anxiety and depression, offering valuable implications for mental health care and improving the well-being of individuals struggling with these conditions.

Keywords: anxiety, effectiveness, depression, traditional music, therapy, treatment

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Authors: Eun-Chan Kim, Jeong-Hwan Oh, Seung-Guk Lee

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Billions of tones of ballast water including various aquatic organisms are being carried around the world by ships. When the ballast water is discharged into new environments, some aquatic organisms discharged with ballast water may become invasive and severely disrupt the native ecology. Thus, International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the Ballast Water Management Convention in 2004. Regulation A-4 of the convention states that a government in waters under their jurisdiction may grant exemptions to any requirements to ballast water management, but only when they are granted to a ship or ships on a voyage or voyages between specified ports or locations, or to a ship which operates exclusively between specified ports or locations. In order to grant exemptions, risk assessment should be conducted based on the guidelines for risk assessment developed by the IMO. For the risk assessment, it is essential to collect the relevant information and establish a database system. This paper studies the database system for ballast water risk assessment. This database consists of the shipping database, ballast water database, port environment database and species database. The shipping database has been established based on the data collected from the port management information system of Korea Government. For the ballast water database, ballast water discharge has only been estimated by the loading/unloading of the cargoes as the convention has not come into effect yet. The port environment database and species database are being established based on the reference documents, and existing and newly collected monitoring data. This database system has been approved to be a useful system, capable of appropriately analyzing the risk assessment in the all ports of Korea.

Keywords: ballast water, IMO, risk assessment, shipping, environment, species

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Authors: Ibrahim A. Alhammad, Suleiman A. Al-Otaibi, Khalid S. Al-Gahtani, Naïf Al-Otaibi, Abdulaziz A. Bubshait

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In the last decade, the use of project delivery system of design build engineering contracts is increasing in North America due to the reasons of reducing the project duration and minimizing costs. The shift from traditional approach of Design-Bid-Build to Design-Build contracts have been attributed to many factors such as evolution of the regulatory and legal frameworks governing the engineering contracts and improvement in integrating design and construction. The aforementioned practice of contracting is more appropriate in North America; yet, it may not be the case in Saudi Arabia where the traditional approach of construction contracting remains dominant. The authors believe there are number of factors related to the gaps in the level of sophistication of the engineering and management of the construction projects in both countries. A step towards improving the Saudi construction practice by adopting the new trend of construction contracting, this paper identifies the reasons why Design/Build form of contracting are not frequently utilized. A field survey, which includes the questionnaire addressing the research problem, is distributed to three main parties of the construction contracts: clients, consultants, and contractors. The analyzed collected data were statistically sufficient to finding the reasons of not adopting the new trend of good practice of deign build approach in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the reasons are: (1) lack of regulation and legal framework; (2) absence of clear criteria of the owner for the trade-off between competing contractors, (3) and lack of experience, knowledge and skill.

Keywords: design built projects, Saudi Arabia, GCC, mega projects

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Authors: Charline Monnier, Rudolf Andrys, Irene Castellino, Lucie Zemanova

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Due to their inherent sustainability and compatibility with green chemistry principles, enzymes are attracting increasing attention for various applications like bioremediation or biocatalysis. These natural catalysts boast remarkable substrate specificity and operate under mild biological conditions. However, their intrinsic limitations, such as instability at high temperatures or in organic solvents, impede their wider applicability. Enzyme immobilization on supportive matrices emerges as a promising strategy to address these challenges. This approach not only facilitates enzyme reusability but also offers the potential to modulate their stability, activity, and selectivity. The present study investigates the immobilization and application of two distinct groups of hydrolases on supportive matrices: PETases, naturally capable of PolyEthylene Terephthalate (PET) degradation, and cholinesterases (ChEs), key enzymes in neurotransmitter regulation. All tested enzymes will be immobilized on porous and non-porous particles using both covalent and non-covalent methods. Additionally, the stability of PETases and cholinesterases will be explored, followed by exposure to denaturing conditions to assess their resilience under harsh conditions. Furthermore, due to the exceptional catalytic efficiency and selectivity, their biocatalytic efficiency will be tested using xenobiotic substrates, aiming to establish them as replacements for conventional chemical catalysts in environmentally friendly processes. By exploiting the power of enzyme immobilization, this research strives to unlock the full potential of these biocatalysts for sustainable and efficient technological advancements.

Keywords: biocatalysis, bioremediation, enzyme efficiency, enzyme immobilization, green chemistry

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Authors: Solomon Okorley

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With the emergence of artificial intelligence, a proposition that has been made with increasing conviction is the need to assign legal personhood to robots. A major problem that arises when dealing with robots is the issue of liability: who do it hold liable when a robot causes harm? The suggestion to assign legal personality to robots has been made to aid in the assignment of liability. This paper contends that it is premature to assign legal personhood to robots. The paper employed the doctrinal and comparative research methodology. The paper first discusses the various theories that underpin the granting of legal personhood to juridical personalities to ascertain whether these theories can aid in the proposition to assign legal personhood to robots. These theories include fiction theory, aggregate theory, realist theory, and organism theory. Except for the aggregate theory, the fiction theory, the realist theory and the organism theory provide a good foundation to the proposal for legal personhood to be assigned to robots. The paper considers whether robots should be assigned legal personhood from a jurisprudential approach. The legal positivists assert that no metaphysical presuppositions are needed to determine who could be a legal person: the sole deciding factor is the engagement in legal relations and this prerequisite could be fulfilled by robots. However, rationalists, religionists and naturalists assert that the satisfaction of the metaphysical criteria is the basis of legal personality and since robots do not possess this feature, they cannot be assigned legal personhood. This differing perspective shows that the jurisprudential school of thought to which one belongs influences the decision whether to assign legal personhood to robots. The paper makes arguments for and against the assigning of legal personhood to robots. Assigning legal personhood to robots is necessary for the assigning of liability; and since robots are independent in their operation, they should be assigned legal personhood. However, it is argued that the degree of autonomy is insufficient. Robots do not understand legal obligations; they do not have a will of their own and the purported autonomy that they possess is an ‘imputed autonomy’. A crucial question to be asked is ‘whether it is desirable to confer legal personhood on robots’ and not ‘whether legal personhood should be assigned to robots’. This is due to the subjective nature of the responses to such a question as well as the peculiarities of countries in response to this question. The main argument in support of assigning legal personhood to robots is to aid in assigning liability. However, it is argued conferring legal personhood on robots is not the only way to deal with liability issues. Since any of the stakeholders involved with the robot system can be held liable for an accident, it is not desirable to assign legal personhood to robot. It is forecasted that in the epoch of strong artificial intelligence, granting robots legal personhood is plausible; however, in the current era, it is premature.

Keywords: autonomy, legal personhood, premature, jurisprudential

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Authors: Robinson, E. L., Freeman, E. E.

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Over the last few decades, the social movement of involved fatherhood has stimulated a research focus on fathers, leading to an increase in the body of evidence into the paternal contributions to child development. Past research has suggested that rough-and-tumble play, which involves wrestling, chasing and tumbling, is the preferred play type of western fathers. This type of play remains underutilized and underrepresented in child developmental research as it’s perceived to be dangerous or too aggressive. The limited research available has shown a relationship between high quality rough-and-tumble play interactions, lower childhood aggression and improved child emotional regulation. The aim of this study was to examine father-child rough-and-tumble play and assess the impact on cognitive development in children aged 4-7 years. Father-child dyads completed a 10-minute rough-and-tumble play interaction, which consisted of 2 games, at the University of Newcastle. Children then completed the Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence - Fourth Edition Australian and New Zealand Standardized Edition (WPPSI-IV A&NZ). Fathers reported on their involvement in various caregiving activities and on their child’s development. Analyses revealed that fathers-child play quality was positively related to working memory outcomes in children. Furthermore, the amount of rough-and-tumble play father and child did together on a regular basis was also related to working memory outcomes. While father-child play interactions remain an understudied area of research, this study outlines the importance of examining the paternal play role in children’s cognitive development.

Keywords: children, development, father, executive function

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Authors: So Young Kim, Eun-Young Kwon, Bora Choi, Mi Kyeong Yu, Seon Jeong Lee, Myung-Sook Choi

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Lemon (Citrus limon) has various beneficial effect. Eriocitrin (eriodictyol 7-rutinoside) is the main ingredient of lemon fruit and is known to have antioxidative effects. However, there has been little research about the effects of eriocitrin on obesity and regulation of lipid profiles levels. In the present study, we investigated the anti-obesity and lipid-lowering effects of eriocitrin in mice fed high-fat diet (HFD). The 4 week-old male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into two groups and were fed HFD (20% fat, w/w) and HFD supplemented with eriocitrin (0.005%, w/w, EC) for 16 weeks. Food intake, body weight and white adipose tissue weight (WAT) were measured and plasma free fatty acid (FFA), apolipoprotein (Apo) B100 level and hepatic enzyme activity were analyzed. No differences were shown between the HFD and EC groups in body weight and food intake. However EC supplementation significantly reduced the weights of epididymal, subcutaneous and total WAT. In addition, the levels of plasma FFA and Apo B100 were significantly decreased in the EC group compared with the HFD group. Moreover, the activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and malic enzyme (ME) related to fatty acids synthesis were significantly lower in the EC group than in the HFD group in liver. Therefore, this study indicates that eriocitrin has beneficial effects on adiposity and nonalcholic fatty liver diseases by modulating hepatic lipid-regulating enzyme activities and plasma lipid profile.

Keywords: antiobesity, eriocitrin, high fat diet, lipid lowering

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Authors: Claudia Cedeno Nadal, Mei-Ling Villafana, Griela Rodriguez, Jessica Martin, Jennifer Martin, Megan Patel

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This study systematically examines the impact of Transcendental Mindfulness Meditation on anxiety symptoms in young females aged 18-25. Through a comprehensive literature review, we found consistent evidence supporting the positive influence of Transcendental Mindfulness Meditation on reducing anxiety, enhancing overall well-being, and decreasing perceived stress levels within this demographic. The mechanisms underlying these effects include heightened self-awareness, improved emotional regulation, and the development of effective stress-coping strategies. These findings have significant implications for mental health interventions targeting young females. However, the reviewed studies had some limitations, such as small sample sizes and reliance on self-report measures. To advance this field, future research should focus on larger sample sizes and utilize a broader range of measurement methods, including neuroscience assessments. Additionally, investigating the temporal relationships between Transcendental Mindfulness Meditation, proposed mediators, and anxiety symptoms will help establish causal specificity and a deeper understanding of the precise mechanisms of action. The development of integrative models based on these mechanisms can further enhance the effectiveness of Transcendental Mindfulness Meditation as an intervention for anxiety in this demographic. This study contributes to the current knowledge on the potential benefits of Transcendental Mindfulness Meditation for reducing anxiety in young females, paving the way for more targeted and effective mental health interventions in this population.

Keywords: mindfulness, meditation, anxiety, transcendental mindfulness

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Authors: Anisa Duraj

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As usually acknowledged, cultural heritage is the weakest component in EIA studies. The role of heritage impact assessment (HIA) in development projects is not often accounted for, and in those cases where it is, HIA is considered as a reactive response and not as a solutions provider. Because of continuous development projects, in most cases, heritage is unconsidered and often put under threat. Cultural protection and development challenges ask for prudent legal regulation and appropriate policy implementation. The challenges become even more peculiar in underdeveloped countries or endangered areas, which are generally characterized by numerous legal constraints. Therefore, the need for strategic proposals for HIA is of high importance. In order to trigger HIA as a proactive operation in the IA process and make sure to cover cultural heritage in the whole EIA framework, an appropriate system of evaluation of impacts should be provided. To obtain the required results for HIA, this last must be part of a regional policy, which will address and guide development projects toward a proper evaluation of their impacts affecting heritage. In order to get a clearer picture of existing gabs but also new possibilities for HIA, this paper will focus on the Western Balkans region and the undergoing changes that it faces. Concerning continuous development pressure in the region and within the aspiration of the Western Balkans countries to join the European Union (EU) as member states, attention should be paid to new development policies under the EU directives for conducting EIAs, and accurate support is required for the restructuration of existing policies as well as for the implementation of the UN Agenda for SDGs. In the framework of new emerging needs, if HIA is taken into account, the outcome would be an inclusive regional program that would help to overcome marginality issues of spaces and people.

Keywords: cultural heritage, impact assessment, SDGs, urban development, western Balkans, regional policy, HIA, EIA

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Authors: Deborah L. Smith

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To review our program and determine the best redesign options, department members gathered feedback and input through focus groups, analysis of data, and a review of the current research to ensure that the changes proposed were not based solely on the state’s new professional standards. In designing course assignments and assessments, we listened to a variety of constituents, including students, other institutions of higher learning, MDE webinars, host teachers, literacy clinic personnel, and other disciplinary experts. As a result, we are designing a program that is more inclusive of a variety of field experiences for growth. We have determined ways to improve our program by connecting academic disciplinary knowledge, educational psychology, and community building both inside and outside the classroom for professional learning communities. The state’s release of new professional standards led my department members to question what is working and what needs improvement in our program. One aspect of our program that continues to be supported by research and data analysis is the function of supervised field experiences with meaningful feedback. We seek to expand in this area. Other data indicate that we have strengths in modeling a variety of approaches such as cooperative learning, discussions, literacy strategies, and workshops. In the new program, field assignments will be connected to multiple courses, and efforts to scaffold student learning to guide them toward best evidence-based practices will be continuous. Despite running a program that meets multiple sets of standards, there are areas of need that we directly address in our redesign proposal. Technology is ever-changing, so it’s inevitable that improving digital skills is a focus. In addition, scaffolding procedures for English Language Learners (ELL) or other students who struggle is imperative. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has been an integral part of our curriculum, but the research indicates that more self-reflection and a deeper understanding of culturally relevant practices would help the program improve. Connections with professional learning communities will be expanded, as will leadership components, so that teacher candidates understand their role in changing the face of education. A pilot program will run in academic year 22/23, and additional data will be collected each semester through evaluations and continued program review.

Keywords: DEI, field experiences, program redesign, teacher preparation

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Authors: Syeda Fahria Hoque Mimmi, Aparna Islam

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Genetically engineered (GE) plants are the need of time for increased demand for food. A complete set of regulations need to be followed from the development of a GE plant to its release into the environment. The whole regulation system is categorized into separate stages for maintaining the proper biosafety. Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is one of such crucial stages in the whole process. ERA identifies potential risks and their impacts through science-based evaluation where it is done in a case-by-case study. All the countries which deal with GE plants follow specific guidelines to conduct a successful ERA. In this study, ERA guidelines of 4 developing and 4 developed countries, including Bangladesh, were compared. ERA guidelines of countries such as India, Canada, Australia, the European Union, Argentina, Brazil, and the US were considered as a model to conduct the comparison study with Bangladesh. Initially, ten parameters were detected to compare the required data and information among all the guidelines. Surprisingly, an adequate amount of data and information requirements (e.g., if the intended modification/new traits of interest has been achieved or not, the growth habit of GE plants, consequences of any potential gene flow upon the cultivation of GE plants to sexually compatible plant species, potential adverse effects on the human health, etc.) matched between all the countries. However, a few differences in data requirement (e.g., agronomic conventions of non-transformed plants, applicants should clearly describe experimental procedures followed, etc.) were also observed in the study. Moreover, it was found that only a few countries provide instructions on the quality of the data used for ERA. If these similarities are recognized in a more framed manner, then the approval pathway of GE plants can be shared.

Keywords: GE plants, ERA, harmonization, ERA guidelines, Information and data requirements

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Authors: Masocorro Gawned, Stephen Myers, Guat Siew Chew

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Nuclear Receptors (NR) are a super family of transcription factors that play a major role in lipid and glucose metabolism in skeletal muscle. Recently, pharmacological evidence supports the view that stimulation of nuclear receptors alleviates Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). The orphan nuclear receptors (ONR) are members of the nuclear receptor (NR) superfamily whose ligands and physiological functions remain unknown. To date, no systematic studies have been carried out to screen for ONRs expressed in insulin resistant (IR) skeletal muscle cells. Therefore, in this study, we have established a model for IR by treating C2C12 skeletal muscle cells with insulin (10nM) for 48 hours. Western Blot analysis of phosphorylated AKT confirmed IR. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) results highlighted key ONRs including NUR77 (NR4A1), NURR1 (NR4A2) and NOR1 (NR4A3) which have been associated with fatty acid oxidation regulation and glucose homeostasis. Increased mRNA expression levels of estrogen-related receptors (ERRs), REV-ERBα, NUR77, NURR1, NOR1, in insulin resistant C2C12 skeletal muscle cells, indicated that these ONRs could potentially play a pivotal regulatory role of insulin secretion in lipid metabolism. Taken together, this study has successfully contributed to the complete analysis of ONR in IR, and has filled in an important void in the study and treatment of T2D.

Keywords: type 2 diabetes, orphan nuclear receptors, transcription receptors, quantitative mRNA expression

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Authors: Moaine Jebara, Lionel Boillereaux, Sofiane Belhabib, Michel Havet, Alain Sarda, Pierre Mousseau, Rémi Deterre

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Energy consumption efficiency is a major concern for the material processing industry such as thermoforming process and molding. Indeed, these systems should deliver the right amount of energy at the right time to the processed material. Recent technical development, as well as the particularities of the heating system dynamics, made the Model Predictive Control (MPC) one of the best candidates for thermal control of several production processes like molding and composite thermoforming to name a few. The main principle of this technique is to use a dynamic model of the process inside the controller in real time in order to anticipate the future behavior of the process which allows the current timeslot to be optimized while taking future timeslots into account. This study presents a procedure based on a predictive control that brings balance between optimality, simplicity, and flexibility of its implementation. The development of this approach is progressive starting from the case of a single zone before its extension to the multizone and/or multisource case, taking thus into account the thermal couplings between the adjacent zones. After a quadratic formulation of the MPC criterion to ensure the thermal control, the linear expression is retained in order to reduce calculation time thanks to the use of the ARMAX linear decomposition methods. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated by experiment and simulation.

Keywords: energy efficiency, linear decomposition methods, model predictive control, mold heating systems

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Authors: Paolo Scolari

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Nietzschean thought flows like a current throughout Marcel’s philosophy. Marcel is in constant dialogue with him. He wants to give homage to him, making him one of the most eminent representatives of existential thought. His enthusiasm is triggered by Nietzsche’s phrase: ‘God is dead,’ the fil rouge that ties all of the Nietzschean references scattered through marcelian texts. The death of God is the theme which emphasises both the greatness and simultaneously the tragedy of Nietzsche. Marcel wants to substitute the idea ‘God is dead’ with its original meaning: a tragic existential characteristic that imitators of Nietzsche seemed to have blurred. An interpretation that Marcel achieves aiming at double target. On the one hand he removes the heavy metaphysical suit from Nietzsche’s aphorisms on the death of God, that his interpreters have made them wear – Heidegger especially. On the other hand, he removes a stratus of trivialisation which takes the aphorisms out of context and transforms them into advertising slogans – here Sartre becomes the target. In the lecture: Nietzsche: l'homme devant la mort de dieu, Marcel hurls himself against the metaphysical Heidegger interpretation of the death of God. A hermeneutical proposal definitely original, but also a bit too abstract. An interpretation without bite, that does not grasp the tragic existential weight of the original Nietzschean idea. ‘We are probably on the wrong road,’ announces, ‘when at all costs, like Heidegger, we want to make a metaphysic out of Nietzsche.’ Marcel also criticizes Sartre. He lands in Geneva and reacts to the journalists, by saying: ‘Gentlemen, God is dead’. Marcel only needs this impromptu exclamation to understand how Sartre misinterprets the meaning of the death of God. Sartre mistakes and loses the existential sense of this idea in favour of the sensational and trivialisation of it. Marcel then wipes the slate clean from these two limited interpretations of the declaration of the death of God. This is much more than a metaphysical quarrel and not at all comparable to any advertising slogan. Behind the cry ‘God is dead’ there is the existence of an anguished man who experiences in his solitude the actual death of God. A man who has killed God with his own hands, haunted by the chill that from now on he will have to live in a completely different way. The death of God, however, is not the end. Marcel spots a new beginning at the point in which nihilism is overcome and the Übermensch is born. Dialoguing with Nietzsche he notices to being in the presence of a great spirit that has contributed to the renewal of a spiritual horizon. He descends to the most profound depths of his thought, aware that the way out is really far below, in the remotest areas of existence. The ambivalence of Nietzsche does not scare him. Rather such a thought, characterised by contradiction, will simultaneously be infinitely dangerous and infinitely healthy.

Keywords: Nietzsche's Death of God, Gabriel Marcel, Heidegger, Sartre

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Authors: Annabel Burnley, Michelle St. Clair, Charlotte Dack, Yvonne Wren

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Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are well documented to experience social and emotional difficulties. Despite this, there is little consensus as to how these difficulties manifest, without which the ability to develop prevention initiatives is limited. An online survey was completed by 107 parents of either child with DLD (‘DLD sample’; n=57), or typically developing children (‘typical sample’; n=50), all aged 6-12 years old. Psychosocial symptom measures were used, alongside 11 psychosocial statements generated from previous qualitative work. Qualitative interviews were then held to understand the manifestation of key difficulties in more depth (n=4). The DLD sample scored significantly higher on all psychosocial statements than the typical sample. Experiencing anxiety (80.7%), requiring routine and sameness (75.4%) and struggling to regulate their emotions (75.4%) were the most common difficulties for a majority of children with DLD. For this DLD sample, family communication and coping styles were found not to contribute to the manifestation of these difficulties. Two separate mediation models were run to understand the role of other psychosocial difficulties in the manifestation of (1) anxiety and (2) social frustration. ‘Intolerance of uncertainty was found to strongly mediate the relationship between DLD diagnosis and symptoms of anxiety. Emotion regulation was found to moderately mediate the relationship between DLD diagnosis and social frustration. Parents appear to cope well with their children’s complex psychosocial needs, but further external intervention is needed. Intervention focussing on intolerance of uncertainty and emotion dysregulation may help the management of anxiety and social frustration. Further research is needed to understand the children’s routined behaviors.

Keywords: psychosocial difficulties, developmental language disorder, specific language impairment, parent, anxiety

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Authors: Gabriele Palumbo

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This research empirically examines some of the reasons behind the fact that recently the number of people giving up their American citizenship for tax purposes has recently increased drastically. The United States Jurisdiction represents a unicum in the practice of taxing worldwide income not only to residents of the United States but also to U.S. citizens living abroad. The worldwide income taxation also affects people defined as “Accidental Americans” who are unaware that they are U.S. citizens. Those people are considered Americans even though they have not been to the United States. American residents abroad can rely on United States income tax treaties and some national law provisions, such as the exclusion of foreign income and foreign tax credits, which are designed specifically to avoid double taxation. However, this mechanism may prove unsatisfactory for people who have not been linked anymore or individuals who have never had relations with the United States. U.S. citizens who are determined to cut all of the ties between themselves and the United States, especially those that involve tax implications, can renounce their U.S. citizenship with the expatriation procedure. The expatriation process represents the extrema ratio and implicates several steps which must be followed carefully. This paper shows the complexity of the procedure that a U.S. citizen who is resident in a foreign country would have to follow to relinquish U.S. citizenship for tax purposes. The mechanism is intended to discourage people from renounce. Going beyond the question of whether U.S. tax regulation is fair or not, this principle nowadays characterizes a popular topic that many scholars and lawyers are discussing. The outcome provides interesting implications that could induce the Congress to rethink the definition of citizenship for both fiscal and nationality law purposes. Indeed, even if a sort of checks and balances has the task of mitigating the renunciation of U.S. citizenship, more and more U.S. citizens desire to get rid of their citizenship.

Keywords: double taxation, expatriation tax, international taxation, relinquishment of United States citizenship

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Authors: Farida Prihatini

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As a largest Muslim country in the world with around 215 Muslim inhabitants, Indonesia interestingly is not an Islamic country. Yet, Indonesia is not a secular country as well. The country has committed to be a unity in diversity country where people from various socio-political background may be coexistent live in this archipelago country. However, many provinces and Muslim groups are disposed of special regulation for Muslim people, namely local ordinances with sharia nuances, applied specifically in provinces, cities or regions where Muslim inhabitants are the majority. For the last two decades, particularly since Indonesia reform movement of 1998, a lot of local ordinances (Peraturan Daerah) with Sharia nuance have been enacted and applied in several provinces, cities and regions in Indonesia. The local ordinances are mostly deal with restriction of alcohol, prohibition of prostitution, Al Qur'an literacy, obligation to wear Muslim attire and zakat or alms management. Some of local ordinances have been warmly welcomed by society, while other ordinances have created tension. Those who oppose the ordinances believe that such things regulated by the ordinances are in violation of human rights and democracy, part of privacy rights of the people and must not be regulated by the State or local government. This paper describes the dynamic of local Ordinances with sharia nuances in Indonesia, in this research is limited to three ordinances: on the restriction of alcohol, prohibition of prostitution and obligation to wear Muslim attire. The researcher employs a normative method by studying secondary data and local ordinances in selected areas in Indonesia. The findings of the paper are that local ordinances with sharia nuances are indeed part of the needs of society, yet, in their implementation must take the pluralism of Indonesia and the state basic foundation, which is Pancasila (five pillars) into account.

Keywords: local, ordinances, sharia, rights

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Authors: Charbel Aoun, Loic Lagadec

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A Sensor Network (SN) is considered as an operation of two phases: (1) the observation/measuring, which means the accumulation of the gathered data at each sensor node; (2) transferring the collected data to some processing center (e.g., Fusion Servers) within the SN. Therefore, an underwater sensor network can be defined as a sensor network deployed underwater that monitors underwater activity. The deployed sensors, such as Hydrophones, are responsible for registering underwater activity and transferring it to more advanced components. The process of data exchange between the aforementioned components perfectly defines the Marine Observatory (MO) concept which provides information on ocean state, phenomena and processes. The first step towards the implementation of this concept is defining the environmental constraints and the required tools and components (Marine Cables, Smart Sensors, Data Fusion Server, etc). The logical and physical components that are used in these observatories perform some critical functions such as the localization of underwater moving objects. These functions can be orchestrated with other services (e.g. military or civilian reaction). In this paper, we present an extension to our MO meta-model that is used to generate a design tool (ArchiMO). We propose new constraints to be taken into consideration at design time. We illustrate our proposal with an example from the MO domain. Additionally, we generate the corresponding simulation code using our self-developed domain-specific model compiler. On the one hand, this illustrates our approach in relying on Enterprise Architecture (EA) framework that respects: multiple views, perspectives of stakeholders, and domain specificity. On the other hand, it helps reducing both complexity and time spent in design activity, while preventing from design modeling errors during porting this activity in the MO domain. As conclusion, this work aims to demonstrate that we can improve the design activity of complex system based on the use of MDE technologies and a domain-specific modeling language with the associated tooling. The major improvement is to provide an early validation step via models and simulation approach to consolidate the system design.

Keywords: smart sensors, data fusion, distributed fusion architecture, sensor networks, domain specific modeling language, enterprise architecture, underwater moving object, localization, marine observatory, NS-3, IMS

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Authors: Ursula D. C. Resende, Yan G. Santos, Lucas M. de O. Andrade

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The recent and fast development of the internet, wireless, telecommunication technologies and low-power electronic devices has led to an expressive amount of electromagnetic energy available in the environment and the smart applications technology expansion. These applications have been used in the Internet of Things devices, 4G and 5G solutions. The main feature of this technology is the use of the wireless sensor. Although these sensors are low-power loads, their use imposes huge challenges in terms of an efficient and reliable way for power supply in order to avoid the traditional battery. The radio frequency based energy harvesting technology is especially suitable to wireless power sensors by using a rectenna since it can be completely integrated into the distributed hosting sensors structure, reducing its cost, maintenance and environmental impact. The rectenna is an equipment composed of an antenna and a rectifier circuit. The antenna function is to collect as much radio frequency radiation as possible and transfer it to the rectifier, which is a nonlinear circuit, that converts the very low input radio frequency energy into direct current voltage. In this work, a set of rectennas, mounted on a paper substrate, which can be used for the inner coating of buildings and simultaneously harvest electromagnetic energy from the environment, is proposed. Each proposed individual rectenna is composed of a 2.45 GHz patch antenna and a voltage doubler rectifier circuit, built in the same paper substrate. The antenna contains a rectangular radiator element and a microstrip transmission line that was projected and optimized by using the Computer Simulation Software (CST) in order to obtain values of S11 parameter below -10 dB in 2.45 GHz. In order to increase the amount of harvested power, eight individual rectennas, incorporating metamaterial cells, were connected in parallel forming a system, denominated Electromagnetic Wall (EW). In order to evaluate the EW performance, it was positioned at a variable distance from the internet router, and a 27 kΩ resistive load was fed. The results obtained showed that if more than one rectenna is associated in parallel, enough power level can be achieved in order to feed very low consumption sensors. The 0.12 m2 EW proposed in this work was able to harvest 0.6 mW from the environment. It also observed that the use of metamaterial structures provide an expressive growth in the amount of electromagnetic energy harvested, which was increased from 0. 2mW to 0.6 mW.

Keywords: electromagnetic energy harvesting, metamaterial, rectenna, rectifier circuit

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Authors: Murat Tosunoglu, Cigdem Gul, Nurcihan Hacioglu, Nurdan Tepeova

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Amphibian and Reptilian species are influenced by pollution and habitat destruction. Blood parameters of Amphibia species were particularly affected by the negative environmental conditions. Studied frog samples 36 clinically normal Pelophylax ridibundus individuals were captured along the Biga Stream between April–June 2014. When comparing our findings with the Turkish legislation (Water pollution control regulation), the 1. Locality of the Biga stream in terms of total coliform classified as "high quality water" (Coliform: 866.66 MPN/100 mL), while the 2. locality was a "contaminated water" (Coliform: 53266.66 MPN/100 mL). Blood samples of the live specimens were obtained in the laboratory within one day of their capture. The blood samples were taken from the etherized frogs by means of ventriculus punctures, via heparinized hematocrit capillaries. Hematological and biochemical analyses based on high quality water and contaminated water, respectively, are as follows: Red blood cell count (444210.52-426846.15 per cubic millimeter of blood), white blood cell count (4215.78-4684.61 per cubic millimeter of blood), hematocrit value (29.25-29.43 %), hemoglobin concentration (7.76-7.22 g/dl), mean corpuscular volume (637.64-719.99 fl), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (184.78-174.75 pg), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (29.44-24.82 %), glucose (103.74-124.13 mg/dl), urea (87.68-81.72 mg/L), cholesterol (148.20-197.39 mg/dl), creatinine (0.29-0.28 mg/dl), uric acid (10.26-7.55 mg/L), albumin (1.13-1.39 g/dl), calcium (11.45-9.70 mg/dl), triglyceride (135.23-155.85 mg/dl), total protein (4.26-3.73 g/dl), phosphorus (6.83-17.86 mg/dl), and magnesium (0.95-1.06 mg/dl). The some hematological parameters in P. ridibundus specimens are given for the first time in this study. No water quality dependent variation was observed in clinic hematology parameters measured.

Keywords: Pelophylax ridibundus, hematological parameters, biochemistry, freshwater quality

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Authors: Zoe M. G. Skalkos, Sam N. Dowland, James U. Van Dyke, Camilla. M. Whittington

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Syngnathid fishes (seahorses, pipefishes, and seadragons) are unique because embryos develop on or in the male in a specialised brooding structure. Many seahorse species are endangered or vulnerable, while others are popular in the ornamental fish trade. Seahorses are capable of nutrient provisioning (patrotrophy) of lipids during pregnancy via their fully enclosed brood pouch. Protein is vital for gene regulation and tissue growth during embryogenesis. We tested the hypothesis that protein is paternally transported to developing embryos during pregnancy in the Australian Pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis. We compared the dry masses and nitrogen content in recently fertilised H. abdominalis embryos and newborns. We calculated an updated patrotrophy index, 1.34, but without a significant difference in dry mass between the two developmental stages. There was, however, a significant increase in total protein content from recently fertilised embryos to neonates. This suggests paternal protein transport is essential for H. abdominalis embryogenesis because protein yolk reserves are depleted by embryonic metabolism, and supplementation is required. This study is the first to provide evidence for paternal protein transport during pregnancy in seahorses. It furthers our understanding of the paternal influence on embryonic development in male pregnancy and how a protein-deficient diet during pregnancy may limit the allocation of resources to embryos, reducing offspring fitness. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the fundamental reproductive biology of seahorses, which can help improve conservation and farming production outcomes.

Keywords: brood pouch, embryonic provisioning, nitrogen, parentotrophy, paternal investment, reproduction

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Authors: Gholam Reza Mirzaei

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This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in reducing corona disease anxiety in the staff working at Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Shiraz. The current research was a quasi-experimental study having pre-test and post-test with two experimental and control groups. The statistical population of the research included all the staff of Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Shiraz in 2021. From among the statistical population, 30 participants (N =15 in the experimental group and N =15 in the control group) were selected by available sampling. The materials used in the study comprised the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS). Following data collection, the participants’ scores were analyzed using SPSS 20 at both descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (analysis of covariance) levels. The results of the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is effective in reducing Corona disease anxiety (mental and physical symptoms) in the staff working at Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Shiraz. The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on reducing mental symptoms was 25.5% and on physical symptoms was 13.8%. The mean scores of the experimental group in the sub-scales of Corona disease anxiety (mental and physical symptoms) in the post-test were lower than the mean scores of the control group.

Keywords: acceptance and commitment therapy, corona disease anxiety, hospital staff, Shiraz

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Authors: Selinda England, Ben Bodnaryk

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With an unprecedented increase in provincial immigration and government support for greater international and culturally diverse learners, a trade/applied learning-focused polytechnic with four campuses within one Canadian province saw the need for intercultural awareness and an intercultural teaching competence strategy for faculty training. An institution-wide pre-assessment needs survey was conducted in 2018, in which 87% of faculty professed to have some/no training when working with international and/or culturally diverse learners. After researching fellow Polytechnics in Canada and seeing very little in the way of faculty support for intercultural competence, an institutional project team comprised of members from all facets of the Polytechnic was created and included: Indigenous experts, Academic Chairs, Directors, Human Resource Managers, and international/settlement subject matter experts. The project team was organized to develop and implement a new academic model focused on enriching intercultural competence among faculty. Utilizing a competency based model, the project team incorporated inclusive terminology into competency indicators and devised a four-phase proposal for implementing intercultural teacher training: a series of workshops focused on the needs of international and culturally diverse learners, including teaching strategies based on current TESOL methodologies, literature and online resources for quick access when planning lessons, faculty assessment examples and models of interculturally proficient instructors, and future job descriptions - all which promote and encourage development of specific intercultural skills. Results from a post-assessment survey (to be conducted in Spring 2020) and caveats regarding improvements and next steps will be shared. The project team believes its intercultural and inclusive teaching competency-based model is one of the first, institution-wide faculty supported initiatives within the Canadian college and Polytechnic post-secondary educational environment; it aims to become a leader in both the province and nation regarding intercultural competency training for trades, industry, and business minded community colleges and applied learning institutions.

Keywords: cultural diversity and education, diversity training teacher training, teaching and learning, teacher training

Procedia PDF Downloads 104