Search results for: feed physical quality

Authors: Pradip Kumar Das

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India is a developing country and is also one of the most industrialized developing countries of the world. In post-independence period, industry has grown rapidly in India and with industrialization corporate sector in the country has been growing day after day. Nowadays, the investment is not limited to be shareholders alone, apart from the shareholders the common people of the society have also started investing in shares of the corporate sectors. Thus, the responsibilities of the corporate sectors have increased much. Corporate financial reporting refers to a system which provides valuable information to different types of users in the society for taking resourceful decisions with regards to investment policy, organization credit worthiness, profitability, liquidity, provision of taxation etc. The quality of information available to different users fosters the efficient allocation of resources which are very urgent for economic development of a country like India. It is the responsibility of the management of the corporate sector to convey reliable and authentic information with the help of generally accepted accounting principles. Corporate sectors which disclose information through annual reports should be sufficient enough for the purpose of bringing out the salient features relating to business performances and other activities. However, the disclosures practices of the corporate sectors though annual reports have undergone several major changes from time to time. Many a time, these vital changes are in the fashion of presenting information in the annual reports and addition of so many non-statutory disclosures of the company. Very often managements of the corporate sectors are blamed for concealing true picture which is not desirable at all. The corporate financial reporting practice which in the current period has gained a place of prime importance suffers from certain limitations and invites question from the public about its reliability. Thus, the wide gap created by management between the exhibited picture and the real picture sometimes attains to such extent that the purpose of the reporting practice loses its importance. The requirement of full and adequate disclosure of information including information relating to human resources in the annual report in free trade economy of India helps the prospective investors to select the best portfolio of their investments. This paper is a reflection of a modest attempt of the author to highlight the corporate reporting practices followed in India. A cursory glance of the conceptual study shows limitations along with reliability of the reporting practices and suggests measures to overcome the shortcomings of the financial reporting practices.

Keywords: corporate enterprise, cursory glance, portfolio, yawning gap

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Authors: Donghee Kang

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Background: Cancer pain is very difficult to control as the mechanism of pain is varied, and the patient has several co-morbidities. The use of Intravenous Patient-Controlled Analgesia (IV-PCA) can effectively control underlying pain and breakthrough pain. Ketamine is used in many pain patients due to its unique analgesic effect. In this study, it was checked whether there was a difference in the amount of analgesic usage, pain control degree, and side effects between patients who controlled pain with fentanyl-based IV-PCA and those who added Ketamine for pain control. Methods: Among the patients referred to this department for cancer pain, IV-PCA was applied to patients who were taking sufficient oral analgesics but could not control them or had blood clotting disorders that made the procedure difficult, and this patient group was targeted. In IV-PCA, 3000 mcg of Fentanyl, 160 mg of Nefopam, and 0.3 mg of Ramosetrone were mixed with normal saline to make a total volume of 100 ml. Group F used this IV-PCA as it is, and group K mixed 250 mg of Ketamine with normal saline to make a total volume of 100 ml. For IV-PCA, the basal rate was 0.5ml/h, the bolus was set to 1ml when pressed once, and the lockout time was set to 15 minutes. If pain was not controlled after IV-PCA application, 500 mcg of Fentanyl was added, and if excessive sedation or breathing difficulties occurred, the use was stopped for one hour. After that, the degree of daily pain control, analgesic usage, and side effects were investigated for seven days using this IV-PCA. Results: There was no difference between the two groups in the demographic data. Both groups had adequate pain control. Initial morphine milligram equivalents did not differ between the two groups, but the total amount of Fentanyl used for seven days was significantly different between the two groups [p=0.014], and group F used more Fentanyl through IV-PCA. In addition, the amount of sleeping pills used during the seven days was higher in Group F [p<0.01]. Overall, there was no difference in the frequency of side effects between the two groups, but the nausea was more frequent in Group F [p=0.031]. Discussion: When the two groups were compared, pain control was good in both groups. This seems to be because Fentanyl-based IV-PCA showed an adequate pain control effect. However, there was a significant difference in the total amount of opioid (Fentanyl) used, which is thought to be the opioid-sparing effect of Ketamine. Also, among the side effects, nausea was significantly less, which is thought to be possible because the amount of opioids used in the Ketamine group was small. The frequency of requesting sleeping pills was significantly less in the group using Ketamine, and it seems that Ketamine also helped improve sleep quality. In conclusion, using Ketamine with an opioid to control pain seems to have advantages. IV-PCA, which can be used effectively when other procedures are difficult, is more effective and safer when used together with Ketamine than opioids alone.

Keywords: cancer pain, intravenous patient-controlled analgesia, Ketamine, opioid

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Authors: Eun-Seop Kim, Eun-Ha Jang, Rana R. Kim, Sae-Byul Jang

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Objective: Preterm labor is the most common antecedent of preterm birth(PTB), which is characterized by regular uterine contraction before 37 weeks of pregnancy and cervical change. In acute preterm labor, tocolytics are administered as the first-line medication to suppress uterine contractions but rarely delay pregnancy to 37 weeks of gestation. On the other hand, according to the Korean Traditional Medicine, PTB is caused by the deficiency of Qi and unnecessary energy in the body of the mother. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the benefit of Traditional Korean Medicine as an adjuvant therapy in management of early uterine contractions and the prevention of PTB. Methods: It is a case report of a 38-year-old woman (0-0-6-0) hospitalized for irregular uterine contractions and cervical change at 33+3/7 weeks of gestation. Past history includes chemical pregnancies achieved by Artificial Rroductive Technology(ART), one stillbirth (at 7 weeks) and a laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis. After seven trials of IVF and articificial insemination, she had succeeded in conception via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with help of Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM) treatments. Due to irregular uterine contractions and cervical changes, 2 TKM were prescribed: Gami-Dangguisan, and Antae-eum, known to nourish blood and clear away heat. 120ml of Gami-Dangguisan was given twice a day monring and evening along with same amount of Antae-eum once a day from 31 August 2013 to 28 November 2013. Tocolytics (Ritodrine) was administered as a first aid for maintenance of pregnancy. Information regarding progress until the delivery was collected during the patient’s visit. Results: On admission, the cervix of 15mm in length and cervical os with 0.5cm-dilated were observed via ultrasonography. 50% cervical effacement was also detected in physical examination. Tocolysis had been temporarily maintained. As a supportive therapy, TKM herbal preparations(gami-dangguisan and Antae-eum) were concomitantly given. As of 34+2/7 weeks of gestation, however intermittent uterine contractions appeared (5-12min) on cardiotocography and vaginal bleeding was also smeared at 34+3/7 weeks. However, enhanced tocolytics and continuous administration of herbal medicine sustained the pregnancy to term. At 37+2/7 weeks, no sign of labor with restored cervical length was confirmed. The woman gave a term birth to a healthy infant via vaginal delivery at 39+3/7 gestational weeks. Conclusions: This is the first successful case report about a preter labor patient administered with conventional tocolytic agents as well as TKM herbal decoctions, delaying delivery to term. This case deserves attention considering it is rare to maintain gestation to term only with tocolytic intervention. Our report implies the potential of herbal medicine as an adjuvant therapy for preterm labor treatment. Further studies are needed to assess the safety and efficacy of TKM herbal medicine as a therapeutic alternative for curing preterm birth.

Keywords: preterm labor, traditional Korean medicine, herbal medicine, integrative treatment, complementary and alternative medicine

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Authors: Panagiotis Svarnas, Polykarpos Papadopoulos

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Atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas continue to gain increasing interest for various applications due to their unique properties, like cost-efficient production, high chemical reactivity, low gas temperature, adaptability, etc. Numerous designs have been proposed for these plasmas production in terms of electrode configuration, driving voltage waveform and working gas(es). However, in order to exploit most of the advantages of these systems, the majority of the designs are based on dielectric-barrier discharges (DBDs) either in filamentary or glow regimes. A special category of the DBD-based atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas refers to the so-called plasma jets, where a carrier noble gas is guided by the dielectric barrier (usually a hollow cylinder) and left to flow up to the atmospheric air where a complicated hydrodynamic interplay takes place. Although it is now well established that these plasmas are generated due to ionizing waves reminding in many ways streamer propagation, they exhibit discrete characteristics which are better mirrored on the terms 'guided streamers' or 'plasma bullets'. These 'bullets' travel with supersonic velocities both inside the dielectric barrier and the channel formed by the noble gas during its penetration into the air. The present work is devoted to the interpretation of the electro-hydrodynamic effects that take place downstream of the dielectric barrier opening, i.e., in the noble gas-air mixing area where plasma bullet propagate under the influence of local electric fields in regions of variable noble gas concentration. Herein, we focus on the role of the local space charge and the residual ionic charge left behind after the bullet propagation in the gas flow field modification. The study communicates both experimental and numerical results, coupled in a comprehensive manner. The plasma bullets are here produced by a custom device having a quartz tube as a dielectric barrier and two external ring-type electrodes driven by sinusoidal high voltage at 10 kHz. Helium gas is fed to the tube and schlieren photography is employed for mapping the flow field downstream of the tube orifice. Mixture mass conservation equation, momentum conservation equation, energy conservation equation in terms of temperature and helium transfer equation are simultaneously solved, leading to the physical mechanisms that govern the experimental results. Namely, we deal with electro-hydrodynamic effects mainly due to momentum transfer from atomic ions to neutrals. The atomic ions are left behind as residual charge after the bullet propagation and gain energy from the locally created electric field. The electro-hydrodynamic force is eventually evaluated.

Keywords: atmospheric-pressure plasmas, dielectric-barrier discharges, schlieren photography, electro-hydrodynamic force

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Authors: Sujan Barua

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Buddhism relies upon natural events which are appeared from the four auto-elements of nature. It has seemed to be an authentic proof of mono-actions that have chronically been existing through our lives circles into the action and reaction that can produce more and more suffering in entire beings. Religion is called such politic through giving up on worthy concerns. Birth, aging, getting sick, lamentation, and death are just a politic of four conditions that depend upon one mind. Those are greed, hatred, and delusion, which are the first fueling to fall into a worthy realm again and again. It is because of having numerous ways of sense faculties, six senses, and five aggregates. These are all defaults of the deluded mind’s conditions and total ignorance covered by not understanding through the emancipating religion. Buddhism is dependent upon the threefold morality, which is the basic politic of giving up birth, aging, getting sick, lamentation, and death. Morality is the primordial theme of reach at ultimate happiness called “Nirvana”. It is a politic of one’s non-understanding ignorance. In Buddhism, the Buddha emphasizes that to understand the politic of the samsara, one must profoundly understand the own action that appears from the threefold ways. One must need authentically verify the own karma and reflection from the self-mind. The worthy concerns are the cause of political suffering to fall in samsara. By avoiding the entire, one can attain ultimate happiness. To attain Nirvana is not like an achievement of worthy happiness and proper understanding of functionality as we comfort in our daily lives. There is no virtue or non-virtual deeds to rebirth, no gripes, no upsetting, no greed, no hatred, no aging, no sickness, no death. It is totally uprooted from 31 types of states of worthy concerns. Nirvana is the stability of ultimate realization, but worthy states are the levels of grasping impurities in life span that make us fall into one clan according to our actions. By profoundly observing, the Buddha crucially founds that the source of rebirth is ignorance. Ignorance drives physical, verbal, and mental, which makes us reborn into the 31 types of realms in cycling existence. It is believed that the best knowledge of how many beings are in this world except the Enlightenment one. The enlightened one knows everything while he thinks about when it is causally necessary for demonstrating someone or verifying the truth of the relational way. It is a political view for entire beings that are chronic because covering by ignorance. It is tremendously toxic, and the person who truly understands this politic of turning here to there is a person who wishes to have eager to find the truth and way to leave those massive toxicities to discover the fixed state of nonexistence. The word non-existence is known as “Suiyata” or emptiness. One can able to find the ultimate truth with the effort of achieving the arch truth of leaving suffering from the cycling system.

Keywords: ultimate realization, nirvana, the easiest way policy to give up worthily concerns, profound understanding of 31 types of cosmology, four noble truths

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Authors: Marinela Miclau, Melinda Vajda, Nicolae Miclau, Daniel Ursu

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Characterized by a simple structure, easy and low cost fabrication, the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) attracted the interest of the scientific community as an attractive alternative of conventional Si-based solar cells and thin-film solar cells. Over the past 20 years, the main efforts have attempted to enhance the efficiency of n-type DSSCs, the highest efficiency record of 14.30% was achieved using the co-sensitization of two metal-free organic dyes and Co (II/III) tris(phenanthroline)-based redox electrolyte. In the last years, the development of the efficient p-type DSSC has become a research focus owing to the fact that the concept of tandem solar cell was proposed as the solution to increase the power conversion efficiency. A promising alternative for the photocathodes of p-type DSSC, cuprous (Cu2O) and cupric (CuO) oxides have been investigated because of its nontoxic nature, low cost, high natural abundance, a good absorption coefficient for visible light and a higher dielectric constant than NiO. In case of p-type DSSC based on copper oxides with I3-/I- as redox mediator, the highest conversion efficiency of 0.42% (Cu2O) and 0.03% (CuO) has achieved. Towards the increase in the performance, we have fabricated and analyzed the performance of p-type DSSC prepared with the binder-free porous Cu2O photocathodes. Porous thin film could be an attractive alternative for DSSC because of their large surface areas which enable the efficient absorption of the dyes and light. We propose a simple and one-step hydrothermal method for the preparation of porous Cu2O thin film using copper substrate, cupric acetate and ethyl cellulose. The cubic structure of Cu2O has been determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and porous morphology of thin film was emphasized by Scanning Electron Microscope Inspect S (SEM). Optical and Mott-Schottky measurements attest of the high quality of the Cu2O thin film. The binder-free porous Cu2O photocathode has confirmed the excellent photovoltaic properties, the best value reported for p-type DSSC (1%) in similar conditions being reached.

Keywords: cuprous oxide, dye-sensitized solar cell, hydrothermal method, porous photocathode

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Authors: Debananda Mohapatra, Subramanya Badrayyana, Smrutiranjan Parida

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Carbon nano-onions (CNOs) are the spherical graphitic nanostructures composed of concentric shells of graphitic carbon can be hypothesized as the intermediate state between fullerenes and graphite. These are very important members in fullerene family also known as the multi-shelled fullerenes can be envisioned as promising supercapacitor electrode with high energy & power density as they provide easy access to ions at electrode-electrolyte interface due to their curvature. There is still very sparse report concerning on CNOs as electrode despite having an excellent electrodechemical performance record due to their unavailability and lack of convenient methods for their high yield preparation and purification. Keeping all these current pressing issues in mind, we present a facile scalable and straightforward flame synthesis method of pure and highly dispersible CNOs without contaminated by any other forms of carbon; hence, a post processing purification procedure is not necessary. To the best of our knowledge, this is the very first time; we developed an extremely simple, light weight, novel inexpensive, flexible free standing pristine CNOs electrode without using any binder element. Locally available daily used cotton wipe has been used for fabrication of such an ideal electrode by ‘dipping and drying’ process providing outstanding stretchability and mechanical flexibility with strong adhesion between CNOs and porous wipe. The specific capacitance 102 F/g, energy density 3.5 Wh/kg and power density 1224 W/kg at 20 mV/s scan rate are the highest values that ever recorded and reported so far in symmetrical two electrode cell configuration with 1M Na2SO4 electrolyte; indicating a very good synthesis conditions employed with optimum pore size in agreement with electrolyte ion size. This free standing CNOs electrode also showed an excellent cyclic performance and stability retaining 95% original capacity after 5000 charge –discharge cycles. Furthermore, this unique method not only affords binder free - freestanding electrode but also provide a general way of fabricating such multifunctional promising CNOs based nanocomposites for their potential device applications in flexible solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.

Keywords: binder-free, flame synthesis, flexible, carbon nano onion

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Oluwaseun Adeleke, Samuel O. Ikani, Fidelis Edet, Anthony Nwala, Mopelola Raji, Simeon Christian Chukwu

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Introduction: Digital innovations have been useful in supporting a client’s contraceptive user journey from awareness to method initiation. The concept of contraceptive self-care is being promoted globally as a means for achieving universal access to quality contraceptive care; however, information about this approach is limited. An important determinant of the scale of awareness is the message construct, choice of information channel, and an understanding of the socio-epidemiological dynamics within the target audience. Significant gains have been made recently in expanding the awareness base of DMPA-SC -a relatively new entrant into the family planning method mix. The cornerstone of this success is a multichannel promotion campaign themed Discover your Power (DYP). The DYP campaign combines content marketing across select social media platforms, chatbots, Cyber-IPC, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), and radio campaigns. Methodology: During implementation, the project monitored predefined metrics of awareness and intent, such as the number of persons reached with the messages, the number of impressions, and meaningful engagement (link-clicks). Metrics/indicators are extracted through native insight/analytics tools across the various platforms. The project also enlists community mobilizers (CMs) who go door-to-door and engage WRA to advertise DISC’s online presence and support them to engage with IVR, digital companion (chatbot), Facebook page, and DiscoverYourPower website. Results: The result showed that the digital platforms recorded 242 million impressions and reached 82 million users with key DMPA-SC self-injection messaging in the three countries. As many as 3.4 million persons engaged (liked, clicked, shared, or reposted) digital posts -an indication of intention. Conclusion: Digital solutions and innovations are gradually becoming the archetype for the advancement of the self-care agenda. Digital innovations can also be used to increase awareness and normalize contraceptive self-care behavior amongst women of reproductive age if they are made an integral part of reproductive health programming.

Keywords: digital transformation, health systems, DMPA-SC, family planning, self-care

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Authors: V. P. Ramani, K. P. Patel, S. B. Patel

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It is necessary to dispose of generated industrial wastes in the proper way to overcome the further pollution for a safe environment. Waste can be used in agriculture for good quality higher food production. In order to evaluate the effect and rate of processed industrial biomass on yield, contents, uptake and soil status in maize, a field experiment was conducted during 2009 - 2011 at Anand on loamy sand soil for two years. The treatments of different levels of NPK i.e. 100% RD, 75% RD and 50% RD were kept to study the possibility of reduction in fertilizer application with the use of processed biomass (BM) in different proportion with FYM. (Where, RD= Recommended dose, FYM= Farm Yard Manure, BM= Processed Biomass.) The significantly highest grain yield of maize was recorded under the treatment of 75% NPK + BM application @ 10t ha-1. The higher (10t ha-1) and lower (5t ha-1) application rate of BM with full dose of NPK was found beneficial being at par with the treatment 75% NPK along with BM application @ 10t ha-1. There is saving of 25% recommended dose of NPK when combined with BM application @ 10.0t ha-1 or 50% saving of organics when applied with full dose (100%) of NPK. The highest straw yield (7734 kg ha-1) of maize on pooled basis was observed under the treatment of recommended dose of NPK along with FYM application at 7.5t ha-1 coupled with BM application at 2.5t ha-1. It was also observed that highest straw yield was at par under all the treatments except control and application of 100% recommended dose of NPK coupled with BM application at 7.5t ha-1. The Fe content of maize straw were found altered significantly due to different treatments on pooled basis and it was noticed that biomass application at 7.5t ha-1 along with recommended dose of NPK showed significant enhancement in Fe content of straw over other treatments. Among heavy metals, Co, Pb and Cr contents of grain were found significantly altered due to application of different treatments variably during the pooled. While, Ni content of maize grain was not altered significantly due to application of different organics. However, at higher rate of BM application i.e. of 10t ha-1, there was slight increase in heavy metal content of grain/ straw as well as DTPA heavy metals in soil; although the increase was not alarming Thus, the overall results indicated that the application of BM at 5t ha-1 along with full dose of NPK is beneficial to get higher yield of maize without affecting soil / plant health adversely. It also indicated that the 5t BM ha-1 could be utilized in place of 10t FYM ha-1 where FYM availability is scarce. The 10t BM ha-1 helps to reduce a load of chemical fertilizer up to 25 percent in agriculture. The lower use of agro-chemicals always favors safe environment. However, the continuous use of biomass needs periodical monitoring to check any buildup of heavy metals in soil/ plant over the years.

Keywords: alternate use of industrial waste, heavy metals, maize, processed industrial biomass

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Authors: Cathrine Scharning Cornwall-Nyquist, David Rafael Vaz Fernandes

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Since its origins, mankind has been dreaming of communicating directly with other animals. Past civilizations interacted on different levels with other species and recognized them in their rituals and daily activities. However, recent scientific developments have limited the ability of humans to consider deeper levels of interaction beyond observation and/or physical behavior. In recent years, animal caretakers and facilities such as sanctuaries or rescue centers have been introducing new techniques based on intuition. Most of those initiatives are related to specific cases, such as the incapacity to understand an animal’s behavior. Respected organizations also include intuitive animal communication (IAC) sessions to follow up on past interventions with their animals. Despite the lack of credibility of this discipline, some animal caring structures have opted to integrate IAC into their daily routines and approaches to animal welfare. At this stage, animal communication will be generally defined as the ability of humans to communicate with animals on an intuitive level. The trend in the field remains to be explored. The lack of theory and previous research urges the scientific community to improve the description of the phenomenon and its consequences. Considering the current scenario, qualitative approaches may become a suitable pathway to explore this topic. The purpose of this case study is to explore the beliefs behind and the consequences of an approach based on intuitive animal communication techniques for Panthera Africa (PA), an ethical sanctuary located in South Africa. Due to their personal experience, the Sanctuary’s founders have developed a philosophy based on IAC while respecting the world's highest standards for big cat welfare. Their dual approach is reflected in their rescues, daily activities, and healing animals’ trauma. The case study's main research questions will be: (i) Why do they choose to apply IAC in their work? (ii) What consequences to their activities do IAC bring? (iii) What effects do IAC techniques bring in their interactions with the outside world? Data collection will be gathered on-site via: (i) Complete participation (field notes); (ii) Semi-structured interviews (audio transcriptions); (iii) Document analysis (internal procedures and policies); (iv) Audio-visual material (communication with third parties). The main researcher shall become an active member of the Sanctuary during a 30-day period and have full access to the site. Access to documents and audio-visual materials will be granted on a request basis. Interviews are expected to be held with PA founders and staff members and with IAC practitioners related to the facility. The information gathered shall enable the researcher to provide an extended description of the phenomenon and explore its internal and external consequences for Panthera Africa.

Keywords: animal welfare, intuitive animal communication, Panthera Africa, rescue

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Authors: Qingqing Feng, S. Thomas Ng, Frank J. Xu, Jiduo Xing

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Faced with unprecedented challenges including aging assets, lack of maintenance budget, overtaxed and inefficient usage, and outcry for better service quality from the society, today’s infrastructure systems has become the main focus of many metropolises to pursue sustainable urban development and improve resilience. Digital twin, being one of the most innovative enabling technologies nowadays, may open up new ways for tackling various infrastructure asset management (IAM) problems. Digital twin application for IAM, as its name indicated, represents an evolving digital model of intended infrastructure that possesses functions including real-time monitoring; what-if events simulation; and scheduling, maintenance, and management optimization based on technologies like IoT, big data and AI. Up to now, there are already vast quantities of global initiatives of digital twin applications like 'Virtual Singapore' and 'Digital Built Britain'. With digital twin technology permeating the IAM field progressively, it is necessary to consider the maturity of the application and how those institutional or industrial digital twin application processes will evolve in future. In order to deal with the gap of lacking such kind of benchmark, a draft maturity model is developed for digital twin application in the IAM field. Firstly, an overview of current smart cities maturity models is given, based on which the draft Maturity Model of Digital Twin Application for Infrastructure Asset Management (MM-DTIAM) is developed for multi-stakeholders to evaluate and derive informed decision. The process of development follows a systematic approach with four major procedures, namely scoping, designing, populating and testing. Through in-depth literature review, interview and focus group meeting, the key domain areas are populated, defined and iteratively tuned. Finally, the case study of several digital twin projects is conducted for self-verification. The findings of the research reveal that: (i) the developed maturity model outlines five maturing levels leading to an optimised digital twin application from the aspects of strategic intent, data, technology, governance, and stakeholders’ engagement; (ii) based on the case study, levels 1 to 3 are already partially implemented in some initiatives while level 4 is on the way; and (iii) more practices are still needed to refine the draft to be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive in key domain areas.

Keywords: digital twin, infrastructure asset management, maturity model, smart city

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Authors: Ashish Trivedi, Amol Singh

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In the recent years, the magnitude and frequency of disasters have increased at an alarming rate. Every year, more than 400 natural disasters affect global population. A large-scale disaster leads to destruction or damage to houses, thereby rendering a notable number of residents homeless. Since humanitarian response and recovery process takes considerable time, temporary establishments are arranged in order to provide shelter to affected population. These shelter areas are vital for an effective humanitarian relief; therefore, they must be strategically planned. Choosing the locations of temporary shelter areas for accommodating homeless people is critical to the quality of humanitarian assistance provided after a large-scale emergency. There has been extensive research on the facility location problem both in theory and in application. In order to deliver sufficient relief aid within a relatively short timeframe, humanitarian relief organisations pre-position warehouses at strategic locations. However, such approaches have received limited attention from the perspective of providing shelters to disaster-affected people. In present research work, this aspect of humanitarian logistics is considered. The present work proposes a hybrid decision support model to determine relative preference of potential shelter locations by assessing them based on key subjective criteria. Initially, the factors that are kept in mind while locating potential areas for establishing temporary shelters are identified by reviewing extant literature and through consultation from a panel of disaster management experts. In order to determine relative importance of individual criteria by taking into account subjectivity of judgements, a hybrid approach of fuzzy sets and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was adopted. Further, Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was applied on an illustrative data set to evaluate potential locations for establishing temporary shelter areas for homeless people in a disaster scenario. The contribution of this work is to propose a range of possible shelter locations for a humanitarian relief organization, using a robust multi criteria decision support framework.

Keywords: AHP, disaster preparedness, fuzzy set theory, humanitarian logistics, TOPSIS, temporary shelters

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Authors: Anna Ching-Yu Wong

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Introduction: Textbooks play a sizable portion of the overall cost of higher education students. It is a board consent that open education resources (OER) reduce the te4xtbook costs and provide students a way to receive high-quality learning materials at little or no cost to them. However, there is less agreement over exactly how much. This study presents an approach for calculating OER savings by using SUNY Canton NON-OER courses (N=233) to estimate the potentially textbook savings for one semester – Fall 2022. The purpose in collecting data is to understand how much potentially saved from using OER materials and to have a record for future further studies. Literature Reviews: In the past years, researchers identified the rising cost of textbooks disproportionately harm students in higher education institutions and how much an average cost of a textbook. For example, Nyamweya (2018) found that on average students save $116.94 per course when OER adopted in place of traditional commercial textbooks by using a simple formula. Student PIRGs (2015) used reports of per-course savings when transforming a course from using a commercial textbook to OER to reach an estimate of $100 average cost savings per course. Allen and Wiley (2016) presented at the 2016 Open Education Conference on multiple cost-savings studies and concluded $100 was reasonable per-course savings estimates. Ruth (2018) calculated an average cost of a textbook was $79.37 per-course. Hilton, et al (2014) conducted a study with seven community colleges across the nation and found the average textbook cost to be $90.61. There is less agreement over exactly how much would be saved by adopting an OER course. This study used SUNY Canton as a case study to create an approach for estimating OER savings. Methodology: Step one: Identify NON-OER courses from UcanWeb Class Schedule. Step two: View textbook lists for the classes (Campus bookstore prices). Step three: Calculate the average textbook prices by averaging the new book and used book prices. Step four: Multiply the average textbook prices with the number of students in the course. Findings: The result of this calculation was straightforward. The average of a traditional textbooks is $132.45. Students potentially saved $1,091,879.94. Conclusion: (1) The result confirms what we have known: Adopting OER in place of traditional textbooks and materials achieves significant savings for students, as well as the parents and taxpayers who support them through grants and loans. (2) The average textbook savings for adopting an OER course is variable depending on the size of the college and as well as the number of enrollment students.

Keywords: textbook savings, open textbooks, textbook costs assessment, open access

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: Srinivasa Reddy Mallampati, Min Hee Park, Soo Mim Cho, Sung Hyeon Yoon

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One of the issues of End of Life Vehicles (ELVs) recycling promotion is technology for the appropriate treatment of automotive shredder residue (ASR). Owing to its high heterogeneity and variable composition (plastic (23–41%), rubber/elastomers (9–21%), metals (6–13%), glass (10–20%) and dust (soil/sand) etc.), ASR can be classified as ‘hazardous waste’, on the basis of the presence of heavy metals (HMs), PCBs, BFRs, mineral oils, etc. Considering their relevant concentrations, these metals and plastics should be properly recovered for recycling purposes before ASR residues are disposed of. Brominated flame retardant additives in ABS/HIPS and PVC may generate dioxins and furans at elevated temperatures. Moreover, these BFRs additives present in plastic materials may leach into the environment during landfilling operations. ASR thermal process removes some of the organic material but concentrates, the heavy metals and POPs present in the ASR residues. In the present study, Fe/Ca/CaO nanoparticle assisted ozone treatment has been found to selectively hydrophilize the surface of ABS/HIPS and PVC plastics, enhancing its wettability and thereby promoting its separation from ASR plastics by means of froth flotation. The water contact angles, of ABS/HIPS and PVC decreased, about 18.7°, 18.3°, and 17.9° in ASR respectively. Under froth flotation conditions at 50 rpm, about 99.5% and 99.5% of HIPS in ASR samples sank, resulting in a purity of 98% and 99%. Furthermore, at 150 rpm a 100% PVC separation in the settled fraction, with 98% of purity in ASR, respectively. Total recovery of non-ABS/HIPS and PVC plastics reached nearly 100% in the floating fraction. This process improved the quality of recycled ASR plastics by removing surface contaminants or impurities. Further, a hybrid ball-milling and with Fe/Ca/CaO nanoparticle froth flotation process was established for the recovery of HMs from ASR. After ball-milling with Fe/Ca/CaO nanoparticle additives, the flotation efficiency increased to about 55 wt% and the HMs recovery were also increased about 90% for the 0.25 mm size fractions of ASR. Coating with Fe/Ca/CaO nanoparticles associated with subsequent microbubble froth flotation allowed the air bubbles to attach firmly on the HMs. SEM–EDS maps showed that the amounts of HMs were significant on the surface of the floating ASR fraction. This result, along with the low HM concentration in the settled fraction, was confirmed by elemental spectra and semi-quantitative SEM–EDS analysis. Developed hybrid preferential hazardous plastics and metals separation process from ASR is a simple, highly efficient, and sustainable procedure.

Keywords: end of life vehicles shredder residue, hazardous plastics, nanoparticle froth flotation, separation process

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Authors: Seyeon Lee, Suyeon Lee, Julia Rogers

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This research investigates and records post-flood and typhoon conditions of low income housing in the Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam; area prone to extreme flooding in Central Vietnam. The cost of rebuilding houses after flood and typhoon has been always a burden for low income households. These costs often lead to the elimination of essential construction practices for disaster resistance. Despite relief efforts from international non-profit organizations and Vietnam government, the impacts of flood and typhoon damages to residential construction has been reoccurring to the same neighborhood annually. Notwithstanding its importance, this topic has not been systematically investigated. The study is limited to assistance provided to low income households documenting existing conditions of low income homes impacted by post flood and typhoon conditions in the Thua Thien Hue Province. The research identifies leading causes of the building failure from the natural disasters. Relief efforts and progress made since the last typhoon is documented. The quality of construction and repairs are assessed based on Home Builders Guide to Coastal Construction by Federal Emergency Management Agency. Focus group discussions and individual interviews with local residents from four different communities were conducted to get incites on repair effort by the non-profit organizations and Vietnam government, and their needs post flood and typhoon. The findings from the field study informed that many of the local people are now aware of the importance of improving housing conditions as one of the key coping strategies to withstand flood and typhoon events as it makes housing and community more resilient to future events. While there has been a remarkable improvement of housing and infrastructure with the support from the local government as well as the non-profit organizations, many households in the study areas are found to still live in weak and fragile housing conditions without gaining access to the aid to repair and strengthen the houses. Given that the major immediate recovery action taken by the local people tends to focus on repairing damaged houses, and on this ground, low-income households spend a considerable amount of their income on housing repair, providing proper and applicable construction practices will not only improve the housing condition, but also contribute to reducing poverty in Vietnam.

Keywords: disaster coping mechanism, housing welfare, low-income housing, recovery reduction

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Authors: Volodymyr Rombakh

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This article was written to substantiate the possibility of detecting the precursors of catastrophic destruction of a structure or device and stopping operation before it. Damage to solids results from breaking the bond between atoms, which requires energy. Modern theories of strength and fracture assume that such energy is due to stress. However, in a letter to W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin) dated December 18, 1856, J.C. Maxwell provided evidence that elastic energy cannot destroy solids. He proposed an equation for estimating a deformable body's energy, equal to the sum of two energies. Due to symmetrical compression, the first term does not change, but the second term is distortion without compression. Both types of energy are represented in the equation as a quadratic function of strain, but Maxwell repeatedly wrote that it is not stress but strain. Furthermore, he notes that the nature of the energy causing the distortion is unknown to him. An article devoted to theories of elasticity was published in 1850. Maxwell tried to express mechanical properties with the help of optics, which became possible only after the creation of quantum mechanics. However, Maxwell's work on elasticity is not cited in the theories of strength and fracture. The authors of these theories and their associates are still trying to describe the phenomena they observe based on classical mechanics. The study of Faraday's experiments, Maxwell's and Rutherford's ideas, made it possible to discover a previously unknown area of electromagnetic radiation. The properties of photons emitted in this reaction are fundamentally different from those of photons emitted in nuclear reactions and are caused by the transition of electrons in an atom. The photons released during all processes in the universe, including from plants and organs in natural conditions; their penetrating power in metal is millions of times greater than that of one of the gamma rays. However, they are not non-invasive. This apparent contradiction is because the chaotic motion of protons is accompanied by the chaotic radiation of photons in time and space. Such photons are not coherent. The energy of a solitary photon is insufficient to break the bond between atoms, one of the stages of which is ionization. The photographs registered the rail deformation by 113 cars, while the Gaiger Counter did not. The author's studies show that the cause of damage to a solid is the breakage of bonds between a finite number of atoms due to the stimulated emission of metastable atoms. The guarantee of the reliability of the structure is the ratio of the energy dissipation rate to the energy accumulation rate, but not the strength, which is not a physical parameter since it cannot be measured or calculated. The possibility of continuous control of this ratio is due to the spontaneous emission of photons by metastable atoms. The article presents calculation examples of the destruction of energy and photographs due to the action of photons emitted during the atomic-proton reaction.

Keywords: atomic-proton reaction, precursors of man-made disasters, strain, stress

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Authors: M. R. Zaman, M. S. Bari, M. Kajal

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A field experiment was conducted at the Agroforestry and Environment Research Field, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur during 2013 to investigate the potentiality of three napier fodder varieties under Litchi orchard. The experiment was consisted of 2 factors RCBD with 3 replications. Among the two factors, factor A was two production systems; S1= Litchi + fodder and S2 = Fodder (sole crop); another factor B was three napier varieties: V1= BARI Napier -1 (Bazra), V2= BARI Napier - 2 (Arusha) and V3= BARI Napier -3 (Hybrid). The experimental results revealed that there were significant variation among the varieties in terms of leaf growth and yield. The maximum number of leaf plant -1 was recorded in variety Bazra (V1) whereas the minimum number was recorded in hybrid variety (V3).Significantly the highest (13.75, 14.53 and14.84 tha-1 at 1st, 2nd and 3rd harvest respectively) yield was also recorded in variety Bazra whereas the lowest (5.89, 6.36 and 9.11 tha-1 at 1st, 2nd v and 3rd harvest respectively) yield was in hybrid variety. Again, in case of production systems, there were also significant differences between the two production systems were founded. The maximum number of leaf plant -1 was recorded under Litchi based AGF system (T1) whereas the minimum was recorded in open condition (T2). Similarly, significantly the highest (12.00, 12.35 and 13.31 tha-1 at 1st, 2nd and 3rd harvest respectively) yield of napier was recorded under Litchi based AGF system where as the lowest (9.73, 10.47 and 11.66 tha-1 at 1st, 2nd and 3rd harvest respectively) yield was recorded in open condition i.e. napier in sole cropping. Furthermore, the interaction effect of napier variety and production systems were also gave significant deviation result in terms of growth and yield. The maximum number of leaf plant -1 was recorded under Litchi based AGF systems with Bazra variety whereas the minimum was recorded in open condition with hybrid variety. The highest yield (14.42, 16.14 and 16.15 tha-1 at 1st, 2nd and 3rd harvest respectively) of napier was found under Litchi based AGF systems with Bazra variety. Significantly the lowest (5.33, 5.79 and 8.48 tha-1 at 1st, 2nd and 3rd harvest respectively) yield was found in open condition i.e. sole cropping with hybrid variety. In case of the quality perspective, the highest nutritive value (DM, ASH, CP, CF, EE, and NFE) was found in Bazra (V1) and the lowest value was found in hybrid variety (V3). Therefore, the suitability of napier production under Litchi based AGF system may be ranked as Bazra > Arusha > Hybrid variety. Finally, the economic analysis showed that maximum BCR (5.20) was found in the Litchi based AGF systems over sole cropping (BCR=4.38). From the findings of the taken investigation, it may be concluded that the cultivation of Bazra napier varieties in the floor of Litchi orchard ensures higher revenue to the farmers compared to its sole cropping.

Keywords: potentiality, Litchi, fodder, agroforestry

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Authors: M. F. Perez, Ysmael Verde, B. Escobar, R. Barbosa, J. C. Cruz

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Reinforced concrete is one of the most important materials in the construction industry. However, in recent years the durability of concrete structures has been a worrying problem, mainly due to corrosion of reinforcing steel; the consequences of corrosion in all cases lead to shortening of the life of the structure and decrease in quality of service. Since the emergence of this problem, they have implemented different methods or techniques to reduce damage by corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete structures; as the use of polymeric materials as coatings for the steel rod, spiked inhibitors of concrete during mixing, among others, presenting different limitations in the application of these methods. Because of this, it has been used a method that has proved effective, cathodic protection. That is why due to the properties attributed to carbon nanotubes (CNT), these could act as cathodic corrosion protection. Mounting a three-electrode electrochemical cell, carbon steel as working electrode, saturated calomel electrode (SCE) as the reference electrode, and a graphite rod as a counter electrode to close the system is performed. Samples made were subjected to a cycling process in order to compare the results in the corrosion performance of a coating composed of CNT and the others based on an anticorrosive commercial painting. The samples were tested at room temperature using an electrolyte consisting NaCl and NaOH simulating the typical pH of concrete, ranging from 12.6 to 13.9. Three test samples were made of steel rod, white, with commercial anticorrosive paint and CNT based coating; delimiting the work area to a section of 0.71 cm2. Tests cyclic voltammetry and linear voltammetry electrochemical spectroscopy each impedance of the three samples were made with a window of potential vs SCE 0.7 -1.7 a scan rate of 50 mV / s and 100 mV / s. The impedance values were obtained by applying a sine wave of amplitude 50 mV in a frequency range of 100 kHz to 100 MHz. The results obtained in this study show that the CNT based coating applied to the steel rod considerably decreased the corrosion rate compared to the commercial coating of anticorrosive paint, because the Ecorr was passed increase as the cycling process. The samples tested in all three cases were observed by light microscopy throughout the cycling process and micrographic analysis was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results from electrochemical measurements show that the application of the coating containing carbon nanotubes on the surface of the steel rod greatly increases the corrosion resistance, compared to commercial anticorrosive coating.

Keywords: anticorrosive, carbon nanotubes, corrosion, steel

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Authors: Raymond Treacy, Paul Humphreys, Ronan McIvor, Trevor Cadden, Alan McKittrick

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This study employed event study methodology to examine the role of institutions, resources and dynamic capabilities in the relationship between the Environmental Management System ISO 14001 adoption and firm performance. Utilising financial data from 140 ISO 14001 certified firms and 320 non-certified firms, the results of the study suggested that the UK and Irish manufacturers were not implementing ISO 14001 solely to gain legitimacy. In contrast, the results demonstrated that firms were fully integrating the ISO 14001 standard within their operations as certified firms were able to improve both financial and operating performance when compared to non-certified firms. However, while there were significant and long lasting improvements for employee productivity, manufacturing cost efficiency, return on assets and sales turnover, the sample firms operating cycle and fixed asset efficiency displayed evidence of diminishing returns in the long-run, underlying the observation that no operating advantage based on incremental improvements can be everlasting. Hence, there is an argument for investing in dynamic capabilities which help renew and refresh the resource base and help the firm adapt to changing environments. Indeed, the results of the regression analysis suggest that dynamic capabilities for innovation acted as a moderator in the relationship between ISO 14001 certification and firm performance. This, in turn, will have a significant and symbiotic influence on sustainability practices within the participating organisations. The study not only provides new and original insights, but demonstrates pragmatically how firms can take advantage of environmental management systems as a moderator to significantly enhance firm performance. However, while it was shown that firm innovation aided both short term and long term ROA performance, adaptive market capabilities only aided firms in the short-term at the marketing strategy deployment stage. Finally, the results have important implications for firms operating in an economic recession as the results suggest that firms should scale back investment in R&D while operating in an economic downturn. Conversely, under normal trading conditions, consistent and long term investments in R&D was found to moderate the relationship between ISO 14001 certification and firm performance. Hence, the results of the study have important implications for academics and management alike.

Keywords: supply chain management, environmental management systems, quality management, sustainability, firm performance

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Authors: Jack Nash, Chris Simpson, Holly Hurn, Ronel Terblanche, Alan Mistlin

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There is an increasing incidence of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) cases throughout sport and with this, a growing interest from governing bodies to ensure these are managed appropriately and player welfare is prioritised. The Berlin consensus statement on concussion in sport recommends a multidisciplinary approach when managing those patients who do not have full resolution of mTBI symptoms. There are as of yet no standardised guideline to follow in the treatment of complex cases mTBI in athletes. The aim of this project was to analyse the outcomes, both clinical and vocational, of all patients admitted to the mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) service at the UK’s Defence Military Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court between 1st June 2008 and 1st February 2017, as a result of a sport induced injury, and evaluate potential predictive indicators of outcome. Patients were identified from a database maintained by the mTBI service. Clinical and occupational outcomes were ascertained from medical and occupational employment records, recorded prospectively, at time of discharge from the mTBI service. Outcomes were graded based on the vocational independence scale (VIS) and clinical documentation at discharge. Predictive indicators including referral time, age at time of injury, previous mental health diagnosis and a financial claim in place at time of entry to service were assessed using logistic regression. 45 Patients were treated for sport-related mTBI during this time frame. Clinically 96% of patients had full resolution of their mTBI symptoms after input from the mTBI service. 51% of patients returned to work at their previous vocational level, 4% had ongoing mTBI symptoms, 22% had ongoing physical rehabilitation needs, 11% required mental health input and 11% required further vestibular rehabilitation. Neither age, time to referral, pre-existing mental health condition nor compensation seeking had a significant impact on either vocational or clinical outcome in this population. The vast majority of patients reviewed in the mTBI clinic had persistent symptoms which could not be managed in primary care. A consultant-led, multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis and management of mTBI has resulted in excellent clinical outcomes in these complex cases. High levels of symptom resolution suggest that this referral and treatment pathway is successful and is a model which could be replicated in other organisations with consultant led input. Further understanding of both predictive and individual factors would allow clinicians to focus treatments on those who are most likely to develop long-term complications following mTBI. A consultant-led, multidisciplinary service ensures a large number of patients will have complete resolution of mTBI symptoms after sport-related mTBI. Further research is now required to ascertain the key predictive indicators of outcome following sport-related mTBI.

Keywords: brain injury, concussion, neurology, rehabilitation, sports injury

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Deinzel R. Uezono, Vivien Fe F. Fadrilan-Camacho, Bianca Margarita L. Medina, Antonio Domingo R. Reario, Trisha M. Salcedo, Luke Wesley P. Borromeo

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The environment of health care workers is considered one of the most hazardous settings due to the nature of their work. In developing countries especially, the Philippines, this continues to be overlooked in terms of programs and services on occupational health and safety (OHS). One possible reason for this is the existing information gap on OHS which limits data comparability and impairs effective monitoring and assessment of interventions. To address this gap, there is a need to determine the current conditions of Filipino health care workers in their workplace. This descriptive cross-sectional study assessed the occupational health and safety conditions of health care workers in barangay health centers in a selected city in Metro Manila, Philippines by: (1) determining the hazards present in the workplace; (2) determining the most common self-reported medical problems; and (3) describing the elements of an OHS system based on the six building blocks of health system. Assessment was done through walkthrough survey, self-administered questionnaire, and key informant interview. Data analysis was done using Epi Info 7 and NVivo 11. Results revealed different health hazards present in the workplace particularly biological hazards (exposure to sick patients and infectious specimens), physical hazards (inadequate space and/or lighting), chemical hazards (toxic reagents and flammable chemicals), and ergonomic hazards (activities requiring repetitive motion and awkward posture). Additionally, safety hazards (improper capping of syringe and lack of fire safety provisions) were also observed. Meanwhile, the most commonly self-reported chronic diseases among health care workers (N=336) were hypertension (20.24%, n=68) and diabetes (12.50%, n=42). Top commonly self-reported symptoms were colds (66.07%, n=222), coughs (63.10%, n=212), headache (55.65%, n=187), and muscle pain (50.60%, n=170) while other diseases were influenza (16.96%, n=57) and UTI (15.48%, n=52). In terms of the elements of the OHS system, a general policy on occupational health and safety was found to be lacking and in effect, an absence of health and safety committee overseeing the implementing and monitoring of the policy. No separate budget specific for OHS programs and services was also found to be a limitation. As a result, no OHS personnel and trainings/seminar were identified. No established information system for OHS was in place. In conclusion, health and safety hazards were observed to be present across the barangay health centers visited in a selected city in Metro Manila. Medical conditions identified as most commonly self-reported were hypertension and diabetes for chronic diseases; colds, coughs, headache, and muscle pain for medical symptoms; and influenza and UTI for other diseases. As for the elements of the occupational health and safety system, there was a lack in the general components of the six building blocks of the health system.

Keywords: health hazards, occupational health and safety, occupational health and safety system, safety hazards

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Authors: Yu-Chi Liao, Nai-Wen Guo, Chun‑Hung Lee, Yung-Chin Lu, Cheng-Hung Ko

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Objective: The incidence of behavioral addictions, especially substance use disorders (SUDs), is gradually be taken seriously with various physical health problems. Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) is a treatment option for promoting long-term health behavior change in recent years. MBRP is a structured protocol that integrates formal meditation practices with the cognitive-behavioral approach of relapse prevention treatment by teaching participants not to engage in reappraisal or savoring techniques. However, considering SUDs as a complex brain disease, questionnaires and symptom evaluation are not sufficient to evaluate the effect of MBRP. Neurophysiological biomarkers such as quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG) may improve accurately represent the curative effects. This study attempted to find out the neurophysiological indicator of MBRP in various severity SUD involuntary clients. Participants and Methods: Thirteen participants (all males) completed 8-week mindfulness-based treatment provided by trained, licensed clinical psychologists. The behavioral data were from the Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) and Negative Mood Regulation Scale (NMR) before and afterMBRP treatment. The QEEG data were simultaneously recorded with executive attention tasks, called comprehensive nonverbal attention test(CNAT). The two-way repeated-measures (treatment * severity) ANOVA and independent t-test were used for statistical analysis. Results: Thirteen participants regrouped into high substance dependence (HS) and low substance dependence (LS) by SDS cut-off. The HS group showed more SDS total score and lower gamma wave in the Go/No Go task of CNAT at pretest. Both groups showed the main effect that they had a lower frontal theta/beta ratio (TBR) during the simple reaction time task of CNAT. The main effect showed that the delay errors of CNAT were lower after MBRP. There was no other difference in CNAT between groups. However, after MBRP, compared to LS, the HS group have resonant progress in improving SDS and NMR scores. The neurophysiological index, the frontal TBR of the HS during the Go/No Go task of CNATdecreased than that of the LS group. Otherwise, the LS group’s gamma wave was a significant reduction on the Go/No Go task of CNAT. Conclusion: The QEEG data supports the MBRP can restore the prefrontal function of involuntary addicts and lower their errors in executive attention tasks. However, the improvement of MBRPfor the addict with high addiction severity is significantly more than that with low severity, including QEEG’s indicators and negative emotion regulation. Future directions include investigating the reasons for differences in efficacy among different severity of the addiction.

Keywords: mindfulness, involuntary clients, QEEG, emotion regulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Amirhossein Dodankeh, Hadi Dabiryan, Saeed Hamze

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Using fabrics to reinforce composites considerably leads to improved mechanical properties, including resistance to the impact load and the energy absorption of composites. Warp-knitted spacer fabrics (WKSF) are fabrics consisting of two layers of warp-knitted fabric connected by pile yarns. These connections create a space between the layers filled by pile yarns and give the fabric a three-dimensional shape. Today because of the unique properties of spacer fabrics, they are widely used in the transportation, construction, and sports industries. Polyurethane (PU) foams are commonly used as energy absorbers, but WKSF has much better properties in moisture transfer, compressive properties, and lower heat resistance than PU foam. It seems that the use of warp-knitted spacer fabric reinforced PU foam (WKSFRF) can lead to the production and use of composite, which has better properties in terms of energy absorption from the foam, its mold formation is enhanced, and its mechanical properties have been improved. In this paper, the energy absorption efficiency (EAE) of WKSFRF under low-velocity impact is investigated experimentally. The contribution of the effect of each of the structural parameters of the WKSF on the absorption of impact energy has also been investigated. For this purpose, WKSF with different structures such as two different thicknesses, small and large mesh sizes, and position of the meshes facing each other and not facing each other were produced. Then 6 types of composite samples with different structural parameters were fabricated. The physical properties of samples like weight per unit area and fiber volume fraction of composite were measured for 3 samples of any type of composites. Low-velocity impact with an initial energy of 5 J was carried out on 3 samples of any type of composite. The output of the low-velocity impact test is acceleration-time (A-T) graph with a lot deviation point, in order to achieve the appropriate results, these points were removed using the FILTFILT function of MATLAB R2018a. Using Newtonian laws of physics force-displacement (F-D) graph was drawn from an A-T graph. We know that the amount of energy absorbed is equal to the area under the F-D curve. Determination shows the maximum energy absorption is 2.858 J which is related to the samples reinforced with fabric with large mesh, high thickness, and not facing of the meshes relative to each other. An index called energy absorption efficiency was defined, which means absorption energy of any kind of our composite divided by its fiber volume fraction. With using this index, the best EAE between the samples is 21.6 that occurs in the sample with large mesh, high thickness, and meshes facing each other. Also, the EAE of this sample is 15.6% better than the average EAE of other composite samples. Generally, the energy absorption on average has been increased 21.2% by increasing the thickness, 9.5% by increasing the size of the meshes from small to big, and 47.3% by changing the position of the meshes from facing to non-facing.

Keywords: composites, energy absorption efficiency, foam, geometrical parameters, low-velocity impact, warp-knitted spacer fabric

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Authors: Arlan S. Freitas, Leila M. Carvalho, Adriana L. Soares, Arnoud Neto, Marta S. Madruga, Elza I. Ida, Massami Shimokomaki

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The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of microclimatic profile of broiler transport trucks under commercial conditions over the breast meat quality and DOA (Death On Arrival) in a tropical Brazilian regions as the North East where routinely the season is divided into dry and wet seasons. The temperature remains fairly constant and obviously the relative humidity changes accordingly. Three loads of 4,100 forty seven days old broiler were monitored from farm to slaughterhouse in a distance of 4.3 km, morning period of October 2015 rainy days. The profile of the environmental variables inside the container truck throughout the journey was obtained by the installation of thermo anemometers in 6 different locations by monitoring the heat index (HI), air velocity (AV), temperature (T), and relative humidity (RH). Meat qualities were evaluated by determining the occurrence of PSE (pale, soft, exudative) meat and DFD (dark, firm dry) meat. The percentage of birds DOA per loaded truck was determined by counting the dead broiler during the hanging step at the slaughtering plant. The analysis of variance was performed using statistical software (Statistica 8 for windows, Statsoft 2007, Tulsa, OK, USA). The Tukey significance test (P<0.05) was applied to compare means from microenvironmental data, PSE, DFD and DOA. Fillet samples were collected at 24h post mortem for pH e color (L*, a* e b*) determination through the CIELAB system. Results showed the occurrence of 2.98% of PSE and 0.66% de DFD and only 0.016% of DOA and overall the most uncomfortable container location was at the truck frontal inferior presenting 6.25% of PSE. DFD of 2.0% were obtained from birds located at central and inferior rear locations. These values were unexpected in comparison to other results obtained in our laboratories in previous experiments carried out within the country south state. The results reported herein were lower in every aspect. Reasonable explanation would be the shorter distance, wet conditions throughout around 15-20 min journeys and lower T and RH values as observed in samples taken from the rear location as higher DFD values were obtained. These facts mean the animals were not under heat stressful condition but in fact under cold stress conditions as the result of DFD suggested in association to the lower number of DOA.

Keywords: cold stress, DFD, microclimatic profile, PSE

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Authors: Fru Vitalis Akuma, Jenna Koenen

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The science education community is increasingly calling for learning experiences that mirror the work of scientists. Although inquiry-based science education is aligned with these calls, the implementation of this strategy is a complex and daunting task for many teachers. Thus, policymakers and researchers have noted the need for continued teacher Professional Development (PD) in the enactment of inquiry-based science education, coupled with effective ways of reaching the goals of teacher PD. This is a complex problem for which educational design research is suitable. The purpose at this stage of our design research is to develop a generic PD framework that is valid as the blueprint of a PD program for supporting science teachers in relation to inquiry-based curriculum units. The seven components of the framework are the goal, learning theory, strategy, phases, support, motivation, and an instructional model. Based on a systematic review of the literature on effective (science) teacher PD, coupled with developer screening, we have generated a design principle per component of the PD framework. For example, as per the associated design principle, the goal of the framework is to provide science teachers with experiences in authentic inquiry, coupled with enhancing their competencies linked to the adoption, customization and design; then the classroom implementation and the revision of inquiry-based curriculum units. The seven design principles have allowed us to synthesize the PD framework, which, coupled with the design principles, are the preliminary outcomes of the current research. We are in the process of evaluating the content and construct validity of the framework, based on nine one-on-one interviews with experts in inquiry-based classroom and teacher learning. To this end, we have developed an interview protocol with the input of eight such experts in South Africa and Germany. Using the protocol, the expert appraisal of the PD framework will involve three experts from Germany, South Africa, and Cameroon, respectively. These countries, where we originate and/or work, provide a variety of inquiry-based science education contexts, making the countries suitable in the evaluation of the generic PD framework. Based on the evaluation, we will revise the framework and its seven design principles to arrive at the final outcomes of the current research. While the final content and construct a valid version of the framework will serve as an example of the needed ways through which effective inquiry-based science teacher PD may be achieved, the final design principles will be useful to researchers when transforming the framework for use in any specific educational context. For example, in our further research, we will transform the framework to one that is practical and effective in supporting inquiry-based practical work in resource-constrained physical sciences classrooms in South Africa. Researchers in other educational contexts may similarly consider the final framework and design principles in their work. Thus, our final outcomes will inform practice and research around the support of teachers to increase the incorporation of learning experiences that mirror the work of scientists in a worldwide manner.

Keywords: design principles, educational design research, evaluation, inquiry-based science education, professional development framework

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Authors: Jessica Ding

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The field of global health is currently advocating for a resurgence in the use of traditional medicines to improve people-centered care. Healthcare policies are rapidly changing in response; in China, the increasing presence of TCM in the same spaces as biomedicine has led to a new term: integrative medicine. However, the existence of TCM as a part of integrative medicine creates a pressing paradoxical tension where TCM is both seen as a marginalized system within ‘modern’ hospitals and as a modality worth integrating. Additionally, the impact of such shifts has not been fully explored: the World Health Organization for one focuses only on three angles —practices, products, and practitioners— with regards to traditional medicines. Through ten weeks of fieldwork conducted at an urban hospital in Shanghai, China, this research expands the perspective of existing strategies by looking at integrative care through a fourth lens: patients and families. The understanding of self-care, health-seeking behavior, and non-professional caregiving structures are critical to grasping the significance of traditional medicine for people-centered care. Indeed, those individual and informal health care expectations align with the very spaces and needs that traditional medicine has filled before such ideas of integration. It specifically looks at this issue via three processes that operationalize experiences of care: (1) how aspects of TCM are valued within integrative medicine, (2) how negotiations of care occur between patients and doctors, and (3) how 'good quality' caregiving presents in integrative clinical spaces. This research hopes to lend insight into how culturally embedded traditions, bureaucratic and institutional rationalities, and social patterns of health-seeking behavior influence care to shape illness experiences at the intersection of two medical modalities. This analysis of patients’ clinical and illness experiences serves to enrich the narratives of integrative medical care’s ability to provide patient-centered care to determine how international policies are realized at the individual level. This anthropological study of the integration of Traditional Chinese medicine in local contexts can reveal the extent to which global strategies, as promoted by the WHO and the Chinese government actually align with the expectations and perspectives of patients receiving care. Ultimately, this ethnographic analysis of a local Chinese context hopes to inform global policies regarding the future use and integration of traditional medicines.

Keywords: emergent systems, global health, integrative medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, TCM

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Authors: Tapan Kumar Dhar

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How well are our city forms designed to adapt to climate change and its resulting uncertainty? What urban design tools can be used to measure and improve resilience to climate change, and how would they do so? In addressing these questions, this paper considers indeterminacy, a concept originated in the resilience literature, to measure the resilience of built environments. In the realm of urban design, ‘indeterminacy’ can be referred to as built-in design capabilities of an urban system to serve different purposes which are not necessarily predetermined. An urban system, particularly that with a higher degree of indeterminacy, can enable the system to be reorganized and changed to accommodate new or unknown functions while coping with uncertainty over time. Underlying principles of this concept have long been discussed in the urban design and planning literature, including open architecture, landscape urbanism, and flexible housing. This paper argues that the concept indeterminacy holds the potential to reduce the impacts of climate change incrementally and proactively. With regard to sustainable development, both planning and climate change literature highly recommend proactive adaptation as it involves less cost, efforts, and energy than last-minute emergency or reactive actions. Nevertheless, the concept still remains isolated from resilience and climate change adaptation discourses even though the discourses advocate the incremental transformation of a system to cope with climatic uncertainty. This paper considers indeterminacy, as an urban design tool, to measure and increase resilience (and adaptive capacity) of Long Bay’s coastal settlements in Negril, Jamaica. Negril is one of the popular tourism destinations in the Caribbean highly vulnerable to sea-level rise and its associated impacts. This paper employs empirical information obtained from direct observation and informal interviews with local people. While testing the tool, this paper deploys an urban morphology study, which includes land use patterns and the physical characteristics of urban form, including street networks, block patterns, and building footprints. The results reveal that most resorts in Long Bay are designed for pre-determined purposes and offer a little potential to use differently if needed. Additionally, Negril’s street networks are found to be rigid and have limited accessibility to different points of interest. This rigidity can expose the entire infrastructure further to extreme climatic events and also impedes recovery actions after a disaster. However, Long Bay still has room for future resilient developments in other relatively less vulnerable areas. In adapting to climate change, indeterminacy can be reached through design that achieves a balance between the degree of vulnerability and the degree of indeterminacy: the more vulnerable a place is, the more indeterminacy is useful. This paper concludes with a set of urban design typologies to increase the resilience of coastal settlements.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, resilience, sea-level rise, urban form

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Authors: Jaspinder Kaur, Jatinder Pal Singh

Abstract:

Introduction- Delusional parasitosis is a rare psychotic illness characterized by a fixed belief of manifesting a parasite in a body when in reality, it was not. Also known as Ekbom syndrome or delusional infestations, or acarophobia. Although the patient has no primary skin pathology, but all skin findings were secondary to skin manipulation by the patient itself, which is why up to 90% of patients first seek consultation from a dermatologist. Most commonly, it was seen in older people with female to male ratio is 2:1. For treatment, the patient first need to be investigated to rule all other possible causes, as Delusional parasitosis can be caused by Vitamin B12 deficiency, pellagra, hepatic and renal disease, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, and leprosy. When all possible causes ruled out, psychiatric referral to be done. Rule out other psychiatric comorbidities, and treatment should be done accordingly. Patient with delusional parasitosis responds well to second generation antipsychotics and need to continuous medication over years, and relapse is likely if treatment is stopped. Case Presentation- A 79-year-old female, belonging to lower socio-economic status, presented with complaints of itching sensation with erythematous patches over the scalp and multiple scratch excoriations lesion over the scalp, face and neck from the past 7-8 months. She had a feeling of small insect crawling under her skin and scalp area. To reduce the itching and kill the insect, she would scratch and squeeze her skin repeatedly. When the family tried to give her explanation that there was no insect in her body, she would not get convinced, rather got angry and abuse family members for not believing her. Gradually, her sleep would remain disturbed, she would be seen awake at night, seen to be scratching her skin, pull her scalp hair, even squeeze out her healed lesions. She collected her skin debris, scalp hairs and look out for insect. Because of her continuous illness, the patient started to remain sad and had crying spells. Her appetite decreased. She became socially isolated and stopped doing her activities of daily living. Family member’s first consulted dermatologist, investigated thoroughly with routine investigations, autoimmune and malignancy workup. As all investigations were normal, following which patient was referred for psychiatric evaluation. The patient was started on Tablet Olanzapine 2.5 mg, gradually increased to 7.5 mg. Over 1 month, there was reduction in itching, skin pricking. Lesions were gradually healed, and the patient continued to take other dermatological medications and ointment and was in regular follow up with psychiatric liaison from past 2 months with 70-80 % improvement in her symptoms. Conclusion- Delusional parasitosis is a psychiatric disorder of insidious onset, seen commonly in middle and old age people. Both psychiatric and dermatology consultation liaison will help the patient for an early diagnosis and adequate treatment. If a primary psychiatric diagnosis, the patient respond well to second generation antipsychotics but always require a further evaluation and treatment management if it is secondary to some physical or other psychiatric comorbidity.

Keywords: delusional parasitosis, delusional infestations, rare, primary psychiatric diagnosis, antipsychotic agents

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Authors: Seval Kizildag, Ozge Can Aran

Abstract:

The effective intervention of counselors’ in conflict between spouses may be effective in increasing the quality of marital relationship. At this point, it is necessary for counselors to consider their own value systems at first and then reflect this correctly to the counseling process. For this reason, it is primarily important to determine the needs of counselors. Starting from this point of view, in this study, it is aimed to reveal the perspective of counselor candidates about the universal values in marriage relation. The study group of the survey was formed by sampling, which is one of the prospective sampling methods. As a criterion being a candidate for counseling area and having knowledge of the concepts of the Marriage and Family Counseling course is based, because, that candidate students have a comprehensive knowledge of the field and that students have mastered the concepts of marriage and family counseling will strengthen the findings of this study. For this reason, 61 counselor candidates, 32 (52%) female and 29 (48%) male counselor candidates, who were about to graduate from a university in south-east Turkey and who took a Marriage and Family Counseling course, voluntarily participated in the study. The average age of counselor candidates’ is 23. At the same time, 70 % of the parents of these candidates brought about their marriage through arranged marriage, 13% through flirting, 8% by relative marriage, 7% through friend circles and 2% by custom. The data were collected through Demographic Information Form and a form titled ‘Universal Values Form in Marriage’ which consists of six questions prepared by researchers. After the data were transferred to the computer, necessary statistical evaluations were made on the data. The qualitative data analysis was used on the data which was obtained in the study. The universal values which include six basic values covering trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship, determined under the name as ‘six pillar of character’ are used as base and frequency values of the data were calculated trough content analysis. According to the findings of the study, while the value which most students find the most important value in marriage relation is being reliable, the value which they find the least important is to have citizenship consciousness. Also in this study, it is found out that counselor candidates associate the value of being trustworthiness ‘loyalty’ with (33%) as the highest in terms of frequency, the value of being respect ‘No violence’ with (23%), the value of responsibility ‘in the context of gender roles and spouses doing their owns’ with (35%) the value of being fairness ‘impartiality’ with (25%), the value of being caring ‘ being helpful’ with (25%) and finally as to the value of citizenship ‘love of country’ with (14%) and’ respect for the laws ‘ with (14%). It is believed that these results of the study will contribute to the arrangements for the development of counseling skills for counselor candidates regarding value in marriage and family counseling curricula.

Keywords: caring, citizenship, counselor candidate, fairness, marriage relationship, respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, value system

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Authors: Babatope David Omoniyi, Fiona Lalor, Sinead Furey

Abstract:

This ongoing project investigates the impact of Brexit on consumer perceptions of trust in the food industry. Brexit has significantly impacted the food industry, triggering a paradigm shift in the movement of food/agricultural produce, regulations, and cross-border collaborations between Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. In a world where the dynamics have shifted because of regulatory changes that impact trade and the free movement of foods and agricultural produce between these three countries, monitoring and controlling every stage of the food supply chain have become challenging, increasing the potential for food fraud and food safety incidents. As consumers play a pivotal role in shaping the market, understanding any shifts in trust post-Brexit enables them to navigate the market with confidence and awareness. This study aims to explore the complexities of consumer perceptions, focusing on trust as a cornerstone of consumer confidence in the post-Brexit food landscape. The objectives include comparing trust in official controls pre- and post-Brexit, determining consumer awareness of food fraud, and devising recommendations that reflect the evidence from this primary research regarding consumer trust in food authenticity post-Brexit. The research design follows an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach, incorporating qualitative methods such as focus groups and structured interviews, along with quantitative research through a large-scale survey. Participants from UCD and Ulster University campuses, comprising academic and non-academic staff, students, and researchers, will provide insights into the impact of Brexit on consumer trust. Preliminary findings from focus groups and interviews highlight changes in labelling, reduced quantity and quality of foods in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, fewer food choices, and increased food prices since Brexit. The study aims to further investigate and quantify these impacts through a comprehensive large-scale survey involving participants from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The results will inform official controls and consumer-facing messaging contributing valuable insights to navigate the evolving post-Brexit food landscape.

Keywords: Brexit, consumer trust, food fraud, food authenticity, food safety, food industry

Procedia PDF Downloads 38