Search results for: human and animal power

Authors: Zeleke Ayalew Alemu

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This study aims to investigate tax administration constraints in Addis Ababa with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises by identifying issues and constraints in tax administration and assessment. The study identifies problems associated with taxpayers and tax-collecting authorities in the city. The research used qualitative and quantitative research designs and employed questionnaires, focus group discussion and key informant interviews for primary data collection and also used secondary data from different sources. The study identified many constraints that taxpayers are facing. Among others, tax administration offices’ inefficiency, reluctance to respond to taxpayers’ questions, limited tax assessment and administration knowledge and skills, and corruption and unethical practices are the major ones. Besides, the tax laws and regulations are complex and not enforced equally and fully on all taxpayers, causing a prevalence of business entities not paying taxes. This apparently results in an uneven playing field. Consequently, the tax system at present is neither fair nor transparent and increases compliance costs. In case of dispute, the appeal process is excessively long and the tax authority’s decision is irreversible. The Value Added Tax (VAT) administration and compliance system is not well designed, and VAT has created economic distortion among VAT-registered and non-registered taxpayers. Cash registration machine administration and the reporting system are big headaches for taxpayers. With regard to taxpayers, there is a lack of awareness of tax laws and documentation. Based on the above and other findings, the study forwarded recommendations, such as, ensuring fairness and transparency in tax collection and administration, enhancing the efficiency of tax authorities by use of modern technologies and upgrading human resources, conducting extensive awareness creation programs, and enforcing tax laws in a fair and equitable manner. The objective of this study is to assess problems, weaknesses and limitations of small and medium-sized enterprise taxpayers, tax authority administrations, and laws as sources of inefficiency and dissatisfaction to forward recommendations that bring about efficient, fair and transparent tax administration. The entire study has been conducted in a participatory and process-oriented manner by involving all partners and stakeholders at all levels. Accordingly, the researcher used participatory assessment methods in generating both secondary and primary data as well as both qualitative and quantitative data on the field. The research team held FGDs with 21 people from Addis Ababa City Administration tax offices and selected medium and small taxpayers. The study team also interviewed 10 KIIs selected from the various segments of stakeholders. The lead, along with research assistants, handled the KIIs using a predesigned semi-structured questionnaire.

Keywords: taxation, tax system, tax administration, small and medium enterprises

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Authors: Kaitlyn O'Mara, Michele Burford

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Estuaries and coastal bays can receive large quantities of sediment from surrounding catchments during flooding or high flow periods. Large river systems that feed freshwater into estuaries can flow through several catchments of varying geology. Human modification of catchments for agriculture, industry and urban use can contaminate soils with excess nutrients, trace metals and other pollutants. Land clearing, especially clearing of riparian vegetation, can accelerate erosion, mobilising, transporting and depositing soil particles into rivers, estuaries and coastal bays. In this study, a flood simulation experiment was used to study the flux of nutrients between soil particles and water during this erosion, transport and deposition process. Granite, sedimentary and basalt surface soils (as well as sub-soils of granite and sedimentary) were collected from eroding areas surrounding the Brisbane River, Australia. The <63 µm size fraction of each soil type was tumbled in freshwater for 3 days, to simulation flood erosion and transport, followed by stationary exposure to seawater for 4 weeks, to simulate deposition into estuaries. Filtered water samples were taken at multiple time points throughout the experiment and analysed for water nutrient concentrations. The highest rates of nutrient release occurred during the first hour of exposure to freshwater and seawater, indicating a chemical reaction with seawater that may act to release some nutrient particles that remain bound to the soil during turbulent freshwater transport. Although released at a slower rate than the first hour, all of the surface soil types showed continual ammonia, nitrite and nitrate release over the 4-week seawater exposure, suggesting that these soils may provide ongoing supply of these nutrients to estuarine waters after deposition. Basalt surface soil released the highest concentrations of phosphates and dissolved organic phosphorus. Basalt soils are found in much of the agricultural land surrounding the Brisbane River and contributed largely to the 2011 Brisbane River flood plume deposit in Moreton Bay, suggesting these soils may be a source of phosphate enrichment in the bay. The results of this study suggest that erosion of catchment soils during storm and flood events may be a source of nutrient supply in receiving waterways, both freshwater and marine, and that the amount of nutrient release following these events may be affected by the type of soil deposited. For example, flooding in different catchments of a river system over time may result in different algal and food web responses in receiving estuaries.

Keywords: flood, nitrogen, nutrient, phosphorus, sediment, soil

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Authors: A. Pallavi, N. Vijay Mohan

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A nation can be economically progressive only when the citizens have sufficient capacity to work efficiently to increase the productivity. So, good health must be regarded as a primary need of the community. This helps the growth and development of the body and the mind, which in turn leads to progress and prosperity of the nation. An optimum growth is a necessity for an efficient existence in a biologically adverse and economically competitive world. It is also necessary for the execution of daily routine work. Yoga is a method or a system for the complete development of the personality in a human being. It can be further elaborated as an all-around and complete development of the body, mind, morality, intellect and soul of a being. Sri Aurobindo defines yoga as 'a methodical effort towards self-perfection by the development of the potentialities in the individual.' Aerobic exercise as any activity that uses large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously, and is rhythmic I nature. It is a type of exercise that overloads the heart and lungs and causes them to work harder than at rest. The important idea behind aerobic exercise today, is to get up and get moving. There are more activities that ever to choose from, whether it is a new activity or an old one. Find something you enjoy doing that keeps our heart rate elevated for a continuous time period and get moving to a healthier life. Middle aged selected and served as the subjects for the purpose of this study. The selected subjects were in the age group of 30 to 40 years. By going through the literature and after consulting the experts in yoga and aerobic training, the investigator had chosen the variables which are specifically related to the middle-aged men. The selected physiological variables are pulse rate, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure; percent body fat and vital capacity. The selected psychological variables are job anxiety, occupational stress. The study was formulated as a random group design consisting of aerobic exercise and yogic exercises groups. The subjects (N=60) were at random divided into three equal groups of twenty middle-aged men each. The groups were assigned the names as follows: 1. Experimental group I- aerobic exercises group, 2. Experimental group II- yogic exercises, 3. Control group. All the groups were subjected to pre-test prior to the experimental treatment. The experimental groups participated in their respective duration of twenty-four weeks, six days in a week throughout the study. The various tests administered were: prior to training (pre-test), after twelfth week (second test) and twenty-fourth weeks (post-test) of the training schedule.

Keywords: pulse rate, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure; percent body fat and vital capacity, psychological variables, job anxiety, occupational stress, aerobic exercise, yogic exercise

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Authors: Stéphanie Looser, Walter Wehrmeyer

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Given the limited research on Small and Mediumsized Enterprises’ (SMEs) contribution to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and even scarcer research on Swiss SMEs, this paper helps to fill these gaps by enabling the identification of supranational SME parameters and to make a contribution to the evolving field of these topics. Thus, the paper investigates the current state of SME practices in Switzerland and across 15 other countries. Combining the degree to which SMEs demonstrate an explicit (or business case) approach or see CSR as an implicit moral activity with the assessment of their attributes for “variety of capitalism” defines the framework of this comparative analysis. According to previous studies, liberal market economies, e.g. in the United States (US) or United Kingdom (UK), are aligned with extrinsic CSR, while coordinated market systems (in Central European or Asian countries) evolve implicit CSR agendas. To outline Swiss small business CSR patterns in particular, 40 SME owner-managers were interviewed. The transcribed interviews were coded utilising MAXQDA for qualitative content analysis. A secondary data analysis of results from different countries (i.e., Australia, Austria, Chile, Cameroon, Catalonia (notably a part of Spain that seeks autonomy), China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong (a special administrative region of China), Italy, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, UK, US) lays groundwork for this comparative study on small business CSR. Applying the same coding categories (in MAXQDA) for the interview analysis as well as for the secondary data research while following grounded theory rules to refine and keep track of ideas generated testable hypotheses and comparative power on implicit (and the lower likelihood of explicit) CSR in SMEs retrospectively. The paper identifies Swiss small business CSR as deep, profound, “soul”, and an implicit part of the day-to-day business. Similar to most Central European, Mediterranean, Nordic, and Asian countries, explicit CSR is still very rare in Swiss SMEs. Astonishingly, also UK and US SMEs follow this pattern in spite of their strong and distinct liberal market economies. Though other findings show that nationality matters this research concludes that SME culture and its informal CSR agenda are strongly formative and superseding even forces of market economies, nationally cultural patterns, and language. In a world of “big business”, explicit “business case” CSR, and the mantra that “CSR must pay”, this study points to a distinctly implicit small business CSR model built on trust, physical closeness, and virtues that is largely detached from the bottom line. This pattern holds for different cultural contexts and it is concluded that SME culture is stronger than nationality leading to a supra-national, monolithic SME CSR approach. Hence, classifications of countries by their market system or capitalism, as found in the comparative capitalism literature, do not match the CSR practices in SMEs as they do not mirror the peculiarities of their business. This raises questions on the universality and generalisability of management concepts.

Keywords: CSR, comparative study, cultures of capitalism, small, medium-sized enterprises

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Authors: Diane Ghanem, Oscar Covarrubias, Michael Raad, Dawn LaPorte, Babar Shafiq

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Introduction: Standardized exams have long been considered a cornerstone in measuring cognitive competency and academic achievement. Their fixed nature and predetermined scoring methods offer a consistent yardstick for gauging intellectual acumen across diverse demographics. Consequently, the performance of artificial intelligence (AI) in this context presents a rich, yet unexplored terrain for quantifying AI's understanding of complex cognitive tasks and simulating human-like problem-solving skills. Publicly available AI language models such as ChatGPT have demonstrated utility in text generation and even problem-solving when provided with clear instructions. Amidst this transformative shift, the aim of this study is to assess ChatGPT’s performance on the orthopaedic surgery in-training examination (OITE). Methods: All 213 OITE 2021 web-based questions were retrieved from the AAOS-ResStudy website. Two independent reviewers copied and pasted the questions and response options into ChatGPT Plus (version 4.0) and recorded the generated answers. All media-containing questions were flagged and carefully examined. Twelve OITE media-containing questions that relied purely on images (clinical pictures, radiographs, MRIs, CT scans) and could not be rationalized from the clinical presentation were excluded. Cohen’s Kappa coefficient was used to examine the agreement of ChatGPT-generated responses between reviewers. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the performance (% correct) of ChatGPT Plus. The 2021 norm table was used to compare ChatGPT Plus’ performance on the OITE to national orthopaedic surgery residents in that same year. Results: A total of 201 were evaluated by ChatGPT Plus. Excellent agreement was observed between raters for the 201 ChatGPT-generated responses, with a Cohen’s Kappa coefficient of 0.947. 45.8% (92/201) were media-containing questions. ChatGPT had an average overall score of 61.2% (123/201). Its score was 64.2% (70/109) on non-media questions. When compared to the performance of all national orthopaedic surgery residents in 2021, ChatGPT Plus performed at the level of an average PGY3. Discussion: ChatGPT Plus is able to pass the OITE with a satisfactory overall score of 61.2%, ranking at the level of third-year orthopaedic surgery residents. More importantly, it provided logical reasoning and justifications that may help residents grasp evidence-based information and improve their understanding of OITE cases and general orthopaedic principles. With further improvements, AI language models, such as ChatGPT, may become valuable interactive learning tools in resident education, although further studies are still needed to examine their efficacy and impact on long-term learning and OITE/ABOS performance.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, orthopaedic in-training examination, OITE, orthopedic surgery, standardized testing

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Authors: Robby Y. Tallar, Nikodemus L., Yuri S., Jian P. Suen

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Research in the subject of ecological water resources management is full of trivial questions addressed and it seems, today to be one branch of science that can strongly contribute to the study of complexity (physical, biological, ecological, socio-economic, environmental, and other aspects). Existing literature available on different facets of these studies, much of it is technical and targeted for specific users. This study offered the combination all aspects in evaluation methodology for aquaculture lakes with its paradigm refer to hierarchical theory and to the effects of spatial specific arrangement of an object into a space or local area. Therefore, the process in developing a conceptual framework represents the more integrated and related applicable concept from the grounded theory. A design of integrated evaluation methodology for aquaculture lakes is presented. The method is based on the identification of a series of attributes which can be used to describe status of aquaculture lakes using certain indicators from aquaculture water quality index (AWQI), aesthetic aquaculture lake index (AALI) and rapid appraisal for fisheries index (RAPFISH). The preliminary preparation could be accomplished as follows: first, the characterization of study area was undertaken at different spatial scales. Second, an inventory data as a core resource such as city master plan, water quality reports from environmental agency, and related government regulations. Third, ground-checking survey should be completed to validate the on-site condition of study area. In order to design an integrated evaluation methodology for aquaculture lakes, finally we integrated and developed rating scores system which called Integrated Aquaculture Lake Index (IALI).The development of IALI are reflecting a compromise all aspects and it responds the needs of concise information about the current status of aquaculture lakes by the comprehensive approach. IALI was elaborated as a decision aid tool for stakeholders to evaluate the impact and contribution of anthropogenic activities on the aquaculture lake’s environment. The conclusion was while there is no denying the fact that the aquaculture lakes are under great threat from the pressure of the increasing human activities, one must realize that no evaluation methodology for aquaculture lakes can succeed by keeping the pristine condition. The IALI developed in this work can be used as an effective, low-cost evaluation methodology of aquaculture lakes for developing countries. Because IALI emphasizes the simplicity and understandability as it must communicate to decision makers and the experts. Moreover, stakeholders need to be helped to perceive their lakes so that sites can be accepted and valued by local people. For this site of lake development, accessibility and planning designation of the site is of decisive importance: the local people want to know whether the lake condition is safe or whether it can be used.

Keywords: aesthetic value, AHP, aquaculture lakes, integrated lakes, RAPFISH

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Authors: Daniel Rowe, Christopher R. Vogel, Richard H. J. Willden

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The University of Oxford’s recirculating water flume is a combined wave and current test tank with a 1 m depth, 1.1 m width, and 10 m long working section, and is capable of flow speeds up to 1 ms−1 . This study documents the hydrodynamic characteristics of the facility in preparation for experimental testing of horizontal axis tidal stream turbine models. The turbine to be tested has a rotor diameter of 0.6 m and is a modified version of one of two model-scale turbines tested in previous experimental campaigns. An Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) was used to measure the flow at high temporal resolution at various locations throughout the flume, enabling the spatial uniformity and turbulence flow parameters to be investigated. The mean velocity profiles exhibited high levels of spatial uniformity at the design speed of the flume, 0.6 ms−1 , with variations in the three-dimensional velocity components on the order of ±1% at the 95% confidence level, along with a modest streamwise acceleration through the measurement domain, a target 5 m working section of the flume. A high degree of uniformity was also apparent for the turbulence intensity, with values ranging between 1-2% across the intended swept area of the turbine rotor. The integral scales of turbulence exhibited a far higher degree of variation throughout the water column, particularly in the streamwise and vertical scales. This behaviour is believed to be due to the high signal noise content leading to decorrelation in the sampling records. To achieve more realistic levels of vertical velocity shear in the flume, a simple procedure to practically generate target vertical shear profiles in open-channel flows is described. Here, the authors arranged a series of non-uniformly spaced parallel bars placed across the width of the flume and normal to the onset flow. By adjusting the resistance grading across the height of the working section, the downstream profiles could be modified accordingly, characterised by changes in the velocity profile power law exponent, 1/n. Considering the significant temporal variation in a tidal channel, the choice of the exponent denominator, n = 6 and n = 9, effectively provides an achievable range around the much-cited value of n = 7 observed at many tidal sites. The resulting flow profiles, which we intend to use in future turbine tests, have been characterised in detail. The results indicate non-uniform vertical shear across the survey area and reveal substantial corner flows, arising from the differential shear between the target vertical and cross-stream shear profiles throughout the measurement domain. In vertically sheared flow, the rotor-equivalent turbulence intensity ranges between 3.0-3.8% throughout the measurement domain for both bar arrangements, while the streamwise integral length scale grows from a characteristic dimension on the order of the bar width, similar to the flow downstream of a turbulence-generating grid. The experimental tests are well-defined and repeatable and serve as a reference for other researchers who wish to undertake similar investigations.

Keywords: acoustic doppler Velocimeter, experimental hydrodynamics, open-channel flow, shear profiles, tidal stream turbines

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Authors: Chunyang Miao, Bingxin Li, Shanglong Ning, Christopher J. B. Ford

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While it is challenging to fabricate electronic devices close to atomic dimensions in conventional top-down lithography, molecular electronics is promising to help maintain the exponential increase in component densities via using molecular building blocks to fabricate electronic components from the bottom up. It offers smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient electronic and photonic systems. A self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of molecules is a layer of molecules that self-assembles on a substrate. They are mechanically flexible, optically transparent, low-cost, and easy to fabricate. A large-area multi-layer structure has been designed and investigated by the team, where a SAM of designed molecules is sandwiched between graphene and gold electrodes. Each molecule can act as a quantum dot, with all molecules conducting in parallel. When a source-drain bias is applied, significant current flows only if a molecular orbital (HOMO or LUMO) lies within the source-drain energy window. If electrons tunnel sequentially on and off the molecule, the charge on the molecule is well-defined and the finite charging energy causes Coulomb blockade of transport until the molecular orbital comes within the energy window. This produces ‘Coulomb diamonds’ in the conductance vs source-drain and gate voltages. For different tunnel barriers at either end of the molecule, it is harder for electrons to tunnel out of the dot than in (or vice versa), resulting in the accumulation of two or more charges and a ‘Coulomb staircase’ in the current vs voltage. This nanostructure exhibits highly reproducible Coulomb-staircase patterns, together with additional oscillations, which are believed to be attributed to molecular vibrations. Molecules are more isolated than semiconductor dots, and so have a discrete phonon spectrum. When tunnelling into or out of a molecule, one or more vibronic states can be excited in the molecule, providing additional transport channels and resulting in additional peaks in the conductance. For useful molecular electronic devices, achieving the optimum orbital alignment of molecules to the Fermi energy in the leads is essential. To explore it, a drop of ionic liquid is employed on top of the graphene to establish an electric field at the graphene, which screens poorly, gating the molecules underneath. Results for various molecules with different alignments of Fermi energy to HOMO have shown highly reproducible Coulomb-diamond patterns, which agree reasonably with DFT calculations. In summary, this large-area SAM molecular junction is a promising candidate for future electronic circuits. (1) The small size (1-10nm) of the molecules and good flexibility of the SAM lead to the scalable assembly of ultra-high densities of functional molecules, with advantages in cost, efficiency, and power dissipation. (2) The contacting technique using graphene enables mass fabrication. (3) Its well-observed Coulomb blockade behaviour, narrow molecular resonances, and well-resolved vibronic states offer good tuneability for various functionalities, such as switches, thermoelectric generators, and memristors, etc.

Keywords: molecular electronics, Coulomb blokade, electron-phonon coupling, self-assembled monolayer

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Authors: Matteo Gentilucci, Marco Materazzi, Gilberto Pambianchi

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Climate change is an increasingly central issue in the world, because it affects many of human activities. In this context regional studies are of great importance because they sometimes differ from the general trend. This research focuses on a small area of central Italy which overlooks the Adriatic Sea, the province of Macerata. The aim is to analyze space-based climate changes, for precipitation and temperatures, in the last 3 climatological standard normals (1961-1990; 1971-2000; 1981-2010) through GIS software. The data collected from 30 weather stations for temperature and 61 rain gauges for precipitation were subject to quality controls: validation and homogenization. These data were fundamental for the spatialization of the variables (temperature and precipitation) through geostatistical techniques. To assess the best geostatistical technique for interpolation, the results of cross correlation were used. The co-kriging method with altitude as independent variable produced the best cross validation results for all time periods, among the methods analysed, with 'root mean square error standardized' close to 1, 'mean standardized error' close to 0, 'average standard error' and 'root mean square error' with similar values. The maps resulting from the analysis were compared by subtraction between rasters, producing 3 maps of annual variation and three other maps for each month of the year (1961/1990-1971/2000; 1971/2000-1981/2010; 1961/1990-1981/2010). The results show an increase in average annual temperature of about 0.1°C between 1961-1990 and 1971-2000 and 0.6 °C between 1961-1990 and 1981-2010. Instead annual precipitation shows an opposite trend, with an average difference from 1961-1990 to 1971-2000 of about 35 mm and from 1961-1990 to 1981-2010 of about 60 mm. Furthermore, the differences in the areas have been highlighted with area graphs and summarized in several tables as descriptive analysis. In fact for temperature between 1961-1990 and 1971-2000 the most areally represented frequency is 0.08°C (77.04 Km² on a total of about 2800 km²) with a kurtosis of 3.95 and a skewness of 2.19. Instead, the differences for temperatures from 1961-1990 to 1981-2010 show a most areally represented frequency of 0.83 °C, with -0.45 as kurtosis and 0.92 as skewness (36.9 km²). Therefore it can be said that distribution is more pointed for 1961/1990-1971/2000 and smoother but more intense in the growth for 1961/1990-1981/2010. In contrast, precipitation shows a very similar shape of distribution, although with different intensities, for both variations periods (first period 1961/1990-1971/2000 and second one 1961/1990-1981/2010) with similar values of kurtosis (1st = 1.93; 2nd = 1.34), skewness (1st = 1.81; 2nd = 1.62 for the second) and area of the most represented frequency (1st = 60.72 km²; 2nd = 52.80 km²). In conclusion, this methodology of analysis allows the assessment of small scale climate change for each month of the year and could be further investigated in relation to regional atmospheric dynamics.

Keywords: climate change, GIS, interpolation, co-kriging

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Authors: M. K. Sheikh, Y. M. Laghari., P. K. Lashari., N. T. Narejo

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The Indus River is one of the longest important rivers of the world in Asia that flows southward through Pakistan, merges into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi in Sindh Province, and forms the Indus Delta. Fish are an important resource for humans worldwide, especially as food. In fish, healthy nutriments are present which are not found in any other meat source because it have a huge quantity of omega- 3 fatty acids, which are very essential for the human body. Ichthyologic surveys were conducted to explore the diversity of freshwater fishes, distribution, abundance and current status of the fishes at different spatial scale of the downstream, Indus River. Total eight stations were selected namely Railo Miyan (RM), Karokho (Kk), Khanpur (Kp), Mullakatiyar (Mk), Wasi Malook Shah (WMS), Branch Morie (BM), Sujawal (Sj) and Jangseer (JS). The study was carried in the period of January 2016 to December 2019 to identify River and biodiversity threats and to suggest recommendations for conservation. The data were analysed by different population diversity index. Altogether, 124 species were recorded belonging to 12 Orders and 43 Families from the downstream of Indus River. Among 124 species, 29% belong to high commercial value and 35% were trash fishes. 31% of fishes were identified as marine/estuarine origin (migratory) and 05% were exotic fish species. Perciformes is the most predominated order, contributing to 41% of families. Among 43 families, the family Cyprinidae was the richest family from all localities of downstream, represented by 24% of fish species demonstrating a significant dominance in the number of species. A significant difference was observed for species abundance in between all sites, the maximum abundance species were found at first location RM having 115 species and minimum observed at the last station JS 56 genera. In the recorded Ichthyofauna, seven groups were found according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature status (IUCN), where a high species ratio was collected, in Least Concern (LC) having 94 species, 11 were found as not evaluated (NE), whereas 8 was identified as near threatened (NT), 1 was recorded as critically endangered (CR), 11 were collected as data deficient (DD), and while 8 was observed as vulnerable (VU) and 3 endangered (EN) species. Different diversity index has been used extensively in environmental studies to estimate the species richness and abundance of ecosystems outputs of their wellness; a positive environment (biodiversity rich) with species at RM had an environmental wellness and biodiversity levels of 4.566% while a negative control environment (biodiversity poor) on last station JS had an environmental wellness and biodiversity levels of 3.931%. The status of fish biodiversity and river has been found under serious threat. Due to the lower diversity of fishes, it became not only venerable for fish but also risky for fishermen. Necessary steps are recommended to protect the biodiversity by conducting further conservative research in this area.

Keywords: ichthyofaunal biodiversity, threatened species, diversity index, Indus River downstream

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Authors: Agnieszka Antończyk, MałGorzata Ochota, Wojciech Niżański, ZdzisłAw Kiełbowicz

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The goal of the cesarean section (CS) is the delivery of healthy, vigorous pups with the provision of surgical plane anesthesia, appropriate analgesia, and rapid recovery of the dam. In human medicine, spinal or epidural anesthesia is preferred for a cesarean section as associated with a lower risk of neonatal asphyxia and the need for resuscitation. Nevertheless, the specificity of veterinary patients makes the application of regional anesthesia as a sole technique impractical, thus to obtain patient compliance the general anesthesia is required. This study aimed to compare the influence of balanced (inhalant with epidural) and inhalant anesthesia on neonatal umbilical cord blood gas (UCBG) parameters and vitality (modified Apgar scoring). The bitches (31) undergoing elective CS were enrolled in this study. All females received a single dose of 0.2 mg/kg s.c. Meloxicam. Females were randomly assigned into two groups: Gr I (Isoflurane, n=16) and Gr IE (Isoflurane plus Epidural, n=15). Anesthesia was induced with propofol at 4-6 mg/kg to effect, and maintained with isoflurane in oxygen; in IE group epidural anesthesia was also done using lidocaine (3-4 mg/kg) into the lumbosacral space. CSs were performed using a standard mid-line approach. Directly after the puppy extraction, the umbilical cord was double clamped before the placenta detachment. The vessels were gently stretched between forceps to allow blood sampling. At least 100 mcl of mixed umbilical cord blood was collected into a heparinized syringe for further analysis. The modified Apgar scoring system (AS) was used to objectively score neonatal health and vitality immediately after birth (before first aid or neonatal care was instituted), at 5 and 20 min after birth. The neonates were scored as normal (AS 7-10), weak (AS 4-6), or critical (AS 0-3). During surgery, the IE group required a lower isoflurane concentration compared to the females in group I (MAC 1.05±0.2 and 1.4±0.13, respectively, p<0.01). All investigated UCBG parameters were not statistically different between groups. All pups had mild acidosis (pH 7.21±0.08 and 7.21±0.09 in Gr I and IE, respectively) with moderately elevated pCO2 (Gr I 57.18±11.48, Gr IE 58.74±15.07), HCO3- on the lower border (Gr I 22.58±3.24, Gr IE 22.83±3.6), lowered BE (Gr I -6.1±3.57, Gr IE -5.6±4.19) and mildly elevated level of lactates (Gr I 2.58±1.48, Gr IE2.53±1.03). The glucose levels were above the reference limits in both groups of puppies (74.50±25.32 in Gr I, 79.50±29.73 in Gr IE). The initial Apgar score results were similar in I and IE groups. However, the subsequent measurements of AS revealed significant differences between both groups. Puppies from the IE group received better AS scores at 5 and 20 min compared to the I group (6.86±2.23 and 8.06±2.06 vs 5.11±2.40 and 7.83±2.05, respectively). The obtained results demonstrated that administration of epidural anesthesia reduced the requirement for isoflurane in dams undergoing cesarean section and did not affect the neonatal umbilical blood gas results. Moreover, newborns from the epidural anesthesia group were scored significantly higher in AS at 5 and 20 min, indicating their better vitality and quicker improvement post-surgery.

Keywords: apgar scoring, balanced anesthesia, cesarean section, umbilical blood gas

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Authors: Gadanya, A.M., Ponfa, S., Jibril, M.M., Abubakar, S. M.

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Background: Edible insects such as grasshopper are important sources of food for humans, and have been consumed as traditional foods by many indigenous communities especially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These communities have developed their skills and techniques in harvesting, preparing, consuming, and preserving edible insects, widely contributing to the role played by the use of insects in human nutrition. Aim/ objective: This study was aimed at determining the effect of insect enriched sprouted soyabean /millet based food on some gut health markers in albino rats. Methods. Four different formulations of Complementary foods (i.e Complementary Food B (CFB): sprouted millet (SM), Complementary Food C (CFC): sprouted soyabean (SSB), Complementary Food D (CFD): sprouted soybean and millet (SSBM) in a ratio of (50:50) and Complementary Food E (CFE): insect (grasshopper) enriched sprouted soybean and millet (SSBMI) in a ratio of (50:25:25)) were prepared. Proximate composition and short chain fatty acid contents were determined. Thirty albino rats were divided into5 groups of six rats each. Group 1(CDA) were fed with basal diet and served as a control group, while groups 2,3,4 and 5 were fed with the corresponding complimentary foods CFB, CFC, CFD and CFE respectively daily for four weeks. Concentrations of fecal protein, serum total carotenoids and nitric oxide were determined. DNA extraction for molecular isolation and characterization were carried out followed by PCR, the use of mega 11 software and NCBI blast for construction of the phylogenetic tree and organism identification respectively. Results: Significant increase (P<0.05) in percentage ash, fat, protein and moisture contents, as well as short chain fatty acid (acetate, butyrate and propionate) concentrations were recorded in the insect enriched sprouted composite food (CFE) when compared with the CFA, CFB, CFC and CFD composite food. Faecal protein, carotenoid and nitric oxide concentrations were significantly lower (P>0.05) in group 5 in comparison to groups 1to 4. Ruminococcus bromii and Bacteroidetes were molecularly isolated and characterized by 16s rRNA from the sprouted millet/sprouted soybean and the insect enriched sprouted soybean/sprouted millet based food respectively. The presence of these bacterial strains in the feaces of the treated rats is an indication that the gut of the treated rats is colonized by good gut bacteria, hence, an improved gut health. Conclusion: Insect enriched sprouted soya bean/sprouted millet based complementary diet showed a high composition of ash, fat, protein and fiber. Thus, could increase the availability of short chain fatty acids whose role to the host organism cannot be overemphasized. It was also found to have decrease the level of faecal protein, carotenoid and nitric oxide in the serum which is an indication of an improvement in the immune system function.

Keywords: gut-health, insect, millet, soybean, sprouted

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Authors: Akmez Nabeerasool, Michaelis Massaros, Nigel Brown, David Sanderson, David Parocki, Charlotte Thompson, Mike Lodge, Mikael Khan

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The provision of clean and safe drinking water is of paramount importance and is a basic human need. Water scarcity coupled with tightening of regulations and the inability of current treatment technologies to deal with emerging contaminants and Pharmaceuticals and personal care products means that alternative treatment technologies that are viable and cost effective are required in order to meet demand and regulations for clean water supplies. Logistically, the application of water treatment in rural areas presents unique challenges due to the decentralisation of abstraction points arising from low population density and the resultant lack of infrastructure as well as the need to treat water at the site of use. This makes it costly to centralise treatment facilities and hence provide potable water direct to the consumer. Furthermore, across the UK there are segments of the population that rely on a private water supply which means that the owner or user(s) of these supplies, which can serve one household to hundreds, are responsible for the maintenance. The treatment of these private water supply falls on the private owners, and it is imperative that a chemical free technological solution that can operate unattended and does not produce any waste is employed. Arvia’s patented advanced oxidation technology combines the advantages of adsorption and electrochemical regeneration within a single unit; the Organics Destruction Cell (ODC). The ODC uniquely uses a combination of adsorption and electrochemical regeneration to destroy organics. Key to this innovative process is an alternative approach to adsorption. The conventional approach is to use high capacity adsorbents (e.g. activated carbons with high porosities and surface areas) that are excellent adsorbents, but require complex and costly regeneration. Arvia’s technology uses a patent protected adsorbent, Nyex™, which is a non-porous, highly conductive, graphite based adsorbent material that enables it to act as both the adsorbent and as a 3D electrode. Adsorbed organics are oxidised and the surface of the Nyex™ is regenerated in-situ for further adsorption without interruption or replacement. Treated water flows from the bottom of the cell where it can either be re-used or safely discharged. Arvia™ Technology Ltd. has trialled the application of its tertiary water treatment technology in treating reservoir water abstracted near Glasgow, Scotland, with promising results. Several other pilot plants have also been successfully deployed at various locations in the UK showing the suitability and effectiveness of the technology in removing recalcitrant organics (including pharmaceuticals, steroids and hormones), COD and colour.

Keywords: Arvia™ process, adsorption, water treatment, electrochemical oxidation

Procedia PDF Downloads 263

Authors: Aguasanta Miguel Sarmiento, José Miguel Dávila, María Luisa de la Torre

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Acid mine drainage (AMD) is an acidic leachate with high levels of metals and sulphates in solution, which seriously affects the durability and strength of metallic materials used in the construction of structural and mechanical components. This paper presents the results of the evolution over time of the reduction in tensile strength and defects in AISI 304 stainless steel in contact with acid mine drainage. For this purpose, a total of 30 bars with a diameter of 8 mm and a length of 14 cm were placed transversely in the course of a stream contaminated by AMD from the sulphide mines of the Iberian Pyritic Belt (SW Spain). This stream has average pH values of 2.6, a potential of 660 mV, and average concentrations of 12 g/L of sulphates, 1.2 g/L of Fe, 191 mg/L of Zn, etc. Every two months of exposure, 6 stainless steel bars were extracted from the acid stream. They were subjected to surface roughness analysis carried out with the help of Mitutoyo Surftest SJ-210 surface roughness tester. The analysis was carried out at three different points on 5 specimens from each series. The average reading of each parameter is calculated in order to ensure the accuracy of the measurements and the surface coverage. Arithmetic mean roughness value (Ra), mean roughness depth (Rz), and root mean square roughness (Rq) were measured. Five specimens from each series were statically tensile tested using universal equipment (Servosis ME 403 of 200kN). The specimens were clamped at their ends with two grips for cylindrical sections, and the tensile force was applied at a constant speed of 0.5 kN/s, according to the requirements of standard UNE-EN ISO 6892-1: 2020. To determine the modulus of elasticity, limits close to 15% and 55% of the maximum load were used, depending on the course of each test. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) was used to observe corrosion products and defects generated by exposure to AMD. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) was used to analyse the chemical composition of the corrosion products formed. For this purpose, small pieces were cut from the resulting specimens, cleaned, and embedded in epoxy resin. The results show that after only 5 months of exposure of AISI 304 stainless steel to the mining environment, the surface roughness increases significantly, with average depths almost 6 times greater than the initial one. Cracks are observed on the surface of the material, which increases in size with the time of exposure. A large number of grains with a composition of more than 57% Pb and 16% Sn can be observed inside these cracks. Tensile tests show a reduction in the resistance of this material after only two months of exposure. The results show the serious problems that would result from the use of this material for the use of mechanical components in a sulphide mining environment, not only because of the significant reduction in the lifetime of such components, but also because of the implications for human safety.

Keywords: acid mine drainage, corrosion, mechanical properties, stainless steel

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Authors: Lhoussain Simour

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This paper discusses the reordering and reorientation Moroccan Oossified and frozen histories in national and colonial archives. It attempts to reexamine Moroccan non-canonical voices beyond borders, their forgotten experiences and itineraries, with the aim of uncovering cultural discourses pertaining to early cultural and artistic interactions between Morocco and the western countries, namely Britain and America. In fact, less attention has been given to the presence of Moroccan entertainers beyond borders in the archives of history. Moroccan historians and cultural critics seem to have paid little critical consideration to Moroccan artistic encounters with the west, Europe and America as a case in point. They have overlooked to deal with travel performances, professional entertainments, and artistic spectacles, initiated by acrobats, as instances of visual cross-cultural encounters between Morocco and the west. The narratives of these professional artists have hardly found their ways into historiographical writing. This contribution attempts to locate the contesting beginnings of Moroccan professional entertainers in western show business in the nineteenth century which witnessed intricate artistic, discursive and cultural junctures by emphasizing connections between theatrical performances, ethnic exhibition and world fair expositions. Moroccan professional performances grew in Europe and America within a zealous context marked by the rise of a paradigmatic racial consciousness that sought to authenticate and legitimate ethnic discourses of power and exclusion. The ethnic taxonomies and racial hierarchies governed by ethnographic and anthropological documentation fueled up entertainment venues and popular theatrical performances and helped in developing a distinctive view about Self and Other paradigms. Moroccan travelers started their journeys to visit European and American countries to exhibit their acrobatics acts. They, in a certain sense, continued, albeit in varying degrees and circumstances, the whole tradition of travel initiated previously by their ancestor diplomats and ambassadors. Professional entertainers embarked on daring journeys across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to discover new geographies and cultural spaces, and perform their spectacles beyond borders. These travelers left rich archival documents that reflect important cultural and historical moments. The routes of travel started from the margins of the empire towards metropolitan centers of nineteenth century Europe and America included Moroccan women travelers as acrobats and dancing professional artists as well. These also crossed the straits of Gibraltar and journeyed through the Atlantic Ocean to visit western countries. Moroccan women travelers took part in various Euro-American theatre performances and in circus shows as early as 1850 according to newspapers archives and passengers shipping lists. Najat Amburg, Zahar Ben Tahar, Torquia, Fadma, and many more whose names are now lost to us, moved freely in various western capital cities to entertain nineteenth century western audiences.

Keywords: archives, cultural encounters, self and other, Morocco, travel, Moroccan acrobats, Moorish dancing women

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: B. S. Muddukrishna, Karthik Aithal, Aravind Pai

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Introduction: Preparation of binary cocrystals of Etraverine (ETR) by using Tartaric Acid (TAR) as a conformer was the main focus of this study. Etravirine is a Class IV drug, as per the BCS classification system. Methods: Cocrystals were prepared by slow evaporation technique. A mixture of total 500mg of ETR: TAR was weighed in molar ratios of 1:1 (371.72mg of ETR and 128.27mg of TAR). Saturated solution of Etravirine was prepared in Acetone: Methanol (50:50) mixture in which tartaric acid is dissolved by sonication and then this solution was stirred using a magnetic stirrer until the solvent got evaporated. Shimadzu FTIR – 8300 system was used to acquire the FTIR spectra of the cocrystals prepared. Shimadzu thermal analyzer was used to achieve DSC measurements. X-ray diffractometer was used to obtain the X-ray powder diffraction pattern. Shake flask method was used to determine the equilibrium dynamic solubility of pure, physical mixture and cocrystals of ETR. USP buffer (pH 6.8) containing 1% of Tween 80 was used as the medium. The pure, physical mixture and the optimized cocrystal of ETR were accurately weighed sufficient to maintain the sink condition and were filled in hard gelatine capsules (size 4). Electrolab-Tablet Dissolution tester using basket apparatus at a rotational speed of 50 rpm and USP phosphate buffer (900 mL, pH = 6.8, 37 ˚C) + 1% Tween80 as a media, was used to carry out dissolution. Shimadzu LC-10 series chromatographic system was used to perform the analysis with PDA detector. An Hypersil BDS C18 (150mm ×4.6 mm ×5 µm) column was used for separation with mobile phase comprising of a mixture of ace¬tonitrile and phosphate buffer 20mM, pH 3.2 in the ratio 60:40 v/v. The flow rate was 1.0mL/min and column temperature was set to 30°C. The detection was carried out at 304 nm for ETR. Results and discussions: The cocrystals were subjected to various solid state characterization and the results confirmed the formation of cocrystals. The C=O stretching vibration (1741cm-1) in tartaric acid was disappeared in the cocrystal and the peak broadening of primary amine indicates hydrogen bond formation. The difference in the melting point of cocrystals when compared to pure Etravirine (265 °C) indicates interaction between the drug and the coformer which proves that first ordered transformation i.e. melting endotherm has disappeared. The difference in 2θ values of pure drug and cocrystals indicates the interaction between the drug and the coformer. Dynamic solubility and dissolution studies were also conducted by shake flask method and USP apparatus one respectively and 3.6 fold increase in the dynamic solubility were observed and in-vitro dissolution study shows four fold increase in the solubility for the ETR: TAR (1:1) cocrystals. The ETR: TAR (1:1) cocrystals shows improved solubility and dissolution as compared to the pure drug which was clearly showed by solid state characterization and dissolution studies.

Keywords: dynamic solubility, Etraverine, in vitro dissolution, slurry method

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Authors: Marzieh Ahmadi, Ruhullah Alikhan Gorgani

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The usual methods of measuring regional inequalities can not reflect the internal changes of the country in terms of their displacement in different development groups, and the indicators of inequalities are not effective in demonstrating the dynamics of the distribution of inequality. For this purpose, this paper examines the dynamics of the urban inertial transport in the country during the period of 2006-2016 using the CIRD multidimensional index and stochastic kernel density method. it firstly selects 25 indicators in five dimensions including macroeconomic conditions, science and innovation, environmental sustainability, human capital and public facilities, and two-stage Principal Component Analysis methodology are developed to create a composite index of inequality. Then, in the second stage, using a nonparametric analytical approach to internal distribution dynamics and a stochastic kernel density method, the convergence hypothesis of the CIRD index of the Iranian provinces center is tested, and then, based on the ergodic density, long-run equilibrium is shown. Also, at this stage, for the purpose of adopting accurate regional policies, the distribution dynamics and process of convergence or divergence of the Iranian provinces for each of the five. According to the results of the first Stage, in 2006 & 2016, the highest level of development is related to Tehran and zahedan is at the lowest level of development. The results show that the central cities of the country are at the highest level of development due to the effects of Tehran's knowledge spillover and the country's lower cities are at the lowest level of development. The main reason for this may be the lack of access to markets in the border provinces. Based on the results of the second stage, which examines the dynamics of regional inequality transmission in the country during 2006-2016, the first year (2006) is not multifaceted and according to the kernel density graph, the CIRD index of about 70% of the cities. The value is between -1.1 and -0.1. The rest of the sequence on the right is distributed at a level higher than -0.1. In the kernel distribution, a convergence process is observed and the graph points to a single peak. Tends to be a small peak at about 3 but the main peak at about-0.6. According to the chart in the final year (2016), the multidimensional pattern remains and there is no mobility in the lower level groups, but at the higher level, the CIRD index accounts for about 45% of the provinces at about -0.4 Take it. That this year clearly faces the twin density pattern, which indicates that the cities tend to be closely related to each other in terms of development, so that the cities are low in terms of development. Also, according to the distribution dynamics results, the provinces of Iran follow the single-density density pattern in 2006 and the double-peak density pattern in 2016 at low and moderate inequality index levels and also in the development index. The country diverges during the years 2006 to 2016.

Keywords: Urban Disparity, CIRD Index, Convergence, Distribution Dynamics, Random Kernel Density

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: T. N. Tran Thi, J. Morse, C. Detlefs, P. K. Cook, C. Yıldırım, A. C. Jakobsen, T. Zhou, J. Hartwig, V. Zurbig, D. Caliste, B. Fernandez, D. Eon, O. Loto, M. L. Hicks, A. Pakpour-Tabrizi, J. Baruchel

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The ability to grow boron-doped diamond epilayers of high crystalline quality is a prerequisite for the fabrication of diamond power electronic devices, in particular high voltage diodes and metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors. Boron and intrinsic diamond layers are homoepitaxially overgrown by microwave assisted chemical vapour deposition (MWCVD) on single crystal high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) grown bulk diamond substrates. Various epilayer thicknesses were grown, with dopant concentrations ranging from 1021 atom/cm³ at nanometer thickness in the case of 'delta doping', up 1016 atom/cm³ and 50µm thickness or high electric field drift regions. The crystalline quality of these overgrown layers as regards defects, strain, distortion… is critical for the device performance through its relation to the final electrical properties (Hall mobility, breakdown voltage...). In addition to the optimization of the epilayer growth conditions in the MWCVD reactor, other important questions related to the crystalline quality of the overgrown layer(s) are: 1) what is the dependence on the bulk quality and surface preparation methods of the HPHT diamond substrate? 2) how do defects already present in the substrate crystal propagate into the overgrown layer; 3) what types of new defects are created during overgrowth, what are their growth mechanisms, and how can these defects be avoided? 4) how can we relate in a quantitative manner parameters related to the measured crystalline quality of the boron doped layer to the electronic properties of final processed devices? We describe synchrotron-based techniques developed to address these questions. These techniques allow the visualization of local defects and crystal distortion which complements the data obtained by other well-established analysis methods such as AFM, SIMS, Hall conductivity…. We have used Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) at the ID01 beamline of the ESRF to study lattice parameters and damage (strain, tilt and mosaic spread) both in diamond substrate near surface layers and in thick (10–50 µm) overgrown boron doped diamond epi-layers. Micro- and nano-section topography have been carried out at both the BM05 and ID06-ESRF) beamlines using rocking curve imaging techniques to study defects which have propagated from the substrate into the overgrown layer(s) and their influence on final electronic device performance. These studies were performed using various commercially sourced HPHT grown diamond substrates, with the MWCVD overgrowth carried out at the Fraunhofer IAF-Germany. The synchrotron results are in good agreement with low-temperature (5°K) cathodoluminescence spectroscopy carried out on the grown samples using an Inspect F5O FESEM fitted with an IHR spectrometer.

Keywords: synchrotron X-ray diffaction, crystalline quality, defects, diamond overgrowth, rocking curve imaging

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Authors: M. Kamimukai, M. Bhattarai, B. B. Rana, K. Maeda, H. B. Kc, T. Kawano, M. Murai

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Most of the aged people older than 70 have difficulty in chewing and swallowing more or less. According to magnitude of this difficulty, gruel, “nanhan” (semi-soft rice) and ordinary cooked rice are served in general, particularly in sanatoriums and homes for old people in Japan. Nanhan is the name of a cooked rice used in Japan, having softness intermediate between gruel and ordinary cooked rice, which is boiled with intermediate amount of water between those of the latter two kinds of cooked rice. In the present study, nanhan was made in the rate of 240g of water to 100g of milled rice with an electric rice cooker. Murai developed a high amylose-content and high-yielding elite line ‘Murai 79’. Sensory eating-quality test was performed for nanhan and ordinary cooked rice of Murai 79 and the standard variety ‘Hinohikari’ which is a high eating-quality variety representative in southern Japan. Panelists (6 to 14 persons) scored each cooked rice in six items viz. taste, stickiness, hardness, flavor, external appearance and overall evaluation. Grading (-3 ~ +3) in each trait was performed, regarding the value of the standard variety Hinohikari as 0. Paddy rice produced in a farmer’s field in 2013 and 2014 and in an experimental field of Kochi University in 2015 and 2016 were used for the sensory test. According to results of the sensory eating-quality test for nanhan, Murai 79 is higher in overall evaluation than Hinohikari in the four years. The former was less sticky than the latter in the four years, but the former was statistically significantly harder than the latter throughout the four years. In external appearance, the former was significantly higher than the latter in the four years. In the taste, the former was significantly higher than the latter in 2014, but significant difference was not noticed between them in the other three years. There were no significant differences throughout the four years in flavor. Regarding amylose content, Murai 79 is higher by 3.7 and 5.7% than Hinohikari in 2015 and 2016, respectively. As for protein content, Murai 79 was higher than Hinohikari in 2015, but the former was lower than the latter in 2016. Consequently, the nanhan of Murai 79 was harder and less sticky, keeping the shape of grains as compared with that of Hinohikari, which may be due to its higher amylose content. Hence, the nanhan of Murai 79 may be recognized as grains more easily in a human mouth, which could make easier the continuous performance of mastication and deglutition particularly in aged persons. Regarding ordinary cooked rice, Murai 79 was similar to or higher in both overall evaluation and external appearance as compared with Hinohikari, despite its higher hardness and lower stickiness. Additionally, Murai 79 had brown-rice yield of 1.55 times as compared with Hinohikari, suggesting that it would enable to supply inexpensive rice for making nanhan with high quality particularly for aged people in Japan.

Keywords: high-amylose content, high-yielding rice line, nanhan, nursing care food, sensory eating quality test

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Shamim Mushtaq, Moazzam Shahid

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Breast cancer (BC) claims the lives of half a million women every year and is the most common cause of death in the developing world. In 2019, it was estimated that BC alone accounts for 15% of all cancer deaths in younger women (aged < 45 years old) with advanced-stage lung metastasis. According to the World Health Organization & International Union against Cancer, in Asia, a high number of cancer-related deaths will be observed in 2020, whereas the burden will be reduced in Western countries due to awareness about the disease, better health facilities and advanced treatments. In the last 15 years, it has been reported that the incidence of BC has increased by 1.1% among Asian compared to the US population from 2003 to 2012. To date, several BC biological subtypes have been reported so far, which are associated with different treatment responses. The heterogeneity and diversity of BC reflected these different subtypes, including Luminal A (23.7% prevalence) and B (38.8% prevalence) that have pathological estrogen receptor (ER+)-positive tumors, the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) (11.2% prevalence) and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) (25% prevalence). According to Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre – Pakistan, ten years of data showed that among 636 BC patients, 30.5% had TNBC who were <40 years of age, which is an extremely alarming situation. Therefore, there is a dire need to explore and develop therapeutic targets for the treatment of early TNBC. Since the last decade, unfortunately, there has been little success in understanding the complexity of TNBC and in discovering new biological therapeutic targets. However, conventional chemotherapy is the only choice of treatment for TNBC patients. Many investigators revealed advances in multi-omics (multiple "omes", e.g., genome, proteome, transcriptome, epigenome, and microbiome) which were later identified as actionable targets and increased prevalence in TNBC patients. However, various drugs have been identified so far which are related to a particular diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. For example, Epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR or ErbB-1), HER-2/neu (ErbB-2), HER-3 (ErbB-3), and HER-4 (ErbB-4). Protein Transglin-2 (TAGLN 2 ) and Profilins-1 (Pfn-1 ) are the ubiquitously expressed large family of proteins present in all eukaryotes, enabling actin cytoskeletal reorganization. It is known that the oncogenic transformation of cells is accompanied by alteration in the actin cytoskeleton. There are causal connections between altered expression of actin cytoskeletal regulators and cancer progression. Our case-control study identified TAGLN-2 and Pfn-1 proteins in TNBC blood by mass spectrometry. Both TAGLN-2 and Pfn-1 proteins are differentially expressed in early and advanced stages of TNBS patients, which could be potential predictors or therapeutic targets for TNBC.

Keywords: TNBC, blood biomarkers, mass spectrometry, qPCR, ELISA

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Authors: Abdulaziz Alakeel, Roaa Alamri, Abdulrahman Alomair, Mohammed Fouda

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Introduction: Ibrutinib is a selective, potent, and irreversible small-molecule inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK). It forms a covalent bond with a cysteine residue (CYS-481) at the active site of Btk, leading to inhibition of Btk enzymatic activity. The drug is indicated to treat certain type of cancers such as mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia (WM). Cardiac failure is a condition referred to inability of heart muscle to pump adequate blood to human body organs. There are multiple types of cardiac failure including left and right-sided heart failure, systolic and diastolic heart failures. The aim of this review is to evaluate the risk of cardiac failure associated with the use of ibrutinib and to suggest regulatory recommendations if required. Methodology: Signal Detection team at the National Pharmacovigilance Center (NPC) of Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) performed a comprehensive signal review using its national database as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) database (VigiBase), to retrieve related information for assessing the causality between cardiac failure and ibrutinib. We used the WHO- Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) criteria as standard for assessing the causality of the reported cases. Results: Case Review: The number of resulted cases for the combined drug/adverse drug reaction are 212 global ICSRs as of July 2020. The reviewers have selected and assessed the causality for the well-documented ICSRs with completeness scores of 0.9 and above (35 ICSRs); the value 1.0 presents the highest score for best-written ICSRs. Among the reviewed cases, more than half of them provides supportive association (four probable and 15 possible cases). Data Mining: The disproportionality of the observed and the expected reporting rate for drug/adverse drug reaction pair is estimated using information component (IC), a tool developed by WHO-UMC to measure the reporting ratio. Positive IC reflects higher statistical association while negative values indicates less statistical association, considering the null value equal to zero. The results of (IC=1.5) revealed a positive statistical association for the drug/ADR combination, which means “Ibrutinib” with “Cardiac Failure” have been observed more than expected when compared to other medications available in WHO database. Conclusion: Health regulators and health care professionals must be aware for the potential risk of cardiac failure associated with ibrutinib and the monitoring of any signs or symptoms in treated patients is essential. The weighted cumulative evidences identified from causality assessment of the reported cases and data mining are sufficient to support a causal association between ibrutinib and cardiac failure.

Keywords: cardiac failure, drug safety, ibrutinib, pharmacovigilance, signal detection

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Authors: Alireza Shams, Ali Zamanian, Atefehe Shamosi, Farnaz Ghorbani

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Introduction: Although the application of a new strategy remains a remarkable challenge for treatment of disabilities due to neuronal defects, progress in Nanomedicine and tissue engineering, suggesting the new medical methods. One of the promising strategies for reconstruction and regeneration of nervous tissue is replacing of lost or damaged cells by specific scaffolds after Compressive, ischemic and traumatic injuries of central nervous system. Furthermore, ultrastructure, composition, and arrangement of tissue scaffolds are effective on cell grafts. We followed implantation and differentiation of mesenchyme stem cells to neural cells on Gelatin Polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) scaffolds coated with iron nanoparticles. The aim of this study was to evaluate the capability of stem cells to differentiate into motor neuron-like cells under topographical cues and morphogenic factors. Methods and Materials: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) was obtained by primary cell culturing of adult rat bone marrow got from femur bone by flushing method. BMMSCs were incubated with DMEM/F12 (Gibco), 15% FBS and 100 U/ml pen/strep as media. Then, BMMSCs seeded on Gel/PLGA scaffolds and tissue culture (TCP) polystyrene embedded and incorporated by Fe Nano particles (FeNPs) (Fe3o4 oxide (M w= 270.30 gr/mol.). For neuronal differentiation, 2×10 5 BMMSCs were seeded on Gel/PLGA/FeNPs scaffolds was cultured for 7 days and 0.5 µ mol. Retinoic acid, 100 µ mol. Ascorbic acid,10 ng/ml. Basic fibroblast growth factor (Sigma, USA), 250 μM Iso butyl methyl xanthine, 100 μM 2-mercaptoethanol, and 0.2 % B27 (Invitrogen, USA) added to media. Proliferation of BMMSCs was assessed by using MTT assay for cell survival. The morphology of BMMSCs and scaffolds was investigated by scanning electron microscopy analysis. Expression of neuron-specific markers was studied by immunohistochemistry method. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance, and statistical significance was determined by Turkey’s test. Results: Our results revealed that differentiation and survival of BMMSCs into motor neuron-like cells on Gel/PLGA/FeNPs as a biocompatible and biodegradable scaffolds were better than those cultured in Gel/PLGA in absence of FeNPs and TCP scaffolds. FeNPs had raised physical power but decreased capacity absorption of scaffolds. Well defined oriented pores in scaffolds due to FeNPs may activate differentiation and synchronized cells as a mechanoreceptor. Induction effects of magnetic FeNPs by One way flow of channels in scaffolds help to lead the cells and can facilitate direction of their growth processes. Discussion: Progression of biological properties of BMMSCs and the effects of FeNPs spreading under magnetic field was evaluated in this investigation. In vitro study showed that the Gel/PLGA/FeNPs scaffold provided a suitable structure for motor neuron-like cells differentiation. This could be a promising candidate for enhancing repair and regeneration in neural defects. Dynamic and static magnetic field for inducing and construction of cells can provide better results for further experimental studies.

Keywords: differentiation, mesenchymal stem cells, nano particles, neuronal defects, Scaffolds

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Authors: Maliha Afroz Nitu, Shahreen Mukashafat Semontee

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The concept of biophilic design has emerged as a transformative approach to restore the intrinsic connection between people and nature, an innate bond disrupted by urbanization and industrialization. As urbanization progresses, it is crucial to raise awareness about these issues in order to ensure people can live and work in healthy environments that enhance well-being. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, faces challenges arising from unplanned urban expansion, leading to a notable disconnect between city dwellers and their natural surroundings, a problem prevalent in rapidly developing megacities. Significant interdisciplinary research consistently shows that connecting indoor and outdoor spaces can improve mental and physical well-being by rekindling a connection with the natural world. However, there is a significant lack of study on the implementation of biophilic design principles in the built environment to tackle these problems, despite the well-documented advantages. The Palashi Government Staff Quarter, a 3.8-acre housing area for government staff with around 1,000 residents in Dhaka, has been selected as a case study. The main goal is to create and implement biophilic design solutions to address social, environmental, and health issues while also enhancing the built environment. A methodology applicable to improving biophilic design is developed according to the needs of the residents. This research uses a comprehensive approach, including site inspections and structured and semi-structured interviews with residents to gather qualitative data on their experiences and needs. A total of ten identical six-story buildings have been surveyed, with varying resident responses providing insight into their different perspectives. Based on these findings, the study proposes alternative design strategies that integrate biophilic elements such as daylight, air, plants, and water into buildings through windows, skylights, clerestories, green walls, vegetation, and constructed water bodies. The objective of these strategies is to improve the built environment that restores the existing disconnection between humans and nature. Comparative analyses of the current and proposed scenarios demonstrate substantial upgrades in the built environment, as well as major improvements in the physical and psychological well-being of residents. Although this research focuses on a particular government housing, the findings can be applied to other residential areas in Dhaka and similar urban environments. The study highlights the importance of biophilic design in housing and provides recommendations for policymakers and architects to improve living conditions by integrating nature into urban settings.

Keywords: biophilic design, residential, built environment, human nature connection, urban, Dhaka

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Authors: Soma Kanta Baral

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Background: Since 1981, when the first AIDS case was reported, worldwide, more than 34 million people have been infected with HIV. Almost 95 percent of the people infected with HIV live in developing countries. As HBV & HIV share similar routes of transmission by sexual intercourse or drug use by parenteral injection, co-infection is common. Because of the limited access to healthcare & HIV treatment in developing countries, HIV-infected individuals are present late for care. Enumeration of CD4+ T cell count at the time of diagnosis has been useful to initiate the therapy in HIV infected individuals. The baseline CD4+ T cell count shows high immunological variability among patients. Methods: This prospective study was done in the serology section of the Department of Microbiology over a period of one year from august 2012 to July 2013. A total of 13037 individuals subjected for HIV test were included in the study comprising of 4982 males & 8055 females. Blood sample was collected by vein puncture aseptically with standard operational procedure in clean & dry test-tube. All blood samples were screened for HIV as described by WHO algorithm by Immuno-chromatography rapid kits. Further confirmation was done by biokit ELISA method as per the manufacturer’s guidelines. After informed consent, HIV positive individuals were screened for HBsAg by Immuno-chromatography rapid kits (Hepacard). Further confirmation was done by biokit ELISA method as per the manufacturer’s guidelines. EDTA blood samples were collected from the HIV sero-positive individuals for baseline CD4+ T count. Then, CD4+ T cells count was determined by using FACS Calibur Flow Cytometer (BD). Results: Among 13037 individuals screened for HIV, 104 (0.8%) were found to be infected comprising of 69(66.34%) males & 35 (33.65%) females. The study showed that the high infection was noted in housewives (28.7%), active age group (30.76%), rural area (56.7%) & in heterosexual route (80.9%) of transmission. Out of total HIV infected individuals, distribution of HBV co-infection was found to be 6(5.7%). All co- infected individuals were married, male, above the age of 25 years & heterosexual route of transmission. Baseline CD4+ T cell count of HIV infected patient was found higher (mean CD4+ T cell count; 283cells/cu.mm) than HBV co-infected patients (mean CD4+ T cell count; 91 cells/cu.mm). Majority (77.2%) of HIV infected & all co-infected individuals were presented in our center late (CD4+ T cell count;< 350/cu. mm) for diagnosis and care. Majority of co- infected 4 (80%) were late presented with advanced AIDS stage (CD4+ count; <200/cu.mm). Conclusions: The study showed a high percentage of HIV sero-positive & co- infected individuals. Baseline CD4+ T cell count of majority of HIV infected individuals was found to be low. Hence, more sustained and vigorous awareness campaigns & counseling still need to be done in order to promote early diagnosis and management.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, HBsAg, co-infection, CD4+

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Authors: Yan Zhang

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Predictive maintenance is a technique to predict when an in-service machine will fail so that maintenance can be planned in advance. Analytics-driven predictive maintenance is gaining increasing attention in many industries such as manufacturing, utilities, aerospace, etc., along with the emerging demand of Internet of Things (IoT) applications and the maturity of technologies that support Big Data storage and processing. This study aims to build an end-to-end analytics solution that includes both real-time machine condition monitoring and machine learning based predictive analytics capabilities. The goal is to showcase a general predictive maintenance solution architecture, which suggests how the data generated from field machines can be collected, transmitted, stored, and analyzed. We use a publicly available aircraft engine run-to-failure dataset to illustrate the streaming analytics component and the batch failure prediction component. We outline the contributions of this study from four aspects. First, we compare the predictive maintenance problems from the view of the traditional reliability centered maintenance field, and from the view of the IoT applications. When evolving to the IoT era, predictive maintenance has shifted its focus from ensuring reliable machine operations to improve production/maintenance efficiency via any maintenance related tasks. It covers a variety of topics, including but not limited to: failure prediction, fault forecasting, failure detection and diagnosis, and recommendation of maintenance actions after failure. Second, we review the state-of-art technologies that enable a machine/device to transmit data all the way through the Cloud for storage and advanced analytics. These technologies vary drastically mainly based on the power source and functionality of the devices. For example, a consumer machine such as an elevator uses completely different data transmission protocols comparing to the sensor units in an environmental sensor network. The former may transfer data into the Cloud via WiFi directly. The latter usually uses radio communication inherent the network, and the data is stored in a staging data node before it can be transmitted into the Cloud when necessary. Third, we illustrate show to formulate a machine learning problem to predict machine fault/failures. By showing a step-by-step process of data labeling, feature engineering, model construction and evaluation, we share following experiences: (1) what are the specific data quality issues that have crucial impact on predictive maintenance use cases; (2) how to train and evaluate a model when training data contains inter-dependent records. Four, we review the tools available to build such a data pipeline that digests the data and produce insights. We show the tools we use including data injection, streaming data processing, machine learning model training, and the tool that coordinates/schedules different jobs. In addition, we show the visualization tool that creates rich data visualizations for both real-time insights and prediction results. To conclude, there are two key takeaways from this study. (1) It summarizes the landscape and challenges of predictive maintenance applications. (2) It takes an example in aerospace with publicly available data to illustrate each component in the proposed data pipeline and showcases how the solution can be deployed as a live demo.

Keywords: Internet of Things, machine learning, predictive maintenance, streaming data

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Authors: Jui Chen Wu, Ming Yi Hsu

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Background and Purpose: Shift work of nursing staff is inevitable in hospital to provide continuing medical care. However, shift work is considered as a health hazard that may cause physical and psychological problems. Serious workplace fatigue of nursing shift work might impact on family, social and work life, moreover, causes serious reduction of quality of medical care, or even malpractice. This study aims to explore relationships among nursing staff’s shift, workplace fatigue and quality of working life. Method: Structured questionnaires were used in this study to explore relationships among shift work, workplace fatigue and quality of working life in nursing staffs. We recruited 590 nursing staffs in different Community Teaching hospitals in Taiwan. Data analysed by descriptive statistics, single sample t-test, single factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient and hierarchical regression, etc. Results: The overall workplace fatigue score is 50.59 points. In further analysis, the score of personal burnout, work-related burnout, over-commitment and client-related burnout are 57.86, 53.83, 45.95 and 44.71. The basic attributes of nursing staff are significantly different from those of workplace fatigue with different ages, licenses, sleeping quality, self-conscious health status, number of care patients of chronic diseases and number of care people in the obstetric ward. The shift variables revealed no significant influence on workplace fatigue during the hierarchical regression analysis. About the analysis on nursing staff’s basic attributes and shift on the quality of working life, descriptive results show that the overall quality of working life of nursing staff is 3.23 points. Comparing the average score of the six aspects, the ranked average score are 3.47 (SD= .43) in interrelationship, 3.40 (SD= .46) in self-actualisation, 3.30 (SD= .40) in self-efficacy, 3.15 (SD= .38) in vocational concept, 3.07 (SD= .37) in work aspects, and 3.02 (SD= .56) in organization aspects. The basic attributes of nursing staff are significantly different from quality of working life in different marriage situations, education level, years of nursing work, occupation area, sleep quality, self-conscious health status and number of care in medical ward. There are significant differences between shift mode and shift rate with the quality of working life. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis reveal that one of the shifts variables 'shift mode' which does affect staff’s quality of working life. The workplace fatigue is negatively correlated with the quality of working life, and the over-commitment in the workplace fatigue is positively related to the vocational concept of the quality of working life. According to the regression analysis of nursing staff’s basic attributes, shift mode, workplace fatigue and quality of working life related shift, the results show that the workplace fatigue has a significant impact on nursing staff’s quality of working life. Conclusion: According to our study, shift work is correlated with workplace fatigue in nursing staffs. This results work as important reference for human resources management in hospitals to establishing a more positive and healthy work arrangement policy.

Keywords: nursing staff, shift, workplace fatigue, quality of working life

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Authors: Benjamin O. Ehigie, Aderemi Alarape, Nyitor Shenge, Sylvester A. Okhakhume, Timileyin Fashola, Fiyinfunjah Dosumu

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Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is a construct in industrial and organisational behaviour that explains a person's voluntary commitment within an organisation, which is outside the scope of his or her contractual tasks. To attain organisational effectiveness the human factor of production is inevitable, hence the importance of employee behaviour. While the concept of organisational citizenship behavior is mostly discussed in the context of the workplace, it is reasoned that the idea could be reflective in relation to national commitment. Many developing countries in Africa, including Nigeria, suffer economic hardship today not necessarily due to poor resources but bad management of the resources. The mangers of their economies are not committed to the tenets of economic growth but engrossed in fraud, corruption, bribery, and other economic vices. It is this backdrop that necessitated the development and validation of the Ibadan-Nigeria Citizenship Behaviour (I-NCB) Scale. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey (online) research design, using 2404 postgraduate students in the Premier University of the country, with 99.2% being Nigerians and 0.8% non-Nigerians. Gender composition was 1,439 (60%) males and 965 (40%) females, 1201 (50%) were employed while 1203 50% unemployed, 74.2% of the employed were in public paid employment, 19.5% in private sector, and 6.3% were self-employed. Through literature review, 78 items were generated. Using 10 lecturers and 21 students, content and face validity were established respectively. Data collected were subjected to reliability and factor analytic statistics at p < .05 level of significance. Results of the content and face validity at 80% level of item acceptance resulted to 60 items; this was further reduced to 50 after item-total correlation using r=.30 criterion. Divergent validity of r= -.28 and convergent validity of r= .44 were obtained by correlating the I-NCB scale with standardized Counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) scale and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) scale among the workers. The reliability coefficients obtained were; Cronbach alpha of internal consistency (α = 0.941) and split-half reliability of r = 0.728. Factor analyses of the I-NCB scale with principal component and varimax rotation yielded five factors when Eigenvalue above 1 were extracted. The factors which accounted for larger proportions of the total variance were given factor names as; Altruistic, Attachment, Affective, Civic responsibility and Allegiance. As much as there are vast journals on citizenship behaviour in organisations, there exists no standardized tool to measure citizenship behaviour of a country. The Ibadan-Nigeria Citizenship Behaviour (I-NCB) scale was consequently developed. The scale could be used to select personnel into political positions and senior administrative positions among career workers in Nigeria, with the aim of determining national commitment to service.

Keywords: counterproductive work behaviour, CWB, Nigeria Citizenship Behaviour, organisational citizenship behaviour, OCB, Ibadan

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Authors: Rakesh Mishra

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India’s Demography has always amazed the world because of its unprecedented outcomes in the presence of multifaceted socioeconomic and geographical characteristics. Being the first one to implement family panning in 1952, it occupies 2nd largest population of the world, with some of its state like Uttar Pradesh contributing 5th largest population to the world population surpassing Brazil. Being the one with higher in number it is more prone to the demographic disparity persisting into its territories brought upon by the inequalities in availability, accessibility and attainability of socioeconomic and various other resources. Fifth goal of Millennium Development Goal emphasis to improve maternal and child health across the world as Children’s development is very important for the overall development of society and the best way to develop national human resources is to take care of children. The target is to reduce the infant deaths by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. Child health status depends on the care and delivery by trained personnel, particularly through institutional facilities which is further associated with the status of the mother. However, delivery in institutional facilities and delivery by skilled personnel are rising slowly in India. The main objective of the present study is to measure the child health status on based on the educational and occupational background of the women in India. Study indicates that women education plays a very crucial role in deciding the health of the new born care and access to family planning, but the women autonomy indicates to have mixed results in different states of India. It is observed that rural women are 1.61 times more likely to exclusive breastfed their children compared to urban women. With respect to Hindu category, women belonging to other religious community were 21 percent less likely to exclusive breastfed their child. Taking scheduled caste as reference category, the odds of exclusive breastfeeding is found to be decreasing in comparison to other castes, and it is found to be significant among general category. Women of high education status have higher odds of using family planning methods in most of the southern states of India. By and large, girls and boys are about equally undernourished. Under nutrition is generally lower for first births than for subsequent births and consistently increases with increasing birth order for all measures of nutritional status. It is to be noted that at age 12-23 months, when many children are being weaned from breast milk, 30 percent of children are severely stunted and around 21 percent are severely underweight. So, this paper presents the evidence on the patterns of prevailing child health status in India and its states with reference to the mother socioeconomics and biological characteristics and examines trends in these, and discusses plausible explanations.

Keywords: immunization, exclusive breastfeeding, under five mortality, binary logistic regression, ordinal regression and life table

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Authors: Katarzyna Zięba, Hajnalka Szentgyörgyi, Paweł Miśkowiec, Agnieszka Moos-Matysik

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Bees are effective pollinators of plants using by humans. However, there is a concern about the fate different species due to their recently decline. Pollution of the environment is described in the literature as one of the causes of this phenomenon. Due to human activities, heavy metals and aromatic hydrocarbons can occur in bee organisms in high concentrations. The presented study aims to provide information on how pollution affects bee quality, taking into account, also the biological differences between various groups of bees. Understanding the consequences of environmental pollution on bees can help to create and promote bee friendly habitats and actions. The analyses were carried out using two contamination gradients with 5 sites on each. The first, mainly heavy metal polluted gradient is stretching approx. 30km from the Bukowno Zinc smelter near Olkusz in the Lesser Poland Voivodship, to the north. The second cuts through the agglomeration of Kraków up to the southern borders of the Ojców National Park. The gradient near Olkusz is a well-described pollution gradient contaminated mainly by zinc, lead, and cadmium. The second gradient cut through the agglomeration of Kraków and end below the Ojców National Park. On each gradient, two bee species were installed: red mason bees (Osmia bicornis) and honey bees (Apis mellifera). Red mason bee is a polylectic, solitary bee species, widely distributed in Poland. Honey bees are a highly social species of bees, with clearly defined casts and roles in the colony. Before installing the bees in the field, samples of imagos of red mason bees and samples of pollen and imagos from each honey bee colony were analysed for zinc, lead cadmium, polycyclic and monocyclic hydrocarbons levels. After collecting the bees from the field, samples of bees and pollen samples for each site were prepared for heavy metal, monocyclic hydrocarbon, and polycyclic hydrocarbon analysis. Analyses of aromatic hydrocarbons were performed with gas chromatography coupled with a headspace sampler (HP 7694E) and mass spectrometer (MS) as detector. Monocyclic compounds were injected into column with headspace sampler while polycyclic ones with manual injector (after solid-liquid extraction with hexane). The heavy metal content (zinc, lead and cadmium) was assessed with flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS AAnalyst 300 Perkin Elmer spectrometer) according to the methods for honey and bee products described in the literature. Pollution levels found in bee bodies and imago body masses in both species, and proportion of sex in case of red mason bees were correlated with pollution levels found in pollen for each site and colony or trap nest. An attempt to pinpoint the most important form of contamination regarding bee health was also be undertaken based on the achieved results.

Keywords: heavy metals, aromatic hydrocarbons, bees, pollution

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Authors: Yiorgos Hadjichristou

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The paper will focus on the hybrid living typologies which are brought about due to the Global Crisis. Mixing of the generations and the groups of people, mingling the functions of living with working and socializing, merging the act of living in synergy with the urban realm and its constituent elements will be the springboard of proposing an essential sustainable housing approach and the respective urban development. The thematic will be based on methodologies developed both on the academic, educational environment including participation of students’ research and on the practical aspect of architecture including case studies executed by the author in the island of Cyprus. Both paths of the research will deal with the explorative understanding of the hybrid ways of living, testing the limits of its autonomy. The evolution of the living typologies into substantial hybrid entities, will deal with the understanding of new ways of living which include among others: re-introduction of natural phenomena, accommodation of the activity of work and services in the living realm, interchange of public and private, injections of communal events into the individual living territories. The issues and the binary questions raised by what is natural and artificial, what is private and what public, what is ephemeral and what permanent and all the in-between conditions are eloquently traced in the everyday life in the island. Additionally, given the situation of Cyprus with the eminent scar of the dividing ‘Green line’ and the waiting of the ‘ghost city’ of Famagusta to be resurrected, the conventional way of understanding the limits and the definitions of the properties is irreversibly shaken. The situation is further aggravated by the unprecedented phenomenon of the crisis on the island. All these observations set the premises of reexamining the urban development and the respective sustainable housing in a synergy where their characteristics start exchanging positions, merge into each other, contemporarily emerge and vanish, changing from permanent to ephemeral. This fluidity of conditions will attempt to render a future of the built- and unbuilt realm where the main focusing point will be redirected to the human and the social. Weather and social ritual scenographies together with ‘spontaneous urban landscapes’ of ‘momentary relationships’ will suggest a recipe for emerging urban environments and sustainable living. Thus, the paper will aim at opening a discourse on the future of the sustainable living merged in a sustainable urban development in relation to the imminent solution of the division of island, where the issue of property became the main obstacle to be overcome. At the same time, it will attempt to link this approach to the global need for a sustainable evolution of the urban and living realms.

Keywords: social ritual scenographies, spontaneous urban landscapes, substantial hybrid entities, re-introduction of natural phenomena

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