Search results for: multimedia modules across a range of clinical and non-clinical areas

Authors: Aminu Mohammed, Shahidul Islam

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Aframomum melegueta K.Schum commonly known as Grains of Paradise has been a popularly used spice in most of the African food preparation. Available data have shown that ethyl acetate fraction from crude ethanolic extract exhibited α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory actions, improved pancreatic β-cell damage and ameliorated insulin resistance in diabetic rats. Additionally, 6-gingerol, 6-shogaol, 6-paradol and oleanolic acid are shown to be the compounds responsible for the antidiabetic action of A. melegueta. However, detail antioxidant potential of this spice in a diabetic animal model has not yet been reported. Thus, the present study investigates the effect of oral consumption of A. melegueta fruit on the in vivo antioxidant status of type 2 diabetes (T2D) model of rats. T2D was induced in rats by feeding a 10% fructose solution ad libitum for two weeks followed by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (40 mg/kg body weight (bw)). The animals were orally administered with 150 (DAML) or 300 mg/kg bw (DAMH) of the fraction once daily for four weeks. Data were analyzed by using a statistical software package (SPSS for Windows, version 22, IBM Corporation, NY, USA) using Tukey’s-HSD multiple range post-hoc test. Values were considered significantly different at p < 0.05. According to the data, after four weeks of intervention, diabetic untreated animals showed significantly (p < 0.05) elevation of blood glucose levels. The levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were observed to increase with concomitant reduction of reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in the serum and organs (liver, kidney, heart and pancreas) of diabetic untreated animals. The activities of endogenous antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and reductase) were greatly reduced in the serum and organs of diabetic untreated animals compared to the normal animals. These alterations were reverted to near-normal after the treatment of A. melegueta fruit in the treated groups (DAML & DAMH) within the study period, especially at the dose of 300 mg/kg bw. This potent antioxidant action may partly be attributed to the presence of the 6-Gingerol, 6-shogaol and 6-paradol are known to possess antioxidant action. The results of our study showed that A. melegueta intake improved the antioxidant status of T2D rats and therefore could be used to ameliorate the diabetes-induced oxidative damage.

Keywords: Aframomum melegueta, antioxidant, ethyl acetate extract, type 2 diabetes

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Authors: Phenphak Horadee, Rodchares Hanrinth, Saithip Suttiruksa

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Inappropriate use of antibiotics has happened in several hospitals, Thailand. Drug use evaluation (DUE) is one strategy to overcome this difficulty. However, most community hospitals still encounter incomplete evaluation resulting overuse of antibiotics with high cost. Consequently, drug-resistant bacteria have been rising due to inappropriate antibiotic use. The aim of this study was to involve stakeholders in conceptualizing, developing, and prioritizing a feasible intervention strategy to promote and support appropriate antibiotic prescribing in a community hospital, Thailand. Study antibiotics included four antibiotics such as Meropenem, Piperacillin/tazobactam, Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and Vancomycin. The study was conducted for the 1-year period between March 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, in a community hospital in the northeastern part of Thailand. Concept mapping was used in a purposive sample, including doctors (one was an administrator), pharmacists, and nurses who involving drug use evaluation of antibiotics. In-depth interviews for each participant and survey research were conducted to seek the problems for inappropriate use of antibiotics based on drug use evaluation system. Seventy-seven percent of DUE reported appropriate antibiotic prescribing, which still did not reach the goal of 80 percent appropriateness. Meropenem led other antibiotics for inappropriate prescribing. The causes of the unsuccessful DUE program were classified into three themes such as personnel, lack of public relation and communication, and unsupported policy and impractical regulations. During the first meeting, stakeholders (n = 21) expressed the generation of interventions. During the second meeting, participants who were almost the same group of people in the first meeting (n = 21) were requested to independently rate the feasibility and importance of each idea and to categorize them into relevant clusters to facilitate multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis. The outputs of analysis included the idealist, cluster list, point map, point rating map, cluster map, and cluster rating map. All of these were distributed to participants (n = 21) during the third meeting to reach consensus on an intervention model. The final proposed intervention strategy included 29 feasible and crucial interventions in seven clusters: development of information technology system, establishing policy and taking it into the action plan, proactive public relations of the policy, action plan and workflow, in cooperation of multidisciplinary teams in drug use evaluation, work review and evaluation with performance reporting, promoting and developing professional and clinical skill for staff with training programs, and developing practical drug use evaluation guideline for antibiotics. These interventions are relevant and fit to several intervention strategies for antibiotic stewardship program in many international organizations such as participation of the multidisciplinary team, developing information technology to support antibiotic smart use, and communication. These interventions were prioritized for implementation over a 1-year period. Once the possibility of each activity or plan is set up, the proposed program could be applied and integrated into hospital policy after evaluating plans. Effectiveness of each intervention could be promoted to other community hospitals to promote and support antibiotic smart use.

Keywords: antibiotic, concept mapping, drug use evaluation, multidisciplinary teams

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Authors: Hayat Omar

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Languages provide speakers with a wide range of linguistic units to organize and deliver information. There are several ways to verbally express the mental representations of events. According to the linguistic tools they have acquired, speakers select the one that brings out the most communicative effect to convey their message. Our study focuses on two markers, -mm and dämmo, in Amharic (Ethiopian Semitic language). Our aim is to examine, from a developmental perspective, how they are used by speakers. We seek to distinguish the communicative and pragmatic functions indicated by means of these markers. To do so, we created a corpus of sixty narrative productions of children from 5-6, 7-8 to 10-12 years old and adult Amharic speakers. The experimental material we used to collect our data is a series of pictures without text 'Frog, Where are you?'. Although -mm and dämmo are each used in specific contexts, they are sometimes analyzed as being interchangeable. The suffix -mm is complex and multifunctional. It marks the end of the negative verbal structure, it is found in the relative structure of the imperfect, it creates new words such as adverbials or pronouns, it also serves to coordinate words, sentences and to mark the link between macro-propositions within a larger textual unit. -mm was analyzed as marker of insistence, topic shift marker, element of concatenation, contrastive focus marker, 'bisyndetic' coordinator. On the other hand, dämmo has limited function and did not attract the attention of many authors. The only approach we could find analyzes it in terms of 'monosyndetic' coordinator. The paralleling of these two elements made it possible to understand their distinctive functions and refine their description. When it comes to marking a referent, the choice of -mm or dämmo is not neutral, depending on whether the tagged argument is newly introduced, maintained, promoted or reintroduced. The presence of these morphemes explains the inter-phrastic link. The information is seized by anaphora or presupposition: -mm goes upstream while dämmo arrows downstream, the latter requires new information. The speaker uses -mm or dämmo according to what he assumes to be known to his interlocutors. The results show that -mm and dämmo, although all the speakers use them both, do not always have the same scope according to the speaker and vary according to the age. dämmo is mainly used to mark a contrastive topic to signal the concomitance of events. It is more commonly used in young children’s narratives (F(3,56) = 3,82, p < .01). Some values of -mm (additive) are acquired very early while others are rather late and increase with age (F(3,56) = 3,2, p < .03). The difficulty is due not only because of its synthetic structure but primarily because it is multi-purpose and requires a memory work. It highlights the constituent on which it operates to clarify how the message should be interpreted.

Keywords: acquisition, cohesion, connection, contrastive topic, contrastive focus, discourse marker, pragmatics

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Authors: Bouthayna Hayou, Mohamed Mouloud Haddak

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In road accidents in French overseas territories have been understudied, with relevant data often collected late and incompletely. Although these territories account for only 3% to 4% of road traffic injuries in France, their unique characteristics merit closer attention. Despite lower mobility and, consequently, lower exposure to road risks, the actual road risk in Overseas France is as high or even higher than in Metropolitan France. Significant disparities exist not only between Metropolitan France and Overseas territories but also among the overseas territories themselves. The varying population densities in these regions do not fully explain these differences, as each territory has its own distinct vulnerabilities and road safety challenges. This analysis, based on BAAC data files from 2005 to 2018 for both Metropolitan France and the overseas departments and regions, examines key variables such as gender, age, type of road user, type of obstacle hit, type of trip, road category, traffic conditions, weather, and location of accidents. Logistic regression models were built for each region to investigate the risk factors associated with fatal road accidents, focusing on the probability of being killed versus injured. Due to insufficient data, Mayotte and the Overseas Communities (French Polynesia and New Caledonia) were not included in the models. The findings reveal that road safety is worse in the overseas territories compared to Metropolitan France, particularly for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and motorized two-wheelers. These territories present an accident profile that sits between that of Metropolitan France and middle-income countries. A pressing need exists to standardize accident data collection between Metropolitan and Overseas France to allow for more detailed comparative analyses. Further epidemiological studies could help identify the specific road safety issues unique to each territory, particularly with regard to socio-economic factors such as social cohesion, which may influence road safety outcomes. Moreover, the lack of data on new modes of travel, such as electric scooters, and the absence of socio-economic details of accident victims complicate the evaluation of emerging risk factors. Additional research, including sociological and psychosocial studies, is essential for understanding road users' behavior and perceptions of road risk, which could also provide valuable insights into accident trends in peri-urban areas in France.

Keywords: multivariate logistic regression, overseas France, road safety, road traffic accident, territorial inequalities

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Authors: Gilberto Goracci, Fabio Curti

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This work presents a robust, light, and inexpensive algorithm to perform autonomous orbit determination using onboard magnetometer data in real-time. Magnetometers are low-cost and reliable sensors typically available on a spacecraft for attitude determination purposes, thus representing an interesting choice to perform real-time orbit determination without the need to add additional sensors to the spacecraft itself. Magnetic field measurements can be exploited by Extended/Unscented Kalman Filters (EKF/UKF) for orbit determination purposes to make up for GPS outages, yielding errors of a few kilometers and tens of meters per second in the position and velocity of a spacecraft, respectively. While this level of accuracy shows that Kalman filtering represents a solid baseline for autonomous orbit determination, it is not enough to provide a reliable state estimation in the absence of GPS signals. This work combines the solidity and reliability of the EKF with the versatility of a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) architecture to further increase the precision of the state estimation. Deep learning models, in fact, can grasp nonlinear relations between the inputs, in this case, the magnetometer data and the EKF state estimations, and the targets, namely the true position, and velocity of the spacecraft. The model has been pre-trained on Sun-Synchronous orbits (SSO) up to 2126 kilometers of altitude with different initial conditions and levels of noise to cover a wide range of possible real-case scenarios. The orbits have been propagated considering J2-level dynamics, and the geomagnetic field has been modeled using the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) coefficients up to the 13th order. The training of the module can be completed offline using the expected orbit of the spacecraft to heavily reduce the onboard computational burden. Once the spacecraft is launched, the model can use the GPS signal, if available, to fine-tune the parameters on the actual orbit onboard in real-time and work autonomously during GPS outages. In this way, the provided module shows versatility, as it can be applied to any mission operating in SSO, but at the same time, the training is completed and eventually fine-tuned, on the specific orbit, increasing performances and reliability. The results provided by this study show an increase of one order of magnitude in the precision of state estimate with respect to the use of the EKF alone. Tests on simulated and real data will be shown.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, extended Kalman filter, orbit determination, magnetic field

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Authors: S. K. Sharma, P. Kumar, Pratibha Singh

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Consumption of SNACK is growing its popularity every day in India and a broad range of these items are available in the market. The end user interest in ready-to-eat snack foods is constantly growing mainly due to their ease, ample accessibility, appearance, taste and texture. Food extrusion has been practiced for over fifty years. Its role was initially limited to mixing and forming cereal products. Although thermoplastic extrusion has been successful for starch products, extrusion of proteins has achieved only limited success. In this study, value-added extruded prawn product was prepared with prawn flavor powder and corn flour using a twin-screw extruder. Prawn flavor concentrates prepared from fresh prawn head (Solenocera indica). To prepare flavor concentrate prawn head washed with potable water and blended with 200ml 3% salt solution per 250gm head weight to make the slurry, which was further put in muslin cloth and boiled with salt and starch solution for 10 minutes, cooled to room temperature and filtered, starch added to the filtrate and made into powder in an electrically drier at 43-450c. The mixture was passed through the twin-screw extruder (co-rotating twin screw extruder - basic technology Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata) which was operated at a particular speed of rotation, die diameter, temperature, moisture, and fish powder concentration. Many trial runs were conducted to set up the process variables. The different extrudes produced after each trail were examined for the quality and characteristics. The effect of temperature, moisture, screw speed, protein, fat, ash and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) number and expansion ratio were studied. In all the four trials, moisture, temperature, speed and die diameter used was 20%, 100°C, 350 rpm and 4 mm, respectively. The ratio of prawn powder and cornstarch used in different trials ranged between 2:98 and 10:90. The storage characteristics of the final product were studied using three different types of packaging under nitrogen flushing, i.e. a- 12-pm polyester, 12-pm metalized polyester, 60-11m polyethylene (metalized polyester a), b- 12-11m metalized polyester, 37.5-11m polyethylene (metalized polyester b), c- 12-11m polyethylene, 9-11m aluminium foil, 37.5-11m polyethylene (aluminium foil). The organoleptic analysis was carried out on a 9-point hedonic scale. The study revealed that the fried product packed in aluminum foil under nitrogen flushing would remain acceptable for more than three months.

Keywords: extruded product, prawn flavor, twin-screw extruder, storage characteristics

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Authors: Introducing Principles of Land Surveying by Assigning a Practical Project

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A practical project is used in an engineering surveying course to expose sophomore and junior civil engineering students to several important issues related to the use of basic principles of land surveying. The project, which is the design of a two-lane rural highway to connect between two arbitrary points, requires students to draw the profile of the proposed highway along with the existing ground level. Areas of all cross-sections are then computed to enable quantity computations between them. Lastly, Mass-Haul Diagram is drawn with all important parts and features shown on it for clarity. At the beginning, students faced challenges getting started on the project. They had to spend time and effort thinking of the best way to proceed and how the work would flow. It was even more challenging when they had to visualize images of cut, fill and mixed cross sections in three dimensions before they can draw them to complete the necessary computations. These difficulties were then somewhat overcome with the help of the instructor and thorough discussions among team members and/or between different teams. The method of assessment used in this study was a well-prepared-end-of-semester questionnaire distributed to students after the completion of the project and the final exam. The survey contained a wide spectrum of questions from students' learning experience when this course development was implemented to students' satisfaction of the class instructions provided to them and the instructor's competency in presenting the material and helping with the project. It also covered the adequacy of the project to show a sample of a real-life civil engineering application and if there is any excitement added by implementing this idea. At the end of the questionnaire, students had the chance to provide their constructive comments and suggestions for future improvements of the land surveying course. Outcomes will be presented graphically and in a tabular format. Graphs provide visual explanation of the results and tables, on the other hand, summarize numerical values for each student along with some descriptive statistics, such as the mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation for each student and each question as well. In addition to gaining experience in teamwork, communications, and customer relations, students felt the benefit of assigning such a project. They noticed the beauty of the practical side of civil engineering work and how theories are utilized in real-life engineering applications. It was even recommended by students that such a project be exercised every time this course is offered so future students can have the same learning opportunity they had.

Keywords: land surveying, highway project, assessment, evaluation, descriptive statistics

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Authors: Oskar Sekowski

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Current global warming causes changes in the traditional zones of viticulture worldwide. During 20th century, the average global air temperature increased by 0.89˚C. The models of climate change indicate that viticulture, currently concentrating in narrow geographic niches, may move towards the poles, to higher geographic latitudes. Global warming may cause changes in traditional viticulture regions. Therefore, there is a need to estimate the climatic conditions and climate change in areas that are not traditionally associated with viticulture, e.g., Poland. The primary objective of this paper is to prepare methodology to evaluate the climatic and meteorological potential for viticulture in Poland based on a case study. Moreover, the additional aim is to evaluate the climatic potential of a mesoregion where a university vineyard is located. The daily data of temperature, precipitation, insolation, and wind speed (1988-2018) from the meteorological station located in Łazy, southern Poland, was used to evaluate 15 climatological parameters and indices connected with viticulture. The next steps of the methodology are based on Geographic Information System methods. The topographical factors such as a slope gradient and slope exposure were created using Digital Elevation Models. The spatial distribution of climatological elements was interpolated by ordinary kriging. The values of each factor and indices were also ranked and classified. The viticultural potential was determined by integrating two suitability maps, i.e., the topographical and climatic ones, and by calculating the average for each pixel. Data analysis shows significant changes in heat accumulation indices that are driven by increases in maximum temperature, mostly increasing number of days with Tmax > 30˚C. The climatic conditions of this mesoregion are sufficient for vitis vinifera viticulture. The values of indicators and insolation are similar to those in the known wine regions located on similar geographical latitudes in Europe. The smallest threat to viticulture in study area is the occurrence of hail and the highest occurrence of frost in the winter. This research provides the basis for evaluating general suitability and climatologic potential for viticulture in Poland. To characterize the climatic potential for viticulture, it is necessary to assess the suitability of all climatological and topographical factors that can influence viticulture. The methodology used in this case study shows places where there is a possibility to create vineyards. It may also be helpful for wine-makers to select grape varieties.

Keywords: climatologic potential, climatic classification, Poland, viticulture

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Authors: Păcurar Diana Istina

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The indissoluble link between aesthetics and semiotics, the harmonization and semiotic understanding of the interactions between the viewer and the object being looked at, are the basis of the practical demonstration of the importance of aesthetic perception within the theater performance. The design of a theater performance includes several structures, some considered from the beginning, art forms (i.e., the text), others being represented by simple, common objects (e.g., scenographic elements), which, if reunited, can trigger a certain aesthetic perception. The audience is delivered, by the team involved in the performance, a series of auditory and visual signs with which they interact. It is necessary to explain some notions about the physiological support of the transformation of different types of stimuli at the level of the cerebral hemispheres. The cortex considered the superior integration center of extransecal and entanged stimuli, permanently processes the information received, but even if it is delivered at a constant rate, the generated response is individualized and is conditioned by a number of factors. Each changing situation represents a new opportunity for the viewer to cope with, developing feelings of different intensities that influence the generation of meanings and, therefore, the management of interactions. In this sense, aesthetic perception depends on the detection of the “correctness” of signs, the forms of which are associated with an aesthetic property. Fairness and aesthetic properties can have positive or negative values. Evaluating the emotions that generate judgment and implicitly aesthetic perception, whether we refer to visual emotions or auditory emotions, involves the integration of three areas of interest: Valence, arousal and context control. In this context, superior human cognitive processes, memory, interpretation, learning, attribution of meanings, etc., help trigger the mechanism of anticipation and, no less important, the identification of error. This ability to locate a short circuit produced in a series of successive events is fundamental in the process of forming an aesthetic perception. Our main purpose in this research is to investigate the possible conditions under which aesthetic perception and its minimum content are generated by all these structures and, in particular, by interactions with forms that are not commonly considered aesthetic forms. In order to demonstrate the quantitative and qualitative importance of the categories of signs used to construct a code for reading a certain message, but also to emphasize the importance of the order of using these indices, we have structured a mathematical analysis that has at its core the analysis of the percentage of signs used in a theater performance.

Keywords: semiology, aesthetics, theatre semiotics, theatre performance, structure, aesthetic perception

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Authors: Abigail Bentley, Audrey Prost, Nayreen Daruwalla, Apoorwa Gupta, David Osrin

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BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) can impact a woman’s physical, reproductive and mental health, including common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. However, people other than an intimate partner may also perpetrate violence against women in the family, particularly in India. This study aims to investigate the relationship between experiences of violence perpetrated by the husband and other members of the wider household and symptoms of common mental disorders in women residing in informal settlement (slum) areas of Mumbai. METHODS: Experiences of violence were assessed through a detailed cross-sectional survey of 598 women, including questions about specific acts of emotional, economic, physical and sexual violence across different time points in the woman’s life and the main perpetrator of each act. Symptoms of common mental disorders were assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The GHQ-12 scores were divided into four groups and the relationship between experiences of each type of violence in the last 12 months and GHQ-12 score group was analyzed using ordinal logistic regression, adjusted for the woman’s age and clustering. RESULTS: 482 (81%) women consented to interview. On average, they were 28.5 years old, had completed 7 years of education and had been married 9 years. 88% were Muslim and 47% lived in joint and 53% in nuclear families. 44% of women had experienced at least one act of violence in their lifetime (33% emotional, 22% economic, 23% physical, 12% sexual). 7% had a high GHQ-12 score (6 or above). For violence experiences in the last 12 months, the odds of being in the highest GHQ-12 score group versus the lower groups combined were 13.1 for emotional violence, 6.5 for economic, 5.7 for physical and 6.3 for sexual (p<0.001 for all outcomes). DISCUSSION: The high level of violence reported across the lifetime could be due to the detailed assessment of violent acts at multiple time points and the inclusion of perpetrators within the family other than the husband. Each type of violence was associated with greater odds of a higher GHQ-12 score and therefore more symptoms of common mental disorders. Emotional violence was far more strongly associated with symptoms of common mental disorders than physical or sexual violence. However, it is not possible to attribute causal directionality to the association. Further work to investigate the relationship between differing severity of violence experiences and women’s mental health and the components of emotional violence that make it so strongly associated with symptoms of common mental disorders would be beneficial.

Keywords: common mental disorders, family violence, India, informal settlements, mental health, violence against women

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Authors: Mohammad Al-Refai, Majed Wakid

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Introduction: Soil-transmitted diseases (STD) are caused by intestinal worms that are transmitted via various routes into the human body resulting in various clinical manifestations. The intestinal worms causing these infections are known as soil transmitted helminths (STH), including Hook worms, Ascaris lumbricoides (A. lumbricoides), Trichuris trichiura (T. trichiura), and Strongyloides sterocoralis (S. sterocoralis). Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of STH among newly arrived expatriate labors in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia, using three different techniques (direct smears, sedimentation concentration, and real-time PCR). Methods: A total of 188 stool specimens were collected and investigated at the parasitology laboratory in the Special Infectious Agents Unit at King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Microscopic examination of wet mount preparations using normal saline and Lugols Iodine was carried out, followed by the formal ether sedimentation method. In addition, real-time PCR was used as a molecular tool to detect several STH and hookworm speciation. Results: Out of 188 stool specimens analyzed, in addition to STH parasite, several other types were detected. 9 samples (4.79%) were positive for Entamoeba coli, 7 samples (3.72%) for T. trichiura, 6 samples (3.19%) for Necator americanus, 4 samples (2.13%) for S. sterocoralis, 4 samples (2.13%) for A. lumbricoides, 4 samples (2.13%) for E. histolytica, 3 samples (1.60%) for Blastocystis hominis, 2 samples (1.06%) for Ancylostoma duodenale, 2 samples (1.06%) for Giardia lamblia, 1 sample (0.53%) for Iodamoeba buetschlii, 1 sample (0.53%) for Hymenolepis nana, 1 sample (0.53%) for Endolimax nana, and 1 sample (0.53%) for Heterophyes heterophyes. Out of the 35 infected cases, 26 revealed single infection, 8 with double infections, and only one triple infection of different STH species and other intestinal parasites. Higher rates of STH infections were detected among housemaids (11 cases) followed by drivers (7 cases) when compared to other occupations. According to educational level, illiterate participants represent the majority of infected workers (12 cases). The majority of workers' positive cases were from the Philippines. In comparison between laboratory techniques, out of the 188 samples screened for STH, real-time PCR was able to detect the DNA in (19/188) samples followed by Ritchie sedimentation technique (18/188), and direct wet smear (7/188). Conclusion: STH infections are a major public health issue to healthcare systems around the world. Communities must be educated on hygiene practices and the severity of such parasites to human health. As far as drivers and housemaids come to close contact with families, including children and elderlies. This may put family members at risk of developing serious side effects related to STH, especially as the majority of workers were illiterate, lacking the basic hygiene knowledge and practices. We recommend the official authority in Jeddah and around the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to revise the standard screening tests for newly arrived workers and enforce regular follow-up inspections to minimize the chances of the spread of STH from expatriate workers to the public.

Keywords: expatriate labors, Jeddah, prevalence, soil transmitted helminths

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Authors: Nurdan Olguncelik Kaplan, Aysen Akay

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Nowadays soil pollution has become a global problem. External added polluters to the soil are destroying and changing the structure of the soil and the problems are becoming more complex and in this sense the correction of these problems is going to be harder and more costly. Cadmium has got a fast mobility in the soil and plant system because of that cadmium can interfere very easily to the human and animal food chain and in the same time this can be very dangerous. The cadmium which is absorbed and stored by the plants is causing to many metabolic changes of the plants like; protein synthesis, nitrogen and carbohydrate metabolism, enzyme (nitrate reductase) activation, photo and chlorophyll synthesis. The biological function of cadmium is not known over the plants and it is not a necessary element. The plant is generally taking in small amounts the cadmium and this element is competing with the zinc. Cadmium is causing root damages. Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is an important nutraceutical because of its high content of flavonoids, minerals and vitamins, and their nutritionally balanced amino-acid composition. Buckwheat has relatively high biomass productivity, is adapted to many areas of the world, and can flourish in sterile fields; therefore buckwheat plants are widely used for the phytoremediation process.The aim of this study were to evaluate the phytoremediation capacity of the high-yielding plant Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) in soils contaminated with Cd and Zn. The soils were applied to differrent doses cd(0-12.5-25-50-100 mg Cd kg−1 soil in the form of 3CdSO4.8H2O ) and Zn (0-10-30 mg Zn kg−1 soil in the form of ZnSO4.7H2O) and incubated about 60 days. Later buckwheat seeds were sown and grown for three mounth under greenhouse conditions. The test plants were irrigated by using pure water after the planting process. Buckwheat seeds (Gunes and Aktas species) were taken from Bahri Dagdas International Agricultural Research. After harvest, Cd and Zn concentrations of plant biomass and grain, yield and translocation factors (TFs) for Cd and Cd were determined. Cadmium accumulation in biomass and grain significantly increased in dose-dependent manner. Long term field trials are required to further investigate the potential of buckwheat to reclaimed the soil. But this could be undertaken in conjunction with actual remediation schemes. However, the differences in element accumulation among the genotypes were affected more by the properties of genotypes than by the soil properties. Gunes genotype accumulated higher lead than Aktas genotypes.

Keywords: buckwheat, cadmium, phytoremediation, zinc

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Authors: Dennis Otieno, Lilian Kirimi Nicholas Odhiambo, Hillary Bii

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Kenya is considered to be a middle level income country and usuaaly does not meet household food security needs especially in North and South eastern parts. Approximately half of the population is living under the poverty line (www, CIA 1, 2012). Agriculture is the largest sector in the country, employing 80% of the population. These are thereby directly dependent on the sufficiency of outputs received. This makes efficient, easy-accessible and cheap agricultural practices an important matter in order to improve food security. Maize is the prime staple food commodity in Kenya and represents a substantial share of people’s nutritional intake. This study is the result of questionnaire based interviews, Key informant and focus group discussion involving 220 small scale maize farmers Kenyan. The study was located to two separated areas; Lower Kuja, Bunyala, Nandi, Lower Nzoia, Perkerra, Mwea Bura, Hola and Galana Kulalu in Kenya. The questionnaire captured the farmers’ use and perceived importance of the use irrigation services and irrigated maize production. Viability was evaluated using the four indices which were all positive with NPV giving positive cash flows in less than 21 years at most for one season output. The mean willingness to pay was found to be KES 3082 and willingness to pay increased with increase in irrigation premiums. The economic value of water was found to be greater than the willingness to pay implying that irrigated maize production is sustainable. Farmers stated that viability was influenced by high output levels, good produce quality, crop of choice, availability of sufficient water and enforcement the last two factors had a positive influence while the other had negative effect on the viability of irrigated maize. A regression was made over the correlation between the willingness to pay for irrigated maize production using scheme and plot level factors. Farmers that already use other inputs such as animal manure, hired labor and chemical fertilizer should also have a demand for improved seeds according to Liebig's law of minimum and expansion path theory. The regression showed that premiums, and high yields have a positive effect on willingness to pay while produce quality, efficient fertilizer use, and crop season have a negative effect.

Keywords: maize, food security, profits, sustainability, willingness to pay

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Authors: M. L. Gaol, I. W. Mudita

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Indonesia is well known as a country covered by lush tropical rain forests, but in fact, the northeastern part of the country, within the areas geologically known as Lesser Sunda, the dominant vegetation is tropical savanna. Lesser Sunda is a chain of islands located closer to Australia than to islands in the other parts of the country. Among those of islands in the chain which is closes to Australia, and thereby most strongly affected by the hot and dry Australian climate, is the island of Timor, the western part of which belongs to Indonesia and the eastern part is a sovereign state East Timor. Regardless of being the most dominant vegetation cover, tropical savanna in West Timor, especially its understory, is rarely investigated. This research was therefore carried out to investigate the structure, composition and diversity of the understory of this tropical savanna as the basis for looking at the possibility of introducing other spesieis for various purposes. For this research, 14 terrestrial communities representing major types of the existing savannas in West Timor was selected with aid of the most recently available satellite imagery. At each community, one stand of the size of 50 m x 50 m most likely representing the community was as the site of observation for the type of savanna under investigation. At each of the 14 communities, 20 plots of 1 m x 1 m in size was placed at random to identify understory species and to count the total number of individuals and to estimate the cover of each species. Based on such counts and estimation, the important value of each species was later calculated. The results of this research indicated that the understory of savanna in West Timor consisted of 73 understory species. Of this number of species, 18 species are grasses and 55 are non-grasses. Although lower than non-grass species, grass species indeed dominated the savanna as indicated by their number of individuals (65.33 vs 34.67%), species cover (57.80 vs 42.20%), and important value (123.15 vs 76.85). Of the 14 communities, the lowest density of grass was 13.50/m2 and the highest was 417.50/m2. Of 18 grass species found, all were commonly found as agricultural weeds, whereas of 55 non-grass, 10 species were commonly found as agricultural weeds, environmental weeds, or invasive species. In terms of better managing the savanna in the region, these findings provided the basis for planning a more integrated approach in managing such agricultural and environmental weeds as well as invasive species by considering the structure, composition, and species diversity of the understory species existing in each site. These findings also provided the basis for better understanding the flora of the region as a whole and for developing a flora database of West Timor in future.

Keywords: tropical savanna, understory species, integrated management, weedy and invasive species

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Authors: Lahari Ramya Pa, Sudhakar Ib, Madhu Vc, Madhusudhan Reddy Gd, Srinivasa Rao E.

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Selection of suitable armor materials for defense applications is very crucial with respect to increasing mobility of the systems as well as maintaining safety. Therefore, determining the material with the lowest possible areal density that resists the predefined threat successfully is required in armor design studies. A number of light metal and alloys are come in to forefront especially to substitute the armour grade steels. AA5083 aluminium alloy which fit in to the military standards imposed by USA army is foremost nonferrous alloy to consider for possible replacement of steel to increase the mobility of armour vehicles and enhance fuel economy. Growing need of AA5083 aluminium alloy paves a way to develop supplement aluminium alloys maintaining the military standards. It has been witnessed that AA 2xxx aluminium alloy, AA6xxx aluminium alloy and AA7xxx aluminium alloy are the potential material to supplement AA5083 aluminium alloy. Among those cited aluminium series alloys AA7xxx aluminium alloy (heat treatable) possesses high strength and can compete with armour grade steels. Earlier investigations revealed that layering of AA7xxx aluminium alloy can prevent spalling of rear portion of armour during ballistic impacts. Hence, present investigation deals with fabrication of hard layer (made of boron carbide) i.e. layer on AA 7075 aluminium alloy using friction stir processing with an intention of blunting the projectile in the initial impact and backing tough portion(AA7xxx aluminium alloy) to dissipate residual kinetic energy. An analytical approach has been adopted to unfold the ballistic performance of projectile. Penetration of projectile inside the armour has been resolved by considering by strain energy model analysis. Perforation shearing areas i.e. interface of projectile and armour is taken in to account for evaluation of penetration inside the armour. Fabricated surface composites (targets) were tested as per the military standard (JIS.0108.01) in a ballistic testing tunnel at Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Hyderabad in standardized testing conditions. Analytical results were well validated with experimental obtained one.

Keywords: AA7075 aluminium alloy, friction stir processing, boron carbide, ballistic performance, target

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Authors: Chenxiao Yang, Li Li

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In this decade, the sportswear market rapidly expanded while numerous sports brands are conducting fierce competitions to hold their market shares and trying to act as a leader in professional competition sports areas to set the trends. Thus, various advancing sports equipment is being deeply explored to improving athletes’ performance in fierce competitions. Although there is plenty protective equipment such as cuff, running legging, etc., on the market, there is still blank in the field of sportswear during prerace warm-up this important time gap, especially for those competitions host in cold environment. Because there is always time gaps between warm-up and race due to event logistics or unexpected weather factors. Athletes will be exposed to chilly condition for an unpredictable long period of time. As a consequence, the effects of warm-up will be negated, and the competition performance will be degraded. However, reviewing the current market, there is none effective sports equipment provided to help athletes against this harsh environment or the rare existing products are so blocky or heavy to restrict the actions. An ideal thermal-protective sportswear should be light, flexible, comfort and aesthetic at the same time. Therefore, this design research adopted the textile circular knitting methodology to integrate soft silver-coated conductive yarns (ab. SCCYs), elastic nylon yarn and polyester yarn to develop the proposed electrical, thermal sportswear, with the strengths aforementioned. Meanwhile, the relationship between heating performance, stretch load, and energy consumption were investigated. Further, a simulation model was established to ensure providing sufficient warm and flexibility at lower energy cost and with an optimized production, parameter determined. The proposed circular knitting technology and simulation model can be directly applied to instruct prototype developments to cater different target consumers’ needs and ensure prototypes’’ safety. On the other hand, high R&D investment and time consumption can be saved. Further, two prototypes: a kneecap and an elbow guard, were developed to facilitate the transformation of research technology into an industrial application and to give a hint on the blur future blueprint.

Keywords: cold environment, silver-coated conductive yarn, electrical thermal textile, stretchable

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Authors: Dhruvit S. Berawala, Jann R. Ursin, Obrad Slijepcevic

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Shale gas is one of the most rapidly growing forms of natural gas. Unconventional natural gas deposits are difficult to characterize overall, but in general are often lower in resource concentration and dispersed over large areas. Moreover, gas is densely packed into the matrix through adsorption which accounts for large volume of gas reserves. Gas production from tight shale deposits are made possible by extensive and deep well fracturing which contacts large fractions of the formation. The conventional reservoir modelling and production forecasting methods, which rely on fluid-flow processes dominated by viscous forces, have proved to be very pessimistic and inaccurate. This paper presents a new approach to forecast shale gas production by detailed modeling of gas desorption, diffusion and non-linear flow mechanisms in combination with statistical representation of these processes. The representation of the model involves a cube as a porous media where free gas is present and a sphere (SiC: Sphere in Cube model) inside it where gas is adsorbed on to the kerogen or organic matter. Further, the sphere is considered consisting of many layers of adsorbed gas in an onion-like structure. With pressure decline, the gas desorbs first from the outer most layer of sphere causing decrease in its molecular concentration. The new available surface area and change in concentration triggers the diffusion of gas from kerogen. The process continues until all the gas present internally diffuses out of the kerogen, gets adsorbs onto available surface area and then desorbs into the nanopores and micro-fractures in the cube. Each SiC idealizes a gas pathway and is characterized by sphere diameter and length of the cube. The diameter allows to model gas storage, diffusion and desorption; the cube length takes into account the pathway for flow in nanopores and micro-fractures. Many of these representative but general cells of the reservoir are put together and linked to a well or hydraulic fracture. The paper quantitatively describes these processes as well as clarifies the geological conditions under which a successful shale gas production could be expected. A numerical model has been derived which is then compiled on FORTRAN to develop a simulator for the production of shale gas by considering the spheres as a source term in each of the grid blocks. By applying SiC to field data, we demonstrate that the model provides an effective way to quickly access gas production rates from shale formations. We also examine the effect of model input properties on gas production.

Keywords: adsorption, diffusion, non-linear flow, shale gas production

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Authors: Nupur A. D., Miah M. S., Moniruzzaman S. K.

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Autism is a neurobiological disorder that affects physical, social, and language skills of a person. A child with autism feels difficulty for processing, integrating, and responding to sensory stimuli. Current estimates have shown that 45% to 96 % of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder demonstrate sensory difficulties. As autism is a worldwide burning issue, it has become a highly prioritized and important service provision in Bangladesh. The sensory deficit does not only hamper the normal development of a child, it also hampers the learning process and functional independency. The purpose of this study was to find out the prevalence of sensory dysfunction among children with autism and recognize common patterns of sensory dysfunction. A cross-sectional study design was chosen to carry out this research work. This study enrolled eighty children with autism and their parents by using the systematic sampling method. In this study, data were collected through the Short Sensory Profile (SSP) assessment tool, which consists of 38 items in the questionnaire, and qualified graduate Occupational Therapists were directly involved in interviewing parents as well as observing child responses to sensory related activities of the children with autism from four selected autism centers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. All item analyses were conducted to identify items yielding or resulting in the highest reported sensory processing dysfunction among those children through using SSP and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 for data analysis. This study revealed that almost 78.25% of children with autism had significant sensory processing dysfunction based on their sensory response to relevant activities. Under-responsive sensory seeking and auditory filtering were the least common problems among them. On the other hand, most of them (95%) represented that they had definite to probable differences in sensory processing, including under-response or sensory seeking, auditory filtering, and tactile sensitivity. Besides, the result also shows that the definite difference in sensory processing among 64 children was within 100%; it means those children with autism suffered from sensory difficulties, and thus it drew a great impact on the children’s Daily Living Activities (ADLs) as well as social interaction with others. Almost 95% of children with autism require intervention to overcome or normalize the problem. The result gives insight regarding types of sensory processing dysfunction to consider during diagnosis and ascertaining the treatment. So, early sensory problem identification is very important and thus will help to provide appropriate sensory input to minimize the maladaptive behavior and enhance to reach the normal range of adaptive behavior.

Keywords: autism, sensory processing difficulties, sensory profile, occupational therapy

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Authors: Tatiana Marques Pessanha, Aurora Perez-Gramatges, Regina Sandra Veiga Nascimento

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Emulsions are commonly used in applications involving oil/water dispersions, where handling of interfaces becomes a crucial aspect. The use of emulsion technology has greatly evolved in the last decades to suit the most diverse uses, ranging from cosmetic products and biomedical adjuvants to complex industrial fluids. The stability of these emulsions is influenced by factors such as the amount of oil, size of droplets and emulsifiers used. While commercial surfactants are typically used as emulsifiers to reduce interfacial tension, and therefore increase emulsion stability, these organic amphiphilic compounds are often toxic and expensive. A suitable alternative for emulsifiers can be obtained from the chemical modification of polysaccharides. Our group has been working on modification of polysaccharides to be used as additives in a variety of fluid formulations. In particular, we have obtained promising results using chitosan, a natural and biodegradable polymer that can be easily modified due to the presence of amine groups in its chemical structure. In this way, it is possible to increase both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic character, which renders a water-soluble, amphiphilic polymer that can behave as an emulsifier. The aim of this work was the synthesis of chitosan derivatives structurally modified to act as surfactants in stable oil-in-water. The synthesis of chitosan derivatives occurred in two steps, the first being the hydrophobic modification with the insertion of long hydrocarbon chains, while the second step consisted in the cationization of the amino groups. All products were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and carbon magnetic resonance (13C-NMR) to evaluate the cationization and hydrofobization degrees. These modified polysaccharides were used to formulate oil-in water (O:W) emulsions with different oil/water ratios (i.e 25:75, 35:65, 60:40) using mineral paraffinic oil. The formulations were characterized according to the type of emulsion, density and rheology measurements, as well as emulsion stability at high temperatures. All emulsion formulations were stable for at least 30 days, at room temperature (25°C), and in the case of the high oil content emulsion (60:40), the formulation was also stable at temperatures up to 100°C. Emulsion density was in the range of 0.90-0.87 s.g. The rheological study showed a viscoelastic behaviour in all formulations at room temperature, which is in agreement with the high stability showed by the emulsions, since the polymer acts not only reducing interfacial tension, but also forming an elastic membrane at the oil/water interface that guarantees its integrity. The results obtained in this work are a strong evidence of the possibility of using chemically modified polysaccharides as environmentally friendly alternatives to commercial surfactants in the stabilization of oil-in water formulations.

Keywords: emulsion, polymer, polysaccharide, stability, chemical modification

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Authors: Tefera Kebede Leyu

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The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact of LIVES project participation on the level of technical efficiency of farm households in three regions of Ethiopia. We used household-level data gathered by IRLI between February and April 2014 for the year 2013(retroactive). Data on 1,905 (754 intervention and 1, 151 control groups) sample households were analyzed using STATA software package version 14. Efforts were made to combine stochastic frontier modeling with impact evaluation methodology using the Heckman (1979) two-stage model to deal with possible selectivity bias arising from unobservable characteristics in the stochastic frontier model. Results indicate that farmers in the two groups are not efficient and operate below their potential frontiers i.e., there is a potential to increase crop productivity through efficiency improvements in both groups. In addition, the empirical results revealed selection bias in both groups of farmers confirming the justification for the use of selection bias corrected stochastic frontier model. It was also found that intervention farmers achieved higher technical efficiency scores than the control group of farmers. Furthermore, the selectivity bias-corrected model showed a different technical efficiency score for the intervention farmers while it more or less remained the same for that of control group farmers. However, the control group of farmers shows a higher dispersion as measured by the coefficient of variation compared to the intervention counterparts. Among the explanatory variables, the study found that farmer’s age (proxy to farm experience), land certification, frequency of visit to improved seed center, farmer’s education and row planting are important contributing factors for participation decisions and hence technical efficiency of farmers in the study areas. We recommend that policies targeting the design of development intervention programs in the agricultural sector focus more on providing farmers with on-farm visits by extension workers, provision of credit services, establishment of farmers’ training centers and adoption of modern farm technologies. Finally, we recommend further research to deal with this kind of methodological framework using a panel data set to test whether technical efficiency starts to increase or decrease with the length of time that farmers participate in development programs.

Keywords: impact evaluation, efficiency analysis and selection bias, stochastic frontier model, Heckman-two step

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Authors: Parker Murray, Marci Johnson, Tyson S. Burnham, Alina K. Fong, Mark D. Allen, Bruce McIff

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Purpose: Pathological dysregulation of Neurovascular Coupling (NVC) caused by mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the predominant source of chronic post-concussion syndrome (PCS) symptomology. fNCI has the ability to localize dysregulation in NVC by measuring blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signaling during the performance of fMRI-adapted neuropsychological evaluations. With fNCI, 57 brain areas consistently affected by concussion were identified as PCS neural markers, which were validated on large samples of concussion patients and healthy controls. These neuromarkers provide the basis for a computation of PCS severity which is referred to as the Severity Index Score (SIS). The SIS has proven valuable in making pre-treatment decisions, monitoring treatment efficiency, and assessing long-term stability of outcomes. Methods and Materials: After being scanned while performing various cognitive tasks, 476 concussed patients received an SIS score based on the neural dysregulation of the 57 previously identified brain regions. These scans provide an objective measurement of attentional, subcortical, visual processing, language processing, and executive functioning abilities, which were used as biomarkers for post-concussive neural dysregulation. Initial SIS scores were used to develop individualized therapy incorporating cognitive, occupational, and neuromuscular modalities. These scores were also used to establish pre-treatment benchmarks and measure post-treatment improvement. Results: Changes in SIS were calculated in percent change from pre- to post-treatment. Patients showed a mean improvement of 76.5 percent (σ= 23.3), and 75.7 percent of patients showed at least 60 percent improvement. Longitudinal reassessment of 24 of the patients, measured an average of 7.6 months post-treatment, shows that SIS improvement is maintained and improved, with an average of 90.6 percent improvement from their original scan. Conclusions: fNCI provides a reliable measurement of NVC allowing for identification of concussion pathology. Additionally, fNCI derived SIS scores direct tailored therapy to restore NVC, subsequently resolving chronic PCS resulting from mTBI.

Keywords: concussion, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neurovascular coupling (NVC), post-concussion syndrome (PCS)

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Authors: J. Hakula

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Discussion on euthanasia is a continuous process. Euthanasia is defined as 'deliberately ending a patient's life by administering life-ending drugs at the patient's explicit request'. With few exceptions, worldwide in most countries human societies have not been able to agree on some fundamental issues concerning ultimate decisions of life and death. Outranking methods in voting oriented social choice theory and multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) can be applied to issues in medical ethics. There is a wide range of voting methods, and using different methods the same group of voters can end up with different outcomes. In the MCDM context, decision alternatives can be substituted for candidates, and criteria for voters. The view chosen here is that of a single decision-maker. Initially, three alternatives and three criteria are chosen. Pairwise and basic positional voting rules - plurality, anti-plurality and the Borda count - are applied. In the MCDM solution, criteria are put weights by giving them the more 'votes'; the more important the decision-maker ranks them. A hypothetical example on evaluating properties of euthanasia consists of three alternatives A, B, and C, which are ranked according to three criteria - the patient’s willingness to cooperate, general action orientation (active/passive), and cost-effectiveness - the criteria having weights 7, 5, and 4, respectively. Using the plurality rule and the weights given to criteria, A is the best alternative, B and C thereafter. In pairwise comparisons, both B and C defeat A with weight scores 7 to 9. On the other hand, B is defeated by C with weights 11 to 5. Thus, C (i.e. the so-called Condorcet winner) defeats both A and B. The best alternative using the plurality principle is not necessarily the best in the pairwise sense, the conflict remaining unsolved with or without additional weights. Positional rules are sensitive to variations in alternative sets. In the example above, the plurality rule gives the rank ABC. If we leave out C, the plurality ranking between A and B results in BA. Withdrawing B or A the ranking is CA and CB, respectively. In pairwise comparisons an analogous problem emerges when the number of criteria is varied. Cyclic preferences may lead to a total tie, and no (rational) choice between the alternatives can be made. In conclusion, the choice of the best commitment to re-evaluate euthanasia, with criteria left unchanged, depends entirely on the evaluation method used. The right strategies matter, too. Future studies might concern the problem of an abstention - a situation where voters do not vote - and still their best candidate may win. Or vice versa, actively giving the ballot to their first rank choice might lead to a total loss. In MCDM terms, a decision might occur where some central criteria are not actively involved in the best choice made.

Keywords: medical ethics, euthanasia, voting methods, multicriteria decision-making

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Authors: Vanphanom Sychareun, Viengnakhone Vongxay, Kongmany Chaleunvong, Pascale Hancart Petitet

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Background: Lao PDR still has challenges in preventing and managing health against risk of emerging and re-emerging diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria among pregnant women. Community-based intervention for mothers requires more evidences on awareness of such diseases and access to rapid diagnostic tests. The study aims to determine the awareness of pregnant women regarding HIV, TB and Malaria, the access to rapid diagnostic test of such diseases among pregnant women of local community and their factors related. Method: This is a cross sectional study using quantitative approach to explore the awareness of pregnant women on HIV/AIDS/TB and Malaria in Savannakhet province, Lao PDR in three remote districts (Phin, Thapangthong and Atsaphone) of Savannakhet province. The study targeted group was pregnant women at the community level. Sample size for primary data collection of pregnant women was 189. Face-to-face administered questionnaires were applied. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to determine the associated factors with awareness of pregnant women on HIV/AIDS/TB and Malaria. This study is under the HEALTH project/ Expertise France. Result: Most of our participants were pregnant at 28 – 42 weeks (50.3%); ranged 4 – 38 weeks. Mean age of pregnant women was 24.3 years old (range: 14 - 48 years old); 15.9% of whom were at age below 19 years. Around 94.2% of respondents works were farming, 54.5% were illiterate, 74.0% were Mon-Kmer ethnic, and 60% had income lower than average. Only 56.6% that have access to ANC, 39.1% started the access to ANC during the first trimester and only 19.6% had visited the ANC for at least four times. Almost pregnant women (and 92.1% and 93.1%) had low to moderate knowledge of HIV and TB respectively, while three-fourth of pregnant women (74.6%) had low to moderate knowledge of malaria. Slightly higher than half of participants (53.4% and 52.9%) had easy access to HIV and TB respectively ; while 72.5% had easy access to malaria. Majority of participants knew where to get tested for malaria (73.5%) and TB (54.5%), but 73.5% did not know where to get tested for HIV. Very few pregnant women (1.6%, 2.1% and 8.5%) experienced having tested for HIV/TB/malaria. respectively. Factors associated with awareness on HIV were occupation as staff, business (OR:5.9; 95% CI:1.2-28.1), upper secondary education (OR: 14.6; 95% CI:3.1-69.2); Mone-Khmer ethnic (OR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.2-0.8); and attending ANC more than 4 times (OR:4.1, 95%:1.7-9.7). Factors associated with awareness on TB were occupation as staff, business (OR:2.4; 95% CI: 0.7-8.0), upper secondary education (OR: 6.2; 95% CI: 1.9-20.5); Mone-Khmer ethnic (OR: 0.5, 95% CI:0.3-0.9); attending ANC more than 4 times (OR:2.8, 95%:1.2-6.4). Factors associated with awareness on malaria were upper secondary education (OR: 18.1; 95% CI: 2.3-142.9); Mone-Khmer ethnic (OR: 0.2, 95% CI:0.1-0.4); attending ANC more than 4 times (OR:3.6, 95%:1.5-8.8). Conclusion: A very low awareness on HIV, TB and malaria among pregnant women in rural community of Savannakhet triggers the requirement of comprehensive public health intervention on awareness and access to prevention against emerging diseases for all pregnant women. Future intervention should focus on providing more knowledge to pregnant women during ANC and encouraging them to attend ANC more than 4 times.

Keywords: pregnant women, HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, awareness, Laos

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Authors: Elizalde D. Bana

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Healing restores continuity and form through cell replication; hence, conserving structural integrity. In response to the worldwide pressing problem of chronic wounds in the healthcare delivery system, the researcher aims to provide effective intervention to preserve the structural integrity of the person. The wound healing effects of cryopreserved and lyophilized amniotic membrane (AM) of a term fetus embedded into two (2) concentrations (1.5 % and 1.0 %) of absorption-based ointment has been evaluated in vivo using the excision wound healing model 1x1 cm size. The total protein concentration in full term fetus was determined by the Biuret and Bradford methods, which are based on UV-visible spectroscopy. The percentages of protein presence in 9.5 mg (Mass total sample) of Amniotic membrane ranges between 14.77 – 14.46 % in Bradford method, while slightly lower to 13.78 – 13.80 % concentration in Biuret method, respectively. Bradford method evidently showed higher sensitivity for proteins than Biuret test. Overall, the amniotic membrane is composed principally of proteins in which a copious amount of literature substantially proved its healing abilities. After which, an area of 1 cm by 1 cm skin tissue was excised to its full thickness from the dorsolateral aspect of the isogenic mice and was applied twice a day with the ointment formulation having two (2) concentrations for the diabetic group and non-diabetic group. The wounds of each animal were left undressed and its area was measured every other day by a standard measurement formula from day 2,4,6,8,10,12 and 14. By the 14th day, the ointment containing 1.5 % of AM in absorption-based ointment applied to non-diabetic and diabetic group showed 100 % healing. The wound areas in the animals treated with the standard antibiotic, Mupirocin Ointment (Brand X) showed a 100% healing by the 14th day but with traces of scars, indicating that AM prepared from cryopreservation and lyophilization, at that given concentration, had a better wound healing property than the standard antibiotic. Four (4) multivariate tests were used which showed a significant interaction between days and treatments, meaning that the ointments prepared in two differing concentrations and induced in different groups of the mice had a significant effect on the percent of contraction over time. Furthermore, the evaluations of its effectiveness to wound healing were all significant although in differing degrees. It is observed that the higher the concentrations of amniotic membrane, the more effective are the results.

Keywords: wounds, healing, amniotic membrane ointments, biomedical, stem cell

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Authors: Grmay Kassa Brhane, Hailemariam Siyum Mekonen

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This study was designed to identify the hydrogeochemical and anthropogenic processes controlling the evaluation of groundwater chemistry in the Ellala catchment which covers about 296.5 km2 areal extent. The chemical analysis revealed that the major ions in the groundwater are Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+ (cations) and HCO3-, PO43-, Cl-, NO3-, and SO42-(anions). Most of the groundwater samples (68.42%) revealed that the groundwater in the catchment is non-alkaline. In addition to the contribution of aquifer material, the solid materials and liquid wastes discharged from different sources can be the main sources of pH and EC in the groundwater. It is observed that the EC of the groundwater is fairly correlated with the DTS. This indicates that high mineralized water is more conductor than water with low concentration. The degree of salinity of the groundwater increases along the groundwater flow path from East to West; then, areas surrounding Mekelle City are highly saline due to the liquid and solid wastes discharged from the city and the industries. The groundwater facies in the catchment are predominated with calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate which are labeled as Ca-Mg-HCO3 and Mg-Ca-HCO3. The main geochemical process controlling the evolution of the groundwater chemistry in the catchment is rock-water interaction, particularly carbonate dissolution. Due to the clay layer in the aquifer, the reverse is ion exchange. Non-significant silicate weathering and halite dissolution also contribute to the evolution of groundwater chemistry in the catchment. The groundwater in the catchment is dominated by the meteoritic origin although it needs further groundwater chemistry study with isotope dating analysis. The groundwater is under-saturated with calcite, dolomite, and aragonite minerals; hence, the more these minerals encounter the groundwater, the more the minerals dissolve. The main source of calcium and magnesium in groundwater is the dissolution of carbonate minerals (calcite and dolomite) since carbonate rocks are the dominant aquifer materials in the catchment. In addition to this, the weathering of dolerite rock is a possible source of magnesium ions. The relatively higher concentration of sodium over chloride indicates that the source of sodium-ion is reverse ion exchange and/or weathering of sodium-bearing materials, such as shale and dolerite rather than halite dissolution. High concentration of phosphate, nitrate, and chloride in the groundwater is the main anthropogenic source that needs treatment, quality control, and management in the catchment. From the Base Exchange Index Analysis, it is possible to understand that, in the catchment, the groundwater is dominated by the meteoritic origin, although it needs further groundwater chemistry study with isotope dating analysis.

Keywords: Ellala catchment, factor, chemistry, geochemical, groundwater

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Authors: Sanjay K. Behera, Debasish Saha, Paramesh Gadige, Ranjini Bandyopadhyay

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The zero shear viscosity (η₀) of a suspension of hard sphere colloids characterized by a significant polydispersity (≈10%) increases with increase in volume fraction (ϕ) and shows a dramatic increase at ϕ=ϕg with the system entering a colloidal glassy state. Fragility which is the measure of the rapidity of approach of these suspensions towards the glassy state is sensitive to its size polydispersity and stiffness of the particles. Soft poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) particles deform in the presence of neighboring particles at volume fraction above the random close packing volume fraction of undeformed monodisperse spheres. Softness, therefore, enhances the packing efficiency of these particles. In this study PNIPAM particles of a nearly constant swelling ratio and with polydispersities varying over a wide range (7.4%-48.9%) are synthesized to study the effects of polydispersity on the dynamics of suspensions of soft PNIPAM colloidal particles. The size and polydispersity of these particles are characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As these particles are deformable, their packing in aqueous suspensions is quantified in terms of effective volume fraction (ϕeff). The zero shear viscosity (η₀) data of these colloidal suspensions, estimated from rheometric experiments as a function of the effective volume fraction ϕeff of the suspensions, increases with increase in ϕeff and shows a dramatic increase at ϕeff = ϕ₀. The data for η₀ as a function of ϕeff fits well to the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann equation. It is observed that increasing polydispersity results in increasingly fragile supercooled liquid-like behavior, with the parameter ϕ₀, extracted from the fits to the VFT equation shifting towards higher ϕeff. The observed increase in fragility is attributed to the prevalence of dynamical heterogeneities (DHs) in these polydisperse suspensions, while the simultaneous shift in ϕ₀ is ascribed to the decoupling of the dynamics of the smallest and largest particles. Finally, it is observed that the intrinsic nonlinearity of these suspensions, estimated at the third harmonic near ϕ₀ in Fourier transform oscillatory rheological experiments, increases with increase in polydispersity. These results are in agreement with theoretical predictions and simulation results for polydisperse hard sphere colloidal glasses and clearly demonstrate that jammed suspensions of polydisperse colloidal particles can be effectively fluidized with increasing polydispersity. Suspensions of these particles are therefore excellent candidates for detailed experimental studies of the effects of polydispersity on the dynamics of glass formation.

Keywords: dynamical heterogeneity, effective volume fraction, fragility, intrinsic nonlinearity

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Authors: T. Poppendieker

Abstract:

A new innovative tool for self-myofascial release is widely and increasingly used among athletes of various sports. The application of the foam roll is suggested to improve muscle performance and flexibility. Attempts to examine acute and somewhat long term effects of either have been conducted over the past ten years. However, the results of muscle performance have been inconsistent. It is suggested that regular use over a long period of time results in a different, muscle performance improving outcome. This study examines long-term effects of regular foam rolling combined with a short plyometric routine vs. solely the same plyometric routine on muscle performance and flexibility over a period of six weeks. Results of counter movement jump (CMJ), squat jump (SJ), and isometric maximal force (IMF) of a 90° horizontal squat in a leg-press will serve as parameters for muscle performance. Data on the range of motion (ROM) of the sit and reach test will be used as a parameter for the flexibility assessment. Muscle activation will be measured throughout all tests. Twenty male and twenty female members of a Frankfurt area fitness center chain (7.11) with an average age of 25 years will be recruited. Women and men will be randomly assigned to a foam roll (FR) and a control group. All participants will practice their assigned routine three times a week over the period of six weeks. Tests on CMJ, SJ, IMF, and ROM will be taken before and after the intervention period. The statistic software program SPSS 22 will be used to analyze the data of CMJ, SJ, IMF, and ROM under consideration of muscle activation by a 2 x 2 x 2 (time of measurement x gender x group) analysis of variance with repeated measures and dependent t-test analysis of pre- and post-test. The alpha level for statistic significance will be set at p ≤ 0.05. It is hypothesized that a significant difference in outcome based on gender differences in all four tests will be observed. It is further hypothesized that both groups may show significant improvements in their performance in the CMJ and SJ after the six-week period. However, the FR group is hypothesized to achieve a higher improvement in the two jump tests. Moreover, the FR group may increase IMF as well as flexibility, whereas the control group may not show likewise progress. The results of this study are crucial for the understanding of long-term effects of regular foam roll application. The collected information on the matter may help to motivate the incorporation of foam rolling into training routines, in order to improve athletic performances.

Keywords: counter movement jump, foam rolling, isometric maximal force, long term effects, self-myofascial release, squat jump

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Authors: Ayodeji Oluleye

Abstract:

This study used Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Aerosol Index (AI) and reanalysis dataset of thirty years (1983-2012) to investigate the influence of the atmospheric circulation on dust transport during the Harmattan period over WestAfrica using TOMS data. The Harmattan dust mobilization and atmospheric circulation pattern were evaluated using a kernel density estimate which shows the areas where most points are concentrated between the variables. The evolution of the Inter-Tropical Discontinuity (ITD), Sea surface Temperature (SST) over the Gulf of Guinea, and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index during the Harmattan period (November-March) was also analyzed and graphs of the average ITD positions, SST and the NAO were observed on daily basis. The Pearson moment correlation analysis was also employed to assess the effect of atmospheric circulation on Harmattan dust transport. The results show that the departure (increased) of TOMS AI values from the long-term mean (1.64) occurred from around 21st of December, which signifies the rich dust days during winter period. Strong TOMS AI signal were observed from January to March with the maximum occurring in the latter months (February and March). The inter-annual variability of TOMSAI revealed that the rich dust years were found between 1984-1985, 1987-1988, 1997-1998, 1999-2000, and 2002-2004. Significantly, poor dust year was found between 2005 and 2006 in all the periods. The study has found strong north-easterly (NE) trade winds were over most of the Sahelianregion of West Africa during the winter months with the maximum wind speed reaching 8.61m/s inJanuary.The strength of NE winds determines the extent of dust transport to the coast of Gulf of Guinea during winter. This study has confirmed that the presence of the Harmattan is strongly dependent on theSST over Atlantic Ocean and ITD position. The locus of the average SST and ITD positions over West Africa could be described by polynomial functions. The study concludes that the evolution of near surface wind field at 925 hpa, and the variations of SST and ITD positions are the major large scale atmospheric circulation systems driving the emission, distribution, and transport of Harmattan dust aerosols over West Africa. However, the influence of NAO was shown to have fewer significance effects on the Harmattan dust transport over the region.

Keywords: atmospheric circulation, dust aerosols, Harmattan, West Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 308

Authors: Darshana Sharma

Abstract:

Distance Education has emerged as a viable alternative to serve the higher educational needs of the socially and economically disadvantaged people of the remote, rural areas of Jammu region. The University of Jammu is a National Accreditation, and Assessment Council accredited, A+ university and has been accorded graded autonomy by the University Grants Commission. It is a dual mode university offering academic programmes through the regular departments and through the Directorate of Distance Education. The Directorate of Distance Education, University of Jammu still uses printed study material as a mode of instructional delivery. The development of technologies has assured increased interaction and communication for distance learners throughout the distance open learning institutions. Though it is tempting and convenient to adopt technology already being used by others, it may not prove effective for the simple reason that two institutions may be unlike in some respect. The use of technology must be conceived in view of the needs of the learners; geographical socio-economic-cultural and technological contexts and financial, administrative and academic resources of the institution. Mobile learning (m-learning) is a novel approach to knowledge acquisition and dissemination and is gaining global attention. It has evolved as one of the useful channels of distance learning promoting interaction between learners and teachers. It is felt that the Directorate of Distance Education, University of Jammu also needs to adopt new technologies to provide more effective academic and information support to distance learners in order to keep them motivated and also to develop self-learning skills. The chief objective of the research on which this paper is based was to measure the opinion of the distance learners of the DDE, the University of Jammu about the merits of mobile learning. It also explores their preferences for implementing mobile learning. The survey research design of descriptive research has been used. The data was collected from 400 distance learners enrolled with undergraduate and post-graduate programmes using self-constructed questionnaire containing five-point Likert scale items arranging from strongly agree, agree, indifferent, disagree and strongly disagree. Percentages were used to analyze the data. The findings lead to conclude that mobile learning has a great potential for the DDE for reaching out to the rural, remotely located distance learners of the Jammu region and also to improve the teaching-learning environment. The paper also finds out the challenges in the implementation of mobile learning in the region and further makes suggestions for effective implementation of mobile learning in DDE, University of Jammu.

Keywords: directorate of distance education, mobile learning, national accreditation and assessment council, university of Jammu

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Authors: Clara Oliver, Oibar Martinez, Jose Miguel Miranda

Abstract:

Ensuring a safe environment for sensitive electronics boards in places with high limitations in size poses two major difficulties: the control of charge accumulation in floating floors and the prevention of excess charge generation due to air cooling flows. In this paper, we discuss these mechanisms and possible solutions to prevent them. An experiment was made in the control room of a Cherenkov Telescope, where six racks of 2x1x1 m size and independent cooling units are located. The room is 10x4x2.5 m, and the electronics include high-speed digitizers, trigger circuits, etc. The floor used in this room was antistatic, but it was a raised floor mounted in floating design to facilitate the handling of the cables and maintenance. The tests were made by measuring the contact voltage acquired by a person who was walking along the room with different footwear qualities. In addition, we took some measurements of the voltage accumulated in a person in other situations like running or sitting up and down on an office chair. The voltages were taken in real time with an electrostatic voltage meter and dedicated control software. It is shown that peak voltages as high as 5 kV were measured with ambient humidity of more than 30%, which are within the range of a class 3A according to the HBM standard. In order to complete the results, we have made the same experiment in different spaces with alternative types of the floor like synthetic floor and earthenware floor obtaining peak voltages much lower than the ones measured with the floating synthetic floor. The grounding quality one achieves with this kind of floors can hardly beat the one typically encountered in standard floors glued directly on a solid substrate. On the other hand, the air ventilation used to prevent the overheating of the boards probably contributed in a significant way to the charge accumulated in the room. During the assessment of the quality of the static charge control, it is necessary to guarantee that the tests are made under repeatable conditions. One of the major difficulties which one encounters during these assessments is the fact the electrostatic voltmeters might provide different values depending on the humidity conditions and ground resistance quality. In addition, the use of certified antistatic footwear might mask deficiencies in the charge control. In this paper, we show how we defined protocols to guarantee that electrostatic readings are reliable. We believe that this can be helpful not only to qualify the static charge control in a laboratory but also to asses any procedure oriented to minimize the risk of electrostatic discharge events.

Keywords: electrostatics, ESD protocols, HBM, static charge control

Procedia PDF Downloads 127