Search results for: symbolic data analysis
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 41186

Search results for: symbolic data analysis

25136 Proximate, Functional and Sensory Evaluation of Some Brands of Instant Noodles in Nigeria

Authors: Olakunle Moses Makanjuola, Adebola Ajayi

Abstract:

Noodles are made from unleavened dough, rolled flat and cut into shapes. The instant noodle market is growing fast in Asian countries and is gaining popularity in the western market. This project reports on the proximate functional and sensory evaluation of different brands of instant noodles in Nigeria. The comparisons were based on proximate functional and sensory evaluation of the product. The result obtained from the proximate analysis showed that sample QHR has the highest moisture content, sample BMG has the highest protein content, sample CPO has the highest fat content, sample. The obtained result from the functional properties showed that sample BMG (Dangote noodles) had the highest volume increase after cooking due to its high swelling capacity, high water absorption capacity and high hydration capacity. Sample sensory analysis of the noodles showed that all the samples are of significant difference (at P < 0.05) in terms of colour, texture, and aroma but there is no significant difference in terms of taste and overall acceptability. Sample QHR (Indomie noodles) is the most preferred by the panelists.

Keywords: proximate, functional, sensory evaluation, noodles

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25135 The Role of Art and Music in Enriching Adult Learning in Maltese as a Second Language

Authors: Jacqueline Zammit

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Currently, a considerable number of individuals from different backgrounds are being drawn to Malta due to its favourable environment for business, investment, and employment. This influx has led to a growing interest among expats in learning Maltese as a second language (ML2) to enrich their experience of working and residing in Malta. However, the intricacies of Maltese grammar, particularly challenging for second language (L2) learners unfamiliar with Arabic, can pose difficulties in the learning process. Furthermore, it's worth noting that the teaching of ML2 is an emerging field with limited existing research on effective pedagogical strategies. The realm of second language acquisition (SLA) can be notably demanding for adults, requiring well-founded interventions to facilitate learning. Among these interventions, approaches grounded in empirical evidence have incorporated artistic and musical elements to augment SLA. Both art and music have proven roles in facilitating L2 communication, aiding vocabulary retention, and improving comprehension skills. This study aims to delve into the utilization of music and art as catalysts for enhancing the progress of adult learners in mastering ML2. The research employs a qualitative methodology, employing a sample selected through convenience sampling, which encompassed 37 adult learners of ML2. These participants engaged in individual interviews. The data derived from these interviews were subjected to thorough analysis. The outcomes of the study underscore the substantial positive influence exerted by art and music on the academic advancement of adult ML2 learners. Notably, it emerged from the participants' accounts that the current ML2 curricula lack the integration of art and music. Therefore, this study advocates for the incorporation of art and music components within both traditional classroom settings and online ML2 courses. The intention is to bolster the academic accomplishments of adult learners in the realm of Maltese as a second language, bridging the current gap between theory and practice.

Keywords: academic accomplishment, mature learners, visual art, learning Maltese as a second language, musical involvement, acquiring a second language

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25134 Religio-Cultural Ethos and Mental Health

Authors: Haveesha Buddhdev

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The most important right for a human being in a society is the freedom of expression as stated by Article 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights pledged by member states of United Nations. Will it be fair to expect him/her to be of sound mental health if this right is taken away? Religion as a primary social institution controls many rights, freedoms and duties of people in a society. It does so by imposing certain values and beliefs on people which would either enhance quality of life or curb their freedom adversely thus affecting individual mental health. This paper aims to study the positive and negative role that religion plays in influencing one’s freedom of expression. This paper will focus on reviewing existing studies on the positive and negative impacts of religion on mental health. It will also contain data collected by the researcher about the impacts of religion on freedom of expression which will be obtained by surveying a sample of 30 adolescents and young adults. The researcher will use a Likert scale for these purpose, with response options ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree and quantify it accordingly. Descriptive statistics would be used to analyse the data. Such research would help to identify possible problems faced by adolescents and young adults when it comes to religio-cultural ethos and also facilitate further researches to study the role that religion plays in mental health.

Keywords: cultural Ethos, freedom of expression, adolescent mental health, social science

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25133 Thriving Private-Community Partnerships in Ecotourism: Perspectives from Fiji’s Upper Navua Conservation Area

Authors: Jeremy Schultz, Kelly Bricker

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Ecotourism has proven itself to be a forerunner in the advancement of environmental conservation all the while supporting cultural tradition, uniqueness, and pride among indigenous communities. Successful private-community partnerships associated with ecotourism operations are vital to the overall prosperity of both the businesses and the local communities. Such accomplishments can be seen through numerous livelihood goals including income, food security, health, reduced vulnerability, governance, and empowerment. Private-community partnerships also support global initiatives such as the sustainable development goals and sustainable development frameworks including those proposed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (WTO). Understanding such partnerships assists not only large organizations such as the WTO, but it also benefits smaller ecotourism operators and entrepreneurs who are trying to achieve their sustainable tourism development goals. This study examined the partnership between an ecotourism company (Rivers Fiji) and two rural villages located in Fiji’s Upper Navua Conservation Area. Focus groups were conducted in each village. Observation journals were also used to record conversations outside of the focus groups. Data were thematically organized and analyzed to offer researcher interpretations and understandings. This research supported the notion that respectful and emboldening partnerships between communities and private enterprise are vital to the composition of successful ecotourism operations that support sustainable development protocol. Understanding these partnerships can assist in shaping future ecotourism development and re-molding existing businesses. This study has offered an example of a thriving partnership through community input and critical researcher analysis. Research has identified six contributing factors to successful ecotourism partnerships, and this study provides additional support to that framework.

Keywords: community partnerships, conservation areas, ecotourism, Fiji, sustainability

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25132 Preparedness of the Mae Hong Son Province for the Aging Society

Authors: Siwaporn Mahathamnuchock, Krit Phanpanya

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This survey study aims 1) to investigate the preparation of Mae Hong Son people for entering into the aging society 2) to study awareness of public health preparedness for the aging society of Mae Hong Son Province Administrative Organization. The samples used in this study were people aged 55-60 years in Mae Hong Province. Located at Khun Yuam Sub district, Khun Yuam District, Pang Ma Pha Sub district, Pang Ma Pha District, Thung Yao Sub district, Pai District, Mae ka Tuan Sub district, Sob Moei District, Mae Sariang Sub district, Mae Sariang District, Mae Tho Sub district, Mae La Noi District. And Huai Pha Sub district, Muang Mae Hong District. The data were collected from 1,088 people by Stratified sampling Method. The instrument used in this study were 36 items of questionnaire that contains three parts: 1) Sample’s general information 2) The Interview of Mae Hong Son people’s preparation before entering aging society. 3) The Interview about preparedness of health for the aging society of Mae Hong Son Province Administrative Organization. Then analyzed the data by using percentage and standard deviation. The research found that Mae Hong Son people are preparing for an aging society as followed; psychological, residence, physical health, careers and leisure time on a large scale with an average of 3.81 (SD=0.88), 3.66 (SD=0.99), 3.53(SD=1.04) and 3.51(SD=0.89), respectively. However finances and saving were prepared on moderate scale with an average of 2.84(SD=0.89) and in the awareness of public health preparedness for the aging society of Mae Hong Son Province Administrative Organization were moderate with an average of 2.99 (SD=1.07).

Keywords: aging society, preparedness, perception, Mae Hong Son province

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25131 Integration of Gravity and Seismic Methods in the Geometric Characterization of a Dune Reservoir: Case of the Zouaraa Basin, NW Tunisia

Authors: Marwa Djebbi, Hakim Gabtni

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Gravity is a continuously advancing method that has become a mature technology for geological studies. Increasingly, it has been used to complement and constrain traditional seismic data and even used as the only tool to get information of the sub-surface. In fact, in some regions the seismic data, if available, are of poor quality and hard to be interpreted. Such is the case for the current study area. The Nefza zone is part of the Tellian fold and thrust belt domain in the north west of Tunisia. It is essentially made of a pile of allochthonous units resulting from a major Neogene tectonic event. Its tectonic and stratigraphic developments have always been subject of controversies. Considering the geological and hydrogeological importance of this area, a detailed interdisciplinary study has been conducted integrating geology, seismic and gravity techniques. The interpretation of Gravity data allowed the delimitation of the dune reservoir and the identification of the regional lineaments contouring the area. It revealed the presence of three gravity lows that correspond to the dune of Zouara and Ouchtata separated along with a positive gravity axis espousing the Ain Allega_Aroub Er Roumane axe. The Bouguer gravity map illustrated the compartmentalization of the Zouara dune into two depressions separated by a NW-SE anomaly trend. This constitution was confirmed by the vertical derivative map which showed the individualization of two depressions with slightly different anomaly values. The horizontal gravity gradient magnitude was performed in order to determine the different geological features present in the studied area. The latest indicated the presence of NE-SW parallel folds according to the major Atlasic direction. Also, NW-SE and EW trends were identified. The maxima tracing confirmed this direction by the presence of NE-SW faults, mainly the Ghardimaou_Cap Serrat accident. The quality of the available seismic sections and the absence of borehole data in the region, except few hydraulic wells that been drilled and showing the heterogeneity of the substratum of the dune, required the process of gravity modeling of this challenging area that necessitates to be modeled for the geometrical characterization of the dune reservoir and determine the different stratigraphic series underneath these deposits. For more detailed and accurate results, the scale of study will be reduced in coming research. A more concise method will be elaborated; the 4D microgravity survey. This approach is considered as an expansion of gravity method and its fourth dimension is time. It will allow a continuous and repeated monitoring of fluid movement in the subsurface according to the micro gal (μgall) scale. The gravity effect is a result of a monthly variation of the dynamic groundwater level which correlates with rainfall during different periods.

Keywords: 3D gravity modeling, dune reservoir, heterogeneous substratum, seismic interpretation

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25130 Finite Element Modeling of a Lower Limb Based on the East Asian Body Characteristics for Pedestrian Protection

Authors: Xianping Du, Runlu Miao, Guanjun Zhang, Libo Cao, Feng Zhu

Abstract:

Current vehicle safety standards and human body injury criteria were established based on the biomechanical response of Euro-American human body, without considering the difference in the body anthropometry and injury characteristics among different races, particularly the East Asian people with smaller body size. Absence of such race specific design considerations will negatively influence the protective performance of safety products for these populations, and weaken the accuracy of injury thresholds derived. To resolve these issues, in this study, we aim to develop a race specific finite element model to simulate the impact response of the lower extremity of a 50th percentile East Asian (Chinese) male. The model was built based on medical images for the leg of an average size Chinese male and slightly adjusted based on the statistical data. The model includes detailed anatomic features and is able to simulate the muscle active force. Thirteen biomechanical tests available in the literature were used to validate its biofidelity. Using the validated model, a pedestrian-car impact accident taking place in China was re-constructed computationally. The results show that the newly developed lower leg model has a good performance in predicting dynamic response and tibia fracture pattern. An additional comparison on the fracture tolerance of the East Asian and Euro-American lower limb suggests that the current injury criterion underestimates the degree of injury of East Asian human body.

Keywords: lower limb, East Asian body characteristics, traffic accident reconstruction, finite element analysis, injury tolerance

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25129 Efficacy of CAM Methods for Pain Reduction in Acute Non-specific Lower Back Pain

Authors: John Gaber

Abstract:

Objectives: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a medicine or health practice that is used alongside conventional practice. Nowadays, CAM is commonly used in North America and other countries, and there is a need for more scientific study to understand its efficacy in different clinical cases. This retrospective study explores the effectiveness and recovery time of CAMs such as cupping, acupuncture, and sotai to treat cases of non-specific low back pain (ANLBP). Methods: We assessed the effectiveness of acupuncture, cupping, and sotai methods on pain and for the treatment of ANLBP. We have compared the magnitude of pain relief using a pain scale assessment method to compare the efficacy of each treatment. The Face Pain Scale assessment was conducted before and 24 hours post-treatment. This retrospective study analyzed 40 patients and categorized them according to the treatment they received. The study included the control group, and the three intervention groups, each with ten patients. Each of the three intervention groups received one of the intervention methods. The first group received the cupping treatment, where cups were placed on the lower back of both sides on points: BL23, BL25, BL26, BL54, BL37, BL40, and BL57. After vacuuming, the cups will stay for 10-15 minutes under infrared light (IR) heating. IR heating is applied by an infrared heat lamp. The second group received the acupuncture treatment, placing needles on points: BL23, BL25, BL26, BL52BL54, GB30, BL37, BL40, BL57, BL59, BL60, and KI3. The needles will be simulated with IR light. The final group received the sotai treatment, a Japanese form of structural realignment that relieves pain, balance, and mobility -moving the body naturally and spontaneously towards a comfortable direction by focusing on the inner feeling and synchronizing with the patient’s breathing. The SPSS statistical software was used to analyze the data using repeated-measures ANOVA. The data collected demonstrates the change in the FPS assessment method value over the course of treatment. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In the cupping, acupuncture, and sotai therapy groups, the mean of the FPS value reduced from 8.7±1.2, 8.8±1.2, 9.0±0.8 before the intervention to 3.5±1.4, 4.3±1.4, 3.3±1.3, 24 hours after the intervention, respectively. The data collected shows that the CAM methods included in this study all show improvements in pain relief 24 hours after treatment. Conclusion: Complementary and alternative medicine were developed to treat injuries and illnesses with the whole body in mind, designed to be used in addition to standard treatments. The data above shows that the use of these treatments can have a pain-relieving effect, but more research should be done on the matter, as finding CAM methods that are efficacious is crucial in the landscape of health sciences.

Keywords: acupuncture, cupping, alternative medicine, rehabilitation, acute injury

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25128 Optimization and Kinetic Analysis of the Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch To Xylose Using Crude Xylanase from Trichoderma Viride ITB CC L.67

Authors: Efri Mardawati, Ronny Purwadi, Made Tri Ari Penia Kresnowati, Tjandra Setiadi

Abstract:

EFB are mainly composed of cellulose (≈ 43%), hemicellulose (≈ 23%) and lignin (≈20%). The palm oil empty fruit bunches (EFB) is the lignosellulosic waste from crude palm oil industries mainly compose of (≈ 43%), hemicellulose (≈ 23%) and lignin (≈20%). Xylan, a polymer made of pentose sugar xylose and the most abundant component of hemicellulose in plant cell wall. Further xylose can be used as a raw material for production of a wide variety of chemicals such as xylitol, which is extensively used in food, pharmaceutical and thin coating applications. Currently, xylose is mostly produced from xylan via chemical hydrolysis processes. However, these processes are normally conducted at a high temperature and pressure, which is costly, and the required downstream processes are relatively complex. As an alternative method, enzymatic hydrolysis of xylan to xylose offers an environmentally friendly biotechnological process, which is performed at ambient temperature and pressure with high specificity and at low cost. This process is catalysed by xylanolytic enzymes that can be produced by some fungal species such as Aspergillus niger, Penicillium crysogenum, Tricoderma reseei, etc. Fungal that will be used to produce crude xylanase enzyme in this study is T. Viride ITB CC L.67. It is the purposes of this research to study the influence of pretreatment of EFB for the enzymatic hydrolysis process, optimation of temperature and pH of the hydrolysis process, the influence of substrate and enzyme concentration to the enzymatic hydrolysis process, the dynamics of hydrolysis process and followingly to study the kinetics of this process. Xylose as the product of enzymatic hydrolysis process analyzed by HPLC. The results show that the thermal pretreatment of EFB enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis process. The enzymatic hydrolysis can be well approached by the Michaelis Menten kinetic model, and kinetic parameters are obtained from experimental data.

Keywords: oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB), xylose, enzymatic hydrolysis, kinetic modelling

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25127 Investigation of Passive Solutions of Thermal Comfort in Housing Aiming to Reduce Energy Consumption

Authors: Josiane R. Pires, Marco A. S. González, Bruna L. Brenner, Luciana S. Roos

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The concern with sustainability brought the need for optimization of the buildings to reduce consumption of natural resources. Almost 1/3 of energy demanded by Brazilian housings is used to provide thermal solutions. AEC sector may contribute applying bioclimatic strategies on building design. The aim of this research is to investigate the viability of applying some alternative solutions in residential buildings. The research was developed with computational simulation on single family social housing, examining envelope type, absorptance, and insolation. The analysis of the thermal performance applied both Brazilian standard NBR 15575 and degree-hour method, in the scenery of Porto Alegre, a southern Brazilian city. We used BIM modeling through Revit/Autodesk and used Energy Plus to thermal simulation. The payback of the investment was calculated comparing energy savings and building costs, in a period of 50 years. The results shown that with the increment of envelope’s insulation there is thermal comfort improvement and energy economy, with a pay-back period of 24 to 36 years, in some cases.

Keywords: civil construction, design, thermal performance, energy, economic analysis

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25126 Diversity and Ecology of the Aquatic Avifauna of the Wetland of Sebkhet Bazer Sakhra, South of Setif, Algeria

Authors: Gouga Hadjer, Djerdali Sofia, Benssaci Ettayeb

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In order to estimate the evolution of the numbers of the aquatic avifauna and their seasonal variations in Sebkhet of Bazer-Sakhra (Site of the eco-complex wetlands of Setif) a monitoring realized during the period from September 2012 to August 2013 allowed to inventory 54 species are spread over 08 orders, 15 families, 34 genres. To follow the global dynamics and the seasonal distribution of species inventoried at Sebkhet Bazer, an analysis of the variation of the total workforce has been established by ecological indices. The autumn season includes the largest number of birds, it totals 3639 individuals. Accidental species are well represented at the autumn and spring seasons denote the interest of the site with respect to migration passages of aquatic birds. During the fall and spring, the Flamingo and the Belon Shelduck are the most abundant with respectively (500, 883) and (560, 1296) individuals. The ecological analysis of this stand showed us that the highest species richness is recorded in spring, (45 species) and the lowest value is obtained in summer it is 20 species.

Keywords: Sebkhet of BazerSakra, ecology, aquatic avifauna, biodiversity, seasonal evolution, wetland

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25125 Genome-Scale Analysis of Streptomyces Caatingaensis CMAA 1322 Metabolism, a New Abiotic Stress-Tolerant Actinomycete

Authors: Suikinai Nobre Santos, Ranko Gacesa, Paul F. Long, Itamar Soares de Melo

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Extremophilic microorganism are adapted to biotopes combining several stress factors (temperature, pressure, radiation, salinity and pH), which indicate the richness valuable resource for the exploitation of novel biotechnological processes and constitute unique models for investigations their biomolecules (1, 2). The above information encourages us investigate bioprospecting synthesized compounds by a noval actinomycete, designated thermotolerant Streptomyces caatingaensis CMAA 1322, isolated from sample soil tropical dry forest (Caatinga) in the Brazilian semiarid region (3-17°S and 35-45°W). This set of constrating physical and climatic factores provide the unique conditions and a diversity of well adapted species, interesting site for biotechnological purposes. Preliminary studies have shown the great potential in the production of cytotoxic, pesticidal and antimicrobial molecules (3). Thus, to extend knowledge of the genes clusters responsible for producing biosynthetic pathways of natural products in strain CMAA1322, whole-genome shotgun (WGS) DNA sequencing was performed using paired-end long sequencing with PacBio RS (Pacific Biosciences). Genomic DNA was extracted from a pure culture grown overnight on LB medium using the PureLink genomic DNA kit (Life Technologies). An approximately 3- to 20-kb-insert PacBio library was constructed and sequenced on an 8 single-molecule real-time (SMRT) cell, yielding 116,269 reads (average length, 7,446 bp), which were allocated into 18 contigs, with 142.11x coverage and N50 value of 20.548 bp (BioProject number PRJNA288757). The assembled data were analyzed by Rapid Annotations using Subsystems Technology (RAST) (4) the genome size was found to be 7.055.077 bp, comprising 6167 open reading frames (ORFs) and 413 subsystems. The G+C content was estimated to be 72 mol%. The closest-neighbors tool, available in RAST through functional comparison of the genome, revealed that strain CMAA1322 is more closely related to Streptomyces hygroscopicus ATCC 53653 (similarity score value, 537), S. violaceusniger Tu 4113 (score value, 483), S. avermitilis MA-4680 (score value, 475), S. albus J1074 (score value, 447). The Streptomyces sp. CMAA1322 genome contains 98 tRNA genes and 135 genes copies related to stress response, mainly osmotic stress (14), heat shock (16), oxidative stress (49). Functional annotation by antiSMASH version 3.0 (5) identified 41 clusters for secondary metabolites (including two clusters for lanthipeptides, ten clusters for nonribosomal peptide synthetases [NRPS], three clusters for siderophores, fourteen for polyketide synthetase [PKS], six clusters encoding a terpene, two clusters encoding a bacteriocin, and one cluster encoding a phenazine). Our work provide in comparative analyse of genome and extract produced (data no published) by lineage CMAA1322, revealing the potential of microorganisms accessed from extreme environments as Caatinga” to produce a wide range of biotechnological relevant compounds.

Keywords: caatinga, streptomyces, environmental stresses, biosynthetic pathways

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25124 Construction Engineering and Cocoa Agriculture: A Synergistic Approach for Improved Livelihoods of Farmers

Authors: Felix Darko-Amoah, Daniel Acquah

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In contemporary ecosystems for developing countries like Ghana, the need to explore innovative solutions for sustainable livelihoods of farmers is more important than ever. With Ghana’s population growing steadily and the demand for food, fiber and shelter increasing, it is imperative that the construction industry and agriculture come together to address the challenges faced by farmers in the country. In order to enhance the livelihoods of cocoa farmers in Ghana, this paper provides an innovative strategy that aims to integrate the areas of civil engineering and cash crop agriculture. This study focuses on cocoa cultivation in poorer nations, where farmers confront a variety of difficulties include restricted access to financing, subpar infrastructure, and insufficient support services. We seek to improve farmers' access to financing, improve infrastructure, and provide support services that are essential to their success by combining the fields of building engineering and cocoa production. The findings of the study are beneficial to cocoa producers, community extension agents, and construction engineers. In order to accomplish our objectives, we conducted 307 of field investigations in particular cocoa growing communities in the Western Region of Ghana. Several studies have shown that there is a lack of adequate infrastructure and financing, leading to low yields, subpar beans, and low farmer profitability in developing nations like Ghana. Our goal is to give farmers access to better infrastructure, better financing, and support services that are crucial to their success through the fusion of construction engineering and cocoa production. Based on data gathered from the field investigations, the results show that the employment of appropriate technology and methods for developing structures, roads, and other infrastructure in rural regions is one of the essential components of this strategy. For instance, we find that using affordable, environmentally friendly materials like bamboo, rammed earth, and mud bricks can assist to cut expenditures while also protecting the environment. By applying simple relational techniques to the data gathered, the results also show that construction engineers are crucial in planning and building infrastructure that is appropriate for the local environment and circumstances and resilient to natural disasters like floods. Thus, the convergence of construction engineering and cash crop cultivation is another crucial component of the agriculture-construction interplay. For instance, farmers can receive financial assistance to buy essential inputs, such as seeds, fertilizer, and tools, as well as training in proper farming methods. Moreover, extension services can be offered to assist farmers in marketing their crops and enhancing their livelihoods and revenue. In conclusion, our analysis of responses from the 307 participants depicts that the combination of construction engineering and cash crop agriculture offers an innovative approach to improving farmers' livelihoods in cocoa farming communities in Ghana. In conclusion, by inculcating the findings of this study into core decision-making, policymakers can help farmers build sustainable and profitable livelihoods by addressing challenges such as limited access to financing, poor infrastructure, and inadequate support services.

Keywords: cocoa agriculture, construction engineering, farm buildings and equipment, improved livelihoods of farmers

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25123 A Study of the Depression Status of Asian American Adolescents

Authors: Selina Lin, Justin M Fan, Vincent Zhang, Cindy Chen, Daniel Lam, Jason Yan, Ning Zhang

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Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States, and past studies have shown a concerning increase in the rates of depression in youth populations over time. Furthermore, depression is an especially important issue for Asian Americans because of the anti-Asian violence taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic. While Asian American adolescents are reluctant to seek help for mental health issues, past research has found a prevalence of depressive symptoms in them that have yet to be fully investigated. There have been studies conducted to understand and observe the impacts of multifarious factors influencing the mental well-being of Asian American adolescents; however, they have been generally limited to qualitative investigation, and very few have attempted to quantitatively evaluate the relationship between depression levels and a comprehensive list of factors for those levels at the same time. To better quantify these relationships, this project investigated the prevalence of depression in Asian American teenagers mainly from the Greater Philadelphia Region, aged 12 to 19, and, with an anonymous survey, asked participants 48 multiple-choice questions pertaining to demographic information, daily behaviors, school life, family life, depression levels (quantified by the PHQ-9 assessment), school and family support against depression. Each multiple-choice question was assigned as a factor and variable for statistical and dominance analysis to determine the most influential factors on depression levels of Asian American adolescents. The results were validated via Bootstrap analysis and t-tests. While certain influential factors identified in this survey are consistent with the literature, such as parent-child relationship and peer pressure, several dominant factors were relatively overlooked in the past. These factors include the parents’ relationship with each other, the satisfaction with body image, sex identity, support from the family and support from the school. More than 25% of participants desired more support from their families and schools in handling depression issues. This study implied that it is beneficial for Asian American parents and adolescents to take programs on parents’ relationships with each other, parent-child communication, mental health, and sexual identity. A culturally inclusive school environment and more accessible mental health services would be helpful for Asian American adolescents to combat depression. This survey-based study paved the way for further investigation of effective approaches for helping Asian American adolescents against depression.

Keywords: Asian American adolescents, depression, dominance analysis, t-test, bootstrap analysis

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25122 The Construction of Knowledge and Social Wisdom on Local Community in the Process of Disaster Management

Authors: Oman Sukmana

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Geographically, Indonesia appears to be disaster-prone areas, whether for natural, nonnatural (man-made), or social disasters. This study aimed to construct the knowledge and social wisdom on the local community in the process of disaster management after the eruption of Mt. Kelud. This study, moreover, encompassed two major concerns: (1) the construction of knowledge and social wisdom on the local community in the process of disaster management after the eruption of Mt. Kelud; (2) the conceptual framework of disaster management on the basis of knowledge and social wisdom on the local community. The study was conducted by means of qualitative approach. The data were analyzed by using the qualitative-descriptive technique. The data collection techniques used in this study were in-depth interview, focus group discussion, observation, and documentation. It was conducted at Pandansari Village, Sub-district Ngantang, District Malang as the most at risk area of Mt. Kelud’s eruption. The purposive sampling was applied ad hoc to select the respondents including: the apparatus of Pandansari Village, the local figures of Pandansari Village, the Chief and Boards of the Forum of Disaster Risk Reduction (FPRB), the Head of Malang Regional Disaster Management Agency, and other agencies. The findings of this study showed that the local community has already possessed the adequate knowledge and social wisdom to overcome the disaster. Through the social wisdom, the local community could predict the potential eruption.

Keywords: knowledge, social and local wisdom, disaster management

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25121 Parental Drinking and Risky Alcohol Related Behaviors: Predicting Binge Drinking Trajectories and Their Influence on Impaired Driving among College Students

Authors: Shiran Bord, Assaf Oshri, Matthew W. Carlson, Sihong Liu

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Background: Alcohol-impaired driving (AID) and binge drinking are major health concerns among college students. Although the link between binge drinking and AID is well established, knowledge regarding binge drinking patterns, the factors influencing binge drinking, and the associations between consumption patterns and alcohol-related risk behaviors is lacking. Aims: To examine heterogeneous trajectories of binge drinking during college and tests factors that might predict class membership as well as class membership outcomes. Methods: Data were obtained from a sample of 1,265 college students (Mage = 18.5, SD = .66) as part of the Longitudinal Study of Violence Against Women (N = 1,265; 59.3% female; 69.2% white). Analyses were completed in three stages. First, a growth curve analysis was conducted to identify trajectories of binge drinking over time. Second, growth curve mixture modeling analyses were pursued to assess unobserved growth trajectories of binge drinking without predictors. Lastly, parental drinking variables were added to the model as predictors of class membership, and AID and being a passenger of a drunk driver were added to the model as outcomes. Results: Three binge drinking trajectories were identified: high-convex, medium concave and low-increasing. Parental drinking was associated with being in high-convex and medium-concave classes. Compared to the low-increasing class, the high convex and medium concave classes reported more AID and being a passenger of a drunk driver more frequently. Conclusions: Parental drinking may affect children’s later engagement in AID. Efforts should focus on parents' education regarding the consequences of parental modeling of alcohol consumption.

Keywords: alcohol impaired driving, alcohol consumption, binge drinking, college students, parental modeling

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25120 A Study for Turkish Underwater Sports Federation Athletes: Evaluation of the Street Foods Consumption

Authors: Su Tezel

Abstract:

The paper deals with licensed athletes affiliated with the Turkish Underwater Sports Federation to assess the consumption status of street food. The aim of the paper is the frequency of training during competition preparatory training or season periods, the athletes' economic situation, social life, work-life or education situations are the directs them to street food? Also to evaluate the importance that athletes attach to their nutritional status. Data were collected with survey method. 141 underwater sports athletes participated in the survey. Empirical findings on 141 respondents are related to athletes' demographic information, which underwater sports branch they doing (underwater hockey, underwater rugby and free diving), with whom they live, training hours and frequency, street food consumption frequency and preferences, which type drinks they prefer drink with or without street foods and other similar things. Most of the athletes were male (64.5%), female (35.5%) and the most athletes from the sports branches included in the survey belong to underwater hockey (95.7%). 93.7% of athletes have a training time between 08:00 pm to 00:00 am and the frequency of consuming street food after training is 88%. As a remarkable result, 48% of the reasons for consuming street food easy access to street foods after training. Statistical analyzes were made with the data obtained and the status of street food consumption of athletes, whether they were suitable for professional athlete nutrition and their attitudes were evaluated.

Keywords: nutrition, street foods, underwater hockey, underwater sport

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25119 Developing a Cloud Intelligence-Based Energy Management Architecture Facilitated with Embedded Edge Analytics for Energy Conservation in Demand-Side Management

Authors: Yu-Hsiu Lin, Wen-Chun Lin, Yen-Chang Cheng, Chia-Ju Yeh, Yu-Chuan Chen, Tai-You Li

Abstract:

Demand-Side Management (DSM) has the potential to reduce electricity costs and carbon emission, which are associated with electricity used in the modern society. A home Energy Management System (EMS) commonly used by residential consumers in a down-stream sector of a smart grid to monitor, control, and optimize energy efficiency to domestic appliances is a system of computer-aided functionalities as an energy audit for residential DSM. Implementing fault detection and classification to domestic appliances monitored, controlled, and optimized is one of the most important steps to realize preventive maintenance, such as residential air conditioning and heating preventative maintenance in residential/industrial DSM. In this study, a cloud intelligence-based green EMS that comes up with an Internet of Things (IoT) technology stack for residential DSM is developed. In the EMS, Arduino MEGA Ethernet communication-based smart sockets that module a Real Time Clock chip to keep track of current time as timestamps via Network Time Protocol are designed and implemented for readings of load phenomena reflecting on voltage and current signals sensed. Also, a Network-Attached Storage providing data access to a heterogeneous group of IoT clients via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) methods is configured to data stores of parsed sensor readings. Lastly, a desktop computer with a WAMP software bundle (the Microsoft® Windows operating system, Apache HTTP Server, MySQL relational database management system, and PHP programming language) serves as a data science analytics engine for dynamic Web APP/REpresentational State Transfer-ful web service of the residential DSM having globally-Advanced Internet of Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Computational Intelligence. Where, an abstract computing machine, Java Virtual Machine, enables the desktop computer to run Java programs, and a mash-up of Java, R language, and Python is well-suited and -configured for AI in this study. Having the ability of sending real-time push notifications to IoT clients, the desktop computer implements Google-maintained Firebase Cloud Messaging to engage IoT clients across Android/iOS devices and provide mobile notification service to residential/industrial DSM. In this study, in order to realize edge intelligence that edge devices avoiding network latency and much-needed connectivity of Internet connections for Internet of Services can support secure access to data stores and provide immediate analytical and real-time actionable insights at the edge of the network, we upgrade the designed and implemented smart sockets to be embedded AI Arduino ones (called embedded AIduino). With the realization of edge analytics by the proposed embedded AIduino for data analytics, an Arduino Ethernet shield WizNet W5100 having a micro SD card connector is conducted and used. The SD library is included for reading parsed data from and writing parsed data to an SD card. And, an Artificial Neural Network library, ArduinoANN, for Arduino MEGA is imported and used for locally-embedded AI implementation. The embedded AIduino in this study can be developed for further applications in manufacturing industry energy management and sustainable energy management, wherein in sustainable energy management rotating machinery diagnostics works to identify energy loss from gross misalignment and unbalance of rotating machines in power plants as an example.

Keywords: demand-side management, edge intelligence, energy management system, fault detection and classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 239
25118 Increase Women's Knowledge and Attitude about Breast Cancer and Screening: Using an Educational Intervention in Community

Authors: Mitra Savabi-Esfahani, Fariba Taleghani, Mahnaz Noroozi, Maryam Tabatabaeian, Elsebeth Lynge

Abstract:

Breast cancer is a health concern in worldwide. All women have not adequate information about breast cancer, resulting in undetected some tumors until advanced stages. Therefore awareness of people was recommended as a strategy to control that. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of an educational intervention on women's knowledge and attitude about breast cancer and screening. This study was conducted in 2016 on 191 women. All women living in one of big cities were invited to enroll in training classes. Inclusion criteria consisted women who were 20 - 69 years and not participated in any educational intervention. The lecture with group discussion was used as educational methods. Data collection tool was a structured questionnaire which filled out before and after intervention. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by Cronbach's alpha. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. The average age was 44/4 ± 11.5 and 42.6% of the women had obtained high school. Of the 191 women, 70(36.6%) and 76(39.8%) had low and medium level of knowledge respectively and half of them, 95(50%) had medium level of attitude in before intervention. There was significant difference between mean scores of knowledge and attitude before and after the intervention by Paired T test (p < 0/001). It seems applying effective educational interventions can increase knowledge and attitude women about breast cancer particularly in community that they have insufficient levels. Moreover, the lecture method along with group discussion can be proposed as effective and conventional methods for this purpose.

Keywords: attitude, breast cancer, educational intervention, knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 291
25117 Historiography of European Urbanism in the 20th Century in Slavic Languages

Authors: Aliaksandr Shuba, Max Welch Guerra, Martin Pekar

Abstract:

The research is dedicated to the Historiography of European urbanism in the 20th century with its critical analysis of transnational oriented sources in Slavic languages. The goal of this research was to give an overview of Slavic sources on this subject. In the research, historians, who wrote in influential historiographies on architecture and urbanism in the 20th century history in Slavic languages from Eastern, Central and South-eastern Europe, are analysed. The analysis of historiographies in Slavic languages includes diverse sources from around Europe with authors, who examined European Urbanism in the 20th century through a global prism of or their own perspectives. The main publications are from the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century with Soviet and Post-Soviet discourses. The necessity to analyse Slavic sources was a result of historiography of urbanism establishment as a discipline in the 20th century and by the USSR, Czechslovak, and Yugoslavian academics, who created strong historiographic bases for a development of their urban historiographic schools for wide studies and analysis of architectural and urban ideas and projects with their history in the early 1970s. That is analyzed in this research within Slavic publications, which often have different perspectives and discourses to Anglo-Saxon, and these bibliographic sources can bring a diversity of new ideas in contemporary academic discourse of the European urban historiography. The publications in Slavic languages are analyzed according to the following aspects: where, when, which types, by whom, and to whom the sources were written. The critical analysis of essential sources on the Historiography of European urbanism in the 20th century with an accomplishment through their comparison and interpretation. The authors’ autonomy is analysed as a central point, along with the influence of the Communist Party and state control on the interpretation of the history of urbanism in Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe with the main dominant topics and ideas from the second half of the 20th century. Cross-national Slavic Historiographic sources and their perspectives are compared to the main transnational Anglo-Saxon Historiographic topics as some of the dominant subjects are hypothetically similar and others have more local or national oriented directions. Some of the dominant subjects, topics, and subtopics are hypothetically similar, while the others have more local or national oriented directions because of the authors’ autonomy and influences of the Communist Party with the state control in Slavic Socialists countries that were illustrated in this research.

Keywords: European urbanism, historiography, different perspectives, 20th century

Procedia PDF Downloads 154
25116 Analysis of the Sagittarius, Borje Ghos, the Symbol of the City of Isfahan

Authors: Shirin Manavi, Gorbanali Ebrahimi

Abstract:

Man is a symbolist. He experiences living, whether he lived in the Old World or he is living in today's world. The symbol is a kind of concise expression of wishes and in the meantime, it comprises all the demands and Dos and Don'ts of a group, a people, and a nation. Our land, Iran, is also the land of symbols, explicit and hidden ones. The astronomical symbols are among these symbols that were recruited in fortune telling of cities. One of the symbols is the astronomical symbol of sagittairc which is the astrology of some cities such as Isfahan. November 22 of each year has been selected by Isfahan experts as Isfahan's Glorification Day. They have also selected the historically painted picture on the entrance of Qeysariye Bazar which has been designed based on the arch constellation. This symbol was chosen because Isfahan has been found in arch constellation on the basis of historical documentation of astrology. This study aims at the recognition, description, and analysis of the arch constellation, the symbol of Isfahan where it has been displayed once upon a time over the Tabarak castle and it is for centuries on the vertex of Isfahan's Qeysariye Bazar. This research has been done on the basis of the analytical method, but due to the particular structure of this paper, it has also benefited from the historical and descriptive methods.

Keywords: Isfahan's Qeysariye Bazar, semiotics, astrology of cities, constellation, sagittairc (Borje Ghos)

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25115 Treatment of Low-Grade Iron Ore Using Two Stage Wet High-Intensity Magnetic Separation Technique

Authors: Moses C. Siame, Kazutoshi Haga, Atsushi Shibayama

Abstract:

This study investigates the removal of silica, alumina and phosphorus as impurities from Sanje iron ore using wet high-intensity magnetic separation (WHIMS). Sanje iron ore contains low-grade hematite ore found in Nampundwe area of Zambia from which iron is to be used as the feed in the steelmaking process. The chemical composition analysis using X-ray Florence spectrometer showed that Sanje low-grade ore contains 48.90 mass% of hematite (Fe2O3) with 34.18 mass% as an iron grade. The ore also contains silica (SiO2) and alumina (Al2O3) of 31.10 mass% and 7.65 mass% respectively. The mineralogical analysis using X-ray diffraction spectrometer showed hematite and silica as the major mineral components of the ore while magnetite and alumina exist as minor mineral components. Mineral particle distribution analysis was done using scanning electron microscope with an X-ray energy dispersion spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and images showed that the average mineral size distribution of alumina-silicate gangue particles is in order of 100 μm and exists as iron-bearing interlocked particles. Magnetic separation was done using series L model 4 Magnetic Separator. The effect of various magnetic separation parameters such as magnetic flux density, particle size, and pulp density of the feed was studied during magnetic separation experiments. The ore with average particle size of 25 µm and pulp density of 2.5% was concentrated using pulp flow of 7 L/min. The results showed that 10 T was optimal magnetic flux density which enhanced the recovery of 93.08% of iron with 53.22 mass% grade. The gangue mineral particles containing 12 mass% silica and 3.94 mass% alumna remained in the concentrate, therefore the concentrate was further treated in the second stage WHIMS using the same parameters from the first stage. The second stage process recovered 83.41% of iron with 67.07 mass% grade. Silica was reduced to 2.14 mass% and alumina to 1.30 mass%. Accordingly, phosphorus was also reduced to 0.02 mass%. Therefore, the two stage magnetic separation process was established using these results.

Keywords: Sanje iron ore, magnetic separation, silica, alumina, recovery

Procedia PDF Downloads 241
25114 WO₃-SnO₂ Sensors for Selective Detection of Volatile Organic Compounds for Breath Analysis

Authors: Arpan Kumar Nayak, Debabrata Pradhan

Abstract:

A simple, single-step and one-pot hydrothermal method was employed to synthesize WO₃-SnO₂ mixed nanostructured metal oxides at 200°C in 12h. The SnO₂ nanoparticles were found to be uniformly decorated on the WO₃ nanoplates. Though it is widely known that noble metals such as Pt, Pd doping or decoration on metal oxides improve the sensing response and sensitivity, we varied the SnO₂ concentration in the WO₃-SnO₂ mixed oxide and demonstrated their performance in ammonia, ethanol and acetone sensing. The sensing performance of WO₃-(x)SnO₂ [x = 0.27, 0.54, 1.08] mixed nanostructured oxides was found to be not only superior to that of pristine oxides but also higher/better than that of reported noble metal-based sensors. The sensing properties (selectivity, limit of detection, response and recovery times) are measured as a function of operating temperature (150-350°C). In particular, the gas selectivity is found to be highly temperature-dependent with optimum performance obtained at 200°C, 300°C and 350°C for ammonia, ethanol, and acetone, respectively. The present results on cost effective WO₃-SnO₂ sensors can find potential application in human breath analysis by noninvasive detection.

Keywords: gas sensing, mixed oxides, nanoplates, ammonia, ethanol, acetone

Procedia PDF Downloads 228
25113 Osteometry of the Long Bones of Adult Chinkara (Gazella bennettii): A Remarkable Example of Sexual Dimorphism

Authors: Salahud Din, Saima Masood, Hafsa Zaneb, Saima Ashraf, Imad Khan

Abstract:

The objective of this study was 1) to measure osteometric parameters of the long bones of the adult Chinkara to obtain baseline data 2) to study sexual dimorphism in the adult Chinkara through osteometry and 3) to estimate body weight from the measurements of greatest length and shaft of the long bones. For this purpose, after taking body measurements of adult Chinkara after mortality, the carcass of adult Chinkara of known sex and age were buried in the locality of the Manglot Wildlife Park and Ungulate Breeding Centre, Nizampur, Pakistan; after a specific period of time, the bones were unearthed. Various osteometric parameters of the humerus, radius, metacarpus, femur, tibia and metatarsal were measured through the digital calliper. Statistically significant (P < 0.05), differences in some of the osteometrical parameters between male and female adult Chinkara were observed. Sexual dimorphism exit between the long bones of male and female adult Chinkara. In both male and female Chinkara value obtained for the estimated body weight from humeral, metacarpal and metatarsal measurements were near to the actual body weight of the adult Chinkara. In conclusion, the present study estimates preliminary data on long bones osteometrics and suggests that the morphometric details of the male and female adult Chinkara have differed morphometrically from each other.

Keywords: body mass measurements, Chinkara, long bones, morphometric, sexual dimorphism

Procedia PDF Downloads 113
25112 Application of VE in Healthcare Services: An Overview of Healthcare Facility

Authors: Safeer Ahmad, Pratheek Sudhakran, M. Arif Kamal, Tarique Anwar

Abstract:

In Healthcare facility designing, Efficient MEP services are very crucial because the built environment not only affects patients and family but also Healthcare staff and their outcomes. This paper shall cover the basics of Value engineering and its different phases that can be implemented to the MEP Designing stage for Healthcare facility optimization, also VE can improve the product cost the unnecessary costs associated with healthcare services. This paper explores Healthcare facility services and their Value engineering Job plan for the successful application of the VE technique by conducting a Workshop with end-users, designing team and associate experts shall be carried out using certain concepts, tools, methods and mechanism developed to achieve the purpose of selecting what is actually appropriate and ideal among many value engineering processes and tools that have long proven their ability to enhance the value by following the concept of Total quality management while achieving the most efficient resources allocation to satisfy the key functions and requirements of the project without sacrificing the targeted level of service for all design metrics. Detail study has been discussed with analysis been carried out by this process to achieve a better outcome, Various tools are used for the Analysis of the product at different phases used, at the end the results obtained after implementation of techniques are discussed.

Keywords: value engineering, healthcare facility, design, services

Procedia PDF Downloads 177
25111 Land Use Land Cover Changes in Response to Urban Sprawl within North-West Anatolia, Turkey

Authors: Melis Inalpulat, Levent Genc

Abstract:

In the present study, an attempt was made to state the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) transformation over three decades around the urban regions of Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale provincial centers (PCs) in Turkey. Landsat imageries acquired in 1984, 1999 and 2014 were used to determine the LULC change. Images were classified using the supervised classification technique and five main LULC classes were considered including forest (F), agricultural land (A), residential area (urban) - bare soil (R-B), water surface (W), and other (O). Change detection analyses were conducted for 1984-1999 and 1999-2014, and the results were evaluated. Conversions of LULC types to R-B class were investigated. In addition, population changes (1985-2014) were assessed depending on census data, the relations between population and the urban areas were stated, and future populations and urban area needs were forecasted for 2030. The results of LULC analysis indicated that urban areas, which are covered under R-B class, were expanded in all PCs. During 1984-1999 R-B class within Balıkesir, Bursa and Çanakkale PCs were found to have increased by 7.1%, 8.4%, and 2.9%, respectively. The trend continued in the 1999-2014 term and the increment percentages reached to 15.7%, 15.5%, and 10.2% at the end of 30-year period (1984-2014). Furthermore, since A class in all provinces was found to be the principal contributor for the R-B class, urban sprawl lead to the loss of agricultural lands. Moreover, the areas of R-B classes were highly correlated with population within all PCs (R2>0.992). Depending on this situation, both future populations and R-B class areas were forecasted. The estimated values of increase in the R-B class areas for Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale PCs were 1,586 ha, 7,999 ha and 854 ha, respectively. Due to this fact, the forecasted values for 2,030 are 7,838 ha, 27,866, and 2,486 ha for Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale, and thus, 7.7%, 8.2%, and 9.7% more R-B class areas are expected to locate in PCs in respect to the same order.

Keywords: landsat, LULC change, population, urban sprawl

Procedia PDF Downloads 249
25110 Estimating Affected Croplands and Potential Crop Yield Loss of an Individual Farmer Due to Floods

Authors: Shima Nabinejad, Holger Schüttrumpf

Abstract:

Farmers who are living in flood-prone areas such as coasts are exposed to storm surges increased due to climate change. Crop cultivation is the most important economic activity of farmers, and in the time of flooding, agricultural lands are subject to inundation. Additionally, overflow saline water causes more severe damage outcomes than riverine flooding. Agricultural crops are more vulnerable to salinity than other land uses for which the economic damages may continue for a number of years even after flooding and affect farmers’ decision-making for the following year. Therefore, it is essential to assess what extent the agricultural areas are flooded and how much the associated flood damage to each individual farmer is. To address these questions, we integrated farmers’ decision-making at farm-scale with flood risk management. The integrated model includes identification of hazard scenarios, failure analysis of structural measures, derivation of hydraulic parameters for the inundated areas and analysis of the economic damages experienced by each farmer. The present study has two aims; firstly, it attempts to investigate the flooded cropland and potential crop damages for the whole area. Secondly, it compares them among farmers’ field for three flood scenarios, which differ in breach locations of the flood protection structure. To achieve its goal, the spatial distribution of fields and cultivated crops of farmers were fed into the flood risk model, and a 100-year storm surge hydrograph was selected as the flood event. The study area was Pellworm Island that is located in the German Wadden Sea National Park and surrounded by North Sea. Due to high salt content in seawater of North Sea, crops cultivated in the agricultural areas of Pellworm Island are 100% destroyed by storm surges which were taken into account in developing of depth-damage curve for analysis of consequences. As a result, inundated croplands and economic damages to crops were estimated in the whole Island which was further compared for six selected farmers under three flood scenarios. The results demonstrate the significance and the flexibility of the proposed model in flood risk assessment of flood-prone areas by integrating flood risk management and decision-making.

Keywords: crop damages, flood risk analysis, individual farmer, inundated cropland, Pellworm Island, storm surges

Procedia PDF Downloads 243
25109 Efficiency of an Algae-Zinc Complex Compared to Inorganic Zinc Sulfate on Broilers Performance

Authors: R. Boulmane, C. Alleno, D. Marzin

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Trace minerals play an essential role in vital processes and are essential to many biological and physiological functions of the animal. They are usually incorporated in the form of inorganic salts such as sulfates and oxides. Most of these inorganic salts are excreted undigested by the animal causing economic losses as well as environmental pollution. In this context, the use of alternative organic trace minerals with higher bioavailability is emerging. This study was set up to evaluate the effect of using an algae-zinc complex in replacement of zinc sulfate in the feed, on growth performance of broiler chickens. One-thousand-two-hundred 1-day-old chicks were randomly distributed to 30 pens, allocated to 1 of 3 groups receiving different diets: the standard diet containing 35ppm of inorganic zinc sulfate (C+), a test diet containing 35ppm of algae-based zinc (T+), and a test diet containing half dose (16ppm) of algae-based zinc (T-). Three different feeds were distributed from D0-D11, D11-D21 and D21-D35. Individual weighing of the animals (D21 and D35), feed consumption (D11, D21 and D35) and pododermatitis occurrence (D35) were monitored. Data were submitted to analysis of variance. Results show that in finishing period the ADWG of the T+ and T- groups are significantly higher than the control C+ (+6%, P = 0.03). On the other hand, the FCR for the total period is lower for both the T+ and T- groups than the control C+ (-1.2%, P = 0.04). Pododermatitis scoring also shows less lesions for the test groups with algae-based zinc compared to the control group receiving inorganic one. In the end, this study shows a positive effect of the algae zinc-complex on growth performance of broilers compared to inorganic zinc, both when using full dose (35 ppm) or half dose (16 ppm). The use of algae-zinc complex in the premix shows to be a good alternative to reduce zinc excretion while maintaining performance.

Keywords: algae-zinc complex, broiler performance, organic trace minerals, zinc sulfate

Procedia PDF Downloads 226
25108 Achievements of Healthcare Services Vis-À-Vis the Millennium Development Goals Targets: Evidence from Pakistan

Authors: Saeeda Batool, Ather Maqsood Ahmed

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This study investigates the impact of public healthcare facilities and socio-economic circumstances on the status of child health in Pakistan. The complete analysis is carried out in correspondence with fourth and sixth millennium development goals. Further, the health variables chosen are also inherited from targeted indicators of the mentioned goals (MDGs). Trends in the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) for both health inequalities and coverage are analyzed using the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PLSM) data set for 2001-02 to 2012-13 at the national and provincial level. To reveal the relative importance of each circumstance in achieving the targeted values for child health, Shorrocks decomposition is applied on HOI. The annual point average growth rate of HOI is used to simulate the time period for the achievement of target set by MDGs and universal access also. The results indicate an improvement in HOI for a reduction in child mortality rates from 52.1% in 2001-02 to 67.3% in 2012-13, which confirms the availability of healthcare opportunities to a larger segment of society. Similarly, immunization against measles and other diseases such as Diphtheria, Polio, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), and Hepatitis has also registered an improvement from 51.6% to 69.9% during the period of study at the national level. On a positive note, no gender disparity has been found for child health indicators and that health outcome is mostly affected by the parental and geographical features and availability of health infrastructure. However, the study finds that this achievement has been uneven across provinces. Pakistan is not only lagging behind in achieving its health goals, disappointingly with the current rate of health care provision, but it will take many additional years to achieve its targets.

Keywords: socio-economic circumstances, unmet MDGs, public healthcare services, child and infant mortality

Procedia PDF Downloads 210
25107 A Critical Discourse Study of Gender Identity Issues in Daniyal Mueenuddin’s Short Story “Saleema”

Authors: Zafar Ali

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The aim of this research is to highlight problems that are faced by women at the hands of men. Males in Pakistani society have power and use this power for the exploitation of women. Further, the purpose of the study is to make societies like Pakistan and especially the young generation, aware and enable them to resist such issues, and the role of discourse in this regard is to minimize its political and social repercussions. The study finds out different discursive techniques and manipulative language used in the short story to construct gender identity. The study also investigates socio-economic roles in the construction of gender identity. This study has been completed with the help of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) principles. CDA principles have been applied to the text of the selected short story Saleema from Daniyal Mueenuddin’s collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. Related passages, structures, expressions, and text are analyzed from the point of view of CDA, especially Norman Fairclough’s CDA approach. It was found from the analysis that women have no identity of their own in patriarchal societies like Pakistan. Further, it was found women are mistreated, and they have a very limited and defined role in Pakistan. They cannot go beyond the limit defined to them by men.

Keywords: gender issues, resourceful groups, CDA, exploitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 118