Search results for: regional economic development

Authors: Budiman Ibnu

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This study investigates about enabling conditions to facilitate social innovation in the energy sector. This is important to support the energy transition in Indonesia. This research provides appropriate project direction, including research (and action) gaps for the energy actors in Indonesia. The actors are allowed to work further with the result of this study to stimulate the energy transition in Indonesia. This report uses systemic change framework which recognizes four drivers of systemic change in a region: 1. transforming political ecologies; 2. configuring green economies; 3. building of adaptive communities; 4. social innovation. These drivers are interconnected, and this report particularly focuses on how social innovation can be supported by other drivers. This study used methods of interview and literature review as the main sources for data collection in this report. There were interviews with eight experts in the related topic which come from different countries which have experienced social innovation in the energy sector. Afterwards, this research reviewed related journal papers from last five years, to check the latest development within the topic, to support the interview result. The result found that the enabling condition can focus on one of the drivers of systemic change, which is building communities by increasing their participation, through several integrated actions. This can be implemented in two types of citizen energy initiatives which are energy cooperatives and sustainable consumption initiatives. This implementation requires study about its related policy and governance support, in order to create complete enabling conditions to facilitate social innovation in the energy transition.

Keywords: enabling condition, social innovation, citizen initiatives, community participation

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Authors: Shital Bangar, G. B. Khandagale

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The experimentation was carried out to study the influence of sulphur and boron on growth parameters and productivity of soybean in kharif season of 2009-2010 at Experimental Farm, Department of Agricultural Botany, Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani (M.S.). The object was to evaluate the impact of sulphur and boron on growth, development, grain yield and physiological aspects of soybean variety MAUS-81. Nine treatments consisted of three levels of sulphur i.e. 20, 30 and 40 Kg/ha as well as three levels boron i.e.10, 15 and 20 kg boron/ha and the combinations of these two mineral elements i.e. Sulphur @30 kg/ha + Borax @15 kg/ha and Sulphur @40 kg/ha + Borax @ 20 kg/ha with one control treatment in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. The effect of sulphur and boron on various growth parameters of soybean like relative growth rate (RGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR) were remained statistically on par with each other. However, the application of higher dose of Sulphur @40 kg/ha + Borax @ 20 kg/ha enhanced significantly all the growth parameters. Application of the nutrients increased the dry matter accumulation of the crop plant and hence, other growth indices like RGR and NAR also increased significantly. RGR and NAR values were recorded highest at the initial crop growth stages and decline thereafter. The application of sulphur @40 kg/ha + Borax @ 20 kg/ha recorded significantly higher content of chlorophyll ‘a’ than rest of the treatments and chlorophyll ‘b’ observed higher in boron @15 kg/ha as well as boron@20 kg/ha, whereas total chlorophyll content was maximum in sulphur @40 kg/ha. Oil content was not influenced significantly due to above fertilization. The highest seed yield and total biological yield were obtained with combination of Sulphur @40 kg/ha + Borax @ 20 kg/ha, single sulphur and boron application also showed a significant effect on seed and biological yield.

Keywords: boron, growth, productivity, quality, soybean and sulphur

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Authors: Jane E. Hill

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Sexual, physical, or emotional abuses are behaviors used by one person in a relationship or within a family unit to control the other person. Physical abuse can consist of, but not limited to hitting, pushing, and shoving. Sexual abuse is unwanted or forced sexual activity on a person without their consent. Abusive behaviors include intimidation, manipulation, humiliation, isolation, frightening, terrorizing, coercing, threatening, blaming, hurting, injuring, or wounding another individual. Although emotional, psychological and financial abuses are not criminal behaviors, they are forms of abuse and can leave emotional scars on their victim. The purpose of this literature review research was to examine characteristics of female offenders, past abuse, and pathways to offending. The question that guided this research: does past abuse influence recidivism? The theoretical foundation used was relational theory by Jean Baker Miller. One common feature of female offenders is abuse (sexual, physical, or verbal). Abuse can cause mental illnesses and substance abuse. The abuse does not directly affect the women's recidivism. However, results indicated the psychological and maladaptive behaviors as a result of the abuse did contribute to indirect pathways to continue offending. The female offenders’ symptoms of ongoing depression, anxiety, and engaging in substance abuse (self medicating) did lead to the women's incarceration. Using the childhood victimization model as the treatment approach for women's mental illness and substance abuse disorders that were a result from history of child abuse have shown success. With that in mind, if issues surrounding early victimization are not addressed, then the women offenders may not recover from their mental illness or addiction and are at a higher risk of reoffending. However, if the women are not emotionally ready to engage in the treatment process, then it should not be forced onto them because it may cause harm (targeting prior traumatic experiences). Social capital is family support and sources that assist in helping the individual with education, employment opportunities that can lead to success. Human capital refers to internal knowledge, skills, and capacities that help the individual act in new and appropriate ways. The lack of human and social capital is common among female offenders, which leads to extreme poverty and economic marginalization, more often in frequent numbers than men. In addition, the changes in welfare reform have exacerbated women’s difficulties in gaining adequate-paying jobs to support themselves and their children that have contributed to female offenders reoffending. With that in mind, one way to lower the risk factor of female offenders from reoffending is to provide them with educational and vocational training, enhance their self-efficacy, and teach them appropriate coping skills and life skills. Furthermore, it is important to strengthen family bonds and support. Having a supportive family relationship was a statistically significant protective factor for women offenders.

Keywords: characteristics, childhood victimization model, female offenders, treatment

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Authors: Huong Nguyen Thi Thanh, Van Mai Thi Khanh

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For around the world, payments for environmental services have been implemented since the late 1970s in Europe and North America; then, it was spread to Latin America, Asia, Africa, and finally Oceania in 2008. In Vietnam, payments for environmental services are an interesting issue recently with the forest as the main focus and therefore known as the program on payment for forest environmental services (PFES). PFES was piloted in Lam Dong and Son La in 2008 and has been widely applied in many provinces after 2010. PFES is in the orientation for the socialization of national forest protection in Vietnam and has made great strides in the last decade. By using the primary data and secondary data simultaneously, the paper clarifies two cases of implementing PFES in the Vietnam North Central area with the different mechanisms of payment. In the first case at Phu Loc district (Thua Thien Hue province), PFES is an indirect method by a water supply company via the Forest Protection and Development Fund. In the second one at Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (Quang Binh Province), tourism companies are the direct payers to forest owners. The paper describes the PFES implementation process at each site, clarifies the payment mechanism, and models the relationship between stakeholders in PFES implementation. Based on the current status of PFES sites, the paper compares and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the two payment methods. Finally, the paper proposes recommendations to improve the existing shortcomings in each payment mechanism.

Keywords: advantages and disadvantages, forest environmental services, forest protection, payment mechanism

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Authors: Maha E. Ibrahim, Mona Abdel Aziz

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Background: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) in urban communities represents a challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. The traditional biomedical approach to back pain has been particularly inadequate. Failure of the biomedical model to explain the poor correlation between pain and disability on the one hand, and biological and physical factors that explain those symptoms on the other has led to the adoption of the biopsychosocial model, to recognize the reciprocal influence of physical, social and psychological factors implicated in CLBP, a condition that shows higher prevalence among women residing in urban areas. Urban design of the built community has been shown to exert a significant influence on physical and psychological health. However, little research has investigated the relationship between elements of the built environment, and the level of pain and disability of women with CLBP. As Egypt embarks on building a new capital city, and new settlements proliferate, better understanding of this relationship could greatly reduce the economic and human costs of this widespread medical problem for women. Methods: This study was designed as an exploratory mixed qualitative and quantitative study. Twenty-Six women with CLBP living in two neighborhoods in Cairo, different in their urban structure, but adjacent in their locations (Old Maadi and New Maadi) were interviewed using semi-structured interviews (8 from Old Maadi and 18 from New Maadi). Located in the South of Cairo, New Maadi is a neighborhood with the characteristic modern urban style (narrow streets and tall, adjacent buildings), while Old Maadi is known for being greener, quieter and more relaxed than the usual urban districts of Cairo. The interviews examined their perceptions of the built environment, including building shapes and colors and street light, as well as their sense of safety and comfort, and how it affects their physical and psychological health in general, and their back condition in particular. In addition, they were asked to rate their level of pain and to fill the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to rate their level of disability and psychological status, respectively. Results: Women in both districts had moderate to severe pain and moderate disability with no significant differences between the two districts. However, those living in New Maadi had significantly worse scores on the GHQ-12 than those living in Old Maadi. Most women did not feel that specific elements of the built environment affected their back pain, however, they expressed distress of the elements that were ugly, distorted or damaged, especially where there were no ways of avoiding or fixing them. Furthermore, most women affirmed that the unsightly and uncomfortable elements of their neighborhoods affected their mood states and were a constant source of stress. Conclusion: This exploratory study concludes that elements of the urban built environment do not exert a direct effect on CLBP. However, the perception of women regarding these elements does affect their mood states, and their levels of stress, making them a possible indirect cause of increased suffering in these women.

Keywords: built environment, chronic back pain, disability, urban Cairo

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Authors: Innocent Pangapanga, Eric Mungatana

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Tropical cyclones–related floods (TCRFs) in Malawi have devastating effects on smallholder agriculture, thereby threatening the food security agenda, which is already constrained by poor agricultural innovations, low use of improved varieties, and unaffordable inorganic fertilizers, and fragmenting landholding sizes. Accordingly, households have engineered and indigenously implemented sustainable landscape management (SLM) innovations to contain the adverse effects of TCRFs on farm productivity. This study, therefore, interrogated the efficacy of SLM adoption on farm productivity under varying TCRFs, while controlling for the potential selection bias and unobservable heterogeneity through the application of the Endogenous Switching Regression Model. In this study, we further investigated factors driving SLM adoption. Substantively, we found TCRFs reducing farm productivity by 31 percent, on the one hand, and influencing the adoption of SLM innovations by 27 percent, on the other hand. The study also observed that households that interacted SLM with TCRFs were more likely to enhance farm productivity by 24 percent than their counterparts. Interestingly, the study results further demonstrated that multiple adoptions of SLM-related innovations, including intercropping, agroforestry, and organic manure, enhanced farm productivity by 126 percent, suggesting promoting SLM adoption as a package to appropriately inform existing sustainable development goals’ agricultural productivity initiatives under intensifying TCRFs in the country.

Keywords: tropical cyclones–related floods, sustainable landscape management innovations, farm productivity, endogeneity, endogenous switching regression model, panel data, smallholder agriculture

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Authors: E. Grochowska-Niedworok, K. Brukało, M. Hadasik, M. Kardas

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Consumption of vegetables by school children and adolescents is essential for their normal growth, development and health, but a significant minority of the world's population consumes the right amount of these products. The aim of the study was to evaluate the preferences and frequency of consumption of vegetables by school children and adolescents. It has been assumed that effectively implemented nutrition education programs should have an impact on increasing the frequency of vegetable consumption among the recipients. The study covered 514 students of five schools in the Opole Voivodeship aged 9 years to 22 years. The research tool was an author's questionnaire, which consisted of closed questions on the frequency of vegetable consumption and the use of 10 ways to treat them. Preferences and frequencies are shown in percentages, while correlations were estimated on the basis of Cramer`s V and gamma coefficients. In each of the examined age groups, the relationship between sex and vegetable consumption (the Cramer`s V coefficient value was 0.06 to 0.38) was determined and the various methods of culinary processing were used (V Craméra was 0.08 to 0.34). For both sexes, the relationship between age and frequency of vegetable consumption was shown (gamma values ranged from ~ 0.00 to 0.39) and different cooking methods (gamma values were 0.01 to 0.22). The most important determinant of nutritional choices is the taste and availability of products. The fact that they have a positive effect on their health is only in third position. As has been shown, obesity prevention programs can not only address nutrition education but also teach about new flavors and increase the availability of healthy foods. In addition, the frequency of vegetable consumption can be a good indicator reflecting the healthy behaviors of children and adolescents.

Keywords: children and adolescents, frequency, welfare rate, vegetables

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Authors: Song Zhang, Hui Wang, Johannes Henrich Schleifenbaum

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Due to the increasing demand for quality assurance and reliability for additive manufacturing, the development of an advanced in-situ monitoring system is required to monitor the process anomalies as input for further process control. Optical-based monitoring systems, such as CMOS cameras and NIR cameras, are proved as effective ways to monitor the geometrical distortion and exceptional thermal distribution. Therefore, many studies and applications are focusing on the availability of the optical-based monitoring system for detecting varied types of defects. However, the capability of the monitoring setup is not quantified. In this study, a quantification model to evaluate the capability of the monitoring setups for the LPBF machine based on acquired monitoring data of a designed test artifact is presented, while the design of the relevant test artifacts is discussed. The monitoring setup is evaluated based on its hardware properties, location of the integration, and light condition. Methodology of data processing to quantify the capacity for each aspect is discussed. The minimal capability of the detectable size of the monitoring set up in the application is estimated by quantifying its resolution and accuracy. The quantification model is validated using a CCD camera-based monitoring system for LPBF machines in the laboratory with different setups. The result shows the model to quantify the monitoring system's performance, which makes the evaluation of monitoring systems with the same concept but different setups possible for the LPBF process and provides the direction to improve the setups.

Keywords: data processing, in-situ monitoring, LPBF process, optical system, quantization model, test artifact

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Authors: Mahnaz Sanjari, Sedigheh Salemi, Mohammad Mirzabeigi

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Nowadays, the world is facing a crisis of workforce and one of the most striking examples is the shortage of nurses. Nursing workforce productivity is related by various factors such as absenteeism, professional effectiveness and quality care. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 700 nurses who work in government hospitals from 35 hospitals of 9 provinces in Iran. The study was approved by the Nursing Council and was carried out with the authorization of the Research Ethics Committee. The questionnaire included 33 questions and 4 sub categories such as human resource, education and management. The reliability was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha (α=0/85). Statistical analyzes were performed, using SPSS version 16. The result showed that nurses emphasized on "respect to nurse-to-bed ratio" and less importance item was "using less experienced nurse". In addition, another important factor in clinical productivity is "Proper physical structure and amenities","good communication with colleagues" and "having good facilities". Also, "human resources at all levels of standard", "promoting on merit" and "well defined relationship in health system" are another important factors in productivity from nurse` view. The main managerial factor is "justice between employees" and the main educational component of productivity is “updating nursing knowledge”. The results show that more than half of the participants emphasized on the management and educational factors. Productivity as one of the main part of the health care quality leads to appropriate use of human and organizational resources, reduce cost services, and organizational development.

Keywords: productivity, nursing services, workforce, cost services

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Authors: Huajuan Shi

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Background: The biopsy of the preimplantation embryo may increase the potential risk and concern of embryo viability. Clinically discarded spent embryo medium (SEM) has entered the view of researchers, sparking an interest in noninvasive embryo screening. However, one of the major restrictions is the extremelty low quantity of cf-RNA, which is difficult to efficiently and unbiased amplify cf-RNA using traditional methods. Hence, there is urgently need to an efficient and low bias amplification method which can comprehensively and accurately obtain cf-RNA information to truly reveal the state of SEM cf-RNA. Result: In this present study, we established an agarose PCR amplification system, and has significantly improved the amplification sensitivity and efficiency by ~90 fold and 9.29 %, respectively. We applied agarose to sequencing library preparation (named AG-seq) to quantify and characterize cf-RNA in SEM. The number of detected cf-RNAs (3533 vs 598) and coverage of 3' end were significantly increased, and the noise of low abundance gene detection was reduced. The increasing percentage 5' end adenine and alternative splicing (AS) events of short fragments (< 400 bp) were discovered by AG-seq. Further, the profiles and characterizations of cf-RNA in spent cleavage medium (SCM) and spent blastocyst medium (SBM) indicated that 4‐mer end motifs of cf-RNA fragments could remarkably differentiate different embryo development stages. Significance: This study established an efficient and low-cost SEM amplification and library preparation method. Not only that, we successfully described the characterizations of SEM cf-RNA of preimplantation embryo by using AG-seq, including abundance features fragment lengths. AG-seq facilitates the study of cf-RNA as a noninvasive embryo screening biomarker and opens up potential clinical utilities of trace samples.

Keywords: cell-free RNA, agarose, spent embryo medium, RNA sequencing, non-invasive detection

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Authors: Hayley Boal, Chloe Bromley, John Fairfield

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Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are synthetic compounds designed to reproduce effects of illicit drugs. Cheap, potent, and readily available on UK highstreets from so-called ‘head shops’, in recent years their use has surged and with it have emerged side effects including seizures, aggression, palpitations, coma, and death. Rapid development of new substances has vastly outpaced pre-existing drug legislation but the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 rendered all but tobacco, alcohol, and amyl nitrates, illegal. Drug use has long been rife within prisons, but the absence of a reliable screening tool alongside the availability of NPS makes them ideal for prison use. Here we examine the occurrence of NPS-related adverse side effects within HMP Leeds, comparing May-September of 2015 and 2017 using daily reports distributed amongst prison staff summarising medical and behavioural incidents of the previous day. There was a statistically-significant rise of over 200% in the use of NPS between 2015 and 2017: 0.562 and 1.149 incidents per day respectively. In 2017, 38.46% incidents required ambulances, fallen from 51.02% in 2015. Although the most common descriptions in both years were ‘seizure’ and ‘unresponsive’, by 2017 ‘inhalation by staff’ had emerged. Patterns of NPS consumption mirrored the prison regime, peaking when cell doors opened, and prisoners could socialise. Despite limited data, the Psychoactive Substances Act has clearly been an insufficient deterrent to the prison population; more must be done to understand and address substance misuse in prison. NPS remains a significant risk to prisoners’ health and wellbeing.

Keywords: legislation, novel psychoactive substances, prison, spice

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Authors: Daniel M. Barry

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Since more than half a century ago, attempts have been made to culture cells and embryos outside the body (in vitro or ex vivo). This was done with different culture media and in various “incubators”. In the present study two different culture media were used: a standard TCM-199 culture medium and first trimester amniotic fluid (BAF) collected sterilely from pregnant cows after slaughter. Two different culture conditions were also investigated, the standard laboratory CO2 incubator versus culturing bovine embryos in the vagina of a goat doe. Two experiments were done: Firstly the permeability of different receptacles to CO2 gas was analyzed for possible culture in the vagina. Four-well plates and straws were used to incubate TCM-199 and BAF for a period of 120 h in the presence or absence of 5% CO2 gas. The pH values were measured and recorded every 24 h. In the second experiment pre-compacted morula stage bovine embryos were cultured in the above culture media in sealed 0.25 mL straws in a standard laboratory incubator and in the vagina of a goat doe. Evaluation was done on (1) stage of development and (2) number of blastomeres after 96 h of culture. In the first experiment it was shown that the CO2 gas diffused out of the 4-well plate as well as through the wall of the straws in the absence of CO2 gas, while in the presence of CO2 the pH of both media stabilized between 7.3 and 7.5. This meant that the semen straws were permeable to CO2 gas and could therefore be used as receptacles for culturing early stage bovine embryos. In the second experiment no statistical differences (p>0.05) were found in the number of pre-compacted bovine embryos that developed to the blastocyst stage, or the hatched blastocyst stage, neither for the culture medium used, or the method of culturing in the two incubators. Neither was there any difference (p>0.05) in the number of blastomeres that developed at the blastocyst stage between the two types of incubators. The bovine embryos tended to develop more blastomeres when cultured in BAF than when cultured in TCM-199 in both the standard laboratory incubator and when using the vagina of a goat doe as an incubator.

Keywords: alternative culture, bovine embryos, vagina, bovine amniotic fluid, incubator

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Authors: Kayode Festus Oyedele, Sunday Oladele, Adaora Chibundu Nduka

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The subsurface of a proposed site for building development in Mowe, Nigeria, using Standard Penetration Test (SPT) and Cone Penetrometer Test (CPT) supplemented with Horizontal Electrical Profiling (HEP) was investigated with the aim of evaluating the suitability of the strata for foundation materials. Four SPT and CPT were implemented using 10 tonnes hammer. HEP utilizing Wenner array were performed with inter-electrode spacing of 10 – 60 m along four traverses coincident with each of the SPT and CPT. The HEP data were processed using DIPRO software and textural filtering of the resulting resistivity sections was implemented to enable delineation of hidden layers. Sandy lateritic clay, silty lateritic clay, clay, clayey sand and sand horizons were delineated. The SPT “N” value defined very soft to soft sandy lateritic (<4), stiff silty lateritic clay (7 – 12), very stiff silty clay (12 - 15), clayey sand (15- 20) and sand (27 – 37). Sandy lateritic clay (5-40 kg/cm2) and silty lateritic clay (25 - 65 kg/cm2) were defined from the CPT response. Sandy lateritic clay (220-750 Ωm), clay (< 50 Ωm) and sand (415-5359 Ωm) were delineated from the resistivity sections with two thin layers of silty lateritic clay and clayey sand defined in the texturally filtered resistivity sections. This study concluded that the presence of incompetent thick clayey materials (18 m) beneath the study area makes it unsuitable for shallow foundation. Deep foundation involving piling through the clayey layers to the competent sand at 20 m depth was recommended.

Keywords: cone penetrometer, foundation, lithologic texture, resistivity section, standard penetration test

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Authors: Madad Ali

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In the contemporary landscape of international travel, the infusion of digital technologies has given rise to innovative business models that are reshaping the dynamics of tourism. This research delves into the transformative potential of these novel business models within the realm of digital tourism and their multifaceted impact on local businesses, residents' quality of life, and the overall travel experience. The study focuses on the captivating backdrop of Yunnan Province, China, renowned for its rich cultural heritage and diverse ethnic minorities, to uncover the intricate nuances of this phenomenon. The primary objectives of this research encompass the identification and categorization of emerging business models facilitated by digital technologies, their implications on tourist engagement, and their integration into the operations of local businesses. By employing a mixed-methods approach, blending qualitative techniques like interviews and content analysis with quantitative tools such as surveys and data analysis, the study provides a comprehensive evaluation of these business models' effects on various dimensions of the tourism landscape. The distinctiveness of this research lies in its exclusive focus on Yunnan Province, China. By concentrating on Yunnan Province, the research contributes exceptional insights into the interplay between digital tourism, ethnic diversity, cultural heritage, and sustainable development. The study's outcomes hold significance for both scholarly discourse and the stakeholders involved in shaping the region's tourism strategies.

Keywords: business model, digital tourism, international travel, local businesses, quality of life

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Authors: Afshin Keshvadi, Johari Endan, Haniff Harun, Desa Ahmad, Farah Saleena

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Experiments were conducted to develop a model for analyzing the ripening process of oil palm fresh fruits in relation to oil yield and oil quality of palm oil produced. This research was carried out on 8-year-old Tenera (Dura × Pisifera) palms planted in 2003 at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board Research Station. Fresh fruit bunches were harvested from designated palms during January till May of 2010. The bunches were divided into three regions (top, middle and bottom), and fruits from the outer and inner layers were randomly sampled for analysis at 8, 12, 16 and 20 weeks after anthesis to establish relationships between maturity and oil development in the mesocarp and kernel. Computations on data related to ripening time, oil content and oil quality were performed using several computer software programs (MSTAT-C, SAS and Microsoft Excel). Nine nonlinear mathematical models were utilized using MATLAB software to fit the data collected. The results showed mean mesocarp oil percent increased from 1.24 % at 8 weeks after anthesis to 29.6 % at 20 weeks after anthesis. Fruits from the top part of the bunch had the highest mesocarp oil content of 10.09 %. The lowest kernel oil percent of 0.03 % was recorded at 12 weeks after anthesis. Palmitic acid and oleic acid comprised of more than 73 % of total mesocarp fatty acids at 8 weeks after anthesis, and increased to more than 80 % at fruit maturity at 20 weeks. The Logistic model with the highest R2 and the lowest root mean square error was found to be the best fit model.

Keywords: oil palm, oil yield, ripening process, anthesis, fatty acids, modeling

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Authors: Carlos Minguez, Christian F. Sagbay, Erika E. Ordoñez

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Guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) play prominent roles as experimental models for medical research and as pets. However, in developing countries like South America, the Philippines, and sub-Saharan Africa, the meat of guinea pigs is an economic source of animal protein for the poor and malnourished humans because guinea pigs are mainly fed with forage and do not compete directly with human beings for food resources, such as corn or wheat. To achieve efficient production of guinea pigs, it is essential to provide insurance against vitamin C deficiency. The objective of this research was to investigate the effect of the partial replacement of alfalfa with fresh citrus pulp (Citrus sinensis) in a diet of guinea pigs on the growth performance, slaughter traits and mortality during the fattening period (between 20 and 74 days of age). A total of 300 guinea pigs were housed in collective cages of about ten animals (2 x 1 x 0.4 m) and were distributed into two completely randomized groups. Guinea pigs in both groups were fed ad libitum, with a standard commercial pellet diet (10 MJ of digestible energy/kg, 17% crude protein, 11% crude fiber, and 4.5% crude fat). Control group was supplied with fresh alfalfa as forage. In the treatment group, 30% of alfalfa was replaced by fresh citrus pulp. Growth traits, including body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), feed intake (FI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR), were measured weekly. On day 74, the animals were slaughtered, and slaughter traits, including live weight at slaughter (LWS), full gastrointestinal tract weight (FGTW), hot carcass weight (with head; HCW), cold carcass weight (with head; CCW), drip loss percentage (DLP) and dressing out carcass yield percentage (DCY), were evaluated. Contrasts between groups were obtained by calculated generalized least squares values. Mortality was evaluated by Fisher's exact test due to low numbers in some cells. In the first week, there were significant differences in the growth traits BW, ADG, FI, and FCR, which were superior in control group. These differences may have been due to the origin of the young guinea pigs, which, before weaning, were all raised without fresh citrus pulp, and they were not familiarized with the new supplement. In the second week, treatment group had significantly increased ADG compared with control group, which may have been the result of a process of compensatory growth. During subsequent weeks, no significant differences were observed between animals raised in the two groups. Neither were any significant differences observed across the total fattening period. No significant differences in slaughter traits or mortality rate were observed between animals from the two groups. In conclusion, although there were no significant differences in growth performance, slaughter traits, or mortality, the use of fresh citrus pulp is recommended. Fresh citrus pulp is a by-product of orange juice industry and it is cheap or free. Forage made with fresh citrus pulp could reduce about of 30 % the quantity of alfalfa in guinea pig for meat and as consequence, reduce the production costs.

Keywords: fresh citrus, growth, Guinea pig, mortality

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Authors: Gule Teri

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The effective validation of analytical methods forms a crucial component of pharmaceutical manufacturing. However, traditional validation techniques can occasionally fail to fully account for inherent variations within datasets, which may result in inconsistent outcomes. This deficiency in validation accuracy is particularly noticeable when quantifying low concentrations of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), excipients, or impurities, introducing a risk to the reliability of the results and, subsequently, the safety and effectiveness of the pharmaceutical products. In response to this challenge, we introduce an enhanced, tolerance-based Design of Experiments (DoE) approach for the validation of analytical methods. This approach distinctly measures variability with reference to tolerance or design margins, enhancing the precision and trustworthiness of the results. This method provides a systematic, statistically grounded validation technique that improves the truthfulness of results. It offers an essential tool for industry professionals aiming to guarantee the accuracy of their measurements, particularly for low-concentration components. By incorporating this innovative method, pharmaceutical manufacturers can substantially advance their validation processes, subsequently improving the overall quality and safety of their products. This paper delves deeper into the development, application, and advantages of this tolerance-based DoE approach and demonstrates its effectiveness using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) data for verification. This paper also discusses the potential implications and future applications of this method in enhancing pharmaceutical manufacturing practices and outcomes.

Keywords: tolerance-based design, design of experiments, analytical method validation, quality control, biopharmaceutical manufacturing

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Authors: Baki Cicek, Umit Calisir

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Carbazoles have been replaced lots of studies from 1960's to present and also still continues. In 1987, the first diode device had been developed. Thanks to that study, light emitting devices have been investigated and developed and also have been used on commercial applications. Nowadays, OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) technology is using on lots of electronic screen such as (mobile phone, computer monitors, televisions, etc.) Carbazoles were subject a lot of study as a semiconductor material. Although this technology is used commen and widely, it is still development stage. Metal complexes of these compounds are using at pigment dyes because of colored substances, polymer technology, medicine industry, agriculture area, preparing rocket fuel-oil, determine some of biological events, etc. Becides all of these to preparing of schiff base synthesis is going on intensely. In this study, some of novel carbazole schiff bases were synthesized starting from carbazole. For that purpose, firstly, carbazole was alkylated. After purification of N-substituted-carbazole was nitrated to sythesized 3-nitro-N-substituted and 3,6-dinitro-N-substituted carbazoles. At next step, nitro group/groups were reduced to amines. Purified with using a type of silica gel-column chromatography. At the last step of our study, with sythesized 3,6-diamino-N-substituted carbazoles and 3-amino-N-substituted carbazoles were reacted with aldehydes to condensation reactions. 3-(imino-p-hydroxybenzyl)-N-isobutyl -carbazole, 3-(imino-2,3,4-trimethoxybenzene)-N-butylcarbazole, 3-(imino-3,4-dihydroxybenzene)-N-octylcarbazole, 3-(imino-2,3-dihydroxybenzene)-N-octylkarbazole and 3,6-di(α-imino-β-naphthol) -N-hexylcarbazole compounds were synthesized. All of synthesized compounds were characterized with FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and LC-MS.

Keywords: carbazole, carbazol schiff base, condensation reactions, OLED

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Authors: Bita Mohajernia, R. J. Urbanic

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Mold making techniques have focused on meeting the customers’ functional and process requirements; however, today, molds are increasing in size and sophistication, and are difficult to manufacture, transport, and set up due to their size and mass. Presently, mold weight saving techniques focus on pockets to reduce the mass of the mold, but the overall size is still large, which introduces costs related to the stock material purchase, processing time for process planning, machining and validation, and excess waste materials. Reducing the overall size of the mold is desirable for many reasons, but the functional requirements, tool life, and durability cannot be compromised in the process. It is proposed to use Finite Element Analysis simulation tools to model the forces, and pressures to determine where the material can be removed. The potential results of this project will reduce manufacturing costs. In this study, a light weight structure is defined by an optimal distribution of material to carry external loads. The optimization objective of this research is to determine methods to provide the optimum layout for the mold structure. The topology optimization method is utilized to improve structural stiffness while decreasing the weight using the OptiStruct software. The optimized CAD model is compared with the primary geometry of the mold from the NX software. Results of optimization show an 8% weight reduction while the actual performance of the optimized structure, validated by physical testing, is similar to the original structure.

Keywords: finite element analysis, plastic injection molding, topology optimization, weight reduction

Procedia PDF Downloads 283

Authors: Hawbash Jalil

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In this study, the effects of whey protein based films on various properties of kashar cheese were examined. In the study, edible film solutions based on whey protein isolate, whey protein isolate + transglutaminase enzyme and whey protein isolate + chitosan were produced and Kashar cheese samples were coated with these films by dipping method and stored at +4 ºC for 60 days. Chemical, microbiological and textural analyzes were carried out on samples at 0, 30 and 60 days of storage. As a result of the study, the highest dry matter and total nitrogen values were obtained from uncoated control samples This is an indication that the coatings limit water vapor permeability. The highest acidity and pH values obtained from the samples as storage results were 3.33% and 5.86%, respectively, in the control group samples. Both acidity and pH rise in these groups, is a consequence of the buffering of pH changes of hydrolsis products which are as a result of proteolysis occurring in the sample. Nitrogen changes and lipolysis values, which are indicative of the degree of hydrolysis of proteins and triglycerides in kashar cheese, were generally higher in the control group This result is due to limiting the micro organism reproduction by limiting the gas passage of the coatings. Hardness and chewiness values of the textural properties of the samples were significantly reduced in uncoated control samples compared to the coated samples due to maturation. The chitosan film coatings used in the study limited the development of mold yeast until the 30th day but after that did not yield successful results in this respect.

Keywords: chitosan, edible film, transglutaminase, whey protein

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Jesica López, Deniz Koca, Asaf Tzachor

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In 2016 the historic peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had no strong mechanism for managing changes to land use and the environment. Since the end of a 60-year conflict in Colombia, large areas of forest in the Amazon region have been rapidly converted to agricultural uses, most recently by cattle ranching. This suggests that the peace agreement presents a threat to the conservation of the country's rainforest. We analyze the effects of cattle ranching as a driver and accelerator of deforestation from a systemic perspective, focusing on two key leverage points the legal and illegal activities involved in the cattle ranching practices. We map and understand the inherent dynamic complexity of deforestation, including factors such as land policy instruments, national strategy to tackle deforestation, land use nexus with Amazonian food systems, and loss of biodiversity. Our results show that deforestation inside Colombian Protected Areas (PAs) in the Amazon region and the surrounding buffer areas has accelerated with the onset of peace. By using a systems analysis approach, we contextualized the competition of land between cattle ranching and the need to protect tropical forests and their biodiversity loss. We elaborate on future recommendations for land use management decisions making suggest the inclusion of an Amazonian food system, interconnecting and visualizing the synergies between sustainable development goals, climate action (SDG 13) and life on land (SDG 15).

Keywords: tropical rainforest, deforestation, sustainable land use, food security, Colombian Amazon

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Sahar S. Tabrizi, Dogan Ibrahim

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Cloud Computing is a convenient model for on-demand networks that uses shared pools of virtual configurable computing resources, such as servers, networks, storage devices, applications, etc. The cloud serves as an environment for companies and organizations to use infrastructure resources without making any purchases and they can access such resources wherever and whenever they need. Cloud computing is useful to overcome a number of problems in various Information Technology (IT) domains such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Scientific Research, e-Governance Systems, Decision Support Systems, ERP, Web Application Development, Mobile Technology, etc. Companies can use Cloud Computing services to store large amounts of data that can be accessed from anywhere on Earth and also at any time. Such services are rented by the client companies where the actual rent depends upon the amount of data stored on the cloud and also the amount of processing power used in a given time period. The resources offered by the cloud service companies are flexible in the sense that the user companies can increase or decrease their storage requirements or the processing power requirements at any time, thus minimizing the overall rental cost of the service they receive. In addition, the Cloud Computing service providers offer fast processors and applications software that can be shared by their clients. This is especially important for small companies with limited budgets which cannot afford to purchase their own expensive hardware and software. This paper is an overview of the Cloud Computing, giving its types, principles, advantages, and disadvantages. In addition, the paper gives some example engineering applications of Cloud Computing and makes suggestions for possible future applications in the field of engineering.

Keywords: cloud computing, cloud systems, cloud services, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Saba Gachpaz, Hamid Reza Heidari

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The sharp increase in population growth leads to more pressure on agricultural areas to satisfy the food supply. To achieve this, more resources should be consumed and, besides other environmental concerns, highlight sustainable agricultural development. Land-use management is a crucial factor in obtaining optimum productivity. Machine learning is a widely used technique in the agricultural sector, from yield prediction to customer behavior. This method focuses on learning and provides patterns and correlations from our data set. In this study, nine physical control factors, namely, soil classification, electrical conductivity, normalized difference water index (NDWI), groundwater level, elevation, annual precipitation, pH of water, annual mean temperature, and slope in the alluvial plain in Khuzestan (an agricultural hotspot in Iran) are used to decide the best agricultural land use for both rainfed and irrigated agriculture for ten different crops. For this purpose, each variable was imported into Arc GIS, and a raster layer was obtained. In the next level, by using training samples, all layers were imported into the python environment. A random forest model was applied, and the weight of each variable was specified. In the final step, results were visualized using a digital elevation model, and the importance of all factors for each one of the crops was obtained. Our results show that despite 62% of the study area being allocated to agricultural purposes, only 42.9% of these areas can be defined as a suitable class for cultivation purposes.

Keywords: land suitability, machine learning, random forest, sustainable agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Stanislaw Kosmynka

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Although the genesis of the activity of fighting salafist radicalism in Spain dates back to the 80’s, the development of extremism of this kind manifested itself only in the next decade. Its first permanently functioning structures in this country in the second half of 90’s of 20th century came from Algieria and Syria. At the same time it should be emphasized that this distinction is in many dimensions conventional, the more so because they consisted also of immigrants from other coutries of Islam, particularly from Morocco. The paper seeks to understand the radical salafist challenge for Spain in the context of some terrorist networks consisted of immigrants from Morocco. On the eve of the new millennium Moroccan jihadists played an increasingly important role. Although the activity of these groups had for many years mainly logistical and propaganda character, the bomb attack carried out on 11 March 2004 in Madrid constituted an expression of open forms of terrorism, directed against the authorities and society of Spain and reflected the narration of representatives of the trend of the global jihad. The people involved in carrying out that act of violence were to a large extent Moroccan immigrants; also in the following years among the cells of radicals in Spain Moroccans stood out many times. That is why the forms and directions of activity of these extremists in Spain, also after 11th March 2004 and in the actual context of the impact of Islamic State, are worth presenting. The paper is focused on threats to the security of Spain and the region and remains connected with the issues of mutual relations of the society of a host country with immigrant communities which to a large degree come from this part of Maghreb.

Keywords: jihadi terrorism, Morocco, radical salafism, security, Spain, terrorist cells, threat

Procedia PDF Downloads 520

Authors: Ali Shubbar, Hassnen M. Jafer, Anmar Dulaimi, William Atherton, Ali Al-Rifaie

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This research represents experimental work for investigation of the influence of utilising Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and High Calcium Fly Ash (HCFA) as a partial replacement for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and produce a low carbon cementitious material with comparable compressive strength to OPC. Firstly, GGBS was used as a partial replacement to OPC to produce a binary blended cementitious material (BBCM); the replacements were 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50% by the dry mass of OPC. The optimum BBCM was mixed with HCFA to produce a ternary blended cementitious material (TBCM). The replacements were 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50% by the dry mass of BBCM. The compressive strength at ages of 7 and 28 days was utilised for assessing the performance of the test specimens in comparison to the reference mixture using 100% OPC as a binder. The results showed that the optimum BBCM was the mix produced from 25% GGBS and 75% OPC with compressive strength of 32.2 MPa at the age of 28 days. In addition, the results of the TBCM have shown that the addition of 10, 15, 20 and 25% of HCFA to the optimum BBCM improved the compressive strength by 22.7, 11.3, 5.2 and 2.1% respectively at 28 days. However, the replacement of optimum BBCM with more than 25% HCFA have showed a gradual drop in the compressive strength in comparison to the control mix. TBCM with 25% HCFA was considered to be the optimum as it showed better compressive strength than the control mix and at the same time reduced the amount of cement to 56%. Reducing the cement content to 56% will contribute to decrease the cost of construction materials, provide better compressive strength and also reduce the CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere.

Keywords: cementitious material, compressive strength, GGBS, HCFA, OPC

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Yakubu Abdulai, Kenichi Matsui

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The agricultural industry has faced a variety of challenges in meeting the expanding income demand of the rural population. As a result, rural households must diversify their income sources to meet their income demand. Although income diversification strategies help rural households, it contributes to total household income, and the socio-demographic determinants are not known in the Upper East Region of Ghana. For these reasons, the purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of income diversification strategies to household income and the socio-demographic factors influencing it. We conducted a questionnaire survey among 360 rural households in the Upper East Region of Ghana. We asked about their socio-demographic information, their choice of income diversification strategies, and their remittances through rural-city migration. The questionnaire survey findings demonstrate that the main livelihood income source contributes 22%, and on-farm income diversification contributes the most to household total income (47%), followed by non-farm diversification income (16%) and off-farm diversification income (15%). Calculations from the income diversity index showed that the average income diversification strategy was 0.5 out of 1. The calculation of the income dependence index also showed that the average dependent on a particular source of income was 0.2 out of 1. All the respondents said household members temporarily migrate to contribute to household income through remittances. The results further reveal that their choice of income diversification is influenced by their age, educational background, experience, and farm size. The paper recommends the promotion of rural development policies that increase income-generating activities and educate rural households on how to increase returns from their investment.

Keywords: income diversification, poverty alleviation, rural households, upper east region

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Soha A. Bahanshal, Vaibhav Verdhan, Bayong Kim

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Graduation rates at six-year colleges are becoming a more essential indicator for incoming fresh students and for university rankings. Predicting student graduation is extremely beneficial to schools and has a huge potential for targeted intervention. It is important for educational institutions since it enables the development of strategic plans that will assist or improve students' performance in achieving their degrees on time (GOT). A first step and a helping hand in extracting useful information from these data and gaining insights into the prediction of students' progress and performance is offered by machine learning techniques. Data analysis and visualization techniques are applied to understand and interpret the data. The data used for the analysis contains students who have graduated in 6 years in the academic year 2017-2018 for science majors. This analysis can be used to predict the graduation of students in the next academic year. Different Predictive modelings such as logistic regression, decision trees, support vector machines, Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, and KNeighborsClassifier are applied to predict whether a student will graduate. These classifiers were evaluated with k folds of 5. The performance of these classifiers was compared based on accuracy measurement. The results indicated that Ensemble Classifier achieves better accuracy, about 91.12%. This GOT prediction model would hopefully be useful to university administration and academics in developing measures for assisting and boosting students' academic performance and ensuring they graduate on time.

Keywords: prediction, decision trees, machine learning, support vector machine, ensemble model, student graduation, GOT graduate on time

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Daniel Adjei, Mesfin Getachew Ayele, Przemyslaw Wachulak, Andrzej Bartnik, Luděk Vyšín, Henryk Fiedorowicz, Inam Ul Ahad, Lukasz Wegrzynski, Anna Wiechecka, Janusz Lekki, Wojciech M. Kwiatek

Abstract:

Laser produced plasma light sources, emitting high intensity pulses of X-rays, delivering high doses are useful to understand the mechanisms of high dose effects on biological samples. In this study, a desk-top laser plasma soft X-ray source, developed for radio biology research, is presented. The source is based on a double-stream gas puff target, irradiated with a commercial Nd:YAG laser (EKSPLA), which generates laser pulses of 4 ns time duration and energy up to 800 mJ at 10 Hz repetition rate. The source has been optimized for maximum emission in the “water window” wavelength range from 2.3 nm to 4.4 nm by using pure gas (argon, nitrogen and krypton) and spectral filtering. Results of the source characterization measurements and dosimetry of the produced soft X-ray radiation are shown and discussed. The high brightness of the laser produced plasma soft X-ray source and the low penetration depth of the produced X-ray radiation in biological specimen allows a high dose rate to be delivered to the specimen of over 28 Gy/shot; and 280 Gy/s at the maximum repetition rate of the laser system. The source has a unique capability for irradiation of cells with high pulse dose both in vacuum and He-environment. Demonstration of the source to induce DNA double- and single strand breaks will be discussed.

Keywords: laser produced plasma, soft X-rays, radio biology experiments, dosimetry

Procedia PDF Downloads 581

Authors: Youssef R. Hassan, Mohamed S. Hasanin, Reda M. Abdelhameed

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Recently, innovations in packaging security features become more important to see the originality of packaging in industrial application. Luminescent 3d printing materials have been a promising property which can provides a unique opportunity for the design and application of 3D printing. Lack emission of terbium ions, as a source of green emission, in salt form prevent its uses in industrial applications, so searching about stable and highly emitter material become essential. Nowadays, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) play an important role in designing light emitter material. In this work, fluorescent high density polyethylene (FHDPE) composite filament with Tb-benzene 1,3,5-tricarboxylate (Tb-BTC) MOFs for 3D printing have been successfully developed.HDPE pellets were mixed with Tb-BTC and melting extrustion with single screw extruders. It was found that Tb-BTCuniformly dispersed in the HDPE matrix and significantly increased the crystallinity of PE, which not only maintained the good thermal property but also improved the mechanical properties of Tb-BTC@HDPE composites. Notably, the composite filaments emitted ultra-bright green light under UV lamp, and the fluorescence intensity increased as the content of Tb-BTC increased. Finally, several brightly luminescent exquisite articles could be manufactured by fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer with these new fluorescent filaments. In this context, the development of novel fluorescent Tb-BTC@HDPE composites was combined with 3D printing technology to amplified the packaging Security Features.

Keywords: 3D printing, fluorescent, packaging, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Jie Zhang, Qianyu Guo, Tieyi Zhang, Zhiyong Feng, Xiaohong Li

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With the widespread popularity of mobile devices and the development of artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning (DL) has been extensively applied in Android apps. Compared with traditional Android apps (traditional apps), deep learning based Android apps (DL-based apps) need to use more third-party application programming interfaces (APIs) to complete complex DL inference tasks. However, existing methods (e.g., FlowDroid) for detecting sensitive information leakage in Android apps cannot be directly used to detect DL-based apps as they are difficult to detect third-party APIs. To solve this problem, we design DLtrace; a new static information flow analysis tool that can effectively recognize third-party APIs. With our proposed trace and detection algorithms, DLtrace can also efficiently detect privacy leaks caused by sensitive APIs in DL-based apps. Moreover, using DLtrace, we summarize the non-sequential characteristics of DL inference tasks in DL-based apps and the specific functionalities provided by DL models for such apps. We propose two formal definitions to deal with the common polymorphism and anonymous inner-class problems in the Android static analyzer. We conducted an empirical assessment with DLtrace on 208 popular DL-based apps in the wild and found that 26.0% of the apps suffered from sensitive information leakage. Furthermore, DLtrace has a more robust performance than FlowDroid in detecting and identifying third-party APIs. The experimental results demonstrate that DLtrace expands FlowDroid in understanding DL-based apps and detecting security issues therein.

Keywords: mobile computing, deep learning apps, sensitive information, static analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 162