Search results for: residual power series methods

Authors: Mohammad Naeem Lakanwall

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Background:The thyroid gland, located just below the vocal cord on each side of and anterior to the trachea, is one of the main endocrine glands. Its normal weight is 15 to 20 grams in adults. The thyroid secretes two most important hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, usually called T4 and T3, respectively. These hormones greatly increase the metabolic rate of the body. In addition to T3 and T4, the thyroid gland secrets calcitonin as well which is a significant hormone for calcium metabolism. Objective: The aim of this study is to estimate the proportion of and to identify factors associated with thyroid dysfunction among individuals coming to a tertiary care facility in Kabul, Afghanistan. Material and Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study design was conducted from July to Sep 2018. Blood samples were obtained, serum TSH levels were measured, and the patients were divided into three diagnostic categories according to their serum TSH concentrations. 1) Hypothyroidism 2) Hyperthyroidism 3) Normal thyroid Results: A total of 127 individuals were part of the sample for the final analysis. The majority of study participants (77%) were females. A large number of the participants (92%) did not have a family history of thyroid dysfunction and the majority of the female participants, (85%) were not pregnant in the last two years. Furthermore, 98% of participants, were non-smokers. Conclusion: The findings of the current study showed a high prevalence of thyroid dysfunctions in individuals coming to FMIC for thyroid functions tests. The findings also indicated that aging and smoking are the factors associated with thyroid dysfunctions. Further studies are needed to find out the prevalence of and factors associated with thyroid dysfunctions.

Keywords: Afghanistan, Kabul, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, triiodothyronine, thyroxine

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Authors: Hyeonkyeong Yang, Minseok Son, Taekbeom Yoo, Woojin Park

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Human error is the most salient contributing factor to railway accidents. To reduce the frequency of human errors, many researchers and train designers have adopted ergonomic design principles for designing display-control layout in rail cab. There exist a number of approaches for designing the display control layout based on optimization methods. However, the ergonomically optimized layout design may not be the best design for train drivers, since the drivers have their own mental models based on their experiences. Consequently, the drivers may prefer the existing display-control layout design over the optimal design, and even show better driving performance using the existing design compared to that using the optimal design. Thus, in addition to ergonomic design principles, train drivers’ mental models also need to be considered for designing display-control layout in rail cab. This paper developed an ergonomic assessment system of display-control layout design, and an interactive layout design system that can generate design alternatives and calculate ergonomic assessment score in real-time. The design alternatives generated from the interactive layout design system may not include the optimal design from the ergonomics point of view. However, the system’s strength is that it considers train drivers’ mental models, which can help generate alternatives that are more friendly and easier to use for train drivers. Also, with the developed system, non-experts in ergonomics, such as train drivers, can refine the design alternatives and improve ergonomic assessment score in real-time.

Keywords: display-control layout design, interactive layout design system, mental model, train drivers

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Authors: Suzan Ibrahim

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Oil-based muds are the most regularly used rotary drilling methods in the oil and gas industry. However, they have a negative impact on the environment, which leads to restrictions of their application in many countries of the world. Consequently, looking for new eco-friendly alternative formulations of oil-based drilling fluids for the exploration of troublesome formations. As one of the developments of Novel formulation of environmentally friendly drilling fluids and investigation of the formulation for jatropha oil-based drilling fluid samples at different concentrations of viscosifiers such as low viscosity polyanionic cellulose (PAC- LV), high viscosity polyanionic cellulose (PAC-V) and local Egyptian bentonite. The oil-water ratio was taken as 70:30, which is beneficial in producing a low fluid loss. 15 drilling fluid samples were formulated different concentrations of bentonite, PAC- LV and PAC-V individually and their mud density, rheological properties, electrical stability and filtration loss properties were determined. The rheological performance showed at higher concentrations of viscosifier, the trend of viscosity increment of PAC performed in a similar way to bentonite. The best result of electrical stability by using the lowest concentration of viscosifier was achieved with PAC-V. The lowest fluid loss volumes were obtained by using the highest concentrations (4 g) of viscosifiers. Mud cake thickness of samples increased by using viscosifiers; however, a lower range was achieved compared to API specification. From the overall experiment, it can be concluded that as the concentrations of viscosifier increase, the viscosity trend increase in a similar way to both PAC-V and bentonite. But we must note that the PAC-V is a more environmentally friendly additive and a renewable resource, cheaper than bentonite and improves properties of eco-friendly OBMs well. It is a preferable choice for oil-based drilling fluids.

Keywords: invert emulsion mud, oil-based mud, rheological properties, viscosifier

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Authors: Chien-Chun Huang, P. W. Yuan

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Banana is one of the important fruits which constitute a valuable source of energy, vitamins and minerals and an important food component throughout the world. The fruit ripening and maturity standards vary from country to country depending on the expected shelf life of market. During ripening there are changes in appearance, texture and chemical composition of banana. The changes of component of banana during ethylene-induced ripening are categorized as nutritive values and commercial utilization. The objectives of this study were to investigate the changes of chemical composition and physicochemical properties of banana during ethylene-induced ripening. Green bananas were harvested and ripened by ethylene gas at low temperature (15℃) for seven stages. At each stage, banana was sliced and freeze-dried for banana flour preparation. The changes of total starch, resistant starch, chemical compositions, physicochemical properties, activity of amylase, polyphenolic oxidase (PPO) and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) of banana were analyzed each stage during ripening. The banana starch was isolated and analyzed for gelatinization properties, pasting properties and microscopic appearance each stage of ripening. The results indicated that the highest total starch and resistant starch content of green banana were 76.2% and 34.6%, respectively at the harvest stage. Both total starch and resistant starch content were significantly declined to 25.3% and 8.8%, respectively at the seventh stage. Soluble sugars content of banana increased from 1.21% at harvest stage to 37.72% at seventh stage during ethylene-induced ripening. Swelling power of banana flour decreased with the progress of ripening stage, but solubility increased. These results strongly related with the decreases of starch content of banana flour during ethylene-induced ripening. Both water insoluble and alcohol insoluble solids of banana flour decreased with the progress of ripening stage. Both activity of PPO and PAL increased, but the total free phenolics content decreased, with the increases of ripening stages. As ripening stage extended, the gelatinization enthalpy of banana starch significantly decreased from 15.31 J/g at the harvest stage to 10.55 J/g at the seventh stage. The peak viscosity and setback increased with the progress of ripening stages in the pasting properties of banana starch. The highest final viscosity, 5701 RVU, of banana starch slurry was found at the seventh stage. The scanning electron micrograph of banana starch showed the shapes of banana starch appeared to be round and elongated forms, ranging in 10-50 μm at the harvest stage. As the banana closed to ripe status, some parallel striations were observed on the surface of banana starch granular which could be caused by enzyme reaction during ripening. These results inferred that the highest resistant starch was found in the green banana could be considered as a potential application of healthy foods. The changes of chemical composition and physicochemical properties of banana could be caused by the hydrolysis of enzymes during the ethylene-induced ripening treatment.

Keywords: maturation of banana, appearance, texture, soluble sugars, resistant starch, enzyme activities, physicochemical properties of banana starch

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Authors: G. Hosseini, A. Sadighzadeh, M. Rahimnejad, N. Hosseini, Z. Jamalzadeh

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Metal pollutants, especially heavy metals from anthropogenic sources such as metallurgical industries’ waste including mining, smelting, casting or production of nuclear fuel, including mining, concentrate production and uranium processing ends in the environment contamination (water and soil) and risk to human health around the facilities of this type of industrial activity. There are different methods that can be used to remove these contaminants from water and soil. These are very expensive and time-consuming. In this case, the people have been forced to leave the area and the decontamination is not done. For example, in the case of Chernobyl accident, an area of 30 km around the plant was emptied of human life. A very efficient and cost-effective method for decontamination of the soil and the water is phytoremediation. In this method, the plants preferentially native plants which are more adaptive to the regional climate are well used. In this study, three types of plants including Alfalfa, Sunflower and wheat were used to Barium decontamination. Alfalfa and Sunflower were not grown good enough in Saghand mine’s soil sample. This can be due to non-native origin of these plants. But, Wheat rise in Saghand Uranium Mine soil sample was satisfactory. In this study, we have investigated the effect of 4 types of acids inclusive nitric acid, oxalic acid, acetic acid and citric acid on the removal efficiency of Barium by Wheat. Our results indicate the increase of Barium absorption in the presence of citric acid in the soil. In this paper, we will present our research and laboratory results.

Keywords: phytoremediation, heavy metal, wheat, soil

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Authors: Kaine Gulozer

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A strong methodological conception in the practice of teaching, content, and language integrated learning (CLIL) is adapted to boost efficiency in the second language (L2) instruction with a range of proficiency levels. This study aims to investigate whether the incorporation of two different mediums of meaningful CLIL reading activities (in-school and out-of-school settings) influence L2 students’ development of comprehension skills differently. CLIL based instructional methodology was adopted and total of 50 preparatory year students (N=50, 25 students for each proficiency level) from two distinct language proficiency learners (elementary and intermediate) majoring in engineering faculties were recruited for the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methods through a post-test design were adopted. Data were collected through a questionnaire, a reading comprehension test and a semi-structured interview addressed to the two proficiency groups. The results show that both settings in relation to the development of reading comprehension are beneficial, whereas the impact of the reading activities conducted in school settings was higher at the elementary language level of students than that of the one conducted out-of-class settings based on the reported interview results. This study suggests that the incorporation of meaningful CLIL reading activities in both settings for both proficiency levels could create students’ self-awareness of their language learning process and the sense of ownership in successful improvements of field-specific reading comprehension. Further potential suggestions and implications of the study were discussed.

Keywords: content and language integrated learning, in-school setting, language proficiency, out-of-school setting, reading comprehension

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Authors: Atefeh Kalantari

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The increase in population and energy consumption has caused environmental crises such as the energy crisis, increased pollution, and climate change, all of which have resulted in a decline in the quality of life, especially in urban environments. Iran is one of the developing countries which faces several challenges concerning energy use and environmental sustainability such as air pollution, climate change, and energy security. On the other hand, due to its favorable geographic characteristics, Iran has diverse and accessible renewable sources, which provide appropriate substitutes to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Sustainable development programs and post-carbon cities rely on implementing energy policies in different sectors of society, particularly, the built environment sector is one of the main ones responsible for energy consumption and carbon emissions for cities. Because of this, several advancements and programs are being implemented to promote energy efficiency for urban planning, and city experts, like others, are looking for solutions to deal with these problems. Among the solutions provided for this purpose, low-carbon design can be mentioned. Among the different scales, the neighborhood can be mentioned as a suitable scale for applying the principles and solutions of low-carbon urban design; Because the neighborhood as a "building unit of the city" includes elements and flows that all affect the number of CO2 emissions. The article aims to provide criteria for designing a low-carbon and carbon-free neighborhood through descriptive methods and secondary data analysis. The ultimate goal is to promote energy efficiency and create a more resilient and livable environment for local residents.

Keywords: climate change, low-carbon urban design, carbon-free neighborhood, resilience

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Authors: Chun-Lin Chiang, Che-Yen Lee, Yu-Shan Yeh, Jiunn-Haur Shaw

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Wafer fabrication is a critical part of the semiconductor process, when the finest linewidth with the improvement of technology continues to decline and the structure development from 2D towards to 3D. The nanoparticles contained in the slurry or in the ultrapure water which used for cleaning have a large influence on the manufacturing process. Therefore, semiconductor industry is hoping to find a viable method for on-line detection the nanoparticles size and concentration. The resistive pulse sensing technology is one of the methods that may cover this question. As we know that nanoparticles properties of material differ significantly from their properties at larger length scales. So, we want to clear that the metal and non-metal nanoparticles translocation dynamic when we use the resistive pulse sensing technology. In this study we try to use the finite element method that contains three governing equations to do multiphysics coupling simulations. The Navier-Stokes equation describes the laminar motion, the Nernst-Planck equation describes the ion transport, and the Poisson equation describes the potential distribution in the flow channel. To explore that the metal nanoparticles and the non-metal nanoparticles in different concentration electrolytes, through the nanochannel caused by ion current changes. Then the reliability of the simulation results was verified by resistive pulse sensing test. The existing results show that the lower ion concentration, the greater effect of nanoparticles on the ion concentration in the nanochannel. The conductive spikes are correlated with nanoparticles surface charge. Then we can be concluded that in the resistive pulse sensing technique, the ion concentration in the nanochannel and nanoparticle properties are important for the translocation dynamic, and they have the interactions.

Keywords: multiphysics simulations, resistive pulse sensing, nanoparticles, nanochannel

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Authors: Aleme Mekuria, Samuel Mathewos

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Background: Teenage pregnancy has long been a worldwide social, economic and educational concern for the developed, developing and underdeveloped countries. Studies on adolescent sexuality and pregnancy are very limited in our country. Therefore, this study aims at assessing the prevalence of teenage pregnancy and its determinants among school adolescents of Arba Minch town. Methods: Institution- based, cross-sectional study was conducted from 20-30 March 2014. Systematic sampling technique was used to select a total of 578 students from four schools of the town. Data were collected by trained data collectors using a pre-tested, self-administered structured questionnaire. The analysis was made using the software SPSS version 20.0 statistical packages. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of teenage pregnancy. Results: The prevalence of teenage pregnancy among school adolescents of Arba Minch town was 7.7%. Being grade11(AOR=4.6;95%CI:1.4,9.3) and grade12 student (AOR=5.8;95% CI:1.3,14.4), not knowing the correct time to take emergency contraceptives(AOR=3.3;95%CI:1.4,7.4), substance use(AOR=3.1;95%CI:1.1,8.8), living with either of biological parents (AOR=3.3;95%CI:1.1,8.7) and poor parent-daughter interaction (AOR=3.1;95%CI:1.1,8.7) were found to be significant predictors of teenage pregnancy. Conclusion: This study revealed a high level of teenage pregnancy among school adolescents of Arba Minch town. A significant number of adolescent female school students were at risk of facing the challenges of teenage pregnancy in the study area. School-based reproductive health education and strong parent-daughter relationships should be strengthened.

Keywords: adolescent, Arba minch, risk factors, school, southern Ethiopia, teenage pregnancy

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Authors: Muhammad nor Farhan Sa'At, Xin Y. Lim, Terence Y. C. Tan, Siti Hajar M. Rosli, Syazwani S. Ali, Ami F. Syed Mohamed

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INTRODUCTION: Hemp (Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa), commonly used for industrial purposes, differs from marijuana by containing lower levels of delta-9-tetrahydronannabidiol- the principal psychoactive constituent in cannabis. Due to its non-psychoactive nature, there has been growing interest in hemp’s therapeutic potential, which has been investigated through pre-clinical and clinical study modalities. OBJECTIVE: To provide an overview of the current landscape of hemp research, through recent scientific findings specific to the pharmacological effects of the medicinal hemp plant and its derived compounds. METHODS: This review was conducted through a systematic search strategy according to the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis-ScR (PRISMA-ScR) checklist on electronic databases including MEDLINE, OVID (OVFT, APC Journal Club, EBM Reviews), Cochrane Library Central and Clinicaltrials.gov. RESULTS: From 65 primary articles reviewed, there were 47 pre-clinical studies related to medicinal hemp. Interestingly, the hemp derivatives showed several potential activities such as anti-oxidative, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-neuroinflammatory, anti-arthritic, anti-acne, and anti-microbial activities. Renal protective effects and estrogenic properties were also exhibited in vitro. CONCLUSION: Medicinal hemp possesses various pharmacological effects tested in vitro and in vivo. Information provided in this review could be used as tool to strengthen the study design of future clinical trial research.

Keywords: Preclinical, Herbal Medicine, Hemp, Cannabis

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Authors: Bhuwan C. Joshi, Atish Prakash, Ajudhia N. Kalia

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Ethnopharmacological relevance: The plant Urtica dioica L. (Urticaceae) is used in various diseases including hepatic ailments. Traditionally, the leaves and roots of the plant are used in jaundice. Objective: The aim of the present work was to evaluate hepatoprotective potential of potent antioxidant from Urtica dioica L. against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in-vitro and in-vivo model. Materials and methods: Antioxidant activity of hydro alcoholic extract and its fractions petroleum ether fraction (PEF), ethyl acetate fraction (EAF), n-butanol fraction (NBF) and aqueous fraction (AF) were determined by DPPH radicals scavenging assay. Fractions were subjected to in-vitro cell line study. Further, the most potent fraction (EAF) was subjected to in-vivo study. The in-vivo hepatoprotective active fraction was chromatographed on silica column to isolate the bioactive constituent(s). Structure elucidation was done by using various spectrophotometric techniques like UV, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MS spectroscopy. Results and conclusion: The ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) of Urtica. dioica L. possessed the potent antioxidant activity viz. DPPH (IC50 78.99 ± 0.17 µg/ml). The in-vitro cell line study showed EAF prevented the cell damage. The EAF significantly attenuated the increased liver enzymes activities in serum and tissue. Column chromatography of most potent antioxidant fraction (EAF) leads to the isolation of 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy cinnamic acid which is responsible for its hepatoprotective potential. Hence, the present study suggests that EAF has significant antioxidant and hepatoprotective potential on CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in-vitro and in-vivo.

Keywords: Urtica dioica L., antioxidant, HepG2 cell line, hepatoprotective

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Authors: Enas El Sayed Abutaleb, Mohamed Taher Eldesoky, Shahenda Abd El Rasol

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Background: Muscle energy techniques (MET) have been widely used by manual therapists over the past years, but still limited research validated its use and there was limited evidence to substantiate the theories used to explain its effects. Objective: To investigate the effect of muscle energy technique (MET) on anterior pelvic tilt in patients with lumbar spondylosis. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Subjects: Thirty patients with anterior pelvic tilt from both sexes were involved, aged between 35 to 50 years old and they were divided into MET and control groups with 15 patients in each. Methods: All patients received 3 sessions/week for 4 weeks where the study group received MET, Ultrasound and Infrared, and the control group received U.S and I.R only. Pelvic angle was measured by palpation meter, pain severity by the visual analogue scale and functional disabilities by the Oswestry disability index. Results: Both groups showed significant improvement in all measured variables. The MET group was significantly better than the control group in pelvic angle, pain severity, and functional disability as p-value were (0.001, 0.0001, 0.0001) respectively. Conclusion and implication: The study group fulfilled greater improvement in all measured variables than the control group which implies that application of MET in combination with U.S and I.R were more effective in improving pelvic tilting angle, pain severity and functional disabilities than using electrotherapy only.

Keywords: anterior pelvic tilt, lumbar spondylosis, muscle energy technique exercise, pelvic tilting angle

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Authors: Younes Abed

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The successful application of in-situ testing of soils heavily depends on development of interpretation methods of tests. The pressuremeter test simulates the expansion of a cylindrical cavity and because it has well defined boundary conditions, it is more unable to rigorous theoretical analysis (i. e. cavity expansion theory) then most other in-situ tests. In this article, and in order to make the identification process more convenient, we propose a relatively simple procedure which involves the numerical identification of some mechanical parameters of a granular soil, especially, the elastic modulus and the friction angle from a pressuremeter curve. The procedure, applied here to identify the parameters of generalised prager model associated to the Drucker & Prager criterion from a pressuremeter curve, is based on an inverse analysis approach, which consists of minimizing the function representing the difference between the experimental curve and the curve obtained by integrating the model along the loading path in in-situ testing. The numerical process implemented here is based on the established finite element program. We present a validation of the proposed approach by a database of tests on expansion of cylindrical cavity. This database consists of four types of tests; thick cylinder tests carried out on the Hostun RF sand, pressuremeter tests carried out on the Hostun sand, in-situ pressuremeter tests carried out at the site of Fos with marine self-boring pressuremeter and in-situ pressuremeter tests realized on the site of Labenne with Menard pressuremeter.

Keywords: granular soils, cavity expansion, pressuremeter test, finite element method, identification procedure

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Authors: Ahmet Erten, Adil Mustafa, Ayşenur Eser, Özlem Yalçın

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We present a new viscometer based on a microfluidic chip with elastic high aspect ratio micropillar arrays. The displacement of pillar tips in flow direction can be used to analyze viscosity of liquid. In our work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to analyze pillar displacement of various micropillar array configurations in flow direction at different viscosities. Following CFD optimization, micro-CNC based rapid prototyping is used to fabricate molds for microfluidic chips. Microfluidic chips are fabricated out of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using soft lithography methods with molds machined out of aluminum. Tip displacements of micropillar array (300 µm in diameter and 1400 µm in height) in flow direction are recorded using a microscope mounted camera, and the displacements are analyzed using image processing with an algorithm written in MATLAB. Experiments are performed with water-glycerol solutions mixed at 4 different ratios to attain 1 cP, 5 cP, 10 cP and 15 cP viscosities at room temperature. The prepared solutions are injected into the microfluidic chips using a syringe pump at flow rates from 10-100 mL / hr and the displacement versus flow rate is plotted for different viscosities. A displacement of around 1.5 µm was observed for 15 cP solution at 60 mL / hr while only a 1 µm displacement was observed for 10 cP solution. The presented viscometer design optimization is still in progress for better sensitivity and accuracy. Our microfluidic viscometer platform has potential for tailor made microfluidic chips to enable real time observation and control of viscosity changes in biological or chemical reactions.

Keywords: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), high aspect ratio, micropillar array, viscometer

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Authors: Ilma Robo, Saimir Heta, Greta Plaka, Vera Ostreni

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Purpose: Drug gingival hyperplasia is an uncommon pathology encountered during routine work in dental units. The purpose of this paper is to present the clinical appearance of gingival hyperplasia caused by medications. There are already three classes of medications that cause hyperplasia and based on data from the literature, the clinical cases encountered and included in this study have been compared. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in a total of 311 patients, out of which 182 patients were included in our study, meeting the inclusion criteria. After each patient's history was recorded and it was found that patients were in their knowledge of chronic illness, undergoing treatment of gingivitis hypertrophic drugs was performed with a clinical examination of oral cavity and assessment by vertical and horizontal evaluation according to the periodontal indexes. Results: Of the data collected during the study, it was observed that 97% of patients with gingival hyperplasia are treated with nifedipine. 84% of patients treated with selected medicines and gingival hyperplasia in the oral cavity has been exposed at time period for more than 1 year and 1 month. According to the GOI, in the first rank of this index are about 21% of patients, in the second rank are 52%, in the third rank are 24% and in the fourth grade are 3%. According to the horizontal growth index of gingival hyperplasia, grade 1 included about 61% of patients and grade 2 included about 39% of patients with gingival hyperplasia. Bacterial index divides patients by degrees: grading 0 - 8.2%, grading 1 - 32.4%, grading 2 - 14% and grading 3 - 45.1%. Conclusions: The highest percentage of gingival hyperplasia caused by drugs is due to dosing of nifedipine for a duration of dosing and application for systemic healing for more than 1 year.

Keywords: drug gingival hyperplasia, horizontal growth index, vertical growth index

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Authors: G. Edwards, N. Dybro, L. J. Munkholm, C. G. Sørensen

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Planning agricultural operations requires an understanding of when fields are ready for operations. However determining a field’s readiness is a difficult process that can involve large amounts of data and an experienced farm manager. A consequence of this is that operations are often executed when fields are unready, or partially unready, which can compromise results incurring environmental impacts, decreased yield and increased operational costs. In order to assess timeliness of operations’ execution, a new scheme is introduced to quantify the aptitude of farm managers to plan operations. Two criteria are presented by which the execution of operations can be evaluated as to their exploitation of a field’s readiness window. A dataset containing the execution dates of spring and autumn operations on 93 fields in Iowa, USA, over two years, was considered as an example and used to demonstrate how operations’ executions can be evaluated. The execution dates were compared with simulated data to gain a measure of how disparate the actual execution was from the ideal execution. The presented tool is able to evaluate the spring operations better than the autumn operations as required data was lacking to correctly parameterise the crop model. Further work is needed on the underlying models of the decision support tool in order for its situational knowledge to emulate reality more consistently. However the assessment methods and evaluation criteria presented offer a standard by which operations' execution proficiency can be quantified and could be used to identify farm managers who require decisional support when planning operations, or as a means of incentivising and promoting the use of sustainable farming practices.

Keywords: operation management, field readiness, sustainable farming, workability

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Authors: Hariyadi, Rili Windiasih

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Halal tourism is a recent global phenomenon that emerged out of the needs of Muslim tourists. However, works on halal tourism rarely discuss the connection of it to the rising religiosity in Indonesia since halal tourism has been mostly studied in the sphere of tourism, business, and management studies. A few works on the increase of Islamic expressions in Indonesia do mention the recent booming of non-mandatory pilgrimage to Mecca and the emergence of sharia compliant accommodation, yet they do not go into details on the issue. To our best knowledge, there is a lack of more critical, cultural political studies on halal tourism in which the paper attempts to fill in. The paper is a result of fieldwork research in Central Java, Indonesia. The study focuses on sacred sites for pilgrimage and sharia-compliant hotels. It combines in-depth interviews and participatory observation methods to gather the data. It is important for us to take a look at the network of halal tourism actors (businessperson, local government, clerics, etc.) in Central Java, how they conceive halal tourism, and how their networking shape halal tourism discourses, policies, and practices. Despite having numerous Islamic pilgrimage places and being designated by the Ministry of Tourism as one of 12 Muslim friendly tourist destinations, the province is not yet widely recognised as the main destination for halal tourism as it is known as the place for more secular, nationalist groups rather than for more Islamic oriented ones. However, in some of its municipalities, there is increasingly more attention to develop halal tourism. In this study, we found out that the development of halal tourism in Central Java connected to dynamics of Islamisation and ideological competition as well as the influence of the more pragmatist businesspersons in a 'nationalist province' in Indonesia.

Keywords: actor networking, halal tourism, Islamisation, Indonesia

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Authors: Matheesha Herath, Ned Kinnear, Bridget Heijkoop, Eliza Bramwell, Alannah Frazetto, Amy Noll, Prajay Patel, Derek Hennessey, Greg Otto, Christopher Dobbins, Tarik Sammour, James Moore

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Background: Important incidental pathology requiring further action is commonly found during appendicectomy, macro- and microscopically. It is unknown whether the acute surgical unit (ASU) model affects the management and disclosure of these findings. Methods: An ASU model was introduced at our institution on 01/08/2012. In this retrospective cohort study, all patients undergoing appendicectomy 2.5 years before (traditional group) or after (ASU group) this date were compared. The primary outcomes were rates of appropriate management of the incidental findings and communication of the findings to the patient and to their general practitioner (GP). Results: 1,214 patients underwent emergency appendicectomy; 465 in the traditional group and 749 in the ASU group. 80 (6.6%) patients (25 and 55 in each respective period) had important incidental findings. There were 24 patients with benign polyps, 15 with neuro-endocrine tumour, 11 with endometriosis, 8 with pelvic inflammatory disease, 8 Enterobius vermicularis infection, 7 with low grade mucinous cystadenoma, 3 with inflammatory bowel disease, 2 with diverticulitis, 2 with tubo-ovarian mass, 1 with secondary appendiceal malignancy and none with primary appendiceal adenocarcinoma. One patient had dual pathologies. There was no difference between the traditional and ASU group with regards to communication of the findings to the patient (p=0.44) and their GP (p=0.27), and there was no difference in the rates of appropriate management (p=0.21). Conclusions: The introduction of an ASU model did not change rates of surgeon-to-patient and surgeon-to-GP communication nor affect rates of appropriate management of important incidental pathology during an appendectomy.

Keywords: acute care surgery, appendicitis, appendicectomy, incidental

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Authors: Joanna Kochanska, Dagmara Gornicka, Anna Burduk

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The article examines the process of implementing a new assembly line in a manufacturing enterprise of the household appliances industry area. At the initial stages of the project, a decision was made that one of its foundations should be the concept of lean management. Because of that, eliminating as many errors as possible in the first phases of its functioning was emphasized. During the start-up of the line, there were identified and documented all production losses (from serious machine failures, through any unplanned downtime, to micro-stops and quality defects). During 6 weeks (line start-up period), all errors resulting from problems in various areas were analyzed. These areas were, among the others, production, logistics, quality, and organization. The aim of the work was to analyze the occurrence of production failures during the initial phase of starting up the line and to propose a method for determining their critical level during its full functionality. There was examined the repeatability of the production losses in various areas and at different levels at such an early stage of implementation, by using the methods of statistical process control. Based on the Pareto analysis, there were identified the weakest points in order to focus improvement actions on them. The next step was to examine the effectiveness of the actions undertaken to reduce the level of recorded losses. Based on the obtained results, there was proposed a method for determining the critical failures level in the studied areas. The developed coefficient can be used as an alarm in case of imbalance of the production, which is caused by the increased failures level in production and production support processes in the period of the standardized functioning of the line.

Keywords: production failures, level of production losses, new production line implementation, assembly line, statistical process control

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Authors: Elizabeth Oyenike Abegunrin

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This study is borne out of the dire need to improve the academic achievement of pupils in social studies. The paper attempted to reconcile the lacuna in teacher’s gender and primary school pupils’ achievement. With specific reference to Social Studies classroom, the aim of this study was to detail how pupils’ achievement is a function of the teacher’s gender as well as to establish the link (if any) between teacher’s gender and pupils’ educational achievement. The significance of this was to create gender-template standard for teachers, school owners, administrators and policy makers to follow in the course of engendering pupils’ achievement in Social Studies. By adopting a quasi-experimental research design, a sample of two hundred pupils was selected across five primary schools in Education District I, Lagos State and assigned to experimental and control groups. A 40-item Gender and Social Studies Achievement Test (GSSAT) was used to obtain data from the pupils. Having analyzed the data collected using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC), a reliability of 0.78 was obtained. Result revealed that teacher’s gender (male/female) had no significant effect on pupils’ achievement in Social Studies and that there was significant interaction effect of teacher’s commitment devoid of gender on the general education output of pupils in Social Studies. Taken together, the results revealed that there is a high degree correlation between teacher’s commitment and pupils academic achievement in social studies, and not gender-based. The study recommended that social studies teachers should re-assess their classroom instructional strategies and use more innovative instructional methods and techniques that will give the pupils equal opportunities to excel in social studies, rather than their gender differences.

Keywords: gender, academic achievement, social studies, primary school

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Authors: Kamran Yazdanbakhsh, Somayeh Mahmoudi

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Multiple sclerosis is the most common chronic disease of the central nervous system associated with demyelination of neurons and several demyelinated parts of the disease encompasses throughout the white matter and affects the sensory and motor function. This study compared the effectiveness of two methods of cognitive therapy and supportive-expressive therapy on the efficacy and quality of life in MS patients. This is an experimental project which has used developed group pretest - posttest and follow-up with 3 groups. The study included all patients with multiple sclerosis in 2013 that were members of the MS Society of Iran in Tehran. The sample included 45 patients with MS that were selected volunteerily of members of the MS society of Iran and randomly divided into three groups and pretest, posttest, and follow-up (three months) for the three groups had been done.The dimensions of quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis scale, and general self-efficiency scale of Schwarzer and Jerusalem was used for collecting data. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean of quality of life scores at pretest, posttest, and follow-up of the experimental groups. There was no significant difference between the mean of quality of life of the experimental groups which means that both groups were effective and had the same effect. There was no significant difference between the mean of self-efficiency scores in control and experimental group in pretest, posttest and follow-up. Thus, by using cognitive and supportive-expressive group therapy we can improve quality of life in MS patients and make great strides in their mental health.

Keywords: cognitive group therapy, life style, MS, self-efficiency, supportive-expressive group therapy

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Authors: Rubina Waseem

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The research focuses on the major crises and major effects, largely unforeseen, to counter international security concerns. At the close of 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China. The coronavirus was initially seen as an inchoate danger, aimed at striking people randomly. Owing to the extraordinary transmissibility of the virus and the highly knitted nature of the international political world, the Covid-19 soon became a formidable global challenge. The once hustling and bustling avenues, city centers, and market places became deserted. Lockdown, self-isolation, hygiene and safety, social-distancing, and job losses became a new norm. The national economies gradually plunged into crisis. The pandemic has so far caused over 33 million cases and one million deaths. The virus continues to devastate social life, as there is yet no therapeutic available. While the world was preoccupied addressing the human and social toll, the pandemic has exacerbated despair, mistrust, and friction in international relations, diplomacy, and strategy. The research will discuss how the coronavirus has accelerated the trends of transition in the postwar security order constructed by the United States. China, Russia, European Union, and other lesser regional players are now increasingly changing their security orientations to undermine the United States standing and authority in world politics. The systemic level analyses will be adopted as a methodology to broaden the lens of the study, and the research will analyze the prevalent global power distribution, whether vulnerable or exposed. The trends of parochial nationalism and isolationism are increasingly replacing multilateralism and collectivism. Yet worse, military posturing is assuming a greater role in international interactions. Taken together, the pandemic has worsened the prospects of international peace and stability by mounting equal pressure across the channels of international relations, diplomacy, and strategy. It is yet unclear which country or collectivity will face the real brunt. Despite this jaded and pessimistic view, the lingering pandemic has the potential to reinforce cooperation, multilateralism, and collectivism in the realm of international politics. There is a renewed momentum for global efforts against the pandemic. States and societies are coming closer to act as a whole. Equally important, the world leaders are feeling tempted to revisit the traditional conception of national security. In this regard, they are exploring the possibility of according preference to non-traditional security issues. In essence, the research concludes that Covid-19 has put the international political system under a great trial.

Keywords: covid-19, global challenges, international politics, international security

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Authors: Anirudh Lahiri

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Neuromorphic computing, inspired by the intricate operations of biological neural networks, offers a revolutionary approach to overcoming the limitations of traditional computing architectures. This research proposes the integration of spintronics with neuromorphic systems, aiming to enhance computational performance, scalability, and energy efficiency. Traditional computing systems, based on the Von Neumann architecture, struggle with scalability and efficiency due to the segregation of memory and processing functions. In contrast, the human brain exemplifies high efficiency and adaptability, processing vast amounts of information with minimal energy consumption. This project explores the use of spintronics, which utilizes the electron's spin rather than its charge, to create more energy-efficient computing systems. Spintronic devices, such as magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) manipulated through spin-transfer torque (STT) and spin-orbit torque (SOT), offer a promising pathway to reducing power consumption and enhancing the speed of data processing. The integration of these devices within a neuromorphic framework aims to replicate the efficiency and adaptability of biological systems. The research is structured into three phases: an exhaustive literature review to build a theoretical foundation, laboratory experiments to test and optimize the theoretical models, and iterative refinements based on experimental results to finalize the system. The initial phase focuses on understanding the current state of neuromorphic and spintronic technologies. The second phase involves practical experimentation with spintronic devices and the development of neuromorphic systems that mimic synaptic plasticity and other biological processes. The final phase focuses on refining the systems based on feedback from the testing phase and preparing the findings for publication. The expected contributions of this research are twofold. Firstly, it aims to significantly reduce the energy consumption of computational systems while maintaining or increasing processing speed, addressing a critical need in the field of computing. Secondly, it seeks to enhance the learning capabilities of neuromorphic systems, allowing them to adapt more dynamically to changing environmental inputs, thus better mimicking the human brain's functionality. The integration of spintronics with neuromorphic computing could revolutionize how computational systems are designed, making them more efficient, faster, and more adaptable. This research aligns with the ongoing pursuit of energy-efficient and scalable computing solutions, marking a significant step forward in the field of computational technology.

Keywords: material science, biological engineering, mechanical engineering, neuromorphic computing, spintronics, energy efficiency, computational scalability, synaptic plasticity.

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Authors: Emmanuel Abban Sagoe

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A proper functioning of the Central Nervous System ensures that we are able to accomplish just about everything we do as human beings such as walking, breathing, running, etc. Myelinated neurons throughout the body which transmit signals at high speeds facilitate these actions. In the case of MS, the body’s immune system attacks the myelin sheath surrounding the neurons and overtime destroys the myelin sheaths. Depending upon where the destruction occurs in the brain symptoms can vary from person to person. Fatigue is, however, the biggest problem encountered by an MS sufferer. It is very often described as the bedrock upon which other symptoms of MS such challenges in balance and coordination, dizziness, slurred speech, etc. may occur. Classifying and distinguishing between perceptions based fatigue and performance based fatigability is key to identifying appropriate treatment options for patients. Objective methods for assessing motor fatigability is also key to providing clinicians and physiotherapist with critical information on the progression of the symptom. This study tested if the Fatigue Index Kliniken Schmieder assessment tool can detect fatigability as seen in MS patients when healthy subjects with no known history of neurological pathology mimic abnormal gaits. Thirty three healthy adults between ages 18-58years volunteered as subjects for the study. The subjects, strapped with RehaWatch sensors on both feet, completed 6 gait protocols of normal and mimicked fatigable gaits for 60 seconds per each gait and at 1.38889m/s treadmill speed following clear instructions given.

Keywords: attractor attributes, fatigue index Kliniken Schmieder, gait variability, movement pattern

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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: Doni Dermawan

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Modern sports competition as a consequence of the increase in the value of the business and entertainment in the field of sport has been demanding athletes to always have excellent physical endurance performance. Physical exercise is done in a long time, and intensive may pose a risk of muscle tissue damage caused by the increase of the enzyme creatine kinase. Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) is an essential amino acid that is composed of leucine, isoleucine, and valine which serves to maintain muscle tissue, keeping the immune system, and prevent further loss of coordination and muscle pain. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a kind of leguminous plants that are rich in Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) where every one gram of protein pea contains 82.7 mg of leucine; 56.3 mg isoleucine; and 56.0 mg of valine. This research aims to develop Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) from pea extract is applied in dosage forms Gel PVP Kinesio Tape technology using Ultrasound-assisted Extraction. The method used in the writing of this paper is the Cochrane Collaboration Review that includes literature studies, testing the quality of the study, the characteristics of the data collection, analysis, interpretation of results, and clinical trials as well as recommendations for further research. Extraction of BCAA in pea done using ultrasound-assisted extraction technology with optimization variables includes the type of solvent extraction (NaOH 0.1%), temperature (20-250C), time (15-30 minutes) power (80 watt) and ultrasonic frequency (35 KHz). The advantages of this extraction method are the level of penetration of the solvent into the membrane of the cell is high and can increase the transfer period so that the BCAA substance separation process more efficient. BCAA extraction results are then applied to the polymer PVP (Polyvinylpyrrolidone) Gel powder composed of PVP K30 and K100 HPMC dissolved in 10 mL of water-methanol (1: 1) v / v. Preparations Kinesio Tape Gel PVP is the BCAA in the gel are absorbed into the muscle tissue, and joints through tensile force then provides stimulation to the muscle circulation with variable pressure so that the muscle can increase the biomechanical movement and prevent damage to the muscle enzyme creatine kinase. Analysis and evaluation of test preparation include interaction, thickness, weight uniformity, humidity, water vapor permeability, the levels of the active substance, content uniformity, percentage elongation, stability testing, release profile, permeation in vitro and in vivo skin irritation testing.

Keywords: branched chain amino acid, BCAA, Kinesio tape, pea, PVP gel, ultrasound-assisted extraction

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Authors: Lizhi Ma, Dan Liu

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Pipeline parallelism has been widely used to accelerate distributed deep learning to alleviate GPU memory bottlenecks and to ensure that models can be trained and deployed smoothly under limited graphics memory conditions. However, in highly heterogeneous distributed clusters, traditional model partitioning methods are not able to achieve load balancing. The overlap of communication and computation is also a big challenge. In this paper, HePipe is proposed, an efficient pipeline parallel training method for highly heterogeneous clusters. According to the characteristics of the neural network model pipeline training task, oriented to the 2-level heterogeneous cluster computing topology, a training method based on the 2-level stage division of neural network modeling and partitioning is designed to improve the parallelism. Additionally, a multi-forward 1F1B scheduling strategy is designed to accelerate the training time of each stage by executing the computation units in advance to maximize the overlap between the forward propagation communication and backward propagation computation. Finally, a dynamic recomputation strategy based on task memory requirement prediction is proposed to improve the fitness ratio of task and memory, which improves the throughput of the cluster and solves the memory shortfall problem caused by memory differences in heterogeneous clusters. The empirical results show that HePipe improves the training speed by 1.6×−2.2× over the existing asynchronous pipeline baselines.

Keywords: pipeline parallelism, heterogeneous cluster, model training, 2-level stage partitioning

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Authors: Mohammadreza Aghasadeghi, Mojtaba Hamidi-Fard, Seyed Amir Sadeghi, Ashkan Noorbakhsh

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Introduction: HIV is known as one of the most important pathogens and mortality in all human societies, but unfortunately, no definitive cure has been found for it. Due to its weakened immune system, this virus causes a variety of primary and secondary opportunistic infections. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the most relevant opportunistic viruses seen in HIV-positive people that cause various infections in HIV-positive people. This virus causes various infections in HIV-positive people, such as retinal infection (CMVR), gastrointestinal infections, diarrhea, severe weight loss, and cerebrospinal fluid problems. These various infections make it important to evaluate the prevalence of CMV in HIV-positive people to diagnose it quickly and in a timely manner. This infection in HIV-positive people reduces life expectancy and causes serious harm to patients. However, a simple test in HIV-positive people can prevent the virus from progressing. Material and Methods: In this study, we collected 200 blood samples (including 147 men and 53 women) from HIV-positive individuals and examined the frequency of CMV-DNA in these cases by real-time PCR method. In the next step, the data was analyzed by SPSS software, and then we obtained the relationship between age, sex, and the frequency of CMV in HIV-positive individuals. Results: The total frequency of CMV DNA was about 59%, which is a relatively high prevalence due to the age range of the subjects. The frequency in men was 61.2% and 52.8% in women. This frequency was also higher in males than females. We also observed more frequency in two age groups of 16 to 30 years and 31 to 45 years. Discussion: Due to the high prevalence of CMV in HIV-positive individuals and causing serious problems in this group of people, this study was shown that both the patients and the community should pay more attention to this issue. Ministry of Health, as a stakeholder organization, can make CMV DNA testing mandatory as soon as a person is HIV positive.

Keywords: CMV, HIV, AIDS, real-time PCR, SPSS

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Authors: Dusanee Suwankhong, Pranee Liamputtong

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Breast surgery leaves undesirable scars to all women who experienced mastectomy, despite the fact that this could be a principle approach to save one life. This paper explores how Thai women living with breast cancer perceived and experienced a scarred body after breast surgery. In-depth interviews and drawing methods were employed among 20 women diagnosed with breast cancer. The interviewed data were analysed using thematic analysis method. The results showed that all women with breast cancer who underwent breast surgery perceived and experienced scar as a persisting and visible side-effect. This disfigurement appearance presented a negative image of feminine identity and led to emotional burdens among women. They responded to being scarred in different ways relating to their perceptions of body and changes. The older group had less embarrassed feelings towards being scarred comparing to the younger one. All women tried to seek means to cope with such physical impairment and keep balance life related to their condition. For example, they relied on Buddhism practice and tried to heal the keloid using natural products. Scars appeared to be an unpleasant effect for women who underwent breast mastectomy. Nurses and health care professionals in the local health service sectors need to pay close attention to how the women see the scarred body and their experiences of living with the distorted feminine appearance, and to provide sensitive support that meets the needs of these vulnerable women. The suitable supports can reduce the sense of embarrassment and increase their sense of self-confidence about their social femininity.

Keywords: breast surgery, emotional response, qualitative study, scars, Thai women

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Authors: John Oupa Hlatshwayo

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Background: There seem to be preferred digital business models with varying impacts within hospitality, tourism and catering sub-sectors explored through online commerce, as all are ingrained in the business economics domain. Aim: A study aims to establish if such phenomena (Digital Business Models) exist and to what extent if any, within the hospitality, tourism and catering industries, respectively. Setting: This is a qualitative study conducted by exploring several (Four) institutions globally through Case Studies. Method: This research explored explanatory case studies to answer questions about ‘how’ or ’why’ with little control by a researcher over the occurrence of events. It is qualitative research, deductive, and inductive methods. Hence, a comprehensive approach to analyzing qualitative data was attainable through immersion by reading to understand the information. Findings: The results corroborated the notion that digital business models are applicable, by and large, in business economics. Thus, three sectors wherein enterprises operate in the business economics sphere have been narrowed down i.e. hospitality, tourism and catering, are also referred to as triangular polygons due to the atypical nature of being ‘stand-alone’, yet ‘sub-sectors’, but there are confounding factors to consider. Conclusion: The significance of digital business models and digital transformation shows an inevitable merger between business and technology within Hospitality, Tourism, and Catering. Contribution: Such symbiotic relationship of business and technology, persistent evolution of clients’ interface with end-products, forever changing market, current adaptation as well as adjustment to ‘new world order’ by enterprises must be embraced constantly without fail by Business Practitioners, Academics, Business Students, Organizations and Governments.

Keywords: digital business models, hospitality, tourism, catering, business economics

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