Search results for: life and earth sciences

Authors: A. Zeynolabedin, M. A. Olyaei, B. Ghiasi

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Drought is an inevitable part of the earth’s climate. It occurs regularly with no clear warning and without recognizing borders. In addition, its impact is cumulative and not immediately discernible. Iran is located in a semi-arid region where droughts occur periodically as natural hazard. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Surface Water Supply Index (SWSI), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) are three well-known indices which describe drought severity; each has its own advantages and disadvantages and can be used for specific types of drought. These indices take into account some factors such as precipitation, reservoir storage and discharge, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration in determining drought severity. In this paper, first all three indices are calculated in Aharchay river watershed located in northwestern part of Iran in East Azarbaijan province. Next, based on two other important parameters which are groundwater level and solar radiation, two new indices are defined. Finally, considering all five aforementioned indices, a combined drought index (CDI) is presented and calculated for the region. This combined index is based on all the meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural features of the region. The results show that the most severe drought condition in Aharchay watershed happened in Jun, 2004. The result of this study can be used for monitoring drought and prepare for the drought mitigation planning.

Keywords: drought, GIS, intensity index, regional assessment, variation maps

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Authors: Amirmohammad Dahouri

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Each year, more than 795,000 individuals in the United States grieve a stroke, and by 2030, it is predictable that 4% of the U.S. people will have had a stroke. Ischemic stroke, accounting for about 80% of all strokes, is one of the main causes of disability. The goal of stroke rehabilitation is to help patients return to physical and mental functions and relearn the required aids to living everyday life. This flagging has an adverse effect on patients’ quality of life and affects their daily living activities. In recent years, the rehabilitation of ischemic stroke attractions more attention in the world. A review of the rudimentary perceptions of stroke rehabilitation that are price stressing to all specialists who delicacy patients with stroke. Ideas are made for patients on how to functionally manage daily activities after they have qualified for a stroke. It is vital for home healthcare clinicians to understand the process from acute events to medical equilibrium and rehabilitation to adaptation. Different sources such as Pub Med Google Scholar and science direct have been used and various contemporary articles in this era have been analyzed. The care plan must also foundation actual actions to protect against recurrent stroke, as stroke patients are generally at significant risk for further ischemic or hemorrhagic attacks. Here, we review evidence of rehabilitation in treating post-stroke impairment.

Keywords: rehabilitation, stroke, ischemic, hemorrhagic, brain

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Authors: Armin Rahimi

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The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has been a very successful project in determining math redistribution within the Earth system. Large deformations caused by earthquakes are in the high frequency band. Unfortunately, GRACE is only capable to provide reliable estimate at the low-to-medium frequency band for the gravitational changes. In this study, we computed the gravity changes after the 2012 Mw8.6 Indian Ocean earthquake off-Sumatra using the GRACE Level-2 monthly spherical harmonic (SH) solutions released by the University of Texas Center for Space Research (UTCSR). Moreover, we calculated gravity changes using different fault models derived from teleseismic data. The model predictions showed non-negligible discrepancies in gravity changes. However, after removing high-frequency signals, using Gaussian filtering 350 km commensurable GRACE spatial resolution, the discrepancies vanished, and the spatial patterns of total gravity changes predicted from all slip models became similar at the spatial resolution attainable by GRACE observations, and predicted-gravity changes were consistent with the GRACE-detected gravity changes. Nevertheless, the fault models, in which give different slip amplitudes, proportionally lead to different amplitude in the predicted gravity changes.

Keywords: undersea earthquake, GRACE observation, gravity change, dislocation model, slip distribution

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Authors: Khalid Ahmed Eldwaib

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In this study, Al-Mg alloy 5052 was used as the testing material. Corrosion fatigue life was studied for the alloy in 3.5% NaCl (pH=1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11), and 3.5% NaCl (pH=1) with inhibitors. The compound inhibitors were composed mainly of phosphate (PO4³-), adding a certain proportion of other nontoxic inhibitors so as to select alternatives to environmentally hazardous chromate (Cr2O7²-). The inhibitors were sodium dichromate Na2Cr2O7, sodium phosphate Na3PO4, sodium molybdate Na2MoO4, and sodium citrate Na3C6H5O7. The total amount of inhibiting pigments was at different concentrations (250,500,750, and 1000 ppm) in the solutions. Corrosion fatigue behavior was studied by using plane-bending corrosion fatigue machine with stress ratio R=0.5 and under the constant frequency of 13.3 Hz. Results show that in 3.5% NaCl the highest fatigue life (number of cycles to failure Nf) is obtained at pH=5 where the oxide film on aluminum has very low solubility, and the lowest number of cycles is obtained at pH=1, where the media is too aggressive (extremely acidic). When the concentration of inhibitor increases the cycles to failure increase. The surface morphology and fracture section of the specimens had been characterized through scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Keywords: Al-Mg alloy 5052, corrosion, fatigue, inhibitors

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Authors: Kanika Taneja, V. K. Soni, S. D. Attri, Kafeel Ahmad, Shamshad Ahmad

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Aerosols represent an important component of earth-atmosphere system and have a profound impact on the global and regional climate. With the growing population and urbanization, the aerosol load in the atmosphere over the Indian region is found to be increasing. Several studies have reported that the aerosol optical depth over the northern part of India is higher as compared to the southern part. The northern India along the Indo-Gangetic plain is often influenced with dust transported from the Thar Desert in northwestern India and from Arabian Peninsula during the pre-monsoon season. Seasonal variations in aerosol optical and radiative properties were examined using data retrieved from ground based multi-wavelength Prede Sun/sky radiometer (POM-02) over Delhi, Rohtak, Jodhpur and Varanasi for the period April 2011-April 2013. These stations are part of the Skynet-India network of India Meteorological Department. The Sun/sky radiometer (POM-02) has advantage over other instruments that it can be calibrated on-site. These aerosol optical properties retrieved from skyradiometer observations are further used to analyze the Direct Aerosol Radiative Forcing (DARF) over the study locations.

Keywords: aerosol optical properties, indo- gangetic plain, radiative forcing, sky radiometer

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Authors: Andrey A. Tyuftin, David Clarke, Malco C. Cruz-Romero, Declan Bolton, Seamus Fanning, Shashi K. Pankaj, Carmen Bueno-Ferrer, Patrick J. Cullen, Joe P. Kerry

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Prolonging of shelf-life is essential in order to address issues such as; supplier demands across continents, economical profit, customer satisfaction, and reduction of food wastage. Smart packaging solutions presented in the form of naturally occurred antimicrobially-active packaging may be a solution to these and other issues. Gelatin film forming solution with adding of natural sourced antimicrobials is a promising tool for the active smart packaging. The objective of this study was to coat conventional plastic hydrophobic packaging material with hydrophilic antimicrobial active beef gelatin coating and conduct shelf life trials on beef sub-primal cuts. Minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) of Caprylic acid sodium salt (SO) and commercially available Auranta FV (AFV) (bitter oranges extract with mixture of nutritive organic acids) were found of 1 and 1.5 % respectively against bacterial strains Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and aerobic and anaerobic beef microflora. Therefore SO or AFV were incorporated in beef gelatin film forming solution in concentration of two times of MIC which was coated on a conventional plastic LDPE/PA film on the inner cold plasma treated polyethylene surface. Beef samples were vacuum packed in this material and stored under chilling conditions, sampled at weekly intervals during 42 days shelf life study. No significant differences (p < 0.05) in the cook loss was observed among the different treatments compared to control samples until the day 29. Only for AFV coated beef sample it was 3% higher (37.3%) than the control (34.4 %) on the day 36. It was found antimicrobial films did not protect beef against discoloration. SO containing packages significantly (p < 0.05) reduced Total viable bacterial counts (TVC) compared to the control and AFV samples until the day 35. No significant reduction in TVC was observed between SO and AFV films on the day 42 but a significant difference was observed compared to control samples with a 1.40 log of bacteria reduction on the day 42. AFV films significantly (p < 0.05) reduced TVC compared to control samples from the day 14 until the day 42. Control samples reached the set value of 7 log CFU/g on day 27 of testing, AFV films did not reach this set limit until day 35 and SO films until day 42 of testing. The antimicrobial AFV and SO coated films significantly prolonged the shelf-life of beef steaks by 33 or 55% (on 7 and 14 days respectively) compared to control film samples. It is concluded antimicrobial coated films were successfully developed by coating the inner polyethylene layer of conventional LDPE/PA laminated films after plasma surface treatment. The results indicated that the use of antimicrobial active packaging coated with SO or AFV increased significantly (p < 0.05) the shelf life of the beef sub-primal. Overall, AFV or SO containing gelatin coatings have the potential of being used as effective antimicrobials for active packaging applications for muscle-based food products.

Keywords: active packaging, antimicrobials, edible coatings, food packaging, gelatin films, meat science

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Authors: Clarissa Delariarte

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With the aim of helping the poorest of the poor achieve quality education, Psychology students supported and served as teacher assistants to its Early Childhood Education Center in two barangays since the program began in 1999. Making use of qualitative approach, the impact of the program to 29 alumni who served as teacher assistants between 2000-2014 was assessed. Results show that the impact to the alumni is in cognitive as well as social-emotional in terms of feelings of deep satisfaction and sense of volunteerism which is being carried out in their respective workspaces. They also expressed positive feelings of inspiration, gratefulness and happiness. A wider perspective in life, being confident, creative and resourceful was also articulated as concrete impacts. It is concluded that the program had an impact on helping the helper and is a concrete manifestation of the academe being successful in its commitment of forming individuals into becoming integrated and compassionate in the service of the Church and Society. It implies that more opportunities of helping others be provided to students since, in the final analysis, is actually an opportunity of helping the helper be of better service to others.

Keywords: applied psychology, life skill, qualitative research, quality education

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Authors: Zahra Soltani Shal

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic marks an extraordinary global public health crisis unseen in the last century, with its rapid spread worldwide and associated mortality burden. Healthcare resilience during a pandemic is crucial not only for continuous and safe patients care but also for control of any outbreak. Aim: The present study was conducted to discover the organizational variables effective in increasing resilience and continuing the work of nurses in critical and stressful pandemic conditions. Method: The study population is nurses working in hospitals for patients with coronavirus. Sampling was done purposefully and information was collected from 15 nurses through In-depth semi-structured interviews. The interview was conducted to analyze the data using the framework analysis method consisting of five steps and is classified in the table. Results: According to the findings through semi-structural interviews, among organizational variables, organizational commitment (Affective commitment, continuous commitment, normative commitment) has played a prominent role in nurses' resilience. Discussion: despite the non-withdrawal of nurses and their resilience, due to the negative quality of their working life, the mentioned variable has affected their level of performance and ability and leads to fatigue and physical and mental exhaustion. Implications for practice: By equipping hospitals and improving the facilities of nurses, their organizational commitment can be increased and lead to their resilience in critical situations. Supervisors and senior officials at the hospitals should be responsible for nurses' health and safety. A clear and codified program in critical situations and comprehensive management is effective in improving the quality of the work-life of nurses. Creating an empathetic and interactive environment can help promote nurses' mental health.

Keywords: organizational commitment, quality of work life, nurses resilience, pandemic, coronavirus

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Authors: Khalid Ishola Bello

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No condition is permanent in life. This phenomenon is more evident in the socio-economic and political life of man regardless of race, colour or religious affiliation. As the economy of an individual or nation stands to be favourable at one time, it may also experience decline and become unbearable at another time. Muslims, towards the third decade of Islam, experienced economic hardship due to some natural and artificial factors. The recession, which lasted for four years, was rescued by different approaches, and economic prosperity was later regained. Some years ago, Nigeria was drastically affected by an economic recession characterized by high rates of unemployment, illiquidity and inflation, which have caused depression to many individuals and organizations. It is the aim of this paper to look into the causes and remedies of the recession in that early period of Islam in order to suggest a way out of the unfriendly economic situation of Nigeria. An analytical method is adopted to draw some lessons from the situation of Muslims of that time to address the current economic challenges in Nigeria. Though Nigeria is not under any natural disaster, the causes seem to be a deliberate reaction of some Nigerians against the government's attempts to curb corruption at all costs and lapses in some government policies.

Keywords: recession, hardship, spiritual, lessons, early period of Islam

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Authors: Liudmyla Vesper

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The problems of modern education are large-scale and diverse. The aspirations of parents, teachers, and experts converge - everyone interested in growing up a generation of whole, well-educated persons. Both the family and society are expected in the future generation to be self-sufficient, desirable in the labor market, and capable of lifelong learning. Today's children have a powerful potential that is difficult to realize in the conditions of traditional school approaches. Focusing on STEM education in practice often ends with the simple use of computers and gadgets during class. "Science", "technology", "engineering" and "mathematics" are difficult to combine within school and university curricula, which have not changed much during the last 10 years. Solving the problems of modern education largely depends on teachers - innovators, teachers - practitioners who develop and implement effective educational methods and programs. Teachers who propose innovative pedagogical practices that allow students to master large-scale knowledge and apply it to the practical plane. Effective education considers the creation of stable neural structures during the learning process, which allow to preserve and increase knowledge throughout life. The author proposed a method of integrated lessons – cases based on the maths patterns for forming a holistic perception of the world. This method and program are scientifically substantiated and have more than 15 years of practical application experience in school and student classrooms. The first results of the practical application of the author's methodology and curriculum were announced at the International Conference "Teaching and Learning Strategies to Promote Elementary School Success", 2006, April 22-23, Yerevan, Armenia, IREX-administered 2004-2006 Multiple Component Education Project. This program is based on the concept of interdisciplinary connections and its implementation in the process of continuous learning. This allows students to save and increase knowledge throughout life according to a single pattern. The pattern principle stores information on different subjects according to one scheme (pattern), using long-term memory. This is how neural structures are created. The author also admits that a similar method can be successfully applied to the training of artificial intelligence neural networks. However, this assumption requires further research and verification. The educational method and program proposed by the author meet the modern requirements for education, which involves mastering various areas of knowledge, starting from an early age. This approach makes it possible to involve the child's cognitive potential as much as possible and direct it to the preservation and development of individual talents. According to the methodology, at the early stages of learning students understand the connection between school subjects (so-called "sciences" and "humanities") and in real life, apply the knowledge gained in practice. This approach allows students to realize their natural creative abilities and talents, which makes it easier to navigate professional choices and find their place in life.

Keywords: science education, maths education, AI, neuroplasticity, innovative education problem, creativity development, modern education problem

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Authors: Kwestan Salimi, Jenna Jacoby, Michelle Basham, Amy Cerato

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The extreme annual weather patterns of the central United States have increased the need for underground shelters for protection from destructive tornadic activity. However, very few residential homes have basements due to the added construction expense and the prevalence of expansive soils covering the central portion of the United States. These expansive soils shrink and swell, increasing earth pressure on basement walls. To mitigate the effect of expansive soils on basement walls, this study performed bench-scale tests using a common natural expansive soil mitigated with a backfill layer of crumb rubber. The results revealed that at 80% soil compaction, a 1:6 backfill height to total height ratio produced a 66% reduction in swell pressure. However, this percent reduction decreased to 27% for 90% soil compaction. It was also found that there is a strong linear correlation between compaction percentage and reduction in swell pressure when using the same backfill height to total height ratio. Using this correlation and extrapolating to 95% compaction, the percent reduction in swell pressure was approximately 12%.

Keywords: expansive soils, swell/shrink, swell pressure, stabilization, crumb rubber

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Authors: Hsi-Chuan Wang, Hongxi Yin

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Compactness has been proposed as a type of sustainable urban form globally. However, the meanings and the measurements might diverse in regarding to the varying interpretation; moreover, since compactness was proposed to eliminate auto culture and urban sprawl in the developed countries, voices have emerged asking to rethink the suitability of compactness in the developing countries – based upon such understanding, Quality of Life (QOL) has been suggested as a good way to show the overall benefit of compactness. In regarding to such background, two subjects were targeted for discussion in this paper: (I) the meaning and feasibility of compactness between the developing and developed countries, and (II) the interaction between compactness and QOL. This paper argues that compactness should not be considered a universal principle for cities of all kind, but rather an ideal concept for urban designer and planner to consider throughout local practices. It firstly reviewed the benefits of both compactness and sprawl to uncover the features behind these urban forms, and later addressed the meaning and difficulty of adopting compactness in both the developing and developed countries. Secondly, arguing compactness to be positioned as a ‘process’ along the transition from the developing countries to the developed ones, this paper applied both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis to uncover (I) the relationship between compactness and QOL in regarding to 30 American cities and (II) the impact of ‘becoming compact’ on QOL in regarding to 8 identified American Urbanized Areas (UZAs). The findings indicated that higher compactness could link to lower QOL among the compact cities, but with higher QOL among the sprawl cities. In addition, based upon the comparison between 2000 and 2010 on 8 UZAs, their QOL have escalated during the transition from the sprawl areas into the compact ones, but the extent of improvement in QOL could differ greatly among areas. In regarding to our findings, compact development should be proposed as a general guideline leading the contemporary sprawl cities in transition with sustainable urbanism; however, to prevent the externalities from damaging QOL with over-compactness, the compact policy should be flexible to adjust a long-term roadmap for sustainable development.

Keywords: compactness, quality of life, sprawl, sustainable urbanism

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Authors: Roya Biabani, Mentore Vaccari, Piero Ferrari

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Accumulated microplastic (MPLs) in soil pose the risk of adsorbing and transporting polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the food chain or bodies. PCBs belong to a class of man-made hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) that are classified as probable human carcinogens and a hazard to biota. Therefore, to take effective action and not aggravate the already recognized problems, the knowledge of PCB remediation in the presence of MPLs needs to be complete. Due to the high efficiency and little secondary pollution production, thermal desorption (TD) has been widely used for processing a variety of pollutants, especially for removing volatile and semi-volatile organic matter from contaminated solids and sediment. This study investigates the fate of PCB compounds during the thermal remediation method. For this, the PCB-contaminated soil was collected from the earth-canal downstream Caffaro S.p.A. chemical factory, which produced PCBs and PCB mixtures between 1930 and 1984. For MPL analysis, MPLs were separated by density separation and oxidation of organic matter. An operational range for the key parameters of thermal desorption processes was experimentally evaluated. Moreover, the temperature treatment characteristics of the PCBs-contaminated soil under anaerobic and aerobic conditions were studied using the Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA).

Keywords: contaminated soils, microplastics, polychlorinated biphenyls, thermal desorption

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Authors: Gabriela Estrada, Joaquim Lloveras

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Design for error-proofing assembly is a new DFX approach to prevent assembly issues since early design stages. Assembly issues that can happen during the life phases of a system such as: production, installation, operation, and replacement phases. This prevention is possible by designing the product with poka-yoke or error-proofing characteristics. This approach guide designers to make decisions based on poka-yoke assembly design requirements. As a result of applying these requirements designers are able to create solutions to prevent assembly issues for the product in development stage. This paper integrates the needs to design products in an error proofing way into the systematic approach of design process by Pahl and Beitz. A case study is presented applying this approach.

Keywords: poka-yoke, error-proofing, assembly issues, design process, life phases of a system

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Authors: Gabriela Estrada, Joaquim Lloveras

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Design for error-proofing assembly is a new DFX approach to prevent assembly issues since early design stages. Assembly issues that can happen during the life phases of a system such as: production, installation, operation and replacement phases. This prevention is possible by designing the product with poka-yoke or error-proofing characteristics. This approach guide designers to make decisions based on poka-yoke assembly design requirements. As a result of applying these requirements designers are able to create solutions to prevent assembly issues for the product in development stage. This paper integrates the needs to design products in an error proofing way into the systematic approach of design process by Pahl and Beitz. A case study is presented applying this approach.

Keywords: poka-yoke, error-proofing, assembly issues, design process, life phases of a system

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Authors: Venkata Ramana Pamu

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This paper is a case study of a 5310 ML capacity Raw Water Reservoir (RWR), situated in Indian state Rajasthan, which is a part of Rajasthan Rural Water Supply & Fluorosis Mitigation Project. This RWR embankment was constructed by locally available material on natural ground profile. Height of the embankment was varying from 2m to 10m.This is due to existing ground level was varying. Reservoir depth 9m including 1.5m free board and 1V:3H slopes were provided both upstream and downstream side. Proper soil investigation, tests were done and it was confirmed that the existing soil is sandy silt. The existing excavated earth was used as filling material for embankment construction, due to this controlling seepage from upstream to downstream be a challenging task. Slope stability and Seismic analysis of the embankment done by Conventional method for both full reservoir condition and rapid drawdown. Horizontal filter at toe level was provided along with upstream side PCC (Plain Cement Concrete) block and HDPE (High Density poly ethylene) lining as a remedy to control seepage. HDPE lining was also provided at storage area of the reservoir bed level. Mulching was done for downstream side slope protection.

Keywords: raw water reservoir, seepage, seismic analysis, slope stability

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Authors: Victor Ademulegun Arijeniwa

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This is a sociolinguistic study of Olu Obafemi’s Naira Has No Gender as a microcosm of life experiences. The paper assesses how Olu Obafemi’s use of language in the dramatic world serves as both social relationships and symbolic order of communicative roadmap that are capable of yielding well expressed and richly articulated sociolinguistic implications. Being the interface between language and social institutions, sociolinguistics and its application is highly utilitarian in linguistics analysis, especially where the language of a text appears to be deeply tensed, such as found in dramatic texts. The aim of this paper has been (i) to assess the symbolic orderly presentation of form in Olu Obafemi’Naira Has No Gender; (ii) to find out the linguistic elements and textual organization that represent social relationships in Olu Obafemi’s Naira Has No Gender. Using qualitative research design in data generation with insights from John Gumperz Interactional Sociolinguistics Theory with particular reference to contextualization cues and miscommunication, the paper identifies the implication of the dramatic discourse on society.

Keywords: sociolinguistics, Microcosm, contextualisation, miscommunication variable, identity, symbolic order

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Authors: Urooj Shafique, Salman Jamil

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In the context of an urban human life, city requires to meeting some standards which, at a glance are called the standards of a quality life. Measuring the quality of life according to particular social, economic and cultural conditions of a country and also the emphasis of a country twenty years visions on this issue has special importance. Cultural gathering spaces improve social and economic vitality on one side and on the other side provide favorable conditions for citizen leisure. But unfortunately these cultural gathering spaces in our society are losing their meaning and importance with time. Like coffee houses and libraries. Dedhee was the most prominent place among the cultural gathering spaces in Hazara division. People used to visit them in order to get something out of these spaces. At present they lie in our cities as places of no interest. Libraries are converted into storage houses where books lie untouched for years and years. The aim of my project is to create unique space that engage community members in the learning and creation process, where people can share their knowledge with others as well as enjoy their personal space. The spaces are flexible enough to accommodate people of different moods and interests, with the purpose of helping communities to become aware of their own cultures and to be socially engaged. The site for this specific project has been selected near Cantonment Park Abbottabad, Pakistan. The city of Abbottabad is famous for its writers, poets and storytellers. The site is selected next to the Cantonment Park, at a central location in the whole city so that it can attract users from almost every point of the city. The project provides a cultural gathering space for the people of the city where they can sit and discuss their ideas within a creative and expressive environment, which can represent the cultures of a community.

Keywords: cultural gathering space, Dedhee, Hazara literature, intellectuals’ hub

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Authors: Kudakwashe Diana Nyamugure

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Engine design has evolved to suit new industry standards of smaller compact designs that operate at high temperatures and even higher stress loads. Research has proven that the interaction of the bearing surface and the lubrication film is affected by the bearing's surface texture, geometry, and dimensional tolerances. The challenge now for the automotive manufacturing industry is to understand which processes can be applied on bearing surfaces to reduce the 65% energy loss in engines, 15% of which is caused by friction. This paper will discuss a post grinding process known as microfinishing which optimises the characteristics of a manufactured surface such as roughness, profile, and waviness. Microfinishing is becoming an increasing trend within the automotive industry and has so far been applied on high performance and mass production crank or cam bearing surfaces in bid of friction reduction and extended engine service life. In the near future, microfinishing will be applied to more engine components because of the stringent environmental regulations demands on fuel consumption, reliability, power, and service life of engine components.

Keywords: bearings, tribology, friction reduction, energy efficiency

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Authors: Hsiao-Lin Fang

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Every life is precious, and comprehensive care should be provided to individuals who are in the final stages of their lives. Hospice-shared care aims to provide optimal symptom control and palliative care to terminal (cancer) patients through the implementation of shared care, and to support patients and their families in making various physical and psychological adjustments in the face of death. This report examines a 10-year-boy diagnosed with Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA). The individual fainted when swimming at school and underwent 31 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). While receiving treatment at the hospital, the individual received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO) due to unstable hemodynamics. Urgent cardiac catheterization found: Suspect acute fulminant myocarditis or underlying cardiomyopathy with acute decompensation, After the active rescue by the medical team, hemodynamics still showed only mean pressure value. With respect to the patient, interdepartmental hospice-shared care was implemented and a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order was signed after family discussions were conducted. Assistance and instructions were provided as part of the comfort care process. A farewell gathering attended by the patient’s relatives, friends, teachers, and classmates was organized in an intensive care unit (ICU) in order to look back on the patient’s life and the beautiful memories that were created, as well as to alleviate the sorrow felt by family members, including the patient’s father and sister. For example, the patient was presented with drawings and accompanied to a garden to pick flowers. In this manner, the patient was able to say goodbye before death. Finally, the patient’s grandmother and father participated in the clinical hospice care and post-mortem care processes. A hospice-shared care clinician conducted regular follow-ups and provided care to the family of the deceased, supporting family members through the sorrowful period. Birth, old age, sickness, and death are the natural phases of human life. In recent years, growing attention has been paid to human-centered hospice care. Hospice care is individual holistic care provided by a professional team and it involves the provision of comprehensive care to a terminal patient. Hospice care aims to satisfy the physical, psychological, mental, and social needs of patients and their families. It does not involve the cessation of treatment but rather avoids the exacerbation or extension of the suffering endured by patients, thereby preserving the dignity and quality of life during the end-of-life period. Patients enjoy the company of others as they complete the last phase of their lives, and their families also receive guidance on how they can move on with their own lives after the patient’s death.

Keywords: hospice-shared care, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), hospice-shared care, child patient

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Authors: Yun Chan Lee

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Background: End-of-life care is a large area of all nursing practice and student nurses are likely to meet dying patients in many placement areas. It is therefore important to understand the emotional responses and coping strategies of student nurses in order for nursing education systems to have some appreciation of how nursing students might be supported in the future. Methodology: This research used a qualitative phenomenological approach. Six student nurses understanding a degree-level adult nursing course were interviewed. Their responses to questions were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Finding: The findings identified 3 main themes. First, the common experience of ‘unpreparedness’. A very small number of participants felt that this was unavoidable and that ‘no preparation is possible’, the majority felt that they were unprepared because of ‘insufficient input’ from the university and as a result of wider ‘social taboos’ around death and dying. The second theme showed that emotions were affected by ‘the personal connection to the patient’ and the important sub-themes of ‘the evoking of memories’, ‘involvement in care’ and ‘sense of responsibility’. The third theme, the coping strategies used by students, seemed to fall into two broad areas those ‘internal’ with the student and those ‘external’. In terms of the internal coping strategies, ‘detachment’, ‘faith’, ‘rationalization’ and ‘reflective skills’ are the important components of this part. Regarding the external coping strategies, ‘clinical staff’ and ‘the importance of family and friends’ are the importance of accessing external forms of support. Implication: It is clear that student nurses are affected emotionally by caring for dying patients and many of them have apprehension even before they begin on their placements but very often this is unspoken. Those anxieties before the placement become more pronounced during and continue after the placements. This has implications for when support is offered and possibly its duration. Another significant point of the study is that participants often highlighted their wish to speak to qualified nurses after their experiences of being involved in end-of-life care and especially when they had been present at the time of death. Many of the students spoke that qualified nurses were not available to them. This seemed to be due to a number of reasons. Because the qualified nurses were not available, students had to make use of family members and friends to talk to. Consequently, the implication of this study is not only to educate student nurses but also to educate the qualified mentors on the importance of providing emotional support to students.

Keywords: nursing students, coping strategies, end-of-life care, emotional responses

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Authors: Tae Ho Kim

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Using the center of gravity method, we intend to find the center of gravity of Eurasia and North America, focusing on the local population, and study economic development plans in Eurasia and North America. By analyzing the strengths and opportunities of an industrial location for each region, we find ways for the country to grow and develop. Through economic cooperation and support between countries, we want to reduce the cause of conflict and dispute through economic growth in countries or regions. Furthermore, we want to create conditions for peaceful and happy regions or countries. Eurasia and North America are rich in resources, have great growth potential in terms of global supply chains, and have a good position to develop further. By analyzing intimacy between countries using REM, a CRM method, we intend to transform it into a region where a hopeful future of peace and prosperity begins. The future can be transformed through positive thinking or love for humanity. Indicators of intimacy between countries or regions can also be created anew if they change how they view each other. The Earth we live on is facing great risks, such as climate change and war. In order to reduce this crisis and maintain peace and prosperity, we must cooperate with each other in new directions.

Keywords: supply chain economy, REM, Indicators of intimacy, peace and prosperity

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Authors: S. O. Ekpo

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Environmental science deals with everyday challenges such as a cell for call for good and safe quality air, water, food and healthy leaving condition which include destruction of biodiversity and how to conserve these natural resources for sustainable development. Biodiversity or species richness is the sum of all the different species of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms leaving on earth and variety of habitats in which they leave. Human beings leave on plants and animals on daily basis for food, clothing, medicine, housing, research and trade or commerce; besides this, biodiversity serves to purify the air, water and land of contaminant, and recycle useful materials for continual use of man. However, man continual incessant exploitation and exploration has affected biodiversity negatively in many ways such habitant fragmentation and destruction, introduction of invasive species, pollution, overharvesting, prediction and pest control amongst others. Measures such as recycling material, establishing natural parks, sperm bank, limiting the exploitation of renewable resources to sustainable yield and urban and industrial development as well as prohibiting hunting endangered species and release of non native live forms into an area will go a long way towards conserving biodiversity for continues profitable yield.

Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, exploitation and exploration sustainable yield, recycling of materials

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Authors: Salma Maher, Ahmed Elseragy, Sally Eldeeb

Abstract:

Nowadays, Urbanism and climate change lead to the rapid growth in energy consumption and the increase of using air-conditioning for cooling. In a hot climate area, there is a need for a new sustainable alternative that is more convenient for an existing situation. The Building envelope controls the heat transfer between the outside and inside the building. While the building façade is the most critical part, types of façade material play a vital role in influences of the energy demand for heating and cooling due to exposure to direct solar radiation throughout the day. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the use of curtain walls in office buildings façades started to increase rapidly, which lead to more cooling loads in energy consumption. Integrating the living wall system in urban areas as a sustainable renovation and energy-saving method for the built environment will reduce the energy demand of buildings and will also provide environmental benefits. Also, it will balance the urban ecology and enhance urban life quality. The results show that the living wall systems reduce the internal temperature up to 4.0 °C. This research carries on an analytical study by highlighting the different types of living wall systems and verifying their thermal performance, energy-saving, and life potential on the building. These assessing criteria include the reason for using the Living wall systems in the building façade as well as the effect it has upon the surrounding environment. Finally, the paper ends with concluding the effect of using living wall systems on building. And, it suggests a system as long-lasting, and energy-efficient solution to be applied in curtain wall façades in a hot climate area.

Keywords: living wall systems, energy consumption, curtain walls, energy-saving, sustainability, urban life quality

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Authors: Giorgi Chichinadze, David Shengelia, Tamara Tsutsunava, Nikoloz Maisuradze, Giorgi Beridze

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The Jalovchat intrusive is built up of hornblende gabbros, gabbro-norites and norites. Within the intrusive hornblende-bearing gabbro-pegmatites are widespread. That is a coarse-grained rock with gigantic hornblende crystals. By its unusual composition, the Jalovchat intrusive has no analogue in the Caucasus. However, petrologically and geochemically, the intrusive rocks were studied insufficiently. For comprehensive investigations, the authors applied appropriate methodologies: Microscopic study of thin sections, petro- and geochemical analyses of the samples and also different petrogenic, rare and rare earth elements diagrams and spidergrams. Analytical study established that the Jalovchat intrusive by its composition corresponds mainly to the mid-ocean ridge basalts and according to geodynamic type belongs to the subduction type. In general, it is an anomalous phenomenon, as in the rocks of such composition crystallization of hornblende and especially of its gigantic crystals is atypical. The authors believe that the water-rich magma reservoir, which was necessary for the crystallization of gigantic hornblende crystals, appeared as a result of melting of water-rich mid-ocean ridge basaltic rocks during the subduction process in Bajocian time.

Keywords: gabbro-pegmatite, intrusive, petrogenesis, petrogeochemistry, the Caucasus

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Authors: Yuandanis Wahyu Salam, Irfi Panrepi, Nuraeni

Abstract:

The increased of greenhouse gases, that is CO2 (carbondioxide) in atmosphere induce the rising of earth’s surface average temperature. One of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases is motor vehicles. Smoke which is emitted by motor’s exhaust containing gases such as CO2 (carbondioxide) and CO (carbon monoxide). Chemically, chitosan is cellulose like plant fiber that has the ability to bind like absorbant foam. Chitosan is a natural antacid (absorb toxins), when chitosan is spread over the surface of water, chitosan is able to absorb fats, oils, heavy metals, and other toxic substances. Judging from the nature of chitosan is able to absorb various toxic substances, it is expected that chitosan is also able to filter out gas emission from the motor vehicles. This study designing a carbondioxide filter in the exhaust of motor vehicles using chitosan as its absorbant. It aims to filter out gases in the exhaust so that CO2 and CO can be reducted before emitted by exhaust. Form of this reseach is study of literature and applied with experimental research of tool manufacture. Data collected through documentary studies by studying books, magazines, thesis, search on the internet as well as the relevant reference. This study will produce a filters which has main function to filter out CO2 and CO emissions that generated by vehicle’s exhaust and can be used as portable.

Keywords: filter, carbon, carbondioxide, exhaust, chitosan

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Authors: Raheleh Saifiabolhassan

Abstract:

Gardens symbolize human effort to bring Eden to earth and are defined as the purest pleasures and the greatest inspiration for men. According to Persian mythology, a garden called "Paris" is a magical, perfumed place populated by beautiful and angelic creatures. "Pardis" comes from the word "paridaiza," which means "walled garden." Gardening has always been a worldwide attraction due to the abundance of green space, and desert gardens are no exception. Because most historical garden designs use a similar pattern, such as Chahar-Bagh, climate effects have not been considered. The purpose of studying these general designs was to determine whether location and weather conditions are affecting them. So, two gardens were chosen for comparison: a desert (Shahzadeh-Mahan) and a humid garden (Shah) and compared their geometry, irrigation system, entrances, and pavilions. The findings of the study revealed that there are several notable differences among their architectural principles. For example, the desert garden design is introverted with transparent surfaces and a single focal point, while the moderate garden is extraverted with high complexity and multiple perspectives. In conclusion, the study recognizes the richness and significance of the Persian garden concept, which can be applied in many different contexts.

Keywords: Pardis, Chahar-bagh, Persian garden, temperate, humid climate, geometry, pavilion, irrigations, culture

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Authors: Shahrzad Yektatalab, Agrin Mohammadi, Ladan Zarshenas

Abstract:

Background: Misophonia is a severe emotional response to repetitive sounds. This disorder may limit a person's communication, reduce their ability, or disrupt their social and personal life. This study aims to determine the prevalence of Misophonia and its relationship with obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and depression in undergraduate students of XXX University of Medical Sciences. Methods: The present study is an analytical descriptive study conducted in October 2020. The study samples are 390 undergraduate students of XXX University of medical sciences. A relative and systematic sampling method was used. In this study, a demographic questionnaire, misophonia questionnaire (A score of 7 or higher is considered as misophonia), Beck anxiety questionnaire, Beck depression questionnaire, and Maudsley questionnaire were used, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 24 software. Due to the non-normality of the data, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used for analyzing data. The significance level was considered less than 0.05. Results: 23.8% of students have misophonia. Of the 390 participants in the study, 93 had experienced misophonia. Among these 93 students, 37 (39.8%) had obsessive-compulsive disorder, 8 (8.6%) had anxiety and 9 (9.7%) had depression. There was a significant and direct relationship between all variables (p <0.001), which means that with the increase of each disorder, the probability of an increase in other disorders increases. Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of misophonia in students and its direct relationship with obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and depression, It is recommended that future studies be conducted to identify ways to prevent and reduce the incidence of misophonia.

Keywords: misophonia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, depression

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Authors: Bineet Kumar

Abstract:

Many civil engineering infrastructures frequently encounter repetitive loading during their service life. Due to the inherent complexity observed in concrete, like quasi-brittle materials, understanding the fatigue behavior in concrete still posesa challenge. Moreover, the fracture process zone characteristics ahead of the crack tip have been observed to be different in fatigue loading than in the monotonic cases. Therefore, it is crucial to comprehend the energy dissipation associated with the fracture process zone (FPZ) due to repetitive loading. It is well known that stiffness degradation due to cyclic loadingprovides a better understanding of the fracture behavior of concrete. Under repetitive load cycles, concrete members exhibit a two-stage stiffness degradation process. Experimentally it has been observed that the stiffness decreases initially with an increase in crack length and subsequently increases. In this work, an attempt has been made to propose an analytical expression to predict energy dissipation and later the stiffness degradation as a function of crack length. Three-point bend specimens have been considered in the present work to derive the formulations. In this approach, the expression for the resultant stress distribution below the neutral axis has been derived by correlating the bending stress with the cohesive stresses developed ahead of the crack tip due to the existence of the fracture process zone. This resultant stress expression is utilized to estimate the dissipated energydue to crack propagation as a function of crack length. Further, the formulation for the stiffness degradation has been developed by relating the dissipated energy with the work done. It can be used to predict the critical crack length and fatigue life. An attempt has been made to understand the influence of stress amplitude on the damage pattern by using the information on the rate of stiffness degradation. It has been demonstrated that with the increase in the stress amplitude, the damage/FPZ proceeds more in the direction of crack propagation compared to the damage in the direction parallel to the span of the beam, which causes a lesser rate of stiffness degradation for the incremental crack length. Further, the effect of loading frequency has been investigated in terms of stiffness degradation. Under low-frequency loading cases, the damage/FPZ has been found to spread more in the direction parallel to the span, in turn reducing the critical crack length and fatigue life. In such a case, a higher rate of stiffness degradation has been observed in comparison to the high-frequency loading case.

Keywords: fatigue life, fatigue, fracture, concrete

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Authors: M. Merabet-Khelassi, Z. Houiene, L. Aribi-Zouioueche, O. Riant

Abstract:

Lipases (EC.3.1.1.3) are efficient biotools widely used for their remarkable chemo-, regio- and enantio-selectivity, especially, in kinetic resolution of racemates. They offer access to a large panel of enantiopure building blocks, such as secondary benzylic alcohols, commonly used as synthetic intermediates in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. Due to the stability of lipases in both water and organic solvents poor in water, they are able to catalyze both transesterifications of arylalkylcarbinols and hydrolysis of their corresponding acetates. The use of enzymatic hydrolysis in aqueous media still limited. In this presentation, we expose a practical methodology for the preparation of optically enriched acetates using a Candida antarctica lipase B-catalyzed hydrolysis in non-aqueous media in the presence of alkaline carbonate salts. The influence of several parameters which can intervene on the enzymatic efficiency such as the impact of the introduction of the carbonates salts, its amount and the nature of the alkaline earth metal are discussed. The obtained results show that the use of sodium carbonate with CAL-B enhances drastically both reactivity and selectivity of this immobilized lipase. In all cases, the resulting alcohols and remaining acetates are obtained in high ee values (up to > 99 %), and the selectivities reach (E > 500).

Keywords: alkaline-hydrolysis, enzymatic kinetic resolution, lipases, arylalkylcarbinol, non-aqueous media

Procedia PDF Downloads 162