Search results for: the environmental impact assessment act

Authors: A. Tarantino, F. Lops, G. Lopriore, G. Disciglio

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Biostimulants are known as the organic fertilizers that can be applied in agriculture in order to increase nutrient uptake, growth and development of plants and improve quality, productivity and the environmental positive impacts. The aim of this study was to test the effects of some commercial biostimulants products (Bion® 50 WG, Hendophyt ® PS, Ergostim® XL and Radicon®) on vegeto-productive behavior and qualitative characteristics of fruits of two emerging apricot cultivars (Orange Rubis® and Farbaly®). The study was conducted during the spring-summer season 2015, in a commercial orchard located in the agricultural area of Cerignola (Foggia district, Apulian region, Southern Italy). Eight years old apricot trees, cv ‘Orange Rubis’ and ‘Farbaly®’, were used. The experimental data recorded during the experimental trial were: shoot length, total number of flower buds, flower buds drop and time of flowering and fruit set. Total yield of fruits per tree and quality parameters were determined. Experimental data showed some specific differences among the biostimulant treatments. Concerning the yield of ‘Orange Rubis’, except for the Bion treatment, the other three biostimulant treatments showed a tendentially lower values than the control. The yield of ‘Farbaly’ was lower for the Bion and Hendophyt treatments, higher for the Ergostim treatment, when compared with the yield of the control untreated. Concerning the soluble solids content, the juice of ‘Farbaly’ fruits had always higher content than that of ‘Orange Rubis’. Particularly, the Bion and the Hendophyt treatments showed in both harvest values tendentially higher than the control. Differently, the four biostimulant treatments did not affect significantly this parameter in ‘Orange Rubis’. With regard to the fruit firmness, some differences were observed between the two harvest dates and among the four biostimulant treatments. At the first harvest date, ‘Orange Rubis’ treated with Bion and Hendophyt biostimulants showed texture values tendentially lower than the control. Instead, ‘Farbaly’ for all the biostimulant treatments showed fruit firmness values significantly lower than the control. At the second harvest, almost all the biostimulants treatments in both ‘Orange Rubis’ and ‘Farbaly’ cultivar showed values lower than the control. Only ‘Farbaly’ treated with Radicon showed higher value in comparison to the control.

Keywords: apricot, fruit quality, growth, organic natural fertilizer

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Authors: Monika Soni, Shovonlal Bhowmick, Chandra Bhattacharya, Jitendra Sharma, Prafulla Dutta, Jagadish Mahanta

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Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are considered as two major vectors to transmit dengue virus. In North-east India, two states viz. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are known to be high endemic zone for dengue and Chikungunya viral infection. The taxonomical classification of medically important vectors are important for mapping of actual evolutionary trends and epidemiological studies. However, misidentification of mosquito species in field-collected mosquito specimens could have a negative impact which may affect vector-borne disease control policy. DNA barcoding is a prominent method to record available species, differentiate from new addition and change of population structure. In this study, a combined approach of a morphological and molecular technique of DNA barcoding was adopted to explore sequence variation in mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene within dengue vectors. The study has revealed the map distribution of the dengue vector from two states i.e. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India. Approximate five hundred mosquito specimens were collected from different parts of two states, and their morphological features were compared with the taxonomic keys. The analysis of detailed taxonomic study revealed identification of two species Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The species aegypti comprised of 66.6% of the specimen and represented as dominant dengue vector species. The sequences obtained through standard DNA barcoding protocol were compared with public databases, viz. GenBank and BOLD. The sequences of all Aedes albopictus have shown 100% similarity whereas sequence of Aedes aegypti has shown 99.77 - 100% similarity of COI gene with that of different geographically located same species based on BOLD database search. From dengue prevalent different geographical regions fifty-nine sequences were retrieved from NCBI and BOLD databases of the same and related taxa to determine the evolutionary distance model based on the phylogenetic analysis. Neighbor-Joining (NJ) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree was constructed in MEGA6.06 software with 1000 bootstrap replicates using Kimura-2-Parameter model. Data were analyzed for sequence divergence and found that intraspecific divergence ranged from 0.0 to 2.0% and interspecific divergence ranged from 11.0 to 12.0%. The transitional and transversional substitutions were tested individually. The sequences were deposited in NCBI: GenBank database. This observation claimed the first DNA barcoding analysis of Aedes mosquitoes from North-eastern states in India and also confirmed the range expansion of two important mosquito species. Overall, this study insight into the molecular ecology of the dengue vectors from North-eastern India which will enhance the understanding to improve the existing entomological surveillance and vector incrimination program.

Keywords: COI, dengue vectors, DNA barcoding, molecular identification, North-east India, phylogenetics

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Authors: Salma Akter, Md. Kamal Uddin

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Ashrayan (shelter) Prakalpa – a fully subsidized ‘integrated poverty eradication program’ through the provisioning of shelter of Bangladesh Government (GoB) targeting the internally displaced and homeless. In spite of the inclusiveness (poverty alleviation, employment opportunity, Tenure ship and training) of the shelter policy, dwellers are not merely questioned by the issue of 'the quality of life' .This study demonstrates how top-down policies, ambiguous ownership status of land and dwelling environments lead to ‘everyday compromise’ by the grassroots in both subjective (satisfaction, comfort and safety) and objective (physical design elements and physical environmental elements) issues in three respective scale macro (neighborhood) meso (shelter /built environment) and micro(family). It shows that by becoming subject to Government’s resettlements policies and after becoming user of its shelter units (although locally known as ‘barracks’ rather shelter or housing), the once displaced settlers assume a curious form of spatial practice where both social and spatial often bear slippery meanings. Thus, Policy-based shelter force the dwellers frequently compromise with their provided built environments and spaces within the settlements both in overtly and covertly. Compromises are made during the production of space and forms, whereas interesting new spaces and space-making practices emerge. The settlements under study are Dakshin Chandani Mahal Ashrayan Prakalpa located at the Eastern fringe area of Khulna, Bangladesh. In terms of methodology, this research is primarily exploratory and assumes a qualitative approach. Key tools used to obtain information are policy analysis, literature review, key informant interview, focus group discussion and participant observation at the level of dwelling and settlements. Necessary drawings and photographs have been taken to promote the study objective. Findings revealed that various shortages, inadequacies and negligence of policymakers make a compromising character of displaced by the means of 'quality of life' both in objective and subjective ground. Thus the study ends up with a recommendation to the policymakers to take an initiative to ensure the quality of life of the dwellers.

Keywords: Ashrayan, compromise, displaced people, quality of life

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Authors: M. Soubadra Devy, Savitha Swamy, Chethana V. Casiker

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Sustainable smart cities are emerging as an important concept in response to the exponential rise in the world’s urbanizing population. While earlier, only technical, economic and governance based solutions were considered, more and more layers are being added in recent times. With the prefix of 'sustainability', solutions which help in judicious use of resources without negatively impacting the environment have become critical. We present a case study of Bangalore city which has transformed from being a garden city and pensioners' paradise to being an IT city with a huge, young population from different regions and diverse cultural backgrounds. This has had a big impact on the green spaces in the city and the biodiversity that they support, as well as on farming/gardening practices. Edible landscapes comprising farms lands, home gardens and neighbourhood parks (NPs henceforth) were examined. The land prices of areas having NPs were higher than those that did not indicate an appreciation of their aesthetic value. NPs were part of old and new residential areas largely managed by the municipality. They comprised manicured gardens which were similar in vegetation structure and composition. Results showed that NPs that occurred in higher density supported reasonable levels of biodiversity. In situations where NPs occurred in lower density, the presence of a larger green space such as a heritage park or botanical garden enhanced the biodiversity of these parks. In contrast, farm lands and home gardens which were common within the city are being lost at an unprecedented scale to developmental projects. However, there is also the emergence of a 'neo-culture' of home-gardening that promotes 'locovory' or consumption of locally grown food as a means to a sustainable living and reduced carbon footprint. This movement overcomes the space constraint by using vertical and terrace gardening techniques. Food that is grown within cities comprises of vegetables and fruits which are largely pollinator dependent. This goes hand in hand with our landscape-level study that has shown that cities support pollinator diversity. Maintaining and improving these man-made ecosystems requires analysing the functioning and characteristics of the existing structures of governance. Social network analysis tool was applied to NPs to examine relationships, between actors and ties. The management structures around NPs, gaps, and means to strengthen the networks from the current state to a near-ideal state were identified for enhanced services. Learnings from NPs were used to build a hypothetical governance structure and functioning of integrated governance of NPs and edible landscapes to enhance ecosystem services such as biodiversity support, food production, and aesthetic value. They also contribute to the sustainability axis of smart cities.

Keywords: biodiversity support, ecosystem services, edible green spaces, neighbourhood parks, sustainable smart city

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Authors: Andrew N. Saylor, James R. Peters

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Scoliosis is a complex 3D deformity of the thoracic and lumbar spines, clinically diagnosed by measurement of a Cobb angle of 10 degrees or more on a coronal X-ray. The Cobb angle is the angle made by the lines drawn along the proximal and distal endplates of the respective proximal and distal vertebrae comprising the curve. Traditionally, Cobb angles are measured manually using either a marker, straight edge, and protractor or image measurement software. The task of measuring the Cobb angle can also be represented by a function taking the spine geometry rendered using X-ray imaging as input and returning the approximate angle. Although the form of such a function may be unknown, it can be approximated using artificial neural networks (ANNs). The performance of ANNs is affected by many factors, including the choice of activation function and network architecture; however, the effects of these parameters on the accuracy of scoliotic deformity measurements are poorly understood. Therefore, the objective of this study was to systematically investigate the effect of ANN architecture and activation function on Cobb angle measurement from the coronal X-rays of scoliotic subjects. The data set for this study consisted of 609 coronal chest X-rays of scoliotic subjects divided into 481 training images and 128 test images. These data, which included labeled Cobb angle measurements, were obtained from the SpineWeb online database. In order to normalize the input data, each image was resized using bi-linear interpolation to a size of 500 × 187 pixels, and the pixel intensities were scaled to be between 0 and 1. A fully connected (dense) ANN with a fixed cost function (mean squared error), batch size (10), and learning rate (0.01) was developed using Python Version 3.7.3 and TensorFlow 1.13.1. The activation functions (sigmoid, hyperbolic tangent [tanh], or rectified linear units [ReLU]), number of hidden layers (1, 3, 5, or 10), and number of neurons per layer (10, 100, or 1000) were varied systematically to generate a total of 36 network conditions. Stochastic gradient descent with early stopping was used to train each network. Three trials were run per condition, and the final mean squared errors and mean absolute errors were averaged to quantify the network response for each condition. The network that performed the best used ReLU neurons had three hidden layers, and 100 neurons per layer. The average mean squared error of this network was 222.28 ± 30 degrees2, and the average mean absolute error was 11.96 ± 0.64 degrees. It is also notable that while most of the networks performed similarly, the networks using ReLU neurons, 10 hidden layers, and 1000 neurons per layer, and those using Tanh neurons, one hidden layer, and 10 neurons per layer performed markedly worse with average mean squared errors greater than 400 degrees2 and average mean absolute errors greater than 16 degrees. From the results of this study, it can be seen that the choice of ANN architecture and activation function has a clear impact on Cobb angle inference from coronal X-rays of scoliotic subjects.

Keywords: scoliosis, artificial neural networks, cobb angle, medical imaging

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Authors: Nien-Te Kuo, Yi-Sung Cheng, Kuo-Chien Chang

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Cultural festival tourism is now seen by many as an opportunity to facilitate community development because it has significant influences on the economic, social, cultural, and political aspects of local communities. The potential for tourist attraction has been recognized as a useful tool to strengthen local economies from governments. However, most community festivals in Taiwan are short-lived, often only lasting for a few years or occasionally not making it past a one-off event. Researchers suggested that most governments and other stakeholders do not recognize the importance of building a partnership with residents when developing community tourism. Thus, the sustainable community tourism development still remains a key issue in the existing literature. The success of community tourism is related to the attitudes and lifestyles of local residents. In order to maintain sustainable tourism, residents need to be seen as development partners. Residents’ support intention for tourism development not only helps to increase awareness of local culture, history, the natural environment, and infrastructure, but also improves the interactive relationship between the host community and tourists. Furthermore, researchers have identified the social capital theory as the core of sustainable community tourism development. The social capital of residents has been seen as a good way to solve issues of tourism governance, forecast the participation behavior and improve support intention of residents. In addition, previous studies have pointed out the role of community participation and place identity in increasing resident support intention for tourism development. A lack of place identity is one of the main reasons that community tourism has become a mere formality and is not sustainable. It refers to how much residents participate during tourism development and is mainly influenced by individual interest. Scholars believed that the place identity of residents is the soul of community festivals. It shows the community spirit to visitors and has significant impacts on tourism benefits and support intention of residents in community tourism development. Although the importance of community participation and place identity have been confirmed by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, real-life execution still needs to be improved. This study aimed to use social capital theory to investigate the social structure between community residents, participation levels in festival tourism, degrees of place identity, and resident support intention for future community tourism development, and the causal relationship that these factors have with cultural festival tourism. A quantitative research approach was employed to examine the proposed model. Structural equation model was used to test and verify the proposed hypotheses. This was a case study of the Kaohsiung Zuoying Wannian Folklore Festival. The festival was located in the Zuoying District of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. The target population of this study was residents who attended the festival. The results reveal significant correlations among social capital, community participation, place identity and support intention. The results also confirm that impacts of social capital on support intention were significantly mediated by community participation and place identity. Practical suggestions were provided for tourism operators and policy makers. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, Republic of China, under the grant MOST-105-2410-H-328-013.

Keywords: community participation, place identity, social capital, support intention

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Authors: Jonny Beirne

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Hydropower developments have come to assume an important role within the Ethiopian government's overall development strategy for the country during the last ten years. The Gilgel Gibe III on the Omo river, due to become operational in September 2014, represents the most ambitious, and controversial, of these projects to date. Further aspects of the government's national development strategy include leasing vast areas of designated 'unused' land for large-scale commercial agricultural projects and 'voluntarily' villagizing scattered, semi-nomadic agro-pastoralist groups to centralized settlements so as to use land and water more efficiently and to better provide essential social services such as education and healthcare. The Lower Omo valley, along the Omo River, is one of the sites of this villagization programme as well as of these large-scale commercial agricultural projects which are made possible owing to the regulation of the river's flow by Gibe III. Though the Ethiopian government cite many positive aspects of these agricultural and hydropower developments there are still expected to be serious regional and transnational effects, including on migration flows, in an area already characterized by increasing climatic vulnerability with attendant population movements and conflicts over scarce resources. The following paper is an attempt to track actual and anticipated migration flows resulting from the construction of Gibe III in the immediate vicinity of the dam, downstream in the Lower Omo Valley and across the border in Kenya around Lake Turkana. In the case of those displaced in the Lower Omo Valley, this will be considered in view of the distinction between voluntary villagization and forced resettlement. The research presented is not primary-source material. Instead, it is drawn from the reports and assessments of the Ethiopian government, rights-based groups, and academic researchers as well as media articles. It is hoped that this will serve to draw greater attention to the issue and encourage further methodological research on the dynamics of dam constructions (and associated large-scale irrigation schemes) on migration flows and on the ultimate experience of displacement and resettlement for environmental migrants in the region.

Keywords: forced displacement, voluntary resettlement, migration, human rights, human security, land grabs, dams, commercial agriculture, pastoralism, ecosystem modification, natural resource conflict, livelihoods, development

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Authors: Harriet Koshie Lamptey, Richard Boateng

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Mobile learning (m-learning) is a novel approach to knowledge acquisition and dissemination and is gaining global attention. Steady progress in wireless technologies and the portability of communication devices continue to broaden the scope and use of mobiles. With the convergence of Web functionality onto mobile platforms and the affordability and availability of mobile technology, m-learning has the potential of being the next prevalent channel of education in both formal and informal settings. There is substantive literature on developed countries but the state in developing countries (DCs) however appears vague. This paper is a synthesis of extant literature on mobile learning in DCs. The research interest is based on the fact that in DCs, mobile communication and internet connectivity are popular. However, its use in education is under explored. There are some reviews on the state, conceptualizations, trends and teacher education, but to the authors’ knowledge, no study has focused on mobile learning adoption and integration issues. This study examines issues and gaps associated with its adoption and integration in DCs higher education institutions. A qualitative build-up of literature was conducted using articles pooled from electronic databases (Google Scholar and ERIC). To enable criteria for inclusion and incorporate diverse study perspectives, search terms used were m-learning, DCs, higher education institutions, challenges, benefits, impact, gaps and issues. The synthesis revealed that though mobile technology has diffused globally, its pedagogical pursuit in DCs remains quite low. The absence of a mobile Web and the difficulty of resource conversion into mobile format due to lack of funding and technical competence is a stumbling block. Again, the lack of established design and implementation rules to guide the development of m-learning platforms in DCs is a hindrance. The absence of access restrictions on devices poses security threats to institutional systems. Negative perceptions that devices are taking over faculty roles lead to resistance in some situations. Resistance to change can be a hindrance to the acceptance and success of new systems. Lack of interest for m-learning is also attributed to lower technological literacy levels of the underprivileged masses. Scholarly works on m-learning in DCs is yet to mature. Most technological innovations are handed down from developed countries, and this constantly creates a lag for DCs. Lack of theoretical grounding was also identified which reduces the objectivity of study reports. The socio-cultural terrain of DCs results in societies with different views and needs that have been identified as a hindrance to research. Institutional commitment decisions, adequate funding for the necessary infrastructural development as well as multiple stakeholder participation is important for project success. Evidence suggests that while adoption decisions are readily made, successful integration of the concept for its full benefits to be realized is often neglected. Recommendations to findings were made to provide possible remedies to identified issues.

Keywords: developing countries, higher education institutions, mobile learning, literature review

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Authors: Varun Joshi, M. S. Rawat

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The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) is inherently fragile and susceptible to landslide hazard due to its extremely weak geology, highly rugged topography and heavy monsoonal rainfall. One of the most common hazards in the IHR is landslide, and this event is particularly frequent in Himalayan states of India i.e. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Landslides are mostly triggered by extreme rainfall events but the incidence increases during monsoon months (June to September). Natural slopes which are otherwise stable but they get destabilized due to anthropogenic activities like construction of various developmental activities and deforestation. These activities are required to fulfill the developmental needs and upliftment of societal status in the region. Landslides also trigger during major earthquakes and reported most observable and damaging phenomena. Studies indicate that the landslide phenomenon has increased many folds due to developmental activities in Himalayan region. Gradually increasing and devastating consequences of landslides turned into one of the most important hydro-geological hazards in Himalayan states especially in Uttarakhand and Sikkim states of India. The recent most catastrophic rainfall in June 2013 in Uttarakhand lead to colossal loss of life and property. The societal damage due to this incident is still to be recovered even after three years. Sikkim earthquake of September 2011 is witnessed for triggering of large number of coseismic landslides. The rescue and relief team faced huge problem in helping the trapped villagers in remote locations of the state due to road side blockade by landslides. The recent past incidences of landslides in Uttarakhand, as well as Sikkim states, created a new domain of research in terms of understanding the phenomena of landslide and management of disaster in such situation. Every year at many locations landslides trigger which force dwellers to either evacuate their dwelling or lose their life and property. The communication and transportation networks are also severely affected by landslides at several locations. Many times the drinking water supply disturbed and shortage of daily need household items reported during monsoon months. To minimize the severity of landslide in IHR requires in-depth research and developmental planning. For most of the areas in the present study, landslide hazard zonation is done on 1:50,000 scale. The land use planning maps on extensive basis are not available. Therefore, there is a need of large-scale landslide hazard zonation and land use planning maps. If the scientist conduct research on desired aspects and their outcome of research is utilized by the government in developmental planning then the incidents of landslide could be minimized, subsequent impact on society, life and property would be reduced. Along with the scientific research, there is another need of awareness generation in the region for stake holders and local dwellers to combat with the landslide hazard, if triggered in their location.

Keywords: coseismic, Indian Himalayan Region, landslide hazard zonation, Sikkim, societal, Uttarakhand

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Authors: Carlos Alberto Rivera-corredor, Angie Dayana Vargas-Ceballos, Edison Gilpavas, Izabela Dobrosz-Gómez, Miguel Ángel Gómez-García

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Hexavalent chromium, Cr (VI) is present in the effluents from different industries such as electroplating, mining, leather tanning, etc. This compound is of great academic and industrial concern because of its toxic and carcinogenic behavior. Its dumping to both environmental and public health for animals and humans causes serious problems in water sources. The amount of Cr (VI) in industrial wastewaters ranges from 0.5 to 270,000 mgL-1. According to the Colombian standard for water quality (NTC-813-2010), the maximum allowed concentration for the Cr (VI) in drinking water is 0.05 mg L-1. To comply with this limit, it is essential that industries treat their effluent to reduce the Cr (VI) to acceptable levels. Numerous methods have been reported for the treatment removing metal ions from aqueous solutions such as: reduction, ion exchange, electrodialysis, etc. Adsorption has become a promising method for the purification of metal ions in water, since its application corresponds with an economic and efficient technology. The absorbent selection and the kinetic and thermodynamic study of the adsorption conditions are key to the development of a suitable adsorption technology. The Ce0.25Zr0.75O2.nH2O presents higher adsorption capacity between a series of hydrated mixed oxides Ce1-xZrxO2 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1). This work presents the kinetic and thermodynamic study of Cr (VI) adsorption on Ce0.25Zr0.75O2.nH2O. Experiments were performed under the following experimental conditions: initial Cr (VI) concentration = 25, 50 and 100 mgL-1, pH = 2, adsorbent charge = 4 gL-1, stirring time = 60 min, temperature=20, 28 and 40 °C. The Cr (VI) concentration was spectrophotometrically estimated by the method of difenilcarbazide with monitoring the absorbance at 540 nm. The Cr (VI) adsorption over hydrated Ce0.25Zr0.75O2.nH2O models was analyzed using pseudo-first and pseudo-second order kinetics. The Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to model the experimental data. The convergence between the experimental values and those predicted by the model, is expressed as a linear regression correlation coefficient (R2) and was employed as the model selection criterion. The adsorption process followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model and obeyed the Langmuir isotherm model. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated as: ΔH°=9.04 kJmol-1,ΔS°=0.03 kJmol-1 K-1, ΔG°=-0.35 kJmol-1 and indicated the endothermic and spontaneous nature of the adsorption process, governed by physisorption interactions.

Keywords: adsorption, hexavalent chromium, kinetics, thermodynamics

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Authors: Jo Anne Rey

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Caring for Country (Ngurrain Dharug language) is core to Aboriginal identity, Law/Lore, practice, and resilience within the continent called ‘Australia’. It is the basis of thousands of years of sustainability. However, when Ngurra is a city known as Sydney, due to 235 years of colonial impact, caring for the Country is limited, being controlled by the State and private ownership of the land title. Recent research indicates that localised Indigenous activism is most successful when community members are geographically proximate to the presences and places of connection, caring, and belonging. This article frames these findings through the cadence that proximity provides. This presentation is centred on the proximate agency that is being exercised by Dharug community through three significant sites within the Sydney basin. Those sites include, firstly, Shaw’s Creek Aboriginal Place, at the foot of the Blue Mountains in far western Sydney. Second inclusion is the site of Blacktown Native Institution, that was the part of the authoritarian colonial governance of British Governor Lachlan Macquarie (after who Macquarie University is named), which saw the beginnings of the removal of children from their families and culture to ‘civilize’ them. The third site is that of the so-called Brown’s Waterhole in the State government administered Lane Cove National Park. Each of these sites is being activated through Dharug and, more broadly, Aboriginalways of knowing, doing, and being. These ways involvethe land, water, wind, and star-based ecologies interwoven with traditional transgenerational storying of the presences (Ancestral and spiritual) creating them. Activations include, but are not limited to, the return of cultural fire for reviving plants, soils, animals, and birds. These fire practices have traditionally been at the basis of sustainable, regenerative biodiversity. These practices involve the literacy of reading Ngurra and the seasonal interactions across the ecologies. Together, they both care for the Country and support humanity, and have done so across thousands of years. However, when the cost of real-estate and rental accommodation prevents community members from being able to live on Dharug Ngurra when bureaucratic governance restricts and/or excludes traditional custodial relationships, and when private treaty land title destroys the presences and places while disconnecting people from their Ancestral practices, it becomes clear that caring for Country is only possible when the community can afford to live nearby. Recognising the cadence of proximityas the agency that underpinscaring for Country-in-the-city, sustainable change opportunities don’t have to only focus on regional and remote areas. Urban-based Aboriginal relationality offers an alternative to the unsustainable practices that underpin human-centric disconnection. Weaving Indigenous cadence offers opportunities for sustainable futures even when facing the extremes of climate changing catastrophes.

Keywords: australian aboriginal, biocultural knowledges, climate change, dharug ngurra, sustainability, resilience

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Authors: Bilge Ozel

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Cities are high-complex living organisms and are subjects to continuous transformations produced by the stress that derives from changing conditions. Today the metropolises are seen like “development engines” of the countries and accordingly they become the centre of better living conditions that encourages demographic growth which constitutes the main reason of the changes. Indeed, the potential for economic advancement of the cities directly represents the economic status of their countries. The term of “resilience”, which sees the changes as natural processes and represents the flexibility and adaptability of the systems in the face of changing conditions, becomes a key concept for the development of urban transformation policies. The term of “resilience” derives from the Latin word ‘resilire’, which means ‘bounce’, ‘jump back’, refers to the ability of a system to withstand shocks and still maintain the basic characteristics. A resilient system does not only survive the potential risks and threats but also takes advantage of the positive outcomes of the perturbations and ensures adaptation to the new external conditions. When this understanding is taken into the urban context - or rather “urban resilience” - it delineates the capacity of cities to anticipate upcoming shocks and changes without undergoing major alterations in its functional, physical, socio-economic systems. Undoubtedly, the issue of coordinating the urban systems in a “resilient” form is a multidisciplinary and complex process as the cities are multi-layered and dynamic structures. The concept of “urban transformation” is first launched in Europe just after World War II. It has been applied through different methods such as renovation, revitalization, improvement and gentrification. These methods have been in continuous advancement by acquiring new meanings and trends over years. With the effects of neoliberal policies in the 1980s, the concept of urban transformation has been associated with economic objectives. Subsequently this understanding has been improved over time and had new orientations such as providing more social justice and environmental sustainability. The aim of this research is to identify the most applied urban transformation methods in Turkey and its main reasons of being selected. Moreover, investigating the lacking and limiting points of the urban transformation policies in the context of “urban resilience” in a comparative way with European interventions. The emblematic examples, which symbolize the breaking points of the recent evolution of urban transformation concepts in Europe and Turkey, are chosen and reviewed in a critical way.

Keywords: resilience, urban dynamics, urban resilience, urban transformation

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Authors: L. Kanoksak, N. Sukanya, L. Napatsorn, T. Siriporn

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A growing population and demand for packaging are driving up the usage of natural resources as raw materials in the pulp and paper industry. Long-term effects of environmental is disrupting people's way of life all across the planet. Finding pulp sources to replace wood pulp is therefore necessary. To produce wood pulp, various other potential plants or plant parts can be employed as substitute raw materials. For example, pulp and paper were made from agricultural residue that mainly included pulp can be used in place of wood. In this study, cocoa pod husks were an agricultural residue of the cocoa and chocolate industries. To develop composite materials to replace wood pulp in packaging materials. The paper was coated with polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT). By selecting and cleaning fresh cocoa pod husks, the size was reduced. And the cocoa pod husks were dried. The morphology and elemental composition of cocoa pod husks were studied. To evaluate the mechanical and physical properties, dried cocoa husks were extracted using the soda-pulping process. After selecting the best formulations, paper with a PBAT bioplastic coating was produced on a paper-forming machine Physical and mechanical properties were studied. By using the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope/Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer (FESEM/EDS) technique, the structure of dried cocoa pod husks showed the main components of cocoa pod husks. The appearance of porous has not been found. The fibers were firmly bound for use as a raw material for pulp manufacturing. Dry cocoa pod husks contain the major elements carbon (C) and oxygen (O). Magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), and calcium (Ca) were minor elements that were found in very small levels. After that cocoa pod husks were removed from the soda-pulping process. It found that the SAQ5 formula produced pulp yield, moisture content, and water drainage. To achieve the basis weight by TAPPI T205 sp-02 standard, cocoa pod husk pulp and modified starch were mixed. The paper was coated with bioplastic PBAT. It was produced using bioplastic resin from the blown film extrusion technique. It showed the contact angle, dispersion component and polar component. It is an effective hydrophobic material for rigid packaging applications.

Keywords: cocoa pod husks, agricultural residue, composite material, rigid packaging

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Authors: Yeasir Arafat Alve, Nazmun Nahar, Salma BeguM

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Introduction / Rationale: Caregivers of stroke survivors have experienced financial, emotional, physical and mental anxiety and have influence of family bonding and social customs, where 80% of caregivers were women and majority of the patients were cared for by immediate family members for example a spouse, son/daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, siblings and they are significantly feel burden as a caregiver. In Bangladeshi context, there has a limitation of knowledge about the level of caregiver burden. This study could be suggested the health professional to focus on the care giving stress to provide a better support to them and also it will be advisable to provide equivalent services for caregivers and their families. Objectives: The study finds out the socio-demographic image of caregivers of stroke survivors in Bangladesh as well as discovers the level of burden of caregiver of stroke survivor in relation to general strain, isolation, disappointment, emotional involvement and environment. The study will find out the association between level of burden among caregivers and onset of stroke of survivors & duration of care giving. As well as to determine the association between level of burden among caregivers and caregiver’s age, gender, occupation and caregiver’s relationship with stroke survivors. Method / Approach: The study is a non experimental cross-sectional study design where 151 participants were selected through purposive comprehensive sampling. Data were selected from occupational therapy outdoor and stroke rehab unit, CRP (Savar & Mirpur) where using the Caregiver Burden Scale (a structured questionnaire) with face to face interview. Results: Most of the caregivers (78.8%) of stroke survivors faced moderate level of burden in general strain (37.7%), isolation (27.2%) but in case of disappointment (60.3%) feel higher burden and lower burden in emotional involvement (9.9%) and environment (0.7%). Caregiver burden level was significantly associated with caregivers’ age (P=0.006), sex (P=0.002), occupation (p= 0.04), relationship with stroke survivors (P=0.02), care giving duration (P=0.000), care giving hours (P=0.009), and onset of stroke (P=0.000) of stroke survivors. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that most of the caregivers faced moderate burden where no environmental burden for them, this is possibly in case of Bangladeshi culture where people hospitable. Through this study, it was also found that there is a possibility to have the higher burden. Finally, it is being also suggested that appropriate advice and support may preserve care giving which eventually enables the survivors to live a longer and more fulfilling life in the community.

Keywords: caregiver, level of caregiver burden, stroke survivor, stroke rehab unit

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Authors: Maria de Fátima Lambert

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Following previous studies about Writing and Seeing, this paper focuses on the aesthetic assumptions within the concept of Winter Journey (Voyage d’Hiver/Winterreise) both in Georges Perec’s Saga and the Oulipo Group vis-à-vis with the creations by William Kentridge and Michael Borremans. The aesthetic and artistic connections are widespread. Nevertheless, we can identify common poetical principles shared by these different authors, not only according to the notion of ekphrasis, but also following the procedures of contemporary creation in literature and visual arts. The analysis of the ongoing process of the French writers as individuals and as group and the visual artists’ acting might contribute for another crossed definition of contemporary conception. The same title/theme was a challenge and a goal for them. Let’s wonder how deep the concept encouraged them and which symbolic upbringings were directing their poetical achievements. The idea of an inner journey became the main point, and got “over” and “across” a shared path worth to be followed. The authors were chosen due to the resilient contents of their visual and written images, and looking for the reasons that might had driven their conceptual basis to be. In Pérec’s “Winter Journey” as for the following fictions by Jacques Roubaud, Hervé le Tellier, Jacques Jouet and Hugo Vernier (that emerges from Perec’s fiction and becomes a real author) powerful aesthetic and enigmatic reflections grow connected with a poetic (and aesthetic) understanding of Walkscapes. They might be assumed as ironic fictions and poetical drifts. Outstanding from different logics, the overwhelming impact of Winterreise Lied by Schubert after Wilhelm Müller’s poems is a major reference in present authorship creations. Both Perec and Oulipo’s author’s texts are powerfully ekphrastic, although we should not forget they follow goals, frameworks and identities. When acting as a reader, they induce powerful imageries - cinematic or cinematographic - that flow in our minds. It was well-matched with William Kentridge animated video Winter Journey (2014) and the creations (sharing the same title) of Michael Borremans (2014) for the KlaraFestival, Bozar, Cité de la musique, in Belgium. Both were taken by the foremost Schubert’s Winterreise. Several metaphors fulfil new Winter Journeys (or Travels) that were achieved in contemporary art and literature, as it once succeeded in the 19^th century. Maybe the contemporary authors and artists were compelled by the consciousness of nothingness, although outstanding different aesthetics and ontological sources. The unbearable knowledge of the road’s end, and also the urge of fulfilling the void might be a common element to all of them. As Schopenhauer once wrote, after all, Art is the only human subjective power that we can call upon in life. These newer aesthetic meanings, released from these winter journeys are surely open to wider approaches that might happen in other poetic makings to be.

Keywords: Aesthetic, voyage D’Hiver, George Perec & Oulipo, William Kentridge & Michael Borreman, Schubert's Winterreise

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Authors: Anwar Beg, Sireetorn Kuharat, Rashid Mehmood, Rabil Tabassum, Meisam Babaie

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Nano-polymeric solar paints and sol-gels have emerged as a major new development in solar cell/collector coatings offering significant improvements in durability, anti-corrosion and thermal efficiency. They also exhibit substantial viscosity variation with temperature which can be exploited in solar collector designs. Modern manufacturing processes for such nano-rheological materials frequently employ stagnation flow dynamics under high temperature which invokes radiative heat transfer. Motivated by elaborating in further detail the nanoscale heat, mass and momentum characteristics of such sol gels, the present article presents a mathematical and computational study of the steady, two-dimensional, non-aligned thermo-fluid boundary layer transport of copper metal-doped water-based nano-polymeric sol gels under radiative heat flux. To simulate real nano-polymer boundary interface dynamics, thermal slip is analysed at the wall. A temperature-dependent viscosity is also considered. The Tiwari-Das nanofluid model is deployed which features a volume fraction for the nanoparticle concentration. This approach also features a Maxwell-Garnet model for the nanofluid thermal conductivity. The conservation equations for mass, normal and tangential momentum and energy (heat) are normalized via appropriate transformations to generate a multi-degree, ordinary differential, non-linear, coupled boundary value problem. Numerical solutions are obtained via the stable, efficient Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg scheme with shooting quadrature in MATLAB symbolic software. Validation of solutions is achieved with a Variational Iterative Method (VIM) utilizing Langrangian multipliers. The impact of key emerging dimensionless parameters i.e. obliqueness parameter, radiation-conduction Rosseland number (Rd), thermal slip parameter (α), viscosity parameter (m), nanoparticles volume fraction (ϕ) on non-dimensional normal and tangential velocity components, temperature, wall shear stress, local heat flux and streamline distributions is visualized graphically. Shear stress and temperature are boosted with increasing radiative effect whereas local heat flux is reduced. Increasing wall thermal slip parameter depletes temperatures. With greater volume fraction of copper nanoparticles temperature and thermal boundary layer thickness is elevated. Streamlines are found to be skewed markedly towards the left with positive obliqueness parameter.

Keywords: non-orthogonal stagnation-point heat transfer, solar nano-polymer coating, MATLAB numerical quadrature, Variational Iterative Method (VIM)

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Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed

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Integration sustainability outcomes give attention to construction ecology in the design review of urban environments to comply with Earth’s System that is composed of integral parts of the (i.e., physical, chemical and biological components). Naturally, exchange patterns of industrial ecology have consistent and periodic cycles to preserve energy flows and materials in Earth’s System. When engineering topology is affecting internal and external processes in system networks, it postulated the valence of the first-level spatial outcome (i.e., project compatibility success). These instrumentalities are dependent on relating the second-level outcome (i.e., participant security satisfaction). Construction ecology approach feedback energy from resources flows between biotic and abiotic in the entire Earth’s ecosystems. These spatial outcomes are providing an innovation, as entails a wide range of interactions to state, regulate and feedback “topology” to flow as “interdisciplinary equilibrium” of ecosystems. The interrelation dynamics of ecosystems are performing a process in a certain location within an appropriate time for characterizing their unique structure in “equilibrium patterns”, such as biosphere and collecting a composite structure of many distributed feedback flows. These interdisciplinary systems regulate their dynamics within complex structures. These dynamic mechanisms of the ecosystem regulate physical and chemical properties to enable a gradual and prolonged incremental pattern to develop a stable structure. The engineering topology of construction ecology for integration sustainability outcomes offers an interesting tool for ecologists and engineers in the simulation paradigm as an initial form of development structure within compatible computer software. This approach argues from ecology, resource savings, static load design, financial other pragmatic reasons, while an artistic/architectural perspective, these are not decisive. The paper described an attempt to unify analytic and analogical spatial modeling in developing urban environments as a relational setting, using optimization software and applied as an example of integrated industrial ecology where the construction process is based on a topology optimization approach.

Keywords: construction ecology, industrial ecology, urban topology, environmental planning

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Authors: Nidia Thalia Alva Rangel, Ferran Padros Blazquez, Ma. Ines Gomez Del Campo Del Paso

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Happiness has been since antiquity a concept of interest around the world. Positive psychology is the science that begins to study happiness in a more precise and controlled way, obtaining wide amount of research which can be applied. One of the central constructs of Positive Psychology is Carol Ryff’s psychological well-being model as eudaimonic happiness, which comprehends six dimensions: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. Humanistic psychology is a clear precedent of Positive Psychology, which has studied human development topics and it features a great variety of intervention techniques nevertheless has little evidence with controlled research. Therefore, the present research had the aim to evaluate the efficacy of a humanistic intervention program to increase psychological well-being in healthy adults through a mixed methods study. Before and after the intervention, it was applied Carol Ryff’s psychological well-being scale (PWBS) and the Symptom Check List 90 as pretest and posttest. In addition, a questionnaire of five open questions was applied after each session. The intervention program was designed in experiential workshop format, based on the foundational attitudes defined by Carl Rogers: congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy, integrating humanistic intervention strategies from gestalt, psychodrama, logotherapy and psychological body therapy, with the aim to strengthen skills in the six dimensions of psychological well-being model. The workshop was applied to six volunteer adults in 12 sessions of 2 hours each. Finally, quantitative data were analyzed with Wilcoxon statistic test through the SPSS program, obtaining as results differences statistically significant in pathology symptoms between prettest and postest, also levels of dimensions of psychological well-being were increased, on the other hand for qualitative strand, by open questionnaires it showed how the participants were experiencing the techniques and changing through the sessions. Thus, the humanistic psychology program was effective to increase psychological well-being. Working to promote well-being prompts to be an effective way to reduce pathological symptoms as a secondary gain. Experiential workshops are a useful tool for small groups. There exists the need for research to count with more evidence of humanistic psychology interventions in different contexts and impulse the application of Positive Psychology knowledge.

Keywords: happiness, humanistic psychology, positive psychology, psychological well-being, workshop

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Authors: Yimer Mohammed Assen, Abiyot Legesse Kura, Engida Esyas Dube, Asebe Regassa Debelo, Girma Kelboro Mensuro, Lete Bekele Gure

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Climate change poses severe threats to many cultural landscapes of UNESCO world heritage sites recently. The UNESCO State of Conservation (SOC) reports categorized flooding, temperature increment, and drought as threats to cultural landscapes. This study aimed to examine variations and trends of extreme rainfall and temperature events and their threats to the UNESCO-designated Konso Cultural Landscape in Southern Ethiopia. The study used dense merged satellite-gauge station rainfall data (1981-2020) with a spatial resolution of 4km by 4km and observed maximum and minimum temperature data (1987-2020) together with qualitative data gathered from cultural leaders, local administrators and religious leaders. The trend and variability of rainfall and extreme temperature events were examined using climate Data tool (CDT) software. The data gathered from key informant interviews and focus group discussions were analyzed qualitatively to identify the impacts of extreme events on the cultural landscape. The findings revealed that rainfall was highly variable and unpredictable, resulting in extreme drought and flood. There were significant (P<0.05) increasing trends of heavy rainfall (R10mm and R20mm) and total amount of rain on wet days (PRCPTOT), which might have resulted in flooding. The study also confirmed that absolute temperature extreme indices (TXx, TXn, and TNx) and the percentile-based temperature extreme indices (TX90p, TN90p, TX10p, and TN10P) showed significant (P<0.05) increasing trends which are signals for warming of the study area. The findings also showed that frequent drought has led to the loss of grasses, which are used for making traditional individual houses and multipurpose communal houses (pafta), food insecurity, migration, loss of biodiversity, and commodification of stones from the terrace. On the other hand, the increasing trends of extreme rainfall indices resulted in the destruction of terraces, soil erosion, loss of life, and damage of properties. The study shows that a persistent decline in farmland productivity due to erratic and extreme rainfall and frequent drought occurrences forced the local people to participate in non-farm activities and retreat from daily preservation and management of their landscape. Overall, the increasing rainfall and extreme temperatures are thought to have an impact on the sustainability of the cultural landscape by disrupting ecosystem services and the livelihood of the community. Therefore, more localized adaptation and mitigation strategies to the changing climate are needed to ensure the sustainability of Konso cultural landscapes as a global cultural treasure and to strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers.

Keywords: adaptation, cultural landscape, drought, extremes indices

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Authors: Jonathan D. Recchi

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Introduction: Workplace violence is a major concern for nurses throughout the United States and is a rising occupational health hazard that has been exacerbated by both the Covid-19 pandemic and increasing patient and family member incivility. De-escalation training has been found to be an evidence-based tool for emergency department nurses to help avoid or mitigate high-risk situations that could lead to workplace violence. Many healthcare organizations either do not provide de-escalation training to their staff or only provide it sparingly, such as during new employee orientation. There is limited research in the literature on the psychological benefits of de-escalation training. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if there are psychological and organizational advantages to providing emergency department nurses with de-escalation training. Equipping emergency department nurses with skills that are essential to de-escalate violent or potentially violent patients may help prevent physical, mental, and/or psychological damage to the nurse because of violence and/or threatening acts. The hypothesis is that providing de-scalation training to emergency department nurses will lead to increased nurse confidence in dealing with aggressive patients, increased resiliency, increased professional quality of life, and increased intention to stay with their current organization. This study aims to show that organizations would benefit from providing de-escalation training to all nurses operating in high-risk areas on a regular basis. Significance: Showing psychological benefits to providing evidence-based de-escalation training can provide healthcare organizations with the ability to retain a more resilient and prepared workforce. Method: This study uses a pre-experimental cross-sectional pre-/post-test design using a convenience sample of emergency department registered nurses employed across Jefferson Health Northeast (Jefferson Torresdale, Jefferson Bucks, and Jefferson Frankford. Inclusion criteria include registered nurses who work full or part-time, with 51% or more of their clinical time spent in direct clinical care. Excluded from participation are registered nurses in orientation, per-diem nurses, temporary and/or travel nurses, nurses who spend less than 51% of their time in direct patient care, and nurses who have received de-escalation training within the past two years. This study uses the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10 (CD-RISC-10), the Clinician Confidence in Coping with Patient Aggression Scale, the Press Ganey Intention To Stay question, and the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Results: A Paired t-Test will be used to analyze the mean scores of the three scales and one question pre and post-intervention to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in RN resiliency, confidence in coping with patient aggression, intention to stay, and professional quality of life. Discussion and Conclusions: Upon completion, the outcomes of this intervention will show the importance of providing evidence-based de-escalation training to all nurses operating within the emergency department.

Keywords: de-escalation, nursing, emergency department, workplace violence

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Authors: Valentina Colonnello, Paolo Maria Russo

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Decades of cross-species affective neuroscience research by Panksepp and others have identified basic evolutionarily preserved subcortical emotional systems that humans share with mammals and many vertebrates. These primary emotional systems encode unconditional affective responses and contribute to the development of personality traits throughout ontogenesis and interactions with the environment. The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS) measures individual differences in affective personality traits associated with the basic emotional systems of CARE, PLAY, SEEKING, SADNESS, FEAR, and ANGER, along with Spirituality, which is a more cognitively and socially refined expression of affectivity. Though the ANPS’s power to predict human psychological distress has been documented, to the best of our knowledge, its predictive power for psychological wellbeing has not been explored. This study therefore investigates the relationship between affective neuroscience traits and psychological wellbeing facets. Because the emotional systems are thought to influence cognitively-mediated mental processes about the self and the world, understanding the relationship between affective traits and psychological wellbeing is particularly relevant to understanding the affective dimensions of health. In a cross-sectional study, healthy participants (n = 402) completed the ANPS and the Psychological Wellbeing scale. Multiple regressions revealed that each facet of wellbeing was explained by two to four affective traits, and each trait was significantly related to at least one aspect of wellbeing. Specifically, SEEKING predicted all the wellbeing facets, except for positive relations; CARE predicted personal growth, positive relations, purpose in life, and self-acceptance; PLAY and, inversely, ANGER predicted positive relations; SADNESS inversely predicted autonomy, while FEAR inversely predicted purpose in life. SADNESS and FEAR inversely predicted environmental mastery and self-acceptance. Finally, Spirituality predicted personal growth, positive relations, and self-acceptance. These findings are the first to show the relationship between affective neuroscience personality traits and psychological wellbeing. They also call attention to the distinctive role of FEAR and PANIC traits in psychological wellbeing facets, thereby complementing or even overcoming the traditional personality approach to neuroticism as a global trait.

Keywords: affective neuroscience, individual differences, personality, wellbeing

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Authors: Phillip F. Blaauw, Anna M. Pretorius

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South Africa re-entered the international economy in the early 1990s, after Apartheid, at a time when globalisation was gathering momentum. Globalisation led to a more open economy, increased export volumes and a changed export mix. Manufacturing goods gained ground relative to mining products. After 21 years of democracy, South African researchers and policymakers need to evaluate the impact of international trade on the level of employment and compensation of employees in the South African manufacturing industry. This is important given the consistent and high levels of unemployment in South Africa. This paper has this evaluation as its aim. Two complimenting approaches are utilised. The 27 sub divisions of the South African manufacturing industry are classified according to capital/labour ratios. Possible trends in employment levels and employee compensation for these categories are then identified when comparing levels in 1995 to those in 2014. The supplementing empirical approach is cross-sectional and panel data regressions for the same period. The aim of the regression analysis is to explain the observed changes in employment and employee compensation levels between 1995 and 2014. The first part of the empirical approach revealed that over the 20-year period the intermediate capital intensive, labour intensive an ultra-labour intensive manufacturing industries all showed massive declines in overall employment. Only three of the 19 industries for these classifications showed marginal overall employment gains. The only meaningful gains were recorded in three of the eight capital intensive manufacturing industries. The overall performance of the South African manufacturing industry is therefore dismal at best. This scenario plays itself out for the skilled section of the intermediate capital intensive, labour intensive an ultra-labour intensive manufacturing industries as well. 18 out of the 19 industries displayed declines even for the skilled section of the labour force. The formal regression analysis supplements the above results. Real production growth is a statistically significant (95 per cent confidence level) explanatory variable of the overall employment level for the period under consideration, albeit with a small positive coefficient. The variables with the most significant negative relationship with changes in overall employment were the dummy variables for intermediate capital intensive and labour intensive manufacturing goods. Disaggregating overall changes in employment further in terms of skill levels revealed that skilled employment in particular responded negatively to increases in the ratio between imported and local inputs for manufacturing. The dummy variable for the labour intensive sectors remained negative and statistically significant, indicating that the labour intensive sectors of South African manufacturing remain vulnerable to the loss of employment opportunities. Whereas the first period (1995 to 2001) after the opening of the South African economy brought positive changes for skilled employment, continued increases in imported inputs displaced some of the skilled labour as well, putting further pressure on the South African economy with already high and persistent unemployment levels. Given the negative for the world commodity cycle and a stagnant local manufacturing sector, the challenge for policymakers is getting even more pronounced after South Africa’s political coming of age.

Keywords: capital/labour ratios, employment, employee compensation, manufacturing

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Authors: Natan C. G. Silva, Carlos A. C. Girao Neto, Marcele M. S. Vasconcelos, Luciana R. B. Goncalves, Maria Valderez P. Rocha

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Galactooligosaccharides (GOS) are sugars with prebiotic function that can be synthesized chemically or enzymatically, and this last one can be promoted by the action of β-galactosidases. In addition to favoring the transgalactosylation reaction to form GOS, these enzymes can also catalyze the hydrolysis of lactose. A highly studied type of GOS is lactulose because it presents therapeutic properties and is a health promoter. Among the different raw materials that can be used to produce lactulose, whey stands out as the main by-product of cheese manufacturing, and its discarded is harmful to the environment due to the residual lactose present. Therefore, its use is a promising alternative to solve this environmental problem. Thus, lactose from whey is hydrolyzed into glucose and galactose by β-galactosidases. However, in order to favor the transgalactosylation reaction, the medium must contain fructose, due this sugar reacts with galactose to produce lactulose. Then, the glucose-isomerase enzyme can be used for this purpose, since it promotes the isomerization of glucose into fructose. In this scenario, the aim of the present work was first to develop β-galactosidase biocatalysts of Kluyveromyces lactis and to apply it in the integrated reactions of hydrolysis, isomerization (with the glucose-isomerase from Streptomyces murinus) and transgalactosylation reaction, using whey as a substrate. The immobilization of β-galactosidase in chitosan previously functionalized with 0.8% glutaraldehyde was evaluated using different enzymatic loads (2, 5, 7, 10, and 12 mg/g). Subsequently, the hydrolysis and transgalactosylation reactions were studied and conducted at 50°C, 120 RPM for 20 minutes. In parallel, the isomerization of glucose into fructose was evaluated under conditions of 70°C, 750 RPM for 90 min. After, the integration of the three processes for the production of lactulose was investigated. Among the evaluated loads, 7 mg/g was chosen because the best activity of the derivative (44.3 U/g) was obtained, being this parameter determinant for the reaction stages. The other parameters of immobilization yield (87.58%) and recovered activity (46.47%) were also satisfactory compared to the other conditions. Regarding the integrated process, 94.96% of lactose was converted, achieving 37.56 g/L and 37.97 g/L of glucose and galactose, respectively. In the isomerization step, conversion of 38.40% of glucose was observed, obtaining a concentration of 12.47 g/L fructose. In the transgalactosylation reaction was produced 13.15 g/L lactulose after 5 min. However, in the integrated process, there was no formation of lactulose, but it was produced other GOS at the same time. The high galactose concentration in the medium probably favored the reaction of synthesis of these other GOS. Therefore, the integrated process proved feasible for possible production of prebiotics. In addition, this process can be economically viable due to the use of an industrial residue as a substrate, but it is necessary a more detailed investigation of the transgalactosilation reaction.

Keywords: beta-galactosidase, glucose-isomerase, galactooligosaccharides, lactulose, whey

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Authors: Rachid Belhachemi, Pierre Rostan, Alexandra Rostan

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This paper develops a discrete-time option pricing model for index options. The model consists of two key ingredients. First, daily stock return innovations are driven by a continuous hidden threshold mixed skew-normal (HTSN) distribution which generates conditional non-normality that is needed to fit daily index return. The most important feature of the HTSN is the inclusion of a latent state variable with a continuum of states, unlike the traditional mixture distributions where the state variable is discrete with little number of states. The HTSN distribution belongs to the class of univariate probability distributions where parameters of the distribution capture the dependence between the variable of interest and the continuous latent state variable (the regime). The distribution has an interpretation in terms of a mixture distribution with time-varying mixing probabilities. It has been shown empirically that this distribution outperforms its main competitor, the mixed normal (MN) distribution, in terms of capturing the stylized facts known for stock returns, namely, volatility clustering, leverage effect, skewness, kurtosis and regime dependence. Second, heteroscedasticity in the model is captured by a threeexogenous-factor GARCH model (GARCHX), where the factors are taken from the principal components analysis of various world indices and presents an application to option pricing. The factors of the GARCHX model are extracted from a matrix of world indices applying principal component analysis (PCA). The empirically determined factors are uncorrelated and represent truly different common components driving the returns. Both factors and the eight parameters inherent to the HTSN distribution aim at capturing the impact of the state of the economy on price levels since distribution parameters have economic interpretations in terms of conditional volatilities and correlations of the returns with the hidden continuous state. The PCA identifies statistically independent factors affecting the random evolution of a given pool of assets -in our paper a pool of international stock indices- and sorting them by order of relative importance. The PCA computes a historical cross asset covariance matrix and identifies principal components representing independent factors. In our paper, factors are used to calibrate the HTSN-GARCHX model and are ultimately responsible for the nature of the distribution of random variables being generated. We benchmark our model to the MN-GARCHX model following the same PCA methodology and the standard Black-Scholes model. We show that our model outperforms the benchmark in terms of RMSE in dollar losses for put and call options, which in turn outperforms the analytical Black-Scholes by capturing the stylized facts known for index returns, namely, volatility clustering, leverage effect, skewness, kurtosis and regime dependence.

Keywords: continuous hidden threshold, factor models, GARCHX models, option pricing, risk-premium

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Authors: Adriana Pereira Arteaga

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In many Latin American countries the transition towards legal pluralism - has developed as part of what is called Latin-American-Constitutionalism over the last thirty years. The aim of this paper is to discuss how legal pluralism in its current form in Bolivia may produce exclusion and violence. Legal sources and discourse analysis - as an approach to examine written language on discourse documentation- will be used to develop this paper. With the constitution of 2009, Bolivia was symbolically "re-founded" into a multi-nation state. This shift goes hand in hand with the "indigenista" and "decolonisation" ideologies developing since the early 20th century. Discourses based on these ideologies reflect the rejection of liberal and western premises on which the Bolivian republic was originally built after independence. According to the "indigenista" movements, the liberal nation-state generates institutions corresponding to a homogenous society. These liberal institutions not only ignore the Bolivian multi-nation reality, but also maintain the social structures originating form the colony times, based on prejudices against the indigenous. The described statements were elaborated through the image: the indigenous people humiliated by a cruel western system as highlighted by the constitution's preamble. This narrative had a considerable impact on the sensitivity of people and received great social support. Therefore the proposal for changing structures of the nation-state, is charged with an emancipatory message of restoring even the pre-Columbian order. An order at times romantically described as the perfect order. Legally this connotes a rejection of the positivistic national legal system based on individual rights and the promotion of constitutional recognition of indigenous justice administration. The pluralistic Constitution is supposed to promote tolerance and a peaceful coexistence among nations, so that the unity and integrity of the country could be maintained. In its current form, legal pluralism in Bolivia is justified on pre-existing rights contained for example in the International - Labour - Organization - Convention 169, but it is more developed on the described discursive constructions. Over time these discursive constructions created inconsistencies in terms of putting indigenous justice administration into practice: First, because legal pluralism has been more developed on level of political discourse, so a real interaction between the national and the indigenous jurisdiction cannot be observed. There are no clear coordination and cooperation mechanisms. Second, since the recently reformed constitution is based on deep sensitive experiences, little is said about the general legal principles on which a pluralistic administration of justice in Bolivia should be based. Third, basic rights, liberties, and constitutional guarantees are also affected by the antagonized image of the national justice administration. As a result, fundamental rights could be violated on a large scale because many indigenous justice administration practices run counter to these constitutional rules. These problems are not merely Bolivian but may also be encountered in other regional countries with similar backgrounds, like Ecuador.

Keywords: discourse, indigenous justice, legal pluralism, multi-nation

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Authors: Cristina Diaz, Lucia Perez, Simone Visigalli, Giuseppe Di Florio, Gonzalo Fuentes, Roberto Canziani, Paolo Gronchi

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During the last 50 years, the selection of materials is one of the main decisions in machine design for different industrial applications. It is due to numerous physical, chemical, mechanical and technological factors to consider in it. Corrosion effects are related with all of these factors and impact in the life cycle, machine incidences and the costs for the life of the machine. Corrosion affects the deterioration or destruction of metals due to the reaction with the environment, generally wet. In food industry, dewatering industry, concrete industry, paper industry, etc. corrosion is an unsolved problem and it might introduce some alterations of some characteristics in the final product. Nowadays, depending on the selected metal, its surface and its environment of work, corrosion prevention might be a change of metal, use a coating, cathodic protection, use of corrosion inhibitors, etc. In the vast majority of the situations, use of a corrosion resistant material or in its defect, a corrosion protection coating is the solution. Stainless steels are widely used in machine design, because of their strength, easily cleaned capacity, corrosion resistance and appearance. Typical used are AISI 304 and AISI 316. However, their benefits don’t fit every application, and some coatings are required against corrosion such as some paintings, galvanizing, chrome plating, SiO₂, TiO₂ or ZrO₂ coatings, etc. In this work, some coatings based in a bilayer made of Titanium-Tantalum, Titanium-Niobium, Titanium-Hafnium or Titanium-Zirconium, have been developed used magnetron sputtering configuration by PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) technology, for trying to reduce corrosion effects on AISI 304, AISI 316 and comparing it with Titanium alloy substrates. Ti alloy display exceptional corrosion resistance to chlorides, sour and oxidising acidic media and seawater. In this study, Ti alloy (99%) has been included for comparison with coated AISI 304 and AISI 316 stainless steel. Corrosion tests were conducted by a Gamry Instrument under ASTM G5-94 standard, using different electrolytes such as tomato salsa, wine, olive oil, wet compost, a mix of sand and concrete with water and NaCl for testing corrosion in different industrial environments. In general, in all tested environments, the results showed an improvement of corrosion resistance of all coated AISI 304 and AISI 316 stainless steel substrates when they were compared to uncoated stainless steel substrates. After that, comparing these results with corrosion studies on uncoated Ti alloy substrate, it was observed that in some cases, coated stainless steel substrates, reached similar current density that uncoated Ti alloy. Moreover, Titanium-Zirconium and Titanium-Tantalum coatings showed for all substrates in study including coated Ti alloy substrates, a reduction in current density more than two order in magnitude. As conclusion, Ti-Ta, Ti-Zr, Ti-Nb and Ti-Hf coatings have been developed for improving corrosion resistance of AISI 304 and AISI 316 materials. After corrosion tests in several industry environments, substrates have shown improvements on corrosion resistance. Similar processes have been carried out in Ti alloy (99%) substrates. Coated AISI 304 and AISI 316 stainless steel, might reach similar corrosion protection on the surface than uncoated Ti alloy (99%). Moreover, coated Ti Alloy (99%) might increase its corrosion resistance using these coatings.

Keywords: coatings, corrosion, PVD, stainless steel

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Authors: Krupali Mehta, Sandip Bhatt, Umesh Trivedi, Bhavesh Bharatiya, Mukesh Ranjan, Atindra D. Shukla

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Owing to the dominating surface forces and large-scale surface interactions, the nano-scale particles face difficulties in getting suspended in various media. Magnetic nanoparticles of iron oxide offer a great deal of promise due to their ease of preparation, reasonable magnetic properties, low cost and environmental compatibility. We intend to modify the surface of magnetic Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles with selected surface modifying agents using simple and effective single-step chemical reactions in order to enhance dispersibility of magnetic nanoparticles in non-polar media. Magnetic particles were prepared by hydrolysis of Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ chlorides and their subsequent oxidation in aqueous medium. The dried particles were then treated with Octadecyl quaternary ammonium silane (Terrasil™), stearic acid and gallic acid ester of stearyl alcohol in ethanol separately to yield S-2 to S-4 respectively. The untreated Fe₂O₃ was designated as S-1. The surface modified nanoparticles were then analysed with Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (SEM-EDAX). Characterization reveals the particle size averaging 20-50 nm with and without modification. However, the crystallite size in all cases remained ~7.0 nm with the diffractogram matching to Fe₂O₃ crystal structure. FT-IR suggested the presence of surfactants on nanoparticles’ surface, also confirmed by SEM-EDAX where mapping of elements proved their presence. TGA indicated the weight losses in S-2 to S-4 at 300°C onwards suggesting the presence of organic moiety. Hydrophobic character of modified surfaces was confirmed with contact angle analysis, all modified nanoparticles showed super hydrophobic behaviour with average contact angles ~129° for S-2, ~139.5° for S-3 and ~151° for S-4. This indicated that surface modified particles are super hydrophobic and they are easily dispersible in non-polar media. These modified particles could be ideal candidates to be suspended in oil-based fluids, polymer matrices, etc. We are pursuing elaborate suspension/sedimentation studies of these particles in various oils to establish this conjecture.

Keywords: iron nanoparticles, modification, hydrophobic, dispersion

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Authors: Shelley Jones

Abstract:

Assumptions abound that education for girls will, as a matter of course, lead to their economic empowerment as women; yet. little is known about the ways in which schooling for girls, who traditionally/historically would not have had opportunities for post-primary, or perhaps even primary education – such as the participants in this study based in rural Uganda - in reality, impacts their economic situations. There is a need forlongitudinal studies in which women share experiences, understandings, and reflections of their lives that can inform our knowledge of this. In response, this paper reports on stage four of a longitudinal case study (2004-2018) focused on education and empowerment for girls and women in rural Uganda, in which 13 of the 15 participants from the original study participated. This paper understands empowerment as not simply increased opportunities (e.g., employment) but also real gains in power, freedoms that enable agentive action, and authentic and viable choices/alternatives that offer ‘exit options’ from unsatisfactory situations. As with the other stages, this study used a critical, postmodernist, global feminist ethnographic methodology, multimodal and qualitative data collection. Participants participated in interviews, focus group discussions, and a two-day workshop, which explored their understandings of how/if they understood post-primary education to have contributed to their economic empowerment. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used for data analysis to capture major themes. Findings indicate that although all participants believe that post-primary education provided them with economic opportunities they would not have had otherwise, the parameters of their economic empowerment were severely constrained by historic and extant sociocultural, economic, political, and institutional structures that continue to disempower girls and women, as well as additional financial responsibilities that they assumed to support others. Even though the participants had post-primary education, and they were able to obtain employment or operate their own businesses that they would not likely have been able to do without post-primary education, the majority of the participants’ incomes were not sufficient to elevate them financially above the extreme poverty level, especially as many were single mothers and the sole income earners in their households. Furthermore, most deemed their working conditions unsatisfactory and their positions precarious; they also experienced sexual harassment and abuse in the labour force. Additionally, employment for the participants resulted in a double work burden: long days at work, surrounded by many hours of domestic work at home (which, even if they had spousal partners, still fell almost exclusively to women). In conclusion, although the participants seem to have experienced some increase in economic empowerment, largely due to skills, knowledge, and qualifications gained at the post-primary level, numerous barriers prevented them from maximizing their capabilities and making significant gains in empowerment. There is need, in addition to providing education (primary, secondary, and tertiary) to girls, to address systemic gender inequalities that mitigate against women’s empowerment, as well as opportunities and freedom for women to come together and demand fair pay, reasonable working conditions, and benefits, freedom from gender-based harassment and assault in the workplace, as well as advocate for equal distribution of domestic work as a cultural change.

Keywords: girls' post-primary education, women's empowerment, uganda, employment

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Authors: Sukran Acikel, Mehmet Ekmekci, Otgonbayar Namkhai

Abstract:

Lignite coal fields in western Turkey generally occurs in tensional Neogene basins bordered by major faults. Karacahisar coal field in Mugla province of western Turkey is a large Neogene basin filled with alternation of silisic and calcerous layers. The basement of the basin is composed of mainly karstified carbonate rocks of Mesozoic and schists of Paleozoic age. The basement rocks are exposed at highlands surrounding the basin. The basin fill deposits forms shallow, low yield and local aquifers whereas karstic carbonate rock masses forms the major aquifer in the region. The karstic aquifer discharges through a spring zone issuing at intersection of two major faults. Municipal water demand in Bodrum city, a touristic attraction area is almost totally supplied by boreholes tapping the karstic aquifer. A well field has been constructed on the eastern edge of the coal basin, which forms a ridge separating two Neogene basins. A major concern was raised about the plausible impact of mining activities on groundwater system in general and on water supply well field in particular. The hydrogeological studies carried out in the area revealed that the coal seam is located below the groundwater level. Mining operations will be affected by groundwater inflow to the pits, which will require dewatering measures. Dewatering activities in mine sites have two-sided effects: a) lowers the groundwater level at and around the pit for a safe and effective mining operation, b) continuous dewatering causes expansion of cone of depression to reach a spring, stream and/or well being utilized by local people, capturing their water. Plausible effect of mining operations on the flow of the spring zone was another issue of concern. Therefore, a detailed representative hydrogeological conceptual model of the site was developed on the basis of available data and field work. According to the hydrogeological conceptual model, dewatering of Neogene layers will not hydraulically affect the water supply wells, however, the ultimate perimeter of the open pit will expand to intersect the well field. According to the conceptual model, the coal seam is separated from the bottom by a thick impervious clay layer sitting on the carbonate basement. Therefore, the hydrostratigraphy does not allow a hydraulic interaction between the mine pit and the karstic carbonate rock aquifer. However, the structural setting in the basin suggests that deep faults intersecting the basement and the Neogene sequence will most probably carry the deep groundwater up to a level above the bottom of the pit. This will require taking necessary measure to lower the piezometric level of the carbonate rock aquifer along the faults. Dewatering the carbonate rock aquifer will reduce the flow to the spring zone. All findings were put together to recommend a strategy for safe and effective mining operation.

Keywords: conceptual model, dewatering, groundwater, mining operation

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Authors: Guillaume Soubeyran, Fabrice Micoud, Benoit Morin, Jean-Philippe Poirot-Crouvezier, Magali Reytier

Abstract:

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) technology is considered as a solution for the reduction of CO2 emissions. However, this technology still meets several challenges for high-scale industrialization. In this context, the increase of durability remains a critical aspect for competitiveness of this technology. Fortunately, performance degradations in nominal operating conditions is partially reversible, meaning that if specific conditions are applied, a partial recovery of fuel cell performance can be achieved, while irreversible degradations can only be mitigated. Thus, it is worth studying the optimal conditions to rejuvenate these reversible degradations and assessing the long-term impact of such procedures on the performance of the cell. Reversible degradations consist mainly of anode Pt active sites poisoning by carbon monoxide at the anode, heterogeneities in water management during use, and oxidation/deactivation of Pt active sites at the cathode. The latter is identified as a major source of reversible performance loss caused by the presence oxygen, high temperature and high cathode potential that favor platinum oxidation, especially in high efficiency operating points. Hence, we studied here a recovery procedure aiming at reducing the platinum oxides by decreasing cathode potential during operation. Indeed, the application of short air starvation phase leads to a drop of cathode potential. Cell performances are temporarily increased afterwards. Nevertheless, local temperature and current heterogeneities within the cells are favored and shall be minimized. The consumption of fuel during the recovery phase shall also be considered to evaluate the global efficiency. Consequently, the purpose of this work is to find an optimal compromise between the recovery of reversible degradations by air starvation, the increase of global cell efficiency and the mitigation of irreversible degradations effects. Different operating parameters have first been studied such as cell voltage, temperature and humidity in single cell set-up. Considering the global PEMFC system efficiency, tests showed that reducing duration of recovery phase and reducing cell voltage was the key to ensure an efficient recovery. Recovery phase frequency was a major factor as well. A specific method was established to find the optimal frequency depending on the duration and voltage of the recovery phase. Then, long-term degradations have also been studied by applying FC-DLC cycles based on NEDC cycles on a 4-cell short stack by alternating test sequences with and without recovery phases. Depending on recovery phase timing, cell efficiency during the cycle was increased up to 2% thanks to a mean voltage increase of 10 mV during test sequences with recovery phases. However, cyclic voltammetry tests results suggest that the implementation of recovery phases causes an acceleration of the decrease of platinum active areas that could be due to the high potential variations applied to the cathode electrode during operation.

Keywords: durability, PEMFC, recovery procedure, reversible degradation

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