Search results for: management system

Authors: Claudia Aguilar, Amen Farooq

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Among other cities in the United States, the city of Atlanta is experiencing levels of growth that surpass anything we have witnessed in the last century. With the surge of population influx, the available housing is practically bursting at the seams. Supply is low, and demand is high. In effect, the average one-bedroom apartment runs for 1,800 dollars per month. The city is desperately seeking new opportunities to provide affordable housing at an expeditious rate. This has been made evident by the recent updates to the city’s zoning. With the recent influx in the housing market, young professionals, in particular millennials, are desperately looking for alternatives to stay within the city. To remedy Atlanta’s affordable housing crisis, the city of Atlanta is planning to introduce 40 thousand of new affordable housing units by 2026. To achieve the urgent need for more affordable housing, the architectural response needs to adapt to overcome this goal. A method that has proven successful in modern housing is to practice modular means of development. A method that has been constrained to the dimensions of the max load for an eighteen-wheeler. This approach has diluted the architect’s ability to produce site-specific, informed design and rather contributes to the “cookie cutter” stigma that the method has been labeled with. This thesis explores the design methodology for modular housing by revisiting its constructability and adaptability. This research focuses on a modular housing type that could break away from the constraints of transport and deliver adaptive reconfigurable assemblies. The adaptive assemblies represent an integrated design strategy for assembling the future of affordable dwelling units. The goal is to take advantage of a component-based system and explore a scalable solution to modular housing. This proposal aims specifically to design a kit of parts that are made to be easily transported and assembled but also gives the ability to customize the use of components to benefit all unique conditions. The benefits of this concept could include decreased construction time, cost, on-site labor, and disruption while providing quality housing with affordable and flexible options.

Keywords: adaptive assemblies, modular architecture, adaptability, constructibility, kit of parts

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Authors: A. Soria-Salinas, M.-P. Zorzano, J. Martín-Torres, J. Sánchez-García-Casarrubios, J.-L. Pérez-Díaz, A. Vakkada-Ramachandran

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The current state-of-the-art methods of mass gauging of Electric Propulsion (EP) propellants in microgravity conditions rely on external measurements that are taken at the surface of the tank. The tanks are operated under a constant thermal duty cycle to store the propellant within a pre-defined temperature and pressure range. We demonstrate using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations that the heat-transfer within the pressurized propellant generates temperature and density anisotropies. This challenges the standard mass gauging methods that rely on the use of time changing skin-temperatures and pressures. We observe that the domes of the tanks are prone to be overheated, and that a long time after the heaters of the thermal cycle are switched off, the system reaches a quasi-equilibrium state with a more uniform density. We propose a new gauging method, which we call the Improved PVT method, based on universal physics and thermodynamics principles, existing TRL-9 technology and telemetry data. This method only uses as inputs the temperature and pressure readings of sensors externally attached to the tank. These sensors can operate during the nominal thermal duty cycle. The improved PVT method shows little sensitivity to the pressure sensor drifts which are critical towards the end-of-life of the missions, as well as little sensitivity to systematic temperature errors. The retrieval method has been validated experimentally with CO₂ in gas and fluid state in a chamber that operates up to 82 bar within a nominal thermal cycle of 38 °C to 42 °C. The mass gauging error is shown to be lower than 1% the mass at the beginning of life, assuming an initial tank load at 100 bar. In particular, for a pressure of about 70 bar, just below the critical pressure of CO₂, the error of the mass gauging in gas phase goes down to 0.1% and for 77 bar, just above the critical point, the error of the mass gauging of the liquid phase is 0.6% of initial tank load. This gauging method improves by a factor of 8 the accuracy of the standard PVT retrievals using look-up tables with tabulated data from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Keywords: electric propulsion, mass gauging, propellant, PVT, xenon

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Authors: Hamza Javar Magnier, Leslie V. Woodcock

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We report extensive molecular dynamics (MD) computational investigations into the thermodynamic description of supercritical properties for a model fluid that is the simplest realistic representation of atoms or molecules. The pair potential is a hard-sphere repulsion of diameter σ with a very short attraction of length λσ. When λ = 1.005 the range is so short that the model atoms are referred to as “adhesive spheres”. Molecular dimers, trimers …etc. up to large clusters, or droplets, of many adhesive-sphere atoms are unambiguously defined. This then defines percolation transitions at the molecular level that bound the existence of gas and liquid phases at supercritical temperatures, and which define the existence of a supercritical mesophase. Both liquid and gas phases are seen to terminate at the loci of percolation transitions, and below a second characteristic temperature (Tc2) are separated by the supercritical mesophase. An analysis of the distribution of clusters in gas, meso- and liquid phases confirms the colloidal nature of this mesophase. The general phase behaviour is compared with both experimental properties of the water-steam supercritical region and also with formally exact cluster theory of Mayer and Mayer. Both are found to be consistent with the present findings that in this system the supercritical mesophase narrows in density with increasing T > Tc and terminates at a higher Tc2 at a confluence of the primary percolation loci. The expended plot of the MD data points in the mesophase of 7 critical and supercritical isotherms in highlight this narrowing in density of the linear-slope region of the mesophase as temperature is increased above the critical. This linearity in the mesophase implies the existence of a linear combination rule between gas and liquid which is an extension of the Lever rule in the subcritical region, and can be used to obtain critical parameters without resorting to experimental data in the two-phase region. Using this combination rule, the calculated critical parameters Tc = 0.2007 and Pc = 0.0278 are found be agree with the values found by of Largo and coworkers. The properties of this supercritical mesophase are shown to be consistent with an alternative description of the phenomenon of critical opalescence seen in the supercritical region of both molecular and colloidal-protein supercritical fluids.

Keywords: critical opalescence, supercritical, square-well, percolation transition, critical parameters.

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Authors: Xue Li, Hui Xu

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Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a clinical stage that occurs between normal aging and dementia. Although MCI increases the risk of developing dementia, individuals with MCI may maintain stable cognitive function and even recover to a typical cognitive state. An intervention to prevent or delay the progression to dementia in individuals with MCI may involve promoting social engagement. Social participation is the engagement in socially relevant social exchanges and meaningful activities. Older adults with MCI may encounter restricted cognitive abilities, mood changes, and behavioral difficulties during social participation, influencing their willingness to engage. Therefore, this study aims to employ qualitative research methods to gain an in-depth comprehension of the authentic social participation experiences of older adults with mild cognitive impairment, which will establish a foundation for designing appropriate intervention programs. A phenomenological research was conducted. The study participants were selected using the purposive sampling method in combination with the maximum differentiation sampling strategy. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted among 12 elderly individuals suffering from mild cognitive impairment in a community in Zhengzhou City from May to July 2023. Colaizzi 7-step method was used to analyze the data and extract the theme. The real experience of social participation in older adults with mild cognitive impairment can be summarized into 3 themes: (1) a single social relationship but a strong desire to participate, (2) a dual experience of social participation with both positive and negative aspects, (3) multiple barriers to social participation, including impaired memory capacity, heavy family responsibilities and lack of infrastructure. The study found that elderly individuals with mild cognitive impairment and one social interaction display an increased desire to engage in society. To improve social participation levels and reduce cognitive function decline, healthcare providers should work with relevant government agencies and the community to create a comprehensive social participation system. It is important for healthcare providers to note the social participation status of the elderly with mild cognitive impairment.

Keywords: mild cognitive impairment, the elderly, social participation, qualitative research

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Authors: Sidra Suleman, Maliha Suleman, Jinesh Shah

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Maxillary canines play a crucial role in occlusion and aesthetics. Successful management of impacted canines requires early identification and intervention to prevent complications such as resorption of adjacent teeth and cystic changes. Although removal of the deciduous canine can encourage normal eruption of its successor, this is not always successful. Some patients may require surgical exposure and bonding of a gold chain to mobilise and align the canine, which can take up to 3 years. As this procedure has various risks, patients need to be appropriately consented to. Failure of such treatment commonly occurs due to inadequate anchorage or failure of the gold chain attachment, but in some cases, this is due to ankylosis. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of ankylosis of unerupted maxillary ectopic canines following surgical exposure and orthodontic alignment at the Maxillofacial and Orthodontic Department, Royal Stoke University Hospital (RSUH), United Kingdom. Methodology: Patients treated from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2019, were retrospectively studied. Electronic records with post-treatment follow-up at 3-6 months and 12-15 months were extracted and analysed. Patients were excluded based on three criteria, non-compliance with orthodontic treatment post-surgery, presence of canine transposition, and external orthodontic treatment. Sample: Overall, 159 suitable patients were selected from the 171 patients identified. Surgical exposure and gold chain bonding was carried out for a total of 206 maxillary canines, with the pattern of impaction being 159 (77.2 %) palatal, 46 (22.3%) buccal, and 1 (0.49%) in line of the arch. The sample consisted of 57 (35.8%) males and 102 (64.2%) females between the age range of 10 to 32 years, with the mean age being 15 years. The procedures were carried out under general anaesthesia for all but three patients, with two cases being repeats. Closed exposure was carried out for 189 (91.7%) canines. Results: The incidence of ankylosis from this study was 0.97%. In total, two patients had upper left canine ankylosis, which was identified at their 12-15 months orthodontic follow-up. Both patients were males, one having closed exposure at age 15 and the other having open exposure at age 19. Conclusions: Although this data shows that there is a low risk of ankylosis (0.97%), it highlights the difficulty in predicting which patients may be affected, and thus, a thorough pre-treatment assessment and careful observation during treatment is necessary. Future studies involving larger cohorts are warranted to further analyse factors affecting outcomes.

Keywords: ankylosis, ectopic, maxillary canines, orthodontics

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Authors: I. A. Yola

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Impact of poultry dropping, cow dung and rumen content on utilization and proximate composition of Oreochromis niliticus, Clarias gariepinus and Cyprinus capio in a polyculture system were studied. The research was conducted over a period of 52 weeks. Poultry droppings (PD), cow dung (CD) and rumen content (RC) were applied at three levels 30g,60g and 120g/m2/week, 25g,50g and 100g/m2/week and 22g, 44g and 88g/m2/week treatment, respectively. The control only conventional feed with 40% CP without manure application was used. Physicochemical and biological properties measured were higher in manure pond than control. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05) between and within treatments with exception of temperature with a combined mean of 27.900C. The water was consistently alkaline with mean values for pH of 6.61, transparency 22.6cm, conductivity 35.00µhos/cm, dissolved oxygen 4.6 mg/l, biological oxygen demand 2.8mg/l, nitrate and phosphates 0.9mg/l and 0.35mg/l, respectively. The three fish species increase in weight with increased manure rate, with a higher value in PD treatment on C. capio record 340g, O. niloticus weighed 310g and C. gariepinus 280g over the experimental period. Fishes fed supplementary diet (control) grew bigger with highest value on C. capio (685g) O. niloticus (620g) and then C. gariepinus (526g). The differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The result of whole body proximate analysis indicated that various manures and rates had an irregular pattern on the protein and ash gain per 100g of fish body weight gain. The combined means for whole fish carcass protein, lipids, moisture, ash and gross energy were 11.84, 2.43, 74.63, 3.00 and 109.9 respectively. The notable exceptions were significant (p < 0.05) increases in body fat and gross energy gains in all fish species accompanied by decreases in percentages of moisture as manure rates increased. Survival percentage decreases from 80% to 70%. It is recommended to use poultry dropping as manure/feeds at the rate of 120kg/ha/week for good performances in polyculture.

Keywords: organic manure, Nile tilapia, African mud fish, common carp, proximate composition

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Authors: Matthew Ocheleka Itodo, Ogo Agbo Ogo, Agnes Ogbene Abutu, Bawa Inalegwu

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Hyperlipidemia is characterised by elevated serum total cholesterol and low density and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and decreased high-density lipoprotein are the risk factor for coronary heart diseases. There are claims by traditional medicine practitioners in Nigeria that Moringa oleifera plants are used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, but it appears there is no scientific research and, publication or documented work to verify these claims. This study aimed to determine the effect of methanol root extracts of Moringa oleifera on Lipid profile, Atherogenic indices and 3 hydroxyl 3 methylglutaryl Coenzyme A reductase activity of poloxamer 407-induced hyperlipidemic rats. The animals were grouped into 8; Group 1: Normal control, Group 2: Hyperlipidemic control. Groups 2 to 8 were induced with Poloxamer 407 1000 mg/Kg body weight. However, group 3 were treated with standard drugs (atorvastatin). Group 4 was treated with crude extract, and groups 5 to 8 were treated with purified fractions from column chromatography. The preliminary antihyperlipidemic study showed Methanol root extract at 200 mg/kg body weight significantly (p≤0.05) decreased total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, triacylglyceride, 3 hydroxyls 3 methylglutaryl Coenzyme A reductase, and increase high-density lipoprotein of hyperlipidemic treated groups. Screening the extracts for the most potent anti-hyperlipidemic activity reveals that fraction 1 of Total Cholesterol and Fraction 3 of Triacylglyceride have the highest percentage reduction of 56% and 51%, respectively. The atherogenic risk factor of all induced treated rats shows a significant (p<0.05) decrease in levels of Castelli’s risk index II, atherogenic index of plasma and a significant (p<0.05) higher level of Castelli’s risk index I ratio. The study shows that the methanol extract of root possesses antihyperlipidemic effects and may explain why it has been found to be useful in the management of cardiovascular diseases by traditional medicine practitioners.

Keywords: hyperlipidemia, moringa oleifera, poloxamer 407, lipid profile

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Authors: Ilaria Barletta, Mahesh Mani, Björn Johansson

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The concept of sustainability encompasses economic, environmental, social and institutional considerations. Sustainable manufacturing (SM) is, therefore, a multi-faceted concept. It broadly implies the development and implementation of technologies, projects and initiatives that are concerned with the life cycle of products and services, and are able to bring positive impacts to the environment, company stakeholders and profitability. Because of this, achieving SM-related goals requires a holistic, life-cycle-thinking approach from manufacturing companies. Further, such an approach must rely on a logic of continuous improvement and ease of implementation in order to be effective. Currently, there exists in the academic literature no comprehensively structured frameworks that support manufacturing companies in the identification of the issues and the capabilities that can either hinder or foster sustainability. This scarcity of support extends to difficulties in obtaining quantifiable measurements in order to objectively evaluate solutions and programs and identify improvement areas within SM for standards conformance. To bridge this gap, this paper proposes the concept of a framework for assessing and continuously improving the sustainability of manufacturing companies. The framework addresses strategies and projects for SM and operates in three sequential phases: analysis of the issues, design of solutions and continuous improvement. A set of interviews, observations and questionnaires are the research methods to be used for the implementation of the framework. Different decision-support methods - either already-existing or novel ones - can be 'plugged into' each of the phases. These methods can assess anything from business capabilities to process maturity. In particular, the authors are working on the development of a sustainable manufacturing maturity model (SMMM) as decision support within the phase of 'continuous improvement'. The SMMM, inspired by previous maturity models, is made up of four maturity levels stemming from 'non-existing' to 'thriving'. Aggregate findings from the use of the framework should ultimately reveal to managers and CEOs the roadmap for achieving SM goals and identify the maturity of their companies’ processes and capabilities. Two cases from two manufacturing companies in Australia are currently being employed to develop and test the framework. The use of this framework will bring two main benefits: enable visual, intuitive internal sustainability benchmarking and raise awareness of improvement areas that lead companies towards an increasingly developed SM.

Keywords: life cycle management, continuous improvement, maturity model, sustainable manufacturing

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Authors: Mannika Garg, N. Srinivas Murthy, Sunish Nair

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TeamIndus is only Indian team participated in the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP). GLXP is an incentive prize space competition which is organized by the XPrize Foundation and sponsored by Google. The main objective of the mission is to soft land a rover on the moon surface, travel minimum displacement of 500 meters and transmit HD and NRT videos and images to the Earth. Team Indus is designing a Lunar Lander which carries Rover with it and deliver onto the surface of the moon with a soft landing. For lander to survive throughout the mission, energy is required to operate all attitude control sensors, actuators, heaters and other necessary components. Photovoltaic solar array systems are the most common and primary source of power generation for any spacecraft. The scope of this paper is to provide a system-level approach for designing the solar array systems of the lander to generate required power to accomplish the mission. For this mission, the direction of design effort is to higher efficiency, high reliability and high specific power. Towards this approach, highly efficient multi-junction cells have been considered. The design is influenced by other constraints also like; mission profile, chosen spacecraft attitude, overall lander configuration, cost effectiveness and sizing requirements. This paper also addresses the various solar array design challenges such as operating temperature, shadowing, radiation environment and mission life and strategy of supporting required power levels (peak and average). The challenge to generate sufficient power at the time of surface touchdown, due to low sun elevation (El) and azimuth (Az) angle which depends on Lunar landing site, has also been showcased in this paper. To achieve this goal, energy balance analysis has been carried out to study the impact of the above-mentioned factors and to meet the requirements and has been discussed in this paper.

Keywords: energy balance analysis, multi junction solar cells, photovoltaic, reliability, spacecraft attitude

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Authors: Wafa Al Jabri

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Background: In Middle Eastern Islamic Countries (MEICs), there is a high prevalence of genetic blood disorders (GBDs), particularly sickle cell disease and thalassemia. The GBDs are considered a major public health concern, especially with the increase in affected populations along with the associated psychological, social, and financial cost of management. Despite the availability of premarital screening services (PSS) that aim to identify the asymptomatic carriers of GBDs and provide genetic counseling to couples in order toreduce the prevalence of these diseases; yet, the success rate of PSS is very low due to religious and socio-cultural concerns. Purpose: This paper aims to highlight the factors that affect the success of PSS in MEICs. Methods: A literature review of articles located in CINAHL, PubMed, SCOPUS, and MedLinewas carried out using the following terms: “premarital screening,” “success,” “effectiveness,” and “ genetic blood disorders.” Second, a hand search of the reference lists and Google searches were conducted to find studies that did not exist in the primary database searches. Only studies which are conducted in MEICs countries and published in the last five years were included. Studies that were not published in English were excluded. Results: Fourteen articles were included in the review. The results showed that PSS in most of the MEICs was successful in achieving its objective of identifying high-risk marriages; however, the service failed to meetitsultimate goal of reducing the prevalence of GBDs. Various factors seem to hinder the success of PSS, including poor public awareness, late timing of the screening, culture and social stigma, religious beliefs, availability of prenatal diagnosis and therapeutic abortion, emotional factors, and availability of genetic counseling services. However, poor public awareness, late timing of the screening, and unavailability of adequate counseling services were the most common barriers identified. Conclusion: Overcoming the identified barriers by providing effective health education programs, offering the screening test to young adults at an earlier stage, and tailoring the genetic counseling would be crucial steps to provide a framework for an effective PSS in MEICs.

Keywords: premarital screening, success, effectiveness, and genetic blood disorders

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Authors: Ivana Čavlina Tomašević, Višnjica Vučetić, Maja Telišman Prtenjak, Barbara Malečić

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The Split wildfire on the mid-Adriatic Coast in July 2017 is one of the most severe wildfires in Croatian history, given the size and unexpected fire behavior, and it is used in this research as a case study to run the Weather Research and Forecasting Spread Fire (WRF SFIRE) model. This coupled fire-atmosphere model was successfully run for the first time ever for one Croatian wildfire case. Verification of coupled simulations was possible by using the detailed reconstruction of the Split wildfire. Specifically, precise information on ignition time and location, together with mapped fire progressions and spotting within the first 30 hours of the wildfire, was used for both – to initialize simulations and to evaluate the model’s ability to simulate fire’s propagation and final fire scar. The preliminary simulations were obtained using high-resolution vegetation and topography data for the fire area, additionally interpolated to fire grid spacing at 33.3 m. The results demonstrated that the WRF SFIRE model has the ability to work with real data from Croatia and produce adequate results for forecasting fire spread. As the model in its setup has the ability to include and exclude the energy fluxes between the fire and the atmosphere, this was used to investigate possible fire-atmosphere interactions during the Split wildfire. Finally, successfully coupled simulations provided the first numerical evidence that a wildfire from the Adriatic coast region can modify the dynamical structure of the surrounding atmosphere, which agrees with observations from fire grounds. This study has demonstrated that the WRF SFIRE model has the potential for operational application in Croatia with more accurate fire predictions in the future, which could be accomplished by inserting the higher-resolution input data into the model without interpolation. Possible uses for fire management in Croatia include prediction of fire spread and intensity that may vary under changing weather conditions, available fuels and topography, planning effective and safe deployment of ground and aerial firefighting forces, preventing wildland-urban interface fires, effective planning of evacuation routes etc. In addition, the WRF SFIRE model results from this research demonstrated that the model is important for fire weather research and education purposes in order to better understand this hazardous phenomenon that occurs in Croatia.

Keywords: meteorology, agrometeorology, fire weather, wildfires, couple fire-atmosphere model

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Authors: Leena Inamdar, David Allen, Sushma Acquilla, James Gore

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Health systems globally are facing increasingly complex challenges. Emerging health threats, changing population demographics and increasing health inequalities, globalisation, economic constraints on government spending are some of the most critical ones. These challenges demand not only innovative funding and cross-sectoral approaches, but also require a multidisciplinary public health workforce equipped with skills and expertise to meet the future challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We aim to outline an approach to assessing the feasibility of establishing a competency-based public health training at a country level. Although the SDGs provide an enabling impetus for change and promote positive developments, public health training and education still lag behind. Large gaps are apparent in both the numbers of trained professionals and the options for high quality training. Public health training in most Low-Middle Income Countries is still largely characterized by a traditional and limited public health focus. There is a pressing need to review and develop core and emerging competences for a well-equipped workforce fit for the future. This includes the important role of national Health and Human Resource Ministries in determining these competences. Public health has long been recognised as a multidisciplinary field, with need for professionals from a wider range of disciplines such as management, health promotion, health economics, law. Leadership and communication skills are also critical to achieve the successes in meeting public health outcomes. Such skills and competences need to be translated into competency-based training and education, to prepare current public health professionals with the skills required in today’s competitive job market. Integration of academic and service based public-health training, flexible accredited programmes to support existing mid-career professionals, continuous professional development need to be explored. In the current global climate of austerity and increasing demands on health systems, the need for stepping up public health training and education is more important than ever. By using a case study, we demonstrate the process of assessing the in-county capacity to establish a competency based public health training programme that will help to develop a stronger, more versatile and much needed public health workforce to meet the SDGs.

Keywords: public health training, competency-based, assessment, SDGs

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Authors: Prasad Pokkunuri

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Visco-elastic materials combine the stress response properties of both solids and fluids and have found use in a variety of damping applications – both vibrational and acoustic. Defense and automotive applications, in particular, are subject to high impact and shock loading – for example: aircraft landing gear, firearms, and shock absorbers. Field responsive fluids – a class of smart materials – are the preferred choice of energy absorbents because of their controllability. These fluids’ stress response can be controlled by the application of a magnetic or electric field, in a closed loop. Their rheological properties – elasticity, plasticity, and viscosity – can be varied all the way from that of a liquid such as water to a hard solid. This work presents a simplified model to study the impulse response behavior of such fluids for use in recoil damping systems. The well-known Burger’s equation, in conjunction with various visco-elastic constitutive models, is used to represent fluid behavior. The Kelvin-Voigt, Upper Convected Maxwell (UCM), and Oldroyd-B constitutive models are implemented in this study. Using these models in a one-dimensional framework eliminates additional complexities due to geometry, pressure, body forces, and other source terms. Using a finite difference formulation to numerically solve the governing equation(s), the response to an initial impulse is studied. The disturbance is confined within the problem domain with no-inflow, no-outflow boundary conditions, and its decay characteristics studied. Visco-elastic fluids typically involve a time-dependent stress relaxation which gives rise to interesting behavior when subjected to an impulsive load. For particular values of viscous damping and elastic modulus, the fluid settles into a stable oscillatory state, absorbing and releasing energy without much decay. The simplified formulation enables a comprehensive study of different modes of system response, by varying relevant parameters. Using the insights gained from this study, extension to a more detailed multi-dimensional model is considered.

Keywords: Burgers Equation, Impulse Response, Recoil Damping Systems, Visco-elastic Fluids

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Authors: Tânia F. C. V. Silva, Eloísa S. S. Vieira, João Pinto da Costa, Rui A. R. Boaventura, Vitor J. P. Vilar

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Sanitary landfill leachates are characterized as a complex mixture of diverse organic and inorganic contaminants, which are usually removed by combining different treatment processes. Due to its simplicity, reliability, high cost-effectiveness and high nitrogen content (mostly under the ammonium form) inherent in this type of effluent, the activated sludge biological process is almost always applied in leachate treatment plants (LTPs). The purpose of this work is to assess the effect of the main nitrification and denitrification variables on the nitrogen's biological removal, from mature leachates. The leachate samples were collected after an aerated lagoon, at a LTP nearby Porto, presenting a high amount of dissolved organic carbon (1.0-1.3 g DOC/L) and ammonium nitrogen (1.1-1.7 g NH4+-N/L). The experiments were carried out in a 1-L lab-scale batch reactor, equipped with a pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) control system, in order to determine the reaction kinetic constants at unchanging conditions. The nitrification reaction rate was evaluated while varying the (i) operating temperature (15, 20, 25 and 30ºC), (ii) DO concentration interval (0.5-1.0, 1.0-2.0 and 2.0-4.0 mg/L) and (iii) solution pH (not controlled, 7.5-8.5 and 6.5-7.5). At the beginning of most assays, it was verified that the ammonium stripping occurred simultaneously to the nitrification, reaching up to 37% removal of total dissolved nitrogen. The denitrification kinetic constants and the methanol consumptions were calculated for different values of (i) volatile suspended solids (VSS) content (25, 50 and 100 mL of centrifuged sludge in 1 L solution), (ii) pH interval (6.5-7.0, 7.5-8.0 and 8.5-9.0) and (iii) temperature (15, 20, 25 and 30ºC), using effluent previously nitrified. The maximum nitrification rate obtained was 38±2 mg NH4+-N/h/g VSS (25ºC, 0.5-1.0 mg O2/L, pH not controlled), consuming 4.4±0.3 mg CaCO3/mg NH4+-N. The highest denitrification rate achieved was 19±1 mg (NO2--N+NO3--N)/h/g VSS (30ºC, 50 mL of sludge and pH between 7.5 and 8.0), with a C/N consumption ratio of 1.1±0.1 mg CH3OH/mg (NO2--N+NO3--N) and an overall alkalinity production of 3.7±0.3 mg CaCO3/mg (NO2--N+NO3--N). The denitrification process showed to be sensitive to all studied parameters, while the nitrification reaction did not suffered significant change when DO content was changed.

Keywords: mature sanitary landfill leachate, nitrogen removal, nitrification and denitrification parameters, lab-scale activated sludge biological reactor

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Authors: Sang Wook Park, Jun Su Park, Byung Kwan Oh, Yousok Kim, Hyo Seon Park

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This study suggests the estimation method of stress distribution for the beam structures based on TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanning). The main components of method are the creation of the lattices of raw data from TLS to satisfy the suitable condition and application of CSSI (Cubic Smoothing Spline Interpolation) for estimating stress distribution. Estimation of stress distribution for the structural member or the whole structure is one of the important factors for safety evaluation of the structure. Existing sensors which include ESG (Electric strain gauge) and LVDT (Linear Variable Differential Transformer) can be categorized as contact type sensor which should be installed on the structural members and also there are various limitations such as the need of separate space where the network cables are installed and the difficulty of access for sensor installation in real buildings. To overcome these problems inherent in the contact type sensors, TLS system of LiDAR (light detection and ranging), which can measure the displacement of a target in a long range without the influence of surrounding environment and also get the whole shape of the structure, has been applied to the field of structural health monitoring. The important characteristic of TLS measuring is a formation of point clouds which has many points including the local coordinate. Point clouds is not linear distribution but dispersed shape. Thus, to analyze point clouds, the interpolation is needed vitally. Through formation of averaged lattices and CSSI for the raw data, the method which can estimate the displacement of simple beam was developed. Also, the developed method can be extended to calculate the strain and finally applicable to estimate a stress distribution of a structural member. To verify the validity of the method, the loading test on a simple beam was conducted and TLS measured it. Through a comparison of the estimated stress and reference stress, the validity of the method is confirmed.

Keywords: structural healthcare monitoring, terrestrial laser scanning, estimation of stress distribution, coordinate transformation, cubic smoothing spline interpolation

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Authors: Adhitya Mangala, Yobel

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Bittuang geothermal prospect area located at Tana Toraja district, South Sulawesi. The geothermal system of the area related to Karua Volcano eruption product. This area has surface manifestation such as fumarole, hot springs, sinter silica and mineral alteration. Those prove that there are hydrothermal activities in the subsurface. However, the project and development of the area have not implemented yet. One of the important elements in geothermal exploration is to determine upflow and outflow zone. This information very useful to identify the target for geothermal wells and development which it is a risky task. The methods used in this research were Mercury (Hg) anomalies in soil, soil and manifestation temperature distribution and fault fracture density from 93 km² research area. Hg anomalies performed to determine the distribution of hydrothermal alteration. Soil and manifestation temperature distribution were conducted to estimate heat distribution. Fault fracture density (FFD) useful to determine fracture intensity and trend from surface observation. Those deliver Hg anomaly map, soil and manifestation temperature map that combined overlayed to fault fracture density map and geological map. Then, the conceptual model made from north – south, and east – west cross section to delineate upflow and outflow zone in this area. The result shows that upflow zone located in northern – northeastern of the research area with the increase of elevation and decrease of Hg anomalies and soil temperature. The outflow zone located in southern - southeastern of the research area which characterized by chloride, chloride - bicarbonate geothermal fluid type, higher soil temperature, and Hg anomalies. The range of soil temperature distribution from 16 – 19 °C in upflow and 19 – 26.5 °C in the outflow. The range of Hg from 0 – 200 ppb in upflow and 200 – 520 ppb in the outflow. Structural control of the area show northwest – southeast trend. The boundary between upflow and outflow zone in 1550 – 1650 m elevation. This research delivers the conceptual model with innovative methods that useful to identify a target for geothermal wells, project, and development in Bittuang geothermal prospect area.

Keywords: Bittuang geothermal prospect area, Hg anomalies, soil temperature, upflow and outflow zone

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Authors: Sule Pallavi, Shah Priyank, Thavkar Amit, Rohira Poonam, Mehta Suyog

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Introduction: Minoxidil has been used topically for a long time to assist hair growth in the management of male androgenetic alopecia. The aim of this study was a comparative assessment of the irritation potential of three commercial formulations of minoxidil 2% topical solution in a human patch test. Methodology: The study was a non-randomized, double-blind, controlled, single-center study of 56 healthy adult Indian subjects. A 24-hour occlusive patch test was conducted with three formulations of minoxidil 2% topical solution. Products tested were aqueous-based minoxidil 2% (AnasureTM 2%, Sun Pharma, India – Brand A), alcohol-based minoxidil 2% (Brand B) and aqueous-based minoxidil 2% (Brand C). Isotonic saline 0.9% and 1% w/w sodium lauryl sulphate as a negative and positive control, respectively, were included. Patches were applied on the back, followed by removal after 24 hours. The Draize scale (0-4 points scale for erythema/dryness/wrinkles and for oedema) was used to evaluate and clinically score the skin reaction under constant artificial daylight 24 hours after the removal of the patches. The patch test was based on the principles outlined by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (IS 4011:2018; Methods of Test for safety evaluation of Cosmetics-3rd revision). A mean combined score up to 2.0/8.0 indicates that a product is “non-irritant,” and a score between 2.0/8.0 and 4.0/8.0 indicates “mildly irritant” and a score above 4.0/8.0 indicates “irritant”. In case of any skin reaction that was observed, a follow-up was planned after one week to confirm recovery. Results: The 56 subjects who participated in the study had a mean age of 28.7 years (28 males and 28 females). The combined mean score ± standard deviation was: 0.09 ± 0.29 (Brand A), 0.29± 0.53 (Brand B), 0.30 ± 0.46 (Brand C), 3.25 ± 0.77 (positive control) and 0.02 ± 0.13 (negative control). This mean score of Brand A (Sun Pharma) was significantly lower than that of Brand B (p=0.016) and that of Brand C (p=0.004). The mean erythema score ± standard deviation was: 0.09 ± 0.29 (Brand A), 0.27 ± 0.49 (Brand B), 0.30 ± 0.46 (Brand C), 2.5 ± 0.66 (positive control) and 0.02 ± 0.13 (negative control). The mean erythema score of Brand A (Sun Pharma) was significantly lower than that of Brand B (p=0.019) and that of Brand C (p=0.004). Reactions that were observed 24 hours after patch removal subsided in a week’s time. Conclusion: Based on the human patch test as per the BIS, IS 4011:2018, all the three topical formulations of minoxidil 2% were found to be non-irritant. Brand A of 2% minoxidil (Sun Pharma) was found to be the least irritant than Brand B and Brand C based on the combined mean score and mean erythema score.

Keywords: erythema, irritation, minoxidil, patch test

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Authors: Rogerio Vieira Dos Reis

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Countries like Brazil that despite fighting hard against corruption are not improving their corruption perception, especially due to systemic political corruption, should review their corruption prevention strategies. This thesis brings a case study based on an alternative way of preventing corruption: addressing the corruption drivers in public policies that lead to poor economic performance. After discussing the Brazilian industrial policies adopted recently, especially the measures towards the automotive sector, two corruption issues in this sector are analyzed: facilitating payment for fiscal benefits and buying the extension of fiscal benefits. In-depth interviews conducted with a policymaker and an executive of the automobile sector provide insights for identifying three main corruption drivers: excessive and unnecessary bureaucracy, a complex tax system and the existence of a closed market without setting performance requirements to be achieved by the benefited firms. Both the identification of the drivers of successful industrial policies and the proposal of anti-corruption strategies to ensure developmental outcomes are based on the economic perspective of industrial policy advocated by developmental authors and on the successful South Korean economic development experience. Structural anti-corruption measures include tax reform, the regulation of lobbying and legislation to allow corporate political contribution. Besides improving policymakers’ technical capabilities, measures at the ministry level include redesigning the automotive regimes as long-term policies focused on national investment with simple and clear rules and making fiscal benefits conditional upon performance targets focused on suppliers. This case study is of broader interest because it recommends the importance of adapting performance audits conducted by anti-corruption agencies, to focus not only on the delivery of public services, but also on the identification of potentially highly damaging corruption drivers in public policies that grant fiscal benefits to achieve developmental outcomes.

Keywords: Brazilian automotive sector, corruption, economic development, industrial policy, Inovar-Auto

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Authors: María Magdalena Méndez-González, Miguel García Rocha, Carlos Manuel Yermo De la Cruz

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Calcium phosphate (Ca5(PO4)3(X)) is widely used in orthopedic applications and is widely used as powder and granules. However, their presence in bone is in the form of nanometric needles 60 nm in length with a non-stoichiometric phase of apatite contains CO3-2, Na+, OH-, F-, and other ions in a matrix of collagen fibers. The crystal size, morphology control and interaction with cells are essential for the development of nanotechnology. The structural results of calcium phosphate, synthesized by chemical precipitation with crystal size of 22.85 nm are presented in this paper. The calcium phosphate powders were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), infrared spectroscopy and FT-IR transmission electron microscopy. Network parameters, atomic positions, the indexing of the planes and the calculation of FWHM (full width at half maximum) were obtained. The crystal size was also calculated using the Scherer equation d (hkl) = cλ/βcosѲ. Where c is a constant related to the shape of the crystal, the wavelength of the radiation used for a copper anode is 1.54060Å, Ѳ is the Bragg diffraction angle, and β is the width average peak height of greater intensity. Diffraction pattern corresponding to the calcium phosphate called hydroxyapatite phase of a hexagonal crystal system was obtained. It belongs to the space group P63m with lattice parameters a = 9.4394 Å and c = 6.8861 Å. The most intense peak is obtained 2Ѳ = 31.55 (FWHM = 0.4798), with a preferred orientation in 121. The intensity difference between the experimental data and the calculated values is attributable to the temperature at which the sintering was performed. The intensity of the highest peak is at angle 2Ѳ = 32.11. The structure of calcium phosphate obtained was a hexagonal configuration. The intensity changes in the peaks of the diffraction pattern, in the lattice parameters at the corners, indicating the possible presence of a dopant. That each calcium atom is surrounded by a tetrahedron of oxygen and hydrogen was observed by infrared spectra. The unit cell pattern corresponds to hydroxyapatite and transmission electron microscopic crystal morphology corresponding to the hexagonal phase with a preferential growth along the c-plane was obtained.

Keywords: structure, nanoparticles, calcium phosphate, metallurgical and materials engineering

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Authors: Reena K., Mamatha H. G., Somshekarayya, P. Kumar

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Objectives: The annual proficiency testing of intermediate reference laboratories is conducted by the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) to assess the efficiency of the laboratories to correctly identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis and to determine its drug susceptibility pattern. The proficiency testing results from 2013 to 2017 were analyzed to determine laboratories that were consistent in reporting quality results and those that had difficulty in doing so. Methods: A panel of twenty cultures were sent out to each of these laboratories. The laboratories were expected to grow the cultures in their own laboratories, set up drug susceptibly testing by all the methods they were certified for and report the results within the stipulated time period. The turnaround time for reporting results, specificity, sensitivity positive and negative predictive values and efficiency of the laboratory in identifying the cultures were analyzed. Results: Most of the laboratories had reported their results within the stipulated time period. However, there was enormous delay in reporting results from few of the laboratories. This was mainly due to improper functioning of the biosafety level III laboratory. Only 40% of the laboratories had 100% efficiency in solid culture using Lowenstein Jensen medium. This was expected as a solid culture, and drug susceptibility testing is not used for diagnosing drug resistance. Rapid molecular methods such as Line probe assay and Genexpert are used to determine drug resistance. Automated liquid culture system such as the Mycobacterial growth indicator tube is used to determine prognosis of the patient while on treatment. It was observed that 90% of the laboratories had achieved 100% in the liquid culture method. Almost all laboratories had achieved 100% efficiency in the line probe assay method which is the method of choice for determining drug-resistant tuberculosis. Conclusion: Since the liquid culture and line probe assay technologies are routinely used for the detection of drug-resistant tuberculosis the laboratories exhibited higher level of efficiency as compared to solid culture and drug susceptibility testing which are rarely used. The infrastructure of the laboratory should be maintained properly so that samples can be processed safely and results could be declared on time.

Keywords: annual proficiency testing, drug susceptibility testing, intermediate reference laboratory, national reference laboratory

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Authors: Ji-yang Yu, Dan Huang, Guo-ping Feng, Xin Li, Lu-yuan Wang

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The navigation satellite network, especially the Beidou MEO Constellation, can relay data effectively with wide coverage and is applied in navigation, detection, and position widely. But the constellation has not been completed, and the amount of satellites on-board is not enough to cover the earth, which makes the data-relay disrupted or delayed in the transition process. The data-relay function needs to tolerant the delay or disruption in some extension, which make the Beidou MEO Constellation a delay/disruption-tolerant network (DTN). The traditional DTN designs mainly employ the relay table as the basic of data path schedule computing. But in practical application, especially in critical condition, such as the war-time or the infliction heavy losses on the constellation, parts of the nodes may become invalid, then the traditional DTN design could be useless. Furthermore, when transmitting the critical message in the navigation system, the maximum priority strategy is used, but the nodes still inquiry the relay table to design the path, which makes the delay more than minutes. Under this circumstances, it needs a function which could compute the optimum data path on-board in real-time according to the constellation states. The on-board critical message transmission design for navigation satellite delay/disruption-tolerant network (DTN) is proposed, according to the characteristics of navigation satellite network. With the real-time computation of parameters in the network link, the least-delay transition path is deduced to retransmit the critical message in urgent conditions. First, the DTN model for constellation is established based on the time-varying matrix (TVM) instead of the time-varying graph (TVG); then, the least transition delay data path is deduced with the parameters of the current node; at last, the critical message transits to the next best node. For the on-board real-time computing, the time delay and misjudges of constellation states in ground stations are eliminated, and the residual information channel for each node can be used flexibly. Compare with the minute’s delay of traditional DTN; the proposed transmits the critical message in seconds, which improves the re-transition efficiency. The hardware is implemented in FPGA based on the proposed model, and the tests prove the validity.

Keywords: critical message, DTN, navigation satellite, on-board, real-time

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Authors: Narmina Ismayilova, Shamil Zabitov, Fuad Askerzadeh, Raqif Seyfullayev

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Tulallar volcano-tectonic structure is located in the conjugation zone of the Gekgel horst-uplift, Dashkesan, and Agzhakend synclinorium. Regionally, these geological structures are an integral part of the Lok-Karabakh island arc system. Tulallar field is represented by three areas (Central, East, West). The area of the ore field is located within a partially eroded oblong volcano-tectonic depression. In the central part, the core is divided by the deep Tulallar-Chiragdara-Toganalinsky fault with arcuate fragments of the ring structure into three blocks -East, Central, and West, within which the same areas of the Tulallar field are located. In general, for the deposit, the position of both ore-bearing vein zones and ore-bearing blocks is controlled by fractures of two systems - sub-latitudinal and near-meridional orientations. Mineralization of gold-sulfide ores is confined to these zones of disturbances. The zones have a northwestern and northeastern (near-meridian) strike with a steep dip (70-85◦) to the southwest and southeast. The average thickness of the zones is 35 m; they are traced for 2.5 km along the strike and 500 m along with the dip. In general, for the indicated thickness, the zones contain an average of 1.56 ppm Au; however, areas enriched in noble metal are distinguished within them. The zones are complicated by postore fault tectonics. Gold mineralization is localized in the Kimmeridgian volcanics of andesi-basalt-porphyritic composition and their vitrolithoclastic, agglomerate tuffs, and tuff breccias. For the central part of the Tulallar ore field, a map of geochemical anomalies was built on the basis of analysis data carried out in an international laboratory. The total gold content ranges from 0.1-5 g/t, and in some places, even more than 5 g/t. The highest gold content is observed in the monoquartz facies among the secondary quartzites with quartz veins. The smallest amount of gold content appeared in the quartz-kaolin facies. And also, anomalous values of gold content are located in the upper part of the quartz vein. As a result, an en-echelon arrangement of anomalous values of gold along the strike and dip was revealed.

Keywords: geochemical anomaly, gold deposit, mineralization, Tulallar

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Authors: Andrea Gion Saluz, Tal Hertig, Axel Heinrich, Stefan Stevanovic

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Higher temperatures, seasonal changes in precipitation, and extreme weather events are increasingly affecting trees. To counteract the increasing challenges of urban trees, strategies are increasingly being sought to preserve existing tree populations on the one hand and to prepare for the coming years on the other. One such strategy lies in strategic climate tree species selection. The search is on for species or varieties that can cope with the new climatic conditions. Many efforts in German-speaking countries deal with this in detail, such as the tree lists of the German Conference of Garden Authorities (GALK), the project Stadtgrün 2021, or the instruments of the Climate Species Matrix by Prof. Dr. Roloff. In this context, different methods for a correct species selection are offered. One possibility is to select certain physiological attributes that indicate the climate resilience of a species. To calculate the dissimilarity of the present climate of different geographic regions in relation to the future climate of any city, a weighted (standardized) Euclidean distance (SED) for seasonal climate values is calculated for each region of the Earth. The calculation was performed in the QGIS geographic information system, using global raster datasets on monthly climate values in the 1981-2010 standard period. Data from a European forest inventory were used to identify tree species growing in the calculated analogue climate regions. The inventory used is the compilation of georeferenced point data at a 1 km grid resolution on the occurrence of tree species in 21 European countries. In this project, the results of the methodological application are shown for the city of Zurich for the year 2060. In the first step, analog climate regions based on projected climate values for the measuring station Kirche Fluntern (ZH) were searched for. In a further step, the methods mentioned above were applied to generate tree species lists for the city of Zurich. These lists were then qualitatively evaluated with respect to the suitability of the different tree species for the Zurich area to generate a cleaned and thus usable list of possible future tree species.

Keywords: climate change, climate region, climate tree, urban tree

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Authors: Ademola A. Ladele, Peace I. Aburime

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Fake and substandard agricultural inputs pose a serious stumbling block to farm productivity and subsequently improved livelihood. There is, therefore, a need to pave ways for sustainable agriculture and self-sufficiency in food production by proffering solutions to this challenge. Maize farmers' perception of sharp practices among agro-input dealers in Ibadan/Ibarapa agricultural zone in Oyo state was therefore investigated. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select registered maize farmers in the Ibadan/Ibarapa agricultural zone of the Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (OYSADEP). A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the perception of sharp practices and the effects of sharp practices. A total of seventy-five maize farmers were interviewed. A focus group discussion was organized to identify ways of curbing sharp practices to complement the survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Forms of sharp practices indicated were sales of expired fertilizers, expired pesticides, expired herbicides, underweight fertilizers, adulterated fertilizers, adulterated herbicides, packs containing broken seeds, infested seeds, lack of truth in labeling/wrong labels, manipulation of measuring scales, and false declaration of hecterages covered by tractor operators. The majority had unfavorable perception of agro-input dealers on sharp practices. A significant relationship was observed between respondents’ level of education and their perception of sharp practices. There were no significant relationships between respondents’ sex, marital status and religion, and their perception of sharp practices. A significant correlation exists between the forms of sharp practices and the perceived effect on agricultural production. It is concluded that the perceived effect of sharp practices was critical and the endemic culture of sharp practices prevailed in agro-input in Ibadan/Ibarapa agricultural zone. A standard regulatory system that will certify and monitor the quality of inputs should be put in place.

Keywords: agricultural productivity, agro-input dealers, maize farmers, sharp practices

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Authors: Ravan Samadov

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Mentally disabled people are the most discriminated against among other disabled people and face much stronger negative attitudes across many cultures. The most complex and severe form of exclusion of these people is deprivation of liberty on the grounds of their disability. This problem was for many years overlooked to a great extent by the core human rights instruments. However, the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted in 2006, is considered a potential tool to successfully fill the gap. It is especially vital for the developing countries with the vast majority of disabled people of the world and the CRPD is presumed to be able to trigger drastic positive changes. Article 14 of the mentioned human rights treaty has brought into the international forum a new notion, as prohibits deprivation of liberty on the grounds of disability. It is to be understood as an absolute prohibition of deprivation of liberty on the grounds of disability, including mental disability, which manifests in the form of non-consensual psychiatric hospitalisation. The interpretation by the CRPD Committee indicates that this prohibition well embraces all types of non-consensual psychiatric hospitalisation – whether it is based on illness, impairment or disability. This prohibition also extends to such justifications as ‘dangerousness’, ‘need for treatment’ and ‘diminished capacity’. Moreover, providing due substantive and/or procedural safeguards does not render any legitimacy to application of deprivation of liberty on the grounds of mental disability. Logically, this new prohibition form was to be duly considered by different UN human rights bodies, and was subsequently to bring changes to their practices. However, the analyses of post-CRPD work of those bodies allows for asserting the contrary, as they have continued displaying the position which recognises deprivation of liberty on the grounds of disability to be legitimate. While such a position could be justified in the pre-CRPD time as stemming from the silence of human rights documents about it, the continuation of this course after the CRPD entered into force may call the integrity and coherence of the UN human rights treaty system into question. The non-coherent approaches of different UN bodies to this novelty give grounds for misinterpretation thereof, and hinder its due implementation by the States Parties. The paper will discuss the nature of the mentioned new prohibition and the controversial approaches to that notion by different UN human rights bodies.

Keywords: CRPD, deprivation of liberty, mental disability, non-consensual psychiatric hospitalisation, UN bodies

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Authors: Joanna Estkowska

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Sensory integration methods are very useful and improve daily functioning autistic and mentally disabled children. Autism is a neurobiological disorder that impairs one's ability to communicate with and relate to others as well as their sensory system. Children with autism, even highly functioning kids, can find it difficult to process language with surrounding noise or smells. They are hypersensitive to things we can ignore such as sight, sounds and touch. Adolescents with highly functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome can study Science and Math but the social aspect is difficult for them. Nature science is an area of study that attracts many of these kids. It is a systematic field in which the children can focus on a small aspect. If you follow these rules you can come up with an expected result. Sensory integration program and systematic classroom observation are quantitative methods of measuring classroom functioning and behaviors from direct observations. These methods specify both the events and behaviors that are to be observed and how they are to be recorded. Our students with and without autism attended the lessons in the classroom of nature science in the school and in the laboratory of University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz. The aim of this study is investigation the effects of sensory integration methods in teaching to students with autism. They were observed during experimental lessons in the classroom and in the laboratory. Their physical characteristics, sensory dysfunction, and behavior in class were taken into consideration by comparing their similarities and differences. In the chemistry classroom, every autistic student is paired with a mentor from their school. In the laboratory, the children are expected to wear goggles, gloves and a lab coat. The chemistry classes in the laboratory were held for four hours with a lunch break, and according to the assistants, the children were engaged the whole time. In classroom of nature science, the students are encouraged to use the interactive exhibition of chemical, physical and mathematical models constructed by the author of this paper. Our students with and without autism attended the lessons in those laboratories. The teacher's goals are: to assist the child in inhibiting and modulating sensory information and support the child in processing a response to sensory stimulation.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, science education, sensory integration techniques, student with special educational needs

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Authors: Marriette Sakah, Christoph Kuhn, Samuel Gyamfi

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Global electricity demand of households in 2005 is estimated to double by 2025 and nearly double again in 2030. The residential sector promises considerable demand growth through infrastructural and equipment investments, the majority of which is projected to occur in developing countries. This lays bare the urgency for enhanced efficiency in all energy systems combined with exploitation of local potential for renewable energy systems. This study explores options for reducing energy consumption, particularly in residential buildings and providing robust, decentralized and renewable energy supply for African cities. The potential of energy efficiency measures and the potential of harnessing local resources for renewable energy supply are quantitatively assessed. The scale of research specifically addresses the city level, which is regulated by local authorities. Local authorities can actively promote the transition to a renewable-based energy supply system by promoting energy efficiency and the use of alternative renewable fuels in existing buildings, and particularly in planning and development of new settlement areas through the use of incentives, regulations, and demonstration projects. They can also support a more sustainable development by shaping local land use and development patterns in such ways that reduce per capita energy consumption and are benign to the environment. The subject of the current case study, Tema, is Ghana´s main industrial hub, a port city and home to 77,000 families. Residential buildings in Tema consumed 112 GWh of electricity in 2013 or 1.45 MWh per household. If average household electricity demand were to decline at an annual rate of just 2 %, by 2035 Tema would consume only 134 GWh of electricity despite an expected increase in the number of households by 84 %. The work is based on a ground survey of the city’s residential sector. The results show that efficient technologies and decentralized renewable energy systems have great potential for meeting the rapidly growing energy demand of cities in developing countries.

Keywords: energy efficiency, energy saving potential, renewable energy integration, residential buildings, urban Africa

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Authors: Abdel Rahman Khider Hassan

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This paper describes a multi-criteria geospatial model for prediction of landslide hazard zonation (LHZ) for Lake Naivasha catchment (Kenya), based on spatial analysis of integrated datasets of location intrinsic parameters (slope stability factors) and external landslides triggering factors (natural and man-made factors). The intrinsic dataset included: lithology, geometry of slope (slope inclination, aspect, elevation, and curvature) and land use/land cover. The landslides triggering factors included: rainfall as the climatic factor, in addition to the destructive effects reflected by proximity of roads and drainage network to areas that are susceptible to landslides. No published study on landslides has been obtained for this area. Thus, digital datasets of the above spatial parameters were conveniently acquired, stored, manipulated and analyzed in a Geographical Information System (GIS) using a multi-criteria grid overlay technique (in ArcGIS 10.2.2 environment). Deduction of landslide hazard zonation is done by applying weights based on relative contribution of each parameter to the slope instability, and finally, the weighted parameters grids were overlaid together to generate a map of the potential landslide hazard zonation (LHZ) for the lake catchment. From the total surface of 3200 km² of the lake catchment, most of the region (78.7 %; 2518.4 km²) is susceptible to moderate landslide hazards, whilst about 13% (416 km²) is occurring under high hazards. Only 1.0% (32 km²) of the catchment is displaying very high landslide hazards, and the remaining area (7.3 %; 233.6 km²) displays low probability of landslide hazards. This result confirms the importance of steep slope angles, lithology, vegetation land cover and slope orientation (aspect) as the major determining factors of slope failures. The information provided by the produced map of landslide hazard zonation (LHZ) could lay the basis for decision making as well as mitigation and applications in avoiding potential losses caused by landslides in the Lake Naivasha catchment in the Kenya Highlands.

Keywords: decision making, geospatial, landslide, multi-criteria, Naivasha

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Authors: Carmen Sica, Elena M. Scalisi, Sara Ignoto, Ludovica Palmeri, Martina Contino, Greta Ferruggia, Antonio Salvaggio, Santi C. Pavone, Gino Sorbello, Loreto Di Donato, Roberta Pecoraro, Maria V. Brundo

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Recently, a rise in the use of wireless internet technologies such as Wi-Fi and 5G routers/modems have been demonstrated. These devices emit a considerable amount of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), which could interact with the male reproductive system either by thermal or non-thermal mechanisms. The aim of this study was to investigate the direct in vitro influence of 5G radiation on sperm quality in Mytilus galloprovincialis, considered an excellent model for reproduction studies. The experiments at 27 GHz were conducted by using a no commercial high gain pyramidal horn antenna. To evaluate the specific absorption rate (SAR), a numerical simulation has been performed. The resulting incident power density was significantly lower than the power density limit of 10 mW/cm2 set by the international guidelines as a limit for nonthermal effects above 6 GHz. However, regarding temperature measurements of the aqueous sample, it has been verified an increase of 0.2°C, compared to the control samples. This very low-temperature increase couldn’t interfere with experiments. For experiments, sperm samples taken from sexually mature males of Mytilus galloprovincialis were placed in artificial seawater, salinity 30 + 1% and pH 8.3 filtered with a 0.2 m filter. After evaluating the number and quality of spermatozoa, sperm cells were exposed to electromagnetic fields a 27GHz. The effect of exposure on sperm motility and quality was evaluated after 10, 20, 30 and 40 minutes with a light microscope and also using the Eosin test to verify the vitality of the gametes. All the samples were performed in triplicate and statistical analysis was carried out using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Turkey test for multiple comparations of means to determine differences of sperm motility. A significant decrease (30%) in sperm motility was observed after 10 minutes of exposure and after 30 minutes, all sperms were immobile and not vital. Due to little literature data about this topic, these results could be useful for further studies concerning a great diffusion of these new technologies.

Keywords: mussel, spermatozoa, sperm motility, millimeter waves

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Authors: Busayo Fashoto, Abdulhakeem Shaibu, Justice Agbadu, Samuel Aiyeoribe

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Data has gone from just rows and columns to being an infrastructure itself. The traditional medium of data infrastructure has been managed by individuals in different industries and saved on personal work tools; one of such is the laptop. This hinders data sharing and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 for infrastructure sustainability across all countries and regions. However, there has been a constant demand for data across different agencies and ministries by investors and decision-makers. The rapid development and adoption of open-source technologies that promote the collection and processing of data in new ways and in ever-increasing volumes are creating new data infrastructure in sectors such as lands and health, among others. This paper examines the process of developing data infrastructure and, by extension, a data portal to provide baseline data for sustainable development and decision making in Nigeria. This paper employs the FAIR principle (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) of data management using open-source technology tools to develop data portals for public use. eHealth Africa, an organization that uses technology to drive public health interventions in Nigeria, developed a data portal which is a typical data infrastructure that serves as a repository for various datasets on administrative boundaries, points of interest, settlements, social infrastructure, amenities, and others. This portal makes it possible for users to have access to datasets of interest at any point in time at no cost. A skeletal infrastructure of this data portal encompasses the use of open-source technology such as Postgres database, GeoServer, GeoNetwork, and CKan. These tools made the infrastructure sustainable, thus promoting the achievement of SDG 9 (Industries, Innovation, and Infrastructure). As of 6th August 2021, a wider cross-section of 8192 users had been created, 2262 datasets had been downloaded, and 817 maps had been created from the platform. This paper shows the use of rapid development and adoption of technologies that facilitates data collection, processing, and publishing in new ways and in ever-increasing volumes. In addition, the paper is explicit on new data infrastructure in sectors such as health, social amenities, and agriculture. Furthermore, this paper reveals the importance of cross-sectional data infrastructures for planning and decision making, which in turn can form a central data repository for sustainable development across developing countries.

Keywords: data portal, data infrastructure, open source, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 101