Search results for: Artemisia Herba-Alba essential oil

Authors: Oluyemi O. Awolusi, Abimbola M. Enitan, Sheena Kumari, Faizal Bux

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Nitrification is essential to biological processes designed to remove ammonia and/or total nitrogen. It removes the excess nitrogenous compound in wastewater which could be very toxic to the aquatic fauna or cause a serious imbalance of such aquatic ecosystem. Efficient nitrification is linked to an in-depth knowledge of the structure and dynamics of the nitrifying community structure within the wastewater treatment systems. In this study, molecular technique was employed for characterizing the microbial structure of activated sludge [ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB)] in a municipal wastewater treatment with intention of linking it to the plant efficiency. PCR-based phylogenetic analysis was also carried out for. The average operating and environmental parameters, as well as specific nitrification rate of a plant, was investigated during the study. During the investigation, the average temperature was 23±1.5oC. Other operational parameters such as mixed liquor suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand inversely correlated with ammonia removal. The dissolved oxygen level in the plant was constantly lower than the optimum (between 0.24 and 1.267 mg/l) during this study. The plant was treating wastewater with the influent ammonia concentration of 31.69 and 24.47 mg/l. The influent flow rates (ML/day) was 96.81 during the period. The dominant nitrifiers include: Nitrosomonas spp. Nitrobacter spp. and Nitrospira spp. The AOB had a correlation with nitrification efficiency and temperature. This study shows that the specific ammonia oxidizing rate and the specific nitrate formation rates can serve as a good indicator of the plant overall nitrification performance.

Keywords: Ammonia monooxygenase α-subunit gene, amoA, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, AOB, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, NOB, specific nitrification rate

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Authors: Poojan Vora, Hardik Pancholi, Sanket Tajane, Harsh Shah, Elias Keedy

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The global COVID-19 pandemic has affected the industry drastically in many ways. Even though the vaccine is being distributed quickly and despite the decreasing number of positive cases, testing is projected to remain a key aspect of the ‘new normal’. Improving existing plant layout and improving safety within the facility are of great importance in today’s industries because of the need to ensure productivity optimization and reduce safety risks. In practice, it is essential for any manufacturing plant to reduce nonvalue adding steps such as the movement of materials and rearrange similar processes. In the current pandemic situation, optimized layouts will not only increase safety measures but also decrease the fixed cost per unit manufactured. In our case study, we carefully studied the existing layout and the manufacturing steps of a new Texas start-up company that manufactures COVID testing kits. The effects of production rate are incorporated with the computerized relative allocation of facilities technique (CRAFT) algorithm to improve the plant layout and estimate the optimization parameters. Our work reduces the company’s material handling time and increases their daily production. Real data from the company are used in the case study to highlight the importance of colleges in fostering small business needs and improving the collaboration between college researchers and industries by using existing models to advance best practices.

Keywords: computerized relative allocation of facilities technique, facilities planning, optimization, start-up business

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Authors: Hasnun Wara Khondker, M. Tarek Morad

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Bangladesh is one of the most populous countries of the world in terms of density. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh currently has a population of approximately 15-16 million of which around 9 million people are accommodated in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) within around 109 square kilometer area. Despite having various urban issues, country is at its pick of economic progress and Dhaka is the core of this economic growth. To ensure the proper economic development and citizens wellbeing, city needs an ingenious, congestion-free public transportation network. Bus stop/bus bay is an essential infrastructure for ensuring efficient public transportation flow within the city along with enhancing accessibility, user comfort, and safety through public amenities. At present, there is no established Mass Rapid Transit or Bus Rapid Transit network within the city and therefore these private owned buses are the only major mode of mass transportation of Dhaka city. DSCC has undertaken a project to re-design several bus stops and bus bays according to the universal standard for better urban mobility and user satisfaction. This paper will analyze the design approach of the bus stop/bay infrastructure within Dhaka South, putting the research lens on sustainable urban mobility with case studies of similar kind of urban context. The paper will also study the design process with setting several parameters, i.e., accessibility, passenger safety, comfort, sustainability, etc. Moreover, this research will recommend a guideline for designing a bus stop based on the analysis of the design methods.

Keywords: bus stop, Dhaka, public transportation, sustainable urban mobility, universal accessibility, user safety

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Authors: Anthoni Jeorge

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Throughout the history of the world, servant leadership has been researched, and favourable results such as individual, team, and organizational have been linked to the construct. This research paper designates St. Camillus de Lellis, a practitioner of servant leadership and founder of the Ministers of the Sick as a servant leader in his approach to care for the sick. Service is the visible face of his servant leadership. First of all, despite many challenges, St. Camillus de Lellis practiced leadership by the example of compassionate service to the sick. Second, he made service to the sick the highest priority of his life. Third, Camillus displayed servant leadership such that his manner of leadership gave birth to a New School of Service to the Sick. The paper identifies the distinctive dimensions and essential elements which characterized his service-centered leadership. Furthermore, discuss the six major characteristics of a servant leader as set forth by St. Camillus’s life example. The research illustrates the transformational power of servant leadership infield healthcare in general and, in doing so, provides servant leadership seekers ways servant leadership can transform elder care in one’s own field (St. Camillus Health Systems). Thus, it ascertains that servant leadership is best-fit for humanized elder care. Supported by the review of literature, the paper ascertains that Camillus, by identifying himself with the sick, gained deeper insights concerning the pain and suffering of the population. Uniquely drawn from his true grit, Camillus’ service-centered leadership is value-based, people-oriented, and compassion-filled. His way of service to the sick is the prolongation of gestures of mercy and compassion. It is hoped that the results of this study will help health care workers and servant leadership practitioners to humanize elder care and cultivate servant leadership attitude in their health care services to the sick. By incorporating such service-oriented elements into their leadership orientation, health care workers will be true servant leaders of the sick.

Keywords: leadership, service, healthcare, compassion

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Authors: S. J. Matlan, M. Mukhlisin, M. R. Taha

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Characterization of the engineering behavior of unsaturated soil is dependent on the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), a graphical representation of the relationship between water content or degree of saturation and soil suction. A reasonable description of the SWCC is thus important for the accurate prediction of unsaturated soil parameters. The measurement procedures for determining the SWCC, however, are difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. During the past few decades, researchers have laid a major focus on developing empirical equations for predicting the SWCC, with a large number of empirical models suggested. One of the most crucial questions is how precisely existing equations can represent the SWCC. As different models have different ranges of capability, it is essential to evaluate the precision of the SWCC models used for each particular soil type for better SWCC estimation. It is expected that better estimation of SWCC would be achieved via a thorough statistical analysis of its distribution within a particular soil class. With this in view, a statistical analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the reliability of the SWCC prediction models against laboratory measurement. Optimization techniques were used to obtain the best-fit of the model parameters in four forms of SWCC equation, using laboratory data for relatively coarse-textured (i.e., sandy) soil. The four most prominent SWCCs were evaluated and computed for each sample. The result shows that the Brooks and Corey model is the most consistent in describing the SWCC for sand soil type. The Brooks and Corey model prediction also exhibit compatibility with samples ranging from low to high soil water content in which subjected to the samples that evaluated in this study.

Keywords: soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), statistical analysis, unsaturated soil, geotechnical engineering

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Authors: Mehrdad Akbarzadeh, Afsaneh Abrisham

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Introduction: Critical thinking skills are crucial for nurses, particularly those working in neonatal care, where quick and informed decision-making is essential. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of critical thinking skills on job performance among neonatal nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 450 neonatal nurses from a hospital in Mashhad. Participants were assessed using the Critical Thinking Questionnaire (CThQ) to measure their critical thinking abilities across various subscales, including Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating, Remembering, Understanding, and Applying. Additionally, a custom Job Performance Checklist completed by supervising nurses, was used to evaluate job performance across several dimensions. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS V.23. Correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between critical thinking skills and job performance. Results: The mean age of the nurses was 33.46 ± 14.2 years, with 79.15% being female. The nurses demonstrated high proficiency in critical thinking, with notable scores in the Creating (23.98 ± 4.8), Applying (17.35 ± 3.2), and Evaluating (16.67 ± 3.4) subscales. The results indicate a significant positive correlation between several critical thinking subscales and job performance. The Creating subscale exhibited the strongest correlation (R = 0.79, p < 0.001), followed by Overall CThQ (R = 0.68, p = 0.039) and Evaluating (R = 0.67, p = 0.041). Analyzing (R = 0.45, p = 0.013) and Understanding (R = 0.41, p = 0.015) also showed significant correlations with job performance. Remembering (R = 0.29, p = 0.061) and Applying (R = 0.43, p = 0.057) were not significantly correlated with job performance. Conclusion: The findings indicate that critical thinking skills, especially in creating and evaluating, are strongly associated with job performance in neonatal nurses. Enhancing these skills through targeted training programs could improve job performance, particularly in decision-making and time management. This study underscores the importance of critical thinking in neonatal care and its impact on nursing efficacy and patient outcomes.

Keywords: critical thinking, job performance, neonatal nurses, healthcare quality

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Authors: Apichet Boonsoong

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In the Chanthaburi-Trat basalts, xenoliths are composed of essentially ultramafic xenoliths (particularly spinel lherzolite) with a few of an aggregate of feldspar. Some 19 ultramafic xenoliths were collected from 13 different locations. They range in size from 3.5 to 60mm across. Most are weathered and oxidized on the surface but fresh samples are obtained from cut surfaces. Chemical analyses were performed on carbon-coated polished thin sections using a fully automated CAMECA SX-50 electron microprobe (EMPA) in wavelength-dispersive mode. In thin section, they are seen to consist of variable amounts of olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene with minor spinel and plagioclase, and are classed as lherzolite. Modal compositions of the ultramafic nodules vary with olivine (60-75%), clinopyroxene (20-30%), orthopyroxene (0-15%), minor spinel (1-3%) and plagioclase (<1%). The essential minerals form an equigranular, medium- to coarse-grained, granoblastic texture, and all are in mutual contact indicating attainment of equilibrium. Reaction rims are common along the nodule margins and in some are also present along grain boundaries. Zoning occurs in clinopyroxene, and to a lesser extent in orthopyroxene. The homogeneity of mineral compositions in lherzolite xenoliths suggests the attainment of equilibrium. The equilibration temperatures of these xenoliths are estimated to be in the range of 973 to 1063°C. Pressure estimates are not so easily obtained because no suitable barometer exists for garnet-free lherzolites and so an indirect method was used. The general mineral assemblage of the lherzolite xenoliths and the absence of garnet indicate a pressure range of approximately 12–19kbar, which is equivalent to depths approximately of 38 to 60km.

Keywords: chanthaburi-trat basalts, spinel lherzolite, xenoliths, 973 to 1063°C, 38 to 60km

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Authors: Jeter Canete, Noreen Joyce Estrella, Yedda Sachi Patrice Madelo

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Zooplankton plays a crucial role in aquatic ecosystems and a number of water parameters involved in it. Despite their relevance, there is inadequate information about zooplankton communities in Sarangani Bay, Sarangani Province: one of the most essential waterbodies in Mindanao. The aim of the present study was to determine the composition, abundance, and diversity of zooplankton as well as to provide more recent data about the physico-chemical characteristics of Sarangani Bay. Zooplankton samples were collected by vertical hauls using a zooplankton net (mouth diameter: 0.5m; mesh size opening: round, 350μm) in three stations in the coastal waters of Alabel, Malapatan, and Maasim during November 2018. A total of 74 species of zooplankton belonging mainly to Kingdom Protozoa, Phylum Arthropoda, Chaetognatha, and Chordata were identified. Results showed a total zooplankton abundance of 1,984,166 ind/m³ with the highest count recorded at Malapatan (717,169 ind/m³) and the lowest at Maasim (624,411 ind/m³). Among 22 zooplankton groups identified, subclass Copepoda was found to be the most dominant (73.10%), followed by Appendicularia (12.18%) and Vertebrata (3.54%). Diversity analysis revealed an even distribution of species and a diverse ecosystem in all stations sampled. Correlation analysis indicated a strong relationship between zooplankton abundance and physico-chemical parameters. Overall, the physico-chemical profile of Sarangani Bay did not differ from the standards set by DENR, and analysis of the zooplankton communities revealed that Sarangani Bay favorably supports marine organisms to flourish. The findings of this study provide useful knowledge on zooplankton communities and can be used to create management strategies to protect the aquatic biodiversity in Sarangani Bay.

Keywords: aquatic biomonitoring, biodiversity, physicochemical analysis, population survey, Sarangani Bay, Sarangani Province, zooplankton

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Authors: Sujith Gunawardhana

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The circular economy is a system in which resources and energy are derived from renewable sources, utilized efficiently, recycled, and reused to reduce waste, reduce nonrenewable resource consumption, and mitigate negative environmental impacts. However, it poses moral questions about sustainability, the environment, and societal issues. Many societies face challenges when implementing the circular economy, as the concept is still young. The equitable distribution of the advantages and costs of circularity should be ensured during implementation, as some communities, particularly disadvantaged or marginalized ones, may suffer unfairly disproportionately from the harmful effects of production and recycling facilities. Prioritizing the health and safety of workers, communities, and the environment is essential, and strict rules must be implemented to guard against harm. However, most underdeveloped countries need a legal safeguard for this situation. The ultimate objective of the circular economy is to improve social, environmental, and economic performance, but its implementation also requires consideration of the ethics of care and non-epistemic values. Those are often hindered in underdeveloped countries, as the availability of infrastructure and technology, affordability, and legislative framework are poor. To achieve long-term success in the circular economy, evaluating implementation steps and considering health, safety, environmental, and social risks is crucial. To implement the circular economy, respect ethics of care and non-epistemic values. Adopt Kantian Ethics and control technology design to ensure equal benefits for all involved. Ethical gaps may lead underdeveloped countries to generate social pressure against the circular economy.

Keywords: circular economy, ethics, values, sustainability

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Authors: Rolando B. Llave Jr.

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In many countries, wheat flour is used an essential component in production/preparation of bread and other baked products considered to have a significant role in man’s diet. Partial replacement of wheat flour with other flours (composite flour) in preparation of the said products is seen as a solution to the scarcity of wheat flour (in non-wheat producing countries), and improved nourishment. In composite flour, other flours may come from cereals, legumes, root crops, and those that are rich in starch. Many countries utilize whatever is locally available. “Adlai” or Job’s tears is a tall cereal plant that belongs to the same family of grass as wheat, rice, and corn. In some countries, it is used as an ingredient in producing many dishes and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. As part of the Food Staple Self-Sufficiency Program (FSSP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the Philippines, “adlai” is being promoted as alternative food source for the Filipinos. In this study, the grits coming from the seeds of “adlai” were turned into flour. The resulting flour was then used as partial replacement for wheat flour in selected baked products namely “pan de sal” (salt bread), cupcakes and cookies. The supplementation of “adlai” flour ranged 20%-45% with 20%-35% for “pan de sal”; 30%-45% for cupcakes; and 25% - 40% for cookies. The study was composed of four (4) phases. Phase I was product formulation studies. Phase II included the acceptability test/sensory evaluation of the baked products where the statistical analysis of the data gathered followed. Phase III was the computation of the theoretical protein content of the most acceptable “pan de sal”, cupcake and cookie, and lastly, in Phase IV, cost benefit was analyzed, specifically in terms of the direct material cost.

Keywords: “adlai”, composite flour, supplementation, sensory evaluation

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Authors: Taekyong Lee, Joon-Young Kim, Jae-Min Cha

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Piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) is an essential design drawing describing the interconnection of process equipment and the instrumentation installed to control the process. P&IDs are modified and managed throughout a whole life cycle of a process plant. For the ease of data transfer, P&IDs are generally handed over from a design company to an engineering company as portable document format (PDF) which is hard to be modified. Therefore, engineering companies have to deploy a great deal of time and human resources only for manually converting P&ID images into a computer aided design (CAD) file format. To reduce the inefficiency of the P&ID conversion, various symbols and texts in P&ID images should be automatically recognized. However, recognizing information in P&ID images is not an easy task. A P&ID image usually contains hundreds of symbol and text objects. Most objects are pretty small compared to the size of a whole image and are densely packed together. Traditional recognition methods based on geometrical features are not capable enough to recognize every elements of a P&ID image. To overcome these difficulties, state-of-the-art deep learning models, RetinaNet and connectionist text proposal network (CTPN) were used to build a system for recognizing symbols and texts in a P&ID image. Using the RetinaNet and the CTPN model carefully modified and tuned for P&ID image dataset, the developed system recognizes texts, equipment symbols, piping symbols and instrumentation symbols from an input P&ID image and save the recognition results as the pre-defined extensible markup language format. In the test using a commercial P&ID image, the P&ID information recognition system correctly recognized 97% of the symbols and 81.4% of the texts.

Keywords: object recognition system, P&ID, symbol recognition, text recognition

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Authors: Abdelsalam Gomaa, Mahjabeen Ramzan, Tooba Ali Akbar, Huma Nadeem

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The use of tobacco and the health risks linked to it are well known in this day and age due to the presence of easily available information through the internet. The media is a powerful platform that is used by many anti-smoking awareness campaigns to reach their target audience; yet, it has been found that adolescents are taking up smoking every passing day. Half of this smoking population of youngsters resides in Asia alone, which includes Qatar, the focus country of this study. As smoking happens to be one of the largest avoidable causes of serious diseases like cancers and heart problems, children are taking up smoking at an alarming rate everywhere including Qatar. Importance of the health of the citizens of Qatar is one of the pillars of the Qatar vision 2030, which is to ensure a healthy population, both physically and mentally. Since the youth makes up a significant percentage of the population and in order to achieve the health objectives of the Qatar vision 2030, it is essential to ensure the health and well-being of this part of the population of the country as they are the future of Qatar. Children, especially boys who tend to be more aggressive by nature, are highly likely to develop behavioral and health issues due to smoking at an early age. Research conducted around the world has also emphasized on this association between the smokers developing a bad behaviour as well as poor social communication skills. However, due to lack of research into this association, very little is known about the extent to which smoking impacts the children’s academics, health and behaviour. Moreover, a study of this nature has not yet been conducted in Qatar previously as most of the studies focus on adult smokers and ways to minimize the number of smoking habits in universities and workplaces. This study solely focuses on identifying a relationship between smoking and its impacts on the adolescents by conducting a research on different schools across Qatar.

Keywords: adolescents, modelling techniques, Qatar, smoking

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Authors: Yılmaz Uçar, Fatih Ozogul, Mustafa Durmuş, Yesim Ozogul, Ali Rıza Köşker, Esmeray Kuley Boğa, Deniz Ayas

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The aim of this study was to purified eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), that are essential oils from trout oil, using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method, bioconverted EPA and DHA into bioconverted EPA (bEPA), bioconverted DHA (bDHA) extracts by P. aeruginosa PR3. Moreover, in vitro antibacterial activity of bEPA and bDHA was investigated using disc diffusion methods and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). EPA and DHA concentration of 11.1% and 15.9% in trout oil increased in 58.64% and 40.33% after HPLC optimisation, respectively. In this study, EPA and DHA enriched products were obtained which are to be used as valuable supplements for food and pharmaceutical purposes. The bioconverted EPA and DHA exhibited antibacterial activities against two Gram-positive bacteria (Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7677 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213) and six Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC700603, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Aeromonas hydrophila NCIMB 1135, and Salmonella Paratyphi A NCTC 13). Inhibition zones and MIC value of bEPA and bDHA against bacterial strains ranged from 7 to 12 mm and from 350 to 2350 μg/mL, respectively. Our results suggested that the crude extracts of bioconversion of EPA and DHA by P. aeruginosa PR3 can be considered as promising antimicrobials in improving food safety by controlling foodborne pathogens.

Keywords: High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), docosahexaenoic acid, DHA, eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA, minimum inhibitory concentration, MIC, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PR3

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Authors: A. A. Abid

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Wave-particle interactions are considered to be the paramount in the transmission of energy in collisionless space plasmas, where electromagnetic fields confined the charged particles movement. One of the distinct features of energy transfer in collisionless plasma is wave-particle interaction which is ubiquitous in space plasmas. The three essential populations of the inner magnetosphere are cold plasmaspheric plasmas, ring-currents, and radiation belts high energy particles. The transition region amid such populations initiates wave-particle interactions among distinct plasmas and the wave mode perceived in the magnetosphere is the electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) wave. These waves can interact with numerous particle species resonantly, accompanied by plasma particle heating is still in debate. In this work we paid particular attention to how EMIC waves impact plasma species, specifically how they affect the heating of electrons and ions during storm and substorm in the Magnetosphere. Using Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission and electromagnetic hybrid simulation, this project will investigate the energy transfer mechanism (e.g., Landau interactions, bounce resonance interaction, cyclotron resonance interaction, etc.) between EMIC waves and cold-warm plasma populations. Other features such as the production of EMIC waves and the importance of cold plasma particles in EMIC wave-particle interactions will also be worth exploring. Wave particle interactions, electromagnetic hybrid simulation, electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves, Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, space plasmas, inner magnetosphere

Keywords: MMS, magnetosphere, wave particle interraction, non-maxwellian distribution

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Authors: Fisseha Shiferie (Bpharm, Mpharm)

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Diarrhea is a common gastrointestinal disorder characterized by an increase in stool frequency and a change in stool consistency. Inspite of the availability of many drugs as antidiarrheal agents, the search for a drug with affordable cost and better efficacy is essential to overcome diarrheal problems. The root extract of Echinops kebericho, is used by traditional practitioners for the treatment of diarrhea. However, the scientific basis for this usage has not been yet established. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the antidiarrheal and spasmolytic activities of the aqueous extract of the roots of E. kebericho in rodents and isolated guinea-pig ileum preparations. In the castor oil induced intestinal transit test, E. kebericho produced a significant (p < 0.01) dose dependent decrease in propulsion with peristaltic index values of 45.05±3.3, 42.71±2.25 and 33.17±3.3%, respectively at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg compared with 63.43±7.3% for control. In the castor oil-induced diarrhea test, the mean defecation was reduced from 1.81±0.18 to 0.99 ± 0.21 compared with 2.59 ±0.81 for control. The extract (at doses stated above) significantly decreased the volume of intestinal fluid secretion induced by castor oil (2.31±0.1 to 2.01±0.2) in relation to 3.28±0.3 for control. When tested on a guinea-pig ileum, root extract of Echinops kebericho exhibited a dose dependent spasmolytic effect, 23.07 % being its highest inhibitory effect. The results obtained in this study give some scientific support to the use of Echinops kebericho as an antidiarrheal agent due to its inhibitory effects on the different diarrheal parameters used in this study.

Keywords: antidiarrheal activity, E. kebericho, traditional medicine, diarrhea, enteropooling, and intestinal transit

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Authors: Suliman Al Balawi

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Food waste is a significant problem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). About SR13 billion worth of food is wasted per year in the KSA. From moral, social, and economic perspectives, it is essential to reduce the wastage of food. Although studies have identified the amount of food waste in the KSA, there is a lack of research on why people in the KSA waste food; thus, it is difficult to design efficient intervention programs to reduce food waste. This research investigates the key factors that influence the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. A food waste behavior model is proposed in this study that has moral disengagement at the center of the model. Following a literature survey, it is hypothesised that religiosity, hedonic value, frugality, and trait cynicism are the antecedents of moral disengagement that are likely to impact the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. The study further posits that an intervention strategy in the form of a social marketing campaign that focuses on lowering the level of moral disengagement could reduce the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. This study will apply a pre-test/post-test experimental design (control group). A random sampling method will be used to select participants from the (employees of a chosen firm) in the KSA. The social marketing campaign will be run for six months through the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of the Company, and to analyse the experimental data, structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used. The outcomes of the study will demonstrate the effectiveness of a social marketing campaign for improving the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA and will ultimately lay the foundation for designing efficient intervention programs in the future. This study will contribute to the knowledge on food waste behavior by testing a newly proposed food waste behavior model in the KSA.

Keywords: food waste, social marketing, Saudi Arabia, moral disengagement

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Authors: Ridha Abdulla Al Hammam

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Purpose: to measure the extent of perceived structural empowerment and work commitment the intensive care unit in SMC have in their work place. Background: nurses’ access to power structures (information, recourses, opportunity, and support) directly influences their productivity, retention, and job satisfaction. Exploring nurses’ level and sources of work commitment (affective, normative, and continuance) is very essential to guide nursing leaders making decisions to improve work environment to facilitate effective nursing care. Both concepts (Structural Empowerment and Work Commitment) were never investigated in our critical care unit. Methods: a sample of 50 nurses attained from the Intensive Care Unit (Adult). Conditions for Workplace Effectiveness Questionnaire and Three-Component Model Employee Commitment Survey were used to measure the two concepts respectively. The study is quantitative, descriptive, and correlational in design. Results: the participants reported moderate structural empowerment provided by their work place (M=15 out of 20). The sample perceived high access to opportunity mainly through gaining more skills (M=4.45 out of 5) where the rest power structures were perceived with moderate accessibility. The participants’ affective commitment (M=5.6 out of 7) to work in the ICU overweighed their normative and continuance commitment (M=5.1, M=4.9 out of 7) implying a stronger emotional connection with their unit. Strong positive and significant correlations were observed between the participants’ structural empowerment scores and all work commitment sources. Conclusion: these results provided an insight on aspects of work environment that need to be fostered and improved in our intensive care unit which have a direct linkage to nurses’ work commitment and potentially to their quality of care they provide.

Keywords: structural empowerment, commitment, intensive care, nurses

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Authors: Junzhang Wu, Yifeng Zou, Alessandro Manzardo, Antonio Scipioni

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Dynamic expiration dates (DEDs) play an essential role in reducing food waste in the context of the sustainable cold chain and food system. However, it is unknown for the trades-off in retail benefits when setting an expiration date on fresh food products. This study aims to develop a multi-dimensional decision-making model that integrates DEDs with food waste based on wireless sensor network technology. The model considers the initial quality of fresh food and the change rate of food quality with the storage temperature as cross-independent variables to identify the potential impacts of food waste in retail by applying s DEDs system. The results show that retail benefits from the DEDs system depend on each scenario despite its advanced technology. In the DEDs, the storage temperature of the retail shelf leads to the food waste rate, followed by the change rate of food quality and the initial quality of food products. We found that the DEDs system could reduce food waste when food products are stored at lower temperature areas. Besides, the potential of food savings in an extended replenishment cycle is significantly more advantageous than the fixed expiration dates (FEDs). On the other hand, the information-sharing approach of the DEDs system is relatively limited in improving sustainable assessment performance of food waste in retail and even misleads consumers’ choices. The research provides a comprehensive understanding to support the techno-economic choice of the DEDs associated with food waste in retail.

Keywords: dynamic expiry dates (DEDs), food waste, retail benefits, fixed expiration dates (FEDs)

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Authors: R. Posia, J. Mistry, K. Kamani

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The health screening of laboratory rodents is essential for ensuring animal health and the validity of biomedical research data. Routine health monitoring is necessary to verify the effectiveness of biosecurity and the specific pathogen free (SPF) status of the colony. The present screening was performed in barrier maintained rat (Rattus norvegicus) colony. Rats were maintained under a controlled environment and strict biosecurity in the facility. The screening was performed on quarterly bases from randomly selected animals from breeding and or maintenance colonies. Selected animals were subject to blood collection under isoflurane anaesthesia. Serum was separated from the collected blood and stored samples at -60 ± 10 °C until further use. A total of 88 samples were collected quarterly bases from animals in a year. In the serological test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for screening of serum samples against sialodacryoadenitis virus (SDAV), Sendai virus (SV), and Kilham’s rat virus (KRV). ELISA kits were procured from XpressBio, USA. Test serum samples were run along with positive control, negative control serum in 96 well ELISA plates as per the procedure recommended by the vendor. Test ELISA plate reading was taken in the microplate reader. This screening observed that none of the samples was observed positive for the sialodacryoadenitis virus (SDAV), Sendai virus (SV), and Kilham’s rat virus (KRV), indicating that effectiveness of biosecurity practices followed in the rodent colony. The result of serological screening helps us to declare that our rodent colony is specifically pathogen free for these pathogens.

Keywords: biosecurity, ELISA, specific pathogen free, serological screening, serum

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Authors: Saman Naqvi

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Introduction: Telemedicine is the practise of providing remote healthcare to patients via the utilisation of communication technologies. Its application has become increasingly important since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It is essential to determine the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals concerning its use in order to maximise its application. Purpose: We aim to examine and evaluate the current understanding and perceptions of medical staff toward the use of telemedicine. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed 1091 healthcare professionals worldwide. Following an extensive review of the literature, data were gathered using a questionnaire. To depict the participant profile, frequency, percentages, and cumulative percentages were determined. Results: The majority of respondents had either heard of (90.9%), seen (65.3%), or were familiar with (74.6%) how telemedicine is implemented in practice. 72.2% of people were familiar with the tools that could be applied to this technology. Those with a medical degree and experience of under five years were found to be more familiar with telemedicine. Additionally, opinions on providing healthcare remotely were largely favorable, with 80% of respondents stating that it reduced staff burden and 80.6% thinking that it eliminated unnecessary transportation costs. Furthermore, 83% expressed that it saves clinicians' time. However, 20% of participants believed telemedicine adds to staff workload and 40% of healthcare professionals felt it compromises patient privacy and information confidentiality. Conclusion: Despite being a new and developing practice in many countries, telemedicine appears to have a bright future. This is crucial during a pandemic as it provides effective healthcare while maintaining social isolation measures. Moreover, the majority of the participants in this study demonstrated a good understanding and a favorable attitude toward telemedicine.

Keywords: healthcare system, global survey, knowledge, attitude, covid 19, telemedicine

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Authors: Chuan Yang, Jing Bie, Panagiotis Psimoulis, Zhong Wang

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Modelling and understanding vehicle volume distribution over the urban network are essential for urban design and transport planning. The space syntax approach was widely applied as the main conceptual and methodological framework for contemporary vehicle volume models with the help of the statistical method of multiple regression analysis (MRA). However, the MRA model with space syntax variables shows a limitation in vehicle volume predicting in accounting for the crossed effect of the urban configurational characters and socio-economic factors. The aim of this paper is to construct models by interacting with the combined impact of the street network structure and socio-economic factors. In this paper, we present a multilevel linear (ML) and an agent-based (AB) vehicle volume model at an urban scale interacting with space syntax theoretical framework. The ML model allowed random effects of urban configurational characteristics in different urban contexts. And the AB model was developed with the incorporation of transformed space syntax components of the MRA models into the agents’ spatial behaviour. Three models were implemented in the same urban environment. The ML model exhibit superiority over the original MRA model in identifying the relative impacts of the configurational characters and macro-scale socio-economic factors that shape vehicle movement distribution over the city. Compared with the ML model, the suggested AB model represented the ability to estimate vehicle volume in the urban network considering the combined effects of configurational characters and land-use patterns at the street segment level.

Keywords: space syntax, vehicle volume modeling, multilevel model, agent-based model

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Authors: Cagla Gul Guldiken, Levent Akyalcin, Hasan Ferdi Gercel

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Fuel cells are electrochemical devices which convert the chemical energy of hydrogen into the electricity. Among the types of fuel cells, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are attracting considerable attention as non-polluting power generators with high energy conversion efficiencies in mobile applications. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) is one of the essential components of PEMFCs. Perfluorosulfonic acid based membranes known as Nafion® is widely used as PEMs. Nafion® membranes water dependent proton conductivity which limits the operating temperature below 100ᵒC. At higher temperatures, proton conductivity and mechanical stability of these membranes decrease because of dehydration. Polybenzimidazole (PBI), which has good anhydrous proton conductivity after doped with acids, as well as excellent thermal stability, shows great potential in the application of high temperature PEMFCs. In the present study, PBI polymers were synthesized by solution polycondensation at 190 and 210ᵒC. The synthesized polymers were characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR, and TGA. Phosphoric acid doped PBI membranes were prepared and tested in a PEMFC. The influences of reaction temperature on structural properties of synthesized polymers were investigated. Mechanical properties, acid-doping level, proton conductivity, and fuel cell performances of prepared phosphoric acid doped PBI membranes were evaluated. The maximum power density was found as 32.5 mW/cm² at 120ᵒC.

Keywords: fuel cell, high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane, polybenzimidazole, proton exchange membrane fuel cell

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Authors: Mohammed A. Elhaj, Jamal S. Yassin

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In the present time, energy crises are considered a severe problem across the world. For the protection of global environment and maintain ecological balance, energy saving is considered one of the most vital issues from the view point of fuel consumption. As the industrial sectors everywhere continue efforts to improve their energy efficiency, recovering waste heat losses provides an attractive opportunity for an emission free and less costly energy resource. In the other hand the using of solar energy has become more insistent particularly after the high gross of prices and running off the conventional energy sources. Therefore, it is essential that we should endeavor for waste heat recovery as well as solar energy by making significant and concrete efforts. For these reasons this investigation is carried out to study and analyze the performance of a power plant working by a combined cycle in which Heat Recovery System Generator (HRSG) gets its energy from the waste heat of a gas turbine unit. Evaluation of the performance of the plant is based on different thermal efficiencies of the main components in addition to the second law analysis considering the exergy destructions for the whole components. The contribution factors including the solar as well as the wasted energy are considered in the calculations. The final results have shown that there is significant exergy destruction in solar concentrator and the combustion chamber of the gas turbine unit. Other components such as compressor, gas turbine, steam turbine and heat exchangers having insignificant exergy destruction. Also, solar energy can contribute by about 27% of the input energy to the plant while the energy lost with exhaust gases can contribute by about 64% at maximum cases.

Keywords: solar energy, environment, efficiency, waste heat, steam generator, performance, exergy destruction

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Authors: Faith Eweluegim Enahoro-Ofagbe

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Worldwide, every nation is experiencing the effects of global warming. In developing countries, due to the heavy reliance on agriculture for socioeconomic growth and security, among other things, these countries are more affected by climate change, particularly with the availability of water. Floods, droughts, rising temperatures, saltwater intrusion, groundwater depletion, and other severe environmental alterations are all brought on by climatic change. Life depends on water, a vital resource; these ecological changes affect all water use, including agriculture and household water use. Therefore adequate and adaptive water usage strategies for sustainability are essential in developing countries. Therefore, this paper investigates Nigeria's challenges due to climate change and adaptive techniques that have evolved in response to such issues to ensure water management and sustainability for irrigation and provide quality water to residents. Questionnaires were distributed to respondents in the study area, central Nigeria, for quantitative evaluation of sustainable water resource management techniques. Physicochemical analysis was done, collecting soil and water samples from several locations under investigation. Findings show that farmers use different methods, ranging from intelligent technologies to traditional strategies for water resource management. Also, farmers need to learn better water resource management techniques for sustainability. Since more residents obtain their water from privately held sources, the government should enforce legislation to ensure that private borehole construction businesses treat water sources of poor quality before the general public uses them.

Keywords: developing countries, irrigation, strategies, sustainability, water resource management, water usage

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Authors: Maulik L. Sisodia, Tirth K. Raval, Aarsh S. Mistry

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This paper summarizes the ongoing researches about the defects in both flexible and rigid pavement and the maintenance in both flexible and rigid pavements. Various defects in pavements have been identified since the existence of both flexible and rigid pavement. Flexible Pavement failure is defined in terms of decreasing serviceability caused by the development of cracks, ruts, potholes etc. Flexible Pavement structure can be destroyed in a single season due to water penetration. Defects in flexible pavements is a problem of multiple dimensions, phenomenal growth of vehicular traffic (in terms of no. of axle loading of commercial vehicles), the rapid expansion in the road network, non-availability of suitable technology, material, equipment, skilled labor and poor funds allocation have all added complexities to the problem of flexible pavements. In rigid pavements due to different type of destress the failure like joint spalling, faulting, shrinkage cracking, punch out, corner break etc. Application of correction in the existing surface will enhance the life of maintenance works as well as that of strengthening layer. Maintenance of a road network involves a variety of operations, i.e., identification of deficiencies and planning, programming and scheduling for actual implementation in the field and monitoring. The essential objective should be to keep the road surface and appurtenances in good condition and to extend the life of the road assets to its design life. The paper describes lessons learnt from pavement failures and problems experienced during the last few years on a number of projects in India. Broadly, the activities include identification of defects and the possible cause there off, determination of appropriate remedial measures; implement these in the field and monitoring of the results.

Keywords: Flexible Pavements, Rigid Pavements, Defects, Maintenance

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Authors: Lauren McGillivray, Michelle Torok, Alison Calear

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Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15-24 years, with rates increasing over the past decade. As young people can be particularly vulnerable to mental health problems and suicidal behavior, they are an essential and obvious target for suicide prevention efforts. This study investigates the effectiveness of the universal mental health promotion and suicide prevention program, Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM), to reduce suicidal ideation and attempts and increase help-seeking in young people. This trial took place in Australian schools across four regions in New South Wales that form part of LifeSpan, a larger multilevel suicide prevention research trial. The YAM program was delivered to Year 9 students in up to 78 schools over two years (from January 2017 to December 2019). All schools were invited to participate in YAM's evaluation, which included completing a student questionnaire at three time-points: baseline, 3-month post-intervention, and 6-month follow-up. The primary outcome is suicidal ideation severity. Secondary outcomes are new reports of suicide attempts, stigma towards suicide, knowledge about suicide, help-seeking intentions and behaviors, and depressive symptoms. Results from pre-post and follow-up data will be presented. These research findings are promising and will contribute to the evidence-based for YAM and suicide prevention programs in Australian schools. These findings are also expected to promote YAM's value and sustainability to be more widely delivered in Australian secondary schools.

Keywords: adolescent mental health, suicidal ideation, suicide prevention, universal program

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Authors: Mohamed El-Khateeb

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Encompassing inventory, warehousing, and transportation management, logistics is a crucial predictor of firm performance. This has been extensively proven by extant literature in business and operations management. Logistics is also a fundamental determinant of a country's ability to access international markets. Available studies in international and transport economics have shown that limited transport infrastructure and underperforming transport services can severely affect international competitiveness. However, the evidence lacks the overall impact of logistics performance-encompassing all inventory, warehousing, and transport components- on global trade. In order to fill this knowledge gap, the paper uses a gravitational trade model with 155 countries from all geographical regions between 2007 and 2018. Data on logistics performance is obtained from the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI). First, the relationship between logistics performance and a country’s total trade is estimated, followed by a breakdown by the economic sector. Then, the analysis is disaggregated according to the level of technological intensity of traded goods. Finally, after evaluating the intensive margin of trade, the relevance of logistics infrastructure and services for the extensive trade margin is assessed. Results suggest that: (i) improvements in both logistics infrastructure and services are associated with export growth; (ii) manufactured goods can significantly benefit from these improvements, especially when both exporting and importing countries increase their logistics performance; (iii) the quality of logistics infrastructure and services becomes more important as traded goods are technology-intensive; and (iv) improving the exporting country's logistics performance is essential in the intensive margin of trade while enhancing the importing country's logistics performance is more relevant in the extensive margin.

Keywords: low-cost, recycling, reuse, solid waste, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Christina Killian, Katie Wall, Séamus Fanning, Guerrino Macori

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Deep-level metagenomics offers a useful technical approach to explore the three dynamic One Health axes: healthcare, domiciliary and veterinary. There is currently limited understanding of the composition of complex biofilms, natural abundance of AMR genes and gene transfer occurrence in these ecological niches. By using a newly established small-scale complex biofilm model, COMBAT has the potential to provide new information on microbial diversity, antimicrobial resistance (AMR)-encoding gene abundance, and their transfer in complex biofilms of importance to these three One Health axes. Shotgun metagenomics has been used to sample the genomes of all microbes comprising the complex communities found in each biofilm source. A comparative analysis between untreated and biocide-treated biofilms is described. The basic steps include the purification of genomic DNA, followed by library preparation, sequencing, and finally, data analysis. The use of long-read sequencing facilitates the completion of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAG). Samples were sequenced using a PromethION platform, and following quality checks, binning methods, and bespoke bioinformatics pipelines, we describe the recovery of individual MAGs to identify mobile gene elements (MGE) and the corresponding AMR genotypes that map to these structures. High-throughput sequencing strategies have been deployed to characterize these communities. Accurately defining the profiles of these niches is an essential step towards elucidating the impact of the microbiota on each niche biofilm environment and their evolution.

Keywords: COMBAT, biofilm, metagenomics, high-throughput sequencing

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Authors: Shidvash Vakilipour, Masoud Mohammadi, Rouzbeh Riazi, Scott Ormiston, Kimia Amiri, Sahar Barati

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An essential component of a finite volume method (FVM) is the advection scheme that estimates values on the cell faces based on the calculated values on the nodes or cell centers. The most widely used advection schemes are upwind schemes. These schemes have been developed in FVM on different kinds of structured and unstructured grids. In this research, the physical influence scheme (PIS) is developed for a cell-centered FVM that uses an implicit coupled solver. Results are compared with the exponential differencing scheme (EDS) and the skew upwind differencing scheme (SUDS). Accuracy of these schemes is evaluated for a lid-driven cavity flow at Re = 1000, 3200, and 5000 and a backward-facing step flow at Re = 800. Simulations show considerable differences between the results of EDS scheme with benchmarks, especially for the lid-driven cavity flow at high Reynolds numbers. These differences occur due to false diffusion. Comparing SUDS and PIS schemes shows relatively close results for the backward-facing step flow and different results in lid-driven cavity flow. The poor results of SUDS in the lid-driven cavity flow can be related to its lack of sensitivity to the pressure difference between cell face and upwind points, which is critical for the prediction of such vortex dominant flows.

Keywords: cell-centered finite volume method, coupled solver, exponential differencing scheme (EDS), physical influence scheme (PIS), pressure weighted interpolation method (PWIM), skew upwind differencing scheme (SUDS)

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Authors: Chansheng He, Lanhui Zhang, Baoqing Zhang

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Spatial heterogeneity of landscape significantly affects watershed hydrological processes, particularly in high elevation and cold mountainous watersheds such as the inland river (terminal lake) basins in Northwest China, where the upper reach mountainous areas are the main source of streamflow for the downstream agricultural oases and desert ecosystems. Thus, it is essential to take into account spatial variations of hydrological processes in streamflow allocation at the watershed scale. This paper adapts the Distributed Large Basin Runoff Model (DLBRM) to the Heihe River Watershed, the second largest inland river with a drainage area of about 128,000 km2 in Northwest China, for understanding the transfer and partitioning mechanism among the glacier and snowmelt, surface runoff, evapotranspiration, and groundwater recharge among the upper, middle, and lower reaches in the study area. Results indicate that the upper reach Qilian Mountain area is the main source of streamflow for the middle reach agricultural oasis and downstream desert areas. Large withdrawals for agricultural irrigation in the middle reach had significantly depleted river flow for the lower reach desert ecosystems. Innovative conservation and enforcement programs need to be undertaken to ensure the successful implementation of water allocation plan of delivering 0.95 x 109 m3 of water downstream annually by the State Council in the Heihe River Watershed.

Keywords: DLBRM, Northwestern China, spatial variation, water allocation

Procedia PDF Downloads 287