Search results for: cholesterol level

Authors: N. S. Okoro

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An experiment was conducted to determine the growth performance, blood parameters and reproductive characteristics of 8-week old male weaner rabbits fed 2% boiled pigeon pea seed meal. The study lasted for 16 weeks. Results showed that hematological parameters of the two groups of rabbit bucks were not significantly affected (p > 0.05) by the treatment, meaning that the PPSM was adequate for maintaining the blood parameters at the normal levels. The 20% boiled PPSM significantly affected (P < 0.05) serum Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) (67.72±2.5 I.U/I) more than the ALT (57.50±2.02 I.U/I) of the control, which is an indication of liver problem. The globulin level (3.00 ± 0.23g/dl) of the 20% boiled PPSM group was significantly higher than that of the control (2.60±0.06 g/dl), indicating that the test diet did not alter protein metabolism in the rabbits. Boiled pigeon pea seed meal supported organ weight and testicular development in rabbit bucks, suggesting that boiling reduced the level of the anti-nutritional factors in pigeon pea seed meal. Thus, 20% boiled pigeon pea can be included in diets of rabbits without adverse effect on blood parameters and internal organs characteristics.

Keywords: hematology, internal organs, Pigeon pea, rabbits, serum biochemistry

Procedia PDF Downloads 396

Authors: Okwara O. S., Osunsina I. O. O., Pitan O. R., Afolabi C. G.

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Rice (Oryza sativa L.) belongs to the family poaceae and has become the most popular food. Globally, this crop is been faced with the menace of vertebrate pests, of which birds and rodents are the most implicated. The study avian and rodents’ infestations and the evaluation of attributable losses was carried out in 2020 and 2021 with the objectives of identifying the types of bird and rodent species associated with lowland rice and to determine the infestation levels, damage intensity, and the crop loss induced by these pests. The experiment was laid out in a split plot arrangement fitted into a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), with the main plots being protected and unprotected groups and the sub-plots being four rice varieties, Ofada, WITA-4, NERICA L-34, and Arica-3. Data collection was done over a 16-week period, and the data obtained were transformed using square root transformation model before Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was done at 5% probability level. The results showed the infestation levels of both birds and rodents across all the treatment means of thevarieties as not significantly different (p > 0.05) in both seasons. The damage intensity by these pests in both years were also not significantly different (p > 0.05) among the means of the varieties, which explains the diverse feeding nature of birds and rodents when it comes to infestations. The infestation level under the protected group was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than the infestation level recorded under the unprotected group.Consequently, an estimated crop loss of 91.94 % and 90.75 % were recorded in 2020 and 2021, respectively, andthe identified pest birds were Ploceus melanocephalus, Ploceus cuculatus, and Spermestes cucullatus. Conclusively, vertebrates pest cause damage to lowland rice which could result to a high percentage crop loss if left uncontrolled.

Keywords: pests, infestations, evaluation, losses, rodents, avian

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Somayeh Khanjani, Samaneh Nabavi, Shirin Jalili

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Aluminum phosphide (ALP) is an inorganic phosphide used to control insects and is a highly effective insecticide and rodenticide used frequently to protect stored grain. Acute poisoning with this compound is common in some countries including India and Iran, and is a serious health problem. In Iran it was known as "rice tablet", for its use to preserve rice. Two kinds of rice tablets one being herbal while other containing 3g aluminum phosphide (AlP) are available for use in Iranian households to protect stored food grains from pests and rodents. The toxicity of Aluminum phosphide is attributed to the liberation of phosphine gas in contact with water or weak acid and is the major cause of poisoning and deaths. Rice tablet (Aluminum Phosphid) poisoning may be associated with serious and sometimes incurable complications. In 61.3% of patients were shown uniform ingestion. Vomiting was the most common symptoms reported by 96.4% patients. Agitation was reported in 36.9% and felling of thirsty in 27.9 %. Although many complications such as Hypotension, Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Acute Renal Failure (ARF) AND Multi Organ Failure (MOF) were the common complications observed in these patients, but the most lethal complication was Cardiac Arrhythmias occurred in 36.9% of cases. Abdominal pain in 31.4% of the patients, nausea in 79.4% of the patients and 41.1% of the patients showed metabolic acidosis. Suicidal intention was the most common cause of poisoning leading to deaths in 18.6% of the patients. Aluminum phosphide can cause either elevation, decrease or no change in electrolytes, bicarbonate and blood glucose level. The possible mechanism for changes in blood glucose levels are complex and depend on the balance of factors which increase its concentration and those which reduce it. AlP poisoning has been postulated to stimulate cortisol which leads to increasing blood level of cortisol, also it may cause stimulation of glucagon, and Adrenaline secretion; in addition, it can inhibit insulin synthesis which may lead to hyperglycemia. Another suggested mechanism of hyperglycemia is rennin activity in some cases, an increase in magnesium level of plasma and that of tissues, and high phosphate level. Although hyperglycemia is most frequent in this poisoning and also is known as a marker of poor prognostic, hypoglycemia in aluminum phosphide poisoning is a rare finding which may be so dangerous. Patients showed sever hypotension and sever acidosis in addition to sever hypoglycemia. The presenting features of AlP intoxication are rapid onset of shock, severe metabolic acidosis, cardiac dysrhythmias and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Keywords: aluminum phosphide (ALP), rice tablet, poisoning, phosphine gas

Procedia PDF Downloads 517

Authors: Eki Farlen, Akas

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Condition assessment of oil-paper-insulated power transformers, particularly of water content, is becoming increasingly important for aged transformers. As insulation ages, it can produce water, which reduces its dielectric strength, accelerates the cellulose ageing process, and causes gas bubbles to form at high temperatures. This paper mainly assesses the life condition of oil-paper insulation system of Inter Bus Transformer (IBT) 30 MVA, 150/30 kV in PT PLN-Substation Jelok that has been operating for 41 years, since 1974. Valuable information about the condition of high voltage insulation may be obtained by measuring its dielectric response. This paper describes in detail the interpretation of Dielectric Response Analysis (DIRANA) measurements and the test result compared to other insulation tests to get deep information for diagnostic, such as Tan delta test, oil characteristic test and Dissolve Gas Analysis (DGA) test. This paper mainly discusses the parameter relationship between moisture content, water content, acidity, oil conductivity and dissipation factor. The result and analysis show that IBT 30 MVA Jelok phase U and W had just been ageing due to high acidity level (>0.2 mgKOH/g) which cause high moisture in cellulose/paper (%) are in wet category about 4.7% and 5% and water content in oil (ppm) about 3.13 ppm and 3.33 ppm at temperature 20°C. High acidity level can make oxidation process and produce water in paper and particle which can decrease the value of Interfacial Tension (IFT) below 22 mN/m (poor category) for both phase U and W. Even if paper insulation of transformer are in wet condition, dissipation factor and capacitance at the same frequency (50 Hz) from both measurement DIRANA test and Tangent delta test give the same result (almost), the results are 0.69% and 0.71% (<1%), it may be acceptable and should not be investigated. The DGA results show that TDCG are in level one (1) condition and there are no found a Key Gases, it means that transformers had no failure during operation like arching, partial discharge and thermal in oil or cellulose.

Keywords: diagnostic, inter-bus transformer, oil-paper insulation, moisture, dissipation factor

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Siti Aisyah binti Jumpaan

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21ˢᵗ century skills (PAK-21) integration has made its way into Malaysian curriculum when Ministry of Education introduce its implementation since 2016. This study was conducted to explore pre-service teachers’ readiness in integrating 21st century skills in the classroom via the digital storytelling (DST) method and to find gaps between theory and practice that can be integral towards pre-service teachers’ professional growth. Qualitative research method was used in this research involving six respondents who were selected using a purposive sampling method. Their response from interviews and lesson plan analysis were analysed using narrative analysis. The findings showed that pre-service teachers showed a moderate level of readiness in integrating 21st century skills using DST. Pre-service teachers demonstrated high level of preparedness in writing their lesson plan, but their interview revealed that they faced struggles in implementation due to several factors, such as lack of technology and failure to obtain students’ participation. This study further strengthens the need for specialised curriculum for pre-service teachers in teaching 21st century skills via DST.

Keywords: digital storytelling, 21ˢᵗ century skills, preservice teachers, teacher training

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Azman Ramlie, Vivian Foo Jing Wen

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As the advancement of technology has tremendously changed the way people communicate with each other, it has opened up opportunities for interracial relationships. Interracial relationship is also known as intercultural or interethnic relationships. This research topic aims to study on students’ perceptions toward interracial relationship in terms of their level of acceptance and approval. In addition, the study also focuses on determining and ranking the factors that affects students’ perceptions towards interracial relationship. This study also targets to determine the differences in students’ perceptions from business and communication major. This study uses a sample of university students from Sunway University, particularly on students in business and communication major. The study was conducted through online survey questionnaires. Results revealed that students’ level of acceptance towards interracial relationship was high. In addition, results also further indicated that family members’ support was one of the most important factors in influencing students’ perception towards interracial relationship. No diverse differences of perceptions among students in business and communication major towards interracial relationship were shown in the findings. Most of the result showed that both majors turned out to have similar perceptions towards interracial relationship. It can be said that the students’ perception towards interracial relationship did not differ from which major the students was in but their family background that would shape their perceptions.

Keywords: interracial relationship, racial, relationship, perceptions

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: Caroline M. B. De Araujo, Helenise A. Do Nascimento, Claudia J. Da S. Cavalcanti, Mauricio A. Da Motta Sobrinho, Maria F. Pimentel

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Oil production is often followed by the joint production of water and gas. During the journey up to the surface, due to severe conditions of temperature and pressure, the mixing between these three components normally occurs. Thus, the three phases separation process must be one of the first steps to be performed after crude oil extraction, where the water-oil separation is the most complex and important step, since the presence of water into the process line can increase corrosion and hydrates formation. A wide range of methods can be applied in order to proceed with oil-water separation, being more commonly used: flotation, hydrocyclones, as well as the three phase separator vessels. Facing what has been presented so far, it is the aim of this paper to study a system consisting of a three-phase separator, evaluating the influence of three variables: temperature, working pressure and separator type, for two types of oil (light and heavy), by performing two factorial design plans 23, in order to find the best operating condition. In this case, the purpose is to obtain the greatest oil flow rate in the product stream (m3/h) as well as the lowest percentage of water in the oil stream. The simulation of the three-phase separator was performed using Aspen Hysys®2006 simulation software in stationary mode, and the evaluation of the factorial experimental designs was performed using the software Statistica®. From the general analysis of the four normal probability plots of effects obtained, it was observed that interaction effects of two and three factors did not show statistical significance at 95% confidence, since all the values were very close to zero. Similarly, the main effect "separator type" did not show significant statistical influence in any situation. As in this case, it has been assumed that the volumetric flow of water, oil and gas were equal in the inlet stream, the effect separator type, in fact, may not be significant for the proposed system. Nevertheless, the main effect “temperature” was significant for both responses (oil flow rate and mass fraction of water in the oil stream), considering both light and heavy oil, so that the best operation condition occurs with the temperature at its lowest level (30oC), since the higher the temperature, the liquid oil components pass into the vapor phase, going to the gas stream. Furthermore, the higher the temperature, the higher the formation water vapor, so that ends up going into the lighter stream (oil stream), making the separation process more difficult. Regarding the “working pressure”, this effect showed to be significant only for the oil flow rate, so that the best operation condition occurs with the pressure at its highest level (9bar), since a higher operating pressure, in this case, indicated a lower pressure drop inside the vessel, generating lower level of turbulence inside the separator. In conclusion, the best-operating condition obtained for the proposed system, at the studied range, occurs for temperature is at its lowest level and the working pressure is at its highest level.

Keywords: factorial experimental design, oil production, simulation, three-phase separator

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Michelann Parr

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Family-school-community engagement enhances family-school-community well-being, collective confidence, and school climate. While it is often referred to as a positive thing in the literature for families, schools, and communities, it does not come without its struggles. While there are numerous things families, schools, and communities do each and every day to enhance engagement, it is often difficult to find our way to true belonging and engagement. Working our way surface level barriers is easy; we can provide childcare, transportation, resources, and refreshments. We can even change the environment so that families will feel welcome, valued, and respected. But there are often mindsets and perpsectives buried deep below the surface, most often grounded in societal, familial, and political norms, expectations, pressures, and narratives. This work requires ongoing energy, commitment, and engagement of all stakeholders, including families, schools, and communities. Each and every day, we need to take a reflective and introspective stance at what is said and done and how it supports the overall goal of family-school-community engagement. And whatever we must occur within a paradigm of care in additional to one of critical thinking and social justice. Families, and those working with families, must not simply accept all that is given, but should instead ask these types of questions: a) How, and by whom, are the current philosophies and practices of family-school engagement interrogated? b) How might digging below surface level meanings support understanding of what is being said and done? c) How can we move toward meaningful and authentic engagement that balances knowledge and power between family, school, district, community (local and global), and government? This type of work requires conscious attention and intentional decision-making at all levels bringing us one step closer to authentic and meaningful partnerships. Strategies useful to building a growth mindset include: a) interrogating and exploring consistencies and inconsistencies by looking at what is done and what is not done through multiple perspectives; b) recognizing that enhancing family-engagement and changing mindsets take place at the micro-level (e.g., family and school), but also require active engagement and awareness at the macro-level (e.g., community agencies, district school boards, government); c) taking action as an advocate or activist. Negative narratives about families, schools, and communities should not be maintained, but instead critical and courageous conversations in and out of school should be initiated and sustained; and d) maintaining consistency, simplicity, and steady progress. All involved in engagement need to be aware of the struggles, but keep them in check with the many successes. Change may not be observed on a day-to-day basis or even immediately, but stepping back and looking from the outside in, might change the view. Working toward a growth mindset will produce better results than a fixed mindset, and this takes time.

Keywords: family engagment, family-school-community engagement, parent engagement, parent involvment

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Sajjad Farahani, Wilkistar Otieno, Xiaohang Yue

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This paper develops a model for the optimal disposition decision for product returns in a remanufacturing system with limited recoverable inventory capacity. In this model, a constant demand is satisfied by remanufacturing returned products which are up to the minimum required quality grade. The quality grade of returned products is uncertain and remanufacturing cost increases as the quality level decreases, and remanufacturer wishes to determine which returned product to accept to be remanufactured for reselling, and any unaccepted returns may be salvaged at a value that increases with their quality level. Accepted returns can be stocked for remanufacturing upon demand requests, but incur a holding cost. A Markov decision problem is formulated in order to evaluate various performance measures for this system and obtain the optimal remanufacturing policy. A detailed numerical study reveals that our approach to the disposition problem outperforms the current industrial practice ignoring quality grade of returned products. In addition, we identify conditions under which this improvement is the highest.

Keywords: green supply chain management, matrix geometric method, production recovery, reverse supply chains

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: Muhammed Ordu, Eren Demir, Chris Tofallis

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The number of inpatient admissions in the UK has been significantly increasing over the past decade. These increases cause bed occupancy rates to exceed the target level (85%) set by the Department of Health in England. Therefore, hospital service managers are struggling to better manage key resource such as beds. On the other hand, this severe demand pressure might lead to confusion in wards. For example, patients can be admitted to the ward of another inpatient specialty due to lack of resources (i.e., bed). This study aims to develop a simulation-optimization model to reallocate the available number of beds in a mid-sized hospital in the UK. A hospital simulation model was developed to capture the stochastic behaviours of the hospital by taking into account the accident and emergency department, all outpatient and inpatient services, and the interactions between each other. A couple of outputs of the simulation model (e.g., average length of stay and revenue) were generated as inputs to be used in the optimization model. An integer linear programming was developed under a number of constraints (financial, demand, target level of bed occupancy rate and staffing level) with the aims of maximizing number of admitted patients. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was carried out by taking into account unexpected increases on inpatient demand over the next 12 months. As a result, the major findings of the approach proposed in this study optimally reallocate the available number of beds for each inpatient speciality and reveal that 74 beds are idle. In addition, the findings of the study indicate that the hospital wards will be able to cope with 14% demand increase at most in the projected year. In conclusion, this paper sheds a new light on how best to reallocate beds in order to cope with current and future demand for healthcare services.

Keywords: bed occupancy rate, bed reallocation, discrete event simulation, inpatient admissions, integer linear programming, projected usage

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Hessah Alsulami, Majedah Aldosari

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Introduction: Platelet threshold of 10x109 /L is recommended for clinically stable thrombocytopenic pediatric patients. Transfusions at a higher level (given the absence of research evidence, as determined by clinical circumstances, generally at threshold of 40x109 /L) may be required for patients with signs of bleeding, high fever, hyper-leukocytosis, rapid fall in platelet count, concomitant coagulation abnormality, critically ill patients, and those with impaired platelet function (including drug induced). Transfusions at a higher level may be also required for patients undergoing invasive procedures. Method: This study is a retrospective observational analysis of platelet transfusion thresholds in a single secondary pediatric hospital in Riyadh. From the blood bank database, the list of the patients who received platelet transfusions in the second half of 2018 was retrieved. Patients were divided into two groups; group A, those belong to the category of high platelet level for transfusion (such as those with bleeding, high fever, rapid fall in platelet count, impaired platelet function or undergoing invasive procedures) and group B, those who were not. Then we looked at the pre and post transfusion platelet levels for each group. The data was analyzed using GraphPad software and the data expressed as Mean ± SD. Result: A total of 112 of transfusion episodes in 61 patients (38% female) were analyzed. The age ranged from 24 days to 8 years. The distribution of platelet transfusion episodes was 64% (n=72) for group A and 36% (n= 40) for group B. The mean pre-transfusion platelet count was 46x103 ± (11x 103) for group A and 28x103 ± (6x103) for group B. the post-transfusion mean platelet count was 61 x 103 ± (14 x 103) and 60 x103 ± (24 x 103) for group A and B respectively. Among the groups the rise in the mean platelet count after transfusion was significant among stable patients (group B) compared to unstable patients (group A) (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The platelet count threshold for transfusion varied with the clinical condition and is higher among unstable patients’ group which is expected. For stable patients the threshold was higher than what it should be which means that the clinicians don’t follow the guidelines in this regard. The rise of platelet count after transfusion was higher among stable patients.

Keywords: platelet, transfusion, threshold, pediatric

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Sevdenur Onger, Ali Asram Sagiroglu

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Hyperpigmentation is a cosmetically unappealing skin problem caused by an overabundance of melanin in the skin. Its pathophysiology is caused by melanocytes being exposed to paracrine melanogenic stimuli, which can upregulate melanogenesis-related enzymes (such as tyrosinase) and cause melanosome formation. Tyrosinase is linked to the development of melanosomes biochemically, and it is the main target of hyperpigmentation treatment. therefore, decreasing tyrosinase activity to reduce melanosomes has become the main target of hyperpigmentation treatment. Niacinamide (NA) is a natural chemical found in a variety of plants that is used as a skin-whitening ingredient in cosmetic formulations. NA decreases melanogenesis in the skin by inhibiting melanosome transfer from melanocytes to covering keratinocytes. Furthermore, NA protects the skin from reactive oxygen species and acts as a main barrier with the skin, reducing moisture loss by increasing ceramide and fatty acid synthesis. However, it is very difficult for hydrophilic compounds such as NA to penetrate deep into the skin. Furthermore, because of the nicotinic acid in NA, it is an irritant. As a result, we've concentrated on strategies to increase NA skin permeability while avoiding its irritating impacts. Since nanotechnology can affect drug penetration behavior by controlling the release and increasing the period of permanence on the skin, it can be a useful technique in the development of whitening formulations. Liposomes have become increasingly popular in the cosmetics industry in recent years due to benefits such as their lack of toxicity, high penetration ability in living skin layers, ability to increase skin moisture by forming a thin layer on the skin surface, and suitability for large-scale production. Therefore, liposomes containing NA were developed for this study. Different formulations were prepared by varying the amount of phospholipid and cholesterol and examined in terms of particle sizes, polydispersity index (PDI) and pH values. The pH values of the produced formulations were determined to be suitable with the pH value of the skin. Particle sizes were determined to be smaller than 250 nm and the particles were found to be of homogeneous size in the formulation (pdi<0.30). Despite the important advantages of liposomal systems, they have low viscosity and stability for topical use. For these reasons, in this study, liposomal cream formulations have been prepared for easy topical application of liposomal systems. As a result, liposomal cream formulations containing NA have been successfully prepared and characterized. Following the in-vitro release and ex-vivo diffusion studies to be conducted in the continuation of the study, it is planned to test the formulation that gives the most appropriate result on the volunteers after obtaining the approval of the ethics committee.

Keywords: delivery systems, hyperpigmentation, liposome, niacinamide

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Rahul Kumar Singh, Apurva Sharma, Dilip Kumar Srivastava

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Tilting of our interest towards unconventional exploitation of hydrocarbons has raised a serious concern to environmentalists. Emerging technologies like horizontal/multi-lateral drilling with subsequent hydraulic fracturing or fracking etc., for exploitation of different conventional/unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, are related to creating micro-level seismic events below the surface of the earth. Monitoring of these micro-level seismic events is not possible by the conventional methodology of the seismic method. So, to tackle this issue, a new technology that is microseismic is very much in discussions around the globe. Multiple researches are being carried out these days around the globe in order to prove microseismic as a new essential in the E & P industry, especially for unconventional reservoir management. Microseismic monitoring is now used for reservoir surveillance, and the best application is checking the integrity of the caprock and containment of fluid in it. In general, in whatever terms we want to use micro-seismic related events monitoring and understanding the effectiveness of stimulation, this technology offers a lot of value in terms of insight into the subsurface characteristics and processes, and this makes it really a good geophysical method to be used in future.

Keywords: microseismic, monitoring, hydraulic fracturing or fracking, reservoir surveillance, seismic hazards

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Weera Chotithammaporn, Bannasorn Santhan

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the students’ satisfaction towards the counseling services of the Faculty of Industrial Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The sample group consisted of 311 students coming for counseling services during September to October 2012 BE to complete the questionnaires developed by the researcher. The data were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, and SD, from which it can be concluded that: 1) Personal information including gender, GPA, department, year of the study, and hometown revealed that most of the students in the Faculty of Industrial Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University were female with the GPA between 2.01 and 2.50 and studied in the Department of Interior and Exhibition Design and Graphic and Multimedia Design. Most of them were in the first year of the study and came from the southern part of Thailand. 2) The level of students’ satisfaction towards the counseling services of the Faculty of Industrial Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University was in overall at high level with the highest aspect on IT services followed by follow-up and evaluation service, counseling service, individual personal data collecting service, and personal placement service respectively.

Keywords: satisfaction, students, counseling service, Faculty of Industrial Technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 282

Authors: M. S. Alatas, H. D. Umucalilar

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SARA is a common and serious metabolic disorder in early lactation in dairy cattle and in finishing beef cattle, caused by diets with high inclusion of cereal grain. This experiment was performed to determine the efficacy of Megasphaera elsdenii, a major lactate-utilizing bacterium in prevention/treatment of SARA in vivo. In vivo experimentation, it was used eight ruminally cannulated rams and it was applied the rapid adaptation with the mixture of grain based on wheat (%80 wheat, %20 barley) and barley (%80 barley, %20 wheat). During the systematic adaptation, it was followed the probability of SARA formation by being measured the rumen pH with two hours intervals after and before feeding. After being evaluated the data, it was determined the ruminal pH ranged from 5,2-5,6 on the condition of feeding with 60 percentage of grain mixture based on barley and wheat, that assured the definite form of subacute acidosis. In four days SARA period, M. elsdenii (1010 cfu ml-1) was inoculated during the first two days. During the SARA period, it was observed the decrease of feed intake with M. elsdenii inoculation. Inoculation of M. elsdenii was caused to differentiation of rumen pH (P < 0,0001), while it was found the pH level approximately 5,55 in animals applied the inoculation, it was 5,63 pH in other animals. It was observed that total VFA with the bacterium inoculation tended to change in terms of grain feed (P < 0,07). It increased with the effect of total VFA inoculation in barley based diet, but it was more stabilized in wheat based diet. Bacterium inoculation increased the ratio of propionic acid (18,33%-21,38%) but it caused to decrease the butyric acid, and acetic/propionic acid. During the rapid adaptation, the concentration of lactic acid in the rumen liquid increased depending upon grain level (P<0,0001). On the other hand bacterium inoculation did not have an effect on concentration of lactic acid. M. elsdenii inoculation did not affect ruminal ammonia concentration. In the group that did not apply inoculation, the level of ruminal ammonia concentration was higher than the others applied inoculation. M. elsdenii inoculation did not changed protozoa count in barley-based diet whereas it decreased in wheat-based diet. In the period of SARA, it was observed that the level of blood glucose, lactate and hematocrit increased greatly after inoculation (P < 0,0001). When it is generally evaluated, it is seen that M. elsdenii inoculation has not a positive impact on rumen parameters. Therefore, to reveal the full impact of the inoculation with different strains, feedstuffs and animal groups, further research is required.

Keywords: In vivo, Subactute ruminal acidosis, Megasphaera elsdenii, Rumen fermentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 645

Authors: Cherri Kelly Seese, Renee Bourdeaux, Sarah Drivdahl

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Emergent adults in the United States are currently experiencing high levels of anxiety. It is imperative to uncover insulating factors which mitigate the impact of anxiety. This study aims to explore how constructs such as belongingness, relational communication, screen time and religiosity impact anxiety levels of emerging adults. Approximately 250 college students from a small, private university on the West Coast were given an online assessment that included: the General Belongingness Scale, Relational Communication Scale, Duke University Religion Index (DUREL), a survey of screen time, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. A MANOVA statistical test was conducted by assessing the effects of multiple dependent variables (scores on GBS, RCS, self-reported screen time and DUREL) on the four different levels of anxiety as measured on the BAI (minimal = 1, mild =2, moderate = 3, or severe = 4). Results indicated a significant relationship between one’s sense of belonging and one’s reported level of anxiety. These findings have implications for systems, like universities, churches, and corporations that want to improve young adults’ level of anxiety.

Keywords: anxiety, belongingness, relational communication, religiosity, screen time

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Nitin Jadhav, Pradeep R. Vavia

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Poor water soluble drugs are difficult to promote for oral drug delivery as they demonstrate poor and variable bioavailability because of its poor solubility and dissolution in GIT fluid. Nowadays lipid based formulations especially self microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) is found as the most effective technique. With all the impressive advantages, the need of high amount of surfactant (50% - 80%) is the major drawback of SMEDDS. High concentration of synthetic surfactant is known for irritation in GIT and also interference with the function of intestinal transporters causes changes in drug absorption. Surfactant may also reduce drug activity and subsequently bioavailability due to the enhanced entrapment of drug in micelles. In chronic treatment these issues are very conspicuous due to the long exposure. In addition the liquid self microemulsifying system also suffers from stability issues. Recently one novel approach of solid stabilized micro and nano emulsion (Pickering emulsion) has very admirable properties such as high stability, absence or very less concentration of surfactant and easily converts into the dry form. So here we are exploring pickering dry emulsion system for dissolution enhancement of anti-lipemic, extremely poorly water soluble drug (Fenofibrate). Oil moiety for emulsion preparation was selected mainly on the basis of higher solubility of drug. Captex 300 was showed higher solubility for fenofibrate, hence selected as oil for emulsion. With Silica (solid stabilizer); Span 20 was selected to improve the wetting property of it. Emulsion formed by Silica and Span20 as stabilizer at the ratio 2.5:1 (silica: span 20) was found very stable at the particle size 410 nm. The prepared emulsion was further preceded for spray drying and formed microcapsule evaluated for in-vitro dissolution study, in-vivo pharmacodynamic study and characterized for DSC, XRD, FTIR, SEM, optical microscopy etc. The in vitro study exhibits significant dissolution enhancement of formulation (85 % in 45 minutes) as compared to plain drug (14 % in 45 minutes). In-vivo study (Triton based hyperlipidaemia model) exhibits significant reduction in triglyceride and cholesterol with formulation as compared to plain drug indicating increasing in fenofibrate bioavailability. DSC and XRD study exhibit loss of crystallinity of drug in microcapsule form. FTIR study exhibit chemical stability of fenofibrate. SEM and optical microscopy study exhibit spherical structure of globule coated with solid particles.

Keywords: captex 300, fenofibrate, pickering dry emulsion, silica, span20, stability, surfactant

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Authors: Dauda G., Bila Ha Sani Y. M., Magaji M. G., Musa A. M., Hassan H. S.

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Introduction: Globimetula oreophila is a parasitic plant with a known therapeutic value that is widely used in the treatment of various ailments, including malaria, hypertension, cancer, diabetes, epilepsy and as a diuretic agent. Objectives: The present study is aimed at analyzing and documenting the level of trace and toxic metals in the crude ethanol leaf extract of G. oreophila. Methods: After collection and authentication, the leaves were air-dried, mashed into powder, weighed and extracted using aqueous ethanol (70%). The crude extract (0.5g) was digested with HNO₃: HCl (3:1); then heated to 2000C and analyzed for its metal content by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Results: Fe had the highest concentration (32.73mg/kg), while Pb was not detected. The concentrations of Co, Cu, Ni, Zn and Cd detected were 5.97, 10.8, 8.01 and 0.9mg/kg, respectively. The concentration of Cd, Fe and Ni were above the permissible limit of FAO/WHO. Conclusion: The results also show that the analyzed plant is a beneficial source of appropriate and essential trace metals. However, the leaf of G. oreophila in the present study was probably unsafe for long-term use because of the level of Fe, Ni, and Cd concentration.

Keywords: Globimetula oreophila, minerals, trace element, crude extract

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Yao Huang, Hongjie Yu, Fangrong Xu, Longbiao Cai, Qiqiang He

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The Klotho gene has been found to be involved in cardiovascular health, and epigenetic mechanism has risen as good candidates to understand the role of lifestyle factors in obesity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise intervention on the expression and DNA methylation of Klotho gene in high-fat diet induced obese mice. C57BL/6 male mice were fed a normal diet (ND) or a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. HFD induced obese mice were divided into secondary group (SED) and exercise group (EX) randomly. The treadmill exercise was performed in EX group for 8 weeks. The expression and DNA methylation of Klotho were evaluated by Western blot, RT-PCR, and Methylation-specific PCR. Results indicated that Klotho protein and mRNA expression were significantly lower in the SED group than those in the ND and EX groups (P<0.01), whereas no significant difference, was found between ND group and EX group (P>0.05). Furthermore, mice in the ND group and SED group showed significantly lower levels of completely methylated Klotho DNA in ND group (0%) and SED group (50%) compared with the EX group (90%), and unmethylated Klotho DNA level in ND group (80%) was significantly higher than those in the SED (0%) and EX (0%) groups. These results suggested that exercise leads to increased Klotho expression and reduced Klotho DNA methylation level in HFD induced obese mice.

Keywords: DNA methylation, exercise intervention, klotho, obese mice

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Authors: Anastassis Kozanitis, Diane Leduc, Alain Stockless

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This paper presents preliminary results from a two-year funded research program looking to analyze and understand the relationship between high cognitive engagement, higher order cognitive processes employed in situations of complex learning tasks, and the use of active learning pedagogies in engineering undergraduate programs. A mixed method approach was used to gauge student engagement and their cognitive processes when accomplishing complex tasks. Quantitative data collected from the self-report cognitive engagement scale shows that deep learning approach is positively correlated with high levels of complex learning tasks and the level of student engagement, in the context of classroom active learning pedagogies. Qualitative analyses of in depth face-to-face interviews reveal insights into the mechanisms influencing students’ cognitive processes when confronted with open-ended problem resolution. Findings also support evidence that students will adjust their level of cognitive engagement according to the specific didactic environment.

Keywords: cognitive engagement, deep and shallow strategies, engineering programs, higher order cognitive processes

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Authors: Yu-Jia Jian, Emily Chia-Yu Su, Hui-Ling Hsu, Jian-Jhih Chen

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Coronary artery is the major supplier of myocardial blood flow. When fat and cholesterol are deposit in the coronary arterial wall, narrowing and stenosis of the artery occurs, which may lead to myocardial ischemia and eventually infarction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), estimated 740 million people have died of coronary heart disease in 2015. According to Statistics from Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan, heart disease (except for hypertensive diseases) ranked the second among the top 10 causes of death from 2013 to 2016, and it still shows a growing trend. According to American Heart Association (AHA), the risk factors for coronary heart disease including: age (> 65 years), sex (men to women with 2:1 ratio), obesity, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, family history, lack of exercise and more. We have collected a dataset of 421 patients from a hospital located in northern Taiwan who received coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography. There were 300 males (71.26%) and 121 females (28.74%), with age ranging from 24 to 92 years, and a mean age of 56.3 years. Prior to coronary CT angiography, basic data of the patients, including age, gender, obesity index (BMI), diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, family history of coronary heart disease and exercise habits, were collected and used as input variables. The output variable of the prediction module is the degree of coronary artery stenosis. The output variable of the prediction module is the narrow constriction of the coronary artery. In this study, the dataset was randomly divided into 80% as training set and 20% as test set. Four machine learning algorithms, including logistic regression, stepwise regression, neural network and decision tree, were incorporated to generate prediction results. We used area under curve (AUC) / accuracy (Acc.) to compare the four models, the best model is neural network, followed by stepwise logistic regression, decision tree, and logistic regression, with 0.68 / 79 %, 0.68 / 74%, 0.65 / 78%, and 0.65 / 74%, respectively. Sensitivity of neural network was 27.3%, specificity was 90.8%, stepwise Logistic regression sensitivity was 18.2%, specificity was 92.3%, decision tree sensitivity was 13.6%, specificity was 100%, logistic regression sensitivity was 27.3%, specificity 89.2%. From the result of this study, we hope to improve the accuracy by improving the module parameters or other methods in the future and we hope to solve the problem of low sensitivity by adjusting the imbalanced proportion of positive and negative data.

Keywords: decision support, computed tomography, coronary artery, machine learning

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Authors: Qiyao Han, Xianhai Meng

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Urban infrastructures refer to the fundamental facilities and systems that serve cities. Due to the global climate change and human activities in recent years, many urban areas around the world are facing enormous challenges from natural and man-made disasters, like flood, earthquake and terrorist attack. For this reason, urban resilience to disasters has attracted increasing attention from researchers and practitioners. Given the complexity of infrastructure systems and the uncertainty of disasters, this paper suggests that studies of resilience could focus on urban functional sustainability (in social, economic and environmental dimensions) supported by infrastructure systems under disturbance. It is supposed that urban infrastructure systems with high resilience should be able to reconfigure themselves without significant declines in critical functions (services), such as primary productivity, hydrological cycles, social relations and economic prosperity. Despite that some methods have been developed to integrate the resilience and sustainability of individual infrastructure components, more work is needed to enable system-level integration. This research presents a conceptual analysis framework for integrating resilience and sustainability based on fractal theory. It is believed that the ability of an ecological system to maintain structure and function in face of disturbance and to reorganize following disturbance-driven change is largely dependent on its self-similar and hierarchical fractal structure, in which cross-scale resilience is produced by the replication of ecosystem processes dominating at different levels. Urban infrastructure systems are analogous to ecological systems because they are interconnected, complex and adaptive, are comprised of interconnected components, and exhibit characteristic scaling properties. Therefore, analyzing resilience of ecological system provides a better understanding about the dynamics and interactions of infrastructure systems. This paper discusses fractal characteristics of ecosystem resilience, reviews literature related to system-level infrastructure resilience, identifies resilience criteria associated with sustainability dimensions, and develops a conceptual analysis framework. Exploration of the relevance of identified criteria to fractal characteristics reveals that there is a great potential to analyze infrastructure systems based on fractal. In the conceptual analysis framework, it is proposed that in order to be resilient, urban infrastructure system needs to be capable of “maintaining” and “reorganizing” multi-scale critical functions under disasters. Finally, the paper identifies areas where further research efforts are needed.

Keywords: fractal, urban infrastructure, sustainability, system-level resilience

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Authors: Andriy Magula

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With the help of a special algorithm being the principle of multilevel periodicity, the periodic change of properties at the nuclear level of chemical elements was discovered and the variant for the periodic system of isotopes was presented. The periodic change in the properties of isotopes, as well as the vertical symmetry of subgroups, was checked for consistency in accordance with the following ten types of experimental data: mass ratio of fission fragments; quadrupole moment values; magnetic moment; lifetime of radioactive isotopes; neutron scattering; thermal neutron radiative capture cross-sections (n, γ); α-particle yield cross-sections (n, α); isotope abundance on Earth, in the Solar system and other stellar systems; features of ore formation and stellar evolution. For all ten cases, the correspondences for the proposed periodic structure of the nucleus were obtained. The system was formed in the usual 2D table, similar to the periodic system of elements, and the mass series of isotopes was divided into 8 periods and 4 types of ‘nuclear’ orbitals: sn, dn, pn, fn. The origin of ‘magic’ numbers as a set of filled charge shells of the nucleus was explained. Due to the isotope system, the periodic structure is shown at a new level of the universe, and the prospects of its practical use are opened up.

Keywords: periodic system, isotope, period, subgroup, “nuclear” orbital, nuclear reaction

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Authors: Clince Rodrigues

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Due to high dense areas, there is a continuous increase in the global warming and urban pollution, thus integrating green with the built environment is vital. The paper deals with the understanding of vegetation in architecture and how a proper design strategy can aim at improving not only the performances of buildings but also the outdoor climate. In the present scenario of cities, one cannot inhale pure air. Vegetations combat global warming by absorbing the carbon emitted by vehicles, lowering carbon emissions from fossil fuel-burning plants, and reducing the energy used for climate control in buildings by the use of plants which can reduce the carbon emission and thus, making the environment less polluted. A comparative study of areas, neighborhood and dwelling unit has been used as a scope for understanding different scenarios and scale. By comparing a system (area; building) with and without vegetation, and then finding out the difference. Understanding the Vijayawada city by taking its past and present conditions, and how these changes have affected the environment and people at a macro and micro level. Built environment and climactic performance at the building level and surrounding spaces are the areas that are covered in the study.

Keywords: climate, environment, neighborhood, pollution, vegetation, Vijayawada, urban

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Authors: Dipti Govil, Nidhi Khosla

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Couple-level reports of contraception are important as wives and husbands may give different reports about contraceptive use. Using matched couple-data (N=62910), from India's NFHS–IV (2015-16), this paper examines concordance in spousal reports of current contraceptive use and its differentials. Reporting of contraceptive use was higher among wives (59%) than husbands (25%). Concordance was low; 16.5% of couples reported the use of the same method, while 21% reported the use of any method. There existed a huge denial from husbands on the use of female sterilization. Reconstruction of contraceptive use among men increased concordance by 10%. Multivariate analysis shows that concordance was low in urban and Southern India, among younger women and women with lower wealth-index. Men's control over household decision-making and negative attitudes towards contraception were associated with a lower concordance. Findings highlight the importance of using couple-level data to estimate contraceptive prevalence, the role of education programs to inculcate positive attitudes towards contraception, fostering gender equality, and involving men into family planning efforts. The results also raise the issue of data quality as the questions were asked differently from men and women, which might have contributed to wide discordance.

Keywords: concordance, contraceptive use, couple, female sterilisation, India

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Authors: Yu Bingqing

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Research on the meteorological observation data of conventional meteorological stations in Jiangnan area from 2001 to 2020 and digital elevation DEM, the "golden section" comfort index calculation method was used to refine the spatial estimation of climate comfort in Jiangnan area under undulating terrain on the Gis platform, and its spatiotemporal distribution characteristics in the region were analyzed. The results can provide reference for the development and utilization of climate resources in Jiangnan area.The results show that: ① there is a significant spatial difference between winter and summer climate comfort from low latitude to high latitude. ②There is a significant trend of decreasing climate comfort from low altitude to high altitude in winter, but the opposite is true in summer. ③There is a trend of decreasing climate comfort from offshore to inland in winter, but the difference is not significant in summer. The climate comfort level in the natural lake area is higher in summer than in the surrounding areas, but not in winter. ⑤ In winter and summer, altitude has the greatest influence on the difference in comfort level.

Keywords: vernacular courtyards, thermal environment, depth-to-height ratio, climate adaptability，Southeast China

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Authors: Dmitry Dikarev, Ajit Nimbalker, Alexei Davydov

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Polar coding is a novel example of error correcting codes, which can achieve Shannon limit at block length N→∞ with log-linear complexity. Active research is being carried to adopt this theoretical concept for using in practical applications such as 5th generation wireless communication systems. Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) error detection code is broadly used in conjunction with successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding algorithm to improve finite-length polar code performance. However, there are two issues: increase of code block payload overhead by CRC bits and decrease of CRC error-detection capability. This paper proposes a method to control CRC overhead and false alarm rate of polar decoding. As shown in the computer simulations results, the proposed method provides the ability to use any set of CRC polynomials with any list size while maintaining the desired level of false alarm rate. This level of flexibility allows using polar codes in 5G New Radio standard.

Keywords: 5G New Radio, channel coding, cyclic redundancy check, list decoding, polar codes

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Authors: C. Noknoi, W. Boripunt

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This research aims to compare the corrupt behavior of local government officials and the public’s opinion about the effects of this corruption, as classified by the personal factors of the public. It also analyzes the relationship between the corrupt behavior of local government officials and the public’s opinion toward the effects of this corruption. The sample used in this research comprised 322 voters from Songkhla province, with a questionnaire being used to collect the data. The statistics used in the data analysis were the percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. The results showed that the corrupt behavior of local government officials was at a high overall level. The sample’s opinion toward the effects of corrupt local government officials was also at a high overall level. Hypothesis testing indicated that samples with different personal factors did not vary in how they regarded the corrupt behavior of local government officials, and the samples’ opinions toward the effects of corrupt local government officials also did not vary. The corrupt behavior of local government officials and the opinions toward the effect of corrupt local government officials are both at consistently high levels and follow the same trend.

Keywords: corrupt behavior, local government, official, Thailand

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Authors: Saifunnahar

Abstract:

As a former English colony, the relationship of Bangladesh with the English language goes a long way back. English is taught as a compulsory subject in Bangladesh from an early age starting from grade 1 and continuing through the 12th, yet, students are not competent enough to communicate in English proficiently. To improve students’ English language competency, the Bangladesh Ministry of Education introduced communicative language teaching (CLT) methods in English classrooms in the 1990s. It has been decades since this effort was taken, but the students’ level of proficiency is still not satisfactory. The main reason behind this failure is that CLT-based teaching-learning methods have not been effectively implemented. Very little research has been conducted to address the issues English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms are facing to carry out CLT methodologies in secondary schools (grades 6 to 10) in Bangladesh. Though the secondary level is crucial for students’ language learning and retention, EFL classrooms are marked with various issues that make teaching-learning harder for teachers and students. This study provides an overview of the status of CLT in EFL classrooms and the reasons behind failing to implement CLT in secondary schools in Bangladesh through an analysis of the qualitative data collected from different literature. Based on the findings, effective approaches have been recommended to employ CLT in EFL classrooms.

Keywords: Bangladesh, communicative language teaching, English as a foreign language, secondary schools, pedagogy

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Authors: R. Kandiah, K. Miyamoto

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In Sri Lanka, the Jaffna area is a high drought affected area and depends mainly on groundwater aquifers for water needs. Water for daily activities is extracted from wells. As households manually extract water from the wells, it is not drawn from mid evening to early morning. The water inflow at night provides the maximum water level that decreases during the daytime due to extraction. The storage volume of water in wells is limited or at its lowest level during the dry season. This study analyzes the domestic water budget during the dry season in the Jaffna area. In order to evaluate the water inflow rate into wells, storage volume and extraction volume from wells over time, water pressure is measured at the bottom of three wells, which are located in coastal area denoted as well A, in nonspecific area denoted as well B, and agricultural area denoted as well C. The water quality at the wells A, B, and C, are mostly fresh, modest fresh, and saline respectively. From the monitoring, we can find that the daily inflow amount of water into the wells and daily water extraction depend on each other, that is, higher extraction yields higher inflow. And, in the dry season, the daily inflow volume and the daily extraction volume of each well are almost in balance.

Keywords: accessible volume, consumption volume, inflow rate, water budget

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