Search results for: microbial community

Authors: Zonglin Yang, Tatsuya Akiyama, Kerry S. Williamson, Michael J. Franklin, Thiruvarangan Ramaraj

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that forms surface-associated microbial communities (biofilms) on artificial implant devices and on human tissue. Biofilm infections are difficult to treat with antibiotics, in part, because the bacteria in biofilms are physiologically heterogeneous. One measure of biological heterogeneity in a population of cells is to quantify the cellular concentrations of ribosomes, which can be probed with fluorescently labeled nucleic acids. The fluorescent signal intensity following fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis correlates to the cellular level of ribosomes. The goals here are to provide computationally and statistically robust approaches to automatically quantify cellular heterogeneity in biofilms from a large library of epifluorescent microscopy FISH images. In this work, the initial steps were developed toward these goals by developing an automated biofilm detection approach for use with FISH images. The approach allows rapid identification of biofilm regions from FISH images that are counterstained with fluorescent dyes. This methodology provides advances over other computational methods, allowing subtraction of spurious signals and non-biological fluorescent substrata. This method will be a robust and user-friendly approach which will enable users to semi-automatically detect biofilm boundaries and extract intensity values from fluorescent images for quantitative analysis of biofilm heterogeneity.

Keywords: image informatics, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, biofilm, FISH, computer vision, data visualization

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Authors: Preeti Madan, Shalini Malhotra, Nirmaljit Kaur, Charoo Hans, VK Sabarwal

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Hospital is one of the most diverse and complex institutions frequented by people from every walk of life without any distinction between age, sex, gender, religion or intellect. This is over and above the normal inhabitant of hospital i.e. doctors, patients, and paramedical staff. The hospital waste generated 85% is non hazardous, 10% infectious and around 5% are non-infectious but hazardous waste. The management of biomedical waste is still in its infancy. There is a lot of confusion with the problems among the generators, operators, decision makers, and general community about the safe management of biomedical waste prompt action initiated to seek new scientific, safe, and cost-effective management of waste.

Keywords: biomedical waste, nosocomial infection, waste management, hospitals

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Authors: Sum Lau, Wing Chung Cleo Lau, Wing Yan Chu, Long Ching Ip, Wan Yin Lo, Jo Long Sam Yau, Ka Ho Hui, Sze Yi Mak

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Biomedical engineering (BME) is an interdisciplinary subject where knowledge about biology and medicine is applied to novel applications, solving clinical problems. This subject is crucial for cities such as Hong Kong, where the burden on the medical system is rising due to reasons like the ageing population. Hong Kong, who is actively boosting technological advancements in recent years, sets BME, or biotechnology, as a major category, as reflected in the 2018-19 Budget, where biotechnology was one of the four pillars for development. Over the years, while resources in terms of money and space have been provided, there has been a lack of talents expressed by both the academia and industry. While exogenous factors, such as COVID, may have hindered talents from outside Hong Kong to come, endogenous factors should also be considered. In particular, since there are already a few local universities offering BME programmes, their curriculum or style of education requires to be reviewed to intensify the network of the BME community and support post-academic career development. It was observed that while undergraduate (UG) studies focus on knowledge teaching with some technical training and postgraduate (PG) programmes concentrate on upstream research, the programmes are generally confined to the academic sector and lack connections to the industry. In light of that, a “Biomedical Innovation and Outreach Programme 2022” (“B.I.O.2022”) was held to connect students and professors from academia with clinicians and engineers from the industry, serving as a comparative approach to conventional education methods (UG and PG programmes from tertiary institutions). Over 100 participants, including undergraduates, postgraduates, secondary school students, researchers, engineers, and clinicians, took part in various outreach events such as conference and site visits, all held from June to July 2022. As a case study, this programme aimed to tackle the aforementioned problems with the theme of “4Cs” (connection, communication, collaboration, and commercialisation). The effectiveness of the programme is investigated by its ability to serve as an adult and continuing education and the effectiveness of causing social change to tackle current societal challenges, with the focus on tackling the lack of talents engaging in biomedical engineering. In this study, B.I.O.2022 is found to be able to complement the traditional educational methods, particularly in terms of knowledge exchange between the academia and the industry. With enhanced communications between participants from different career stages, there were students who followed up to visit or even work with the professionals after the programme. Furthermore, connections between the academia and industry could foster the generation of new knowledge, which ultimately pointed to commercialisation, adding value to the BME industry while filling the gap in terms of human resources. With the continuation of events like B.I.O.2022, it provides a promising starting point for the development and relationship strengthening of a BME community in Hong Kong, and shows potential as an alternative way of adult education or learning with societal benefits.

Keywords: biomedical engineering, adult education for social change, comparative methods and principles, lifelong learning, faced problems, promises, challenges and pitfalls

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Authors: Dessy Laksyana Utami

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Manual material handling activities often make it difficult for humans to work like this. Muscle injury due to incorrect posture.Workers need to facilitate their activities. One tool to assist their activities in the transportation of ordinary materials is a trolley. This tool is very useful because it can be used.It can bring many items without having to spend more energy to operate it. Very Comfortable used a trolley in the community. But the old design still have a complaint by worker, because lack of grip and capacity. After posture analysis with the REBA method, the value of risk need to be increased is obtained tool. Re design use Indonesian anthropometric data with the 50th percentile.

Keywords: Material Handling, REBA method, postural assessment, Trolley.

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Authors: J. Casteleiro- Pitrez

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The interest in Virtual Reality (VR) keeps increasing among the community of designers. To develop this type of immersive experience, the understanding of new processes and methodologies is as fundamental as its complex implementation which usually implies hiring a specialized team. In this paper, we introduce a case study, a platform that allows designers to easily create complex VR experiences, present its features, and its development process. We conclude that this platform provides a complete solution for the design and development of VR experiences, no-code needed.

Keywords: creatives, designers, virtual reality, virtual reality design platform, virtual reality system, no-coding

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Vitheejongjaroen P., Jaisin Y., Pachekrepapol U., Taweechotipatr M.

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Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the most common type of microorganisms that had been used as probiotics also known for many beneficial health effects. The antioxidant activity of LAB is associated with numerous health-protective effects. This research aimed to investigate the antioxidant activity of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Thai sour pork sausage for their application in fermented milk products. Antioxidant activity determined by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging assay showed that the isolate FN33-7, as 1 of 8 isolated exhibited scavenging activity in intact cell 5-7%, and supernatant 13-16%, intracellular cell free extract 42-48% respectively. This isolate was identified using 16S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis as Lactobacillus plantarum. The effect of milk fermented with L. plantarum FN33-7 on microbial count, pH and syneresis was assessed during refrigerated storage period of 28 days. The strain showed increased viability, pH level decreased, while syneresis increased. These results are similar to dairy products fermented with commercial starter cultures. Additionally, microstructure analysis of fermented milk by fluorescent microscopy showed that curd structure appeared to be dense and less porous in this fermented milk than commercial yogurt. The results of this study indicated that L. plantarum FN33-7 was a good probiotic candidate to be used in cultured milk products to reduce the risk of diseases caused by oxidative stress.

Keywords: Lactobacillus plantarum, probiotics, free radical, antioxidant, oxidative stress, fermented milk products

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Authors: T. S. Beerenahally, S. Amruthavalli, C. M. Munegowda, Leelavathi, Nagarathna

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Introduction: In majority of urban India, the health system is split between different authorities being responsible for the health care of urban population. We believe that, apart from poor awareness and financial barriers to care, there are other health system barriers which affect quality and access to care for people with diabetes. In this paper, we attempted to identify health system complexity that determines access to public health system for diabetes care in KG Halli, a poor urban neighborhood in Bengaluru. The KG Halli has been a locus of a health systems research from 2009 to 2015. Methodology: The source of data is from the observational field-notes written by research team as part of urban health action research project (UHARP). Field notes included data from the community and the public primary care center. The data was generated by the community health assistants and the other research team members during regular home visits and interaction with individuals who self-reported to be diabetic over four years as part of UHARP. Results: It emerged during data analysis that the patients were not keen on utilizing primary public health center for many reasons. Patient has felt that the service provided at the center was not integrated. There was lack of availability of medicines, with a regular stock out of medicines in a year and laboratory service for investigation was limited. Many of them said that the time given by the providers was not sufficient and there was also a feeling of providers not listening to them attentively. The power dynamics played a huge role in communication. Only the consultation was available for free of cost at the public primary care center. The patient had to spend for the investigations and the major portion for medicine. Conclusion: Diabetes is a chronic disease that poses an important emerging public health concern. Most of the financial burden is borne by the family as the public facilities have failed to provide free care in India. Our study indicated various factors including individual beliefs, stigma and financial constraints affecting compliance to diabetes care.

Keywords: diabetes care, disintegrated health system, quality of care, urban health

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Authors: L. A. Bosnea, T. Moschakis, C. Biliaderis

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Two probiotic strains of Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei (E6) and Lactobacillus paraplantarum (B1), isolated from traditional Greek dairy products, were microencapsulated by complex coacervation using whey protein isolate (WPI, 3% w/v) and gum arabic (GA, 3% w/v) solutions mixed at different polymer ratio (1:1, 2:1 and 4:1). The effect of total biopolymer concentration on cell viability was assessed using WPI and GA solutions of 1, 3 and 6% w/v at a constant ratio of 2:1. Also, several parameters were examined for optimization of the microcapsule formation, such as inoculum concentration and the effect of ionic strength. The viability of the bacterial cells during heat treatment and under simulated gut conditions was also evaluated. Among the different WPI/GA weight ratios tested (1:1, 2:1, and 4:1), the highest survival rate was observed for the coacervate structures made with the ratio of 2:1. The protection efficiency at low pH values is influenced by both concentration and the ratio of the added biopolymers. Moreover, the inoculum concentration seems to affect the efficiency of microcapsules to entrap the bacterial cells since an optimum level was noted at less than 8 log cfu/ml. Generally, entrapment of lactobacilli in the complex coacervate structure enhanced the viability of the microorganisms when exposed to a low pH environment (pH 2.0). Both encapsulated strains retained high viability in simulated gastric juice (>73%), especially in comparison with non-encapsulated (free) cells (<19%). The encapsulated lactobacilli also exhibited enhanced viability after 10–30 min of heat treatment (65oC) as well as at different NaCl concentrations (pH 4.0). Overall, the results of this study suggest that complex coacervation with WPI/GA has a potential to deliver live probiotics in low pH food systems and fermented dairy products; the complexes can dissolve at pH 7.0 (gut environment), releasing the microbial cells.

Keywords: probiotic, complex coacervation, whey, encapsulation

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Authors: M. L. Moyo

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Concerns about climate change, food productivity, and the ever-increasing cost of commercial fertilizer products is forcing have spurred interest in the production of alternatives or substitutes for commercial fertilizer products. In this study, the potential of pyrolytic tire char (PT-char) to improve soil productivity was investigated. The use of carbonized biomass, which is commonly termed biochar or biofertilizer and exhibits similar properties to PT-char in agriculture is not new, with historical evidence pointing to the use of charcoal for soil improvement by indigenous Amazon people for several centuries. Due to minimal market value or use of PT-char, huge quantities are currently stockpiled in South Africa. This successively reduces revenue and decreases investments in waste tire recycling efforts as PT-char constitutes 40 % weight of the total waste tire pyrolysis products. The physicochemical analysis results reported in this study showed that PT-char contains a low concentration of essential plant elements (P and K) and, therefore, cannot be used for increasing nutrient availability in soils. A low presence of heavy metals (Ni, Pb, and Cd), which may be harmful to the environment at high application rates was also observed. In addition, the results revealed that PT-char contains very high levels of Zn, a widely known phytotoxicity causing agents in plants. However, the study also illustrated that PT-char is made up of a highly aromatic and condensed carbon structure. PT-char is therefore highly stable, less prone to microbial degradation, and has a low chemical reactivity in soils. Considering these characteristics, PT-char meets the requirements for use as a carbon sequestration agent, which may be useful in mitigating climate change.

Keywords: agriculture, carbon sequestration, physicochemical analysis, pyrolytic tire char, soil amendment.

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Authors: Amanda Aliende da Matta

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In different fields, there are people who have something that stands out. In the educational world, for example, it is clear when some teachers have something: they are the best teachers, but this is not directly attributed to their disciplines, methodologies, etc. It is that they have something that captivates, inspires, and motivates. But we also find this something in other contexts. In this thesis, the interest is in something that some marginalized people, such as Ab (fictitious name), have. Ab was born in a rural community and saw the lifestyle of his family change drastically as a consequence of structural changes in his village. The community became impoverished, and together with a group of teenagers, he decided to migrate to Spain in search of opportunities. His best friend drowned during the crossing. After arriving, he lived in indecent conditions and felt unsafe. He now suffers from anxiety and frequently faints from it. Yet, he’s linked to Joves x la pau (a Christian project, although he is a Muslim), distributing food for people who live on the streets every Thursday afternoon. When he asked about what happens on cold and rainy days, he explained simply: "if it rains, I distribute the food, and immediately I get home, take a bath, and sleep warm under my roof. That is when we most have to go." This something he has will be called caring. And one of the general objectives of the thesis is to discover what are the meaning structures of this caring what is the lived experience of this caring. In this communication, preliminary results of an Applied Hermeneutic Phenomenology (AHP) study on the lived experience of caring as a vulnerable person are presented. The research means to answer what is the lived experience of caring as a vulnerable person. That is, to describe and explain what it is like to caregive for a vulnerable person, what it is, essentially, to caregive for a vulnerable person, what makes the lived experience of caregiving for a vulnerable person different from any other. In order to investigate the meaning of the phenomenon of caregiving as a vulnerable person, as already stated, the method used will be Applied Hermeneutic Phenomenology (AHP). We base ourselves, initially, on the proposal of Raquel Ayala-Carabajo and Max Van Manen. As Van Manen (1990) explains, AHP is a method that works essentially through fieldwork, with the collection of data on lived experience (experiential material). It is a phenomenology of practice. We here present the provisional themes we found: caregiving as a vulnerable person is seeing yourself in the other, identifying with the care-receiver; Caregiving as a vulnerable person is putting the other’s need before oneself’s; Caregiving as a vulnerable person is temporarily overcoming your weaknesses to make yourself strong for the other; Caregiving as a vulnerable person is going beyond the conventional approach; and Caregiving as a vulnerable person is taking responsibility even if it’s not yours.

Keywords: applied hermeneutic phenomenology, care ethics, hermeneutics, phenomenology

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Authors: Samia Hassan, Fouzia Latif

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In many countries, education is still far from being a knowledge industry in the sense of own practices that are not yet being transformed by knowledge about the efficacy of those practices. The core question of this paper is why students get bored in class? Have we balanced between the creation and advancement of an engaging learning community and effective learning environment? And between, giving kids confidence to achieve their maximum and potential goals, we sand managing student’s behavior. We conclude that creating a positive learning environment enhances opportunities for young children to feel safe, secure, and to supported in order to do their best learning. Many factors can use in classrooms aid to the positive environment like course content, class preparation, and behavior.

Keywords: effective, environment, learning, positive

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Authors: Nuruol S. Mohd, Safia Ahmed, Rumana Riffat, Baoqiang Li

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Anaerobic digestion at mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures have been widely studied and evaluated by numerous researchers. Limited extensive research has been conducted on anaerobic digestion in the intermediate zone of 45°C, mainly due to the notion that limited microbial activity occurs within this zone. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the performance and the capability of anaerobic digestion at 45°C in producing class A biosolids, in comparison to a mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion system operated at 35°C and 55°C, respectively. In addition to that, the investigation on the possible inhibition factors affecting the performance of the digestion system at this temperature will be conducted as well. The 45°C anaerobic digestion systems were not able to achieve comparable methane yield and high-quality effluent compared to the mesophilic system, even though the systems produced biogas with about 62-67% methane. The 45°C digesters suffered from high acetate accumulation, but sufficient buffering capacity was observed as the pH, alkalinity and volatile fatty acids (VFA)-to-alkalinity ratio were within recommended values. The accumulation of acetate observed in 45°C systems were presumably due to the high temperature which contributed to high hydrolysis rate. Consequently, it produced a large amount of toxic salts that combined with the substrate making them not readily available to be consumed by methanogens. Acetate accumulation, even though contributed to 52 to 71% reduction in acetate degradation process, could not be considered as completely inhibitory. Additionally, at 45°C, no ammonia inhibition was observed and the digesters were able to achieve volatile solids (VS) reduction of 47.94±4.17%. The pathogen counts were less than 1,000 MPN/g total solids, thus, producing Class A biosolids.

Keywords: 45°C anaerobic digestion, acetate accumulation, class A biosolids, salt toxicity

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Authors: R. Begum, M. M. R. Jahangir, M. Jahiruddin, M. R. Islam, M. M. Rahman, M. B. Hossain, P. Hossain

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Quantifying carbon (C) sequestration in soils is necessary to help better understand the effect of agricultural practices on the C cycle. The estimated contribution of agricultural carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) to global warming potential (GWP) has a wide range. The underlying causes of this huge uncertainty are the difficulties to predict the regional CO₂ and CH₄ loss due to the lack of experimental evidence on CO₂ and CH₄ emissions and associated drivers. The CH₄ and CO₂ emissions were measured in irrigated wheat in subtropical floodplain soils which have been under two soil disturbance levels (strip vs. conventional tillage; ST vs. CT being both with 30% residue retention) and three N fertilizer rates (60, 100, and 140% of the recommended N fertilizer dose, RD) in annual wheat (Triticum aestivum)-mungbean (Vigna radiata)-rice (Oryza sativa L) for seven consecutive years. The highest CH₄ and CO₂ emission peak was observed on day 3 after urea application in both tillages except CO₂ flux in CT. Nitrogen fertilizer application rate significantly influenced mean and cumulative CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes. The CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes decreased in an optimum dose of N fertilizer except for ST for CH₄. The CO₂ emission significantly showed higher emission at minimum (60% of RD) fertilizer application at both tillages. Soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), organic carbon (SOC), Particulate organic carbon (POC), permanganate oxidisable carbon (POXC), basal respiration (BR) were significantly higher in ST which were negative and significantly correlated with CO₂. However, POC and POXC were positively and significantly correlated with CH₄ emission.

Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions, methane emission, nitrogen rate, tillage

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Authors: Meidesta Pitria, Akiko Okabe

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In high-density informal settlement, extension area at the outside of the houses could primarily happen as a spatial modification response. House extension in high-density informal settlement is not only becoming a physical spatial modification that makes a blur zone between private and public but also supporting the growth and existence of informal economy and other daily activities in both individuals and communities. This research took a case study in an informal settlement named Kampung Cikini, a densely populated area in Central Jakarta. The aim of this study is to identify and clarify house extension as a strategy in dealing with urbanization in an informal settlement. By using the perspective and information from housewives, the analysis is based on the assumption that land ownership transformation and the activities in house extension area influence the different kinds of house extension’s spatial modification and local planning policy in relation with the implementation of house extension strategy. The data collection was done in four sites, two sites are located in outer-wide alley and another two sites are located in inner-narrow alley. In this research, data of 104 housewives in 86 houses were collected through representatives of housewives and local leader of each sites. The research was started from participatory mapping process, deep interview with local leader, and initiated collaboration with housewives community in having a celebration as communal event to cultivate together the issue. This study shows that land ownership, activities, and alley are indispensable in the decision of extension space making. The more permanency status of land ownership the more permanent and various extension could be implemented. However, in some blocks, the existence of origin house or first land owner also has a significant role in coordination and agreement in using and modifying extension space. In outer-wide alley, the existence of more various activities in front area of the houses is significantly related with the chance given by having wider alley, particularly for informal income generating activities. In the inner-narrow alley, limited space in front of the houses affects more negotiations in the community for having more shared spaces, even inside their private space.

Keywords: house extension, housewives, informal settlement, kampung, high density

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Authors: Dorothy Kagazi

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The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) remains one of the most crop-damaging species around Kibale National Park, western Uganda. Elephant crop raiding deprives communities of food and incomes, consequently impacting livelihoods, attitude, and support for conservation. It also attracts an aggressive reaction from local communities including the retaliatory killing of a species that is already endangered and listed under Appendix I of the Convention on Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). In order to mitigate against elephant crop raiding and minimize conflict, a number of interventions were devised by the government of Uganda such as physical guarding, scare-shooting, excavation of trenches, growing of unpalatable crops and fire lighting all of which have over the years been implemented around the park. These generated varying degrees of effectiveness but largely never solved the problem of elephants crossing into communities to destroy food and shelter which had a negative effect onto sustainable tourism of the communities who often resorted to killing these animals and hence contributing the falling numbers of these animals. It was until government discovered that there are far more effective ways of deterring these animals from crossing to communities that it commissioned a study to deploy the African honeybee (Apis mellifera scutellata) as a deterrent against elephant crop raiding and income enhancement for local people around the park. These efforts led to a number of projects around Kibale National Park where communities were facilitated to keep bees for human-elephant conflict mitigation and rural income enhancement through the sale of honey. These projects have registered tremendous success in reducing crop damage, enhance rural incomes, influence positive attitude change and ultimately secure community support for elephant and park conservation which is a clear manifestation of sustainable tourism development in the area. To address the issue of sustainability, the project was aligned with four major objectives that contributed to the overall goal of maintaining the areas around the parks and the national park itself in such a manner that it remains viable over an infinite period. Among these included determining deterrence effects of bees against elephant crop raiding, assessing the contribution of beekeeping towards rural income enhancement, determining the impact of community involvement of park conservation and management among others. The project deployed 500 improved hives by placing them at specific and previously identified and mapped out elephant crossing points along the park boundary. A control site was established without any intervention to facilitate comparison of findings and data was collected on elephant raiding frequency, patterns, honey harvested, and community attitude towards the park. A socio-economic assessment was also undertaken to ascertain the contribution of beekeeping to incomes and attitude change. In conclusion, human-wildlife conflicts have disturbed conservation and sustainable tourism development efforts. Such success stories like the beekeeping strategy should hence be extensively discussed and widely shared as a conservation technique for sustainable tourism.

Keywords: bees, communities, conservation, elephants

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Authors: Agnieszka Nowogrodzka

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Objectives: ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder in which symptoms are most prominent throughout childhood. In the longer term, these symptoms, as well as the behaviour of the child, the experiences arising from the response of the community to the child's symptoms, as well as the functioning of the community itself, all contribute to the onset of secondary symptoms and subsequent outcomes of the disorder, such as crime or mental disorders. The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of ADHD among Polish convicts serving a prison sentence. To that end, the study will focus on the relationship between the severity of ADHD and early childhood trauma, family relations, maladaptive cognitive schemas, as well as mental disorders. It is an attempt to assess the interdependence between ADHD, childhood experiences, and secondary outcomes. Methods: The study enrolled two groups of first-time convicts and repeat offenders aged between 21 and 65 –each of the study groups comprised 120 participants; 240 participants in total took part in the study. Participants were recruited in semi-open penal institutions in Poland (Poznań Custody Suite, Wronki Penal Institution, Iława Penal Institution). The control group comprised 110 men without criminal records aged 21 to 65. The DIVA 5.0 questionnaire was employed to identify the severity of ADHD symptoms. Other questionnaires employed in the course of the study included the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale IV (FACES-IV), Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30). Results: The findings of the study in question are currently still being compiled and will be shared during the conference. The findings of a pilot study involving two cohorts of convicts (each numbering 20 men) and a control group (20 men with no criminal records) indicate a significant correlation between ADHD and the experience of early childhood trauma. The severity of ADHD also shows a correlation with the assessment of the functioning of the family, with the subjects assessing the relationships in their families more negatively than the control group. Furthermore, the severity of ADHD is also correlated with maladaptive emotional schemas manifesting in the participants. The findings also show a correlation between selected dimensions and the severity of offenses.

Keywords: ADHD, social impairments, mental disorders, early childhood traumas, criminality

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Authors: Ayele Tamene

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Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Tangible heritage e includes buildings and historic places, monuments, artifacts, etc., which are considered worthy of preservation for the future. These include objects significant to the archaeology, architecture, science or technology of a specific culture. The research addressed the challenges and prospects of preservation of tangible cultural heritage management in Lake Tana islands; Amahara Regional State. Specifically, the research inquired the major factors which affected tangible cultural heritage management, investigated how communities successfully involved in tangible cultural heritage management, and described the contribution of cultural management to tourism development. It employed qualitative research approaches to grasp the existing condition in the study area. Major techniques of data gathering such as in-depth interview, observation/photographing and Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) were used. Related documents collected through secondary sources were examined and analyzed. In Lake Tana Islands precious heritages such as ancient religious manuscripts (written since 9th century), sacral wall paintings, gold and silver Crosses, crowns and prestigious clothes of the various kings of the medieval and the 19th century are found. The study indicated that heritages in Tana islands were affected by both natural and manmade problems. In Lake Tana Islands, movable heritages were looted several times by foreign aggressors, tourists, and local people who serve there. Some heritages were affected by visitors by their camera flash light and hand touch. Most heritages in the Tana islands lacked community ownership and preserved non- professionally which highly affected their originality and authenticity. Therefore, the local community and the regional government should work together in the preservation of these heritage sites and enhance their role for socio-economic development as a center of research and tourist destinations.

Keywords: cultural heritages, heritage preservation, lake Tana heritages, non professional preservation tangible heritages

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Authors: Qianqian Chen

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The article intends to design a new research perspective on a linguistic landscape with the research background on multilingual urban tourism by analyzing the collected data, including a number of surveys on current urban tourism and the possibility of internationalization. The language usage analysis focuses on terms of English, Japanese and Spanish, which is based on the previous investigations. The analysis highlights the fact that contemporary tourism management and planning emphasizes cultural memories and heritage, and the combination between culture and tourism recalls the importance of "re-humanity" inhuman activities.

Keywords: multilingualism, culture, linguistic landscape, Hangzhou

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Authors: Anna Carolina De Paula Sermarini, Rodrigo Flora Calili

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Energy Efficiency (EE) needs investments, new technologies, greater awareness and management on the side of citizens and organizations, and more planning. However, this issue is usually remembered and discussed only in moments of energy crises, and opportunities are missed to take better advantage of the potential of EE in the various sectors of the economy. In addition, there is little concern about the subject among the less favored classes, especially in low-income communities. Accordingly, this article presents suggestions for public policies that aim to increase EE for low-income housing and communities based on international and national experiences. After reviewing the literature, eight policies were listed, and to evaluate them; a multicriteria decision model was developed using the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) methods, combined with fuzzy logic. Nine experts analyzed the policies according to 9 criteria: economic impact, social impact, environmental impact, previous experience, the difficulty of implementation, possibility/ease of monitoring and evaluating the policies, expected impact, political risks, and public governance and sustainability of the sector. The results found in order of preference are (i) Incentive program for equipment replacement; (ii) Community awareness program; (iii) EE Program with a greater focus on low income; (iv) Staggered and compulsory certification of social interest buildings; (v) Programs for the expansion of smart metering, energy monitoring and digitalization; (vi) Financing program for construction and retrofitting of houses with the emphasis on EE; (vii) Income tax deduction for investment in EE projects in low-income households made by companies; (viii) White certificates of energy for low-income. First, the policy of equipment substitution has been employed in Brazil and the world and has proven effective in promoting EE. For implementation, efforts are needed from the federal and state governments, which can encourage companies to reduce prices, and provide some type of aid for the purchase of such equipment. In second place is the community awareness program, promoting socio-educational actions on EE concepts and with energy conservation tips. This policy is simple to implement and has already been used by many distribution utilities in Brazil. It can be carried out through bids defined by the government in specific areas, being executed by third sector companies with public and private resources. Third on the list is the proposal to continue the Energy Efficiency Program (which obliges electric energy companies to allocate resources for research in the area) by suggesting the return of the mandatory investment of 60% of the resources in projects for low income. It is also relatively simple to implement, requiring efforts by the federal government to make it mandatory, and on the part of the distributors, compliance is needed. The success of the suggestions depends on changes in the established rules and efforts from the interested parties. For future work, we suggest the development of pilot projects in low-income communities in Brazil and the application of other multicriteria decision support methods to compare the results obtained in this study.

Keywords: energy efficiency, low-income community, public policy, multicriteria decision making

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Authors: Anthonia Emmanuel Inaja

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The role of the counseling services by Special Educators, Guidance Counsellors and psychologists alike to Families and Parents of children with special needs cannot be over-emphasized. This paper examined the vital role of counseling services and its impact on the emotional and physical readiness of parents to initiate and support the education and rehabilitation needs of their children. The paper considered the importance of counseling, when counseling services are best required preparing the mindset of parents and family members as well as the immediate community of the social needs child.

Keywords: counseling, families, special, needs, children, problems, prospect

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Authors: Asinguza P. Allan

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The Advocacy for Better Health aims to equip citizens with enabling environment and systems to effectively advocate for strong action plans to improve health services. This is because the 2020 Government target for Uganda to transform into a middle income country will be achieved if investment is made in keeping the population healthy and productive. Citizen participation as an important foundation for change has been emphasized to gather data through participatory rural appraisal and inform evidence-based advocacy for recruitment and motivation of human resources. Citizens conduct problem ranking during advocacy forums on staffing levels and health worker absenteeism. Citizens prioritised inadequate number of midwives and absenteeism. On triangulation, health worker to population ratio in Uganda remains at 0.25/1,000 which is far below the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold of 2.3/1,000. Working with IntraHealth, the project advocated for recruitment of critical skilled staff (doctors and midwives) and scale up health workers motivation strategy to reduce Uganda’s Neonatal Mortality Rate of 22/1,000 and Maternal Mortality Ratio of 320/100,000. Government has committed to increase staffing to 80% by 2018 (10 districts have passed ordinances and revived use of duty rosters to address health worker absenteeism. On the other hand, the better health advocacy debate has been elevated with need to increase health sector budget allocations from 8% to 10%. The project has learnt that building a body of evidence from citizens enhances the advocacy agenda. Communities will further monitor government commitments to reduce Neonatal Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Ratio. The project has learnt that interface meeting between duty bearers and the community allows for immediate feedback and the process is a strong instrument for empowerment. It facilitates monitoring and performance evaluation of services, projects and government administrative units (like district assemblies) by the community members themselves. This, in turn, makes the human resources in health to be accountable, transparent and responsive to communities where they work. This, in turn, promotes human resource performance.

Keywords: advocacy, empowerment, evidence, human resources

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Authors: Sajjad Jafari, Reza Akbari

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Background and Aim: Chrysin, a flavonoid compound found in medicinal plants, honey, and propolis, has potential biological activities that make it an important perspective in the treatment of infectious and cancer diseases. The aim of this review study is to evaluate the biological activities of chrysin in the treatment of infectious and cancer diseases. Material and Methods: The present study is a review study that searched reputable scientific databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science from 2000 to 2023 using keywords such as antimicrobial, antifungal, chrysin, anticancer, antioxidants, and infectious diseases. The researchers examined 25 articles to determine the biological activities of chrysin. Results: Chrysin has high inhibitory or lethal activities on gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Enterococcus faeces. It also has anti-biofilm effects and antifungal effects on strains such as Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. Chrysin also has anticancer effects on various cancers, including colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and MCF-7 cancer, which have been confirmed in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion: Chrysin has the potential as an important therapeutic option in the treatment of infectious and cancer diseases. Its high antimicrobial and anticancer activities, combined with its low toxicity in nanoparticle form, make it a promising candidate for further clinical trials. The production of anti-microbial and anti-cancer drugs from natural substances, such as chrysin, is a valuable contribution to the field of medicine.

Keywords: chrysin, antimicrobial, anticancer, infectious diseases

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Authors: Chethana V. Casiker, Jagadishakumara B., Sunil G. M., Chaithra K., M. Soubadra Devy

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A majority of the world’s food crops depends on insects for pollination, among which bees are the most dominant taxon. Bees pollinate vegetables, fruits and oilseeds which are rich in essential micronutrients. Besides being a prerequisite for a nutritionally secure diet, agrarian economies such as India depend heavily on pollination for good yield and quality of the product. As cities all over the world expand rapidly, large tracts of green spaces are being built up. This, along with high usage of agricultural chemicals has reduced floral diversity and shrunk bee habitats. Indeed, pollinator decline is being reported from various parts of the world. Further, the FAO has reported a huge increase in the area of land under cultivation of pollinator-dependent crops. In the light of increasing demand for pollination and disappearing natural habitats, it is critical to understand whether and how urban spaces can support pollinators. To this end, this study investigates the influence of landscape and local habitat quality on bee community dynamics. To capture the dynamics of expanding cityscapes, the study employs a space for time substitution, wherein a transect along the gradient of urbanization substitutes a timeframe of increasing urbanization. This will help understand how pollinators would respond to changes induced by increasing intensity of urbanization in the future. Bengaluru, one of the fastest growing cities of Southern India, is an excellent site to study impacts associated with urbanization. With sites moving away from the Bengaluru’s centre and towards its peripheries, this study captures the changes in bee species diversity and richness along a gradient of urbanization. Bees were sampled under different land use types as well as in different types of vegetation, including plantations, croplands, fallow land, parks, lake embankments, and private gardens. The relationship between bee community metrics and key drivers such as a percentage of built-up area, land use practices, and floral resources was examined. Additionally, data collected using questionnaire interviews were used to understand people’s perceptions towards and level of dependence on pollinators. Our results showed that urban areas are capable of supporting bees. In fact, a greater diversity of bees was recorded in urban sites compared to adjoining rural areas. This suggests that bees are able to seek out patchy resources and survive in small fragments of habitat. Bee abundance and species richness correlated positively with floral abundance and richness, indicating the role of vegetation in providing forage and nesting sites which are crucial to their survival. Bee numbers were seen to decrease with increase in built-up area demonstrating that impervious surfaces could act as deterrents. Findings from this study challenge the popular notion of cities being biodiversity-bare spaces. There is indeed scope for conserving bees in urban landscapes, provided that there are city-scale planning and local initiative. Bee conservation can go hand in hand with efforts such as urban gardening and terrace farming that could help cities urbanize sustainably.

Keywords: bee, landscape ecology, urbanization, urban pollination

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Authors: Harri Jalonen

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Social media has changed the ways we communicate, collaborate and connect with each other. It has also influenced our habits of consuming sports. Social media has allowed direct interaction between sponsoring companies, athletes/players and fans. Drawing on the service dominant logic of value co-creation, the conceptual paper identifies three operant resources which are beneficial for value co-creation: i) social identity and sense of community, ii) congruence and brand personality, and iii) participatory culture and fan activation. The paper contributes to the theoretical discussion on how social can be media used for value co-creation purposes in the sports industry.

Keywords: sports, value co-creation, social media, service

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Authors: Jannika Dombrowski, Sabine Ambros, Ulrich Kulozik

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Several drying techniques are used to preserve sensitive substances such as probiotic lactic acid bacteria. With the aim to better understand differences between these processes, this work gives new insights into structural variations resulting from different preservation methods and their impact on product quality and storage stability. Industrially established methods (freeze drying, spray drying) were compared to upcoming vacuum, microwave-freeze, and microwave-vacuum drying. For freeze and microwave-freeze dried samples, survival and activity maintained 100%, whereas vacuum and microwave-vacuum dried cultures achieved 30-40% survival. Spray drying yielded in lowest viability. The results are directly related to temperature and oxygen content during drying. Interestingly, most storage stable products resulted from vacuum and microwave-vacuum drying due to denser product structures as determined by helium pycnometry and SEM images. Further, lower water adsorption velocities were responsible for lower inactivation rates. Concluding, resulting product structures as well as survival rates and storage stability mainly depend on the type of water removal instead of energy input. Microwave energy compared to conductive heating did not lead to significant differences regarding the examined factors. Correlations could be proven for three investigated microbial strains. The presentation will be completed by an overview on the energy efficiency of the presented methods.

Keywords: drying techniques, energy efficiency, lactic acid bacteria, probiotics, survival rates, structure characterization

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Authors: Sharda Nara, Bansi Dhar Malhotra

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Investigation of the vitamins as an electron transfer mediator could significantly assist in merging the area of tissue engineering and electronics required for the implantable therapeutic devices. The present study report that the molecules of folic acid released by Providencia rettgeri via fermentation route under the anoxic condition of the microbial fuel cell (MFC) exhibit characteristic electrochemical and optical properties, as indicated by absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL), and cyclic voltammetry studies. The absorption spectroscopy has depicted an absorption peak at 263 nm with a small bulge around 293 nm on day two of bacterial culture, whereas an additional peak was observed at 365 nm on the twentieth day. Furthermore, the PL spectra has indicated that the maximum emission occurred at various wavelengths 420, 425, 440, and 445 nm when excited by 310, 325, 350, and 365 nm. The change of emission spectra with varying excitation wavelength might be indicating the presence of tunable optical bands in the folic acid molecules co-related with the redox activity of the molecules. The results of cyclic voltammetry studies revealed that the oxidation and reduction occurred at 0.25V and 0.12V, respectively, indicating the electrochemical behavior of the folic acid. This could be inferred that the released folic acid molecules in a MFC might undergo inter as well as intra molecular electron transfer forming different intermediate states while transferring electrons to the electrode surface. Synchronization of electrochemical and optical properties of folic acid molecules could be potentially promising for the designing of electroactive scaffold and biocompatible conductive surface for the applications of tissue engineering and biofuel cells, respectively.

Keywords: biofuel cell, electroactivity, folic acid, tissue engineering

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Authors: Esma Hande Alıcı, Gülnur Arabacı

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Antioxidants are compounds or systems that can safely interact with free radicals and terminate the chain reaction before vital molecules are damaged. The anti-oxidative effectiveness of these compounds depends on their chemical characteristics and physical location within a food (proximity to membrane phospholipids, emulsion interfaces, or in the aqueous phase). Antioxidants (e.g., flavonoids, phenolic acids, tannins, vitamin C, vitamin E) have diverse biological properties, such as antiinflammatory, anti-carcinogenic and anti-atherosclerotic effects, reduce the incidence of coronary diseases and contribute to the maintenance of gut health by the modulation of the gut microbial balance. Plants are excellent sources of antioxidants especially with their high content of phenolic compounds. Raphanus raphanistrum L., the wild radish, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It grows in Asia and Mediterranean region. It has been introduced into most parts of the world. It spreads rapidly, and is often found growing on roadsides or in other places where the ground has been disturbed. It is an edible plant, in Turkey its fresh aerial parts are mostly consumed as a salad with olive oil and lemon juice after boiled. The leaves of the plant are also used as anti-rheumatic in traditional medicine. In this study, we determined the antioxidant capacity of two different solvent fractions (methanol and ethyl acetate) obtained from Raphanus raphanistrum L. plant leaves. Antioxidant capacity of the plant was introduced by using three different methods: DPPH radical scavenging activity, CUPRAC (Cupric Ion Reducing Antioxidant Capacity) activity and Reducing power activity.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, antioxidant capacity, Raphanis raphanistrum L., wild radish

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Authors: Nilki Upathissa, Torin Wirasinghe

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This solution addresses the challenges faced by traditional bookstores and the limitations of digital media, striking a balance between the tactile experience of printed books and the convenience of modern technology. The book exchange system offers a sustainable alternative, empowering users to access a diverse range of books while promoting community engagement. The user-friendly interfaces incorporated into the book exchange system ensure a seamless and enjoyable experience for users. Intuitive features for book management, search, and messaging facilitate effortless exchanges and interactions between users. By streamlining the process, the system encourages readers to explore new books aligned with their interests, enhancing the overall reading experience. Central to the system's success is the hybrid recommendation engine, which leverages advanced technologies such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models. By analyzing user input, the engine accurately predicts genre preferences, enabling personalized book recommendations. The hybrid approach integrates multiple technologies, including user interfaces, machine learning models, and recommendation algorithms, to ensure the accuracy and diversity of the recommendations. The evaluation of the book exchange system with the hybrid recommendation engine demonstrated exceptional performance across key metrics. The high accuracy score of 0.97 highlights the system's ability to provide relevant recommendations, enhancing users' chances of discovering books that resonate with their interests. The commendable precision, recall, and F1score scores further validate the system's efficacy in offering appropriate book suggestions. Additionally, the curve classifications substantiate the system's effectiveness in distinguishing positive and negative recommendations. This metric provides confidence in the system's ability to navigate the vast landscape of book choices and deliver recommendations that align with users' preferences. Furthermore, the implementation of this book exchange system with a hybrid recommendation engine has the potential to revolutionize the way readers interact with printed books. By facilitating book exchanges and providing personalized recommendations, the system encourages a sense of community and exploration within the reading community. Moreover, the emphasis on sustainability aligns with the growing global consciousness towards eco-friendly practices. With its robust technical approach and promising evaluation results, this solution paves the way for a more inclusive, accessible, and enjoyable reading experience for book lovers worldwide. In conclusion, the developed book exchange system with a hybrid recommendation engine represents a progressive solution to the challenges faced by traditional bookstores and the limitations of digital media. By promoting sustainability, widening access to printed books, and fostering engagement with reading, this system addresses the evolving needs of book enthusiasts. The integration of user-friendly interfaces, advanced machine learning models, and recommendation algorithms ensure accurate and diverse book recommendations, enriching the reading experience for users.

Keywords: recommendation systems, hybrid recommendation systems, machine learning, data science, long short-term memory, recurrent neural network

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Authors: Athanasios A. Gavrilidis, Mihai R. Nita, Larissa N. Stoia, Diana A. Onose

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Contemporary global environmental challenges must be primarily addressed at local levels. Cities are under continuous pressure as they must ensure high quality of life levels for their citizens and at the same time to adapt and address specific environmental issues. Innovative solutions using natural features or mimicking natural systems are endorsed by the scientific community as efficient approaches for both mitigating climate change effects and the decrease of environmental quality and for maintaining high standards of living for urban dwellers. The aim of this study was to assess whether Romanian cities’ authorities are considering nature-based innovation as solutions for their planning, management, and environmental issues. Data were gathered by applying 140 questionnaires to urban authorities throughout the country. The questionnaire was designed for assessinglocal policy makers’ perspective over the efficiency of nature-based innovations as a tool to address specific challenges. It also focused on extracting data about financing sources and challenges they must overcome for adopting nature-based approaches. The gather results from the municipalities participating in our study were statistically processed, and they revealed that Romanian city managers acknowledge the benefits of nature-based innovations, but investments in this sector are not on top of their priorities. More than 90% of the selected cities have agreed that in the last 10 years, their major concern was to expand the grey infrastructure (roads and public amenities) using traditional approaches. When asked how they would react if faced with different socio-economic and environmental challenges, local urban managers indicated investments nature-based solutions as a priority only in case of biodiversity loss and extreme weather, while for other 14 proposed scenarios, they would embrace the business-as-usual approach. Our study indicates that while new concepts of sustainable urban planning emerge within the scientific community, local authorities need more time to understand and implement them. Without the proper knowledge, personnel, policies, or dedicated budgets, local administrators will not embrace nature-based innovations as solutions for their challenges.

Keywords: nature based innovations, perception analysis, policy making, urban planning

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Authors: Natcha Ruamyat, Nichakorn Khondee

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The potential of an alkaliphilic bacteria isolated from soil in Thailand to utilized agro-industrial and agricultural wastes for the production of biosurfactants was evaluated in this study. Among five isolates, Pseudomonas mendocina NK41 used soapstock as substrate showing a high biosurfactant concentration of 7.10 g/L, oil displacement of 97.8 %, and surface tension reduction to 29.45 mN/m. Various agricultural residues were applied as mixed substrates with soapstock to enhance the synthesis of biosurfactants. The production of biosurfactant and bacterial growth was found to be the highest with coconut oil cake as compared to Sacha inchi shell, coconut kernel cake, and durian shell. The biodegradability of agro-industrial wastes was better than agricultural wastes, which allowed higher bacterial growth. The pretreatment of coconut oil cake by combined alkaline and hydrothermal method increased the production of biosurfactant from 12.69 g/L to 13.82 g/L. The higher microbial accessibility was improved by the swelling of the alkali-hydrothermal pretreated coconut oil cake, which enhanced its porosity and surface area. The pretreated coconut oil cake was reused twice in the repeated batch production, showing higher biosurfactant concentration up to 16.94 g/L from the second cycle. These results demonstrated the capability of using lignocellulosic wastes from agricultural and agro-industrial activities to produce a highly valuable biosurfactant. High biosurfactant yield with low-cost substrate reveals its potential towards further commercialization of biosurfactant on large-scale production.

Keywords: alkaliphilic bacteria, agricultural/agro-industrial wastes, biosurfactant, combined alkaline-hydrothermal pretreatment

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