Search results for: the urban improvement

Authors: M. Klimova, O. Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya, J. Kurts, E. Zinchenko, N. Navolokin, A. Shirokov, A. Dubrovsky, A. Abdurashitov, A. Terskov, A. Mamedova, I. Agranovich, T. Antonova, I. Blokhina

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The direction for research of Alzheimer's disease is to find an effective non-invasive and non-pharmacological way of treatment. Here we tested our hypothesis that the opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) induces activation of lymphatic drainage and clearing functions that can be used as a method for non-invasive stimulation of clearance of beta-amyloid and therapy of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). To test our hypothesis, in this study on healthy male mice we analyzed the interaction between BBB opening by repeated loud music (100-10000 Hz, 100 dB, duration 2 h: 60 sec – sound; 60 sec - pause) and functional changes in the meningeal lymphatic vessels (MLVs). We demonstrate clearance of dextran 70 kDa (i.v. injection), fluorescent beta-amyloid (intrahippocampal injection) and gold nanorods (intracortical injection) via MLV that significantly increased after the opening of BBB. Our studies also demonstrate that the BBB opening was associated with the improvement of neurocognitive status in mice with AD. Thus, we uncover therapeutic effects of BBB opening by loud music, such as non-invasive stimulation of lymphatic clearance of beta-amyloid in mice with AD, accompanied by improvement of their neurocognitive status. Our data are consistent with other results suggesting the therapeutic effect of BBB opening by focused ultrasound without drugs for patients with AD. This research was supported by a grant from RSF 18-75-10033

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, beta-amyloid, blood-brain barrier, meningeal lymphatic vessels, repeated loud music

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Authors: Nuha Alamro

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Besides achieving of weight loss, Bariatric surgery (BS) shown metabolic improvement including reduction of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and diabetes. This study aimed to measure BS effects on Framingham Risk Score (FRS) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) among patients who underwent BS. Additionally, to determine the effect of BS on TSH among euthyroid obese patients. A Retrospective follow-up study was conducted in King Abdullah Medical City. A total of 160 participants who underwent BS and completed one year of follow ups. Medical history, biochemical, anthropometric, and hormonal parameters were evaluated at baseline and 3-12 months after BS. International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria were used to diagnose MetS pre and postoperative. The mean age of participants was 41.9 ± 10.6 with Body Mass Index (BMI) of 48.8 ± 7.3. After 3 months, Systolic, Diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), glycated haemoglobin (HBA1C), Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), cholesterol, triglycerides and Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were significantly decrease (P < 0.001). Significant decrease was seen in Mets, BMI, FRS, SBP, DBP, HBA1C, LDL, triglycerides, cholesterol, liver enzyme, with significant increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level 12 months post-op (P < 0.001). After 1 year, the prevalence of MetS, DM, HTN, FRS were significantly decrease from 72.5%, 43.1%, 78.1%, 11.4 to 16.3%, 9.4%, 22.5% and 5.4, respectively. Besides achieving substantial weight loss, MetS resolution was linked to improvement in cardiovascular risk profile.

Keywords: bariatric surgery, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, thyroid stimulating hormone

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Authors: N. L. Divya Gayatri

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In India, over 377 million urban people generate 62 million tons of municipal solid waste per annum. Forty-three million tons are collected, 11.9 million are treated and 31 million tons is dumped in landfill sites. The study aims to have an overall understanding of the working and functioning of a sanitary landfill from the siting to the closure stage and identifying various landscape design techniques that can be implemented in a landfill site and come up with a set of guidelines by analyzing the existing policies and guidelines pertaining to landfills. Constituents of municipal solid waste, methods of landfilling, issues, impacts, Mitigation strategies, Landscape design strategies, design approaches towards a landfill, infrastructure requirements, end-use opportunities have been discussed. The objective is to study the ecological and environmental degradation prevention methods, compare various techniques in remediation, study issues in landfill sites in India, analyze scope and opportunities and explore various landscape design strategies. The understanding of the function of landfills with respect to Municipal solid waste and landscaping is conveyed through this study. The study is limited to Landscape design factors in landfill design guidelines and policies mentioned with regard to the issues and impacts specific to the Indian context.

Keywords: sanitary landfill landscaping, environmental impact, municipal solid waste, guidelines, landscape design strategies, landscape design approaches

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Authors: Sobhy El-Sohaimy, Abduvali Toshev, Hanem Mansour

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(1) Objective: The main objective of the current study was to evaluate in an In Vitro and In Vivo, the potential activity of olive leaves extract (OLE) in the treatment and/or preventing the diabetes mellitus type II and related implications; (2) Methodology: Five groups of male rats were used in the current study: group (1)- negative control (normal); group (2)- positive control, streptozotocin (STZ) induced rats; group (3)-diabetic rats treated with metformin (200 mg/kg) plus OLE (200 mg/kg); group 4- diabetic rats treated with metformin (200 mg/kg); group 5- diabetic rats treated with OLE (200 mg/kg). A four-week regime of oral treatment was administered once daily; (3) Results: Diabetic rats treated with metformin + OLE clearly showed normal blood glucose level (121.67 ± 5.49 mg/dl), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (3.70 ± 0.10%). The combination of metformin + OLE obviously showed a superior improvement in the lipid profile (TG, TC, HDL and LDL) compared to both metformin and OLE individually. The histological examination revealed that the combination of metformin + Olive leaves extract successfully repaired of the liver, kidneys, and pancreatic tissues in diabetic rats to be near to the normal status; (4) Conclusion: Finally, it can be concluded that, the combination of metformin and OLE exhibited a superior improvement than metformin and OLE individually which emphasized the promising adjuvant role of the OLE in the treatment protocol of diabetes mellitus type II.

Keywords: olive (olea europaea) leaves extracts, hypoglycemic agents, cytotoxicity, nitic oxide scavenging activity, α-glucose oxidase inhibitor

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Authors: Ahmad Ghanem, Mohamad Yasin, Mona Abdel Rehim, Fabrice Gouanve, Eliane Espuche

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Biodegradable polymers are of great interest, especially for biomedical and packaging applications. Current research efforts are focused on the development of biopolymers with the purpose of reducing the plastic pollution induced by the widely used in biodegradable polyolefins. The main challenge is focused on the elaboration of biopolymers having properties competitive to those of polyolefins. On the other hand, graphene oxide (GO), a graphene derivative, is characterized by the presence of several functional groups on the surface such as carboxylic, hydroxyl and epoxide. This feature enables modification of GO surface with different modifiers to obtain versatile surface properties and overcome the problem of graphene sheets aggregations during inclusion in a polymer matrix. In this context, poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) as promising biopolyester is modified through blending with different ratios of functionalized (GO) to improve its barrier properties. Modification of GO has been carried out using different hyperbranched polymeric structures in order to increase miscibility of the nanosheets in the hosting polymeric matrix. Films have been prepared from the modified PBS and their mechanical, thermal and gas barrier properties were investigated. The results reveal enhancement in the thermal and mechanical properties beside observed improvement of the barrier properties for the films prepared from the modified PBS. This improvement is related to the strong dependence on tortuosity effects of dispersion, exfoliation levels of fillers into the polymer matrix and interactions between the fillers and the polymer matrix.

Keywords: gas barrier properties, graphene oxide, food packaging, transport properties

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Authors: Zeynep Pirselimoglu Batman, Elvan Ender Altay, Murat Zencirkiran

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Water and water resources are characteristic areas with their special ecosystems Their natural, cultural and economic value and recreation opportunities are high. Recreational activities differ according to the natural, cultural, socio-economic resource values of the areas. In this sense, water and water edge areas, which are important for their resource values, are also important landscape values for recreational activities. From these landscapes values, creeks and the surrounding areas have become a major source of daily life in the past, as well as a major attraction for people's leisure time. However, their qualities and quantities must be sufficient to enable these areas to be used effectively in a recreational sense and to be able to fulfill their recreational functions. The purpose of the study is to identify the recreational use of the water-based activities and identify effective service areas in dense urbanization zones along the creek and green spaces around them. For this purpose, the study was carried out in the vicinity of Nilufer Creek in Bursa. The study area and its immediate surroundings are in the boundaries of Osmangazi and Nilufer districts. The study was carried out in the green spaces along the creek with an individual interaction of 17.930m. These areas are Hudavendigar Urban Park, Atatürk Urban Forest, Bursa Zoo, Soganlı Botanical Park, Mihrapli Park, Nilufer Valley Park. In the first phase of the study, the efficiency zones of these locations were calculated according to international standards. 3200m of this locations are serving the city population and 800m are serving the district and neighborhood population. These calculations are processed on the digitized map by the AUTOCAD program using the satellite image. The efficiency zone of these green spaces in the city were calculated as 71.04 km². In the second phase of the study, water-based current activities were determined by evaluating the recreational potential of these green spaces, which are located along the Nilufer Creek, where efficiency zones have been identified. It has been determined that water-based activities are used intensively in Hudavendigar Urban Park and interacted with Nilufer Creek. Within the scope of effective zones for the study area, appropriate recreational planning proposals have been developed and water-based activities have been suggested.

Keywords: Bursa, efficiency zone, Nilufer Creek, recreation, water-based activities

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Authors: Eric Granholm, Christophe Delay, Jason Holden, Peter Link

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Negative symptoms are an important unmet treatment needed for schizophrenia. We conducted an open trial of a novel blended intervention called mobile-assisted cognitive behavior therapy for negative symptoms (mCBTn). mCBTn is a weekly group therapy intervention combining in-person and smartphone-based CBT (CBT2go app) to improve experiential negative symptoms in people with schizophrenia. Both the therapy group and CBT2go app included recovery goal setting, thought challenging, scheduling of pleasurable activities and social interactions, and pleasure savoring interventions to modify defeatist attitudes, a target mechanism associated with negative symptoms, and improve experiential negative symptoms. We tested whether participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (N=31) who met prospective criteria for persistent negative symptoms showed improvement in experiential negative symptoms. Retention was excellent (87% at 18 weeks) and severity of defeatist attitudes and motivation and pleasure negative symptoms declined significantly in mCBTn with large effect sizes. We also tested whether pupillary responses, a measure of cognitive effort, predicted improvement in negative symptoms mCBTn. Pupillary responses were recorded at baseline using a Tobii pupillometer during the digit span task with 3-, 6- and 9-digit spans. Mixed models showed that greater dilation during the task at baseline significantly predicted a greater reduction in experiential negative symptoms. Pupillary responses may provide a much-needed prognostic biomarker of which patients are most likely to benefit from CBT. Greater pupil dilation during a cognitive task predicted greater improvement in experiential negative symptoms. Pupil dilation has been linked to motivation and engagement of executive control, so these factors may contribute to benefits in interventions that train cognitive skills to manage negative thoughts and emotions. The findings suggest mCBTn is a feasible and effective treatment for experiential negative symptoms and justify a larger randomized controlled clinical trial. The findings also provide support for the defeatist attitude model of experiential negative symptoms and suggest that mobile-assisted interventions like mCBTn can strengthen and shorten intensive psychosocial interventions for schizophrenia.

Keywords: cognitive-behavioral therapy, mobile interventions, negative symptoms, pupillometry schizophrenia

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Authors: Vishwanath Pethri Kamath, Jayantha Gowda Sarapanahalli, Vishal Mishra, Siddhesh Balwant Bandgar

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Recognition of emotional information is essential in any form of communication. Growing HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) in recent times indicates the importance of understanding of emotions expressed and becomes crucial for improving the system or the interaction itself. In this research work, textual data for emotion recognition is used. The text being the least expressive amongst the multimodal resources poses various challenges such as contextual information and also sequential nature of the language construction. In this research work, the proposal is made for a neural architecture to resolve not less than 8 emotions from textual data sources derived from multiple datasets using google pre-trained word2vec word embeddings and a Multi-head attention-based bidirectional LSTM model with a one-vs-all Multi-Level Classification. The emotions targeted in this research are Anger, Disgust, Fear, Guilt, Joy, Sadness, Shame, and Surprise. Textual data from multiple datasets were used for this research work such as ISEAR, Go Emotions, Affect datasets for creating the emotions’ dataset. Data samples overlap or conflicts were considered with careful preprocessing. Our results show a significant improvement with the modeling architecture and as good as 10 points improvement in recognizing some emotions.

Keywords: text emotion recognition, bidirectional LSTM, multi-head attention, multi-level classification, google word2vec word embeddings

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Authors: Maria Cherepanova, Svetlana Maximova

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Background And Aims: Suicide is among ten most common causes of death of the working-age population in the world. According to the WHO forecasts, by 2025 suicide will be the third leading cause of death, after cardiovascular diseases and cancer. In 2019, the global suicide rate in the world was 10,5 per 100,000 people. In Russia, the average figure was 11.6. However, in some depressed regions of Russia, such as Buryatia and Altai, it reaches 35.3. The aim of this study was to develop models based on the regional factors of social well-being deprivation that provoke the suicidal risk of various age groups of Russian population. We also investigated suicidal risk prevention in modern Russia, analyzed its efficacy, and developed recommendations for suicidal risk prevention improvement. Methods: In this study, we analyzed the data from sociological surveys from six regions of Russia. Totally we interviewed 4200 people, the age of the respondents was from 16 to 70 years. The results were subjected to factorial and regression analyzes. Results: The results of our study indicate that young people are especially socially vulnerable, which result in ineffective patterns of self-preservation behavior and increase the risk of suicide. That is due to lack of anti-suicidal barriers formation; low importance of vital values; the difficulty or impossibility to achieve basic needs; low satisfaction with family and professional life; and decrease in personal unconditional significance. The suicidal risk of the middle-aged population is due to a decrease in social well-being in the main aspects of life, which determines low satisfaction, decrease in ontological security, and the prevalence of auto-aggressive deviations. The suicidal risk of the elderly population is due to increased factors of social exclusion which result in narrowing the social space and limiting the richness of life. Conclusions: The existing system for lowering suicide risk in modern Russia is predominantly oriented to a medical treatment, which provides only intervention to people who already committed suicide, that significantly limits its preventive effectiveness and social control of this deviation. The national strategy for suicide risk reduction in modern Russian society should combine medical and social activities, designed to minimize possible situations resulting to suicide. The strategy for elimination of suicidal risk should include a systematic and significant improvement of the social well-being of the population and aim at overcoming the basic aspects of social disadvantages such as poverty, unemployment as well as implementing innovative mental health improvement, developing life-saving behavior that will help to counter suicides in Russia.

Keywords: social factors, suicide, prevention, Russia

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Authors: Mohit Modi, Rajiv Kumar, Manojraj Saxena, G. Ravi Shankar

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Change detection of coastal ecosystem plays a vital role in monitoring and managing natural resources along the coastal regions. The present study mainly focuses on the decadal change in Kochi islands connecting the urban flatland areas and the coastal regions where sand deposits have taken place. With this, in view, the change detection has been monitored in the Kochi area to apprehend the urban growth and industrialization leading to decrease in the wetland ecosystem. The region lies between 76°11'19.134"E to 76°25'42.193"E and 9°52'35.719"N to 10°5'51.575"N in the south-western coast of India. The IRS LISS-IV satellite image has been processed using a rule-based algorithm to classify the LULC and to interpret the changes between 2005 & 2015. The approach takes two steps, i.e. extracting features as a single GIS vector layer using different parametric values and to dissolve them. The multi-resolution segmentation has been carried out on the scale ranging from 10-30. The different classes like aquaculture, agricultural land, built-up, wetlands etc. were extracted using parameters like NDVI, mean layer values, the texture-based feature with corresponding threshold values using a rule set algorithm. The objects obtained in the segmentation process were visualized to be overlaying the satellite image at a scale of 15. This layer was further segmented using the spectral difference segmentation rule between the objects. These individual class layers were dissolved in the basic segmented layer of the image and were interpreted in vector-based GIS programme to achieve higher accuracy. The result shows a rapid increase in an industrial area of 40% based on industrial area statistics of 2005. There is a decrease in wetlands area which has been converted into built-up. New roads have been constructed which are connecting the islands to urban areas as well as highways. The increase in coastal region has been visualized due to sand depositions. The outcome is well supported by quantitative assessments which will empower rich understanding of land use land cover change for appropriate policy intervention and further monitoring.

Keywords: land use land cover, multiresolution segmentation, NDVI, object based classification

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Authors: Rachel Koshy, Nazrila Hairizan Bt. Nasir, Samsiah Bt. Awang, Kamaliah Bt. Mohamad Noh

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Malaysia collaborated as a ‘trailblazer’ country with PHCPI (Primary Health Care Performance Initiative) to populate the Primary Health Care (PHC) Vital Signs Profile (VSP) for the country. The PHC VSP provides an innovative snapshot of the primary health care system's performance. Four domains were assessed: system financing, system capacity, system performance, and system equity, and completed in 2019. There were two phases using a mixed method study design. The first phase involved a quantitative study, utilising existing secondary data from national and international sources. In the case of unavailability of data for any indicators, comparable alternative indicators were used. The second phase was a mixed quantitative-qualitative approach to measure the functional capacity based on governance and leadership, population health needs, inputs, population health management, and facility organisation and management. PHC spending constituted 35% of overall health spending in Malaysia, with a per capita PHC spending of $152. The capacity domain was strong in the three subdomains of governance and leadership, information system, and funds management. The two subdomains of drugs & supplies and facility organisation & management had low scores, but the lowest score was in empanelment of the population under the population health management. The PHC system performed with an access index of 98%, quality index of 84%, and service coverage of 62%. In the equity domain, there was little fluctuation in the coverage of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health services by mother’s level of education and under-five child mortality between urban and rural areas. The public sector was stronger in the capacity domain as compared to the private sector. This is due to the different financing, organisational structures, and service delivery mechanism. The VSP has identified areas for improvement in the effort to provide high-quality PHC for the population. The gaps in PHC can be addressed through the system approach and the positioning of public and private primary health care delivery systems.

Keywords: primary health care, health system, system domains, vital signs profile

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Authors: Mahdi Naeemi Nooghabi, Mohammad Tofiqu Arif

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Gas Insulated Switchgears by using an insulation material named SF6 (Sulphur Hexafluoride) and its significant dielectric properties have been the only choice in urban areas and other polluted industries. However, the initial investment of GIS is more than conventional AIS substation, its total life cycle costs caused to reach huge amounts of electrical market share. SF6 environmental impacts on global warming, atmosphere depletion, and decomposing to toxic gases in high temperature situation, and highest rate in Global Warming Potential (GWP) with 23900 times of CO2e and a 3200-year period lifetime was the only undeniable concern of GIS substation. Efforts of international environmental institute and their politic supports have been able to lead SF6 emission reduction legislation. This research targeted to find an appropriate alternative for GIS substations to meet all advantages in land occupation area and to improve SF6 environmental impacts due to its leakage and emission. An innovative new conceptual design named Multi-Storey prepared a new AIS design similar in land occupation, extremely low Sf6 emission, and maximum greenhouse gas emission reduction. Surprisingly, by considering economic benefits due to carbon price saving, it can earn more than $675 million during the 30-year life cycle by replacing of just 25% of total annual worldly additional GIS switchgears.

Keywords: AIS substation, GIS substation, SF6, greenhouse gas, global warming potential, carbon price, emission

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Authors: R. S. Quintal, J. L. Tesch Santos, M. D. Davis, E. C. de Santana, M. de F. Bandeira dos Santos

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The objective is to identify the contributions from the introduction of the computerized system deal within the Accounting Department of Brazilian Navy Financial Directorship and its possible effects on the budgetary and financial harvest of Brazilian Navy. The relevance lies in the fact that the management process is responsible for the continuous improvement of organizational performance through higher levels of quality in their activities. Improvements in organizational processes have direct effects on crops cost, quality, reliability, flexibility and speed. The method of study of this research is the case study. The choice of case study attended, among other demands, a need for greater flexibility to study processes related to a computerized system. The sources of evidence were used literature, documentary and direct observation. Direct observation was made by monitoring the implementation of the computerized system in the Division of Management Analysis. The main findings of the study point to the fact that the computerized system may contribute significantly to the standardization of information. There was improvement of internal processes in the division of management analysis, made possible the consolidation of a standard management and performance analysis that contribute to global homogeneity in the treatment of information essential to the process of decision making. This study has limitations related to the fact the search result be subject exclusively to the case studied, and it is impossible to generalize to other organs of government.

Keywords: process management, management control, business intelligence, Brazilian Navy

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Authors: Fahimeh Khatami, Elham Sanagar Darbani, Behnosh Khir Khah, R.Khatami

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Rural and ruralism is one of the residential forms that form in special natural areas, and the Interaction between their internal and external forces cause developments and changes that are different in time and space. Over time, historical developments, social and economic changes in the political system cause developments and rapid growth of the rural to urban settlements. However, criteria for recognizing rural settlements to the city are different in every land. One of the problems in modern plan is inattention to indicators and criteria of changing these settlements to the city. The method of this research is a type of applied and compilation research and library and field methods are used in it. And also qualitative and quantitative indicators have been provided while collecting documents and studies from rural districts like Dehnow, Virani, Abardeh, Zoshk, Nowchah, Jaqarq in tourism area of Mashhad. In this research, the used tool is questionnaire and for analyzing quantitative variables by Morris and Mac Granahan examination, the importance of each factor and the development settlements are evaluated, and the rural that can convert to the city was defined. In result, according to Askalvgram curve obtained from analysis, it was found that among the mentioned villages, Virani and Nowchah rural districts have this ability to convert to the city; Zoshk rural district will be converting to the city in future and Dehnow, Abardeh and Jaqarq rural districts won’t be converting.

Keywords: rural settlements, city, indicators, Torqabe and Shandiz rural districts

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Authors: Bambang Heliyanto, Rully Dyah Purwati, Hasnam, Fadjry Djufry

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Jatropha curcas L., a drought tolerant and monoecious perennial shrub, has received attention worldwide during the past decade. Realizing the facts, the Indonesian government has decided to option for Jatropha and palm oil for in country biofuel production. To support the program development of high yielding jatropha varieties is necessary. This paper reviews Jatropha improvement program in Indonesia using mass selection and hybrid development. To start with, at the end of 2005, in-country germplasm collection was mobilized to Lampung and Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) provinces and successfully collected 15 provenances/sub-provenances which serves as a base population for selection. A significant improvement has been achieved through a simple recurrent breeding selection during 2006 to 2007. Seed yield productivity increased more than double, from 0.36 to 0.97 ton dry seed per hectare during the first selection cycle (IP-1), and then increased to 2.2 ton per hectare during the second cycles (IP-2) in Lampung provenance. Similar result was also observed in NTB provenance. Seed yield productivity increased from 0.43 ton to 1 ton dry seed per hectare in the first cycle (IP-1), and then 1.9 ton in the second cycle (IP-2). In 2008, the population IP-3 resulted from the third cycle of selection have been identified which were capable of producing 2.2 to 2.4 ton seed yield per hectare. To improve the seed yield per hectare, jatropha hybrid varieties was developed involving superior provenances. As a result a Jatropha Energy Terbarukan (JET) variety-2 was released in 2017 with seed yield potential of 2.6 ton per hectare. The use of this high yielding genotypes for biofuel is discussed.

Keywords: Jatropha curcas, provenance, biofuel, improve population, hybrid

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Authors: Shasta Bula

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This research provides the first case study of the Santa Ana riverbed homeless encampment. It contributes valuable information about the little-studied factors contributing to the formation and dismantling of transient homeless encampments. According to the author’s best knowledge, this is the discussion of three reoccurring characteristics of homeless camps: camps form a self-governing system, camps are viewed by the community as unsavory places, and the campers are viewed as being unable or unwilling to participate in normal society. Three theories are proposed as explanations for these characteristics: the social capital theory as a reason for homeless campers to develop a system of self-government, the aesthetics theory as rationale for camps being viewed as unsavory places, and the theory of vulnerable and inevitable inequality as a reason why campers are seen as being unable or unwilling to participate in normal society. Three hypotheses are introduced to assess these theories: The encampment was created because it provided inhabitants a sense of safety and autonomy. It was dismantled due to its highly visible location and lack of adherence to the Orange County consumption and leisure aesthetic. Most homeless people from this encampment relocated approximately thirty miles east to Riverside County to avoid harassment by police. An extensive review of interviews with camp inhabitants revealed that fifty-one percent resided in the camp because it gave them a sense of safety and autonomy. An examination of Anaheim city council meeting meetings showed that thirty-eight percent of complaints were related to aesthetic concerns. Analysis of population reports from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development indicated that there was a notable increase in homelessness in Orange County the year after the camp was dismantled. These results reflect that the social capital theory is an applicable explanation for the homeless being drawn to set up camp as a collective. The aesthetics theory can be used to explain why a third of residents complained about the encampment. Camp residents did not move East to Riverside after the camp was dismantled. Further investigation into the enforcement of anti-camping ordinances needs to be conducted to evaluate if policing contributed to the vulnerability of the homeless.

Keywords: poverty, social relations, transformation of urban settlements, urban anthropology

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Authors: Lista Andriyati, Nurpudji A Taslim

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The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients have potential nutritional and metabolic problems. HIV is a virus that attacks cells T helper and impairs the function of immune cells. Infected individuals gradually become immunodeficient, results in increased susceptibility to a wide range of infections such as tuberculosis (TB). Malnutrition has destructive effects on the immune system and host defense mechanisms. Effective and proper nutritional therapies are important to improve medical outcomes and quality of life, which is associated with functional improvement. A case of 38-years old man admitted to hospital with loss of consciousness and was diagnosed HIV infection and relapse lung TB with severe malnutrition, fever, oral candidiasis, anemia (6.3 g/dL), severe hypoalbuminemia (1.9 g/dL), severe hypokalemia (2.2 mmol/L), immune depletion (1085 /µL) and elevated liver enzyme (ALT 1198/AST 375 U/L). Nutritional intervention by giving 2300 kcal of energy, protein 2 g/IBW/day, carbohydrate 350 g, fat 104 g through enteral and parenteral nutrition. Supplementations administered are zinc, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, and snakehead fish extract high content of protein albumin (Pujimin®). After 46 days, there are clinical and metabolic improvement in Hb (6.3 to 11.2 g/dL), potassium (2.2 to 3.4 mmol/L), albumin (1.9 to 2.3 g/dL), ALT 1198 to 47/AST 375 to 68 U/L) and improved awareness. In conclusion, nutritional therapy in HIV infection with adequate macronutrients and micronutrients fulfillment and immunonutrition is very important to avoid cachexia and to improve nutritional status and immune disfunction.

Keywords: HIV, hypoalbuminemia, malnutrition, tuberculosis

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Authors: Dessy Pinem, Rahmadian Sembiring, Adanil Bushra

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Medan Belawan is one of the subdistricts of 21 districts in Medan. Medan Belawan Sub-district is directly adjacent to the Malacca Strait in the North. Due to its direct border with the Malacca Strait, the problem in this sub-district, which has continued for many years, is a flood of rob. In 2015, rob floods inundated Sicanang urban village, Belawan I urban village, Belawan Bahagia urban village and Bagan Deli village. The extent of inundation in the flood of rob that occurred in September 2015 reached 540, 938 ha. Rob flood is a phenomenon where the sea water is overflowing into the mainland. Rob floods can also be interpreted as a puddle of water on the coastal land that occurs when the tidal waters. So this phenomenon will inundate parts of the coastal plain or lower place of high tide sea level. Rob flood is a daily disaster faced by the residents in the district of Medan Belawan. Rob floods can happen every month and last for a week. The flood is not only the residents' houses, the flood also soaked the main road to Belawan Port reaching 50 cm. To deal with the problems caused by the flood and to prepare coastal communities to face the character of coastal areas, it is necessary to know the vulnerability of the people who are always the victims of the rob flood. Are the people of Medan Belawan sub-district, especially in the flood-affected villages, able to cope with the consequences of the floods? To answer this question, it is necessary to assess the vulnerability of the Belawan District community in the face of the flood disaster. This research is descriptive, qualitative and quantitative. Data were collected by observation, interview and questionnaires in 4 urban villages often affected by rob flood. The vulnerabilities measured are physical, economic, social, environmental, organizational and motivational vulnerabilities. For vulnerability in the physical field, the data collected is the distance of the building, floor area ratio, drainage, and building materials. For economic vulnerability, data collected are income, employment, building ownership, and insurance ownership. For the vulnerability in the social field, the data collected is education, number of family members, children, the elderly, gender, training for disasters, and how to dispose of waste. For the vulnerability in the field of organizational data collected is the existence of organizations that advocate for the victims, their policies and laws governing the handling of tidal flooding. The motivational vulnerability is seen from the information center or question and answer about the rob flood, and the existence of an evacuation plan or path to avoid disaster or reduce the victim. The results of this study indicate that most people in Medan Belawan sub-district have a high-level vulnerability in physical, economic, social, environmental, organizational and motivational fields. They have no access to economic empowerment, no insurance, no motivation to solve problems and only hope to the government, not to have organizations that support and defend them, and have physical buildings that are easily destroyed by rob floods.

Keywords: disaster, rob flood, Medan Belawan, vulnerability

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Authors: Tiago Sigal Linhares, Ana Amélia Nascimento da Silva Bones, Juliana Miola, McArthur Alexander Barrow, Airton Tetelbom Stein

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Introduction: As a result of increased globalization and changing migration trends, it is expected that a significant portion of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) will change their place of residence over time. In order to provide better health care, monitor the HIV epidemic and plan urban public health care and policies, there is a growing need to formulate a strategy for monitoring PLWHA care, location and migration patterns. The Porto Alegre District is characterized by a high prevalence of PLWHA and is considered one of the epicenters of HIV epidemic in Latin America. Objectives: The aim of this study is to create a digital and easily editable map in order to create a visual representation of the location of PLWHA and to monitor their migration within the city and the country in an effort to promote longitudinal care. Methods: This Experience Report used Google Maps Map Creator to generate an active digital map showing the location and changes in residence of 165 PLWHA who received care at two Primary Health Care (PHC) clinics, which attended an estimated population of five thousand patients, in downtown Porto Alegre over the last four years. Their current addresses were discovered in the unified Brazilian health care system digital records (e-SUS) and updated on the map. Results: A digital map with PLWHA current residence location was created. It was possible to demonstrate visually areas with a large concentration of PLWHA and the migration of the population within the city as wells as other cities, regions and states. Conclusions: An easily reproducible and free map could aid in PLWHA monitoring, urban public health planning, target interventions and situational diagnosis. Moreover, a visual representation of PLWHA location and migration could help bring more attention and investments to areas with geographic inequities or higher prevalence of PLWHA. It also enables notification of local PHC units of monitored patients inside their area, which are in clinical risk or with treatment abandonment through active case findings, improving the care of PLWHA.

Keywords: health care, medical public health, theoretical and conceptual innovations, urban public health

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Authors: Akulov M. A., Orlova O. R., Zaharov V. O., Tomskij A. A.

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Introduction: One of the common postoperative complications of posterior cranial fossa (PCF) and cerebello-pontine angle tumor treatment is a facial nerve palsy, which leads to multiple and resistant to treatment impairments of mimic muscles structure and functions. After 4-6 months after facial nerve palsy with insufficient therapeutic intervention patients develop a postparalythic syndrome, which includes such symptoms as mimic muscle insufficiency, mimic muscle contractures, synkinesis and spontaneous muscular twitching. A novel method of treatment is the use of a recent local neuromuscular blocking agent– botulinum toxin A (BTA). Experience of BTA treatment enables an assumption that it can be successfully used in late facial nerve palsy complications to significantly increase quality of life of patients. Study aim. To evaluate the efficacy of botulinum toxin A (BTA) (Xeomin) treatment in patients with late facial nerve palsy complications. Patients and Methods: 31 patients aged 27-59 years 6 months after facial nerve palsy development were evaluated. All patients received conventional treatment, including massage, movement therapy etc. Facial nerve palsy developed after acoustic nerve tumor resection in 23 (74,2%) patients, petroclival meningioma resection – in 8 (25,8%) patients. The first group included 17 (54,8%) patients, receiving BT-therapy; the second group – 14 (45,2%) patients continuing conventional treatment. BT-injections were performed in synkinesis or contracture points 1-2 U on injured site and 2-4 U on healthy side (for symmetry). Facial nerve function was evaluated on 2 and 4 months of therapy according to House-Brackman scale. Pain syndrome alleviation was assessed on VAS. Results: At baseline all patients in the first and second groups demonstrated аpostparalytic syndrome. We observed a significant improvement in patients receiving BTA after only one month of treatment. Mean VAS score at baseline was 80,4±18,7 and 77,9±18,2 in the first and second group, respectively. In the first group after one month of treatment we observed a significant decrease of pain syndrome – mean VAS score was 44,7±10,2 (р<0,01), whereas in the second group VAS score was as high as 61,8±9,4 points (p>0,05). By the 3d month of treatment pain syndrome intensity continued to decrease in both groups, but, the first group demonstrated significantly better results; mean score was 8,2±3,1 and 31,8±4,6 in the first and second group, respectively (р<0,01). Total House-Brackman score at baseline was 3,67±0,16 in the first group and 3,74±0,19 in the second group. Treatment resulted in a significant symptom improvement in the first group, with no improvement in the second group. After 4 months of treatment House-Brockman score in the first group was 3,1-fold lower, than in the second group (р<0,05). Conclusion: Botulinum toxin injections decrease postparalytic syndrome symptoms in patients with facial nerve palsy.

Keywords: botulinum toxin, facial nerve palsy, postparalytic syndrome, synkinesis

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Authors: Vivek Ku, A. K. Janmeja, D. Aggarwal, R. Gupta

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Purpose: Pulmonary rehabilitation plays a key role in management of chronic lung diseases. However, pulmonary rehabilitation is an underused modality in the management of interstitial lung disease (ILD). This is because limited information is available in literature and no data is available from India on this issue so far. The study was carried out to evaluate the role of pulmonary rehabilitation on respiratory parameters in ILD patients. Methods: The present study was a prospective randomized non-blind case control study. Total of 40 ILD patients were randomized into 2 groups of 20 patients each viz ‘pulmonary rehabilitation group’ and ‘control group’. Pulmonary rehabilitation group underwent 8 weeks pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) along with medical management as per guidelines and the control group was advised only medical management. Results: Mean age in case group was 59.15 ± 10.39 years and in control group was 62.10 ± 14.54 years. The case and the control groups were matched for age and sex. Mean MRC grading at the end of 8 weeks showed significant improvement in the case group as compared to control group (p= 0.011 vs p = 0.655). Similarly, mean St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score also showed significant improvement in pulmonary rehabilitation group at the end of the study (p= 0.001 vs p= 0.492). However, FEV1 and FVC had no significant change in the case and control group. Similarly, blood gases also did not show any significant difference in the group. Conclusion: Pulmonary rehabilitation improves breathlessness and thereby improves quality of life in the patients suffering from ILD. However, the pulmonary function values and blood gases are unaffected by pulmonary rehabilitation. Clinical Implications: Further large scale multicentre study is needed to ascertain the association.

Keywords: ILD, pulmonary rehabilitation, quality of life, pulmonary functions

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Authors: Ikechi Gilbert

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Oral communication is the transmission of ideas or messages through the speech process. Acquiring competence in this area which, by its volatile nature, is prone to errors and inaccuracies would require the adoption of a well-suited teaching methodology. Efficient oral communication facilitates exchange of ideas and easy accomplishment of day-to-day tasks, by means of a demonstrated mastery of oral expression and the making of fine presentations to audiences or individuals while recognizing verbal signals and body language of others and interpreting them correctly. In Anglophone states such as Nigeria, Ghana, etc., the French language, for instance, is studied as a foreign language, being used majorly in teaching learners who have their own mother tongue different from French. The same applies to Francophone states where English is studied as a foreign language by people whose official language or mother tongue is different from English. The ideal approach would be to teach these languages in these environments through a pedagogical approach that properly takes care of the oral perspective for effective understanding and application by the learners. In this article, we are examining the communicative approach as a methodology for teaching oral communication in a foreign language. This method is a direct response to the communicative needs of the learner involving the use of appropriate materials and teaching techniques that meet those needs. It is also a vivid improvement to the traditional grammatical and audio-visual adaptations. Our contribution will focus on the pedagogical component of oral communication improvement, highlighting its merits and also proposing diverse techniques including aspects of information and communication technology that would assist the second language learner communicate better orally.

Keywords: communication, competence, methodology, pedagogical component

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Authors: Yong-Jun Jeon, Hyung-Pil Park, Min-Jae Song, Baeg-Soon Cha

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Following the recent trend of having increased demand in producing lighter-weight car bodies for improvement of automobile safety and gas mileage, there is a forming method that makes use of hot-stamping technique, which satisfies all conditions mentioned above. Hot-stamping is a forming technique with advantages of excellent formability, good dimensional precision and others since it is a process in which steel plates are heated up to temperatures of at least approximately 900°C after which forming is conducted in die at room temperature followed by rapid cooling. In addition, it has characteristics of allowing for improvement in material strength through achievement of quenching effect by having simultaneous forming and rapid cooling of material of high temperatures. However, there is insufficient information on the changes in material strength according to changes in material temperature with regards to material heating method and forming process in hot-stamping. Accordingly, this study aims to design and press die for T-type product of the scale models of the center pillar and to understand the changes in material strength in relation to changes in forming methods of hot-stamping process. Thus in order to understand the changes in material strength due to quenching effect among the hot-stamping process, material strength and material forming precision were to be studied while varying the forming and forming method when forming. For test methods, material strength was observed by using boron steel that has boron additives, which was heated up to 950°C, after which it was transferred to a die and was cooled down to material temperature of 400°C followed by air cooling process. During the forming and cooling process here, experiment was conducted with forming parameters of 2 holding rates and 3 flange heating rates wherein changing appearance in material strength according to changes forming method were observed by verifying forming strength and forming precision for each of the conditions.

Keywords: hot-stamping, formability, quenching, forming, press die, forming methods

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Authors: Aukse Miskinyte, Audrius Dedele

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The impact of urban air pollution on human health effects has been revealed in epidemiological studies, which have assessed the associations between various types of gases and particles and negative health outcomes. The percentage of population living in urban areas is increasing, and the assessment of air pollution in certain zones in the city (like street canyons) that have higher level of air pollution and specific dispersion conditions is essential as these places tend to contain a lot of people. Street canyon is defined as a street surrounded by tall buildings on both sides that trapes traffic emissions and prevents pollution dispersion. The aim of this study was to determine the pollution of nitrogen dioxide in street canyons in Kaunas city during cold and warm seasons. The measurements were conducted using passive sampling technique during two-week period in two street canyon sites, whose axes are approximately north-south and north-northeast‒south-southwest. Both of these streets are two-lane roads of 7 meters width, one is in the central part of the city, and other is in the Old Town. The results of two-week measurements showed that the concentration of nitrogen dioxide was higher in summer season than in winter in both street canyon sites. The difference between the level of NO2 in winter and summer seasons was 5.1 and 19.4 µg/m3 in the first and in the second street canyon sites, respectively. The higher concentration of NO2 was determined in the second street canyon site than in the first, although there was calculated lower traffic intensity. These results could be related to the certain street canyon characteristics.

Keywords: air pollution, nitrogen dioxide, passive sampler, street canyon

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Authors: Siddhant Yadav, Rylea Ranum, Hannah Alberts, Abdul Kalaiger, Brent Bauer, Ryan Hurt, Ann Vincent, Loren Toussaint, Sanjeev Nanda

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Background and significance: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain disorder also characterized by chronic fatigue, morning stiffness, sleep, and cognitive symptoms, psychological disturbances (anxiety, depression), and is comorbid with multiple medical and psychiatric conditions. It has an incidence of 2-4% in the general population and is reported more commonly in women. Oxidative stress and inflammation are thought to contribute to pain in patients with FM, and the adoption of an antioxidant/anti-inflammatory diet has been suggested as a modality to alleviate symptoms. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the efficacy of specialized diets (ketogenic, gluten free, Mediterranean, and low carbohydrate) in improving FM symptoms. Methodology: A comprehensive search of the following databases from inception to July 15th, 2021, was conducted: Ovid MEDLINE and Epub ahead of print, in-process and other non-indexed citations and daily, Ovid Embase, Ovid EBM reviews, Cochrane central register of controlled trials, EBSCO host CINAHL with full text, Elsevier Scopus, website and citation index, web of science emerging sources citation and clinicaltrials.gov. We included randomized controlled trials, non-randomized experimental studies, cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, case series, and case reports in adults with fibromyalgia. The risk of bias was assessed with the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality designed, specific recommended criteria (AHRQ). Results: Thirteen studies were eligible for inclusion. This included a total of 761 participants. Twelve out of the 13 studies reported improvement in widespread body pain, joint stiffness, sleeping pattern, mood, and gastrointestinal symptoms, and one study reported no changes in symptomatology in patients with FM on specialized diets. None of the studies showed the worsening of symptoms associated with a specific diet. Most of the patient population was female, with the mean age at which fibromyalgia was diagnosed being 48.12 years. Improvement in symptoms was reported by the patient's adhering to a gluten-free diet, raw vegan diet, tryptophan- and magnesium-enriched Mediterranean diet, aspartame- and msg- elimination diet, and specifically a Khorasan wheat diet. Risk of bias assessment noted that 6 studies had a low risk of bias (5 clinical trials and 1 case series), four studies had a moderate risk of bias, and 3 had a high risk of bias. In many of the studies, the allocation of treatment (diets) was not adequately concealed, and the researchers did not rule out any potential impact from a concurrent intervention or an unintended exposure that might have biased the results. On the other hand, there was a low risk of attrition bias in all the trials; all were conducted with an intention-to-treat, and the inclusion/exclusion criteria, exposures/interventions, and primary outcomes were valid, reliable, and implemented consistently across all study participants. Concluding statement: Patients with fibromyalgia who followed specialized diets experienced a variable degree of improvement in their widespread body pain. Improvement was also seen in stiffness, fatigue, moods, sleeping patterns, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Additionally, the majority of the patients also reported improvement in overall quality of life.

Keywords: fibromyalgia, specialized diet, vegan, gluten free, Mediterranean, systematic review

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Authors: Piyush Hajela

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Public spaces within Indian markets are vibrant, colorful and contain dimensions that make them attractive and therefore act as popular gathering spaces. Most of these public spaces emerge as squares, plazas of varied shapes and sizes spread at different locations within the market. These public spaces grow organically and are discovered by the people themselves as they respond positively to the collective human senses. On the other hand, there are the planned and designed public spaces as well that are less active. This research evaluates both the planned and the organically transformed public spaces in Indian markets from an Urban Design point of view. The purpose of such research is to provide a basis for design solutions to ensure the success of designed public spaces. The evaluation is done for identified Attributes, namely Comfort, Protection, Familiarity, Activities, Form, Legibility, Engagement, Safety, Accessibility, Environment and Transformations by which a Public Space attains its recognition. The evaluation is based on a rating done for forty-four parameters falling under eleven attributes of public space. An opinion survey of professionals is conducted for their priorities of attributes while designing Public spaces. A comparison is made to rank these attributes between Planned and Organically transformed Public spaces and, opinion of the professionals. After dues analysis, the research suggests the learning from the organically transformed Public spaces for ensuring the success of designed public spaces. The suggestions may be in the form of Design decisions or administrative regulations, or both for achieving the desirables.

Keywords: assessment, attributes, engagement, interaction

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Authors: Kais Nasser, Ronit Levine-Schnur

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Due to the prolonged negligence of planning institutions, a large portion of Palestinian localities in Israel lack basic infrastructure, development, and urbanism and suffer from a severe shortage of housing. In the past years, planning institutions in Israel began to promote master planning for Palestinian localities and for new neighborhoods. Land readjustment plans (PLIs) were the primary planning mechanism. According to Israel’s planning institutions, readjustment plans aimed to afford housing and to ensure that new neighborhoods enjoy developed infrastructure, modern construction, public lands and urbanism. However, a wide group of Palestinian landowners and stakeholders opposed PLIs. This article exposes the reasons behind such objections. Methodology: The research carried out an in-depth analysis of approximately 1,780 objections to PLIs that have been advanced in recent years. These objections reveal what really concerns landowners, what they defend indeed, and how planning institutions dealt with their arguments. Initial Findings: Exploring the objections submitted by landowners to readjustment plans reveals a conceptual and cultural conflict between landowners and the planning institutions. While planning institutions believe that these plans can transform landowners and Arab society in general from a rural, local, and conservative life to a modern- urban life, the landowners believe that planning institutions strive to change their way of life and force them to adopt an urban life without giving much attention and respect to their tradition, habits and cultural way of life.

Keywords: land readjustment, culture, urbanization, minority

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Authors: Mohsen Maraoui

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In the aim of natural language processing applications improvement, such as information retrieval, machine translation, lexical disambiguation, we focus on statistical approach to semantic indexing for multilingual text documents based on conceptual network formalism. We propose to use this formalism as an indexing language to represent the descriptive concepts and their weighting. These concepts represent the content of the document. Our contribution is based on two steps. In the first step, we propose the extraction of index terms using the multilingual lexical resource Euro WordNet (EWN). In the second step, we pass from the representation of index terms to the representation of index concepts through conceptual network formalism. This network is generated using the EWN resource and pass by a classification step based on association rules model (in attempt to discover the non-taxonomic relations or contextual relations between the concepts of a document). These relations are latent relations buried in the text and carried by the semantic context of the co-occurrence of concepts in the document. Our proposed indexing approach can be applied to text documents in various languages because it is based on a linguistic method adapted to the language through a multilingual thesaurus. Next, we apply the same statistical process regardless of the language in order to extract the significant concepts and their associated weights. We prove that the proposed indexing approach provides encouraging results.

Keywords: concept extraction, conceptual network formalism, fuzzy association rules, multilingual thesaurus, semantic indexing

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Authors: Engi E. I. Sarhan, Usama M. Rashad, Ibrahim M. I. Hamoda, Mohammed K. Mohamed

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Background: This study aimed to know the effect of nitrogen-based cryotherapy on the spasticity of calf muscle in stroke patients. Patients were selected from the outpatient clinic of Neurology, Al-Mansoura general hospital, Al-Mansoura University. Subjects and methods: Thirty Stroke Patients of both sexes ranged from 45 to 60 years old were divided randomly into two equal groups, a study group (A) received a nitrogen-based cryotherapy, a selective physical therapy program and ankle foot orthosis (AFO), while as patients in control group (B) received the same program and AFO only. The treatment duration was three times per week for four weeks for both groups. We assessed spasticity of calf muscle before and after treatment subjectively using modified Ashworth scale (MAS) and objectively via measuring H / M ratio on electromyography machine. We also assessed ankle dorsiflexion ROM objectively using two dimensions motion analysis (2D). Results: After treatment, there was a highly significant improvement in the study group compared to the control group regarding the score of MAS, no significant difference in the study group compared to the control group regarding the readings of H / M ratio, highly significant improvement in the study group compared to the control group regarding the 2D motion analysis findings. Conclusion: This modality considers effective in reducing spasticity in the calf muscle and improving ankle dorsiflexion of the affected limb.

Keywords: ankle foot orthosis, nitrogen-based cryotherapy, stroke, spasticity

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Authors: Joachim F. Sartor

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According to German guidelines, external natural catchments are greater sub-catchments without significant portions of impervious areas, which possess a surface drainage system and empty in a sewer network. Basically, such catchments should be disconnected from sewer networks, particularly from combined systems. If this is not possible due to local conditions, their flow hydrographs have to be considered at the design of sewer systems, because the impact may be significant. Since there is a lack of sufficient measurements of storm-runoff events for such catchments and hence verified simulation methods to analyze their design flows, German standards give only general advices and demands special considerations in such cases. Compared to urban sub-catchments, external natural catchments exhibit greatly different flow characteristics. With increasing area size their hydrological behavior approximates that of rural catchments, e.g. sub-surface flow may prevail and lag times are comparable long. There are few observed peak flow values and simple (mostly empirical) approaches that are offered by literature for Central Europe. Most of them are at least helpful to crosscheck results that are achieved by simulation lacking calibration. Using storm-runoff data from five monitored rural watersheds in the west of Germany with catchment areas between 0.33 and 1.07 km2 , the author investigated by multiple event simulation three different approaches to determine the rainfall excess. These are the modified SCS variable run-off coefficient methods by Lutz and Zaiß as well as the soil moisture model by Ostrowski. Selection criteria for storm events from continuous precipitation data were taken from recommendations of M 165 and the runoff concentration method (parallel cascades of linear reservoirs) from a DWA working report to which the author had contributed. In general, the two run-off coefficient methods showed results that are of sufficient accuracy for most practical purposes. The soil moisture model showed no significant better results, at least not to such a degree that it would justify the additional data collection that its parameter determination requires. Particularly typical convective summer events after long dry periods, that are often decisive for sewer networks (not so much for rivers), showed discrepancies between simulated and measured flow hydrographs.

Keywords: external natural catchments, sewer network design, storm-runoff modelling, urban drainage

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