Search results for: skills and values of social work

Authors: Adane Gebresilassie Hailemariam, Belete Yilma Hirpaye

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The enhanced concentrations of heavy metals, especially in sediments, may indicate human-induced perturbations rather than natural enrichment through geological weathering. Heavy metals are non-biodegradable, persist in the environment, and are concentrated up to the food chain, leading to enhanced levels in the liver and muscle tissues of fishes, aquatic bryophytes, and aquatic biota. Marine organisms, in general fish in particular, accumulate metals to concentrations many times higher than present in water or sediment as they can take up metals in their organs and concentrate at different levels. Thus, metals acquired through the food chain due to pollution are potential chemical hazards, threatening consumers. The Nile tilapia (oreochromic niloticus), catfish (clarius garpinus), and water samples were collected from five sampling sites, namely, inlet-1, inlet-2, center, outlet-1 and outlet-2 of Lake Chamo. The concentration of major and trace metals Na, K, Mg, Ca, Cr, Co, Ni, Mn and Cu in the two fish muscles, gill and liver, was determined using an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) and flame photometer (FP). Metal concentrations in the water have also been evaluated within the two consecutive seasons, winter (dry) and spring (wet). The results revealed that the concentration of those metals in Tilapia’s (O. niloticus) muscle, gill, and liver were Na 44.5, 35.1, 28, Mg 2.8, 8.41, 4.61, K 43, 32, 30, Ca 1.5, 6.0, 5.5, Cr 0.91, 1.2, 3.5, Co 3.0, 2.89, 2.62, Ni 0.94, 1.99, 2.2, Mn 1.23, 1.51, 1.6 and Cu 1.1, 1.99, 3.5 mg kg-1 respectively and in catfish’s muscle, gill and liver Na 25, 39, 41.5, Mg 4.8, 2.87, 6, K 29, 38, 40, Ca 2.5, 8.10, 3.0, Cr 0.65, 3.5, 5.0, Co 2.62, 1.86, 1.73, Ni 1.10, 2.3, 3.1, Mn 1.54, 1.57, 1.59 and Cu 1.01, 1.10, 3.70 mg kg-1 respectively. The highest accumulation of Na and K were observed for tilapia muscle and catfish gill, Mg and Ca got higher in tilapia gill and catfish liver, while Co is higher in muscle of the two fish. The Cr, Ni, Mn and Cu levels were higher in the livers of the two fish species. In conculusion, metal toxicity through food chain is the current dangerous issue for human and othe animals. This needs deep focus to promot the health of living animals. The Details of the work are going to be discussed at the conference.

Keywords: bioaccumulation, catfish, essential metals, nile tilapia

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Authors: Abir Dey, Shams Noman

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Introduction: Offshore Island is the remote and isolated area from the terrestrial mainland. They are deprived of their needs. The children from an offshore island are usually underserved in the case of health care because it is a remote area where the health care systems are quite poor compared to mainland. So, the proper information is required for appropriate planning to reduce underlying causes behind visual deprivation among the surviving children of the Offshore Island. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine ocular morbidities, knowledge, and barriers of eye care services among children in an Offshore Island. Methods: The study team visited, and all data were collected from different rural communities at Sandwip Upazila, Chittagong district for screening the children aged 5-16 years old by doing spot examination. The whole study was conducted in both qualitative and quantitative methods. To determine ocular status of children, examinations were done under skilled Ophthalmologists and Optometrists. A focus group discussion was held. The sample size was 490. It was a community based descriptive study and the sampling method was purposive sampling. Results: In total 490 children, about 56.90% were female and 43.10% were male. Among them 456 were school-going children (93.1%) and 34 were non-school going children (6.9%). In this study the most common ocular morbidity was Allergic Conjunctivitis (35.2%). Other mentionable ocular morbidities were Refractive error (27.7%), Blepharitis (13.8%), Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (7.5%), Strabismus (6.3%) and Amblyopia (6.3%). Most of the non-school going children were involved in different types of domestic work like farming, fishing, etc. About 90.04% children who had different ocular abnormalities could not attend to the doctor due to various reasons. Conclusions: The ocular morbidity was high in rate on the offshore island. Eye health care facility was also not well established there. Awareness should be raised about necessity of maintaining hygiene and eye healthcare among the island people. Timely intervention through available eye care facilities and management can reduce the ocular morbidity rate in that area.

Keywords: morbidities, screening, barriers, offshore island, knowledge

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Authors: Ainolnaim Azizol, Valerie Ross

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Music is as old as mankind and rituals using music such as Kavadi have been associated with social, cultural, and spiritual practices in many traditional and modern societies. Recent literature has provided scientific evidence that music affects psychological and physical changes through stimulation of brainwave. Despite such advances, the scientific study of the sonic qualities peculiar to traditional instruments and how it impacts on ritualistic activities is still lacking. This study addresses one such phenomenon. Devotees in Kavadi rituals are known to be in a state of trance state and do not experience pain nor suffer injury despite the hundreds of needles pierced through their skins. Although scientists have sought to understand how this is possible, lesser is known about the music that is used to prepare devotees to enter into the trance state. This study fills this gap of knowledge by providing scientific evidence through the identification and mapping of the sonic spectrum or sound fingerprint of the instruments and the repertoire used in these ritualistic forms in their ethnographic environment and in audio-controlled situations. The objectives are to identify and categorize the different types of traditional music used in Kavadi rituals; to record, transcribe and digitally score the musical repertoire used in the oral tradition of Kavadi rituals; to map the sonic spectrum of ritual music using spectromography and advanced music analytical software a mixed methodology will be used. This comprises ethnographic field studies using interviews, participant observation, audio-video recordings and audio-methodology using spectromography and advanced audio-technology for sonic mapping and the transcription of audio recordings into digital scores.

Keywords: sonic, traditional, ritual, Kavadi, music

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Authors: Suman Dutta, Manish Agrawal, C. S. Jog

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Accurate computation of hydrodynamic forces on floating structures and their deformation finds application in the ocean and naval engineering and wave energy harvesting. This manuscript presents a monolithic, finite element strategy for fluid-structure interaction involving hyper-elastic solids partly submerged in an incompressible fluid. A velocity-based Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation has been used for the fluid and a displacement-based Lagrangian approach has been used for the solid. The flexibility of the ALE technique permits us to treat the free surface of the fluid as a Lagrangian entity. At the interface, the continuity of displacement, velocity and traction are enforced using the mortar method. In the mortar method, the constraints are enforced in a weak sense using the Lagrange multiplier method. In the literature, the mortar method has been shown to be robust in solving various contact mechanics problems. The time-stepping strategy used in this work reduces to the generalized trapezoidal rule in the Eulerian setting. In the Lagrangian limit, in the absence of external load, the algorithm conserves the linear and angular momentum and the total energy of the system. The use of monolithic coupling with an energy-conserving time-stepping strategy gives an unconditionally stable algorithm and allows the user to take large time steps. All the governing equations and boundary conditions have been mapped to the reference configuration. The use of the exact tangent stiffness matrix ensures that the algorithm converges quadratically within each time step. The robustness and good performance of the proposed method are demonstrated by solving benchmark problems from the literature.

Keywords: ALE, floating body, fluid-structure interaction, monolithic, mortar method

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Authors: B. Sudhakara Reddy

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The transition to a clean and green energy system is an economic and social transformation that is exciting as well as challenging. The world today faces a formidable challenge in transforming its economy from being driven primarily by fossil fuels, which are non-renewable and a major source of global pollution, to becoming an economy that can function effectively using renewable energy sources and by achieving high energy efficiency levels. In the present study, a green economy scenario is developed for India using a bottom-up approach. The results show that the penetration rate of renewable energy resources will reduce the total primary energy demand by 23% under GE. Improvements in energy efficiency (e.g. households, industrial and commercial sectors) will result in reduced demand to the tune of 318 MTOE. The volume of energy-related CO2 emissions decline to 2,218 Mt in 2030 from 3,440 under the BAU scenario and the per capita emissions will reduce by about 35% (from 2.22 to 1.45) under the GE scenario. The reduction in fossil fuel demand and focus on clean energy will reduce the energy intensity to 0.21 (TOE/US$ of GDP) and carbon intensity to 0.42 (ton/US$ of GDP) under the GE scenario. total import bill (coal and oil) will amount to US$ 334 billion by 2030 (at 2010/11 prices), but as per the GE scenario, it would be US$ 194.2 billion, a saving of about US$ 140 billion. The building of a green energy economy can also serve another purpose: to develop new ‘pathways out of poverty’ by creating more than 10 million jobs and thus raise the standard of living of low-income people. The differences between the baseline and green energy scenarios are not so much the consequence of the diffusion of various technologies. It is the result of the active roles of different actors and the drivers that become dominant.

Keywords: emissions, green energy, fossil fuels, green jobs, renewables, scenario

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Authors: Jamunarani Appalasamy, Tha Kyi Kyi, Quek Kia Fatt, Joyce Pauline Joseph, Anuar Zaini M. Zain

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Background: The Health Belief Theory had always been associated with chronic disease management. Various health behaviour concepts and perception branching from this Health Belief Theory had involved with medication understanding, use, and self-efficacy which directly link to medication adherence. In a previous quantitative and qualitative study, stroke patients in Malaysia were found to be strongly believing information obtained by various sources such as the internet and social communication. This action leads to lower perception of their stroke preventative medication benefit which in long-term creates non-adherence. Hence, this study intends to pilot an intervention which uses audio-visual concept incorporated with mHealth service to enhance learning and self-reflection among stroke patients to manage their disease. Methods/Design: Twenty patients will be allocated to a proposed intervention whereas another twenty patients are allocated to the usual treatment. The intervention involves a series of developed audio-visual videos sent via mobile phone which later await for responses and feedback from the receiver (patient) via SMS or recorded calls. The primary outcome would be the medication understanding, use and self-efficacy measured over two months pre and post intervention. Secondary outcome is measured from changes of blood parameters and other self-reported questionnaires. Discussion: This study shall also assess uptake/attrition, feasibility, and acceptability of this intervention. Trial Registration: NMRR-15-851-24737 (IIR)

Keywords: health belief, medication understanding, medication use, self-efficacy

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Authors: S. S. Sree Sanker, K. N. Madhusoodanan

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Optical biosensors are dominant alternative for traditional analytical methods, because of their small size, simple design and high sensitivity. Photonic sensing method is one of the recent advancing technology for biosensors. It measures the change in refractive index which is induced by the difference in molecular interactions due to the change in concentration of the analyte. Glucose is an aldosic monosaccharide, which is a metabolic source in many of the organisms. The terahertz waves occupies the space between infrared and microwaves in the electromagnetic spectrum. Terahertz waves are expected to be applied to various types of sensors for detecting harmful substances in blood, cancer cells in skin and micro bacteria in vegetables. We have designed glucose sensors using silicon based 1D and 2D photonic crystal pillar arrays in terahertz frequency range. 1D photonic crystal has rectangular pillars with height 100 µm, length 1600 µm and width 50 µm. The array period of the crystal is 500 µm. 2D photonic crystal has 5×5 cylindrical pillar array with an array period of 75 µm. Height and diameter of the pillar array are 160 µm and 100 µm respectively. Two samples considered in the work are blood and glucose solution, which are labelled as sample 1 and sample 2 respectively. The proposed sensor detects the concentration of glucose in the samples from 0 to 100 mg/dL. For this, the crystal was irradiated with 0.3 to 3 THz waves. By analyzing the obtained S parameter, the refractive index of the crystal corresponding to the particular concentration of glucose was measured using the parameter retrieval method. Refractive indices of the two crystals decreased gradually with the increase in concentration of glucose in the sample. For 1D photonic crystals, a gradual decrease in refractive index was observed at 1 THz. 2D photonic crystal showed this behavior at 2 THz. The proposed sensor was simulated using CST Microwave studio. This will enable us to develop a model which can be used to characterize a glucose sensor. The present study is expected to contribute to blood glucose monitoring.

Keywords: CST microwave studio, glucose sensor, photonic crystal, terahertz waves

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Authors: Anton Grobler

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Background: Psychological capital (PsyCap), consisting of Hope, Optimism, Resilience, and Self-efficacy, is a popular positive organisational behaviour construct utilised in the studying employee work and behavioral attitudes. Various scholars believe however that further validity research should be conducted on the PsyCap questionnaire (PCQ), outside of the founding research team and in more diverse settings, for the purpose of this paper, within the diverse South African (SA) context. Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the construct validity of the PCQ with specific reference to its psychometric properties within the diverse SA context. Setting: The sample includes a total of 1 749 respondents, ± 60 each from 30 organisations in South Africa. Method: This study utilised a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample is relatively representative (in terms of race, gender) of the South African workforce. A multi-factorial model was statistically explored and confirmed (with exploratory factor analysis [EFA] and confirmatory factor analysis [CFA] respectively). Results: The study yielded a three-factor solution, with Hope and Optimism as a combined factor and Resilience and Self-efficacy made up of a reconfigured set of substantively justifiable items. Three items of the original 24 items were found not to be suitable. The three factors showed good psychometric properties, good fit (in support of construct validity) and acceptable levels of convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusion: The results support the original conceptualisation of PsyCap, although with a unique structural configuration. This resonates with the notion of scholars that further research should be conducted within diverse settings. This is necessary to ensure the valid measurement of the construct, which is considered to be one of the four criteria for a construct to be categorised as a positive organisational behaviour construct.

Keywords: positive organisational behaviour, psychological capital, hope, optimism, resilience, self-efficacy, construct validity

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Authors: Seyhan Sahan-Firat, Meryem Temiz-Resitoglu, Demet Sinem Guden, Sefika Pinar Kucukkavruk, Bahar Tunctan, Ayse Nihal Sari, Zumrut Kocak

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We hypothesized that mTOR inhibition may prevent the multiple organ failures following severe multiple tissue injury associated with increased NADPH oxidase system activity occur in zymosan-induced systemic inflammation. Therefore, we investigated the role of mTOR in oxidative/nitrosative stress associated with increase in NADPH oxidase activity in zymosan-induced systemic inflammation model in rats. Male Wistar rats received saline (4 ml/kg, i.p.) and zymosan (500 mg/kg, i.p.) at time 0. Saline, or zymosan-treated rats were given rapamycin (1 mg/kg, i.p.) 1 h after saline or zymosan injections. Rats were sacrified 4 h after zymosan challenge and kidney, heart, thoracic aorta, and superior mesenteric artery were collected. NADPH oxidase activity, p22phox, gp91phox, and p47phox protein expression and nitrotyrosine levels were measured in tissue samples. Zymosan administration caused an increase in NADPH oxidase activity, p22phox, gp91phox, and p47phox protein expression and nitrotyrosine levels in kidney, heart, thoracic aorta, and superior mesenteric artery. These changes caused by zymosan reversed by rapamycin, a selective mTOR inhibitor. Rapamycin alone had no effect on the parameters measured. Our results demonstrated that zymosan-induced oxidative/nitrosative stress presumably due to enhanced activity of NADPH oxidase, expression of p22phox, gp91phox, and p47phox and production of peroxynitrite were mediated by mTOR. [This work was financially supported by Research Foundation of Mersin University (2016-2-AP3-1900)].

Keywords: oxidative stress, mTOR, nitrosative stress, zymosan

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Authors: Tracey Bone

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Deaf inmates, whose first or preferred language is a Signed Language, experience barriers to accessing the necessary two-way communication with correctional staff, and the educational and social programs that will enhance their eligibility for conditional release from the federal prison system in Canada. The development of visual content to enhance the knowledge and skill development of correctional staff is a contemporary strategy intended to significantly improve the correctional experience for deaf inmates. This presentation reports on the development of two distinct training videos created to enhance staff’s understanding of the needs of deaf inmates; one a two-part simulation of an interaction with a deaf inmate, the second an interview with a deaf academic. Part one of video one demonstrates the challenges and misunderstandings inherent in communicating across languages without a qualified sign language interpreter; the second part demonstrates the ease of communication when communication needs are met. Video two incorporates the experiences of a deaf academic to provide the cultural grounding necessary to educate staff in the unique experiences associated with being a visual language user. Lack of staff understanding or awareness of deaf culture and language must not be acceptable reasons for the inadequate treatment of deaf visual language users in federal prisons. This paper demonstrates a contemporary approach to meeting the human rights and needs of this unique and often ignored inmate subpopulation. The deaf community supports this visual approach to enhancing staff understanding of the unique needs of this population. A study of its effectiveness is currently underway.

Keywords: accommodations, American Sign Language (ASL), deaf inmates, sensory deprivation

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Authors: Ian Jones, Jonathan Griffiths

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Laser welding offers the potential for making very precise joints in plastics products, both in terms of the joint location and the amount of heating applied. These methods have allowed the production of complex products such as microfluidic devices where channels and structure resolution below 100 µm is regularly used. However, to date, the dimension of welds made using lasers has been limited by the focus spot size that is achievable from the laser source. Theoretically, the minimum spot size possible from a laser is comparable to the wavelength of the radiation emitted. Practically, with reasonable focal length optics the spot size achievable is a few factors larger than this, and the melt zone in a plastics weld is larger again than this. The narrowest welds feasible to date have therefore been 10-20 µm wide using a near-infrared laser source. The aim of this work was to prepare laser absorber tracks and channels less than 10 µm wide in PMMA thermoplastic using EB lithography followed by sealing of channels using laser welding to carry out welds with widths of the order of 1 µm, below the resolution limit of the near-infrared laser used. Welded joints with a width of 1 µm have been achieved as well as channels with a width of 5 µm. The procedure was based on the principle of transmission laser welding using a thin coating of infrared absorbent material at the joint interface. The coating was patterned using electron-beam lithography to obtain the required resolution in a reproducible manner and that resolution was retained after the transmission laser welding process. The joint strength was ratified using larger scale samples. The results demonstrate that plastics products could be made with a high density of structure with resolution below 1 um, and that welding can be applied without excessively heating regions beyond the weld lines. This may be applied to smaller scale sensor and analysis chips, micro-bio and chemical reactors and to microelectronic packaging.

Keywords: microchannels, polymer, EB lithography, laser welding

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Authors: J. D. Ho, D. M. Dawes, B. Driver

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Introduction: TASER Conducted Electrical Weapons (CEWs) are the dominant CEWs in use and have been used in modern police and military operations since the late 1990s as a form of non-lethal weaponry. The 3rd generation of CEWs has been recently introduced and is known as The TASER 7. This new CEW will be replacing current CEW technology and has a new dart design that is important for emergency medical professionals to be familiar with because it requires a different method of removal and will leave a different marking pattern in human tissue than they may have been previously familiar with. features of this new dart design include: higher velocity impact, larger impact surface area, break away dart body segment, dual back-barb retention, newly designed removal process. As the TASER 7 begins to be deployed by the police and military personnel, these new features make it imperative that emergency medical professionals become familiar with the signature markings that this new dart design will make on human tissue and how to remove them. Methods: Multiple observational studies using high speed photography were used to record impact patterns of the new dart design on fresh tissue and also the newly recommended dart removal process. Both animal and human subjects were used to test this dart design prior to production release. Results: Data presented will include dart design overview, flight pattern accuracy, impact analysis, and dart removal example. Tissue photographs will be presented to demonstrate examples of signature TASER 7 dart markings that emergency medical professionals can expect to see. Conclusion: This work will provide the reader with an understanding of this newest generation CEW dart design, its key features, its signature marking pattern that can be expected and a recommendation of how to remove it from human tissue.

Keywords: TASER 7, conducted electrical weapon, dart mark, dart removal

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Authors: Chukwuemeka Daniel Ezeliora, Chukwuebuka Lawrence Ezeliora

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The research focused on the appraisal of impact strength on mild steel cladding weld metal geometry. Over the years, poor welding has resulted in failures in engineering components, poor material quality, the collapse of welded materials, and failures in material strength. This is as a result of poor selection and combination of welding input process parameters. The application of the Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding method with weld specimen of length 60; width 40, and thickness of 10 was used for the experiment. A butt joint method was prepared for the welding, and tungsten inert gas welding process was used to perform the twenty (20) experimental runs. A response surface methodology was used to model and to analyze the system. For an adequate polynomial approximation, the experimental design was used to collect the data. The key parameters considered in this work are welding current, gas flow rate, welding speed, and voltage. The range of the input process parameters was selected from the literature and the design. The steps followed to achieve the experimental design and results is the use of response surface method (RSM) implemented in central composite design (CCD) to generate the design matrix, to obtain quadratic model, and evaluate the interactions in the factors as well as optimizing the factors and the response. The result expresses that the best impact strength of the mild steel cladding weld metal geometry is 115.419 Joules. However, it was observed that the result of the input factors is; current 180.4 amp, voltage 23.99 volt, welding speed 142.7 mm.s and gas flow rate 10.8 lit/min as the optimum of the input process parameters. The optimal solution gives a guide for optimal impact strength of the weldment when welding with tungsten inert gas (TIG) under study.

Keywords: mild steel, impact strength, response surface, bead geometry, welding

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Authors: Juan C. Reyes, Linnette Rodríguez, Héctor Villanueva, Jorge Vázquez, Ivonne Rivera

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On July 2020, a private non-profit community health center (HealthProMed) that serves people without a medical insurance plan or with limited resources in one of the most populated areas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, implemented a COVID-19 case investigation and contact-tracing surveillance system. Nursing personnel at the health center completed a computerized case investigation form that was translated, adapted, and modified from CDC’s Patient Under Investigation (PUI) Form. Between July 13, 2020, and March 17, 2022, a total of 9,233 SARS-CoV-2 tests were conducted at the health center, 16.9% of which were classified as confirmed cases (positive molecular test) and 27.7% as probable cases (positive serologic test). Most of the confirmed cases were females (60.0%), under 20 years old (29.1%), and living in their homes (59.1%). In the 14 days before the onset of symptoms, 26.3% of confirmed cases reported going to the supermarket, 22.4% had contact with a known COVID-19 case, and 20.7% went to work. The symptoms most commonly reported were sore throat (33.4%), runny nose (33.3%), cough (24.9%), and headache (23.2%). The most common preexisting medical conditions among confirmed cases were hypertension (19.3%), chronic lung disease including asthma, emphysema, COPD (13.3%), and diabetes mellitus (12.8). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that patients who used alcohol frequently during the last two weeks (OR=1.43; 95%CI: 1.15-1.77), those who were in contact with a positive case (OR=1.58; 95%CI: 1.33-1.88) and those who were obese (OR=1.82; 95%CI: 1.24-2.69) were significantly more likely to be a confirmed case after controlling for sociodemographic variables. Implementing a case investigation and contact-tracing component at community health centers can be of great value in the prevention and control of COVID-19 at the community level and could be used in future outbreaks.

Keywords: community health center, Puerto Rico, risk factors, SARS-CoV-2

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Authors: Mahsa Hadipour Jahromy, Sara Rezaii

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Parkinson’s disease (PD) results primarily from the death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Soon after the discovery of levodopa and its beneficial effects in chronic administration, debilitating involuntary movements observed, termed levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) with poorly understood pathogenesis. Polyphenol-rich compounds, like pomegranate, provided neuroprotection in several animal models of brain diseases. In the present work, we investigated whether pomegranate has preventive effects following 4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced dopaminergic degenerations and the potential to diminish LID in mice. Mice model of PD was induced by MPTP (30 mg/kg daily for five consecutive days). To induce a mice model of LID, valid PD mice were treated with levodopa (50 mg/kg, i.p) for 15 days. Then the effects of chronic co-administration of pomegranate juice (20 ml/kg) with levodopa and continuing for 10 days, evaluated. Behavioural tests were performed in all groups, every other day including: Abnormal involuntary movements (AIMS), forelimb adjusting steps, cylinder, and catatonia tests. Finally, brain tissue sections were prepared to study substantia nigra changes and dopamine neuron density after treatments. With this MPTP regimen, significant movement disorders revealed in AIMS tests and there was a reduction in dopamine striatal density. Levodopa attenuates their loss caused by MPTP, however, in chronic administration, dyskinesia observed in forelimb adjusting step and cylinder tests. Besides, catatonia observed in some cases. Chronic pomegranate co-administration significantly improved LID in both tests and reduced dopaminergic loss in substantia nigra. These data indicate that pomegranate might be a good adjunct for preserving dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and reducing LID in mice.

Keywords: levodopa-induced dyskinesia, MPTP, Parkinson’s disease, pomegranate

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Authors: Miraç Savaş Turhan, Ali Danışman

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New institutional theorists in organization theory have used institutional logics perspective to explain the contradictory practices in modern western societies. Accordingly, distinct institutional logics are embedded in central institutions such as the market, state, democracy, family, and religion. Individual and organizational actors and their practices are restricted and guided by institutional logics in a particular field. Through this perspective, actors are assumed to have a situated, embedded, boundedly intentional, and adaptive role against the structure in social, cultural and political context. Since the early 1990's, increasing number of studies has attempted to explain the role of actors in creating, maintaining, and changing institutions. Yet, most of these studies have focused on organizational field-level actors, ignoring the role that can be played by individual actors within organizations. As a result, we have much information about what organizational field level actors can do, but relatively little knowledge about the ability of organizational change agents within organization in relation to institutional orders. This study is an attempt to find out how the ability of individual actors who attempt to change their organization is constrained and shaped by institutional logics dominating the field. We examine this issue in a private school in the Turkish Education field. We first describe dominating institutional logics in the Turkish Education field. Then we conducted in-depth interviews and content analysis in the school. The early results indicate that attempts and actions of organizational change agents are remarkably directed and shaped by the dominating institutional logics in the Turkish Education field.

Keywords: Institutional logics, individual actors, organizational change, organizational change agent

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Authors: Mrinal Kanti Bhowmik, Usha Rani Gogoi Jr., Anjan Kumar Ghosh, Debotosh Bhattacharjee

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In the last few decades, breast thermography has achieved an average sensitivity and specificity of 90% for breast tumor detection. Breast thermography is a non-invasive, cost-effective, painless and radiation-free breast imaging modality which makes a significant contribution to the evaluation and diagnosis of patients, suspected of having breast cancer. An abnormal breast thermogram may indicate significant biological risk for the existence or the development of breast tumors. Breast thermography can detect a breast tumor, when the tumor is in its early stage or when the tumor is in a dense breast. The infrared breast thermography is very sensitive to environmental changes for which acquisition of breast thermography should be performed under strictly controlled conditions by undergoing some standard protocols. Several factors like air, temperature, humidity, etc. are there to be considered for characterizing thermal images as an imperative tool for detecting breast cancer. A detailed study of various breast thermogram acquisition protocols adopted by different researchers in their research work is provided here in this paper. After going through a rigorous study of different breast thermogram acquisition protocols, a new standard breast thermography acquisition setup is proposed here in this paper for proper and accurate capturing of the breast thermograms. The proposed breast thermogram acquisition setup is being built in the Radiology Department, Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC), Govt. of Tripura, Tripura, India. The breast thermograms are captured using FLIR T650sc thermal camera with the thermal sensitivity of 20 mK at 30 degree C. The paper is an attempt to highlight the importance of different critical parameters of breast thermography like different thermography views, patient preparation protocols, acquisition room requirements, acquisition system requirements, etc. This paper makes an important contribution by providing a detailed survey and a new efficient approach on breast thermogram capturing.

Keywords: acquisition protocol, breast cancer, breast thermography, infrared thermography

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Authors: R.T.P. De Silva, T. K. Wijayasiriwardhane, B. Jayawardena

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Most people nowadays spend their time indoor environment. Because of that, a quality indoor environment needs for them. This study was conducted to identify how to improve indoor visual comfort using a personalized light system. Light intensity, light color, glare, and contrast are the main facts that affect visual comfort. The light intensity which needs to perform a task is changed according to the task. Using necessary light intensity and we can improve the visual comfort of occupants. The hue can affect the emotions of occupants. The preferred light colors and intensity change according to the occupant's age and gender. The research was conducted to identify is there any relationship between personalization and visual comfort. To validate this designed an Internet of Things-based reading light. This light can work according to the standard light levels and personalized light levels. It also can measure the current light intensity of the environment and maintain continuous light levels according to the task. The test was conducted by using 25 undergraduates, and 5school students, and 5 adults. The feedbacks are gathered using Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) techniques. Feedbacks are gathered in three steps, It was done without any light control, with standard light level, and with personalized light level Users had to spend 10 minutes under each condition. After finishing each step, collected their feedbacks. According to the result gathered, 94% of participants rated a personalized light system as comfort for them. The feedbacks show stay under continuous light level help to keep their concentrate. Future research can be conducted on how the color of indoor light can affect for indoor visual comfort of occupants using a personalized light system. Further proposed IoT based can improve to change the light colors according to the user's preference.

Keywords: indoor environment quality, internet of things based light system, post occupancy evaluation, visual comfort

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Authors: Rashid S. Mohammad, Shicheng Zhang, Xinzhe Zhao

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In tight oil reservoirs, wettability alteration has generally been considered as an effective way to remove fracturing fluid retention on the surface of the fracture and consequently improved oil production. However, there is a lack of a reliable productivity prediction model to show the relationship between the wettability and oil production in tight oil well. In this paper, a new oil productivity prediction model of immiscible oil-water flow and miscible CO₂-oil flow accounting for wettability is developed. This mathematical model is established by considering two different length scales: nonporous network and propped fractures. CO₂ flow diffuses in the nonporous network and high velocity non-Darcy flow in propped fractures are considered by taking into account the effect of wettability alteration on capillary pressure and relative permeability. A laboratory experiment is also conducted here to validate this model. Laboratory experiments have been designed to compare the water saturation profiles for different contact angle, revealing the fluid retention in rock pores that affects capillary force and relative permeability. Four kinds of brines with different concentrations are selected here to create different contact angles. In water-wet porous media, as the system becomes more oil-wet, water saturation decreases. As a result, oil relative permeability increases. On the other hand, capillary pressure which is the resistance for the oil flow increases as well. The oil production change due to wettability alteration is the result of the comprehensive changes of oil relative permeability and capillary pressure. The results indicate that wettability is a key factor for fracturing fluid retention removal and oil enhancement in tight reservoirs. By incorporating laboratory test into a mathematical model, this work shows the relationship between wettability and oil production is not a simple linear pattern but a parabolic one. Additionally, it can be used for a better understanding of optimization design of fracturing fluids.

Keywords: wettability, relative permeability, fluid retention, oil production, unconventional and tight reservoirs

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Authors: Prerna Mohan Saxena, Avni Joshi, Raju K Parasher

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Disability is a state of decreased functioning associated with disease, disorder, injury, or other health condition, which in the context of one’s environment is experienced as an impairment, activity limitation, or participation restriction. With the concept of disability evolving over the years, the current ICF model of disability has integrated this concept into a comprehensive whole of multiple dimensions of human functioning, including biological, psychological, social, and environmental aspects. Wheelchair basketball is one of the greatest examples of adapted sports for the disabled. Through this study, we aim to evaluate the functional performance and self-esteem levels in differently-abled pediatric wheelchair basketball players, providing an insight on their abilities and deficits and how they can be worked on at a larger level to improve overall performance. The study was conducted on 9 pediatric wheelchair basketball players at Amar Jyoti school for inclusive education Delhi their physical performance was assessed using a battery of tests, and physical self esteem was assessed using the Physical self-description instrument (PSDQ-S). Results showed that 9 participants age ranged between 10-21 years, mostly males with BMI ranging between 16.7 to 28.9 kg/m2 most of them had the experience of 5 to 6 years of playing the sport. The data showed physical performance in accordance to years of experience of playing, physical self esteem showed a different perspective, with experience players scoring less on it. This study supports a multidimensional construct of physical performance and physical self-esteem, suggesting that both may be applied on the wheelchair basketball players at competitive levels.

Keywords: ase series, physical performance, physical self-esteem, wheelchair basketball

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Authors: Yu-Ching Liu

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Background: Family numbers usually take responsibility for taking care of their elderly relatives, especially parents. Caring for a patient with chronic diseases is a stressful experience, which makes carers suffer physical and mental health stress, difficulties maintaining family relationships and issues in participating in the labor market, which may lower their quality of life (QoL). The issue of providing care to relatives with chronic illness has been widely explored in Taiwan, but most studies focus on the need for full-time caregivers. Objective: The main goal of this study was to examine the topic of working carers involved in the decision-making process of LTC services and to explore what affects working carers considering when they choose the care services for their disabled, elderly relatives. Method: A total of 7 working caregivers were enrolled in this study. A face-to-face and semi-structured in-depth qualitative interview study were conducted to explore the caregivers' perspectives. Results: Working carers have a positive experience of using LTC service because it allows them to kill two birds with one stone, continue employment, and care for an elderly disabled relative. However, working carers have still been struggling to find friendly community-based LTC services. There were no longer available community services that could be used with the illness condition of patients getting worse. As such, patients have to be cared for at home, which might increase the caregiver burden of carers. Conclusion: Working family caregivers suffer from heavy physical and psychological burdens as they not only have to maintain their employment but care for elderly disabled relatives; however, the current support provided is insufficient. The design of services should consider working carers' employment situation and need rather than the only caring situation of patients at home.

Keywords: family caregiver, Long-term care, work-life balance, decision-making

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Authors: Chen Zhang; Qiang Wang

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With the rapid development of the new generation of digital technology, various industries have created more and more value by using digital technology, accelerating the digital transformation of various industries. The economic form of human society has evolved with the progress of technology, and in this context, the power conversion, transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry in terms of quality, efficiency and energy change has become a top priority. Based on the digitalization background, this paper analyzes the transformation and upgrading efficiency of the manufacturing industry and evaluates the impact of the driving factors, which have very important theoretical and practical significance. This paper utilizes qualitative research methods, entropy methods, data envelopment analysis methods and econometric models to explore the transformation and upgrading efficiency of manufacturing enterprises and driving factors. The study shows that the transformation and upgrading efficiency of the manufacturing industry shows a steady increase, and regions rich in natural resources and social resources provide certain resources for transformation and upgrading. The ability of scientific and technological innovation has been improved, but there is still much room for progress in the transformation of scientific and technological innovation achievements. Most manufacturing industries pay more attention to green manufacturing and sustainable development. In addition, based on the existing problems, this paper puts forward suggestions for improving infrastructure construction, developing the technological innovation capacity of enterprises, green production and sustainable development.

Keywords: digitization, manufacturing firms, transformation and upgrading, efficiency, driving factors

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Authors: Sintija Miļuna, Ričards Melderis, Loreta Briuka, Dagnija Rostoka, Ingus Skadiņš, Juta Kroiča

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Objectives Smokeless tobacco products in Latvia become more available and favorable to young adults, especially students and athletes like hockey and floorball players. The aim of the research was to detect visual mucosal changes in the oral cavity in smokeless tobacco users and to evaluate pro - inflammatory and anti - inflammatory cytokine (IL-6, IL-1, IL-8, TNF Alpha) levels in saliva from smokeless tobacco users. Methods A smokeless tobacco group (n=10) and a control group (non-tobacco users) (n=10) were intraorally examined for oral lesions and 5 ml of saliva were collected. Saliva was analysed for Il-6, IL-1, Il-8, TNF Alpha using ELISA Sigma-Aldrich. For statistical analysis IBM Statistics 27 was used (Mann - Whitney U test, Spearman’s Rank Correlation coefficient). This research was approved by the Ethics Committee of Rīga Stradiņš University No.22/28.01.2016. This research has been developed with financing from the European Social Fund and Latvian state budget within the project no. 8.2.2.0/20/I/004 “Support for involving doctoral students in scientific research and studies” at Rīga Stradiņš University. Results IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, TNF Alpha levels were higher in the smokeless tobacco group (IL-1 83.34 pg/ml vs. 74.26 pg/ml; IL-6 195.10 pg/ml vs. 6.16 pg/ml; IL-8 736.34 pg/ml vs. 285.26 pg/ml; TNF Alpha 489.27 pg/ml vs. 200.9 pg/ml), but statistically there is no difference between control group and smokeless tobacco group (IL1 p=0.190, IL6 p=0.052, IL8 p=0.165, TNF alpha p=0.089). There was statistical correlation between IL1 and IL6 (p=0.023), IL6 and TNF alpha (p=0.028), IL8 and IL6 (p=0.005). Conclusions White localized lesions were detected in places where smokeless tobacco users placed sachets. There is a statistical correlation between IL6 and IL1 levels, IL6 and TNF alpha levels, IL8 and IL6 levels in saliva. There are no differences in the inflammatory cytokine levels between control group and smokeless tobacco group.

Keywords: smokeless tobacco, Snus, inflammatory biomarkers, oral lesions, oral pathology

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Authors: Anu Jose, Sapna Nair

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By using the baseline data of a randomized cluster trial aiming to understand the effects of social, technological and business innovation on child development in two districts of Tamil Nadu, India, we examine the determinants of father involvement in childcare. While there is a growing literature on the role of fathers in child development and family systems, we particularly look at the effect of the attitude of mother and father towards father's involvement in childcare in rural South India. We find that father's own attitude and the mother's gatekeeping attitude significantly affect the father's behavior when other socio-economic characteristics of the parents are controlled. Further, the results are corroborated using different empirical models in which father involvement is conceptualized into three categories broadly; play, caretaking, and affection. We also examine the other socio-economic characteristics affecting paternal involvement using both quantitative and qualitative methods. For instance, child characteristics such as the age and birth order have a significant influence on the level of paternal involvement. That is, older the child, the more involved the father is and the father gets more involved in childcare of the second child as compared to the first child. The participants of the study included 1516 children of age 0 to 22 months from 1476 households. Results indicate that fathers of households where the mother and the father have less traditional attitude exhibit a higher level of involvement in childcare as opposed to parents having a more traditional attitude towards gender role in parenting. The results of this paper provide a major policy lesson aiming to improve paternal involvement in childcare.

Keywords: child development, father involvement, gender, parent’s attitude towards paternal involvement

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Authors: Waqas Mehdi, Muhammad Umar Hassan, Khadeeja Mustafa

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Objective: Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a medical term used to point out the complicated combination of physical, emotional, cognitive and behavioral signs and symptoms associated with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury(mTBI). This study was conducted to assess the improvement or debilitating effect of behavioral therapy in addition to the conventional treatment and to document these results for increasing the efficiency of treatment provided to such cases. Method: This was primarily an interventional prospective cohort study which was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Hospital Lahore. The sample size was 200 patients who were randomly distributed into two groups. The interventional group with Cognitive behavioral therapy was added in addition to the conventional treatment regimen and the Control group receiving only conventional treatment. Results were noted initially as well as after two weeks of the follow-up period. Data were subsequently analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and associations worked out. Result and conclusion: Among the patients that were given therapy sessions along with conventional medicine, there was a significant improvement in the symptoms and their overall quality of life. It is also important to notice that the time period taken for these effects to wane is cut down by psychiatric solutions too. So we can conclude that CBT sessions not only speed up recovery in patients with post-concussion syndrome they also aid in the efficiency improvement in functional capability and quality of life.

Keywords: neurosurgery, CBT, PCS, mTBI

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Authors: Sanusi Abubakar Sadiq

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Despite the significance of tourism as a key revenue earner and employment generator, it is still being disregarded in many areas. The prospects of existing resources could boost development in communities; region, etc. are less used. This study is carried out with the view of developing Pandi-Tekki in Tanglang in Billiri Local Government Area as a Tourism Destination. It was primarily aimed at identifying features of Pandi-Tekki that could be developed into tourism attraction and suggest ways of developing the prospective site into a tourism destination, as well as exploring its possible contribution to tourism sector in Gombe State. Literature was reviewed based on relevant published materials. Data was collected through the use of qualitative and quantitative methods which include personal observation and structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software. Result based on the data collected shows that Pandi-Tekki has potentials that can be developed as an attraction. The result also shows that the local community perceives tourism as a good development that will open them up to the entire world and also generate revenue to stimulate their economy. Conclusions were drawn based on the findings with regard to the analysis carried out in this research. It was discovered that Pandi-Tekki can be developed as a tourism destination, and there will be a great success towards achieving the aim and objectives of the development. Therefore, recommendations were made on creating awareness on the need to develop Pandi-Tekki as a Tourism Destination and the need for government to provide tourism facilities at the destination since it is a public outfit.

Keywords: attraction, destination, developing, features

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Authors: Mohammed Aman Kassim

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This study explored the attitudes of hotel managers toward climate change adaption and mitigation practices in resort hotels located in Bishoftu town, Ethiopia. Weak resource management in the area causes serious environmental problems. So sustainable way forward is needed for the destination in order to reduce environmental damage. Six resorts were selected out of twelve resort hotels in Bishoftu City by using the systematic sampling method, and a total of fifty-six managers were taken for the study. The data analyzed came from self-administered questionnaires, site observation, and a short face-to-face interview with general managers. The results showed that 99% of hotel managers possess positive attitudes toward climate change adaptation and mitigation practices. But they did not show a high commitment to adopting all adaptation and mitigation practices in their hotel’s actions and day-to-day operation. Key adoption influencing factors identified were: owners' commitment toward sustainability, the applicability of government rules and regulations, and incentives for good achievement. The findings also revealed that the attitudes of resort hotel managers toward climate change adaption and mitigation practices are more significantly influenced by their social factors, such as level of education and age, in this study. The study demonstrated that in order to increase managers' commitment and hotels become green: government led-education and training programs, green certification actions, and application of government environmental regulation are important.

Keywords: climate change, climate change adaptation and mitigation practices, environmental attitude, resort hotels

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Authors: R. McGrath, A. Trace, S. Curtin, C. McCreary

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Introduction: Although, in relation to Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS), much energy has been expended on its definition and etiology, it still remains a contentious issue. There is agreement on the symptoms, but on little else; and approaches to treatment vary widely. However, it has been established that the condition has a detrimental effect on the sufferer’s quality of life. Much research focus has been put on the physical impact of the syndrome. Recently, some literature has turned the focus to social, functional, and psychological factors. However, there is very little qualitative research on how burning mouth syndrome affects the lives of sufferer’s and the present study seeks to remedy this. Method: The study recruited five male participants who took part in semi-structured interviews lasting between 30 and 50 minutes. Data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: The study identified four super-ordinate themes: Lack of Control due to Uncertainty about Condition; Disruption to Internal Sense of Self; Negative Future Expectation due to Chronic Symptoms; and Sense of BMS as an Intrusive Force. Aspects of these themes reflect areas of reduction in quality of life. Conclusion: BMS damages an individual’s quality of life in ways that have not been reflected in self-report surveys of health-related quality of life. The condition has serious implications for the individual's sense of self, identity, and future. The study recommends that further qualitative research be carried out in this area. Also, the use of therapeutic interventions with sufferers from BMS is recommended, which would help not only sufferers but best practice in relation to their treatment.

Keywords: burning mouth syndrome, interpretative phenomenological analysis, qualitative research, quality of life

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Authors: David Ssekamate

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The study which is work in progress examines the opportunities and challenges for universities in Africa in addressing climate change issues in their programmes. Specifically, the study attempts to examine the current academic, research and community engagement programmes on climate change implemented by the Universities; the key challenges faced by the implementing units in carrying out these programmes and; the success factors that would support universities to adequately address climate change issues in their programmes. The researcher adopted a qualitative comparative case study design with Makerere University (Uganda) and University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) as comparative cases. Data will be collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FDGs) and Document review. A total of 12 semi-structured in-depth interviews and 4 Focus Group Discussions will be undertaken, collecting data from 36 respondents in both Uganda and Tanzania. The data will be analyzed using content and thematic analysis methods with the help of Nvivo software. The findings are envisaged to make a significant contribution to scholarly literature on climate change education and the role of higher education in addressing climate change issues, inform policy making in the sector and development planning to strengthen the academic, research and community engagement programmes on climate change by universities in Africa. The implications of the findings may go beyond the focus on climate change but also other related sustainable development issues incorporated in academic and research programmes of universities in Africa. The results may enable universities to re-think their approaches and practices and also deal with challenges effectively in addressing climate change related issues in their programmes.

Keywords: climate change, climate change education, African universities, challenges

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah

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E-government has been adopted and used by many governments/countries around the world including Ghana to provide citizens and businesses with more accurate, real-time, and high quality services and information. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of the Government of Ghana’s (GoG) adoption and implement of e-government and its usage by the Ministries, Departments and its agencies (MDAs) as well as other public sector institutions to deliver efficient public service to the general public i.e. citizens, business etc. Government implementation of e-government focused on facilitating effective delivery of government service to the public and ultimately to provide efficient government-wide electronic means of sharing information and knowledge through a network infrastructure developed to connect all major towns and cities, Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other public sector organizations in Ghana. One aim for the Government of Ghana use of ICT in public administration is to improve productivity in government administration and service by facilitating the exchange of information to enable better interaction and coordination of work among MDAs, citizens and private businesses. The study was prepared using secondary sources of data from government policy documents, national and international published reports, journal articles, and web sources. This study indicates that through the e-government initiative, currently citizens and businesses can access and pay for services such as renewal of driving license, business registration, payment of taxes, acquisition of marriage and birth certificates as well as application for passport through the GoG electronic service (eservice) and electronic payment (epay) portal. Further, this study shows that there is an enormous commitment from GoG to adopt and implement e-government as a tool not only to transform the business of government but also to bring efficiency in public services delivered by the MDAs. To ascertain this, a further study need to be carried out to determine if the use of e-government has brought about the anticipated improvements and efficiency in service delivery of MDAs and other state institutions in Ghana.

Keywords: electronic government, electronic services, electronic pay, MDAs

Procedia PDF Downloads 493