Search results for: University of the Aged

Authors: Ghazal Zahed, Leila Tabatabaee, Amirhossein Hosseini, Somaye Fatahi

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Functional retentive overflow incontinence (Retentive FI) is the most common cause of fecal soiling in children. Affected patients may have more problems with their parents and peer group, self-esteem issues, and more psychiatric comorbidities than the general population. Therapeutic interventions for Retentive FI and related problems and comorbid conditions are needed at the same time. Based on the clinical experiences, patients with retentive FI and comorbid psychiatric disorders, were accelerated in their treatment of fecal incontinence when they were being treated with Risperidone for their psychiatric comorbidities, therefore this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Risperidone in the treatment of Retentive FI in children and adolescents. In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, 136 patients aged 4-18 years eligible for the study were randomly divided into two groups receiving Risperidone and placebo. About half of these patients had newly diagnosed psychiatric disorders and were drug naïve, this was considered in their division. In addition to polyethylene glycol, all the participants received family counseling and education for withholding behaviors and related behavioral interventions, and nonpharmacological interventions for psychiatric comorbidities. A significant correlation was observed between the duration of treatment with risperidone and the presence of psychiatric comorbidities (P <0.001) for diurnal fecal incontinence. Based on our findings in this study, Risperidone, used commonly for psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents, may be useful in the treatment of retentive fecal incontinence in the presence of psychiatric comorbidities, and along with other interventions.

Keywords: Retentive Fecal Incontinence, Risperidone, Treatment, Pediatric, Encopresis, Atypical Antipsychotics, Fecal Soiling

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Authors: Marwa H. Salah

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Modern consumption culture represents a widespread phenomenon that affects young people, as it affects all age groups in both urban and rural societies. It has been helped by globalization, specifically cultural globalization, also internal and external migration, and the immense development in information technology as well, these factors have led to the appearance of the conspicuous consumption pattern among young people. This research firstly interested in identifying the nature of this pattern of consumption among young people in the countryside, which represents a society with a special nature, was characterized by the pattern of traditional consumption. Secondly to find out whether the rural character has an impact on the conspicuous consumption of youth. Finally to identify the reasons for the rural youth's tendency to such type of consumption and if it contributes in satisfying certain social needs. The research used the anthropological method. Observation and open-ended interviews were used as tools to collect data and an interview guide was applied on a selective youth sample (40:20 male and 20 female) aged between 17to 34 in an Egyptian village located in Dakahlia governorate. The research showed that rural youth has impacted with the modern consumption culture and not isolated from it despite the lack of financial abilities. The conspicuous consumption is a dominant pattern of consumption among the Egyptian rural youth and it has been practicing by rural youth regardless of their educational & financial levels. Also, the wish to show the social and economic status, bragging and show off is the main reason for the rural youth to adopt the conspicuous consumption, moreover to face the inferior view from their counterparts’ urban youth.

Keywords: consumption culture, youth, conspicuous consumption, rural society

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Authors: Hamdi Omar Omar, Hela Fakhfakh, Chokri Yaich

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This work reflects the integration of different techniques, such as field sampling and observations, magnetic susceptibility measurement, cyclostratigaraphy and sequence stratigraphy. The combination of these results allows us to reconstruct the environmental evolution of the Sidi Khalif Formation in the North-South Axis (NOSA), aged of Upper Tithonian, Berriasian and Lower Valanginian. Six sedimentary facies were identified and are primarily influenced by open marine sedimentation receiving increasing terrigenous influx. Spectral analysis, based on MS variation (for the outcropped section) and wireline logging gamma ray (GR) variation (for the sub-area section) show a pervasive dominance of 405-kyr eccentricity cycles with the expression of 100-kyr eccentricity, obliquity and precession. This study provides (for the first time) a precise duration of 2.4 myr for the outcropped Sidi Khalif Formation with a sedimentation rate of 5.4 cm/kyr and the sub-area section to 3.24 myr with a sedimentation rate of 7.64 cm/kyr. We outlined 27 5th-order depositional sequences, 8 Milankovitch depositional sequences and 2 major 3rd-order cycles for the outcropping section, controlled by the long eccentricity (405 kyr) cycles and the precession index cycles. This study has demonstrated the potential of MS and GR to be used as proxies to develop an astronomically calibrated time-scale for the Mesozoic era.

Keywords: Berriasian, magnetic susceptibility, orbital tuning, Sidi Khalif Formation

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Authors: A. N. Paithane, D. S. Bormane, S. D. Shirbahadurkar

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It has been seen that emotion recognition is an important research topic in the field of Human and computer interface. A novel technique for Feature Extraction (FE) has been presented here, further a new method has been used for human emotion recognition which is based on HHT method. This method is feasible for analyzing the nonlinear and non-stationary signals. Each signal has been decomposed into the IMF using the EMD. These functions are used to extract the features using fission and fusion process. The decomposition technique which we adopt is a new technique for adaptively decomposing signals. In this perspective, we have reported here potential usefulness of EMD based techniques.We evaluated the algorithm on Augsburg University Database; the manually annotated database.

Keywords: intrinsic mode function (IMF), Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT), empirical mode decomposition (EMD), emotion detection, electrocardiogram (ECG)

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Authors: X. Li, J. Sundquist, C. Sjöstedt, M. Winkleby, K. S. Kendler, K. Sundquist

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Aims: This study examines the association between the incidence of drug abuse (DA) and linking (communal) social capital, a theoretical concept describing the amount of trust between individuals and societal institutions. Methods: We present results from an 8-year population-based cohort study that followed all residents in Sweden, aged 15-44, from 2003 through 2010, for a total of 1,700,896 men and 1,642,798 women. Social capital was conceptualized as the proportion of people in a geographically defined neighborhood who voted in local government elections. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and between-neighborhood variance. Results: We found robust associations between linking social capital (scored as a three level variable) and DA in men and women. For men, the OR for DA in the crude model was 2.11 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.02-2.21] for those living in areas with the lowest vs. highest level of social capital. After accounting for neighborhood-level deprivation, the OR fell to 1.59 (1.51-1-68), indicating that neighborhood deprivation lies in the pathway between linking social capital and DA. The ORs remained significant after accounting for age, sex, family income, marital status, country of birth, education level, and region of residence, and after further accounting for comorbidities and family history of comorbidities and family history of DA. For women, the OR decreased from 2.15 (2.03-2.27) in the crude model to 1.31 (1.22-1.40) in the final model, adjusted for multiple neighborhood-level and individual-level variables. Conclusions: Our study suggests that low linking social capital may have important independent effects on DA.

Keywords: drug abuse, social linking capital, environment, family

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Authors: Dana S. Smith, Angela Goins, Shahnaz Savani

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Using a mixed-methods approach, this study explored costs to student wellbeing generated by the social work field practicum requirement. The project was conducted by faculty at a medium-sized university in the United States. Social work educators and field practicum instructors participated in interviews. Students and former students completed surveys on the topic. The data analysis revealed emotional burdens as well as threats to student wellbeing in association with the fieldwork required for those in pursuit of a social work degree. The study includes recommendations for anti-oppressive approaches for academic programs and implications for further research.

Keywords: emotional wellbeing, field practicum, mixed-methods, social justice

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Authors: Dana S. Smith, Angela Goins, Shahnaz Savani

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Using a mixed-methods approach, this study explored costs to student wellbeing generated by the social work field practicum requirement. The project was conducted by faculty at a medium sized university in the United States. Social work educators and field practicum instructors participated in interviews. Students and former students completed surveys on the topic. The data analysis revealed emotional burdens as well as threats to student wellbeing in association with the fieldwork required for those in pursuit of a social work degree. The study includes recommendations of anti-oppressive approaches for academic programs and implications for further research.

Keywords: emotional wellbeing, field practicum, mixed-methods, social justice

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Authors: Wafeek Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed

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In the era of globalization, the camera of the cinematographic film plays a very important role in terms of monitoring and documenting what it was and distinguished the built environment of architectural and Urbanism. Moving the audience to the out-going backward through the cinematographic film and its stereophonic screen by which the picture appears at its best and its coexistence reached now its third dimension. The camera has indicated to the city shape with its paths, (alley) lanes, buildings and its architectural style. We have seen the architectural styles in its cinematic scenes which remained a remembrance in its history, in spite of the fact that some of which has been disappearing as what happened to ‘Boulak Bridge’ in Cairo built by ‘Eiffel’ and it has been demolished, but it remains a remembrance we can see it in the films of ’Usta Hassan’and A Crime in the Quiet Neighborhood. The purpose of the fundamental research is an attempt to reach a critical view of the idea of criticism and theorizing for Architecture and Urbanism in the cinematographic film and their relationship and reflection on the ‘audience’ understanding of the public opinion related to our built environment of Architectural and Urbanism with its problems and hardness. It is like as a trial to study the Architecture and Urbanism of the built environment in the cinematographic film and hooking up (linking) a realistic view of the governing conceptual significance thereof. The aesthetic thought of our traditional environment, in a psychological and anthropological framework, derives from the cinematic concept of the Architecture and Urbanism of the place and the dynamics of the space. The architectural space considers the foundation stone of the cinematic story and the main background of the events therein, which integrate the audience into a romantic trip to the city through its symbolized image of the spaces, lanes [alley], etc. This will be done through two main branches: firstly, Reviewing during time pursuit of the Architecture and Urbanism in the cinematographic films the thirties ago in the Egyptian cinema [onset from the film ‘Bab El Hadid’ to the American University at a film of ‘Saidi at the American University’]. The research concludes the importance of the need to study the cinematic films which deal with our societies, their architectural and Urbanism concerns whether the traditional ones or the contemporary and their crisis (such as the housing crisis in the film of ‘Krakoun in the street’, etc) to study the built environment with its architectural dynamic spaces through a modernist view. In addition, using the cinema as an important Media for spreading the ideas, documenting and monitoring the current changes in the built environment through its various dramas and comedies, etc. The cinema is considered as a mirror of the society and its built environment over the epochs. It assured the unique case constituted by cinema with the audience (public opinion) through a sense of emptiness and forming the mental image related to the city and the built environment.

Keywords: architectural and urbanism, cinematographic architectural, film, space in the film, media

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Authors: Kyu Rae Lee

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The aim of the study is to investigate the clinical efficacy of combination therapeutic modalities using liraglutide (1.2mg/d) add on low-dose phentermine (7.5 mg/d)/topiramate (50mg/d) medication on the obese patient in the bariatric clinic. We assessed the retrospective cohort clinical analyses to the clinical efficacy of medication and combination in the patients who visited the bariatric clinic. We measured all participants’ body fat (bioelectric impedance analysis), weight, height, and the cross-sectional areas of adipose tissues (umbilicus level) after keep fasting for 8 hours at 0, 4, 12 weeks. The design of the study was opened, paired t-test and Wilcoxon test were performed using SPSS for windows (ver.18, IL, USA) for comparison of weight, body fat, and adipose tissues. The participants were one hundred twenty-eight subjects aged 44.67 (1.18) years, 28.95 (0.39) kg/m², and female (82.7%). Their body fat was 40.57 (2.23%), and waist to hip ratio was 0.96 (0.01). The mean cross-sectional area of visceral adipose tissue was 142.59 (7.06) mm², and that of subcutaneous adipose was 274.37 (9.18) mm². 73 of them (57.5%) took medication only, 54 of them took medication with liraglutide for 12 weeks. The subjects in the medication group lost 5.4165 kg, 6.8069%, and those of the combination group did 6.2481 kg, 3.564%. The mean cross-sectional areas of visceral, subcutaneous adipose tissue in the medication group significantly decreased (p=.043), even more in the combination group. (p=.028). Further controlled clinical trials should be considered in the future. We conclude that the low dose of phentermine/topiramate with liraglutide therapeutic modalities would be more effective than phentermine/topiramate medication only in obesity treatment for 12 weeks.

Keywords: low dose phentermine, topiramate, liraglutide, obesity, efficacy

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Authors: L. M. H. Mustonen, S. A. Heikkilä

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The focus of the paper is to describe team teaching as a HAMK’s pedagogical method, and its impacts to the teachers work. Background: Traditionally it is thought that teaching is a job where one mostly works alone. More and more teachers feel that their work is getting more stressful. Solutions to these problems have been sought in Häme University of Applied sciences’ (From now on referred to as HAMK). HAMK has made a strategic change to move to the group oriented working of teachers. Instead of isolated study courses, there are now larger 15 credits study modules. Implementation: As examples of the method, two cases are presented: technical project module and summer studies module, which was integrated into the EU development project called Energy Efficiency with Precise Control. In autumn 2017, technical project will be implemented third time. There are at least three teachers involved in it and it is the first module of the new students. Main focus is to learn the basic skills of project working. From communicational viewpoint, they learn the basics of written and oral reporting and the basics of video reporting skills. According to our quality control system, the need for the development is evaluated in the end of the module. There are always some differences in each implementation but the basics are the same. The other case summer studies 2017 is new and part of a larger EU project. For the first time, we took a larger group of first to third year students from different study programmes to the summer studies. The students learned professional skills and also skills from different fields of study, international cooperation, and communication skills. Benefits and challenges: After three years, it is possible to consider what the changes mean in the everyday work of the teachers - and of course – what it means to students and the learning process. The perspective is HAMK’s electrical and automation study programme: At first, the change always means more work. The routines born after many years and the course material used for years may not be valid anymore. Teachers are teaching in modules simultaneously and often with some subjects overlapping. Finding the time to plan the modules together is often difficult. The essential benefit is that the learning outcomes have improved. This can be seen in the feedback given by both the teachers and the students. Conclusions: A new type of working environment is being born. A team of teachers designs a module that matches the objectives and ponders the answers to such questions as what are the knowledge-based targets of the module? Which pedagogical solutions will achieve the desired results? At what point do multiple teachers instruct the class together? How is the module evaluated? How can the module be developed further for the next execution? The team discusses openly and finds the solutions. Collegiate responsibility and support are always present. These are strengthening factors of the new communal university teaching culture. They are also strong sources of pleasure of work.

Keywords: pedagogical development, summer studies, team teaching, well-being at work

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Authors: W. Kongnoo, J. Loysongkroa, S. Chotivichien, N. Viriyautsahakul, N. Saiwongse

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Obesity, stunting and wasting problems among Thai school-aged children are increasing due to inappropriate food consumption behavior and poor environments for desirable nutritional behavior. Because of a low school lunch budget of only 0.40 USD per person per day, food quality is not up to nutritional standards. Therefore, the Health Department with the Education Ministry and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation have developed a quality school lunch project during 2009–2013. The program objectives were development and management of public policy to increase school lunch budget. The methods used a healthy public policy motivation process and movement in 241 local administrative organizations and 538 schools. The problem and solution research was organized to study school food and nutrition management, create a best practice policy mobilization model and hold a public hearing to motivate an increase of school meal funding. The results showed that local public policy has been motivated during 2009-2011 to increase school meal budget using local budgets. School children with best food consumption behavior and exercise increased from 13.2% in 2009 to 51.6% in 2013 and stunting decreased from 6.0% in 2009 to 4.7% in 2013. As the result of national policy motivation (2012-2013), the cabinet meeting on October 22, 2013 has approved an increase of school lunch budget from 0.40 USD to 0.62 USD per person per day. Thus, 5,800,469 school children nationwide have benefited from the budget increase.

Keywords: public policy, quality school lunch, Thailand, obesity

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Authors: Phongkon Weerpiput

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This research study aimed to compare learning achievement between Jigsaw I and jigsaw IV techniques. The target group was 70 Thai major sophomores enrolled in a course entitled Foreign Language in Thai at the Faculty of Education, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The research methodology was quasi-experimental design. A control group was given the Jigsaw I technique while an experimental group experienced the Jigsaw IV technique. The treatment content focused on Khmer loanwords in Thai language executed for a period of 3 hours per week for total of 3 weeks. The instruments included learning management plans and multiple-choice test items. The result yields no significant difference at level .05 between learning achievement of both techniques.

Keywords: Jigsaw I technique, Jigsaw IV technique, learning achievement, major sophomores

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Authors: Guilherme Giacomini, Ana Luiza Menegatti Pavan, Allan Felipe Fattori Alves, Marcela de Oliveira, Fernando Antonio Bacchim Neto, José Ricardo de Arruda Miranda, Seizo Yamashita, Diana Rodrigues de Pina

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The maxillary sinus (MS), part of the paranasal sinus complex, is one of the most enigmatic structures in modern humans. The literature has suggested that MSs function as olfaction accessories, to heat or humidify inspired air, for thermoregulation, to impart resonance to the voice and others. Thus, the real function of the MS is still uncertain. Furthermore, the MS anatomy is complex and varies from person to person. Many diseases may affect the development process of sinuses. The incidence of rhinosinusitis and other pathoses in the MS is comparatively high, so, volume analysis has clinical value. Providing volume values for MS could be helpful in evaluating the presence of any abnormality and could be used for treatment planning and evaluation of the outcome. The computed tomography (CT) has allowed a more exact assessment of this structure, which enables a quantitative analysis. However, this is not always possible in the clinical routine, and if possible, it involves much effort and/or time. Therefore, it is necessary to have a convenient, robust, and practical tool correlated with the MS volume, allowing clinical applicability. Nowadays, the available methods for MS segmentation are manual or semi-automatic. Additionally, manual methods present inter and intraindividual variability. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop an automatic tool to quantity the MS volume in CT scans of paranasal sinuses. This study was developed with ethical approval from the authors’ institutions and national review panels. The research involved 30 retrospective exams of University Hospital, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University, Brazil. The tool for automatic MS quantification, developed in Matlab®, uses a hybrid method, combining different image processing techniques. For MS detection, the algorithm uses a Support Vector Machine (SVM), by features such as pixel value, spatial distribution, shape and others. The detected pixels are used as seed point for a region growing (RG) segmentation. Then, morphological operators are applied to reduce false-positive pixels, improving the segmentation accuracy. These steps are applied in all slices of CT exam, obtaining the MS volume. To evaluate the accuracy of the developed tool, the automatic method was compared with manual segmentation realized by an experienced radiologist. For comparison, we used Bland-Altman statistics, linear regression, and Jaccard similarity coefficient. From the statistical analyses for the comparison between both methods, the linear regression showed a strong association and low dispersion between variables. The Bland–Altman analyses showed no significant differences between the analyzed methods. The Jaccard similarity coefficient was > 0.90 in all exams. In conclusion, the developed tool to quantify MS volume proved to be robust, fast, and efficient, when compared with manual segmentation. Furthermore, it avoids the intra and inter-observer variations caused by manual and semi-automatic methods. As future work, the tool will be applied in clinical practice. Thus, it may be useful in the diagnosis and treatment determination of MS diseases. Providing volume values for MS could be helpful in evaluating the presence of any abnormality and could be used for treatment planning and evaluation of the outcome. The computed tomography (CT) has allowed a more exact assessment of this structure which enables a quantitative analysis. However, this is not always possible in the clinical routine, and if possible, it involves much effort and/or time. Therefore, it is necessary to have a convenient, robust and practical tool correlated with the MS volume, allowing clinical applicability. Nowadays, the available methods for MS segmentation are manual or semi-automatic. Additionally, manual methods present inter and intraindividual variability. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop an automatic tool to quantity the MS volume in CT scans of paranasal sinuses. This study was developed with ethical approval from the authors’ institutions and national review panels. The research involved 30 retrospective exams of University Hospital, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University, Brazil. The tool for automatic MS quantification, developed in Matlab®, uses a hybrid method, combining different image processing techniques. For MS detection, the algorithm uses a Support Vector Machine (SVM), by features such as pixel value, spatial distribution, shape and others. The detected pixels are used as seed point for a region growing (RG) segmentation. Then, morphological operators are applied to reduce false-positive pixels, improving the segmentation accuracy. These steps are applied in all slices of CT exam, obtaining the MS volume. To evaluate the accuracy of the developed tool, the automatic method was compared with manual segmentation realized by an experienced radiologist. For comparison, we used Bland-Altman statistics, linear regression and Jaccard similarity coefficient. From the statistical analyses for the comparison between both methods, the linear regression showed a strong association and low dispersion between variables. The Bland–Altman analyses showed no significant differences between the analyzed methods. The Jaccard similarity coefficient was > 0.90 in all exams. In conclusion, the developed tool to automatically quantify MS volume proved to be robust, fast and efficient, when compared with manual segmentation. Furthermore, it avoids the intra and inter-observer variations caused by manual and semi-automatic methods. As future work, the tool will be applied in clinical practice. Thus, it may be useful in the diagnosis and treatment determination of MS diseases.

Keywords: maxillary sinus, support vector machine, region growing, volume quantification

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Authors: Fonseca Jully, Chia Maribel, Rodríguez Ilba

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This paper is a qualitative research report. A group of students form a public university in a small town in Colombia participated in this study which aimed at describing to what extend the use of social ads, published on the internet, helped to develop their critical thinking skills. Students’ productions, field notes, video recordings and direct observation were the instruments and techniques used by the researches in order to gather the data which was analyzed under the principles of grounded theory and triangulation. The implementation of social ads into the classroom evidenced a noticeable improvement in students’ ability to interpret and argue social issues, as well as, their self-improvement in oral and written production in English, as a foreign language.

Keywords: Ads, critical argumentation, critical thinking, social issues

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Authors: Anju Rani, Geeta, Sudha Rani, Choudhary, Puhal

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Method- A total of 300 patients were studied, with 100 patients in each group. Patients aged 16-60 years, ASA grade I and II undergoing elective general surgical, urology and orthopedic procedures were included in the study. The patients were randomly allocated to any of the three groups by Using Sealed envelopes. 1. Group A: EMLA (eutectic mixture of 2.5% lidocaine with 2.5% prilocaine) - Patients receiving eutectic Lidocaine/ Prilocaine cream (2gm/10cm2) of Prilox cream), for 60- 70 min under occlusive dressing. 2. Group B - Patients receiving topical diclofenac 4 % spray gel for 60- 70 min, covering an absorption area of 50 cm2 3. Group C: control – Direct cannulation was done without any intervention. Results - Group B showed significantly least number of patients complaining pain on IV cannulation in comparison to group A and group C. The Mean VAS scores were found to be maximum in GROUP C: control-8.76 ± 4.14, then in GROUP A: EMLA- 2.54 ± 4.21.and least in GROUP B: Diclofenac 4% spray-1.13 ± 3.05. Erythema, induration and edema were significantly reported to be higher for the control group. Also group A patients reported adverse skin reactions more than patients in group B. Conclusion - It can be concluded that diclofenac spray 4 % and EMLA cream are effective in reducing the incidence and severity of venous cannulation pain as compared to the control group. However, a higher incidence of skin blanching, erythema, and oedema associated with EMLA cream and a lower incidence of these adverse effects favours the use of diclofenac spray 4%. They are promising agents for the treatment of venous cannulation pain.

Keywords: diclofenac spray, EMLA, intravenous, pain

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Authors: Marzieh Sayyad, Mohsen Salesi

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Metabolic syndrome (MetS), a collection of cardiometabolic risk factors, is linked to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes. The prevalence of MetS is on the rise with more women affected than men. The goal of this study was to compare the effects of resistance and aerobic exercise training on metabolic syndrome components in non-athlete, middle-aged woman. 51 non-athlete overweight female participated voluntarily in this study. Participants were divided randomly into three groups including resistance, aerobic and control group (number of each group 17). 24 hours before the beginning of training program, the blood sample was taken in fasting state. The two training groups participated in sport activities for eight weeks, three times a week duration 60-90 minutes. Two days following the end of the 8th week, all the measurements were performed similar to the pretest phase. The data was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance. The results showed that aerobic exercise training significantly decreased weight (p=.05), triglyceride (p<0.01) and systolic blood pressure (p<0.02) and HDL-c (p<0.01) was significantly increased. Also in resistance exercise training group TG decreased significantly (p<0.01) and HDL-c (p<0.05) was significantly increased. This study demonstrated that a regular physical activity program improved several metabolic and physiological parameters in healthy, previously sedentary subjects with the metabolic syndrome. In conclusion, it seems that this type of training can be efficient, safe and inexpensive way in order to reduce and prevent metabolic syndrome.

Keywords: aerobic exercise, metabolic syndrome, overweight sedentary female, resistance exercise

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Authors: Anita Kéri

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With the outbreak of the global pandemic of COVID-19, online education characterizes today’s higher education. For some higher education institutions (HEIs), the shift from classroom education to online solutions was swift and smooth, and students are continuously asked about their experience regarding online education. Therefore, there is a growing emphasis on student satisfaction with online education, a field that had emerged previously, but has become the center of higher education and research interest today. The aim of the current paper is to give a brief overview of the tools used in the online education of marketing-related classes at the examined university and to investigate student satisfaction with the applied teaching methodologies with the tool of a questionnaire. Results show that students are most satisfied with their teachers’ competences and preparedness, while they are least satisfied with online class quality, where it seems that further steps are needed to be taken.

Keywords: netnography, online teaching, pandemic, satisfaction

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Authors: Habib Sk, Ashoke Kumar Biswas

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Football is a team game. Eleven players of each team are arranged in different positions of play to serve the specific task during a game situation. Some such basic positions in a soccer game are (i) goal keepers (ii) defenders (iii) midfielders and (iv) forwards. Irrespective of the position, it is required for all football players to learn and get skilled in basic soccer skills like passing, receiving, heading, throwing, dribbling, etc. The purpose of the study was to find out the difference in these basic soccer skills among positional players in football if any. A total of thirty-nine (39) teen aged football players between 13 to 19 years were selected from Hooghly district in West Bengal, India, as subjects. Out of them, there were seven (7) goal keepers, twelve (12) defenders, thirteen (13) midfielders, and seven (7) forwards. Passing, dribbling, tackling, heading, and receiving were the selected basic soccer skills. The performance of the subjects of different positional groups in different selected soccer skills was tested using a standard test for each. On the basis of results obtained through statistical analysis of data, following results were obtained: i) there was significant difference among the groups in passing, dribbling and heading but not in receiving; ii) the goal keepers and defenders were the weakest in all selected soccer skills; iii) midfielders were found better in receiving than other three skills of passing, dribbling and heading; and iv) the forward group of players was found to be the better in passing, dribbling and heading but weakest in receiving than other groups.

Keywords: performance, difference, skill, fundamental, soccer, position

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Authors: Karolina Pietras, Joanna Fryt, Aleksandra Gronostaj, Tomasz Smolen

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Young women and men differ from their parents in preferred values. Those differences enable their adaptability to a new socio-cultural context and help with fulfilling developmental tasks specific to young adulthood. At the same time core values, with special importance to family members, are transmitted within families. Intergenerational similarities in values may thus be both an effect of value transmission within a family and a consequence of sharing the same socio-cultural context. These processes are difficult to separate. In our study we assessed similarities and differences in values within four intergenerational family dyads (mothers-daughters, fathers-daughters, mothers-sons, fathers-sons). Sixty Polish young adults (30 women and 30 men aged 19-25) along with their parents (a total of 180 participants) completed the Schwartz’ Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-21). To determine which values may be transmitted within families, we used a correlation analysis and pseudo dyad analysis that allows for the estimation of a baseline likeness between all tested subjects and consequently makes it possible to determine if similarities between actual family members are greater than chance. We also assessed whether different strategies of measuring similarity between family members render different results, and checked whether resemblances in family dyads are influenced by child’s and parent’s gender. Reported similarities were interpreted in light of the evolutionary and the value salience perspective.

Keywords: intergenerational differences in values, gender differences, pseudo dyad analysis, transmission of values

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Authors: Ajeet K. Jha, Pankaj K. Jha, Pravin Mishra

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The study was conducted to evaluate the freezability of crossbred bulls’ semen at early age. Semen of three consecutive collections at 7 days interval from 12 crossbred bulls 17 was evaluated. The age at first collection was 15 to 20 months. Evaluation of semen was done soon after collection. Triladyl, Minitub, Germany was used as extender and was frozen using standard semen freezing protocol. Post-thaw sperm motility was evaluated. Morphology of paraformaldehyde fixed spermatozoa was evaluated under differential interference phase contrast microscopy and the viability of spermatozoa was evaluated by using stain SYBR-14 (1 mM/ml) and propidium iodide (2.41 mM/ml) under an epifluorescent microscopy. Scrotal circumference was correlated with all possible measures in all groups of crossbred bulls. Volume of semen, sperm concentration, total number of spermatozoa, initial sperm motility, post-thaw sperm motility, proportion of normal spermatozoa and proportion of live spermatozoa were compared among individual bull within and between two groups of crossbred bulls. A significant positive correlation was observed between scrotal circumference and volume of semen and between scrotal circumference and the total number of sperm production per ejaculate (r = 0.72, p < 0.04). Significant variation was observed in different semen parameters among individual bulls within the same group (p < 0.05) but no significant variation was found between two groups of crossbred bulls. Out of 12 bulls, semen freezability of 10 bulls was found satisfactory while semen of 2 bulls (Local × Friesian) was unsatisfactory. In conclusion, crossbred bulls aged 18 months having scrotal circumference > 30 cm produce freezable quality semen.

Keywords: Bangladesh, crossbred bull, scrotal circumference, semen freezability

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Authors: Juliette MacDonald, Jun Li, Wenji Xiang, Mingwei Zhao

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Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation (SCF) was created as a result of a collaborative partnership agreement between the University of Edinburgh and Donghua University. The College provides two programmes: Fashion Innovation and Fashion Interior Design and the overarching curriculum has the intention of developing innovation and creativity within an international learning, teaching, knowledge exchange and research context. The research problem presented here focuses on the multi-national/cultural faculty in the team, the challenges arising from difficulties in communication and the associated limitations of management frameworks. The teaching faculty at SCF are drawn from China, Finland, Korea, Singapore and the UK with input from Flying Faculty from Fashion and Interior Design, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), for 5 weeks each semester. Rather than fully replicating the administrative and pedagogical style of one or other of the institutions within this joint partnership the aim from the outset was to create a third way which acknowledges the quality assurance requirements of both Donghua and Edinburgh, the academic and technical needs of the students and provides relevant development and support for all the SCF-based staff and Flying Academics. It has been well acknowledged by those who are involved in teaching across cultures that there is often a culture shock associated with transnational education but that the experience of being involved in the delivery of a curriculum at a Joint Institution can also be very rewarding for staff and students. It became clear at SCF that if a third way might be achieved which encourages innovative approaches to fashion education whilst balancing the expectations of Chinese and western concepts of education and the aims of two institutions, then it was going to be necessary to construct a framework which developed close working relationships for the entire teaching team, so not only between academics and students but also between technicians and administrators at ECA and SCF. The attempts at co-construction and integration are built on the sharing of cultural and educational experiences and knowledge as well as provision of opportunities for reflection on the pedagogical purpose of the curriculum and its delivery. Methods on evaluating the effectiveness of these aims include a series of surveys and interviews and analysis of data drawn from teaching projects delivered to the students along with graduate successes from the last five years, since SCF first opened its doors. This paper will provide examples of best practice developed by SCF which have helped guide the faculty and embed common core values and aims of co-construction regulations and management, whilst building a pro-active TNE (Trans-National Education) team which enhances the learning experience for staff and students alike.

Keywords: cultural co-construction, educational team management, multi-cultural challenges, TNE integration for teaching teams

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Authors: Vasilij Djackov, Tomas Zapnickas, Evgenii Iamshchikov, Lukas Norkevicius, Rima Mickeviciene, Larisa Vasiljeva

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In this paper, the resistance and pitching values of the test of an electric ferry are presented. The research was carried out in the open flow channel of Klaipėda University with a multi-axis dynamometer. The received model resistance values were recalculated to the real vessel and the preliminary chosen propulsion unit power was compared. After analyzing the results of the pitching of the model, it was concluded that the shape of the hull needs to be further improved, taking into account the possible uneven weight distribution at the ends of the ferry. Further investigation of the hull of the electric ferry is recommended, including experiments with various water depths and activation of propulsion units.

Keywords: electrical ferry, model tests, open flow channel, pitching, resistance

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Authors: Rohit Sane, Snehal Dongre, Pravin Ghadigaonkar, Rahul Mandole

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The present study was designed to evaluate efficacy of heart failure reversal therapy (HFRT) that uses herbal procedure (panchakarma) and allied therapies, in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with low ejection fraction. Methods: This efficacy study was conducted in CHF patients (aged: 25-65 years, ejection fraction (EF) < 30%) wherein HFRT (60-75 minutes) consisting of snehana (external oleation), swedana (passive heat therapy), hrudaydhara(concoction dripping treatment) and basti(enema) was administered twice daily for 7 days. During this therapy and next 30 days, patients followed the study dinarcharya and were prescribed ARJ kadha in addition to their conventional treatment. The primary endpoint of this study was evaluation of maximum aerobic capacity uptake (MAC) as assessed by 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) using Cahalins equation from baseline, at end of 7 day treatment, follow-up after 30 days and 90 days. EF was assessed by 2D Echo at baseline and after 30 days of follow-up. Results: CHF patients with < 30% EF (N=52, mean [SD] age: 58.8 [10.8], 85% men) were enrolled in the study. There was a 100% compliance to study therapy. A significant improvement was observed in MAC levels (7.11%, p =0.029), at end of 7 day therapy as compared to baseline. This improvement was maintained at two follow-up visits. Moreover, ejection fraction was observed to be increased by 6.38%, p=0,012 as compared to baseline at day 7 of the therapy. Conclusions: This 90 day follow up study highlights benefit of HFRT, as a part of maintenance treatment for CHF patients with reduced ejection fraction.

Keywords: chronic heart failure, functional capacity, heart failure reversal therapy, oxygen uptake, panchakarma

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Authors: Muhammad Abid

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Utilization of renewable energy resources for energy conservation, pollution prevention, resource efficiency and systems integration is very important for sustainable development. In this study, we perform energy and exergy analyses of a wind turbine, located on the roof of Mechanical Engineering Department, King Saud University, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The turbine is part of a hybrid photovoltaic (PV)-wind system with hydrogen storage. The power output from this turbine varies between 1.5 and 5.5 kW with a rated wind speed of 12 m/s and a cut-in wind speed of 2.4 m/s. We utilize a wide range of experimental data in the analysis and assessment. We determine energy and exergy efficiencies. The energy efficiency changes between 0% to 45% while the exergy efficiency varies between 0% and 31.3%. We also determined some of the exergoeconomic parameters that are the ratios of energy and exergy loss rates to the capital cost (R en and R ex), respectively. (R en) changes between 0.96% and 59.03% for different values of velocity while R ex has a maximum value of 53.62% for the highest wind speed.

Keywords: exergy, efficiency, performance evaluation, wind energy

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Authors: Tran Thi Thuy Oanh, Nguyen Ngoc Bao Tran

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In the view of Cognitive Linguistics (CL), knowledge and experience of things and events are used by human beings in expressing concepts, especially in their daily life. The human conceptual system is considered to be fundamentally metaphorical in nature. It is also said that the way we think, what we experience, and what we do everyday is very much a matter of language. In fact, language is an integral factor of cognition in that CL is a family of broadly compatible theoretical approaches sharing the fundamental assumption. The relationship between language and thought, of course, has been addressed by many scholars. CL, however, strongly emphasizes specific features of this relation. By experiencing, we receive knowledge of lives. The partial things are ideal domains, we make use of all aspects of this domain in metaphorically understanding abstract targets. The paper refered to applying this theory on pragmatics lessons for major English students at University of Foreign Language Studies - The University of Da Nang, Viet Nam. We conducted the study with two third – year students groups studying English pragmatics lessons. To clarify this study, the data from these two classes were collected for analyzing linguistic perspectives in the view of CL and traditional concepts. Descriptive, analytic, synthetic, comparative, and contrastive methods were employed to analyze data from 50 students undergoing English pragmatics lessons. The two groups were taught how to transfer the meanings of expressions in daily life with the view of CL and one group used the traditional view for that. The research indicated that both ways had a significant influence on students' English translating and interpreting abilities. However, the traditional way had little effect on students' understanding, but the CL view had a considerable impact. The study compared CL and traditional teaching approaches to identify benefits and challenges associated with incorporating CL into the curriculum. It seeks to extend CL concepts by analyzing metaphorical expressions in daily conversations, offering insights into how CL can enhance language learning. The findings shed light on the effectiveness of applying CL in teaching and learning English pragmatics. They highlight the advantages of using metaphorical expressions from daily life to facilitate understanding and explore how CL can enhance cognitive processes in language learning in general and teaching English pragmatics to third-year students at the UFLS - UDN, Vietnam in personal. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the relationship between language, cognition, and learning. By emphasizing the metaphorical nature of human conceptual systems, it offers insights into how CL can enrich language teaching practices and enhance students' comprehension of abstract concepts.

Keywords: cognitive linguisitcs, lakoff and johnson, pragmatics, UFLS

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Authors: Robert S. Giachetti, Emanuele Grossi

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Loosening of bolted joints in rotating machines can adversely affect their performance, cause mechanical damage, and lead to injuries. In this paper, two potential loosening phenomena in rotating applications are discussed. First, ‘precession,’ is governed by thread/nut contact forces, while the second is based on inertial effects of the fastened assembly. These mechanisms are reviewed within the context of historical usage of left-handed fasteners in rotating machines which appears absent in the literature and common machine design texts. Historically, to prevent loosening of wheel nuts, vehicle manufacturers have used right-handed and left-handed threads on different sides of the vehicle, but most modern vehicles have abandoned this custom and only use right-handed, tapered lug nuts on all sides of the vehicle. Other classical machines such as the bicycle continue to use different handed threads on each side while other machines such as, bench grinders, circular saws and brush cutters still use left-handed threads to fasten rotating components. Despite the continued use of left-handed fasteners, the rationale and analysis of left-handed threads to mitigate self-loosening of fasteners in rotating applications is not commonly, if at all, discussed in the literature or design textbooks. Without scientific literature to support these design selections, these implementations may be the result of experimental findings or aged institutional knowledge. Based on a review of rotating applications, historical documents and mechanical design references, a formal study of the paradoxical nature of left-handed threads in various applications is merited.

Keywords: rotating machinery, self-loosening fasteners, wheel fastening, vibration loosening

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Authors: Nayera E. Hassan, Sahar A. El-Masry, Mones M. Abu Shady, Rokia A. El Banna, Muhammad Al-Tohamy, Mehrevan M. Abd El-Moniem, Mona Anwar

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Circulating oxidized LDL (ox-LDL) is associated with obesity, insulin resistance (HOMA), metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease in adults. Little is known about relations in children. Aim: To assess association of ox-LDL with fat distribution and insulin resistance in a group of obese Egyptian children. Methods: Study is cross-sectional consisting of 68 obese children, with a mean age of 9.96 ± 1.32. Each underwent a complete physical examination; blood pressure (SBP, DBP) and anthropometric measurements (weight, height, BMI; waist, hip circumferences, waist/hip ratio), biochemical tests of fasting blood glucose (FBS), insulin levels; lipid profile (TC, LDL,HDL, TG) and ox-LDL; calculated HOMA. Sample was classified according to waist/hip ratio into: group I with and group II without central obesity. Results: ox-LDL showed significant positive correlation with LDL and TC in all groups of obesity. After adjustment for age and sex, significant positive correlation was detected between ox-LDL with SBP, DBP, TC, LDL, insulin, and HOMA in group II and with TC and FBS in group I. Insignificant association was detected between ox-LDL and other anthropometric parameters including BMI in any group of obese children (p > 0.05). Conclusions: ox-LDL, as a marker of oxidative stress is not correlated with BMI among all studied obese children (aged 6-12 years). Increased oxidative stress has causal effects on insulin resistance in obese children without central obesity and on fasting blood sugar in those with central obesity. These findings emphasize the importance of obesity during childhood and suggest that the metabolic complications of obesity and body fat distribution are detectable early in life.

Keywords: ox-LDL, obesity, insulin resistance, children

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Authors: Irma Andriani, Ita Djuwita, Komar Sumantadinata, Alimuddin

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The recent study has been conducted to develop testicular germ cell transplantation as a tool for preservation and propagation of male germ-plasm from endangered fish species, as well as to produce surrogate broodstock of commercially valuable fish. Giant gourami testis had been used as a model for donor and Nile tilapia larvae as recipient. We developed testicular cell xenotransplantation by optimizing the timing of intraperitoneal cell transplantation to recipient larvae aged 1, 3, 5 and 7 days post hatching (dph). Freshly isolated testis of giant gourami weighing 600–800 g were minced in dissociation medium and then incubated for 3 hours in room temperature to collect monodisperce cell suspension. Donor cells labeled with PKH 26 were transplanted into the peritoneal cavity of Nile tilapia larvae using glass micropipettes. Parameters observed were survival rate of Nile tilapia larvae at 24 hours post transplantation (pt) and colonization efficiency of donor cells at 2 and 3 months pt. The incorporated donor cells were observed under fluorescent microscope. The result showed that the lowest survival rate at 24 hours pt was 1 dph larvae (82.74±6.76%) and the highest survival rate were 3 and 5 dph larvae (95.00±5.00% and 95.00±2.50%, respectively). The highest colonization efficiency was on 3 dph larvae (61.1±34.71%) and the lowest colonization efficiency was on 7 dph larvae (19.43±17.33%). In conclusion, 3 dph Nile tilapia larvae was the best recipient for giant gourami testicular germ cells xenotransplantation.

Keywords: xenotransplantation, testicular germ cell, giant gourami, Nile tilapia, colonization efficiency

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Authors: Samson F. Agberotimi, Rachel B. Asagba, Choja Oduaran

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Disturbing rate of use of different substances such as cannabis, alcohol, as well as pharmaceutical drugs among Nigerian youth in recent times has been affirmed in the literature. There is, however, a paucity of literature addressing the pattern of usage of such drugs, especially for clinical relevance and intervention planning. The present study investigated the prevalence and pattern of drug usage among youth in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey involving 92 purposively selected participants comprising of 82 males and 10 females aged between 15 and 24 years was conducted. A measure of drug involvement and demographic characteristics was administered to the participants. Descriptive analysis was done using the SPSS v.21. Cannabis (79.4%), alcohol (77.2%), codeine (70.7%), tobacco (65.2%) and tramadol (47.8%) are the five most frequently used substances. However, the majority of the users of tobacco (68.3%) and alcohol (62.0%) are casual users indicating a mild level of use of the substances among the participants. On the other hand, 49.2% of the codeine users, 27.3% of the tramadol users, and 21.9% of the cannabis users reported harmful/intensive levels of use. Furthermore, the results revealed individuals at the pathological level of use as 28.8% for cannabis, 25.0% for tramadol, and 21.6% for codeine, and thus require clinical/therapeutic intervention. In conclusion, cannabis remains the most frequently used substance among youths. However, there appears to be a shift from the use of conventional psychoactive substances to pharmaceutical/prescription drugs such as codeine and tramadol. The findings of this study raised the need for both preventive and therapeutic interventions addressing the problem of substance use disorder among youth in contemporary society.

Keywords: Ogbomoso, pattern of drug use, prevalence of drug use, youth

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Authors: Fatima Akhmedova, Simon Liao

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One of the most critical decision points in the design of a face recognition system is the choice of an appropriate face representation. Effective feature descriptors are expected to convey sufficient, invariant and non-redundant facial information. In this work, we propose a set of Hahn moments as a new approach for feature description. Hahn moments have been widely used in image analysis due to their invariance, non-redundancy and the ability to extract features either globally and locally. To assess the applicability of Hahn moments to Face Recognition we conduct two experiments on the Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) database and University of Notre-Dame (UND) X1 biometric collection. Fusion of the global features along with the features from local facial regions are used as an input for the conventional k-NN classifier. The method reaches an accuracy of 93% of correctly recognized subjects for the ORL database and 94% for the UND database.

Keywords: face recognition, Hahn moments, recognition-by-parts, time-lapse

Procedia PDF Downloads 375