Search results for: effect of Reynolds number on heat transfer

Authors: Rocío González-Sánchez, Sara Alonso-Muñoz

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Food waste implies an inefficient management of the final stages in the food supply chain. Referring to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by United Nations, the SDG 12.3 proposes to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level and to reduce food losses. In the linear system, food waste is disposed and, to a lesser extent, recovery or reused after consumption. With the negative effect on stocks, the current food consumption system is based on ‘produce, take and dispose’ which put huge pressure on raw materials and energy resources. Therefore, greater focus on the circular management of food waste will mitigate the environmental, economic, and social impact, following a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach and consequently the SDGs fulfilment. A mixed methodology is used. A total sample of 311 publications from Web of Science database were retrieved. Firstly, it is performed a bibliometric analysis by SciMat and VOSviewer software to visualise scientific maps about co-occurrence analysis of keywords and co-citation analysis of journals. This allows for the understanding of the knowledge structure about this field, and to detect research issues. Secondly, a systematic literature review is conducted regarding the most influential articles in years 2020 and 2021, coinciding with the most representative period under study. Thirdly, to support the development of this field it is proposed an agenda according to the research gaps identified about circular economy and food waste management. Results reveal that the main topics are related to waste valorisation, the application of waste-to-energy circular model and the anaerobic digestion process towards fossil fuels replacement. It is underlined that the use of food as a source of clean energy is receiving greater attention in the literature. There is a lack of studies about stakeholders’ awareness and training. In addition, available data would facilitate the implementation of circular principles for food waste recovery, management, and valorisation. The research agenda suggests that circularity networks with suppliers and customers need to be deepened. Technological tools for the implementation of sustainable business models, and greater emphasis on social aspects through educational campaigns are also required. This paper contributes on the application of circularity to food waste management by abandoning inefficient linear models. Shedding light about trending topics in the field guiding to scholars for future research opportunities.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis, circular economy, food waste management, future research lines

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Authors: Katherine Maurer

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Background and purpose: Violence that occurs within families is a global social problem. Children who are victims or witness to family violence are at risk for many negative effects both proximally and distally. One of the most disconcerting long-term effects occurs when child victims become adult perpetrators: the intergenerational transmission of family violence (ITFV). Early identification of those children most at risk for ITFV is needed to inform interventions to prevent future family violence perpetration and victimization. Only about 25-30% of child family violence victims become perpetrators of adult family violence (either child abuse, partner abuse, or both). Prior research has primarily been conducted using dichotomous measures of exposure (yes; no) to predict ITFV, given the low incidence rate in community samples. It is often assumed that exposure to greater amounts of violence predicts greater risk of ITFV. However, no previous longitudinal study with a community sample has tested a dose-response model of exposure to physical child abuse and parental physical intimate partner violence (IPV) using count data of frequency and severity of violence to predict adult ITFV. The current study used advanced statistical methods to test if increased childhood exposure would predict greater risk of ITFV. Methods: The study utilized 3 panels of prospective data from a cohort of 15 year olds (N=338) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods longitudinal study. The data were comprised of a stratified probability sample of seven ethnic/racial categories and three socio-economic status levels. Structural equation modeling was employed to test a hurdle regression model of dose-response to predict ITFV. A version of the Conflict Tactics Scale was used to measure physical violence victimization, witnessing parental IPV and young adult IPV perpetration and victimization. Results: Consistent with previous findings, past 12 months incidence rates severity and frequency of interpersonal violence were highly skewed. While rates of parental and young adult IPV were about 40%, an unusually high rate of physical child abuse (57%) was reported. The vast majority of a number of acts of violence, whether minor or severe, were in the 1-3 range in the past 12 months. Reported frequencies of more than 5 times in the past year were rare, with less than 10% of those reporting more than six acts of minor or severe physical violence. As expected, minor acts of violence were much more common than acts of severe violence. Overall, regression analyses were not significant for the dose-response model of ITFV. Conclusions and implications: The results of the dose-response model were not significant due to a lack of power in the final sample (N=338). Nonetheless, the value of the approach was confirmed for the future research given the bi-modal nature of the distributions which suggest that in the context of both child physical abuse and physical IPV, there are at least two classes when frequency of acts is considered. Taking frequency into account in predictive models may help to better understand the relationship of exposure to ITFV outcomes. Further testing using hurdle regression models is suggested.

Keywords: intergenerational transmission of family violence, physical child abuse, intimate partner violence, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Diana Santiago, Tania Lisboa, Sophie Lee, Alexander P. Demos, Monica C. S. Vasconcelos

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Memorization has long been recognized as an arduous and anxiety-evoking task for musicians, and yet, it is an essential aspect of performance. Research shows that musicians are often not taught how to memorize. While memorization and practice strategies of professionals have been studied, little research has been done to examine how student musicians learn to practice and memorize music in different cultural settings. We present the process of developing and testing a questionnaire of music memorization and musical practice for student musicians in the UK and Brazil. A survey was developed for a cross-cultural research project aiming at examining how young orchestral musicians (aged 7–18 years) in different learning environments and cultures engage in instrumental practice and memorization. The questionnaire development included members of a UK/US/Brazil research team of music educators and performance science researchers. A pool of items was developed for each aspect of practice and memorization identified, based on literature, personal experiences, and adapted from existing questionnaires. Item development took the varying levels of cognitive and social development of the target populations into consideration. It also considered the diverse target learning environments. Items were initially grouped in accordance with a single underlying construct/behavior. The questionnaire comprised three sections: a demographics section, a section on practice (containing 29 items), and a section on memorization (containing 40 items). Next, the response process was considered and a 5-point Likert scale ranging from ‘always’ to ‘never’ with a verbal label and an image assigned to each response option was selected, following effective questionnaire design for children and youths. Finally, a pilot study was conducted with young orchestral musicians from diverse learning environments in Brazil and the United Kingdom. Data collection took place in either one-to-one or group settings to facilitate the participants. Cognitive interviews were utilized to establish response process validity by confirming the readability and accurate comprehension of the questionnaire items or highlighting the need for item revision. Internal reliability was investigated by measuring the consistency of the item groups using the statistical test Cronbach’s alpha. The pilot study successfully relied on the questionnaire to generate data about the engagement of young musicians of different levels and instruments, across different learning and cultural environments, in instrumental practice and memorization. Interaction analysis of the cognitive interviews undertaken with these participants, however, exposed the fact that certain items, and the response scale, could be interpreted in multiple ways. The questionnaire text was, therefore, revised accordingly. The low Cronbach’s Alpha scores of many item groups indicated another issue with the original questionnaire: its low level of internal reliability. Several reasons for each poor reliability can be suggested, including the issues with item interpretation revealed through interaction analysis of the cognitive interviews, the small number of participants (34), and the elusive nature of the construct in question. The revised questionnaire measures 78 specific behaviors or opinions. It can be seen to provide an efficient means of gathering information about the engagement of young musicians in practice and memorization on a large scale.

Keywords: cross-cultural, memorization, practice, questionnaire, young musicians

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Authors: Juan A. Arzate, Funda C. Ertem, M. Nicolas Cruz-Bournazou, Peter Neubauer, Stefan Junne

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— One of the biggest challenges the world faces today is global warming that is caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs) coming from the combustion of fossil fuels for energy generation. In order to mitigate climate change, the European Union has committed to reducing GHG emissions to 80–95% below the level of the 1990s by the year 2050. Renewable technologies are vital to diminish energy-related GHG emissions. Since water and biomass are limited resources, the largest contributions to renewable energy (RE) systems will have to come from wind and solar power. Nevertheless, high proportions of fluctuating RE will present a number of challenges, especially regarding the need to balance the variable energy demand with the weather dependent fluctuation of energy supply. Therefore, biogas plants in this content would play an important role, since they are easily adaptable. Feedstock availability varies locally or seasonally; however there is a lack of knowledge in how biogas plants should be operated in a stable manner by local feedstock. This problem may be prevented through suitable control strategies. Such strategies require the development of convenient mathematical models, which fairly describe the main processes. Modelling allows us to predict the system behavior of biogas plants when different feedstocks are used with different loading rates. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique for analyzing several sides from evolution of a product till its disposal in an environmental point of view. It is highly recommend to use as a decision making tool. In order to achieve suitable strategies, the combination of a flexible energy generation provided by biogas plants, a secure production process and the maximization of the environmental benefits can be obtained by the combination of process modelling and LCA approaches. For this reason, this study focuses on the biogas plant which flexibly generates required energy from the co-digestion of maize, grass and cattle manure, while emitting the lowest amount of GHG´s. To achieve this goal AMOCO model was combined with LCA. The program was structured in Matlab to simulate any biogas process based on the AMOCO model and combined with the equations necessary to obtain climate change, acidification and eutrophication potentials of the whole production system based on ReCiPe midpoint v.1.06 methodology. Developed simulation was optimized based on real data from operating biogas plants and existing literature research. The results prove that AMOCO model can successfully imitate the system behavior of biogas plants and the necessary time required for the process to adapt in order to generate demanded energy from available feedstock. Combination with LCA approach provided opportunity to keep the resulting emissions from operation at the lowest possible level. This would allow for a prediction of the process, when the feedstock utilization supports the establishment of closed material circles within a smart bio-production grid – under the constraint of minimal drawbacks for the environment and maximal sustainability.

Keywords: AMOCO model, GHG emissions, life cycle assessment, modelling

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Authors: Peter Williams

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Mobile digital technology, in the form of smart phones, tablets, laptops and their accompanying functionality/apps etc., is becoming ever more used by people with Learning Disabilities (LD) - for entertainment, to communicate and socialize, and enjoy self-expression. Despite this, there has been very little research into the experiences of such technology by this cohort, it’s role in articulating personal identity and self-advocacy and the barriers encountered in negotiating technology in everyday life. The proposed talk describes research funded by the British Academy addressing these issues. It aims to explore: i) the experiences of people with LD in using mobile technology in their everyday lives – the benefits, in terms of entertainment, self-expression and socialising, and possible greater autonomy; and the barriers, such as accessibility or usability issues, privacy or vulnerability concerns etc. ii) how the technology, and in particular the software/apps and interfaces, can be improved to enable the greater access to entertainment, information, communication and other benefits it can offer. It is also hoped that results will inform parents, carers and other supporters regarding how they can use the technology with their charges. Rather than the project simply following the standard research procedure of gathering and analysing ‘data’ to which individual ‘research subjects’ have no access, people with Learning Disabilities (and their supporters) will help co-produce an accessible, annotated and hyperlinked living e-archive of their experiences. Involving people with LD as informants, contributors and, in effect, co-researchers will facilitate digital inclusion and empowerment. The project is working with approximately 80 adults of all ages who have ‘mild’ learning disabilities (people who are able to read basic texts and write simple sentences). A variety of methods is being used. Small groups of participants have engaged in simple discussions or storytelling about some aspect of technology (such as ‘when my phone saved me’ or ‘my digital photos’ etc.). Some individuals have been ‘interviewed’ at a PC, laptop or with a mobile device etc., and asked to demonstrate their usage and interests. Social media users have shown their Facebook pages, Pinterest uploads or other material – giving them an additional focus they have used to discuss their ‘digital’ lives. During these sessions, participants have recorded (or employed the researcher to record) their observations on to the e-archive. Parents, carers and other supporters are also being interviewed to explore their experiences of using mobile technology with the cohort, including any difficulties they have observed their charges having. The archive is supplemented with these observations. The presentation will outline the methods described above, highlighting some of the special considerations required when working inclusively with people with LD. It will describe some of the preliminary findings and demonstrate the e-archive with a commentary on the pages shown.

Keywords: inclusive research, learning disabilities, methods, technology

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Authors: Priyanka Gupta, Nilanjana Bairagi, Deepti Gupta

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New pathogenic strains of microbes are continually emerging and resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is growing. Hospitals in India have a high burden of infections in their intensive care units and general wards. Rising incidence of hospital infections is a matter of great concern in India. This growth is often attributed to the absence of effective infection control strategies in healthcare facilities. Government, therefore, is looking for cost effective strategies that are effective against HAIs. One possible method is by application of an antimicrobial finish on the uniform. But there are limited studies to show the effect of antimicrobial activity of antimicrobial finish treated nurses’ uniforms in a real hospital set up. This paper proposes a prospective non-destructive sampling technique, based on the use of a detachable fabric patch, to assess the effectiveness of silver based antimicrobial agent across five wards in a tertiary care government hospital in Delhi, India. Fabrics like polyester and polyester cotton blend fabric which are more prevalent for making coats were selected for the study. Polyester and polyester cotton blend fabric was treated with silver based antimicrobial (AM) finish. At the beginning of shift, a composite patch of untreated and treated fabric respectively was stitched on the abdominal region on the left and right side of the washed white coat of participating nurse. At the end of the shift, the patch was removed and taken for bacterial sampling on Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) plates. Microbial contamination on polyester and blend fabrics after 6 hours shift was compared in Brain Heart Infusion broth (BHI). All patches treated with silver based antimicrobial agent showed decreased bacterial counts. Percent reduction in the bacterial colonies after the antimicrobial treatment in both fabrics was 81.0 %. Antimicrobial finish was equally effective in reducing microbial adhesion on both fabric types. White coats of nurses become progressively contaminated during clinical care. Type of fabric used to make the coat can affect the extent of contamination which is higher on polyester cotton blend as compared to 100% polyester. The study highlights the importance of silver based antimicrobial finish in the area of uniform hygiene. Bacterial load can be reduced by using antimicrobial finish on hospital uniforms. Hospital staff uniforms endowed with antimicrobial properties may be of great help in reducing the occurrence and spread of infections.

Keywords: antimicrobial finish, bacteria, infection control, silver, white coat

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Authors: Mahmoud Reza Hosseini

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The universe is in a continuous expansion process, resulting in the reduction of its density and temperature. Also, by extrapolating back from its current state, the universe at its early times is studied, known as the big bang theory. According to this theory, moments after creation, the universe was an extremely hot and dense environment. However, its rapid expansion due to nuclear fusion led to a reduction in its temperature and density. This is evidenced through the cosmic microwave background and the universe structure at a large scale. However, extrapolating back further from this early state reaches singularity, which cannot be explained by modern physics, and the big bang theory is no longer valid. In addition, one can expect a nonuniform energy distribution across the universe from a sudden expansion. However, highly accurate measurements reveal an equal temperature mapping across the universe, which is contradictory to the big bang principles. To resolve this issue, it is believed that cosmic inflation occurred at the very early stages of the birth of the universe. According to the cosmic inflation theory, the elements which formed the universe underwent a phase of exponential growth due to the existence of a large cosmological constant. The inflation phase allows the uniform distribution of energy so that an equal maximum temperature can be achieved across the early universe. Also, the evidence of quantum fluctuations of this stage provides a means for studying the types of imperfections the universe would begin with. Although well-established theories such as cosmic inflation and the big bang together provide a comprehensive picture of the early universe and how it evolved into its current state, they are unable to address the singularity paradox at the time of universe creation. Therefore, a practical model capable of describing how the universe was initiated is needed. This research series aims at addressing the singularity issue by introducing a state of energy called a "neutral state," possessing an energy level that is referred to as the "base energy." The governing principles of base energy are discussed in detail in our second paper in the series "A Conceptual Study for Addressing the Singularity of the Emerging Universe," which is discussed in detail. To establish a complete picture, the origin of the base energy should be identified and studied. In this research paper, the mechanism which led to the emergence of this natural state and its corresponding base energy is proposed. In addition, the effect of the base energy in the space-time fabric is discussed. Finally, the possible role of the base energy in quantization and energy exchange is investigated. Therefore, the proposed concept in this research series provides a road map for enhancing our understating of the universe's creation from nothing and its evolution and discusses the possibility of base energy as one of the main building blocks of this universe.

Keywords: big bang, cosmic inflation, birth of universe, energy creation, universe evolution

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Authors: Ishara Madusanka, So Morikawa

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Natural disasters, particularly floods, pose severe challenges globally, affecting both developed and developing countries. In many regions, especially Asia, riverine floods are prevalent and devastating. Integrated flood management incorporates structural and non-structural measures, with preventive relocation emerging as a cost-effective and proactive strategy for areas repeatedly impacted by severe flooding. However, preventive relocation is often hindered by economic, psychological, social, and institutional barriers. This study investigates the factors influencing resistance to preventive relocation and evaluates the role of flood risk information in shaping relocation decisions through risk perception. A conceptual model was developed, incorporating variables such as Flood Risk Information (FRI), Place Attachment (PA), Good Living Conditions (GLC), and Adaptation to Flooding (ATF), with Flood Risk Perception (FRP) serving as a mediating variable. The research was conducted in Welipitiya in the Polwatta river basin, Matara district, Sri Lanka, a region experiencing recurrent flood damage. For this study, an experimental design involving a structured questionnaire survey was utilized, with 185 households participating. The treatment group received flood risk information, including flood risk maps and historical data, while the control group did not. Data were collected in 2023 and analyzed using independent sample t-tests and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). PLS-SEM was chosen for its ability to model latent variables, handle complex relationships, and suitability for exploratory research. Multi-group Analysis (MGA) assessed variations across different flood risk areas. Findings indicate that flood risk information had a limited impact on flood risk perception and relocation decisions, though its effect was significant in specific high-risk areas. Place attachment was a significant factor influencing relocation decisions across the sample. One potential reason for the limited impact of flood risk information on relocation decisions could be the lack of specificity in the information provided. The results suggest that while flood risk information alone may not significantly influence relocation decisions, it is crucial in specific contexts. Future studies and practitioners should focus on providing more detailed risk information and addressing psychological factors like place attachments to enhance preventive relocation efforts.

Keywords: flood risk communication, flood risk perception, place attachment, preventive relocation, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Eleonora Carloni, Michela Arnaboldi

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In academia, the investigation of the relationship between cultural heritage and corporations is ubiquitous in several fields of studies. In practice corporations are more and more integrating arts and cultural heritage in their strategies for disparate benefits, such as: to foster customer’s purchase intention with authentic and aesthetic experiences, to improve their reputation towards local communities, and to motivate employees with creative thinking. There are diverse forms under which corporations set these artistic interventions, from sponsorships to arts-based training centers for employees, but scholars agree that the maximum expression of this cultural trend are corporate museums, growing in number and relevance. Corporate museums are museum-like settings, hosting artworks of corporations’ history and interests. In academia they have been ascribed as strategic asset and they have been associated with diverse uses for corporations’ benefits, from place for preservation of cultural heritage, to tools for public relations and cultural flagship stores. Previous studies have thus extensively but fragmentally studied the diverse benefits of corporate museum opening to corporations, with a lack of comprehensive approach and a digression on how to evaluate and report corporate museum’s performances. Stepping forward, the present study aims to investigate: 1) what are the key performance measures corporate museums need to report to the associated corporations; 2) how are the key performance measures reported to the concerned corporations. This direction of study is not only suggested as future direction in academia but it has solid basis in practice, aiming to answer to the need of corporate museums’ directors to account for corporate museum’s activities to the concerned corporation. Coherently, at an empirical level the study relies on action research method, whose distinctive feature is to develop practical knowledge through a participatory process. This paper indeed relies on the experience of a collaborative project between the researchers and a set of corporate museums in Italy, aimed at co-developing a performance measurement system. The project involved two steps: a first step, in which researchers derived the potential performance measures from literature along with exploratory interviews; a second step, in which researchers supported the pool of corporate museums’ directors in co-developing a set of key performance indicators for reporting. Preliminary empirical findings show that while scholars insist on corporate museums’ capability to develop networking relations, directors insist on the role of museums as internal supplier of knowledge for innovation goals. Moreover, directors stress museums’ cultural mission and outcomes as potential benefits for corporation, by remarking to include both cultural and business measures in the final tool. In addition, they give relevant attention to the wording used in humanistic terms while struggling to express all measures in economic terms. The paper aims to contribute to corporate museums’ and more broadly to arts-based initiatives’ literature in two directions. Firstly, it elaborates key performance measures with related indicators to report on cultural initiatives for corporations. Secondly, it provides evidence of challenges and practices to handle reporting on these initiatives, because of tensions arising from the co-existence of diverse perspectives, namely arts and business worlds.

Keywords: arts-based initiative, corporate museum, hybrid organization, performance measurement

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Authors: Sugandha Gupta, Arun Kumar Jha

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A large number of ferroelectric materials have been intensely investigated for applications in non-volatile ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMs), piezoelectric transducers, actuators, pyroelectric sensors, high dielectric constant capacitors, etc. Bismuth layered ferroelectric materials such as Strontium Bismuth Tantalate (SBT) has attracted a lot of attention due to low leakage current, high remnant polarization and high fatigue endurance up to 1012 switching cycles. However, pure SBT suffers from various major limitations such as high dielectric loss, low remnant polarization values, high processing temperature, bismuth volatilization, etc. Significant efforts have been made to improve the dielectric and ferroelectric properties of this compound. Firstly, it has been reported that electrical properties vary with the Sr/ Bi content ratio in the SrBi2Ta2O9 compsition i.e. non-stoichiometric compositions with Sr-deficient / Bi excess content have higher remnant polarization values than stoichiometic SBT compositions. With the objective to improve structural, dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of SBT compound, rare earth holmium (Ho3+) was chosen as a donor cation for substitution onto the Bi2O2 layer. Moreover, hardly any report on holmium substitution in stoichiometric SrBi2Ta2O9 and non-stoichiometric Sr0.8Bi2.2Ta2O9 compositions were available in the literature. The holmium substituted SrBi2-xHoxTa2O9 (x= 0.00-2.0) and Sr0.8Bi2.2Ta2O9 (x=0.0 and 0.01) compositions were synthesized by the solid state reaction method. The synthesized specimens were characterized for their structural and electrical properties. X-ray diffractograms reveal single phase layered perovskite structure formation for holmium content in stoichiometric SBT samples up to x ≤ 0.1. The granular morphology of the samples was investigated using scanning electron microscope (Hitachi, S-3700 N). The dielectric measurements were carried out using a precision LCR meter (Agilent 4284A) operating at oscillation amplitude of 1V. The variation of dielectric constant with temperature shows that the Curie temperature (Tc) decreases on increasing the holmium content. The specimen with x=2.0 i.e. the bismuth free specimen, has very low dielectric constant and does not show any appreciable variation with temperature. The dielectric loss reduces significantly with holmium substitution. The polarization–electric field (P–E) hysteresis loops were recorded using a P–E loop tracer based on Sawyer–Tower circuit. It is observed that the ferroelectric property improve with Ho substitution. Holmium substituted specimen exhibits enhanced value of remnant polarization (Pr= 9.22 μC/cm²) as compared to holmium free specimen (Pr= 2.55 μC/cm²). Piezoelectric co-efficient (d33 values) was measured using a piezo meter system (Piezo Test PM300). It is observed that holmium substitution enhances piezoelectric coefficient. Further, the optimized holmium content (x=0.01) in stoichiometric SrBi2-xHoxTa2O9 composition has been substituted in non-stoichiometric Sr0.8Bi2.2Ta2O9 composition to obtain further enhanced structural and electrical characteristics. It is expected that a new class of ferroelectric materials i.e. Rare Earth Layered Structured Ferroelectrics (RLSF) derived from Bismuth Layered Structured Ferroelectrics (BLSF) will generate which can be used to replace static (SRAM) and dynamic (DRAM) random access memories with ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMS).

Keywords: dielectrics, ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, strontium bismuth tantalate

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Authors: Abdullah Nurus Salam Khan, Farhana Karim, Mohiuddin Ahsanul Kabir Chowdhury, S. Masum Billah, Nabila Zaka, Alexander Manu, Shams El Arifeen

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Globally, pre-eclampsia (PE) and ante-partum haemorrhage (APH) are two major causes of maternal mortality. Prompt identification and management of these conditions depend on competency of the birth attendants. Since these conditions are infrequent to be observed, clinical vignette based assessment could identify the extent of health worker’s competence in managing emergency obstetric care (EmOC). During June-August 2016, competence of 39 medical officers (MO) and 95 nurses working in obstetric ward of 15 government health facilities (3 district hospital, 12 sub-district hospital) was measured using clinical vignettes on PE and APH. The vignettes resulted in three outcome measures: total vignette scores, scores for diagnosis component, and scores for management component. T-test was conducted to compare mean vignette scores and linear regression was conducted to measure the strength and association of vignette scores with different cadres of health workers, facility’s readiness for EmOC and average annual utilization of normal deliveries after adjusting for type of health facility, health workers’ work experience, training status on managing maternal complication. For each of the seven component of EmOC items (administration of injectable antibiotics, oxytocic and anticonvulsant; manual removal of retained placenta, retained products of conception; blood transfusion and caesarean delivery), if any was practised in the facility within last 6 months, a point was added and cumulative EmOC readiness score (range: 0-7) was generated for each facility. The yearly utilization of delivery cases were identified by taking the average of all normal deliveries conducted during three years (2013-2015) preceding the survey. About 31% of MO and all nurses were female. Mean ( ± sd) age of the nurses were higher than the MO (40.0 ± 6.9 vs. 32.2 ± 6.1 years) and also longer mean( ± sd) working experience (8.9 ± 7.9 vs. 1.9 ± 3.9 years). About 80% health workers received any training on managing maternal complication, however, only 7% received any refresher’s training within last 12 months. The overall vignette score was 8.8 (range: 0-19), which was significantly higher among MO than nurses (10.7 vs. 8.1, p < 0.001) and the score was not associated with health facility types, training status and years of experience of the providers. Vignette score for management component (range: 0-9) increased with higher annual average number of deliveries in their respective working facility (adjusted β-coefficient 0.16, CI 0.03-0.28, p=0.01) and increased with each unit increase in EmOC readiness score (adjusted β-coefficient 0.44, CI 0.04-0.8, p=0.03). The diagnosis component of vignette score was not associated with any of the factors except it was higher among the MO than the nurses (adjusted β-coefficient 1.2, CI 0.13-2.18, p=0.03). Lack of competence in diagnosing and managing obstetric complication by the nurses than the MO is of concern especially when majority of normal deliveries are conducted by the nurses. Better EmOC preparedness of the facility and higher utilization of normal deliveries resulted in higher vignette score for the management component; implying the impact of experiential learning through higher case management. Focus should be given on improving the facility readiness for EmOC and providing the health workers periodic refresher’s training to make them more competent in managing obstetric cases.

Keywords: Bangladesh, emergency obstetric care, clinical vignette, competence of health workers

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Authors: A. M. Byrne, E. Bonfiglio, C. Rigby, N. Edelstyn

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Introduction: Neuromarketing employs numerous methodologies when investigating products and advertisement effectiveness. Electroencephalography (EEG), a non-invasive measure of electrical activity from the brain, is commonly used in neuromarketing. EEG data can be considered using time-frequency (TF) analysis, where changes in the frequency of brainwaves are calculated to infer participant’s mental states, or event-related potential (ERP) analysis, where changes in amplitude are observed in direct response to a stimulus. This presentation discusses the findings of a systematic review of EEG measures in neuromarketing. A systematic review summarises evidence on a research question, using explicit measures to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research papers. Thissystematic review identifies which EEG measures are the most robust predictor of customer preference and purchase intention. Methods: Search terms identified174 papers that used EEG in combination with marketing-related stimuli. Publications were excluded if they were written in a language other than English or were not published as journal articles (e.g., book chapters). The review investigated which TF effect (e.g., theta-band power) and ERP component (e.g., N400) most consistently reflected preference and purchase intention. Machine-learning prediction was also investigated, along with the use of EEG combined with physiological measures such as eye-tracking. Results: Frontal alpha asymmetry was the most reliable TF signal, where an increase in activity over the left side of the frontal lobe indexed a positive response to marketing stimuli, while an increase in activity over the right side indexed a negative response. The late positive potential, a positive amplitude increase around 600 ms after stimulus presentation, was the most reliable ERP component, reflecting the conscious emotional evaluation of marketing stimuli. However, each measure showed mixed results when related to preference and purchase behaviour. Predictive accuracy was greatly improved through machine-learning algorithms such as deep neural networks, especially when combined with eye-tracking or facial expression analyses. Discussion: This systematic review provides a novel catalogue of the most effective use of each EEG measure commonly used in neuromarketing. Exciting findings to emerge are the identification of the frontal alpha asymmetry and late positive potential as markers of preferential responses to marketing stimuli. Predictive accuracy using machine-learning algorithms achieved predictive accuracies as high as 97%, and future research should therefore focus on machine-learning prediction when using EEG measures in neuromarketing.

Keywords: EEG, ERP, neuromarketing, machine-learning, systematic review, time-frequency

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Authors: Aleksandr I. Korobov, Natalia V. Shirgina, Aleksey I. Kokshaiskiy

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The transformation of two types of acoustic waves can occur on a flat interface between two solids at oblique incidence of longitudinal and shear bulk acoustic waves (BAW). This paper presents the results of experimental studies of the properties of reflection and propagation of longitudinal wave and generation of second and third longitudinal and shear harmonics of BAW at oblique incidence of longitudinal BAW on a flat rough boundary between two solids. The experimental sample was a rectangular isosceles pyramid made of D16 aluminum alloy with the plane parallel bases cylinder made of D16 aluminum alloy pressed to the base. The piezoelectric lithium niobate transducer with a resonance frequency of 5 MHz was secured to one face of the pyramid to generate a longitudinal wave. Longitudinal waves emitted by this transducer felt at an angle of 45° to the interface between two solids and reflected at the same angle. On the opposite face of the pyramid, and on the flat side of the cylinder was attached longitudinal transducer with resonance frequency of 10 MHz or the shear transducer with resonance frequency of 15 MHz. These transducers also effectively received signal at a frequency of 5 MHz. In the spectrum of the transmitted and reflected BAW was observed shear and longitudinal waves at a frequency of 5 MHz, as well as longitudinal harmonic at a frequency harmonic of 10 MHz and a shear harmonic at frequency of 15 MHz. The effect of reversing changing of external pressure applied to the rough interface between two solids on the value of the first and higher harmonics of the BAW at oblique incidence on the interface of the longitudinal BAW was experimentally investigated. In the spectrum of the reflected signal from the interface, there was a decrease of amplitudes of the first harmonics of the signal, and non-monotonic dependence of the second and third harmonics of shear wave with an increase of the static pressure applied to the interface. In the spectrum of the transmitted signal growth of the first longitudinal and shear harmonic amplitude and non-monotonic dependence - first increase and then decrease in the amplitude of the second and third longitudinal shear harmonic with increasing external static pressure was observed. These dependencies were hysteresis at reversing changing of external pressure. When pressure applied to the border increased, acoustic contact between the surfaces improves. This increases the energy of the transmitted elastic wave and decreases the energy of the reflected wave. The second longitudinal acoustic harmonics generation was associated with the Hertz nonlinearity on the interface of two pressed rough surfaces, the generation of the third harmonic was caused by shear hysteresis nonlinearity due to dry friction on a rough interface. This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project №14-22-00042).

Keywords: generation of acoustic harmonics, hysteresis nonlinearity, Hertz nonlinearity, transformation of acoustic waves

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Authors: Bukra Kalayci, Geraldine Brennan

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Introduction: Over the last decade, a proliferation of literature related to textile and fashion business in the context of sustainable production and consumption has emerged. However, the economic and environmental benefits of solid waste recovery have not been comprehensively searched. Therefore at the end-of-life or end-of-use textile waste management remains a gap. Solid textile waste reuse and recycling principles of the circular economy need to be developed to close the disposal stage of the textile supply chain. The environmental problems associated with the over-production and –consumption of textile products arise. Together with growing population and fast fashion culture the share of solid textile waste in municipal waste is increasing. Focusing on post-consumer textile waste literature, this research explores the opportunities, obstacles and enablers or success factors associated with closed-loop textile business systems. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted in order to identify best practices and gaps from the existing body of knowledge related to closed-loop post-consumer textile waste initiatives over the last decade. Selected keywords namely: ‘cradle-to-cradle ‘, ‘circular* economy* ‘, ‘closed-loop* ‘, ‘end-of-life* ‘, ‘reverse* logistic* ‘, ‘take-back* ‘, ‘remanufacture* ‘, ‘upcycle* ‘ with the combination of (and) ‘fashion* ‘, ‘garment* ‘, ‘textile* ‘, ‘apparel* ‘, clothing* ‘ were used and the time frame of the review was set between 2005 to 2017. In order to obtain a broad coverage, Web of Knowledge and Science Direct databases were used, and peer-reviewed journal articles were chosen. The keyword search identified 299 number of papers which was further refined into 54 relevant papers that form the basis of the in-depth thematic analysis. Preliminary findings: A key finding was that the existing literature is predominantly conceptual rather than applied or empirical work. Moreover, the enablers or success factors, obstacles and opportunities to implement closed-loop systems in the textile industry were not clearly articulated and the following considerations were also largely overlooked in the literature. While the circular economy suggests multiple cycles of discarded products, components or materials, most research has to date tended to focus on a single cycle. Thus the calculations of environmental and economic benefits of closed-loop systems are limited to one cycle which does not adequately explore the feasibility or potential benefits of multiple cycles. Additionally, the time period textile products spend between point of sale, and end-of-use/end-of-life return is a crucial factor. Despite past efforts to study closed-loop textile systems a clear gap in the literature is the lack of a clear evaluation framework which enables manufacturers to clarify the reusability potential of textile products through consideration of indicators related too: quality, design, lifetime, length of time between manufacture and product return, volume of collected disposed products, material properties, and brand segment considerations (e.g. fast fashion versus luxury brands).

Keywords: circular fashion, closed loop business, product service systems, solid textile waste elimination

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Authors: Dr. Jenit Gandhi, Dr. Manojith SS, Dr. Nakul GV, Dr. Sharath Honnani, Dr. Shaurav Ghosh, Dr. Neel Shetty, Dr. Nagabhushan JS, Dr. Manish Joshi

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Introduction: Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory condition of the pancreas which begins in pancreatic acinar cells and triggers local inflammation that may progress to systemic inflammatory response (SIRS) and causing distant organ involvement and its function and ending up with multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS). Aim: A comparative study in acute pancreatitis to find out the effectiveness of early addition of Ulinastatin to current standard care in Indian subjects . Methodology: A current prospective observational study is done during study period of 1year (Dec 2018 –Dec 2019) duration to evaluate the effect of early addition of Ulinastatin to the current standard treatment and its efficacy to reduce the early complication, analgesic requirement and duration of hospital stay in patients with Acute Pancreatitis. Results: In the control group 25 were males and 05 were females. In the test group 18 were males and 12 females. Majority was in the age group between 30 - 70 yrs of age with >50% in the 30-50yrs age group in both test and control groups. The VAS was median grade 3 in control group as compared to median grade 2 in test group , the pain was more in the initial 2 days in test group compared to 4 days in test group , the analgesic requirement was used for more in control group (median 6) to test group( median 3 days ). On follow up after 5 days for a period of 2 weeks none of the patients in the test group developed any complication. Where as in the control group 8 patients developed pleural effusion, 04-Pseudopancreatic cyst, 02 – patient developed portal vein and splenic vein thrombosis, 02 patients – ventilator with ARDS which were treated symptomatically whereas in test group 02 patient developed pleural effusions and 01 pseudo pancreatic cyst with splenic artery aneurysm, 01 – patient with AKI and MODS symptomatically treated. The duration of hospital stay for a median period of 4 days (2 – 7 days) in test group and 7 days (4 -10 days) in control group. All patients were able to return to normal work on an average of 5days compared 8days in control group, the difference was significant. Conclusion:The study concluded that early addition of Ulinastatin to current standard treatment of acute Pancreatitis is effective in reducing pain, early complication and duration of hospital stay in Indian subject

Keywords: Ulinastatin, VAS – visual analogue score , AKI – acute kidney injury , ARDS – acute respiratory distress syndrome

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Authors: Bensaid A., Mostephaoui T., Nedjai R.

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Nowadays, wetlands are the subject of contradictory debates opposing scientific, political and administrative meanings. Indeed, given their multiple services (drinking water, irrigation, hydrological regulation, mineral, plant and animal resources...), wetlands concentrate many socio-economic and biodiversity issues. In some regions, they can cover vast areas (>100 thousand ha) of the landscape, such as the Camargue area in the south of France, inside the Rhone delta. The high biological productivity of wetlands, the strong natural selection pressures and the diversity of aquatic environments have produced many species of plants and animals that are found nowhere else. These environments are tremendous carbon sinks and biodiversity reserves depending on their age, composition and surrounding environmental conditions, wetlands play an important role in global climate projections. Covering more than 3% of the earth's surface, wetlands have experienced since the beginning of the 1990s a tremendous revival of interest, which has resulted in the multiplication of inventories, scientific studies and management experiments. The geographical and physical characteristics of the wetlands of the central region conceal a large number of natural habitats that harbour a great biological diversity. These wetlands, one of the natural habitats, are still influenced by human activities, especially agriculture, which affects its layout and functioning. In this perspective, decision-makers need to delimit spatial objects (natural habitats) in a certain way to be able to take action. Thus, wetlands are no exception to this rule even if it seems to be a difficult exercise to delimit a type of environment as whose main characteristic is often to occupy the transition between aquatic and terrestrial environment. However, it is possible to map wetlands with databases, derived from the interpretation of photos and satellite images, such as the European database Corine Land cover, which allows quantifying and characterizing for each place the characteristic wetland types. Scientific studies have shown limitations when using high spatial resolution images (SPOT, Landsat, ASTER) for the identification and characterization of small wetlands (1 hectare). To address this limitation, it is important to note that these wetlands generally represent spatially complex features. Indeed, the use of very high spatial resolution images (>3m) is necessary to map small and large areas. However, with the recent evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning methods for satellite image processing have shown a much better performance compared to traditional processing based only on pixel structures. Our research work is also based on spectral and textural analysis on THR images (Spot and IRC orthoimage) using two object-oriented approaches, the nearest neighbour approach (k-NN) and the Super Vector Machine approach (SVM). The k-NN approach gave good results for the delineation of wetlands (wet marshes and moors, ponds, artificial wetlands water body edges, ponds, mountain wetlands, river edges and brackish marshes) with a kappa index higher than 85%.

Keywords: land development, GIS, sand dunes, segmentation, remote sensing

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Authors: Adeline Stals

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The transformation of architectural design practices has been underway for almost forty years due to the development and democratization of computer technology. New and more efficient tools are constantly being proposed to architects, amplifying a technological wave that sometimes stimulates them, sometimes overwhelms them, depending essentially on their digital culture and the context (socio-economic, structural, organizational) in which they work on a daily basis. Our focus is on VR, AR, and MR technologies dedicated to architecture. The commercialization of affordable headsets like the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive or more low-tech like the Google CardBoard, makes it more accessible to benefit from these technologies. In that regard, researchers report the growing interest of these tools for architects, given the new perspectives they open up in terms of workflow, representation, collaboration, and client’s involvement. However, studies rarely mention the consequences of the sample studied on results. Our research provides an overview of VR, AR, and MR researches among a corpus of papers selected from conferences and journals. A closer look at the sample of these research projects highlights the necessity to take into consideration the context of studies in order to develop tools truly dedicated to the real practices of specific architect profiles. This literature review formalizes milestones for future challenges to address. The methodology applied is based on a systematic review of two sources of publications. The first one is the Cumincad database, which regroups publications from conferences exclusively about digital in architecture. Additionally, the second part of the corpus is based on journal publications. Journals have been selected considering their ranking on Scimago. Among the journals in the predefined category ‘architecture’ and in Quartile 1 for 2018 (last update when consulted), we have retained the ones related to the architectural design process: Design Studies, CoDesign, Architectural Science Review, Frontiers of Architectural Research and Archnet-IJAR. Beside those journals, IJAC, not classified in the ‘architecture’ category, is selected by the author for its adequacy with architecture and computing. For all requests, the search terms were ‘virtual reality’, ‘augmented reality’, and ‘mixed reality’ in title and/or keywords for papers published between 2015 and 2019 (included). This frame time is defined considering the fast evolution of these technologies in the past few years. Accordingly, the systematic review covers 202 publications. The literature review on studies about XR technologies establishes the state of the art of the current situation. It highlights that studies are mostly based on experimental contexts with controlled conditions (pedagogical, e.g.) or on practices established in large architectural offices of international renown. However, few studies focus on the strategies and practices developed by offices of smaller size, which represent the largest part of the market. Indeed, a European survey studying the architectural profession in Europe in 2018 reveals that 99% of offices are composed of less than ten people, and 71% of only one person. The study also showed that the number of medium-sized offices is continuously decreasing in favour of smaller structures. In doing so, a frontier seems to remain between the worlds of research and practice, especially for the majority of small architectural practices having a modest use of technology. This paper constitutes a reference for the next step of the research and for further worldwide researches by facilitating their contextualization.

Keywords: architectural design, literature review, SME, XR technologies

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Authors: Winnie Kung, Xinhua Liu, Debbie Huang, Patricia Kim, Keon Kim, Xiaoran Wang, Lawrence Yang

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Considerable Asian Americans were exposed to the World Trade Center attack due to the proximity of the site to Chinatown and a sizeable number of South Asians working in the collapsed and damaged buildings nearby. Few studies focused on Asians in examining the disaster’s mental health impact, and even less longitudinal studies were reported beyond the first couple of years after the event. Based on the World Trade Center Health Registry, this study examined the trajectory of PTSD of individuals directly exposed to the attack from 2-3 to 5-6 years after the attack, comparing Asians against the non-Hispanic White group. Participants included 2,431 Asians and 31,455 Whites. Trajectories were delineated into the resilient, chronic, delayed-onset and remitted groups using PTSD checklist cut-off score at 44 at the 2 waves. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare the poorer trajectories against the resilient as a reference group, using predictors of baseline sociodemographic, exposure to the disaster, lower respiratory symptoms and previous depression/anxiety disorder diagnosis, and recruitment source as the control variable. Asians had significant lower socioeconomic status in terms of income, education and employment status compared to Whites. Over 3/4 of participants from both races were resilient, though slightly less for Asians than Whites (76.5% vs 79.8%). Asians had a higher proportion with chronic PTSD (8.6% vs 7.4%) and remission (5.9% vs 3.4%) than Whites. A considerable proportion of participants had delayed-onset in both races (9.1% Asians vs 9.4% Whites). The distribution of trajectories differed significantly by race (p<0.0001) with Asians faring poorer. For Asians, in the chronic vs resilient group, significant protective factors included age >65, annual household income >$50,000, and never married vs married/cohabiting; risk factors were direct disaster exposure, job loss due to 9/11, lost someone, and tangible loss; lower respiratory symptoms and previous mental disorder diagnoses. Similar protective and risk factors were noted for the delayed-onset group, except education being protective; and being an immigrant a risk. Between the 2 comparisons, the chronic group was more vulnerable than the delayed-onset as expected. It should also be noted that in both comparisons, Asians’ current employment status had no significant impact on their PTSD trajectory. Comparing between Asians against Whites, the direction of the relationships between the predictors and the PTSD trajectories were mostly the same, although more factors were significant for Whites than for Asians. A few factors showed significant racial difference: Higher risk for lower respiratory symptoms for Whites than Asians, higher risk for pre-9/11 mental disorder diagnosis for Asians than Whites, and immigrant a risk factor for the remitted vs resilient groups for Whites but not for Asians. Over 17% Asians still suffered from PTSD 5-6 years after the WTC attack signified its persistent impact which incurred substantial human, social and economic costs. The more disadvantaged socioeconomic status of Asians rendered them more vulnerable in their mental health trajectories relative to Whites. Together with their well-documented low tendency to seek mental health help, outreach effort to this population is needed to ensure follow-up treatment and prevention.

Keywords: PTSD, Asian Americans, World Trade Center Attack, racial differences

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Authors: Ryan Chalk, G. M. Shafiullah

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Climate change is a pertinent issue facing governments and societies around the world. The industrial revolution has resulted in a steady increase in the average global temperature. The mining and energy production industries have been significant contributors to this change prompting government to intervene by promoting low emission technology within these sectors. This paper initially reviews the energy problem in Australia and the mining sector with a focus on the energy requirements and production methods utilised in Western Australia (WA). Renewable energy in the form of utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV) provides a solution to these problems by providing emission-free energy which can be used to supplement the existing natural gas turbines in operation at the proposed site. This research presents a custom renewable solution for the mining site considering the specific township network, local weather conditions, and seasonal load profiles. A summary of the required PV output is presented to supply slightly over 50% of the towns power requirements during the peak (summer) period, resulting in close to full coverage in the trench (winter) period. Dig Silent Power Factory Software has been used to simulate the characteristics of the existing infrastructure and produces results of integrating PV. Large scale PV penetration in the network introduce technical challenges, that includes; voltage deviation, increased harmonic distortion, increased available fault current and power factor. Results also show that cloud cover has a dramatic and unpredictable effect on the output of a PV system. The preliminary analyses conclude that mitigation strategies are needed to overcome voltage deviations, unacceptable levels of harmonics, excessive fault current and low power factor. Mitigation strategies are proposed to control these issues predominantly through the use of high quality, made for purpose inverters. Results show that use of inverters with harmonic filtering reduces the level of harmonic injections to an acceptable level according to Australian standards. Furthermore, the configuration of inverters to supply active and reactive power assist in mitigating low power factor problems. Use of FACTS devices; SVC and STATCOM also reduces the harmonics and improve the power factor of the network, and finally, energy storage helps to smooth the power supply.

Keywords: climate change, mitigation strategies, photovoltaic (PV), power quality

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Authors: Merina Islam

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The feminists have identified the traditional western ethical theories as basically male centered. Feminists are committed to develop a critique showing how the traditional western ethics together with traditional philosophy, irrespective of the claim for gender neutrality, all throughout remained gender-biased. This exclusion of women’s experiences from the moral discourse is justified on the ground that women cannot be moral agents, since they are not rational. By way of entailment, we are thus led to the position that virtues of traditional ethics, so viewed, can nothing but rational and hence male. The ears of traditional Western ethicists have been attuned to male rather than female ethical voices. Right from the Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel and even philosophers like Freud, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and many others the dualism between reason-passion or mind and body started gaining prominence. These, according to them, have either intentionally excluded women or else have used certain male moral experience as the standard for all moral experiences, thereby resulting once again in exclusion of women’s experiences. Men are identified with rationality and hence contrasted with women whose sphere is believed to be that of emotion and feeling. This act of exclusion of women’s experience from moral discourse has given birth to a tradition that emphasizes reason over emotion, universal over the particular, and justice over caring. That patriarchy’s use of gender distinctions in the realm of Ethics has resulted in gender discriminations is an undeniable fact. Hence women’s moral agency is said to have often been denied, not simply by the act of exclusion of women from moral debate or sheer ignorance of their contributions, but through philosophical claims to the effect that women lack moral reason. Traditional or mainstream ethics cannot justify its claim for universality, objectivity and gender neutrality the standards from which were drawn the legitimacy of the various moral maxims or principles of it. Right from the Platonic and Aristotelian period the dualism between reason-passion or mind and body started gaining prominence. Men are identified with rationality and hence contrasted with women whose sphere is believed to be that of emotion and feeling. Through the Association of the masculine values with reason (the feminine with irrational), was created the standard prototype of moral virtues The feminists’ critique of the traditional mainstream Ethics is based on this charge that because of its inherent gender bias, in the name of gender distinctions, Ethics has so far been justifying discriminations. In this paper, attempt would make upon the gender biased-ness of traditional ethics. But Feminists are committed to develop a critique showing how the traditional ethics together with traditional philosophy, irrespective of the claim for gender neutrality, all throughout remained gender-biased. We would try to show to what extent traditional ethics is male centered and consequentially fails to justify its claims for universality and gender neutrality.

Keywords: ethics, gender, male-centered, traditional

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Authors: Anuruddha Jayasuriya, Thanakorn Pheeraphan

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In this paper, a review of different mathematical models which can be used as prediction tools to assess the time to crack reinforced concrete (RC) due to corrosion is investigated. This investigation leads to an experimental study to validate a selected prediction model. Most of these mathematical models depend upon the mechanical behaviors, chemical behaviors, electrochemical behaviors or geometric aspects of the RC members during a corrosion process. The experimental program is designed to verify the accuracy of a well-selected mathematical model from a rigorous literature study. Fundamentally, the experimental program exemplifies both one-dimensional chloride diffusion using RC squared slab elements of 500 mm by 500 mm and two-dimensional chloride diffusion using RC squared column elements of 225 mm by 225 mm by 500 mm. Each set consists of three water-to-cement ratios (w/c); 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 and two cover depths; 25 mm and 50 mm. 12 mm bars are used for column elements and 16 mm bars are used for slab elements. All the samples are subjected to accelerated chloride corrosion in a chloride bath of 5% (w/w) sodium chloride (NaCl) solution. Based on a pre-screening of different models, it is clear that the well-selected mathematical model had included mechanical properties, chemical and electrochemical properties, nature of corrosion whether it is accelerated or natural, and the amount of porous area that rust products can accommodate before exerting expansive pressure on the surrounding concrete. The experimental results have shown that the selected model for both one-dimensional and two-dimensional chloride diffusion had ±20% and ±10% respective accuracies compared to the experimental output. The half-cell potential readings are also used to see the corrosion probability, and experimental results have shown that the mass loss is proportional to the negative half-cell potential readings that are obtained. Additionally, a statistical analysis is carried out in order to determine the most influential factor that affects the time to corrode the reinforcement in the concrete due to chloride diffusion. The factors considered for this analysis are w/c, bar diameter, and cover depth. The analysis is accomplished by using Minitab statistical software, and it showed that cover depth is the significant effect on the time to crack the concrete from chloride induced corrosion than other factors considered. Thus, the time predictions can be illustrated through the selected mathematical model as it covers a wide range of factors affecting the corrosion process, and it can be used to predetermine the durability concern of RC structures that are vulnerable to chloride exposure. And eventually, it is further concluded that cover thickness plays a vital role in durability in terms of chloride diffusion.

Keywords: accelerated corrosion, chloride diffusion, corrosion cracks, passivation layer, reinforcement corrosion

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Authors: Leif Inge Tjelta, Gerd Lise Nordbotten, Cathrine Nyhus Hagum, Merete Hagen Helland

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Overweight and obesity can lead to numerous health problems, and inactive people are more often overweight and obese compared to physically active people. Even a moderate weight loss can improve cardiovascular and endocrine disease risk factors. The aim of the study was to examine to what extent overweight and obese adults starting up with two weekly intensive running sessions had an increase in aerobic capacity, reduction in BMI and waist circumference and changes in body composition after 33 weeks of training. An additional aim was to see if there were differences between participants who, in addition to training, also received lifestyle modification education, including practical cooking (nutritional guidance and training group (NTG =32)) compared to those who were not given any nutritional guidance (training group (TG=40)). 72 participants (49 women), mean age of 46.1 ( ± 10.4) were included. Inclusion Criteria: Previous untrained and inactive adults in all age groups, BMI ≥ 25, desire to become fitter and reduce their BMI. The two weekly supervised training sessions consisted of 10 min warm up followed by 20 to 21 min effective interval running where the participants’ heart rate were between 82 and 92% of hearth rate maximum. The sessions were completed with ten minutes whole body strength training. Measures of BMI, waist circumference (WC) and 3000m running time were performed at the start of the project (T1), after 15 weeks (T2) and at the end of the project (T3). Measurements of fat percentage, muscle mass, and visceral fat were performed at T1 and T3. Twelve participants (9 women) from both groups, who all scored around average on the 3000 m pre-test, were chosen to do a VO₂max test at T1 and T3. The NTG were given ten theoretical sessions (80 minutes each) and eight practical cooking sessions (140 minutes each). There was a significant reduction in bout groups for WC and BMI from T1 to T2. There was not found any further reduction from T2 to T3. Although not significant, NTG reduced their WC more than TG. For both groups, the percentage reduction in WC was similar to the reduction in BMI. There was a decrease in fat percentage in both groups from pre-test to post-test, whereas, for muscle mass, a small, but insignificant increase was observed for both groups. There was a decrease in 3000m running time for both groups from T1 to T2 as well as from T2 to T3. The difference between T2 and T3 was not statistically significant. The 12 participants who tested VO₂max had an increase of 2.86 ( ± 3.84) mlkg⁻¹ min⁻¹ in VO₂max and 3:02 min (± 2:01 min) reduction in running time over 3000 m from T1 until T3. There was a strong, negative correlation between the two variables. The study shows that two intensive running session in 33 weeks can increase aerobic fitness and reduce BMI, WC and fat percent in inactive adults. Cost guidance in addition to training will give additional effect.

Keywords: interval training, nutritional guidance, fitness, BMI

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Authors: Yuanxia Zheng, Min Zhong, Cong Xin, Guoxiong Liu, Liqi Zhu

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Trust is a critical foundation of social interaction and development, playing a significant role in the physical and mental well-being of children, as well as their social participation. Previous research has demonstrated that young children do not blindly trust others but make selective trust judgments based on available information. The characteristics of speakers can influence children’s trust judgments. According to Mayer et al.’s model of trust, these characteristics of speakers, including ability, benevolence, and integrity, can influence children’s trust judgments. While previous research has focused primarily on the effects of ability and benevolence, there has been relatively little attention paid to integrity, which refers to individuals’ adherence to promises, fairness, and justice. This study focuses specifically on how keeping/breaking promises affects young children’s trust judgments. The paradigm of selective trust was employed in two experiments. A sample size of 100 children was required for an effect size of w = 0.30，α = 0.05，1-β = 0.85, using G*Power 3.1. This study employed a 2×2 within-subjects design to investigate the effects of moral valence of promises (within-subjects factor: moral vs. immoral promises), and fulfilment of promises (within-subjects factor: kept vs. broken promises) on children’s trust judgments (divided into declarative and promising contexts). In Experiment 1 adapted binary choice paradigms, presenting 118 preschoolers (62 girls, Mean age = 4.99 years, SD = 0.78) with four conflict scenarios involving the keeping or breaking moral/immoral promises, in order to investigate children’s trust judgments. Experiment 2 utilized single choice paradigms, in which 112 preschoolers (57 girls, Mean age = 4.94 years, SD = 0.80) were presented four stories to examine their level of trust. The results of Experiment 1 showed that preschoolers selectively trusted both promisors who kept moral promises and those who broke immoral promises, as well as their assertions and new promises. Additionally, the 5.5-6.5-year-old children are more likely to trust both promisors who keep moral promises and those who break immoral promises more than the 3.5- 4.5-year-old children. Moreover, preschoolers are more likely to make accurate trust judgments towards promisor who kept moral promise compared to those who broke immoral promises. The results of Experiment 2 showed significant differences of preschoolers’ trust degree: kept moral promise > broke immoral promise > broke moral promise ≈ kept immoral promise. This study is the first to investigate the development of trust judgement in moral promise among preschoolers aged 3.5-6.5. The results show that preschoolers can consider both valence and fulfilment of promises when making trust judgments. Furthermore, as preschoolers mature, they become more inclined to trust promisors who keep moral promises and those who break immoral promises. Additionally, the study reveals that preschoolers have the highest level of trust in promisors who kept moral promises, followed by those who broke immoral promises. Promisors who broke moral promises and those who kept immoral promises are trusted the least. These findings contribute valuable insights to our understanding of moral promises and trust judgment.

Keywords: promise, trust, moral judgement, preschoolers

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Authors: F. Uriel, M. M. Fernandez Liporace

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In the last decade, academic achievement in higher education has become a topic of agenda in Argentina, regarding the high figures of adjustment problems, academic failure and dropout, and the low graduation rates in the context of massive classes and traditional teaching methods. Psychological variables, such as perceived social support, academic motivation and learning styles and strategies have much to offer since their measurement by tests allows a proper diagnose of their influence on academic achievement. Framed in a major research, several studies analysed multiple samples, totalizing 5135 students attending Argentinean public universities. The first goal was aimed at the identification of statistically significant differences in psychological variables -perceived social support, learning styles, learning strategies, and academic motivation- by age, gender, and degree of academic advance (freshmen versus sophomores). Thus, an inferential group differences study for each psychological dependent variable was developed by means of student’s T tests, given the features of data distribution. The second goal, aimed at examining associations between the four psychological variables on the one hand, and academic achievement on the other, was responded by correlational studies, calculating Pearson’s coefficients, employing grades as the quantitative indicator of academic achievement. The positive and significant results that were obtained led to the formulation of different predictive models of academic achievement which had to be tested in terms of adjustment and predictive power. These models took the four psychological variables above mentioned as predictors, using regression equations, examining predictors individually, in groups of two, and together, analysing indirect effects as well, and adding the degree of academic advance and gender, which had shown their importance within the first goal’s findings. The most relevant results were: first, gender showed no influence on any dependent variable. Second, only good achievers perceived high social support from teachers, and male students were prone to perceive less social support. Third, freshmen exhibited a pragmatic learning style, preferring unstructured environments, the use of examples and simultaneous-visual processing in learning, whereas sophomores manifest an assimilative learning style, choosing sequential and analytic processing modes. Despite these features, freshmen have to deal with abstract contents and sophomores, with practical learning situations due to study programs in force. Fifth, no differences in academic motivation were found between freshmen and sophomores. However, the latter employ a higher number of more efficient learning strategies. Sixth, freshmen low achievers lack intrinsic motivation. Seventh, models testing showed that social support, learning styles and academic motivation influence learning strategies, which affect academic achievement in freshmen, particularly males; only learning styles influence achievement in sophomores of both genders with direct effects. These findings led to conclude that educational psychologists, education specialists, teachers, and universities must plan urgent and major changes. These must be applied in renewed and better study programs, syllabi and classes, as well as tutoring and training systems. Such developments should be targeted to the support and empowerment of students in their academic pathways, and therefore to the upgrade of learning quality, especially in the case of freshmen, male freshmen, and low achievers.

Keywords: academic achievement, academic motivation, coping, learning strategies, learning styles, perceived social support

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Authors: Iulianna Taritsa, Kuldeep Neote, Eric Fossel

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Lysosome-induced immunogenic cell death (LIICD) is a powerful mechanism of targeting cancer cells that kills circulating malignant cells and primes the host’s immune cells against future remission. Current immunotherapies for cancer are limited in preventing recurrence – a gap that can be bridged by training the immune system to recognize cancer neoantigens. Lysosomal leakage can be induced therapeutically to traffic antigens from dying cells to dendritic cells, which can later present those tumorigenic antigens to T cells. Previous research has shown that oxidative agents administered in the tumor microenvironment can initiate LIICD. We generated a fusion protein between an oxidative agent known as xanthine oxidase (XO) and a mini-antibody specific for EGFR/HER2-sensitive breast tumor cells. The anti-EGFR single domain antibody fragment is uniquely sourced from llama, which is functional without the presence of a light chain. These llama micro-antibodies have been shown to be better able to penetrate tissues and have improved physicochemical stability as compared to traditional monoclonal antibodies. We demonstrate that the fusion protein created is stable and can induce early markers of immunogenic cell death in an in vitro human breast cancer cell line (SkBr3). Specifically, we measured overall cell death, as well as surface-expressed calreticulin, extracellular ATP release, and HMGB1 production. These markers are consensus indicators of ICD. Flow cytometry, luminescence assays, and ELISA were used respectively to quantify biomarker levels between treated versus untreated cells. We also included a positive control group of SkBr3 cells dosed with doxorubicin (a known inducer of LIICD) and a negative control dosed with cisplatin (a known inducer of cell death, but not of the immunogenic variety). We looked at each marker at various time points after cancer cells were treated with the XO/antibody fusion protein, doxorubicin, and cisplatin. Upregulated biomarkers after treatment with the fusion protein indicate an immunogenic response. We thus show the potential for this fusion protein to induce an anticancer effect paired with an adaptive immune response against EGFR/HER2+ cells. Our research in human cell lines here provides evidence for the success of the same therapeutic method for patients and serves as the gateway to developing a new treatment approach against breast cancer.

Keywords: apoptosis, breast cancer, immunogenic cell death, lysosome

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Authors: Yonas Shuke Kitawa

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Background: Although malaria incidence has substantially fallen sharply over the past few years, the rate of decline varies by district, time, and malaria type. Despite this turn-down, malaria remains a major public health threat in various districts of Ethiopia. Consequently, the present study is aimed at developing a predictive model that helps to identify the spatio-temporal variation in malaria risk by multiple plasmodium species. Methods: We propose a multivariate spatio-temporal Bayesian model to obtain a more coherent picture of the temporally varying spatial variation in disease risk. The spatial autocorrelation in such a data set is typically modeled by a set of random effects that assign a conditional autoregressive prior distribution. However, the autocorrelation considered in such cases depends on a binary neighborhood matrix specified through the border-sharing rule. Over here, we propose a graph-based optimization algorithm for estimating the neighborhood matrix that merely represents the spatial correlation by exploring the areal units as the vertices of a graph and the neighbor relations as the series of edges. Furthermore, we used aggregated malaria count in southern Ethiopia from August 2013 to May 2019. Results: We recognized that precipitation, temperature, and humidity are positively associated with the malaria threat in the area. On the other hand, enhanced vegetation index, nighttime light (NTL), and distance from coastal areas are negatively associated. Moreover, nonlinear relationships were observed between malaria incidence and precipitation, temperature, and NTL. Additionally, lagged effects of temperature and humidity have a significant effect on malaria risk by either species. More elevated risk of P. falciparum was observed following the rainy season, and unstable transmission of P. vivax was observed in the area. Finally, P. vivax risks are less sensitive to environmental factors than those of P. falciparum. Conclusion: The improved inference was gained by employing the proposed approach in comparison to the commonly used border-sharing rule. Additionally, different covariates are identified, including delayed effects, and elevated risks of either of the cases were observed in districts found in the central and western regions. As malaria transmission operates in a spatially continuous manner, a spatially continuous model should be employed when it is computationally feasible.

Keywords: disease mapping, MSTCAR, graph-based optimization algorithm, P. falciparum, P. vivax, waiting matrix

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Authors: Aisha Maroof

Abstract:

Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading rapidly around the world with devastating consequences on patients, health care workers and health systems. Severe 2019 novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) with pneumonia is associated with high rates of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and they are at high risk to obtain the hospital acquire bloodstream infection (HAIs) such as central line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and laboratory confirm bloodstream infection (LCBSI). The chances of infection transmission increase when healthcare worker’s (HCWs) practice is inappropriate. Risk related to hand hygiene (HH) and personal protective equipment (PPE) as regards multidrug-resistant organism transmission: use of multiple gloving instead of HH and incorrect use of PPE can lead to a significant increase of device-related infections. As it reaches low- and middle-income countries, its effects could be even more, because it will be difficult for them to react aggressively to the pandemic. HAIs are one of the biggest medical concerns, resulting in increased mortality rates. Objective: To assess the effect of intervention on compliance of hand hygiene and PPE among HCWs reduce the rate of HAI in COVID-19 patients. Method: An interventional study was done between July to December, 2020. CLABSI, CAUTI and LCBSI data were collected from the medical record and direct observation. There were total of 50 Nurses, 18 doctors and all patients with laboratory-confirmed severe COVID-19 admitted to the hospital were included in this research study. Respiratory tract specimens were obtained after the first 48 h of ICU admission. Practices were observed after and before intervention. Education was provided based on WHO guidelines. Results: During the six months of study July to December, the rate of CLABSI, CAUTI and LCBSI pre and post intervention was reported. CLABSI rate decreasedd from 22.7 to 0, CAUTI rate was decreased from 1.6 to 0, LCBSI declined from 3.3 to 0 after implementation of intervention. Conclusion: HAIs are an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Most of the device related infections occurs due to lack of correct use of PPE and hand hygiene compliance. Hand hygiene and PPE is the most important measure to protect patients, through education it can be improved the correct use of PPE and hand hygiene compliance and can reduce the bacterial infection in COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: hospital acquire infection, healthcare workers, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment

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Authors: Diamant Irene, Shklarnik Batya

Abstract:

In on to its widespread effects on health and economic issues, Covid-19 shook the work and employment world. Among the prominent changes during the pandemic is the work-from-home trend, complete or partial, as part of social distancing. In fact, these changes accelerated an existing tendency of work flexibility already underway before the pandemic. Technology and means of advanced communications led to a re-assessment of “place of work” as a physical space in which work takes place. Today workers can remotely carry out meetings, manage projects, work in groups, and different research studies point to the fact that this type of work has no adverse effect on productivity. However, from the worker’s perspective, despite numerous advantages associated with work from home, such as convenience, flexibility, and autonomy, various drawbacks have been identified such as loneliness, reduction of commitment, home-work boundary erosion, all risk factors relating to the quality of life and burnout. Thus, a real need has arisen in exploring differences in work-from-home experiences and understanding the relationship between psychological characteristics and the prevalence of burnout. This understanding may be of significant value to organizations considering a future hybrid work model combining in-office and remote working. Based on Hobfoll’s Theory of Conservation of Resources, we hypothesized that burnout would mainly be found among workers whose physical remoteness from the workplace threatens or hinders their ability to retain significant individual resources. In the present study, we compared fully remote and partially remote workers (hybrid work), and we examined psychological characteristics and their connection to the formation of burnout. Based on the conceptualization of Place Attachment as the cognitive-emotional bond of an individual to a meaningful place and the need to maintain closeness to it, we assumed that individuals characterized with Place Attachment to the workplace would suffer more from burnout when working from home. We also assumed that extrovert individuals, characterized by the need of social interaction at the workplace and individuals with segmentationpreference – a need for separation between different life domains, would suffer more from burnout, especially among fully remote workers relative to partially remote workers. 194 workers, of which 111 worked from home in full and 83 worked partially from home, aged 19-53, from different sectors, were tested using an online questionnaire through social media. The results of the study supported our assumptions. The repercussions of these findings are discussed, relating to future occupational experience, with an emphasis on suitable occupational adjustment according to the psychological characteristics and needs of workers.

Keywords: working from home, burnout, place attachment, extraversion, segmentation preference, Covid-19

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Authors: Insiya Bhalloo

Abstract:

It is quite common in the Muslim faith for non-Arabic speakers to be able to convert written Arabic, especially Quranic Arabic, into a phonological code without significant semantic or syntactic knowledge. This is due to prior experience learning to read the Quran (a religious text written in Classical Arabic), from a very young age such as via enrolment in Quranic Arabic classes. As compared to native speakers of Arabic, these Arabic readers do not have a comprehensive morpho-syntactic knowledge of the Arabic language, nor can understand, or engage in Arabic conversation. The study seeks to investigate whether mere phonological experience (as indicated by the Arabic readers’ experience with Arabic phonology and the sound-system) is sufficient to cause phonological-interference during word recognition of previously-heard words, despite the participants’ non-native status. Both native speakers of Arabic and non-native speakers of Arabic, i.e., those individuals that learned to read the Quran from a young age, will be recruited. Each experimental session will include two phases: An exposure phase and a test phase. During the exposure phase, participants will be presented with Arabic words (n=40) on a computer screen. Half of these words will be common words found in the Quran while the other half will be words commonly found in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) but either non-existent or prevalent at a significantly lower frequency within the Quran. During the test phase, participants will then be presented with both familiar (n = 20; i.e., those words presented during the exposure phase) and novel Arabic words (n = 20; i.e., words not presented during the exposure phase. ½ of these presented words will be common Quranic Arabic words and the other ½ will be common MSA words but not Quranic words. Moreover, ½ the Quranic Arabic and MSA words presented will be comprised of nouns, while ½ the Quranic Arabic and MSA will be comprised of verbs, thereby eliminating word-processing issues affected by lexical category. Participants will then determine if they had seen that word during the exposure phase. This study seeks to investigate whether long-term phonological memory, such as via childhood exposure to Quranic Arabic orthography, has a differential effect on the word-recognition capacities of native Arabic speakers and Arabic readers; we seek to compare the effects of long-term phonological memory in comparison to short-term phonological exposure (as indicated by the presentation of familiar words from the exposure phase). The researcher’s hypothesis is that, despite the lack of lexical knowledge, early experience with converting written Quranic Arabic text into a phonological code will help participants recall the familiar Quranic words that appeared during the exposure phase more accurately than those that were not presented during the exposure phase. Moreover, it is anticipated that the non-native Arabic readers will also report more false alarms to the unfamiliar Quranic words, due to early childhood phonological exposure to Quranic Arabic script - thereby causing false phonological facilitatory effects.

Keywords: modern standard arabic, phonological facilitation, phonological memory, Quranic arabic, word recognition

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Authors: Rabia Genc, Aysun Eksioglu, Emine Serap Sarican, Sibel Icke

Abstract:

Today the habit of cigarette smoking is among one of the most important public health concerns because of the health problems it leads to. The most important and hazardous group to use tobacco and tobacco products is adolescents and teenagers. And one of the most effective ways to prevent them from starting to smoke is education. This research is a kind of educational intervention study which was carried out in order to evaluate the effect of peer education on the teenagers' knowledge about smoking. The research was carried out between October 15, 2013 and September 9, 2015 at Ege University Ataturk Vocational Health School. The population of the research comprised of the students that have been studying at Ege University Atatürk Vocational Health School, Midwifery Department (N=390). The peer educator group that would give training on smoking consisted of 10 people, and the peer groups that would be trained were divided into two groups via simple randomization as experimental group (n=185) and control group (n=185). Questionnaire, information evaluation form, and informed consent forms were used as date collection tools. The analysis of the data which were collected in the study was carried out on Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 15.0). It was found out that 62.5 % of the students who were in peer educator group had smoked in some period of their lives; however, none of them continued to smoke. When they were asked about their reasons to start smoking, 25% said they just wanted to try it, and 25% of them answered that it was because of their friend groups. When the pre-peer education and post-peer education point averages of peer educator group were evaluated, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the point averages (p < 0.05). When the cigarette use of experimental group and the control group were evaluated, it was clear that 18.2% of the experimental group and 24.2%of the control group still smokes. 9.1% of the experimental group and 14.8% of control group stated that they started smoking because of their friend groups. Among the students who smoke 15.9% of the ones who belongs to the experimental group and 21.9% of the ones who belong to the control group stated they are thinking of quitting smoking. It was clear that there is a significant difference between the pre-education and post-education point averages of experimental group statistically (p ≤ 0.05); however, in terms of control group, there were no significant differences between the pre-test post-test averages statistically. Between the pre-test post-test averages of experimental and control groups there were not any statistically significant differences (p > 0.05). It was found out in the study that the peer education programme is not effective on the smoking habit of Vocational Health School students. When the future studies are being planned in order to evaluate the peer education activity, it can be taken into consideration that the peer education takes a long term and the students in the educator group will be more enthusiastic and a kind of leader in their environment.

Keywords: midwifery, peer, peer education, smoking

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