Search results for: climate change effects on water resources

Authors: Mayowa Adeyeye, Kehinde Adeyemo

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The direct free kick is considered a great opportunity to score a goal but this is not always the case amidst Nigerian and other elite footballers. This study, therefore, examined the extent to which an 8 weeks mental skill training programme is effective for improving accuracy in direct free kick in football. Sixty (n-60) students of Pepsi Football Academy participated in the study. They were randomly distributed into two groups of positive self-talk group (intervention n-30) and control group (n-30). The instrument used in the collection of data include a standard football goal post while the research materials include a dummy soccer wall, a cord, an improvised vanishing spray, a clipboard, writing materials, a recording sheet, a self-talk log book, six standard 5 football, cones, an audiotape and a compact disc. The Weinberge and Gould (2011) mental skills training manual was used. The reliability coefficient of the apparatus following a pilot study stood at 0.72. Before the commencement of the mental skills training programme, the participants were asked to take six simulated direct free kick. At the end of each physical skills training session after the pre-test, the researcher spent at least 15 minutes with the groups exposing them to the intervention. The mental skills training programme alongside physical skills training took place in two different locations for the different groups under study, these included Agege Stadium Main bowl Football Pitch (Imagery Group), and Ogba Ijaye (Control Group). The mental skills training programme lasted for eight weeks. After the completion of the mental skills training programme, all the participants were asked to take another six simulated direct free kick attempts using the same field used for the pre-test to determine the efficacy of the treatments. The pre-test and post-test data were analysed using inferential statistics of t-test, while the alpha level was set at 0.05. The result revealed significant differences in t-test for positive self-talk and control group. Based on the findings, it is recommended that athletes should be exposed to positive self-talk alongside their normal physical skills training for quality delivery of accurate direct free kick during training and competition.

Keywords: accuracy, direct free kick, pepsi football academy, positive self-talk

Procedia PDF Downloads 345

Authors: Ji Zhou, Jung Hee Seo, Rajat Mittal

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Fish move in groups for foraging, reproduction, predator protection, and hydrodynamic efficiency. Schooling's predator protection involves the "many eyes" theory, which increases predator detection probability in a group. Reduced visual signature in a group scales with school size, offering per-capita protection. The ‘confusion effect’ makes it hard for predators to target prey in a group. These benefits, however, all focus on vision-based sensing, overlooking sound-based detection. Fish, including predators, possess sophisticated sensory systems for pressure waves and underwater sound. The lateral line system detects acoustic waves, while otolith organs sense infrasound, and sharks use an auditory system for low-frequency sounds. Among sound generation mechanisms of fish, the mechanism of dipole sound relates to hydrodynamic pressure forces on the body surface of the fish and this pressure would be affected by group swimming. Thus, swimming within a group could affect this hydrodynamic noise signature of fish and possibly serve as an additional protection afforded by schooling, but none of the studies to date have explored this effect. BAUVs with fin-like propulsors could reduce acoustic noise without compromising performance, addressing issues of anthropogenic noise pollution in marine environments. Therefore, in this study, we used our in-house immersed-boundary method flow and acoustic solver, ViCar3D, to simulate fish schools consisting of four swimmers in the classic ‘diamond’ configuration and discussed the feasibility of yielding higher swimming efficiency and controlling far-field sound signature of the school. We examine the effects of the relative phase of fin flapping of the swimmers and the simulation results indicate that the phase of the fin flapping is a dominant factor in both thrust enhancement and the total sound radiated into the far-field by a group of swimmers. For fish in the “diamond” configuration, a suitable combination of the relative phase difference between pairs of leading fish and trailing fish can result in better swimming performance with significantly lower hydroacoustic noise.

Keywords: fish schooling, biopropulsion, hydrodynamics, hydroacoustics

Procedia PDF Downloads 56

Authors: Susan Scott, Dina Hanna, Bassel Zebian, Gary Ruiz, Sreena Das

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Although the number of cases of TB in England has fallen over the last 4 years, it remains an important public health burden with 1 in 20 cases dying annually. The vast majority of cases present in non-UK born individuals with social risk factors. We present a case of non-pulmonary TB presenting in a healthy child born in the UK to professional parents. We present a case of a healthy 10 year old boy who developed acute back pain during school PE. Over the next 5 months, he was seen by various health and allied professionals with worsening back pain and kyphosis. He became increasing unsteady and for the 10 days prior to admission to our hospital, he developed fevers. He was admitted to his local hospital for tonsillitis where he suffered two falls on account of his leg weakness. A spinal X-ray revealed a pathological fracture and gibbus formation. He was transferred to our unit for further management. On arrival, the patient had lower motor neurone signs of his left leg. He underwent spinal fixture, laminectomy and decompression. Microbiology samples taken intra-operatively confirmed Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. He had a positive Mantoux and T-spot and treatment were commenced. There was no evidence of immune compromise. The patient was born in the UK, had a BCG scar and his only travel history had been two years prior to presentation when he travelled to the Phillipines for a short holiday. The patient continues to have issues around neuropathic pain, mobility, pill burden and mild liver side effects from treatment. Discussion: There is a paucity of case reports on spinal TB in paediatrics and diagnosis is often difficult due to the non-specific symptomatology. Although prognosis on treatment is good, a delayed diagnosis can have devastating consequences. This case highlights the continued need for higher index of suspicion and diagnosis in a world with changing patterns of migration and increase global travel. Surgical intervention is limited to the most serious cases to minimise further neurological damage and improve prognosis. There remains the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to deal with challenges of treatment and rehabilitation.

Keywords: tuberculosis, non-pulmonary TB, public health burden, diagnostic challenge

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Wenxue Xu

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Fluid resistance damper is an important damping element to attenuate vehicle vibration. It converts vibration energy into thermal energy dissipation through oil throttling. It is a typical fluid-solid-heat coupling problem. A complete three-dimensional flow-structure-thermal coupling dynamics simulation model of a gas-filled fluid-resistance damper was established. The flow-condition-based interpolation (FCBI) method and direct coupling calculation method, the unit's FCBI-C fluid numerical analysis method and iterative coupling calculation method are used to achieve the damper dynamic response of the piston rod under sinusoidal excitation; the air chamber inflation pressure, spring compression characteristics, constant flow passage cross-sectional area and oil parameters, etc. The system parameters, excitation frequency, and amplitude and other excitation parameters are analyzed and compared in detail for the effects of differential pressure characteristics, velocity characteristics, flow characteristics and dynamic response of valve opening, floating piston response and piston rod output force characteristics. Experiments were carried out on some simulation analysis conditions. The results show that the node-based FCBI (flow-condition-based interpolation) fluid numerical analysis method and direct coupling calculation method can better guarantee the conservation of flow field calculation, and the calculation step is larger, but the memory is also larger; if the chamber inflation pressure is too low, the damper will become cavitation. The inflation pressure will cause the speed characteristic hysteresis to increase, and the sealing requirements are too strict. The spring compression characteristics have a great influence on the damping characteristics of the damper, and reasonable damping characteristic needs to properly design the spring compression characteristics; the larger the cross-sectional area of the constant flow channel, the smaller the maximum output force, but the more stable when the valve plate is opening.

Keywords: damper, fluid-structure-thermal coupling, heat generation, heat transfer

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Jitendar Kumar Tiwari, Ajay Mandal, N. Sathish, A. K. Srivastava

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Since the last decade, graphene achieved great attention toward the progress of multifunction metal matrix composites, which are highly demanded in industries to develop energy-efficient systems. This study covers the two advanced aspects of the latest scientific endeavor, i.e., graphene as reinforcement in metallic materials and additive manufacturing (AM) as a processing technology. Herein, high-quality graphene and AlSi10Mg powder mechanically mixed by very low energy ball milling with 0.1 wt. % and 0.2 wt. % graphene. Mixed powder directly subjected to the powder bed fusion process, i.e., an AM technique to produce composite samples along with bare counterpart. The effects of graphene on porosity, microstructure, and mechanical properties were examined in this study. The volumetric distribution of pores was observed under X-ray computed tomography (CT). On the basis of relative density measurement by X-ray CT, it was observed that porosity increases after graphene addition, and pore morphology also transformed from spherical pores to enlarged flaky pores due to improper melting of composite powder. Furthermore, the microstructure suggests the grain refinement after graphene addition. The columnar grains were able to cross the melt pool boundaries in case of the bare sample, unlike composite samples. The smaller columnar grains were formed in composites due to heterogeneous nucleation by graphene platelets during solidification. The tensile properties get affected due to induced porosity irrespective of graphene reinforcement. The optimized tensile properties were achieved at 0.1 wt. % graphene. The increment in yield strength and ultimate tensile strength was 22% and 10%, respectively, for 0.1 wt. % graphene reinforced sample in comparison to bare counterpart while elongation decreases 20% for the same sample. The hardness indentations were taken mostly on the solid region in order to avoid the collapse of the pores. The hardness of the composite was increased progressively with graphene content. Around 30% of increment in hardness was achieved after the addition of 0.2 wt. % graphene. Therefore, it can be concluded that powder bed fusion can be adopted as a suitable technique to develop graphene reinforced AlSi10Mg composite. Though, some further process modification required to avoid the induced porosity after the addition of graphene, which can be addressed in future work.

Keywords: graphene, hardness, porosity, powder bed fusion, tensile properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Vishwajit Ghatge, David Looper

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Over the last few decades, oilfield service rolling equipment has significantly increased in weight, primarily because of emissions regulations, which require larger/heavier engines, larger cooling systems, and emissions after-treatment systems, in some cases, etc. Larger engines cause more vibration and shock loads, leading to failure of electronics and control systems. If the vibrating frequency of the engine matches the system frequency, high resonance is observed on structural parts and mounts. One such existing automated control equipment system comprising wire rope mounts used for mounting computers was designed approximately 12 years ago. This includes the use of an industrial- grade computer to control the system operation. The original computer had a smaller, lighter enclosure. After a few years, a newer computer version was introduced, which was 10 lbm heavier. Some failures of internal computer parts have been documented for cases in which the old mounts were used. Because of the added weight, there is a possibility of having the two brackets impact each other under off-road conditions, which causes a high shock input to the computer parts. This added failure mode requires validating the existing mount design to suit the new heavy-weight computer. This paper discusses the modal finite element method (FEM) analysis and experimental modal analysis conducted to study the effects of vibration on the wire rope mounts and the computer. The existing mount was modelled in ANSYS software, and resultant mode shapes and frequencies were obtained. The experimental modal analysis was conducted, and actual frequency responses were observed and recorded. Results clearly revealed that at resonance frequency, the brackets were colliding and potentially causing damage to computer parts. To solve this issue, spring mounts of different stiffness were modeled in ANSYS software, and the resonant frequency was determined. Increasing the stiffness of the system increased the resonant frequency zone away from the frequency window at which the engine showed heavy vibrations or resonance. After multiple iterations in ANSYS software, the stiffness of the spring mount was finalized, which was again experimentally validated.

Keywords: experimental modal analysis, FEM Modal Analysis, frequency, modal analysis, resonance, vibration

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: Sudikshya Bhandari, Jonathan K. London

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Barpak in northern Nepal represents a unique identity expressed through the local rituals, values, lifeways and the styles of vernacular architecture. The traditional residential buildings and construction practices adopted by the dominant ethnic groups: Ghales and Gurungs, reflect environmental, social, cultural and economic concerns. However, most of these buildings did not survive the Gorkha earthquake in 2015 that made many residents skeptical about their strength to resist future disasters. This led Barpak residents to prefer modern housing designs primarily for the strength but additionally for convenience and access to earthquake relief funds. Post-earthquake reconstruction has transformed the cohesive community, developed over hundreds of years into a haphazard settlement with the imposition of externally-driven building models. Housing guidelines provided for the community reconstruction and earthquake resilience have been used as a singular template, similar to other communities on different geographical locations. The design and construction of these buildings do not take into account the local, historical, environmental, social, cultural and economic context of Barpak. In addition to the physical transformation of houses and the settlement, the consequences continue to develop challenges to sustainability. This paper identifies the major challenges for environmental sustainability with the construction of new houses in post-earthquake Barpak. Mixed methods such as interviews, focus groups, site observation, and documentation, and analysis of housing and neighborhood design have been used for data collection. The discernible changing situation of this settlement due to the new housing has included reduced climatic adaptation and thermal comfort, increased consumption of agricultural land and water, minimized use of local building materials, and an increase in energy demand. The research has identified that reconstruction housing practices happening in Barpak, while responding to crucial needs for disaster recovery and resilience, are also leading this community towards an unsustainable future. This study has also integrated environmental, social, cultural and economic parameters into an assessment framework that could be used to develop place-based design guidelines in the context of other post-earthquake reconstruction efforts. This framework seeks to minimize the unintended repercussions of unsustainable reconstruction interventions, support the vitality of vernacular architecture and traditional lifeways and respond to context-based needs in coordination with residents.

Keywords: earthquake, environment, reconstruction, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Yasser Y. Lenis, Daniela Garcia Gonzalez, Cristian Solarte Bacca, Diego F. Carrillo González, Amy Jo Montgomery, Dursun Barrios

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Introduction: Artificial insemination in bovines helps to promote genetic improvement and can positively impact the rural economy. The Colombian armed conflict has forced a large portion of the rural population to abandon their territory, affecting their education, family integration, and economics. Justification: The achievement of education in rural populations was one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) made by the United Nations. During the last World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), it was concluded that most of the world’s poor, illiterate and undernourished population lives in rural areas; therefore, access to education is considered one of the most significant challenges for governments in countries with developing economies. Objectives: To study the effects of training in artificial insemination and rural management on the perception of knowledge and the level of knowledge in rural residents affected by the armed conflict in Nariño, Colombia. Methods: The perception of knowledge and the theoretical-practical knowledge of 63 rural residents were evaluated on the topics of bovine agribusiness management, artificial insemination, and genetic improvement through the application of three surveys. 1) evaluated the perceived level of knowledge each rural resident had about each topic using the Likert scale, 2) evaluated the theoretical knowledge before training, and 3) evaluated the theoretical knowledge upon completion of training. Results/discussion: Of the surveyed rural residents, 54% stated that they knew how business management improved the performance of their bovine agribusiness, 54% answered the pre-training knowledge test correctly, while 83% correctly answered the post-training knowledge test. Only 6% of surveyed residents perceived that they had prior knowledge of artificial insemination and reproductive anatomy topics. Before training, 35% of surveyed residents answered correctly on these topics, while upon completion of training, 65% answered correctly. Regarding genetic improvement, 11% of participating rural residents stated that they knew this subject. The correct answers on this topic went from 57% to 89% before and post-training. Conclusion: Rural extension programs contribute to closing knowledge gaps in relation to the use of reproductive biotechnologies and bovine management in rural areas affected by armed conflict.

Keywords: agribusiness, insemination, knowledge, reproduction

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: Masome Moeni, Roya Abedizadeh, Elham Aram, Hamid Sadeghi-Abandansari, Davood Sabour, Robert Menzel, Ali Hassanpour

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Significant number of studies and preclinical research in formulation of cancer nano-pharmaceutics have led to an improvement in cancer care. Nonetheless, the antineoplastic agents have ‘failed to live up to its promise’ since their clinical performance is moderately low. For almost ninety years, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPS) have managed to keep its reputation in clinical application due to their low toxicity, versatility and multi-modal capabilities. Drug Administration approved utilization of IONPs for diagnosis of cancer as contrast media in magnetic resonance imaging, as heat mediator in magnetic hyperthermia and for the treatment of iron deficiency. Furthermore, IONPs have high drug-loading capacity, which makes them good candidates as therapeutic agent transporters. There are yet challenges to overcome for successful clinical application of IONPs, including stability of drug and poor delivery, which might lead to (i) drug resistance, (ii) shorter blood circulation time, and (iii) rapid elimination and adverse side effects from the system. In this study, highly stable and super paramagnetic IONPs were prepared for efficient and targeted drug delivery in cancer treatment. The synthesis procedure was briefly involved the production of IONPs via co-precipitation followed by coating with tetraethyl orthosilicate and 3-aminopropylethoxysilane and grafting with folic acid for stability targeted purposes and controlled drug release. Physiochemical and morphological properties of modified IONPs were characterised using different analytical techniques. The resultant IONPs exhibited clusters of 10 nm spherical shape crystals with less than 100 nm size suitable for drug delivery. The functionalized IONP showed mesoporous features, high stability, dispersibility and crystallinity. Subsequently, the functionalized IONPs were successfully loaded with oxaliplatin, a chemotherapeutic agent, for a controlled drug release in an actively targeting cancer cells. FT-IR observations confirmed presence of oxaliplatin functional groups, while ICP-MS results verified the drug loading was ~ 1.3%.

Keywords: cancer treatment, chemotherapeutic agent, drug delivery, iron oxide, multi-functional nanoparticle

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Adebayo-Victoria Tobi Dada, Dada Emmanuel

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This study assessed households’ food security and hunger levels among different communities with varying educational and economic background in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and its environment. It also examined the impacts of varying demography on the household food security level in the area. This was with a view to providing information on the food security status of the subjects within the study area. Ten different communities with varying demography (Parakin, Mokuro, Ilare, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Staff Quarters, Ibadan Road, Aba-Iya Gani, Eleweran, Iraye, Boosa, and Eku-Isobo) were identified within the study area. Fieldwork was then carried out from 7th to 14th of March, 2016 in each of these communities through survey of market prices of food stuff, diet, and nutrition, social well-being, food accessibility and affordability as well as price fluctuation and variation in household’s social background. Selection of households for the survey was done using stratified random sampling method. Key informants included community heads, landlords, tenants, and household heads. Similarly, information on food security levels with respect to demographic backgrounds was obtained from the use of modified Food and Hunger Insecurity Module (FHIM) structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to one percent of the households’ population per community. The results showed that communities such as Parakin and OAU Senior Staff Quarters were dominated by civil servants, while community such as Boosa was dominated by artisans. Respondents earning between ₦11,000 and ₦20,000 per month, during the study period, had the highest percentage across the selected communities. The household food security indices showed that about 41% of the investigated respondents could not guarantee their household food for a month, while 18% reduced or skipped meals. There were positive significant relationships between monthly income (F-value = 132.04), educational status (F-value = 102.30), occupation (F-value = 104.05) and food budget (F-value = 122.09), all at p < 0.05. However, there was no significant relationship between the monthly food budget and household sizes (t-value = -1.4074, p > 0.05). Food secured households’ had the household heads with a higher level of educational attainment. The study concluded that large variations which existed between socio-economic and educational background among the communities had significant effects on households’ food security level in the study area.

Keywords: food security, households, hunger level, market prices

Procedia PDF Downloads 207

Authors: Farzad Hosseini Hossein Abadi, Cristina Prieto Sierra, Cesar Álvarez Díaz

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Predicting streamflow accurately in flashy catchments prone to floods is a major research and operational challenge in hydrological modeling. Recent advancements in deep learning, particularly Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, have shown to be promising in achieving accurate hydrological predictions at daily and hourly time scales. In this work, a multi-timescale LSTM (MTS-LSTM) network was applied to the context of regional hydrological predictions at an hourly time scale in flashy catchments. The case study includes 40 catchments allocated in the Basque Country, north of Spain. We explore the impact of hyperparameters on the performance of streamflow predictions given by regional deep learning models through systematic hyperparameter tuning - where optimal regional values for different catchments are identified. The results show that predictions are highly accurate, with Nash-Sutcliffe (NSE) and Kling-Gupta (KGE) metrics values as high as 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. A principal component analysis reveals that a hyperparameter related to the length of the input sequence contributes most significantly to the prediction performance. The findings suggest that input sequence lengths have a crucial impact on the model prediction performance. Moreover, employing catchment-scale analysis reveals distinct sequence lengths for individual basins, highlighting the necessity of customizing this hyperparameter based on each catchment’s characteristics. This aligns with well known “uniqueness of the place” paradigm. In prior research, tuning the length of the input sequence of LSTMs has received limited focus in the field of streamflow prediction. Initially it was set to 365 days to capture a full annual water cycle. Later, performing limited systematic hyper-tuning using grid search, revealed a modification to 270 days. However, despite the significance of this hyperparameter in hydrological predictions, usually studies have overlooked its tuning and fixed it to 365 days. This study, employing a simultaneous systematic hyperparameter tuning approach, emphasizes the critical role of input sequence length as an influential hyperparameter in configuring LSTMs for regional streamflow prediction. Proper tuning of this hyperparameter is essential for achieving accurate hourly predictions using deep learning models.

Keywords: LSTMs, streamflow, hyperparameters, hydrology

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Mohammad Khazaei, Reza Rostami, Hassan Gharayagh Zandi, Ruhollah Basatnia, Mahboubeh Ghayour Najafabadi

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Introduction: This study delves into the influence of diverse interventions on brain functional connectivity among young male basketball players. Given the significance of understanding how interventions affect cognitive functions in athletes, particularly in the context of basketball, this research contributes to the growing body of knowledge in sports neuroscience. Methods: Three distinct groups were selected for comprehensive investigation: the Motivational Interview Group, Placebo Consumption Group, and Ritalin Consumption Group. The study involved assessing brain functional connectivity using various frequency bands (Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta1, Beta2, Gamma, and Total Band) before and after the interventions. The participants were subjected to specific interventions corresponding to their assigned groups. Results: The findings revealed substantial differences in brain functional connectivity across the studied groups. The Motivational Interview Group exhibited optimal outcomes in PLI (Total Band) connectivity. The Placebo Consumption Group demonstrated a marked impact on PLV (Alpha) connectivity, and the Ritalin Consumption Group experienced a considerable enhancement in imCoh (Total Band) connectivity. Discussion: The observed variations in brain functional connectivity underscore the nuanced effects of different interventions on young male basketball players. The enhanced connectivity in specific frequency bands suggests potential cognitive and performance improvements. Notably, the Motivational Interview and Placebo Consumption groups displayed unique patterns, emphasizing the multifaceted nature of interventions. These findings contribute to the understanding of tailored interventions for optimizing cognitive functions in young male basketball players. Conclusion: This study provides valuable insights into the intricate relationship between interventions and brain functional connectivity in young male basketball players. Further research with expanded sample sizes and more sophisticated statistical analyses is recommended to corroborate and expand upon these initial findings. The implications of this study extend to the broader field of sports neuroscience, aiding in the development of targeted interventions for athletes in various disciplines.

Keywords: electroencephalography, Ritalin, Placebo effect, motivational interview

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Authors: Büşra Durmaz, Füsun Curaoğlu

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While technology-oriented developments in the modern world change our perceptions of time and speed, they also force our food consumption patterns, such as getting pleasure from what we eat and eating slowly. The habit of eating quickly and hastily causes not only the feeling of not understanding the taste of the food eaten but also the inability to postpone the feeling of satiety and, therefore, many health problems. In this context, especially in the last ten years, in the field of industrial design, food manufacturers for healthy living and consumption have been collaborating with industrial designers on food design. The consumers of the new century, who are in an uncontrolled time intensity, receive support from small snacks as a source of happiness and pleasure in the little time intervals they can spare. At this point, especially chocolate has been a source of happiness for its consumers as a source of both happiness and pleasure for hundreds of years. However, when the portions have eaten cannot be controlled, a pleasure food such as chocolate can cause both health problems and many emotional problems, especially the feeling of guilt. Fast food, which is called food that is prepared and consumed quickly, has been increasing rapidly around the world in recent years. This study covers the process and results of a chocolate design based on the user experience of a university-industry cooperation project carried out within the scope of Eskişehir Technical University graduation projects. The aim of the project is a creative product design that will enable the user to experience chocolate consumption with a healthy eating approach. For this, while concepts such as pleasure, satiety, and taste are discussed; A survey with 151 people and semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 7 people during the experience design process within the scope of the user-oriented design approach, mainly literature review, within the scope of main topics such as mouth anatomy, tongue structure, taste, the functions of the eating action in the brain, hormones and chocolate, video A case study based on the research paradigm of Qualitative Research was structured within the scope of different research processes such as analysis and project diaries. As a result of the research, it has been reached that the melting in the mouth is the preferred experience of the users in order to spread the experience of eating chocolate for a long time based on pleasure while eating chocolate with healthy portions. In this context, researches about the production of sketches, mock-ups and prototypes of the product are included in the study. As a result, a product packaging design has been made that supports the active role of the senses such as sight, smell and hearing, where consumption begins, in order to consume chocolate by melting and to actively secrete the most important stimulus salivary glands in order to provide a healthy and long-term pleasure-based consumption.

Keywords: chocolate, eating habit, pleasure, saturation, sense of taste

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Authors: Stig H. Jørgensen, Trond Nordfjærn, Øyvind Teige Hedenstrøm, Torbjørn Rundmo

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The aim of the paper is to estimate and forecast road traffic injuries in the coming 10-15 years given new targets in urban transport policy and shifts of mode of transport, including injury cross-effects of mode changes. The paper discusses possibilities and limitations in measuring and quantifying possible injury reductions. Injury data (killed and seriously injured road users) from six urban areas in Norway from 1998-2012 (N= 4709 casualties) form the basis for estimates of changing injury patterns. For the coming period calculation of number of injuries and injury rates by type of road user (categories of motorized versus non-motorized) by sex, age and type of road are made. A prognosticated population increase (25 %) in total population within 2025 in the six urban areas will curb the proceeded fall in injury figures. However, policy strategies and measures geared towards a stronger modal shift from use of private vehicles to safer public transport (bus, train) will modify this effect. On the other side will door to door transport (pedestrians on their way to/from public transport nodes) imply a higher exposure for pedestrians (bikers) converting from private vehicle use (including fall accidents not registered as traffic accidents). The overall effect is the sum of these modal shifts in the increasing urban population and in addition diminishing return to the majority of road safety countermeasures has also to be taken into account. The paper demonstrates how uncertainties in the various estimates (prediction factors) on increasing injuries as well as decreasing injury figures may partly offset each other. The paper discusses road safety policy and welfare consequences of transport mode shift, including reduced use of private vehicles, and further environmental impacts. In this regard, safety and environmental issues will as a rule concur. However pursuing environmental goals (e.g. improved air quality, reduced co2 emissions) encouraging more biking may generate more biking injuries. The study was given financial grants from the Norwegian Research Council’s Transport Safety Program.

Keywords: road injuries, forecasting, reduced private care use, urban, Norway

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Authors: Richard Renou, Laurent Soulard

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Lasers are widely used in glass material processing, from waveguide fabrication to channel drilling. The gradual damage of glass optics under UV lasers is also an important issue to be addressed. Glass materials (including metallic glasses) can undergo a permanent densification under laser-induced shock loading. Despite increased interest on interactions between laser and glass materials, little is known about the structural mechanisms involved under shock loading. For example, the densification process in silica glasses occurs between 8 GPa and 30 GPa. Above 30 GPa, the glass material returns to the original density after relaxation. Investigating these unusual mechanisms in silica glass will provide an overall better understanding in glass behaviour. Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics simulations (NEMD) were carried out in order to gain insight on the silica glass microscopic structure under shock loading. The shock was generated by the use of a piston impacting the glass material at high velocity (from 100m/s up to 2km/s). Periodic boundary conditions were used in the directions perpendicular to the shock propagation to model an infinite system. One-dimensional shock propagations were therefore studied. Simulations were performed with the STAMP code developed by the CEA. A very specific structure is observed in a silica glass. Oxygen atoms around Silicon atoms are organized in tetrahedrons. Those tetrahedrons are linked and tend to form rings inside the structure. A significant amount of empty cavities is also observed in glass materials. In order to understand how a shock loading is impacting the overall structure, the tetrahedrons, the rings and the cavities were thoroughly analysed. An elastic behaviour was observed when the shock pressure is below 8 GPa. This is consistent with the Hugoniot Elastic Limit (HEL) of 8.8 GPa estimated experimentally for silica glasses. Behind the shock front, the ring structure and the cavity distribution are impacted. The ring volume is smaller, and most cavities disappear with increasing shock pressure. However, the tetrahedral structure is not affected. The elasticity of the glass structure is therefore related to a ring shrinking and a cavity closing. Above the HEL, the shock pressure is high enough to impact the tetrahedral structure. An increasing number of hexahedrons and octahedrons are formed with the pressure. The large rings break to form smaller ones. The cavities are however not impacted as most cavities are already closed under an elastic shock. After the material relaxation, a significant amount of hexahedrons and octahedrons is still observed, and most of the cavities remain closed. The overall ring distribution after relaxation is similar to the equilibrium distribution. The densification process is therefore related to two structural mechanisms: a change in the coordination of silicon atoms and a cavity closing. To sum up, non-equilibrium molecular dynamics were carried out to investigate silica behaviour under shock loading. Analysing the structure lead to interesting conclusions upon the elastic and the densification mechanisms in glass materials. This work will be completed with a detailed study of the mechanism occurring above 30 GPa, where no sign of densification is observed after the material relaxation.

Keywords: densification, molecular dynamics simulations, shock loading, silica glass

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Authors: Eqqab Maree, Habil Jurgen Bast, Zana K. Shakir

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Passive damping, once properly characterized and incorporated into the structure design is an autonomous mechanism. Passive damping can be achieved by applying layers of a polymeric material, called viscoelastic layers (VEM), to the base structure. This type of configuration is known as free or unconstrained layer damping treatment. A shear or constrained damping treatment uses the idea of adding a constraining layer, typically a metal, on top of the polymeric layer. Constrained treatment is a more efficient form of damping than the unconstrained damping treatment. In constrained damping treatment a sandwich is formed with the viscoelastic layer as the core. When the two outer layers experience bending, as they would if the structure was oscillating, they shear the viscoelastic layer and energy is dissipated in the form of heat. This form of energy dissipation allows the structural oscillations to attenuate much faster. The purpose behind this study is to predict damping effects by using two methods of passive viscoelastic constrained layer damping. First method is Euler-Bernoulli beam theory; it is commonly used for predicting the vibratory response of beams. Second method is Finite Element software packages provided in this research were obtained by using two-dimensional solid structural elements in ANSYS14 specifically eight nodded (SOLID183) and the output results from ANSYS 14 (SOLID183) its damped natural frequency values and mode shape for first five modes. This method of passive damping treatment is widely used for structural application in many industries like aerospace, automobile, etc. In this paper, take a steel cantilever sandwich beam with viscoelastic core type 3M-468 by using methods of passive viscoelastic constrained layer damping. Also can proved that, the percentage reduction of modal frequency between undamped and damped steel sandwich cantilever beam 8mm thickness for each mode is very high, this is due to the effect of viscoelastic layer on damped beams. Finally this types of damped sandwich steel cantilever beam with viscoelastic materials core type (3M468) is very appropriate to use in automotive industry and in many mechanical application, because has very high capability to reduce the modal vibration of structures.

Keywords: steel cantilever, sandwich beam, viscoelastic materials core type (3M468), ANSYS14, Euler-Bernoulli beam theory

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Authors: Jean-Philippe Amat, Timothée Vergne, Aymeric Hans, Bénédicte Ferry, Pascal Hendrikx, Jackie Tapprest, Barbara Dufour, Agnès Leblond

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The surveillance of infectious diseases is necessary to describe their occurrence and help the planning, implementation and evaluation of risk mitigation activities. However, the exact number of detected cases may remain unknown whether surveillance is based on serological tests because identifying seroconversion may be difficult. Moreover, incomplete detection of cases or outbreaks is a recurrent issue in the field of disease surveillance. This study addresses these two issues. Using a viral animal disease as an example (equine viral arteritis), the goals were to establish suitable rules for identifying seroconversion in order to estimate the number of cases and outbreaks detected by a surveillance system in France between 2006 and 2013, and to assess the sensitivity of this system by estimating the total number of outbreaks that occurred during this period (including unreported outbreaks) using a capture-recapture model. Data from horses which exhibited at least one positive result in serology using viral neutralization test between 2006 and 2013 were used for analysis (n=1,645). Data consisted of the annual antibody titers and the location of the subjects (towns). A consensus among multidisciplinary experts (specialists in the disease and its laboratory diagnosis, epidemiologists) was reached to consider seroconversion as a change in antibody titer from negative to at least 32 or as a three-fold or greater increase. The number of seroconversions was counted for each town and modeled using a unilist zero-truncated binomial (ZTB) capture-recapture model with R software. The binomial denominator was the number of horses tested in each infected town. Using the defined rules, 239 cases located in 177 towns (outbreaks) were identified from 2006 to 2013. Subsequently, the sensitivity of the surveillance system was estimated as the ratio of the number of detected outbreaks to the total number of outbreaks that occurred (including unreported outbreaks) estimated using the ZTB model. The total number of outbreaks was estimated at 215 (95% credible interval CrI95%: 195-249) and the surveillance sensitivity at 82% (CrI95%: 71-91). The rules proposed for identifying seroconversion may serve future research. Such rules, adjusted to the local environment, could conceivably be applied in other countries with surveillance programs dedicated to this disease. More generally, defining ad hoc algorithms for interpreting the antibody titer could be useful regarding other human and animal diseases and zoonosis when there is a lack of accurate information in the literature about the serological response in naturally infected subjects. This study shows how capture-recapture methods may help to estimate the sensitivity of an imperfect surveillance system and to valorize surveillance data. The sensitivity of the surveillance system of equine viral arteritis is relatively high and supports its relevance to prevent the disease spreading.

Keywords: Bayesian inference, capture-recapture, epidemiology, equine viral arteritis, infectious disease, seroconversion, surveillance

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Authors: Lakshmi Sujeesh, Aaron Ramzeen, Ricky Ziming Guo, Abhishek Agrawal

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Introduction: Range of motion (ROM) is often measured by physiotherapists using hand-held goniometer as part of mobility assessment for diagnosis. Due to the nature of hand-held goniometer measurement procedure, readings often tend to have some variations depending on the physical therapist taking the measurements (Riddle et al.). This study aims to validate computer vision software readings against goniometric measurements for quick and consistent ROM measurements to be taken by clinicians. The use of this computer vision software hopes to improve the future of musculoskeletal space with more efficient diagnosis from recording of patient’s ROM with minimal human error across different physical therapists. Methods: Using the hand-held long arm goniometer measurements as the “gold-standard”, healthy study participants (n = 20) were made to perform 4 exercises: Front elevation, Abduction, Internal Rotation, and External Rotation, using both arms. Assessment of active ROM using computer vision software at different angles set by goniometer for each exercise was done. Interclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) using 2-way random effects model, Box-Whisker plots, and Root Mean Square error (RMSE) were used to find the degree of correlation and absolute error measured between set and recorded angles across the repeated trials by the same rater. Results: ICC (2,1) values for all 4 exercises are above 0.9, indicating excellent reliability. Lowest overall RMSE was for external rotation (5.67°) and highest for front elevation (8.00°). Box-whisker plots showed have showed that there is a potential zero error in the measurements done by the computer vision software for abduction, where absolute error for measurements taken at 0 degree are shifted away from the ideal 0 line, with its lowest recorded error being 8°. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the use of computer vision software is valid and reliable to use in clinical settings by physiotherapists for measuring shoulder ROM. Overall, computer vision helps improve accessibility to quality care provided for individual patients, with the ability to assess ROM for their condition at home throughout a full cycle of musculoskeletal care (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons) without the need for a trained therapist.

Keywords: physiotherapy, frozen shoulder, joint range of motion, computer vision

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Authors: Siming Xie

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In social networks, the term homophily refers to the tendency of agents with similar characteristics to link with one another and is so robustly observed across many contexts and dimensions. The starting point of my research is the observation that the “type” of agents is not a single exogenous variable. Agents, despite their differences in race, religion, and other hard to alter characteristics, may share interests and engage in activities that cut across those predetermined lines. This research aims to capture the interactions of homophily effects in a model where agents have two-dimension characteristics (i.e., race and personal hobbies such as basketball, which one either likes or dislikes) and with biases in meeting opportunities and in favor of same-type friendships. A novel feature of my model is providing a matching process with biased meeting probability on different dimensions, which could help to understand the structuring process in multidimensional networks without missing layer interdependencies. The main contribution of this study is providing a welfare based matching process for agents with multi-dimensional characteristics. In particular, this research shows that the biases in meeting opportunities on one dimension would lead to the emergence of homophily on the other dimension. The objective of this research is to determine the pattern of homophily in network formations, which will shed light on our understanding of segregation and its remedies. By constructing a two-dimension matching process, this study explores a method to describe agents’ homophilous behavior in a social network with multidimension and construct a game in which the minorities and majorities play different strategies in a society. It also shows that the optimal strategy is determined by the relative group size, where society would suffer more from social segregation if the two racial groups have a similar size. The research also has political implications—cultivating the same characteristics among agents helps diminishing social segregation, but only if the minority group is small enough. This research includes both theoretical models and empirical analysis. Providing the friendship formation model, the author first uses MATLAB to perform iteration calculations, then derives corresponding mathematical proof on previous results, and last shows that the model is consistent with empirical evidence from high school friendships. The anonymous data comes from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health).

Keywords: homophily, multidimension, social networks, friendships

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Authors: Samson Obiene, Khamati Shilabukha, Geoffrey Muga, James Kairo

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Mangroves play a vital role in the achievement of multiple goals of global sustainable development (SDG’s), particularly SDG SDG 14 (life under water). Their management, however, is faced with several shortcomings arising from inadequate knowledge on the perceptions of their ecosystem services, hence a need to map mangrove goods and services within SDGs while interrogating the disaggregated perceptions. This study therefore aimed at exploring the parities and disparities in attitudes and perceptions of mangrove ecosystem services among community members of Vanga and the link of the ecosystem services (ESs) to specific SDG targets. The study was based at the Kenya-Tanzania transboundary area in Vanga; where a carbon-offset project on mangroves is being up scaled. Mixed methods approach employing surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs) and reviews of secondary data were used in the study. A two stage cluster samplings was used to select the study population and the sample size. FGDs were conducted purposively selecting active participants in mangrove related activities with distinct socio-demographic characteristics. Sampled respondents comprised of males and females of different occupations and age groups. Secondary data review was used to select specific SDG targets against which mangrove ecosystem services identified through a value chain analysis were mapped. In Vanga, 20 ecosystem services were identified and categorized under supporting, cultural and aesthetic, provisioning and regulating services. According to the findings of this study, 63.9% (95% ci 56.6-69.3) perceived of the ESs as very important for economic development, 10.3% (95% ci 0-21.3) viewed them as important for environmental and ecological development while 25.8% (95% ci 2.2-32.8) were not sure of any role they play in development. In the social-economic disaggregation, ecosystem service values were found to vary with the level of interaction with the ecosystem which depended on gender and other social-economic classes within the study area. The youths, low income earners, women and those with low education levels were also identified as the primary beneficiaries of mangrove ecosystem services. The study also found that of the 17 SDGs, mangroves have a potential of influencing the achievement 12, including, SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17 either directly or indirectly. Generally therefore, the local community is aware of the critical importance mangroves for enhanced livelihood and ecological services but challenges in sustainability still occur as a result the diverse values and of the services and the contradicting interests of the different actors around the ecosystem. It is therefore important to consider parities in values and perception to avoid a ‘tragedy of the commons’ while striving to enhance sustainability of the Mangrove ecosystem.

Keywords: sustainable development, community values, socio-demographics, Vanga, mangrove ecosystem services

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Authors: U. K. Hulihalli, Shantveerayya

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Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) is an annual crop belongs to family Poligonaceae. The cultivated buckwheat species are notable for their exceptional nutritive values. It is an important source of carbohydrates, fibre, macro, and microelements such as K, Ca, Mg, Na and Mn, Zn, Se, and Cu. It also contains rutin, flavonoids, riboflavin, pyridoxine and many amino acids which have beneficial effects on human health, including lowering both blood lipid and sugar levels. Rutin, quercetin and some other polyphenols are potent carcinogens against colon and other cancers. Buckwheat has significant nutritive value and plenty of uses. Cultivation of buckwheat in Sothern part of India is very meager. Hence, a study was planned with an objective to know the performance of buckwheat genotypes to different planting geometries and fertility levels. The field experiment was conducted at Main Agriculture Research Station, University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad, India, during 2017 Kharif. The experiment was laid-out in split-plot design with three replications having three planting geometries as main plots, two genotypes as sub plots and three fertility levels as sub-sub plot treatments. The soil of the experimental site was vertisol. The standard procedures are followed to record the observations. The planting geometry of 30*10 cm was recorded significantly higher seed yield (893 kg/ha⁻¹), stover yield (1507 kg ha⁻¹), clusters plant⁻¹ (7.4), seeds clusters⁻¹ (7.9) and 1000 seed weight (26.1 g) as compared to 40*10 cm and 20*10 cm planting geometries. Between the genotypes, significantly higher seed yield (943 kg ha⁻¹) and harvest index (45.1) was observed with genotype IC-79147 as compared to PRB-1 genotype (687 kg ha⁻¹ and 34.2, respectively). However, the genotype PRB-1 recorded significantly higher stover yield (1344 kg ha⁻¹) as compared to genotype IC-79147 (1173 kg ha⁻¹). The genotype IC-79147 was recorded significantly higher clusters plant⁻¹ (7.1), seeds clusters⁻¹ (7.9) and 1000 seed weight (24.5 g) as compared PRB-1 (5.4, 5.8 and 22.3 g, respectively). Among the fertility levels tried, the fertility level of 60:30 NP kg ha⁻¹ recorded significantly higher seed yield (845 kg ha^-1) and stover yield (1359 kg ha⁻¹) as compared to 40:20 NP kg ha^-1 (808 and 1259 kg ha⁻¹ respectively) and 20:10 NP kg ha^-1 (793 and 1144 kg ha⁻¹ respectively). Within the treatment combinations, IC 79147 genotype having 30*10 cm planting geometry with 60:30 NP kg ha⁻¹ recorded significantly higher seed yield (1070 kg ha⁻¹), clusters plant⁻¹ (10.3), seeds clusters⁻¹ (9.9) and 1000 seed weight (27.3 g) compared to other treatment combinations.

Keywords: buckwheat, planting geometry, genotypes, fertility levels

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Authors: Xiaoqian Zhang, Ping Zou, Pengcheng Li

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Salt stress is one of the most serious abiotic stresses, and it can lead to the reduction of agricultural productivity. High salt concentration makes it more difficult for roots to absorb water and disturbs the homeostasis of cellular ions resulting in osmotic stress, ion toxicity and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Compared with the normal physiological conditions, salt stress could inhibit the photosynthesis, break metabolic balance and damage cellular structures, and ultimately results in the reduction of crop yield. Therefore it is vital to develop practical methods for improving the salt tolerance of plants. Chitooligomers (COS) is partially depolymerized products of chitosan, which is consisted of D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. In agriculture, COS has the ability to promote plant growth and induce plant innate immunity. The bioactivity of COS closely related to its degree of polymerization (DP) and acetylation (DA). However, most of the previous reports fail to mention the function of COS with different DP and DAs in improving the capacity of plants against salt stress. Accordingly, in this study, chitooligomers (COS) with different degrees of DAs were used to test wheat seedlings response to salt stress. In addition, the determined degrees of polymerization (DPs) COS(DP 4-12) and a heterogeneous COS mixture were applied to explore the relationship between the DP of COSs and its effect on the growth of wheat seedlings in response to salt stress. It showed that COSs, the exogenous elicitor, could promote the growth of wheat seedling, reduce the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, and increase the activities of antioxidant enzymes. The results of mRNA expression level test for salt stress-responsive genes indicated that COS keep plants away from being hurt by the salt stress via the regulation of the concentration and the increased antioxidant enzymes activities. Moreover, it was found that the activities of COS was closely related to its Das and COS (DA: 50%) displayed the best salt resistance activity to wheat seedlings. The results also showed that COS with different DP could promote the growth of wheat seedlings under salt stress. COS with a DP (6-8) showed better activities than the other tested samples, implied its activity had a close relationship with its DP. After treatment with chitohexaose, chitoheptaose, and chitooctaose, the photosynthetic parameters were improved obviously. The soluble sugar and proline contents were improved by 26.7%-53.3% and 43.6.0%-70.2%, respectively, while the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) was reduced by 36.8% - 49.6%. In addition, the antioxidant enzymes activities were clearly activated. At the molecular level, the results revealed that they could obviously induce the expression of Na+/H+ antiporter genes. In general, these results were fundamental to the study of action mechanism of COS on promoting plant growth under salt stress and the preparation of plant growth regulator.

Keywords: chitooligomers (COS), degree of polymerization (DP), degree of acetylation (DA), salt stress

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Authors: Alexis D'Agostino, Amanda Pomeroy

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Background: Resource availability is essential to effective implementation of national nutrition policies. To this end, the SPRING Project has collected and analyzed budget data from government ministries in Uganda, international donors, and other nutrition implementers to provide data for the first time on what funding is actually allocated to implement nutrition activities named in the national nutrition plan. Methodology: USAID’s SPRING Project used the Uganda Nutrition Action Plan (UNAP) as the starting point for budget analysis. Thorough desk reviews of public budgets from government, donors, and NGOs were mapped to activities named in the UNAP and validated by key informants (KIs) across the stakeholder groups. By relying on nationally-recognized and locally-created documents, SPRING provided a familiar basis for discussions to increase credibility and local ownership of findings. Among other things, the KIs validated the amount, source, and type (specific or sensitive) of funding. When only high-level budget data were available, KIs provided rough estimates of the percentage of allocations that were actually nutrition-relevant, allowing creation of confidence intervals around some funding estimates. Results: After validating data and narrowing in on estimates of funding to nutrition-relevant programming, researchers applied a formula to estimate overall nutrition allocations. In line with guidance by the SUN Movement and its three-step process, nutrition-specific funding was counted at 100% of its allocation amount, while nutrition sensitive funding was counted at 25%. The vast majority of nutrition funding in Uganda is off-budget, with over 90 percent of all nutrition funding is provided outside of the government system. Overall allocations are split nearly evenly between nutrition-specific and –sensitive activities. In FY 2013/14, the two-year study’s baseline year, on- and off-budget funding for nutrition was estimated to be around 60 million USD. While the 60 million USD allocations compare favorably to the 66 million USD estimate of the cost of the UNAP, not all activities are sufficiently funded. Those activities with a focus on behavior change were the most underfunded. In addition, accompanying qualitative research suggested that donor funding for nutrition activities may shift government funding into other areas of work, making it difficult to estimate the sustainability of current nutrition investments.Conclusions: Beyond providing figures, these estimates can be used together with the qualitative results of the study to explain how and why these amounts were allocated for particular activities and not others, examine the negotiation process that occurred, and suggest options for improving the flow of finances to UNAP activities for the remainder of the policy tenure. By the end of the PBN study, several years of nutrition budget estimates will be available to compare changes in funding over time. Halfway through SPRING’s work, there is evidence that country stakeholders have begun to feel ownership over the ultimate findings and some ministries are requesting increased technical assistance in nutrition budgeting. Ultimately, these data can be used within organization to advocate for more and improved nutrition funding and to improve targeting of nutrition allocations.

Keywords: budget, nutrition, financing, scale-up

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Authors: Susilo Susilo

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In the process of foreign language acquisition, L2 exposure has been evidently assumed efficient for learners to help increase their proficiency. However, to get enough L2 exposure in the context of learning English as a foreign language is not as easy as that of the first language learning context. Therefore, beyond the classroom L2 exposure is helpful for EFL learners to achieve the language tasks. Alongside the rapid development of technology and media, English as a foreign language is virtually used in the social media of almost all regions, affecting the faces of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). This different face of TEFL unavoidably intrigues teachers to treat their students differently in the classroom in order that they can put more effort in maximizing beyond-the-class learning to help improve their in-class achievements. The study aims to investigate: 1) EFL teachers’ teaching skills and beliefs about students’ out-of-class activities in different L2 exposure environments, and 2) the effect on EFL teachers’ teaching skills and beliefs about students’ out-of-class activities of different L2 exposure environments. This is a survey for 80 EFL teachers from Senior High Schools in three regions of two provinces in Indonesia. A questionnaire using a four-point Likert scale was distributed to the respondents to elicit data. The questionnaires were developed by reffering to the constructs of teaching skills (i.e. teaching preparation, teaching action, and teaching evaluation) and beliefs about out-of-class learning (i.e. setting, process and atmosphere), which have been taken from some expert definitions. The internal consistencies for those constructs were examined by using Cronbach Alpha. The data of the study were analyzed by using SPSS program, i.e. descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test. The standard for determining the significance was p < .05. The results revealed that: 1) teaching skills performed by the teachers of English as a foreign language in different exposure environments showed various focus of teaching skills, 2) the teachers showed various ways of beliefs about students’ out-of-class activities in different exposure environments, 3) there was a significant difference in the scores for NNESTs’ teaching skills in urban regions (M=34.5500, SD=4.24838) and those in rural schools (M=24.9500, SD=2.42794) conditions; t (78)=12.408, p = 0.000; and 4) there was a significant difference in the scores for NNESTs’ beliefs about students’ out-of-class activities in urban schools (M=36.9250, SD=6.17434) and those in rural regions (M=29.4250, SD=4.56793) conditions; t (78)=6.176, p = 0.000. These results suggest that different L2 exposure environments really do have effects on teachers’ teaching skills and beliefs about their students’ out-of-class learning.

Keywords: belief about EFL out-of-class learning, L2 exposure environment, teachers of English as a foreign language, teaching skills

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Authors: Steven Hidalgo, Patricio Neumann

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The growth of societies has increased the consumption of raw materials and food obtained from nature. This has influenced the services offered by ecosystems to humans, mainly supply and regulation services. One of the indicators used to evaluate these services is Net Primary Productivity (NPP), which is understood as the energy stored in the form of biomass by primary organisms through the process of photosynthesis and respiration. The variation of NPP by defined area produces changes in the properties of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, which alter factors such as biodiversity, nutrient cycling, carbon storage and water quality. The analysis of NPP to evaluate variations in ecosystem services includes harvested NPP (understood as provisioning services), which is the raw material from agricultural systems used by humans as a source of energy and food, and the remaining NPP (expressed as a regulating service) or the amount of biomass that remains in ecosystems after the harvesting process, which is mainly related to factors such as biodiversity. Given that agriculture is a fundamental pillar of Chile's integral development, the purpose of this study is to evaluate provisioning and regulating ecosystem services in the agricultural sector, specifically in cereal production, in the communes of the central-southern regions of Chile through a conceptual framework based on the quantification of the fraction of Human Appropriation of Net Primary Productivity (HANPP) and the fraction remaining in the ecosystems (NPP remaining). A total of 161 communes were analyzed in the regions of O'Higgins, Maule, Ñuble, Bio-Bío, La Araucanía and Los Lagos, which are characterized by having the largest areas planted with cereals. It was observed that the region of La Araucanía produces the greatest amount of dry matter, understood as provisioning service, where Victoria is the commune with the highest cereal production in the country. In addition, the maximum value of HANPP was in the O'Higgins region, highlighting the communes of Coltauco, Quinta de Tilcoco, Placilla and Rengo. On the other hand, the communes of Futrono, Pinto, Lago Ranco and Pemuco, whose cereal production was important during the study, had the highest values of remaining NPP as a regulating service. Finally, an inverse correlation was observed between the provisioning and regulating ecosystem services, i.e., the higher the cereal or dry matter production in a defined area, the lower the net primary production remaining in the ecosystems. Based on this study, future research will focus on the evaluation of ecosystem services associated with other crops, such as forestry plantations, whose activity is an important part of the country's productive sector.

Keywords: provisioning services, regulating services, net primary productivity, agriculture

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Authors: Ewa Kamarad

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Recent problems with adopting the EU Regulation on matrimonial property regimes have clearly proven that Member States are unable to agree on the scope of the Regulation and, therefore, on the definitions of matrimonial property and marriage itself. Taking into account that the Regulation on the law applicable to divorce and legal separation, as well as the Regulation on matrimonial property regimes, were adopted in the framework of enhanced cooperation, it is evident that lack of a unified definition of marriage has very wide-ranging consequences. The main problem with the unified definition of marriage is that the EU is not entitled to adopt measures in the domain of material family law, as this area remains under the exclusive competence of the Member States. Because of that, the legislation on marriage in domestic legal orders of the various Member States is very different. These differences concern not only issues such as form of marriage or capacity to enter into marriage, but also the most basic matter, namely the core of the institution of marriage itself. Within the 28 Member States, we have those that allow both different-sex and same-sex marriages, those that have adopted special, separate institutions for same-sex couples, and those that allow only marriage between a man and a woman (e.g. Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia). Because of the freedom of movement within the European Union, it seems necessary to somehow recognize the civil effects of a marriage that was concluded in another Member State. The most crucial issue is how far that recognition should go. The thesis presented in the presentation is that, at an absolute minimum, the authorities of all Member States must recognize the civil status of the persons who enter into marriage in another Member State. Lack of such recognition might cause serious problems, both for the spouses and for other individuals. The authorities of some Member States may treat the marriage as if it does not exist because it was concluded under foreign law that defines marriage differently. Because of that, it is possible for the spouse to obtain a certificate of civil status stating that he or she is single and thus eligible to enter into marriage – despite being legally married under the law of another Member State. Such certificate can then be used in another country to serve as a proof of civil status. Eventually the lack of recognition can lead to so-called “international bigamy”. The biggest obstacle to recognition of marriages concluded under the law of another Member State that defines marriage differently is the impossibility of transcription of a foreign civil certificate in the case of such a marriage. That is caused by the rule requiring that a civil certificate issued (or transcribed) under one country's law can contain only records of legal institutions recognized by that country's legal order. The presentation is going to provide possible solutions to this problem.

Keywords: civil status, recognition of marriage, conflict of laws, private international law

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Authors: Francisco J. García-de-Quirós, Gianmarco Radice

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When considering small robots working in a cooperative community for Moon surface exploration, navigation and inter-nodes communication aspects become a critical issue for the mission success. For this approach to succeed, it is necessary however to deploy the required infrastructure for the robotic community to achieve efficient self-localization as well as relative positioning and communications between nodes. In this paper, an exploration mission concept in which two cooperative robotic systems co-exist is presented. This paradigm hinges on a community of reference agents that provide support in terms of communication and navigation to a second agent community tasked with exploration goals. The work focuses on the role of the agent community in charge of the overall support and, more specifically, will focus on the positioning and navigation methods implemented in RF microwave bands, which are combined with the communication services. An analysis of the different methods for range and position calculation are presented, as well as the main limiting factors for precision and resolution, such as phase and frequency noise in RF reference carriers and drift mechanisms such as thermal drift and random walk. The effects of carrier frequency instability due to phase noise are categorized in different contributing bands, and the impact of these spectrum regions are considered both in terms of the absolute position and the relative speed. A mission scenario is finally proposed, and key metrics in terms of mass and power consumption for the required payload hardware are also assessed. For this purpose, an application case involving an RF communication network in UHF Band is described, in coexistence with a communications network used for the single agents to communicate within the both the exploring agents as well as the community and with the mission support agents. The proposed approach implements a substantial improvement in planetary navigation since it provides self-localization capabilities for robotic agents characterized by very low mass, volume and power budgets, thus enabling precise navigation capabilities to agents of reduced dimensions. Furthermore, a common and shared localization radiofrequency infrastructure enables new interaction mechanisms such as spatial arrangement of agents over the area of interest for distributed sensing.

Keywords: cooperative robotics, localization, robot navigation, surface exploration

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Authors: Tharwat Ibrahim Rushdy, Warda Youssef Mohammed Morsy, Hanaa Ali Ahmed Elfeky

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Background: Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) is the first and the most commonly used mechanical circulatory support for patients with acute coronary syndromes and cardiogenic shock. Therefore, critical care nurses not only have to know how to monitor and operate the IABP, but also to provide interventions for preventing possible complications. Aim of the study: To assess nurses' knowledge and practices regarding care of patients connected to IABP at the ICUs of Cairo University Hospitals. Research design: A descriptive exploratory design was utilized. Sample: Convenience samples of 40 nurses were included in the current study. Setting: This study was carried out at the Intensive Care Units of Cairo University Hospitals. Tools of data collection: Three tools were developed, tested for clarity, and feasibility: a- Nurses' personal background sheet, b- IABP nurses' knowledge self-administered questionnaire, and c- IABP Nurses' practice observational checklist. Results: The majority of the studied sample had unsatisfactory knowledge and practice level (88% & 95%) respectively with a mean of 9.45+2.94 and 30.5+8.7, respectively. Unsatisfactory knowledge was found regarding description and physiological effects, nursing care, indications, contraindications, complications, weaning, and removal of IABP in percentage of 95%, 90%, 72.5%, and 57.5%, respectively, with a mean total knowledge score of 9.45 +2.94. In addition, unsatisfactory practice was found regarding about preparation and initiation of IABP therapy, nursing practice during therapy, weaning, and removal of IABP in percentages of (97.5%, 97.5%, and 90%), respectively. Finally, knowledge level was found to differ significantly in relation to gender (t = 2.46 at P ≤ 0.018). However, gender didn't play a role in relation to practice (t = 0.086 at P≤ 0.932). Conclusion: In spite of having vital role in assessment and management of critically ill patients, critical care nurses in the current study had in general unsatisfactory knowledge and practice regarding care of patients connected to IABP. Recommendation: updating knowledge and practice of ICU nurses through carrying out continuing educational programs about IABP; strict observation of nurses' practice when caring for patients connected to IABP and provision of guidance to correct of poor practices and replication of this study on larger probability sample selected from different geographical locations.

Keywords: knowledge, practice, intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP), ICU nurses, intensive care unit (ICU), introduction

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Authors: Yik Sin Chan, Bee Ling Chuah, Wei Quan Chan, Ri Jin Cheng, Yan Hang Oon, Kong Soo Khoo, Nam Weng Sit

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Traditionally, medicinal plants have been used to treat different kinds of ailments including infectious diseases. They serve as a good source of lead compounds for the development of new and safer anti-infective agents. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial potential of the leaves of three medicinal plants, namely Catunaregam spinosa (Rubiaceae; Mountain pomegranate), Houttuynia cordata (Saururaceae; "fishy-smell herb") and Rhapis excelsa (Arecaceae; “broadleaf lady palm”). The leaves extracts were obtained by sequential extraction using hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methanol and water. The antibacterial and antifungal activities were assessed using a colorimetric broth microdilution method against a panel of human pathogenic bacteria (Gram-positive: Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus; Gram-negative: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and fungi (yeasts: Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Cryptococcus neoformans; Moulds: Aspergillus fumigatus and Trichophyton mentagrophytes) respectively; while antiviral activity was evaluated against the Chikungunya virus on monkey kidney epithelial (Vero) cells by neutral red uptake assay. All the plant extracts showed bacteriostatic activity, however, only 72% of the extracts (13/18) were found to have bactericidal activity. The lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were given by the hexane extract of C. spinosa against S. aureus with the values of 0.16 and 0.31 mg/mL respectively. All the extracts also possessed fungistatic activity. Only the hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of H. cordata exerted inhibitory activity against A. fumigatus, giving the lowest fungal susceptibility index of 16.7%. In contrast, only 61% of the extracts (11/18) showed fungicidal activity. The ethanol extract of R. excelsa exhibited the strongest fungicidal activity against C. albicans, C. parapsilosis and T. mentagrophytes with minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) values of 0.04–0.08 mg/mL, in addition to its methanol extract against T. mentagrophytes (MFC=0.02 mg/mL). For anti-Chikungunya virus activity, only chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of R. excelsa showed significant antiviral activity with 50% effective concentrations (EC50) of 29.9 and 78.1 g/mL respectively. Extracts of R. excelsa warrant further investigations into their active principles responsible for antifungal and antiviral properties.

Keywords: bactericidal, Chikungunya virus, extraction, fungicidal

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Authors: Mohammed Elghazy, Ahmed El Refai, Usama Ebead, Antonio Nanni

Abstract:

Rehabilitating corrosion-damaged reinforced concrete (RC) structures has been accomplished using various techniques such as steel plating, external post-tensioning, and external bonding of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. This paper reports on the use of an innovative technique to strengthen corrosion-damaged RC structures using fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) composites. FRCM consists of dry-fiber fabric embedded in cement-based matrix. Twelve large-scale RC beams were constructed and tested in flexural monotonic and fatigue loads. Prior to testing, ten specimens were subjected to accelerated corrosion process for 140 days leading to an average mass loss in the tensile steel bars of 18.8 %. Corrosion was restricted to the main reinforcement located in the middle third of the beam span. Eight corroded specimens were repaired and strengthened while two virgin and two corroded-unrepaired/unstrengthened beams were used as benchmarks for comparison purpose. The test parameters included the FRCM materials (Carbon-FRCM, PBO-FRCM), the number of FRCM plies, the strengthening scheme, and the type of loading (monotonic and fatigue). The effects of the pervious parameters on the flexural response, the mode of failure, and the fatigue life were reported. Test results showed that corrosion reduced the yield and ultimate strength of the beams. The corroded-unrepaired specimen failed to meet the provisions of the ACI-318 code for crack width criteria. The use of FRCM significantly increased the ultimate strength of the corroded specimen by 21% and 65% more than that of the corroded-unrepaired specimen. Corrosion significantly decreased the fatigue life of the corroded-unrepaired beam by 77% of that of the virgin beam. The fatigue life of the FRCM repaired-corroded beams increased to 1.5 to 3.8 times that of the corroded-unrepaired beam but was lower than that of the virgin specimen. The specimens repaired with U-wrapped PBO-FRCM strips showed higher fatigue life than those repaired with the end-anchored bottom strips having similar number of PBO-FRCM-layers. PBO-FRCM was more effective than Carbon-FRCM in restoring the fatigue life of the corroded specimens.

Keywords: corrosion, concrete, fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM), fatigue, flexure, repair

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