Search results for: location sharing

Authors: Su-Lin Yu

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Coalition politics has been one of feminists’ persistent concerns. Following recent feminist discussion on new modes of affiliation across difference, she will explore how the process of female subject formation depends on alliances across different cultural locations. First, she will examine how coalition politics is reformulated across difference in contemporary feminist literature. In particular, the paper will identify the particular contexts and locations in which coalition building both enables and constrains the female subject. She will attempt to explore how contemporary feminist literature highlights the possibilities and limitations for solidarity and affiliations. To understand coalition politics in contemporary feminist works, she will engage in close readings of two texts: Rebecca Walker’s Black, White and Jewish: Memoir of a Shifting Self and Danzy Senna’s Caucasia. Both Walker and Senna have articulated the complex nodes of identity that are staged by a politics of location as they refuse to be boxed into simplistic essentialist positions. Their texts are characterized by the characters’ racial ambiguity and their social and geographical mobility of life in the contemporary United States. Their experiences of living through conflictual and contradictory relationships never fully fit the boundaries of racial categorization. Each of these texts demonstrates the limits as well as the possibilities of working with diversity among and within persons and groups, thus, laying the ground for complex alliance formation. Because each of the protagonists must negotiate a set of contradictions, they will have to constantly shift their affiliations. Rather than construct a static alliance, they describe a process of moving ‘beyond boundaries,’ an embracing of multiple locations. As self-identified third wavers, Rebecca Walker and Danzy Senna have been identified and marked with the status of ‘leader’ by the feminist establishment and by mainstream U.S. media. Their texts have captured both mass popularity and critical attention in the feminist and, often, the non-feminist literary community. By analyzing these texts, she will show how contemporary American feminist literature reveals coalition politics which is fraught with complications and unintended consequences. Taken as a whole, then, these works provide an important examination not only of coalition politics of American feminism, but also a snapshot of a central debate among feminist critique of coalition politics as a whole.

Keywords: coalition politics, contemporary women’s literature, identity, female subject

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Authors: Majed A. Alsalem

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In our contemporary world, literacy is an essential skill that enables students to increase their efficiency in managing the many assignments they receive that require understanding and knowledge of the world around them. In addition, literacy enhances student participation in society improving their ability to learn about the world and interact with others and facilitating the exchange of ideas and sharing of knowledge. Therefore, literacy needs to be studied and understood in its full range of contexts. It should be seen as social and cultural practices with historical, political, and economic implications. This study aims to rebuild and reorganize the instructional designs that have been used for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students to improve their literacy level. The most critical part of this process is the teachers; therefore, teachers will be the center focus of this study. Teachers’ main job is to increase students’ performance by fostering strategies through collaborative teamwork, higher-order thinking, and effective use of new information technologies. Teachers, as primary leaders in the learning process, should be aware of new strategies, approaches, methods, and frameworks of teaching in order to apply them to their instruction. Literacy from a wider view means acquisition of adequate and relevant reading skills that enable progression in one’s career and lifestyle while keeping up with current and emerging innovations and trends. Moreover, the nature of literacy is changing rapidly. The notion of new literacy changed the traditional meaning of literacy, which is the ability to read and write. New literacy refers to the ability to effectively and critically navigate, evaluate, and create information using a range of digital technologies. The term new literacy has received a lot of attention in the education field over the last few years. New literacy provides multiple ways of engagement, especially to those with disabilities and other diverse learning needs. For example, using a number of online tools in the classroom provides students with disabilities new ways to engage with the content, take in information, and express their understanding of this content. This study will provide teachers with the highest quality of training sessions to meet the needs of DHH students so as to increase their literacy levels. This study will build a platform between regular instructional designs and digital materials that students can interact with. The intervention that will be applied in this study will be to train teachers of DHH to base their instructional designs on the notion of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) theory. Based on the power analysis that has been done for this study, 98 teachers are needed to be included in this study. This study will choose teachers randomly to increase internal and external validity and to provide a representative sample from the population that this study aims to measure and provide the base for future and further studies. This study is still in process and the initial results are promising by showing how students have engaged with digital books.

Keywords: deaf and hard of hearing, digital books, literacy, technology

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Authors: Jennifer E Simpson

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Background and purpose: The ubiquitous use of the Internet and social media by children and young people has had a dual effect. The first is to open a world of possibilities and promise that is characterized by the ability to consume and create content, connect with friends, explore and experiment. The second relates to risks such as unsolicited requests, sexual exploitation, cyberbullying and commercial exploitation. This duality poses significant difficulties for a generation of foster carers and social workers who have no childhood experience to draw on in terms of growing up using the Internet, social media and digital devices. This presentation is concerned with the findings of a small qualitative study about the use of digital devices and the Internet by care-experienced young people to stay in touch with their families and the way this was managed by foster carers and social workers using specific parental mediation strategies. The findings highlight that restrictive strategies were used by foster carers and endorsed by social workers. An argument is made for an approach that develops a series of balanced solutions that move foster carers from such restrictive approaches to those that are grounded in co-use and are interpretive in nature. Methods: Using a purposive sampling strategy, 12 triads consisting of care-experienced young people (aged 13-18 years), their foster carers and allocated social workers were recruited. All respondents undertook a semi-structured interview, with the young people detailing what social media apps and other devices they used to contact their families via an Ecomap. The foster carers and social workers shared details of the methods and approaches they used to manage digital devices and the Internet in general. Data analysis was performed using a Framework analytic method to explore the various attitudes, as well as complementary and contradictory perspectives of the young people, their foster carers and allocated social workers. Findings: The majority of foster carers made use of parental mediation strategies that erred on the side of typologies that included setting rules and regulations (restrictive), ad-hoc checking of a young person’s behavior and device (monitoring), and software used to limit or block access to inappropriate websites (technical). It was noted that minimal use was made by foster carers of parental mediation strategies that included talking about content (active/interpretive) or sharing Internet activities (co-use). Amongst the majority of the social workers, they also had a strong preference for restrictive approaches. Conclusions and implications: Trepidations on the part of both foster carers and social workers about the use of digital devices and the Internet meant that the parental strategies used were weighted more towards restriction, with little use made of approaches such as co-use and interpretative. This lack of balance calls for solutions that are grounded in co-use and an interpretive approach, both of which can be achieved through training and support, as well as wider policy change.

Keywords: parental mediation strategies, risk, children in state care, online safety

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Authors: David Muyise

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Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) is an approach that involves the optimization of a range of decision variables in order to minimize or maximize a particular objective function. The main objective of this study was to apply the MIP approach to optimize the deployment of waste plastic to fuel oil processing plants in Uganda. The processing plants are meant to reduce plastic pollution by pyrolyzing the waste plastic into a cleaner fuel that can be used to power diesel/paraffin engines, so as (1) to reduce the negative environmental impacts associated with plastic pollution and also (2) to curb down the energy gap by utilizing the fuel oil. A programming model was established and tested in two case study applications that are, small-scale applications in rural towns and large-scale deployment across major cities in the country. In order to design the supply chain, optimal decisions on the types of waste plastic to be processed, size, location and number of plants, and downstream fuel applications were concurrently made based on the payback period, investor requirements for capital cost and production cost of fuel and electricity. The model comprises qualitative data gathered from waste plastic pickers at landfills and potential investors, and quantitative data obtained from primary research. It was found out from the study that a distributed system is suitable for small rural towns, whereas a decentralized system is only suitable for big cities. Small towns of Kalagi, Mukono, Ishaka, and Jinja were found to be the ideal locations for the deployment of distributed processing systems, whereas Kampala, Mbarara, and Gulu cities were found to be the ideal locations initially utilize the decentralized pyrolysis technology system. We conclude that the model findings will be most important to investors, engineers, plant developers, and municipalities interested in waste plastic to fuel processing in Uganda and elsewhere in developing economy.

Keywords: mixed integer programming, fuel oil plants, optimisation of waste plastics, plastic pollution, pyrolyzing

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Authors: Sana Hamdi, Emna Bouazizi, Sami Faiz

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In recent years, real-time spatial applications, like location-aware services and traffic monitoring, have become more and more important. Such applications result dynamic environments where data as well as queries are continuously moving. As a result, there is a tremendous amount of real-time spatial data generated every day. The growth of the data volume seems to outspeed the advance of our computing infrastructure. For instance, in real-time spatial Big Data, users expect to receive the results of each query within a short time period without holding in account the load of the system. But with a huge amount of real-time spatial data generated, the system performance degrades rapidly especially in overload situations. To solve this problem, we propose the use of data partitioning as an optimization technique. Traditional horizontal and vertical partitioning can increase the performance of the system and simplify data management. But they remain insufficient for real-time spatial Big data; they can’t deal with real-time and stream queries efficiently. Thus, in this paper, we propose a novel data partitioning approach for real-time spatial Big data named VPA-RTSBD (Vertical Partitioning Approach for Real-Time Spatial Big data). This contribution is an implementation of the Matching algorithm for traditional vertical partitioning. We find, firstly, the optimal attribute sequence by the use of Matching algorithm. Then, we propose a new cost model used for database partitioning, for keeping the data amount of each partition more balanced limit and for providing a parallel execution guarantees for the most frequent queries. VPA-RTSBD aims to obtain a real-time partitioning scheme and deals with stream data. It improves the performance of query execution by maximizing the degree of parallel execution. This affects QoS (Quality Of Service) improvement in real-time spatial Big Data especially with a huge volume of stream data. The performance of our contribution is evaluated via simulation experiments. The results show that the proposed algorithm is both efficient and scalable, and that it outperforms comparable algorithms.

Keywords: real-time spatial big data, quality of service, vertical partitioning, horizontal partitioning, matching algorithm, hamming distance, stream query

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Authors: Recep Gundogan, Turgay Dindaroglu, Hikmet Gunal, Mustafa Ulukavak, Ron Bingner

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A majority of total soil losses in agricultural areas could be attributed to ephemeral gullies caused by heavy rains in conventionally tilled fields; however, ephemeral gully erosion is often ignored in conventional soil erosion assessments. Ephemeral gullies are often easily filled from normal soil tillage operations, which makes capturing the existing ephemeral gullies in croplands difficult. This study was carried out to determine topographic features, including slope and aspect composite topographic index (CTI) and initiation points of gully channels, using images obtained from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. The study area was located in Topcu stream watershed in the eastern Mediterranean Region, where intense rainfall events occur over very short time periods. The slope varied between 0.7 and 99.5%, and the average slope was 24.7%. The UAV (multi-propeller hexacopter) was used as the carrier platform, and images were obtained with the RGB camera mounted on the UAV. The digital terrain models (DTM) of Topçu stream micro catchment produced using UAV images and manual field Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements were compared to assess the accuracy of UAV based measurements. Eighty-one gully channels were detected in the study area. The mean slope and CTI values in the micro-catchment obtained from DTMs generated using UAV images were 19.2% and 3.64, respectively, and both slope and CTI values were lower than those obtained using GPS measurements. The total length and volume of the gully channels were 868.2 m and 5.52 m³, respectively. Topographic characteristics and information on ephemeral gully channels (location of initial point, volume, and length) were estimated with high accuracy using the UAV images. The results reveal that UAV-based measuring techniques can be used in lieu of existing GPS and total station techniques by using images obtained with high-resolution UAVs.

Keywords: aspect, compound topographic index, digital terrain model, initial gully point, slope, unmanned aerial vehicle

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Authors: Shahzad M. A. Basra, Shahid Iqbal, Irfan Afzal, Hafeez-ur-Rehman

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Quinoa a facultative halophyte crop plant is a new introduction in Pakistan due to its superior nutritional profile and its abiotic stress tolerance, especially against salinity. Present study was conducted to explore halophytic behavior of quinoa. Four quinoa genotypes (A1, A2, A7 and A9) were evaluated against high salinity (control, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mM). Evaluation was made on the basis of ionic analysis (Na+, K+ and K+: Na+ ratio in shoot) and root- shoot fresh and dry weight at four leaf stage. Seedling growth i.e. fresh and dry weight of shoot and root increased by 100 mM salinity and then growth decreased gradually with increasing salinity level in all geno types. Mineral analysis indicated that A2 and A7 have more tolerant behavior having low Na+ and high K+ ¬concentration as compared to A1 and A9. Same geno types as above were also evaluated against high salinity (control, 10, 20, 30, and 40 dS m-1) in pot culture during 2012-13. It was found that increase in salinity up to 10 dS m-1 the plant height, stem diameter and yield related traits increased but decreased with further increase in salinity. Same trend was observed in ionic contents. Maximum grain yield was achieved by A7 (100 g plant-1) followed by A2 (82 g plant-1) at salinity level 10 dS m-1. Next phase was carried out through field settings by using salt tolerant geno types (A2 and A7) at Crop Physiology Research Area Farm (non saline soil as control)/ Proka Farm (salt affected with EC up to 15 dS m-1), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and Soil Salinity Research Institute, Pindi Bhtiaan (SSRI) Farm (one normal as control and two salt affected fields with EC values up to 15 and 30 dS m-1) during 2013-14. Genotype A7 showed maximum growth and gave maximum yield (3200 kg ha-1) at Proka Farm which was statistically at par to the values of yield obtained on normal soils of Faisalabad. Geno type A7 also gave maximum yield 2800 kg ha-1 on normal field of Pindi bhtiaan followed by as obtained (2340) on salt problem field (15 dS m-1) of same location.

Keywords: quinoa, salinity, halophyte, genotype

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Authors: Kottaridi Klimentia, Demopoulos Vasilis, Sidiropoulos Anastasios, Ihara Diego, Nikolaidis Vasileios, Antonopoulos Dimitrios

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Aflatoxins are highly poisonous and carcinogenic compounds produced by species of the genus Aspergillus spp. that can infect a variety of agricultural foods, including dried figs. Biological and environmental factors, such as population, pathogenicity, and aflatoxinogenic capacity of the strains, topography, soil, and climate parameters of the fig orchards, are believed to have a strong effect on aflatoxin levels. Existing methods for aflatoxin detection and measurement, such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), can provide accurate results, but the procedures are usually time-consuming, sample-destructive, and expensive. Predicting aflatoxin levels prior to crop harvest is useful for minimizing the health and financial impact of a contaminated crop. Consequently, there is interest in developing a tool that predicts aflatoxin levels based on topography and soil analysis data of fig orchards. This paper describes the development of a risk assessment tool for the contamination of aflatoxin on dried figs, based on the location and altitude of the fig orchards, the population of the fungus Aspergillus spp. in the soil, and soil parameters such as pH, saturation percentage (SP), electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter, particle size analysis (sand, silt, clay), the concentration of the exchangeable cations (Ca, Mg, K, Na), extractable P, and trace of elements (B, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu), by employing machine learning methods. In particular, our proposed method integrates three machine learning techniques, i.e., dimensionality reduction on the original dataset (principal component analysis), metric learning (Mahalanobis metric for clustering), and k-nearest neighbors learning algorithm (KNN), into an enhanced model, with mean performance equal to 85% by terms of the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) between observed and predicted values.

Keywords: aflatoxins, Aspergillus spp., dried figs, k-nearest neighbors, machine learning, prediction

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Authors: Arojojoye Oluwatosin Adetola, Nwaechefu Olajumoke Olufunlayo, Ademola Adetokunbo Oyagbemi, Jeremiah Moyinoluwalogo Afolabi, Asaolu Racheal Oluwabukola

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The effects of man’s activities on the environment include depletion of natural resources alongside pollution of water bodies. Petroleum exploration in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has compromised the aquatic environment with grave consequences on the entire ecosystem. In this study, we assessed the environmental safety of Araromi River, located in an oil-producing area in Ondo State, in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria by determining the levels of heavy metals (copper, cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead) and some biomarkers of oxidative stress (malondialdehyde, glutathione-S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, myeloperoxidase and reduced glutathione) in Clarias gariepinus (350-400g) from the river using standard methods. Clarias gariepinus from a clean fish farm in the same geographical location as the reference site (Ilesannmi fishery) was used as a control. Water samples from both sites were also analysed for some physicochemical parameters, heavy metals, and bacterial contamination. Our findings show a significant increase in malondialdehyde level (index of lipid peroxidation) as well as alterations in antioxidant status in the organs of Clarias gariepinus from Araromi River compared with control. A significant increase in bacterial contaminants, heavy metal pollutants, and particulate matter deposits were also observed in the water sample from Araromi River compared with control. In conclusion, high levels of indicators of environmental pollution observed in the water sample from Araromi River coupled with induction of oxidative stress in Clarias gariepinus from the river show that Araromi River is polluted; therefore, consumption of fishes and other aquatic organisms from the river may be unsafe for the people in that community.

Keywords: Araromi River, Clarias gariepinus, environmental pollution, heavy metals, oxidative stress

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Authors: Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha

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The Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of the Thomson Reuters has, for decades, provided the data for bibliometrically assessing the impact of journals. In their criticism of the journal impact factor (JIF), a number of scholars such as Priem, Taraborelli, Groth and Neylon (2010) observe that the “JIF is often incorrectly used to assess the impact of individual articles. It is troubling that the exact details of the JIF are a trade secret, and that significant gaming is relatively easy”. The emergence of alternative metrics (Altmetrics) has introduced another dimension of re-assessing how the impact of journals (and other units such as articles and even individual researchers) can be measured. Altmetrics is premised upon the fact that research is increasingly being disseminated through social network sites such as ResearchGate, Mendeley, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and ImpactStory, among others. This paper adopts informetrics (including altmetrics) techniques to report on the findings of a study conducted to investigate and compare the social media impact of 274 South Africa Post Secondary Education (SAPSE)-accredited journals, which are recognized and accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) of South Africa (SA). We used multiple sources to extract data for the study, namely Altmetric.com and the Thomson Reuters’ Journal Citation Reports. Data was analyzed in order to determine South African journals’ presence and impact on social media as well as contrast the social media impact with Thomson Reuters’ citation impact. The Spearman correlation test was performed to compare the journals’ social media impact and JCR citation impact. Preliminary findings reveal that a total of 6360 articles published in 96 South African journals have received some attention in social media; the most commonly used social media platform was Twitter, followed by Mendeley, Facebook, News outlets, and CiteULike; there were 29 SA journals covered in the JCR in 2008 and this number has grown to 53 journals in 2014; the journals indexed in the Thomson Reuters performed much better, in terms of their altmetrics, than those journals that are not indexed in Thomson Reuters databases; nevertheless, there was high correlation among journals that featured in both datasets; the journals with the highest scores in Altmetric.com included the South African Medical Journal, African Journal of Marine Science, and Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa while the journals with high impact factors in JCR were South African Medical Journal, Onderstepoort: Journal of Veterinary Research, and Sahara: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV-AIDS; and that Twitter has emerged as a strong avenue of sharing and communicating research published in the South African journals. Implications of the results of the study for the dissemination of research conducted in South Africa are offered. Discussions based on the research findings as well as conclusions and recommendations are offered in the full text paper.

Keywords: altmetrics, citation impact, journal citation reports, journal impact factor, journals, research, scholarly publishing, social media impact, South Africa

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Authors: Aneta Daniel

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The subject of the study is the exploration of the origins and dynamics of the development of language studies, which have been labelled as neurolinguistics. It is worth mentioning that the origins of neurolinguistics are to be found in the research conducted by German scientists before the Second World War in Breslau Universität (presently Wroclaw). The dominant figure in these studies was professor Carl Wernicke, whose students continued and creatively developed projects of their master within this area. Professor Carl Wernicke, a German physician, anatomist, psychiatrist, and neuropathologist, is primarily known for his influential research on aphasia. His research, as well as those conducted by professor Paul Broca, has led to breakthroughs in the location of brain functions, particularly speech. Years later the theses of the pioneers of cognitive neurology (Carl Wernicke and Paul Broca) were developed by other neurolinguists. The main objective of the investigation is the reconstruction of the group of scientists –the students of Carl Wernicke– who contributed to the development of neurolinguistics. The scholars were mainly neurologists and psychiatrists and dealt with the branch of science that had not been named neurolinguistics at that time. The profiles of the scholars will be analysed and presented as the members of the group of researchers who have contributed to the breakthroughs in psychology and neuroscience. The research material consists of archival records documenting the research of professor Carl Wernicke and the researchers from Breslau (presently Wroclaw) which is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe. In 1870, when Carl Wernicke became the medical doctor, Breslau was full of cultural events: festivals and circus shows were held in the city center. Today we can come back to these events due to 'Breslauer Zeitung (1870)', which precisely describes all the events that took place on particular days. It is worth noting that those were the beginnings of antisemitism in Breslau. Many theses and articles that have survived in the libraries in Wroclaw and all over the world contribute to the development of neuroscience. The history of research on the brain and speech analysis, including the history of psychology and neuroscience, areas from which neurolinguistics is derived, will be presented.

Keywords: Aphasia, brain injury, Carl Wernicke, language, neurolinguistics

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Authors: Priyanka Patil, Logan Manikam

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Background: The first 1000 days of life are a critical window and can result in adverse health consequences due to inadequate nutrition. South-Asian (SA) communities face significant health disparities, particularly in maternal and child health. Community-based interventions, often employing Participatory-Learning and Action (PLA) approaches, have effectively addressed health inequalities in lower-income nations. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of implementing a PLA intervention to improve infant feeding and care practices in SA communities living in London. Methods: Comprehensive analyses were conducted to assess the feasibility/fidelity of this pilot randomized controlled trial. Summary statistics were computed to compare key metrics, including participant consent rates, attendance, retention, intervention support, and perceived effectiveness, against predefined progression rules guiding toward a definitive trial. Secondary outcomes were analyzed, drawing insights from multiple sources, such as The Children’s-Eating-Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ), Parental-Feeding-Style Questionnaires (PFSQ), Food-diary, and the Equality-Impact-Assessment (EIA) tool. A video analysis of children's mealtime behavior trends was conducted. Feedback interviews were collected from study participants. Results: Process-outcome measures met predefined progression rules for a definitive trial, which deemed the intervention as feasible and acceptable. The secondary outcomes analysis revealed no significant changes in children's BMI z-scores. This could be attributed to the abbreviated follow-up period of 6 months, reduced from 12 months, due to COVID-19-related delays. CEBQ analysis showed increased food responsiveness, along with decreased emotional over/undereating. A similar trend was observed in PFSQ. The EIA tool found no potential discrimination areas, and video analysis revealed a decrease in force-feeding practices. Participant feedback revealed improved awareness and knowledge sharing. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a co-adapted PLA intervention is feasible and well-received in optimizing infant-care practices among South-Asian community members in a high-income country. These findings highlight the potential of community-based interventions to enhance health outcomes, promoting health equity.

Keywords: child health, childhood obesity, community-based, infant nutrition

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Authors: Daniel Scherman, Daniel Madani, Shanu Gambhir, Marcus Ling Zhixing, Yingda Li

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Objective: This study aims to identify clinical factors that may predict failed endoscopic lumbar spine surgery to guide surgeons with patient selection during the initial learning curve. Methods: This is an Australasian prospective analysis of the first 105 patients to undergo lumbar endoscopic spine decompression by 3 surgeons. Modified MacNab outcomes, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Visual Analogue Score (VAS) scores were utilized to evaluate clinical outcomes at 6 months postoperatively. Descriptive statistics and Anova t-tests were performed to measure statistically significant (p<0.05) associations between variables using GraphPad Prism v10. Results: Patients undergoing endoscopic lumbar surgery via an interlaminar or transforaminal approach have overall good/excellent modified MacNab outcomes and a significant reduction in post-operative VAS and ODI scores. Regardless of the anatomical location of disc herniations, good/excellent modified MacNab outcomes and significant reductions in VAS and ODI were reported post-operatively; however, not in patients with calcified disc herniations. Patients with central and foraminal stenosis overall reported poor/fair modified MacNab outcomes. However, there were significant reductions in VAS and ODI scores post-operatively. Patients with subarticular stenosis or an associated spondylolisthesis reported good/excellent modified MacNab outcomes and significant reductions in VAS and ODI scores post-operatively. Patients with disc herniation and concurrent degenerative stenosis had generally poor/fair modified MacNab outcomes. Conclusion: The outcomes of endoscopic spine surgery are encouraging, with a low complication and reoperation rate. However, patients with calcified disc herniations, central canal stenosis or a disc herniation with concurrent degenerative stenosis present challenges during the initial learning curve and may benefit from traditional open or other minimally invasive techniques.

Keywords: complications, lumbar disc herniation, lumbar endoscopic spine surgery, predictors of failed endoscopic spine surgery

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Authors: Rupas Kumar M., Saravana Kumar M., Amarendra Kumar S., Likhita Komal V., Sree Deepthi M.

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The demand for water is increasing at an alarming rate due to rapid urbanization and increase in population. Due to freshwater scarcity, Groundwater became the necessary source of potable water to major parts of the world. This problem of freshwater scarcity and groundwater dependency is very severe particularly in developing countries and overpopulated regions like India. The present study aimed at evaluating the Ground Water Quality Index (GWQI), which represents overall quality of water at certain location and time based on water quality parameters. To evaluate the GWQI, sixteen water quality parameters have been considered viz. colour, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, turbidity, total hardness, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, nitrate, sulphate, iron, manganese and fluorides. The groundwater samples are collected from Kadapa City in Andhra Pradesh, India and subjected to comprehensive physicochemical analysis. The high value of GWQI has been found to be mainly from higher values of total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, turbidity, alkalinity, hardness, and fluorides. in the present study, citrus limetta (sweet lemon) peel powder has used as a coagulant and GWQI values are recorded in different concentrations to improve GWQI. Sensitivity analysis is also carried out to determine the effect of coagulant dosage, mixing speed and stirring time on GWQI. The research found the maximum percentage improvement in GWQI values are obtained when the coagulant dosage is 100ppm, mixing speed is 100 rpm and stirring time is 10 mins. Alum is also used as a coagulant aid and the optimal ratio of citrus limetta and alum is identified as 3:2 which resulted in best GWQI value. The present study proposes Citrus limetta peel powder as a potential natural coagulant to treat Groundwater and to improve GWQI.

Keywords: alum, Citrus limetta, ground water quality index, physicochemical analysis

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Authors: Rohini Sharma, Chandan Kumar Sahoo, Rama Krishna Gupta Potnuru

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Strong competitive forces and requirements to achieve efficiency are forcing the organizations to realize the necessity and inevitability of change. What's more, the trend does not appear to be abating. Researchers have estimated that about two thirds of change project fails. Empirical evidences further shows that organizations invest significantly in the planned change but people side is accounted for in a token or instrumental way, which is identified as one of the important reason, why change endeavours fail. However, whatever be the reason for change, organizational change readiness must be gauged prior to the institutionalization of organizational change. Hence, in this study the influence of employee voice and employee involvement on organizational change readiness via commitment-to-change is examined, as it is an area yet to be extensively studied. Also, though a recent study has investigated the interrelationship between leadership, organizational change readiness and commitment to change, our study further examined these constructs in relation with employee voice and employee involvement that plays a consequential role for organizational change readiness. Further, integrated conceptual model weaving varied concepts relating to organizational readiness with focus on commitment to change as mediator was found to be an area, which required more theorizing and empirical validation, and this study rooted in an Indian public sector organization is a step in this direction. Data for the study were collected through a survey among employees of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), a unit of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL); the first integrated Steel Plant in the public sector in India, for which stratified random sampling method was adopted. The schedule was distributed to around 700 employees, out of which 516 complete responses were obtained. The pre-validated scales were used for the study. All the variables in the study were measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree (1)” to “strongly agree (5)”. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 22 was used to examine the hypothesized model, which offers a simultaneous test of an entire system of variables in a model. The study results shows that inter-relationship between employee voice and commitment-to-change, employee involvement and commitment-to-change and commitment-to-change and organizational change readiness were significant. To test the mediation hypotheses, Baron and Kenny’s technique was used. Examination of direct and mediated effect of mediators confirmed that commitment-to-change partially mediated the relation between employee involvement and organizational change readiness. Furthermore, study results also affirmed that commitment-to-change does not mediate the relation between employee involvement and organizational change readiness. The empirical exploration therefore establishes that it is important to harness employee’s valuable suggestions regarding change for building organizational change readiness. Regarding employee involvement, it was found that sharing information and involving people in decision-making, leads to a creation of participative climate, which educes employee commitment during change and commitment-to-change further, fosters organizational change readiness.

Keywords: commitment-to-change, change management, employee voice, employee involvement, organizational change readiness

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Authors: Ayshan Gurbanova

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Despite based on the fact that drill bit which is the smallest part of bottom hole assembly costs only in between 10% and 15% of the total expenses made, they are the first equipment that is in contact with the formation itself. Hence, it is consequential to choose the appropriate type and dimension of drilling bit, which will prevent majority of problems by not demanding many tripping procedure. However, within the advance in technology, it is now seamless to be beneficial in the terms of many concepts such as subsequent time of operation, energy, expenditure, power and so forth. With the intention of applying the method to Azerbaijan, the field of Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula has been suggested, where the mainland has been located 15 km away from the wildcat wells, named as “NKX01”. It has the water depth of 22 m as indicated. In 2015 and 2016, the seismic survey analysis of 2D and 3D have been conducted in contract area as well as onshore shallow water depth locations. With the aim of indicating clear elucidation, soil stability, possible submersible dangerous scenarios, geohazards and bathymetry surveys have been carried out as well. Within the seismic analysis results, the exact location of exploration wells have been determined and along with this, the correct measurement decisions have been made to divide the land into three productive zones. In the term of the method, Electric Impulse Technology (EIT) is based on discharge energies of electricity within the corrosivity in rock. Take it simply, the highest value of voltages could be created in the less range of nano time, where it is sent to the rock through electrodes’ baring as demonstrated below. These electrodes- higher voltage powered and grounded are placed on the formation which could be obscured in liquid. With the design, it is more seamless to drill horizontal well based on the advantage of loose contact of formation. There is also no chance of worn ability as there are no combustion, mechanical power exist. In the case of energy, the usage of conventional drilling accounts for 1000 𝐽/𝑐𝑚3 , where this value accounts for between 100 and 200 𝐽/𝑐𝑚3 in EIT. Last but not the least, from the test analysis, it has been yielded that it achieves the value of ROP more than 2 𝑚/ℎ𝑟 throughout 15 days. Taking everything into consideration, it is such a fact that with the comparison of data analysis, this method is highly applicable to the fields of Azerbaijan.

Keywords: drilling, drill bit cost, efficiency, cost

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Authors: Maria C. Almario, Pam Remer, Jeff Resse, Kathy Moran, Linda Theander Adam

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The identification of victims of human trafficking and consequential service provision is characterized by a significant disconnection between the estimated prevalence of this issue and the number of cases identified. This poses as tremendous problem for human rights advocates as it prevents data collection, information sharing, allocation of resources and opportunities for international dialogues. The current paper introduces the Inclusive Human Trafficking Checklist (IHTC) as a measurement methodology with theoretical underpinnings derived from dialectic theory. The presence of human trafficking in a person’s life is conceptualized as a dynamic and dialectic interaction between vulnerability and exploitation. The current papers explores the operationalization of exploitation and vulnerability, evaluates the metric qualities of the instrument, evaluates whether there are differences in assessment based on the participant’s profession, level of knowledge, and training, and assesses if users of the instrument perceive it as useful. A total of 201 participants were asked to rate three vignettes predetermined by experts to qualify as a either human trafficking case or not. The participants were placed in three conditions: business as usual, utilization of the IHTC with and without training. The results revealed a statistically significant level of agreement between the expert’s diagnostic and the application of the IHTC with an improvement of 40% on identification when compared with the business as usual condition While there was an improvement in identification in the group with training, the difference was found to have a small effect size. Participants who utilized the IHTC showed an increased ability to identify elements of identity-based vulnerabilities as well as elements of fraud, which according to the results, are distinctive variables in cases of human trafficking. In terms of the perceived utility, the results revealed higher mean scores for the groups utilizing the IHTC when compared to the business as usual condition. These findings suggest that the IHTC improves appropriate identification of cases and that it is perceived as a useful instrument. The application of the IHTC as a multidisciplinary instrumentation that can be utilized in legal and human services settings is discussed as a pivotal piece of helping victims restore their sense of dignity, and advocate for legal, physical and psychological reparations. It is noteworthy that this study was conducted with a sample in the United States and later re-tested in Colombia. The implications of the instrument for treatment conceptualization and intervention in human trafficking cases are discussed as opportunities for enhancement of victim well-being, restoration engagement and activism. With the idea that what is personal is also political, we believe that the careful observation and data collection in specific cases can inform new areas of human rights activism.

Keywords: exploitation, human trafficking, measurement, vulnerability, screening

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Authors: Ajeni Ari, Chiara Maria Leva, Lorraine D’Arcy, Mary Kinahan

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In addressing gender and transport, considerations of mobility disparities amongst users are important. Public transport (PT) policy and design do not efficiently account for the varied mobility practices between men and women, with literature only recently showing a movement towards gender inclusion in transport. Arrantly, transport policy and designs remain gender-blind to the variation of mobility needs. The global movement towards sustainability highlights the need for expeditious strategies that could mitigate biases within the existing system. At the forefront of such a plan of action, in part, may be mandated inclusive infrastructural designs that stimulate user engagement with the transport system. Fundamentally access requires a means or an opportunity for the entity, which for PT is an establishment of its physical environment and/or infrastructural design. Its practicality may be utilised with knowledge of shortcomings in tangible or intangible aspects of the service offerings allowing access to opportunities. To inform on existing biases in PT planning and design, this study analyses qualitative data to examine the opinions and lived experiences among transport users in Ireland. Findings show that infrastructural design plays a significant role in users’ engagement with the service. Paramount to accessibility are service provisions that cater to both user interactions and those of their dependents. Apprehension to use the service is more so evident in women in comparison to men, particularly while carrying out household duties and caring responsibilities at peak times or dark hours. Furthermore, limitations are apparent with infrastructural service offerings that do not accommodate the physical (dis)ability of users, especially universal design. There are intersecting factors that impinge on accessibility, e.g., safety and security, yet essentially; the infrastructural design is an important influencing parameter to user perceptual conditioning. Additionally, data discloses the need for user intricacies to be factored in transport planning geared towards gender inclusivity, including mobility practices, travel purpose, transit time or location, and system integration.

Keywords: infrastructure design, public transport, accessibility, women, gender

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Authors: Veli Durmus, Mert Uydaci

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Every patient who needs to get a medical treatment should share health-related personal data with healthcare providers. Therefore, personal health data plays an important role to make health decisions and identify health threats during every encounter between a patient and caregivers. In other words, health data can be defined as privacy and sensitive information which is protected by various health laws and regulations. In many cases, the data are an outcome of the confidential relationship between patients and their healthcare providers. Globally, almost all nations have own laws, regulations or rules in order to protect personal data. There is a variety of instruments that allow authorities to use the health data or to set the barriers data sharing across international borders. For instance, Directive 95/46/EC of the European Union (EU) (also known as EU Data Protection Directive) establishes harmonized rules in European borders. In addition, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will set further common principles in 2018. Because of close policy relationship with EU, this study provides not only information on regulations, directives but also how they play a role during the legislative process in Turkey. Even if the decision is controversial, the Board has recently stated that private or public healthcare institutions are responsible for the patient call system, for doctors to call people waiting outside a consultation room, to prevent unlawful processing of personal data and unlawful access to personal data during the treatment. In Turkey, vast majority private and public health organizations provide a service that ensures personal data (i.e. patient’s name and ID number) to call the patient. According to the Board’s decision, hospital or other healthcare institutions are obliged to take all necessary administrative precautions and provide technical support to protect patient privacy. However, this application does not effectively and efficiently performing in most health services. For this reason, it is important to draw a legal framework of personal health data by stating what is the main purpose of this regulation and how to deal with complicated issues on personal health data in Turkey. The research is descriptive on data protection law for health care setting in Turkey. Primary as well as secondary data has been used for the study. The primary data includes the information collected under current national and international regulations or law. Secondary data include publications, books, journals, empirical legal studies. Consequently, privacy and data protection regimes in health law show there are some obligations, principles and procedures which shall be binding upon natural or legal persons who process health-related personal data. A comparative approach presents there are significant differences in some EU member states due to different legal competencies, policies, and cultural factors. This selected study provides theoretical and practitioner implications by highlighting the need to illustrate the relationship between privacy and confidentiality in Personal Data Protection in Health Law. Furthermore, this paper would help to define the legal framework for the health law case studies on data protection and privacy.

Keywords: data protection, personal data, privacy, healthcare, health law

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Authors: L. Vivet, L. Benabou, O. Simon

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With highly demanding applications in the field of power electronics, there is an increasing need to have interconnection materials with properties that can ensure both good mechanical assembly and high thermal/electrical conductivities. So far, lead-free solders have been considered an attractive solution, but recently, sintered joints based on nano-silver paste have been used for die attach and have proved to be a promising solution offering increased performances in high-temperature applications. In this work, the main parameters of the bonding process using silver oxalates are studied, i.e., the heating rate and the bonding pressure mainly. Their effects on both the mechanical and thermal properties of the sintered layer are evaluated following an experimental design. Pairs of copper substrates with gold metallization are assembled through the sintering process to realize the samples that are tested using a micro-traction machine. In addition, the obtained joints are examined through microscopy to identify the important microstructural features in relation to the measured properties. The formation of an intermetallic compound at the junction between the sintered silver layer and the gold metallization deposited on copper is also analyzed. Microscopy analysis exhibits a nanoporous structure of the sintered material. It is found that higher temperature and bonding pressure result in higher densification of the sintered material, with higher thermal conductivity of the joint but less mechanical flexibility to accommodate the thermo-mechanical stresses arising during service. The experimental design allows hence the determination of the optimal process parameters to reach sufficient thermal/mechanical properties for a given application. It is also found that the interphase formed between silver and gold metallization is the location where the fracture occurred after the mechanical testing, suggesting that the inter-diffusion mechanism between the different elements of the assembly leads to the formation of a relatively brittle compound.

Keywords: nanoporous structure, silver oxalate, sintering, mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, microelectronic packaging

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Irfan Anjum Manarvi, Zahid Ali kaimkhani

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Predicting location of the fracture in human bones has been a keen area of research for the past few decades. A variety of tests for hardness, deformation, and strain field measurement have been conducted in the past; but considered insufficient due to various limitations. Researchers, therefore, have proposed further studies due to inaccuracies in measurement methods, testing machines, and experimental errors. Advancement and availability of hardware, measuring instrumentation, and testing machines can now provide remedies to these limitations. The human foot is a critical part of the body exposed to various forces throughout its life. A number of products are developed for using it for protection and care, which many times do not provide sufficient protection and may itself become a source of stress due to non-consideration of the delicacy of bones in the feet. A continuous strain or overloading on feet may occur resulting to discomfort and even fracture. Mechanical properties of Tarsals, Metatarsals, and phalanges are, therefore, the primary area of consideration for all such design applications. Hardness is one of the mechanical properties which are considered very important to establish the mechanical resistance behavior of a material against applied loads. Past researchers have worked in the areas of investigating mechanical properties of these bones. However, their results were based on a limited number of experiments and taking average values of hardness due to either limitation of samples or testing instruments. Therefore, they proposed further studies in this area. The present research has been carried out to develop a hardness map of the human foot by measuring micro hardness at various locations of these bones. Results are compiled in the form of distance from a reference point on a bone and the hardness values for each surface. The number of test results is far more than previous studies and are spread over a typical bone to give a complete hardness map of these bones. These results could also be used to establish other properties such as stress and strain distribution in the bones. Also, industrial engineers could use it for design and development of various accessories for human feet health care and comfort and further research in the same areas.

Keywords: tarsals, metatarsals, phalanges, hardness testing, biomechanics of human foot

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Authors: Mutiara Effendi

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Nunukan Island is located on North Kalimantan of Indonesia. The region is one of Indonesia’s cross-border with Malaysia. In conjunction with its strategic geographic location, its potential as the new oil and gas resources has brought many researchers to do their studies here. The research area consists of claystone which criss-crossed with quarts sandstone. There are also rocks claystone-grained which are the weathering product of basaltic volcanic rocks. In some places, there are argillic clays which are the hydrothermal-altered product of Sei Apok ancient volcano. Geochemical study was established to learn the origin of the claystones, whether it came from weathering, hydrothermal alteration, or both. The samples used in this research are fresh rock, weathering rocks, hydrothermally-altered rock, and claystones. Chemical compositions of each sample were determined and their relations was studied. The studies encompass major and minor elements analysis using X-Ray Fluoresence (XRF) method and trace elements analysis, specifically rare earth elements, using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. The results were plotted on certain graphics to learn about the trend and the relations of each sample and element. Any changes in chemical compositions, like increase and decrease of elements or species, was analysed to learn about geological phenomenon that happens during the formation of claystones. The result of this study shows that claystones of Nunukan Island have relation with volcanic rocks of its surrounding area. Its chemical composition profile corresponds to weathering product of volcanic rocks rather than hydrothermally-altered product. The general profile also resembles claystone minerals of illite or montmorillonite, especially in the existence of aluminum, iron, potassium, and magnesium. Both minerals are formed in basic condition and commonly happen to shales. It is consistent with the fact that claystone was found mixing with shales and silt to clay grained mudstones in field exploration. Even though the general profile is much alike, the amount of each elements is not precisely the same as theoretically claystone mineral compositions because the mineral have not formed completely yet.

Keywords: claystone, geochemistry, ICP-MS, XRF

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Authors: Hanna Kroczak

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In Poland, the system of social and professional reintegration of people at risk of social exclusion is, in fact, based on the activity of social economy enterprises. Playing this significant role these entities have to cope with various problems, related to the necessity of being successful on the open market, location on the peripheral (especially rural) areas or the “socialist heritage” in social and economic relations, which is certainly not favorable for implementing the idea of activation policy. One of the main objectives of the project entitled “Innovation among people. The analysis of the innovations creation and implementation in companies and social economy enterprises operating in Poland”, was to investigate the innovativeness of Polish social economy entities as a possible way for them to be prosperous (the project was funded by the Polish National Science Centre grant on the decision DEC-2013/11/B/HS4/00691). The ethnographic research in this matter was conducted in 2015 in two parts: six three-day studies using participant observation and individual in-depth interview (IDI) techniques (in three social cooperatives and three social integration centres) and two one-month shadowings (in one social cooperative and one social integration centre). Enterprises were selected from various provinces in Poland on the basis of data from previous computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) research, where they declared that innovation management is a central element of their strategy. The ethnographic study revealed that they, indeed, create innovations and the main types of them are social and organisational innovations – but not always and not all the employees are aware of that. Moreover, it turned out that wherever the research was conducted, researchers found some similar opportunities of innovations creating process, like a “charismatic leader”, true passion and commitment not depended on the earned money or building local institutional networks, and similar threats, e.g. under-staffed offices or the great bureaucracy of some institutions. The primary conclusion for the studied entities is that being innovative is not only their challenge and opportunity for well-being at the same time, but even a necessity, something deeply rooted in their specific organisational structures. Explanations and illustrations for the statements above will be presented in the proposed paper.

Keywords: ethnographic research, innovation, Polish social economy, professional reintegration, social economy enterprises, social reintegration

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Authors: Duncan Fraser

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A 3-Dimensional (3D) conceptual site model was developed using the Leapfrog Works® platform utilising a comprehensive historical dataset for a large former Gasworks site in Fitzroy, Melbourne. The gasworks had been constructed across two fractured geological units with varying hydraulic conductivities. A Newer Volcanic (basaltic) outcrop covered approximately half of the site and was overlying a fractured Melbourne formation (Siltstone) bedrock outcropping over the remaining portion. During the investigative phase of works, a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) plume (coal tar) was identified within both geological units in the subsurface originating from multiple sources, including gasholders, tar wells, condensers, and leaking pipework. The first stage of model development was undertaken to determine the horizontal and vertical extents of the coal tar in the subsurface and assess the potential causality between potential sources, plume location, and site geology. Concentrations of key contaminants of interest (COIs) were also interpolated within Leapfrog to refine the distribution of contaminated soils. The model was subsequently used to develop a robust soil remediation strategy and achieve endorsement from an Environmental Auditor. A change in project scope, following the removal and validation of the three former gasholders, necessitated the additional excavation of a significant volume of residual contaminated rock to allow for the future construction of two-story underground basements. To assess financial liabilities associated with the offsite disposal or thermal treatment of material, the 3D model was updated with three years of additional analytical data from the active remediation phase of works. Chemical concentrations and the residual tar plume within the rock fractures were modelled to pre-classify the in-situ material and enhance separation strategies to prevent the unnecessary treatment of material and reduce costs.

Keywords: 3D model, contaminated land, Leapfrog, remediation

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: Sospeter P. Maganga, Alphonce Wikedzi, Mussa D. Budeba, Samwel V. Manyele

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This study characterizes complex gold ores (elemental and mineralogical composition, gold distribution, ore grindability, and mineral liberation) for preliminary process selection. About 200 kg of ore samples were collected from each location using systematic sampling by mass interval. Ores were dried, crushed, milled, and split into representative sub-samples (about 1 kg) for elemental and mineralogical composition analyses using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), fire assay finished with Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS), and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) methods, respectively. The gold distribution was studied on size-by-size fractions, while ore grindability was determined using the standard Bond test. The mineral liberation analysis was conducted using ThermoFisher Scientific Mineral Liberation Analyzer (MLA) 650, where unsieved polished grain mounts (80% passing 700 µm) were used as MLA feed. Two MLA measurement modes, X-ray modal analysis (XMOD) and sparse phase liberation-grain X-ray mapping analysis (SPL-GXMAP), were employed. At least two cyanide consumers (Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn) and kinetics impeders (Mn, S, As, and Bi) were present in all locations investigated. Copper content at Kapanda (0.77% Cu) and Ibindi (7.48% Cu) exceeded the recommended threshold of 0.5% Cu for direct cyanidation. The gold ore at Ibindi indicated a higher rate of grinding compared to other locations. This could be explained by the highest grindability (2.119 g/rev.) and lowest Bond work index (10.213 kWh/t) values. The pyrite-marcasite, chalcopyrite, galena, and siderite were identified as major gold, copper, lead, and iron-bearing minerals, respectively, with potential for economic extraction. However, only gold and copper can be recovered under conventional milling because of grain size issues (galena is exposed by 10%) and process complexity (difficult to concentrate and smelt iron from siderite). Therefore, the preliminary process selection is copper flotation followed by gold cyanidation for Kapanda and Ibindi ores, whereas gold cyanidation with additives such as glycine or ammonia is selected for Mawemeru and Itumbi ores because of low concentrations of Cu, Pb, Fe, and Zn minerals.

Keywords: complex gold ores, mineral liberation, ore characterization, ore grindability

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: K. Anas, M. Selvakumar, Samson David, R. R. Babu, S. Chattopadhyay

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The dynamic deformation of a visco elastic material can cause heat generation. This heat generation is aspect energy dissipation. The present work investigates the contribution of various factors like; elastomer structure, cross link type and density, filler networking, reinforcement potential and temperature at energy dissipation mechanism. The influences of these elements are investigated using very high frequency analyzer (VHF ) and dynamical mechanical analysis(DMA).VHF follows transmissibility and vibration isolation principle whereas DMA works on dynamical mechanical deformation principle. VHF analysis of different types of elastomers reveals that elastomer can act as a transmitter or damper of energy depending on the applied frequency ratio (ω/ωn). Dynamic modulus (G') of low damping rubbers like natural rubber does not varies rapidly with frequency but vice-versa for high damping rubber like butyl rubber (IIR). VHF analysis also depicts that polysulfidic linkages has high damping ratio (ζ) than mono sulfidic linkages due to its dissipative nature. At comparable cross link density, mono sulfidic linkages shows higher glass transition temperature (Tg) than poly sulfidic linkages. The intensity and location of loss modulus (G'') peak of different types of carbon black filled natural rubber compounds suggests that segmental relaxation at glass transition temperature (Tg) is seldom affected by filler particles, but the filler networks can influence the cross link density by absorbing the curatives. The filler network breaking and reformation during a dynamic strain is a thermally activated process. Thus, stronger aggregates are highly dissipative in nature. Measurements indicate that at lower temperature regimes polymeric chain friction is highly dissipative in nature.

Keywords: damping ratio, natural frequency, crosslinking density, segmental motion, surface activity, dissipative, polymeric chain friction

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Nahid Parween Anwar, Sadia Muzaffar Bhutta, Takbir Ali

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Mentoring is a structured activity which is designed to facilitate engagement between mentor and mentee to enhance mentee’s professional capability as an effective teacher. Both mentor and mentee are important elements of the ‘mentoring equation’ and play important roles in nourishing this dynamic, collaborative and reciprocal relationship. Cluster-Based Mentoring Programme (CBMP) provides an indigenous example of a project which focused on development of primary school teachers in selected clusters with a particular focus on their classroom practice. A study was designed to examine the efficacy of CBMP as part of Strengthening Teacher Education in Pakistan (STEP) project. This paper presents results of one of the components of this study. As part of the larger study, a cross-sectional survey was employed to explore nature and patterns of mentoring process from mentees’ perspectives in the selected districts of Sindh and Balochistan. This paper focuses on the results of the study related to the question: What are mentees’ perceptions of their mentors’ support for enhancing their classroom practice during mentoring process? Data were collected from mentees (n=1148) using a 5-point scale -‘Mentoring for Effective Primary Teaching’ (MEPT). MEPT focuses on seven factors of mentoring: personal attributes, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, feedback, system requirement, development and use of material, and gender equality. Data were analysed using SPSS 20. Mentees perceptions of mentoring practice of their mentors were summarized using mean and standard deviation. Results showed that mean scale scores on mentees’ perceptions of their mentors’ practices fell between 3.58 (system requirement) and 4.55 (personal attributes). Mentees’ perceives personal attribute of the mentor as the most significant factor (M=4.55) towards streamlining mentoring process by building good relationship between mentor and mentees. Furthermore, mentees have shared positive views about their mentors efforts towards promoting gender impartiality (M=4.54) during workshop and follow up visit. Contrary to this, mentees felt that more could have been done by their mentors in sharing knowledge about system requirement (e.g. school policies, national curriculum). Furthermore, some of the aspects in high scoring factors were highlighted by the mentees as areas for further improvement (e.g. assistance in timetabling, written feedback, encouragement to develop learning corners). Mentees’ perceptions of their mentors’ practices may assist in determining mentoring needs. The results may prove useful for the professional development programme for the mentors and mentees for specific mentoring programme in order to enhance practices in primary classrooms in Pakistan. Results would contribute into the body of much-needed knowledge from developing context.

Keywords: cluster-based mentoring programme, mentoring for effective primary teaching (MEPT), professional development, survey

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Authors: Macie Matta, Ahmad Jabri, Stephanie Jackson

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Introduction: In the absence of hypotension, pulmonary embolism (PE) causing right ventricular dysfunction or strain, whether confirmed by imaging or cardiac biomarkers, is deemed to be an intermediate-risk category. Urgent treatment of intermediate-risk PE can prevent progression to hemodynamic instability and death. Management options include thrombolysis, thrombectomy, or systemic anticoagulation. We aim to evaluate the short-term outcomes of a half-dose tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for the management of intermediate-risk PE. Methods: We retrospectively identified adult patients diagnosed with intermediate-risk PE between the years 2000 and 2021. Demographic data, lab values, imaging, treatment choice, and outcomes were all obtained through chart review. Primary outcomes measured include major bleeding events and in-hospital mortality. Patients on standard systemic anticoagulation without receiving thrombolysis or thrombectomy served as controls. Patient data were analyzed using SAS®️ Software (version 9.4; Cary, NC) to compare individuals that received half-dose tPA with controls, and statistical significance was set at a p-value of 0.05. Results: We included 57 patients in our final analysis, with 19 receiving tPA. Patient characteristics and comorbidities were comparable between both groups. There was a significant difference between PE location, presence of acute deep vein thrombosis, and peak troponin level between both groups. The thrombolytic cohort was more likely to demonstrate a 60/60 sign and thrombus in transit finding on echocardiography than controls. The thrombolytic group was more likely to have major bleeding (17% vs 7.9%, p= 0.4) and in-hospital mortality (5.3% vs 0%, p=0.3); however, this was not statistically significant. Patients who received half-dose tPA had non-significantly higher rates of major bleeding and in-hospital mortality. Larger scale, randomized control trials are needed to establish the benefit and safety of thrombolytics in patients with intermediate-risk PE.

Keywords: pulmonary embolism, half dose thrombolysis, tissue plasminogen activator, cardiac biomarkers, echocardiographic findings, major bleeding event

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Authors: Moen Torill, Rismark Marit, Astrid M. Solvberg

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In Norway, every municipality shall provide an educational psychological service, EPS, to support kindergartens and schools in their work with children and youths with special needs. The EPS focus its work on individuals, aiming to identify special needs and to give advice to teachers and parents when they ask for it. In addition, the service also give priority to prevention and system intervention in kindergartens and schools. To master these big tasks university courses are established to support EPS counsellors' continuous learning. There is, however, a need for more in-depth and systematic knowledge on how they experience the courses they attend. In this study, EPS counsellors’ reflection logs during a particular course are investigated. The research question is: what are the content and priorities of the reflections that are communicated in the logs produced by the educational psychological counsellors during a post-graduate course? The investigated course is a credit course organized over a one-year period in two one-semester modules. The altogether 55 students enrolled in the course work as EPS counsellors in various municipalities across Norway. At the end of each day throughout the course period, the participants wrote reflection logs about what they had experienced during the day. The data material consists of 165 pages of typed text. The collaborating researchers studied the data material to ascertain, differentiate and understand the meaning of the content in each log. The analysis also involved the search for similarity in content and development of analytical categories that described the focus and primary concerns in each of the written logs. This involved constant 'critical and sustained discussions' for mutual construction of meaning between the co-researchers in the developing categories. The process is inspired by Grounded Theory. This means that the concepts developed during the analysis derived from the data material and not chosen prior to the investigation. The analysis revealed that the concept 'Useful' frequently appeared in the participants’ reflections and, as such, 'Useful' serves as a core category. The core category is described through three major categories: (1) knowledge sharing (concerning direct and indirect work with students with special needs) with colleagues is useful, (2) reflections on models and theoretical concepts (concerning students with special needs) are useful, (3) reflection on the role as EPS counsellor is useful. In all the categories, the notion of useful occurs in the participants’ emphasis on and acknowledgement of the immediate and direct link between the university course content and their daily work practice. Even if each category has an importance and value of its own, it is crucial that they are understood in connection with one another and as interwoven. It is the connectedness that gives the core category an overarching explanatory power. The knowledge from this study may be a relevant contribution when it comes to designing new courses that support continuing professional development for EPS counsellors, whether for post-graduate university courses or local courses at the EPS offices or whether in Norway or other countries in the world.

Keywords: constructing and circulating knowledge, educational-psychological counsellor, higher education, professional development

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Authors: Brendah Nagula, Omolo Fredrick Okalebo, Ronald Ssengendo, Ivan Bamweyana

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The Kampala Physical Development Plan (KPDP) was developed in 2012 and projected both long term and short term developments within the City .The purpose of the plan was to not only shape the city into a spatially planned area but also to control the urban sprawl trends that had expanded with pronounced instances of informal settlements. This plan was approved by the National Physical Planning Board and a signature was appended by the Minister in 2013. Much as the KPDP plan has been implemented using different approaches such as detailed planning, development control, subdivision planning, carrying out construction inspections, greening and beautification, there is still limited knowledge on the level of conformance towards this plan. Therefore, it is yet to be determined whether it has been effective in shaping the City into an ideal spatially planned area. Attaining a clear picture of the level of conformance towards the KPDP 2012 through evaluation between the planned and the existing land use in Kampala City was performed. Methods such as Supervised Classification and Post Classification Change Detection were adopted to perform this evaluation. Scrutiny of findings revealed Central Division registered the lowest level of conformance to the planning standards specified in the KPDP 2012 followed by Nakawa, Rubaga, Kawempe, and Makindye. Furthermore, mixed-use development was identified as the land use with the highest level of non-conformity of 25.11% and institutional land use registered the highest level of conformance of 84.45 %. The results show that the aspect of location was not carefully considered while allocating uses in the KPDP whereby areas located near the Central Business District have higher land rents and hence require uses that ensure profit maximization. Also, the prominence of development towards mixed-use denotes an increased demand for land towards compact development that was not catered for in the plan. Therefore in order to transform Kampala city into a spatially planned area, there is need to carefully develop detailed plans especially for all the Central Division planning precincts indicating considerations for land use densification.

Keywords: spatial plan, post classification change detection, Kampala city, landuse

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