Search results for: evaluation scale

Authors: Rensson Homero Celiz Ygnacio, Marco Aurélio Schiavo Novaes, Lucy Vanessa Sulca Ñaupas, Ana Paula Ribeiro Rodrigues

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The cryopreservation of testicular tissue emerges as an alternative for the preservation of the reproductive potential of individuals who still cannot produce sperm; however, they will undergo treatments that may affect their fertility (e.g., chemotherapy). Therefore, the present work aims to compare two cryopreservation methods (slow freezing and vitrification) in testicular tissue of prepubertal lambs. For that, to obtain the testicular tissue, the animals were castrated and the testicles were collected immediately in a physiological solution supplemented with antibiotics. In the laboratory, the testis was split into small pieces. The total size of the testicular fragments was 3×3x1 mm³ and was placed in a dish contained in Minimum Essential Medium (MEM-HEPES). The fragments were distributed randomly into non-cryopreserved (fresh control), slow freezing (SF), and vitrified. To SF procedures, two fragments from a given male were then placed in a 2,0 mL cryogenic vial containing 1,0 mL MEM-HEPES supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 20% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Tubes were placed into a Mr. Frosty™ Freezing container with isopropyl alcohol and transferred to a -80°C freezer for overnight storage. On the next day, each tube was plunged into liquid nitrogen (NL). For vitrification, the ovarian tissue cryosystem (OTC) device was used. Testicular fragments were placed in the OTC device and exposed to the first vitrification solution composed of MEM-HEPES supplemented with 10 mg/mL Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA), 0.25 M sucrose, 10% Ethylene glycol (EG), 10% DMSO and 150 μM alpha-lipoic acid for four min. The VS1 was discarded and then the fragments were submerged into a second vitrification solution (VS2) containing the same composition of VS1 but 20% EG and 20% DMSO. VS2 was then discarded and each OTC device containing up to four testicular fragments was closed and immersed in NL. After the storage period, the fragments were removed from the NL, kept at room temperature for one min and then immersed at 37 °C in a water bath for 30 s. Samples were warmed by sequentially immersing in solutions of MEM-HEPES supplemented with 3 mg/mL BSA and decreasing concentrations of sucrose. Hematoxylin-eosin staining to analyze the tissue architecture was used. The score scale used was from 0 to 3, classified with a score 0 representing normal morphologically, and 3 were considered a lot of alteration. The histomorphological evaluation of the testicular tissue shows that when evaluating the nuclear alteration (distinction of nucleoli and condensation of nuclei), there are no differences when using slow freezing with respect to the control. However, vitrification presents greater damage (p <0.05). On the other hand, when evaluating the epithelial alteration, we observed that the freezing showed scores statistically equal to the control in variables such as retraction of the basement membrane, formation of gaps and organization of the peritubular cells. The results of the study demonstrated that cryopreservation using the slow freezing method is an excellent tool for the preservation of pubertal testicular tissue.

Keywords: cryopreservation, slow freezing, vitrification, testicular tissue, lambs

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Authors: T. Abdelkrim, K. Ben Seddik, B. Bezza, K. Benamrane, Aeh. Benkhelifa

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This paper proposes an implementation of boost converter for a resistive load using photovoltaic energy as a source. The model of photovoltaic cell and operating principle of boost converter are presented. A PIC micro controller is used in the close loop control to generate pulses for controlling the converter circuit. To performance evaluation of boost converter, a variation of output voltage of PV panel is done by shading one and two cells.

Keywords: boost converter, microcontroller, photovoltaic power generation, shading cells

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Authors: Insaf Mehani, Bachir Bouchekima

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The fight against climate change and the replacement of fossil energies nearing exhaustion gradually emerge as major societal and economic challenges. It is possible to develop common dates of low commercial value, and put on the local and international market a new generation of products with high added values such as bio ethanol. Besides its use in chemical synthesis, bio ethanol can be blended with gasoline to produce a clean fuel while improving the octane.

Keywords: bio-energy, waste dates, bio ethanol, Algeria

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Authors: Emrehan Ozcan, Dilek Beyazlı

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The development of tourism depends on an accurate planning approach as well as on the right planning process. This dependency is also a key factor in ensuring sustainability of tourism. The types of tourism, social expectations, planning practice, the socio-economic and the cultural structure of the region are determinants of planning approaches for tourism development. The tourism plans prepared for the historic city centers are usually based on the revitalization of cultural and historical values. The preservation and development of the tourism potentials of the historic city centers are important for providing an economic contribution to the locality, creating livable solutions for local residents and also the sustainability of tourism. This research is about experiencing and discussing a planning approach that will provide tourism development based on historical and cultural values. Historical and cultural values in the historical city center of Trabzon -which has a settlement history of approximately 4000 years, is located on the Black Sea coast of Turkey- wear out over years and lose their tourism potential. A planning study has been experienced with strategic spatial planning approach for Trabzon, which has not done a tourism-oriented planning study until now. The stages of the planning process provided by strategic spatial planning approach are an assessment of the current situation; vision, strategies, and actions; action planning; designing and implementation of actions and monitoring-evaluation. In the discussion section, the advantages, planning process, methods and techniques of the approach are discussed for the possibilities and constraints in terms of tourism planning. In this context, it is aimed to put forth tourism planning process, stages, and implementation tools within the scope of strategic spatial planning approach by comparing approaches used in the tourism-oriented/priority planning of historical city centers. Suggestions on the position and effect of the preferred planning approach in the existing spatial planning practice are the outputs of the study.

Keywords: cultural heritage, tourism oriented planning, Trabzon, strategic spatial Planning

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Authors: Ime R. Udotong, Justina I. R. Udotong, Ofonime U. M. John

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Brass terminal, one of the several crude oil and petroleum products storage/handling facilities in the Niger Delta was built in the 1980s. Activities at this site, over the years, released crude oil into this 3 m-deep, 1500 m-long canal lying adjacent to the terminal with oil floating on it and its sediment heavily polluted. To ensure effective clean-up, three major activities were planned: Site characterization, bioremediation pilot plant construction and testing and full-scale bioremediation of contaminated sediment/bank soil by land farming. The canal was delineated into 12 lots and each characterized, with reference to the floating oily phase, contaminated sediment and canal bank soil. As a result of site characterization, a pilot plant for on-site bioremediation was designed and a treatment basin constructed for carrying out pilot bioremediation test. Following a designed sampling protocol, samples from this pilot plant were collected for analysis at two laboratories as a quality assurance/quality control check. Results showed that Brass Canal upstream is contaminated with dark, thick and viscous oily film with characteristic hydrocarbon smell while downstream, thin oily film interspersed with water were observed. Sediments were observed to be dark with mixture of brownish sandy soil with TPH ranging from 17,800 mg/kg in Lot 1 to 88,500 mg/kg in Lot 12 samples. Brass Canal bank soil was observed to be sandy from ground surface to 3m, below ground surface (bgs) it was silty-sandy and brownish while subsurface soil (4-10m bgs) was sandy-clayey and whitish/grayish with typical hydrocarbon smell. Preliminary results obtained so far have been very promising but were proprietary. This project is considered, to the best of technical literature knowledge, the first large-scale on-site bioremediation project in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria.

Keywords: bioremediation, contaminated sediment, land farming, oily sludge, oil terminal

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Authors: Abu Yousuf, Maksudur Rahman Khan, Ahasanul Karim, Amirul Islam, Minhaj Uddin Monir, Sharmin Sultana, Domenico Pirozzi

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Traditional biodiesel feedstock like edible oils or plant oils, animal fats and cooking waste oil have been replaced by microbial oil in recent research of biodiesel synthesis. The well-known community of microbial oil producers includes microalgae, oleaginous yeast and seaweeds. Conventional transesterification of microbial oil to produce biodiesel is lethargic, energy consuming, cost-ineffective and environmentally unhealthy. This process follows several steps such as microbial biomass drying, cell disruption, oil extraction, solvent recovery, oil separation and transesterification. Therefore, direct transesterification of biodiesel synthesis has been studying for last few years. It combines all the steps in a single reactor and it eliminates the steps of biomass drying, oil extraction and separation from solvent. Apparently, it seems to be cost-effective and faster process but number of difficulties need to be solved to make it large scale applicable. The main challenges are microbial cell disruption in bulk volume and make faster the esterification reaction, because water contents of the medium sluggish the reaction rate. Several methods have been proposed but none of them is up to the level to implement in large scale. It is still a great challenge to extract maximum lipid from microbial cells (yeast, fungi, algae) investing minimum energy. Electroporation technique results a significant increase in cell conductivity and permeability caused due to the application of an external electric field. Electroporation is required to alter the size and structure of the cells to increase their porosity as well as to disrupt the microbial cell walls within few seconds to leak out the intracellular lipid to the solution. Therefore, incorporation of electroporation techniques contributed in direct transesterification of microbial lipids by increasing the efficiency of biodiesel production rate.

Keywords: biodiesel, electroporation, microbial lipids, transesterification

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Authors: Aliro Villacorta, Laura Rubio, Mohamed Alaraby, Montserrat López Mesas, Victor Fuentes-Cebrian, Oscar H. Moriones, Ricard Marcos, Alba Hernández.

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Micro and nano plastics (MNPLs) are emergent environmental pollutants requiring urgent information on their potential risks to human health. One of the problems associated with the evaluation of their undesirable effects is the lack of real samples matching those resulting from the environmental degradation of plastic wastes. To such end, we propose an easy method to obtain polyethylene terephthalate nano plastics from water plastic bottles (PET-NPLs) but, in principle, applicable to any other plastic goods sources. An extensive characterization indicates that the proposed process produces uniform samples of PET-NPLs of around 100 nm, as determined by using a multi-angle and dynamic light scattering methodology. An important point to be highlighted is that to avoid the metal contamination resulting from methods using metal blades/burrs for milling, trituration, or sanding, we propose to use diamond burrs to produce metal-free samples. To visualize the toxicological profile of the produced PET-NPLs, we have evaluated their ability to be internalized by cells, their cytotoxicity, and their ability to induce oxidative stress and induce DNA damage. In this preliminary approach, we have detected their cellular uptake, but without the induction of significant biological effects. Thus, no relevant increases in toxicity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) induction, or DNA damage -as detected with the comet assay- have been observed. The use of real samples, as produced in this study, will generate relevant data in the discussion about the potential health risks associated with MNPLs exposures.

Keywords: nanoplastics, polyethylene terephthalate, physicochemical characterization, cell uptake, cytotoxicity

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Authors: Jiahui You, Kyung Jae Lee

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Hydraulic fracturing fluid (HFF) is widely used in shale reservoir productions. HFF contains diverse chemical additives, which result in the dissolution and precipitation of minerals through multiple chemical reactions. In this study, a new pore-scale Darcy–Brinkman–Stokes (DBS) model coupled with Level Set Method (LSM) is developed to address the microscopic phenomena occurring during the iron–HFF interaction, by numerically describing mass transport, chemical reactions, and pore structure evolution. The new model is developed based on OpenFOAM, which is an open-source platform for computational fluid dynamics. Here, the DBS momentum equation is used to solve for velocity by accounting for the fluid-solid mass transfer; an advection-diffusion equation is used to compute the distribution of injected HFF and iron. The reaction–induced pore evolution is captured by applying the LSM, where the solid-liquid interface is updated by solving the level set distance function and reinitialized to a signed distance function. Then, a smoothened Heaviside function gives a smoothed solid-liquid interface over a narrow band with a fixed thickness. The stated equations are discretized by the finite volume method, while the re-initialized equation is discretized by the central difference method. Gauss linear upwind scheme is used to solve the level set distance function, and the Pressure–Implicit with Splitting of Operators (PISO) method is used to solve the momentum equation. The numerical result is compared with 1–D analytical solution of fluid-solid interface for reaction-diffusion problems. Sensitivity analysis is conducted with various Damkohler number (DaII) and Peclet number (Pe). We categorize the Fe (III) precipitation into three patterns as a function of DaII and Pe: symmetrical smoothed growth, unsymmetrical growth, and dendritic growth. Pe and DaII significantly affect the location of precipitation, which is critical in determining the injection parameters of hydraulic fracturing. When DaII<1, the precipitation uniformly occurs on the solid surface both in upstream and downstream directions. When DaII>1, the precipitation mainly occurs on the solid surface in an upstream direction. When Pe>1, Fe (II) transported deeply into and precipitated inside the pores. When Pe<1, the precipitation of Fe (III) occurs mainly on the solid surface in an upstream direction, and they are easily precipitated inside the small pore structures. The porosity–permeability relationship is subsequently presented. This pore-scale model allows high confidence in the description of Fe (II) dissolution, transport, and Fe (III) precipitation. The model shows fast convergence and requires a low computational load. The results can provide reliable guidance for injecting HFF in shale reservoirs to avoid clogging and wellbore pollution. Understanding Fe (III) precipitation, and Fe (II) release and transport behaviors give rise to a highly efficient hydraulic fracture project.

Keywords: reactive-transport , Shale, Kerogen, precipitation

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Authors: Abidemi C. Adegboye, Samuel Iweriebor

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The primary link between financial institutions and economic performance is the provision of resources by these institutions to businesses in order to drive enterprise expansion, sustainability, and development. In this study, the role of access to finance in driving innovations and productivity in Nigerian SMEs is investigated using the World Bank Enterprise Survey (ES) dataset. Innovation is defined based on the ES analysis using five compositions including product, method, organisational, use of foreign-licensed technology, and spending on R&D. The study considers finance in terms of source in meeting investment needs and in terms of access. Moreover, finance access is categorized as external and internal to a firm with each having different implications. The research methodology adopted a survey analysis based on the 2014 World Bank Enterprise Survey of 19 states in Nigeria. The survey comprised over 10,000 manufacturing and services firms, both at the small scale and medium scale levels. The logit estimation technique is used to estimate the relationships in the study. The results from the empirical analysis show that in general, access to finance drives SME innovation in Nigeria. In particular, ease of accessing bank loans and credit is shown to be the strongest positive force in driving all types of innovation among SMEs in Nigeria. In the same vein, the type of finance source for investment matters in terms of how it affects innovation: it is shown that both internal and external sources improve investment in product, process, and organisational innovation, but only external financing has effect on R&D spending and use of foreign licensed technology. Overall spending on R&D is only driven by access to external finance by the SMEs. For productivity, the results show that while structure of financing investment improves productivity, increased access to finance may actually lead to productivity decline among SMEs in Nigeria. There is a need for the financial system to evolve structures to increase fund availability to SMEs in Nigeria, especially for the purpose of innovation investment.

Keywords: access to finance, financing investment, innovation, productivity, SMEs

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Authors: Jiun-Horng Tsai, Shi-Jie, Nieh

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Fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) has become an important issue all over the world over the last decade. Annual mean PM₂.₅ concentration has been over the ambient air quality standard of PM₂.₅ (annual average concentration as 15μg/m³) which adapted by Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA). TEPA, therefore, has developed a number of air pollution control measures to improve the ambient concentration by reducing the emissions of primary fine particulate matter and the precursors of secondary PM₂.₅. This study investigated the potential improvement of ambient PM₂.₅ concentration by the TEPA program and the other scenario for further emission reduction on various sources. Four scenarios had been evaluated in this study, including a basic case and three reduction scenarios (A to C). The ambient PM₂.₅ concentration was evaluated by Community Multi-scale Air Quality modelling system (CMAQ) ver. 4.7.1 along with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) ver. 3.4.1. The grid resolutions in the modelling work are 81 km × 81 km for domain 1 (covers East Asia), 27 km × 27 km for domain 2 (covers Southeast China and Taiwan), and 9 km × 9 km for domain 3 (covers Taiwan). The result of PM₂.₅ concentration simulation in different regions of Taiwan shows that the annual average concentration of basic case is 24.9 μg/m³, and are 22.6, 18.8, and 11.3 μg/m³, respectively, for scenarios A to C. The annual average concentration of PM₂.₅ would be reduced by 9-55 % for those control scenarios. The result of scenario C (the emissions of precursors reduce to allowance levels) could improve effectively the airborne PM₂.₅ concentration to attain the air quality standard. According to the results of unit precursor reduction contribution, the allowance emissions of PM₂.₅, SOₓ, and NOₓ are 16.8, 39, and 62 thousand tons per year, respectively. In the Kao-Ping air basin, the priority for reducing precursor emissions is PM₂.₅ > NOₓ > SOₓ, whereas the priority for reducing precursor emissions is PM₂.₅ > SOₓ > NOₓ in others area. The result indicates that the target pollutants that need to be reduced in different air basin are different, and the control measures need to be adapted to local conditions.

Keywords: airborne PM₂.₅, community multi-scale air quality modelling system, control measures, weather research and forecasting model

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Authors: Ioanna Skoufali

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The present study is directed towards adaptation to climate change closely related to the phenomenon of the urban heat island (UHI). This issue is widespread and common to different urban realities, but particularly in Mediterranean cities that are characterized by dense urban. The attention of this work of redevelopment of the open space is focused on mitigation techniques aiming to solve local problems such as microclimatic parameters and the conditions of thermal comfort in summer, related to urban morphology. This quantitative analysis, evaluation, and verification survey involves the methodological elaboration applied in a real study case by Serres, through the experimental support of the ENVImet Pro V4.1 and BioMet software developed: i) in two phases concerning the anteoperam (phase a1 # 2013) and the post-operam (phase a2 # 2016); ii) in scenario A (+ 25% of green # 2017). The first study tends to identify the main intervention strategies, namely: the application of cool pavements, the increase of green surfaces, the creation of water surface and external fans; moreover, it obtains the minimum results achieved by the National Program 'Bioclimatic improvement project for public open space', EPPERAA (ESPA 2007-2013) related to the four environmental parameters illustrated below: the TAir = 1.5 o C, the TSurface = 6.5 o C, CDH = 30% and PET = 20%. In addition, the second study proposes a greater potential for improvement than postoperam intervention by increasing the vegetation within the district towards the SW/SE. The final objective of this in-depth design is to be transferable in homogeneous cases of urban regeneration processes with obvious effects on the efficiency of microclimatic mitigation and thermal comfort.

Keywords: cool pavements, microclimate parameters (TAir, Tsurface, Tmrt, CDH), mitigation strategies, outdoor thermal comfort (PET & UTCI)

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Authors: Gihan Thilakarathna, Fernando Ishara, Rathnayake Yasith, Bandara A. M. R. Y.

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E-learning is a crucial component of intelligent education. Even in the midst of a pandemic, E-learning is becoming increasingly important in the educational system. Several e-learning programs are accessible for students. Here, we decided to create an e-learning framework for children. We've found a few issues that teachers are having with their online classes. When there are numerous students in an online classroom, how does a teacher recognize a student's focus on academics and below-the-surface behaviors? Some kids are not paying attention in class, and others are napping. The teacher is unable to keep track of each and every student. Key challenge in e-learning is online exams. Because students can cheat easily during online exams. Hence there is need of exam proctoring is occurred. In here we propose an automated online exam cheating detection method using a web camera. The purpose of this project is to present an E-learning platform for math education and include games for kids as an alternative teaching method for math students. The game will be accessible via a web browser. The imagery in the game is drawn in a cartoonish style. This will help students learn math through games. Everything in this day and age is moving towards automation. However, automatic answer evaluation is only available for MCQ-based questions. As a result, the checker has a difficult time evaluating the theory solution. The current system requires more manpower and takes a long time to evaluate responses. It's also possible to mark two identical responses differently and receive two different grades. As a result, this application employs machine learning techniques to provide an automatic evaluation of subjective responses based on the keyword provided to the computer as student input, resulting in a fair distribution of marks. In addition, it will save time and manpower. We used deep learning, machine learning, image processing and natural language technologies to develop these research components.

Keywords: math, education games, e-learning platform, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Chris Phan, Yong Seok Park

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The Toyota Camry is one of the best-selling cars in America. It is economical, reliable, and most importantly, safe. These attributes allowed the Camry to be the trustworthy choice when choosing dependable vehicle. However, a new finding brought question to the Camry’s safety. Since 1997, the Camry received a “good” rating on its moderate overlap front crash test through the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. In 2012, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety introduced a frontal small overlap crash test into the overall evaluation of vehicle occupant safety test. The 2012 Camry received a “poor” rating on this new test, while the 2015 Camry redeemed itself with a “good” rating once again. This study aims to find a possible solution that Toyota implemented to reduce the severity of a frontal small overlap crash in the Camry during a mid-cycle update. The purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the performance of various A-pillar shapes as energy absorbing structures in improving passenger safety in a frontal crash. First, A-pillar structures of the 2012 and 2015 Camry were modeled using CAD software, namely SolidWorks. Then, a crash test simulation using ANSYS software, was applied to the A-pillars to analyze the behavior of the structures in similar conditions. Finally, the results were compared to safety values of cabin intrusion to determine the crashworthy behaviors of both A-pillar structures by measuring total deformation. This study highlights that it is possible that Toyota improved the shape of the A-pillar in the 2015 Camry in order to receive a “good” rating from the IIHS safety evaluation once again. These findings can possibly be used to increase safety performance in future vehicles to decrease passenger injury or fatality.

Keywords: A-pillar, Crashworthiness, Design Synthesis, Finite Element Analysis

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Authors: Erin Lawlor

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In 2008 Time magazine named terrorist rehabilitation as one of the best ideas of the year. The term deradicalisation has become synonymous with rehabilitation within security discourse. The allure for a “quick fix” when managing terrorist populations (particularly within prisons) has led to a focus on prescriptive programmes where there is a distinct lack of exploration into the drivers for a person to disengage or deradicalise from violence. It has been argued that to tackle a snowballing issue that interventions have moved too quickly for both theory development and methodological structure. This overly quick acceptance of a term that lacks rigorous testing, measuring, and monitoring means that there is distinct lack of evidence base for deradicalisation being a genuine process/phenomenon, leading to academics retrospectively attempting to design frameworks and interventions around a concept that is not truly understood. The UK Home Office has openly acknowledged the lack of empirical data on this subject. This lack of evidence has a direct impact on policy and intervention development. Extremism and deradicalisation are issues that affect public health outcomes on a global scale, to the point that terrorism has now been added to the list of causes of trauma, both in the direct form of being victim of an attack but also the indirect context of witnesses, children and ordinary citizens who live in daily fear. This study critiques current deradicalisation discourses to establish whether public health approaches offer opportunities for development. The research begins by exploring the theoretical constructs of both what deradicalisation, and public health issues are. Questioning: What does deradicalisation involve? Is there an evidential base on which deradicalisation theory has established itself? What theory are public health interventions devised from? What does success look like in both fields? From establishing this base, current deradicalisation practices will then be explored through examples of work already being carried out. Critiques can be broken into discussion points of: Language, the difficulties with conducting empirical studies and the issues around outcome measurements that deradicalisation interventions face. This study argues that a public health approach towards deradicalisation offers the opportunity to attempt to bring clarity to the definitions of radicalisation, identify what could be modified through intervention and offer insights into the evaluation of interventions. As opposed to simply focusing on an element of deradicalisation and analysing that in isolation, a public health approach allows for what the literature has pointed out is missing, a comprehensive analysis of current interventions and information on creating efficacy monitoring systems. Interventions, policies, guidance, and practices in both the UK and Australia will be compared and contrasted, due to the joint nature of this research between Sheffield Hallam University and La Trobe, Melbourne.

Keywords: radicalisation, deradicalisation, violent extremism, public health

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Authors: M. Macchiaroli, V. Pellecchia, L. Dolores

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Within any European and world model of management of the integrated water service (in Italy only since 2012 is regulated by a national Authority, that is ARERA), a significant part is covered by the development of assets in terms of hydraulic networks and wastewater collection networks, including all their relative building works. The process of selecting the investments to be made starts from the preventive analysis of critical issues (water losses, unserved areas, low service standards, etc.) who occur in the managed territory of the Operator. Through the Program of Interventions (Provision by ARERA n. 580/2019/R/idr), the Operator provides to program the projects that can meet the emerged needs to determine the improvement of the water service levels. This phase (analyzed and solved by the author with a work published in 2019) involves the use of evaluation techniques (cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria, and multi-objective techniques, neural networks, etc.) useful in selecting the most appropriate design answers to the different criticalities. However, at this point, the problem of establishing the time priorities between the various works deemed necessary remains open. That is, it is necessary to hierarchize the investments. In this decision-making moment, the interests of the private Operator are often opposed, which favors investments capable of generating high profitability, compared to those of the public controller (ARERA), which favors investments in greater social impact. In support of the concertation between these two actors, the protocol set out in the research has been developed, based on the AHP and capable of borrowing from the programmatic documents an orientation path for the settlement of the conflict. The protocol is applied to a case study of the Campania Region in Italy and has been professionally applied in the shared decision process between the manager and the local Authority.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, decision making, economic evaluation of projects, integrated water service

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Authors: Nivedita T. Patil, M. T. Patil, M. S. Shashidhar, R. G. Gonnade

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Cyclitols are cycloalkane polyols which have raise attention since they have numerous biological and pharmaceutical properties. Among these, inositols are important cyclitols, which constitute a group of naturally occurring polyhydric alcohols. Myo, scyllo, allo, neo, D-chiro- are naturally occurring structural isomer of inositol while other four isomers (L-chiro, allo, epi-, and cis-inositol) are derived from myo-inositol by chemical synthesis. Myo-inositol, most abundant isomer, plays an important role in signal transduction process and for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, bacterial infections, stimulation of menstruation, ovulation in polycystic ovary syndrome, improvement of osteogenesis, and in treatment of neurological disorders. Considering the vast application of the derivatives, it becomes important to supply these compounds for further studies in quantitative amounts, but the synthesis of suitably protected chiral inositol derivatives is the key intermediates in most of the synthesis which is difficult. Chiral inositol derivatives could also be of interest to synthetic organic chemists as they could serve as potential starting materials for the synthesis of several natural products and their analogs. Thus, obtaining chiral myo-inositol derivatives in a more eco-friendly way is need for current inositol chemistry. Thus, the resolution of nonracemates by preferential crystallization of enantiomers has not been reported as a method for inositol derivatives. We are optimistic that this work might lead to the development of the two tosylate enantiomers as synthetic chiral pool molecules for organic synthesis. Resolution of racemic 4-O-benzyl 6-O-tosyl myo-inositol 1, 3, 5 orthoformate was successfully achieved on multigram scale by preferential crystallization, which is more scalable, eco-friendly method of separation than other reported methods. The separation of the conglomeric mixture of tosylate was achieved by suspending the mixture in ethyl acetate till the level of saturation is obtained. To this saturated clear solution was added seed crystal of the desired enantiomers. The filtration of the precipitated seed was carried out at its filtration window to get enantiomerically enriched tosylate, and the process was repeated alternatively. These enantiomerically enriched samples were recrystallized to get tosylate as pure enantiomers. The configuration of the resolved enantiomers was determined by converting it to previously reported dibenzyl ether myo-inositol, which is an important precursor for mono- and tetraphosphates. We have also developed a convenient and practical method for the preparation of enantiomeric 4-O and 6-O-allyl myo-inositol orthoesters by resolution of diastereomeric allyl dicamphante orthoesters on multigram scale. These allyl ethers can be converted to other chiral protected myo-inositol derivatives using routine synthetic transformations. The chiral allyl ethers can be obtained in gram quantities, and the methods are amenable to further scale-up due to the simple procedures involved. We believe that the work described enhances the pace of research to understand the intricacies of the myo-inositol cycle as the methods described provide efficient access to enantiomeric phosphoinositols, cyclitols, and their derivatives from the abundantly available myo-inositol as a starting material.

Keywords: cyclitols, diastereomers, enantiomers, myo-inositol, preferential crystallization, signal transduction

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Authors: Eryati Darwin, Arina Widya Murni, Adnil Edwin Nurdin

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Background: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a highly prevalent and heterogeneous disorder. Most patients with FD complain of symptoms related to the intake of meals. Psychological stress may promote peptic ulcer and had an effect on ulcers associated Hp, and may also trigger worsen symptoms in inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal. Cells in mucosal gastric stimulate the production of several cytokines, which might associated with Helicobacter pylori infection. The cascade of biological events leading to stress-induced FD remains poorly understood. Aim of Study: To determine the prion-flammatory cytokine IL-6, and Helicobacter pylori activity on mucosal gastric of FD and their association with psychological stress. Methods: The subjects of this study were dyspeptic patients who visited M. Djamil General Hospital and in two Community Health Centers in Padang. On the basis of the stress index scale to identify psychological stress by using Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS 42), subjects were divided into two groups of 20 each, stress groups and non-stress groups. All diagnoses were confirmed by review of cortisol and esophagogastroduodenoscopy reports. Gastric biopsy samples and peripheral blood were taken during diagnostic procedures. Immunohistochemistry methods were used to determine the expression of IL-6 and Hp in gastric mucosal. The data were statistically analyzed by univariate and bivariate analysis. All procedures of this study were approved by Research Ethics Committee of Medical Faculty Andalas University. Results: In this study, we enrolled 40 FD patients (26 woman and 14 men) in range between 35-56 years old. Cortisol level of blood FD patients as parameter of stress hormone which taken in the morning was significantly higher in stress group than non-stress group. The expression of IL-6 in gastric mucosa was significantly higher in stress group in compared to non-stress group (p<0,05). Helicobacter pylori activity in gastric mucosal in stress group were significantly higher than non-stress group. Conclusion: The present study showed that psychological stress can induce gastric mucosal inflammation and increase of Helicobacter pylori activity.

Keywords: functional dyspepsia, Helicobacter pylori, interleukin-6, psychological stress

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Authors: Katja Siefken, Astrid Junge

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Background: Research indicates that physical activity (PA) protects us from developing mental disorders. The knowledge regarding optimal domain, intensity, type, context, and amount of PA promotion for the prevention of mental disorders is sparse and incoherent. The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between PA domains and mental well-being, and whether associations vary by domain, amount, context, intensity, and type of PA. Methods: 310 individuals (age: 25 yrs., SD 7; 73% female) completed a questionnaire on personal patterns of their PA behaviour (IPQA) and their mental health (Centre of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale, the subjective physical well-being (FEW-16)). Linear and multiple regression were used for analysis. Findings: Individuals who met the PA recommendation (N=269) reported higher scores on subjective physical well-being than those who did not meet the PA recommendations (N=41). Whilst vigorous intensity PA predicts subjective well-being (β = .122, p = .028), it also correlates with depression. The more vigorously physically active a person is, the higher the depression score (β = .127, p = .026). The strongest impact of PA on mental well-being can be seen in the transport domain. A positive linear correlation on subjective physical well-being (β =.175, p = .002), and a negative linear correlation for anxiety (β =-.142, p = .011) and depression (β = -.164, p = .004) was found. Multiple regression analysis indicates similar results: Time spent in active transport on the bicycle significantly lowers anxiety and depression scores and enhances subjective physical well-being. The more time a participant spends using the bicycle for transport, the lower the depression (β = -.143, p = .013) and anxiety scores (β = -.111,p = .050). Conclusions: Meeting the PA recommendations enhances subjective physical well-being. Active transport has a substantial impact on mental well-being. Findings have implications for policymakers, employers, public health experts and civil society. A stronger focus on the promotion and protection of health through active transport is recommended. Inter-sectoral exchange, outside the health sector, is required. Health systems must engage other sectors in adopting policies that maximize possible health gains.

Keywords: active transport, mental well-being, health promotion, psychological disorders

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Authors: F. Slaven, M. Uys, Y. Erasmus

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The South African National Mental Health Education Programme (SANMHEP) was a National Department of Health (NDoH) initiative to strengthen mental health services in South Africa in collaboration with the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD), SANOFI and the various provincial departments of health. The programme was implemented against the backdrop of a number of challenges in the management of mental health in the country related to staff shortages and infrastructure, the intersection of mental health with the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and various forms of violence, and challenges around substance abuse and its relationship with mental health. The Mental Health Care Act (No. 17 of 2002) prescribes that mental health should be integrated into general health services including primary, secondary and tertiary levels to improve access to services and reduce stigma associated with mental illness. In order for the provisions of the Act to become a reality, and for the journey of mental health patients through the system to improve, sufficient and skilled health care providers are critical. SANMHEP specifically targeted Medical Doctors and Professional Nurses working within the facilities that are listed to conduct 72-hour assessments, as well as District Hospitals. The aim of the programme was to improve the clinical diagnosis and management of mental disorders/conditions and the understanding of and compliance with the Mental Health Care Act and related Regulations and Guidelines in the care, treatment and rehabilitation of mental health care users. The course used a blended-learning approach and trained 1 120 health care providers through 36 workshops between February and November 2019. Of those trained, 689 (61.52%) were Professional Nurses, 337 (30.09%) were Medical Doctors, and 91 (8.13%) indicated their occupation as ‘other’ (of these more than half were psychologists). The pre- and post-evaluation of the face-to-face training sessions indicated a marked improvement in knowledge and confidence level scores (both clinical and legislative) in the care, treatment and rehabilitation of mental health care users by participants in all the training sessions. There was a marked improvement in the knowledge and confidence of participants in performing certain mental health activities (on average the ratings increased by 2.72; or 27%) and in managing certain mental health conditions (on average the ratings increased by 2.55; or 25%). The course also required that participants obtain 70% or higher in their formal assessments as part of the online component. The 337 participants who completed and passed the course scored 90% on average. This illustrates that when participants attempted and completed the course, they did very well. To further assess the effect of the course on the knowledge and behaviour of the trained mental health care practitioners a mixed-method outcome evaluation is currently underway consisting of a survey with participants three months after completion, follow-up interviews with participants, and key informant interviews with department of health officials and course facilitators. This will enable a more detailed assessment of the impact of the training on participants' perceived ability to manage and treat mental health patients.

Keywords: mental health, public health facilities, South Africa, training

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Authors: Abderrazak Bannari, Ghadeer Kadhem

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The objectives of this paper are the validation and the evaluation of MBES-CARIS BASE surface data performance for bathymetric mapping of shallow water in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The latter is an archipelago with a total land area of about 765.30 km², approximately 126 km of coastline and 8,000 km² of marine area, located in the Arabian Gulf, east of Saudi Arabia and west of Qatar (26° 00’ N, 50° 33’ E). To achieve our objectives, bathymetric attributed grid files (X, Y, and depth) generated from the coverage of ship-track MBSE data with 300 x 300 m cells, processed with CARIS-HIPS, were downloaded from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO). Then, brought into ArcGIS and converted into a raster format following five steps: Exportation of GEBCO BASE surface data to the ASCII file; conversion of ASCII file to a points shape file; extraction of the area points covering the water boundary of the Kingdom of Bahrain and multiplying the depth values by -1 to get the negative values. Then, the simple Kriging method was used in ArcMap environment to generate a new raster bathymetric grid surface of 30×30 m cells, which was the basis of the subsequent analysis. Finally, for validation purposes, 2200 bathymetric points were extracted from a medium scale nautical map (1:100 000) considering different depths over the Bahrain national water boundary. The nautical map was scanned, georeferenced and overlaid on the MBES-CARIS generated raster bathymetric grid surface (step 5 above), and then homologous depth points were selected. Statistical analysis, expressed as a linear error at the 95% confidence level, showed a strong correlation coefficient (R² = 0.96) and a low RMSE (± 0.57 m) between the nautical map and derived MBSE-CARIS depths if we consider only the shallow areas with depths of less than 10 m (about 800 validation points). When we consider only deeper areas (> 10 m) the correlation coefficient is equal to 0.73 and the RMSE is equal to ± 2.43 m while if we consider the totality of 2200 validation points including all depths, the correlation coefficient is still significant (R² = 0.81) with satisfactory RMSE (± 1.57 m). Certainly, this significant variation can be caused by the MBSE that did not completely cover the bottom in several of the deeper pockmarks because of the rapid change in depth. In addition, steep slopes and the rough seafloor probably affect the acquired MBSE raw data. In addition, the interpolation of missed area values between MBSE acquisition swaths-lines (ship-tracked sounding data) may not reflect the true depths of these missed areas. However, globally the results of the MBES-CARIS data are very appropriate for bathymetric mapping of shallow water areas.

Keywords: bathymetry mapping, multibeam echosounder systems, CARIS-HIPS, shallow water

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Authors: Parul Kapoor, Dheeraj Bhardwaj

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Delhi and other Indian cities accommodate thousands of Central Government employees in housing complexes called ‘General Pool Residential Accommodation’ (GPRA), located in prime parcels of the city. These residential colonies are now undergoing redevelopment at a massive scale, significantly impacting the ecology of the surrounding areas. Essentially, these colonies were low-rise, low-density planned developments with a dense tree cover and minimal parking requirements. But with increasing urbanisation and spike in parking demand, the proposed built form is an aggregate of high-rise gated complexes, redefining the skyline of the city which is a huge departure from the mediocre setup of Low-rise Walk-up apartments. The complexity of these developments is further aggravated by the need for parking which necessitates cutting huge number of trees to accommodate multiple layers of parking beneath the structures thus sidelining the authentic character of these areas which is laden with a dense tree cover. The aftermath of this whole process is the generation of a huge carbon footprint on the surrounding areas, which is unaccounted for, in the planning and design practice. These developments are currently planned as mix-use compounds with large commercial built-up spaces which have additional parking requirements over and above the residential parking. Also, they are perceived as gated complexes and not as neighborhood units, thus project isolated images of high-rise, dense systems with little context to the surroundings. The paper would analyze case studies of GPRA Redevelopment projects in Delhi, and the lack of relevant development control regulations which have led to abnormalities and complications in the entire redevelopment process. It would also suggest policy guidelines which can establish comprehensive codes for effective planning of these settlements.

Keywords: gated complexes, GPRA Redevelopment projects, increased densities, huge carbon footprint, mixed-use development

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Authors: Tatjana Pekmezovic, Milica Jecmenica-Lukic, Igor Petrovic, Vladimir Kostic

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Background: A group of atypical parkinsonian syndromes (APS) includes a variety of rare neurodegenerative disorders characterized by reduced life expectancy, increasing disability, and considerable impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Aim: In this study we wanted to answer two questions: a) which demographic and clinical factors are main contributors of HRQoL in our cohort of patients with APS, and b) how does quality of life of these patients change over 1-year follow-up period. Patients and Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study in hospital settings. The initial study comprised all consecutive patients who were referred to the Department of Movement Disorders, Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade (Serbia), from January 31, 2000 to July 31, 2013, with the initial diagnoses of ‘Parkinson’s disease’, ‘parkinsonism’, ‘atypical parkinsonism’ and ‘parkinsonism plus’ during the first 8 months from the appearance of first symptom(s). The patients were afterwards regularly followed in 4-6 month intervals and eventually the diagnoses were established for 46 patients fulfilling the criteria for clinically probable progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and 36 patients for probable multiple system atrophy (MSA). The health-related quality of life was assessed by using the SF-36 questionnaire (Serbian translation). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of composite scores of SF-36. The importance of changes in quality of life scores of patients with APS between baseline and follow-up time-point were quantified using Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. The magnitude of any differences for the quality of life changes was calculated as an effect size (ES). Results: The final models of hierarchical regression analysis showed that apathy measured by the Apathy evaluation scale (AES) score accounted for 59% of the variance in the Physical Health Composite Score of SF-36 and 14% of the variance in the Mental Health Composite Score of SF-36 (p<0.01). The changes in HRQoL were assessed in 52 patients with APS who completed 1-year follow-up period. The analysis of magnitude for changes in HRQoL during one-year follow-up period have shown sustained medium ES (0.50-0.79) for both Physical and Mental health composite scores, total quality of life as well as for the Physical Health, Vitality, Role Emotional and Social Functioning. Conclusion: This study provides insight into new potential predictors of HRQoL and its changes over time in patients with APS. Additionally, identification of both prognostic markers of a poor HRQoL and magnitude of its changes should be considered when developing comprehensive treatment-related strategies and health care programs aimed at improving HRQoL and well-being in patients with APS.

Keywords: atypical parkinsonian syndromes, follow-up study, quality of life, APS

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Authors: Yea-Pyng Lin

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Dignity is a core element of nursing care. Maintaining the dignity of patients is an important issue because the health and recovery of patients can be adversely affected by a lack of dignity in their care. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of a nursing dignity care program upon patients’ dignity in care. A quasi-experimental research design was implemented. Nurses were recruited by purposive sampling, and their patients were recruited by simple random sampling. Nurses in the experimental group received the nursing educational program on dignity care, while nurses in the control group received in-service education as usual. Data were collected via two instruments: the dignity in care scale for nurses and the dignity in care scale to patients, both of which were developed by the researcher. Both questionnaires consisted of three domains: agreement, importance, and frequencies of providing dignity care. A total of 178 nurses in the experimental group and 193 nurses in the control group completed the pretest and the follow-up evaluations at the first month, the third month, and the sixth month. The number of patients who were cared for by the nurses in the experimental group was 94 in the pretest. The number of patients in the post-test at the first, third, and sixth months were 91, 85, and 77, respectively. In the control group, 88 patients completed the II pretest, and 80 filled out the post-test at the first month, 77 at the third, and 74 at the sixth month. The major findings revealed the scores of agreement domain among nurses in the experimental group were found significantly different from those who in the control group at each point of time. The scores of importance domain between these two groups also displayed significant differences at pretest and the first month of post-test. Moreover, the frequencies of proving dignity care to patients were significant at pretest, the third month and sixth month of post-test. However, the experimental group had only significantly different from those who in the control group on the frequencies of receiving dignity care especially in the items of ‘privacy care,’ ‘communication care,’ and ‘emotional care’ for the patients. The results show that the nursing program on dignity care could increase nurses’ dignity care for patients in three domains of agreement, importance, and frequencies of providing dignity care. For patients, only the frequencies of receiving dignity care were significantly increased. Therefore, the nursing program on dignity care could be applicable for nurses’ in-service education and practice to enhance the ability of nurses to care for patient’s dignity.

Keywords: nurses, patients, dignity care, quasi-experimental, nursing education

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Authors: Jonathan D. Recchi

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Introduction: Workplace violence is a major concern for nurses throughout the United States and is a rising occupational health hazard that has been exacerbated by both the Covid-19 pandemic and increasing patient and family member incivility. De-escalation training has been found to be an evidence-based tool for emergency department nurses to help avoid or mitigate high-risk situations that could lead to workplace violence. Many healthcare organizations either do not provide de-escalation training to their staff or only provide it sparingly, such as during new employee orientation. There is limited research in the literature on the psychological benefits of de-escalation training. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if there are psychological and organizational advantages to providing emergency department nurses with de-escalation training. Equipping emergency department nurses with skills that are essential to de-escalate violent or potentially violent patients may help prevent physical, mental, and/or psychological damage to the nurse because of violence and/or threatening acts. The hypothesis is that providing de-scalation training to emergency department nurses will lead to increased nurse confidence in dealing with aggressive patients, increased resiliency, increased professional quality of life, and increased intention to stay with their current organization. This study aims to show that organizations would benefit from providing de-escalation training to all nurses operating in high-risk areas on a regular basis. Significance: Showing psychological benefits to providing evidence-based de-escalation training can provide healthcare organizations with the ability to retain a more resilient and prepared workforce. Method: This study uses a pre-experimental cross-sectional pre-/post-test design using a convenience sample of emergency department registered nurses employed across Jefferson Health Northeast (Jefferson Torresdale, Jefferson Bucks, and Jefferson Frankford. Inclusion criteria include registered nurses who work full or part-time, with 51% or more of their clinical time spent in direct clinical care. Excluded from participation are registered nurses in orientation, per-diem nurses, temporary and/or travel nurses, nurses who spend less than 51% of their time in direct patient care, and nurses who have received de-escalation training within the past two years. This study uses the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10 (CD-RISC-10), the Clinician Confidence in Coping with Patient Aggression Scale, the Press Ganey Intention To Stay question, and the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Results: A Paired t-Test will be used to analyze the mean scores of the three scales and one question pre and post-intervention to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in RN resiliency, confidence in coping with patient aggression, intention to stay, and professional quality of life. Discussion and Conclusions: Upon completion, the outcomes of this intervention will show the importance of providing evidence-based de-escalation training to all nurses operating within the emergency department.

Keywords: de-escalation, nursing, emergency department, workplace violence

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Authors: Rupa Jeena, Pankaj Chetry, Pradeep Sarin

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The study of fundamental particles and the forces governing them has always remained an attractive field of theoretical study to pursue. With the advancement and development of new technologies and instruments, it is possible now to perform particle physics experiments on a large scale for the validation of theoretical predictions. These experiments are generally carried out in a highly intense beam environment. This, in turn, requires the development of a detector prototype possessing properties like radiation tolerance, thermal stability, and fast timing response. Semiconductors like Silicon, Germanium, Diamond, and Gallium Nitride (GaN) have been widely used for particle detection applications. Silicon and germanium being narrow bandgap semiconductors, require pre-cooling to suppress the effect of noise by thermally generated intrinsic charge carriers. The application of diamond in large-scale experiments is rare owing to its high cost of fabrication, while GaN is one of the most extensively explored potential candidates. But we are aiming to introduce another wide bandgap semiconductor in this active area of research by considering all the requirements. We have made an attempt by utilizing the wide bandgap of rutile Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and other properties to use it for particle detection purposes. The thermal evaporation-oxidation (in PID furnace) technique is used for the deposition of the film, and the Metal Semiconductor Metal (MSM) electrical contacts are made using Titanium+Gold (Ti+Au) (20/80nm). The characterization comprising X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Ultraviolet (UV)-Visible spectroscopy, and Laser Raman Spectroscopy (LRS) has been performed on the film to get detailed information about surface morphology. On the other hand, electrical characterizations like Current Voltage (IV) measurement in dark and light and test with laser are performed to have a better understanding of the working of the detector prototype. All these preliminary tests of the detector will be presented.

Keywords: particle detector, rutile titanium dioxide, thermal evaporation, wide bandgap semiconductors

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Authors: Nilgün Katrancı, Pınar Göv

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With the acceleration and assessment of quality and patient safety works in healthcare services in the 21st century, activities to reduce errors have gained importance. The prevention and reduction of unintended consequences related to healthcare services and errors made during the delivery of healthcare services can be achieved by understanding the causes of the errors. Communication is the basic reason most frequently seen in such cases. Nurses who communicate with patients more closely and for longer time play a more critical role in ensuring patient safety compared to other healthcare professionals. To reduce the risk of medical errors and increase the quality of care, it is important to raise the awareness of nurses about patient safety in training period. This descriptive study was conducted between February 2017 and May 2017 to assess intern students' attitudes towards and knowledge of patient safety and medical errors. The target population of the study consists of intern students at the Faculty of Nursing in Gaziantep University (N=180). The study did not apply any sample selection method, and the research group consisted of 90 female and 37 male senior students who were available and accepted to take part in the study (N=127). The study used personal information form and medical error attitude scale to collect data. The medical error attitude scale consists of 16 items and 3 sub-dimensions. The most frequently seen medical error in the clinics the interns worked at was found as ‘Failure to comply with asepsis rules’ with a rate of 67,7%. The most frequent case among reasons for not disclosing an error is ‘noticing and correcting the error before affecting the patient’ with the rate of 70,9%. The most frequently expressed implications of disclosing a serious error for the intern students participating in the study are ‘harming patient trust (78%)’ and ‘possibility of overreaction by patient (62,2%)’. According to the results of the study, the awareness of the students about the importance of medical errors and error reporting was found high (3,48 ± 0,49). Consequently, it is important to assess and positively improve the attitudes of nurses and other healthcare professionals towards medical errors for the determination of causes of medical errors and their prevention.

Keywords: healthcare service, intern student, medical error, patient safety

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Authors: Simona Lucakova, Irena Branyikova

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Eutrophication, a condition when water becomes over-enriched with nutrients (P, N), can lead to undesirable excessive growth of phytoplankton, so-called algal bloom. This process results in the accumulation of toxin-producing cyanobacteria and oxygen depletion, both possibly leading to the collapse of the whole ecosystem. In real conditions, the limiting nutrient, which determines the possible growth of harmful algal bloom, is usually phosphorus. Algicides or flocculants have been applied in the eutrophicated waterbody in order to reduce the phytoplankton growth, which leads to the introduction of toxic chemicals into the water. In our laboratory, the idea of the prevention of harmful phytoplankton growth by the intentional cultivation of non-toxic cyanobacteria Tolypothrix tenuis in semi-open floating photobioreactors directly on the surface of phosphorus-rich waterbody is examined. During the process of cultivation, redundant phosphorus is incorporated into cyanobacterial biomass, which can be subsequently used for the production of biofuels, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, or biostimulants for agricultural use. To determine the ability of phosphorus incorporation, batch-cultivation of Tolypothrix biomass in media simulating eutrophic water (10% BG medium) and in effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plant, both with the initial phosphorus concentration in the range 0.5-1.0 mgP/L was performed in laboratory-scale models of floating photobioreactors. After few hours of cultivation, the phosphorus content was decreased below the target limit of 0.035 mgP/L, which was given as a borderline for the algal bloom formation. Under laboratory conditions, the effect of several parameters on the rate of phosphorus decrease was tested (illumination, temperature, stirring speed/aeration gas flow, biomass to medium ratio). Based on the obtained results, a bench-scale floating photobioreactor was designed and will be tested for Tolypothrix growth in real conditions. It was proved that intentional cultivation of cyanobacteria Tolypothrix could be a suitable approach for extracting redundant phosphorus from eutrophic waters as prevention of algal bloom formation.

Keywords: cyanobacteria, eutrophication, floating photobioreactor, Tolypothrix

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Authors: Mehrangiz Rezaee, Zabih Charrahi

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In the last decade, with increasing tourism destinations and tourism growth, we are witnessing the widespread impacts of tourism on the economy, environment and society. Tourism and its related economy are now undergoing a transformation and as one of the key pillars of business economics, it plays a vital role in the world economy. Activities related to tourism and providing services appropriate to it in an area, like many economic sectors, require the necessary context on its origin. Given the importance of tourism industry and tourism potentials of Yazd province in Iran, it is necessary to use a proper procedure for prioritizing different areas for proper and efficient planning. One of the most important goals of planning is foresight and creating balanced development in different geographical areas. This process requires an accurate study of the areas and potential and actual talents, as well as evaluation and understanding of the relationship between the indicators affecting the development of the region. At the global and regional level, the development of tourist resorts and the proper distribution of tourism destinations are needed to counter environmental impacts and risks. The main objective of this study is the sustainable development of suitable tourism areas. Given that tourism activities in different territorial areas require operational zoning, this study deals with the evaluation of territorial tourism using concepts such as land use, fitness and sustainable development. It is essential to understand the structure of tourism development and the spatial development of tourism using land use patterns, spatial planning and sustainable development. Tourism spatial planning implements different approaches. However, the development of tourism as well as the spatial development of tourism is complex, since tourist activities can be carried out in different areas with different purposes. Multipurpose areas have great important for tourism because it determines the flow of tourism. Therefore, in this paper, by studying the development and determination of tourism suitability that is related to spatial development, it is possible to plan tourism spatial development by developing a model that describes the characteristics of tourism. The results of this research determine the suitability of multi-functional territorial tourism development in line with spatial planning of tourism.

Keywords: land use change, spatial planning, sustainability, territorial tourist, Yazd

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Authors: Atena Sadat Hosseini, Mohammadhossein Habibi

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Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most typically diagnosed leukemia. In older adults, AML imposes a dismal outcome. AML originates with a dominant mutation, then adds collaborative, transformative mutations leading to myeloid transformation and clinical/biological heterogeneity. Several chemotherapeutic drugs are used for this cancer. These drugs are naturally associated with several side effects, and finding a more accurate molecular mechanism of these drugs can have a significant impact on the selection and better candidate of drugs for treatment. In this study, we evaluated bortezomibin myeloma cells using bioinformatics analysis and evaluation of RNA-Seq data. Then investigated the molecular pathways proteins- proteins interactions associated with this chemotherapy drug. A total of 658upregulated genes and 548 downregulated genes were sorted.AUF1 (hnRNP D0) binds and destabilizes mRNA, degradation of GLI2 by the proteasome, the role of GTSE1 in G2/M progression after G2 checkpoint, TCF dependent signaling in response to WNT demonstrated in upregulated genes. Besides insulin resistance, AKT phosphorylates targets in the nucleus, cytosine methylation, Longevity regulating pathway, and Signal Transduction of S1P Receptor were related to low expression genes. With respect to this results, HIST2H2AA3, RP11-96O20.4, ZED9, PRDX1, and DOK2, according to node degrees and betweenness elements candidates from upregulated genes. in the opposite side, PYURF, NRSN1, FGF23, UPK3BL, and STAG3 were a prominent role in downregulated genes. Sum up, Using in silico analysis in the present study, we conducted a precise study ofbortezomib molecular mechanisms in myeloma cells. so that we could take further evaluation to discovermolecular cancer therapy. Naturally, more additional experimental and clinical procedures are needed in this survey.

Keywords: myeloma cells, acute myeloid leukemia, bioinformatics analysis, bortezomib

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Authors: Venkateswar Pujari

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This study tries to investigate the complex interplay between control, awareness, and attention in human cognitive processes. The fundamental elements of cognitive functioning that play a significant role in influencing perception, decision-making, and behavior are attention, awareness, and control. Understanding how they interact can help us better understand how our minds work and may even increase our understanding of cognitive science and its therapeutic applications. The study uses an empirical methodology to examine the relationships between attention, awareness, and control by integrating different experimental paradigms and neuropsychological tests. To ensure the generalizability of findings, a wide sample of participants is chosen, including people with various cognitive profiles and ages. The study is structured into four primary parts, each of which focuses on one component of how attention, awareness, and control interact: 1. Evaluation of Attentional Capacity and Selectivity: In this stage, participants complete established attention tests, including the Stroop task and visual search tasks. 2. Evaluation of Awareness Degrees: In the second stage, participants' degrees of conscious and unconscious awareness are assessed using perceptual awareness tasks such as masked priming and binocular rivalry tasks. 3. Investigation of Cognitive Control Mechanisms: In the third phase, reaction inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory capacity are investigated using exercises like the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Go/No-Go paradigm. 4. Results Integration and Analysis: Data from all phases are integrated and analyzed in the final phase. To investigate potential links and prediction correlations between attention, awareness, and control, correlational and regression analyses are carried out. The study's conclusions shed light on the intricate relationships that exist between control, awareness, and attention throughout cognitive function. The findings may have consequences for cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and clinical psychology by providing new understandings of cognitive dysfunctions linked to deficiencies in attention, awareness, and control systems.

Keywords: attention, awareness, control, cognitive functioning, neuropsychological assessment

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