Search results for: Foundation differential settlement

Authors: E. V. Fakhrutdinova, K. R. Maksimova, P. B. Chursin

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At the present stage of the society progress the health care is an integral part of both the economic system and social, while in the second case the medicine is a major component of a number of basic and necessary social programs. Since the foundation of the health system are highly qualified health professionals, it is logical proposition that increase of doctor`s professionalism improves the effectiveness of the system as a whole. Professionalism of the doctor is a collection of many components, essential role played by such personal-psychological factors as honesty, willingness and desire to help people, and motivation. A number of researchers consider motivation as an expression of basic human needs that have passed through the “filter” which is a worldview and values learned in the process of socialization by the individual, to commit certain actions designed to achieve the expected result. From this point of view a number of researchers propose the following classification of highly skilled employee’s needs: 1. the need for confirmation the competence (setting goals that meet the professionalism and receipt of positive emotions in their decision), 2. The need for independence (the ability to make their own choices in contentious situations arising in the process carry out specialist functions), 3. The need for ownership (in the case of health care workers, to the profession and accordingly, high in the eyes of the public status of the doctor). Nevertheless, it is important to understand that in a market economy a significant motivator for physicians (both legal and natural persons) is to maximize its own profits. In the case of health professionals duality motivational structure creates an additional contrast, as in the public mind the image of the ideal physician; usually a altruistically minded person thinking is not primarily about their own benefit, and to assist others. In this context, the question of the real motivation of health workers deserves special attention. The survey conducted by the American researcher Harrison Terni for the magazine "Med Tech" in 2010 revealed the opinion of more than 200 medical students starting courses, and the primary motivation in a profession choice is "desire to help people", only 15% said that they want become a doctor, "to earn a lot". From the point of view of most of the classical theories of motivation this trend can be called positive, as intangible incentives are more effective. However, it is likely that over time the opinion of the respondents may change in the direction of mercantile motives. Thus, it is logical to assume that well-designed system of motivation of doctor`s labor should be based on motivational foundations laid during training in higher education.

Keywords: motivation, quality of working life, health system, personal-psychological factors, motivational structure

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Authors: Edoardo Schinco

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Studying the Marxist intellectual tradition, it is possible to verify that there were numerous cases of philosophical regression, in which the important achievements of detailed studies have been replaced by naïve ideas and previous misunderstandings: one of most important example of this tendency is related to the question of ideology. According to a common Enlightenment approach, the ideology is essentially not a reality, i.e., a factor capable of having an effect on the reality itself; in other words, the ideology is a mere error without specific historical meaning, which is only due to ignorance or inability of subjects to understand the truth. From this point of view, the consequent and immediate practice against every form of ideology are the rational dialogue, the reasoning based on common sense, in order to dispel the obscurity of ignorance through the light of pure reason. The limits of this philosophical orientation are however both theoretical and practical: on the one hand, the Enlightenment criticism of ideology is not an historicistic thought, since it cannot grasp the inner connection that ties an historical context and its peculiar ideology together; moreover, on the other hand, when the Enlightenment approach fails to release people from their illusions (e.g., when the ideology persists, despite the explanation of its illusoriness), it usually becomes a racist or elitarian thought. Unlike this first conception of ideology, Gramsci attempts to recover Marx’s original thought and to valorize its dialectical methodology with respect to the reality of ideology. As Marx suggests, the ideology – in negative meaning – is surely an error, a misleading knowledge, which aims to defense the current state of things and to conceal social, political or moral contradictions; but, that is precisely why the ideological error is not casual: every ideology mediately roots in a particular material context, from which it takes its reason being. Gramsci avoids, however, any mechanistic interpretation of Marx and, for this reason; he underlines the dialectic relation that exists between material base and ideological superstructure; in this way, a specific ideology is not only a passive product of base but also an active factor that reacts on the base itself and modifies it. Therefore, there is a considerable revaluation of ideology’s role in maintenance of status quo and the consequent thematization of both ideology as objective force, active in history, and ideology as cultural hegemony of ruling class on subordinate groups. Among the Marxists, the French philosopher Louis Althusser also gives his contribution to this crucial question; as follower of Gramsci’s thought, he develops the idea of ideology as an objective force through the notions of Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) and Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA). In addition to this, his philosophy is characterized by the presence of structuralist elements, which must be studied, since they deeply change the theoretical foundation of his Marxist thought.

Keywords: Althusser, enlightenment, Gramsci, ideology

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Authors: Nazia Roushan, Maria Kipti

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The sensitive issue of a large-scale entry of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh has arisen again since August of 2017. Incited by ethnic and religious conflict, the Rohingyas—an ethnic group concentrated in the north-west state of Rakhine in Myanmar—have been fleeing to what is now Bangladesh from as early as the late 1700s in four main exoduses. This long-standing persecution has recently escalated, and accommodating the recent wave of exodus has been especially challenging due to the sheer volume of a million refugees concentrated in refugee camps in two small administrative units (upazilas) in the south-east of the country: the host area. This drastic change in the host area’s social fabric is putting a lot of strain on the country’s economic, demographic and environmental stability, and security. Although Bangladesh’s long-term experience with disaster management has enabled it to respond rapidly to the crisis, the government is failing to cope with this enormous problem and has taken insufficient steps towards improving the living conditions to inhibit the inflow of more refugees. On top of that, the absence of a comprehensive national refugee policy, and the density of the structures of the camps are constricting the upgrading of the shelters to international standards. As of December 2016, the combined number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to conflict and violence (stock), and new displacements due to disasters (flow) in Bangladesh had exceeded 1 million. These numbers have increased dramatically in the last few months. Moreover, by 2050, Bangladesh will have as much as 25 million climate refugees just from its coastal districts. To enhance the resilience of the vulnerable, it is crucial to methodically factorize further interventions between Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience (DRR) and the concept of Building Back Better (BBB) in the rehabilitation-reconstruction period. Considering these points, this paper provides a palette of options for design guidelines related to the living spaces and infrastructures for refugees. This will encourage the development of national standards for refugee camps, and the national and local level rehabilitation-reconstruction practices. Unhygienic living conditions, vulnerability, and the general lack of control over life are pervasive throughout the camps. This paper, therefore, proposes site-specific strategic and physical planning and design for shelters for refugees in Bangladesh that will lead to sustainable living environments through the following: a) site survey of existing two registered and one makeshift unregistered refugee camps to document and study their physical conditions, b) questionnaires and semi-structured focus group discussions carried out among the refugees and stakeholders to understand what the lived experiences and needs are; and c) combining the findings with international minimum standards for shelter and settlement from International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). These proposals include temporary shelter solutions that balance between lived spaces and regimented, repetitive plans using readily available and cheap materials, erosion control and slope stabilization strategies, and most importantly, coping mechanisms for the refugees to be self-reliant and resilient.

Keywords: architecture, Bangladesh, refugee camp, resilience, Rohingya

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Authors: Katerina Koliou, Scott Parr, Evangelos Kaisar

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The surface transportation of freight is particularly vulnerable to storm and hurricane disasters, while at the same time, it is the primary transportation mode for delivering medical supplies, fuel, water, and other essential goods. To better plan for commercial vehicles during an evacuation, it is necessary to understand how these vehicles travel during an evacuation and determine if this travel is different from the general public. The research investigation used Florida's statewide continuous-count station traffic volumes, where then compared between years, to identify locations where traffic was moving differently during the evacuation. The data was then used to identify days on which traffic was significantly different between years. While the literature on auto-based evacuations is extensive, the consideration of freight travel is lacking. To better plan for commercial vehicles during an evacuation, it is necessary to understand how these vehicles travel during an evacuation and determine if this travel is different from the general public. The goal of this research was to investigate the movement of vehicles by classification, with an emphasis on freight during two major evacuation events: hurricanes Irma (2017) and Michael (2018). The methodology of the research was divided into three phases: data collection and management, spatial analysis, and temporal comparisons. Data collection and management obtained continuous-co station data from the state of Florida for both 2017 and 2018 by vehicle classification. The data was then processed into a manageable format. The second phase used geographic information systems (GIS) to display where and when traffic varied across the state. The third and final phase was a quantitative investigation into which vehicle classifications were statistically different and on which dates statewide. This phase used a two-sample, two-tailed t-test to compare sensor volume by classification on similar days between years. Overall, increases in freight movement between years prevented a more precise paired analysis. This research sought to identify where and when different classes of vehicles were traveling leading up to hurricane landfall and post-storm reentry. Of the more significant findings, the research results showed that commercial-use vehicles may have underutilized rest areas during the evacuation, or perhaps these rest areas were closed. This may suggest that truckers are driving longer distances and possibly longer hours before hurricanes. Another significant finding of this research was that changes in traffic patterns for commercial-use vehicles occurred earlier and lasted longer than changes for personal-use vehicles. This finding suggests that commercial vehicles are perhaps evacuating in a fashion different from personal use vehicles. This paper may serve as the foundation for future research into commercial travel during evacuations and explore additional factors that may influence freight movements during evacuations.

Keywords: evacuation, freight, travel time, evacuation

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Authors: A. M. Isakhanyan, F. N. Tkhruni, N. N. Yakimovich, Z. I. Kuvaeva, T. V. Khachatryan

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Introduction: At present, the simbiotics based on different genera and species of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts are used. One of the basic properties of probiotics is presence of antimicrobial activity and therefore selection of LAB and yeast strains for their co-cultivation with the aim of increasing of the activity is topical. Since probiotic yeast and bacteria have different mechanisms of action, natural synergies between species, higher viability and increasing of antimicrobial activity might be expected from mixing both types of probiotics. Endemic strains of LAB Enterococcus faecium БТK-64, Lactobaccilus plantarum БТK-66, Pediococcus pentosus БТK-28, Lactobacillus rhamnosus БТK-109 and Kluyveromyces lactis БТX-412, Saccharomycopsis sp. БТX- 151 strains of yeast, with probiotic properties and hight antimicrobial activity, were selected. Strains are deposited in "Microbial Depository Center" (MDC) SPC "Armbiotechnology". Methods: LAB and yeast strains were isolated from different dairy products from rural households of Armenia. The genotyping by 16S rRNA sequencing for LAB and 26S RNA sequencing for yeast were used. Combined cultivation of LAB and yeast strains was carried out in the nutrient media on the basis of milk whey, in anaerobic conditions (without shaker, in a thermostat at 37oC, 48 hours). The complex preparations were obtained by purification of cell free culture broth (CFC) broth by the combination of ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration methods. The spot-on-lawn method was applied for determination of antimicrobial activity and expressed in arbitrary units (AU/ml). Results. The obtained data showed that at the combined growth of bacteria and yeasts, the cultivation conditions (medium composition, time of growth, genera of LAB and yeasts) affected the display of antimicrobial activity. Purification of CFC broth allowed obtaining partially purified antimicrobial complex preparation which contains metabiotics from both bacteria and yeast. The complex preparation inhibited the growth of pathogenic and conditionally pathogenic bacteria, isolated from various internal organs from diseased animals and poultry with greater efficiency than the preparations derived individually alone from yeast and LAB strains. Discussion. Thus, our data shown perspectives of creation of a new class of antimicrobial preparations on the basis of combined cultivation of endemic strains of LAB and yeast. Obtained results suggest the prospect of use of the partially purified complex preparations instead antibiotics in the agriculture and for food safety. Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the RA MES State Committee of Science and Belarus National Foundation for Basic Research in the frames of the joint Armenian - Belarusian joint research project 13РБ-064.

Keywords: co-cultivation, antimicrobial activity, biosafety, metabiotics, lactic acid bacteria, yeast

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Authors: M. Roberts

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We Are Undefeatable - is a mass marketing behaviour change campaign that aims to support the least active people living with long term health conditions to be more active. This is an important issue to address because people with long term conditions are an historically underserved community for the sport and physical activity sector and the least active of those with long term conditions have the most to gain in health and wellbeing benefits. The campaign has generated a significant change in the way physical activity is communicated and people with long term conditions are represented in the media and marketing. The goal is to create a social norm around being active. The campaign is led by a unique partnership of organisations: the Richmond Group of Charities (made up of Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Asthma + Lung UK, Breast Cancer Now, British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, Diabetes UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, Rethink Mental Illness, Royal Voluntary Service, Stroke Association, Versus Arthritis) along with Mind, MS Society, Parkinson’s UK and Sport England, with National Lottery Funding. It is underpinned by the COM-B model of behaviour change. It draws on the lived experience of people with multiple long term conditions to shape the look and feel of the campaign and all the resources available. People with long term conditions are the campaign messengers, central to the ethos of the campaign by telling their individual stories of overcoming barriers to be active with their health conditions. The central messaging is about finding a way to be active that works for the individual. We Are Undefeatable is evaluated through a multi-modal approach, including regular qualitative focus groups and a quantitative evaluation tracker undertaken three times a year. The campaign has highlighted the significant barriers to physical activity for people with long term conditions. This has changed the way our partnership talks about physical activity but has also had an impact on the wider sport and physical activity sector, prompting an increasing departure from traditional messaging and marketing approaches for this audience of people with long term conditions. The campaign has reached millions of people since its launch in 2019, through multiple marketing and partnership channels including primetime TV advertising and promotion through health professionals and in health settings. Its diverse storytellers make it relatable to its target audience and the achievable activities highlighted and inclusive messaging inspire our audience to take action as a result of seeing the campaign. The We Are Undefeatable campaign is a blueprint for physical activity campaigns; it not only addresses individual behaviour change but plays a role in addressing systemic barriers to physical activity by sharing the lived experience insight to shape policy and professional practice.

Keywords: behaviour change, long term conditions, partnership, relatable

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Authors: Haiying Zong, Yi Yuan, Pengcheng Li

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Cadmium (Cd), one of the toxic heavy metals, has high solubility and mobility in agricultural soils and is readily taken up by roots and transported to the vegetative and reproductive organs which can cause deleterious effects on crop yield and quality. Excess Cd in plants can interfere with many metabolic processes, such as photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration or nutrients homeostasis. Generally, the main methods to reduce Cd accumulation in plants are to decrease the concentration of Cd in the soil solution through reduction of Cd influx into the soil system, site selection, and management practices. However, these approaches can be very costly and consume a lot of energy Therefore, it is critical to develop effective approaches to reduce the Cd concentration in plants. It is proved that chitooligosaccharide (COS) can enhance the plant's tolerance to abiotic stress including drought stress, salinity stress, and toxic metal stress. However, so far little information is known about whether foliar application with COS modulates Cd-induced toxicity in plants. The metal detoxification processes of plants treated with COS also remain unclear. In this study, edible rape (Brassica rapa L.), one of the most widely consumed leafy vegetables, was selected as an experimental mode plant. The effect of foliar application with COS on reducing Cd accumulation in edible rape was investigated. Moreover, Cd subcellular distribution pattern in response to Cd stress in the rape plant sprayed with COS was further tested in order to explore the potential detoxification mechanisms in plants. The results demonstrated that spraying COS at different concentrations (25, 50,100 and 200 mg L-1) possess diverse functions including growth-promoting,chlorophyll contents-enhancing, malondialdehyde (MDA) level-decreasing in leaves, Cd2+ concentration-decreasingin shoots and roots of edible rape under Cd stress. In addition, it was found that COS can also dramatically improve superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (CAT) activity and peroxidase (POX) activity of edible rape leaves. The relievingeffect of COS was related to theconcentration and COS with 50-100 mg L-1 displayed the best activity. Furtherly, theexperiments results exhibitedthat COS could decrease the proportion of Cd in the organelle fraction of leaves by 40.1% while enhance the proportion of Cd in the soluble fraction by 13.2% at the concentration of 50 mg L-1. The above results showed that COS may have thepotential to improve plant resistance to Cd via promoting antioxidant enzyme activities and altering Cd subcellular distribution. All the results described here open up a new way to study the protection role of COS in alleviating Cd tolerance and lay the foundation for future research about the detoxification mechanism at subcellular level.

Keywords: chitooligosaccharide, cadmium, edible rape (Brassica rapa L.), subcellular distribution

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Authors: Ali Pourkazemi

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The transient radar method (TRM) is one of the non-destructive methods that was introduced by authors a few years ago. The transient radar method can be classified as a wave-based non destructive testing (NDT) method that can be used in a wide frequency range. Nevertheless, it requires a narrow band, ranging from a few GHz to a few THz, depending on the application. As a time-of-flight and real-time method, TRM can measure the electromagnetic properties of the sample under test not only quickly and accurately, but also blindly. This means that it requires no prior knowledge of the sample under test. For multi-layer structures, TRM is not only able to detect changes related to any parameter within the multi-layer structure but can also measure the electromagnetic properties of each layer and its thickness individually. Although the temperature, humidity, and general environmental conditions may affect the sample under test, they do not affect the accuracy of the Blind TRM algorithm. In this paper, the electromagnetic properties as well as the thickness of the individual building insulation materials - as a single-layer structure - are measured experimentally. Finally, the correlation between the reflection coefficients and some other technical parameters such as sound insulation, thermal resistance, thermal conductivity, compressive strength, and density is investigated. The sample to be studied is 30 cm x 50 cm and the thickness of the samples varies from a few millimeters to 6 centimeters. This experiment is performed with both biostatic and differential hardware at 10 GHz. Since it is a narrow-band system, high-speed computation for analysis, free-space application, and real-time sensor, it has a wide range of potential applications, e.g., in the construction industry, rubber industry, piping industry, wind energy industry, automotive industry, biotechnology, food industry, pharmaceuticals, etc. Detection of metallic, plastic pipes wires, etc. through or behind the walls are specific applications for the construction industry.

Keywords: transient radar method, blind electromagnetic geometrical parameter extraction technique, ultrafast nondestructive multilayer dielectric structure characterization, electronic measurement systems, illumination, data acquisition performance, submillimeter depth resolution, time-dependent reflected electromagnetic signal blind analysis method, EM signal blind analysis method, time domain reflectometer, microwave, milimeter wave frequencies

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Authors: Wenya Shu, Ilinca Stanciulescu

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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess attractive properties, such as high stiffness and strength, and high thermal and electrical conductivities, making them promising filler in multifunctional nanocomposites. Although CNTs can be efficient reinforcements, the expected level of mechanical performance of CNT-polymers is not often reached in practice due to the poor mechanical behavior of the CNT-polymer interfaces. It is believed that the interactions of CNT and polymer mainly result from the Van der Waals force. The interface debonding is a fracture and delamination phenomenon. Thus, the cohesive zone modeling (CZM) is deemed to give good capture of the interface behavior. The detailed, cohesive zone modeling provides an option to consider the CNT-matrix interactions, but brings difficulties in mesh generation and also leads to high computational costs. Homogenized models that smear the fibers in the ground matrix and treat the material as homogeneous are studied in many researches to simplify simulations. But based on the perfect interface assumption, the traditional homogenized model obtained by mixing rules severely overestimates the stiffness of the composite, even comparing with the result of the CZM with artificially very strong interface. A mechanical model that can take into account the interface debonding and achieve comparable accuracy to the CZM is thus essential. The present study first investigates the CNT-matrix interactions by employing cohesive zone modeling. Three different coupled CZM laws, i.e., bilinear, exponential and polynomial, are considered. These studies indicate that the shapes of the CZM constitutive laws chosen do not influence significantly the simulations of interface debonding. Assuming a bilinear traction-separation relationship, the debonding process of single CNT in the matrix is divided into three phases and described by differential equations. The analytical solutions corresponding to these phases are derived. A homogenized model is then developed by introducing a parameter characterizing interface sliding into the mixing theory. The proposed mechanical model is implemented in FEAP8.5 as a user material. The accuracy and limitations of the model are discussed through several numerical examples. The CZM simulations in this study reveal important factors in the modeling of CNT-matrix interactions. The analytical solutions and proposed homogenized model provide alternative methods to efficiently investigate the mechanical behaviors of CNT/polymer composites.

Keywords: carbon nanotube, cohesive zone modeling, homogenized model, interface debonding

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Authors: Ruth Shapira

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Introduction: The rapid urbanization of the last century confronts planners, regulatory bodies, developers and most of all the public with seemingly unsolved conflicts regarding values, capital, and wellbeing of the built and un-built urban space. There is an out of control change of scale of the urban form and of the rhythm of the urban life which has known no significant progress in the last 2-3 decades despite the on-growing urban population. It is the objective of this paper to analyze some of these fundamental issues through the case study of a relatively small town in the center of Israel (Kiryat-Ono, 36,000 inhabitants), unfold the deep structure of qualities versus disruptors, present some cure that we have developed to bridge over and humbly suggest a practice that may bring about a sustainable new urban environment based on timeless values of the past, an approach that can be generic for similar cases. Basic Methodologies:The object, the town of Kiryat Ono, shall be experimented upon in a series of four action processes: De-composition, Re-composition, the Centering process and, finally, Controlled Structural Disintegration. Each stage will be based on facts, analysis of previous multidisciplinary interventions on various layers – and the inevitable reaction of the OBJECT, leading to the conclusion based on innovative theoretical and practical methods that we have developed and that we believe are proper for the open ended network, setting the rules for the contemporary urban society to cluster by – thus – a new urban vocabulary based on the old structure of times passed. The Study: Kiryat Ono, was founded 70 years ago as an agricultural settlement and rapidly turned into an urban entity. In spite the massive intensification, the original DNA of the old small town was still deeply embedded, mostly in the quality of the public space and in the sense of clustered communities. In the past 20 years, the recent demand for housing has been addressed to on the national level with recent master plans and urban regeneration policies mostly encouraging individual economic initiatives. Unfortunately, due to the obsolete existing planning platform the present urban renewal is characterized by pressure of developers, a dramatic change in building scale and widespread disintegration of the existing urban and social tissue.Our office was commissioned to conceptualize two master plans for the two contradictory processes of Kiryat Ono’s future: intensification and conservation. Following a comprehensive investigation into the deep structures and qualities of the existing town, we developed a new vocabulary of conservation terms thus redefying the sense of PLACE. The main challenge was to create master plans that should offer a regulatory basis to the accelerated and sporadic development providing for the public good and preserving the characteristics of the place consisting of a tool box of design guidelines that will have the ability to reorganize space along the time axis in a sustainable way. In conclusion: The system of rules that we have developed can generate endless possible patterns making sure that at each implementation fragment an event is created, and a better place is revealed. It takes time and perseverance but it seems to be the way to provide a healthy and sustainable framework for the accelerated urbanization of our chaotic present.

Keywords: sustainable urban design, intensification, emergent urban patterns, sustainable housing, compact urban neighborhoods, sustainable regeneration, restoration, complexity, uncertainty, need for change, implications of legislation on local planning

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Authors: Amit Mallik, Anil K. Barik, Biswajit Pal

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The galloping advancement of research work on glass-ceramics stems from their wide applications in electronic industry and also to some extent in application oriented medical dentistry. TiO2, even in low concentration has been found to strongly influence the physical and mechanical properties of the glasses. Glass-ceramics is a polycrystalline ceramic material produced through controlled crystallization of glasses. Crystallization is accomplished by subjecting the suitable parent glasses to a regulated heat treatment involving the nucleation and growth of crystal phases in the glass. Mica glass-ceramics is a new kind of glass-ceramics based on the system SiO2•MgO•K2O•F. The predominant crystalline phase is synthetic fluormica, named fluorophlogopite. Mica containing glass-ceramics flaunt an exceptional feature of machinability apart from their unique thermal and chemical properties. Machinability arises from the randomly oriented mica crystals with a 'house of cards' microstructures allowing cracks to propagate readily along the mica plane but hindering crack propagation across the layers. In the present study, we have systematically investigated the crystallization, microstructure and mechanical behavior of barium fluorophlogopite mica-containing glass-ceramics of composition BaO•4MgO•Al2O3•6SiO2•2MgF2 nucleated by addition of 2, 4, 6 and 8 wt% TiO2. The glass samples were prepared by the melting technique. After annealing, different batches of glass samples for nucleation were fired at 730°C (2wt% TiO2), 720°C (4 wt% TiO2), 710°C (6 wt% TiO2) and 700°C (8 wt% TiO2) batches respectively for 2 h and ultimately heated to corresponding crystallization temperatures. The glass batches were analyzed by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro hardness indenter. From the DTA study, it is found that the fluorophlogopite mica crystallization exotherm appeared in the temperature range 886–903°C. Glass transition temperature (Tg) and crystallization peak temperature (Tp) increased with increasing TiO2 content up to 4 wt% beyond this weight% the glass transition temperature (Tg) and crystallization peak temperature (Tp) start to decrease with increasing TiO2 content up to 8 wt%. Scanning electron microscopy confirms the development of an interconnected ‘house of cards’ microstructure promoted by TiO2 as a nucleating agent. The increase in TiO2 content decreases the vicker’s hardness values in glass-ceramics.

Keywords: crystallization, fluormica glass, ‘house of cards’ microstructure, hardness

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Authors: Ismatilla Mardanov

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There are three types of countries, the first of which is willing to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in enormous amounts and do whatever it takes to make this happen. Therefore, FDI pours into such countries. In the second cluster of countries, even if the country is suffering tremendously from the shortage of investments, the governments are hesitant to attract investments because they are at the hands of local oligarchs/cartels. Therefore, FDI inflows are moderate to low in such countries. The third type is countries whose companies prefer investing in the most efficient locations globally and are hesitant to invest in the homeland. Sorting countries into such clusters, the present study examines the essential institutions and economic factors that make these countries different. Past literature has discussed various determinants of FDI in all kinds of countries. However, it did not classify countries based on government motivation, institutional setup, and economic factors. A specific approach to each target country is vital for corporate foreign direct investment risk analysis and decisions. The research questions are 1. What specific institutional and economic factors paint the pictures of the three clusters; 2. What specific institutional and economic factors are determinants of FDI; 3. Which of the determinants are endogenous and exogenous variables? 4. How can institutions and economic and political variables impact corporate investment decisions Hypothesis 1: In the first type, country institutions and economic factors will be favorable for FDI. Hypothesis 2: In the second type, even if country economic factors favor FDI, institutions will not. Hypothesis 3: In the third type, even if country institutions favorFDI, economic factors will not favor domestic investments. Therefore, FDI outflows occur in large amounts. Methods: Data come from open sources of the World Bank, the Fraser Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and other reliable sources. The dependent variable is FDI inflows. The independent variables are institutions (economic and political freedom indices) and economic factors (natural, material, and labor resources, government consumption, infrastructure, minimum wage, education, unemployment, tax rates, consumer price index, inflation, and others), the endogeneity or exogeneity of which are tested in the instrumental variable estimation. Political rights and civil liberties are used as instrumental variables. Results indicate that in the first type, both country institutions and economic factors, specifically labor and logistics/infrastructure/energy intensity, are favorable for potential investors. In the second category of countries, the risk of loss of assets is very high due to governmentshijacked by local oligarchs/cartels/special interest groups. In the third category of countries, the local economic factors are unfavorable for domestic investment even if the institutions are well acceptable. Cluster analysis and instrumental variable estimation were used to reveal cause-effect patterns in each of the clusters.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, economy, institutions, instrumental variable estimation

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Authors: Maja Martinovic, Valentina Zarkovic, Hrvoje Maljak

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Europe is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, in which tourism occupies a significant place among the most relevant economic activities, and this applies to the Republic of Croatia as well. Based on this study, the authors intended to encourage and support the creation of an effective tourism policy in Croatia that would be based on the profiling of certain target groups. Another objective was to compare the results obtained from the customer analysis with the market analysis of the tourism industry in Croatia. The objective is to adapt the current tourist offer according to the identified needs and expectations of a particular tourist group in order to increase the attractiveness of Croatia as a tourist destination and motivate greater attendance of the targeted tourist groups. The current research was oriented towards the Russian market as the target group. Therefore, the authors wanted to encourage a discussion on how to attract more Russian guests. Consequently, the intention of the research was a detailed analysis of Russian tourists, in order to gain a better understanding of their travelling motives and tendencies. Furthermore, attention was paid to the expectations of Russian customers and to compare them with the Croatian tourist offer, and to determine whether there is a possibility for an overlap. The method used to obtain the information required was a survey conducted among Russian citizens about their travelling habits. The research was carried out on the basis of 166 participants of different age, gender, profession and income group. The sampling and distribution of the survey took place between May and July 2016. The results provided from the research indicate that Croatian tourism has certain unrealized potential considering the popularization of Croatia as a tourist destination, and there is a capacity for increasing the revenues within the group of Russian tourists. Such a conclusion is based on the fact that the Croatian tourist offer and the preferences of the Russian guests are compatible, i.e. they overlap in many aspects. The results demonstrate that beautiful nature, cultural and historical heritage as well as the sun and sea, play a leading role in attracting more Russian tourists. It is precisely these elements that form the three pillars of the Croatian tourist offer. On the other hand, the profiling revealed that the most desirable destinations for the Russian guests are Italy and Spain, both of which provide the same main tourist attractions as Croatia. Therefore, the focus of the strategic ideas given in the paper shifted to other tourism segments, such as type of accommodation, sales channels, travel motives, additional offer and seasonality etc., in order to gain advantage in the Russian market, the Mediterranean region and tourism in general. The purpose of the research is to serve as a foundation for analysing the attractiveness of the other tourist destinations in the Russian market, as well as to be a general basis for a more detailed profiling of the various specific target groups of the Russian and other tourist groups.

Keywords: Croatia, Russian market, target groups, tourism, tourist destination

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Authors: S. V. Kuznetsov, M. N. Mayakova, V. Yu. Proydakova, V. V. Pavlov, A. S. Nizamutdinov, O. A. Morozov, V. V. Voronov, P. P. Fedorov

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Increase in the share of electricity received by conversion of solar energy results in the reduction of the industrial impact on the environment from the use of the hydrocarbon energy sources. One way to increase said share is to improve the efficiency of solar energy conversion in silicon-based solar panels. Such efficiency increase can be achieved by transferring energy from sunlight-insensitive areas of work of silicon solar panels to the area of their photoresistivity. To achieve this goal, a transition to new luminescent materials with the high quantum yield of luminescence is necessary. Improvement in the quantum yield can be achieved by quantum cutting, which allows obtaining a quantum yield of down conversion of more than 150% due to the splitting of high-energy photons of the UV spectral range into lower-energy photons of the visible and near infrared spectral ranges. The goal of present work is to test approach of excitation through sensibilization of 4f-4f fluorescence of Yb3+ by various RE ions absorbing in UV and Vis spectral ranges. One of promising materials for quantum cutting luminophores are fluorides. In our investigation we have developed synthesis of nano- and submicron powders of calcium fluoride and strontium doped with rare-earth elements (Yb: Ce, Yb: Pr, Yb: Eu) of controlled dimensions and shape by co-precipitation from water solution technique. We have used Ca(NO3)2*4H2O, Sr(NO3)2, HF, NH4F as precursors. After initial solutions of nitrates were prepared they have been mixed with fluorine containing solution by dropwise manner. According to XRD data, the synthesis resulted in single phase samples with fluorite structure. By means of SEM measurements, we have confirmed spherical morphology and have determined sizes of particles (50-100 nm after synthesis and 150-300 nm after calcination). Temperature of calcination appeared to be 600°C. We have investigated the spectral-kinetic characteristics of above mentioned compounds. Here the diffuse reflection and laser induced fluorescence spectra of Yb3+ ions excited at around 4f-4f and 4f-5d transitions of Pr3+, Eu3+ and Ce3+ ions in the synthesized powders are reported. The investigation of down conversion luminescence capability of synthesized compounds included measurements of fluorescence decays and quantum yield of 2F5/2-2F7/2 fluorescence of Yb3+ ions as function of Yb3+ and sensitizer contents. An optimal chemical composition of CaF2-YbF3- LnF3 (Ln=Ce, Eu, Pr), SrF2-YbF3-LnF3 (Ln=Ce, Eu, Pr) micro- and nano- powders according to criteria of maximal IR fluorescence yield is proposed. We suppose that investigated materials are prospective in solar panels improvement applications. Work was supported by Russian Science Foundation grant #17-73- 20352.

Keywords: solar cell, fluorides, down-conversion luminescence, maximum quantum yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 260

Authors: Ei Ei Hlaing, Narissara Lailerd, Sittiruk Roytrakul, Pichapat Piamrojanaphat

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Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common metabolic diseases all over the world. The pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes is not the only dysfunction of pancreatic beta cells but also insulin resistance in muscle, liver and adipose tissue. High levels of circulating free fatty acids, an increased lipid content of muscle cells, impaired insulin-mediated glucose uptake and diminished mitochondrial functioning are pathophysiological hallmarks of diabetic skeletal muscles. Purple rice (Oryza sativa L. indica) has been shown to have antidiabetic effects. However, the underlying mechanism(s) of antidiabetic activity of purple rice is still unraveled. In this research, to explore in-depth cellular mechanism(s), proteomic profile of purple rice supplemented type 2 diabetic rats’ skeletal muscle were analyzed contract with non-supplemented rats. Diabetic rats were induced high-fat diet combined with streptozotocin injection. By using one- dimensional gel electrophoresis (1-DE) and LC-MS/MS quantitative proteomic method, we analyzed proteomic profiles in skeletal muscle of normal rats, normal rats with purple rice supplementation, type 2 diabetic rats, and type 2 diabetic rats with purple rice supplementation. Total 2676 polypeptide expressions were identified. Among them, 24 peptides were only expressed in type 2 diabetic rats, and 24 peptides were unique peptides in type 2 diabetic rats with purple rice supplementation. Acetyl CoA carboxylase 1 (ACACA) found as unique protein in type 2 diabetic rats which is the major enzyme in lipid synthesis and metabolism. Interestingly, DNA damage response protein, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K [Mus musculus] (Hnrnpk), was upregulated in type 2 diabetic rats’ skeletal muscle. Meanwhile, unique proteins of type 2 diabetic rats with purple rice supplementation (bone morphogenetic 7 protein preproprotein, BMP7; and forkhead box protein NX4, Foxn4) involved with muscle cells growth through the regulation of TGF-β/Smad signaling network. Moreover, BMP7 may effect on insulin signaling through the downstream signaling of protein kinase B (Akt) which acts in protein synthesis, glucose uptake, and glycogen synthesis. In conclusion, our study supports that type 2 diabetes impairs muscular lipid metabolism. In addition, purple rice might recover the muscle cells growth and insulin signaling.

Keywords: proteomics, purple rice bran, skeletal muscle, type 2 diabetic rats

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: B. D. Patni, Ashwani Jain, Arindom Chakraborty

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The world’s highest mountain range has been forming since the collision of Indian Plate with Asian Plate 40-50 million years ago. The Indian subcontinent has been deeper and deeper in to the rest of Asia resulting upliftment of Himalaya & Tibetan Plateau. The complex domain has become a major challenge for construction of hydro electric projects. The Himalayas are geologically complex & seismically active. Shifting of Indian Plate northwardly and increasing the amount of stresses in the fragile domain which leads to deformation in the form of several fold, faults and upliftment. It is difficult to undergo extensive geological investigation to ascertain the geological problems to be encountered during construction. Inaccessibility of the terrain, high rock cover, unpredictable ground water condition etc. are the main constraints. The hydroelectric projects located in Himalayas have faced many geological and geo-hydrological problems while construction of surface and subsurface works. Based on the experience, efforts have been made to identify the expected geological problems during and after construction of the projects. These have been classified into surface and subsurface problems which include existence of inhomogeneous deep overburden in the river bed or buried valley, abrupt change in bed rock profile, Occurrences of fault zones/shear zones/fractured rock in dam foundation and slope instability in the abutments. The tunneling difficulties are many such as squeezing ground condition, popping, rock bursting, high temperature gradient, heavy ingress of water, existence of shear seams/shear zones and emission of obnoxious gases. However, these problems were mitigated by adopting suitable remedial measures as per site requirement. The support system includes shotcrete, wire mesh, rock bolts, steel ribs, fore-poling, pre-grouting, pipe-roofing, MAI anchors, toe wall, retaining walls, reinforced concrete dowels, drainage drifts, anchorage cum drainage shafts, soil nails, concrete cladding and shear keys. Controlled drilling & blasting, heading & benching, proper drainage network and ventilation system are other remedial measures adopted to overcome such adverse situations. The paper highlights the geological uncertainties and its remedial measures in Himalaya, based on the analysis and evaluation of 20 hydroelectric projects during construction.

Keywords: geological problems, shear seams, slope, drilling & blasting, shear zones

Procedia PDF Downloads 393

Authors: Mirim Kim, Won-Oak Oh

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify hospitalized children's fall risk factors, fall prevention status and fall prevention strategies recognized by nurses and caregivers of hospitalized children and present an ecological model for fall preventive management in hospitalized children. Method: The participants of this study were 14 nurses working in medical institutions and having more than one year of child care experience and 14 adult caregivers of children under 6 years of age receiving inpatient treatment at a medical institution. One to one interview was attempted to identify their perception of fall preventive management. Transcribed data were analyzed through latent content analysis method. Results: Fall risk factors in hospitalized children were 'unpredictable behavior', 'instability', 'lack of awareness about danger', 'lack of awareness about falls', 'lack of child control ability', 'lack of awareness about the importance of fall prevention', 'lack of sensitivity to children', 'untidy environment around children', 'lack of personalized facilities for children', 'unsafe facility', 'lack of partnership between healthcare provider and caregiver', 'lack of human resources', 'inadequate fall prevention policy', 'lack of promotion about fall prevention', 'a performanceism oriented culture'. Fall preventive management status of hospitalized children were 'absence of fall prevention capability', 'efforts not to fall', 'blocking fall risk situation', 'limit the scope of children's activity when there is no caregiver', 'encourage caregivers' fall prevention activities', 'creating a safe environment surrounding hospitalized children', 'special management for fall high risk children', 'mutual cooperation between healthcare providers and caregivers', 'implementation of fall prevention policy', 'providing guide signs about fall risk'. Fall preventive management strategies of hospitalized children were 'restrain dangerous behavior', 'inspiring awareness about fall', 'providing fall preventive education considering the child's eye level', 'efforts to become an active subject of fall prevention activities', 'providing customed fall prevention education', 'open communication between healthcare providers and caregivers', 'infrastructure and personnel management to create safe hospital environment', 'expansion fall prevention campaign', 'development and application of a valid fall assessment instrument', 'conversion of awareness about safety'. Conclusion: In this study, the ecological model of fall preventive management for hospitalized children reflects various factors that directly or indirectly affect the fall prevention of hospitalized children. Therefore, these results can be considered as useful baseline data for developing systematic fall prevention programs and hospital policies to prevent fall accident in hospitalized children. Funding: This study was funded by the National Research Foundation of South Korea (grant number NRF-2016R1A2B1015455).

Keywords: fall down, safety culture, hospitalized children, risk factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Florent Cerdan, Anne-Gaëlle Denay, Annette Roy, Jean-Claude Grandidier, Éric Laine

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The insulation of MarkIII membrane of the Liquid Natural Gas Carriers (LNGC) consists of a load- bearing system made of panels in reinforced polyurethane foam (R-PUF). During the shipping, the cargo containment shall be potentially subject to risk events which can be water leakage through the wall ballast tank. The aim of these present works is to further develop understanding of water transfer mechanisms and water effect on properties of R-PUF. This multi-scale approach contributes to improve the durability. Macroscale / Mesoscale Firstly, the use of the gravimetric technique has allowed to define, at room temperature, the water transfer mechanisms and kinetic diffusion, in the R-PUF. The solubility follows a first kinetic fast growing connected to the water absorption by the micro-porosity, and then evolves linearly slowly, this second stage is connected to molecular diffusion and dissolution of water in the dense membranes polyurethane. Secondly, in the purpose of improving the understanding of the transfer mechanism, the study of the evolution of the buoyant force has been established. It allowed to identify the effect of the balance of total and partial pressure of mixture gas contained in pores surface. Mesoscale / Microscale The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamical Mechanical Analysis (DMA), have been used to investigate the hydration of the hard and soft segments of the polyurethane matrix. The purpose was to identify the sensitivity of these two phases. It been shown that the glass transition temperatures shifts towards the low temperatures when the solubility of the water increases. These observations permit to conclude to a plasticization of the polymer matrix. Microscale The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) study has been used to investigate the characterization of functional groups on the edge, the center and mid-way of the sample according the duration of submersion. More water there is in the material, more the water fix themselves on the urethanes groups and more specifically on amide groups. The pic of C=O urethane shifts at lower frequencies quickly before 24 hours of submersion then grows slowly. The intensity of the pic decreases more flatly after that.

Keywords: porous materials, water sorption, glass transition temperature, DSC, DMA, FTIR, transfer mechanisms

Procedia PDF Downloads 507

Authors: Christine Y. Yeh, Brian D. Piening, Sarah M. Totten, Kimberly Kukurba, Wenyu Zhou, Kevin P. F. Contrepois, Gucci J. Gu, Sharon Pitteri, Michael Snyder

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Three million deaths worldwide are attributed to obesity. However, the biomolecular mechanisms that describe the link between adiposity and subsequent disease states are poorly understood. Insulin resistance characterizes approximately half of obese individuals and is a major cause of obesity-mediated diseases such as Type II diabetes, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. This study makes use of longitudinal quantitative and high-throughput multi-omics (genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, glycoproteomics etc.) methodologies on blood samples to develop multigenic and multi-analyte signatures associated with weight gain and insulin resistance. Participants of this study underwent a 30-day period of weight gain via excessive caloric intake followed by a 60-day period of restricted dieting and return to baseline weight. Blood samples were taken at three different time points per patient: baseline, peak-weight and post weight loss. Patients were characterized as either insulin resistant (IR) or insulin sensitive (IS) before having their samples processed via longitudinal multi-omic technologies. This comparative study revealed a wealth of biomolecular changes associated with weight gain after using methods in machine learning, clustering, network analysis etc. Pathways of interest included those involved in lipid remodeling, acute inflammatory response and glucose metabolism. Some of these biomolecules returned to baseline levels as the patient returned to normal weight whilst some remained elevated. IR patients exhibited key differences in inflammatory response regulation in comparison to IS patients at all time points. These signatures suggest differential metabolism and inflammatory pathways between IR and IS patients. Biomolecular differences associated with weight gain and insulin resistance were identified on various levels: in gene expression, epigenetic change, transcriptional regulation and glycosylation. This study was not only able to contribute to new biology that could be of use in preventing or predicting obesity-mediated diseases, but also matured novel biomedical informatics technologies to produce and process data on many comprehensive omics levels.

Keywords: insulin resistance, multi-omics, next generation sequencing, proteogenomics, type ii diabetes

Procedia PDF Downloads 418

Authors: Elena E. Lyakso, Olga V. Frolova, Yuri N. Matveev, Aleksey S. Grigorev, Alexander S. Nikolaev, Viktor A. Gorodnyi

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The study of the children’s emotional sphere depending on age and psychoneurological state is of great importance for the design of educational programs for children and their social adaptation. Atypical development may be accompanied by violations or specificities of the emotional sphere. To study characteristics of the emotional state reflection in the voice and speech features of children, the perceptual study with the participation of adults and the automatic recognition of speech were conducted. Speech of children with typical development (TD), with Down syndrome (DS), and with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) aged 6-12 years was recorded. To obtain emotional speech in children, model situations were created, including a dialogue between the child and the experimenter containing questions that can cause various emotional states in the child and playing with a standard set of toys. The questions and toys were selected, taking into account the child’s age, developmental characteristics, and speech skills. For the perceptual experiment by adults, test sequences containing speech material of 30 children: TD, DS, and ASD were created. The listeners were 100 adults (age 19.3 ± 2.3 years). The listeners were tasked with determining the children’s emotional state as “comfort – neutral – discomfort” while listening to the test material. Spectrographic analysis of speech signals was conducted. For automatic recognition of the emotional state, 6594 speech files containing speech material of children were prepared. Automatic recognition of three states, “comfort – neutral – discomfort,” was performed using automatically extracted from the set of acoustic features - the Geneva Minimalistic Acoustic Parameter Set (GeMAPS) and the extended Geneva Minimalistic Acoustic Parameter Set (eGeMAPS). The results showed that the emotional state is worse determined by the speech of TD children (comfort – 58% of correct answers, discomfort – 56%). Listeners better recognized discomfort in children with ASD and DS (78% of answers) than comfort (70% and 67%, respectively, for children with DS and ASD). The neutral state is better recognized by the speech of children with ASD (67%) than by the speech of children with DS (52%) and TD children (54%). According to the automatic recognition data using the acoustic feature set GeMAPSv01b, the accuracy of automatic recognition of emotional states for children with ASD is 0.687; children with DS – 0.725; TD children – 0.641. When using the acoustic feature set eGeMAPSv01b, the accuracy of automatic recognition of emotional states for children with ASD is 0.671; children with DS – 0.717; TD children – 0.631. The use of different models showed similar results, with better recognition of emotional states by the speech of children with DS than by the speech of children with ASD. The state of comfort is automatically determined better by the speech of TD children (precision – 0.546) and children with ASD (0.523), discomfort – children with DS (0.504). The data on the specificities of recognition by adults of the children’s emotional state by their speech may be used in recruitment for working with children with atypical development. Automatic recognition data can be used to create alternative communication systems and automatic human-computer interfaces for social-emotional learning. Acknowledgment: This work was financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project 18-18-00063).

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, automatic recognition of speech, child’s emotional speech, Down syndrome, perceptual experiment

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: María José Bugueño, Natalia Jaime, Cristian Castro, Diego Naranjo, Guido Trautmann, Mario Pérez-Won, Vilbett Briones-Labarca

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Proteins play a crucial role in various prepared foods, including dairy products, drinks, emulsions, and ready meals. These food proteins are naturally present in food waste and byproducts. The alkaline extraction and acid precipitation method is commonly used to extract proteins from plants and animals due to its product stability, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use. This study aimed to investigate the impact of pH-shifting storage at two different pH levels on the conformational changes affecting the physicochemical and functional properties of quinoa protein isolate (QPI) and yellow shrimp byproduct protein isolate (YSPI). The QPI and YSPI were extracted using the alkaline extraction-isoelectric precipitation method. The dispersions were adjusted to pH 4 or 12, stirred for 2 hours at 20°C to achieve a uniform dispersion, and then freeze-dried. Various analyses were conducted, including flexibility (F), free sulfhydryl content (Ho), emulsifying activity (EA), emulsifying capacity (EC), water holding capacity (WHC), oil holding capacity (OHC), intrinsic fluorescence, ultraviolet spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to assess the properties of the protein isolates. pH-shifting at pH 11 and 12 for QPI and YSPI, respectively, significantly improved protein properties, while property modification of the samples treated under acidic conditions was less pronounced. Additionally, the pH 11 and 12 treatments significantly improved F, Ho, EA, WHC, OHC, intrinsic fluorescence, ultraviolet spectroscopy, DSC, and FTIR. The increase in Ho was due to disulfide bond disruption, which produced more protein sub-units than other treatments for both proteins. This study provides theoretical support for comprehensively elucidating the functional properties of protein isolates, promoting the application of plant proteins and marine byproducts. The pH-shifting process effectively improves the emulsifying property and stability of QPI and YSPI, which can be considered potential plant-based or marine byproduct-based emulsifiers for use in the food industry.

Keywords: quinoa protein, yellow shrimp by-product protein, physicochemical properties, structural properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 18

Authors: D. Kakulia, L. Shoshiashvili, G. Sapharishvili

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The results of the study are related to the direction of plastic mine detection research using electromagnetic induction, the development of appropriate equipment, and the evaluation of expected results. Electromagnetic induction sensing is effectively used in the detection of metal objects in the soil and in the discrimination of unexploded ordnances. Metal objects interact well with a low-frequency alternating magnetic field. Their electromagnetic response can be detected at the low-frequency range even when they are placed in the ground. Detection of plastic things such as plastic mines by electromagnetic induction is associated with difficulties. The interaction of non-conducting bodies or low-conductive objects with a low-frequency alternating magnetic field is very weak. At the high-frequency range where already wave processes take place, the interaction increases. Interactions with other distant objects also increase. A complex interference picture is formed, and extraction of useful information also meets difficulties. Sensing by electromagnetic induction at the intermediate MHz frequency range is the subject of research. The concept of detecting plastic mines in this range can be based on the study of the electromagnetic response of non-conductive cavity in a low-conductivity environment or the detection of small metal components in plastic mines, taking into account constructive features. The detector node based on the amplitude and phase detector 'Analog Devices ad8302' has been developed for experimental studies. The node has two inputs. At one of the inputs, the node receives a sinusoidal signal from the generator, to which a transmitting coil is also connected. The receiver coil is attached to the second input of the node. The additional circuit provides an option to amplify the signal output from the receiver coil by 20 dB. The node has two outputs. The voltages obtained at the output reflect the ratio of the amplitudes and the phase difference of the input harmonic signals. Experimental measurements were performed in different positions of the transmitter and receiver coils at the frequency range 1-20 MHz. Arbitrary/Function Generator Tektronix AFG3052C and the eight-channel high-resolution oscilloscope PICOSCOPE 4824 were used in the experiments. Experimental measurements were also performed with a low-conductive test object. The results of the measurements and comparative analysis show the capabilities of the simple detector node and the prospects for its further development in this direction. The results of the experimental measurements are compared and analyzed with the results of appropriate computer modeling based on the method of auxiliary sources (MAS). The experimental measurements are driven using the MATLAB environment. Acknowledgment -This work was supported by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation (SRNSF) (Grant number: NFR 17_523).

Keywords: EM induction sensing, detector, plastic mines, remote sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Edward Shizha, Edward Makwarimba

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Newcomer and refugee youth feel excluded in the education system in Canada, and the formal education environment does not fully cater for their learning needs. The objective of this study was to build knowledge and understanding of the educational needs and experiences of these youth in Canada and how available afterschool programs can most effectively support their learning needs and academic outcomes. The Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), which funded this research, enables and empowers students to advance their educational experience through targeted investments in services that are delivered by youth-serving organizations outside the formal education system through afterschool initiatives. A literature review and a provincial/territorial internet scan were conducted to determine the availability of services and programs that serve the educational needs and academic outcomes of newcomer youth in 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada. The goal was to identify intersectional factors (e.g., gender, sexuality, culture, social class, race, etc.) that influence educational outcomes of newcomer/refugee students and to recommend ways the ESDC could complement settlement services to enhance students’ educational success. First, data was collected through a literature search of various databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Google docs, ACADEMIA, and grey literature, including government documents, to inform our analysis. Second, a provincial/territorial internet scan was conducted using a template that was created by ESDC staff with the input of the researchers. The objective of the web-search scan was to identify afterschool programs, projects, and initiatives offered to newcomer/refugee youth by service provider organizations. The method for the scan included both qualitative and quantitative data gathering. Both the literature review and the provincial/territorial scan revealed that there are gender disparities in educational outcomes of newcomer and refugee youth. High school completion rates by gender show that boys are at higher risk of not graduating than girls and that girls are more likely than boys to have at least a high school diploma and more likely to proceed to postsecondary education. Findings from literature reveal that afterschool programs are required for refugee youth who experience mental health challenges and miss out on significant periods of schooling, which affect attendance, participation, and graduation from high school. However, some refugee youth use their resilience and ambition to succeed in their educational outcomes. Another finding showed that some immigrant/refugee students, through ethnic organizations and familial affiliation, maintain aspects of their cultural values, parental expectations and ambitious expectations for their own careers to succeed in both high school and postsecondary education. The study found a significant combination of afterschool programs that include academic support, scholarships, bursaries, homework support, career readiness, internships, mentorship, tutoring, non-clinical counselling, mental health and social well-being support, language skills, volunteering opportunities, community connections, peer networking, culturally relevant services etc. These programs assist newcomer youth to develop self-confidence and prepare for academic success and future career development. The study concluded that advantages of afterschool programs are greatest for youth at risk for poor educational outcomes, such as Latino and Black youth, including 2SLGBTQI+ immigrant youth.

Keywords: afterschool programs, educational outcomes, newcomer youth, refugee youth, youth-serving organizations

Procedia PDF Downloads 59

Authors: E. Tuğba Topçu, Ebru E. Kazan, Erhan Büken

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Emergency nurses are the first health care professional to generally observe the patients, communicate patients’ family or relatives, touch the properties of patients and contact to laboratory sample of patients. Also, they are the encounter incidents related crime, people who engage in violence or suspicious injuries frequently. So, documentation of patients’ condition came to the hospital and conservation of evidence are important in the inquiry of forensic medicine. The aim of the study was to determine the knowledge level of healthcare professional working at the emergency services regarding their approaches to common forensic cases. The study was comprised of 404 healthcare professional working (nurse, emergency medicine technician, health officer) at the emergency services of 6 state hospitals, 6 training and 6 research hospitals and 3 university hospitals in Ankara. Data was collected using questionnaire form which was developed by researches in the direction of literature. Questionnaire form is comprised of two sections. The first section includes 17 questions related demographic information about health care professional and 4 questions related Turkish laws. The second section includes 43 questions to the determination of knowledge level of health care professional’s working in the emergency department, about approaches to frequently encountered forensic cases. For the data evaluation of the study; Mann Whitney U test, Bonferroni correction Kruskal Wallis H test and Chi Square tests have been used. According to study, it’s said that there is no forensic medicine expert in the foundation by 73.4% of health care professionals. Two third (66%) of participants’ in emergency department reported daily average 7 or above forensic cases applied to the emergency department and 52.1% of participants did not evaluate incidents came to the emergency department as a forensic case. Most of the participants informed 'duty of preservation of evidence' is health care professionals duty related forensic cases. In result, we determinated that knowledge level of health care professional working in the emergency department, about approaches to frequently encountered forensic cases, is not the expected level. Because we found that most of them haven't received education about forensic nursing.Postgraduates participants, educated health professional about forensic nursing, staff who applied to sources about forensic nursing and staff who evaluated emergency department cases as forensic cases have significantly higher level of knowledge. Moreover, it’s found that forensic cases diagnosis score is the highest in health officer and university graduated. Health care professional’s deficiency in knowledge about forensic cases can cause defects in operation of the forensic process because of mistakes in collecting and conserving of evidence. It is obvious that training about the approach to forensic nursing should be arranged.

Keywords: emergency nurses, forensic case, forensic nursing, level of knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Tuula Nygard

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This study contributes to the pedagogical discussion on how to promote adolescents’ multiliteracies with the emphasis on information seeking and evaluation skills in contemporary media environments. The study is conducted in the school environment utilizing perspectives of educational sciences and information studies to health communication and teaching. The research focus is on the teacher role as a trusted person, who guides students to choose and use credible information sources. Evaluating the credibility of information may often be challenging. Specifically, children and adolescents may find it difficult to know what to believe and who to trust, for instance, in health and well-being communication. Thus, advanced multiliteracy skills are needed. In the school environment, trust is based on the teacher’s subject content knowledge, but also the teacher’s character and caring. Teacher’s benevolence and approachability generate trustworthiness, which lays the foundation for good interaction with students and further, for the teacher’s pedagogical authority. The study explores teachers’ perceptions of their pedagogical authority and the role of a trustee. In addition, the study examines what kind of multiliteracy practices teachers utilize in their teaching. The data will be collected by interviewing secondary school health education teachers during Spring 2019. The analysis method is a nexus analysis, which is an ethnographic research orientation. Classroom interaction as the interviewed teachers see it is scrutinized through a nexus analysis lens in order to expound a social action, where people, places, discourses, and objects are intertwined. The crucial social actions in this study are information seeking and evaluation situations, where the teacher and the students together assess the credibility of the information sources. The study is based on the hypothesis that a trustee’s opinions of credible sources and guidance in information seeking and evaluation affect students’, that is, trustors’ choices. In the school context, the teacher’s own experiences and perceptions of health-related issues cannot be brushed aside. Furthermore, adolescents are used to utilize digital technology for day-to-day information seeking, but the chosen information sources are often not very high quality. In the school, teachers are inclined to recommend familiar sources, such as health education textbook and web pages of well-known health authorities. Students, in turn, rely on the teacher’s guidance of credible information sources without using their own judgment. In terms of students’ multiliteracy competences, information seeking and evaluation tasks in health education are excellent opportunities to practice and enhance these skills. To distinguish the right information from a wrong one is particularly important in health communication because experts by experience are easy to find and their opinions are convincing. This can be addressed by employing the ideas of multiliteracy in the school subject health education and in teacher education and training.

Keywords: multiliteracies, nexus analysis, pedagogical authority, trust

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Himanshu Kumar Gupta

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The Jaisalmer Basin is one of the parts of the Rajasthan basin in northwestern India. The presence of five major unconformities/hiatuses of varying span i.e. at the top of Archean basement, Cambrian, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene have created the foundation for constructing a sequence stratigraphic framework. Based on basin formative tectonic events and their impact on sedimentation processes three first-order sequences have been identified in Rajasthan Basin. These are Proterozoic-Early Cambrian rift sequence, Permian to Middle-Late Eocene shelf sequence and Pleistocene - Recent sequence related to Himalayan Orogeny. The Permian to Middle Eocene I order sequence is further subdivided into three-second order sequences i.e. Permian to Late Jurassic II order sequence, Early to Late Cretaceous II order sequence and Paleocene to Middle-Late Eocene II order sequence. In this study, Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sequence was identified and log-based interpretation of smaller order T-R cycles have been carried out. A log profile from eastern margin to western margin (up to Shahgarh depression) has been taken. The depositional environment penetrated by the wells interpreted from log signatures gave three major facies association. The blocky and coarsening upward (funnel shape), the blocky and fining upward (bell shape) and the erratic (zig-zag) facies representing distributary mouth bar, distributary channel and marine mud facies respectively. Late Jurassic Formation (Baisakhi-Bhadasar) and Early Cretaceous Formation (Pariwar) shows a lesser number of T-R cycles in shallower and higher number of T-R cycles in deeper bathymetry. Shallowest well has 3 T-R cycles in Baisakhi-Bhadasar and 2 T-R cycles in Pariwar, whereas deeper well has 4 T-R cycles in Baisakhi-Bhadasar and 8 T-R cycles in Pariwar Formation. The Maximum Flooding surfaces observed from the stratigraphy analysis indicate major shale break (high shale content). The study area is dominated by the alternation of shale and sand lithologies, which occurs in an approximate ratio of 70:30. A seismo-geological cross section has been prepared to understand the stratigraphic thickness variation and structural disposition of the strata. The formations are quite thick to the west, the thickness of which reduces as we traverse towards the east. The folded and the faulted strata indicated the compressional tectonics followed by the extensional tectonics. Our interpretation is supported with seismic up to second order sequence indicates - Late Jurassic sequence is a Highstand Systems Tract (Baisakhi - Bhadasar formations), and the Early Cretaceous sequence is Regressive to Lowstand System Tract (Pariwar Formation).

Keywords: Jaisalmer Basin, sequence stratigraphy, system tract, T-R cycle

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Vipin Kumar Verma, Neeta Sehgal, Om Prakash

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Cyprinus carpio has a wide spread occurrence in the lakes and rivers of Europe and Asia. Heavy losses in natural environment due to anthropogenic activities, including pollution as well as pathogenic diseases have landed this fish in IUCN red list of vulnerable species. The significance of a suitable diet in preserving the health status of fish is widely recognized. In present study, artificial feed supplemented with leaves of two weed plants, Eichhornia crassipes and Ricinus communis were evaluated for their role on the fish immune system. To achieve this objective fish were acclimatized to laboratory conditions (25 ± 1 °C; 12 L: 12D) for 10 days prior to start of experiment and divided into 4 groups: non-challenged (negative control= A), challenged [positive control (B) and experimental (C & D)]. Group A, B were fed with non-supplemented feed while group C & D were fed with feed supplemented with 5% Eichhornia crassipes and 5% Ricinus communis respectively. Supplemented feeds were evaluated for their effect on growth, health, immune system and disease resistance in fish when challenged with Vibrio harveyi. Fingerlings of C. carpio (weight, 2.0±0.5 g) were exposed with fresh overnight culture of V. harveyi through bath immunization (concentration 2 Χ 105) for 2 hours on 10 days interval for 40 days. The growth was monitored through increase in their relative weight. The rate of mortality due to bacterial infection as well as due to effect of feed was recorded accordingly. Immune response of fish was analyzed through differential leucocyte count, percentage phagocytosis and phagocytic index. The effect of V. harveyi on fish organs were examined through histo-pathological examination of internal organs like spleen, liver and kidney. The change in the immune response was also observed through gene expression analysis. The antioxidant potential of plant extracts was measured through DPPH and FRAP assay and amount of total phenols and flavonoids were calculates through biochemical analysis. The chemical composition of plant’s methanol extracts was determined by GC-MS analysis, which showed presence of various secondary metabolites and other compounds. Investigation revealed immuno-modulatory effect of plants, when supplemented with the artificial feed of fish.

Keywords: immuno-modulation, gc-ms, Cyprinus carpio, Eichhornia crassipes, Ricinus communis

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Authors: Benjamin Arazi

Abstract:

Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It revolutionizes the meaning of trust in the sense of offering total reliability without relying on any central entity that controls or supervises the system. The Wall Street Journal states: “Blockchain Marks the Next Step in the Internet’s Evolution”. Blockchain was listed as #1 in Linkedin – The Learning Blog “most in-demand hard skills needed in 2020”. As stated there: “Blockchain’s novel way to store, validate, authorize, and move data across the internet has evolved to securely store and send any digital asset”. GSMA, a leading Telco organization of mobile communications operators, declared that “Blockchain has the potential to be for value what the Internet has been for information”. Motivated by these seminal observations, this paper presents the foundations of a Blockchain-based “Internet of Assets” academic program that joins under one roof leading application areas that are characterized by the transfer of assets over communication lines. Two such areas, which are pillars of our economy, are Fintech – Financial Technology and mobile communications services. The next application in line is Healthcare. These challenges are met based on available extensive professional literature. Blockchain-based assets communication is based on extending the principle of Bitcoin, starting with the basic question: If digital money that travels across the universe can ‘prove its own validity’, can this principle be applied to digital content. A groundbreaking positive answer here led to the concept of “smart contract” and consequently to DLT - Distributed Ledger Technology, where the word ‘distributed’ relates to the non-existence of reliable central entities or trusted third parties. The terms Blockchain and DLT are frequently used interchangeably in various application areas. The World Bank Group compiled comprehensive reports, analyzing the contribution of DLT/Blockchain to Fintech. The European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are engaged in Project Stella, “Balancing confidentiality and auditability in a distributed ledger environment”. 130 DLT/Blockchain focused Fintech startups are now operating in Switzerland. Blockchain impact on mobile communications services is treated in detail by leading organizations. The TM Forum is a global industry association in the telecom industry, with over 850 member companies, mainly mobile operators, that generate US$2 trillion in revenue and serve five billion customers across 180 countries. From their perspective: “Blockchain is considered one of the digital economy’s most disruptive technologies”. Samples of Blockchain contributions to Fintech (taken from a World Bank document): Decentralization and disintermediation; Greater transparency and easier auditability; Automation & programmability; Immutability & verifiability; Gains in speed and efficiency; Cost reductions; Enhanced cyber security resilience. Samples of Blockchain contributions to the Telco industry. Establishing identity verification; Record of transactions for easy cost settlement; Automatic triggering of roaming contract which enables near-instantaneous charging and reduction in roaming fraud; Decentralized roaming agreements; Settling accounts per costs incurred in accordance with agreement tariffs. This clearly demonstrates an academic education structure where fundamental technologies are studied in classes together with these two application areas. Advanced courses, treating specific implementations then follow separately. All are under the roof of “Internet of Assets”.

Keywords: blockchain, education, financial technology, mobile telecommunications services

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Authors: Felicia N. Obialo, Aliza Wingo, Thomas Wingo

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Psychosocial factors such as personality traits and social networks influence cognitive aging and dementia outcomes both positively and negatively. The inherent complexity of these factors makes defining the underlying mechanisms of their influence difficult; however, exploring their interactions affords promise in the field of cognitive aging. The objective of this study was to elucidate some of these interactions by determining the relationship between social network size and dementia outcomes and by determining whether personality traits mediate this relationship. The longitudinal Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) database provided by Rush University’s Religious Orders Study/Memory and Aging Project was utilized to perform retrospective regression and mediation analyses on 3,591 participants. Participants who were cognitively impaired at baseline were excluded, and analyses were adjusted for age, sex, common chronic diseases, and vascular risk factors. Dementia outcome measures included cognitive trajectory, clinical dementia diagnosis, and postmortem beta-amyloid plaque (AB), and neurofibrillary tangle (NT) accumulation. Personality traits included agreeableness (A), conscientiousness (C), extraversion (E), neuroticism (N), and openness (O). The results show a positive correlation between social network size and cognitive trajectory (p-value = 0.004) and a negative relationship between social network size and odds of dementia diagnosis (p = 0.024/ Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.974). Only neuroticism mediates the positive relationship between social network size and cognitive trajectory (p < 2e-16). Agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism all mediate the negative relationship between social network size and dementia diagnosis (p=0.098, p=0.054, and p < 2e-16, respectively). All personality traits are independently associated with dementia diagnosis (A: p = 0.016/ OR = 0.959; C: p = 0.000007/ OR = 0.945; E: p = 0.028/ OR = 0.961; N: p = 0.000019/ OR = 1.036; O: p = 0.027/ OR = 0.972). Only conscientiousness and neuroticism are associated with postmortem AD pathologies; specifically, conscientiousness is negatively associated (AB: p = 0.001, NT: p = 0.025) and neuroticism is positively associated with pathologies (AB: p = 0.002, NT: p = 0.002). These results support the study’s objectives, demonstrating that social network size and personality traits are strongly associated with dementia outcomes, particularly the odds of receiving a clinical diagnosis of dementia. Personality traits interact significantly and beneficially with social network size to influence the cognitive trajectory and future dementia diagnosis. These results reinforce previous literature linking social network size to dementia risk and provide novel insight into the differential roles of individual personality traits in cognitive protection.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive trajectory, personality traits, social network size

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Authors: David Schafer

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Critical Theory is in sore need of a workable account of technology. It had one in the writings of Herbert Marcuse, or so it seemed until Jürgen Habermas mounted a critique in 'Technology and Science as Ideology' (Habermas, 1970) that decisively put it away. Ever since Marcuse’s work has been regarded outdated – a 'philosophy of consciousness' no longer seriously tenable. But with Marcuse’s view has gone the important insight that technology is no norm-free system (as Habermas portrays it) but can be laden with social bias. Andrew Feenberg is among a few serious scholars who have perceived this problem in post-Habermasian critical theory and has sought to revive a basically Marcusean account of technology. On his view, while so-called ‘technical elements’ that physically make up technologies are neutral with regard to social interests, there is a sense in which we may speak of a normative grammar or ‘technical code’ built-in to technology that can be socially biased in favor of certain groups over others (Feenberg, 2002). According to Feenberg, those perspectives on technology are reified which consider technology only by their technical elements to the neglect of their technical codes. Nevertheless, Feenberg’s account fails to explain what is normatively problematic with such reified views of technology. His plausible claim that they represent false perspectives on technology by itself does not explain how such views may be oppressive, even though Feenberg surely wants to be doing that stronger level of normative theorizing. Perceiving this deficit in his own account of reification, he tries to adopt Habermas’s version of systems-theory to ground his own critical theory of technology (Feenberg, 1999). But this is a curious move in light of Feenberg’s own legitimate critiques of Habermas’s portrayals of technology as reified or ‘norm-free.’ This paper argues that a better foundation may be found in Axel Honneth’s recent text, Freedom’s Right (Honneth, 2014). Though Honneth there says little explicitly about technology, he offers an implicit account of reification formulated in opposition to Habermas’s systems-theoretic approach. On this ‘normative functionalist’ account of reification, social spheres are reified when participants prioritize individualist ideals of freedom (moral and legal freedom) to the neglect of an intersubjective form of freedom-through-recognition that Honneth calls ‘social freedom.’ Such misprioritization is ultimately problematic because it is unsustainable: individual freedom is philosophically and institutionally dependent upon social freedom. The main difficulty in adopting Honneth’s social theory for the purposes of a theory of technology, however, is that the notion of social freedom is predicable only of social institutions, whereas it appears difficult to conceive of technology as an institution. Nevertheless, in light of Feenberg’s work, the idea that technology includes within itself a normative grammar (technical code) takes on much plausibility. To the extent that this normative grammar may be understood by the category of social freedom, Honneth’s dialectical account of the relationship between individual and social forms of freedom provides a more solid basis from which to ground the normative claims of Feenberg’s sociological account of technology than Habermas’s systems theory.

Keywords: Habermas, Honneth, technology, Feenberg

Procedia PDF Downloads 185