Search results for: information system management

Authors: J. D. Temperman

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Introduction: In particular, in relation to religion, the meaning and scope of freedom of expression have been tested in recent times. This paper investigates the legal justifications for restrictions that have been suggested in this area and asks whether they are sustainable from an international human rights perspective. The universal human rights instruments, particularly the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), are increasingly geared towards eradicating ‘incitement’ to contingent harms like violence or discrimination, whilst forms of extreme speech that fall short of such incitement are to be protected rather than countered by states. Human Rights Committee’s draft-General Comment on freedom of expression, adopted in 2011, provides another strong indication that this is the envisaged way forward: repealing anti-blasphemy and anti-religious defamation laws, whilst simultaneously increasing efforts to combat ‘incitement’. Within regional human rights frameworks, notably the European Convention system, judgments have in fact supported legal restrictions on both hate speech, holocaust denial, and blasphemy or religious defamation. Major contributions to scholarship: This paper proposes an actus reus for the offense of ‘advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination or violence’, as enshrined in Article 20(2) of the UN ICCPR. In underscoring the high threshold of ‘incitement’, the author distinguishes this offense from such notions as ‘blasphemy’ or ‘defamation of religions’. In addition to treating the said provision as a sui generis prohibition, the question is addresses whether a ‘right to be protected against incitement’ may be distilled from the ICCPR. Furthermore, the author will discuss the question of how to judge incitement; notably, is mens rea required to convict someone of incitement, and if so, what degree of mens rea? This analysis also includes the question how to balance content and context factors when addressing alleged instances of incitement, notably what factors make provide for a likelihood that imminent acts of violence or discrimination will ensue from an inciteful speech act? Methodology: This paper takes a double comparative approach: (i) it endeavours to compare and contrast monitoring bodies’ approach to incitement (notably, the UN Human Rights Committee, but also the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which monitors states’ compliance with Article 4 of ICERD on incitement); and (ii) it endeavours to chart and compare and analyse from an international human rights perspective recent forms of state practice in the field of dealing with incitement (i.e. a comparative legal analysis and vertical human rights analysis of newly emerging incitement legislation in the light of the said international standards). Conclusion: This paper conceptualizes a legal notion – ‘incitement’ – encapsulated in international human rights law that may have a profound bearing on contemporary challenges of radicalization and religious strife.

Keywords: incitement, international human rights law, religious hatred, violence

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Authors: Aleksander Ejsmont, Stefan Wuttke, Joanna Goscianska

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Gaining control over particle shape, size and crystallinity is an ongoing challenge for many materials. Especially metalorganic frameworks (MOFs) are recently widely studied. Besides their remarkable porosity and interesting topologies, morphology has proven to be a significant feature. It can affect the further material application. Thus seeking new approaches that enable MOF morphology modulation is important. MOFs are reticular structures, where building blocks are made up of organic linkers and metallic nodes. The most common strategy of ensuring metal source is using salts, which usually exhibit high solubility and hinder morphology control. However, there has been a growing interest in using metal oxides as structure-directing agents towards MOFs due to their very low solubility and shape preservation. Metal oxides can be treated as a metal reservoir during MOF synthesis. Up to now, reports in which receiving MOFs from metal oxides mostly present ZnO conversion to ZIF-8. However, there are other oxides, for instance, Co₃O₄, which often is overlooked due to their structural stability and insolubility in aqueous solutions. Cobalt-based materials are famed for catalytic activity. Therefore the development of their efficient synthesis is worth attention. In the presented work, an optimized Co₃O₄transition to Co-MOFviaa solvothermal approach was proposed. The starting point of the research was the synthesis of Co₃O₄ flower petals and needles under hydrothermal conditions using different cobalt salts (e.g., cobalt(II) chloride and cobalt(II) nitrate), in the presence of urea, and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant as a capping agent. After receiving cobalt hydroxide, the calcination process was performed at various temperatures (300–500 °C). Then cobalt oxides as a source of cobalt cations were subjected to reaction with trimesic acid in solvothermal environment and temperature of 120 °C leading to Co-MOF fabrication. The solution maintained in the system was a mixture of water, dimethylformamide, and ethanol, with the addition of strong acids (HF and HNO₃). To establish how solvents affect metal oxide conversion, several different solvent ratios were also applied. The materials received were characterized with analytical techniques, including X-ray powder diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy,low-temperature nitrogen adsorption/desorption, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy. It was confirmed that the synthetic routes have led to the formation of Co₃O₄ and Co-based MOF varied in shape and size of particles. The diffractograms showed receiving crystalline phase for Co₃O₄, and also for Co-MOF. The Co₃O₄ obtained from nitrates and with using low-temperature calcination resulted in smaller particles. The study indicated that cobalt oxide particles of different size influence the efficiency of conversion and morphology of Co-MOF. The highest conversion was achieved using metal oxides with small crystallites.

Keywords: Co-MOF, solvothermal synthesis, morphology control, core-shell

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Authors: Kristina Colovic, Mari Janikian, Nikolaos Takis, Fotini-Sonia Apergi

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A considerable number of Afghan asylum seekers in Greece are still waiting for answers about their future and status for personal, social and societal advancement. Most have been trapped in a stalemate of continuously postponed or temporarily progressed levels of integration into the EU/Greek process of asylum. Limited quantitative research exists investigating the psychological effects of long-term displacement among Afghans refugees in Greece. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that are associated with and predict psychological distress symptoms among this population. Data from a sample of native Afghan nationals (N > 70) living in Greece for approximately the last ten years will be collected from May to July 2016. Criteria for participation include the following: being 18 years of age or older, and emigration from Afghanistan to Greece from 2003 onwards (i.e., long-term refugees or part of the 'old system of asylum'). Snowball sampling will be used to recruit participants, as this is considered the most effective option when attempting to study refugee populations. Participants will complete self-report questionnaires, consisting of the Afghan Symptom Checklist (ASCL), a culturally validated measure of psychological distress, the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale (WHOQOL-BREF), an adapted version of the Comprehensive Trauma Inventory-104 (CTI-104), and a modified Psychological Acculturation Scale. All instruments will be translated in Greek, through the use of forward- and back-translations by bilingual speakers of English and Greek, following WHO guidelines. A pilot study with 5 Afghan participants will take place to check for discrepancies in understanding and for further adapting the instruments as needed. Demographic data, including age, gender, year of arrival to Greece and current asylum status will be explored. Three different types of analyses (descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and multivariate linear regression) will be used in this study. Descriptive findings for respondent demographics, psychological distress symptoms, traumatic life events and quality of life will be reported. Zero-order correlations will assess the interrelationships among demographic, traumatic life events, psychological distress, and quality of life variables. Lastly, a multivariate linear regression model will be estimated. The findings from the study will contribute to understanding the determinants of acculturation, distress and trauma on daily functioning for Afghans in Greece. The main implications of the current study will be to advocate for capacity building and empower communities through effective program evaluation and design for mental health services for all refugee populations in Greece.

Keywords: Afghan refugees, evaluation, Greece, mental health, quality of life

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Authors: Sharon Millen, Sarah Miller, Laura Dunne, Clare McGeady, Laura Neeson

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This paper presents the findings from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) and process evaluation of the Lifestart parenting programme. Lifestart is a structured child-centred programme of information and practical activity for parents of children aged from birth to five years of age. It is delivered to parents in their own homes by trained, paid family visitors and it is offered to parents regardless of their social, economic or other circumstances. The RCT evaluated the effectiveness of the programme and the process evaluation documented programme delivery and included a qualitative exploration of parent and child outcomes. 424 parents and children participated in the RCT: 216 in the intervention group and 208 in the control group across the island of Ireland. Parent outcomes included: parental knowledge of child development, parental efficacy, stress, social support, parenting skills and embeddedness in the community. Child outcomes included cognitive, language and motor development and social-emotional and behavioural development. Both groups were tested at baseline (when children were less than 1 year old), mid-point (aged 3) and at post-test (aged 5). Data were collected during a home visit, which took two hours. The process evaluation consisted of interviews with parents (n=16 at baseline and end-point), and focus groups with Lifestart Coordinators (n=9) and Family Visitors (n=24). Quantitative findings from the RCT indicated that, compared to the control group, parents who received the Lifestart programme reported reduced parenting-related stress, increased knowledge of their child’s development, and improved confidence in their parenting role. These changes were statistically significant and consistent with the hypothesised pathway of change depicted in the logic model. There was no evidence of any change in parents’ embeddedness in the community. Although four of the five child outcomes showed small positive change for children who took part in the programme, these were not statistically significant and there is no evidence that the programme improves child cognitive and non-cognitive skills by immediate post-test. The qualitative process evaluation highlighted important challenges related to conducting trials of this magnitude and design in the general population. Parents reported that a key incentive to take part in study was receiving feedback from the developmental assessment, which formed part of the data collection. This highlights the potential importance of appropriate incentives in relation to recruitment and retention of participants. The interviews with intervention parents indicated that one of the first changes they experienced as a result of the Lifestart programme was increased knowledge and confidence in their parenting ability. The outcomes and pathways perceived by parents and described in the interviews are also consistent with the findings of the RCT and the theory of change underpinning the programme. This hypothesises that improvement in parental outcomes, arising as a consequence of the programme, mediate the change in child outcomes. Parents receiving the Lifestart programme reported great satisfaction with and commitment to the programme, with the role of the Family Visitor being identified as one of the key components of the programme.

Keywords: parent-child relationship, parental self-efficacy, parental stress, school readiness

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Authors: Leo Nnamdi Ozurumba-Dwight

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Messenger ribooxynucleic acid (mRNA) molecules are compositional, protein-based. These proteins, encoding mRNA molecules (which collectively connote the transcriptome), when analyzed by RNA sequencing (RNAseq), unveils the nature of gene expression in the RNA. The obtained gene expression provides clues of cellular traits and their dynamics in presentations. These can be studied in relation to function and responses. RNAseq is a practical concept in Genomics as it enables detection and quantitative analysis of mRNA molecules. Single cell and spatial transcriptomics both present varying avenues for expositions in genomic characteristics of single cells and pooled cells in disease conditions such as cancer, auto-immune diseases, hematopoietic based diseases, among others, from investigated biological tissue samples. Single cell transcriptomics helps conduct a direct assessment of each building unit of tissues (the cell) during diagnosis and molecular gene expressional studies. A typical technique to achieve this is through the use of a single-cell RNA sequencer (scRNAseq), which helps in conducting high throughput genomic expressional studies. However, this technique generates expressional gene data for several cells which lack presentations on the cells’ positional coordinates within the tissue. As science is developmental, the use of complimentary pre-established tissue reference maps using molecular and bioinformatics techniques has innovatively sprung-forth and is now used to resolve this set back to produce both levels of data in one shot of scRNAseq analysis. This is an emerging conceptual approach in methodology for integrative and progressively dependable transcriptomics analysis. This can support in-situ fashioned analysis for better understanding of tissue functional organization, unveil new biomarkers for early-stage detection of diseases, biomarkers for therapeutic targets in drug development, and exposit nature of cell-to-cell interactions. Also, these are vital genomic signatures and characterizations of clinical applications. Over the past decades, RNAseq has generated a wide array of information that is igniting bespoke breakthroughs and innovations in Biomedicine. On the other side, spatial transcriptomics is tissue level based and utilized to study biological specimens having heterogeneous features. It exposits the gross identity of investigated mammalian tissues, which can then be used to study cell differentiation, track cell line trajectory patterns and behavior, and regulatory homeostasis in disease states. Also, it requires referenced positional analysis to make up of genomic signatures that will be sassed from the single cells in the tissue sample. Given these two presented approaches to RNA transcriptomics study in varying quantities of cell lines, with avenues for appropriate resolutions, both approaches have made the study of gene expression from mRNA molecules interesting, progressive, developmental, and helping to tackle health challenges head-on.

Keywords: transcriptomics, RNA sequencing, single cell, spatial, gene expression.

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Authors: Aşina Gülerarslan, M. Faik Özdengül

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The new economic, social and political world order has led to the emergence of a wide range of persuasion strategies and practices based on an ever expanding marketing axis that involves organizations, ideas and persons as well as products and services. It is seen that since the 1990's, a wide variety of competitive marketing ideas have been offered systematically to target audiences in the field of politics as in other fields. When the components of marketing are taken into consideration, all kinds of communication efforts involving “political leaders”, who are conceptualized as products in terms of political marketing, serve a process of social persuasion, which cannot be restricted to election periods only, and a manageable “image”. In this context, image, which is concerned with how the political product is perceived, involves not only the political discourses shared with the public but also all kinds of biographical information about the leader, the leader’s specific way of living and routines and his/her attitudes and behaviors in their private lives, and all these are regarded as components of the “product image”. While on the one hand the leader’s verbal or supra-verbal references serve the way the “spirit of the product” is perceived –just as in brand positioning- they also show their self-esteem levels, in other words how they perceive themselves on the other hand. Indeed, their self-esteem levels are evaluated in three fundamental categories in the “Functional Analysis”, namely parent, child and adult, and it is revealed that the words, tone of voice and body language a person uses makes it easy to understand at what self-esteem level that person is. In this context, words, tone of voice and body language, which provide important clues as to the “self” of the person, are also an indication of how political leaders evaluate both “themselves” and “the mass/audience” in the communication they establish with their audiences. When the matter is taken from the perspective of Turkey, the levels of self-esteem in the relationships that the political leaders establish with the masses are also important in revealing how our society is seen from the perspective of a specific leader. Since the leader is a part of the marketing strategy of a political party as a product, this evaluation is significant in terms of the forms of relationships between political institutions in our country with the society. In this study, the self-esteem level in the documentary entitled “Master’s Story”, where Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s life history is told, is analyzed in the context of words, tone of voice and body language. Within the scope of the study, at what level of self-esteem Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in the “Master’s Story”, a documentary broadcast on Beyaz TV, was investigated using the content analysis method. First, based on the Functional Analysis Literature, a transactional approach scale was created regarding parent, adult and child self-esteem levels. On the basis of this scale, the prime minister’s self-esteem level was determined in three basic groups, namely “tone of voice”, “the words he used” and “body language”. Descriptive analyses were made to the data within the framework of these criteria and at what self-esteem level the prime minister spoke throughout the documentary was revealed.

Keywords: political marketing, leader image, level of self-esteem, transactional approach

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Authors: Ahmed Mohammed Omer Alghamdi

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Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, a rapid, unexpected transition from face-to-face to virtual classroom (VC) teaching has involved several challenges and obstacles. However, there are also opportunities and thoughts that need to be examined and discussed. In addition, the entire world is witnessing that the teaching system and, more particularly, higher education institutes have been interrupted. To maintain the learning and teaching practices as usual, countries were forced to transition from traditional to virtual classes using various technology-based devices. In this regard, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is no exception. Focusing on how the current situation has forced many higher education institutes to change to virtual classes may possibly provide a clear insight into adopted practices and implications. The main purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate how both Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and students perceived the implementation of virtual classes as a key factor for useful language teaching and learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic period at a Saudi university. The impetus for the research was, therefore, the need to find ways of identifying the deficiencies in this application and to suggest possible solutions that might rectify those deficiencies. This study seeks to answer the following overarching research question: “How do Saudi EFL instructors and students perceive the use of virtual classes during the COVID-19 pandemic period in their language teaching and learning context?” The following sub-questions are also used to guide the design of the study to answer the main research question: (1) To what extent are virtual classes important intra-pandemic from Saudi EFL instructors’ and students’ perspectives? (2) How effective are virtual classes for fostering English language students’ achievement? (3) What are the challenges and obstacles that instructors and students may face during the implementation of virtual teaching? A mixed method approach was employed in this study; the questionnaire data collection represented the quantitative method approach for this study, whereas the transcripts of recorded interviews represented the qualitative method approach. The participants included EFL teachers (N = 4) and male and female EFL students (N = 36). Based on the findings of this study, various aspects from teachers' and students’ perspectives were examined to determine the use of the virtual classroom applications in terms of fulfilling the students’ English language learning needs. The major findings of the study revealed that the virtual classroom applications during the current pandemic situation encountered three major challenges, among which the existence of the following essential aspects, namely lack of technology and an internet connection, having a large number of students in a virtual classroom and lack of students’ and teachers’ interactions during the virtual classroom applications. Finally, the findings indicated that although Saudi EFL students and teachers view the virtual classrooms in a positive light during the pandemic period, they reported that for long and post-pandemic period, they preferred the traditional face-to-face teaching procedure.

Keywords: virtual classes, English as a foreign language, COVID-19, Internet, pandemic

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Authors: Amor Jnifene, Cedric Cocaud

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One of the most constraining problems facing the development of autonomous vehicles is the limitations of current technologies. Guidance and navigation controllers need to be faster and more robust. Communication data links need to be more reliable and secure. For an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to be useful, and fully autonomous, one important feature that needs to be an integral part of the navigation system is autonomous trajectory planning. The work discussed in this paper presents a method for on-line trajectory planning for UAV’s. This method takes into account various constraints of different types including specific vectors of approach close to target points, multiple objectives, and other constraints related to speed, altitude, and obstacle avoidance. The trajectory produced by the proposed method ensures a smooth transition between different segments, satisfies the minimum curvature imposed by the dynamics of the UAV, and finds the optimum velocity based on available atmospheric conditions. Given a set of objective points and waypoints a skeleton of the trajectory is constructed first by linking all waypoints with straight segments based on the order in which they are encountered in the path. Secondly, vectors of approach (VoA) are assigned to objective waypoints and their preceding transitional waypoint if any. Thirdly, the straight segments are replaced by 3D curvilinear trajectories taking into account the aircraft dynamics. In summary, this work presents a method for on-line 3D trajectory generation (TG) of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The method takes as inputs a series of waypoints and an optional vector of approach for each of the waypoints. Using a dynamic model based on the performance equations of fixed wing aircrafts, the TG computes a set of 3D parametric curves establishing a course between every pair of waypoints, and assembling these sets of curves to construct a complete trajectory. The algorithm ensures geometric continuity at each connection point between two sets of curves. The geometry of the trajectory is optimized according to the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft such that the result translates into a series of dynamically feasible maneuvers. In summary, this work presents a method for on-line 3D trajectory generation (TG) of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The method takes as inputs a series of waypoints and an optional vector of approach for each of the waypoints. Using a dynamic model based on the performance equations of fixed wing aircraft, the TG computes a set of 3D parametric curves establishing a course between every pair of waypoints, and assembling these sets of curves to construct a complete trajectory. The algorithm ensures geometric continuity at each connection point between two sets of curves. The geometry of the trajectory is optimized according to the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft such that the result translates into a series of dynamically feasible maneuvers.

Keywords: trajectory planning, unmanned autonomous air vehicle, vector of approach, waypoints

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Authors: Hsueh Ping Peng

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End-stage renal disease most commonly occurs in the elderly population. Elderly people are approaching the end of their lives, and when facing major life-threatening situations, apart from aggressive medical treatment, they can also choose treatment methods such as hospice care to improve their quality of life. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors associated with the awareness and willingness to sign hospice and palliative care consent forms in elderly with end-stage renal disease. This study used both quantitative, cross-sectional study designs. In the quantitative section, 110 elderly patients (aged 65 or above) with end-stage renal disease receiving conventional hemodialysis were recruited as study participants from a medical center in Taipei City. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. Study tools included basic demographic data, questionnaires on the awareness and perception of hospice and palliative care, etc. After collecting the data, data analysis was conducted using SPSS 20.0 statistical software, including descriptive statistics, chi-square test, logistic regression, and other inferential statistics. The results showed that the average age of participants was 71.6 years old, more males than females, average years of dialysis was 6.1 years and most subjects rated their self-perceived health status as fair. Results of the study are summarized as follows: Elderly people with end-stage renal disease did not have sufficient knowledge and awareness about hospice and palliative care. Influencing factors included level of education, marital status, years of dialysis and age, etc. Demographic factors influencing the signing of consent forms included gender, marital status, and age, which all showed significant impacts. Factors taken into consideration when signing consent forms included awareness of hospice care, understanding the relevant definitions of hospice care, and understanding that consent may be modified or cancelled at any time; it was predicted that people who knew more about ways to receive hospice care or more related definitions were more willing to sign the consent forms. In the qualitative study section, 10 participants who signed the consent form, five male, and 5 female, between the ages of 65-90, have completed the semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the interviews revealed six themes: (1) passing away peacefully, (2) autonomy on arrangements of life and death, (3) unwillingness to increase family and social burden, (4) friends and relatives’ experience influencing the decision to give consent, (5) sharing information to facilitate the giving of consent, (6) facing each day with ease, to reflect the experience and factors of consideration for elderly with end-stage renal disease when signing consent forms. The results of this study provides the awareness, thoughts and feelings of elderly with end-stage renal disease on signing consent forms, and serve as a future reference for the dialysis unit to enhance the promotion of hospice and palliative care and related caregiving measures, thereby improving the quality of life and care for elderly people with end-stage renal disease.

Keywords: end-stage renal disease, hemodialysis, hospice and palliative care, awareness, willingness

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Authors: Atara Shriki, Ilana Lavy

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In a rapidly changing technological society, creativity is considered as an engine of economic and social progress. No doubt the education system has a central role in nurturing all students’ creativity, however, it is normally not encouraged at school. The causes of this reality are related to a variety of circumstances, among them: external pressures to cover the curriculum and succeed in standardized tests that mostly require algorithmic thinking and implementation of rules; teachers’ tendency to teach similarly to the way they themselves were taught as school students; relating creativity to giftedness, and therefore avoid nurturing all students' creativity; lack of adequate learning materials and accessible tools for following and evaluating the development of students’ creativity; and more. Since success in academic studies requires, among other things, creativity, lecturers in higher education institutions should consider appropriate ways to nurture students’ creative thinking and assess its development. Obviously, creativity has a multifaceted nature, numerous definitions, various perspectives for studying its essence (e.g., process, personality, environment, and product), and several approaches aimed at evaluating and assessing creative expressions (e.g., cognitive, social-personal, and psychometric). In this framework, we suggest nurturing students’ creativity through engaging them in problem posing activities that are part of inquiry assignments. In order to assess the development of their creativity, we propose to employ a model that was designed for this purpose, based on the psychometric approach, viewing the posed problems as the “creative product”. The model considers four measurable aspects- fluency, flexibility, originality, and organization, as well as a total score of creativity that reflects the relative weights of each aspect. The scores given to learners are of two types: (1) Total scores- the absolute number of posed problems with respect to each of the four aspects, and a final score of creativity; (2) Relative scores- each absolute number is transformed into a number that relates to the relative infrequency of the posed problems in student’s reference group. Through converting the scores received over time into a graphical display, students can assess their progress both with respect to themselves and relative to their reference group. Course lecturers can get a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of each student as well as the class as a whole, and to track changes that occur over time in response to the learning environment they had generated. Such tracking may assist lecturers in making pedagogical decisions about emphases that should be put on one or more aspects of creativity, and about the students that should be given a special attention. Our experience indicates that schoolteachers and lecturers in higher education institutes find the combination of engaging learners in problem posing along with self-assessment of their progress through utilizing the graphical display of accumulating total and relative scores has the potential to realize most learners’ creative potential.

Keywords: creativity, problem posing, psychometric model, self-assessment

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Authors: Alba Francesca Canta

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The present is one of those times when what normally seems to constitute a reason for living vanishes, particularly in times of crisis, during which certainties of all times crumble, and critical issues emerge, especially in already problematic areas such as the role of women and children. This paper aims to explore the issue of gender and highlight the importance of education for people’s development and well-being. The study is part of the broader framework of the capability approach, a multidimensional approach based on the need to consider a person’s wealth by virtue of their opportunity and freedom to live a ‘life of worth. The results of empirical research conducted in 2020 will be presented, the main objective of which was to measure, through qualitative (project techniques, focus groups, interviews with key informants) and quantitative (questionnaire) methods, the level of empowerment of women in two Italian territories and the consequent well-being of their children. By means of the relationship study, the present research results show that a higher level of women’s empowerment corresponds to a higher level of children’s well-being in a positive virtuous process. The opportunity structure and education are the main driving guide both to women’s empowerment and children’s well-being, emphasizing the importance of education to gender culture as a key factor for the development of the whole society. Among all the traumatic events that broke the harmony of the world and caused an abrupt turn in all areas of society, the crisis of democracy and education are some of the harshest. Nevertheless, education continues to be a fundamental pillar of Global Development Agendas, and above all, democratic education is the main factor in the development of a generative society, capable of forming people who know how to live in society. In this context, recovering democratic and inclusive education can be the key to a breakthrough. In the capability approach Sen, and other Scholars, point out education from two different perspectives: a. education as a fundamental right capable of influencing other real fields of people’s life (i.e., being educated to prevent illness, to vote, etc.) and b. spread communitarian education, tolerance, inclusive, democratic, and respectful, capable of forming human beings. This kind of educational system can directly lead to a general process of gender education that presupposes respect for essential principles: equality, uniqueness, and the participation of all in the processes of defining a democratic society. Many practices of women and children’s exclusions essentially derive from social factors (norms, values, quality of institutions, relations of power, educational and cultural practices) that can build strong barriers. Respect for these principles and education for gender culture could foster the renewal of society and the acquisition of fundamental skills for a generative and inclusive society, such as critical skills, cosmopolitan skills, and narrative imagination.

Keywords: capability approach, children’s well-being, education, women’s empowerment

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Authors: A. F. Jaber, E. Dean, M. Liu, J. He, D. Sabata, J. Radel

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Background: Stroke is a serious health care concern and a major cause of disability in the United States. This condition impacts the individual’s functional ability to perform daily activities. Predicting functional performance of people with stroke assists health care professionals in optimizing the delivery of health services to the affected individuals. The purpose of this study was to identify significant predictors of Motor FIM and of Cognitive FIM subscores among individuals with stroke after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation (typically 4-6 weeks after stroke onset). A second purpose is to explore the relation among personal characteristics, health status, and functional performance of daily activities within 2 weeks of stroke onset. Methods: This study used a retrospective chart review to conduct a secondary analysis of data obtained from the Healthcare Enterprise Repository for Ontological Narration (HERON) database. The HERON database integrates de-identified clinical data from seven different regional sources including hospital electronic medical record systems of the University of Kansas Health System. The initial HERON data extract encompassed 1192 records and the final sample consisted of 207 participants who were mostly white (74%) males (55%) with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke (77%). The outcome measures collected from HERON included performance scores on the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). The data analysis plan included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and Stepwise regression analysis. Results: significant predictors of discharge Motor FIM subscores included age, baseline Motor FIM subscores, discharge NIHSS scores, and comorbid electrolyte disorder (R2 = 0.57, p <0.026). Significant predictors of discharge Cognitive FIM subscores were age, baseline cognitive FIM subscores, client cooperative behavior, comorbid obesity, and the total number of comorbidities (R2 = 0.67, p <0.020). Functional performance on admission was significantly associated with age (p < 0.01), stroke severity (p < 0.01), and length of hospital stay (p < 0.05). Conclusions: our findings show that younger age, good motor and cognitive abilities on admission, mild stroke severity, fewer comorbidities, and positive client attitude all predict favorable functional outcomes after inpatient stroke rehabilitation. This study provides health care professionals with evidence to evaluate predictors of favorable functional outcomes early at stroke rehabilitation, to tailor individualized interventions based on their client’s anticipated prognosis, and to educate clients about the benefits of making lifestyle changes to improve their anticipated rate of functional recovery.

Keywords: functional performance, predictors, stroke, recovery

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Authors: Maria Elisabete da Costa Ferreira

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Violent crimes, such as terrorism, organized crime and homicides, are increasing all around the World. This fact calls for the necessity to reflect upon the effectiveness of the deterrence offered by the criminal sanctions set today. The severity of the penalties depends on the social, cultural and even religious background of the State in question. In some States, such as Portugal, the common citizen finds the sentences too soft on the perpetrator and too long to be obtained. On the other hand, in 2023, several States still apply the death penalty, among which the USA, China, and most Middle Eastern countries. As for life in prison without the possibility of parole, the number of countries accepting this possibility in their criminal law is much higher, including England and Wales, the Netherlands, Moldova, Bulgaria, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, Russia, and Serbia. This research aims to demonstrate that both the death penalty and life in prison penalty violate the principles of human dignity and social rehabilitation of the perpetrator and propose alternative penalties that can effectively protect society from crime. The research utilizes three main methodologies: the historical method, the comparative method, and the critical method. The historical method is employed to investigate the evolution of criminal penalties over time. The comparative method is used to compare the practices of different states regarding the death penalty and life in prison penalty. Finally, the critical method is applied to analyze and evaluate the shortcomings of these penalties. From a theoretical point of view, there have been drawn several theories throughout the years to support the idea that perpetrators of crimes should be punished. Today, one of the most commonly accepted theories sustains that the penalty will only be legitimate when necessary to protect society from the perpetrator and to rehabilitate him into society. Foremost, the choice of the penalty and the form of its execution should be guided by the principle of human dignity. The death penalty and life in prison penalty fail to achieve the goal of rehabilitation and disregard the human dignity principle. The right to life is a fundamental right declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and stated in most Constitutions in the World. In conclusion, the research demonstrates that the death penalty and life in prison penalty are in violation of the principles of human dignity and social rehabilitation. These penalties fail to achieve their intended goals and disregard fundamental human rights. Although it may sound tempting to some States to rethink the current system of instated penalties to the admission of these penalties, it is imperative to take the inverse road because the protection of society must be achieved with respect to the perpetrator's fundamental rights, so, alternative penalties must be enforced. Society's belief in its citizen's ability to change must be reinforced, and, ultimately, the belief in Humankind. The findings of this research contribute to the discussion on the use of these penalties and aim to contribute to their decreasing usage in society.

Keywords: death penalty, life in prison penalty, human dignity, rehabilitation

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Authors: Ching-Yu Liao, Ju-Joan Wong

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Recent years have shown a trend of younger stroke patients and an increase in ischemic strokes with the rise in stroke incidence. This has led to a growing demand for telemedicine, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made the need for telemedicine even more urgent. This shift in healthcare is also closely related to advancements in Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Stroke-induced hemiparesis is a significant issue for patients. The medical community believes that if intervention occurs within three to six months of stroke onset, 80% of the residual effects can be restored to normal, a period known as the stroke golden period. During this time, patients undergo treatment and rehabilitation, and neural plasticity is at its best. Lower limb rehabilitation for stroke generally includes exercises such as support standing and walking posture, typically involving the healthy limb to guide the affected limb to achieve rehabilitation goals. Existing gait training aids in hospitals usually involve balance gait, sitting posture training, and precise muscle control, effectively addressing issues of poor gait, insufficient muscle activity, and inability to train independently during recovery. However, home training aids, such as braced and wheeled devices, often rely on the healthy limb to pull the affected limb, leading to lower usage of the affected limb, worsening circular walking, and compensatory movement issues. IoT technology connects devices via the internet to record, receive data, provide feedback, and adjust equipment for intelligent effects. Therefore, this study aims to explore how IoT can be integrated into existing gait training aids to monitor and sensor home rehabilitation movements, improve gait training compensatory issues through real-time feedback, and enable healthcare professionals to quickly understand patient conditions and enhance medical communication. To understand the needs of hemiparetic patients, a review of relevant literature from the past decade will be conducted. From the perspective of user experience, participant observation will be used to explore the use of home training aids by stroke patients and therapists, and interviews with physical therapists will be conducted to obtain professional opinions and practical experiences. Design specifications for home training aids for hemiparetic patients will be summarized. Applying IoT technology to lower limb training aids for stroke hemiparesis can help promote walking function recovery in hemiparetic patients, reduce muscle atrophy, and allow healthcare professionals to immediately grasp patient conditions and adjust gait training plans based on collected and analyzed information. Exploring these potential development directions provides a valuable reference for the further application of IoT technology in the field of medical rehabilitation.

Keywords: stroke, hemiplegia, rehabilitation, gait training, internet of things technology

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Authors: Esther Ranero Carrazana, Maria Karla Ramirez Valdes

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First responders, including firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical personnel, are frequently exposed to high-stress scenarios that significantly increase their risk of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Their work involves life-threatening situations, witnessing suffering, and making critical decisions under pressure, all contributing to psychological strain. The objectives of this research on "Stress Reduction Techniques for First Responders: Scientifically Proven Methods" are as follows. One of them is to evaluate the effectiveness of stress reduction techniques. The primary objective is to assess the efficacy of various scientifically proven stress reduction techniques explicitly tailored for first responders. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Training, Interoception and Exteroception, Sensory Integration, and Body Perception Awareness are scrutinized for their ability to mitigate stress-related symptoms. Furthermore, we evaluate and enhance the understanding of stress mechanisms in first responders by exploring how different techniques influence the physiological and psychological responses to stress. The study aims to deepen the understanding of stress mechanisms in high-risk professions. Additionally, the study promotes psychological resilience by seeking to identify and recommend methods that can significantly enhance the psychological resilience of first responders, thereby supporting their mental health and operational efficiency in high-stress environments. Guide training and policy development is an additional objective to provide evidence-based recommendations that can be used to guide training programs and policy development aimed at improving the mental health and well-being of first responders. Lastly, the study aims to contribute valuable insights to the existing body of knowledge in stress management, specifically tailored to the unique needs of first responders. This study involved a comprehensive literature review assessing the effectiveness of various stress reduction techniques tailored for first responders. Techniques evaluated include Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Training, Interoception and Exteroception, Sensory Integration, and Body Perception Awareness, focusing on their ability to alleviate stress-related symptoms. The review indicates promising results for several stress reduction methods. HRV Training demonstrates the potential to reflect stress vulnerability and enhance physiological and behavioral flexibility. Interoception and Exteroception help modulate the stress response by enhancing awareness of the body's internal state and its interaction with the environment. Sensory integration plays a crucial role in adaptive responses to stress by focusing on individual senses and their integration. Therefore, body perception awareness addresses stress and anxiety through enhanced body perception and mindfulness. The evaluated techniques show significant potential in reducing stress and improving the mental health of first responders. Implementing these scientifically supported methods into routine training could significantly enhance their psychological resilience and operational effectiveness in high-stress environments.

Keywords: first responders, HRV training, mental health, sensory integration, stress reduction

Procedia PDF Downloads 18

Authors: M. Lehtihet, S. Rosado, C. Pradère, J. Leng

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Poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT: PSS), is a polymer mixture well-known for its semiconducting properties and is widely used in the coating industry for its visible transparency and high electronic conductivity (up to 4600 S/cm) as a transparent non-metallic electrode and in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED). It also possesses strong absorption properties in the Near Infra-Red (NIR) range (λ ranging between 900 nm to 2.5 µm). In the present work, we take advantage of this absorption to explore its potential use as a transparent light-to-heat converter. PEDOT: PSS aqueous dispersions are deposited onto a glass substrate using a blade-coating technique in order to produce uniform coatings with controlled thicknesses ranging in ≈ 400 nm to 2 µm. Blade-coating technique allows us good control of the deposit thickness and uniformity by the tuning of several experimental conditions (blade velocity, evaporation rate, temperature, etc…). This liquid coating technique is a well-known, non-expensive technique to realize thin film coatings on various substrates. For coatings on glass substrates destined to solar insulation applications, the ideal coating would be made of a material able to transmit all the visible range while reflecting the NIR range perfectly, but materials possessing similar properties still have unsatisfactory opacity in the visible too (for example, titanium dioxide nanoparticles). NIR absorbing thin films is a more realistic alternative for such an application. Under solar illumination, PEDOT: PSS thin films heat up due to absorption of NIR light and thus act as planar heaters while maintaining good transparency in the visible range. Whereas they screen some NIR radiation, they also generate heat which is then conducted into the substrate that re-emits this energy by thermal emission in every direction. In order to quantify the heating power of these coatings, a sample (coating on glass) is placed in a black enclosure and illuminated with a solar simulator, a lamp emitting a calibrated radiation very similar to the solar spectrum. The temperature of the rear face of the substrate is measured in real-time using thermocouples and a black-painted Peltier sensor measures the total entering flux (sum of transmitted and re-emitted fluxes). The heating power density of the thin films is estimated from a model of the thin film/glass substrate describing the system, and we estimate the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) to quantify the light-to-heat conversion efficiency of such systems. Eventually, the effect of additives such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or optical scatterers (particles) on the performances are also studied, as the first one can alter the IR absorption properties of PEDOT: PSS drastically and the second one can increase the apparent optical path of light within the thin film material.

Keywords: PEDOT: PSS, blade-coating, heat, thin-film, Solar spectrum

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Ana Maria Muț, Georgeta Coneac, Ioana Olariu, Ștefana Avram, Ioana Zinuca Pavel, Ionela Daliana Minda, Lavinia Vlaia, Cristina Adriana Dehelean, Corina Danciu

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Oregano essential oil is obtained from different parts of the plant Origanum vulgare (fam. Lamiaceae) and carvacrol and thymol are primary components, widely recognized for their antimicrobial activity, as well as their antiviral and antifungal properties. Poloxamers are triblock copolymers (Pluronic®), formed of three non-ionic blocks with a hydrophobic polyoxypropylene central chain flanked by two polyoxyethylene hydrophilic chains. They are known for their biocompatibility, sensitivity to temperature changes (sol-to-gel transition of aqueous solution with temperature increase), but also for their amphiphilic and surface active nature determining the formation of micelles, useful for solubilization of different hydrophobic compounds such as the terpenes and terpenoids contained in essential oils. Thus, these polymers, listed in European and US Pharmacopoeia and approved by FDA, are widely used as solubilizers and gelling agents for various pharmaceutical preparations, including topical hydrogels. The aim of this study was to investigate the posibility of solubilizing oregano essential oil (OEO) in polymeric micelles using polyoxypropylene (PPO)-polyoxyethylene (PEO)-polyoxypropylene (PPO) triblock polymers to obtain semisolid systems suitable for topical application. A formulation screening was performed, using Pluronic® F-127 in concentration of 20%, Pluronic® L-31, Pluronic® L-61 and Pluronic® L-62 in concentration of 0.5%, 0.8% respectively 1% to obtain the polymeric micelles-based systems. Then, to each selected system, with or without 10% absolute ethanol, 5% or 8% OEO was added. The obtained transparent poloxamer-based hydrogels containing solubilized OEO were further evaluated for pH, rheological characteristics (flow behaviour, viscosity, consistency and spreadability), using consacrated techniques like potentiometric titration, stationary shear flow test, penetrometric method and parallel plate method. Also, in vitro release and permeation of carvacrol from the hydrogels was carried out, using vertical diffusion cells and synthetic hydrophilic membrane and porcine skin respectively. The pH values and rheological features of all tested formulations were in accordance with official requirements for semisolid cutaneous preparations. But, the formulation containing 0.8% Pluronic® L-31, 10% absolute ethanol, 8% OEO and water and the formulation with 1% Pluronic® L-31, 5% OEO and water, produced the highest cumulative amounts of carvacrol released/permeated through the membrane. The present study demonstrated that oregano essential oil can be successfully solubilized in the investigated poloxamer-based hydrogels. These systems can be further investigated as potential topical therapy for cutaneous papillomas. Funding: This research was funded by Project PN-III-P1-1.1-TE2019-0130, Contract number TE47, Romania.

Keywords: oregano essential oil, carvacrol, poloxamer, topical hydrogels

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Violet Petit-Steeghs, Jochem J. R. Van Roon, Jacqueline E. W. Broerse

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Last decennia the retirement age in Europe is gradually increasing. As a result, people have to continue working for a longer period of time. Health problems due to increased sedentary behavior and mental conditions like burn-out, pose a threat in fulfilling employees’ working life. In order to stimulate the ability and willingness to work in the present and future, it is important to stay vital. Vitality is regarded in literature as a sense of energy, motivation and resilience. It is assumed that by increasing their vitality, employees will stay healthier and be more satisfied with their job, leading to a more sustainable employment and less absenteeism in the future. The aim of this project is to obtain insights into the experiences and barriers of employees, and specifically office workers, with regard to their vitality. These insights are essential in order to develop appropriate measures in the future. To get more insights in the experiences of office workers on their vitality, 8 focus group discussions were organized with 6-10 office workers from 4 different employers (an university, a national construction company and a large juridical and care service organization) in the Netherlands. The discussions were transcribed and analyzed via open coding. This project is part of a larger consortium project Provita2, and conducted in collaboration with University of Technology Eindhoven. Results showed that a range of interdependent factors form a complex network that influences office workers’ vitality. These factors can be divided in three overarching groups: (1) personal (2) organizational and (3) environmental factors. Personal intrinsic factors, relating to the office worker, comprise someone’s physical health, coping style, life style, needs, and private life. Organizational factors, relating to the employer, are the workload, management style and the structure, vision and culture of the organization. Lastly, environmental factors consist of the air, light, temperature at the workplace and whether the workplace is inspiring and workable. Office workers experienced barriers to improve their own vitality due to a lack of autonomy. On the one hand, because most factors were not only intrinsic but extrinsic, like work atmosphere or the temperature in the room. On the other hand, office workers were restricted in adapting both intrinsic as well as extrinsic factors. Restrictions to for instance the flexibility of working times and the workload, can set limitations for improving vitality through personal factors like physical activity and mental relaxation. In conclusion, a large range of interdependent factors influence the vitality of office workers. Office workers are often regarded to have a responsibility to improve their vitality, but are limitedly autonomous in adapting these factors. Measures to improve vitality should therefore not only focus on increasing awareness among office workers, but also on empowering them to fulfill this responsibility. A holistic approach that takes the complex mutual dependencies between the different factors and actors (like managers, employees and HR personnel) into account is highly recommended.

Keywords: occupational health, perspectives office workers, sustainable employment, vitality at work, work & wellbeing

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Abdul Rehman, Bo Liu

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Axial flow turbines are commonly designed with high loads that generate strong secondary flows and result in high secondary losses. These losses contribute to almost 30% to 50% of the total losses. Non-axisymmetric endwall profiling is one of the passive control technique to reduce the secondary flow loss. In this paper, the non-axisymmetric endwall profile construction and optimization for the stator endwalls are presented to improve the efficiency of a high pressure turbine. The commercial code NUMECA Fine/ Design3D coupled with Fine/Turbo was used for the numerical investigation, design of experiments and the optimization. All the flow simulations were conducted by using steady RANS and Spalart-Allmaras as a turbulence model. The non-axisymmetric endwalls of stator hub and shroud were created by using the perturbation law based on Bezier Curves. Each cut having multiple control points was supposed to be created along the virtual streamlines in the blade channel. For the design of experiments, each sample was arbitrarily generated based on values automatically chosen for the control points defined during parameterization. The Optimization was achieved by using two algorithms i.e. the stochastic algorithm and gradient-based algorithm. For the stochastic algorithm, a genetic algorithm based on the artificial neural network was used as an optimization method in order to achieve the global optimum. The evaluation of the successive design iterations was performed using artificial neural network prior to the flow solver. For the second case, the conjugate gradient algorithm with a three dimensional CFD flow solver was used to systematically vary a free-form parameterization of the endwall. This method is efficient and less time to consume as it requires derivative information of the objective function. The objective function was to maximize the isentropic efficiency of the turbine by keeping the mass flow rate as constant. The performance was quantified by using a multi-objective function. Other than these two classifications of the optimization methods, there were four optimizations cases i.e. the hub only, the shroud only, and the combination of hub and shroud. For the fourth case, the shroud endwall was optimized by using the optimized hub endwall geometry. The hub optimization resulted in an increase in the efficiency due to more homogenous inlet conditions for the rotor. The adverse pressure gradient was reduced but the total pressure loss in the vicinity of the hub was increased. The shroud optimization resulted in an increase in efficiency, total pressure loss and entropy were reduced. The combination of hub and shroud did not show overwhelming results which were achieved for the individual cases of the hub and the shroud. This may be caused by fact that there were too many control variables. The fourth case of optimization showed the best result because optimized hub was used as an initial geometry to optimize the shroud. The efficiency was increased more than the individual cases of optimization with a mass flow rate equal to the baseline design of the turbine. The results of artificial neural network and conjugate gradient method were compared.

Keywords: artificial neural network, axial turbine, conjugate gradient method, non-axisymmetric endwall, optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Ayoola Adekunle Dada, Tolulope Omolola Fateropa

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There is no gain saying the fact that the Nigerian correctional services lack rehabilitation reformation. Owing to this, some so many inmates, including the female, become more emotionally bruised and hardened instead of coming out of the prison reformed. Although female inmates constitute only a small percentage worldwide, the challenges resulting from women falling under the provision of the penal system have prompted ficial and humanitarian bodies to consider female inmateas as vulnerable persons who need particular social work measures that meet their specific needs. Female inmates’condition may become worseinprisondue to the absence of the standard living condition. A survey of 100 female inmates will be used to determine the assessment of the living condition of the female inmates within the contexts in which they occur. Employing field methods from Medical Sociology and Law, the study seeks to make use of the collaboration of both disciplines for a comprehensive understanding of the scenario. Its specific objectives encompassed: (1) To examine access and use of health facilities among the female inmates;(2) To examine the effect of officers/warders attitude towards female inmates;(3)To investigate the perception of the female inmates towards the housing facilities in the centre and; (4) To investigate the feeding habit of the female inmates. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, the researchers will make use of mixed-method, such qualitative methods as interviews will be undertaken to complement survey research (quantitative). By adopting the above-explained inter-method triangulation, the study will not only ensure that the advantages of both methods are exploited but will also fulfil the basic purposes of research. The sampling for this study will be purposive. The study aims at sampling two correctional centres (Ado Ekiti and Akure) in order to generate representative data for the female inmates in South West Nigeria. In all, the total number of respondents will be 100. A cross-section of female inmates will be selected as respondents using a multi-stage sampling technique. 100 questionnaires will be administered. A semi structured (in-depth) interviews will be conducted among workers in the two selected correctional centres, respectively, to gain further insight on the living conditions of female inmates, which the survey may not readily elicit. These participants will be selected purposively in respect to their status in the organisation. Ethical issues in research on human subjects will be given due consideration. Such issues rest on principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy/justice and confidentiality. In the final analysis, qualitative data will be analyzed using manual content analysis. Both the descriptive and inferential statistics will be used for analytical purposes. Frequency, simple percentage, pie chart, bar chart, curve and cross-tabulations will form part of the descriptive analysis.

Keywords: assessment, health facilities, inmates, perception, living conditions

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: Katherine Del Carmen Camacho Zorogastua, Victor Hugo Gallo Ramos, Jhon Walter Gomez Lora

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Marine hydrocarbon exploration (oil and natural gas) activities are developed using 2D, 3D and 4D seismic prospecting techniques where sound waves are directed from a seismic vessel emitted every few seconds depending on the variety of air compressors, which cross the layers of rock at the bottom of the sea and are reflected to the surface of the water. Hydrophones receive and record the reflected energy signals for cross-sectional mapping of the lithological profile in order to identify possible areas where hydrocarbon deposits can be formed. However, they produce several significant negative environmental impacts on the marine ecosystem and in the social and economic sectors. Therefore, the objective of the research is to publicize the negative impacts and environmental measures that must be carried out during the development of these activities to prevent and mitigate water quality, the population involved (fishermen) and the marine biota (e.g., Cetaceans, fish) that are the most vulnerable. The research contains technical environmental aspects based on bibliographic sources of environmental studies approved by the Peruvian authority, research articles, undergraduate and postgraduate theses, books, guides, and manuals from Spain, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. It describes the negative impacts on the environment and population (fishing sector), environmental prevention, mitigation, recovery and compensation measures that must be properly implemented and the cases of global sea species stranding, for which international experiences from Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Peru were referenced. Negative impacts on marine fauna, seawater quality, and the socioeconomic sector (fishermen) were identified. Omission or inadequate biological monitoring in mammals could alter their ability to communicate, feed, and displacement resulting in their stranding and death. In fish, they cause deadly damage to physical-physiological type and in their behavior. Inadequate wastewater treatment and waste management could increase the organic load and oily waste on seawater quality in violation of marine flora and fauna. The possible estrangement of marine resources (fish) affects the economic sector as they carry out their fishing activity for consumption or sale. Finally, it is concluded from the experiences gathered from Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Peru that there is a cause and effect relationship between the inadequate development of seismic exploration activities (cause) and marine species strandings (effect) since over the years, stranded or dead marine mammals have been detected on the shores of the sea in areas of seismic acquisition of hydrocarbons. In this regard, it is recommended to establish technical procedures, guidelines, and protocols for the monitoring of marine species in order to contribute to the conservation of hydrobiological resources.

Keywords: 3D seismic prospecting, cetaceans, significant environmental impacts, prevention, mitigation, recovery, environmental compensation

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: P. Asiabi, M. Shahhoseini, R. Favaedi, F. Hassani, N. Nassiri, B. Movaghar, L. Karimian, P. Eftekhariyazdi

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Introduction: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is a common gynecologic disorder. Many factors including environment, metabolism, hormones and genetics are involved in etiopathogenesis of PCOS. Of genes that have altered expression in human reproductive system disorders are HOX family genes which act as transcription factors in regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, adhesion and migration. Since recent evidences consider epigenetic factors as causative mechanisms of PCOS, evaluation of association between known epigenetic marks of acetylation/methylation of histone 3 (H3K9ac/me) with regulatory regions of these genes can represent better insight about PCOS. In the current study, cumulus cells (CCs) which have critical roles during folliculogenesis, oocyte maturation, ovulation and fertilization were aimed to monitor epigenetic alterations of HOX genes. Material and methods: CCs were collected from 20 PCOS patients and 20 fertile women (18-36 year) with male infertility problems referred to the Royan Institute to have ICSI under GnRH antagonist protocol. Informed consents were obtained from the participants. Thirty six hours after hCG injection, ovaries were punctured and cumulus oocyte complexes were dissected. Soluble chromatin were extracted from CCs and Chromatin Immune precipitation (ChIP) coupled with Real Time PCR was performed to quantify the epigenetic marks of histone H3K9 acetylation/methylation (H3K9ac/me) on regulatory regions of 15 members of HOX genes from A-D subfamily. Results: Obtained data showed significant increase of H3K9ac epigenetic mark on regulatory regions of HOXA1, HOXB2, HOXC4, HOXD1, HOXD3 and HOXD4 (P < 0.01) and HOXC5 (P < 0.05) and also significant decrease of H3K9ac into regulatory regions of HOXA2, HOXA4, HOXA5, HOXB1 and HOXB5 (P < 0.01) and HOXB3 (P<0.05) in PCOS patients vs. control group. On the other side, there was a significant decrease in incorporation of H3K9me level on regulatory region of HOXA2, HOXA3, HOXA4, HOXA5, HOXB3 and HOXC4 (P≤0.01) and HOXB5 (P < 0.05) in PCOS patients vs. control group. This epigenetic mark (H3K9me2) has significant increase on regulatory region of HOXB1, HOXB2, HOXC5, HOXD1, HOXD3 and HOXD4 (P ≤ 0.01) and HOXB4 (P < 0.05) in patients vs. control group. There were no significant changes in acetylation/methylation levels of H3K9 on regulatory regions of the other studied genes. Conclusion: Current study suggests that epigenetic alterations of HOX genes can be correlated with PCOS and consequently female infertility. This finding might offer additional definitions of PCOS, and eventually provides insight for novel treatments with epidrugs for this disease.

Keywords: epigenetic, HOX genes, PCOS, female infertility

Procedia PDF Downloads 313

Authors: Benjamin Castillo, Luis Pastenes, Fernando Cordova

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The pathogen growth in animal source foods is a common problem in the food industry, causing monetary losses due to the spoiling of products or food intoxication outbreaks in the community. In this sense, the quality of the product is reflected by the population of deteriorating agents present in it, which are mainly bacteria. The factors which are likely associated with freshness in animal source foods are temperature and processing, storage, and transport times. However, the level of deterioration of products depends, in turn, on the characteristics of the bacterial population, causing the decomposition or spoiling, such as pH level and toxins. Knowing the growth dynamics of the agents that are involved in product contamination allows the monitoring for more efficient processing. This means better quality and reasonable costs, along with a better estimation of necessary time and temperature intervals for transport and storage in order to preserve product quality. The objective of this project is to design a secondary model that allows measuring the impact on temperature bacterial growth and the competition for pH adequacy and release of bacteriocins in order to describe such phenomenon and, thus, estimate food product half-life with the least possible risk of deterioration or spoiling. In order to achieve this objective, the authors propose an analysis of a three-dimensional ordinary differential which includes; logistic bacterial growth extended by the inhibitory action of bacteriocins including the effect of the medium pH; change in the medium pH levels through an adaptation of the Luedeking-Piret kinetic model; Bacteriocin concentration modeled similarly to pH levels. These three dimensions are being influenced by the temperature at all times. Then, this differential system is expanded, taking into consideration the variable temperature and the concentration of pulsed bacteriocins, which represent characteristics inherent of the modeling, such as transport and storage, as well as the incorporation of substances that inhibit bacterial growth. The main results lead to the fact that temperature changes in an early stage of transport increased the bacterial population significantly more than if it had increased during the final stage. On the other hand, the incorporation of bacteriocins, as in other investigations, proved to be efficient in the short and medium-term since, although the population of bacteria decreased, once the bacteriocins were depleted or degraded over time, the bacteria eventually returned to their regular growth rate. The efficacy of the bacteriocins at low temperatures decreased slightly, which equates with the fact that their natural degradation rate also decreased. In summary, the implementation of the mathematical model allowed the simulation of a set of possible bacteria present in animal based products, along with their properties, in various transport and storage situations, which led us to state that for inhibiting bacterial growth, the optimum is complementary low constant temperatures and the initial use of bacteriocins.

Keywords: bacterial growth, bacteriocins, mathematical modelling, temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Ojas Chaudhari, Ali Nejad Ghafar, Giedrius Zirgulis, Marjan Mousavi, Tommy Ellison, Sandra Pousette, Patrick Fontana

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In Swedish tunnel construction, a critical issue that has been repeatedly acknowledged is corrosion and, consequently, failure of the rock bolts in rock support systems. The defective installation of rock bolts results in the formation of cavities in the cement mortar that is regularly used to fill the area under the dome plates. These voids allow for water-ingress to the rock bolt assembly, which results in corrosion of rock bolt components and eventually failure. In addition, the current installation technique consists of several manual steps with intense labor works that are usually done in uncomfortable and exhausting conditions, e.g., under the roof of the tunnels. Such intense tasks also lead to a considerable waste of materials and execution errors. Moreover, adequate quality control of the execution is hardly possible with the current technique. To overcome these issues, a non-shrinking/expansive cement-based mortar filled in the paper packaging has been developed in this study which properly fills the area under the dome plates without or with the least remaining cavities, ultimately that diminishes the potential of corrosion. This article summarizes the development process and the experimental evaluation of this technique for the installation of rock bolts. In the development process, the cementitious mortar was first developed using specific cement and shrinkage reducing/expansive additives. The mechanical and flow properties of the mortar were then evaluated using compressive strength, density, and slump flow measurement methods. In addition, isothermal calorimetry and shrinkage/expansion measurements were used to elucidate the hydration and durability attributes of the mortar. After obtaining the desired properties in both fresh and hardened conditions, the developed dry mortar was filled in specific permeable paper packaging and then submerged in water bath for specific intervals before the installation. The tests were enhanced progressively by optimizing different parameters such as shape and size of the packaging, characteristics of the paper used, immersion time in water and even some minor characteristics of the mortar. Finally, the developed prototype was tested in a lab-scale rock bolt assembly with various angles to analyze the efficiency of the method in real life scenario. The results showed that the new technique improves the performance of the rock bolts by reducing the material wastage, improving environmental performance, facilitating and accelerating the labor works, and finally enhancing the durability of the whole system. Accordingly, this approach provides an efficient alternative for the traditional way of tunnel bolt installation with considerable advantages for the Swedish tunneling industry.

Keywords: corrosion, durability, mortar, rock bolt

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: J. Dutton, L. Knight

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Achieving quality and respectful maternal health care is part of the global agenda to improve reproductive health and achieve universal reproductive rights. Barriers to quality of care in South African maternal health facilities exist at both systemic and individual levels. Addition to this, the normalization of gender violence within South Africa has a large impact on people seeking health care as well as those who provide care within health facilities. The hierarchical environment of South Africa’s public health system penalizes both patients and providers who battle to assume any assessable power. This paper explores how systemic and individual level barriers to quality of care affect the midwifery profession within South African maternal health services and create, at times, an environment of enmity rather than care. This paper analyzes and discusses the data collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nurses and midwives at three maternal health facilities in South Africa. This study has taken a holistic approach to understand the realities of nurses and midwives in order to explore the ways in which experience informs their practice and treatment of pregnant women. Through collecting and analyzing narratives, linkages between nurses and midwives day-to-day and historical experiences and disrespectful care have been made. Findings from this study show that barriers to quality of care take form in complex and interrelated ways. The physical structure of the health facility, human resource shortages, and the current model of maternal health care, which often lacks a person-centered approach, is entangled within personal beliefs and attitudes of what it means to be a midwife to create an environment that is often not conducive to a positive birthing experience. This entanglement sits within a society of high rates of violence, inequality, and poverty. Having teased out the nuances of each of these barriers and the multiple ways they reinforce each other, the findings of this paper demonstrate that birth, and the work of a midwife, are situated in a mode of discipline and punishment within this context. For analytical purposes, this paper has broken down the individual barriers to quality care and discusses the current and historical significance before returning to the interrelated forms in which barriers to quality maternal health care manifest. In conclusion this paper questions the role of agency in the ability to subvert systemic barriers to quality care and ideas around shifting attitudes and beliefs of and about midwives. International and local policies and guidelines have a role to play in realizing such shifts, however, as this paper suggests, when policy does not speak to the local context there is the risk of it contributing to frustrations and impeding the path to quality and respectful maternal health care.

Keywords: disrespect and abuse in childbirth, midwifery, South African maternal health care, quality of care

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Hatharasinghe Liyanage Saneetha Chathaurika, Shreenika De Silva Weliange

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Background and Significance of the Study: Natural and human-induced disasters have become more common due to rapid development and climate change. Therefore hospitalization due to injuries has increased in the midst of advancement in medicine. Prehospital trauma care is critical in reducing morbidity and mortality following injury. Army soldiers are one of the first responder categories after a major disaster causing injury. Thus, basic life support measures taken by trained lay first responders is life-saving, it is important to build up their capacities by updating their knowledge and practices while cultivating positive attitudes toward it. Objective: To describe knowledge, attitudes and practices on prehospital trauma care among army soldiers in Matara District. Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among army soldiers in Matara district. The whole population was studied belonging to the above group during the study period. Self-administered questionnaire was used as the study instrument. Cross tabulations were done to identify the possible associations using chi square statistics. Knowledge and practices were categorized in to two groups as “Poor” and “Good” taking 50% as the cut off. Results: The study population consists of 266 participants (response rate 97.79%).The overall level of knowledge on prehospital trauma care is poor (78.6%) while knowledge on golden hour of trauma (77.1%), triage system (74.4%), cardio pulmonary resuscitation (92.5%) and transportation of patients with spinal cord injury (69.2%) was markedly poor. Good knowledge is significantly associated with advance age, higher income and higher level of education whereas it has no significant association with work duration. More than 80% of them had positive attitudes on most aspects of prehospital trauma care while majority thinks it is good to have knowledge on this topic and they would have performed better in disaster situations if they were trained on pre-hospital trauma care. With regard to the practice, majority (62.8%) is included in the group of poor level of practice. They lack practice on first-aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and safe transportation of the patients. Moreover, they had less opportunity to participate in drills/simulation programs done on disaster events. Good practice is significantly associated with advance age and higher level of education but not associated with level of income and working duration of army soldiers. Highly significant association was observed between the level of knowledge and level of practice on prehospital trauma care of army soldiers. It is observed that higher the knowledge practices become better. Conclusion: A higher proportion of army soldiers had poor knowledge and practice on prehospital trauma care while majority had positive attitudes regarding it. Majority lacks knowledge and practice in first-aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Due to significant association observed between knowledge and practice it can be recommended to include a training session on prehospital trauma care in the basic military curriculum which will enhance the ability to act as first responders effectively. Further research is needed in this area of prehospital trauma care to enhance the qualitative outcome.

Keywords: disaster, prehospital trauma care, first responders, army soldiers

Procedia PDF Downloads 220

Authors: Shaidatul Azdawiyah Abdul Talib, Wan Mohd Razi Idris, Liew Ju Neng, Tukimat Lihan, Muhammad Zamir Abdul Rasid

Abstract:

Climate change has received great attention worldwide due to the impact of weather causing extreme events. Rainfall and temperature are crucial weather components associated with climate change. In Malaysia, increasing temperatures and changes in rainfall distribution patterns lead to drought and flood events involving agricultural areas, especially rice fields. Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA) is the largest rice growing area among the 10 granary areas in Malaysia and has faced floods and droughts in the past due to changing climate. Changes in rainfall and temperature patter affect rice yield. Therefore, trend analysis is important to identify changes in temperature and rainfall patterns as it gives an initial overview for further analysis. Six locations across the MADA area were selected based on the availability of meteorological station (MetMalaysia) data. Historical data (1991 to 2020) collected from MetMalaysia and future climate projection by multi-model ensemble of climate model from CMIP5 (CNRM-CM5, GFDL-CM3, MRI-CGCM3, NorESM1-M and IPSL-CM5A-LR) have been analyzed using Mann-Kendall test to detect the time series trend, together with standardized precipitation anomaly, rainfall anomaly index, precipitation concentration index and temperature anomaly. Future projection data were analyzed based on 3 different periods; early century (2020 – 2046), middle century (2047 – 2073) and late-century (2074 – 2099). Results indicate that the MADA area does encounter extremely wet and dry conditions, leading to drought and flood events in the past. The Mann-Kendall (MK) trend analysis test discovered a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05) in annual rainfall (z = 0.40; s = 15.12) and temperature (z = 0.61; s = 0.04) during the historical period. Similarly, for both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05) was found for rainfall (RCP 4.5: z = 0.15; s = 2.55; RCP 8.5: z = 0.41; s = 8.05;) and temperature (RCP 4.5: z = 0.84; s = 0.02; RCP 8.5: z = 0.94; s = 0.05). Under the RCP 4.5 scenario, the average temperature is projected to increase up to 1.6 °C in early century, 2.0 °C in the middle century and 2.4 °C in the late century. In contrast, under RCP 8.5 scenario, the average temperature is projected to increase up to 1.8 °C in the early century, 3.1 °C in the middle century and 4.3 °C in late century. Drought is projected to occur in 2038 and 2043 (early century); 2052 and 2069 (middle century); and 2095, 2097 to 2099 (late century) under RCP 4.5 scenario. As for RCP 8.5 scenario, drought is projected to occur in 2021, 2031 and 2034 (early century); and 2069 (middle century). No drought is projected to occur in the late century under the RCP 8.5 scenario. Thus, this information can be used for the analysis of the impact of climate change scenarios on rice growth and yield besides other crops found in MADA area. Additionally, this study, it would be helpful for researchers and decision-makers in developing applicable adaptation and mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of climate change.

Keywords: climate projection, drought, flood, rainfall, RCP 4.5, RCP 8.5, temperature

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Authors: Bruno RamaëL, GwenaëL Page, Catherine Knopf-Lenoir, Olivier Baledent, Anne-Virginie Salsac

Abstract:

No routine technique currently exists for clinicians to measure the mechanical properties of vascular walls non-invasively. Most of the data available in the literature come from traction or dilatation tests conducted ex vivo on native blood vessels. The objective of the study is to develop a non-invasive characterization technique based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) measurements of the deformation of vascular walls under pulsating blood flow conditions. The goal is to determine the mechanical properties of the vessels by inverse analysis, coupling imaging measurements and numerical simulations of the fluid-structure interactions. The hyperelastic properties are identified using Solidworks and Ansys workbench (ANSYS Inc.) solving an optimization technique. The vessel of interest targeted in the study is the common carotid artery. In vivo MRI measurements of the vessel anatomy and inlet velocity profiles was acquired along the facial vascular network on a cohort of 30 healthy volunteers: - The time-evolution of the blood vessel contours and, thus, of the cross-section surface area was measured by 3D imaging angiography sequences of phase-contrast MRI. - The blood flow velocity was measured using a 2D CINE MRI phase contrast (PC-MRI) method. Reference arterial pressure waveforms were simultaneously measured in the brachial artery using a sphygmomanometer. The three-dimensional (3D) geometry of the arterial network was reconstructed by first creating an STL file from the raw MRI data using the open source imaging software ITK-SNAP. The resulting geometry was then transformed with Solidworks into volumes that are compatible with Ansys softwares. Tetrahedral meshes of the wall and fluid domains were built using the ANSYS Meshing software, with a near-wall mesh refinement method in the case of the fluid domain to improve the accuracy of the fluid flow calculations. Ansys Structural was used for the numerical simulation of the vessel deformation and Ansys CFX for the simulation of the blood flow. The fluid structure interaction simulations showed that the systolic and diastolic blood pressures of the common carotid artery could be taken as reference pressures to identify the mechanical properties of the different arteries of the network. The coefficients of the hyperelastic law were identified using Ansys Design model for the common carotid. Under large deformations, a stiffness of 800 kPa is measured, which is of the same order of magnitude as the Young modulus of collagen fibers. Areas of maximum deformations were highlighted near bifurcations. This study is a first step towards patient-specific characterization of the mechanical properties of the facial vessels. The method is currently applied on patients suffering from facial vascular malformations and on patients scheduled for facial reconstruction. Information on the blood flow velocity as well as on the vessel anatomy and deformability will be key to improve surgical planning in the case of such vascular pathologies.

Keywords: identification, mechanical properties, arterial walls, MRI measurements, numerical simulations

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Authors: Sakshi Piplani, Ajit Kumar

Abstract:

Valproic acid (VPA) is the first synthetic therapeutic agent used to treat epileptic disorders, which account for affecting nearly 1% world population. Teratogenicity caused by VPA has prompted the search for next generation drug with better efficacy and lower side effects. Recent studies have posed HDAC8 as direct target of VPA that causes the teratogenic effect in foetus. We have employed molecular dynamics (MD) and docking simulations to understand the binding mode of VPA and their analogues onto HDAC8. A total of twenty 3D-structures of human HDAC8 isoforms were selected using BLAST-P search against PDB. Multiple sequence alignment was carried out using ClustalW and PDB-3F07 having least missing and mutated regions was selected for study. The missing residues of loop region were constructed using MODELLER and energy was minimized. A set of 216 structural analogues (>90% identity) of VPA were obtained from Pubchem and ZINC database and their energy was optimized with Chemsketch software using 3-D CHARMM-type force field. Four major neurotransmitters (GABAt, SSADH, α-KGDH, GAD) involved in anticonvulsant activity were docked with VPA and its analogues. Out of 216 analogues, 75 were selected on the basis of lower binding energy and inhibition constant as compared to VPA, thus predicted to have anti-convulsant activity. Selected hHDAC8 structure was then subjected to MD Simulation using licenced version YASARA with AMBER99SB force field. The structure was solvated in rectangular box of TIP3P. The simulation was carried out with periodic boundary conditions and electrostatic interactions and treated with Particle mesh Ewald algorithm. pH of system was set to 7.4, temperature 323K and pressure 1atm respectively. Simulation snapshots were stored every 25ps. The MD simulation was carried out for 20ns and pdb file of HDAC8 structure was saved every 2ns. The structures were analysed using castP and UCSF Chimera and most stabilized structure (20ns) was used for docking study. Molecular docking of 75 selected VPA-analogues with PDB-3F07 was performed using AUTODOCK4.2.6. Lamarckian Genetic Algorithm was used to generate conformations of docked ligand and structure. The docking study revealed that VPA and its analogues have more affinity towards ‘hydrophobic active site channel’, due to its hydrophobic properties and allows VPA and their analogues to take part in van der Waal interactions with TYR24, HIS42, VAL41, TYR20, SER138, TRP137 while TRP137 and SER138 showed hydrogen bonding interaction with VPA-analogues. 14 analogues showed better binding affinity than VPA. ADMET SAR server was used to predict the ADMET properties of selected VPA analogues for predicting their druggability. On the basis of ADMET screening, 09 molecules were selected and are being used for in-vivo evaluation using Danio rerio model.

Keywords: HDAC8, docking, molecular dynamics simulation, valproic acid

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Isabel N. Sierra-Garcia, Maria J. Ferreira, Sandro Figuereido, Newton Gomes, Helena Silva, Angela Cunha

Abstract:

Plant-associated microbial communities are considered crucial in the adaptation of halophytes to coastal environments. The plant microbiota can be horizontally acquired from the environment or vertically transmitted from generation to generation via seeds. Recruiting of the microbial communities by the plant is affected by geographical location, soil source, host genotype, and cultivation practice. There is limited knowledge reported on the microbial communities in halophytes the influence of biotic and abiotic factors. In this work, the microbiota associated with the halophyte Salicornia ramosissima was investigated to determine whether the structure of bacterial communities is influenced by host genotype or soil source. For this purpose, two contrasting sites where S. ramosissima is established in the estuarine system of the Ria de Aveiro were investigated. One site corresponds to a natural salt marsh where S. ramosissima plants are present (wild plants), and the other site is a former salt pan that nowadays are subjected to intensive crop production of S. ramosissima (crop plants). Bacterial communities from the rhizosphere, seeds and root endosphere of S. ramossisima from both sites were investigated by sequencing bacterial 16S rRNA gene using the Illumina MiSeq platform. The analysis of the sequences showed that the three plant-associated compartments, rhizosphere, root endosphere, and seed endosphere, harbor distinct microbiomes. However, bacterial richness and diversity were higher in seeds of wild plants, followed by rhizosphere in both sites, while seeds in the crop site had the lowest diversity. Beta diversity measures indicated that bacterial communities in root endosphere and seeds were more similar in both wild and crop plants in contrast to rhizospheres that differed by local, indicating that the recruitment of the similar bacterial communities by the plant genotype is active in regard to the site. Moreover, bacterial communities from the root endosphere and rhizosphere were phylogenetically more similar in both sites, but the phylogenetic composition of seeds in wild and crop sites was distinct. These results indicate that cultivation practices affect the seed microbiome. However, minimal vertical transmission of bacteria from seeds to adult plants is expected. Seeds from the crop site showed higher abundances of Kushneria and Zunongwangia genera. Bacterial members of the classes Alphaprotebacteria and Bacteroidia were the most ubiquitous across sites and compartments and might encompass members of the core microbiome. These findings indicate that bacterial communities associated with S. ramosissima are more influenced by host genotype rather than local abiotic factors or cultivation practices. This study provides a better understanding of the composition of the plant microbiota in S. ramosissima , which is essential to predict the interactions between plant and associated microbial communities and their effects on plant health. This knowledge is useful to the manipulations of these microbial communities to enhance the health and productivity of this commercially important plant.

Keywords: halophytes, plant microbiome, Salicornia ramosissima, agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 157