Search results for: Christine B. Bernal

Authors: Christine Ysabelle G. Roman, Pauline Torres

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Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a disease of marked heterogeneity. It is a genetically determined heart disease characterized by significant myocardium hypertrophy that results in diastolic dysfunction, left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, and an increased risk of arrhythmias. The primary treatment in patients with such conditions is negative inotropic drugs, such as beta-blockers, calcium channel antagonists, and disopyramide. However, for those who remain symptomatic and need septal reduction therapy, surgical septal myectomy or alcohol septal ablation are options. Case Summary: A 19 – year old female presented in the authors’ institution with easy fatigability. The consult was done a year prior, and 2D echocardiography was requested which showed concentric left ventricular hypertrophy, asymmetrically hypertrophied interventricular septum (IVS) with the largest diameter of 3.3cm & subaortic dynamic obstruction with a maximum gradient of 47 mmHg. A repeat echo a year later showed asymmetric septal hypertrophy (IVS measuring at 3cm) with the systolic anterior motion of anterior mitral valve leaflet and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (peak gradient of 50mmHg). The patient then underwent alcohol septal ablation and was discharged stable after four days of admission. Conclusion: Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, a cardiovascular genetic disease, results in various patterns of left ventricular hypertrophy and abnormality of mitral valve apparatus. The patient is managed medically initially. However, despite optimal drug therapy and significant left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, significant heart failure symptoms or syncope require invasive treatment.

Keywords: hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, alcohol septal ablation, alcohol

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Authors: Christine Fräulin, Daniela Schurr, Hamed Shahidi Rad, Gerrit Waters, Günter Rinke, Roland Dittmeyer, Michael Nilles

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The reaction mechanisms of many liquid-phase reactions in organic chemistry have not yet been sufficiently clarified. Process conditions of several hundred degrees celsius and pressures to ten megapascals complicate the sampling and the determination of kinetic data. Space resolved in-situ measurements promises new insights. A non-invasive in-situ measurement technique has the advantages that no sample preparation is necessary, there is no change in sample mixture before analysis and the sampling do no lead to interventions in the flow. Thus, the goal of our research was the development of a contact-free spatially resolved measurement technique for kinetic studies of liquid phase reaction under process conditions. Therefore we used laser Raman spectroscopy combined with an optical transparent microchannel reactor. To show the performance of the system we choose the oxidation of cyclohexane as sample reaction. Cyclohexane oxidation is an economically important process. The products are intermediates for caprolactam and adipic acid, which are starting materials for polyamide 6 and 6.6 production. To maintain high selectivities of 70 to 90 %, the reaction is performed in industry at a low conversion of about six percent. As Raman spectroscopy is usually very selective but not very sensitive the detection of the small product concentration in cyclohexane oxidation is quite challenging. To meet these requirements, an optical experimental setup was optimized to determine the concentrations by laser Raman spectroscopy with respect to good detection sensitivity. With this measurement technique space resolved kinetic studies of uncatalysed and homogeneous catalyzed cyclohexane oxidation were carried out to obtain details about the reaction mechanism.

Keywords: in-situ laser raman spectroscopy, space resolved kinetic measurements, homogeneous catalysis, chemistry

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Authors: Juan Bernal-Martinez, Zoe Quinones-Jurado, Miguel Waldo-Mendoza, Elias Perez

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Introduction and Objective: Ag-TiO2 nanoparticles (NP) have been characterized as effective antibacterial compounds against E. aureous, E. coli, Salmonella and others. Because these nanoparticles have been used in plastic-food containers, there is a concern about the toxicity of Ag-TiO2 NP for higher organisms from protozoan, invertebrates, and mammals. The objective of this study is to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of Ag-TiO2 NP on the survival and swimming behavior of the unicellular organism Paramecium tetraurelia. Material and Methods: Preparation of metallic silver on TiO2 surface was based on chemical reduction route of AgNO3. Aqueous suspension of TiO2 nanoparticles was preparing by adding 5 g of TiO2 to 250 ml of deionized water and followed by sonication for 10 min. The required amount of AgNO3 solutions was added to TiO2 suspension, maintaining heating and stirring. Silver concentration was 0.5, 1.5, 5.0, 25, 35 and 45 % w/w versus TiO2. Paramecium tetraurelia (Carolina Biological, Cat. # 131560) was used as a biological preparation. It was cultured in artificial culture media made as follows: Stigmasterol 5 mg/ml of ethanol, Caseaminoacids 0.3 gr/lt.; KCl 4mM; CaCl2 1mM; MgCl2 100uM and MOPS 1mM, pH 7.3. This media was inoculated with Enterobacter-sp. Paramecium was concentrated after 24 hours of incubation by centrifugation. The pellet of cells was resuspended in 4.1.1 solution prepared as follows (in mM): KCl, 4 mM; CaCl2, 1mM and Trizma, 1mM; pH 7.3. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies were performed to evaluate the appropriate dispersion and topographic distribution AgNPs deposited on TiO2. The experimental solutions were prepared as follows: 50 mg of Polyvinyhlpirolidone were added to 5 ml of 4.1.1. solution. Then, 50 mg of powder 25-Ag-TiO2 was added, mixing for 10 min and sonicated for 60 min. Survival of Paramecium and possible toxic effects after 25-Ag-TiO2 treatment was observed through an inverted microscope. The Paramecium swimming behavior and possible dead cells were recorded for periods of approximately 20-50 seconds by using a digital USB camera adapted to the microscope. Results and Discussion: TEM micrographs demonstrated the topographic distribution of AgNPs deposited on TiO2. 25Ag-TiO2 NP was efficiently dissolved and dispersed in 4.1.1 solution at concentrations from 0.1, 1 and 10 mg/ml. When Paramecium were treated with 25Ag-TiO2 NP at 100 ug/ml, it was observed that cells started swimming backwards. This backward swimming behavior is the typical avoiding reaction of the ciliate in response to a noxious stimulus. After 10 min of incubation, it was observed that Paramecium stopped swimming backwards and exploited. We can argue that this toxic effect of 25Ag-TiO2 NP is probably due to the calcium influx and calcium accumulation during the long-lasting swimming backwards. Conclusions: Here we have demonstrated that 25Ag-TiO2 NP has a specific toxic effect on an organism higher than bacteria such as the protozoan Paremecium. Probably these toxic phenomena could be expected to be observed in a higher organism such as invertebrates and mammals.

Keywords: Ag-TiO2, calcium permeability, cytotoxicity, paramecium

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Authors: Loren S. Bernal., Catalina Castillo, Carel E. Carvajal, José F. Ibla

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Plastic pollution, specifically microplastics, has become a significant issue in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. The large amount of plastic waste carried by water tributaries has resulted in the accumulation of microplastics in water bodies. The polymer aging process caused by environmental influences such as photodegradation and chemical degradation of additives leads to polymer embrittlement and properties change that require degradation or reduction procedures in rivers. However, there is a lack of such procedures for freshwater entities that develop over extended periods. The aim of this study is evaluate the potential of Pleurotus ostreatus a fungus, in reducing lowdensity polyethylene microplastics present in freshwater samples collected from the middle basin of the Magdalena River in Colombia. The study aims to evaluate this process both in vitro and in silico by identifying the growth capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus in the presence of microplastics and identifying the most likely interactions of Pleurotus ostreatus enzymes and their affinity energies. The study follows an engineering development methodology applied on an experimental basis. The in vitro evaluation protocol applied in this study focused on the growth capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus on microplastics using enzymatic inducers. In terms of in silico evaluation, molecular simulations were conducted using the Autodock 1.5.7 program to calculate interaction energies. The molecular dynamics were evaluated by using the myPresto Portal and GROMACS program to calculate radius of gyration and Energies.The results of the study showed that Pleurotus ostreatus has the potential to degrade low-density polyethylene microplastics. The in vitro evaluation revealed the adherence of Pleurotus ostreatus to LDPE using scanning electron microscopy. The best results were obtained with enzymatic inducers as a MnSO4 generating the activation of laccase or manganese peroxidase enzymes in the degradation process. The in silico modelling demonstrated that Pleurotus ostreatus was able to interact with the microplastics present in LDPE, showing affinity energies in molecular docking and molecular dynamics shown a minimum energy and the representative radius of gyration between each enzyme and its substract. The study contributes to the development of bioremediation processes for the removal of microplastics from freshwater sources using the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. The in silico study provides insights into the affinity energies of Pleurotus ostreatus microplastic degrading enzymes and their interaction with low-density polyethylene. The study demonstrated that Pleurotus ostreatus can interact with LDPE microplastics, making it a good agent for the development of bioremediation processes that aid in the recovery of freshwater sources. The results of the study suggested that bioremediation could be a promising approach to reduce microplastics in freshwater systems.

Keywords: bioremediation, in silico modelling, microplastics, Pleurotus ostreatus

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Authors: Pierre Mintom, William Djeukeu Asongni, Michelle Moni, William Dakam, Christine Fernande Nyangono Biyegue.

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Background: In order to prevent congestive heart failure, control of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia is necessary because those risk factors frequently occur in combination. Objective: The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence and risk factors of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and double burden HTA-Hypercholesterolemia in patients with congestive heart failure. Methodology: A database of 98 patients suffering from congestive heart failure was used. The latter were recruited from August 15, 2017, to March 5, 2018, in the Cardiology department of Deido District Hospital of Douala. This database provides information on sociodemographic parameters, biochemical examinations, characteristics of heart failure and food consumption. ESC/ESH and NCEP-ATPIII definitions were used to define Hypercholesterolemia (total cholesterol ≥200mg/dl), Hypertension (SBP≥140mmHg and/or DBP≥90mmHg). Double burden hypertension-hypercholesterolemia was defined as follows: total cholesterol (CT)≥200mg/dl, SBP≥140mmHg and DBP≥90mmHg. Results: The prevalence of hypertension (HTA), hypercholesterolemia (hyperchol) and double burden HTA-Hyperchol were 61.2%, 66.3% and 45.9%, respectively. No sociodemographic factor was associated with hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and double burden, but Male gender was significantly associated (p<0.05) with hypercholesterolemia. HypoHDLemia significantly increased hypercholesterolemia and the double burden by 19.664 times (p=0.001) and 14.968 times (p=0.021), respectively. Regarding dietary habits, the consumption of rice, peanuts and derivatives and cottonseed oil respectively significantly (p<0.05) exposed to the occurrence of hypertension. The consumption of tomatoes, green bananas, corn and derivatives, peanuts and derivatives and cottonseed oil significantly exposed (p<0.05) to the occurrence of hypercholesterolemia. The consumption of palm oil and cottonseed oil exposed the occurrence of the double burden of hypertension-hypercholesterolemia. Consumption of eggs protects against hypercholesterolemia, and consumption of peanuts and tomatoes protects against the double burden. Conclusion: hypercholesterolemia associated with hypertension appears as a complicating factor of congestive heart failure. Key risk factors are mainly diet-based, suggesting the importance of nutritional education for patients. New management protocols emphasizing diet should be considered.

Keywords: risk factors, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, congestive heart failure

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Authors: Ahn Christine Myunghee, Sim Wonjin, Cho Kristina, Ahn Mira, Hong Yeju, Kwok Jihae, Lim Sooyeon, Park Hansol

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With a sharp increase in the prevalence rate for mental health issues in Korea, there is a need for specific and effective intervention strategies in counseling and psychotherapy for use with Korean clients. With the cultural emphasis on restraining emotional expression and not disclosing personal and familial problems to outsiders, clients often find it difficult to discuss their emotional issues even to therapists. Exploring a client’s internal psychological processes bypassing this culture-specific mode of therapeutic communication often becomes a challenge in the therapeutic setting. Given this socio-cultural context, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of using dream work to individuals in Korea. The current study conducted one 60-90 minute dream session and analyzed the dream content of 39 Korean young adults to evaluate the effectiveness of the Hill dream model in accessing the intra-psychic materials, determining essential emotional themes, and learning how the individuals interpreted the contents of their dreams. The transcribed data, which included a total of 39 sessions from 39 volunteer university students, were analyzed by the Consensus Qualitative Research (CQR) approach in terms of domains and core ideas. Self-report measures on Dream Salience, Gains from Dream Interpretations and the Session Evaluation Scale were administered before and after each of their dream sessions. The results indicated that dream work appears to be an effective way to understand unconscious motivations, thoughts, and feelings related to a person’s sense of self, and also how these people relate to other people. Current findings need to be replicated with clients referred for counseling and psychotherapy to determine if the dream work is an appropriate and useful intervention in counseling settings. Limitations of the current study and suggestions for future follow-ups are included in the discussion.

Keywords: dream work, dream interpretation, Korean, young adults, CQR

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Authors: Wesley Too, Christine Chesiror

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Hypertension is a public health challenge that globally, with the World Health Organization estimating that by 2025, more than 1.5 billion people would have been diagnosed with it. Kenya’s prevalence of hypertension is estimated at 24.6 percent; however, 55% of the affected have uncontrolled blood pressure, which is worst in some parts of the country with different lifestyle: nomads and migratory communities. Kenyan pastoralists comprise 20% of the nation's population and are constantly on the move for search of water, pasture for their herd, and desertification have driven nomadic populations to the brink, given their unique and dynamic challenges. Nomads face myriad of challenges and barriers towards the management of their health care problems. Nomadic area is predominantly rural, with a low population density and a nomadic population. Health care access and quality are further hampered by poor telecommunications, infrastructure, and security. In Kenya, nomadic communities experience the worst health outcomes, disproportionate health disparities, and inequalities due to unresponsive, culturally sensitive health care system to nomad’s lifestyle and their health care needs. Marsabit covering a surface area of 66,923.1 km2, is the second largest county in Kenya, constituting about 2.3 million people of North-Eastern region, with only 2.3 percent and 1.9 percent of Kenya's total number of doctors and nurses in the country. In Kenya, there are scanty research on hypertension managementin this region and, at best, non-existent study on hypertension among nomads-migratory communities of Northern Kenya. Therefore, the purpose seeks to determine the prevalence of hypertension among nomads and document nomads' practices regarding early detections, management, and levels of control of hypertension in one of the Counties in Kenya with high- hypertensive case load per year. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to collect data from multiple sites and health facilities. A total of 260 participants were enrolled into the study. The study is currently ongoing. It is anticipated that by September, we will have initial findings & recommendations to share for conference

Keywords: pastoralists, hypertension, health, kenya

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Authors: Lucija Pustahija, Christine Bandl, Wolfgang Kern, Christian Mitterer

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Concerning today´s ecological demands, producing reliable materials from sustainable resources is a continuously developing topic. Such an example is the production of carbon materials via pyrolysis of natural gases or biomass. The amazing properties of pyrolytic carbon are utilized in various fields, where in particular the application in building industry is a promising way towards the utilization of pyrolytic carbon and composites based on pyrolytic carbon. For many applications, surface modification of carbon is an important step in tailoring its properties. Therefore, in this paper, an investigation of different oxidation methods was performed to prepare the carbon surface before functionalizing it with organosilanes, which act as coupling agents for epoxy and polyurethane resins. Made in such a way, a building material based on carbon composites could be used as a lightweight, durable material that can be applied where water or air filtration / purification is needed. In this work, both wet and dry oxidation were investigated. Wet oxidation was first performed in solutions of nitric acid (at 120 °C and 150 °C) followed by oxidation in hydrogen peroxide (80 °C) for 3 and 6 h. Moreover, a hydrothermal method (under oxygen gas) in autoclaves was investigated. Dry oxidation was performed under plasma and corona discharges, using different power values to elaborate optimum conditions. Selected samples were then (in preliminary experiments) subjected to a silanization of the surface with amino and glycidoxy organosilanes. The functionalized surfaces were examined by X-ray photon spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectroscopy, and by scanning electron microscopy. The results of wet and dry oxidation methods indicated that the creation of functionalities was influenced by temperature, the concentration of the reagents (and gases) and the duration of the treatment. Sequential oxidation in aq. HNO₃ and H₂O₂ results in a higher content of oxygen functionalities at lower concentrations of oxidizing agents, when compared to oxidizing the carbon with concentrated nitric acid. Plasma oxidation results in non-permanent functionalization on the carbon surface, by which it´s necessary to find adequate parameters of oxidation treatments that could enable longer stability of functionalities. Results of the functionalization of the carbon surfaces with organosilanes will be presented as well.

Keywords: building materials, dry oxidation, organosilanes, pyrolytic carbon, resins, surface functionalization, wet oxidation

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Authors: Lydia Foucan, Laurent Larifla, Emmanuelle Durand, Christine Rambhojan, Veronique Dhennin, Jean-Marc Lacorte, Philippe Froguel, Amelie Bonnefond

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In the population of Guadeloupe Island (472,124 inhabitants and 80% of subjects of African descent), overweight and obesity were estimated at 23% and 9% respectively among children. High prevalence of diabetes has been reported (~10%) in the adult population. Nevertheless, no study has investigated the contribution of gene mutations to childhood obesity in this population. We aimed to investigate rare genetic mutations in genes involved in monogenic obesity or diabetes in obese Afro-Caribbean children from Guadeloupe Island using next-generation sequencing. The present investigation included unrelated obese children, from a previous study on overweight conducted in Guadeloupe Island in 2013. We sequenced coding regions of 59 genes involved in monogenic obesity or diabetes. A total of 25 obese schoolchildren (with Z-score of body mass index [BMI]: 2.0 to 2.8) were screened for rare mutations (non-synonymous, splice-site, or insertion/deletion) in 59 genes. Mean age of the study population was 12.4 ± 1.1 years. Seventeen children (68%) had insulin-resistance (HOMA-IR > 3.16). A family history of obesity (mother or father) was observed in eight children and three of the accompanying parent presented with type 2 diabetes. None of the children had gonadotrophic abnormality or mental retardation. We detected five rare heterozygous mutations, in four genes involved in monogenic obesity, in five different obese children: MC4R p.Ile301Thr and SIM1 p.Val326Thrfs*43 mutations which were pathogenic; SIM1 p.Ser343Pro and SH2B1 p.Pro90His mutations which were likely pathogenic; and NTRK2 p.Leu140Phe that was of uncertain significance. In parallel, we identified seven carriers of mutation in ABCC8 or KCNJ11 (involved in monogenic diabetes), which were of uncertain significance (KCNJ11 p.Val13Met, KCNJ11 p.Val151Met, ABCC8 p.Lys1521Asn and ABCC8 p.Ala625Val). Rare pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutations, linked to severe obesity were detected in more than 15% of this Afro-Caribbean population at high risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: childhood obesity, MC4R, monogenic obesity, SIM1

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Authors: Zeina Bourhane, Anders Lanzen, Christine Cagnon, Olfa Ben Said, Cristiana Cravo-Laureau, Robert Duran

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The anthropogenic pressure in coastal areas increases dramatically with the exploitation of environmental resources. Biomonitoring coastal areas are crucial to determine the impact of pollutants on bacterial communities in soils and sediments since they provide important ecosystem services. However, relevant biomonitoring tools allowing fast determination of the ecological status are yet to be defined. Microbial ecology approaches provide useful information for developing such microbial monitoring tools reporting on the effect of environmental stressors. Chemical and microbial molecular approaches were combined in order to determine microbial bioindicators for assessing the ecological status of soil and river ecosystems around the Ichkeul Lake (Tunisia), an area highly impacted by human activities. Samples were collected along soil/river/lake continuums in three stations around the Ichkeul Lake influenced by different human activities at two seasons (summer and winter). Contaminant pressure indexes (PI), including PAHs (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), alkanes, and OCPs (Organochlorine pesticides) contents, showed significant differences in the contamination level between the stations with seasonal variation. Bacterial communities were characterized by 16S ribosomal RNAs (rRNA) gene metabarcoding. Although microgAMBI indexes, determined from the sequencing data, were in accordance with contaminant contents, they were not sufficient to fully explain the PI. Therefore, further microbial indicators are still to be defined. The comparison of bacterial communities revealed the specific microbial assemblage for soil, river, and lake sediments, which were significantly correlated with contaminant contents and PI. Such observation offers the possibility to define a relevant set of bioindicators for reporting the effects of human activities on the microbial community structure. Such bioindicators might constitute useful monitoring tools for the management of microbial communities in coastal areas.

Keywords: bacterial communities, biomonitoring, contamination, human impacts, microbial bioindicators

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Authors: Christine O. Wangia, Jennifer A. Orwa, Francis W. Muregi, Patrick G. Kareru, Kipyegon Cheruiyot, Eric Guantai

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Ruellia (syn. Dipteracanthus) species are wild perennial creepers belonging to the Acanthaceae family. These species are reported to possess anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, gastroprotective, anticancer, and immuno-stimulant properties. Phytochemical screening of both aqueous and methanolic extracts of Ruellia species revealed the presence of saponins. Saponins have been reported to possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immuno-stimulant, antihepatotoxic, antibacterial, anticarcinogenic, and antiulcerogenic activities. The objective of this study was to quantify and analyze the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of saponins in crude extracts of three Kenyan Ruellia species namely Ruellia prostrata (RPM), Ruellia lineari-bracteolata (RLB) and Ruellia bignoniiflora (RBK). Sequential organic extraction of the ground whole plant material was done using petroleum ether (PE), chloroform, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and absolute methanol by cold maceration, while aqueous extraction was by hot maceration. The plant powders and extracts were mixed with spectroscopic grade KBr and compressed into a pellet. The infrared spectra were recorded using a Shimadzu FTIR spectrophotometer of 8000 series in the range of 3500 cm^-1 - 500 cm^-1. Quantitative determination of the saponins was done using standard procedures. Quantitative analysis of saponins showed that RPM had the highest quantity of crude saponins (2.05% ± 0.03), followed by RLB (1.4% ± 0.15) and RBK (1.25% ± 0.11), respectively. FTIR spectra revealed the spectral peaks characteristic for saponins in RPM, RLB, and RBK plant powders, aqueous and methanol extracts; O-H absorption (3265 - 3393 cm^-1), C-H absorption ranging from 2851 to 2924 cm^-1, C=C absorbance (1628 - 1655 cm^-1), oligosaccharide linkage (C-O-C) absorption due to sapogenins (1036 - 1042 cm^-1). The crude saponins from RPM, RLB and RBK showed similar peaks to their respective extracts. The presence of the saponins in extracts of RPM, RLB and RBK may be responsible for some of the biological activities reported in the Ruellia species.1

Keywords: Ruellia bignoniiflora, Ruellia linearibracteolata, Ruellia prostrata, Saponins

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Authors: Hendri Purwadi, Christine McCloud

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Triage is a complex decision-making process that aims to categorize a victim’s level of acuity and the need for medical assistance. Two common triage systems have been widely used in Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs) and disaster situation are START (Simple triage algorithm and rapid treatment) and SALT (sort, asses, lifesaving, intervention, and treatment/transport). There is currently controversy regarding the effectiveness of SALT over START triage system. This systematic review aims to investigate and compare the effectiveness between SALT and START triage system in disaster and MCIs setting. Literatures were searched via systematic search strategy from 2009 until 2019 in PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Scopus, Science direct, Medlib, ProQuest. This review included simulated-based and medical record -based studies investigating the accuracy and applicability of SALT and START triage systems of adult and children population during MCIs and disaster. All type of studies were included. Joana Briggs institute critical appraisal tools were used to assess the quality of reviewed studies. As a result, 1450 articles identified in the search, 10 articles were included. Four themes were identified by review, they were accuracy, under-triage, over-triage and time to triage per individual victim. The START triage system has a wide range and inconsistent level of accuracy compared to SALT triage system (44% to 94. 2% of START compared to 70% to 83% of SALT). The under-triage error of START triage system ranged from 2.73% to 20%, slightly lower than SALT triage system (7.6 to 23.3%). The over-triage error of START triage system was slightly greater than SALT triage system (START ranged from 2% to 53% compared to 2% to 22% of SALT). The time for applying START triage system was faster than SALT triage system (START was 70-72.18 seconds compared to 78 second of SALT). Consequently; The START triage system has lower level of under-triage error and faster than SALT triage system in classifying victims of MCIs and disaster whereas SALT triage system is known slightly more accurate and lower level of over-triage. However, the magnitude of these differences is relatively small, and therefore the effect on the patient outcomes is not significance. Hence, regardless of the triage error, either START or SALT triage system is equally effective to triage victims of disaster and MCIs.

Keywords: disaster, effectiveness, mass casualty incidents, START triage system, SALT triage system

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Authors: Maria Christine Rizzon Cintra, Tâmara Duarte Borges, Cristina Santos Sotomaior

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Lamb’s fleece quality can be influenced by many factors, including welfare, stress, nutritional imbalance and presence of ectoparasites. The association of fleece quality and endoparasitism, until now, was not well solved. The present study was undertaken to evaluate if a fleece visual score could predict lamb parasitosis with the focus on gastrointestinal parasites. Fleece quality was scored based on a combination of cleanliness and wool cover, using a three-point scale (1-3). Score 1: fleece shows no sign of dirt or contamination, and had sufficient fleece for the breed and time of year with whole body coverage; Score 2: fleece was little damp or wet, with coat contaminated by small patches of mud or dung and some areas of fleece loose, but no shed or bald patches of no more than 10cm in diameter; Score 3: fleece filthy, very wet with coated in mud or dug, and loose fleece with shed areas of pulls with bald patches greater than 10cm, some areas may be trailing. All fleece quality scores (FQS) were assessed with lamb restrained to ensure close inspection and were done along lamb back and considered just one side of the body. To confirm the gastrointestinal parasites and animal’s anemia, faecal egg counts (FEC) and hematocrit were done for each animal. Lambs were also weighed. All these measurements were done every 15-days, beginning at 60-days until 150-days of life, using 48 animals crossed Texel x Ile de France. For statistics analysis, it was used Stratigraphic Program (4.1. version), and all significant differences between FQS, weight gain, age, hematocrit, and FEC were assessed using analysis of variance following by Duncan test, and the correlation was done by Pearson test at P<0.05. Results showed that animals scored as ‘3’ in FQS had a lower hematocrit and a higher FEC (p<0.05) than animals scored as ‘1’ (hematocrit: 26, 24, 23 and FEC 2107, 2962, 4626 respectively for 1, 2 and 3 FQS). There were correlations between FQS and FEC (r = 0.16), FQS and hematocrit (r = -0.33) an FQS and weight gain (r = -0.20) indicating that worst FQS animals (score 3) had greater gastrointestinal parasites’ infection, were more anemic and had lower weight gain than animals scored as ‘1’ or ‘2’ for FQS. Concerning the lamb´s age, animals that received score ‘3’ in FQS, maintained gastrointestinal parasites’ infection over the time (P<0.05). It was concluded that FQS could be an important indicator to be included in the selective treatment for control verminosis in lambs.

Keywords: fleece, gastrointestinal parasites, sheep, welfare

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Authors: Christine A. Odinga, G. Sanjay, M. Mathew, S. Gupta, F. M. Swalaha, F. A. O. Otieno, F. Bux

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Wastewater discharged from municipal treatment plants contain an amalgamation of trace metals. The presence of metal pollutants in wastewater poses a huge challenge to the choice and applications of the preferred treatment method. Conventional treatment methods are inefficient in the removal of trace metals due to their design approach. This study evaluated the treatment performance of a constructed rhizofiltration system in the removal of heavy metals from municipal wastewater. The study was conducted at an eThekwni municipal wastewater treatment plant in Kingsburgh - Durban in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The construction details of the pilot-scale rhizofiltration unit included three different layers of substrate consisting of medium stones, coarse gravel and fine sand. The system had one section planted with Phragmites australis L. and Kyllinga nemoralis L. while the other section was unplanted and acted as the control. Influent, effluent and sediment from the system were sampled and assessed for the presence of and removal of selected trace heavy metals using standard methods. Efficiency of metals removal was established by gauging the transfer of metals into leaves, roots and stem of the plants by calculations based on standard statistical packages. The Langmuir model was used to assess the heavy metal adsorption mechanisms of the plants. Heavy metals were accumulated in the entire rhizofiltration system at varying percentages of 96.69% on planted and 48.98% on control side for cadmium. Chromium was 81% and 24%, Copper was 23.4% and 1.1%, Nickel was 72% and 46.5, Lead was 63% and 31%, while Zinc was 76% and 84% on the on the water and sediment of the planted and control sides of the rhizofilter respectively. The decrease in metal adsorption efficiencies on the planted side followed the pattern of Cd>Cr>Zn>Ni>Pb>Cu and Ni>Cd>Pb>Cr>Cu>Zn on the control side. Confirmatory analysis using Electron Scanning Microscopy revealed that higher amounts of metals was deposited in the root system with values ranging from 0.015mg/kg (Cr), 0.250 (Cu), 0.030 (Pb) for P. australis, and 0.055mg/kg (Cr), 0.470mg/kg (Cu) and 0.210mg/kg,(Pb) for K. nemoralis respectively. The system was found to be efficient in removing and reducing metals from wastewater and further research is necessary to establish the immediate mechanisms that the plants display in order to achieve these reductions.

Keywords: wastewater treatment, Phragmites australis L., Kyllinga nemoralis L., heavy metals, pathogens, rhizofiltration

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Authors: Christine K. Ormsbee, Jeremy S. Robinson

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Teacher quality is important for United States universities. It impacts student achievement, program and degree progress, and even retention. While course instructors are still the primary designers and deliverers of instruction in U.S. higher education classrooms, students have become better and more vocal consumers of instruction. They are capable of identifying what instructors do that facilitates their learning or, conversely, what instructors do that makes learning more difficult. Instructors can use students as resources as they design and implement their courses. Students have become more aware of their own learning preferences and processes and can articulate those. While it is not necessarily possible or likely that an instructor can address the widely varying differences in learning preferences represented by a large class of students, it is possible for them to employ general instructional supports that help students understand clearly the instructor's study expectations, identify critical content, efficiently commit content to memory, and develop new skills. Those learning supports include reading guides, test study guides, and other instructor-developed tasks that organize learning for students, hold them accountable for the content, and prepare them to use that material in simulated and real situations. When U.S. university teaching and learning support staff work with instructors to help them identify areas of their teaching to improve, a key part of that assistance includes talking to the instructor member's students. Students are asked to explain what the instructor does that helps them learn, what the instructor does that impedes their learning, and what they wish the instructor would do. Not surprisingly, students are very specific in what they see as helpful learning supports for them. Moreover, they also identify impediments to their success, viewing those as the instructor creating unnecessary barriers to learning. A qualitative survey was developed to provide undergraduate students the opportunity to identify instructor behaviors and/or practices that they thought helped students learn and those behaviors and practices that were perceived as hindrances to student success. That information is used to help instructors implement more student-focused learning supports that facilitate student achievement. In this session, data shared from the survey will focus on supportive instructor behaviors identified by undergraduate students in an institution located in the southwest United States and those behaviors that students perceive as creating unnecessary barriers to their academic success.

Keywords: effective teaching, pedagogy, student engagement, instructional design

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Authors: Christine Eickhoff, Alyssa Adams, Alaine Duncan

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The Washington, DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DC VAMC) offers complementary and integrative health (CIH) services such as acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and nutrition education through a coordinated outpatient clinic. The primary population utilizing CIH services are veterans with chronic pain. Acupuncture is one of the most popular of the CIH services available at the DC VAMC. As interest and availability grows, it is important to measure health outcomes associated with CIH service utilization. The purpose of this study was to investigate pain and mental health outcomes for veterans with chronic pain enrolled in individual acupuncture services in the DC VAMC. Veterans at the DC VAMC with self-identified chronic pain and no prior acupuncture experience were recruited for the study (n=70). Veterans were referred for services by a medical provider and completed baseline assessments at the program orientation prior to participating in any CIH services. Veterans received four individual, full-body acupuncture appointments within four weeks of study enrollment. After the first month, participants were scheduled for six appointments that occurred every two weeks and then eight more sessions that were scheduled one month apart. Follow-up assessments were administered at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 months. The findings reported will include completed time points at two and four months. Measures include a demographics survey, the Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile-2 (MYMOP-2), The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), the Defense Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS), and the Pain Disability Questionnaire (PDQ). In this sample, 67% identified a pain condition as their primary health concern. Between baseline and two-month follow-up, there were significant improvements in participants’ primary health concern (MYMOP-2 p=0.010), general wellbeing (MYMOP-2 p=0.011), and a significant decrease in the use of medication (MYMOP-2 p<0.000). Between 2 and 4-month follow-up, pain disability (PDQ p=0.035), pain rating (DVPRS p=0.027), and depression (BDI-II p=0.003) significantly improved. Preliminary findings indicate that individual acupuncture therapy can be effective at improving health outcomes, well-being, and decreasing medication use in U.S. military veterans with chronic pain. Findings also suggest that individual acupuncture therapy can improve pain ratings, pain disability, and depression in veterans with chronic pain.

Keywords: acupuncture, chronic pain, depression, integrative health, medication use, military, pain, veterans, wellbeing

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Authors: Mark Morgan, Christine Li, Shuangyu Xu, Jenny McCarty

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The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the U.S. Congress in 1968 (Public Law 90-542; 16 U.S.C. 1271 et seq.) to preserve outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values of some U.S. rivers in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations. This Act is notable for safeguarding the special character of these rivers while supporting management action that encourages public participation for co-creating river protection goals and strategies. This is not an easy task. To meet the challenges of modern ecosystem management, federal resource agencies must address many legal, environmental, economic, political, and social issues. The U.S. Forest Service manages a 44-mile section of the Eleven Point National Scenic River (EPR) in southern Missouri, mainly for outdoor recreation purposes. About half of the acreage is in private lands, while the remainder flows through the Mark Twain National Forest. Private land along the river is managed by scenic easements to ensure protection of scenic values and natural resources, without public access. A portion of the EPR lies adjacent to a 16,500-acre tract known as the Irish Wilderness. The spring-fed river has steep bluffs, deep pools, clear water, and a slow current, making it an ideal setting for outdoor enthusiasts. A 10-month visitor study was conducted at five access points along the EPR during 2019 so the US Forest Service could update their river management plan. A mail-back survey was administered to 560 on-site visitors, yielding a response rate of 53%. Although different types of visitors use the EPR, boating and fishing were the predominant forms of outdoor recreation. Some river use was from locals, but other visitors came from farther away. Formulating unbiased policies for outdoor recreation is difficult because managers must assign relative values to recreational activities and travel distance. Because policymaking is a subjective process, management decisions can affect user groups in different ways (i.e., boaters vs. fishers; proximate vs. distal visitors), as seen through a GIS analysis.

Keywords: activity selection, forest recreation, policy, travel distance

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Authors: Anna-Kaisa Sjolund

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The doctoral thesis examines interaction design and sensory ethnography as tools to create immersive education environments. In recent years, there has been increasing interest and discussions among researchers and educators on immersive education like augmented reality tools, virtual glasses and the possibilities to utilize them in education at all levels. Using virtual devices as learning environments it is possible to create multisensory learning environments. Sensory ethnography in this study refers to the way of the senses consider the impact on the information dynamics in immersive learning environments. The past decade has seen the rapid development of virtual world research and virtual ethnography. Christine Hine's Virtual Ethnography offers an anthropological explanation of net behavior and communication change. Despite her groundbreaking work, time has changed the users’ communication style and brought new solutions to do ethnographical research. The virtual reality with all its new potential has come to the fore and considering all the senses. Movie and image have played an important role in cultural research for centuries, only the focus has changed in different times and in a different field of research. According to Karin Becker, the role of image in our society is information flow and she found two meanings what the research of visual culture is. The images and pictures are the artifacts of visual culture. Images can be viewed as a symbolic language that allows digital storytelling. Combining the sense of sight, but also the other senses, such as hear, touch, taste, smell, balance, the use of a virtual learning environment offers students a way to more easily absorb large amounts of information. It offers also for teachers’ different ways to produce study material. In this article using sensory ethnography as research tool approaches the core question. Sensory ethnography is used to describe information dynamics in immersive environment through interaction design. Immersive education environment is understood as three-dimensional, interactive learning environment, where the audiovisual aspects are central, but all senses can be taken into consideration. When designing learning environments or any digital service, interaction design is always needed. The question what is interaction design is justified, because there is no simple or consistent idea of what is the interaction design or how it can be used as a research method or whether it is only a description of practical actions. When discussing immersive learning environments or their construction, consideration should be given to interaction design and sensory ethnography.

Keywords: immersive education, sensory ethnography, interaction design, information dynamics

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Authors: Sergio A. Bernal-Chavez, Sergio Alcalá-Alcalá, Doris A. Cerecedo-Mercado, Adriana Ganem-Rondero

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The prevalence of people with chronic wounds has increased dramatically by many factors including smoking, obesity and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, that can slow the healing process and increase the risk of becoming chronic. Because of this situation, the improvement of chronic wound treatments is a necessity, which has led to the scientific community to focus on improving the effectiveness of current therapies and the development of new treatments. The wound formation is a physiological complex process, which is characterized by an inflammatory stage with the presence of proinflammatory cells that create a proteolytic microenvironment during the healing process, which includes the degradation of important growth factors and cytokines. This decrease of growth factors and cytokines provides an interesting strategy for wound healing if they are administered externally. The use of nanometric drug delivery systems, such as polymer nanoparticles (NP), also offers an interesting alternative around dermal systems. An interesting strategy would be to propose a formulation based on a thermosensitive hydrogel loaded with polymeric nanoparticles that allows the inclusion and application of a platelet lysate (PL) on damaged skin, with the aim of promoting wound healing. In this work, NP were prepared by a double emulsion-solvent evaporation technique, using polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) as biodegradable polymer. Firstly, an aqueous solution of PL was emulsified into a PLGA organic solution, previously prepared in dichloromethane (DCM). Then, this disperse system (W/O) was poured into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution to get the double emulsion (W/O/W), finally the DCM was evaporated by magnetic stirring resulting in the NP formation containing PL. Once the NP were obtained, these systems were characterized by morphology, particle size, Z-potential, encapsulation efficiency (%EE), physical stability, infrared spectrum, calorimetric studies (DSC) and in vitro release profile. The optimized nanoparticles were included in a thermosensitive gel formulation of Pluronic® F-127. The gel was prepared by the cold method at 4 °C and 20% of polymer concentration. Viscosity, sol-gel phase transition, time of no flow solid-gel at wound temperature, changes in particle size by temperature-effect using dynamic light scattering (DLS), occlusive effect, gel degradation, infrared spectrum and micellar point by DSC were evaluated in all gel formulations. PLGA NP of 267 ± 10.5 nm and Z-potential of -29.1 ± 1 mV were obtained. TEM micrographs verified the size of NP and evidenced their spherical shape. The %EE for the system was around 99%. Thermograms and in infrared spectra mark the presence of PL in NP. The systems did not show significant changes in the parameters mentioned above, during the stability studies. Regarding the gel formulation, the transition sol-gel occurred at 28 °C with a time of no flow solid-gel of 7 min at 33°C (common wound temperature). Calorimetric, DLS and infrared studies corroborated the physical properties of a thermosensitive gel, such as the micellar point. In conclusion, the thermosensitive gel described in this work, contains therapeutic amounts of PL and fulfills the technological properties to be used in damaged skin, with potential application in wound healing and tissue regeneration.

Keywords: growth factors, polymeric nanoparticles, thermosensitive hydrogels, tissue regeneration

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Authors: Chor Yi Ng, Christine Kong, Loretta Teo, Stephen Yau, FC Cheung, TL Poon, Francis Lee

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Purpose: Dynamic conformal arc (DCA) and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) are two treatment techniques commonly used for stereotactic radiosurgery/radiotherapy of cranial lesions. IMRT plans usually give better dose conformity while DCA plans have better dose fall off. Rapid dose fall off is preferred for radiotherapy of cranial lesions, but dose conformity is also important. For certain lesions, DCA plans have good conformity, while for some lesions, the conformity is just unacceptable with DCA plans, and IMRT has to be used. The choice between the two may not be apparent until each plan is prepared and dose indices compared. We described a deviation index (DI) which is a measurement of the deviation of the target shape from a sphere, and test its functionality to choose between the two techniques. Method and Materials: From May 2015 to May 2017, our institute has performed stereotactic radiotherapy for 105 patients treating a total of 115 lesions (64 DCA plans and 51 IMRT plans). Patients were treated with the Varian Clinac iX with HDMLC. Brainlab Exactrac system was used for patient setup. Treatment planning was done with Brainlab iPlan RT Dose (Version 4.5.4). DCA plans were found to give better dose fall off in terms of R50% (R50% (DCA) = 4.75 Vs R50% (IMRT) = 5.242) while IMRT plans have better conformity in terms of treatment volume ratio (TVR) (TVR(DCA) = 1.273 Vs TVR(IMRT) = 1.222). Deviation Index (DI) is proposed to better facilitate the choice between the two techniques. DI is the ratio of the volume of a 1 mm shell of the PTV and the volume of a 1 mm shell of a sphere of identical volume. DI will be close to 1 for a near spherical PTV while a large DI will imply a more irregular PTV. To study the functionality of DI, 23 cases were chosen with PTV volume ranged from 1.149 cc to 29.83 cc, and DI ranged from 1.059 to 3.202. For each case, we did a nine field IMRT plan with one pass optimization and a five arc DCA plan. Then the TVR and R50% of each case were compared and correlated with the DI. Results: For the 23 cases, TVRs and R50% of the DCA and IMRT plans were examined. The conformity for IMRT plans are better than DCA plans, with majority of the TVR(DCA)/TVR(IMRT) ratios > 1, values ranging from 0.877 to1.538. While the dose fall off is better for DCA plans, with majority of the R50%(DCA)/ R50%(IMRT) ratios < 1. Their correlations with DI were also studied. A strong positive correlation was found between the ratio of TVRs and DI (correlation coefficient = 0.839), while the correlation between the ratio of R50%s and DI was insignificant (correlation coefficient = -0.190). Conclusion: The results suggest DI can be used as a guide for choosing the planning technique. For DI greater than a certain value, we can expect the conformity for DCA plans to become unacceptably great, and IMRT will be the technique of choice.

Keywords: cranial lesions, dynamic conformal arc, IMRT, image guided radiotherapy, stereotactic radiotherapy

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Authors: Christine Demaecker

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Many researchers have underlined the importance of metaphors in specialised language. Their use of specific domains helps us understand the conceptualisations used to communicate new ideas or difficult topics. Within the wide area of specialised discourse, wine tasting is a very specific example because it is almost exclusively metaphoric. Wine tasting metaphors express various conceptualisations. They are not linguistic but rather conceptual, as defined by Lakoff & Johnson. They correspond to the linguistic expression of a mental projection from a well-known or more concrete source domain onto the target domain, which is the taste of wine. But unlike most specialised terminologies, the vocabulary is never clearly defined. When metaphorical terms are listed in dictionaries, their definitions remain vague, unclear, and circular. They cannot be replaced by literal linguistic expressions. This makes it impossible to transfer them into another language with the traditional linguistic translation methods. Qualitative research investigates whether wine tasting metaphors could rather be translated with the cognitive translation process, as well described by Nili Mandelblit (1995). The research is based on a corpus compiled from two high-profile wine guides; the Parker’s Wine Buyer’s Guide and its translation into French and the Guide Hachette des Vins and its translation into English. In this small corpus with a total of 68,826 words, 170 metaphoric expressions have been identified in the original English text and 180 in the original French text. They have been selected with the MIPVU Metaphor Identification Procedure developed at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The selection demonstrates that both languages use the same set of conceptualisations, which are often combined in wine tasting notes, creating conceptual integrations or blends. The comparison of expressions in the source and target texts also demonstrates the use of the cognitive translation approach. In accordance with the principle of relevance, the translation always uses target language conceptualisations, but compared to the original, the highlighting of the projection is often different. Also, when original metaphors are complex with a combination of conceptualisations, at least one element of the original metaphor underlies the target expression. This approach perfectly integrates into Lederer’s interpretative model of translation (2006). In this triangular model, the transfer of conceptualisation could be included at the level of ‘deverbalisation/reverbalisation’, the crucial stage of the model, where the extraction of meaning combines with the encyclopedic background to generate the target text.

Keywords: cognitive translation, conceptual integration, conceptual metaphor, interpretative model of translation, wine tasting metaphor

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Authors: Jianlun Zhang, Christine Lim

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Local food is one of the most attractive elements to tourists. The role of local cuisine in destination branding is very important because it is the distinctive identity that helps tourists remember the destination. The objectives of this study are: (1) Test the direct relation between the cognitive image of destination food and tourists’ intention to eat local food. (2) Examine the mediating effect of tourists’ desire to try destination food on the relationship between the cognitive image of local food and tourists’ intention to eat destination food. (3) Study the moderating effect of tourists’ perceived difficulties in finding local food on the relationship between tourists’ desire to try destination food and tourists’ intention to eat local food. To achieve the goals of this study, Macanese cuisine is selected as the destination food. Macau is located in Southeastern China and is a former colonial city of Portugal. The taste and texture of Macanese cuisine are unique because it is a fusion of cuisine from many countries and regions of mainland China. As people travel to seek authentically exotic experience, it is important to investigate if the food image of Macau leaves a good impression on tourists and motivate them to try local cuisine. A total of 449 Chinese tourists were involved in this study. To analyze the data collected, partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique is employed. Results suggest that the cognitive image of Macanese cuisine has a direct effect on tourists’ intention to eat Macanese cuisine. Tourists’ desire to try Macanese cuisine mediates the cognitive image-intention relationship. Tourists’ perceived difficulty of finding Macanese cuisine moderates the desire-intention relationship. The lower tourists’ perceived difficulty in finding Macanese cuisine is, the stronger the desire-intention relationship it will be. There are several practical implications of this study. First, the government tourism website can develop an authentic storyline about the evolvement of local cuisine, which provides an opportunity for tourists to taste the history of the destination and create a novel experience for them. Second, the government should consider the development of food events, restaurants, and hawker businesses. Third, to lower tourists’ perceived difficulty in finding local cuisine, there should be locations of restaurants and hawker stalls with clear instructions for finding them on the websites of the government tourism office, popular tourism sites, and public transportation stations in the destination. Fourth, in the post-COVID-19 era, travel risk will be a major concern for tourists. Therefore, when promoting local food, the government tourism website should post images that show food safety and hygiene.

Keywords: cognitive image of destination food, desire to try destination food, intention to eat food in the destination, perceived difficulties of finding local cuisine, PLS-SEM

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

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

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

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

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Authors: Dipak Subedi, Anil Giri, Christine Whitt, Tia McDonald

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This study aims to understand the impact of the pandemic on the overall economic well-being of the agricultural sector of the United States. The two key metrics used to examine the economic well-being are the bankruptcy rate of the U.S. farm operations and the operating profit margin. One of the primary reasons for farm operations (in the U.S.) to file for bankruptcy is continuous negative profit or a significant decrease in profit. The pandemic caused significant supply and demand shocks in the domestic market. Furthermore, the ongoing trade disruptions, especially with China, also impacted the prices of agricultural commodities. The significantly reduced demand for ethanol and closure of meat processing plants affected both livestock and crop producers. This study uses data from courts to examine the bankruptcy rate over time of U.S. farm operations. Preliminary results suggest there wasn’t an increase in farm operations filing for bankruptcy in 2020. This was most likely because of record high Government payments to producers in 2020. The Federal Government made direct payments of more than $45 billion in 2020. One commonly used economic metric to measure farm profitability is the operating profit margin (OPM). Operating profit margin measures profitability as a share of the total value of production and government payments. The Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture defines a farm operation to be in a) a high-risk zone if the OPM is less than 10 percent and b) a low-risk zone if the OPM is higher than 25 percent. For this study, OPM was calculated for small, medium, and large-scale farm operations using the data from the Agriculture Resource Management Survey (OPM). Results show that except for small family farms, the share of farms in high-risk zone decreased in 2020 compared to the most recent non-pandemic year, 2019. This was most likely due to higher commodity prices at the end of 2020 and record-high government payments. Further investigation suggests a lower share of smaller farm operations receiving lower average government payments resulting in a large share (over 70 percent) being in the critical zone. This study should be of interest to multiple stakeholders, including policymakers across the globe, as it shows the resilience of the U.S. agricultural system as well as (some) impact of government payments.

Keywords: U.S. farm sector, COVID-19, operating profit margin, farm bankruptcy, ag finance, government payments to the farm sector

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Authors: Ahmad Abu-Akel, Emilie De Montpellier, Sophie Von Bentivegni, Lyn Luechinger, Alessandro Ishii, Christine Mohr

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Convergent and divergent thinking are two main components of creativity that have been viewed as complementary. While divergent thinking refers to the fluency and flexibility of generating new ideas, convergent thinking refers to the ability to systematically apply rules and knowledge to arrive at the optimal solution or idea. These creativity components have been shown to be susceptible to variation in subclinical expressions of autistic and schizotypal traits within the general population. Research, albeit inconclusively, mainly linked positive schizotypal traits with divergent thinking and autistic traits with convergent thinking. However, cumulative evidence suggests that these trait dimensions can co-occur in the same individual more than would be expected by chance and that their concurrent effect can be diametric and even interactive. The current study aimed at investigating the concurrent effect of these trait dimensions on tasks assessing convergent and divergent thinking abilities. We predicted that individuals with high positive schizotypal traits alone would perform particularly well on the divergent thinking task, whilst those with high autistic traits alone would perform particularly well on the convergent thinking task. Crucially, we also predicted that individuals who are high on both autistic and positive schizotypal traits would perform particularly well on both the divergent and convergent thinking tasks. This was investigated in a non-clinical sample of 142 individuals (Males = 45%; Mean age = 21.45, SD = 2.30), sufficient to minimally observe an effect size f² ≥ .10. Divergent thinking was evaluated using the Alternative Uses Task, and convergent thinking with the Anagrams Task. Autistic and schizotypal traits were respectively assessed with the Autism Quotient Questionnaire (AQ) and the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE). Regression analyses revealed that the positive association of autistic traits with convergent thinking scores was qualified with an interaction with positive schizotypal traits. Specifically, positive schizotypal traits were negatively associated with convergent thinking scores when AQ scores were relatively low, but this trend was reversed when AQ scores were high. Conversely, the positive effect of AQ scores on convergent thinking progressively increased with increasing positive schizotypal traits. The results of divergent thinking task are currently being analyzed and will be reported at the conference. The association of elevated autistic and positive schizotypal traits with convergent thinking may represent a unique profile of creative thinkers who are able to simultaneously draw on trait-specific advantages conferred by autistic and positively schizotypal traits such as local and global processing. This suggests that main-effect models can tell an incomplete story regarding the effect of autistic and positive schizotypal traits on creativity-related processes. Future creativity research should consider their interaction and the benefits conferred by their co-presence.

Keywords: autism, schizotypy, convergent thinking, divergent thinking, comorbidity

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Authors: Alberto Fina, Samuele Colonna, Maria del Mar Bernal, Orietta Monticelli, Mauro Tortello, Renato Gonnelli, Julio Gomez, Chiara Novara, Guido Saracco

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Thermally conductive polymer nanocomposites are of high interest for several applications including low-temperature heat recovery, heat exchangers in a corrosive environment and heat management in electronics and flexible electronics. In this paper, the preparation of thermally conductive nanocomposites exploiting graphene-related materials is addressed, along with their thermal characterization. In particular, correlations between 1- chemical and physical features of the nanoflakes and 2- processing conditions with the heat conduction properties of nanocomposites is studied. Polymers are heat insulators; therefore, the inclusion of conductive particles is the typical solution to obtain a sufficient thermal conductivity. In addition to traditional microparticles such as graphite and ceramics, several nanoparticles have been proposed, including carbon nanotubes and graphene, for the use in polymer nanocomposites. Indeed, thermal conductivities for both carbon nanotubes and graphenes were reported in the wide range of about 1500 to 6000 W/mK, despite such property may decrease dramatically as a function of the size, number of layers, the density of topological defects, re-hybridization defects as well as on the presence of impurities. Different synthetic techniques have been developed, including mechanical cleavage of graphite, epitaxial growth on SiC, chemical vapor deposition, and liquid phase exfoliation. However, the industrial scale-up of graphene, defined as an individual, single-atom-thick sheet of hexagonally arranged sp2-bonded carbons still remains very challenging. For large scale bulk applications in polymer nanocomposites, some graphene-related materials such as multilayer graphenes (MLG), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) or graphite nanoplatelets (GNP) are currently the most interesting graphene-based materials. In this paper, different types of graphene-related materials were characterized for their chemical/physical as well as for thermal properties of individual flakes. Two selected rGOs were annealed at 1700°C in vacuum for 1 h to reduce defectiveness of the carbon structure. Thermal conductivity increase of individual GNP with annealing was assessed via scanning thermal microscopy. Graphene nano papers were prepared from both conventional RGO and annealed RGO flakes. Characterization of the nanopapers evidenced a five-fold increase in the thermal diffusivity on the nano paper plane for annealed nanoflakes, compared to pristine ones, demonstrating the importance of structural defectiveness reduction to maximize the heat dissipation performance. Both pristine and annealed RGO were used to prepare polymer nanocomposites, by melt reactive extrusion. Thermal conductivity showed two- to three-fold increase in the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite was observed for high temperature treated RGO compared to untreated RGO, evidencing the importance of using low defectivity nanoflakes. Furthermore, the study of different processing paremeters (time, temperature, shear rate) during the preparation of poly (butylene terephthalate) nanocomposites evidenced a clear correlation with the dispersion and fragmentation of the GNP nanoflakes; which in turn affected the thermal conductivity performance. Thermal conductivity of about 1.7 W/mK, i.e. one order of magnitude higher than for pristine polymer, was obtained with 10%wt of annealed GNPs, which is in line with state of the art nanocomposites prepared by more complex and less upscalable in situ polymerization processes.

Keywords: graphene, graphene-related materials, scanning thermal microscopy, thermally conductive polymer nanocomposites

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Authors: Christine Winberg, James Garraway

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Many key university documents, such as vision and mission statements and strategic plans, are aspirational and future-oriented. There is a wide range of future-oriented methods that are used in planning applications, ranging from mathematical modelling to expert opinions. Many of these methods have limitations, and planners using these tools might, for example, make the technical-rational assumption that their plans will unfold in a logical and inevitable fashion, thus underestimating the many complex forces that are at play in planning for an unknown future. This is the issue that this study addresses. The overall project aim was to assist a new university of technology in developing appropriate responses to its social responsibility, graduate employability and research missions in its strategic plan. The specific research question guiding the research activities and approach was: how might the use of innovative future-oriented planning tools enable or constrain a strategic planning process? The research objective was to engage collaborating groups in the use of an innovative tool to develop and assess future scenarios, for the purpose of developing deeper understandings of possible futures and their challenges. The scenario planning tool chosen was ‘fictive scripting’, an analytical technique derived from Technology Forecasting and Innovation Studies. Fictive scripts are future projections that also take into account the present shape of the world and current developments. The process thus began with a critical diagnosis of the present, highlighting its tensions and frictions. The collaborative groups then developed fictive scripts, each group producing a future scenario that foregrounded different institutional missions, their implications and possible consequences. The scripts were analyzed with a view to identifying their potential contribution to the university’s strategic planning exercise. The unfolding fictive scripts revealed a number of insights in terms of unexpected benefits, unexpected challenges, and unexpected consequences. These insights were not evident in previous strategic planning exercises. The contribution that this study offers is to show how better choices can be made and potential pitfalls avoided through a systematic foresight exercise. When universities develop strategic planning documents, they are looking into the future. In this paper it is argued that the use of appropriate tools for future-oriented exercises, can help planners to understand more fully what achieving desired outcomes might entail, what challenges might be encountered, and what unexpected consequences might ensue.

Keywords: fictive scripts, scenarios, strategic planning, technological forecasting

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Authors: Kunal Bhardwaj, Christine Browne

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With the increase in global awareness of the environmental impacts of plastic-based products, there has been a massive drive to reduce our use of these products. Use of plastic-based substrates in electronic circuits has been a matter of concern recently. Plastics provide a very smooth and cheap surface for printing high-performance electronics due to their non-permeability to ink and easy mouldability. In this research, we explore the use of nano cellulose (NC) films in electronics as they provide an advantage of being 100% recyclable and eco-friendly. The main hindrance in the mass adoption of NC film as a substitute for plastic is its higher surface roughness which leads to ink penetration, and dispersion in the channels on the film. This research was conducted to tune the RMS roughness of NC films to a range where they can replace plastics in electronics(310-470nm). We studied the dependence of the surface roughness of the NC film on the following tunable aspects: 1) composition by weight of the NC suspension that is sprayed on a silicon wafer 2) the width and the depth of the channels on the silicon wafer used as a base. Various silicon wafers with channel depths ranging from 6 to 18 um and channel widths ranging from 5 to 500um were used as a base. Spray coating method for NC film production was used and two solutions namely, 1.5wt% NC and a 50-50 NC-CNC (cellulose nanocrystal) mixture in distilled water, were sprayed through a Wagner sprayer system model 117 at an angle of 90 degrees. The silicon wafer was kept on a conveyor moving at a velocity of 1.3+-0.1 cm/sec. Once the suspension was uniformly sprayed, the mould was left to dry in an oven at 50°C overnight. The images of the films were taken with the help of an optical profilometer, Olympus OLS 5000. These images were converted into a ‘.lext’ format and analyzed using Gwyddion, a data and image analysis software. Lowest measured RMS roughness of 291nm was with a 50-50 CNC-NC mixture, sprayed on a silicon wafer with a channel width of 5 µm and a channel depth of 12 µm. Surface roughness values of 320+-17nm were achieved at lower (5 to 10 µm) channel widths on a silicon wafer. This research opened the possibility of the usage of 100% recyclable NC films with an additive (50% CNC) in high-performance electronics. Possibility of using additives like Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) is also being explored due to the hypothesis that CMC would reduce friction amongst fibers, which in turn would lead to better conformations amongst the NC fibers. CMC addition would thus be able to help tune the surface roughness of the NC film to an even greater extent in future.

Keywords: nano cellulose films, electronic circuits, nanocrystals and surface roughness

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Authors: Julie Ramain, Christine Mohr, Ahmad Abu-Akel

Abstract:

Divergent thinking—a cognitive component of creativity—and particularly the ability to generate unique and novel ideas, has been linked to both autistic and schizotypal traits. However, to our knowledge, the concurrent effect of these trait dimensions on divergent thinking has not been investigated. Moreover, it has been suggested that creativity is associated with different types of attention and cognitive control, and consequently how information is processed in a given context. Intriguingly, consistent with the diametric model, autistic and schizotypal traits have been associated with contrasting attentional and cognitive control styles. Positive schizotypal traits have been associated with reactive cognitive control and attentional flexibility, while autistic traits have been associated with proactive cognitive control and the increased focus of attention. The current study investigated the relationship between divergent thinking, autistic and schizotypal traits and cognitive control in a non-clinical sample of 83 individuals (Males = 42%; Mean age = 22.37, SD = 2.93), sufficient to detect a medium effect size. Divergent thinking was evaluated in an adapted version of-of the Figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. Crucially, since we were interested in testing divergent thinking productivity across contexts, participants were asked to generate items from basic shapes in four different contexts. The variance of the proportion of unique to total responses across contexts represented a measure of context adaptability, with lower variance indicating increased context adaptability. Cognitive control was estimated with the Behavioral Proactive Index of the AX-CPT task, with higher scores representing the ability to actively maintain goal-relevant information in a sustained/anticipatory manner. Autistic and schizotypal traits were assessed with the Autism Quotient (AQ) and the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE-42). Generalized linear models revealed a 3-way interaction of autistic and positive schizotypal traits, and proactive cognitive control, associated with increased context adaptability. Specifically, the concurrent effect of autistic and positive schizotypal traits on increased context adaptability was moderated by the level of proactive control and was only significant when proactive cognitive control was high. Our study reveals that autistic and positive schizotypal traits interactively facilitate the capacity to generate unique ideas across various contexts. However, this effect depends on cognitive control mechanisms indicative of the ability to proactively maintain attention when needed. The current results point to a unique profile of divergent thinkers who have the ability to respectively tap both systematic and flexible processing modes within and across contexts. This is particularly intriguing as such combination of phenotypes has been proposed to explain the genius of Beethoven, Nash, and Newton.

Keywords: autism, schizotypy, creativity, cognitive control

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Authors: Evelyn Asante Yeboah, Kwabena O. Asubonteng, Justice Camillus Mensah, Christine Furst

Abstract:

Smallholder-dominated mosaic landscapes in rural Africa are relevant for food production, biodiversity conservation, and climate regulation. Land-use transitions threaten the multifunctionality of such landscapes, especially the production capacity of arable lands resulting in food security challenges. Using land-cover maps derived from maximum likelihood classification of Landsat satellite images for the years 2002, 2015, and 2020, post-classification change detection, landscape metrics, and key informant interviews, the study assessed the implications of rubber plantation expansion and oil business development on the food production capacity of Ahanta West District, Ghana. The analysis reveals that settlement and rubber areas expanded by 5.82% and 10.33% of the landscape area, respectively, between 2002 and 2020. This increase translates into over twice their initial sizes (144% in settlement change and 101% in rubber change). Rubber plantation spread dominates the north and southwestern areas, whereas settlement is widespread in the eastern parts of the landscape. Rubber and settlement expanded at the expense of cropland, palm, and shrublands. Land-use transitions between cropland, palm, and shrubland were targeting each other, but the net loss in shrubland was higher (-17.27%). Isolation, subdivision, connectedness, and patch adjacency indices showed patch consolidation in the landscape configuration from 2002 to 2015 and patch fragmentation from 2015 to 2020. The study also found patches with consistent increasing connectivity in settlement areas indicating the influence of oil discovery developments and fragmentation tendencies in rubber, shrubland, cropland, and palm, indicating springing up of smaller rubber farms, the disappearance of shrubland, and splitting up of cropland and palm areas respectively. The results revealed a trend in land-use transitions in favor of smallholder rubber plantation expansion and oil discovery developments, which suggest serious implications on food production systems and poses a risk for food security and landscape multifunctional characteristics. To ensure sustainability in land uses, this paper recommends the enforcement of legislative instruments governing spatial planning and land use in Ghana as embedded in the 2016 land-use and spatial planning act.

Keywords: food production systems, food security, Ghana’s west coast, land-use transitions, multifunctional rural landscapes

Procedia PDF Downloads 118