Search results for: green intellectual capital
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 4004

Search results for: green intellectual capital

914 Thermophysical Properties of Glycine/L-Alanine in 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Bromide and in 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Chloride

Authors: Tarnveer Kaur

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Amino acids, as fundamental structural units of peptides and proteins, have an important role in biological systems by affecting solubility, denaturation, and activity of biomolecules. A study of these effects on thermophysical properties of model compounds in the presence of electrolytes solutions provides information about solute-solvent and solute-solute interactions on biomolecules. Ionic liquids (ILs) as organic electrolytes and green solvents are composed of an organic cation and an inorganic anion, which are liquid at ambient conditions. In the past decade, extensive investigations showed that the use of ILs as reaction media for processes involving biologically relevant compounds is promising in view of their successful application in kinetic resolution, biocatalysis, biosynthesis, separation, and purification processes. The scope of this information is valuable to explore the interactions of amino acids in ILs. To reach this purpose, apparent molar volumes of glycine/L-alanine in aqueous solutions of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide/chloride were determined from precise density measurements at temperatures T = (288.15-318.15) K and at atmospheric pressure. Positive values for all the studied amino acids indicate the dominance of hydrophilic-ionic interactions between amino acids and Ionic liquids. The effect of temperature on volumetric properties of glycine/L-alanine in solutions has been determined from the partial molar expansibility and second-order partial molar expansibility. Further, volumetric interaction parameters and hydration number have been calculated, which have been interpreted in terms of possible solute-solvent interactions.

Keywords: ILs, amino acids, volumetric properties, hydration numbers

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913 Cycling Usage and Determinants on University Campus in Ghana: The Case of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Authors: Nicholas Anarfi Bofah, James Damsere- Derry

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There is increasing interest among institutions, governments, and international organisations to combat congestion, reduce contribution to green gases and provide sustainable urban transportation. College campuses are a preeminent setting for promoting active commuting to ameliorate a community's healthy lifestyle. Cycling is an important physical activity and has a long-term effect on health, and it is considered one of the top five interventions to reduce the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. The main objectives of the research were: (i) to identify students’ attitudes and behavior toward cycling usage, (ii) to identify barriers and opportunities for cycling on a university campus, and (iii) to construct tangible policy recommendations for promoting cycling in the vicinity of the university. The data used in this study were obtained from a survey conducted among students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi between May 2022 and September 2022. A convenient sampling method was used to recruit and interview 398 participants. Two survey assistants who are former students of the university were engaged to administer the questionnaires randomly to students at the selected locations. Descriptive statistics were employed in the analysis of the data. Out of the 398 questionnaires, bicycle ridership and ownership among university students were 57% and 39%, respectively. Generally, the desire to use a bicycle as a mode of transport on campus was 36%. The desire to use a bicycle on campus was more prevalent among males 41% compared to females 30%. There is a high potential for increasing bicycle use among students. Recommendations include the provision of bicycle lanes, public education on the use of bicycles, and a campus bicycle-sharing program.

Keywords: sustainable development, cycling, university campus, bicycle

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912 Analysis of Kilistra (Gokyurt) Settlement within the Context of Traditional Residential Architecture

Authors: Esra Yaldız, Tugba Bulbul Bahtiyar, Dicle Aydın

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Humans meet their need for shelter via housing which they structure in line with habits and necessities. In housing culture, traditional dwelling has an important role as a social and cultural transmitter. It provides concrete data by being planned in parallel with users’ life style and habits, having their own dynamics and components as well as their designs in harmony with nature, environment and the context they exist. Textures of traditional dwelling create a healthy and cozy living environment by means of adaptation to natural conditions, topography, climate, and context; utilization of construction materials found nearby and usage of traditional techniques and forms; and natural isolation of construction materials used. One of the examples of traditional settlements in Anatolia is Kilistra (Gökyurt) settlement of Konya province. Being among the important centers of Christianity in the past, besides having distinctive architecture, culture, natural features, and geographical differences (climate, geological structure, material), Kilistra can also be identified as a traditional settlement consisting of family, religious and economic structures as well as cultural interaction. The foundation of this study is the traditional residential texture of Kilistra with its unique features. The objective of this study is to assess the conformity of traditional residential texture of Kilistra with present topography, climatic data, and geographical values within the context of human scale construction, usage of green space, indigenous construction materials, construction form, building envelope, and space organization in housing.

Keywords: traditional residential architecture, Kilistra, Anatolia, Konya

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911 Traditional Medicine and Islamic Holistic Approach in Palliative Care Management of Terminal Illpatient of Cancer

Authors: Mohammed Khalil Ur Rahman, Mohammed Alsharon, Arshad Muktar, Zahid Shaik

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Any ailment can go into terminal stages, cancer being one such disease which is many times detected in latent stages. Cancer is often characterized by constitutional symptoms which are agonizing in nature which disturbs patients and their family as well. In order to relieve such intolerable symptoms treatment modality employed is known to be ‘Palliative Care’. The goal of palliative care is to enhance patient’s quality of life by relieving or rather reducing the distressing symptoms of patients such as pain, nausea/ vomiting, anorexia/loss of appetite, excessive salivation, mouth ulcers, weight loss, constipation, oral thrush, emaciation etc. which are due to the effect of disease or due to the undergoing treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation etc. Ayurveda and Unani as well as other traditional medicines is getting more and more international attention in recent years and Ayurveda and Unani holistic perspective of the disease, it seems that there are many herbs and herbomineral preparation which can be employed in the treatment of malignancy and also in palliative care. Though many of them have yet to be scientifically proved as anti-cancerous but there is definitely a positive lead that some of these medications relieve the agonising symptoms thereby making life of the patient easy. Health is viewed in Islam in a holistic way. One of the names of the Quran is al-shifa' meaning ‘that which heals’ or ‘the restorer of health’ to refer to spiritual, intellectual, psychological, and physical health. The general aim of medical science, according to Islam, is to secure and adopt suitable measures which, with Allah’s permission, help to preserve or restore the health of the human body. Islam motivates the Physician to view the patient as one organism. The patient has physical, social, psychological, and spiritual dimensions that must be considered in synthesis with an integrated, holistic approach. Aims & Objectives: - To suggest herbs which are mentioned in Ayurveda Unani with potential palliative activity in case of Cancer patients. - Most of tibb nabawi [Prophetic Medicine] is preventive medicine and must have been divinely inspired. - Spiritual Aspects of Healing: Prayer, dua, recitation of the Quran - Remembrance of Allah play a central role.Materials & Method: Literary review of the herbs supported with experiential evidence will be discussed. Discussion: On the basis of collected data subject will be discussed in length. Conclusion: Will be presented in paper.

Keywords: palliative care, holistic, Ayurvedic and Unani traditional system of medicine, Quran, hadith

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910 Spaces in the City to Practice Physical Activities: Case Study of Conchal, São Paulo, Brazil

Authors: Ana Maria Girotti Sperandio, Jussara Conceição Guarnieri, Lauro Luiz Francisco Filho, Ana Claudia Martins Alves, Adriana Aparecida Carneiro Rosa

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The urban planning of a city should contemplate the construction of healthy spaces to provide quality of life for people. In a Brazilian municipality located 180 km from the capital of São Paulo with around 27,000 thousand inhabitants, the federal government made possible a program that allows the improvement of the quality of life of the inhabitants through the practice of physical activity. To describe health promotion strategies in the city that collaborate in the reduction of chronic non-communicable diseases (CDNT) and the improvement the quality of its residents. Considering the CDNT as a fundamental public health concern in different countries, the methodology of this work considered the different actions of health promotion that occurred in the city for the implementation of the Polo Health Academy with the objective of increasing the population's access to places that could develop targeted physical activities. As an instrument, it used records of participants of this academy such as: assessment sheets, evolution, photos, filming and daily reports of physical activities. Results: The implantation and implementation process of the Polo Health Academy in the city of Conchal / SP / Brazil was in accordance with the principles and values of the National Health Promotion Policy (PNaPS) in Brazil and with the city statute, that provides improvement in the quality of life of the Brazilian population. An increase was observed in the number of participants in different hours practicing physical activities in the territory linked to one of the five Health Units, showing the program provides that happiness and well-being to the students. The Brazilian health promotion policy, combined with the city’s development policy, provides the population with access to programs that stimulate the reduction of CDNTs, confirming the urban planning of a healthy city.

Keywords: health city, health promotion, physical activity, urban planning

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909 Comparison of Fat Soluble Vitamins, Carotenoids and Cholesterol Content in Mytilus galloprovincialis, Rapana venosa and Ulva rigida from the Black Sea

Authors: Diana A. Dobreva, Veselina Panayotova, Albena Merdzhanova, Lubomir Makedonski, Mona Stancheva

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Many studies suggest that marine mollusks are healthy food, characterized by low fat and high digestible proteins content. They are one of the most important dietary sources of fat soluble vitamins. The most common species of mollusks in the Bulgarian Black Sea waters are the black mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and the sea snail Rapana (Rapana venosa). One of the main problems of the region is the lack of information about chemical composition of these important marine species. Due to these facts, the aim of the present work was to determine the fat soluble vitamins A, D2, D3, and E, carotenoids–β-carotene and astaxanthin, and total cholesterol contents of mollusk samples and compare them to sample of green algae (Ulva rigida). Samples were collected during autumn from north region of the Black Sea coast, and their wet tissues were used for evaluation of vitamins A, D2, D3, and E, astaxanthin, β-carotene and cholesterol compositions. All fat soluble analytes were simultaneously analyzed by RP- HPLC/UV/FL system. The results were calculated as milligrams per gram total lipid (mg.g-1TL). Alpha-tocopherol and b-carotene were most abundant in algae samples, while mussel samples presented the highest amounts of vitamin D3 (several times higher than the recommended daily intake in Bulgaria (Ordinance № 23 / 19.07.2005)). In all samples, cholesterol content was significantly low, which falls within recommendation of the same ordinance (upper daily consumption should not exceed 300 mg per day). From data, it can be concluded that all samples were characterized as beneficial sources of biologically active compounds.

Keywords: fat soluble vitamins, carotenoids, mussel, rapana, algae

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908 Artificial Intelligence Based Predictive Models for Short Term Global Horizontal Irradiation Prediction

Authors: Kudzanayi Chiteka, Wellington Makondo

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The whole world is on the drive to go green owing to the negative effects of burning fossil fuels. Therefore, there is immediate need to identify and utilise alternative renewable energy sources. Among these energy sources solar energy is one of the most dominant in Zimbabwe. Solar power plants used to generate electricity are entirely dependent on solar radiation. For planning purposes, solar radiation values should be known in advance to make necessary arrangements to minimise the negative effects of the absence of solar radiation due to cloud cover and other naturally occurring phenomena. This research focused on the prediction of Global Horizontal Irradiation values for the sixth day given values for the past five days. Artificial intelligence techniques were used in this research. Three models were developed based on Support Vector Machines, Radial Basis Function, and Feed Forward Back-Propagation Artificial neural network. Results revealed that Support Vector Machines gives the best results compared to the other two with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 2%, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.05kWh/m²/day root mean square (RMS) error of 0.15kWh/m²/day and a coefficient of determination of 0.990. The other predictive models had prediction accuracies of MAPEs of 4.5% and 6% respectively for Radial Basis Function and Feed Forward Back-propagation Artificial neural network. These two models also had coefficients of determination of 0.975 and 0.970 respectively. It was found that prediction of GHI values for the future days is possible using artificial intelligence-based predictive models.

Keywords: solar energy, global horizontal irradiation, artificial intelligence, predictive models

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907 Prolonging Late Career Phase - a Sustainable Career Perspective

Authors: Hanna Salminen

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Due to the large societal changes in working life, such as retirement reforms, globalization and technological changes, careers are becoming longer, more varied and unpredictable than before. Similar to other new career concepts, such as protean and boundaryless career, a sustainable career concept emphasizes an individual’s active role and agency in managing his/her own career in changing working life. However, the sustainable career concept also underlines the importance of safeguarding and developing human capital over time and thereby fostering continuity. Especially, the theoretical discussion around sustainable careers stresses flexible career choices that meet an individual’s own personal needs, allow work-family balance and promotes continuous learning. Although sustainable careers concern employees at all ages, this study focuses on older employees (aged 50+). So far, the changing nature of careers has been mainly investigated among younger generations, and the changing and prolonging late career phase has received less attention among career scholars. In other words, there is lack of knowledge regarding what constitutes a sustainable career in the late career phase and how the individual, organizational, and societal levels of sustainable career ecosystem are interconnected. The theoretical discussion around sustainable careers is closely linked to the sustainable management of human resources in organizations. In the field of human resource management (HRM), sustainable HRM has received more attention in recent years and it has been seen as a step forward from strategic HRM approach. As a concept, sustainable HRM stresses the long-term focus on organizations’ social, economic, and ecological resources, and the benefits of HRM practices for employees, organizations, and the society at large. However, some HRM scholars argue that the ecological and financial matters have overshadowed the social aspect of sustainability. In this study, the sustainable career and sustainable HRM literature are combined. As a result of an integrative literature review, this study provides new insight, how sustainable late career phase has been understood and conceptualized in sustainable career and sustainable HRM literature.

Keywords: sustainability, career, human resource management, ageing

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906 Marketization of Higher Education in the UK and Its Impacts on Teaching Practitioners

Authors: Hossein Rezaie

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Academic institutions, esp. universities, have been known as cradles of learning and teaching great thinkers while creating the type of knowledge that is supposed to be bereft of utilitarian motives. Nonetheless, it seems that such intellectual centers have entered into a competition with each other for attracting the attention of potential clients. The traditional values of (higher) education such as nurturing criticality and fostering intellectuality in students have been replaced with strategic planning, quality assurance, performance assessment, and academic audits. Not being immune from the whims and wishes of marketization, the system of higher education in the UK has been recalibrated by policy makers to address the demand and supply of student education, academic research and other university activities on the basis of monetary factors. As an immediate example in this vein, the Russell Group in the UK, which is comprised of 24 leading UK research universities, has explicitly expressed it policy on its official website as follows: ‘Russell Group universities are global businesses competing for staff, students and funding with the best in the world’. Furthermore, certain attempts have been made to corporatize the system of HE which have been manifested in remodeling of university governing bodies on corporate lines and developing measurement scales for indicating the performance of teaching practitioners. Nevertheless, it seems that such structural changes in policies toward the system of HE have bearing on the practices of practitioners and educators as well as the identity of students who are the customers of educational services. The effects of marketization have been examined mainly in terms of students’ perceptions and motivation, institutional policies and university management. However, the teaching practitioner side seems to be an under-studied area with regard to any changes in its expectations, satisfaction and perception of professional identity in the aftermath of introducing market-wise values into HE of the UK. As a result, this research aims to investigate the possible outcomes of market-driven values on the practitioner side of HE in the UK and finally seeks to address the following research questions: 1-How is the change in the mission of HE in the UK reflected in institutional documents? 1-A- How is the change of mission represented in job adverts? 1-B- How is the change of mission represented in university prospectuses? 2-How are teaching practitioners represented regarding their roles and obligations in the prospectuses and job ads published by UK HE institutions? In order to address these questions, the researcher will analyze 30 prospectuses and job ads published by Russel Group universities by taking Critical Discourse Analysis as his point of departure and the analytical methods of genre analysis and Systemic Functional Linguistics to probe into the generic features and representation of participants, in this case teaching practitioners, in the selected corpus.

Keywords: higher education, job advertisements, marketization of higher education, prospectuses

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905 The Effect of Hydroxyl Ethyl Cellulose (HEC) and Hydrophobically-Modified Alkali Soluble Emulsions (HASE) on the Properties and Quality of Water Based Paints

Authors: Haleden Chiririwa, Sandile S. Gwebu

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The coatings industry is a million dollar business, and it is easy and inexpensive to set-up but it is growing very slowly in developing countries, and this study developed a paint formulation which gives better quality and good application properties. The effect of rheology modifiers, i.e. non-ionic polymers hydrophobically-modified ethoxylated urethanes (HEUR), anionic polymers hydrophobically-modified alkali soluble emulsions (HASE) and hydroxyl ethyl cellulose (HEC) on the quality and properties of water-based paints have been investigated. HEC provides the in-can viscosity and increases open working time while HASE improves application properties like spatter resistance and brush loading and HEUR provides excellent scrub resistance. Four paint recipes were prepared using four different thickeners HEC, HASE (carbopol) and Cellulose nitrate. The fourth formulation was thickened with a combination of HASE and HEC, this aimed at improving quality and at the same time reducing cost. The four samples were tested for quality tests such viscosity, sag resistance, volatile matter, tinter effect, drying times, hiding power, scrub resistance and stability on storage. Environmental factors were incorporated in the attempt to formulate an economic and green product. Hydroxyl ethyl cellulose and cellulose nitrate gave high quality and good properties of the paint. HEC and Cellulose nitrate showed stability on storage whereas carbopol thickener was very unstable.

Keywords: properties, thickeners, rheology modifiers, water based paints

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904 Architectural Design as Knowledge Production: A Comparative Science and Technology Study of Design Teaching and Research at Different Architecture Schools

Authors: Kim Norgaard Helmersen, Jan Silberberger

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Questions of style and reproducibility in relation to architectural design are not only continuously debated; the very concepts can seem quite provocative to architects, who like to think of architectural design as depending on intuition, ideas, and individual personalities. This standpoint - dominant in architectural discourse - is challenged in the present paper presenting early findings from a comparative STS-inspired research study of architectural design teaching and research at different architecture schools in varying national contexts. In philosophy of science framework, the paper reflects empirical observations of design teaching at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and presents a tentative theoretical framework for the on-going research project. The framework suggests that architecture – as a field of knowledge production – is mainly dominated by three epistemological positions, which will be presented and discussed. Besides serving as a loosely structured framework for future data analysis, the proposed framework brings forth the argument that architecture can be roughly divided into different schools of thought, like the traditional science disciplines. Without reducing the complexity of the discipline, describing its main intellectual positions should prove fruitful for the future development of architecture as a theoretical discipline, moving an architectural critique beyond discussions of taste preferences. Unlike traditional science disciplines, there is a lack of a community-wide, shared pool of codified references in architecture, with architects instead referencing art projects, buildings, and famous architects, when positioning their standpoints. While these inscriptions work as an architectural reference system, to be compared to codified theories in academic writing of traditional research, they are not used systematically in the same way. As a result, architectural critique is often reduced to discussions of taste and subjectivity rather than epistemological positioning. Architects are often criticized as judges of taste and accused that their rationality is rooted in cultural-relative aesthetical concepts of taste closely linked to questions of style, but arguably their supposedly subjective reasoning, in fact, forms part of larger systems of thought. Putting architectural ‘styles’ under a loop, and tracing their philosophical roots, can potentially open up a black box in architectural theory. Besides ascertaining and recognizing the existence of specific ‘styles’ and thereby schools of thought in current architectural discourse, the study could potentially also point at some mutations of the conventional – something actually ‘new’ – of potentially high value for architectural design education.

Keywords: architectural theory, design research, science and technology studies (STS), sociology of architecture

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903 Investigation into the Effectiveness of Bacillus Mucilaginosus in Liberation of Platinum Group Metals Locked in Silicates

Authors: Nokubonga G. Zulu, Bongephiwe M. Thethwayo, Mapilane S. Madiba, Peter A. Olubambi

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In South Africa, PGMs’ metallurgy industry is now leaned on the Upper Group 2 (UG2) reef for the beneficiation of 4PGEs (Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, and Ruthenium). The current effective beneficiation method is direct froth flotation which uses the hydrophobicity of liberated valuables minerals to carefully float them while hydrophilic gangue minerals report to the residue. PGMs are known to be associated with base metal sulphides which are hydrophobic; however, approximately 25% of PGMs from UG2 are associated with hydrophilic silicates, which results in high PGMs grade in the flotation residue. Further, the smallest size in which UG2 PGMs occur is approximately 9 microns which demands high grinding for liberation, imposing energy and cost implications. The use of Bacillus mucilaginosus to liberate PGMs using Bio-leaching of PGMs bearing Silicates is a promising cost-effective, energy-saving, and green solution to liberate PGMs locked in silicates. This is due to the ability of Bacillus mucilaginosus to generate extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) that are responsible for the leaching of silicate minerals. The bioleaching is done at a laboratory beaker using a cultivated Bacillus mucilaginosus as a lixiviant. The bioleaching residue is expected to have a reduced particle size due to silicate consumption, which reduces the need and cost associated with a secondary milling circuit. Moreover, the grade of the bioleaching product is increased since the silicates (gangue minerals) are consumed by Bacillus mucilaginosus; this serves as a pre-concentration step. This paper discusses an alternative liberation and pre-concentrating technique of PGMs that are associated with silicates using Bacillus mucilaginosus leaching to dissolve silicates.

Keywords: Bacillus mucilaginosus, bio-leaching of PGMs bearing silicates, liberation of PGMs, pre-concentration of PGMs

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902 Immune Response and Histological Alteration in the Crab Carcinus aestuarii, Due to Silver Nanoparticles

Authors: Ines Kovacic, Dijana Pavicic-Hamer, Petra Buric, Maja Levak Zorinc, Daniel M. Lyons

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Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), owing to their unique physical and chemical properties, have become one of the most widely used nanoparticles in consumer products. Despite the increased use of AgNPs in science and industry over the past twenty years, only relatively recently has concern been raised over their entering brackish and marine environments. However, data on their potential impact on marine organisms, especially invertebrates are very limited. This study aimed to examine the effects of 60 nm AgNPs (10, 100, 500 and 1000 µg/l) and silver ions (100, 1000 µg/l) on the Mediterranean green crab Carcinus aestuarii Nardo, 1847. The crab mortality was assessed during seven days of exposure. After the exposure, total haemocytes (THC) and differential haemocytes number (DHC) were counted (immune response), in addition to histological examination of gills stained with haematoxylin and eosin. The effect of AgNPs and silver ions resulted in a dose dependent mortality and destruction of gills epithelium with haemocytes infiltration in the gills lacuna. Total haemocyte count was greater with increasing concentration of AgNPs, at concentrations from 10 to 500 µg/l. Hyalinocytes were the most common immunological cells noted in the crab hemolymph, while granulocytes and semigranulocytes were suppressed with increasing concentration of AgNPs (500 and 1000 µg/l). Thus, as crabs are filter feeders, they are susceptible to uptake of AgNPs by direct accumulation in gills mucus or indirectly via circulation of haemocytes in their open vascular system. Results of this study on crabs add to knowledge of the effects of AgNPs in the marine environment.

Keywords: crab, immune response, histological alteration, silver nanoparticles

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901 Developing a Process and Cost Model for Xanthan Biosynthesis from Bioethanol Production Waste Effluents

Authors: Bojana Ž. Bajić, Damjan G. Vučurović, Siniša N. Dodić, Jovana A. Grahovac, Jelena M. Dodić

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Biosynthesis of xanthan, a microbial polysaccharide produced by Xanthomonas campestris, is characterized by the possibility of using non-specific carbohydrate substrates, which means different waste effluents can be used as a basis for the production media. Potential raw material sources for xanthan production come from industries with large amounts of waste effluents that are rich in compounds necessary for microorganism growth and multiplication. Taking into account the amount of waste effluents generated by the bioethanol industry and the fact that it contains a high inorganic and organic load it is clear that they represent a potential environmental pollutants if not properly treated. For this reason, it is necessary to develop new technologies which use wastes and wastewaters of one industry as raw materials for another industry. The result is not only a new product, but also reduction of pollution and environmental protection. Biotechnological production of xanthan, which consists of using biocatalysts to convert the bioethanol waste effluents into a high-value product, presents a possibility for sustainable development. This research uses scientific software developed for the modeling of biotechnological processes in order to design a xanthan production plant from bioethanol production waste effluents as raw material. The model was developed using SuperPro Designer® by using input data such as the composition of raw materials and products, defining unit operations, utility consumptions, etc., while obtaining capital and operating costs and the revenues from products to create a baseline production plant model. Results from this baseline model can help in the development of novel biopolymer production technologies. Additionally, a detailed economic analysis showed that this process for converting waste effluents into a high value product is economically viable. Therefore, the proposed model represents a useful tool for scaling up the process from the laboratory or pilot plant to a working industrial scale plant.

Keywords: biotechnology, process model, xanthan, waste effluents

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900 Family Planning Programming for Youths and Adolescents in Nigeria

Authors: Ashimolowo Olubunmi

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Contraception use helps prevent pregnancy as well as health-related challenges, most especially among youths and girls. Our communities are bedeviled with many problems, including rape, defilement, neglect by the spouse, and intimate partner violence. Current interventions target only adults, with most facilities having youth and unfriendly adolescent services. To further support the need for this research, especially with our target beneficiaries, the partnership embarked on qualitative evidence-finding research through focus group discussions and in-depth-interview in Abeokuta and Ibadan (the capital cities of Ogun). The Focus Group Discussion (FGD) sessions were held in the state with adolescents (10-18 years) and young women (18-30 years). The result revealed that teenagers and youths who receive formal and sexual education on abstinence, and birth control methods, are likely to have healthier sexual behaviours through the promotion of abstinence and the use of condoms and other forms of contraceptives at their first intercourse, thereby protecting themselves against HIV/AIDs (Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The result further revealed that parents do not discuss issues around Adolescent and Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) with their adolescent girls, leading to gaps in knowledge of ASRH. Stakeholders’ involvement and trust are low. Respondents noted that there were few outreaches on ASRH and that youth-friendly adolescent centres are not common in the community. Respondents noted that there were few outreaches on ASRH organised within the community. Also, youth-friendly services were not common. There is a need to work with all stakeholders to promote those foundational life skills on pubertal changes, menstruation, and sexual life to prepare youths and girls for challenges ahead through sex education; we should work to institutionalize youth and adolescent-friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in our communities.

Keywords: contraception, family planning, focus group discussion, adolescents

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899 The Influence of Architectural-Planning Structure of Cities on Their Sustainable Development

Authors: M. Kashiripoor

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Existing indicators for sustainable urban development do not identify the features of cities’ planning structures and their architecture. Iranian city has special relevance problem of assessing the conformity of their planning and development of the concept of sustainable development. Based on theoretical sources, the author concludes that, despite the existence of common indicators for sustainable development of settlements, specialized evaluation criteria city structure planning has not been developed. He is trying to fill this gap and put forward a system of indicators characterizing the level of development of the architectural-planning structure of the city. The proposed system of indicators is designed based on technical and economic urban standard indicators from different countries. Alternative designing systems and requirements of modern rating systems like LEED-ND comprise a criterion for evaluation of urban structures in accordance with principles of "Green" building and New Urbanism. Urban development trends are close in spirit of sustainable development and developed under its influence. The study allowed concluding that a system of indicators to identify the relevant architectural-planning structure of the city, requirements of sustainable development, should be adapted to the conditions of each country, particularly in Iran. The article attempts typology proposed indicators, which are presented in tabular form and are divided into two types: planning and spatial. This article discusses the known indicators of sustainable development and proposed specific system of indicators characterizing the level of development of architectural-planning structure of the city. This article examines indicators for evaluating level of city' planning structure development. The proposed system of indicators is derived from the urban planning standards and rating systems such as LEED-ND, BREEAM Community and CASBEE-UD.

Keywords: architectural-planning structure of cities, urban planning indicators, urban space indicators, urban development

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898 The Investigation of Oil Price Shocks by Using a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium: The Case of Iran

Authors: Bahram Fathi, Karim Alizadeh, Azam Mohammadbagheri

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The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of oil price shocks in explaining business cycles in Iran using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium approach. This model incorporates both productivity and oil revenue shocks. The results indicate that productivity shocks are relatively more important to business cycles than oil shocks. The model with two shocks produces different values for volatility, but these values have the same ranking as that of the actual data for most variables. In addition, the actual data are close to the ratio of standard deviations to the output obtained from the model with two shocks. The results indicate that productivity shocks are relatively more important to business cycles than the oil shocks. The model with only a productivity shock produces the most similar figures in term of volatility magnitude to that of the actual data. Next, we use the Impulse Response Functions (IRF) to evaluate the capability of the model. The IRF shows no effect of an oil shock on the capital stocks and on labor hours, which is a feature of the model. When the log-linearized system of equations is solved numerically, investment and labor hours were not found to be functions of the oil shock. This research recommends using different techniques to compare the model’s robustness. One method by which to do this is to have all decision variables as a function of the oil shock by inducing the stationary to the model differently. Another method is to impose a bond adjustment cost. This study intends to fill that gap. To achieve this objective, we derive a DSGE model that allows for the world oil price and productivity shocks. Second, we calibrate the model to the Iran economy. Next, we compare the moments from the theoretical model with both single and multiple shocks with that obtained from the actual data to see the extent to which business cycles in Iran can be explained by total oil revenue shock. Then, we use an impulse response function to evaluate the role of world oil price shocks. Finally, I present implications of the findings and interpretations in accordance with economic theory.

Keywords: oil price, shocks, dynamic stochastic general equilibrium, Iran

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897 Valorization of a Forest Waste, Modified P-Brutia Cones, by Biosorption of Methyl Geen

Authors: Derradji Chebli, Abdallah Bouguettoucha, Abdelbaki Reffas Khalil Guediri, Abdeltif Amrane

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The removal of Methyl Green dye (MG) from aqueous solutions using modified P-brutia cones (PBH and PBN), has been investigated work. The physical parameters such as pH, temperature, initial MG concentration, ionic strength are examined in batch experiments on the sorption of the dye. Adsorption removal of MG was conducted at natural pH 4.5 because the dye is only stable in the range of pH 3.8 to 5. It was observed in experiments that the P-brutia cones treated with NaOH (PBN) exhibited high affinity and adsorption capacity compared to the MG P-brutia cones treated with HCl (PBH) and biosorption capacity of modified P-brutia cones (PBN and PBH) was enhanced by increasing the temperature. This is confirmed by the thermodynamic parameters (ΔG° and ΔH°) which show that the adsorption of MG was spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The positive values of ΔS° suggested an irregular increase in the randomness for both adsorbent (PBN and PBH) during the adsorption process. The kinetic model pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, and intraparticle diffusion coefficient were examined to analyze the sorption process; they showed that the pseudo-second-order model is the one that best describes the adsorption process (MG) on PBN and PBH with a correlation coefficient R²> 0.999. The ionic strength has shown that it has a negative impact on the adsorption of MG on two supports. A reduction of 68.5% of the adsorption capacity for a value Ce=30 mg/L was found for the PBH, while the PBN did not show a significant influence of the ionic strength on adsorption especially in the presence of NaCl. Among the tested isotherm models, the Langmuir isotherm was found to be the most relevant to describe MG sorption onto modified P-brutia cones with a correlation factor R²>0.999. The capacity adsorption of P-brutia cones, was confirmed for the removal of a dye, MG, from aqueous solution. We note also that P-brutia cones is a material very available in the forest and low-cost biomaterial

Keywords: adsorption, p-brutia cones, forest wastes, dyes, isotherm

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896 Seismic Hazard Assessment of Tehran

Authors: Dorna Kargar, Mehrasa Masih

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Due to its special geological and geographical conditions, Iran has always been exposed to various natural hazards. Earthquake is one of the natural hazards with random nature that can cause significant financial damages and casualties. This is a serious threat, especially in areas with active faults. Therefore, considering the population density in some parts of the country, locating and zoning high-risk areas are necessary and significant. In the present study, seismic hazard assessment via probabilistic and deterministic method for Tehran, the capital of Iran, which is located in Alborz-Azerbaijan province, has been done. The seismicity study covers a range of 200 km from the north of Tehran (X=35.74° and Y= 51.37° in LAT-LONG coordinate system) to identify the seismic sources and seismicity parameters of the study region. In order to identify the seismic sources, geological maps at the scale of 1: 250,000 are used. In this study, we used Kijko-Sellevoll's method (1992) to estimate seismicity parameters. The maximum likelihood estimation of earthquake hazard parameters (maximum regional magnitude Mmax, activity rate λ, and the Gutenberg-Richter parameter b) from incomplete data files is extended to the case of uncertain magnitude values. By the combination of seismicity and seismotectonic studies of the site, the acceleration with antiseptic probability may happen during the useful life of the structure is calculated with probabilistic and deterministic methods. Applying the results of performed seismicity and seismotectonic studies in the project and applying proper weights in used attenuation relationship, maximum horizontal and vertical acceleration for return periods of 50, 475, 950 and 2475 years are calculated. Horizontal peak ground acceleration on the seismic bedrock for 50, 475, 950 and 2475 return periods are 0.12g, 0.30g, 0.37g and 0.50, and Vertical peak ground acceleration on the seismic bedrock for 50, 475, 950 and 2475 return periods are 0.08g, 0.21g, 0.27g and 0.36g.

Keywords: peak ground acceleration, probabilistic and deterministic, seismic hazard assessment, seismicity parameters

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895 Cytogenetic Characterization of the VERO Cell Line Based on Comparisons with the Subline; Implication for Authorization and Quality Control of Animal Cell Lines

Authors: Fumio Kasai, Noriko Hirayama, Jorge Pereira, Azusa Ohtani, Masashi Iemura, Malcolm A. Ferguson Smith, Arihiro Kohara

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The VERO cell line was established in 1962 from normal tissue of an African green monkey, Chlorocebus aethiops (2n=60), and has been commonly used worldwide for screening for toxins or as a cell substrate for the production of viral vaccines. The VERO genome was sequenced in 2014; however, its cytogenetic features have not been fully characterized as it contains several chromosome abnormalities and different karyotypes coexist in the cell line. In this study, the VERO cell line (JCRB0111) was compared with one of the sublines. In contrast to 59 chromosomes as the modal chromosome number in the VERO cell line, the subline had two peaks of 56 and 58 chromosomes. M-FISH analysis using human probes revealed that the VERO cell line was characterized by a translocation t(2;25) found in all metaphases, which was absent in the subline. Different abnormalities detected only in the subline show that the cell line is heterogeneous, indicating that the subline has the potential to change its genomic characteristics during cell culture. The various alterations in the two independent lineages suggest that genomic changes in both VERO cells can be accounted for by progressive rearrangements during their evolution in culture. Both t(5;X) and t(8;14) observed in all metaphases of the two cell lines might have a key role in VERO cells and could be used as genetic markers to identify VERO cells. The flow karyotype shows distinct differences from normal. Further analysis of sorted abnormal chromosomes may uncover other characteristics of VERO cells. Because of the absence of STR data, cytogenetic data are important in characterizing animal cell lines and can be an indicator of their quality control.

Keywords: VERO, cell culture passage, chromosome rearrangement, heterogeneous cells

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894 Determinants of Customer Satisfaction: The case of Abyssinia Bank Customers in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Authors: Yosef Ferede Bogale

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of customer satisfaction and the variables influencing it in the instance of the Bank of Abyssinia branches in the districts of Arada and Bole in Addis Ababa. The study was carried out utilizing a mixed research approach and a descriptive and explanatory research design in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data were employed in this investigation. The study's target population consisted of 1000 of the bank's most prestigious clients. With a 93% response rate, 265 respondents from both genders in the active age group had higher levels of education and work experience and were in the active age group. Customers of the case bank under consideration comprised the study's target audience. The respondents, who belonged to both gender groups, were in the active age bracket with superior levels of education and work experience. As a result, this investigation discovered that the degree of client satisfaction was assigned a medium rating. Additionally given a middling rating were the company's image practices, employee competency, technology, and service quality. Further, the results also demonstrate that corporate image, employees’ competency, technology, and service quality all positively and significantly affect customer happiness. This study found that, to varying degrees, company image, technology, competence, and high-quality financial services will all improve consumer happiness. According to this report, banks should monitor customer satisfaction and service quality at least twice a year. This is because there is a growing movement among bank service providers for accountability, and measuring these factors is crucial. This study also recommends that banks make every effort to satisfy consumers' expectations to the highest level.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, corporate image, quality service risk, banks

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893 Sustainable Renovation of Cultural Buildings Case Study: Red Bay National Historic Site, Canada

Authors: Richard Briginshaw, Hana Alaojeli, Javaria Ahmad, Hamza Gaffar, Nourtan Murad

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Sustainable renovations to cultural buildings and sites require a high level of competency in the sometimes conflicting areas of social/historical demands, environmental concerns, and the programmatic and technical requirements of the project. A detailed analysis of the existing site, building and client program are critical to reveal both challenges and opportunities. This forms the starting point for the design process – empirical explorations that search for a balanced and inspired architectural solution to the project. The Red Bay National Historic Site on the Labrador Coast of eastern Canada is a challenging project to explore and resolve these ideas. Originally the site of a 16ᵗʰ century whaling station occupied by Basque sailors from France and Spain, visitors now experience this history at the interpretive center, along with the unique geography, climate, local culture and vernacular architecture of the area. Working with our client, Parks Canada, the project called for significant alterations and expansion to the existing facility due to an increase in the number of annual visitors. Sustainable aspects of the design are focused on sensitive site development, passive energy strategies such as building orientation and building envelope efficiency, active renewable energy systems, carefully considered material selections, water efficiency, and interiors that respond to human comfort and a unique visitor experience.

Keywords: sustainability, renovations and expansion, cultural project, architectural design, green building

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892 Hydrothermal Liquefaction for Astaxanthin Extraction from Wet Algae

Authors: Spandana Ramisetty, Mandan Chidambaram, Ramesh Bhujade

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Algal biomass is not only a potential source for biocrude but also for high value chemicals like carotenoids, fatty acids, proteins, polysaccharides, vitamins etc. Astaxanthin is one such high value vital carotenoid which has extensive applications in pharmaceutical, aquaculture, poultry and cosmetic industries and expanding as dietary supplement to humans. Green microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis is identified as the richest natural source of astaxanthin and is the key source of commercial astaxanthin. Several extraction processes from wet and dry Haematococcus pluvialis biomass have been explored by researchers. Extraction with supercritical CO₂ and various physical disruption techniques like mortar and pestle, homogenization, ultrasonication and ball mill from dried algae are widely used extraction methods. However, these processes require energy intensive drying of biomass that escalates overall costs notably. From the process economics perspective, it is vital to utilize wet processing technology in order to eliminate drying costs. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a thermo-chemical conversion process that converts wet biomass containing over 80% water to bio-products under high temperature and high pressure conditions. Astaxanthin is a lipid soluble pigment and is usually extracted along with lipid component. Mild HTL at 200°C and 60 bar has been demonstrated by researchers in a microfluidic platform achieving near complete extraction of astaxanthin from wet biomass. There is very limited work done in this field. An integrated approach of sequential HTL offers cost-effective option to extract astaxanthin/lipid from wet algal biomass without drying algae and also recovering water, minerals and nutrients. This paper reviews past work and evaluates the astaxanthin extraction processes with focus on hydrothermal extraction.

Keywords: astaxanthin, extraction, high value chemicals, hydrothermal liquefaction

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891 A Perspective on Teaching Mathematical Concepts to Freshman Economics Students Using 3D-Visualisations

Authors: Muhammad Saqib Manzoor, Camille Dickson-Deane, Prashan Karunaratne

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Cobb-Douglas production (utility) function is a fundamental function widely used in economics teaching and research. The key reason is the function's characteristics to describe the actual production using inputs like labour and capital. The characteristics of the function like returns to scale, marginal, and diminishing marginal productivities are covered in the introductory units in both microeconomics and macroeconomics with a 2-dimensional static visualisation of the function. However, less insight is provided regarding three-dimensional surface, changes in the curvature properties due to returns to scale, the linkage of the short-run production function with its long-run counterpart and marginal productivities, the level curves, and the constraint optimisation. Since (freshman) learners have diverse prior knowledge and cognitive skills, the existing “one size fits all” approach is not very helpful. The aim of this study is to bridge this gap by introducing technological intervention with interactive animations of the three-dimensional surface and sequential unveiling of the characteristics mentioned above using Python software. A small classroom intervention has helped students enhance their analytical and visualisation skills towards active and authentic learning of this topic. However, to authenticate the strength of our approach, a quasi-Delphi study will be conducted to ask domain-specific experts, “What value to the learning process in economics is there using a 2-dimensional static visualisation compared to using a 3-dimensional dynamic visualisation?’ Here three perspectives of the intervention were reviewed by a panel comprising of novice students, experienced students, novice instructors, and experienced instructors in an effort to determine the learnings from each type of visualisations within a specific domain of knowledge. The value of this approach is key to suggesting different pedagogical methods which can enhance learning outcomes.

Keywords: cobb-douglas production function, quasi-Delphi method, effective teaching and learning, 3D-visualisations

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890 Synthesising Smart City and Smart Port Concepts: A Conceptualization for Small and Medium-Sized Port City Ecosystems

Authors: Christopher Meyer, Laima Gerlitz

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European Ports are about to take an important step towards their future economic development. Existing legislatives such as the European Green Deal are changing the perspective on ports as individual logistic institutions and demand a more holistic view on ports in their characteristic as ecosystem involving several different actors in an interdisciplinary and multilevel approach. A special role is taken by small and medium-sized ports facing the same political restriction and future goals - such as reducing environmental impacts with 2030 and 2050 as targets - while suffering from low financing capacity, outdated infrastructure, low innovation measures and missing political support. In contrast, they are playing a key role in regional economic development and cross-border logistics as well as facilitator for the regional hinterland. Also, in comparison to their big counterparts, small and medium-sized ports are often located within or close to city areas. This does not only bear more challenges especially when it comes to the environmental performance, but can also carry out growth potentials by putting the city as a key actor into the port ecosystem. For city development, the Smart City concept is one of the key strategies currently applied mostly on demonstration level in selected cities. Hence, the basic idea behind is par to the Smart Port concept. Thus, this paper is analysing potential synergetic effects resulting from the application of Smart City and Smart Port concepts for small and medium-sized ports' ecosystems closely located to cities with focus on innovation application, greening measurements and economic performances as well as strategic positioning of the ports in Smart City initiatives.

Keywords: port-city ecosystems, regional development, sustainability transition, innovation policy

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889 Keeping Education Non-Confessional While Teaching Children about Religion

Authors: Tünde Puskás, Anita Andersson

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This study is part of a research project about whether religion is considered as part of Swedish cultural heritage in Swedish preschools. Our aim in this paper is to explore how a Swedish preschool balance between keeping the education non-confessional and at the same time teaching children about a particular tradition, Easter.The paper explores how in a Swedish preschool with a religious profile teachers balance between keeping education non-confessional and teaching about a tradition with religious roots. The point of departure for the theoretical frame of our study is that practical considerations in pedagogical situations are inherently dilemmatic. The dilemmas that are of interest for our study evolve around formalized, intellectual ideologies, such us multiculturalism and secularism that have an impact on everyday practice. Educational dilemmas may also arise in the intersections of the formalized ideology of non-confessionalism, prescribed in policy documents and the common sense understandings of what is included in what is understood as Swedish cultural heritage. In this paper, religion is treated as a human worldview that, similarly to secular ideologies, can be understood as a system of thought. We make use of Ninian Smart's theoretical framework according to which in modern Western world religious and secular ideologies, as human worldviews, can be studied from the same analytical framework. In order to be able to study the distinctive character of human worldviews Smart introduced a multi-dimensional model within which the different dimensions interact with each other in various ways and to different degrees. The data for this paper is drawn from fieldwork carried out in 2015-2016 in the form of video ethnography. The empirical material chosen consists of a video recording of a specific activity during which the preschool group took part in an Easter play performed in the local church. The analysis shows that the policy of non-confessionalism together with the idea that teaching covering religious issues must be purely informational leads in everyday practice to dilemmas about what is considered religious. At the same time what the adults actually do with religion fulfills six of seven dimensions common to religious traditions as outlined by Smart. What we can also conclude from the analysis is that whether it is religion or a cultural tradition that is thought through the performance the children watched in the church depends on how the concept of religion is defined. The analysis shows that the characters of the performance themselves understood religion as the doctrine of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. This narrow understanding of religion enabled them indirectly to teach about the traditions and narratives surrounding Easter while avoiding teaching religion as a belief system.

Keywords: non-confessional education, preschool, religion, tradition

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888 Inter-Generational Benefits of Improving Access to Justice for Women: Evidence from Peru

Authors: Iva Trako, Maris Micaela Sviatschi, Guadalupe Kavanaugh

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Domestic violence is a major concern in developing countries, with important social, economic and health consequences. However, institutions do not usually address the problems facing women or ethnic and religious minorities. For example, the police do very little to stop domestic violence in rural areas of developing countries. This paper exploits the introduction of women’s justice centers (WJCs) in Peru to provide causal estimates on the effects of improving access to justice for women and children. These centers offer a new integrated public service model for women by including medical, psychological and legal support in cases of violence against women. Our empirical approach uses a difference in difference estimation exploiting variation over time and space in the opening of WJC together with province-by-year fixed effects. Exploiting administrative data from health providers and district attorney offices, we find that after the opening of these centers, there are important improvements on women's welfare: a large reduction in femicides and female hospitalizations for assault. Moreover, using geo-coded household surveys we find evidence that the existence of these services reduces domestic violence, improves women's health, increases women's threat points and, therefore, lead to household decisions that are more aligned with their interests. Using administrative data on the universe of schools, we find large gains on human capital for their children: affected children are more likely to enroll, attend school and have better grades in national exams, instead of working for the family. In sum, the evidence in this paper shows that providing access to justice for women can be a powerful tool to reduce domestic violence and increase education of children, suggesting a positive inter-generational benefit.

Keywords: access to justice, domestic violence, education, household bargaining

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887 Predictions of Thermo-Hydrodynamic State for Single and Three Pads Gas Foil Bearings Operating at Steady-State Based on Multi-Physics Coupling Computer Aided Engineering Simulations

Authors: Tai Yuan Yu, Pei-Jen Wang

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Oil-free turbomachinery is considered one of the critical technologies for future green power generation systems as rotor machinery systems. Oil-free technology allows clean, compact, and maintenance-free working, and gas foil bearings, abbreviated as GFBs, are important for the technology. Since the first applications in the auxiliary power units and air cycle machines in the 1970s, obvious improvement has been created to the computational models for dynamic rotor behavior. However, many technical issues are still poorly understood or remain unsolved, and some of those are thermal management and the pattern of how pressure will be distributed in bearing clearance. This paper presents a three-dimensional, abbreviated as 3D, fluid-structure interaction model of single pad foil bearings and three pad foil bearings to predict bearing working behavior that researchers could compare characteristics of those. The coupling analysis model involves dynamic working characteristics applied to all the gas film and mechanical structures. Therefore, the elastic deformation of foil structure and the hydrodynamic pressure of gas film can both be calculated by a finite element method program. As a result, the temperature distribution pattern could also be iteratively solved by coupling analysis. In conclusion, the working fluid state in a gas film of various pad forms of bearings working characteristic at constant rotational speed for both can be solved for comparisons with the experimental results.

Keywords: fluid-structure interaction, multi-physics simulations, gas foil bearing, oil-free, transient thermo-hydrodynamic

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886 Green Synthesized Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: A Nano-Nutrient for the Growth and Enhancement of Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) Plant

Authors: G. Karunakaran, M. Jagathambal, N. Van Minh, E. Kolesnikov, A. Gusev, O. V. Zakharova, E. V. Scripnikova, E. D. Vishnyakova, D. Kuznetsov

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Iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3NPs) are widely used in different applications due to its ecofriendly nature and biocompatibility. Hence, in this investigation, biosynthesized Fe2O3NPs influence on flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) plant was examined. The biosynthesized nanoparticles were found to be cubic phase which is confirmed by XRD analysis. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of functional groups corresponding to the iron oxide nanoparticle. The elemental analysis also confirmed that the obtained nanoparticle is iron oxide nanoparticle. The scanning electron microscopy and the transmission electron microscopy confirm that the average particle size was around 56 nm. The effect of Fe2O3NPs on seed germination followed by biochemical analysis was carried out using standard methods. The results obtained after four days and 11 days of seed vigor studies showed that the seedling length (cm), average number of seedling with leaves, increase in root length (cm) was found to be enhanced on treatment with iron oxide nanoparticles when compared to control. A positive correlation was noticed with the dose of the nanoparticle and plant growth, which may be due to changes in metabolic activity. Hence, to evaluate the change in metabolic activity, peroxidase and catalase activities were estimated. It was clear from the observation that higher concentration of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3NPs 1000 mg/L) has enhanced peroxidase and catalase activities and in turn plant growth. Thus, this study clearly showed that biosynthesized iron oxide nanoparticles will be an effective nano-nutrient for agriculture applications.

Keywords: catalase, fertilizer, iron oxide nanoparticles, Linum usitatissimum L., nano-nutrient, peroxidase

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885 Tailoring and Characterization of Lithium Manganese Ferrite- Polypyrrole Nanocomposite (LixMnxFe₂O₄-PPY) to Evaluate Their Performance as an Energy Storage Device

Authors: Muhammad Waheed Mushtaq, Shahid bashir, Atta Ur Rehman

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In the past decade, the growing demand for capital and the increased utilization of supercapacitors reflect advancements in energy-producing systems and energy storage devices. Metal oxides and ferrites have emerged as promising candidates for supercapacitors and batteries. In our current study, we synthesized Lithium manganese nanoferrite, denoted as LixMnxFe₂O₄, using the hydrothermal technique. Subsequently, we treated it with sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate (SDBS) surfactant to create nanocomposites of Lithium manganese nano ferrite (LMFe) with poly pyrrole (LixMnxFe₂O₄-PPY). We employed Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) to confirm the crystalline nature and spinel phase structure of LMFe nanoparticles, which exhibited a single-phase crystal structure, indicating sample purity. To assess the surface topography, morphology, and grain size of both synthesized LixMnxFe₂O₄ and LixMnxFe₂O₄-PPY, we used atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The average particle size of pure ferrite was found to be 54 nm, while that of its nanocomposite was 71 nm. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis confirmed the presence of all required elements, including Li, Mn, Fe, and O, in the appropriate proportions. Saturation magnetization (32.69 emu), remanence (Mr), and coercive force (Hc) were measured using a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM). To assess the electrochemical performance of the material, we conducted Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) measurements for both pure LMFe and LMFe-PPY. The CV results for LMFe-PPY demonstrated that specific capacitance decreased with increasing scan rate while the area of the current-voltage loop increased. These findings are promising for the development of supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).

Keywords: lithium manganese ferrite, poly pyrrole, nanocomposites, cyclic voltammetry, cathode

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