Search results for: national action plan

Authors: B. Sudhakara Reddy

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In modern economy, energy is fundamental to virtually every product and service in use. It has been developed on the dependence of abundant and easy-to-transform polluting fossil fuels. On one hand, increase in population and income levels combined with increased per capita energy consumption requires energy production to keep pace with economic growth, and on the other, the impact of fossil fuel use on environmental degradation is enormous. The conflicting policy objectives of protecting the environment while increasing economic growth and employment has resulted in this paradox. Hence, it is important to decouple economic growth from environmental degeneration. Hence, the search for green energy involving affordable, low-carbon, and renewable energies has become global priority. This paper explores a transition to a sustainable energy system using the socio-economic-technical scenario method. This approach takes into account the multifaceted nature of transitions which not only require the development and use of new technologies, but also of changes in user behaviour, policy and regulation. The scenarios that are developed are: baseline business as usual (BAU) as well as green energy (GE). The baseline scenario assumes that the current trends (energy use, efficiency levels, etc.) will continue in future. India’s population is projected to grow by 23% during 2010 –2030, reaching 1.47 billion. The real GDP, as per the model, is projected to grow by 6.5% per year on average between 2010 and 2030 reaching US$5.1 trillion or $3,586 per capita (base year 2010). Due to increase in population and GDP, the primary energy demand will double in two decades reaching 1,397 MTOE in 2030 with the share of fossil fuels remaining around 80%. The increase in energy use corresponds to an increase in energy intensity (TOE/US $ of GDP) from 0.019 to 0.036. The carbon emissions are projected to increase by 2.5 times from 2010 reaching 3,440 million tonnes with per capita emissions of 2.2 tons/annum. However, the carbon intensity (tons per US$ of GDP) decreases from 0.96 to 0.67. As per GE scenario, energy use will reach 1079 MTOE by 2030, a saving of about 30% over BAU. The penetration rate of renewable energy resources will reduce the total primary energy demand by 23% under GE. The reduction in fossil fuel demand and focus on clean energy will reduce the energy intensity to 0.21 (TOE/US$ of GDP) and carbon intensity to 0.42 (ton/US$ of GDP) under the GE scenario. The study develops new ‘pathways out of poverty’ by creating more than 10 million jobs and thus raise the standard of living of low-income people. Our scenarios are, to a great extent, based on the existing technologies. The challenges to this path lie in socio-economic-political domains. However, to attain a green economy the appropriate policy package should be in place which will be critical in determining the kind of investments that will be needed and the incidence of costs and benefits. These results provide a basis for policy discussions on investments, policies and incentives to be put in place by national and local governments.

Keywords: energy, renewables, green technology, scenario

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Authors: Adriana de Paula Lacerda Santos, Bruna Godke, Mauro Lacerda Santos Filho

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Several dams in the world have already collapsed, causing environmental, social and economic damage. The concern to avoid future disasters has stimulated the creation of a great number of laws and rules in many countries. In Brazil, Law 12.334/2010 was created, which establishes the National Policy on Dam Safety. Overall, this policy requires the dam owners to invest in the maintenance of their structures and to improve its monitoring systems in order to provide faster and straightforward responses in the case of an increase of risks. As monitoring tools, visual inspections has provides comprehensive assessment of the structures performance, while auscultation’s instrumentation has added specific information on operational or behavioral changes, providing an alarm when a performance indicator exceeds the acceptable limits. These limits can be set using statistical methods based on the relationship between instruments measures and other variables, such as reservoir level, time of the year or others instruments measuring. Besides the design parameters (uplift of the foundation, displacements, etc.) the dam instrumentation can also be used to monitor the behavior of defects and damage manifestations. Specifically in concrete gravity dams, one of the main causes for the appearance of cracks, are the concrete volumetric changes generated by the thermal origin phenomena, which are associated with the construction process of these structures. Based on this, the goal of this research is to propose a monitoring process of the thermal cracking behavior in concrete gravity dams, through the instrumentation data analysis and the establishment of control values. Therefore, as a case study was selected the Block B-11 of José Richa Governor Dam Power Plant, that presents a cracking process, which was identified even before filling the reservoir in August’ 1998, and where crack meters and surface thermometers were installed for its monitoring. Although these instruments were installed in May 2004, the research was restricted to study the last 4.5 years (June 2010 to November 2014), when all the instruments were calibrated and producing reliable data. The adopted method is based on simple linear correlations procedures to understand the interactions among the instruments time series, verifying the response times between them. The scatter plots were drafted from the best correlations, which supported the definition of the limit control values. Among the conclusions, it is shown that there is a strong or very strong correlation between ambient temperature and the crack meters and flowmeters measurements. Based on the results of the statistical analysis, it was possible to develop a tool for monitoring the behavior of the case study cracks. Thus it was fulfilled the goal of the research to develop a proposal for a monitoring process of the behavior of thermal cracking in concrete gravity dams.

Keywords: concrete gravity dam, dams safety, instrumentation, simple linear correlation

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Authors: Saloni Khandelwal

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The Aravalli hills are one of the oldest and most distinctive mountain chains of peninsular India spanning in around 692 Km. More than 60% of it falls in the state of Rajasthan and influences ecological equilibrium in about 30% of the state. Because of natural and human-induced activities, physical gaps in the Aravallis are increasing, new gaps are coming up, and its physical structure is changing. There are no strict regulations to protect and monitor the Aravallis and no comprehensive research and study has been done for the enhancement of ecosystem functions of these ranges. Through this study, various factors leading to Aravalli’s degradation are identified and its impacts on selected areas are analyzed. A literature study is done to identify factors responsible for the degradation. To understand the severity of the problem at the lowest level, two tehsils from different districts in Rajasthan, which are the most affected due to illegal mining and increasing physical gaps are selected for the study. Case-1 of three-gram panchayats in Kishangarh Tehsil of Ajmer district focuses on the expanding physical gaps in the Aravalli range, and case-2 of three-gram panchayats in Tijara Tehsil of Alwar district focuses on increasing illegal mining in the Aravalli range. For measuring the degradation, physical, biological and social indicators are identified through literature review and for both the cases analysis is done on the basis of these indicators. Primary survey and focus group discussions are done with villagers, mining owners, illegal miners, and various government officials to understand dependency of people on the Aravalli and its importance to them along with the impact of degradation on their livelihood and environment. From the analysis, it has been found that green cover is continuously decreasing in both cases, dense forest areas do not exist now, the groundwater table is depleting at a very fast rate, soil is losing its moisture resulting in low yield and shift in agriculture. Wild animals which were easily seen earlier are now extinct. Cattles of villagers are dependent on the forest area in the Aravalli range for food, but with a decrease in fodder, their cattle numbers are decreasing. There is a decrease in agricultural land and an increase in scrub and salt-affected land. Analysis of various national and state programmes, acts which were passed to conserve biodiversity has been done showing that none of them is helping much to protect the Aravalli. For conserving the Aravalli and its forest areas, regional level and local level initiatives are required and are proposed in this study. This study is an attempt to formulate conservation and management strategies for the Aravalli range. These strategies will help in improving biodiversity which can lead to the revival of its ecosystem functions. It will also help in curbing the pollution at the regional and local level. All this will lead to the sustainable development of the region.

Keywords: Aravalli, ecosystem, LULC, Rajasthan

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Authors: Eyob Seife

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Immunization is a life-saving intervention which prevents needless suffering through sickness, disability, and death. Emphasis on data quality and use will become even stronger with the development of the immunization agenda 2030 (IA2030). Quality of data is a key factor in generating reliable health information that enables monitoring progress, financial planning, vaccine forecasting capacities, and making decisions for continuous improvement of the national immunization program. However, ensuring data of sufficient quality and promoting an information-use culture at the point of the collection remains critical and challenging, especially in hard-to-reach and pastoralist areas where Degehabur district is selected based on a hypothesis of ‘there is no difference in reported and recounted immunization data consistency. Data quality is dependent on different factors where organizational, behavioral, technical, and contextual factors are the mentioned ones. A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted on September 2022 in the Degehabur district. The study used the world health organization (WHO) recommended data quality self-assessment (DQS) tools. Immunization tally sheets, registers, and reporting documents were reviewed at 5 health facilities (2 health centers and 3 health posts) of primary health care units for one fiscal year (12 months) to determine the accuracy ratio. The data was collected by trained DQS assessors to explore the quality of monitoring systems at health posts, health centers, and the district health office. A quality index (QI) was assessed, and the accuracy ratio formulated were: the first and third doses of pentavalent vaccines, fully immunized (FI), and the first dose of measles-containing vaccines (MCV). In this study, facility-level results showed both over-reporting and under-reporting were observed at health posts when computing the accuracy ratio of the tally sheet to health post reports found at health centers for almost all antigens verified where pentavalent 1 was 88.3%, 60.4%, and 125.6% for Health posts A, B, and C respectively. For first-dose measles-containing vaccines (MCV), similarly, the accuracy ratio was found to be 126.6%, 42.6%, and 140.9% for Health posts A, B, and C, respectively. The accuracy ratio for fully immunized children also showed 0% for health posts A and B and 100% for health post-C. A relatively better accuracy ratio was seen at health centers where the first pentavalent dose was 97.4% and 103.3% for health centers A and B, while a first dose of measles-containing vaccines (MCV) was 89.2% and 100.9% for health centers A and B, respectively. A quality index (QI) of all facilities also showed results between the maximum of 33.33% and a minimum of 0%. Most of the verified immunization data accuracy ratios were found to be relatively better at the health center level. However, the quality of the monitoring system is poor at all levels, besides poor data accuracy at all health posts. So attention should be given to improving the capacity of staff and quality of monitoring system components, namely recording, reporting, archiving, data analysis, and using information for decision at all levels, especially in pastoralist areas where such kinds of study findings need to be improved beside to improving the data quality at root and health posts level.

Keywords: accuracy ratio, Degehabur District, regular childhood immunization program, quality of monitoring system, Somali Region-Ethiopia

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Authors: Giulia Bonaldo, Alberto Vaccheri, Ottavio D'Annibali, Domenico Motola

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The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) was shown to be the cause of different types of carcinomas, first of all of the cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Since the early 80s to today, thanks first to the preventive screening campaigns (pap-test) and following to the introduction of HPV vaccines on the market; the number of new cases of cervical cancer has decreased significantly. The HPV vaccines currently approved are three: Cervarix® (HPV2 - virus type: 16 and 18), Gardasil® (HPV4 - 6, 11, 16, 18) and Gardasil 9® (HPV9 - 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, 58), which all protect against the two high-risk HPVs (6, 11) that are mainly involved in cervical cancers. Despite the remarkable effectiveness of these vaccines has been demonstrated, in the recent years, there have been many complaints about their risk-benefit profile due to Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI). The purpose of this study is to provide a support about the ongoing discussion on the safety profile of HPV vaccines based on real life data deriving from spontaneous reports of suspected AEFIs collected in the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). VAERS is a freely-available national vaccine safety surveillance database of AEFI, co-administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We collected all the reports between January 2007 to December 2017 related to the HPV vaccines with a brand name (HPV2, HPV4, HPV9) or without (HPVX). A disproportionality analysis using Reporting Odds Ratio (ROR) with 95% confidence interval and p value ≤ 0.05 was performed. Over the 10-year period, 54889 reports of AEFI related to HPV vaccines reported in VAERS, corresponding to 224863 vaccine-event pairs, were retrieved. The highest number of reports was related to Gardasil (n = 42244), followed by Gardasil 9 (7212) and Cervarix (3904). The brand name of the HPV vaccine was not reported in 1529 cases. The two events more frequently reported and statistically significant for each vaccine were: dizziness (n = 5053) ROR = 1.28 (CI95% 1.24 – 1.31) and syncope (4808) ROR = 1.21 (1.17 – 1.25) for Gardasil. For Gardasil 9, injection site pain (305) ROR = 1.40 (1.25 – 1.57) and injection site erythema (297) ROR = 1.88 (1.67 – 2.10) and for Cervarix, headache (672) ROR = 1.14 (1.06 – 1.23) and loss of consciousness (528) ROR = 1.71 (1.57 – 1.87). In total, we collected 406 reports of death and 2461 cases of permanent disability in the ten-year period. The events consisting of incorrect vaccine storage or incorrect administration were not considered. The AEFI analysis showed that the most frequently reported events are non-serious and listed in the corresponding SmPCs. In addition to these, potential safety signals arose regarding less frequent and severe AEFIs that would deserve further investigation. This already happened with the referral of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the adverse events POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) and CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) associated with anti-papillomavirus vaccines.

Keywords: adverse drug reactions, pharmacovigilance, safety, vaccines

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Authors: Olga Sukhoveeva

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main component of carbon biogeochemical cycle and one of the most important greenhouse gases (GHG). Agriculture, particularly arable soils, are one the largest sources of GHG emission for the atmosphere including CO2.Models may be used for estimation of GHG emission from agriculture if they can be adapted for different countries conditions. The only model used in officially at national level in United Kingdom and China for this purpose is DNDC (DeNitrification-DeComposition). In our research, the model DNDC is offered for estimation of GHG emission from arable soils in Russia. The aim of our research was to create the method of DNDC using for evaluation of CO2 emission in Russia based on official statistical information. The target territory was European part of Russia where many field experiments are located. At the first step of research the database on climate, soil and cropping characteristics for the target region from governmental, statistical, and literature sources were created. All-Russia Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information – World Data Centre provides open daily data about average meteorological and climatic conditions. It must be calculated spatial average values of maximum and minimum air temperature and precipitation over the region. Spatial average values of soil characteristics (soil texture, bulk density, pH, soil organic carbon content) can be determined on the base of Union state register of soil recourses of Russia. Cropping technologies are published by agricultural research institutes and departments. We offer to define cropping system parameters (annual information about crop yields, amount and types of fertilizers and manure) on the base of the Federal State Statistics Service data. Content of carbon in plant biomass may be calculated via formulas developed and published by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation. At the second step CO2 emission from soil in this region were calculated by DNDC. Modelling data were compared with empirical and literature data and good results were obtained, modelled values were equivalent to the measured ones. It was revealed that the DNDC model may be used to evaluate and forecast the CO2 emission from arable soils in Russia based on the official statistical information. Also, it can be used for creation of the program for decreasing GHG emission from arable soils to the atmosphere. Financial Support: fundamental scientific researching theme 0148-2014-0005 No 01201352499 ‘Solution of fundamental problems of analysis and forecast of Earth climatic system condition’ for 2014-2020; fundamental research program of Presidium of RAS No 51 ‘Climate change: causes, risks, consequences, problems of adaptation and regulation’ for 2018-2020.

Keywords: arable soils, carbon dioxide emission, DNDC model, European Russia

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Authors: S. Fantin

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This study is the result of the legal research on cybersecurity and data protection within the EUNITY (Cybersecurity and Privacy Dialogue between Europe and Japan) project, aimed at fostering the dialogue between the European Union and Japan. Based on the research undertaken therein, the author offers an outline of the main asymmetries in the laws governing such fields in the two regions. The research is a comparative analysis of the two legal frameworks, taking into account specific provisions, ratio legis and policy initiatives. Recent doctrine was taken into account, too, as well as empirical interviews with EU and Japanese stakeholders and project partners. With respect to the protection of personal data, the European Union has recently reformed its legal framework with a package which includes a regulation (General Data Protection Regulation), and a directive (Directive 680 on personal data processing in the law enforcement domain). In turn, the Japanese law under scrutiny for this study has been the Act on Protection of Personal Information. Based on a comparative analysis, some asymmetries arise. The main ones refer to the definition of personal information and the scope of the two frameworks. Furthermore, the rights of the data subjects are differently articulated in the two regions, while the nature of sanctions take two opposite approaches. Regarding the cybersecurity framework, the situation looks similarly misaligned. Japan’s main text of reference is the Basic Cybersecurity Act, while the European Union has a more fragmented legal structure (to name a few, Network and Information Security Directive, Critical Infrastructure Directive and Directive on the Attacks at Information Systems). On an relevant note, unlike a more industry-oriented European approach, the concept of cyber hygiene seems to be neatly embedded in the Japanese legal framework, with a number of provisions that alleviate operators’ liability by turning such a burden into a set of recommendations to be primarily observed by citizens. With respect to the reasons to fill such normative gaps, these are mostly grounded on three basis. Firstly, the cross-border nature of cybercrime brings to consider both magnitude of the issue and its regulatory stance globally. Secondly, empirical findings from the EUNITY project showed how recent data breaches and cyber-attacks had shared implications between Europe and Japan. Thirdly, the geopolitical context is currently going through the direction of bringing the two regions to significant agreements from a trade standpoint, but also from a data protection perspective (with an imminent signature by both parts of a so-called ‘Adequacy Decision’). The research conducted in this study reveals two asymmetric legal frameworks on cyber security and data protection. With a view to the future challenges presented by the strengthening of the collaboration between the two regions and the trans-national fashion of cybercrime, it is urged that solutions are found to fill in such gaps, in order to allow European Union and Japan to wisely increment their partnership.

Keywords: cybersecurity, data protection, European Union, Japan

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Authors: Manuel Jose Oyson

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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in its most recent report for the entire world “to both mitigate and adapt to climate change if it is to effectively avoid harmful climate impacts.” The IPCC observed “with high confidence” a more rapid rise in total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions from 2000 to 2010 than in the past three decades that “were the highest in human history”, which if left unchecked will entail a continuing process of global warming and can alter the climate system. Current efforts, however, to respond to the threat of global warming, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, have focused on states, and fail to involve Transnational Corporations (TNCs) which are responsible for a vast amount of GHG emissions. Involving TNCs in the search for solutions to climate change is consistent with an acknowledgment by contemporary international law that there is an international role for other international persons, including TNCs, and departs from the traditional “state-centric” response to climate change. Putting the focus of GHG emissions away from states recognises that the activities of TNCs “are not bound by national borders” and that the international movement of goods meets the needs of consumers worldwide. Although there is no legally-binding instrument that covers TNC activities or legal responsibilities generally, TNCs have increasingly been made legally responsible under international law for violations of human rights, exploitation of workers and environmental damage, but not for climate change damage. Imposing on TNCs a legally-binding obligation to reduce their GHG emissions or a legal liability for climate change damage is arguably formidable and unlikely in the absence a recognisable source of obligation in international law or municipal law. Instead a recourse to “soft law” and non-legally binding instruments may be a way forward for TNCs to reduce their GHG emissions and help in addressing climate change. Positive effects have been noted by various studies to voluntary approaches. TNCs have also in recent decades voluntarily committed to “soft law” international agreements. This development reflects a growing recognition among corporations in general and TNCs in particular of their corporate social responsibility (CSR). While CSR used to be the domain of “small, offbeat companies”, it has now become part of mainstream organization. The paper argues that TNCs must voluntarily commit to reducing their GHG emissions and helping address climate change as part of their CSR. One, as a serious “global commons problem”, climate change requires international cooperation from multiple actors, including TNCs. Two, TNCs are not innocent bystanders but are responsible for a large part of GHG emissions across their vast global operations. Three, TNCs have the capability to help solve the problem of climate change. Assuming arguendo that TNCs did not strongly contribute to the problem of climate change, society would have valid expectations for them to use their capabilities, knowledge-base and advanced technologies to help address the problem. It would seem unthinkable for TNCs to do nothing while the global environment fractures.

Keywords: climate change law, corporate social responsibility, greenhouse gas emissions, transnational corporations

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Authors: Maryam Tabrizi, Shahrzad Aarup

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Objectives- Understanding the close association between oral health and overall health for older adults at the right time and right place, a person, focus treatment through Project ECHO telementoring. Methodology- Data from monthly ECHO telementoring sessions were provided for three years. Sessions including case presentations, overall health conditions, considering medications, organ functions limitations, including the level of cognition. Contributions- Providing the specialist level of providing care to all elderly regardless of their location and other health conditions and decreasing oral health inequity by increasing workforce via Project ECHO telementoring program worldwide. By 2030, the number of adults in the USA over the age of 65 will increase more than 60% (approx.46 million) and over 22 million (30%) of 74 million older Americans will need specialized geriatrician care. In 2025, a national shortage of medical geriatricians will be close to 27,000. Most individuals 65 and older do not receive oral health care due to lack of access, availability, or affordability. One of the main reasons is a significant shortage of Oral Health (OH) education and resources for the elderly, particularly in rural areas. Poor OH is a social stigma, a thread to quality and safety of overall health of the elderly with physical and cognitive decline. Poor OH conditions may be costly and sometimes life-threatening. Non-traumatic dental-related emergency department use in Texas alone was over $250 M in 2016. Most elderly over the age of 65 present with at least one or multiple chronic diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, heart diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at higher risk to develop gum (periodontal) disease, yet they are less likely to get dental care. In addition, most older adults take both prescription and over-the-counter drugs; according to scientific studies, many of these medications cause dry mouth. Reduced saliva flow due to aging and medications may increase the risk of cavities and other oral conditions. Most dental schools have already increased geriatrics OH in their educational curriculums, but the aging population growth worldwide is faster than growing geriatrics dentists. However, without the use of advanced technology and creating a network between specialists and primary care providers, it is impossible to increase the workforce, provide equitable oral health to the elderly. Project ECHO is a guided practice model that revolutionizes health education and increases the workforce to provide best-practice specialty care and reduce health disparities. Training oral health providers for utilizing the Project ECHO model is a logical response to the shortage and increases oral health access to the elderly. Project ECHO trains general dentists & hygienists to provide specialty care services. This means more elderly can get the care they need, in the right place, at the right time, with better treatment outcomes and reduces costs.

Keywords: geriatric, oral health, project echo, chronic disease, oral health

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Authors: Hamadi Cherif, Christophe Coquelet, Paolo Stringari, Denis Clodic, Laura Pellegrini, Stefania Moioli, Stefano Langè

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Biogas is a promising technology which can be used as a vehicle fuel, for heat and electricity production, or injected in the national gas grid. It is storable, transportable, not intermittent and substitutable for fossil fuels. This gas produced from the wastewater treatment by degradation of organic matter under anaerobic conditions is mainly composed of methane and carbon dioxide. To be used as a renewable fuel, biogas, whose energy comes only from methane, must be purified from carbon dioxide and other impurities such as water vapor, siloxanes and hydrogen sulfide. Purification of biogas for this application particularly requires the removal of hydrogen sulfide, which negatively affects the operation and viability of equipment especially pumps, heat exchangers and pipes, causing their corrosion. Several methods are available to eliminate hydrogen sulfide from biogas. Herein, reactive absorption in structured packed column by means of chemical absorption in aqueous sodium hydroxide solutions is considered. This study is based on simulations using Aspen Plus™ V8.0, and comparisons are done with data from an industrial pilot plant treating 85 Nm3/h of biogas which contains about 30 ppm of hydrogen sulfide. The rate-based model approach has been used for simulations in order to determine the efficiencies of separation for different operating conditions. To describe vapor-liquid equilibrium, a γ/ϕ approach has been considered: the Electrolyte NRTL model has been adopted to represent non-idealities in the liquid phase, while the Redlich-Kwong equation of state has been used for the vapor phase. In order to validate the thermodynamic model, Henry’s law constants of each compound in water have been verified against experimental data. Default values available in Aspen Plus™ V8.0 for the properties of pure components properties as heat capacity, density, viscosity and surface tension have also been verified. The obtained results for physical and chemical properties are in a good agreement with experimental data. Reactions involved in the process have been studied rigorously. Equilibrium constants for equilibrium reactions and the reaction rate constant for the kinetically controlled reaction between carbon dioxide and the hydroxide ion have been checked. Results of simulations of the pilot plant purification section show the influence of low temperatures, concentration of sodium hydroxide and hydrodynamic parameters on the selective absorption of hydrogen sulfide. These results show an acceptable degree of accuracy when compared with the experimental data obtained from the pilot plant. Results show also the great efficiency of sodium hydroxide for the removal of hydrogen sulfide. The content of this compound in the gas leaving the column is under 1 ppm.

Keywords: biogas, hydrogen sulfide, reactive absorption, sodium hydroxide, structured packed column

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Authors: Nourah Almulhim

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This paper takes a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach to investigate discourse and ideology in political blogs, focusing in particular on the Conservative Home blog from the UK’s current governing party. The Conservative party member’s discourse strategies as the blogger, alongside the discourse used by members of the public who reply to the blog in the below-the-lines comments, will be examined. The blog discourse reflects the writer's political identity and authorial voice. The analysis of the below-the-lines comments enables members of the public to engage in creating adversative positions, introducing different language users who bring their own individual and collective identities. These language users can play the role of news reporters, political analysts, protesters or supporters of a specific agenda and current socio-political topics or events. This study takes a qualitative approach to analyze the discriminatory context towards Islam/Muslims in ' The Conservative Home' blog. A cognitive approach is adopted and an analysis of dominant discourses in the blog text and the below-the-line comments is used. The focus of the study is, firstly, on the construction of self/ collective national identity in comparison to Muslim identity, highlighting the in-group and out-group construction. Second, the type of attitudes, whether feelings or judgments, related to these social actors as they are explicated to draw on the social values. Third, the role of discursive strategies in justifying and legitimizing those Islamophobic discriminatory practices. Therefore, the analysis is based on the systematic analysis of social actors drawing on actors, actions, and arguments to explicate identity construction and its development in the different discourses. A socio-semantic categorization of social actors is implemented to draw on the discursive strategies in addition to using literature to understand these strategies. An appraisal analysis is further used to classify attitudes and elaborate on core values in both genres. Finally, the grammar of othering is applied to explain how discriminatory dichotomies of 'Us' Vs. ''Them' actions are carried in discourse. Some of the key findings of the analysis can be summarized in two main points. First, the discursive practice used to represent Muslims/Islam as different from ‘Us’ are different in both genres as the blogger uses a covert voice while the commenters generally use an overt voice. This is to say that the blogger uses a mitigated strategy to represent the Muslim identity, for example, using the noun phrase ‘British Muslim’ but then representing them as ‘radical’ and ‘terrorists'. Contrary to this is in below the lines comments, where a direct strategy with an active declarative voice is used to negatively represent the Muslim identity as ‘oppressors’ and ‘terrorists’ with no inclusion of the noun phrase ‘British Muslims’. Second, the negotiation of the ‘British’ identity and values, such as culture and democracy, are prominent in the comment section as being unique and under threat by Muslims, while in the article, these standpoints are not represented.

Keywords: xenophobia, blogs, identity, critical discourse analysis

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Authors: Yohanna Panshak

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The impact of macroeconomic instability on economic growth and prosperity has been at forefront in many discourses among researchers and policy makers and has generated a lot of controversies over the years. This has generated series of research efforts towards understanding the remote causes of this phenomenon; its nature, determinants and how it can be targeted and mitigated. While others have opined that the root cause of macroeconomic flux in Nigeria is attributed to Oil-Price volatility, others viewed the issue as resulting from some constellation of structural constraints both within and outside the shores of the country. Research works of scholars such as [Akpan (2009), Aliyu (2009), Olomola (2006), etc] argue that oil volatility can determine economic growth or has the potential of doing so. On the contrary, [Darby (1982), Cerralo (2005) etc] share the opinion that it can slow down growth. The earlier argument rest on the understanding that for a net balance of oil exporting economies, price upbeat directly increases real national income through higher export earnings, whereas, the latter allude to the case of net-oil importing countries (which experience price rises, increased input costs, reduced non-oil demand, low investment, fall in tax revenues and ultimately an increase in budget deficit which will further reduce welfare level). Therefore, assessing the precise impact of oil price volatility on virtually any economy is a function of whether it is an oil-exporting or importing nation. Research on oil price volatility and its outcome on the growth of the Nigerian economy are evolving and in a march towards resolving Nigeria’s macroeconomic instability as long as oil revenue still remain the mainstay and driver of socio-economic engineering. Recently, a major importer of Nigeria’s oil- United States made a historic breakthrough in more efficient source of energy for her economy with the capacity of serving significant part of the world. This undoubtedly suggests a threat to the exchange earnings of the country. The need to understand fluctuation in its major export commodity is critical. This paper leans on the Renaissance growth theory with greater focus on theoretical work of Lee (1998); a leading proponent of this school who makes a clear cut of difference between oil price changes and oil price volatility. Based on the above background, the research seeks to empirically examine the impact oil-price volatility on government expenditure using quarterly time series data spanning 1986:1 to 2014:4. Vector Auto Regression (VAR) econometric approach shall be used. The structural properties of the model shall be tested using Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillips-Perron. Relevant diagnostics tests of heteroscedasticity, serial correlation and normality shall also be carried out. Policy recommendation shall be offered on the empirical findings and believes it assist policy makers not only in Nigeria but the world-over.

Keywords: oil-price, volatility, prosperity, budget, expenditure

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Authors: Christina Y. P. Ting

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Migration is a global phenomenon with movements of migrants from developed and developing countries to the host societies. Migrants have changed the host countries’ demography – its population structure and also its ethnic cultural diversity. Acculturation of migrants in terms of their adoption of the host culture is seen as important to ensure that they ‘fit into’ their adopted country so as to participate in everyday public life. However, this research found that the increase of the China-born migrants’ post-migration consumption level had impact on Australia’s environment reflected not only because of their adoption of elements of the host culture, but also retention of aspects of Chinese culture – indicating that the influence of bi-culturalism was in operation. This research, which was based on the face-to-face interview with 61 China-born migrants in the suburb of Box Hill, Melbourne, investigated the pattern of change in the migrants’ consumption upon their settlement in Australia. Using an ecological footprint calculator, their post-migration footprints were found to be larger than pre-migration footprint. The uniquely-derived CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) Index was used to measure individuals’ strength of connectedness to ethnic culture. Multi-variant analysis was carried out to understand which independent factors that influence consumption best explain the change in footprint (which is the difference between pre-and post-migration footprints, as a dependent factor). These independent factors ranged from socio-economic and demographics to the cultural context, that is, the CALD Index and indicators of acculturation. The major findings from the analysis were: Chinese culture (as measured by the CALD Index) and indicators of acculturation such as length of residency and using English in communications besides the traditional factors such as age, income and education level made significant contributions to the large increase in the China-born group’s post-migration consumption level. This paper as part of a larger study found that younger migrants’ large change in their footprint were related to high income and low level of education. This group of migrants also practiced bi-cultural consumption in retaining ethnic culture and adopting the host culture. These findings have importantly highlighted that for a host society to tackle environmental crisis, governments need not only to understand the relationship between age and consumption behaviour, but also to understand and embrace the migrants’ ethnic cultures, which may act as bridges and/or fences in relationships. In conclusion, for governments to deal with national issues such as environmental crisis within a cultural diverse population, it necessitates an understanding of age and aspects of ethnic culture that may act as bridges and fences. This understanding can aid in putting in place policies that enable the co-existence of a hybrid of the ethnic and host cultures in order to create and maintain a harmonious and secured living environment for population groups.

Keywords: bicultural consumer, CALD index, consumption, ethnic culture, migrants

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Authors: Elizaveta Startseva, Elena Notina, Irina Bykova, Valentina Ulyumdzhieva, Natallia Zhabo

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With the various existing models of intercultural communication that contain a vast number of stages for foreign language acquisition, there is a need for conscious perception of the foreign culture. Such a process is associated with the emergence of linguistic conflict with the consistent students’ desire to solve the problem of the language differences, along with cultural discrepancies. The aim of this study is to present the modern ways and methods of removing psycholinguistic conflict through skills development in professional translation and intercultural communication. The study was conducted in groups of 1-4-year students of Medical Institute and Agro-Technological Institute RUDN university. In the course of training, students got knowledge in such disciplines as basic grammar and vocabulary of the English language, phonetics, lexicology, introduction to linguistics, theory of translation, annotating and referencing media texts and texts in specialty. The students learned to present their research work, participated in the University and exit conferences with their reports and presentations. Common strategies of removing linguistic and cultural conflict can be attributed to the development of such abilities of a language personality as a commitment to communication and cooperation, the formation of cultural awareness and empathy of other cultures of the individual, realistic self-esteem, emotional stability, tolerance, etc. The process of mastering a foreign language and culture of the target language leads to a reduplication of linguistic identity, which leads to successive formation of the so-called 'secondary linguistic personality.' In our study, we tried to approach the problem comprehensively, focusing on the translation gaps for technical and non-technical language still missing such a typology which could classify all of the lacunas on the same principle. When obtaining the background knowledge, students learn to overcome the difficulties posed by the national-specific and linguistic differences of cultures in contact, i.e., to eliminate the gaps (to fill in and compensate). Compensation gaps is a means of fixing it, the initial phase of elimination, followed in some cases and some not is filling semantic voids (plenus). The concept of plenus occurs in most cases of translation gaps, for example in the transcription and transliteration of (intercultural and exoticism), the replication (reproduction of the morphemic structure of words or idioms. In all the above cases the task of the translator is to ensure an identical response of the receptors of the original and translated texts, since any statement is created with the goal of obtaining communicative effect, and hence pragmatic potential is the most important part of its contents. The practical value of our work lies in improving the methodology of teaching English for specific purposes on the basis of psycholinguistic concept of the secondary language personality.

Keywords: lacuna, language barrier, plenus, secondary language personality

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Authors: Md. Kabir Azaharul Islam

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Background: The purpose of this interventions was to describe the source and extent to increase health seeking rights and uptake of quality integrated maternal health, family planning and HIV information, clinical-non clinical services, and commodities amongst young people age 10-24 among brothel based Female Sex Worker’s in Bangladesh. Such Knowledge will equip with information to develop more appropriate and effective interventions that address the problem of HIV/AIDS and SRHR within the brothel based female sex worker’s community. Methods: Before start the intervention we observed situation in brothel and identify lack of knowledge about health issues, modern health facility, sexual harassment and violence & health rights. To enable access to the intervention obtained permission from a series of stakeholders within the brothel system. This intervention to the most vulnerable young key people during January 2014 to December, 2015, it designed an intervention that focuses on using peer education and sensitization meeting with self help group leader’s, pimbs, swardarni, house owner, local leaders, law enforcement agencies and target young key people (YKPs) through peer educator’s distributed BCC materials and conducted one to one and group session issues of HIV/AIDS, life skill education, maternal health, sexual reproductive health & rights, gender based violence, STD/STI and drug users in the community. Set up community based satellite clinic to provided clinical-non clinical services and commodities for SRH, FP and HIV including general health among brothel based FSWs. Peer educator frequently move and informed target beneficiaries’ age 10-24 YKPs about satellite clinic as well as time & date in the community. Results: This intervention highly promotes of brothel based FSW utilization of local facility based health providers private and public health facilities.2400 FSWs age 10-24 received information on SRHR, FP and HIV as well as existing health facilities, most of FSWs to received service from traditional healer before intervention. More than 1080 FSWs received clinical-non clinical services and commodities from satellite clinic including 12 ANC, 12 PNC and 25 MR. Most of young FSW age 10-24 are treated bonded girls under swardarni, house owner and pimbs, they have no rights to free movement as per need. As a result, they have no rights for free movement. However the brothel self help group (SHG) has become sensitized flowing this intervention. Conclusions: The majority of female sex workers well being regarding information on SRHR, FP and HIV as well as local health facilities now they feel free to go outside facilities for better health service. not only increased FSWs’ vulnerability to HIV infection and sexual reproductive health rights but also had huge implications for their human rights. This means that even when some clients impinged FSW’s rights (for example avoiding payment for services under the pretext of dissatisfaction), they might not be able to seek redress for fear of being ejected from the brothel. They raise voice national & local level different forum.

Keywords: ANC, HIV, PNC, SRHR

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Authors: Ashish Sinha, Pushpend Agrawal

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Background: Patients with undiagnosed pulmonary TB predominantly act as reservoirs for its transmission through 10-15 secondary infections in the next 1-5 Yrs. Delays in the diagnosis and treatment may worsen the disease with increase the risk of death. Factors responsible for such delays by tracking patient pathways to treatment may help in planning better interventions. The provision of ‘free diagnosis and treatment’ forms the cornerstone of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP). OOPE is defined as the money spent by the patient during TB care other than public health facilities. Free TB care at all health facilities could reduce out-of-pocket expenses to the minimum possible levels. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 252 TB patients from Nov – Oct 2022 by taking in-depth interviews following informed verbal consent. We documented their journey from initial symptoms until they reached the public health facility, along with their ‘out-of-pocket expenditure’ (OOPE) pertaining to TB care. Results: Total treatment delay was 91±72 days on average (median: 77days, IQR: 45-104 days), while the isolated patient delay was 31±45 days (median: 15 days, IQR: 0 days to 43 days); diagnostic delay; 57±60 days (median: 42days, IQR 14-78 days), treatment delay 19 ± 18 days (median: 15days, IQR: 11-19 days). A patient delay (> 30 days) was significantly associated with ignorance about classic symptoms of pulmonary TB, adoption of self-medication, illiteracy, and middle and lower social class. Diagnostic delay was significantly higher among those who contacted private health facilities, were unaware of signs and symptoms, had >2 consultations, and not getting an appropriate referral for TB care. Most (97%) of the study participants interviewed claimed to have incurred some expenditure.Median total expenses were 6155(IQR: 2625-15175) rupees. More than half 141 (56%) of the study participants had expenses >5000 rupees. Median transport expenses were 525(IQR: 200-1012) rupees; Median consultation expenses were 700(IQR: 200-1600) rupees; Median investigation expenses were 1000(IQR: 0-3025) rupees and the Median medicine expenses were 3350(IQR: 1300-7525).OOPE for consultation, investigation, and medicine was observed to be significantly higher among patients who ignored classical signs& symptoms of TB, repeated visits to private health facilities, and due to self-medication practices. Transport expenses and delays in seeking care at facilities were observed to have an upward trend with OOP Expenses (r =1). Conclusion: Delay in TB care due to low awareness about signs and symptoms of TB and poor seeking care, lack of proper consultation, and appropriate referrals reported by the study subjects indicate the areas which need proper attention by the program managers. Despite a centrally sponsored programme, the financial burden on TB patients is still in the unacceptable range. OOPE could be reduced as low as possible by addressing the responsible factors linked to it.

Keywords: patient pathway, delay, pulmonary tuberculosis, out of pocket expenses

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Authors: A. Chandra, M. Arthur, L. Mize, A. Pomeroy-Stevens

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Background: Lower and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Asia face rapid urbanization resulting in both economic opportunities (the urban advantage) and emerging health challenges. Urban health risks are magnified in informal settlements and include infectious disease outbreaks, inadequate access to health services, and poor air quality. Over the coming years, urban spaces in Asia will face accelerating public health risks related to migration, climate change, and environmental health. These challenges are complex and require multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder solutions. The Building Health Cities (BHC) program is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to work with smart city initiatives in the Asia region. BHC approaches urban health challenges by addressing policies, planning, and services through a health equity lens, with a particular focus on informal settlements and migrant communities. The program works to develop data-driven decision-making, build inclusivity through stakeholder engagement, and facilitate the uptake of appropriate technology. Methodology: The BHC program has partnered with the smart city initiatives of Indore in India, Makassar in Indonesia, and Da Nang in Vietnam. Implementing partners support municipalities to improve health delivery and equity using two key approaches: political economy analysis and participatory systems mapping. Political economy analyses evaluate barriers to collective action, including corruption, security, accountability, and incentives. Systems mapping evaluates community health challenges using a cross-sectoral approach, analyzing the impact of economic, environmental, transport, security, health system, and built environment factors. The mapping exercise draws on the experience and expertise of a diverse cohort of stakeholders, including government officials, municipal service providers, and civil society organizations. Results: Systems mapping and political economy analyses identified significant barriers for health care in migrant populations. In Makassar, migrants are unable to obtain the necessary card that entitles them to subsidized health services. This finding is being used to engage with municipal governments to mitigate the barriers that limit migrant enrollment in the public social health insurance scheme. In Indore, the project identified poor drainage of storm and wastewater in migrant settlements as a cause of poor health. Unsafe and inadequate infrastructure placed residents of these settlements at risk for both waterborne diseases and injuries. The program also evaluated the capacity of urban primary health centers serving migrant communities, identifying challenges related to their hours of service and shortages of health workers. In Da Nang, the systems mapping process has only recently begun, with the formal partnership launched in December 2019. Conclusion: This paper explores lessons learned from BHC’s systems mapping, political economy analyses, and stakeholder engagement approaches. The paper shares progress related to the health of migrants in informal settlements. Case studies feature barriers identified and mitigating steps, including governance actions, taken by local stakeholders in partner cities. The paper includes an update on ongoing progress from Indore and Makassar and experience from the first six months of program implementation from Da Nang.

Keywords: informal settlements, migration, stakeholder engagement mapping, urban health

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Authors: Christos E. Lampropoulos, Maria Konsta, Vicky Dradaki, Irini Dri, Tamta Sirbilatze, Ifigenia Apostolou, Christina Kordali, Konstantina Panouria, Kostas Argyros, Georgios Mavras

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Malnutrition in hospitalized patients is related to increased morbidity and mortality. Purpose of our study was to assess nutritional status of hospitalized, elderly patients with various nutritional scores and to detect unfavorable prognostic factors, related to increased mortality and extended duration of admission. Methods: 150 patients (78 men, 72 women, mean age 80±8.2) were included in this cross-sectional study. Nutritional status was assessed by Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA full, short-form), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and short Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (sNAQ). The following data were incorporated in analysis: Anthropometric and laboratory data, physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaires, IPAQ), smoking status, dietary habits and mediterranean diet (assessed by MedDiet score), cause and duration of current admission, medical history (co-morbidities, previous admissions). Primary endpoints were the mortality (from admission until 6 months afterwards) and duration of admission, compared to national guidelines for closed consolidated medical expenses. Mann-Whitney two-sample statistics or t-test was used for group comparisons and Spearman or Pearson coefficients for testing correlation between variables. Results: Normal nutrition was assessed in 54/150 (36%), 92/150 (61.3%) and in 106/150 (70.7%) of patients, according to full MNA, MUST and sNAQ questionnaires respectively. Mortality rate was 20.7% (31/150 patients). The patients who died until 6 months after admission had lower BMI (24±4.4 vs 26±4.8, p=0.04) and albumin levels (2.9±0.7 vs 3.4±0.7, p=0.002), significantly lower full MNA (14.5±7.3 vs 20.7±6, p<0.0001) and short-form MNA scores (7.3±4.2 vs 10.5±3.4, p=0.0002) compared to non-dead one. In contrast, the aforementioned patients had higher MUST (2.5±1.8 vs 0.5±1.02, p=<0.0001) and sNAQ scores (2.9±2.4 vs 1.1±1.3, p<0.0001). Additionally, they showed significantly lower MedDiet (23.5±4.3 vs 31.1±5.6, p<0.0001) and IPAQ scores (37.2±156.2 vs 516.5±1241.7, p<0.0001) compared to remaining one. These patients had extended hospitalization [5 (0-13) days vs 0 (-1-3) days, p=0.001]. Patients who admitted due to cancer depicted higher mortality rate (10/13, 77%), compared to those who admitted due to infections (12/73, 18%), stroke (4/15, 27%) or other causes (4/49, 8%) (p<0.0001). Extension of hospitalization was negatively correlated to both full (Spearman r=-0.35, p<0.0001) and short-form MNA (Spearman r=-0.33, p<0.0001) and positively correlated to MUST (Spearman r=0.34, p<0.0001) and sNAQ (Spearman r=0.3, p=0.0002). Additionally, the extension was inversely related to MedDiet score (Spearman r=-0.35, p<0.0001), IPAQ score (Spearman r=-0.34, p<0.0001), albumin levels (Pearson r=-0.36, p<0.0001), Ht (Pearson r=-0.2, p=0.02) and Hb (Pearson r=-0.18, p=0.02). Conclusion: A great proportion of elderly, hospitalized patients are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. All nutritional scores, physical activity and albumin are significantly related to mortality and increased hospitalization.

Keywords: dietary habits, duration of admission, malnutrition, prognostic factors for mortality

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Authors: Caterina Muzzi, Sergio Albertini, Davide Giacomini

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The research is aimed to investigate the role of young entrepreneurs’ personality traits and their contextual background on the success of entrepreneurial initiatives. In the literature, the debate is still open about the main drivers in predicting entrepreneurial success. Classical theories are focused on looking at specific personality traits that could lead to successful start-ups initiatives, while emerging approaches are more interested in young entrepreneurs’ contextual background (such as the family of origin, the previous experience and their professional network). An online survey was submitted to the participants of an entrepreneurial training initiative organised by the Italian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Confindustria) in Brescia headquarter (AIB). At the time the authors started data collection for this research, the third edition of the initiative was just concluded and involved a total amount of 37 young future entrepreneurs. In the literature General self-efficacy (GSE) and, more specifically, entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) have often been associated to positive performances, as they allow future entrepreneurs to effectively cope with entrepreneurial activities, both at an early stage and in new venture management. In a counter-intuitive manner, optimism is not always associated with entrepreneurial positive results. Too optimistic people risk taking hazardous risks and some authors suggest that moderately optimistic entrepreneurs achieve more positive results than over-optimistic ones. Indeed highly optimistic individuals often hold unrealistic expectations, discount negative information, and mentally reconstruct experiences so as to avoid contradictions The importance of context has been increasingly considered in entrepreneurship literature and its role strongly emerges starting from the earliest entrepreneurial stage and it is crucial to transform the “intention of entrepreneurship” into the actual start-up. Furthermore, coherently with the “network approach to entrepreneurship”, context embeddedness allow future entrepreneurs to leverage relationships built through previous experiences and/or thanks to the fact of belonging to families of entrepreneurs. For the purpose of this research, entrepreneurial success was measured by the fact of having or not founded a new venture after the training initiative. In this research, the authors measured GSE, ESE and optimism using already tested items that showed to be reliable also in this case. They collected 36 completed questionnaires. The t-test for independent samples run to measure significant differences in means between those that already funded the new venture and those that did not. No significant differences emerged with respect to all the tested personality traits, but a logistic regression analysis, run with contextual variables as independent ones, showed that personal and professional networking, made both before and during the master, is the most relevant variable in determining new venture success. These findings shed more light on the process of new venture foundation and could encourage national and local policy makers to invest on networking as one of the main drivers that could support the creation of new ventures.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, networking, new ventures, personality traits

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Authors: Iordana Neamtu, Aurica P. Chiriac, Loredana E. Nita, Mihai Asandulesa, Elena Butnaru, Nita Tudorachi, Alina Diaconu

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In the last decade, the attention of many researchers is focused on the synthesis of innovative “intelligent” copolymer structures with great potential for different uses. This considerable scientific interest is stimulated by possibility of the significant improvements in physical, mechanical, thermal and other important specific properties of these materials. Functionalization of polymer in synthesis by designing a suitable composition with the desired properties and applications is recognized as a valuable tool. In this work is presented a comparative study of the properties of the new copolymers poly(maleic anhydride maleic-co-3,9-divinyl-2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5]undecane) and poly(itaconic-anhydride-co-3,9-divinyl-2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5]undecane) obtained by radical polymerization in dioxane, using 2,2′-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) as free-radical initiator. The comonomers are able for generating special effects as for example network formation, biodegradability and biocompatibility, gel formation capacity, binding properties, amphiphilicity, good oxidative and thermal stability, good film formers, and temperature and pH sensitivity. Maleic anhydride (MA) and also the isostructural analog itaconic anhydride (ITA) as polyfunctional monomers are widely used in the synthesis of reactive macromolecules with linear, hyperbranched and self & assembled structures to prepare high performance engineering, bioengineering and nano engineering materials. The incorporation of spiroacetal groups in polymer structures improves the solubility and the adhesive properties, induce good oxidative and thermal stability, are formers of good fiber or films with good flexibility and tensile strength. Also, the spiroacetal rings induce interactions on ether oxygen such as hydrogen bonds or coordinate bonds with other functional groups determining bulkiness and stiffness. The synthesized copolymers are analyzed by DSC, oscillatory and rotational rheological measurements and dielectric spectroscopy with the aim of underlying the heating behavior, solution viscosity as a function of shear rate and temperature and to investigate the relaxation processes and the motion of functional groups present in side chain around the main chain or bonds of the side chain. Acknowledgments This work was financially supported by the grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-132/2014 “Magnetic biomimetic supports as alternative strategy for bone tissue engineering and repair’’ (MAGBIOTISS).

Keywords: Poly(maleic anhydride-co-3, 9-divinyl-2, 4, 8, 10-tetraoxaspiro (5.5)undecane); Poly(itaconic anhydride-co-3, 9-divinyl-2, 4, 8, 10-tetraoxaspiro (5.5)undecane); DSC; oscillatory and rotational rheological analysis; dielectric spectroscopy

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Authors: Marina Sofia, Alexios Giannakopoulos, Antonia Touloudi, Dimitris C Chatzopoulos, Zoi Athanasakopoulou, Vassiliki Spyrou, Charalambos Billinis

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Fertility of dairy cattle can be affected by heat stress when the ambient temperature increases above 30°C and the relative humidity ranges from 35% to 50%. The present study was conducted on dairy cattle farms during summer months in Greece and aimed to identify the serological profile against pathogens that could affect fertility and to associate the positive serological results at herd level with temperature factors. A total of 323 serum samples were collected from clinically healthy dairy cows of 8 herds, located in Central and Northern Greece. ELISA tests were performed to detect antibodies against selected pathogens that affect fertility, namely Chlamydophila abortus, Coxiella burnetii, Neospora caninum, Toxoplasma gondii and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis Virus (IBRV). Eleven climatic variables were derived from the WorldClim version 1.4. and ArcGIS V.10.1 software was used for analysis of the spatial information. Five different MaxEnt models were applied to associate the temperature variables with the locations of seropositive Chl. abortus, C. burnetii, N. caninum, T. gondii and IBRV herds (one for each pathogen). The logistic outputs were used for the interpretation of the results. ROC analyses were performed to evaluate the goodness of fit of the models’ predictions. Jackknife tests were used to identify the variables with a substantial contribution to each model. The seropositivity rates of pathogens varied among the 8 herds (0.85-4.76% for Chl. abortus, 4.76-62.71% for N. caninum, 3.8-43.47% for C. burnetii, 4.76-39.28% for T. gondii and 47.83-78.57% for IBRV). The variables of annual temperature range, mean diurnal range and maximum temperature of the warmest month gave a contribution to all five models. The regularized training gains, the training AUCs and the unregularized training gains were estimated. The mean diurnal range gave the highest gain when used in isolation and decreased the gain the most when it was omitted in the two models for seropositive Chl.abortus and IBRV herds. The annual temperature range increased the gain when used alone and decreased the gain the most when it was omitted in the models for seropositive C. burnetii, N. caninum and T. gondii herds. In conclusion, antibodies against Chl. abortus, C. burnetii, N. caninum, T. gondii and IBRV were detected in most herds suggesting circulation of pathogens that could cause infertility. The results of the spatial analyses demonstrated that the annual temperature range, mean diurnal range and maximum temperature of the warmest month could affect positively the possible pathogens’ presence. Acknowledgment: This research has been co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH–CREATE–INNOVATE (project code: T1EDK-01078).

Keywords: dairy cows, seropositivity, spatial analysis, temperature factors

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Authors: Savvas Rogotis, Nikolaos Kalatzis, Stergios Dimou-Sakellariou, Nikolaos Marianos

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As precision holds the key for the introduction of distinct benefits in agriculture (e.g., energy savings, reduced labor costs, optimal application of inputs, improved products, and yields), it steadily becomes evident that new initiatives should focus on rendering Precision Agriculture (PA) more accessible to the average farmer. PA leverages on technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), earth observation, robotics and positioning systems (e.g., the Global Navigation Satellite System – GNSS - as well as individual positioning systems like GPS, Glonass, Galileo) that allow: from simple data georeferencing to optimal navigation of agricultural machinery to even more complex tasks like Variable Rate Applications. An identified customer pain point is that, from one hand, typical triangulation-based positioning systems are not accurate enough (with errors up to several meters), while on the other hand, high precision positioning systems reaching centimeter-level accuracy, are very costly (up to thousands of euros). Within this paper, a Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) is introduced, that can be adapted to any existing IoT field-sensing station infrastructure. The latter should cover a minimum set of requirements, and in particular, each station should operate as a fixed, obstruction-free towards the sky, energy supplying unit. Station augmentation will allow them to function in pairs with GNSS rovers following the differential GNSS base-rover paradigm. This constitutes a key innovation element for the proposed solution that encompasses differential GNSS capabilities into an IoT field-sensing infrastructure. Integrating this kind of information supports the provision of several additional PA beneficial services such as spatial mapping, route planning, and automatic field navigation of unmanned vehicles (UVs). Right at the heart of the designed system, there is a high-end GNSS toolkit with base-rover variants and Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) capabilities. The GNSS toolkit had to tackle all availability, performance, interfacing, and energy-related challenges that are faced for a real-time, low-power, and reliable in the field operation. Specifically, in terms of performance, preliminary findings exhibit a high rover positioning precision that can even reach less than 10-centimeters. As this precision is propagated to the full dataset collection, it enables tractors, UVs, Android-powered devices, and measuring units to deal with challenging real-world scenarios. The system is validated with the help of Gaiatrons, a mature network of agro-climatic telemetry stations with presence all over Greece and beyond ( > 60.000ha of agricultural land covered) that constitutes part of “gaiasense” (www.gaiasense.gr) smart farming (SF) solution. Gaiatrons constantly monitor atmospheric and soil parameters, thus, providing exact fit to operational requirements asked from modern SF infrastructures. Gaiatrons are ultra-low-cost, compact, and energy-autonomous stations with a modular design that enables the integration of advanced GNSS base station capabilities on top of them. A set of demanding pilot demonstrations has been initiated in Stimagka, Greece, an area with a diverse geomorphological landscape where grape cultivation is particularly popular. Pilot demonstrations are in the course of validating the preliminary system findings in its intended environment, tackle all technical challenges, and effectively highlight the added-value offered by the system in action.

Keywords: GNSS, GBAS, precision agriculture, RTK, smart farming

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Authors: Kadri-Ann Kertsmik, Martin Talvik, Kimmo Lylykangas, Simo Ilomets, Targo Kalamees

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This study compares the building carbon footprint (CF) values for a case study of a private house located in a cold climate, using the Level(s) methodology. It provides a framework for measuring the environmental performance of buildings throughout their life cycle, taking into account various factors. The study presents the results of the three scenarios, comparing their carbon emissions and highlighting the benefits of circular material usage. The construction process was thoroughly documented, and all materials and components (including minuscule mechanical fasteners, each meter of cable, a kilogram of mortar, and the component of HVAC systems, among other things) delivered to the construction site were noted. Transportation distances of each delivery, the fuel consumption of construction machines, and electricity consumption for temporary heating and electrical tools were also monitored. Using the detailed data on material and energy resources, the CF was calculated for two scenarios: one where circular material usage was applied and another where virgin materials were used instead of reused ones. The results were compared with the CF calculated based on the building permit design model using the Level(s) methodology. To study the range of possible results in the early stage of CF assessment, the same building permit design was given to several experts. Results showed that embodied carbon values for a built scenario were significantly lower than the values predicted by the building permit stage as a result of more precise material quantities, as the calculation methodology is designed to overestimate the CF. Moreover, designers made an effort to reduce the building's CF by reusing certain materials such as ceramic tiles, lightweight concrete blocks, and timber during the construction process. However, in a cold climate context where operational energy (B6) continues to dominate, the total building CF value changes between the three scenarios were less significant. The calculation for the building permit project was performed by several experts, and CF results were in the same range. It alludes that, for the first estimation of preliminary building CF, using average values proves to be an appropriate method for the Estonian national carbon footprint estimation phase during building permit application. The study also identified several opportunities for reducing the carbon footprint of the building, such as reusing materials from other construction sites, preferring local material producers, and reducing wastage on site. The findings suggest that using circular materials can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. Overall, the study highlights the importance of using a comprehensive approach to measure the environmental performance of buildings, taking into account both the project and the actually built house. It also emphasises the need for ongoing monitoring for designing the building and construction site waste. The study also gives some examples of how to enable future circularity of building components and materials, e.g., building in layers, using wood as untreated, etc.

Keywords: carbon footprint, circular economy, sustainable construction, level(s) methodology

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Authors: Carine Enow-Ayor Tarkang, Victorine Neh Akenji, Dmitri Rouwet, Jodephine Njdma, Andrew Ako Ako, Franco Tassi, Jules Remy Ngoupayou Ndam

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Groundwater is the major water resource in the whole of Bafia used for drinking, domestic, poultry and agricultural purposes, and being an area of intense agriculture, there is a great necessity to do a quality assessment. Bafia is one of the main food suppliers in the Centre region of Cameroon, and so to meet their demands, the farmers make use of fertilizers and other agrochemicals to increase their yield. Less than 20% of the population in Bafia has access to piped-borne water due to the national shortage, according to the authors best knowledge very limited studies have been carried out in the area to increase awareness of the groundwater resources. The aim of this study was to assess heavy metal contamination levels in ground and surface waters and to evaluate the effects of agricultural inputs on water quality in the Bafia area. 57 water samples (including 31 wells, 20 boreholes, 4 rivers and 2 springs) were analyzed for their physicochemical parameters, while collected samples were filtered, acidified with HNO3 and analyzed by ICP-MS for their heavy metal content (Fe, Ti, Sr, Al, Mn). Results showed that most of the water samples are acidic to slightly neutral and moderately mineralized. Ti concentration was significantly high in the area (mean value 130µg/L), suggesting another Ti source besides the natural input from Titanium oxides. The high amounts of Mn and Al in some cases also pointed to additional input, probably from fertilizers that are used in the farmlands. Most of the water samples were found to be significantly contaminated with heavy metals exceeding the WHO allowable limits (Ti-94.7%, Al-19.3%, Mn-14%, Fe-5.2% and Sr-3.5% above limits), especially around farmlands and topographic low areas. The heavy metal concentration was evaluated using the heavy metal pollution index (HPI), heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) and degree of contamination (Cd), while the Ficklin diagram was used for the water based on changes in metal content and pH. The high mean values of HPI and Cd (741 and 5, respectively), which exceeded the critical limit, indicate that the water samples are highly contaminated, with intense pollution from Ti, Al and Mn. Based on the HPI and Cd, 93% and 35% of the samples, respectively, are unacceptable for drinking purposes. The lowest HPI value point also had the lowest EC (50 µS/cm), indicating lower mineralization and less anthropogenic influence. According to the Ficklin diagram, 89% of the samples fell within the near-neutral low-metal domain, while 9% fell in the near-neutral extreme-metal domain. Two significant factors were extracted from the PCA, explaining 70.6% of the total variance. The first factor revealed intense anthropogenic activity (especially from fertilizers), while the second factor revealed water-rock interactions. Agricultural activities thus have an impact on the heavy metal content of groundwater in the area; hence, much attention should be given to the affected areas in order to protect human health/life and thus sustainably manage this precious resource.

Keywords: Bafia, contamination, degree of contamination, groundwater, heavy metal pollution index

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Authors: Eleni Maistrou, D. Kosmopoulos, Carolina Moretti, Amalia Konidi, Katerina Boulougoura

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InterArch is an ongoing research project that has been running since September 2020. It aims to propose the design of a site-based digital application for archaeological sites and outdoor guided tours, supporting virtual and augmented reality technology. The research project is co‐financed by the European Union and Greek national funds, through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH - CREATE – INNOVATE (project code: Τ2ΕΔΚ-01659). It involves mutual collaboration between academic and cultural institutions and the contribution of an IT applications development company. The research will be completed by July 2023 and will run as a pilot project for the city of Ancient Messene, a place of outstanding natural beauty in the west of Peloponnese, which is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece. The applied research project integrates an interactive approach to the natural environment, aiming at a manifold sensory experience. It combines the physical space of the archaeological site with the digital space of archaeological and cultural data while at the same time, it embraces storytelling processes by engaging an interdisciplinary approach that familiarizes the user with multiple semantic interpretations. The mingling of the real-world environment with its digital and cultural components by using augmented reality techniques could potentially transform the visit on-site into an immersive multimodal sensory experience. To this purpose, an extensive spatial analysis along with a detailed evaluation of the existing digital and non-digital archives is proposed in our project, intending to correlate natural landscape morphology (including archaeological material remains and environmental characteristics) with the extensive historical records and cultural digital data. On-site research was carried out, during which visitors’ itineraries were monitored and tracked throughout the archaeological visit using GPS locators. The results provide our project with useful insight concerning the way visitors engage and interact with their surroundings, depending on the sequence of their itineraries and the duration of stay at each location. InterArch aims to propose the design of a site-based digital application for archaeological sites and outdoor guided tours, supporting virtual and augmented reality technology. Extensive spatial analysis, along with a detailed evaluation of the existing digital and non-digital archives, is used in our project, intending to correlate natural landscape morphology with the extensive historical records and cultural digital data. The results of the on-site research provide our project with useful insight concerning the way visitors engage and interact with their surroundings, depending on the sequence of their itineraries and the duration of stay at each location.

Keywords: archaeological site, digital space, semantic interpretations, cultural heritage

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Authors: P. H. G. J. Pushpakumara, A. M. P. Adikari, S. U. B. Tennakoon, Ranil Abeysinghe, Andrew Dawson

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Introduction: Deliberate Self-harm (DSH) is a global public health problem. Since 1950, suicide rates in Sri Lanka are among the highest national rates in the world. It has become an increasingly common response to emotional distress in young adults. However, it remains unclear the reason for this occurrence. Objectives: The descriptive component of this study was conducted to identify of epidemiological pattern of DSH and suicide in Kurunegala District (KD). Assessment of association between DSH socio-cultural, economical and psychological factors were the objectives of the case control component. Methods: Prospective data collection of DSH and suicide was conducted at all (46) hospitals and all (28) police stations in the KD for thirty six months, from 1st January 2011, as the descriptive component. Case control component was conducted at T.H. Kurunegala (THK) for eighteen months duration, from 1st July 2011. Cases (n=439) were randomly selected from a block of 7 consecutively admitted consenting DSP patients using a computer program. Age, sex and residential divisional secretariat division one to one matched, individuals were randomly selected as controls from patients presented to Out Patient Department. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I and II Disorders was used to diagnose psychiatric disorders. Validated tools were used to measure other constructs. Results: Suicide incidences in KD were, 21.6, 20.7 and 24.3 per 100,000 population in 2011- 2013 (Male:female ratio 5.7, 4.4 and 6.4). 60% of suicides were due to poisoning. DSP incidences were 205.4, 248.3 and 202.5 per 100,000 population in 2011- 2013. Highest age standardized male DSP incidence reported in 20-24 years (769.6/100,000) and female in 15-19 years (1304.0/100,000). Bing married (age >25 years), monthly family income less than Rs.30,000, not achieving G.C.E (O/L) qualifications, a school drop-out, not in a permanent position in occupation, being a manual and an own account worker, were significantly associated with DSP. Perceiving the quality of relationship as bad or very bad with parents, spouse/ girlfriend/ boyfriend and sibling as associated with 8, 40 and 10.5 times higher risk respectively. Feeling and experiences of neglect, other emotional abuses, feeling of insecurity with the family, in child hood, and having a contact history carried an excess risk for DSP. Cases were less likely to seek help. Further, they had significantly lower scores for life skills and life skills application ability. 25.6% DSH patients had DSM TR axis-I and/or TR axis-II disorder. The presence of psychiatric disorder carried 7.7 (95% CI 4.3 – 13.8) times higher risk for DSP. Conclusion: In general, pattern of DSH and suicide is, unique, different from developed, upper and middle income and lower and middle income countries. It is a learned way of expressing emotions in difficult situations of vulnerable people.

Keywords: deliberate self-harm, help-seeking, life-skills, mental- health, psychological, social, suicide

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Authors: Tatiana Ponomarenko, Oksana Marinina, Marina Nevskaya

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Modern corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a sphere of multilevel responsibility of a company toward society represented by various stakeholders. The relevance of CSR management grows due to the active development of socially responsible investing (principles for responsible investment) taking into account factors of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), growing attention of the investment community in general to the long-term stability of companies and the quality of control of nonfinancial risks. The modern approach to CSR strategic management is aimed at the creation of trustful relationships with stakeholders, on the basis of which a contribution to the sustainable development of companies, regions, and national economics is insured. However, the practical concepts of social responsibility in mining companies are different, which leads to various degrees of application of CSR. A number of companies implement CSR using a traditional (limited) understanding of responsibility toward employees and counteragents, the others understand CSR much wider and try to use leverages of efficient cooperation. As in large mining companies the scope of CSR measures is diverse and characterized by different indices, the study was aimed at evaluating CSR efficiency on the basis of a proprietary methodology and determining the level of development of CSR management in terms of anti-crisis, reactive and proactive development. The methodology of the research includes analysis of integrated global reporting initiative (GRI) reports of large mining companies; choice of most representative sectoral agents by a criterion of the regularity of issuance and publication of reports; calculation of indices of evaluation of CSR level of the selected companies in dynamics. The methodology of evaluation of CSR level is based on a rating score of changes in standard indices of GRI reports by economic, environmental, and social directions. Result. By the results of the analysis, companies of fuel and energy and metallurgic complexes, in overwhelming majority, reflecting three indices out of a wide range of possible indicators of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), were selected for the study. The evaluation of the scopes of CSR of the companies Gazprom, LUKOIL, Metalloinvest, Nornikel, Rosneft, Severstal, SIBUR, SUEK corresponds to the reactive type of development according to a scale of CSR strategic management, which is the average value out of the possible values. The chief drawback is that companies, in the process of analyzing global goals, often choose the goals which relate to their own activities, paying insufficient attention to the interests of the stakeholders inside the country. This fact evidences the necessity of searching for more effective mechanisms of CSR control. Acknowledgment: This article is prepared within grant support of the RFBR, project 19-510-44013 'Development of the concept of mineral resources value formation in the context of sustainable development in resource-oriented economies'.

Keywords: sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, development strategies, efficiency assessment

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Authors: Pantana Tor-Ngern

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In the global water cycle, tree water use (Tr) largely contributes to evapotranspiration which is the total amount of water evaporated from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere, regulating climates. Tree water use responds to environmental factors, including atmospheric humidity and sunlight (represented by vapor pressure deficit or VPD and photosynthetically active radiation or PAR, respectively) and soil moisture. In forests, Tr responses to such factors depend on species and their spatial and temporal variations. Tropical forests in Southeast Asia (SEA) have experienced land-use conversion from abandoned agricultural practices, resulting in patches of forests at different stages including old-growth and secondary forests. Because the inherent structures, such as canopy height and tree density, significantly vary among forests at different stages and can strongly affect their respective microclimate, Tr and its responses to changing environmental conditions in successional forests may differ. Daily and seasonal variations in the environmental factors may exert significant impacts on the respective Tr patterns. Extrapolating Tr data from short periods of days to longer periods of seasons or years can be complex and is important for estimating long-term ecosystem water use which often includes normal and abnormal climatic conditions. Thus, this study aims to investigate the diurnal variation of Tr, using measured sap flux density (JS) data, with changes in VPD in eight evergreen tree species in an old-growth forest (hereafter OF; >200 years old) and a young forest (hereafter YF, <10 years old) in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand. The studied species included Sysygium syzygoides, Aquilaria crassna, Cinnamomum subavenium, Nephelium melliferum, Altingia excelsa in OF, and Syzygium nervosum and Adinandra integerrima in YF. Only Sysygium antisepticum was found in both forest stages. Specifically, hysteresis, which indicates the asymmetrical changes of JS in response to changing VPD across daily timescale, was examined in these species. Results showed no hysteresis in all species in OF, except Altingia excelsa which exhibited a 3-hour delayed JS response to VPD. In contrast, JS of all species in YF displayed one-hour delayed responses to VPD. The OF species that showed no hysteresis indicated their well-coupling of their canopies with the atmosphere, facilitating the gas exchange which is essential for tree growth. The delayed responses in Altingia excelsa in OF and all species in YF were associated with higher JS in the morning than that in the afternoon. This implies that these species were sensitive to drying air, closing stomata relatively rapidly compared to the decreasing atmospheric humidity (VPD). Such behavior is often observed in trees growing in dry environments. This study suggests that detailed investigation of JS at sub-daily timescales is imperative for better understanding of mechanistic responses of trees to the changing climate, which will benefit the improvement of earth system models.

Keywords: sap flow, tropical forest, forest succession, thermal dissipcation probe

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Authors: Asmit Neupane, Narayan Prasad Gautam, Prabin Bhusal

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Indian pangolin, locally called as ‘Salak’, ‘Sal machha’, ‘Pakho machha’, is a globally endangered species, nationally categorized as a critically endangered species, protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (NPWC) Act 1973 and appended in Appendix I of CITES. Indian pangolins occur in the tropical areas of Terai region and Chure foothills of eastern Nepal, and India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. They utilize a wide range of habitats, including primary and secondary tropical forest, limestone forest, bamboo forest, grassland, and agricultural lands. So, in regard to this fact, this research is aimed to provide detailed information regarding the current distribution pattern, status, habitat preference, prevailing threats and attitude of local people towards species conservation in Madhesh Province, Nepal. The study was conducted in four CFs, two from Bara district and two from Dhanusha district. The study area comprised of Churia range and foothills with tropical and sub-tropical vegetation. A total of 24 transects were established, each of 500*50 m2, where indirect signs of Indian pangolin, including active/old burrows, pugmarks and scratches, were found. Altogether 93 burrows were found, where only 20 were active burrows. Similarly, a vegetation survey and social survey was also conducted. The data was analyzed using Stata 16 and SPSS software. Distance from settlement, ground cover, aspect, presence/absence of ants/termites and human disturbance were the important habitat parameters having statistically significant relationship with the distribution of Indian pangolin in the area. The species was found to prefer an elevation of 360 to 540m, 0-15º slope, red soil, North-east aspect, moderate crown and ground cover, without fire and rocks, vicinity of water, roads, settlement, Sal dominated forest and minimum disturbed by human activities. Similarly, the attitude of local people towards Indian pangolin conservation was found to be significantly different with respect to age, sex and education level. The study concludes that majority of active burrows were found in Churia hills, which indicates that Indian pangolin population is gradually moving uphill towards higher elevation as hilly area supports better prey availability and also less human disturbance. Further studies are required to investigate microhabitat preferences, seasonal variability and impacts of climate change on the distribution, habitat and prey availability of Indian pangolin for the sustainable conservation of this species.

Keywords: conservation, IUCN red list, local participation, small mammal, status, threats

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Authors: Weijing Zhou, Yuting Lei, Francis Nolan

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In the domain of second language acquisition, whenever pronunciation errors or acquisition difficulties are found, researchers habitually attribute them to the negative transfer of the native language or local dialect. To what extent do Mandarin and local dialects affect English phonological acquisition for Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL)? Little evidence, however, has been found via empirical research in China. To address this core issue, the present study conducted phonetic experiments to explore the roles of local dialects and Mandarin in Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of L2 English consonants. Besides Mandarin, the sole national language in China, Suzhou dialect was selected as the target local dialect because of its distinct phonology from Mandarin. The experimental group consisted of 30 junior English majors at Yangzhou University, who were born and lived in Suzhou, acquired Suzhou Dialect since their early childhood, and were able to communicate freely and fluently with each other in Suzhou Dialect, Mandarin as well as English. The consonantal target segments were all the consonants of English, Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect in typical carrier words embedded in the carrier sentence Say again. The control group consisted of two Suzhou Dialect experts, two Mandarin radio broadcasters, and two British RP phoneticians, who served as the standard speakers of the three languages. The reading corpus was recorded and sampled in the phonetic laboratories at Yangzhou University, Soochow University and Cambridge University, respectively, then transcribed, segmented and analyzed acoustically via Praat software, and finally analyzed statistically via EXCEL and SPSS software. The main findings are as follows: First, in terms of correct acquisition rates (CARs) of all the consonants, Mandarin ranked top (92.83%), English second (74.81%) and Suzhou Dialect last (70.35%), and significant differences were found only between the CARs of Mandarin and English and between the CARs of Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect, demonstrating Mandarin was overwhelmingly more robust than English or Suzhou Dialect in subjects’ multilingual phonological ecology. Second, in terms of typical acoustic features, the average duration of all the consonants plus the voice onset time (VOT) of plosives, fricatives, and affricatives in 3 languages were much longer than those of standard speakers; the intensities of English fricatives and affricatives were higher than RP speakers but lower than Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect standard speakers; the formants of English nasals and approximants were significantly different from those of Mandarin and Suzhou Dialects, illustrating the inconsistent acoustic variations between the 3 languages. Thirdly, in terms of typical pronunciation variations or errors, there were significant interlingual interactions between the 3 consonant systems, in which Mandarin consonants were absolutely dominant, accounting for the strong transfer from L1 Mandarin to L2 English instead of from earlier-acquired L1 local dialect to L2 English. This is largely because the subjects were knowingly exposed to Mandarin since their nursery and were strictly required to speak in Mandarin through all the formal education periods from primary school to university.

Keywords: acquisition of L2 English consonants, role of Mandarin, role of local dialect, Chinese EFL learners from Suzhou Dialect areas

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