52 research outputs found
Erratum: Cloaking using anisotropic multilayer circular cylinder (AIP Advances (2020) 10 (095312) DOI: 10.1063/5.0012769)
No full textCo-author Mehwish Nisar should have had an additional affiliation noted in the byline of our original manuscript.1 The correct affiliations for this manuscript are as listed above
Waste black tea leaves (Camelia sinensis) as a sustainable source of tannin natural colorant for bio-treated silk dyeing
No full textAbstract : Environmentally friendly products are the need of the hour, particularly in this pandemic situation because synthetic products need such toxic chemicals for their formulation and finishing which are carcinogenic for the globe. The current study is the utilization of waste black tea leaf (BT)–based tannin brown natural colorant for silk dyeing using microwave treatment. Dye (tannin) has been isolated in various media before and after microwave treatment up to 6 min and applied at various conditions. It has been found that 30 mL of aqueous extract of 3.0 pH obtained from 6.0 g of powder containing 3.0 g/100 mL of salt as an exhausting agent after microwave treatment for 5 min, when employed at 55 °C for 45 min, has given good color yield onto silk. Iron (3%) and acacia extract (2%) as pre-chemical and bio mordant, iron (2%) and pomegranate extract (2%) as post chemical and bio-mordant, and Al (3 %) and pomegranate extract (3%) as meta chemical and bio-mordant have given new shades with good to excellent fastness ratings. It is inferred that waste black tea leaves (BTs) in an aqueous medium have an excellent potential to serve as a source of natural tannin brown dye for the coloration of surface-modified silk fabrics under the influence of cost, energy, and time-effective microwave treatment. Additionally, the utilization of a low amount of sustainable chemical and bio-mordants has valorized the dyeing of silk by developing soothing and sustainable shades with good fastness properties. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
Adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural Practices through Women Involvement in Decision Making Process: Exploring the Role of Empowerment and Innovativeness
No full textThe sustainability of global food production has been facing many threats, including climate change. The adaptation to such threats is both a challenge as well as an opportunity, especially for woman-operated farms in Pakistan. The challenge is how to devise measures and look for options to counter its impact, while the opportunity lies in developing new techniques, skills, and interventions leading to innovativeness. As women farmers are constrained regarding resources, cultural, societal, and personal reasons in Pakistan’s context, they particularly need innovative behavior and decision power to adapt to climate change. This study aims to measure the decisional empowerment and innovativeness of women farmers and their role in adopting different climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices at the farm level. To this end, data from 384 farms where women were majorly involved are utilized in a multivariate probit model and propensity score matching to reveal various aspects of women’s role in adopting CSA practices. Results reveal that most women farmers lacked decisional power related to productive resources such as sale/purchase and renting of farmland, using farm machinery, and availing credit. Their decisional empowerment and innovativeness positively affected the adoption of CSA practices at the farm level. Females with more decisional power and innovativeness adopted more CSA practices than women with weaker decisional power and innovativeness. Therefore, the world can benefit greatly from giving more power to women in agriculture in terms of increased adoption of CSA practices, consequently improving food security and mitigating climate change. This outcome will assist in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals of gender equality (SDG5) and climate action (SDG 13)
Willingness to pay for COVID-19 mitigation measures in public transport and paratransit in low-income countries
No full textIn order to combat the spread of COVID-19, various measures were taken in most countries to make public transit and paratransit safer. These additional measures, which include restrictions on number of passengers, provision of hand sanitisers and face coverings, and more frequent cleaning, add to the costs of operations or reduce profitability. The resulting financial pressure on the transport operators raises an important question on who pays for these additional measures. In most countries, this has been covered by one-time government bailouts to operators or strategies to increase fare, the latter of which directly affects the users. However, even without these interventions, there could be a demand and as such willingness to pay (WTP) for some of these intervention measures from the consumers concerned about safety. Knowing such WTP will not only help operators set their fare, but also help the governments decide the appropriate bailout needed. This paper addresses the issue by estimating the user’s willingness to pay for selected COVID-19 mitigation measures in public transport and paratransit (motorcycle taxis) using survey data collected from two cities in low-income countries as case studies – Kampala, Uganda and Dhaka, Bangladesh. For public transport, these measures are - (1) social distancing (passenger loading at half capacity), and (2) mandatory hand sanitisation and increased cleaning of surfaces, while for paratransit, they are - (1) provision of a transparent shield between the rider and the passenger, and (2) provision of cleaned helmets at the start of each trip. The study analyses stated preference data using the utility maximisation framework and finds that the implementation or provision of COVID-19 mitigation measures improves the attractiveness of the associated public transport or paratransit alternatives, and transport users make trade-offs between safety and cost when making travel decisions. We find positive willingness to pay for all four mitigation measures, suggesting potential existence of a market for these measures. We also find that the typical mode choice factors such as costs, travel time and convenience became less important during the pandemic and the safety measures became more important considerations
Depth Sensors-Based Action Recognition Using a Modified K-Ary Entropy Classifier
No full textSurveillance system is acquiring an ample interest in the field of computer vision. Existing surveillance system usually relies on optical or wearable sensors for indoor and outdoor activities. These sensors give reasonable performance in a simulation environment. However, when used under realistic settings, they could cause a large number of false alarms. Moreover, in a real-world scenario, positioning a depth camera at too great a distance from the subject could compromise image quality and result in the loss of depth information. Furthermore, depth information in RGB images may be lost when converting a 3D image to a 2D image. Therefore, extensive surveillance system research is moving on fused sensors, which has greatly improved action recognition performance. By taking into account the concept of fused sensors, this paper proposed a novel idea of a modified K-Ary entropy classifier algorithm to map the arbitrary size of vectors to a fixed-size subtree pattern for graph classification and to solve complex feature selection and classification problems using RGB-D data. The main aim of this paper is to increase the space between the intra-substructure nodes of a tree through entropy accumulation. Hence, the likelihood of classifying the minority class as belonging to the majority class has been reduced. The working of the proposed model has been described as follows: First, the depth and RGB images from three benchmark datasets have been taken as the input for the model. Then, using 2.5D cloud point modeling and ridge extraction, full-body features, and point-based features have been retrieved. Finally, for the efficacy of the surveillance system, a modified K-Ary entropy accumulation classifier is optimized by the probability-based incremental learning (PBIL) algorithm has been used. In both qualitative and quantitative experimental results, the testing results have shown 95.05%, 95.56%, and 95.08% performance over SYSU-ACTION, PRECIS HAR, and Northwestern-UCLA (N-UCLA) datasets. The proposed system could apply to various real-world emerging applications like human target tracking, security-critical human event detection, perimeter security, internet security, public safety etc
Extension of lower and upper solutions approach for generalized nonlinear fractional boundary value problems
No full text© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the University of Bahrain.Our main concern in this study is to present the generalized results to investigate the existence of solutions to nonlinear fractional boundary value problems (FBVPs) with generalized nonlinear boundary conditions. The framework of the presented results relies on the lower and upper solutions approach which allows us to ensure the existence of solutions in a sector defined by well-ordered coupled lower and upper solutions. It is worth mentioning that the presented results unify the existence criteria of certain problems which were treated on a case-by-case basis in the literature. Two examples are supplied to support the results
Psychological impact of infertility among infertile women
No full textAbstractBackground and aim: Infertility is a important life event which it and its treatment can affect livesof couples. Infertility can cause various psychological-emotional disorders or consequences. The aim of this study was to explore psychological experiences of infertility and its treatment in infertile women attending to Vali-e-Asr Fertility Health Research Center Tehran,Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was carried out on 15 women with primary and secondaryinfertilityThe study was conducted in Vali-e-Asr Fertility Health Research Center in Tehran. A judgemental method was used to recruit participants in the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and continued until data saturation. Simultaneously in process of data collection, the data analysis phase was performed with conventional content analysis method. Findings: main concepts emerged from the data were categorized into four main themes and theirsub-categories include: 1. Cognitive reactions of infertility 2. Cognitive reactions to therapy process 3. Emotional–affective reactions of infertility 4. Emotional–affective reactions to therapy process. Conclusion: This study showed that the infertility and its treatment process for Iranian infertilewomen is a source of psychological suffering with devastating effects on psychological well-being of infertile couples. The results also showed that one of the major causes of psychological distress is the social pressure by community members, while is less attention is paid to the sociocultural dimensions and consequences of infertility. Keywords: infertility; psychological; seeking treatment; content analysis REFERENCES Berek JS (2007). Berek & Novak’s Gynecology . 14th edition. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia. Bliss C (1999). The Social Construction of Infertility by Minority Women . (Dissertation). Available at: http:// gerrystahl.net/personal/family/dissertation.pdf/.Accessed Nov 5, 2012. Cousineau TM, Domar AD (2007). Psychological impact of infertility. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology . 21(2) 293- 308. Cwikel J, Gidron Y, Sheiner E (2004). "Psychological interactions with infertility among women: Review". European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology . 117(2) 126-31. Domar AD, Gordon K (2011)."The Psychological Impact of Infertility: Results of a national survey of men and women". Fertility and Sterility . 95(4)S17. Dyer SJ (2009). "Psychological and social aspects of infertility in developing countries". International Journalof Gynecology & Obstetrics . 107 (Supplement 2):S25-S26.Dyer SJ et al (2002). "Men leave me as I can not have childern: women’s experiences with involuntary childlessness". Human Reproduction. 17 (6)1663-1668.Gameiro S et al (2012). "Why do patients discontinue fertility treatment? A systematic review of reasons and predictors of discontinuation in fertility treatment". Human Reproduction Update.18(6) 652- 669.Gannon K, Glover L, Abel P (2004). "Masculinity, infertility, Stigma and media reports". Social Science &Medicine . 59(6) 1169-75.Greil AL, Blevins KS, McQuillan J (2010). "The experience of infertility: A review of recent literature". Sociology of Health & Illness . 32(1)140–162.Guerra D et al (1998). "Psychiatric morbidity in couples attending a fertility Service". Human Reproduction.13(6) 1733–1736. Hammerli K, Hansjorg Z, Barth J (2009). "The efficacy of psychological interventions for infertile patients: Ameta-analysis examining mental health and pregnancy rate".Human Reprod Update.15(3) 279-295.Hart VA (2002). "Infertility and the role of psychotherapy". Issues in Mental Health Nursing. 23(1) 31- 41.Inhorn MC, Birenbaum-Carmeli D (2008). "Assisted reproductive technologies and culture change". AnnualReview of Anthropology . 37: 96-177.Latifnejad R (2008). How religious faiths and spiritual beliefs affect the experiences of infertile women seekinginfertility treatments: A feminist grounded theory approach . (Dissertation). Guildford, University of Surrey.2008. Lechner L, Bolman C, van Dalen A (2007). "Definite involuntary childlessness: Associations between coping,social support and psychological distress".Human Reproduction. 22(1) 288-94.Noorbala A et al(2009)."[Prevalence of psychiatric disorders and types of personality in fertile and infertile women". Journal Reprod Infertil. 9(4) 350-360.(Persion).Polit DF, Beck CT (2006). Essentials of Nursing Research Methods, Appraisal and Utilization. 6th edition.Philadelphia:Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Sami N, Tazeen S.A. "Perceptions and Experiences of Women in Karachi- Pakistan Regarding Secondary Infertility: Results from a Community-Based Qualitative Study". Obstetrics and Gynecology International Volume 2012. [ on line].< http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ogi/2012/108756>. [4 Nov 2012].Slade P et al (2007). "The relationship between perceived stigma, disclosure patterns, support and distress innew attendees at an infertility clinic".Oxford Journals, Medicine, Human Reproduction. 22(8) 2309-2317.Spannagel C, Gläser-Zikuda M, Schroeder U . "Application of qualitative content analysis in user-program interaction research". Forum Qualitative Social Research.2005, 6(2). [ on line].< http://www.qualitativeresearch.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/469>. [13 Oct 2012]. Vahidi S, Ardalan A, Mohammad K (2009). "Prevalence of primary infertility in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2004-2005". Asian Pacific Journal of Public Health. 21(3) 287-293. (Persian).Van Balen F, Gerrits T (2001). "Quality of infertility care in poor-resource areas and the introduction of new reproductive technologies". Human Reproduction. 16(2) 215-219. Vayena E, Rowe PJ, Griffin PD . "Current Practices and Controversies in Assisted Reproduction". WorldHealth Organization.[ on line].< http://www.imamu.edu.sa/Scientific _selections/files/DocLib/report.pdf>.Published 2002. [13 Oct, 2012].Wiersema NJ et al. "Consequences of infertility in developing countries: Results of a questionnaire andinterview. Survey in the South of Vietnam".Journal of Translational Medicine. Published online 2006; 4:54. [ on line]. <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2F1479-5876-4-54#page-1>. [5 Nov 2012]. Wischmann T (2008). "Psychosocial aspects of infertile couples ". Psychosocial Gynakol Geburtsmed GynakolEndokrinol . 4(3) 194–209. Psychological impact of infertility among infertile womenseeking treatment: A qualitative studySyede Batool Hasanpoor–Azghdy1, Masoumeh Simbar2,Abouali Vedadhir 3, Batool Hossein Rashid4 1. PhD Alumni of reproductive health, Department of Reproductive Health and Midwifery, Faculty of nursing and midwifery, Shahid BeheshtiUniversity of Medical Science. Tehran, Iran.2. PhD, Associate professor in Reproductive Health, The Research Center for Safe Motherhood , Department of Reproductive Health and Midwifery,Faculty of nursing and midwifery, Shahid Beheshti Medical Sciences University. Tehran, Iran.3. PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.4. PhD, Associate professor in Obstetrician & Gynecologist , Department of Obstetrician & Gynecologist, Valie-Asr Reproductive Health ResearchCenter, Tehran Medical Sciences University. Tehran, Iran.Corresponding author: Masoumeh Simbar; msimabr@ yahoo.comAbstractBackground and aim: Infertility is a important life event which it and its treatment can affect livesof couples. Infertility can cause various psychological-emotional disorders or consequences. The aim of this study was to explore psychological experiences of infertility and its treatment in infertile women attending to Vali-e-Asr Fertility Health Research Center Tehran,Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was carried out on 15 women with primary and secondaryinfertilityThe study was conducted in Vali-e-Asr Fertility Health Research Center in Tehran. A judgemental method was used to recruit participants in the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and continued until data saturation. Simultaneously in process of data collection, the data analysis phase was performed with conventional content analysis method. Findings: main concepts emerged from the data were categorized into four main themes and theirsub-categories include: 1. Cognitive reactions of infertility 2. Cognitive reactions to therapy process 3. Emotional–affective reactions of infertility 4. Emotional–affective reactions to therapy process. Conclusion: This study showed that the infertility and its treatment process for Iranian infertilewomen is a source of psychological suffering with devastating effects on psychological well-being of infertile couples. The results also showed that one of the major causes of psychological distress is the social pressure by community members, while is less attention is paid to the sociocultural dimensions and consequences of infertility. Keywords: infertility;psychological; seeking treatment; content analysis.REFERENCESBerek JS (2007).Berek & Novak’s Gynecology. 14th edition. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia.Bliss C (1999). The Social Construction of Infertility by Minority Women. (Dissertation). Available at: http://gerrystahl.net/personal/family/dissertation.pdf/.Accessed Nov 5, 2012. Cousineau TM, Domar AD (2007). Psychological impact of infertility. Best Practice & Research ClinicalObstetrics & Gynaecology . 21(2) 293- 308.Cwikel J, Gidron Y, Sheiner E (2004). "Psychological interactions with infertility among women: Review". European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology . 117(2) 126-31.Domar AD, Gordon K (2011)."The Psychological Impact of Infertility: Results of a national survey of men and women". Fertility and Sterility. 95(4)S17. Dyer SJ (2009). "Psychological and social aspects of infertility in developing countries". International Journalof Gynecology & Obstetrics . 107 (Supplement 2):S25-S26.Dyer SJ et al (2002). "Men leave me as I can not have childern: women’s experiences with involuntary childlessness". Human Reproduction. 17 (6)1663-1668.Gameiro S et al (2012). "Why do patients discontinue fertility treatment? A systematic review of reasons and predictors of discontinuation in fertility treatment". Human Reproduction Update.18(6) 652- 669.Gannon K, Glover L, Abel P (2004). "Masculinity, infertility, Stigma and media reports". Social Science &Medicine . 59(6) 1169-75.Greil AL, Blevins KS, McQuillan J (2010). "The experience of infertility: A review of recent literature". Sociology of Health & Illness . 32(1)140–162.Guerra D et al (1998). "Psychiatric morbidity in couples attending a fertility Service". Human Reproduction.13(6) 1733–1736. Hammerli K, Hansjorg Z, Barth J (2009). "The efficacy of psychological interventions for infertile patients: Ameta-analysis examining mental health and pregnancy rate".Human Reprod Update.15(3) 279-295.Hart VA (2002). "Infertility and the role of psychotherapy". Issues in Mental Health Nursing. 23(1) 31- 41.Inhorn MC, Birenbaum-Carmeli D (2008). "Assisted reproductive technologies and culture change". AnnualReview of Anthropology . 37: 96-177.Latifnejad R (2008). How religious faiths and spiritual beliefs affect the experiences of infertile women seekinginfertility treatments: A feminist grounded theory approach . (Dissertation). Guildford, University of Surrey.2008. Lechner L, Bolman C, van Dalen A (2007). "Definite involuntary childlessness: Associations between coping,social support and psychological distress".Human Reproduction. 22(1) 288-94.Noorbala A et al(2009)."[Prevalence of psychiatric disorders and types of personality in fertile and infertile women". Journal Reprod Infertil. 9(4) 350-360.(Persion).Polit DF, Beck CT (2006). Essentials of Nursing Research Methods, Appraisal and Utilization. 6th edition.Philadelphia:Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Sami N, Tazeen S.A. "Perceptions and Experiences of Women in Karachi- Pakistan Regarding Secondary Infertility: Results from a Community-Based Qualitative Study". Obstetrics and Gynecology International Volume 2012. [ on line].< http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ogi/2012/108756>. [4 Nov 2012].Slade P et al (2007). "The relationship between perceived stigma, disclosure patterns, support and distress innew attendees at an infertility clinic".Oxford Journals, Medicine, Human Reproduction. 22(8) 2309-2317.Spannagel C, Gläser-Zikuda M, Schroeder U . "Application of qualitative content analysis in user-program interaction research". Forum Qualitative Social Research.2005, 6(2). [ on line].< http://www.qualitativeresearch.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/469>. [13 Oct 2012]. Vahidi S, Ardalan A, Mohammad K (2009). "Prevalence of primary infertility in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2004-2005". Asian Pacific Journal of Public Health. 21(3) 287-293. (Persian).Van Balen F, Gerrits T (2001). "Quality of infertility care in poor-resource areas and the introduction of new reproductive technologies". Human Reproduction. 16(2) 215-219. Vayena E, Rowe PJ, Griffin PD . "Current Practices and Controversies in Assisted Reproduction". WorldHealth Organization.[ on line].< http://www.imamu.edu.sa/Scientific _selections/files/DocLib/report.pdf>.Published 2002. [13 Oct, 2012].Wiersema NJ et al. "Consequences of infertility in developing countries: Results of a questionnaire andinterview. Survey in the South of Vietnam".Journal of Translational Medicine. Published online 2006; 4:54. [ on line]. <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2F1479-5876-4-54#page-1>. [5 Nov 2012]. Wischmann T (2008). "Psychosocial aspects of infertile couples ". Psychosocial Gynakol Geburtsmed GynakolEndokrinol . 4(3) 194–209.
Search for heavy diboson resonances in semileptonic final states in pp collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
No full textThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Higgs boson production cross-section measurements and their EFT interpretation in the 4 ℓ decay channel at √s= 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
No full textHiggs boson properties are studied in the four-lepton decay channel (where lepton = e, μ) using 139 fb - 1 of proton–proton collision data recorded at s=13 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The inclusive cross-section times branching ratio for H→ ZZ∗ decay is measured to be 1.34 ± 0.12 pb for a Higgs boson with absolute rapidity below 2.5, in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction of 1.33 ± 0.08 pb. Cross-sections times branching ratio are measured for the main Higgs boson production modes in several exclusive phase-space regions. The measurements are interpreted in terms of coupling modifiers and of the tensor structure of Higgs boson interactions using an effective field theory approach. Exclusion limits are set on the CP-even and CP-odd ‘beyond the Standard Model’ couplings of the Higgs boson to vector bosons, gluons and top quarks. © 2020, The Author(s)
Pain acceptance in adolescents: Development of a short form of the CPAQ-A
No full text© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. Objective: Acceptance of pain is a predictor of pain-related disability and treatment outcome in adolescents with pain. This variable has been previously measured using the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire for Adolescents (CPAQ-A, McCracken, Gauntlett-Gilbert, & Eccleston, European Journal of Pain, 14, 316-320, 2010). We set out to create a short, eight-item, form of this instrument that retained its factor structure and clinical utility. Methods: We used data collected from two independent samples of adolescents attending residential treatment for disabling chronic pain (N = 187 and N = 159). Both groups completed the 20-item CPAQ-A and indices of functioning and distress. We carried out item reduction and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the first sample, repeating this on the second sample and examining the new scale's correlations with clinically relevant variables. Results: An eight-item scale was created with four items assigned to each established factor (Pain Willingness and Activity Engagement). CFA confirmed this factor structure and it replicated in Sample 2. The new scale (the CPAQ-A8) was sensitive to treatment and correlated as well with clinically important variables as its full-length version. Some items in the new scale differed from the adult CPAQ-8. Conclusions: Measures of pain acceptance have been previously developed and validated in pediatric and adult samples. This study showed that pain acceptance can be indexed by a brief, yet factorially valid, short form of the CPAQ-A that uses fewer than 50% of the items of the full-length scale and has demonstrated acceptable validity and sensitivity-to-treatment
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