bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of NaOH concentration on optical properties of zinc oxide nanoparticles
Authors: Koutu Vaibhav , Shastri Lokesh , Malik M. M. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractIn the present work, powder zinc oxide samples were prepared by varying NaOH concentration (0.1 M – 0.4 M) using wet-chemical co-precipitation method. As-synthesized ZnO was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectroscopy. Formation of hexagonal wurtzite structure of the ZnO samples has been revealed from XRD studies. This study further suggests reduction in crystallite size from 40 nm to 23 nm with an increase in NaOH concentration which is confirmed by FESEM. PL and Raman spectroscopy studies of these samples show significant peak shift towards the higher and lower energy respectively, with maximum PL emission between 400 nm and 470 nm region of the visible spectrum. Noticeable inverse relationship between optical properties of ZnO nanoparticles and NaOH concentration may be attributed to the rapid nucleation during the synthesis process. With these remarkable properties, ZnO nanoparticles may find applications in nanoelectronic devices, sensors, nanomedicine, GATE dielectrics, photovoltaic devices, etc.
How do different factors impact agricultural water
management?
Authors: Valipour Mohammad 
Published: December 2016

Abstract
This study compares the impacts of different
factors on agricultural water management in the Americas
in the last 50 years. The number of 18 indexes (as the main
and sub-main indexes) was selected to assess agricul-
tural water management based on their importance and
other indexes were not studied due to lack of adequate
data. Changes in the main indexes in 2011 showed that
concurrent values across regions varied according to the
nature of the indexes and conditions of the countries. In
the next step, the value of area equipped for irrigation/
cultivated area (10th index) was estimated using the other
main indexes. As a result, a list of strengths and weakness
for agricultural water management in the Americas in
the last 50 years was created. However, The only way to
meet sustainable development is to learn from past expe-
riences for the improvement of agricultural water man-
agement. The desirability of condition for agricultural
water management is difficult for Central America (except
Belize, which presents a fair status) and it is less than
40% for Greater Antilles (with the exception of Dominican
Republic 55%). Guyana is the best country for agricultural
water management because its desirability of condition
(72%) is more than all the countries in Americas.
Colloidal synthesis of Culn0.75Ga0.25Se2 nanoparticles and their photovoltaic performance
Authors: Mubiayi Kalenga Pierre , Freitas Jilian , Moloto Makwena Justice , Moloto Nosipho , Sikhwivhilu Lucky Mashudu , Nogueria Ana Flavia 
Published: December 2016

Abstract
This paper addresses the possibilities of synthesizing copper indium gallium selenide nanoparticles with properties that are desired in photovoltaics. The use of oleylamine as solvent and capping agent improved the growth and dispersivity of stoichiometric CuIn0.75Ga0.25Se2 nanoparticles through conventional colloidal synthesis. Relatively small sized CuIn0.75Ga0.25Se2 nanocrystals were assembled in devices as quantum dot sensitized solar cells and exhibited electrical properties with a fill factor of 33% which may be improved for any photovoltaic application.
SNX27 Deletion Causes Hydrocephalus by Impairing Ependymal Cell Differentiation and Ciliogenesis
Authors: Wang Xin , Zhou Ying , Wang Jian , Tseng I-Chu , Huang Timothy , Zhao Yingjun , Zheng Qiuyang , Gao Yue , Luo Hong , Zhang Xian , Bu Guojun , Hong Wanjin , Xu Huaxi 
Published: December 2016

Hydrocephalus is a brain disorder derived from CSF accumulation due to defects in CSF clearance. Although dysfunctional apical cilia in the ependymal cell layer are causal to the onset of hydrocephalus, mechanisms underlying proper ependymal cell differentiation are largely unclear. SNX27 is a trafficking component required for normal brain function and was shown previously to suppress γ-secretase-dependent amyloid precursor protein and Notch cleavage. However, it was unclear how SNX27-dependent γ-secretase inhibition could contribute to brain development and pathophysiology. Here, we describe and characterize anSnx27-deleted mouse model for the ependymal layer defects of deciliation and hydrocephalus. SNX27 deficiency results in reductions in ependymal cells and cilia density, as well as severe postnatal hydrocephalus. Inhibition of Notch intracellular domain signaling with γ-secretase inhibitors reversed ependymal cells/cilia loss and dilation of lateral ventricles inSnx27-deficient mice, giving strong indication thatSnx27deletion triggers defects in ependymal layer formation and ciliogenesis through Notch hyperactivation. Together, these results suggest that SNX27 is essential for ependymal cell differentiation and ciliogenesis, and its deletion can promote hydrocephalus pathogenesis.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTDown's syndrome (DS) in humans and mouse models has been shown previously to confer a high risk for the development of pathological hydrocephalus. Because we have previously described SNX27 as a component that is consistently downregulated in DS, we present here a robustSnx27-deleted mouse model that produces hydrocephalus and associated ciliary defects with complete penetrance. In addition, we find that γ-secretase/Notch modulation may be a candidate drug target in SNX27-associated hydrocephalus such as that observed in DS. Based on these findings, we anticipate that future study will determine whether modulation of a SNX27/Notch/γ-secretase pathway can also be of therapeutic interest to congenital hydrocephalus.
Japanese workplace health management in pneumoconiosis prevention
Authors: Naw Awn J P , Imanaka Momo , Suganuma Narufumi 
Published: December 2016

Abstract

Objective
The Japanese government established the Pneumoconiosis Law in 1960 to protect health and promote the welfare of workers engaged in dust-exposed works. This article describes Japanese practice in workplace health management as regulated by the Pneumoconiosis Law to reduce pneumoconiosis in Japan.

Methods
We collected information addressing pneumoconiosis and the health care of dust-exposed workers. We included all types of scientific papers found through a PubMed search as well as official reports, guidelines, and relevant laws published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) of Japan and other academic institutions.

Results
In the past, pneumoconiosis has been a major cause of mortality and morbidity for Japanese workers engaged in dust-exposed work. The Pneumoconiosis Law introduced a system of pneumoconiosis health examination and health supervision to protect workers’ health. According to the periodic pneumoconiosis health examination reports in Japan, the prevalence of pneumoconiosis fell from the highest reported figure of 17.4% in 1982, where 265,720 examinations were conducted, to 1% in 2013 in which 243,740 workers were examined. The number of new cases of pneumoconiosis dropped from 6,842 cases in 1980 to 227 cases in 2013. One hundred and seventy two workers were diagnosed as having pneumoconiosis complications in 1980; however, the number fell to five in 2013.

Conclusion
After reaching its peak in the 1980s, pneumoconiosis and its complications fell each year. The achievement of Japanese pneumoconiosis prevention can be credited to a comprehensive provision for worker health, regulated by a thorough legal framework.
Decline of the performance of a portable axial-flow fan due to the friction and duct bending loss of a connected flexible duct
Authors: Ojima Jun 
Published: December 2016

Abstract

Objectives
In a job site, a portable fan is often used to ventilate a confined space. When a portable fan is applied to such a space, the actual ventilation flow rate must be accurately estimated in advance because the safety level of contaminant and oxygen concentrations in the space will determine the ventilation requirements. When a portable fan is used with a flexible duct, the actual flow rate of the fan decreases due to the friction and duct bending loss of the duct. Intending to show the decline of a fan performance, the author conducted laboratory experiments and reported the quantitative effect of the friction and duct bending loss of a flexible duct to the flow rate of a portable fan.

Methods
Four commercial portable fans of different specifications were procured for the experiments, and the decline of the performance of each portable fan due to the friction loss etc. of a connected flexible duct was investigated by measuring actual flow rate.

Results
The flow rate showed an obvious decrease from the rated flow rate when a flexible duct was connected. Connection of a straight polyester flexible duct and a straight aluminum flexible duct reduced the flow rates to 81.2–52.9% and less than 50%, respectively. The flow rate decreased with an increase of the bend angle of the flexible duct.

Conclusion
It is recommended that flow rate check of a portable fan should be diligently carried out in every job site.
The practice of active rest by workplace units improves personal relationships, mental health, and physical activity among workers
Authors: Michishita Ryoma , Jiang Ying , Ariyoshi Daisuke , Yoshida Marie , Moriyama Hideko , Yamato Hiroshi 
Published: December 2016

Abstract

Aim
This study was designed to clarify the effects of active rest, with a focus on the practice of shorttime group exercise by workplace units, on personal relationships, mental health, physical activity, and work ability among workers.

Methods
Fifty-nine white-collar workers (40 males and 19 females) performed our active rest (short-time exercise) program, which consists of warm-up, cognitive functional training, aerobic exercise, resistance training and cool-down for 10 minutes per day, 3 times per week during their lunch breaks for 10 weeks. Participants from a workplace unit were randomly allocated to the intervention (five workplaces, n=29) or control groups (six workplaces, n=30). The participants’ anthropometric measurements, and their Profile of Mood States (POMS) 2, Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ), physical activity levels and Work Ability Index were examined at the baseline and after the 10-week intervention.

Results
After 10 weeks, physical activity levels, especially the time spent in moderate and vigorous intensity, increased in the intervention group (p&lt;0.05). The items of “vigor-activity” and “friendliness” improved in POMS 2, while “vigor,” “interpersonal stress,” “support from superiors, colleagues, and family/friends,” and “job satisfaction” improved in BJSQ in the intervention group (p&lt;0.05). In the intervention group, the number of exercise participation was positively correlated with the change in “vigor-activity” in POMS 2 (r=0.467, p=0.011).

Conclusions
These results suggest that the practice of active rest by workplace units is important for improving personal relationships, mental health, and physical activity among workers.
COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE
Authors: Aytov Spartak Sh. 
Published: December 2016

Purpose. The aim of this work is the intelligent reconstruction and the analysis of the various methodological approaches to cognitive areas of modern philosophy of history and determines their cognitive and academic relationships with conceptual terms of such branches of historical knowledge as historical anthropology. Methodology. Methodological tools of this work are such scientific approaches as methods of philosophy of science, interdisciplinary approach, methods of source and system analysis. Scientific novelty. Reproduced and analyzed was a number of methodological approaches inherent in the natural sciences and the social - the humanities. The latter, in accordance with the principles of interdisciplinary paradigm, is very widely applied by the modern philosophy of historical knowledge, in particular in the analysis of the historical process and its main elements: the mentality, attitudes and norms of socially significant and personal behavior of individuals and societies of the past. The influence of research on various historical and historical anthropological problems such concepts implanted in the methodology of modern philosophy of history scientific disciplines as chaos theory, synergetics, mathematical biology, ethnology, social psychology, etc. Focuses on intellectual connections are used in the philosophy of history, historical knowledge interdisciplinary methodology, theory and concepts of natural science and social - humanities. They are used to analyze and understand the complex and multifaceted historical events and processes. Conclusions. The result of the analysis of the cognitive dynamics applications in the philosophy of history of conceptual approaches of a very wide range of scientific disciplines has been the allocation of a number of phases of the mining process. Each of them has special logic - methodological and socio cultural characteristics ("Data"). Internal, cognitive science dynamics of this unity was not the aiming at the destruction of the previous intellectual tradition, but its deepening and updating on the basis of the implementation of more effective and diverse methodological approaches.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL COMPONENT OF DESCARTES’ ONTOLOGY
Authors: Malivskyi Anatolii M. 
Published: December 2016

The purpose of the article is to outline and comprehend the Descartes’ theory about anthropological component of ontology as the most important part of his philosophy. The accomplishment of this purpose covers the successive solution of the following tasks: 1) review of the research literature concerning the problem of human’s presence and the individual nature of truth; 2) emphasize the ambivalence of the basic intention of his legacy; 3) justify the thesis about constitutivity of human’s presence and comprehend passions as the form of disclosure of ontology’s anthropological component. Methodology. The use of the euristic potential of phenomenology, postpositivism and postmodernism makes it possible to emphasize the multiple-layer and multiple-meaning classical philosophy works, to comprehend the limitation and scarcity of the naïve-enlightening vision of human nature and to look for a new reception of European classics that provides the overcoming of established nihilism and pessimism concerning the interpretation of human nature. Scientific novelty. It is the first time that anthropological component of Descartes’ ontology became an object of particular attention. It previously lacked attention because of following main reasons: 1) traditional underestimating of the fact of Descartes’ legacy incompleteness as an unrealized anthropological project and 2) lack of proper attention to the individual nature of truth. The premise for its constructive overcoming is the attention to ambivalence of the basic intention and the significance of ethics in the philosopher’s legacy. His texts and research literature allow confirming the constitutive nature of human’s presence and passions as the key form of disclosure of the ontology anthropological component. Conclusions. The established tradition of interpretation the Descartes’ philosophizing nature as the filiation process of impersonal knowledge loses its cogency these days. The unprejudiced vision of the texts urges to revise (1) the interpretation of cognition process as reflection, (2) the vision of philosophizing process as the depersonalized one, and (3) reduced human image as a thinking thing as unacceptable.
EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MODERN BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONAL PARADIGM
Authors: Tokovenko O. S. 
Published: December 2016

The purpose of the work is finding the reasonability of using bio-evolutionary paradigm for researching ratio morphic cognitive activity. Methodology. Methodological grounds consist of the original principles and conceptual apparatus of evolutionary epistemology. Scientific novelty. The article identifies opportunities for using of biological and evolutionary paradigm to study the peculiarities of ratiomorphic cognitive backgrounds and their influence on the formation and development of human knowledge. Conclusions. The article concludes that together with the idea of hyper cycles (feedback loop with mutual transmission of information in cognitive process) the concept of ratiomorphic cognitive backgrounds, as well as attempts to examine cognitive processes based on the scientific criteria (empirical verification, explanatory power and ability to predict) should be certainly considered as a positive contribution to the development of evolutionary epistemology into modern epistemological research. However, it is also indicated the fact of narrowing the heuristic possibilities of this epistemological direction because of excessive metaphor of bio-evolutionary paradigm. Further development of evolutionary epistemological research is considered in shifting the emphasis from biological and evolutionary towards cultural and evolutionary paradigm.
Briefing: Cost of accidents in the construction industry of Oman
Authors: Umar Tariq 
Published: December 2016

In this paper, ongoing and planned projects for the financial year 2015–2016 in different sectors in Oman are presented. While specific focus is on the construction industry, the costs of accidents associated with the projects in different sectors are estimated by two criteria: considering the number of workers and projects value. Although the cost of accidents is accumulating to a huge amount, construction organisations and the government can play their role in reducing the number of accidents and thus the total costs of accidents in construction. The financial benefits of preventive cost of the accidents are discussed briefly. A better understanding of the financial benefits of improved safety performance will encourage construction organisations in Oman to enhance their safety performance. The role of a safety and health regulatory organisation for conducting inspections and enforcement of safety and health law is significantly important for overall construction safety improvement. Such organisations will not only improve the safety and health performance in construction and other sectors, but will also be a source of revenue and a support to the country's economy. For a more reliable and true cost of accidents, further research is recommended considering Oman's construction-specific factors to estimate the cost of accidents.
Socialización de unidades didácticas para la enseñanza-aprendizaje de enlace químico a estudiantes que cursan asignaturas básicas en educación superior
Authors: Cárdenas-Ojeda Mercedes 
Published: December 2016

En esta investigación se socializa un modelo para la planificación de la enseñanza, basado en el diseño de Unidades Didácticas; este instrumento no puede considerarse de validez universal, pero es reproducible, ya que cada dispositivo didáctico aporta un perfil profesional emergente a nivel de educación superior, esto con miras a potenciar la comprensión del tema de Enlace Químico, con la identificación de algunas dificultades que presentan los estudiantes al entender la relación de las propiedades físicas de los compuestos con los Enlaces Químicos, con la complejidad que esto demanda. El tipo de investigación es empírica y se ubica en el enfoque constructivista. El test Enlace Covalente y su estructura, se aplicó como instrumento de diagnóstico a 42 estudiantes de Química y Licenciatura en Ciencias Naturales y Educación ambiental, en formación inicial universitaria en Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, teniendo como hipótesis: a) nula, las primeras 5 preguntas tendrán un 80% de aciertos; b) alternativa, las primeras cinco preguntas arrojarán un porcentaje de acierto,mayor al 80%; c) la percepción de este tema resulta ser un campo que permite dar explicación a los fenómenos naturales y d) su acertada explicación permite evitar que los estudiantes adapten errores conceptuales y aprendan significativamente.
Estrategias didácticas en tecnologías web para ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje
Authors: Saza-Garzón Ilber Dario 
Published: December 2016

Los Ambientes Virtuales de Aprendizaje (AVA) han sido un tema de discusión y de interrogantes sobre todo en la búsqueda de las mejores prácticas docentes, de cuáles herramientas puede usar y cómo darles el óptimo aprovechamiento para lograr tener mejores resultados en la educación virtual, por lo tanto en este documento se exponen algunos elementos sobre las características, antecedentes, didácticas, estudios que tiene los ambientes virtuales y aplicaciones de la web como herramientas de apoyo a los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje, para que un tutor virtual tenga en cuenta a la hora de planificar, diseñar, crear e implementar cursos virtuales. En consecuencia, el lector encontrará conceptos, explicaciones y diferentes procesos evolutivos que ha sufrido las TIC y como estas se han involucrado en el contexto educativo, divisando sus posibles aplicaciones desde la mediación de la didáctica, además se exponen algunas sugerencias de cómo llevar a cabo el uso de las mismas en los ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje para fortalecer los diferentes procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje.
Transformando la universidad en Colombia: hacia la construcción de nuevos escenarios
Authors: Romero-Hurtado Lilia Cristina , Colina-de-Andrade Doris Magaly 
Published: December 2016

Este articulo plantea la necesidad de transformar la universidad en Colombia, entendiendo que el desafío está en que las universidades se involucren en la vida social, apuesten por la transformación de educadores y de educandos en la construcción de un nuevo escenario educativo que consolide una sociedad justa e igualitaria, respondiendo a una visión integradora, misma que permita abordar problemas fuera de barreras disciplinarias y esquemas pedagógicos tradicionales, desarrolle competencias, conocimientos, habilidades que impacten y propicien ambientes abiertos y flexibles de educación. La universidad que debemos construir, haciendo eco de Ribeiro, es “una Utopía en el mundo de las ideas”, aquella capaz de actuar como agencia de aceleración evolutiva de la sociedad, que sea vínculo o expresión moderna de la conciencia nacional, e interprete la realidad del País. Una universidad que forme a las nuevas generaciones para que afronten y asuman el futuro de manera responsable de cara a los compromisos de la nueva sociedad que se gesta, orientando sus esfuerzos a la investigación, pero por sobre todas las cosas, a la humanización de los saberes.