Disaster Risk Management through Community Participation A Case Study of Ampara Coastal Area, Sri Lanka

Many large and small scale disasters such as landslides, floods, droughts,cyclones, epidemics, etc., have caused thousands of human deaths, displaced millions ofpeople and caused devastating impacts to the socio-economy and environment of SriLanka in the past and will probably do so in the future. Historically, disasters have beensupposed as isolated events and responded with „emergency relief‟ as the standardremedy after a disaster. Although, there were some disaster management initiativesearlier, they were mostly reactive emphasizing relief and recovery rather than proactivewith damage prevention or minimization strategies. Community participation in disasterrisk management efforts were not regarded as essential before, until 2004 tsunamidisaster. Therefore, this research study endeavors to analyze the communityparticipation in disaster risk management efforts in Ampara coastal region before andafter the 2004 December tsunami. The data and information for the research study wascollected through primary and secondary data collection methods and primary datacollection includes open-ended questionnaires and interviews. Qualitative datacollection method was mainly employed to achieve the objectives of the present study.Many disaster risk management efforts and strategies came into Ampara coastalareas immediately after the devastating impacts of 2004 December tsunami as thisregion became the hardest hit region of the country. Most of these programmes wereinitiated mainly with the participation of the local and vulnerable communities andcommunity groups like school children, elders, women, fishermen, security forces,religious leaders, journalists, etc., with the involvement of other stakeholders likegovernmental organizations, grass-root organizations and INGOs. Disaster riskmanagement through sports, religion, school drama, exhibition, disaster mapping, mockgrills and evacuation programmes were some of the main programmes that wereintimated by both governmental organizations and INGOs in the area.The study shows that community participation in disaster risk management andresilience programmes was very high immediately after the 2004 tsunami disaster.However, there has been a decreasing trend in the community participation afterwardsdue to several reasons. Further, study reveals that local people had been used andpracticed their own traditional knowledge and methods in disaster risk management inthe past. However, they have received a proper knowledge and training especially after2004 tsunami disaster.Key words: Disaster, Risk, Participation, Vulnerable and resilience

The Role of Integrated Reporting in Enhancing Corporate Transparency and Communication

The primary purpose of the research is to analyze and evaluate the prospects for the success of Integrated Reporting in terms of its potential to increase corporate transparency and enhance corporate communication. The relevance of the decision of this scientific problem is that the European Union published a proposal for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in April 2021 that highlights the importance of intangible assets and value creatio

Biochemical Characterization, Antifungal Activity, and Relative Gene Expression of Two Mentha Essential Oils Controlling Fusarium oxysporum, the Causal Agent of Lycopersicon esculentum Root Rot

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is important food in daily human diets. Root rot disease by Fusarium oxysporum caused huge losses in tomato quality and yield annually. The extensive use of synthetic and chemical fungicides has environmental risks and health problems. Recent studies have pointed out the use of medicinal plant essential oils (EOs) and extracts for controlling fungal diseases. In the current research, Mentha spicata and Mentha longifolia EOs were used in different concentrations to control F. oxysporum. Many active compounds are present in these two EOs such as: thymol, adapic acid, menthol and menthyl acetate. These compounds possess antifungal effect through malformation and degradation of the fungal cell wall. The relative expression levels of distinctly upregulated defense-related WRKY genes (WRKY1, WRKY4, WRKY33 and WRKY53) in seedling root were evaluated as a plant-specific transcription factor (TF) group in different response pathways of abiotic stress. Results showed significant expression levels of WRKY, WRKY53, WRKY33, WRKY1 and WRKY4 genes. An upregulation was observed in defense-related genes such as chitinase and defensin in roots by application EOs under pathogen condition. In conclusion, M. spicata and M. longifolia EOs can be used effectively to control this plant pathogen as sustainable and eco-friendly botanical fungicides

PRODUCTION OF L-TRYPTOPHAN BY MUTANTS OF CORYNEBACTERIUM GLUTAMICUM

L-Tryptophan, is one of the amino acids, also is one of the 9 essential amino acids of human which cannot be synthesized internally by him, microbial production is the main method for obtaining tryptophan for commercial uses. Typical microorganisms used for tryptophan production are E. coli and C. glutamicum. In this study, random mutations is performed on two strains of C. glutamicum to increase tryptophan production, the produced tryptophan measured by bioassay using tryptophan auxotroph E. coli (JW1254-2) strain, the mutations are performed using UV radiation. To detect and compare the difference between the parent strains and the muted strains genetically two molecular markers were used start codon targeted polymorphism (SCoT) and Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR). Tryptophan remarkably increased after C. glutamicum mutation to reach 278.4 µg/ml (1257.4% increment) from one mutated strain. Molecular genetics methods showed an ability to distinguish between the two original strains and their mutants and it showed the importance of the mutation by UV radiation for increasing the productivity of the bacteria to tryptophan

Green Synthesized of Thymus vulgaris Chitosan Nanoparticles Induce Relative WRKY-Genes Expression in Solanum lycopersicum against Fusarium solani, the Causal Agent of Root Rot Disease

: Fusarium solani is a plant pathogenic fungus that causes tomato root rot disease and yield losses in tomato production. The current study's main goal is testing the antibacterial efficacy of chitosan nanoparticles loaded with Thyme vulgaris essential oil (ThE-CsNPs) against F. solani in vitro and in vivo. GC-MS analysis was used to determine the chemical constituents of thyme EO. ThE-CsNPs were investigated using transmission electron microscopy before being physicochemically characterized using FT-IR. ThE-CsNPs were tested for antifungal activity against F. solani mycelial growth in vitro. A pot trial was conducted to determine the most effective dose of ThE-CsNPs on the morph/physiological characteristics of Solanum lycopersicum, as well as the severity of fusarium root rot. The relative gene expression of WRKY transcript factors and defense-associated genes were quantified in root tissues under all treatment conditions. In vitro results revealed that ThE-CsNPs (1%) had potent antifungal efficacy against F. solani radial mycelium growth. The expression of three WRKY transcription factors and three tomato defense-related genes was upregulated. Total phenolic, flavonoid content, and antioxidant enzyme activity were all increased. The outfindings of this study strongly suggested the use of ThE-CsNPs in controlling fusarium root rot on tomatoes; however, other experiments remain necessary before they are recommended

Tetracycline resistance phenotypes and genotypes of coagulase-negative staphylococcal isolates from bubaline mastitis in Egypt

Aim: This study was devoted to elucidate the tetracycline resistance of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) derived from normal and subclinical mastitic (SCM) buffaloes' milk in Egypt. Materials and Methods: A total of 81 milk samples from 46 normal buffalo milk samples and 35 SCM buffalo milk samples at private dairy farms of Egypt were used in this study. CNS were identified using phenotypic and molecular methods (polymerase chain reaction [PCR]). CNS isolates were tested for tetracycline resistance using routine methods and multiplex PCR targeting tetracycline (tet) resistance genes followed by sequencing of positive PCR products and phylogenetic analysis. Results: Isolation and identification of 28 (34.5%) CNS from normal and SCM buffaloes' milk, namely, Staphylococcus intermedius (39.2%), Staphylococcus xylosus (25.0%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (10.7%), Staphylococcus hominis (10.7%), and 3.5% to each of Staphylococcus sciuri, Staphylococcus hyicus, Staphylococcus lugdunensis, and Staphylococcus simulans. Using nested PCR, all the 28 CNS isolates revealed positive for 16srRNA gene specific for genus staphylococci and negative for thermonuclease (nuc) gene specific for Staphylococcus aureus species. The presence of tetracycline resistance-encoding genes (tetK, tetL, tetM, and tetO) was detected by multiplex PCR. All isolates were negative for tetL, M, and O genes while 14 (50%) CNS isolates were positive for tetK gene, namely, S. lugdunensis (100%), S. hominis (100%), S. epidermidis (66.6%), S. intermedius (45.4%), and S. xylosus (42.8%). Nucleotide sequencing of tetK gene followed by phylogenetic analysis showed the high homology between our CNS isolates genes of tetracycline resistance with S. aureus isolates including Egyptian ones. This proves the transfer of the tetracycline resistance encoding genes between coagulase-negative and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus spp. Conclusion: CNS isolates have distinguishingly high resistance to tetracycline. Abundant tetracycline usage for mastitis treatment leads to the spread of genetic resistance mechanisms inside CNS strains and among all Staphylococcus spp. Consequently, tetracycline is not effective anymore

ISOLATION AND MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF INDIGENOUS BACTERIAL ISOLATES ABLE TO DEGRADE ORGANOPHOSPHATES

The wide and indiscriminate use of pesticides for pest control in agriculture has inflicted serious harm and problems to humans as well as to the biodiversity. Microbial degradation of pesticides in contaminated soils has been considered advantageous to decontaminate areas that have been polluted by pesticides. Chlorpyrifos and diazinon were the most persistent residues in Egyptian soils. Four bacterial isolates were isolated from organophosphorus insecticides contaminated soils and genetically identified based on DNA sequence of 16s rDNA gene, Cronobacter muytjensii GH10, Achromobacter xylosoxidans GH9OP, Pseudomonas aeruginosa GH2NO8 and Pseudomonas putida GH4SNO/P were able to degrade 92.59%, 97.75%, 91.82%, and 90.78% of diazinon (600mg/l) as compared with 16.99% in control and 93.43%, 78.51%, 93.18% and 95.36% of chlorpyrifos (480mg/l) as compared with 4.28%, in control, respectively after 20 days of incubation

Generation of cardiomyocytes from human-induced pluripotent stem cells resembling atrial cells with ability to respond to adrenoceptor agonists

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common chronic arrhythmia presenting a heavy disease burden. We report a new approach for generating cardiomyocytes (CMs) resembling atrial cells from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) using a combination of Gremlin 2 and retinoic acid treatment. More than 40% of myocytes showed rod-shaped morphology, expression of CM proteins (including ryanodine receptor 2, α-actinin-2 and F-actin) and striated appearance, all of which were broadly similar to the characteristics of adult atrial myocytes (AMs). Isolated myocytes were electrically quiescent until stimulated to fire action potentials with an AM profile and an amplitude of approximately 100 mV, arising from a resting potential of approximately −70 mV. Single-cell RNA sequence analysis showed a high level of expression of several atrial-specific transcripts including NPPA, MYL7, HOXA3, SLN, KCNJ4, KCNJ5 and KCNA5. Amplitudes of calcium transients recorded from spontaneously beating cultures were increased by the stimulation of α-adrenoceptors (activated by phenylephrine and blocked by prazosin) or β-adrenoceptors (activated by isoproterenol and blocked by CGP20712A). Our new approach provides human AMs with mature characteristics from hiPSCs which will facilitate drug discovery by enabling the study of human atrial cell signalling pathways and AF. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The heartbeat: its molecular basis and physiological mechanisms’

Multiphase induction motor drives - a technology status review

The area of multiphase variable-speed motor drives in general and multiphase induction motor drives in particular has experienced a substantial growth since the beginning of this century. Research has been conducted worldwide and numerous interesting developments have been reported in the literature. An attempt is made to provide a detailed overview of the current state-of-the-art in this area. The elaborated aspects include advantages of multiphase induction machines, modelling of multiphase induction machines, basic vector control and direct torque control schemes and PWM control of multiphase voltage source inverters. The authors also provide a detailed survey of the control strategies for five-phase and asymmetrical six-phase induction motor drives, as well as an overview of the approaches to the design of fault tolerant strategies for post-fault drive operation, and a discussion of multiphase multi-motor drives with single inverter supply. Experimental results, collected from various multiphase induction motor drive laboratory rigs, are also included to facilitate the understanding of the drive operatio

Inability to predict postpartum hemorrhage: insights from Egyptian intervention data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Knowledge on how well we can predict primary postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) can help policy makers and health providers design current delivery protocols and PPH case management. The purpose of this paper is to identify risk factors and determine predictive probabilities of those risk factors for primary PPH among women expecting singleton vaginal deliveries in Egypt.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From a prospective cohort study, 2510 pregnant women were recruited over a six-month period in Egypt in 2004. PPH was defined as blood loss ≥ 500 ml. Measures of blood loss were made every 20 minutes for the first 4 hours after delivery using a calibrated under the buttocks drape. Using all variables available in the patients' charts, we divided them in ante-partum and intra-partum factors. We employed logistic regression to analyze socio-demographic, medical and past obstetric history, and labor and delivery outcomes as potential PPH risk factors. Post-model predicted probabilities were estimated using the identified risk factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found a total of 93 cases of primary PPH. In multivariate models, ante-partum hemoglobin, history of previous PPH, labor augmentation and prolonged labor were significantly associated with PPH. Post model probability estimates showed that even among women with three or more risk factors, PPH could only be predicted in 10% of the cases.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The predictive probability of ante-partum and intra-partum risk factors for PPH is very low. Prevention of PPH to all women is highly recommended.</p