Search results for: general hospital

Authors: Victoria Scarratt

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Couples involved in age-gap relationships generally evoke negative stereotypes, opinions, and social disapproval. This research seeks to examine whether financial disparities in age-discrepant relationships cause negative attitudes in study participants. It was hypothesized that an age-gap couple (29 year difference) would receive a greater degree of societal disapproval when the couple also had a large salary gap compared to a similarly aged couple (1 year difference) with a salary gap. Additionally, there would be no significant difference between age-gap couples without a salary-gap compared to a similarly aged couple without a salary gap. To test the hypothesis, participants were given one of four scenarios regarding a couple in a romantic relationship.Then they were asked to respond to nine Likert scale questions. Results indicated that participants perceived age-gap relationships with a salary disparity to be less equitable in regard to a power imbalance between the couple and the financial and general gain that one partner will receive. A significant interaction was also detected for evoking feelings of disgust in participants and how morally correct it is for the couple to continue their relationship.

Keywords: age gap relationships, love, financial disparities, societal stigmas, relationship dynamics

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Authors: Ali Kassem, Mohamed Alsenbasy, Ahmed Nagaah

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Background: Diabetic foot is one of the often neglected complications of diabetes mellitus It was reported that patients of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) have considerable morbidity and mortality. Due to arterial abnormalities, diabetic neuropathy, as well as the tendency to delayed wound healing, foot infection and or gangrene is relatively common in diabetic patients. Foot related problems are responsible for up to 50% of diabetic related hospital admissions. Aim of work: The aim of the present study is to assess the risk factors for DFU in diabetic patients attending Sohag University Hospitals (Upper Egypt) Material and methods: The present study includes 100 diabetic foot patients attending the diabetic outpatient clinic of Sohag University Hospitals. For all of the studied patients the following were done: Full medical history and clinical examination; thorough foot examination; Laboratory tests including: Blood glucose level, HBA1c, serum lipids and renal function tests, ECG and Echocardiography, Doppler study on the lower limbs. Results: Sixty eight percent of the affected patients were males versus 32 % female patients. All male patients and none of the female were smoker. Seventy nine percent of patients were living in rural areas versus 14 % in urban areas. Duration of diabetes was more than 12 years in 74%, less than 12 years in 26% of patients. Fifty percent of patients have associated hypertension, 46% have dyslipidemia, 18% have ischemic heart disease or old myocardial infarction and 8% have impaired renal function. History of previous foot ulcers was reported in 11 % and foot amputation in 2% of patients. Conclusion: Male gender, low socioeconomic status, smoking, long duration of diabetes, other cardiovascular risk factors particularly hypertension and previous history of foot ulceration are the major risk factors for diabetic foot in our locality.

Keywords: diabetic foot, diabetic neuropathy, foot gangrene, risk factors for diabetic complications

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Authors: Hajnalka Szarvas

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The research examines the effectiveness of e-participation tools and methods from a point of view of cultural fitting to the Hungarian community traditions. Participation can have very different meanings depending on the local cultural and historical traditions, experiences of the certain societies. Generally when it is about e-democracy or e-participation tools most of the researches are dealing with its technological sides and novelties, but there is not much said about the cultural and social context of the different platforms. However from the perspective of their success it would be essential to look at the human factor too, the actual users, how the certain DMS or any online platform is fitting to the way of thought, the way of functioning of the certain society. Therefore the paper will explore that to what extent the different online platforms like Loomio, Democracy OS, Your Priorities EVoks, Populus, miutcank.hu, Liquid Democracy, Brain Bar Budapest Lab are compatible with the Hungarian mental structures and community traditions, the contents of collective mind about community functioning. As a result the influence of cultural embeddedness of the logic of e-participation development tools on success of these methods will be clearly seen. Furthermore the most crucial factors in general which determine the efficiency of e-participation development tools in Hungary will be demonstrated.

Keywords: cultural embeddedness, e-participation, local community traditions, mental structures

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Authors: Maria I. Nuñez-Hernández, Maria L. Riesco

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Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) up to 6 months old infant have been considered one of the most important factors in the overall development of children. Nevertheless, as resources are scarce, it is essential to identify the most vulnerable groups that have major risk of EBF abandonment, in order to deliver the best strategies. Children of adolescent mothers are within these groups. Aims: To determine the EBF abandonment rate among adolescent mothers and to analyze the associated factors. Methods: Prospective cohort study of adolescent mothers in the southern area of Santiago, Chile, conducted in primary care services of public health system. The cohort was established from 2014 to 2015, with a sample of 105 adolescent mothers and their children at 2 months of life. The inclusion criteria were: adolescent mother from 14 to 19 years old; not twin babies; mother and baby leaving the hospital together after birthchild; correct attachment of the baby to the breast; no difficulty understanding the Spanish language or communicating. Follow-up was performed at 4 and 6 months old infant. Data were collected by interviews, considering EBF as breastfeeding only, without adding other milk, tea, juice, water or other product that not breast milk, except drugs. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics, by Kaplan-Meier estimator and Log-Rank test, admitting the probability of occurrence of type I error of 5% (p-value = 0.05). Results: The cumulative EBF abandonment rate at 2, 4 and 6 months was 33.3%, 52.2% and 63.8%, respectively. Factors associated with EBF abandonment were maternal perception of the quality of milk as poor (p < 0.001), maternal perception that the child was not satisfied after breastfeeding (p < 0.001), use of pacifier (p < 0.001), maternal consumption of illicit drugs after delivery (p < 0.001), mother return to school (p = 0.040) and presence of nipple trauma (p = 0.045). Conclusion: EBF abandonment rate was higher in the first 4 months of life and is superior to the population of women who breastfeed. Among the EBF abandonment factors, one of them is related to the adolescent condition, and two are related to the maternal subjective perception.

Keywords: adolescent, breastfeeding, midwifery, nursing

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Authors: Xin Li, Yan-Rong Guo, Jin-Fang Lin, Yi Feng, Håkan Billig, Ruijin Shao

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Background: Young women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have a high risk of developing endometrial carcinoma. There is a need for the development of new medical therapies that can reduce the need for surgical intervention so as to preserve the fertility of these patients. The aim of the study was to describe and discuss cases of PCOS and insulin resistance (IR) women with early endometrial carcinoma while being co-treated with Diane-35 and metformin. Methods: Five PCOS-IR women who were scheduled for diagnosis and therapy for early endometrial carcinoma were recruited. The hospital records and endometrial pathology reports were reviewed. All patients were co-treated with Diane-35 and metformin for 6 months to reverse the endometrial carcinoma and preserve their fertility. Before, during, and after treatment, endometrial biopsies and blood samples were obtained and oral glucose tolerance tests were performed. Endometrial pathology was evaluated. Body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), total testosterone (TT), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), free androgen index (FAI), insulin area under curve (IAUC), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were determined. Results: Clinical stage 1a, low grade endometrial carcinoma was confirmed before treatment. After 6 months of co-treatment, all patients showed normal epithelia. No evidence of atypical hyperplasia or endometrial carcinoma was found. Co-treatment resulted in significant decreases in BW, BMI, TT, FAI, IAUC, and HOMA-IR in parallel with a significant increase in SHBG. There were no differences in the FSH and LH levels after co-treatment. Conclusions: Combined treatment with Diane-35 and metformin has the potential to revert the endometrial carcinoma into normal endometrial cells in PCOS-IR women. The cellular and molecular mechanisms behind this effect merit further investigation.

Keywords: PCOS, progesterone resistance, insulin resistance, steroid hormone receptors, endometrial carcinoma

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Authors: Miranda Enesi, Helena Grillo Mukli

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The English word-stock is extremely rich in synonyms which can be largely accounted for by the abundant borrowing. Translation problems encountered by translators in general are usually ‘transfer problems’. They face more difficulties in the interpretation of meaning from the source language text than lexical differences between languages. The aim of the study is to inspect the various strategies used in translating from English into Albanian specific words in the ‘A Farwell to arms’ novel. For this purpose, examples translated from English into Albanian were examined. The Albanian equivalents have shown that various strategies were used in order to overcome the problem of rendering words and expressions into the target language. Employed strategies were synonymy, modulation, transposition, calque and word for word translation. In addition, this paper shows that the strategy of translating using synonymy is mostly used. In this paper, an attempt is made to examine the nature of contextual synonymy in order to investigate its problematic nature regarding translation. Types of synonymy are analyzed and then examples from English and Albanian versions are provided to examine the overlap between them.

Keywords: equivalence, literal translation, paraphrasing, transfer problems, synonymy

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Authors: Rupu Yang, Cong Toan Tran, Assaad Zoughaib

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The work provides an iterative nonlinear programming method to synthesize a heat exchanger network by manipulating the trade-offs between the heat load of process heat exchangers (HEs) and utilities. We consider for the synthesis problem two cases, the first one without fixed cost for HEs, and the second one with fixed cost. For the no fixed cost problem, the nonlinear programming (NLP) model with all the potential HEs is optimized to obtain the global optimum. For the case with fixed cost, the NLP model is iterated through adding/removing HEs. The method was applied in five case studies and illustrated quite well effectiveness. Among which, the approach reaches the lowest TAC (2,904,026$/year) compared with the best record for the famous Aromatic plants problem. It also locates a slightly better design than records in literature for a 10 streams case without fixed cost with only 1/9 computational time. Moreover, compared to the traditional mixed-integer nonlinear programming approach, the iterative NLP method opens a possibility to consider constraints (such as controllability or dynamic performances) that require knowing the structure of the network to be calculated.

Keywords: heat exchanger network, synthesis, NLP, optimization

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Authors: Chi-Jung Chung, Chao-Hsiang Chang, Chiu-Shong Liu, Sheng-Wei Li, Mu-Chi Chung, Ting-Jie Wen, Hui-Ling Lee

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Cigarette smoke contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as acrylamide, 1,3-butadiene, and benzene. This study aimed to explore the associations between the urinary levels of cotinine and VOC metabolites and the risk of urothelial carcinoma (UC). A hospital-based case–control study involving two groups matched on the basis of age ( ± 3 years) and gender was designed. UC was clinically diagnosed through urological examinations and pathologically verified. Smoking-related information was collected through questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with all study participants. Urine samples were collected for the analysis of the urinary levels of VOC metabolites, cotinine, and 8-hydroxydeoxygua- nosine (8-OHdG), which was selected as a proxy of oxidative stress. Multiple logistic regressions were applied to estimate the risk of UC. The urinary cotinine and 8-OHdG levels of the UC group were higher than those of the control group. The urinary levels of VOC metabolites, including N-acetyl-S-(2-carbamoylethyl)-L-cysteine (AAMA), N- acetyl-S-(2-carbamoyl-2-hydroxyethyl)-L-cysteine, N-acetyl-S- (4- hydroxy-2-buten-1-yl)-Lcysteine-3, trans, trans-muconic acid (t,t- MA), and S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA) increased as the urinary levels of cotinine increased. Relevant dose-response relationships between the risk of UC risk and the urinary levels of AAMA , t,t-MA, SPMA, and 8-OHdG were found after adjusting for potential risk factors. The UC risk of participants with high urinary levels of cotinine, AAMA, t,t-MA, SPMA, and 8-OHdG were 3.5–6-fold higher than those of other participants. Increased urinary levels of VOC metabolites were associated with smoking-related UC risk. The development of UC should be explored in large-scale in vitro or in vivo studies with the repeated measurement of VOC metabolites.

Keywords: volatile organic compound, urothelial carcinoma, cotinine, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine

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Authors: Asma A. Ben Ahmed, Hajer M. Alborawy, Alaa A. Mashina, Pradeep K. Velautham, Abdulmonem Gobassa, Emhemmed Elgallal, Mohamed N. El Attug

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Generic medicines are those where patent protection has expired, and which may be produced by manufacturers other than the innovator company. Use of generic medicines has been increasing in recent years, primarily as a cost saving measure in healthcare provision. Generic medicines are typically 20 – 90 % cheaper than originator equivalents. Physicians often continue to prescribe brand-name drugs to their patients even when less expensive pharmacologically equivalent generic drugs are available. Because generics are less expensive than their brand-name counterparts, the cost-savings to the patient is not the only factor that physicians consider when choosing between generic and brand-name drugs. Unfortunately Physicians in general and Libyan Physicians in particular tend to prescribe brand-name drugs, even without evidence of their therapeutic superiority, because neither they nor their insured patients bear these drugs’ increased cost with respect to generic substitutes. This study is to compare the quality of five different prednisolone tablets of the same strength from different companies under different trade names: Julphar, October pharma, Akums, Actavis, Pfizer compared them with pure prednisolone reference (BPCRS).

Keywords: quality control, pharmaceutical analysis, generic medicines, prednisolone

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Authors: Salah Eddine Ben Fadhel

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Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) was one of the most significant psychologists of the twentieth century despite his short life. His cultural-historical theory is still inspiring many researchers today. At the same time, we observe in many studies a lack of understanding of his thoughts. Vygotsky poses in this theory the contribution of society to individual development and learning. Thus, it suggests that human learning is largely a social and cultural process, further mentioning the influence of interactions between people and the culture in which they live. In this presentation, we highlight, on the one hand, the strong points of the theory by highlighting the major questions it raises and its contribution to developmental psychology in general. On the other hand, we will demonstrate what Vygotsky's theory brings today to the understanding of the cognitive development of children and adolescents. The major objective is to better understand the cognitive mechanisms involved in the learning process in children and adolescents and, therefore, demonstrate the complex nature of psychological development. The main contribution is to provide conceptual insight, which allows us to better understand the importance of the theory and its major pedagogical implications.

Keywords: vygotsky, society, culture, history

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Authors: Ssekamanya, Mastura Badzis, Khamsiah Ismail, Dayang Shuzaidah Bt Abduludin

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With rising incidents of school violence worldwide, educators and researchers are trying to understand and find ways to enhance the safety of children at school. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the demographic variables of gender, age, length of service, position, academic qualification, and school location predicted teachers’ awareness about school safety practices in Malaysian primary schools. A stratified random sample of 380 teachers was selected in the central Malaysian states of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Multiple regression analysis revealed that none of the factors was a good predictor of awareness about school safety training, delivery methods of school safety information, and available school safety programs. Awareness about school safety activities was significantly predicted by school location (whether the school was located in a rural or urban area). While these results may reflect a general lack of awareness about school safety among primary school teachers in the selected locations, a national study needs to be conducted for the whole country.

Keywords: school safety awareness, predictors of school safety, multiple regression analysis, malaysian primary schools

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Authors: Peeranan Wisanskoonwong, Sumitta Sawangtook

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Practicum in Midwifery II is the subject that affects most students to be stressed and anxious because they lack of experiences and self-confidence in delivery baby. This study is a qualitative research. That research objectives were (1) to study learning through reflective practice of nursing students (2) to explain the effects of learning through reflective practice of nursing students in the delivery room. The selected key informant method was criterion-based selection. Thirty-two of fourth-year nursing students in Kuakarun Faculty of nursing who practiced in Delivery room at Taksin Hospital in academic year 2014 were selected. Data collection was data triangulation which consisted of in-depth interview, group discussion and reading students’ reflective practice journal. The research instruments were students’ reflective practice journal, semi-structured questionnaires for in-depth interview, group discussion. Data analysis was thematic analysis. The research result found that: The learning method through reflective practice of nursing students in the delivery room were (1) reflective practice journal (2) dialogue (3) critical thinking and problem solving (4) incident analysis (5) self-criticism (6) observation and evaluation of practice. There were eight issues that students learned through their reflective practice were that (1) students' ethics and morality. (2) students' knowledge and comprehension (3) creative thinking of students (4) communications and collaboration (5) experiential learning of students (6) students’memories and impressions (7) students’experience in delivery baby (8) self-learning of students. Learning through reflective practice supported students’ awareness in improving knowledge and learning continuously and systematically. It helped to adjust the attitude to learning and leadership to be careful which help develop their skills, including critical thinking and understand themselves and understand others. Recommendation for applying research results: midwifery and nursing lecturers can apply these results to be a guide for development their clinical teaching in delivery rooms and other wards.

Keywords: learning, reflection, birth, qualitative research

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Authors: Parsa Keyvani, Alistair Phillips, David Warwick

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Background: The current process for gaining patient consent for hand and wrist surgery at University Hospital Southampton (UHS) is paper-based and makes use of generic forms provided by the NHS and no patient information leaflet is available relating to hand and wrist surgery. Aims: To evaluate the process of obtaining clinical consent and suggest ways in which the service can be improved. Methods: A log-book review of four orthopaedic surgeons at UHS was carried out over a three-month period in order to identify the 10 most common types of elective hand and wrist surgeries performed. A literature review was carried out to identify the complications of these surgeries. The surgeries were then divided into 6 types: nerve, bone, ligament, joint, tendon and dupuytren’s surgery. A digitised consent form was created covering the complications of all 6 surgery types. Finally, the surgeons at the orthopaedic department of UHS were asked whether they prefer the old paper-based or the digitised consent form. Results: All of the surgeons felt that the procedure type-based form was easier to read, use and understand. Conclusion: This research highlights a number of problems related to the use of current NHS consent forms. The proposed solution is to use a set of digitised, procedure type-based consent forms. Digital consent forms can be filled in in advance and sent to the patient electronically along with any relevant information leaflets, thus giving them time to absorb the information and come up with any questions before they have their pre-procedure discussion with their doctor. This would allow the doctor to focus the consultation on the patient rather than writing out the consent form and would ultimately be a step forward in making the NHS a global digital leader and fully embrace the opportunity offered by technology.

Keywords: digitised consent form, elective surgery, hand surgery complications, informed consent, procedure type-based consent form

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Authors: Sean Paulsen, Michael Casey

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In this work we present a self-supervised pretraining framework for transformers on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data. First, we pretrain our architecture on two self-supervised tasks simultaneously to teach the model a general understanding of the temporal and spatial dynamics of human auditory cortex during music listening. Our pretraining results are the first to suggest a synergistic effect of multitask training on fMRI data. Second, we finetune the pretrained models and train additional fresh models on a supervised fMRI classification task. We observe significantly improved accuracy on held-out runs with the finetuned models, which demonstrates the ability of our pretraining tasks to facilitate transfer learning. This work contributes to the growing body of literature on transformer architectures for pretraining and transfer learning with fMRI data, and serves as a proof of concept for our pretraining tasks and multitask pretraining on fMRI data.

Keywords: transfer learning, fMRI, self-supervised, brain decoding, transformer, multitask training

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Authors: Durjoy Lahiri, Vishal Madhukar Sawale, Ashwani Bhat, Souvik Dubey, Gautam Das, Biman Kanti Roy, Suparna Chatterjee, Goutam Gangopadhyay

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Crossed aphasia has been an area of considerable interest for cognitive researchers as it offers a fascinating insight into cerebral lateralization for language function. We conducted an observational study in the stroke unit of a tertiary care neurology teaching hospital in eastern India on subjects with crossed aphasia over a period of four years. During the study period, we detected twelve cases of crossed aphasia in strongly right-handed patients, caused by ischemic stroke. The age, gender, vernacular language and educational status of the patients were noted. Aphasia type and severity were assessed using Bengali version of Western Aphasia Battery (validated). Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and angiography were used to evaluate the location and extent of the ischemic lesion in brain. Our series of 12 cases of crossed aphasia included 7 male and 5 female with mean age being 58.6 years. Eight patients were found to have Broca’s aphasia, 3 had trans-cortical motor aphasia and 1 patient suffered from global aphasia. Nine patients were having very severe aphasia and 3 suffered from mild aphasia. Mirror-image type of crossed aphasia was found in 3 patients, whereas 9 had anomalous variety. In our study crossed aphasia was found to be more frequent in males. Anomalous pattern was more common than mirror-image. Majority of the patients had motor-type aphasia and no patient was found to have pure comprehension deficit. We hypothesize that in Bengali-speaking right-handed population, lexical-semantic system of the language network remains loyal to the left hemisphere even if the phonological output system is anomalously located in the right hemisphere.

Keywords: aphasia, crossed, lateralization, language function, vascular

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Authors: M. M. Hlakola, E. Golovins, D. V. Nicolae

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The field of instrumentation electronics is undergoing an explosive growth, due to its wide range of applications. The proliferation of electrical devices in a close working proximity can negatively influence each other’s performance. The degradation in the performance is due to electromagnetic interference (EMI). This paper investigates the negative effects of electromagnetic interference originating in the General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) control-network of the ac-dc transfer measurement system. Remedial measures of reducing measurement errors and failure of range of industrial devices due to EMI have been explored. The ac-dc transfer measurement system was analyzed for the common-mode (CM) EMI effects. Further investigation of coupling path as well as more accurate identification of noise propagation mechanism has been outlined. To prevent the occurrence of common-mode (ground loops) which was identified between the GPIB system control circuit and the measurement circuit, a microcontroller-driven GPIB switching isolator device was designed, prototyped, programmed and validated. This mitigation technique has been explored to reduce EMI effectively.

Keywords: CM, EMI, GPIB, ground loops

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Authors: H. Paredes Gutiérrez, S. T. Pérez-Merchancano

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Motivated by recent experimental and theoretical developments, we investigate the influence of embedded quantum dot (EQD) of different geometries (lens, ring and pyramidal) in a double barrier heterostructure (DBH). We work with a general theory of quantum transport that accounts the tight-binding model for the spin dependent resonant tunneling in a semiconductor nanostructure, and Rashba spin orbital to study the spin orbit coupling. In this context, we use the second quantization theory for Rashba effect and the standard Green functions method. We calculate the current density as a function of the voltage without and in the presence of quantum dots. In the second case, we considered the size and shape of the quantum dot, and in the two cases, we worked considering the spin polarization affected by external electric fields. We found that the EQD generates significant changes in current when we consider different morphologies of EQD, as those described above. The first thing shown is that the current decreases significantly, such as the geometry of EQD is changed, prevailing the geometrical confinement. Likewise, we see that the current density decreases when the voltage is increased, showing that the quantum system studied here is more efficient when the morphology of the quantum dot changes.

Keywords: quantum semiconductors, nanostructures, quantum dots, spin polarization

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Authors: Abdul Qader Melhm, Hussein Elrafidi

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This paper is dealing with studying the structural behavior of a steel-composite hollow reinforced concrete (RC) column model under combined eccentric loading. The composite model consists of an inner steel tube surrounded via a concrete core with longitudinal and circular transverse reinforcement. The radius of gyration according to American and Euro specifications be calculated, in order to calculate the thinnest ratio for this type of composite column model, in addition to the flexural rigidity. Formulas for interaction diagram is given for this type of model, which is a general loading conditions in which an element is exposed to an axial load with bending at the same time. The structural capacity of this model, elastic, plastic loads and strains will be computed and compared with experimental results. The total eccentric axial load of the column model is calculated based on the effective length KL available from several relationships provided in the paper. Furthermore, the inner tube experiences buckling failure after reaching its maximum strength will be investigated.

Keywords: column, composite, eccentric, inner tube, interaction, reinforcement

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Authors: Bouneua Khamphilavanh, Toshihiko Masui

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The penetration of EV (electric vehicle) technology in Lao road transportation, in this study, was analyzed by using the AIM/CGE [Laos] model. The computable general equilibrium (CGE) model was developed by the Asia-Pacific Integrated Model (AIM) team. In line with the increase of the number of road vehicles, the energy demand in the transport sector has been gradually increased which resulted in a large amount of budget spent for importing fossil fuels during the last decade, and a high carbon dioxide emission from the transport sector, hence the aim of this research is to analyze the impact of EVs penetration on economic and CO₂ emission in short-term, middle-term, and long-term. By the year 2050, the expected gross domestic product (GDP) value, due to Laos will spend more budget for importing the EV, will be gradually lost up to one percent. The cumulative CO₂ emission from 2020 to 2050 in BAU case will be 12,000 GgCO₂eq, and those in the EV mitigation case will be 9,300 GgCO₂eq, which accounting for likely 77% cumulative CO₂ emission reduction in the road transport sector by introducing the EV technology.

Keywords: GDP, CO₂ mitigation, CGE model, EV technology, transport

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Authors: Farzad Razavi, Behrooz Taheri, Mohammad Parpaei, Mehdi Mohammadi Ghalesefidi, Siamak Zarei

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As one of the major problems in protecting large-dimension power systems, power swing and its effect on distance have caused a lot of damages to energy transfer systems in many parts of the world. Therefore, power swing has gained attentions of many researchers, which has led to invention of different methods for power swing detection. Power swing detection algorithm is highly important in distance relay, but protection relays should have general requirements such as correct fault detection, response rate, and minimization of disturbances in a power system. To ensure meeting the requirements, protection relays need different tests during development, setup, maintenance, configuration, and troubleshooting steps. This paper covers power swing scheme of the modern numerical relay protection, 7sa522 to address the effect of the different fault types on the function of the power swing blocking. In this study, it was shown that the different fault types during power swing cause different time for unblocking distance relay.

Keywords: power swing, distance relay, power system protection, relay test, transient in power system

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Authors: Samir Sarfraj Terdalkar

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India needs to step into affordable higher education with more focus on skill development and employability. The general scenario of higher education in India revolves around two major branches of higher education ie., Engineering and Medical Sciences. These two branches still cannot be considered as affordable. Hence, skill development of each and every student beginning from the school education should emphasize on learning skills with special focus on physics and mathematics. In India, the Central Government initiated a survey based process of all higher Educational Institutes/ Universities and colleges in India. This survey/ process was – All India Survey On Higher Education (AISHE). The focus of this process was understand and Though the increase is significant, it is necessary to propagate skill and vocational education which would add to the employability factor. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in number of higher education institutes, there is need to rethink on the type of education/ curriculum offered by these institutions. In this regard, vocational education has helped to build skill sets to certain extent. There is need to bring in this vocational educational in main stream education which could be complementary for undergraduate / post graduate education. The paper focuses on different policies to bring in vocational/ skill education.

Keywords: higher education, skill, vocational, India

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Authors: Pei-Chun Chen, Chi-Ting Tseng, Lih-Chi Chen, Kai-Hsiang Yang

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Introduction: The pharmacist is responsible for encouraging adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting. In a local center in Northern Taiwan, promotion and rewarding of ADR reporting have continued for over six years but failed to bring significant changes. This study aims to find a solution to increase ADR reporting. Research question or hypothesis: We hypothesized that under-reporting is due to the inconvenience of the reporting system. Reports were made conventionally through printed sheets. We proposed that reports made per month will increase if they were computerized. Study design: An ADR reporting platform was established in April 2015, before which was defined as the first stage of this study (January-March, 2015) and after which the second stage. The third stage commenced in November, 2015, after adding a reporting module to physicians prescription system. ADRs could be reported simultaneously when documenting drug allergies. Methods: ADR report rates during the three stages of the study were compared. Effects of the information platform on reporting were also analyzed. Results: During the first stage, the number of ADR reports averaged 6 per month. In the second stage, the number of reports per month averaged 1.86. Introducing the information platform had little effect on the monthly number of ADR reports. The average number of reports each month during the third stage of the study was 11±3.06, with 70.43% made electronically. Reports per month increased significantly after installing the reporting module in November, 2015 (P<0.001, t-test). In the first two stages, 29.03% of ADR reports were made by physicians, as compared to 70.42% of cases in the third stage of the study. Increased physician reporting possibly account for these differences. Conclusion: Adding a reporting module to the prescription system significantly increased ADR reporting. Improved accessibility is likely the cause. The addition of similar modules to computer systems of other healthcare professions may be considered to encourage spontaneous ADR reporting.

Keywords: adverse drug reactions, adverse drug reaction reporting systems, regional hospital, prescription system

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Authors: Toufic Sarieddine

Abstract:

The current debate on the hegemonic impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is of two opposing strands: Resilient and absolute US hegemony on the one hand and various models of multipolar hegemony such as bifurcation on the other. Bifurcation theories illustrate an unprecedented division of hegemonic functions between China and the US, whereby Beijing becomes the world’s economic hegemon, leaving Washington the world’s military hegemon and security guarantor. While consensus points to China being the main driver of unipolarity’s rupturing, the debate among bifurcationists is on the location of the first rupture. In this regard, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has seen increasing Chinese foreign direct investment in recent years while that to other regions has declined, ranking it second in 2018 as part of the financing for the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI). China has also become the top trade partner of 11 states in the MENA region, as well as its top source of machine imports, surpassing the US and achieving an overall trade surplus almost double that of Washington’s. These are among other features outlined in world-systems analysis (WSA) literature which correspond with the emergence of a new hegemon. WSA is further utilized to gauge other facets of China’s increasing involvement in MENA and assess whether bifurcation is unfolding therein. These features of hegemony include the adoption of China’s modi operandi, economic dominance in production, trade, and finance, military capacity, cultural hegemony in ideology, education, and language, and the promotion of a general interest around which to rally potential peripheries (MENA states in this case). China’s modi operandi has seen some adoption with regards to support against the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, oil bonds denominated in the yuan, and financial institutions such as the Shanghai Gold Exchange enjoying increasing Arab patronage. However, recent elections in Qatar, as well as liberal reforms in Saudi Arabia, demonstrate Washington’s stronger normative influence. Meanwhile, Washington’s economic dominance is challenged by China’s sizable machine exports, increasing overall imports, and widening trade surplus, but retains some clout via dominant arms and transport exports, as well as free-trade deals across the region. Militarily, Washington bests Beijing’s arms exports, has a dominant and well-established presence in the region, and successfully blocked Beijing’s attempt to penetrate through the UAE. Culturally, Beijing enjoys higher favorability in Arab public opinion, and its broadcast networks have found some resonance with Arab audiences. In education, the West remains MENA students’ preferred destination. Further, while Mandarin has become increasingly available in schools across MENA, its usage and availability still lag far behind English. Finally, Beijing’s general interest in infrastructure provision and prioritizing economic development over social justice and democracy provides an avenue for increased incorporation between Beijing and the MENA region. The overall analysis shows solid progress towards bifurcation in MENA.

Keywords: belt and road initiative, hegemony, Middle East and North Africa, world-systems analysis

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Authors: Laila Salah Seada, Ashraf Ibrahim, Fawaz Al Rashid, Ihab Abdo, Hassan Kasim, Waleed Al Mansi, Saud Al Shabli

Abstract:

Background and Objectives: Colorectal carcinoma is increasing among both men and women worldwide. It has a multifactorial etiology including genetic factors, environmental factors and inflammatory conditions of the digestive tract. A clinicopathologic assessment of colorectal carcinoma in Hail region is done, considering any changing patterns in two 5-year periods from 2005-2009 (A) and from 2012 to 2017 (B). All data had been retrieved from histopathology files of King Khalid Hospital, Hail. Results: During period (A), 75 cases were diagnosed as colorectal carcinoma. Male patients comprised 56/75 (74.7%) of the study, with a mean age of 58.4 (36-97), while females were 19/75 (25.3%) with a mean age of 50.3(30-85) and the difference was significant (p = 0.05). M:F ratio was 2.9:1. Most common histological type was adenocarcioma in 68/75 (90.7%) patients mostly well differentiated in 44/68 (64.7%). Mucinous neoplasms comprised only 7/75 (9.3%) of cases and tended to have a higher stage (p = 0.04). During period (B), 115 cases were diagnosed with an increase of 53.3% in number of cases than period (A). Male to female ratio also decreased to 1.35:1, females being 44.83% more affected. Adenocarcinoma remained the prevalent type (93.9%), while mucinous type was still rare (5.2%). No distal metastases found at time of presentation. Localization of tumors was rectosigmoid in group (A) in 41.4%, which increased to 56.6% in group (B), with an increase of 15.2%. Iliocecal location also decreased from 8% to 3.5%, being 56.25% less. Other proximal areas of the colon were decreased by 25.75%, from 53.9% in group (A) to 40% in group (B). Conclusion: Colorectal carcinoma in Hail region has increased by 53.3% in the past 5 years, with more females being diagnosed. Localization has also shifted distally by 15.2%. These findings are different from Western world patterns which experienced a decrease in incidence and proximal shift of the colon cancer localization. This might be due to better diagnostic tools, population awareness of the disease, as well as changing of life style and/or food habits in the region.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, Hail Region, changing pattern, distal shift

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Authors: Mimoza Canga, Irene Malagnino, Ruzhdie Qafmolla, Vergjini Mulo, Gresa Baboci, Vito Antonio Malagnino

Abstract:

Background: Dental caries represents the most widespread pathology in childhood. The prevalence of dental caries varies with age, gender, socio economic status, geographical location, nutrition habits, and oral hygiene. Objective: The objective of the present longitudinal study is to show clearly the prevalence of dental caries in the children of age 6 and 7 years old in Vlore, Albania, in a two year time period with controls done every 6 months. Materials and methods: The present study was conducted on 530 children, with a controlled sample for a time period of 24 months from September 2019- September 2021. The children in the study had different economic and social backgrounds. The teeth controls were done by the dentists who work at the hospital of the city. The present study was conducted in accordance with Helsinki declaration. Permissions were obtained in written form, which allowed us to perform the observations. Parents had the right to withdraw their children at any time. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0. The significance level (α) was set at 0.05, whereas P-value and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. Results: The data of the present study showed that the age group of 6 years old had 139 or 52.3% of the children with dental caries and 127 or 47.7% of them had no dental caries, while at the age of 7 there were 184 or 69.7% of the children with dental caries problems in the permanent molars and 80 or 30.3% of them had no dental caries. In the present study, it was observed that there is a statistically significant association between age group and presence of caries. Children 7 years old had higher presence of dental caries (χ2 = 16.934 (df 1) p-value < 0.001). According to the present research, there is a statistically significant correlation between period of time and the presence of dental caries. Furthermore, in the actual research, it was established that in the time 18-24 months, the prevalence of dental caries was high (χ2=15,318 (df 1) p-value = 0.004). Conclusion: According to the results of the present study performed in Albania in a two year time period with controls done every 6 months, it is proved that the prevalence of dental caries was 17.4 percent higher among children 7 years old in comparison with the children 6 years old.

Keywords: age, children, dental caries, permanent molars

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Authors: Seung Hwan Park, Cheng-Sool Park, Jun Seok Kim, Youngji Yoo, Daewoong An, Jun-Geol Baek

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Depending on the big data analysis becomes important, yield prediction using data from the semiconductor process is essential. In general, yield prediction and analysis of the causes of the failure are closely related. The purpose of this study is to analyze pattern affects the final test results using a die map based clustering. Many researches have been conducted using die data from the semiconductor test process. However, analysis has limitation as the test data is less directly related to the final test results. Therefore, this study proposes a framework for analysis through clustering using more detailed data than existing die data. This study consists of three phases. In the first phase, die map is created through fail bit data in each sub-area of die. In the second phase, clustering using map data is performed. And the third stage is to find patterns that affect final test result. Finally, the proposed three steps are applied to actual industrial data and experimental results showed the potential field application.

Keywords: die-map clustering, feature extraction, pattern recognition, semiconductor manufacturing process

Procedia PDF Downloads 396

Authors: N. Anand, P. S. Nayyer, V. Rana, S. Verma

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Background: Diabetes mellitus is a group of disorders characterized by hyperglycemia and associated with microvascular and macrovascular complications. Among the lesser known complications is the involvement of respiratory system. Changes in pulmonary volume, diffusion and elastic properties of lungs as well as the performance of the respiratory muscles lead to a restrictive pattern in lung functions. The present study was aimed to determine the changes in various parameters of pulmonary function tests amongst patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and also try to study the effect of duration of Diabetes Mellitus on pulmonary function tests. Methods: It was a cross sectional study performed at Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital and Medical College in, Delhi, A Tertiary care referral centre which included 200 patients divided into 2 groups. The first group included diagnosed patients with diabetes and the second group included controls. Cases and controls symptomatic for any acute or chronic Respiratory or Cardiovascular illness or a history of smoking were excluded. Both the groups were subjected to spirometry to evaluate for the pulmonary function tests. Result: The mean Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in first second (FEV1), Peak Expiratory Flow Rate(PEFR) was found to be significantly decreased ((P < 0.001) as compared to controls while the mean ratio of Forced Expiratory Volume in First second to Forced Vital Capacity was not significantly decreased( p>0.005). There was no correlation seen with duration of the disease. Conclusion: Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in first second (FEV1), Peak Expiratory Flow Rate(PEFR) were found to be significantly decreased in patients of Diabetes mellitus while ratio of Forced Expiratory Volume in First second to Forced Vital Capacity (FEV1/FVC) was not significantly decreased. The duration of Diabetes mellitus was not found to have any statistically significant effect on Pulmonary function tests (p > 0.005).

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, pulmonary function tests, forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in first second

Procedia PDF Downloads 363

Authors: M. M. Bashandy, A. R. Ahmed, M. El-Gaffary, Sahar S. Abd El-Rahman

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This study evaluated the acute toxicity and tissue distribution of intravenously administered gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in male rabbits. Rabbits were exposed to single dose of AuNPs (300 µg/ kg). Toxic effects were assessed via general behavior, hematological parameters, serum biochemical parameters and histopathological examination of various rabbits’ organs. Tissue distribution of AuNPs was evaluated at a dose of 300 µg/ kg in male rabbit. Inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine gold concentrations in tissue samples collected at predetermined time intervals. After one week, AuNPs exerted no obvious acute toxicity in rabbits. However, inflammatory reactions in lung and liver cells were induced in rabbits treated at the300 µg/ kg dose level. The highest gold levels were found in the spleen, followed by liver, lungs and kidneys. These results indicated that AuNPs could be distributed extensively to various tissues in the body, but primarily in the spleen and liver.

Keywords: gold nanoparticles, toxicity, pathology, hematology, liver function, kidney function

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: F. Fatoye, C. E. Mbada, T. Gebrye, A. O. Ogunsola, C. Fatoye, O. Oyewole

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Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a major cause of pain and disability. It is likely to become a greater economic and public health burden that is unnecessary. Thus, reliable prevalence figures are important for both clinicians and policy-makers to plan health care needs for those affected with the disease. This study estimated hospital based real-world prevalence of MSDs in Nigeria. A review of medical charts for adult patients attending Physiotherapy Outpatient Clinic at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Osun State, Nigeria between 2009 and 2018 was carried out to identify common MSDs including low back pain (LBP), cervical spondylosis (CSD), post immobilization stiffness (PIS), sprain, osteoarthritis (OA), and other conditions. Occupational class of the patients was determined using the International Labour Classification (ILO). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages. Overall, medical charts of 3,340 patients were reviewed within the span of ten years (2009 to 2018). Majority of the patients (62.8%) were in the middle class, and the remaining were in low class (25.1%) and high class (10.5%) category. An overall prevalence of 47.35% of MSD was found within the span of ten years. Of this, the prevalence of LBP, CSD, PIS, sprain, OA, and other conditions was 21.6%, 10%, 18.9%, 2%, 6.3%, and 41.3%, respectively. The highest (14.2%) and lowest (10.5%) prevalence of MSDs was recorded in the year of 2012 and 2018, respectively. The prevalence of MSDs is considerably high among Nigerian patients attending outpatient a physiotherapy clinic. The high prevalence of MSDs underscores the need for clinicians and decision makers to put in place appropriate strategies to reduce the prevalence of these conditions. In addition, they should plan and evaluate healthcare services to improve the health outcomes of patients with MSDs. Further studies are required to determine the economic burden of the condition and examine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions for patients with MSDs.

Keywords: musculoskeletal disorders, Nigeria, prevalence, real world

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: Marium. K.Makhdoom, Talat Hussain, Syed H. Bukhari

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The motivation behind this paper is to focus the need of Zakat as a monetary framework with a specific end goal and as a social equity instrument and minimization of the level of poverty in society to assess the socioeconomic development. The procedure of the study includes investigating the applied system of Islamic economics to propose an option display so as to contribute fundamentally to the Ummah and serving the countries. This paper closes to be viewed Zakat as one of the best possible strategies to quantify the socioeconomic development, which implies when individuals pay Zakat the socioeconomic development level will be higher and vice versa. The duties of Muslims to pay Zakat to accomplish practical improvement as far as wealth redistribution in the middle of Muslims and in addition overcoming any and all hardships between the rich and the poor in the general public. The paper adds to consider Zakat as an index to gauge economic development, moreover, the part of Zakat as an instrument of social equity and neediness destruction in the public eye. By and large, this includes the installment every year of more than two percent of one's capital after the needs of the family have been met.

Keywords: Zakat, Waqf, economic development, Pakistan, Islamic economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics

Procedia PDF Downloads 423