Search results for: heart rate variability (HRV)

Authors: Meryem Zarri, Mohame Tahiri, Fouad Amraoui

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In the context of water resources shortage that Morocco is experiencing in recent years, the mobilization of non-conventional resources becomes a necessity. The reuse of treated water and the bioconversion of biological sewage sludge into value-added products is considered an environmentally friendly and economical approach to the management of this significant resource which represent at least 80 % of consumed fresh wate In this work, we compare the quality of treated water and sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants in the peri-urban Casablanca by analyzing different physicochemical and bacteriological parameters. The choice was made for three wastewater plants installed in different regions and monitored either by LYDEC and Commune of Had Soualem and use different technologies. Recycling of treated water in agriculture and watering of green spaces is dependent on the compliance of the parameters with international standards (WHO, FAO, …etc.) The preliminary tests of the samples taken during the second half of the year 2021 showed that the advanced technologies put in place at the level of the Mediouna and the airport zone stations (membrane reactor and activated sludge, respectively) give water to the output of the stations more respectful of the standards required in terms of physicochemical parameters (pH, Conductivity, Tubidity, COD, BOD5, TNK, and TPK) and bacteriological (fecal germs, Escherichia Coli, streptococci, Helminthes eggs). The parameters relating to the Had Soualem natural lagoon station are generally at the tolerance’s threshold. The results of analyzes relating to the residual sludge collected at the end of the cycle are, on the whole satisfactory despite a fluctuating variability of the bacteriological parameters.

Keywords: urban wastewater treatment plants, purified wastewater, sewage sludge, physicochemical parameters, bacteriological parameters, peri-urban area of ​​casablanca, morocco

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Caiyun Liu, A. Hernandez-Manas, N. Grimi, E. Vorobiev

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Drying is one of the most used methods for food preservation, which extend shelf life of food and makes their transportation, storage and packaging easier and more economic. The commonly dried method is hot air drying. However, its disadvantages are low energy efficiency and long drying times. Because of the high temperature during the hot air drying, the undesirable changes in pigments, vitamins and flavoring agents occur which result in degradation of the quality parameters of the product. Drying process can also cause shrinkage, case hardening, dark color, browning, loss of nutrients and others. Recently, new processes were developed in order to avoid these problems. For example, the application of pulsed electric field provokes cell membrane permeabilisation, which increases the drying kinetics and moisture diffusion coefficient. Microwave drying technology has also several advantages over conventional hot air drying, such as higher drying rates and thermal efficiency, shorter drying time, significantly improved product quality and nutritional value. Rehydration kinetics of dried product is a very important characteristic of dried products. Current research has indicated that the rehydration ratio and the coefficient of rehydration are dependent on the processing conditions of drying. The present study compares the efficiency of two processes (1: room temperature air drying, 2: microwave/air drying) in terms of drying rate, product quality and rehydration ratio. In this work, potato slices (≈2.2g) with a thickness of 2 mm and diameter of 33mm were placed in the microwave chamber and dried. Drying kinetics and drying rates of different methods were determined. The process parameters included inlet air velocity (1 m/s, 1.5 m/s, 2 m/s) and microwave power (50 W, 100 W, 200 W and 250 W) were studied. The evolution of temperature during microwave drying was measured. The drying power had a strong effect on drying rate, and the microwave-air drying resulted in 93% decrease in the drying time when the air velocity was 2 m/s and the power of microwave was 250 W. Based on Lewis model, drying rate constants (kDR) were determined. It was observed an increase from kDR=0.0002 s-1 to kDR=0.0032 s-1 of air velocity of 2 m/s and microwave/air (at 2m/s and 250W) respectively. The effective moisture diffusivity was calculated by using Fick's law. The results show an increase of effective moisture diffusivity from 7.52×10-11 to 2.64×10-9 m2.s-1 for air velocity of 2 m/s and microwave/air (at 2m/s and 250W) respectively. The temperature of the potato slices increased for higher microwaves power, but decreased for higher air velocity. The rehydration ratio, defined as the weight of the the sample after rehydration per the weight of dried sample, was determined at different water temperatures (25℃, 50℃, 75℃). The rehydration ratio increased with the water temperature and reached its maximum at the following conditions: 200 W for the microwave power, 2 m/s for the air velocity and 75°C for the water temperature. The present study shows the interest of microwave drying for the food preservation.

Keywords: drying, microwave, potato, rehydration

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Merkouche Wassila, Marchand Alain, Renaud Stéphane

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Organizations are facing competitive pressures constraining them to modify their practices and change initial work conditions of employees, however, these modifications have to sustain initial quality of work and engagements toward the workforce. We focus on the importance of promises in the perspective of psychological contract. According to this perspective, employees perceiving a breach of the expected obligations from the employer may become unsatisfied at work and develop organizational withdrawal behaviors. These are negative counterproductive behaviours aiming to damage the organisation according to the principle of reciprocity and social exchange. We present an integrative model of the determinants and manifestations of organizational withdrawal (OW), a set of behaviors allowing the employee to leave his job or avoid his assigned work. OW contains two main components often studied in silos: work withdrawal (delays, absenteeism and other adverse behaviors) and job withdrawal (turnover). We use the systemic micro, meso and macro sociological approach designing the individual at the heart of a system containing individual, organizational, and environmental determinants. Under the influence of these different factors, the individual assesses the type of behavior to adopt. We provide better lighting for understanding OW using both psychological contract approach through the perception of its respect by the organization and job embeddedness approach which explains why the employee does not leave the organization and then remains in his post while practicing negative and counterproductive behaviors such as OW. We study specifically cynicism as a type of OW as it is a dimension of burnout. We focus on the antecedents of cynicism to try to prevent it in the workplace.

Keywords: burnout, cynicism, job embeddedness, organizational withdrawal, psychological contract

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Hamidreza Namazi

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Fractal analysis is assessing fractal characteristics of data. It consists of several methods to assign fractal characteristics to a dataset which may be a theoretical dataset or a pattern or signal extracted from phenomena including natural geometric objects, sound, market fluctuations, heart rates, digital images, molecular motion, networks, etc. Fractal analysis is now widely used in all areas of science. An important limitation of fractal analysis is that arriving at an empirically determined fractal dimension does not necessarily prove that a pattern is fractal; rather, other essential characteristics have to be considered. For this purpose a Visual C++ based software called FRATSAN (FRActal Time Series ANalyser) was developed which extract information from signals through three measures. These measures are Fractal Dimensions, Jeffrey’s Measure and Hurst Exponent. After computing these measures, the software plots the graphs for each measure. Besides computing three measures the software can classify whether the signal is fractal or no. In fact, the software uses a dynamic method of analysis for all the measures. A sliding window is selected with a value equal to 10% of the total number of data entries. This sliding window is moved one data entry at a time to obtain all the measures. This makes the computation very sensitive to slight changes in data, thereby giving the user an acute analysis of the data. In order to test the performance of this software a set of EEG signals was given as input and the results were computed and plotted. This software is useful not only for fundamental fractal analysis of signals but can be used for other purposes. For instance by analyzing the Hurst exponent plot of a given EEG signal in patients with epilepsy the onset of seizure can be predicted by noticing the sudden changes in the plot.

Keywords: EEG signals, fractal analysis, fractal dimension, hurst exponent, Jeffrey’s measure

Procedia PDF Downloads 452

Authors: Rafael Castilho Carvalho, Edjair de Souza Mota

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As the largest contributor to the biogeochemical functioning of the Earth system, the Amazon Rainforest has the greatest biodiversity on the planet, harboring about 15% of all the world's flora. Recognition and preservation are the focus of research that seeks to mitigate drastic changes, especially anthropic ones, which irreversibly affect this biome. Functional and low-cost monitoring alternatives to reduce these impacts are a priority, such as those using technologies such as Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN). Promising, reliable, secure and with low energy consumption, LPWAN can connect thousands of IoT devices, and in particular, LoRa is considered one of the most successful solutions to facilitate forest monitoring applications. Despite this, the forest environment, in particular the Amazon Rainforest, is a challenge for these technologies, requiring work to identify and validate the use of technology in a real environment. To investigate the feasibility of deploying LPWAN in remote water quality monitoring of rivers in the Amazon Region, a LoRa-based test bed consisting of a Lora transmitter and a LoRa receiver was set up, both parts were implemented with Arduino and the LoRa chip SX1276. The experiment was carried out at the Federal University of Amazonas, which contains one of the largest urban forests in Brazil. There are several springs inside the forest, and the main goal is to collect water quality parameters and transmit the data through the forest in real time to the gateway at the uni. In all, there are nine water quality parameters of interest. Even with a high collection frequency, the amount of information that must be sent to the gateway is small. However, for this application, the battery of the transmitter device is a concern since, in the real application, the device must run without maintenance for long periods of time. With these constraints in mind, parameters such as Spreading Factor (SF) and Coding Rate (CR), different antenna heights, and distances were tuned to better the connectivity quality, measured with RSSI and loss rate. A handheld spectrum analyzer RF Explorer was used to get the RSSI values. Distances exceeding 200 m have soon proven difficult to establish communication due to the dense foliage and high humidity. The optimal combinations of SF-CR values were 8-5 and 9-5, showing the lowest packet loss rates, 5% and 17%, respectively, with a signal strength of approximately -120 dBm, these being the best settings for this study so far. The rains and climate changes imposed limitations on the equipment, and more tests are already being conducted. Subsequently, the range of the LoRa configuration must be extended using a mesh topology, especially because at least three different collection points in the same water body are required.

Keywords: IoT, LPWAN, LoRa, coverage, loss rate, forest

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Muhammad Hakim Bin Mat Tasir, Erwan Shahfizad Hasidan, Hamidah Makmor Bakry, M. Hafiz B. Izhar

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Every key performance indicator used to monitor a project’s construction progress emphasizes trade productivity or specific commodity run-down curves. Examples include the productivity of welding by the number of joints completed per day, quantity of NDT (Non-Destructive Tests) inspection per day, etc. This perspective is based on progress and productivity; however, it does not enable a system perspective of how we produce. This paper uses a project production system perspective by which projects are a collection of production systems comprising the interconnected network of processes and operations that represent all the work activities to execute a project from start to finish. Furthermore, it also uses the 5 Levels of production system optimization as a frame. The goal of the paper is to describe the application of Project Production Control (PPC) to control and improve the performance of several production processes associated with the fabrication and assembly of a Central Processing Platform (CPP) Jacket, part of an offshore mega project. More specifically, the fabrication and assembly of buoyancy tanks as they were identified as part of the critical path and required the highest demand for capacity. In total, seven buoyancy tanks were built, with a total estimated weight of 2,200 metric tons. These huge buoyancy tanks were designed to be reversed launching and self-upending of the jacket, easily retractable, and reusable for the next project, ensuring sustainability. Results showed that an effective application of PPC not only positively impacted construction progress and productivity but also exposed sources of detrimental variability as the focus of continuous improvement practices. This approach augmented conventional project management practices, and the results had a high impact on construction scheduling, planning, and control.

Keywords: offshore, construction, project management, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: Akumeyam Elvis Akum, Njanjo Thecla Anyongo Mukete, Fonkeng George Epah

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Globally, the goal of higher education is to enhance graduate employability skills. Paradoxically, Cameroon’s graduate employability rate is far below the graduation rate. This worrisome situation caused the researcher to hypothesize that the teaching and learning experiences account for this increasing disparity. The study sought to investigate the effect on graduate employability of the teaching of organizational, problem-solving, innovation, and risk management skills on graduate employability. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a quantitative approach. Data was collected by quantitative techniques from a random sample of 385 graduates using closed-ended structured questionnaire. Generally, findings revealed that entrepreneurship education does not sufficiently enhance graduate employability in the University of Buea. Specifically, the teaching of organizational skills does not significantly enhance their employability, as an average of 55% of graduates indicated that the course did not sufficiently help them develop skills for planning, management of limited resources, collaboration, and the setting of priorities. Also, 60% of the respondents indicated that the teaching of problem-solving skills does not significantly enhance graduate employability at the University of Buea. Contrarily, 57% of the respondents agreed that through their experiences in entrepreneurship education, their innovation skills were improved. The study recommended that a practical approach to teaching should be adopted, with attention to societal needs. A framework to ensure the teaching of entrepreneurship to students at the undergraduate level is recommended, such that those who do not continue with university studies after their Bachelor’s degree would have acquired the needed skills for employability.

Keywords: employability, entrepreneurship education, graduate, innovative skills, organizational skills, problem-solving skills, risk management skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 56

Authors: I. Salas-Menotti

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Problem-solving courts were created to assist offenders with specific needs that were not addressed properly in traditional courts. Problem-solving courts' main objective is to pursue solutions that will benefit the offender, the victim, and society as well. These courts were developed as an innovative response to deal with issues such as drug abuse, mental illness, and domestic violence. In Brooklyn, men who are charged with domestic violence related offenses for the first time are offered plea bargains that include the attendance to a domestic abuse intervention program as a condition to dismiss the most serious charges and avoid incarceration. The desired outcome is that the offender will engage in a program that will modify his behavior avoiding new incidents of domestic abuse, it requires accountability towards the victim and finally, it will hopefully bring down statistic related to domestic abuse incidents. This paper will discuss the effectiveness of the Duluth model as applied to Spanish-speaking men mandated to participate in the program by the specialized domestic violence courts in Brooklyn. A longitudinal study was conducted with 243 Spanish- speaking men who were mandated to participated in the men's program offered by EAC in Brooklyn in the years 2016 through 2018 to determine the recidivism rate of domestic violence crimes. Results show that the recidivism rate was less than 5% per year after completing the program which indicates that the intervention is effective in preventing new abuse allegations and subsequent arrests. It's recommended that comparative study with English-speaking participants is conducted to determine cultural and language variables affecting the program's efficacy.

Keywords: domestic violence, domestic abuse intervention programs, Problem solving courts, Spanish-speaking offenders

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Zahra khaksari, Mahboobeh Mehrabi

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One of the biggest health problems in communities, suicide is now one of the top ten causes of death in the world. This study aimed to investigate the risk factors of suicide attempt in Minab city over two years. This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study. Subjects of this study were cases who admitted in Hazrat Abolfazl hospital of minab city over two years Since the beginning of 1389 to end of 1390. During this period,their cases were reviewed. To analyze data, descriptive statistics was applied. During this two-year period, 275 patients who had attempted suicide, of which 65 percent are female and most of them were 15-24 years. 60% of them were single and 70 % of rural areas. 51% of suicides in 1390 and most of the suicide attempts occurred at a rate of 37 percent in summer. and the most common way of attempting suicide was medication poisoning (74%). The suicide rate leading to death was 1.5% The chi-square test showes that there were significant relationship between suicide by gender and residence status. This means that more women are committing suicide of rural areas.based on The chi-square test there were significant relation between the gender and method, gender and the result of suicide and means that more women than men commit suicide with the use of drugs. Males were more successful suicide. who had attempted with organophosphates and hanging were more successful in suicide. The finding of the current study showed that most of the suicide victims were female ,rural deweller,14-24 years old,single, serious attention must be paid to the problems of this group. It also extends the field of education professionals and health centers, and psychological therapy that focuses specifically on this topic.

Keywords: attempt to suicide, minab, risk factors, suicide

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Majid Ali, Xinfang Jin, Victor Eniola, Henning Hoene

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The performance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is sensitive to several factors, including power fluctuations, hydrogen utilization, and the quality orientation of the fuel cell stack. In this study, we investigate the impact of these factors on the performance of a PEM fuel cell. We start by analyzing the power fluctuations that are typical in renewable energy systems and their effects on the 50 Watt fuel cell's performance. Next, we examine the hydrogen utilization rate (0-1000 mL/min) and its impact on the cell's efficiency and durability. Finally, we investigate the quality orientation (three different positions) of the fuel cell stack, which can significantly affect the cell's lifetime and overall performance. The basis of our analysis is the utilization of experimental results, which have been further validated by comparing them with simulations and manufacturer results. Our results indicate that power fluctuations can cause significant variations in the fuel cell's voltage and current, leading to a reduction in its performance. Moreover, we show that increasing the hydrogen utilization rate beyond a certain threshold can lead to a decrease in the fuel cell's efficiency. Finally, our analysis demonstrates that the orientation of the fuel cell stack can affect its performance and lifetime due to non-uniform distribution of reactants and products. In summary, our study highlights the importance of considering power fluctuations, hydrogen utilization, and quality orientation in designing and optimizing PEM fuel cell systems. The findings of this study can be useful for researchers and engineers working on the development of fuel cell systems for various applications, including transportation, stationary power generation, and portable devices.

Keywords: fuel cell, proton exchange membrane, renewable energy, power fluctuation, experimental

Procedia PDF Downloads 113

Authors: Rotimi Sunday Ajani, Omowumi Femi-Akinlosotu

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Background: The usually paired human kidneys are retroperitoneal urinary organs with some endocrine functions. Standard text books of anatomy ascribe single value to each of the dimension of length, width and thickness. Research questions: These values do not give consideration to racial and genetic variability in human morphology. They may thus be erroneous to students and clinicians working on Nigerians. Objectives: The study aimed at establishing reference values of the kidney length, width and thickness for Nigerians using the cadaveric model. Methodology: The length, width, thickness and weight of sixty kidneys harvested from cadavers of thirty adult Nigerians (Male: Female; 27: 3) were measured. Respective volume was calculated using the ellipsoid formula. Results: The mean length of the kidney was 9.84±0.89 cm (9.63±0.88 {right}; 10.06±0.86 {left}), width- 5.18±0.70 cm (5.21±0.72 {right}; 5.14±0.70 {left}), thickness-3.45±0.56 cm (3.36±0.58 {right}, 3.53±0.55 {left}), weight-125.06±22.34 g (122.36±21.70 {right}; 127.76 ±24.02 {left}) and volume of 95.45± 24.40 cm3 (91.73± 26.84 {right}; 99.17± 25.75 {left}). Discussion: Though the values of the parameters measured were higher for the left kidney (except for the width), they were not statistically significant. The various parameters obtained by this study differ from those of similar studies from other continents. Conclusion: Stating single value for each of the parameter of length, width and thickness of the kidney as currently obtained in textbooks of anatomy may be incomplete information and hence misleading. Thus, there is the need to emphasize racial differences when stating the normal values of kidney dimensions in textbooks of anatomy. Implication for Research and Innovation: The results of the study showed the dimensions of the kidney (length, width and thickness) have interracial vagaries as they were different from those of similar studies and values stated in standard textbooks of human anatomy. Future direction: This is a preliminary report and the study will continue so that more data will be obtained.

Keywords: kidney dimensions, cadaveric estimation, adult nigerians, racial differences

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Cecile Edel, Sandrine Giscard D'Estaing, Elsa Labrune, Jacqueline Lornage, Mehdi Benchaib

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Introduction: The use of incubator equipped with time-lapse technology in Artificial Reproductive Technology (ART) allows a continuous surveillance. With morphocinetic parameters, algorithms are available to predict the potential outcome of an embryo. However, the different proposed time-lapse algorithms do not take account the missing data, and then some embryos could not be classified. The aim of this work is to construct a predictive model even in the case of missing data. Materials and methods: Patients: A retrospective study was performed, in biology laboratory of reproduction at the hospital ‘Femme Mère Enfant’ (Lyon, France) between 1 May 2013 and 30 April 2015. Embryos (n= 557) obtained from couples (n=108) were cultured in a time-lapse incubator (Embryoscope®, Vitrolife, Goteborg, Sweden). Time-lapse incubator: The morphocinetic parameters obtained during the three first days of embryo life were used to build the predictive model. Predictive model: A quadratic regression was performed between the number of cells and time. N = a. T² + b. T + c. N: number of cells at T time (T in hours). The regression coefficients were calculated with Excel software (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA), a program with Visual Basic for Application (VBA) (Microsoft) was written for this purpose. The quadratic equation was used to find a value that allows to predict the blastocyst formation: the synthetize value. The area under the curve (AUC) obtained from the ROC curve was used to appreciate the performance of the regression coefficients and the synthetize value. A cut-off value has been calculated for each regression coefficient and for the synthetize value to obtain two groups where the difference of blastocyst formation rate according to the cut-off values was maximal. The data were analyzed with SPSS (IBM, Il, Chicago, USA). Results: Among the 557 embryos, 79.7% had reached the blastocyst stage. The synthetize value corresponds to the value calculated with time value equal to 99, the highest AUC was then obtained. The AUC for regression coefficient ‘a’ was 0.648 (p < 0.001), 0.363 (p < 0.001) for the regression coefficient ‘b’, 0.633 (p < 0.001) for the regression coefficient ‘c’, and 0.659 (p < 0.001) for the synthetize value. The results are presented as follow: blastocyst formation rate under cut-off value versus blastocyst rate formation above cut-off value. For the regression coefficient ‘a’ the optimum cut-off value was -1.14.10-3 (61.3% versus 84.3%, p < 0.001), 0.26 for the regression coefficient ‘b’ (83.9% versus 63.1%, p < 0.001), -4.4 for the regression coefficient ‘c’ (62.2% versus 83.1%, p < 0.001) and 8.89 for the synthetize value (58.6% versus 85.0%, p < 0.001). Conclusion: This quadratic regression allows to predict the outcome of an embryo even in case of missing data. Three regression coefficients and a synthetize value could represent the identity card of an embryo. ‘a’ regression coefficient represents the acceleration of cells division, ‘b’ regression coefficient represents the speed of cell division. We could hypothesize that ‘c’ regression coefficient could represent the intrinsic potential of an embryo. This intrinsic potential could be dependent from oocyte originating the embryo. These hypotheses should be confirmed by studies analyzing relationship between regression coefficients and ART parameters.

Keywords: ART procedure, blastocyst formation, time-lapse incubator, quadratic model

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Mandlenkosi George Robert Mahlobo, Tumelo Seadira, Major Melusi Mabuza, Peter Apata Olubambi

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Cathodic protection (CP) has been widely considered a suitable technique for mitigating corrosion of buried metal structures. Plenty of efforts have been made in developing techniques, in particular non-destructive techniques, for monitoring and quantifying the effectiveness of CP to ensure the sustainability and performance of buried steel structures. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of the electrochemical processes at the steel/soil interface during the application of CP on steel in simulated soil. Carbon steel was subjected to electrochemical tests with NS4 solution used as simulated soil conditions for 4 days before applying CP for a further 11 days. A previously modified non-destructive voltammetry technique was applied before and after the application of CP to measure the corrosion rate. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), in combination with mathematical modeling through equivalent electric circuits, was applied to determine the electrochemical behavior at the steel/soil interface. The measured corrosion rate was found to have decreased from 410 µm/yr to 8 µm/yr between days 5 and 14 because of the applied CP. Equivalent electrical circuits were successfully constructed and used to adequately model the EIS results. The modeling of the obtained EIS results revealed the formation of corrosion products via a mixed activation-diffusion mechanism during the first 4 days, while the activation mechanism prevailed in the presence of CP, resulting in a protective film. The x-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the presence of corrosion products and the predominant protective film corresponding to the calcareous deposit.

Keywords: carbon steel, cathodic protection, NS4 solution, voltammetry, EIS

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: Mohamad Ahrari, Kayvan Sadri, Mahmoud Reza Jafari

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PEGylated liposomes have a smaller volume of distribution and decreased clearance, consequently, due to their more prolonged presence in bloodstream and maintaining their stability during this period, these liposomes can be applied for imaging tumoral sites. The purpose of this study is to develop an appropriate radiopharmaceutical agent in long-term imaging for improved diagnosis and evaluation of tumors. In this study, liposomal formulations encapsulating albumin is synthesized by solvent evaporation method along with homogenization, and their characteristics were assessed. Then these liposomes labeled by Philips method and the rate of stability of labeled liposomes in serum, and ultimately the rate of biodistribution and gamma scintigraphy in C26-colon carcinoma tumor-bearing mice, were studied. The result of the study of liposomal characteristics displayed that capable of accumulating in tumor sites based of EPR phenomenon. these liposomes also have high stability for maintaining encapsulated albumin in a long time. In the study of biodistribution of these liposomes in mice, they accumulated more in the kidney, liver, spleen, and tumor sites, which, even after clearing formulations in the bloodstream, they existed in high levels in these organs up to 96 hours. In gamma scintigraphy also, organs with high activity accumulation from early hours up to 96 hours were visible in the form of hot spots. concluded that PEGylated liposomal formulation encapsulating albumin can be labeled with In-Oxine, and obtained stabilized formulation for long-term imaging, that have more favorable conditions for the evaluation of tumors and it will cause early diagnosis of tumors.

Keywords: nano liposome, 111In-oxine, imaging, biodistribution, tumor

Procedia PDF Downloads 96

Authors: R. Vasireddi, J. Kruse, M. Vakili, M. Trebbin

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Here we present a gas dynamic virtual nozzle (GDVN) based microfluidic jetting devices for spinning of nano/microfibers. The device is fabricated by soft lithography techniques and is based on the principle of a GDVN for precise three-dimensional gas focusing of the spinning solution. The nozzle device is used to produce micro/nanofibers of a perfluorinated terpolymer (THV), which were collected on an aluminum substrate for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The influences of air pressure, polymer concentration, flow rate and nozzle geometry on the fiber properties were investigated. It was revealed that surface properties are controlled by air pressure and polymer concentration while the diameter and shape of the fibers are influenced mostly by the concentration of the polymer solution and pressure. Alterations of the nozzle geometry had a negligible effect on the fiber properties, however, the jetting stability was affected. Round and flat fibers with differing surface properties from craters, grooves to smooth surfaces could be fabricated by controlling the above-mentioned parameters. Furthermore, the formation of surface roughness was attributed to the fast evaporation rate and velocity (mis)match between the polymer solution jet and the surrounding air stream. The diameter of the fibers could be tuned from ~250 nm to ~15 µm. Because of the simplicity of the setup, the precise control of the fiber properties, access to biocompatible nanofiber fabrication and the easy scale-up of parallel channels for high throughput, this method offers significant benefits compared to existing solution-based fiber production methods.

Keywords: gas dynamic virtual nozzle (GDVN) principle, microfluidic device, spinning, uniform nanofibers

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Adebisi Moruf Ademola

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Hematite (Fe2O3),commonly known as ‘rust’ which usually surfaced on metal when exposed to some climatic materials. This emerges as a promising candidate for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to its favorable physiochemical properties of the narrow band gap (2.1–2.2 eV), chemical stability, nontoxicity, abundance, and low cost. However, inherent limitations such as short hole diffusion length (2–4 nm), high charge recombination rate, and slow oxygen evolution reaction kinetics inhibit the PEC performances of a-Fe2O3 photoanodes. As such, given the narrow bandgap enabling excellent optical absorption, increased charge carrier density and accelerated surface oxidation reaction kinetics become the key points for improved photoelectrochemical performances for a-Fe2O3 photoanodes and metal ion doping as an effective way to promote charge transfer by increasing donor density and improving the electronic conductivity of a-Fe2O3. Hematite attracts enormous efforts with a number of metal ions (Ti, Zr, Sn, Pt ,etc.) as dopants. A facile deposition-annealing process showed greatly enhanced PEC performance due to the increased donor density and reduced electron-hole recombination at the time scale beyond a few picoseconds. Zr doping was also found to enhance the PEC performance of a-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays by reducing the rate of electron-hole recombination. Slow water oxidation reaction kinetics, another main factor limiting the PEC water splitting efficiency of aFe2O3 as photoanodes, was previously found to be effectively improved by surface treatment.

Keywords: deposition-annealing, hematite, metal ion doping, nanorod

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Authors: Hung Lin-Zin, Lai Mei-Yen

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Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed male cancer in the U.S. The prevalence is around 1 in 8. The etiology of prostate cancer is still unknown, but some predisposing factors, such as age, black race, family history, and obesity, may increase the risk of the disease. In 2020, a total of 7,178 Taiwanese people were nearly diagnosed with prostate cancer, accounting for 5.88% of all cancer cases, and the incidence rate ranked fifth among men. In that year, the total number of deaths from prostate cancer was 1,730, accounting for 3.45% of all cancer deaths, and the death rate ranked 6th among men, accounting for 94.34% of the cases of male reproductive organs. Looking for domestic and foreign literature on the use of OMOP (Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership, hereinafter referred to as OMOP) database analysis, there are currently nearly a hundred literature published related to nursing-related health problems and nursing measures built in the OMOP general data model database of medical institutions are extremely rare. The OMOP common data model construction analysis platform is a system developed by the FDA in 2007, using a common data model (common data model, CDM) to analyze and monitor healthcare data. It is important to build up relevant nursing information from the OMOP- CDM database to assist our daily practice. Therefore, we choose prostate cancer patients who are our popular care objects and use the OMOP- CDM database to explore the common associated health problems. With the assistance of OMOP-CDM database analysis, we can expect early diagnosis and prevention of prostate cancer patients' comorbidities to improve patient care.

Keywords: OMOP, nursing diagnosis, health problem, prostate cancer

Procedia PDF Downloads 41

Authors: Abdullah A. Al Qurashi, Hattan A. Hassani, Bader K. Alaslap

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Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia/Cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) is an uncommon, inheritable cardiac disorder characterized by the progressive substitution of cardiac myocytes by fibro-fatty tissues. This pathologic substitution predisposes patients to ventricular arrhythmias and right ventricular failure. The underlying genetic defect predominantly involves genes encoding for desmosome proteins, particularly plakophilin-2 (PKP2). These aberrations lead to impaired cell adhesion, heightening the susceptibility to fibrofatty scarring under conditions of mechanical stress. Primarily, ARVD/C affects the right ventricle, but it can also compromise the left ventricle, potentially leading to biventricular heart failure. Clinical presentations can vary, spanning from asymptomatic individuals to those experiencing palpitations, syncopal episodes, and, in severe instances, sudden cardiac death. The establishment of a diagnostic criterion specifically tailored for ARVD/C significantly aids in its accurate diagnosis. Nevertheless, the task of early diagnosis is complicated by the disease's frequently asymptomatic initial stages, and the overall rarity of ARVD/C cases reported globally. In some cases, as exemplified by the adult female patient in this report, the disease may advance to terminal stages, rendering therapies like Ventricular Tachycardia (VT) ablation ineffective. This case underlines the necessity for increased awareness and understanding of ARVD/C to aid in its early detection and management. Through such efforts, we aim to decrease morbidity and mortality associated with this challenging cardiac disorder.

Keywords: arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, cardiac disease, interventional cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology

Procedia PDF Downloads 47

Authors: Yo Fukutani, Shuji Moriguchi, Takuma Kotani, Terada Kenjiro

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If risk management of the assets owned by companies, risk assessment of real estate portfolio, and risk identification of the entire region are to be implemented, it is necessary to consider simultaneous damage to multiple buildings. In this research, the Sagami Trough earthquake tsunami that could have a significant effect on the Japanese capital region is focused on, and a method is proposed for simultaneous damage assessment using copulas that can take into consideration the correlation of tsunami depths and building damage between two sites. First, the tsunami inundation depths at two sites were simulated by using a nonlinear long-wave equation. The tsunamis were simulated by varying the slip amount (five cases) and the depths (five cases) for each of 10 sources of the Sagami Trough. For each source, the frequency distributions of the tsunami inundation depth were evaluated by using the response surface method. Then, Monte-Carlo simulation was conducted, and frequency distributions of tsunami inundation depth were evaluated at the target sites for all sources of the Sagami Trough. These are marginal distributions. Kendall’s tau for the tsunami inundation simulation at two sites was 0.83. Based on this value, the Gaussian copula, t-copula, Clayton copula, and Gumbel copula (n = 10,000) were generated. Then, the simultaneous distributions of the damage rate were evaluated using the marginal distributions and the copulas. For the correlation of the tsunami inundation depth at the two sites, the expected value hardly changed compared with the case of no correlation, but the damage rate of the ninety-ninth percentile value was approximately 2%, and the maximum value was approximately 6% when using the Gumbel copula.

Keywords: copulas, Monte-Carlo simulation, probabilistic risk assessment, tsunamis

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Authors: D. Hilton

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An analysis of the Australian Diabetes Screening Study estimated undiagnosed diabetes mellitus [DM] prevalence in a high risk general practice based cohort. DM prevalence varied from 9.4% to 18.1% depending upon the diagnostic criteria utilised with age being a highly significant risk factor. Utilising the gold standard oral glucose tolerance test, the prevalence of DM was 22-23% in those aged >= 70 years and <15% in those aged 40-59 years. Opportunistic screening in Australian general practice potentially can identify many persons with undiagnosed type 2 DM. An Australian Bureau of Statistics document published three years ago, reported the highest rate of DM in men aged 65-74 years [19%] whereas the rate for women was highest in those over 75 years [13%]. If you consider that the Australian Bureau of Statistics report in 2007 found that 13% of the population was over 65 years of age and that this will increase to 23-25% by 2056 with a further projected increase to 25-28% by 2101, obviously this information has to be factored into the equation when age related diabetes prevalence predictions are calculated. This 10-15% proportional increase of elderly persons within the population demographics has dramatic implications for the estimated number of elderly persons with DM in these age groupings. Computational methodology showing the age related demographic changes reported in these official statistical documents will be done showing estimates for 2056 and 2101 for different age groups. This has relevance for future diabetes prevalence rates and shows that along with many countries worldwide Australia is facing an increasing pandemic. In contrast Japan is expected to have a decrease in the next twenty years in the number of persons with diabetes.

Keywords: epidemiological methods, aging, prevalence, diabetes mellitus

Procedia PDF Downloads 362

Authors: Mingming Leng

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Wal-Mart has allocated considerable human resources for its quality assurance program, in which the largest retailer serves its supply chains as a quality gatekeeper. Asda Stores Ltd., the second largest supermarket chain in Britain, is now investing £27m in significantly increasing the frequency of quality control checks in its supply chains and thus enhancing quality across its fresh food business. Moreover, Tesco, the largest British supermarket chain, already constructed a quality assessment center to carry out its gatekeeping responsibility. Motivated by the above practices, we consider a supply chain in which a retailer plays the gatekeeping role in quality assurance by identifying defects among a manufacturer's products prior to selling them to consumers. The impact of a retailer's gatekeeping activity on pricing and quality assurance in a supply chain has not been investigated in the operations management area. We draw a number of managerial insights that are expected to help practitioners judiciously consider the quality gatekeeping effort at the retail level. As in practice, when the retailer identifies a defective product, she immediately returns it to the manufacturer, who then replaces the defect with a good quality product and pays a penalty to the retailer. If the retailer does not recognize a defect but sells it to a consumer, then the consumer will identify the defect and return it to the retailer, who then passes the returned 'unidentified' defect to the manufacturer. The manufacturer also incurs a penalty cost. Accordingly, we analyze a two-stage pricing and quality decision problem, in which the manufacturer and the retailer bargain over the manufacturer's average defective rate and wholesale price at the first stage, and the retailer decides on her optimal retail price and gatekeeping intensity at the second stage. We also compare the results when the retailer performs quality gatekeeping with those when the retailer does not. Our supply chain analysis exposes some important managerial insights. For example, the retailer's quality gatekeeping can effectively reduce the channel-wide defective rate, if her penalty charge for each identified de-fect is larger than or equal to the market penalty for each unidentified defect. When the retailer imple-ments quality gatekeeping, the change in the negotiated wholesale price only depends on the manufac-turer's 'individual' benefit, and the change in the retailer's optimal retail price is only related to the channel-wide benefit. The retailer is willing to take on the quality gatekeeping responsibility, when the impact of quality relative to retail price on demand is high and/or the retailer has a strong bargaining power. We conclude that the retailer's quality gatekeeping can help reduce the defective rate for consumers, which becomes more significant when the retailer's bargaining position in her supply chain is stronger. Retailers with stronger bargaining powers can benefit more from their quality gatekeeping in supply chains.

Keywords: bargaining, game theory, pricing, quality, supply chain

Procedia PDF Downloads 263

Authors: H. Abas Nejad, A. R. Teymoori

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Facial expression recognition is one of the open problems in computer vision. Robust neutral face recognition in real time is a major challenge for various supervised learning based facial expression recognition methods. This is due to the fact that supervised methods cannot accommodate all appearance variability across the faces with respect to race, pose, lighting, facial biases, etc. in the limited amount of training data. Moreover, processing each and every frame to classify emotions is not required, as the user stays neutral for the majority of the time in usual applications like video chat or photo album/web browsing. Detecting neutral state at an early stage, thereby bypassing those frames from emotion classification would save the computational power. In this work, we propose a light-weight neutral vs. emotion classification engine, which acts as a preprocessor to the traditional supervised emotion classification approaches. It dynamically learns neutral appearance at Key Emotion (KE) points using a textural statistical model, constructed by a set of reference neutral frames for each user. The proposed method is made robust to various types of user head motions by accounting for affine distortions based on a textural statistical model. Robustness to dynamic shift of KE points is achieved by evaluating the similarities on a subset of neighborhood patches around each KE point using the prior information regarding the directionality of specific facial action units acting on the respective KE point. The proposed method, as a result, improves ER accuracy and simultaneously reduces the computational complexity of ER system, as validated on multiple databases.

Keywords: neutral vs. emotion classification, Constrained Local Model, procrustes analysis, Local Binary Pattern Histogram, statistical model

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: Aynur Aker, Hasan Kaya

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In recent years, the use of the aluminum based alloys in the industry and technology are increasing. Alloying elements in aluminum have further been improving the strength and stiffness properties that provide superior compared to other metals. In this study, investigation of physical properties (microstructure, microhardness, tensile strength, electrical conductivity and thermal properties) in the Al-12.6wt.%Si-%2wt.Ni ternary alloy were investigated. Al-Si-Ni alloy was prepared in a graphite crucible under vacuum atmosphere. The samples were directionally solidified upwards with different growth rate (V) at constant temperature gradient G (7.73 K/mm). The microstructures (flake spacings, λ), microhardness (HV), ultimate tensile strength, electrical resistivity and thermal properties enthalpy of fusion and specific heat and melting temperature) of the samples were measured. Influence of the growth rate and flake spacings on microhardness, ultimate tensile strength and electrical resistivity were investigated and relationships between them were experimentally obtained by using regression analysis. According to results, λ values decrease with increasing V, but microhardness, ultimate tensile strength, electrical resistivity values increase with increasing V. Variations of electrical resistivity for cast samples with the temperature in the range of 300-1200 K were also measured by using a standard dc four-point probe technique. The enthalpy of fusion and specific heat for the same alloy was also determined by means of differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) from heating trace during the transformation from liquid to solid. The results obtained in this work were compared with the previous similar experimental results obtained for binary and ternary alloys.

Keywords: electrical resistivity, enthalpy, microhardness, solidification, tensile stress

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Authors: Raghav Srivastava, Namrata Ramachandran

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Strong sustainability has been, by consensus, imagined as comprising economic and extra-economic variables and cannot be viewed merely in terms of a trade-off between the economic needs of today and the potential left for tomorrow. Specifically, the cultural as well the ecological impacts of development projects on the affected communities should be evaluated, in addition to the economic. In developing and densely populated economies such as India, energy intensive development is seen as a sine qua non – a necessary trade off with ecological conservation. Although social impact assessment has been included as an inalienable part of the Environmental Impact Assessment required to be conducted under Indian law, it seems that the same is unable to meet the ends it seeks to achieve. The dissociation between those bearing the costs of development, and those reaping its benefits, lies at the heart of this failure. This paper attempts to study the various cost–benefit relationships for these minority stakeholders using the proposed Nyamjang Chhu hydroelectric power plant in Tawang District of Arunachal Pradesh (in North-east India) as the chief object of study, and discusses whether the current model of sustainable development is truly sustainable, given the level of social dissociation and disintegration that occurs between affected communities and their environment. The economic allure of hydroelectric projects in the hilly regions of India very rarely results in a proper assessment of their ecological and social externalities. Examining the various issues that have been agitated in the course of litigation over the Nyamjang Chhu hydroelectric project, the authors argue that there is a pressing need to re-evaluate the current Indian model of sustainable development going forward.

Keywords: hydroelectric power, socio-cultural dissociation, sustainable development, trade offs

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Lian Zeng

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Double-Spear 1-H2-1 (DS1-H2-1) is an oncolytic virus and an innovative biological drug candidate. The chemical composition of the drug product is a live attenuated West Nile virus (WNV) containing the human T cell costimulator (CD86) gene. After intratumoral injection, the virus can rapidly self-replicate in the injected site and lyse/kill the tumor by repeated infection among tumor cells. We also established xenograft tumor models in mice to evaluate the drug candidate's efficacy on those tumors. The results from preclinical studies on transplanted tumors in immunodeficient mice showed that DS1-H2-1 had significant oncolytic effects on human-origin cancers: it completely (100%) shrieked human glioma; limited human neuroblastoma growth reached as high as 95% growth inhibition rate (%TGITW). The safety data of preclinical animal experiments confirmed that DS1-H2-1 is safe as a biological drug for clinical use. In the preclinical drug efficacy experiment, virus-drug administration with different doses did not show abnormal signs and disease symptoms in more than 300 tested mice, and no side effects or death occurred through various administration routes. Intravenous administration did not cause acute infectious disease or other side effects. However, the replication capacity of the virus in tumor tissue via intravenous administration is only 1% of that of direct intratumoral administration. The direct intratumoral administration of DS1-H2-1 had a higher rate of viral replication. Therefore, choosing direct intratumoral injection can ensure both efficacy and safety.

Keywords: oncolytic virus, WNV-CD86, immunotherapy drugs, glioma, neuroblastoma

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Marwa Abdulsalam, Osamu Suzuki, Wirawan Dony Dahana

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One of the remarkable and unique industries in Japan is the food samples industry which can be noticed in most of the restaurants located around Japan. However, the market is getting saturated, which has pushed Japanese food sample manufacturers to start exploring new international markets. Most of the markets they explored were in the East Asian region, such as China or Korea. In this research, we examine the feasibility and the potential adoption rate of food samples in the international market outside the East Asian region. The main focus of this study is on the Saudi Arabian market. Nonetheless, since Saudi Arabia is a big market, the study results could possibly be applied to the international market as well. The study has conducted a quantitative survey to test the potential of the food samples industry in Saudi Arabia especially in 4 major cities: Jeddah, Mecca, Riyadh, and Dammam. The survey also tests the willingness to purchase, the average price point that the consumer is willing to pay for food samples, and the factors that drive restaurant owners to adopt the food samples system. The study created a correlation analysis between different factors, such as the geographic factor and the size of the restaurant factor, to examine the effect of different aspects on the purchasing decision. The study has found that the Japanese food samples system is predicted to adapt successfully in the Saudi Arabian market and in the international market alike due to the high importance of the food culture and the existence of the communication challenges that the food samples can solve. Additionally, the market survey stated in this study indicated that 83% of the restaurants’ managers are willing to adopt this system in their restaurants.

Keywords: food samples, innovative marketing, international market, marketing method

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Yael Wolff Sagy, Yiska Loewenberg Weisband, Vered Kaufman Shriqui, Michal Krieger, Arie Ben Yehuda, Ronit Calderon Margalit

Abstract:

Background: Obesity is both a risk factor and common comorbidity of diabetes. Obesity impedes the achievement of glycemic control, and enhances damage caused by hyperglycemia to blood vessels; thus it increases diabetes-related complications. This study assessed the prevalence of obesity and morbid obesity among Israeli adults with diabetes, and estimated disparities associated with sex and socioeconomic position (SEP). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the setting of the Israeli National Program for Quality Indicators in Community Healthcare. Data on all the Israeli population is retrieved from electronic medical records of the four health maintenance organizations (HMOs). The study population included all Israeli patients with diabetes aged 20-64 with documented body mass index (BMI) in 2016 (N=180,451). Diabetes was defined as the existence of one or more of the following criteria: (a) Plasma glucose level >200 mg% in at least two tests conducted at least one month apart in the previous year; (b) HbA1c>6.5% at least once in the previous year (c) at least three prescriptions of diabetes medications were dispensed during the previous year. Two measures were included: the prevalence of obesity (defined as last BMI≥ 30 kg/m2 and <35 kg/m2) and the prevalence of morbid obesity (defined as last BMI≥ 35 kg/m2) in individuals aged 20-64 with diabetes. The cut-off value for morbid obesity was set in accordance with the eligibility criteria for bariatric surgery in diabetics. Data were collected by the HMOs and aggregated by age, sex and SEP. SEP was based on statistical areas ranking by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics and divided into 4 categories, ranking from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest). Results: BMI documentation among adults with diabetes was 84.9% in 2016. The prevalence of obesity in the study population was 30.5%. Although the overall rate was similar in both sexes (30.8% in females, 30.3% in males), SEP disparities were stronger in females (32.7% in SEP level 1 vs. 27.7% in SEP level 4; 18.1% relative difference) compared to males (30.6% in SEP level 1 vs. 29.3% in SEP level 4; 4.4% relative difference). The overall prevalence of morbid obesity in this population was 20.8% in 2016. The rate among females was almost double compared to the rate in males (28.1% and 14.6%, respectively). In both sexes, the prevalence of morbid obesity was strongly associated with lower SEP. However, in females, disparities between SEP levels were much stronger (34.3% in SEP level 1 vs. 18.7% in SEP level 4; 83.4% relative difference) compared to SEP-disparities in males (15.7% in SEP level 1 vs. 12.3% in SEP level 4; 27.6% relative difference). Conclusions: The overall prevalence of BMI≥ 30 kg/m2 among adults with diabetes in Israel exceeds 50%; and the prevalence of morbid obesity suggests that 20% meet the BMI-criteria for bariatric surgery. Prevalence rates show major SEP- and sex-disparities; especially strong SEP disparities in morbid obesity among females. These findings highlight the need for greater consideration of different population groups when implementing interventions.

Keywords: diabetes, health disparities, health policy, obesity, socio-economic position

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Kldiashvili Ekaterina, Burduli Archil, Ghortlishvili Gocha

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Introduction – Medical information system (MIS) is at the heart of information technology (IT) implementation policies in healthcare systems around the world. Different architecture and application models of MIS are developed. Despite of obvious advantages and benefits, application of MIS in everyday practice is slow. Objective - On the background of analysis of the existing models of MIS in Georgia has been created a multi-user web-based approach. This presentation will present the architecture of the system and its application for image based second opinion consultations. Methods – The MIS has been created with .Net technology and SQL database architecture. It realizes local (intranet) and remote (internet) access to the system and management of databases. The MIS is fully operational approach, which is successfully used for medical data registration and management as well as for creation, editing and maintenance of the electronic medical records (EMR). Five hundred Georgian language electronic medical records from the cervical screening activity illustrated by images were selected for second opinion consultations. Results – The primary goal of the MIS is patient management. However, the system can be successfully applied for image based second opinion consultations. Discussion – The ideal of healthcare in the information age must be to create a situation where healthcare professionals spend more time creating knowledge from medical information and less time managing medical information. The application of easily available and adaptable technology and improvement of the infrastructure conditions is the basis for eHealth applications. Conclusion - The MIS is perspective and actual technology solution. It can be successfully and effectively used for image based second opinion consultations.

Keywords: digital images, medical information system, second opinion consultations, electronic medical record

Procedia PDF Downloads 434

Authors: Gordon Weight, Hermione Tsoi, Patrick Cutinha, Sanjay Rajpal

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Aim: Greenlight-laser prostatectomy (GLLP) is becoming a popular treatment option for bladder outlet obstruction and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). In this retrospective study, we aim to explore the patient selection, perioperative morbidity, and functional outcomes of GLLP. Methods: Patients who underwent GLLP at a UK tertiary centre between June 2018 and November 2021 were included in this study. Retrospective data covering patient demographics, perioperative parameters and postoperative outcomes were collected using the electronic records systems. Results: 305 patients were included in this study with a mean age of 73 (range 30-90) years. The most common indication (62.6%) for the procedure was patient’s wish to be free from long-term catheters (LTC) or intermittent catheterisation (ISC), followed by failed medical therapy for LUTS (36.4%). 84.6% of patients had an ASA ≥2, and 32.1% took anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy. Inpatient stays were minimal, with the majority (68.2%) of patients were performed as day case, and only 10.5% of patients requiring more than a single night admission. The 3-month readmission rate was 10.8%, with the most common causes being haematuria and urinary-tract infection. The successful TWOC rate at follow up was 91.2%. Amongst the 19 patients who failed TWOC, 14 had LTC prior to the procedure and 4 had been performing ISC. Conclusions: Our study shows that GLLP is a safe and effective day case treatment and can be suitable for elderly and comorbid patients. Patients requiring LTC or ISC pre-operatively should be counselled carefully about the risk of not being catheter-free post procedure.

Keywords: urology, endourology, prostate, bladder outlet obstruction, laser

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Authors: Timothy Wale Olaosebikan

Abstract:

The most active resource in any organization is the manpower. Every other resource remains inactive unless there is competent manpower to handle them. Manpower training is needed to enhance productivity and overall performance of the organizations. This is due to the recognition of the important role of manpower training in attainment of organizational goals. Corporate Compliance conjures visions of an incomprehensible matrix of laws and regulations that defy logic and control by even the most seasoned manpower training professionals. Similarly, corporate compliance can be viewed as one of the most significant problems faced in manpower training process for any organization, therefore, commands relevant attention and comprehension. Consequently, this study investigated the nexus between manpower training and corporate compliance. Collection of data for the study was effected through the use of questionnaire with a sample size of 265 drawn by stratified random sampling. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study show that about 75% of the respondents agree that there is a strong relationship between manpower training and corporate compliance, which brings out the organizational attainment from any training process. The findings further show that most organisation do not totally comply with the rules guiding manpower training process thereby making the process less effective on organizational performance, which may affect overall profitability. The study concludes that formulation and compliance of adequate rules and guidelines for manpower trainings will produce effective results for both employees and the organization at large. The study recommends that leaders of organizations, industries, and institutions must ensure total compliance on the part of both the employees and the organization to manpower training rules. Organizations and stakeholders should also ensure that strict policies on corporate compliance to manpower trainings form the heart of their cardinal mission.

Keywords: corporate compliance, manpower training, nexus, rules and guidelines

Procedia PDF Downloads 125