Search results for: medical equipment

Authors: Baluku Nathan

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Infection prevention and control (IPC) is a practical, evidence-based approach that prevents patients and emergency health workers from being harmed by avoidable infections as a result of antimicrobial resistance; all hospital infection control programs put together various practices which, when used appropriately, restrict the spread of infection. A breach in these control practices facilitates the transmission of infections from patients to health workers, other patients, and attendants. It is, therefore important for all emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and patients to strictly adhere to them. It is also imperative for administrators to ensure the implementation of the infection control programme for their facilities. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influencing factors of prevention practices against infection exposure among emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in the emergency department at Mbarara hospital. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that employed a self-reported questionnaire that was filled out by 32 EMTs in the emergency department from 12th February to 3rd march 2022. The questionnaire consisted of items concerning the defensive environment and other factors influencing infection prevention and control practices in the accident and emergency department of Mbarara hospital. Results: From the findings, the majority 16 (50%) always used protective gear when doing clinical work, 14 (43.8%) didn’t use protective gear, citing they were only assisting those performing resuscitations, gumboots were the least used protective gear with only3(9.4%) usage. About disposal techniques of specific products like blood and sharps, results showed 10 (31.3%) said blood is disposed of in red buckets, 5 (15.6%) in yellow buckets, and only 5(15.6%) in black buckets, and 12(37.5%) didn’t respond, however, 28(87.5%) said sharps were disposed of in a sharps container. The majority, 17 (53.1%), were not aware of the infection control guidelines even though they were pinned on walls of the emergency rooms, 15(46.9%) said they have never had quality assurance monitoring events, 14(43.8%) said monitoring was continuous while 15(46.9 %) said it was discrete. Conclusions: The infection control practices at the emergency department were inadequate in view of less than 100% of the EMTs observing the five principles of infection prevention, such as the use of personal protective equipment and proper waste disposal in appropriate color-coded bins. Dysfunctional infection prevention and control committees accompanied by inadequate supervision to ensure infection control remained a big challenge.

Keywords: emergency medical technician, infection prevention, influencing factors, infection control

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Authors: Parameshwaran Nair

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Filling and packaging lines for bottling of beverages into glass, PET or aluminum containers require specialized expertise and a different configuration of equipment like – Filler, Warmer, Labeller, Crater/Recrater, Shrink Packer, Carton Erector, Carton Sealer, Date Coder, Palletizer, etc. Over the period of time, the packaging industry has evolved from manually operated single station machines to highly automized high-speed lines. Human factor and ergonomics have gained significant consideration in this course of transformation. A pre-requisite for such bottling lines, irrespective of the container type and size, is to be suitable for multi-format applications. It should also be able to handle format changeovers with minimal adjustment. It should have variable capacity and speeds, for providing great flexibility of use in managing accumulation times as a function of production characteristics. In terms of layout as well, it should demonstrate flexibility for operator movement and access to machine areas for maintenance. Packaging technology during the past few decades has risen to these challenges by a series of major breakthroughs interspersed with periods of refinement and improvement. The milestones are many and varied and are described briefly in this paper. In order to have a brief understanding of the human factor and ergonomics in the modern packaging lines, this paper, highlights the various technologies, design considerations and statutory requirements in packaging equipment for different types of containers used in India.

Keywords: human-factor, ergonomics, bottling lines, automized high-speed lines

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Authors: C. A. Barros, Ana P. Barroso

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Any industrial company needs to determine the amount of variation that exists within its measurement process and guarantee the reliability of their data, studying the performance of their measurement system, in terms of linearity, bias, repeatability and reproducibility and stability. This issue is critical for automotive industry suppliers, who are required to be certified by the 16949:2016 standard (replaces the ISO/TS 16949) of International Automotive Task Force, defining the requirements of a quality management system for companies in the automotive industry. Measurement System Analysis (MSA) is one of the mandatory tools. Frequently, the measurement system in companies is not connected to the equipment and do not incorporate the methods proposed by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG). To address these constraints, an R&D project is in progress, whose objective is to develop a web and cloud-based MSA tool. This MSA tool incorporates Industry 4.0 concepts, such as, Internet of Things (IoT) protocols to assure the connection with the measuring equipment, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, statistical tools, and advanced mathematical algorithms. This paper presents the preliminary findings of the project. The web and cloud-based MSA tool is innovative because it implements all statistical tests proposed in the MSA-4 reference manual from AIAG as well as other emerging methods and techniques. As it is integrated with the measuring devices, it reduces the manual input of data and therefore the errors. The tool ensures traceability of all performed tests and can be used in quality laboratories and in the production lines. Besides, it monitors MSAs over time, allowing both the analysis of deviations from the variation of the measurements performed and the management of measurement equipment and calibrations. To develop the MSA tool a ten-step approach was implemented. Firstly, it was performed a benchmarking analysis of the current competitors and commercial solutions linked to MSA, concerning Industry 4.0 paradigm. Next, an analysis of the size of the target market for the MSA tool was done. Afterwards, data flow and traceability requirements were analysed in order to implement an IoT data network that interconnects with the equipment, preferably via wireless. The MSA web solution was designed under UI/UX principles and an API in python language was developed to perform the algorithms and the statistical analysis. Continuous validation of the tool by companies is being performed to assure real time management of the ‘big data’. The main results of this R&D project are: MSA Tool, web and cloud-based; Python API; New Algorithms to the market; and Style Guide of UI/UX of the tool. The MSA tool proposed adds value to the state of the art as it ensures an effective response to the new challenges of measurement systems, which are increasingly critical in production processes. Although the automotive industry has triggered the development of this innovative MSA tool, other industries would also benefit from it. Currently, companies from molds and plastics, chemical and food industry are already validating it.

Keywords: automotive Industry, industry 4.0, Internet of Things, IATF 16949:2016, measurement system analysis

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Authors: Shirazu Issahaku, Isaac Kwesi Acquah, Simon Mensah Amoh, George Nunoo

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Introduction: Diagnostic Reference Levels are important indicators for monitoring and optimizing protocol and procedure in medical imaging between facilities and equipment. This helps to evaluate whether, in routine clinical conditions, the median value obtained for a representative group of patients within an agreed range from a specified procedure is unusually high or low for that procedure. This study aimed to propose Diagnostic Reference Levels for Computed Tomography examination of the most common routine examination of the head, chest and abdominal pelvis regions at the University of Ghana Medical Centre. Methods: The Diagnostic Reference Levels were determined based on the investigation of the most common routine examinations, including head Computed Tomography examination with and without contrast, abdominopelvic Computed Tomography examination with and without contrast, and chest Computed Tomography examination without contrast. The study was based on two dose indicators: the volumetric Computed Tomography Dose Index and Dose-Length Product. Results: The estimated median distribution for head Computed Tomography with contrast for volumetric-Computed Tomography dose index and Dose-Length Product were 38.33 mGy and 829.35 mGy.cm, while without contrast, were 38.90 mGy and 860.90 mGy.cm respectively. For an abdominopelvic Computed Tomography examination with contrast, the estimated volumetric-Computed Tomography dose index and Dose-Length Product values were 40.19 mGy and 2096.60 mGy.cm. In the absence of contrast, the calculated values were 14.65 mGy and 800.40 mGy.cm, respectively. Additionally, for chest Computed Tomography examination, the estimated values were 12.75 mGy and 423.95 mGy.cm for volumetric-Computed Tomography dose index and Dose-Length Product, respectively. These median values represent the proposed diagnostic reference values of the head, chest, and abdominal pelvis regions. Conclusions: The proposed Diagnostic Reference Level is comparable to the recommended International Atomic Energy Agency and International Commission Radiation Protection Publication 135 and other regional published data by the European Commission and Regional National Diagnostic Reference Level in Africa. These reference levels will serve as benchmarks to guide clinicians in optimizing radiation dose levels while ensuring accurate diagnostic image quality at the facility.

Keywords: diagnostic reference levels, computed tomography dose index, computed tomography, radiation exposure, dose-length product, radiation protection

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Authors: Chien-Kuo Chang, Yu-Hsiang Lin, Yi-Yun Tang, Min-Chiu Wu

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With the trend of technological advancement, the harm caused by power outages is substantial, mostly due to problems in the power grid. This highlights the necessity for further improvement in the reliability of the power system. In the power system, gas-insulated switches (GIS) and power cables play a crucial role. Long-term operation under high voltage can cause insulation materials in the equipment to crack, potentially leading to partial discharges. If these partial discharges (PD) can be analyzed, preventative maintenance and replacement of equipment can be carried out, there by improving the reliability of the power grid. This research will diagnose defects by identifying three different defects in GIS and three different defects in straight cable joints, for a total of six types of defects. The partial discharge data measured will be converted through phase analysis diagrams and pulse sequence analysis. Discharge features will be extracted using convolutional image processing, and three different deep learning models, CNN, ResNet18, and MobileNet, will be used for training and evaluation. Class Activation Mapping will be utilized to interpret the black-box problem of deep learning models, with each model achieving an accuracy rate of over 95%. Lastly, the overall model performance will be enhanced through an ensemble learning voting method.

Keywords: partial discharge, gas-insulated switches, straight cable joint, defect identification, deep learning, ensemble learning

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Authors: Mayssa Bensalah, Atef Boujelben, Mouna Baklouti, Mohamed Abid

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Image segmentation has a fundamental role in analysis and interpretation for many applications. The automated segmentation of organs and tissues throughout the body using computed imaging has been rapidly increasing. Indeed, it represents one of the most important parts of clinical diagnostic tools. In this paper, we discuss a thorough literature review of recent methods of tumour segmentation from medical images which are briefly explained with the recent contribution of various researchers. This study was followed by comparing these methods in order to define new directions to develop and improve the performance of the segmentation of the tumour area from medical images.

Keywords: features extraction, image segmentation, medical images, tumor detection

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Authors: Krasimir Ivanov, Elitsa Kolentsova, Dimitar Dimitrov, Petya Petrova, Tatyana Tabakova

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This work studies the effect of chemical composition on the activity and selectivity of γ–alumina supported CuO/ MnO2/Cr2O3 catalysts toward deep oxidation of CO, dimethyl ether (DME) and methanol. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation of the support with an aqueous solution of copper nitrate, manganese nitrate and CrO3 under different conditions. Thermal, XRD and TPR analysis were performed. The catalytic measurements of single compounds oxidation were carried out on continuous flow equipment with a four-channel isothermal stainless steel reactor. Flow-line equipment with an adiabatic reactor for simultaneous oxidation of all compounds under the conditions that mimic closely the industrial ones was used. The reactant and product gases were analyzed by means of on-line gas chromatographs. On the basis of XRD analysis it can be concluded that the active component of the mixed Cu-Mn-Cr/γ–alumina catalysts consists of at least six compounds – CuO, Cr2O3, MnO2, Cu1.5Mn1.5O4, Cu1.5Cr1.5O4 and CuCr2O4, depending on the Cu/Mn/Cr molar ratio. Chemical composition strongly influences catalytic properties, this influence being quite variable with regards to the different processes. The rate of CO oxidation rapidly decrease with increasing of chromium content in the active component while for the DME was observed the reverse trend. It was concluded that the best compromise are the catalysts with Cu/(Mn + Cr) molar ratio 1:5 and Mn/Cr molar ratio from 1:3 to 1:4.

Keywords: Cu-Mn-Cr oxide catalysts, volatile organic compounds, deep oxidation, dimethyl ether (DME)

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Authors: Byoungjoon Yu, Jihwan Park, Sujung Sin, Junghyun Im, Minsoo Park, Sehwan Park, Seunghee Park

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In this paper, we propose a technology to monitor the soundness of an Internet-based bridge using a non-conductive inspection function. There has been a collapse accident due to the aging of the bridge structure, and it is necessary to prepare for the deterioration of the bridge. The NDT/SHM system for maintenance of existing bridge structures requires a large number of inspection personnel and expensive inspection costs, and access of expensive and large equipment to measurement points is required. Because current drone inspection equipment can only be inspected through camera, it is difficult to inspect inside damage accurately, and the results of an internal damage evaluation are subjective, and it is difficult for non-specialists to recognize the evaluation results. Therefore, it is necessary to develop NDT/SHM techniques for maintenance of new-concept bridge structures that allow for free movement and real-time evaluation of measurement results. This work is financially supported by Korea Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) as 'Smart City Master and Doctor Course Grant Program' and a grant (14SCIP-B088624-01) from Construction Technology Research Program funded by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korean government.

Keywords: Structural Health Monitoring, SHM, non-contact sensing, nondestructive testing, NDT, Internet of Things, autonomous self-driving drone

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Authors: Safa Ladhari, Alireza Saidi, Phuong Nguyen-Tri

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During health crises, such as COVID-19, using disposable protective equipment (PEs) (masks, gowns, etc.) causes long-term problems, increasing the volume of hazardous waste that must be handled safely and expensively. Therefore, producing textiles for antimicrobial and reusable materials is highly desirable to decrease the use of disposable PEs that should be treated as hazardous waste. In addition, if these items are used regularly in the workplace or for daily activities by the public, they will most likely end up in household waste. Furthermore, they may pose a high risk of contagion to waste collection workers if contaminated. Therefore, to protect the whole population in times of sanitary crisis, it is necessary to equip these materials with tools that make them resilient to the challenges of carrying out daily activities without compromising public health and the environment and without depending on them external technologies and producers. In addition, the materials frequently used for EPs are plastics of petrochemical origin. The subject of the present work is replacing petroplastics with bioplastic since it offers better biodegradability. The chosen polymer is polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a family of polyhydroxyalkanoates synthesized by different bacteria. It has similar properties to conventional plastics. However, it is renewable, biocompatible, and has attractive barrier properties compared to other polyesters. These characteristics make it ideal for EP protection applications. The current research topic focuses on the preparation and rapid evaluation of the biological activity of nanotechnology-based antimicrobial agents to treat textile surfaces used for PE. This work will be carried out to provide antibacterial solutions that can be transferred to a workplace application in the fight against short-term biological risks. Three main objectives are proposed during this research topic: 1) the development of suitable methods for the deposition of antibacterial agents on the surface of textiles; 2) the development of a method for measuring the antibacterial activity of the prepared textiles and 3) the study of the biodegradability of the prepared textiles. The studied textile is a non-woven fabric based on a biodegradable polymer manufactured by the electrospinning method. Indeed, nanofibers are increasingly studied due to their unique characteristics, such as high surface-to-volume ratio, improved thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties, and confinement effects. The electrospun film will be surface modified by plasma treatment and then loaded with hybrid antibacterial silver and titanium dioxide nanoparticles by the dip-coating method. This work uses simple methods with emerging technologies to fabricate nanofibers with suitable size and morphology to be used as components for protective equipment. The antibacterial agents generally used are based on silver, zinc, copper, etc. However, to our knowledge, few researchers have used hybrid nanoparticles to ensure antibacterial activity with biodegradable polymers. Also, we will exploit visible light to improve the antibacterial effectiveness of the fabric, which differs from the traditional contact mode of killing bacteria and presents an innovation of active protective equipment. Finally, this work will allow for the innovation of new antibacterial textile materials through a simple and ecological method.

Keywords: protective equipment, antibacterial textile materials, biodegradable polymer, electrospinning, hybrid antibacterial nanoparticles

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Authors: Rhay-Hung Weng, Ching-Yuan Huang, Wan-Ping Chen

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Recently, many hospitals have put much emphasis upon the development of nurse innovation. The present study aimed to clarify how nurse innovation is related to medical service quality and medical service experience. This study adopted questionnaire-survey method with nurses and customers of the inpatient wards from three Taiwanese hospitals as the research subjects. After pairing, there were 294 valid questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to test the possible impact of nurse innovation on medical service quality and experience. In terms of the dimensions of nurse innovation, “innovation behavior” ranked the highest (3.24), followed by knowledge creation and innovation diffusion; in terms of the degree of the medical service quality, 'reliability' ranked the highest (4.35). As for the degree of the medical service experience, 'feel experience' ranked the highest (4.44). All dimensions of nurse innovation have no significant effects on medical service quality and medical service experience. Of these three dimensions of nurse innovation, the level of innovation behavior was perceived by the nurses as the highest. The study found that nurse innovation has no significant effects on medical service quality and medical service experience. Managers shall provide sufficient resources and budget for fostering innovation development and encourage their nurses to develop nursing innovation for patents. The education and training courses on “patient-centered ” shall be enhanced among hospital nurses. Health care managers shall also explore the difficulties about innovation diffusion and find the solutions for nurses.

Keywords: innovation, employee innovative behavior, service quality, service experience

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Authors: Karen C. Olufokunbi, Odetunji A. Odejobi

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The discourse of this paper is the examination of the generation, accumulation and growth of e-waste in a developing country. Images and other data about computer e-waste were collected using a digital camera, 290 copies of questionnaire and three structured interviews using Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Nigeria environment as a case study. The numerical data were analysed using R data analysis and process tool. Automata-based techniques and Petri net modeling tool were used to design and simulate a computational model for the recovery of saleable materials from e-waste. The R analysis showed that at a 95 percent confidence level, the computer equipment that will be disposed by 2020 will be 417 units. Compared to the 800 units in circulation in 2014, 50 percent of personal computer components will become e-waste. This indicates that personal computer components were in high demand due to their low costs and will be disposed more rapidly when replaced by new computer equipment Also, 57 percent of the respondents discarded their computer e-waste by throwing it into the garbage bin or by dumping it. The simulated model using Coloured Petri net modelling tool for the process showed that the e-waste dynamics is a forward sequential process in the form of a pipeline meaning that an e-waste recovery of saleable materials process occurs in identifiable discrete stages indicating that e-waste will continue to accumulate and grow in volume with time.

Keywords: Coloured Petri net, computational modelling, electronic waste, electronic waste process dynamics

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Authors: Auni Idi Muhire

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Background: Prior to April 2012, resuscitations were often ineffective resulting in poor patient outcomes. An initiative was implemented at Rwanda Military Hospital (RMH) to review root causes and plan strategies to improve patient outcomes. An interdisciplinary committee was developed to review this problem. Purpose: Analyze the frequency, obstacles, and outcome of patient resuscitation following cardiac and/or respiratory arrest. Methods: A form was developed to allow recording of all actions taken during resuscitation including response times, staff present, and equipment and medications used. Results:-The patient population requiring the most resuscitation effort are the intensive care patients, most frequently the neonatal the intensive care patients (42.8%) -Despite having trained staff representatives, not all resuscitations follow protocol -Lack of compliance with drug administration guidelines was noted, particularly in initiating use of drugs despite the drug being available (59%). Lesson Learned: Basic Life Support training for interdisciplinary staff resulted in more effective response to cardiac and/or respiratory arrest at RMH. Obstacles to effective resuscitation included number of staff, knowledge and skill level of staff, availability of appropriate equipment and medications, staff communication, and patient Do not Attempt Resuscitation (DNR) status.

Keywords: resuscitation, case analysis of knowledge versus practice, intensive care, critical care

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Authors: A. Armin, R. Fotouhi, W. Szyszkowski

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This paper is part of a study to develop robots for farming. As such power requirement to operate equipment attach to such robots become an important factor. Soil-tool interaction play major role in power consumption, thus predicting accurately the forces which act on the blade during the farming is prime importance for optimal designing of farm equipment. In this paper a finite element investigation for tillage tools and soil interaction is described by using an inelastic constitutive material law for agriculture application. A 3-dimentional (3D) nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) is developed to examine behavior of a blade with different rake angles moving in a block of soil, and to estimate the blade force. The soil model considered is an elastic-plastic with non-associated Drucker-Prager material model. Special use of contact elements are employed to consider connection between soil-blade and soil-soil surfaces. The FEA results are compared with experiment ones, which show good agreement in accurately predicting draft forces developed on the blade when it moves through the soil. Also, a very good correlation was obtained between FEA results and analytical results from classical soil mechanics theories for straight blades. These comparisons verified the FEA model developed. For analyzing complicated soil-tool interactions and for optimum design of blades, this method will be useful.

Keywords: finite element analysis, soil-blade contact modeling, blade force, mechanical engineering

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Authors: Nisar Ahmed Memon

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A new medical image watermarking scheme delivering high embedding capacity is presented in this paper. Integer Wavelet Transform (IWT), Companding technique and adaptive thresholding are used in this scheme. The proposed scheme implants, recovers the hidden information and restores the input image to its pristine state at the receiving end. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images are used for experimental purposes. The scheme first segment the MRI medical image into non-overlapping blocks and then inserts watermark into wavelet coefficients having a high frequency of each block. The scheme uses block-based watermarking adopting iterative optimization of threshold for companding in order to avoid the histogram pre and post processing. Results show that proposed scheme performs better than other reversible medical image watermarking schemes available in literature for MRI medical images.

Keywords: adaptive thresholding, companding technique, data authentication, reversible watermarking

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Authors: Robin Singh, Jing-Chiou Liou

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The Internet of Things (IoT) devices are being used heavily as part of our everyday routines. Through improved communication and automated procedures, its popularity has assisted users in raising the quality of work. These devices are used in healthcare in order to better collect the patient’s data for their treatment. They are generally considered safe and secure. However, there is some possibility that some loopholes do exist which manufacturers do need to identify before some hacker takes advantage of them. For this study, we focused on two medical IoT devices which are pacemakers and hearing aids. The aim of this paper is to identify if there is any likelihood of these medical devices being hijacked and used as a botnet in Distributed Denial-Of Service attacks. Moreover, some mitigation strategies are being proposed to better secure

Keywords: cybersecurity, DDoS, IoT, medical devices

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Authors: Aryana Collins Jackson, Elisabetta Bevacqua, Pierre De Loor, Ronan Querrec

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This paper presents a taxonomy of non-technical skills, communicative intentions, and behavior for an individual acting as a medical coordinator. In medical emergency situations, a leader among the group is imperative to both patient health and team emotional and mental health. Situational Leadership is used to make clear and easy-to-follow guidelines for behavior depending on circumstantial factors. Low-level leadership behaviors belonging to two different styles, directive and supporting, are identified from literature and are included in the proposed taxonomy. The high-level information in the taxonomy consists of the necessary non-technical skills belonging to a medical coordinator: situation awareness, decision making, task management, and teamwork. Finally, communicative intentions, dimensions, and functions are included. Thus this work brings high-level and low-level information - medical non-technical skills, communication capabilities, and leadership behavior - into a single versatile taxonomy of behavior.

Keywords: human behavior, leadership styles, medical, taxonomy

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Authors: Ana P. R. N. Barroso, Maurício N. Kleinberg, Frederico R. Silva, Rodrigo F. Guimarães, Marcelo M. V. Parente, Walney S. Araújo

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The fight against accelerated wear of the equipment used in the oil and gas sector is a challenge for minimizing maintenance costs. Corrosion being one of the main agents of equipment deterioration, we seek alternative materials that exhibit improved corrosion resistance at low cost of production. This study aims to evaluate the corrosion behavior of experimental alloys containing 15% and 17% of chromium (Cr) and 5% of molybdenum (Mo) in comparison with an AISI 444 commercial alloy. Microstructural analyzes were performed on samples of the alloys before and after the electrochemical tests. Two samples of each solubilized alloy were also taken for analysis of the corrosion behavior by testing potentiodynamic polarization (PP) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) with immersion time of 24 hours in electrolytic solution with acidic character. The graphics obtained through electrochemical tests of PP and EIS indicated that among the experimental alloys, the alloy with higher chromium content (17%) had a higher corrosion resistance, confirming the beneficial effect of adding chromium. When comparing the experimental alloys with the AISI 444 commercial alloy, it is observed that the AISI 444 commercial alloy showed superior corrosion resistance to that of the experimental alloys for both assays, PP and EIS. The microstructural analyzes performed after the PP and EIS tests confirmed the results previously described. These results suggest that the addition of these levels of molybdenum did not favor the electrochemical behavior of experimental ferritic alloys for the electrolytic medium studied.

Keywords: corrosion, molybdenum, electrochemical tests, experimental alloys

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Authors: Patcharapa Thaweekul, Paskorn Sritipsukho

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Background: During the training period of the 6-year medical curriculum, medical students seem to have many risk behaviors of developing obesity. This study aims to demonstrate the prevalence and risk behavior of obesity and related metabolic disorders among the final-year medical students of Thammasat University as well as the change in nutritional status during studying program. Methods: 123 participants were asked to complete the self-report questionnaires. Weight, height, waist circumference and blood pressure were obtained. Blood samples were drawn for total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides and plasma glucose. Body weight and height of the medical students in the first year were obtained from the medical report at the entry. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity at the entry to medical school was 22.0% and increased to 30.1% in the final year. Two obese students (5.4%) was diagnosed as metabolic syndrome. During 6-year curriculum, the BMI gained in male medical students were more significant as compared to female students (1.76±1.74 and 0.43±1.82 kg/m2, respectively; p <.001). The current BMI is significantly correlated with the BMI at entry. Serum LDL-C in the overweight/obese students was significantly higher as compared to the normal weight and underweight group. Sleep deprivation was a significantly frequent behavior in the overweight/obese students. Conclusion: Medical students, as having high-risk behaviors, should be assessed for the nutritional status and metabolic parameters. Medical schools should promote the healthy behaviors to increase the healthy eating and exercise habits and reduced the risk behaviors among them.

Keywords: medical students, metabolic syndrome, obesity, risk behaviors

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Authors: Andrew Anis Fakhrey Mosaad

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Objectives: Physiotherapy in the intensive care unit (ICU) improves patient outcomes. We aimed to determine the characteristics of physiotherapy practice and critical barriers to applying physiotherapy in ICUs. Materials and Methods: A 54-item survey for determining the characteristics physiotherapists and physiotherapy applications in the ICU was developed. The survey was electronically sent to potential participants through the Turkish Physiotherapy Association network. Sixty-five physiotherapists (47F and 18M; 23–52 years; ICU experience: 6.0±6.2 years) completed the survey. The data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Results: The duration of ICU practice was 3.51±2.10 h/day. Positioning (90.8%), active exercises (90.8%), breathing exercises (89.2%), passive exercises (87.7%), and percussion (87.7%) were the most commonly used applications. The barriers were related to physiotherapists (low level of employment and practice, lack of shift); patients (unwillingness, instability, participation restriction); teamwork (lack of awareness and communication); equipment (inadequacy, non-priority to purchase); and legal (reimbursement, lack of direct physiotherapy access, non-recognition of autonomy) procedures. Conclusion: The most common interventions were positioning, active, passive, breathing exercises, and percussion. Critical barriers toward physiotherapy are multifactorial and related to physiotherapists, patients, teams, equipment, and legal procedures. Physiotherapist employment, service maintenance, and multidisciplinary teamwork should be considered for physiotherapy effectiveness in ICUs.

Keywords: intensive care units, physical therapy, physiotherapy, exercises

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Authors: Y. N. Phang, E. F. Loh

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Many researchers have suggested the use of zero inflated Poisson (ZIP) and zero inflated negative binomial (ZINB) models in modeling over-dispersed medical count data with extra variations caused by extra zeros and unobserved heterogeneity. The studies indicate that ZIP and ZINB always provide better fit than using the normal Poisson and negative binomial models in modeling over-dispersed medical count data. In this study, we proposed the use of Zero Inflated Inverse Trinomial (ZIIT), Zero Inflated Poisson Inverse Gaussian (ZIPIG) and zero inflated strict arcsine models in modeling over-dispersed medical count data. These proposed models are not widely used by many researchers especially in the medical field. The results show that these three suggested models can serve as alternative models in modeling over-dispersed medical count data. This is supported by the application of these suggested models to a real life medical data set. Inverse trinomial, Poisson inverse Gaussian, and strict arcsine are discrete distributions with cubic variance function of mean. Therefore, ZIIT, ZIPIG and ZISA are able to accommodate data with excess zeros and very heavy tailed. They are recommended to be used in modeling over-dispersed medical count data when ZIP and ZINB are inadequate.

Keywords: zero inflated, inverse trinomial distribution, Poisson inverse Gaussian distribution, strict arcsine distribution, Pearson’s goodness of fit

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Authors: Pirakorn Sukonthaman, Paphitchaya Temphattharachok, Warangkana Thammasanya, Kraichart Tantrakarnarpa, Tanongson Tientavorn

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Agriculture is the main occupation in Thailand. Excessive amount of pesticides are used to increase the products but are toxic to human body. In 2009, Bureau of Epidemiology received 1,691 cases reported with pesticides toxicity (2.66:100,000) which 10.61 % of them is caused by Organophosphate. The purposes are to find factors associated with pesticides used and plasma cholinesterase level and other emerging issues that previous studies did not explain among agricultural workers in Baan Na Yao, Chachoengsao, Thailand. This research was an exploratory mixed method study. Qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires were used together in order to gather information from the agricultural workers (mainly cassava and rice farming) directly exposed to pesticides within 2 months simultaneously. Qualitative participants were selected by purposive sampling and a total survey for quantitative ones. The quantitative data was statistically analyzed by using multiple logistic regression model. Qualitative data was transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. For qualitative study, 15 participants were interviewed and 300/323 participants (92.88%) were given questionnaires, of which were 175 male and 125 female and 113 among them were spraymen. The prevalence of abnormal plasma cholinesterase level was 92.28% (Safe 7.72% Risky 49.33% and Unsafe 42.95%). Participants with inappropriate behaviors during spraying had a significant association with plasma cholinesterase level (95%CI=1.399-14.858) but other factors such as age, gender, education, attitude and knowledge had no association. They also had encountered various symptoms from pesticides such as fatigue (61%), vertigo (59.67%) and headache (58.86%), etc. Although they had high knowledge and attitude they still had poor behaviors. Moreover, our qualitative component showed that though they had worn the personal protective equipment (PPE) regularly, their PPE was not standard. Not only substandard PPE, but also there were obstacles of wearing such as the hot climate and inconvenience. They misunderstood their symptoms from using pesticides as allergy. Therefore, they did not seek for proper medical check-ups and treatment. This research revealed almost all of the participants have abnormal levels of plasma cholinesterase related especially those with poor behaviors. They also wore PPE but inadequately and misunderstood the symptoms produced by organophosphate use as allergy. Therefore, they did not seek for medical treatment. Occupation health education, modification of PPE and periodic medical checking are ways to make agricultural workers concern and know if there is any progression in a long term.

Keywords: pesticides, plasma cholinesterase level, spraymen, agricultural workers

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Authors: Jalil Qoulizadeh, Hasan Sadeghi

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Brain waves are electrical wave patterns that are produced in the human brain. Knowing these waves and activating them can have a positive effect on brain function and ultimately create an ideal life. The brain has the ability to produce waves from 0.1 to above 65 Hz. (The Beta One device produces exactly these waves) This is because it is said that the waves produced by the Beta One device exactly match the waves produced by the brain. The function and method of this device is based on the magnetic stimulation of the brain. The technology used in the design and producƟon of this device works in a way to strengthen and improve the frequencies of brain waves with a pre-defined algorithm according to the type of requested function, so that the person can access the expected functions in life activities. to perform better. The effect of this field on neurons and their stimulation: In order to evaluate the effect of this field created by the device, on the neurons, the main tests are by conducting electroencephalography before and after stimulation and comparing these two baselines by qEEG or quantitative electroencephalography method using paired t-test in 39 subjects. It confirms the significant effect of this field on the change of electrical activity recorded after 30 minutes of stimulation in all subjects. The Beta One device is able to induce the appropriate pattern of the expected functions in a soft and effective way to the brain in a healthy and effective way (exactly in accordance with the harmony of brain waves), the process of brain activities first to a normal state and then to a powerful one. Production of inexpensive neuroscience equipment (compared to existing rTMS equipment) Magnetic brain stimulation for clinics - homes - factories and companies - professional sports clubs.

Keywords: stimulation, brain, waves, betaOne

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: Chien-Kuo Chang, You-Syuan Wu, Min-Chiu Wu, Bharath-Kumar Boyanapalli

Abstract:

The electrical treeing mechanism in epoxy resin insulation is a critical area of study concerning the degradation of high-voltage electrical equipment. In this study, we conducted pressure-induced degradation experiments on epoxy resin specimens using a needle-plane electrode structure to simulate electrical treeing. The specimens featured two different defect spacings, allowing for detailed observation facilitated by time-lapse photography. Our investigation revealed four distinct stages of insulation degradation: initial dark tree growth, filamentary tree growth, reverse tree growth, and eventual insulation breakdown. The initial dark treeing stage, though shortest in duration, exhibited a thicker main branch and shorter branching, ceasing upon the appearance of filamentary treeing. Filamentary treeing manifested in two forms: dark filamentary treeing during the resin's glassy state, characterized by branching structures, and fuzzy filamentary treeing during the rubbery state, resembling white feathers. The channels formed by filamentary treeing were observed to be as narrow as a few micrometers and continued to grow until the end of the experiment. Additionally, the transition to reverse treeing occurred when filamentary treeing reached the ground electrode, with the earliest manifestation being growth from the ground electrode towards the high-voltage end.

Keywords: epoxy resin insulation, high-voltage equipment, electrical treeing mechanism

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Mostafa Firoozabadi, Alireza Foroughi Nematollahi

Abstract:

Wet mills are one of the most important equipment in the mining industries and any defect occurrence in them can stop the production line and it can make some irrecoverable damages to the system. Electromotors are the significant parts of a mill and their monitoring is a necessary process to prevent unwanted defects. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Electromotor bearing defects, theoretically and practically, using the vibration analysis method. When a defect happens in a bearing, it can be transferred to the other parts of the equipment like inner ring, outer ring, balls, and the bearing cage. The electromotor defects source can be electrical or mechanical. Sometimes, the electrical and mechanical defect frequencies are modulated and the bearing defect detection becomes difficult. In this paper, to detect the electromotor bearing defects, the electrical and mechanical defect frequencies are extracted firstly. Then, by calculating the bearing defect frequencies, and the spectrum and time signal analysis, the bearing defects are detected. In addition, the obtained frequency determines that the bearing level in which the defect has happened and by comparing this level to the standards it determines the bearing remaining lifetime. Finally, the defect length is calculated by theoretical equations to demonstrate that there is no need to replace the bearing. The results of the proposed method, which has been implemented on the wet mills in the Golgohar mining and industrial company in Iran, show that this method is capable of detecting the electromotor bearing defects accurately and on time.

Keywords: bearing defect length, defect frequency, electromotor defects, vibration analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 502

Authors: Lara Dutil-Fafard, Caroline Rhéaume, Patrick Archambault, Daniel Lafond, Neal W. Pollock

Abstract:

Improving resources for medical autonomy of astronauts in prolonged space missions, such as a Mars mission, requires not only technology development, but also decision-making support systems. The Advanced Crew Medical System - Medical Condition Requirements study, funded by the Canadian Space Agency, aimed to create knowledge content and a scenario-based query capability to support medical autonomy of astronauts. The key objective of this study was to create a prototype tool for identifying medical infrastructure requirements in terms of medical knowledge, skills and materials. A multicriteria decision-making method was used to prioritize the highest risk medical events anticipated in a long-term space mission. Starting with those medical conditions, event sequence diagrams (ESDs) were created in the form of decision trees where the entry point is the diagnosis and the end points are the predicted outcomes (full recovery, partial recovery, or death/severe incapacitation). The ESD formalism was adapted to characterize and compare possible outcomes of medical conditions as a function of available medical knowledge, skills, and supplies in a given mission scenario. An extensive literature review was performed and summarized in a medical condition database. A PostgreSQL relational database was created to allow query-based evaluation of health outcome metrics with different medical infrastructure scenarios. Critical decision points, skill and medical supply requirements, and probable health outcomes were compared across chosen scenarios. The three medical conditions with the highest risk rank were acute coronary syndrome, sepsis, and stroke. Our efforts demonstrate the utility of this approach and provide insight into the effort required to develop appropriate content for the range of medical conditions that may arise.

Keywords: decision support system, event-sequence diagram, exploration mission, medical autonomy, scenario-based queries, space medicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Kiurski S. Jelena, Aksentijević M. Snežana, Kecić S. Vesna, Oros B. Ivana

Abstract:

The prosperity of electronic equipment in photocopying environment not only has improved work efficiency, but also has changed indoor air quality. Considering the number of photocopying employed, indoor air quality might be worse than in general office environments. Determining the contribution from any type of equipment to indoor air pollution is a complex matter. Non-methane hydrocarbons are known to have an important role of air quality due to their high reactivity. The presence of hazardous pollutants in indoor air has been detected in one photocopying shop in Novi Sad, Serbia. Air samples were collected and analyzed for five days, during 8-hr working time in three-time intervals, whereas three different sampling points were determined. Using multiple linear regression model and software package STATISTICA 10 the concentrations of occupational hazards and micro-climates parameters were mutually correlated. Based on the obtained multiple coefficients of determination (0.3751, 0.2389, and 0.1975), a weak positive correlation between the observed variables was determined. Small values of parameter F indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the concentration levels of non-methane hydrocarbons and micro-climates parameters. The results showed that variable could be presented by the general regression model: y = b0 + b1xi1+ b2xi2. Obtained regression equations allow to measure the quantitative agreement between the variation of variables and thus obtain more accurate knowledge of their mutual relations.

Keywords: non-methane hydrocarbons, photocopying process, multiple regression analysis, indoor air quality, pollutant emission

Procedia PDF Downloads 378

Authors: Grace Temiloluwa Agbede, Rodwell Makombe, Gift Mheta

Abstract:

The study adopts a sociolinguistic framework to analyse trado-medical and church advertisements in Nigeria. The study employs a qualitative case-study approach to examine the language of trado-medical and church adverts in Nigeria. Obviously, language serves as an instrument of thought. Thus, it is safe to say that language is at the centre of every human activity and experience because it differentiates human beings from all other animals. The study analyses the appropriateness of language and visual elements in trado-medical and church advertisements in relation to their meaning. It focuses on billboard advertisements as well as selected Newspapers in Nigeria. It then became clearer that society influences language and vice versa. Thus, the justification for this study is predicated on the fact that more work still needs to be done to unpack the intertwined relationship among sociolinguistics, visual culture and advertisement. Given that this research focuses on visual advertisements by traditional medical practitioners and churches in Nigeria, it is therefore necessary to investigate the interplay between language and visuality in advertisements by traditional medical practitioners and churches.

Keywords: commercials, culture, language, visuality

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Saeed Karimi, Ali Behbahaninia

Abstract:

In this study, the design and optimization of combined cooling, heating, and power system (CCHP) for a sustainable building are dealt with. Sustainable buildings are environmentally responsible and help us to save energy also reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation. CCHP systems are widely used to save energy sources. In these systems, electricity, cooling, and heating are generating using just one primary energy source. The selection of the size of components based on the maximum demand of users will lead to an increase in the total cost of energy and equipment for the building complex. For this purpose, a system was designed in which the prime mover (gas turbine), heat recovery boiler, and absorption chiller are lower than the needed maximum. The difference in months with peak consumption is supplied with the help of electrical absorption chiller and auxiliary boiler (and the national electricity network). In this study, the optimum capacities of each of the equipment are determined based on Thermo economic method, in a way that the annual capital cost and energy consumption will be the lowest. The design was done for a gas turbine prime mover, and finally, the optimum designs were investigated using exergy analysis and were compared with a traditional energy supply system.

Keywords: sustainable building, CCHP, energy optimization, gas turbine, exergy, thermo-economic

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Nadjat Zerf Boudjettou, Fahima Nader, Rachid Chalal

Abstract:

Knowledge management is to acquire and represent knowledge relevant to a domain, a task or a specific organization in order to facilitate access, reuse and evolution. This usually means building, maintaining and evolving an explicit representation of knowledge. The next step is to provide access to that knowledge, that is to say, the spread in order to enable effective use. Knowledge management in the medical field aims to improve the performance of the medical organization by allowing individuals in the care facility (doctors, nurses, paramedics, etc.) to capture, share and apply collective knowledge in order to make optimal decisions in real time. In this paper, we propose a knowledge management approach based on integration technique of heterogeneous data in the medical field by creating a data warehouse, a technique of extracting knowledge from medical data by choosing a technique of data mining, and finally an exploitation technique of that knowledge in a case-based reasoning system.

Keywords: data warehouse, data mining, knowledge discovery in database, KDD, medical knowledge management, Bayesian networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 395

Authors: Shilpa Balan

Abstract:

Radio Frequency Identification, also popularly known as RFID is used to automatically identify and track tags attached to items. This study focuses on the application of RFID in healthcare. The adoption of RFID in healthcare is a crucial technology to patient safety and inventory management. Data from RFID tags are used to identify the locations of patients and inventory in real time. Medical errors are thought to be a prominent cause of loss of life and injury. The major advantage of RFID application in healthcare industry is the reduction of medical errors. The healthcare industry has generated huge amounts of data. By discovering patterns and trends within the data, big data analytics can help improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. The number of increasing research publications leading to innovations in RFID applications shows the importance of this technology. This study explores the current state of research of RFID in healthcare using a text mining approach. No study has been performed yet on examining the current state of RFID research in healthcare using a data mining approach. In this study, related articles were collected on RFID from healthcare journal and news articles. Articles collected were from the year 2000 to 2015. Significant keywords on the topic of focus are identified and analyzed using open source data analytics software such as Rapid Miner. These analytical tools help extract pertinent information from massive volumes of data. It is seen that the main benefits of adopting RFID technology in healthcare include tracking medicines and equipment, upholding patient safety, and security improvement. The real-time tracking features of RFID allows for enhanced supply chain management. By productively using big data, healthcare organizations can gain significant benefits. Big data analytics in healthcare enables improved decisions by extracting insights from large volumes of data.

Keywords: RFID, data mining, data analysis, healthcare

Procedia PDF Downloads 233