Search results for: bureaucratic and organic organization

Authors: Garima Singh, Kunal Malhotra

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Objective: The expansion of telehealth has been instrumental in increasing access to medical services, especially for underserved and rural communities. In 2020, 14 million patients received virtual care through telemedicine and the global telemedicine market is expected to reach up to $185 million by 2023. It provides a platform and allows a patient to receive primary care as well as specialized care using technology and the comfort of their homes. Telemedicine was particularly useful during COVID-pandemic and the number of telehealth visits increased by 5000% during that time. It continues to serve as a significant resource for patients seeking care and to bridge the gap between the disease and the treatment. Method: As per APA (American Psychiatric Association), Telemedicine is the process of providing health care from a distance through technology. It is a subset of telemedicine, and can involve providing a range of services, including evaluations, therapy, patient education and medication management. It can involve direct interaction between a physician and the patient. It also encompasses supporting primary care providers with specialist consultation and expertise. It can also involve recording medical information (images, videos, etc.) and sending this to a distant site for later review. Results: In our organization, we are using telepsychiatry and serving 25 counties and approximately 1.4 million people. We provide multiple services, including inpatient, outpatient, crisis intervention, Rehab facility, autism services, case management, community treatment and multiple other modalities. With project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) it has been used to advise and assist primary care providers in treating mental health. It empowers primary care providers to treat patients in their own community by sharing knowledge. Conclusion: Telemedicine has shown to be a great medium in meeting patients’ needs and accessible mental health. It has been shown to improve access to care in both urban and rural settings by bringing care to a patient and reducing barriers like transportation, financial stress and resources. Telemedicine is also helping with reducing ER visits, integrating primary care and improving the continuity of care and follow-up. There has been substantial evidence and research about its effectiveness and its usage.

Keywords: telehealth, telemedicine, access to care, medical technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 94

Authors: Lilian Bambirra De Assis, Patricia Albuquerque Gomes, Kamila Pagel De Oliveira, Deborah Oliveira Santos, Marcelo Esteves Chaves Campos

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This paper aimed to analyze how performance management occurs in the context of the modernization of the federal public sector in Chile and Portugal. To do so, the study was based on a theoretical framework that covers the modernization of public administration to performance management, passing on people management. The work consisted of qualitative-descriptive research in which 16 semi-structured interviews were applied in the countries of study and documents and legislation were used referring to the subject. Performance management, as well as other people management subsystems, is criticized for using private sector management tools, based on a results-driven logic. From this point of view, it is understood that certain practices of the private sector, regarding the measurement of performance, can not be simply inserted in the scenario of the public administration. Beyond this criticism, performance management can contribute to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the countries and its focus is upward, a trend that can be verified through the manuals produced; by the interest of consultants and professional organizations, both public and private; and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) evaluations. In Portugal, public administration reform was implemented during the Constitutional Government (2005-2009) and had as its objective the restructuring of human resources management, with an emphasis on its integration with budget management, which is an inclination of the OECD, while in Chile HRM (Human Resource Management) practices are directed to ministries to a lesser extent than the OECD average. The central human resources management sector, for the most part, coordinates policy but is also responsible for other issues, including payment and classification systems. Chile makes less use of strategic Human Resource Management practices than the average of OECD countries, and its prominence lies in the decentralization of public bodies, which may grant autonomy, but fragments the implementation of policies and practices in that country since they are not adopted by all organs. Through the analysis, it was possible to identify that Chile and Portugal have practices and personnel management policies that make reference to performance management, which is similar to other OECD countries. The study countries also have limitations to implement performance management and the results indicate that there are still processes to be perfected, such as performance appraisal and compensation.

Keywords: management of people in the public sector, modernization of public administration, performance management in the public sector, HRM, OECD

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: V. P. Ramani, K. P. Patel, S. B. Patel

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It is necessary to dispose of generated industrial wastes in the proper way to overcome the further pollution for a safe environment. Waste can be used in agriculture for good quality higher food production. In order to evaluate the effect and rate of processed industrial biomass on yield, contents, uptake and soil status in maize, a field experiment was conducted during 2009 - 2011 at Anand on loamy sand soil for two years. The treatments of different levels of NPK i.e. 100% RD, 75% RD and 50% RD were kept to study the possibility of reduction in fertilizer application with the use of processed biomass (BM) in different proportion with FYM. (Where, RD= Recommended dose, FYM= Farm Yard Manure, BM= Processed Biomass.) The significantly highest grain yield of maize was recorded under the treatment of 75% NPK + BM application @ 10t ha-1. The higher (10t ha-1) and lower (5t ha-1) application rate of BM with full dose of NPK was found beneficial being at par with the treatment 75% NPK along with BM application @ 10t ha-1. There is saving of 25% recommended dose of NPK when combined with BM application @ 10.0t ha-1 or 50% saving of organics when applied with full dose (100%) of NPK. The highest straw yield (7734 kg ha-1) of maize on pooled basis was observed under the treatment of recommended dose of NPK along with FYM application at 7.5t ha-1 coupled with BM application at 2.5t ha-1. It was also observed that highest straw yield was at par under all the treatments except control and application of 100% recommended dose of NPK coupled with BM application at 7.5t ha-1. The Fe content of maize straw were found altered significantly due to different treatments on pooled basis and it was noticed that biomass application at 7.5t ha-1 along with recommended dose of NPK showed significant enhancement in Fe content of straw over other treatments. Among heavy metals, Co, Pb and Cr contents of grain were found significantly altered due to application of different treatments variably during the pooled. While, Ni content of maize grain was not altered significantly due to application of different organics. However, at higher rate of BM application i.e. of 10t ha-1, there was slight increase in heavy metal content of grain/ straw as well as DTPA heavy metals in soil; although the increase was not alarming Thus, the overall results indicated that the application of BM at 5t ha-1 along with full dose of NPK is beneficial to get higher yield of maize without affecting soil / plant health adversely. It also indicated that the 5t BM ha-1 could be utilized in place of 10t FYM ha-1 where FYM availability is scarce. The 10t BM ha-1 helps to reduce a load of chemical fertilizer up to 25 percent in agriculture. The lower use of agro-chemicals always favors safe environment. However, the continuous use of biomass needs periodical monitoring to check any buildup of heavy metals in soil/ plant over the years.

Keywords: alternate use of industrial waste, heavy metals, maize, processed industrial biomass

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: Srinivasa Reddy Mallampati, Min Hee Park, Soo Mim Cho, Sung Hyeon Yoon

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One of the issues of End of Life Vehicles (ELVs) recycling promotion is technology for the appropriate treatment of automotive shredder residue (ASR). Owing to its high heterogeneity and variable composition (plastic (23–41%), rubber/elastomers (9–21%), metals (6–13%), glass (10–20%) and dust (soil/sand) etc.), ASR can be classified as ‘hazardous waste’, on the basis of the presence of heavy metals (HMs), PCBs, BFRs, mineral oils, etc. Considering their relevant concentrations, these metals and plastics should be properly recovered for recycling purposes before ASR residues are disposed of. Brominated flame retardant additives in ABS/HIPS and PVC may generate dioxins and furans at elevated temperatures. Moreover, these BFRs additives present in plastic materials may leach into the environment during landfilling operations. ASR thermal process removes some of the organic material but concentrates, the heavy metals and POPs present in the ASR residues. In the present study, Fe/Ca/CaO nanoparticle assisted ozone treatment has been found to selectively hydrophilize the surface of ABS/HIPS and PVC plastics, enhancing its wettability and thereby promoting its separation from ASR plastics by means of froth flotation. The water contact angles, of ABS/HIPS and PVC decreased, about 18.7°, 18.3°, and 17.9° in ASR respectively. Under froth flotation conditions at 50 rpm, about 99.5% and 99.5% of HIPS in ASR samples sank, resulting in a purity of 98% and 99%. Furthermore, at 150 rpm a 100% PVC separation in the settled fraction, with 98% of purity in ASR, respectively. Total recovery of non-ABS/HIPS and PVC plastics reached nearly 100% in the floating fraction. This process improved the quality of recycled ASR plastics by removing surface contaminants or impurities. Further, a hybrid ball-milling and with Fe/Ca/CaO nanoparticle froth flotation process was established for the recovery of HMs from ASR. After ball-milling with Fe/Ca/CaO nanoparticle additives, the flotation efficiency increased to about 55 wt% and the HMs recovery were also increased about 90% for the 0.25 mm size fractions of ASR. Coating with Fe/Ca/CaO nanoparticles associated with subsequent microbubble froth flotation allowed the air bubbles to attach firmly on the HMs. SEM–EDS maps showed that the amounts of HMs were significant on the surface of the floating ASR fraction. This result, along with the low HM concentration in the settled fraction, was confirmed by elemental spectra and semi-quantitative SEM–EDS analysis. Developed hybrid preferential hazardous plastics and metals separation process from ASR is a simple, highly efficient, and sustainable procedure.

Keywords: end of life vehicles shredder residue, hazardous plastics, nanoparticle froth flotation, separation process

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Authors: Abderahim Ahmadou, Alfredo Napoli, Noel Durand, Didier Montet

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Biochar is a microporous and adsorbent solid carbon product obtained from the pyrolysis of various organic materials (biomass, agricultural waste). Biochar is distinguished from vegetable charcoal by its manufacture methods. Biochar is used as the amendment in soils to give them favorable characteristics under certain conditions, i.e., absorption of water and its release at low speed. Cashew nuts shell from Mali is usually discarded on land by local processors or burnt as a mean for waste management. The burning of this biomass poses serious socio-environmental problems including greenhouse gas emission and accumulation of tars and soot on houses closed to factories, leading to neighbor complaints. Some mycotoxins as aflatoxins are carcinogenic compounds resulting from the secondary metabolism of molds that develop on plants in the field and during their conservation. They are found at high level on some seeds and nuts in Africa. Ochratoxin A, member of mycotoxins, is produced by various species of Aspergillus and Penicillium. Human exposure to Ochratoxin A can occur through consumption of contaminated food products, particularly contaminated grain, as well as coffee, wine grapes. We showed that cashew shell biochars produced at 400, 600 and 800°C adsorbed aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2) at 100% by filtration (rapid contact) as well as by stirring (long contact). The average percentage of adsorption of Ochratoxin A was 35% by filtration and 80% by stirring. The duration of the biochar-mycotoxin contact was a significant parameter. The effect of biochar was also tested on two strains of toxigenic molds: Aspergillus parasiticus (producers of Aflatoxins) and Aspergillus carbonarius (producers of Ochratoxins). The growth of the strain Aspergillus carbonarius was inhibited at up to 60% by the biochar at 600°C. An opposite effect to the inhibition was observed on Aspergillus parasiticus using the same biochar. In conclusion, we observed that biochar adsorbs mycotoxins: Aflatoxins and Ochratoxin A to different degrees; 100% adsorption of aflatoxins under all conditions (filtration and stirring) and adsorption of Ochratoxin A varied depending on the type of biochar and the experiment conditions (35% by filtration and 85% by stirring). The effects of biochar at 600 °C on the toxigenic molds: Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus carbonarius, varied according to the experimental conditions and the strains. We observed an opposite effect on the growth with an inhibition of Aspergillus carbonarius up to 60% and a stimulated growth of Aspergillus parasiticus.

Keywords: biochar, cashew nut shell, mycotoxins, toxicogenic molds

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Irati Barandiaran, Xabier Velasco-Iza, Galder Kortaberria

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Hybrid inorganic/organic nanostructured materials based on block copolymers are of considerable interest in the field of Nanotechnology, taking into account that these nanocomposites combine the properties of polymer matrix and the unique properties of the added nanoparticles. The use of block copolymers as templates offers the opportunity to control the size and the distribution of inorganic nanoparticles. This research is focused on the surface modification of inorganic nanoparticles to reach a good interface between nanoparticles and polymer matrices which hinders the nanoparticle aggregation. The aim of this work is to obtain a good and selective dispersion of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles into different types of block copolymers such us, poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA), poly(styrene-b-ε-caprolactone) (PS-b-PCL) poly(isoprene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PI-b-PMMA) or poly(styrene-b-butadiene-b-methyl methacrylate) (SBM) by using different grafting strategies. Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles have been surface-modified with polymer or block copolymer brushes following different grafting methods (grafting to, grafting from and grafting through) to achieve a selective location of nanoparticles into desired domains of the block copolymers. Morphology of fabricated hybrid nanocomposites was studied by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and with the aim to reach well-ordered nanostructured composites different annealing methods were used. Additionally, nanoparticle amount has been also varied in order to investigate the effect of the nanoparticle content in the morphology of the block copolymer. Nowadays different characterization methods were using in order to investigate magnetic properties of nanometer-scale electronic devices. Particularly, two different techniques have been used with the aim of characterizing synthesized nanocomposites. First, magnetic force microscopy (MFM) was used to investigate qualitatively the magnetic properties taking into account that this technique allows distinguishing magnetic domains on the sample surface. On the other hand, magnetic characterization by vibrating sample magnetometer and superconducting quantum interference device. This technique demonstrated that magnetic properties of nanoparticles have been transferred to the nanocomposites, exhibiting superparamagnetic behavior similar to that of the maghemite nanoparticles at room temperature. Obtained advanced nanostructured materials could found possible applications in the field of dye-sensitized solar cells and electronic nanodevices.

Keywords: atomic force microscopy, block copolymers, grafting techniques, iron oxide nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 250

Authors: Asinguza P. Allan

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The Advocacy for Better Health aims to equip citizens with enabling environment and systems to effectively advocate for strong action plans to improve health services. This is because the 2020 Government target for Uganda to transform into a middle income country will be achieved if investment is made in keeping the population healthy and productive. Citizen participation as an important foundation for change has been emphasized to gather data through participatory rural appraisal and inform evidence-based advocacy for recruitment and motivation of human resources. Citizens conduct problem ranking during advocacy forums on staffing levels and health worker absenteeism. Citizens prioritised inadequate number of midwives and absenteeism. On triangulation, health worker to population ratio in Uganda remains at 0.25/1,000 which is far below the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold of 2.3/1,000. Working with IntraHealth, the project advocated for recruitment of critical skilled staff (doctors and midwives) and scale up health workers motivation strategy to reduce Uganda’s Neonatal Mortality Rate of 22/1,000 and Maternal Mortality Ratio of 320/100,000. Government has committed to increase staffing to 80% by 2018 (10 districts have passed ordinances and revived use of duty rosters to address health worker absenteeism. On the other hand, the better health advocacy debate has been elevated with need to increase health sector budget allocations from 8% to 10%. The project has learnt that building a body of evidence from citizens enhances the advocacy agenda. Communities will further monitor government commitments to reduce Neonatal Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Ratio. The project has learnt that interface meeting between duty bearers and the community allows for immediate feedback and the process is a strong instrument for empowerment. It facilitates monitoring and performance evaluation of services, projects and government administrative units (like district assemblies) by the community members themselves. This, in turn, makes the human resources in health to be accountable, transparent and responsive to communities where they work. This, in turn, promotes human resource performance.

Keywords: advocacy, empowerment, evidence, human resources

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Mehrnaz Mostafavi

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Nanoliposomes, minute lipid-based vesicles at the nano-scale, show promise in the realm of photothermal therapy (PTT). This study presents an extensive overview of nanoliposomes in PTT, exploring their distinct attributes and the significant progress in this therapeutic methodology. The research delves into the fundamental traits of nanoliposomes, emphasizing their adaptability, compatibility with biological systems, and their capacity to encapsulate diverse therapeutic substances. Specifically, it examines the integration of light-absorbing materials, like gold nanoparticles or organic dyes, into nanoliposomal formulations, enabling their efficacy as proficient agents for photothermal treatment Additionally, this paper elucidates the mechanisms involved in nanoliposome-mediated PTT, highlighting their capability to convert light energy into localized heat, facilitating the precise targeting of diseased cells or tissues. This precise regulation of light absorption and heat generation by nanoliposomes presents a non-invasive and precisely focused therapeutic approach, particularly in conditions like cancer. The study explores advancements in nanoliposomal formulations aimed at optimizing PTT outcomes. These advancements include strategies for improved stability, enhanced drug loading, and the targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to specific cells or tissues. Furthermore, the paper discusses multifunctional nanoliposomal systems, integrating imaging components or targeting elements for real-time monitoring and improved accuracy in PTT. Moreover, the review highlights recent preclinical and clinical trials showcasing the effectiveness and safety of nanoliposome-based PTT across various disease models. It also addresses challenges in clinical implementation, such as scalability, regulatory considerations, and long-term safety assessments. In conclusion, this paper underscores the substantial potential of nanoliposomes in advancing PTT as a promising therapeutic approach. Their distinctive characteristics, combined with their precise ability to convert light into heat, offer a tailored and efficient method for treating targeted diseases. The encouraging outcomes from preclinical studies pave the way for further exploration and potential clinical applications of nanoliposome-based PTT.

Keywords: nanoliposomes, photothermal therapy, light absorption, heat conversion, therapeutic agents, targeted delivery, cancer therapy

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: Hamsasew Hankebo Lemago, Dóra Hessz, Zoltán Erdélyi, Imre Miklós Szilágyi

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Metal oxide inverse opals are a unique class of photocatalysts with a hierarchical structure that mimics the natural opal gemstone. They are composed of a network of interconnected pores, which provides a large surface area and efficient pathways for the transport of light and reactants. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a versatile technique for the synthesis of high-precision metal oxide thin films, including inverse opals. ALD allows for precise control over the thickness, composition, and morphology of the synthesized films, making it an ideal technique for the fabrication of photocatalysts with tailored properties. In this study, we report the synthesis of TiO2, ZnO, and Al2O3 inverse opal photocatalysts using thermal or plasma-enhanced ALD. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized using a variety of techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL), ellipsometry, and UV-visible spectroscopy. The results showed that the ALD-synthesized metal oxide inverse opals had a highly ordered structure and a tunable pore size. The PL spectroscopy results showed low recombination rates of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, while the ellipsometry and UV-visible spectroscopy results showed tunable optical properties and band gap energies. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the ALD-synthesized metal oxide inverse opals exhibited high photocatalytic activity, even under visible light irradiation. The composites photocatalysts showed even higher activity than the individual metal oxide inverse opals. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the composites can be attributed to the synergistic effect between the different metal oxides. For example, Al2O3 can act as a charge carrier scavenger, which can reduce the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The ALD-synthesized metal oxide inverse opals and their composites are promising photocatalysts for a variety of applications, such as wastewater treatment, air purification, and energy production. For example, they can be used to remove organic pollutants from wastewater, decompose harmful gases in the air, and produce hydrogen fuel from water.

Keywords: ALD, metal oxide inverse opals, composites, photocatalysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: M. Kolotylo, H. Zheng, R. Parente, R. Dahiya

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Large number of organizations, frequently motivated by budget and cost cuts, outsource their Information Technology (IT) positions every year. Although the objective of reduction in financial obligations is often not accomplished, many buyer companies still manage to benefit from outsourcing projects. Knowledge Transfer (KT), being one of the major processes that take place during IT outsourcing partnership, may exert a strong impact on the performance of the parties involved, particularly that of the buyer. Research, however, lacks strong conceptual basis for the possible benefits that KT from supplier may bring to the buyer; and for the mechanisms that may be adopted by the buyer to maximize such benefit. This paper aims to fill this gap by proposing a conceptual framework of organizational learning and development of dynamic capabilities enabled by KT from the supplier to the buyer. The study examines buyer-supplier relationships in the context of IT outsourcing transactions, and theorizes how KT from the supplier to the buyer helps the performance of the buyer. It warrants that more research is carried out in order to explicate and provide evidence regarding the role that KT plays in strategic improvements for the buyer. The paper proposes to take up a two-fold approach to the research: conceptual development that utilizes logical argumentation and interpretive historical research, as well as a qualitative case study which aims to capture and understand the complex processes involved. Thus, the study provides a comprehensive visualization of the dynamics of the conditions under which participation in IT outsourcing partnership might be of benefit to the buyer company. The framework demonstrates the mechanisms involved in buyer’s achievement of strategic alignment through organizational learning enabled by KT from the supplier. It highlights that organizational learning involves a balance between exploitation of assets and exploration of new possibilities, and further notes that the dynamic capabilities mediate the effect of organizational learning on firm performance. The paper explicates in what ways managers can leverage outsourcing projects to execute strategy, which would enable their organization achieve better performance. The study concludes that organizational learning enables the firm to develop IT capabilities of strategic planning, IT integration, and IT relationships in the outsourcing context, and that IT capabilities developed through the organizational learning would help the firm in achieving strategic alignment.

Keywords: dynamic capabilities, it outsourcing, knowledge transfer, organizational learning, strategic alignment

Procedia PDF Downloads 422

Authors: N. Pérez-Rodríguez, D. García-Bernet, A. Torrado-Agrasar, J. M. Cruz, A. B. Moldes, J. M. Domínguez

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World economy is based on non-renewable, fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas, which entails its rapid depletion and environmental problems. In EU countries, the objective is that at least 20% of the total energy supplies in 2020 should be derived from renewable resources. Biogas, a product of anaerobic degradation of organic substrates, represents an attractive green alternative for meeting partial energy needs. Nowadays, trend to circular economy model involves efficiently use of residues by its transformation from waste to a new resource. In this sense, characteristics of agricultural residues (that are available in plenty, renewable, as well as eco-friendly) propitiate their valorisation as substrates for biogas production. Corn cob is a by-product obtained from maize processing representing 18 % of total maize mass. Corn cob importance lies in the high production of this cereal (more than 1 x 109 tons in 2014). Due to its lignocellulosic nature, corn cob contains three main polymers: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Crystalline, highly ordered structures of cellulose and lignin hinders microbial attack and subsequent biogas production. For the optimal lignocellulose utilization and to enhance gas production in anaerobic digestion, materials are usually submitted to different pretreatment technologies. In the present work, enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrasounds and combination of both technologies were assayed as pretreatments of corn cob for biogas production. Enzymatic hydrolysis pretreatment was started by adding 0.044 U of Ultraflo® L feruloyl esterase per gram of dry corncob. Hydrolyses were carried out in 50 mM sodium-phosphate buffer pH 6.0 with a solid:liquid proportion of 1:10 (w/v), at 150 rpm, 40 ºC and darkness for 3 hours. Ultrasounds pretreatment was performed subjecting corn cob, in 50 mM sodium-phosphate buffer pH 6.0 with a solid: liquid proportion of 1:10 (w/v), at a power of 750W for 1 minute. In order to observe the effect of the combination of both pretreatments, some samples were initially sonicated and then they were enzymatically hydrolysed. In terms of methane production, anaerobic digestion of the corn cob pretreated by enzymatic hydrolysis was positive achieving 290 L CH4 kg MV-1 (compared with 267 L CH4 kg MV-1 obtained with untreated corn cob). Although the use of ultrasound as the only pretreatment resulted detrimentally (since gas production decreased to 244 L CH4 kg MV-1 after 44 days of anaerobic digestion), its combination with enzymatic hydrolysis was beneficial, reaching the highest value (300.9 L CH4 kg MV-1). Consequently, the combination of both pretreatments improved biogas production from corn cob.

Keywords: biogas, corn cob, enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrasound

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Calister Wingang Makebe, Wilson Ambindei Agwanande, Emmanuel Jong Nso, P. Nisha

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Traditional liquid-state fermentation processes of Annona muricata L. juice can result in fluctuating product quality and quantity due to difficulties in control and scale up. This work describes a laboratory-scale batch fermentation process to produce a probiotic Annona muricata L. enzymatically extracted juice, which was modeled using the Doehlert design with independent extraction factors being incubation time, temperature, and enzyme concentration. It aimed at a better understanding of the traditional process as an initial step for future optimization. Annona muricata L. juice was fermented with L. acidophilus (NCDC 291) (LA), L. casei (NCDC 17) (LC), and a blend of LA and LC (LCA) for 72 h at 37 °C. Experimental data were fitted into mathematical models (Monod, Logistic and Luedeking and Piret models) using MATLAB software, to describe biomass growth, sugar utilization, and organic acid production. The optimal fermentation time was obtained based on cell viability, which was 24 h for LC and 36 h for LA and LCA. The model was particularly effective in estimating biomass growth, reducing sugar consumption, and lactic acid production. The values of the determination coefficient, R2, were 0.9946, 0.9913 and 0.9946, while the residual sum of square error, SSE, was 0.2876, 0.1738 and 0.1589 for LC, LA and LCA, respectively. The growth kinetic parameters included the maximum specific growth rate, µm, which was 0.2876 h-1, 0.1738 h-1 and 0.1589 h-1 as well as the substrate saturation, Ks, with 9.0680 g/L, 9.9337 g/L and 9.0709 g/L respectively for LC, LA and LCA. For the stoichiometric parameters, the yield of biomass based on utilized substrate (YXS) was 50.7932, 3.3940 and 61.0202, and the yield of product based on utilized substrate (YPS) was 2.4524, 0.2307 and 0.7415 for LC, LA, and LCA, respectively. In addition, the maintenance energy parameter (ms) was 0.0128, 0.0001 and 0.0004 with respect to LC, LA and LCA. With the kinetic model proposed by Luedeking and Piret for lactic acid production rate, the growth associated, and non-growth associated coefficients were determined as 1.0028 and 0.0109, respectively. The model was demonstrated for batch growth of LA, LC, and LCA in Annona muricata L. juice. The present investigation validates the potential of Annona muricata L. based medium for heightened economical production of a probiotic medium.

Keywords: L. acidophilus, L. casei, fermentation, modelling, kinetics

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: Jean Gray C. Achapero, Mary Margareth P. Ancheta, Patricia Anjelika A. Angeles, Shannon Denzel S. Ao Tai, Carl Brandon C. Barlis, Chrislen Mae B. Benavidez

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Health literacy and awareness of Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a global issue that is under-addressed in the Philippines. Conducting a thorough review of the country's ability to recognize and comprehend the severity of the syndrome should be undertaken, as early treatment is essential to avoid further disorder complications. This research aims to assess the health literacy and awareness of the female residents of Barangay Dagatan, Sabang, and Marauoy Lipa, Batangas on PCOS. It followed a cross-sectional study, and data gathering was done through a pre-assessment using the Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS) and an online population-based survey questionnaire about PCOS awareness. The participants, as based on the objectives and purposive sampling method, were females aged 18-45 years old. Data were analyzed statistically using STATA 13.1 software. The study showed that 339 (76%) out of 444 respondents passed the SILS meaning the residents have proficient health literacy. Among the 339 respondents, 87% (287) had previous knowledge about PCOS. The respondents showed minimal awareness of PCOS symptoms which could be attributed to its broad spectrum of information. Respondents were shown to be most knowledgeable about PCOS physiology, treatment, beliefs, and its remedies. The respondents’ age had no significant association with their health literacy (p=0.31) and PCOS awareness (p=0.60). A significant association was noted, however, in their educational attainment linked with their health literacy (p=<0.0001) and PCOS awareness (p=0.001). It is suggested that reproductive health education even in the lower year levels must be optimized and Local Government Unit (LGU)/Non-Government Organization (NGO)-held seminars should be conducted for knowledge reinforcement. Reliable health information should be more accessible to the public and clinicians must emphasize the importance of the majority of early screening as part of routine physical examination for women of reproductive age to increase health literacy and awareness about PCOS and actively engage in the management of the disease.

Keywords: age, awareness, educational attainment, health literacy, polycystic ovarian syndrome

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Authors: A. S. V. Carvalho, J. Luis, L. S. O. Pires, J. M. Oliveira

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Additive manufacturing technologies (AM) experienced a remarkable growth in the latest years due to the development and diffusion of a wide range of three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques. Nowadays we can find techniques available for non-industrial users, like fused filament fabrication, but techniques like 3D printing, polyjet, selective laser sintering and stereolithography are mainly spread in the industry. Robocasting (R3D) shows a great potential due to its ability to shape materials with a wide range of viscosity. Industrial porcelain compositions showing different rheological behaviour can be prepared and used as candidate materials to be processed by R3D. The use of this AM technique in industry is very residual. In this work, a specific porcelain composition with suitable rheological properties will be processed by R3D, and a systematic study of the printing parameters tuning will be shown. The porcelain composition was formulated based on an industrial spray dried porcelain powder. The powder particle size and morphology was analysed. The powders were mixed with water and an organic binder on a ball mill at 200 rpm/min for 24 hours. The batch viscosity was adjusted by the addition of an acid solution and mixed again. The paste density, viscosity, zeta potential, particle size distribution and pH were determined. In a R3D system, different speed and pressure settings were studied to access their impact on the fabrication of porcelain models. These models were dried at 80 °C, during 24 hours and sintered in air at 1350 °C for 2 hours. The stability of the models, its walls and surface quality were studied and their physical properties were accessed. The microstructure and layer adhesion were observed by SEM. The studied processing parameters have a high impact on the models quality. Moreover, they have a high impact on the stacking of the filaments. The adequate tuning of the parameters has a huge influence on the final properties of the porcelain models. This work contributes to a better assimilation of AM technologies in ceramic industry. Acknowledgments: The RoboCer3D project – project of additive rapid manufacturing through 3D printing ceramic material (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-003350) financed by Compete 2020, PT 2020, European Regional Development Fund – FEDER through the International and Competitive Operational Program (POCI) under the PT2020 partnership agreement.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, porcelain, robocasting, R3D

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Authors: Mehves Isiklar Ekici, Ceyda Tuna Kirsaclioglu, Zarife Kuloglu, Aydan Kansu

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Malnutrition is an important cause of morbidity and mortality as it accounts for 45% of child deaths under the age of 5 worldwide. Therefore, early recognition and effective treatment of failure to thrive and malnutrition are important. In this study, it was aimed to retrospectively evaluate the nutritional support treatment approaches (nutrition education and diet enrichment / use of enteral nutrition products) applied in children followed up with growth failure without underlying organic causes, and to compare the efficacy of nutritional support treatments. In this study, children aged 1 month to 18 years diagnosed with growth failure who were followed up for at least 12 months between January 2011 and February 2020, were included. Anthropometric measurements at baseline and during follow-up, type of nutritional support therapy and treatment compliance were evaluated based on the retrospective records. 119 children (median age:3.2, 69 girls) were included in the study. Nutrition education and dietary enrichment were provided to 28% of the patients (Group 1). In addition to dietary education and recommendations, enteral nutrition supplements was given in 78% of them (Group 2). Compliance to the treatment rates of the patients in Group 1 and Group 2 were not significantly different at both 6th and 12th month controls. At the end of the follow up children who comply with the treatment in Group 1 had significant increase in weight for age z scores (-1.74 vs 0.05, respectively, p=0.019) and body mass index z scores (-1.47 vs -0.53, respectively, p=0.034) compared with baseline measurements. Similar to Group 1, in Group 2 children with treatment compliance, had a significant increase in weight for age z scores (-2.24 vs. -0.54, respectively, p=0.00) and body mass index z scores (-2.27 vs. -1.06, respectively, p=0.00) compared with baseline measurements. The rate of patients with severe malnutrition decreased from 15% to 12%, for moderate malnutrition decreased from 54% to 33%. Moreover, it was observed that this decrease in the rate of patients with both severe and moderate malnutrition was more prominent in patients under 3 years of age. Although there was a significant increase in anthropometric measurements with treatment in both groups, there was no significant difference in between two groups terms of change in anthropometric measurements (p>0.05), therefore effectiveness. Failure to thrive and malnutrition in infancy and childhood cause health problems that can affect adult life. To conclude, nutritional education - dietary enrichment. recommendations and use of enteral nutrition supplements were both proven beneficial in this study. Researchers are willing to underline that the most important part of the treatment is to include the family to the process to ensure the treatment compliance.

Keywords: enteral nutrition supplements, failure to thrive, malnutrition, nutritional education

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Authors: A. Gürses, T. B. Barın, Ç. Doğar

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Bitumen has been widely used as the binder of aggregate in road pavement due to its good viscoelastic properties, as a viscous organic mixture with various chemical compositions. Bitumen is a liquid at high temperature and it becomes brittle at low temperatures, and this temperature-sensitivity can cause the rutting and cracking of the pavement and limit its application. Therefore, the properties of existing asphalt materials need to be enhanced. The pavement with polymer modified bitumen exhibits greater resistance to rutting and thermal cracking, decreased fatigue damage, as well as stripping and temperature susceptibility; however, they are expensive and their applications have disadvantages. Bituminous mixtures are composed of very irregular aggregates bound together with hydrocarbon-based asphalt, with a low volume fraction of voids dispersed within the matrix. Montmorillonite (MMT) is a layered silicate with low cost and abundance, which consists of layers of tetrahedral silicate and octahedral hydroxide sheets. Recently, the layered silicates have been widely used for the modification of polymers, as well as in many different fields. However, there are not too much studies related with the preparation of the modified asphalt with MMT, currently. In this study, organo-clay-modified bitumen, and calcareous aggregate and organo-clay blends were prepared by hot blending method with OMMT, which has been synthesized using a cationic surfactant (Cetyltrymethylammonium bromide, CTAB) and long chain hydrocarbon, and MMT. When the exchangeable cations in the interlayer region of pristine MMT were exchanged with hydrocarbon attached surfactant ions, the MMT becomes organophilic and more compatible with bitumen. The effects of the super hydrophobic OMMT onto the micro structural and mechanic properties (Marshall Stability and volumetric parameters) of the prepared blends were investigated. Stability and volumetric parameters of the blends prepared were measured using Marshall Test. Also, in order to investigate the morphological and micro structural properties of the organo-clay-modified bitumen and calcareous aggregate and organo-clay blends, their SEM and HRTEM images were taken. It was observed that the stability and volumetric parameters of the prepared mixtures improved significantly compared to the conventional hot mixes and even the stone matrix mixture. A micro structural analysis based on SEM images indicates that the organo-clay platelets dispersed in the bitumen have a dominant role in the increase of effectiveness of bitumen - aggregate interactions.

Keywords: hot mix asphalt, stone matrix asphalt, organo clay, Marshall test, calcareous aggregate, modified bitumen

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Authors: Zhongzhong Zeng, Zichen Liang

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In recent years, Beijing courtyards have been facing the problem of renewal and renovation, and the residents are faced with the problems of small house areas, large household sizes, old and dangerous houses, etc. Among the many renovation methods, the authors note two more common practices of using the front porch to expand the floor area and adding a loft. Residents and architects, however, did not give the ventilation performance of the significant interior consideration before beginning the remodeling. The aim of this article is to explore the good or negative impacts of both front porch and loft structures on the manner of interior ventilation in the courtyard. Ventilation, in turn, is crucial to the indoor environmental quality of a home. The major method utilized in this study is the comparative analysis method, in which the authors create four alternative house models with or without a front porch and an attic as two variables and examine internal ventilation using the CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics) technique. The authors compare the indoor ventilation of four different architectural models with or without front porches and lofts as two variables. The results obtained from the analysis of the sectional airflow and the plane 1.5m height cloud are the existence of the loft, to a certain extent, disrupts the airflow organization of the building and makes the rear wall high windows of the building less effective. Occupying the front porch to become the area of the house has no significant effect on ventilation, but try not to occupy the front porch and add the loft at the same time in the building renovation. The findings of this study led to the following recommendations: strive to preserve the courtyard building's original architectural design and make adjustments to only the inappropriate elements or constructions. The ventilation in the loft portion is inadequate, and the inhabitants typically use the loft as a living area. This may lead to the building relying more on air conditioning in the summer, which would raise energy demand. The front porch serves as a transition place as well as a source of shade, weather protection, and inside ventilation. In conclusion, the examination of interior environments in upcoming studies should concentrate on cross-disciplinary, multi-angle, and multi-level research topics.

Keywords: Beijing courtyard renewal, CFD, indoor environment, ventilation analysis

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Authors: E. Maistrou, P. Themelis, D. Kosmopoulos, K. Boulougoura, A. M. Konidi, K. Moretti

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InterArch is an ongoing research project that is running since September 2020 and aims to propose a digital application for the enhancement of the cultural landscape, which emphasizes the contribution of physical space and time in digital data organization. The research case study refers to Ancient Messene in the Peloponnese, one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece. The project integrates an interactive approach to the natural environment, aiming at a manifold sensory experience. It combines the physical space of the archaeological site with the digital space of archaeological and cultural data while, at the same time, it embraces storytelling processes by engaging an interdisciplinary approach that familiarizes the user to multiple semantic interpretations. The research project is co‐financed by the European Union and Greek national funds, through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH - CREATE – INNOVATE (project code: Τ2ΕΔΚ-01659). It involves mutual collaboration between academic and cultural institutions and the contribution of an IT applications development company. New technologies and the integration of digital data enable the implementation of non‐linear narratives related to the representational characteristics of the art of collage. Various images (photographs, drawings, etc.) and sounds (narrations, music, soundscapes, audio signs, etc.) could be presented according to our proposal through new semiotics of augmented and virtual reality technologies applied in touch screens and smartphones. Despite the fragmentation of tangible or intangible references, material landscape formations, including archaeological remains, constitute the common ground that can inspire cultural narratives in a process that unfolds personal perceptions and collective imaginaries. It is in this context that cultural landscape may be considered an indication of space and historical continuity. It is in this context that history could emerge, according to our proposal, not solely as a previous inscription but also as an actual happening. As a rhythm of occurrences suggesting mnemonic references and, moreover, evolving history projected on the contemporary ongoing cultural landscape.

Keywords: cultural heritage, digital data, landscape, archaeological sites, visitors’ itineraries

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Authors: Christoph Hacker, Zeynep Karahaliloglu, Gunnar Seide, Emir Baki Denkbas, Thomas Gries

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A wound dressing material is designed to facilitate wound healing and minimize scarring. An ideal wound dressing material should protect the wound from any contaminations of exogeneous microorganism. In addition, the dressing material should provide a moist environment through extraction of body fluid from the wound area. Recently, wound dressing electrospun nanofibrous membranes are produced by electrospinning from a polymer solution or a polymer melt. These materials have a great potential as dressing materials for wound healing because of superior properties such as high surface-to-volume ratio, high porosity with excellent pore interconnectivity. Melt electrospinning is an attractive tissue engineering scaffold manufacturing process which eliminated the health risk posed by organic solvents used in electrospinning process and reduced the production costs. In this study, antibacterial wound dressing materials were prepared from TPU (Elastollan 1185A) by a melt-electrospinning technique. The electrospinning parameters for an efficient melt-electrospinning process of TPU were optimized. The surface of the fibers was modified with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) by radio-frequency glow discharge plasma deposition method and with silver nanoparticles (nAg) to improve their wettability and antimicrobial properties. TPU melt-electrospun mats were characterized using SEM, DSC, TGA and XPS. The cell viability and proliferation on modified melt-electrospun TPU mats were evaluated using a mouse fibroblast cell line (L929). Antibacterial effects of theirs against both Staphylococcus aureus strain and Escherichia coli were investigated by disk-diffusion method. TPU was successfully processed into a porous, fibrous network of beadless fibers in the micrometer range (4.896±0.94 µm) with a voltage of 50 kV, a working distance of 6 cm, a temperature of the thermocouple and hot coil of 225–230ºC, and a flow rate of 0.1 mL/h. The antibacterial test indicated that PEG-modified nAg-loaded TPU melt-electrospun structure had excellent antibacterial effects and cell study results demonstrated that nAg-loaded TPU mats had no cytotoxic effect on the fibroblast cells. In this work, the surface of a melt-electrospun TPU mats was modified via PEG monomer and then nAg. Results showed melt-electrospun TPU mats modified with PEG and nAg have a great potential for use as an antibacterial wound dressing material and thus, requires further investigation.

Keywords: melt electrospinning, nanofiber, silver nanoparticles, wound dressing

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Authors: Noorizal Huang, Christian Girsang, Mohamad Razi Mansoor

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Shallow gas seepage was first spotted at a central processing platform offshore Malaysia in 2010, acknowledged as Platform T in this paper. Frequent monitoring of the gas seepage was performed through remotely operated vehicle (ROV) baseline survey and a comprehensive geophysical survey was conducted to understand the characteristics of the gas seepage and to ensure that the integrity of the foundation at Platform T was not compromised. The origin of the gas back then was unknown. A soil investigation campaign was performed in 2016 to study the origin of the gas seepage. Two boreholes were drilled; a composite borehole to 150m below seabed for the purpose of soil sampling and in-situ testing and a pilot hole to 155m below the seabed, which was later converted to a fit-for-purpose relief well as an alternate migration path for the gas. During the soil investigation campaign, dissipation tests were performed at several layers which were potentially the source or migration path for the gas. Five (5) soil samples were segregated for headspace test, to identify the gas type which subsequently can be used to identify the origin of the gas. Dissipation tests performed at four depth intervals indicates pore water pressure less than 20 % of the effective vertical stress and appear to continue decreasing if the test had not been stopped. It was concluded that a low to a negligible amount of excess pore pressure exist in clayey silt layers. Results from headspace test show presence of methane corresponding to the clayey silt layers as reported in the boring logs. The gas most likely comes from biogenic sources, feeding on organic matter in situ over a large depth range. It is unlikely that there are large pockets of gas in the soil due to its homogeneous clayey nature and the lack of excess pore pressure in other permeable clayey silt layers encountered. Instead, it is more likely that when pore water at certain depth encounters a more permeable path, such as a borehole, it rises up through this path due to the temperature gradient in the soil. As the water rises the pressure decreases, which could cause gases dissolved in the water to come out of solution and form bubbles. As a result, the gas will have no impact on the integrity of the foundation at Platform T. The fit-for-purpose relief well design as well as adopting headspace testing can be used to address the shallow gas issue at Platform T in a cost effective and efficient manners.

Keywords: dissipation test, headspace test, excess pore pressure, relief well, shallow gas

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Authors: Julio Silva, Lia Hasenclever, Gilson G. Silva Jr.

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The aim of this paper is to check possible convergence in health measures (aged-standard rate of morbidity and mortality) for communicable diseases between developed and developing countries, conditional to productive structures features. Understanding the interrelations between health patterns and economic development is particularly important in the context of low- and middle-income countries, where economic development comes along with deep social inequality. Developing countries with less diversified productive structures (measured through complexity index) but high heterogeneous inter-sectorial labor productivity (using as a proxy inter-sectorial coefficient of variation of labor productivity) has on average low health levels in communicable diseases compared to developed countries with high diversified productive structures and low labor market heterogeneity. Structural heterogeneity and productive diversification may have influence on health levels even considering per capita income. We set up a panel data for 139 countries from 1995 to 2015, joining several data about the countries, as economic development, health, and health system coverage, environmental and socioeconomic aspects. This information was obtained from World Bank, International Labour Organization, Atlas of Economic Complexity, United Nation (Development Report) and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Database. Econometric panel models evidence shows that the level of communicable diseases has a positive relationship with structural heterogeneity, even considering other factors as per capita income. On the other hand, the recent process of convergence in terms of communicable diseases have been motivated for other reasons not directly related to productive structure, as health system coverage and environmental aspects. These evidences suggest a joint dynamics between the unequal distribution of communicable diseases and countries' productive structure aspects. These set of evidence are quite important to public policy as meet the health aims in Millennium Development Goals. It also highlights the importance of the process of structural change as fundamental to shift the levels of health in terms of communicable diseases and can contribute to the debate between the relation of economic development and health patterns changes.

Keywords: economic development, inequality, population health, structural change

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Authors: Neveen AlQasas, Daniel Johnson

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Membranes for water treatment are an established technology that attracts great attention due to its simplicity and cost effectiveness. However, membranes in operation suffer from the adverse effect of membrane fouling. Bio-fouling is a phenomenon that occurs at the water-membrane interface, and is a dynamic process that is initiated by the adsorption of dissolved organic material, including biomacromolecules, on the membrane surface. After initiation, attachment of microorganisms occurs, followed by biofilm growth. The biofilm blocks the pores of the membrane and consequently results in reducing the water flux. Moreover, the presence of a fouling layer can have a substantial impact on the membrane separation properties. Understanding the mechanism of the initiation phase of biofouling is a key point in eliminating the biofouling on membrane surfaces. The adhesion and attachment of different fouling materials is affected by the surface properties of the membrane materials. Therefore, surface properties of different polymeric materials had been studied in terms of their surface energies and Hansen solubility parameters (HSP). The difference between the combined HSP parameters (HSP distance) allows prediction of the affinity of two materials to each other. The possibilities of measuring the HSP of different polymer films via surface measurements, such as contact angle has been thoroughly investigated. Knowing the HSP of a membrane material and the HSP of a specific foulant, facilitate the estimation of the HSP distance between the two, and therefore the strength of attachment to the surface. Contact angle measurements using fourteen different solvents on five different polymeric films were carried out using the sessile drop method. Solvents were ranked as good or bad solvents using different ranking method and ranking was used to calculate the HSP of each polymeric film. Results clearly indicate the absence of a direct relation between contact angle values of each film and the HSP distance between each polymer film and the solvents used. Therefore, estimating HSP via contact angle alone is not sufficient. However, it was found if the surface tensions and viscosities of the used solvents are taken in to the account in the analysis of the contact angle values, a prediction of the HSP from contact angle measurements is possible. This was carried out via training of a neural network model. The trained neural network model has three inputs, contact angle value, surface tension and viscosity of solvent used. The model is able to predict the HSP distance between the used solvent and the tested polymer (material). The HSP distance prediction is further used to estimate the total and individual HSP parameters of each tested material. The results showed an accuracy of about 90% for all the five studied films

Keywords: surface characterization, hansen solubility parameter estimation, contact angle measurements, artificial neural network model, surface measurements

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: A. A. Agbor, Jean Joel R. Bigna, Serges Clotaire Billong, Mathurin Cyrille Tejiokem, Gabriel L. Ekali, Claudia S. Plottel, Jean Jacques N. Noubiap, Hortence Abessolo, Roselyne Toby, Sinata Koulla-Shiro

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Background: Contributors to fatal outcomes in patients undergoing tuberculosis (TB) treatment in the setting of HIV co-infection are poorly characterized, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Our study’s aim was to assess factors associated with death in TB/HIV co-infected patients during the first 6 months their TB treatment. Methods: We conducted a tertiary-care hospital-based retrospective cohort study from January 2006 to December 2013 at the Yaoundé Central Hospital, Cameroon. We reviewed medical records to identify hospitalized co-infected TB/HIV patients aged 15 years and older. Death was defined as any death occurring during TB treatment, as per the World Health Organization’s recommendations. Logistic regression analysis identified factors associated with death. Magnitudes of associations were expressed by adjusted odds ratio (aOR) with 95% confidence interval. A p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The 337 patients enrolled had a mean age of 39.3 (+/- 10.3) years and more (54.3%) were women. TB treatment outcomes included: treatment success in 60.8% (n=205), death in 29.4% (n=99), not evaluated in 5.3% (n=18), loss to follow-up in 5.3% (n=14), and failure in 0.3% (n=1) . After exclusion of patients lost to follow-up and not evaluated, death in TB/HIV co-infected patients during TB treatment was associated with: a TB diagnosis made before national implementation of guidelines regarding initiation of antiretroviral therapy (aOR = 2.50 [1.31-4.78]; p = 0.006), the presence of other AIDS-defining infections (aOR = 2.73 [1.27-5.86]; p = 0.010), non-AIDS comorbidities (aOR = 3.35 [1.37-8.21]; p = 0.008), not receiving co-trimoxazole prophylaxis (aOR = 3.61 [1.71-7.63]; p = 0.001), not receiving antiretroviral therapy (aOR = 2.45 [1.18-5.08]; p = 0.016), and CD4 cell counts < 50 cells/mm3 (aOR = 16.43 [1.05-258.04]; p = 0.047). Conclusions: The success rate of anti-tuberculosis treatment among hospitalized TB/HIV co-infected patients in our setting is low. Mortality in the first 6 months of treatment was high and strongly associated with specific clinical factors including states of greater immunosuppression, highlighting the urgent need for targeted interventions, including provision of anti-retroviral therapy and co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in order to enhance patient outcomes.

Keywords: TB/HIV co-infection, death, treatment outcomes, factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 436

Authors: Mehmet Savsar

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Industrial Engineering is one of the engineering disciplines that deal with analysis, design, and improvement of systems, which include manufacturing, supply chain, healthcare, communication, and general service systems. Industrial engineers involve with comprehensive study of a given system, analysis of its interacting units, determination of problem areas, application of various optimization and operations research tools, and recommendation of solutions resulting in significant improvements. The Senior Design course in Industrial Engineering is the culmination of the Industrial Engineering Curriculum in a Capstone Design course, which fundamentally deals with systems analysis and design. The course at Kuwait University has been carefully designed with various course objectives and course outcomes in mind to achieve several program outcomes by practices and learning experiences, which are explicitly gained by systems analysis and design. The Senior Design Course is carried out in a selected industrial or service organization, with support from its engineering personnel, during a full semester by a team of students, who are usually in the last semester of their academic programs. A senior faculty member constantly administers the course to ensure that the students accomplish the prescribed objectives. Students work in groups to formulate issues and propose solutions and communicate, results in formal written and oral presentations. When the course is completed, they emerge as engineers that can be clearly identified as more mature, able to communicate better, able to participate in team work, able to see systems perspective in analysis and design, and more importantly, able to assume responsibility at entry level as engineers. The accomplishments are mainly due to real life experiences gained during the course of their design study. This paper presents methods, procedures, and experiences in teaching a Senior Design Course in Industrial Engineering Curriculum. A detailed description of the course, its role, its objectives, outcomes, learning practices, and assessments are explained in relation to other courses in Industrial Engineering Curriculum. The administration of the course, selected organizations where the course project is carried out, problems and solution tools utilized, student accomplishments and obstacles faced are presented. Issues discussed in this paper could help instructors in teaching the course as well as in clarifying the contribution of a design course to the industrial engineering education in general. In addition, the methods and teaching procedures presented could facilitate future improvements in industrial engineering curriculum.

Keywords: senior design course, industrial engineering, capstone design, education

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Authors: Angélique Laurent, Marie-Josée Letarte, Jean-Pascal Lemelin, Marie-France Morin

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This study aims at exploring teacher-child interactions within learning contexts in public prekindergartens of the province of Québec (Canada). It is based on previous research showing that teacher-child interactions in preschools have direct and determining effects on the quality of early childhood education and could directly or indirectly influence child development. However, throughout a typical preschool day, children experience different learning contexts to promote their learning opportunities. Depending on these specific contexts, teacher-child interactions could vary, for example, between free play and shared book reading. Indeed, some studies have found that teacher-directed or child-directed contexts might lead to significant variations in teacher-child interactions. This study drew upon both the bioecological and the Teaching Through Interactions frameworks. It was conducted through a descriptive and correlational design. Fifteen teachers were recruited to participate in the study. At Time 1 in October, they completed a diary to report the learning contexts they proposed in their classroom during a typical week. At Time 2, seven months later (May), they were videotaped three times in the morning (two weeks’ time between each recording) during a typical morning class. The quality of teacher-child interactions was then coded with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) through the contexts identified. This tool measures three main domains of interactions: emotional support, classroom organization, and instruction support, and10 dimensions scored on a scale from 1 (low quality) to 7 (high quality). Based on the teachers’ reports, five learning contexts were identified: 1) shared book reading, 2) free play, 3) morning meeting, 4) teacher-directed activity (such as craft), and 5) snack. Based on preliminary statistical analyses, little variation was observed within the learning contexts for each domain of the CLASS. However, the instructional support domain showed lower scores during specific learning contexts, specifically free play and teacher-directed activity. Practical implications for how preschool teachers could foster specific domains of interactions depending on learning contexts to enhance children’s social and academic development will be discussed.

Keywords: teacher practices, teacher-child interactions, preschool education, learning contexts, child development

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Authors: Jung-En Kuan, Whei-Fen Wu

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In this study, a symbiotic bacteria from yellow mealworm's (Tenebrio molitor) mid-gut was isolated with characteristics of growth on minimal-tributyrin medium. After a PCR-amplification of its 16s rDNA, the resultant nucleotide sequences were then analyzed by schemes of the phylogeny trees. Accordingly, it was designated as Pseudomonas nitroreducens D-01. Next, by searching the lipolytic enzymes in its protein data bank, one of those potential lipolytic α/β hydrolases was identified, again using PCR-amplification and nucleotide-sequencing methods. To construct an expression of this lipolytic gene in plasmids, the target-gene primers were then designed, carrying the C-terminal his-tag sequences. Using the vector pET21a, a recombinant lipolytic hydrolase D gene with his-tag nucleotides was successfully cloned into it, of which the lipolytic D gene is under a control of the T7 promoter. After transformation of the resultant plasmids into Eescherichia coli BL21 (DE3), an IPTG inducer was used for the induction of the recombinant proteins. The protein products were then purified by metal-ion affinity column, and the purified proteins were found capable of forming a clear zone on tributyrin agar plate. Shortly, its enzyme activities were determined by degradation of p-nitrophenyl ester(s), and the substantial yellow end-product, p-nitrophenol, was measured at O.D.405 nm. Specifically, this lipolytic enzyme efficiently targets p-nitrophenyl butyrate. As well, it shows the most reactive activities at 40°C, pH 8 in potassium phosphate buffer. In thermal stability assays, the activities of this enzyme dramatically drop when the temperature is above 50°C. In metal ion assays, MgCl₂ and NH₄Cl induce the enzyme activities while MnSO₄, NiSO₄, CaCl₂, ZnSO₄, CoCl₂, CuSO₄, FeSO₄, and FeCl₃ reduce its activities. Besides, NaCl has no effects on its enzyme activities. Most organic solvents decrease the activities of this enzyme, such as hexane, methanol, ethanol, acetone, isopropanol, chloroform, and ethyl acetate. However, its enzyme activities increase when DMSO exists. All the surfactants like Triton X-100, Tween 80, Tween 20, and Brij35 decrease its lipolytic activities. Using Lineweaver-Burk double reciprocal methods, the function of the enzyme kinetics were determined such as Km = 0.488 (mM), Vmax = 0.0644 (mM/min), and kcat = 3.01x10³ (s⁻¹), as well the total efficiency of kcat/Km is 6.17 x10³ (mM⁻¹/s⁻¹). Afterwards, based on the phylogenetic analyses, this lipolytic protein is classified to type IV lipase by its homologous conserved region in this lipase family.

Keywords: enzyme, esterase, lipotic hydrolase, type IV

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Authors: Marcio Freire Cruz, Naoaki Ono, Shigehiko Kanaya, Carlos Arthur Mattos Teixeira Cavalcante

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The systems that record patient care information, known as Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and those that monitor vital signs of patients, such as heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure have been extremely valuable for the effectiveness of the patient’s treatment. Several kinds of research have been using data from EMRs and vital signs of patients to predict illnesses. Among them, we highlight those that intend to predict, classify, or, at least identify patterns, of sepsis illness in patients under vital signs monitoring. Sepsis is an organic dysfunction caused by a dysregulated patient's response to an infection that affects millions of people worldwide. Early detection of sepsis is expected to provide a significant improvement in its treatment. Preceding works usually combined medical, statistical, mathematical and computational models to develop detection methods for early prediction, getting higher accuracies, and using the smallest number of variables. Among other techniques, we could find researches using survival analysis, specialist systems, machine learning and deep learning that reached great results. In our research, patients are modeled as points moving each hour in an n-dimensional space where n is the number of vital signs (variables). These points can reach a sepsis target point after some time. For now, the sepsis target point was calculated using the median of all patients’ variables on the sepsis onset. From these points, we calculate for each hour the position vector, the first derivative (velocity vector) and the second derivative (acceleration vector) of the variables to evaluate their behavior. And we construct a prediction model based on a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Network, including these derivatives as explanatory variables. The accuracy of the prediction 6 hours before the time of sepsis, considering only the vital signs reached 83.24% and by including the vectors position, speed, and acceleration, we obtained 94.96%. The data are being collected from Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC) Database, a public database that contains vital signs, laboratory test results, observations, notes, and so on, from more than 60.000 patients.

Keywords: dynamic analysis, long short-term memory, prediction, sepsis

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Authors: Atiwat Khatpibunchai, Taweesak Kritjaroen

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A social enterprise is the innovative hybrid organizations where its ultimate goal is to generate revenue and use it as a fund to solve the social and environmental problem. Although the evidence shows the clear value of economic, social and environmental aspects, the limitations of most of the social enterprises are the expanding impact of social and environmental aspects through the normal market mechanism. This is because the major sources of revenues of social enterprises derive from the business advocates who merely wish to support society and environment by using products and services of social enterprises rather than expect the satisfaction and the distinctive advantage of products and services. Thus, social enterprises cannot reach the achievement as other businesses do. The relevant concepts from the literature review revealed that dynamic capability is the ability to sense, integrate and reconfigure internal resources and utilize external resources to adapt to changing environments, create innovation and achieve competitive advantage. The objective of this research is to study the influence of dynamic capability that affects competitive advantage and sustainable performance, as well as to determine important elements of dynamic capability. The researchers developed a conceptual model from the related concepts and theories of dynamic capability. A conceptual model will support and show the influence of dynamic capability on competitive advantage and sustainable performance of social enterprises. The 230 organizations in South-East Asia served as participants in this study. The results of the study were analyzed by the structural equation model (SEM) and it was indicated that research model is consistent with empirical research. The results also demonstrated that dynamic capability has a direct and indirect influence on competitive advantage and sustainable performance. Moreover, it can be summarized that dynamic capability consists of the five elements: 1) the ability to sense an opportunity; 2) the ability to seize an opportunity; 3) the ability to integrate resources; 4) the ability to absorb resources; 5) the ability to create innovation. The study recommends that related sectors can use this study as a guideline to support and promote social enterprises. The focus should be pointed to the important elements of dynamic capability that are the development of the ability to transform existing resources in the organization and the ability to seize opportunity from changing market.

Keywords: dynamic capability, social enterprise, sustainable competitive advantage, sustainable performance

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Authors: J. Wozniak-Holecka, T. Holecki, P. Romaniuk

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Spa facilities are being perceived as the ways of healing treatment in Poland and are guaranteed within the public financing. The universal health insurance (National Health Fund, NFZ), and the disability prevention programme held by Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) are the main sources of financing spa facilities. The dominant public payer of spa services is the NFZ. The Social Insurance Institution covers the cost of health treatment realized in spa facilities as medical rehabilitation, in the field of disability prevention. Health services delivered in the spa resorts are characterized by complexity, and the combination of various methods, typical for health prevention, education, balneotherapy, and physiotherapy. Healing with natural methods, believed to enhance the therapeutic effect, is also involved in health spa treatment. Regardless of the type of facility, each form of spa treatment includes health promotion, health education, prevention at all levels, including rehabilitation. The aim of the study was to determine the optimal organization of health education process. Its efficiency strongly depends on the type of service provider and the funding institution (NFZ vs ZUS). It results from the use of different measures of the effectiveness, the quality and the evaluation of the process being assessed by funding institutions. The methods of the study include a comparative and descriptive quantitative and qualitative analysis. In the empirical part, a questionnaire had been developed. It was then distributed among spa personnel, responsible directly for the health promotion, and among patients who are beneficiaries of health services in spa centers. The quantitative part of the study was based on interviews carried with the use of the online survey (CAWI: Computer-Assisted Web Interview), telephone survey (CATI: Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview) and a conventional questionnaire (PAPI: Paper over Pencil Interview). As a result of the conducted research, it was found that the effectiveness of health education activities in spa resort facilities in Poland is higher when the services are organized using structured tools for managerial control. This applies to formalized procedures implemented by one of the dominant payers covering costs of services (ZUS) and involves the application of health education as one of the mandatory elements of treatment, subjected to the process of control during the course of spa therapy and evaluation after it is completed.

Keywords: effectiveness, health education, public health system, spa treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Nan Wu, Peng Liu

Abstract:

As a morphological element reflecting the land property rights structure, the plot pattern plays a crucial role in shaping the form and quality of the built environment. Therefore, it is one of the core control elements of urban regeneration. As China's urban development mode is shifting from growth-based development to urban regeneration, it is urgent to explore a more refined way for the planning control of the plot pattern, which further promotes the optimization of urban form and land property structure. European and American countries such as Germany and the United States began to deal with the planning control of plot patterns in urban regeneration earlier and established relatively mature methods and mechanisms. Therefore, this paper summarizes two typical scenarios of plot pattern regeneration in old cities in China: the first one is "limited scale plot pattern rezoning", which mainly deals with the regeneration scenario of tearing down the old and building the new, and the focus of its control is to establish an adaptive plot pattern rezoning methodology and mechanism; The second is "localized parcel regeneration under the existing property rights," which mainly deals with the renewal scenario of alteration and addition, and its control focuses on the establishment of control rules for individual plot regeneration. For the two typical plot pattern regeneration scenarios, Germany (Berlin) and the United States (New York) are selected as two international cases with reference significance, and the framework of plot pattern form and property rights control elements of urban regeneration is established from four latitudes, namely, the overall operation mode, form control methods, property rights control methods, and effective implementation prerequisites, so as to compare and analyze the plot pattern control methods of the two countries under different land systems and regeneration backgrounds. Among them, the German construction planning system has formed a more complete technical methodology for block-scale rezoning, and together with the overall urban design, it has created a practical example in the critical redevelopment of the inner city of Berlin. In the United States (New York), the zoning method establishes fine zoning regulations and rules for adjusting development rights based on the morphological indicators plots so as to realize effective control over the regeneration of local plots under the existing property rights pattern. On the basis of summarizing the international experience, we put forward the proposal of plot pattern and property rights control for the organic regeneration of old cities in China.

Keywords: plot pattern, urban regeneration, urban morphology, property rights, regulatory planning

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