Search results for: international employee health

Authors: Ahmed Makhoukh

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Quality assurance (QA) has recently become a common practice, which is endorsed by most Higher Education (HE) institutions worldwide, due to the pressure of internal and external forces. One of the aims of this quality movement is to make the contribution of university education to socio-economic development highly significant. This entails that graduates are currently required have a high-quality profile, i.e., to be competent and master the 21st-century skills needed in the labor market. This wave of change, mostly imposed by globalization, has the effect that university education should be learner-centered in order to satisfy the different needs of students and meet the expectations of other stakeholders. Such a shift of focus on the student learning outcomes has led HE institutions to reconsider their strategic planning, their mission, the curriculum, the pedagogical competence of the academic staff, among other elements. To ensure that the overall institutional performance is on the right way, a QA system should be established to assume this task of checking regularly the extent to which the set of standards of evaluation are strictly respected as expected. This operation of QA has the advantage of proving the accountability of the institution, gaining the trust of the public with transparency and enjoying an international recognition. This is the case of Doha Institute (DI) for Graduate Studies, in Qatar, the object of the present study. The significance of this contribution is to show that the conception of quality has changed in this digital age, and the need to integrate a department responsible for QA in every HE institution to ensure educational quality, enhance learners and achieve academic leadership. Thus, to undertake the issue of QA in DI for Graduate Studies, an elite university (in the academic sense) that focuses on a small and selected number of students, a qualitative method will be adopted in the description and analysis of the data (document analysis). In an attempt to investigate the extent to which QA is achieved in Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, three broad indicators will be evaluated (input, process and learning outcomes). This investigation will be carried out in line with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education represented by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).

Keywords: accreditation, higher education, quality, quality assurance, standards

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Authors: Tsega Asresa, Getahun Tigistu, Melaku Bayih

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Computer vision is a subfield of artificial intelligence that allows computers and systems to extract meaning from digital images and video. It is used in a wide range of fields of study, including self-driving cars, video surveillance, medical diagnosis, manufacturing, law, agriculture, quality control, health care, facial recognition, and military applications. Aromatic medicinal plants are botanical raw materials used in cosmetics, medicines, health foods, essential oils, decoration, cleaning, and other natural health products for therapeutic and Aromatic culinary purposes. These plants and their products not only serve as a valuable source of income for farmers and entrepreneurs but also going to export for valuable foreign currency exchange. In Ethiopia, there is a lack of technologies for the classification and identification of Aromatic medicinal plant parts and disease type cured by aromatic medicinal plants. Farmers, industry personnel, academicians, and pharmacists find it difficult to identify plant parts and disease types cured by plants before ingredient extraction in the laboratory. Manual plant identification is a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and lengthy process. To alleviate these challenges, few studies have been conducted in the area to address these issues. One way to overcome these problems is to develop a deep learning model for efficient identification of Aromatic medicinal plant parts with their corresponding disease type. The objective of the proposed study is to identify the aromatic medicinal plant parts and their disease type classification using computer vision technology. Therefore, this research initiated a model for the classification of aromatic medicinal plant parts and their disease type by exploring computer vision technology. Morphological characteristics are still the most important tools for the identification of plants. Leaves are the most widely used parts of plants besides roots, flowers, fruits, and latex. For this study, the researcher used RGB leaf images with a size of 128x128 x3. In this study, the researchers trained five cutting-edge models: convolutional neural network, Inception V3, Residual Neural Network, Mobile Network, and Visual Geometry Group. Those models were chosen after a comprehensive review of the best-performing models. The 80/20 percentage split is used to evaluate the model, and classification metrics are used to compare models. The pre-trained Inception V3 model outperforms well, with training and validation accuracy of 99.8% and 98.7%, respectively.

Keywords: aromatic medicinal plant, computer vision, convolutional neural network, deep learning, plant classification, residual neural network

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Authors: Pegah Farokhzad

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Family has a crucial role in maintaining the physical, social and mental health of the children. Most of the mental and anxiety problems of children reflects the complex interpersonal situations among family members, especially parents. In other words, anxiety problems of the children is correlated with deficit relationships of family members and improper child rearing styles. The parental child rearing styles leads to positive and negative consequences which affect the children’s mental health. Therefore, the present research was aimed to compare the parental child rearing styles and anxiety of children with stuttering and normal population. It was also aimed to study the relationship between parental child rearing styles and anxiety of children. The research sample included 54 boys with stuttering and 54 normal boys who were selected from the children (boys) of Tehran, Iran in the age range of 5 to 8 years in 2013. In order to collect data, Baumrind Child rearing Styles Inventory and Spence Parental Anxiety Inventory were used. Appropriate descriptive statistical methods and multivariate variance analysis and t test for independent groups were used to test the study hypotheses. Statistical data analyses demonstrated that there was a significant difference between stuttering boys and normal boys in anxiety (t = 7.601, p< 0.01); But there was no significant difference between stuttering boys and normal boys in parental child rearing styles (F = 0.129). There was also not found significant relationship between parental child rearing styles and children anxiety (F = 0.135, p< 0.05). It can be concluded that the influential factors of children’s society are parents, school, teachers, peers and media. So, parental child rearing styles are not the only influential factors on anxiety of children, and other factors including genetic, environment and child experiences are effective in anxiety as well. Details are discussed.

Keywords: child rearing styles, anxiety, stuttering, Iran

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Authors: Amani Abdallah, Isam Shahrour

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The quality of drinking water is a major concern of public health. The control of this quality is generally performed in the laboratory, which requires a long time. This type of control is not adapted for accidental pollution from sudden events, which can have serious consequences on population health. Therefore, it is of major interest to develop real-time innovative solutions for the detection of accidental contamination in drinking water systems This paper presents researches conducted within the SunRise Demonstrator for ‘Smart and Sustainable Cities’ with a particular focus on the supervision of the water quality. This work aims at (i) implementing a smart water system in a large water network (Campus of the University Lille1) including innovative equipment for real-time detection of abnormal events, such as those related to the contamination of drinking water and (ii) develop a numerical modeling of the contamination diffusion in the water distribution system. The first step included verification of the water quality sensors and their effectiveness on a network prototype of 50m length. This part included the evaluation of the efficiency of these sensors in the detection both bacterial and chemical contamination events in drinking water distribution systems. An on-line optical sensor integral with a laboratory-scale distribution system (LDS) was shown to respond rapidly to changes in refractive index induced by injected loads of chemical (cadmium, mercury) and biological contaminations (Escherichia coli). All injected substances were detected by the sensor; the magnitude of the response depends on the type of contaminant introduced and it is proportional to the injected substance concentration.

Keywords: distribution system, drinking water, refraction index, sensor, real-time

Procedia PDF Downloads 351

Authors: Sahar Heidary, Ramin Ghasemi Shayan

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The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurrence has carried considerabletrials to the world health system, comprising the training of dental and maxillofacial radiology (DMFR). DMFR will keep avital role in healthcare throughout this disaster. Severe acute breathing disease coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus producing the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is not only extremely contagious but can make solemn consequences in susceptible persons comprising dental patients and dental health care personnel (DHCPs). Reactions to COVID-19 have been available by the Cores for Infection Switch and Inhibition and the American Dental Association, but a more detailed answer is necessary for the harmless preparation of oral and maxillofacial radiology. Our goal is to evaluation the existing information just how the illness threatens patients and DHCPs and how to define which patients are possible to be SARS-CoV-2 infected; study how the usage of private shielding utensils and contamination control measures based on recent top observes, and knowledge can decrease the danger of virus spread in radiologic trials; and scrutinize how intraoral radiography, with its actually superior danger of scattering the infection, might be changed by extraoralradiographic methods for definite diagnostic jobs. In the pandemic, teleradiology has been extensively recycled for diagnostic determinations of COVID-19 patients, for discussions with radiologists in crisis cases, or managing of distance among radiology clinics. Dentists can have the digital radiographic images of their emergency patients through online service area also by electronic message or messaging applications to view in their smart phones, laptops, or other electronic devices.

Keywords: radiology, dental, oral, COVID-19, infection

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Sree Sanyal

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Research in ageing often highlights the age-related health dimension more than the psycho-social characteristics of the elderly, which also influences and challenges the health outcomes. Multimorbidity is defined as the person having more than one chronic non-communicable diseases and their prevalence increases with ageing. The study aims to evaluate the influence of social ties on self-reported prevalence of multimorbidity (selected chronic non-communicable diseases) among the selected states of elderly population in India. The data is accessed from Building Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India (BKPAI), collected in 2011 covering the self-reported chronic non-communicable diseases like arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, lung disease with asthma, hypertension, cataract, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. The data of the above diseases were taken together and categorized as: ‘no disease’, ‘one disease’ and ‘multimorbidity’. The predicted variables were demographic, socio-economic, residential types, and the variable of social ties includes social support, social engagement, perceived support, connectedness, and importance of the elderly. Predicted probability for multiple logistic regression was used to determine the background characteristics of the old in association with chronic morbidities showing multimorbidity. The finding suggests that 24.35% of the elderly are suffering from multimorbidity. Research shows that with reference to ‘no disease’, according to the socio-economic characteristics of the old, the female oldest old (80+) from others in caste and religion, widowed, never had any formal education, ever worked in their life, coming from the second wealth quintile standard, from rural Maharashtra are more prone with ‘one disease’. From the social ties background, the elderly who perceives they are important to the family, after getting older their decision-making status has been changed, prefer to stay with son and spouse only, satisfied with the communication from their children are more likely to have less single morbidity and the results are significant. Again, with respect to ‘no disease’, the female oldest old (80+), who are others in caste, Christian in religion, widowed, having less than 5 years of education completed, ever worked, from highest wealth quintile, residing in urban Kerala are more associated with multimorbidity. The elderly population who are more socially connected through family visits, public gatherings, gets support in decision making, who prefers to spend their later years with son and spouse only but stays alone shows lesser prevalence of multimorbidity. In conclusion, received and perceived social integration and support from associated neighborhood in the older days, knowing about their own needs in life facilitates better health and wellbeing of the elderly population in selected states of India.

Keywords: morbidity, multi-morbidity, prevalence, social ties

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Authors: Edith Esparza-Young, Ángel M. Matos, Yaritza Gonzalez, Kirthana Sugunathevan

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Introduction: This research describes the existing medical school program which supports a multicultural setting and bilingualism. The rise of Spanish speakers in the United States has led to the recruitment of bilingual medical students who can serve the evolving demographics. This paper includes anecdotal evidence, narratives and the latest research on the outcomes of supporting a multilingual academic experience in medical school and beyond. People in the United States will continue to need health care from physicians who have experience with multicultural competence. Physicians who are bilingual and possess effective communication skills will be in high demand. Methodologies: This research is descriptive. Through this descriptive research, the researcher will describe the qualities and characteristics of the existing medical school programs, curriculum, and student services. Additionally, the researcher will shed light on the existing curriculum in the medical school and also describe specific programs which help to serve as safety nets to support diverse populations. The method included observations of the existing program and the implementation of the medical school program, specifically the Accelerated Review Program, the Language Education and Professional Communication Program, student organizations and the Global Health Institute. Concluding Statement: This research identified and described characteristics of the medical school’s program. The research explained and described the current and present phenomenon of this medical program, which has focused on increasing the graduation of bilingual and minority physicians. The findings are based on observations of the curriculum, programs and student organizations which evolves and remains innovative to stay current with student enrollment.

Keywords: bilingual, English, medicine, doctor

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Authors: Maria Medrano, Cristina Cadenas-Sanchez, Maddi Oses, Lide Arenaza, Maria Amasene, Idoia Labayen

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The COVID-19 outbreak began in December 2019 in China and was rapidly expanded globally. Emergency measures, such as social distance or home confinement, were adopted by many country governments to prevent its transmission. In Spain, one of the most affected countries, the schools were closed, and one of the most severe mandatory home confinement was established for children from 14th March to 26th April 2020. The hypothesis of this study was that the measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic may have negatively affected physical activity and screen time of children. However, few studies have examined the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on lifestyle behaviours. Thus, the aim of the current work was to analyse the effects of the COVID-19 confinement on physical activity and screen time in Spanish children. For the current purpose, a total of 113 children and adolescents (12.0 ± 2.6 yr., 51.3% boys, 24.0% with overweight/obesity according to the World Obesity Federation) of the MUGI project were included in the analyses. Physical activity and screen time were longitudinally assessed by 'The Youth Activity Profile' questionnaire (YAP). Differences in physical activity and screen time before and during the confinement were assessed by dependent t-test. Before the confinement, 60% did not meet physical activity recommendations ( ≥ 60/min/day of moderate to vigorous physical activity), and 61% used screens ≥ 2 h/day. During the COVID-19 confinement, children decreased their physical activity levels (-91 ± 55 min/day, p < 0.001) and increased screen time ( ± 2.6 h/day, p < 0.001). The prevalence of children that worsened physical activity and screen time during the COVID-19 confinement were 95.2% and 69.8%, respectively. The current study evidence the negative effects of the COVID-19 confinement on physical activity and screen time in Spanish children. These findings should be taken into account to develop and implement future public health strategies for preserving children's lifestyle behaviours and health during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19, lifestyle changes, paediatric, physical activity, screen time

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Authors: G. W. Greubel, A. Kalam

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This paper provides a review of the technical problems facing the South African electricity system and discusses a hypothetical ‘virtual grid’ concept that may assist in solving the problems. The proposed solution has potential application across emerging markets with constrained power infrastructure or for companies who wish to be entirely powered by renewable energy. South Africa finds itself at a confluence of forces where the national electricity supply system is constrained with under-supply primarily from old and failing coal-fired power stations and congested and inadequate transmission and distribution systems. Simultaneously, the country attempts to meet carbon reduction targets driven by both an alignment with international goals and a consumer-driven requirement. The constrained electricity system is an aspect of an economy characterized by very low economic growth, high unemployment, and frequent and significant load shedding. The fiscus does not have the funding to build new generation capacity or strengthen the grid. The under-supply is increasingly alleviated by the penetration of wind and solar generation capacity and embedded roof-top solar. However, this increased penetration results in less inertia, less synchronous generation, and less capability for fast frequency response, with resultant instability. The renewable energy facilities assist in solving the under-supply issues but merely ‘kick the can down the road’ by not contributing to grid stability or by substituting the lost inertia, thus creating an expanding issue for the grid to manage. By technically balancing its electricity demand and supply a company with facilities located across the country can be protected from the effects of load shedding, and thus ensure financial and production performance, protect jobs, and contribute meaningfully to the economy. By treating the company’s load (across the country) and its various distributed generation facilities as a ‘virtual grid’, which by design will provide ancillary services to the grid one is able to create a win-win situation for both the company and the grid.

Keywords: load shedding, renewable energy integration, smart grid, virtual grid, virtual power plant

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Authors: Zita Fomukong Andam

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Civil disobedience according to John Rawls (1971) is a public nonviolent and conscientious breach of laws undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in government laws and policies. Thus individuals who engage themselves in such an act are aware and ready to accept the consequences of their actions. Cameroon more precisely the Northwest and the Southwest region which are the English part are considered as one of the societies facing this act of civil disobedience. It has been a tormenting issue in the country affecting its economy and the tourism sector. This is because these regions known as one of the best touristic sites of the country is not more considered as a destination to be visited by tourist because of its insecurities. Many commercial buildings have been burning down, leaving many young Cameroonians jobless. Education has been hindered, and youths are forced to relocate to nearby cities in order to continue their education. This crisis has created a lot of insecurity throughout the regions thus youths now have one common interest to travel abroad either to seek refuge or to continue their education and even search for jobs. The purpose of this research is to assess the issue of civil disobedience, trying to understand why it is affected only by a specific region in a country while the others are doing fine. A deep research discourse was conducted with randomly selected individuals aging between 15 to 40 years living both in the destination and abroad. Survey questionnaires and interviews were carried out as a method to collect data. The results show that this crisis has impacted the local residents psychologically and has injected a lot of fears into tourists and they are no more willing to visit the destination. In addition, it has brought a negative impact on the county’s economy since tourism is considered as the key sector in a country’s economy. On the other hand, the results showed that many local residents have remained jobless, others have lost family members, and the daily routine life has been affected. Understanding these results, the national government and international bodies might be able to propose possible and efficient solutions in order to attain stability and security in this region.

Keywords: civil disobedience, economic impact, local residents, tourist

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Authors: Chijindu D. Mgbemere

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Mass killing also known as genocide is the systematic killing of people from national, ethnic, or religious group, or an attempt to do so. The act has been there before 1948, when it was officially recognized for what it is. From then, the world has continued to witness genocide in diverse forms- negating different measures by the United Nations and its agencies to curb it. So far, all the studies and documentations on this subject are biased in favor of radio and the print. This paper therefore extended the interrogation of genocide, drumming its devastating effects, using the film medium; and in doing so devised innovative and pragmatic approach to genocide scholarship. It further centered attention on the factors and impacts of genocide, with a view to determine how effective film can be in such a study. The study is anchored on Bateson’s Framing Theory. Four films- Hotel Rwanda, Half of a Yellow Sun, Attack on Darfur, and sarafina, were analyzed, based on background, factors/causes, impacts, and development of genocide, via Content Analysis. The study discovered that: as other continents strive towards peace, acts of genocide are on the increase in African. Bloodletting stereotypes give Africa negative image in the global society. Difficult political frameworks, the trauma of postcolonial state, aggravated by ethnic and religious intolerance, and limited access to resources are responsible for high cases of genocide in Africa. The media, international communities, and peace agencies often abet other than prevent genocide or mass killings in Africa. High human casualty and displacement, children soldering, looting, hunger, rape, sex-slavery and abuse, mental and psychosomatic stress disorders are some of the impacts of genocide. Genocidaires are either condemned or killed. Grievances can be vented using civil resistance, negotiation, adjudication, arbitration, and mediation. The cinema is an effective means of studying and documenting genocide. Africans must factor the image laundering of their continent into consideration. Punishment of genocidaires without an attempt to de-radicalize them is counterproductive.

Keywords: African film, genocide, framing theory, mass murder

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Natalie Tyldesley-Marshall, Janette Parr, Anna Brown, Yen-Fu Chen, Amy Grove

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It is widely recognised in policy and research that the provision of services for children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is enhanced when health and social care, and education services collaborate and interact effectively. In the UK, there have been significant changes to policy and provisions which support and improve collaboration. However, professionals responsible for implementing these changes face multiple challenges, including a lack of specific implementation guidance or framework to illustrate how effective multi-agency working could or should work. This systematic review will identify the key components of effective multi-agency working in services for CYP with SEND; and the most effective forms of partnership working in this setting. The review highlights interventions that lead to service improvements; and the conditions in the local area that support and encourage success. A protocol was written and registered with PROSPERO registration: CRD42022352194. Searches were conducted on several health, care, education, and applied social science databases from the year 2012 onwards. Citation chaining has been undertaken, as well as broader grey literature searching to enrich the findings. Qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods studies and systematic reviews were included, assessed independently, and critically appraised or assessed for risk of bias using appropriate tools based on study design. Data were extracted in NVivo software and checked by a more experienced researcher. A convergent segregated approach to synthesis and integration was used in which the quantitative and qualitative data were synthesised independently and then integrated using a joint display integration matrix. Findings demonstrate the key ingredients for effective partnership working for services delivering SEND. Interventions deemed effective are described, and lessons learned across interventions are summarised. Results will be of interest to educators and health and social care professionals that provide services to those with SEND. These will also be used to develop policy recommendations for how UK healthcare, social care, and education services for CYP with SEND aged 0-25 can most effectively collaborate and achieve service improvement. The review will also identify any gaps in the literature to recommend areas for future research. Funding for this review was provided by the Department for Education.

Keywords: collaboration, joint commissioning, service delivery, service improvement

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Authors: Şenay Güngör, Emre Elbaşi, Beyda Sadikğlu, Utku Eren Bağci, Ömer Uzunel

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One of the first places that comes to mind when it comes to tourism in Turkey is the Cappadocia Region. Due to its rich geological and geomorphological heritage, Cappadocia is one of the most visited destinations in the world. In fact, in the first half of 2023, the number of international tourists visiting Cappadocia exceeded 2 million. Considering that the economy of the Cappadocia region is largely based on tourism, it is understood that the quality and technology integration levels of the touristic services offered in the region are of great importance. In this context; as a result of the observations made in Kızılçukur, Meskendir, Güllüdere 1 and Güllüdere 2 valleys, where the important hiking routes of the Cappadocia Region are located, it has been observed that the digital level of the routes is insufficient. It has been observed that the telephone networks in the area are very low or have completely lost their signal strength. In addition, it was determined that the materials such as maps and brochures used by tourism agencies to introduce the valleys are simple and incomplete. It is thought that this situation negatively affects the tourists' orientation and touristic experience in the field. Eliminating these deficiencies identified in the field, improving the digital level of the above-mentioned hiking routes and increasing the added value in destinations are among the main objectives of our study. Within the scope of the study, a mobile application that can work both online and offline on hiking routes has been prepared. 3D modeling of Kızılçukur, Meskendir, Güllüdere 1 and Güllüdere 2 valleys were made using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). In addition, a website has been created to enable tourists to easily access all the above-mentioned information, visuals and technological applications related to the routes. As it is known, the effective use of information and communication technologies in touristic regions not only increases the satisfaction levels of tourists, but also positively affects the attraction of qualified tourists to the region. When the tangible and intangible outputs of this study are evaluated, it is thought that it will serve the social and economic development of the region and set an example for the digital transformation of other routes in the region.

Keywords: nevşehir, cappadocia, cappadocia valleys, tourism route

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Authors: Tania Sharmin

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Energy use, overheating and thermal discomfort in low-income tropical housing remains an under-researched area. This research attempts to explore these aspects in the Loving Community, a housing colony created for former leprosy patients and their families in Ahmedabad in India. The living conditions in these households and working practices of the inhabitants in terms of how the building and its internal and external spaces are used, will be explored through interviews and monitoring which will be based on a household survey and a focus group discussion (FGD). The findings from the study will provide a unique and in-depth account of how the relocation of the affected households to the new, flood-resistant and architecturally-designed buildings may have affected the dwellers’ household routines (health and well-being, comfort, satisfaction and working practices) and overall living conditions compared to those living in poorly-designed, existing low-income housings. The new houses were built under an innovative building project supported by De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s Square Mile India project. A comparison of newly-built and existing building typologies will reveal how building design can affect people’s use of space and energy use. The findings will be helpful to design healthier, energy efficient and socially acceptable low-income housing in future, thus addressing United Nation’s sustainable development goals on three aspects: 3 (health and well-being), 7 (energy) and 11 (safe, resilient and sustainable human settlements). This will further facilitate knowledge exchange between policy makers, developers, designers and occupants focused on strategies to increase stakeholders’ participation in the design process.

Keywords: thermal comfort, energy use, low-income housing, tropical climate

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Authors: Svetlana Strinyuk, Viacheslav Lanin

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Academic English has become lingua franca for international scientific community which stimulates universities to introduce English for Specific Purposes (EAP) courses into curriculum. Teaching L2 EAP students might be fulfilled with corpus technologies and digital stylistics. A special software developed to reach the manifold task of teaching, assessing and researching academic writing of L2 students on basis of digital stylistics and multidimensional analysis was created. A set of annotations (style markers) – grammar, lexical and syntactic features most significant of academic writing was built. Contrastive comparison of two corpora “model corpus”, subject domain limited papers published by competent writers in leading academic journals, and “students’ corpus”, subject domain limited papers written by last year students allows to receive data about the features of academic writing underused or overused by L2 EAP student. Both corpora are tagged with a special software created in GATE Developer. Style markers within the framework of research might be replaced depending on the relevance and validity of the result which is achieved from research corpora. Thus, selecting relevant (high frequency) style markers and excluding less relevant, i.e. less frequent annotations, high validity of the model is achieved. Software allows to compare the data received from processing model corpus to students’ corpus and get reports which can be used in teaching and assessment. The less deviation from the model corpus students demonstrates in their writing the higher is academic writing skill acquisition. The research showed that several style markers (hedging devices) were underused by L2 EAP students whereas lexical linking devices were used excessively. A special software implemented into teaching of EAP courses serves as a successful visual aid, makes assessment more valid; it is indicative of the degree of writing skill acquisition, and provides data for further research.

Keywords: corpus technologies in EAP teaching, multidimensional analysis, GATE Developer, corpus stylistics

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Authors: Stephanie Zuba-Bates

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Purpose: This qualitative research study explored the lived experience of people with functional movement disorder (FMD) including how it impacts their quality of life and participation in life activities. It aims to educate health care professionals about FMD from the perspective of those living with the disorder. Background: Functional movement disorder is characterized by abnormal motor movements including tremors, abnormal gait, paresis, and dystonia with no known underlying pathophysiological cause. Current research estimates that FMD may account for 2-20% of clients seen by neurologists. Getting a diagnosis of FMD is typically long and difficult. In addition, many healthcare professionals are unfamiliar with the disorder which may delay treatment. People living with FMD face great disruption in major areas of life including activities of daily living (ADLs), work, leisure, and community participation. OT practitioners have expertise in working with people with both physical disabilities as well as mental illness and this expertise has the potential to guide treatment and become part of the standard of care. In order for occupational therapists to provide these services, they must be aware of the disorder and must advocate for clients to be referred to OT services. In addition, referring physicians and other health professionals need to understand how having FMD impacts the daily functioning of people living with the disorder and how OT services can intervene to improve their quality of life. This study aimed to answer the following research questions: 1) What is the lived experience of individuals with FMD?; 2) How has FMD impacted their participation in major areas of life?; and, 3) What treatment have they found to be effective in improving their quality of life? Method: A naturalistic approach was used to collect qualitative data through semi-structured telephone interviews of five individuals living with FMD. Subjects were recruited from social media websites and resources for people with FMD. Data was analyzed for common themes among participants. Results: Common themes including the variability of symptoms of the disorder; challenges to receiving a diagnosis; frustrations with and distrust of health care professionals; the impact of FMD on the participant’s ability to perform daily activities; and, strategies for living with the symptoms of FMD. Conclusion: All of the participants in the study had to modify their daily activities, roles and routines as a result of the disorder. This is an area where occupational therapists may intervene to improve the quality of life of these individuals. Additionally, participants reported frustration with the medical community regarding the awareness of the disorder and how they were treated by medical professionals. Much more research and awareness of the disorder is in order.

Keywords: functional movement disorder, occupational therapy, participation, quality of life

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Authors: Devin Doos, Ashley Hughes, Trang Pham, Paul Barach, Rami Ahmed

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Over 115,000 Health Care Workers (HCWs) have died from COVID-19, and millions have been infected while caring for patients. HCWs have filed thousands of safety complaints surrounding safety concerns due to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shortages, which included concerns around inadequate and PPE reuse. Protocols for donning and doffing PPE remain ambiguous, lacking an evidence-base, and often result in wide deviations in practice. PPE donning and doffing protocol deviations commonly result in self-contamination but have not been thoroughly addressed. No evidence-driven protocols provide guidance on protecting HCW during periods of PPE reuse. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine safety-related threats and risks to Health Care Workers (HCWs) due to the reuse of PPE among Emergency Department personnel. Method: We conducted a prospective observational study to examine the risks of reusing PPE. First, ED personnel were asked to don and doff PPE in a simulation lab. Each participant was asked to don and doff PPE five times, according to the maximum reuse recommendation set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Each participant was videorecorded; video recordings were reviewed and coded independently by at least 2 of the 3trained coders for safety behaviors and riskiness of actions. A third coder was brought in when the agreement between the 2 coders could not be reached. Agreement between coders was high (81.9%), and all disagreements (100%) were resolved via consensus. A bowtie risk assessment chart was constructed analyzing the factors that contribute to increased risks HCW are faced with due to PPE use and reuse. Agreement amongst content experts in the field of Emergency Medicine, Human Factors, and Anesthesiology was used to select aspects of health care that both contribute and mitigate risks associated with PPE reuse. Findings: Twenty-eight clinician participants completed five rounds of donning/doffing PPE, yielding 140 PPE donning/doffing sequences. Two emerging threats were associated with behaviors in donning, doffing, and re-using PPE: (i) direct exposure to contaminant, and (ii) transmission/spread of contaminant. Protective behaviors included: hand hygiene, not touching the patient-facing surface of PPE, and ensuring a proper fit and closure of all PPE materials. 100% of participants (n= 28) deviated from the CDC recommended order, and most participants (92.85%, n=26) self-contaminated at least once during reuse. Other frequent errors included failure to tie all ties on the PPE (92.85%, n=26) and failure to wash hands after a contamination event occurred (39.28%, n=11). Conclusions: There is wide variation and regular errors in how HCW don and doffPPE while including in reusing PPE that led to self-contamination. Some errors were deemed “recoverable”, such as hand washing after touching a patient-facing surface to remove the contaminant. Other errors, such as using a contaminated mask and accidentally spreading to the neck and face, can lead to compound risks that are unique to repeated PPE use. A more comprehensive understanding of the contributing threats to HCW safety and complete approach to mitigating underlying risks, including visualizing with risk management toolsmay, aid future PPE designand workflow and space solutions.

Keywords: bowtie analysis, health care, PPE reuse, risk management

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Authors: Oksana Koval, Stephen Nabareseh

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Talent attraction is identified as a top priority between 2015 – 2020 for Shared Service Centers (SSCs) based on an industry-wide studies. Due to market dynamics and the structure of labour force, shared service industries in Eastern and Central Europe strive for qualified graduates with appropriate and unique skills to occupy such job places. The inbuilt interest and course prescriptions undertaken by prospective job seekers determine whether SSCs will eventually admit such professionals. This paper assesses students’ overall perception of careers in the shared services industry and further diagnosis gender impact and influence on the job preferences among students. Questionnaires were distributed among students in the Czech Republic universities using an online mode. Respondents vary by study year, gender, age, course of study, and work preferences. A total of 1283 student responses has been analyzed using Stata data analytics software. It was discovered that over 70% of respondents who are aware of SSCs are quite ignorant of the job opportunities offered by the centers. While majority of respondents are interested in support positions (e.g. procurement specialist, planning specialist, human resource specialist, process improvement specialist and payroll specialist, etc.), around a third of respondents (32.8 percent) will decline a job offer from SSCs. The analysis also revealed that males are more likely than females to seek careers in international companies, hence, tend to be more favorable towards shared service jobs. Females, however, have stronger preferences towards marketing and PR jobs. The research results provide insights into the job aspirations of students interviewed. The findings provide a huge resource for recruitment agencies and shared service industries to renew and redirect their search for talents into SSCs. Based on the fact that great portion of respondents are planning to start their career within 6-12 months, the research provides important highlights for the talent attraction and recruitment strategies in the industry and provides a curriculum direction in academia.

Keywords: Czech Republic labour market, gender, talent attraction, shared service centers, students

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Authors: Azeb Degife

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Over the past few years, the volume of international investment in agricultural land has increased globally. In recent times, Ethiopian government uses agricultural investment as one of the most important and effective strategies for economic growth, food security and poverty reduction in rural areas. Since the mid-2000s, government has awarded millions of hectares of most fertile land to rich countries and some of the world's most wealthy people to export various kinds of crop, often in long-term leases and at bargain prices. This study focuses on the pros and cons of large-scale agriculture investment Gambella region, Ethiopia. The main results were generated both from primary and secondary data sources. Primary data are obtained through interview, direct observation and a focus group discussion (FGDs). The secondary data are obtained from published documents, reports from governmental and non-governmental institutions. The findings of the study demonstrated that agriculture investment has advantages on the socio-economic and disadvantages on socio-environmental aspects. The main benefits agriculture investments in the region are infrastructural development and generation employment for the local people. Further, the Ethiopian government also generates foreign currency from the agriculture investment opportunities. On the other hand, Gambella people are strongly tied to the land and the rivers that run through in the region. However, now large-scale agricultural investment by foreign and local investors on an industrial scale results deprives people livelihoods and natural resources of the region. Generally, the negative effects of agriculture investment include increasing food insecurity, and displacement of smallholder farmers and pastoralists. Moreover, agriculture investment has strong adverse environmental impacts on natural resources such as land, water, forests and biodiversity. Therefore, an Ethiopian government strategy needs to focus on integration approach and sustainable agricultural growth.

Keywords: agriculture investment, cons, displacement, Gambella, integration approach, pros, socio-economic, socio-environmental

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Authors: Subhajit Das, Nirjhar Dhang

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Structural damage detection is a challenging work in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM). The damage detection methods mainly focused on the determination of the location and severity of the damage. Model updating is a well known method to locate and quantify the damage. In this method, an error function is defined in terms of difference between the signal measured from ‘experiment’ and signal obtained from undamaged finite element model. This error function is minimised with a proper algorithm, and the finite element model is updated accordingly to match the measured response. Thus, the damage location and severity can be identified from the updated model. In this paper, an error function is defined in terms of modal data viz. frequencies and modal assurance criteria (MAC). MAC is derived from Eigen vectors. This error function is minimized by teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO) algorithm, and the finite element model is updated accordingly to locate and quantify the damage. Damage is introduced in the model by reduction of stiffness of the structural member. The ‘experimental’ data is simulated by the finite element modelling. The error due to experimental measurement is introduced in the synthetic ‘experimental’ data by adding random noise, which follows Gaussian distribution. The efficiency and robustness of this method are explained through three examples e.g., one truss, one beam and one frame problem. The result shows that TLBO algorithm is efficient to detect the damage location as well as the severity of damage using modal data.

Keywords: damage detection, finite element model updating, modal assurance criteria, structural health monitoring, teaching learning based optimization

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Authors: Armend Kelmendi, Adnan Ahmeti

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The purpose of our study was to assess the impact of soccer in the overall wealth fare (education, health, and economic prosperity) of youth in Kosovo (age: 7-18). The research conducted measured a number of parameters (training methodologies, conditions, community leadership impact) in a sample consisting of 6 different football clubs’ academies across the country. Fifty (50) male and female football youngsters volunteered in this study. To generate more reliable results, the analysis was conducted with the help of a set of effective project management tools and techniques (Gantt chart, Logic Network, PERT chart, Work Breakdown Structure, and Budgeting Analysis). The interviewees were interviewed under a specific lens of categories (impact in education, health, and economic prosperity). A set of questions were asked i.e. what has football provided to you and the community you live in?; Did football increase your confidence and shaped your life for better?; What was the main reason you started training in football? The results generated explain how a single sport, namely that of football in Kosovo can make a huge social change, improving key social factors in a society. There was a considerable difference between the youth clubs as far as training conditions are concerned. The study found out that despite financial constraints, two out of six clubs managed to produce twice as more talented players that were introduced to professional primary league teams in Kosovo and Albania, including other soccer teams in the region, Europe, and Asia. The study indicates that better sports policy must be formulated and associated with important financial investments in soccer for it to be considered fruitful and beneficial for players of 18 plus years of age, namely professionals.

Keywords: youth, prosperity, conditions, investments, growth, free movement

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Authors: Terryann Clark, Kabir Dasgupta, Sonia Lewycka, Gail Pacheco, Alexander Plum

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This paper focused on two main research aims using data from the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUINZ) birth cohort: 1. To examine ethnic differences in life-course trajectories in the use and experience of healthcare services in early childhood years (namely immunisation, dental checks and use of General Practitioners (GPs)) 2. To quantify the contribution of relevant explanatory factors to ethnic differences. Current policy in New Zealand indicates there should be, in terms of associated direct costs, equitable access by ethnicity for healthcare services. However, empirical evidence points to persistent ethnic gaps in several domains. For example, the data highlighted that Māori have the lowest immunisation rates, across a number of time points in early childhood – despite having a higher antenatal intention to immunise relative to NZ European. Further to that, NZ European are much more likely to have their first-choice lead maternity caregiver (LMC) and use child dental services compared to all ethnicities. Method: This research explored the underlying mechanisms behind ethnic differences in the use and experience of child healthcare services. First, a multivariate regression analysis was used to adjust raw ethnic gaps in child health care utilisation by relevant covariates. This included a range of factors, encompassing mobility, socio-economic status, mother and child characteristics, household characteristics and other social aspects. Second, a decomposition analysis was used to assess the proportion of each ethnic gap that can be explained, as well as the main drivers behind the explained component. The analysis for both econometric approaches was repeated for each data time point available, which included antenatal, 9 months, 2 years and 4 years post-birth. Results: The following findings emerged: There is consistent evidence that Asian and Pacific peoples have a higher likelihood of child immunisation relative to NZ Europeans and Māori. This was evident at all time points except one. Pacific peoples had a lower rate relative to NZ European for receiving all first-year immunisations on time. For a number of potential individual and household predictors of healthcare service utilisation, the association is time-variant across early childhood. For example, socio-economic status appears highly relevant for timely immunisations in a child’s first year, but is then insignificant for the 15 month immunisations and those at age 4. Social factors play a key role. This included discouragement or encouragement regarding child immunisation. When broken down by source, discouragement by family has the largest marginal effect, followed by health professionals; whereas for encouragement, medical professionals have the largest positive influence. Perceived ethnically motivated discrimination by a health professional was significant with respect to both reducing the likelihood of achieving first choice LMC, and also satisfaction levels with child’s GP. Some ethnic gaps were largely unexplained, despite the wealth of factors employed as independent variables in our analysis. This included understanding why Pacific mothers are much less likely to achieve their first choice LMC compared to NZ Europeans; and also the ethnic gaps for both Māori and Pacific peoples relative to NZ Europeans concerning dental service use.

Keywords: child health, cohort analysis, ethnic disparities, primary healthcare

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Authors: Pil Kyoo Jo, Jee Young Kim, Yu Jin Oh, Sohyun Park, Young Ha Joo, Hye Suk Kim, Semi Kang

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When convenience drives daily food choices, the increased consumption of processed foods may be associated with the increased intakes of sodium and fat and further with the onset of chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of sodium, saturated fat, and calories intakes through processed foods and the dietary patterns among adult populations in South Korea. We used the nationally representative data from the 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2010-2012) and a cross-sectional survey on the eating behaviors among university students(N=893, 380 men, 513 women) aged from 20 to 24 years. Results showed that South Koreans consumed 43.5% of their total food consumption from processed foods. The 24-hour recalls data showed that 77% of sodium, 60% of fats, 59% of saturated fat, and 44% of calories were consumed from processed food. The intake of processed foods increased by 1.7% in average since 2008 annually. Only 33% of processed food that respondents consumed had nutrition labeling. The data from university students showed that students selected processed foods in convenience store when eating alone compared to eating with someone else. Given the convenience and lack of time, more people will consume processed foods and it may impact their overall dietary intake and further their health. In order to help people to make healthier food choices, regulations and policies to reduce the potentially unhealthy nutrients of processed foods should be strengthened. This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea for 2011 Korea-Japan Basic Scientific Cooperation Program. This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2015S1A5B6037369).

Keywords: sodium, fat, processed foods, diet trends

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Authors: Mohammad Anwarul Kabir, Fayezul Islam

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Language invariably is learned / taught to be used primarily as means of communications. Teaching a language for its native audience differs from teaching it to non-native audience. Moreover, teaching a language for communication only is different from teaching it for specific purposes. Arabic language is primarily regarded as the language of the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition). Arabic is, therefore, learnt and spread all over the globe. However, Arabic is also a cultural heritage shared by all Islamic nations which has used Arabic for a long period to record the contributions of Muslim thinkers made in the field of wide spectrum of knowledge and scholarship. That is why the phenomenon of teaching Arabic by different educational institutes became quite rife, and the idea of teaching Arabic for specific purposes is heavily discussed in the academic sphere. Although the number of learners of Arabic is increasing consistently, yet their purposes vary. These include religious purpose, international trade, diplomatic purpose, better livelihood in the Arab world extra. By virtue of this high demand for learning Arabic, numerous institutes have been established all over the world including Bangladesh. This paper aims at focusing on the current status of the language institutes which has been established for learning Arabic for specific purposes in Bangladesh including teaching methodology, curriculum, and teachers’ quality. Such curricula and using its materials resulted in a lot of problems. The least, it confused teachers and students as well. Islamic educationalists have been working hard to professionally meet the need. They are following a systematic approach of stating clear and achievable goals, building suitable content, and applying new technology to present these learning experiences and evaluate them. It also suggests a model for designing instructional systems that responds to the need of non-Arabic speaking Islamic communities and provide the knowledge needed in both linguistic and cultural aspects. It also puts forward a number of suggestions for the improvement of the teaching / learning Arabic for specific purposes in Bangladesh after a detailed investigation in the following areas: curriculum, teachers’ skills, method of teaching and assessment policy.

Keywords: communication, Quran, sunnah, educational institutes, specific purposes, curriculum, method of teaching

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Authors: Ilona Buchem, Carolin Gellner

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Over the last few years, the call for the support of senior learners in the development of their digital literacy has become prevalent, mainly due to the progression towards ageing societies paired with advances in digitalisation in all spheres of life, including e-health and electronic patient record (EPA). While major research efforts in supporting senior learners in developing digital literacy have been invested so far in e-learning focusing on knowledge acquisition and cognitive tasks, little research exists in learning models which target virtual mentoring and coaching with the help of pedagogical agents and address the social dimensions of learning. Research from studies with students in the context of formal education has already provided methods for designing intelligent virtual agents in support of personalised learning. However, this research has mostly focused on cognitive skills and has not yet been applied to the context of mentoring/coaching of senior learners, who have different characteristics and learn in different contexts. In this paper, we describe how insights from previous research can be used to develop an intelligent virtual learning coach (agent) for senior learners with a focus on building the social relationship between the agent and the learner and the key task of the agent to socialize learners to the larger context of digital literacy with a focus on electronic health records. Following current approaches to mentoring and coaching, the agent is designed not to enhance and monitor the cognitive performance of the learner but to serve as a trusted friend and advisor, whose role is to provide one-to-one guidance and support sharing of experiences among learners (peers). Based on literature review and synopsis of research on virtual agents and current coaching/mentoring models under consideration of the specific characteristics and requirements of senior learners, we describe the design framework which was applied to design an intelligent virtual learning coach as part of the e-learning system for digital literacy of senior learners in the ePA-Coach project founded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. This paper also presents the results from the evaluation study, which compared the use of the first prototype of the virtual learning coach designed according to the design framework with a voice narration in a multimedia learning environment with senior learners. The focus of the study was to validate the agent design in the context of the persona effect (Lester et al., 1997). Since the persona effect is related to the hypothesis that animated agents are perceived as more socially engaging, the study evaluated possible impacts of agent coaching in comparison with voice coaching on motivation, engagement, experience, and digital literacy.

Keywords: virtual learning coach, virtual mentor, pedagogical agent, senior learners, digital literacy, electronic health records

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Authors: Jonas Sanon

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The valorization of research is becoming a transversal instrument linking different sectors (academic, public and industrial). The practice of valorization seems to impact innovation techniques within companies where, there is often the implementation of industrial conventions of training through research (CIFRE), continuous training programs for employees, collaborations and partnerships around joint research and R&D laboratories focused on the needs of companies to improve or develop more efficient innovations. Furthermore, many public initiatives to support innovation and technology transfer have been developed at the international, European and national levels, with significant budget allocations. Thus, in the context of this work, we tried to analyze the way in which research transfer structures are evaluated within the Saclay ecosystem. In fact, the University-Paris-Saclay is one of the best French universities; it is made up of 10 university components, more than 275 laboratories and is in partnership with the largest French research centers This work mainly focused on how evaluations affected research transfer structures, how evaluations were conducted, and what the managers of research transfer structures thought about assessments. Thus, with the aid of the conducted interviews, it appears that the evaluations do not have a significant impact on the qualitative aspect of research and innovation, but is rather present a directive aspect to allow the structures to benefit or not from the financial resources to develop certain research work, sometimes directed and influenced by the market, some researchers might try to accentuate their research and experimentation work on themes that are not necessarily their areas of interest, but just to comply with the calls for proposed thematic projects. The field studies also outline the primary indicators used to assess the effectiveness of valorization structures as "the number of start-ups generated, the license agreements signed, the structure's patent portfolio, and the innovations of items developed from public research.". Finally, after mapping the actors, it became clear that the ecosystem of the University of Paris-Saclay benefits from a richness allowing it to better value its research in relation to the three categories of actors it has (internal, external and transversal), united and linked by a relationship of proximity of sharing and endowed with a real opportunity to innovate openly.

Keywords: research valorization, technology transfer, innovation, evaluation, impacts and performances, innovation policy

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Authors: Amare Nigatu, Mågne Bratveit, Bente E. Moen

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Background: Pesticide exposure is an important public health concern in Ethiopia, but there is limited information on pesticide intoxications. Residents may have an increased risk of pesticide exposure through proximity of their homes to farms using pesticides. Also the pesticide exposure might be related to employment at these farms. This study investigated the prevalence of acute pesticide intoxications (API) by residence proximity to a nearby flower farm and assessed if intoxications are related to working there or not. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving 516 persons was conducted. Participants were grouped according to their residence proximity from a large flower farm; living within 5 kilometers and 5-12 kilometers away, respectively. In a structured interview, participants were asked if they had health symptoms within 48 hours of pesticide exposure in the past year. Those, who had experienced this and reported two or more typical pesticide intoxication symptoms, were considered as having had API. Chi-square and independent t-tests were used to compare categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Confounding variables were adjusted by using binomial regression model. Results: The prevalence of API in the past year among the residents in the study area was 26%, and it was higher in the population living close to the flower farm (42%) compared to those living far away (11%), prevalence ratio (PR) = 3.2, 95% CI: 2.2-4.8, adjusted for age, gender & education. A subgroup living close to the farm & working there had significantly more API (56%) than those living close & did not work there (16%), adjusted PR = 3.0, 95% CI: 1.8-4.9. Flower farm workers reported more API (56%) than those not working there (13%,), adjusted PR = 4.0, 95% CI: 2.9-5.6. Conclusion: The residents living closer than 5 kilometers to the flower farm reported significantly higher prevalence of API than those living 5-12 kilometers away. This increased risk of API was associated with work at the flower farm.

Keywords: acute pesticide intoxications, self-reported symptoms, flower farm workers, living proximity

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Authors: Aya Gamal Khattab

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Chronic infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is now the leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality; Currently, alanine aminotransferase ALT measurement is not only widely used in detecting the incidence, development, and prognosis of liver disease with obvious clinical symptoms, but also provides reference on screening the overall health status during health check-ups. Exercise is a low-cost, reliable and sustainable therapy for many chronic diseases. Low-volume high intensity interval training HIT is time efficient while also having wider application to different populations including people at risk for chronic inflammatory diseases. Purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of low volume high intensity interval training on ALT, AST in HCV patients. All practical work was done in outpatient physiotherapy clinic of Suez Canal Authority Hospitals. Forty patients both gender (27 male, 13 female), age ranged (40-60) years old submitted to low volume high intensity interval training on treadmill for two months three sessions per week. Each session consisting of five min warming up, two bouts for 10 min each bout consisting of 30 sec - 1 min of high intensity (75%-85%) HRmax then two to four min active recovery at intensity (40%-60%) HRmax, so the sum of high intensity intervals was one to two min for each session and four to eight min active recovery, and ends with five min cooling down. ALT and AST were measured before starting exercise session and 2 months later after finishing the total exercise sessions through blood samples. Results showed significant decrease in ALT, AST with improvement percentage (18.85%), (23.87%) in the study, so the study concluded that low volume high intensity interval training had a significant effect in lowering the level of circulating liver enzymes (ALT, AST) which means protection of hepatic cells and restoration of its function.

Keywords: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), hepatitis C (HCV), low volume high intensity interval training

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Authors: Bruna Goncalves, Jennifer Henck, Romulo Uliana, Eliana Kamimura, Carlos Oliveira, Carlos Corassin

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Studies have shown evidence of human exposure to aflatoxin M1 due to the consumption of contaminated milk and dairy products (mainly cheeses). This poses a great risk to public health, since milk and milk products are frequently consumed by a portion of the population considered immunosuppressed, children and the elderly. Knowledge of the negative impacts of aflatoxins on health and economics has led to investigations of strategies to prevent their formation in food, as well as to eliminate, inactivate or reduce the bioavailability of these toxins in contaminated products This study evaluated the effect of microbiological methods using lactic acid bacteria on aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) reduction in Minas Frescal cheese (typical Brazilian product, being among the most consumed cheeses in Brazil) spiked with 1 µg/L AFM1. Inactivated lactic acid bacteria (0,5%, v/v de L. rhamnosus e L. lactis) were added during the cheese production process. Nine cheeses were produced, divided into three treatments: negative controls (without AFM1 or lactic acid bacteria), positive controls (AFM1 only), and lactic acid bacteria + AFM1. Samples of cheese were collected on days 2, 10, 20 and 30 after the date of production and submitted to composition analyses and determination of AFM1 by high-performance liquid chromatography. The reductions of AFM1 in cheese by lactic acid bacteria at the end of the trial indicate a potential application of inactivated lactic acid bacteria in reducing the bioavailability of AFM1 in Minas frescal cheese without physical-chemical and microbiological modifications during the 30-day experimental period. The authors would like to thank São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP (grants #2017/20081-6 and #2017/19683-1).

Keywords: aflatoxin, milk, minas frescal cheese, decontamination

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Authors: Réka Kovács, György Téglásy, Szilvia Boros

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Introduction: Aim of the Study: Low body fat percentage frequently occurs in aesthetic sports. Because of the unrealistic expectations, their quantity and quality of nutrition intake are inadequate. This can be linked to several health issues which appear in blood samples (iron, ferritin, creatine kinase, etc.). Our retrospective study aimed to investigate the connection between body composition (InBody 770 monitor) and blood samples test results among elite adolescent (14-18 years) and adult (19-28 years) aesthetic athletes. Methods: Data collection happened between 01.08.2022. and 15.08.2022 in National Institute for Sports Medicine, Budapest. The final group consisted of 111 athletes (n=111; adolescents: n=68, adults: n=43). We used descriptive statistics, a two-sample t-test, and correlation analysis with Microsoft Office Excel 2007 software. Our results were considered significant if p<0,05. Results: In 33,3% (37/111) we found low body fat percentage (girls and women: <12%, boys and men: <8%) and in 64% (71/111) high creatine kinase levels. Differences were found mainly in the adolescent group. We found a correlation between body weight and total cholesterol, visceral fat and triglyceride, hematocrit and iron-linking capacity, moreover body fat percentage and ferritin levels. Discussion: It is important to start education about sports nutrition at an early age. The connection between low body fat percentage, serum iron, triglyceride, and ferritin levels refers to the fact that the nutrition intake of the athletes is inadequate. High blood concentrations of creatine kinase may show a lack of proper recovery, which is essential to improve health and performance.

Keywords: body fat percentage, creatine kinase, recovery, sports nutrition

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