Search results for: health hazard

Authors: Abanda Wilfred Chick

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Background: According to World Health Organization (WHO), the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in health sectors of developing nations has been demonstrated to have had a great improvement of fifty percent reduction in mortality and or twenty-five-fifty percent increase in productivity. The objective of this study was to assess the use of information and communication technologies in enhancing health care delivery for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients in Bamenda Health District. Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study in which 388 participants were consecutively selected amongst health personnel and HIV patients from public and private health institutions involved in Human Immunodeficiency Virus management. Data on socio-demographic variables, the use of information and communication technologies tools, and associated challenges were collected using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics with a ninety-five percent confidence interval were used to summarize findings, while Cramer’s V test, logistic regression, and Chi-square test were used to measure the association between variables, Epi info version7.2, MS Excel, and SPSS version 25.0 were utilized for data entry and statistical analysis respectively. Results: Of the participants, one-quarter were health personnel, and three-quarters were HIV patients. For both groups of participants, there was a significant relationship between the use of ICT and demographic information such as level of education, marital status, and age (p<0.05). For the impediments to using ICT tools, a greater proportion identified the high cost of airtime or internet bundles, followed by an average proportion that indicated inadequate training on ICT tools; for health personnel, the majority said inadequate training on ICT tools/applications and half said unavailability of electricity. Conclusion: Not up to half of the HIV patients effectively make use of ICT tools/applications to receive health care. Of health personnel, three quarters use ICTs, and only one quarter effectively use mobile phones and one-third of computers, respectively, to render care to HIV patients.

Keywords: ICT tools, HIV patients, health personnel, health care delivery

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Benjamin Poku

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Purpose: The purpose of the research is to conduct systematic reviews and synthesis of existing knowledge that addresses the growing incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases across the world and its impact on public health in relation to communicable diseases. Principal results: A careful compilation and summary of 15-20 peer-reviewed publications from reputable databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and other peer-reviewed journals indicate that the Global pandemic of Chronic diseases (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.) have become a greater public health burden in proportion as compared to communicable diseases. Significant conclusions: Given the complexity of the situation, efforts and strategies to mitigate the negative effect of the Global Pandemic on chronic diseases within the global community must include not only urgent and binding commitment of all stakeholders but also a multi-sectorial long-term approach to increase the public health educational approach to meet the increasing world population of over 8 billion people and also the aging population as well to meet the complex challenges of chronic diseases.

Keywords: pandemic, chronic disease, public health, health challenges

Procedia PDF Downloads 510

Authors: Ilona Mewes, Helena Jenzer, Farshideh Einsele

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Objective: The objective of the study was to integrate two big databases from Swiss nutrition national survey (menuCH) and Swiss health national survey 2012 for data mining purposes. Each database has a demographic base data. An integrated Swiss database is built to later discover critical food consumption patterns linked with lifestyle diseases known to be strongly tied with food consumption. Design: Swiss nutrition national survey (menuCH) with approx. 2000 respondents from two different surveys, one by Phone and the other by questionnaire along with Swiss health national survey 2012 with 21500 respondents were pre-processed, cleaned and finally integrated to a unique relational database. Results: The result of this study is an integrated relational database from the Swiss nutritional and health databases.

Keywords: health informatics, data mining, nutritional and health databases, nutritional and chronical databases

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Faeze omid, Morteza Banakar

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on global health and healthcare systems, including oral health. The lockdown measures implemented in many countries have led to changes in oral health behaviors, access to dental care, and the delivery of dental services. However, the extent of these changes and their effects on oral health outcomes remains unclear. This systematic review aims to synthesize the available evidence on the state of oral health after the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science) and grey literature sources for studies reporting on oral health outcomes after the COVID-19 lockdown. We included studies published in English between January 2020 and March 2023. Two reviewers independently screened the titles, abstracts, and full texts of potentially relevant articles and extracted data from included studies. We used a narrative synthesis approach to summarize the findings. Results: Our search identified 23 studies from 12 countries, including cross-sectional surveys, cohort studies, and case reports. The studies reported on changes in oral health behaviors, access to dental care, and the prevalence and severity of dental conditions after the COVID-19 lockdown. Overall, the evidence suggests that the lockdown measures had a negative impact on oral health outcomes, particularly among vulnerable populations. There were decreases in dental attendance, increases in dental anxiety and fear, and changes in oral hygiene practices. Furthermore, there were increases in the incidence and severity of dental conditions, such as dental caries and periodontal disease, and delays in the diagnosis and treatment of oral cancers. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures have had significant effects on oral health outcomes, with negative impacts on oral health behaviors, access to care, and the prevalence and severity of dental conditions. These findings highlight the need for continued monitoring and interventions to address the long-term effects of the pandemic on oral health.

Keywords: COVID-19, oral health, systematic review, dental public health

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Authors: Pinar Ercan, Bulut Mert

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The baking industry is prone to occupational health challenges like other industries. Workers in bakeries face many hazards in their work environment; hazards have the potential for causing injury, illness or work accidents. Most of these hazards are preventable and arise from the neglect of occupational safety measures. Some bakeries in Izmır Turkey was evaluated according to occupational health and safety. First of all, the production process was evaluated. The survey was administered to a total of 50 employees. The survey consisted of two sections. The first one comprised only demographic questions and items related to job characteristics. The remaining section was assessing the satisfaction and confidence about occupational health and safety in terms of employees consist of a 10-item questionnaire by using HSE (2010) survey with some modifications. Also, hazards, risks and control measures in the bakeries were determined. Risk assessment has been done by the use of '5x5 Risk Assessment Table' for this purpose.

Keywords: bakeries, occupational health and safety, hazards, risks, risk assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Vivian W. L. Tsang, Karen Lockhart, Samuel Spiegel, Annalee Yassi

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Background: Workers in the informal economy often incur exposure to well-documented occupational health hazards. Insufficient attention has been afforded to rigorously evaluating intervention programs to reduce the risks, especially in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). Objectives: This systematic review, conducted as part of the World Health Organization’s Global Plan of Action for Workers’ Health, sought to assess the state of knowledge on occupational health programs and interventions for the informal artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector, an occupation which directly employs at least 50 million people. Methods: We used a comprehensive search strategy for four well-known databases relevant to health outcomes: PubMed, Engineering Village, OVID Medline, and Web of Science, and employed the PRISMA framework for our analysis. Findings: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria of a primary study focused on assessing the impact of interventions addressing occupational health concerns in ASGM. There were no studies evaluating or even identifying comprehensive occupational health and safety programs for this sector, although target interventions addressing specific hazards exist. Major areas of intervention –education and introduction of mercury-reducing/eliminating technology were identified, and the challenges and limitations of each intervention taken into the assessment. Even for these, however, there was a lack of standardization for measuring outcome or impact, let alone long-term health outcomes for miners and mining communities. Conclusion: There is an urgent need for research on comprehensive occupational health programs addressing the array of hazards faced by artisanal and small-scale miners.

Keywords: informal economy, artisanal and small-scale gold mining, occupational health, health and safety, workplace safety

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Authors: T. A. Ajiboye

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This study examines the effects of health education programme on knowledge and prevention of cerebrovascular disease among hypertensive patients in University College Hospital, Ibadan. A quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. 100 hypertensive patients were conveniently selected from general outpatient department in UCH. Data generated were analyzed using ANOVA at 0.05 alpha levels. The findings of the study revealed that health education programme significantly influenced both the knowledge of hypertensive patients (F=22.70; DF=1/99; p < .05) and their attitude (F=10.377; DF=1/99; p < .05) on cerebrovascular disease. Findings also discovered that health education programme significantly reduce the complication of hypertension to cerebrovascular disease (F= 16.41; DF=7/286; p < 0.05) among the hypertensive patients at UCH. Based on the findings, it is recommended that hypertensive patients should relieve themselves from stress, engage themselves on regular exercises, compliance with drug and diet regimes coupled with keeping up of regular appointment. Government should design health information that will center on hypertension and cerebrovascular disease so as to keep health and community development problems to the barest minimum. Finally, there should be provision of social amenities and recreational centers, as this will prevents hypertension problems.

Keywords: cerebrovascular disease, effectiveness, health education, hypertension, knowledge, prevention

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Livhuwani Muthelo, Tebogo Maria Mothiba, Rambelani Nancy Malema

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Background: Despite occupational legislation/standards being in place in the industry, there are many reported health and safety incidents, including both occupational injuries and illnesses in the South African mining industry. Purpose: This systematic literature review aimed to describe and identify the existing gaps in health and safety compliance within the South African mining industry and propose future research areas. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted using the key concepts of health and safety, compliance, standards, and mining. A total of 102 papers issued from 1994 to April 2020 were extracted from an online database search, which included a combination of South African and international government OHS legislation documents, policies, standards, reports from the mineral departments and international labour office, qualitative and quantitative journal articles, dissertations, seminars and conference proceedings. Results: The literature review revealed that, though there are laws, regulations, standards to guide the industry on health and safety issues in South Africa, the main challenge is with the compliance with the existing health and safety systems, wherein systems are not being implemented. Conclusion: Gaps between research, policy, and implementation in occupational health practice in the South African mining industry were also identified.

Keywords: circumstances, non-compliance, health and safety, standards, mining industry

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Authors: A. Zeynolabedin, M. A. Olyaei, B. Ghiasi

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Drought is an inevitable part of the earth’s climate. It occurs regularly with no clear warning and without recognizing borders. In addition, its impact is cumulative and not immediately discernible. Iran is located in a semi-arid region where droughts occur periodically as natural hazard. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Surface Water Supply Index (SWSI), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) are three well-known indices which describe drought severity; each has its own advantages and disadvantages and can be used for specific types of drought. These indices take into account some factors such as precipitation, reservoir storage and discharge, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration in determining drought severity. In this paper, first all three indices are calculated in Aharchay river watershed located in northwestern part of Iran in East Azarbaijan province. Next, based on two other important parameters which are groundwater level and solar radiation, two new indices are defined. Finally, considering all five aforementioned indices, a combined drought index (CDI) is presented and calculated for the region. This combined index is based on all the meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural features of the region. The results show that the most severe drought condition in Aharchay watershed happened in Jun, 2004. The result of this study can be used for monitoring drought and prepare for the drought mitigation planning.

Keywords: drought, GIS, intensity index, regional assessment, variation maps

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Authors: Tuğba Özdal, Neşe Şahin Yeşilçubuk

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Bisphenol-A (BPA) is one of the highest volume chemicals produced worldwide in the plastic industry. This compound is mostly used in producing polycarbonate plastics that are often used for food and beverage storage, and BPA is also a component of epoxy resins that are used to line food and beverage containers. Studies performed in this area indicated that BPA could be extracted from such products while they are in contact with food. Therefore, BPA exposure is presumed. In this paper, the chemical structure of BPA, factors affecting BPA migration to food and beverages, effects on health, and recent regulations will be reviewed.

Keywords: BPA, health, regulations, toxicity

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Authors: Daniel Rosero, Johan S. Arana, Sebastian Arango, Alejandro Cruz, Isabel Gomez-Gutierrez, Peter Thomson

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Santiago de Cali is located in the southwestern Colombia in a high seismic hazard zone. About 50% of the city is on the banks of the Cauca River, which is the second most important hydric affluent in the country and whose alluvial deposits contain potentially liquefiable sands. Among the methods used to study a site's liquefaction potential is the finite elements method which use constitutive models to simulate the soil response for different load types. Among the different constitutive models, the Modified UBCSand stands out to study the seismic behavior of sands, and especially the liquefaction phenomenon. In this paper, the dynamic behavior of a potentially liquefiable sand of Santiago de Cali is studied by cyclic triaxial and CPTu tests. Subsequently, the behavior of the sand is simulated using the Modified UBCSand constitutive model, whose parameters are calibrated using the results of cyclic triaxial and CPTu tests. The above with the aim of analyze the constitutive model applicability for studying the geotechnical problems associated to liquefaction in the city.

Keywords: constitutive model, cyclic triaxial test, dynamic behavior, liquefiable sand, modified ubcsand

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Authors: Barsharani Maharana

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India is the country that shelters the largest number of poor. One of the major areas of concern in India is the unsatisfactory situation of the poor in social developmental and health parameters, not only in rural areas which are partly devoid of the facilities but also in the urban areas where the facilities are insufficient to provide services of a satisfactory quality. Objectives: 1) to examine the association between the environmental condition and health condition among poor women in urban areas. 2) to find out the significance of the effect of environment on the child health among the poor children. 3) to present the scenario of poor among highly urbanized and less urbanized states with respect to the health and environment. Data: data from National Family Health survey-3 and census are used to fulfill the objectives. Methodology: In this study, the standard of living condition of people living in urban areas is computed by taking some household characteristics and assets. People possessing low standard of living are considered as poor. Bivariate and multivariate analysis are employed to examine the effect of environment on poor women and children. A geographical information system is used to present the health and environmental condition of poor in highly and less urbanized states. Results: The findings reveal that the poor women who are not accessed to improved source of water, and sanitation facility are facing more health problems. Children who are living in a dirty environment and are not accessed to improved source of drinking water, among them prevalence of diarrhea and fever is found to be high. As well, the health condition of poor in highly urbanized states is dreadful. Policy implications: Government should emphasize on the implementation of programs regarding the improvement in the infrastructural facilities and health care treatment of urban poor.

Keywords: environment, urban poor, health, sanitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 264

Authors: Rojan Dahal

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One Health refers to a collaborative effort between multiple disciplines - locally, nationally, and globally - to attain optimal health. Although there were unprecedented intersectoral alliances between the animal and human health sectors during the avian influenza outbreak, there are different views and perceptions concerning institutionalizing One Health in South Asia. It is likely a structural barrier between the relevant professionals working in different entities or ministries when it comes to collaborating on One Health actions regarding zoonotic diseases. Politicians and the public will likely need to invest large amounts of money, demonstrate political will, and understand how One Health works to overcome these barriers. One Health might be hard to invest in South Asian countries, where the benefits are based primarily on models and projections and where numerous issues related to development and health need urgent attention. The other potential barrier to enabling the One Health concept in responding to zoonotic diseases is a failure to represent One Health in zoonotic disease control and prevention measures in the national health policy, which is a critical component of institutionalizing the One Health concept. One Health cannot be institutionalized without acknowledging the linkages between animal, human, and environmental sectors in dealing with zoonotic diseases. Efforts have been made in the past to prepare a preparedness plan for One Health implementation, but little has been done to establish a policy environment to institutionalize One Health. It is often assumed that health policy refers specifically to medical care issues and health care services. When drafting, reviewing, and redrafting the policy, it is important to engage a wide range of stakeholders. One Health institutionalization may also be hindered by the interplay between One Health professionals and bureaucratic inertia in defining the priorities of diseases due to competing interests on limited budgets. There is a possibility that policymakers do not recognize the importance of veterinary professionals in preventing human diseases originating in animals. Compared to veterinary medicine, the human health sector has produced most of the investment and research outputs related to zoonotic diseases. The public health profession may consider itself superior to the veterinary profession. Zoonotic diseases might not be recognized as threats to human health, impeding integrated policies. The effort of One Health institutionalization remained only among the donor agencies and multi-sectoral organizations. There is a need for strong political will and state capacity to overcome the existing institutional, financial, and professional barriers for its effective implementation. There is a need to assess the structural challenges, policy challenges, and the attitude of the professional working in the multiple disciplines related to One Health. Limited research has been conducted to identify the reasons behind the barriers to institutionalizing the One Health concept in South Asia. Institutionalizing One Health in responding to zoonotic diseases breaks down silos and integrates animals, humans, and the environment.

Keywords: one health, institutionalization, South Asia, institutionalizations

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Authors: Abbas R. Ali, Safa H. Abdulrahman

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In this study, forty samples had been collected from water of Lesser Zab River and drinking water to determine fluoride concentration and show the impact of fluoride on general health of society of Kirkuk city. Estimation of fluoride concentration and determination of its proportion in water samples were performed attentively using a fluoride ion selective electrode. The fluoride concentrations in the Lesser Zab River samples were between 0.0265 ppm and 0.0863 ppm with an average of 0.0451 ppm, whereas the average fluoride concentration in drinking water samples was 0.102 ppm and ranged from 0.010 to 0.289 ppm. A comparison between results obtained with World Health Organization (WHO) show a low concentration of fluoride in the samples of the study. Thus, for health concerns we should increase the concentration of this ion in water of Kirkuk city at least to about (1.0 ppm) and this will take place after fluorination process.

Keywords: fluoride concentration, lesser zab river, drinking water, health society, Kirkuk city

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Gudakesh Yadav

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Uttar Pradesh is one of the poorest performing states of India in terms of child health. Using data from the three round of NFHS and two rounds of DLHS, this paper attempts to examine tempo-spatial change in child health and care practices in Uttar Pradesh and its regions. Rate-ratio, CI, multivariate, and decomposition analysis has been used for the study. Findings demonstrate that child health care practices have improved over the time in all regions of the state. However; western and southern region registered the lowest progress in child immunization. Nevertheless, there is no decline in prevalence of diarrhea and ARI over the period, and it remains critically high in the western and southern region. These regions also poorly performed in giving ORS, diarrhoea and ARI treatment. Public health services are least preferred for diarrhoea and ARI treatment. Results from decomposition analysis reveal that rural area, mother’s illiteracy and wealth contributed highest to the low utilization of the child health care practices consistently over the period of time. The study calls for targeted intervention for vulnerable children to accelerate child health care service utilization. Poor performing regions should be targeted and routinely monitored on poor child health indicators.

Keywords: Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), decomposition, diarrhea, inequality, immunization

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Authors: M. S. Tajul Islam, Md. Zahangir Alam

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To enhance biogas production through anaerobic digestion, the application of various type of pre-treatment method has some limitations in terms of sustainable environmental management. Many studies on pretreatments especially chemical and physical processes are carried out to evaluate the anaerobic digestion for enhanced biogas production. Among the pretreatment methods acid and alkali pre-treatments gained the highest importance. Previous studies have showed that although acid and alkali pretreatment has significant effect on degradation of biomass, these methods have some negative impact on environment due to their hazard in nature while enzymatic pre-treatment is environmentally friendly. One of the constrains to use of enzyme in pretreatment process for biogas production is high cost which is currently focused to reduce cost through fermentation of waste-based media. As such palm oil mill effluent (POME) as an abundant resource generated during palm oil processing at mill is being used a potential fermentation media for enzyme production. This low cost of enzyme could be an alternative to biogas pretreatment process. This review is to focus direct application of enzyme as enzymatic pre-treatment on POME to enhanced production of biogas.

Keywords: POME, enzymatic pre-treatment, biogas, lignocellulosic biomass, anaerobic digestion

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Authors: Kiran Bala

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Health, education and employment opportunities available for a common citizen reflect the development status of a country. Health of an individual affects the growth of a country in every aspect. According to a study by WHO, India is estimated to lose more than $237 billion of its GDP over the period 2006-15 on account of premature death and morbidity from Non-communicable diseases alone. Each year 37 million people fall below poverty line due to high expenditure on health services they have to incur. Falling sick puts a double burden on them in terms of loss of income and expenditure on health care which pushes them further into debt and poverty. Adding to the gravity of situation, public spending on health in India has itself declined after liberalization from 1.3% of GDP in 1990 to 0.9% in 1999. The Approach Paper of the Government of India to the Twelfth Five Year Plan indicated that health expenditure alone as a per cent of GDP was about 1.4 per cent (B.E.) in 2011-12. It also mentioned that if one included expenditure on rural water supply and sanitation, the figure would be about 1.8 per cent. Given the abysmally low level of priority accorded to health in Indian economic policy, it becomes rather important to study the representation of health in the Indian public sphere. To this end, this study examines the prioritization of health in the public policy agenda of the national/regional political parties as evidenced in their election manifestos at a time when the nation is poised to go for the General Elections. The paper also focuses attention on the prioritization of health in the public perception as evidenced in their reasons for their preferences for a particular party or individual contestant. To arrive at the reasons for the priority level accorded by the political actors and the citizens, the study uses Focus groups of health policy makers, media persons, medical practitioners and voters. Collected data will be analysed in the theoretical framework of spiral of silence and agenda setting theory.

Keywords: health, election manifestos, public perception, policies

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: Belkacem Selma, Boumediene Selma, Tourkia Guerzou, Abbes Labdelli

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Natural disasters have occurred and will continue to cause human and material damage. Therefore, the idea of "preventing" natural disasters will never be possible. However, their prediction is possible with the advancement of technology. Even if natural disasters are effectively inevitable, their consequences may be partly controlled. The rapid growth and progress of artificial intelligence (AI) had a major impact on the prediction of natural disasters and risk assessment which are necessary for effective disaster reduction. The Earthquakes prediction to prevent the loss of human lives and even property damage is an important factor; that is why it is crucial to develop techniques for predicting this natural disaster. This present study aims to analyze the ability of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict earthquakes that occur in a given area. The used data describe the problem of high energy (higher than 10^4J) seismic bumps forecasting in a coal mine using two long walls as an example. For this purpose, seismic bumps data obtained from mines has been analyzed. The results obtained show that the ANN with high accuracy was able to predict earthquake parameters; the classification accuracy through neural networks is more than 94%, and that the models developed are efficient and robust and depend only weakly on the initial database.

Keywords: earthquake prediction, ANN, seismic bumps

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Jonathan De Rothewelle

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A pandemic, such as that of COVID-19, can be a time of panic and stress; concerns about health supersede others such as work and leisure. With such concern comes the seeking of crucial information— information that, during a global health crisis, could mean the difference between life and death. Whether newspapers, cable news, or radio, media plays an important role in the transmission of medical information to the general public. Moreover, the news media in particular must uphold its obligation to the public to only disseminate factual, useful information. The circulation of misinformation, whether explicit or implicit, may profoundly impact global health. Using a discursive analytic framework founded in linguistics, the images and headlines of top coverage of COVID-19 from the most influential media outlets will be examined. Micro-analyses reveal what may be interpreted as evidence of sensationalism, which may be argued to a form of misinformation, and ultimately a departure from ethical media. Withdrawal from responsible reporting and publishing, expressly in times of epidemic, may cause further confusion and panic.

Keywords: public health, pandemic, public education, media

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Nithra Kitreerawutiwong, Sunsanee Mekrungrongwong, Artitaya Wongwonsin, Chakkraphan Phetphoom, Buaploy Phromjang

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Background: Thailand has implemented a district health system based on the concept of primary health care. Since 2014, Family Care Team (FCT) was launched to improve the quality of care through a multidisciplinary team include not only the health sector but also social sector work together. FCT classified into 3 levels: district, sub-district, and community. This system now consists of 66,353 teams, including 3,890 teams at district level, 12,237 teams at the sub-district level, and 50,326 teams at the community level. There is a report regarding assessment the situation and perception on FCT, however, relatively few examined the operationality of this policy. This study aimed to explore the perception of district manager on the process of the implementation of FCT policy and the factors associating to implement FCT in the district health system. Methods/Results: Forty in-depth interviews were performed: 5 of primary care manager at the provincial medical health office, 5 of community hospital director, 5 of district administrative health office, 10 of sub-district health promoting hospital, and 10 of local organization. Semi-structure interview guidelines were used in the discussions. The data was analyzed by thematic analysis. This policy was formulated based on the demographic change and epidemiology transition to serve a long term care for elderly. Facilitator factors are social capital in district health systems such as family health leader and multidisciplinary team. Barrier factors are communication to the frontline provider and local organization. The output of this policy in relation to the structure of FCT is well-defined. Unanticipated effects include training of FCT in community level. Conclusion: Early feedback from healthcare manager is valuable information for the improvement of FCT to function optimally. Moreover, in the long term, health outcome need to be evaluated.

Keywords: family care team, district health system, primary care, qualitative study

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Authors: Ariful Islam, Showkat Ahmad Lone

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The Mukherjee-Islam Model is commonly used as a simple life time distribution to assess system reliability. The model exhibits a better fit for failure information and provides more appropriate information about hazard rate and other reliability measures as shown by various authors. It is possible to introduce a location parameter at a time (i.e., a time before which failure cannot occur) which makes it a more useful failure distribution than the existing ones. Even after shifting the location of the distribution, it represents a decreasing, constant and increasing failure rate. It has been shown to represent the appropriate lower tail of the distribution of random variables having fixed lower bound. This study presents the reliability computations and probability weighted moment estimation of three parameter model. A comparative analysis is carried out between three parameters finite range model and some existing bathtub shaped curve fitting models. Since probability weighted moment method is used, the results obtained can also be applied on small sample cases. Maximum likelihood estimation method is also applied in this study.

Keywords: comparative analysis, maximum likelihood estimation, Mukherjee-Islam failure model, probability weighted moment estimation, reliability

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Authors: Roya Biabani, Mentore Vaccari, Piero Ferrari

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Accumulated microplastic (MPLs) in soil pose the risk of adsorbing and transporting polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the food chain or bodies. PCBs belong to a class of man-made hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) that are classified as probable human carcinogens and a hazard to biota. Therefore, to take effective action and not aggravate the already recognized problems, the knowledge of PCB remediation in the presence of MPLs needs to be complete. Due to the high efficiency and little secondary pollution production, thermal desorption (TD) has been widely used for processing a variety of pollutants, especially for removing volatile and semi-volatile organic matter from contaminated solids and sediment. This study investigates the fate of PCB compounds during the thermal remediation method. For this, the PCB-contaminated soil was collected from the earth-canal downstream Caffaro S.p.A. chemical factory, which produced PCBs and PCB mixtures between 1930 and 1984. For MPL analysis, MPLs were separated by density separation and oxidation of organic matter. An operational range for the key parameters of thermal desorption processes was experimentally evaluated. Moreover, the temperature treatment characteristics of the PCBs-contaminated soil under anaerobic and aerobic conditions were studied using the Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA).

Keywords: contaminated soils, microplastics, polychlorinated biphenyls, thermal desorption

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Authors: Kaoutar Chbihi, Aziza Menouni, Imane Berni, Tarik Abchouch, Samir El Jaafari

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The unpredictability and ambiguity of a pandemic, combined with the economic impact, sedentary lifestyle, and increased living cost, have the potential to seriously raise the risk of mental health issues among the population. Therefore, this study had the aim to assess the magnitude of mental health outcomes and risk factors among the general population in Morocco in times of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study consisted of a cross-sectional design and was survey-based and region-stratified by collecting demographic data and mental health measurements from 523 participants. The degree of depression, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms were assessed by using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire and the 7-items Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The survey was completed by 523 individuals. Results showed that 67.9% were women, and 58.6% were aged 18-30 years. 49% of participants reported depression issues, while 39.8% experienced anxiety. Being a married woman with children was associated with severe symptoms of depression and anxiety. Finally, our findings reported a significant mental health burden among the general population of Morocco, which needs to be tackled by specific co-created interventions and adapted strategies in order to prevent impacts on public health.

Keywords: anxiety, COVID-19, depression, mental health, Morocco, pandemic

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Authors: Agburuga Obi, Madumere Akuego Jane

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This paper explores the important role sports can play in the promotion of good health and prevention of diseases. Technological advancements in today’s world has come along with some difficulties to man. This is because work formally done by man has been taken over by machines, thus, man has become sedentary. This has created a lot of health problems to man such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and osteoporosis. To nip this ugly situation in the bud, the following recommendations are made: specific measures should be taken to raise the awareness within the government, key sectors and the population of the diverse benefits or physical activity and sports and the risk and costs of inactivity, provision of equipment, facilities for sports and recreational activities in every community, participation in physical activities in sports if not on daily basis at least thrice a week.

Keywords: physical activities, sport, good health, prevention, diseases

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Authors: Jane Killough

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A podcast series was developed to support learning amongst first-year undergraduate mental health nursing students. Many first-year students do not have any clinical experience and find it difficult to engage with theory, which can present as cumbersome. Further, it can be challenging to relate abstract concepts to everyday mental health practice. Mental health professionals and service users from practice were interviewed on a range of core topics that are key to year one learning. The podcasts were made available, and students could access these recordings at their convenience to fit in with busy daily routines. The aim was to enable meaningful learning by providing access to those who have lived experience and who can, in effect, bring to life the theory being taught in university and essentially bridge the theory and practice gap while fostering working relationships between practice and academics. The student experience will be evaluated using a logic model.

Keywords: education, mental health nursing students, podcast, practice, undergraduate

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Authors: Chonlawit Yuwajitaa, Suttipong Pruangkab

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Existing situation on labour use, health management and problems, and ancillary work done along with buffalo farming in Thailand was studied, There were 52 farms had been interviewed during August to September 2014. The study revealed that 100 percent of labor use was family labors themselves and all of farmers reared their buffaloes and grew rice simultaneously. The farmers valued veterinary service and advice as the most important problem (40.40%) and buffalo farming health problems was found 7.69% of dystocia, retain placenta and abortion. The major problem that should be taken into account was officials involved and buffalo farming should be continually promoted by government sectors to help solving economic problems as a whole.

Keywords: buffalo, labor use, health management, Thailand

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Authors: Calvin Odhiambo

Abstract:

Depression among young adults is a common health problem and a growing public health concern. Of the young adult population, college students are particularly vulnerable to depression as they find themselves grappling with the stress and anxiety of college life while at the same navigating the demands of separation and independence from familial ties. To deal with the resultant mental health challenges affecting this population, most colleges offer counseling services to their student population. What is not known, however, is the extent to which students are aware of or even utilize such mental health services. Our study set out to assess the level of student awareness and utilization of counseling services and programs at a southeastern public university in the United States. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires given to a convenience sample of 508 undergraduate students voluntarily recruited from 38 classes representing five colleges. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. Results showed that even though a majority of students were aware of the mental health services offered by the university, an overwhelming majority of these students did not utilize any of these services or participate in any mental health programs offered by the university. Significant gender and racial differences were observed. Reasons for the lack of awareness and utilization of mental health services are explored. Recommendations are made on how to increase student awareness and utilization of mental health services, and the implications of the findings are discussed. The findings of this study help to fill an academic lacuna on this issue and provides an important basis for developing policies to help mitigate the growing problem of depression and attendant mental health problems among undergraduate students.

Keywords: depression, counseling services, undergraduate college students, utilization of mental health services, perceptions and awareness

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Terri Cole, Fay Sweeting

Abstract:

Abuse of position for sexual gain by police is defined as behavior involving individuals taking advantage of their role to pursue a sexual or improper relationship. Previous research has considered whether it involves ‘bad apples’ - individuals with poor moral ethos or ‘bad barrels’ – broader organizational flaws which may unconsciously allow, minimize, or do not effectively deal with such behavior. Low level sexual misconduct (e.g., consensual sex on duty) is more common than more serious offences (e.g., rape), yet the impact of such behavior can have severe implications not only for those involved but can also negatively undermine public confidence in the police. This ongoing, collaborative research project has identified variables from 514 historic case files from 35 UK police forces in order to identify potential risk indicators which may lead to such behavior. Quantitative analysis using logistic regression and the Cox proportion hazard model has resulted in the identification of specific risk factors of significance in prediction. Factors relating to both perpetrator background such as a history of intimate partner violence, debt, and substance misuse coupled with in work behavior such as misusing police systems increase the risk. Findings are able to provide pragmatic recommendations for those tasked with identifying potential or investigating suspected perpetrators of misconduct.

Keywords: abuse of position, forensic psychology, misconduct, sexual abuse

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: N. Mehrotra, V. Ahuja, N. Sridharan

Abstract:

Resilience is an all hazard and a proactive approach, require a multidisciplinary input in the inter related variables of the city system. This research based to identify and operationalize indicators for assessment in domain of institutions, infrastructure and knowledge, all three operating in task oriented community networks. This paper gives a brief account of the methodology developed for assessment of Urban Resilience and its prioritized components for a target population within a newly planned urban complex integrating Surajpur and Kasna village as nodes. People’s perception of Urban Resilience has been examined by conducting questionnaire survey among the target population of Greater Noida. As defined by experts, Urban Resilience of a place is considered to be both a product and process of operation to regain normalcy after an event of disturbance of certain level. Based on this methodology, six indicators are identified that contribute to perception of urban resilience both as in the process of evolution and as an outcome. The relative significance of 6 R’ has also been identified. The dependency factor of various resilience indicators have been explored in this paper, which helps in generating new perspective for future research in disaster management. Based on the stated factors this methodology can be applied to assess urban resilience requirements of a well planned town, which is not an end in itself, but calls for new beginnings.

Keywords: disaster, resilience, system, urban

Procedia PDF Downloads 445

Authors: Lei Chen, Jian Jiao, Tingdi Zhao

Abstract:

Failures of automotive electric/electronic systems, which are universally considered to be safety-critical and software-intensive, may cause catastrophic accidents. Analysis and verification of failures in these kinds of systems is a big challenge with increasing system complexity. Model-checking is often employed to allow formal verification by ensuring that the system model conforms to specified safety properties. The system-level effects of failures are established, and the effects on system behavior are observed through the formal verification. A hazard analysis technique, called Systems-Theoretic Process Analysis, is capable of identifying design flaws which may cause potential failure hazardous, including software and system design errors and unsafe interactions among multiple system components. This paper provides a concept on how to use model-checking integrated with Systems-Theoretic Process Analysis to perform failure analysis and verification of automotive electric/electronic systems. As a result, safety requirements are optimized, and failure propagation paths are found. Finally, an automotive electric/electronic system case study is used to verify the effectiveness and practicability of the method.

Keywords: failure analysis and verification, model checking, system-theoretic process analysis, automotive electric/electronic system

Procedia PDF Downloads 108