Search results for: medical laboratory science

Authors: Abid Hussain, Muhammad Rizwan-ul-Haq, Hassan Al-Ayedh, Ahmed M. Al-Jabr

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Oligonychus afrasiaticus, is an important pest that devastates date palms (Phoenix dactylifera). They caused serious damage to date palm fruits. They start feeding on dates at Kimri stage (greenish color dates with high sugar and moisture level) resulting severe fruit losses and rendering them unfit for human consumption. Currently, acaricides are the only tool available to Saudi growers to prevent O. afrasiaticus damage. Many acaricides are available in the Saudi markets in order to control the mites on date palm trees but their efficacy against O. afrasiaticus is questionable. The intensive use of acaricides has led to resistance in many mite species around the globe and their control becomes exceedingly challenging. The current investigation explored for the first time the acaricidal potential of Elettaria cardamomum essential oil for the environmentally safe management of date mites in the laboratory. E. cardamomum exhibited acaricidal activities in a dose dependent manner. GC-MS fractionation of E. cardamomum detected numerous compounds. Among the identified compounds, Guaniol caused 100% mortality compared to other identified compounds including (+)-α-Pinene, Camphene, (-)-B-Pinene, 3-Carene, (R)-(+)-Limonene, and Citral. Our laboratory results showed that E. cardamomum and its constituents especially Guaniol are promising for the eco-friendly management of date mites, O. afrasiaticus, although their field efficacy remains to be evaluated.

Keywords: cardamom, old world date mite, natural acaricide, toxicity

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Authors: Lalnuntluanga Hmar, Hardik Vyas

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Hydraulic fracturing has become an essential procedure to break apart the rock and release the oil or gas which are trapped tightly in the rock by pumping fracturing fluids at high pressure down into the well. To open the fracture and to transport propping agent along the fracture, proper selection of fracturing fluids is the most crucial components in fracturing operations. Rheology properties of the fluids are usually considered the most important. Among various fracturing fluids, Borate crosslinked fluids have proved to be highly effective. Borate in the form of Boric Acid, borate ion is the most commonly use to crosslink the hydrated polymers and to produce very viscous gels that can stable at high temperature. Guar and HPG (Hydroxypropyl Guar) polymers are the most often used in these fluids. Borate gel rheology is known to be a function of polymer concentration, borate ion concentration, pH, and temperature. The crosslinking using Borate is a function of pH which means it can be formed or reversed simply by altering the pH of the fluid system. The fluid system was prepared by mixing base polymer with water at pH ranging between 8 to 11 and the optimum borate crosslinker efficiency was found to be pH of about 10. The rheology of laboratory prepared Borate crosslinked fracturing fluid was determined using Anton Paar Rheometer and Fann Viscometer. The viscosity was measured at high temperature ranging from 200ᵒF to 250ᵒF and pressures in order to partially stimulate the downhole condition. Rheological measurements reported that the crosslinking increases the viscosity, elasticity and thus fluid capability to transport propping agent.

Keywords: borate, crosslinker, Guar, Hydroxypropyl Guar (HPG), rheology

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Authors: Rasouli Divkalaee Zeinab, Kalteh Safa, Roudbari Aliakbar

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Introduction: Medical waste can lead to the generation and transmission of many infectious and contagious diseases due to the presence of pathogenic agents, thereby necessitating the need for special management to collect, decontaminate, and finally dispose of such products. This study aimed to design a centralized health care (medical) waste management program for the cities of Semnan, Mahdishahr, and Shahmirzad. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted for six months in the cities of Semnan, Mahdishahr, and Shahmirzad. In this study, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the generated wastes were determined by taking samples from all medical waste production centers. Then, the equipment, devices, and machines required for separate collection of the waste from the production centers and for their subsequent decontamination were estimated. Next, the investment costs, current costs, and working capital required for collection, decontamination, and final disposal of the wastes were determined. Finally, the payment for proper waste management of each category of medical waste-producing centers was determined. Results: 1021 kilograms of medical waste are produced daily in the cities of Semnan, Mahdishahr, and Shahmirzad. It was estimated that a 1000-liter autoclave, a machine for collecting medical waste, four 60-liter bins, four 120-liter bins, and four 1200-liter bins were required for implementing the study plan. Also, the estimated total annual medical waste management costs for Semnan City were determined (23,283,903,720 Iranian Rials). Conclusion: The study results showed that establishing a proper management system for medical wastes generated in the three studied cities will cost between 334,280 and 1,253,715 Iranian Rials in fees for the medical centers. The findings of this study provided comprehensive data regarding medical wastes from the generation point to the landfill site, which is vital for the government and the private sector.

Keywords: clinics, decontamination, management, medical waste

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Authors: Rizka Aisha Rahmi Hariadi, Chao Ou-Yang, Han-Cheng Wang, Rajesri Govindaraju

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As the increasing of medical check-up popularity, there are a huge number of medical check-up data stored in database and have not been useful. These data actually can be very useful for future strategic planning if we mine it correctly. In other side, a lot of patients come with unpredictable coming and also limited available facilities make medical check-up service offered by hospital not maximal. To solve that problem, this study used those medical check-up data to predict patient re-coming. Sequential pattern mining (SPM) and association rules method were chosen because these methods are suitable for predicting patient re-coming using sequential data. First, based on patient personal information the data was grouped into … groups then discriminant analysis was done to check significant of the grouping. Second, for each group some frequent patterns were generated using SPM method. Third, based on frequent patterns of each group, pairs of variable can be extracted using association rules to get general pattern of re-coming patient. Last, discussion and conclusion was done to give some implications of the results.

Keywords: patient re-coming, medical check-up, health examination, data mining, sequential pattern mining, association rules, discriminant analysis

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Authors: Md Shohidul Islam, Jongmyon Kim, Ui-pil Chong

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Medical image is an integral part of e-health care and e-diagnosis system. Medical image watermarking is widely used to protect patients’ information from malicious alteration and manipulation. The watermarked medical images are transmitted over the internet among patients, primary and referred physicians. The images are highly prone to corruption in the wireless transmission medium due to various noises, deflection, and refractions. Distortion in the received images leads to faulty watermark detection and inappropriate disease diagnosis. To address the issue, this paper utilizes error correction code (ECC) with (8, 4) Hamming code in an existing watermarking system. In addition, we implement the high complex ECC on a graphics processing units (GPU) to accelerate and support real-time requirement. Experimental results show that GPU achieves considerable speedup over the sequential CPU implementation, while maintaining 100% ECC efficiency.

Keywords: medical image watermarking, e-health system, error correction, Hamming code, GPU

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Authors: Ijaz Ahamad Tatlah

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The justification of this study was to identify about physical facilities as encouragement to Quality Assurance Practices (QAP) in the Universities of Pakistan concerning the views of students, teachers and Directors of Quality Enhancement Cells’ (QEC’s) and to differentiate the views of students, teachers and Directors of QECs in relation to physical facilities about quality assurance practices in the universities of Pakistan. It was a quantitative and qualitative research study. This study was conducted on a sample of 28 universities (public and private sector) of Pakistan by using random and purposive sampling technique. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were planned to gather information from students, teachers and Directors of QECs in relation to physical facilities about quality assurance practices in the universities of Pakistan. The data was analyzed by using Descriptive, inferential statistics, and thematic coding. The study revealed that students, teachers and Directors of QEC’s faced a lot of problems and issues without physical facilities. Quality assurance Agency (QAA), Quality Assurance Department (QAD) and Higher Education commission (HEC) all are relevant Pakistani Agencies, which are working consistently of both sectors i.e. public and private to supervise, guide and facilitate the universities of Pakistan for developing quality assurance practices. Majority of the students teachers and Directors’ of QECs opined that books, research journals, manuals for use of science laboratories, equipment for experiments and update computers were available for teachers and students’ in the universities. It was suggested by the students teachers and Directors of QECs of universities that Quality Assurance Practices (QAP) can be accelerated by thinking the following steps: provision of sufficient resources, add the latest software for computers laboratories and new edition of books.

Keywords: physical facilities, quality assurance practices, library, laboratory

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Authors: Gerd Wilsch, Tobias Guenther, Tobias Voelker

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In view of the ageing of vital infrastructure facilities, a reliable condition assessment of concrete structures is becoming of increasing interest for asset owners to plan timely and appropriate maintenance and repair interventions. For concrete structures, reinforcement corrosion induced by penetrating chlorides is the dominant deterioration mechanism affecting the serviceability and, eventually, structural performance. The determination of the quantitative chloride ingress is required not only to provide valuable information on the present condition of a structure, but the data obtained can also be used for the prediction of its future development and associated risks. At present, wet chemical analysis of ground concrete samples by a laboratory is the most common test procedure for the determination of the chloride content. As the chloride content is expressed by the mass of the binder, the analysis should involve determination of both the amount of binder and the amount of chloride contained in a concrete sample. This procedure is laborious, time-consuming, and costly. The chloride profile obtained is based on depth intervals of 10 mm. LIBS is an economically viable alternative providing chloride contents at depth intervals of 1 mm or less. It provides two-dimensional maps of quantitative element distributions and can locate spots of higher concentrations like in a crack. The results are correlated directly to the mass of the binder, and it can be applied on-site to deliver instantaneous results for the evaluation of the structure. Examples for the application of the method in the laboratory for the investigation of diffusion and migration of chlorides, sulfates, and alkalis are presented. An example for the visualization of the Li transport in concrete is also shown. These examples show the potential of the method for a fast, reliable, and automated two-dimensional investigation of transport processes. Due to the better spatial resolution, more accurate input parameters for model calculations are determined. By the simultaneous detection of elements such as carbon, chlorine, sodium, and potassium, the mutual influence of the different processes can be determined in only one measurement. Furthermore, the application of a mobile LIBS system in a parking garage is demonstrated. It uses a diode-pumped low energy laser (3 mJ, 1.5 ns, 100 Hz) and a compact NIR spectrometer. A portable scanner allows a two-dimensional quantitative element mapping. Results show the quantitative chloride analysis on wall and floor surfaces. To determine the 2-D distribution of harmful elements (Cl, C), concrete cores were drilled, split, and analyzed directly on-site. Results obtained were compared and verified with laboratory measurements. The results presented show that the LIBS method is a valuable addition to the standard procedures - the wet chemical analysis of ground concrete samples. Currently, work is underway to develop a technical code of practice for the application of the method for the determination of chloride concentration in concrete.

Keywords: chemical analysis, concrete, LIBS, spectroscopy

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Authors: Bernhard Widhalm, Cornelia Rieder-Gradinger, Ewald Srebotnik

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Pine wood (Pinus sylvestris L.) is the basic raw material for the production of Oriented Strand Boards (OSB) and the major source of volatile organic compounds, especially terpenes (like α- and β-pinene). To lower the total emission level of OSB, terpene metabolising microorganisms were therefore applied onto pine wood strands for the production of emission-reduced boards. Suitable microorganisms were identified during preliminary tests under laboratory conditions. At first, their terpene degrading potential was investigated in liquid culture, followed by laboratory tests using unsterile pine wood particles and strands. The main focus was laid on an adoptable terpene reduction in a short incubation time. An optimised bacterial mixture of Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas fluorescens showed the best results and was therefore used for further experiments on a larger scale. In an industry-compatible testing procedure, pine wood strands were incubated with the bacterial mixture for a period of 2 to 4 days. Incubation time was stopped by drying the strands. OSB were then manufactured from the pre-treated strands and emissions were measured by means of SPME/GC-MS analysis. Bacterial pre-treatment of strands resulted in a reduction of α-pinene- and β-pinene-emissions from OSB by 40% and 70%, respectively, even after only 2 days of incubation. The results of the investigation provide a basis for the application of microbial treatment within the industrial OSB production line, where shortest possible incubation times are required. For this purpose, the performance of the bacterial mixture will have to be further optimised.

Keywords: GC-MS, OSB, Pseudomonas sp., terpene degradation

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Authors: Sumia Fatima, Tayyaba Idrees

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Cardiac Arrest and Heart Failures are an important causes of mortality in developed and developing countries and even a second spent without Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) increases the risk of mortality. Youngs doctors are expected to partake in CPR from the first day and if they are not taught basic life support (BLS) skills during their studies. They have next to no opportunity to learn them in clinical settings. To determine the exact level of knowledge of Basic Life Support among medical students. To compare the degree of knowledge among 1st and 2nd year medical students of RMU (Rawalpindi Medical University), using self-structured questionnaires. A cross sectional, qualitative primary study was conducted in March 2020 in order to analyse theoretical and practical knowledge of Basic Life Support among Medical Students of 1st and 2nd year MBBS. Self-Structured Questionnaires were distributed among 300 students, 150 from 1st year and 150 from 2nd year. Data was analysed using SPSS v 22. Chi Square test was employed. The results showed that only 13 (4%) students had received formal BLS training.129 (42%) students had encountered accidents in real life but had not known how to react. Majority responded that Basic Life Support should be made part of medical college curriculum (189 students), 194 participants (64%) had moderate knowledge of both theoretical and practical aspects of BLS. 75-80% students of both 1st and 2nd year had only moderate knowledge, which must be improved for them to be better healthcare providers in future. It was also found that male students had more practical knowledge than females, but both had almost the same proficiency in theoretical knowledge. The study concluded that the level of knowledge of BLS among the students was not up to the mark, and there is a dire need to include BLS training in the medical colleges’ curriculum.

Keywords: basic cardiac life support, cardiac arrest, awareness, medical students

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Authors: Aadita Chaudhury

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Since at least the early 2000s, DNA profiling has achieved a preeminent status in forensic investigations into criminal acts. While the criminal justice system has a long history of using forensic evidence and testing them through establish technoscientific means, the primacy of DNA in establishing 'truth' or reconstructing a series of events is unparalleled in the history of forensic science. This paper seeks to elucidate the ways in which DNA profiling has become the most authoritative instrument of 'truth' in criminal investigations, and how it is used in the legal process to ascertain culpability, create the notion of infallible evidence, and advance the search for justice. It is argued that DNA profiling has created a paradigm shift in how the legal system and the general public understands crime and culpability, but not without limitations. There are indications that even trace amounts of DNA evidence can point to causal links in a criminal investigation, however, there still remains many rooms to create confusion and doubt from empirical evidence within the narrative of crimes. Many of the shortcomings of DNA-based forensic investigations are explored and evaluated with regards to claims of the authority of biological evidence and implications for the public understanding of the elusive concepts of truth and justice in the present era. Public misinformation about the forensic analysis processes could produce doubt or faith in the judgements rooted in them, depending on other variables presented at the trial. A positivist understanding of forensic science that is shared by the majority of the population does not take into consideration that DNA evidence is far from definitive, and can be used to support any theories of culpability, to create doubt and to deflect blame.

Keywords: DNA profiling, epistemology of forensic science, philosophy of forensic science, sociology of scientific knowledge

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Authors: Oktavian Prasetia Wardana, Martono Tri Utomo, Risa Etika, Kartika Darma Handayani, Dina Angelika, Wurry Ayuningtyas

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Background: Critically ill neonates are newborn babies with high-risk factors that potentially cause disability and/or death. Scoring systems for determining the severity of the disease have been widely developed as well as some designs for use in neonates. The SNAPPE-II method, which has been used as a mortality predictor scoring system in several referral centers, was found to be slow in assessing the outcome of critically ill neonates in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Objective: To analyze the predictive value of MSNS on the outcome of critically ill neonates at the time of arrival up to 24 hours after being admitted to the NICU. Methods: A longitudinal observational analytic study based on medical record data was conducted from January to August 2022. Each sample was recorded from medical record data, including data on gestational age, mode of delivery, APGAR score at birth, resuscitation measures at birth, duration of resuscitation, post-resuscitation ventilation, physical examination at birth (including vital signs and any congenital abnormalities), the results of routine laboratory examinations, as well as the neonatal outcomes. Results: This study involved 105 critically ill neonates who were admitted to the NICU. The outcome of critically ill neonates was 50 (47.6%) neonates died, and 55 (52.4%) neonates lived. There were more males than females (61% vs. 39%). The mean gestational age of the subjects in this study was 33.8 ± 4.28 weeks, with the mean birth weight of the subjects being 1820.31 ± 33.18 g. The mean MSNS score of neonates with a deadly outcome was lower than that of the lived outcome. ROC curve with a cut point MSNS score <10.5 obtained an AUC of 93.5% (95% CI: 88.3-98.6) with a sensitivity value of 84% (95% CI: 80.5-94.9), specificity 80 % (CI 95%: 88.3-98.6), Positive Predictive Value (PPV) 79.2%, Negative Predictive Value (NPV) 84.6%, Risk Ratio (RR) 5.14 with Hosmer & Lemeshow test results p>0.05. Conclusion: The MSNS score has a good predictive value and good calibration of the outcomes of critically ill neonates admitted to the NICU.

Keywords: critically ill neonate, outcome, MSNS, NICU, predictive value

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Authors: Lucia Carrion Gordon, Jaime Santiago Sanchez Reinoso

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According to the relation of Digital Preservation and the Health field as a case of study, the architectural model help us to explain that definitions. .The principal goal of Data Preservation is to keep information for a long term. Regarding of Mediacal information, in order to perform a heart transplant, physicians need to preserve this organ in an adequate way. This approach between the two perspectives, the medical and the technological allow checking the similarities about the concepts of preservation. Digital preservation and medical advances are related in the same level as knowledge improvement.

Keywords: medical management, digital, data, heritage, preservation

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Authors: Oriyomi M. Okeyinka, David A. Oloke, Jamal M. Khatib

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Large quantities of solid wastes being generated worldwide from sources such as household, domestic, industrial, commercial and construction demolition activities, leads to environmental concerns. Utilization of these wastes in making building construction materials can reduce the magnitude of the associated problems. When these waste products are used in place of other conventional materials, natural resources and energy are preserved and expensive and/or potentially harmful waste disposal is avoided. Recycling which is regarded as the third most preferred waste disposal option, with its numerous environmental benefits, stand as a viable option to offset the environmental impact associated with the construction industry. This paper reviews the results of laboratory tests and important research findings, and the potential of using these wastes in building construction materials with focus on sustainable development. Research gaps, which includes; the need to develop standard mix design for solid waste based building materials; the need to develop energy efficient method of processing solid waste use in concrete; the need to study the actual behavior or performance of such building materials in practical application and the limited real life application of such building materials have also been identified. Therefore a research is being proposed to develop an environmentally friendly, lightweight building block from recycled waste paper, without the use of cement, and with properties suitable for use as walling unit. This proposed research intends to incorporate, laboratory experimentation and modeling to address the identified research gaps.

Keywords: recycling, solid wastes, construction, building materials

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Authors: Bushra Mussawar, Saleha Younus

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Students often view their academic life demanding and stressful. However, apart from academics, stress springs from various other sources namely, finance, family, health, friends etc. The present study aims to assess the level of perceived stress in medical and fine arts students, and to determine the coping strategies used by the students to mitigate stress. The sample of the study consisted of 178 medical and fine arts students. The sample was selected through purposive sampling. Pearson correlation coefficient and T-test were used to analyze data. Results of the study revealed that there exists a positive relationship between perceived stress and coping strategies. Additionally, the two groups showed marked differences in terms of stress perception and coping styles. The level of perceived stress was found to be high in medical students nonetheless, they employed more positive coping strategies than fine arts students who scored high on negative coping strategies which are deleterious to the overall wellbeing.

Keywords: perceived stress, coping strategies, medical, fine arts students

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Authors: Aliakbar Golshani, Seyyed Mehdi Poorhashemi, Mahsa Gharizadeh

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The under passing tunnels are strongly influenced by the soils around. There are some complexities in the specification of real soil behavior, owing to the fact that lots of uncertainties exist in soil properties, and additionally, inappropriate soil constitutive models. Such mentioned factors may cause incompatible settlements in numerical analysis with the obtained values in actual construction. This paper aims to report a case study on a specific tunnel constructed by NATM. The tunnel has a depth of 11.4 m, height of 12.2 m, and width of 14.4 m with 2.5 lanes. The numerical modeling was based on a 2D finite element program. The soil material behavior was modeled by hardening soil model. According to the field observations, the numerical estimated settlement at the ground surface was approximately four times more than the measured one, after the entire installation of the initial lining, indicating that some unknown factors affect the values. Consequently, the geotechnical parameters are accurately revised by a numerical back-analysis using laboratory and field test data and based on the obtained monitoring data. The obtained result confirms that typically, the soil parameters are conservatively low-estimated. And additionally, the constitutive models cannot be applied properly for all soil conditions.

Keywords: NATM tunnel, initial lining, laboratory test data, numerical back-analysis

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Authors: Rojean Ghafariasar, Leili Nosrati

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The article introduces the categories and characteristics of cross-design, respectively, between industry and industry designers, artists, brands and brands, science, technology, and fashion. It focuses on the combination of technology and fashion cross-design methods, corresponding case studies on the combination of new technology fabrics, fashion design, smart devices, and also 3D printing technology, emphasizing the integration and application value of technology and fashion. The document also introduces design elements into fashion design through scientific and technological intelligence, promoting fashion innovation as well as research and development of new materials and functions, and incubates an ecosystem for the fashion industry through science and technology.

Keywords: fashion, design, industrial design, crossover design

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Authors: Jiaqi Yin, Baofeng Liang

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The rapid development in the fields of computer science and information technology presents new challenges and opportunities for foundational programming education. Traditional programming courses often focus heavily on theoretical knowledge while neglecting students’ practical programming and problem-solving abilities. This paper delves into the significance of programming education based on application abilities and provides a detailed explanation of a reform approach that incorporates project-driven teaching to nurture students with more comprehensive computer science skills.

Keywords: fundamentals of programming, application abilities, pedagogical reform, program design

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Authors: Mohammad A. Khasawneh

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Asphalt concrete pavements gradually lose their skid resistance causing safety problems especially under wet conditions and high driving speeds. In order to enact the actual field polishing and wearing process of asphalt pavement surfaces in a laboratory setting, several laboratory-scale accelerated polishing devices were developed by different agencies. To mimic the actual process, friction and texture measuring devices are needed to quantify surface deterioration at different polishing intervals that reflect different stages of the pavement life. The test could still be considered lengthy and to some extent labor-intensive. Therefore, there is a need to come up with another method that can assist in investigating the bituminous pavement surface characteristics in a practical and time-efficient test procedure. The purpose of this paper is to utilize a well-developed image analysis technique to characterize asphalt pavement surfaces without the need to use conventional friction and texture measuring devices in an attempt to shorten and simplify the polishing procedure in the lab. Promising findings showed the possibility of using image analysis in lieu of the labor-sensitive-variable-in-nature friction and texture measurements. It was found that the exposed aggregate surface area of asphalt specimens made from limestone and gravel aggregates produced solid evidence of the validity of this method in describing asphalt pavement surfaces. Image analysis results correlated well with the British Pendulum Numbers (BPN), Polish Values (PV) and Mean Texture Depth (MTD) values.

Keywords: friction, image analysis, polishing, statistical analysis, texture

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Authors: Eszter Repasi, Akos Koller

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Our genetic information determines our look, physiology, sports performance and all our features. Maximizing the performances of athletes have adopted a science-based approach to the nutritional support. Nowadays genetics studies have blended with nutritional sciences, and a dynamically evolving, new research field have appeared. Nutritional genomics is needed to be used by nutritional experts. This is a recent field of nutritional science, which can provide a solution to reach the best sport performance using correlations between the athlete’s genome, nutritions, molecules, included human microbiome (links between food, microbiome and epigenetics), nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics. Nutritional genomics has a tremendous potential to change the future of dietary guidelines and personal recommendations. Experts need to use new technology to get information about the athletes, like nutritional genomics profile (included the determination of the oral and gut microbiome and DNA coded reaction for food components), which can modify the preparation term and sports performance. The influence of nutrients on the genes expression is called Nutrigenomics. The heterogeneous response of gene variants to nutrients, dietary components is called Nutrigenetics. The human microbiome plays a critical role in the state of health and well-being, and there are more links between food or nutrition and the human microbiome composition, which can develop diseases and epigenetic changes as well. A nutritional genomics-based profile of athletes can be the best technic for a dietitian to make a unique sports nutrition diet plan. Using functional food and the right food components can be effected on health state, thus sports performance. Scientists need to determine the best response, due to the effect of nutrients on health, through altering genome promote metabolites and result changes in physiology. Nutritional biochemistry explains why polymorphisms in genes for the absorption, circulation, or metabolism of essential nutrients (such as n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids or epigallocatechin-3-gallate), would affect the efficacy of that nutrient. Controlled nutritional deficiencies and failures, prevented the change of health state or a newly discovered food intolerance are observed by a proper medical team, can support better sports performance. It is important that the dietetics profession informed on gene-diet interactions, that may be leading to optimal health, reduced risk of injury or disease. A special medical application for documentation and monitoring of data of health state and risk factors can uphold and warn the medical team for an early action and help to be able to do a proper health service in time. This model can set up a personalized nutrition advice from the status control, through the recovery, to the monitoring. But more studies are needed to understand the mechanisms and to be able to change the composition of the microbiome, environmental and genetic risk factors in cases of athletes.

Keywords: gene-diet interaction, multidisciplinary team, microbiome, diet plan

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Authors: Yuanyuan Song

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Background: As we all know, culture plays a pivotal role in the realm of education, influencing study perceptions and outcomes. Nevertheless, there remains a need to delve into how culture specifically impacts the perception of courses. Therefore, the impact of culture on students' perceptions and academic performance is explored in this study. Drawing from cultural constructionism and conflict theories, it is posited that when students hailing from diverse cultures and backgrounds converge in the same classroom, their perceptions of course content may diverge significantly. This study seeks to unravel the tangible disparities and ascertain how cultural nuances shape students' perceptions of classroom content when encountering diverse cultural contexts within the same learning environment. Methodology: Given the diverse cultural backgrounds of students within the US, this study draws upon data collected from a course offered by a US college. In pursuit of answers to these inquiries, a qualitative approach was employed, involving semi-structured interviews conducted in a college-level science class in the US during 2023. The interviews encompassed approximately nine questions, spanning demographic particulars, cultural backgrounds, science learning experiences, academic outcomes, and more. Participants were exclusively drawn from science-related majors, with each student originating from a distinct cultural context. All participants were undergraduates, and most of them were from eighteen to twenty-five years old, totaling six students who attended the class and willingly participated in the interviews. The duration of each interview was approximately twenty minutes. Results: The findings gleaned from the interview data underscore the notable impact of varying cultural contexts on students' perceptions. This study argues that female science students, for instance, are influenced by gender dynamics due to the predominant male presence in science majors, creating an environment where female students feel reticent about expressing themselves in public. Students of East Asian origin exhibit a stronger belief in the efficacy of personal efforts when contrasted with their North American counterparts. Minority students indicated that they grapple with integration into the predominantly white mainstream society, influencing their eagerness to engage in classroom activities that are conducted by white professors. All of them emphasized the importance of learning science.

Keywords: multiculture education, educational sociology, educational equality, STEM education

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Authors: Meng-Fei Cheng, Wei-Lun Chen, Han-Chang Ma, Chi-Che Tsai

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Recent K–12 Taiwan Science Education Curriculum Guideline emphasize the essential role of modeling curriculum in science learning; however, few modeling curricula have been designed and adopted in current science teaching. Therefore, this study aims to develop modeling curriculum on electric circuits to investigate any learning difficulties students have with modeling curriculum and further enhance modeling teaching. This study was conducted with 44 10th-grade students in Central Taiwan. Data collection included a students’ understanding of models in science (SUMS) survey that explored the students' epistemology of scientific models and modeling and a complex circuit problem to investigate the students’ modeling abilities. Data analysis included the following: (1) Paired sample t-tests were used to examine the improvement of students’ modeling abilities and conceptual understanding before and after the curriculum was taught. (2) Paired sample t-tests were also utilized to determine the students’ modeling abilities before and after the modeling activities, and a Pearson correlation was used to understand the relationship between students’ modeling abilities during the activities and on the posttest. (3) ANOVA analysis was used during different stages of the modeling curriculum to investigate the differences between the students’ who developed microscopic models and macroscopic models after the modeling curriculum was taught. (4) Independent sample t-tests were employed to determine whether the students who changed their models had significantly different understandings of scientific models than the students who did not change their models. The results revealed the following: (1) After the modeling curriculum was taught, the students had made significant progress in both their understanding of the science concept and their modeling abilities. In terms of science concepts, this modeling curriculum helped the students overcome the misconception that electric currents reduce after flowing through light bulbs. In terms of modeling abilities, this modeling curriculum helped students employ macroscopic or microscopic models to explain their observed phenomena. (2) Encouraging the students to explain scientific phenomena in different context prompts during the modeling process allowed them to convert their models to microscopic models, but it did not help them continuously employ microscopic models throughout the whole curriculum. The students finally consistently employed microscopic models when they had help visualizing the microscopic models. (3) During the modeling process, the students who revised their own models better understood that models can be changed than the students who did not revise their own models. Also, the students who revised their models to explain different scientific phenomena tended to regard models as explanatory tools. In short, this study explored different strategies to facilitate students’ modeling processes as well as their difficulties with the modeling process. The findings can be used to design and teach modeling curricula and help students enhance their modeling abilities.

Keywords: electric circuits, modeling curriculum, science learning, scientific model

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Authors: Le-Quyen Nguyen, Hoang Van Bui, Ngoc Thi Tran, Binh Thanh Le, Linus Olson, Thanh Quang Le

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Objective: We compared of outcomes between infected and non-infected COVID-19 pregnant at the largest obstetrics and gynecology hospital in southern Vietnam. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at gestational age (GA) 28-42 weeks, who terminated pregnancy and had a real-time PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 at Tu Du Hospital. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological data were collected from hospital electronic-medical-records. Diagnosis and screening of SARS-CoV-2 used Real-time-PCR. Results: From July to October 2021, 9,246 pregnant with GA of 28-42 weeks were delivered, including 664 infected with COVID-19 and 8,582 non-infected. The cesarean section (CS) rates of pregnant with and without COVID-19 were 47.3% and 46.0%. At GA 32-34 weeks, the rate of CS with COVID-19 was 5.07 times higher than without. The rate of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) and the Apgar score between these two groups were similar. The mortality rate of infected pregnants was 2.26%. Conclusions: COVID-19 infection increased the CS rate in the group of preterm pregnancies from 32 to less than 34 weeks. COVID-19 did not increase the risk of complications related to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as PPH, Apgar scores, the ratio of stillbirths, deaths due to malformation, and fetal deaths in labor.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, pregnancy, outcome, vietnam

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Authors: Z. Adnan, M. M. Habib

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The laboratory tests for measuring the effects of small strain to the shear strength and maximum stiffness development of post-cyclic degradation of hemic peat are reviewed in this paper. A series of laboratory testing has been conducted to fulfil the objective of this research to study the post-cyclic behaviour of peat soil and focuses on the small strain characteristics. For this purpose, a number of strain-controlled static, cyclic and post-cyclic triaxial tests were carried out in undrained condition on hemic peat soil. The shear strength and maximum stiffness of hemic peat are evaluated immediately after post-cyclic monotonic testing. There are two soil samples taken from West Johor and East Malaysia peat soil. Based on these laboratories and field testing data, it was found that the shear strength and maximum stiffness of peat soil decreased in post-cyclic monotonic loading than its initial shear strength and stiffness. In particular, degradation in shear strength and stiffness is more sensitive for peat soil due to fragile and uniform fibre structures. Shear strength of peat soil, τ_max = 12.53 kPa (Beaufort peat, BFpt) and 36.61 kPa (Parit Nipah peat, PNpt) decreased than its initial 58.46 kPa and 91.67 kPa. The maximum stiffness, G_max = 0.23 and 0.25 decreased markedly with post-cyclic, G_max = 0.04 and 0.09. Simple correlations between the G_max and the τ_max effects due to small strain, ε = 0.1, the G_max values for post-cyclic are relatively low compared to its initial G_max. As a consequence, the reported values and patterns of both the West Johor and East Malaysia peat soil are generally the same.

Keywords: post-cyclic, strain, maximum stiffness, shear strength

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Authors: Nicolas Plamondon, Stuart Atkinson, Shuzi Zhou

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The insurance industry is usually not the first topic one has in mind when thinking about applications of data science. However, the use of data science in the finance and insurance industry is growing quickly for several reasons, including an abundance of reliable customer data, ferocious competition requiring more accurate pricing, etc. Among the top use cases of data science, we find pricing optimization, customer segmentation, customer risk assessment, fraud detection, marketing, and triage analytics. The objective of this paper is to present an application of the generalized additive model (GAM) on a commercial automobile insurance product: an individually rated commercial automobile. These are vehicles used for commercial purposes, but for which there is not enough volume to apply pricing to several vehicles at the same time. The GAM model was selected as an improvement over GLM for its ease of use and its wide range of applications. The model was trained using the largest split of the data to determine model parameters. The remaining part of the data was used as testing data to verify the quality of the modeling activity. We used the Gini coefficient to evaluate the performance of the model. For long-term monitoring, commonly used metrics such as RMSE and MAE will be used. Another topic of interest in the insurance industry is to process of producing the model. We will discuss at a high level the interactions between the different teams with an insurance company that needs to work together to produce a model and then monitor the performance of the model over time. Moreover, we will discuss the regulations in place in the insurance industry. Finally, we will discuss the maintenance of the model and the fact that new data does not come constantly and that some metrics can take a long time to become meaningful.

Keywords: insurance, data science, modeling, monitoring, regulation, processes

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Authors: F. N. Bolu-Steve, T. A. Ajiboye

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A study was carried out on the awareness of counselling needs of psychiatric patients as perceived by medical personnel in the Federal Neuropsychiatric hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Nigeria. The respondents comprised of medical personnel of the Neuropsychiatric hospital in Aro. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The target population of the study consisted of all medical doctors treating the psychiatric patients. A total of 200 respondents participated in the study out of which 143 were males and 57 of them were females. With their years of experience as a medical doctors, 49.5% of them have worked between 1-5 years, 30.5% of the respondents have 6-10 years’ experience while those with 16 years and above experience are 7.0%. The major counselling need of psychiatric patients as expressed by medical doctors is the need to have information about the right balance diet. The data were analyzed using percentages, mean, frequency, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and t-test statistical tools. The instrument used for data collection was the structured questionnaire titled “Counselling Needs of Psychiatric Patients Questionnaire” (CNPPQ). This instrument was drafted by the researchers through the review of related literature. The reliability of the instrument was established using test-retest method. A reliability index of 0.74 was obtained. Three of the hypotheses were rejected while two of them were accepted at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that broad based counselling services should be provided to psychiatric patients in order to assist them to develop positive self- image and to cope with their challenges.

Keywords: counselling, needs, psychiatric, medical personnel, patients

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Authors: Abigail Ekeigwe, Bethany McGowan, Loran C. Parker, Stephen Byrn, Kari L. Clase

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There are growing calls in the literature to develop and implement competency-based regulatory sciences education (CBRSE) in sub-Saharan Africa to expand and create a pipeline of a competent workforce of regulatory scientists. A defined competence framework is an essential component in developing competency-based education. However, such a competence framework is not available for regulatory scientists in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this research is to identify entry-level competencies for inclusion in a competency framework for regulatory scientists in sub-Saharan Africa as a first step in developing CBRSE. The team systematically reviewed the literature following the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and based on a pre-registered protocol on Open Science Framework (OSF). The protocol has the search strategy and the inclusion and exclusion criteria for publications. All included publications were coded to identify entry-level competencies for regulatory scientists. The team deductively coded the publications included in the study using the 'framework synthesis' model for systematic literature review. The World Health Organization’s conceptualization of competence guided the review and thematic synthesis. Topic and thematic codings were done using NVivo 12™ software. Based on the search strategy in the protocol, 2345 publications were retrieved. Twenty-two (n=22) of the retrieved publications met all the inclusion criteria for the research. Topic and thematic coding of the publications yielded three main domains of competence: knowledge, skills, and enabling behaviors. The knowledge domain has three sub-domains: administrative, regulatory governance/framework, and scientific knowledge. The skills domain has two sub-domains: functional and technical skills. Identification of competencies is the primal step that serves as a bedrock for curriculum development and competency-based education. The competencies identified in this research will help policymakers, educators, institutions, and international development partners design and implement competence-based regulatory science education in sub-Saharan Africa, ultimately leading to access to safe, quality, and effective medical products.

Keywords: competence-based regulatory science education, competencies, systematic review, sub-Saharan Africa

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Authors: Anthony F. Peressini

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The concept of race has recently come prominently back into discussion in the context of medicine and medical science, along with renewed effort to biologize racial concepts. This paper argues that this renewed effort to biologize race by way of medicine and population genetics fail on their own terms, and more importantly, that the philosophical project of biologizing race ought to be recognized for what it is—a retrograde racial project—and abandoned. There is clear agreement that standard racial categories and concepts cannot be grounded in the old way of racial naturalism, which understand race as a real, interest-independent biological/metaphysical category in which its members share “physical, moral, intellectual, and cultural characteristics.” But equally clear is the very real and pervasive presence of racial concepts in individual and collective consciousness and behavior, and so it remains a pressing area in which to seek deeper understanding. Recent philosophical work has endeavored to reconcile these two observations by developing a “thin” conception of race, grounded in scientific concepts but without the moral and metaphysical content. Such “thin,” science-based analyses take the “commonsense” or “folk” sense of race as it functions in contemporary society as the starting point for their philosophic-scientific projects to biologize racial concepts. A “philosophic-scientific analysis” is a special case of the cornerstone of analytic philosophy: a conceptual analysis. That is, a rendering of a concept into the more perspicuous concepts that constitute it. Thus a philosophic-scientific account of a concept is an attempt to work out an analysis of a concept that makes use of empirical science's insights to ground, legitimate and explicate the target concept in terms of clearer concepts informed by empirical results. The focus in this paper is on three recent philosophic-scientific cases for retaining “race” that all share this general analytic schema, but that make use of “medical necessity,” population genetics, and human genetic clustering, respectively. After arguing that each of these three approaches suffers from internal difficulties, the paper considers the general analytic schema employed by such biologizations of race. While such endeavors are inevitably prefaced with the disclaimer that the theory to follow is non-essentialist and non-racialist, the case will be made that such efforts are not neutral scientific or philosophical projects but rather are what sociologists call a racial project, that is, one of many competing efforts that conjoin a representation of what race means to specific efforts to determine social and institutional arrangements of power, resources, authority, etc. Accordingly, philosophic-scientific biologizations of race, since they begin from and condition their analyses on “folk” conceptions, cannot pretend to be “prior to” other disciplinary insights, nor to transcend the social-political dynamics involved in formulating theories of race. As a result, such traditional philosophical efforts can be seen to be disciplinarily parochial and to address only a caricature of a large and important human problem—and thereby further contributing to the unfortunate isolation of philosophical thinking about race from other disciplines.

Keywords: population genetics, ontology of race, race-based medicine, racial formation theory, racial projects, racism, social construction

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Authors: Malaiphan Pansap, Surasit Vithayarat

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The purpose of this study was to study the relationship between internal organization communications’ effectiveness and employee’s performance of Faculty of Management Science, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Study on solutions of communication were carried out within the organization. Questionnaire was used to collect information from 136 people of staff and instructor and data were analyzed by using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation and then data processing statistic programs. The result found that organization communication that affects their employee’s performance is sender which lack the skills for speaking and writing to convince audiences ready before taking message and the message which organizations are not always informed. The employees believe the behavior of good organization communication has a positive impact on the development of organization because the employees feel involved and be a part of the organization, by the cooperation in working to achieve the goal, the employees can work in the same direction and meet goal quickly.

Keywords: employee’s performance, faculty of management science, internal organization communications’ effectiveness, management accounting, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University

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Authors: Maya Jaber

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In today's ever-changing world, organizational leaders will need to transform their organizations to meet the demands they face from employees, consumers, local and federal governments, and the global market. Change agents and leaders will need a new paradigm of thinking for creative problem solving and innovation in a time of uncertainty. A new framework that is developed from Design Science Research foundations with holistic design thinking methodologies (HTDM) and action research approaches has been developed through Dr. Jaber’s research. It combines these philosophies into a three-step process that can be utilized in practice for any sustainability, change, or project management applications. This framework was developed to assist in the pedagogy for the implementation of her holistic strategy formalized framework Integral Design Thinking (IDT). Her work focuses on real world application for the streamlining and adoption of initiatives into organizational culture transformation. This paper will discuss the foundations of this philosophy and the methods for utilization in practice developed in Dr. Jaber's research.

Keywords: design science research, action research, critical thinking, design thinking, organizational transformation, sustainability management, organizational culture change

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Authors: Renée Fregosi

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The contribution presently proposed will report on the beginnings of a Franco-Chilean study to be launched in 2015 by a multidisciplinary team of Renée Fregosi Political Science University Paris 3 / CECIEC, Norma Muñoz Public Policies University of Santiago of Chile, Jean-Daniel Lelievre, Medicine Paris 11 University, Marcelo WOLFF Medicine University of Chile, Cecilia Blatrix Political Science University Paris-Tech, Ernesto OTTONE, Political Science University of Chile, Paul DENY Medicine Paris 13 University, Rafael Bugueno Medicine Hospital Urgencia Pública of Santiago, Eduardo CARRASCO Political Science Paris 3 University. The problem of hidden populations challenges some criteria and concepts to re-examine: in particular the concept of target population, sampling methods to "snowball" and the cost-effectiveness criterion that shows the connection of political and scientific fields. Furthermore, if the pattern of homosexual transmission still makes up the highest percentage of the modes of infection with HIV, there is a continuous increase in the number of people infected through heterosexual sex, including women and persons aged 50 years and older. This group can be described as " unknown risk people." Access to these populations is a major challenge and raises methodological, ethical and political issues of prevention, particularly on the issue of screening. This paper proposes an inventory of these types of problems and their articulation, to define a new phase in the prevention against HIV refocused on women.

Keywords: HIV testing, hidden populations, difficult to reach PLWHA, women, unknown risk people

Procedia PDF Downloads 511